mm warn r. LIBRARY ANNEX 2 ■£1 (Jforttcll Uniueraity Htbrary g&immmtm& Jltl)aca, Ntni ^ark 1 The Soutl CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 1 "WI COLLECTION 1 CHINA AND THE CHINESE 1 ri^Ze ;f i^ZJo THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1B76 1 LONDOI 1918 ^mmmmm^n Date Due ,v^ ^ LIBR iffifJlNl'cv •■« • mi] ■ bA ktf-f!: \4r .i* , — _ -- think about it. It was like being sent away in disgrace and against her will ; and though many of them said they hoped to see her soon back a full-fledged M.D. they knew very well they never expected to see Lilian Grey in Chungking again, nor was there one who wished to do so, except the children. As for Mrs. Betterton, her fare^vcll, even more than that of the others, was like the Polish exile's, when, as he starts for Siberia, he says to his friends, ' JLiy we never meet again ! ' meaning, ' May you not be sent to Siberia too ! ' For she still stuck to it that she had put her hand to the plough, and she could not draw back, but must live and die in Chungking. Her work was prospering under her hands, and she was full of hopes, but she lo\-ed the girl dearly, and she could not part from her now without a great wringing of the heart-strings. Besides, what was to become of Lilian now 1 She was cer- tainly not stronger in health than when she left England, and though Mrs. Betterton had given her most careful letters of recommendation to her various friends in Shanghai, she hoped soon to hear the girl was returning to England. But what to do 1 If only Mr. Fortescue had she done right in what she SENT DOWN 159 had told her about Mr. Fortescue, or rather in what she had withheld 1 She did not know. She only knew that she had followed the command, ' Speak not evil one of another ; ' ' Who art thou that judgest another 1 ' But Mrs. Betterton was far too careful a student of her Bible to be satisfied by the idea that she was obeying any isolated text. And she was more guided by the agony of mind she had passed through years ago, before she had nerved herself to remonstrate with Mr. Fortescue, laid upon her as a duty, as she then thought, by her knowledge of his way of life. The recollection of that agony made her shrink from lightly communicating any word of it to one so far less calculated than ever she herself had teen to make a right use of her knowledge. But was it fair by Lilian ? she asked herself. Then her eyes filled with tears, looking at the girl who had just arrived from Yunnan, singing Psalms in her heart all the way. She moved about as if in a seraphic vision, for was she not about to be united to the man of her heart— who loved her ? Were they not together to work in the Lord's vineyard 1 It brought back to Mrs. Betterton her own early days in China. ' Recollect we all love you— we all love you,' repeated Miss Pearce, embracing Lilian again and again. ' God bless you, wherever you are ! ' cried Dr. Maxwell, wringing her hands almost off, whilst little Mark stood crying upon the river bank, having been fairly torn out of her embrace, and Susanna only kept from crying by holding her eyes very wide open and pinching her hands, as she said afterwards. Only Janie Frost, of them all, seemed to think she would yet become a missionary. It was a relief to turn to Threshie Reid with his kindly face and jovial voice : ' Glad to see you off. Miss Grey ; my boat will start presently, and anchor beside yours to-night. It is the old, old story. I can't get my things back from the wash, and I must have some clean clothes to start on my trip, you know. But I'll be near you, watching over you at nightfall. You'll still be under consular protection, so don't feel frightened. And is this your companion 1 Glad to make your acquaintance. Miss Lea. You'll take care of Miss Grey, I'm sure. And she'll take care of you, too. But we all think no end of Miss Grey in Chungking, you know.' It seemed the one kindly word wanting to the farewells, and they all felt better after it was spoken. Miss Lea was wearing Chinese dress, grey and black, as befitted a missionary, as she thought, rather than the bright 160 A MAEEIAGE IN CHINA pinks and blues Chinese ladies themselves more often aflfect. At the best she would not have been good-looking, and Chinese dress did not show her off to any advantage. But it was easy to sec that at least now and then she was, as the Italians say, 'touching heaven with her fingers.' Lilian felt like a naughty child beside her. Miss Lea produced a bag, and drew from it a Bible, which she laid open on the table of the cabin. ' I know all John by heart,' she said with a smile ; ' and so does James. But we agreed always to keep it open before us whenever possible. " Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." ' ' What is the use of keeping it open before you if you don't read it ? ' asked Lilian. ' And what is the use of reading it if you know it by heart ? ' Miss Lea smiled, as if these were mysteries people not truly converted could not penetrate. ' You are making an idol of the Gospel of St. John,' said Lilian, then became conscious of having been irritated into speaking crossly, and felt covered with shame . She had heard before that China made women cross, but even this recollec- tion did not comfort her . She felt humbled in her own eyes. As to Miss Lea, it never occurred to her as possible that she herself could be an idolater, she who had come out from among the Bible Christians because even their doctrine was not pure enough for her. How different was that going down from the coming up ! In two days they had passed Fuchow of the wonderful boats with up-curled sterns, passed the picturesque Chinese Hades, passed Chungchow of the bamboo groves, passed all the fair, open, tree-clad, farm-besprinkled country above Wauhsien, passed the lovely vale of Wauhsien. In five days from leav- ing Chungking without an accident of any kind, they were back at Ichang again, to find Air. Mortimer gone and Mr. Ashurst gone, and a new Consul and Commissioner in their places. Only the smells remained unaltered, and the moun- tains, and the echoes of the boatmen's songs, and the reflec- tions in the water. But the river itself was swollen beyond all Kunsing, and seemed to have swallowed up half Ichang, though it is true the Commissioner's temple was still there, and so were her Majesty's sheds, as the present Consul called his dwelling. Miss Lea's betrothed was also there waiting for her. He had gone down first to make arrangements. SENT DOWN 161 'I didn't marry my girl till I was forty,' said the steamer pilot. ' Hadn't saved enough money. And if you weren't provided for out of tlie mission funds you wouldn't be marrying at twenty-three, my fine fellow.' Pilots will express themselves after this fashion sometimes. But it is dreadful to think this remark was apparently addressed to Lilian. ' He will not make any the worse missionary for being happy,' she replied quietly. But there was a look in her eyes that changed the current of the pilot's thoughts. ' He'll be a lucky man who gets her. The little beauty ! ' he said to a messmate. ' Oh, the others are welcome to all the missionary ladies. But there's one man I envy. She's real, you see,' he added, ' and she is not a missionary. How should she be ? If the missionaries were real, do you think there'd be aU these missionary babies ? Canting humbugs ! I'd cant too if I were paid for it.' Thus coarsely will some people express themselves. CHAPTER XXI WAS IT PATE OR CHARACTER 1 He who inflicts an injury in broad dayliglit will be punished by men ; but he who inflicts an injury in secret will be punished by demons. — Chwangtse, Lao-isze's great Disciple. Look in my face ; my name is Might-have-been ; I am also called No-more, Too-late, Farewell. EOSSETTI. It was in Mrs. Robinson's company that Claude Fortescue had come up river. She had undertaken to examine into the condition of Wuhu, and the furnishing of the Commissioner's house there, for Mr. Stuckey was returning to his port again, and was bringing with him a bride. The American heiress had consented to become his wife, and she guessed she would see China a bit before taking Mr. Stuckey to America. People declared now she was not an heiress at all. Anyway, Mrs. Robinson had been buying furniture, and to get that furni- ture into its place, and herself and Nelly up the river, being naturally too much for an unmarried woman, it was a matter of course now that she should turn to Mr, Fortescue to 162 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA help lier. ' So there's another good fellow done for,' moralised Mr. Mortimer. ' I'd rather he'd gone in for any open vice you please. A woman like Mrs. Robinson cankers the very soul out of a man. Look at the state to which she has reduced her husband.' 'I certainly don't understand the terms they are on. These menages a irois are common in England, according to the society papers, but they must scandalise the Chinese horribly.' ' They're common among pitmen, I dare say,' growled Mr. Mortimer, ' boors and booresses, who know no better. As to scandalising the Chinese, I don't see that much matters. They are so scandalised by us anyhow — our dress, which they think indecent — our manners, which they think we haven't got — and then there's opium. Not a man Jack of them doesn't believe we taught them to smoke it. " You take our good tea," they say, " and give us your poisonous opium in exchange, in order to kill us oflF the face of the earth." ' Then they went at it tooth and nail. No two Englishmen in the East are ever found to agree about the opium question, possibly because they are mostly ready to take either side for the sake of conversation, and have heard it so often discussed there is not the least difficulty about this, or even about a ' Right-about-face ! ' should the other drop off asleep in the course of the argument, or by any other chance be led to forget on which side he began. The Consuls, being retained to protect British interests, are as a rule particularly alive to the force of pro-Chinese arguments, and apt to take the pro- Chinese view of a case. This is only natural, considering the perversity of man. Mrs. Robinson in like manner had captivated Claude Fortescue's attention by what might have been thought the unlikeliest method, and which she had kept as the very last string to her bow. She had broached wonderful theories on the subject of the Chinese language, quoted whole para- graphs of Rhys Davids' admirable sketch of Buddhism without any acknowledgment to the author, and let drop unprinted bits of information she had picked up from other admirers and painstakingly noted. For Mrs. Robinson's specialty was Sinologues. In vain ! Claude Fortescue never showed sur- prise. She tried him with curious facts about Chinese cookery, pointed out how ' costive ' and ' irresolute ' are one and the same word in Chinese, and hinted that the decisions WAS IT FATE OR CHARACTER? 163 of the censors might more often than not depend upon the ' great masters,' as Chinese call their cooks. Claude Fortescue only smiled, and said that he had heard that the hattle of Waterloo was lost through a fit of indigestion. Then Mrs. Robinson tried a new line. She denounced the false judg- ments of society, its hypocrisy, its absurd subterfuges. With an airy touch she showed she knew something, or pre- tended she knew something, of the previous lives of most of the married men of her acquaintance ; then said, in a suave tone of merely continuing the conversation, ' You have not sent your boy to the Eurasian school, I was glad to hear. I consider that Eurasian school a great mistake.' If a gulf had suddenly opened at Mr. Fortescue's feet, he could not have been more astonished than at a woman's speak- ing to him thus on such a subject. * Mr. Robinson was asked to contribute, so I went to see the school for myself on my way through Shanghai. It puts the children in a false position. If their fathers are able and willing to pay for them — and, to do the men justice, most, who can, are — why should the children have this sort of brand affixed to them, as if they had been brought up on charity ? Why should not those whose fathers can afford it just be sent to the best school there is, and be given the best possible chance in life, poor children 1 Depend upon it, it is all hypocrisy, my dear Mr. Fortescue, people's objecting to the children doing so, as if they were to blame in any way. And the very people who do so the most strenuously, as if their children would be contaminated, are generally those who have led the loosest lives. I always set my face against hypocrisy, which is one reason why I am so often misunderstood. Of course I should not speak so frankly to everyone ; only I think you share my feeling, that it is hypocrisy that poisons the world. Oh ! these goody-goody people, with their saintly airs of pretending to see nothing, make me sick ! They are peeping through their fingers all the while ! I asked the lady at the head of the Eurasian school where the mothers of the children were. " Oh, we know nothing of the mothers ! " she said. Then I asked, '' Who are the fathers V " We never mention them," she said, " unless when we receive their remittances. And even then we do not know that it is for their own children. They may be charged by others to remit. Except in some cases, where the children have been publicly acknow- M 2 164 A MAERIAGE IN CHINA ledged, we name no names. It might lead to idle talk." Idle talk, indeed ! as if this poor, humble, little effort to set the children on their way in the world were the only thing that would set people talking ! ' Mr. Fortescue's nerves were still vibrating too violently from the effects of her first onslaught to detect the mixture of spurious charity, malevolent desire to look into other people's lives, and feeling about to discover which views as to morals or immorals would most commend themselves to him. But after this she often talked yet more plainly to him about other people's secrets, not about his own. For to this she noticed he had not responded. And his soul was slowly but surely cankered, as Mr. Mortimer had said it must be. After the French Salon, the English Academy seems tame at first. He wanted more fire and water, but chiefly fire ; for, without apparently intending to do it, Mrs. Robinson was justifying him in his own eyes. He had never attempted to do this himself, never been able for a moment to efface how far he had fallen beneath his own standard. But now she led him to think he was but as other men, better indeed than most men, only that there was in reality no better nor worse. His mental agony at Chungking he began to look back upon as owing to a diseased condition of brain ; his hesitations in England as inherent faults of character, founded alike upon no real cause. He wanted more of Mrs. Robinson now; he could not do without her conversation, her low views of life mingled with an assumption of a higher sincerity, a more disinterested charity, not than most people, but than anyone else. She would talk of Mrs. G. J. Smith in the tenderest tones — how sincerely she hoped the poor silly little thing might not burn her wings. Mr. G. J. Smith drank, of course; was doubtless rough and revolting in his ways at home ; ' besides, we all know what sort of man he has been. So I keep an eye upon her. That is why she does not quite like me. But I trust — I do trust — we shall keep her straight between us.' Then she spoke of the divorce case now pending; said she did not believe one word of the accusations brought against the woman — ' young and lovely, and so people must be ill-natured. But I declare to you she is innocent — spotless. Whatever the judge may decide, I shall never alter my belief in her. We all know how these cases are got up, and we women should stand by one another. She was my most intimate friend.' This sounded rather noble, considering that WAS IT FATE OR CHARACTER? 