CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
PR 5802.B6T899"'*'""*'"-"'™^ 
 ^rack but comely. 
 
*v. 
 
The original of tiiis 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/cu31924013570076 
 
Black but Comely 
 
136 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 Bending lower, till the rim of her hroad hat touched his 
 wrist, she sank her voice to a whisper that reached no ear 
 but his own. 
 
 " The gipsy knows more than you think for, pretty gentle- 
 man. She reads the stars, ay, many a time, when you're 
 asleep on your pillow, dreaming of the dark-eyed lass. The 
 stars never tell lies, nor the gipsy neither. They, taught 
 me where your spirit was wandering last night — ^roiles and 
 miles away, in a garden of roses, by the side of a tall pale 
 girl, with red flowers at her breast and an open book in her 
 hand " 
 
 " The devil ! " he exclaimed, staggered naturally enough 
 by this faithful description. 
 
 " On a new-mown lawn, under an old elm-tree," pro- 
 ceeded the sorceress, whose voice was shaking, he believed, 
 under the influence of her familiar spirit. " There was a 
 gentleman waiting outside the garden, a gentleman with a 
 sharp clean-shaved face and a black coat down to his heels. 
 Ah ! the stars teach strange things, and tell of strange 
 people. Yes ; he was Strange too ! " 
 
 "Forward James" had good average nerves, but he 
 trembled like a leaf. She seemed to know the very name 
 of his rival. This was the black art with a vengeance ! 
 He thought whether he hadn't better offer her a sovereign, 
 and make his escape. 
 
 " Don't you be afraid of the poor gipsy," said she, laugh- 
 ing outright ; " if she's wiser than you it's for good, not 
 evil. She wouldn't do you harm. Perhaps she can tell you 
 the name of your dark-eyed lass; perhaps it begins with 
 the same letter as luck, and lady, and love ! " 
 
 He seized her wrist with the grasp of a man thoroughly 
 in earnest. 
 
 " If you can tell me where Jane Lee is hidden I'll give 
 you a hundred pounds down. On my honour as a gentle- 
 man ! In Bank of England notes. I've never had a 
 moment's peace since she went away ! " 
 
 While he spoke the bell rang to clear the course, 
 and an ebbing wave of humanity, sweeping them to the 
 ropes, brought with it the formidable presence of the Patron, 
 by no means sober, linked arm-in-arm with the old gentle- 
 man in a long greatcoat, who had never been very far off. 
 Her quick perception took alarm at once. 
 
THE BAIT 137 
 
 " You must go now," she whispered, still concealing her 
 face. " Our people are always on the watch. We mustn't 
 be seen together. You don't know the gipsies ; how jealous 
 they are, and handy with their knives. If you weren't a 
 young handsome gentleman it wouldn't matter. Listen. Do 
 you want to hear more of Jane Lee ? Come to Brimscombe 
 Brake, yonder, at the back of the course, after the next 
 race. Bring your horse. All depends on the stars. I 
 wouldn't say but the dark-eyed lady might be there herself ! " 
 
 Then she vanished in the crowd, while James Paravant, 
 wondering whether he was awake or dreaming, hastened 
 to an out-building, where his horse had been stabled, to 
 make sure that Potboy was still among the realities of life. 
 
 His late companion joined the Patron with a frankness of 
 manner that disarmed suspicion, if indeed he entertained 
 any. She did not fail to remark that the old gentleman 
 who accompanied him disappeared at her approach. She 
 wondered too at the prolonged absence of Jericho, but gave 
 his doings the less attention that her own thoughts were 
 engrossed elsewhere. If she could get out of the Patron's 
 observation for the next half-hour Bhe saw her way to free- 
 dom — ^more, to ease, affluence, and a recognised position in 
 society, could she but play her bold game as boldly as 
 she desired. 
 
 At this crisis fortune favoured her more than she had any 
 right to expect, through the pugnacious instincts of Fighting 
 Jack, now more than half drunk. 
 
 As they pushed about in the crowd — that old pugilist 
 forcing his way with offensive assumption — ^they came across 
 a pea-and-thimble man, whose table was about to be 
 wrecked by certain indignant victims of his too-open 
 deceptions. The knave, catching at any excuse to with- 
 draw attention from his roguery, accused Jack of upsetting 
 the board, and thus preventing the payment of two golden 
 sovereigns to a quick-sighted countryman who had dis- 
 covered the elusive pea. 
 
 That successful player — a tall broad-shouldered fellow — 
 irritated by previous failures, bore with some impatience 
 Jack's overbearing demeanour, and proposed, as the gipsy 
 had created all this confusion, he should make good the loss. 
 
 At so impossible a suggestion Jack snapped his fingers 
 
Black but Comely 
 
 By 
 J. G. Whyte-Melville 
 
 Author of " Sarchedon," " Katerfelto," " Satanella," etc. 
 
 Illustrated by S. E. Waller 
 
 London 
 Ward, Lock & Co., Limited 
 
 New York and Melbourne. 
 
 11. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 OHAP 
 
 
 
 I. 
 
 "No such Catch I" 
 
 
 n. 
 
 Jack Lopez 
 
 
 ni. 
 
 A Black Ouzel . 
 
 
 rv. 
 
 Mervyu Strange 
 
 
 V. 
 
 Combe-Appleton 
 
 
 VI. 
 
 " Forward James " 
 
 
 vn. 
 
 Two Strings 
 
 
 VUl. 
 
 Bred in the Bone 
 
 
 IX. 
 
 " And is Old Double dead ? " . 
 
 X. 
 
 " Sixty-mile-an-hour 
 
 )i 
 
 XI. 
 
 Compromise 
 
 . 
 
 xn. 
 
 Consent . . 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 xrn. 
 
 Mr. Delapr^ 
 
 . 
 
 XIV. 
 
 An Explanation . 
 
 . 
 
 XV. 
 
 " A Little Less than Kin " 
 
 XVI. 
 
 " A Little More than Kind " 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 Vkan 
 9 
 12 
 17 
 22 
 28 
 84 
 S9 
 45 
 62 
 68 
 64 
 71 
 
 77 
 83 
 90 
 95 
 
6 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 
 
 
 OHAP. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 xvn. 
 
 One of tlie Ffl.mily ..... 102 
 
 xvm. 
 
 Market Value . 
 
 
 
 
 . 108 
 
 xrx. 
 
 Tricks of the Trade 
 
 
 • • 
 
 
 . 114 
 
 XX. 
 
 Palmistry 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 120 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Swajisdown Baces 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 126 
 
 xxn. 
 
 The Bait 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 132 
 
 xxm. 
 
 The Hook 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 138 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 The Tjanding,Net 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 144 
 
 
 BOOK III 
 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Laiinched 
 
 . 150 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 A Followmg Wind 
 
 
 
 
 
 158 
 
 xxvn. 
 
 A Flood-tide . 
 
 
 
 
 
 165 
 
 xxvin. 
 
 Carrying On 
 
 
 
 
 
 170 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Breakers Ahead , 
 
 
 
 
 
 177 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Shoal Water . 
 
 
 
 
 
 184 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 Private Theatricals ■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 192 
 
 xxxn. 
 
 Black-mail 
 
 
 
 
 
 197 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Circumstances alter Cases 
 
 
 
 
 203 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 Combe-Wester in Full Dress . 
 
 
 
 
 209 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 Another Magnum 
 
 
 
 
 214 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 The Pace that Kills . 
 
 
 
 
 221 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 Too Late . . , 
 
 
 
 
 227 
 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 xxxvm. 
 
 AU Alone ..,.,. 232 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 A New Play . . . . , .239 
 
 XL. 
 
 The Second Act 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 245 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 
 7 
 
 CHAP. PAOB 
 
 XLi. " The Romany's Eevenge " 
 
 
 . 251 
 
 XLn. Out of Quod .... 
 
 
 . 257 
 
 XLin. Poor Belations • 
 
 • . 
 
 
 . 263 
 
 xiiv. Westward Hoi 
 
 ■ • 
 
 
 . 269 
 
 XI.V. Mahogany Parlour ■ 
 
 . 
 
 
 . 275 
 
 XLVi. Outward Bound 
 
 . 
 
 
 . 280 
 
 Xivn. " Fave I Found Thee, C 
 
 ) Mine Enemy 
 
 ?" . 
 
 . 286 
 
 XLvni. " I Say Nothing " 
 
 . 
 
 
 . 292 
 
 XLix. A Great Gulf 
 
 . 
 
 
 . 299 
 
 t. The Faithful Servant 
 
 • 
 
 
 . 304 
 
 1,1. Good Works 
 
 • 
 
 
 . 309 
 
 Ln. Bom a Lovel 
 
 ■ • 
 
 
 . 315 
 
 Lm. " Nolens- Volens " 
 
 . • 
 
 
 . 321 
 
 Liv. Hunted . . 
 
 • . 
 
 
 . 326 
 
 tv. Misjudged 
 
 • . 
 
 
 . 333 
 
 Lvi. Stra,ngers Yet . 
 
 . . 
 
 
 . 338 
 
 Lvn. Late for Church 
 
 . 
 
 
 . 343 
 
 Lvra. "Martha" 
 
 . 
 
 
 . 349 
 
 Lix. Fallen among Thieves 
 
 . 
 
 
 . 354 
 
 LX. The Gas turned off 
 
 . 
 
 
 . 359 
 
BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 OB 
 
 Ubc H&ventures of 5ane Xee 
 
 BOOK I 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 " NO SUCH CATCH ! " 
 
 The day had not yet gone by when murderers were hanged 
 in public. Capital punishment still afforded the multitude 
 opportunity to keep holiday, and combine with the excite- 
 ment of a tragedy the refreshments and relaxation of a 
 picnic. Therefore a pieman, selling his dainties " all hot," 
 did good business in a crowd round Newgate, and accepted 
 with resignation — even thankfulness — the judicial catas- 
 trophe that brought grist to his mill. 
 
 Why should he trouble himself about the culprit, a 
 journeyman tailor, who had stabbed his wife in a fit of 
 drunken ferocity, and been convicted on the evidence of his 
 sister-in-law ? He could not look along the whitewashed 
 passages of the prison, nor into the bare blank cell, where 
 the doomed man cowered and shook before that awful 
 Unknown to which he was gliding so smooth and swift and 
 sure, upheld, it may be, for a moment at a time, by the 
 presence of two robust turnkeys, who guarded him, as a 
 timid passenger feels upheld in a storm by companionship 
 with some stout skipper and his mate ; yet now and again 
 
10 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 stung to agony at the contrast between their situation and 
 his own. Would it have dulled the pieman's enterprise, or 
 the appetites of his customers, to see the gray drawn face, 
 with the himted look in its eyes — that most pitiful of all 
 expressions — by which a human soul appeals for help to 
 God and man in vain; to mark the twitching lip, the 
 working fingers, the sinking dwindled figure, whereon those 
 coarse clothes hung so loose and wide ; or to realise in their 
 own minds, what it must be to feel the absolute certainty — 
 from which there is no escape — of being there in an hour ! 
 firty minutes ! three quarters ! How can the moments run 
 so fast, yet fall distinct, and full, and merciless, each with 
 its stab of mortal fear ? 
 
 It is a dull dim morning in October ; you might wonder 
 BO many inhabitants of the busiest capital in Europe can 
 find time to come into the streets. Nevertheless, as the 
 fatal hour approaches, the crowd thickens fast, so that our 
 pieman finds himself jammed in a comer, whence there is 
 not the faintest glimpse of the gallows, but where he is 
 surrounded by spectators who seem less inclined to stop 
 their mouths with his pies than to enlarge discursively on 
 crime, culprit, sentence, and general bearings of the case. 
 Strange that the softer sex should form a large portion of 
 this assemblage ; strange, too, that their sympathies seem 
 rather with murderer than victim, and that the evidence of 
 his sister-in-law should excite general reprobation and 
 ill-will. 
 
 " Druv' to it, no doubt," observes a greasy slattern, in a 
 shawl and bonnet literally shining with decay. " That 
 aggerawated and put upon, as he didn't scarce know whether 
 he was dead or alive. Ah ! She was one with a tongue, 
 she was. As would let you hear of it again — and again — 
 and again ! " 
 
 "It's my belief as that there sister deserves hanging a 
 precious sight more than he do," replies a neighbour, stout 
 and respectable-looking — a matron, indeed, whose character 
 would be unimpeachable but for drink. " I seen her 
 myself on the trial. ' You're a nice one,' says I, 'with your 
 clean white collar and your black gloves. It would be hard 
 lines,' says I, 'for a man to swing along of a saucy, trapes- 
 ing minx like you .'"' 
 
" NO SUCH CA TOE I" 11 
 
 " It's a hanging matter, too, missis," proceeds a brick- 
 layer in fustian, " when you come to Imifin' on 'em. And 
 I'm not sure but the law is right." 
 
 " Knifin' ! " echoes a tall handsome woman, with the 
 swarthy skin, soft black eyes, and clear-cut features of real 
 gipsy blood. " I'd have knifed him first, I would ! And 
 so would you, my beauty," she continues in a loving whisper 
 to the child sleeping on her bosom, whose dark lashes and 
 small high-bred face denote no stolen offspring of the 
 Gentiles, but a true little Romany of her own. Then, while 
 she stretches her fine figure a-tiptoe, with her graceful head 
 turned towards the unseen gallows, she croons out a sweet- 
 toned lullaby in her own strange tongue for the brown little 
 lady in her arm, the " ri/nkeni tmvni, Roma/ny ravmy " as she 
 calls it, hushing and soothing her darling, lest it should 
 wake before its time. 
 
 Even the pieman could not but admire this pair, so 
 uncommon, so picturesque, and so comely withal ; sleek and 
 supple as a leopardess and her cub, with something of the 
 wild-beast's watchful restlessness, half suspicious, half de- 
 fiant, its lithe and easy movements, its sinewy, shapely form. 
 
 But soon the crowd began to sway in that resistless ebb 
 and fiow, against which, as constituting the danger of an 
 undisciplined multitude, wooden barriers had been erected, 
 and other municipal precautions taken in vain. At or near 
 the gallows something of unusual interest seemed to 
 have occurred. A seething wave of humanity, that gathered 
 strength and volume as it rolled in, lifting the pieman off 
 his feet, dashed him with his portable oven to the ground. 
 Its lid flew open, and the dregs of a London mob were soon 
 scrambling for the contents. Such a struggle caused more 
 crowding, more curiosity, more confusion. Women began 
 to scream and faint ; strong men, in the instinct of self- 
 preservation, took cruel advantage of their strength, and 
 enhanced by their cowardice the helplessness of the weak. 
 Human beings in a panic are like beasts in a stampede. 
 Those who have once gone down get little chance of coming 
 to the surface again. The pieman hurled against the gipsy, 
 bore her to the earth. Even as she fell, rose another of 
 those swelling, suffocating surges, that seemed to dash her 
 life out, as a wave dashes a morsel of seaweed against a 
 
12 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 rock. Blind, pinioned, choking for breath, brain and senses 
 failing in her death-struggle, the brave instinct of maternity 
 conquered all. The beautiful gipsy, with one last despair- 
 ing efifort, flung her child into the woman's arms who, 
 crushed herself, was helplessly crushing her down, and so 
 floated away into the unknown, with the familiar wail of a 
 waking infant in her ears, and the little face she loved 
 stamped on eyes that were never to brighten with earthly 
 joys, nor fill with earthly tears again. 
 
 But the other woman, like a woman, strained every nerve 
 to save the baby. Catching it with the frantic effort of a 
 wild-cat, rather than a seamstress, she passed the precious 
 charge to a neighbour, as she herself failed and succumbed. 
 Again was the child held aloft, when she who had taken it 
 seemed perishing; and so it came about that, changing 
 hands half a score of times, the little gipsy found rest at 
 last in the arms of a thick-set, swarthy, well-dressed man, 
 and was saved. He contrived, by sheer strength, to keep 
 his feet and preserve the infant unhurt, till he gained a 
 lamp-post, and passing his arm round it, steadied himself 
 for fresh efforts when he should have recovered breath. 
 Fortune so far favoured him, that the pressure of the crowd 
 began to take another direction, and, with space to gasp 
 for air, he was able to look at the helpless little mite of 
 humanity thus committed to his charge. 
 
 " Well, this is a go !" he muttered, scanning the dark brows 
 and lashes, the pretty waxen features, the tiny well-shaped 
 hands of his new acquisition, with a strong idea of leaving it 
 at once in the nearest workhouse ; but the child clasping 
 him round the neck and nestling closer to his breast, with a 
 smile he added: " Dash it, little 'un, you are a beauty ; I'll 
 take you home with me, as sure as my name's Jack Lopez ! " 
 
 CHAPTEE n 
 
 JACK LOPEZ 
 
 Had it been Abraham, Simeon, Mordecai, Haman even ! 
 But why Jack Lopez ? Jew was written clearly on his rich 
 
JACK LOPEZ 13 
 
 dark complexion, his blue-black hair, his fleshy aquiline 
 nose, his full-curved lips, and the smooth proportions of his 
 round, well-turned form. His clothes were far too glossy 
 for a Christian's everyday wear, and a certain Oriental taste 
 for magnificence was apparent in the profusion of jewellery 
 that he seemed to carry as a matter of course, even on such 
 an occasion, and that, strange to say, he brought with him 
 untouched out of the scramble. Only a Jew could have 
 preserved the polish of his boots, the lustre of his hat, 
 through the "free fight " in which he had been engaged; 
 only a Jew would have recovered so speedily the self- 
 possession he lost during the urgency of such bodily peril 
 as he was forced to undergo. 
 
 Yes, Jack Lopez was as much a Jew as Josephus ; but 
 there was a soft place in his heart, and the little waif he 
 had rescued from destruction crept in to nestle there for 
 evennore. These people have strong affections, though 
 confined to a narrow circle, concentrated on their own 
 kindred, their own families, their own homes. So long as 
 they are mere acquaintances, why should the Jew do more 
 for the Christian than the Christian does for the Jew? 
 But once make Shylock your friend, and he will stick to you 
 closer than a brother, will invite you to his house, welcome 
 you to his family, give you his counsel and confidence, nay, 
 will even lend you money at a reasonable interest, and, 
 believing in your integrity, Christian though you call your- 
 self, will trust you in all honour with his " ducats and his 
 daughter ! " 
 
 Jack Lopez, a little ashamed of himself, and earnestly 
 hoping that he might not meet an acquaintance, gained the 
 outskirts of the crowd, leaped into a hansom cab vrith his 
 charge, who clasped her little hand round his forefinger, 
 and so, not without certain misgivings as to his reception, 
 proceeded rapidly home. 
 
 " Why, Jack, you must be mad ! " 
 
 "As mad as a hatter, I think," replied Jack, showing 
 the boldest front he dared. " It's done. Bell, and there's 
 an end of it ; we can't turn the poor little devil into the 
 street ! " 
 
 He was no fool, and laid the infant in his wife's arms, 
 reflecting that, in all matters connected with babes and 
 
14 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 sucklings, the sense of touch goes straight to a woman's 
 heart. 
 
 Mrs. Lopez, rocking it to and fro as you have seen a 
 young person of six rock her doll, looked over its black head 
 into her husband's face with a comical expression of ex- 
 pectation, suspicion, and surprise. 
 
 She was a fair florid woman, who desired above all things 
 to have children of her own, but, after many years of 
 marriage, had not attained her wish. She feU violently in 
 love with Jack Lopez while yet a boarding-school miss at 
 Putney; married him before she was out of her teens; 
 shared with him the hardships of bad times, bad business, 
 and bad management; nay, sold cigars for him, over a 
 counter, at fourpence apiece; and finally, when certain 
 desperate ventures, and a few judicious advances to minors 
 at sixty per cent., made a rich man of him, worried her Jack 
 considerably with aspirations for promotion in the social 
 sphere — "West-end airs," as he called them — a longing 
 for fashionable society, and even vague hints as to the 
 possibility of presentation at Court. 
 
 This couple, differing in character as in outward appear- 
 ance, rubbed on nevertheless comfortably enough. Jack 
 went to business morning after morning from his pleasant 
 house in Tybumia, and returned, or not, to an excellent 
 dinner, as suited him best; nor did "BeU" demand any 
 accoimt of his absence. They say that, if you tell a woman 
 such a thing is " made by machinery," she asks no farther 
 explanation; and, similarly, it seems to me, that wives 
 accept the term " business " as a sufficient excuse for un- 
 limited furlough, dreading, perhaps, the strain on their 
 faculties that an investigation of all conveyed by that com- 
 prehensive word would impose. 
 
 So Jack got rounder and sleeker, and fonder of the good 
 things of life year by year ; while Mrs. Lopez grew redder 
 of cheeks, portlier of form, and more hopeless of children 
 day by day. Each thought the other " a good deal altered," 
 wondering, perhaps, why they had ever married all those 
 years ago, by no means existing in their imion, yet not 
 exactly wishing they had let it alone. Do you think Mrs. 
 Anderson really admired old John's scanty looks when they 
 were " like the snow," casting never a thought back to the 
 
JACK LOPEZ 15 
 
 "Joes" ■with other surnames of her youthfiil days, and 
 wondering whether or not she had missed the great prize 
 of life ? "When I see a venerable couple more than usually 
 affectionate, I respect them no less for rectitude of principle 
 than sound cpmmon sense. I am persuaded they are 
 making the best of it, and quite right too. Is not substance 
 preferable to shadow ; a waking reality to the impossible 
 illusions of a dream ? 
 
 And yet, while we pass to leeward of a bean-field on a 
 summer's evening, what makes the hardest of us sigh to 
 scent its faint sweet fragrance, that wakes but does not 
 satisfy the senses, recalling certain foolish longings, we 
 ought long ago to have forgotten, for the forbidden, the 
 indefinite, and the unknown ? 
 
 Jack Lopez and his wife lived habitually in that condition 
 of easy comfort and even luxury which is common amongst 
 Londoners of our time, in the well-to-do middle class ; with 
 only a page to wait at dinner, there was champagne on the 
 table every day. Mrs. Lopez, though satisfied to sit in her 
 brougham behind a single horse, felt no hesitation in spend- 
 ing a guinea on a bouquet, and two on a stall at the opera, 
 whenever she had a fancy for music or flowers. Jack could 
 hardly cross the street but in a hansom cab, and spend a 
 younger brother's income on the dinners alone to which he 
 treated himself at Richmond and Greenwich during the 
 summer months. Both went to Dieppe every autumn; 
 and it was only lamentable incapacity for handling a gun, 
 though his eye was accurate enough on a billiard-table, that 
 prevented Mr. Lopez from renting an expensive villa, with 
 five hundred acres of shooting, in Surrey. " Light come, 
 light go," is a true proverb in money matters. When a 
 man can make two or three hundred by his business in a 
 morning, he soon acquires profiise habits of domestic ex- 
 penditure. His household accounts are lumped in with the 
 losses of trade, his pleasures come out of its profits. Living 
 from hand to mouth is capital fiin, so long as there is plenty 
 in both ; and when the rainy day does come, why, after all, 
 like one who has to return a borrowed umbrella, he is in no 
 worse plight than at first. 
 
 The speculator who "began life without a shilling," 
 leaves off perhaps in the same predicament ; but he places 
 
16 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 to the credit of his account with Fortune, the five, ten, even 
 twenty years that he has been spending in luxury, and is 
 not wholly dissatisfied with the result. 
 
 " She's a sweet little thing, Jack," said Mrs. Lopez, after 
 the infant had lain in her arms for about half a minute. 
 " There's not many wives, my dear, would take a ready- 
 made baby like this, with such a black little poll, and ask 
 no questions. But, there, when I say a thing I mean it ; 
 and she might have a worse mummy, mightn't she ? and a 
 worse home ? Oh, Jack, she's opened her eyes, I declare ! 
 What a duck it is ! " 
 
 When her husband returned from business, bringing to 
 dinner a friend the exact counterpart of himself, an extra 
 bottle of champagne was drunk in honour of the new inmate 
 of the household. It afforded an engrossing topic of conversa- 
 tion from the soup (turtle) to the dessert (pines) ; but when 
 coffee was served, and the men began to smoke, Mrs. Lopez, 
 who had not retired, because after coffee came cura9oa, 
 suddenly remembered a difficulty that, strange to say, 
 occurred to none of them before. 
 
 " My gracious me ! " she exclaimed, looking hazily round, 
 " I don't suppose the child has ever been christened ; and 
 if it has, I don't know its name no more than the dead. 
 There's a J. L., in tiny blue letters, printed on its little arm 
 below the elbow, but that's no clue at all." 
 
 "Vaccination," observed Jack, sententiously, between 
 the puffs of his cigar. 
 
 His wife darted an indignant glance at him, and the 
 friend, who was a person of resource, observed thoughtfully : 
 
 " J. L., ah, I see ! Why not caU it Jael ? " 
 
 This remark was received with no more favour than its 
 predecessor. 
 
 " Nonsense, Mr. Samuel," returned the lady ; " might 
 as well call it Sisera ! " 
 
 The friend smoked and pondered. Perhaps he too was 
 not insensible to certain memories of the bean-field we 
 mentioned even now. 
 
 " What should you say to Jane Lee ? " he asked. " It's 
 short, simple, and to the purpose." 
 
 "Not much to the purpose," answered Mrs. Lopez; 
 "but perhaps it will do as well as another. Jane Lee. 
 
A BLACK OVZEL 17 
 
 It sounds respectable, and it's a good travelling name 
 enough. I'll run upstairs now and see if the darling is 
 asleep ! " 
 
 CHAPTER m 
 
 A BLACK OXTZEIi 
 
 At five, pretty Jane Lee was the pet of every servant, visitor, 
 and guest in the^ household, no less than of Jack Lopez and 
 his wife. Sleek, playful, active as a kitten, an indefatigable 
 romp, and a confirmed flirt ; the child, to use their own 
 expression, " had a way with it " that neither male nor 
 female could resist. The clear-cut little face sparkled with 
 fun, the large dark eyes shone with intelligence. The 
 gipsy elf learned her letters almost as fast as she looked at 
 them, and caught up the street cries outside with a readiness 
 of imitation that denoted much power of mimicry and a 
 correct ear. Jack Lopez was persuaded that he could 
 provide no better after-dinner amusement for his Mends 
 than to stand his adopted daughter on the table, behind the 
 decanters, and bid her go through her performances one by 
 one, fi:om the early milkman to the boy with the evening 
 beer. - His guests, men who looked habitually to the main 
 chance, decided that he meant to leave her aU he possessed, 
 and Jack, they opined, would " cut up well " when his 
 time came. 
 
 At ten, the dark-eyed little maid seemed generally re- 
 cognised as a chief ornament of the house. Master could 
 not bear her out of his sight, mistress treated her as a child 
 of her own, assimiiug, indeed, certain honours of maternity 
 on the strength of her treasure, while the servants flattered 
 her beauty, encouraged her whims, and strengthened her 
 evil propensities to the utmost of their power. 
 
 Jack, who knew his own affairs well enough, spared no 
 expense to give her a good education. Little Miss Lee 
 might be seen, accompanied by a maid-servant, passing to 
 and fi:om a young ladies' day-school in Bayswater, where 
 she surpassed her class-fellows in quickness and proficiency, 
 no less than in repartee, agility, mischief, and general in- 
 
 2 
 
18 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 subordination. Though rather too slim and angular, she 
 was still an exceedingly pretty child. Even in London 
 strangers would turn round to admire her large dark eyes, 
 coal-black hair, clear-cut features, lithe willowy shape, 
 straight limbs, and the light tread of those slim supple feet. 
 
 A duchess once stopped in Kensington Gardens to ask 
 the maid who she was, and calling her " a handsome little 
 gipsy," while she bent down to bestow a patrician kiss, 
 scarcely guessed how exactly she had hit the mark. To 
 gipsy blood she owed her health, vitality, grace, beauty, 
 and the wild turbulent instincts that made all the troubles 
 of her after-life. 
 
 Music and languages she acquired with little effort. In 
 history and geography she slurred her lessons over as well 
 as another. Drawing, no physiognomist, warned by the 
 want of curve in those delicate rectilinear eyebrows, would 
 have wasted time by endeavouring to teach ; whUe dancing, 
 again, seemed as natural to that airy floating figure as flying 
 to a bird — so that for waltz, gavotte, and cachucha, she 
 never failed to carry off the half-yearly prize. Her ready 
 brain was accurate in arithmetic, her supple fingers seemed 
 no less clever with the needle than the pen ; but of all the 
 girl's triumphs over her class-mates, those earned in their 
 singing lessons seemed the easiest and the most complete. 
 
 Full and clear in its tone, the young voice had something 
 so wild, sad, and tender in its expression, that listeners of 
 mature age and unexampled austerity, such as the French 
 teacher, a tough Swiss Protestant, or the experienced person 
 who took charge of the linen, were fain to look out at window 
 and wipe away their tears. 
 
 Jack Lopez, dreaming over his cigar after dinner, loved 
 to speculate on his adopted child's proficiency in song. 
 
 "A good engagement," he reflected, "means a pot of 
 money, particularly when they're handsome into the bargain. 
 Why shouldn't this black little rogue of mine come out as 
 a tip-topper one of these days and take the town by 
 storm? Ah! stranger things have happened. I've had some 
 queerish ups and downs myself. Yes ; there's an opening 
 if one can hit it, and I should like to see her with a 
 brougham and pair before I die ! " 
 
 Then he would walk up and down the room, smoking 
 
A BLACK OUZEL 19 
 
 fiercely and buried in calculation ; for with this man pounds, 
 shillings, and pence necessarily entered in every relation of 
 life. Li^e Midas, the flavour of all he ate and drank 
 seemed tainted with a smack of gold ! 
 
 His wife, on the other hand, was little given to specula- 
 tion, seldom looking forward, indeed, beyond the immediate 
 future, as afforded in the prospect of luncheon and dinner. 
 Fat, contented, and comatose, it needed slight medical 
 knowledge to predict she would be summoned to start for 
 the great journey at inconveniently short notice; and 
 perhaps, with so fiill a habit, so drooping an eye, and so 
 florid a complexion, she was wise to take no thought for 
 difficulties she might not live to encounter, and troubles 
 that would pass harmlessly overhead, when she was laid in 
 the grave. 
 
 So long as pretty Jane's light step was heard dancing on 
 the stairs, her clear voice carolling like a bird in hall and 
 passage, Mrs. Lopez felt satisfied all was well, and left the 
 future, under Jack's supervision, to provide for itself. So 
 year after year stole by, till one bright spring morning, 
 when he had been gone to business about an hour, the maid, 
 taking breakfast to his wife's bedroom, screamed out loud, 
 and dropped her tray with a crash on the floor. Her 
 mistress was as dead as Queen Anne. The doctor, pocket- 
 ing his lancets, shook his head, and muttered " Apoplexy." 
 Mr. Lopez was sent for from his office, and Jane from her 
 school ; the blinds were drawn ; the servants spoke in 
 whispers; a funeral with three mourning-coaches paced 
 from the door ; and the household went into decent black. 
 
 These things are a mere question of time. The memory 
 of Cleopatra may have kept fresh for six months. Mrs. 
 Lopez was forgotten in six weeks, and before the year was 
 out, neighbours began to wonder whether Jack would marry 
 again. 
 
 Miss Lee was sitting opposite him after dinner. She 
 took the top of the table now, and now for the first time it 
 struck bim how self-possessed she had grown in manner, 
 how womanly in figure and face. 
 
 "Jane," said he, "ring for coffee, my dear, and hand 
 me a light. "Why, how you grow, child ! I never thought 
 yon meant to be so tall." 
 
20 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 She glanced at her own shapely figure in the mirror and 
 smiled. 
 
 " I'm the tallest girl in the school now," she answered, 
 " and the eldest, and, I'm afraid, the wickedest. It's not 
 my fault, Miss Quilter says, hut yours, dear. I've been so 
 spoilt at home ! " 
 
 Jack filled his glass. He was bracing his nerves — 
 " hingeing himself up," as he called it — for an efi'ort. 
 
 " How old are you, my dear? " he asked, with rather a 
 shaky voice. " I'm sure I forget." 
 
 " That's not at all a pretty question," she answered 
 laughing ; " and if you forget, I don't see why I should 
 remember; but according to my own reckoning I was 
 nineteen last birthday, I'm sure that's old enough for 
 anything ! " 
 
 He pondered with his hand on the decanter. The day 
 he brought her home from before Newgate had hitherto 
 been kept as the anniversary of her birth. Could she 
 really be almost twenty? How old he was getting, and 
 how quickly time passed ! 
 
 " Janey, would you like to go away from here ? " 
 
 He dreaded some natural burst of regret, even resentment, 
 yet her answer caused him less relief than disappointment. 
 
 " Of course I should ! I am so fond of change. I should 
 like never to sleep two nights in the same bed." 
 
 " I shall miss you," he faltered. 
 
 " Oh yes ! I am sure of that ; you're very fond of me, I 
 know ; but can't you be just as fond of me when I'm away? " 
 
 A shadow as of pain crossed his face, while he emptied 
 his glass at a gulp. 
 
 "I daresay I shall not forget you," he continued. 
 " Well, Janey, we can't all do as we like in this world — 
 that's to say, unless we're enormously rich. My dear, I 
 have made up my mimd to send you into the country for a 
 whole year." 
 
 "The country! what country?" she asked, looking 
 rather disconcerted. " Suppose I don't like it when I get 
 there?" 
 
 " If you don't like it, dear, you need only say so. I've 
 done my duty by you as if you had been my own. If you're 
 not happy in the country, I'll have you back in town. But, 
 
A BLACK OUZEL 21 
 
 Janey, ttis is a world of uncertainty, particularly in the 
 present state of the money-market. Don't you lose a chance, 
 my girl, if it comes in your way. I'm a good life enough, I 
 hope, but you must remember there's nobody to look after 
 you when I'm gone ! " 
 
 By this it may be guessed that Jack Lopez, like many 
 other people, entrusted those- dependent on him to the care 
 of Providence, with a reliance that, applied to his own case, 
 would have been beyond all praise. 
 
 Jane Lee, brushing her long black hair before the glass 
 on her dressing-table, took these things seriously to heart. 
 
 " I'm not his child, I know," she reflected, smiling at the 
 swarthy beauty opposite, whose white teeth gleamed, and 
 black eyes sparkled, as she smiled back in return. " How 
 surpriseil was the first time he told me ! I wonder whose 
 child I am! I wonder whether I take after papa or 
 mamma ! I wonder if I shall like these people I'm going 
 to next week ! What's the use of wondering ? There's no 
 end to it. I'm not to throw a chance away, he said. Does 
 he mean I'm to marry the first man that asks me ? Girls 
 always marry before they're twenty, I suppose, and I'm past 
 nineteen now. I don't know that I should mind it so 
 much ; but he must be handsome, and he must let me do 
 as I like ! " 
 
 Now Jack Lopez had only made up his mind to part with 
 his treasure after much consideration. She had been ail- 
 ing a little lately, and a clever doctor, who entrusted Jack 
 with his money speculations, had given him an opinion — 
 vrithout a fee — to the effect that she ought to have a good 
 twelve months of coimti^ air and quiet, in order to insure 
 the strength of voice and constitution promised by her fine 
 organisation, if it had fair play. 
 
 At twenty her guardian determined she should go to Italy, 
 for the best teaching afi'orded by the best school of music in 
 the world. Long before she was thirty, he reckoned on her 
 climbing the very top of the tree. " With engagements in 
 London, Vienna, and St. Petersburg," thought Jack, "she 
 will be independent of fortune, and my business may go to 
 the devil — as I often think it must — and welcome, so far as 
 she is concerned ! " 
 
 So he answered an advertisement firom a clergyman in 
 
22 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 Somersetshire, and made arrangements for the board and 
 lodging of Miss Lee, as entitled by this contract to share 
 the amusements and advantages of a liberal establishment 
 and an elegant home. 
 
 CHAPTEK IV 
 
 MEBYYK SIBANGB 
 
 We do not think it necessary to accompany onr young lady 
 in her journey on the Great Western Kailway, enlivened, as 
 it could not fail to be, by the polite attentions of her fellow- 
 passengers, a good-looking young gentleman who got out at 
 Swindon, and an elderly white-whiskered personage going 
 " through " to Barnstaple. If she felt a little lonely when 
 Jack, waving his disconsolate farewell from the platform at 
 Paddington, glided out of sight, the change of scene, rapid 
 motion, pleasant country, and civilities of her companions 
 soon cheered her up. When the train stopped at Eeading, 
 she would not have gone back if she could. And yet the 
 girl was less unfeeling than impressionable; not hard of 
 heart, only young and thoughtless, exulting in her enfran- 
 chisement from the tranmiels of everyday life, roused by a 
 sense of coming adventure, and conscious of that self-reliant 
 spirit which sustains the most inexperienced of birds, when 
 first they leave their nests to soar unaided on the wing. 
 
 Poor Jack, who could not face a mouthful of luncheon, 
 was smoking cigars and drinking sherry sadly enough in his 
 office, while Miss Lee disposed of a packet of sandwiches, 
 two Banbury cakes, and a large cup of coffee at Swindon, 
 with the healthy appetite of nineteen. 
 
 These refreshments sustained her quite comfortably till 
 she reached the end of her journey — a small station with 
 one porter, no waiting-room, and time-bills of every line in 
 the kingdom but its own. Here she bade a gracious good- 
 bye to the white-whiskered person, who, hastening home to 
 wife and family, was nevertheless so fascinated by the 
 charms of her appearance and conversation, that he peeped 
 surreptitiously at her luggage to ascertain her name. Then 
 she put her handsome face out of the window, to the utter 
 
MMBV7N STBANOE 23 
 
 beTTilderment of the rural station-master, and asked if there 
 was anybody waiting for Miss Lee. 
 
 "Miss Lee! " echoed a deep voice; and a pale man, with 
 his hand on the carriage-door, reverentially added, in 
 monmfal tones : "I beg your pardon, are you Miss Lee ? " 
 
 "Yes, I am. You needn't beg my pardon," answered 
 the girl, with a little laugh, as of a mocking spirit held 
 decently in check. "I've two boxes, please, in the guard's 
 van, and a hamper, and a dressing-case in the carriage — 
 you'll find it under the seat — and the basket up there, and 
 the wraps down here, and those books, and some newspapers, 
 and my umbrella, and — I think that's all." 
 
 While he hunted up these various effects, nor, strange to 
 say, congratulated himself while so doing that he was still 
 a bachelor, she took a good look at him, and wondered 
 privately whether this could be the clergyman in whose 
 society she was to share " the amusements and advantages 
 of a liberal establishment and an elegant home." 
 
 Handsome? — ^No. Ugly? — Certainly not. Tall, thin, 
 clean-shaved, with pale clear-cut features, and dark close- 
 cropped hair, he looked, and indeed liked to look, the 
 character he professed — something approaching an ideal 
 monk of the middle ages, as far removed fi-om the roystering 
 friar of our English ballads as from the proud ambitious 
 churchman of our English history. Admitting, rather than 
 boasting, that he was a Protestant, he covertly admired the 
 temporal supremacy affected by Kome; and declared openly 
 that, for organisation and discipline, the Jesuits were the 
 most efficient body of servants employed by any religion in the 
 world. He could have borne, perhaps inflicted, martyrdom; 
 would have rejoiced in self-imposed penance, however irk- 
 some ; exulted in priestly ascendency, however absolute ; 
 but could hardly have sat down to such an occupation as 
 tent-making, for instance, labouring with his hands, like an 
 honest citizen, while he showed his fellow-citizens the way 
 to a better world by doing their duty humbly, reverently, 
 and simply in this. 
 
 Entangled in a lady's luggage on the platform of a rail- 
 way-station, he felt thoroughly out of place, yet he seemed 
 to have a Eking for the job, and no disinclination to take 
 the orders of his employer. 
 
24 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 "Did you come on purpose to meet me?" said she, when 
 boxes, hamper, and etceteras had been collected and placed 
 on a truck. " I expected to see somebody quite different ; 
 but I suppose it's all right, and you're Mr. Tregarthen, of 
 Combe- Appleton ? How far is it to the rectory ? " 
 
 He blushed and laughed — a faint blush, a weak nervous 
 little laugh. " You're mistaken. Miss Lee. My name 
 is Strange — Mervyn Strange — at your service. I am Mr. 
 Tregarthen's curate. He couldn't meet you himself, so 
 deputed me to receive you at the station, and put you into 
 the carriage. It's not more than five miles. You'll be there 
 in plenty of time for dinner." 
 
 " Ain't you coming with me ? " asked the girl, and 
 wondered why he seemed so disturbed at the simple ques- 
 tion ; but though she drove through some of the loveliest 
 scenery in the West of England — and that is no small word 
 — she found herseK thinking more of Mervyn Strange's 
 abrupt jerky manner, and thin eager face, than of wood and 
 water, hill and dale, hedges and coppice, variegated meadows, 
 scented blossom-raining orchards, all the summer beauties 
 of the landscape through which she passed. 
 
 And the clergyman, walking fast, as was his habit, with 
 long even strides, in the track of her wheels, compared her 
 with the few women of his limited experience, not, we may 
 be sure, to her disadvantage — with his mother, a buxom 
 dame of fifty, his cherry-cheeked sisters, a pretty flirting 
 cousin, and a young person of the middle class, who in his 
 Oxford days had interfered with his fancy, if not his heart. 
 What was the difference between Miss Lee and these esti- 
 mable people, that ranked her as it were in another order of 
 creation? He could not describe nor analyse it, but felt 
 rather than knew that in comparison with these, she seemed 
 as the rose to a cabbage, or such nutritious vegetable ; as a 
 wild-bird to the plump, serious, gobbling, domestic fowl ! 
 
 Was she beautiful ? He could scarcely ask himself the 
 question before his senses answered in a glowing affirmative. 
 Beautiful in the most dangerous of all beauty, to. men like 
 him. The beauty of Circe in her teens ; of the siren and 
 the mermaid, rather than the angel or the nymph. St. 
 Anthony, perhaps, could have explained the temptation that 
 lurks under such outward comeliness, its subtle nature, its 
 
MEB7YN STBANGE 25 
 
 insidious force, and the tenacity with which it fastens on a 
 prey, grappling and dragging the victim down into depths 
 irom which there is no hope of rescue, till all has been lost 
 that seemed worth while to save. 
 
 Tkis gentleman's education had scarcely qualified him 
 for the part he elected to play in the great drama of life. 
 Sensitive, studious, and retiring, he had left his mother's 
 apron-strings to matriculate at a quiet college in Oxford, 
 without passing through the intermediate ordeal of a public 
 school, which, for a lad without brothers, who had lost his 
 father in childhood, seems an indispensable course of train- 
 ing for the future. His abilities, too, were such as reap the 
 sober rewards of the university, rather than command success 
 in the bustling competition of the world. He was no 
 cricketer nor oarsman ; ignored boxing-gloves, foUs, and 
 dumb-bells ; could neither have leapt a hurdle himself, nor 
 ridden a horse over it to save his life. But he was man 
 enough to study ten hours on a stretch ; and as for pluck, 
 he had the courage of his opinions — a kind of valour more 
 rare among youths than is generally supposed. Identifying 
 himself with a party, whose aim seemed the reformation of 
 our reformed church back to its original stem, he was con- 
 spicuous, even while an undergraduate, for the stiffness of 
 his circular collar, the austerity of his black-silk waistcoat, 
 and the inordinate length of his frock-coat. He affected, 
 indeed, a gravity of deportment that the eight mistook for 
 hypochon(fiiasis, and the eleven for hypocrisy; but the nian 
 was in earnest, and proved it ; for he lived on a crust, and 
 imbibed knowledge from a lecture, while to the vulgar 
 temptations of wine and women, senseless mirth, and un- 
 hallowed riot, he was adamant itself. To sum up all, he kept 
 within his allowance, consumed no tobacco, played the 
 pianoforte in his rooms, read hard, thought much, went in 
 for honours, and took a second-class. 
 
 But hedge your garden as you will, the south wind steals 
 through, with its insidious whisper and its perfume-laden 
 breath. In "the High" was a music-seller's shop, behind 
 its counter stood a fair handsome girl, with loving blue eyes, 
 and soft brown hair, the wisdom of the serpent, and, for 
 aught I know, the innocence of the dove. Blake of Christ 
 Church sustained a shrewd rebuff when he made her a 
 
26 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 proposal, after his kind; and Brazenose men had a tradition 
 that Fred Milo, called in college " the Infant Hercules," 
 from his strength of body and lamentable weakness of mind, 
 would have married her, but that she simply and persistently 
 refused him every time he asked. Miss Morris had her own 
 ideas, probably, as to the material advantages of matrimony, 
 and was capable enough, as these blue-eyed beauties gene- 
 rally are, of managing her own affairs ; but she did take an 
 interest in the pale student who bent his head so respectfiilly 
 towards her own over the counter, and Mervyn Strange, had 
 he but known it, might have succeeded where the would-be 
 profligate and the simple-minded athlete signally failed. 
 
 He bought a great deal of music, nevertheless, and 
 stinted himself in certain necessaries of existence, to balance 
 an outlay he could ill afford. He liked to pass the shop, too, 
 in his daily walks, and to feel his pulse beat faster as 
 he turned the well-known corner, though retiring in sad 
 confusion if she spied him from amongst her wares. His was 
 obviously the faint heart that is said never to win fair lady; 
 but whatever Miss Morris thought she kept to herself, and 
 if she wondered at the bashfulness that contrasted, perhaps 
 favourably, with the daring of more importunate admirers, 
 waited patiently to see what would come of it in course oif 
 time, say, by Valentine's Day. This little idyl was, how- 
 ever, prematurely stifled in the sudden departure and 
 subsequent espousals of the damsel, who, summoned to 
 nurse a married sister and family at a distance, all swollen 
 out of knowledge by the mumps, quitted Oxford suddenly, 
 and without leavetaking. That she became the wife of a 
 flourishing pork-butcher in Bicester, nearly as strong as 
 Milo, and far more amusing than Blake, has nothing to do 
 with my story, but explains why Strange took his walks 
 henceforth in a different direction, and the High Street knew 
 this pretty shopwoman no more. 
 
 It was only a scratch, but it taught him something. He 
 felt that, like the heroes of antiquity, he too was vulnerable. 
 Even insolent Achilles, he remembered, must go down if 
 you knew where to hit him. The son of Atreus, as his 
 " Horace " reminded him, in the midst of triimiph was 
 himself defeated by a captive maid, so why should Mervyn 
 Strange of Pembroke escape the fate that overtook Ajax, 
 
MEBV7N 8TBANGJB 27 
 
 Agamemnon, and that private gentleman in the Augustan 
 age, who, under the name of Xanthias Phoceus, has 
 achieved immortality, as an admirer of the scrubbing-brush 
 and the hearth-broom ? 
 
 No, he was at least capable of caring for a woman. Then 
 came a thrill of pride and pleasure with the consciousness, 
 none the less keen that he felt the danger of such weak- 
 ness. A man of his views and temperament, when he 
 took orders, he had thought to rid himself of the softer 
 fancies once for all. God forbid they should assail him 
 even in a dream, for the true priest, in his opinion, should 
 own allegiance to but two superiors, two interests — his 
 Master in heaven, his Order on earth ; the cure of souls 
 committed to him by her authority, and the temporal, no 
 less than the spiritual, aggrandisement of his Church. 
 
 He could have argued for an hour on the celibacy of the 
 clergy, inferring rather than asserting it was enjoined by 
 the Scriptures; but insisting vehemently on its decency, 
 its expediency, the beautiful example it a£forded of self- 
 sacrifice and self-renunciation. A priest, he would declare, 
 is a soldier of the noblest service the mind can conceive. 
 Always in the presence of the enemy, his harness must be 
 stainless, his weapons sharp and ready for immediate use ; 
 above all, must he keep himself unimpeded by such heavy 
 baggage as conjugal love, parental anxiety, or the exactions 
 of domestic affection. He must be prepared to march at a 
 moment's notice, wherever his duty summons him, acknow- 
 ledging no other claim, and listening only for the trumpet 
 that calls him into action. Such were this enthusiast's 
 views as to the requirements of his calling, such was his 
 interpretation of the vows he took when ordained ; yet 
 could a glance &om a pair of black eyes, a sentence spoken 
 in a merry mocking girlish voice, render him thoroughly 
 uncomfortable and unsettled, harassing his imagination, 
 vexing his conscience, confusing his principles, prejudices, 
 and professions in harsh and hopeless discord, " like sweet 
 bells jangled out of tune." 
 
38 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 COMBE-APPLBTOM 
 
 " Like master, like man," thought Jane Lee, as the primi- 
 tive country-built fly grated and creaked down a steep hill 
 into the clean little village of Combe-Appleton. " I wonder 
 whether the proverb holds good with rectors and curates. 
 I wonder what a Somersetshire parson's wife is like — ^I 
 never saw one — I wonder which of us will most astonish 
 the other. It seems as if my wonders would never cease. 
 But here we are. This must be the rectory. What a 
 fanny little house ! and oh, what a lovely garden ! " The 
 driver, a ruddy-faced person, in cotton gloves, with silver 
 lace round his hat, rang a bell under the low-roofed creeper- 
 grown porch, which was answered by a smiling maid-servant, 
 dropping curtsies with every second word, who ushered the 
 new arrival into a comfortable room, half-study, half-boudoir, 
 that opened on the entrance-hall. 
 
 " Missus will be down immediate, and I was to bring 
 the tea in at once," said the maid, and vanished, leaving 
 our young lady at liberty to take a survey of her new 
 home. 
 
 There were bookshelves and books in them. Sermons 
 by the Rev. Silas Tregarthen. There was an engraving 
 above the pianoforte — the Rev. Silas Tregarthen in fall 
 canonicals. There was a stand with a photograph — again 
 the Rev. Silas Tregarthen. 
 
 " He's not the least like Mr. Strange," thought Jane 
 Lee ; but just then the door opened to admit a Ml-blown 
 comely woTaan, of a certain age, who walked in with out- 
 stretched hands and an assured step, such as became the 
 mistress of the house, and denoted she could be none other 
 than the wife of the Rev. Silas Tregarthen. 
 
 " My dear, I'm so glad to see you. We got your pa's 
 letter — ^Mr. Lopez, I mean — and we've been expecting you 
 all day. No ceremony, I entreat. Take your bonnet off 
 here, while they're unpacking your box upstairs, and have 
 your tea comfortable. You'll enjoy it after your ride. The 
 rector — that's Mr. Tregarthen, my husband, you know — 
 
COMBE-AFPLETON 29 
 
 was so vexed he couldn't go to meet you. He sent his 
 curate instead. I hope you didn't miss each other, Mr. 
 Strange makes such mistakes sometimes. What did you 
 think of him ? Here comes the tea ; you must he famished, 
 my dear. "Won't you like something substantial with it ? " 
 
 So one poured and talked, the other drank and listened ; 
 each lady taking in, with covert glances, the dress, accoutre- 
 ments, and general calibre, as it were, of her new acquain- 
 tance, forming the while a mental estimate, not too flattering, 
 of the totU ensemble. " Fat, vulgar, ignorant, and good- 
 natured," thought the visitor; "older by ten years than 
 she looks, feels, or wants to be thought ; dress Bridgewater, 
 manners Putney. Considered to have made a catch when 
 she married the rector, a hundred years ago. Jealous of 
 him, no doubt, to this day. I shall manage her well 
 enough, but she will bore me, I feel. Never mind, I came 
 down here to be bored, and get strong. If it's very tire- 
 some, I'll write home, and Mr. L will be only too glad 
 
 to have me back." Since she knew he was not her real 
 
 father, she always called Jack Lopez, Mr. L , and 
 
 could turn him round her finger, by that or any other name, 
 with perfect skill and success. Mrs. Tregarthen's conclu- 
 sions were less decided, her thoughts more perplexed. 
 They ran somewhat in this wise : 
 
 " Too dark for my taste, and as bold as brass, in spite of 
 her airs and graces. Yet it's curious how men admire that 
 forward kind of girl. I wonder what Silas will think of 
 her ! I wish she hadn't come, but now that she is here 
 one must make the best of it. An orphan too ! My heart 
 warms to any orphan. She'd do nicely for Mervyn Strange, 
 if he took a fancy to her. There are many objections, 
 though, to a married curate. And most likely she's looking 
 her best now, with the excitement of the journey, the flush 
 and the hurry, and one thing and another. I daresay she 
 won't be half as handsome to-morrow." 
 
 Assuming, perhaps hoping, such might be the case, Mrs. 
 Tregarthen showed her visitor into a pretty Uttle bedroom, 
 with honeysuckles peeping in at the window, and there left 
 her to prepare for (finner, after the following caution : 
 
 " You needn't make yourself very smart, my dear. 
 There's nobody but ourselves, unless young Paravant 
 
30 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 should drop in, from Combe-Wester. An old pupil of my 
 husband's, he's quite at home here, and as likely as not to 
 come without dressing at all." 
 
 Such a contingency, so expressed, seemed startling 
 enough, but it set Jane Lee thinking ; and she certainly 
 bestowed more care on her toilet than seemed absolutely 
 required by the occasion, particularly to meet this uncere- 
 monious guest. 
 
 In white, relieved by a scarlet ribbon at her breast, a 
 scarlet flower in her bright black hair, even Mrs. Tregar- 
 then, with a mental reservation that she did not admire the 
 style, was forced to admit she had seldom seen so striking 
 a person as Jane Lee. Her husband, a puffy pompous per- 
 sonage, absurdly like his own picture hanging opposite, was 
 simply staggered, and murmured some unintelligible words 
 of welcome as he took her in to diuner, very different from 
 the rounded sentences he had prepared in his drive home 
 from attending the bishop at a neighbouring rectory. To 
 give him his due, Mr. Tregarthen was a man of overpower- 
 ing eloquence with a pen in his fingers and a sheet or two 
 of foolscap before him. His best extempore efforts, so sur- 
 prising to his admirers, had been learnt by heart, with 
 plenty of time to think them over. Nobody was more ready 
 at an impromptu, but, like many orators of wider fame, he 
 could not swim without corks, and was all abroad if the 
 voluminous notes he prepared were forgotten or mislaid. 
 
 The party had scarce unfolded their napkins when a 
 shadow passed the vrindow, and a bell was heard to ring at 
 the garden door. 
 
 " I told you so," said Mrs. Tregarthen, looking round in 
 triumph, as a young man entered the room unannounced, 
 to take his seat at the table, with the less ceremony that a 
 place had been laid for him, and he seemed to be expected 
 as a matter of course. 
 
 "Mr. Paravant, Miss Lee!" the lady half rose, the 
 gentleman made a bow, and their introduction was complete. 
 
 While a neat-looking, neat-handed parlour-maid waited 
 on this party of four, dispensing soup and fish, cruets and 
 sauces, with the utmost attention possible, and the least 
 noise, those whom she served were stealing at each other 
 glances of curiosity and interest, not devoid, on Miss Lee'a 
 
OOMBE-APPLETON 81 
 
 part at least, of amusement and surprise. Mr. Tregarthen 
 could not take his eyeg off the attractive young lady who 
 had that day arrived by rail and fly to share his home. 
 Mrs. Tregarthen, watching her husband as a cat watches a 
 mouse, seemed to express in her whole deportment, from 
 the restless hands and eyelids to the quiver of gaudy ribbons 
 that adorned her head-dress, "I should like to catch you at 
 it ! " Mr. Paravant was admiring, in a preoccupied, uneasy 
 kind of way, the handsome girl who seemed to have dropped 
 from the clouds into this Somersetshire village for his 
 especial subjugation ; while Jane Lee, kneading her bread 
 thoughtfidly between her white fingers, speculated as to who 
 he was, what he was, why he seemed thus to come and go 
 unquestioned, and whether he too — ^with the same privi- 
 leges as her own — was " to be treated in every respect like 
 one of the family." 
 
 Not being shy, our young lady felt unwilling to forego 
 information of any kind, for want of asking. Fixing her 
 dark eyes on him till he fluttered all over, like a cockchafer 
 with a pin through its back, she hazarded the innocent 
 remark that she had passed through a beautifal country on 
 her way from the station, and paused to see how it would 
 be taken up. Young Paravant, in some trepidation, felt 
 himself called on to reply. "Glad you like it, I'm sure," 
 said he, blushing a little, and tugging at his shirt-cuffs with 
 the mauvaise honte that often accompanies a good deal of 
 self-assertion. "Pretty road from the station. I don't 
 know whether you passed Combe- Wester. Depends on 
 which way you came." 
 
 " Combe-Wester. Is it a low white house, under the 
 hill, with an avenue of chestnuts, and an iron gate in the 
 highroad ? " 
 
 " Eight again ! That's Combe-Wester, fair enough. 
 What did you think of it ? " 
 
 " I thought it looked very quiet, very retired," She was 
 going to add, " very dull," but didn't, and was glad of it 
 the next minute. 
 
 " Yes, it's quiet and retired enough. It's a good quarter 
 of a mile, you know, from the road. I hope you'll drive 
 over and take a look round some day, Miss Lee. I belong 
 there. Combe- Wester's mine." 
 
82 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 She stole a glance at him from under her dark eyelashes, 
 that denoted a dawn of interest, but did not betray one- 
 tenth of the surprise she felt. He seemed so unlike the 
 sort of person that Combe-Wester or any other country- 
 place could belong to. Jack Lopez would have called him 
 " a yokel; " the grown-up young ladies at Miss Quilter's, 
 " a cub." He had dressed for dinner, certainly, thereby 
 falsifying the predictions of his hostess, but he wore coloured 
 trousers and a black neckcloth. He was a good-looking 
 young fellow, too, with healthy cheeks, sleek brown hair, 
 and little deep-set eyes, that were grey in one light, green 
 in another, but bright and keen in all. At a market-dinner 
 amongst the farmers, you might have taken him for a subal- 
 tern of militia ; whereas, at a military mess you would have 
 felt assured he was a civilian, and a youth brought up in 
 the country. Miss Lee's knowledge of mankind, acquired 
 from interchange of opinions with her schoolfellows, was 
 necessarily limited, but she made up her mind, without 
 the slightest hesitation, that if it really belonged to him, 
 the chief merit of young Paravant was to be found in 
 Combe-Wester. 
 
 " I daresay you are very fond of it," said she, turning 
 languidly away to receive the attentions of her host, who, 
 doing as he would be done by, pressed on her many rural 
 delicacies with overpowering hospitality, especially recom- 
 mending a certain West-country dish called "junket," 
 that met with her entire approval. 
 
 As the Rev. Silas warmed under the influence of good 
 cheer, brown sherry, and cider of his own bottling, better 
 than most people's champagne, he grew more and more 
 chatty and affectionate, engrossing the whole attention of 
 his visitor, while utterly ignoring the scornful glances and 
 snorts of indignation launched at him by his wife. Miss 
 Lee was a good listener, and he detailed to her, at consider- 
 able length, the responsibilities of his parish, the particulars 
 of his preferment, the peculiarities of the bishop, and short- 
 comings of sundry parsons, his neighbours, who satisfied 
 their consciences with three services a fortnight, and went 
 hunting twice a week. Then he branched ofi" to his glebe, 
 his Devons, his breed of black Berkshire pigs. He was a 
 practical farmer, you see, and something of a gardener as 
 
COMBE-APFLETON 83 
 
 well, mowed his own lawn, tudded his own roses ; lie 
 would show Miss Lee how to do the last, and flattered him- 
 self he would inoculate her with a taste for country life. 
 Before the dessert was set on, he had already called her 
 " his dear young lady " three seTeral times, and Mrs. Tre- 
 garthen could stand it no longer. 
 
 " When Silas has quite done with you/' said she, 
 making with finger-glass and napkin a signal, called by 
 ladies "the move," and so sailed off to the drawing-room 
 without further delay. 
 
 Here the conversation turned, naturally enough, on the 
 guest who arrived to dinner so unceremoniously after they 
 sat down. The rector's wife could fight, none better, but 
 she could also manceuvre. Subsequently, upstairs with her 
 husband, she was very likely to give battle, but in the 
 meantime a change of front seemed more advisable than an 
 attack in line ; so, smoothing her brows, she addressed her 
 companion with one of those forced smiles that the photo- 
 graph reproduces to perfection, but no painter has ever 
 succeeded in imitating on canvas. 
 
 " And what do you thiak of him, my dear ? Good-look- 
 ing, isn't he ? and pleasant-spoken when he gets over his 
 shyness ? Having no children of our own, he's almost like 
 a son to the rector and me. Bless you, he comes and goes 
 here day after day, in and out, just as he pleases ; but he's 
 a fine young man, you'll admit." 
 
 " Oh, very," answered Miss Lee, whose standard of male 
 beauty, like that of her companions, had been formed on 
 certain gentlemen-privates of Her Majesty's Life Guards, 
 frequentiQg the suburb of Bayswater, with short red jackets 
 and long blue legs. " He ought to be taller, though, to suit 
 my taste." 
 
 " Taller ? I don't quite agree with you, my dear. He's 
 as tall as the rector, and I'm sure that's quite tall enough. 
 I never could see what there is to admire in a man like a 
 maypole. And he has a good property, too. A very good 
 property, if he would take care of it. What he wants is a 
 wife to look after him and keep him straight." 
 
 "But surely he's very young," objected the other. 
 "You wouldn't have him marry before his whiskers are 
 grown ? " 
 
 8 
 
34 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 "I don't know anything about whiskers," replied the 
 rector's wife. " Why, if you come to that, look at Mr. 
 Strange. He's thirty, if he's a day, and no more whiskers 
 than the back of my hand. Youth's a drawback, perhaps, 
 in some things, but after all, people get older every day 
 they live. No, there are many men would make worse 
 husbands than young Paravant." 
 
 " Paravant — ^what an extraordinary name ! " 
 
 " It sounds foreign, don't it ? But it's a good old West- 
 country family for all that. They have been settled here 
 and at Upper Appleton, from father to son, pretty near 
 three hundred years. James Paravant is proud of his pedi- 
 gree, I can tell you, and his name too. It's French, you 
 know, taken from their motto, ' Par avant ! ' you under^ 
 stand, ' Always in front.' " 
 
 " I see, and it's rather appropriate. I suppose you call 
 the present representative ' Forward James.' " 
 
 CHAPTEK VI 
 
 The nickname stuck to him. It was repeated from mouth 
 to mouth till he could not escape hearing it, and notwith- 
 standing some irritation, found himself compelled to accept 
 the title, and answer, without a murmur, to the appellation 
 of " Forward James." 
 
 Perhaps the sarcasm seemed less pointed to him than to 
 another. He pleased himself, no doubt, by assuming that 
 it inferred many noble qualities, such as active daring 
 superiority in field sports and athletic exercises ; above all, 
 a headlong gallantry in affairs of the heart, which young 
 men esteem and appreciate in proportion to the awkwardness 
 of their advances and their ignorance of the other sex — ^who, 
 while justly giving preference to the diligent and painstak- 
 ing over " the laggard in love," are yet suflSciently good 
 judges to recognise the wide difference that exists between 
 haste and speed. 
 
 Before Miss Lee had been six weeks at the rectory. 
 
" FOBWABD JAMES" 85 
 
 "Forward James " was only too happy that she should call 
 him by any name she pleased. 
 
 It was pitiable to see the complete subjection into which 
 this young man had been brought, chiefly, I am bound to 
 say, by a course of treatment that he ought to have rebelled 
 against from the first. Miss Lee rarely spoke to him at all. 
 If she did condescend to notice his presence, it was only to 
 contradict his assertions, sneer at his opinions, turn him 
 generally into ridicule, and impress on him practically the 
 meaning of the word " snub." 
 
 Paravant, who, such as it was, had hitherto been the 
 unquestioned "cock of his own walk," felt utterly intimi- 
 dated and disheartened by an adversary so unlike those over 
 whom he was accustomed to obtain his easy triumphs. 
 Equally unable to fight or fly, he seemed positively to court 
 humiliation and defeat. Hitherto he had considered him- 
 self the "show man" of the parish, owning the largest 
 acreage, occupying the best pew in church, possessing a 
 four-wheeled carriage, a good house and garden, stabling 
 for six horses, cows, bees, out-buildings, and a conservatory. 
 Independent in means, and his own master — for his father 
 slept with the other Paravants in Appleton churchyard, and 
 his mother rented a furnished house in Bath — ^it was the 
 dream of every farmer's daughter within a radius of three 
 nules, to become the wife of this paragon, thereby taking 
 precedence, as a squire's lady, of sisters, rivals, and former 
 friends. 
 
 There are differences in rank of which the Lord Chamber- 
 lain has no cognisance. A few hundred acres of your own 
 entitle you to more consideration than the rental of half a 
 county from another; and "Forward James," had he 
 seemed a little less forward in manner, might have been 
 received cordially enough amongst the landed gentry as one 
 of themselves ; but he preferred to be king of his company, 
 and affected rather the society of those tenant-farmers and 
 tradesmen with whom his word was law. The Eev. Silas 
 had done what he could for his pupil, and strongly advised 
 him to enter the militia or the yeomanry, but James was 
 too well satisfied with Jiis own advantages to risk competition, 
 and, being a " bumpkin " of the highest calibre, a bumpkin 
 he chose to remain. 
 
86 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 Since Miss Lee's arrival he made some excuse to dine 
 almost every day at the rectory, arriving there in such a 
 heat and flurry as even the rector's cider seemed unable to 
 cool or compose. On these occasions, however, he found 
 the young lady's conversation either monopolised by the 
 Kev. Silas, who made no secret of his pleasure in her society, 
 or her interest engrossed by Mervyn Strange, whose silence 
 seemed somehow much more to her taste than his own 
 platitudes. Presently he took to watching for her in the 
 garden, where she spent much of her time reading or work- 
 ing in the open air, and pounced upon her with far-fetched 
 excuses for his appearance, and a transparent affectation of 
 surprise to find her in her usual haunt. All this roused 
 her sense of the ridiculous, and provoked her a good deal 
 at the same time. 
 
 " Mrs. Tregarthen at home. Miss Lee ? " he would 
 inquire, with an air of the deepest solicitude. " She is quite 
 well, I hope. Passing the house at any rate, you know, I 
 thought I would call to inquire." 
 
 " Quite well, thank you, Mr. Paravant. Wouldn't you 
 like to see her? You'll find her in the drawing-room." 
 
 " Oh yes ! the drawing-room of course. Perhaps she's 
 busy. Miss Lee ; perhaps I'd better wait a little outside." 
 
 Then Jane would resume her work, taking no more notice 
 of him than of the great blundering bumble-bee groping 
 about among the moss at her feet. After awhUe he would 
 ask if he might smoke a cigar in her presence, and, receiving 
 permission, would light up with exceeding satisfaction, 
 because this meant an uninterrupted interview with his idol 
 of some thirty minutes at least. 
 
 One day, under the influence of tobacco, he became more 
 demonstrative than usual. She had dropped her book, and 
 picking it up he glanced at the title-page. 
 
 " French ! " said he, with an air of increased admiration. 
 " Miss Lee, can you speak French ? " 
 
 " Yes, of course I can ; can't you ? " 
 
 " Not exactly. You see I haven't been taught. I've 
 never learned lots of things that fellows like Strange know. 
 Tregarthen didn't take much pains with me. I suppose he 
 saw I wasn't exactly a book-worm ; but I'm not such a 
 fool as I look. Miss Lee." 
 
"FOBWABD JAMES" 87 
 
 " That I can easily believe." 
 
 " Ah ! now you're laughing at me. I don't mind some 
 people laughing at me ; but I wouldn't stand it from eveiy- 
 body. I daresay you think I couldn't cut up rough — no 
 more I could with you; but I can take my own part as 
 well as most if I'm put upon, and always could from a boy ! " 
 
 " Why, you're a boy now." 
 
 " I'm not, I'm past one-and-twenty. If a man isn't a 
 man at one-and-twenty what's the good of coming of age, 
 and giving the labourers beer and all the rest of it? 
 Twenty-one and my own. master. Don't you think. Miss 
 Lee, it would be a very good thing if I was to marry ? " 
 
 "For yourself, do you mean, or the lady? " 
 
 " For both. I should be very fond of her, I can tell you ; 
 indeed, I'm very fond of her now." 
 
 " Then I certainly shouldn't advise you to think of it. 
 She would lead you the life of a dog ! " 
 
 " But why ? If I did everything she told me, and — and 
 — liked her better than the whole world." 
 
 " I can't conceive anything more tiresome and ridiculous. 
 But why do you ask me of all people ? " 
 
 " Because you are nineteen yourself — ^because you are so 
 clever and so — so different from the people down here. 
 Because, Miss Lee — ^because " 
 
 " Because you can't get another listener," she laughed. 
 " Now, take my advice, it's meant for your good. Do some- 
 thing. Go out into life. Don't stay blinking here at the 
 daylight, like an owl in a hollow tree, but launch on the 
 stream, and ten years hence, when you feel you are really 
 a man, tell some lady you like her, perhaps she will listen 
 to you then. To-day she would only laugh in your face. 
 Don't be angry. I'm not very old, but I think in such 
 matters I have forgotten more than you ever knew." 
 
 He blushed scarlet; tears of rage and mortification rose 
 to his eyes ; but he turned his head away and made shift to 
 swallow them down. Jane Lee went on with her work, 
 thoroughly enjoying his discomfiture. 
 
 " Shall you stay to luncheon ? " she asked after a pause. 
 " We rather expect Mr. Strange, He hasn't been near us 
 for a long time." 
 
 " Does it seem long to you ? " 
 
38 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 " Yes ; the days pass rather slow in the country, and a 
 little excitement goes a great way." 
 
 " Then it is excitement to meet Strange at luncheon ? 
 Miss Lee, what can you see in that fellow? A pompous 
 prig, I call him, and I sometimes think I shall tell him so." 
 
 " Do. He will give you just the sort of set-down you 
 require. I don't know what schoolboys call a prig, but 
 Mr. Strange isn't the least pompous, and, for my part, I 
 think he's very pleasant company." 
 
 If you have ever watched a kitten amusing herself with a 
 ball of string, you must have observed that the instincts of 
 the cat are fully developed in its offspring, and that the one 
 has as little mercy on her plaything as the other on her 
 prey. Jane Lee could have shown no more skill, taken no 
 more pleasure in making her admirer imhappy, had she 
 been a coquette of ten years' experience — nay, for such 
 obvious distress as his, nine-and-twenty might possibly have 
 felt more compassion than nineteen. 
 
 He threw his cigar away with a jerk, and rose stiffly to 
 his feet. 
 
 " I — I don't think I can stay to luncheon," said he, 
 speaking rather low and thick. " I have just remembered 
 that I had forgotten an engagement for the whole afternoon. 
 Please make my excuses to Mrs. Tregarthen. Good morn- 
 ing, Miss Lee." 
 
 " Good-morning, Mr. Paravant." 
 
 " Good-bye." He put his hand out and looked reproach- 
 fully in her face. 
 
 " I don't like saying good-bye," she answered, taking the 
 offered hand graciously enough. " It sounds as if I was 
 never to see you again. Ain't you coming to dinner? " 
 
 " That depends on you. I will if you ask me, of course." 
 
 " How can I ask you? It's not my house. If it were, 
 perhaps you'd have a general invitation, only I should ex- 
 pect you to behave a good deal better than to-day. I am 
 quite afraid of you, Mr. Paravant, when you're so cross." 
 
 " Afraid ! You afraid of me I Oh, Miss Lee, dear Miss 
 Lee, if you only knew " 
 
 She jumped up, gathering books and needlework in her 
 arms. 
 
 " There's the luncheon-bell ! " she exclaimed, hurrying 
 
TWO 8TB1NG8 89 
 
 into the house ; " and here's Mr. Strange. It's too late 
 to keep your appointment now, Mr. Paravant. Better make 
 the best of it, and stay with your friends whUe you can. 
 Some people never know when they're well off." 
 
 CHAPTER Vn 
 
 TWO STRINGS 
 
 PooB James Paravant, in the hands of such a young lady 
 as my heroine, was like a fly in a spider's web. The more 
 he tried to extricate himself the more helplessly he became 
 entangled. Twenty times in the week did he resolve to put 
 an end to this feverish life of longing and uncertainty in a 
 serious proposal, and was only deterred from so desperate a 
 remedy by grievous ignorance as to the form of words usual 
 on such occasions, and an instinctive conviction that he 
 would be refused point-blank ! 
 
 In the latter contingency it would be incumbent on him, 
 he thought, to carry out the part of a despairing lover by 
 flying his country, or at least removing as far as Bath, 
 there to seek " surcease of sorrow" in the society of an 
 admiring mother, and the mild excitements of provincial 
 dissipation. " She would be sorry," he thought, " when it 
 was too late, and the heart that had worshipped her so 
 fondly was lost to her for ever." But in the meantime he 
 hungered to see her every day — ^was exceedingly loath to 
 leave Combe-Wester just as Ms grass was ready to cut — 
 and reflected, not without reason, that one could hardly ex- 
 pect to advance in the good graces of a mistress by calmly 
 resigning her to a rival, and giving up the pursuit in 
 disgust. 
 
 Had he a rival? He asked himself the question, very 
 often, to answer it angrily in the affirmative. With the in- 
 stincts of a lower nature, he mistrusted, no less than he 
 disliked, Mervyn Strange. While professing contempt for 
 a man who could neither ride nor shoot, nor tie flies, nor 
 play cricket, nor, indeed, drink beer and smoke tobacco, 
 he was yet conscious of the other's superiority in moral 
 
40 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 energy, force of character, and the mental qualities that win 
 success in life. To enter the lists against such an adver- 
 sary was to court defeat, and yet how could he bear to 
 abandon the contest? The more he thought the matter 
 OTer the more he hated Mervyn Strange, the more he felt 
 satisfied His life's happiness depended on the favour of 
 Jane Lee. 
 
 In those complications which romantic people call affairs 
 of the heart, there is nothing so pitiable as a reversal of 
 that superiority erroneously supposed to be the prerogative 
 of man in his relations with the other sex. When the lover 
 grovels of his own accord in the dirt, he cannot complain if 
 he is trodden on. "Forward James," as we have seen, 
 knew no French. He had never heard, nor could he have 
 translated, the sensible maxim that, in all relations of life, 
 "II faut se faire valoir; " but there was not the same 
 excuse for Mervyn Strange. 
 
 Before these two men had been six weeks under the influ- 
 ence of Jane Lee's attractions, each succumbed, in his own 
 way,- to the charm that each, in his own way, did his utmost 
 to resist. 
 
 Paravant, as was natural, went down without much 
 struggle, but for his senior the process of subjugation was 
 longer, more complicated, not devoid of cruelty and coercion. 
 Some girls, independently of education and opportunity, 
 are born coquettes, and of these, an earnest, simple-minded 
 man, especially when imaginative and self-conscious, seems 
 the natural prey. The strongest attachments are those which 
 deiy the laws of probability and the fitness of things. When 
 a boy's first love is a woman of forty, she finds herself the 
 object of an infatuation that, despise it though she may, is 
 touching in the absurdity of its self-abnegation and self- 
 sacrifice. When a young lady compels some contemporary 
 of her papa to dance attendance, in chains and tight boots, 
 on her every movement, she enjoys an absolute sovereignty, 
 of which she cannot but recognise the absurdity, while con- 
 scious that she is neither worthy nor willing to be so adorned 
 by such an admirer. 
 
 When two people are thrown together, whose paths 
 through life have been shaped for them in opposite direc- 
 tions, for whom straitened means, family quarrels, other 
 
TWO STBING8 41 
 
 entanglements, have made affection a torment, and marriage 
 an impossibility, they will go on caring for each other till 
 they are gray, with a constancy that can only be accounted 
 for oil a principle of contradiction inherent in the human 
 race, derived perhaps from our common mother in her 
 garden of Eden, hankering after forbidden fruit. 
 
 Whereas, if Adonis, with ten thousand a year in a ring- 
 fence, marries Hebe with an adjoining ten thousand a year, 
 also in a ring-fence, cheered by the enthusiastic approval of 
 friends, relations, tenants in the marquee, labourers on the 
 lawn, and five columns of the county paper, the chances 
 are they will be yawning in three months, wrangling in six, 
 and starting before the year is out on a journey that, not- 
 withstanding many stoppages, much hesitation, frequent 
 turnings back, and puttings on of the drag-chain, too often 
 terminates in sin, shame, discovery, the Divorce Court, and 
 misery for life. 
 
 Mervyn Strange, however — taking himself to task severely 
 in a solitary walk to visit a parishioner — had not yet arrived 
 at such reflections as these. Steep and rugged are the 
 heights of Mount Ida after our footsteps have fairly en- 
 tangled us in the thickets and precipices that defend her 
 shrine ; but the start is pleasant enough, rising gradually 
 on an easy incline, covered with grass and flowers. The 
 clergyman began to labour, and stumble, and catch his 
 breath, ere he was aware he had really left the plain. The 
 first time he saw Jane Lee, he said to himself, " A thing of 
 beauty is a joy for ever! " vrith the sense of admiration, 
 apart from any idea of possession, that we experience in 
 contemplating the macaws in the Zoo, for instance, the Koh- 
 i-noor diamond, or, say, the golden image of Prince. Albert, 
 the great and good, in Hyde Park. The second time, on 
 leaving her, he felt it required an effort to shake off the in- 
 fluence of a presence that seemed to hang about him like 
 the memory of a scent or a song. The third, he wondered 
 what she thought of him, and decided that if he were not a 
 clergyman, and if he had any intentions of marrying, with 
 many similar contingencies, this was in every respect the 
 sort of girl he should like to make his wife. 
 
 When a man has got thus far, he seldom comes back 
 again a single step. The thorns may be sharp and frequent, 
 
44 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 meet in close and mortal combat ! I would be content to 
 perish at her feet, her breath on my brow, her calm, cruel, 
 maddening eyes looking down into mine. To perish ? Ay, 
 but it would be to perish everlastingly ! And these poor 
 souls committed to my charge, this score or two of silly 
 sheep entrusted to my keeping, here literally in the wilder- 
 ness — shall I not be faithful over a few things ? Shall I, 
 the shepherd, leave them to the wolf, because of a girl's 
 dark eyes, that look upon me kindly twice or thrice in a 
 week? Oh my darling ! my darling ! how much would I 
 give up for your sake ! But no ! I dare not. I will not ! 
 Henceforth I must school and harden myself, till I become 
 a man of steel. You shall be to me as the statue of a 
 goddess in a gallery, or the picture of a nymph on a wall. 
 I will come into your presence witjiout a tremor, leave it 
 without a sigh, and — and because I could love you so 
 dearly, I will worship you and care for you no more ! " 
 
 Having arrived at this sensible determination, it is not 
 surprising that the curate, after folfilling his parish duties, 
 should have so timed his walk and directed his steps, as to 
 pass his rector's garden at the hour Jane Lee was pretty 
 sure to be sitting with her book or work-basket, under her 
 accustomed tree. 
 
 When people have made up their minds to overcome 
 temptation, they are usually indiscreetly eager to put their 
 good resolutions to the test. I doubt if the plan often 
 answers, and am inclined to think that for men, and women 
 too, it is safer, in such cases, to run than to fight. Mervyn 
 Strange, however, was a strong-minded person, priding him- 
 self on his force of character, and this was the result. 
 
 A great start of surprise, assumed no doubt, because he 
 must have expected to see her, or why did he pass that 
 way ? A rush of blood to his brow, followed by unnatural 
 pallor and white twitching lips. A constrained greeting, 
 that might have convinced the merest schoolgirl of her 
 power, and a little nervous laugh, of which he was painfully 
 conscious and pitifully ashamed. Miss Lee, on the other 
 hand, seemed perfectly cool and collected. It is not to be 
 supposed she was ignorant of the effect she produced, nor do 
 I believe but that a young lady can appreciate the homage 
 she doubtless considers her due with as much discernment 
 at nineteen as at any subsequent period of her life. 
 
TWO STRINGS 46 
 
 Miss Quilter was an excellent governess, her establish- 
 ment was conducted on principles of rigorous seclusion, 
 befitting such a nunnery of modem times ; yet a little bird 
 told me that her pupils, of all ages, were in the habit of 
 discussing with considerable freedom the relative influence 
 of the sexes, and that in one of their parliaments, held under 
 a certain sycamore on summer afternoons after school-hours, 
 little Miss Moffat, whose frock barely reached her ankles, 
 was heard to declare, that in her opinion no girl of spirit 
 should be contented with less than two admirers on hand 
 at once, or accept an offer of marriage till she had already 
 refused three ! 
 
 Jane Lee, then, the tallest, the handsonlest, the most 
 daring and precocious of these budding beauties, cannot 
 but have studied such subjects — theoretically at least — with 
 sufficent attention to form her own ideas, and act up to her 
 own opinions. She was no blundering novice, stumbling 
 here, slipping there, and breaking her head or her heart 
 against an obstacle, in the flurry and confasion of unaccus- 
 tomed ignorance. She seemed rather an experienced mariner, 
 who had carefally conned charts and taken bearings for the 
 traversing of latitudes as yet unexplored ; so that, in spite 
 of his seniority, his manhood, his acquirements, and his 
 calling, Mervyn Strange was a mere puppet in her hands. 
 She could fool, tease, soothe, or provoke him at will, and 
 was likely to give him about as much rope, show him about 
 as much mercy, as the cat already mentioned affords to a 
 mouse, or the Mtten to its ball of string. 
 
 CHAPTER Vni 
 
 BBED IN THE BONB 
 
 " Why do you never come near us, Mr. Strange ? No, I 
 won't shake hands. I shake hands with people who are 
 glad to see me, and you're not." 
 
 He had schooled himself to be ice and marble, so the 
 something that shot through him like an electric cun-ent 
 while she spoke was of no consequence whatever. 
 
46 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 " I — I looked in aa I happened to be passing," he stam- 
 mered. " I had no idea I should find you at home." 
 
 " That's just what I say. If you had, you wouldn't have 
 come ! Well, now you are here you can make yourself 
 useful. In the first place, help me to tie up these roses in 
 one bunch. Not that way ! How cliunsy men are I Their 
 fingers are all thumbs ! " 
 
 Her taper hands touched his own ; their heads were bent 
 over the posy; he could feel her breath on his cheek. 
 What a mercy that he could make up his mind not to care 
 for her! Without such preparation, the position would 
 have been dangerous in the extreme. He had taken a 
 second-class at Oxford, was a man of abilities over the 
 average, a good theologian, well read in classical authors, 
 ancient history, modern literature, and he was racking his 
 brains for something to say to a girl of nineteen, yet could 
 elicit no more original remark than the obvious truism that 
 " Flowers are very beautiful," adding, as a brilliant after- 
 thought : " You — ^you are fond of flowers, Miss Lee ? " 
 
 " No, I'm not ! " she answered. " I hate the order and 
 neatness of a garden ; I hate everything prim, and tame, 
 and artificial. I should like to be a savage, Mr. Strange, 
 and dress skins in a wigwam ! " 
 
 But for his late resolutions, he felt how willingly he would 
 have exchanged the high black waistcoat, soft hat, long 
 skirts, and decent externals of a Christian mioister, for 
 beads, blanket, war-paint, and wampum, with such a squaw 
 as this to warm the lodge and brighten the wilderness by 
 her smiles, but he remonstrated gravely, nevertheless : 
 
 " You cannot be in earnest. Miss Lee ; you cannot wish 
 to barter the comforts of home, the privileges, the luxuries, 
 the social advantages of civilisation, for a mere animal 
 existence, limited to such wants and pleasures as are shared 
 by the beasts of the field." 
 
 " Say rather the birds of the air. Fancy the delight of 
 being free. No clocks, no regular meals, no afternoon calls, 
 no reading, no vsriting, no duty towards your neighbour, and 
 above all, no Mends ! " 
 
 He was hurt, and showed it. " That is not a kind 
 speech," said he. " Perhaps the friends might feel lonely, 
 though you would not ! " 
 
BBED IN THE BONE 47 
 
 "Who is there to miss me?" she asked, bending her 
 dark eyes on him, with an expression half tender, half 
 scornful, hut wholly perplexing, that pleased and pained 
 him at the same time. " Few girls of my age are so much 
 alone in the world. I don't complain. I shouldn't like a 
 lot of brothers and sisters, uncles, aunts, and cousins. The 
 ordinary humdrum relationships of life would only fret and 
 provoke me, and make me worse than I am. No, it is better 
 to be a wild bird, out of the nest for good and all, flying 
 from tree to tree, at its own will, to perch on any branch it 
 fancies. If I were to pack up my traps, and disappear to- 
 morrow morning, nobody knows where, I don't believe I 
 should be missed one bit, and I'm sure I shouldn't care 
 whether I were or not ! " 
 
 " You cannot mean it," he replied, in some agitation. 
 "It grieves me to hear you speak like that. It seems so sad, 
 so unnatural for such a — such a — such a — ^person as yourself, 
 with youth, health, a good education, good looks " 
 
 She interrupted him. 
 
 " Stop a moment, good looks are a matter of opinion ; and 
 granting that I had them, what's the use of being good- 
 looking, with nobody to look at one ! " 
 
 " There's many a gem of purest ray serene," he murmured, 
 for in truth, such was the man's discomfiture in this unequal 
 warfare that he was fain to faU back on memory, rather than 
 trust ingenuity, for continuance of a contest that threatened 
 his doTirafall at every turn. 
 
 "I know," she replied laughing; "but I'm not serene, 
 and I don't want to blush unseen — I don't want to blush at 
 all. Nothing makes one look such a fool, Mr. Strange." 
 
 " Miss Lee " 
 
 " I don't like you to call me Miss Lee. It sounds stiff 
 and formal. I suppose it wouldn't be right for you to call 
 me Jane ? " 
 
 He turned pale. All his good resolutions were forgotten. 
 "I'm not sure." 
 
 " And yet Mr. Paravant does, and you're a great deal 
 older than James." 
 
 The good resolutions came back with a rush, but brought 
 with them not a shade of colour to his cheek. 
 
 Called her by her christian-name, did he ? — that cub ! — 
 
48 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 and she let him! To be sure, "Forward James" might 
 not have asked permission. After all what did it matter to 
 him ? He was vexed to find himself irritated by such a 
 trifle! 
 
 " Shall I tell you the name I always think of you by ? " 
 he asked, with a little tremble of the voice that no doubt 
 she marked and understood : " Dark, beautiful, shadowy, 
 vague as a dream, mysterious as night ; for me you iave 
 never been Miss Lee ; anybody could be Miss Lee : you are 
 my ' Beltenebrosa.' " 
 
 She had not an idea what it meant, but her black eyes 
 flashed, and a flush of pleasure rose to her brow. 
 
 "Beltenebrosa!" she repeated. "Oh, thank you, Mr. 
 Strange; what a lovely name ! I shall always call myself 
 Beltenebrosa, and it will remind me of you. How nice to 
 be so vdse ! to have read everything, to remember everything, 
 to know everything. Yes, a man had better be clever than 
 young, or strong, or even handsome. James Paravant might 
 have puzzled a long time before he found me such a name 
 as that. It's too charming ; say it again." 
 
 Did she know how she tortured him? how this proud, 
 sensitive, conscientious spirit winced and withered under 
 the alternate applications of ice and fire so mercilessly 
 imposed ? Let us hope not. Let us hope that the higher 
 aspirations, the deeper sufferings of a character like this, 
 were as unintelligible as they would have been impossible to 
 the nature she inherited with her gipsy beauty and her 
 gipsy blood. 
 
 If she had one prevailing desire, one dominating instinct, 
 it was a wild longing for freedom — the real practical freedom 
 of open air, common, woodland, and moor. It seemed to 
 rise and stir in her veins Hke the sap in a young tree that 
 puts forth its leaves, dons its holiday attire, and, so to speak, 
 stretches out its branches to meet the spring. For her, the 
 wealth of gray, and green, and pink, and white, and lavender 
 that deepens an English landscape in early June, like some 
 beautiful matron arrayed for a wedding-feast, was no inani- 
 mate abstraction to be admired, but an actual living person- 
 ality to be loved. While she drank in their beauty through 
 all her senses, she would fain have identified herself with 
 the breeze, the cloud, the broken water, the dancing sun- 
 
" Gazed after the departing train." 
 
 Rlaik I, lit Coiiielv 
 
 [Page 49 
 
BBED IN THE BONE 49 
 
 shine, and merged her own heing in that nature, which 
 appeared to her less the effect than the great first cause of 
 generation, life and light. Sitting out-of-doors whenever 
 she had the opportunity, she seemed to gain strength and 
 refreshment from air and light, as others do from food and 
 wine. The arch of heaven was her natural roof-tree, and 
 only in the hoimdless freedom of space did she feel thoroughly 
 at home. Even in her school-days she would look wistftdly 
 towards Kensington Gardens, as, passing to and from Miss 
 Quilter's polite establishment, she coasted that urban 
 wilderness, which prevents Londoners from completely for- 
 getting the poetry of out-door life, the hidden charm that 
 lies in groves and glades, summer skies, breaking buds, and 
 teeming bursts of nature, vindicating her immortality, when 
 
 Every clod feels a stir of might, 
 An instinct within it that reaches and towers. 
 
 And grasping blindly above it for light, 
 Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers. 
 
 In the meantime she turned her bewildering glances on 
 Mervyn Strange, as if she had no thought nor feeHng in the 
 universe but for him. He was losing his head. 
 
 " Will you give me one of those roses ? " said he, bend- 
 ing towards the cluster in her hand. " I — I shall value it 
 exceedingly. I am so fond of roses." 
 
 It was a lame conclusion. Shy men generally begin_ by 
 asking for a flower, and probably so innocent a request is a 
 fair challenge enough, and as good as any other. Bosalind, 
 if I remember right, recommends an attempt at kissing as 
 the least indelicate resource for breaking the awkward silence 
 sometimes observed in such interviews; but so compro- 
 mising an expedient seems more trying to both parties, as 
 involving immediate action for attack and defence ; nor do 
 I think that a diffident suitor extricates himself from such 
 a position quite to his own satisfaction, or that of his com- 
 panion. The curate must have meant to finish his sentence 
 very differently, as the young lady perhaps expected,; but for 
 the sudden appearance of Mr. Tregfirthen crossing the lawn, 
 with a less assured step than usual, and a strange expression 
 of concern, even dismay, on his florid prosperous face. 
 
 4 
 
50 BLACK BUT GOMELY 
 
 Grushing a yellow envelope in his hand, he took no notice 
 of Strange, but walked straight up to Miss Lee. 
 
 " Jane," he said, speaking, though hoarse and thick, in 
 a very kind voice — "Jane, my dear young lady, Mrs. 
 Tregarthen wishes to see you immediately. In the drawing- 
 room, if you please. Now, this moment, my dear. You 
 will find her quite alone." 
 
 And the two disappeared within the French windows, 
 leaving Mervyn Strange outside, to congratulate himself on 
 the escape he had made, or ponder on the chance he had 
 thrown away. 
 
 But he could not tear himself from the place. Curiosity, 
 interest, affection, even anxiety, anchored him to a spot so 
 lately hallowed by the presence of his Beltenebrosa. Would 
 she come back before dinner, and if so, should he take up 
 the thread of his discourse where he had left off, or wait for 
 a fairer opportunity, or tear this weakness from his heart, 
 and give up the idea once for all? Such renunciation 
 seemed feasible enough this morning ; was it possible now ? 
 With a keen pang, it occurred to him that the sacrifice 
 might be uncalled for, after all. What was this sudden 
 communication, obviously telegraphic, this important mes- 
 sage, to be delivered privately in the drawing-room, and by 
 Mrs. Tregarthen herself? Surely it must mean an offer of 
 marriage, conveyed indeed on the electric vrire, yet none the 
 less importunate for that. And if so, was he a broken- 
 hearted man ? Had it come to this ? He rather thought 
 he was. 
 
 " Then let the stricken deer go weep," he murmured, vrith 
 an aching sense of desolation, a longing desire for solitude, 
 silence, and stupor, perhaps, rather than repose. 
 
