>m 
 
 riAN 
 
 WINIFRED 
 GRAHAM 
 
CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME 
 OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT 
 FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY 
 
 HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE 
 
Cornell University Library 
 PR 6005.077 AS 
 
 Angels, and devils, and man. 
 
 3 1924 013 600 857 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013600857 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN 
 
ANGELS, 
 
 AND DEVILS, 
 
 AND MAN 
 
 BY 
 
 WINIFRED GRAHAM 
 
 Author of " The Zionists," 
 ' ' The Star-Child, " etc. 
 
 CASSELL AND COMPANY, Limited 
 
 LONDON, PARIS, NEW YORK AND MELBOURNE 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 

Debfcateb 
 
 TO 
 
 The Rev. JAMES WELLER. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, 
 
 AND MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The wave behind impels the wave before ; 
 
 Thus in successive course the minutes run, 
 And urge their predecessor minutes on. 
 Still moving, ever new ; for former things 
 Are laid aside, like abdicated kings ; 
 
 And ev'ry moment alters what is done. 
 And innovates some act, till then unknown: 
 
 — Dry den. 
 
 " 1 AM busying myself this afternoon be- 
 holding the mote that is in my brother's 
 eye ! " said Lady Livingstone. " In fact, my 
 mood is critical." 
 
 She was leaning back in a victoria drawn 
 by a pair of noticeable piebald horses, her 
 eyes leisurely sweeping over the gay crowd 
 thronging Hyde Park. 
 
 Her companion, a man, wore an air of 
 
 B 
 
2 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN, 
 
 stolid indifference to the world — and Lady 
 Livingstone. 
 
 She knew there were many who would 
 gladly drive with her and listen while she 
 talked of men and women, of things great 
 and small, just as the fancy took her. Yet, 
 from sheer wilfulness, she fastened her friend- 
 ship with a leech-like pertinacity upon Daniel 
 Paley-Hyde. 
 
 "He is lugubrious, unsympathetic, and 
 impossible," she had said of him when the 
 whim first came to her ; " but he must have 
 some redeeming point, and I mean to find 
 it out before I die." 
 
 If her motives could have been analysed, 
 the men who cast jealous eyes at Paley- 
 Hyde would hardly have envied him his 
 credentials. The great law of contrast, the 
 invincible fascination of change, played its 
 part and scored a triumph. Paley-Hyde at- 
 tracted her for the very reason that she was 
 satiated with the sweets of life. The modern 
 charm and glitter of a velvet world made 
 bitterness appear piquante, made coldness a 
 luxury. 
 
 It amused her to shut the gates of her 
 rose-garden with a sharp little click upon 
 the heels of Cupid, and turn sun-dazzled eyes 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 3 
 
 to the gloom of a cellar where she suspected 
 the better wine lay hid. 
 
 She pictured the germ of genius under his 
 mask-like exterior ; she saw him as the stoic 
 philosopher who discarded all passions, and 
 would not allow a wise man to pity the 
 afflictions of another. His terse remarks, dry 
 from lacking milk of human kindness, made 
 an impression on her mind, much as short 
 speeches or sentences of history rivet the 
 reader more than the most laboured strokes 
 in descriptive modern literature. It was com- 
 monly told of Lady Livingstone that she was 
 the incarnation of selfishness. A society 
 widow, long emerged from a brief period of 
 mourning, she proved so pleasantly pleasure- 
 loving, so openly selfish, that her faults were 
 accepted as inseparable from her witty, 
 effervescing personality. 
 
 She was known now to hold " anti- 
 matrimonial " views of a most decided nature, 
 though confessedly straying on occasions 
 dangerously near that trap for the simple 
 gratification of sniffing at its bait. 
 
 The late Lord Livingstone had been a 
 martinet in his time, and his pretty young 
 wife found that matrimony was practically 
 being buried alive. It seemed to her scarcely 
 
4 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 less dismal to be shut up in a vault, to con- 
 verse with the shades of her ancestors, than 
 to be carried down to an old mansion in the 
 country, and confined to the conversation of 
 a husband. 
 
 The Jacobina Livingstone of those early 
 days was a very different personality to the 
 lady now known as " Jack " by her intimates 
 — that sparkling product of modernity, a 
 childless society widow. 
 
 A number of curious eyes followed her 
 carriage as she drove with Paley-Hyde. Those 
 who knew her smiled to see a couple so ill- 
 mated, wondering what she found to say to 
 Daniel, and still more what Daniel found to 
 say to her. He bore the air of a man brought 
 forth against his will into the fashionable 
 riff-raff of many cliques and grades. The 
 seductive power of the Goddess of Persuasion 
 worked strange spells. In Jacobina's bearing 
 there was something of triumph, but more of 
 humour; her mobile lips kept their ever- 
 ready smile, but her veiled eyes hid many 
 secrets. 
 
 Her attire, not over elaborate, was deli- 
 cately beautiful, in subtle harmony. 
 
 The art of the really good dresser showed 
 itself in every curve and fold, in every wave 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: $ 
 
 of colour and apparently petty detail. Her 
 mirror had been consulted even for her ex- 
 pression, while her speech owed something to 
 art. Through practice she had attained a 
 knack of changing the sound of her voice, 
 not only in every sentence, but in almost 
 every word. No syllable ever fell harshly 
 or unpleasantly, though it held a sword or 
 the sting of an adder. To the ear her words 
 were music, songs in a whisper, echoes from 
 the sea. 
 
 Poets wrote of Lady Livingstone's voice, 
 though even a poet's imagination could not 
 always clothe her utterances with " sweet 
 reasonableness." 
 
 Daniel Paley-Hyde looked somewhat like 
 the Beast at Beauty's side. His partially 
 bald head made him seem older than his 
 years ; his long nose gave his face a marked 
 severity ; he had little colour and no smile. 
 
 " I grow tired of being critical ; it's a 
 strain on the mental faculties," said Jacobina, 
 unfurling a diaphanous parasol as if to par- 
 tially shut out her " moted-eyed " brethren. 
 " I have come to the conclusion that everyone 
 is seeking something, and they never, find. 
 Perhaps it is the future, the thing we cannot 
 overtake run we ever so swiftly." 
 
6 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 Paley-Hyde rubbed his chin ; it was his 
 only good feature, for in it could be read an 
 intermingling of determination and romance, 
 the latter quality being sternly denied by 
 the upper part of the countenance. 
 
 " They are looking," he said, " for manna 
 from heaven — which never falls." 
 
 Jacobina stole a sidelong glance at the 
 cynical man ; she seldom quite understood 
 his words. She followed as one who gropes 
 in the dark, and occasionally laughed in the 
 wrong place. 
 
 " I am afraid nowadays we need a 
 more complicated diet," she retorted, and 
 he felt that she looked oddly material as 
 she spoke. 
 
 " Yes," he continued, " no need for the 
 manna of which Sir John Maundeville speaks 
 in his book of ' Marvellous Adventures,' and 
 yet they seek it without knowledge, and the 
 hunger is in their souls." 
 
 Lady Livingstone had never heard of 
 Sir John Maundeville, but she did not own to 
 this. 
 
 " What manna ? " she murmured, her 
 curiosity slightly piqued. 
 
 "The manna that fell in the land of 
 Job," her companion replied, quoting Sir 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. ? 
 
 John from memory : " ' This manna is clept 
 of angels. And it is a white thing that is 
 full sweet and right delicious, and more sweet 
 than honey or sugar. And it cometh of the 
 dew of heaven that falleth upon the herbs in 
 that country. And it congealeth and be- 
 cometh all white and sweet.' " He paused ; 
 Lady Livingstone kept her silence. 
 
 " It was supposed," he added, " to purge 
 out melancholy. Show me something that 
 is white and sweet." 
 
 She turned and pointed to a girl passing 
 on foot under the trees, gowned in a simple 
 robe of spotless muslin, and wearing a large 
 picture hat crowned with doves' wings, wild 
 roses clustering beneath the brim. 
 
 She had the face of a Madonna, her skin 
 like alabaster against the smooth dark hair. 
 
 " Look," said Lady Livingstone ; " there 
 you are ! I only know the girl by sight, 
 but I always call her ' The Angel.' " 
 
 Paley-Hyde rested his eyes a moment on 
 the graceful young figure. 
 
 " You haven't heard about her ? " he 
 queried, half incredulously. " Well, I have ! 
 She jilted three men last season, and is now 
 engaged to a fourth." 
 
 " Youspeak so bitterly," declared Jacobina, 
 
8 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 
 
 " I might almost suspect you were one of 
 the victims." 
 
 He shook his head. 
 
 " It would require more than a few yards 
 of muslin and a picture hat to ensnare me ! " 
 
 " Men are so sure of themselves till the 
 angel swoops down with a flutter of wings," 
 laughed the woman. " One common cal- 
 amity, love, makes all men akin, though they 
 differ in every other particular. I daresay 
 the rejected are quite happy again now." 
 
 " The last shot himself," said Paley- 
 Hyde. 
 
 Jacobina shivered, 
 
 " How vulgar ! " she murmured, half 
 wishing she had chosen a more congenial 
 companion for her drive. There was Tommy 
 Ludlow (otherwise known as " Ha ! Ha ! " 
 a nickname which followed him from the 
 hunting field to the ballroom, surviving two 
 or three London seasons) simply praying to 
 be allowed a quiet chat whenever and where- 
 ever she pleased. Tommy, all smiles and 
 practical jokes (also called " The Butterfly "), 
 unstable, attractive, merry as the morn 
 when the thrushes burst their throats in 
 song. 
 
 " I think we might go back," she said. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 9 
 
 " The sun has given me a headache. I shall 
 try to sleep for ten minutes before dinner." 
 
 " Sleep/' he replied, " is only moonshine 
 in the brain, and of little value. If you 
 ate and drank less and rose earlier in the 
 morning, you would be freer from headache 
 and overstrained nerves." 
 
 " My dear friend," she cried, " I have 
 gathered already that you would like to feed 
 me on manna from the wilderness — or possibly 
 you think the bread of tears preferable in 
 my case to food ' full sweet and right deli- 
 cious ' ! But weeping is out of fashion ; we 
 are not even allowed to shed a tear at that 
 awful tragedy, a wedding. Sleep makes for 
 beauty — moonshine we know is beautiful ! 
 So now I am going to sit on you in judgment. 
 If you stayed in bed every morning and 
 learnt how to smile you would be a far 
 greater success in society." 
 
 " I don't wish to be a success socially," 
 he answered, with the warmth of truth in 
 his tone. " Real happiness is of a retiring 
 nature, and an enemy to pomp or noise ; 
 false happiness loves to be in a crowd and 
 to draw the eyes of the world." 
 
 Looking at him as he spoke, Jacobina 
 thought with what an honest and laudable 
 
lo ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 fortitude he dared to be ugly. He was not 
 the least abashed by his physical imper- 
 fections and absence of personal charm ; he 
 lacked ambition to please. She watched with 
 a certain thrill for the time when he would 
 awake. It must come some day, the hour 
 of realisation, when the sun would shine for 
 him . J acobina waited expectantly from p urely 
 selfish motives, since to see him moved would 
 be diverting, like the perusal of an interesting 
 book or the production of an absorbing play. 
 
 She cared little for the good of those 
 about her, but she cared much for the enter- 
 tainment they afforded. 
 
 They had just turned out of the Park, 
 and were driving towards Eaton Square, 
 when J acobina' s wandering eye fell upon a 
 newspaper poster. 
 
 " Death of Colonel Gervalle," she read. 
 Then she said aloud : " Death of Colonel 
 Gervalle ! " 
 
 " He was a celebrated man, and justly 
 so," remarked Daniel Paley-Hyde. " I had 
 the greatest admiration for his character. 
 Did you know him ? " 
 
 He asked the question casually. 
 
 " Know him ! Know him ! " repeated 
 J acobina, amazed at the ignorance conveyed 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. ii 
 
 in the question. " He is my brother-in-law. 
 It is extraordinary that I should learn of 
 his death from the papers. He must have 
 died very suddenly in India. My poor sister 
 also died out there. Such a wretched climate ! 
 I only saw him. once after he was a widower, 
 but I shall never forget the trying interview. 
 Of course, I felt upset about my sister, but 
 he did not consider that ; he — he broke 
 down in ray presence. Some people are so 
 selfish, and when a man shows weakness, 
 what can a woman do ? She is quite help- 
 less. She may only look compassion ; words 
 wound. ' Death of Colonel Gervalle ! ' That 
 I should learn it first from a street poster ! " 
 She tapped her foot impatiently under the 
 rug, her voice vibrating with annoyance, the 
 kind of anger a girl feels at her first ball if 
 a laggard partner fails to claim her for his 
 dance. Her pride was ruffled, but her heart 
 was not touched. 
 
 " Had your brother any children ? " asked 
 Paley-Hyde, speaking no word of condolence, 
 but attacking the matter in a business-like 
 tone. 
 
 Lady Livingstone started and grew a 
 little paler under her veil. He noticed her 
 hand tremble suddenly; she lowered her 
 
12 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN, 
 
 sunshade, and let her arm fall limply to her 
 side. 
 
 " Yes/' she said ; " one girl." 
 There was silence — a silence in which 
 indolence played no part. The bright face 
 of Lady Livingstone clouded now with an 
 anxiety new to her features ; it was evident 
 her brain worked busily. A set expression 
 about the lips gave them a severity foreign 
 to their nature, while little lines hitherto un- 
 observed seemed to spring suddenly into life, 
 revealing their presence under the thin layer 
 of scented powder which protected her skin 
 from sun and wind. 
 
 Paley-Hyde, quick of comprehension, de- 
 spite an outward stolidity of manner, guessed 
 the train of her thoughts. One girl, left 
 fatherless, the orphan daughter of her dead 
 sister, and an aunt in London — ^widowed, 
 childless. Would not a relative in such a 
 position be naturally expected to play the 
 part of mother to the desolate girl ? 
 
 " What age is Miss Gervalle ? " he queried, 
 his interest in her awakened through his 
 admiration for her father. 
 
 " She must be at least sixteen — that 
 difficult and embarrassing age which usually 
 lacks individuality. .She has been brought 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 13 
 
 up at a foreign school, and was shortly to 
 have joined her father in India. I am afraid 
 I never showed Jocelyn any kindness ; she 
 has always been rather on my mind. I am 
 in a perpetual state of meaning to ask her, 
 but my good resolves fade like smoke when 
 I try to brace myself for the fiery trial ! I 
 dislike young people, I have nothing in 
 common with them, and they generally dis- 
 like me in return. We are enemies by a 
 sort of unspoken mutual arrangement, a 
 telepathy that exists between the old soul 
 and the young. My soul was born old, and 
 revolts against the passionless perversity of 
 the bread-and-butter miss." 
 
 " What will become of her ? " said Paley- 
 Hyde, speaking more to himself than to Lady 
 Livingstone. 
 
 The widow looked away, she hardly knew 
 why, but she preferred not to meet his eyes. 
 
 " It's a stiff problem, isn't it ? " she 
 remarked. " I feel as if I were back at school 
 doing sums. Relations ought never to have 
 been invented ; it is an outrage on society. 
 Intimate friendships are forced upon us 
 against our will by this bugbear ' relation- 
 ship.' People we should never have toler- 
 ated as acquaintances obtain a footing in 
 
14 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 our houses and press demands upon our 
 time. It often surprises me that the whole 
 social system does not rise in revolt. Even 
 in this advanced age the old fashions keep 
 their footing in our family life. Everyone 
 will be telling me now, with spiteful 
 righteousness, that I ought to offer Jocelyn 
 a home, and launch her a year hence into 
 society." 
 
 " Yes," he retorted, " they will certainly 
 say that is the only course for you to take." 
 • Lady Livingstone shrugged her shoulders 
 defiantly, and the lines grew deeper. 
 
 " People will say anything but their 
 prayers," she muttered ; " still, I have a 
 three-word motto which lifts me above the 
 fetters of criticism — ' Let them say ' ! " 
 
 " I suppose," he replied, with a sneer, 
 " the word ' duty ' is wholly out of date." 
 
 Jacobina felt the sting of his remark, but 
 she smiled for the first time since the poster 
 caught her eye. She would not let him see 
 that he had made her feel ashamed. 
 
 " No," she repKed, " duties towards self 
 are strenuously regarded ! I must think of 
 my health, of my own comfort. Fancy me 
 with a stupid girl always at my heels, when 
 I have no maternal instincts, no penchant 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 15 
 
 for husband-hunting ! I should fail lament- 
 ably in the role of chaperon." 
 
 " Are you quite sure the girl is stupid ? 
 If she takes after her father she should have 
 brains." 
 
 " I only saw Jocelyn as a small child. 
 She was pretty then — quite remarkably so ; 
 but beautiful children often grow up plain. 
 Her mother was our family beauty ; even 
 India did not destroy her complexion. She 
 ought never to have married an Army man, 
 she wasn't fitted for the life. Besides, she 
 had her choice of a title." 
 
 " Won't it be a bit of a scandal if you do 
 nothing for the girl ? The circumstances are 
 unusually sad ; to be left without parents at 
 her age amounts to a tragedy." 
 
 "Scandal is an ugly word," said Jacobina. 
 
 She flashed a disapproving glance at him, 
 the colour returning to her cheeks. 
 
 " It cuts like a knife," he remarked, " and 
 so it is more than ugly — it is hurtful ! Cicero 
 says, ' Nothing is so swift as scandal. Nothing 
 is more easily sent abroad ; nothing received 
 with more welcome ; nothing diffuses itself 
 so universally.' " 
 
 " Ah ! " she cried. " I discover for the 
 first time that you are a moralist." 
 
i6 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 The carriage drew up as she spoke. 
 " Come in/' she said. " I really like to 
 hear you moralise." 
 
 He shook his head. 
 
 " I have an appointment," he replied. 
 " Good-bye." 
 
 He touched her hand lightly. She won- 
 dered if he hated her at that moment. 
 
 The spirit of the coquette made her look 
 up with moist eyes and a softening of the 
 lips. 
 
 " I must reflect," she declared ; " and — 
 who knows ? — in the end I may do the right 
 thing. It will be a struggle, a fight with 
 that most powerful adversary — Inclination. 
 I don't know that I care what people Say. I 
 mind perhaps a little what you think. I fear 
 I have often inconsiderately sacrificed my 
 friends' reputations to a spirit of raillery or 
 satire. I cannot expect them to be merciful 
 in return." 
 
 She had entered the haU, and he lingered 
 a moment, his cold face touched by the vague 
 shadow of conflicting passions. He saw be- 
 fore him a woman in the pride of Hfe, with 
 hair the colour of ripe corn, somewhat coarse 
 in texture, and waved in long, undulat- 
 ing sweeps. To men she was undoubtedly 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 17 
 
 attractive, her figure supple, her complexion 
 fair, her grey-blue eyes changing colour with 
 every mood, in turn alluringly blue and 
 defiantly grey. The nose, a trifle retrousse, 
 bespoke audacity ; her manner boasted a 
 certain aristocratic impudence. 
 
 She was absolutely sure of herself ; she 
 knew her own charm, and through all her 
 indiscretions never stabbed in the dark. 
 Could Jocelyn have stood before her at 
 that moment she would have confessed her 
 dilemma. No one ever accused Jacobina of 
 a Judas kiss. 
 
 Paley-Hyde felt the weakness of her 
 small effort. " Who knows ? I may do 
 right!" A mere compromise, a feeble en- 
 deavour to steer her barque from the whirl- 
 pool of self when she saw full well the stream 
 must bear her on. 
 
 " I am afraid you are not in training for 
 a fight," he said, turning to go. She made 
 no -answer, nor did she glance at his retreating 
 figure. Instead she caught up a telegram, 
 and, swiftly tearing the envelope, read without 
 shock the delayed news of Colonel Gervalle's 
 death. 
 
 " Poor James ! " she said to herself. " I 
 suppose he was a splendid character ; everyone 
 c 
 
i8 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 
 
 admired him. He certainly served his coun- 
 try well, and he made Idena a good husband. 
 Black is so very depressing, I wonder if I 
 could mourn in mauve ? " 
 I She walked slowly to her boudoir, thinking 
 of the engagements that must be cancelled, 
 and wishing his end had not come in the 
 height of the season. 
 
 Alone in the cosy little room, with its 
 dainty vases of flowers and softly-cushioned 
 lounges, Jacobina faced the situation. Death, 
 she knew, brought inevitable changes. Death 
 was life's most constant enemy, filling the 
 mind with dread. For a moment Jacobina 
 lost the rush and sparkle of her merry, 
 pleasure-haunted world; the shades were 
 round her, the grey shadows of circumstances 
 that clashed with her present plans, and 
 must be driven forth at any cost. The evils 
 of life, represented by her brother-in-law's 
 death and the existence of Jocelyn, appeared 
 like rocks and precipices, rugged, barren, 
 created to mar the little fruitful spots in her 
 own particular garden. She tried to comfort 
 herself with the thought that the thing she 
 feared might not reach her. 
 
 Other plans would be made for Jocelyn, 
 The girl was very well off, and somebody 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN-. 19 
 
 would surely be willing to receive her, either 
 from affection or mercenary motives. She 
 would have made friends at school, possibly 
 a family of good social standing might wel- 
 come her for a substantial consideration. 
 These things could always be comfortably 
 arranged, but it was unfortunate that she — 
 Jacobina — should be the only female relation 
 living. 
 
 " If the worst comes to the worst," she 
 told herself, " I must resort to nerves. A 
 physical collapse is easily managed, and means 
 one of those interesting cures so good for the 
 complexion. I should like to live out of doors 
 and drink nasty waters — the change would 
 be delightful. In the end I should really 
 begin to think I had been ill. I might even 
 be led to present my doctor with a diamond 
 scarf-pin in gratitude for the admirable treat- 
 ment he had prescribed. Anything would 
 be better than being saddled with that girl ! 
 Just for the moment Paley-Hyde influenced 
 me. Those ugly creatures are dangerous ; 
 they gain a certain power unawares. I almost 
 felt " (she paused in her soliloquy). " Bah ! 
 it is foolish to feel ! " 
 
 She threw herself down in a low chair, and 
 drew off her gloves, exquisitely soft little 
 
20 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 gloves of suede, which fitted her hands Uke 
 their own skin. Her feet rested on a white 
 rug, spread upon the highly-polished floor. 
 No need now for the ten minutes' sleep before 
 dinner she had promised herself, for she could 
 neither dine out nor go to the opera — a 
 restriction that made her feel like a bridled 
 horse fretting to be free. 
 
 She heard a bell ring, and wondered who 
 called so late. 
 
 Parker, a man-servant, appeared to ask if 
 her ladyship would receive visitors. 
 
 " Use discretion," she said, for Parker, an 
 old family servant, well understood the limits 
 of this order. A moment later Sir Thomas 
 Ludlow was announced. 
 
 Jacobina held out both hands. A little 
 sigh of relief escaped her as she rested spark- 
 ling eyes on the pink-cheeked young man. 
 He had a small, merry face framed in dark 
 hair. His expression was the essence of 
 cheerfulness ; he twinkled all over like a 
 star. Frequently those about him would 
 laugh outright in response to his smile, though 
 quite unable to explain why they felt amused. 
 Few would have relied upon him — all voted 
 him good company. It was his profession to be 
 popular, and he found it a singularly easy one. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 21 
 
 " If I had been asked who in all the wide 
 world I most wanted to see at this moment," 
 remarked Lady Livingstone, " I should have 
 said to the gods, ' Send me " Ha ! Ha ! " ' 
 Oh, Tommy, I'm just miserable, blue enough 
 to lapse into Americanisms, worried enough to 
 wish myself in a nursing home undergoing a 
 rest cure for my sins." 
 
 "It's like me to come in smiling," replied 
 Tommy, " when I ought to put on a long 
 face and condole. I am awfully sorry really 
 about Colonel Gervalle ! I had not seen the 
 papers, but I met my mother in the Park, 
 and she told me. We had quite a long talk 
 about you. I thought I'd call and ask how 
 you were. Parker made me come in." 
 
 " Parker is a man of sense ; he always 
 understands my mood. I can trust him to 
 use discretion. There are not many people 
 one can rely on like Parker." 
 
 " Worth his weight in gold ! " murmured 
 Tommy. " To think that you and I were 
 dancing at two o'clock this morning — and now 
 you will have to chuck everything for a bit." 
 
 " I was only saying last night," she replied, 
 " what an outlet dancing is to one's pent-up 
 physical energy. There's also a subtle some- 
 thing that quickens the sympathies." 
 
22 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 The glamour of lights and music still 
 lingered in her mind ; the strains, of the 
 White Viennese Band floated through her 
 brain as she shrank from the image of a 
 warrior dead and the soul-rending thrill of 
 funeral drums. 
 
 " My mother says, of course you will 
 have Jocelyn Gervalle to live with you." 
 
 The remark slipped out quite naturally, 
 and the speaker had no idea his words fell 
 like a cold chill upon Lady Livingstone's 
 half-awakened conscience. She heard the 
 voice within her cry : 
 
 " Of course ! " re-echoing his sentence. 
 She said aloud : " Oh, no ! Oh, no ! " 
 
 Tommy Ludlow noted with surprise the 
 tempestuous wave of colour which flooded 
 her cheek. Unconsciously he had struck the 
 note of public opinion which would ring out, 
 to sound and resound in her ears. 
 
 " Tommy," she said, " do you know I 
 was a Gervalle ? I married my cousin." 
 
 He nodded. " What of that ? " 
 
 " All our women are peculiar, and they 
 never get on with each other. Jocelyn would 
 prove a thorn in my side — ^we could not 
 possibly be happy. I was fond of dear, 
 beautiful Idena, but we quarrelled like two 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 23' 
 
 fiends. She and I both married cousins ; it 
 was a httle habit we had. I have set my 
 face against offering Jocelyn a home, so please 
 do not float the idea she is coming to me. 
 I was not aware your mother even knew I 
 had a niece." 
 
 " I should have thought you would get 
 on with anyone," declared Tommy; "and 
 she is only a schoolgirl after all." Evidently 
 he had not grasped the fact that Jacobina 
 was fiercely combating the fate which by 
 silent strides seemed stealing nearer every 
 moment. She felt inclined to shake him. 
 
 " If I am to be turned by one fell stroke 
 of fortune into the guide, keeper, and chaperon 
 of Jocelyn Gervalle, may I find rest and 
 quietness in Heaven, for I shall have none in 
 this world ! " 
 
 Jacobina's head drooped, her voice vi- 
 brated with despair. 
 
 Tommy Ludlow kissed her hand. 
 
 " You must stay down here a little longer," 
 he told her. " We need some angels on 
 earth ! " 
 
 He remembered the old saying, " Sweet 
 language will multiply friends." 
 
24 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 One with a flash begins and ends in smoke ; 
 The other oub of smoke brings glorious light. 
 And (without raising expectation high) 
 Surprises us with dazzling miracles. — Roscommon. 
 
 Jacobina became reticent ; it was a new 
 phase for her. She drove in deep violet, with 
 large black picture hats, and wore pale 
 lavender tea gowns when she was at home. 
 
 She seemed to have something on her 
 mind, for through her old humour came a 
 faint tinge of depression. 
 
 The letter of condolence written to Jocelyn 
 gave her considerable trouble. The expres- 
 sions of sympathy, unaccompanied by an 
 invitation, mocked at Jacobina as she read. 
 More than once she tore the black-edged 
 sheet across, reclothing her sentiments in fresh 
 wording, which pleased her no better. 
 
 At last she shut the envelope down in a 
 fit of impatience, annoyed with herself for 
 allowing so small a matter as Jocelj'^n's future 
 to seriously perturb her mind. Letters of 
 condolence were always difficult, she thought. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 25 
 
 To give them warmth they needed the 
 fire of genius, if only in sparks. Usually 
 a telegram served Lady Livingstone, for its 
 publicity warranted conventional terms, while 
 its brevity relieved the brain of much troubled 
 confusion. 
 
 Lady Ludlow, mother of Sir Thomas, was 
 not alone in her surmise that Miss Gervalle 
 would shortly arrive in Eaton Square to take 
 up her residence with the flighty Jacobina. 
 
 " Young blood will hardly suit Lady Living- 
 stone," was the general remark, since the 
 widow frequently proved herself intolerant 
 of debutantes. She liked, not unnaturally, to 
 hold the field without rivalry from budding 
 beauty. She preferred men to women, and 
 avoided girls. In the presence of her own 
 sex she frequently adopted a negligent, un- 
 observant air, calculated to reduce the humble 
 to a state of mental invisibility, while even 
 the self-assured felt piqued by the unspoken 
 insult of her attitude. 
 
 " Why should I be a humbug and pretend 
 to like women ? " she would say. " They 
 cannot be seriously affected by my likes or 
 dislikes." 
 
 In time her unblushing candour won the 
 day, and the very people she ignored con- 
 
26 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 fessed themselves interested in watching her 
 behaviour, secretly learning a score of graces 
 hitherto undreamt of in the art of taming man. 
 
 Lady Ludlow was Jacobina's most inti- 
 mate friend — a woman who made her grey 
 hairs an excuse for the utterance of many 
 unpalatable truths. She dearly loved to give 
 advice, and would have reconstructed the 
 lives of her merest acquaintances had they 
 asked her opinion or encouraged her tongue 
 in its raid against the follies of womankind 
 in general. 
 
 Jacobina christened her " Wisdom," de- 
 claring that Lady Ludlow's sernlons were 
 sufficiently entertaining to dissipate the sor- 
 rows of the heaviest heart. It was not till 
 Lady Ludlow called to condole upon the 
 death of Colonel Gervalle that Jacobina 
 began to see how " busybodies " might 
 appear on occasions more tiresome than 
 humorous. 
 
 " Tommy tells me," she said, " that you 
 are not offering your niece a home." 
 
 Lady Ludlow spoke the words in the tone 
 of a judge addressing a prisoner before passing 
 sentence. She poised her pince-nez on her 
 nose, and her grey tulle bonnet was sUghtly 
 on one side. She had something of Tommy's 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 27 
 
 twinkle, and was a proverbially untidy dresser, 
 yet she never failed to look aristocratic in her 
 shabby clothes. Her face lacked colour, but 
 her animation made up for certain personal 
 defects. 
 
 " Tommy knows nothing about it," said 
 Jacobina sharply. "He is a little chatter- 
 box ! " 
 
 " I thought he was possibly misinformed," 
 Lady Ludlow declared, letting her muscles 
 relax. " I felt sure in the end that Jocelyn 
 Gervalle would naturally come to you. She 
 must be pretty if she takes after Mrs. Ger- 
 valle." 
 
 The speaker turned to examine a photo- 
 graph signed " Idena." 
 
 " I often wish you had a daughter. What 
 a joy she would be to you ! Sons are all 
 very well, but their mothers do not get so 
 much pleasure from them. A sweet, affec- 
 tionate girl — that is what I long for ! " 
 
 " You can have Jocelyn — as a gift," said 
 the widow grimly. " To tell the truth, the 
 whole thing is a nightmare to me." 
 
 " Nonsense ! The child will win your 
 heart the moment you set eyes on her. You 
 misjudge yourself, Jack. But it is natural 
 to fear the untried." 
 
28 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 Jacobina braced herself to utter the fatal 
 words which for the past few minutes had 
 stuck in her throat. 
 
 " I have not invited Jocelyn here. I 
 expect she will stay at school for another 
 year. She is accustomed to spending her 
 holidays there. The old mistress is very 
 kind. Tommy was quite right." 
 
 Jacobina made this confession with a 
 passage from the Book of Proverbs ringing 
 in her mind, the verse which suggested the 
 nickname of " Wisdom " as suiting Lady 
 Ludlow. 
 
 " Wisdom crieth without, she uttereth 
 her voice in the streets ; she crieth in the 
 chief place of concourse, in the openings of 
 the gates." 
 
 No longer would Jacobina's boycotting of 
 her orphan niece remain undiscussed. They 
 might say what they liked now, these women 
 who would champion the stranger unknown 
 to them. Lady Ludlow could lead the crusade 
 to her heart's content, for Jacobina's face 
 was set like a flint. 
 
 She felt as though some great guilt hung 
 upon her mind, but remained like one who 
 walks on a line, knowing that the eyes must 
 rest upon a point ahead — a cowardly glance 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. zg 
 
 on either side might destroy her resolve, and 
 plunge her into an abyss of weakness. Lady 
 Ludlow listened in silence ; she never re- 
 membered seeing Jacobina uncomfortable 
 before. In a flash she read the working of 
 her friend's mind, and the pause which fol- 
 lowed was significant of the disapproval Lady 
 Ludlow was about to express. 
 
 " Jack," she said, " I have heard you 
 called selfish. I hope you are not going to 
 make it impossible for me to contradict that 
 statement." 
 
 " People can call me what they please. 
 I am not particular. I have never posed as 
 a saint." 
 
 " But you couldn't refuse the girl a 
 home ? " 
 
 " There is no limit to what I couldn't do ! " 
 laughed Jacobina, mirthlessly. " I discussed 
 the matter with myself until I grew tired, 
 and feel now I cannot discuss it with anyone 
 else. Of course, life should conform, if 
 possible, to both duty and inclination, but 
 I put inclination first." 
 
 A defiant flash in Jacobina's eyes seemed 
 to say : " There, I have told you the worst. 
 Go and do with my reputation what you will." 
 
 Strangely enough. Lady Ludlow's face 
 
30 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN-. 
 
 softened. A light dawned upon it like an 
 after-glow when the sun has set. Even her 
 crooked bonnet did not appear grotesque. 
 
 All in a moment the tragedy of childless- 
 ness rose before her, representing a pathos 
 that might excuse hardness, a void which 
 explained worldliness. No baby fingers had 
 ever touched that heart of snow, or nestled 
 close to set aflame the beating pulses. Ma- 
 ternity stood apart, a goddess with veiled 
 face and shadowed- form, in the valley of 
 " Might-Have-Been." 
 
 The great education of love had escaped 
 Jacobina, and Lady Ludlow viewed her sud- 
 denly as a Christian regards a heathen who 
 has never known the light of knowledge. 
 
 Was Jacobina jealous of her sister's child, 
 since she had not been similarly blessed ? 
 It was possible, even probable, and the 
 venomous sting now influenced her actions. 
 
 " It isn't always safe to blindly follow 
 inclination," said Lady Ludlow, with a toler- 
 ance Jacobina had not expected. " I see 
 that so very plainly now from the vantage 
 ground of my superior years. When the 
 white moonbeams of eventide make pale the 
 sunny glory of your hair, and the pleasures of 
 life grow dim as well, losing^their radiance, 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 31 
 
 you may want the love and gratitude of 
 Jocelyn Gervalle. I was comparing the in- 
 feUcities of old age to those of infancy. It 
 seems to me the sorrows of childhood are 
 chiefly due to neghgence and misconduct of 
 parents ; those of age to the past hfe, which 
 may lead to all kinds of calamity. Now I 
 have always tried to hve in the world and out 
 of it at the same time, which perhaps is the 
 secret of my happiness. I see women in 
 society, tired to death with the constant 
 whirl, horribly wearied by the season's toil, 
 yet they cannot relinquish their slavery ; 
 they call for more lights when they have a 
 mind to go to sleep. The whole scheme is 
 unreasonable ! " 
 
 " But I am not tired," said Jacobina, 
 throbbing with vitality, her splendid physique 
 speaking for itself, " and I won't be turned 
 into a dowager aunt ! Who knows, for all 
 my talk, I might any day choose to marry 
 again ? It would be a nice thing then to have 
 an adopted niece on my hands." 
 
 Lady Ludlow had not taken this possi- 
 bility into consideration. So accustomed was 
 she to hearing Jacobina's scathing remarks 
 upon matrimony that the very suggestion 
 came to her as a shock. 
 
32 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 " I know you have plenty of opportunity, 
 but I understood you preferred freedom." 
 
 Jacobina congratulated herself on scoring 
 a point. The idea had only just occurred to 
 her mind, and she saw it impressed her visitor. 
 
 " There is a sensible saying — from whose 
 pen I know not — ' Praise marriage, but re- 
 main single.' Now, I have done exactly the 
 reverse, for from childhood I chanted paeans 
 to hberty ! " 
 
 Jacobina spoke lightly ; by clever tactics 
 she was winning Lady Ludlow to her mood. 
 
 " I have often wondered at your escaping 
 fresh fetters. The very fact that you allow 
 so many of your friends to call you ' Jack ' 
 places them on a footing of camaraderie that 
 leads swiftly to something deeper. Since my 
 widowhood I have worn nothing but subdued 
 colours, bonnets with strings, and half-high 
 evening dresses. But then, you must re- 
 member, my husband was all the world to 
 me, almost the end of my devotion. It all 
 depends upon whether you marry to please 
 other people or yourself. I had no concern 
 beyond the man I loved. He was my whole 
 care. If I dressed prettily it was for him. 
 I only read that my conversation might be 
 agreeable to his taste. I loved to talk of 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 33 
 
 him, and never heard , him named without 
 pleasure and emotion." 
 
 " How wonderful ! " sighed Jacobina. " It 
 sounds like a miracle, people loving in that 
 way. I suppose it really happens. It isn't 
 just a kind of hypnotism, a trick of the 
 imagination ? My marriage began with a 
 flash, and ended in smoke ; yours brought 
 ' glorious hght ' ! " 
 
 Her voice sounded low and tender — the 
 voice trained to melody — and Lady Ludlow 
 wiped her eyes. She was a thoroughly good 
 woman, whose interest in the affairs of others 
 amounted almost to mania, constantly making 
 her disliked when her intentions were rooted 
 and grounded in charity. She accepted all 
 rebuffs without complaint, knowing that out- 
 ward actions could not possibly represent the 
 perfections of the soul, since they failed to 
 show the strength of those principles ori- 
 ginating them. She never trifled with time 
 or allowed it to run to waste. She said with 
 Plato that " labour is preferable to idleness, 
 as brightness to rust." 
 
 Already she had stayed longer than she 
 intended with Jacobina, for her engagement 
 book warned her that she must be at a charit- 
 able committee that afternoon, one of the 
 
 D 
 
34 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 many at which she occupied the presidential 
 chair. 
 
 " My dear," she said, " I had almost for- 
 gotten a most important meeting, at which 
 I am due in half an hour. I have now to go 
 and preach thrift, for the writing-paper which 
 called me to this gathering in charity's name 
 must have made quite an inroad on the 
 working funds. I shall beg the secretary to 
 beware of little expenses ; a small leak will 
 sink a large ship. Economy is in itself a 
 great revenue." 
 
 Jacobina fancied as Lady Ludlow rose 
 that the details of her dress preached the 
 same sermon, representing the revenue by 
 innumerable significant signs. Jacobina be- 
 gan to believe in clothes as an index of char- 
 acter. She saw in Lady Ludlow's attire a 
 certain conservatism, mingled with philosophy. 
 From the tilt of her bonnet she might cer- 
 tainly have been suspected of holding strong 
 political views, while her footgear undoubt- 
 edly denoted that she took deep interest in all 
 movements affecting her less fortunate 
 brethren, 
 
 " I hope," said Jacobina, with a slight 
 twitching of her lips, " you will succeed in 
 passing a motion that cheap writing paper be 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 35 
 
 used henceforth, and perhaps the secretary 
 has fallen into the error of the penny stamp. 
 Communications not of a strictly private 
 nature may travel just as comfortably with 
 a halfpenny stamp, while the sender is saved 
 much wasted time fastening the envelopes." 
 
 " Now, Jack, you are making fun of me ; 
 but wait until you rub shoulders with the 
 East End ! You will then begin to realise 
 the value of money." 
 
 " The idle," said Jacobina, " are written 
 down as ' fools at large,' and, realising the 
 bliss of ignorance, I elect to remain a fool." 
 
 She kissed Lady Ludlow hurriedly, afraid 
 lest she should return to the subject of Jocelyn 
 Gervalle, which had been temporarily swept 
 aside by the flow of conversation. 
 
 She awaited her visitor's departure under 
 a secret impatience, and sighed with relief 
 when the door closed on the retreating form. 
 
 " I thought she was never going, and I 
 have not even opened my letters," sighed 
 Jacobina, turning to a pile of correspondence 
 which had arrived simultaneously with Lady 
 Ludlow. 
 
 Jacobina loved letters. She called them 
 " the soft intercourse from soul to soul." As 
 a rule, she read them several times in sue- 
 
36 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 cession J and then discreetly destroyed what 
 had presumably been penned for her eyes 
 alone, ever fearful of the curiosity of a lady's 
 maid or the serious disapproval of the possibly 
 prying Parker. 
 
 She read the first with a vague smile 
 which denoted pity rather than amusement. 
 It was written from the Turf Club, and com- 
 menced " Dearest." 
 
 She laid it down with a sigh and a worried 
 gnashing of teeth. " How silly men are ! " 
 she said, breaking the seal of a long document 
 which carried an air of official importance 
 that demanded attention. 
 
 " An advertisement for hats, looking like 
 a deed of separation or a long-lost will," 
 remarked Jacobina internally, as she let the 
 paper fall, to examine a small thin envelope 
 which might have appeased even Lady 
 Ludlow, since it carried the stamp of poverty 
 with aggressive suggestiveness. 
 
 " This," she told herself, " must be a 
 begging letter." 
 
 The writing was strange to her, and gave 
 the idea of age. Feeble, thin letters of 
 wavering character traced the address in 
 slanting lines. She instinctively thought of 
 the oldest inhabitant of a workhouse, who. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 37 
 
 springing suddenly into fame upon becoming 
 a centenarian, receives royal gifts, and revels 
 in his or her weight of years with a pride un- 
 dreamed through a long, unvaried life of toil. 
 Jacobina's lack of interest showed itself in 
 the listless way she drew the flimsy sheet 
 from its unsubstantial cover. She yawned as 
 her eyes travelled to the paper, and glanced 
 once more defiantly towards the letter she 
 had first opened, in which a man had laid 
 his heart bare to the blade of Jacobina's 
 criticism. 
 
 "It is bad enough to say ' No.' It is 
 worse to have to write it in pretty, graceful 
 language, like the sugar on a pill," she thought, 
 as once more her straying look returned to 
 the spidery epistle. 
 
 " Heale Prior, Salford, Sussex." 
 
 " Heale Prior ! " The name was familiar. 
 Of course, Professor Gervalle lived at Salford ; 
 only somehow she had imagined he had died 
 years ago — that old, old man, of whom she 
 had heard a good deal when Idena first 
 married. 
 
 She turned quickly to the signature, 
 " Cosmo Gervalle," the name of her brother- 
 in-law's father, Jocelyn's grandfather ! 
 
 " Why, he must be well over eighty," she 
 
38 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 exclaimed ; " the sort of person one feels has 
 hardly the right to be alive ! He is a terrible 
 crank, too ; not all there in his mind, I 
 believe — quite a hermit, and miserly in the 
 extreme. I suppose even he will add his 
 cry to the rest, and seek to force the girl 
 into my unwilling arms. Poor Jacobina,poor 
 trampled on, unprotected widow ! You only 
 ask for peace, and behold ! there is no 
 peace." 
 
 As she read, an expression of great sur- 
 prise crept over her face ; she bent lower to 
 the page, and her eyes dilated slightly, while 
 her lips parted. More than once she caught 
 her breath with a little shiver. She hardly 
 knew why, but fear, like a living presence, 
 sat at her side, a dread that took form and 
 substance. She turned sharply, looking over 
 her shoulder, as if an unseen hand touched 
 her, sending a cold chill through her veins. 
 The room looked suddenly gloomy. Jacobina 
 imagined that some uncanny influence drove 
 the sunbeams away, creating long shadows, 
 like dark figures with outstretched hands. 
 
 "It is too horrible," she said, "for a 
 young girl to live at Heale Prior alone with 
 him, in that solitary spot, far away from any 
 town or village. Idena went there once, and 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 39 
 
 the place nearly frightened her into fits ; she 
 could never bear to talk of it afterwards. 
 The loneliness appalled her, and she thought 
 the old man quite impossible then." 
 
 Jacobina read again, with quickening 
 pulses : 
 
 " Unless you are inclined to offer Jocelyn 
 a home, I shall send for her to come and live 
 with me. I understand she is now seventeen, 
 and desires to leave school, having seen 
 nothing of her relations for a great number 
 of years. She has vague recollections of 
 ' Aunt Jacobina,' who still sends her a Christ- 
 mas card every year ' for remembrance.' 
 Directly I hear from you I shall arrange for 
 a governess to bring her from Wiesbaden. 
 She is welcome to the hospitality of this old 
 house, though I never see friends, and have 
 absolutely withdrawn from the world. My 
 son's death was a great blow to me, but I feel 
 that I am now so near the end of the race, 
 it will not be long before I join him. My 
 salutations to yourself." 
 
 Jacobina thrust the letter from her ; the 
 very sight of it congealed her blood. That 
 weary, straggling handwriting had drawn her 
 sharply up, bringing her to the point. 
 
 She saw in the proposition distinct salva- 
 
40 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 tion from an embarrassing situation. It 
 suited her programme while it shocked her 
 sensibilities. Just seventeen — " sweet seven- 
 teen," as it has been named — the age when 
 eyes look naturally for brightness in life, for 
 colour in the world. 
 
 Involuntarily Jacobina wondered if the 
 girl were fascinating. What had the years 
 held for her, what would they hold ? A 
 strange tangle certainly, since " crabbed age 
 and youth " were said to be at variance. It 
 seemed the gods were playing tricks with 
 Jocelyn Gervalle's destiny. They tossed her, 
 like a pebble on a surf-swept beach, to and 
 fro, till the barren shore claimed her for still- 
 ness, for the silent rest of uneventful days. 
 
 Would the waste places of the earth always 
 be hers ? What training could she gain for 
 the future, which might claim her yet as a 
 member of social circles where worldly know- 
 ledge is demanded ? Poor little buried, 
 stunted soul, left to the care of a barbarian 
 in the shape of an old miserly professor ! 
 
 The small white hands seemed to stretch 
 pleadingly towards Jacobina, and she felt as 
 one who watches a fellow-creature drown 
 without raising a finger to avert the catas- 
 trophe. The young life must sink down into 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 41 
 
 obscurity, the fates willed it so — the gods who 
 toss circumstances, like the winds of the 
 world toss the whirling flakes of snow, 
 whither they list — flakes that quickly dissolve 
 and pass unseen into the great Invisible. 
 
 Jacobina felt angry that the decision re- 
 mained with her. Why had not the old man 
 insisted upon Jocelyn joining him, without 
 choice, instead of inserting those tiresome 
 words, " unless you are inclined to offer her 
 a home " ? His common-sense should have 
 told him Jacobina was certainly not inclined, 
 or she would have offered without waiting 
 for him to make the suggestion. But these 
 scientific men could not be expected to deal 
 in common-sense, that hopelessly bourgeois 
 attribute bestowed upon the ordinary mind 
 of unskilled mortals. Jacobina fiercely re- 
 sented worry of any kind, and marvelled at 
 the patience of people who regard life as a 
 state of probation, and adversity as the post 
 of honour assigned to the best and most 
 select spirits. 
 
 The self-love in Jacobina made ready 
 revolt against her kinder inclinations — mere 
 striplings warring with mighty forces. She 
 rose, conquered willingly by self, a slave to 
 her own comfort, pledged to personal pleasure. 
 