165 there could be little doubt now how that divorce case would end. It is true, everyone else would say it of her — that the two had been inseparable, so that it might have been only a daringly precautionary measure to say it herself. And whether it was noble in this connection to drag in Mrs. Smith's name, Mr. Fortescue did not pause to consider. He was simply carried along by Mrs. Robinson. If she had had insinuating manners perhaps he would have been more upon his guard, but she was so tall and carried herself so upright, never leant back or lounged like other women, it seemed im- possible to suspect her of design of any sort. Thus he never realised that in their long tete-a-teles, now increasingly frequent — for Nelly out of hearing, before or behind, could not be said to count — Mrs. Robinson flattered him as never woman had flattered him before ; nor that, while pretending to make him attend upon her, she was really seeing after all his creature comforts, till he had a feeling of hien-etre such as he had never experienced before. He was to go down from Wuhu, and she and Nelly to proceed to Hankow alone, but he was beginning to think he would accompany them farther, on the pretext of the Hankow races, when Mrs. Robinson sent him oflT to the downward-bound boat, that had just come in, to ask if there were any news for her. If there were nothing especially requiring her at home, she thought she would stay a day longer at Wuhu. There were some yellow lilies in the neighbourhood, roots of which she much wanted to dig up and take back with her. ' And ask the captain to luncheon,' she said. ' It is always my policy to be on friendly terms with captains. And those sort of people like to be asked out, even if they don't come.' The captain, however, accepted with pleasure ; the ship was, for once in a way, going to take in a good deal of cargo at Wuhu, and they would be delayed some hours. There was nothing going on at Hankow, he said, and he had no message for Mrs. Robinson. It was the same captain they had come up river with a few days before, and, like all men she laid herself out to please, he was a great admirer of that lady's good sense, as he called it. Not that that prevented his in- dulging in the usual river gossip about her. What would the river be without its gossip, with so many idle hours on hand ? 'Any passengers !' asked Claude Fortescue. ' One,' said the captain ; and was at that moment called away. 166 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA Claude Fortescue sauntered into the saloon but saw no one there, only a Chinese phrase-book lying open, which he took up and looked at for a few moments, then laid down, greatly dissatisfied with the Romanisation of the Chinese characters. It was not according to Wade. He wondered absently whose it was, then sauntered out upon the deck. No one there but the second officer and one of the engineers leaning over the side, looking at Wuhu and chatting with one of the Customs staff. He was telling them about Mr. Stuckey's new furniture ; ' furnishing a Commissioner's house, and with a Consul in tow, even Mrs. Robinson must have her hands full,' said one of the party, whom Mrs. Robinson had never thought it worth her while to lay herself out to please. ' Oh, as for Mr. Fortescue, he is regularly tied to her apron-strings. Disgusting I call it,' said another in the same predicament. Then between them they said a great deal more, none of which was audible to Claude Fortescue, but all of which was distinctly audible in the adjacent cabins. Finally, having in few words said more than they, any of them, meant or believed, they turned aside to the far more interesting subject of the next golf meeting at Hankow. The Customs officer only wished he could get up for it. ' No chance of that, worse luck I ' he said, ' with a new Com- missioner just arriving. Stuckey's a good sort, they say, but I haven't served under him yet ; and he needs you to be all there, I hear.' An animated discussion of Mr. Stuckey's character, and the effect having a wife would be likely to have upon him, then ensued. Mr. Fortescue went back to Mrs. Robinson without any news, and they settled they would take chairs as soon as the captain left them, and go and look for the yellow lilies that very afternoon. ' The races are not for two days yet,' she said, ' and Nelly would enjoy another day in the country.' ' I half think I will go on with you to Hankow and see the races,' said Claude Fortescue. ' Do,' said Mrs. Robinson. ' We have a spare room. And I should like you to know my husband. People in general have no idea what a clever man he really is.' People in general had not, and he did not anticipate any special pleasure from making Mr. Robinson's acquaintance. But Mrs. Robinson's society had become essential to him now. It was like cotton wool, wrapping him round and shielding him from all the rest of the world. She was always accused WAS IT FATE OR CHARACTER? 1G7 of entirely engrossing her men, but other women had no idea how very comfortable she made them, each in their turn. She never bad more than one at a time. Human woman could not have endured more than one at a time, indeed, for Mrs. Robinson toiled like a slave for the man who was her friend at the time. It was only unfortunate for Mr. Robinson that that time was past for him. But he and Nelly took care of each other generally, and everyone liked Mr. Robinson but for his subjection to his wife. As a man of business he was immensely respected, but he did not grow richer, and for this his wife despised him. Toiling as a merchant year after year and day after day, in order to lose money, paying for the pleasure of it as it were, made her husband small in her eyes. It made Mr. Robinson small in his own. He felt humiliated by the consciousness of it, and especially so before his wife, who knew the secrets of the business house, and — to give her her due — cut her cloth according to her means, and so dexterously that no one ever guessed from the Robinsons' way of living how things were going in the business. This requires brains on the part of a woman, as well as the power of keeping her own counsel. Mrs. Robinson was possessed of both. This expedi- tion to Japan had been entirely on Nelly's account ; the child had outgrown her strength ; and whilst it gave Mr. Robinson the air of being in no lack of ready money, it had been carried out with the strictest attention to economy. In those days there was as yet no sanatorium near Nagasaki for the benefit of Shanghai, the very next port as it were, and Arima was given over to missionaries, and Takaradzuka, with its maple groves and its mineral waters, as yet undiscovered. But the small economies to which women whose husbands never have any money to spare are daily driven make a man friend, with whom they are quite at their ease, a very agreeable appendage. Mrs. Robinson appreciated this as she sat in Mr. Stuckey's house, among Mr. Stuckey's handsome new furniture — by ordering which she had escaped any questions about bills of her own of some standing— and entertained the captain with Claude Eortescue's wines, for of course he had relieved her of all bother in that matter. But she did the honours admirably, Claude Fortescue sitting silent by the while, or making little efforts to entertain Nelly. Nelly was very easily entertained, like her father, she was not exigeante. And Mr. Fortescue enjoyed watching Mrs. Robinson too much to talk himself ; she did it so well, sat so upright, was such an admirably 168 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA blended compound of graciousness to the man she wished to please, yet of dignity, as never forgetting she was one of the leading ladies in Hankow, and consequently of another sphere. And withal she was entertaining, especially when she gave a little side glance to himself, whenever there was a double entendre in her speech that was quite lost upon the honest captain. As the luncheon progressed the latter felt more and more that he had never been so thoroughly appreciated, as also that he was making himself extraordinarily agreeable. He had thought Mrs. Robinson 'a charming lady ' on the steamer, but what a relief it was now to talk to her without the damping presence of the junior officers, and especially of that cynical engineer, who one always knew would come out with something nasty afterwards, if he did not at the time. He sat now beam- ing and flushed with success. Mrs. Robinson also looked conscious of having charmed, as she sat at the head of the table looking a little more queen- like than usual as she smiled a little innocent smile of general kindliness at all the world, and the two men in particular ; her elbows lightly resting on the table, and her loose lace sleeves falling back from her arms so as to show what she con- sidered one of her chief beauties. But it was rather difficult to think of more topics of conversation, and now that she had persuaded him to light up, the ' gallant mariner,' as she meant to call him afterwards to Mr. Tortescue, did not look at all like leaving. So the words dropped out quite carelessly, not in the least because she was inquisitive to know — Mrs. Robinson never asked questions, other people's proceedings did not interest her in the least — ' So you have no passengers this voyage ? ' She said it as a statement of fact, with a little lifting of the eyelid in Mr. Portescue's direction that he under- stood to mean, ' Now do entertain him for me for a little while 'Yes, one,' said the captain. 'A young lady going down to learn to be a doctor.' They all smiled. Was it not the end of a most pleasant little convivial luncheon ? And did not Mrs. Robinson always smile at any effort on the part of her own sex to, as she called it, emul.ilc men ? There is one comfort for men doctors, however. If all the men in the world ever took to being doctored by women, women of Mrs. Robin' son's type would always cry out for men doctors. ' She is confided to the whole missionary society of Shanghai,' continued the captain. ' I am to give her over to the head of the missionaries himself.' WAS IT FATE OR CHARACTER! 169 ' They would be rather puzzled to say who that is,' laughed Mrs. Robiuson. ' All squabbling with one another about every- thing ! Do you approve of lady doctors, Mr. Fortescue ? As for me, I think the idea positively disgusting ! ' ' Positively disgusting,' he repeated, with something of his old whimsical expression, ' for a woman like you.' Did his eyes rest for a moment on those well-moulded arms of which she was so proud, and fancy how they would look with a dissecting knife 1 For he seemed to shudder for a moment. ' Or for any woman one cared for, yes. But, after all, there are women and women. Nelly here might be a doctor, I think. What do you say, Nelly 1 ' ' Oh, I should not like— — ' began the chUd. ' No, I should think not, Nelly,' said her mother, looking at her, half-puzzled by the distinction he thus made between mother and daughter, as, indeed, she often was by Mr. Fortescue's sayings. 'You and I are womanly women.' ' Well, this seems too much of a young lady for a doctor,' said the captain. ' I don't understand it myself. I should have labelled her " Glass with care ! This side up ! " if I had had anything to do with it. She's a delicate little piece of goods to be travelling about China alone. And I didn't know her from Adam when she was put into my hands at Hankow by the head of the missionaries there. "We hope you will show every attention to this young lady," he said,' continued the cap tain^ mimicking his manner, so that Mr. Fortescue and Nelly both laughed — only Mrs. Robinson did not. ' " She is very highly connected and a great heiress, and you cannot do too much for her." ' ' Why, who in the world is she, then 1 ' asked Mrs. Robinson. But she knew already. There could not be two of them in China. Then as he said, ' Grey — a Miss Grey,' with a great peal of laughter she exclaimed, ' What, that silly little girl ? ' but she carefully abstained from any side glance at Mr. Fortescue as she did so. ' I suppose her flirta- tion with the up-country doctor has not succeeded. Well, I pity the doctors she studies under ; she is one of that sort who must always be up to some mischief.' 'She doesn't seem up to much mischief now,' said the captain. ' She just sits all day reading a Chinese book, tUl I think the poor girl will grow positively sUly over it. She hasn't got a morsel of colour. If I were her father or mother, I'd just pack her off to England. But she has got none, I 170 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA suppose — hasn't got a soul belonging to her, it seems. Well, I'm really very much obliged to you for the most delightful tiffin, I'm sure, but — ■vi'hy, bless me, how late it is ! I had no idea of it.' ' I will go with you,' said Claude Fortescue, rising. Mrs. Robinson glanced at him now. He looked dazed, the old puzzled expression had come back into his eyes. There was a deep furrow in his forehead. ' Not in this sun, Mr. Fortescue ! Not in this sun ! ' But he seemed not even to notice that she spoke to him, nor did it make any diflference when the captain also protested it was too hot, and he had no idea it was so late ; he must run for it. In the end it was Mrs. Robinson herself who, tall and stately, gave Mr. Fortescue his hat and umbrella. 