 At such a moment he could but impatiently support the 
 presence of a person he disliked so much as young Mr. 
 Paravant. 
 
 " Forward James," however, enjoying a happy uncon- 
 sciousness that he was ever unwelcome, swung into the 
 rectory garden and clicked the gate behind him, with a 
 jaunty air of self-possession and content. He, too, had been 
 employing his leisure in pondering on the charms of our 
 young lady and her reception of his advances, to arrive at 
 the conclusion that she was fully sensible of his merits, and 
 
BBED IN TEE BONE 61 
 
 (" gals were all alike ") only assumed a little coyness and 
 reluctance, for the purpose of " bringing him on." He re- 
 turned to the rectory garden an hour before dinner, in the 
 hope of resuming a Ute-d>-tite too abruptly broken off, and 
 was sorely disappointed when he saw the curate hoTering 
 about the spot where he expected to find Jane Lee. 
 
 The two men disliked each other cordially. But what 
 would you have ? This is a world of shams — even far away 
 in quiet Somerset, they were obliged to be civil, and say 
 "How d'ye do?" 
 
 "Nice weather for haymaking," observed the younger, 
 wiping from his brow some drops of perspiration, the result 
 of uneasiness rather than temperature. *' I've got forty 
 acres down in Appleton-Cleves. I should be out more than 
 a ' pony ' if it came on to rain. I suppose you won't pray 
 for fine weather on Sunday, shall you ? " 
 
 Strange looked displeased. "You had better ask the 
 rector," said he stiffly. " The welfare of humanity is not 
 dependent on Appleton hay-harvest, but he will meet your 
 wishes, no doubt." 
 
 " Oh ! I don't want to put him out of his way, nor you 
 neither," answered the other, with perfect equanimity. 
 " In fact, I daresay I shall not be at church myself. I 
 should like to see Tregarthen, though, before I go home 
 to-night. I was thinking of dining here." 
 
 " The rector has received some important news, and I 
 fancy would rather not be disturbed. He came out just 
 now, much agitated and perplexed. It is not five minutes 
 since he went into the house." 
 
 " And Miss Lee ? " 
 
 " And Miss Lee." 
 
 Both coloured at the mention of her name, both turned 
 paler the next moment, each felt he had read the other's 
 secret and exposed his own. If either entertained any 
 previous doubt or hesitation, his intentions were fixed and 
 decided now. There was the prize, here stood his rival. 
 It must be a stand-up fight, and let the best man win ! 
 
52 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 CHAPTEK IX 
 
 "and is old double dead?" 
 
 " Compose yourself, my dear," said Mrs. Tregarthen, as 
 the glass doors closed behind Miss Lee, shuttiag out the 
 scent of flowers, the song of birds, the smiling summer sky, 
 and her two lovers eyeing each other on the lawn ; 
 " compose yourself, I — I — have something very painful to 
 communicate ! " 
 
 The good lady was shaking all over — hands, cap, ribbons, 
 chain, lockets, and general exterior vibrated like the leaves 
 on a poplar in a breeze. 
 
 " Let me break it to her, Selina," interrupted the rector. 
 " Compose yourself, my dear, we must all encounter these 
 trials soon or late ! " 
 
 The girl looked from one to the other, with head up and 
 muscles braced ; her dark eyes glared and shone like those 
 of a wild animal trapped by hunters, a fera naturce of some 
 fierce and restless order, such as the leopardess, the wild- 
 cat, or the lynx. 
 
 " Don't keep me in suspense," she said. " Out with it ! 
 I can bear anything I " 
 
 " My dear, your guardian," sobbed the rector's wife, and 
 fairly burst into tears. 
 
 " Mr. Lopex, my dear," added the rector, in a calmer 
 voice, yet sadly troubled too. " So sudden, so unlooked- 
 for ! I had not received the telegram five minutes before I 
 came to you " 
 
 She drew herself up, tall, handsome, and defiant. 
 
 " He's dead, I know he is ! " she answered. " I am left 
 without a soul to care for me in the world ! " 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Tregarthen looked at each other in sore 
 perplexity. Had she wept, or screamed, or gone into 
 hysterics, or done anything that warranted the application 
 of sherry and sal volatile, they would have known how to 
 act ; but this was a new experience, a phase of grief they 
 had never before seen or realised. The girl's limbs were 
 rigid, her face j)ale and set, not softened in any degree 
 by so awful a calamity, but rather wild and stem, as 
 
" AND IS OLD DOUBLE DEAD ? " 63 
 
 though accepting such an injury less in sorrow than in 
 anger. 
 
 "You have anticipated me," said the rector. "Alas, 
 my dear, your forebodings are too true ! " and proceeded 
 with much circumlocution, many reflections — logical, ob- 
 vious, perfectly indisputable, yet none the more consolatory 
 — ^to relate such particulars as he had gathered from the 
 telegram of her guardian's demise. These were scanty, 
 but clear and conclusive enough. Jack Lopez had been 
 ailing after dinner, in a doctor's hands at midnight, and 
 dead before morning. It was a commonplace event, and, 
 out of his own immediate circle, affected nobody but a few 
 creditors who held his bills, of which they were already 
 beginning to suspect the worthlessness. Said one Jew to 
 another, meeting in a stone-paved passage by Stag's Court : 
 
 " Have you heard about Shack Lopez ? " 
 
 *' Broke, is, he ? " was the reply. " I've known it these 
 three months." 
 
 " Worse than that, mine friend. He's dead. Went off 
 the hooks this morning at sunrise." 
 
 " Glad he don't owe me anything. Shack couldn't pay 
 twopence in the pound. Poor Shack ! what a fool he was ! " 
 
 And this was Jack's epitaph. Shorter and less compli- 
 mentary than that pronounced by Justice Shallow on the 
 bowman defunct — " And is old Double dead? " Few of us 
 can expect more. For one or two the columns of a daily 
 paper are ruled in black ; to half-a-dozen it vouchsafes an 
 incorrect biography of the smallest type ; a few score find a 
 place at the end of the year in " our obituary of notable 
 persons deceased ; " but to your disappearance and mine, 
 the general public will, in all probability, be profoundly in- 
 different. Only a former friend or two, an acquaintance 
 here and there, who deals in the latest news, will stop 
 for a moment to ask carelessly — "And is old Double 
 dead?" 
 
 Was it worth while to " shoot a good shoot " for such 
 obsequies as these ? Yes, it is always worth while to shoot 
 a good shoot ! Stand up like a man, bend your bow, 
 straighten your back, draw your arrow to the head, aim true 
 and steady ; whether you get an outer or an inner ring, a 
 white, a gold, a bull's-eye, or miss the target altogether, 
 
54 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 do your level best, and never doubt but that, according to 
 your intentions, not your merits, you will take a prize. 
 
 History fails to inform us how " old Double " cut up, but 
 when his executors administered the affairs of Jack Lopez, 
 except for a sum of five hundred pounds secured to Jane 
 Lee, he did not leave behind him a shilling. Like many 
 another speculator, he seemed to have spent his money as 
 fast as he made it ; gambling in all kinds of stocks and 
 shares, so as to lose with one hand what he gained with the 
 other. Generous on occasion, but never just, extravagant 
 at all times, and often dishonest, quick, acute, versatile, 
 with a strong belief in his own luck, he was fond of boast- 
 ing that it was his nature to be " a man or a mouse," and 
 that he would die a millionaire or a beggar. It appeared 
 subsequently that he meant to make his ward sole heiress 
 of the noble fortune he hoped to acquire, but these magnifi- 
 cent intentions have nothing to do with my story, as they 
 were never carried out. 
 
 It was a melancholy evening at the rectory. Jane Lee 
 could not be induced to leave her room. Paravant and 
 Strange, informed, rather incoherently, by their hostess, of 
 the calamity that had befallen, felt it only decent to take 
 leave, and Mr. Tregarthen sat down to dinner with his wife, 
 much perplexed as to what should be done and how to do 
 it. Ought he to offer the bereaved young lady a home ? 
 Perhaps she had no other Mends. At her age, and — and 
 — with her appearance, she must not be turned loose on 
 the world. What did Selina think ? Selina, as usual, saw 
 both sides of the question, prepared to approve whichever 
 he did not. She pointed out, with some truth, that the 
 rector might find himself in a false position, fi-om which ex- 
 trication would be difficult, whether he adopted one course 
 or the other. If the girl were penniless, and he offered her 
 a home, it would be exceedingly awkward for all parties ; 
 but again, if she turned out to be an heiress, and he made 
 no sign, would they not lose the benefit of her friendship, 
 and their share, however small, in the eventual advantages 
 of her wealth ? It was not for want of discussion, that 
 when tea went into the drawing-room, nothing had been 
 settled but that the Kev. Silas should proceed to London 
 next day by an early train, and learn what he could. In 
 
" AND IS OLD DOUBLE DEAD r' 65 
 
 the meantime, Mrs. Tregarthen would do all in her power, 
 without committing him, to console poor Jane, and, as she 
 phrased it, " keep the girl easy in her mind." 
 
 In difficulties of a domestic nature, the decisions at which 
 people arrive are almost always upset aa soon as made. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Tregarthen, congratulating themselves that 
 for the present they had solved a knotty point, and put off 
 their trouble to a ftiture day, were somewhat startled and 
 discomfited by the opening of the drawing-room door, and 
 the apparition of Jane Lee on the threshold, tall, pale, and 
 noiseless as a ghost. She entered the apartment perfectly 
 calm and self-possessed, to take up a position, with much 
 dignity, bolt upright in front of the master of the house, 
 who half rose and sat timidly down again, fairly overawed. 
 
 " Mr. Tregarthen," she said, calmly enough, " I leave 
 here to-morrow morning. I am come to wish you and Mrs. 
 Tregarthen good-bye. Don't look at me like that. I am 
 going home — straight home. I must see him before he's 
 screwed down ! " 
 
 " Oh, Jane ! " exclaimed the rector's wife. 
 
 " I must see him," she repeated, in the same monotonous 
 voice, while her eyes wandered vaguely over the other's face 
 and figure. " I have got to say good-bye ; I have got to 
 ask him to come back to me, if people ever do come back. 
 But that's aU nonsense. When they go from here they go 
 for good, if they go anywhere ; but I don't believe a word 
 of all that ! " 
 
 Mrs. Tregarthen looked inexpressibly shocked. She 
 could find no words to reply, while, turning to the rector, 
 Jane Lee proceeded, without altering a muscle of her coun- 
 tenance : 
 
 " I shall start early. The train passes before nine. If 
 he knows anything now, he will know I got to him as soon 
 as I could." 
 
 "My dear, you can't go alone," gasped the rector's 
 wife. 
 
 " Why not ? I came here alone. Good-night, Mrs. Tre- 
 garthen ; good-night everybody. It's all over now. Bon 
 soir la compagnie/" and she walked out of the drawing- 
 room, sad and dreamy as Ophelia, but stem and resolute as 
 Lady Macbeth. 
 
56 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 " I had better take her with me," said the rector, after a 
 long thoughtful pause. " We shall have to be off in good 
 time-^I think I'll go to bed at once. Will you tell them 
 about breakfast, Selina ? We shall want it earlier than 
 usual." 
 
 He rose from his arm-chair, but sank back before he 
 could get fairly on his feet. 
 
 " By all that's — that's — well — that's detestable ! " ex- 
 claimed the rector, " I've got it again. If it had only come 
 on last week, or waited till next ! I was half afraid of it ! 
 I didn't feel right yesterday — ^you shouldn't have let me 
 drink port-wine and cider that same day. It's too provok- 
 ing ! It does seem so hard ! Now it's really caught hold 
 of me, I shall not be able to move for a fortnight, and as 
 for going to London to-morrow, I might just as well think 
 of going to Peru! " 
 
 The rector's apprehensions were not unreasonable. It 
 was simply an attack of lumbago — his old enemy, that 
 when it got him down would keep him down, he well knew, 
 as effectually as if he had been screwed into his arm-chair. 
 In vain his Selina mixed him hot drinks of a comforting 
 nature, and turning him over on the connubial four-poster, 
 rubbed hartshorn and oil into his back tiU her own hands 
 were sore. By two o'clock in the morning it seemed clear 
 enough that the Rev. Silas was incapacitated from moving 
 a limb, while his wife, through the two hideous night-caps 
 she persisted in wearing, could hear Jane Lee making 
 preparations for immediate departure in her bedroom over- 
 head. , 
 
 Mrs. Tregarthen was a person of resource. Even could 
 she have been induced to leave her husband in his present 
 state of helplessness — a desertion, to do her justice, she 
 contemplated not for an instant — a raUway journey termi- 
 nating in London, with the charge of anybody or anything, 
 was an undertaking of which she felt perfectly incapable, 
 and therefore it never entered her head to accompany Miss 
 Lee; but she reflected that what people cannot do for them- 
 selves other people can do for them, and as she argued, 
 " What's the use of a curate except to take his rector's 
 duty, and stand in his rector's place ? " Yes, if he were 
 ten years older perhaps it would be better ; but in great 
 
"AND IS OLD DOUBLE DEAD!" B7 
 
 emergencies one must not l?e too particular. Mervyn 
 Strange, to use her own words, was " as steady as old 
 Time," and Mervyn Strange should take the girl to London, 
 since to London she persisted in going, under a promise 
 from hoth that, after making all necessary arrangements 
 for the funeral, they would return by mail-train that same 
 night. 
 
 The curate, before his shaving-glass, at six o'clock on a 
 summer's morning, was no less startled than pleased to 
 receive from Mrs. Tregarthen the follovring brief and dicta- 
 torial missive : 
 
 " Dbab Me. Strange, 
 
 " Knowing you are an early riser, I am not afraid 
 this will find you in bed. The rector is laid up with rheu- 
 matism, and I wish you therefore to take his place in escort- 
 ing Miss Lee to London by the nine o'clock train. I expect 
 you both to return to-night by the mail. Please come at 
 once to the rectory for further directions. 
 
 "Yours sincerely, 
 
 " Sblina Tebgaethbn. 
 
 "P.S. — Of course I need not remind you that in com- 
 mitting such a charge to your care, I rely implicitly on your 
 character for common sense and discretion." 
 
 That the curate should have selected a newer suit of 
 clothes, a neater pair of boots than those laid out for his 
 usual wear, only infers that he was mortal, and foolishly in 
 love with Jane Lee. That he should have accepted such a 
 trust, however joyfully, with many misgivings and mental 
 reservations, infers that, like the rest of us, he had no 
 objection to rush on his fate blind-fold, so long as his ovm 
 hands might tie the bandage over his eyes ; but that he 
 should have packed a small portmanteau with garments 
 enough to last a week, argued a character replete with fore- 
 sight and precaution equal to aU emergencies, and, while 
 hoping for the best, prepared to confront the worst. 
 
 He was shocked, though, and deeply moved, to mark the 
 alteration one night of sorrow had made in the beautiful 
 features of Jane Lee. As she stepped over the threshold 
 
58 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 into the summer morning, he started, as from a blow, to 
 observe the contrast of that pale drawn face with the glad 
 sunshine and the fresh blooming flowers. He had not the 
 heart to pull one from its stalk and offer it to the mourner, 
 but he thought sadly enough of poor Ophelia, with her 
 rosemary and rue. After a few hasty injunctions from Mrs. 
 Tregarthen, he handed her respectfully into the fly, and 
 took his own seat by the driver, on the box, without a word. 
 She appreciated this forbearance, we may be sure, nor was 
 her passionate grief for the loss of her guardian so engross- 
 ing as to stifle certain tender feelings of gratitude and even 
 preference, created by the sympathy and consideration of 
 Mervyn Strange. 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 A MAN in love, at least under middle age, is usually an early 
 riser. James Paravant, with forty acres of grass dovm in 
 Appleton-Cleves, thought well to visit his haymakers before 
 breakfast. Returning from that fertile meadow-land by the 
 high-road, he thus met the very fly that conveyed Miss 
 Lee to the station, and, catching a glimpse of her face in 
 the conveyance, felt much surprise and vexation to recog- 
 nise Mervyn Strange on the box. So complete was his 
 discomfiture, he had not even presence of mind to stop the 
 carriage, in order to wish its occupant good-bye, but stood 
 gaping in the road, utterly paralysed and overcome. He 
 pulled himself together, as people unused to emergencies 
 generally do, just when it was too late, but showed a deal of 
 misapplied energy in trying to make up for lost time. 
 
 In three minutes he was at his own stable-door, nearly 
 haK a mUe off, vociferating like a madman for groom and 
 helpers. " Forward James," as he often boasted, liked to 
 ride " something that could gallop a bit ; " and, to do him 
 justice, seemed quite capable of making the animal exert its 
 powers. In his present state of excitement he was not dis- 
 posed to let the grass grow under his feet. 
 
" 8IXTY.MILE-AN-E0UB " 69 
 
 " Isaac ! Kenben ! " he shouted, as two close-cropped 
 heads and four bare arms to match appeared from the hay- 
 loft. " Eeuben ! Isaac ! Here, one of you ! Clap a 
 saddle on Potboy. Be smart, man alive ! Not that bridle 
 — the Pelham. Don't hang at it for an hour ! Have the 
 horse turned round and ready by the time I come down ! " 
 Then he rushed upstairs to cram some money into his 
 pockets and put on a better hat. 
 
 I suppose none of us ever ordered a horse out in a hurry, 
 not even on emergencies involving matters of life and death, 
 without experiencing certain hindrances and delays caused by 
 too religious an observance of those stable rites that the 
 most careless of grooms would rather perish than forego. 
 By accustomed hands, the animal can be stripped, saddled, 
 turned round and bridled in about two minutes ; but it 
 seems impossible for it to leave the stable under five. 
 Each foot must be lifted and examined, perhaps blacked, 
 the mane set straight, combed, and finally water-brushed. 
 Nothing — not even a running accompaniment of curses, as 
 Paravant found to his extreme disgust — can be made to 
 hasten these operations. 
 
 Miss Lee and her escort had already taken their seats in 
 a first-class carriage when " Forward James," lengthening a 
 stirrup as he went, passed through his own gate into the 
 high-road at a gallop. But Potboy could slip along when 
 he was extended, and, under the impression no doubt that 
 he was running for money, therefore, judging by his own 
 experience, likely to be pulled up before he could win, laid 
 himself out in such good form as to bring his master into 
 the station within seven minutes of the start from his own 
 stable-door. Both were exceedingly hot and uncomfortable. 
 The horse relieved his feelings by a shake, the rider by an 
 oath ; for the latter only gained the platform as a train 
 glided from it with asthmatic puffs and one of those defiant 
 whistles that seem to say, " Catch me if you can ! " 
 
 It is out of my power to explain why Paravant should 
 have felt so disappointed, or what he intended to do had he 
 arrived in time. I do not believe he could give any definite 
 reason for being so hard on Potboy, or that he had formed 
 any plan in his own mind for hindrance of the fugitives. 
 His heart was on fire, his head in a whirl. He had never 
 
60 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 been accustomed to reflection, self-control, or discipline of 
 any kind, and rode hia horse as fast as it could lay legs to 
 the ground, simply because the violent exercise and excite- 
 ment served for the moment to take him out of himself. 
 
 Flurried, disordered, red-hot, and in a profuse perspira- 
 tion, he felt painfully conscious that he looked like a fool as 
 he gazed after the departing train ; nor did it tend to restore 
 his equanimity that he might be seen by two of the travel- 
 lers in this ridiculous plight, and laughed at for his pains. 
 He recovered, however, after a time, and availed himself of 
 his intimacy with the station-master to make some inquiries, 
 while he lit a cigar. 
 
 " Any passengers this morning?" he asked, with such 
 affectation of carelessness as could only deceive a pre- 
 occupied official, ruler in hand and pencil in mouth. 
 
 " Two — ^first-class, Mr. Paravant," answered the station- 
 master, " and one second. Did you miss the train, sir, I 
 thought perhaps as you might have been going up along of 
 Mr. Strange." 
 
 " Mr. Strange? Not I. Was he travelling alone? " 
 
 " WeU, sir, I think not. He took two tickets for Padding- 
 ton — returns they was — available by the down express." 
 
 Returns ! Paravant felt that a load had been lifted from 
 his heart. She was coming back, then, and he should see 
 her again ! The relief from pain amounted to actual 
 pleasure, and he could hardly bear even Strange a grudge for 
 taking away his idol, since he seemed pledged to bring it 
 back again. How miserable he would have felt had he 
 heard of her departure by accident, and remained uncertain 
 of her return ! How well Potboy had brought him ! What 
 a good little horse it was ! and how lucky he came straight 
 to the station ! 
 
 He would have thought differently, perhaps, had he over- 
 heard a conversation between the two people in whom he 
 was so deeply interested, that originated in his sudden 
 appearance, and might never have taken place but for his 
 late arrival. 
 
 " There's James Paravant, I declare ! " said Miss Lee, 
 pulling up the window, as the train increased its speed. 
 " What on earth can have brought him to the station? " 
 
 "I think I can guess," answered Mervyn Strange, ar- 
 
" SIXTY-MILE-AN-HOUB" 61 
 
 ranging her wraps and belongings with tender care. " He 
 came to see the last of you, and to wish you good-bye." 
 
 He was pleased to think she had woke up out of her 
 sorrow enough to notice anything, and encouraged her to 
 talk, even about his rival, rather than not talk at all. 
 
 " And he has seen the last of me," she replied, with per- 
 fect composure. " I don't think I shall ever come back to 
 Somersetshire again." 
 
 " But I've got our return-tickets in my pocket ! " ex- 
 claimed the clergyman, feeling his brain turn giddy in a 
 whirl of impossibilities suggested by this startling declara- 
 tion of independence. 
 
 " People should never take returns," said the girl. 
 "How do we know we shall come back? A thousand 
 things might happen. In the first place, it's very easy to 
 be lolled on a railway. Why, how fast do you suppose we 
 are going now ? " 
 
 " Sixty-mile-an-hour." 
 
 " I enjoy it ! I thihk it's my nature to go sixty-mile-an- 
 hour. I wish we were always flying through the air at this 
 pace." 
 
 " So do I, Miss Lee, with my present companion." 
 
 " I told you not to call me Miss Lee ; I like the other 
 name best. Say it now, this minute." 
 
 " Beltenebrosa." 
 
 He had a deep, grave, mellow voice, capable of much 
 inflection, which the habit of intoning had brought to a high 
 state of cultivation. It was Ml of tenderness whUe he 
 dwelt on the beloved syllables, and the girl could not but 
 acknowledge its charm. 
 
 In her sorrow and loneliness she was ready to catch at 
 any momentary respite from the dull dead pain that seemed 
 to eat her heart away, and she found more than a distrac- 
 tion in the influence she exercised over her companion. 
 
 He was so kind, so considerate, so gentle and sympathetic, 
 how could she but respond; and, after all, what did it 
 signify? A few sweet words, a soft glance, a whisper 
 interrupted by a sigh, these were little more than courtesies 
 absolutely exacted by the occasion. They meant nothing 
 in reality, and need have no result. For some natures, 
 such are merely the small change of a currency used in 
 
62 BLACK BUT COMELY ,■ 
 
 daily life ; for others they represent capital and interest, 
 boundless wealth, or utter beggary and ruin. The man was 
 playing for all he had with losing cards ; the woman, so to 
 speak, staked but a few shillings, and held a winning hand. 
 
 " At Swindon already ! " she exclaimed, more gaUy than 
 she had spoken yet, as the flying express brought them into 
 that crowded bustling station. " Yes, it's a capital train ; 
 if it wasn't for the cause I should like my journey very much. 
 Oh, Mr. Strange, you'll wait for me while I go and wish 
 him good-bye ! " 
 
 Her voice changed, her face fell, her whole frame seemed 
 to collapse, and the curate felt he would willingly have 
 sacrificed a limb to pm-chase the slightest mitigation of her 
 distress. 
 
 "Do you think I would desert you?" he replied, in 
 
 those fiill musical tones. " Miss Lee " She held up 
 
 her finger, and smiled through her tears. " Well, Beltene- 
 brosa, I ask nothing better than to shield you from every 
 trouble, share with you every sorrow, and, if needs must, 
 take your part against everybody and everything ! " 
 
 She gave him a fine look, and rapidly averted her eyes. 
 Slight as was her insight into such matters, and purely 
 theoretical, she had yet a feminine consciousness that this 
 chivalrous declaration must surely be tantamount to an offer. 
 It was absurd, though provoking, that she could not help 
 reverting to little Miss Moffat's matrimonial opinions at 
 such a time. 
 
 " You are very kind to me," she murmured, returning 
 gently a pressure of the hand he laid on hers. ' ' Mr. Strange, 
 you have a good heart, and oh, I am so forlorn, so forsaken, 
 so thoroughly alone in the world ! " 
 
 " My darling ! my own, shelter for life in my arms, in 
 my breast ! I will give up all here and hereafter, for your 
 sake ! " was the answer that would have risen tumultuously 
 to his lips, but for the application, at this critical moment, 
 of a repressive appliance, called " the brake," which brought 
 their train to a standstill in fifty yards, and reminded the 
 travellers, even before a guard's bearded face appeared at 
 their window, of the velocity with which they had sped. 
 Morally and physically, we can best appreciate the pace we 
 have been going by the jerk when we stop. 
 
" SIXTY-MILE-AN-EOUB " 63 
 
 Whether proposals of marriage are often hazarded in rail- 
 way carriages, I cannot take npon me to say ; but I imagine 
 that, to prove successfol, they must be completed at leisure 
 along the line, rather than offered in disjointed phrases, 
 amidst the bustle and confusion of a station, and that 
 station such a junction as Swindon. 
 
 Mervyn Strange would have been more than a man, to 
 finish what he had to say in the presence of a ticket-col- 
 lector, two porters, and a waspish lady, who entered the 
 compartment with several parcels, a novel, a canary-bird, 
 and an unwholesome son. But he thought Jane Lee 
 understood his meaning, nevertheless. When he looked at 
 her, she averted her eyes ; when she spoke to him, it was 
 in the low-pitched voice that seems even more confiding 
 than a whisper. Though he anticipated her wants and 
 wishes, pulling the window up and down a score of times be- 
 tween Didcot and Reading, she never thanked him in words, 
 only with a soft shy smile, and lastly, gliding into Padding- 
 ton Station, when he murmured: " How soon 1 How quick 
 we have come ! I hope you're not tired ! " there was a 
 world of meaning in her gentle answer : " Tired ? oh no ! I 
 wish it could all be done over again." 
 
 The waspish lady entertained not the slightest doubt they 
 were engaged, and liked them none the better, we may be 
 sure. 
 
 They had been travelling, you see, at the rate of sixty- 
 mile-an-hour, a pace which soon brings people to their ulti- 
 mate destination. Jane Lee liked it, she said, and in my 
 opinion was calculated to sustain such velocity with more 
 impunity than her companion. 
 
 When Mervyn Strange helped her out, she looked and 
 felt perfectly calm, whereas his blood was in a fever and his 
 head in a whirl. 
 
 A drive in a four-wheeled cab through crowded London 
 streets, even with the most charming of women, provided 
 she be accompanied by her luggage, soon brings a man to 
 his senses. He must shout at the top of his voice to have 
 the slightest chance of being heard, and no romance that ever 
 poet dreamed can be proof against the constant stoppages 
 and interruptions of such a progress, not to mention the 
 annoyance of bags and bonnet-boxes sliding off the front 
 
64 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 seat on his feet every ten seconds. It was but a shilling 
 fare from Paddington Station to Jane Lee's old home in 
 Tyburnia, yet the curate had time to recover himself, and 
 make some attempt at a return to common sense, before 
 the cab stopped with a jolt at the house where poor Jack 
 Lopez was lying dead. 
 
 The blinds were down, the door-steps dirty, the whole 
 place looked very desolate. After some delay, the bell was 
 answered by a slipshod woman, not strictly sober, and 
 Mervyn Strange began to understand how delicate was the 
 task he had undertaken, how false the position in which 
 he was placed. 
 
 Yet now, more than ever, did he realise the friendlessness 
 of this black-browed beauty, and, following her soberly and 
 sadly into the house of mourning, registered a vow that, 
 so long as he was above ground, come what might, his 
 Beltenebrosa should never want a champion and a friend. 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 COMPEOMISB 
 
 It is not my intention to dwell on the obsequies of a Jewish 
 money-lender. Those of poor Jack Lopez were conducted 
 in accordance with the impressive rites of his people and his 
 faith. The funeral oration pronounced over his remains by 
 a white-bearded Rabbi would doubtless have done honour 
 to one of the patriarchs, but as it was spoken in the grand 
 sonorous tongue that preached to the followers of Moses in 
 the wilderness, beneath Mount Sinai, I cannot vouch for its 
 allusions or its purport. They buried him with the proper 
 ceremonies, and Mervyn Strange only regretted that such 
 difference of belief as he was the last person to overlook, 
 prevented his reading the touching service of his own Church 
 over this Hebrew grave. 
 
 But the curate had his hands full, nevertheless. In the 
 first place, immediately on arrival in London, he was 
 obliged to apprise Mrs. Tregarthen by letter that it would 
 be impossible to return the same night, taking his chance 
 
COMPROMISE 65 
 
 of that lady's indignation at such flagrant disobedience, and 
 the untoward construction she might put on his delay. In 
 the next, he must provide a resting-place for Miss Lee, 
 who could not possibly remain in her old home under the 
 circumstances, and of whose fair fame it behoved him to be 
 more than careful in such an emergency. With a discretion 
 which deserved some credit, he suggested Miss Quilter as 
 a proper person to receive her former pupil, and was pleased 
 to find this proposal less distasteful to the young lady than 
 he had feared. 
 
 Jane Lee, after a protracted visit to the solemn chamber 
 in which all that remained of her guardian was laid out, 
 came downstairs in that dejected frame of mind, which 
 seems only desirous of being absolved from trouble, 
 responsibility, and necessity for thought or action. She 
 offered no objections whatever, accompanying the curate to 
 Bayswater -with, unusual meekness, only stipulating that, 
 when all was over, she should pay one farewell visit to 
 the Jewish burial-ground where Lopez was to be interred. 
 
 But the suspicious intuitive sagacity of love had already 
 taught Mervyn Strange that the moods of Beltenebrosa 
 changed no less suddenly than the skies of an English 
 May. 
 
 While thankful to have succeeded thus far, he by no 
 means underrated the difficulties to come. The girl might 
 turn round on him at any moment and demand release from 
 a control he had no shadow of right to enforce. The 
 governess too might decline to receive a former pupil, under 
 such abnormal conditions, into an establishment, of which 
 the very keystone seemed conformity to the usages of 
 society and opinions of the world. 
 
 Here, however, he was to be agreeably disappointed. 
 Miss Quilter, though a schoolmistress of mature age, was, 
 nevertheless, romantic in her tastes, and jumped to conclu- 
 sions like a girl. While she folded Miss Lee in a 
 condescending embrace, and made an elaborate curtsy to 
 Mervyn Strange, whom she subsequently described as "a 
 striking-looking person, and highly intellectual," she 
 sketched out a pretty little love-story, of which the couple 
 before her were hero and heroine, taking it for granted they 
 must be regularly and decorously engaged. Whatever 
 
 5 
 
66 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 embarrassments might hereafter result from these rose- 
 coloured speculations, they seemed at least to facilitate his 
 task for the present, and Mervyn Strange expressed himself 
 — as indeed he felt— sincerely grateftil for the good lady's 
 cordiality and support. Though dignified, she was affable, 
 and hospitably inclined besides. " It is most fortunate," 
 she obserred, with stately politeness, "that in such an 
 emergency I should have a spare room at my disposal. 
 Had it been during the vacation, as you are well aware, my 
 dear, I could have offered you a greater choice of apartments, 
 but you will give me credit for good intentions, and take 
 the will for the deed. 
 
 From long practice, and close attention to the best 
 models, Miss Quilter was able to command the choicest 
 language, which she used with appropriate gesture. She 
 spoke, indeed, "like a book," and made, as was to be 
 expected, a startling impression on Mervyn Strange. 
 
 Few of us are close observers, or how disagreeable society 
 would become; therefore all young men and many old 
 consider women of mature Jtge, in matters of the affections, 
 to be what they are pleased to term " out of the hunt." 
 But only watch the effect of a love-song, well executed, on a 
 drawing-room audience, and you will never assent to such a 
 fallacy again. Hitherto, probably, you have not taken your 
 eyes off the young — henceforth watch the faces of the old. 
 Over sunken cheek and furrowed brow and faded eyes, you 
 will mark a ripple from the " long ago," moving and quivering 
 like the circles on some calm gray mountain tarn, when you 
 drop a stone in its breast, that stirs the sullen surface, 
 because it has touched the cold dark depths below. 
 
 It was but the other night, I detected tears stealing down 
 a cheek that I remembered once fresh and fair amongst the 
 freshest and the fairest. They ran through wrinkles, and were 
 choked by rouge, but something told me they came up from 
 a heart in which there was one spot left that could ache for 
 a memory long dead and buried, yet unforgotten still. I 
 was not amused, only sorry and perplexed, for it seems sad 
 to get old without inheriting the immunities of age. 
 
 Miss Quilter had neither rouge nor — ^to do her justice — 
 wrinkles, on her staid hard-featured face : but her eyes were 
 wet while she embraced her former pupil for the second time, 
 
COMPBOMISE 67 
 
 and offered the curate a bony hand to shake, thus conferring 
 on him, as it were, the freedom of the establishment with 
 her own royal assent. 
 
 " I see," she said, in reply to his earnest and somewhat 
 confused appeal. " Although I must withhold my approval 
 nntil I am better informed as to details, this young lady 
 may be assured of my sympathy; both in her loss and 
 her gain." 
 
 Jane Lee stared, the curate blushed, and Miss Quilter, 
 to whom the embarrassment of any false position was 
 perfectly unintelligible, passed calmly on. 
 
 "The mournful ceremony, you give me to understand, 
 will take place to-morrow. My dear Miss Lee — on such an 
 occasion I feel constrained to call you by your christian- 
 name — ^my dear Jane, you will, I trust, consider my house 
 your home. This gentleman, too, Mr, — ^if I mistake not — 
 Mr. Strange, will, I hope, take his meals here at his 
 convenience, though custom forbids me to offer him the 
 shelter of my roof under existing circumstances. Perhaps, 
 at some future time, after a decent interval, I shall have the 
 pleasure of receiving you both." 
 
 Jane Lee started like a woman awaking out of sleep. 
 
 " You are mistaken ! " she exclaimed. " Miss Quilter, 
 I — ^I don't think you seem exactly to understand." 
 
 "Perfectly, my dear, perfectly. And permit me to 
 observe, that Mr. — ^I believe I am correct — ^Mr. Strange 
 has shown much proper feeling and exercised a wise 
 discretion in thus taking me into confidence. I will now 
 beg you to excuse me while I give directions for the pre- 
 paration of your apartment ; and I shall hope to see Mr. — 
 yes, Mr. Strange back to dinner at half-past six o'clock." 
 
 The visitors looked at each other in silence, nor was there 
 indeed opportunity of explanation, for Strange felt himself 
 fairly bowed out till dinner-time, and Jane Lee was so 
 completely bewildered by the excitement of the day, that she 
 could not utter a syllable. 
 
 Friendless, desolate, perplexed, at such a moment even 
 her strong nature seemed to give way and float helpless on 
 the tide, accepting the future with that apathy which owes 
 its resignation to despair. 
 
 She had been accustomed &om childhood to depend on 
 
68 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 Mr. L., as she called him, for advice, assistance, and all 
 she required ; and it seemed impossible to realise that her 
 friend and protector was gone for evermore, that there was 
 nobody to appeal to, nobody to counsel, nobody to control 
 her now. In this last consideration alone, she found some 
 leavening of comfort, for the wild element in her gipsy nature 
 always longed for freedom, chafing even under government 
 the mildest and most legitimate. This it was that caused 
 her to loathe the bare idea of returning to Somersetshire, 
 and becoming once more the inmate of a respectable country 
 clergyman's house. The domestic routine, the regular 
 meals, the unvarying order and decorum of such an establish- 
 ment, vexed and irritated her the more that she could not 
 explain why ; and although she felt grateful to Mrs. 
 Tregarthen for her kindness, nothing would have pleased 
 her better than to know she was never to set eyes on that 
 primitive and uninteresting person again. 
 
 The rector's wife, however, by no means returned this 
 calm indifference. After the down express had arrived, 
 without bringing her absentees, she could hardly sleep a 
 wink, for mingled feelings of anxiety and indignation, that 
 the receipt of Mervyn Strange's letter by next morning's 
 post did little to allay. 
 
 "He might have telegraphed," she observed, ignoring 
 that brevity which is no less the soul of electric communi- 
 cation than of wit, and which could not possibly have done 
 justice to the penitence conveyed in four closely-vmtten 
 pages from the curate to his rector's wife. " Funeral or no 
 funeral, he ought to have brought her back at the time I fixed 
 It is most unusual, most indelicate, most insubordinate! 
 The only redeeming point in the whole business is his 
 taking her to Miss Quilter. Mr. Tregarthen, I don't think 
 you attend to what I say ! " 
 
 But the Eev. Silas could only attend to the pain in his 
 back, that caught him at every turn, when he tried to change 
 his posture on the stool of repentance he was pleased to call 
 an easy-chair. 
 
 " She will be home after the ftineral, my dear," answered 
 the sufferer, between his groans. " Don't distress yourself. 
 It wiU all come right. I suppose he has left her everything. 
 I wonder how much it is," 
 
C0MPB0MI8E 69 
 
 " Something handsome, no doubt," replied the lady. 
 "People always say ' as rich as a Jew.' That's my great 
 difficulty. If she hadn't a farthing I should know what to do." 
 
 " We couldn't well turn her out of doors, Selina ? " said 
 the rector douhtfdly. 
 
 " Yes, we could ! " answered Selina. " After the way in 
 which they have both behaved, I should not hesitate to send 
 her packing at once, and Mr. Strange too." 
 
 " Strange is a good curate, my dear, practical, earnest, 
 industrious ; his heart is in his work." 
 
 That is to say he took much of the duty, most of the 
 visiting, and all the trouble off his rector's hands. Many 
 a parish priest has just such an invaluable assistant ; all 
 are not so ready as the Eev. Silas to acknowledge it. 
 
 " Nonsense ! " exclaimed his wife. " There are as good 
 fish in the sea as ever came out of it ! He's in my black 
 books, I can tell him. And now, it's time for you to take 
 your taraxacum. My gracious ! if here isn't that young 
 gaby Paravant. He's seen me through the open window, 
 and I can't say ' Not at home.' " 
 
 Sure enough, " Forward James " was haunting the 
 accustomed spot. Trusting implicitly in those return-tickets 
 mentioned by the station-master, he arrived full of confidence, 
 and never doubting he should have an interview with his 
 beloved, had got himself up for the purpose with jieculiar 
 care. So startling a combination of colours has seldom 
 been seen ia conjunction with a white hat, relieved by a 
 crape, and, to use his own words, " something neat round 
 his neck." Even Mrs. Tregarthen, who did not profess to 
 be a judge of such matters, felt uncertain whether to admire 
 or deride. James, however, thoroughly satisfied with a 
 revision of his own person in the glass, had no doubts on 
 the subject, and seemed, even to the accustomed perceptions 
 of his hostess, more absurd, more jaunty, more conceited, 
 and altogether more intolerable than usual, 
 
 "We've got most of it cut," was the salutation of this 
 bucolic dandy, who considered his own hay-harvest of para- 
 mount importance to the universe. "It's a lighter crop 
 than I expected, but if the weather holds up I shan't com- 
 plain. How's the lumbago, rector ? And — and — I say— 
 Where's Miss Liee ? " 
 
-70 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 On such a subject it was Selina's privilege to assume the 
 initiative. " The rector's no better," she answered, vrith 
 some asperity. " And not likely to be unless he takes the 
 advice of people who understand nursing, and know what 
 illness really means. If ever you have a wife of your own, 
 Mr, Paravant, I hope you'll know her value, and mind what 
 she says ! " 
 
 " Certainly, certainly," answered Paravant, only wishing 
 he had a wife of his own, if he could choose her for himself. 
 *' I should always do as I'm told, only I've nobody to tell 
 me. And — I say, Mrs. Tregarthen, I suppose your young 
 lady is not down yet — tired with her journey, eh ? There's 
 nothing so fatiguing, you know, as being tired." 
 
 He was blushing — actually blushing, and the rector's 
 wife, reading him like a book, as any woman might, did not 
 know whether to be most provoked with herself or him, or 
 that least docile of curates, Mervyn Strange. 
 
 It was so embarrassing not to feel sure how matters 
 stood. If Miss Lee turned out an heiress, she would do 
 very nicely for young Paravant ; if she had nothing, she 
 might as well marry Mervyn Strange, and thus absolve 
 them from all responsibility in her foture ; but, until this 
 knot was disentangled, the position seemed sadly embarrass- 
 ing, and Mrs. Tregarthen by no means underrated the 
 difficulties of her task. 
 
 " I don't know, I'm sure, whether she's tired or not," 
 said the rector's vrife, moving across the room to give her 
 husband a nauseous mixture that tasted of turpentine and 
 smelt of beeswax. 
 
 " How should I, more than a hundred miles off? She's 
 in London, James Paravant, that's where she is, and, 
 as far as I can make out, that's where she's likely to 
 remain." 
 
 "In London! " the young man actually gasped ; "and 
 •^and, Mrs. Tregarthen, don't you expect her back ! " 
 
 " No, I don't ; I never expect anything nowadays. I 
 didn't expect she'd be off by express vrith Mr. Strange ; I 
 didn't expect one's own curate to fly in one's face before one 
 could turn round ; I didn't expect the rector to sit in his 
 easy-chair and groan, instead of asserting his authority like 
 a man. It's no use talking to me about expecting, James ; 
 
CONSENT 71 
 
 blessed are those that expect nothing, for they shall not be 
 disappointed ! " 
 
 He turned as white as his hat ; and Mrs. Tregarthen, a 
 soft-hearted woman enough, felt her natural indignation at 
 the conduct of the absentees ijaelting into pity for this poor 
 deserted swain. 
 
 " I think I'll go home," muttered Paravant, looking 
 helplessly about him. "It's very awkward, you know, 
 Mrs. Tregarthen, all the hay down this catching weather, 
 and my bailiff off to Thornbury revel, of course. If you'll 
 excuse me, I'll go back at once ; I ought never to have 
 come away." 
 
 There were tears in his voice. Bumpkin as he was, the 
 poor fellow could feel, and it would have relieved him to 
 hide his face in his hands and blubber like a schoolboy. 
 
 "I wish I could ask you to dinner," said his hostess, 
 kindly; " but the rector can't get out of his chair, and my 
 dinner is only a make-believe, as you know, when there's 
 sickness in the house. Good-bye, James. Look in to- 
 morrow, my dear ; we're always glad to see you, and perhaps 
 we shall hear something more by to-night's post." 
 
 A small crumb of comfort, but it served this disconsolate 
 young gentleman for luncheon and dinner too. It was a 
 clear case ; he had lost his appetite, there could be no 
 further doubt now that he had lost his heart. 
 
 CHAPTER Xn 
 
 CONSENT 
 
 " I can't accept it, Mr. Strange." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " I feel it would be wrong. I am young and inexperi- 
 enced enough, but I know I must not lay myself under sueh 
 an obligation to any gentleman in the world." 
 
 " But it is so small a sum." 
 
 " That is nothing to the purpose. If it was five pounds, 
 instead of five hundred, I ought equally to say No ! " 
 
 They were sauntering together in Kensington Gardens, a 
 
72 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 place of all others in which to talk about love, rather than 
 money. Beltenebrosa, tall and pale, in her mourning looked 
 more beautiful than ever ; the curate walked by her side 
 with the meekness of a sheep going to the shambles. 
 
 Jack Lopez had been laid decorously in the grave. His 
 executors were making the best arrangements they could, 
 at a startling reduction, to satisfy his creditors. Jane Lee's 
 legacy was safe enough, but certain wise precautions of the 
 law would delay its payment for several months. In the 
 meantime she was without a shilling, and Mervyn Strange 
 pressed her hard to accept the loan of five hundred pounds 
 he had recently withdrawn from the sum of one thousand 
 Consols standing in his name at the Bank of England, and 
 constituting indeed his whole available capital. 
 
 "Whatever I ask you," said he, and the deep voice 
 quivered with irrepressible pain, "it is always the same. 
 With me you never seem to find any difficulty in saying No ! " 
 
 " Do you think it is so easy? " she answ«red. " How 
 you mistake me, and how you underrate yourself! Can 
 you not comprehend that the lips must often be taught to 
 say No when the heart means Yes ? " 
 
 He did mistake her thoroughly. How could he conceive 
 that it was this girl's nature to make such an admission, 
 and yet mean little more by it than a phrase of common 
 thanks for some common coui-tesy ? He was surely justified 
 in taking her hand and catching it to his lips, after satisfy- 
 ing himself that nobody was looking on. 
 
 "Jane," he murmured, "no — Beltenebrosa, my Bel- 
 tenebrosa ! Let your heart plead for me, and let your lips 
 answer as it prompts. I entreat you to accept, not this 
 only, but all my worldly wealth — I ought to say worldly 
 povei-ty — for I have little to offer beyond such devotion as 
 no woman ever won, no woman on earth ever deserved, but 
 yourself. I wonder at my presumption too. You are fit to 
 be a queen, and I ask you to share a humble home like 
 mine ! " 
 
 " Am I fit to be a queen ? " 
 
 In the dark eyes came a soft and beautiful languor ; it 
 was pleasant to be so flattered, so adored — ^why should she 
 not inhale the incense, and yield her senses to its sweet 
 intoxication while she could ? 
 
CONSENT 78 
 
 With Jane Lee, the present seemed all-sufficient ; there 
 \ras that rare disposition — so capable of physical enjoyment 
 — which seldom looks forward and never hack. 
 
 " Oh, Beltenebrosa ! " continued the clergyman, " women 
 are not blind. You mttst have seen how I love you. Have 
 pity on me — if you take no thought for yourself — and say 
 you will be my wife." 
 
 It was a regular proposal, such as would have come up 
 to the exacting standard of little Miss Moffat herself, and 
 could not have been more correctly advanced by a bishop. 
 In a flash, she took in the whole situation — ^the arguments 
 for and against the advantages and the drawbacks. That 
 five hundred pounds weighed heavily in the balance. It 
 was inconvenient to be wholly without money, particularly 
 when one had no home. Yes, she would borrow his five 
 hundred, and accept his offer. Ma;rrying must be a future 
 consideration; but there was something pleasant and credit- 
 able in being engaged. Miss Quilter, no doubt, would 
 afford the sanction of her approval. The whole school 
 would look at her with admiration, and she need never go 
 back to the rectory in Somersetshire again. 
 
 " Do you want me to promise? " she asked, with such a 
 bright smile as might have defeated a Dean and Chapter. 
 " What would you like me to say ? " 
 
 " That you will marry me, my darling, at once, and love 
 me all the days of your life," replied the curate, believing 
 the heaven he had so often preached of was beginning to 
 dawn for him on earth. 
 
 "If I take this money, you will feel as if you had 
 bought me. Five hundred pounds! What James Para- 
 vant calls ' a monkey.' Poor James Paravant ! And do 
 you really think I am worth a monkey? " 
 
 He felt and looked hurt. How could she speak so 
 lightly ? and was it not simply cruel to remind him of his 
 rival at such a time ? Nothing would have induced him to 
 swear; but secretly, no doubt, with regard to James Para- 
 vant, he relieved his feelings with some clerical equivalent 
 for a curse. 
 
 " You are worth all this world to me," he answered, in a 
 voice quivering with emotion. " Perhaps, for your sake, I 
 am forfeiting my welfare in the next." 
 
74 BLAGK BUT COMELY 
 
 " You must be very fond of me 1 " 
 
 " I am not going to tell you so, over and over agair. 
 My darling, I love you so madly that it amounts to 
 torture." 
 
 "And you want to cure yourself with the only certain 
 remedy. Some day you will wake up recovered, and in 
 your right mind. Then you will wish you hadn't, and say 
 
 BO." 
 
 " When I do, may my tongue rot out of my mouth ! 
 
 When I do, may I But you know better. This is 
 
 only to try me." 
 
 " Then I accept the money, and as for the other matter, 
 I suppose I need say no more than " 
 
 " The two things are wholly distinct," he interrupted. 
 " Forgive me that, in my agitation, I have not kept them 
 separate. Believe I may, I have been thoughtless, and in 
 too great a hurry, but not wanting in delicacy of feeling. 
 Such beauty as yours is enough to turn any man's head, 
 were he ten times a priest ! " 
 
 She laughed lightly ; not the least like a girl of twenty, 
 engaged for the first time. 
 
 "There is no accounting for tastes," said she. "I 
 wonder what you can see to admire in my black face." 
 
 " Beltenebrosa ! " he murmured, pressing to his heart 
 the slender hand she slipped within his arm ; for they had 
 reached Victoria Gate now, and were passing out of Fairy- 
 land into Bayswater. 
 
 It is something, if for ever so short a walk, to have trod 
 the enchanted ground. Henceforth one is free of the guild, 
 and, so to speak, a brother of the craft. Birds, and breeze, 
 and running waters speak no longer in an unknown tongue. 
 Those songs without words, those voices of the air that 
 never pass the portals of material sense, tell us strange 
 secrets, perhaps far better unrevealed, because of such 
 learning comes suffering ; and for Hope, with her illusions 
 of pleasure, we have accepted Memory with her reality of pain. 
 
 There was a parable for all time in that tree of paradise 
 which bore the knowledge of good and evil as its fruit. 
 
 Hungry, reckless, and disobedient, the child of man must 
 needs pluck and eat ; and be disappointed, and never know 
 peace, nor innocence, nor fulness of content again. 
 
CONSENT 76 
 
 Who so liappy as Mervyn Strange, walking towards the 
 City, with head up, and long confident strides, to purchase 
 in the cheapest mart such articles of haberdashery as he 
 felt the occasion demanded, resolving the while certain 
 arrangements required by our paternal laws before a man 
 can call the most friendless of young ladies his own ? He 
 was dreaming a dream that bordered on ecstasy, and would 
 have been unalloyed happiness but for one consideration. 
 How was he to stand excused before Mrs. Tregarthen, and 
 in what words of penitence, what form of special pleading, 
 should he deprecate the anger of that justly-infuriated 
 dame? He could not conceal from himself that the charges 
 she would too surely bring against him were well-founded 
 and difficidt of refutation. He had most certainly com- 
 mitted a breach of trust. Was there not something like 
 abduction in the taking of Jane Lee from her temporary 
 home, and, under pretence of a funeral, hurrying her clan- 
 destinely into marriage ? What would the weekly papers 
 say — those censors of our morals, our manners, and our 
 dress ? He shuddered to think of some withering article, 
 couched in editorial eloquence, and holdiag him up to 
 public reprobation, as " a clerk in holy orders " enacting 
 the part of leading villain in a dramatic history of love and 
 law. But she was worth the risk, his beautiful Beltene- 
 brosa — ay, were the risk a certainty, and the penalty ten 
 thousand times as vile ! 
 
 She too gave her mind to reflection, but hers was no 
 simple maiden's dream of pure unreasoning love ; on the 
 contrary, she was wide-awake, never more so, and looked 
 her position in the face vrith calm impartial eyes. No ; 
 she co^dd not bring herself to submit to the yoke. Freedom, 
 freedom was the boon for which she longed ; and, behold, 
 it was already vrithin her grasp. Five hundred pounds. 
 Even her limited experience taught her it was but a small 
 sum on which to begin the world. But the basis of her 
 whole character was self-reliance ; and she never doubted 
 for a moment that, with her voice, her courage, and her 
 personal attractions, she could make her own way, and 
 climb unassisted to independence, even wealth. 
 
 "Poor fellow! he's dreadfully spooney," she reflected, 
 with a pity not devoid of scorn ; " and he will be wretched 
 
78 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 when he finds I've thrown him over ; but it will console him 
 to think I've taken his money, and, after a time, when I 
 send it back — ^which I swear to do the day the executors 
 pay up — he will have got over the worst, and be surprised 
 to find it hasn't killed him after all. But I don't think 
 he'll ever marry anybody else." 
 
 She must have had some intuitive knowledge of the 
 male heart, apart fi:om experience — ^natural, inborn, like 
 the instinct which teaches her sex, while yet in short firocks, 
 to nurse and dandle a doll. 
 
 It was easy enough to explain to Miss Quilter that her 
 clothes required revision, as she could not afford a new fit- 
 out; and the good lady saw no reason why Miss Lee's 
 boxes should not accompany her in a four-wheeled cab for 
 such thrifty purpose of repair. She was an early person 
 herself, and thought the girl wise to start directly after 
 breakfast, with a promise of returning to dinner, accom- 
 panied by Mr. Strange. He would be occupied all the 
 morning too, and had arranged to meet her at Verey's, and 
 take her — yes — take her to the Zoological after luncheon ; 
 there could be no harm in that ! 
 
 " She's an affectionate creature, under her cold exterior," 
 thought the schoolmistress ; wondering that her visitor, 
 usually sparing of caresses, should have embraced her so 
 warmly at parting, with her dark eyes full of tears. " Poor 
 dear ! No father, no mother, no fi-iends. It's a mercy 
 this young clergyman has turned up to look after her and 
 find her a home." 
 
 Mervyn Strange came back to dinner light of step and 
 jaunty of demeanour, as became a successful swain. 
 
 " And what have you done with Jane ? " was Miss 
 Quilter's natural question, put with that heavy playfulness 
 which people think appropriate to such fiivolous occasions 
 as betrothals, marriages, and christenings. "I hope "you 
 haven't had a quarrel in the cab, and left her to walk ! "' 
 
 " Jane ! I^n't she with you ? " 
 
 " No. Isn't she with you ? " 
 
 Then it came out she had left the house at half-past nine, 
 and neither of them had set eyes on her since. 
 
MB. DELAPBil 77 
 
 BOOK II 
 CHAPTER Xm 
 
 MB. BELAPBB 
 
 Miss Lbb's first impulse, when she found herself a free 
 agent, with two boxes fall of clothes on the roof of a four- 
 wheeled cab, and five hundred pounds in her pocket, was to 
 hurry into the country and fill her lungs with free air from 
 heaven, under the greenwood tree. Such a fancy was, no 
 doubt, tempting, but our young lady had already taught 
 herself to act on reason, rather than instinct, and reflected 
 that, to enjoy real liberty for man or woman, there is no 
 place like London. Its crowds and labyrinths are alike 
 favourable to concealment. There is a case on record, of a 
 refractory husband who ran away from his wife, and lived 
 twenty years in the next street, without detection by that 
 ill-used and justly-incensed lady. Like ihe Level of a 
 touching ditty, still chanted in our nurseries as " The 
 Mistletoe Bough," and with no better success — 
 
 tJnceasing she sought him, and f onnd him not I 
 
 " Where to, miss ? " asked the cabman, banging the door 
 after she got in. 
 
 "Marshall and Snellgrove's," answered the fare, as 
 boldly as if she meant to buy a year's outfit; but long 
 before she could arrive at that emporium, she bade him set 
 her down near a cab-stand, alleging that his cushions were 
 dirty, and smelt of gin. An extra shilling soothed his 
 wounded spirit under such an accusation, and, choosing 
 another vehicle, she simply told its driver to go on till 
 ordered to stop, thus, like a Red Indian, " covering her 
 trail." At a quarter of a mile she directed him to a railway- 
 station, where the luggage was taken out, and he was 
 discharged. Hence, after an hour's waiting, she took a 
 fresh departure, satisfied that at last she had destroyed all 
 traces by which she could be followed up. There was no 
 difficulty in obtaining quiet lodgings in a narrow street off 
 
78 SLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 Long Acre, and by five o'clock, Miss Lee, for the first time 
 in her life, sat down to tea ia a room of her own, as free, 
 she told herself, with irrepressible exultation, as a bird on 
 a bough. 
 
 I fear it modified her triumph very little to reflect on the 
 consternation she left behind her in Bayswater and else- 
 where. She laughed outright to realise Miss Quilter's 
 puzzled face, and Mrs. Tregarthen's indignant frown. She 
 wondered whether the rector missed her much, and how 
 Paravant bore the absence of his idol. Then she thought 
 of Mervyn Strange, looked in the glass over her chimney- 
 piece, shook her head and smiled. 
 
 Fresh, cool, and so handsome, that her landlady, who 
 was a tolerably respectable woman, regretted not having 
 been more stringent as to references, Jane Lee emerged 
 next morning, prepared to carry out certain plans, the result 
 of many hours' consideration, finally brought to perfection 
 during an elaborate toilet, after a good night's rest. 
 
 In the first place, having sent for a morning paper, and 
 studied its advertisements at breakfast, she secured a neat 
 well-turned-out brougham, looking as like a private carriage 
 as possible, not by the hour, nor the day, but the week. 
 She might want it more than once, she reflected, to visit at 
 the same places, and had already learned that the world is 
 governed by appearances, graduated on its own ad valorem 
 scale : the lady on foot — ^the lady in another person's 
 carriage — the lady in her own. She made her bargain, 
 therefore, with a wise liberality, stipulating that she should 
 be drawn daily by the same horse, driven by the same man, 
 the latter in top-boots, the former in brass-mounted har- 
 ness, with ribbons at each ear. Getting into such an 
 " equipage," as her landlady called it, faultlessly dressed, 
 she seemed indeed, to use the words of that observer, 
 " None of your make-believes, but a real lady bom, as did 
 credit to the lodgings and the street ! " 
 
 " I believe I could act any part, in any station," thought 
 Miss Lee, pulling the check-string in a shabby timible- 
 down street. " It seems so easy to be a great lady, and 
 to look like it, when the appliances are all to one's hand. 
 I should get tired of the character too, I daresay, after a 
 time. Change, I think, is what I really love, and a spioe 
 
MB. DELAPBJ^ 79 
 
 of adventure. Something to brisk one up, and make one 
 look out for oneself. No. I should not have been a good 
 wife for a parson. Poor Mr. Strange ! He was very fond 
 of me. I hope he's got over it. No, I don't. I shouldn't 
 like him not to care. Yes, that's the door. Goodness ! 
 how dirty, and what a funny little place ! " 
 
 It was indeed more filthy than fanny, in broad daylight, 
 and, except to the initiated, looked anything in the world 
 but a private entrance to one of the brightest little theatres 
 in London. The cobbler in the " Arabian Nights," who 
 had been taken to a certain locality with a bandage over his 
 eyes, could only make his way there a second time when 
 blindfolded again. How many haunts are there in our 
 great puzzling city, that we find readily enough after 
 dinner, but might seek for hours after luncheon in vain? 
 
 With some difficulty her driver detected a bell, hung so 
 high as to defeat the impudence of those diminutive town- 
 bred urchins, who would have asked no better fan than 
 continually to ring it and run away. After some delay, it 
 was answered by a stout, comely, well-set-up gentleman, 
 dressed with the utmost splendour, weariog smiles on his 
 good-looking face and a flower at his breast. 
 
 The incongruity of this person with his surroundings 
 struck Jane Lee as so ludicrous, that she lowered her veil 
 to conceal a laugh. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," said she, from inside the carriage ; 
 " I have taken the liberty of calling, to know if I can see 
 Mr. Delapre." 
 
 "Certainly, madam, certainly," with an elaborate bow 
 and the utmost courtesy of manner. " I am Mr. Delapre — 
 at your service. What can I do for you ? Had you not 
 better alight, and step in? " 
 
 "He must be used to pretty women in broughams," 
 thought Jane Lee, rather disappointed that such an appear- 
 ance as hers should create no more sensation. " He 
 doesn't seem the least put out of his way. How he shines 
 all over — ^teeth, boots, and especially his hat ! I wonder 
 whether he will be equally polite when I've told him my 
 business, and he sees me into the carriage to go away ! " 
 
 Thus speculating, she followed Mr. Delapre up one flight 
 of stairs, and down another, into a dingy passage, cool with 
 
80 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 breaths from the outer air, till, stopping to open a door with 
 his pass-key, he made another profound bow, and motioned 
 her to walk in. 
 
 '*' I wish I had a better room, madam," said he, " for the 
 reception of so distinguished a visitor. But when ladies 
 come to see an actor they must put up with an actor's 
 accommodation. Pray be seated, and — and — may I offer 
 you a glass of wine? " 
 
 Decanters stood on the table, and beautifully cut glasses, 
 also fresh flowers, a photograph-book, a box of cigarettes, 
 and a drawing in chalks, half-finished. There was a bad 
 portrait of somebody as Richard the Third on the wall, 
 surmounting a fencing-mask, leather jerkin, and pair of 
 foils. Jane Lee, who had never seen nor pictured to herself 
 such a chamber, so furnished, felt interested and amused. 
 
 Declining sherry at one o'clock in the day, she calmJy 
 took a seat and put her veil up. It was gratifying to 
 observe that he seemed at least startled by the face thus 
 disclosed. 
 
 " I called early on purpose," said his visitor, in the 
 measured tone that harmonised so well with her calm 
 imperious beauty. " I was desirous to see you, and am 
 fortunate to have found you at home." 
 
 " Pardon me," he interrupted, " the good fortune is 
 mine. I would not have missed seeing you for more than 
 I can say." 
 
 " My visit is purely a matter of business," she resumed, 
 with increased dignity, " and is soon explained. I wish to 
 obtain a professional engagement." 
 
 He had suspected it from the first, but felt a little dis- 
 appointed nevertheless. It would have been such a romance, 
 such a triumph, had this beautiful woman fallen in love 
 with him from stalls or boxes, and driven here, brougham 
 and all, to tell him so ! These things never did happen, 
 but that was no reason they never should. Oh ! why was 
 not life all melodrama, rather than comedy, farce, some- 
 times burlesque ! Well, well, business must be attended 
 to, and bread is a necessity of existence, though we can do 
 without flowers. 
 
 "An engagement? " repeated Mr. Dekpre, whose father's 
 name was Dobbs. " You are aware, madam, that this is a 
 
MB. DELAFBi 81 
 
 serious matter, requiring consideration. You are not, I 
 think, in the — ^in the profession. Excuse me, I see it at a 
 glance. Have you any proposal to make ? Perhaps I had 
 hotter hear what you have to say." He had dropped the 
 fine gentleman and spoke in a husiness-like manner enough. 
 
 She puzzled him. Her dress, her bearing, the neat quiet 
 brougham, above all, its driver in his top-boots, inferred 
 neither the flashy adventinress, nor the painstaking woman, 
 toiling for a livelihood at so much a week. Jane Lee's 
 worldly wisdom was already bearing fruit. 
 
 "Proposal?" she returned. "The proposal ought to 
 come from the gentleman. Mr. Delapre, if I tell you my 
 private history, it is of course in the strictest confidence, 
 and must go no farther." 
 
 He changed back to the fine gentleman — the stage fine 
 gentleman — with marvellous versatility. "Hear me swear," 
 he began. 
 
 "You needn't swear. It's unnecessary and profane. 
 Your word is quite sufficient. The real truth is " — " now 
 for a crammer," thought both speaker and listener — " the 
 real truth is, that I — ^I am a married lady, and separated 
 from my husband." 
 
 He drew his chair nearer, assuming an expression of 
 sympathy, interest and deep concern. 
 
 " I need not enter into aU that," she continued. " Enough 
 to say that we were unhappy together, and have agreed to 
 live apart. Perhaps it is my fault, perhaps not." 
 
 He expressed in dumb show how impossible it was that 
 she could be to blame. Aiid his visitor proceeded calmly 
 with her confidences : 
 
 " Incompatibility of temper, and an impracticable mother- 
 in-law. Selfishness on one side, inexperience on the other. 
 Ignorant, innocent, and married from the schoolroom. I 
 had better have tied my skipping-rope round my neck and 
 drawn it tight ! But that's nothing to the purpose now." 
 
 He was watching her narrowly. If she would only act 
 like this before the foot-lights, he might do worse than 
 entertain her proposal. 
 
 " Excuse me," said he, " do I understand that you have 
 thrown off your husband's control, and are a perfectly free 
 agent?" 
 
 6 
 
82 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 " Perfectly." 
 
 The command of countenance with which she concealed 
 a smile showed no small histrionic power. It imposed on 
 Mr, Delapre, who began to think she might be telling the 
 truth. 
 
 "May I ask your name? I beg pardon for being bo 
 unceremonious." 
 
 She had prepared herself for this Yery natural question, 
 and bowed calmly while she answered : 
 
 " Certainly. It saves a deal of trouble. Mrs. Bell." 
 
 " And you really wish to go into the drudgery, of our pro- 
 fession ? With all its attractions, I am bound to warn you 
 that it is a drudgery, particularly at first.' 
 
 " I am not afraid of hard work. I like effort, mental or 
 bodily. I am aware I must begin at the foot of the ladder, 
 and persevere, step by step, till I reach the top." 
 
 "The progress is slow," he returned; " and, with all the 
 perseverance in the world, most uncertain. But I own I 
 love my calling, and would follow it if I had to sing in a 
 chorus at twelve shillings a week." 
 
 This from a man with something like as many thousand 
 pounds (borrowed money) sunk in theatrical property, seemed 
 a high compliment to the profession. 
 
 " Twelve shillings a week," repeated Jane simply. "I 
 suppose I should not earn more at first. I ought to tell 
 you, Mr. Delapre, I have an independent fortune." 
 
 He stared, but tried not to look so astonished as he felt. 
 This was altogether a new experience. Many young ladies, 
 handsome and ordinary, had come to ask him for engage- 
 ments, but none till to-day in a private carriage, professing 
 a noble disregard for salary. 
 
 "Mrs. Bell," he replied, with much cordiality, "I am 
 most anxious to meet your views. I will see what can be 
 done. Kindly favour me with another call — say to-morrow, 
 at the same hour. I shall hope to make you such an offer 
 as you may think it worth while to entertain." 
 
 Then he attended her to the carriage, with as much 
 deference as if she had been a duchess, and stood at his 
 door, bare-headed, while she drove away. 
 
AN EXPLANATION 63 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 AN EXPLANATION 
 
 The well-appointed brougham might now be seen very often 
 turning into Whynot Street, or waiting at the shabby 
 entrance to the Nonsuch Theatre. Its manager and Mrs. 
 Bell were playing a game of cross-purposes. Each wanted 
 to force the other's hand, both to conceal their own. Mr. 
 Delapre was mystified. He could learn nothing about his 
 beautiful acquaintance but what she chose to tell him, and, 
 notwithstanding his knowledge of the world — ^his own world 
 be it understood, lively, but limited — ^felt he was at a 
 disadvantage. 
 
 The lady's appearance, he opined, would draw full houses ; 
 nor could he conceal from himself that she was gifted with 
 those talents which, properly cultivated and brought out, 
 constitute an actress. He heard her sing without accom- 
 paniment, and found it difficult to judge the performance im- 
 partially, so ingratiating was the manner of the performer. 
 Her voice, though it would scarcely fill a concert-room, much 
 less a theatre, seemed perfectly under command, and lent 
 itself so easily to the meaning, rather than the words of her 
 song, that a listener could not but imagine he was taking 
 part in it himself. He prevailed on her to read aloud from 
 Ophelia and Lady Teazle. She was neither too pathetic in 
 the one nor two fiippant in the other, while to her eyes came 
 dreamy madness and sparkling satire at will. He proposed 
 that she should take off her bonnet, and let her long black 
 hair stream over her shoulders, for Lady Macbeth, in the 
 sleep-walking scene ; but she cut him short with a quiet 
 refusal to make any alteration in her toilet; remarking that 
 a woman should be forty at least, and stout in proportion, 
 for the part of so energetic a housewife, particidarfy when 
 she gives the henpecked Thane " a piece of her miad." 
 
 Yes, it was on the cards that Mrs. Bell might be an 
 extraordinary success. Strange to say, this flattering pos- 
 sibility caused the manager much hesitation and perplexity. 
 
 Mr. Delapre was a good fellow enough ; open-handed in 
 money matters, hospitable, well-conditioned, and, if fond of 
 
84 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 pleasure, liking to share it with his friends. But he was 
 also a vain man ; in matters of personal advantage, an 
 egotist to the core. Handsome, versatile, essentially 
 debonnaire, he always played the ladies' parts on his own 
 boards, and was unwilling to share, even with the other sex, 
 that applause which it is only fair to say was freely accorded 
 by an enthusiastic audience. 
 
 He had climbed the ladder too fast, and been spoiled by 
 success. The height turns a man giddy at thirty, that, 
 twenty years later, only makes him careful not to fall. 
 
 Now, if Mrs. Bell should take the town by storm, even 
 though brought out under his auspices, he would no longer 
 be first fiddle in his own band. No money could repay him 
 for the loss of that position. On the other hand, if he 
 afforded her a fair start and she failed, the interests of the 
 theatre must necessarily suffer by her incapacity. Besides, 
 there were jealousies enough in the company already. In 
 what company are there not ? More than one actress of 
 long standing was quite capable of making his dictatorship 
 exceedingly troublesome, if she suspected her own claims 
 were overlooked. No man in his senses voluntarily lays him- 
 self open to the attacks of a woman's spite, a woman's tongue, 
 and a woman's wit. These weapons, sharpened by a sense 
 of injury, and wielded by the long experience of an actress, 
 can penetrate the toughest hide, and would pierce a rhinoceros 
 to the quick. In the green-room, as in the Cabinet, in- 
 dividual dissatisfactions create a difficulty at every turn, and 
 he who would drive either coach to its destination, requires 
 to study and humour the various tempers of his team. 
 
 So long, too, as his relations with this beautiful acquain- 
 tance took no definite shape, they seemed flavoured with a 
 spice of romantic mystery, exceedingly flattering to his self- 
 love. He liked the company to gossip and speculate, 
 carrying tales from one to another of his adventures, his 
 bonnes fortunes, his pre-eminence in a refined profligacy. 
 Perhaps, in the whole range of dramatic character he most 
 admired Don Giovanni ; and largely valuing his own repu- 
 tation as a lady-killer, enjoyed with no little zest such a 
 conversation as the following, held on a terrace at Eichmond, 
 overlooking the river. 
 
 Said Mrs. Trevelyan of the Excelsior Theatre to Miss 
 Mountcharles of his own : 
 
AN EXPLANATION 85 
 
 "Is it announced, Fanny? I think at last we may 
 venture to congratulate him." 
 
 " The pitcher has heen to the well so often ! " replied 
 Fanny, with the shrug of her pretty shoulders that was her 
 telling point. "If it's broke at last, and you will send him 
 a weddmg-present, so will I." 
 
 " What do you mean, fair ladies ? " said the manager, 
 inexpressibly gratified. " You speak dark sentences, like 
 witches, as you are." 
 
 "Mayn't we congratulate you?" asked Miss Mount- 
 charles. 
 
 " And condole with the others — ^the miUe 6 tr& ? Poor 
 things, I'm sorry for them ! " added Mrs. Trevelyan, a 
 married woman separated from her husband, and therefore 
 entitled to commiserate. 
 
 " Upon my life, you're too hard on me," said Mr. Delapre, 
 " Do I look like a marrying man? I appeal to Mrs. 
 Trevelyan." 
 
 " Frankly, you do not/ " replied that lady, with a laugh. 
 " But it's too bad of you, all the same. You asked her to 
 sit on the box. You took her out in a boat. She thinks 
 you made the party on purpose for her, and no wonder. If 
 you don't propose this evening, going home, you are simply 
 a villain with a smiling cheek, a traitor of the deepest dye, 
 and all the rest of it. Men a/re so heartless ! " 
 
 " She wouldn't accept me," he answered, with infinite 
 coxcombry. 
 
 "Wouldn't she!" murmured Miss Mountcharles, "I 
 wonder what she expects ? " 
 
 " She would make a capital Donna Anna," whispered the 
 other in her friend's ear. " I wish he mayn't have asked 
 her to study the part. Hush ! Here she comes." 
 
 Mrs. Bell, walking along the terrace to join them, seemed 
 as little like a broken-hearted damsel as possible, " Donna 
 Anna may have been as dark," thought Mr. Delapr6, " but 
 I doubt if she was half as handsome ; and if she had carried 
 so fine a figure or so light a step, I think she would never 
 have been forsaken," Then he asked her whether he l^ad 
 not better hurry dinner, and treated her so entirely as queen 
 of the revels, that the company, looking meaningly in each 
 other's faces, voted their volatile manager " settled at last ! " 
 
86 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 Now, this Kichmond party was the result of reflection, 
 and, so to speak, strategy, on the part both of lady and 
 gentleman. Jane Lee, or Mrs. Bell, as she chose to call 
 herself, perhaps not without kindly remembrance of him 
 who had given his evil destiny the name of Beltenebrosa, 
 soon found that the mere keeping up of appearances as a 
 fine lady melted money fast, even in a lodging near Long 
 Acre. The brougham and its well-dressed coachman alone 
 ran away with ten guineas a week. Bich attire cannot be 
 worn for nothing, and she had been tempted to purchase so 
 much jewellery as made a terrific hole in her capital. The 
 time had not arrived for payment of her legacy, and when 
 it did come, she was determined to return every shilling to 
 Mervyn Strange, though she should have to sweep a 
 crossing for her daily bread ! At far too short a distance 
 she could already see the end of her resources, and still her 
 acquaintance with Mr. Delapre afi'orded nothing more sub- 
 stantial than high-flown compliments, and promises that 
 bore no fi:uit. They must come to an understanding, and 
 she resolved to tell him so at the first opportunity. This 
 could hardly be done, however, on the box-seat of a coach, 
 not to mention the proximity of those genial spirits who 
 crowded its roof ; the manager's whole attention was neces- 
 sarily absorbed in the guidance of his team. 
 
 To sit behind four horses (a very difi'erent thing firom 
 d/riving them), with only as many fingers for the same 
 number of reins, and a whip in hand, of which the thong is 
 inconveniently light and long, seems the correct thing for 
 fast gentlemen to do. 
 
 Mr. Delapr6, who aspired to the character of a man of 
 fashion — which he could not be — rather than a man of 
 talent — which he was — felt no scruple in risking the lives 
 of half-a-dozen ornaments of the British drama up-and- 
 down-hill over Wimbledon Common, vsdth a scratch team, 
 unsound and insubordinate, all pulling difi'erent ways at 
 once. It was more by good luck than skilful driving that 
 coach and freight ever arrived at the Castle Hotel, Rich- 
 mond, to stop and set down, ignominiously, outside its 
 covered porch. 
 
 Some of the passengers did not know their danger, others 
 by^iced their nerves with champagne ; all looked forward to 
 
AN EXPLANATION 87 
 
 the return journey, after an early dinner, with more con- 
 fidence than might have been supposed. 
 
 In the meantime, Mr. DelaprI, who handled the reins 
 and gave the entertainment, was an object of interest and 
 admiration to his guests. The ladies especially, with hearts 
 softening under the influence of roses, sunshine, and cooling 
 drinks, felt he was more fascinating than ever, and won- 
 dered how that pale woman by his side, who accepted his 
 attentions with the utmost indifference, could look so calm 
 and cold. 
 
 " Handsome, my dear ! Not a bit of it ! Too tall by a 
 foot ! " whispered little Miss Lightfoot, who excelled in the 
 dance, to Madame Shenck, a full-blown blonde, with no 
 talent in particular but that of looking well in all costumes. 
 " Too dark for my taste," replied madame, in remarkably 
 good English, "and no colouring whatever; " while Miss 
 Mountcharles told her next neighbour that the manager's 
 last flame looked as yellow as a guinea, and Mrs. Trevelyan 
 vowed she was as pale as a ghost ! 
 
 He continued to make strong running nevertheless, con- 
 triving after dinner, when they all went for a stroll in Rich- 
 mond Park, to detach Mrs. BeU from the rest, and walk 
 away with her, as Miss Lightfoot observed, " all amongst 
 the deer, and the oaks, and the fern, as if they were regu- 
 larly engaged ! " 
 
 Beltenebrosa was in her element. Like some woodland 
 nymph, she seemed to absorb strength and energy from the 
 sylvan scene, and looked more beautiful than ever, while 
 she moved light and stately through flickering gleams and 
 shadows, under the greenwood tree. His artistic percep- 
 tions could not but be roused to admiration, and with an 
 intense consciousness of self-approval, he reflected on the 
 increase of fame he must have gained in his own circle by 
 discovering this queenly creature, and keeping her as yet so 
 successfully to himself. 
 
 He was only waiting an opportunity to teU her something 
 pleasant and indefinite to that effect, but they had not 
 walked two hundred yards before she stopped short, and 
 turned full upon him, with the following pertinent appeal : 
 
 " I wanted to see you alone, Mr. Delapre — that is why I 
 consented to this solitary expedition. You and I mug'- 
 
88 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 come to an understanding, without any more shilly-shallying 
 — now — once for all ! " 
 
 The tone was abrupt, the manner peremptory. Under 
 such unfavourahle conditions even Mr. Delapre could not 
 make love to advantage. 
 
 "We have often been alone before, Mrs. Bell," he 
 answered courteously, " but never in so sweet a spot. For- 
 give me if I hint that such a scene is more appropriate to 
 pleasure than business." 
 
 " You know the proverb," she replied ; " one must always 
 come before the other, Mr. Delapre. I will be frank with 
 you." He bowed and made an attempt to take her hand, 
 which was not successful. " I am at the end of my resources. 
 The first time we met I told you I had an independent for- 
 tune. Since then circumstances have altered. I must now 
 endeavour to make my own way in the world. You have 
 often hinted at an engagement, but put me off from day to 
 day. I cannot live on promises." 
 
 " No more can I ! " he exclaimed excitedly. " Mrs. Bell, 
 shall we make a bargain ? " 
 
 His whole manner had changed, and it roused her indig- 
 nation to feel that an admission of poverty lowered her in 
 his esteem. 
 
 " The man is not a gentleman," she said to herself, "I 
 never quite thought he was ; " but she only observed aloud ; 
 " There must be two parties to every bargain. Let me 
 hear what you have to propose." 
 
 Something in her manner checked while it attracted him. 
 He wondered and was provoked at his own nervousness. 
 What was this woman more than other women that his lip 
 should shake and his heart fail him to woo her like the rest ? 
 Courage, man ! They were all the same — at least in the 
 drama — and to be won by a ccmp de main / 
 
 He floundered and hesitated. 
 
 " I will do anything to — to meet your wishes, if, on your 
 part, you — you will try to meet mine. Oh, Mrs. Bell, it 
 would break my heart to think I was never to see you again. 
 We are together too seldom as it is. If — ^if you would con- 
 fide your future to my keeping, I would do everything in the 
 power of man to make it a happy one. Were you unmarried 
 I could speak plainer j hnt, after all^ what are marriages" 
 
AN EXPLANATION 89 
 
 like yours ? Mere conventional forms. Do not let us waste 
 our time in discussing such lamentable superstitions." 
 
 She understood him perfectly, and where another woman 
 would have been frightened or irritated, felt only some 
 amusement and much contempt. 
 
 "Suppose I am free?" she said, with rather a bitter 
 smile. " Suppose I have been divorced, or never married 
 at all?" 
 
 He laughed uncomfortably. "In that case," said he, 
 " I could only wish I were a marrying man myself. But, 
 believe me, Mrs. Bell, those are the most lasting attach- 
 ments that depend wholly and solely on the heart. You 
 won mine from the first. If you think it worth keeping you 
 have only to say so." 
 
 " That is not the engagement I asked for," she answered, 
 with such scorn in her dark eyes as caused him to lower his 
 own. 
 
 He had lost his temper and was losing his head. " A 
 bargain is a bargain," said he rudely. " You understand 
 my terms. Take them or leave them." 
 
 Jane Lee was proud of her self-control ; nevertheless, 
 had she been a man, she would have knocked him down 
 then and there. She bit her lip instead, turning a shade 
 paler than before. 
 
 " After this, Mr. Delapre," said she, " you and I must 
 be strangers. Do not think because I am a woman I cannot 
 take my own part and resent an injury. I shall not return 
 to London on your coach. No, nor even walk back with 
 you to The Castle. Make what excuses you choose to your 
 guests. I conclude you will prefer any falsehood to a con- 
 fession that you have grossly insulted the only defenceless 
 lady of your party ! " 
 
 He protested, pleaded, apologised, to no purpose. Angry 
 and crestfallen, he returned alone to his guests, putting the 
 best face he could on the absence of his companion, who 
 calmly continued her walk on and on through the remotest 
 solitudes of Richmond Park, rather pleased than otherwise 
 with the excitement of a skirmish in which she had so 
 entirely the advantage. 
 
90 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 " A LITTLE LESS THAN KIN " 
 
 While the " three-cornered team," as an old ostler called 
 it, was putting to, while actors and actresses, who were 
 bound to be home in time for a performance that commenced 
 at eight p.m., were discussing the merits of the entertain- 
 ment, the peculiarities of their host, and above all, the 
 unaccountable absence of Mrs. Bell, who, it appeared, was 
 not to accompany them back to London, that lady sauntered 
 pleasantly through the ferns among the oaks and the deer„ 
 enjoying the delights of this beautiful wUdemess the more 
 leisurely, that she determined not to return to the hotel till- 
 Mr. Delapre and his party were fairly off. Her perfect 
 health and truly-shaped frame hardly knew the meaning of 
 fatigue, and it was with no sense of lassitude, but only in 
 a delightful consciousness of freedom from the trammels 
 and decorum of conventional life, that she flung herself 
 down among the ferns, and watched a herd of faUow-deer 
 crossing a sunny glade in single file, whisking an ear, 
 stamping a foot, or cropping the tender herbage as they 
 passed. Suddenly, quick as thought, the careless pacing 
 walk changed to a startled scurry, and they scoured off at 
 speed to disappear behind the nearest thicket, while Jane 
 Lee, conscious of a shadow between her and the light, 
 sprang to her feet with a quickened pulse, and the sense of 
 irritation that waits on fear. A man's voice, harsh and 
 guttral, broke the sylvan silence with a mild request, that 
 only its dictatorial tone magnified to a threat. 
 
 " You ain't a got such a thing as a 'arf-pint about you, 
 marm? " 
 
 The speaker was a slender, shapely, good-looking fellow 
 enough ; very dark, very dirty, with beautiful teeth, and a 
 most unpleasant smile. He wore earrings and a red neck- 
 handkerchief. The rest of his attire was in rags, while feet 
 without stockings peeped through the rents in his clumsy 
 boots. A less desirable companion to walk with through 
 a lonely wood could hardly have been found on a summer's 
 day. And for a few startled moments, the well-dressed 
 
"A LITTLE LESS TBAN KIN" 91 
 
 lady thus accosted wished herself back on Mr, Delapre's 
 coach, wandering leaders, kicking wheelers, and all. She 
 had plenty of courage, and soon recovered herself. 
 
 " Half-a-pint ! " she repeated. "I suppose you mean 
 beer. How can I carry beer about with me ? Do you think 
 I keep it in a smelling-bottle ? Go on, my good man, and 
 don't waste your time talking nonsense. I should say 
 you've had beer enough already." 
 
 "I ain't a good man," he answered sulkily, though 
 somewhat cowed to find his presence created so little 
 dismay. " And I ain't a had beer enuff a'ready. No, nor 
 yet 'arf enuff— there ! You've a got the price of a pint about 
 you somewheres. Come, hand it out ! " 
 
 She would willingly have paid for a pint, or even a 
 gallon, to be quit of him, but reflected that, to get at her 
 silver, she must produce a little porte-monnaie containing 
 all the remnant of her store, and thus offer an inducement 
 to robbery with violence on the spot. In one rapid glance 
 she satisfied herself no assistance was at hand ; in another, 
 she scanned the tramp's slight small-boned figure, and cal- 
 culated that if it came to a trial of strength, she might be 
 able to hold her own. 
 
 " You'll get nothing from me," she said firmly. " Come, 
 my man, it's no use. Drop it, and walk on ! " 
 
 " Walk on ? " he replied ; " yes, I'll walk on along 
 o' you. It's not such a honner w'en all's said and done ! 
 Wot, you won't, won't ye ? Then I'll just make ye ! " 
 
 Oh for the gleam of a park-keeper's shiny hat ! Not a 
 living creature was in sight, not so much as a fawn or a 
 rabbit, only the birds sang joyously in the dark depths of 
 woodland ; and the broad palmated ferns grew high enough 
 to screen any lawless deed of outrage or rapine. 
 
 He took her by the wrist in a grip of steel, scarcely to be 
 expected from those taper fingers ; but her blood was up, 
 and she made her white teeth meet in the brown dirty 
 hand. He wrenched himself free, drew a clasp-knife from 
 his pocket, and opened it with a frightful curse. 
 
 Her courage failed her now ; she believed her hour was 
 come, and put both hands up to screen her eyes, entreating 
 him to spare her life — only spare her life — and take all she 
 had! 
 
92 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 Instead of committing murder then and there he shut up 
 his knife and stared in her face with unfeigned surprise, 
 muttering broken sentences in some outlandish tongue she 
 had never heard before. By degrees he seemed to recover 
 his composure, and presently burst into a hearty laugh, 
 
 " You ain't got no Eomany," said he, " not a word — not 
 even a morsel of patter ; but you're one oi us ! I ought to 
 have spotted you at first. I might have knowed it without 
 seeing of it marked in your sMn. Only a Purrum or a 
 Kaulo-Camlo could be so black and so comely. Ah ! the 
 Gorgios may bluff and bounce, but their women can't hold 
 a candle to the Levels and the Lees. Yes, yes ; there you 
 stands, my sister ! A true thorough-bred Eomany ! And 
 to think I've been a looking for you nigh fifteen years, and 
 found you without a candle at last ! " 
 
 "Your sister!" she gasped; "and you've been looking 
 for me ! What do you mean ? " 
 
 He laid his slender finger — tawny, unwashed, yet so like 
 her own — on the arm that her struggles had bared to its 
 elbow, and pointed out the tiny blue initials, to which she 
 was so accustomed she hardly knew they were there. 
 
 " See here," said he. " Ever since I was a child of five, 
 I have been taught to look for a woman who carries that 
 mark on her wrist, and bring her back to her kindred and 
 her tribe. I am a Lee, and so are you ; but it's no matter 
 for that. When Shuri Lee left the camp, she carried a 
 baby with her, marked as you are now. She never came 
 back. I was but a little lad, and yet I remember how 
 Fighting Jack took on. He hadn't been married long 
 enough to make it easy for him, poor old chap ! Ah ! it 
 would be different now, maybe ; but his hair might never 
 have turned so white, if he hadn't lost both wife and chUd 
 all in one go ! Well, we've been a seeking the babe ever 
 since, us Lees, the whole of the tribe. Look ye here. 
 J. L., that's Jericho Lee. I'm marked too, same as your- 
 self. We ought to be pairs ! " 
 
 She turned giddy, and for a moment faint. The old oaks 
 seemed to reel and stagger all round. Then came the 
 strange reaction that follows every startling experience, 
 the unaccountable sense that it is neither so new nor 
 BO extraordinary, nor so overpowering as it ought to be, 
 
"A LITTLE LESS TBAN KW" 93 
 
 That in some state of existence, something of the same 
 nature has occurred to us hefore, that we are a little dis- 
 appointed, and that, however wonderftd the revelation, we 
 had expected more. 
 
 " Do you mean you know me ? " she asked, trying to 
 speak calmly. "Do you rememher my mother? What 
 was she ? Who am I ? Tell me all you can." 
 
 " You are a true Eomany," was his answer. " What the 
 Gentiles call a Gipsy, and so am I. We have a proverb : 
 ' A Komany never lies to a Eomany, nor speaks truth to a 
 Gorgio.' You may believe what I tell you." 
 
 " You asked for beer just now," she said, putting her 
 hand in her pocket, with some vague idea this new acquaint- 
 ance ought to be humoured and conciliated. 
 
 " Not from you ! Not from you !" he repeated, earnestly 
 enough to betray the strength of a temptation he thus 
 overcame. " Gipsies take no toll of each other. I am in 
 rags while you are in satins, but perhaps I could show 
 money against you now." 
 
 With that he pulled a handful of gold and silver fi'om his 
 pocket, and bade her " take what she would, the Lees were 
 always ready to befriend each other." 
 
 Such an offer could not but inspire confidence. Beltene- 
 brosa felt all her courage had come back, while her curiosity 
 was keenly stimulated by this strange adventure. 
 
 " Where were you going when you found me here ? " she 
 asked. " Do your people make a practice of robbing every 
 unprotected woman they find in a lonely spot? " 
 
 " I was going to our camp," he answered, ignoring the 
 last part of her question. " It is not an hour's walk from 
 this place. Come and see the gipsies in their home. We 
 will give you a sister's welcome." 
 
 She hesitated. It would not be dark for hours. The 
 days were surely past for kidnapping grown-up people, and 
 the temptation was strong to study in their own haunts the 
 race with which she had always felt so unaccountable a 
 sympathy, to which she began to think she might be near akin. 
 
 " I will come and pay you a visit," she replied loftily. 
 " No, do not fall behind. I am never ashamed of my com- 
 pany ; and I want you to tell me all about your people and 
 your tribe." 
 
94 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 So this strangely-matched pair walked on through Rich- 
 mond Park, in the golden glows of the summer afternoon ; 
 and by the way each imparted to the other such details of 
 their respective lives as roused a keen interest in both, 
 Jericho, inheriting from his southern ancestors many refined 
 instincts common to the Arab, the Gipsy, the Red-Indian, 
 and the Patrician of Western Europe, felt strangely 
 fascinated by this being of a superior order, who was yet a 
 kinswoman, and belonged to his own race. He had never 
 seen any one so beautiful, and of a beauty, moreover, to 
 which his eye and taste were trained. Dark brows and 
 locks, white teeth, and delicate features were common 
 enough amongst the women of his tribe, but never till to- 
 day had he looked on gipsy charms enhanced by civilised 
 culture and rich attire. 
 
 Let poets say what they will, " beauty unadorned " can 
 never hold its own with beauty owing its dressmaker a bill 
 that " carries over" three figures to the other side. 
 
 Jane Lee, too, scanned, not without a certain contemptu- 
 ous approval, the agile form and dark expressive face of the 
 youth who had so frightened her at their first acquaintance. 
 While he talked on — teaching her their pass-words, and 
 afi'ording much curious information on the peculiarities of 
 the Romanies, as she must now learn to call her kindred — 
 she could hardly believe his pleasant, well-spoken, imagina- 
 tive companion was the same man who had seemed to her 
 an hour back but an ill-conditioned tramp, thirsting for the 
 vulgar gratification of beer. 
 
 " You know a great many things," she observed, with 
 condescending surprise, not lost on the keen-witted gipsy ; 
 " why, where did you go to school ? " 
 
 His dark eyes sparkled, and his smUe showed a handsome 
 set of teeth ; but there was something of dignity in the 
 carriage of his head and the wave of his arm while he replied : 
 
 " Look round, my sister, as far as your eye can see, as 
 far as your thought can fly ; you cannot even then compass 
 the teaching of a school the Romany goes to day by day, all 
 day long, and all night too. He learns to read in the blue 
 sky above, to write on the wide earth below, and to calculate 
 in the number of fools he gets a living out of at every 
 village fair. Yes ; the Romany never leaves school like 
 
"A LITTLE MOBE THAN KIND" 95 
 
 the Gentile. I myself have to-day got the lesson by heart 
 I have been learning all my life. See, there is the smoke 
 rising from our kettles ; welcotiae, my sister, to your own 
 people and your real home ! " 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 " A LITTLE MOEB THAN KIND " 
 
 Jane Lbh started back at a sound like thunder, which 
 proved to be nothing more than an up-train on the London 
 and South-Western Railway, passing directly overhead. 
 Sheltered by one of its most imposing viaducts, the gipsies 
 had taken up their quarters for the night. Savoury odours 
 rose from a score of kettles, and slender wreaths of smoke, 
 escaping into the air, attested that they extracted from the 
 smallest supply of fuel the largest amount of fire. In the 
 whole encampment there was but one caravan — a wooden 
 structure like a Noah's Ark on wheels. The other dwellings 
 consisted of rough sticks and tattered blankets, arranged 
 with such skill as to form picturesque and tolerably com- 
 fortable tents. The gipsy, like the Chinese, holds in 
 respect the wisdom of his ancestors, and, in his mechanical 
 contrivances, refuses to depart from customs handed down 
 through a hundred generations. He affects a residence to- 
 day, on an English heath or common, of the same shape 
 and textm-e as that which served his forefathers under the 
 Shepherd Kings by the fluctuating waters of the Nile. 
 