42 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN; 
 
 She paused a moment, seeing her face in 
 a glass. " How strange I look ! " she mur- 
 mured. "I might be devil-haunted. That 
 old man's letter must have had some weird 
 effect upon my imagination. And yet I ought 
 to be glad. It sounds well enough to say, 
 ' My niece has gone to live in the country 
 with her grandfather.' What more natural ? 
 I am saved all censure. ' My niece loves the 
 wild fields of Nature ; she would stifle in a 
 town ! ' No one need hear he is a hermit, a 
 miser, and everything that's dreadful. I shall 
 not dilate upon the lack of hospitality at 
 Heale Prior, and so the matter will blow 
 over, and even Lady Ludlow will be satisfied." 
 
 Jacobina took up a telegraph form, and 
 wrote upon it hastily : " DeUghted for you 
 to have Jocelyn ; am in very bad health ; 
 impossible for me to invite her here. Much 
 relieved at receiving your letter." 
 
 " There ! " she sighed, as she touched the 
 bell, " he will have to pay, no doubt, for the 
 delivery of telegrams, and it may teach him 
 to spare me further correspondence. Misers, 
 of course, count every penny." 
 
 As she despatched the missive her heart 
 grew glad again, for her moods varied with 
 the suddenness of April weather. A moment 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS. AND MAN. 43 
 
 of storm, a flash of sunlight, a ripple of 
 laughter, a tear shed Ughtly. 
 
 From that moment Jacobina closed the 
 doors of her heart, and thought no more of 
 Jocelyn Gervalle, save occasionally, when in 
 a dream she saw a young mysterious face 
 looking at her through a mist. The dream 
 became a nightmare which only attacked her 
 rarely, and could generally be explained 
 away by some very mundane causes. 
 
 To Paley-Hyde, who remembered about 
 the orphan girl and asked after her welfare, 
 Jacobina made swift reply, with clasped 
 hands, and eyes beaming a benediction. " It 
 is quite delightful," she cooed ; " the dear 
 child has gone to live with her grandfather, 
 such a charming intellectual man, so like 
 his son, or perhaps I should say the son was 
 like him. I get dreadfully muddled with 
 relationships and likenesses. Of course, I 
 had not the heart to keep her from him. 
 They will prove such a comfort to each other, 
 though I am not humbug enough to pretend 
 I was very desirous of her company. After 
 all, everything has turned out 'for the best. 
 The country is healthier for a young girl, and, 
 placed in such pleasant surroundings, she 
 should find Heale Prior an ideal home." 
 
44 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 " Heale Prior ? " said Paley-Hyde, wrink- 
 ling his brow. " The name is somehow 
 famihar to me. Why, yes, I remember. It's 
 one of the celebrated old places in Sussex, 
 and has a host of ghost stories to its history. 
 If Miss Gervalle is strong-minded she will 
 close her ears to the many foolish legends 
 which are associated with ancient buildings 
 like Heale Prior." 
 
 " Of course, the house is quaint," Jacobina 
 replied ; " but I am sure Professor Gervalle 
 will take good care his young charge is not 
 frightened by silly gossip or imaginary 
 spectres." 
 
 She dismissed the subject with the lightest 
 possible laugh, like the froth on a rippling 
 wave. Paley-Hyde watched her curiously, 
 for he doubted the laugh, mistrusting the 
 widow's merriment. He wondered if she 
 were really contfented with her life, if the 
 thing so highly valued repaid her for the price 
 at which she purchased her selfish ease. A 
 few small sacrifices would surely have leav- 
 ened the lump — a little unfolding of the 
 hands for work. 
 
 She had looked for a redeeming point in 
 him, a momentary transport from the set 
 ugliness of his face, some manifestation of 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 45 
 
 emotion, of passion, of even temporary charm ; 
 while he, in return, marvelled where she had 
 hidden that spark of divinity which must 
 exist in every human creature. 
 
 He saw her seeking continually super- 
 fluous and artificial enjoyments^ till of late 
 she unconsciously proved to him that no men 
 or women have so much care as those who 
 strive most after happiness. 
 
 He put society under a microscope, and 
 mercilessly dissected its weakness. In doing 
 so he grew more melancholy, and sighed for 
 an utterly ndw system, a fresh world created 
 to suit his too particular palate. 
 
 Jacobina dived deeply into his secret 
 ponderings, and, drawing forth their sub- 
 stance, made fun of him to his face. 
 
 " Content," she would say, " is natural 
 wealth, and wealth is what we call desire. 
 You should plant yourself a bower amidst a 
 wood of nightingales ! In your regions of 
 woodlands you might feed upon delicious 
 fruits and herbs to your heart's content. I 
 think you were really intended for a pastoral 
 life. Instead of the music of the streets, the 
 bleating of flocks and lowing of herds would 
 fall softly on your ear. Then perhaps you 
 would learn to smile and laugh, and skip 
 
46 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 like the young rams. Let me come and skip 
 with you, for I should revel in pastoral life, 
 too." 
 
 As these words of raiUery fell from her 
 lips she thought of the dreary old house on 
 the Sussex hills. No laughter there, no herbs 
 of gladness, no dancing or music — only skulls 
 and maps, globes, skeletons, and books, dull 
 with the dust of time. A voice cried to her, 
 a voice that belonged to those hated dreams : 
 
 " I am buried alive, and you have thrust 
 me into the tomb ! " 
 
47 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A good man, and an angel ! these between 
 How thin the barrier I What divides their fate ? 
 Perhaps a moment, or perhaps a year. 
 Angels are men in lighter habit clad. 
 
 " Salford, Salford ! " shouted a porter, 
 
 " Salford at last ! " Jocelyn spoke the 
 word with infinite relief as she sprang from 
 the train and looked eagerly round. It was 
 full ripe Summer, but Spring stood on the 
 platform. Her journey had seemed long and 
 wearisome ; the French governess in many 
 tiresome ways proved an irksome companion, 
 while Jocelyn watched, with wondering eyes, 
 great mountains growing out of small in- 
 conveniences, for Mademoiselle refused to 
 believe that little molehills were not seething 
 volcanoes in disguise. 
 
 Jocelyn saw the last of her at Charing 
 Cross, a figure in drab cloth, travel-stained 
 and tired-eyed, with sufficient energy left 
 to root out mistakes in the railway guide and 
 spot the inefficiency of officials. Arrogant 
 in the extreme, creating on every side storm 
 
48 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 and abuse, she swept the station Hke a March 
 whirlwind, while Jocelyn's temperament blew 
 her, with little tender breezes, to harbours of 
 sunshine and smiles. 
 
 Jocelyn had found that courtesy made 
 hard places smooth, knowing well it formed 
 the silken string running through the pearl 
 chain of life's amenities. 
 
 She sought now for some kindly face, some 
 word of welcome, there on the desolate plat- 
 form. Her eager eyes strayed in quest of a 
 friend, becoming almost tearful as the few 
 passengers straggled away, leaving her 
 unclaimed. The lusty-lunged porter contem- 
 plated her curiously ; strangers were few and 
 far between at Salford. 
 
 " I want to go to Heale Prior," she said. 
 " I expected to be met." 
 
 The man's face expressed amazement. No 
 visitor had troubled Professor Gervalle for 
 years, and the overwise porter fancied there 
 must be some mistake. Young people mixed 
 up addresses ; young people sometimes grew 
 dazed when travelling alone. 
 
 " Are you sure you mean Heale Prior ? " 
 he queried, regarding her doubtfully. She 
 looked oddly pathetic standing there, and 
 the porter felt suddenly paternal ; possibly 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN, 49 
 
 he saw the gathering mist under Jocelyn's 
 long eyelashes. 
 
 " Yes, Heale Prior, where Professor Ger- 
 valle lives. Could you fetch me a cab — as — 
 as there is no carriage ? " 
 
 She spoke with special pleading in her 
 tone. The porter softened still more visibly, 
 and scratched his head as a sign. 
 
 " Cabmen are a bit chary," he said, " of 
 taking their horses up the hill to Heale Prior, 
 but I daresay, if you wait a bit, I can per- 
 suade Simkins to oblige." 
 
 Jocelyn had no choice but to rely upon 
 Simkins' good nature, so she sat on her box 
 and counted the minutes. He came at last, 
 a red-bearded man, driving a white horse, 
 and Spring, with a drooping of petals, entered 
 upon the last stage of her journey. 
 
 It was late on a brilliant summer after- 
 noon, and the country smiled cheerfully from 
 its evening bath of golden light. Here, in 
 the heart of Sussex, where sunshiny hills 
 met the horizon, Jocelyn revived, and once 
 more found her smile. A far extending dis- 
 tance of hill and field now soothed her slightly 
 ruffled and disappointed spirit. She breathed 
 the enchantment of swelhng downs and wind- 
 mill-crowned heights, of woods and wild 
 
so ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 wastes ! She figuratively kissed her hand to 
 the cosy farmhouses, with their rambling 
 cattle shelters, and blessed the sweet cottage 
 gardens, warming to the unspoken welcome 
 of stocks, sunflowers, hollyhocks, and flushed 
 carnations. As the road grew steeper the 
 white horse bore her to the centre of a very 
 region of landscape, while hill and dale, 
 wood and water, changed from gold to 
 crimson, from green to grey, as the atmosphere 
 deepened, and the gods made jewelled em- 
 broidery of simple English fields. 
 
 Slowly the cab wheels rattled up the 
 steep ascent, till suddenly a surprise opening 
 through the trees revealed Heale Prior, with 
 its grand grey battlements and curious old- 
 world dignity, its raised terraces, bordered 
 by low walls ornamented with vases, some 
 crumbling and broken in places, lichen-painted, 
 weather-stained. The house likewise bore 
 traces of brunts and bruises, relics of a feudal 
 past, beautiful in stately and solemn decay. 
 
 Jocelyn saw visions of steel-clad knights ; 
 she was back in the romantic days of chivalry, 
 and bowed to gay spectres as she drove 
 through the gateway into a spacious quad- 
 rangle round which the building ran. Every 
 inch of the old dwelling whispered weird, 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 51 
 
 exciting legends ; the breath of romance 
 hung about its walls, spelling history in big 
 capital letters. 
 
 In answer to the ringing of the great 
 deep-throated bell an elderly woman appeared, 
 and gave vent to a cry of surprise at seeing 
 the girl. 
 
 " Gracious goodness ! " she gasped. " It 
 is never Miss Gervalle ! " 
 
 " I am Jocelyn Gervalle here in the 
 flesh," replied the new-comer, smiling to see 
 the confusion her words caused, yet conscious 
 that her " station tears " were making a kind 
 of rainbow through her smiles. " It seems 
 my grandfather has forgotten me." 
 
 "It's him all over ! " declared the old 
 servant, regarding the visitor with excusable 
 curiosity. " He has no more brain for or- 
 dinary matters than the flies buzzing outside." 
 
 Jocelyn felt a little hurt at being called 
 an ordinary matter. To her this was a 
 thrilling adventure, a stepping out into the 
 world, a coming forth to the Garden Wonder- 
 ful, this storming of the old house, this un- 
 earthing of the hermit, who, though a near 
 relative, was still a stranger, and hazy as a 
 dream. 
 
 " Where is my grandfather ? " she asked. 
 
52 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 
 
 " I want, please, to remind him of my exist- 
 ence." 
 
 Elizabeth, who watched over the old man 
 as a mother might tend a refractory child, 
 grew pale at this suggestion, silently leading 
 the way to a room panelled in black oak, with 
 beams across the ceiling, where deep window 
 recesses invited reverie, and the fireplace of 
 huge dimensions suggested comfort for winter 
 evenings. She felt thankful that Jocelyn had 
 paid and dismissed the cab, trembling lest 
 her master should be troubled with mundane 
 affairs. 
 
 " The Professor is very busy to-day," she 
 said ; " but, for the matter of that, he is 
 always busy in his own peculiar Une. I don't 
 know what he does, for it isn't my business 
 to be prying into his affairs. Some people 
 say he spends his time in raising the old 
 spirits of the house. In ancient days there 
 was a story that one member of the family 
 here sold himself to the devil, and Heale 
 Prior has never been lucky since. If it were 
 not for my vigilance, I believe the Professor 
 would hardly ever remember to eat or drink, 
 in which case he must long since have wasted 
 to a shadow and faded away. But I can't 
 forgive myself for not asking him the date 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 53 
 
 of your arrival. You see, I am entirely to 
 blame in the matter. You could not have 
 come at a worse moment, for he said most 
 particularly I was not to disturb him on any 
 pretext ; so if you don't mind waiting 
 until " 
 
 " But I do mind," broke in Jocelyn, 
 burning with impatience. " When he hears 
 I have come he will forgive your interrupting 
 him. So do, like a good woman, go at once 
 and say I am longing to see him. I have 
 simply been counting the hours. I absolutely 
 decline to wait ! " 
 
 Elizabeth's face softened. It was so 
 long since anyone had been anxious to see 
 Professor Gervalle that she could not refuse 
 the pleading of those violet eyes. As Eliza- 
 beth turned to go, Jocelyn put out her hand, 
 and asked tremulously : " Where does he 
 hide himself ? It — it seems such a very big 
 house for one old man." 
 
 " Bless your heart, he does not use the 
 half of it ! Most of the rooms are shut up. 
 I would gladly open out the place and wel- 
 come any number of new faces, but the master 
 hates company, and won't see a soul. I pity 
 any young creature coming to such a home. 
 I don't know how you will pass your time. 
 
54 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 He is in his laboratory ; so, if you really insist, 
 I'll carry your message, but you must not be 
 disappointed should it meet with no re- 
 sponse." 
 
 Emphasising these discomfiting words, 
 Elizabeth bustled away in fear and trembling 
 at the task she had undertaken. 
 
 Jocel5ni knelt on the window seat, and 
 looked at the soft sky and colourful distances, 
 a scene eminently refreshing for body and 
 brain, wearied by the noise and fatigue of a 
 tiresome journey. She had not very long to 
 wait before the sound of voices reached her. 
 From the far end of a corridor, she could hear 
 Elizabeth giving vent to voluble explanations. 
 Evidently she had proved successful in her 
 quest, and was triumphantly bringing the 
 hermit to book for his disgraceful lapse of 
 memory. Already Jocelyn knew instinctively 
 that Elizabeth was a character. There was 
 an air of independence about her in no way 
 offensive ; she seemed as much a part of 
 the old building as the heavy mullioned 
 windows and massive chimneys. 
 
 A moment later the figure of Jocelyn's 
 grandfather appeared under the vaulted arch 
 of the old doorway — a figure so quaintly 
 mysterious that she fancied, just for a second, 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. SS 
 
 he had materiahsed from another world. His 
 thin, transparent face and white head be- 
 tokened asceticism, while his sparse grey 
 beard consisted of a few meagre hairs growing 
 separately like a cat's or a leopard's. He 
 looked dazed as Jocelyn advanced with out- 
 stretched hands. Evidently it had caused 
 him pain and suffering to tear himself from 
 his beloved study. 
 
 " My dear," he said, " I had quite for- 
 gotten that we fixed to-day for your arrival. 
 You know how one forgets." 
 
 The sweet confiding smile of a child broke 
 over his wizened countenance as his eyes met 
 Jocelyn's. In hers he detected an expression 
 of tenderness wrestling playfully with an 
 evasive sparkle of humour. An underlying 
 depth of pathos gave mysterious charm to 
 a face instinct with character and sym- 
 pathy. He had come in a kind of dream 
 from the inner sanctum of strange magic 
 to find a bewitching young creature with 
 two illusive little dimples, one in each 
 cheek, which gave piquancy to a frank, 
 almost childish manner. The indefinable 
 gift of fascination was a natural heritage 
 which the girl possessed without being 
 aware of her subtle power. He guessed her 
 
S6 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 ignorance; her unaffected manner betrayed 
 her openly. 
 
 EUzabeth retreated, leaving this oddly 
 assorted couple alone together. Jocelyn did 
 not reproach him. Already the poor welcome 
 was forgotten. 
 
 " I've come home/' were her first words, 
 emphasising the obvious. " I've often wanted 
 to come, but I thought I should be in your 
 way." 
 
 He gave a slight start of surprise as she 
 used the word " home," which roused him 
 to the reality of their relationship. Since the 
 day of her birth he had hardly given his 
 granddaughter a thought. Now he looked 
 at her kindly, but still with that queer 
 abstract expression in his eyes. 
 
 " I might never have seen you," he said, 
 " had things been different." 
 
 She laid her hand on his arm, and the 
 light from the window fell across her face. 
 Vague shadows of alarm crept into the violet 
 eyes, as she spoke of a fate narrowly escaped. 
 
 " I was afraid I should have to go to 
 Aunt Jacobina. I wanted to be alone in the 
 country with you. The country is still and 
 kind to mourners. I daresay Aunt Jacobina 
 tried to be nice, but the sympathy in her 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 57 
 
 letter seemed a little forced. Some people 
 do not understand when — when one suffers." 
 
 The mutinous lips trembled. It was 
 natural Spring should resent Winter's blight. 
 
 Professor GervaUe read her sorrow. " You 
 poor child," he thought, " standing within 
 touch of my hand, yet, oh ! so far away 
 from me, lost in the baffling distance of 
 youth ! Over sixty years between us ! You 
 poor child ! " 
 
 Aloud he said : 
 
 " Little girl, the loss must be very bitter 
 to you, but for me it is different. I am old, 
 and my work is nearly done. Often I feel 
 myself very near the world beyond, which is, 
 after all, the world with us. I cannot take 
 the place of your father ; I am but a dry, 
 dead stick, sere and withered. There lies 
 between us a great gulf of Time that can 
 never be bridged over. I am striving to 
 master a mystery which you could not pos- 
 sibly understand, and my labours enthral me 
 to such a degree that worldly affairs are 
 utterly effaced. So alas ! for this old fossil, 
 at best he makes but a poor companion." 
 
 " We shall see," she answered, with a 
 subtle note of confidence in her tone. He 
 felt a slight misgiving; the new element 
 
S8 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 
 
 startled him, for it took possession of his 
 scattered senses, gathering them together as 
 sunlight seeks out dust, making sport with 
 it the while. He felt for the dust keenly. 
 Why should sunbeams pursue it with such a 
 fiendish, glowing joy ? Sometimes the dust 
 danced to their music, looking like rays of 
 silver, till the brilliant gleams laughingly 
 withdrew. Then the dust crept back into 
 crevices unseen, and slept in ugliness tiU the 
 judgment day of brooms and dustpans, when 
 the things of darkness stood revealed. 
 
 Jocelyn's eyes strayed to the garden, and 
 the fossil remembered with something of a 
 shock that children always want to "go out 
 and play." He was surprised at himself for 
 remembering anything about children, but 
 somehow Jocelyn's face contradicted the fact 
 that she was grown up. Surely the long 
 skirts had been donned for fun, as when the 
 little people dress in mother's clothes to try 
 and look grand, and impress grandpapa. 
 Jocelyn, of course, was masquerading ; she 
 could not really have reached the important 
 age of seventeen. 
 
 He hinted his doubts to her, as he obeyed 
 the invitation of those deep clear eyes to 
 " go out and play." 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. $9 
 
 " I will show you the grounds," he said, 
 a trifle stiffly, for he was half afraid of feeling 
 frivolous under the influence of her youth. 
 
 Probably she guessed his trepidation, for 
 she chaperoned him tenderly up and down 
 his own garden paths with quite a little air 
 of maternal pride at his walking without a 
 stick, like a mother whose staggering child 
 first finds the art of piloting his steps over 
 the firm ground. 
 
 She indulged spasmodic gasps of delight, 
 and scattered laudatory adjectives like soft 
 dew upon every object — north, south, east, 
 and west — till the Professor's brain whirled. 
 
 She forcibly opened his eyes to the beauty 
 of the grey twilight, the joy of that still sum- 
 mer evening. Over every nook and corner a 
 strange spell of mystery hung, enchanting 
 her fancy, taking her by storm. So great 
 was her praise, and so genuine her enthusiasm, 
 that the Professor declared at last she was 
 only attracted by force of novelty ; it could 
 all be explained on a practical basis. He 
 put this strange new creature under a micro- 
 scope and dissected her emotions. 
 
 " You have seen nothing like Heale Prior," 
 he said ; " but in time it will all appear 
 commonplace enough, and then you will look 
 
6o ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 upon these walls as a prison. I see myself 
 playing the part of ogre with jangling keys ! 
 Novelty always excites a sensation of pleasure; 
 that is why^ when age advances, all amuse- 
 ments wither, existence turns fiat and insipid. 
 Old age becomes its own insupportable burden, 
 having lost the capacity for pleasure." 
 
 Jocelyn looked at him wistfully. She 
 knew he must be over eighty, but the keen 
 light in his eyes and the magnetic force of 
 his individuality overcame the burden to 
 which he alluded. She marvelled not a 
 Httle. 
 
 " I think you are happy," she said, " for 
 you love your work, and there is always 
 novelty in that, always charm and change." 
 
 " Yes," he answered, smiling, " my craze 
 is my salvation. With the majority of very 
 old people work loses its savour ; then nothing 
 remains to relieve the satiety and weariness. 
 The longer we have been in possession of 
 life the less sensible is the joy we take in it, 
 which explains the decay of the faculties." 
 
 " I know I shall always love Heale Prior," 
 said Jocelyn, " even when it is no longer new 
 to me. I shall love it for its age." 
 
 Professor Gervalle paused under the dark 
 avenue of yews, and Jocelyn thought he 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 6i 
 
 looked like a picture of Time, and should 
 have carried a scythe to complete the illusion. 
 , " Novelty," he continued, " has a power- 
 ful and extensive influence ; it is the source 
 of admiration which lessens in proportion to 
 our familiarity with objects, and upon a 
 thorough acquaintance is utterly extinguished. 
 When you grow tired of this weird old place 
 you must cry aloud, you must beat your 
 wings on the bars, for I shall never remember 
 to ask how you prosper. Elizabeth tells me 
 I am impossible, but I cannot reform ; I go 
 on my evil way unchecked, yet the gods 
 forgive me." 
 
 He watched Jocelyn's athletic figure as 
 she ran before him, growing restive and less 
 maternal, moving with a grace and activity 
 he had not seen for years. His eyes glistened, 
 his heart warmed. 
 
 " You remind me of a chamois," he de- 
 clared, as she returned breathless to his side. 
 " Have you ever heard the old theory that 
 the gods formed the souls of women out of 
 the principles and elements of various animals? 
 Some souls were said to have the composition 
 of foxes. Those were discerning women with 
 great insight. The cat women were un- 
 amiable, f reward, and unloving, subject to 
 
62 ANGdLS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 little thefts and cheatings. But superior to 
 all was the bee, faultless and unblamable, full 
 of virtue and prudence, the best wife Jupiter 
 could bestow on a man." 
 
 " What a big, funny, twisted idea ! " 
 said Jocelyn. " I hope you won't find me a 
 cat-woman, with nasty claws hidden away." 
 
 " The theory," he rephed, " was evolved 
 from the brain of an old satirist, whose 
 fancy went even further, for some, he said, 
 were made out of the earth, and they were 
 indolent, having no alacrity in business, 
 and crouching over the fire the whole 
 winter. Some were made from the sea ; 
 they were variable, with uneven tempers, 
 stormy and tempestuous, or sunshiny and 
 calm." 
 
 " Like Mademoiselle," said Jocelyn, feeling 
 far away now from the cramping influence of 
 her late mistress. " Mademoiselle would one 
 day joke and laugh till you imagined her a 
 miracle of good humour ; then suddenly the 
 storm rose, she was nothing but fury, outrage, 
 and hurricane ! " 
 
 The Professor Ustened, but so abstractedly 
 he hardly seemed to follow her words. He 
 was drifting away from seventeen as they 
 neared the house. Jocelyn longed to read 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN, 63 
 
 his thoughts and find out the mystery of his 
 occupation, to decipher the yearning in those 
 strange eyes, ht by the flame of some occult 
 desire. She faltered with stumbling steps up 
 the ladder of his ambitions, she banished 
 Mademoiselle and spoke of science. 
 
 " It is fairy lore to me," she declared. 
 " Some day, perhaps, you will show me your 
 laboratory. I long for a taste of the wonder- 
 ful." 
 
 He shook his head. 
 
 " If you only knew the forces I am com- 
 bating," he answered ; "if you only knew ! 
 I strive with things impossible. If I might 
 live another hundred years I should reach 
 the truth. When the hour of death comes 
 no one ever finds the day has been long 
 enough. This life is the war of the false and 
 the true, and the nurse of full-grown souls is 
 solitude. For my aims life is all too short. 
 Occasionally you will find me sullen, dull, 
 despondent. Heaven grant I may not infect 
 you with my gloom ! Then, again, I fancy 
 myself upon the brink of a marvellous dis- 
 covery — a discovery for which I have been 
 working all my life." 
 
 Striking changes came over him as he 
 hinted at success. His eyes grew bright with 
 
64 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 a reflection of youth's keenness, while streaks 
 of colour painfully emphasised his transparent 
 skin. Great unspoken things were written 
 in the still face — shadows of coming events — 
 and the shadows tried to utter words to tell 
 the meaning of it all; but as yet infancy 
 made them speak like little children, whose 
 patter mystifies the uninitiated. 
 
 Jocelyn saw in him a living memorial to 
 " the quiet and exalted thoughts of loneli- 
 ness." His work was his passion, and even 
 speaking of it brought exultation to the 
 faded face. 
 
 She realised, young as she was, that 
 passions are necessary to the health of the 
 mind, as the circulation of animal spirits to 
 the health of the body, keeping it in strength 
 and vigour. To this she ascribed the mental 
 energy he still enjoyed in the sunset days of 
 a long, arduous career, for Jocelyn could be 
 very discerning when she chose. 
 
 Passions, she believed, must be little 
 spirits born with every mortal. She had met 
 these little spirits in various forms and guises ; 
 she knew and recognised their queer, unruly 
 ways. Sometimes, of course, they were mild 
 and peaceful, gentle tenants of the soul. 
 More often they domineered disgracefully. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 65 
 
 gaining a complete mastery over the reins of 
 reason and the guidance of judgment. She 
 wondered with a sudden sick aching at her 
 heart whether he made science his splendid 
 servant, or fell a slave beneath the burden 
 of that continuous labour. 
 
 At last Professor Gervalle broke the pause, 
 speaking in a dreamy, far-away tone. 
 
 " Have you ever dreamed of pneumato- 
 logy comprehensively understood — the doc- 
 trine of spiritual existences ? " 
 
 Jocelyn shook her head. She would not 
 speak for fear of diverting his line of thought. 
 Instead she watched him tentatively, as if he 
 were some curious bird about to take flight. 
 The Professor was drifting into deep waters 
 which savoured of mysticism. Jocelyn felt 
 out of her depth, but vaguely aspired to 
 swim. 
 
 " Have you ever thought," he continued, 
 " of the third power, the unknown principle 
 of life, and how much hinges upon it ? " 
 
 He looked her full in the face now, com- 
 pelling an answer. 
 
 " No," she said, hesitatingly, wishing it 
 might have been " Yes." She knew she was 
 hampered by ignorance, poor earth-bound 
 child ! His expression suggested awe and 
 
66 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 ecstasy — the adoration of some unseen power 
 by which miracles might be wrought in the 
 twentieth century. 
 
 " Browning wrote," murmured the Pro- 
 fessor, " ' Man was made to grow, not to 
 stop.' Only think of it, Jocelyn, I am growing 
 after eighty summers ! Should I reach the 
 goal of my ambitions I trust I shall never be 
 tempted to advertise my discovery or seek 
 fame thereby. Censure is the tax a man pays 
 to the public for eminence, while fame is 
 easily lost, and as difficult to be preserved as 
 acquired. On every side I meet pitfalls ; 
 often I am unable to clearly define between 
 mere creations of imagination and the legiti- 
 mate results of analysis and abstractions." 
 
 A slight shiver crept through Jocelyn's 
 veins, which even the warm summer air failed 
 to counteract. She saw in fancy this weird 
 old man tracked, and eventually captured, by 
 the silent-footed hound, madness ! With 
 lurking steps the demoniacal monster might 
 daily steal nearer, waiting to destroy his 
 victim's dazzled brain with poisonous fangs. 
 She always thought of madness in the form 
 of a huge, red-eyed dog, devouring the very 
 soul of its prey, after long hunting over 
 marshy ground. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 67 
 
 When next Professor Gervalle spoke she 
 gave quite a guilty start, convicted by 
 her own dark fancies of treachery to 
 him. 
 
 " The two pioneers of physical philosophy/' 
 he continued, " are Accident and Hypothesis. 
 So science, while professing to care for nothing 
 but what is certain, has actually owed the 
 extension of her domain greatly to chance 
 and conjecture. The humiliating fact is 
 freely acknowledged during the spring season 
 of any single branch of science ; but after- 
 wards, when the new truth acquires firmness, 
 and the system exacts submission, then it 
 often frowns upon hypothesis and thinks 
 itself beyond the reach of further accessions 
 from accident. Some day, if the mysteries I 
 hope to pierce become accomplished facts, the 
 world will open out for you and me into wide 
 and varied fields. Old as I am, I would give 
 my whole life for one year of secret success — 
 one year of real, vivid, charmed existence. 
 I look for a higher order of things — the fabric 
 of a dream may grow into a solid edifice, 
 reaching from earth to heaven." 
 
 He hardly appeared to address Jocelyn, 
 though a little quiver came in his voice as 
 the personal note vibrated through his fantasy. 
 
68 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 the " you and me," cementing their enforced 
 union. 
 
 She felt the influence of those two small 
 wordSj which had a subtly sweet sound, 
 charming her unconsciously. The Professor 
 had drawn the frailest outline of a picture, 
 which might some day find colour and sub- 
 stance. Being in her teens, Jocelyn naturally 
 placed unlimited faith in " Some day." 
 
 It is possible he would, in sheer absence 
 of mind, have opened the treasure store of 
 his busy brain to the prying eyes of a frivolous 
 schoolgirl only two days escaped from educa- 
 tional fetters had not Elizabeth unconsciously 
 rescued him by ringing a tea-bell. 
 
 The tea-bell held in its unmusical throat 
 the very warning he stood in need of, brazenly 
 declaring that children preferred scones to^ 
 scieince, marmalade to mysteries. 
 
 He awoke trembling. Jocelyn noticed he 
 shivered and clutched her hand. 
 
 With unexpected tact she asked no ques- 
 tions, but just tucked his arm through hers, 
 and obeyed Elizabeth's summons. 
 
 Who shall say what wheels of fancy the 
 Professor's words had set in motion, how the 
 budding intellect, bound in frail fresh green, 
 struggled to open out and blossom in full- 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 69 
 
 grown knowledge, as the baby bird flutters 
 through its cramping shell ? 
 
 With steps repressed to match his, Jocelyn 
 guided her grandfather back to the house. 
 She thought he needed her assistance, for a 
 haze came over his eyes, strained from looking 
 beyond at a too bright light ; he stumbled 
 and groped as one in the dark. 
 
 They talked of other things that evening, 
 and the Professor did not return to his 
 laboratory. 
 
 With good-night a surprise awaited him. 
 Quite naturally the soft, rose-like face bent 
 to his, the flutter of angels' wings swept his 
 cheek — Jocelyn (O nerve-shattering incon- 
 siderate youth !)— without a thought, Jocelyn 
 kissed him. 
 
 He heard her go, but his brain was in a 
 whirl. Spectres of the past rattled their old 
 bones, and gnashed fleshless jaws in the oak- 
 panelled room. He crouched low down in his 
 chair, and from his attitude he might have been 
 struck a heavy blow by some malignant enemy. 
 
 The white face grew whiter, the blue eye- 
 lids trembled, the wasted hands clutched 
 convulsively, and all because an ignorant 
 granddaughter little guessed the hermit had 
 forgotten the existence of a kiss. 
 
70 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The little more, and how much it is ; 
 The little less, and what worlds away ! 
 
 After that first evening, Professor Gervalle 
 braced himself for the ordeal of the kiss. He 
 bore it best in the morning, when Jocelyn 
 saluted him at breakfast, for then the ghosts 
 were hidden away with the moonbeams, dis- 
 graced by daylight's unillusive presence. If 
 Jocelyn wounded, she did it with such a 
 frank air of simplicity that the Professor would 
 not for the world have made her wise. He 
 even grew accustomed in time to this refined 
 torture, and met it with a certain relish. 
 
 Elizabeth watched in wonder this strange 
 new bird building her nest, settHng with per- 
 fect content at Heale Prior, and never once 
 complaining of dullness or ennui. 
 
 To the old woman " Sweet Seventeen " 
 preached a sermon, not a pulpit oration, but 
 the sermon flowers preach in spring when they 
 wake up with their " thank God " faces, and 
 open out gloriously to the sun. Jocelyn natur- 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 71 
 
 ally suggested spring to the mind ; her body 
 and soul seemed the very incarnation of all 
 that is best in that season of glad promise. 
 She looked with absolute confidence to the 
 midsummer of hfe, beheving greatly in the 
 future, at which her grandfather still hinted 
 with mystery in his tone. 
 
 Though Professor Gervalle had no acquaint- 
 ances, it did not take Jocelyn long to make a 
 host of friends. She discovered the most 
 fascinating rustics, living in cottages that 
 savoured of the Art Gallery and velvet-coated 
 intruders, armed with brush, palette, and 
 camp stool. The rustics owned ruddy-faced 
 children, who wore clean frocks and dropped 
 curtseys, but soon forgot their manners when 
 scrambling on Jocelyn's knee, since she often 
 accepted the ever-ready invitation to "Come 
 in and sit down." 
 
 Every child was known to her by name for 
 miles around ; she even remembered their ages 
 — from Ferdinand Michael Macgregor Jones, 
 in his seventh year, to Gladys Marigold Baker, 
 who elected to remain at five for the last two 
 summers because " she didn't want to grow 
 no older." 
 
 There were dumb friends who talked to 
 her in the language of the sniffing nose and the 
 
72 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 welcoming eye — pathetic sheep, with the 
 tragedy of the condemned writ large on their 
 resigned faces ; furious watchdogs straining 
 at chains, whose bark took a different tone 
 at her step, while wagging tails reiterated the 
 hearty " Come in and sit down." 
 
 Even the weed-grown garden at Heale 
 Prior produced finer flowers for Jocelyn's 
 bouquet, as if the very earth loved her, yield- 
 ing a grateful abundance in return for her 
 energy with an old watering-pot which had 
 taken holiday while she was at school. 
 
 The Professor, unlike the flowers, declined 
 to expand. He continued his unhealthy in- 
 door exercise with a pertinacity that boldly 
 defied the laws of hygiene . An onlooker might 
 fully have expected the humanising influence 
 of Jocelyn to work miracles and charm the 
 scientist from his lair, but Professor Gervalle 
 seemed past reclaiming in the early days of 
 his grandchild's reign. 
 
 At times she talked boldly to him of the 
 past ; but he remembered little, or perhaps 
 the dust of ages blinded him, and he could not 
 look back. She spoke of her grandmother, 
 begging for little incidents of his married life, 
 but he threw the merest crumbs to feed her 
 imagination. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN, 73 
 
 " Was she pretty ? " Jocelyn asked. " Did 
 she ever help you in your work ? I wonder if 
 she knew the poor people in those quaint 
 cottages at the foot of the hill." 
 
 Professor Gervalle furnished but scanty 
 information. 
 
 " Your grandmother had curly hair," he 
 said. " It hung on her neck, in ringlets ; she 
 was considered pretty. I don't know how she 
 amused herself, but she cared little for 
 problems or scientific experiments. She was 
 just there, you know, just there ! When she 
 died, I often thought her spirit stayed behind 
 and walked the corridors at night. The little 
 footsteps steal to my door even now, but I 
 never open to her ; she could pass in, if she 
 chose." 
 
 That was all he told of the woman who 
 made his life's romance — she walked after 
 death and wore curly hair. Poor grand- 
 mamma ! Once Jocelyn shed some tender 
 little tears for the ghost outside the door. She 
 had been outside always — Jocelyn felt sure 
 of that ; she might have passed in had she 
 chosen, only she never realised he waited for 
 her to take the initiative. 
 
 Later on Jocelyn led the conversation to 
 her own mother, the beautiful Idena. When 
 
74 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN-. 
 
 first she came to Heale Prior Professor Ger- 
 valle was a widower. He recalled her compli- 
 menting the old house profusely, and leaving 
 by an early train the following day. 
 
 "Some business appointment in London," 
 he explained. " She was very sorry to go." 
 
 Elizabeth, however, told a different story, 
 since she well remembered the Captain's visit 
 with his young bride. 
 
 " Mrs. Gervalle had a fit of hysterics in 
 the night, poor dear lady, and rang me up to 
 ask why the door handle kept rattling," was 
 the old servant's version. " I never saw such 
 a timid creature ; she vowed her hair would 
 turn grey if the Captain didn't take her straight 
 back to London the next morning. It was 
 her first and last visit, but the Professor never 
 knew what a horror she took of the place." 
 
 " I expect," said Jocelyn, " grandmamma 
 wanted to get in. She did not know the 
 strange woman had a right there. People 
 always misunderstood grandmamma." 
 
 Elizabeth shrugged methodical shoulders, 
 she knew that Jocelyn wove some pretty fancies 
 round defunct relations. Her father alone 
 escaped these imaginative romances ; his 
 death was too recent for the balm of fantasy, 
 and remained an open, bitter wound in the 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 75 
 
 region of Jocelyn's heart. But once had she 
 broached the subject, when pinning a bunch 
 of coloured flowers on her black dress. 
 
 " Father would wish me to wear them/' 
 she said. " He always liked people to be gay. 
 Father was very real to me, though we were 
 separated for many years. When he died I 
 felt as if someone were stabbing me through 
 and through with a knife, but I couldn't cry 
 out, I couldn't resist the pain. It comes back 
 often now when I am laughing, and nobody 
 suspects. I think it will be like that always 
 — the pain and the silence." 
 
 Elizabeth could be marvellously sympa- 
 thetic in the twilight. During the day her 
 sympathies seemed warped, but after sunset 
 Elizabeth's soul grew younger as her house- 
 hold duties decreased. She then released the 
 set muscles of her face, telling Jocelyn anec- 
 dotes of her great uncles and aunts while she 
 nursed a kitten which always fled from her in 
 the morning. 
 
 Having spent nearly her whole life at 
 Heale Prior, she would convincingly expatiate 
 on the doings of " the great folk in London," 
 criticising their habits, and reorganising in her 
 own quaint way many established customs and 
 fashions. 
 
■}6 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 
 
 Jocelyn, who knew a great deal more than 
 Elizabeth imagined, refrained from shaking 
 that worthy woman's faith in a friend from 
 Hammersmith who occasionally visited Sal- 
 ford and taxed the credulity of the natives for 
 his own private amusement. 
 
 " Thomas tells me/' EUzabeth would re- 
 late, " that only motor-cars are allowed in 
 Hyde Park now, and they've built a lot of 
 little bridges over the roads for foot passengers 
 because of the danger. Piccadilly is entirely 
 used for electric trams, so all the carriage folk 
 have migrated to the suburbs ! Houses in 
 Hammersmith last season cost more than 
 houses in Park Lane ; so Thomas gave up his, 
 and went to lodgings on account of the 
 enormous rent." 
 
 Jocel}^! discovered Thomas had played in 
 pantomime and occasionally wrote for the 
 papers. He was well known in sporting circles 
 and " did a bit on the turf." Elizabeth prided 
 herself greatly upon his acquaintance, and the 
 girl was too kind to shatter such a glorious idol. 
 She only wondered whether in time she might 
 not grow like Elizabeth, and believe in any 
 traveller's tale from the far distant shores of 
 London Town. 
 
 With the waning of summer came autumn's 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. yy 
 
 wealth of colour and mellow charm, tempting 
 her to try and paint the holy glory of crimson 
 cUnging leaves and golden forests. What 
 matter that she soiled her fingers and de- 
 stroyed good canvas ; the artist's soul was 
 there, struggling to attain. She tried the least 
 ambitious subjects — rustic cottages, fortified 
 by blackberry hedges or broken-down gates — 
 scenes of infinite simplicity. 
 
 But she painted them into her memory and 
 into her soul, having nothing to show for her 
 labour but a charred inspiration cremated 
 under the grate. 
 
 The autumn days saw many repetitions of 
 these sorry failures, till silent-footed winter 
 stole a sudden march upon the coloured vest- 
 ments of the trees. Off Jack Frost swept 
 them, the hard-hearted, white-footed knave, 
 chasing Jocelyn indoors, to seek fresh pastimes 
 under Heale Prior's silvered towers. 
 
 The funny part of it was, until she told him, 
 the Professor did not know winter had come. 
 
 A faint stirring of conscience warned him 
 that long, lonely, desolate months awaited 
 Jocelyn. Consequently he sought some enter- 
 tainment for her, with boredom written on 
 every line of his faded face. 
 
 At last a solution of the difficulty flashed 
 
78 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 across his mind. Books ! They were the key to 
 a happy country life ; in reading lay salvation. 
 With much pomp an old chest was removed 
 from his laboratory to Jocelyn's private 
 chamber, in which, he informed her, she would 
 find a store of delightful literature. 
 
 Jocelyn thanked him with a repetition of 
 her morning and evening offence. That he 
 should think of her moved the girl strangely. 
 The flashes of affection which crept occasion- 
 ally from under his fossilised exterior met 
 with such a glowing reception that the poor 
 unaccustomed rays shot back affrighted to 
 their hiding-place, knowing that the day had 
 not yet come for warm glad knowledge and 
 unchecked light. 
 
 In the Professor's chest of light reading she 
 unearthed strange works for a young mind. 
 It did not strike him as incongruous to find 
 the delicate flushed face, with its soft spring 
 bloom, bending over Burton's " Anatomy of 
 Melancholy " and Kant's " Critique of Pure 
 Reason," or studying with a mystifying rap- 
 ture the " Logic " of John Stuart Mill. 
 
 Jocelyn called it her " reading winter." 
 The months seemed like a time of probation, 
 yet she could not have explained for what she 
 waited. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 79 
 
 She felt herself shipwrecked for a little 
 while on a narrow island, in the midst of an 
 ocean immeasurably diffused on every side, as 
 far as the eye could reach. Yet she knew a 
 change must come, and her ship might any 
 day bound in, blown by sure breezes to that 
 silent harbour. Then she would spring to its 
 deck with a light heart, possibly dragging the 
 hermit after her, unwilling to leave him on the 
 desert island, though he pleaded hard to stay. 
 
 She did not forget her cottage children in 
 the cold dark days, though they greeted her 
 with sneezes instead of flowers, and their faces 
 grew older with the pinch of winter's blight. 
 The httle girl who wished to be five found it 
 harder to deceive when her small snub nose 
 turned red from cold and chilblains disfigured 
 her fingers. Stern Father Time withered her 
 with a glance, proclaiming : " You are now 
 seven and a half, but when summer comes you 
 may perhaps be five again ! " For even 
 Father Time gives back a store of youth when 
 the world is a tender green and the mother 
 of new-born flowers. 
 
 During all these long months Jocelyn 
 heard nothing of Jacobina, till Christmas 
 brought its usual card with its cynical " For 
 Remembrance." Jocelyn left it unacknow- 
 
8o ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 ledged, telling herself Lady Livingstone would 
 be too busy to care whether a country cousin 
 wrote or kept silence. 
 
 In her heart she knew Jacobina deserved 
 no news from Heale Prior. The Professor 
 always spoke kindly of her. Remembering she 
 was a GervallCj he felt he owed the woman 
 some gratitude for keeping away from him. 
 He had always genuinely feared his relations. 
 " Drive out Nature with a fork, she comes 
 running back," was one of the mottoes that 
 increased his alarm. He instinctively defined 
 a woman as "an animal that delights in 
 finery " ; but Jocelyn disturbed his old 
 theories. 
 
 He occasionally found time to observe his 
 granddaughter, and on reflection admitted to 
 himself she was almost beautiful. In a very 
 short time he believed she might grow quite 
 beautiful, without a flaw in her bewildering 
 composition. 
 
 A woman with gifts (for Jocelyn held many 
 in those little white hands) appeared no small 
 responsibility to a man past eighty. The 
 indisputable fact of her claim upon him bade 
 Professor Gervalle dream no longer of quiet 
 life, for " care finds the careless out." 
 
 He grew more haggard, more sternly aged, 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 8i 
 
 as the winter advanced. He was still thin 
 and transparent, but the deep-set hnes in his 
 face took a fresh character, ennobling rather 
 than marring the striking individuahty of 
 that strained, thoughtful countenance. Jocelyn 
 saw much to admire in the Professor's ap- 
 pearance, and her admiration was akin to the 
 deep emotion which Heale Prior awoke in her 
 heart. Old trees, in their stately grandeur, 
 ever brought him to her mind. Nature was 
 undoubtedly full of a sublime family likeness 
 throughout her works. 
 
 In tremulous expectation Jocelyn waited 
 for Spring, her twin sister ; but the artful 
 sprite tarried wilfully. It is often so with 
 those who know their charm ; they sulk in 
 corners that the seekers may be better pleased 
 when the glad finding comes. 
 
 Winter spared her snow, but March burst 
 in with desperate showers of whirling dizzy 
 flakes, playing mad pranks in the wind, and 
 making the Sussex hills like Alpine heights, 
 clad in virgin whiteness. 
 
 The fiend undoubtedly owned a dazzling 
 brush, under whose touch the country stood 
 beautified, as a bride on her wedding morning. 
 Was it wonderful that, being only seventeen, 
 Spring's twin sister should romp down the hill 
 
82 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 with those red-nosed children, who forgot to 
 sneeze in their dehght at the newly fallen 
 treasure, made for snowballing battles ? 
 Having conquered Jocelyn through force of 
 numbers, they followed their laughing foe 
 back up the steep, winding road, fearful lest 
 she should be destroyed of bears and wolves, 
 or induced to slumber from sheer exhaustion 
 after a desperate fray. 
 
 " You would never be found again if the 
 snow buried you," Ferdinand Michael Mac- 
 gregor Jones informed her, and being the 
 son of a highly superior farmer, whose wife 
 was once a lady's maid, he, of course, pos- 
 sessed a very fair share of this world's wisdom. 
 " Gladys once lost twopence in the snow, and 
 we think it melted when the snow went, 
 because she never got it back again." 
 
 " The snow," said Jocelyn, " has come to 
 hatch the April flowers. It is really warm 
 down off big white birds called ice-birds, be- 
 cause they live in the Arctic regions. That is 
 why the daisies are white. You see, the 
 snow lies longer on the fields." 
 
 " Are the ice-birds like geese ? " asked 
 Ferdinand. 
 
 " Yes, in a way." 
 
 " There would be a mighty lot of them," 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 83 
 
 soliloquised the farmer's son. " What a time 
 the folks must have at Michaelmas in their 
 village ! " 
 
 Oh ! hopelessly unromantic Ferdinand, 
 with your heart set on the groaning board, 
 would you reach manhood with no higher 
 thought than the eating of those dumb flut- 
 tering spirits which dwell in the shape of 
 white-winged birds ? What pathos may live 
 in the face of a foolish gosling ! 
 
 Miss Gervalle looked almost twenty-one 
 as she discreetly turned the subject. " Chil- 
 dren," she said, bidding her youthful escorts 
 good-bye at the gates, "it is my eighteenth 
 birthday next month, so I am going to ask 
 you all to tea. Elizabeth will make a big iced 
 cake, and we shall play games." 
 
 She returned to the house with the satis- 
 faction of knowing that loving eyes followed 
 her. Aglow from healthy exercise, her pulses 
 beating like sledge hammers, she sought 
 Elizabeth's society. It was impossible to re- 
 member Elizabeth particularly disliked wet 
 boots in her room, but flesh and blood could 
 not restrain a smile at sight of Jocelyn's 
 scarlet cheeks and parted lips. 
 