'Your sun-hat, since you must be going ! ' she said, with rather a rueful smile. ' A wilful man — but come back in time for the yellow liUes.' Lilian Grey came forward to meet the captain as he stepped on deck, but so transfigured, he gazed at her amazed. Was this the girl who had sat over her book so pale and spirit- less, this girl with the flaming colour, holding herself so erect, her body so daintily poised, the neck looking so proud of the exquisitely shaped head ? ' My word, she is a little beauty, and no mistake ! ' he said to himself, as she held out her hand to him with the air of a princess at the very least. ' To think of your being late, captain ! I have been almost thinking of taking command of the steamer myself,' she said, with an air that, like her words, was all unlike the Lilian we have known till now. ' And very well you'd have done it, I am sure,' said the startled but admiring captain. ' But I must get my papers. And there's a friend of yours come off to see you.' ' How do you do, Mr. Fortescue ? ' and there was Ijilian putting a small gloved hand into his with the most perfect self-possession, looking straight into his eyes and smiling like a young lady going through a London season, or a mechanical doll. Claude Fortescue, with his big sun-hat and the pucker in his forehead, perspiring and breathless, was more than ever at a disadvantage confronted with her dainty grace — her mannerism, was it not 1 But he managed to stammer out, ' I have only just heard you were here. But what is the meaning of it ? You are alone, and ' ' I am alone for the moment,' said Lilian lightly. Some- "WAS IT FATE OR CHARACTER? 171 how, with the manner she had assumed had come the con- sciousness that it was not quite the right thing for a young lady of sorts to be travelling about the world alone. ' I am on my way to England to make arrangements.' ' To England 1 ' he asked, aghast. ' By the next mail,' slie said, still speaking in the same light conventional tone. It was an idea that had only come into her head while she was speaking. But it seemed to her best, the only thing to do now. With the talk of that morn- ing still ringing in her ears, she should never feel safe till she had put one ocean at least between herself and Claude Fortescue, and he must never guess that it was him she fled. ' I had thought of studying medicine in Shanghai ; ' she watched his face as she said the words, and her own quivered as she said the word medicine. The furrow on Claude Fortescue's forehead deepened perceptibly. ' But there are sure to be difficulties. It is much better to go to England at once. There everything is arranged. And there, too, I can sign all the legal documents that may be necessary, consult my solicitor, and settle with my guardian, and — everybody.' She spoke with the self-possession and with something of the arrogance of a young lady of the world, yet the voice was the voice of Lilian Grey, the tones pure, and every syllable distinctly articulated. ' And you — you are better, I hope 1 I heard you had been ill.' ' I am quite well,' he answered impatiently. ' But why do you want to study medicine 1 It is out of the question.' ' Do you think so 1 ' said she, with almost a shrug of her little shoulders — her father's shrug, if she had known it. She had last seen it at Constantinople. How had it come back to her now 1 The bell was ringing, hawsers straining, Chinese hastening on board at the last moment. ' I am sorry to hurry you,' said the captain. Claude Fortescue stood dazed. ' You leave by the next mail 1 ' he asked. ' By the next mail,' repeated Lilian mechanically. Other men's hands pushed and pulled him. He was drawn on to the hulk only at the last moment, violently resisting. ' What on earth did you do that for 1 ' he asked, looking round angrily. ' I have a right to go down in the steamer if I choose.' And he was about to spring back on her again. But that was too dangerous. They detained him now forcibly, whether with or against his will. The steamer was moving 172 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA down river. Surely Claude Fortescue was not mistaken. Surely, as he had turned to leap, Lilian herself had sprung forward as if to save him, and was standing looking back now, her lips lightly parted, her face all sympathy, her hands somewhat tightly clasped. He did not know. All he knew was, that the one thing to learn now was when there would be another steamer going down river. To-morrow morning ! That would do ! The mail would be leaving Saturday morn- ing. So long as he could get down by Friday, that must do now. And the next steamer ought to get there on Thursday. It was late — late evening — before Mrs. Robinson saw him again. He had forgotten all about the yellow lilies, neither did- she remind him. He saw her off next day to Hankow, but he said nothing more about the races, nor did she allude to them. He looked so sad and anxious, almost anyone must have felt sorry for him, but as she said good-bye to him, Mrs. Robinson said in a curious tone, a sweet, grating tone, if such a thing be possible, ' If you mean to offer yourself to that young lady, I wouldn't make a clean breast of everything. Married life requires some reservations, and little girls are apt to be so narrow-minded.' It was a Parthian arrow, but she knew the wound would rankle. CHAPTER XXII A STERN CHASE Sweet, had I boldly spoken then, How might my love have garnered thee I I missed the spell — I watch'd It break — And such come never twice to men. Buchanan. The downward-bound steamer did not arrive. People began to look uneasy. As to Claude Fortescue, he was half- distracted. He stood motionless under the Commissioner's pavilion on the hill, staring up river, till he sank exhausted on the ground, blinded by the glare, crushed by protracted disappointment. He hurried from the Customs to the Con- sulate, and from the Consulate to the Customs. How his own conduct appeared to himself now, it is needless to por- tray. Lilian Grey had come out to China of her own accord A STERN CHASE 173 —a joy beyond his wildest dreams ! And now she was going home again. And he had not spoken a word ; he had let her slip through his fingers — the girl he had always loved, the girl he adored, the girl he had almost gone out of his mind about ! Was he out of his mind still 1 he began to wonder. The mail would be gone by Saturday morning, and if the steamer did not arrive soon Why, it must be almost time for the steamer after the next to be arriving. ' There must be trouble somewhere,' said the Consul very gravely. Trouble somewhere ! Was there not trouble enough at Wuhu ? answered Claude Fortescue's wildly beating heart. There is no egotist like your man in anxiety. ' And, as usual, the telegraph wires are broken. They have always wit enough to cut the wires. It is not at Kiukiang ; that's all right. But if it is at Hankow, that will be the biggest thing yet. The people there hate foreigners worse than anywhere ; and then there are so many Hunan boatmen about. Poor Ashley ! Poor Berner ! I can fancy Berner at his wits' ends wondering what Mrs. Berner would advise in such an unexpected — such a wholly unexpected — contingency. We have telegraphed to Shanghai for men-of- war, but I feel sorry for Mrs. Ashley — very ! ' And all the while Claude Fortescue had not a thought even to spare for Mrs. Robinson and Nelly. He saw one little face, out of which the colour seemed to have faded, and he seemed always to see it through a mist of tears. Till those tears were dried how could he spare a thought for anyone else ? He knew it — he knew all now that she had meant him never to know ; knew that Lilian Grey was leaving China because he was there ; and was determined — if he could— to detain her, and make her happy in spite of herself. In his thoughts now he realised with a sudden blush she had always been ' My Lilian ! ' The idea she could ever possibly become anyone else's Lilian was like sacrilege. But how guilty he felt towards her ! What was an ordinary Chinese riot in comparison, even if it were at Hankow, and on a large scale 1 But it was not at Hankow after all. It was at a place to which they had never given even a thought, a mere place of call, where there had been for some years past one solitary Customs officer, and where there had been now for some years a missionary station opposite to their bungalow sana- torium, perched upon the hill on the other side of the river. 174 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA Alas ! and alas ! a steamer had been late, and so the young missionary just out from England, who had only come there to see a sick friend comfortably installed at the bung alow opposite, had found himself obliged to sleep at Wusiieh one night— one night only ! How unimportant, how trifling it seemed ! And the Customs officer, whose time was up, and who was going away upon leave, had been obliged to stay one night longer, his relief not arriving. That night of all nights the Chinese attacked the missionaries' houses. The men were away ; there were only women and children there. When the houses were set on fire the children were taken out in their night dresses. A little child — to save its life — was just thrown like a ball to some woman in the crowd. Extraordinary to relate, she took care of it, and restored it unhurt after some hours. The ladies and children took refuge in some beggars' huts. They cowered down inside, hidden under old rubbish, whilst the beggars sat outside stolidly smoking. The captain of the downward-bound steamer that had arrived late, alas ! had already started again, was leaving the place behind, when a boat handed up a piece of dirty torn paper. Difficult to make anything of the scrap of paper ! But, strangely enough, that captain had saved the refugees from every riot on the river ; did so always, till his own house was destroyed ; and then he came up late. He was the first now, and he saw that there was writing on the paper. And the women and children were saved, though in what condition it may be imagined, bruised and beaten, terrified and exhausted ! And the two men ! Who knows ? Who will ever know ? Evidently they had fought. It seemed as if both had tried to come to the women and children ; as if, but for that, both might have saved themselves. But all that remained were two frightfully mangled bodies. Just the result of sleeping one night at Wusiieh ! one night because the steamer was late ! They were dead ! Both dead ! When that news flashed along the wires the whole of China thi-illed. There was arming even in Shanghai. The Germans formed a brand-new German volunteer corps, old soldiers all, who marched and wheeled, and did everything in the German style to the German word of command. The Portuguese would not be left behind, and after some objections, and much wounding of national feelings, marched, stepping out to the admiration of everyone. The old-established English volunteers nearly doubled their num- bers, and quite doubled their attendances. And even elderly A STERN CHASE 175 citizens, who had never handled a rifle before, nor dreamt of danger since Shanghai had been a settlement, came out now, and formed a home guard — to defend the wives and children when the others might have to march against the enemy. Even the ladies received their instructions. Three guns, and the fire-bell rung rapidly, and those along the Bubbling Well Road — the fashionable drive — were to muster at the Country Club, where they would find their division of the home guard ready to defend them. The others were all to take refuge at the Consulate, and so to the various men-of-war in port ; though it was said the Shanghai babies alone would sink them, so few were left now, with men-of- war defending all the outports up the river. Ladies who had never paid any attention to the riots before thought and talked of nothing else now, turning white and starting at every cracker even that went off. Some packed up their jewellery ; and there were houses where even teaspoons were allowed to run short. But Claude Fortescue was unmoved by the first news of it all. He hardly heard about the murdered men, did not realise the position of the women and children. His one idea was that the steamer was late, and that it was a mere matter of chance or the tides whether he reached Shanghai before the mail left. And thus after all these years it depended upon the earlier or later shifting of a tide whether he could ever tell Lilian Grey how long, how deeply, he had loved her, with the least hope of winning her to be his wife ; for once let her leave China, and even he felt that it would be impossible to account to her for his not having spoken sooner. As it was, no thought of the difficulty of explanation troubled him. His one fixed idea was that if he could but once see her again he would tell her how he loved her, and that would be all that was needed. Lilian would understand. For he remembered her looking back in the Niukan Gorge ; he remembered her standing on the deck of the steamer that bore her from him, pale, with clasped hands. And he felt sure that she loved him ; and love overlooks everything — it does not only forgive. 'It is no -use ' hurrying on,' said the captain, as they stopped at Chinkiang. ' We cannot get over the Lanshan crossing in the dark.' Claude Fortescue went on shore and wrote a telegram. He addressed it to Miss Grey, passenger per French mail, to the care of the agent ; then followed the Messageries office. 