 Picking her way through charred sticks, broken pans, 
 bundles of rags, and dirty children, Jane Lee followed her 
 guide to the caravan mentioned above, at the door of which, 
 up three wooden steps, on a rush-bottomed chair without 
 a back, sat its proprietor, taking the refreshments of even- 
 ing air, and strong tobacco out of a short pipe, in alternate 
 whiffs. 
 
 This personage was so remarkable in appearance as to 
 merit description. He seemed long past the prime of life, 
 but tough and vigorous still, standing about five feet nine 
 in height, on a pair of legs and haunches fit to carry a 
 
96 BLAOK BUT COMELY 
 
 Colossus. His shoulders looked narrow, but his girth of 
 chest was deceptive and enormous. His neck was short, 
 and very thick, his jaw large, firm, and somewhat under- 
 hung, which gave his face the resolute yet honest expression 
 of a mastiff. He had long muscular arms, tap^ering to a 
 round wrist, and small thick hand, with knuckles less than 
 usually prominent. This member, which it seems more 
 natural to call " a fist," looked capable of inflicting the 
 severest punishment without receiving injury. 
 
 Fighting Jack, indeed, had been in his day a terror to 
 the London prize-ring, and one of the hardest hitters on 
 record. Even now, though more than fifty years of age, 
 after a rough life, and much sorrow, with much drink to 
 drown it in, he liked to boast that, " though he wam't quite 
 so handy on his pins, nor yet so saucy with his return as 
 he used to be, it took a fairish gpod man to stand up to 
 him still ! " 
 
 With all his ruggedness of feature, there was something 
 picturesque in his appearance, that impressed Jane Lee not 
 unfavourably. He seemed more like the chief of a warlike 
 desert tribe than the head of such a gang as this, tinkering 
 saucepans for trade, and robbing hen-roosts for spoil. 
 
 Without betraying the slightest surprise at her approach, 
 he bent on her a piercing look from under the black brows 
 that so contrasted with his snow-white hair. 
 
 " Don't you go for to speak to him till he speaks to you," 
 whispered Jericho. " There's one thing he can't a-bear, 
 and that's a woman's tongue." 
 
 But Jane Lee was not to be intimidated. Walking 
 boldly to the wooden steps that fenced his throne, she looked 
 him full in the face, and asked : 
 
 "Are you the master here? I've come to see your 
 people, and expect you to show me round the camp." 
 
 He was fairly staggered, testifying his emotion by 
 smoking in shorter and fiercer puffs than before, while he 
 turned wrathfully from the young lady to her guide. 
 
 " What's up now? " he demanded. "Who the is 
 
 this, brother ? And why the have you brought her 
 
 tome/" 
 
 "I have found her at last, uncle," replied the younger 
 gipsy respectfully. " Show him the marks, sister. Speak 
 
"A LITTLE MOBS THAN KIND" 97 
 
 up, and say how Jericho was after you all these years, and 
 brought you home at last." 
 
 Fighting Jack trembled from head to foot ; the pipe shook 
 between his broad strong teeth. He came tottering down 
 the steps, and took the young lady by. the hand, swaying 
 to and fro like a man in drink. 
 
 " Tell me the truth," he growled fiercely, while he loosed 
 the spotted kerchief round his thick brown throat. " Look 
 ye here, you dursn't lie to me, neither of ye. I'd do for 
 you both, as sure as you stand there alive ! " 
 
 "It's no lie, uncle," pleaded Jericho, trembling like a 
 leaf. " Show him your arm, sister, and have done with it." 
 
 Turning back the sleeve of her dress, she pushed down a 
 costly bracelet that girt it, and stretched her full white arm 
 for inspection. Fighting Jack stared and gasped, without 
 a word. Then he tumei his head away, and put the ends 
 of his dirty neckcloth to his eyes. 
 
 Presently he looked kindly in her face. " You're wel- 
 come, my dear," said he ; " you'll stay here to-night — in 
 the old man's crib, you understand. Oh, you must ! You 
 shall have the best of everything — linen sheets, and black 
 tea four shillings a pound — gold, my dear, if you'd eat it. 
 Turn your face this way. Ah ! you're like your mother, you 
 always was ! I'll go in and get ready. I won't be a minute. 
 Don't you stir a finger, I'll be back directly." 
 
 Then he mounted the steps, and disappeared through his 
 wooden door, like the cuckoo in a cuckoo-clock. 
 
 Fighting Jack was no exemplary character, far from it, 
 not even a decently respectable member of society, but he 
 possessed some redeeming qualities, of which not the least 
 extenuating was a constant heart, that could love one woman 
 in a lifetime, and be very tender for helplessness of any kind, 
 particularly in a child. Whether this unreasoning and 
 protective fidelity, like that of a mastiflf or bulldog, may or 
 may not have some affinity to the combative instinct, also 
 common to these animals, that refuses to acknowledge defeat, 
 I am scarcely physiologist enough to determine, though, in 
 my own experience, I can call to mind more than one 
 example of such heroes, only half brutalised by their heroism, 
 whose courage sometimes sank to ferocity, but whose kindli- 
 ness more often rose to the highest pitch of generosity and 
 
 7 
 
98 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 self-sacrifice. Fighting Jack married a woman he loved 
 very dearly. It was the great pleasure of his life to deck 
 her out in the gaudiest of clothing, the costliest of ornaments. 
 The gipsy's wife, he liked to boast, could wear as heavy 
 jewellery as the squire's lady, paid for, too, every carat of 
 it, with her husband's money. He knew no better, poor 
 fellow ! He thought a woman preferred dress and decoration 
 to everything else on earth, and he would have given, he 
 did give, his very life-blood to indulge her with what she 
 liked. The mending of kettles and making of rush-bottom 
 chairs are not lucrative branches of industry, even when 
 supplemented by petty larceny in the matter of linen and 
 fowls, but in the company he affected, Jack Lee soon found 
 that his fists would gaia him a profit he could never hope 
 to earn with his fingers, and that a first-class boxer might 
 afford to dress " his missus " — for.that was his ambition — 
 no less extravagantly than a lord of the land. So he went 
 into trainiag, fought his maiden fight triumphantly, finished 
 up his man in thirteen rounds, and pocketed a clear fifty 
 pounds with hardly a scratch. Proud and happy was the 
 winner when he chucked the battle-money, every shilling 
 of it, into his wife's lap ; prouder and happier still when 
 she burst out crying, and entreated him, with her arms 
 round his neck, never, no never, to run such a risk for her 
 sake again ! Not that she cared for him as he did for her 
 — the true secret, perhaps, of his infatuation; but what 
 woman could remain unmoved by so touching a display of 
 daring and devotion, particularly when thus crowned with 
 success ? 
 
 Then his backers discovered he could take punishment, 
 to use their own expression, "like a glutton," so they 
 matched him with a celebrity on whom the talent laid three 
 to two, as having a stone the best of the weights, and being 
 hitherto unvanquished. The fight created extraordinary 
 interest, and was attended by many people who would have 
 been sorry to see their names in print. The " dark one," 
 as the sporting papers observed, wore his adversary down 
 by dogged courage, correct fighting, and superior condition ; 
 leaving the ring sadly mauled, indeed, and almost blind, but 
 once more a winner, " after an hour and three quarters." 
 Again to quote from the sporting papers: "Ding-dong, 
 
'M LITTLE MOEE THAN KIND" 99 
 
 hammer and tongs ! A fair, old-fashioned, stand-up fight, 
 and a splendid exhibition of true English pluck ;" which last 
 encomium, as the conqueror was a gipsy and the conquered 
 a Jew, must he accepted for what it is worth. 
 
 So fighting Jack became a celebrity also, and it was soon 
 time "to put the strings on," and make a profit " the other 
 way up," by a certain dishonest arrangement that losers call 
 "a Cross." His patrons trained him, therefore, to enter the 
 ring for another contest, giving him strict injunctions at the 
 last moment,~^nd one hundred incontrovertible reasons, to 
 sell the fight. He earned his money fairly, though much 
 against the grain, laying himself open to the severest 
 punishment, and doing his duty, as he understood it, with a 
 loyal turpitude that sprang fi-om a warped sense of honesty 
 and gratitude to his knavish employers. 
 
 His honour rooted in dishonour stood, 
 And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true. 
 
 His wife might have worn satins and velvets at a guinea a 
 yard after that, but Jack never more faced his man in a roped 
 ring ; for within six weeks of this last disgraceful perform- 
 ance, the execution took place at which she lost her baby 
 and her life. It was months — ^years — before the prize- 
 fighter could hold his head up again. 
 
 To use his own words : " He got it so heavily he couldn't 
 come to time ! " 
 
 The man's heart was a large one, and perhaps, though 
 ashamed of his weakness, and never admitting it but in his 
 cups, he felt pain in that region more keenly than would 
 many a sufferer of weaker fibre and less resolute will. 
 That metaphor is old and well-worn, but apposite never- 
 theless, which describes the oak as rent and shattered 
 by a gale, while the sapling stoops and bends to rise again 
 unhurt. 
 
 Fighting Jack was a blackguard, no doubt ; but not a bad 
 specimen of his class — frank, daring, with many character- 
 istic opinions, sufficiently primitive, and a strong determi- 
 nation to have her own way. 
 
 This quality he demonstrated on the spot. " Yes, you 
 must share the old man's crib," he repeated, descending his 
 
100 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 wooden steps, after a brief absence within the caravan; 
 " and the old man's supper, too, my pretty lady. Ah ! I 
 can't hardly bring my tongue to caU you daughter. Now, 
 who'd have thought it ? Blessed if I don't begin to judge 
 as it isn't all happy-go-lucky, heads-and-tails, just as the 
 numbers come up ! Well, nothing was too good for your 
 mother, my dear, and there's nothing here in the camp, nor 
 out of it neither, that shall be too good for you.' " 
 
 He would take no denial. It seemed to him only natural 
 that he should be obeyed. With a certain courtly 
 hospitality, that belonged to his gipsy descent rather than 
 his pugilistic education, he ushered Jane Lee into his dwell- 
 ing, giving her a hearty but respectful welcome, and bidding 
 her, so long as it suited her convenience, to consider this 
 wooden house her home. The sun had already set, the 
 protracted twilight of an English summer's day was 
 glimmering into darkness. How was she to get back to 
 London, even if she knew the way, and where else could she 
 find shelter; supposing, and this seemed most unlikely, 
 that the gipsies would permit her to leave their camp ? She 
 must make a virtue of necessity and remain here all night. 
 It seemed no such hardship. , On the contrary, perhaps from 
 hereditary instinct, perhaps from feminine curiosity, the girl 
 felt interested in her surroundings, and anxious to become 
 more familiar with a wandering life that seemed the very 
 id«al of that freedom for which she had often longed. 
 Jericho, too, was a new experience. How could he be so 
 ragged, so dirty, yet look so like a gentleman ? Why did he 
 move so gracefully, yet speak such vulgar English ? And 
 what was this secret influence that in the twinkling of an 
 eye had elicited a romantic and mysterious character from a 
 mere low-lived tramp asking for beer ? 
 
 Fighting Jack, naturally enough, puzzled and impressed 
 her exceedingly. Altogether, Jane Lee found so much to 
 think of, that when Jericho brought her supper to the top of 
 the wooden steps she couldn't eat a morsel. The repast 
 was no less anomalous than the mode in which it was served. 
 He handed her a sUver drinking-cup and a wooden platter. 
 On the one smoked a savoury stew, in the other bubbled 
 Devonshire cider, cooled in a spring and sparkling like 
 champagne. A clasp-knife and spoon of hom were flanked 
 
"A LITTLE MORE TEAN KIND" 101 
 
 by a silver fork without crest or cipher, a table-napkin of 
 fine linen lay neatly folded for her use, and the salt-cellar 
 consisted of a hideous saucer, cracked to the rim and 
 clumsily mended, but which any fancier of old china would 
 gladly have purchased at its weight in gold. 
 
 Looking round, the famiture of thelittlehut seemed equally 
 incongruous. There were silken hangings inside the door, 
 and a velvet curtain at the narrow window. There was 
 even a diminutive dressing-glass, and an attempt at a 
 toilet-table, supplied with a tin basin, a paper of pins, and a 
 tortoise-shell comb. "No brushes," thought Jane, with 
 comical dismay, " and no soap ! " In a recess stood the 
 bed, a wooden contrivance much too fi-ail to carry Fighting 
 Jack, and that seemed, moreover, not in the best repair. 
 It boasted, however, linen sheets, perfectly clean and dry, 
 a pillow with a lace edging, resewn at the corner where it 
 had once been marked, and a patchwork quilt of the 
 brightest colours, rather dirty, but soft, warm, and 
 comfortable enough. 
 
 Presently a knock at his own door announced a visit from 
 the proprietor, and Fighting Jack, still smoking, looked in 
 with a radiant smile. 
 
 " Make yourself at home, my pretty," he said, hiding his 
 pipe in the palm of his hand. " Where woidd you be at 
 home, I should like to know, if it warn't here ? Liberty 
 Hall, this is, for you leastways. Feed, fill, and call for 
 more. Why, you haven't eaten scarcely a scrap, nor drank 
 scarcely a drop ! My service to you, my dear, and a hearty 
 welcome ! " 
 
 He put the silver mug to his lips — obviously fi'om 
 politeness — for he set it down again a little emptier than 
 before, while the girl thanked him for his care, and assured 
 him that her supper was all she could desire. 
 
 He listened, with a sad wistful look on his stem old face, 
 and pondered silently, without moving an eyelash, for some 
 seconds after she had done speaking. 
 
 " It's her voice," he said, with a little catch of his breath ; 
 "it's her very words, and the pretty trick she had with her 
 hand. Let me call you daughter, my dear, and kiss you on 
 the forehead this once, for I never thought to see the like of 
 my Shuri above-ground again ! " 
 
102 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 She bent her cool white brow to meet his lips, and the old 
 prize-fighter kissed it reverently, religiously, as devotees kiss 
 the relics of a saint. 
 
 He was back half a lifetime, in the prime of his strength 
 and manhood, happy in the one ennobling influence that 
 had raised him to a thinking being from a mere courageous 
 beast. For one moment it flashed across him that he 
 might have made a better use of his chances ; that if he had 
 taken up some respectable trade, and worked at it steadily, 
 he should now be able to offer this noble creature a worthier 
 home ; the next, his knowledge of human nature, acquired 
 in all classes of society, as seen at their worst, suggested 
 that she might have been more estranged from the humble 
 mechanic than the daring adventurous gipsy; and he 
 smiled grimly to reflect that, with all its evil, no woman 
 could listen unmoved to the recital of such a life as his ! 
 
 "I won't intrude on you no longer, my dear," said he, 
 after a pause, in which he stared at her with steady uncon- 
 cealed admiration. " Oh, I haven't forgotten my manners, 
 nor her as larnt me ! You get ready for bed, my dear. 
 I'll send in Nance — a handy lass she is, and a Level, but 
 she couldn't hold a candle to you. Ah ! show me one of 
 them that can — Kaulo-Camlos, Petulengros, Hearnes, 
 Marshalls, and Stanleys — one down, t'other come on. She 
 shall make you a cup of tea — my Shuri always relished her 
 tea — and you lie down, my dear, it'll do you good. If you 
 feel strange or lonesome, sing out, and I'll answer as true 
 as a clock. I won't be far off. I've laid my blanket and 
 plenty more 'baccy under the steps. And — and — look ye 
 here, my lass, if you've got such a thing as a bit of a 
 prayer in your mind, give it mouth. I can't think of one 
 myself. I haven't offered to say mine for nigh upon 
 twenty years ! " 
 
 CHAPTER XVn 
 
 ONE OF THE FAMILY 
 
 I HAVE an old friend who professes strong objections to 
 staying with some relatives, on the ground that they 
 
ONE OF TBE FAMILY 103 
 
 treat him "like one of the family." In his case, he protests 
 this unceremonious welcome means second-class fare and 
 second-growth claret. In my own experience I have some- 
 times obserTed the same advantage taken of too close an 
 intimacy. The fatted calf is killed for a stranger, but 
 husks are considered good enough for the familiar friend. 
 As regarded her entertainment, Jane Lee found nothing to 
 complain of; but on awaking, after a sound night's rest, 
 she discovered that she was in so far considered " one of 
 the family," as to be no longer a free agent, and Fighting 
 Jack's hospitality in his own camp was of that arbitrary and 
 inconvenient nature which firmly refuses to speed the part- 
 ing guest. 
 
 For a few bewildered seconds she could not remember 
 where she was, nor how she got here, but when she recalled 
 her scattered ideas, and rose to dress, she was first indig- 
 nant, then frightened, to observe that her own garments 
 had been taken away. In their place was laid out a pic- 
 turesque costume, of the same style as that in which Nance 
 attended on her the night before, though of brighter colour 
 and more costly material. Presently that tawny handmaid, 
 who seemed to have been on the watch, appeared with cold 
 water in a pitcher and hot tea in a mug. Perhaps acting 
 under orders, the girl answered questions in such a 
 gibberish of real Eomany, mixed with thieves' patter and 
 tinkers' English, that the visitor could not understand a 
 syllable, and finding it impossible to regain her lost 
 apparel, was obliged to make the best of the garments 
 provided instead. 
 
 With the aid of Nance, whose nimble fingers could accom- 
 plish most tasks of dexterity, from pea-and-thimble to pick- 
 ing of pockets, she was soon in her new dress, and could 
 not dissemble her satisfaction at its effect, even as seen in 
 a cracked mirror, six inches by three. She felt she was 
 embarked on an adventure such as had been often talked of 
 amongst her school-companions at Bayswater, and it seemed 
 none the less to her taste, that it bore some affinity to the 
 mystifications of a masquerade. But she had scarcely time 
 to admire herself, before a sudden jolt of the whole tene- 
 ment took her off her feet, and she became aware, with 
 much the same feelings as those of its occupant, when the 
 
104 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 horse is put to a bathing-machine, that her caravan was in 
 motion, and the troop of wanderers in all probability on the 
 march. 
 
 When she looked out, it was over the back of a tall 
 white horse, plodding between leafy hedges, fresh and 
 fragrant in the dews of a summer's morning. 
 
 Jericho, smoking his early pipe, walked by the shaft, and 
 bade her " Good-morrow " with as little emotion as if they 
 travelled together every day of their lives. 
 
 " Where are we going ? " she asked, " and where is the 
 master ? " 
 
 " We doesn't call Jack Lee ' Master,' " answered the 
 gipsy, " we calls him ' Patron,' and so must you. As to 
 where he is, why, where he is always at this time o' the 
 morning, back; and we're a-goia', as we goes always at 
 this time o' the morning, forward." 
 
 " Stop the horse then," said she, "I want to get down 
 and walk." 
 
 "I dursn't," he returned, looking over his shoulder. 
 " The Patron said as you mustn't." 
 
 Was she a prisoner? Had this queer old man, who 
 professed to be her father, really a design to carry her off, 
 and in these days too ? It seemed impossible. Yet that 
 iron face of his looked capable of anything. She felt a good 
 deal frightened, but not without some relish for the excite- 
 ment of such a situation. 
 
 " Jericho," she whispered, in that soft tone she had 
 already discovered none of the other sex could hear un- 
 moved, " we didn't know each other yesterday, but to-day 
 you are my oldest friend here, and bound to be on my side. 
 Tell me, what have they done with my things ? Can you 
 get them back?" 
 
 "Hush!" he answered. "Stow that, and speak fair. 
 You don't know the Patron. Give ia to him, and he'll 
 stand by you through thick and thin. But I wouldn't try 
 to cross him — not if I was you. Ah ! you ain't a-seen 
 him yet with his frill out. You'd never forget it if you 
 had." 
 
 " Why, Jericho ? Is he so terrible ? " 
 
 " Terrible ! I believe you. Now just look here : it was 
 but last week, a Gorgio down in the swineherd's country 
 
ONE OF TEE FAMILY 105 
 
 ■wanted to sell him a gry (that's Eomany, sister) — ^well, a 
 horse, then — such a vicious devil you couldn't get a bridle 
 on it. The dealer swore black, and all black, it was as 
 quiet as a lamb ; but when we went to examine the beast, 
 it charged at us, open-mouthed, like a dog. Well, sister, 
 the Patron drew himself together, and let out. Ah! there's 
 no living thing can stand up to one of Fighting Jack's 
 left-handers, and the critter went down like a log. 'You've 
 killed my horse,' says the Gorgio, 'and I'll give you in 
 charge,' says he, putting his hand out to take and collar 
 him. ' Drop that, brother,' says the Patron ; ' I can stun 
 a horse, easy enough,' says he, ' I might kill a man ! ' and 
 the dealer, though he was a tall black-whiskered chap, 
 twice the weight of any gipsy, was glad to stand a drink, 
 and say no more about it. I've told you afore, sister, and 
 I' make bold to tell you again — don't go for to cross the 
 Patron. It's as much as your life's worth. Steady ! Here 
 he comes." 
 
 Fighting Jack, smoking as usual, now made his appear- 
 ance, and accosted his visitor vdth a deference she hardly 
 expected, yet could not but mistrust, as inferring a con- 
 sciousness of mastery and perfect control over her move- 
 ments. To inquiries concerning their destination, he would 
 only answer vaguely that they were travelling West. 
 When she demanded what had become of her clothes and 
 belongings, he assured her they were in safe keeping and 
 would be restored at a proper time. For the present, he 
 said, she must be content to remain in the caravan, wear- 
 ing the costume of her tribe. She must make some allow- 
 ance for a father's fancies. How could he bear to part with 
 her again on the very day after he had recovered his long- 
 lost child ? She would find a gipsy's no unpleasant life. 
 They had neither flocks nor herds, house nor land ; but 
 they owned all out-of-doors ; they possessed whatever they 
 desired that belonged to their neighbours ; and they never 
 need want for ready money so long as every passing year 
 produced its annual crop of fools. A young woman might 
 do worse than take her share of so noble an inheritance, 
 casting in her lot with the Romanies and old Jack Lee ! 
 
 " Do you mean to keep me here a prisoner?" she asked, 
 with as much dignity as the jolting caravan permitted, for 
 
106 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 the road was rough, and the white horse plodded on regard- 
 less of its ruts. " Do you think I am such a child I don't 
 know the laws of the country ? Do you think I have no 
 friends to miss me, and track me out, and hand over you 
 and your people to be dealt with by the nearest magistrate? 
 Come, Mr. Lee, a joke is a joke, and I've humoured you 
 thus far ; but I coidd have you transported for keeping me 
 here against my will ! " 
 
 He looked at her with sincere admiration. " You're a 
 true Lee," said he affectionately, " down to the heels of 
 your boots ; and I'm proud of you ! But when you bounce 
 about lagging of your old father, my dear, you make him 
 feel more like a laugh than a cry. Say you're joking now. 
 You wouldn't do it if you could. Not you ! " 
 
 " This is a very impracticable old gentleman," thought 
 Jane, whose coolness seldom deserted her, " and threats 
 seem only to amuse him ; but as for my staying amongst 
 these people, with their tawdry finery, their tattered blankets, 
 their fleas and their dirt, I must make him understand it's 
 preposterous, and that without delay ! " 
 
 " Patron," she said, " because I'm a girl " 
 
 " Won't you call me ' Father,' " he interrupted, "just for 
 this one'st? " 
 
 " We'll see about that when we are better acquainted. 
 In the meantime, because I'm a girl perhaps you think me 
 a fool, easily frightened, easily deceived ; and you believe 
 you can keep me here, like a bird in a cage, till it suits your 
 pleasure to let me out ? " 
 
 "I could if I woidd, easy enough, pretty. But that's 
 not my way with them as I love. Now, steady, my lass ; 
 let's talk sense a bit. Business is business." 
 
 He refilled his pipe, and clenched it unlit between his 
 teeth, as was his custom, when bringing his mind to bear 
 on some knotty point. No two men could be more unlike, 
 but watching the kind thoughtfiilness of his expression, he 
 reminded her of Jack Lopez, and the girl's eyes filled with 
 tears. 
 
 " Business is business, my dear," he repeated, " and 
 that's but another word for money, set it up which end you 
 will. Us Eomanies is forced to do without, the best we 
 can. But when all is said, a pound's worth of silver means 
 
ONE OF THE FAMILY 107 
 
 meat, drink, and 'baccy, a bit of fire to cook with, and a 
 blanket to Bleep in ; that's about the size of it, and wot's 
 that but man's Ufe ? Now, look ye here, pretty ; you came 
 to us in silks and satins, chains and laces, like any lady of 
 the land, and in your little pocket-book, or what-not, I 
 counted two five-pound Bank of England notes, four golden 
 sovereigns, half-a-crown, and a threepenny bit. Oh, don't 
 you make a mistake ! I've got it here safe, and I wouldn't 
 wrong you, not of a brass farden ! That's fair and square 
 enough." 
 
 " It is if you hand it back." 
 
 " Don't you be afraid. It's a sight safer in my pocket 
 than yours. Now look ye here ; a man doesn't live to be 
 over the half-hundred, in the ring or out of the ring, but he 
 lams to put two and two together. I counts your money 
 careful, and I says to myself: 'Jack,' says I, 'a young 
 girl, not if she was a banker's daughter, doesn't carry four- 
 teen quid two-and-nine about her for pocket-money. This 
 here young woman,' says I, ' have left her home for reasons,' 
 says I, ' and brought all her plunder along.' I ain't so 
 fond of wagering as I used to be, but I'd wager a gallon 
 now as I ain't very far out ! " 
 
 He waited for an answer, and she frankly admitted that 
 fourteen pounds two shUlings and ninepence represented the 
 whole of her worldly wealth. 
 
 " I knowed it ! " said Fighting Jack, triumphantly ; " and 
 that's one reason as I was so pleased to think you'd found 
 your own people and come home at last. You've been 
 brought up a lady, a real lady ; oh, I can see it with half 
 an eye ! Some day, pretty, you'll tell the old man how, 
 and where, and why. But what's a lady with no more than 
 fourteen quid to keep her ? Why, I've made as much in a 
 morning buying and selling of a lame horse ! No, you're 
 better with me, under your father's roof, as is natural — 
 though it's more liker a carriage nor a house, and none the 
 worse for that ; far better here than loose and lone on the 
 wide world, with empty pockets and such a handsome face 
 as youm ! " 
 
 Then he lit his pipe, and proceeded to smoke in thorough 
 enjoyment, as having exhausted the argument, and settled 
 the whole matter to their mutual satisfaction. 
 
108 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 CHAPTER XVm 
 
 MAEKET VALUE 
 
 Reviewing the situation, with a calm courage, probably 
 inherited from that formidable champion Fighting Jack 
 himself, Jane Lee decided that, for the present, she must 
 let things take their course, and make the best of her 
 captivity with the Egyptians, till it should please the 
 Patron, in his wisdom, to set her free. For a few days the 
 change of scene and habits was exciting enough. In her 
 gipsy costume, laughing with Jericho, helping Nance to 
 cook, or listening to the old boxer's tales of adventure, she 
 seemed to forget her own identity, and could sometimes almost 
 fancy herself as true a Romany in character as she had now 
 learned she was by birth. The other gipsies treated her 
 with a deference exceedingly gratifying to her vanity, while 
 the Patron's care kept out of her sight and hearing such 
 details of their wandering predatory life as could shock her 
 sensibilities, or offend her finer taste. She was, so to speak, 
 a princess in the tribe, and received the homage due to a 
 member of the royal family from all. 
 
 But after a few days the situation became irksome in the 
 extreme. By the time she had mastered the names of some 
 score of vagabonds, male and female, who formed the gang, 
 she discovered that, with all the beauty of face and form 
 neither dirt nor tatters could conceal, with all their inherent 
 pride of birth, and profound superiority to the rest of man- 
 kind who lived in houses, the men were without valour, the 
 women without discretion, while honesty seemed an unknown 
 quality, and the honour proverbial even among thieves was 
 stretched, on occasion, to a most treacherous elasticity. She 
 grew very tired of the life and the company, only waiting, 
 with the resolute persistency of her character, for an oppor- 
 tunity to wrench herself free from both. To escape had 
 seemed at first an easy matter, but day by day she became 
 more convinced that a captivity is none the lighter because 
 imposed by affection, and prison locks are none the less 
 secure because the gaoler turns his key with a paternal 
 smile. 
 
MABKET VALUE 109 
 
 There were two lawless natures in the troop, who sunned 
 themselves with unfeigned enjoyment in her presence, to 
 whom her departure would seem as a withdrawal of the very 
 air they breathed. 
 
 One of these was Jericho. The young gipsy had been 
 much struck by the courageous demeanour that so resisted 
 his attempt at robbery, in the solitude of Eichmond Park. 
 And a subsequent acquaintance with the heroine of that 
 adventure served but to deepen an impression so favourably 
 begun. Jane Lee, with her proud carriage, soft voice, and 
 refined bearing, was a being of superior order, when com- 
 pared to the Joans, Nancies, and Madges, who had hitherto 
 constituted his experience of womankind. She moved 
 among them like a queen, and while they hated her cordially 
 in consequence, not a man in the tribe but felt honoured by 
 her notice, and seemed to stand an inch taller on his bare 
 feet, for a look and a smile from the Patron's haughty 
 visitor, who, wise in her generation, took care to be sparing 
 of both. Jericho, conscious that she noticed him more 
 than the others, felt proud of a distinction that encouraged 
 certain vague hopes he had begun to cherish. He was one 
 of the Lees, he argued, like herself. Their families had 
 intermarried for generations, holding themselves, indeed, 
 as the congenital branches of the oldest family amongst a 
 people to whom Eohans and Montmorencies are but mush- 
 rooms of yesterday. Why should he not aspire to make 
 this paragon his wife ? Had he not been the lucky one of 
 the whole tribe to light on their lost princess ? Were they 
 not marked with similar initials on the arm ? There seemed 
 a fate in it ! The same stars that watched over royal 
 dynasties no doubt protected a gipsy's destiny ; and when 
 Fighting Jack had quite done with life and leadership, who 
 could show a better right to stand in his shoes than his 
 kinsman Jericho, married to his daughter Jane ? 
 
 Meantime, the first step was to obtain the Patron's con- 
 sent. And he fairly trembled to think of the outbreak so 
 ambitious a suit was likely to provoke ; for what was his 
 own sense of admiration, and even attachment, compared to 
 the old man's infatuation for this glorious creature, who had 
 come at last to brighten the end of his life, like a fine 
 sunset at the close of a foul day ? 
 
110 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 Fighting Jack seemed never tired of watching his long- 
 lost child, content to sit and stare at her, pipe in mouth, by 
 the hour together, silent, and perfectly happy only to know 
 she was in sight. A man of few words at all times, and 
 prone, I fear, to strike sooner than speak, and swear sooner 
 than pray, he watched her every look and gesture, with 
 something of a dog's mute vigilant fidelity, that anticipates 
 the very wishes of its owner. 
 
 If Jane Lee had asked for anything unattainable without 
 its commission, there is no crime at which the Patron would 
 have hesitated, to gratify her desire. Yet now, perhaps for 
 the first time, he began to regret his antecedents were not 
 of a different nature, and that he could meet hifl daughter's 
 eye with a clear conscience, as having been an honest, as 
 well as a brave man, all his life long. 
 
 Youth is too much given to look forward, yet, strangely 
 enough, it never seems to anticipate the time when rest and 
 retrospection constitute the pleasure of existence ; when it 
 is delightful to stretch the weary limbs in an arm-chair over 
 a sea-coal fire, or under a sunny wall, while the failing 
 mind floats on an ebbing tide of memories and reflections, 
 far back into stirring scenes that shift, and waver, and 
 vanish like the shadow in a dream. There is a complacent 
 smile on the old man's face while, marshalling his phantom 
 troops, he passes in orderly review the dangers, contests, and 
 triumphs of his prime. How petty now seem jealousies 
 and heart-burnings that formerly embittered the very bread 
 he ate. How gladly would he offer the well-remembered 
 rival a hand that once itched to take him by the throat. 
 Was it worth while to watch and wait, to strain and strive 
 for the wisp of laurels that came at last to his share? 
 And how could he ever have been such a fool as to pine 
 and sicken for those his stature was too low to reach ? 
 
 When halfway down the hill, even long before entering 
 the dark valley that leads to the foreign land, how happy 
 must he be who can look back on a journey in which trips, 
 and stumbles, and errors have been atoned for by an earnest 
 desire to keep the straight path, a steadfast resolve, in spite 
 of sinking strength and miry ways, to carry his burden 
 faithful to the end ! Jack Lee felt, rather than knew, now, 
 when it was too late, that his course had been without a 
 
MABKET VALUE 111 
 
 compass, his efforts fniitless, his success a fallacy, and his 
 life a mistake. All the more did it seem incumbent on him 
 to provide a safe refuge for his long-lost daughter so 
 unexpectedly restored. It needed far less knowle(%e of the 
 world than he had acquired to warn the old prize-fighter 
 that a handsome young lady, with wild blood in her veins, 
 could have no more dangerous enemies than a wilful 
 disposition and an empty purse. 
 
 " If you was to make your lucky some fine morning, my 
 dear," said he, with an air of profound wisdom — " and mind 
 ye, our people has eyes as can see through a milestone, 
 pretty nigh, and ears to hear a watch tick a'most after it's 
 run down— but no matter for that, if you was to up-stick 
 and away, back among the Gorgios, as is nateral, why, 
 where be you to find a home ? that's wot beats me, I asks 
 you where's ? No, no, my pretty. It's a tale as has been 
 told too often, but it's always the same finish. A handsome 
 hearty lass, as thinks she knows best ; a bare cupboard ; 
 a hard try to get work, and to do it after it's got. Ah ! 
 I've knowed plenty as yams their bread by both, and I tell 
 ye, the needle takes more out of 'em than the spade ; then 
 hunger, and strong black tea, and perhaps a mouthful of gin. 
 I've been downhearted myself, and I'm not going to deny 
 but what liquor warms the blood and keeps the mind easy, 
 right or wrong, till it's died out. So the gal gets a sweet- 
 heart, maybe a swell, maybe a counter-jumper. 'And now,' 
 says she, ' I've all Iwants.' Only women has queer fancies, 
 and she can't be off wondering, at odd times, whatever she 
 should do if he was to take and leave her ! It makes her 
 think of them lights flashing in the river, and the long 
 level bridges, quiet and empty, with the clocks a-strikin' to 
 teU her it's time to be out of this, and go somewheres else. 
 It turns her sick, poor thing, and she takes a 'three of gin' 
 this turn, and doses of it down 'cause it does her good. Wot'a 
 the use, it all comes about at last just as she thought it 
 wouldn't. A long wait,a short letter, plain spoken and un- 
 kinder than none ; a empty pocket, and what's worse, a empty 
 heart. Not a morsel of bread, only a bottle of spirits with the 
 cork out, and we needn't ask who stands treat. Then the 
 whistling shop, good clothes turned into drink, and a thirst 
 as won't be squenched, contriving how to get more. So it 
 
112 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 comes to the saloons, and the streets, and maybe, the river 
 after all ! " 
 
 His voice was thick and hoarse, a tear hung in his shaggy 
 eyelashes, and he lifted her hand reverently to his lips. 
 The girl, touched by the affection of his tone, felt impelled 
 to give him her entire confidence, and imparted a piece of 
 information she knew the next moment she ought to have 
 withheld. It was a false move, but once made, could not 
 be taken back. 
 
 " You need have no fear for me, Patron," she said. 
 " I'm not going to starve, and I'm not going to take in 
 needlework, and I'm not going to drink gia. I shall 
 have five hundred pounds of my own in a few weeks. 
 That's enough to keep a young woman out of mischief, I 
 hope ! " 
 
 " Five hundred pounds ! " The Patron literally gasped. 
 She was precious enough before, but the refined gold seemed 
 gilt now, and the lily painted to some purpose. " Five 
 hundred pounds ! " he repeated. " That a daughter of mine 
 should have five hundred pounds ! Why, it's a purse for a 
 queen ! I won't ask you how you come by it, my dear, but 
 however do you mean to spend it all ? Pigs, poultry, sheep, 
 cattle, horses, you might set up at once, and do such a 
 business as would drive every other gipsy out of the trade. 
 I could turn the money over in six weeks with New Forest 
 ponies alone! " 
 
 She laughed at his eagerness. " I have a better plan 
 than that," she said. "I must get it first though, and 
 I ought to go to London ; but we're travelling the other 
 way, surely." 
 
 He lit a fresh pipe. This inheritance, no doubt, made 
 his daughter an exceedingly valuable prize, but he could 
 quite understand that she might slip through his fingers 
 during the formalities necessary for its acquisition ; while, 
 on the other hand, if he kept the goose in too close 
 captivity, the golden eggs might not be forthcoming at all. 
 The result of his reflections was that he ought to hold on 
 for the present to the auriferous bird, and he resolved to 
 take Jericho into his counsels, giving that willing auxiliary 
 strict injunctions to counteract all attempts of the prisoner 
 to escape. 
 
MABKET VALUE 118 
 
 He might have been more puzzled had he knovm that 
 Jane Lee's intention was to return the whole sum to Meryyn 
 Strange, at some future time, when she had obtained by its 
 aid a firm footing in society ; and though she sometimes 
 speculated as to whether she was not bound in honour to 
 fulfil her engagement, should it be impossible to liquidate 
 her debt,'I fear she came to the conclusion that rather than 
 substitute the former payment for the latter, she would 
 repudiate both ! 
 
 After such a confession, the gipsy's guest found herself 
 free to leave the caravan at such intervals as she chose, 
 and, ignorant that she was only the more closely watched, 
 rejoiced in this comparative release. The Patron seemed 
 anxious to please and humour her, judging discreetly enough 
 that, even fi:om the strictest custody, a girl worth five 
 hundred pounds might find fifty ways of flight, at ten 
 pounds a bribe. He knew his people well, and thoroughly 
 appreciated their devotion to their chief — a romantic and 
 honourable fidelity, incorruptible by silver, but hardly proof 
 against gold. It was imperative, he thought, to make hei 
 captivity agreeable, and thus neutralise her natural inclina- 
 tion to escape. 
 
 She was allowed, therefore — always in gipsy costume, fot 
 the Patron himself kept her original sUks and satins under 
 lock and key — to go abroad with the others, on such 
 expeditions as entailed no danger of collision with the 
 rural police, and always under the care of Jericho, who 
 assumed her guardianship the more readily that the Patron 
 had thought well to drop certain hints regarding the market 
 value of his charge. 
 
 " She mustn't slip through our fingers, lad," said the old 
 man — "neither yours nor yet mine. She's as handsome 
 as paint ; you can see as much without a candle. But you 
 mind what I tell ye, she's better nor that — she's as good 
 as gold ! " 
 
114 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 CHAPTEE XIX 
 
 TRICKS OF THE TEADB 
 
 Jane Lbb, with her natural viyacity of character, thoroughly 
 enjoyed emancipation from the jolting caravan, in which she 
 had spent nearly a week without change. She had grown 
 tired of the Patron, Nance was no longer an object of 
 curiosity, nor Jericho, though he thought differently, of 
 interest. The other gipsies she had " reckoned up," as she 
 called it, in the first eight-and-forty hours ; and without 
 some fresh excitement,' some active occupation, she felt as 
 if she must die from sheer depression of spirits, and disgust 
 with her uneventful life. Inheriting the roving tendencies 
 of her race, she longed for change of scene and surroundings, 
 from the same instinct that prompted them to strike their 
 tents, and shift their encampment, week by week. It was 
 with no slight sense of hope and excitement that she learnt 
 from Jericho the Patron's intention to attend Swansdown 
 Baces with his whole gang, squatting on the edge of the 
 moor, in a wild comer, called "Nobody's Nook," where 
 three counties met, and whence he could detach and recall 
 his foraging parties so conveniently as to keep them, in a 
 measure, " on the windy side of the law." 
 
 "It's the pleasantest jaunt of the whole year," said 
 Jericho, "and the most profitable. The constables dursn't 
 interfere, because as the one can't get liberty to cross over 
 the other's border. There's sticks for the gathering, and no 
 questions asked, rabbits half as big as sheep, feeding out by 
 scores, and not a keeper nearer than five mile. Two days' 
 racing, and twice as many fools as you'd find at Kingsbury or 
 Hampton. Nance took three quid dukkering alone, last 
 time, besides a note as she borrowed unbeknownst from a 
 farmer's breeches-pocket. It was a country note, and we 
 dursn't go for to change it — ^but that's neither here nor 
 there." 
 
 " Dukkering? " asked Jane Lee. " What do you mean 
 by dukkering? " 
 
 " Summat as you would do better than most, sister. 
 The Gorgios calls it 'telling of fortunes.' You goes 
 
TRICKS OF THE^TBADB 115 
 
 smiling up to a gentleman on horseback — ^them's mostly 
 the softest with such as you — and you looks so sweet, and 
 speaks so kind, half turning your head away, and laying of 
 your hand on his horse's neck, that he outs with a quid, 
 just for the pleasure of putting hiS fist in yours, while you 
 gammons liim about his bold looks and his handsome face, 
 and the dark woman not a hundred miles off, nor yet ten, 
 as is breaking her heart for, him, because as she comes of 
 a different race, and it's as much as her life's worth for 
 them to be seen together, when she's forbidden to think of 
 him, even in her dreams. And so it is ! " added Jericho, 
 kindling suddenly into a blaze of passion, as unexpected 
 as it seemed uncalled for. " I can't a-bear it, sister, and 
 I won't ! If I was to catch you carrying on like that 
 with the best Gorgio as ever sat in a saddle, I wouldn't 
 care, not if I was to swing for it next 'sizes, but I'd knife 
 him as sure as I stand here — don't you make any mistake — 
 and maybe you too ! " 
 
 She turned on him a calm look of astonishment, even 
 ridicule, that made him feel exceedingly uncomfortable and 
 thoroughly ashamed. They were walking alone, somewhat 
 in advance of the troop, having determined to spare the old 
 white horse by ascending on foot a steep interminable hill, 
 that offered fresh views of rich and varied beauty at every 
 turn. Below lay wide extending plains of field and forest, 
 meadow and comland, wooded knolls, dark ravines, and 
 sunny slopes, losing themselves in a dim haze, lit up by the 
 gleams of a winding river that shone out at intervals in 
 threads of light below the distant hills. Underfoot they 
 brushed the wild red heather, bursting into bloom, and 
 overhead a clump of fir-trees, dark and majestic as cedars, 
 stood out against the calm blue sky, laced with level streaks 
 of cloud. The gipsy's whole being was stirred by the scene, 
 and he felt that now or never must he lay his heart open to 
 his companion, and set his future on the cast, or, as he 
 expressed it, " go in a perisher and take his chance." 
 
 " I'm a fool, sister," he said, with something like a 
 blush on his brown face. " But it seems to me, as you 
 makes fools of us all ! I hadn't no call to let out like that, 
 and I asks your pardon free. I'm the last as would want 
 to catch you tripping, the very last, a-cause I knows too well 
 
116 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 what would come of it. Ah, we keeps it out of our minds 
 with drink and what not, hut it's a fearM matter is 
 death ! " 
 
 "What do you mean?" she asked, turning pale, for there 
 was something ominous in his earnest manner, and stern, 
 though pitiful face. 
 
 " You ought to know," he answered. " But though 
 you're a Bomany bom, you've taken your teaching from the 
 Gorgios, and there's many things wherein us is wiser nor 
 them. We holds by our own laws. Maybe you thought as 
 we hadn't got none. I shouldn't wonder if you didn't 
 believe as you was free to go where you would and marry 
 who you liked. Never such a thing ! " 
 
 She started. Her captivity had not yet appeared in so 
 slavish a light ; but the combative instinct was roused, and 
 she answered defiantly : " Who's to prevent me ? " 
 
 " Not me ! I hopes from my heart ! " he answered, with 
 a shudder ; " and yet needs must, whether or no, if I got 
 the office regular from the tribe. But it wouldn't come to 
 that ; never say it. You're not the sort as would take up 
 with a Gorgio." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " Sister, shall I tell you why? Yes. It's only fair you 
 should know, and you won't bear me no ill-will. Them 
 laws was made hundreds and hundreds of years before you 
 and me was born. When a Eomany lass — no matter 
 whether she's a Bawney, a chief's daughter, such as you, 
 or a come-by-chance, like Mumping Madge — thinks well to 
 forget her tribe and her nation for the sake of a stranger, 
 there's no two ways about it — she must never come back no 
 more ! " 
 
 " She wouldn't want to, I should think." 
 
 " Ay, but she mustn't be seen to disgrace us neither. So 
 we brings her case before our own beaks, and they gives 
 sentence according." 
 
 "And what is the punishment?" She tried to speak 
 carelessly, but her voice faltered and her heart sank in spite 
 of herself. 
 
 " We cast lots who is to do the job ; shaking beans in a 
 bag, maybe, or pulling straws out of the Patron's hand. 
 Him as gets the devil's number clears out of camp and goes 
 
TBICK8 OF TEE TBADE 117 
 
 to work at once, tracking and following of her up, no matter 
 where she's hid, till he comes within arm's length at last." 
 
 "And then?" 
 
 He pulled his knife from its sheath, ran his finger along 
 the edge, and made as if he drew it across his throat. The 
 pale face, the glistening eyes, told their own tale. No spoken 
 denunciation could have seemed so terrible as this vague 
 suggestion of murder in dumb show. 
 
 She was fairly intimidated, but summoned all her courage 
 to dissemble the truth. 
 
 " I don't suppose even death will deter a woman from 
 having her own way," she answered lightly. " However, I 
 no more want to marry a Gorgio, as you call them, than a 
 gipsy; so it makes little matter to me. Come, we have 
 had enough of horrors ! Tell me something about the races, 
 the booths, the shows — all the fun of the fair." 
 
 Then Jericho launched out, nothing loath, on an enthu- 
 siastic description of the enjoyments he anticipated from 
 the next three days. Swansdown Races, it appeared, con- 
 stituted a western Saturnalia, established, it would seem, on 
 behalf of a rustic population, a trifle thirstier than Lon- 
 doners, with equal tendencies to vicious indulgences, but 
 less shrewdness, and a greater aptitude to be gulled by 
 palmistry, ring-dropping, the confidence trick, and other 
 flagrant impositions practised by rogues who keep sober, for 
 the cozening of fools who get drunk. 
 
 Such a gathering was the gipsies' harvest. Encamped on 
 Nobody's Nook, a bare edge of moor, tolerably dry in all 
 weathers, where fiiel was to be had for the stealing in 
 certain adjoining coppices, owned by an absent squire, they 
 established a basis, as it were, from which they could carry 
 on their dishonest operations with as much comfort as 
 success. No keepers, indeed, meant no game, but there 
 were hen-roosts tumbling to pieces on every side, ours 
 chained to empty casks, that barked furiously, but never 
 woke their master till the thieves had got clear off, and, 
 better still, handsome farmers' daughters, happy, healthy, 
 and ignorant, never grudging a bit of bacon and a mug of 
 cider to the plausible gipsy, buying tawdry tinsel at the 
 price of virgin gold, and crossing their own toil-worn palms 
 with silver, to be pocketed by swarthy fortune-tellers, for 
 
118 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 the promise of an undeclared lover, a prospective husband, 
 and an eventual family, seldom less than ten. Even with- 
 out the races, such a primitive neighbourhood was after the 
 Romany's own heart; but when these indigenous advan- 
 tages came to be enhanced by a two-days' gathering, that 
 collected from far and near an agricultural popiUation, 
 taking scarcely another holiday in the year, it is easy to 
 conceive how large a share of the besotted worker's earnings 
 went into the pockets of the persuasive idler, and how, after 
 Swansdown Races, the Lees and Levels who attended were 
 sleek and saucy, and flush of ready money for at least a 
 month. 
 
 " There's business to be done too," continued Jericho, 
 warming to his narrative, "for a chap as knows a horse 
 when he sees him, and sees him when nobody else don't 
 know as he is looking on. It's a good game, sister — ^you 
 wouldn't peach — ^you dursn't — so there's no call for telling 
 of you. 'Twas but this time two year, I was on the ground 
 afore sunrise, looking after a wire as I let drop out of my 
 hand by chance overnight, at Brimscombe Brake, by the 
 back of the course. I was afraid a rabbit might have got 
 hung up in it and hurted hisself. I'm fond o' dumb critters, 
 and I'd a-taken of him out, you may be sure. Well, I 
 wam't a-thinldng of anything particular, when I see two 
 swells, as far as I coiJd judge, for it was barely light, 
 standing right in the middle of the track. ' Hold on a bit, 
 Jerry,' says I to Jericho — ^that's me, sister — 'and keep dark; 
 this here ain't no business of youm,' so I dropped down 
 among the heather, soft and quiet as a mouse. Presently 
 I hears the blowing of horses half a mile off, and a beat of 
 hoofs, even and regular, the way them thorough-breds 
 gaUops, when they stretches out. Ah ! I've always said as 
 'twas cruel hard lines to lag a cove for choring a gry. 
 Horse-stealing's against the law — that's right enough — but 
 think of the temptation, sister, and gipsies is but flesh and 
 blood after all. 
 
 , " Well, nearer they comes, and past me like a flash. I 
 could just tell one from t'other. Three of them there was. 
 The first and the last seemed larger than the middle one, 
 more growed-out like, but he was the beauty. Dark chest- 
 nut, with one white foot in front — oh ! I took notice — and 
 
TBICKS OF TEE TBADE 119 
 
 an eye in his head almost as bright and soft as yourn, sister, 
 and as big again." 
 
 Jericho, losing himself for a space in memories of this 
 paragon, Jane Lee showed sufficient interest in his tale to 
 ask: "Did he win?" 
 
 "I couldn't make sure. He was gaining on the first, 
 when they passed my hidingrplace, and the third horse, he 
 couldn't come a-nigh, try how he would, but wot I heard 
 was good enough for me. Says one of the swells, turning 
 round to light his weed, and chucking of the match into the 
 back o' my neckj he stood that close : ' A Tery satisfactory 
 trial,' says he. ' Never was extended,' says he, the way 
 them Gorgios bluffs amongst theirselves. ' Why, it makes 
 him five pounds better than the old horse, at the weights, 
 and I don't see how he can lose.' T'other was a younger 
 chap, with bright eyes and a smooth face. ' Lose ! ' says 
 he, 'don't talk of it,' says he; 'I've gone for the gloves this 
 time. Let's get back and have some breakfast ! ' 
 
 "I'd had mine — I never starts without — ^but I was home 
 before them, I'll lay a wager. And the Patron, he didn't 
 cut no time to waste neither. In less than an hour he'd 
 rigged hisself out in a brand-new suit of broadcloth, clean 
 collar, starcher, and a tall hat. If he'd kep his gloves on 
 and his mouth shut, blest if you'd a-known him from a par- 
 son or a beak. Off by rail, too, first-class, and everythink. 
 Oh, he didn't do it by halves ! That's thd best plant as 
 we've ever been in, before or since. If I could take such 
 another morning walk, only once in the year, I'd travel in 
 my carriage and pair, like a lord of the land." 
 
 Her interest was flagging. " I suppose you all backed 
 the handsome chestnut," she said, with a yawn, " and he 
 won?" 
 
 " Better than that," he answered. " He laid agin him 
 free. First at evens, then at two and three to one, till the 
 very morning of the race, and he never come to the post. 
 The blacksmith lamed him someway, d'ye see, putting of 
 his plates on so bad as he couldn't turn round in his box. 
 That blacksmith wam't asked to lift a hammer for the stable 
 again, and hadn't no need. He's hard up, I daresay, by 
 now ; but I seen him myself, driving a trotting-match for a 
 hundred sovereigns, money down, the week before last. 
 
120 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 He's a kinsman of the Patron. That's how it come about, 
 very like. A Lee always stands by a Lee." 
 
 The intricacies of his narrative were lost on his listener, 
 who was deep in her own thoughts. Swansdown Races, if 
 she could profit by the opportunity, seemed to promise a 
 fair chance of escape. Turning matters over in her own 
 mind, with characteristic rapidity, she formed a plan that 
 she thought might afford liberty of action in detaching her 
 for a time from her comrades ; and, if nothing better came 
 of it, would at least famish such amusement as should take 
 her for a few hours out of herself. Jericho was obviously in 
 a communicative mood, and she determined to get out of 
 him all the information she required. 
 
 CHAPTEE XX 
 
 PALMISTET 
 
 " I OUGHT to take my share of work, no less than play," 
 said she. " What was it you told me I could do, Jericho ? 
 Dukkering, I think you called it. I should like to try my 
 hand." 
 
 " Can you read the stars, sister ? " 
 
 "Can you?" 
 
 "No; I can't; nor nobody else ! That's the bare truth. 
 Dukkering's different. It's no use humbugging of you." 
 
 " Well, it's not very difficult, I daresay. How am I to 
 begin?" 
 
 He assumed an air of importance befitting so lofty a sub- 
 ject, and entered at once on a scientific explanation. 
 
 " Of dukkering, my sister," said he, " there is three 
 kinds. Us Romanies practises all, but the Chorodies — 
 mean low scum, as their very name tells you, and the Kora- 
 mengre, hawkers and criers of stinking fish, and such like 
 — never tries it on but with two at most. This here know- 
 ledge, as teaches us to peep behind the curtain that hangs 
 afore next week, was larnt us by our fathers, who were larnt 
 by their fathers, hundreds and hundreds of years back, in 
 the beginning of time. The first, and the oldest way of 
 
PALMISTRY 121 
 
 all, is to tell a fortune by the stars, but it won't take with 
 the Gorgios now as it used. Perhaps they think our right 
 to the stars no better than theirs ; nor you can't always get 
 a look at them neither, even on summer nights; so it's 
 easier to fall back on the four suits, or the palm of a man's 
 hand. I could lam you the first in ten minutes, if so be as 
 I'd got a pack of cards in my pocket; but the daddies is 
 always ready, and I'll show you the three lines of fate — so 
 as you'll never forget them again — in less than three 
 minutes." 
 
 He took her slender hand in his own, and turning the 
 palm uppermost, traced with his brown finger the light 
 creases, scarcely perceptible, on its delicate surface. 
 
 " This here, sister," said he, " is the Line of Life. See 
 how it travels right athwart from finger to wrist, and loses 
 itself at both ends, because a man can't tell where he came 
 from, when he was born, nor where he is going when he 
 dies. That's wot beats us, Gorgios, Eomanies, and all ! 
 There's the Line of Wealth, very faint it is, and uncertain, 
 but cutting deeper as folks grow older. Just like money 
 comes with years to them as lays their mind to it, and saves 
 up against the time as they won't want for nothing but the 
 price of half a day's work with a spade. It's a line, this is, 
 as you mustn't make much account of with young folks, 
 gals in particular ; them won't hear of money or money's 
 worth, alongside of love ; but the farmers, especially the fat 
 'uns, likes to be told they've got it strong ! Then here's a 
 mark as you show plainer than t' others ; this means going 
 from place to place, foreign or what not. When you've a 
 brown-faced curly-haired chap to deal with, you may tell 
 him as he's bound to make a long voyage ; and if there's 
 rings in his ears, you're safe enough in warning of him as 
 his lawful wife is looking out for him this minute across the 
 sea ; but yon won't go for to make mischief, you may say, 
 if there's any petticoats by, for he'll be generous to the poor 
 gipsy like a free, brave, open-hearted sailor, and she 
 wouldn't bring tears into the blue eyes or the black, 
 according to the company, as is a watching of him now 
 with a sore heart along of his handsome face. He'll out 
 ■with a bit more silver, you may be sure, for fear as the 
 gipsy should peach, though he'U laugh right out, and swear 
 
122 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 as he don't believe a word, and only does it for the sport ! 
 There's another yet, sister, going across from the thumb. 
 It's called the Line of Fate, this is, and you must be very 
 careful how you work it when you've to do with old folks, or 
 even the middle-aged. If it's short and shallow, on a soft 
 young hand like your own, you may out with it plump, as 
 this is the sign to teach how long they has to live. Soon 
 as it runs in to meet the Line of Life there's no more to be 
 said. The candle's burnt out, and the game's up. I'd pass 
 it over, if I was you, with the toughest customers, and stick 
 to the money or the sweethearts. Nobody thinks them- 
 selves so old as they can't do with plenty of both, and 
 you needn't believe in these no more than you like. It's 
 different with the Line of Fate." 
 
 He spoke in an altered tone as though, like other priests 
 of a false superstition, he had discarded all but the most 
 impossible and preposterous tenets of his creed. 
 
 " Then you think I have a long time to live ? " said she, 
 inspecting the lines on her own palm, with an interest of 
 which she felt half-ashamed. 
 
 He caught the slender hand and pressed it to his lips. 
 
 " Sister," said he, looking round to make sure they were 
 not observed, " when yowr time comes, I'll ask no better 
 than to take my chance with you for good and evil. If you 
 and me take our leap in the dark together I don't care when 
 it is nor where." 
 
 Jane Lee, I need hardly observe, at this stage of my 
 narrative, was one of those women, fortunately rare as they 
 are dangerous, who consider they have a prescriptive right 
 to the homage of all mankind. They seem to believe 
 that the other sex is created, like the lower animals, for 
 their especial service without thanks or remuneration, and 
 that, in no case, are they to admit the justice of a proverb, 
 which insists on the same sauce being served with the 
 gander that is appropriate to the goose ! So long as a man 
 could be of the least use, she felt justified in availing her- 
 self of his time, intellects, money, everything he chose to 
 offer, . If he was such a fool that he must needs fling his 
 heart after the rest of his possessions, so much the worse 
 for him ! She didn't want it, she didn't ask for it, but she 
 looked on it in the light of an umbrella, for instance, 
 
PALMISTRY 128 
 
 politely offered during a shower, a temporary convenience to 
 be opened, made use of, and returned with thanks. 
 
 Women of such temperament, if they care to try, usually 
 attain considerable social success. They skate on thin ice 
 indeed, but it seldom gives way under their light careless 
 tread. They play with the sharpest instruments, but avoid 
 cutting their own fingers, and warm themselves comfortably 
 at a fire that scorches more earnest natures to the bone. 
 They have just enough feeling to take an interest in the 
 game. Were they perfectly callous there would be no 
 pleasure in playing, and they can gauge the fever raging in 
 the hearts of their victims, by an agreeable sense of warmth 
 and vitality in their own. To give them their due, they are 
 exceedingly loath to come down firom the high ground 
 whence they elect to offer battle. When they do, their 
 defeat is irremediable and complete. 
 
 The Amazon of history is said to have cut off her right 
 breast that its shapely outline might not hinder the drawing 
 of her bow, but our modem Penthesilea, whose low-cut 
 dress would hardly permit the concealment of such an eye- 
 sore, practises a less obvious mutilation, and leaving her 
 bosom to sink and swell before an admiring world in all its 
 natural softness, attains a deeper inmiunity by hardening 
 and scarifying her heart. 
 
 " Do you mean you like me so much ? " asked Jane Lee, 
 in those half-tender, half-mocking tones that so bewitched 
 her listener. " Why, Jericho, you always call me your 
 sister, and you haven't known me much more than a week ! " 
 
 " A week ! What matter for that ? Does it take a 
 week for a man's eyes to be blinded, and the very heart 
 scorched up in his body ! I tell you, that time when I 
 dropped on you in Richmond Park I felt how it was going 
 to be — the first five minutes was enough ! " 
 
 " But you don't think ladies — I mean, you don't suppose 
 women are so impressionable ? I wouldn't look at the best 
 man in the kingdom unless I'd known him at least a year 
 and a day." 
 
 " That's a match ! Shake hands on it ! In a year and 
 a day I'll come and put you in mind of what you said this 
 minute. You'll forget, likely enough, but I won't. It'll 
 be meat and drink, clothes and firing ; ah ! the very pith 
 and marrow of life to me fi-om now till then." 
 
124 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 " And in the meantime ? " 
 
 "In the meantime there's nothing on this mortal earth 
 as you can ask that I won't grant, free. Says you : ' Jerry, 
 I want this or that ; ' no matter what — a, velvet gownd, 
 a gold ticker, jewels for your ears, or your fingers, or your 
 hair — and Jerry, he answers : ' Right you are.' If 'tis a 
 lagging matter, more. nor that, though Jerry should swing 
 for it, silk or velvets, laces or diamonds, you won't need 
 to ask again! " 
 
 " You say so now, Jerry, and think so, perhaps ; but 
 supposing I wanted you to do something, and the Patron 
 told you not, how would it be then ? You like me, I dare- 
 say, but you're afraid of him." 
 
 " Try me ! " 
 
 There was a world of faith and devotion in the dark eyes 
 that met her own so honestly. She pitied him, and could 
 not help showing it. 
 
 " Poor Jerry ! " said she. " I suppose I ought to believe 
 you. At least you deserve a trial. Now you can do some- 
 thing to please me, if you will." 
 
 " Speak up, sister, it's got to be done, right or wrong ! " 
 
 " Then you must persuade the Patron to let me go with 
 you to the races. I am so tired of that caravan. I have 
 scarcely been out of it for an hour till to-day. I want to 
 see a little life. I want to hear people speak English 
 again, instead of a gibberish I cannot answer nor under- 
 stand. Will you explain to the Patron? Do you know 
 what I mean yourself? " 
 
 "I suppose I do, sister. You must come to it gradual. 
 Like a singing-bird as is caught and shut up in a wicker- 
 cage — he takes and puts a sod of turf in at first, so as it 
 shouldn't think it's never got to be out o' doors no more. 
 You've seen the Romanies in their camp, now you'd like to 
 know how we carries on when we's afield — ^you wants to 
 take the rough with the smooth." 
 
 "Exactly, Jerry. You understand me already. Now 
 promise you will manage for you and me to start ofi' together 
 early the first day of Swansdown Races, away from all the 
 others, we two by ourselves. What I want is a holiday, 
 and not to be accountable to anybody but you." 
 
 He looked thoroughly happy. Such an expedition, so 
 
PALMI8TB7 125 
 
 carried ont, seemed all that was most enjoyable in the 
 world. 
 
 " I'll try to persuade the Patron," said he. " But he's 
 liker to say yes for you than for me. I don't know what 
 to think, though, of your going out on the dukkering lay ; 
 you're not used to it, you know." 
 
 " Oh, Jerry ! that wUl be half the fun. Besides, I don't 
 want to shirk my share of the work, and I'll bring back 
 aU I make, fair, honest, and above-board, like — ^like — a 
 real Romany." 
 
 She smiled in his face, so handsome, so mirthful, so 
 exquisitely provoking, that Jericho lost his head, and tried 
 to pass his arm round her waist. 
 
 For some secret reason, his effrontery seemed to excite 
 amusement rather than indignation. 
 
 "You are in too great a hurry by a year," she said, 
 disengaging herself with a laugh — " and a day. A bargain 
 is a bargain. Here comes the caravan. Don't forget your 
 promise, Jerry. Good-night! " 
 
 The Patron's opposition to their scheme was less violent 
 than had been anticipated. 
 
 Fighting Jack felt in the position of the gentleman who 
 was presented with a white elephant. He had attained 
 the possession of something very valuable, no doubt ; but its 
 care entailed trouble, responsibility, and expense. Though 
 he considered the best of everything not a jot too good for 
 his daughter, and grudged no outlay on her behalf, he 
 would have liked to see her more grateful for the compara- 
 tive luxuries with which he surrounded her ; more alive to 
 the inconveniences she caused him in the way of politeness, 
 sobriety, and an occasional clean shirt. 
 
 " I'm not sure I didn't do as well without her," thought 
 the Patron, reflecting on the amount of strong drink he 
 usually took during Swansdown Races. " But it would 
 never do to let her slip through my fingers now. Dash it ! 
 wot a handsome lass it is ! And five hundred pounds ! 
 It's a vast of money. Them good-looking ones is mostly 
 bad to drive ; but when a gal's got five hundred pounds, it 
 gives her a kind of a right to have her own whims and her 
 own way. I must humour the lass. My Shuri was 
 always at her best when I humoured of her ; and if the 
 
126 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 weneh really wants to go playing of her high jinks at these 
 here races, why, go she must. I'll see she's well looked 
 after, but Jack Lee's not the man to say her nay ! " 
 
 So it was settled at nightfall, after the important busi- 
 ness of encamping, that the young lady should try her luck 
 next morning, in appropriate costume, as a gipsy fortune- 
 teller, under the tuition and guardianship of Jericho Lee. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 SWANSDOWN RACES 
 
 " Card of the running horses, names, weights, and colours 
 of the riders ! card of the running horses, &c. ! " The oft- 
 repeated cry ran glibly off Jericho's lips, with a facility 
 bom of practice. 
 
 Partly from good looks, partly from good manners, he 
 sold all his cards, and made a fair margin of profit, hours 
 before the first race-horse appeared on the ground, attended 
 by its escort of idlers, admiring sheet, hood, and quarter- 
 piece — for of the animal itself nothing could be seen but 
 four long legs, not of the soundest, and a long swinging 
 tail. An elderly shrivelled man, chewing a straw, walked 
 by the side of this well-concealed celebrity, which was led 
 by a stunted urchin, who could not, it is to be hoped, be 
 such a scoundrel as he looked. 
 
 But although some time must elapse before the saddling- 
 bell should ring for the first event of the day, a deal of 
 business had already been got through by those who catered 
 for the amusement of the pleasure-seekers. A merry-go- 
 round, bearing the appropriate name of Wheeler's Eoyal 
 Circus, was in full swing, its rotatory chargers, black red, 
 spotted, and gray, mounted by children in every stage of 
 stickiness, the result of a thriving trade driven in a neigh- 
 bouring booth, whence could be heard at intervals the 
 mUd crack of a pea-rifle, pointed by some rustic marks- 
 man, grinning and rosy-cheeked, whose rare success was 
 rewarded in hardbake, elecampane, or nuts. 
 
 Next to this popular resort and emporium of indiges- 
 
8WAN8D0WN BACE3 127 
 
 tion, but dominating and diminishing its importance, by 
 superior height and pretension, stood Bellingham's Grand 
 Menagerie, hoisting the flags of many nations, including 
 otir own royal ensign, as purporting to have visited the 
 whole habitable earth, but to hail last from Windsor, 
 Balmoral, or other residence of Her Majesty the Queen. 
 Portrayed on the outside, this collection of animals seemed 
 interesting to a student of natural history, affording 
 specimens of beasts and birds hitherto unknown in such 
 gigantic proportions, so that it was difficult to imagine how 
 the royal elephant, royal lion, and royal tiger, all of colossal 
 dimensions, could be stowed away within the limits of the 
 canvas supposed to contain them. A brass band, con- 
 sisting of two musicians, one of whom ingeniously per- 
 formed on a gong with his feet, materially enhanced the 
 impression of terror it seemed desirable to convey, and 
 more than one future hero, lately breeched, having paid for 
 entrance with considerable misgiving, retreated in a panic, 
 forfeiting his penny rather than pass the awful curtain 
 that shrouded these terrors of the wilderness from an every- 
 day world. 
 
 Not so with the Giant, the Fat Lady, and the Two- 
 headed Child. Here curiosity might gaze its fill unchecked 
 by fear, for the first distinguished personage was deaf, the 
 second affable, and the third so fast asleep in bed, that 
 only one head could be seen above the blankets, and the 
 second must be left to the imagination of a spectator. 
 
 I fancy this show afforded little satisfaction, yet those 
 who came out advised their Mends to go in. People do 
 not care to be singular in their indiscretions, therefore, 
 perhaps, it is that — '"' One fool makes many." 
 
 Besides these sights, to which there was' no free admis- 
 sion, many amusements were provided that might be 
 enjoyed for nothing. Posture-masters, in motley and 
 spangles, twisted their limbs in every conceivable contor- 
 tion, as if they were made of gutta-percha. Lying supine, 
 these athletes kicked their progeny recklessly in air to 
 catch them again in a sitting position on the soles of their 
 feet, or, bending their own bodies backward as if the 
 vertebral column had been taken out, picked up needles 
 with their eyelids fi:om underneath their heels, resuming 
 
128 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 the natural attitude of the human body with a startling 
 somersault, no less surprising than the intricate feat of 
 which it seemed an inevitable result. 
 
 Here, too, might be observed an exceedingly dirty man 
 in a close-fitting jersey, bound hand and foot so effectually 
 that the cords seemed to cut into his flesh, while he 
 implored the by-standers to draw his knots yet tighter, that 
 he might show how easily he would extricate himself when 
 another shilling — only one more shilling in coppers — had 
 been subscribed. Probably the added money was not 
 forthcoming, as he never seemed to effect his own release ; 
 nor, indeed, under any circumstances could he vie in popu- 
 larity with his neighbour, a puffy person, also in close- 
 fitting garments, who professed to be champion boxer 
 of England, open to compete with all the world, and 
 hitherto unvanquished by mortal arm. Not so improbable a 
 boast, inasmuch as his comprehensive challenge did not 
 appear to have been taken up ! This worthy, it would 
 seem, was a friend of the Patron, having been knocked out 
 of time indeed some years ago in a drunken brawl by the 
 old gipsy, with an energy the champion could not forget. 
 Much liquor had subsequently drowned aU unkindness 
 between them, but they seldom met without fomenting their 
 reconciliation in another cup. 
 
 The great boxer, catching sight of Jack Lee, let his chest 
 contract, his shoulders fall, and his muscular system relax 
 itself, while he desisted from his pompous march round a 
 circle of some five feet in diameter, where he had been 
 strutting to show himself, like a cock-grouse " drumming" 
 in the glows of sunset on a Highland hill. 
 
 " Old pal," said the hero, in a husky voice, that yet 
 impressed the listeners with a nameless awe, " I've been 
 a-looking out for you the whole of this here blessed 
 morning — ^blessed if I hain't ! Bless your old eyes ! Come 
 on and have a blessed drain." 
 
 No gipsy could be proof against such a storm of bene- 
 dictions, and Fighting Jack consented willingly enough, 
 but demanded courteously whether the other wouldn't put 
 "the muffles" on and "play light" for a quiet five 
 minutes, to please the yokels before they went to refresh ? 
 
 " Muffles be blessed ! " said the other, with a grunt 
 
SWANSDOWN BACES 129 
 
 that seemed to scorn sucli make-believe, but lie muttered 
 below his breath : " Not if I know it, my lad. Bless me, 
 that light play of youm is like the kicks of a horse ! " 
 
 So the two disappeared in a drinking-booth, and Jane 
 Lee congratulated herself that for the present she was 
 released from the Patron's supervision, and need be 
 accountable to Jericho alone. This guardian, however, 
 stuck by her like a leech. They had scarcely been on the 
 course an hour ere his companion's beauty excited such 
 general remark, not only from boors, reeling about in their 
 smock-frocks, dazed with cider, but farmers and gentlefolks 
 on horseback, or in carriages, that even the ladies asked 
 their admirers : " Have you seen the handsome gipsy ? " 
 professing with womanly generosity the highest approval 
 of her swarthy charms, yet tolerant of contradiction, and 
 in no degree irritated by a difference of opinion in their 
 particular friends. 
 
 More than once did Jericho's slender fingers steal to 
 the knife he carried in his waistband, while the leer of a 
 drunkard, or, more offensive still, the presuming stare of 
 some bucolic coxcomb, was directed at his beautiful charge. 
 Poor Jericho ! he had never enjoyed Swansdown Kaces so 
 little, nor been so pleased to hear the bell ring, directing 
 the course to be cleared for the Swansdown Hunt Handicap 
 — an event that would afford him some brief respite from 
 his torture, by riveting attention on the great business of 
 the day. 
 
 The two gipsies had stationed themselves opposite the 
 weighing-enclosure, which was immediately under a wooden 
 stand — entrance five shillings — occupied by the exclusive 
 and aristocratic element of the gathering. Jane Lee stood 
 staring listlessly at certain gaudy hats and light-coloured 
 robes in one of its compartments, thinking how much better 
 she would herself be dressed when her time came, and had 
 even brought her mind to bear on the fashion of an attrac- 
 tive toUet for Epsom and Ascot, when Jericho, restlessly 
 on the watch, saw her start, redden suddenly to the roots 
 of her black hair, and turn white in the next breath. 
 Following the direction of her eye, he only noticed a 
 clumsy jockey, in blue jacket, with a yellow cap, carrying 
 saddle and bridle out of the weighing-tent, and decided he 
 
 9 
 
130 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 must seek elsewhere for the cause of his companion's 
 agitation. 
 
 " You are ill, sister," he whispered ; " come away out of 
 the crush. You look as if you are going to faiut." She 
 recovered herself while he spoke, and protested with truth 
 " she had never fainted in her life, that he was always 
 fancying things, and she wished he would let her alone ! " 
 
 Meanwhile the yellow-capped jockey, in a prodigious 
 heat and fuss, busied himself with the adjustment of sundry 
 rings, reins, and other contrivances for the guidance of a 
 wicked little chestnut, preparatory to a hoist on its back 
 from a grave man in gaiters, administered with such good- 
 will as nearly to cant him over on the other side ; after 
 which ceremonies, man and horse were led carefully out, 
 and left to their own devices in the middle of the course. 
 
 It needed no preliminary canter, not even a second 
 glance, to satisfy Jane Lee of their identity. The pair 
 before her could not be mistaken. They were none other 
 than " Forward James " and Potboy ! That Paravant had 
 not recognised her she felt sure, and no wonder ! He was 
 as yet too fresh at the game to spare attention from his own 
 unparalleled boots and breeches, the length, or rather short- 
 ness, of his stirrups, and the nervous agitation experienced 
 by every novice when he rides his first race. Potboy, too, 
 like many half-bred horses, was a disagreeable mount ; in 
 training eager, fractious, and inclined to pull unpleasantly 
 hard. It took the rider all his time to bounce and sidle in 
 safety to the start, nor did the little horse become quite 
 amenable till within two hundred yards from home, then he 
 tired and faded ignominiously to the easy canter of an old 
 gentleman's cob. 
 
 Though Paravant, nolens volens, made all the running, 
 the pace was by no means good. Before the race was over, 
 and he had flourished in last but one, Jane Lee, with cha- 
 racteristic recklessness, jumped at one of those prompt 
 decisions to which she owed the many chances and changes 
 of her eventful life. It was her maxim that nothing when 
 accomplished was half so preposterous as it seemed while 
 in course of preparation, and that you never knew what you 
 could do till you tried. 
 
 She resolved to obtain an interview with James Paravant 
 
SWAN8D0WN BAGE8 131 
 
 then and there. Fighting Jack, as luck would have it, was 
 safely disposed of with his boon companion. If she could 
 get quit of Jericho, she might test the memory and affection 
 of her old admirer while telling hia fortune in her gipsy 
 character, confident that till she thought well to disclose 
 herself, he would not find her out. 
 
 " Jerry," said she, " I'm going to try my hand at duk- 
 kering now. Don't you think we had better separate ? If 
 people see us together they'll suspect you are prompting me, 
 and it isn't all on the square." 
 
 " Eight you are, sister," answered Jerry, who often 
 boasted he was " as deep as a well, and always kept some- 
 thing up his sleeve; " meaning that he was capable of over- 
 trumping an adversary at a game of duplicity, and liked 
 nothing betteir than such encounters — cheat against cheat, 
 and the biggest liar take all. 
 
 " Where shall we meet again, Jerry? " 
 
 "Where you please, sister. Here, if you like, in two 
 hours' time. You'll have made a matter of ten quid by 
 that, if I know anything of the trade." 
 
 " Will you give me five for my earnings ? " 
 
 But Jericho shook his head, and slipped away through 
 the crowd, with a keener expression than common in his 
 brown, handsome face. 
 
 Jane Lee, taking advantage of the liberty thus accorded, 
 crossed into the race-course, and began to hunt about 
 amongst its motley occupants for the jockey in blue and 
 yellow cap. Her search was the more ineffectual that those 
 unsuccessful colours had long ago been covered by an over- 
 coat and a white hat, although a pair of thin boots and wiry 
 spurs, with a straight whip sticking fi:om his pocket, still 
 betrayed the identity of one of those gentleman-riders who 
 provided sport (and amusement) for the meeting. It was 
 provoking she could not come across him, and she showed 
 her vexation in her gait. The hurried step, the impatient 
 gestures, were watched with some interest by a spare old 
 man, bent nearly double, in a brown greatcoat, shabby hat, 
 and large horn spectacles, who seemed, though at a respect- 
 ful distance, to be strangely fascinated by the handsome 
 
 gipsy- 
 She never noticed him; her mind was otherwise engaged. 
 
182 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 At length it occurred to her that if she halted here in the 
 middle of the course her fine singing might excite attention, 
 and, attracting those within hearing, bring to her side the 
 person she desired to meet. 
 
 Nor had she miscalculated her powers. Booths, shows, 
 tumblers, and merry-go-rounds were forsaken by a motley 
 crowd, that pushed and peered and widened and wavered 
 round one common centre, while the handsome woman with 
 the dark eyes carolled out the following gipsy ballad in her 
 full sweet voice : 
 
 " Kind gentleman, there astride on your mare, 
 
 That wants your fortune told, 
 Come bow your ear to the gipsy, my dear ; 
 
 But cross her palm with gold. 
 And all in a look, like print on a book, 
 
 She'll read your luck to-day, 
 And tell you the star of the lady afar, 
 
 Who has stolen your heart away I 
 
 " It's my belief you're a gipsy thief 1 
 
 And stealing is aU you can. 
 From shelf and store, from platter and floor, 
 
 From chUd, and woman, and man. 
 The babe in bed, the lamb in shed, 
 
 The hen that cackles to lay. 
 And coin from vest, and heart from breast, 
 
 Tou steal them all away ! " 
 
 She looked askance, with her merry glance, 
 
 And he bent in the saddle there. 
 To meet the eyes that carried the prize 
 
 From all the folk in the fair. 
 " My beauty ! " quoth he, " ride home with me ; 
 
 Deny me not I pray ; 
 For it's come to pass, that a gipsy lass 
 
 Has stolen my heart away 1 " 
 
 CHAPTEE XXn 
 
 THE BAIT 
 
 "What a lovely voice! " exclaimed the ladies. "What 
 a handsome girl ! " added the gentlemen. " This be a 
 loikely wench, sm-e-ly!" pronounced the rustics, while 
 
TRE BAIT 133 
 
 Jane Lee's audience, after the fashion of open-air critics 
 when paying-time is at hand, melted discreetly away. 
 
 Amongst the few who remained, brother professionals, 
 tramps, and the poorest of the agriculturists, &om whom 
 contributions could not reasonably be expected, were two 
 indinduals apparently belonging to a more prosperous 
 class. One of these was the infirm old man in spectacles, 
 the other, that gentleman-rider in an overcoat, whose yellow 
 cap had showed in &ont during a great part of the race, 
 with such unfortunate results at the run-in. 
 
 "Forward James," in spite of his failure, was yet 
 thoroughly satisfied with himself, an agreeable state of mind 
 rendering people affable, tolerant, and in charity with all 
 men. If not to his valet, or his trainer, or the stable in 
 general, our gentleman-jockey was a hero to himself, and 
 felt almost as well pleased with his new silk jacket as if it 
 had passed the judge's chair a length in firont. The ambi- 
 tion of his life was gratified. He had entered the lists at 
 last, and would hereafter be considered a sporting character 
 by the little world of yeomen, horse-dealers, and stable-boys 
 wherein he was desirous to shine. 
 
 Since Miss Lee's departure from the rectory — a crushing 
 blow, of which the efi'ects punished him even now — ^young 
 Paravant had grown restless, discontented, uncomfortable, 
 and more inclined than ever towards those distractions which 
 his station enabled him to obtain. Had it not been for 
 the Swansdown Hunt Handicap, he told himself, with the 
 excitement of training Potboy, and riding that game little 
 horse much too frequent gallops, he must have broken his 
 heart. 
 
 Being somewhat weak-minded at best, it made less 
 difference to Paravant than to a wiser man that he should 
 have fallen in love. His former occupations still afi'orded 
 relief, though, like an opium-eater or a dram-drinker, he 
 required the stimulant stronger day by day. When farming 
 grew uninteresting he flew to cricket, and that noble game 
 failing to rouse him, had riecourse to racing, a pastime that 
 need never pall, so long as " the shouting of the captains " 
 shall deafen a British public in that hungry institution 
 called the King, which flourishes and fattens upon fools. 
 
 Paravant was totally without experience, a want that 
 
184 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 seemed strangely supplemented by unusual luck. Some 
 people think the devil is at the bottom of such crafty 
 arrangements for encouragement of a beginner. Be this as 
 it may, our friend landed more than a hundred pounds in 
 his first attempt at that most hazardous of all guesses, the 
 comparative speed of two inferior race-horses ; and having 
 only ventured a modest " tenner " on his success in the 
 Hunt Handicap, was still in funds, willing to embark in any 
 kind of adventure that promised excitement, even though 
 requiring ready money in exchange. Moreover, he had not 
 forgotten a certain interview in the rectory garden, when 
 that young lady, whose proud eyes still haunted him, seemed 
 to scorn his quiet uneventful life, urging him to put out into 
 the stream and take his chance. Well, he was launched 
 now, to some purpose ! He had followed her directions 
 implicitly, and for her sake too, though she would 
 never know it. Such thoughts, indulged in at sun- 
 set, or by moonlight, brought the tears very near his eyes, 
 and, for a few thrilling moments, he would feel, through all 
 his grosser natui-e, a faint reflection of the martyr's loyal 
 flame. 
 
 In the meantime, this gipsy seemed to have a splendid 
 voice, and, as far as he could see — for the crush of people 
 prevented his near approach — a handsome face. Though 
 unable to quote that poet, he agreed with Moore that — 
 
 It's a shame, when flowers around ns rise, 
 To make light of the rest, if the rose be not there ; 
 
 And the world is so rich in voluptuous eyes, 
 'Twere a pity to limit one's love to a pair. 
 
 So he strolled carelessly towards the singer, unbuttoning 
 his overcoat, that she might observe the silk jacket under- 
 neath. 
 
 Trusting to a disguise she had taken infinite pains to 
 prepare, but had not suffered, we may be sure, to dim by 
 one single shade her picturesque beauty, Jane Lee met her 
 former lover without the quiver of an eyelash. He looked 
 paler, she thought, than when they pairted ; fi:etting, indeed, 
 and the unromantic effects of Epsom salts, combined with 
 strong exercise, had reduced his weight, as was only fair to 
 Potboy, by the best part of a stone. 
 
THE BAIT 135 
 
 What made him start? She began simply enough, in 
 the regular form : " Have your fortune told, pretty gentle- 
 man ! Cross the poor gipsy's hand with silver, there's a 
 good gentleman, and she'll tell you your fortune." 
 
 Her voice was feigned, and she took care he should see 
 no more of her face than cheek and chin, under her gipsy 
 hat, yet he stood pondering a moment, as if his thoughts 
 were far away. Then pulling his right hand from his 
 pocket, offered it fireely for inspection, rings and all. 
 
 Bending over the broad muscular palm, she counterfeited 
 the whine of her people with admirable skill. 
 
 " The gipsy coidd see clearer if 'twas crossed with a bit 
 of silver. Put a bright shilling in your hand, dear gentle- 
 man. To give the poor gipsy light. What's a shilling 
 to the like of you ? " 
 
 He was himself again now, and complied, after a coarse 
 compliment that amused her exceedingly. 
 
 " You're a lucky gentleman," she resumed, affecting to 
 study the lines on his hand with close attention. " And 
 BO you deserves to be. Lucky when you stays at home, 
 lucky when you walks abroad, lucky when you gets up on 
 horseback, lucky when you sits down to cards, and — no. 
 What's this ! Unlucky — ^bitter unlucky — ^when yot're 
 a-looking for the girl you love ! " 
 
 He laughed uneasily, but turned, pale, and though he 
 muttered, " D d nonsense ! " did not attempt to with- 
 draw his hand. 
 
 "It's your star! " she continued. "There's a cloud over 
 it now, but keep a good heart, kind gentleman, it will shine 
 out bright hereafter. Her star is the same as yours, so 
 you're bound to come together. And yet she is crying her 
 durk . eyes out this moment for your sake. Ah ! she's 
 humble enough to-day, for all her pale proud face, that looks 
 as if it couldn't give a tear to any mortal thing. Cross the 
 poor gipsy's hand with another bit of silver, only a little 
 sixpence, kind gentleman, and perhaps I'll tell you more. " 
 
 Much disturbed, and not entirely free from misgivings 
 that he was tampering with the Evil One, he thrust on her 
 a handfdl of silver, and bade her in a husky voice : " Finish 
 with what she had to say. He couldn't stand listening to 
 this rubbish all the afternoon." 
 
Missing Page 
 
Missing Page 
 
138 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 in the speaker's face, whereat the crowd, exulting in a pros- 
 pect of gratuitous excitement, crowded round, shouting for 
 " A ring ! " and inciting the adversaries to " set to, and 
 have it out like men." 
 
 The countryman seemed nothing loath. " Oh ! you're 
 one of that sort, are you ? " said he, squaring up to the 
 gipsy, and aiming at him a blow that would have stunned 
 an ox, neatly stopped by the veteran, who returned like 
 lightning, sending his huge adversary heavily to the ground. 
 
 Youth, size, and herciJean strength, however, are awk- 
 ward foes to deal with, for the most accomplished fighter at 
 threescore years of age, and in his second round, the boxer, 
 whose condition was none of the best, called into play all 
 his former science to keep out of distance while he recovered 
 breath. 
 
 "At him. Jack," urged the excited spectators. 
 
 " Ah ! that's all very well," replied the old athlete, with 
 grim humour ; "I can tell you he's no such catch ! " 
 
 Meantime, Jane Lee stood rooted to the spot in a 
 paroxysm of fear. Skill, temper, cool courage, and a frame 
 that seemed built expressly for such contests, conquered at 
 last in spite of age, and though the countryman came up 
 time after time bruised, blinded, but full of pluck, he was 
 so obviously worsted that, forgetting the rules of fair play, 
 his friends made in with a rush to his assistance. The by- 
 standers took opposite sides, the crowd increased, and the 
 row became general. 
 
 Soon a dozen stalwart policemen were seen moving 
 steadily through the tumult. Women screamed, men swore, 
 staves were drawn, heads broken. Fighting Jack, after a 
 desperate resistance, was taken into custody, and Jane Lee, 
 watching her opportunity, scoured off like a lapwing for 
 Brimscombe Brake. 
 
 CHAPTER XXin 
 
 THE HOOK 
 
 It was less than a quarter of a mile from the stand, and by 
 keeping behind certain booths and temporary erections that 
 
THE BOOK 189 
 
 dotted the race-course, could be reached almost unobserved ; 
 but her breath came quick, and the handsome girl in gipsy 
 dress looked, as indeed she felt, sorely exercised, both in 
 body and mind, when she reached her goal. 
 
 A gentleman-jockey, leading his horse, was there first. 
 Something told him, twenty paces off, before he could peep 
 under her hat, that the woman he loved was coming to him 
 at last. His arms opened instinctively, as she flung herself 
 on his breast, panting, trembling, and, for once, frightened 
 out of her wits. 
 
 " You didn't know me ! You didn't know me ! " she 
 sobbed, between laughing and crying. " Oh Mr. Paravant, 
 I never thought you would have forgotten me!" 
 
 She was so exhausted with her run, so nervous and 
 agitated, that she must have fallen had he not passed his 
 arm round her waist and pressed her to his heart. Such 
 situations inspire confidence, and " Forward James," whose 
 bashfalness seemed to have left him, felt wholly equal to 
 the occasion. 
 
 " How could I hope to see you again ? " said he, smooth- 
 ing her dishevelled locks with gentle and respectfiil touch. 
 " At such a place, too, and in such a queer get-up ! What 
 does it all mean ? Miss Lee, you miist let me take you 
 away from here." 
 
 " I told you never to say Miss Lee," she answered, with 
 something of the old imperious playfiilness that moved him 
 to. the core. " What a bad memory you have. Never mind, 
 you were a good boy to do the gipsy's bidding. You may 
 call me Jane now." 
 
 "And always?" 
 
 " And always, if you want to. Oh, take care ! There's 
 sure to be somebody looking ! " 
 
 Their lips met. For one brief moment James Paravant 
 felt his pulses tingle with the sense of rapture that comes 
 not to men twice in a lifetime. They seem to like it and 
 long for its repetition, looking about in many strange corners 
 to find it again ; but there are flowers, and those the 
 sweetest, that yield all their fragrance at a first exhalation, 
 and colours so exquisite that they must fade to coarser and 
 commoner tints even as they touch their brightest and their 
 best. Nothing is without a drawback. Potboy's rein, 
 
140 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 tugging at his master's elbow, diminislied, in some measure, 
 the fulness of delight afforded by this first embrace. The 
 horse, not being in love, wanted to nibble the fresh green 
 leaves, so acceptable after six weeks in training on short 
 allowance of water, with unlimited corn and beans. 
 
 "I wish I hadn't brought him," said Paravant. "But 
 you told me. At least I didn't know it was you. Shall I 
 turn him loose ? He's very much in the way ! " 
 
 " Turn him loose ! Gracious heavens ! What are you 
 thinking of? Don't you know why I wanted you to meet 
 me here ? " 
 
 Dim recollections of Young Lochinvar floated across his 
 mind. With some misgiving he looked at Potboy's saddle, 
 weighing seven pounds, and barely roomy enough for his 
 own manly proportions. 
 
 She saw and appreciated the difficulty. " I can ride," 
 said she. " I learnt one Christmas holidays at Brighton. 
 Mr. Paravant — well, James — there's not a moment to lose. 
 They must have missed me already, and will hunt every 
 inch of the race-course till I'm found. They've seen me 
 come to meet you here. Don't shake your head. I'm not 
 joking. It's murder — mwrder, I tell you, if they ever get 
 me back ! " 
 
 She was really frightened, though perhaps less so than 
 she seemed ; but her pale face and dilated eyes roused all 
 the chivalry of his nature, and he was ready to face the 
 whole Romany nation rather than give her up. 
 
 " There would be a fight for it before we came to that," 
 he answered, setting his teeth. " Never mind. Potboy 
 can gallop a bit, though we couldn't win to-day. Do you 
 think you might manage to sit him if I held you on ? He 
 won't kick, I know." 
 
 " Yes ! yes ! I'll do anything. I'U put my arms round 
 your neck. Only be quick ! It's life or death ! I'd rather 
 be dashed to pieces than fall into their hands again. Save 
 me ! Save me ! Here they come ! " 
 
 Swift and lithe as a serpent, out of the very heather on 
 which they stood, darted the slender form of Jericho, leaving 
 a brown greatcoat and a pair of horn spectacles to mark his 
 lair. The gipsy's dark eyes blazed, froth stood on his lip ; 
 but he tried to command his voice while he seized Jane Lee 
 
THE HOOK 141 
 
 by the wrist, bidding her in a hoarse whisper : " Come back 
 this moment to our people in their tents ! " 
 
 But Paravant interposed his sturdy person, with riding- 
 whip raised, and one hand on the other's collar. 
 