 So Elizabeth received her like a sunbeam, 
 and forgave the boots. 
 
84 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 " I've made those children in such a 
 mess ! " the mischievous girl confessed. " I 
 am guilty ■ of ever so many snow-drenched 
 frocks and battered hats. I feel I ought to 
 re-clothe the whole village. The mutinous 
 creatures really thought it was the battle of 
 Waterloo, and I had to be defeated by young 
 England, since in a weak moment I turned 
 traitor to my country. I told them of our 
 plan for my birthday, but mind, I don't want 
 grandfather to know when I am eighteen, 
 and need we mention my tea-party to him ? " 
 
 " No, children are not in his line," Eliza- 
 beth freely acknowledged. " But why keep 
 your age a secret, miss ? " 
 
 " It might worry him," said Jocelyn, with 
 unwonted tenderness. " Girls come out at 
 eighteen, and I can't bear to see that hunted 
 look in his eyes when he remembers about 
 me." 
 
 " The master has been stranger than ever 
 of late," mused Elizabeth. " I cannot under- 
 stand his moods. I see a difference in him, 
 a marked change. He seems at times to be 
 labouring under almost unbearable excite- 
 ment. I heard him talking to you so wildly. 
 I wondered you were not afraid. His mind 
 runs upon matters that are beyond our reach. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 85 
 
 Sometimes I think he sees into another world. 
 I know you believe in guardian angels, and 
 perhaps that is why you don't seem fright- 
 ened ; but for myself, he scares me out of my 
 wits when his eyes suddenly glisten and his 
 jaw drops. I fancy then he is in the grip of 
 an unseen spirit. That room he calls his 
 laboratory is, to my belief, a haunt of devils. 
 The awful creatures have had him in their 
 power, and they come to life when we least 
 suspect their presence. 
 
 Elizabeth spoke from conviction, glancing 
 nervously from right to left, as if expecting 
 apparitions. Elizabeth, be it remembered, 
 had not returned glowing from a scamper 
 through the snow, or possibly her faith in 
 psychical phenomena might have melted with 
 warm circulation. 
 
 " I would rather think angels were around 
 him," said Jocelyn softly. " He certainly 
 varies from day to day, as if, indeed, the 
 angels and devils used him as a shuttlecock." 
 
 " If that is the case they are having a 
 queer game," snapped Elizabeth, for twilight 
 had not yet fallen, and she was still in a hard- 
 ened mood. " I assure you this morning, 
 Miss Jocelyn, I felt regularly scared, for you 
 could never, never guess what the master 
 
86 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 did." She paused^ and Jocelyn drew closer, 
 with a Httle eerie flutter at her heart. 
 
 " Tell me/' she said, deceiving Elizabeth 
 by a laugh which implied scepticism. 
 
 " You know, miss, the Professor doesn't 
 trouble his head with household affairs. Well, 
 it's almost incredible, but after breakfast, 
 when you were on the terrace feeding the 
 birds, he came running down just as fast as 
 his poor old feet could carry him to the back 
 door. ' I want to see the tradespeople,' he 
 said, trembling with agitation, and I began 
 to tremble too, for I thought he had gone daft. 
 The baker's cart was just coming up the drive, 
 and you can imagine the young fellow's sur- 
 prise when the Professor himself bounced out 
 of the kitchen and asked him quite rational 
 questions about prices and trade. He waited 
 to interview them all in turn, and when I told 
 him there would be no more callers to-day, he 
 went back with a sigh. Great beads of per- 
 spiration stood out on his forehead. I helped 
 him up the stairs, for I thought every moment 
 he would fall." 
 
 Elizabeth's story brought an expression to 
 Jocelyn's eyes which only dwelt there when 
 she thought of the silent-footed hound. 
 
 " Grandfather is full of whims," she said, 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 87 
 
 trying to speak in a matter-of-fact tone. 
 " We must not be surprised at anything. 
 Had he that strange new ear-trumpet 
 with him ? " 
 
 " Yes, he kept it in his ear all the time, 
 and told the tradespeople the cold affected 
 his hearing. He has never complained of 
 deafness before, and that too, I believe, is just 
 a crank — an imaginative ailment. I notice 
 he hears just as well without it, but I suppose 
 he is proud of making the instrument himself, 
 though it isn't like any ear-trumpet I ever 
 saw." 
 
 " It certainly is rather an odd shape, but 
 I think it sharpens his intelligence, for he 
 always has an amazingly rapt expression 
 when it is in use. He may have been deaf 
 before without our detecting anything, for his 
 conversation is so often disjointed one hardly 
 notices if he doesn't answer. He takes great 
 care of his beloved trumpet, and won't let 
 me touch it, for he says it is a very delicate 
 piece of mechanism. Really, I sometimes 
 believe he takes me for a child." 
 
 Jocelyn pouted with charming disdain, 
 vaguely aware she suffered from youth. The 
 violet eyes could look strangely bright under 
 the fire of rebellion, though in truth it was 
 
88 ANGELS, 'AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 always a mock-war, like the snowballing 
 battle of Waterloo. 
 
 She crossed restlessly to the diamond- 
 paned windows, Hstening to the melodious 
 chimes from the old clock tower. Suddenly 
 she turned with an exclamation of surprise, 
 and beckoned Elizabeth. 
 
 " Look ! " she whispered ; " look ! Grand- 
 father has been out in the snow. He is walk- 
 ing Hke a two-year-old. I do believe he's 
 taken a fresh lease of life." 
 
 Elizabeth raised her eyes to the ceiling- 
 beams with a pious gesture, and hurried to 
 the window. The Professor was coming 
 towards the house, his shrunken figure 
 huddled in a long overcoat, his steps firm, 
 and far from slow. They seemed defying 
 age, though the white ground matched his^ 
 hair and beard. 
 
 " Doesn't he look hke Father Christmas ? " 
 said Jocelyn. " He told me he never went 
 out in the cold. I should love to have 
 walked with him." 
 
 She ran to meet the Professor with her 
 tam-o'-shanter cap at a rakish angle, and her 
 furs open at the throat, bounding two steps 
 at a time down the ghostly wide oak stair- 
 case, and darting out through a carved porch, 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 89 
 
 with great dragons keeping their deathless 
 watch upon the spandrels above. 
 
 " Come in to the fire, grandfather," she 
 cried ; " you must be nearly frozen." 
 
 A glance at his face told that he felt the 
 cold acutely. Breathless from quick walking, 
 he obeyed without a word, silently thanking 
 her with his fragile smile as she drew an arm- 
 chair to the hearth. Bright flames traced 
 ruddy patterns over the fantastic mantelpiece, 
 throwing crimson light on the old man's 
 yellow skin. 
 
 Jocelyn removed his long, sable-lined coat. 
 She noticed the fur was falling to pieces, 
 having entirely disappeared in parts, while 
 both cuffs and collar bore evidence of Eliza- 
 beth's needle. 
 
 She wondered if her brain had also suffered 
 the destruction of the moth as he rescued from 
 a deep pocket the mysterious home-made ear 
 trumpet which he guarded with such marked 
 vigilance, 
 
 " Where have you been ? " she asked, 
 raising her voice and bending to the instru- 
 ment. She felt a great tenderness towards 
 him, mingling with fond fears, as she remem- 
 bered Elizabeth's conversation. 
 
 The old man's eyes seemed piercing her, as 
 
90 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 she knelt at his feet, her hands outstretched 
 to the fire. 
 
 " I walked down the hill/' he answered, 
 watching her start of surprise. " It is many 
 years since I called at any of the cottages, 
 and I thought they might need help this 
 weather, so I took them some money. I 
 stayed talking a long while, otherwise I should 
 not have felt cold. The effort of walking 
 taxed my strength a good deal. All the faces 
 were strange to me ; I had to introduce my- 
 self. I have not been into the village since 
 your grandmother died, and Elizabeth tells 
 me the tree I then planted by her grave is 
 tall enough to sit under now. I frightened 
 some of the children, for they see so few 
 strangers. I heard a fair-sized lad whisper 
 to his sister, ' It's the old miser from the big 
 house ! ' His words merely echoed what I 
 read in every eye ; they all think the same ; 
 they all believe I am a miser. We learn 
 much through mixing with our fellows ; we 
 learn more when years are spent in solitude. 
 Jocelyn, I have had a great education. ' Life 
 is action, and not to do is death.' In my 
 youth, even, I knew I was never less alone 
 than when alone. I have worked unceasingly, 
 and now I am on the threshold of reward. I 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 91 
 
 have touched the golden border of my dreams. 
 I spent half a century longing and striving 
 for light, but all the light I found was second- 
 hand. Then I grew crafty, as wisdom in- 
 creased ; when despair knocked at my door 
 I turned the key. You think that I am mad 
 — poor little girl, small wonder, for at your 
 age it is hard to realise solitude often makes 
 the best society. Perhaps you believe I 
 deserve the term miser, but a miser is one 
 who hoards his store for the lustful love of 
 gold. I merely ignored my wealth because I 
 had not time to waste upon it, and wealth 
 is a very exacting mistress. The fewer our 
 wants, the nearer we resemble the gods. With 
 many, life is only a circulation of little mean 
 actions. They lie down, rise again, dress and 
 undress, feed, become hungry, work, play, 
 grow weary, and once more rest — so the 
 circle returns. I never submitted to the 
 slavery of routine, my programme was always 
 a strange variety of absorbing study. Within 
 the last few weeks I have touched success, 
 breaking down the limitations that cramped 
 and fettered me. As in the case of rumbling 
 thunder, lightning has passed from cloud to 
 cloud, so I pierced the darkness, and now 
 stand ready for the day ! " 
 
92 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 
 
 His words came with halting breath, the 
 tremulous hands outstretched and gripped 
 Jocelyn's strong young shoulders. 
 
 " Will you come into the world with me," 
 he asked, " away from solitude to the bright 
 gardens of social intercourse, where life beats 
 fullest, where human beings throng thickest ? 
 We must make our debut together — the man 
 of eighty and the girl of eighteen ! We'll 
 take the mortals by storm, you and I, with 
 rich gifts from the gods. I am impatient for 
 the fray, young April, if you can join hands 
 with December. Let us shake the dust of 
 Heale Prior from our feet. Discovery opens 
 large fields, vast scope remains for experiment 
 and enterprise." 
 
 He held the trumpet to his ear, and 
 Jocelyn fancied he must catch the wild beating 
 of her heart. She swayed nearer, an odd 
 dizziness filling her brain. 
 
 Professor Gervalle opened his arms, and 
 something sweetly young crept into them — 
 Spring, with rain-drenched eyes, gazing on 
 shining prospects and bright golden scenes, 
 while fair phantoms of the future threw 
 mocking kisses to the played-out ghosts of 
 the past. 
 
93 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Each man makes his own stature, builds himself. 
 
 — Young. 
 
 JocELYN had much to learn on that snow- 
 clad afternoon, though the Professor gave no 
 definite reason for the great change in his 
 life's plan. It was no sudden thought, he told 
 her. It might have happened years ago, or 
 years hence had he still lived. It was all a 
 matter of scientific failure or success. He 
 emphasised the fact that she had not influ- 
 enced his actions, though he well knew she 
 would be eighteen on the twenty-first day of 
 April, and approved a certain tea-party to be 
 held in honour of that event. 
 
 " I asked Ehzabeth not to tell," said 
 Jocelyn. " I fancied it might trouble you a 
 httle." 
 
 " And Ehzabeth kept faithful silence," re- 
 torted the old man, with a glint of cynical 
 humour in his eyes. " I found you out never- 
 theless, and, as the London season begins in 
 May, you need not disappoint your little 
 friends." 
 
94 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 " The London season ! " gasped Jocelyn, 
 looking instinctively at the thin wasted hands 
 which lay on her shoulders. 
 
 " Ah ! you think I haven't the health to 
 face such an ordeal," he murmured ; " you 
 judge by appearances. If I had sufficient 
 energy to work, it stands to reason I shall also 
 find strength enough to play. There will be 
 purpose and study in all our doings, a sort of 
 kindergarten game for fuU-grown scientists." 
 
 He laughed, just a low little chuckle, ex- 
 pressive of delight. 
 
 " But I am no scientist," said Jocelyn, 
 " only I should like to find out what it really 
 means. I hope you are going to explain the 
 mystery. There is a certain irritating tri- 
 umph in your eyes that simply tortures my 
 curiosity, and, of course, in my heart I feel 
 quite sure it is all a dream, and we are not 
 really going to London." 
 
 " Explanations come of themselves to tell 
 their own story, if you wait long enough," he 
 answered, touching her hair with nervous 
 fingers. " Why should I tell you in two 
 minutes what it has taken me sixty years to 
 learn ? Really, a woman has no sense of 
 proportion." 
 
 " Elizabeth will never believe in your 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 95 
 
 ' coming out/ " Jocelyn declared, with a 
 sound of satisfaction like a dove cooing. " I 
 know when I tell her she will take my tem- 
 perature, feel my puls'e, and mix me a cooling 
 dose. Shall you give a ball, grandfather ? 
 Do you think you could dance ? " 
 
 " I am afraid not, but somebody else could. 
 I shall take a big house and entertain. I must 
 have people — people all round me, puppets 
 to dance to my tune. Only think, I was re- 
 duced this morning to conversing with the 
 tradesmen. Elizabeth has a theory that I 
 owe my wonderful constitution (she always 
 calls it wonderful) to the bracing climate of 
 Salford. She will not give my life many 
 months' lease, I fear, when she learns I am 
 going to try a change of scene. In her opinion 
 London and all large cities are shut off from 
 fresh air. She could never understand that 
 the air from the earth rises in streams and 
 bubbles, and even in London it is always send- 
 ing slerider spirals of air twisting up to the 
 pure regions above, so that air-falls of a cold, 
 pure nature rush downwards, whirling away 
 germs of disease and unprofitable gases. But, 
 at the best, I must anticipate a short career." 
 His voice shook slightly. " If I could have 
 gone back sooner, God alone knows what I 
 
96 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 might have been, what I might have done. It 
 wasn't meant, the Great Justice willed other- 
 wise ; He knows my weakness and age ; He 
 guards well the economy of the world. A 
 little power may be given to man, just some- 
 times mortal hands may touch the supreme 
 reins, and guide for a few short moments the 
 destiny of human races. But the great God 
 is a jealous God, and we must not ask too 
 much. ' Cast yourself down, and all the king- 
 doms of the world shall be yours ' is still the 
 temptation of the hour, whispered in various 
 tongues, and wrapt in many disguises. I, 
 Jocelyn, old, exhausted, dried up and withered, 
 stand in the wilderness to-day, seeing the 
 cities at my feet. Had you listened at my 
 door you might have heard me cry, ' Get thee 
 behind me ! ' A man may choose whether he 
 will purchase with the strength he possesses 
 happiness or repentance. I mean to hug my 
 secret to myself, to guard it with a vigilance 
 that nothing shall break down. Jocelyn, my 
 child, you are not afraid ? I talk as if you 
 understood my methods ; I lead you stumbling 
 through the dark, and you follow without 
 crying for a light." 
 
 Jocelyn rose. She stood before him now, 
 very erect, strangely commanding. He saw 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 97 
 
 she had succeeded in becoming quite beautiful, 
 with a beauty of the soul which shone through 
 her eyes. 
 
 " I am not afraid," she declared. " I 
 have been alone long enough to conquer 
 fear. SoUtude, you see, has taught me 
 something." 
 
 The weakly young tree seemed suddenly 
 stretching out protecting boughs, which in the 
 shade and solitude of Heale Prior had de- 
 veloped with amazing growth. Jocelyn was 
 not handsome by the force of features alone — 
 her eyes, with their rapt expression, testified 
 that the unseen world may sometimes blend 
 its colour with our earth below, and there was 
 a sanctity in the youthful face which jarred 
 not at all with laughter or merry-making. 
 
 " She will be something new to the women 
 of London," thought Professor Gervalle. 
 " Will they treat her as a shrine, or tear her in 
 pieces with their cynicism ? " 
 
 He contemplated, in contrast to Jocelyn, 
 women who never throw away a thought on 
 those ornaments of mind that make people 
 illustrious in themselves and useful to others. 
 She, during the brief pause, marvelled that he 
 should know temptations, consoling herself by 
 thinking that all great genius has faults mixed 
 
 H 
 
98 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 with virtue, resembling the flaming bush 
 which had thorns amongst Ught. 
 
 " I shall be curious to see how society 
 aiJects you," he murmured. " I hope you 
 will stand out as a character, rather than swim 
 with the stream. I intend you to be very 
 strong. Remember that youth and beauty 
 are red rags to the cat-women, who see in the 
 dark, and spring on the sparrows. Then there 
 are men-wolves busy with human sacrifice — 
 the men who only love women for the wealth 
 contained in a suitable marriage settlement, 
 expecting a wife to replenish their coffers. 
 Man is possibly the middle link between angels 
 and brutes. Some of the ancients imagined 
 that as men during their lives inclined more 
 to the angel or the brute, so after death they 
 transmigrated into one or the other. You may 
 picture the several species of brutes to which 
 tyrants or — or misers might be changed." 
 
 Jocelyn tossed her proud young head in- 
 dignantly, noting he laid a significant stress 
 on the word " misers." She was ready to 
 defend him against calumny, to strike dumb 
 with a glance, or crush by a look, any who 
 dared take his name in vain. She even re- 
 sented a reflection from his own lips on the 
 virtues she felt sure he possessed. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 99 
 
 This day he had risen to great heights in 
 Jocelyn's estimation. She admired, vastly, 
 his power of shedding the old shackles, and 
 facing new modes of life with a careless smile 
 at his advanced age. She appreciated the 
 infinite variety of this strange temperament, 
 no longer deeming him mad, but hailing him 
 genius ! 
 
 Yet she felt it must all be short, she knew 
 he was nearing the narrow border which di- 
 vides the seen from the unseen. Did her 
 moist eyes betray her, or, if not, why should 
 he take up the drift of her thoughts, as if she 
 had spoken and demanded an answer ? 
 
 " You must not mind," he said, " that I 
 am old. The ultimate end of man is the en- 
 joyment of God, beyond which he cannot 
 form a wish. I tell myself this when rebellion 
 creeps in. A little more life, and then 
 Eternity." 
 
 The great word lingered on his lips ; 
 he drew his finger along the arm of his 
 chair. 
 
 " Eternity," he murmured, " or infinite 
 duration, a line without beginning or end. 
 The particular place where we exist is to us a 
 kind of centre to the whole expansion. But 
 the unseen world is the greatest, my child, 
 
100 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN-. 
 
 for it holds in its kingdom all that we worship. 
 It embraces the future and the past ; it con- 
 tains our souls. We have it with us always, 
 that nation of vast shadows, which is inalien- 
 able. Infinite space gives room to infinite 
 knowledge ; it is, as it were, the organ of 
 omniscience." 
 
 How characteristic that Professor Gervalle 
 should stray involuntarily from the practical 
 to the intangible ! 
 
 " Grandfather," said Jocelyn, " you always 
 seem able to read my thoughts. Does that 
 mean we are in strong sympathy with each 
 other ? I hope so, for it happened in much 
 the same way at school if I grew Very fond of 
 a girl and was a great deal with her. We 
 called it telepathy." 
 
 He passed his hand over his forehead, that 
 lined expanse which, like the clock of time, 
 spelt " Age " in deep, indelible letters. He 
 looked away as he replied : — 
 
 " A quotation from Browning describes 
 that quick passing of ideas : ' Speech where 
 an accent's change gives each the other's 
 soul.' " 
 
 He raised himself with an effort, and waved 
 aside her help, seeking to conceal his palpable 
 fatigue. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. loi 
 
 " I must write letters/' he said. " Our 
 migration to London needs some forethought, 
 little woman. I have much to consider." 
 
 He crossed the room slowly, and his figure 
 in the shadows looked so ghostly, so ethereal, 
 he might have passed from life already. She 
 ■pictured him gliding quite naturally through 
 the " dark Amaze of Death," fearless in that 
 tempest hour when flesh and soul mysteri- 
 ously part. Could such a grey, flickering 
 spirit face the rush and whirl of social func- 
 tions ? Was it not rather some wild joke of 
 the imagination ? It must all be a strange 
 phase of satire, an illusion, a mist within the 
 brain. She followed him to the door, her 
 heart kindling with the steady fire of perpetual 
 kindness, which had burnt there ever since 
 she had first walked by his side, proud that 
 he discarded the help of a stick. That vague 
 stirring of maternal solicitude met with no 
 eclipse ; it grew in silence, sometimes repulsed, 
 never defeated. 
 
 " You must let me be your secretary," she 
 said, " if — if you really — mean " 
 
 She stammered and left her sentence un- 
 finished, afraid of hurting his feelings. 
 
 " I hope to engage a first-rate secre- 
 tary," he repUed, ignoring her increduUty. 
 
102 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 " Already I am in communication with one 
 who has been in the Duke of HambUn's service 
 for many years ; he sends me splendid testi- 
 monials. I shall want him to find a house 
 for uSj and arrange everything. Meanwhile I 
 can get on without help^ thank you all the 
 same. You might tell Elizabeth my plans. 
 Break them to her gently ^ for she's old, poor 
 soul, and really suffers when her groove is 
 attacked by earthquake and upheaval. I 
 frightened her this morning. I forgot how 
 sensitive women are." 
 
 A new sympathy rang in his tone. Jocelyn 
 had known him resort to satire, sharp and 
 biting as a sword. Now he seemed to look 
 with quiet tolerance upon all weakness, even 
 considering Elizabeth ! 
 
 In the past she appeared somewhat as an 
 enemy, one who would fain have lured him 
 from his endless study by little tricks and 
 subtle deceits. She had been known to alter 
 the hands of the clock, but time could not 
 hold him in bondage, and so the subterfuge 
 failed. Poor creature, her power to control 
 the hermit being nil, she must needs content 
 herself with meaner subjects, ruling the 
 frightened kitchen-maid and lording it over 
 the meagre household. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 103 
 
 " Will Elizabeth come to London with 
 us ? " asked Jocelyn. 
 
 She wanted to be sure of her ground before 
 bursting her bombshell. 
 
 " Oh, yes ; if it please her. Elizabeth is 
 an institution, impossible to shake her founda- 
 tions. You might as well meditate an attack 
 upon Westminster Abbey. But we shall 
 naturally require a more modern style of 
 housekeeper, when entertaining on a large 
 scale. Let Elizabeth wear a silk frock, sit in 
 her own parlour, and pay the maids their 
 wages. The working housekeeper will see that 
 the men-servants do their duty, and order the 
 bill of fare. Tell Elizabeth she is to be a lady 
 and rest upon her oars." 
 
 Jocelyn flitted away with her wonderful 
 news. She felt like a mythical Santa Claus 
 bearing dazzling toys, rich fruits and crackers, 
 stealing down an old chimney to the room of 
 some sleeping child. For what did Elizabeth's 
 mind resemble more than credulous childhood, 
 which hopeth all things, feareth all things ? 
 
 " How is your heart, Elizabeth ? " she 
 ■ asked, stealing on tiptoe to the sombre figure. 
 
 " Bless you, there's nothing wrong with 
 my heart. Miss Jocelyn ! What a question, to 
 be sure ! " 
 
104 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 The peaceful twilight stretched dim fingers 
 across the room, and the kitten had stolen to 
 Elizabeth's knee with a faint mew, its " open 
 sesame " to the palace of her affections, 
 
 " Then brace yourself," cried Jocelyn, " for 
 a great surprise. It is a long lane that has 
 no turning. Grandfather has at last turned." 
 
 " Oh, miss, don't talk in that wild way. It 
 sounds like something tinned in hot weather," 
 gasped Elizabeth, fanning herself with her 
 pocket-handkerchief. 
 
 Jocelyn's mind touched a more romantic 
 line of thought. 
 
 " You know," she said, " that after the 
 wilderness came the land flowing with milk 
 and honey. We have all been in the desert 
 together, very much alone, seeing the same 
 view day after day, pilgrimaging through, 
 quiet months. But in the end the great re- 
 ward breaks upon our languishing sight, 
 Elizabeth. You know your sight is languish- 
 ing, or you would not be wearing those 
 glasses." 
 
 Jocelyn was laughing now, her face rip- 
 pling with sunbeams, her dimples quite in 
 their best form. 
 
 " I wish you wouldn't talk in riddles, miss ; 
 my head is going round. Parables are all very 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 105 
 
 well in the great Book, but I can't see what 
 wildernesses and deserts have to do with us." 
 
 Resignation, tinged with disappointment, 
 subdued Jocelyn's dimples. How was it pos- 
 sible to make Elizabeth understand the simili- 
 tude ? Such density was its own obstacle, 
 and fettered the wings of imagination. Cer- 
 tainly Elizabeth would never fly ! 
 
 " The land flowing with milk and honey is 
 London," said the girl, in the tone of a teacher 
 explaining a lesson. (She felt very like 
 Mademoiselle at that moment.) " The wil- 
 derness, Salford. We are going to London, 
 
 you and I and " (She paused to make 
 
 the effect more startling) " and grandfather ! " 
 
 Elizabeth's knees sank, precipitating the 
 kitten on the floor, 
 
 " It's never true ? " she gasped. " You're 
 trying to make a fool of me, miss, before the 
 first of April." 
 
 " No, I am not quite so unorthodox," 
 Jocelyn declared, as she expounded the 
 amazing plan, using some of the Professor's 
 words to emphasise the reality of her tale. 
 " Grandfather wants to ' come out,' and so do 
 I. A season in London will be a novelty to 
 us both, the whole colour of our lives will 
 change. He has always been busy, working 
 
io6 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 in the dark like an ant underground ; now he 
 wants to be a butterfly. The great law of 
 change has laid hold upon him suddenly. Once 
 he told me ants see in the ultra-violet rays a 
 colour unknown to human eyes. The presence 
 of this colour transforms the entire aspect of 
 Nature, while other animals perceive vibrations 
 that do not affect our ears, hearing sounds and 
 melodies to which we are deaf. I see now 
 fresh colours and hear strange music. Can 
 you see and hear them too ? " 
 
 Jocelyn looked quite uncanny for a mo- 
 ment, as if she had caught the influence of 
 her grandfather's mysticism. Elizabeth asked 
 eager conventional questions, not deigning a 
 reply to the girl's romancing. 
 
 Elizabeth heard only the hissing of the 
 kettle, saw only the twilight and blue flame 
 which leapt from crackling wood. Yet she, 
 too, wandered through enchanted forests, as 
 she laid her plans for a flight to Ma5rfair, 
 forests containing little beauty, perhaps, but 
 planted with methodical groves of fruit- 
 bearing trees. 
 
 Everything took a different aspect now. 
 Good-bye hung in the atmosphere, enhancing 
 familiar objects at Heale Prior with a senti- 
 mental interest. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 107 ' 
 
 Jocelyn wandered from room to room,'- 
 conscious that her grandfather's prophecy had 
 come true — with the dwindling of novelty en- 
 thusiasm waned. Why should the human soul 
 always require variety ? Why was it well- 
 nigh impossible to delight continually in the 
 same objects ? She recognised novelty as a 
 power. Through its agency, mountains might 
 be moved and cast into the sea. She de- 
 veloped philosophy and analysed this thing 
 of might. What but novelty enhances plea- 
 sure, provokes envy, awakens desire, in- 
 spires horror ? By use even monsters are 
 beheld without loathing, and beauty without 
 rapture. Thus she argued with herself. At 
 first the old treasures at Heale Prior inspired 
 her with an awe nearly akin to worship. She 
 looked with reverential eyes at a fragment of 
 chain mail. An Elizabethan saddle of green 
 velvet, painfully dilapidated, stirred her pulses 
 and sent poetry ringing through her brain. 
 Here and there a rusty sword told stories of 
 thrilling deeds, while dainty ladies and gallant 
 knights materialised at fancy's dictation on 
 the raised dais which had suffered not at all 
 from the corroding hand of time. 
 
 But with the lapse of months, even suits 
 of armour and weapons of amazing shapes 
 
io8 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 grew dumb, and unable any more to tell her 
 their past romances. There was something a 
 little tiring about antique chairs and tables, 
 which fitted in nooks and corners as if they 
 had stood for centuries, without change of plan 
 and at the same monotonous angle. 
 
 So the picturesque ideal of bygone days 
 lost its savour, and modernity flitted like an 
 alluring goddess before Jocelyn's enraptured 
 eyes. For the country outside she felt a little 
 homesick pang, since Nature was very dear to 
 her, " not a grand Nature," but " a sweet 
 familiar Nature, stealing in as a dog might, or 
 child, to touch a loved one's hand." She 
 faltered just a little as she thought of certain 
 leave-takings, dreaming that she was driving 
 down the dear old hill, with Professor Gervalle 
 at her side, on their pilgrimage to Salford 
 Station. Good-bye to the quaint, timbered 
 cottages, weathered into countless hues, their 
 red-tiled roofs aglow with gold and silver 
 lichens. Good-bye to the vast woodscape and 
 grand panoramic views. Farewell, rustic folk, 
 in your lovable little nests. Stay, stay in your 
 wealth of quiet beauty, nor seek to follow the 
 dreamer to busy, troublous London. The 
 pomps and show of the city lie ahead ; but you, 
 rustic folk, you have chosen the better part ! 
 
109 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 No slumber seals the eye of Providence: 
 
 Jacobina wished occasionally that by some 
 turn of Fate's wheel she might hear news of 
 Jocelyn, without appearing to seek it of her 
 own free will. She feared to raise a finger by 
 which the girl might be encouraged, yet natural 
 curiosity would not always sleep. Her going 
 to Heale Prior, and her sojourn with the hermit 
 remained a mystery, no word reaching Lady 
 Livingstone since the day she sent her decisive 
 telegram to Professor Gervalle. Occasionally 
 some friend who remembered asked casually 
 after the orphaned niece, and in replying, her 
 aunt never betrayed ignorance as to Jocelyn's 
 state. The ready answer tripped from her 
 lips, as if they were in weekly correspondence, 
 though under the veil a lurking uneasiness 
 accompanied thoughts of Heale Prior. 
 
 Was the girl happy, or moped ? Would 
 the old man write even if Jocelyn no longer 
 existed ? Had he treated her with proper 
 consideration, or was she kept short of food 
 
no ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 by the miser's meanness ? Stood she possibly 
 in want of warm clothing and garments suit- 
 able to her station ? 
 
 It hardly seemed that Jacobina, the 
 woman ingrainedly selfishj asked her con- 
 science these questions; rather they were 
 put to her by the dead Idena, stirring in 
 her grave at the bare remembrance of 
 Heale Prior. 
 
 Things had gone gaily for Jacobina. Fresh 
 triumphs swelled the list of her conquests, for 
 she still held sway over the heart of man^ still 
 snapped her fingers at the thought of marriage. 
 " There were plenty of good women," she said, 
 " to mend the hearts she broke," declaring, as 
 she dismissed her injured, that any amount of 
 hospital nurses waited to bind up lacerated 
 feelings and wounded affections. Possibly 
 she was right, for the Jacobinas of this world 
 must ever appeal to surface love, missing 
 deeper notes which continue to vibrate when 
 beauty wanes and wit fails. 
 
 Easter saw her at Tanley Court, the Lud- 
 lows' country house, capable of containing a 
 vast number of guests, and celebrated for the 
 cheery nature of its house-parties. Tommy, 
 light-hearted as ever, and fancy free, justified 
 his pseudonym by " ha ! ha !-ing " right 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. iii 
 
 lustily, as if he needed to proclaim that man, 
 by laughter, stands distinguished from all 
 other creatures. 
 
 His mirth arose from genuine high spirits 
 and an unending source of fun. Nobody saw 
 a joke quicker than Sir Thomas Ludlow, 
 nobody could have better fitted the friendly 
 abbreviation which hailed him " Tommy." 
 
 To Jacobina he always came as an ex- 
 hilarating refreshment, a sea breeze without 
 the accompanying disadvantage of being on a 
 yacht, since Jacobina loved not the restless 
 ocean, which has no respect of persons. She 
 enjoyed this particular sea-breeze under cover, 
 frequently indulging him to the extent of 
 lengthy tite-d-tites in the winter garden, a 
 paradise of easy wicker chairs, luxurious 
 cushions, flowers, palms, and artificial water- 
 faUs. 
 
 " Tommy," she said, tracking him down 
 because he had appropriated the very paper 
 she wanted to read, " why can't you cure 
 yourself of always sitting in my favourite 
 chair, and detaining my own particular 
 literature ? " 
 
 She stood over him, graceful as the tall 
 ferns which framed this spot of ease. The 
 light on her richly tinted hair gave a bizarre 
 
ri2 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 effect to the green parrot's wings in her dark 
 blue hat. 
 
 " I'm awfully sorry," he cried, bounding to 
 his feet ; but on reflection took back the 
 words emphatically. " No, I am not sorry, 
 since it brought you here. I've been fishing 
 a long time for some good society, and at last 
 I've caught a Jack ! You may sit in the chair, 
 but I am going to keep these papers, for you've 
 hardly spoken a word to me to-day." 
 
 " Selfish little thing ! " she muttered, 
 smiling nevertheless as he arranged the 
 cushions behind her head. The papers had 
 fallen to the ground and lay mutually dis- 
 carded. " You must not be surprised if I 
 neglect you. It's your own fault for inviting 
 so many interesting people," she added in 
 self-defence. 
 
 " I see you are getting on uncommonly 
 well with Chandoss. But, I say. Jack, though 
 he's nice enough in his way, doesn't he strike 
 you as a fellow one couldn't really trust ? " 
 
 " Major Chandoss is a delightful com- 
 panion. I certainly know nothing of his 
 morals, and care less. He entertains me, 
 which covers a multitude of sins. You are 
 so critical about the people I like. What fun 
 you always made of Daniel Paley-Hyde ! I 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 113 
 
 got quite breathless defending the poor 
 creature." 
 
 " Oh, I only called him lugubrious ! " pro- 
 tested Tommy, " and that was so obvious it 
 needed no defence. I am sure he felt it his 
 duty to be sad and depressing. An innocent 
 joke startled him like a blasphemy, and I 
 know he looked on a sudden fit of laughter as 
 a breach of his baptismal vow." 
 
 " Certainly he usually sighed at the con- 
 clusion of a funny story," Jacobina acknow- 
 ledged. " I tried to break him of the habit 
 by saying he darkened the face of Nature, and 
 destroyed a,ll relish of being alive. Now he is 
 in Parliament I don't see him so often, though 
 I half suspect his melancholy influence dulls 
 the current political news." 
 
 " I thought at one time you were going to 
 marry him. It was quite talked about ; even 
 mother believed there was some truth in the 
 report." 
 
 Jacobina smiled, but she turned a little 
 pinker. 
 
 " Poor old Daniel never committed him- 
 self. I tried to find the smallest patch of 
 human playground in his severe, unrelenting 
 composition, but the soil was sadly barren, 
 and never yielded fruit. I would like to have 
 
114 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 humanised him — though, of course, I was not 
 serious, and possibly he knew that. Married 
 life, child Thomas, is hke iad/e d'hdte, you get 
 everything but what you want." 
 
 " Marry anyone but Chandoss," grumbled 
 Tommy, kicking his feet. His merry eyes 
 were quite surprisingly gloomy. 
 
 " Your head runs on that man. If you 
 mistrust him, why did you » ask him here ? " 
 " We got very friendly at the Riviera. You 
 know how it is when you meet a chap every 
 day. We found we knew several of his rela- 
 tions, and he was awfully civil to mother. We 
 were in the same hotel. She said he must 
 spend Easter with us ; but when we came 
 back we found, from the relations he had 
 mentioned, they are not on speaking terms — 
 some family quarrel. As mother had already 
 asked him, we could not back out ; only I 
 thought it would have been straighter to teU 
 us at first that his own people had shunted 
 him." 
 
 " I never blame anyone for breaking with 
 their relations," said Jacobina. " You see, a 
 relation is a necessity, while a friend is volun- 
 tary ; so it is worse to neglect the latter. I 
 rather fancy, in direct opposition to your 
 theory, that Major Chandoss might prove a 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 115 
 
 very staunch friend. I have a tiresome way 
 of clinging to my own convictions, and Hking 
 a man rather better if others run him down, 
 so beware how you chivy me into the arms of 
 the black sheep." 
 
 Tommy handed her the papers. " Per- 
 haps you would like to read," he said sulkily. 
 
 Jacobina leant back and closed her eyes. 
 "Pick out interesting little bits," she answered. 
 " That paper often gives me a paragraph, so 
 I take it on principle. My dresses generally 
 sound well in print, I consider how they will 
 read when ordering them." 
 
 Tom;ny turned over the pages listlessly. 
 At last he paused. 
 
 " Is your niece, Miss Gervalle, coming to 
 town ? " he asked. 
 
 " No," snapped Jacobina abruptly. " I 
 thought I told you she cares only for the 
 country. She and her grandfather are per- 
 fectly happy ruralising. They are the most 
 contented, stay-at-home couple imaginable." 
 
 She spoke with authority, and turned her 
 head on the cushion to stifle a yawn. 
 
 " That's odd," said Tommy. " Just listen 
 to this." 
 
 He read aloud : — 
 
 " Lord Curdford has let his charming town 
 
ii6 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN-. 
 
 house furnished for the season to Professor 
 Gervalle, of Heale Prior, Salford. Heale 
 Prior is one of the best known of the old his- 
 torical Sussex mansions. The Professor's 
 granddaughter, Miss Jocelyn Gervalle, is ex- 
 pected to make her debut in London early this 
 May." 
 
 Jacbbina sat up now, and opened her 
 startled eyes widely. 
 
117 
 
 CHAPTER VII . 
 
 Dabo vobis terrain fluentem lacte at melle.- 
 (I shall give thee a land flowing with milk and honey.) 
 
 If Jacobina intentionally snubbed her host 
 he now reaped a very satisfactory revenge 
 as he watched the electrifying effect of 
 the paragraph. But Tommy was far too 
 good-natured for the pleasures of revenge ; 
 they left him unamused. Instead, he felt 
 slightly annoyed at having found Jacobina 
 out. 
 
 So, after all, she knew nothing really of the 
 neglected niece, whose fate had been the 
 subject of so much speculation the previous 
 summer. It was, as Tommy frequently sus- 
 pected, a clear case of romancing when Jaco- 
 bina talked of Jocelyn's doings in the country. 
 She had shunted the girl with a will. Tommy 
 knew this in his heart of hearts, though "he 
 kept the knowledge carefully to himself out 
 of loyalty to Jacobina. He could well picture 
 the precision with which she would bid the 
 younger generation " Keep off the grass ! " 
 
ii8 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 
 
 fearful lest strange feet should trample upon 
 her own happy hunting ground. 
 
 At first she seemed scarcely able to credit 
 the wordSj and, taking the paper from him, 
 read for herself the astounding intelligence. 
 " I can't understand it," she said. " The old 
 man has vegetated at Heale Prior without 
 budging for half a century. He hates to spend 
 a farthing of his money, though he was always 
 extremely wealthy. Now that his riches have 
 accumulated he must be a regular Croesus. I 
 believe, in his own line, he's highly talented, 
 unless his eccentricity has by this time de- 
 veloped into maudlin imbecility." 
 
 " A nice companion for a young girl," 
 Tommy could not resist remarking. 
 
 " Oh, I have no doubt he's very kind to 
 her, and if it's true that he is coming to London 
 for the season, she must have obtained an 
 amazing influence over him. A pretty face 
 and a little diplomacy will wheedle a man of 
 his age into doing all sorts of absurd things. It 
 really seems silly for a hermit to suddenly take 
 a house like Lord Curdford's, for I don't 
 suppose he has an idea of entertaining. He 
 could gather a number of illustrious people 
 round him if he chose, for he is certainly a 
 character. His many connections would wel- 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN; 119 
 
 come him gladly if he cared about a social 
 life, and he has money enough to make a 
 sensation if he only would disburse it. I shall, 
 of course, offer to ' present ' Jocelyn, and will 
 take her to Court as soon as possible." 
 
 Jacobina was turning it all over in her 
 mind as she talked. A niece would not be 
 such an appalling matter, established in a 
 home of her own, the chatelaine of a magnifi- 
 cent mansion in Grosvenor Square. She was 
 curious to see Jocelyn and the old Professor, 
 conscious they would be " unusual," some- 
 thing strikingly queer and different from the 
 ordinary run of her acquaintance. If the 
 old man could be induced to keep open 
 house, what countless festivities she might 
 inaugurate, what brilliant functions, popu- 
 larised through her social gifts and chic 
 modernity. 
 
 At this present juncture she perceived in 
 the advent of a rich relation unlimited possi- 
 bilities. She had lived recklessly, till at last 
 her extravagances began to find her out. 
 Losses at bridge were accountable for much, 
 and a penchant for gambling on the turf, and 
 Stock Exchange speculations, made retrench- 
 ing absolutely necessary. With stocks and 
 shares of an unsatisfactory nature nibbling 
 
120 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 
 
 away her income, Jacobina foresaw financial 
 difficulties, which, with the Professor looming 
 in the background, took a less formidable 
 shape. A miser seemed a poor prop to lean 
 against, but this latest move did not coincide 
 with niggardliness. 
 
 Any mental worry, Jacobina fully realised, 
 gave imperceptible strokes to the delicate 
 fibres of vital parts. There were grey hairs to 
 be feared, for she liked not your messy dyes, 
 and rejoiced that her head was crowned by 
 pure gold — no sham gilt in those brilliant 
 locks. She knew diminishing means meant 
 increasing crowsfeet, like weeds on a neglected 
 path, though as yet the vigilance of a pro- 
 fessional masseuse kept Jacobina's handsome 
 countenance unlined. StiU, ease of mind and 
 lack of worry proved the best cosmetic. She 
 sought happiness, convinced it was the 
 greatest tonic and the envy of dyspeptics. 
 
 If Jocelyn proved pretty, her advantages 
 were certainly astounding. The Professor's 
 colossal fortune would, of course, be hers in 
 time, and the GervaUes were one of the oldest 
 famiUes in England. .Reflected pride, and 
 mercenary considerations, made Jacobina un- 
 bend quite tenderly towards the coming 
 debutante. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 121 
 
 " I shall write at once and see what I can 
 do for them," she said. " I am quite deUghted 
 at the prospect, only naturally I felt a little 
 hurt at first, thinking Jocelyn might have 
 told me their plans. It is really quite queer 
 if you look at it all round ; to unearth a 
 hermit is a herculean task, and must have 
 necessitated in the young woman a lot of 
 exertion ! " 
 
 Tommy listened with extreme interest ; he 
 hardly knew why, but he had always wished 
 to see Miss Gervalle. Her career appeared 
 somewhat pathetic to one lapped round with 
 love and pleasure, the idol of his mother, the 
 pet of many devoted friends. In all his large 
 circle of acquaintances Tommy Ludlow could 
 hardly count an enemy. The world recog- 
 nised instantly that his heart was young and 
 free from bitterness, accepting him as a bright 
 untarnished element, which attracted kindly 
 feelings in return for the sparkling good 
 humour he shed on all sides, 
 
 Jacobina tore the paragraph from the 
 paper and placed it in a silver bag slung at her 
 waist. She wore as a belt a marvellous jew- 
 elled snake, with eyes of flame, presented to 
 her (perchance in cynicism) by a discarded 
 lover. Possibly the bauble illustrated a 
 
122 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 maxim which fitted Jacobina alarmingly 
 well : — 
 
 Teach woman wiles and arts ! As well you may- 
 Instruct a snake to bite, or wolf to prey. 
 
 " Jack," said Tommy, wriggling his chair 
 nearer, " you are not in your usual form this 
 afternoon. Try a cigarette." 
 
 She selected one from the case he handed 
 her, but her eyes gave back no answering 
 flash to the merry twinkle in his. 
 
 " I am thinking," she replied, " and it's a 
 novel practice for me. I am not sure whether 
 thought is highly becoming or decidedly the 
 reverse. How does the exercise suit me ? " 
 
 " It alters the curve of your mouth," he 
 told her. " It makes you more seraphic and 
 less ' kissable-looking ' — you know what I 
 mean." 
 
 " Yes, if a woman is a fool, men always 
 want to kiss her ; if she's intellectual, they 
 only hold her hand." 
 
 " Tell me the thoughts," he demanded, 
 " that I may judge whether they are worth 
 the sacrifice of a dimple." 
 
 " I never had a dimple m my life. They 
 were Idena's weapons, and I daresay she 
 handed them down to her enigmatical daugh- 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 123 
 
 ter. The girl is, I feel, a mystery — and a little 
 cold and heartless where relations are con- 
 cerned. I think she might have confided the 
 Professor's plans to her mother's only sister, 
 don't you ? Lack of sympathy and good 
 feeling in a woman is abominable ; but youth 
 claims many indulgences. I was really think- 
 ing of Paley-Hyde, and some of his sayings. I 
 remember him remarking on Machiavelli's 
 observation, ' that every state should enter- 
 tain a perpetual jealousy of its neighbours, 
 and so never be unprovided when emergency 
 happens.' Now, Paley-Hyde lived up to that 
 theory, but I laughed at it, and so emergency 
 is apt to find me unprepared. He asked a 
 good deal about Jocelyn at one time. I shall 
 make a point of introducing him to her and 
 the Professor. Colonel Gervalle's career held 
 great fascination for our lugubrious M.P. I 
 wonder if I shall ever be afforded the satis- 
 faction of knowing the real Paley-Hyde ? " 
 
 " It might be rather a shock, but his 
 politics are all right. Mother has heard him 
 rasping out lengthy orations on provincial 
 platforms, and she confessed herself im- 
 pressed." , 
 
 " I fancy, humanly speaking," said Jaco- 
 bina, " in seeking to regulate his passions he 
 
124 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN; 
 
 has entirely extinguished them, thus putting 
 out the light of the soul. He is all very well 
 as a methodical, hard-working machine. To 
 be without passion, or to be hurried away with 
 it, is equally bad. Paley-Hyde has slipped 
 into the former pitfall." 
 
 Jacobina swung her elegant body out of 
 the low wicker chair, stretching herself like a 
 lioness waking in the sun. She was proud of 
 her splendid vitality — the Gervalle women 
 came of a healthy stock. 
 
 " Good-bye, ' Ha ! Ha ! ' " she yawned, 
 showing her dazzling white teeth, and wonder- 
 ing if he knew she had never been to a dentist. 
 " I will leave you to light literature and the 
 goddess Nicotine. My parrot's wings are 
 giving me a headache ; I must go and take 
 off my hat." 
 
 As she glided away, with the long, noise- 
 less step of a graceful walker, she looked, as 
 she often did now, at the blazing diamond 
 rings on her fingers. She wondered if those 
 fingers would ever be denuded of their gems, 
 remembering vast piles of unpaid bills and 
 those disastrous losses at bridge. 
 
 She had lived long in the land flowing with 
 milk and honey, tasting its sweets, and never 
 knowing the feverish thirst of the desert. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 125 
 
 Now that fair land opened out for Jocelyn — 
 the girl who had cried to her in the night 
 through wild unwelcome dreams. The words 
 still hved in her memory — " I am buried 
 alive, and you have thrust me into the 
 tomb." 
 
 The seedling, with spring's advent, shot 
 through the dry ground, and Jacobina recog- 
 nised in this new turn of fate the unslumberirig 
 eye of a watchful Providence. 
 