176 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA It was an enormous address, but the telegram was only : ' I implore you not to leave China till you have seen me. Coming down as fast as I can. — Claude Foetbscue.' After he had sent that telegram he grew calmer. Lilian would be sure to wait, he said to himself. But as the steamer proceeded on its course fresh doubts arose. Would the agent get the tele- gram in time ! Would he understand who it was for ? Would the French mail have steamed across the bar to Woosung already ? And might not Lilian, as ladies so often did, have gone on board the night before, and gone down in her ? Then, if the agent waited to deliver the telegram till the tender went down with the mails in the morning, with her boxes in the hold already, and her place booked, it might — might perhaps be too late. He walked the deck all night, recalling to himself a sentence in a sentimental novel he had once read, that had at the time much tickled his fancy : ' On such little issues great events depend.' There, so far as he remembered, the hero had not offered, because his lady-love found herself obliged to drive back from a picnic, instead of riding, thus depriving him of the tete-a-tete on which he had counted for the purpose. In another novel he recollected the catastrophe occurred because there were still two bottles of particularly old port in the cellar, which the girl's father could not deny himself the pleasure of drinking, and therefore would stay two nights longer in the hero's house. That was a very subtle, compli- cated story, and Claude Fortescue went over and over it. If six bottles, the temptation would not have been so great, because it would have seemed impossible to stay six nights longer ; if one, the catastrophe might have been deferred for at least one twenty-four hours. The danger seemed to have been in that precise number — two. Then he went over his own past life ; saw it all with the distinctness of a drowning man ; saw that, ever since he had known her, the one thing he had desired, the one thing his life needed, was Lilian as his wife, and that whenever he had thought of the future — of late he had not done so — it had always been with the feeling that whether by his doing, or without his doing, it was inevitable, it must come about, it was ordained. And now she was alone, unfriended, unhappy, and with evidently a capacity for becoming something different from what he had ever before seen her ! Who could tell to what sudden resolutions she might not be moved 1 She might even be accepting some one A STERN CHASE 177 else ! ' I have wooed her and not won — not tried to wm ! ' Could there be any position more trying to a sensitive, high- souled girH 'Do you suppose, sir, that a rose, sir, plucks itself to deck your breast?' came back to him across the years. A favourite cousin had been wont to sing it to him long ago — long ago. He remembered how she used to glance round and smile as she said these words, and how the chords of the piano sounded. She was the mother of a large family of children now. But he could hear her girlish voice ringing out quite distinctly — see her smile. ' The tide is turned. I think we shall catch the mail, sir,' said one of the officers. ' Think ! God ! ' ' There lay the long, smart-looking French mail at Woosung, and there lay the tender alongside. Claude Fortescue suc- ceeded in getting the river steamer stopped ; he let himself down into a sampan. ' Row 1 ' The boat rowed. ' A hundred dollars if you are in time.' But what can a Woosung sampan do 1 ' She is off ! she is gone ! ' The French mail was moving now ! ' Did you not get my telegram 1 ' cried Claude Fortescue to the agent on the tender. ' To Miss Grey ? Yes. I delivered it. But she said she did not understand it — could not make it out at all,' called back the agent. It would not have been the first time that a young lady had been fetched back from off a mail steamer to be married. In Shanghai, as elsewhere, men are sometimes too late in making up their minds. And sometimes they do it just in the very nick of time. But this does not occur every day. And the people on the French mail took Claude Fortescue merely for a man who was too late to sail with them, a passenger who had missed his passage. ' He can come on by such or such a boat,' they said to one another, pitying him the while. He was indeed to be pitied just then. 178 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA CHAPTER XXIII TAKING COUNSEL Princes I — and you, most valorous, Nobles and barons of all degrees I Hearken awhile to the prayer of us — Prodigals driven of destinies I Nothing we ask or of gold or fees ; Harry us not with the hounds, we pray ; Lo — for the surcoat'a hem we seize — Give us — ah ! give ua — but yesterday. Austin Dobson. If a man do but hurry to a London station to catch the train for Liverpool and arrive to find it gone, there is a sense of the tangible facts of life being too strong for him. How much more so in Claude Fortescue's case ! He had realised the position beforehand. He could not telegraph again ! If he wished, and could ascertain her English address— which he supposed he might be able to do — he might write a week hence, if indeed he had got her address by that time, and expect an answer, if she wrote it, three months afterwards. No, it was all over ! He knew that now.' Lilian Grey, as she might have been, was gone out of his life. And yet nefas though she had never been. She would remain for him for ever a haunting memory, ' a bright, pure presence, half mis- understood ; ' a child with a woman's heart, looking out on life with a child's fearless eyes from underneath the shade of a big flapping hat ; a girl who for him would never grow older. The real Lilian might moil and toil and suffer ! For him she would remain ever the same. The real Lilian might become a medical student but oh! the pity of it ! the pity of it ! Surely that could never come to pass ! Yet, for the first time since he had known her, Claude Eortescue felt as if since their last meeting he had nothing to reproach himself with. It was not his fault that this new riot had broken out. He had sent his telegram. She had received it. He had done what he could since he last saw her. If there is one virtue more than another that China teaches its denizens, it is that of submission to the inevitable. And before nightfall Claude Fortescue was experiencing what Mdme. Guyot calls ' the great peace 'of 'an accepted sorrow.' TAKING COUNSEL 179 It was over, all the anxious questioning, the debating with himself, and unrest ! Heaven had decided. And once more he murmured to himself — ' To cease from all wrong doing, ' To get virtue, ' To cleanse one's own heart.' For as the Chinese have made a strange intermixture of what they call the Three Religions for themselves, so do most Europeans who study Chinese lore ; the well-worn Christian truth looking often so much more striking in Buddhist or Confucian dress. And the Taoist religion, Claude Fortescue's especial study, rather because it is the least understood than because it was most congenial to his own mind, afforded no such concise epitome of duty as this celebrated verse of Buddha — Shih-Chia-Fu, as they call him in China. Then remembering that ' Patience is the most necessary thing to have in this world,' he sat down — a changed man, it is true, with head more bowed, shoulders more stooped, and looking and feeling years older than yesterday, but without further spasm of frantic self-pity, or even of pity for Lilian, for whom he could do nothing now — to consider how best to accomplish his work in life, part of which he took to be the seeing after the well-being of his children. He found them well cared for by their mother, comparatively clean and comfortable, and apparently loved. They were too young for more as yet. He took the little girl in his arms, and tried to love her too, if it were only for her blue eyes. But he could not. She was his child, for whose bringing into the world he was responsible, for whose well-being he felt it his duty to provide. But love the little thing he could not. He had seen many Chinese children to whom he had felt more drawn. In both children the mixture of race was so painfully evident, the degradation of bastardy. As he held the little girl he saw the mother watching him with the inexpressive Chinese gaze that tells nothing, but he felt as if she recognised his want of love — possibly also his attempt to feel it. But that probably was beyond her. Anyhow he saw that she instinctively recognised that this was their last meeting, the final parting between them. And it touched him to see that she was evidently sorry that it was so, and yet that she uttered no word of complaint. ' Can I not at least still darn your socks for you 1 ' she asked. Then as she understood she was never again to work or wash for him, never again to surprise him with N 2 180 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA Chinese dishes, or dexterous embroidery, or quaint adornments of flowers — although she had not done so for months past- yet she seemed to grow more serious. ' Then you are going to marry an English girl,' she said, after a few minutes of silence. ' No, I am not going to marry anyone,' he said quickly. But it was the only time he spoke in haste. If she would have asked for anything, it would have made it easier to him to take leave of her. But she asked for nothing. Had he not always treated her kindly f She had implicit confi- dence in him — poor little Szeohuan slave-girl that had been ! who had never felt, never would feel, the slightest inclination to vice, the innocent victim of circumstances, if ever such were, sold after a great flood by parents who had lost their all, brought up in a den of infamy, and then sold out of it to the hated foreigner, whom she as a Chinese girl naturally regarded in the first instance as an inexpressibly repulsive ogre, but v.-hom for an ogre she had found always kindly. The possibility of his loving her or her loving him had never entered her Chinese imagination, so she had never felt the miss of it. But after all there is a touch of common humanity runs through us all. And she stood looking after him with sorrowful eyes as he went away, their baby in her arms, their boy clinging to her skirts. The boy had tried Claude Fortescue the most, for in spite of his square head and furtive Chinese eyes, the boy evidently loved him, loved to stroke his hand, and longed to be himself caressed. And his father shrank from paining him, yet could hardly bear the touch of his soft taper Chinese fingers, could not look him in the face, with his Fortescue mouth and Chinese-shaped head and eyes and Chinese yellow complexion. He had meant to tell their mother that he would remove the children from her keeping for a better education as they grew older ; but as he saw them so evidently mothered by her, and clinging to her as their mother, he wondered what right he himself had to do this. What gave him the authority to dispose any further of their lives, or hers 1 He believed not even law. And as he puzzled over it all, how best to straighten the tangled skein, he Iscgan to wish to know what was usually done, what other people thought right. Usually Claude Fortescue did not trouble himself much about this. He was accustomed to think out questions of right and wrong for himself. But just now to do so seemed beyond his powers. TAKING COUNSEL 181 Then to whom should he apply 1 And then, curiously enough, he felt instinctively that any man who had acted like himself must have had his understanding thereby daikened, and that therefore it would be of no use applying to such a one. But he remembered an erudite Chinese scholar with whom he had more than once come in contact at the Asiatic Society, and for some time carried on a correspondence — a missionary of learning. He thought he would ask him. And he did so, stating the case very plainly. The Doctor looked up from a table covered with Chinese dictionaries, a medley of Stent, Morrison, Wells Williams, and Kang-Hi : ' Of course a deed once done always remains.' ' Of course,' said Claude Fortescue. ' I do not ask you to help me to undo the past. And yet, pardon me for one instant. Does the Christian religion not believe in the cleansing of the heart ? Does it set bounds to the power of repentance ? ' Thus speaking, Claude Fortescue so resembled the pictures some artists have painted of Jesus mourning over the sins of the world — they never having seen a man without sins of his own to mourn over, and thus having gi-ien rather this expres- sion tJian the other to the Lord of Light and Life — that the learned doctor paused, surprised by a likouess that had more than once struck some of Fortescue's most intimate friends. ' We can all " rise on stepping stones of our dead selves to higher things," ' said he musingly. ' But the consc(iuences of the deed remain. There are the children. There is their mother ' ' Is her position now not after all incomparably Ijetter than what it would have been had she never known me 1 ' ' My dear sir, judging from what I have heard, which is not much, I admit — but judging from what I have heard, she would have been dead by now.' Claude Fortescue drew a quick breath that sounded almost like a sob. He put his hand to his forehead, as if it pained him. ' Well, then ' ' Pardon me, that is not all. And whatever her position is now, it strikes me — it strikes me, an old man, as an un- utterably sad one. I stand now alone in the world at seventy- two, but I have a long life of love and joy to look back upon. And I have my God ! She stands equally alone, and without God, and that at nineteen or twenty probably. But that is not the point that most matters. Have you ever considered how many wretched victims were bought with the price you 182 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA paid for her — what an impetus was thereby given to the trade in victims for the gratification of men's lusts — a trade that will never be stopped, nor even sensibly checked, except by a diminution in the number of buyers ? As long as the world lasts there will always be some girls more friendless and alone, or with parents more careless or depraved. The whole burden of this great misery rests with us men, it does not rest with the wretched traders in vice on whom men relieve themselves by heaping terms of opprobrium. I tell you there will always be slaves to be got somehow as long as a slave market exists.' And the Doctor leant back in his chair, the tips of his fingers pressed against one another, and looked at his visitor as if ready, even eager, for a fierce argument. But Claude Fortescue was not ready. To him the question was personal, not general. And the disputatious Doctor pulled himself together. ' But you called to consult me about your children. In such cases I do not recommend taking them from the mother.' ' You do not 1 ' There was a faint sigh of relief. ' No, I do not. I know some people do. But I often question the right. She is a quiet, well-conducted woman, by your account. Of course it is subject to that. All children are the better for mother love — especially when they miss that of a father,' added the relentless doctor. But his visitor's face showed such unmixed sufiering, he thought he would refrain from further side