 " Stand off, you hound ! " he vociferated. " How dare 
 you touch that lady with your dirty fingers ! Back, or I'll 
 flog the life out of you with my whip ! " 
 
 The gipsy's mouth shut like a clasp, and the white teeth 
 grinned dangerously, whUe the blade of a long knife flashed 
 in the light, as he brandished it overhead. It was well for 
 James Paravant that he had been reared in a country where 
 the manly a,rt of wrestling is practised even amongst boys 
 at school. His proficiency in this exercise, acknowledged 
 by the low-lived companions with whom he often contended, 
 now stood him in good stead. While Jane Lee, with 
 admirable presence of mind, snatched the bridle fi^om his 
 arm, holding on gallantly to the startled Potboy, and 
 firustrating the horse's efforts at escape, our Westcountry- 
 man caught his antagonist's wiist with a skilful turn that 
 jerked the knife ten feet in air, then, closing instantly, 
 lifted the gipsy off his feet, and sent him fiying over the 
 wrestler's own head, to measure his length, stunned and 
 motionless, on the ground. 
 
 One moment he looked at his prostrate foe, who neither 
 spoke nor stirred. " It's a beautiful back-fall ! " he mur- 
 mured, " I wish I mayn't have broken his neck ! " the next 
 he was in the saddle, showing Jane Lee how to get up by 
 resting her foot on his instep, and so at one nimble spring 
 seating herself on the horse's withers in front of him. 
 
 Potboy plunged, the fallen gipsy never moved a finger, 
 and a distant roar from Bellingham's grand menagerie 
 announced the approach of feeding time, advertised for six 
 o'clock. 
 
 Jane Lee lost her balance more than once, but the horse 
 had long free shoulders, behind a muscular neck, and she 
 felt no diffidence in twining her arms round Paravant, as 
 she promised. In a few strides the chestnut seemed recon- 
 ciled to his double burden, consenting to thread Brimscombe 
 Brake and a gap that afforded egress to the road, at a walk ; 
 so that by the time Jericho Lee could rise to a sitting posture, 
 sore all over, with a conviction that the heather beneath 
 
142 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 him rocked like the deck of a ship, our Young Lochinvar 
 had left Swansdown race-course a league or more behind, 
 and began to wonder what he had better do next. 
 
 It was delightful, no doubt, to feel his companion's arms 
 about him, while his breath stirred the soft hair in her neck, 
 but this couldn't go on for ever — not even all night. . Potboy- 
 was entitled to repose, the lady would require tea, and 
 though, for himself, he was too much in love to care about 
 supper, he felt he should very much like something to drink. 
 
 " The horse is quieter than I expected," said she, 
 recovering breath after a gallop of some miles, as the pace 
 calmed down to a walk. " It's a pleasant ride, but where 
 we're going I don't know ! " 
 
 " And I don't care ! " replied her cavalier, " so long as 
 we go together." 
 
 "And don't go back," she added. "Do you know, 
 James Paravant, that your courage to-day has saved my 
 life ? " 
 
 "I always told you I'd plenty of pluck. I don't think 
 you believed it. How you used to bully me ! You'll never 
 bully me again ? " 
 
 " I haven't the right," she whispered gently, yielding 
 as if she could not help it, to the pressure of his supporting 
 arm. 
 
 Even Paravant's inexperience could hardly misinterpret 
 such a hint, so offered. When two people are riding on one 
 horse, moreover, the juxtaposition cannot but impart confi- 
 dence, and I imagine the use of the pillion by our progenitors 
 afforded facilities for love-making, of which it is a sad pity 
 their descendants should be deprived. 
 
 " I mean fair, indeed I do ! " he blundered, clumsily 
 enough. " But we can't stay out all night. Will you trust 
 yourself to me? " 
 
 " I must," she whispered. " I will. I'll do everything 
 you tell me, as if — as if — I belonged to you altogether." 
 
 "I will house you in safety to-night," he murmured, 
 " and to-morrow " 
 
 She did not quite catch the rest, drowned in the beat of 
 Potboy's hoofs ; for Paravant, perhaps because he could not 
 find words to express his rapture, put the horse into a gallop 
 once more. 
 
TEE HOOK 143 
 
 It was nearly dark. Stars were already twinkling in the 
 dusky purple overhead. Beneath, a few scattered lights 
 and a bright red spot, marking the head of its harbour, 
 denoted their approach to a seaport town, thriying in sedate 
 commercial prosperity, inhabited by a mercantile population 
 who devoted their whole lives to trade. 
 
 It was perhaps the place of all others in which the arrival 
 of such a trio — a sporting-looking man behind a handsome 
 gipsy wench, on a well-bred horse, with its mane plaited — 
 would excite least remark, and Paravant deserved some 
 credit for his selection of such a refuge ; but his subsequent 
 proceedings, crafty and well-arranged, originated, I am 
 inclined to think, in the counsels of his companion. 
 
 Half a mile from the town they were fortunate enough to 
 overtake an empty fly, lumbering heavily home, and engaged 
 it at once. In this conveyance Jane Lee, screened from 
 observation, followed Potboy and his rider to a livery-stable, 
 with which both seemed well acquainted. Here the former 
 was housed, and the latter got into the fly. This strangely- 
 dressed couple were then set down at a milliner's shop, 
 where Paravant could not but admire the readiness with 
 which his companion extricated herself from a false position 
 at the expense of truth. GooUy waUdng to the counter, she 
 informed a young person there presiding that her carriage 
 had been upset and her horses lamed while returning from 
 an afternoon party at Mrs. Brownrigg's in fancy-dress. 
 Probably they had heard of Mrs. Browijrigg. No ? Well, 
 the Park was at some distance. This gentleman fortunately 
 arrived in time to escort her here, for the servants were 
 obliged to stay with the carriage. She wasn't frightened 
 — not a bit — ^nor hurt ; but she had missed her train, and 
 by no possibility could get home to-night. She must sleep 
 in the town, but she couldn't go to an hotel in this 
 masquerading costume, and she wanted some clothes — 
 ready-made, of course— a gown and a decent hat, and a few 
 odds and ends, you know, just for one night. 
 
 So plausible a tale impressed and interested the dress- 
 maker. In less than half an hour, to Paravant's exceeding 
 admiration, his gipsy companion reappeared from a parlour 
 behind the shop, in her original character as Jane Lee. 
 " But you nearly spoilt it all," she whispered, when they 
 
144 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 re-entered the fly; "you shouldn't have shown all that 
 money and told me to get a complete fit-out. If she had 
 heard you it would have contradicted my story. You 
 mustn't be so headstrong. Here we are." 
 
 Arrived at the archway of the Bull and Bootjack she 
 placed herself in the landlady's charge at once, ordering a 
 cup of tea, and retiring immediately to her bedroom, on the 
 plea of fatigue after a journey in which she had lost her 
 luggage. Paravant lingered in the passage to wish her 
 good-night, and felt a little disappointed to be put off with 
 only a hand-shake. 
 
 "Mayn't I say you're my wife? " he demanded, getting 
 as much warmth as he could into this commonplace cere- 
 mony ; " that old catamaran will be sure to ask." 
 
 " Certainly not," she answered. " Sister if you like. 
 That ought to satisfy anybody." 
 
 " My wife to-morrow, then ? " he pleaded, 
 
 " I can't promise. I have not known you very long. 
 
 I'm not sure I like you well enough. Yet " and the 
 
 cruel door was shut in his face. 
 
 But the last monosyllable was as a lump of sugar after a 
 bitter draught, and Paravant descended the stairs to obtain 
 the refreshment of which he stood so much in need, as 
 happy as a king. 
 
 CHAPTEK XXIV 
 
 THE LANDING-NET 
 
 Whatever doubts and uncertainties may have haunted the 
 gentleman's pillow, for with all its fascinations he could not 
 but acknowledge he had embarked on a strange adventure, 
 the lady's mind was made up from the moment she dis- 
 covered in her assumed character of a fortune-teller that he 
 had never thrown off his allegiance to lost Jane Lee. 
 Entertained for her own sake, there seemed something 
 touching in a stupid unreasoning fidelity, that she would 
 have ridiculed if cherished for another ; and while she could 
 hardly think of one particular in which she would not have 
 liked him to be different, she yet came to the conclusion 
 
TEE LANDING-NET 145 
 
 that there were young gentlemen, in and out of society, who 
 might make worse husbands than " Forward James." 
 
 As she lay in her roomy four-post bed, so enjoyable after 
 Fighting Jack's scanty resting-place in the caravan, she 
 reviewed her position coolly enough, congratulating herself 
 on the good luck that offered, and the courage that seized, 
 so unlooked-for a chance of escape. She felt she had been 
 a captive and was comparatively free, at least she would be 
 far more at liberty as Paravant's wife than as Jack Lee's | 
 daughter. Mrs. James Paravant ! She repeated it in 
 every variety of intonation, without finding one that satisfied 
 her. Perhaps by pronouncing the name like French, some- 
 thing might be made of it — this should be for future con- 
 sideration. In the meantime, there was no question, it 
 must immediately become her own. Then she thought of 
 Mervyn Strange, his grave face, his deep sad eyes, and the 
 five hundred pounds of which she had shamelessly robbed 
 him. Yes, that was another reason. In a few weeks she 
 would claim her own money, and repay him without its 
 costing her husband a shilling. Husband ! She hated the 
 very word, but there was nothing else for it now ! 
 
 With a woman's quick perception of the weak point in 
 her natural prey, she felt no misgiving whatever lest 
 Paravant should also show disinclination to life-long 
 bondage, and take advantage of their unusual situation to 
 avoid so irrevocable a step as legitimate wedlock. Some- 
 thing told her he was fast hooked, and that any attempt at 
 a struggle could be instantly checked by the slightest 
 symptom of disinclination on her own part. Yes, the way 
 seemed plain enough, requiring but a little tact, a little 
 self-command, and the unflinching exercise of a strong 
 unscrupulous vrill. 
 
 So she remained shut up in her own room the whole 
 morning. He sent several messages by the chambermaid, 
 to tell the lady — ^he could not bring himself to call her his 
 sister — that he was waiting breakfast, and even pervaded 
 the passage so persistently as to observe tea, toast, pens, 
 ink, and paper taken into the sacred chamber. Sitting 
 down at last, disconsolately enough, to his own luke-warm 
 repast, the waiter brought in a note that robbed him indeed of 
 appetite, but repaid him for his disappointment a hundredfold. 
 
 10 
 
146 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 " Dear Fbiend " — it began — 
 
 " For I suppose I must only call you friend — though 
 your courage and generosity deserve a better title — ^you 
 asked me a question last night that a woman cannot answer 
 without deep consideration, that, when she does answer, 
 one way or the other, decides the whole destiny of her life. 
 What am I to say ? What ought I to say ? What do I 
 wish to say ? I examine my own heart again and again, 
 without coming to a satisfactory conclusion. We have 
 known each other only a few weeks — ^but it is not that. 
 My position here is wretchedly friendless, and entirely false 
 — but it is not that. I have seen very few people, and 
 never quite cared for anybody — ^yet — ^but it is certainly not 
 that ! Why then do I find it so difiScult to make up my 
 mind? Sometimes I feel proud and happy, sometimes 
 perplexed and miserable. Can you explain this ? I cannot. 
 At whatever decision I arrive, and I think I can guess 
 which way it will be, there is no doubt that you and I must 
 not meet while we remain here. I put it to your own good 
 feeling and sense of right. Supposing, only supposing, I 
 ever became your wife, you would like me to have acted as 
 I am acting now. If you were to go away for two days — 
 forty-eight hours, I don't think I could bear it longer — and 
 return with all difBculties smoothed, and everything pre- 
 pared, I should have time to get some things made, and 
 could consider matters vrith a clearer head and a quieter 
 heart than at present. I am tired and ill, no wonder, and 
 flurried, and — ^yes, I will confess it — a little pleased 
 and flattered at somebody's good opinion. 
 
 "Adieu then, or au revoir, at your own option; but 
 believe me, in either case, I shall not forget you, and am, 
 
 " Always yours, 
 
 "J. L." 
 
 The effect of such a letter on so inexperienced a suitor 
 need hardly be described. There was just enough love in 
 it to nourish his hopes, enough uncertainty to rouse his 
 fears, and a strain of half-melancholy coquetry, that excited 
 his wishes to the utmost, while affecting to claim protection 
 from his manhood and truth. " Forward James " was 
 in London the same evening, and back again the next 
 
TEE LANDINQ-NET 147' 
 
 night, with a special licence in his pocket, a plain gold 
 ring — ^medium size — in his purse, and a steadfast purpose 
 to lead a new life as a respectable member of society in the 
 character of a married man. 
 
 The young lady, too, was not idle in this brief interval. 
 Her sex, so full of sweetness and syApathy, take an 
 interest in matrimony, no less general than do sportsmen 
 in the destruction of game. I am aware that, imder the 
 usual restrictions of decorum and the crush of business, 
 always urged as an excuse, a bride's trousseau cannot be 
 prepared under six weeks ; but only apply a little unusual 
 pressure, hint at an elopement, a clandestine engagement, 
 or a possibility that the marriage may not come off at all, 
 needles fly like magic, the whole force of the establishment 
 is put on, a score of hands work uninterruptedly for a 
 score of hours, and lo ! yards and yards are unrolled of 
 triumphant millinery, light, exquisite, and filmy, as gos- 
 samers that dress the meadow on a May morning, and, 
 indeed, little less calculated to last out the wear-and-tear 
 of the day. 
 
 When Paravant saw Jane Lee again it was raining in 
 toiTents — ^it rains six days out of seven in this wateiy 
 comer of the kingdom-^but the girl's presence, in white 
 muslin, above all, without her bonnet, brought sunshine to 
 his heart. He wondered how he could have borne even 
 two days' absence from this radiant vision ; and, truth to 
 tell, Jane Lee looked remarkably well in a dress that, 
 from its snowy sameness, unrelieved by any spot of colour 
 — for a veil very properly hides their blushes — is a little 
 trying to the majority of brides. 
 
 A proud man was " Forward James," and a happy, 
 while he followed all this loveliness into a dingy one-horse 
 fly, feeling that, in an hour's time, it would be Hs own, and 
 for life ! 
 
 The last consideration afforded him unalloyed satisfaction. 
 That is indeed a cold and unimpressionable nature which 
 can dwell at such a moment on the disappointments and 
 drawbacks of a possible future— change, misunderstanding, 
 inconstancy, incompatibility, perhaps only weariness, per- 
 haps positive aversion and disgust. 
 
 No man worth his salt anticipates evils such as these ; 
 
,148 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 and even if they do come, he should remember that com- 
 pensation is one of the conditions on which we hold life, 
 and that it is something to have felt, if only for an hour, 
 elevated out of self by a pure and ennobling devotion to 
 another. 
 
 " You must do without bridesmaids," whispered Paravant, 
 as they stopped at the church-door in a pouring rain, " and 
 the verger will have to give you away ; but it's all right. 
 I've got it here, in black and white, from the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, you know; that's good enough, I hope! 
 Oh ! it's a regular lawful marriage, you may be sure ! " 
 
 She smiled under her veil, wondering whether he really 
 presumed to take credit for not trying to outwit her ! 
 
 Notwithstanding the bridegroom's forethought, however, 
 matters seemed in no advanced state of preparation as this 
 happy couple move up the nave towards the altar. A 
 damp and mouldy woman was lazily sweeping out a pew ; 
 the verger, with his mouth full, had hardly settled himself 
 into a black robe, so fringed and tufted that the mind 
 somehow associated it with a funeral. The vestry-door, 
 standing open, denoted that no clergyman had yet arrived. 
 Rain pattered on the roof, and dashed against a stained- 
 glass window, admitting but little of the dull light afforded 
 by a day more than half-drowned. Paravant began to feel 
 depressed, and even Jane Lee could not help thinking 
 how sadly all this fell short of the ideal wedding she and 
 her school-feUows used to conjure up at Miss Quilter's 
 long ago. 
 
 Poor Miss Quilter ! where was she now ? — where were 
 the Tregarthens ? — where was everybody ? — and what had 
 become of Mervyn Strange ? 
 
 The vestry-door shut with a bang; there came a firm 
 quick tread, a rustling of garments, a sonorous cough, 
 that seemed familiar to the happy couple, preoccupied as 
 they were. 
 
 " This way, if you please," murmured the verger, in a 
 low respectful tone, suggestive of fees. The old pew- 
 woman, who had never learned to read, put on her spectacles 
 and produced a prayer-book ; the bride arranged her veil ; 
 the bridegroom pulled down his shirt-cuffs, and both took 
 their places as politely indicated by the verger, conscious 
 
THE LANDING-NET 149 
 
 that the coining ceremony was more formidable than they 
 had supposed. 
 
 Pale as a ghost, tall and stately in his white surplice, 
 bearing his head aloft and his shoulders squared, like a 
 man who walks bravely to death, the clergyman approached 
 the altar-rails. It is no disparagement to the nerves of 
 the pair about to kneel before him, that one started 
 violently and the other with difficulty repressed a scream. 
 At the same moment they recognised, in the priest who 
 was to unite them for better and worse, none other than 
 the former curate of Combe- Appleton — Mervyn Strange ! 
 
 He had found time whUe perusing the licence in his 
 vestry to summon all his manhood, and prepare himself for 
 the ordeal. Who shall measure its severity or gauge the 
 depths of anguish in which his soul was suik during those 
 moments of torture ? The man had plenty of pluck — 
 perhaps he knew where to go and ask for more. But 
 this is a sacred subject, on which it becomes us not to 
 dwell. 
 
 Of the three hearts beating before that communion-table, 
 the saddest was the steadiest and the most composed. 
 
 " Who giveth this woman to be married to this man ? " 
 His voice came calm and firm, he showed no more symptoms 
 of emotion than the verger himself, who accepted that 
 responsibility without scruple. He went through the 
 service quietly and soberly to the end, nor winced at its 
 noble promises marvellously expressed, its touching obliga- 
 tions solemnly enjoined; but he addressed himself solely to 
 the bridegroom, keeping his eyes avertedfirom the bride's face. 
 
 More than once his heart rebelled at the chance that 
 had thrust on him this painful task. He had not been 
 here a month, having sought a curacy that offered abun- 
 dance of hard self-denying work, when he resigned, as he 
 felt incumbent on him, his engagement vnth Mr. Tre- 
 garthen. To-day, too, it was not his turn to take such 
 duties as might offer — there seemed a fatality in his 
 rector's absence, and the sudden indisposition of a brother 
 curate occurring, as it seemed, purposely, to stretch him on 
 the rack at a moment's notice. 
 
 Fatality ! No. It was part of his punishment. He 
 must accept and bear it as best he might. 
 
150 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 The worst was yet to come. Entering the vestry for 
 certain necessary formalities, Paravant hung back to refresh 
 two willing palms with injudicious liberality, and for a 
 minute Mervyn Strange was alone with Jane Lee ! 
 
 Stay! Not Jane Lee. She was Mrs. Paravant now. 
 "This morning it seemed only misery, through which shone 
 gleams of happiness, to recall her image, and lo ! in ten 
 minutes, to think of her had become mortal sin. How 
 beautifal she looked in that white veil, with her glorious 
 eyes and wreaths of bright black hair ! Why was he to be 
 punished like this ? 
 
 She bent those glorious eyes on his own, and for the 
 first time he forced himself to meet them. 
 
 " Can you forgive me ? " she murmured. 
 
 " From my heart. I have blessed you as a priest. 
 As a man, I pray humbly and heartily that you may be 
 blessed ! " 
 
 "And the money?" She blushed to her temples. 
 "Lideed I mean to be honest and pay every farthing. I 
 ought never to have taken it." 
 
 He smiled kindly, yet with something of scorn. 
 
 " You have taken everything," he said, " and you are 
 welcome ! A man can but give his all. God bless you, 
 and farewell I " 
 
 BOOK III 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 LAUNCHED 
 
 " Who the deuce is this chap with three grays and a chest- 
 nut ? Not much of a coachman, I should say. Don't 
 remember seeing him before." 
 
 " I'm surprised. I should have thought you were sure to 
 know him. That's the man with the handsome wife — 
 the woman they call Beltenebrosa." 
 
LAUNCHED 151 
 
 " What a long word ! Sounds like the name of a race- 
 horse. Why do they call her that ? " 
 
 " Because she's as hlack as your hat — ^well, not yours, 
 for it's a white one, but mine — and as handsome as the 
 Queen of Sheba." 
 
 " Never saw the Queen of Sheba. There's a picture of 
 her in the Academy, that looks like a mulatto in drink. Is 
 that what's-her-name on the box? By Jove, she is a good- 
 looking one ! " 
 
 " I told you so. Wait till you've seen her in a room. I 
 am not easily bowled over. I wish I were ! but she stag- 
 gered me." 
 
 "Why, where did you meet her? What a rum fellow 
 you are ! You find out people in the four corners of the 
 earth." 
 
 " This was in the fifth, called Hyde Park Corner, or very 
 near it. I met her on Sunday, at Lisbon's. He brings 
 out a new beauty every year." 
 
 " Was the husband there ? " 
 
 " Of course. What do you take me for ? " 
 
 " Has he got a name too ? Hers ought to be enough for 
 both." 
 
 "His name is Paravant, but he's an Englishman. Now, 
 I believe she is a foreigner. At least she gives out she 
 was bom a Beltenebrosa. I'm not sure she don't put it on 
 her cards." 
 
 " And what is the husband ? " 
 
 " Bather a count, and rather a cub ; but not half a bad 
 fellow ; hasn't two ideas, and can ride like a bird." 
 
 " You seem to be in with the lot." 
 
 " Not I ; but she's so good-looking, one's bound to be 
 civil to him. It's rather a tax. I sometimes think I like 
 ugly women best. They're so much less trouble ! " 
 
 " AH tastes are to be respected," observed his friend, 
 and the pair strolled off in different directions, to say the 
 same things to the same people, just as they did yesterday 
 and wiU to-morrow, and so on, with but little variety till 
 after Goodwood. 
 
 But one of these, the last speaker, had determined to 
 become better acquainted with the dark face that roused his 
 interest more than he chose to admit in conversation with 
 
152 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 his companion. Lord St. Moritz was a sincere admirer of 
 beauty, surrendering, with touching helplessness, at the 
 very first shot. Considerate, affectionate, devoted, and 
 unexacting, he would have been a pattern lover, but for one 
 serious drawback. His constancy was so far to be calcu- 
 lated on, that he never failed to succumb under a new 
 temptation. A widower, and past forty, he seemed easily 
 captured as a boy; and, notwithstanding his varied ex- 
 perience, was a slave to woman, or I should rather say, a 
 slave to women, still. 
 
 With less trouble than he usually had to take, he dis- 
 covered the private history of the Paravants, as imparted 
 on their own authority to the world, in the following proble- 
 matical version : 
 
 " The husband was a county gentleman of ancient line- 
 age, owning large estates in Normandy, the Channel 
 Islands, and at the Land's End. He had spent much of 
 his life abroad — where, two years ago, he met with his 
 present wife under most romantic circumstances — in the 
 Pyrenees, the Tyrol, the Styrian Alps. She was a Hun- 
 garian, an Italian, a Moorish Spaniard, a nun in her year 
 of probation, a Levantine Greek ; but her family name was 
 Beltenebrosa, and she claimed to be a countess in her o\vn 
 right. Lisbon had been everywhere ; he knew them on the 
 Continent ; he helped Paravant to carry her off from her 
 convent. She was his illegitimate sister ; his first wife's 
 niece ; his own natural daughter. At any rate he vouched 
 for them, and that was enough ! Lisbon was known in every 
 capital ; received at every court in Em-ope ; had the inter- 
 national scandals of all societies at his fingers'-ends ; and if 
 these people were not presentable, would have been sure to 
 find it out." 
 
 Deep mourning ? Yes. That was for his mother — an 
 American lady — a Russian — an Armenian Jewess. She 
 had left some enormous addition to his fortune, already 
 large enough. One don't believe half one hears, and, of 
 course, one can't be too particular ; but, really, these are 
 people one ought to know, and if they seem to " get on " at 
 all, one must certainly call ! 
 
 Thus the world. And, wonderfiil to say, with one grain 
 of truth in its confused medley of conjecture. Paravant's 
 
LAUNCHED 153 
 
 mother really did die a few weeks after his marriage, 
 making him a richer man than before by some hundreds a 
 year, and affording a sufficient reason for that long winter's 
 seclusion, on which his wife laid great stress, as a first 
 necessity for the future deyelopment of her plans. 
 
 These she explained one December afternoon, with the 
 Mediterranean lipping their feet, calm, soft, and gray as the 
 sky under which it slept, and a dim curl of smoke high in 
 the distant heaven, that it required a second look to iden- 
 tify^ its rising from the crest of Etna, lost among streaks of 
 cloud. 
 
 " It's slow, dear, and stupid enough, I grant you. But 
 after all, it's no worse for you than for me. Do you hate 
 it so very much? " 
 
 This was the way to take him, and the lover was hardly 
 yet lost in the husband, so we need not wonder at his 
 answer. 
 
 " How can I hate it when you are with me ? Only 
 there's nothing to do, and I can't get any decent cigars ! " 
 
 " We will remedy both those grievances. I'll write to 
 your tobacconist at once, and as for something to do — why 
 you shall do lessons with me — there ! " 
 
 He made a long face, and she continued merrily : 
 
 " Don't be afraid. I'm not going to scold if you're a 
 good boy. But, seriously, you ought to pick up some 
 French — ^it's useful in society — and a few words in Italian, 
 if only to swear at Giacomo when he drives us out ! " 
 
 "That's a temptation! I should swear a great deal. 
 It's no relief when they don't understand you ! " 
 
 " A little occupation makes the time pass. In three 
 months' we may quite well go to England." 
 
 "And then?" 
 
 " Then you must do every earthly thing I tell you, and 
 we shall have what people call *a success.' I don't mean 
 to give out that I am a gipsy foundling, and you are a 
 small Somersetshire squire." 
 
 He winced. " The Paravants are a very old family," 
 said he ; " they came in at the Conquest." 
 
 " So are the gipsies," she answered laughing. " Old 
 enough, but by no means respectable. Never mind ! I've 
 great faith in names. Yours, when properly pronounced, 
 
154 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 has quite a Norman ring in it. I shall put on my cards, 
 Madame Paravant, nSe Beltenebrosa ! " 
 
 " Neigh!" — for so he spelt it in his own mind — "what 
 does neigh mean ? And as for the other word, Bel — how 
 much? I can't say it." 
 
 " Then you must learn. It's a foreign fashion, announc- 
 ing that a lady retains her own rank after marriage. Witl 
 my black face particularly, if you swear at me in Italian 
 now and then, I shall go down well enough as the signora. 
 It means nothing here, but they like it in London. I have 
 made up my mind we are to perch at the top of the tree." 
 
 He shook his head. " That's not so easy." 
 
 " It is, if we go in for being half foreigners. First of all, 
 people want to know who you are, then they like to seem to 
 know and tell each other. This ensures exaggeration, both 
 of rank and fortune. , Presently we shall make acquaintance 
 with somebody — anybody — and be asked somewhere — any- 
 where. After that, it will be our own fault if we ever dine 
 with a commoner again ! " 
 
 " How so ? " 
 
 " My dear, it's the simplest tMng in the world. London 
 fish swarm to the same fly. The bait that takes a minnow 
 takes a salmon. It's just as easy to leave your card on a 
 duchess as on her next-door neighbour, and she will be just 
 as anxious to know you if she can't make out who on earth 
 you are. Madame Paravant, nSe Beltenebrosa ! What a 
 name for the servants to take up, and what a hash they 
 will make of it ! You must be very bluff and English — 
 that won't trouble you much — and I must be rather distant 
 and foreign. They'll invent impossible romance for us 
 themselves. Everybody will be dying to know the Para- 
 vants, and all the women will fall in love with you." 
 
 " And the men with you! " 
 
 " That's likely enough, and, let me tell you, it's a great 
 help, particularly if you seem very fierce and jealous. What 
 fun ! I can see it all, like something on the stage. " 
 
 He did not quite fancy this part of her programme, and 
 changed the subject. 
 
 " We'll go home first," said he. " I should like a look 
 round the farm." 
 
 " You'll do nothing of the kind. We must arrive in 
 
LAUNCHED 155 
 
 London with the breath of the sea fresh on us — ^you know 
 what I mean. When we are once established, we can go to 
 Somersetshire, or elsewhere, as we please." 
 
 " And the poor horses ? " 
 
 " Have them up to town. That reminds me — you must 
 make up a team, and drive a coach. Nothing ensures a 
 certain position so quick. Four horses, all out of the stable 
 at once, means ten thousand a year ! " 
 
 He stared. "How did you find that out? You seem to 
 know as much of life as a man." 
 
 "Do you think girls at school keep their eyes shut?" 
 she replied.; " Why, at Miss Quilter's we used to watch 
 the drags pass every day they went out. I could have told 
 you the names of more than half the gentlemen who drove. 
 We could see them quite plaiu from our garden." 
 
 " Upon my word ! And could they see you? " 
 
 " Oh yes. Some of them used to .take their hats off, 
 and one day, Curly — ^we . called him Curly because we 
 couldn't find out his real name — ^threw a nosegay in, right 
 over the wall." 
 
 " To you, I suppose? " 
 
 " I don't think so. Annie Macpherson picked it up and 
 kept it in water for a fortnight. She told Miss Quilter it 
 came from her grandpapa ! " 
 
 " That was a lie. Used you all to tell lies ? " 
 
 " Only white ones. I don't think one ought ever to tell a 
 story — a real downright falsehood — unless there is no other 
 possible way out of the difficulty." 
 
 " And then you consider it right ? " 
 
 " Oh, I don't know. Everybody does it, but I hate 
 arguing. Let's go home through the olives, and doivn by 
 the Wooden Cross." 
 
 The result of such conversations as the foregoing was 
 the appearance of James Paravant, early in May, on that 
 well-appointed coach, with its quick-stepping team, that 
 provoked the criticisms of Lord St. Moritz and his friend. 
 
 Where horses were concerned, to do him justice, the 
 Somersetshire squire was seldom at a loss. A little morn- 
 ing practice before the world had breakfasted made him 
 thoroughly at home on his box, and though Potboy proved 
 a most erratic leader, driven on either side, " Forward 
 
156 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 James " soon began to thread the crowd of carriages that 
 block the Park on a summer's afternoon, with as few bumps 
 and casualties as the best. His team were showy and well- 
 bred, properly put together, which is half the battle. 
 Thanks to his wife's supervision, his own get-up was 
 irreproachable, and before that handsome woman had been 
 seen beside him on his coach a dozen times, both driving- 
 clubs were prepared to elect him a member without a single 
 black-ball. 
 
 She had not miscalculated the effect of her foreign appel- 
 lation and striking appearance. Everything turned out as 
 she expected. Paravant's driving, with a courteous pull-up 
 or two at critical moments, obtained him some introductions, 
 these led to others, and as every young gentleman felt 
 bound to make acquaintance with the handsome signora, 
 enterprising spirits threw themselves in her husband's way 
 for the purpose. Two claimants for notice yesterday, 
 increased to a dozen to-day, and doffings of hats, once so 
 prized, became valueless when multiplied by scores. 
 Soon people began to leave off asking who was this Madame 
 Beltenebrosa — it seemed such a solecism not to know ; and 
 when Paravant's coach stood at Hyde Park Comer, 
 dandies swarmed and clung about it from roof to roller-bolt, 
 like barnacles under the water-line of a rickety old ship 
 homeward bound. 
 
 Every man brought his tribute. An order for this, a 
 ticket for that; stalls at the opera, unaccountably at 
 liberty ; a box for the French play ; racing intelligence to 
 interest the husband, scandal and tittle-tattle to amuse the 
 wife, with whom Prance, of the Foreign Office, commonly 
 called the " Molecatcher," loved to converse in his own 
 peculiar Italian, affording, I imagine, more amusement than 
 he intended, to a lady who herself spoke the language 
 fluently and well. 
 
 As the inclemency of May seemed to give a little, and the 
 sun shone out with promise of summer for an hour or two, 
 dinners were arranged at Hurlingham, the Orleans Club, 
 Ranelagh, and such suburban resorts frequented by those 
 who are without engagements elsewhere, and who, perhaps 
 simply because they are not asked, would rather be dining 
 in Belgrave Square. These entertainments were much to 
 
LAUNCHED 157 
 
 Paravant's taste ; the tone was sporting and not too 
 exclusive, the wine moderate but plentiful, and he could 
 smoke directly after dinner. Beltenebrosa, too, as she 
 began to be called, accepted the hospitalities thus offered, 
 with a calm and gracious dignity, as a foretaste of those 
 more patrician banquets — less easy, less airy, and in every 
 respect less agreeable — of which she intended hereafter to 
 be the ornament. She knew no ladies as yet — ^that she 
 must arrange for herself, the men could do little for her 
 there ; and she resolved from the first, with considerable 
 worldly knowledge, to eschew those doubtful dames who are 
 neither quite in nor quite out of society, but who have a 
 deal of fun, and drive many a successful foray in a certain 
 Debatable Land of their own between the borders of " found 
 charming "and "found out ! " Therefore Beltenebrosa's voice 
 was low, her manner exceedingly calm and quiet. No flashes 
 of Southern sentiment, no bursts of Southern mirth ; above 
 all, no symptoms of gratification in fiattery the most 
 delicate, homage the most profound. These things ought 
 to be accepted as a matter of right, and nobody should ever 
 hint she was bad style. 
 
 The younger men, professing to understand women 
 thoroughly, confessed themselves at a loss. Coolly and 
 courteously she thanked them for dinners, orders, tickets, 
 and so forth. Equally coolly, equally courteously, without 
 surprise, remonstrance, disapproval, or emotion of any kind, 
 she declined bouquets, gloves, nicknacks, table-ornaments, 
 any article bought in a shop, or that could in any way 
 suggest the possibility of value received. " She's as proud 
 as Lucifer," said one. " That's the old Genoese blood," 
 asserted another. " I think ^the husband won't stand it," 
 opined a third ; while little Sinnick, fresh from Eton, 
 at one end of a cigar as big as himself, pronounced 
 sententiously : 
 
 " You fellows know nothing about it. I spotted her at 
 once. She's a sensible, strongTuainded woman. Lots of 
 intellect, you know, but not a particle of heart ! " 
 
 Triumphs accepted so sedately caused her husband no 
 uneasiness, and perhaps this was the happiest period in 
 Paravant's life. They stayed at an hotel, for she shrewdly 
 observed that might mean anything, from Belgrave Square 
 
158 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 to Chapel Street, if they had chosen to take a house ; and, 
 as he had not yet seen the bill, London seemed a remark- 
 ably cheap place to live in. Being well able for the present 
 to pay ready money, tradesmen were obstinate in supplying 
 them with articles of every description on credit; their 
 acquaintance increased ; the horses kept sound ; the weather 
 improved ; and Madame Paravant, nee Beltenebrosa — a 
 title he mastered after many repetitions — though not 
 demonstratively affectionate, was always the same. 
 
 " Forward James " found it a pleasant world, and said so, 
 protesting humbly and honestly that he owed his enviable 
 position entirely to his wife. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 A FOLLOWING WIND 
 
 LoED St. MoEiTZ, when he hunted a fresh distraction, did 
 not allow the grass to grow under his feet ; and the first 
 time he met Prance in St. James's Street, hooking bim by 
 the arm, he accompanied that gratified young gentleman to 
 the very corner of PaU MaU, and never let go, although 
 a royalty, two Cabinet ministers, and Prance's own chief 
 spoke to his lordship during their walk. Arrived at Sam's, 
 he stopped as if he had just remembered something of no 
 consequence. 
 
 " Molecatcher," said he carelessly, " you know everybody. 
 I see you talking to that Madame Beltenebrosa in the Park 
 — I mean a black woman who belongs to a man ■*ith a coach. 
 I wish you would introduce me." 
 
 " To the black woman, or the man with the coach ? " 
 asked Prance jauntily, as he conceived, with the air of a 
 consummate fine gentleman. 
 
 " Oh, the husband of course. I must have met her 
 people abroad, and I ought to be civil. Don't be afraid. 
 I'm not going to interfere with you." 
 
 The Molecatcher assented cordially ; quoted " St, 
 Moritz" to everybody he met during the afternoon, and, it 
 is to be presumed, fulfilled his engagement; for at 6.30 p.m. 
 
A FOLLOWING WIND 159 
 
 the same day his lordship was to be seen sitting behind 
 " the black woman," making himself exceedingly agreeable 
 to " the man with the coach." 
 
 " That's the best fellow we've come across yet," said the 
 husband driving leisurely home through Stanhope Gate. 
 " And a capital judge of a horse. Spotted Potboy in a 
 moment. Saw at once he could gallop like smoke. Not at 
 all a stuck-up chap, neither, and plenty to say." 
 
 " Very likely," answered his wife. " You had all the 
 benefit. He said nothing to me." And, indeed, she was 
 revolving in her own mind why this man of all others 
 should have seemed only undisturbed by her beauty, and 
 negligent in offering the tribute of admiration to which 
 she was getting so accustomed now, she claimed it as her 
 due. 
 
 That night at the French play, which Paravant considered 
 and declared " infernal rot," she thought of Lord St.Moritz 
 again, wondering whether he would be there ; then, why 
 he was Tiot. Altogether he came into her mind three or 
 four times before she went to bed, which was exactly what 
 he intended. 
 
 Next day Paravant vanished immediately after breakfast 
 with his new Mend to attend a sale of yearlings, and 
 Beltenebrosa, for the first time since she arrived in London, 
 was left by herself. Young Prance, indeed, called, to be 
 succeeded by more of his kind ; but she found them 
 insufferably stupid and wearisome. Her gipsy blood grew 
 restless, and she was beginning to fi:et for some fi:esh excite- 
 ment, when the absentee returned, bringing with him his 
 lordship, to whom he offered cooling drinks of every kind, 
 and eventually tea. ' 
 
 "Certainly not," protested Lord St. Moritz, laughing. 
 " I should drink a farthing's-worth, and the hotel would 
 charge you a shilling ! I cannot encourage such extra- 
 vagance. No ; if Madame Beltenebrofia did not think it 
 would bore her, I should like to offer you both tea at 
 Hurlingham. My barouche is at the door. We can drive 
 down in half an hour, and by that time it will be cool and 
 pleasant under the trees. What does Madame say ? " 
 
 Madame would like it very much. Madame consented 
 with more animation than usual. Madame had been con- 
 
160 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 jugating a French verb all day, "Je m'ennuie, tu t'ennuies," 
 and so on. Lord St. Moritz probably didn't know the 
 meaning of the word. 
 
 Didn't he ? Lord St. Moritz had been repeating it all 
 his life — particularly when alone with Lord St. Moritz. Few 
 things amused — ^nothing interested him — except tea, and 
 Hurlingham, and agreeable company like the present ; but 
 while he took his seat in his own carriage, with his back to 
 the horses, this incorrigible nobleman reflected that there 
 were more verbs than s'ennuyer in the French grammar 
 which so handsome a woman might learn to conjugate under 
 his instruction, with much satisfaction to himself. 
 
 The closest friendships, I think, begin by imperceptible 
 degrees, and the same may be said of attachments. Bel- 
 tenebrosa found Lord St. Moritz a more agreeable companion 
 than any of her captives ; but, as she had no hesitation in 
 saying so, I conclude the impression he made must have 
 been on her intellect, rather than her heart. Yet their 
 intimacy was so gradual in its progress, she found it 
 impossible to record the different stages by which distant 
 civility grew to frank courtesy, then warm friendship, tender 
 
 interest, and What was it at the end of a fortnight ? 
 
 Something very like devotion on one side, and compassion, 
 if nothing kinder, on the other. 
 
 He made a great stride in her good graces, and he knew 
 it, by a delicate attention, delicately paid, which cost him 
 more trouble, and to use his own words, forced him " to eat 
 more dirt " than she supposed. 
 
 They were sitting on penny chairs under a noonday sun, 
 in the Park, Paravant being engaged with an equestrian at 
 the rails. Her parasol was up. It shaded his lordship's 
 white hat, and her own black head. In the crush of a 
 London season few couples can hope to be more alone than 
 this. 
 
 "When shall I see you again? " asked the hat of the 
 parasol in a low voice that trembled, or seemed to tremble 
 a little with the simple question. "Are you going to-morrow 
 to Lady Goneril's?" 
 
 "You may be sure I'm not," answered the parasol, 
 unfurled and defiant. " I don't know her. I don't know 
 any of these ladies who give things ! " 
 
A FOLLOWINa WIND 161 
 
 " Would it amuse you ? " 
 
 " Shall you be there ? " 
 
 " Thanks ! Then I'm only amusing, after all. And I 
 wanted to be interesting. How you pitch into one some- 
 times ! " 
 
 " I don't. It would hurt my own knuckles. Again, I 
 say. Are you going? I don't care about the rest." 
 
 "I'll go if you will. Now, wiU you, if she sends an 
 invitation ? " 
 
 "I'll see. Don't look so meek. When I say 'I'll see,' 
 that means, ' I'll consider.' When people consider " 
 
 " They end by doing whatever they like best. Be con- 
 siderate, and say you'll go — at once. Here's Paravant." 
 
 There must have been some tacit agreement that Lady 
 Goneril's invitation would be accepted, or Lord St. Moritz 
 need not have embarked with so much energy on an under- 
 taking that required tact, temper, and a certain subtlety to 
 carry out. 
 
 There is nothing about which London ladies are so 
 "touchy" as their invitations. No conceivable request 
 receives so hearty a rebuff as that for a ball-ticket, and the 
 most daring of admirers can hardly be repulsed more 
 brusquely than the injudicious visitor who presumes on a 
 life-long friendship to implore a card for a third person, well 
 known to both. Nobody understood these matters better 
 than Lord St. Moritz ; but he laid his plans with a thorough 
 knowledge of the ground on which he was working, and 
 consequently with a fair chance of success. 
 
 Calculate on a woman's liking for a man, and you are 
 deceived in a hundred ways. Modesty, pique, the spirit of 
 contradiction, a host of such difficulties rise up to baffle you 
 at every turn ; but you may always depend on her hatred 
 of another woman, and in this respect alone can make sure 
 of finding the softest female hearts turn to adamant itself. 
 
 St. Moritz, ia furtherance of his schemes, caused his 
 brougham to set him down at the portals of a house like a 
 palace, where, once a fortnight, during the London season, 
 a crowded " At Home " collected " everybody " who was 
 " anybody," at some hour of the night between eleven and 
 two. He was as sure of finding Lady Goneril on the marble 
 staircase — still handsome, still hungry for admiration, 
 
162 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 frizzed, painted, powdered, and with a train seven feet long 
 — as he was of the beautiful hostess to whom he made his 
 bow, receiving in return a quiet but sincere welcome, the 
 perfection of refinement, good-breeding, and feminine grace. 
 
 Now Lady GonerU was Lord St. Moritz's last love but 
 one, and though she had long since appointed his successor, 
 retained certain kindly inclinations towards the only man 
 in ber whole experience who had used her shamefully ill. 
 
 This feeling, however, was not to be compared with the 
 aversion she cherished for Mrs. Stripwell, the lady who sup- 
 planted her, and whom she naturally supposed to be his 
 lordship's present proprietor. That she still felt when she 
 met him what she called a " serrement de ccewr" — so 
 universal and uncomfortable a qualm that it need not be 
 construed into English — afforded her the utmost satisfac- 
 tion. It was at least a sensation, and as such she made it 
 welcome. 
 
 " My dear," she would say to intimate friends, " there is 
 always some good left in a woman who can feel. I had 
 rather know I am wretched than be without sentiment 
 altogether, like a brick wall, or a stone chimney-piece, or 
 that odious little spit-fire, Mrs. Stripwell." 
 
 Lord St. Moritz, looking veiy cool and gentlemanlike, 
 with his crush-hat pressed against his heart, found her 
 ladyship in the very spot he expected, and, accosting her 
 almost affectionately, was accorded a gracious reception. 
 After such customary greetings as " How well you're look- 
 ing! " and "What nonsense ! " which mean a great deal 
 or nothing at all, she tossed her head, flirted her fan, cleared 
 for action, iu short, and started with the apposite inquiry : 
 " Well, how's the Pigmy ? She's not coming here to-night 
 I know, because she's not asked ! " 
 
 It was her whim, whUe admitting the indisputable sym- 
 metiy of her figure, to decry Mrs. Stripwell's low stature. 
 Lady Goneril herself stood five feet eight inches, full-limbed 
 and well set up, but developing into what is called a 
 " magnificent woman " with alarming rapidity. 
 
 " I know she's not, or I shouldn't have come." 
 
 Her fan opened and shut with a triumphant flourish. 
 
 " What do you mean ? Have you had a row ? I warned 
 you of her temper. These little women are always tai-tars ! " 
 
A FOLLOWING WIND 163 
 
 " Why do you talk as if she was a dwarf? ChiseUi 
 swears she is exactly the size of Canova'a Venus, and as 
 well made." 
 
 " I wonder how he knows. But it's very easy to have a 
 good figure if one is only two foot high — ^you used to admire 
 tall women." 
 
 " So I do," said he, thinking of Beltenebrosa, hut afford- 
 ing Lady Goneril much satisfaction by the admission. 
 
 " Well ? " she continued. " Go on ; there's been a 
 quarrel, I see. You surely haven't come to me to make it 
 up!" 
 
 " I come to you because I'm annoyed. I think I have a 
 right to be. I want to ask your opinion. It's a question 
 of feeling ; and I'm sure, Lady Goneril, you have a good 
 heart." 
 
 " No I haven't. I had once. Never mind, that's past 
 and done with. Take me to the tea-room, and tell me all 
 about it." 
 
 As they threaded the crowd arm-in-arm, intending 
 deserters looked guiltUy on faces where they owed allegi- 
 ance, while ladies who had no reason as yet to expect dis- 
 loyalty cast approving glances on a companionship that 
 argued the renewal of bonds sadly strained, if not actually 
 snapped; but nobody made any verbal remark. It is not 
 the custom of good society; 
 
 Scandals which have no real existence are proclaimed by 
 a thousand tongues, but a discreet silence is observed in 
 well-bred circles on matters which maybe deprecated and 
 deplored, but cannot admit of doubt. Neither do people in 
 London catechise us on our future movements, and past 
 performances, so severely as do our country friends. I hope 
 it is not because, judging from their own observation and 
 experience, they have decided our conduct will not bear too 
 close investigation ! 
 
 In the tea-room, fifty feet long, were but four other 
 couples, wholly engrossed with their own affairs. In such 
 a retreat and behind such a fan as Lady Goneril's, they 
 could hardly have been more alone in the Moor of Bannpch, 
 the morning-room at White's, the upper end of Wimpole 
 Street, or any other solitude you like to mention. Lord St. 
 Moritz made his plunge. 
 
164 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 " Don't you think, when a man has devoted himself to 
 one lady for niore than three months, she ought to make 
 some sacrifice for his sake ? " 
 
 " Good gracious, no ! What an odd question ! " 
 
 "Then we differ. Probably I am wrong, and yet I 
 believe, if I were to ask you to drive three yards down a 
 street, and leave cards at a door, you wouldn't tell me, in 
 polite language, you would see me hanged first ! " 
 
 " How like her! " exclaimed Lady Goneril, jumping to 
 a conclusion at once, and forgetting the esprit de corps on 
 the calling question, very strong among ladies of her calibre, 
 in the delight of reviling and probably discomfiting a rival. 
 " Didn't I always tell you she has no more heart than — 
 a — man ! " 
 
 " I begin to think you must be right, and yet she looks 
 so soft and gentle. I wonder what it was in her that made 
 a fool of me. Upon my word, I sometimes begin to believe 
 in magic. Ah ! I wish I could live the last year over 
 again." 
 
 " I wish we all could. And yet, I daresay it would bore 
 us. Well, go on." 
 
 " There are some people from the West of England I 
 wish to be civil to. I don't suppose you ever heard of them. 
 A Mr. and Mrs. Paravant. They know positively nobody, 
 and I have reasons for wanting to do him a turn, so I asked 
 Mrs. Stripwell to leave her card, and she positively refused." 
 
 " I have heard of them. A vulgar man with a vulgar 
 wife, who sets up for beauty. I haven't seen her. Is she 
 handsome ? " 
 
 "Yes. You can't help admitting it. But much too 
 dark. Almost like the gipsies you see at Ascot." 
 
 Lady Goneril reflected. These swarthy beauties certainly 
 never were to his taste. Her own locks had been success- 
 fully gilt for so long, she hardly remembered their natural 
 shade, but her eyes were gray and eyebrows brown, when 
 she let them alone. Mrs. Stripwell, too, though figure was 
 her strong point, had a pretty little innocent red and white 
 face, surmounted by a touzle of hair like fluffy yellow silk. 
 These considerations decided her ladyship. She became a 
 partisan at once. 
 
 " Would you like me to send her a card for to-morrow ? 
 
A FLOOD-TIDE 165 
 
 It's one of my omnium gatherums. She would meet lots of 
 people. And after all, it commits one to nothing." 
 
 He was cimning enough to affect a hesitation which 
 clenched the business. " I don't know," said he douht- 
 fally. " It's very kind of you, dear Lady Goneril. Nobody 
 is so good a friend. But — it would distress poor Mrs. 
 Stripwell sadly. She has chosen to set her face against 
 those people, and will take it dreadfially to heart if she 
 meets them at any good places — ^like yours, for instance. I 
 shouldn't wonder if it made her ill ! " 
 
 Beltenebrosa coming down to breakfast next morning, 
 was more surprised than we need be by a square envelope 
 lying on her plate, which, being torn open, disclosed a large 
 card, intimating the certainty of finding Lady Goneril in 
 her own house at a given time. This was followed later in 
 the day by three smaller tickets, representing a personal 
 visit from herself and a gentleman then at Cowes, whom 
 she was good enough to call her lord. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVn 
 
 A FLOOD-TIDE 
 
 Theeb is many a progress in which, as in walking with 
 your head under your arm, the first step is more than half 
 the battle. 
 
 Madame Paravant, nSe Beltenebrosa, was admitted, 
 literally by acclamation, to be the handsomest woman in 
 Lady Goneril's drawing-room; and, indeed, with a shade 
 more colour, would have been acknowledged the beauty of 
 the season. Everybody asked to be introduced, even the 
 ladies, who, seeing how it set, thought well to swim with 
 the tide. Prance received three invitations to dinner, solely 
 in virtue of his acquaintance with such a paragon. An 
 illustrious personage stood by her side nearly five minutes, 
 offering with admirable tact the homage of a gentleman, 
 rather than displaying the condescension of a prince. 
 " Black but comely " was the verdict of his equerry ; and 
 by one o'clock in the morning every soul in the room had 
 
166 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 become, or tried to become, acquainted with Madame 
 Beltenebrosa. 
 
 Lady Goneril, indeed, would have wished she had not 
 asked her, but for the mortification she desired to inflict on 
 Mrs. Stripwell, also invited (for sufficient reasons), though 
 an enemy. That proToking little woman, however, appeared 
 thoroughly unconscious of the annoyance ; flirting, accord- 
 ing to custom, with a succession of admirers in regular 
 rotation, calm, self-possessed, and cool as a cucumber, 
 partly from temperament, partly from the shape and texture 
 of her dress — delicate, transparent, and cut exceedingly low. 
 She yawned at intervals, nevertheless, and looked round 
 more than once as if for somebody who never came. 
 
 That somebody was ten miles off, dining sedately at Rich- 
 mond, after a pull on the river with two old Eton friends. 
 His absence was by no means accidental, but rather the 
 result of studied calculation. He reflected that, on Beltene- 
 brosa's first appearance in the real London world, her 
 attention would be necessarily engrossed by the novelty of 
 such a situation, and amongst so many fresh triumphs, an 
 admirer of yesterday, however deserving, would be at a dis- 
 advantage. There is no position so difficult to maintain as 
 the proprietorship, in any degree, of an acknowledged beauty. 
 That discomfort he resolved should fall to Paravant, who had 
 a legal right to it ; and a cigar by moonlight on a terrace 
 overlooking the river, was surely better pastime than a suc- 
 cession of spasmodic efi'orts to hold his own against the 
 most dangerous competitors in the land, all of whom had 
 the odds of novelty in their favour. To-tnorrow, he would 
 be a fresh excitement in his turn. At this moment she was 
 surely wondering what had become of him ; piqued, no 
 doubt, and even a little angry at his desertion. " For," 
 argued his lordship, " women are so insatiable, that ninety- 
 nine captives lose something of their value when one more 
 is wanting to make up the hundred, and I daresay, if the 
 truth were known, she misses me at this moment as much 
 as I do her ! " 
 
 The old campaigner was little out in his reckoning. 
 There were three women watching the door for him that 
 night, with uneasy hearts, though different degrees of 
 interest. Lady Goneril was more vexed than disappointed, 
 
A FLOOD-TIBE 167 
 
 because, as she said to herself: "It's so like him, one 
 never knows what he will do next ! " Mrs. Stripwell felt 
 surprised to find she cared for him so much, and regretted, 
 absolutely regretted, she had put on this most attractive of 
 all her dresses, instead of the lilac, that came up an inch 
 higher, and became her beauty a shade worse; while 
 Beltenebrosa, through all her triumph, in the conscious- 
 ness that her foot was on the ladder at last, felt with a 
 twinge, keen enough to be painful, how much she missed 
 the quiet, amusing, half-caustic, half-indulgent mentor, who 
 told her all about everybody, with something good, bad, and 
 indifferent, but generally untrue, to say of each. 
 
 A fourth person was also most uncomfortable, as being 
 thoroughly out of his element. Paravant would have felt 
 much happier with St. Moritz at his elbow, for that gentle- 
 man, who possessed no scruples, but much tact, never 
 allowed his new acquaintance to discover he was " not in 
 the swim," and treated him with all the deference to which 
 " Forward James " thought himself entitled ; whereas, 
 to-night, nobody took much notice of him, and but for 
 Prance, who had compassion at intervals, he would have 
 been a hermit in a crowd. Our friend did not at all fancy 
 being neglected, and was by no means disposed to sink with- 
 out protest into a mere supernumerary, as the husband 
 of Madame Beltenebrosa. For the first time since their 
 marriage, he showed symptoms, of ill-humour going home. 
 
 " I don't think much of these drums, as they call them," 
 said he, flouncing into his comer of the brougham with some 
 petulance. " There's no fun in them-^no dancing, no life, 
 no go ! I shan't come again ; I'd much rather have been 
 smoking a cigar outside," 
 
 But Beltenebrosa, flushed with conquest, could by no 
 means agree. 
 
 " They are a necessity of one's position, my dear," she 
 replied, smiling inwardly at the airs she was assuming. 
 " They lead to everything else, you know. Of course it's 
 stupid, but one mustn't mind that." 
 
 " Stupid ! You didn't seem to think it stupid. I was 
 wondering what you could find to jabber about. I didn't 
 know you liked to have a lot of stuck-up chaps bothering 
 and talking no end of rot, and what I call standing on their 
 
168 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 hind-legs for you ; I thought you were a different kind of 
 woman altogether." 
 
 " So I am, dear," she replied, in perfect good-humour. 
 " I'm sure I was much happier in Italy than you were ; hut 
 if we had been at Rome, we should have done like the 
 people at Rome. Of course, with royalty, and all that, one 
 must be as pleasant as one can. I'm sorry you found it a 
 bore." 
 
 He was still a little in love, so only grumbled a few dis- 
 jointed murmurs about " conceited asses " and " London 
 assurance," ending with a declaration that " he should like 
 to go home to Somersetshire at once." 
 
 •' So we will, dear," she assented; " nothing will please 
 me better — after Ascot." 
 
 " Ascot ! " he repeated aghast. " You surely don't want 
 to go to Ascot ? " 
 
 " I suppose we must. His Eoyal Highness seemed to 
 think it a matter of course. He told me Vermuth was sure 
 to win the Cup. Yes, dear, I must take you to Ascot, if 
 only as a question of business." 
 
 "How?" 
 
 " Well, you know, people can't live as we are doing with- 
 out spending money. The hotel bills will run up to some- 
 thing frightful, and four horses don't stand at livery for 
 nothing." 
 
 " Besides your dresses. They cost more than the horses, 
 I'll be bound." 
 
 " Besides my dresses — yes, we shall want all the ready- 
 money we can lay our hands on. Now, you understand 
 racing thoroughly, don't you ? " 
 
 "Well, I think I'm as wide awake as my neighbours. 
 The sharpest of 'em must get up pretty early to put me in 
 the hole ! " 
 
 He spoke in a tone of confidence that would have warmed 
 the cockles of a ringman's heart ; for those, I imagine, that 
 lay claim to the wisdom of the serpent are the most profit- 
 able kind of doves ; and his wife, with a twinge of conscience, 
 as she remembered the five hundred pounds, long since 
 spent, and still owing to Mervyn Strange, persuaded herself 
 that the acuteness he professed might be turned to some 
 account. 
 
A FLOOD-TIDE 169 
 
 " Then we will go to Ascot," said she pleasantly, " like 
 the rest of the world. I shall only want two new dresses, 
 and you might send the team down and drive it to the 
 course. I'll find out all about that. I've been promised 
 tickets for the Enclosure. I've done my share. I leave 
 you to get a hint about the racing — ^what you call the 
 straight tip. I never meddle with matters I don't under- 
 stand." 
 
 She had wheedled him into good-humour. 
 
 " Quite right," said he ; " you've got that pretty head of 
 yours screwed on the right way after all. Here we are. 
 Now for a B-and-S, one quiet cigar, and then bed ! " 
 
 But over that cigar Paravant reflected more than in any 
 previous meditations since his marriage. His life seemed 
 running into a groove very different from that which he 
 would have chosen for himself. The future he used to paint 
 was perhaps in no way more domestic than his present 
 career, but the central figure of its grouping was his own, 
 not his wife's. He had hoped for sporting triumphs and 
 social successes easily obtained near his rustic home. To 
 be reckoned the fastest young fellow in the county — ^who 
 had run off with the handsomest woman ; a good shot ; a 
 thorough sportsman; owner — perhaps rider — of a winner 
 at Swansdown Baces : such were the milder glories that 
 would have satisfied his ambition and cost him but little 
 effort to attain. Now he seemed embarked on far more 
 hazardous courses, though he could not deny they lay 
 altogether in a loftier sphere. He was playing higher 
 stakes, and with less certainty of winning. In the society 
 to which his wife's beauty gave him access, he already 
 discovered that he must do something and be something 
 himself if he would not sink into the mere appendage of a 
 woman's belongings. His brief experience of life had 
 already shown him men accepted, even caressed, by the 
 world for no good quality or merit whatever, but a happy 
 knack of possessing, perhaps only of backing, winning horses, 
 and, what such speculators could do well, he was vain 
 enough to believe he could do better ! 
 
 " Yes, she's right enough," he said to himself, drinking 
 off his B-and-S at one defiant gulp: "Ascot is the best 
 plan after all. Let me only see them gallop down the 
 
170 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 course, and I flatter myself I can spot the winner as fast as 
 the numbers go up ; otherwise, what's the use of a good 
 eye for make and shape, and a memory that seldom plays 
 me false ? I remember her saying once ' It's as easy to catch 
 a salmon as a sprat.' The same holds good with racing. 
 If you're not out in a thirty-pound selling-plate you may 
 make a good shot at the Ascot Cup. I was never afraid to 
 back my opinion. Yes, we will go to Ascot ; and it's very 
 strange if I don't come back with something like a thou, to 
 the good ! " 
 
 CHAPTEE XXVm 
 
 CAKBVING ON 
 
 A London season soon slips away. Town never seems 
 really full till just before the Derby ; then comes a week of 
 clouds and rain, spent in exchanging meteorological lamenta- 
 tions and hopes for a change, dinners, plays, balls, receptions, 
 and, lo ! Ascot is upon us before we have time to turn round. 
 That pleasant gathering, and the Whitsuntide holidays, 
 empty the Park of its surplus and fill a good many country 
 houses to overflowing; but with the hot weather people 
 return to crowded staircases and suffocating dinners, tiU 
 startled by questions concerning Goodwood — premonitory 
 symptoms of the end. Presently cabs, piled with luggage, 
 are to be seen in greater numbers day by day. Leaves 
 droop in the squares, water-carts omit their rounds, girls 
 grow pale, chaperones haggard, and the carriage-horses go 
 down in their action. Dresses are packed, bills left unpaid, 
 thermometers stand at eighty degrees in the shade ; and so 
 comes Goodwood, and after Goodwood — the Deluge ? 
 
 In the meantime, one of the great landmarks of summer 
 has been reached, and "the world of fashion" — ^to use an 
 expression of the morning papers — migrates into Berkshire. 
 Furnished houses within a drive of Ascot race-course have 
 risen to fabulous prices ; eight-roomed cottages in Windsor 
 Forest command rentals that, on a yearly calculation, would 
 seem exorbitant for Windsor Castle. 
 
 Lord St. Moritz, with considerable forethought, hag 
 
CABBTINO ON 171 
 
 Becured a bijou residence within a mile of tlie Grand-stand, 
 from Monday to Satin'day, at something like the rate of 
 twenty shillings an hour, and considers it rather a bargain ! 
 He has sent down servants, provisions, wines, scented soap, 
 and every other luxury, to this picturesque little retreat, 
 where fruit and flowers are already in profusion. He has 
 inspected the arrangement himself, and made a careful 
 selection of guests. Paravant and Madame Beltenebrosa 
 are of the party, and it is ten o'clock p.m., the night before 
 the Cup Day. 
 
 Dinner is over ; champagne has been drunk freely ; claret 
 in moderation ; and coffee is served in a little gem of a draw- 
 ing-room having French windows opening to the lawn. A 
 lovely night, with myriads of stars, tempts the ladies out of 
 doors, and patches of white dot the shadows cast by a flne 
 old cypress across the sward. Stocks, cloves, and picotees 
 add their perfume to the fragrance of new-mown hay from 
 a meadow outside ; the young moon is rising behind a group 
 of sturdy oaks, of which the topmost branches have hardly 
 yet put forth their summer leaves ; and a nightingale trills 
 and gurgles persistently in a neighbouring copse, the private 
 property of Her Majesty the Queen. 
 
 No wonder the gentlemen stroll out of a deserted draw- 
 ing-room to these enchanted grounds. Prance lights a 
 cigarette with permissidn, Paravant a regalia without, and 
 Lord St. Moritz drops into a rustic chair by the side of 
 Beltenebrosa. 
 
 He has not seen her for two whole days — eight-and-forty 
 hours ! And as she sat g^part from him at dinner — for 
 neither prejudice nor predilection can overrule the table of 
 precedence laid down by Burke — has had no opportunity of 
 telling her so. 
 
 She had been asked to come on Monday afternoon for 
 Tuesday's racing, but wise in her generations did nothing 
 of the kind. She promised, however, to be down early on 
 Wednesday, yet deferred that engagement also at the last 
 moment, and only arrived with her maid by a late train in 
 time for dinner. 
 
 To Paravant, whom she despatched on the Tuesday after 
 breakfast, that he might not lose two day's racing, she 
 condescended to explain : 
 
172 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 " My dear," said she, in the tone of good-humoured 
 indifference to which she had gradually accustomed him, 
 "gentlemen cannot understand these things, but I don't 
 mind telling you. I am like Mrs. John Gilpin — 
 
 For though on pleasure she was bent, 
 She bad a frugal mind. 
 
 I only ordered two new dresses, these will come perfectly 
 fresh on Thursday and Friday. They are rather pretty, 
 and I flatter myself Madame Paravant, n4e Beltenebrosa, 
 will not look such a dowdy among the best ! Now do you 
 see ? " 
 
 He did not, wondering inwardly why a day's rest and a 
 smoothing-iron should fail to reproduce either of these 
 costumes as good as new, but, feeling weak on this point, 
 abandoned the argument to equip himself for the races, 
 where, trusting to his own judgment, he spotted two winners 
 and won three hundred poimds. 
 
 I have my doubts, however, as to the validity of his 
 wife's excuses, and am inclined to think that her deferred 
 appearance at such a social gathering was the result of deep 
 consideration, not without insight into the peculiarities of 
 human nature. 
 
 " I shall be expected," she thought, " on Tuesday, and 
 when they see ' Forward James,' who is sure to make him- 
 self conspicuous, they will ask why I am not there ? By 
 three o'clock on Wednesday the Molecatcher and his tribe 
 will have found out many reasons for my absence, all 
 calculated to promote gossip, even scandal. I shall be 
 credited with every kind of vagary. The men will say I 
 have quarrelled with Lord St. Moritz, or run away from 
 my husband. And the women will declare I am laid up 
 at home with the mumps ! But they will talk about me, 
 that is the great point, and when I do appear on the Cup 
 Day all London will be down, and I shall be an object of 
 general interest (for, after all, the world is a great fool), 
 and perhaps in my pale lavender, with black lace, even of 
 admiration. It's hard on my host, I admit, but he will 
 like me none the worse, I fancy. Besides, he has had two 
 nice little letters, and I mean to be very good to him while 
 I'm there." 
 
CABBYING ON 173 
 
 In pursuance of this virtuous resolution, Beltenebrosa 
 showed her appreciation of Lord St. Moritz a little more 
 unreservedly than usual ; and that nobleman, who calcu- 
 lated such matters to a nicety, felt no reason to be dis- 
 satisfied with the trouble he had taken in arranging his 
 Ascot party, or the rent he was paying for his house. 
 
 A man of experience, though his heart may be in danger, 
 seldom loses his head. Lord St. Moritz was an old and 
 practised player at that game, in which one or other is 
 usually a heavy loser ; but his was a nature, not uncommon 
 among his class, that displays more and more skill with 
 increase of stakes. Always most in earnest when he seemed 
 least so, a woman could never calculate on his actions or 
 his motives, as Lady Goneril did not mind confessing she 
 found out, to her cost. 
 
 He had been exceedingly attentive to her all day on the 
 course, and neglected Mrs. Stripwell in proportion, who 
 consequently sulked the whole afternoon, and if her maid 
 can be credited, shed tears while dressing for dinner. 
 Neither lady could have joined his lordship's party, owing 
 to previous engagements, but both felt aggrieved not to be 
 asked. The former, thinking some unusual duplicity must 
 be concealed under his apparent return to allegiance, 
 resolved to watch him narrowly, " determined," as she 
 herself expressed it, " to find out what he was at ! " 
 
 For the present, however, she was a good three miles off, 
 with quite enough on hand to occupy her attention, besides 
 a cup of coffee at her side, a rose in her lap, and the 
 glowing end of a cigar some six inches from her ear, 
 behind which lurked an exceedingly pleasant young gentle- 
 man, inclined to make himself more than usually agreeable. 
 
 " I'm glad you like it," said Lord St. Moritz, as what else 
 could he say, in reply to a well-merited complirjentfrom his 
 guest, on the selection of this charming spot for their revels ? 
 " It wasn't so nice last night, nor the night before. Why 
 didn't you come on Monday? " 
 
 " Now you're' going to scold me." 
 
 " Should you mind if I did ? " 
 
 " I shoidd take it as the highest compliment. When I 
 scold people, it means I really do care for everything belong- 
 ing to them." 
 
174 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 " Do you ever scold Paravant ? " 
 
 It was a gaueherie, as lie felt, even while the words 
 escaped his lips. Only a schoolboy would have reminded 
 her of her husband at such a time, but he picked himself 
 up adroitly enough, and added : 
 
 " He don't deserve it to-day. Quite the reverse. He 
 landed two hundred, I think he told me, backing an out- 
 sider. I was so pleased." 
 
 " That's very kind." 
 
 " I was. You may think it strange, but I assure you I 
 like Paravant for his own sake." 
 
 " Not the least strange. So do I." 
 
 " Yes, but I like him a great deal more for yowrs. If 
 you had a dog (let me put down your cofifee-eup) I should 
 be fond of it. I believe I should even wish to change places 
 with it." 
 
 " Suppose I don't care for dogs? " said she, rising from 
 her seat with a woman's instinctive shrinking from a subject 
 which nevertheless she delighted to approach. 
 
 " I would accept the kicks, and take my chance of the 
 halfpence," he replied laughing, but added in a graver tone : 
 " I wish I could find out exactly what you do care for." 
 
 " It's no use wishing," she murmured with a low soft sigh, 
 that emboldened him to steal his hand into her own. 
 
 Her mood changed on the instant, and snatching it away, 
 she turned towards the window of the well-lit drawing- 
 room. 
 
 " Not yet," he pleaded, " don't go in yet. Once round 
 the lawn and back through the shrubbery to hear the 
 nightingales sing." 
 
 Whether she relented or meant to persist in re-entering 
 the house, must remain uncertain. His name was called 
 by half-a-dozen voices, to remind him that the first duty of 
 a host is towards his guests not individually but collectively. 
 "Lord St. Moritz! Lord St. Moritz ! " they clamoured, 
 " we will appeal to Lord St. Moritz! " and they crowded 
 into the glare of the windows, offering their opinions, with 
 a great deal of noise and laughter, while they pressed for 
 his verdict. 
 
 The discussion was on no less important a subject than 
 that of dress as worn at the races by two rival beauties, one 
 
CABBYINQ ON 175 
 
 of whom was Mrs. Stripwell herself, the other a fair importa- 
 tion from New York, with the most charming little nose 
 ever employed as an organ of speech. Prance, having a 
 speciality for such matters, knew with certainty that the 
 artist who decorated the English lady was a London 
 celebrity, outrageous in price, whereas the fair American's 
 costume came of course from Paris, and might be a trifle 
 dearer. The bill, indeed, as sent to papa's counting-house, 
 seemed positively awful in francs, and not to be calmly 
 contemplated in dollars. "Now, which was the best 
 dressed of these two ladies ? Not the handsomest, that 
 had nothing to do with it. Lord St. Moritz would hardly 
 be a fair judge." This little shaft, aimed by a damsel who 
 thought she had been somewhat neglected during the even- 
 ing, was meant to reach the gipsy, but fell harmless, for 
 Beltenebrosa was thinking of something else. The question 
 lay wholly between two dresses. One crimson-and-orange, 
 the other purple-and-green ; loud, not to say daring colours, 
 and, to use a French expression, they swore at each other 
 hideously. Yet, thus boldly placed in juxtaposition, 
 producing a certain picturesque effect, startling indeed, 
 but sufficiently pleasing to the crowd. 
 
 Prance and Lady Mary voted for crimson-and-orange, all 
 the others for purple-and-green. What did Lord St. Moritz 
 think? 
 
 Lord St. Moritz thought them " neat but gaudy." Lord 
 St. Moritz declared Lady Mary's own simple little toilet 
 of white and jessamine in better taste than either. Lord 
 St. Moritz cursed both dresses in his heart, and was 
 incautious enough to express an opinion that Madame 
 Beltenebrosa would appear in something to-morrow that 
 should cause both Mrs. Stripwell and the pretty Yankee to 
 wish they had stayed at home ! 
 
 Here elbows touched their neighbours, and the meaning 
 smile on more than one face deepened to a sneer. A tide 
 of dislike seemed setting towards the " Signora," and Lord 
 St. Moritz decided to stem it by. adjourning to the house 
 with a proposal of music, and a hope that somebody would 
 sing. 
 
 "What says Madame Beltenebrosa?" asked Lady Mary, 
 rather viciously. " She s^ems to be queen." 
 
176 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 " I wish I were," answered the gipsy, in perfect good- 
 humour. 
 
 " You'd make a very beautiM one," exclaimed Prance, 
 with enthusiasm. 
 
 " You would have one loyal subject," whispered the host, 
 with devotion. 
 
 " Why, what would you do ? " snapped her ladyship. 
 
 " I'll tell you," said Beltenebrosa, seating herself at the 
 pianoforte. " I am sure my own sex would like to put me 
 on the throne at once." 
 
 " If I were a queen I'd make it the rule 
 
 For women to govern and men obey ; 
 And hobbledehoys to be kept at school, 
 
 And elderly gentlemen hidden away. 
 But maids should marry at sweet sixteen — 
 If I were a queen, if I were a queen ! 
 
 If I were a queen I'd soon arrange 
 For a London season the whole year round ; 
 
 And once a week, if we wanted a change, 
 We would dine by the river and sit on the ground. 
 
 When lawns are sunny, and leaves are green — 
 
 If I were a queen, if I were a queen I 
 
 If I were a queen, the lady should choose, 
 Taking her pick of them, round and square 1 
 
 None selected should ever refuse. 
 Bound to wed, be she dark or fair, 
 
 Stout and stumpy, or lank and lean — 
 
 If I were a queen, if I were a queen I 
 
 If I were a queen, on Valentine's day 
 
 Every girl should receive by post. 
 Flaming letters in full array, 
 
 Of darts and hearts burnt up to a toast ; 
 With bows and arrows, and Cupids between^ 
 If I were a queen, if I were a queen 1 
 
 If I were a queen, I'd never allow 
 
 Tax on unregistered goods like these — 
 A woman's reason, a lover's vow, 
 
 A stolen kiss, or a silent squeeze ; 
 A wish unspoken, a blush unseen — 
 If I were a queen, if I were a queen ! " 
 
 " Bravo ! Beautiful ! Capital ! What fiin ! Thank 
 you ! " exclaimed the audience. But Lord St. Moritz, 
 bending over the pianoforte, whispered : " Always a queen. 
 My queen. This is better than the nightingales ! " 
 
BBEAKEJtS AHEAD I 177 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIX 
 
 BEBAKBRS AHEAD ! 
 
 A ROOMY loose-box, littered in the whitest and smoothest 
 straw, plaited round the edges with as much taste and skill 
 as a dunstable bonnet ; a manger, from which the last feed 
 of oats has been eaten so heartily, that not a grain is left. 
 A set of horse-clothing, lettered, braided, and bound, with 
 no less ingenuity of ornament than the moccasins of an 
 Indian brave. At one end a long square tail, combed and 
 brushed to a nicety, large hocks, powerful thighs, and round 
 well-turned quarters, throwing off the light like a satin robe ; 
 at the other, a firm, muscular neck, topped by a lean and 
 handsome head, with the liquid eyes of a deer, fiill, deep, 
 wistful, courageous, yet not devoid of sadness, such as 
 impart its touching beauty to that most sensitive and 
 daring of animals, the thoroughbred horse. 
 
 A step is heard outside, the door opens, and a short, 
 stout, rosy-fiiced man enters, with a ring-key in his hand. 
 This worthy looks, and indeed is, honest as the day. So 
 long as wasting and starvation enabled him to ride the 
 weights, he was a jockey of unflinching integrity. As a 
 trainer, he is equally trustworthy, and his employer, a 
 French gentleman, who brings the natural genius for 
 method to bear on his management of a racing-stable, with 
 considerable success, has exported him from Newmarket to 
 Normandy, solely because of the high character he bears in 
 his profession. 
 
 He dearly loves the animals in his charge, and would fain 
 ride them their gallops, even now ; but though his attire is 
 of a shape and texture expressly intended for horse-exercise, 
 its fit seems so tight as to involve insuperable difficulties in 
 getting up. 
 
 For several minutes he stands motionless, admiring this 
 masterpiece of nature, perfected by art, his own art, in 
 which he excels ; then lifting the embroidered quarter-piece, 
 passes his hand along the smooth supple skin, that plays 
 over those mighty ribs, like silk on steel. 
 
 " You'll do ! " he murmurs, shaking his head with pro- 
 
 12 
 
178 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 found sagacity. " It's your job this is, and your journey, 
 and your day too, if I'm not mistaken. Frenchman, do 
 they call you ? And they're laying five to two, are they ? 
 Well, you may be a Frenchman, but if you and I don't 
 carry the cup home between us, I'm a Dutchman, and that's 
 all about it ! " 
 
 The horse seems to understand, accepting the liberty 
 taken with his person as a caress, to be acknowledged by a 
 playful flourish of his tail, while he lays back his ears, and 
 catches the manger between his teeth, in which amiable 
 frame of mind he will be forthwith led out saddled and 
 mounted, to become the object of many thousand admiring 
 eyes as one principal attraction of the day, for this is Ver- 
 muth, a winner of the French Derby, and the talent are 
 laying but short odds against him for the Ascot Cup. 
 
 An easy garden-seat, with a back at the proper angle, in 
 that privileged enclosure near the Eoyal Stand, to which 
 access is attained by favour of the noble Master of the 
 Buckhounds, whose life is made a burden to him with 
 shoals of impossible applications for weeks beforehand. A 
 soft summer sky, shaded by mackerel clouds overhead, a 
 panorama of England's loveliest scenery, stretching to a 
 wide horizon around. In front, a crowded plain, dotted 
 with booths, and flags, and snowy tents, and gaudy 
 marquees, swarming with holiday-makers in thousands, and 
 carriages in hundreds, and drags in scores, bordered by a 
 well-kept lane of green, wherein a preliminary gaUop of 
 variegated jockeys shows like a bed of tidips in a breeze. 
 Behind, stands, filled to overflowing, pillars to roof, with a 
 sea of faces turned one way, and on either side the pick of 
 our English aristocracy — ^men, strong, well-built, upstand- 
 ing — women, fair, gracious, stately, the handsomest, if not 
 always the best-dressed, in Europe. 
 
 Many are the looks directed at the garden-seat above- 
 mentioned. Elaborate and severe are the criticisms on 
 costume, complexion, bearing, manners, character, and ante- 
 cedents of its occupant, surrounded as she is by admirers, 
 who neglect their attachments, their tobacco, their luncheons, 
 even their betting-books, to win the smiles of which that 
 delicate handsome face is exceedingly sparing. In her aiiy 
 toilet of pale lavender and filmy black lace, so becoming to 
 
BBEAEEB8 AHEAD I 179 
 
 the exquisite shape, clear skin, and shining black hair, she 
 is looking her best, and has been told so indeed many score 
 of times. 
 
 Yes, like Vermuth, it is her day too, and she shares with 
 that distinguished quadruped the homage of the multitude, 
 for this is Beltenebrosa, the handsome gipsy-looking woman, 
 who has taken the town by storm, and toppled down half- 
 a-dozen acknowledged beauties &om their pedestals in as 
 many weeks. 
 
 When the French horse was brought out to be saddled, 
 she felt, with a thrill of gratified vanity, that this equine 
 celebrity hardly distracted attention &om herself. 
 
 Paravant indeed, who could see as much of her as he 
 wanted at home, scanned Vermuth with eager and inquiring 
 eyes. Prejudiced, perhaps, against its nationality, and 
 aware that, as regards training, our neighbours have yet 
 something to learn, he felt persuaded the animal was not 
 properly prepared, and must be defeated by the severity of 
 a long and trying course that finished up-hill. 
 
 " Too big! " he said to himself, pulling the pencil firom 
 his betting-book. " Want of puff will stop him ! Steel- 
 boy's a rare little horse. If they only make the pace good 
 enough he ought to walk in by himself; " and "Forward 
 James," shouldering his way through masses of spectators, 
 offered his two-to-one, and eventually his five-to-two, 
 against " the Frenchman," with more confidence than 
 prudence, till he stood to lose or win a considerable stake 
 on the event. 
 
 " What a beautiful creature ! " exclaimed Lady Goneril, 
 with her glasses pointed at Vermuth, pacing proudly 
 under his little rider in cerise and gold. 
 
 " She is, indeed ! " assented Prance, thinking the remark 
 applied to Beltenebrosa, off whom he had not taken his eyes 
 for several seconds : " I never saw her look so well. Don't 
 you agree with we. Lady Goneril, that's far and away the 
 prettiest get-up on the course ? " 
 
 I appeal to the whole sex, whether her ladyship was not 
 justified in giving battle at once. 
 
 " D'you mean that Paravant woman, who calls herself 
 by some outlandish name ? " she exclaimed, in high 
 dudgeon. "No, I don't! She looks like a slate-pencil 
 dipped in ink. Mr. Prance, I'm sorry for your taste." 
 
180 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 Now the Molecatoher prided himself on discrimination in 
 matters of costume, and although he stood somewhat in awe 
 of Lady Goneril's lofty stature and uncompromising 
 opinions, or, as he called them, "her uprightness and 
 downrightness," such an assertion in his present state of 
 slavish admiration, could not pass unchallenged. 
 
 "It's not MY taste alone ! " said the little man rebelliously ; 
 " even Mrs. Stripwell thought the dress becoming ; and as 
 to the lady herself, only count the men she has got round 
 her, LadyGoneril — ^that's the best criterion of good looks." 
 
 As Lord St. Moritz was just then unfurling the parasol, 
 and whispering in the ear of his guest, the Molecatcher's 
 observation showed a superfluity of neither tact or savoir- 
 faire. 
 
 " Men ! " repeated Lady Goneril, in accents of withering 
 corn ; " dancing-dogs and monkeys I call them ! Do you 
 think they mob her because she is beautiful ? Not a bit ; 
 only because she is strange. Do you see that gipsy girl 
 grinning at the rails, with a tambourine ? If I were to 
 wash and dress her up she'd be very like your Madame 
 ' What's-her-name/ only better-looking, because she has a 
 healthier colour." 
 
 He could stand to his guns no longer. " She is pale, I 
 admit," said he, with another glance at the cause he was 
 deserting, " but I never saw her so white as to-day. Good 
 heavens ! She's going to faint ! " 
 
 " Going to be sick, more likely," retm-ned her ladyship, 
 whose own luncheon had been copious and unwholesome, 
 while she adjusted her glasses for another look at Vermuth, 
 sweeping up the course, with a long easy stride, that caused 
 Paravant an uncomfortable spasm, as he almost wished he 
 had " let the Frenchman alone." 
 
 His wife turned indeed pale to her lips, and, for a 
 moment, gasped as if she was choking. Lord St. Moritz 
 rushed off to get a glass of water, but she recovered com- 
 posure before he returned. 
 
 Like Lady Goneril, she had noticed the gipsy girl with a 
 tambourine, and recognised Nance, who waited on her in 
 Fighting Jack's caravan. Worse. She felt sure that 
 Nance recognised her! 
 
 Damocles, so often quoted in illustration of an uncomfort- 
 
BBMAKMBS ASHAl) t 181 
 
 able position, no doubt forgot the impending sword for many 
 minutes together. We accustom ourselves to the most pre- 
 carious situations ; and Beltenebrosa, since her marriage, 
 especially of late, while moving in a sphere so remote from 
 theirs, had ceased to think of her fellow-wanderers, or to 
 recall the threats with which Jericho warned her against the 
 mortal offence she had committed in uniting herself to a 
 Gorgio. 
 
 But now, with her first glance at Nance's swarthy face, 
 came back, in overwhelming force, the memories and appre- 
 hensions she had hidden away. Becalling the character of 
 her young gipsy kinsman, his sentiments, his denunciations, 
 his cruelty, cunning, and fierce vindictive nature, she turned 
 faint and sick with fear. 
 
 Everything seemed changed. The sky was no longer 
 soft, the foreground gay, nor the distance fair. The infe- 
 riority of a rival ceased to yield triumph, the compliment of 
 an admirer to afford gratification. There was no pleasure in 
 seeing Mrs. Stripwell's sulk and Lady Goneril's sneer, but 
 there seemed something consolatory in the devotion of Lord 
 St. Moritz, and she began to feel a sense of dependence on 
 his lordship, a consciousness she was safer with him at her 
 side, that, could he have known it, would have delighted 
 him exceedingly. 
 
 Take a miUion of people, however, all of whom individu- 
 ally, in thought and feeling, are distinct as light from 
 darkness, and it is surprising how, collectively, they are 
 roused aUke, by a common interest, a common excitement, 
 or a common panic. Not one in a hundred, not one in a 
 thousand, of the crowd thronging Ascot Heath but was 
 more or less a partisan of the French or English horse, 
 as the tide of popularity swayed from one to the other 
 favourite, for the great race of the day. It speaks well for 
 John Bull's hospitality and love of fair-play that Vermuth 
 shoTild have had the call ; and I may mention that, when 
 mounted, he rose to even betting in the ring, while five-to- 
 two could be got about Steelboy, and even three-to-one. 
 
 In the Enclosure gloves were wagered by the basketftd, 
 besides lockets, bracelets, and other jewellery ; nay, there 
 were not a few fair speculators who ventured pocket and pin 
 money, and deeper stakes yet, that they little dreamed of at 
 
m iLAck ^Uf COMELf 
 
 the time. Even Beltenebrosa forgot her apprehensions for 
 a moment when the saddling-bell rang. And now the 
 numbers are up, the horses mounted. Two, three, five, 
 seven, eight, and eleven, come striding by, looking to the 
 uninitiated, one as good as another, each a paragon of its 
 kind, beautiful, courageous, enduring, as poor Lindsey 
 Gordon hath it — 
 
 A tower of strength with a turn of speed. 
 
 And it requires indeed a practised eye to foresee that this 
 little troop of the swiftest creatures on earth will be drawn 
 out, at the finish, in a string some hundred and fifty paces 
 long. 
 
 " Four is scratched and six don't start," says Prance, 
 opening his glasses; but this information, being already 
 made public by the absence of their numbers on the board, 
 is received with little interest, and the opinion of Lord St. 
 Moritz that Vermuth will certainly win excites far more 
 attention. 
 
 " I have just seen the Vicomte," he whispers to Beltene- 
 brosa ; " the horse is as well as can be. If he runs on his 
 merits I don't see how he can lose." 
 
 Paravant, close behind, overhears, and bites his lip. Has 
 he been too confident ? "I hope not," he proclaims aloud, 
 for the benefit of all whom it may concern. " I've stood 
 against him to the shirt on my back. I've more than half 
 a mind to hedge." 
 
 "It's too late to get out now," observes his lordship, with 
 one of those smiles that denote neither mirth nor benevo- 
 lence. " They're at the post by this time. It's a false 
 start ! No ! By Jove, they're off ! " 
 
 The glasses all turn one way — love, hatred, rivalry, flirta- 
 tion, everything is forgotten but the race — fi-om the duchess 
 at the back of the royal box to the drab in firont of the royal 
 circus; myriads of hearts and eyes are riveted on a level 
 streak of rainbow colours, that dance, and shift, and mingle, 
 like the hues in a kaleidoscope held vnth unsteady hand. 
 
 There will be a roar presently to shake the earth, but in 
 the eager hush of attention now such observations as these 
 are audible enough : 
 
BMMARBR3 Aj^MaD I 163 
 
 " What's that in front ? Blue and black cap ? " 
 
 " That's Outlaw, making running for Vennuth — making 
 it a cracker too ! " 
 
 " He's shot his bolt — Steelboy's leading ! He's a length 
 in front. Well done, little 'un ! By Jove, what a merry 
 pace it is ? Some of them will never get home at all ! " 
 
 " Outlaw's beat and so is Python. I knew he couldn't 
 stay. What's that next the rails ? It's the French horse, 
 and he's coming up, hand-over-hand." 
 
 " Not he ! Steelboy's caught him ! He's changed his 
 leg. No, he hasn't ! Steelboy ! The Frenchman ! Sit 
 down and ride him ! Steelboy's beat ! Not a bit of it ! 
 Now for a set-to ! Vermuth wins ! It's a slashing race 1 " 
 
 But it wasn't a slashing race ; the favourite, well served 
 by his stable companion — whose jockey took care it should 
 be run to suit him — ridden, moreover, with admirable 
 patience and judgment, was pronounced by those who 
 understand such matters to have won cleverly, as they called 
 it, with something in hand. 
 
 " Forward James " thought so too. His confidence in his 
 own judgment had cost him more hundreds than he liked to 
 count, and he found little to console him in a conversation 
 he happened to overhear between the owner and a most 
 enthusiastic backer, while Vermuth, with a bottle clinking 
 against his snaffle, was being unsaddled after victory. 
 
 Said the Vicomte — a dry, reserved, and very undemonstra- 
 tive person — apparently quite unmoved by his victory : 
 
 " ETi bien ! Alphonse, ne t'avais-je pas averti ? " 
 
 " Pa/rbUul mon cher," replied Alphonse, triumphant — 
 resplendent Gascony written in every line of his round 
 portly figmre, his handsome, swarthy Southern face. " C'est- 
 d-dire, que tu m'as follelnent pay6 la goutte ? " 
 
 Paravant listened, and caught the allusion, and partly 
 understood, cursing the French horse and the blissfuJ 
 Frenchman freely ia his heart. 
 
184 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 CHAPTEE XXX 
 
 SHOAL WATER 
 
 Dinner at the Bijou did not go off so swimmingly as yes- 
 terday. Few people have spirits inexhaustible enough to 
 last out three days of merrymaking in the same company ; 
 and it requires a fund of originality, that may well be called 
 genius, to afford consecutive topics of conversation, hot-and- 
 hot, as it were, to jaded pleasure-seekers, hardly caring to 
 be amused. 
 
 Eacing, too, though an exciting pastime, is not without 
 a reaction, tending to make its votaries — especially the 
 losers — thoughtful and depressed. None of Lord St. 
 Moritz's party seemed thoroughly satisfied with the day's 
 results. Prance regretted an element of caution in his 
 nature that, except to the amount of a half-crown lottery, 
 prevented his speculating at all. Lady Mary — whose in- 
 formation came direct from a great personage, always good- 
 natured and generally right — ^was tortured by self-reproach 
 because she had not ventured her whole yearly income, 
 instead of half. Paravant, with some reason, seemed 
 downhearted, and even sulky; while the rest experienced 
 that sense of void and weariness which waits on all excite- 
 ment involving no bodily risk, but, strangely enough, never 
 affects those who come out of actual danger, either delibe- 
 rately encountered or undergone by chance. Perhaps the 
 least dissatisfied person in company was the butler, 
 courteously offering champagne, who had backed Vermuth 
 for this very event at no worse a price than twelve to one 
 eight months ago, on information he could trust. " Never 
 meant to 'edge," as he told his club ; " never did 'edge ; 
 and landed one 'undred and twenty cooter as easy as 
 changing a plate ! " 
 
 What had his lordship done ? everybody asked in com- 
 mon courtesy. Nobody waited for his answer, nor did he 
 volunteer information, for St. Moritz was engrossed with 
 other ventures, in which he hoped by skill, daring, and 
 patience to come off a winner. 
 
 The conversation dragged. Lady Mary cruelly snubbed 
 
SHOAL WATER 185 
 
 the poor Molecatcher, and altogether shut him up. Then 
 she tried a passage of arms with Paravant, who retorted so 
 fiercely that she shrank back into her shell and the whole 
 party looked at each other in dismay. His wife could have 
 told her ladyship " Forward James " was as " cross as two 
 sticks," having gauged his temper most unsatisfactorily, 
 while he was dressing for dinner. 
 
 Flushed with success on the previous day, he had offered 
 her a share of his winnings. To<do him justice, Paravant's 
 liberality, like his good-humour, was in the ascendant when 
 things went right, and Beltenebrosa accepted gladly, making 
 rapid mental calculations, the while money seemed very 
 easy to get on a race-course. A hundred pounds, she 
 observed, rose to five in a couple of minutes, for those who 
 invested judiciously on the speed of a horse. More than 
 one admirer had already confided his discovery of " a good 
 thing," and offered, in appropriate jargon, " to put her on 
 what she pleased." Oh ! if she might only vsdn five 
 hundred pounds — ^not all at once, such a piece of luck could 
 hardly be expected, but by a succession of judicious ventures 
 on the soundest advice, count it out in bank-notes, pack it 
 up in a registered letter, and send it off to Mervyn Strange, 
 at the old church where she was married ! What a relief 
 it would be to get rid of a debt that so weighed on her con- 
 science ! She would rather have a millstone hanging round 
 her neck ! 
 
 Paravant was tying white cambric round his own — an 
 operation in which it irritates a man to be interrupted — 
 when she entered his dressing-room, with a meek reminder 
 of his promise, and an offhand request for a hundred pounds 
 then and there. 
 
 " I can lock it up in my travelling-bag," said she. " It's 
 as safe with me as with you." She had never seen him 
 look so savage. 
 
 " A hundred devils ! " he exclaimed. " You must be 
 
 mad. Where the do you suppose it's to come from ? 
 
 This is the worst day I ever had in my life, and you walk 
 in asking for money, as if there was nothing to do but turn 
 the tap on, and draw it like beer ! " 
 
 She was not the least frightened, only scornful and dis- 
 gusted ; passing the glass-doors of the wardrobe in her own 
 
186 BLACK Bm COMBLY 
 
 room, she could not help glancing at the beautiful woman 
 reflected therein, and wondering, rather bitterly, if any man 
 hwt a husband could have been so rude and unfeeling, all 
 for a miserable hundred pounds ! 
 