 " I must be nice to Jocelyn, even if she's a 
 prig," Jacobina told herself. " ' Beggars can- 
 not be choosers,' and if I don't take care I 
 may soon be looking bankruptcy in the face. 
 Bridge again to-night — what an inveterate 
 player I am ! No one would guess the shoe 
 pinches, it is of too expensive a design ; only 
 cheap shoes make delicate feet footsore and 
 weary while sitting still. Let me see. Major 
 Chandoss lent me five hundred pounds last 
 night — offered to be my banker^ — lost seven 
 hundred, and owe him for the night before. 
 The luck must change ; it's no use funking." 
 
 She opened a black book which she kept 
 in her dressing-bag, and jotted down a few 
 figures. When, later on, her maid came to 
 ask if she would change for tea, Lady Living- 
 stone was still poring over the small account 
 
126 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 book ; she had forgotten to take off the hat 
 with the green wings. Perhaps the tired head 
 had other causes for weariness, far removed 
 from the light weight of parrot's plumage and 
 twisted gauze ! 
 
127 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Upon the heels of Pleasure. 
 
 There were many rumours afloat connected 
 with Professor Gervalle's arrival in London. 
 The scientific world waited expectantly in the 
 hope that he might have certain discoveries to 
 disclose, for his ceaseless labours were known 
 to a large field of scientists throughout 
 Europe. 
 
 Already the mysterious theory of pneuma- 
 tology was becoming a fashionable subject 
 of conversation in Mayfair drawing-rooms ; 
 women, ever eager to welcome the occult, 
 snatched at hints which reached them through 
 the Press of a possible disclosure which might 
 revolutionise the world. 
 
 Professor Gervalle had little thought of 
 being received as a celebrity, quite unaware 
 that London ever awaits the new, the strange, 
 the untried, thrilhng at the first faint distant 
 roar of a lion in their midst. 
 
 Without a word from the Sussex wizard, 
 as he had been irreverently called, the startling 
 
128 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 intelligence gained credence that the wealthy 
 scientist, after a lifetime of research, had re- 
 cently discovered the intermixture of invisible 
 and impalpable beings with human society. He 
 was reported to possess the power of discerning 
 bodies and their movements by certain vibra- 
 tions of light, these bodies being invisible to 
 ordinary sight. When the fascinating belief 
 first reached Jacobina, shortly before her 
 relative's arrival, she perceived in it a dazzling 
 attraction, a means whereby she might make 
 the Professor's house a highly enviable resort. 
 Utterly sceptical herself, she encouraged the 
 idea, enlarging upon it from her own imagina- 
 tion. Lady Ludlow, proverbially wise, found 
 a great deal to say on the subject ; in fact, 
 she could talk of nothing else, so enthralled 
 was she by the mystical notion. 
 
 " My dear," she said, wringing Jacobina's 
 hands in her excitement, " I am simply living 
 to see Professor Gervalle ! I hear he is the 
 most marvellous man of the century. It all 
 seems so romantic, too, that his life should 
 have been entirely sacrificed to study. While 
 he was wholly given up to research, the best 
 years of his manhood were slipping away, 
 never to be reclaimed." 
 
 " It was his choice," replied Lady Living- 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 129 
 
 stone, " and to spend our time in our own way 
 is, I suppose, the essence of luxury. I expect 
 he reahsed that the best method of separating 
 oneself from the world is to give up all pomp 
 and show. Meanwhile his fortune has accu- 
 mulated gigantically, and it's a perfect blessing 
 he has at last come to his senses, that he may 
 enjoy a little of it before he dies. I was very 
 surprised to hear from Jocelyn he wishes to 
 entertain. I fully expected I should have 
 to drive the idea into his woolly head — for 
 woolly I know it must be after a life of ' all 
 work and no play.' Of course, I am ready 
 enough to fall down and worship his marvel- 
 lous brain ; do not imagine I am underrating 
 my clever but eccentric relative. I think in 
 my own heart I'm, if anything, too proud ; 
 I go boasting from house to house." 
 
 Jacobina's face smiled and flushed as she 
 discussed this alluring subject. She felt like 
 an actress creating a new part, not sure if it 
 were light comedy or real downright farce, 
 but leniently inclined to the former. 
 
 " I know very little," sighed Lady Ludlow, 
 " but I can fully grasp the existence around 
 us of an invisible element sustaining its own 
 species of beings. Professor Gervalle has un- 
 doubtedly discovered they are capable of being 
 
130 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 seen, as invisible stars and microbes have 
 been brought, by the aid of science, under our 
 vision. Whether he will part with his secret 
 is another matter. I understand he is not 
 an easy man to approach, for he has certainly 
 never sought fame." 
 
 " Those who desire it are generally most 
 unsuccessful in their pursuit after fame," 
 declared Jacobina, trying to look almost as 
 wise as Lady Ludlow, but failing under the 
 influence of a frivolous hat. 
 
 " Wisdom," in the shape of Tommy's 
 mother, wore grey cr^pe, so, of course, could 
 afford to talk learnedly, and even quote from 
 the ancients without appearing incongruous. 
 
 " Sallust remarked of Cato that the less he 
 coveted glory the more he acquired it," she 
 murmured, in a tone which seemed to convey, 
 " I said I knew very little, but I meant you 
 to contradict me." 
 
 Jacobina really respected Lady Ludlow, 
 though she sometimes thought the love of 
 praise proved a strong incentive to worthy 
 actions. This good woman, full of philan- 
 thropic works and high ideals, would lay traps 
 for a little incense even from those whose 
 opinion she valued in nothing but her own 
 favour. Like most of her sex, she only looked 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 131 
 
 for one homage — constant attention. She 
 seldom cared to analyse the object of it or 
 the cause. 
 
 " I envy a man who can rise above a vain 
 wish for personal glory," said Jacobina. 
 " Ambitious people must be so frequently dis- 
 appointed and cast down when they do not 
 receive the adulation they expect, or feel 
 mortified with the very praise received should 
 it not reach the height desired. With Pro- 
 fessor Gervalle's passion for work he was 
 bound to succeed in the end, since genius is 
 an * infinite capacity for taking pains.' If a 
 man does anything really great the world 
 never regards him with an indifferent eye, but 
 always as a friend or an enemy. He will 
 have his followers and revilers. My dear old 
 relative must not expect to escape criticism. 
 I doubt if he would plunge, now, into the 
 publicity of social life if he guessed with what 
 energy tongues are wagging, and making free 
 with his name. A revolution in intellectual 
 circles is expected, though many frown upon 
 any attempt at enlightenment and psycho- 
 logical discovery, considering it not merely 
 fruitless, but reprehensible and dangerous." 
 
 Lady Ludlow would fain have detained 
 Jacobina for hours, eager to discuss the 
 
1.^2 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 problems which pneumatology involved, but 
 the younger woman's time was precious, and 
 she saw the probability of drifting out of 
 her depth. 
 
 Jacobina pleaded a multitude of business, 
 and escaped the clutches of her discursive 
 friend. 
 
 There were dressmakers to be interviewed 
 — and cajoled — for as yet Lady Livingstone 
 had not exhausted her credit, though a few 
 of the best firms were growing slightly restive 
 and suspicious. She threw out all her mag- 
 netism to divert their thoughts from the 
 very large accounts owing from last season. 
 She had never descended to introducing 
 customers and receiving commission, for 
 Jacobina had the Gervalle pride rooted and 
 grounded deeply in her composition. 
 
 In direct contrast to her modern methods, 
 there were old-fashioned cranks which as- 
 serted authority. She had a distinct abhor- 
 rence of trade, aware that every hard-working 
 business man lives perpetually under a secret 
 impatience of the hurry and fatigue he suffers, 
 with no time to fall under the sway, or dawdle 
 at the feet, of idle women. The drones of 
 the earth were her playmates, and very satis- 
 factory companions she found them. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 133 
 
 Since her return to London, after the 
 somewhat disastrous visit to Tanley Court, 
 Jacobina had seen Major Chandoss constantly. 
 Her losses still remained unpaid, to the vast 
 discomfiture of her soul, and fresh plunges 
 into speculative enterprise made matters 
 worse instead of better. She gradually accus- 
 tomed herseli to the realisation that luck 
 was against her, though she knew it would 
 be vain to make apologies and multiply words 
 for what could never be defended by the best 
 advocate in the world — the guilt of being un- 
 fortunate. So she let the matter stand over, 
 and received Major Chandoss with extreme 
 graciousness, and a sensation of discomfort 
 subtly hidden under hght badinage and 
 smiles. 
 
 She had thought him very fascinating at 
 Tanley Court, for even at breakfast he never 
 failed to talk entertainingly, and almost 
 rivalled Tommy in boisterous spirits^ tricks, 
 and joking. He sang dashing Spanish love 
 songs to the guitar, songs which always ad- 
 dressed themselves to Lady Livingstone, 
 though she drifted to the very furthest corner 
 of the room. In London the guitar was not 
 in evidence, and town garb gave a more 
 elderly expression to Major Chandoss' tall. 
 
134 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 important figure. He had a most remark- 
 able habit of changing his personahty with 
 bewildering swiftness. One moment he 
 brought back the cavalier of bygone ages, 
 his courtesy and charm outshining the efforts 
 of younger men to gain distinction, then anon 
 the cavalier manner changed to amazing 
 stjolidity. 
 
 He was in one of his stolid moods the day 
 of Professor Gervalle's arrival in town. 
 
 Jacobina, dressed for driving, met him 
 in the hall. 
 
 " I am just going to call on the Gervalles," 
 she said. " I had a letter from my niece 
 asking me to come and see her grandfather 
 this afternoon." 
 
 " So you are not at home to visitors ? " 
 he queried, and the look in his eyes warned 
 her not to trifle with his friendship. 
 
 " The carriage can wait," she answered, 
 leading the way to the boudoir. " I could 
 not dream of letting you go." 
 
 Her tone implied flattery ; she threw him 
 a melting glance. Of course, he could not 
 suggest, here in her own house, after the 
 sacrifice of time endured on his behalf, that 
 certain sums should be refunded. Her pride 
 suffered considerably as she recalled those 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 135 
 
 reckless nights of gambling — she wished she 
 had never seen a card or heard of bridge. 
 
 At first he talked disconnectedly, on 
 matters of no importance, avoiding her eyes, 
 and acutely aware his society must pall upon 
 this woman of temperament. Women of 
 temperament he knew were the jokes of the 
 gods. Even the hardest natures have 
 moments of penitential hesitation, for a pretty 
 woman, smiling half fearfully, is not the 
 victim a man would choose for the driving 
 of a hard bargain. But Major Chandoss kept 
 his conscience severely under control. 
 
 " I came to-day," he said, with a little 
 preliminary cough, " to talk business. I 
 hope you do not mind ? " 
 
 Jacobina started, but was not aware she 
 betrayed surprise, only the small pink ear 
 flushed scarlet, the thin expressive lips forgot 
 their smiles. 
 
 " Oh," she murmured, " business." 
 
 She leant back against the sofa cushions 
 with pathetic limpness, the room swam sud- 
 denly before her eyes. 
 
 " Yes, it's a tiresome matter about those 
 losses of yours. I only wish I could afford 
 to ignore the amount you unfortunately 
 borrowed. You surely realise what^a very 
 
136 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 painful position I put myself in when I ad- 
 vanced so large a sum. I must ask you to 
 find the money, or the equivalent." 
 
 His voice rang hard as steel, the society 
 mask slipped from his features, set, crafty, 
 and stern. The black sheep of an aristo- 
 cratic family had not crept into Tanley Court 
 in vain. He trapped his prey in Jacobina, 
 and now the work of fleecing began. 
 
 She felt like a hunted animal at bay, for 
 Lady Livingstone resented retribution as a 
 vulgar, uninvited guest. 
 
 " Can't you give me a little time ? " she 
 said, trying to speak casually. " You come 
 at a sadly inconvenient juncture. To use the 
 commonest slang, which is ever the most 
 expressive, for the moment I am stony broke." 
 
 The words rippled off her tongue with a 
 forced laugh, in itself an apology for the con- 
 fession. Jacobina waited breathlessly for 
 him to laugh also. Instead, the grim face 
 grew even more thoughtful ; it was hard to 
 believe he was the singer of those gay Spanish 
 ballads. 
 
 " I noticed," he said, " at Tanley Court, 
 that your family jewels made a substantial 
 security, or I must have declined the honour 
 of being your banker." 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 137 
 
 A cold shiver ran through Jacobina, her 
 eyes expanded till the pupils grew enormous, 
 but she made no answer. 
 
 Words failed her as a wave of indignation 
 set her nerves tingling, turned her blood to 
 flame. 
 
 " You see," he continued, quite coolly, 
 " you owe me ;f5,ooo, which I could raise on 
 a few of your trinkets, say the diamond tiara, 
 the big single stone necklace, and that his- 
 toric emerald pendant which belonged to 
 Marie Antoinette. I propose getting them 
 exactly imitated for you, so no one need know 
 of our transaction. Surely it is the easiest 
 way out of a difficulty — if you find it in- 
 convenient to refund the money." 
 
 Jacobina was terrified at the idea of debt. 
 Womanlike, she dreaded to name the subject 
 to her closest friend. She was one of many 
 unstable souls who swell the coffers of the 
 money-lenderj lacking moral courage when 
 the screw is turned to seek advice in safe 
 quarters. 
 
 The idea of hiding her humiliation and 
 obtaining a copy of her treasured heirlooms 
 appealed to her forcibly. She thought at once 
 of the comments their absence would attract. 
 She felt dazed, driven into a corner, chased 
 
138 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 to the very brink of a yawning abyss. When 
 deep waters close over a drowning soul any 
 straw appeals to the hands seeking safety — 
 thus Jacobina clutched at the straw he prof- 
 fered. 
 
 She repeated the bargain, as if learning a 
 lesson — one bitterly hard to master, taught 
 in the school of adversity. " The necklace, 
 the pendant, the tiara," she murmured, 
 counting each article on her fingers, with her 
 brow twisted in a frown, " these to be 
 relinquished for my debt to you ; but surely 
 they are worth more ? " 
 
 " In that case," he replied, " dispose of 
 them yourself." 
 
 A sensitive shrinking from any such 
 course, and fear of publicity, made her favour 
 the first suggestion. 
 
 " I think," she said, " I had better rely 
 upon you. Nobody need ever suspect, if 
 the duplicates correspond in the minutest 
 detail. I will tell my maid I wish to take 
 them to be cleaned, so if you will call here 
 to-morrow I will hand them to you myself." 
 
 It caused her a supreme effort of self- 
 control to deliver these words in an un- 
 emotional voice. She was astute enough to 
 know tears or lamentations would be wasted 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 139 
 
 on this imperturbable creditor, and, with a 
 desperate desire to retain a certain amount 
 of pride, held her head high, viewing him 
 haughtily. Her eyes expressed scornfully 
 that she knew him at last, the enemy who 
 had masqueraded, leading her to fear nothing 
 at his hands. 
 
 " I must go," she said, rising with an 
 effort, and holding her forehead a moment to 
 collect her thoughts ; " the Gervalles are ex- 
 pecting me." 
 
 She saw no further need of entertaining 
 him ; he was to be paid in full ; he was 
 taking from her the dearest treasures of her 
 heart. She felt sick, dizzy, unstrung ; her 
 face looked white, almost haggard. 
 
 " May I accompany you ? " he asked, 
 boldly. " I have a great desire to know Pro- 
 fessor Gervalle, nor am I alone in my wish 
 to meet him. He is to be something of a 
 furore, I understand." 
 
 The request startled Jacobma. For some 
 days past she had anticipated with distinct 
 trepidation her first visit to the Gervalles. 
 She knew that Jocelyn must hold her in 
 light esteem. She also half suspected the 
 Professor might resent her lack of sympathy, 
 her evident desire to escape responsibility 
 
HO ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 when Jocelyn's future hung in the balance. 
 Might it not be advisable to have the support 
 of a stranger's presence in the first awkward 
 moment of reunion ? 
 
 " Yes, you can come if you like/' she said, 
 shortly. Her voice had never sounded less 
 mellow. 
 
 Major Chandoss bowed in quite his old 
 courtly manner as he followed her to the 
 carriage. 
 
HI 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Hints haunt me ever of a more beyond ; 
 I am rebuked by a sense of the incomplete, 
 Of a completion over-soon assumed, 
 Of adding up too soon. — Clough. 
 
 Lady Livingstone and Major Chandoss 
 spoke little as they drove to Grosvenor Square. 
 He attempted conversation, but she was un- 
 responsive and reticent. It seemed she pur- 
 posely shut off the sparkle and vivacity which 
 proved her chief charm, making herself wil- 
 fully dull. 
 
 He had spoken truly when expressing a 
 wish to know the Gervalles, for report said 
 the old man's granddaughter was the richest 
 heiress of the season. Major Chandoss saw 
 by the looking-glass he was well favoured, 
 and very young girls usually preferred men 
 of a certain age. But this alone was not the 
 sole reason why he forced his company upon 
 Jacobina. He knew the thought of parting 
 with her jewels came as a bitter blow, a heavy 
 nerve-shattering shock, and he feared in her 
 
142 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 agitation she might unfold her troubles to 
 the Professor. 
 
 Accordingly Major Chandoss determined to 
 see the visit outj and on the morrow his bar- 
 gain would meet with fulfilment — on the 
 morrow the jewels would be safely lodged in 
 his keeping. He cared little that Jacobina 
 hated him ; he cared much that she was under 
 his heel. To see her reserved, and wrapt in 
 freezing disdain, proved amusing to his callous 
 temperament. The butterfly on the pin 
 gratified his love of control. 
 
 She thought as she glanced at the hypo- 
 critical face that false friendship, like ivy, 
 decays and ruins the walls it embraces. 
 
 Major Chandoss felt glad when the drive 
 came to an end ; he was not accustomed to 
 endure blank ineloquent silence. 
 
 Lady Livingstone forced back some of her 
 habitual gaiety as she entered the large outer 
 hall, classical by reason of its Flaxman frieze. 
 The inner hall, containing many curious busts, 
 formed an ante-chamber to a suite of rooms. 
 They were not shown up the reddish veined 
 marble staircase, but conducted to a distant 
 apartment on the ground floor, a room hung 
 with exquisite Boucher tapestries, every detail 
 arranged in harmonious design. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 143 
 
 Jacobina took it all in with swift eye ; she 
 knew the setting exactly suited her imposing 
 figure, and felt instantly at home. She reared 
 her stately head, aware that her long loose 
 coat of filmy lace added height to her already 
 commanding stature ; she was a mixture of 
 mellow-tinted guipure, chifEon ruchings, ex- 
 pensive odours, and hothouse flowers, the 
 latter from the Tanley Court conservatories, 
 sent by order of the thoughtful Tommy. At 
 least her entrance lacked nothing from effect, 
 for Jacobina believed in the value of first 
 impressions ; she realised there was much 
 lost ground to be retrieved. But even her 
 sangfroid betrayed surprise at the first glimpse 
 she obtained of these new comers. 
 
 On a large, deep sofa sat a frail, old, white- 
 haired man, billowed around with an atmo- 
 sphere of mystery — one so like, save for his 
 beard, her preconceived idea of the late Pope, 
 that involuntarily the inclination seized her 
 to bend a reverential knee. Beside him, as if 
 watching over his fragility, stood a young and 
 radiant girl, her face and figure set off to per- 
 fection by the simple princess dress, made of 
 some clinging material, with the shimmering 
 softness of panne. Behind her were two 
 giant roses in a quaint green vase, and Jocelyn 
 
144 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 herself looked so like a rose, that Jacobina 
 felt, with surprise, her own beauty wane in 
 contrast to this freshly opened flower. 
 
 There was not a trace of embarrassment or 
 reserve on either side, as these " stranger- 
 relatives " linked hands. Jacobina realised, 
 in a flash, this striking couple were above 
 spite or revenge ; they stood upon a mystic 
 plane in the region of forgotten, outlived 
 sincerity, kindliness, and truth. 
 
 " Idena glorified," she thought, as she 
 kissed the delicately flushing face of her 
 neglected niece. " Idena come back from the 
 dead, with her earthliness extracted ; Idena 
 aglow from the light of a better, brighter 
 world." 
 
 The Professor stood only a moment, just 
 to greet Lady Livingstone and her com- 
 panion, whom she introduced in the most 
 offhand manner. Then the weak body 
 sank gladly back to the inviting support of 
 cushions. 
 
 " Grandfather is very tired after his 
 journey," said Jocelyn. " We only arrived 
 this morning, and I wanted him to lie down 
 after lunch, but he wouldn't." 
 
 The simple words betrayed anxiety, as she 
 glanced at him with her large tender eyes. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 145 
 
 which seemed looking up to the world for 
 protection. 
 
 " Employment is Nature's physician/' re- 
 plied the Professor, his sweet, slow smile 
 lighting the weary face with a sudden flash. 
 " I was a little shaken by the railway journey, 
 not having travelled by train for many years. 
 The noise and rattle has unfortunately in- 
 creased my deafness. I must ask you, 
 Jacobina, to talk through this ear-trumpet — 
 such a convenience. You see I am too con- 
 siderate to make my friends shout every time 
 they are good enough to address me." 
 
 Lady Livingstone looked with wonder at 
 the queer instrument ; she did not like to 
 remark upon its peculiarity. If he must use 
 an ear-trumpet she felt glad he had obtained 
 something unique, which would be in keeping 
 with his reported eccentricity. She fluttered 
 gracefully down on the sofa beside him, while 
 Jocelyn, with the air of one accustomed to 
 entertain, took Major Chandoss under her 
 half-fledged wing, and entered into cheerful 
 conversation. The girl's manner, absolutely 
 devoid of gaucherie, surprised Jacobina ; she 
 remembered young people sometimes needed 
 cautioning against a despicable simplicity. The 
 soul of frankness might be taking, but there 
 
 K 
 
146 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 was something" a little galling to the older 
 woman in her niece's bold disregard of little 
 affectations. 
 
 Realising the truth of the French proverb 
 that you cannot be in the procession and look 
 out of the window at the same time, Lady 
 Livingstone withdrew her critical gaze, and 
 talked to the Professor. He drank in her 
 every word, as if each utterance were worth 
 its weight in gold, though at first she 
 merely discussed the safe subject of his 
 health. 
 
 " I have never regarded health over much," 
 he said, in answer to her sympathetic in- 
 quiries, " since we cannot enjoy what we are 
 constantly afraid of losing. No doctor has 
 entered my house since I retired to a life of 
 study and solitude — the ills of the flesh passed 
 me by, because my mind was otherwise em- 
 ployed. An old maxim says, ' When a nation 
 abounds in physicians, it grows thin of 
 people.' " 
 
 " London swarms with medical men," 
 Jacobina retorted, " but the population does 
 not decrease ! Old maxims wear out, you 
 know. Professor, like old clothes." 
 
 " And old men ! " 
 
 " No, no ; I did not say that." 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 147 
 
 The Professor was actually laughing. 
 Jacobina rejoiced that a dry-as-dust fossil 
 could make a joke against himself. 
 
 " In my day the three great professions — 
 Divinity, Law, and Physic — were over- 
 burdened with practitioners," he said, " filled, 
 indeed, with multitudes of ingenious gentle- 
 men, who starved one another out. They were 
 like Virgil's army, so crowded, many had not 
 room to use their weapons. The best medi- 
 cine for my old age is pleasant society, long 
 abstained from, as you know. Cheerful folk 
 are like spies, bringing with them clusters of 
 grapes and delicious fruits to invite their com- 
 panions to a pleasant country." 
 
 Jacobina took the words as a compliment ; 
 quaintly stilted as his speech appeared, she 
 was attracted by a mind so obviously capable 
 of retaining a perpetual serenity. 
 
 But thoughts of him and criticisms of 
 Jocelyn were not the only reflections seething 
 through Jacobina's busy brain. The shock of 
 the afternoon's bargaining still held vivid sway 
 over her peace of mind, making her talk in a 
 somewhat abstracted manner. Every now 
 and again her eyes strayed fearfully in Major 
 Chandoss' direction, with the haunting mem- 
 ory that on the morrow her family jewels 
 
148 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 would pass into the hands of the usurer. He, 
 on his part with triumph, also recollected the 
 piece of sharp practice carried through with 
 such surprising ease. He put out all his at- 
 tractions to gain the good will of Jocelyn, 
 feeling that a footing in such, a house would 
 complete a very satisfactory day's work. Her 
 lack of experience made her girlishly proud of 
 this easy conquest ; it was good to be in the 
 midst of throbbing life, to see fresh faces, and 
 exchange ideas with modern men. 
 
 " You must be very interested in Jocelyn," 
 said Lady Livingstone. "It's a novelty to 
 find yourself chaperoning a young girl ! I 
 expect already you have submitted to ' Home 
 Rule.' " 
 
 He shook his head. 
 
 " The child has nothing of the tyrant in her 
 composition," he declared. " ' Home Rule ' 
 is the cry of the horse-leech's daughter — 
 ' Give ! give ! ' Jocelyn has never asked me 
 for anything. I am going now to study your 
 sex ; I think it is a comedy, only too often 
 productive of melodrama. I have come to 
 London to mix as much with men and women 
 as possible, to burn the midnight oil in social 
 pleasures, to spend my day with congenial 
 companions, to make up in a few short months 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 149 
 
 the arrears of long decades. I shall grudge 
 every moment spent in rest, for the long, long 
 rest lies ahead, and I shall have time enough 
 to slumber in the grave. Do you ever think 
 how you fritter away your time on trifles, and 
 when the night comes throw yourself without 
 a regret into the folly of dreams, broken 
 thoughts, and imaginations ? Your reason 
 lies dormant by you, so you are for the time 
 as brutes that sleep in the field." 
 
 " If all that people say of you is true," 
 answered Jacobina, " I don't wonder my life, 
 with a thousand others, seems so much dross 
 in your eyes. Society has it that you are 
 responsible for a great discovery." 
 
 The Professor drew away sharply, involun- 
 tarily removing his ear-trumpet and half 
 covering it with the sofa cushions. 
 
 " A discovery ! " he snapped. " What 
 dis'covery ? " 
 
 His eyes grew keen, and flashed oddly, 
 like distant lights seen suddenly on a dark 
 evening. 
 
 Jacobina perceived she was treading on 
 holy ground, but knew not how to make 
 amends, since she could find no practical way 
 of putting the shoes from off her feet. 
 
 " They say you have discovered a new 
 
ISO ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 sense ; that whereas ancient philosophy sup- 
 posed there were only four elements — earth, 
 air, fire, and water — and we now reckon a 
 vast number, so there may be more than 
 five senses." 
 
 The words came stumbling out with an 
 unaccustomed sound from Jacobina's lips ; 
 she fancied someone else must be speaking ; 
 she wished she had never approached the be- 
 wildering subject. 
 
 " Oh ! " he murmured, " people talk now 
 as of old, I perceive. ' What thou doest in 
 secret shall be told in the noonday.' All the 
 hidden things must be mercilessly revealed. 
 Is it not so ? " 
 
 " It is so." 
 
 " What else have you heard, Jacobina ? " 
 
 She tried to escape "from the mastery of 
 those small, bright, terrible eyes, yet somehow 
 they compelled her to continue against her 
 will. 
 
 " People are beginning to discuss, and half 
 believe in, a second universe around us. Lady 
 Ludlow feels convinced that it exists, and is 
 not less real than our own." 
 
 The Professor's face softened. He might 
 have come through a great crisis from the 
 deep-drawn sigh of relief which escaped him. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 151 
 
 He brought forth his ear-trumpet again, bhss- 
 fuUy ignoring the fact that he had conversed 
 quite comfortably without its help. 
 
 " A universe/' he said, " complete with 
 life, doubtless believing, as we do, itself to be 
 the only reality. And why not ? At present 
 men will tell you that sight, hearing, and 
 touch only make us acquainted with a certain 
 stage of the creation, informing us merely of 
 whatever is moving upon it, and there they 
 stop. Does it seem to you incomprehensible 
 that the inner form of matter might be per- 
 ceptible as well as the external form, and the 
 specific causes of all we see become as per- 
 ceptible as are now the ulterior products ? 
 Why should not the human brain, besides 
 knowing effects, discover causes, tracing forms 
 and affinities, a stage or two higher than in the 
 past ? Inner perception might consist with the 
 simultaneous perception of external things! " 
 
 He had brightened up like a coal fire, this 
 shrunken, emaciated figure, so strikingly 
 similar to his Holiness of the Vatican. But 
 he found in the brilliant Jacobina a poor 
 arguer where science was concerned, nor did 
 she ape knowledge, but confessed a shameless 
 ignorance, with smiles and little shakes of her 
 elegant head. 
 
1 52 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 He watched with discernment and sharp 
 observation the extfeme contrast between 
 Jacobina and her young niece. The slender 
 girl with soft silken hair that had no will of its 
 own, looked now and again like a startled deer 
 when Major Chandoss plunged into some very 
 up-to-date story of social doings. More than 
 once he brought a blush to the face of this 
 unplucked flower, with its beautiful curved 
 mouth and drooping eyelids, weighed down 
 by such long lashes ! Then, again, those eyes, 
 the irises of which seemed bluer than the very 
 heavens, would look up with dilated pupils to 
 comment, question, and hang upon his words. 
 
 But the siren on the sofa was of different 
 clay, a woman not absolutely beautiful, but 
 undeniably fascinating, every movement a 
 changing charm, every motion a power of 
 attraction, drawing her victims nearer and 
 nearer adoration. The Professor used her as 
 a study of certain species he had almost for- 
 gotten. Her voice recalled his son's wife ; 
 she interested him, if she failed to please. He 
 was not sure if the rustle of her dress recalled 
 the sound of the bird in its nest or the serpent 
 in the grass — ^he inclined to the latter simile. 
 A number of small details revealed her char- 
 acter, living in his mind long after she had 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 153 
 
 glided away, tracked by the watchful Major 
 Chandoss — that indefinable perfume which 
 enveloped her as an atmosphere round a 
 dazzling planet, that happy, careless selfish- 
 ness, never likely to drop a tear for another's 
 suffering, yet shutting out, by pure glamour, 
 this view of her actions from the average mind. 
 
 " She is a body of electricity," he told 
 Jocelyn afterwards, " and the subtle fluid 
 does not ooze out of her fingers, but flies like 
 lightning as she passes, if you but touch the 
 hem of her dress." 
 
 " You have taught me a great deal," he 
 said, after regarding her some moments in 
 silence, still with his ear-trumpet poised within 
 easy range of the deficient organs of sound, 
 which had a surprising knack of temporary 
 recovery. " I have come to London to learn. 
 I hope to know you very well in time. Pos- 
 sibly we shall before the end fully understand 
 each other." 
 
 His voice retained its mystic note, and his 
 words seemed to hold an inner meaning, which 
 might not be expressed in speech. Jacobina 
 felt suddenly at sea, a strange palpitation 
 affected her heart ; she thought of her past 
 behaviour, wondering guiltily if the words 
 savoured of reproach or threat. " Before the 
 
IS4 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 end " must surely mean he felt the shadow of 
 death creeping through the glitter of this new 
 home. She shivered and closed her eyes. 
 
 " Those who know us best must love or 
 dread us most," he continued, and his far- 
 away look inspired love rather than fear. 
 Instinctively Jacobina unlocked her eyes, 
 feeling them drawn once more to his face. She 
 fancied she read sympathy in that pale coun- 
 tenance, like a mask, taken after death, with a 
 sudden miraculous revival of expression. She 
 wondered if her anxiety was in any way 
 palpable to an astute observer. The haunt- 
 ing thought of her jewels returned again and 
 again to hang, like the sword of Damocles, 
 over her spirit, subduing the vivacity she 
 struggled to maintain. 
 
 " Pain and worry," he remarked,' discern- 
 ing her mood, " would be devilish if there were 
 no purpose in them." 
 
 She started, and flushed such a vivid 
 crimson that even Jocelyn, at a distance, 
 wondered what he could have said. 
 
 " We live in a devilish world," answered 
 Lady Livingstone, and her face grew hard, 
 while she cast a look in Major Chandoss' 
 direction which implied the query, " Are you 
 never going ? " 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 155 
 
 She guessed he was determined to sit her 
 out, but found no clue to account for what 
 she considered extremely bad taste. He knew 
 she was meeting relatives after many years, yet 
 continued monopohsing Jocelyn, though tea 
 had been dispensed, and the hour grew late. 
 
 The Professor rose suddenly, with an 
 alacrity of movement which astonished Jaco- 
 bina, and, ignoring her remark, crossed over 
 to Major Chandoss, bending to him with the 
 trumpet well in evidence. He made no 
 excuse for deserting his fair relative, and 
 engaged her companion in conversation, show- 
 ing by his eager questioning and quick retorts 
 with what rapidity his brain worked. Major 
 Chandoss thought of the jewels, and felt 
 strangely uncomfortable beneath the scrutiny 
 of those piercing eyes. He hoped the Pro- 
 fessor would never learn the truth, for, though 
 old and feeble in body, he yet might prove a 
 powerful enemy, with his extraordinary in- 
 telligence, his mental vigour and vast posses- 
 sions. As a friend — how useful ! As a foe — 
 how alarming and uncanny ! It seemed he 
 might turn the evil eye upon a wrongdoer, 
 and curse him for ever afterwards — with a 
 look, 
 
 Jocelyn rose, and gently pushing her 
 
iS6 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN-. 
 
 grandfather into the chair she had vacated, 
 joined Jacobina on the sofa. 
 
 " Isn't it strange," she said, " that both 
 our names begin with J ? Before you married 
 your initials were the same as mine." 
 
 " The girl has no conversation," thought 
 Lady Livingstone ; "-but she's pretty enough 
 to be dumb ; she would still attract atten- 
 tion." 
 
 " Yes, * J ' stands for jilt, so be warned in 
 time. Miss Jocelyn Gervalle," laughed Jaco- 
 bina, touching lightly the lustrous hair, which 
 clung like the tendrils of a vine round her 
 niece's beautiful forehead. " I have great 
 store cupboards of advice waiting to open 
 their doors when you come and knock, my 
 child ; so don't fall in love without consulting 
 Aunt Jack, for I assure you she has had good 
 training and experience. Remember, first of 
 all, that women, when wise, always keep some- 
 thing in store for the men they love. I ex- 
 pect, like most young people, you will rush 
 into matrimony, just because the riskiness of it 
 makes the trap fascinating. We are all 
 gamblers at heart, and take desperate chances. 
 But love is romantic, and matrimony decidedly 
 matter of fact." 
 
 Jocelyn noticed her aunt's voice shake 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 157 
 
 with an odd little tremor at the word 
 " gamblers." 
 
 " I can't think of marriage as unromantic," 
 said Jocelyn, " for it is love still." 
 
 The widow smiled at youth's illusions ; her 
 own experience made grey the very thought 
 of honeymooning, and tinted orange-blossoms 
 with the decay which her own bright hopes had 
 suffered. , She remembered Lord Livingstone 
 as the incarnation of an unredeemed bore, 
 realising that boredom may prove more con- 
 tagious than measles, and that even at a large 
 gathering one thoroughly boring guest can 
 depress and spoil a whole party. 
 
 " Your grandfather frightens me," said 
 Jacobina, glancing at the old man. " He 
 looks so frail and white, a breath might blow 
 him away ! " 
 
 " Yes," answered the girl. " I felt that 
 last year, when I first went to Heale Prior ; his 
 fragility was a daily terror. I never expected 
 he could live through the coming winter, much 
 less that we should be settled in London the 
 following May. You see, his mind triumphs 
 over bodily weakness. It is wonderful. You 
 have to live with him to realise its worth, 
 to fully appreciate its true value. I think 
 he must make people feel they would do 
 
158 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 anything for him directly they see the far-away 
 expression in his eyes, and the spirituaUty of 
 his face. He is very remarkable, quite 
 different from other old men." 
 
 Jacobina listened with some surprise to 
 Jocelyn's tender adulation. The girl at least 
 had the good sense to appreciate talent of a 
 very uncommon, mystifying type. 
 
 " Age," replied her aunt, "has etherealised 
 instead of coarsening him, which is rare, and 
 exceptionally delightful. Many a fine na- 
 ture is apt to become tinged by a certain 
 grossness when the prime of life is left behind ; 
 the little fastidious refinements of youth grow 
 old and rusty with the body." 
 
 " Grandfather has escaped rust," said 
 Jocelyn, " by keeping the keen edge of his 
 intellect sharpened with unfailing research. 
 He has come to London to study something 
 I cannot understand. He called our entrance 
 into the world of pleasure ' a kindergarten 
 game for full-grown scientists.' Of course, I 
 cannot follow all his deep ideas, but I love to 
 hear them. We had many happy hours to- 
 gether at Heale Prior, though he kept me 
 rather short of his society ; I never had as 
 much of it as I wanted, nor did he let me see 
 his laboratory once the whole time. That 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 159 
 
 increased the mystery ; it became a kind of 
 Blue Beard's cupboard. Elizabeth thought 
 he raised spirits ; she was often talking of 
 devils and dreadful things." 
 
 " Pleasant for you ! " remarked Jacobina 
 satirically. 
 
 " Oh, I don't mind ! I had grandfather, 
 and if you love a person you can't feel fright- 
 ened." 
 
 During the brief pause which followed 
 these words the violet-blue eyes rested with 
 genuine admiration on the Professor. 
 
 " It is fortunate you and your grandfather 
 get on so well," murmured Lady Livingstone, 
 forgetting now her own selfish motives, and 
 feeling instead she had done a very fine work 
 by throwing these two together. She was 
 ready to pride herself upon generous fore- 
 thought and discernment which had never 
 existed. 
 
 This happy accident, freeing her from 
 reproach, made for vanity. She figuratively 
 patted herself on the back, wiping off her 
 score with Idena, whose ghost was for ever laid. 
 
 " Grandfather says," continued Jocelyn^ 
 eager to tell his words of wisdom, " that tact 
 is the most helpful weapon in society. Tact, 
 he believes, makes people more beautiful and 
 
i6o ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN- 
 
 acceptable than the smartest clothes or most 
 brilliant conversation. Being home-made, the 
 secret of its composition is only known to few ; 
 that's why it is such a rare and valuable addi- 
 tion to social adornment. You see, I'm re- 
 peating his words, ' as tact is^to the outside, 
 so truth, its twin sister, should exist within, 
 that the two may work as one.' " 
 
 Jacobina shrugged her shapely shoulders. 
 
 " No praise can over-estimate tact," she 
 replied, " but I don't see how you can practise 
 truth in society ! You must surely look 
 happy when you are horribly bored, and say 
 you are pleased to see people when you wish 
 them at Jericho. Talking of that, I am sure 
 it is taxing the Professor's strength receiving 
 visitors on the day of his arrival, so I am going 
 to set the good example, and bid you adieu. I 
 think Major Chandoss " (speaking in a whisper) 
 " might have gone before. He asked me to 
 bring him, so I could not very well decline. 
 I expect he will take advantage of my intro- 
 duction to haunt your house. If so — shunt 
 him. He is no particular friend of mine." 
 
 " He is very pleasant," answered Jocelyn, 
 " and I'm sure grandfather was glad you came. 
 He wanted to see you. Don't you like Major 
 Chandoss ? " 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. i6i 
 
 << 
 
 No ; he impresses people at first. I fell 
 into the error of being impressed. He has a 
 number of amusing stories and sings charm- 
 ingly, but he is really very shallow — an un- 
 reliable friend. Narrow souls are like narrow- 
 necked bottles, the less they have inside them 
 the more noise in pouring out." 
 
 Jacobina patted the girl's hand, and got 
 up to go, with a smile which flashed from 
 Jocelyn to the Professor, eloquently expressing 
 approval of all she had heard and seen. Major 
 Chandoss also smiled and bade them good-bye, 
 keeping Jocelyn's hand a moment longer than 
 conventionality warranted in farewell. 
 
 " I can drive back a little way with you," 
 he said familiarly to Lady Livingstone, as she 
 stepped into the carriage, taking his place 
 uninvited at her side. 
 
 " A most refreshing couple," he said, " that 
 old man and his granddaughter, the latter ut- 
 terly charming, the former certainly amusing." 
 
 " Why amusing ? " queried Jacobina lan- 
 guidly. If eyes can borrow the weapon of the 
 lips and sneer, hers were certainly satirical as 
 they met his coldly. 
 
 " Well, he strikes me as the kind of person 
 to give valuable advice as to which phase of 
 the moon is most favourable to a sufferer 
 
 L 
 
i62 angels; and devils, and man. 
 
 before gathering a medicinal herb ! I could 
 picture him counselling mothers of children 
 afflicted by whooping cough to pass them 
 under the body of a white donkey. He has 
 a face that naturally suggests the fanciful and 
 occult — in wl^ich I have no faith. I never 
 believe what I cannot understand." 
 
 " Then you must have the shortest possible 
 creed/' declared Jacobina. " Many will make 
 fun of the Professor, for there is no defence 
 against inopportune ridicule but obscurity. It 
 is foolish if an eminent man expects to escape 
 gibes, and still more fooHsh to be affected by 
 them. You evidently take Positivism as 
 your guide." 
 
 Major Chandoss listened complacently to 
 Jacobina's snubbing. He guessed she could 
 not b^ in a good or pleasant mood, since luxury 
 and the gratification of every whim are not 
 conducive to patience when the day of reckon- 
 ing comes. 
 
 He soon found he was in a hurry to be off, 
 but thanked her in parting for introducing 
 him to the nymph with the sweet, half wild, 
 sylvan air. 
 
 " I shall call to-morrow," he said, " for the 
 little parcel, as I understand you wish to hand 
 it me yourself." 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 163 
 
 " Your understanding grasps that much, 
 oh man of earth ! " she said, with a ring of 
 bitter playfulness, as she proffered him the 
 tips of her small, neatly-gloved fingers. " I 
 do not quite see you making a pal of so young 
 a girl as Jocelyn Gervalle. Yours is the last 
 hand to pluck a pure white lily on a stagnant 
 pond." 
 
 " Stagnant merely because the waters 
 have not been stirred," he answered boldly. 
 " A demain, Lady Livingstone." 
 
 He raised his hat, and was gone, before 
 Jacobina could snatch the pleasure of a last 
 thrust, 
 
 " To-morrow," she muttered, and breathed 
 hard. 
 
 Her reign of uncontrolled luxury suffered 
 a severe check. Hitherto she had not swerved 
 from the rank of pleasure seekers, enjoying a 
 state of things made for such as have large 
 appetites, no liver, and no conscience. Now 
 their motto, " Let us always be amused," 
 mocked the sacrifice in store. 
 
 "To-morrow! To-morrow! To-morrow!" 
 
104 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Go, speed the stars of thought 
 
 On to their shining goals ; 
 The sower scatters broad his seed, 
 
 The wheat thou strew'st be souls. 
 
 Jacobina had several evening engagements, 
 but she resigned them all to the predominating 
 influence of depression. 
 
 She intended wearing her emerald pendant 
 at a fancy dress ball that night, having pro- 
 cured a costume representing its original 
 owner — Marie Antoinette. The pendant was 
 so well known she would not have donned the 
 dress without it, and a morbid fear of losing 
 the ornament, which on the morrow must pass 
 for ever from her keeping, made her decide to 
 stay at home and mourn her fate. 
 
 " I feel inclined to give myself up to a 
 good old mope," she thought ; " the whole 
 business is so sickening. I shall not enjoy my- 
 self if I do go out. Besides, masque balls are 
 ' banal,' merely an adulation trap, which, 
 like a' roasting jack, turns round and round 
 before the fire of friendly approbation, while 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 165 
 
 the smoke of self-glorification thickens the 
 atmosphere of social intercourse for days 
 after. Better remain at home in dust and 
 ashes than endure the strain of trying to 
 appear cheerful when inwardly raging." 
 
 " Dust and ashes " took the form of an 
 elegant teagown, composed of mauve and 
 silver, with embroidered sprays of lilac nest- 
 ling in delicate green foliage, the transparent 
 elbow sleeves finished off with quaint cuffs. 
 No jewels, not even her rings, for the dia- 
 monds' glitter roused stinging memories. 
 
 Lady Livingstone's maid felt quite anxious 
 about her mistress. It was so unlike Jacobina 
 to stay at home for apparently no reason. A 
 lonely dinner was in keeping with the sufferer's 
 mood, tortured by mental fury, and growing 
 horror of relinquishing her heirlooms. After 
 dinner she dived lazily into the papers, 
 smoked, and read a book upside down. She 
 was not aware that the lines conveyed no 
 meaning, but felt in those hours of solitude 
 her joie de vivre withering slowly, like the 
 freshness of a plant deprived of sunshine. 
 Now and again she soliloquised, declaring 
 that the original mistake of being born made 
 successful life a sheer impossibility. 
 
 So absorbed was she in her drab-tinted 
 
i66 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 
 
 reverie that steps on the stairs failed to attract 
 her attention till the door suddenly opened, 
 and a footman announced : 
 
 " Miss Gervalle." 
 
 The fresh spring-like figure of Jocelyn 
 came quickly forward, in a soft white semi- 
 low muslin gown, covered by a picturesque 
 cloak of pansy purple panne, her hair coiled 
 low on her neck, showing off the pretty curve 
 of her head. 
 
 The joie de vivre resurrected in the sudden 
 presence of this unexpected visitor. The 
 light of excitement glowed in her eyes, her 
 cheeks wore the faint pink of the Banksia 
 rose. 
 
 " I hardly expected to find you in," she 
 said, half hesitating, as the folding doors 
 closed behind her. 
 
 The tall form of Lady Livingstone ad- 
 vanced across the long, dimly-lighted apart- 
 ment, like a grenadier marching to attack a 
 redoubt. 
 
 " You sweet thing, to come and relieve 
 my solitude," exclaimed the silvery voice 
 of the widow, and Jocelyn felt both her 
 hands captured in quite a theatrical manner, 
 which struck her as a little forced and bewil- 
 dering. The older woman's expression just 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 167 
 
 then was as simple as that of a healthy, 
 generous-minded child. 
 
 " Grandfather thought if you didn't go out 
 to-night it would be because you were worried. 
 He noticed you looked anxious and careworn 
 this afternoon, and we both concluded, under 
 the circumstances, you would probably not 
 sleep very well. Worry keeps one awake 
 more than anything; it's as persistent as 
 toothache." 
 
 Jacobina listened to these startling words 
 spoken with utter simplicity, a nervous 
 tremor quickening the beat of her pulses, 
 fearful lest Jocelyn suspected the cause of her 
 uneasiness. 
 
 " Careworn," she re-echoed, glancing at a 
 mirror, " did I really look careworn ? How 
 horrid it sounds ! " 
 
 " Oh, please don't think I meant anything 
 rude ! " exclaimed Jocelyn quickly. " Your 
 clothes were so lovely they quite took my 
 breath away. I thought, until I saw them, 
 the beautiful things grandfather let me order 
 for myself were too wonderful for words. I 
 see now they may be easily outshone." 
 
 " Clothes are merely bought," Jacobina 
 replied lightly; "careworn faces cannot be 
 cast off like rags. In the race for beauty and 
 
1 68 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 eternal youth ' many are called, but few are 
 chosen.' So you came to see me because you 
 thought I looked unhappy. That was nice of 
 you, and unusual. The world is always ready 
 to laugh with me, but I have not often tested 
 the saying, ' Weep, and you weep alone.' " 
 
 She drew off the girl's cloak, watching her 
 as she stood on a large white rug, all white — 
 her dress, her soul, her setting — for Jacobina's 
 white room was full of tall lilies and other 
 pale-faced blossoms. She turned on some 
 more electric light, held in clusters by small 
 Cupids. The blaze momentarily dazzled 
 Jocelyn, the effect of the sudden brilliance 
 being enhanced by a number of mirrors en- 
 closed in panels. 
 