thrusts. ' What I should recommend is that you should appoint some guardian to look after the children's interests, and the mother's, and to report to you if necessary. I do not hold, you see, that you should ever be relieved from all care in the matter, either by any society, person, or in any way whatsoever. But as it is inex- pedient that you should hold further intercourse with the mother, if for no other reason, for your good repute in the world's eyes, and as we do not consider it right to remove the children from their mother, it is advisable there should be some intermediary. I would offer to serve as such myself were it not for my advanced years. As it is I would venture to suggest — you are a Churchman, I imagine 1 ' ' 1 was brought up as such,' said Claude Fortescue faintly. This practical, business-like discussion was too much for him. The old Doctor looked at him sharply for a moment or two. ' But you do not know the clergyman here 1 ' Then as the TAKING COUNSEL 183 other nodded his head in sign he did not, 'Perhaps I had better inquire, and see if I can find some one suitable for the office of guardian. And till I do, if you wish it, I wiU undertake the position myself. Perhaps it will be better, for the present at all events. After all, people talk.' ' That does not at all matter,' said Claude Fortesoue firmly. ' Do you wish the children known as yours, then 1 Better not ! ' said the Doctor. ' Believe me, it will be better not. Five years hence will be quite time enough to acknowledge them if you wish to do so. Trust an old man who has seen more of the world than you have. You do not yet know what life has in store for you, nor what difficulties you may not be laying up for yourself. You did not consider then, when you took this girl to live with you, or you would not have done it. Do not take another hasty, ill-advised step, involving so much more than it is possible beforehand to calculate.' Then they began to discuss financial arrangements, and here again the Doctor surprised Mr. Fortcscue by always reducing the sums he set aside. ' I am not considering your salary, nor that you have few claims upon you. I am only considering what is best for this poor girl to keep her in a position of comfort, and yet not expose her as a prey to money hunters. Invest your money, if you are at a loss what to do with it now, for the good of your children, should you feel disposed eventually to give them a European education. It takes very little to bring them up as Chinese. You are wanting to compensate by giving money, but money doss not atone for want of love.' Then as they parted, and the old man held out his hand to say good-bye, ' You are about to be married, I suppose ? ' he said. ' No, no ! ' cried Claude Fortescue, ' I shall never marry now,' and his expression of agony was so intense that the old man almost involuntarily said, ' I beg your pardon.' Then the Doctor went back to his study of the Gospel, which he was trying to render into classical Chinese for the use of literati, with a greatly saddened heart. ' A bruised reed shalt thou not break,' he murmured to himself. ' Why am I always so hot and hasty 1 Even at seventy-two never cured yet of my old sin of hastiness ! I took for granted he only came to me because he wanted to be married and to be freed from all sense of responsibility like the rest of them, 184 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA and yet had some conscience left ! If I had but tried to pour balm upon the wounded spirit ! Oh ! if I had but spoken differently ! ' But it mattered very little to Claude Fortescue how the old Doctor had spoken to him. He had wanted help for future guidance. But he did not care how any other man judged what lay behind him in the past. He judged of that for himself now, best knowing himself from what he had fallen away, and how wilfully. And as he walked slowly along the Bund now, his eyes fixed upon the ground as if he were counting the pebbles, he decided that the old Doctor's proposed arrangement was the best he could make, not to undo the past but to make provision for the future. Then the old man's question as to whether he was a Churchman recurred to his mind, and he remembered it was Sunday, and he thought he would go to church and see once again how it all struck him now. The evening service in Shanghai Cathedral was at that time very elaborate in its musical arrangements, as if trying to make up by the variety of its tunes for the scantiness of the worshippers. The words of the Church of England service are very impressive, but, as with Shakespeare, the art of delivering them so that they may be heard seems to have gone out. Clauds Fortescue felt depressed, bored if anything, rather than revived by the dull droning, no sentence completely heard, and the tunes not such as he was accustomed to associate with the words. ' Home, sweet Home,' sung to the tune of ' God save the Queen,' would have more an irritating than a pathetic effect. And his ear was also far too delicately attuned not to be arrested by every shortcoming of the choir. There seemed no opening left for soul food anywhere. But v.'hcn the anthem came, and one sweet voice took a solo, and for a while filled the church unaided, he was for the first time carried somewhat out of himself. He looked up, and, his eyes resting upon a distant object, it was only as the solo died away he became aware that his eyes were resting on a pale face almost effaced by the shadow of a distant pillar, and with an upward-turned, rapt expression such as he had never seen upon it before, yet surely the face of Lilian Grey ! The whole cathedral seemed to turn round with him for a moment. He touched his hand against the seat in front of him and looked round about him to make quite sure that he was not dreaming, had not conjured the face out of his own mental preoccupa- TAKING COUNSEL 185 tion. No, he was awake ! They were all there still, the other worshippers scattered sparsely among the empty seats round about him, and in a far corner, so shadowed by that pillar he could not be sure, a figure in white with a face like that of Lilian Grey ! It was no mere fancy, no hallucination of the brain. But afterwards, wlien the service was over, no girl in white came down that side aisle. He waited outside under the light of the lamps till the last of the congregation had disappeared. Then only he remembered how often women threw some light cloak or wrap round them in the evening, and told himself that in this way the white-clad figure must have passed by him. But it was inconceivable to him that he should not have recognised Lilian Grey however cloaked. And, besides, did he not know that she had left in the last mail— had received his telegi'am and said she could not understand it 1 He told himself the likeness had been his fancy. Anyway the feeling it had given him was the only feeling he carried away witli him from the Shanghai Cathedral. And it was one of deep unrest. He shut himself into his room and sat there, his elbows resting on the table, his face pressed into his hands. And then some of the old Doctor's words came back to him, and stung him like scourges, till he writhed under them. Mean- while the old man was on his knees asking forgiveness for his harshness. But that made no difierence in Claude Fortescue's suffering. CHAPTEE XXIV THE GARDENS BY THE RIVER Ask nothing more of me, sweet ; All I can give you I give. Heart of my heart, were it more, More would be laid at your feet. SWINBUKNE. The one great beauty of Shanghai is its Bund with trees and grass plats between the stately foreign hongs and the river — not the great river Yangtsze, upon which everyone in Europe fancies it is situated, but the little river Whangpoo, that is fast silting up, and only flows into the Yangtsze across a bar 186 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA that is a great hindrance to its traffic, and, if not removed, a growing menace to the prosperity of the commercial metro- polis of the East. But the loveliest part of the Bund is the garden by the river, where children play in crowds, surrounded by a wealth of flowers, and grown-up people listen to the strains of a band of Manilla men, whilst watching the great ocean steamers go by almost within hand touch, or the pic- turesque junks with their tawny sails, the two-eyed sampans, and all the rest of the multifarious river traffic ; sometimes a floating haystack, sometimes a smart white man-of-war, mixed up with all the flowers of each succeeding season. Only in the very height of summer there are no flowers. Then, too, it is too hot to go into the gardens till the sunset tints are there, and after that everyone lies about in long chairs sent down for the purpose, gigantic human flowers in all sorts of colours, till far into the night, when the music has finished and the lights gone out, all but the great white electric light, and attendant coolies, lurking till then unseen in dark corners, come to carry away again the aforesaid long chairs. People who have not been in the East would call them sofas made of basket work. But before the height of summer the gardens are perhaps at their loveliest, when first the hyacinths like fairies fill the borders, together with large velvety pansies, golden and red tulips following close upon them. Then comes the season of the cinerarias and gloxinias, and after that roses run riot over the gardens in wild, prodigal profusion — alas ! too brief. Almost before one has settled down to enjoy them, they are gone, to be succeeded by great tree magnolias, covered with creamy, fragrant blossoms, and oleanders, rosy and sweet- scented. But it was the season when the chrysanthemums were coming on, although they had not yet acquired quite flower-show dimensions, when Claude Fortescue passed into the gardens. He had gone there to think. It was his duty to write to Lilian Grey, he felt that. Hitherto, he saw now, he had thought but of himself : how well it would be for him to marry her, and whether the supreme good of it justi- fied his un-desert in so far aspiring. But he knew now that he owed it to the girl, on whom he had poured forth all the love he had to give, to tell her that he had done so. Yet it was a difficult letter to write. To make an offer of marriage, that was an unmistakable, undoubted oSer, and yet without the slightest hope even of acceptance ! For that he could not THE GARDENS BY THE RIVER 187 bring himself to entertain now. To advise her as to her future life, without the slightest right to advise further than that which love gives ! For himself he was perfectly hope- less. For her all he dared to wish now was, that whatever path in life she might choose, she might choose it cheered by the consciousness of the heartfelt love of her childhood's friend, in no case pained by the idea that she had given her own aflfection unsought. For he remembered that self-betraying glance that had cost Lilian herself such agonies of shame, and he feared — yes, feared was the word he used to himself — that he had touched her girlish fancy. How long that might have lasted, how far it might have withstood his subsequent neglect, he did not know. Judging by her refusal to be moved by his telegram, it seemed it had not withstood it. Yet he felt that he owed it to her to write. And Claude Fortescue, who had so long neglected every duty, was now resolute to fulfil every iota that suggested itself. So now he sought counsel among the flowers. But the chrysanthemums gave him none, with their arrogant flares of colour, or even more repellent stain- less white clusters of blossom. He watched a junk go by, almost touching the foreshore as the tawny sails on its three masts filled with the breeze. ' Freighted with Curses,' he thought the picture would be called if framed and hung in the Academy. ' It is over ! It is over ! ' that tawny, swift- moving boat, rushing on to its destination, seemed to say. 'It might have been ! but ' and it was gone. He walked swiftly through the garden, with its amahs and children — Eurasian children with their yellow, mongrel faces; Jewish children with magnificent velvety eyes that seemed to have absorbed the sunshine of generations; English children with pale, fair faces, and peaky chins ; Scandinavian children with fair hair like a halo in the sunshine, and glad, confident blue eyes, that looked out fearless on that and everything, till one wondered how the spiritless Eurasians ever dared even to roll a hoop in the presence of these little descendants of fierce Vikings. He went on, ever seeking a quiet place for thought, into the second garden across the road, and there paused by the half- open door of the large conservatory. That surely would be deserted at this sunset hour. A sweet fragrance stole out upon the evening, a fragrance mingled of heliotrope and mignonette. A white camellia bush covered with frail fair blossoms seemed to invite approach, whilst his eyes rested with 188 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA satisfaction upon the exquisite massing of colours in a mixed bank of flowers beneath it leading up to it. ' I think that you are making a great mistake — a very great mistake,' an old man's voice was saying at the other end of the conservatory. And low but very clear tones answered with that exquisite articulation that surely but one woman in the world possessed, ' I have thought lately sometimes that so far I have been too much afraid of making a mistake. Is it not better, perhaps, even to make a mistake than to stand for ever trembling on the brink of a decision 1 ' As she spoke he stepped forward, and as she finished speaking their eyes met. There was a moment's hesitation. Then the girl said, speaking yet lower than before, as if suddenly tired out, too tired almost to speak, ' Dr. Donaldson was, like you, asking me to reconsider my decision as to becoming a medical missionary.' Claude Fortescue's eyes were fixed on her face, absolutely devouring the curve of her cheek, the delicate droop of her neck, as her eyes involuntarilj' sought the ground. He spoke hotly, impetuously, as if not understanding what she had said to him, ' How is it that you arc here ? I thought you had left Cliina for ever — by the last mail.' ' It was French. I could not travel on from Marseilles by myself,' said Lilian simply. ' But the Miss Grey who left — who got my telegram 1 ' ' There was a Miss Grey, I know — a globe trotter, I think. But did you telegraph ? Did she get your telegram 1 ' She spoke very slowly, as if wondering, and