 The weather turned colder. There was some question of 
 ordering fires, and the evening set in wet. Slugs and 
 snails came out in the garden, but the ladies remained 
 indoors. Paravant was all for another bottle of claret — the 
 rest seemed inclined to help him. A magnum of the best 
 made its appearance ; they began to talk about racing, and 
 sat so long, that ere the men entered the drawing-room the 
 ladies were yawning in separate corners, and it was past 
 twelve o'clock. 
 
 But when his lordship gave Beltenebrosa her candle, she 
 thanked him with such a look in the deep dark eyes as 
 thrilled even his world-worn heart — so stimulating his 
 natural urbanity and good-fellowship, that Paravant, in 
 spite of ill-humour, could not but acknowledge the social 
 merits of his host, confiding to Prance, as they left the 
 smoking-room, that he considered St. Moritz the pick of the 
 Upper House. "None of your half-and-half chaps, but a 
 real downright trump. A man a fellow could depend upon 
 all round! " 
 
 The Molecatcher, dying to go to bed, expressed a cordial 
 assent, and gladly wished him good-night. 
 
 But a new day brought cheering sunshine, restored 
 spirits, more wagers, more dresses, more hopes. Beltene- 
 brosa, refireshed by sleep, came down to breakfast looking 
 even handsomer than usual, in a pale yellow garment of 
 clear delicate tint, that set off her white skin and black 
 hair to the greatest advantage. " Like an early primrose," 
 said Prance, in a vein of poetry. " Or a firkin of butter," 
 added Lady Mary, in less pathetic prose. 
 
 " I am glad you think it pretty," whispered the wearer 
 to Lord St. Moritz, who approved cordially, with just such 
 a stress on the personal pronoun as might either mean a 
 mere compliment to his taste, or an assurance that she 
 desired no other admiration, and dressed for him alone. 
 
 He accepted it in the sense most pleasing to his vanity ; 
 and they proceeded to the Heath, with a consciousness on 
 both sides of that mutual understanding which is so delight-' 
 
SHOAL WATER 187 
 
 fal, BO dangerous, and so impossible to preserve for more 
 than about a week ! 
 
 I believe there is no such happy time for two individuals 
 as the first dawning of an admiration which circumstances 
 may or may not foster into attachment hereafter. They 
 are pleased to meet, but do not break their hearts if kept 
 apart. The sense of proprietorship is not yet strong enough 
 to warrant jealousy, and while much may be hoped from the 
 future, the past has nothing to regret. 
 
 There seems a joyous freshness in the gift or acceptance 
 of a flower for the first time, that subsequent lockets and 
 bracelets can never recall, nor even the solemn investment 
 of an " engaged-ring." And believe me, young ladies who 
 are still " in maiden meditation fancy free," who take your 
 partners as they come " without partiality, favour, or 
 affection," giving them dances, round and square, in due 
 succession, you should make the most of this your first 
 season, for you will never have so much fim in another ; 
 and though happiness may be snatched by fits and statts, 
 there is no such thing left as comfort when once you begin 
 watching the door ! 
 
 Lord St. Moritz lost no time in cementing the dreamy 
 fabric he had been at considerable pains to rear. They had 
 hardly entered the Enclosure before he offered Beltene- 
 brosa his race-card, entreating her to select the odd number 
 against the even, for the smallest wager — a pencil-case, a 
 pair of gloves, one of the flowers she wore at her breast — 
 anything, however trifling, because at this game it was not 
 allowable to play for love ! 
 
 She coloured ; she hesitated. " Oh, Lord St. Moritz ! " 
 she said, "I don'tknowhow; Inevermade a bet in my life." 
 
 " That is why I want you to make a bet with me. I 
 should like to be associated in your mind with your first 
 lesson in anything — good or bad. Perhaps you think the 
 stakes too low. Make them what you choose — a kind word, 
 a smile, a friendly thought : that's as good as a thousand 
 tome.'" 
 
 She pondered a moment, and answered gravely : " No ; 
 if I make a bet it shall not be a sham one. Flowers, and 
 gloves, and trinkets are all very well ; but I should like, 
 once in my life, to win a real wager on a real horse," 
 
188 BLACK BUT COMELT 
 
 " So you shall ! " he exclaimed heartily. " I know what 
 ought to be a certainty for the Ladies' Plate. I'll find out 
 if it's all right from the trainer, and put you on if I can get 
 a decent price — say five-to-one." 
 
 " I don't quite understand." 
 
 " If he wins you will get five pounds, and if he loses yoii 
 pay one." 
 
 " Capital ! Why don't people always bet lite that ? " 
 
 " You must ask Paravant," he replied laughing ; yet a 
 little disposed to doubt in how far this ignorance might be 
 assumed. 
 
 "He wouldn't explain. He never tells me anything 
 about his racing affairs. I don't see why I should be more 
 communicative. No ; whether I win or lose, I shall play 
 this, as you gentlemen say, ' off my own bat.' " 
 
 " All right," answered his lordship, perfectly satisfied, 
 " then I'll go at once. How much will you have ? " 
 
 " How much do you think ? I want to win. Well — I 
 should like to win a hundred pounds ! " 
 
 He stared. This was rather more than he bargained for. 
 He had expected ten, or perhaps even a " pony," and felt 
 like a man out hunting who comes sailing down to a fence 
 that turns out more formidable than he thought. Never 
 mind. The hounds were running, so to speak, and he must 
 have it, whether or no ! 
 
 " Then I'll set about it at once," said he ; and Beltene- 
 brosa, whose eyes had begun to follow him about a good 
 deal of late, saw the white hat bend confidentially to a 
 small man in gaiters, and a smaller in an overcoat, ere it 
 was lost amongst other hats of every description in the 
 whirlpool of the betting-ring. 
 
 "How are you, my dear Mrs. Bell? How d'ye do? 
 Who'd have thought of our meeting here? And you're 
 looking so well — I am indeed delighted ! " 
 
 She wasn't. After respectful bows and admiring glances 
 from the highest in the land, beginning at the very top, it 
 was indeed a come-down to be thus accosted by Mr. Delapre, 
 manager of the Nonsuch Theatre, over-gloved, over-hatted, 
 over-dressed, and over-presuming. 
 
 She stared as if trying to recall his name, bowed coldly, 
 and rising from her chair, put her arm in Lord St. Moritz's, 
 
SHOAL WATER 189 
 
 who returned at the moment, observing with considerable 
 "intention": "This place gets so crowded — that's the 
 worst of the last day! They let in all sorts of people 
 without tickets. Let us take a turn on the course ! " 
 
 Mr. Delapr6 was furious, not without reason, having 
 passed into this exclusive paradise under a legitimate permit, 
 that had cost him no less a price than the acceptance of an 
 unsuccessftd farce, an introduction to a rising actress, and the 
 singing in suffocating smoking-rooms of more than one 
 comic song. 
 
 "Adieu then, Mrs. Bell," said he, with a stage bow and 
 a stage sneer. " Or rather, a/u revoir, for we shall meet 
 again ; " and so made his exit, dramatically enough — ^head 
 up, chest thrown forward, nostrils expanded, breathing high 
 disdain and war to the knife. 
 
 "Who the deuce is that?" asked Lord St. Moritz. 
 " And why does he caU you Mrs. Bell ? " 
 
 " Takes me for somebody else," was her answer. " I 
 wonder if I ought to be flattered ? Now tell me : what 
 have you done, and how much are we going to win ? " 
 
 He entered on a long explanation that she did not quite 
 understand. How he had seen the trainer of Abigail, and 
 her jockey, and one of her two owners ; how she had given 
 her year to this horse, and three pounds to that, meeting 
 them to-day at even weights; how it was exactly her 
 distance ; she looked as fine as a star, she seemed as fit as a 
 fiddle, the talent were very sweet on her. Little Bumptious 
 was Mp, and she carried a pot of money for the stable. All 
 Greek to his listener, till assured that he had himself 
 backed the mare for a hundred at four to one, and the 
 " Signora " should stand in with him " a pony " on her 
 own account, if she liked. But while his lordship thus 
 detailed his transactions, that restless spirit of his was busy 
 with the dialogue he had arrived in time to overhear. His 
 knowledge of the world suggested there had always been 
 some mystery in Beltenebrosa's account of herself before she 
 married Paravant. About the latter could be no uncertainty 
 whatever ; West Country magnates of sporting tastes vouched 
 for his reality ; and, indeed, he carried " squire " written 
 in every line of his sturdy person, his healthy sun-burned 
 face. But as to this " dark ladye," whom his lordship had 
 
190 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 taken up for the distraction of an idle hour, to find an 
 exceedingly disturbing element in his everyday life. Who 
 was she ? What was she ? A fpreigner could never speak 
 our language so well, there was no more trace of accent in 
 her pronunciation than his own, and yet an Englishwoman 
 was seldom so skilled in the little feints, passes, and parries 
 of those skirmishes he loved to venture, preludes to a real 
 attack, or, joining battle with a formidable adversary, could 
 take such good care of herself the while. 
 
 "If she is really an adventuress," thought St. Moritz, 
 " and has cozened this joskin to marry her, with every 
 intention of throwing him over at her convenience, why it 
 simplifies the whole thing, and I am not sure I like her one 
 bit the worse ! " 
 
 In the meantime, a bell rings, a flag drops ; then comes 
 a flutter of silk over the crowded heads, the crack of whips 
 is heard through a dull beat of horses' hoofs and deafening 
 roar of men's voices. A number goes up ; a popular 
 baronet, never afi-aid of " plunging," is congratulated. 
 Somebody throws his hat in the air, and Lord St, Moritz 
 takes a note-case from his pocket, quietly observing : 
 
 " I knew Abigail could pull it off. My only doubt was 
 her being meant." 
 
 He has not served a long apprenticeship without dis- 
 covering that ladies like to touch their winnings — ^it gives 
 such a sense of reality and substance. So he counts ten 
 flimsy scraps of crumpled paper into Beltenebrosa's hand, 
 to be rewarded by the sweetest of smiles, and a sigh of deep 
 unutterable relief. 
 
 She never thinks of asking where they came fi"om, and is 
 not experienced enough to reflect that Lord St. Moritz can- 
 not yet have been paid his winnings, and may possibly have 
 offered her more than her share of a venture in which he 
 was determined she should not be a loser. No, she is too 
 much delighted with her success, and does not choose to 
 see that she has taken the first downward step that com- 
 promises a woman in the eyes of her warmest admirer, and 
 affords the vassal a claim he will hereafter put forward as 
 entitling him to the privileges of a lord. 
 
 Yet is she conscious, while they leave the course to go 
 home, that his lordship offers his arm with a certain air of 
 
SBOAL WATEB 191 
 
 proprietorship, and that already there is a slight and subtle 
 difference in his manner, which she/ee!s rather than detects. 
 
 Therefore does she decline the proffered escort, and 
 transferring him to Lady Mary, with a gentle reminder of 
 his duties as a host, confides herself to the delighted Prance 
 instead, and is glad she did so within the next two 
 minutes, while they thread a shifting crowd beginning to 
 leave the course. 
 
 The Molecatcher and his charge, being the last couple, 
 are so far isolated from their party that a hundred persons 
 crowd between. Nance, acting under instructions, advances, 
 with winning gipsy-smiles, offering to tell the fortunes of 
 " the dark lady and the handsome gentleman with beautiful 
 blue eyes, one or both, my dears, for a little lily shilling, 
 because your star is the same, and such a pair was never 
 made to part ! " 
 
 Prance, much elated, produces half-a-crown, which the 
 gipsy pockets, but passes behind him to whisper with his 
 companion. 
 
 " Sister," she hisses in the other's ear, " do you value 
 your life?" 
 
 Beltenebrosa looks blankly in her face, feeling as if her 
 very heart had stopped. 
 
 "It's doomed," continues Na,nce. "It's got to be taken 
 anywheres, and anyhow, and at any time. But I can save 
 you, I swear I can ; only you must let me see you before 
 dark to-night." 
 
 "Where?" gasps the listener, powerless to utter another 
 syllable. 
 
 " You needn't take a long walk. Bless ye, I know — ^we 
 all know. You be at the end of the garden — ^before dark, 
 mind ! Oh sister, sister! it's a life-and-death job, this is ! " 
 Then changing her tone, for the Molecatcher's edification, 
 she continues, in the true vagabond whine : 
 
 " But you'll cross the poor gipsy's hand vidth a bit of 
 white money, beautiftd lady. The gipsy couldn't ask for 
 less, and there's gentlenien not far off — ^there's one at your 
 elbow now — as would think a look of them dark eyes of 
 your'n was worth more than gold ! " 
 
 With which characteristic assertion, enhanced by manj 
 becks and nods and wreathed smiles, for his special benefit. 
 
192 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 the fortune-teller vanishes from Prance's sight, leaving him 
 much impressed with her picturesque head-dress, mysterious 
 knowledge, and personal charms. 
 
 "These — hum — these gipsies seem to understand things, 
 Madame Paravant," says the Molecatcher, feeling his way, 
 as it were, to ten-minutes' flirtation during their walk. 
 " That girl, now, eh ? she described your eyes exactly, and 
 all that. What she said about your elbow and me, you 
 know, was so true. I wonder how they find out ? " 
 
 She is looking straight before her, lost in thought. A 
 delightful possibility deludes the too susceptible Mole- 
 catcher, that the gipsy's words may have opened the eyes 
 of this beautiful woman to hia adoration, which must hence- 
 forth be graciously accepted as ordained by fate. Alas, 
 that he is so soon to be undeceived ! 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Mr. Prance," says she, looking as if 
 her thoughts and feelings are concentrated on some object a 
 hundred miles away. " I am afraid I did not hear, I have 
 got such a headache, I can neither speak nor see. I don't 
 want to talk, please. I'd rather you didn't say a word to 
 me till we get back." 
 
 " It's always the same ! " thinks Prance. " I never get 
 what I call a chance with a really nice woman, but some- 
 thing happens to bowl me out. That's just my luck. She 
 wouldn't have had a headache if it had been anybody else ! " 
 
 CHAPTEB XXXI 
 
 PRIVATE THEATBICALS 
 
 Me. Dblapeb, leaving the Enclosure after his rebufi^, in a 
 frame of mind most unfriendly to this audacious and un- 
 accountable Mrs. Bell, was accosted by a slender, handsome 
 young fellow, with dark eyes and white teeth, who seemed 
 to have watched him for some time, awaiting his approach. 
 
 " Beg your pardon, sir," said he, civilly. " Could I speak 
 a few words with you ? No offence, I hope. All fair and 
 square." 
 
 The actor, disposed to study character in all ranks. 
 
PBIVATE TEEATBIGALS 198 
 
 assented freely enough, first taking care to button his coat 
 over the watch and money in his pockets. 
 
 "You're a gentleman," continued the other, "and I'm 
 only a poor chap — nothing more than a gipsy, your honour 
 — of the old blood, though. If it's not a liberty, you and 
 me can help each other." 
 
 To professional eyes the man was a study. His loose 
 attire, his slouched hat, his knotted red handkerchief, his 
 easy bearing, and the graceful carriage of his head, were so 
 many details, to be appropriated and reproduced with artistic 
 finish at a future time. 
 
 Mr. Delapre unconsciously caught the gipsy's tone and 
 manner, whUe he replied : 
 
 "What's up, mate? And what dy'e mean? Give it 
 mouth, for I'm all in the dark myself." 
 
 The other stared. "Look here, your honour," said he. 
 " You and me is both on the same lay ; but stow patter, 
 there's too many here that understands it, and high English 
 is good enough for us. That lady in the Enclosure — her 
 with the dark hair." 
 
 " What of her ? " 
 
 " I knew it ! I said so ! That's right enough, isn't 
 it? And weJwant to take her down a peg or two — don't 
 us?" 
 
 " Go on, my good fellow. You haven't made such a bad 
 guess. How are we to set about it ? " 
 
 " It's a hand I dursn't play without a partner," answered 
 the gipsy. " I know well enough where she is, but I must 
 get speech of her to work the thing as it shovM be worked. 
 You're a gentleman, you are. If so be as you could help 
 me to a suit of gentleman's clothes, I'd undertake to see 
 her myself, find out what she's at, and put such a spoke in 
 her wheel, as would knock her little game to shivers before 
 the week's out." 
 
 Mr. Delapre pondered. The idea, perhaps because of 
 its very extravagance, was after his own heart. Here 
 seemed promise of adventures, dressings-up, surprises, 
 situations, possible scandal, and eventual notoriety for 
 himself. 
 
 He glanced at the gipsy's figure. The man was about 
 his own height, though of slighter build, with well-shaped 
 
 13 
 
194 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 hands and feet. A happy thought struck him — daring, 
 dramatic, worthy of his genius and histrionic powers. 
 
 "If I knew where to borrow other clothes," said he, 
 " you should have mine ; or if you could lend me a clean 
 shirt, we might exchange for an hour or two " 
 
 " You wouldn't mind teaching me a little fortune-telling, 
 I daresay, and a few tricks of the trade." 
 
 The gipsy's eyes sparkled. " You're a real gentleman," 
 he exclaimed ; " a nobleman, a prince ! You ought to 
 have been a Romany. If you will come across to that tent 
 there, under a yellow flag, perhaps you'll find I have 
 cleaner shirts than you thought for. You're welcome to 
 the best, brother. You've promised help to Jericho Lee 
 the first time of asking — that's good enough for him! " 
 
 " I can trust you ? " said Mr. Delapre, who, though a bold 
 fellow enough, had not quite taken leave of his senses. 
 " I want to do you a good turn, and there's honour among 
 — well, among all professions ! " 
 
 "Look ye here," answered the gipsy; "I have said 
 ' brother.' When Jericho Lee says 'brother,' you couldn't 
 be safer among the Romanies not if you was the duke of a 
 tribe. There's no call for me to swear it — but there ! " 
 
 With that he crossed his fore-fingers and spat over them 
 on the ground obviously attaching some mysterious import- 
 ance to this unsophisticated formula. 
 
 The manager watched him attentively, pondering the 
 while how so uncleanly a rite was to be modified for a polite 
 audience in stalls and boxes. 
 
 Perhaps to Mr Delapre the most enjoyable part of the 
 whole day's pleasure-seeking was his visit at the gipsy's tent. 
 It seemed altogether so fi:esh a scene, so novel an experience, 
 affording a mine of treasure for future use and adaptation at 
 the reopening of his theatre next week. 
 
 Every man likes to exercise an art in which he excels ; 
 and the unfeigned wonder betrayed by Jericho at his skill 
 in "making up" afforded him much satisfaction. In a few 
 magical touches firom a piece of common chalk, the loan of 
 a neighbouring acrobat, by a pull here, a twitch there, and 
 the application of some candle-snuff to his own eyebrows 
 and eyelashes, he succeeded with astonishing promptitude 
 in changing exteriors with his swarthy confederate, turning 
 
PBIVATE TBEATBIOALS 195 
 
 the latter into a very respectable imitation of a modern 
 young gentleman as seen in hot weather on a race-course, 
 while he came out so strong himself, in Jericho's clothes and 
 the gipsy character, as at the first glance to deceive even 
 Nance, who, during the space of a full minute, took him for 
 a former lover, long since convicted of various felonies and 
 undergoing penal servitude for life. 
 
 In the meantime, Madame Paravant, nee Beltenebrosa, had 
 arrived at the Bijou fatigued in body and much exercised 
 in mind as to how she could grant her gipsy ladies'-maid 
 an interview unobserved by the rest of the party. 
 
 Here she was favoured by fortune, or rather by that 
 injudicious consideration which society shows to an attach- 
 ment, good or bad, so long as it is yet in the bud and has 
 not lost its interest by becoming public property. 
 
 Tea was laid in the library, a pretty little room opening 
 on a conservatory, hung with sketches in water-colours, and 
 containing some fifty or sixty volumes, mostly French 
 novels, whence, after half-a-cup each, the company departed, 
 as if purposely, one by one. 
 
 Lady Mary had letters to write. " Keally, with all this 
 gaiety, one quite neglected one's duties in life ! There was 
 a time for all things, and she must answer seven invitations 
 before the post went out ! " Prance wanted to finish 
 " MUor et Miladi," a story of the very worst French kind, 
 purporting to represent aristocratic English life, and rely- 
 ing for interest on the breaking of every commandment 
 in the Decalogue, which improving work he carried off to 
 his bedchamber. One wished to see the chickens, another 
 the pigs, and in ten minutes not a soul was left but Lord 
 St. Moritz and Beltenebrosa. 
 
 Neither spoke till the last footstep died away, the last 
 door slammed. Then his lordship moved across the room 
 to where she was sitting, and bent over her with an air of 
 chivalrous devotion that used to make Mrs. Stripwell laugh, 
 but had been very effective with Lady Goneril. 
 
 " You look pale, ' ' said he, " my dear signora. You are tired. 
 You have been doing too much, or something has happened 
 to put you out. What is it ? Won't you confide in me? " 
 
 Her answer was little to the purpose, consisting indeed of 
 another question. 
 
196 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 " Where is Mr. Paravant ? " 
 
 She called him Mr. Paravant in conversation with Lord 
 St. Moritz, who perhaps drew his own conclusions from this 
 formal appellation. 
 
 " Oh ! Paravant," answered her host, " he's gone to the 
 kennels, and won't tear himself from Her Majesty's hounds 
 for the next two hours. He's safe till dinner-time." 
 
 Then the coast was clear, hut for Lord St. Moritz ! If 
 he could only have had letters to write, French novels to 
 read, or pigs and poultry to visit ! How to get rid of her 
 host puzzled her exceedingly. 
 
 He watched the troubled looks on that beautiful face with 
 no little triumph, attributing her uneasiness solely to his 
 own admirable qualities. 
 
 " Lord St, Moritz," said she, after a pause, in the frank 
 winning tone it was so impossible to resist, " I may say 
 anything I like to you, mayn't I — and you won't take it 
 amiss ? " 
 
 " Anything ! " he repeated, plumping down on the sofa 
 by her side. 
 
 She rose on the instant, as if they were playing see-saw ; 
 and, vexed as he felt, there seemed something so ludicrous 
 in this compensatory oscillation, he couldn't help laughing 
 outright. 
 
 " You're always good-humoured," she continued sweetly, 
 " and you're always nice. I'm sure I've reason to say so. 
 Now don't you think, if you and I are left here together on 
 purpose — ^you know, like this — people will talk, and that's 
 «o disagreeable for both of us, and so — so dangerous for me ? 
 You're not angry, are you ? " 
 
 What could he do? What could the Don himself have 
 done ? Even that worst of bad boys must have acceded to 
 Zerlina's wishes, so lovingly put and so frankly expressed. 
 Besides, was she not, as it were, mortgaging the future for 
 this present immunity from calumnious remark? She 
 admitted a mutual tie, a common interest. She could not 
 repudiate these hereafter, when time and opportunity might 
 serve him better than now. 
 
 Half-vexed, half-gratified. Lord St. Moritz went to join 
 the pig and poultry fanciers, leaving Beltenebrosa fi-ee to 
 follow her own devices till it was time to dress for dinner. 
 
BLACK-MAIL 197 
 
 CHAPTER XXXn 
 
 BIiACE-MAIL 
 
 What a long five minutes it seemed, and how that heart of 
 hers beat, though she prided herself on having it under strict 
 control. She had resolved not to stir till the hand of a little 
 fancy clock reached the quarter. She listened to make sure 
 it had not stopped, feeling, as we all do at such moments, 
 how lagging can be the pace of time. Like Mazeppa, stiff 
 and smarting in his bonds, longing so wearily, after his wild 
 night-ride for the rising of the sun. 
 
 How slow, alas, he came 1 
 Methoughi that mist of dawning gray 
 Would never dapple into day ; 
 How heavily it rolled away 
 
 Before the eastern flsime. 
 
 But the pretty gimcrack chimed at last, so, passing to the 
 lawn, she threaded the shrubberies with swift and noiseless 
 step, to reach the limits of the garden unobserved. 
 
 A sunk fence separated dressed ground from hay-fields. 
 Even as she reached its brink, out of the ditch sprang, not 
 Nance as she expected, but a well-dressed rakish figure, 
 that she recognised, nevertheless, at the first glance, for 
 Jericho Lee. 
 
 Instinctively she made sure there was no weapon in his 
 hand, and, gaining confidence, confronted him steadily 
 enough, pale indeed, and with parted lips, but eager 
 watchful eyes that never left his own. 
 
 "Where is Nance? " she asked haughtily, after a pause 
 of painftJ suspense. " Why did you come instead ? " 
 
 " To see with my own eyes," he answered, " and hear 
 with my own ears, and learn for myself what excuse I can 
 make for my sister to them as ' put me on the job.' " 
 
 "Speak lower," she urged, with the duplicity of self- 
 preservation. " Half-a-dozen gentlemen, and all the men- 
 servants, are within call." 
 
 He glanced round wary and watchful, moving eye and ear 
 like some forest be^st, " That is why J changed my 
 
198 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 Romany rags," said he. " In such Sunday clothes as these, 
 sister, the Gorgios would take me for one of themselves. 
 But I have little time to spare, and them as sent me isn't 
 very patient of waiting. My orders was to make an end of 
 it and be back before dark." 
 
 " What do you mean? " she asked, with all her appre- 
 hensions returning. " I need only cry out and a dozen 
 hands would be on your throat before you could move a 
 finger, but I don't want to hurt you, Jericho." 
 
 It was a game of brag. He could not tell what assistance 
 she might be able to command, but the conciliatory tone in 
 which she pronounced his name restored confidence, and he 
 laughed in scorn. 
 
 " I might do it with a turn of the wrist," said he, " before 
 the best of them could run a hundred yards. But I want 
 to spare my sister, if I may. I came here to night in 
 good-will. The gipsies are like their neighbours, for that 
 matter ; they're willing to take blood-money as the price 
 of blood ! " 
 
 " How much ? " 
 
 She had the day's winnings in her pocket, but, notwith- 
 standing her fears, was disposed to make the best bargain 
 she could. 
 
 "It wouldn't be less than a bank-note," said he. 
 " Look at them silks and satins, look at them jewels on 
 your throat and in your ears ; watch and chain, too, and 
 rings, I'll warrant, imder them gloves. You wouldn't 
 say that twenty was too much ? — and ten more for poor 
 Jericho?" he added, observing less surprise than he ex- 
 pected on the proud set face. " In course I'll engage to 
 free you, sister ; this here ain't to be brought up again." 
 
 Voices were heard about the house, there was no time to 
 lose, and pressing three ten-pound notes into his willing 
 hand, she entreated him to vanish at once, for her sake and 
 his own. 
 
 But Jericho, feeling safe enough in his disguise, so soon 
 as he struck a public path that crossed the fields, swaggered 
 slowly off to join a gipsy-looking person who was waiting 
 for him at the nearest stile. 
 
 " I never saw anything better done," said the latter. 
 " The make-up is capital, and you've caught the whole trick 
 
BLACK-MAIL 199 
 
 of it without a rehearsal. You ought to have been an 
 actor." 
 
 The gipsy, looking roguishly at Mr. Delapr6, answered 
 with a wink, reflecting possibly that, after all, it might need 
 a cleverer fellow to prosper in his own precarious walk of 
 life. 
 
 For a while Beltenebrosa, in the sanctuary of her apart- 
 ment, felt a load had been lifted from her breast. But the 
 relief was not for many minutes. She soon reflected that 
 a demand so readily granted would be repeated on the flrst 
 opportunity, and that Jericho's assurances of immunity 
 might be trusted so long as her thirty pounds lasted him, 
 and not a moment longer. 
 
 With a heavy heart she began to sleek her black locks, 
 feeling so dispirited as to avoid even the companionship of 
 her maid. While thus occupied, her husband came into 
 the room, after a prolonged inspection of Her Majesty's 
 hounds in the yards and lodging-houses of the Royal Ken- 
 nels. At any other time such a visit would have been 
 recapitulated and dwelt on with much interest and no little 
 prolixity. To-day, huntsmen, whips, feeder, distemper, 
 drafts, boilers, troughs, and benches seemed obliterated by 
 some more recent excitement, the details of which he pro- 
 ceeded to recount forthwith. 
 
 " Don't be frightened, Dragon," he began good-naturedly. 
 In his best humour he sometimes called her by the abbrevia- 
 tive of " Bel " facetiously changed to the Dragon. " Don't 
 be frightened, for I'll take care he shan't molest us ; but I 
 
 saw one of those d d gipsy cousins of yours as I walked 
 
 home by the fields just now. I spotted the beggar by his 
 red scarf and battered white hat. I'm sure he was hanging 
 about here for no good." 
 
 This description certainly did not apply to Jericho, dis- 
 guised as a fine gentleman, and although she considered it 
 likely enough that in case of violence he had a comrade 
 within call, she thought well to profess more apprehension 
 than she felt. 
 
 " Good gracious ! " she exclaimed, laying down the hair- 
 brushes. " How disagreeable ! How terrifying ! They 
 have found me out ! They're going to hunt me down ! " 
 
 *' J^ot if I taow itj Bel," he answered kindly. " Yo^'v? 
 
200 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 had quite enough of them, in my opinion, and paid much 
 too high a price for a week's lark among your kinsfolk. 
 You're not to be bothered any more. I'U take care of that ! 
 I'm rather glad now we're going to clear out of this to- 
 morrow." 
 
 " So am I ; it does me good to hear you say it." 
 
 " Are you ? I was afraid this kind of life — all this 
 dressing, and dawdling, and flirting, and showing oflf, suited 
 you down to the ground." 
 
 She was longing for rest ; the excitement of the last few 
 days, culminating in her late interview, had been too much. 
 
 " I'm tired of it all," she said, " it's the same thing over 
 and over again. I should like to go to bed for a month ! " 
 
 " Ah ! Combe- Wester, in my dear old mother's room, 
 looking out on the Appleton-Cleves, with the purple moors 
 against the sky — I couldn't help thinking of them to-day 
 coming back across the Heath. Ah, there's no heather like 
 ours down in the West. I wish I was there now." 
 
 " I'd no idea you were so poetical." 
 
 " Nobody ever told me that before. But there are some 
 things every fellow feels, you know, and then one fellow 
 puts them in a book and gets the credit. I'm a rough sort 
 of chap — too rough, I often think, for such a handsome, 
 graceful creature, Bel, as you ; but I know what I like, 
 though I can't always say what I mean ! " 
 
 "You said that very prettily. When we get back to 
 London to-morrow, we'll pack up and pay the bills. Now 
 go and dress at once like a good boy, or we shall both be 
 late again." 
 
 The packing up, notwithstanding an extensive wardrobe, 
 seemed feasible enough, and even the payment of an inter- 
 minable hotel bill was to be achieved by farther inroads on 
 capital, alreai,dy broken into for the exigencies of settling-day 
 at Tattersall's ; but after these practical difficulties had 
 been overcome, there were yet many obstacles, freely cursed 
 by Paravant, in the way of an early departure to his 
 Somersetshire home. 
 
 When Gulliver woke to find himself tied down by the 
 little people during his nap, though he could have broken 
 each single thread with a finger, their aggregate force held 
 biw like an ii'on chain j and it is a weU-taown fact that 
 
BLACK-MAIL 201 
 
 the whole weight of a horse can be suspended by the com- 
 biued resistance of all the hairs in his tail ! 
 
 So when we would cut ourselves adrift from London life, 
 we ire checked at every turn by impediments, trifling in 
 themselves, but irresistible, in the numbers constituting 
 their strength. 
 
 Have we not all echoed the paradox of that great wit and 
 statesman who observed, " How pleasant life would be if it 
 wasn't for its pleasures ! " And is there one of us who has 
 not rebelled secretly in his heart, if not openly to his wife, 
 against the infliction of some so-called amusement which 
 he would have exchanged, only too willingly, for a couple 
 of hours' healthy exercise on the treadmill ? It was all very 
 well to say, " Let us be off to Somersetshire at once," and 
 to boast that The Flying Dutchman would deliver him at 
 his own door in less than six hours ; but Paravant was no 
 more a free agent than you, or me, or the Lord Chancellor, 
 or the Sultan, or the Shah of Persia, or any other married 
 man. 
 
 To begin with, there were coming dinners a fortnight 
 deep and more, for people take long shots at us in these 
 days, and a friend of mine lately excused himself from a 
 six-weeks' invitation, by pleading a previous engagement 
 contracted the year before! Then there was a breakfast 
 they ought not to miss at Hampton House, and a ball at 
 the Duchess's (to meet royalty), and Beltenebrosa must 
 hear the new opera, and Paravant, though vexed he had 
 not been asked to play, would like to see a match at Lord's, 
 between All-England and twenty- two of his ovra county, be- 
 sides certain suburban race-meetings and water-parties on 
 the river, both up and down. Altogether, it seemed exceed- 
 ingly difficult to get away, and departure might have been 
 postponed till the House was up, but for the persistency of 
 Lord St. Moritz, who, after their memorable Ascot week, 
 began to observe less caution than seemed discreet in his 
 relations with Beltenebrosa. 
 
 He had discovered something of her previous history, and 
 showed little generosity in his repeated hints and unpleasant 
 allusions to an advantage thus gained by chance. 
 
 Eetuming from the poultry-yard at the Bijou, he 
 happened to catch sight of Jericho's figure, as the ^psy 
 
202 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 swaggered across a hayfield in his borrowed clothes. 
 Something in the gait and bearing attracted his lord- 
 ship's attention, and he experienced a certain vague fion- 
 sciousness of having seen that coat and hat and strutting 
 step before ; though he knew Mr. Delapre well enough on, 
 and slightly off the stage, he failed to recognise the actor 
 in a place where he so little expected to see him as the 
 Enclosure at Ascot ; but, oddly enough, the caricature of 
 the man brought to his mind a haunting resemblance of 
 somebody he ought to remember, more forcibly than the 
 man himself. This puzzle occupied him all dinner, but at 
 dessert its solution came across him like a flash. " I have 
 it ! " he exclaimed, looking down the table to Beltenebrosa 
 with inexcusable want of tact. " That fellow who thought 
 he knew you to-day was Mr. Delapre, manager of the 
 Nonsuch Theatre. He must have seen you in London! " 
 She never blushed, it was not her way, and perhaps only 
 Lady Mary remarked her cheek turn a shade paler, while 
 she answered, coolly enough, " Very likely. London is a 
 large place, but there's a great deal in it better worth see- 
 ing than me !" 
 
 She thought it clumsy of his lordship, nevertheless, and 
 St. Moritz himself felt ashamed of his blunder, wondering 
 why he couldn't hold his tongue ! 
 
 Returning to town, he lost no time in calling on Mr. 
 Delapre, who received him, we may be sure, none the less 
 cordially because of his rank, and volunteered all the 
 information he could supply on the subject, putting no too 
 favourable construction on the antecedents of a lady who 
 had rejected his overtures in Richmond Park, and snubbed 
 him so cruelly on Ascot race-course. 
 
 Lord St. Moritz was at a loss, doubtftd whether he ought 
 to be pleased or provoked. This haughty dame should 
 unquestionably have been an easier prize, and yet its very 
 difficulties created the chief incentive to his pursuit. 
 
 In the meantime, Beltenebrosa, harassed, fatigued, 
 perhaps a little bored in those exalted circles she had so 
 desired to attain, and exceedingly uncomfortable at the 
 idea of being hunted by her swarthy kinsfolk, began to treat 
 her husband with increased kindness, such as caused him 
 to fall in lov^ with h^r once wore, " Forward James," 
 
CIBCUMSTANCE8 ALTEB CASES 208 
 
 though anytMng but brilliant, was gifted with a certain 
 self-sustaining cunning, kindly famished by nature for the 
 assistance of ruder intellects, which useful faculty his late 
 experiences of turf probity and London life in general had 
 done much to sharpen and expand. He was fond of pro- 
 claiming that he " wasn't as big a fool as he looked." 
 And it did strike him, after such reflection as he was 
 capable of bringing to bear on the subject, that the visits of 
 Lord St. Moritz were more frequent than their intimacy 
 warranted, his attentions to Madame Paravant, n&e Beltene- 
 brosa, more marked, his manner more familiar, than was 
 either customary or agreeable. 
 
 Li short, he grew suspicious, jealous, watchful, and 
 thoroughly unmanageable, becoming day by day a more 
 troublesome escort abroad, a less tolerable companion at 
 home. 
 
 Now, it was one thing to flourish about London where 
 and how she liked, with a pleasant nobleman in attendance, 
 while a husband, who asked no questions, was ready to 
 bring her here and fetch her there, coming or going, or 
 staying away altogether, at her convenience ; and another, 
 to be followed about and haunted by a clumsy, imcom- 
 promising guardian, who never left her side for a moment, 
 and made himself exceedingly impleasant, even in that happy 
 situation ! 
 
 Before a month was out, Beltenebrosa seemed only too 
 glad to get away ; and although she did manage a private 
 leavetakmg with Lord St. Moritz, sweetened by many 
 promises to think, and write, and remember, I fancy this 
 romantic interview was much less affectionate than he had 
 taught himself to expect. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXm 
 
 CIECTJMSTANCES ALTER CASES 
 
 " Thet'vk come home, after all, Mr, Tregarthen. I must 
 say I never thought he would have the face to bring her 
 back here ! " 
 
204 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 Dinner was oyer at the rectory. Dessert and port-wine 
 were on the table, and the handy parlourmaid, who could 
 shut a door without hcmging it, had retired, leaving master 
 and mistress to the process of digestion undisturbed. 
 
 It was the hour which man, always more or less a 
 materialist, loves to pass in tranquillity, but which woman, 
 industrious, energetic, irrepressible, too often profanes by 
 introduction of uncomfortable subjects, family troubles, 
 domestic grievances, and difficulties of a like nature, better 
 encountered in the middle of the day. 
 
 " Didn't you ? " murmured the rector, sipping port in 
 defiance of lumbago. 
 
 " Didn't I what ? That's no answer, Silas. I say I 
 never thought he would have dared to come here, nor that 
 impudent minx neither." 
 
 " My dear, where would you have them live, but at their 
 own home?" 
 
 "Where? Anywhere. It's an insult, an outrage — 
 flying in the face of the county, I call it. Surely you 
 don't mean we ought to call on them ! " 
 
 " That's as you please, Selina. You know I leave all 
 these matters to your own good sense. I should be sorry 
 to break with my old pupil, too, especially as I think a 
 little friendly advice would do him no harm. The Combe- 
 Wester property is not large. James was always free about 
 money, and I fear he is burning the candle at both ends." 
 
 " How do you know ? You never told me a word." 
 
 " I only heard it to-day. He has done up the house, 
 from attics to scullery, all spic-and-span — fresh painted and 
 papered; a man down from London to new-fornish the 
 drawing-room; more stabling at the back, and a con- 
 servatory thrown out from the library vrindow. It will cost 
 a fortune." 
 
 His vnfe pondered. She would like exceedingly to 
 inspect these handsome alterations, not only for the 
 indulgence of that curiosity which right-minded women 
 feel in the dress, decoration, and general expenditure of 
 their neighbours, but also that she might pronounce on 
 them in circles where she was considered an authority. 
 
 She wished now she had volunteered her opinion less 
 decidedly; but nobody could "talk backwards" better 
 
CIBCVMSTANCES ALTER CASES 205 
 
 than Mrs. Tregarthen, and she began to retract forth- 
 with. 
 
 "It's natural they should have the best of everything," 
 said she, ignoring the question of expense, as an incon- 
 venient precedent. " Of course it's her doing, and she 
 always had good taste, I must allow. Besides, I under- 
 stand they kept the best company in London — lords and 
 ladies by the bushel, and even greater people than that." 
 
 Mrs. Tregarthen nodded, with the air of one who was 
 behind the scenes. Her husband nodded too, drowsily, as 
 having dined freely and well. 
 
 " Very likely, my dear," he assented. " Difference in 
 rank is less thought of than it used to be. The Marchioness 
 lunched at Combe- Wester yesterday. She drove herself 
 over in the donkey-cart." 
 
 " You're sure it was the Marchioness; not the Marquis? 
 It makes all the difference, you know. Of course a Lord 
 Lieutenant must be civil to everybody." 
 
 " Quite sure, Selina. The Marquis walked across to 
 fetch her. The donkey stood still, and her ladyship was 
 two hours getting there. The Marquis bade Giles cut one 
 of my saplings in Ashwell to drive it home, and gave him 
 a shilling." 
 
 " Which he spent in gin and cider, I'll be bound. That 
 Giles wants a talking to, and he shall have it. You're 
 too easy with them, Silas. It's lucky there's somebody 
 who is not afraid to speak." 
 
 " It is, my dear. I don't care to be always finding fault. 
 But about calling ? " 
 
 " What do you think ? Of course, if the county people 
 visit them, I'm not going to be conspicuous by holding 
 aloof. Perhaps, after all, it's a duty we owe to ourselves. 
 Have you finished, Mr. Tregarthen ? Then we'll go to the 
 study and ring for tea." 
 
 " It's very pretty, dear. I don't wonder you like it ! " — 
 Thus Beltenebrosa, sauntering home to dress for dinner at 
 the hour Mr. and Mrs. Tregarthen rose from table to 
 spend the rest of their summer's evening by lamp-light. 
 " And how we've improved it, haven't we ? It's not like 
 the same place." 
 
206 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 Paravant — clad from top to toe in white flannel, with 
 straw-hat, cricket-shoes, and a spud in his hand — growled 
 rather a grudging assent. " It ought to look pretty spicy," 
 he observed ; " these fancies of yours cost a pot of money, 
 and Combe-Wester didn't want to be much better when we 
 began." 
 
 He looked lovingly over his trim lawn to the low-lying 
 meadow, dotted with lofty elms, intersected with thickets 
 rather than hedges, brightened by a sleepy pike-fishing 
 stream, that widened into broad gleaming pools at every 
 bend, shut in by wooded hUls, under a faint line of purple, 
 where dusky moorlands met the crimson and orange of sun- 
 set in a rich autumnal sky. 
 
 He was fond of his old home, and had spared no expense 
 on its decoration, giving his orders with reckless liberality, 
 as a man of taste and spirit ; but such indulgences must 
 be paid for, and the startling suspicion often came across 
 him that, though he had made his house thoroughly livable, 
 he could not afford to live in it after all ! 
 
 She hated to touch on money matters, they reminded her 
 of the galling debt still owing to Mervyn Strange. A mill- 
 stone that had sunk her in deep waters — in betting trans- 
 actions, pecuniary obligations, and compromising confidences 
 with Lord St. Moritz — yet had not freed her from the 
 liability she never could recall vnthout a sense of painfal 
 humiliation, dashed by some strange sweet joy, of which 
 she yet felt bitterly ashamed. A chapter on finance, too, 
 rendered " Forward James " cross and disagreeable for 
 hours, but it was difficult to keep him off the topic, and 
 caustic St. Moritz described his character with no little 
 accuracy, when he declared " Paravant ought to be called 
 Paradox ! He's the most reckless fellow alive in pounds, 
 but always seems to be haunted by the ghost of a sMlling." 
 
 That spectre was hovering about him now, floating on 
 the shafts of golden lustre that flooded the valley, darken- 
 ing the glories of a setting sun, dipping behind the level of 
 the moor. 
 
 "We are going too fast, Bel," said he, digging viciously 
 vrith his spud at a weed in the gravel-walk. " Something 
 must be done. I can't live the pace, and that's all about 
 it!" 
 
CIMCVMSTANOES ALTEM CASES 207 
 
 " I thought you won at Newmarket. You told me so when 
 you came back." 
 
 " A drop in the ocean, my dear. Not enough for the 
 plumber's bill ! Look here, Bel, everything's got to be paid 
 up outside the house. The upholsterer wOl wait, and so 
 will the builder, but day-labourers can't do without their 
 wages, and that terrace of yours keeps as many spades 
 going as a new railway ! " 
 
 " Stop it, then. It looks very nice as it is ! " 
 
 " And put it in everybody's head that I'm so hard up I 
 can't even go on with my improvements — that would be a 
 wise plan ! Better advertise one's insolvency in The 
 Western Lrnnifiary at once. Every tradesman would 
 send in his bill as soon as he could make it out. No, 
 no, Bel, I have a better plan than that." 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 " You remember Swansdown Eaces ? " 
 
 " I am not likely to forget them, nor my ride on Potboy ! " 
 
 " Game little Potboy ! He did us a good turn last year ; 
 he will do us another this. The meeting is next week. 
 We'll have a party for it — ^London people, real swells, 
 fellows with lots of money, and not afraid to spend it ; your 
 friend Lord Moritz, if you like ! " 
 
 She started, but answered not a word. 
 
 " The little horse is at its best. I had a letter from my 
 trainer yesterday. Nobody believes he can jump like a 
 deer, and away again off the ground like a tennis-ball. He 
 can't help winning the hurdle-race, if he's properly ridden, 
 Bel ; I shall ride him myself! " 
 
 She drew to his side. 
 
 " But isn't it dangerous ? " she protested, with a solici- 
 tude that both pleased and flattered him exceedingly. 
 
 " Never yon mind about that. I've pretty good nerves, and 
 don't lose my head in a race, run it how they will. Of 
 course, if a fellow's a muff, it's very easy to make a mess of 
 galloping over hurdles, and a fall is no joke on hard ground. 
 But I'm not going to fall, not if I know it." 
 
 " And you'll take care ? " 
 
 " Yes ; rU take care. There's only one of the others 
 can make my horse gallop ; that's Adonis, and I've found 
 out that he's not meant. What with my weight, and being 
 
208 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 out of practice, and Potboy never having done anything in 
 the jumping way, they will lay any odds you please, if I 
 ride him myself; and I mean to go in for something worth 
 winning this time, you see if I don't. I'm lighter than I 
 look ; I can waste quicker and easier than most people. 
 We'll have St. Moritz down — you must manage that — and 
 some more fellows who don't mind backing their opinions, 
 particularly over my sixty-four claret ; / and it's very odd if 
 I can't draw them for ponies, fifties, and even huni:eds, at 
 six and seven to one ! " 
 
 " But are you quite sure you'll win ? " 
 
 " Nothing is sure, Bel, in this world, but death and 
 taxes ! Bar accidents, you know, and if the horse keeps 
 right, it's good enough ; that's all I can say ! " 
 
 " But you could make a certainty of losing, couldn't you? " 
 
 He gave a prolonged whistle, looking intensely amused ; 
 then bent his knees and doubled his arms in the attitude of 
 a rider who pulls hard at his horse, while he observed : 
 
 " Certainly ; it's easy enough to put the strings on. 
 Captain Armstrong generally has a pleasant and profitable 
 mount ! " 
 
 " I don't know anything about Captain Armstrong. I 
 never heard of such a person, and it's nonsense talking 
 about strings ! But it does seem to me the wisest way 
 would be to make lots of bets against your own horse and 
 then lose on purpose." 
 
 " Well done. Dragon ! " he exclaimed, laughing heartily. 
 " Live and learn. You haven't been to Ascot for nothing. 
 Yours is a capital plan, and I'm sorry to say it is very often 
 carried out. There's only one objection. I can't take 
 advantage of it and remain a gentleman." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Because it's dishonest. That's all ! I might as well 
 pick a firiend's pocket at once. Indeed, that wouldn't be 
 so bad ; for I should run the risk of imprisonment with 
 hard labour. No, no ! Bel. Hang it ! We haven't got 
 to roping yet ! " 
 
 " I don't see why you may not make sure of winning a 
 bet one way more than another. When that horse with the 
 long name hurt himself in his box, and you heard about it 
 first, you told me yourself you laid against him as if he were 
 
COMBB-WESTEB, IN FULL DBESS 209 
 
 dead ! I remember, because I thought it such a funny 
 expression. And, again, after that beaxitifal creature, 
 Amaranth, was tried, and turned out not half so good as 
 the ugly one, you betted ever so much against it, because 
 you were quite certain it couldn't win. Now, where's the 
 difference? " 
 
 But her question involved so long and comprehensive a 
 disquisition on turf ethics, that when they reached the 
 house it was not half concluded, nor, I may add, was 
 Beltenebrosa half convinced. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 C0MBB-WE8TBB IN FULIi DBBSS 
 
 " A BUTLER and two footmen ! And a boy, and — yes — 
 another man out of livery. I declare it's sinful, Mr. 
 Tregarthen. I wish I hadn't come ! " 
 
 But here the rector's excellent wife departed from the 
 truth, having, indeed, looked forward to the present occa- 
 sion — a large dinner-party at Combe-Wester — with a 
 curiosity that it would have cost her infinite mortification 
 to disappoint. 
 
 On Jane Lee's first disappearance, more than a year ago, 
 firom her matronly charge, accompanied by a gentleman 
 whom she termed " one's own curate," she placed the worst 
 construction on that young lady's character, pronouncing 
 her no longer worthy to take a place in the virtuous phalanx 
 of which she was herself so unsullied an ornament. It 
 made matters no better to know that Mervyn Strange had 
 been jilted by his beautiful companion, and when the latter 
 reappeared on the surface as the legal wife of " that oaf, 
 James Paravant," to use Mrs. Tregarthen's forcible expres- 
 sion, her indignation knew no bounds. She gave her 
 opinion fi:eely enough, particularly to the rector, but modi- 
 fied it as we have seen, with ludicrous inconsistency, when 
 she found the object of her disapproval admired and sought 
 after by the whole neighbourhood. The Marchioness, whose 
 word was law for thirty miles round, having " taken up " 
 
 14 
 
210 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 Beltenebrosa in London, resumed her intimacy when she 
 returned home. The Marquis openly avowed his adoration, 
 calling Mrs. Paravant the " Star of the West " ; but as he 
 was the busiest, the most good-natured, and the least im- 
 pressionable old gentleman, such an admission caused his 
 wife no uneasiness, and her ladyship, thirty years younger 
 than her husband, frank, handsome, and a little fast, came 
 to tea or luncheon at Combe- Wester five days out of seven. 
 
 " The husband is a cub, my dear," she wrote to her 
 sister, at an Imperial Court ; " but the wife is simply per- 
 fection — handsome, a little too dark, but so quiet, so grace- 
 ful, and such good manners ! No babies, no twaddle, no 
 goody-goody, no airs and graces. I fancy she's more than 
 half a foreigner, though she speaks English as well as I do. 
 She might have a temper, when roused; but she's good- 
 nature itself in every-day life. Sings, too, like an angel, 
 and I should think, if necessary, can be as plucky as some- 
 thing else. It's such fun ! The squiresses don't know what 
 to make of her, but the squires would die for her to a 
 man, and my lord is as bad as the rest. Write by the 
 next mail," &c. 
 
 Thus befriended, it is not surprising Mrs. Tregarthen 
 should have changed her mind concerning this black sheep, 
 and called on the Paravants forthwith, not without hope of 
 meeting the great lady there, to find nobody at home, 
 receiving in return for this empty civility that invitation 
 to dinner. She now protested she would rather have 
 refused. Like many people who profess austerity of cha- 
 racter, the rector's wife was much impressed by the pomps 
 and vanities of a world that seemed less wicked when in full 
 dress. She did not care to judge hastily of transgressors 
 with two men in livery, but of those with two men out of 
 livery, it seemed uncharitable to judge at all ! 
 
 Entering the dravraig-room in a conjugal fashion 
 unhappily obsolete — on her husband's arm, who had made 
 himself extremely spruce, and kept his gloves on, she was 
 so bewildered by the unusual splendour of everything about 
 her as scarcely to take note of the new furniture, and 
 signally to fail in expressing, as she had intended, condescen- 
 sion, forgiveness, and assurance of continued protection, in 
 her greeting to the hostess. That lady received her with a 
 
COMBE-WESTEB IN FULL DBES8 211 
 
 polite welcome, frank, dignified, perfectly cordial, but as 
 completely "■without consequence," to use a French expres- 
 sion, as if they had parted the day before. 
 
 Mrs. Tregarthen admitted subsequently that "turned 
 loose with the others she felt as if she had dropped from 
 the clouds." Only by a strong effort of will, did she make 
 out that the Marchioness was not present, and, painfully 
 conscious that among these smart London people she was 
 sadly out of her element, she took refuge in a photograph- 
 book and wished herself at home. 
 
 The rector, wisely attaching less importance to company 
 than good cheer, felt less uncomfortable. Everybody said 
 Paravant had brought down an excellent cook. The sixty- 
 four he knew by experience was undeniable, so he pulled off 
 his gloves and waited the summons to dinner with com- 
 posure and satisfaction. 
 
 It startled him not a little to hear that important meal 
 announced in French, and to the lady of the house. 
 
 " Madame, est servie," said a foreign domestic, with 
 dark curls and earrings; whereupon Paravant stuck out 
 his elbow, and marched off an Honourable Mrs. Somebody, 
 whose husband was coming next day, while Beltenebrosa, 
 with a tact and calmness that did her infinite credit, paired 
 her couples so judiciously as to offend the pretensions of 
 none, though she did whisper, following in their wake on 
 the arm of Lord St. Moritz : " You must help me a little 
 with the country neighbours. You won't find them very 
 light in hand." 
 
 Mrs. Tregarthen, immediately in front, overheard, and 
 shook with indignation, but the dandy who conducted her 
 was so large, so gorgeous, altogether so splendid and over- 
 powering, that her spirit sank within her ; she felt unequal 
 to attack or defence. 
 
 It was a pleasant dandy, notwithstanding, and won her 
 heart long before the fish was off the table. Joyous, good- 
 humoured, and thoroughly unaffected, in spite of its elabo- 
 rate get-up, frankly interested in her poor, her pigs, her 
 kitchfin-garden, her autumn roses, with obvious knowledge 
 of these rural subjects, and professing to study the rearing 
 of poultry almost as eagerly as thoroughbred stock. It 
 drank a great deal of champagne, coming out more affable 
 
212 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 and amusing with every glass, so that Mrs. Tregarthen, 
 completely fascinated, could not but admit the flirtations 
 with which she credited " fine London ladies," as she 
 called tjiem, to be less inexcusable than she had supposed. 
 
 Her husband, too, found himself well placed between his 
 hostess, who attended sedulously to his bodily refreshment, 
 and a very smart, very sprightly, not very young lady, of 
 the modem fast school, whose maxim it was to " make 
 things pleasant for everybody," and who, like all great 
 experimentalists, lost no occasion of adding one more to her 
 experiences in the discomfiture of mankind. With her 
 bright eyes, white teeth, silvery laugh, and the " pretty 
 woman's ways " she assumed as a matter of course, this in- 
 corrigible person, now in her seventh season, had long been 
 a terror to devoted wives, and I admit, with regret, that the 
 Keverend Silas so far became her victim as to find himself 
 mentally comparing her charms with the ampler maturity of 
 Mrs. Tregarthen, and asking himself, thirty years too late, 
 why he had married so young. 
 
 Altogether, the country neighbours seemed to get on 
 very well without assistance from Lord St. Moritz, who 
 found the more leisure to devote to his beautiful hostess. 
 
 Why was he here ? She asked herself the question with 
 mingled feelings of satisfaction, surprise, and a tinge of 
 resentment towards Paravant. "How odd husbands are ! " 
 she thought ; and where is the wife who has not occasion 
 for the same remark many times a day? " If he believes 
 St. Moritz makes up to me, he ought not to invite him. If 
 he don't, why was there such a fuss in London? Why did 
 he bring me at short notice down here ? Poor James ! He 
 likes me, I believe, but he is so stupid ! The other is clever 
 enough, but I wonder if he really cares? Something 
 between the two would be — perfection ! " 
 
 His lordship, also, whirling down by the Flying Dutch- 
 man, with newspapers, novels, and cigarettes in profasion, 
 to beguile his journey, had been considering the matter with 
 an attention that he only brought to bear on such dangerous 
 subjects as foolish attachments and dangerous intrigues. 
 Like Horace, he plumed himself on having " militated not 
 without glory," in unworthy warfare, and refused to admit 
 that he was but a jaded epicure who had frittered away, on 
 
C0MBE-WB8TEB IN FULL DBESS 218 
 
 forbidden delicacies, the health and appetite that ought to 
 have served for the enjoyment of a wholesome repast. At 
 twenty he could have loved one woman dearly, and been 
 happy with her. At forty, he could love a great many 
 women, passionately, and be happy with none of them. 
 Face after face haunted him so persistently as to persuade 
 him he had found anchorage at last for his roving heart ; 
 face after face palled and wearied in turn, none the slower 
 because of its natural frowns when supplanted at short 
 notice by a successor. In his lordship's case there is no 
 doubt the cynical aphorism held good that affirms " A man 
 always believes his first love his last, and his last love his 
 first." 
 
 Lady Goneril, with her incontestable beauty and strong 
 affections, might have retained biTin longer had she not 
 allowed him to perceive how necessary he was to her 
 happiness. Mrs. Stripwell, again, a sufficiently heartless 
 lady, with an excellent opinion of her own attractions, 
 seemed likely to enjoy an uninterrupted reign in an empire 
 of which, neither to herself nor others, would she admit the 
 value. Lord St. Moritz not only admired her person, but 
 professed to discover charms of mind to which other people, 
 her own sex especially, were insensible. The truth is, she 
 kept him in hot water. He could never be sure of her five 
 minutes, however seriously he urged his suit. 
 
 It must be admitted that, with those rosy lips and white 
 teeth, she looked best in merriment. So, when he was 
 reproachful, she laughed ; when he was sulky, she laughed ; 
 when he turned sentimental, and " went in for heroics," as 
 she called it, again she laughed, loud and long too, if he 
 tried to extract romance from the situation. Altogether 
 she must have been a most unsatisfactory idol, and but for 
 the arrival of Beltenebrosa in London, and the veil of 
 mystery that imparted to the new beauty a certain stimu- 
 lating interest, might have remained, as far as I can tell, 
 on her pedestal for years. 
 
 That she was utterly dethroned, nobody knew better than 
 herself — except Lord St. Merita. He was literally afraid 
 to acknowledge the influence exercised over him by this 
 dark handsome woman he was travelling many score of 
 miles to visit in her own home. 
 
Missing Page 
 
Missing Page 
 
216 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 "Will the hurdle-race fill?" asked somebody, whereon 
 Mrs. Tregarthen's dandy turned a fi-esh page and emptied 
 his glass. 
 
 " It's a new thing altogether," observed Paravant, " but 
 the farmers like it, and the country people. It gets to- 
 gether a few fifty-pound screws, and nobody cares if they 
 break their necks or not. I've put one in for the fun of the 
 thing." 
 
 "Quite right," said the large dandy; "very public- 
 spirited. But you'll lose your entrance-money." 
 
 " How do you mean ? " 
 
 " Why, they've brought Adonis down on purpose. I met 
 Sloper at the station. They've got the race in their pocket." 
 
 " We must have a shy at him, for the honour of the West. 
 He's a good horse, but I never liked his shoulders, and he's 
 half worn-out." 
 
 " Will you lay against him? " 
 
 " Yes, if there's anything of a field — an even pony." 
 
 " Say five-to-four." 
 
 " Very well ; five-to-four, in ponies." 
 
 So the wager was entered on both sides, and Paravant 
 made a beginning. 
 
 " What is yoii/r horse's name ? " asked Lord St. Moritz, 
 more out of courtesy than from any real interest in the 
 matter. 
 
 "Potboy," answered the host. "By Ganymede, out of 
 Froth, half-bred — a useful hack, and that is about all." 
 
 " Will you back him ? " asked the former speculator. 
 
 " I should want very long odds," answered Paravant 
 doubtfully. " It's such an off-chance, if the others can 
 stand up ; but the hurdles will be stiff, and the ground is 
 slippery at the back of the course. I would take twenty-to- 
 one." 
 
 " Twenty-to-one, my dear fellow ! It's not twenty-to- 
 one I finish this glass of claret ! Who rides him ? " 
 
 " Hum ! that's another difficulty. It's too late to engage 
 a jockey. I shall have to ride him myself." 
 
 "Impossible! You must be more than a stone over 
 weight ! You can't get that off in a single walk. I'll tell 
 you what, if it's ' owner up,' I don't mind laying twelve-to- 
 one — six-hundred-to-fifty. That's a choker, I think ! " 
 
ANOTESB MAGNUM 217 
 
 "It is a mouthful, but I'll try to swallow it," answered 
 Paravant, pencil in hand, while he rang the bell for another 
 magnum, looking round to ask quietly, " Will anybody do 
 it again?" There is something in good claret, freely 
 swallowed, especially provocative of speculation the night 
 before a race — the large handsomely-cut decanter came 
 round to him again, their host had booked several more bets 
 offered by his guests for smaller sums, and on a gradually 
 decreasing scale of odds. Even the rector, though such 
 hazardous investments were whoUy out of his line, ventured 
 a modest sovereign, on the success of his former pupil, 
 backing him from a sense of loyalty and affection, with a 
 strong idea he was likely to win. " Forward James," after 
 offering more wine, which was declined, followed the others 
 to the drawing-room, chuckling to think of the heavy wagers 
 for which he had " drawn " them, as he called it, and 
 rejoiced especially over a certain hundred-pounds-to-ten 
 laid him by Lord St. Moritz. If the little horse could only 
 pull it off to-morrow, he would be free of his most vexatious 
 liabilities. But he had ventured largely, it was a case of 
 " a man or a mouse," and he dared not anticipate the 
 alternative, if it should come up " mouse ! " The large 
 dandy had no such apprehensions. Ten times in the year, 
 at Epsom, at Ascot, at Goodwood, at aU the Newmarket 
 meetings, besides minor races, within- the reach of London, 
 he was in the habit of winning or losing his annual income 
 in two days, with perfect equanimity and satisfaction, 
 bringing to bear on the mere amusements of life an amount 
 of memory, judgment, sagacity, and cool imperturbable 
 good temper, that must have commanded success in its 
 most important affairs. 
 
 Taking to politics might save him, but no less engrossing 
 occupations would ever wean him from the dangerous 
 excitement of the turf. 
 
 Strolling, tail and stately, into the drawing-room, it was 
 but natural that he should gravitate towards the handsomest 
 woman in the company, and he took up a position by the 
 side of his hostess. 
 
 This arrangement not quite suiting the intentions of 
 Beltenebrosa, she broke the party up into a looser formation, 
 after coffee, suggesting whist and music, while she herself 
 
218 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 moved to a pianoforte at the other end of the room, whither 
 she was followed, as she intended, by Lord St. Moritz. 
 
 Two people onlj took note of this manoeuvre, with 
 different feelings, but a strong sense of disapproval and 
 disgust. 
 
 The one was Mrs. Tregarthen, whose eyes were always 
 pretty wide open, observing, indeed, many things which had 
 no real existence ; the other, Paravant Mmself, who turned 
 away vrith a pang that he was ashamed to feel so keenly. 
 Jealousy, contempt, and a sense of undeserved injury, 
 probed him to the quick. 
 
 " I thought that was over," he said to himself, " or he 
 never shoidd have darkened my doors again. Hang it! 
 after all, if a fellow can't trust his own wife in his own house, 
 there's an end of everything ! " and he walked uneasily into 
 the adjoining room, where the Eeverend Silas was playing 
 whist vyith less skill than daring — the effect, no doubt, of 
 that sound full-bodied sixty-four. 
 
 No man who has been separated, for ever so short a time, 
 from the lady he adored, should attempt to take up the 
 thread of his attentions where he left off. I have remarked 
 in church that the gentler sex always begin to yawn when 
 a preacher says "to resume;" they like breaking fresh 
 ground, even though they may know every inch of the soil ; 
 and, while they want to hear the same thing over and over 
 again, are exceedingly intolerant of an admirer who repeats 
 it in the same words. Lord St. Moritz was far too good a 
 judge to offend in this way, he spoke in an audible voice, 
 and ventured on nothing more compromising than the 
 following inoffensive question : 
 
 " Is it far to the course — and what time do you mean to 
 start?" 
 
 " I'm not going." 
 
 "Not going! Signora, you only say that to bully me. 
 What have I done?" 
 
 " Bully you I I haven't the heart. But I'm not going 
 to races, all the same." 
 
 " Why ? " 
 
 " Fancy asking a woman why I Perhaps I've got a cold. 
 Perhaps I've not got a new dress. No ; I don't mind 
 telling yov,. The railway gives me a headache — one can't 
 
ANOTEEB MAGNUM 219 
 
 come away when one's tired — Mr. Paravant is going to 
 ride — and I hate the whole thing ! " 
 
 Now this was far from the truth. Beltenebrosa saw very 
 sufficient reason for absenting herself from Swansdown 
 Baces in the certainty that her gipsy kin would attend. 
 Her resources had been already overtaxed by the repeated 
 extortions of Jericho Lee, and she would give him no 
 opportunity of frightening her into bribery that she could 
 avoid. 
 
 " I looked forward so to going with you," said his lord- 
 ship plaintively. " We might have banked together, and 
 been so happy, and won a lot of money ! " 
 
 " You are always thinking of money ! " 
 
 " People say * For love or money,' " he answered, draw- 
 ing closer. " I know which I think of here," 
 
 Striking a chord on the instrument so deep as to drown 
 her words for all but him, she replied : " Base coin, sham 
 notes, false hearts ! Nobody is to be trusted. I said in my 
 haste all men are What ? " 
 
 " You may depend on me," he murmured. " Oh ! why 
 will you not believe in my " 
 
 She rattled off a lively air, up and down the keys, that 
 brought half-a-dozen guests round to listen, as she well 
 knew it would, and, looking mischievously in his discon- 
 cei-ted face, asked him if she should sing him a song. 
 
 What covM he answer but that it would be delightful ? 
 
 " And the subject ? " she continued. 
 
 " Love, of course," he whiq)ered. 
 
 " No. Money ! — gold and silver. Listen, my lord, and 
 learn your lesson, and don't forget it another time I " 
 
 GOLD AND SILVER. 
 
 " Oh, pretty Miss DisdaiuEul, at whose feet I love to rest, 
 
 Tou will not spea>k, but fling me down the rosebud from your breast ; 
 
 And prove the Eastern proverb is as truthful as it's old, 
 
 Which teUs us speech is silver, but that silence, dear, is gold." 
 
 " Oh, pleasant Sir Persistent, you have talk enough for both. 
 And though you swore, yet none the more, I'll trust you on your oath ; 
 For mamma has often warned me, that she certainly should scold. 
 If she caught me taking silver when I paid for it in gold 1 " 
 
220 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 " But I would like to deck you out in jewels rich and rare, 
 The ruby round your finger and the diamond in your hair ; 
 And I would give you love for love, and access uncontrolled 
 To all my store, and ten times more, of silver and of gold 1 " 
 
 "I wish I could believe you, dear, 'twould gladden me, I own; 
 Or you had never brought me here, so late, and aU alone. 
 Tet thus to meet is more than sweet, and moonlight makes one bold, 
 Although it's only silver, love, the sunlight's really gold 1 " 
 
 The moon retired ; the pallid dawn flushed softly into day, 
 And pleasant Sir Persistent went rejoicing on his way ; 
 But Miss Disdainful dropped a tear ; the tale has oft been told — 
 Man Boatiers silver fast enough, but woman pays in gold I 
 
 " Then Sir Persistent won ! " observed Lord St. Moritz. 
 
 " A man always wins," she answered, " if he means to 
 win. Some people don't know what they like ; some don't 
 like what they know, and so the world goes round ! " 
 
 The large dandy, who had been playing whist, now came 
 forward to express his approval, and soon the company were 
 gathered round the pianoforte, all but one. 
 
 " She sings for him, not me/" thought Paravant, with a 
 bitter sense of pique and humiliation, that he felt ashamed 
 to think, had he been a woman, would have found relief in 
 tears. " And this is what one gets in return for all kinds 
 of trouble and vexation, for entertaining a lot of people one 
 don't care two straws about, for no end of expense, and the 
 loss of that liberty which a fellow never appreciates till it's 
 gone ! Ah ! better have remained a bachelor. Hang it ! 
 I didn't know when I was well off ! " 
 
 But he had little time for these gloomy reflections. There 
 was Mrs. Tregarthen to pack into a nondescript carriage 
 waiting to take her home, candles to light for the ladies, 
 wine-and-water to offer, good-nights to exchange, and a 
 dreary tobacco parliament to dissolve before he could retire 
 to his room, sullen, heart-sick, hopeless, deriving only a 
 spurious consolation from the prospect of excitement arising 
 out of bodily peril to-morrow in the coming hurdle-race. 
 
THE PACE TEAT KILLS 221 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI 
 
 ihb paois thai kills 
 
 "My deae Paeavant, 
 
 " A horrible headache and premonitory twinges of 
 gout will keep me a prisoner, while you are all amusing 
 yourselves at Swansdown. I wish you luck, though I did 
 lay against the blue and yellow. 
 
 " Yours truly, 
 
 " St. Moeitz. 
 
 "I don't think the claret is to blame. I was seedy 
 when I left London." 
 
 " Is Lord St. Moritz getting up ? " asked his host of the 
 footman who handed him this missive at breakfast. 
 
 The footman, true to his order, did not know ; but, on 
 inquiry, it appeared his lordfihip's valet had taken a cup of 
 tea to his lordship, who was not to be disturbed till he rang. 
 
 "Forward James" looked very black, directing angry 
 scowls at Beltenebrosa behind her tea and coffee pots, the 
 reason for which will presently appear. He ate nothing, 
 but drank a brandy-and-soda — ^very weak of the soda. 
 
 " Muzzle on, I see," observed the large dandy, glowing 
 in health and vigour from his morning tub, with an excel- 
 lent appetite for this as for all other meals. 
 
 " That wasting is simply torture while it lasts. 'Pon my 
 soul, though I say it that shouldn't, you deserve to win for 
 your pluck ! " 
 
 " I'll have a shy," said the other, " if I lose my stick ! " 
 but he answered mechanically, and as if he attached no 
 particular meaning to his words, leaving the room thereafter 
 with fixed eye and wandering step, like one who is stunned 
 by a blow. 
 
 Ten minutes later, when the carriages came round, he 
 appeared in his wife's boudoir, where he was sure to find 
 her alone, and carefully shut the door. 
 
 "What's the meaning of this?" he began, in a loud 
 angry voice, with an offensive assumption of authority, that 
 roused Beltenebrosa into rebellion at once. 
 
 " I ought to ask you that question," she replied haughtily. 
 
222 BLACK BXJT COMELY 
 
 " If you choose to forget you are a gentleman, don't forget 
 that I am a " 
 
 "A d d gipsy foundling! " he interrupted furiously. 
 
 " A thing I picked out of the gutter, and washed, and 
 
 cleaned, and dressed up in silks and satins, and No. 
 
 I'm not going to lose my temper, and use had language. I 
 have nothing to say but this : It's a plant ! Oh ! a devilish 
 good plant, Mrs. Paravant ; but I'm up to it ! I suspected 
 there was something in it all through. I'm not such a fool 
 as people think. You wouldn't go to the races. Oh no ! 
 You were afraid of the gipsies ; that was a capital excuse. 
 And it makes you nervous to see me ride. Me ! You never 
 cared a curse for me ! I might have known it all along. 
 You won't be nervous alone, v?ith that smooth-tongued 
 scoundrel who is shamming ill upstairs at this moment on 
 pui"pose to stay at home with you. I've got an account to 
 settle with him, too ; but that can keep cold. I'U win his 
 hundred first — he hates parting — and then we'll square up ! " 
 
 He stopped, more, I believe, from want of breath than 
 grievances ; and Beltenebrosa, while justly indignant, could 
 not but feel something of respect for this frank impetuous 
 nature, flying out in a passion honestly like a child. 
 
 " Mr. Paravant," said she, " your language and behaviour 
 are what I am not accustomed to, and do not intend to 
 endure. Something has put you out. You are very much 
 excited at this moment. I hope you will come back in a 
 better hmnour and beg my pardon." 
 
 Her coolness drove him wild. " Pardon ! " he gasped, 
 choking with rage. " By Jove, that is too good a joke ! 
 When I come back too ! Now listen to me. I order you, 
 madam, to come with us to the races. The carriage is at 
 the door. Put your bonnet on this instant, and jump in ! " 
 
 " I wiU not ! " 
 
 He was at his wits'-end, looking from side to side, as if 
 to find some physical engine of coercion. In vain. The 
 bridle has not yet been invented to control a woman enraged 
 with a man for whom she has no respect. 
 
 His distress was so pitiftd that she could not help con- 
 tinuing, wit^ soinething of contempt : " I'll go and spend 
 the day at the Vicarage, or the Castle, if you like, but to the 
 xaces, I repeat, I will not go ! " 
 
THB PACE THAT KILLS 223 
 
 " The Vicarage ! It's barely half a mile from this door. 
 The Castle ! They've got a party on purpose, and will be 
 gone to the course. No. You can't gammon me ! It's all 
 of a piece, and I ought not to be surprised ; but though I 
 knew I had married a gipsy I didn't think I had married 
 a^ " 
 
 " Stop ! " she exclaimed. " There are insults I will not 
 submit to ! You had better go — now — at once ! " 
 
 " And never come back? Nothing you would like better ! 
 How pleased you'd be if I were to break my neck ! " 
 
 He had goaded her beyond self-command, and she 
 replied hastily : " What do I care whether you break it or 
 not ? " 
 
 " Then I hope to God I may ! " said poor Paravant, in a 
 thick hoarse voice, and bending down his flushed and swollen 
 forehead, he lifted, literally, the hem of her garment and 
 pressed it to his lips, but he was gone before she could 
 speak a word. And though she followed, calling after him 
 in the passage, he never stopped nor turned his head, but 
 sprang to the box of the break, which he drove himself, and 
 started his horses down the avenue at the rate of fifteen 
 nules an hour. 
 
 Lord St. Moritz, in a dressing-gown, watching from his 
 window, saw a footman run after the carriage, which he 
 failed to overtake, with his master's overcoat, nor did he 
 think of forwarding this garment by the pony-carriage or 
 brougham, as they followed in due succession ; but this 
 characteristic negligence interested his lordship not at all. 
 
 He made an elaborate toilet, and descended the stairs in 
 about an hour, with every hope and intention of spending 
 an agreeable afternoon. He was disappointed not to find 
 Mrs. Paravant in the drawing-room, surprised to' search 
 library, boudoir, and conservato'ry in vain, perplexed and 
 angry when he discovered, by personal inspection, that she 
 was neither in the house, the garden, nor in the grounds. 
 Not till luncheon was getting cold did a servant inform him 
 that she had left home before twelve o'clock. 
 
 Haunted by a foreboding of evil, that oppressed her as 
 the coming thunderstorm seems to stifle us, while outward 
 nature remains calm and tranquil in the heavy atmosphere 
 of a sultry day, Beltenebrosa ■9<'as now more than twenty 
 
224 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 miles off, threading a path she remembered only too well, 
 that led from Brimscombe Station, through Brimscombe 
 Brake, direct to Swansdown race-course. Would she get 
 there in time ? That was the one idea, to which everything on 
 earth seemed of secondary importance. The hurdle-race 
 was fixed for three o'clock. Would she get there in time ? 
 She must speak to him again before he weighed and mounted. 
 There was a look in his face, while he kissed her dress, 
 that she feared to see all her life long, every night in her 
 dreams. Three o'clock already ! Her watch must be too 
 fast! She had a mile ftirther to walk. Would she be 
 there in time ? Would she be there in time ? 
 
 Her first impulse had been to run after him, as he left 
 the house, but before she could put her bonnet on, the 
 guests departed, and took all the carriages, so it was im- 
 possible to catch the special train. Another would follow 
 later, and Bradshaw told her it ought to reach Brimscombe 
 by half-past two. It arrived there late, of course, and no 
 vehicle could be got for love or money ; everything on wheels 
 was at the races. She had walked from Combe- Wester to 
 the railway — it was no slight tax on her pedestrian powers 
 to finish her task at the rate of nearly five miles an hour ; 
 but in her preoccupation she was wholly insensible to 
 bodily fatigue, and if she gave a thought to her efforts, it 
 was only to exult in the symmetry of shape and perfect 
 physical organisation, that enabled her to cover the ground 
 with such swift easy strides. 
 
 " A gipsy ! " she said to herself, rather bitterly. " You 
 needn't have reproached me with that ! It's lucky I am a 
 gipsy — ^ur sang — ^I'm not ashamed of it. One of your fair, 
 florid, flabby women would have failed a mile back, and 
 been too late ! " 
 
 Lord St. Moritz never entered her head but once, and 
 then she almost laughed aloud to picture his vexation 
 and disappointment. From her husband's intemperate 
 reproaches, she gathered enough to understand the trick 
 his lordship intended to play, for which she gave him credit, 
 all being fair in love and war; but there was something 
 about the rapidity of this baffling countermarch that amused 
 her exceedingly, and for a moment she lost sight of her own 
 anxiety in the humour of the situation. 
 
TEE PACE TEAT KILLS 225 
 
 It soon came back with redoubled force. As she drew 
 near the race-course and heard the shouts of the people, 
 she rushed forward, forgetting her fatigue, her wild appear- 
 ance, her disordered dress, even the dreaded gipsy folk, lost 
 to every consideration, but the one maddening possibility 
 that she might be too late after all. 
 
 The hurdles were up, she m^irked them a bow-shot off. 
 How white and dangerous they looked, grinning at her, as 
 it were, in cruel mockery and reproach ! The horses had 
 already started. Their rapid hoof-beat sounded like thunder 
 in her ears, the whirl and flutter of those many-coloured 
 sUks baffled and confased her sight ; but with straining 
 eyes she made out the blue and yellow cap hurrying to the 
 front, as he reached the last leap but one — breathless, faint, 
 with parted lips and clenched hands, her every faculty, her 
 whole being absorbed in a painful intensity of suspense. 
 
 Now although the knowledge and attention of an experi- 
 enced trainer had rendered the little horse perfectly fit to 
 contend in any struggle exacting wind, speed, and sustained 
 muscular exertion, his jockey was in the worst possible 
 frame of mind to ride the kind of race that especially 
 requires coolness, patience, and temper, to ensure success. 
 Potboy did not gallop a quarter of a mile in the rush and 
 hurry of a crowded start without protesting, in his own way, 
 against the violent intemperate handling of his master. 
 Always a free horse, an angry jerk of the bridle and a stab 
 with the spurs maddened Mm to recklessness, and he broke 
 fairly out of control, making the running over the first two 
 flights of hurdles at a speed not inaptly described as alarm- 
 ing by those who witnessed it from the stand. Such pace, 
 however, sobered the animal, while it seemed to intoxicate 
 the rider, and though a timely pull, even now, a mile from 
 the winning-post, would have done good service, as Potboy 
 began to flag, Paravant only hustled him along the faster. 
 "Like all these gentlemen-jockeys," said the rider of 
 Adonis, dismounting a few minutes later with a shake of 
 his crafty head, " in too great a hurry to get home ! " 
 
 Beltenebrosa, leaning against a post that supported the 
 fifth leap — four honest feet of sawn timber, pegged and 
 secured on ground as hard as a dining-room table — must 
 have seen, though she was never able to describe, exactly 
 
 16 
 
226 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 what happened. The blue and yellow cap came at it very 
 fast, but Potboy swayed and wavered from the direct line 
 in a form that warned experienced eyes he was beginning 
 to faU. 
 
 " Catch hold of his head, for God's sake ! " exclaimed a 
 bystander. 
 
 " Come up ! " shouted Paravant, deaf, or at least in no 
 way responding to the appeal. A horse so extended was 
 unable to spring. Potboy tried to stop himself, took off, 
 half a stride too late, got under the hurdles, struck them 
 with his chest, and turned completely over in the same 
 moment that Beltenebrosa, wondering why a moimtain of 
 green grass should rise to meet the sky, fainted dead away. 
 
 She was spared a sickening sight. That complicated 
 ball of girths, shoes, gleaming spurs, white breeches, blue, 
 yellow, and chestnut, with a crowd of black figures swarming 
 round like insects on an ant-hill, presently resolved itself 
 into horse and rider, the one rising with a snort and shake 
 to gallop wildly on after its comrades through a lane of 
 shouting hundreds, reins dangling, stirrups flapping, head 
 and tail up, staring from side to side, as conscious of some- 
 thing fatally amiss, the other lying limp and stUl, fi-oth on 
 his lip, eyes dim and glazed, mouth open, hands clenched, 
 looking as if be was never to speak or move again ! 
 
 The race was won by an outsider. No more casualties 
 occurred at the last hurdle, near the distance, which the 
 chestnut cantering conscientiously in with his empty saddle, 
 leaped temperately and well, though crossed by Adonis 
 still fresh and fiill of running, the jockey of that successful 
 plater having, at this crisis, displayed much presence of 
 mind and fertility of resource. 
 
 As long as Potboy was leading he kept far in the rear, 
 meaning to lose so much ground as it would be impossible 
 to regain, when he made his final effort, with an appearance 
 of honesty and no chance of success. But the chestnut 
 being disposed of, the others, who had been a good deal 
 scattered, made the pace so ridiculously bad, that such a 
 horse as Adonis could not have come in but as a winner, 
 without provoking a row on the race-course, and an appeal 
 to the stewards. Therefore did this consummate equestrian 
 and rogue pull his horse out of the course at the last hurdle, 
 
TOO LATE 227 
 
 make his effort at the right moment, finish splendidly, and 
 win by three-quarters of a length, to be subsequently dis- 
 qualified for going the wrong side of the post, 
 
 " The beggar always had one side to his mouth," said a 
 stableman, out of place, to Jericho Lee, when the decision 
 of the authorities was made known. 
 
 " Very likely," answered the gipsy, who had fi-equented 
 races all his life, and generally kept his eyes open ; " but 
 he'd got a bridle in it, and might hare been held straight 
 on the other ! " 
 
 And Jericho swore, wishing he had known in time which 
 way the money was, so as to have " stood in " with the 
 robbery, and pocketed his share of its spoils. He felt 
 aggrieved, ill-used, and, to use his own expression, " down 
 on his luck." Fighting Jack was not yet out of prison. 
 Nance had made but little profit by fortune-telling, and the 
 gentleman from whom, through his gipsy wife, he had hoped 
 to extort a decent annuity, was as good as dead. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVn 
 
 TOO LAIB 
 
 " He's spoke at last, ma'am. He's asked for you ! " 
 
 Beltenebrosa had left the darkened room, his mother's 
 room, where her husband lay senseless, but for a few 
 minutes, after watching him day and night since his accident 
 forty-ei^t hours ago. Paravant's old nurse had been sent 
 from Combe-Appleton to attend on him, by the forethought 
 of Mrs. Tregarthen, whose own services were at the disposal 
 of any one in real distress, though she forbore to press them 
 at Combe-Wester in such a crisis as the present. 
 
 The last two days cast a gloom over the village and sur- 
 rounding district. People began to acknowledge merits in 
 the sufferer, to which they had been hitherto blind enough. 
 Each man told his neighbour, as if it were a brilliant dis- 
 covery, that " there was a deal of good in him, and for his 
 part, he always liked the young squire ! " It mattered very 
 little now. 
 
228 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 Everything had been done after the accident that care 
 and kindness could suggest. The London guests behaved 
 with delicacy and consideration. The large dandy even 
 spent a night in the public-house near Combe-Wester Gate, 
 that he might be on the spot should his host or hostess 
 find any use for him in their trouble. Lord St. Moritz did 
 not venture to request an interview with the latter. He 
 caught sight of her face while she followed her shattered, 
 unconscious husband up the staircase, and it fairly frightened 
 him. So altered and warped were its lineaments, that he 
 glanced instinctively at her hair, to make sure it had not 
 turned gray ! 
 
 There was a surgeon standing on the race-course, within 
 a hundred yards of where the accident happened. This 
 man slept at Combe-Wester, and scarcely left his patient 
 for an hour. He had taken off limbs, tied up arteries, 
 studied his noble art, and helped his fellow-creatures to 
 live and die in every climate under heaven. He possessed 
 the skill, the tact, the readiness of resource, and, above all, 
 the iron nerve we so seldom see wanting in his profession ; 
 but his stout heart ached for the agony he read too plainly 
 in Mrs. Paravant's stony gaze. 
 
 "It won't last long," he whispered to the old nurse, 
 moving about with streaming eyes, in her clean cap and 
 neat white apron. "But you'll have another patient to 
 look after when you've done with your master, or I'm very 
 much mistaken. Get her to eat and drink something, my good 
 woman. There's little hope for one, but it won't do to lose 
 both ! " He told hiatwife afterwards, that the steadiness 
 with which Mrs. Paravant assisted him in all necessary 
 details was the worst symptom of her case. There seemed 
 something so unnatural in a composure that he attributed 
 less to the oriental blood in her veins than to the misery of a 
 crushing and stupefying despair. 
 
 How trifling now seemed the little faults and shortcomings 
 of that departing wayfarer, bound on the inevitable journey 
 from which there is no return ! Could she have foreseen 
 such a time as this, would she ever have had the heart to 
 feel vexed with him for treading on her dress, asking the 
 wrong people to dinner, prosing about his horses, growling 
 when she kept him waiting, or such every-day marital im- 
 
TOO LATE 229 
 
 perfections common to husbands of every class? If lie 
 could but come back from the brink — that awful brink, on 
 the borders of — ^where? — only come back one step, she 
 would never be provoked with him again 1 She would be 
 such a true, and kind, and obedient wife, giving him all her 
 thoughts, confidences, affections — loving him-»-yes, loving 
 him — as a mother loves her child, it may be, rather than 
 as a woman loves her lord. She could have cried aloud 
 with pain and remorse when she recalled the scene in the 
 boudoir, and the pitiful look in his honest eyes, never again, 
 perhaps, to meet her own. Would he die without forgiving 
 her ? Beltenebrosa went down on her knees to pray. 
 
 It is not for us to judge how far the unaccustomed spirit 
 can lend itself to devotion habitually neglected, and only 
 resorted to as the outcry of anguish too keen to bear alone. 
 She grew calmer, at least, while imploring help from Heaven, 
 and nerved herself to carry the burden laid on her as best 
 she might. 
 
 Yes, we ought to be kind to each other here, in the little 
 segment of a circle which, as an infinitesimal portion of 
 eternity, we have accustomed ourselves to call life. We are 
 but tenants at will. Is it worth while to fret, and strive, 
 and malign our neighbour within such narrow borders, when 
 every morning's post may bring us notice to quit ? 
 
 For Paravant to-day, as may befall you and me to-morrow, 
 and many more of us before the week is out, a summons had 
 been served. A noiseless step halted on the threshold, and 
 there was " somebody knocking at the door ! " 
 
 "He's asked for you." She glanced in the old nurse's 
 face, and her poor heart stood still. There was something 
 about the woman's mouth and chin that told its own tale. 
 Beltenebrosa felt she had cherished more than a spark of 
 hope, that seemed extinguished now for the first time. 
 
 Her husband lay in his mother's room on the bed in which 
 he was bom. Over the fireplace hung a picture of himself 
 and his pony, aged six each — a bright, sturdy, bold-faced 
 boy, a short-legged pony that looked as if nothing could 
 throw it down. The nurse remembered how he insisted on 
 sleeping in his new boots the night before his first day's 
 hunting. It brought a fresh burst of tears to the old eyes, 
 that might have been dry now, so freely had they wept for 
 a lifetime over the sorrows of others and their own. 
 
230 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 When Beltenebrosa re-entered the sick-roona she was 
 bringing out some bandages, softly, skilfully, and with that 
 indescribable soothing air only attained by those who are 
 accustomed to children, ministering to their little wants 
 and troubles as they arise. 
 
 "Forward James" had regained consciousness. There 
 was recognition of his wife in those sunken eyes, and he 
 moved the unshattered arm that lay on the coverlet, as 
 though he would have raised it in caress if he could. 
 
 One moment her heart leaped up, the next it seemed to 
 fall like a wounded bird, that flutters and dies out. It 
 needed no experience of death-beds, to read the meaning of 
 that glitter in his eyes, those lines in his wasted, chiselled 
 face. 
 
 " I never knew my boy was so beautiful," thought his old 
 nurse. " He's as Uke his poor mother as he can stare. 
 She's an angel in heaven now." 
 
 He moved his lips. Beltenebrosa bent her head to listen. 
 One of her long black locks fell across his hand, and the 
 poor thin fingers fastened on it, turning it in and out with 
 a feeble, loving touch. 
 
 " Oh, my darling, my darling ! " sobbed the broken-hearted 
 woman ; "forgive me, forgive me. My punishment is greater 
 than I can bear." 
 
 He whispered something she did not catch. Precious 
 indeed were those syllables she used to think of such small 
 account. How could she ever have wearied of that voice, 
 so soon to be mute for evermore ! 
 
 The nurse, moving softly round the bed, put some cordial 
 to his wan lips, and they curved in a weak, wavering smile. 
 
 "Good-bye, Bel!" he whispered. "Don't cry, dear. 
 We didn't get on so bad. Good-bye." 
 
 Even such slight effort seemed to exhaust him, and for a 
 space he lay motionless, her hand in his. So quiet was his 
 breathing, she thought more than once it was all over. The 
 excruciating pains of his return to consciousness had left 
 him; he was easier now, and comparatively comfortable. 
 The surgeon knew, and so did the nurse, this respite only 
 anticipated eternal tranquillity in the grave. 
 
 There came a quiver on the wasted features, so white, so 
 waxen, so sadly beautiful. At last a tremble like that 
 
TOO LATE 231 
 
 which stirs some lonely pool in the cold breath of a December 
 dawn. Their hands were locked. Leaning over him she 
 looked into his eyes with hungry, hopeless longing. Alas, 
 they were already blank in the coming forgetfalness. Some- 
 thing to her — some charge to be held sacred for all time, 
 the outcome of a kindly nature, struggling up through fail- 
 ing senses and clouded brain. 
 
 " It wasn't the little horse's fault," he murmured. "I 
 put on too much steam. Take care of Potboy." Then his 
 fingers twined round her own, tighter, tighter, till gradually 
 the grasp relaxed, the eye rolled and grew dim, the jaw 
 dropped, and James Paravant floated peacefully away into 
 the unknown, leaving behind him but a crushed and mangled 
 husk of that which three days ago was a fresh, bright, 
 athletic young man, barely turned twenty-three ! 
 
 If carriages could have consoled his widow she would 
 have had comfort enough. There must have been forty at 
 the faneral, while the labourers of his own and an adjoining 
 parish, walking six abreast, formed a procession half-a-mile 
 long. Certain Foresters, too, and other friendly clubs, 
 attended in imposing order, wearing green bows and march- 
 ing with due solemnity, though more or less in drink. 
 Neighbouring public-houses did a good stroke of business, 
 for grief, and more especially sympathy, is apt to be thirsty 
 on a hot autumn day. Even the sexton's nose was red, 
 while the Eev. Silas, with wet eyes and broken voice, could 
 hardly get through the touching burialrservice of his church ; 
 and one of the school-children, a soft-hearted little maid of 
 six, throwing flowers on the coffin, blubbered aloud. The 
 rector had a large congregation the following Sunday, who 
 would have been much disappointed had he failed to touch 
 on the recent calamity in his discourse. 
 
 He drew a parallel, therefore, fetching it from a consider- 
 able distance, between Absolom and their late neighbour, 
 alluding also to the ancestors of the deceased, one of whom 
 was reposing in effigy outside his tomb in that very church, 
 cross-legged and hugging his sword like a bold Crusader, 
 in stone, and insisted, with questionable taste, that this 
 too, the last of the Paravants, had died gallantly in his 
 spurs. 
 
 A flight that seemed exceedingly appropriate to old Eeuben 
 
282 BLACK BUT COMELY ' 
 
 Easper, formerly a roughrider, till constant drink was found 
 to be incompatible with, that profession, who expressed 
 approval of the preacher's oratory, observing with some reason 
 that " 'Twas mortal true ; an' ev' squire hadn't a-had on 
 they (meaning the persuaders), 'ad a'-bin 'loive and kickin', 
 mebbe, nowe ! " 
 
 So " Forward James " died and was buried, and this was 
 his E. I. P. 
 