 " What a fairy-like place ! " cried the girl. 
 " It looks like a bride's bower." 
 
 " For many years it was unique," declared 
 Lady Livingstone ; " indeed, it may be said 
 to have set the present fashion of white 
 drawing-rooms . ' ' 
 
 " I know nothing of London fashions, but 
 I managed all right about dresses and things, 
 for I just went to safe places with my new 
 maid — a Frenchwoman — and asked the peo- 
 ple to give me the prettiest garments they 
 could find, for grandfather said money was of 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 169 
 
 no account. I should be afraid to tell you 
 what we spent, Elise and I, in the shops 
 together. I came up from Salford several 
 times, and went back the same day." 
 
 " You might have asked me to help you," 
 said Jacobina. 
 
 The girl looked her straight in the eyes, 
 with such an unflinching gaze that Lady 
 Livingstone wished she had not spoken. 
 
 " Might I ? " 
 
 Only two short words, but they conveyed 
 a clear meaning, turning Jacobina's cheeks 
 pink. 
 
 She was thinking how odd it was for her 
 niece to seek her out so soon after their first 
 meeting, and at such an unconventional hour. 
 A' lurking suspicion warned her that Jocelyn 
 had come for some purpose as yet unexplained. 
 The girl more than once seemed contemplating 
 an attack — she wanted to say difficult and 
 embarrassing things ; she sought her oppor- 
 tunity. 
 
 The moment Jacobina paused, Jocelyn 
 drew a step nearer ; a quick expression of 
 sympathy lighted her face, robbing her of 
 shyness. She spoke now from her heart, in 
 hushed, feeling accents, glancing round as if 
 the very walls had ears;. 
 
I/O ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 " Aunt Jack," she half whispered, " grand- 
 father says, don't sell your family jewels to 
 Major Chandoss." 
 
 The words were electrical in their effect. 
 Lady Livingstone turned to her with staring 
 eyes and trembling lips, limp hands hung 
 nervelessly against the silver and mauve tea- 
 gown; all the colour vanished from the widow's 
 face. 
 
 " How did you know ? How did he 
 know ? " she asked breathlessly. 
 
 " I can't tell you," Jocelyn replied ; 
 " please do not question me. We are sorry 
 that you're in trouble. Grandfather realises 
 how you must hate parting with the 
 beautiful pendant ; he thinks he would like 
 to see you in the tiara at my ' coming out ' 
 ball. He is sure you have a throat to set 
 off that single stone necklace of diamonds. 
 Besides, they are heirlooms, and should 
 only pass to members of your husband's 
 family." 
 
 Jocelyn looked quite commanding now, 
 with her little head held high. She no longer 
 felt insignificant beside the elaborately- 
 fashionable Lady Livingstone. 
 
 Jacobina had lost her power of speech for 
 the moment. She waited like one dumb, 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 171 
 
 watching, listening. She reahsed Jocelyn had 
 more to say. 
 
 " Major Chandoss is nothing but a swind- 
 ler," continued the girl, with rising indigna- 
 tion, and somehow she belied Jacobina's 
 comparison of her to a lily on a stagnant 
 pool. Deep waters swelled beneath that calm 
 exterior, the soul peeped out with its won- 
 derful radiance through eyes that glowed 
 darkly in the shadows. Her tone of scorn 
 might have withered even the imperturbable 
 Major Chandoss. 
 
 " Oh, when I think of that man I feel — 
 well, I hardly like to tell you. Aunt Jacobina, 
 how I feel ! He looked so suave to-day, so 
 bland and amiable, while all the time he was 
 congratulating himself on cheating you. He 
 knows the jewels are worth £50,000, and is 
 laughing in his sleeve at your relinquishing 
 them to pay a debt of ;^5,ooo. Laughing, and yet 
 frightened that his trickery may be found out." 
 
 " Can it be possible ? " gasped Lady 
 Livingstone. " Then he must have planned 
 to rob me long ago, and boasted of his prowess, 
 or how could you hear of the disgraceful 
 bargain ? Fifty thousand pounds ! Good 
 heavens ! and I should have given them up 
 to-morrow for five ! " 
 
1/2 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 If the most awful human tragedy in the 
 pages of the world's history had been enacted 
 before her eyes, Jacobina could scarcely have 
 looked more horrified. This affected herself 
 alone, and her own interests ; therefore it was 
 of absorbing importance, and Jocelyn ap- 
 peared as an angel of light, showing her the 
 folly of her ways, the pitfall into which she 
 would have glided. 
 
 " Yes, he is even unscrupulous enough for 
 that, the polished gentleman who talked 
 so wittily and kept me entertained with 
 stories of his aristocratic acquaintance. He 
 thinks he has you in his clutches, but fortu- 
 nately grandfather found him out in time to 
 save you. He sent me to-night with the sum 
 you owe Major Chandoss, that to-morrow you 
 may pay him in money, instead of jewels. 
 Grandfather asks for no security but your 
 word, believing you will return him the 
 £5,000. when you are able." 
 
 The girl handed her an envelope, addressed 
 in the wavering writing that only last summer 
 filled her with a sense of loathing, as she read 
 the so-called miser's letter, indignant at his 
 asking whether she would offer Jocelyn a home. 
 
 Now she clutched it with tremulous fingers, 
 swaying as if from faintness, while a strange 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 173 
 
 blue haze seemed to rise before her eyes, 
 blotting out the white-robed figure of this 
 ministering angel. 
 
 " Aunt Jack, do you feel ill ? Hadn't you 
 better sit down ? " 
 
 Lady Livingstone sank into the arms of a 
 huge chair, and, turning her head away, buried 
 her face in the cream brocade cushions. For 
 many a long year no tear had stained her 
 cheek ; now she felt her eyes burn, and knew 
 that they were wet. What did it mean, this 
 sudden feminine weakness which tore at her 
 heartstrings ? Was she crying for very joy, 
 or for deep, perplexing sorrow ? Coals of fire, 
 brought under cover of a sealed envelope, 
 burnt deep into her soul, which for a brief 
 period took mastery over the flesh, redeeming 
 this woman of earth, making her resemble 
 something holy. 
 
 It was simply a miracle, the wonderful 
 coming of Jocelyn, bringing release. Her 
 presence had removed, like some fabled wand, 
 the gnawing anxiety eating into Jacobina's 
 heart, and the tears that watered the hard 
 ground were soft as morning dew. Yet the 
 Professor's kindness came as a reproach, cen- 
 suring while it satisfied — a most welcome 
 martyrdom ! 
 
174 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 Jocelyn knelt down beside the abject figure, 
 a little alarmed at the utter abandon of her 
 aunt's attitude. She put her arms round the 
 shimmering silver draperies, and nestling near, 
 begged her to look up. It was new to Jaco- 
 bina to feel warm breath close to her cheek, 
 to know that something young and eager cared 
 whether she suffered or was gay. 
 
 Pulling herself together, and keeping her 
 fingers clasped tightly over the precious loan, 
 she raised her head, looking between half- 
 closed lids at the girl's sympathetic face. 
 
 "Jocelyn," she said, with a return of her 
 old brightness, " you're a little brick ! Oh, 
 you don't know what I have been through to- 
 day ! Have you ever suffered loss of pride ? 
 It's the most galling, hideous bereavement ; 
 leaves one empty and sore ; it's like a cane 
 stinging delicate flesh, only you can't cry out. 
 Debt is a horrible bondage ; it clogs the spirit, 
 destroys youth, makes cowards of us all. 
 Prudent people who owe little clear it off 
 quickly, but those who by long negUgence owe 
 a great deal despair in time of ever repaying, 
 and so drift on without looking into their 
 accounts at all. Won't you tell me, child, how 
 you knew ? I can't stand the darkness ! You 
 must see it's too bewildering and painful." 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 175 
 
 " I may not satisfy your curiosity, even if 
 you ask me on your knees," replied the girl. 
 " Grandfather enclosed a letter with the 
 cheque ; perhaps you will find some informa- 
 tion in that." 
 
 Jacobina quickly broke the seal, and 
 hastily read the Professor's epistle. 
 
 " He says nothing — nothing to throw a ray 
 of light on the mystery ; he is silent as the 
 grave." 
 
 The letter fluttered from her hands, and 
 rested like a white butterfly on a cluster of 
 embroidered lilac. 
 
 " Yet," said Jocelyn, looking at the sheet, 
 " that's a very long letter for grandfather to 
 write." 
 
 " It's the best sermon I ever read," re- 
 plied Jacobina. " He puts me on my honour, 
 he trusts me. There's a lot in that ; it ties 
 one faster than any agreement or security. 
 He lends me this sum if I will give him my 
 word — only my word, mind — to forego from 
 to-night my fatal passion for gambling. I 
 am afraid not many people would care to stake 
 so much on my word ! I've been careless, 
 and possibly untruthful at times, I boast few 
 scruples, but the Professor understands how 
 to nail a woman down. Jocelyn, I'm a poor 
 
176 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 creature morally, but I'd burn my right hand 
 off sooner than betray the trust he puts in me.' ' 
 All that was best in Jacobina rose to the 
 surface, brought out by noble treatment. She 
 felt uplifted, braced to a certain reformation, 
 bewildered, too, by the startling generosity 
 of the Professor's system. 
 
 Possibly the old man knew, when entrust- 
 ing this mission to Jocelyn's unaccustomed 
 hands, that by making the girl his envoy he 
 placed her once and for all in the topmost 
 rank of her aunt's good graces. Professor 
 Gervalle remembered that Julius Caesar, when 
 lampooned by Catullus, invited the poet to 
 supper and treated him with such generous 
 civility that he made him his friend for 
 ever. Some such strategy lurked in this re- 
 markably amiable action on the part of the 
 far-sighted man of science. 
 
 " I ought to be getting back," said 
 Jocelyn ; " the carriage is waiting for me ; 
 it's simply delightful having a great big car- 
 riage of one's own." 
 
 Jacobina considered a moment. An in- 
 spiration flitted through her brain, as she 
 looked Jocelyn up and down, evidently con- 
 templating some fresh move, 
 
 " I could not have slept for worry," she 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN^ 177 
 
 said, " if you hadn't burst like a good fairy on 
 my gloom and despondency. Now I feel I 
 can't for the life of me go to bed — excitement 
 and thankfulness would keep me awake, 
 thinking — thinking for hours ! The night is 
 still young, and I am expected at a fancy dress 
 dance in Park Lane. It's a big affair, and 
 will be worth seeing. Suppose we go together, 
 Jocelyn. Do you feel up to an impromptu 
 adventure ? I can send a letter quickly to 
 the Professor ; he could not possibly object." 
 
 The girl's face flushed with pleasure, but 
 she looked doubtfully down at her dress. 
 
 " I have no costume," she said, " or, of 
 course, I should love to go." 
 
 "White," murmured Jacobina, eyeing her 
 dainty frock ; "a white rosebud, fresh from 
 the country. I have any amount of French 
 roses upstairs. My maid shall shower them 
 from your shoulders to your toes, and trans- 
 form you magically into Flora herself. Pow- 
 dered hair, I think, should complete the effect, 
 cold and white as the driving snow, while two 
 black beauty patches shall sport with your 
 dimples. I have no doubt of turning you into 
 a most bewitching companion to Marie An- 
 toinette. Before, the historic pendant would 
 have scorched my neck, I could not have 
 
 M 
 
178 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 donned it with any heart ; now I shall sail 
 bravely into the fray, aware that my menaced 
 citadel remains secure." 
 
 Jacobina jfiung herself heart and soul into 
 the scheme of adorning Jocelyn, after first 
 despatching an explanatory note to the Pro- 
 fessor, with certain words of gratitude that 
 held a world of sincerity. 
 
 Never had debutante's dress been dashed 
 at in more haphazard fashion, and never had 
 one proved more wholly successful. 
 
 " You look as if the fairies had just 
 breathed on you, and your human form 
 divine instantly developed into a flower," said 
 the dazzling Marie Antoinette, as she gazed 
 approvingly on the result of her skill. " We 
 don't clash in the least, we are such utterly 
 different types. You look amazingly like 
 your mother to-night. I remember going to 
 a bal poudrd with her some sixteen years ago." 
 
 " I shall certainly never forget my first 
 dance," laughed Jocelyn, as she wriggled gin- 
 gerly into her pansy cloak, fearful of crushing 
 the fair white rose trails which enveloped her 
 lissom figure. "It is really far nicer when 
 things come as a surprise." 
 
 She fixed her eyes admiringly on the superb 
 pendant, with its remarkably large emerald. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 179 
 
 " Yes, far nicer," echoed Jacobina signific- 
 antly, fastening a diamond flower-spray, which 
 formed a comb, into the girl's elaborately coif- 
 fured head. The blossoms were skilfully 
 mounted, so that at every turn they flashed 
 and oscillated amongst the crown of white 
 rosebuds. 
 
 The Professor's carriage was utilised to 
 take them to the ball, and Jocelyn talked 
 eagerly all the way, questioning Jacobina on 
 many matters, anxious to explore her " carpet 
 bag " of social experience, which might be 
 taken out and used, as necessity arose. She 
 could not help feeling Jacobina must have 
 met with many disappointments before learn- 
 ing all her worldly wisdom. 
 
 " Your eyes are made to do a deal of 
 damage, little lady ! " Jacobina assured her ; 
 " but bear this in mind, the constant use of 
 them prevents a man mentally photographing 
 you, and he cannot fall in love if he only 
 briefly glances. Make a gaze from your eyes 
 as precious as diamonds, but just before you 
 hook your fish look him straight in the face." 
 
 " But I don't want to catch a husband," 
 protested Jocelyn, inclined to take offence at 
 her aunt's somewhat broad insinuations. It 
 savoured of vulgarity, the very thought of 
 
i8o ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 
 
 likening a man to a hooked fish. " I shall 
 never marry while grandfather lives. I could 
 not leave him." 
 
 " Oh, nonsense ! Wait till you fall in 
 love, my dear ! If you don't want a fasci- 
 nating husband, endowed with every gift 
 under the sun, a veritable Prince Charmingj 
 you are different from most girls of your age. 
 But," pursuing a distasteful subject, " men 
 are like fish, you know. Look at a salmon — 
 fastidious, dainty, and capricious; yet if he 
 does advance, what a rush he makes when 
 you least expect it ! Once fairly hooked, give 
 him plenty of line, but always a gentle strain, 
 and you will land him as if he almost liked it. 
 I have a dear little friend for you to play with 
 to-night, only please be very gentle with him^ 
 because he's precious, and a good boy. I call 
 him little, not because he is short in stature, 
 but more on account of a small-featured face, 
 and much popularity. Have you noticed very 
 popular merry people are often termed 
 ' little ' ? It rolls so affectionately off the 
 tongue." 
 
 " What is his name ? " asked Jocelyn. 
 " Sir Thomas Ludlow, but I don't mind 
 betting you will call him Tommy in a week ! 
 Oh, I forgot ! I mustn't bet. How shocking 
 
ANGELS^ AND DEVILS, AND MAN. i8i 
 
 of me ! Tommy is always the same, which 
 is a very rare attribute, and one to be com- 
 mended. Man unbends at dinner ; he is then 
 at his best and happiest, surveying the world 
 through the colours of a wine-glass ; but even 
 at breakfast, which is exceptionally a meal 
 of solitude. Tommy can make one feel life 
 is really worth living. He is happiest of 
 all in the hunting field or the ballroom ; move- 
 ment appeals to him." 
 
 The carriage had stopped at the end of a 
 long queue, and Jocelyn's impatience quite 
 tortured her, before she found herself following 
 Lady Livingstone into a palace of light and 
 splendour. 
 
 Jacobina forgot she had ever thought a 
 fancy dress dance " banal." Now it ap- 
 peared as an interesting and fashionable re- 
 vival of an entertainment much affected 
 during the eighteenth century. Moods alter 
 opinions, and a turn of Fate's wheel changes 
 the colour of the night with kaleidoscopic 
 swiftness. 
 
 The woman and the girl, both remarkable 
 for beauty of a striking t5^e, caused many an 
 eye to turn in their direction as they entered 
 the almost garish ballroom, the designer of 
 which had realised that, when aglow with 
 
1 82 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 
 
 lightj gilt in profusion may be decidedly 
 effective. To Jocelyn such a room came as a 
 revelation of splendour. From the mass of 
 costumed guests her fascinated eyes roved to 
 the complicated ornamentation of her sur- 
 roundings, the gorgeous painted ceiling and 
 yellow silk panels. How like a wonderful 
 vision, a fabrication of the senses ! 
 
 Through this waking dream she heard a 
 familiar voice. " Am I so fortunate ? Can 
 it really be Miss Gervalle ? Why did you not 
 teU me you were masquerading this evening ? 
 I hardly knew you with powdered hair. You 
 were betrayed simply by your dimples." 
 
 The words came glibly from a Spanish 
 matador, who, bending low, made a graceful 
 bow, as if to a vast cheering arena thirsting 
 for blood. 
 
 Instantly Jocelyn recognised Major Chan- 
 doss. With the frigidity of an icicle the white 
 rosebud reared a wintry head, the blue eyes 
 held the glitter of steel, the mobile childish 
 lips set firm with mute disdain. The matador 
 asked himself if he had possibly made a 
 mistake. 
 
 " You — you are Miss Gervalle ? " he stam- 
 mered, reddening. 
 
 " Yes," replied the icicle. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 183 
 
 (< 
 
 I was afraid I'd blundered. I hope you 
 are going to give me a dance ? " 
 
 The Uttle chin went even higher into the 
 air, and the jewelled flowers on the diamond 
 comb vibrated emphatically, throwing forth a 
 decided " No." She looked at him a moment 
 half incredulously, as though unable to fully 
 realise he was the unscrupulous swindler 
 scheming to rob J acobina. Finally her answer 
 came in clear, direct accents : — 
 
 " Certainly not ! " 
 
 He stood staggered, hardly able to believe 
 his ears. What had he done to offend ? Only 
 a few hours ago that rounded cheek dimpled 
 for him, the eyes smiled like summer seas 
 twinkling with sunbeams, nor did the little 
 hand apparently resent his farewell pressure. 
 Surely a complete individuality ought not to 
 change with powder and patches. There was 
 more in this barefaced affront than his 
 thoughts could solve in the brief pause that 
 followed. 
 
 " The girl is a mass of impudence and 
 conceit," he told himself, forgetting he called 
 her " utterly charming " that very day. " I'm 
 dashed if I know what she's huffy about ! " 
 
 Then a sudden idea flashed across him. 
 Already Jacobina was revenging herself ; she 
 
i84 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 had taken good care to poison the girl's mind 
 against him^ probably extracting a promise 
 from her to have no further acquaintance with 
 the friend of the afternoon. It was just what 
 a spiteful woman would do, and glory in the 
 meanness of such an easily attained triumph. 
 
 He turned, with a flush of anger rising like 
 a danger signal under his sallow skin, to where 
 Marie Antoinette, displaying on her white 
 neck the famous emerald pendant, conversed 
 vivaciously with Sir Thomas Ludlow. 
 
 " Yes," she was saying, " of course I will 
 introduce you. I am very proud of my 
 debutante, especially as the white rose idea is 
 my own creation. You didn't know I ex- 
 celled in the designing of costumes ; but per- 
 suade her not to dance too violently, for she 
 may drop to pieces at any moment, like 
 Cinderella on the stroke of twelve. Why ? 
 Oh, I can't explain now ; but Jocelyn will 
 tell you if you ask her ; it's the greatest 
 joke ! " 
 
 She avoided the sinister eyes of the mata- 
 dor while presenting Tommy, arrayed as a 
 jester, to the floral milk-white vision in the 
 bud of a rose's youth. 
 
 "You shall^^pay for" this, my lady!" 
 thought Chandoss, grinding his teeth. " A 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 185 
 
 full explanation, and then on your knees, or 
 I'll make things awkward for you. At least 
 it's the last time you'll flaunt your pendant 
 with that insolent air. Can you have forgot- 
 ten your humiliation so soon ? I fancy not ! 
 What actresses you women are ! " 
 
 " Lady Livingstone," he said, " haven't 
 you a word for me ? " 
 
 The question was a gibe rather than a plea. 
 Still believing he had the whip-hand over her, 
 he adopted a masterful tone ; his eyes wore 
 an evil, menacing glance. 
 
 " Yes," she answered, " a good many 
 words ! No thanks, I would rather not dance. 
 Come where we can talk. I have something 
 of importance to say." 
 
 Her manner made him feel suddenly un- 
 comfortable ; his guilty conscience warned 
 him that a storm was brewing. Already 
 Tommy and the beautiful girl in white were 
 drifting round the room, and Marie Antoinette 
 vanished through the doorway, motioning the 
 bull-fighting hero to follow in her wake. 
 
 She walked like a deer-stalker down the 
 long corridor, to a deserted lounge, arranged 
 with an awning of palms and flowers, the 
 gigantic foliage resembling Brobdingnagian 
 Japanese fans. 
 
1 86 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 For a moment her companion felt uncer- 
 tain as to which was the hunter, and which the 
 hunted. 
 
 Jacobina waved him to a seat at her side, 
 and, turning with a little snap of white teeth, 
 opened fire : 
 
 " Now, Major Chandoss," she said, catch- 
 ing her breath, and laying her hand across the 
 huge flashing emerald, " now ! " 
 
187 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 On with the dance ! Let joy be unconfined. — Byron; 
 
 " It seems you have something unpleasant to 
 say," remarked Major Chandoss, after a long 
 pause. 
 
 He was angry at the mere idea of Jacobina 
 daring to be unpleasant, and flashed a half- 
 disdainful, half-injured glance in her direction. 
 She was a woman who could, he suspected, 
 lose her temper on occasions, with an utter 
 disregard of the fitness of things. A mas- 
 querade, music, lights, pretty faces, naturally 
 suggested pleasant conversation ; he had not 
 expected to find himself fixed by glittering 
 eyes, with a fine show of scorn in their liquid 
 depths ; nor could he have anticipated the 
 sudden attack of that very emphatic 
 " Now I " 
 
 Jacobina pressed her hands together. She 
 looked amazingly handsome and imposing. 
 
 " I understood," she replied in a clear, 
 hard voice, " that our financial transactions, 
 our bargain, were to be a secret. Who. then, 
 
i88 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 have you told, since the story has become 
 common property, reaching even the ears of 
 my relations ? They only arrived in town 
 to-day ; yet before to-night the details were 
 known to them. Gossip travels quickly ; 
 some babbler lost little time in spreading the 
 story. It was not a very proud boast on your 
 part to demand, in payment for ;^5,ooo, jewels 
 worth ;f5o,ooo. You trusted to a woman's 
 ignorance, and, if you had kept your secret, 
 the woman would undoubtedly have proved 
 the dupe of your sharp practice. Instead, 
 her eyes have been opened in time ; she 
 prefers to pay cash down, and retain the 
 heirlooms for a future occasion." 
 
 Lady Livingstone's melodious voice lost 
 much of its charm by the jarring notes of 
 cynicism, which cut like a sharp-edged knife, 
 causing physical pain to the man who listened. 
 His face first reddened, and then grew grey ; 
 he tugged at his moustache, biting his lips 
 savagely, and wrestling with an inner sense of 
 confusion, which temporarily robbed him of 
 speech. 
 
 " I swear," he muttered at last, " I 
 breathed no word of it to a living soul ! As to 
 the worth of the baubles, how should I know 
 their value ? You magnify them, I presume, 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN-. 189 
 
 in jest, some twisted joke which my duller 
 perception fails to follow. It stands to reason 
 I should consider you first — you, who have 
 always been my friend." 
 
 He felt like a rat in a corner ; he was at 
 bay, and his only chance stood now in veering 
 round to the old seductive manner. He 
 hoped she did not see his knees shaking, for 
 detection came as a shock to his whole system, 
 unnerving him miserably. He spoke the 
 truth, and nothing but the truth, when he 
 swore, " I breathed no word of it to a living 
 soul," and the ring of sincerity partially con- 
 vinced Jacobina, for his tone unconsciously 
 implied, " Should I be likely to risk an ex- 
 posure ? Am I fool enough to betray myself 
 and my own interests ? " 
 
 " Please don't talk of friendship," she 
 answered icily ; " 1 know too much now. I 
 cannot be deceived by soft words. I see you, 
 robbed of all that can lay claim to the word 
 ' friend ' ; I look upon you as nothing but a 
 common thief. If you broke into my house 
 and took ;^45,ooo from a safe, it would be the 
 same in the end as receiving from my hands 
 the necklace, the tiara, and this pendant in 
 payment for my gambling debts." 
 
 Once more her fingers lay across the 
 
I90 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 glorious emeraldj now with a loving, more 
 than a protecting, touch. Major Chandoss, 
 she felt, was miles away. She spoke words 
 which, in cold blood, she might have hesitated 
 to utter. It certainly seemed easier for Marie 
 Antoinette to revile a bull-fighter than for 
 Lady Livingstone to utter unvarnished truths 
 to a black-coated major in the King's Army. 
 
 " Take care what you are saying," he 
 hissed. " Do you think flesh and blood can 
 stand your slanderous tongue ? You've been 
 deceived by some spiteful enemy of mine ; but 
 I won't press the point. If you can pay, all 
 well and good ; we need not talk of the jewels 
 again. But, mind you, it's dangerous to use 
 libellous words, and I cannot risk losing my 
 character because your temper has over- 
 mastered reason ! You have called me a 
 thief to my face. I demand an apology, and 
 insist upon your taking back that statement." 
 
 He gripped her arm, and bent glowering 
 over her, till she could feel his hot breath on 
 her cheek. 
 
 " I take nothing back, but what I said to 
 you I should not dream of repeating. I only 
 want the incident to end. From to-night our 
 acquaintance ceases, for I am able, by the 
 Professor's help, to save you the trouble of 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 191 
 
 getting my jewels copied. Bah ! could I ever 
 have borne to wear an imitation ? " 
 
 Major Chandoss had turned so white he 
 looked in danger of fainting, his breathing 
 sounded laboured, and he appeared strangely 
 older since their interview. 
 
 " How did the Professor know ? " he whis- 
 pered, in a hoarse, dictatorial undertone. 
 " You must have told him yourself ! " 
 
 Lady Livingstone shook her head. 
 
 " I was never more surprised than when 
 Miss Gervalle came to save me from carrying 
 out a most unfair bargain. She refused to 
 give me any clue ; you had better ask her, if 
 you wish to know." 
 
 He wiped his forehead, and turned away, 
 for every moment his self-respect grew frailer, 
 his cowardice increased. He felt like a 
 whipped hound under the scathing light of 
 correct information. 
 
 A number of people streamed down the 
 corridor ; further parley was impossible. 
 
 Jacobina rose, and, ignoring his escort, 
 sailed back to the ballroom, where she was 
 instantly the centre of an admiring group. In 
 a moment she dropped the stern set of her 
 features, and stood transformed, a creature of 
 smiles and sallies, a coquette to the tips of her 
 
192 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 fingers, with the heart of a rake — gleeful in 
 finding herself free from oppression, ready to 
 dance, laugh, and frivol, as if the chill twilight 
 of care had never gathered upon her un- 
 clouded brow. 
 
 If wallflowers bloomed round the panels of 
 the gilded drawing-room. Fate planted them 
 in an excellent school, cared they so much as 
 to raise their eyes, and follow with a glance 
 the subtle, illusive, man-subjecting Jacobina. 
 What charming methods she used to confer 
 slight obligations on her eager partners ! How 
 energetically she flattered the useful members 
 of her circle with words and looks in league 
 with each other to charm ! A wave of her 
 hands, a whirl of her skirts, expressed more 
 than an average woman's complete individu- 
 ality, for tricks and graces grew lavishly in the 
 fertile soil of Lady Livingstone's environment. 
 
 Only one pair of eyes looked savagely at 
 the widow's trivial successes, turning away as 
 though disgusted by her mannerisms, seeking 
 instead the white roses which breathed purity 
 and youth, with a bitter recollection that the 
 simple, colourless flower decked an icy reserve 
 — a stern disapproval — a heart grown cold to 
 a supposed enemy. 
 
 " I would have been good to her," mut- 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 193 
 
 tered Major Chandoss, with pity for the girl 
 who had fooUshly missed what little good 
 might be found in him. " My chance is all 
 up now ; she'll never be friendly again ; but 
 I'll try and sift the matter to the bottom — 
 it's so mysterious ! " 
 
 He sought long and diligently for the white 
 rose, finally espying her hiding shy petals in 
 a flower-decked nook, dimly lighted, and 
 suggestive of flirtation. 
 
 The second figure in the scented bower was 
 unmistakably Sir Thomas Ludlow, waving a 
 dainty fan in close proximity to his partner's 
 face, and talking with his usual animation. 
 
 Evidently the two were getting on admir- 
 ably at first acquaintance, and the matador 
 wondered whether the girl always began with 
 smiles to make her frowns more telling in the 
 future. He felt unreasonably jealous of the 
 gaily attired jester (the fool who thus enjoyed 
 a brief triumph), hoping his fall might shortly 
 follow. 
 
 Jocelyn, quite unconscious of being 
 watched, gave herself up to the pleasure of 
 congenial companionship. The vein of sim- 
 plicity which made this young man's charac- 
 ter so peculiarly charming appealed to her 
 instantly ; he was absolutely devoid of 
 
 N 
 
194 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN; 
 
 affectation or_conceit. "His light-heartedness 
 captured her fancy. After long months 
 with subdued old age, youth burst upon 
 the scene with refreshing vigour, answering 
 back to her youth with a sweet responsive 
 note. 
 
 He at once made a decided impression on 
 Jocelyn's quick brain, setting the dimples con- 
 stantly in motion, without a thought for the 
 havoc they played with his jester's heart. 
 The game of life went giddily on for these 
 happy souls redolent of spring, till, coming 
 forth from their bower at the call of the music, 
 a dark figure confronted them. 
 
 " Miss Gervalle," said Major Chandoss, in 
 grave, impressive accents, " you declined to 
 favour me with a dance, but I must beg you 
 to spare me a few moments, as I have an 
 important question to ask. It concerns others 
 rather than yourself. I hope you will not 
 refuse my request." 
 
 Jocelyn glanced quickly at Sir Thomas, 
 with something of appeal in her eyes. He 
 made a sign as if to hurry her on, impatient 
 in his boyish way of this interruption, which 
 marred the social brightness of their surround- 
 ings, savouring of threat. 
 
 " You won't refuse ? " persisted the voice 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 195 
 
 at her elbow, seeing her hesitate, and pressing 
 the point with vigour. 
 
 Whispering an apology to her partner, she 
 moved away a few steps, and answered 
 coldly : 
 
 " No, I will speak to you now." 
 
 In a few words Major Chandoss explained 
 the situation to his own advantage. He had 
 been cruelly misjudged and ill-used by some 
 malicious foe, consequently falling in the 
 estimation of Lady Livingstone and Miss 
 GervaUe. Would the latter, in justice to 
 himself, reveal the source from which her 
 knowledge sprang, that he might have an 
 opportunity of confronting those false friends 
 who had taken his name in vain ? 
 
 " I am a deeply injured and misunderstood 
 man," he declared in conclusion. " It rests 
 with you to enable me to clear my character. 
 Having lowered me in the eyes of Lady Living- 
 stone, you injure me socially, for to be the 
 enemy of such a woman is no light matter. 
 Her words carry weight ; she has only to 
 shrug her shoulders and raise those finely 
 pencilled eyebrows to start a crusade against 
 the popularity of a defenceless man. The 
 harsher sex dread her cynical nonchalance ; 
 therein lies much diplomacy. She is a past- 
 
196 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 
 
 mistress in crushing those who lose her 
 favour ! " 
 
 Jocelyn raised a protesting hand, and with 
 that httle action seemed waving him far into 
 the realms of insignificance. His long speech 
 appeared as a worthless froth of words, hold- 
 ing little substance, producing no effect. The 
 truthful eyes met his unflinchingly ; there was 
 something splendid in that moment about the 
 very young girl throned upon a citadel of 
 self-reliance. 
 
 " I do not think my aunt will trouble to 
 talk of you," she said. 
 
 " Indeed ! " 
 
 The ejaculation vibrated with surprised 
 resentment. What right had she to think ? 
 Surely he knew more of women than this 
 eighteen - year - old debutante at her first 
 ball! 
 
 She took no notice of the monosyllabic 
 reply, hardly appearing conscious of his atti- 
 tude of offence. 
 
 " You demand a great deal," she con- 
 tinued, " in asking an explanation." 
 
 " Why ? " 
 
 " Because you ask the impossible." 
 
 His eyes blazed with unconcealed anger at 
 the quiet, deliberate ret4)rt. He would have 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 197 
 
 liked to shake that shm, unbending figure, in 
 its white mystery. 
 
 " You brought some fooHsh story to your 
 aunt ; you made me out a thief, a villain, a 
 liar — tell me, is it not so ? You ruined our 
 friendship, yet you look so innocent ! I 
 sometimes think the devil hides in a body 
 such as yours." 
 
 Jocelyn listened with cold interest. Major 
 Chandoss had but a weak hold upon his 
 emotions, and this show of anger lowered 
 him still further in Miss Gervalle's estima- 
 tion. 
 
 " I tried to do her a good turn," he con- 
 tinued. " I lent her money when she needed 
 it, and, instead of being grateful, she rends me 
 because I am unable to make the loan a gift. 
 We are not all miUionaires, you know, and I 
 couldn't afford to lose ^^5,000." 
 
 " Possibly not, but you might have been 
 content to get it back without such enormous 
 usury." 
 
 He winced. Such straight speaking un- 
 manned him. 
 
 " I must find out," he said, " who has 
 spread this evil rumour, and when I do " — he 
 paused, and without finishing the sentence, 
 murmured, " when I do ! " 
 
198 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 Jocelyn looked up quickly, her face flush- 
 ing, her eyes intensely bright. 
 
 " What evil rumour ? " she asked. " It 
 was the truth — surely ! Everyone has a right 
 to speak the truth. Why should you com- 
 plain ? I discovered my aunt owed you 
 money, for which sum you demanded her 
 jewels. Now that the transaction is not to be 
 carried out, it seems, the matter is at an end." 
 
 This quiet retort to his rhodomontade 
 brought forcibly before Major Chandoss the 
 unpleasant conviction he was making a fool 
 of himself. Her reply sounded the order to 
 retreat ; she signalled with a glance from her 
 eyes to her impatient partner hovering near. 
 
 Tommy Ludlow, who never could conceal 
 his feelings, showed plainly his resentment at 
 the matador's unconventional interruption. 
 There are more ways than one of expressing 
 unspoken contempt, and the younger man held 
 Major Chandoss in supreme disdain. 
 
 It was a triumphant moment when he bore 
 away the white rose, who eagerly assured him 
 in answer to a quick question that she had not 
 given the intruder a dance. 
 
 " Awful cheek," muttered Tommy, 
 " forcing himself upon you like that ! I 
 couldn't say anything, but I looked a lot ! " 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 199 
 
 " You did/' laughed Jocelyn. " It was 
 not at all in keeping with your costume. Let 
 us dance and forget everything. I feel as if 
 Major Chandoss had momentarily damped my 
 spirits. I want to enjoy each moment of to- 
 night, for one's first ball can never come again." 
 
 Major Chandoss stood as if dazed, staring 
 after Miss Gervalle's retreating figure. He 
 was glad to lean against a curious Italian 
 pillar, one of six, ornamenting the corridor, 
 each an interesting example of an out-of-the- 
 way art, covered with an excellently modelled 
 vine in gilt. His head rested dizzily against 
 a hard cluster of grapes ; the thoughts dis- 
 turbing him gave his face an exceedingly 
 unprepossessing expression. 
 
 No woman, young and fascinating, had 
 ever treated him with the cool indifference of 
 the Professor's granddaughter, and recaUing 
 her words, " You demand a great deal ; you 
 ask the impossible," he shivered involuntarily. 
 He remembered that her eyes, as she spoke, 
 appeared unfathomable ; he thought of her 
 instinctively as a creature bewitched. Vexed 
 with himself for allowing the breath of super- 
 stition to colour his fancies, he tried to shake 
 himself free from the haunting idea of any- 
 thing supernatural. 
 
200 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MANt 
 
 He had always looked upon the occult as 
 a livelihood for fashionable, charlatanic clair- 
 voyants, encouraged by would-be enlightened 
 patrons of a credulous t5^e. But when he 
 remembered the Professor's face, an odd, un- 
 canny chill proved him in reality not to be 
 the callous sceptic he once believed himself. 
 
 Another and even more startling revela- 
 tion worked in his mind — the smouldering 
 knowledge that a certain attraction for the girl 
 who despised him was gradually rising to a 
 flame. Apart from the wealth she would in- 
 herit, the woman outshone the heiress ; there 
 was that in her personality which a man 
 recognises but once in a lifetime. Major 
 Chandoss had never credited himself with 
 capacity for a great passion ; now he felt the 
 possibility, aware that its fiery magic already 
 enslaved his imagination, filling him with un- 
 controllable hatred and jealousy towards Sir 
 Thomas. 
 
 " At least, he shall never get her," mut- 
 tered the revengeful voice, " if I move iheaven 
 and earth to part them. His airs to-night, his 
 intolerance of me, may cost him more than he 
 bargains for, the young idiot ! " 
 
 Thus Tommy Ludlow gained his first 
 enemy. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN-. 201 
 
 The night, with its charms, its storms, its 
 heart-beats, waned, and with the dawn a tired 
 but happy debutante returned to Grosvenor 
 Square. 
 
 Lady Livingstone watched her vanish 
 through the large door, with a wave of her 
 hand and a parting smile. The two women 
 realised that their S5niipathies responded ; no 
 fickle smile, no Judas' kiss, disturbed the 
 beauty of that new-born summer's day. , 
 
 Jocelyn crept quietly to her room on tip- 
 toe, looking like a ghost, white tressed, white 
 gowned ; only the throbbing life in her veins 
 awoke in those silent passages responsive notes 
 from unseen presences. 
 
 Scarcely had she entered her room when a 
 step outside, lacking the light spring of youth, 
 caught her ear. The door opened, and Eliza- 
 beth, pale, weary, anxious-eyed, appeared in a 
 long red flannel dressing-gown and woollen 
 slippers. 
 
 She started violently at the sight of Joce- 
 lyn's powdered hair. 
 
 " My word ! " she exclaimed, " is it reaUy 
 you, miss ? " 
 
 " No, of course not. Bow low before the 
 Rose Queen ! " 
 
 Jocelyn flung a wreath of artificial flowers 
 
202 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN- 
 
 over Elizabeth's grey head, and the effect was 
 so comic in connection with this homely 
 flannel wrapper that the girl laughed 
 heartily. 
 
 " Elizabeth, why are you looking so 
 glum ? " asked the merry voice. " Don't you 
 know we are really in London at last ? My 
 debut has been made at the most delightful 
 masquerade. I can't tell you how I have 
 enjoyed this evening." 
 
 " Well, that's a comfort, for it's more than 
 I have. London, indeed ! Give me Salford, 
 and good old Heale Prior ; we were free from 
 trouble there." 
 
 " I hope nothing has happened to worry 
 you," said Jocelyn considerately, as Elizabeth 
 helped her undress. 
 
 " It's all worry," replied the disillusioned 
 woman. " I knew I shouldn't sleep, so I told 
 Ehse to go to bed, and I would wait up till 
 you came back. The master was better at 
 home in the country, miss ; he looked tired 
 to death this evening ; yet he busied himself 
 with affairs of the household. It's that which 
 makes me think he's going queer in the head. 
 After you left, he sent for Mrs. Burrows, the 
 new housekeeper, and told her he wanted to 
 interview all the servants in his study. He 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN-. 203 
 
 had 'em up, one by one, and talked to each a 
 long time. There was a lot of whispering and 
 discussion afterwards in the servants' hall. I 
 don't know who started the idea, but they've 
 got it into their heads he is a wizard. He ap- 
 peared to know a deal too much about them 
 to please their liking, and before bedtime every 
 man and woman in the establishment had been 
 to Mrs. Burrows and given a month's notice. 
 If you don't call that an upset and an insult — 
 a regular, downright insult to the best gentle- 
 man that ever breathed ! They are impudent 
 hussies and puppies all, and that old butler 
 ain't no better ; I heard him egging them on 
 with his ' very mysterious,' and ' not the same 
 as other people ' ! I should like to have given 
 him a piece of my mind." 
 
 " Why didn't you ? Inexpensive, but 
 effectual ! " declared Jocelyn, striving hard to 
 suppress a smile. " Was Mrs. Burrows very 
 perturbed ? " 
 
 " Oh, she's one of your modern bodies, 
 that don't take nothing to heart," declared 
 Elizabeth. " She merely shrugged her shoul- 
 ders, and said ' There were as good fish in 
 the sea as ever came out of it, and the fresh 
 set would arrive without master noticing 
 the difference.' But it's their attitude that 
 
204 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 rankles with me — a wizard, indeed ! Did you 
 ever hear the hke ? " 
 
 Jocelyn, now bereft of her ballroom finery, 
 and wrapped in a soft silk kimono, pushed 
 Elizabeth gently into an armchair. 
 
 " You have been sitting up all night mag- 
 nifying things," she said. " You are angry 
 with these people for putting your own senti- 
 ments into words. You have always told me 
 that dear old grandfather raised spirits and 
 talked with devils, but I never took offence. 
 You see, he impresses people oddly, and there 
 is, undeniably, something strange about him 
 — something that might appear to those who 
 do not love him, uncanny, even alarming. He 
 is aU soul, and those men and maidservants, 
 perhaps, never talked with a soul before. 
 They came expecting a body ; instead they 
 found a spirit, wrapt in a shadowy veil of 
 flesh. Let him be a wizard, and frighten away 
 all the ignorant and unfaithful. We shall love 
 him none the less. Everything about grand- 
 father is mysterious, or, rather, bespeaks the 
 existence of powers and instincts more fuUy 
 developed than is usual. He says nothing 
 ought to be considered incredible, or even 
 unlikely, concerning the destiny of man. 
 Every day I live near him I find his intelli- 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 205 
 
 gence more startling, not in a thousand ways 
 only, but in a hundred thousand. Is it so 
 amazing then, that in quiet talk, alone with 
 ignorant minds, he should bewilder, terrify, 
 with his astonishing discernment ? Do you 
 remember, when he knew about my birthday 
 tea, we fancied he had some machine by which 
 he detected what we said at the opposite end 
 of the house ? The source of his information 
 never came to light," 
 
 Elizabeth grew calmer. Guessing Miss Ger- 
 valle must be tired, she rose, and edged to- 
 wards the door. 
 
 " I daresay you are right, miss, and I took 
 the matter too deeply to heart," she sighed, 
 " But it wasn't the only shock, for Mrs. 
 Burrows tells me my friend Thomas was 
 making fun of us all at Salford about those 
 electric trams in Piccadilly and the fashionable 
 houses at Hammersmith. My whole faith in 
 human nature seems shook ; we've come to 
 London for no good — no good ! " 
 
 With this mournful last word the ungram- 
 matical, flannel-gowned Elizabeth vanished 
 silent-footedly. 
 
 " She went like a shadow," thought 
 Jocelyn, " making scarcely more noise than 
 grandmamma when she knocks on the 
 
2o6 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 doors at Heale Prior. I wonder if grand- 
 mamma's ghost crept to-night to the empty 
 rooms to search for her husband. Perhaps 
 she looked for him in heaven, perhaps in hell, 
 but never, never could she think to seek him 
 in the gay vortex of London society. Dear, 
 pretty, curly-haired grandmamma, let me 
 keep him a little longer, only a little longer. 
 He will come to you soon ! " 
 
207 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Mystical more than magical is that communing of 
 Soul with Soul. — Carlyle. 
 
 The Professor's dehut, which followed Jocelyn's 
 impromptu " coming out/' was a stately, in- 
 teresting, almost moving event. It took the 
 form of much society, comprised not in frivol- 
 ous amusements befitting the young, but in 
 the friendship and companionship of great 
 men. There were dinners and lunches at his 
 house in Grosvenor Square, at which mustered 
 politicians, statesmen, ambassadors, men of 
 law and letters, but more especially scientists. 
 
 Upon all acquaintances the Professor took 
 an immediate hold, riveting their imagina- 
 tions, and acting as a living guide, manual, 
 or chart, able to discern the character of each 
 by means of some strange sorcery, attracting 
 like a magnet. 
 
 The mysticism and enchantment of this 
 old man became so speedily bruited abroad 
 that a new word was coined. Hypnotism 
 often passed under the name of " Gervallism," 
 
208 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 thus termed by those who, being unacquainted 
 with the Professor, beheved he mesmerised 
 the great minds flocking to consort with his 
 own. 
 
 Lady Livingstone lost no time in taking 
 Daniel Paley-Hyde to visit her interesting 
 relative. 
 
 Lately the undemonstrative member of 
 Parliament had drifted from her circle, but to 
 no one dared she confess that his absence left 
 a very shght, but distinctly uncomfortable, 
 void. 
 
 " I suppose my nature needs a contrast," 
 she told herself, when secretly analysing her 
 emotions. 
 
 To the outer eye there could be Uttle at- 
 traction in the severe, colourless countenance 
 of that partially bald man, who had such an 
 irritating way of looking right through a 
 pretty woman, placing her on the lowest rung 
 of self-conceit's high ladder. 
 
 What if his chin redeemed certain defects 
 by its admirable blending of firmness allied 
 to sentiment, there was always the upper 
 portion of the face to protest against the 
 possibility of a really poetic vein. 
 
 Jacobina still waited with extraordinary 
 patience for a revelation, vaguely clinging to 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 209 
 
 the dream that some day she might see the 
 man without his mask. She knew, when first 
 she took him to the shrine of science, that his 
 interview with the Professor would be greatly- 
 enhanced by her absence. With tact, for 
 which Paley-Hyde had hardly credited her, 
 she just deposited him in the pleasant study, 
 and flitted away, pleading another engage- 
 ment. 
 
 She had first warned him that Professor 
 Gervalle already palpably showed signs of 
 increasing fatigue. 
 
 His brilliant moments would often be fol- 
 lowed by long intervals of silence, during 
 which he lay back in his chair as though 
 asleep, with muscles relaxed and eyes closed. 
 These moments, he explained, were necessary 
 to him for recuperative purposes ; they gave 
 him strength to continue converse ; they were 
 his silent draughts of life-giving elixir. 
 
 No one could resent in this frail old man 
 what from others would have been taken as 
 rudeness. He was allowed to be eccentric, 
 and nothing he did caused surprise or offence. 
 Fair dealing, with all the martial host of 
 conscience, gave out its watchword from those 
 gracious lips. His smUe still retained its 
 innocent, almost childlike charm, as if great 
 o 
 
2IO ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN, 
 
 thoughts had left their bright reflection on his 
 face, unspoiled by the flight of time. 
 
 To Paley-Hyde he came as an awakening 
 — a pool of water, deep, refreshing, in the arid 
 desert of commonplace minds. 
 
 Scarcely a word had been exchanged before 
 these men knew they were in touch. Paley- 
 Hyde could not tell why, but at once he talked 
 instinctively of failures. To him life seemed 
 a lamentable failure, even for the prosperous 
 and worldly wise ; it was part of his lugu- 
 brious nature to decide it should be so. 
 