pausing between each sentence. The old Doctor, for it was he who was her companion, had stood looking from one to the other ; and now the old man, who even at seventy-two had never yet cured himself of being hasty, spoke quickly : ' Since you have met a friend, Miss Grey, will you excuse my seeing you home 1 1 have got some matters I really ought to attend to. And I am sure Mr. Fortescue will see you safe. Will this be agreeable to you, Mr. Fortesouo 1 Miss Grey would like to walk round the gardens and see the flowers, and I — I am an old man, and I have so little time left now.' He went away muttering to himself, and wondering a little whether he had done right, and what they would think of his going. But they never thought of it at all, nor noticed that he had left them. If he had dis- THE GARDENS BY THE RIVER 189 appeared into thin air instead of striding over the garden bridge with his white-covered umbrella under his arm, it would have been quite the same to them. ' I never thought of there being another Miss Grey,' said Claude Fortescue — very simple words in themselves, but meaning much as he paused after saying them. ' Why did you telegraph ?' asked Lilian abruptly, looking up at him now, then looking quickly away as she found his eyes fixed still on her face as if unable too thoroughly to assure himself that it was really she herself who was there standing before him. A poinsettia spread its coronal of richest scarlet and gold over her, and a white camellia stood behind, whilst all the air round was sweet with the scent of mignonette. He saw her face outlined fair against the fair white camellia blossoms, as he answered with equal directness, ' Because I wanted to see you before you left China. There is so much I have to say to you.' ' Do not say it now, then,' pleaded Lilian, a slight tremor passing over her. ' Not here — beside these flowers. In the other garden there are seats. It is so much better to sit down and talk when one has anything to say. But here — look at these dear old friends ! ' She was very pale and evidently nervous, but she tried her best to look up and smile. Her evident agitation forced him to put a constraint upon himself for her sake. ' Do you remember the heliotrope in the old garden in Northampton ? ' he asked tenderly. ' Are you still as fond of it as you used to be ? It is forbidden, I know, but there is such a wealth of it here,' and he gathered a piece and held it out to her. Twice Lilian held out her hand to take it, and twice she drew it back. ' Forgive me, but I cannot,' she said falteringly. Then, as he looked at her wondering, ' Are stolen apples not sweet 1 ' ' Not to me,' said she with a slight shudder. ' I could not take anything that was the least wrong from your hand.' ' Let us bury it, then ! ' said Claude Fortescue, trying to speak lightly, but with a sudden strange tightening at the heart. And he noticed a little sadly that she would not even touch it to bury it. ' Are you in everything so severe ? ' ' You see I was so lately a child,' pleaded Lilian. ' Please forgive me. But I could not have listened to you with that bit of heliotrope in my hand. And I could not have thrown 190 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA away what you had given me,' she added with a sudden smile. ' Could you not, Lilian ? ' in a softer voice. She looked up quickly, almost sternly as he thought, as he called her by her name. ' Have I lost all right to call you by your name ? I have always thought of you in that way. And surely I used to call you by it in the old days. Have you forgotten those old days at Northampton 1 ' ' I have forgotten nothing,' said she sadly. They had found a seat now fronting the river and the boats, and he motioned to her to sit down ; then, as the sea breeze came softly into their faces, looked with a little appre- hension to see if she were warmly enough dressed. ' Will you knot your little handkerchief round your throat once more 1 ' he asked in a strange tone. ' Remember, I do not give it, though. It is only lent.' ' What ! my little faded handkerchief ! ' exclaimed the girl, almost crying now. ' Oh ! it makes me think of Gardie so, and everything. But you have not carried it about with you all this time ? ' ' I have not always carried it in my pocket,' he replied evasively. ' But you did not know you would meet me here to-day 1 ' asked the girl eagerly. ' You did not put it there on purpose 1 ' ' No, indeed,' said he quickly. Then, in those tender tones of explanation no one else had ever heard from him — a man who had of old rather piqued himself upon owing no man an explanation of his conduct — ' I wanted to write to you. And I thought perhaps it might help me to know what to say.' She was looking out across the river now with a fixed, troubled expression. ' You must have wondered very often I did not ■write to you sooner,' he continued. ' When I first left England, it was because, as you said just now, I trembled on the brink of a decision.' She looked round at him quickly, and the expression of her eyes almost unnerved him, but he went on hurriedly : ' Not that I have ever doubted from the first moment I knew you, Lilian, that you were the only woman who could ever be my wife. But I doubted if I dared to ask you to be so,' An expression of great distress on Lilian's face, staring fixedly down the river. He reached out and took her hand in his, as if to comfort THE GARDENS BY THE RIVER 191 her. ' You have known, you must have known, Lilian, how much I loved you 1 ' This time he seemed to insist upon an answer, and she answered meekly, but very low, as if she had hardly strength to speak, ' Yes, I have known.' ' And now I think it would have been better to have made a mistake, if it were a mistake,' said he, smiling down on the little pale, anguished face, that seemed unable to look up or take courage. ' Somebody says it is when a man finds him- self unfit to guide his own bark through life, that he asks some one else to get into the same boat with him. And if having made a thorough mess of life is a qualification, I am certainly qualified.' ' You want some one else to steer you 1 ' asked Lilian doubtingly. ' Nay, rather I want the sense of responsibility of having some one else to care for.' ' Do you remember that girl dear Gardie used to see after ? ' asked Lilian, with a sudden smile, ' whose mother was a drunken woman, and in the workhouse ? And the girl used to save up all her money to take presents to her mother, and be so good and steady, all to be a credit to her. Then one day the mother died. And from that time the girl never had any money, and got into trouble in every way till Gardie did not know what to do for her. I remember you said then it was quite natural — she had no one to be responsible for.' ' Did 1 1 I ha^e forgotten,' said he, looking delightedly at the returning colour in her cheeks, as she leant back in her seat and spoke like herself, no longer in those unnaturally low, strained tones. ' It seems to me you are asking me to play the part of the drunken mother,' cried Lilian, and laughed. Then he laughed too, and the terrible state of tension between them was over for the moment. But the sun had set, and the evening breeze was blowing cooler now. ' I am afraid of your getting a chill,' said Claude Fortescue. ' Let us walk about a little. This climate is so treacherous. Have you been well in China ? You look so white.' ' I was always white,' said Lilian quietly. ' No, no ! You had a soft colour like peach blossom, or the inside of a shell, or the last ray of the sun on the curl of a wave. I miss the colour, as I miss the dear old flapping hat.' 192 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA He had often teased her about the flapping hat that used to hide so much of the face he loved to look upon, and he had quickly noticed that at each allusion to the past something of the barrier between them seemed to fall away and Lilian to grow nearer to him. But she still seemed somewhat unbend- ing and far away, though she smiled now as she replied, ' Flapping hats are all very well for the sun of England, but in China they are no use. Do you know I am very much afraid I am like my poor old flapping hat 1 ' ' How so ? Are you no use in China 1 ' ' None ! ' said Lilian very sadly. ' That is why I thought of studying medicine ; for I know nothing by which I can be useful out here. I have tried to see China through your eyes,' she added pleadingly, looking up at him for one short second, ' but it seems all too large.' ' You have tried to see it through my eyes ! ' he exclaimed, the sweetness of the words that had, as it were, escaped her almost intoxicating him for the moment. ' Then you do los'c me a little, Lilian 1 ' 'You know that I love you,' said she quite sedately. ' Are you not asking me to marry you — out of pity ? ' ' Out of pity ! ' The idea was so startling to Claude Fortescue he could not receive it at once. ' Out of pity, Lilian ! I to pity you ! ' ' I thought so,' said the girl, looking at him quite in her old childlike way now- — trusting, appealing. ' You waited till you heard I was going away — that I was going to be a medical missionary. You thought that dreadful — I knew you would. You were sorry for me then. You left that woman ' She paused, terrified by his expression. ' Mrs. Robinson — • they said you were always with her — that — that ' For the first time the girl flushed crimson, and was unable to finish her sentence. ' IMrs. Robinson ! ' was all Claude Fortescue said ; but the tone in which he said it at once blotted out all recollection of the dreadful things she had heard, that had transformed her during their last interview, and preyed upon her mind ever since. ' But it was only then you asked me to be — your " drunken mother," ' she said, half laughing, half ci-ying. ' Of course I know it is very good of you, and I am very grateful ' ' Lilian, do you know that I worship the very ground you tread oa, that you have never been out of my mind day nor THE GARDENS BY THE RIVER 193 night, that I have thought of you, and loved you, and longed for your dear presence ' He paused, shocked himself at the strength of his own language, which did not seem at all too strong for the facts of the case, but yet seemed so out of character for a man v/ho had striven to school himself in the teachings of the ideal Lao-tsze — knew by heart the maxims of Confucius, that master of propriety. The girl clasped her hands together nei vously. ' But you never said so, you never asked me, when I met you in the Niukan Gorge.' ' I was out of my mind, I believe ; but if I tell you the truth, it was with thinking of you — always of you,' he repeated drearily. ' And it was all I could do to prevent myself from taking you in my arms, and springing into the river with you, and so ending it all,' he added, and drew her nearer to him as he spoke. ' You do not want to spring into the river now 1 ' she asked, yet almost leant against him as she asked it, as if to say, ' If you do, then together ! ' ' I was almost out of my mind then, I tell you. I think now I had been almost out of my mind for a long while. I had thought of you so long and so often, my darling, my Lilian ! I was thinking of you then, when you appeared to me like a vision. And I took you for your ghost.' She laid her hand upon his arm, looking into his face with tenderly anxious eye. ' Do not think of that time. It is not good for you. I will never ask you again. It is enough for me that you say you love me.' Then in a lower voice, ' I know that if you had been out of your mind, really, you would try to convince me that you had not. So I am not frightened ; but you must never look like that again — never.' ' And you consent to become my wife ? ' he asked, taking both her hands in his, and looking down into her face. ' May God forgive me, Lilian, if I ever give you cause to repent this hour ! ' He spoke solemnly, looking up to heaven as he spoke. ' How should I ever repent it 1 ' said the girl, with pure, earnest eyes lifted to his. ' Can one ever repent where there has been no sin ? ' The suffering look came over his face that Dr. Donaldson had noticed, and Lilian, too, was struck by the likeness. Softly — very softly — she pressed his right hand between 194 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA both hers. ' Whatever troubles you, let me help you to beai" it. I do not ask to understand what it is. Perhaps I coulc'l not. But let me help you to bear what grieves you.' The garden was deserted now, darkness settling down over it, and in the shadow of the night he raised her hand to his lips. His heart was too full for words. But he dared not kiss her yet. To Lilian it would have seemed more natural if he had. She was so little more than a child even yet. How sympathetic the chrysanthemums looked now holdin;; up their heads so proudly — ' He has won her ! He has won her ! ' — all dressed out in crimson and gold, dusky red, and blushing pink, as if for a high festival, or, best of all, in bridal white, shining like silver under the electric lamps. The water plashed against the shore, and all nature seemed to rejoicj with them, and to be at peace. ! CHAPTER XXV DK. Donaldson's appeal For all so surely as in principio Mulier est hominis confusio. Madam, the sentence of this Latin is, ' Woman is mannes joy and mannes bliss.' Chaucee. ' Something ought to be done. Why not have a regiment or two up from Hong Kong ? ' ' But where would you send them ? No, I think the volunteers ' ' I take the view of that letter to the morning paper. We should occupy the forts at Woosing, and hold Shanghai in trust. But with such a minister ' ' Certainly ministers ought not to look on like croco- diles, with their hands in their breeches pockets, doing nothing.' ' Ha ! ha ! ha ! Ha ! ha ! ha ! ' They all laughed. The scene was that usual gathering place of Shanghai's commercial brain, the Club bar ; the hour twelve o'clock. ' Very good indeed, Cunningham ! ' said the broker we met of old. ' Since I am so much appreciated, I must own I am not DR. DONALDSON'S APPEAL 195 origmal,' said Mr. Cunningham, a slight, spare man with dark eyes, and an expression of great concentration. He was one of the largest tea-buyers, but did general business as Tell. ' I was quoting Lord Castlereagh somewhere near the beginning of this century. It seems our English representa- tive at Peking is not without a precedent.' 