 BOOK IV 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXVni 
 
 AIiL ALONK 
 
 FoBGOTTEN ? Not immediately ; yet sooner, perhaps, than 
 anyone who attended his funeral might have expected. 
 Even when the finest oak in the park has been blown down, 
 the gap in our landscape seems filled up before we have 
 time to appreciate the loss. How much less likely are we 
 to miss some useless sapling, broken at an obscure comer 
 of the wood ! 
 
 In less than three months, Combe-Wester was let, with 
 a special agreement for the sumptuous board and lodging 
 of Potboy, to a worthy family, whose transactions do not 
 enter into this history. James Paravant's affairs, having 
 been placed in the hands of an Exeter attorney, were found 
 exceedingly difficult of arrangement. His fumitiu"e was 
 sold, his house dismantled, his hatchment taken down, 
 his chimneys were swept, and his widow was gone. 
 
 The utter prostration following so stuiming a blow was 
 succeeded by an interval of sharp, sickening pain, that 
 passed away in turn, the more quickly, perhaps, for its acute 
 severity, and Beltenebrosa soon found herself equal to the 
 task of grappling with a thousand difficulties that beset her 
 on every side. These were so far beneficial that they served 
 to distract her mind fi:om the one overwhelming sorrow, and 
 every hour of such forgetfulness was so much gain of 
 strength and vitality, like the relief afforded by anodynes to 
 a throbbing wound. 
 
ALL ALONE 283 
 
 Poor James Paravant had lived, since his mahriage, at a 
 rate to which his income, mtdtiplied hy ten, would have 
 been wholly inadequate. There was money owing for 
 everything. The funds he had raised were always wanted 
 to settle his account on those black Mondays, at Tattersall's, 
 when we see men in hansoms hurrying to Albert Gp.te, 
 with such varying expressions of countenance. His new 
 furniture was unpaid for, so were the alterations in his 
 house. The very wages of day-labourers and farm-servants 
 were months in arrear, and Beltenebrosa, assisted by the 
 Exeter attorney, had to pacify, for she could not satisfy, a 
 score of creditors, one-third of whom it was impossible to 
 pay in full. 
 
 Her gipsy blood did her good service in such an emer- 
 gency. The nature she derived from her ancestors stiffened 
 itself, as it were, against mental suffering, bearing sorrow 
 with something of that quiet dogged defiance it would have 
 opposed to bodily pain. She entertained, too, their elastic 
 principles, on certain notions of probity and honour, which 
 are apt to hamper the arrangements of an insolvent, and 
 she had no scruples in driving hard bargains with struggling 
 tradesmen, who jseemed fain to accept the present tangible 
 crown, in discharge of a visionary and uncertain pound, to 
 which they were entitled. 
 
 The Exeter attorney could not disguise his admiration. 
 
 " What a head for business ! " he was heard to exclaim. 
 " What memory ! What a knowledge of mankind ! And 
 then such manners, such a presence, such a figure ! Five 
 feet seven in her stockings if she's an inch ! Walks like a 
 queen! Black as midnight! Mag — nificent!" And he 
 rubbed his hands chuckling, thinking, perhaps, what a 
 partner she would have made in his office, Men entendu — not 
 his parlour, for the little man was blessed with an ample 
 wife of his own, and, as it is called in the West, a long 
 family of children. 
 
 But when papers without end had been opened, examined, 
 and tied up, docketed and put away, when outstanding debts 
 had been estimated, and accounts finally balanced, it was 
 still found that shillings could not be made to represent 
 half-crowns; and that a very few hundreds a year must 
 suffice the widow to live on out of a fortune valued by 
 
284 BLACK BUT OOMELY 
 
 acquaintances, with their accustomed liberality, at some 
 thousands. So few, indeed, that even now, though she 
 sold her jewels, she could not raise the amount of her debt 
 to Mervyn Strange, broodiag over it from day to day, with 
 mingled feelings of shame, remorse, and a certain 
 unacknowledged satisfaction that the one link between 
 them remained unbroken still. 
 
 When all her business was concluded, and the attorney 
 had gone back to Exeter, Beltenebrosa decided to live in 
 London, choosing to make her home in the great metropolis 
 for many good reasons that she admitted, and one she did not. 
 
 It was the cheapest place for a lone woman, and the 
 most independent, so she told herself a hundred times ; 
 also here, less than elsewhere, would she be exposed to the 
 incursions of her kinsfolk ; but she forebore to remind 
 herself that in the capital her period of mourning need not 
 necessarily be one of privation and utter seclusion, and that 
 it would be pleasant to meet, if only for a minute, while 
 they smiled a " How-d' ye-do ? " the faces — amongst others 
 that of Lord St. Moritz — she used to see in happier times. 
 
 Even for a beauty dethroned, or at any rate in a period 
 of apogee, it seems consolatory to occupy the ground of 
 former victories ; besides, London is a large place, where 
 people run against each other every day, and nobody a bit 
 the wiser, particularly in the dead time of the year. 
 
 Was she hankering after Lord St. Moritz still ? I think 
 it probable. I think, even if she found no room for tenderer 
 feelings, she longed for the excitement of his company, the 
 amusement of his conversation. Perhaps, too, his lordship's 
 professions of devotion, having always been as fervent as 
 she would permit, the possibility may have crossed her 
 mind of a presentation at Court in the right of an English 
 peeress, conferring high and undisputed rank amongst the 
 very people of whom last season she got tired in six 
 weeks. It would be rather nice, besides, to have a coronet 
 on her handkerchiefs and the panels of her carriages. 
 
 If so, she reckoned without her host. More than one 
 of her sex, and many of his own, could have told her how, 
 warned perhaps by domestic experience, St. Moritz, as 
 regarded the marriage-yoke, was like one of those refractory 
 horses that no persuasion will induce to accept the servitude 
 
ALL ALONE 235 
 
 of harness. The fairest hands in London had tiied to 
 caparison him without avail. None, so to speak, could get 
 the collar qnite over his ears. He winced, started back, 
 slipped his head out, reared up, turned round and galloped 
 away ! So long as a lady could not possibly be made his 
 wife, for the incontestable reason that she was married to 
 somebody else, so long did his lordship worship at her shrine 
 with touching devotion, bewailing his own hard lot and hers 
 in the choicest phrases and the sweetest tones. He was 
 never more agreeable than when lachrymose. Like a wet 
 cloth passed over a picture, melancholy seemed to bring out 
 the soft touches and tender shades of his character, and he 
 could turn from grave to gay with a quaint half-pathetic 
 humour, exceedingly agreeable to women, who thoroughly 
 enjoy an excited half-hysterical state, in which they don't 
 know whether to laugh or to cry. But no sooner did the 
 slender fingers close to secure their prize, than the cheat be- 
 came apparent, the bubble burst, and it appeared that his 
 lordship was neither true, nor even base metal, but only 
 quicksflver after all. 
 
 When a decent term of mourning expired, and Mrs. 
 Tregarthen had written to inquire after her welfare in choice 
 language, offering condolence, advice, and even hints, if 
 necessary, of assistance, Beltenebrosa found herself wonder- 
 ing why Lord St. Moritz made no sign. We may be sure 
 she gave directions for her letters to be forwarded from 
 Combe-Wester. Yet day after day passed without bringing 
 a line. Li London, where humanity is persecuted with a 
 post every two hours, their very frequency renders the heart 
 callous to such disappointments ; but Beltenebrosa, who was 
 beginning to feel lonely and a good deal tired of her own 
 society, would have been cheered by a glance at the 
 familiar handwriting, of which she kept more than one 
 specimen hidden away in a repository of her own. She 
 looked at these often enough, reading them over with 
 interest rather than emotion, never kissing them with wet 
 eyes, as she did a bit of silver paper containing a morsel of 
 poor Paravant's coarse brown hair ; and yet she could not help 
 teUing herself she had cared for neither of these — ^the faith- 
 less lover nor the foolish husband, as it was in her nature 
 to care for Somebody, with a capital S, if that Somebody only 
 came to ask for what was already more than half his own. 
 
236 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 Yes, I appeal to ladies with grown-up daughters, fond 
 fathers doting on one whom they dread to lose ; chaperones, 
 indeed, of all weights and ages, whether any amount of care 
 or anxiety will preserve their pullet from its clutches, when 
 the real falcon-gentle is seen hovering in the sky. For 
 fowl of every other feather she is amenable to caution. 
 Kank, wealth, and renown, spurs, bouquets, and compli- 
 ments, lord, and squire, and knight of the shire, she can 
 resist them, one and all, tUl svrift, sure, and silent, down 
 slides the bird of fate. A swoop, a stir, a little timid chirp, 
 a ruffling of callow feathers, and the hawk takes possession 
 of its own. Why ? For this simple reason, that whatever 
 characters may be engraved on his card, the visitor's real 
 name is Mr. Eight ! 
 
 But at this period a morning call would have been ex- 
 ceedingly welcome to Beltenebrosa, whether from Mr. Right 
 or Mr. Wrong. She rented a pretty set of rooms in the far 
 west of Western London, with an idea that it would be 
 delightful to avail herself of Kensington Gardens, the walks 
 by the Serpentine, and such romantic solitudes, but seldom 
 took advantage of them after all. It was a retreat in which 
 a middle-aged person, who had done with the excitements 
 and preferred the comforts of life, might have been happy 
 enough, but after a few weeks the old restlessness took 
 possession of her. And though she was too proud to make 
 any appeal to, or inquiries about. Lord St. Moritz, and only 
 knew that he was in town by the merest accident, having 
 been obliged to pass through the street in which he lived, 
 where she saw his carriage at the door, she would have 
 liked to know something about his doings, and found herself 
 wishing more than once for that enchanted mirror, in which 
 the magician showed " Gentle Surrey," the image of his 
 ladye-love, indulging in the dangerous and reprehensible 
 practice of reading in bed by candle-light, Not that he 
 could have found fault with her, as — 
 
 All in her night-robe loose she lay reclined, 
 And pensive read, from tablet eburnine. 
 Some strain that seemed her inmost heart to find — 
 That favoured strain was Surrey's raptured line, 
 That fair and lovely form, the Lady Geraldine. 
 
 Nevertheless, it is just as well the mirror has been long 
 
ALL ALONE . 237 
 
 since broken. Few of us would be greeted with so pleasing 
 an apparition as met the noble Howard. Could Beltene- 
 brosa's dark eyes have pierced through a mile or so of bricks 
 and mortar, and the walls of a pretty little house in Mayfair, 
 she would indeed have beheld the form of Lord St. Moritz, 
 well-dressed and dSbonnaire as usual, but might scarcely 
 have approved, though both seemed agreeable enough, of 
 his situation or his companion. 
 
 The latter was neither reading nor pensive, and so far 
 from lying reclined in a loose night-robe, was standing 
 upright, with one foot on the fender, in the scantiest of 
 morning dresses, drawn very tight at its skirt, and repre- 
 senting the popular notion of a mermaid. So close a 
 garment, in such an attitude, did justice to the exquisite 
 proportions of the siren — ^no other than Mrs. Stripwell, in 
 her little drawing-room, at five o'clock tea. 
 
 His lordship made a remark to that effect, expressing 
 admiration of her exterior, and the lady laughed as usual. 
 
 " I'm glad you like it," said she, " it's an old rag I've 
 worn for ages. I thought I had given it to my maid. 
 You've seen it often enough." 
 
 " Never till to-day, I could take my solemn oath. Do 
 you think I forget what you wear, or what you say, or 
 what you do, or what you don't ? I sometimes wish I 
 could ! " 
 
 "Humbug! Don't be sentimental. I remember now, 
 the last time you saw me in it you had eyes only for that 
 negro woman with the queer name. You needn't pretend 
 to forget. You know you quarrelled with me for calling 
 her Aunt Sally. What's become of her ? Gone back to 
 the Gold Coast ? " 
 
 His heart smote him. It was injudicious to remind him 
 of a lost love, that he had no idea where to find. The very 
 hopelessness of its renewal gave a zest to the memory of 
 his past attachment, and Mrs. Stripwell had better have 
 conformed to a cautious proverb that bids us " Let sleeping 
 dogs lie." 
 
 " Why do you call her a negro-woman ? She is an Italian. 
 Poor thing ! Don't you know she lost her husband in the 
 autumn ? " 
 
 " Did she ? I wish I could lose mine. He's too tire- 
 
238 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 some. Wrote to say he should be back from Melton 
 yesterday, and telegraphs this afternoon that he won't 
 be here for a fortnight." 
 
 " I'm sure he's not much in your way when he is here." 
 
 " You don't know. But that's a different question. 
 What I hate is being put out in my arrangements. If I 
 had known I could have gone with you to-night to the 
 Nonsuch. I should like to. see this new thing ; they say 
 it's good fun." 
 
 " You can come now. I'll order stalls at once." 
 
 "But I promised Algy to dine with his mother and 
 sisters." 
 
 " Throw him over." 
 
 " How like a man ! I'm not sure I shan't, all the same. 
 I hear that conceited Mr. Delapre makes up into a capital 
 gipsy. Good gracious, Lord St. Moritz ! it has just dawned 
 on me. Your heart is hankering after the dark people still. 
 I believe your black love is a gipsy. That's why you want 
 to go to-night! " 
 
 " How very unfair ! I was going on purpose to take 
 you." 
 
 " But poor little Algy will break his heart if I disappoint 
 him. You can't think how he feels it, dear thing." 
 
 This was an opportunity to carry the war into the enemy's 
 country, " Little Algy," as she called him, being a stalwart 
 guardsman six feet high, whom Mrs. Stripwell had promoted 
 to her service during the temporary inconstancy of Lord St. 
 Moritz, much to the disturbance and detriment of a fine 
 young officer. The poor boy was horribly in love, and, it is 
 needless to say, \erjy miserable, suffering in such hands the 
 tortures that render men hereafter women-haters for life. 
 What volumes might be written on the wrongs reciprocally 
 inflicted by the sexes, and the inevitable combats in which 
 wounds are dealt freely and quarter so sparingly shown. 
 Happily these rallies are soon over, for they seem very 
 sharp while they last, and " the weakest must go to the 
 wall." 
 
 " I wish you would let ' poor little Algy ' alone. You 
 told me you had broken with him and described the scene, 
 which must have been tiresome enough. How can you go 
 on playing fast and loose ? It's not fair on him — or me 1 " 
 
A NEW PLAT 239 
 
 " You ! " she langhed out in perfect good-hnmour, ** of 
 all people in the world, to complain of one's having two 
 strings to one's bow ! Now, don't be selfish, and don't be 
 exacting! I onlj want to see the second thing, and it 
 begins at nine. I'll dine with Algy's belongings first, and 
 go to the play afterwards with you, there ! " 
 
 " Shall you bring your dear Algy? If so, I had better 
 take an additional stall." 
 
 " Nonsense ! You know quite well I shall do nothing of 
 the kind. Now you must go, for I expect mamma. Fancy 
 her lecturing me yesterday about Somebody ! Ain't you 
 flattered?" 
 
 " I hope mamma's warning had the usual effect, if I am 
 the Somebody." 
 
 " Don't be conceited. Send round to let me know the 
 numbers of our stalls, before I go to dinner." 
 
 " I'll wait for you at the door. You won't like going 
 into the theatre alone." 
 
 " How chivalrous I It's rather nice of you too. Good- 
 bye." 
 
 So Lord St. Moritz took Bond Street on the way to his 
 club, and secured two stalls for that night's performance at 
 the Nonsuch, missing by five minutes a dark handsome 
 woman in deep mourning, who had been scanning a ground- 
 plan of the theatre vnth much attention, professing an 
 earnest desire to witness firom the front row a new melo- 
 drama, called " Gipsy John ; or. The Romany's Revenge." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX 
 
 A NEW PLAY 
 
 Bbltbnebeosa enjoyed the theatre like a child. Her 
 experience of dramatic amusements was exceedingly limited, 
 but she loved the stage from her heart, even to the glare of 
 the footlights and smell of the gas. Taking her walks 
 abroad, she had seen certain shrivelled old men parading 
 Regent Street, placarded before and behind with advertise- 
 ments of the new melodrama, in letters six inches long. 
 
240 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 It looked very tempting, particularly as she had, in every 
 sense of the word, been behind the scenes of the little 
 theatre, which, according to the papers, overflowed nightly 
 with applauding spectators of " Gipsy John ; or, The 
 Romany's Revenge." 
 
 Such a title, too, enlisted her sympathies and suggested 
 amusement. It would be curious, she thought, to observe 
 how far, with the assistance of dress, decoration, gaslight, 
 and the actor's art, dramatic life could be made to differ 
 from real. She promised herself a treat, and resolved not 
 to be disappointed. 
 
 Wearing deep mourning, with all its details, from her 
 jet earrings to her black fan, in the best possible taste, 
 Beltenebrosa took her place in the front row, next the 
 orchestra, soon after the Nonsuch had opened its doors, to 
 sit through some flimsy dance-music and rather a heavy 
 farce, with commendable patience and good-humour. She 
 felt like a miner wha emerges into the light of day- If not 
 of the world, she was in the world once more, and her 
 spirits rose, as rise a charger's at the trumpet-blast, with 
 the sights and sounds of a well-remembered battlefield. 
 The soft rustle of skirts, the wave of white-gloved hands, 
 the scent of patchouli, and heavy fragrance of hot-house 
 flowers could not fail to recall a thousand joys, triumphs, 
 impossible fancies and delights. It seemed as if she had 
 come back at last to living realities, from seclusion in the 
 cloister or the grave. 
 
 Her husband had been dead so short a time, that she did 
 not care to be recognised, and kept her face persistently 
 directed towards the stage ; but there never was woman yet 
 who could not see clearly through the back of her head, and 
 she knew as well as the boxkeeper five minutes after they 
 entered the house, that Lord St. Moritz and Mrs. StripweU 
 were sitting two rows behind her, noting the while every 
 detail of that lady's dress — ^how well it was put on, how 
 little it covered her, and how much it must have cost. 
 
 Poor Algy, too, from a private box, was directing hungry 
 looks through a pair of opera-glasses at the same object. 
 To Prance, who sat next her, on one side, Mrs. Stripwell 
 was but a flirting, worldly, commonplace woman, too much 
 dressed — ^perhaps too much undressed, wearing, he 
 
A NEW PLAY 241 
 
 suspected, a touch of artificial black in her eye-lashes and 
 pink in her cheeks. To the boy who loved her she seemed 
 a peri, an enchantress, a fairy queen, the one type and ideal 
 of beauty almost divine, for which it would be unspeakable 
 happiness to live, unequalled honour to die. 
 
 Perhaps in the whole of that crowded theatre, hers were 
 the only eyes averted from the new melodrama at the rise 
 of the curtain on its first scene, to discover a crescent moon 
 (muslin transparency), and a gipsy encampment covering 
 the stage. 
 
 It was received with enthusiastic approval, not undeserved 
 by BO artistic a grouping of figures in judicious obscurity, 
 that brought out the white smoke of their kettles, and glow- 
 ing embers of the gipsy fires. When the actors were 
 ascertained to be reaUy eating and drinking the excitement 
 could not be repressed. 
 
 Presently they came forward, they listened, they con- 
 versed in gibberish (supposed to be Romany, but Beltene- 
 brosa knew better), they moved about the stage, showing 
 their costumes ; the moon rose, one of the fires blazed up, 
 and through a brightening background, peering from behind 
 a massive pasteboard oak, advanced the manager's well- 
 known figure, swarthy, black-browed, gorgeous in bright 
 attire, not badly made-up to represent the conventional 
 gipsy of an English stage. He was greeted with round 
 after round of applause, and an admirer in the gallery pre- 
 maturely vociferated " Encore ! " 
 
 It was Mr. Delapre who bowed to the audience, the bold 
 captain of a predatory band, who turned proudly to his 
 followers and intimated the approach of travellers, strangers 
 of distinction, whose carriage had broken down in the forest, 
 reminding them that the traditions of their race insisted on 
 the hospitable reception of these wayfarers, and immediate 
 performance of the following ditty with its chorus : 
 
 GIPSY JOHN. 
 
 The gipsy fires are shining, 
 
 The kettle sings a, song, 
 And stomachs want their lining, 
 
 That are empty aU day long. 
 Then welcome if you've lost yonr way, 
 
 For daylight's past and gone, 
 IS 
 
242 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 And strangers might do worse than stay 
 To house with Gipsy John I 
 
 So dip your fingers in the stew, 
 
 And drink a cup to me ; 
 I'll fill again, and drink to you 
 A health in Bomany 1 
 
 I iope you'll like your dinner — 
 
 But it's not polite to brag — 
 And as I'm a living sinner. 
 
 It has cost me not a mag I 
 That loaf is oU the baiUfi's board, 
 
 A rich eur-mud-ge-on ! 
 The rest comes mostly from my lord. 
 
 Purloined by Gipsy John 1 
 
 Then dip your fingers, &o. 
 
 There's fowl of many a feather, 
 
 There's a turkey-poult and hen, 
 A moorcock off the heather, 
 
 A maUard from the fen, 
 A leash of teal, a thumping goose. 
 
 As heavy as a swan ; 
 He ought to wear his waistcoat loose 
 
 Who dines with Gipsy John ! 
 
 Then dip your fingers, &o. 
 
 And when your brains are turning. 
 
 And you're only fit for bed. 
 Those lamps in heaven are burning 
 
 To light you overhead : 
 Till waking up, refreshed and bright, 
 
 When stars grow pale and wan, 
 Tou'Il swear they pass a cosy night 
 
 Who lodge with Gipsy John 1 
 
 Then dip your fingers, &o. 
 
 The birds of air shall call you. 
 
 They are stirring with the day. 
 No mischief shall befall you 
 
 TUl we've set you on your way ; 
 And when you've left the wanderer's camp 
 
 To travel blithely on. 
 Be kind to some poor tinker-tramp. 
 And think of Gipsy John 1 
 
 Then dip your fingers, <fec. 
 
 This characteristic ebullition afforded leisure for three 
 travellers to appear from the side scenes, and stand about 
 in uncomfortable attitudes while receiving their musical 
 welcome, laying their heads together as if imparting con- 
 fidences of a mysterious nature. What is it that actors and 
 carriage-horses whisper to each other during a short respite 
 from their respective duties ? 
 
A WJBW ^IiAY 243 
 
 Presently the new comers, advancing to the footlights 
 Mnth backs turned, not very politely, to their picturesque 
 host, commenced rather a tedious conversation in well- 
 chosen phrases, &om which it appeared that the taller was 
 Hospodar, whatever that may mean, of a district called 
 Podolia ; that his friend was a Hungarian nobleman, a 
 cousin, a confidant, or a secretary ; and that the third was 
 the Hospodar's valet, Fritz, in a hussar uniform, with a 
 red nose and jocose tendencies, prone to impede the action 
 of the piece. 
 
 Meanwhile, Lufra, a young gipsy beauty, easily recog- 
 nised by the habitual playgoer as Miss Mountcharles, had 
 stolen forward to listen, expressing with hands, shoulders, 
 and eyebrows how strong an impression was made on her 
 innocence by the appearance and manners of these visitors. 
 
 Their dress, indeed, seemed sufficiently startling. The 
 Hospodar wore a long tunic, reaching to his knees, trimmed 
 with far, gold lace on his trousers, and, as a convenient 
 appendage for a gentleman travelling through Europe in his 
 own carriage, an enormous pair of brass heel-spurs. The 
 secretary, whose proper title appeared to be Count Randolph, 
 was clad in tights and hessian boots, with a white hat and 
 closely-buttoned brown frock-coat, on the breast of which 
 glittered an enormous tinsel star. Fritz, whose military 
 costume has already been mentioned, flapped about with a 
 sabretache, but no sword ! 
 
 Presently, as the action progresses, certain situations 
 arise, of considerable dramatic power, and there is some 
 good acting, notably on the part of Miss Mountcharles, who 
 shades off, with nice delicacy of touch, the imperceptible 
 gradations by which a young girl's interest grows to sym- 
 pathy, admiration, and love. The Hospodar, captivated 
 from the first by Lufra's swarthy charms, advances, with 
 marvellous rapidity, in her good graces (for the carriages 
 are ordered at eleven), and obtains, in a few minutes, a 
 confession of attachment, delivered frankly enough while 
 she looks over his shoulder in Count Eandolph's face. 
 These are fine times for Mr. Delapr6, who rants and rolls 
 his eyes in paroxysms of very excusable jealousy, Lufra 
 being the betrothed of Gipsy John, and, taking his cue from 
 a great star in Othello, indulges himself with much posture- 
 
244 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 making, contortion, and gnashing of teeth, writhing, 
 gesticulating, and, in the language provided by the talented 
 author — 
 
 Gnawing his heart, as wild dogs month a bone. 
 
 It is quite in accordance with reality that little privacy 
 should be found in a gipsy camp, so they all overhear each 
 other if anything of importance is to be commimicated, thus 
 helping on the piece, as, when deeds of violence are contem- 
 plated, everybody is at hand, and endless opportunities are 
 afforded the comic servant of interposing to prevent blood- 
 shed, with a facetious insolence that might be dangerous, if 
 Hospodars were an irritable race. 
 
 However, there is some pleasant love-making by moon- 
 light, and Miss Mountcharles — ^perhaps not experienced in 
 this line — acquits herself with so much spirit as to draw 
 down a handsome bouquet, thrown from a private box. It 
 destroys the illusion, that the gipsy should leave her forest- 
 glades, come to the footlights, arfd curtsy, pressing the 
 flowers to her heart. But what would you have ? These 
 compliments must be acknowledged; and though a shy 
 young man, who discharged the missile, shrinks back and 
 draws his curtain. Miss Mountcharles knows whence it 
 comes, no doubt, and is grateful. 
 
 Recalled to a sense of her situation — as promised vrife of 
 a gipsy, and beloved of a Hospodar — she expresses contri- 
 tion by word and action, but allows herself, none the less, 
 to be inveigled to a carriage standing in the background ; 
 when Gipsy John rushing from the wings to oppose her 
 elopement, a pistol is fired off by the Hospodar, and a general 
 row ensues, bringing down the drop-scene on a well-arranged 
 to&Zeaw of flashing knives, brandished staves, and gesticulating 
 gipsies, whose chief, but slightly wounded, points, with 
 extended arm, to Lufra senseless in the midst, supported 
 by Coimt Randolph and the Hospodar. 
 
 This drop-scene, too, is justly admired. It displays a 
 tribe of gipsies on the march, apparently through the 
 Pyrenees, with mules, donkeys, and a shaggy pony, the 
 principal figures calling to mind certain well-known repre- 
 sentations, by old masters, of the Flight into Egypt. 
 
 And now people begin to talk and stretch themselves. 
 
THE SECOND ACT 245 
 
 The ladies make good use of their fans and converse with 
 their admirers, while these yawn, stand up, and turn round 
 to survey the house. 
 
 Lord St. Moritz, who has heen unusually attentive to the 
 business of the stage, finds time to look about him. Sud- 
 denly he starts, and scarcely represses an exclamation of 
 surprise unnoticed by Mrs. Stripwell, who, vouchsafing a few 
 civilities to Prance, is wondering in which of those private 
 boxes "poor Algy " has ensconced himself, justly persuaded 
 that he is sure to follow here for the empty gratification of 
 being under the same roof. His lordship has a quick eye 
 and not a bad memory, nor is it possible to mistake the 
 turn of that graceful head, those coils of gleaming black 
 hair. All his old feelings come back with a rush, and he 
 would make any sacrifice only to take Beltenebrosa by the 
 hand once more. But he must bide his time. Mr. Delapre, 
 a judicious caterer for the public, allows no long intervals of 
 waiting, and already a bell is ringing to announce the con- 
 tinuation of the piece. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE SECOND ACT 
 
 The audience have been judiciously packed, the fi:ee list is 
 represented in all parts of the house, and rounds of applause 
 greet the re-appearance of Mr. Delapre, dressed out in the 
 height of fashion as a stage dandy of uncertain period. His 
 wristbands are turned back over his coat-cuffs, his boots are 
 resplendent with varnish, his frock-coat is buttoned, and he 
 wears spurs, though ostensibly spending the evening with 
 noblemen from every part of Europe in a Parisian resort 
 famished like a palace, which professes to be a high-class 
 club devoted to high-class play. 
 
 Fruit, flowers, tall champagne-bottles, and pyramids of 
 burnished plate, highly gilt, are piled upon a buffet at the 
 back, while in front near the footlights is drawn a card-table, 
 firom which the players have lately risen, leaving great heaps 
 of gold to mark the places where they sat. 
 
246 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 Our friend the Hospodar Beems to have heen a heavy 
 loser. He is accompanied by Count Randolph, and attended 
 by Fritz, who carries a portfolio with an enormous lock and 
 key. None of these have made the slightest alteration in 
 their dress since we saw them last among the gipsies in the 
 great forest. Their host's disguise, on the contrary, is so 
 complete that they betray no suspicion of his identity, 
 accepting him, as it would seem, for a Prince of the Holy 
 Roman Empire, claiming no particular nationality, and 
 addressing him, for no obvious reason, as " Excellency " at 
 every second word. 
 
 Mr. Delapr6 is playing his very best. It is plain to see that 
 he revels in his part. The high and mighty manners, the 
 over-done courtesies, the bowing and bending and waving of 
 arms are exceedingly to his taste, and he plumes himself 
 on certain delicate by-play, in which he suffers the habits of 
 the vagrant to peep through the polish of the gentleman ; 
 as when, after quaffing a tall goblet of champagne, he wipes 
 his mouth on his coat-sleeve ; and again, lighting a cigar, 
 holds the match in the hollow of his two hands, like one 
 who is accustomed to smoke his pipe in the breezes of an 
 open moor. 
 
 It is no sham cigar. Ladies in the farthest row of the 
 stalls can smell it distinctly, and the audience are much 
 gratified : they appreciate, no doubt, a realism which, im- 
 proving on Horace's advice, thus appeals to a third sense for 
 the truth of dramatic representation. 
 
 The Hospodar does not smoke. Perhaps his losses have 
 affected his digestion ; they seem to have been enormous, 
 and have found their way into the pockets of the Prince. 
 The loser clanks about the stage, nevertheless, with bom- 
 bastic allusions to his serfs, his title-deeds, and his estates, 
 quaffs champagne, turns his chair three times for luck, and 
 sits down to play Scarte with the winner for what he calls 
 " the doubtful hazard of the whole amount," or, in plain 
 English, " double or quits." 
 
 Here the gipsy is in his element. Constant practice in 
 fortune-telling has enabled him to do with the cards what he 
 likes, and Mr. Delapre, shuffling the pack, lets his audience 
 into the secret by performing two or three ingenious tricks. 
 The Hospodar, in the meantime, summons Fritz with the 
 
THE SECOND AOT 247 
 
 portfolio, which seems to contain His Excellency's title- 
 deeds, and prepares to join battle with all the resources at 
 his command. 
 
 It is a thousand pities that our husiness and, for that 
 matter, our pleasures, cannot be disposed of as expeditiously 
 in real life as on the stage. An actor, with a slap on its 
 page, reads a letter at one sidelong glance, and dashes off 
 a cheque for a thousand in a quarter; the time it takes you 
 or me to write one for a hundred. He is no more dilatory 
 at his toilet or his meals. Three turns of his cloak, and 
 one pull at his hat, serve for complete disguise. He can 
 drink to intoxication in a few seconds, and his dinner is 
 finished almost as soon as he has sat down. It is no wonder, 
 then, that in two of the quickest games ever played at cards, 
 the Hospodar should have lost all his ready money 'and 
 available resources; so that, in a hollow voice, betraying 
 uncontrollable agitation, he challbnges his antagonist td a 
 third, unlocking the portfolio handed him by Fritz, and 
 placing on the table, at his stakes, a small document tied 
 up in red tape, purporting to be the title-deeds of his 
 Podolian estates. 
 
 Count Randolph and Fritz are looking on. The com- 
 pany, leaving their own games unfinished, have gathered 
 round. Mr. Delapr6, cutting the pack, performs deftly 
 enough, yet so distinctly that it is patent to his audience, 
 the old trick of palming the king, and marks him with a 
 diabolical scowl, that changes through a sneer to a smile, as 
 he meets his adversary's eye. 
 
 The Hospodar shades his brow with his hand. When he 
 withdraws it, his face is deadly pale. He trembles so that 
 he can hardly deal the cards, and presently, uttering an 
 exclamation of despair, rises, advances to the footlights, 
 and proclaims to prompter, fiddlers, and occupiers of the 
 stalls, that he is a ruined man ! 
 
 It seems, however, that the amusements are to conclude 
 with a ball, given by the club ; for at this juncture the card- 
 tables are cleared away, the back of the stage discloses a 
 brilliant chandelier and crowded dancing-room; couples 
 advance to the firont, ofBcers in red, diplomatists iji blue, 
 ladies rouged, jewelled, and in the shortest petticoats. 
 Lufra, now Her Excellency, the admired of all, whirls away 
 
B48 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 for a waltz in Count Eandolph's arms. The Hospodar 
 stands immovable, staring into vacancy; Mr. Delapre, 
 posing for Mephistopheles, contemplates his victim ; the 
 drop-scene falls, and Beltenehrosa, taking courage to steal 
 a look round, finds Lord St. Moritz has vanished, and his 
 place is occupied by a young man she never saw before. 
 
 Now, during the conclusion of the foregoing act, there 
 had been as much by-play on one side of the footlights as 
 on the other. Lord St. Moritz was resolved to have a word 
 with Beltenebrosa when she left the theatre, but did not see 
 his way to an interview so long as he was in charge of Mrs. 
 Stripwell, whom he could not leave unattended in such a 
 place as this. Catching sight of " poor Algy " in the back 
 of a private box, and stimulated perhaps by the genius of 
 the locality, a plan of escape occurred to him which he lost 
 no time in carrying out. 
 
 The evening was mild, the house crowded ; Mrs. Stripwell 
 fanned herself without cessation, for, although in winter, 
 the temperature was unpleasantly high. 
 
 ** You feel it, I see," he whispered in his companion's 
 pretty little ear, which had turned a deeper pink than usual. 
 Don^t it make you quite faint ? " 
 
 "Faint!" she repeated in the same tone, with some 
 scorn; "not a bit. Why should it? What makes you 
 ask?" 
 
 " Simply because I feel so myself, Mrs. Stripwell ; don't 
 consider me a brute if I desert you for ten minutes to get a 
 breath of fresh air, Think what a false position I should 
 be in if I fainted dead away anywhere but at your feet ! " 
 
 " There wouldn't be much room," she answered, laugh- 
 ing. "And I won't have you on my knee. Yes, you'd 
 better go, and come back when you feel better." 
 
 So he snatched up his hat and overcoat, to sidle out with 
 many apologies over the feet and dresses of some half-score 
 acquaintances. 
 
 Once clear, he lost no time in finding the box occupied by 
 " poor Algy," and tapping at the door, which was opened by 
 that guardsman himself, called him into the passage. 
 
 " Algy," said he, " you can do me a great favour, and I 
 think it will be no trouble to you : taking care of the ladies 
 is all in your line." 
 
THE SECOND AOT 249 
 
 " "What is it ? " asked Algy, not very cordially disposed 
 towards his visitor, but mollified — as who would not be at 
 twenty ? — ^by the inference his compliment conveyed. 
 
 "Well, I'm obliged to leave the theatre, you see, and 
 Mrs. Stripwell has no one to look after her. Would you 
 nind taking my place, and getting her carriage, and all 
 tkit? Will it bore you?" 
 
 Bore him ! Did it bore William of Deloraine to look on 
 daylight once more when he had lingered " long months 
 three in dungeon dark " of the feudal enemy he yearned to 
 see restored to life that he might have the pleasure of 
 killing him on his own account ? Does it bore the camels 
 of the desert, the oxen of the Transvaal, to see and smell 
 the water-pool for which their very hearts are athirst? 
 Does it bore the Swiss to revisit his mountains, the miser 
 to reclaim his gold, the bee to revel in the petals of the rose ? 
 Algy seemed so much bored with his lordship's request, he 
 could hardly gasp out a delighted assent. 
 
 " The stall is number eleven," said the latter, buttoning 
 up his coat : " this side of the house ; you will have no 
 difficulty in finding it. Tell her I'm very much afiraid I 
 shall not be able to come back." 
 
 I wonder what he did tell her when he sank into the Seat 
 by her side with a feeling of actual physical relief, after the 
 tortures of pique, vexation, and jealousy undergone in the 
 private box &om which he had been watching the graceful 
 head and white shoulders, that could never be his own — 
 that, his better reason often told him, wouldn't if they 
 could. What folly, what madness it all was ! And yet to 
 this day he can look back on the short, sweet, sinful dream, 
 as his one glimpse into Fairyland. Yes, when our eyes are 
 touched with the enchanted herb, this bewildering region 
 looks like the true Paradise ; but few of us have Thomas 
 the Rhymer's luck to escape before that fatal term arrives 
 which renders us amenable to the tax fi:om hell. 
 
 All he did say, depend upon it, was not a quarter of what 
 was in his head, a tithe of what was in his heart. She 
 would have liked him better, perhaps, had he been more 
 voluble and less sincere. 
 
 He was young, and could therefore plead more excuse for 
 his folly than Lord St. Moritz. The one drowned heart, 
 
250 BLACK BTJT COMELY 
 
 brain, and Benees in a deep full draught of intoxication ; the 
 other, like an habitual iram-drinker, kept up his excite- 
 ment with frequent sips, always willing to partake, wherever 
 offered, of the stimulating glass. 
 
 It has been observed by more than one author that the 
 devil is never so busy with a man as while he is waiting for 
 a woman. 
 
 It must have been a pertinacious little imp who vas 
 whispering in his lordship's ear, as he turned up the collar 
 of his coat and lit a cigar to hang about the deserted street 
 at the door of the play-house. He felt he had made sure of 
 Beltenebrosa by his speedy exit. Whether she left early or 
 late, he could not miss her now, and the very fact of her 
 being in London argued a loneliness that must prove 
 favourable to his advances. How noble she looked while 
 she turned her profile to examine the house ! Mourning 
 only added to the brilliancy of her eyes and smile. She 
 was pale, indeed, but no paler than usual; perhaps a trifle 
 fuller in figure than when he saw her last at Combe-Wester, 
 and, if possible, more beautiful. She had not been pining 
 for hi/m, that seemed clear enough, and he liked her all the 
 better. Where would he ever see such a woman again? 
 What was Lady Goneril — what were a hundred Mrs. 
 Stripwells compared to this paragon ? Why not marry her 
 now she was free, and become a respectable member of 
 society once more? 
 
 If the little imp had only whispered, "Perhaps she 
 wouldn't marry you," his lordship might have thought of the 
 matter seriously ; but it did nothing of the kind : on the 
 contrary, it reminded him of his many conquests, of his 
 general popularity, of his experiences with the unfortunate 
 lady now in her grave, whom he had once led to the altar ; 
 and again came over him the insuperable aversion to domestic 
 restraint that had become ingrained in his very being. 
 
 " There is no occasion for the sacrifice," he said to him- 
 self, wondering how long this third act would last, and what 
 excuse he should make to Madame Paravant, nie Beltene- 
 brosa, for intruding himself so far as to ask for a lift in her 
 carriage home. Of course she had a carriage ; if a hired 
 brougham, so much the better : its driver would be devoid 
 of cm'iosity on any subject unconnected with beer. Of in- 
 
," TEE B0MANT8 BEVENGE " 251 
 
 terruption from Mrs. Stripwell he had no fear. That lady 
 could keep a dozen admirers on hand with perfect equa- 
 nimity, but the one who was present always had the call, and 
 he felt persuaded she would have eyes and ears only for the 
 blissftd Algy, if she came out of the house on his arm, and 
 permitted him to wind a provoking little cloud of woollen 
 work she affected round her dainty chin. 
 
 "How he dotes on her, poor boy!" thought Lord St. 
 Moritz, tumiag in his walk at the nearest lamp-post, with a 
 cynical smile. " He loves the very ground she treads, and 
 thinks she can do no wrong. What a fool he is ! and, by 
 Jove, what a fool I am too ! I'll be hanged if it isn't begin- 
 ning to rain ! " 
 
 CHAPTEE XLI 
 
 Ix seems a pity to lose the last act, culminating in a catas- 
 trophe by no means original, but sufficiently far-fetched to 
 delight a public that, naturally enough, require on the stage 
 improbabUities more striking than it meets with at home. 
 
 Beltenebrosa, thoroughly interested in the action of the 
 piece, suffers not a word nor look of the principal performer 
 to escape her, following Mr. Delapre with her eyes in such 
 earnest attention as would be exceedingly flattering to that 
 gentleman were he not so absorbed in his own part that he 
 can think of nothing else. His place, too, is at the back 
 of the scene, which now represents a terrace opening from 
 the ball-room, studded with huge stone vases fiill of flowers, 
 overlooking gardens like those of Versailles — silvered with 
 sparkling fountains, gemmed in coloured lamps, and bordered 
 by a dim, well-wooded landscape, that stretches to the 
 horizon under a pale glimmer of dawn. In front, while 
 striding to and fro as contemplating some desperate measure, 
 the Hospodar imparts to that eligible coufldant, Hussaf 
 Fritz, his irremediable ruin, and the fatal resolution it 
 compels him to adopt. 
 
 " The bark," says he, launching on the strain of meta- 
 phor in which a man ordinarily addresses his valet, " reft of 
 
252 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 its helm, drives hopeless to the rock! Stripped of her 
 plumes, the eagle falls to earth 1 " 
 
 Fritz stares — as well he may — while Mr. Delapre, cloaked 
 to the chin, and not the least concealed by the stone 
 vases behind which he prowls, mutters " Hist ! " very loud 
 and with such emphasis as calls attention to a coming 
 declaration from the Hospodar that he means to blow his 
 own brains out before sunrise. Fritz, much affected, but 
 preserving the comic side of his character, endeavours to 
 dissuade his master from so irrevocable a step, reminding 
 him of Lufra, when the Hospodar embarks in a high-flown 
 and tedious harangue, enlarging on the many estimable quali- 
 ties of that young person, and his regret, which seems in no 
 way to affect his determination, that they must soon be 
 parted for ever ; concluding that he will " retire to yonder 
 chamber for an hour, to pen the last directions and farewell. 
 This friendly weapon, loaded to my hand, acquittance shall 
 afford with full release. And harkye ! even as to-morrow's 
 sun comes up, my Fritz, the Hospodar goes down ! " 
 
 So this doomed noble " retires up," and the Prince comes 
 forward from behind his flower-vases to dash a tear-drop 
 from his eye, and smite his breast hard with clenched fist, 
 as denoting intentions of immediate action, to be explained 
 in a soliloquy, that is happily interrupted by the appear- 
 ance of Lufra, in her ball-dress, kissing her fingers to a 
 partner she has left at the wings, obviously on her way to 
 husband, cloak-room, carriage, and bed. 
 
 Startled by the presence of His Excellency, whom she 
 does not in the least recognise for her gipsy lover, she 
 nevertheless gives him her hand vdth touching confidence. 
 Mr. Delapre having the stage to himself, plays up to the 
 situation with unbounded satisfaction. Pique, scorn, jealousy, 
 and, to use the powerful language of the dramatist, 
 
 The ashes of an unextinguished fire, 
 That burned so fiercely once in this fond heart, 
 Whose tablets bear the brand of Lufra's name 
 Scored to the quick in characters of flame 1 
 
 — all this has to be represented, besides a sentiment of 
 generosity that struggles hard with less worthy considera- 
 tions, and gains the ascendancy at last. 
 
" THE BOM ANTS BEVENOE " 258 
 
 " Charles Kean could have done it," thinks Mr. Delapre, 
 " and perhaps Macready ; nobody else that ever walked the 
 boards, I firmly believe, but your humble servant ! " 
 
 His Excellency, assuming the part of Mario as Don 
 Giovanni in the supper scene, a delineation of the polished 
 rouS that can never be surpassed, congratulates the lady on 
 her looks, her dress, her dancing, and her good spirits. 
 She is happy no doubt, as she deserves to be, with her 
 husband ; and he ! what an enviable lot seems his ! How 
 true the proverb that love makes amends to those who have 
 bad luck at cards ! Bad luck ! She suspected, nay, she 
 feared it. His Excellency must not detain her ; she ought 
 to be at her husband's side in his distress. He loves her, 
 do you see ? and nobody else can console him ! 
 
 His Excellency would not detain her on any considera- 
 tion, but he does not let go of her hand, catechising her 
 with a persistency for which he deserved to have his ears 
 boxed. Does she love the Hospodar honestly, from the 
 bottom of her heart ? Has she no thoughts but for him ? 
 Does she never spare one single sigh for another ? 
 
 Lufra covers her face with her hands — the best actress 
 cannot blush through a quarter of an hour without an inch 
 of paint — and confesses by her disorder that it is possible 
 there might be a somebody else, only the Hospodar is so 
 kind, so indulgent, so fond of her. No, she would be 
 miserable away from him. She must go to him now ! Gipsy 
 John is touched, believing himself not wholly forgotten. 
 
 And if the Hospodar were in trouble, argues His Excel- 
 lency, pursuing the unwelcome subject, if he were in diifi- 
 culties, if he were r-r-ruined I and by his own folly, what 
 then? Would she not leave him to his fate, and take 
 refuge with that other for whom she yet cherishes some 
 kindly remembrance in her heart ? How can he ask ? His 
 Excellency might find more worthy themes for jesting than 
 a woman's holiest feelings, or is this done to try her? 
 Were the Hospodar ruined, nay, were he even disgraced, 
 she would fly to him the faster, bringing help if she could, 
 love, sympathy, and comfort, if help were beyond her power. 
 
 A husband never needed more the presence of his wife, 
 continues His Excellency, observing that he scorns to jest 
 or trifle ; his heart is too heavy ; and only in deep and 
 
254 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 desperate play can it find distraction from undying regret. 
 At such a pastime fortune favoured him to-night. He has 
 won from the i&ospodar everything that nobleman possessed 
 in the world, except (with a satanio grin) his wife. If she 
 believes him not, he can furnish proof. There ! — he flings 
 at her feet the document before mentioned, tied up in its 
 red tape. Here are the title-deeds conveying possession of 
 castles, forests, serf — in short, a whole principality within 
 the frontiers of Podolia. Hold ! for she pounces at it like a 
 kitten at a ball. That little packet is worth a king's ran- 
 som; shall it not purchase a woman's smile? Ah! will 
 she not think kindly of one who can thus sacriflce the 
 revenues of a kingdom for her sake ? 
 
 Here Mr. Delapre, taking another leaf out of Mario's 
 book, as Faust in the garden, does some strenuous love- 
 makuig — so impassioned, indeed, that MrS. StripweU in the 
 stalls feels less displeasure at the signs Lu&a begins to 
 show of relenting than surprise she should have held out so 
 long ! If Algy could only act like this, or any of them, 
 what a much pleasanter world we should have! How 
 delightful to be assailed in blank verse, with long-resound- 
 ing periods and dramatic gestures to correspond ! Why, 
 oh, why could her own admirers never soar beyond " tre- 
 mendously fetching " and " awfully nice " ? 
 
 There are some things, not many, that a man does better 
 in sport than in earnest. The less respect he entertains for 
 his listeners, the better he succeeds when making speeches 
 or making love. In such rhetorical flights a familiarity, 
 born of constant practice, alone ensures success. Maiden 
 eiforts are usually clumsy productions enough, and the 
 House of Commons, I have been given to understand, is 
 exceedingly tolerant of awkwardness in a first essay ; but 
 the more practical sex are by no means so indulgent in 
 taking the will for the deed ; and a suitor is likely enough 
 to find himself non-suited who boggles, stammers, and 
 cannot get out what he means. 
 
 Mr. Delapre, either on or off the stage, is a glib wooer 
 enough, and seems to advance rapidly in the good graces of 
 Lufra, perhaps reminding her of someone who has made 
 love to her before ; but time and the prompter wait for no 
 man : a sudden brightening of the whole stage with a tinge 
 
" THE B0MANT3 BEVENGE " 255 
 
 of crimson thrown from the sides, that again to quote the 
 dramatist, 
 
 Flushes with rosy light the eastern sky, 
 
 — serves to warn His Excellency that the sun is rising, and 
 no time must he lost if the Hospodar is to he prevented 
 " going down " by his own hand. 
 
 Lufra is In possession of the title-deeds. She has kissed 
 and placed them in her bosom with many professions of 
 gratitude in dumb show. Taking her by the tips of her 
 fingers, as if to lead her out in a miauet, the Prince conducts 
 her to the back of the stage, both walking, for no obvious 
 reason, with extreme caution, on their toes. 
 
 Count Bandolph, still in his frock-coat and hessians, 
 appears for a moment at the side-scenes, expressing by his 
 gestures extreme solicitude for Her Excellency, whom he 
 seems to have been watching since she left the baU-room. 
 Making signs of caution not to be noticed by the Prince, 
 Lufra points to her bosom, as if to assure the Count she has 
 got something safe in that enviable lurking-place ; and he 
 retires, also on tiptoe, apparently well satisfied. The 
 orchestra now plays a few bars in a low key, suggestive of 
 mystery, and indeed apprehension, from " The Lohengrin," 
 while the whole stage becomes obscured, which would be 
 surprising at sunrise did one not remember that the darkest 
 hour of night comes immediately before day ! As the music 
 dies out in low, faint, trembling chords, double doors open 
 at the back of the stage, to discover, in a room furnished for 
 a bed-chamber, the Hospodar leaning pensively against a 
 window-frame, to watch the widening dawn. . Fritz is at 
 hand with a case of duelling pistols, standing in an attitude 
 of respectful and soldierlike attention, prepared to obey 
 orders without demur. 
 
 The Hospodar, murmuring farewell to Podolia, and maun- 
 dering about "his hordes of horsemen " left without a chief, 
 takes one of the weapons from its case, to load it with the 
 utmost nicety, glancing the while at that ever-brightening 
 horizon in which the crimson has now turned to gold. As 
 the rim of an exceedingly red sun peeps above the sky-line, 
 he cocks his pistol, and presses it to his forehead. One 
 
256 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 moment, and Podolia would lose her lord ! but his arm is 
 caught and held down by Lufra, who hangs about his neck, 
 assuring him, with tears and sobs and wild caresses, that, 
 thanks to their preserver — to wit. His Excellency — they are 
 saved ! 
 
 The Prince looks sternly on, and Count Eandolph, who 
 has followed the others, tries to stand aside in an easy 
 attitude, feeling, no doubt, that his presence here is un- 
 called for and superfluous. 
 
 Charged to explain, Lufra, followed by the whole party, 
 advances to the footlights, and with a redundancy of action 
 that displays her well-turned bust and powdered arms to 
 great advantage, draws from her bosom the important title- 
 deeds, to present them in conjugal affection to her husband. 
 With these flies out an envelope that falls at the Hospodar's 
 feet, who, naturally enough, picks it up, and is about to 
 return it politely, when his attention is arrested by the start 
 and half-suppressed shriek of the ovmer, who flings her 
 hands above her head in a gesture of despair. Count 
 Eandolph, too, seems disturbed, advancing with the estab- 
 lished half-stride, fall stop, and regulation glare. 
 
 The Hospodar, pistol in hand, looks from one to the 
 other, tears open the paper, and finds what he is pleased to 
 term " the blasting sight " of the Count's photograph, vnth 
 certain impassioned lines that leave no doubt of his wife's 
 infidelity. He raises his arm and covers his enemy with 
 deadly aim ; Lufra throws herself at his feet in wild de- 
 spair; His Excellency, emerging from his cloak, stands 
 revealed as Gipsy John, contemplating the group with 
 scowls of fiendish scorn, and the curtain falls ; .while Mrs. 
 Stripwell, collecting her wraps, hastens into the passage, 
 not waiting to see Mr. Delapre lead Miss Mountcharles 
 across a narrow strip of stage at the footlights, vdth many 
 sidelong bows and obeisances to acknowledge the ovation in 
 which the audience bid them good-night. 
 
 "What do you think of it?" she asks Algy, on whose 
 arm she leans, rather heavily, he flatters himself. 
 
 Algy never enjoyed a play so much: he would like to 
 bring her here every night. Why can't he say so, instead 
 of blundering out irrelevant remarks concerning Miss 
 Mountcharles, her rouge, her figure, and personal advan- 
 tages, on or off the stage ? 
 
OVT OF QUOD 257 
 
 Beltenebrosa has nobody to take care of her. How dif- 
 ferent from last season, she thinks rather bitterly, and not 
 without a twinge of regret for the dead husband who had 
 enough generosity to be proud of the admiration accorded to 
 his wife. 
 
 She missed him more than usual to-night, and could not 
 help thinking how conveniently those sturdy shoulders of 
 his would have forced a passage for her through the crowd 
 streaming to the door. She fell back to let them pass, and 
 was one of tiie last to leave the theatre. When she came 
 out it was raining hard, and not a cab to be s^en. 
 
 CHAPTEE XLH 
 
 OUT OF QXIOD 
 
 Lord St. Moritz stood at her elbow. " Good heavens, 
 Signora ! " he exclaimed, using the old familiar expression, 
 " what an unexpected meeting ! How delightful to see you 
 once more ! but you can't stand talking here, you'll be wet 
 to the skin. Where is your carriage ? Take my arm, and 
 let me get you a cab." 
 
 Mechanically she obeyed. There were some rough 
 people about, and a drunken woman was screaming horrible 
 oaths. Lord St. Moritz seemed no unwelcome escort, and 
 — ^yes, after her long seclusion, it was refreshing to meet an 
 admirer again. 
 
 At the &-st lamp-post they haUed a passing cab, the 
 driver of which, an old man, was wrapped in coat and com- 
 forter to the eyes. Before she had time to think what she 
 was doing. Lord St. Moritz asked her address, handed her 
 in, gave the cabman directions, took his place by her side, 
 and shut the door with a bang. The next moment they 
 were jolting along a badly-lighted, badly-paved street, and 
 he was shaking hands with her, quite unnecessarily, a 
 second time. 
 
 I imagine no vehicle in the world is so ill adapted for 
 confidential disclosures, or even general conversation, as a 
 four-wheeled cab. It is confined, uncomfortable, and noisy. 
 
 17 
 
258 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 If the windows are down, mud splashes in from every puddle ; 
 if you pull them up, they jingle so that you cannot hear 
 yourself speak. The cushions are too often dirty and damp, 
 the seats sloping and narrow ; the whole interior redolent of 
 stale tobacco-smoke, mould, and manure. Perhaps, all these 
 disagreeables combined causing Beltenebrosa to desire the 
 conclusion of her drive, led her to notice the streets through 
 which they passed, and to suspect they were taking a round- 
 about way home. 
 
 Like her kinsfolk, she was gifted with an instinctive 
 knowledge of locality, and having seen a place once, would 
 always recognise it again by day or night. She was quite 
 sure she had passed none of these lanes and byways on her 
 way to the Nonsuch Theatre from South Kensington. Some 
 idea of the insult he was trying to put on her roused her 
 temper to the utmost. She desired, in a loud and angry 
 tone, to be set down at once. The words had hardly passed 
 her lips when the cab came to a sudden stop; a heavy 
 figure descended hurriedly from the box ; the door swung 
 open ; a powerful hand was laid on Lord St. Moritz's collar, 
 and a hoarse voice exclaimed in the familiar accents of 
 Fighting Jack, barely six weeks out of prison : 
 
 " Blowed if I wom't sure of it ! Blessed if it ain't my 
 lass ! — my lass that I never thought to set eyes on to again. 
 Don't you be skeered, my pretty. This here swell must be 
 a better man than I take him for if he offers to lay a hand 
 on ye while your old father can stand up to see fair." 
 
 Thus speaking, he pulled Lord St. Moritz out of the 
 vehicle by main force, with a jerk that sent him reeling 
 some paces along the footway. His lordship's blood was 
 tp, and without a moment's reflection he advanced on the 
 cabman with his fists clenched, in an attitude that showed 
 he was not unpractised in the art of self-defence. The old 
 professional laughed with a grim satisfaction almost 
 amounting to good-humour. After his long imprisonment 
 it was delicious — ^nothing else — to open his shoulders and 
 feel the play of his salient muscles once again. He stopped 
 the other's blows coolly, and only sparred at first, as if for 
 the mere pleasure of the thing, till his fighting instinct grew 
 too strong, and, drawing himself together, he sent in one of 
 his terrible left-handers — foot, body, arm, and shoulder lend- 
 
OUT OF QUOD 259 
 
 ing their whole force to a blow before which Lord St. Moritz 
 went down as if he had been shot. 
 
 " The cove worn't much of a glutton," said the old gipsy, 
 relating the circumstances subsequently, with a calm reflec- 
 tive smile. " A' knowed when he'd got enough. But there ! 
 to see him come in on purpose, like, with his guard any- 
 wheres and his mouth open ! — flesh and blood couldn't 
 abide the temptation, and I let hvm have it!" 
 
 At the moment, however, it seemed just possible his lord- 
 ship, who lay perfectly senseless, might never get up again, 
 and a policeman's heavy tread echoing through the neigh- 
 bouring street, Fighting Jack sprang hastily to the box, put 
 his horse into the best apology for a gallop the poor old 
 broken-down jade could afford, and only stopped for further 
 directions when he had come a good mile from the scene of 
 combat. 
 
 That unscrupulous gentleman, whom the passing police- 
 man, with a strong notion that he was in liquor, now occu- 
 pied himself in restoring to consciousness, had omitted to 
 give the cabman Mrs. Paravant's proper address. It was late 
 at night, or rather early in the momiag, when Fighting Jack 
 set lus daughter down at her own door, refusing, with more 
 delicacy of feeling than might have been expected, a hospit- 
 able entreaty that he would come upstairs to refresh himself 
 after his late encounter. 
 
 " Not at the present, I thank ye, my lass," said Jack, 
 with affectionate politeness ; " and I'll not take no fare, 
 neither, not from you, my pretty ! Dry ? In course I'm 
 dry — I'm alius dry. That's wot's the matter o' me. But 
 I knows the rights — ^wot I calls the bearings — of things, as 
 well as here and there one. Father or no father, daughter 
 or no daughter, I ain't fit company for a lady's drawing- 
 room, not till I've a-been home and cleaned myself, and 
 seen to the horse, and taken my forty winks, maybe, and a 
 whiff of a pipe. That's neither here nor there, but to- 
 morrow's a new day." 
 
 Looking at her progenitor as he went his way, Beltene- 
 brosa could not but observe how the weighty arm of the law 
 had bent his powerful frame, and how a few months of penal 
 servitude had added years to his age. 
 
 His shaggy brows, once black as jet, were now grizzled. 
 
260 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 and the dark eyes that used to flash so brightly beneath 
 them had become blear and dim. He stooped too, and 
 though his frame was large and muscular still, he seemed no 
 longer a tower of strength, but rather a fine old ruin 
 mouldering to decay. Like many another athlete, Jack 
 had taken liberties with his constitution, and feeling little 
 inconvenience from their effects, had indulged in ardent 
 spirits with the freedom that too surely entails its own 
 punishment. Cold, fever, privation, excessive watching, 
 unreasonably hard work — these are inimicable to longevity, 
 but not one of them, nor all put together, can kill a man so 
 surely as gin ! It cuts his throat as effectually as a knife, 
 only not from the outside. When Beltenebrosa last saw 
 him on Swansdown Racecourse more than a year ago, 
 Fighting Jack, to use his own expression, was " in the 
 hands of the Philistines." 
 
 These did not get possession of his person without 
 having to pay pretty dear for their prize. Up or down, 
 rough-and-tumble, boxing, wrestling, or contending with his 
 fellow-man in any other way, the old gipsy was a thorough 
 proficient, for attack or defence. One policeman got his 
 nose broke, another gave his evidence before the magis- 
 trates with a fearful pair of black eyes, and a third, brought 
 into court in an arm-chair, swore with much circumstantial 
 detail, in which there was not a particle of truth, that the 
 prisoner had bitten his finger and stamped on him when he 
 was down. 
 
 " I'd scorn to do it ! " said Jack in unaffected indignation. 
 " No, your worships, I've taken and given punishment as 
 fre6 as most, but I never hit a man a foul blow in my life, 
 and I never will." 
 
 As this was the only defence he chose to offer, he found 
 himself committed for trial on more than one serious charge ; 
 and although his people made up a good purse of money to 
 retain a counsel who knew every outlet of the law, and wit- 
 nesses prepared to perjure themselves to any extent, it was 
 no use. A sufficiently lenient judge did but his duty when 
 he sentenced Fighting Jack to a long speU of imprisonment 
 with hard labour in the county gaol. 
 
 For this child of the wilderness such confinement was 
 double the punishment it would have been for the inhabitant 
 
our OF QUOD 261 
 
 of a town. The tough old vagrant pined like a love-sick 
 girl for the song of the birds, the flutter of leaves, the glint 
 of the morning sun on a running stream. Till he was 
 deprived of them, he never knew that these were necessary 
 to his existence as the food he ate, the air he breathed. 
 Had his seclusion in that bare clean whitewashed cell 
 lasted but a few weeks longer, he believed it would have 
 killed him; and old Jack, forced to spend in meditation 
 the leisure he used to beguile with beer and tobacco, 
 wondered what would have become of him then. Was the 
 parson ia downright earnest when he told those surprising 
 yams concerning the two future states ? or only earning his 
 day's pay, and jawing against time — " sparring for wind " 
 the old boxer called it — because it seemed his duty to have 
 something to say ? Altogether, he was disposed to believe 
 that his dissolution would, by some inexplicable process of 
 transmutation, identify bim with the world of nature and 
 the elements he loved, to be about in the morning mists 
 that rolled along the moor, the evening breeze that stirred 
 the leafy brake, hovering in company with his beautiful 
 Shuii, the wife he had not forgotten in twenty years, over 
 the haunts they knew so well and loved so dearly long long ago. 
 
 He was no atheist : few men are. He entertained some 
 vague notions of a mighly Governing Power, a Supreme 
 Being to whom he felt grateful for health, strength, warmth, 
 and sunshine, but whom he believed profoundly indifferent 
 to the doings of mankind, or if concerning Himself on 
 occasion with so inferior an order, according to gipsies a 
 liberty of action not enjoyed by the rest of the human race. 
 
 Jack drew an extremely wide margin for his system of 
 ethics, but would by no means pass his own line of demarca- 
 tion between right and wrong. Perhaps when he sold his 
 famous fight in the pride of his pugilistic fame, he felt more 
 like doing evil than on any other occasion. He told him- 
 self many a time, and did not forget to repeat the reflection 
 in prison, that "things had never gone right with him 
 since, aU round ! " 
 
 When he left the gaol, with empty pockets and an 
 enfeebled frame — ^for in spite of wholesome ^et and enforced 
 temperance, the fretting had worn him down — ^he scarcely 
 knew where to turn for a livelihood. Society is not disposed 
 
262 BLACK BUT OOMELY 
 
 to employ a gipsy at best, but on a gipsy fresh out of prison 
 the most liberal will ine-vitably turn a cold shoulder. The 
 status ante is always a difficult position to resume; for 
 none more so than the culprit who has been condemned by 
 the laws of society, though he may have worked out his 
 sentence in full. We sin against God, and find pardon 
 without punishment over and oyer again ; we sin against 
 man, are beaten with many stripes, and seem never to be 
 freely forgiven after all. 
 
 Though the old gipsy could turn his hand to most things, 
 he had no implements for the prosecution of his former 
 occupations, and a certain dogged sense of honesty, some- 
 what rare in his race, forbade the obvious resource of steal- 
 ing to obtain daily bread. A man cannot make a basket 
 without withies, nor mend a kettle without tools ; and but 
 for the timely help of a Prisoners' Aid Society, Fighting 
 Jack must have starved. He received the welcome gratuity 
 with an astonishment that drowned every other sentiment, 
 even gratitude. 
 
 " Then there is chaps in the world," said he, " and high 
 chaps too, as will pick a man up when he's down ! Well, 
 I am — a " 
 
 He might have expressed himself in less reprehensible 
 language ; but from that day forth, the gipsy thought better 
 of his neighbour, especially his neighbour in purple and fine 
 linen,who fared sumptuously every day. 
 
 His self-respect made the old man averse to seeking out 
 his tribe, who were, besides, at the other end of the kingdom, 
 and applying to them for the assistance that, according to 
 their patriarchal notions, he could claim as a right. He 
 had always been comparatively well-to-do amongst these 
 followers, who called him their Patron, and it seemed a 
 humiliation to ask where he was accustomed to give. Yet 
 he longed wearily to be with them again : yearned for the 
 ragged tents, smouldering fires, and steaming kettles, no 
 less cruelly than did Kingsley's dying chief for the wild and 
 spacious plains of his Tartar home, while he moaned his 
 last wish: 
 
 I would I were back in Canca-land, 
 
 To hear my herdsmen's horn, 
 
 And to watch the waggons and brown brood mares, 
 
 And the tents where I was born. 
 
FOOB RELATIONS 263 
 
 After knocking about the mews and stable-yards of 
 London, Fighting Jack, whose knowledge of horseflesh was 
 not to be despised, succeeded at last in obtaiaing employ- 
 ment as the driver of a four-wheeled cab, and found the 
 situation, which involved much consumption of spirits in 
 the open air, tolerably to his taste. 
 
 He was " down on his luck," though, the wet night Lord 
 St. Moritz hailed him, and had not taken five shillings 
 since breakfast. Wrapped in hia shabby old box-coat, he 
 was driving doggedly on, concerning himself in no way with 
 the destiaation of his fare, lost in a train of thought that 
 carried him with his Shuri far into the past, when in a 
 moment, through the roU and jingle of his vehicle, her 
 unforgotten voice, raised in accents of alarm and danger, 
 thrilled to his very heart. In one second he woke from his 
 dream, the next he recognised his daughter, and having lost 
 little of his promptitude for action, a third scarcely elapsed 
 ere he had leapt down to her rescue, and gone in with fatal 
 effect at the offending nobleman, who ought to have known 
 better than to be there at all. 
 
 CHAPTER XLm 
 
 POOE EBLATIONS 
 
 "No! my dear; but thank ye kindly, just the same; 
 there ain't no call for the like of me to bide along of the 
 like of ye. Not that I could bear to part with ye — never 
 think it ! But there ! I don't seem to get my health, not 
 sleeping night after night under the same roof, and my meals 
 doesn't do me no good, not if I'm fed regular like a swiue ! 
 Now, I shouldn't wonder if you had silver forks every 
 day!" 
 
 Beltenebrosa could not honestly deny it, and felt perhaps 
 less disappointed than she chose to appear at the disinclina- 
 tion to share his daughter's home which her vagabond 
 parent evinced. 
 
 Looking at him by daylight, though he had " cleaned 
 himself" as he threatened, there certainly seemed a want 
 
264 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 of finish in his appearance that was less striking outside a 
 cab than inside a drawing-room. His clothes were shabby, 
 indeed squalid, but that could be rectified ; soap and water, 
 too, applied more freely, would have done much for the 
 improvement of face and hands. Such details were of little 
 importance ; the real curse that had come upon the man 
 was obvious at a glance : his whole person wore the sodden 
 look of one whose chief nutriment is gin. It needed no 
 experience in such matters to convince her that the old 
 gipsy had become a confirmed drunkard, and it was to her 
 credit that Beltenebrosa should have felt a kindly and filial 
 impulse to cure him if she could. 
 
 When he called to see her the morning after their adven- 
 ture, she frankly invited him to come and live with her, 
 moved partly by feelings of gratitude and affection, 
 partly by a sense of loneliness forcibly brought home 
 to her in the events of the previous night. She could 
 provide for him, she said ; she had enough for two. Living 
 under her roof he would be sheltered from exposure to the 
 elements, and — and — ^would not require quantities of alcdhol 
 to withstand their effects. 
 
 Perhaps he saw her drift, for there is no vice so sensitive 
 to discovery or so averse to counsel as habitual drunken- 
 ness ; perhaps a knowledge of the world he had not quite 
 forgottMi warned him such companionship miist prove dis- 
 tasteful to both, or, more probably still, he felt under 
 surveillance in the presence of this superior being, though 
 she was his daughter, and longed, especially since his 
 imprisonment, for unrestricted liberty of speech and action. 
 So they made an agreement, like most compromises, to the 
 satisfaction of neither, that Jack should take lodgings in the 
 vicinity, which he immediately did at the nearest public- 
 house, should have access to the society of his daughter at 
 stated hours, and that, although no consideration would 
 induce him to pollute with tobacco such splendid apartments, 
 yet, as of course there was usually " wine on the table," he 
 could sit with her in the afternoons while she cleaned up, 
 did her bit of needlework or what not, to partake of a cheer- 
 full glass. 
 
 Then the gipsy, receiving a trifle of wages due, discharged 
 himself from his employer, and disappeared for eight-and- 
 
POOB BELATIONS 265 
 
 forty hours, where or how Beltenebrosa forbore to inquire, 
 not caring to learn that he spent the whole interval between 
 the floor and table of a tap-room, dead drunk. Who has 
 not pitied Sindbad the Sailor for his Old Man of the Sea ? 
 For many days Beltenebrosa bore her mcubus with 
 exemplary patience and resignation. She let him sit by 
 her side hour after hour through the short winter afternoons, 
 so soon dark even in South Kensington, and the long 
 candlelight evenings that dragged so wearily till he went 
 away to what he called his " bit of supper," listening to his 
 maunderings over the wine he insisted on sipping in honour 
 of the position, though he would have much preferred gin. 
 She even nursed him through a sharp fit of " the horrors," 
 tending him with courage and forbearance, notwithstanding 
 that her nerves were sadly shaken by the old gipsy's 
 powers of imagination and description when he fancied him- 
 self in another world. She hoped this would have cured 
 him ; but, no : though he trembled and cried like a chUd, 
 with humble promises of amendment in his utter prostration, 
 no sooner did strength return than he resumed his former 
 habits, and took to drinking worse than ever. 
 
 Nor was this all. In some of the various haunts he 
 frequented he came across his kinsman Jericho : no longer 
 the Jericho of former days — ^blithe, free-hearted, and, 
 except in the matter of game and poultry, comparatively 
 honest; but Jericho a confirmed knave and ruffian, who 
 had graduated through the sciences of chain-dropping, 
 shoplifting, and piclong pockets, into an accomplished 
 criminal, ready for any scheme of plunder how ever iniqui- 
 tous, and living in ease, almost affluence, on the proceeds 
 of his villainy. 
 
 Old Jack's arrest had indeed served to break up the 
 gang : deprived of their leader, they were like sheep without 
 a bell-wether for courage, like pirates without a captain for 
 ferocity. The community became totally disorganised, and 
 it was a mercy — to use Jericho's pious expression — that 
 they did not turn to and rob one another ! Perhaps they 
 only escaped this last degradation because there was so little 
 to take. Tent after tent, family after family, seceded from 
 the encampment, drifting on their several courses to all 
 parts of the kingdom. Some wandered into Yorkshire, 
 
266 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 some crossed the border to Kirk-Getholm in Scotland; a 
 few, amongst them Jericho, cast up at Norwood, Shepherd's 
 Bush, and other haunts near London. Nance married a 
 tinker. This they felt a great blow and deep disgrace, for 
 the favoured suitor could boast only the slightest cross of 
 gipsy blood in his veins. He had certain merits, no doubt, 
 being a returned convict and expert thief; but it was a 
 deplorable alliance, in Jericho's opinion, and but for the 
 Patron's absence would never have taken place. 
 
 " Wot, they missed the old man, did 'em ? " said Jack, 
 when his former follower detailed these particulars of a lost 
 empire. " Aii, them was good times with us aU, when I 
 used to hang out in the old caravan, and never a Eomany 
 of our own lot knew wot it was to want a drain, come when 
 he would, morning, noon, or night. But it's not such a 
 bad berth, Jerry, as I've chanced to run against here, 
 though I do miss the roll of the old wheels ; and if it wasn't 
 for drink, a man would go mad, to open his eyes on the 
 same outlook every morning of his life ! " 
 
 Then Jack explained how and where he had again chanced 
 on his daughter, launching into so flowery a description of 
 her wealth and the luxury in which she lived, as roused all 
 the cupidity of Jericho's nature, and determined him to 
 resume the working of a fertile field that had lain fallow 
 much to long. 
 
 After Paravant's fatal accident, he would doubtless have 
 followed up the widow, for Jericho allowed no sentimental 
 considerations to interfere with that unscrupulous annexa- 
 tion of property which he considered the real business of 
 life, but for one serious difficulty — a case of passing base 
 coin, in the county of Middlesex, which necessitated 
 seclusion for an allotted period, and an avoidance for some 
 time to come of the district in which he had made himself 
 too conspicuous. 
 
 London also is a very large place, where people misa 
 each other qtdte as unaccountably as they meet, and 
 Jericho was deeply concerned to think that Jane Lee, relict 
 of the rich Mr. Paravant, had slipped through his fingers 
 once for all, so the minute intelligence received from his 
 old Patron was welc. me as unexpected. 
 
 The two men were drinking in a dingy parlour, at the 
 
POOR BELATJONS 267 
 
 back of one of those public-houses it is so difficult to find 
 by daylight, within call of Leicester Square. It was 
 eleven o'clock a.m., and they were testing the merits of gin 
 and water as compared with gin and cloves, the Patron, it 
 is unnecessary to observe, preferring the stronger compound. 
 Jericho, dressed in a style he designated " bang-up," which 
 caused him to look like & broken-down billiard-marker, 
 insisted on standing treat, and the Patron, holding a pewter 
 measure lately refilled, was enjoying that placid state of 
 imbecility in which most of his hours were passed. 
 
 " She's a good gal," said be, " and a handsome, beautiful, 
 and dutiful, firee with her money too, like a real lady ; but 
 I could wish as she'd bring herself to trust the old father a 
 bit. She's close, Jerry, that's what she is. It's hard to 
 think sometinies as she's my own child." 
 
 " There's her markg," observed the other. 
 
 " There's her marks," repeated Jack, smacking his lips 
 over the gin and cloves. " If it weren't for her marks I'd 
 swear on a book as she'd been bom a queen. Only to see 
 her walk, Jerry. Blessed if I know whether she does walk : 
 it's more like the sailing of a ship. And to think that's 
 my Shuri'a babby, as kep' me awake crying, night after 
 night, on Leatherhead Common, under the stars. When 
 I've got to die, Jerry, please God I'll do it out o' doors." 
 
 His eye wandered, his tongue seemed growing large in 
 his mouth ; the dreams of his youth, and the cloves, and 
 perhaps the gin, were too much for him. 
 
 " I remember as if it was yesterday," he continued, 
 shaking his head, " old Aunt Eyley she came to supper in 
 our tent, with a needle, and a handful of f gunpowder as she 
 borrowed off of poaching Jim Lovell. 'Name this child,' 
 says she. * Shuri,' says I, ' for the little one is as like her 
 mother as a cygnet to a swan.' * Not a bit of it,' says my 
 Shuri. * We mustn't call it John,' says she, ' because it's 
 a lass; but we'll call it Jane,' says she. 'Prick it in, 
 Aunt Eyley,' says she : ' J for Jane and L for Lee. That's 
 as near as we can get.' How it squeaked, poor little beggar ! 
 And now thry're all gone. Where, Jerry ? That's it. I 
 wish as I know'd. Aunt Eyley, and my Shuri, and plenty 
 more, while little Jane Lee grow'd into a real lady, gloves, 
 and a gold watch, and money in both pockets, and a silk 
 
268 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 gownd on her back, and a slate roof over her head. What's 
 the meaning of it all, Jerry? And how is it worked? 
 That beats me ! " 
 
 But Jerry, who was not drunk enough to embark on such 
 visionary speculations, felt more interest in the present 
 prosperity of Mrs. Paravant, and the advantages he could 
 derive therefrom, than in the future prepared for his whole 
 nation. He questioned the Patron, therefore, pretty 
 narrowly, on the income and belongings of this ornament 
 to the tribe. 
 
 " For," said he, " it seems but fair as she should share 
 and share alike with you and me. She's a Eomany, whether 
 or no : nothing can wash it out of her, not if she married a 
 hundred Gorgios : and being a Bomany, she must abide by 
 Eomany laws. She's broken one of the strictest already, 
 and by rights she ought to be called to account." 
 
 " What ! " exclaimed Jack, in a voice of thunder, that 
 brought the potboy running into the room, when Jericho, 
 with admirable presence of mind, ordered another measure 
 of gin and cloves. 
 
 " Look ye here, my lad ! " and the old boxer laid his for- 
 midable fist on the table : " there was a chap at Guildford 
 Baces, the Hero of Hexham, they called him in the ring, 
 as up and spoke disrespectful of my Shuri. His pals had 
 to lift him into a trap, and take him to Hexham that same 
 artemoon, and it wasn't a matter of three rounds at most. 
 There was a swell, a lord of Parliament, he was, as tried to 
 put an affront on my pretty, only t'other night in London 
 streets. If ever he's come to again, he thinks as a horse 
 kicked him, I know ! 
 
 "Here's your health, Jerry: you're a honest lad, and 
 you means well ; but don't you let your tongue run too fast, 
 a-jawin' about my lass. If you and me was to fall out I 
 might lam you a trick or two of the old trade, and it would 
 be a bad job for both ! " 
 
 So Jericho discreetly changed the subject, but none the 
 less did he resolve, that whatever good fortune had befallen 
 to his gipsy kinswoman, he would have his share. 
 
WE8TWABD HOt 269 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV 
 
 WBSTWABD ho! 
 
 And now her very life became a burden to Beltenebrosa 
 under their exactions. The elder claimed her time, the 
 younger gipsy her money, ■without scruple or apology, as a 
 matter of right. Old Jack was to be seen reeling up the 
 pretty staircase to the drawing-room floor every afternoon, 
 with unfailing regularity, at the same hour and in the same 
 state ; while Jericho, looking thoroughly like a member of 
 the swell mob in his flash clothes and sham jewellery, wore 
 his hat in her presence, and smoked incessantly, without 
 the slightest regard to proprieties of time or place. The 
 landlady's manner grew suspicious — an elderly gentlewoman, 
 as she called herself, on the ground-floor, gave notice to 
 quit ; and even the servants treated their handsome lodger 
 with less respect than when first she came into the house. 
 They had been very proud of her then, boasting to small 
 tradesmen, followers, and other associates, that she was a 
 foreigner of noble extraction and boundless wealth. Now 
 they wondered if a person who received such friends as Jack 
 and Jericho could be barely respectable, anticipating a 
 solution of the whole mystery at an early date before some 
 worthy magistrate in Bow Street. But that she paid ready 
 money, and always allowed herself to be systematically 
 cheated out of small sums, a detective would have been 
 called in long ago, to find, as usual, very little that he could 
 detect; but even this questionable voucher seemed about 
 to fail her, in consequence of the inroads made on her purse 
 by the low extravagances of her gipsy kinsfolk. Jack, 
 indeed, observed sopie limit in his demands, and so long as 
 he had money enough in his pocket to treat a boon companion, 
 and thoroughly moisten his own clay in a public-house, 
 troubled his daughter only with interminable maunderings 
 about her mother and maudlin professions of affection for 
 herself ; but Jericho was not so easy satisfied, and had her 
 modest hundreds been increased to thousands, it seemed 
 that his repeated inroads would have exhausted them all. 
 Now he required such a suit of clothes fi-om a fashionable 
 
270 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 tailor as should do justice to the good looks he was conscious 
 of possessing ; anon he could not do without a gold watch : 
 all gentlemen wore them, and a gold watch, unlike other 
 ornaments, was as good as a bank-note ; it would fetch its 
 price in sovereigns when he was obliged to put it "up the 
 spout." Small change, too, of course he must have in his 
 pockets. How could he refuse to treat a friend of either 
 sex ? A man must not forego the duties of his position ; 
 and Jericho talked, perhaps felt, as if he were really a person 
 of property and character. Since his enKstment in the rpnks 
 of professional crime, as distinguished from the occasional 
 dishonesty of a gipsy's life, he had found himself well 
 supplied with ready money, and had contracted expensive 
 tastes, foreign to his early habits indeed, but extremely 
 agreeable to his half-savage nature, which he grudged no 
 effort to indulge. It seemed no part of his character to 
 run unnecessary risk, and he was the last man to take the 
 chance of imprisonment, particularly with hard labour, in 
 the acquisition of funds, when he need only swagger up a 
 flight of stairs into a lady's drawing-room, ask for what he 
 wanted, and swagger again. Such rogues never seem to realise 
 the possibility of killing the goose with the golden eggs, of 
 heaping feathers on the camel's back till it breaks ; and he 
 repeated the process over and over again, forgetting that 
 no well is perfectly inexhaustible, and it can only be a 
 question of time how soon the insatiable bucket comes up 
 dry. 
 
 Beltenebrosa was now going through a process which 
 most of us experience at one period or another of our lives, 
 out of which we ought to come improved, and at any rate 
 do come somewhat sobered and reclaimed. According to 
 her lights, which were of the faintest — only a glimmer, so 
 to speak, through palpable darkness — she was endeavouring 
 to do right. Looking back on her past life, how empty it 
 seemed ! how aimless ! how useless ! The very prizes for 
 which she strove were so worthless when won ! the chaplets 
 that crowned her such withered leaves after all ! "What had 
 she tried for ? Happiness ? Yes ; but did she ever attain 
 it, or even a good imitation of it ? Not when she, the gipsy 
 foundling, saw herself an object of envy and admiration 
 among the great ones of the earth. Not on that memorable 
 
WESTWARD HOI 271 
 
 day when she sat at a royal table, and men who were 
 making history in Europe vied with each other to carry her 
 parasol and shawl. Not when she walked by the blue 
 Mediterranean with the young husband who> whatever might 
 have been his shortcomings, thought no price too high for 
 her approval and regard, nor regretted for a moment to have 
 offended relatives, friends, neighbours> and all the prejudices 
 he had imbibed from childhood, to make her his own. Not 
 when she escaped vrith him from these very kinsmen, who 
 now so tormented her, in the memorable ride on Potboy, 
 that frunished keen excitement and an enlivening sense of 
 enterprise — ^nothing more; not when she first tasted the 
 sweets of liberty and independence, leading the life of a 
 lady bachelor in the little street off Long Acre ; no, not 
 even in that moment of triumph, when she saw Mervyn 
 Strange at her feet, and the grave young clergyman, who 
 with his body worshipped her, with half his worldly goods 
 did her endow ! While she looked in his honest loving 
 eyes, she was near the happiness she had dreamed of for a 
 short five minutes, but did not quite attain it even then. 
 
 There must have been something strangely amiss, she 
 began to think, in the objects of her life, and its whole 
 conduct, or she could not have been thus baffled in pursuit 
 of a desire that eluded her so persistently from day to day 
 and from year to year. She had not yet learned her 
 lesson. She did not know that just as all great discoveries 
 are made when science is looking for something else, and 
 men blunder into truth as Columbus blundered into America, 
 so those who seek after Happiness always fail to find her, 
 while she comes of her own free will to visit him who is 
 content to mate vdth Duty, sitting soberly at home. 
 
 Beltenebrosa entertained some vague notion that her 
 legitimate task was to be performed in the care of her 
 dranken old father and reprobate kinsman. It arose partly 
 from a sense of natural affection, instiuctive rather than 
 intelligent, partly from the dislike to solitude and the desire 
 of being necessary to somebody, which are such essential 
 attributes of the female character. 
 
 She tried hard to bear with both her tormentors, but 
 gave way imder the infliction. 
 
 One afternoon, old Jack being fast asleep and helplessly 
 
272 BLAOK BUT COMELY 
 
 drunk in the back drawing-room, Jericho made his appear- 
 ance, with a cigar in his mouth, and a glossy hat, very much 
 aslant, on his head. He made no attempt to remove 
 either of these ornaments from respect to his hostess, and 
 sat himself down on her sofa in a free-and-easy manner, 
 which made her long that her sturdy young husband could 
 come back aUve, if only for five minutes, to kick him out. 
 
 "Sister," said he, knocking the ashes off his cigar with 
 a slender tawny over-ringed &iger, " I wants to have a bit 
 of a chat with you. No, I ain't going to ask for money 
 this time, — ^not a dump ! But it's a matter of business 
 too. I've been thinking a good deal about you of late. 
 It's a rum thing. Sister, you come between me and my 
 sleep." 
 
 " Well? " she asked, rising haughtily to her feet, roused 
 by something in his manner to an impulse of anger and 
 defiance that she could not control. 
 
 He jerked his thumb towards the next room, where Jack's 
 snores could be heard rising and falling in sonorous 
 regularity. " He's failing, sister," said Jericho ; " the 
 Patron's about done. He's on his last legs ; he says so 
 hisself. Now, it's on my mind, this is, and I can't shake it 
 off nohow. Suppose as the Patron was to go under, what's 
 to become of you ? 
 
 She stared at him in angry surprise. " Become of me ! " 
 she repeated. "I don't understand you. If anything 
 should happen to — ^to my father I might perhaps go to 
 Brighton for change of air, and of course I could not have 
 you coming in and out at all hours ; but that is the only 
 difference it would make in my daily Hfe." 
 
 " Steady ! " he interrupted. " You talk big — ^very big. 
 You seem to have forgotten " 
 
 " Forgotten what ? " 
 
 "Your marriage and its price. You haven't worked it 
 out, sister. It's hanging over you now, the same as the 
 first day you left me on my back in the heather to ride off 
 with your Gorgio lover. It's bad enough to marry out of 
 your tribe, but it's death — d'ye mind me ? — death to marry 
 out of your nation ! " 
 
 " Nonsense ! I've had enough of this. You can't 
 frighten me any more with your old women's tales. You 
 
WE8TWABD HO I 273 
 
 threaten freely, but you seem to forget that bloodshed is a 
 game two can play at, and perhaps I can draw a trigger as 
 easy as you can a knife." 
 
 His cheek blanched, and she marked his eye scan her 
 dress and figure as if to see whether she carried a pistol 
 concealed about her person. 
 
 The empty threat seemed to have cowed him. He 
 removed his hat, laid down his cigar, and continued in a 
 more humble tone. 
 
 " There's no call for that, sister, so long as Jericho Lee 
 can stand upright. I've watched over your safety, ah ! 
 much oftener than^ you think. I'd like to watch over it 
 always. Sister, youVe been a Gorgio's widow ; will you 
 come back to your people and be a Eomany's wife ? Now 
 it's out. Give me an answer, yes or no." 
 
 She was speechless with indignation. In her most 
 desponding moments she had never contemplated such a 
 come-down as this. That Jericho was to be a tax on her 
 resources, a recurring annoyance, an importunate beggar, 
 to be alternately bought off and driven away — to this she 
 was in a manner reconciled ; but that he should presume to 
 offer himself to her — her — the Beltenebrosa of last season — 
 as a husband, was an insult so outrageous as to seem 
 positively incredible even now. 
 
 She ix&n herself up, and her eyes fairly blazed with 
 anger while she replied, measuring him from top to toe 
 with glances of unspeakable scorn. 
 
 " K you had asked for a place as my footmcm, I should 
 have said you were not tall enough, and your character 
 would not bear inquiry ! To your unheard-of impertinence 
 I answer simply this, that I recommend you to walk out by 
 the door before the Patron wakes, or most assuredly you 
 will have to leave by the window ! " 
 
 Then she marched like a queen into the next room, where 
 old Jack was sleeping, and locked the door. 
 
 She did not see the dangerous scowl on Jericho's face 
 while he went downstairs into the street by the safer route 
 she had suggested ; but none the less did she resolve that 
 the time had come to put a stop to this persecution, once 
 for all. It had only needed some such climax as the fore- 
 going to bring matters to a head, and with that promptitude 
 
 18 
 
274 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 for action which she inherited from her father, she decided 
 on leaving London immediately, and effectually giving her 
 gipsy friends the slip. 
 
 She kissed the old man's forehead as he lay sleeping 
 heavily on the sofa, and was surprised at her own weakness. 
 She made up a packet of bank-notes, every shilling she 
 could spare, and thrust them into his pocket. She paid her 
 rent, and a week eztra in lieu of notice, packed up her things, 
 sent for a cab, and was at Paddington Station before the 
 Patron woke from his drunken slumbers, or Jericho had 
 thoroughly digested the insult he considered himself to have 
 received. 
 
 She coidd not have explained, perhaps, why she should 
 travel by this particular railway out of London, or analyse 
 an instinct that impelled her to fly for safety to the west, as 
 some noble red deer, hunted from his leafy haunts by horn 
 and hound, stretches across the glorious wUds of Somerset 
 and Devon, westward, westward still, by combe and copse, 
 boulder and bracken, rugged glen and russet moorland, till 
 he makes his plunge for liberty and death, forty fathoms of 
 sheer descent, into the Severn Sea. 
 
 Let us hope that the sufferings of the hunted are in no 
 proportion to the keen engrossing pleasure enjoyed by those 
 who himt. 
 
 Beltenebrosa, to carry on the metaphor, harboured, found, 
 and fairly forced into the open, determined to make her 
 point. It was natural, perhaps, that she should fly to the 
 other end of the kingdom ; but why she selected Boarshaven 
 as her city of refuge, I leave to be explained by those who 
 are more versed than I am in the complicated mechanism 
 of a woman's heart. 
 
 The town is dirty and over-populated; the streets are 
 narrow, ill smelling, and ill paved ; every third door seems 
 to open on a slop-shop, every fourth on a public-house. 
 The inhabitants are an amphibious race, never by any chance 
 clean, though constantly wet through: the men wear 
 Guernsey frocks, with high canvas trousers, and the shortest 
 of cotton braces ; the women, limp stuff dresses of a neutral 
 tint, that cling so helplessly about the figure as to forbid 
 the idea of there being anything but the wearer underneath. 
 Forests of masts, rising from brigs and schooners, look as if 
 
MAHOGANY PABLOUB 275 
 
 they grew in the very streets. There is no sand nor 
 shingle, but abundance of mud, and all the smells of a sea- 
 port rest in the atmosphere, except the free salt air of ocean 
 itself. 
 
 " First to Boarshaven ; single." She wondered whether 
 she would ever come back even while she took her ticket, 
 but concerned herself little about her boxes, which a stalwart 
 porter, diligent in the service of well-dressed ladies travelling 
 alone, and good for shillings — certain, when he put them in 
 their compartments after duly labelling, was wheeling to the 
 platform, because she was too much engaged in speculating 
 on the result of this new step. She had opened, so to 
 speak, a fresh volume in the history of her life : was it to 
 be eventful ? had it a hero ? and how would it end ? 
 
 Though accustomed to admiration, and preoccupied besides 
 about her future, she did not yet fail to notice that she had 
 made a great impression on a diminutive youth, conspicuous 
 for an extremely tall hat, who was lounging about the 
 purlieus of the station, as if waiting for a train. This little 
 personage, with his pale cockney face and sharp twinkling 
 eyes, seemed of a very observant nature, and found in 
 Beltenebrosa an object that riveted his whole attention from 
 the moment she entered the booking-office. Never in his 
 life had he beheld such a woman, and he felt he could not 
 admire her enough ! He was at her side while she took her 
 ticket, he followed her to the carriage when she got in, he 
 saw her give the porter a shilling and buy a Punch of the 
 newsboy, and, as she glided smoothly away from the plat- 
 form, rejoicing that she was outward bound at last, he stared 
 after her, open-mouthed, with an imbecile expression, that 
 much belied his native cunning, on his pale face, and his 
 tall hat pushed to the very back of his head. 
 
 CHAPTEE XLV 
 
 MAHOGANY PAELOUB 
 
 A NARROW room with sanded floor, divided into boxes by 
 high wooden partitions; tables and benches worn and 
 
276 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 Btained with use ; a low roof, windows well shuttered and 
 secured, so as to keep out the slightest breath of air; articles 
 of property, such as baskets, shawls, handkerchiefs, and 
 great-coats, lying about so carelessly as to verify the proverb 
 that there is " honour among thieves ;" a smeU of ardent 
 spirits pervading the atmosphere; and a potman moving 
 through clouds of tobacco-smoke, with shirt-sleeves rolled 
 to the shoulders, and long sinewy arms, that looked as if 
 they could hit out with the force of a catapult : " The 
 Kangaroo," though a light-weight, is no contemptible bruiser, 
 and an ugly customer in more senses than one. 
 