 The Professor listened at first tolerantly. 
 Possibly his far-seeing eyes could catch a ray 
 of light beyond — a place of peace, a safe shore 
 lying in the hidden future, Uke some fair island 
 set on sunny seas. 
 
 " Men are blamed in this World," he said, 
 " for failing to fill creditably a situation they 
 have not chosen, from which they cannot 
 escape, and which is probably the one least 
 suited to them ; and yet we celebrate birth- 
 days ! Observation is useful to an old man's 
 memory. I notice that we all pardon ab- 
 surdities in ourselves that we cannot suffer in 
 others. It has been said * philosophy dreams 
 while science realises.' The scientific world 
 is picking at me for an explanation of certain 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 211 
 
 facts which I hold as my own secret. Tell me, 
 Mr. Paley-Hyde, have you come with a pick- 
 axe, like the rest ? Jacobina said you were 
 interested in science." 
 
 He put the question clearly, his eyes fixed 
 penetratingly on Daniel, awaiting an answer 
 with the ear-trumpet held invitingly towards 
 the sad-faced man's expressive lips. 
 
 " Yes," the reply broke unfalteringly, " a 
 pickaxe keener than any, whetted by a craving 
 to know and understand ! " 
 
212 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Iron sharpeneth iron ; so a man sharpeneth the 
 countenance of his friend. — Proverbs. 
 
 " The belief in pneumatology is exceptional," 
 continued Paley-Hyde, " human nature being 
 unable to grasp the unseen. I envy you your 
 years of research, and any light you can throw 
 on the subject will be deeply interesting to 
 me." 
 
 At least he was honest, and had no desire 
 to deceive the Professor, or draw from him by 
 subtle means more than he wished to give. 
 
 Being a blunt man, Daniel said just what 
 he meant, and no more. The Professor's face 
 expressed approval as he replied : 
 
 " You realise, of course, we are living in a 
 very limited world. The fact that the Creator 
 works on a scale which, in a mathematical 
 sense, is greater than can be computed or 
 imagined, is ever before us. We are almost 
 compelled to believe the invisible orders are 
 not less numerous than the visible, when we 
 see that the utmost range of variety, both in 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 213 
 
 principle and form, is taken in the construction 
 of the sentient system. The physical capacity 
 of our own world for sustaining life is in- 
 definitely enlarged by the suffusion of element 
 upon element, and each peopled with its ani- 
 mated orders. Is it therefore to be thought 
 for one moment that the eye of man is the 
 measure of the Creator's power ? Has He 
 created nothing which He has not exposed to 
 our senses ? The contrary seems much more 
 than barely possible ; ought we not to think 
 it almost certain ? " 
 
 The Professor bent nearer, his eyes glis- 
 tened now like living coals, lighted by the 
 mysterious fire of the soul. 
 
 Paley-Hyde felt a queer sensation creep 
 over him, a thrill of responsive interest that 
 set his veins tingling. It seemed as if the 
 Professor were leading him by the hand to a 
 higher plane of thought, towards which he 
 had looked longingly, like a climber to the 
 topmost peak of some impassable glacier. 
 
 " The conjecture that visible and invisible 
 worlds may co-exist within the same space, 
 and yet be unconscious of each other, and 
 not related by any affinities, is abstractedly 
 possible," answered Paley-Hyde, in his slow, 
 measured tones. " Many now believe that 
 
214 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 you could, if you pleased, throw some light on 
 an invisible, sentient, and rational economy, 
 co-existent with the visible universe, and 
 occup5^ng corporeally the same field." 
 
 Professor Gervalle made a little impatient 
 movement which drew the speaker up sharply. 
 Evidently the old man resented the specula- 
 tion of others ; he only wanted now to hear 
 his new acquaintance's ideas on this oddly 
 alluring subject. 
 
 " That theory," murmured the weak but 
 magnetic voice, " comports well enough with 
 the intimations of Scripture regarding the 
 spiritual world, and is consistent with every 
 analogy of the physical system, as understood 
 by modern science. Already it has been as- 
 certained that ponderable elements pervade 
 one the other — that the imponderable per- 
 vade all. Different kinds of emanations or 
 vibrations are continually passing and re- 
 passing in the most intricate manner, through 
 the same spaces, without in the least degree 
 disturbing each other. The most powerful 
 agencies are in operation around us, of which 
 we have not the faintest perception, and 
 which we detect only by deductions from 
 circuitous experiments." 
 
 Paley-Hyde perceived a faint, half -satirical 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 215 
 
 smile flit, like some partially materialised 
 ghost, over the Professor's features, as he said 
 " of which we have not the faintest percep- 
 tion." It almost seemed he hesitated over 
 the " we," inclined to correct himself and 
 substitute the word " you," you who have 
 lived in the gay world, you who think your- 
 selves wise after a few years' study mixed 
 with other pursuits — the great " you " of the 
 universe, apart from the weird aloof figure, 
 the hermit of Heale Prior. 
 
 " I have often thought," said Paley-Hyde, 
 " there may be an elastic ether, susceptible 
 of sonorous vibrations in a still more deUcate 
 manner, and capable of convejdng these vi- 
 brations much further, and more instantane- 
 ously, than any of the bodies actually known 
 to us." 
 
 He paused. 
 
 " You might go a step further," chimed in 
 the Professor. " The sensation of light is now 
 believed to result from the vibrations, not the 
 emanations, of an elastic fluid or ether ; but 
 why may not this same element be capable of 
 another species of vibrations ? A conjecture 
 of this sort is neither extravagant nor desti- 
 tute of philosophic probability. Does the 
 vast field stagger you ? Do you find yourself 
 
2i6 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 shrivelling up at the thought of an element as 
 universally suffused as light, susceptible of 
 certain vibrations which might prove the 
 medium of sonorous undulations, equally 
 rapid and distinct, serving to connect the most 
 remote regions of the universe by the con- 
 veyance of sounds, just as they are actually 
 connected by the passage of light ? Con- 
 template the heavens on a starry night, and 
 indulge the belief that speech, inquiry, re- 
 sponse, debate, instruction, petitions, demands 
 are passing to and fro. Perhaps it may drive 
 you back hurriedly to the material, and the 
 thought that where nothing is seen nothing 
 exists ! Not everyone appreciates the prob- 
 ability of the existence near us of invisible 
 beings." 
 
 How still the room seemed ! The Pro- 
 fessor's voice rang out, spoke he merely in a 
 whisper, with the clearness of a bell. No 
 sound reached them from the busy world; 
 those two alone felt suddenly detached from 
 ordinary affairs of life. Paley-Hyde felt a 
 hushed reverence steal over him, as if, finding 
 himself suddenly transported to some grand 
 cathedral, where music and praise, organ and 
 song, lifted the soul in fantasy to the very 
 throne of God. He pictured corporeally pre- 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 217 
 
 sent the human crowd, and the extra-human 
 crowd, the latter as naturally present and 
 vividly conscious of the material world as the 
 former, and prompted as energetically by 
 passions, interests, desires, hopes, fears ! Could 
 the Professor but produce one well attested 
 instance of the intelligent agency of an in- 
 visible being, it would be sufficient to carry 
 the question of an unseen economy pervading 
 the universe, to make sure the abstract 
 probability of a race capable of definite ad- 
 vancement, rising to the very highest range 
 of generalisation, and eventually coming into 
 correspondence with other national orders, and 
 perhaps with all. 
 
 He had not answered the Professor's last 
 remark, nor did the old man appear to notice 
 the omission. Possibly he guessed the mind 
 with which he communed was too deep in 
 thought to treat their conversation on a con- 
 ventional basis. He knew that Paley-Hyde 
 was, for the time being, engrossed by con- 
 jectures concerning the material universe, 
 considered as the theatre of a great intellec- 
 tual economy, and the relation of the material 
 to the spiritual universe. Such thoughts 
 might well make him absent-minded, since 
 they embraced a mighty range of problems. 
 
2i8 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 He had pondered deeply over metaphysical 
 as well as material scepticism, had wavered 
 between the idealism of Berkeley and the 
 scientific theory of Boscovich, finding no real 
 connection between the two, though popularly 
 their systems amounted to the same. To a 
 mind accustomed to pursue abstruse specula- 
 tions, the " Theoria Philosophise naturalis " 
 of Boscovich presented little new. 
 
 When first he heard a rumour that Pro- 
 fessor Gervalle had mastered a branch of in- 
 tellectual philosophy or pneumatology, with 
 important results, a desperate longing to meet 
 the man sprang instinctively to life in this 
 undemonstrative and socially retiring member 
 of Parliament. 
 
 The Professor, he understood, had made 
 an extensive and laborious examination of the 
 corporeal mental structure of the various 
 sentient tribes, unravelling a great secret as 
 yet unknown to any but himself. If he 
 pleased he could place pneumatology on a 
 broad, firm, and reliable basis, thus opening 
 a road to the great spiritual economy of 
 creation. Instead he stood as a gaoler might 
 by the door, keeping the gate fast shut, holding 
 the keys in close security, locking away his 
 knowledge, and harbouring his precious hoard 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILSi AND MAN. 219 
 
 of enlightenment like a miser with a golden 
 store. 
 
 Yet Paley-Hyde could see nothing dogged, 
 vicious, or ill-natured in the wan, attractive 
 face. Every feature had a refinement, un- 
 mistakably pure and impressive, as if, while 
 employing his reasoning faculties, he had sent 
 his mind forward with its insatiable thirst 
 after knowledge, towards the sublime mys- 
 teries of the Divine Nature. 
 
 He had passed indifferently by worldly 
 gratifications, the pomp of life, the pleasures of 
 pride, ignoring the artificial glare in which 
 others Hved, his mind retaining for over eighty 
 years its native superiority. The plump 
 world, sleek with delicacies, lay at his feet 
 despised, and what to less discerning eyes 
 looked gay, blooming, and of great price, was 
 to him but a gaunt skeleton, barely knit 
 together with its sere sinews. 
 
 Daniel Paley-Hyde, who had loved little, 
 and feasted but meagrely upon emotion, felt 
 irresistibly drawn towards this great silent 
 mind, which seemed to have pushed forward 
 towards the Ineffable Perfection. Enchant- 
 ment Hngered round the shrunken figure, 
 which held its companion in a spell. 
 
 During the silence the Professor closed his 
 
220 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 eyes, yet Daniel never imagined for one 
 moment that his host slept. He simply felt 
 the silent form " willed " him to be still, to 
 come apart and rest awhile, to forget the 
 necessity for speech, and give rein to thought. 
 
 In those moments, much that had hap- 
 pened during the day flitted through Paley- 
 Hyde's stimulated brain. He remembered, 
 with a start, something which seriously 
 affected and annoyed him, looking down 
 casually at his hands, grown much thinner 
 during the last few months. For the first 
 time since his mother's death he saw a ringless 
 finger, with the mark still faintly showing on 
 the, flesh where for years a heavy band had 
 been worn. An old historic family ring, it 
 carried with it innumerable associations, and 
 not a little superstition. His mother had 
 called it the mascot of their race, since from 
 father to son the quaint ornament was handed 
 down for generations. After his father's 
 death Mrs. Paley-Hyde wore it on a chain 
 suspended from her neck, never removing the 
 treasured possession till, with failing sight, 
 she placed it on her boy's hand, and smiling, 
 murmured, " For luck, Daniel ! " 
 
 The Professor presently sat up, making no 
 excuse for this restful interlude, but the slight 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 221 
 
 colour in his pale face seemed to indicate he 
 had gained refreshment. Paley-Hyde vaguely 
 wished the beneficial influence of long, peace- 
 ful, unembarrassing pauses might become 
 general, to be even indulged on first acquain- 
 tance. He wondered how Professor Gervalle 
 would break the silence, and awaited his words 
 with curiosity. The old man blinked his eyes 
 once or twice, then bent forward with his chin 
 on his hand. 
 
 " Where did you lose it ? " he asked. 
 Paley-Hyde gave a violent start, accom- 
 panied by something of a shiver. 
 
 " Lose what ? " he queried, and the 
 answer implied he was nervous, for its tone 
 held a nettled note. 
 
 " That old family ring you prized so highly, 
 the one you lost this afternoon, the one your 
 mother gave you on her death-bed." 
 
 Daniel's j aw dropped. He took out a large 
 silk handkerchief, and passed it expressively 
 over his brow. Amazed as he was, he an- 
 swered the question without comment, though 
 his face formed a very decided query, and his 
 eyebrows seemed vanishing into the vicinity 
 of that extremely hairless forehead. 
 
 " I was strolhng on the Terrace early this 
 afternoon. I had lunched at the House of 
 
222 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 Commons. Being alone, I stopped to lean 
 over the parapet. I looked for a long time 
 down into the water. I was thinking out a 
 speech, and water always helps me to think. 
 I suppose I was working my hands — washing 
 them, you know, with invisible soap ; it's a 
 habit of mine when I'm worried. I heard a 
 little splash, and caught the glimmer of some- 
 thing gold. Then I realised I should never 
 see my ring again. I come of a superstitious 
 family, and the loss preys on my mind." 
 
 " Yes, I know," murmured the Professor ; 
 " I know ! " 
 
 " How did you know, how do you know ? " 
 broke quickly from astonished lips, " I 
 didn't tell anyone ; I came straight here to 
 you from the House." 
 
 " Ah ! " sighed Professor Gervalle with a 
 shake of his head, " the pickaxe again ! I 
 wondered how soon you would use it, my 
 honest friend. ' How did you know ? ' That 
 question meets me at every turn. I parried 
 it at first, for, oddly enough, I do seem to 
 know more than most people, and the fact 
 serves to make me many friends, but still more 
 enemies. The servants here are leaving be- 
 cause they think I am a wizard. I ascertained 
 that fact without being told. I like you 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 223 
 
 because there is no pretence about yoUj no 
 sham. I have met many skilful liars since I 
 came to town, but somehow I have no wish to 
 cultivate their art myself, though occasionally 
 I am bound to admire them as the unlicensed 
 poets of the drawing-room, supplying the oil 
 of society. But you are thinking that I am 
 not answering your question. Remember the 
 axe may pick, but the ground does not always 
 give way. I spoke about your ring, because 
 it surprised me to find a man of stern common- 
 sense moved by superstitious fears. Losing 
 or gaining luck through the wearing of any- 
 thing is absurd, and old associations crumble 
 when we realise that worry, emotion, concern, 
 are chiefly affected by the liver, while, sad to 
 say, half of life's interest gathers round the 
 digestive organs." 
 
 Paley-Hyde was prepared to further press 
 his curiosity, but at that moment the door 
 opened, and Jocelyn, a vision of white lace 
 draped gracefully on the softest ground of 
 chiffon, entered the room. 
 
 The visitor's figure sunk low in a huge 
 chair escaped her notice for a moment, as she 
 moved quickly towards her grandfather with a 
 light step and graceful manner that attracted 
 Paley-Hyde. 
 
224 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN; 
 
 " Oh J I've been to a most lovely party with 
 Lady Ludlow ! " she cried. " Such music, 
 and heaps of people ! Aunt Jack rushed in 
 late, but she couldn't stay long, so I was glad 
 I didn't go with her. Sir Thomas went too. 
 His mother says he hates ' At Homes,' but 
 we " 
 
 Here she broke off suddenly, her eyes 
 falling across the motionless figure of the 
 Professor's guest. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," she said ; "I didn't 
 see you." 
 
 Paley-Hyde sprang quickly to his feet, 
 greeting her in quite an ecstatic way for him. 
 
 " I like hearing about the party," he de- 
 clared ; " please go on." 
 
 She flushed slightly under her picture hat. 
 
 " I forget where I stopped," she said, 
 laughing, and her embarrassment betrayed 
 that shortness of memory made for con- 
 venience. 
 
 " I know Lady Ludlow," he continued. 
 " I believe I am to meet her at dinner to- 
 night." 
 
 " She's a dear ! " Jocelyn vouchsafed, 
 perching herself on the arm of the Professor's 
 chair, and waving Paley-Hyde back to his. 
 She thought he looked pale and excited, and 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 225 
 
 wondered if he were like the servants — fright- 
 ened of grandpapa. But her mind was- 
 quickly set at rest on this score as she noticed 
 with what admiringly reverent eyes he glanced 
 from her to the old man, now smiling up at 
 Jocelyn with kindly interest. Not only were 
 Daniel's eyes reverent, but wondering and 
 mystified, as if dreaming, yet awake. 
 
 " I made friends with a woman — quite 
 young, but married, and very pretty," Jocelyn 
 informed them emphatically. " She asked if 
 she might come and see me, so, of course, I 
 said ' Yes.' I thought perhaps she really only 
 wanted to see you, grandfather ; so I asked 
 her if she were interested in science, and she 
 said, ' Not a bit ! ' " 
 
 " That must have been a comfort to you," 
 laughed the Professor. 
 
 Jocelyn stroked his white hair caress- 
 ingly. " Naturally it was," she replied, with 
 a sly little look that took Daniel into 
 her confidence. 
 
 " What is her name ? " asked the Pro- 
 fessor. 
 
 " Mrs. Winnington." 
 
 Paley-Hyde glanced up quickly, and the 
 expression of surprise, almost resentment, in 
 his eyes was silently noted by the quiet sparse 
 
226 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 figure against which Jocelyn leant con- 
 fidingly. 
 
 " Aunt Jack told me quite a lot about her 
 in five minutes ; that was after we had made 
 friends and fixed to meet again." 
 
 " Did Lady Livingstone know her ? " asked 
 Paley-Hyde. 
 
 " Only by sight, and what she had heard 
 came, I think, from you. Mrs. Winnington 
 was engaged to be married three times before 
 finally taking the fatal step. Her last jilted 
 fiance shot himself, so after that, she thought 
 she had better give up breaking hearts and 
 settle down for a change. Aunt Jack called 
 her ' The Angel.' Certainly, she has a very 
 Madonna-like face." 
 
 " I remember telling Lady Livingstone 
 about the girl last year when we were driving 
 in the Park one day," said Paley-Hyde. He 
 did not add : " The day we heard of your 
 father's death." 
 
 " I fancy," he continued, " she is not very 
 happy with her husband. Already they'' go 
 their own way.' It's only one of many 
 warnings." 
 
 He spoke pessimistically ; evidently the 
 subject of Mrs. Winnington proved unin- 
 spiring. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 227 
 
 " She seemed such an easy person to get on 
 with," Jocelyn said thoughtfully, as if weigh-* 
 ing the problem of matrimonial failure. 
 " Really you would have thought she was 
 putting herself out to be nice. She also talked 
 a good deal to Lady Ludlow. It was then 
 Aunt Jack discussed her with me. She said 
 ' The Angel ' had made a ' one-horse marriage 
 that didn't suit her book ' — you know how 
 Aunt Jack puts things." 
 
 " Yes," answered Paley-Hyde dryly. 
 
 " Aunt Jack is very amusing," continued 
 Jocelyn, with relish, flowing on like a pleasant 
 brook — a very young brook — that has yet to 
 reach the river. " She thinks Mrs. Winning- 
 ton had too large a heart, and love often dies 
 of indigestion. Its menu should always be 
 frugal." 
 
 " I trust," muttered the Profiessor, " that 
 Jacobina lives up to her theories. I fancy 
 she is not averse to a few flirtations herself. 
 She always appears to be frittering her 
 affections in a dozen different directions at 
 once. I'm afraid, little lady, all women are 
 more or less humbugs, unless painfully ugly, 
 or irredeemably old ! I expect your beautiful 
 Mrs. Winnington wanted to be worshipped all 
 her life on a pedestal, forgetting that when a 
 
228 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 man becomes familiar with his goddess she 
 'quickly sinks into a woman." 
 
 " A woman's good enough ! " protested 
 Jocelyn, who had no desire to be thought 
 anything else. 
 
 " You see," laughed the Professor, " the 
 weaker sex must always have the last word," 
 glancing across with twinkling eyes at Paley- 
 Hyde. " We are an oddly-assorted couple, 
 don't you think ? She just entering life, I 
 about to leave it. Age and youth linked to- 
 gether, and as happy as if we were twins ! " 
 
 Paley-Hyde nodded ; he hardly knew 
 what to say. 
 
 " I wish you wouldn't put yourself on the 
 shelf in that way," Jocelyn murmured under 
 her breath. 
 
 The Professor was in a teasing mood, and 
 ran his thrust home with an almost cruel 
 persistence. 
 
 " No good blinking matters," he declared ; 
 " don't you agree with me ? " addressing 
 Daniel. Then turning again to Jocelyn, con- 
 tinued : " You have only lately emerged from 
 childhood, while I, according to the law of 
 Nature, am soon to return to it — my second 
 childhood — and sometimes I feel half inclined 
 to welcome the nursery of old age. You are 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 229 
 
 full of roses and hopes, I of wrinkles and recol- 
 lections. Your history is before you with 
 pages uncut ; mine is rather like an Oriental 
 book, which one reads backwards." 
 
 A serious look came over Jocelyn's face 
 like a white summer-day cloud, which in- 
 creases rather than mars the beauty of the 
 clear blue sky. 
 
 Paley-Hyde watched her with the interest 
 he felt in a beautiful landscape or sunset, 
 watched her as something distant and un- 
 attainable, yet soothing to the sight, bracing 
 to the senses. 
 
 " You like society," he remarked, turning 
 the subject, and terribly afraid lest a tear 
 should glimmer in those wide, child-like eyes. 
 
 " Yes, but grandfather says all people are 
 outwardly so painfully alike that he wonders 
 I am hot bored." 
 
 " It isn't given to many of us to see deeper," 
 answered Daniel, and he felt his heart beats 
 quicken at the memory of his quiet talk alone 
 with the Professor. " If you keep in the 
 common groove. Miss Gervalle, you will avoid 
 eccentricity, but never attain superiority. 
 You'll soon learn that Mayfair is but a corner 
 of London, and London but a spot in the 
 world, the world but a speck in creation. You 
 
230 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 know each spider's web which your housemaid 
 ruthlessly destroys is, for minuteness in detail, 
 a universe in itself." 
 
 This man of few words spoke now without 
 a trace of reserve. He felt in his natural 
 element ; the Professor's magnetism and the 
 girl's beauty acted like a charm. Already 
 Jocelyn had learnt that in conversation the 
 more you joke and the less you laugh the 
 better, and she soon provoked many a pro- 
 testing smile from the lips of the man so 
 notoriously lugubrious. 
 
 " He smiles," she afterwards told her 
 grandfather, " as if it needed an apology, and 
 ought not to be committed." 
 
 Before he left he asked her if she would 
 come with Lady Livingstone to tea on the 
 Terrace. Hitherto he had never ventured to 
 invite feminine guests to Westminster. 
 
 Jocelyn gladly accepted. From a little 
 hint her aunt had dropped she gathered that 
 lady was favourably disposed towards Daniel 
 Paley-Hyde, and Jocelyn delighted in the 
 thought that the chaperon might be the 
 chaperoned. 
 
 " It will be my first visit to the House," 
 she said. "There have been so many 'first 
 things ' for me since we came to London." 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN; 231 
 
 The Professor looked at his engagement 
 list, and asked Paley-Hyde if he would dine 
 with them the following week to meet the 
 Prime Minister. 
 
 Daniel thanked him, and booked the date ; 
 he thought more of meeting Professor Ger- 
 vaUe again than of anyone else. He cared little 
 for the prospective company ; unresistingly 
 he had given his soul to the old pathetic 
 spiritualised figure with one foot in the grave. 
 
 " Have you heard an Irish member's 
 definition of a patriot and a statesman ? " 
 said Jocelyn. " The latter is a * place-hunter/ 
 and the former ' one who has found it ' ! " 
 
 " A minister," answered Paley-Hyde, 
 " really does not pursue a policy at all. He 
 has to interpret the wishes of the country as 
 correctly as possible. No party now seems 
 to possess any settled principles, aspirations, 
 or policy ; the system of government has 
 become a coagulation of vestry interests." 
 
 He spoke to the Professor, aware his words 
 might weary Jocelyn, whose extremely youth- 
 ful appearance alienated her from political 
 discussion. , 
 
 '' Ministers must be useful people abroad, 
 especially in these gad-about days ; one could 
 hardly do without them," said Professor 
 
232 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN; 
 
 Gervalle. " No doubt it saves trouble to find 
 everyone worth knowing in the British Minis- 
 ter's drawing-room, but to keep open house 
 their salaries must be large enough to buy 
 tea and candles ! I am only just crawling 
 back to the world. Like time, I date myself. 
 I find the same artifices at work now as when 
 last I took interest in politics. I remember 
 Baron de Brunnow, apparently all frankness 
 and candour, when scheming for the Court of 
 Russia. He was credited with the feat of 
 hoodwinking Lord Palmerston. I had no 
 very deep discernment then. I wish -" 
 
 The Professor spoke dreamily, suddenly 
 drawing himself up, with a sigh that spoke 
 volumes of suppressed desire. Was he feehng 
 his age, that the bright eye dimmed and the 
 thin hand clutched instinctively at the nearest 
 support ? 
 
 " Still," he murmured, " like the messenger 
 of iEolus, the Government of this great coim- 
 try holds the bag in which the four winds are 
 tied up, ready to let them loose when occasion 
 offers." 
 
 . Paley-Hyde would fain have lingered, but 
 there were limits even to unconventionality. 
 He departed silently as he had come, 
 leaving the impression behind of a man 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 233 
 
 who reserves the best of himself for future 
 acquaintance. 
 
 The Professor murmured it was late, and 
 remembering they were dining out, suggested 
 going to dress. Dinner parties still held 
 novelty for Jocelyn, and she enjoyed herself 
 most when with her grandfather. She de- 
 lighted in watching the attention he attracted, 
 while he equally appreciated the admiration 
 her unaffected beauty naturally awakened. 
 
 As she moved to the door he called her 
 back, and stood looking into her eyes, reading 
 there a shy new wonder, something deep and 
 different, feeling in her personality a radiance 
 of which she was aware, that tightened his 
 heart strings with a presentiment gladdening 
 while it pained. 
 
 He held her hand in both his, with tremu- 
 lous clinging fingers ; he bent to kiss her of 
 his own free will. The Professor, chary with 
 his kisses, knew well enough why he clung to 
 the little hand, why he pressed the flushing 
 cheek. 
 
 That evening Paley-Hyde took Lady Lud- 
 low down to dinner at the house of a mutual 
 friend. She appeared in the best of spirits, 
 and was dressed with notable propriety in 
 black velvet. Only the somewhat careless 
 
234 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 arrangement of her hair prevented her from 
 ever competing, even at night, with the 
 fashionable woman whose creed is smartness, 
 be she old or young. 
 
 Daniel always dreaded lest he should find 
 himself at dinner next a woman whose thoughts 
 failed to rise above servants and children. 
 
 With Lady Ludlow at least he was safe. 
 A good talker, a thorough femme du monde, 
 she never jarred upon him ; she also under- 
 stood his slow manner, realising he always 
 thought before he spoke. 
 
 " You were with Professor Gervalle to- 
 day," she said. " Jacobina told me she had 
 left you in the clutches of mystery. He is a 
 very remarkable man." 
 
 " He has grown old with a good grace," 
 answered Daniel, " and so I admire him. Age 
 to the majority is so unwelcome, that resigna- 
 tion to decay is a most difficult task." 
 
 " His body may fail, but his brain has 
 discovered some mental elixir which prevents 
 decline. I wonder if he greatly astonished 
 you ? He has a habit of startling people by 
 what appears to be an amazing gift of in- 
 tuition." 
 
 " I own I was a little surprised," Daniel 
 confessed. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 235 
 
 " No doubt, for you were in the lion's den ! 
 Don't you know what really happens ? Pro- 
 fessor Gervalle communicates with beings who 
 hold communication with all our minds." 
 
 She spoke quite naturally and simply as 
 she sipped her soup. 
 
 But Paley-Hyde left his untasted. He 
 sat and stared into vacancy, making no 
 reply. 
 
236 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 She I love is white as mUk, 
 
 She I love is red as wine, 
 And her cheek is like spun silk, 
 
 And her heart is mine. — Posi Wheeler. 
 
 Lady Ludlow had talked volubly to Paley- 
 Hyde both during dinner and later when near 
 him in the drawing-room. She showed her- 
 self so certain of all her facts in connection 
 with Professor Gervalle that the quiet, silent 
 man required more than the proverbial grain 
 of salt. He figuratively resembled Lot's wife, 
 for in looking back he became like a pillar — 
 still, reserved, unemotional, and uncommuni- 
 cative. 
 
 To Lady Ludlow he appeared singularly 
 phlegmatic. She summed him up, after long 
 acquaintance, as a man who would never be 
 excited, never fall a victim to nerves, 
 despite the demands of a high-pressure age. 
 " His meals as regular as his pulse, and his 
 sleep as his meals," she told herself, in con- 
 clusion ; and as to love or marriage — well, 
 she had given up thinking about his friendship 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 237 
 
 with Jacobina, and the possibility of a deeper 
 tie. 
 
 Lady Ludlow didn't blame Jacobina for 
 not marrjdng again, since widowhood had 
 many advantages. Through force of cir- 
 cumstances, unfortunate or otherwise, the 
 present-day widow may be said to have 
 realised the freedom and individuality of 
 the bachelor. 
 
 Jacobina evidently preferred to enjoy life 
 without incurring the risk of cares or a con- 
 tradictory help-mate, and during her widow- 
 hood she found herself far more sought after 
 than as maid or matron she had ever been. 
 
 Sometimes she argued the point with Lady 
 Ludlow. 
 
 " Why, when I am quite happy, should I 
 copy the folly of the cook, who, acknowledging 
 that she is more comfortable than she will 
 ever be again, ' still wishes for a change ' ? " 
 
 The words had a fateftd ring of truth that 
 augured for Jacobina's leaving well alone, and 
 refraining persistently from taking another 
 ticket in the lottery of life. 
 
 The summer was yet young ; it would be 
 some time before London wore the haggard 
 and lonely look that bespeaks the end of the 
 season. Still things marched rapidly, and 
 
238 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 much had occurred within a few short 
 weeks. 
 
 Jocelyn's ball proved a brilliant affair, and 
 the little god Love, with the lustful god 
 Greed, came tripping up the steps of white 
 marble that made the great staircase in 
 Grosvenor Square so singularly summer-like 
 and cool. 
 
 Jocelyn began to taste the joys and dis- 
 advantages of being an heiress, steering clear 
 of pitfalls with amazing sagacity for one so 
 young. It almost seemed as if the Professor 
 had taught her the mysterious secret of pene- 
 tration. To him she brought the story of 
 all her new discoveries, discussing with the 
 shrewd old man each fresh friend or 
 acquaintance who threatened to influence 
 her life. 
 
 He was careful to nurture her ideals and 
 illusions as far as possible, shielding her from 
 shock or discouragement, though often he put 
 youth upon its guard, providing unseen 
 armour that steeled the girlish heart from 
 iortune-hunters' shafts. 
 
 For Tommy Ludlow the Professor showed 
 extreme regard. It often surprised Jocelyn, 
 when the youthful baronet laughed and joked 
 so freely in the patriarchal presence, that her 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 239 
 
 grandfather never wearied of his companyj or 
 seemed to think him frivolous and shallow. 
 
 " That boy has his head screwed on the 
 right way, though it is apparently so full of 
 nonsense," Professor Gervalle remarked. "You 
 can always believe what he says, Jocelyn ; 
 there's plenty of spirit about him, but no vice. 
 He takes the world as a good comrade which 
 means well by him, and so the world, hating 
 to be found out, will generally serve him 
 liberally, and show its best side in his presence. 
 If you make a friend of Sir Thomas Ludlow, 
 I don't think your faith will be shaken in man, 
 and happiness here as well as hereafter de- 
 pends greatly on faith ; the more we can 
 believe, the happier we shall be." 
 
 Whenever her grandfather spoke of Sir 
 Thomas Ludlow, Jocelyn listened with almost 
 breathless interest. 
 
 " He was her best friend, among all these 
 new friends," she would say, without an idea 
 of concealing her appreciation of him from 
 the Professor. Sir Thomas thought of so 
 many things to please her — the little things 
 that meant so much. He was always near 
 at the right moment ; yet she could not say 
 if this were due to tact or chance, but gave the 
 preference to tact. 
 
240 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 The London season, for the first time in his 
 Hfe, irked Tommy with its interruptions and 
 demands. Whenever he spoke to Jocelyn he 
 felt the difficulty of indulging sentiment in a 
 crowd, and the alluring thought of a country 
 house, where he could see her every day, lay 
 ahead like a dream full of dazzling possibilities. 
 
 In heated rooms whispered words had to 
 be few and emphatic, while tite-a-tites con- 
 sisted of short, glorious moments, made sig- 
 nificant by those dangerous silences which 
 mean so much. How many lives drift into 
 new currents and strange seas all through the 
 power of a pause — those moments when angels 
 hover near. 
 
 Jocelyn vaguely realised she moved him in 
 an odd, astonishing way, always a novel ex- 
 perience to the young. She was nearing 
 gradually that emotion of the spirit, so fuU 
 of wonderful surprises and startling effects, 
 which lifts the mortal high above earth. 
 
 The noble passion love, the cement of 
 society, had caught her unawares in its ele- 
 vating embrace, and the Professor, divining 
 this mystic change, told her, as if unconscious 
 of the fact, to trust Sir Thomas Ludlow. 
 " Love without esteem," the old man warned 
 her, " is volatile and capricious ; esteem 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 241 
 
 without love must be languid and cold. When 
 the two are united, the higher plane is 
 reached." 
 
 Tommy, from the first, made no attempt 
 to hide his admiration. He talked of her to 
 the Professor, to Jacobina, to his mother, for, 
 above all things, Tommy was transparent. 
 
 " She's so good," he told Lady Ludlow ; 
 "it's splendid to see her with the old-^man, 
 I believe she would give up anything in the 
 world to please him. If he liked to be a 
 martinet, what a life he could lead her ! " 
 
 Had Tommy fallen in love less discreetly, 
 it is to be feared his delightful theories about 
 women might have received a severe shock. 
 He idealised the sex, believing no woman was 
 capable of being beautiful who was not in- 
 capable of being false, and thus the gods, 
 delighting in such an uncommon belief, led 
 him to a worthy shrine with more than usual 
 generosity. 
 
 The psychological moment came, as it 
 often does, in an alcove. Love likes no 
 lookers on at his great game ; loneliness is 
 his creed, provided two share that sweet 
 retreat. 
 
 Tommy made no picturesque speeches, 
 spoke no very telling words, but somehow he 
 Q 
 
243 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 drew nearer without having apparently moved, 
 and subtly crept with tender glances and 
 eager hopes into the heart, which opened like 
 a flower. 
 
 He began by saying he should never marry, 
 and, when asked the reason, gave as an ex- 
 planation the terrible assurance that the 
 woman he loved would not marry him. 
 
 " She says she cannot leave her grand- 
 father ; she loves him better than anyone, 
 so, of course, there's little hope for me. Some- 
 times I think the old man would not grudge 
 her to another ; that perhaps she is mistaken 
 in thinking he wants to hold her fast. When 
 people are over eighty, they like to know 
 those near and dear to them are going to be 
 happy. Jocelyn, dear — I must caU 5rau 
 Jocelyn — I would take such care of you ! I 
 don't want to be conceited, but I really think 
 I would make a good husband ; I'd simply 
 worship you, you dear little darling ! " 
 
 The last words came with a rush and a 
 burst of feeling, in which boyish ardour 
 mingled with manly passion. He bent his 
 head low to hers ; she felt his eyebrow brush 
 her forehead, while hands that were firm and 
 strong clasped her thin, artistic fingers. He 
 was looking down at the small, blue veins on 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 243 
 
 her wrists, comparing them with his, which 
 were broader and deeper, though possibly less 
 blue. There seemed so much in a hand ; all 
 the romance of life dwelt for those few mo- 
 ments in the touch of little clinging fingers. 
 
 Mutual love gives an importance to quite 
 indifferent things — a merit to actions most 
 insignificant. 
 
 Jocelyn also looked down ; she dared not 
 meet his gaze, for sudden shyness stole over 
 her, bringing the blood to her cheeks and 
 veiled wonder to her eyes. 
 
 " We could wait a long, long time," she 
 whispered. " Perhaps it wouldn't matter 
 being engaged, if we didn't marry for years 
 and years." 
 
 Tommy was ready to catch at a straw. 
 He would have promised just then to wait 
 till eternity, for the privilege of holding her 
 hands and leaning his head against hers — 
 such a classic head was Jocelyn's, with bright, 
 wilful, young-looking hair. 
 
 " Can you imagine us married ? " he mur- 
 mured in breathless eagerness, " you and I, 
 Jocelyn, Can you imagine it ? " 
 
 Her heart fluttered like a bird already 
 caged ; yet, oddly enough, she could quite 
 picture herself and Tommy settled down. The 
 
244 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 vision came so naturally, it startled her into 
 thinking all had been predestined, without 
 their having any will or say in the great plan. 
 His lips were pressing her cheek now, trying 
 to induce the flushing face to turn, that lip 
 might answer lip in the sweet language of 
 love. 
 
 " Won't you kiss me ? " he pleaded. Al- 
 ready the human instinct demanded some 
 return. 
 
 " Oh, no — no." The answer came half- 
 f earfully, contradicting the prompting of her 
 heart. There are moments of pride and re- 
 sistance which enhance the charm of future 
 subjugation. Perhaps Jocelyn remembered 
 the besieged citadel must hunger before it 
 falls. 
 
 Tommy's hand relaxed its pressure. Sud- 
 denly she felt far away from him, and the 
 little break in his voice touched the very core 
 of her woman's heart. 
 
 " You — you don't love me enough to kiss 
 me ? " 
 
 Not the pathos of the words alone, but 
 their utter lack of truth smote her. How 
 could he think she didn't love enough ! How 
 could he be so blind ! 
 
 She turned tenderly, with eyes uplifted ; 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN; 245 
 
 she swayed to the warm caress, and let his 
 arms enfold her. 
 
 Thus they stole the golden light from the 
 sun, and the fragrance from the flowers, 
 changing the mundane world into a world 
 beautiful, bringing Heaven down to a little 
 sheltered corner in a modern London drawing- 
 room. 
 
246 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 For these be the days of vengeance. 
 
 The announcement of Miss Gervalle's engage- 
 ment to Sir Thomas Ludlow brought a chorus 
 of congratulation. The Professor declared 
 himself delighted, and humoured Jocelyn by 
 pretending the marriage would be an event 
 in the dim future. 
 
 To Tommy he said : " My day is far spent ; 
 you will not have long to wait. But if I am 
 spared, you need not fear I shall be selfish. 
 Young lives must not be sacrificed to old." 
 
 Tommy felt terribly upset at the thought 
 of the Professor's great weakness. He per- 
 ceived, like many others, the speedy approach 
 of a silent angel, sickle in hand. 
 
 " We shall meet in a better world," added 
 the kind voice in conclusion ; " a world so 
 good that none who go there ever return." 
 
 Jacobina learnt the news of Tommy's first 
 serious love affair from Lady Ludlow her- 
 self, and flew like a whirlwind to Grosvenor 
 Square with quite a maternal " Bless you, my 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN-. 247 
 
 children " manner, slightly disguised by the 
 frivolity of Parisian clothes. 
 
 Jocelyn talked over her new-found happi- 
 ness with such amazing simplicity that Jaco- 
 bina had cause to chuckle more than once at 
 the beautiful innocence of youth. 
 
 " Isn't it wonderful he cares for me when 
 there are so many girls in the world he might 
 have married ? " said the radiant fiancee of 
 eighteen. 
 
 " You have yet to learn," laughed Jaco- 
 bina, " there are few women in the world who, 
 if they choose, cannot take any man's life 
 and twirl it round their little finger like a 
 blade of straw. .Still, I will admit you've got 
 a treasure in that boy. Your life will be 
 turned into a merry jest, and I verily believe 
 he wiU die laughing ! I can't get over it, you 
 know ; the idea is so funny. ' Ha ! ha ! ' 
 engaged ; our dear butterfly that flitted with 
 such nice social interest from flower to flower, 
 never loving one more than another — always 
 kind, always popular. Yes, Jocel)^, you're 
 passing lucky, but you deserve something 
 good; and, as to Tommy's luck, that goes 
 without saying. He is marrying the prettiest 
 girl in London, and an heiress into the 
 bargain." 
 
248 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 Mrs. Winnington (whose husband had gone 
 abroad on some mysterious business which 
 savoured of trade, and was avoided in con- 
 versation by his grass widow) made rapid 
 progress in her friendship with Jocelyn. 
 
 She expressed such sympathetic interest 
 in the engagement that Jocelyn sought her 
 society for the sheer joy of " talking over 
 Tommy/' an occupation that never seemed to 
 pall. 
 
 " The Angel," as Jacobina still termed 
 Mrs. Winnington, had robbed her Madonna- 
 like face of its saintliness by suddenly taking 
 to cosmetics. 
 
 " When a young woman with a pretty 
 complexion resorts unexpectedly to paint, I 
 always know she has something on her mind," 
 Lady Livingstone said. " She wants to hide 
 from the world the pallor of care, and perhaps 
 she is right. We know the grave is all cor- 
 ruption within ; yet we endeavour to make it 
 less repulsive by planting it round with shrubs 
 and flowers." f-f,^ 
 
 Jocelyn noticed the unchanging blush, and 
 mourned her friend's appearance, but dared 
 make no comment. 
 
 She and Sir Thomas dined quietly one 
 night at Mrs. Winnington's house, and the 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 249 
 
 silver-decked dinner-table savoured of recent 
 wedding presents, dazzling with a brave dis- 
 play of half-crowns melted into candelabras. 
 Mrs. Winnington showed the engaged couple 
 that her heart was in the right place, by dis- 
 covering after dinner she must finish an 
 important letter, leaving them in a dimly- 
 lighted room, playfully hoping they would 
 not miss her. 
 
 The letter took some time, and really ap- 
 peared of importance, judging from her 
 troubled, strained expression as she hastily 
 covered a couple of large crested sheets. 
 
 " Poor boy ! " she murmured ; " if I 
 wasn't so driven, I'd pity him ; but a desper- 
 ate woman has no time for pity, and, as luck 
 will have it, I am hard as nails. Let me see, 
 what was it some great author wrote ? ' If 
 a woman is not ashamed of herself, the devil 
 cannot shame her ! ' Great author ! You 
 knew much ; I respect your clear insight to 
 that sensitive fabric, the feminine conscience." 
 
 She indulged a wicked little laugh, utterly 
 devoid of mirth, and the muscles of her face 
 hardened. When alone and unmasked, it 
 seemed as if " The Angel " had lost all the 
 purity and charm which once made her dear 
 to the heart of man. Something heavy and 
 
250 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 
 
 base had crept into her soul — a taint of low 
 cunning, associated with those who live by 
 their wits and would not scruple to mar, or 
 even to take, life. 
 
 She bit the top of her pen as she signed 
 her letter with a single initial. She thought 
 again of Jocelyn and Sir Thomas. She knew 
 the ways of lovers, the selfishness of body and 
 brain absorbed by one all-engrossing passion. 
 The quotation rang in her mind familiarly : 
 
 " When you are in company with others, 
 behave as if you were absent. Want me, 
 dream of me, expect me, think of me, wish for 
 me, delight in me, be wholly with me. In 
 short, be my very soul, as I am yours." 
 
 The " Me " Litany was as old as the hills, 
 and as young as a new-born child wailing 
 without reasoning for its unsought entr}? to a 
 strange world. 
 
 When Mrs. Winnington returned to her 
 guests, she did not offer a mock apology ; she 
 just smiled with unspeakable frankness, as if 
 unaware that with her return the vapid flat- 
 ness of the situation might grow oppressive. 
 
 She still retained a breezy air, looking like a 
 carnation which the wind hfted and let fall. 
 
 She talked of ambition, teUing Sir Thomas 
 he must rise up and do something for his 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN-. 251 
 
 country. She couldn't advise the nature of the 
 suggested " doing," but she felt he had great 
 powers lying fallow. 
 
 Of course, Jocelyn agreed with her ; every 
 woman would fain think the man she loves a 
 hero. 
 
 Tommy had a shrewd suspicion that a 
 delicate sarcasm rang in Mrs. Winnington's 
 words, but he was glad they reached Jocelyn 
 without her guessing the presence of hidden 
 cynicism. 
 
 " Is ambition absolutely necessary to 
 everyone ? " he asked, with silent humour 
 lurking in his eyes. 
 
 " Oh, yes," answered Mrs. Winnington 
 emphatically. " I should not like to have a 
 housemaid or a groom without ambition. 
 Were I so unfortunate, I know I should have 
 dusty rooms and lots of spiders, dim bits and 
 stirrup irons, ill-cleaned top boots. I know 
 there are many men who think, if they keep 
 clear of politics and have a good income, they 
 are never likely to be annoyed by anyone who 
 cannot be appeased by a solicitor. They eat 
 the fat of the land, and, of course, grow stout 
 at middle age, for man is an animal that eats 
 and drinks when not hungry or thirsty." 
 
 " Not man alone. Most creatures indulge 
 
2S2 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 the habit if they get the chance, notably the 
 pig," answered Tommy blandly. "I am 
 afraid I shall never be a leading light in the 
 political world. The trade of politics is 
 chiefly followed by men who have drifted into 
 it by chance, or else take it up as a sort of 
 hereditary profession." 
 
 " Well, you've plenty of time," laughed 
 Mrs. Winnington, with a patronising gesture. 
 " Doesn't he give you the idea, Jocelyn," 
 turning to the girl, " of a man who will never 
 grow old ? I can imagine him, when you are 
 grey-haired, remarking to some friend of his 
 youth who has become very infirm, ' Poor old 
 boy ! I remember we were once about the 
 same age ! ' " 
 
 The grass-widow rattled on brightly till 
 Jocelyn's carriage was announced. 
 
 " I mustn't keep it waiting," she said, 
 "for I have to fetch grandfather. We are 
 going to a reception at the French Embassy. 
 Grandfather is dining with Mr. Paley-Hyde 
 at ' Arthur's.' " 
 
 As Jocelyn cloaked herself in Mrs. Win- 
 nington's room, her hostess talked ecstatically 
 of Tommy. 
 
 " I like him so much," she said, squeezing 
 Jocelyn's hand. " He is what my husband 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 253 
 
 calls ' a white man.' Good breeding, you 
 knoWj my dear, is said to be the result of much 
 good sense, some good nature, and a little self 
 denial, with a view to obtain the same indul- 
 gence from others. Sir Thomas always strikes 
 me as so particularly well bred and charming, 
 though, naturally, we women see only the 
 best side. When men are dealing with their 
 fellows they are often, sad to say, keen and 
 selfish enough. Whether the game be money 
 or love, each man is for himself ; there's no 
 softening or subduing element. But once in 
 the presence of women, all is different. We 
 tame them delicately before marriage ; they 
 tame us brutally after ! " 
 
 Jocelyn looked at her with startled eyes ; 
 she had dropped the mask a moment, and her 
 face grew hard. 
 
 " Oh," whispered the girl, " I can see you 
 have suffered ; I am so sorry." 
 
 " Don't be sorry," answered Mrs. Win- 
 nington, half sharply, as they passed down 
 the stairs again. 
 
 On the landing a maid, hatted and coated, 
 stood back to make room for Miss Gervalle. 
 
 The maid held in her hand a letter, newly 
 stamped, which she was taking to the post. 
 Mrs. Winnington's large, bold handwriting, 
 
254 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 strikingly black and distinct, caught Jocelyn's 
 eye on the envelope ; it was addressed to 
 Major Chandoss. 
 