'But what I am saying is, tlie Ko Lao Hui, whether or no they are at the bottom of all these riots, are not a secret society properly so called ? ' another man was now heard assert- ing. ' My comprador tells me " nothing of the sort," and that Li Hung Chang himself is at the head of them.' ' Oh, Li ! You might as well say the Empress whilst you are about it.' 'I don't suppose the rules of the society admit women, but ' 'What I say is,' said the broker, 'something should be done.' He was standing in his favourite attitude, one hand supporting his very short coat-tails, the other lifting a glass to his lips, his hat well on one side. They all wore their hats cocked just then, for though there were riots Shanghai was looking forward just then to making its fortune by the Sheridan Mine. It was in Colorado, some way off, it is true ; but Shanghai had put all its spare cash into it, for it knew the difficulty about making money in China, it did not know what ditficulties might yet arise in Colorado, and it was hopeful. ' Why, here is one of those merry -andrews come back again,' as a familiar grey pongee suit, grey hat with gauze puggaree, and this time a white rosebud in its button- hole, appeared in the Club precincts. ' Worn that coat ever since we last saw you, my boy 1 By the way, does anyone know who is being married at the Cathedral this morning 1 Seemed to be something on as I passed by.' 'There is indeed,' said the last comer. 'And it is the oddest story. You know Clarke 1 ' ' What Clarke ? ' ' Not Clarke ! ' ' Never Clarke ! ' arose in chorus all round. For everyone knew Clarke, of the other pongee suit. ' Well, we were travelling home together all right, when in the sleeping cars one morning there was a widow, or rather a brace of widows. One was enumerating all her admirers to the other. You know the clear down-East tones ? They penetrate ! Well, just as she had arrived at Fat Tom of o2 196 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA Tacoma, the coloured man wanted to take the beds to pieces. The ladies got up in a great hurry, and the story was inter- rupted. But as luck would have it, Clarke and I found our- selves at the same table just opposite, so I couldn't help it, I said : "We were so sorry you were interrupted just now, my friend and I. We are longing to hear more of Fat Tom of Tacoma." ' ' You didn't ! ' ' No, did you really, though 1 ' ' Oh, law ! ' They were all fit to split their sides with laughing, and several men were holding themselves together, for, as Mrs. Poyser says, it is a small joke sets men laughing, when they sit staring at one another, each a pipe in his mouth. And it is a smaller when they stand round a club bar.' 'Well, that led to an acquaintance. She was the most appalling woman, I thought. But Clarke talked away to her. And I made up to the other — a very nice sort for a widow. When we got to Port Arthur it is true Clarke gave me the slip. He went down the lakes by steamer with the ladies. I was surprised, for we had been sharing a compartment in the sleeping car. But he turned up all right in Montreal, expressed himself just as I did about the widow, sure her black hair was a wig she took for travelling, and laughed over " Fat Tom of Tacoma " and all. But from that day he began to get telegrams about green tea. He always said it was green tea, and the season promised to be such a peculiar one — fact is, we thought we'd better both come out. You see for the iirst time in our lives we took diametrically different views — on the strength of Clarke's telegrams, let me tell you. We agreed to dissolve partneiship, and that was pretty well the only matter we did agree about by the time we got back to Japan. Well, the long and the short of it is, Clarke's going into another partnership. His green tea telegrams were all gammon. The widow turned up tlie day after we arrived. And, to let the cat out of the bag, I've just been best man, though I don't .suppose I look much like it. I'd have dressed differently if I'd known. As it was, only time to button-hole a white rose.' But none could listen any longer to his lamentations over his inal-a-projws toilette. They laughed till the tears ran down their cheeks, whilst the tea men pleaded piteously to be told what was supposed to have been in those green tea tele- grams. It was the merriest club gathering there had been DR. DONALDSON'S APPEAL 197 for a long while, and only began to break up as the married men felt an urgent necessity to hurry home with this tit-bit of gossip to their wives. ' What's this about Kiukiang 1 ' asked a late-comer, hurrying in excitedly. ' Oh, some trouble there, I suppose. They've got a French man-of-war, though. They are all right. Trust the Chinese for not doing anything when there's a man-of-war in port. It must have been a scene though, getting all the cliildren out of the orphanage into the concession, with the Sisters of St. Vincent refusing to budge an inch till every child was safe, and the Commissioner and the captain of the man-of-war both imploring them to save themselves, and then having to bundle them into chairs at last v/ith all the curtains drawn, and see them safe through the rioters.' ' What did the Commissioner interfere for 1 ' ' Oh, he is French, and a Catholic, I suppose, energetic fellow too.' 'By the way, the Consul is ill, and if he has to come down, Fortescue is to go up,' said a young man from the Consulate. ' Fortescue ! Hem ! Ha ! I wonder how he'd come out in a riot.' ' Why, he is one of our best men — a splendid fellow.' ' Too much Chinese tomfoolery.' ' I think that falls away under the pressure of any great excitement,' said Mr. Cunningham. ' It is only the icing on the plum-cake, and then the natural man comes out. By the way, what a wonderfully plucky thing it was of that Amei'ican missionary defending the Nankin Hospital single- handed. I met him yesterday, and he seems all to pieces with the strain now. But he kept the mob at bay for two whole hours before any assistance came, just pointing a revolver and threatening to shoot the first man who came on. He told me a man had fallen across him, and made a natural barricade, otherwise he could not have done it. I must say the Americans have come out well in these riots ; they seem to take naturally to defending themselves.' ' More used to carrying revolvers than we are, I fancy.' ' But what made him defend the hospital ? Awfully stupid thing to do, I think. If the Chinese burnt it they'd be sure to pay more than it cost. I must say for them they pay up handsomely.' 198 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA 'Yes, and a great pity it is, I think, the European Governments ever condescended to take money compensation. I heard that fool Jones arguing the other day there ought to be fixed prices agreed upon for everything beforehand apropos of those two poor fellows killed at Wusiieh, so much per head for the life of a British subject. The Chief Justice shut him up splendidly. "Well, and how much will you consider satisfactory compensation for the murder of Mrs. Jones ? " he asked, coming down upon him like a sledge hammer. I never saw a fellow look so flat.' ' There was only too good reason for defending the hospital at Nankin,' here interposed Mr. Cunningham. ' They had been imprudent enough to get up a skeleton for the purpose of teaching the students anatomy. And should the infuriated mob once have seen that it would have given such an impetus to the stories about taking out children's eyes and cutting up dead bodies as we'd none of us live to see the end of. This fellow saw his wife off safe to join the other ladies, and then he thought of the skeleton, and just ran round to the hospital as hard as he could split. But he had to stand there on guard two mortal hours before the mandarin sent any Chinese soldiers. And defending the place all alone for that length of time I call magnificent. He ought to have a testimonial or a medal.' ' So he ought.' They all said so at the time ; but events hurry one on the top of the other so rapidly in China, or else it is they are so unforeseen and consequently startling, that whatever happens seems to blot out the memory of all that has gone before. Even the Sisters of St. "Vincent at the hospital were all reading the papers now for the first time since they had joined the Order. Things had come to such a pass that even their rule was relaxed. ' It is about ourselves now,' they said, and read the papers straight through from beginning to end. If newspapers had many such readers it would be worth while being a writer. Everyone who could was leaving the one large hotel in the French concession, it being generally understood that the anger of whoever was getting up these riots — who that was is so far still a mystery — was specially directed against the French more than any other nationality. A lady who arrived at Shanghai just then could get no coolie on the Bund to lay a hand on her boxes because it was believed she was French. And more than once a day was publicly DR. DONALDSON'S APPEAL 199 announced for an attack upon the French concession. All the other riots had been formally announced beforehand, only people had not believed in the announcements. But now among the numbers in Shanghai there were many who thought they would be beforehand, and to everyone it seemed well to take some precautions. Men who had lived happy for years in the protection of rifle or revolver suddenly discovered now that all those years they had never had a cartridge to fit them, and several of those who had houses at some distance in the country moved into the settlement. Dr. Donaldson was hurrying along in a jinricksha to remonstrate with the American ladies attached to the women's hospital, who in spite of their outlying and exposed situation — even beyond the French concession — refused to come in like other people, when on his way he caught sight of Claude Fortescue. He stopped his jinricksha. ' I am very glad to have this opportunity of speaking to you,' said Mr. Fortescue, broaching the subject at once with that determination that was new to him. 'You must be thinking I did not tell you the truth the other day. 'No, I understand — I understand,' said the impetuous Doctor, brushing that part of the subject away with a wave of his hand. 'You thought that Miss Grey had left China. But what is of more consequence — what I stopped you to ask — is, have you told her the truth ? And the Doctor looked at him. Claude Fortescue's face grew hard under that glance ' What truth ? ' he asked. ' Why, that besides a possible income of so much — a salary of so much — no fixed home — the possibility of being ordered anywhere in China any day, you have also two children. It is facts like these a woman ' ' I think it quite unnecessary to mention anything of all this to Miss Grey,' said Mr. Fortescue stiffly. ' TeU her now,' continued the Doctor, with uplifted fore- finger, ' and it may sadden her, make her think of you rather differently. But she would accept your judgment with un- wavering confidence, feel sure that the course of action you proposed must be the right course. She is a good girl — a truly good girl — but it would never lead her to break off her engagement to you, as an elder woman might — at least I think not,' said the old man, suddenly qualifying his authorita- tive utterance, 'She is barely more than a child yet after 200 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA all, and the idea that she herself should form an independent judgment upon matters till now undreamt of would not enter her head, I fancy, any more than that anyone should ever intend any line of conduct but the highest. To think other- wise would be outside the plane of her ideas, as I think.' 'Another man might tell the girl he wished to marry ' said Claude Fortescue, then broke ofF. To him the idea was utterly abhorrent, and he had only forced himself to listen by an effort. Because he had degraded himself, was he to sully her pure soul 1 Nay ! that sorrow he must for ever bear by himself unaided. ' Think ! Your happiness would be safe then,' pleaded the aged minister. ' Consider how many people know your secret. Does your wife deserve that she should be left in a position so precarious, liable at any moment to hear that about you that must so deeply affect her — must, if kept back from her tiU after marriage, for ever alter the whole tenour of her thoughts about you ? ' He added this last as he saw he had not yet carried conviction into his hearer's soul. Claude Fortescue raised his head. ' Lilian trusts me,' he said. ' The more reason not to abuse her confidence. It is not fair by her, I tell you. You are attempting to marry her under a deception. Come — shall I tell her 1 ' 'No, I forbid you. What I told you in confidence ! ' Claude Fortescue looked beside himself, defying the whole world. Dr. Donaldson laid his hand upon his shoulder. ' And, therefore, without your permission, will never be divulged. You can at least rest assured of that — as far as I am con- cerned. But think how many people must know — ship captains probably, the greatest gossips in China — people who will in all probability be in daily intercourse with your wife, your boy, your cook, your ' ' They would never tell her.' ' They may not tell her, perhaps. But do you allow nothing for a woman's instinct 1 ' asked the old man with a wisdom begotten of his years, such as a man only attains to who has had daughters and been loved by them. ' May she not guess ? ' ' I must risk it,' said Claude Fortescue, and drew a deep breath, like a man recovering from a heavy blow. He looked quite resolute, however. Never for a second had a sign of faltering passed over his face. And the old Doctor saw the DR. DONALDSON'S APPEAL 201 case was hopeless. He had but discharged his own soul, it had been all in vain, and even then he could not help envying the man's absolute confidence in the girl's trust in him. He knew Lilian, and he could understand it. And he remem- bered his own youth of long ago, and sighed to think the past was past for him. For them it was all future yet. ' You are going to Kiukiang, I hear. ■ Yes, if ' 'Ah, yes, if ' The Doctor nodded, got into his jinricksha again, and went his way. But the American lady missionaries would not move. They were not afraid, they said. It would be time enough to move when the Ko Lao Hui came, if there were any Ko Lao Hui. At all events, they said, they knew where the patients in their hospital were. They did not know where the Ko Lao Hui were, and they would at least remain where they were till they did. 