 This haunt is called by its frequenters " Mahogany 
 Parlour," not because its ftirniture is constructed of that 
 imperishable substance, as might naturally be supposed, but 
 on account of a certain drink that first came into vogue here 
 with the swell mob, introduced by a travelled gentleman, 
 who had learned to appreciate its merits in the New World. 
 Gin and treacle, mixed in due proportion, under the name of 
 "Mahogany," is a compound that finds favour with the 
 " lumberers " of Canada and the Western States, men who 
 live hard and athletic lives, felling and floating timber in 
 primeval forests for nine months of the year, and spend the 
 other three in drink and dissipation in the Settlements. 
 
 It agreed better, perhaps, with these stalwart heroes than 
 with the London thieves, a puny race, relying on cunning 
 more than courage, and sldll of brain more than strength of 
 arm. 
 
 Fighting Jack, who was, so to speak, an honorary member 
 of this select society, tolerated for his personal prowess, but 
 labouring imder the disadvantage of comparative honesty, 
 could drink "Mahogany" or anything else; but Jack was 
 seldom able to form a distinct idea now, and whether his 
 gin had or had not been adulterated with treacle, consumed 
 so much as to render him hopeless of body and utterly 
 idiotic of mind. 
 
 Waking up in her back drawing-room to find no daughter 
 and a bundle of bank-notes in his pocket, he brought his 
 intellects to bear on such a coincidence with considerable 
 difficulty, but managed to infer that she must have gone 
 away for a definite period, and that his best plan would be 
 to consult Jericho on their future proceedings without 
 
MABOGAUY PAMLOVR m 
 
 delay. So he staggered ofif to " Mahogany Parlour," where 
 he found, as he expected, his kinsman and prime adviser 
 smoking cigars, while treating two fair companions to some 
 execrable champagne. Of this beverage Jack was not drunk 
 enough to partake, but desiring The Kangaroo to place some 
 undiluted spirits on another table, he drew his kinsman 
 aside and imparted the startling information with which he 
 was charged. 
 
 Jerry had plenty of self-command. The scowl of rage, 
 spite, and disappointment that passed like a shadow over 
 his dark, good-looking, bad-looking face vanished with the 
 mouthful of spirits he swallowed to soothe his vexation, 
 and he observed calmly : " I suppose as you didn't think of 
 follovying her, or taking of the number of her cab, or getting 
 anyways on her track? " 
 
 "How could I do that?" expostulated the other; "didn't 
 I tell ye as I was resting on the sofy, and someway I think I 
 must have been asleep — a kind of dog-sleep, you Imow. But 
 she can't be gone fin:, and if you thinks, Jerry, as she'd be 
 taking a ride in a cab or such like, why we've as good as 
 got our hand on her. I knows lots of cabmen, bless ye, and 
 every man on 'em would be willing to do me a turn. I'm 
 about told out, Jerry, but there's here and there a one yet 
 as respects old Jack ! " 
 
 The younger gipsy reflected. To embark on a search or 
 any other imdertaking requiring common prudence with the 
 Patron would be to ensure failure. Mind and body, the old 
 boxer was indeed on his last legs, and Jericho bethought 
 him, vrith an evil smUe, how much more promising would be 
 his own fiiture when no longer hampered by the companion- 
 ship of this worn-out kinsman, with his addled brains, in- 
 cautious tongue, stubborn courage, and inconvenient notions 
 regarding right and wrong. 
 
 " His money would pretty nigh set me up," thought 
 Jericho, speculating, though he was only a gipsy, how his 
 senior would " cut up," vrith as little scruple as if he had been 
 a Christian gentleman of birth and education : " he can't 
 have pulled out less than twenty pounds in notes when he 
 paid for his gin. Twenty pounds ! It would come in very 
 handy ! And as for the old man I could do better without 
 him. He's fit for nothing now. Every dog has his day ! " 
 
278 BLACK BUT COMPLY 
 
 So he plied Jack with more liquor, pressing him to drink 
 with the ladies he had just left, whose voices were to be 
 heard rising in loud, shrill laughter as the champagne 
 mounted to their brains, and seated him between them like 
 Macheath in the " Beggar's Opera," well satisfied with his 
 position. Then Jerry, lighting another cigar, pondered how 
 he was to get on the track of Mrs. Paravant, and hunt her 
 down once more. 
 
 " I was alius a ladies' man," said a voice in the adjoining 
 box, which he had no difficulty in recognising as that of a 
 promising young pickpocket with whom he had done busi- 
 ness some weeks ago, whose "diminutive size and extreme 
 self-assumption had earned him the nickname of Buster ; 
 " but I never see such a one-er ! Dress ! o' course she was 
 dressed 'andsome : black, I tell ye, plain and genteel, with 
 the gloss on, fresh out of a mourning warehouse, I know. 
 But there ! it wasn't her dress as fetched me. Them two 
 in the next box is d/ressed 'andsome enough ; but you might 
 as well talk of twopenn'orth of ginger-pop alongside of a 
 bottle of cham' ! " 
 
 " Did you speak to her ? " asked a pale, unhappy-looking 
 girl, for whose edification this pocket hero seemed to be 
 holding forth. 
 
 " Well, I did not speak to her, Molly, and that's the 
 truth," replied Buster. " I ain't easy dashed, 'specially 
 with the women, as you knows, Molly. But, someway, this 
 here looked like a queen, and there — I dursn't 1 So pale 
 she was, and so tall, with her hair as black as jet, and eyes 
 that flashed like a pair of candles. I'll tell you what, 
 Molly : if a red-nosed chap had gone for to kiss her, I think 
 they'd have blowed his head off ! " 
 
 Molly, a fair, undersized girl, who would have looked 
 washed-out but that she was so dirty, seemed restlessly 
 inclined to change the subject ; but Jericho, overhearing his 
 young friend's glowing description, began to think it just 
 possible so transcendent a beauty might be the very person 
 whose destination he wanted to find out. 
 
 " My service to you," said he, politely offering to " stand " 
 any beverage they fancied, as he leaned over this young 
 couple in their box. " What ! he's been at his old games, 
 has he, miss ? Ah, he's a good judge, is Buster. I said 
 
MAHOGANY PABLOUB 279 
 
 so myself the first Sunday I see him walking out with 
 you." 
 
 Poor MoUy smiled, and Buster, emptying his glass, per- 
 formed a most conceited wink. 
 
 " That's wot I was a-tellin' her," said he ; " but bless 
 ye ! there was no mistake about the stunner I seen to-day. 
 If I thought as she'd ever come back, blowed if I wouldn't 
 rent one of them large houses opposite Paddiugton Station, 
 and live in the first-floor fi:ont." 
 
 "Paddiugton Station," repeated Jericho, dreading lest 
 an inflection of his voice should betray his interest, and 
 speaking as carelessly as he could. " Oh ! that's where 
 you goes wife-hunting, is it ? I suppose you wouldn't take 
 me with you to-morrow, just for a show ! there's no harm in 
 looking, you know." 
 
 The other grinned. " 'Tain't no use," said he, " she's 
 far enough by now ; I seen her ticket. First-class, I tell 
 ye. Oh ! a real lady, no mistake about that. If I hadn't 
 been short of small change, just for once in a way, blessed 
 if I wouldn't have gone with her. But it's a matter of two 
 quid to Boarshaven, and I'd got nothing in my pocket but 
 threeha'porth o' coppers, and a pewter half-crown as I took 
 in this werry parlour. So I'll have to do with Molly here, 
 and the other, she'll have to do without me I" 
 
 " Boarshaven's a long way," observed Jerry, with an un- 
 moved countenance. " 'Tother end of nowheres. I fancy 
 you're a sight more comfortable here ; better company, too. 
 Good evening, Buster ! good evening, miss ! Don't you let 
 him go to Paddiugton Station no more ! " 
 
 So Jericho took his leave, followed by the admiring 
 glances of these young people, who considered him a vastly 
 agreeable man, of polished manners, rising to the top of his 
 profession. 
 
 Notwithstanding his confidence in Buster's quick eye and 
 correct taste, he resolved to verify that observer's account 
 by an immediate visit to Paddiugton Station, whilst the 
 events of the day were fresh in the minds of such officials 
 as he knew how to cross-examine, with the assistance of a 
 few pleasant words and a drop of beer. If, as he suspected, 
 Mrs. Paravant had fled for safety to a remote and obscure 
 refuge, he would follow in due time, that is to say, as soon 
 
280 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 as he was out of funds ; meanwhile he would give old Jack 
 the slip, temporarily, while he prosecuted his researches — 
 perhaps permanently, when he had resolved on some definite 
 course. Friendless and unprotected, the courage that had 
 sustained his prey must give way at last, and the next time 
 he asked, perhaps she might look less contemptuously on 
 his suit. 
 
 Jerry's own experience of women had taught him that 
 violent outbursts of anger often fade to unconditional 
 surrender and collapse ; but, he told himself at the same 
 time, he had no fancy for such " breezes," and that his 
 personal courage was unequal to so keen an encounter as 
 he had that day sustained. 
 
 CHAPTER XL VI 
 
 OUTWARD BOUND 
 
 The Patron, sitting between his fair companions, seemed 
 quite satisfied with his position, and though not strictly 
 handsome, nor attired in the best taste, their manners were 
 lively and accommodating, while any superfluous energy of 
 speech or gesture might be attributed to the champagne, of 
 which, having already partaken freely, they were persuaded 
 to share another bottle. The Kangaroo, indeed, who 
 brought it, seemed to regard the whole proceeding with 
 covert displeasure, intimating as much in dumb show, that 
 Jack was too far gone to mark or comprehend. This young 
 pugilist entertained for the famous veteran feelings of 
 mingled envy and admiration ; he scanned with emotion 
 the wreck of that finely-built form, which had come victorious 
 out of one of the gamest battles ever fought in the ring. 
 He would have given a crovm to see the old hero strip, a 
 pound and more to put the gloves on with him, not to con- 
 tend — far be it from him ! — but to watch his attitudes in 
 all humility and respect. He regarded him much as the 
 soldiers of the first Napoleon did Marshal Ney, or as 
 we used, forty years ago, to regard the great Duke of 
 Wellington. 
 
OVTWABD BOUND 281 
 
 Of the ladies who supported his idol at either side, he 
 had the lowest opinion ; believing them, not without reason, 
 capable of picking his hero's pocket, to leave him drunk and 
 helpless in the street. It seemed impossible, however, to 
 impart such an opinion to Jack, who was fast attaining his 
 usual state, and the Ganymede of this Olympus had, 
 besides, quite enough on his own hands in the matter of 
 supplying orders and scrutinising small change. 
 
 A final glass of gin, neat and sparkling, settled his busi- 
 ness at last, and the old gipsy sank forward between his 
 fair supporters, fast asleep, against the table, with his head 
 on his crossed arms. 
 
 Said one of the free companions, in a whisper that was 
 only to be interpreted by the movement of her lips : " Share 
 and share alike? " 
 
 " Honour ? " returned the other below her breath. 
 
 " Eight ! " was the reply, with the faintest symptoms of 
 a wink ; and no farther explanation seemed required. 
 
 " It won't do here, though," murmured the first speaker, 
 glancing suspiciously round. " There's Bedhead watching 
 like a cat at a mouse-hole." 
 
 "Bedhead be blowed! " answered her "lady friend," as 
 she called her, an impulsive and plain-spoken young woman. 
 " If I'd been missis here — and I might have been too, 
 Susan, if I'd thought well — ^that there Kangaroo would have 
 had the key of the street three months ago. I wish he was 
 dead, I do ! " 
 
 " It's no use wishing," replied Susan, who seemed a 
 practical person enough, except in the matter of dress, 
 " nor talking neither. Wot's o'clock, my dear ? I think 
 I could reHsh a cup of strong black tea ; bitter strong," she 
 added, sinking her voice ; " and that wUl sober him for a 
 time if anything can, and we wouldn't want to keep him 
 long." 
 
 So the strong black tea was brought, and Fighting Jack, 
 with a good deal of pushing and pinchiag, was roused to 
 partake of it, when he recovered sufficiently to stand on his 
 legs and leave the thieves' haunt, supported by these two 
 ladies, who expressed a charitable intention of seeing him 
 home. The Kangaroo looked wistfully after his retreating 
 figure, and shook his head. 
 
282 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 The night was mild, with a soft west wind blowing, that 
 even in the purlieus of Leicester Square breathed cool and 
 fresh on Jack's throbbing temples and heated face. But 
 the open air soon mollified the sobering effects of tea, and 
 his guides found no little difficulty in steering their charge 
 from lamp-post to lamp-post. He was a heavy man still, 
 and lurched forward, ever and anon, with a sway that nearly 
 sent all three to the ground, and they laughed, of course, 
 and chattered incessantly, but held on like grim death the 
 while. Presently Susan plunged her hand in his pocket, to 
 abstract three five-pound notes, a few sovereigns, and some 
 loose silver, half of which plunder, as she protested and, 
 indeed swore, she tendered her companion on the spot. 
 
 " We've done with the old bloke now," said she ; " and 
 the sooner we makes our lucky, the better! Take care, 
 Carrie ! we mustn't let go, not both at once, or he'll never 
 keep on his jolly old legs. Good night, my dear ! you and 
 me had best not be seen together. Good night ! " 
 
 In spite of her precautions, however, and though deprived, 
 by judicious degrees, of his charming supports, old Jack 
 seemed quite unable to steer his own course without assist- 
 ance, and bumped heavily against a lamp-post to which he 
 clung, looking about him in perfect good-humour and 
 content. 
 
 Susan was round the comer and halfway to her miserable 
 home in the twinkling of an eye, well satisfied with her 
 share of the robbery, which amounted to three-fourths of the 
 whole sum purloined. Caroline, on the contrary, commonly 
 called The Shiner, from her bright apparel, could not for- 
 bear hovering round their victim a little longer, with certain 
 instincts of womanly compunction that, unsexed as it was, 
 still remained in her weak, depraved, unhappy heart. 
 
 Like Hood's ruined Magdalen, shivering at the door 
 of the palace where her destroyer feasted with his friends, 
 it might have been said of poor Caroline : 
 
 She who now shrinks from the wintry weather, 
 
 Ah 1 she once had a village fame ; 
 Listened to love on the moonlit heather, 
 
 Had gentleness, vanity, maiden shame. 
 
 Youth, innocence, and happiness had faded in a past 
 
OUTWABD BOUND 283 
 
 that The Shiner tried hard to forget, succeeding, to tell the 
 truth, in haunts of vice for many hours at a time ; but do 
 what she would, memory persisted in tormenting her on 
 occasions, and none knew better than herself how sad and 
 solitary was the so-called gaiety of the life she led. 
 
 " I can't let the old man lie ia the street," thought this 
 miserable Samaritan. " He's no more able to take care of 
 himself than a babby at the breast. And them peelers, if 
 they runs him in, they'll have no mercy. Likely as not, 
 leave him upside dovm in the Stone Jug till morning. Then 
 he'll die, and I'll see him every night in my sleep. I wish 
 I'd never come nigh here; I wish I hadn't touched his 
 money; I wish I'd let the whole jolly business be. Ah ! if 
 we gets to wishing, I wish I'd never been bom ! " 
 
 Then she returned to the gipsy, detached him from his 
 lamip-post, and although her own lair was in a contrary 
 direction, supported his wavering steps towards the West 
 End. 
 
 Her nerves were weak. How could they be otherwise in 
 the life she led ? And the conduct of her charge tried them 
 severely. Though some animal instinct, such as leads a 
 dying wolf to its den, guided him homewards, old Jack's 
 head was quite gone. All along Piccadilly he rambled in 
 his talk, as though delirious from fever rather than drink ; 
 not that he was violent, indeed, nor offensive in any way, 
 but wholly beside himself, and unconscious of his surround- 
 ings. By degrees, as his mind failed, his step grew firmer, 
 and his bodily vigour seemed to return. When they reached 
 Hyde Park he left his companion's arm to walk on unassisted, 
 and made shift to explain he was well able to take care of 
 himself. 
 
 " But thank ye kindly, miss," observed Jack, with great 
 politeness, and some hazy notion that his guide, in common 
 propriety, ought to accompany him no farther. " Our way 
 lies apart now, very wide apart, young woman, or I'd ask 
 you home to take a cup o' tea or what not in the camp. 
 But I'm married, my lass, though you wouldn't think it, and 
 my Shuri she's not best pleased when I've been on the burst 
 for a bit, like this here, unless I comes home alone. You'll 
 excuse me, my dear, but it's best to speak the truth when 
 you've got to do vrith women. I wish you good-night kindly, 
 
284 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 miss. You make the best of your way home : there's some 
 precious scamps about; but if any of them offers to say 
 anything to you, don't you be dashed ; you speak up, and 
 tell 'em Fighting Jack — that's me, my dear — ^isn't regular 
 out of the ring yet. They haven't forgot, never fear ! And 
 look ye, my lass, I ain't got no watch on me — I put mine 
 up the spout last week — but I ought to have a matter of 
 seventeen or eighteen quid in my pocket. I'm trying to 
 find it now. You're welcome to it— -aU — all free ! You'd 
 maybe want to get back to your friends. Ah ! you'd better 
 be at home than in this here town. But spend it to please 
 yourself. What am I, to advise the like of you ? Dash it 
 aU ! I'm such a heedless chap ! I must have dropped it 
 somewheres ! " 
 
 Caroline's heart smote her, the tears were running down 
 her wasted cheeks. She produced her share of the stolen 
 property, and pressed it into his reluctant hand. 
 
 "Take it," said she, sobbing; "it's your own, every 
 brass farden of it ! And — and — don't think bad of me. I 
 wasn't always a gay woman. I was a good girl once." 
 
 " Bless ye, it's no use to me! " he answered. "Why, 
 the battle-money's got to be paid to-night, and I shall have 
 a sight more than I can spend. Besides, my dear, I shan't 
 want for nothing where I'm a-goin' ; there's plenty for all 
 — ^men, women, and little barelegged children — and never a 
 mag to pay ! Commons stretching as far as you can see, 
 with the fttrze-bloom shining on 'em, and dazzlmg like gold, 
 and the blue sky coming right down to the ground on every 
 side, without stack or chimney, or so much as a bam, to 
 spoil the view. Woods with sticks for the gathering, hen- 
 pheasants, rabbits, and a fallow buck or two, as tame as 
 goats. Streams, my dear, with trout leaping up into the 
 sunshine, and pools you can see the fish basking in, like 
 shadows of their own selves, always fat and always hungry. 
 I've a tent of my own under an oak, the biggest tree in the 
 whole blessed forest, and a kettle that simmers all day long, 
 and they're only waiting to begin supper till the Patron 
 comes home. There's the lads and lasses, I can see them 
 plain enough — fine, wiry, active young chaps! — black-browed 
 girls, as straight as wUlow-wands, bringing the firewood in 
 and skimming the pot, so as you can smell the stew a mile 
 
OTJTWABD BOUND 285 
 
 off ! All for old Jack ! — all against the Patron comes home ! 
 And — ^yesj I knowed it! There she is, standing out in 
 front, shading her eyes with her hand — ^my Shuri, as beau- 
 tiful as a queen, wondering what has kept me so long — 
 looking, longing, wearying to see her old Fighting Jack 
 again. What a lot we'U have to say to each other ! We're 
 not used to be parted, her and me ; but that's done with 
 now. My Shuri ! I'm never a-going to leave you no more. 
 Good-night, miss, I can't stop no longer ; but I'll teU my 
 Shuri how polite you was to her old man, helping of him 
 along the road, and precious rough it were, till you brought 
 him to the end. I'll not forget. Thank you londly, miss, 
 and good-night ! " 
 
 She was terribly frightened, yet loath to let him walk on 
 by himself, thus lost to all realities, through the darkness of 
 the park, into which he insisted on plunging, affirming that 
 it was the nearest way to the camp he seemed so desirous 
 to reach. 
 
 " Won't you think better of it ? " she expostulated. " Let 
 you and me keep in the street where there's light. We 
 knows the ins and outs there ; but you can't dodge a peeler 
 with a buUseye under them trees in the dark." 
 
 "Peeler?" repeated the old prize-fighter, clenching his 
 fist. " I'd like to see the best peeler as ever wore a hat 
 offer to come between me and my Shuri. I'd spoil him so as 
 his inspector wouldn't never know him no more. But I 
 can't spare the time to stand talking here all night. Once 
 again, miss, I wish you good evening." 
 
 She nerved herself for a final effort, and deserved as much 
 credit for valour as the hero who leads a storming party. 
 Probably the one thing she most dreaded on earth was to be 
 alone at midnight with a madman in Hyde Park ; but she 
 resolved to risk it. 
 
 " Take me with you," she urged. " I've come a long 
 walk. I'm tired to death, and you can't refuse to give me 
 shelter." 
 
 He passed his hand over his forehead with a gesture 
 that seemed like a blessing. "It's not to be done, my 
 dear," he answered kindly. " You couldn't come 
 where I'm a-going. Maybe you wouldn't want to if 
 you knowed." 
 
286 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 And with a wave of his powerful arm, that seemed to 
 forbid any attempt at following, he walked away steadily 
 through the park gates into the night. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVn 
 
 "have I FOUND THBB, O MINB ENEMY?" 
 
 LoED St. Moritz as a valetudinarian ! It provoked him 
 exceedingly; he hated to be told of it; but the doctor 
 and his own feelings warned him that unless he began to take 
 care of himself, he might become a confirmed invalid for 
 life ! He had always acted on the principle that nature is 
 our best guide, and doubtless, under certain severe restric- 
 tions, this may be a sufficiently wise rule for the preservation 
 of health ; but it must not be adopted according to his lord- 
 ship's interpretation, that whatever you fancy is sure to do 
 you good. Eat when you are hungry, certainly, but not four 
 courses and a dessert. Drink also when thirsty, but less 
 than a bottle of dry champagne and another of loaded claret 
 at the same meal ; while anybody who smokes as much as 
 he feels inclined must necessanly consume a great deal 
 more tobacco than is good for his nerves or digestion. 
 Amusement, too, though excellent when taken sparingly, is 
 not half so healthy a tonic in excess as hard work ; and an 
 overdose of it, acting through the brain, brings on that 
 sense of mental and bodily prostration which society has 
 consented to particularise by the term " bored." 
 
 This is a state to which, like some epidemics, those are 
 most liable to who hold it in the greatest horror, and Lord 
 St. Moritz all his life had certainly taken pains to avoid the 
 slightest symptoms of the disease. Nevertheless, even his 
 lordship was but mortal, and found himself at last not only 
 ailing in health and weakened by infirmity, but exceedingly 
 bored with the remedial treatment he was compelled to 
 undergo. It was no wonder he failed at last ; even such a 
 constitution as his could not but succumb to many consecu- 
 tive years of good living, late hours, excitement, dissipation, 
 and unscrupulous self-indulgence, followed up by an 
 
"HAVE I FOUND THEE, MINE ENEMY f" 287 
 
 encounter with a professed pugilist, in which he had 
 sustained a blow that might have felled an ox. He did not 
 leave his room for a week, nor visit his club for a fortnight; 
 and even when all outward marks of the brawl had dis- 
 appeared, felt that his whole system was shaken and his 
 digestion completely upset. The accident, as he chose to 
 call it, fortunately occurred in the hunting season, so that 
 inquiries could be parried by the usual explanation, " a bad 
 fall." The most ofBcious of friends, justly dreading detailed 
 accounts of such a catastrophe, pursued their researches no 
 farther; but with his doctor he was obliged to be more 
 candid, and that sage, though he smiled hopefully, 
 pronounced no decided opiaion, but shook his head. 
 
 " We must be careful," protested the medicine man. 
 " We must avoid late hours, fatigue, unnecessary excitement. 
 No, he should not recommend the sea ; what we required 
 was perfect quiet, and freedom from exertion of mind or 
 body. We must avoid annoyance, vexation of any kind ; 
 and parliamentary or other duties had better be postponed 
 for some weeks. We should eat plain nourishing food, at 
 regular hours, little and often. Yes, sound old wine, 
 certainly; two or three glasses — no more; but a cigar 
 could not prudently be allowed. Early rising would be most 
 beneficial, and a walk, weather permitting, every morning 
 before breakfast. Such a treatment, and the prescription, 
 would soon set us on our legs again. When ? — ^Ah ! that 
 was impossible to promise, but before very long, and — 
 Thank you ; yes, another visit about the same hour to- 
 morrow." 
 
 Then the doctor bowed himself out, smooth, polite, 
 smiling, and went to attend Mrs. Stripwell, who was quite 
 well, parrying with considerable tact the inquiries made by 
 that lady concerning his lordship's constitution, ailments, 
 and general habits of life. 
 
 Not having seen him since his mysterious disappearance 
 from the theatre, when he left her in charge of "poor Algy," 
 curiosity, with a spice of pique, had so tormented her, that 
 she mistook it for a softer feeling ; and being one of those 
 ladies who prefer what they have not to what they have, 
 she entertained a romantic notion of obtaining access to the 
 patient in the disguise of a nurse, and ministering to his 
 
288 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 wants till he got well. She did not put it in practice, for 
 many reasons : she hated quiet, she hated trouble, she 
 hated everything but amusement, and a sick-room bored 
 her to death. 
 
 By calling in the same doctor, however, who was a 
 pleasant-spoken person and a great favourite with ladies, 
 she secured half an hour's delightful gossip, and the latest 
 particulars of his interesting patient, with the certainty 
 that her inquiries would be duly reported to him at the next 
 visit. All this was cheap at a sovereign, and Lord St. 
 Moritz had not been confined to his room eight-and-forty 
 hours before Mrs. Stripwell began to fancy her liver was 
 torpid, her lungs were touched, her nerves affected, and her 
 whole system wanted tone, which could only be restored by 
 medical advice at least once a day. 
 
 Among other particulars she learned that Lord St. 
 Moritz was ordered to walk before breakfast, and she 
 actually proposed doing such violence to her habits as to 
 get out of bed at daybreak, that she might meet him by 
 chance, and share with him this distastefid discipline. So 
 her maid called her at seven o'clock for three consecutive 
 mornings, till the effort was found to be impossible, and the 
 project had to be given up. 
 
 Nevertheless, though it is a penance for man or woman 
 to rise before the accustomed time, and for the former to 
 shave by candlelight, an early walk in Hyde Park is not 
 without its reward. The air seems cleaner, as it is fresher, 
 than at any other period of the twenty-four hours ; and if 
 there should be a touch of hoar-frost, such as often succeeds 
 a mild winter's night, much beauty, enhanced by the 
 accompanying mist, not fog, is to be admired in every 
 branch and twig of the leafless trees, magnified to twice their 
 natural size by a coating of condensed dew, like the sugar 
 on the ornaments of a wedding-cake in a confectioner's shop. 
 
 Lord St. Moritz, swinging along by the Serpentine at the 
 rate of four miles an hour, well wrapped up, and glowing 
 with that convalescence which, perhaps from the force of 
 contrast, seems even more enjoyable than health, began to 
 think the world was not such a bad place after all, and 
 Hyde Park, though he seemed to have it pretty well to him- 
 self, no unpleasant resort at 8 a.m. on a winter's day. 
 
"HAVE 1 POUND THEM, MINE ENEMY f** 289 
 
 There were comparatively few of his fellow-creatures 
 about, but he took the more note of those he saw. A 
 squadron of the Life Guards on watering order filed 
 leisurely past him at a walk. The good black troopers, 
 with their rough coats on, looked smaller than usual under 
 their lengthy riders, who bestrode them barebacked, longing 
 during this coldest of parades for the warmth of stable 
 duties, and subsequent consolation of the pipe. Then a 
 brougham rolled speedily by, and inside, smoking a 
 cigarette, in a brown " Ulster," he recognised a friend on 
 his way (per rail) to hunt with the Rothschilds in the Vale 
 of Aylesbury, forty miles off, to return again at night. 
 For a moment, in anticipation of the excellent day's sport 
 this enthusiast was almost sure to enjoy, he wished to 
 accompany him; but presently reflected that the fences 
 were somewhat stiff, and the ground deep, in the land of 
 grass, where he was bound ; that Mentmore stags had a 
 perverse tendency to run straight in an opposite direction 
 from their home; that twenty miles back to the station 
 with a tired horse, followed by forty more on a railway, 
 possibly wet through, was inconsistent with his ideas of 
 happiness, and that altogether he could spend his day more 
 pleasantly in London. 
 
 Meantime, his friend, who loved a hunt, good, bad, or 
 indifferent, better than any amusement on earth, had 
 finished his cigarette and was out of sight. After this, he 
 met a telegraph-boy with a worsted comforter round his 
 neck, bearer, no doubt, of some important message, loiter- 
 ing to throw stones at the ducks, followed by a plainly 
 dressed, modest-looking, brown-haired girl, who could only 
 be a daily governess. She walked fast and well: she 
 looked bright, happy, and good. One moment some evil 
 spirit whispered that she might prove a pleasant acquaint- 
 ance ; the next, his better angel told him he ought to be 
 ashamed of himself ; and his lordship strode off in another 
 direction, where the mist hung lower and the grass grew 
 thicker, towards breakfast and home. 
 
 " What a beast the fellow is to be drunk at this time in 
 the morning! " he thought, as he came upon the prostrate 
 figure of a man, lying face downwards, with a coating of 
 white frost still unmelted on his broad motionless back. 
 
 19 
 
290 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 His lordship's first impulse was to pass by, as did the priest 
 and the Levite, on the other side ; but a strange instinctive 
 horror came over him like a chill, vnth the certain fore- 
 boding that what he saw stretched out there, stark and 
 quiet, he must no longer call him, but it ! He ran in, never- 
 theless, readily enough, though he knew it was too late, to 
 turn the figure over on its back vrith some difficulty, for it 
 was large and heavy, and he himself encumbered with a 
 great-coat. Then he loosened the handkerchief round its 
 neck, unclasped the rigid hands, which had turned a 
 yellowish-gray already, and exclaimed: 
 
 " No use ! no use ! the man must have been dead for 
 hours." 
 
 He spoke louder than he intended, for the exclamation 
 brought to his side a policeman, looming very large through 
 the mist, who, recognising his lordship for a gentleman, 
 dismisses from his mind certain crude notions of hocussing, 
 robbery, and a well-dressed ruffian, which had crossed it 
 with the first glimpse he caught of the situation. 
 
 " What's up here ? " he asked, sternly enough, but 
 added, with a finger to his helmet, " I'm afraid, sir, as it's 
 all over with the party. This man vtIU never move a 
 finger no more. You're not a medical gentleman, be you, 
 sir ?" for his comprehensive mind had already taken in the 
 official report, coroner's inquest, and nature of the evidence. 
 
 " Not I," answered the other ; " I wish I were. But all 
 the doctors in London can do him no good." 
 
 " Eight you are ! " replied the policeman. " Look here, 
 sir," and he pointed to the fi:ozen dews on the hair and face 
 of the corpse : " this man has been cold since daybreak." 
 
 Lord St. Moritz started : scanning the cabn fixed face, 
 with its firm jaw and giizzled eyebrows, the truth flashed 
 upon him. It was indeed his old antagonist, the prize- 
 fighter, who had mauled him so severely, but for whose 
 rough usage he would not now have been walking in Hyde 
 Park at this early hour. He owed him a turn, he had often 
 told himself of late, and it would go hard but he should find 
 means to pay the score ! Yes, he had earnestly wished to 
 meet his enemy again, but not like this ! 
 
 Fighting Jack looked very calm and peaceful : the lines, 
 worn in bis rugged old face by age and dissipation, were 
 
"3AVS I FOUND THEE, MINE ENEMY f" 291 
 
 already modified and softened under the beautifying touch 
 of death. The smile with which he had set out to meet his 
 Shuri seemed carved round his rigid lips, and the fine firame, 
 stretched in its ample proportions while they searched him 
 for papers or other clue to his identity, looked worthy of 
 some warlike Eastern king, slain in the forefront of battle, 
 with bow and spear in hand. 
 
 It is needless to observe that poor old Jack's pockets had 
 been stripped to the lining. And Lord St. Moritz was 
 able to afford but little of the information required. 
 
 " I've seen him before," he said incautiously. 
 
 "Where ? " asked the policeman, " and when did you see 
 him last? You'renot obliged to tell me, if youhaven't a mind." 
 
 " In a street row," answered his lordship, turning rather 
 red. " It's some time ago ; but I haven't recovered the blow 
 he dealt me yet." 
 
 The policeman pondered. "He must have been a 
 Btrongish chap," he murmured, scanning the fine proportions 
 of the corpse. " I'll have to trouble you for your address, 
 sir," he added, in a louder tone. "Your evidence will 
 likely be wanted on the inquest." 
 
 The other handed him his card, on reading which the 
 policeman's manner became at once less suspicious and more 
 respectful. 
 
 " I don't expect as it will be a troublesome job, my lord," 
 said he, with a judicial and encouraging air : " no fears, I 
 should say, of an open werdict in this here case." 
 
 " Then you don't think there's been foul play, though his 
 pockets are empty ? " 
 
 " No, my lord, I don't. He was very powerful, was this 
 man. You can see that for yourself. There's not many 
 could have stood up to him when it come to blows. He'd 
 have cut up rough, this man, if they'd a-tried it on ; and I 
 observe no marks of violence, neither about his person nor 
 on the grass. No, my lord ; I don't seem to see as this 
 here could have been a case of foul play." 
 
 " Apoplexy, then ? " suggested his lordship, who wanted 
 to get home to breakfast. 
 
 " You know best, my lord," answered the policeman, 
 lifting the helmet from his honest square head. " In my 
 opinion, it's the visitation of God." 
 
292 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 CHAPTER XLVin 
 
 Mes. Tebgaethen, so she lived to boast, whatever might be 
 her shortcomings as a Christian, did her duty as a wife, 
 keeping her husband's house in plenty, respectability, and 
 comfort, under the best possible management. Taking 
 charge of her own stores, much to the dissatisfaction of 
 successive cooks, who came and went like the slides of a 
 magic lantern, she replenished her shelves at certain stated 
 epochs, about the period of quarter-day. Once in three 
 months it was this good lady's practice to proceed in great 
 pomp, by railway and subsequent fly, to the town of Boars- 
 haven, where she made sundry purchases more useful than 
 ornamental, lunched with keen appetite, and returned after- 
 wards home to dinner, more dictatorial than usual, but, as 
 she always declared, " fagged to death, and utterly worn- 
 out." 
 
 It was held a reproach to the Eeverend Silas, who 
 accompanied her on the§e occasions, that he should be 
 wholly useless and inefficient — considered by servants and 
 tradespeople a perfect nonentity in all domestic affairs ; but 
 this seemed a little unjust, inasmuch as she repudiated his 
 assistance, when offered, with contumely and scorn. It 
 was a sight to see her sailing down Ship Street, a narrow 
 thoroughfare ill adapted for the passage of such first-raters, 
 in an impossible bonnet and gown of many colours, with 
 glaring gloves, a striped parasol, and double gold eye-glasses 
 — ^now patronising a tradesman, now bowing to an acquaint- 
 ance ; anon addressing a few admonitory sentences to the 
 rector, dragging rather wearily in the rear. 
 
 Certain squalid lanes — narrow, dark, and uninviting — 
 debouch into Ship Street ; and round the corner of one who 
 should bounce, into the very arms of his rector's wife, 
 progressing in all her glory, but their former curate — 
 Mervyn Strange ! 
 
 It does not much signify what a man has done — nobody 
 can have the presence of mind to cut him at such short notice 
 as this. The rector was vmaffectedlyglad to see his friend ; 
 
"7 SAY NOTHING" 298 
 
 shook hands, and told him so. Mrs. Tregarthen was 
 completely taken aback — could not but follow suit, and in 
 five minutes the three were marching under the gateway of 
 the old-established " Bull and Bootjack," where luncheon 
 awaited them, as if they were the staunchest allies in the 
 world. That this meal should be served in the apartment 
 occupied by poor James Paravant when he carried off his 
 gipsy bride, would have seemed a more remarkable 
 coincidence, had the hotel boasted another sitting-room. 
 As it was, Mrs. Tregarthen set her bonnet straight, and 
 contemplated the increasing redness of her nose in the same 
 mirror that reflected the very different features of Beltene- 
 brosa scarcely a year and a half ago. The rector's wife, 
 however, was no less convinced of her good looks than of 
 her good appetite, and took her place at table in a temper 
 more convivial, a flow of spirits more genial than usual. 
 
 The meal, which seemed principally to consist of strong 
 cheese, a great many glasses, and some gigantic celery, was 
 brought in by an apple-faced parlour-maid, who, knowing 
 the tastes of her customers, promptly, and without orders, 
 supplied two tumblers of port-wine negus, while she placed 
 before Mervyn Strange, after some hesitation, a modest jug 
 of small beer. 
 
 So long as this industrious person bustled about the room, 
 conversation was general, very general indeed, turning on 
 the ministrations of the Church, the filthy state of the town, 
 the inclemency of the weather, and such safe topics, carry- 
 ing no personal import or allusion ; but when she departed, 
 and the negus began to act, Mrs Tregarthen could refirain 
 no longer: the fire burned within her, and she spoke with 
 her lips. 
 
 " You haven't asked about any of your old Mends," 
 said she, with a meaning nod. " That's not like you. 
 I never thought you were one of the out-of-sight out-of- 
 mind sort." 
 
 He had left off blushing long ago ; he had no time for 
 such frivolities ; but he murmured something unintelligible 
 about the rheumatics of Goody This and the gout of 
 Farmer That, to elicit firom Mrs Tregarthen a malicious 
 laugh. 
 
 " Is there nobody you can think of," asked the rector's 
 
294 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 wife, stirring her negus, " that you were once interested in? 
 No young lady who put herself under your charge, and gave 
 you the slip at the first opportunity ? You needn't kick me 
 under the table, Silas. He has a right to know. What 
 should you say, Mr. Strange, if I told you that Jane Lee 
 went away to be married? " 
 
 What should he say? What had he said night after 
 night in his prayers, but that he implored she might be 
 happy, and he might forget her ? Married, indeed ! Had 
 he not read the service of his Church over her beautiful 
 head, with a sore and heavy heart ? Married ! This loyal 
 and true gentleman knew it only too well, but he answered 
 with as much composure as he might : 
 
 " Keally, Mrs. Tregarthen ! Oh, indeed ! " 
 
 " Yes, married, Mr. Strange. And more than that, a 
 widow into the bargain ; but I'm sadly afraid what they call 
 a widow bewitched ! You saw poor young Paravant's death 
 in the papers — that shocking accident, you remember, at 
 Swansdown. We dined at Combe- Wester the very night 
 before it happened, and who should sit at the top of the 
 table, as bold as brass, but your precious Jane Lee, calling 
 herself by some outlandish name, with all the airs and 
 graces of a queen ! " 
 
 " My dear, she did the honours remarkably well," inter- 
 posed the rector. " She would have made poor James a 
 good wife if he had lived." 
 
 " Rubbish ! " answered his lady. " Good wife, indeed ! 
 Much you know about good wives ! You've had one for 
 years, and never found it out. I tell you, she was his ruin. 
 She'd have ruined a dozen such. Carriages, horses, new 
 furniture, hothouse flowers, a French cook, and champagne 
 running like water. It's a mercy the young man did die, 
 in my opinion, though it's my belief she was to blame for 
 that too ! " 
 
 "But she was fond of him, was she not?" asked the 
 curate, wondering why his heart beat while he waited for an 
 answer. 
 
 " Fond of him ? yes, and fifty others ! How poor Jamea 
 allowed it I can't think, only none are so blind as those 
 who won't see. Lords and what not down fi:om London, 
 fashionable riff-raff, and, as the Marchioness herself said, 
 
"I SAY NOTHINQ" 295 
 
 the slang aristocracy. Not a respectable person amongst 
 them, but one." 
 
 She made a mental reservation in favour of the large 
 dandy, whom Mrs. Tregarthen felt persuaded she could have 
 taken captive, had she been a very few years younger, and 
 unmarried, of course. 
 
 " It was a pleasant house, too, they kept," said the 
 rector, with a kindly remembrance of that '64 claret. 
 
 " Pleasant house ! " repeated his wife. " Pleasant 
 enough, no doubt ; and I daresay they kept pleasant houses 
 in the Cities of the Plain. Such waste ! Such extrava- 
 gance ! Such vanity and vexation of spirit ! I'm sure I 
 did not feel like a Christian woman till I'd got through the 
 lodge-gate again, going home. When I was told next day 
 they had brought the poor young man back on a stretcher, 
 I wasn't the least bit surprised." 
 
 " Did you learn how Mrs." — (somehow the name stuck 
 in his throat) — " how the widow was left? " asked Strange, 
 with kindly interest and practical good sense. 
 
 "Badly enough, I fancy; but that won't make much 
 matter to her, from aU I hear. Of course I say nothing ; 
 it's not my way to interest myself in the affairs of other 
 people, and I haven't a particle of curiosity — ^never had 
 from a girl. But I should like to know who pays for every- 
 thing now ; whether it's that high and mighty lord there 
 used to be such stories about, who seemed to think his 
 society too good for the world in general, or some of those 
 gay young officers in the Guards, or the handsome man that 
 taUsed to you, Silas, about Stonehenge. I shouldn't wonder 
 if she got something out of them all ! " 
 
 There are noble natmres, besides that of the horse, 
 inclined to press against a stab that probes them to the 
 quick. 
 
 " Where is she now ? " asked Strange, and his voice 
 sounded so harsh that Mrs. Tregarthen looked sharply in 
 his face, over the rim of her tumbler, while she drained it 
 to the dregs. 
 
 "London," was her answer; "and in London she is 
 likely to remain. If you ask me, I should say it suited her 
 to perfection. In a country place, or even such a town as 
 this, her goings-on could not pass unnoticed ; but in London 
 
296 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 people seem to do as they like, and will, I suppose, till it 
 rains down fire and brimstone from heaven." 
 
 The rector's wife, whose familiarity with the Scriptures 
 placed much powerful imagery at her command, mentioned 
 such a phenomenon as she might an ordinary shower, while 
 she put on her goloshes and prepared to depart. The 
 return train was punctual to time, and she had various 
 packages to collect on her way to the station. 
 
 " You'll come over and see us at Combe- Appleton," she 
 said, cordially enough, while shaking hands with Strange, 
 who attended her to the fly, walking like a man in a dream. 
 "No, my good woman, certainly not! " she added in the 
 same breath, shaking her head at a pale, travel-worn, 
 miserable-looking creature, who had not asked for anything, 
 though obviously so weak she could hardly stand. " It's 
 my belief you're tipsy now — as tipsy as you can be ; and if 
 I see a policeman I'll tell him to take you in charge." 
 
 Then she gathered up her wraps, hurried her husband^ 
 and drove off with a good conscience in her breast, a good 
 luncheon somewhat lower down, and a conviction that she 
 was a good Samaritan, who had done a good day's work in 
 a good cause. 
 
 The poor, fainting, fasting woman looked after the well- 
 dressed, well-fed lady, as she pulled up the fly window, 
 with a wistfial, half-reproachfal air, more as it seemed in 
 sorrow than in anger. 
 
 "Drunk!" she repeated; "God forgive you, as I do! 
 Not a bit nor sup has passed my lips since yesterday morn- 
 ing at daybreak. I haven't a penny in my pocket, nor a 
 roof to my head, nor scarce a petticoat to cover me ; and 
 when you're tucked up in bed to-night I'll likely lie down 
 on these cold stones to die !" 
 
 Mrs. Tregarthen, calling at her ironmonger's for a 
 warming-pan under repair, was tax out of earshot ; but 
 Merryn Strange overheard the poor thing's mutterings, and 
 partly gathered their import. Something in the woman's 
 air and figure stirred his heart to an interest stronger than 
 mere compassion, though it is but justice to say that had 
 she been an Albino instead of unmistakably a gipsy, he 
 would have turned aside to afford her relief. He never 
 forgot the exaip.ple of his Master, amongst whose manifold 
 
" I SAT NOTEINO " i297 
 
 perfections there is but one that humanity can imitate, at 
 an immeasurable distance, indeed, but with humble reliance 
 on Him for assistance — ^the privilege of doing good. Where 
 a man goes out of his way to pick up the fallen, feed the 
 hungry, or console the miserable, he is, for the time being, 
 a true disciple and loyal follower of his Lord. 
 
 " You're ill, I am afraid, my good woman," said the 
 clergyman in a kind voice, contrasting pleasantly with the 
 chidings of Mrs. Tregarthen. " "What is it ? I am afraid 
 there is something more than hunger the matter here." 
 
 She lifted her large dark eyes to his — ^howthey reminded 
 him of somebody ! — and smiled feebly, while she tried to 
 curtsy her thanks^ 
 
 " I'm fasting, sir," said she ; " but I doesn't feel the 
 hunger and thirst so much. It's the chills I've got, and a 
 pam here, all about my heart ; and that's what makes me 
 so bad." 
 
 And she leaned against the porch of the " Bull and 
 Bootjack," shaking like a leaf. In experience with his 
 sick poor he had acquired enough medical knowledge to 
 assure him the woman was very ill, and ought to be put to 
 bed without delay. He had organised, since he came to 
 Boarshaven, nobody knows at what expenditure of time, 
 pains, and energy, a haphazard kind of hospital, into which 
 those were taken whose only claim was that they had none 
 elsewhere ; and to this refrige he at once conducted her, 
 leaning on his arm, through the one principal street of the 
 town with as matter-of-course an air as if a ragged gipsy 
 were the fittest companion for a professional-looking divine 
 in a long frock-coat. The inhabitants stared after him with 
 a qualified approval that denoted there was nothing new in 
 such vagaries. 
 
 " It's on'y payson wi' some tinker's trull," said a most 
 unkempt dame, who seemed to persuade herself she was 
 cleaning her house by pouring dirty water along the floor. 
 " He've a good heart, have payson. I do know it, and so 
 do you!" 
 
 " He be a man, be payson ! " replied the gentleman 
 addressed, an amphibious person, chewing tobacco. "A 
 man, I'se warn ! take 'un how you will." 
 
 In the course of their progress his charge afforded Strange 
 
298 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 such information as she thought proper on her previous 
 history and present prospects. 
 
 " She was a gipsy," she said, " and her name was Nance 
 — ^Nance Lovel, that was her right name, and the name of 
 her people. A gipsy bom and bred, and never knew what 
 it was to want till she married out of her kin. Yes, married 
 a Cooper — Zachary Cooper. He wasn't a Komany, though, 
 not yet half a Romany, for all his gipsy name, and — there ! 
 she wished she had cut her right hand off first ; but it was 
 no use talking about that. Well, they had come west look- 
 ing for work. Times was very bad, particularly in Zachary's 
 trade. He were a tinker by rights, but he could turn his 
 hand to almost any odd job. He liked drinking, though, 
 more was the pity, a precious sight better than work. He 
 was at it now ten miles back on the road. She had been 
 forced to come on by herself, for she was starving — it was 
 God's truth — starving ; but she could have made shift, too, 
 if it hadn't been for the shivers and the pain that took her 
 just before his honour came by. There it was again ! 
 She begged his honour's pardon, she couldn't hardly bear 
 it when it came on so sharp and keen." 
 
 But they had reached their haven at last, and poor Nance 
 was turned over to a dear, matronly, cheerful-looking 
 woman, who treated all patients alike with the calm for- 
 bearance of indisputable superiority, firom the maimed soldier 
 six feet high, to the child in arms sickening with measles 
 or whooping-cough. 
 
 Walking home to the dinner that must long since have 
 got cold, Mervyn Strange was conscious, with mingled feel- 
 ings of pleasure and pain dashed by some self-contempt, 
 that he had by no means forgotten Beltenebrosa so com- 
 pletely as he hoped. The very mention of her name by 
 Mrs. Tregarthen had stirred his heart to the core. That 
 lady's account of his lost love, and charitable deductions 
 &om her manner of life, had pierced him to the quick. It 
 taxed all his self-command to assume such a composure as 
 might prevent even the rector, by no means an observant 
 person, fi"om detecting his weakness ; but he despaired of 
 having concealed it from that lynx in petticoats, the rector's 
 wife. Just now, too, taking this poor suffering tramp to 
 the hospital, every turn of her gipsy figure, every glance of 
 
A GBEAT GULF 299 
 
 her gipsy eyes, went through him like a knife, recalling the 
 looks, and bearing, and gestures of the girl he had loved so 
 wildly and so well. 
 
 " There are no demoniacs in these days," he said to 
 himself, with the irresistible tendency of the human mind 
 to refer anything to the supernatural that passes the bounds 
 of its own limited comprehension, " and our Church gives 
 us small encouragement to believe in the actual bodily 
 presence of the powers of darkness ; yet it does seem as if 
 an evil spirit had been permitted to take the form of an 
 angel that it might persecute me, vile, imworthy, yet most 
 unwilling to sin against knowledge, with its haunting, 
 engrossing, too delightful presence. Why can I not drive 
 this woman from my memory as I have driven her out of 
 my heart ? Why must I think of her, drealn of her, care 
 for her still, when I know and am resolved that I shall 
 never look on her face again ? " 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX 
 
 A GREAT GULP 
 
 At his own door, on his very threshold, calm and beautiful 
 as the angel who warned our first parents from the gates of 
 Paradise, yet with something of expectation and humility 
 that he had never seen before in her dear face, stood 
 Beltenebrosa, pale and tall, in a black dress, neither demon 
 nor sceptre, but the unforgotten woman who caused all the 
 sorrow he had yet known in life ! 
 
 Was he awake or dreaming ? With a strong effort he 
 pulled himself together, as it were, and stood on his 
 defence. 
 
 " Mr. Strange," said the well-known voice, low, impressive, 
 and deliberate, as of old, " you are surprised to see me here 
 — you are surprised to see me at all ! Well you may be ! 
 Shall I tell you why I have come ? " 
 
 What did he expect ? That she should fall on his breast 
 and declare her love at his feet and implore her forgiveness ? 
 Entreat him for shelter ? Reproach him for indifference ? 
 
800 btjAok bvt comely 
 
 Excuse herself for desertion? Nothing seemed improhahle 
 and extravagant, compared with her appearance here at his 
 very door ; and as no language could have conveyed his 
 astonishment, he fell back on the most conventional of all 
 greetings in common use. 
 
 "How do you do, Miss Lee?" said he; "I beg your 
 pardon, Mrs. Paravant. Won't you — won't you come in 
 out of the cold ? " 
 
 She complied, marching into the house before him, with 
 the haughty grace he remembered only too fondly, marking, 
 we may be sure, every detail of his home — ^the plain furni- 
 ture, the littered writing-table, the unadorned chimneypiece, 
 no flowers, no china, no looking-glass, not even a bimdle of 
 paper-lights, nor a photograph-book under lock and key. 
 
 It mattered little to her, she thought, though with a sigh 
 of relief ; but obviously in celibacy he still possessed his soul, 
 and there was no Mrs. Strange ! If she saw his agitation, 
 and approved, she forbore to notice it, but stood upright, 
 resting her hand on the back of a chair in a queenish 
 attitude of command, somewhat out of character with the 
 part she came to play. In his preoccupation he neither 
 took one himself nor offered her a seat. When people are 
 nerved for a struggle they keep on iheir legs as long as they 
 can. 
 
 " Mr. Strange," she began, in her fine measured accents, 
 " I have come to you not for assistance, nor even sympathy, 
 but for counsel. I do not beg for it as a favour ; you are a 
 minister of the Gospel, and I demand it as a right." 
 
 To his honour be it said, the man was lost in the profes- 
 sion, even while she spoke. No physician who heals the 
 body could have more promptly sank his own identity in the 
 consideration of a case, than did this follower of the Physi- 
 cian of souls divest himself of all earthly interests and 
 longings, in his eagerness to fulfil the duties of his calling. 
 
 His dignity reasserted itself, his bearing became assured, 
 his voice firm, while he answered : 
 
 " Certainly, as a right. It is my duty to hear and help 
 and advise as best I may." 
 
 " I am very unhappy," she continued. " I need scarcely 
 go into my past history to tell you why. My flight firom the 
 rectory was a njjstake, my self-dependence was a mistake, 
 
A 6BEAT GULF 801 
 
 my marriage was a mistake — my whole life has been a 
 mistake. I know it now, when it is too late ! " 
 
 If there was something pleasing to the man in this com- 
 prehensive confession of failure, no symptom of satisfaction 
 betrayed itself on the countenance a^ the priest, while he 
 remonstrated gravely. 
 
 "It is never too late," said he, "for repentance and 
 reparation. Were you thrice your age I should remind you 
 of those who came even at the eleventh hour. But for you, 
 with the promise of a lifetime before you, how can it be too 
 late to repent and reform, and leave the broad road for the 
 narrow way ? " 
 
 Was he thinking of Mrs. Tregarthen's malicious stories 
 and insinuations, or did a sense of clemency for the sinner 
 make him unusally severe upon the sin ? 
 
 " Am I then so very bad ? " she asked meekly enough. 
 " Useless, selfish, and frivolous I know, but surely not so 
 wicked as you seem to think ! " 
 
 " I am not your judge," he answered sternly. " I can 
 admonish, and I can reprove ; but I can no more convince 
 you of your offences than I can pardon them." 
 
 " You will believe me, at any rate," she continued, im- 
 patiently, and with feminine inconsequence, " when I tell 
 you that I am very unhappy, and tired of everything. I 
 have tried gaiety, I have tried adventure : the first wearied, 
 the second disappointed me. One day seems so exactly 
 like another. I want to lead a different life. I want to be 
 good." 
 
 " For a change ? " he asked, with some severity. 
 
 " For a change ! Why not ? A change for the better, 
 surely, in such a case as mine. I have come doAvn here to 
 this out-of-the-way comer of the world that I might break 
 off old associations, get rid of old habits, and begin a new 
 life, a life of usefiilness and self-denial, with nothing to 
 hinder and drag me back." 
 
 "You have counted the cost? Youmeanwhat yousay?" 
 
 " Do you not know me yet ? When did I ever say more 
 or less than I meant ? Will you help me ? " 
 
 He pondered. She seemed in earnest ; and it was not 
 for him, least of all in his priestly capacity, to balk her in 
 these meritorious designs. In his experience, even at 
 
302 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 Boarshaven, he had known more than one such penitent, 
 fascinated, so to speak, by the picturesque side of a religion 
 that testifies itself in good works, who had fallen away 
 sadly before the realities of the task when it was found to 
 impose many unpleasant and irksome details. Nevertheless, 
 she demanded a trial, and she must have it. 
 
 "You want to begin at once?" he said, marking the 
 subdued impatience on that face he knew so well. 
 
 " To-day, if I can," she answered. " I will go amongst 
 your poor, visit them, read to them, succour them ; teach the 
 children, comfort the afflicted, and look after the sick." 
 
 The practical part of his mind reverted instantly to his 
 hospital. 
 
 " Have you had any experience in such matters ? " he 
 asked. " An ignorant nurse is worse than none." 
 
 " I was with poor James till he died," she answered, 
 with tears in her eyes. " The doctor said I took to nursing 
 as readily as if I had served my time in a hospital. Poor 
 James ! Constant care could not save him, or he would 
 have been alive now." 
 
 " I will not dissuade you," said the clergyman, with 
 increased reserve. " If you really repent of a misspent life 
 and wasted opportunities, I approve of your resolution. If 
 you are unhappy, there is no remedy for sorrow like constant 
 occupation in the effort to do good. I know it by myself," 
 he added, ruefully, " for I too have fallen, and sdOfered, and 
 repented, and, I hope, been forgiven." 
 
 The sadness of his tone cut her to the heart. He seemed 
 so changed, so exalted, so completely removed from her 
 world, like some disembodied spirit purified by death. And 
 it was her own doing ! This man, now so utterly lost to 
 her, might once have been — nay, was — her slave, and she 
 threw him aside without a scruple. How could she ? How 
 could she ? After such an outrage as she had inflicted, he 
 would never come back again : to that she must reconcile 
 herself as best she might. Was it because he seemed to 
 repudiate her utterly that she felt she loved him dearly, and 
 could not live without him? Yes, this was part of a 
 punishment already greater than she could bear. 
 
 He was very practical when they came to practical things. 
 Had she a respectable lodging — ^was it in a healthy part of 
 
A GBEAT aULF 303 
 
 the town ? Boarshaven could not boast of the best sanitary 
 arrangements, and had hardly been drained at all. He 
 hoped to do something in time to remedy even these 
 material defects. The fact was, you got at the moral being 
 of people through their physical wants. His hospital, he 
 hoped, had done as much good to souls as bodies. Would 
 she like to begin helping him in this hospital to-morrow ? 
 — ^to-day ? Then she was reaUy in earnest ! Well, he had 
 taken a poor woman there (he was going to say a gipsy- 
 woman, but checked himself) not an hour ago. Sickening, 
 he feared, of fever. Perhaps it would be too great a risk. 
 If she insisted, he would go with her himself. Afterwards, 
 he had a Mechanics' Institute to lecture, and his night- 
 school to attend, and^ in fact, every minute of his time was 
 engaged for the rest of the evening. 
 
 So they parted — ^very unlike lovers, she thought bitterly 
 — ^with no kind of understanding, expressed or inferred, 
 that they were to meet again ; and Beltenebrosa felt the 
 tears rise warm to her eyes, while she wondered if it was to 
 be so the next day, and the day after, and all the rest of 
 their lives. 
 
 They seemed far more apart now than even on that fatal 
 occasion when they met so imexpectedly in Boarshaven 
 parish church, that she might leave it James Paravant's 
 bride. 
 
 And the curate went his way, to work hard in his obscure 
 comer of the vineyard, breaking the clods with that dogged 
 persistency which never fails to succeed at last, and walked 
 home in the dark, thoroughly tired out, and went to bed, 
 and dreamed a dream. 
 
 He thought he was on a wide level plain vrith here and 
 there a bush, and here and there a tree — all looming hazy 
 and indistinct in the vapoury mist that sometimes comes at 
 moonrise. He felt impelled, with the usual inconsistency 
 of such visions, to glide on smooth and svidft, like one who 
 skates rather than walks, for no obvious reason, and in no 
 defined course; but when he tried to stop, his feet seemed 
 to bear him forward against his will. The grass grew high 
 in places — ^waist-high, he believed — but he could not tell, 
 for he skimmed along the top, which neither bent nor rustled 
 beneath his tread. A star shone faintly through the mist 
 
304 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 that thickened every moment. He felt glad of its glimmer 
 to direct his steps, though he knew and did not care that 
 his wanderings were without end or aim, and all directions 
 were alike. 
 
 Suddenly, but without shock or effort, he stopped short, 
 and found himself on the brink of a running stream, too 
 wide to leap, too deep to wade, too swift to stem or swim. 
 His brain turned like a wheel as he fixed his eyes on 
 the farther bank, across the rushing waters that careered 
 between. 
 
 On that bank stood a phantom, waving, gesticulating in 
 piteous mute appeal, imploring him to come. Its form 
 was vague and unsubstantial, its garb, its shape, its very 
 lineaments were dissolved in the mist ; but through that 
 floating vapour shone two large, loving, beseeching eyes, 
 and they were the eyes of Beltenebrosa, formerly Jane 
 Lee. 
 
 He scanned the stream that parted them, and took in its 
 perils at a glance. No spring could cover it from bank to 
 bank ; no swimmer could make head for two strokes against 
 that pouring torrent. The attempt must be death. But the 
 mist grew thicker every moment; the phantom beckoned 
 "Come!" He set his teeth, he held his breath, he 
 braced his muscles for a leap, he put his hands together 
 
 for a header awoke in the effort, and behold it was a 
 
 dream ! 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 THE FAITHFUL SERVANT 
 
 This hard-working curate, so well known to the vilest of 
 the vile in the dirty alleys of Boarshaven, was a very 
 different character from the Mervyn Strange of old under- 
 graduate days, or even the assistant of an easy-going rector 
 in a quiet parish of West Somerset. Like all men who fill 
 a useful part in the world, he had so enlarged his views 
 that they scarcely seemed to comprise the same objects now, 
 and had got rid of enough prejudices to set up half a dozen 
 young beginners in his trade. At five-and-twenty he was a 
 
TEE FAITHFUL SEBVANT 805 
 
 priest, at five-and-thirty a parson. The distinction was of 
 his own drawing, and he explained thus : 
 
 As in the different periods of historical warfare, he argued, 
 different tactics and a different class of soldiers have been 
 found necessary, so it is with that noblest of all campaigns, 
 the struggle of good against evil, the conduct of which is 
 entrusted to the Church Militant on earth. You wanted 
 formerly a knight in armour, impervious to the weak and 
 clumsy projectiles of his time, as you wanted a priest in his 
 vestments, whose sacred pomp and presumptive infallibility 
 should impose on the vulgar minds, untaught to reason, 
 assailable only by the outward senses of eye and ear. The 
 knight in mail and plate rode down imarmoured men in 
 battle ; the priest with his awful weapons of excommunica- 
 tion and absolution set aside the stoutest opposition to his 
 will with a Latin sentence and a wave of his hand : gun- 
 powder and printing have destroyed the supremacy of both. 
 Now that the general rate of intelligence has so increased, 
 and the man who can neither read nor write is the exception 
 rather than the rule, our contests, moral or physical, must 
 be waged on corresponding principles ; we must attack in 
 a looser formation, with more self-reliance, and at the same 
 time more mutual support ; above all more versatility to 
 meet the constant changes of front and increased activity 
 of the foe. The soldier, in these days, must be a man of 
 science, a man of business, and even a man of the world ; 
 the clergyman, too, requires, on the same principle, and 
 perhaps not in a less degree than during the troubled times 
 of the primitive Church, that wisdom of the serpent, which 
 is no unbecoming adjunct to the innocence of the dove. 
 
 "I can do more good," said Strange, "as the parson 
 than the priest ; " and he threw aside, not without a pang, 
 many of those ornamental vanities of his profession, which 
 are as dear to the Cloth as his horse-fiirniture and trappings 
 to the Hussar. Though he dressed in sober black, and 
 still wore the flowing frock-coat, chiefly, I believe, because 
 he could not afford a new one, he laid aside all those 
 dandyisms of white cambric and black silk in which his 
 youth had delighted. He intoned no longer through his 
 nose in sing-song, from the reading-desk, nor mumbled 
 below his breath at the altar. In his sermons, he insisted 
 
 20 
 
305 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 less on the supremacy of a Church than the brotherhood of 
 a community, addressing his congregation with the friendly 
 remonstrances of a transgressor like themselves, who prayed, 
 and hoped, and tried to do better, rather than frightening 
 weaker and irritating stronger minds by insisting on an 
 impossible standard it seemed hopeless to attain, and of 
 which no yery tempting example was afiforded, in violent 
 invective and denunciations of unreasonable wrath. 
 
 He was of opinion, too, that he could do more good by 
 visiting his parishioners in their homes, than by reading 
 three sermons a day to his clerk and the pew-women ; nor 
 did he consider an incessant ringing of bells indispensable 
 to the doctrine, discipline, and prosperity of a Christain 
 Church. 
 
 I am not quite sure that the women thoroughly liked 
 his discourses : to such arguments as assailed their reason 
 they did not listen, and listening, would not have understood ; 
 while in his eloquent appeals to their feelings they sadly 
 missed those reiterated assurances of eternal misery for the 
 great bulk of mankind, that seem to the gentler sex a 
 comfort and satisfaction it is difficult to comprehend. 
 
 But for the honest, hard-handed bread-winners, the heads 
 of families, who toiled heartily all the week, but were prone 
 to fall into the snares of Satan and John Barleycorn on 
 Saturday night, "Payson," as they called him, was really 
 a guide, philosopher, and friend. He never withheld manly 
 rebuke ; he told them to their faces that they were fools to 
 squander a day's earnings on an hour's debauch, and beasts 
 to indulge in excess when the children wanted shoes ; but 
 he never ignored the strength of their temptations, nor 
 refused that sympathy to such as had given way, without 
 which human nature turns dogged and morose, sinking from 
 bad to worse, till it becomes insensible alike to kindness 
 and reproof. 
 
 The women also, when they came to know how coura- 
 geous a temperament accompanied his unfailing kindness 
 of heart, approved of him mightily, as seen in their own 
 homes. They appreciated that courtesy to their sex which 
 is the unerring mark of a gentleman, and flopped their dirty 
 dusters over their dirty chairs with all the more cordiality 
 of welcome that he removed his hat, the instant he crossed 
 
THE FAITHFUL SERVANT 807 
 
 the lowliest threshold, as sorupiilously as if he were entering 
 the drawing-room of a duchess. 
 
 They wondered at him for the first few months, the 
 tradespeople especially, many of whom, resenting his 
 scanty means and narrow expenditure, insinuated that 
 he was a humbug; but by the time his night-school had 
 filled and his hospital was fairly started, all ranks were 
 constrained to admit in their own extraordinary vernacular 
 that " Payson, he do be a good sort — ^uncommon ! " And 
 though he never expected it, even here, in the squalid 
 alleys of Boarshaven, inhabited by the most untidy popu- 
 lation in England, he did not miss his reward. 
 
 It is on such men as these that some angel, taking an 
 interest in the episcopacy, pounces now and then to make 
 a bishop. Who can tell whether they do so much good in 
 the wider as the narrower sphere ? At any rate, they serve 
 where they are ordered, and some day, when the secrets of 
 all hearts are made known, who can doubt they will hear in 
 heaven those gracious words of approval their whole lives 
 on earth have been spent to win ? 
 
 Our sailors, according to Dibdin, cherish a pleasing 
 fancy that 
 
 There's a sweet little chernb who sits np aloft, 
 To take care of the life of poor Jack. 
 
 And it would be well if some shipmate of this friendly little 
 guardian were told off for the same humane duty, as regards 
 a poor parson's heart. 
 
 We have never been taught that St. Anthony, though he 
 must have sadly required it, received any visible assistance 
 firom above ; and as the ideal of woman, to many tempera- 
 ments, is even more formidable than her reality, he must 
 have had a roughish time when beautiful shapes, arrayed 
 rather than dressed for conquest, were fiitting round him in 
 swarms. The little cherub might have rendered no small 
 aid to the saint ; might render no small aid now to many a 
 bachelor parson through the length and breadth of England, 
 whose heart, large in every other sense, is small, like his 
 income, in this, that it can only find room for one woman 
 at a time. 
 
 Now that lawn-tennis has displaced croquet, and become 
 
308 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 the engrossing occupation of both sexes under five-and- 
 thirty, at all hours of the day, how is he to escape? 
 
 Every garden and pleasure-ground in his own and other 
 parishes is filled with Houris — black-eyed, blue-eyed, gray- 
 eyed (the last very dangerous), proffering claret-cup instead 
 of sherbet, and waving their scarfs, green or otherwise, to 
 the true believer, if only they can persuade him to believe 
 in them! Eyes, cheeks, and lips glow vsdth exercise and 
 health; shapely forms take every imaginable attitude of 
 grace and freedom, in the exigencies of the game. Sweet 
 voices laugh and coo and murmur. " Won't you be my 
 partner?" says one. "You and I can do it easily," 
 whispers another. " I'm so afraid of you for an adversary," 
 smiles a third ; and the undefended captive feels he could 
 not be more helpless were he involved bodily in the meshes 
 of that insidious net, stretched between his enslavers and 
 himself, in a mere mockery of prohibition. Yes, next to a 
 picnic, especially in wet weather, which may be termed a 
 " certainty," I think a garden-party to play lawn-tennis is, 
 of all the fields in which man meets his fair enemy so 
 clumsily, the most likely to ensure his discomfiture and 
 defeat. 
 
 Now there were young ladies even at Boarshaven ; there 
 were lawns and gardens within easy distance of the town ; 
 need I say there were rackets, balls, chalked-out courts, 
 and lovely players, ready to take every advantage of the 
 game ? Yet in less than six months one and all had given 
 up Mervyn Strange for a bad job. The man seemed 
 adamant. He was stiff, they told one another (that was 
 when each had given him up for everybody else) ; he was 
 pompous ; he was a bear ! Papa liked to have him, because 
 he thought him so useful in the parish, but even when papa 
 invited him one couldn't get him to come. He was odd, 
 certainly. Good-looking ? Oh, dear no ! What about 
 age ? Oh, a hundred ! Why, the man's hair was quite 
 gray. They had asked him to dinner, wanting to be civil, 
 which wasn't absolutely necessary, for, after all, you know, 
 they never asked the other curate ; but he refused, and even 
 mamma said it was no use. 
 
 Presently they left off chasing him, wistful and ashamed, 
 one after another, like a pack of fox-hounds that have been 
 
GOOB WOBKS 809 
 
 ninnmg hare, and the opinion of every young lady within 
 the Boarshaven circuit of that walking postman who so 
 deplored Valentine's Day was that Mr. Strange might be 
 honest, well-meaning, intellectual, and a painstaking clergy- 
 man; hut, individually, one could not quite like him, 
 because he had no heart! 
 
 How little they knew! And that heart, which they 
 voted he did not possess, had been aching for months in a 
 loneliness that he now looked back to as comparative 
 comfort and repose. He was sad then, and dull enough 
 in spirits, but at least he had the approval of his own 
 conscience, and a sense of self-reliance that waits on 
 steady perseverance in the path of rectitude and common 
 sense. Now he was haunted ! Yes, haunted — no other 
 word could express the delusion under which he laboured, 
 the spell against which he fought. Not in vain ! No ; he 
 was resolved it should not be in vain. As a man puts from 
 him the promptings of an evil spirit, or resists in some 
 hideous dream the invitations of a fiend, so would he strive 
 against the influence this woman had come here to regain, 
 and resolve, if necessary, though they should live in the 
 same town, nay, in the same street, never to set eyes on her 
 fatal beauty again. 
 
 " Could you not have left me in peace ? " he groaned, 
 waking up from those dreams, sleeping or waking, that 
 always recalled the same pale, proud, handsome face. 
 " What had I done to you that you should persecute and 
 torment me for ever? You have robbed me of all my 
 happiness in this world. Take it and welcome ! but you 
 shall not rob me of all my hope for the next ! " 
 
 CHAPTER LI 
 
 GOOD WORKS 
 
 Bbltbnbbrosa, I need hardly observe at this stage of my 
 narrative, was not a person who did things by halves. In 
 less than a week she settled herself as the occupant of a 
 decent first floor in the cleanest house she could find, to the 
 
310 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 intense bewilderment of a landlady who had never seen 
 anything to compare with this lodger before, and talked 
 about her from morning to night. She organised a regular 
 routine of duties amongst the poor, especially those who 
 were sick, and took stated hours of attendance at the 
 hospital, where the matron, who at first sadly mistrusted 
 her fine appearance and white hands, declared she was as 
 good as any two paid nurses for "helpfulness," as she 
 called it, and had better nerve than most surgeons. She 
 was never tired of enlarging on the merits of her paragon to 
 Mervyn Strange, who listened with unbroken patience, 
 though usually inclined to cut her volubility rather short, 
 for this energetic functionary, like many other trustworthy 
 and invaluable women, loved to hear the music of her own 
 tongue. It seemed unaccountable, however, and even un- 
 courteous, that he studiously avoided visiting his favourite 
 institution at the same hours as Mrs. Paravant. 
 
 " I'd like you to see her," said the matron, delighted to 
 get a listener, " walking through my wards and passages, 
 smooth and noiseless as a shadow. If they're asleep, not 
 one of them wakes when she passes by. If they're hot and 
 restless, tossing and turning, poor things, she don't go to 
 aggravate them, mincing, and sidling, and whispering: 
 worse than if you were to beat a drum in their ears, as I 
 know well, being used to sick people and their ways. Her 
 very clothes, though they look so fresh and new, don't seem 
 to rasp and rustle not half as bad as my own ; and many's 
 the time, if you'll believe me, Mr. Strange, I damp a clean 
 petticoat to take the starch out, till it's as limp as a rag." 
 
 " You consider her an efficient nurse?" asked the clergy- 
 man, waiving further details of the good lady's toilet. 
 
 "It's no word for her," was the enthusiastic answer. 
 " If nurses came straight down from heaven, she could hold 
 her own with the best. I needn't remind you, Mr. Strange 
 — a clergyman, and a good clergyman too — of what comes 
 out of the mouths of babes and suchlike, after they're 
 weaned, of course. Our little Jem Vialls — ^that mite of a 
 thing in number two, with his poor little thigh broke, you 
 know — well, I looked in to see if he was asleep, yesterday 
 about this time, and I found the dear laughing to his little 
 self, as pleased as Punch. ' What is it, Jem ? ' says I ; 
 
GOOD W0BK8 311 
 
 ' leg doesn't hurt so bad now ? ' says I. ' Oh mother,* says 
 Jem — he always calls me mother, poor innocent, having 
 none of his own — 'what do you think?' says he; I was 
 dreaming of the angels in heaven, and I woke up so quick, 
 there was one of them left that hadn't time to fly away. 
 She tucked me up and kissed me, and she's to come again 
 every day till I get well. Do you suppose, mother,' says 
 he, ' she'll take me with her when she goes back for good? ' 
 Then I knew, as if I'd seen her, that Mrs. Paravant had 
 been nursing the boy ; and if she's not exactly an angel 
 now, she will have vrings of her own some day, or I'm very 
 much mistaken." 
 
 How could he listen to such trash ? He was ten minutes 
 behindhand already, yet he lingered curiously, loath to go. 
 
 " That fever case ? " he asked — " the gipsy who came in 
 last week. Is there any hope she will recover? " 
 
 " There's every hope ! " answered the matron. " But 
 here again, Mr. Strange, I tell you fair, it's not the doctor 
 that has pulled her through, but the nurse. He says so 
 himself. He told Mrs. Paravant the same. ' I'm only the 
 medicine,' says he, with his old-fashioned bow. 'You, 
 ma'am, are the food and the &esh air, and the blessed sun- 
 shine into the bargain. I showed the patient the way 
 upstairs, I admit, but it's you, ma'am, you, who took her 
 up under the arms, and hoisted her, step by step, to the 
 first landing. I congratulate you, ma'am,' says he, ' and 
 some day you'll get your reward.' I never saw our doctor 
 take so much snuff, Mr. Strange, since I've known him; 
 that showed he meant all he said ! ' Ah ! you give me a 
 hundred such nurses as Mrs. Paravant, and I'll undertake 
 to clear every hospital this side Severn by next Easter- 
 Day ! ' But you can't find 'em, Mr. Strange, you can't find 
 'em, and that's the truth ! " 
 
 He was the last man to dispute it. Must it be always 
 so ? Was it not enough that she should haunt his thoughts 
 and his dreams ? Must he also hear her praises on every 
 tongue ? find witnesses to her merits at every turn ? It was 
 a hard battle, much harder than he expected. His weaker 
 nature longed to lay down its arms, ask for quarter, and 
 confess itself beat ; but the weaker nature, kept under con- 
 trol fi-om boyhood, should not dictate to him now. 
 
812 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 " Will you walk througli the fever ward, sir ? " asked 
 the matron, with that sudden relapse into official gravity 
 common to her class, as to wardens, inspectors of police, 
 and non-commissioned officers in the army. " It's a chance 
 if we don't find Mrs. Paravant there now. I should like for 
 you to see her at work ; she's so quiet, and helpfiil, and 
 earnest. Grave and thoughtful too. Just like yourself, 
 sir. I often think she's not quite easy in her mind ; but I 
 wouldn't take the liberty of asking her. I dursn't, Mr. 
 Strange, to tell the truth, and that's a good deal for me to 
 confess." 
 
 No ; he wouldn't visit the fever ward just then ; he was 
 pressed for time. He would come back later, when there 
 was nobody to disturb the patient, if she would like him to 
 read to her. The last time she seemed too unwell to listen. 
 
 The matron smiled. " We can't undertake to cure her 
 80 far as that, sir," she answered. "You may read the 
 Bible to these gipsies till you're hoarse, and never a word 
 will they understand from end to end, and wouldn't if they 
 could. It's bred in them, Mr. Strange ; they can't help it. 
 Vagabond, heathen, savage is the gipsy from birth. Like 
 the wolves, if you take them home and tame them, they're 
 as wild and fierce as ever again the day they get loose. 
 Bodies they have tough as pin-wire, and constitutions 
 splendid ! It's a pleasure to nm-se them ; but as for souls ! 
 in my opinion, Mr. Strange, they haven't got any though I 
 beg your pardon, sir — you know best." 
 
 Neglecting to set her right on a question in which she 
 must be so egregiously mistaken, the curate departed with- 
 out further parley, and Beltenebrosa, who knew his step 
 amongst a thousand, felt her heart tighten and the tears 
 come to her eyes, that he should thus avoid her with 
 deliberate and heartless coldness, here in the fever ward of 
 his hospital, as in the streets of the town or the few mild 
 social gatherings in which there seemed the slightest chance 
 they would meet. 
 
 It was impossible for a woman like Mrs. Paravant to 
 remain unnoticed even in so quiet a place as Boarshaven. 
 Mervyn Strange was not the only clergyman in the place, 
 and the routine of her self-imposed duties brought her in 
 contact with the other curate, an honest young fellow, who 
 
GOOD W0BK8 313 
 
 admired beauty and loved cricket ; also with the rector, a 
 grave divine nearly superannuated. Both these churchmen, 
 though they thought him a little mad, highly esteemed their 
 coadjutor, and were willing to receive with cordial civility 
 this wonderM nurse of his importation. The elder, indeed, 
 thought it would be as well if she were not quite so good- 
 looking; but the younger seemed of a different opinion. 
 Both, however, expressed and showed a desire to make her 
 stay amongst them as agreeable as they could. The rector's 
 wife also,' too advanced in years to be prejudiced against the 
 beauty she professed to admire, pronounced at once that 
 this dark handsome person was a lady bom. She knew the 
 stamp, she hoped, and could not be mistaken, for her 
 mamma's own brother was a baronet (Vide Burke's "Titles 
 Extinct "), and she had herself been presented at Court. 
 
 So Mrs. Paravant was asked to a quiet afternoon tea, and 
 came; and being put through her facings, was made to 
 confess she was a Paravant of Combe- Wester, to find her- 
 self vastly increased in importance by the admission, as 
 belonging to one of the county families of a neighbouring 
 shire. In her own short apprenticeship, while she kept 
 house for " Forward James," she had been obliged to study 
 that inexplicable table of precedence for which there are no 
 written rules ; and acknowledged, though she could not 
 understand, the superiority a marsh on Sevemside conferred 
 over a block of houses in Boarshaven town. The rector's 
 wife exulted. " There was no mistaking the old blood," 
 she said, "nor deceiving those who possessed it. She 
 knew the woman for a lady at a glance." 
 
 And Beltenebrosa lingered over her lukewarm tea, and 
 watched and waited, glancing at the door, and he never 
 came. 
 
 It was the same thing day after day. That desire which 
 feeds on disappointment, is of all the most engrossing, the 
 most demoralising, and the hardest to subdue. Sometimes 
 she caught sight of his well-known figure hurrying round a 
 corner, and felt her heart sink with the consciousness that 
 it vanished purposely on her approach. Sometimes, meet- 
 ing him in his rounds, he would turn deliberately before 
 they were face to face, and walk away in an opposite 
 direction. Once they came into collision — there was no 
 
814 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 other word for it — in a dark and squalid hoTcI, where an old 
 crone lay dying : he spoke firmly and coldly, without the 
 slightest symptom of emotion, on the necessities of the 
 case ; and she answered in the same tone. Would all her 
 senses have thrilled with rapture to know that under this 
 unflinching assumption of self-command, his heart was 
 beating more wildly and aching more cruelly than her own? 
 
 In her vexation and despair she sometimes thought of 
 that last resource by which a woman tries to recover a lost 
 empire at the sacrifice, often fioiitless, of her own dignity 
 and self-respect. 
 
 "Shall I make him jealous?" said she, and despised 
 herself for the suggestion. There was plenty of material 
 to her hand: the other curate, an aspiring solicitor given to 
 good works, two or three young gentlemen learning to raise 
 rents and shoot wild partridges, at a neighbouring land- 
 agent's, one and all would have waited no second hint to 
 fall at her feet ; but something in the pride of her wild 
 nature, some innate sense of fidelity to herself, rather than 
 another, forbade the degradation, and she let them sigh in 
 vain. Beltenebrosa was " going through the mile," so to 
 speak — was being subjected to that course of training which 
 strengthens, purifies, and exalts the moral being, even as 
 discipline and sudorifics dissolve humours in the physical 
 firame. She had the good sense to know it, telling herself, 
 in all humility, that she was suffering for past unworthiness, 
 and it was only right that one whose life had formerly 
 centred solely in self should be punished by the peine forte 
 et dwre of discovering that her whole existence was merged 
 in another. 
 
 Some dispositions, under continued disappointment, sink 
 into apathy and despair; not so with hers: no woman with 
 those mobile features and flashing eyes could shrug her 
 shoulders, fold her hands, and say "What's the use?" 
 Evil or good, she must be doing. It seemed fortunate that 
 at such a juncture the good lay nearer to her hand than the 
 evil, and, what is of more importance, nearer also to her 
 heart. In walking these long rounds, the very physical 
 exercise was beneficial ; and who can dwell entirely on mental 
 Bufferings, however acute, in presence of bodUy agony 
 crying out for relief? That she was treading in the curate's 
 
BOBN A LOVEL 315 
 
 very steps, that she passed through the doors he had lately 
 closed, hung over the bed at which even now he stood, 
 beautiful in the brightness of those who bring good tidings ; 
 that she shared his dangers, as his toils; tending the same 
 contagious disorders, breathing the same fever-laden air; 
 that she might come across him by accident at any moment, 
 on the field where they both fought so gallantly ; all this 
 she tried hard not to consider, forcing herself to accept the 
 situation for its own sake, whatever might be the result. 
 Here was the lesson of humility she must learn. Here was 
 the task of reparation she must fulfil. She would go through 
 with it to the end. 
 
 CHAPTEE Ln 
 
 BORN A IiOVEL 
 
 To use an expression of the matron more forcible than 
 elegant, poor Nance " had a squeak for it." Low fever, 
 fastening on a firame wasted by hard living and hard usage, 
 found little to oppose its ravages, save the innate strength 
 of constitution that seems the birthright of a people who 
 live and die in the open air. To the spare habit and vigor- 
 ous temperament of her nation, combined with the patient 
 nursing of Beltenebrosa, Nance owed a recovery that for 
 a time seemed hopeless; for she remained some days 
 insensible, regaining consciousness at the stated period that 
 Nature seems to have established as her landmark, a point 
 where the doctor is satisfied he has saved the patient and 
 worsted the disease. When, after a long unbroken sleep 
 succeeding many hours of delirium, Nance opened her 
 black eyes, they expressed in their first glance the cunning 
 and caution of her race. Beltenebrosa knew she was 
 recognised, even before the poor thin hand on the counter- 
 pane clung round her own, and raised it to the pale wasted 
 face with a touching gesture of gratitude and devotion. 
 
 "Is it you that's been nursin' of me, sister?" said 
 Nance, in the trembling accents of exhaustion, " or am I 
 dreaming still ? If so be I am a-dreaming, don't ye wake 
 
816 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 me, for pity's sake ! Let me go off comfortable ; I'll never 
 feel so easy again." 
 
 "It is Jane Lee," answered the other. "The same 
 Jane Lee you waited on in the Patron's caravan. You're 
 not going to die, Nance ; never fear. Keep quiet now ; go 
 to sleep again. I won't leave you ; I'll be at your bedside 
 when you wake." 
 
 She had anticipated this untoward recognition by her 
 gipsy kinswoman, and prepared herself for all its hazards 
 and inconveniences ; yet were these none the more accept- 
 able when they came. She dreaded the discovery of her 
 refuge by Jericho, his exactions, his audacious advances, 
 his reckless cupidity, and — and — what would Mervyn 
 Strange think of her intimacy with such people as these ? 
 
 She need not have distressed herself. Gratitude is one 
 of the few good qualities that the ban of society has not 
 succeeded in eradicating from the gipsy's character. Nance 
 felt and declared she owed her life to the patient assiduities 
 of her nurse, and cherished, moreover, an active sympathy 
 for this stately kinswoman, who, like herself, had married 
 out of her race. 
 
 In the long hours of convalescence she would dwell, with 
 no little interest, on their similarity of fortune, envying, I 
 am inclined to think, the good luck of the other in losing a 
 Gentile husband she ought never to have won. No princess 
 of old Spain, no Austrian countess with her sixteen quarter- 
 ings, no Percy, Howard, Seymour, or Somerset of our own 
 nobility, could have laid greater store by the transmission 
 of pure blood from generation to generation, than did this 
 gipsy tramp, with her ragged petticoat, shapely figure, 
 slender hands, arched feet, and dirty, high-bred face. 
 
 " I can't think how I come to do it, sister," she argued ; 
 "and if I wasn't regular bewitched, I'm sure I couldn't 
 have been in my right mind. Bom a Level, as you know, 
 nothing can't rob me of that ; and to take up with one of 
 them Coopers, and him not a real Cooper neither! It 
 doesn't seem like sense, and yet it's true — too true, as I 
 feel every day, to my cost ! " 
 
 " But I suppose you liked him ? " observed the nurse, 
 wondering With some self-scorn, that she, of all people, 
 should take an interest in a love-story. Had she not done 
 
BOBN A LOVEL 317 
 
 with such foUiea for ever? Had she not gathered the 
 flowers to find only poison in their petals ? Ajad could she 
 hanker after the scent of them still ? 
 
 " That's just where it is," answered Nance. " How was 
 I to he off liking of him — so pleasant-spoken, so obliging ? 
 ' Let me fill the pail for you, my dear,' says he ; ' those 
 beautiful slender fingers of youm oughtn't never to know 
 the touch of hard work. You'll come to the fair with me, 
 my dark-eyed Nance, and if there's aught good enough to 
 set off that comely face of youm, I'll spend a week's wages 
 but what I'll have it ! ' Now it's ' Blast ye ! why isn't the 
 kettle a-bilin' for my grog? There you be, as usual, 
 washin' of your face and combin' of your hair, when you 
 ought to be mindin' your work ! ' And as for black eyes,- 
 sister, I've an extra pair as doesn't set off a woman's good 
 looks, oftener than not, along of his cruel fists. He've a 
 heavy hand, have my Zachary, and, though he be but a 
 little chap, bless ye ! he's as strong as a bull." 
 
 " I should leave him, dear, if I were you," exclaimed 
 Beltenebrosa, firing with womanly indignation at this recital 
 of conjugal wrongs. " I wouldn't live a day with a man 
 who dared to lift his hand against me. Not an hour ! " 
 
 " It's easy talking," answered Nance, wearily, " but 
 what's a poor woman to do ? We can't keep ourselves not 
 anything like decent with the little wage our weak fingers 
 can earn at the needle and such like. I doesn't think as I 
 could wire a rabbit, even a young one, not if I was starving ! 
 We want a mMn about us, whether or no. Somehow the 
 fire doesn't seem to burn so bright when there's no master 
 a-lightin' of his pipe at the embers ; and it's dreary work 
 to wake up at night under the stars and find yourself all 
 alone. No, sister ; mine is bad as can be, I'm not going 
 to deny it, and yet a bad husband is a sight better than 
 none at all." 
 
 " But you came here alone," urged Beltenebrosa. " The 
 matron told me that when you were brought in by— by — 
 Mr. Strange, the day you were taken so ill, he found you in 
 the street without a soul to look after you." 
 
 " It's God's truth, my dear," was the answer ; " and 
 God's blessing on that tall grand gentleman who picked me 
 out of the very mud in the roadway. He's fit to be a prince, 
 
318 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 lie is ! There's a man, now, as a woman might be proud 
 and happy to own ! He'd neyer speak a word but in kind- 
 ness : he'd neyer look at her without a smile ; and he'd lay 
 down his life for her, if need be, just because he is one of 
 the brave loving sort as thinks her a finer creature than 
 himself, when she isn't fit to clean his boots ! I seen it in 
 his eyes ! " 
 
 She had thought so too, of late, a thousand times. Did 
 his admirable qualities strike her more forcibly now that 
 they seemed so obvious even to this rude uneducated kins- 
 woman, who had detected his noble nature with the intuition 
 of her sex ? Beltenebrosa did not often blush. Neverthe- 
 less she turned aside to the window, and changed the 
 subject. 
 
 " What shall you do, Nance," she asked, " when you are 
 obliged to leave us ? You know we mustn't keep you after 
 you get well." 
 
 Nance pondered. " Go back to Zachary," she said 
 resolutely : " maybe he misses me by now. My Zachary 
 isn't always at his worst, sister. Sometimes it will be fair 
 weather with him days on end. He was on the drink, you 
 see, when him and me parted ; but that wouldn't last more 
 nor a week at most, 'specially as he wasn't over-flush of 
 cash, and he's not one as potmen and suchlikes will trust 
 when they doesn't know him, nor, for that matter, when 
 they does. I wouldn't like him to be calling out ' Nance, 
 Nance ! ' and nobody answer, just as he's down in one of 
 them fits when the liquor has died out and the trembles 
 begins. If you'd seen him then, sister, you'd pity him, you 
 would ! " 
 
 "Not so much as I pityr/oM," thought the other; but 
 she marvelled at this tenacity of affection for an unworthy 
 object under its most unworthy conditions, speculating on 
 the origin of such fidelity in one of her own kindred, the 
 tameless race so strong for good and evil. Could she her- 
 self show this constancy, this devotion, this unchanging 
 loyalty to the idol, however unworthy, she had enshrined in 
 her heart ? Yes ! a thousand times yes ! 
 
 In the meantime certain expressions, certain turns of 
 face and gestures in her charge, brought Jericho forcibly to 
 her memory, and she resolved to learn all she could of her 
 
BOBN A LOVEL 819 
 
 persecutor's movements, on the principle that forewarned is 
 forearmed. 
 
 " You shall not go away penniless, Nance," said she, 
 " I will see to that ; and — and — there is your kinsman, 
 you know — ^yours and mine — Jericho Lee. I suppose he 
 would take care you did not starve." 
 
 Weak as she was, Nance sat up in bed, crossed her fore- 
 fingers, and moved her lips as though she spat over them 
 on the floor. 
 
 " My curse on him ! " said she, in such a hoarse 
 whisper as betrayed the fervency of her hatred. "My 
 curse on Jericho Lee, his tent and his blanket, his kettle 
 and his cup ! By wood and stream, by night and day, 
 walking, lying, standing, sitting asleep or awake, alive or 
 dead, I ban every bone in his body, every hair on his head, 
 that not an inch of him may go uncursed to the grave ! 
 And if ever I forgive him, may all the ill I wish him, and 
 ten times more, come upon me instead ! 
 
 " Listen, sister ! I am a gipsy, and I have taken a 
 tinker tramp. I was bom a Level, and I married out of 
 my kindred and out of my degree. It's bad enough, but I 
 might have been a happy woman only for Jericho. He it 
 was who encouraged my Zachary to love the drink, and 
 lent him money, the false-hearted villain ! and made him 
 work it out choring and thieving, till he got him in his 
 hands so, as if Jerry do but lift a finger, he's bound to do 
 his biddhig like a dog ! I've known him boast — I heard 
 him myself; ah! he didn't think as I'd crept behind the 
 screen — ^that he'd as good as got a rope round my man's 
 neck, and could hang him at a week's notice whenever he 
 took the fancy. No, sister, there's good and bad of all 
 sorts, but nobody will make me believe as that there Devil 
 the tall gentleman mentioned at this very bedside could ever 
 be half so black, or a quarter so wicked, as Jericho Lee ! " 
 
 "And where is he now?" asked the other, with more 
 anxiety than she would have cared to admit. 
 