 Jocelyn said nothing, for she had not 
 intended to look, but she remembered Mrs. 
 Winnington's set lips, and wondered where 
 the trouble lay. 
 
25S 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Lo 1 the winter is past, the rain is over and gone ; 
 the flowers appear on the earth ; the time of the sing- 
 ing of birds is come ! 
 
 It was nearly a year since Paley-Hyde had 
 called upon Lady Livingstone. Now he made 
 up for his long tarrying, not only by paying her 
 an unsolicited visit, but first writing his in- 
 tention of coming, in the hope of finding her in. 
 
 The object of this small civility lay in the 
 fact that he really wished to thank her for 
 introducing him to Professor Gervalle. 
 
 Jacobina, in listening to enthusiastic praise 
 of the Professor from this dry and usually 
 unemotional man, realised that Daniel had for 
 once been struck ! She saw just the faint 
 glimmer of that awakening which she sought 
 in vain when secretly tr5dng to soften his stern 
 heart with the subjugation of her eyes. 
 
 Many men told Lady Livingstone of their 
 love, but Paley-Hyde had no love of which to 
 tell, could outward appearances be relied 
 upon ; yet she knew he might win her if he 
 pleased — silently, invisibly, with a sigh. 
 
2s6 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 Just for a moment she felt a little jealous 
 pangj an unseen wound smarted, the heat of 
 the day became suddenly insufferable. There 
 were influences at work which weighed upon 
 her life, small jarring sorrows, yearnings un- 
 appeased. She looked straight at Paley- 
 Hyde, and he met her gaze unmoved. Thus 
 poor caged animals ever stare out at human 
 faces on the other side of the bars, where no 
 kind hand opens to them, or soft voice whis- 
 pers " Liberty ! " 
 
 " I am glad you like the Professor," she 
 murmured ; " glad for many reasons, chiefly, 
 perhaps, the selfish reason that I brought 
 about this friendship. I understand from 
 Jocelyn you and the old man appear to be 
 friends already. The stage of mere acquaint- 
 ance is always prosaic and tiresome ; don't 
 you find it so ? " 
 
 " It is the stage to which I am most accus- 
 tomed," he replied. " Friends are rare lux- 
 uries with me. Perhaps that is why I 
 appreciate them." 
 
 Jacobina's lip quivered ever so sUghtly ; 
 she crossed to another chair with a rustle of 
 tempestuous skirts. 
 
 " The Professor," she said, " is extra- 
 ordinary for his age. Of course, all this going 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 257 
 
 about will kill him ; he cannot long survive 
 the strain. His strength cannot stand the 
 hurrjnng, bustling life. One sees him daily 
 wearing out, growing frailer and more weary. 
 It's a pathetic little tragedy, if death can be 
 called a tragedy when the human race has 
 been so fully run. I know he sees the shadows 
 lengthening across the landscape of his life, 
 he realises the lights are paling, yet he watches 
 without a sigh. It's impossible not to admire 
 him." 
 
 Jacobina spoke with intense feeling, yet 
 hid beneath a smile the nervous dread she felt 
 of death. 
 
 That Professor Gervalle treated its un- 
 ostentatious approach lightly, almost care- 
 lessly, made him an object of deep reverence 
 in her eyes. 
 
 " Age," answered Paley-Hyde, " has not 
 dulled the Professor's energy and animation. 
 His eyes are so bright, and his whole attitude 
 so keenly alert, that his years appear in- 
 credible. When talking, his voice sounds 
 clear and ringing ; it's only in repose his 
 ethereal look startles one, and the effect of his 
 long, arduous life-work becomes manifest. 
 He is, in my opinion, one of the most wonder- 
 ful men of the present age." 
 
 R 
 
258 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 As Jacobina watched Daniel softening 
 under a mutual interest, she tried to conceal 
 her knowledge of the thawing process, con- 
 scious that a false move might produce a frost ; 
 the ice had been so long in breaking. 
 
 Accustomed to silence, he did not remark 
 the absence of Lady Livingstone's natural 
 vivacity. She felt like a cat watching a 
 hole, aware of the unsuspecting mouse noise- 
 lessly approaching her, conscious also that 
 the cat's purr held no false note. 
 
 " I have a confession to make to you," 
 said Paley-Hyde suddenly, breaking the pause 
 with an effort. " If ever I think ill of a person 
 unjustly, I can't rest until I soothe my con- 
 science by an apology. I only wronged you 
 in my thoughts, but the matter has worried 
 me ; I am like that." 
 
 Jacobina was sitting straight up in her 
 chair now, her eyes slightly dilated. Her 
 little airs and graces had dropped from her 
 like a mantle ; she inclined her head as if to 
 say, " Go on." 
 
 " It is in connection with Jocelyn Ger- 
 valle," he continued. " You remember that 
 day last summer when we were driving to- 
 gether ? " 
 
 " Yes, perfectly. It was the last time 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 259 
 
 you drove with me. I am not likely to 
 forget." 
 
 " We talked of your niece, the fatherless 
 girl, alone in the world, as I thought. It was 
 evident her position preyed on your mind. 
 You said you disliked young people, and 
 spoke bitterly of relationships necessitating 
 obligations. I offended you slightly by 
 naming that objectionable word " duty," and 
 I believe you informed me the rS/e of chaperon 
 would be an impossible one, since it jarred 
 with your inclination." 
 
 " Jocelyn's future seemed rather a prob- 
 lem," Jacobina acknowledged. 
 
 " Yes ; and when you told me of her going 
 to Heale Prior, and talked of its delights, I 
 was sceptical. I thought you had ruthlessly 
 sent the girl to live with a grumpy old grand- 
 father, little dreaming you were giving her the 
 best companion a young or old life could 
 desire — the companionship of a great intellect, 
 keenly sympathetic, exquisitely tender, amaz- 
 ingly amiable, tolerant, and discerning. What 
 an education for a young person ! To deny 
 her to him would have been positively crim- 
 inal. You, who knew the Professor, judged 
 wisely. I, who did not know him, judged the 
 matter from a surface standpoint— harshly, 
 
26o ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN; 
 
 uncharitably. I ask you now to accept my 
 congratulations on the action I once deplored. 
 Will you forgive me for my interfering, un- 
 christian thoughts, and let us shake hands ? " 
 
 Jacobina saw the little outward movement 
 which spontaneously invited the clasp of her 
 fingers, and yet she hesitated, the colour 
 rushing to her cheeks. This man, in whose 
 eyes she most wished to shine, was crediting 
 her with good motives non-existent in the 
 past. By a mere trick of fate she appeared 
 to him in a false light, the limelight that 
 represents the sun, and has no real power of 
 its own, but a light in which she nevertheless 
 desperately longed to bask, if it kept him in 
 a kind and tender mood. 
 
 Jacobina struggled with herself. Ever 
 since the Professor's loan, her better nature 
 rose from long apathy to re-assert its claim. 
 Now a mighty battle raged. She hated his 
 praise, yet longed to retain it ; she fought 
 with demons, she communed with angels, all 
 in the passing of a few seconds — the seconds 
 which make history between a woman and a 
 man. 
 
26l 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Seen of angels. — Timothy: 
 
 Paley-Hyde thought she was offended, yet 
 he did not regret his words. He was emi- 
 nently a just man. 
 
 He could never remember Lady Living- 
 stone piquing his interest before. She had 
 appeared vapid, selfish, and unadaptable to 
 his moods, when in the past she forced her 
 friendship upon him because he rested her, 
 and made a change from the men she habitu- 
 ally met in society. Now there was something 
 new in her bearing, and small wonder, for 
 Jacobina had come unexpectedly into conflict 
 with conscience, that unseen force holding 
 sway over 'heart and convictions, that agent 
 all-powerful if allowed free rein. 
 
 Contact with the world gave her, even in 
 moments of dire emotion, a surface serenity. 
 Yet, figuratively speaking, she was out of 
 breath with chasing shadows and hunting 
 after baubles ; she " opened her mouth and 
 panted," like the Psalmist, for the best of life's 
 
262 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN-. 
 
 happiness had been earnestly but fruitlessly 
 sought. 
 
 This warfare of spirit came so unexpectedly 
 it took Jacobina some moments before she 
 rallied to the attack. Had she possessed the 
 prophet's eye she might even there, in the 
 West End of London, have discerned afar 
 the chariots and horses of fire, marshalled for 
 her protection. 
 
 Paley-Hyde's words struck her Uke arrows 
 making their way to the very quick of the 
 soul. .She realised at last the penal energy 
 there is in conscience, when after a long sleep 
 this principle starts suddenly into strength, 
 pressing down its victim as with a burden, 
 informing the wa5Avard of duties to hand, 
 acting as a monitor, clear in denunciation of 
 wrong. 
 
 Jacobina felt a stern gladness in this test 
 of her courage, as she looked up quickly, 
 facing him without reserve. 
 
 " You are mistaken," she said, and the 
 musical voice held almost a note of triumph 
 for her mastery over inclination. " I knew 
 nothing of the Professor, when I allowed 
 Jocelyn to go to Heale Prior, that I might be 
 saved the tie of having a girl on my hands. 
 When I say I knew nothing, I mean to his 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 263 
 
 credit. I had heard from Jocelyn's mother 
 he was ' impossible/ a hermit and a miser, 
 Uving apart from the world, hoarding his 
 money, seeing no one, I let her go because it 
 offered a convenient way out of my difficulty. 
 But for the old grandfather, whom I had never 
 seen, my niece must have come to me." 
 
 Jacobina's lips trembled, but her eyes 
 were bravely bright, as if exulting in her dis- 
 tasteful task of surrendering to the supremacy 
 of conscience, which had risen to rule with 
 such merciless vehemence. 
 
 Paley-Hyde lowered his glance uneasily. 
 He was shrewd enough to guess what this 
 confession cost, and it surprised him into 
 sympathy. He knew the martyrdom of a 
 proud woman under the keen light of unvar- 
 nished truth. He acknowledged to himself 
 credit lay in this free-will offering of plain, 
 ugly fact, reaUsing that, all mysteriously, angels 
 had been at work seeking a new trophy in 
 the surrender of a cold, calculating heart. 
 
 " I daresay you will despise me," Jacobina 
 continued, with a light laugh calculated to 
 dismiss the subject as almost a jest ; " but 
 I thought I had better tell you. Undeserved 
 praise is so difficult to bear." 
 
 " Despise you ! " he said quickly ; " my 
 
264 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN-. 
 
 dear lady, I have never liked you so well as at 
 this minute ! " 
 
 The words were spoken with such candour 
 that involuntarily the hand he had waited for 
 met his in a hearty shake, and some barrier, 
 indescribably broad though invisible, col- 
 lapsed as if by magic. 
 
 " It's good of you to feel like that," an- 
 swered Jacobina, as he released her willing 
 fingers from the spontaneous clasp. " A 
 little balm to a wound, you know, for it often 
 haunts me, that hateful thought, I was not 
 always kind to Jocelyn. The girl is very dear 
 to me now. I found out her true worth the 
 first evening she came to London, hers and the 
 Professor's. Does he bewitch people ? I 
 know I am a different woman since his coming. 
 I tried to hide it from the world, under the 
 mask of my old frivolity, but the change is 
 there all the same. He has effectively stopped 
 my gambling — perhaps you haven't heard how 
 much I am missed at bridge parties now. The 
 reformed character never speaks of a promise 
 made to an old man, but she would think 
 herself desperately low down in the moral 
 scale if she ever thought of breaking it. When 
 the Professor goes out of our lives, we shall all 
 feel a hopeless blank that can never be re- 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN; 265 
 
 filled, all we who love him. Did you hear of 
 the servants who gave notice en masse because 
 they imagined Professor Gervalle was a 
 wizard ? In less than a fortnight they were 
 every one begging to remain, and ready to go 
 on their knees to their master. I verily be- 
 lieve they would do anything in the world for 
 him, so great is their respect and admiration." 
 
 Paley-Hyde kept a curious glance fixed 
 fascinatedly upon Jacobina. He was not 
 admiring her full blooming beauty, the dainty 
 details of her dress, the careful structure of 
 the undulated hair, like a crown of natural 
 glory ; he was rather looking for the little 
 touches of human sadness betrayed in her 
 effort to smile, and the quivering of impatient 
 eyelids. 
 
 How could he tell that her pulses beat 
 faster for him ? Men were to Lady Living- 
 stone mere playthings by report. She had, 
 through thoughtless flirtations, won for her- 
 self a terrifying reputation in the male mind 
 of being that hateful creature, half sorceress, 
 half dragon, who collects scalps in the store- 
 room of memory, living upon conquests as the 
 vampire sips blood. 
 
 To-day Jacobina made strides towards re- 
 demption ; she rose momentarily above her 
 
266 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 reputation, aided by those unseen angels who, 
 coming to earth, fall into companionship with 
 strange world-ridden natures, and, hovering 
 near these alien souls, learn to weep. 
 
 Possibly her longings were known only to 
 " principalities and powers in heavenly 
 places," and Paley-Hyde read nothing of the 
 real suffering within. 
 
 Devils, as well as angels, are called in 
 Scripture " principalities and powers," be it 
 remembered. 
 
 Jacobina found herself amidst three great 
 forceSjhuman and divine — "angels,and devils, 
 and man." On one side echoes from glorious 
 conclaves ; on the other, the lower world, 
 goading to small sins, petty indiscretions, 
 arrogant pretensions, hellish conceits ; and 
 straight before her, man, with outstretched 
 hand, saying calmly, " Good-bye, Lady 
 Livingstone." 
 
267 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 He thought as a sage, though he felt as a man. 
 
 — James Beattie. 
 
 " Grandfather/' said Jocelyn, " I wonder 
 if you would mind Mrs. Winnington staying 
 with us for a few days ? " 
 
 The Professor looked up with the slightest 
 possible start, and his eyes were rather hawk- 
 hke for the moment. 
 
 " To stay ? " he queried. " To stay 
 here ? " 
 
 " Yes. She has workmen in her house, 
 poor woman ! Quite a domestic trouble ; the 
 place turned upside down just at a most 
 awkward time, when she has so many engage- 
 ments in London. Otherwise she would go 
 to friends in the country ; but, naturally, it is 
 hard to leave while there is so much going on. 
 She hinted to come at first, yet I did not like 
 to ask her, and suggested an hotel ; but, 
 finally, in desperation, she invited herself, 
 sub] ect to your approval. She thinks you like 
 her so much ! " 
 
268 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 " Does she ? " 
 
 He did not deny the soft impeachment, 
 but sat stroking his sparse beard reflectively. 
 Presently he spoke with rather a cynical smile 
 veiled beneath his white moustache. 
 
 " I should like her to come." 
 
 The gracious concession delighted Jocelyn, 
 who could not bear to see a friend worried 
 and not raise a hand to help her. 
 
 The girl's generous nature made her 
 kind to Mrs. Winnington, though lately 
 she noticed flaws in the grass widow's 
 character, and began to feel less surprised 
 at the matrimonial differences which gossip 
 hinted. 
 
 Accordingly Mrs. Winnington and her 
 maid arrived at Grosvenor Square on a short 
 visit, which she and Jocelyn agreed should 
 make no difference to any of their previous 
 engagements. Each had a large acquaintance 
 in town, and a long list of invitations, so the 
 compact mutually suited. 
 
 Tommy was now at the house every day ; 
 in fact. Lady Ludlow complained she had lost 
 him already. But the complaint held a very 
 tender, unresisting note, and she never really 
 grudged her boy the happy hours he spent 
 with his young fiancee^ 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 269 
 
 Mrs. Winnington gave very little trouble, 
 her one idea being apparently to make herself 
 pleasailt to everybody. 
 
 She pretended to idolise the Professor, and 
 often called him " Grandfather," in imitation 
 of Jocelyn, who, she insisted, should drop the 
 formal " Mrs. Winnington " for the more 
 familiar " Pleasance." 
 
 " I am glad my godfather and godmothers 
 gave me that name in my baptism. It has 
 such an amiable sound," she said. " Some 
 names want living up to. My mother always 
 told me I was born to smile." 
 
 The Professor really seemed to appreciate 
 the lady with the Madonna-like eyes and 
 cheeks of unfading rose, for he sought her 
 company frequently, as if grudging her to 
 Jocelyn. 
 
 His attention flattered Mrs. Winnington 
 not a little, and she made a point of gratifying 
 the old man's evident anxiety for her presence 
 as much as possible. 
 
 " I don't want to trouble you to talk," he 
 would say, " but I like to sit and watch you 
 with your embroidery. So few women work 
 now, and the flash of your needle brings back 
 old days. The very fact of using your fingers 
 aids thought, and I am sure the quiet hour 
 
270 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN; 
 
 spent over stitching is conducive to many 
 bright ideas." 
 
 " Yes," answered Mrs. Winnington; " I 
 always think when I work. My needle in- 
 spires me. I am glad you approve, and do 
 not consider it waste of time." 
 
 She had particularly pretty hands, and she 
 knew the best way of displajnng her jewelled 
 fingers and manicured nails. The embroidery 
 savoured of church work, with its rich colour- 
 ing and threads of fine gold. She would fain 
 have had the Professor believe these stoles 
 were for sacred vestments, instead of to adorn 
 an Oriental tea-gown. 
 
 It surprised Jocelyn to see how often the 
 Professor sat near her when she worked, re- 
 fraining absolutely from conversation. Mrs. 
 Winnington, pleased that it should be so, 
 smiled whenever she met his eyes riveted on 
 her slim figure. But there were moments 
 when the Professor appeared to doze, and 
 then her lips would tighten, while a frown 
 caught the white forehead in a vice. At such 
 times she invariably made false stitches, which 
 she hastily unpicked with sensitive fingers 
 that had physically suffered from the needle's 
 distrait manners. 
 
 " Professor Gervalle is a most staunch 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 271 
 
 admirer of mine," she merrily boasted to 
 Tommy. " I don't want to make Jocelyn 
 jealous, but I do believe he is going to let me 
 into one of his marvellous secrets." 
 
 " The Professor may take you in ; he has 
 a sense of humour," declared Tommy. 
 
 She tossed her head with a little 
 chuckle. 
 
 " You don't know Pleasance if you think 
 that. Had I been in Jocelyn's shoes at Heale 
 Prior there would not have been a shred of 
 mystery left in or outside the dear old man's 
 laboratory. I have all the curiosity of the 
 child who wanted to know everything, and 
 wished he had watched while God was making 
 him, so that he could remember how to do it. 
 Already I hold one of the Professor's secrets 
 in the hollow of my hand." 
 
 They were alone together in the drawing- 
 room, for Tommy had called, to find Jocelyn 
 out, and remained on the strength of a mes- 
 sage that she would return shortly. 
 
 " What secret ? " he asked, for her mys- 
 terious manner and dancing eyes tantalised 
 him. 
 
 " The secret of his strength now in old 
 age. Don't you wonder sometimes how he 
 keeps up his energy ? You need not fear he 
 
272 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 will fail or go under, since he has discovered 
 the elixir of life." 
 
 " Oh, rot ! " said Tommy. 
 
 He pulled at an imaginary moustache im- 
 patiently, for Mrs. Winnington had a knack 
 of annoying him. 
 
 " Thank you," she snapped, "for a very 
 polite remark ! " 
 
 In a moment he was contrite, fearing he 
 had been rude. 
 
 " I beg your pardon, but I really thought 
 it was rot, and the word slipped out." 
 
 " So in penitence you use it again. Really 
 you are so funny, I must forgive you." 
 
 She moved uneasily, and glanced towards 
 the door. Evidently her ears were more than 
 usually alert. 
 
 " The Professor has given me some of his 
 life elixir," she whispered, and her face rippled 
 suddenly with smiles. " I've got the bottle 
 upstairs, and because your life is so valuable 
 to Jocelyn, I mean to spare you just one little 
 drop. You mustn't tell the Professor or any- 
 one. I took the first dose not an hour ago, 
 and I feel so amazingly well, as if I could skip 
 over the moon. You look a bit fagged to-day, 
 and tired round the eyes." 
 
 " Oh, the heat rather bothers me, being an 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN; 273 
 
 energetic person," declared Tommy ; " and 
 I've had too many late nights. Wish we were 
 in the country. If the Professor's elixir can 
 reconcile me to another month of London, I'll 
 drink the whole bottle." 
 
 " You greedy thing ! I shall only spare 
 you a very little. Wait here, and I'll fetch 
 the tiny bottle from my room. I keep it under 
 lock and key because it's so wonderfully 
 precious, and the Professor is not very liberal 
 with it. Don't say a word to a soul, or you'll 
 get me into trouble ! I feel rather a brute at 
 betraying my host's confidence, but I thought 
 you seemed run down." 
 
 Tommy had a great weakness for medi- 
 cine ; he always tasted other people's doses, 
 and never minded who prescribed for him. 
 He waited now on the white hearthrug with 
 his hands in his pockets, but scarcely had the 
 door closed, before a strange thing happened. 
 
 From the far end of the room, through a 
 narrow opening hidden by a heavy curtain, 
 came the Professor stealthily. He made no 
 sound as he stole cat-like across the thick 
 carpet, one hand upraised to enjoin silence. 
 
 Tommy watched wonderingly, thinking 
 for a moment the old man's mind must be 
 giving way. It was a double room, and he 
 s 
 
274 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 beckoned to him from the pillar where the 
 lofty apartments joined. 
 
 " What's the matter ? " whispered Tommy, 
 ignoring, as he often did, the Professor's sup- 
 posed deafness. 
 
 " She's stolen a bottle similar to this from 
 a shelf in my study," Professor Gervalle said 
 quickly. " It's a damnable plot with Chan- 
 doss. That woman is here as his tool to 
 poison you ! " 
 
 The quavering hand thrust a dark blue 
 bottle into Tommy's pocket. 
 
 " That," he hastily explained, " contains 
 water, nothing more, Exchange it without 
 her seeing. Take a few sips of the water, 
 then fall heavily and lie quite still, face down- 
 wards. Don't move till I come. If you drink 
 from the one she brings, you're a dead man ! " 
 
 A step on the stair warned the Professor 
 he had not a moment to lose before retiring 
 to the shadows behind the massive pillar. 
 Tommy, thoroughly mystified, regained his 
 position on the rug, before he had time to 
 analyse his feelings in the matter. 
 
 He turned his back to the door as she 
 entered, and criticised his face in the glass. It 
 would not do to look startled, yet he felt as if 
 his hair must literally be standing on end. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 275 
 
 What could this devilish woman want with 
 his hfe ? 
 
 " Vain boy/' said a laughing voice ; "I 
 thought only women were caught staring 
 into mirrors. But come, Dr. Pleasance has 
 brought the life elixir very much against her 
 will. She's not really a generous soul, only I 
 fancy a good many people have a knack of 
 spoiling you." 
 
 " Take a little first to encourage me," said 
 Tommy, and, despite his gruesome fancies, he 
 laughed light-heartedly. 
 
 " No, I had my share, as I told you, an 
 hour ago. See the mark on the bottle ! The 
 Professor forbade more than one draught a 
 day." 
 
 She gave it to him, and her hand unmis- 
 takably trembled. 
 
 He held the phial a moment to the light. 
 
 " The elixir of hfe ! " he said. " How 
 jolly ! By Jove, there's someone coming ! " 
 
 He slipped it in his pocket, and looked 
 towards the door. 
 
 Mrs. Winnington stifled a little cry. 
 
 " False alarm ! " he laughed. " Thought 
 I heard Jocelyn." 
 
 " And I thought it might be the Professor, 
 only Elizabeth told me he was asleep in his 
 
276 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 room," she stammered. " I didn't want him 
 to catch me parting with his gift." 
 
 " Naturally not." 
 
 The blue bottle came forth again from the 
 pocket into which it had vanished. 
 
 " To your very good health ! " he said, 
 raising it to his lips ; then, pausing, asked 
 pleasantly, " I say, doesn't it run to a glass ? " 
 
 " No, no, nothing so commonplace needed 
 for life-eHxir ; a glass, indeed ! What should 
 we do if the Professor suddenly appeared ? " 
 
 Mrs. Winnington's face had turned singu- 
 larly pale under her rouge. It seemed the 
 delay was almost more than she could bear. 
 Her fingers, tightly clenched within the palms, 
 betrayed strained nerves ; more than once 
 she half advanced, as if to snatch the fatal 
 potion from those young reckless hands. 
 
 " Very well, if you don't mind, it matters 
 little to me," he replied ; " but you're awfully 
 generous and good." 
 
 He tossed the fluid down his throat, and 
 let the bottle fall. Just for a moment he 
 swayed giddily, then, stretching out both 
 arms, sank heavily forward, a limp, prostrate, 
 inanimate form. 
 
 Mrs. Winnington spoke no word. She 
 watched in absolute silence, only bending to 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 277 
 
 see none of the liquid remained in the fallen 
 bottle, which lay empty on the thick rug that 
 had absorbed the spilt mixture. Without 
 touching him, she crept noiselessly away, 
 stealing unseen to her room. 
 
 Seizing hat, gloves, and dainty parasol, she 
 went singing down the staircase, and passed 
 smiling out into the glare of a blazing summer 
 afternoon. 
 
2/8 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The Grave, dread thing ! 
 Men shiver when thou'rt nam'd : Nature, appall'd, 
 Shakes o3 her wonted firmness. — Robert Blair. 
 
 The mechanical smile lasted only until she 
 turned the corner of the Square, then Pleas- 
 ance Winnington paused and pressed her hand 
 to her heart. Round her lips crept an ominous 
 blue tinge, over her eyes stole a haze which 
 threatened faintness. She pulled herself to- 
 gether with a supreme effort, and weakly 
 motioned to a passing hansom, into which she 
 stumbled giddily. 
 
 The voice which told the cabman where to 
 drive sounded husky and far away ; he asked 
 twice before hearing the words correctly. 
 
 She leant back^ pressing a trembling hand 
 to her forehead, biting her lips, and catching 
 her breath in short, sharp gasps, gazing out 
 helplessly upon a dim, uncertain world. She 
 felt like some panting and terrified beast ; 
 around her already dark shades of fear, and 
 haunting shadows of irremediable remorse 
 gathered hke thunder-clouds. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 279 
 
 In that first still moment of intense mental 
 agony, Pleasance Winnington knew she had 
 destroyed herself. Shattered, unnerved, para- 
 lysed by what she had done, the miserable 
 soul saw black, malignant, insinuating deadly 
 things peering at her from every side, filling 
 her veins with a burning poison, creeping like 
 adders across her path, or swarms of locusts 
 devouring heart and brain. 
 
 She made no sound, though her lips parted, 
 only a silent anguish extended her eyes as they 
 stared into impenetrable darkness. 
 
 When the cab drew up she alighted, still 
 with the same dizzy sensation, and mounted 
 the steps of tall residential mansions like 
 one who walks in a troubled sleep. 
 
 A few moments later Mrs. Winnington 
 entered a luxurious apartment, combining the 
 lack of feminine arrangement with the solid 
 comforts of a bachelor's den. 
 
 Major Chandoss rose to greet her with 
 his bland smile. She neither saw the 
 outstretched hand nor heard his words of 
 welcome ; she just sank exhausted into a 
 substantial leather-covered chair near a big 
 oak writing-table. 
 
 He scanned her keenly, noting the tremu- 
 lous lips and staring eye, the travesty of a 
 
28o ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN, 
 
 drawn, haggard face mocking art's worthless 
 roses. 
 
 " You've done it ? " he said, in a tone of 
 conviction. 
 
 She incUned her head with a partially 
 stifled sob. 
 
 A light as of victory long sought, a flash 
 of hope revived, stole across the dark counten- 
 ance of the watching man. 
 
 His cherished scheme had reached fulfil- 
 ment, bribery had won the day. Even death 
 could be bought, the death of a hated rival, 
 through miracles worked by gold. 
 
 " Good," he said ; " you are a brave 
 woman ! " 
 
 He drew near and patted her shoulder. 
 
 " Come, come," he continued, as she made 
 no reply, " you are not going to break down 
 now ? " 
 
 His tone savoured of sudden uneasiness, 
 and his gaze became more critical. 
 
 Mrs. Winnington shook off his hand with 
 a little moan. 
 
 " Tell me the details quickly," he said, his 
 voice commanding and stern. 
 
 Pleasance spoke for the first time, keeping 
 her head averted. In a few laboured words 
 she repeated the gruesome story of the after- 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 281 
 
 noon, while Major Chandoss listened ap- 
 provingly. 
 
 " I left him," she gasped, in conclusion, 
 " just as he fell, just as he fell ! " 
 
 " And came straight to me ? " 
 
 " Straight to you." 
 
 " No one saw you leave the house ? " 
 
 " I think not, but I sang as I went down 
 the stairs — I sang ! " 
 
 The repetition mingled with a little cry that 
 broke wailing from her lips, the cry of a 
 terrified soul in purgatory. 
 
 " You must go back," he said ; "go back 
 quickly to the house as if nothing had oc- 
 curred. The moment they tell you of the 
 tragedy you can naturally leave." 
 
 His evident excitement had no effect upon 
 Mrs. Winnington. She was stricken down 
 with paralysing fear. Her hands hung nerve- 
 lessly over the arms of the chair. She looked 
 more dead than alive. 
 
 Her lack of response angered him. 
 
 " You must pull yourself together," he 
 declared. " You were strung up, and it's 
 natural you should feel a bit done after the 
 effort ; but the difficult part is over, you have 
 only now to keep cool." 
 
 He knew the words lacked conviction ; his 
 
283 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 own manner wa^s momentarily betraying in- 
 creased concern. 
 
 She rose stiffly, and supported her tremb- 
 ling limbs by clinging to the back of the chair. 
 
 " I must have been mad," she said, under 
 her breath, " to let you tempt me to do that 
 awful thing for gain. My God ! what horror ! " 
 Her voice failed her, she struggled a moment 
 with deadly weakness. 
 
 " If you knew," she continued at last ; " if 
 you knew the pain here over my heart. I 
 thought it would be easy. I fancied I didn't 
 care. I had roughed it in the past when I 
 saw that other man die, the man who killed 
 himself for me. I was sorry, but I forgot ; 
 it seemed possible, almost easy, to forget." 
 
 " Of course, and you will soon get over 
 this. The world is a precious poverty-stricken 
 place for saints ! Go back now and face it 
 out." 
 
 He bit his nails as he spoke, moving to and 
 fro uneasily. 
 
 At the mention of " facing it out " she 
 seemed to quail and shrink ; her eyes, lit by 
 indignant abhorrence, fixed him with glittering 
 scrutiny. Her physical nature recoiled at the 
 thought ; she gasped out her answer in dry, 
 harsh tones. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 283 
 
 " I can't ; it's impossible ! I swear I'll 
 never enter that house again. It would kill 
 me to go back." 
 
 Major Chandoss sprang forward and 
 gripped her by the elbows. 
 
 " Look to your senses ! " he said. " Would 
 you spoil all now, and risk our necks, when 
 the deed is done, for want of a httle self- 
 control ? " 
 
 His words held weight ; terrified as she 
 was, and on the verge of a collapse, the thought 
 of exposure brought with it the semblance of 
 a calmer mood. 
 
 With the inconsistency of her sex she sig- 
 nalled assent by a voiceless moving of her lips, 
 and the slightest inclination of her head. He 
 breathed more evenly, and snatched up his 
 hat. 
 
 " Come," he said, " I will go part of the 
 way with you. We won't talk ; you are a 
 little unhinged, that's all ! " 
 
 He hustled her down the stairs, keeping 
 firm hold of her arm. His face, an ashen grey, 
 bore the furrows of deep anxiety. 
 
 " Plenty of time," he said, " to discuss 
 everything later. Get through to-day, and 
 you will recover your strength. Finish the 
 work without confusion, keep a firm grip on 
 
284 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 your emotions. You can be strong, I know ; 
 you have proved yourself of iron manufacture, 
 a little more steeling of the heart to complete 
 a great victory." 
 
 He hardly knew what he said, for he was 
 momentarily catching her anxiety. It proved 
 a Herculean effort to speak in reassuring tones. 
 
 Mrs. Winnington made no answer, but her 
 silence abated rather than increased his alarm. 
 She was gathering strength for the final coup, 
 nurturing what energy remained to brave the 
 last scene, and act her difficult part in the 
 tragic end of a harrowing drama. 
 
 4: :): 4: H: 4: * 
 
 " Then it is true ! She did mean to do 
 it ! She slunk away like a thief. How 
 beastly ! " 
 
 Tommy was standing on the fateful white 
 rug, speaking through his teeth, his boyish 
 face flushed to the temples. 
 
 The Professor, concealed by the window 
 curtains, watched Mrs. Winnington' s figure 
 down the Square. 
 
 " Yes," he replied. " I knew a devilish 
 scheme was brewing some days since. I also 
 foresaw she did not intend raising an alarm. 
 I think I could have told you the events just 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 285 
 
 as they happened. EHxir of hfe, indeed ! All 
 her own invention — lies, lies from first to last ! 
 Give me the bottle of poison. I don't like to 
 feel it is even near you." 
 
 Tommy drew the deadly draught from his 
 pocket and handed it over submissively. 
 
 A strong intuition told him not to question 
 Professor Gervalle just then as to how he had 
 unravelled this almost incredible plot. The 
 aged man showed the effects of excitement 
 only too visibly, and ignoring the awful danger 
 so narrowly escaped, Tommy thought rather 
 of his rescuer than himself. 
 
 " You saved my life," he said, with shy 
 gratitude, and the tone rather than the words 
 conveyed what he felt. " But it's been a tax 
 on your strength, I'm afraid." 
 
 " No, no." The Professor shook his head. 
 " No, indeed, don't think that for a moment. 
 There is more to be done yet. Mrs. Winning- 
 ton will be coming back, and we must form a 
 plan of action." 
 
 He turned to the window again. 
 
 " Here is Jocelyn ; she must be told." 
 
 Tommy looked out and saw the loved one 
 stepping lightly from her carriage. By the 
 door stood Paley-Hyde. 
 
 " I wonder if Jocelyn's a good actress," 
 
286 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 murmured the Professor. " Hyde is the man 
 to help us too. She's bringing him in." 
 
 Already Jocelyn's cheerful voice reached 
 them from the stairs. 
 
 " I'm so glad we met. Yes, I feel sure 
 Grandfather is at home." 
 
 As the door opened, the very atmosphere of 
 the room breathed mystery and trouble. The 
 faces of both men were a study. 
 
 " What is the matter ? " asked Jocelyn, 
 going hurriedly towards the Professor. " Some- 
 thing has happened." 
 
2 8; 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 A wretched soul, bruised with adversity. 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 Mrs. Winnington appeared amazingly calm 
 as she rang the bell of the big house in Gros- 
 venor Square, but her calmness was the result 
 of a mighty effort that strained every nerve 
 and tissue, like a tortured, mangled body on 
 the rack. 
 
 The unconscious manservant informed her 
 that tea was served already in Miss Gervalle's 
 boudoir. 
 
 " Is that you, Pleasance ? " called a voice 
 over the banisters. " Come up ; we have been 
 waiting tea." 
 
 Mrs. Winnington obeyed the summons 
 slowly. More than once she stumbled on the 
 marble stairs, catching her skirt frills in the 
 buckles of her dainty shoes. 
 
 So as yet he had not been found ! Jocelyn 
 must have gone straight to her boudoir, order- 
 ing tea there ; the distant, deserted drawing- 
 room still held its gruesome secret. 
 
288 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 She felt inclined to scream, and forced her 
 handkerchief against her lips to prevent her- 
 self crying out he was dead. 
 
 " Why — oh ! why — had she returned at 
 Major Chandoss's command ? Surely she 
 might have invented some excuse — a sprained 
 ankle, a sick friend, a pressing engagement at 
 the other end of the world ! 
 
 With difficulty, having got so far, she 
 rallied her forces, and entered the pretty room 
 so characteristic of Jocelyn. It was here the 
 girl kept her favourite knick-knacks and 
 photographs ; here she arranged tastefully 
 the exquisite flowers sent by Sir Thomas ; 
 here she loved to sit and talk of her future to 
 a sympathetic listener. 
 
 " You know Mr. Paley-Hyde, I think ? " 
 said Jocelyn, who now partially concealed 
 herself behind the tea-table, for the heat 
 apparently made her flush and pale with 
 astonishing rapidity, and she seemed anxious 
 to hide her face. 
 
 The Professor smiled in his iisual wel- 
 coming manner, and Paley-Hyde fetched a 
 chair for Mrs. Winnington, which he placed 
 near Jocelyn. 
 
 " Thanks," she murmured. " I would 
 rather sit by the window ; it's so very warm." 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 289 
 
 She sank on an Empire couch, really more 
 like a small bed than a sofa — the kind of 
 restful lounge upon which beauties of the 
 First Empire were so often painted. 
 
 In one short afternoon Pleasance Win- 
 nington had lost her beauty. She looked old 
 as the sunlight played on her, and the lips, 
 habitually busy with bright conversation, re- 
 mained mute and colourless, while her eyes 
 furtively watched the door. 
 
 Every moment she expected the terrible 
 news, the news of death, with all its wild 
 alarm, and the sight of Jocel3m pouring out 
 tea was almost more than her shuddering soul 
 could stand. 
 
 " Where is Sir Thomas to-day ? " asked 
 Paley-Hyde. " Your shadow has failed you. 
 Miss Gervalle ! " 
 
 " Yes, and he promised to come." 
 
 Jocelyn's voice held a slight tremor, which 
 Mrs. Winnington mistook for a sign that the 
 girl felt crushed by his absence. 
 
 " Early days to break promises," declared 
 the Professor chaffingly. " What do you 
 say ? " turning to Paley-Hyde. " Bad sign, 
 isn't it ? Your modern young man has none 
 of the petty punctiliousness expected of 
 lovers in my time." 
 
 T 
 
290 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 " Oh, I daresay Tommy has stayed away 
 for some good reason/' piit in Jocelyn 
 hastily. 
 
 " Well, we'll give the boy a chance any- 
 how, and not condemn him unheard," laughed 
 her grandfather good-humouredly. " Perhaps 
 Mrs. Winnington, having been through the 
 mill herself, will give you a few hints on the 
 training oi fiances." 
 
 Pleasance neither moved nor spoke, only 
 she hastily^ put down the cup Paley-Hyde 
 handed her, for trembling fingers set it 
 rattling with noticeable vigour in the 
 slippery saucer. 
 
 " What was that ? " asked the Professor, 
 suddenly. He looked towards the door, point- 
 ing as he asked the question. 
 
 " The handle turned," said Paley-Hyde. 
 " I thought someone was coming in, but I 
 heard no footstep." 
 
 " I hoped it was Tommy," said Jocelyn, 
 turning away to cut an elaborate almond 
 cake. 
 
 Again the conversation drifted on lazily. 
 Tommy's absence had evidently affected 
 Jocelyn's spirits, for she laughed with an 
 effort, and appeared to forget the presence of 
 Mrs. Winnington. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 291 
 
 At last Pleasance found her voice — a faint, 
 weak voice certainly. 
 
 " Jocelyn dear/' she said, " I've got such 
 a headache. I wonder if you would mind my 
 going to lie down. It makes me so stupid." 
 
 She half rose, when simultaneously the 
 door opened, and slowly, noiselessly. Sir 
 Thomas walked in. 
 
 With a half-stifled cry, Pleasance sank 
 back on the Empire couch, her eyes glazing as 
 they stared at the pale, unsmiling visage. He 
 stood quite still, apparently unseen by any 
 save herself, while in his outstretched hand he 
 held the small blue bottle she had filled with 
 poison. 
 
 " I am sorry your head is so bad," said 
 Jocelyn, looking as it were right through 
 Tommy, to the lounge upon which the 
 quivering woman sat. What can we do for 
 you ? " 
 
 " Sleep would be the best thing possible," 
 declared the Professor, rising as if to open the 
 door for her, and thus facing the spectral 
 figure. He too, heedless of its presence, 
 moved within an inch of where it stood. One 
 of its fingers touched his sleeve in passing, and 
 pointed to the sofa, but Professor Gervalle 
 paid no sort of heed to the ghostly apparition. 
 
292 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 " Don't you — don't you see ? " gasped 
 Mrs. Winnington, cowering back, a terrible 
 dismay twisting her features, 
 
 " See what ? " 
 
 Paley-Hyde and Jocelyn spoke simul- 
 taneously, each looking with undiscerning 
 eyes towards Sir Thomas, who now advanced 
 noiselessly nearer the murderess. 
 
 " There," persisted Pleasance, indicating 
 the silent presence, yet not daring to approach. 
 " Great heavens ! you must be blind ! It's 
 Sir Thomas Ludlow, I tell you ! — Sir 
 Thomas " 
 
 Mrs. Winnington' s voice failed, her teeth 
 chattered, and her features convulsed with 
 terror. 
 
 " Where ? " asked Paley-Hyde. 
 
 " Before your very eyes ! " she gasped. 
 " You must see him." 
 
 Cold drops streamed down her forehead ; 
 her blood froze ; the little remaining courage 
 ebbed away as she groaned aloud in her agony 
 of mind. 
 
 " You are ill," said Jocelyn, and her voice 
 rang hard. 
 
 The certainty that her victim's spirit had 
 returned to haunt her now threw Mrs. Win- 
 nington into a perfect frenzy of fear, as she 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 293 
 
 gazed, horror-stricken, at the approaching 
 form. In a flash she felt the ministers of 
 vengeance crowding round her. Powerless to 
 escape the scorching flame, to ward off the 
 paralysing terror, she gave herself up to the 
 mental torture of that maddening moment. 
 Leaping with a wild shriek to her feet, she 
 stood, racked by spiritual fears and bodily 
 anguish, facing her silent victim with eyes he 
 would never forget ; then, flinging up her arms 
 fell a senseless heap, bruised and broken, at 
 Jocelyn's feet. 
 
 " Good God ! I should be sorry for her," 
 gasped the girl, bending quickly down ; " but 
 she tried to kiU you — to take your life ! " 
 
 The magnitude of the crime stifled sym- 
 pathy. 
 
 The words were addressed to Tommy, who 
 had already raised the unconscious head, sup- 
 porting it upon his arm. 
 
 " She will come round directly," he said. 
 " Don't be frightened, Jocelyn." 
 
 But Paley-Hyde, meeting the Professor's 
 eyes, thought differently. 
 
 The older men already perceived their 
 revenge had taken a more serious turn than 
 the startled group of plotters bargained 
 for! 
 
294 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 It was long until the death-like figure 
 stirred, and then Mrs. Winnington seemed 
 only partially aware of what had happened. 
 
 She knew, indeed, that sorrow lay upon 
 her like a weight of lead, but, on regaining 
 consciousness, the details were mercifully 
 blurred to memory. She only asked to be 
 taken home, vaguely terrified of her present 
 surroundings, though she now accepted 
 Tommy as a human being who could listen to, 
 and even grant, her requests. 
 
 " Mr. Paley-Hyde and I will take you 
 back," said Sir Thomas, and Mrs. Winnington 
 appeared quite content with the arrangement. 
 She was too dazed and weak to collect her 
 scattered thoughts, yet, oddly enough, she 
 shrank from Jocelyn, and appeared on the 
 verge of another collapse if the girl ap- 
 proached. 
 
 The Professor she ignored, possibly be- 
 cause he was so very quiet, and looked so 
 ethereal that he really seemed part of the 
 shadows which made twilight in the room. 
 
 Paley-Hyde crossed to where Professor 
 Gervalle sat watching the patient from some 
 distance. 
 
 " Have you sent the telegram ? " he asked. 
 
 " YeSj" replied the Professor. " I wired 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS^ AND MAN^ 295 
 
 in her name to Chandoss, asking him to go to 
 her house as soon as possible on urgent 
 business." 
 
 " Lucky Sir Thomas knew the address ! " 
 muttered Daniel^ drawing his brows together, 
 and setting his Ups sternly. " He and I will 
 await Major Chandoss there." 
 
 " I've ordered the carriage/' said Jocelyn, 
 coming quietly between them. " It will be at 
 the door in a few minutes. I have simply told 
 Mrs. Winnington's maid that her mistress is 
 ill, and wishes to return at once. She is going 
 with her, and will fetch the luggage later. I 
 understand the workmen are out of the house. 
 I doubt now if they were ever there." 
 
 Mrs. Winnington was too weak to stand, 
 and had to be carried to the conveyance. 
 Jocelyn thought that Tommy and the grave 
 politician looked singularly like warders, as 
 they entered the closed landau, 
 
 Paley-Hyde had whispered a last word of 
 warning in the girl's ear. 
 
 " Look after Professor Gervalle, or he will 
 be the next to collapse." 
 
 As the hall door closed, she and the Pro- 
 fessor, who had watched the departure silently, 
 now turned away with an involuntary sigh 
 of relief. 
 
296 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 She gave him her arm, noticing he leant 
 upon it heavily, and walked with effort. 
 
 " Grandfather," she said, " I want you to 
 go to bed and rest." 
 
 He made no dissent. 
 
 " Rest," he murmured. " How good it 
 sounds ! " 
 
297 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Hope, -withering, fled ; and Mercy sighed Farewell ! 
 
 — Byron. 
 
 Mrs. Winnington lay passively on the sofa in 
 her drawing-room ; her lips remained strangely 
 blue, her face looking like that of a corpse. 
 The ghastly effect of previous "make-up" 
 helped to emphasise pitifully the ravages of 
 ill-health. 
 
 She had summoned, however, sufficient 
 strength to talk to her strange companions — 
 the man she tried to murder, and the grave, 
 unemotional Paley-Hyde. 
 
 Details of the afternoon gradually un- 
 folded themselves to her clouded brain. She 
 realised with intense relief that the awful 
 crime attempted was mercifully a failure, and 
 since that knowledge the deep, unholy fear 
 passed entirely from her eyes. 
 
 " I don't mind what happens to me," she 
 murmured (possibly because her weakness 
 made the future a blank and the present 
 vague) ; " I don't care for anything since I 
 know you are alive." 
 
298 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 She looked pleadingly at the boyish 
 countenance of Sir Thomas, putting out 
 her hand in feeble supplication, only to grasp 
 the air. 
 
 " We have sent for Major Chandoss," said 
 Paley-Hyde. " He will come, expecting to 
 see you alone. Do you think it would be too 
 much for you if we faced him in your pres- 
 ence ? " 
 
 She shook her head. 
 
 " No," she answered. " He drove me into 
 a corner ; he tempted me, God knows, with 
 the cleverness of the devil. I will say what 
 you like ; I only know I loathe him ! " 
 
 She covered her face, shuddering. 
 
 They sat awhile in silence, till presently 
 the sound of a bell caught Mrs. Winnington's 
 ear. 
 
 She raised herself on her cushions. 
 
 " It may be the doctor," she said, " or 
 Major Chandoss. I hope they have not come 
 together." 
 
 Paley-Hyde and the younger- man both 
 stood back behind a bank of ferns and flower- 
 ing plants, so that the newcomer might not 
 perceive them till he was well in the room. 
 
 A few moments elapsed — -moments marked 
 by still suspense and breathless eagerness ; 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 299 
 
 then the door opened, and Major Chandoss 
 was announced. 
 
 He went quickly to the couch^ his back 
 turned towards those silent witnesses. 
 
 " Well," he asked, " are you calmer ? 
 What have you to say ? " 
 
 His tone was an unspoken threat, and 
 seemed to convey the injunction, " No scenes, 
 no reproaches, no exhibitions of remorse, plain 
 business — et puis bon soir I " 
 
 For answer she made a sign towards the 
 fern bank and the flowers. 
 
 Without a word, but with unflinching re- 
 solve on every feature. Sir Thomas and Paley- 
 Hyde advanced relentlessly. 
 
 At sight of the supposed dead man- alive 
 in the flesh. Major Chandoss literally turned 
 green. 
 
 " Ludlow ! " he gasped, " you here ! " 
 
 " Yes," said Sir Thomas, folding his arms ; 
 " here instead of in my coffln, where you in- 
 tended me to be. The game is up, and you've 
 lost ! You will have to reckon now with an 
 earthly judge, instead of my going to a higher 
 tribunal." 
 
 Major Chandoss forced a strained laugh. 
 
 " What the devil are you talking about, 
 or accusing me of ? " he asked impertinently. 
 
30O ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 Pleasance gave the answer, her voice 
 sounding stronger than in the past. 
 
 " They know all," she said, with defiance 
 in look and tone — " all ! " 
 
 He turned on her as if to rend her in pieces. 
 
 " You she-fiend ! " he hissed, noting the 
 triumphant light which leapt to her failing 
 eyes. " It's your doing, is it ? You have 
 invented a pack of falsehoods to blacken me, 
 for some vile motive of yOur own. Of what 
 do I stand accused ? Tell me, for, in Heaven's 
 name, I am innocent." 
 
 Pleasance raised herself to a sitting pos- 
 ture. All life's fire burnt afresh in heart and 
 brain — a feverish flush dyed her face — she 
 looked like a serpent rearing to strike. 
 
 " Of what ! " she laughed bitterly ; " of 
 what, indeed ! Inciting to murder — ah ! 
 worse than that. You might have killed his 
 body, but you could not touch his soul ! It 
 was my soul you destroyed, and laid low in the 
 dust ; you cast me down to hell — you — you 
 who would have watched me perish without a 
 regret, so long as your evil will worked its 
 criminal desire ! The darkness and horror 
 came near and touched me ; I have died a 
 thousand deaths ; may you die them also, and 
 be accursed ! For such as you there should 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 301 
 
 be no pity, no help, no salvation here or here- 
 after. Can't you see the ugly things all round 
 you, the hideous monsters with dark faces and 
 sin-haunted eyes ? The black shadows push 
 me back ; I can't find my way. Is there no 
 one — no one to give me a hand ? " 
 
 The horrible throes of delirium had gripped 
 the swaying form ; the terrific development 
 of her hatred for the man she cursed held her 
 as in a vice, while she struggled with the last 
 expiring flicker of vitality. 
 
 Paley-Hyde went quickly to her. He 
 caught the hands feebly clutching at space, 
 and felt the inanimate head fall back heavily 
 upon his shoulder. 
 
 Sir Thomas stood ominously between 
 Major Chandoss and the door ; then a great 
 silence fell. 
 
 That pause, so brief in reality, so long to 
 the imagination, was broken at last by a step 
 outside. Someone entered noiselessly — a man 
 and a stranger, but that indefinable medical 
 manner which stamps the profession gave him 
 at once a passport to Pleasance Winnington's 
 couch. 
 
 Paley-Hyde stepped gladly back, his glance 
 fixing Major Chandoss, who stood with blood- 
 shot eyes, staring in bewilderment, dumb, 
 
302 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 dazed, unnerved, between his motionless 
 captors. 
 
 " Gentlemen," said the doctor, " you can 
 do nothing by remaining. Mrs. Winnington 
 is dead ! " 
 
303 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Be thou the rainbow to the storms of life, 
 The evening beam that smiles the clouds away 
 And tints to-morrow with prophetic ray. — Byron. 
 
 JocELYN anxiously awaited Tommy's return. 
 When at last he came he was alone, looking 
 very pale and troubled, but his face brightened 
 as he drew her to his arms. 
 
 She clung to him with tears in her bright 
 eyes, feeling the full force of the narrowly- 
 averted tragedy, which might have robbed her 
 of love and happiness for ever. 
 
 Very gently he told her how Pleasance 
 Winnington had died, cursing the man who 
 drove her to crime. 
 
 " It was a fearful end," he said, " has- 
 tened, I fear, by our plot to punish her. It 
 had an awful effect upon Chandoss. He 
 seemed almost out of his mind ; such a 
 cringing cur he looked, grovelling on his knees 
 at our feet. I can't forget the sight of him. 
 His one cry was, ' Let me go ! ' He implored 
 to be allowed to clear out of the country, 
 promising never to reappear in England ; and 
 
304 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 the whole thing had so sickened me, I felt it 
 was, after aU, the best and simplest sequel to 
 a hideous affair. Paley-Hyde agreed with me, 
 as we had no real proof, but Chandoss did not 
 know this." 
 
 " I think it will come as a relief to grand- 
 father," murmured Jocelyn, shuddering at 
 the recollection of a truly terrible day. " He 
 is not strong enough to endure excitement of 
 such a trying kind, and I dreaded what might 
 be in store. He seemed so very agitated, I 
 wanted to send for a doctor, but, you know, 
 he resents medical interference." 
 
 " Do you really think he is ill ? Perhaps 
 you had better not tell him Mrs. Winnington 
 is dead." 
 
 Tommy spoke with deep concern. He 
 knew how dear the Professor was to Jocelyn ; 
 he also felt most affectionately towards the 
 kind, brave nature which had saved him 
 from an untimely end, as it seemed, by a 
 miracle. 
 
 " I should never conceal anything from 
 grandfather ; he would know at once. His 
 extraordinary insight is certainly bewildering. 
 He must have discovered Mrs. Winnington' s 
 wickedness by supernatural means. I be- 
 lieve, if he told the secret of his power to any 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 305 
 
 living creature, it would be to Mr. Paley- 
 Hyde. Grandfather is deeply attached to 
 him, and felt so grateful for his help to-day. 
 I thought, when that wretched woman lay un- 
 conscious here, she was already dead, and 
 afterwards I discovered grandfather thought 
 the same. He told me he felt as if he had 
 already entered into the secrets of eternity, 
 having watched a soul come back from the 
 shadowy brink and seize its body. While you 
 were gone, I cancelled to-night's engagements, 
 and wrote Aunt Jack a long account of what 
 had happened. I knew it would please her 
 to hear Mr. Paley-Hyde happened to be with 
 us at such a dreadful time, for she always 
 seems interested in his doings. Do you 
 think " 
 
 Jocelyn paused, and looked up half-shyly. 
 
 " No, I don't think." 
 
 Tommy answered with a return of his in- 
 fectious smile. Even the horror of the last 
 few hours failed to rob him of that natural, 
 bright, spontaneous charm, and Jocelyn loved 
 him for smiling, since it lifted some of the care 
 from her harassed young heart. 
 
 " I wish," she said, " Aunt Jack could be 
 happy — I mean, happy in love. I fancy half 
 her cynicism is assumed ; she likes to deceive 
 u 
 
306 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, ANfl MAN. 
 
 the world, but to the one person who gains 
 her heart she will be different, and that one 
 person might possibly be Daniel Paley-Hyde." 
 
 " You are a dear little romancer ! " whis- 
 pered Tommy. " Your aunt has made fun of 
 him for years ; there is not the faintest chance 
 of her f alUng seriously in love . My mother once 
 prophesied the event, but time proved her a 
 false prophet. By the way, I shall make light 
 of what happened this afternoon to mother, 
 if I tell her at all. She only knew Mrs, 
 Winnington slightly, and the details are better 
 left unrepeated." 
 
 Jocelyn looked admiringly at her boyish 
 lover. How brave he was ! How little af- 
 fected by the danger which compassed him 
 about with deadly intent ! 
 
 She drew closer, and trembled at the bare 
 recollection. 
 
 " Yes," she said ; " don't let your mother 
 be haunted by the thought of the treachery, 
 the hatred, the scheming, which so nearly took 
 you from us. I should like her never to know. 
 I bound Aunt Jack to secrecy, and Mr. Paley- 
 Hyde is not likely to talk." 
 
 " No ; Paley-Hyde repeats nothing. There 
 is some advantage, after all, in knowing a 
 quiet, uncommunicative, almost dull man. He 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 307 
 
 comes out strong, your silent witness, in the 
 critical moments of life. ' He stands by a pal 
 in the storm, and creeps away when the sun 
 shines again. I never admired Paley-Hyde 
 until to-day ; now I know he is the best fellow 
 going. Unexpected circumstances are the 
 surest means of revealing character." 
 
3o8 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 And Thought leapt out to wed with Thought 
 Ere Thought could wed itself with Speech. 
 
 — Tennyson. 
 
 The Gervalles created their own atmosphere ; 
 they were a wonderful family, J acobina, once 
 a Gervallej of the same clay and the same blue 
 blood, could look upon stirring events and 
 fateful issues with the calmness of patrician 
 equanimity. 
 
 Mrs. Winnington, sheltered by the si- 
 lencing influence of the grave, and Major 
 Chandoss departed for ever from the Gervalle's 
 environment — seemed wiped out as com- 
 pletely as if they had never existed. 
 
 The Professor seldom spoke of the strain 
 and excitement, which occasioned a sudden 
 breaking up of his health and strength. 
 
 He begged Jocelyn to go out just the same, 
 since her aunt and Lady Ludlow proved 
 willing chaperons. He only asked to be ex- 
 cused himself from the fatigues of society. 
 
 In his private room he received many 
 visitors — men of note, who had grown 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 309 
 
 Strangely attached to him ; but all interviews 
 were necessarily short, since he suffered from 
 frequent attacks of overwhelming weakness. 
 
 Often when he pictured Jocelyn attending 
 gay festivities, she had remained in an 
 adjoining room too anxious to leave the 
 house. 
 
 He always discovered her actions when she 
 reappeared with nothing to tell of outside 
 doings ; but her motives pleased and touched 
 him, though he still begged she would dismiss 
 his indisposition from her mind. 
 
 Paley-Hyde was often at the Professor's 
 bedside, either discussing pohtics, or the intri- 
 cate study of the beliefs, practices, and organi- 
 sations of men with reference to a supposed 
 world of spirits. 
 
 Professor Gervalle still retained the re- 
 ticence he had previously manifested, merely 
 whetting Daniel's appetite with vague sug- 
 gestions, clever theories, and enlightening 
 thoughts upon that branch of philosophy 
 treating of the nature and operations of mind 
 or spirit. 
 
 He mentioned various terms which had 
 been suggested to embrace this great subject, 
 such as " daimonology," " spiritology," " com- 
 parative mythology." 
 
310 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 " The expressions ' psychology ' and ' pneu- 
 naatology/ or ' pneumatic/ are not equivalent. 
 The latter word was used for the doctrine of 
 spirit in general, which was sub-divided into 
 three branches, as it treated of three orders 
 of spiritual substances — God, angels, and 
 devils. I am quoting from Sir William 
 Hamilton's famous treatise on metaphysics." 
 
 Paley-Hyde watched the white figure on 
 the bed curiously, with eyes that were soft with 
 a real, almost devout affection. He felt, when 
 the final hour drew near for this wan, shrunken 
 frame to give up the ghost, it would be a 
 weary and time-worn ghost, that always knew 
 it had inhabited a phantom rather than a 
 man. 
 
 " I am constantly hoping," said Daniel — 
 and his voice sounded strikingly intense — 
 " that we are on the verge of a great revela- 
 tion of the unseen world — a confirmation of 
 the highest hopes of mankind. I wait, with- 
 out despairing, for some testimony which the 
 most sceptical can admit to be cogent in favour 
 of immortality. My own belief that the end 
 of human existence is only a transition to 
 another state of being, in which aU that goes 
 to make up what we call personality, still lives 
 on, meets but too often with the agnostic 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN, 311 
 
 suspense of judgment. ' Extra-normal ' 
 events tax the carnal mind to so great an 
 extent that they are crushed by scoffers, even 
 when fulfilling all the conditions which would 
 induce a scientific investigator to accept them, 
 if relating to chemistry or electricity." 
 
 The Professor bowed an assenting head, 
 and his hoUow eyes, bright even in his weak- 
 ness, had something of sympathy in their 
 depths, the expression which might steal to 
 the face of a father who hears his young 
 child's unsophisticated remarks. 
 
 Paley-Hyde, like many of his sex, seldom 
 spoke of what lay nearest his heart. Only to 
 Professor Gervalle could he talk without re- 
 serve, lured into unconsciousness of self by 
 the supreme sympathy, and unfailing tact of 
 this spiritual man. 
 
 It was not easy to bring intimate feelings 
 or religious theories to the light of common 
 day. 
 
 Professor Gervalle had his own bed re- 
 moved from Heale Prior when first he mi- 
 grated to Grosvenor Square, and the quaint 
 article of furniture made a fitting frame to his 
 ethereal form. An old-fashioned, elaborately- 
 carved " four-poster," looking like some relic 
 from the state galleries at Hampton Court 
 
312 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN; 
 
 Palace. The faded brocade of the hangings, 
 the hearse-like plumes crowning the pillars, 
 all suggested old-world fantasies, and to 
 Jocelyn brought ever the vision of cold, placid 
 grandmamma wrapt in her last long sleep, 
 since Ehzabeth informed her it was the bed 
 upon which Mrs. GervaUe had died. 
 
 On a table by the time-mellowed curtains, 
 a portrait of Jocelyn in her Court dress, and 
 a very worn Bible, were the only ornaments — 
 the Bible of priceless value from an historical 
 collection. 
 
 Professor GervaUe laid his hand on the 
 cover as he answered Paley-Hyde. 
 
 " The pneumatology of Ephesians resem- 
 bles that of St. John," he said, " as the chris- 
 tology of Colossians resembles the christology 
 of St. John. Reason is that Homeric and 
 golden chain descending from the throne of 
 God even unto man, uniting heaven with 
 earth, and earth with heaven. But the dis- 
 tance between the created and the Creator 
 must be for ever an impassable gulf, unsur- 
 mountable, infinite, whUe time is the most 
 indefinable yet paradoxical of things. Finite 
 beings cannot clearly comprehend space with- 
 out a limit, or time without an end ; yet 
 minute examination into our minds might 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 313 
 
 show that time which has an end, and space 
 which has a hmit, is of the two much more 
 incomprehensible. Time has been called ' the 
 most subtle, yet the most insatiable, of depre- 
 dators,' and by appearing to take nothing, is 
 permitted to take all ; nor can it be satisfied 
 until it has stolen the world from us, and us 
 from the world." 
 
 His voice trembled, and the transparent 
 eyelids flickered. 
 
 " And us from the world," he murmured 
 again, with just the softest suspicion of a 
 regretful sigh, which seemed to acknowledge 
 the approach of the end — for him, at least. 
 
 Paley-Hyde felt his heart-strings tighten ; 
 he could not speak, but his mind cried in- 
 wardly, " Not yet, not yet ! " 
 
 So little told ; aU mystery still ; a precious 
 friendship, but no unbending, no raising of the 
 veil. 
 
 Would he never speak — this white-lipped 
 yet beauteous old man, with eyes of fire, 
 glowing in a mask-like countenance, all soul 
 triumphant over matter — never speak of the 
 mysterious science which bound him to Heale 
 Prior, of that sudden awakening bringing the 
 hermit in failing health face to face with the 
 storm, the stress, the glare of modern life ? 
 
314 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 The cry of thought shook Paley-Hyde with 
 a deep, overwhelming emotion. 
 
 No mere curiosity this, but a burning 
 desire for knowledge which would pass into 
 the unknown with the final closing of those 
 purple lids, the last sad folding of the frail, 
 wasted hands. 
 
 Professor Gervalle stirred ; he removed 
 his ear trumpet from the pillow, and laid it 
 before him on the crimson satin coverlet. How 
 white the crimson made his fingers ! What 
 splendour it caught from the afternoon sun ! 
 
 " My friend," he said, and his face looked 
 exaltedly kind, " why do you want to intrude 
 into things not seen ? " 
 
 Paley-Hyde knew the words answered his 
 thoughts ; for a moment he appeared con- 
 fused. 
 
 The Professor went on quickly, without 
 waiting for a reply. 
 
 " I know," he murmured, " how eagerly 
 you hope I may take you into my confidence. 
 I have long thought that before I die I should 
 like to tell you alone, of all my friends, the 
 nature of my discovery. I know you are to 
 be trusted. How I know, you will realise 
 presently." 
 
 His listener thrilled with a sudden shock 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 315 
 
 of hope unexpectedly fulfilled. He spoke 
 hurried words that only partially expressed 
 his feelings — words of gratitude and tremulous 
 excitement, rare in such an unemotional man. 
 
 Then he waited in breathless silence for the 
 Professor's story. 
 
 "At an early age," said the clear, mag- 
 netic voice, " my mind was attracted to the 
 engrossing subject of pneumatology. In my 
 analogical reasonings of the physiological and 
 intellectual branches of human nature, I found 
 its philosophy continual^ disclosing views of 
 the ' World of Mind.' I devoted many years 
 vainly endeavouring to intrude into the realm 
 of spirits, emboldened by St. Paul's argument 
 of the Resurrection, in which he asserts that 
 spirits have a body, declaring there is a 
 spiritual body as well as a natural body, and 
 therefore the dissolution of the animal struc- 
 ture leaves the life untouched. I brought all 
 the known resources of science to bear upon 
 communication with this life through its 
 second body without avail ! " 
 
 A sharp, quivering sigh escaped Daniel. 
 
 " Without avail," he whispered, and his 
 tone held the saddest of all questions — 
 "Failure ?" i 
 
 The Professor passed his hand over his 
 
3i6 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN; 
 
 forehead. He hardly appeared to catch the 
 startled ejaculation, but spoke forcibly, in 
 slow, measured accents. 
 
 " Despairing of success, but feeling con- 
 vinced that neither the animal body nor the 
 spiritual body are life itself, or the cause of 
 life, but only the instruments of the mind, I 
 determined to devote myself to attempting 
 communication between mind and mind with- 
 out the intervention of that third essence, or 
 middle nature, the body, that necessary 
 means of bringing mind into relationship with 
 space." 
 
 He fingered the odd instrument supposed 
 to assist his hearing, and gazed lovingly upon 
 it. The opening of confidence had brought a 
 flood of sunlight io his soul. Paley-Hyde 
 made no further interruption ; he was too 
 riveted, he hardly seemed to breathe. 
 
 " Mind, though an unknown element, is 
 brought into conscious connection with matter, 
 rendering it sensible of Ught, colour, heat, 
 sound, taste, smell, solidity, motion, and all 
 their variations of intensity. The five senses, 
 limiting the percipient faculty to the kinds of 
 sensation which the mind was capable of 
 admitting, were surely capable of increase. 
 On the basis that intellectual process must be 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 317 
 
 carried on concurrently with evolution of the 
 cerebral organs, and that the mind cannot act 
 but by the body's aid, I set myself the task of 
 discovering an element capable of receiving 
 the brain vibrations, and transferring them to 
 another brain. A lifetime has been spent on 
 this research, and success has come — too 
 late ! " 
 
 A pathetic break in the Professor's voice 
 alone betrayed how keenly he felt the words. 
 
 Otherwise he showed no sign of suffering ; 
 the spirit of courage was strong in him still. 
 
 " How often," he continued, " have I 
 wished that my mental operations had been 
 effected by the involuntary functions of my 
 body, which, without any fatigue, and with 
 constant regularity, perform arduous duties of 
 circulation and digestion. A small change 
 might perhaps effect this important enhance- 
 ment of our own mental economy. Imagine 
 the vast results ! The mind, free from the 
 chain of the brain, which quickly tires, would 
 work unsparingly day and night. The result 
 on the economy of the world is doubtful. I 
 believe the good would be much better than 
 at present, and the bad far worse, which is 
 probably the reason we are as we are. If one 
 such man were created with ordinary endow- 
 
3i8 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 ments, he would, in the first years of manhood, 
 be master of all sciences. Such a one might 
 even discover the means of communicating 
 with the vibration of sounds from another 
 world, hear the harmonies break upon his soul, 
 reaching far beyond the boundary of our 
 sensitive existence. But alas ! the present 
 construction of the universe is plainly marked 
 with the intention to prohibit intercourse, even 
 in this world. The principle of insulation 
 must, however, give way to communion here, 
 and is doing so rapidly. Science is de- 
 voting all energy to accomplish this end. 
 Steam and electricity are followed by the dis- 
 covery of the filings^tube ' coherer ' for uti- 
 lising Hertzian waves. This " (pointing to 
 the queerly shaped ear-trumpet which lay be- 
 tween his hands) " is my ' receiver,' but you 
 would no more understand the vibrations it 
 transmits than I could read, without long 
 study, an unknown language. If I revealed 
 my discovery of the method of reading the 
 mind and opening the heart of man to his fel- 
 low, should I not stop the march of the world ? 
 Such secrets — God knows — are better in His 
 Almighty hands ! The temptation grips me 
 fast, makes sport of me at times, holding 
 before my eyes a laurel wreath of fame that 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 319 
 
 would blossom through all ages, and transform 
 posterity ! I've fought the temptation day 
 and night, night and day — fought it with fear, 
 with bitter dread, for the demon Ambition 
 made a grand imposing foe. Look at me — a 
 poor, weak, old man — and yet " (with the 
 flicker of a cynical smile) " there's bone and 
 muscle enough left to lay a demon low — 
 mental muscle and moral fibre, thank God ! 
 to strengthen the weary pilgrim in the grey 
 evening of his age ! " 
 
320 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 I am forbid to tell the secrets of my prison-house. 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 When Paley-Hyde left the Professor there was 
 that which the world had never seen before on 
 the dry countenance of this self-contained 
 man. His eyes held unfathomable thoughts, 
 eyes made soft by some mystic charm ; his 
 face glowed as if touched by sunset rays. 
 
 Storms of passion had passed over him 
 since his entry to the quiet room where Pro- 
 fessor Gervalle's frail figure lay beneath the 
 rich crimson coverlet, a form ethereal in its 
 white spirituality. 
 
 The old brocade draping the great four- 
 posted bed made a suitable canopy over and 
 around that weak yet radiant personality, and 
 the soothing picture remained clearly before 
 the mind's vision long after Paley-Hyde had 
 returned to his busy outside life. 
 
 It was some time before he actually grasped 
 the startling outlines even of Professor Ger- 
 valle's story. 
 
 For awhile he stumbled towards a clear 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 321 
 
 understandingj like a blind man dazed by the 
 sudden return of sight, and in his wondering 
 amazement the Professor held out a supporting 
 hand, guiding him gently, a smile on his wan 
 white lips. 
 
 By degrees the facts one by one came to be 
 explained. In discovering scientifically how 
 to read the thoughts of the human mind, the 
 Professor had involuntarily won for himself 
 the reputation of invoking supernatural^ aid, 
 whereas, in reality, there was nothing ghostly 
 about him. 
 
 It all appeared now in a new light ; the 
 encouraged intervals of silence when this man 
 of genius, with his marvellous instrument, 
 eagerly read the workings of a fellow-creature's 
 brain ; his discovery of the plot against Sir 
 Thomas, gleaned from Mrs. Winnington's 
 musings, and its origin of love, jealousy, and 
 gold, which the Professor had subsequently 
 explained to his bewildered grandchild. 
 
 Now Paley-Hyde could fully appreciate 
 the sudden, keen delight shown by the hermit 
 for society, and his desire to mix with numer- 
 ous minds, in order to practise and prove the 
 efficiency of his hardly-earned triumph. 
 
 Pneumatology, by the Professor's own 
 confession, failed to reveal any satisfactory 
 
322 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 
 
 results^ but in concealing his real discovery, 
 he had used the physical theory of spiritual 
 corporeity gladly enough as a shield, a means 
 of putting people off the scent. 
 
 His fixed determination to die in possession 
 of his great secret staggered Paley-Hyde. To 
 hold back a revelation affecting all future ages, 
 needed an iron will and strength of purpose 
 which surpassed belief. 
 
 The motives actuating such a resolve held 
 weight and reason. Paley-Hyde, suddenly 
 taking the side of the tempter, argued without 
 result. 
 
 The Professor had battled with all that 
 was human in his aloof, exalted nature, and 
 having made the final decision, no word of 
 man could influence his judgment, or sway his 
 decision founded upon conviction. 
 
 But Paley-Hyde (of necessity upon a lower 
 scale, through lifelong contact with the world) 
 fiercely resented the Professor's choice. 
 
 Silence was more than he could bear with 
 resignation, and so the cry. had arisen : " If 
 not to the world, then to me — to me — at 
 least ! " Any vow Professor Gervalle de- 
 manded he was prepared to take, and swear 
 himself to secrecy, might this vast power only 
 be given into his hands. 
 
A'NGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN^ 323 
 
 " Not to the world ! Not to the world ! " 
 The words poured forth in a volume of intense, 
 almost frantic, petition. " Only trust me with 
 this Godlike force, and I will guard it sacredly 
 till my dying day. May my soul lose eternity 
 if I break my oath, if I abuse your confidence ! " 
 
 Strong man as he was, he shook like a reed, 
 and the Professor, interpreting the exact 
 workings of his fevered mind, knew precisely 
 how best to treat the vehement outburst. 
 
 With magnetic sympathy he soothed the 
 disappointment which a blank refusal brought, 
 calmed the storm, pacified the tumult, speak- 
 ing words of unanswerable wisdom, which 
 hardly seemed to come from human lips. 
 
 It was rather as if some spirit overpowered 
 the material composition, illuminating a 
 human frame with temporary divinity. 
 
 Could Lady Livingstone have seen the 
 trembling figure kneeling by the bed, her long- 
 delayed desire for the' awakening of emotion 
 in Daniel Paley-Hyde would have feasted on 
 a very pronounced fulfilment. 
 
 Strange to say that even then, the Pro- 
 fessor had not exhausted his revelations. 
 
 "I will tell you at least a truth that may 
 or may not affect your future," he murmured. 
 " Deep down in her soul J acobina Livingstone 
 
324 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 
 
 loves you as few men are loved. The best 
 of her is yours for always, the highest, 
 purest, most spiritual attributes of what 
 appears an evanescent shallow nature have 
 long since been given into your unconscious 
 keeping. - For both your sakes I tell you this, 
 though she must never know I spoke. Use 
 the information as you will, I give it with 
 complete confidence in your honour as a 
 gentleman." 
 
 Paley-Hyde, for this same reason, went 
 forth with glowing face and softened eyes, 
 dispersing around him the atmosphere of early 
 spring gladness, and April sunshine, after a 
 tearing hurricane of March wind fury. 
 
325 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. ,. 
 
 To know, to esteem, to love. — Coleridge. 
 
 Great was Lady Livingstone's surprise on 
 receiving the following note from Daniel : — 
 
 " My dear Friend, — Some day when you 
 are driving alone, send word to me. — Yours, 
 in all sincerity, " D. P. H." 
 
 She answered as briefly : — 
 
 "Some day will be this afternoon at 5.30." 
 
 As Lady Livingstone's piebalds turned 
 into the Park, she could hardly realise Daniel 
 was again seated at her side. 
 
 She remembered painfully his martyred 
 expression when last summer she forced her 
 company upon him, partly in jest, partly in 
 earnest. Now, for the first time since that 
 fateful day, Jacobina and Paley-Hyde again 
 appeared in public together. 
 
 He no longer seemed to her " the severe 
 sour-complexioned man" whose cynicism 
 sharpened her wit, making her recklessly 
 ironical. 
 
326 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 There was something new in his tone and 
 manner. Once more she traced the elevating 
 influence of Professor Gervalle. Had not 
 these two men been together yesterday, 
 alone ? 
 
 They talked of Jocelyn and Sir Thomas, 
 touching lightly on the happiness of love. 
 
 " Tommy so worships her," said Lady 
 Livingstone smilingly. " I believe he would 
 let any thousand women burn, sooner than a 
 finger of Jocelyn's should be singed. Nothing 
 is too good for the loved one. Such is youth ! 
 He used to rush as thoughtlessly into his little 
 flirtations as a fly into spiders' nets ; but he 
 found good nature a profitable investment, 
 and so the spiders never resented his fluttering 
 escape. You see, he seldom went further than 
 the very edge of the web ! " 
 
 " I wonder," said Paley-Hyde, " if good 
 nature is really profitable or rather over- 
 rated ? " 
 
 Jacobina considered a moment. To-day 
 she was giving her deepest attention to the 
 smallest matters, her eyes never strayed once 
 across the gay crowd. 
 
 Her old humour, however, bubbled spon- 
 taneously to the surface, as she replied : 
 
 " Even a readiness to help a stout friend 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 327 
 
 on with his overcoat, or give him theatre 
 tickets you cannot use, may procure not only 
 a name for good nature, but occasionally sub- 
 stantial returns. Good nature, I find, can be 
 practised with the least possible amount of 
 personal inconvenience, and is the greatest 
 imposition on the face of the earth ! I called 
 on Lady Ludlow yesterday ; she gave me tea, 
 good advice, and sisterly scoldings. She has 
 the peculiar faculty of making every human 
 object with whom she comes into domestic 
 contact part and parcel of herself. She talked 
 again of the late Sir Thomas. How she 
 adored him ! The love of women is more 
 intense than that of men, simply because it is 
 narrower in its range." 
 
 " I wonder," he said, " when Tommy is 
 married, if she will be tempted to console 
 herself." 
 
 " Never. Elderly as she is, she fascinated 
 a millionaire only the other day, and gave me 
 a most amusing description of the banished 
 suitor. One can dine nowhere without meeting 
 his prototype. A man enormously rich, yet 
 birth, instinct, taste, everything about him 
 would render him happier in the butler's 
 pantry ; but by some misfortune he has 
 bought endless patent saucepans at 5s. 4d. 
 
328 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 each, and found people willing to take them 
 off his hands at 8s. 3d., and here he is ! Thei'e 
 seems nothing for it but to smile and endure." 
 
 Paley-Hyde listened, as she rattled on, 
 with an expression of contentment. He saw 
 now only too plainly that her quick talk con- 
 cealed the deeper moods, that were not revealed 
 unsought. He felt glad it should be so. 
 
 " Usually," he replied, " people of limited 
 income are the most generous, yet money 
 always gives influence. Positively, in the 
 mythological ages, a sinner could not even get 
 to hell without feeing the boatman." 
 
 Jacobina sighed. She thought* suddenly 
 of Major Chandoss, of the debt she had once 
 owed him, and of Mrs. Winnington's passion 
 for money, which lowered her to the very 
 depths of degradation and despair. 
 
 " Straitened circumstances are terrible," 
 acknowledged Lady Livingstone, with eyes 
 downcast ; " that abominable ' splendid 
 misery ' which consists in keeping up great 
 appearances with small means. To some 
 families utter ruin would be a great boon, since 
 anyone able to do a good day's work for a 
 good day's pay can laugh at ruin as a joke. 
 Most people, in our set at least, look upon 
 society simply as a market, and those who do 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN; 329 
 
 not vend their wares at the highest possible 
 price are considered nothing but fools. I 
 sometimes long to get quite away out of my 
 accustomed environment. There are mo- 
 ments when I see the Professor lying so calmly, 
 so serenely, on that dignified old oak bed, I 
 find it in my heart to envy him, to wish he 
 could simply take me by the hand and lead 
 me where he is going." 
 
 All the playful insouciance had departed 
 from Lady Livingstone's expressive face ; at 
 the very mention of the Professor she seemed 
 to detach herself from present surroundings. 
 Paley-Hyde let his hand close over hers be- 
 neath the light dust rug. 
 
 " No, no," he said, under his breath, as if 
 the words hurt him. 
 
 She stole a glance in his direction, and a 
 speck of colour shone in her cheeks, which a 
 moment ago were strangely white. 
 
 " Why not ? " she whispered, and added 
 in her thoughts : "It could not matter to 
 you." 
 
 " I was picturing," he replied, making no 
 excuse for retaining her hand, " the terrible 
 rapidity with which the narrow stream of life 
 rushes towards the broad ocean of eternity. 
 Don't wish to hasten the current, while you 
 
 V* 
 
330 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 can be of use to those who are trying to 
 
 swim." 
 
 " I am of no use to anyone," answered 
 Jacobina quickly, a passionate note in her 
 \oice — the low, beautiful voice, like music, 
 which Paley-Hyde had never trusted before, 
 " Jocelyn has her lover, and the rest of the 
 world matters little when the Professor goes. 
 The old order of things is changing. I am not 
 satisfied with an empty life. He has made me 
 look for something better, something I may 
 never find." 
 
 So strong at that moment was the Pro- 
 fessor's influence over both their lives that the 
 vague, shadowy figure seemed near them in 
 the carriage — an indefinable presence, a con- 
 troller of destiny. 
 
 " You could be of use to me," said Daniel, 
 " if you cared." 
 
 He crushed her fingers now with a certain 
 violence, his face worked with undisguised 
 emotion. She leant back faintly, for a few 
 brief seconds her eyes grew dim. 
 
 Then she became suddenly aware that the 
 man at her side was a tall, imposing personage, 
 with a dignity of manner alien to him, and a 
 glow of tenderness that mingled quaintly with 
 the dignity. He carried his head high, thrown 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 331 
 
 slightly backwards as though tired of bending 
 under dull care, he had taken to rearing. In 
 a glad mad moment he had given the pent-up 
 torrent of love free course. 
 
 All through her life Jacobina contrived to 
 do, as far as possible, the right thing at the 
 right time,, neither saying what she ought not 
 to say, or leaving unsaid what she otight to 
 have voiced. 
 
 Hitherto her love had resembled a mirage 
 mocking the thirsty wayfarer, for even the 
 late Lord Livingstone received at her hands 
 duty rather than affection. 
 
 To Paley-Hyde she was ready to offer 
 great gifts, the deep stirring love of the soul 
 which had never been frittered. 
 
 All the surface sparkle which, like quick- 
 silver, darted hither and thither, served well 
 enough to satisfy the gaping crowd, but to him 
 alone the sacred portals opened, the secret 
 doors unfolded. 
 
 The passing carriages, the moving form^ 
 under the shade of dust-laden trees, all ap- 
 peared phantom-iike in that dream of realisa- 
 tion. 
 
 " If she cared ! Could she in a thousand 
 years teU one half of all her full heart held ? " 
 
 Her cynical maxims and morals flew to the 
 
332 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 four winds. Some wiseacre had said, " If you 
 care for a man never let him see it. A worm 
 turns if you tread upon it, but the worm would 
 like to tread upon you and see you turn if it 
 could, and then laugh at you for turning in 
 your helplessness ! " 
 
 What did anything matter ? She had 
 kept the curtains drawn too long, now she 
 would open them and let in the air. Strange 
 how emotion attacks different natures. A 
 wife may be a delightful friend if nothing 
 more ; but she, Jacobina Livingstone, would 
 be so much more, the very " most " of all the 
 world could give. 
 
333 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Would you be young again, so would not I ; 
 
 One tear to memory given, onward I'd hie. 
 
 Life's dark flood forded over, all but at rest on shore, 
 
 Say — would you plunge once more, with Home so nigh ? 
 
 When Professor Gervalle showed Jocelyn a 
 letter from her aunt teUing the good news, the 
 girl expressed great satisfaction. 
 
 From the first she had liked Mr. Paley- 
 Hyde, and a fellow feeling made her young 
 heart swell with sympathy as she read Jaco- 
 bina's ecstatic praise of the man she was going 
 to marry. 
 
 Weak as the Professor was, he wrote a 
 separate letter to each, but the effort caused 
 him great fatigue, and afterwards he con- 
 sented to see a doctor. 
 
 One of the leading lights of the medical 
 profession came as a forerunner of death, 
 quietly, unobtrusively into that solemn room. 
 
 He spoke cheerful words to Professor Ger- 
 valle, and encouraged him to think he would 
 shortly recover. 
 
 " I was afraid to tell your grandfather the 
 
334 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 truth," this great man acknowledged to 
 J ocelyn privately . ' ' When people are so very 
 old and weak it is dangerous to alarm them, 
 but he can only last a little while." 
 
 Tears rushed unbidden to the pathetic 
 violet eyes, and Jocelyn's heart stood stiU as 
 the fatal words fell upon her ear. 
 
 The ground seemed slipping away from 
 under her feet, yet she had long known the 
 end was approaching. 
 
 " Death is not terrible to him," she fal- 
 tered ; "he would not have been afraid. He 
 says it is not more than the Ufting of a latch. 
 He calls it only ' a step into the open air.' " 
 
 The great man went away puzzled. The 
 mysterious house in Grosvenor Square made 
 a certain impression on his mind, despite the 
 multitude of business crowding his day. 
 
 He could not forget the expression of his 
 patient's piercing eyes when the word " re- 
 covery " had been spoken glibly by lips which 
 knew they lied. The quaint instrument on 
 the pillow against which the Professor laid his 
 ear looked singularly unlike the usual aid to 
 hearing adopted by deaf people. 
 
 Also, Elizabeth's face as she stood at the 
 foot of the bed proved a study in itself. 
 Seldom before had the celebrated doctor seen 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 335 
 
 SO fine an exhibition of scorn as that worthy 
 old servant manifested at the mention of a 
 trained nurse, a suggestion quickly vetoed by 
 Professor Gervalle. 
 
 The stranger carried with him for the rest 
 of the day a vivid sense of uneasiness at his 
 lack of candour. How many a Ufe he had 
 seen take fearfully and tremulously that " step 
 into the open air " ! 
 
 Few. dying men wore such radiancy of ap- 
 proaching light, the smile as of eternal joy, 
 when dismaying struggles cease, and storms 
 of passion faint into deathless slumber. Surely 
 the httle thread of hfe remaining caught 
 already distant symphonies, and saw azure 
 heavens ! An exile hearing the call home, the 
 gradual breaking of a slender chain, the glad 
 reflection dawning on all that Ues beyond. 
 
 When Jocelyn returned to her grand- 
 father, he noted her agitation, and took her 
 hand. 
 
 " Don't fret, little one," he said. " It is 
 the will of God." 
 
 She saw at once he knew the worst, and 
 marvelled afresh at his intuition, hanging 
 breathlessly upon his every word. 
 
 " The doctor communicated to me involun- 
 tarily that I have not long to live. It may 
 
336 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN; 
 
 be a few days or a few hours. I want to be 
 left quite alone for a short time. Presently I 
 am going to try and get up. Don't look so 
 startled, my child. I have a little time left, 
 and I wish to use it. Please write or telegraph 
 immediately to Paley-Hyde and Jacobina, 
 asking them to dine with us to-night ; also 
 send for Tommy. We shall have a little 
 family dinner in the room adjoining this, quiet 
 but not sad. I only want to see smiling faces 
 round me, the faces of four lovers." 
 
 Jocelyn obeyed as she always did, and for 
 more than an hour the Professor was left in 
 solitude. 
 
 When evening came he walked, supported 
 on either side by Jocelyn and Elizabeth, to 
 the room where a dainty dinner-table for five 
 had been improvised. His hands were empty, 
 and he appeared to hear without the smallest 
 effort. 
 
 Jocelyn looked especially young and tender 
 in the simplest white teagown, while the 
 table bore a profusion of exquisite pink 
 roses, long-stemmed, brown-thorned, russet- 
 leaved. 
 
 Jacobina and Daniel arrived together, and 
 while the former uncloaked in Jocelyn's room, 
 Paley-Hyde went unannounced to the cool. 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN: 337 
 
 fragrant compartment of roses and shaded 
 lights. 
 
 There, to his surprise, he found the Pro- 
 fessor faultlessly attired in evening dress, 
 seated near the open window. Only the fact 
 that he tried to rise and sank back quickly 
 portrayed the intense weakness he suffered. 
 
 " You see, I am up again," he said with a 
 smile. 
 
 His visitor looked quickly inquiringly for 
 something he saw not, and the Professor quite 
 naturally interpreted the look. 
 
 " Destroyed," he said simply, waving 
 Daniel to a chair with a flourish of skeleton- 
 like fingers. 
 
 " Destroyed ! " 
 
 The word broke in almost a wail from the 
 listening man. 
 
 " Yes. I was left alone this afternoon, and 
 not without regret I bade good-bye to what 
 seemed like a friend. You will never see again 
 the poor old ear-trumpet, the joy, the pride, 
 the very life of a poor old man. It was a hard 
 wrench, that parting, but I dared not let it 
 live after me, for to advanced scientists it 
 would have held the key of my life's discovery. 
 The secret and I die together. You see, I put 
 the secret first." 
 
338 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN-. 
 
 A flash of humour in his eyes made the 
 words less redolent of tragedy, yet Paley-Hyde 
 sat as if stunned by an overwhelming mis- 
 fortune. 
 
 He had hoped on, still clinging to the 
 thought that possibly, before the end, Pro- 
 fessor Gervalle would relent and leave him the 
 legacy of a final revelation. Now the desire 
 sank into shattered oblivion, the final blow 
 had fallen ! 
 
 " Be of good courage, my friend," said the 
 kindly voice. " These matters, which seemed 
 so great to me in the past, pale now before the 
 prospect of a vast field where the soul shall 
 soar secure from earthly burdens, and your 
 turn will come. Wait but a little longer time 
 enough for the thoiights of all hearts to be 
 disclosed — time enough, my dear Daniel." 
 
 He called him Daniel for the first time, in 
 recognition of his claim upon the family. 
 
 Paley-Hyde struggled to free himself from 
 a crushed sensation. 
 
 " That you should tell me to ' be of good 
 coiirage ' at such a time ! " he muttered, as he 
 gazed admiringly oil the dying face, and red- 
 dened for very shame at his own weakness. 
 
 " Ah ! " came the swift reply, " it is easier 
 to face death than disappointment. I have 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 339 
 
 known sorrow like yours, time after time, 
 throughout my eighty years. Success came 
 to me only after a Ufe of perpetual disappoint- 
 ment, fraught continuously with wretchedness 
 and pain. Remember when I am gone, if you 
 think of me sometimes, that 
 
 ' Nothing is dead — but that which wished to die ; 
 Nothing is dead — but what, encumber'd, gall'd, 
 Block'd up the pass, and barr'd from real life.' '-'■ 
 
 He quoted in faint, far-away accents, with 
 folded hands and half-closed eyes. 
 
 The sound of swishing skirts brought Lady 
 Livingstone to his side. She glanced with 
 looks of love from Daniel to her aged relative. 
 
 Then she knelt at the Professor's knee, and 
 kissed him tenderly. 
 
 He was well accustomed now. to Jocelyn's 
 soft caresses, and Jacobina's unusual action 
 brought not the faintest flush of surprise to 
 the marble face ; only his glance brightened 
 as he stroked her hair. 
 
 Behind him stood Jocelyn with Tommy, 
 who had been in and out all day. They 
 watched with fast-beating pulses and hearts 
 too full tor speech. 
 
 The short light meal was a strange one to 
 remember. 
 
340 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN, 
 
 Silent-footed servants stole in and out, 
 seemingly fearful lest the slightest sound 
 should jar on their beloved master. 
 
 Conversation never flagged, and low, rip- 
 pling laughter, terribly akin to tears, greeted 
 many a cheerful jest from the white lips of 
 their spectral host. 
 
 Jocel5m and Jacobina remained, contrary 
 to custom, long after dessert j they felt they 
 could not leave him. 
 
 In that quiet confidential hour, when the 
 servants had gone, and the small family party 
 sat undisturbed, the weak but clear voice 
 spoke of serious matters. 
 
 He told them how, after bequeathing 
 various legacies to servants and charities, he 
 had divided his fortune between Jocelyn and 
 Jacobina. He asked that the latter should 
 see Jocelyn married from her house before she 
 took upon herself fresh ties, charging the 
 young people to banish conventional ideas of 
 mourning, and not delay their wedding on his 
 account. 
 
 " The worst errors we commit," he said, 
 " we are led into by force of fashion, such as 
 representing grief for the loss of our dead by 
 delaying what makes for happiness. God has 
 been generous in giving you love. Do not let 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 341 
 
 those holy fires burn apart because a long life 
 has been called to rest. I shall have sailed 
 so wiUingly to shore, tired, weather-beaten, 
 but content, and especially blessed in the 
 knowledge that those dear to me are not 
 left alone." 
 
 Jacobina drew Jocelyn protectingly under 
 her wing, linking a loving arm round the slim, 
 trembling figure in its soft white gown. 
 
 Her promise was given without faltering, 
 though she never quite knew how she pre- 
 vented herself bursting into tears. She dared 
 not look at Daniel, but Jocelyn kept her eyes 
 fixed steadfastly on Tommy, as if the subdued, 
 bo3dsh face gave her courage. 
 
 The Professor soon dismissed his guests, 
 for his voice grew very faint. 
 
 He held each separately by the hand a long 
 time in silence, riveting their features on his 
 mind, as if he might carry the image of earthly 
 friends through the deep waters that were so 
 soon to flow over his soul. 
 
 Already his spirit seemed in fancy soaring 
 from earth. 
 
 They went quietly away, walking in silent 
 reverence as worshippers from a shrine, leaving 
 Jocelyn at his side, hke a guardian angel, with 
 drenched violet eyes. 
 
342 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 Tommy, the last to leave, looked back as 
 he closed the door. The sight of her standing 
 there alone by the silent figure in the great 
 chair haunted him throughout the night. 
 
 " Bend down," whispered the Professor. 
 
 She sUpped to the floor in a half-sitting 
 posture, and leaned her head against his arm. 
 
 He moved his weak hand once or twice, 
 then let it faU nervelessly to his side. 
 
 " What were you trying to do ? " she 
 asked in a choked voice. 
 
 " I wanted to dry your eyes," he mur- 
 mured, with a sad smile. 
 
 She dashed away her tears. 
 
 " I am not crying, grandfather." 
 
 " Stay here by me for a little," he faltered. 
 " I am too tired to move, and it is not yet ten 
 o'clock." 
 
 She remained passive, her soft hair brush- 
 ing his. sleeve. 
 
 " You have been so much to me, Jocelyn," 
 he continued, and the words came with 
 difficulty. 
 
 She made no answer, only her fingers 
 stroked his wrist. 
 
 She felt there must be three forms peopling 
 that quiet room. The third had curly hair 
 and a quaint, old-fashiqned dress. She won- 
 
ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN-. 343 
 
 dered if grandmamma grudged her a share of 
 his love. 
 
 " Have I ? " she answered at length. She 
 longed to say in return all he had been to her, 
 but it was so difficult to speak with that 
 choking sensation in her throat, and she felt 
 he must know with his keen, unfailing in- 
 tuition . 
 
 " Little one," he whispered, " don't be 
 frightened when you find me slumbering, for 
 the pillow on which I rest is the arm of a 
 mighty Protector. You must not feel you 
 have lost me ; death cannot sever or estrange 
 fond hearts. Little heart of mine, come 
 closer. I can't see you." 
 
 She bent in tremulous wonder nearer the 
 failing eyes. 
 
 " Grandfather ! Oh, grandfather ! " she 
 sobbed. 
 
 "Child! child!" 
 
 His voice grew strong suddenly with dis- 
 tress. 
 
 Jocelyn fought for self-control. 
 
 " I am not crying, grandfather," she said 
 again. 
 
 For the first and last time in that great 
 year of their close communion she deceived 
 him. 
 
344 ANGELS, AND DEVILS, AND MAN. 
 
 " Not crying," he murmured, and a joyful 
 light flashed across the weary features. " I 
 am glad ! Good night, little girl ! Rest 
 well." 
 
 " Good night," she moaned in strangled 
 agony ; but he smiled, not hearing. 
 
 " Heaven," he whispered, " breaks on 
 me!" 
 
 And when he had said this, he fell 
 asleep. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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