 " Where's the wind as blows north to-day, and south 
 to-morrow, and east or west, just as it happens, the day 
 after ? I can't say where Jericho is, sister, I can tell you 
 where I hope he's not, and that's where I seen him last, 
 barely two days' walk from this town, on the London road. 
 
320 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 drinking with my man, giving of him a trifle of money and 
 a heap of fair words. I know'd he was up to mischief by 
 that, 'specially as he seemed all on the high ropes, jawin' 
 and smilin,' with a tall hat and a broadcloath coat, dressed 
 out like a lord of the land." 
 
 "But, Nance," urged Beltenehrosa," you must know, 
 you must have heard him say what made him leave London ? 
 Did he mean to come on here? " 
 
 "I might find out from my Zachary," replied Nance, 
 who could not but observe the anxiety of her listener. 
 " As soon as I can get on my feet I'll travel back the way 
 I came, on the track as my man is pretty sure to follow up. 
 He'll maybe tell me if he knows; but there, Jerry's as 
 deep as a well. Only one thing makes me think as he may 
 be coming to this very town. I was by when he swore, 
 black as night, he had never heard of the place, and didn't 
 believe in it ! " 
 
 The inference seemed obvious. Beltenehrosa fairly 
 shuddered when she reflected on the odious persistency of 
 this man, to avoid whom she had fled into the remotest 
 corner of the kingdom. She could neither baffle nor con- 
 trol him. For a moment she felt very helpless and forlorn. 
 Then she bethought her of Fighting Jack, his paternal 
 afi'ection, the stronger for inebriety, his dogged fidelity to 
 his own warped notions of right, and the protection afi'orded 
 by his influence and personal daring. 
 
 "But how came Jericho to be alone?" she asked. 
 " Where is the Patron ? " 
 
 " The tall gentleman must tell you that," answered 
 Nance, with a sad smUe. "He says he knows. I don't. 
 If the Patron is alive anywheres, it's in some place where 
 he'll have to do without drink and 'baccy. Clothes, too ; 
 but he won't miss them so bad. Why, didn't you never 
 hear, sister ? The Patron has got a grave in London town, 
 just like some Gorgio gentleman as dies in a four-post bed. 
 I wouldn't say but what there's a stone to it, and print. I 
 hope he lies easy, I'm sure, for he'll never get out no more ! " 
 
 " Is he dead ? " gasped the other. 
 
 " Dead enough," answered Nance. " Sudden like, they 
 said. Went under as if he'd been shot. We was in the 
 north, Zachary and me, when the news come. I can't 
 
"N0LEN8-V0LEN8" 821 
 
 mind what the doctor called it, but Jericho says it was 
 gin. 
 
 Beltenebrosa fairly broke down. " God help me ! " she 
 exclaimed, bursting into tears, " I haven't a friend in the 
 world ! " 
 
 CHAPTER Lni 
 
 "nolbns-volens " 
 
 Lord St. Moeitz, in spite of the policeman's anticipations, 
 was obliged to attend an inquest held on the body of Fight- 
 ing Jack. His own, indeed, seemed the only material 
 evidence, and the whole affair, transacted in a close ill- 
 ventilated apartment, occupied very little time. Emerging 
 with some satisfaction into the fresh air, his lordship was 
 surprised to feel his elbow touched by a slLtn dark fellow 
 with the gipsy colouring, that still, by some association of 
 ideas, brought sweet and bitter memories into his heart. 
 
 " Can I have a word with you in private, my lord? " 
 said this person, who was none other than Jericho Lee. 
 
 His lordship had never been deficient in courage. Scan- 
 ning the slender proportions of his questioner, he decided 
 that in the event of a struggle he might hold his own well 
 enough, and with little hesitation followed the other into a 
 by-street, where they could converse without interruption. 
 After proceeding a few paces, the nobleman came to a halt. 
 
 "Now, then," he said abruptly; "what is it! You 
 want money, of course." 
 
 " I don't look like it," answered Jerry, glancing down at 
 his ovra flash attire. "But your lordship knows what's 
 what as well as most, and I do want money, that's the 
 truth. I'm not asking you to give it me. My lord, I can 
 tell you something for a fiver that you would part with a 
 hundred willingly to know." 
 
 " Say a crown," replied his lordship, coolly, suspecting 
 this must be some racing "tout" with false intelligence 
 about a trial or a breakdown. " Five shillings, and I'll take 
 my chance of your secret not being worth five farthings." 
 
 21 
 
322 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 " You won't say that when you know what it is," returned 
 Jerry. "Look here, my lord : five sovereigns, or even four, 
 money down, and I'll tell you where you find somebody 
 that's been as good as lost for weeks past." 
 
 Though his heart made a great jump, that steady face 
 betrayed no kind of emotion. 
 
 " Nonsense, my good fellow," said he. " Do you think 
 your information is better than mine? Come, if you're 
 hard up, I'll say a pound ; take it or leave it." 
 
 " I'll have to leave it, my lord. It's not half enough. 
 Four quid, here on the nail ; that's the lowest price." 
 
 " Then you can leave it, my man, and walk on. Here, 
 I'll give you a cigar for nothing, if you want to smoke." 
 
 "Your lordship is a real gentleman. I should like to 
 oblige you. Won't your lordship spring a trifle? " 
 
 " Not a shilling. I'm very hard at a bargain." 
 
 " Well, have it your own way. Thank you, my lord, and 
 I'll take the cigar too, if you please. She's at Boarshaven, 
 that's where she is. I want the money bad, or you wouldn't 
 have got the tip so cheap." 
 
 It was true enough. Like many others who live by their 
 wits rather than their wisdom, Jericho Lee, notwithstand- 
 ing the fine clothes on his back, was almost penniless. It 
 requires uninterrupted success in shoplifting, picking pockets, 
 and such branches of unregistered industry, to stand the 
 expenses incurred by a fancy man of the swell mob like 
 handsome Jericho Lee. The champagne alone swallowed 
 by his fair friends, at ten shillings a bottle in the Hay- 
 market, made a fearful hole in his earnings ; and after he 
 had treated one to gloves, another to boots, and a third to 
 a new hat, there was little left for himself. This sovereign, 
 so opportunely extracted, would pay his expenses to Boars- 
 haven, whither he resolved to follow his kinswoman, taking 
 a West-country fair on his way, at which merrymaking he 
 hoped to earn some addition to his resources, by help of 
 that useful implement the thimble, that homely vegetable 
 the pea. 
 
 It was thus he came in contact with Zachary and Nance, 
 to the deterioration of the tinker, and extreme discomfiture 
 of his ill-used spouse. 
 
 " Boarshaven ! " muttered his lordship, as he walked 
 
"NOLENS-VOLENS" 323 
 
 away. "Now, what in the name of everything that's 
 unaccountable can have taken her to such an out-of-the-way 
 hole as that ? The fellow seemed to know all about it. I 
 wish I had asked him a few more questions. I believe he 
 is a relation ; something in his face reminded me of hers. 
 I wish it had not ! I've never done any good with her 
 from first to last, and that night after the play was a 
 sickener. I don't suppose she would speak to me now, if 
 we met again. I've half a mind to try. There's some 
 mystery about her I would give the world to find out. She 
 is in with all sorts of people, even such a scamp as this, 
 and yet she has the manners of a duchess and the bearing 
 of a queen. Perhaps if I knew her real history I could 
 master her. I never was beat by a woman yet. Shall I 
 start for Boarshaven this evening, ferret it all out, and have 
 one more try ? I believe it's the dullest place in England, 
 with the dirtiest hotel. Let me see, though : I am engaged 
 to dinner to-day and to-morrow. Then there's Ik&s. 
 Stripwell — ^I promised to take her to the Alexandra Park : 
 to be sure I could throw her over. Next week I might 
 manage it ; but it's a long journey, and suppose she should 
 be gone when I get there ! Besides, one is a gentleman, 
 and it does seem bad form to hunt a woman down. It's 
 unfair — hang it ! unmanly ! I've heard of some eastern 
 fellow — the Lord Mayor, Presier John, somebody — who 
 had a remembrancer, a wise man, to go out walking with 
 him, and remind him of everything he ought not to have 
 forgotten. I've a great mind to set up something of the 
 kind, a fellow who would tell me what to do when I can't 
 settle for myself. Npw, this is a case in point — ^I want to 
 go, and I don't want to go. I'd give a hundred to see her 
 again, and a thousand never to have seen her at all. She 
 has upset all my arrangements, demolished aU my schemes, 
 and, in a roundabout way, impaired even my health. She 
 has vexed, baffled, and defeated me at every turn, and yet 
 I am hankering after her like a schoolboy. Is it because 
 she puzzles me, or why ? I never was sure of her ; never 
 could quite make out whether she liked me or not. No ; I 
 won't go near her. I'll leave off being a fool. I'll give it 
 all up; have a final row with Mrs. Stripwell, and retire 
 from the business. Aider all, I believe women are a mistake ! 
 
324 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 I see fellows get on very well without them. Look at 
 Beauregard, the handsomest man in London now, and has 
 been for the last twenty years ; I don't believe he ever 
 looks at a woman, except his hideous old wife, and he don't 
 trouble her more than he can help. How happy he always 
 seems ! how contented ! Dine with you, drive with you, 
 shoot with you, go anywhere, do anything. Now, whenever 
 I run off one engagement, I am obliged to pay forfeit on 
 another. Somebody has to be thrown over, and then there's 
 a blow-up. Words always ; tears sometimes. Hang it — 
 I'm sick of the whole thing ! " 
 
 Wise resolutions enough, but for such a temperament, 
 and after such a life, exceedingly difficult to carry out. Habit 
 is second nature ; and his lordship could no more forego 
 the excitement of flirtation than a Highlander his dram or 
 a Dutchman his pipe. Some men are fools about women 
 in early manhood, others in advanced age ; but Lord St. 
 Moritz had been alternately their slave and tyrant his whole 
 life through, and perhaps in the immunity that comes with 
 constant danger, had taken less harm than might have been 
 expected, till he met Beltenebrosa. 
 
 That he regarded her with feelings more like real attach- 
 ment than those he entertained for any of his other loves, 
 may be inferred from the indecision he now felt as to his 
 movements, and his dread of her scorn when he should 
 appear in his true colours. For a moment he almost made 
 up his mind to ask her to marry him point-blank ; but he 
 knew himself well enough to be sure that her very consent 
 would niake him cease to desire it ; whereas a refiisal — and 
 he had every reason to expect one — could only render him 
 more devotedly and uncomfortably attached to her than 
 before. 
 
 There are deep meanings in the old myths of Greece, 
 invented by sages who sifted human nature to the husks. 
 No glances are so eager as those cast on fruit hanging one 
 hand's-breadth out of reach ; no thirst is so burning as that 
 which waters lips, but never slakes. Tantalus, close under 
 the heavy-laden boughs, up to his neck in a running stream, 
 must have been an object of pity to gods and men ! 
 
 Lord St. Moritz, alas ! was never satisfied to drink from 
 his own cistern, and inherited so much of his character 
 
"N0LEN8-V0LENS" 825 
 
 from our common mother that, having access to all the 
 trees in the garden, he was sure to long, like Eve, for that 
 which hore the forbidden fruit ! All the way home, through 
 the rattle of a hansom cab, his good and evil angels argued 
 the point. It was hard to give her up ; it was cruel to 
 hunt her down. No gentleman should persist in his 
 advances to a woman when he sees they are xmwelcome ; 
 but again, she admires perseverance, as she appreciates 
 fidelity, and a breach incessantly battered must become 
 practicable at last. Scores of proverbs, contradicting each 
 other, were summoned to strengthen opposite sides of the 
 argument. " If she will, she will, you may depend on't ; 
 and if she won't, she won't, and there's an end on't ! " 
 seemed a doggerel replete with wisdom, till he reflected 
 that " constant dropping wears away a stone," and that 
 the Scotch, a wise and cautious nation, protest " nineteen 
 nay-says make half a grant." 
 
 He was in a state of extreme vacillation and uncertainty 
 about an expedition to Boarshaven ; but perhaps, altogether, 
 only wanted an excuse to go. 
 
 When he reached his own house, he found it on the hall 
 table, in the shape of a letter from a great lady, who has 
 not appeared personally in these pages, but of whom I have 
 taken the liberty to make mention, under her title of 
 Marchioness. From his lordship's valet, who did not fail 
 to peruse this communication when he took his master's 
 coat down to brush, I gather its contents were as follows : 
 
 " Dear Lord St. Moritz, — I know how wedded you are 
 to London, and that you find great dif&culty in tearing 
 yourself away from its mcmy attractions ; but I venture to 
 hope we can persuade you to pay us a little visit next week, 
 the 20th or 21st, just as it suits, and we trust you will stay 
 as long as you feel the coimtry air does you good. There 
 is nothing else to offer. Shooting is over; the hunting, I 
 fancy, atrociom ; and, thank Heaven ! we have no neighbours. 
 There will be a Function at Boarshaven, a place you never 
 heard of, but our nearest town, where we are very ^eat people 
 indeed : a sort of tea for the school-children, romps, and 
 prizes, and a parson to do the polite. You know the kind 
 of thing, and need not go if it bores you. We must, as 
 
326 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 it is rather a stronghold of Ned's voters, and one has to 
 keep up the family interest. I was in hopes the ballot 
 would have spared one all these worries, but nothing seems 
 to make any difference. An election costs as much money, 
 and everybody drinks as much beer, as in the good old 
 times. I haven't heard a word of scandal for six weeks, 
 and positively thirst for news, so mind you bring down a 
 fresh budget. 
 
 " If you come, as I hope you will, Stoke-Erith is our 
 station ; it is close to the North Lodge, and we will send 
 for you, of course. If anybody asks after me, say I'm not 
 dead yet, only buried, and believe me, dear Lord St. 
 Moritz, 
 
 " Yours very sincerely, 
 
 " EosB Eeith. 
 
 " P.S. — Tilbury bids me tell you he has some dry cham- 
 pagne he wants you to taste. I think it very nasty! " 
 
 The valet wondered why she should still call her old Marquis 
 by his second title, more particularly as her own marriage 
 took place nearly twenty years after his father's death. 
 Lord St. Moritz, who was accustomed to such confusion ci 
 nomenclature, sat promptly down to write a joyful accept- 
 ance, specifying his day and the train that would bring him, 
 promising, moreover, all the stray morsels of scandal he 
 could glean, while regretting the crop of evil was unusually 
 scanty. So unnatural a state of things could not last, he 
 thought. Nothing really shocking had taken place for two 
 months. An explosion must surely be due, and no doubt 
 it would come off before he left town next week. 
 
 CHAPTER LIV 
 
 HUNTED 
 
 The bloodhounds were on her track, and though Beltene- 
 brosa was no timid hind, to give up all hope of resistance 
 when she ceased to find safety in flight, she had yet lost 
 much of the self-confidence that used to support her in 
 
HUNTED 327 
 
 earlier years; she was beginning to desire security and 
 repose — something to trust, something to lean on, some- 
 thing to love. The bare idea that Jericho was following 
 her up seemed so distasteful, she almost resolved to leave 
 England for the Continent, and, taking with her the 
 recommendations to which she felt justly entitled, enter on 
 a fresh career of usefulness and good works, under another 
 name, in a foreign country, where she might hope to remain 
 unmolested and unknown. 
 
 That Lord St. Moritz should have joined in the chase 
 was a turn of worse luck than she could have anticipated. 
 It needed a painful effort of self-command to retain he? calm 
 bearing and characteristic dignity when she came face to 
 face with him, of all places on earth, in Boarshaven infant- 
 school, cleared out and arranged for a tea-party of little 
 people, with ruddy cheeks and wistful eyes, to be made 
 happy in a surfeit of cake, toffee, and buns. 
 
 It was the merest chance that she found herself there at 
 all, having by no means intended to assist at any festive 
 gathering in her deep momning and confirmed despondency ; 
 but the schoolmistress had been taken ill at the la^t 
 moment ; the matron, who had promised to assume a 
 divided command, was sadly at a loss for a colleague, and, 
 knowing they could both be spared from the hospital, now 
 nearly empty, entreated Mrs. Parav^nt to come forward and 
 stand in the gap. 
 
 " It would be very hard lines for Mr. Strange," she 
 argued, " if all his arrangements should fall through at the 
 last moment ; he set such store by these little folks, and 
 loved to see them enjoy themselves. She had heard him 
 say many a time that it was his one chance of holiday- 
 making in the vrhole year." 
 
 This seemed a good reason, no doubt, but I am not 
 satisfied it would have ensured compliance, had Beltenebrosa 
 known she was to meet the Marchioness and some fine 
 friends, amongst them Lord St. Moritz, at so homely a 
 treat. She naturally concluded the party would consist of 
 a hundred small tea-drinkers, the Matron of the hospital 
 herself, and Mervyn Strange. She saw him so seldom now, 
 it would be a joy to hear him speak, to breathe the same 
 air, in the same room, and attend to the same duties. He 
 
328 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 would surely not refuse to exchange a few words on their 
 mutual occupations, and she might even take that oppor- 
 tunity of asking him in what way she had given him 
 offence, so low had her pride fallen ! What did it matter 
 now ? What did anything matter ? She must make up 
 her mind to go away, and never see him again. So she 
 sleeked her black locks even more carefully than usual, put 
 on a clean collar and cuffs, looked at her own beautiful face 
 in the glass, with a satisfaction of which sorrow itself could 
 not deprive her, and took up a position behind an enormous 
 tea-urn at the end of a table twenty feet long, prepared for 
 any eventuality, except, perhaps, that which actually 
 arrived. 
 
 The examination was over. It had, indeed, to be ignomi- 
 niously curtailed, wanting its usual leader. These students 
 of tender years could not be expected to answer questions 
 put in a stranger's voice ; and the curate, who was fond 
 of his little charges, soon saw the necessity of letting them 
 down easy in the matter of simple arithmetic, short spell- 
 ing, with history, natural, sacred, and profane. So the 
 little people clapped their hands to a certain chorus repeated 
 at intervals to keep them awake during school-hours, and 
 sang a hymn, approved, doubtless, by the angels in heaven, 
 but quite imintelligible to mortals on earth. 
 
 The spectators, delighted to get off with so short a pro- 
 gramme, voted the whole institution " charming," reflecting 
 the highest credit on the management, the clergyman, and 
 above all the patroness. Lady Erith, who never came near 
 it but on such occasions, once a year ! 
 
 She entered the tea-room with her party, at the head of 
 a column nearly one hundred strong, and literally gasped 
 in astonishment to see Mrs. Paravant superintending an 
 array of metal teapots and stacks of bread and butter two 
 feet high. 
 
 " Good gracious, my dear ! " exclaimed her ladyship, 
 when she recovered her breath, " I say again, emphatically, 
 good gracious ! What is this ? What does it mean ? Are 
 you doing it for a bet ? " 
 
 The other, taking Lady Erith's proffered hand, di-opped 
 a mocking little curtsy. 
 
 " You cannot be more surprised than I am," said she ; 
 
HUNTED 329 
 
 " I never expected we should meet here. But your lady- 
 ship is on duty, I conclude, and I am not." 
 
 " Duty ? " repeated the other. " Wait till I collect my 
 scattered intellects. Duty? Yes, I suppose I am. It has 
 been anything but pleasure, my dear, till I saw you. Now 
 let us attend to business. Where are you staying ? and 
 when are you coining to ils? " 
 
 The- procession had been brought to a dead-lock in the 
 sudden stoppage of its leader : the children gazed at this tall 
 handsome lady, who seemed to intimate with that absolute 
 divinity, the Marchioness, with open-mouthed admiration. 
 The bystanders looked on, wondering, awestruck, and 
 certain of the townspeople, who knew Mrs. Paravant as the 
 mysterious sick-nurse, began to think they had " entertained 
 an angel unawares." 
 
 Only Mervyn Strange cast restless glances at those two 
 striking figures in juxtaposition over the tea-table, and 
 marvelled why he had not yet reconciled himself to the 
 conviction that Beltenebrosa and he moved in spheres wide 
 as the poles apart. It might have been for his especial 
 behoof she avowed her intentions to Lady Erith so decidedly 
 and in so audible a voice. 
 
 " I have been here some weeks," said she ; " but of 
 com-se," glancing at her black sleeve, " I could go nowhere. 
 Now I am packing up to start again. It is a great piece 
 of good luck to have caught this glimpse of you at the last 
 moment." 
 
 "You can't possibly go without paying us a visit at 
 Stoke-Erith," insisted her ladyship. " Tilbury would tear 
 his gray hair. He raves about you still. My dear, you 
 shall be as quiet as you like. We have nobody with us — at 
 least, nobody that cotmts — except Lord St. Moritz, and you 
 know him so well. Here he is ! " 
 
 She moved aside to make way for his lordship, who 
 advanced with extended hand, but an undecided expression 
 of face. 
 
 "You haven't forgotten me, I hope, Mrs. Paravant," 
 said he. " It is not so very long since we met." 
 
 "I have not forgotten Lord St. Moritz," she answered, 
 in tones of icy displeasure, utterly ignoring his attempt at 
 a cordial greeting, " nor do I wish to be reminded of him." 
 
330 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 And she turned to her teacups with an air of superiority and 
 dignified displeasure that cinished him to the earth. 
 
 ."He looked like a fool," said Lady Erith subsequently, 
 relating this passage of arms to her kind old husband. " It 
 was as good as a play. You never saw anything so well 
 done. Our friend, as we all know, is not easily set down, 
 but she fairly walked over him, and I don't think he has 
 recovered it yet." 
 
 To tell the truth, Lord St. Moritz for once in his life lost 
 his head, and accepted the false position in which he had 
 placed himself with as little tact as a schoolboy. Li private 
 combat there are many ways of conducting a hand-to-hand 
 engagement with a lady. Some men affect a cool superiority 
 they by no means feel ; some rave and storm more furiously 
 than the enemy, silencing her, as it were, by a better- 
 sustained fire than her own ; some again — and these, I have 
 been told, are more successful than might be supposed — 
 burst into tears, with unusual demonstrations of emotion, 
 and by a timely appeal to her clemency, conquer even in the 
 moment of submission; but when she declares war in public 
 a man should lay down his ai-ms on the spot. He is fight- 
 ing with his hands tied ; the sympathies of the crowd are 
 against him ; he has not a chance, and the sooner he gets 
 off the field the better — ^pell-mell, right-about-face, and run 
 for your lives ! All this nobody knew better than Lord St. 
 Moritz, yet was he so ill-advised in his vexation as to hover 
 roimd Beltenebrosa, among her cups and saucers, persis- 
 tently endeavom-ing to attract her attention and engage her 
 in conversation, however commonplace, on the homely duties 
 of her task. Here, however, he met with his match. No- 
 thing he could do or say had the slightest effect in breaking 
 through her haughty reserve, and if compelled to accept his 
 assistance, in such matters as the removal of trays or 
 replenishment of milk-cans, she took no more notice of 
 her coadjutor than of the domestic articles he held in his 
 hands. 
 
 " She treats me like a footman," thought his lordship, 
 " and I believe I like her none the worse ! It won't last, 
 of course. She couldn't be so savage if she didn't care for 
 me a little. To-morrow there will be a reaction, and I 
 shall sail in triumphantly on the turn of the tide ! " 
 
HUNTED 831 
 
 But here, trusting, perljaps, over-QO,nfidently to a 
 practical knowledge of the sex, his lordship was grossly in 
 error. There is no such fallacy as to determine the conduct 
 of any one woman in a pa,rticular case by some general law 
 considered applicable to the whole sex. 
 
 What says the Prea;cher, the wisest of men, and unusually 
 experienced — if we are to believe history — in such matters ? 
 " One man among a thousand have I found, but a woman 
 among those have I not found ! " meaning, I take it, that in 
 the former sex only could some clue be afforded, by study 
 of the many, to the character of one. To judge by his 
 writings, women must have puzzled the royal sage exceed- 
 ingly. The more he knew of them, the lower they seem to 
 have fallen in his opinion ; but perhaps, in an extensive poly- 
 gamy, he may have undervalued all because he never became 
 thoroughly acquainted with a single individual, and fell 
 into the vulgar error of trying to account, on known 
 principles, for anything they professed to dp, or did, or 
 did not! i 
 
 Lord St. Moritz, who resembled Solomon in this one 
 respect alone, bore his disgrace as best he might — ^very 
 badly indeed; made himself troublesome, made himself 
 obnoxious, nay, made himself ridiculous — worst and most 
 fatal naistake of aU ! 
 
 Few of us can have failed to remark an instinct of the 
 female sex, like that of small birds in presence of a hawk, 
 which impels them to make common cause, on certain 
 established occasions, against the common foe. Dislikes, 
 rivalries, even jealousies, are forgotten. They stand by 
 their colours with an esprit de corps and a loyalty that defy 
 attack. When thus massed, as it were, to "resist cavalry," 
 in which manoeuvre they are not always singly so successful, 
 the enemy hovers round these fair Aiaazons to no purpose, 
 retiring at last, in disorder and disgust, from the unequal 
 fight. 
 
 Lady Erith, , with feminine acuteness, detected her 
 friend's intention of pouring discomfiture on the offending 
 head of Lord St. Moritz, and helped her to the utmost. 
 Even when the feast was over and cake eaten, when rosy 
 little mouths had been wiped, chubby little hands joined in 
 such simple thanksgiving as flies up through the air like a 
 
882 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 rocket, and the room cleared for a distribution of prizes, to 
 be succeeded by romps and sugar-plums, she placed Mrs. 
 Paravant next herself, in a comer by the wall, and so 
 hemmed her in that common good breeding forbade the 
 most persistent of tormentors to exchange a word with her, 
 good or bad. 
 
 " I must make the most of you while I've got you," 
 whispered her ladyship. " But do tell me, dear, in 
 confidence, of course, what on earth is the meaning of 
 it all?" 
 
 In a few hurried sentences Beltenebrosa gave the most 
 plausible account of herself she could evolve at such short 
 notice. She had lost her husband, as Lady Erith knew, 
 under very painful circumstances. Her whole life had been 
 altered, and, indeed, darkened by this bereavement. She 
 had been staying in London, but London was the loneliest 
 place in the world for a "fenvme seule," and — yes, she was 
 sure she had been less unhappy even here at Boarshaven. 
 Lady Erith couldn't understand that. It was not to be 
 expected. But happiness had very little to do with places. 
 Eor her part, she had given up trying for it. If she could 
 do a little good in the world, that was all she asked. It did 
 not much matter where. She had made up her mind to go 
 abroad, because — because — she liked the hours, the climcte 
 agreed with her, and England reminded her too much of the 
 past. 
 
 " Nonsense, my dear ! " said the Marchioness ; " you are 
 hipped, bored out of health ; you want tonics, gaiety, cheer- 
 ing up. I wish you would see my doctor ; such a quiz, but 
 so clever ! Depend upon it, my dear, you are ill." 
 
 " Not ill," answered the other, sadly, " only unhappy." 
 
 The tears rose to her fine eyes, but Lady Erith could think 
 of no better medicine for the mind diseased than her own 
 panacea. 
 
 " We would soon put you to rights at Stoke-Erith," said 
 she, rising to break up the ceremony. " Change of air, 
 change of people, change of scene. Come to-morrow," 
 with a glance at Lord St. Moritz ; " he's not going till the 
 day after." 
 
 But his unexpected presence at this festival, combined 
 with the dreaded arrival of Jericho Lee, had decided the 
 
MISJUDGED 333 
 
 intentions of Mrs. Paravant. Lady Eritli knew by the 
 pressure of her friend's hand when they parted that she 
 meant a long farewell, and, attributing this contrariety in 
 some measure to his lordship, was less cordial with him than 
 usual during the whole journey home. 
 
 CHAPTEE LV 
 
 MISJUDGED 
 
 A WOUNDED spirit seems endowed with some clairvoyance 
 of its own. It sees through the eyes of the heart, at any 
 distance and in any light, much that does exist, and also 
 much that does not. 
 
 A good-natured clergyman, fond of children, superintend- 
 ing the wants of an infant school at high festival of tea and 
 cake, might be supposed to have his hands so fuU that he 
 could spare little observation for matters, however engrossing, 
 unconnected with the filling of urns, emptying of plates, 
 and ministering to the appetites of the happy hungry little 
 people over whose meal he presides. Yet did Mervyn Strange, 
 attending to all these details with his usual energy, detect 
 — through his skull, no doubt, and the back buttons of his 
 coat — certain grave offences in the woman he loved, that 
 had no existence but in his own imagination. 
 
 It mattered little to him, he told himself, except, of 
 course, as challenging reproof from one of his sacred 
 calling, but it was evident that this former lover had fol- 
 lowed her here, expressly to renew the attachment that 
 existed, to their shame, during her husband's life. Had 
 not Mrs. Tregarthen told him all about it in this very town ? 
 and Mrs. Tregarthen, with many faults and much love of 
 tittle-tattle, was a shrewd, observant, far-seeing woman of 
 the world. He was not inclined to believe a word at first, 
 so prejudiced had he been — and no wonder — ^in favour of 
 an offender whose beauty precluded his impartial verdict, 
 but he must believe his own eyes — or rather the eyes in his 
 waist-buttons — now ! They were flirting ! Yes, that was 
 the word used by designing men and unprincipled women 
 
334 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 to express the insidious advances of temptation — flirting 
 egregiously, even here, in the presence of these children, 
 whose innocent little faces should have shamed them into 
 the pretence if not the practice of decency and virtue. 
 
 Aid what was he, this man — this Lord St. Moritz, on 
 whom the policy of our British Constitution conferred 
 hereditary distinction as a legislator of his country ? Had 
 he any earthly merit or good quality whatever, save a repu- 
 tation for that spurious wit which is more properly called 
 insolence, and those trivial accomplishments that, as they 
 seldom accomplish sterling worth, are rather to be deplored 
 than envied or admired? God forbid he should judge 
 harshly ! but charity herself must not ignore truth ; and 
 that is vrilfol blindness, amounting to complicity, which 
 ignores the wolf when he wears his sheep's clothing 
 avowedly in jest. 
 
 It was no affair of his, he could not repeat too often ; but 
 he had made inquiries concerning this nobleman, and had 
 received much the same answer from all. His character 
 seemed well known to be utterly devoid of principle where 
 women were concerned. Society held up its hands in comic 
 deprecation, and declared, upon its word, he was too bad ! 
 His conversation was agreeable enough — Voyez-vovs ? 
 C'6tait son mitier" — ^but his morals were really beyond 
 toleration, and his attentions to any lady, married or single, 
 simply meant destruction to her fair fame. 
 
 This was the profligate whom Beltenebrosa had selected, 
 doubtless from amongst many others, for an intimate 
 friend — nay, a favoured admirer — before her husband's 
 death ; and now, when the poor fellow was scarcely cold in 
 his grave, here he stood in compromising attendance on the 
 widow, with his silver tongue, his silken manners, and his 
 front of brass. It was shameftd, sinful, outrageous — and 
 he blamed her even more than her lover. How should a 
 woman be so lost to all sense of decency and self-respect ? 
 As a member of a Christian community, he could not suffi- 
 ciently condemn her conduct. As a minister of a Christian 
 church, he doubted but that it was his duty to protest 
 against it aloud. 
 
 What a position would have been his own at this moment, 
 had he not resolved long ago to tear out of his heart this 
 
MISJUDGED 335 
 
 folly that had so nearly conquered him ! It seemed provi- 
 dential that he should have so schooled and prepared him- 
 self for his present trial. If happiness were gone for ever, 
 at least duty and honour remained. Why, oh why were 
 these so inadequate to fill the void to his aching hreast ? 
 
 He knew, bui; would not adinit, that never in his life had 
 he felt so miserable as when he returned to his lonely 
 lodgings from the infant school ; but a manly nature only 
 hardens under affliction, and the more he suffered the firmer 
 grew his determination neither to bend, nor quail, nor cry 
 out, nor yield an inch ! 
 
 Lady Erith, too, was much exercised in mind concerning 
 her handsome friend. Considering how little they had seen of 
 each other — perhaps for that very reason — the Marchioness 
 had contracted a marvellous affection for this mysterious 
 woman with the dark eyes and the foreign name. She was 
 really pleased to meet her again, concerned to observe that 
 she seemed unhappy, and much vexed that she failed to 
 secure her company for a friendly visit at so dull a season 
 of the year. 
 
 Lady Erith, quoting one of the most popular wits of the 
 day, was wont to observe, with a comical mockery of his 
 impressive articulation, that she could " Resist anything 
 except temptation, and bear everything except disappoint- 
 ment." To the last-named trial her ladyship was exceed- 
 ingly sensitive ; and connecting, as I have already observed, 
 her failure in securing the company of Beltenebrosa with 
 the proceedings of Lord St. Moritz, was barely civil to the 
 nobleman the whole way home. 
 
 Her depression lasted all through dinner. "Tilbury," as 
 she called the Marquis, doing the affable for two stupendous 
 dowagers, on either hand, bobbed his venerable head to 
 shoot anxious glances at his young wife, along a table laid 
 for eighteen, studded with hothouse plants, cups, vases, and 
 gold plate. The old butler, who had taken her into special 
 favour from the day she entered her new home a blooming 
 bride, came round with his "Champagne, my lady?" (out 
 of her turn) in vain. Not till she had swallowed a cup of 
 strong tea in the drawing-room was her equanimity restored, 
 and with it arrived a rush of curiosity that she resolved, at 
 any sacrifice, to indulge. 
 
836 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 When the gentlemen came in, she had so arranged her 
 party that the billiard-room was empty. As Lord St. 
 Moritz put down his coffee-cup she challenged him to a 
 game, and walked him off for an uninterrupted interview, 
 during which, to use her ladyship's own expression, she 
 meant " to turn him inside-out like a glove." 
 
 " I'll take spot," said she, " and you shall give me ten. 
 We'll string to begin." 
 
 Then she chalked her cue, and made an egregious miss. 
 
 " I thought our little love-feast went off very well to-day," 
 observed this diplomatist. " I was immensely astonished 
 to see Mrs. Paravant there, weren't you? " 
 
 Looking him through and through with her keen bright 
 eyes, she detected something of insincerity and confusion in 
 his own. 
 
 " I'm too old for the sensation," answered his lordship, 
 sprawling across the table to make a cannon. " At my time 
 of life, I may be disgusted, but I can't be surprised." 
 
 " Disgusted ! What a word ! If you ask me, I thought 
 she looked disgusted, not you." 
 
 "How did! look?" 
 
 "Defeated, baffled, put to shame, all over the place. 
 Confess, now, Lord St. Moritz, you came down here on 
 purpose to meet her, and it's no use." 
 
 " How can I confess anything so rude ? I came here 
 because you asked me, because it's the pleasantest country 
 house in England, because your infant-school is a hundred 
 strong. I'm so fond of babies ! " 
 
 " Nonsense, Lord St. Moritz ! she's a friend of mine, and 
 I think you're using her ill." 
 
 "How, Lady Erith?" 
 
 " You know better than I can tell you. Have you not 
 flirted with her ever since she appeared in society? have 
 you not got her talked about, and to a certain extent com- 
 promised by your attentions ? and now that her husband is 
 dead and both are free, you have no right to turn round and 
 leave her out in the cold." 
 
 " The other way up, if you please. Lady Erith. Short 
 of boxing one's ears, she could not have snubbed me more 
 heartily than she did to-day." 
 
 Lady Erith burst out laughing. " I admit the snub," 
 
MISJUDGED 337 
 
 said she, pocketing the red, which left her nothing to play 
 for : " I neyer saw a more complete set-down ; but it's your 
 own fault, and it serves you right ! Now listen, Lord St. 
 Moritz. I asked her to come here before you went away, 
 and she refused. That's nothing. I shouldn't mind going 
 for her myself to-mon:ow, and carrying her off by main 
 force, only, mind, if you don't mean fairly by her, and settle 
 it all before you leave this house, I'll never speak to you 
 again, there ! It's your turn to play." 
 
 Placing the red ball on the spot, he had time to consider 
 the situation. His lordship did not at all fancy being taken 
 possession of in so high-handed a fashion, and thiB eager- 
 ness on the part of his hostess to see him married was 
 exceedingly unflattering, as arguing not on her own account 
 the slightest partiality for him. 
 
 "I am obliged to go away to-morrow, my dear Lady 
 Erith," said he. "It is most unfortunate, but I had a 
 telegram this afternoon, requiring me back in tovm. I have 
 had such a pleasant visit, and only regret it could not be 
 longer. But you'll ask me again, won't you ? " 
 
 " That depends. I daresay Tilbury will. Do you mean 
 to marry my black Mend, and become a respectable man ? " 
 
 " Don't you think I'm nicer as I am ? " 
 
 There was something so absurdly cool and imperturbable 
 in the rejoinder that she could not help laughing, though 
 intensely provoked ; and his lordship played the game out, 
 feeling that once more the collar had been nearly slipped 
 over his head, but he had escaped. 
 
 " Depend upon it, Eosie," said the Marquis, when in the 
 sanctity of her dressiag-room she related this encounter to 
 the kind old husband, whose experience of the world and 
 its ways had sharpened his faculties, but by no means 
 hardened his heart, " you had better have let it alone. St. 
 Moritz knows what he is about, and it's possible he may 
 not consider your handsome favourite, whom I think charm- 
 ing myself, so fit to be a wife as you do. He has had great 
 opportunities of judging, you must remember." 
 
 " That's exactly what I say. It's the very reason I want 
 him to do her justice." 
 
 " No doubt, my dear," was the placid reply; " but you can- 
 not expect him to see it quite from the same point of view." 
 
 22 
 
338 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 So Beltenebrosa not only fell in the good opinion of the 
 man she loved, hut also lost her friends' support, through 
 the events of the day ; and yet how could she have con- 
 ducted herself with more womanly reserve, more propriety 
 of conduct, from first to last ? 
 
 As no man's character, however unblemished, is high 
 enough to escape calumny, so no woman can hope to go 
 through the world uninjured by the malice of her enemies, 
 but more especially uncondemned by the verdict of her 
 fiiends. 
 
 It is so easy to blame ; so easy and so pleasant withal, 
 inferring a nice discrimination, an exalted standard, and a 
 conscious moral superiority. People who have never handled 
 a brush, steered a ship, or set a squadron in the field, have 
 no hesitation in laying down the law on the defects of a 
 portrait and the incompetency of a hero by land or sea. 
 Those whose hearts are mere organs of animal economy, 
 that have never ached with sorrow nor swelled with senti- 
 ment, sit in judgment, usually damnatory, on the poor 
 sufferer, whose tortures have proved unbearable only because 
 of the sensitive generous disposition they wrong so cruelly. 
 Everybody sees the beam in his neighbour's eye, nobody 
 puts himself in his neighbour's place. 
 
 " She loves him with a criminal attachment," argued 
 Meryyn Strange. " They understand each other, and that 
 affected coolness in public is to deceive the world." 
 
 " I suppose I ought to drop her," pondered Lady Erith. 
 " I'm not censorious, and she's a dear ; but one must draw 
 the line somewhere, and fi:om Lord St. Merita's manner I 
 am half afiraid there is something wrong." 
 
 CHAPTER LYI 
 
 STKANGBBS YET 
 
 I DO not conceive that in those mental sufferings, which 
 seem the very conditions, more or less severe, of a soul's 
 training for immortality, any torture can be greater than 
 that which racks two loving hearts, yearning to come 
 
STBANGEB8 YET 839 
 
 together, but separated by a gulf known only to themselves, 
 purely imaginary, yet none the less impassable and profound. 
 The chains that bind them are invisible and impalpable as 
 those of the nightmare, when she ties us hand and foot, 
 paralysing every sensation but that of fear. The moment of 
 waking no doubt sweeps them away, as a morning breeze 
 sweeps its film fi:om the meadow ; but no dreamer can rouse 
 himself, and it needs a friendly hand, often rudely applied, 
 to bring him back to the regions of reality and common 
 sense. 
 
 There was no kindly go-between to reconcile Beltenebrosa 
 and Mervyn Strange. No impartial counsellor to tell them 
 what fools they were, and how, from a sense of false pride 
 and fancied injury, they threw to the winds that chance of 
 happiness which is said to come for each of us once in, a life- 
 time, and no more. 
 
 They dwelt in adjoining streets, less than a hu:^dred 
 yards apart. They met ten times a day. On occasion they 
 could not avoid exchanging ceremonious greetings, even a 
 few commonplace words. Great heavens ! It is enough, to 
 drive a man mad, that he must propound platitudes about 
 the weather, telling the woman he loves " it is a fine day," 
 when he longs to fall at her feet and never get up again till 
 she takes him to her breast! And for her: do you suppose 
 she does not suffer too ? though with more outward calmness 
 and a better grace, as looking forward presently in her own 
 chamber to the relief of tears — a solace denied to the 
 stronger sex. 
 
 Beltenebrosa, perhaps from her wilder nature, seemed 
 more impatient of sorrow than the curatiB, and decided, with 
 characteristic impetuosity, that she would bear it no longer. 
 There were other places in the world besides Boarshaven, 
 which was, moreover, no secure refiige now. She must 
 leave it without delay, and so, at a bold stroke, put an end 
 to this suspense and misery, once for all- 
 She woiid have gone without wishing Strange good-bye — 
 so she told herself — had it not been that a recommendation 
 in his own hand, testifying to her efficiency as a nurse, 
 might be advantageous to her future career. After all, she 
 argued, she had done nothing to be ashamed of. Though he 
 chose to avoid her so cruelly, there was no earthly reason 
 
340 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 why they ought not to meet. And it would be something 
 to take with her into banishment : the last word, the last 
 look of the man she loved so dearly. 
 
 Yes, she did try to conceal it from herself. The impres- 
 sion made by Mervyn Strange on her girlhood, at first 
 so slight that she sacrificed him without a scruple, had 
 deepened, day by day and week by week, as she advanced 
 to maturity, till at last in the prime of her womanhood — 
 none the less because it seemed he could never be her own 
 — she had established him as the ideal of her intellect, the 
 chosen of her heart. 
 
 Only a woman can imderstand how she must have loved 
 him, to hoard away the amount of her debt, and keep it in 
 reserve, that she might pay him at any moment, hesitating 
 to do so only because it seemed to constitute a commodity 
 of interest, and she could not bear to sever this the last link 
 between them with her own hand. So the day after the 
 school-feast, Beltenebrosa prepared herself by a careful 
 toilet for the final interview she was resolved to extort. All 
 her appliances of dress and decoration were well chosen, we 
 may be sure ; and though mourning affords no great scope 
 for indulgence of the fancy, there are many little coquetries 
 of costume exceedingly fascinating in black. If we may be 
 pardoned a bad pun, weeds will sometimes do your business 
 quite as effectually as flowers. 
 
 I am firmly persuaded that no true woman would neglect 
 to set her bonnet straight if her head were going to be cut 
 off the next minute. And this regard to externals is, in 
 my opinion, one of the most valuable qualities of the sex. 
 What would they be without vanity ? What are they in 
 the privacy of domestic life, when familiarity has bred con- 
 jugal contempt, and the wife, careless of her husband's 
 admiration, sinks into a slattern, while she sours to a shrew? 
 No ! vanity in a good-looking woman, is one of her greatest 
 charms, and in an ugly one, if such exist, what is it but a 
 healthy corrective and reminder — ^the leaven that leavens 
 the whole lump ? 
 
 Exceedingly brave at a distance, and confident in her 
 armour of proof, Beltenebrosa felt her heart sink wofully 
 while she approached the curate's home. It spared her 
 some embarrassment, and perhaps a sharp conflict with 
 
STBANQEBS YET 841 
 
 her own self-respect, to meet him in the street, walking sadly 
 along, and scanning the pavement with an air of unusual 
 dejection. A moment's consideration she felt would put 
 her to flight in disorder ; so, dashing forward with the courage 
 of despair, she got into line, as it were, and charged forthwith. 
 
 " Good-bye, Mr. Strange," said she, advancing on him 
 with a slender black-gloved hand held out. " I was coming 
 to say it in your own house, but it will do as well here. 
 I'm going away on Monday morning early. Good-bye ! " 
 
 "V^y should he care ? Why should the simple conven- 
 tional farewell sound in his ear like a knell for the dead ? 
 Going away ! Of course she was. To Stoke-Erith ; to 
 the Marchioness and her fashionable friends ; to Lord St. 
 Moritz and his detestable attentions. He expected as much, 
 just as he might have expected the shock of a shower-bath 
 when he pulled the string; but it took his breath away all 
 the same ! 
 
 " Good-bye, Mrs. Paravant," he rejoined stiffly enough, 
 accepting rather than taking, the offered hand. "Make 
 my compliments, if you please, to the Marchioness". I 
 have written to thank her for kiidly attending yesterday ; 
 but perhaps you will say I shall take an early opportunity 
 of paying my respects at Stoke-Erith ? " 
 
 His heart was going like a sledge-hammer, but his accents 
 were measured, even precise. A woman, not ia love with 
 him, would have said, "This man is pompous, and a prig! " 
 
 " Stoke-Erith! " she repeated. "I am not going near 
 Stoke-Erith. Do you thiok I should trouble you to say 
 good-bye for a mere drive like that ? No, Mr. Strange. I 
 mean to cross the Channel on Monday night, and — and I 
 hope it won't be very rough." 
 
 There was something pitiful though ludicrous in the last 
 sentence that roused his tenderest sympathies, but, with a 
 moment's reflection, the sterner nature re-asserted itself. 
 She was going, of course, to meet Lord St. Moritz at Paris, 
 that easy capital where it is supposed people " can do as 
 they like," though I believe there is no greater social fallacy 
 than this persuasion, even if they could make up their minds 
 what they did like. 
 
 "I have forgotten most of my French," said he in- 
 differently ; " but I remember enough to say Bon voyage ! " 
 
342 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 The wouncled spirit would have cried aloud, but for the 
 bitter indignation that " when we are wroth with those we 
 love " acts like a styptic on a wound, and though it forces 
 tears out of the heart, keeps them hack from the eyes. 
 She only answered in a low mournful voice : 
 
 " You can do something for me before I go." 
 
 Why could he not tell her the truth, and state honestly 
 that if she had asked him to cut his throat, then and there, 
 for her amusement he would only have been too delighted 
 to oblige ? Why cannot people say what they think, and 
 be no less outspoken in their love than their hate? 
 Perhaps, in destroying much uncertainty, such candour 
 would ruin the romance of the whole thing. We should 
 have no sighs to record, no dreams, no drawbacks, no dis- 
 appointment ; and to write a three-volume novel would be 
 simply impossible. 
 
 The curate bowed austerely enough, and waited for in- 
 formation. 
 
 " I require a written recommendation from you, Mr. 
 Strange," continued Beltenebrosa, in rather haughty 
 accents, and with her head up, " countersigned, if you 
 please, by the matron of your hospital, setting forth my 
 capabilities as a nurse. You cannot refuse to do me this 
 justice, nor, I hope, would you vdsh to hinder me on the 
 path I have chosen for myself." 
 
 WhUe he pictured her in a foreign country, friendless, 
 alone, ministering in fever wards or pestilent faubourgs, 
 he had much ado to refrain from a scene in the public 
 streets ; but the hated image of Lord St. Moritz came to 
 his assistance, and arguing that these weaker sentiments 
 were part of the temptation he was bound to resist, he 
 gained the mastery with a strong effort, but determined to 
 prolong the contest no further. Lifting his hat with 
 scrupulous courtesy, he observed, " I will send it round to 
 you this evening," walked gravely into the house, and shut 
 the door. 
 
 He never invited her to enter. He had not so much as 
 asked her to sit down, thought Beltenebrosa, and it was 
 obviously his intention to avoid her even now, on this the 
 last occasion they would be together on earth. Perhaps it 
 was better so, she said to herself with somewhat bitter 
 
LATE FOB CHUBCH 848 
 
 resignation. It made her task lighter, her duty less irksome. 
 In proof how much easier it seemed to leave him, she 
 buried her face in her handkerchief the instant she was 
 round the comer, and sobbed as if her heart would break. 
 The tears would oxily have flowed more freely, perhaps, 
 could she have seen the man she loved wrestling with his 
 agony in the privacy of his own study, praying to be 
 delivered from temptation on his bended knees. 
 
 CHAPTEK LVII 
 
 IiATE FOB CHUECH 
 
 Theeb is no feeling of anger more self-sustaining than 
 that which the Latin poet call^ " Spretts injv/ria formce." 
 But it takes divers shapes. It goaded Dido to self-des- 
 truction, and I fear that in these modem days it has driven 
 many a poor girl in a ragged petticoat to jump from the 
 parapet of Waterloo Bridge. Amongst ladies of fashion, 
 happily, it seldom gains such mastery as to induce these 
 desperate expedients. A beauty in good society, flouted 
 by one lover, generally revenges herself ow herself, in a far 
 ^reasanter manner, by taking another. 
 
 Some, indeed, do not even wait for this excuse ; and we 
 are all acquainted with charming people, friends, no' doubt, 
 of Mrs. Strij)well, who change their admirers less often, 
 perhaps, than their dresses, but more often than their 
 doctors ; these seem to have established an excellent rule for 
 female immunity. They never allow the man to tire first ; 
 and of such versatile mistresses, though it speaks little for 
 his good sense, the man seldom tires at all ! 
 
 Alas for Beltenebrosa ! that, with those outward graces 
 of the fashionable world she learned so readily, her force of 
 character and keen temperament forbade her to acquire 
 such hardness of heart as affords a woman the only real 
 armour of proof when she goes down to battle with the 
 world. Seeing her move through a drawing-room, with the 
 carriage and bearing of a queen, who would have suspected 
 the strong, unbridled feelings that tore her heart beneath 
 
344 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 that proud exterior, or detected the wild, sensitive gipsy 
 nature under the finished manner and assumed indifference 
 of a fine lady before the world ? 
 
 It is positively awfiil to reflect on the contrast between 
 people as they seem, and people as they are ! There is, 
 perhaps, no such disillusion as to meet an actress off the 
 stage. She disappoints you — and it is saying a great deal 
 — even more than a theatre by daylight ; but what in her is 
 the disuse of rouge, whiting, and stage decoration, compared 
 to the abandonment of that conventional propriety which 
 every woman wears habitually in presence of her nearest and 
 dearest, as of society in general ; but, attacked by sorrow, 
 sickness, or strong excitement, takes off in the privacy of her 
 own chamber, when she puts on a dressing-gown, and lets 
 down her back hair ? 
 
 It is wonderful to reflect, literally and metaphysically, 
 how very much the best of us are made up of clothes, after 
 all! 
 
 " Scrape the Eussian," said Napoleon, " and yon come 
 to the Tartar." Even so inside her silks and cambrics, 
 nay, under the very coating of enamel that plates a haughty 
 dame of modern fashion, beats a heart as fond, reckless, 
 and unreasonable as ever impelled to crime the squaw in 
 her wigwam, or the gipsy in her tent. She can love blindly 
 as a savage, and, I imagine, if crossed or flouted, you need 
 not scrape very deep to find in her also something of the 
 Tartar. 
 
 Beltenebrosa, cast off by the man she loved, was a prey 
 to mingled feelings of vexation, disappointment, and 
 wounded pride. Had she not been going away she might 
 have held her own well enough, returning scorn for scorn, 
 and assuming an indifference no less unreal, while far better 
 acted, than his own. But even as imaginary grievances 
 and commonplace differences vanish in the presence of 
 death, so she found no room in her heart for any feeling 
 but deep sorrow and contrition in the prospect of a parting 
 that she told herself was to wither and destroy for ever her 
 hopes, her future, all the bloom and promise of her youth. 
 Winter seemed to have come before she had done with 
 spring, and night to have overtaken her in the very flush of 
 day. 
 
LATE FOB CEUBCH 845 
 
 It was a miserable Sunday. Boarshaven had been too 
 well provided with bells, from a full and complete peal at 
 St. Bede's to a little cracked monitor that summoned half-a- 
 dozen cobblers and an insane baker to hear each other dis- 
 course by turns in a meeting-house called the Ichabod. 
 These were aU set jangling at once. Beltenebrosa, packing 
 up with a heavy heart, was fain to stop her ears that she 
 might exclude the jarring sounds, each of which seemed to 
 beat like a hammer on her brain. At breakfast — such a 
 mockery of a breakfast ! — an envelope arrived containing 
 the recommendation she had asked for. No letter ; not 
 even a simple little note. She shook the cover out over 
 and over again — only two lines at the edge : " With good 
 wishes and prayers for your welfare. — ^M. S." 
 
 She never looked at the document. She leaned her head 
 on her hands, and knew that she suffered and tried to be 
 strong. It would have been the longest day she ever spent, 
 but that she grudged every passing moment as hurrying her 
 nearer to her doom, and though each seemed to bring with 
 it a fresh pang, yet the dusk of evening arrived all too soon. 
 
 Her resolution gave way. She would see him again — 
 not speak to him, of course, but look in his face once more, 
 and hear his voice. She had not been to church all day. 
 She would go to evening service at St. Bede's, where he 
 was to preach a charity sermon on behalf of his favourite 
 hospital. She would sit in a dark comer, far away from 
 the pulpit, and watch and listen, and try to think of heaven 
 — ^not him ! 
 
 It was strange how she looked forward to this inadequate 
 consolation. What store she set by it ! How it seemed to 
 postpone her departure, and put to-morrow much farther off. 
 So she started in good time, when it had been dark about an 
 hour, for she meant to be early, so as not to lose one of the 
 moments that were now so precious and slipped away so fast. 
 
 At her own door she met Nance, completely recovered in 
 body, but obviously much distressed in mind. A policeman 
 woiid have judged such strong emotion in one so shabbily 
 dressed the result of inebriety ; but Beltenebrosa knew her 
 gipsy kinswoman better, and even in that dim lamplight 
 could distinguish the quick restless glance of terror from 
 the vague uncertainty of drink. 
 
346 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 " I must speak to you, sister," whispered Nance, whose 
 face was deadly pale, while her black hair hung down to 
 her waist. "Not here, not here! He'll knife me, as 
 sure as you're born ! Come into the dark — up yonder, 
 beyond the market-place ? " 
 
 The woman seemed almost frightened out of her wits. 
 Her words came thick and hoarse. She wiped her clammy 
 forehead, and the slender dirty hand she laid on the arm of 
 her listener shook like a leaf. 
 
 "Who will knife you?" asked Beltenebrosa, not 
 without imcomfortable misgivings, for of all disorders, fear 
 is the most contagious : " not Jericho ? Have you seen 
 him?" 
 
 "Speak low," muttered the other, in shaking accents. 
 " He's one of those as can hear plain at a mile off. No, 
 not Jericho — ^thoug^ he wouldn't think twice about it if he 
 knowed where I was now — it's my Zachary, as swears if 
 ever I was to split on him he'd swing for me, he would! 
 And he'll not go back from his word. We're safe enough 
 in this out-of-the-way corner, but we must speak low, sister, 
 even here ! " 
 
 They had entered a dark, ill-conditioned street, without 
 a single lamp, of which a few hovels rather than houses, 
 and the dead wall of a brewery, formed the sides. Any 
 windows that looked on it were shuttered. Not a footfall 
 was to be heard. They could not have been more alone on 
 the top of a mountain. 
 
 " It's you that must do it ! " whispered Nance, excitedly. 
 " There's nobody else in the world as can. It's a rough 
 job, but he's got to be told, sister, and by you! " 
 
 "He! Who?" 
 
 " Why, that there long parson — the best gentleman on 
 God's earth, I don't care who the other is ! The man as 
 lifted me up out of this very dirt here beneath our feet, and 
 took as much care of me — Gipsy Nance — as if it had been the 
 daintiest lady in the land. Ay ! and he'd come to my bed- 
 side, whiles I was down in the fever, and speak good words, 
 such as I didn't think it was in the tongue of a man to get 
 out. I'm a sight more used to banning and cursing, you 
 know, at home. What do you think, sister ? He told me 
 my life were as precious, and my soul — ^for he said he was 
 
LATE FOB OEUBCH 847 
 
 sure as I'd got one — ay, precious as even the Queen's on 
 her throne, and had cost as much too, though I didn't 
 clearly make out why. And am I to let that there angel 
 be put upon, and ill-used, robbed, and maybe murdered — 
 yes, mv/rdered, sister [ — :for my Zachary sticks at nothing, 
 nor Jericho neither, once their knives are out. Not if I 
 knows it ! I wish the hair may fall from my head, and the 
 teeth drop out of my mouth, and my hands rot off at the 
 wrists first ! " 
 
 She seemed to gather courage in talking, and Beltenebrosa, 
 who suspected danger to her idol, felt no more fear for her- 
 self now than a lioness defending her whelps. 
 
 " Steady, Nance ! " she said, in a low firm voice, laying 
 her hand on the other's arm. " What am I to do ? Tell 
 me all you know." , 
 
 " What you've got to do is to warn of him. Now, sister, 
 this very night as he goes home from church," replied Nance. 
 " Oh ! it's a good plant enough, but they little thought as 
 I'd come in and gone upstairs, and heard every word, 
 putting my ear against the fioor. Bless ye, sister, I'm that 
 quick of ear, I can almost hear the snow fall ! I slipped out 
 again afore my Zachary came up, and he don't guess as I'm 
 down to him no more than the dead. Well, they laid of it 
 out between them, and if it had been any other man alive I 
 wouldn't have moved a finger, good or bad ; for business, 
 you know, is business, when all's said and done. What is 
 a Gorgio, more or less, to 'such as you and me ? But this 
 one ? No ! That's why I come here, sister, as fast as my 
 legs could carry me ; ' For,' says I, ' Jane Lee can save 
 him,' says I, 'and Jane Lee will save him, for poor 
 Nance's sake.' " 
 
 " It makes little matter for whose sake," said Beltene- 
 brosa. " Done it must be, and that without loss of time. 
 Steady, Nance ; once more, tell me, as short as you can, 
 what you heard of their plans. Take your own time, but 
 not more than you can help." 
 
 Then Nance entered on a confiised and rambling state- 
 ment, from which Beltenebrosa, whose courage and presence 
 of mind rose to the occasion, extracted the following facts, 
 by a judicious cross-examination, conducted with patience 
 deserving the highest praise. 
 
348 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 It appeared that Jericho and Zachary, who had lately 
 arrived at BoarshaTen, having spent all their substance in 
 drink, and being now thoroughly habituated to crime, missed 
 no opportunity of supplying themselves with the funds they 
 required by petty larceny, burglary, or even robbery with 
 violence when the prospective booty was sufficiently 
 tempting. Pending the blackmail they intended to levy 
 from their kinswoman, into whose presence Jericho, mindful 
 of matrimonial views, did not care to enter till he could 
 make a more splendid appearance, these worthies hit upon 
 a plan that seemed to promise lucrative returns, at the 
 slight risk of an encounter, two to one, with an unarmed 
 man. 
 
 They ascertained that Mervyn Strange was to preach on 
 this very Sunday evening one of those sermons of which 
 the eloquence is to be ganged by the collection. His 
 oratory — " gab " they called it — was known to be of a 
 persuasive nature, and the contributions of his congrega- 
 tion would probably amount to several pounds. He would 
 carry it all with him to his lodgings, preparatory to defray- 
 ing certain expenses and paying the balance into a county 
 bank next day. Their information as to these details was 
 professionally correct, and they had studied every inch of 
 the ground he would traverse between the church-door and 
 his own home. 
 
 In a dark narrow passage called Crone's Alley it would 
 be easy enough to surprise and overpower him. Strong 
 knuckles pressed into his neck under the ears would stifle 
 any outcry ; and if he did show fight, being, though slight, 
 a lengthy muscular man, why, a push with the knife made 
 less noise and was neater practice than all the vulgar 
 bludgeons and thumpings in the world. 
 
 If he wore a watch, they promised each other not to take 
 it; the money they would have, because gold and silver 
 could not be traced. Nothing else ; not even his sermon, 
 Jericho protested, with grim facetiousness. They would 
 leave him his bread-winner to get more. 
 
 " Why didn't you go to the police ? " asked Beltenebrosa ; 
 for such formidable disclosures seemed more adapted to the 
 ear of a vigilant inspector than a young woman proceeding 
 quietly to evening church. 
 
"MABTHA" 849 
 
 " Police ! " repeated Nance scornfully ; " and been run 
 in, may be on a charge of drunkenness, to be locked up till 
 it was all over ; and then dragged before the Beak to swear 
 away my Zachary's life, or bis liberty, at best — 'cause I 
 doesn't suppose as they'd let him count for a regular 
 husband, not by law — ^help him to the hulks, maybe, or 
 the House of Correction ; starve for want while he is in, 
 and likely get my throat cut when he comes out ! No, 
 no, sister ; I've done all I dare — told you all I know. You 
 may take it or leave it : I won't meddle nor make with it 
 no more ! " 
 
 They separated while she spoke, hurrying off in opposite 
 directions, and Beltenebrosa found herself in a few minutes 
 at the door of St. Bede's, causing some little stir and 
 observation by her late entrance. He was safe enough for 
 the present, at any rate — tall and stately between the 
 lamps, in his white surplice, reading with impressive gravity 
 the portion of Scripture appointed for the evening lesson. 
 She heard not a syllable : she was thinking of the touching 
 parable that describes how a certain wayfarer fell among 
 thieves. 
 
 CHAPTER LVni 
 
 Was it counted to her for sin that she could not fix her 
 attention on the prayers of our beautiful Liturgy, nor draw 
 from its soothing phrases that consolation which it seems to 
 afford the most restless and preoccupied of worshippers? 
 We humbly hope not. If, like Martha, she seemed so 
 cumbered with terrestrial matters that she had no thought 
 to spare for heavenly things, hers at least was an emergency 
 that made such negligence pardonable : as when a poor 
 dumb creature falls into a pit, and man extricates it in 
 common humanity on the Sabbath Day. 
 
 Once, during the anthem, she felt her spirit rise for a 
 few brief moments, on the floating notes, into those realms 
 of eternal peace — ^that promised land, longed for, now and 
 again, by the most worldly of us, " where the wicked cease 
 
350 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 from troubling, and the weary are at rest ; " but when the 
 peal of the organ died away, she eame down to earth again, 
 -aju^the- welfare of Christendom, the approval of angels, the 
 kingdom of heaven itself, seemed as nothing, compared with 
 the one life that was at stake to-night. She tried to fix her 
 thoughts, she tried to repent of her sins, she tried hard to 
 pray, but her mute petition, such as it was, went up in 
 ceaseless iteration " Save him ! save him ! If a sacrifice 
 be required, make me the victim, and let him go free ! " 
 
 Like a thorough woman, she had acted on impulse 
 rather than reflection, flying to guard her beloved with the 
 ■ instiuct that causes a hen to ruffle round her brood. It 
 would have been wiser, perhaps, to have gone to the police- 
 station, on the chance of obtaining aid from one of the four 
 constables supposed to coerce into good behaviour twice as 
 many thousand inhabitants, and eaten her heart with im- 
 patience while she waited at the locked door of an empty 
 office ; but it never occurred to her, perhaps fortunately for 
 the object of attack, to claim protection from the civil 
 power; and if he was threatened by personal danger, it 
 seemed only her right to be at his side. 
 
 All this, notwithstanding she had yesterday bidden him 
 an eternal farewell, and had since told herself a hundred 
 times that every link was broken between them, and she 
 had done with him for ever. Her plan seemed sensible 
 enough. She would watch at the vestry-door, from which 
 he was sure to come out after taking off his canonicals, and 
 implore him to shelter in his rector's house hard by, till 
 those who had schemed to waylay him were tired of wait- 
 ing. At a later hour it would be easy to get a few stout 
 amphibious parishioners to accompany him home. With 
 such an escort woe to the marauder who should dare to lay 
 a finger on "Payson." These mariners of Boarshaven, 
 with many sterling qualities, were a roughish lot. The 
 manly courage displayed by Mervyn Strange in cases of 
 fever or contagious disease, and on one occasion, in an 
 awkward street row, had won their good opinion. They 
 loved a fight at all times, and with so excellent an excuse 
 as the curate's quarrel this favourite pastime would be 
 carried out with unusual spirit. Yes ; he was safe enough 
 at any hour of the night with a Boarshaven body-guard, 
 
"MABTEA' 851 
 
 and — delightfiil reflection !^— he would owe his preservation 
 to the woman he had scorned. 
 
 A general stir, the cough that hespeaks attention, a 
 shuffling of feet and rustling of Bibles, denoted that the 
 prayers were ended and the sermon about to begin. Waking 
 out of her dreams, rather ashamed that she should 
 have allowed earthly interests so to engross her thoughts, 
 Beltenebrosa saw Strange mount the pulpit, and wondered, 
 with a longing heart, whether, in all that crowded congrega- 
 tion, he could have noticed the presence of so insignificant 
 a unit as herself. The most pious of men are but mortal. 
 Neither cassock nor cuirass can be made invulnerable, and 
 there is no more immunity for the clergyman than the 
 dragoon. Mervyn Strange knew she was in church as well 
 as she did herself, and while her presence afforded him 
 more happiness than he had ever hoped to experience again, 
 he tried hard to realise the dignity of his office, the majesty 
 of the Master before whom he stood, and to preach his best 
 for the whole congregation, not for her alone. 
 
 So, while the deaf pew-opener took a pinch of snuff, and 
 the clerk settled himself into an attitude of dignified criti- 
 cism, he turned up his lamps, hitched his gown on his 
 shoulders, and gave out his tezt. 
 
 It was short and simple enough, though it contained in 
 a score of words matter for a thousand homilies, and 
 directions for every benevolent, happy, and useful life, 
 suggesting only that love for the brother who is seen must 
 be the best proof of love for the God who is not. 
 
 He seemed to hold none of those pessimist views so 
 popular with many excellent divines, and neither told his 
 congregation that this beautiful earth was a mass of fester- 
 ing corruption, in which good, moral and material, was 
 wholly choked in evil, nor that the devil, whom they defied, 
 had the mastery, even here, over the Lord whom they 
 worshipped and tried to serve ; unworthily indeed, and un- 
 successMly, but with humble hopeful hearts, honestly dojng 
 their best. Every man, he said, had the materials for 
 happiness at command, if he would but make judicious use 
 of that which he found to his hand. Were not their wives, 
 their children, their homes, their very physical wants of 
 eating and drinking, and the comforting smoke over the 
 
352 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 fire, matters affording, on the average, infinitely more 
 pleaBure than pain ? and when the good turned to evil, was 
 it not invariably and inexcusably their own fault ? If the 
 head of the house, however lowly, were always kind, cour- 
 teous, and good-tempered, would the mother scold or the 
 little ones brawl? The man who was content with his 
 pint that did him good, and no more, suffered neither in 
 health nor pocket ; while even if want or sickness should 
 overcome the honest. God-fearing labourer. Mends rose for 
 him here below on every side, and something in his breast 
 consoled him with the reflection that he had the best Friend 
 of all, the Friend who never forgets nor forsakes, — on high. 
 
 What was that something ? They all had it ; they all 
 felt it. He would tell them. It was the voice of God ; 
 the still small voice ; the voice that comforted them when 
 dying ; the voice that would bid them welcome home when 
 dead. 
 
 No, their Maker did not intend they should be miserable, 
 here or hereafter. Were there no world but this — ^which 
 God forbid ! — compliance with the laws He laid down for 
 us was the only sure rule for attaining mere material com- 
 fort and happiness. Even from a selfish point of view, 
 every man should do good to his brother. He would put it 
 rudely and familiarly thus : Most of his hearers were men 
 who earned their bread and the few little luxuries they 
 could command by daily toil, always hard, sometimes 
 dangerous. Was there one of them who could deny he felt 
 a certain sense of pleasure in sharing his scanty morsel of 
 food, his shallow drop of drink, with a friend, or even his 
 last bit of tobacco, far down Channel there, at slack- water, 
 with a messmate ? And why ? What was the meaning of 
 this? It was the God-given instinct which, when his 
 Maker made man in His own image. He breathed into the 
 grosser clay, so as to refine it for ever with one drop of that 
 pure essence which gives its beauty to earth as it constitutes 
 the very atmosphere of heaven. 
 
 Yes, if they would prosper in their doings, let them be 
 just with all ; if they would be happy in themselves, let 
 them be more than just, let them be generous, to their 
 neighbours. And if they would fetch the port they steered 
 for the whole long voyage through, — the wished-for fair 
 
"MABTMA" 853 
 
 haven — so beautifiil, so peaceful, after baffling winds and 
 sudden squalls and washing seas — let them look well to 
 their navigation, study their course, and, above all, investi- 
 gate the chart famished expressly for their information and 
 guidance by One who woiUd not fail to pUot them safely 
 into harbour at last. Let them not mistake him. This 
 world was never meant to be all calm and sunshine. Now 
 the barque must beat against a whole gale, anon she is 
 gliding through summer seas on an even keel; but the 
 same wind that bafBes those " clearing out " fills joyously 
 the sails of the " homeward bound." The very sickness 
 and sorrow of our brother here is turned to a blessing 
 rather than a curse, in the manly kindness that relieves his 
 wants, pours balm into his sores, and sets him on his way 
 again, as the Good Samaritan set the hapless wayfarer 
 rejoicing, indeed, yet not more heartily than his benefactor, 
 gladdened by the exercise of a charity that blesses him who 
 gives even more than him who receives. 
 
 And so on, and so on, for less than twenty-five minutes 
 from end to end. Then the money-box went round, return- 
 ing many an auspicious thump and jangle, as coppers 
 poured in freely from the very poorest — shillings, half- 
 crowns, and sovereigns from the well-to-do. Many an 
 honest toil-worn hand gave more than it had intended. 
 " Payson," you see, was so much in earnest, and, as his 
 parishioners used to observe, said neither more nor less 
 than he meant. They knew him, too, and respected him 
 personally. Such familiarity, when it breeds confidence 
 rather than contempt, opens the purses of a congregation, I 
 think, wider than the measured utterances of the Most 
 Reverend Lord Bishop, in all the dignity of his office and his 
 sleeves of lawn. 
 
 It is something to be assured that he who preaches does 
 not fail to practise, and can show us the narrow way with 
 all the more certainty that he treads its ups and downs 
 himself. 
 
 Beltenebrosa had forgotten her purse, not purposely, I 
 firmly believe, but in a preoccupation of mind that denoted 
 she was thinking less of the sermon than the preacher, 
 whUe she prepared for evening church. Had it not been 
 so, she must have emptied all its store as a tribute to the 
 
854 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 eloquence which sent home to her not unprejudiced heart, 
 and, but that she had such grave matters to ponder, would 
 have felt cruelly humiliated in presence of the portly church- 
 warden, who seemed to take her impecuniosity as a personal 
 affront. 
 
 Nevertheless, the collection was a good one, and amounted 
 to a booty well worthy of such distinguished professors as 
 Zachary Cooper and Jericho Lee. The thought of these 
 two ruffians acted on Beltenebrosa like spurs in the sides 
 of a generous horse, flurrying her actions, perhaps, more 
 than they accelerated her movements. She was out of 
 church long before Strange left the pulpit, and, shrinking 
 behind a buttress to avoid observation, waited for him with 
 a beating heart at the vestry-door. 
 
 CHAPTER LIX 
 
 FALLEN AMONG THIEVES 
 
 WsY didn't he come ? How slow the minutes passed ! 
 Each after each she saw the long-drawn files of the con- 
 gregation emerge on their way home, some praising the 
 sermon, some calculating its proceeds, some pondering in 
 silence on the good seed lately sown, we may hope to bear 
 a hundredfold. There will be no differences of rank, we 
 are taught, in heaven ; nor vdll it matter whether we take 
 our last drive of all in a hearse or wheelbarrow, but we 
 certainly do cling to our social distinctions as long as we 
 can, and carry them with us even to church. There seems 
 to be a scale of precedence both for entering and leaving 
 the sacred edifice, regulated on a principle that the lowest 
 should come and go first. Beltenebrosa, watching in her 
 corner, counted out her fellow- Christians one by one : the 
 old women who lived in the almshouses, the man with the 
 wooden leg, the day-labourers — single, then married ; the 
 amphibious mariners, in the same order ; the sweep, with 
 a clean face; the postman, the small shopkeepers, the 
 principal butcher, who rented a grazing-farm ; the doctor. 
 
FALLEN AMONG THIEVES 355 
 
 the banker, the rector leaning on hia wife; last of all, 
 sexton and clerk. Still no Mervyn Strange. 
 
 Oh ! if her heart would only keep quiet ! She turned sick, 
 and her brain began to swim ; but that fine organisation 
 was not going to fail at such a crisis ! and though it cost no 
 small effort, she retained her wits sufficiently to review the 
 situation, and ask herself, why ? 
 
 The answer was simple enough : he had gone out at the 
 other door. Could she have known what we know, she 
 would have saved many precious moments, and spared her- 
 self much suffering. He noticed her come into church. 
 Against its master's will, his rebellious eye rested on her 
 form more than once during the service ; and although we 
 will not think so meanly of his self-command as to suppose 
 that his thoughts wandered fi:om his duty till its conclusion, 
 there was ample time while disrobing in the vestry to 
 appreciate and accept the temptation of one more brief 
 meeting, only to take her hand, ask " How did you like my 
 sermon ? " and say good-bye. 
 
 So he left his church by the door at which she came in, 
 and where, indeed, she would naturally have gone out, 
 scanning, as he threaded his retiring congregation, all its 
 female figures, with an attention exceedingly foreign to the 
 decorous habits of a clergyman, and when persisted in, by 
 no means creditable to his reputation. 
 
 With a sinking heart he told himself he had missed her, 
 and it served Vii-m right ! what had he to do with such 
 follies and weaknesses ? A minister of the Gospel, and on 
 a Sunday night, too ! It was all for the best. Why should 
 he vnsh to resume that chain of which the iron had entered 
 his soul ? The links were frayed and worthless now ; let 
 them part and be done with for good and all ! Yet how 
 beautifal she looked, in the semi-obscurity of that remote 
 pew, her pale face showing like a pearl agaiast the dusky 
 background, while she turned her stately little head towards 
 him with the earnest gesture he remembered only too well. 
 How could so queenly a bearing wear the brand of dis- 
 honour ? It seemed impossible ! and yet He groaned 
 
 in spirit, while he told himself that had he been a layman 
 he would have taken her to him, shame and all ; that now, 
 though he might not so degrade his sacred office, he would 
 
356 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 ask no better than to purchase one last interview, second 
 by second, at the price of so many drops of blood ! 
 
 He walked fast in his agitation, and little guessed how 
 she was hurrying to overtake him, eager, resolved, breath- 
 less, praying only that she might be in time. 
 
 Fleet of foot as the wild deer, no sooner was she satisfied 
 her watch had been at the wrong door, than she started in 
 pursuit at a pace that brought her in sight of the clergy- 
 man's tall form as it glided under a dim street-lamp to 
 vanish in the black entrance of Crone's Alley. She 
 redoubled her speed then. It seemed too late to save him; 
 but the shudder with which she pictured to herself Jericho's 
 knife risiag overhead merged in a thrill of triumph at the 
 consciousness that she could share his fate. 
 
 Never had those supple limbs borne her so fast ; never 
 had she so taxed the speed and endurance of her blood. 
 Ere Strange was halfway down the narrow passage she had 
 gained its mouth. Already she marked how a light at the 
 far end showed and faded alternately with the undulations 
 of his figure as he walked. 
 
 Suddenly the gleam disappeared, blotted out as it were 
 and swallowed up in night. The next moment she heard 
 a scuffle of feet, a hideous oath, and the beloved voice 
 exclaiming in husky, choking accents : 
 
 " No, no ! my friend ; not while I can stand up and hit 
 out ! " 
 
 Her feet pattered like rain. In a dozen paces she was 
 amongst them. Even in the gloom her eyes, sharpened by 
 love and fear, took in each detail of the encounter. Mervyn 
 Strange was yet on his legs ; but dragging him backwards, 
 clinging to his neck and shoulders as the hunting-leopard 
 clings to its game, Zachary's short muscular figure was 
 paralysing the efforts of their joint victim to defend himself 
 from Jericho Lee in front. 
 
 Though anything but powerful-looking, the clergyman's 
 lean frame, hardened by temperate habits and strong 
 exercise, was unusually wiry and muscular, equal to long- 
 sustained effort, and fortified by the condition — there is no 
 other word for it — ^that is so telling even in the briefest 
 encounter waged hand-to-hand. 
 
 As his new ally arrived, he managed to shake himself 
 
In his own strons^ arms." 
 
 Black hut Comely] 
 
 [Page 337 
 
FALLEN AMONG THIEVES 357 
 
 clear of Zachary, launching at the same time a backward 
 kick that for a few seconds incapacitated the tinker, and 
 made him yell with pain. Jericho now found his hands 
 full. Losing his head, perhaps, for he heard the approach- 
 ing footsteps, stimulated, moreover, to spurious courage 
 and real ferocity by drink, he whipped his long knife from 
 its sheath with a storm of oaths, and rushed in. His arm 
 went up to strike ; but it was seized by Beltenebrosa, who 
 clung like a wild cat. 
 
 " Blast ye ! " exclaimed the gipsy, mad with rage, as he 
 recognised his kinswoman. "You would, would you? 
 Take it, then. You ought to have had it months ago ! " 
 And he plunged the weapon once, twice, furiously in her 
 
 The clergyman's hand was on the villain's throat, but 
 his grasp relaxed as a dusky wisp of garments subsided at 
 bis feet. Zachary, who had recovered his senses, coun- 
 selled instant flight. 
 
 "Morrice, Jerry! " growled the tinker, in terse, suggestive 
 
 phrase. "The rest's a-comin' ! And it! we ain't 
 
 got the swag arter all ! " 
 
 The curate never heard their hurrying feet, nor thought 
 of his own narrow escape, nor remembered he had saved 
 his treasure for the sick. He only knew that there she lay, 
 his Beltenebrosa — ^yes, his very own now — ^bleeding her 
 life out on the cold wet stones in the dark. 
 
 But if the evil men do brings its own punishment, surely 
 the good is returned to them a hundredfold. The hospital 
 he had established at the cost of many an anxious thought, 
 many an effort of self-abasement and self-sacrifice, did him 
 worthy service now. In less than five minutes the motion- 
 less form of his preserver, carried thither in his own strong 
 loving arms, was laid in a comfortable bed expressly 
 adapted for such emergencies, and its wounds, of which one 
 was deep and dangerous, were being stanched by that 
 experienced matron who, for nerve and skill, seemed no 
 whit inferior to the surgeon — sent for on the instant — to 
 arrive in less than a quarter of an hour. 
 
 Those only can imagine how the two watchers hung upon 
 every breath of the sufferer who have seen the life of one 
 human being, and the hopes of another, moored by a single 
 
858 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 thread, that may part at any moment, to let the soul drift 
 out for ever on the dark waters of the unknown. Mervyn 
 Strange could appreciate — ^none better — the reality of that 
 future to which he looked forward himself, while he taught 
 others to believe with him, as a solace for all human sorrow, 
 the climax of all imaginable joy. Yet none the less did 
 the suspense of those racking minutes, while he feared that 
 the woman he loved might get to the Happy Land before 
 him, plough furrows in his cheek, and sprinkle his hair 
 with snow. In years to come, when laughing children 
 shall twine their fingers in papa's grizzled locks, the proud 
 and happy wife who bore them will scarce keep back her 
 tears ! 
 
 Yes ; there is a time for reward as there is a time for 
 trial. Infinite Wisdom allots each in such proportion as 
 shall bring to perfection that noblest of all creations — the 
 human soul. Mervyn Strange had been taught, through 
 much tribulation, that man's love for woman, refined and 
 spiritualised by a self-sacrifice which holds it second to duty, 
 is a divine ordinance, intended for the elevation and happi- 
 ness of our race. 
 
 Beltenebrosa, going through the crucible of bodily pain, 
 as she had already been proved in the furnace of mental 
 affliction, realised the weakness of her sex and its in- 
 sufficiency to stand alone. Knowing, at last, that she had 
 found her master, she rejoiced to give him faithful service 
 to her life's end. The wild nature was tamed ; the hawk 
 stooped to the lure ! the gipsy became a meek and sincere 
 Christian, a true, energetic, loving, and somewhat wilful wife. 
 
 But death had hovered all too near in that homely white- 
 washed room, and she herself hardly dared entertain a 
 hope of recovery, resigned to the inevitable the more cheer- 
 fully that she had saved the man whose life she prized far 
 above her own. 
 
 " My darling ! " she murmured, pressing his hand to her 
 lips, while her eyes wander from matron to surgeon, with 
 the blank gaze of consciousness only half regained. " My 
 darling, you are safe ! that is enough. That is all I asked. 
 I can die happy, and — and — " with a wan smile — "I don't 
 care if Jericho got clear off with the money ; he can't 
 follow me where I am going now." 
 
THE GAS TUBNED OFF 859 
 
 " Mr. Strange, control yourself," said the surgeon. " Be 
 pleased to leave this lady exclusively to vie. You shall go 
 now, but may come again to-morrow at the same hour." 
 
 Then he fairly pushed him out of the room, but followed 
 into the passage, where he whispered something that caused 
 the curate's spirit to go up to heaven in a transport of 
 gratitude, while tears no man need have been ashamed of 
 relieved the tension of heart and brain. 
 
 " My own at last ! " he repeated, talking wildly to him- 
 self as he walked home with swift unequal strides. " My 
 very own! I know it surely now. Life for life; what 
 would a man have more? You bought mine at a fearfiil 
 price, and yet, had you but known it, I have belonged to you 
 for years." 
 
 How soon the mind jumps to conclusions ! Passing a 
 broker's shop, he found himself calculating the expenses of 
 fiirnishing, and the articles necessary to a household with a 
 lady at its head. 
 
 Like many excellent churchmen, he had considerably 
 modified those ideas as to the celibacy of the clergy with 
 which he entered on his ministry, and whereas he began by 
 thinking the priest should be hampered by no domestic 
 affections, fettered by no earthly ties, he now arrived at the 
 conclusion that a man need serve heaven none the worse 
 for those human interests and responsibilities which enlarge 
 his sympathies, while they add to his experience, and that 
 the parson is only half a parson without a wife. 
 
 CHAPTER LX 
 
 THE GAS TURNED OFF 
 
 Justice is represented in allegory as lame, blindfold, and 
 generally infirm ; but we have the authority of Horace for 
 insisting that even with a club-foot she seldom fails to over- 
 take the antecedentem scelestwm, the scoundrel who is 
 making tracks to escape. 
 
 Jericho Lee, though he got off from his last outrage with 
 better luck than he deserved, did not live to inflict further 
 
860 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 persecutions on his kinswoman, nor indeed to lay &esb con- 
 tributions on the public. The failure of their joint attack 
 caused much recrimination, and a permanent rupture 
 between Zachary Cooper and himself. Though he swore 
 he would hang the tinker, Nance persuaded her husband 
 that threatened men live long, and induced him to break off 
 all connection with the profession by leaving Boarshaven 
 surreptitiously, and travelling westward to the very brink of 
 the Atlantic, where, amongst a primitive population des- 
 cended from the Phoenicians, bread might still be earned in 
 the mending of kettles, the tinkering of pots and pans. 
 Jericho, vowing he was well rid of such a muff, undertook a 
 burglary single-handed — ^playing it, he said, off his own bat, 
 and this was the result. 
 
 He carefully reconnoitred a lone farmhouse, surrounded by 
 wastes of moorland, with no cottage or other dwelling in 
 sight or hearing. He ascertained that the farmer kept 
 gold and silver for his men's weekly wages in a parlour on 
 •^he ground-floor; that he was in the habit of staying out 
 late of nights, particularly after market-dinners, leaving 
 only a feeble old woman and a herd-boy to guard the place. 
 There seemed little risk attached to such a robbery as he 
 planned, and Jericho laughed to think how contemptible 
 was the danger in proportion to the spoil. 
 
 So about eleven o'clock on a moonless night he stole 
 across the moor, crept under some outbuildings, and 
 swinging himself on the ledge of the parlour window, pro- 
 ceeded to undo its fastenings from the outside with no little 
 dexterity. He took pride in these niceties of his profession. 
 An accomplished cracksman, he said, never blundered his 
 work, and there was nothing so vulgar as noise ! 
 
 He had lifted the sash, and was edging his body, feet 
 foremost, into the room, when a powerful hand, laid on his 
 collar, pulled him backwards to the ground, while a deep 
 voice growled, with a wicked, half-triimiphant chuckle, "I 
 thowt as I should viad 'em at it ! I thowt as I shoold ! Ah ! 
 do 'ee now, if ye dare ! " 
 
 The farmer, riding home from market tolerably sober, and 
 pacing through the bushy heather, that deadened his pony's 
 footfall, growing, as it did, knee-high, turned the corner of 
 his house so softly as to come upon the burglar in the act. 
 
TEE GAS TUBNED OFF 361 
 
 He was a strong burly West-oountryman, without an 
 atom of fear in his composition, choleric withal, and one 
 who dearly loved a tussel, either in sport or earnest. No 
 wonder he had Jerry by the scruff of the neck and down on 
 the heather ere a man could count ten. 
 
 The gipsy writhed in his grasp like an eel, but he was in 
 & vice, and could not extricate himself; so he groped for his 
 knife, and drew it, to urge the last desperate argument of 
 crime ! But he had an awkward customer to deal with — 
 skilled in wrestling, cudgel-play, all the ruder arts of self- 
 defence. Flinging the other oif as he would have wrung an 
 adder from his sleeve, he leaped out of distance, and with 
 his strong hammer-headed hunting-whip, delivered " one " 
 that broke his antagonist's arm above the wrist, causing the 
 knife to drop harmless from his hand. Then, taking wider 
 scope and swing, he dealt another fataJ blow that fairly 
 cracked his adversary's skull. 
 
 Ere, with assistance of the startled inmates, he could 
 carry Jericho into his house, the gipsy had been dead some 
 minutes. 
 
 There was an inquest, of course, and the man-slayer 
 gave his own version of the affair frankly enough. When 
 asked if he had put all his strength into the coup de grdce, 
 he replied, with rough simplicity, " I let 'uU have it hard 
 as ever I did know how ! Ev I'd only a-tickled 'un, a' was 
 bound to scratch ! " 
 
 So Jericho Lee never wired a rabbit, picked a pocket, 
 stabbed, blasphemed, nor came from his gipsy tents again, 
 and extracted sovereigns from his kinswoman and Lord St. 
 Moritz no more. 
 
 That nobleman, tired of gaiety, tired of society, tired of 
 his ladyloves, tired, perhaps, chiefly of Lord St. Moritz 
 himself, lounged over his Morning Post after breakfast, 
 read in the same column the departure of Mrs. Stripwell for 
 Italy, and the marriage of Beltenebrosa to Mervyn Strange, 
 that dark and handsome widow being described in the 
 peculiar phraseology affected by newspapers, as " Eelict of 
 the late James Paravant, Esq., of Combe-Wester and 
 Appleton-Cleves. ' ' 
 
 The first piece of news affected him but little. Mrs. Strip- 
 'vrell and he were mutually bored with each other, and 
 
862 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 although he rather suspected the journey south was under- 
 taken with the yiew of letting " poor Algy " down easy, to 
 make room for a fresh admirer, he scarce gave the matter a 
 thought. He was more concerned about the "relict of 
 James Paravant, Esq.," and the certainty he now felt that 
 she had never really cared for him in her heart — that he 
 was no more to her than so many women had been to him- 
 self — a sop for vanity, the toy of an idle hour, an additional 
 captive to swell the triumph, another flower to make up the 
 garland — and that was all. 
 
 What a stupid paper ! Not a word of news ! Five 
 columns devoted to a debate touching the " Law of 
 Hypothec " in Scotland, on which, though only two under- 
 stood it, every Scotch Member thought it right to have his 
 say, reminding him of their countryman's definition of 
 metaphysics : " When one man is explaining what he knows 
 nothing about to another who cannot understand a word he 
 says, that's ' metapheesics ! ' " 
 
 He lit a cigar. It didn't draw. Why was it impossible 
 to get a good cigar in these days ? He yawned, he stretched 
 himself, he walked about the room, he stared through the 
 windows at that most depressing of outlooks, an empty Lon- 
 don street on a dull day, and found himself debarred even 
 this melancholy consolation by the familiarity of a Savoyard 
 with a hurdy-gurdy and a guinea-pig, who nodded and 
 grinned at him as if they had robbed a church together the 
 night before ! There was nothing for it but to dress and go 
 to his club. 
 
 When he got there it seemed gloomier than his own 
 house. He had only taken his hat off once on his way, to 
 salute Lady Goneril, who hurried by with averted head, nor 
 showed the slightest intention of stopping her carriage to 
 hold discourse. He could not teU — how should he ? — ^that 
 her ladyship was making the best of her way home, with a 
 swelled face, after a visit to the dentist for the stopping of 
 her one unsound tooth ! No ; he thought she slighted him 
 on purpose. She had other attractions now, younger, 
 brighter, more notorious than himself; and this also was 
 vanity ! 
 
 A horrid suspicion shot across him ! He must be growing 
 old. Hang it, he must be grown old ! In the mornings 
 
THE GAS TUBNED OFF 86» 
 
 room of his club, two contemporaries, schoolfellows at Eton, 
 sat reading the papers. One was as gray as a badger, the 
 other had thrown out a portly stomach, and looked a hun- 
 dred. Three or four young men came in like a whirlwind, 
 he thought, as the young men nowadays do enter and leave 
 a room. They were all talking at once, discussing some 
 engrossing subject on which, to do them justice, they felt 
 more sympathy than they showed. What was it ? 
 
 " Had he not heard ? Poor Beauregard died this morning. 
 Six hours' illness. Three doctors called in — enough to kill 
 any fellow! Poor Beau!" was their verdict. "What a 
 good dinner he gave you ! What good claret he had ! 
 What a good sportsman he was ! After all, he was about 
 due. He had a good long lease, and lived to a good old 
 age!" 
 
 St. Moritz started, crossed the room, and looked in the 
 Peerage. Yes, he thought so. Beauregard was exactly a 
 month younger than himself. He had no heart to join in 
 the conversation, but remained in his corner with the book 
 open before him. 
 
 He gazed blankly round at the well-known chairs and 
 tables, the clock that was never wrong, the familiar-looking 
 glass that had reflected St. Moritz when he seldom required 
 to shave. How long had he been a member of this very 
 club ? and what had he done with all the best years of a 
 lifetime, no less irrecoverably gone, with their pleasures and 
 their foUies, than the bubbles we watch dancing down to 
 destruction on a running stream ? Like Byron's representa- 
 tive nobleman, he had " lived his life and gamed his 
 gaming," the latter honestly enough ; but as regarded the 
 rest of the programme, had danced and voted but little, he 
 thought, and shone not at all. Must he too remain " to be 
 bored or bore ? " The prospect was dreary in the extreme, 
 and yet it seemed to close round him, narrowing every 
 moment, thick and dull, like mist on an open moor. 
 
 Bousing himself from his abstraction, he looked about 
 him as though waking out of a dream. The room was 
 cleared. His two old cronies had departed, one to meet a 
 soldier son from India, the other to take his grandchildren 
 to the play. The young men had gone out as they came in, 
 laughing, talking, and leaving the door open behind them. 
 
364 BLACK BUT COMELY 
 
 Lord St. Moritz was as much alone in this empty club as 
 Kobinson Crasoe in his island. Was he not also as much 
 alone in the world ? That world to which he had given his 
 life, his energies, his affections, to find, now the gas had 
 been turned off, it was but a theatre by daylight, after all. 
 Glare, tinsel, and decorations had faded with the eztin- 
 ^shed lamps. The hangings were but rags, the scenes 
 tawdry; there was no background, the house was empty, 
 and the stage was bare. 
 
 He went little to church, he read his Bible scarcely at 
 all ; yet the words of the preacher came as forcibly to his 
 mind as if they had been addressed to himself alone : 
 
 " Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit ! " 
 
 m/rWJN BliOTHEBS, UmiED, PBINIEBS, WOEING AND LONIION.