'It seems no use advising people,' said the Doctor, 'but I have done my duty,' and diverged on the way back to return to his old favourite occupation, that of a colporteur. Standing at the corner of a crowded Chinese street offering books for sale, the venerable Doctor presented indeed a remarkable appearance, with his, amongst Chinese, gigantic stature, strongly marked Scotch features, and abundant flowing locks of iron-grey. Many a Chinese shopkeeper of satin gown and handsomely rounded paunch, as they esteem it, paused on his way to hold converse with the foreign ascetic, as he deemed him, who was so far better read in Confucian lore than himself, and yet for ever ready to confute Confucius out of what he called the Booh. The Doctor's tracts were all soon sold, and the worthy Scotchman, whose length of limb and breadth of shoulder had been porridge-fed in Aberdeen, and who for stature and muscle and general Scotchiness of feature needed not to fear comparison with any of his old associates beneath the crown of King's College, sat himself down sideways on a wheelbarrow, and let himself be comfortably trundled away from the Chinese city. But he hailed a jinricksha again as soon as he arrived where jinrickshas were possible ; for a wheelbarrow, tjiough too great a luxury for many of the roadless districts of China, looks somewhat primitive and grotesque in the Europeanised foreign settlement of Shanghai, with its foot- pavements, and electric lights, and carriages running swiftly and noiselessly upon light bicycle wheels, last touch of Chinese luxury. 202 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA CHAPTER XXVI MRS. riTZHUGH UNDER SAIL Tet wedlock's a very awful thing 1 'Tis something lilce that feat in the ring Which requires good nerve to do it — When one of a ' Grand Equestrian Troop ' Makes a jump at a gilded hoop, Not certain at all Of what may befall After his getting through it ! Tom Hood. When a man takes a great resolution, it seems to him as if there ought to come a lull even in the world's revolutions. He ought not, he thinks, at least for a time, to be buffeted by the winds and waves of life, for has he not formed a great resolu- tion ? People ought to realise the solemn finality of an engage- ment to marry as they do of marriage itself. But, alas ! they do not. They never will, but rather, indeed, seem to think it an occasion for all coming forward at once like a swarm of gnats on a summer evening, and buzzing round remorselessly. There had been Dr. Donaldson already, and before Claude Fortescue had quite rallied from that, and got back into the she-is-everything-and-what-were-anything-without-her mood befitting a lover, in came Mrs. FitzHugh. Mrs. FitzHugh was becoming a great person now. She had been steadily working with that one object in view, and when people steadily work at anything without a side glance at anything else it is astonishing what progress they make. Mrs. FitzHugh was getting on in society. She was the wife of a captain now. Captain FitzHugh got his promotion very shortly after his marriage ; whether, as people said, because even his Chinese employers were impressed by that, thinking that he must have great influence among the English to have such a wedding and get such grand presents, ^r whether because the merits, that through long years of patient toil had never been rewarded, were at last recognised ; anyhow, from a first officer upon the river he was suddenly promoted to be captain of one of the boats that run between Shanghai and Tientsin, calling at Chefoo en route. Chefoo is China's one sea bath, and till quite of late, since Japan has been opened out, the fashionable resort for Shanghai ladies and children. This MRS. FITZHUGH UNDER SAIL 203 route therefore offered great possibilities. A good many ladies, who did not care for much travelling or who thought that Japan did not suit them, still continued to resort there. And it was by his wife's advice, and considerably owing to her help, that Captain FitzHugh's boat was already known as the one that kept the best table, and was consequently the favourite. Mrs. FitzHugh had also made two trips to Chefoo herself, at the right moment too, and Captain FitzHugh at his wife's instiga- tion — he was in himself simply one of the most good-natured of men — had been always ready to give up his cabin to a leader of fashion either from Shanghai or the outports. Mrs. FitzHugh occupied a house now on the Bubbling Well Road, running due west of Shanghai, for everywhere, even in the farthest East, fashion moves westward ; she rarely now visited Honghew, the quarter where merchant captains' wives are supposed generally to reside, and to which merchant steamers whistle as they go in and out of port. She spoke with horror of the Broadway, barely acknowledging to knowing even the Japanese shops there, to which everyone was obliged to resort about Christmas time. But she had not yet become a member of the County Club. She was watching her opportunity, and this seemed now to have come to her when she saw Lilian Grey's name in the paper as having come down river. She called her ' that dear Lilian,' talked of how they had all come out from England together, of Miss Gardiner, who was aunt to Mr. Fortescue in the consular service, and in one way or another led people to suppose that they had all lived together at Northampton like one happy family, with herself, Mrs. FitzHugh, dropping in upon them from time to time like a good fairy, as she was dropping in upon them now to offer to be her chaperon, put her house at their disposition, or make herself otherwise useful, having just heard a vague rumour of the engagement. The quiet missionary couple, with whom Lilian had gone to stay in accordance with Mrs. Betterton's instructions, were quite extinguished by Mrs. FitzHugh when she sailed in upon them — not quite like a full-rigged ship under top-gallant sails, that was to come afterwards, but — ■ with a generally all-embracing smile, and every possible elegant adjunct to a lady's toilette, a fan, a card case, a lace handkerchief, and a parasol. The card case was of Canton ivory, the fan was of sandalwood and scented all the house as she entered. But the handkerchief and parasol, though equally presents, did not date from the wedding festivities, and came 204 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA from London by way of Hall & Holtz's, that great Shanghai emporium, that rather recalls the Hudson Bay stores in Winnipeg and other cities out West, seeming equally too big for its surroundings. Mrs. FitzHugh gave a comprehensive glance all round, she smiled a specially all-embracing smile, then kissed Lilian eflfusively — ' You dear, dear Lilian ! '— murmuring between soft, warm kisses, ' So glad ! so glad ! ' then turned, ' And my dear Mr. Fortescue, too ! So it has all come right at last ! I thought it would.' ' It ! ' and ' She had thought it would.' The woman was in- sufferable. But though Lilian saw at once he found her so, no one was less calculated to convey this to Mrs. FitzHugh than Claude Fortescue with his punctilious, old-school courtesy when not demoralised by Mrs. Robinson. ' And now you must let me arrange about the wedding for you and everything. You want to be relieved of all trouble ! Of course you do ! Let me give the breakfast and invite the guests.' 'But what guests? I know no one here,' said Lilian astonished. 'No, but Mr. Fortescue does. Everyone here knows Mr. Fortescue.' ' Do you want anyone asked — to anything ? ' asked Lilian, appealingly, of Claude Fortescue. No ! Mr. Fortescue decidedly did not. The idea of inviting anyone — to anything — had not occurred to him. ' But Shanghai loves a gay wedding,' pleaded Mrs. Fitz- Hugh. ' I assure you it will be appreciated.' ' But why should we seek to please Shanghai just now ? ' asked Lilian, looking more and more indefinite and unap- proachable. Even Mrs. FitzHugh could hardly have ventured to kiss her now. ' Are you not going to live here 1 ' 'Am 1 1 ' asked Lilian, with just the faintest turn of an eyelid in Claude Fortescue's direction, yet hardly as inquiring of him. He, however, hastened to explain, as if he were saying a lesson by rote, how he did not know where they might have to live, they could have no home, might be subject at any moment to orders to go anywhere in China, as now, for instance, possibly to Kiukiang. He said, ' We,' not ' I,' like Lilian ; but he did it by way of self-assertion, all the time filled in his heart with a horrible dread lest he should have MRS. FITZHUGH UNDER SAIL 205 to go on, and tell lier about bis salary, his income, all the rest that Dr. Donaldson said he ought to tell her in order to place her in a position to know what she was doing. He had said it was unnecessary to tell her anything of all this ; and now here he was beginning already ! ' But if not here, you will at least live among the people who make up the society of this place. And I think it is always of such importance to make a favourable first impres- sion upon the society you have to live amongst. It is not as if you were known,' continued Mrs. FitzHugh to Lilian. ' If you had lived here you would, of course, be the darling of the place, to whom everything would be pardoned.' This with a side glance at Mr. Fortescue. 'But now you have to make your way. No one here knows anything about you.' Then, like Mrs. FitzHugh before him, Mr. Fortescue pleaded that, as he could but be married once, he should like to have his wedding to his own taste. ' By the way, Mortimer is here, Lilian,' he said. ' I should like Mortimer to be my best man, and further than that I do not want anyone.' ' We have not settled yet when — when — it is to be, or where, or anything,' said Lilian, half indignantly, to Mrs. FitzHugh. Then Mrs. FitzHugh rose to take her leave, with a sort of maternal smile, as if ' There, settle it between you, my children ! ' ' You may count upon me,' was what she said, however ; and the tone in which she said it made them both feel obliged to thank her, though they did not know for what. However they really were very much obliged to her for going away. That made their thanks more profuse. She met the Consul-General as she went down the street, and she at once stopped her carriage, and asked if he had yet made the acquaintance of the charming girl Mr. Fortescue was going to marry. 'No — no, I have not.' ' Such a sweet girl — dear Lilian ! We all came out from England together. Her guardian, Mr. Fortescue's aunt, such a dear old lady, lived in the most delightful old house at Northampton. I have just been to help about the arrangements for the wedding. They want it quite private. I believe there will be no one at it but myself. Old friends, you know ! ' 206 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA 'Yes— yes, of course. Well, I suppose I shall have to officiate,' said the Consul good-humouredly. ' Such a lovely girl — a great heiress, too — the father a most distinguished man in the Diplomatic Service ! ' It was a wonder her lips did not get stiff with uttering the same words. She went round all Shanghai repeating them. Somehow they gave the impression that Mrs. FitzHugh herself had mixed in very good society whilst she had been in England. She often said that she had married Captain FitzHugh in spite of his position because of his sterling merits. They had long believed in his sterling merits ; they were beginning now to believe that perhaps she had had something to overlook in the matter of his position. When she left the room Lilian looked at Claude Fortescue ; and he threw himself into an armchair, and leaning back in it, covered his face with his hands. Lilian laughed. He would have remained with his face covered for ever to hear her. It seemed as if she were a chUd once more. But as a practical way of recovering him, she said, ' But if you are going to Kiukiang, ought not you to be making a list of stores ? Kiukiang is something like Chungking, I sup- pose, and you must take everything.' ' I don't want any stores,' groaned Claude Fortescue, still pretending to be crushed for the pleasure of being cheered. ' Oh, yes, you do. You must.' ' If I do I can go to Mackenzie's, and say, Send me stores for six months, not any soups, nor sardines, nor herrings, nor preserved meats, but the other things.' ' I don't like tinned soups, or sardines, or herrings,' cried Lilian, delighted at this similarity of taste. ' But it is really lazy to make them make out your list for you. Now let me see — you must want sugar.' ' There's Chinese sugar.' ' It is not sweet. Mrs. Betterton says it is the dearest in the end, it is so full of dirt. I should like to find a religion that would prevent people from putting sand in their sugar,' sighed Lilian. 'But I suppose that is only in an ideal world.' ' Poor child ! Is that your ideal — a heaven of real sugar plums ? But surely you have heard of the philanthropic grocer, how he got up in the night and threw aU his sanded sugar over MRS. FITZHUGH UNDER SAIL 207 into the Avon, that he might be forced to declare before all his apprentices next morning why he had done it, and thence- forth be for ever bound to live up to his standard — sugar that was really sugar ! ' ' No, I never heard of him ; but I suppose he died.' ' He is dead now ; but, as the story goes, he lived long and happily, and left a numerous progeny behind him. Let us hope that they, too, were men without sand, men about whom there is no deception.' ' Yes, like you ! ' cried Lilian, looking up at him with her childlilie, trustful eyes, a slight blush upon her cheek at these her first words of praise. ' Now write,' and taking hold of his hand, tried to place the pen in it. ' Oh, I am so sorry ! How could I be so awkward 1 ' as the pen fell to the ground. ' It was not your fault,' said Claude Fortescue quickly. His pale face troubled her ; he seemed strangely discomposed by such a trifling accident, for there was no ink-stain on the carpet, as she hastened to point out to him. 'Lilian,' said he with sudden determination, • we have not yet settled when we are to be married, nor where, as you said just now. I cannot rest till you are my wife.' ' But you may have to go to Kiukiang 1 ' ' Yes ; that is a reason for hurrying. We must be married first.' Then, as he saw her growing pale, ' Believe me, my darling, there is not the slightest danger. I know what these Chinese riots are, or I should not dream of taking you there.' ' I was not thinking of any danger,' said the girl proudly, looking straight in front of her, her hands lightly clasped in her lap. ' What were you thinking of, then 1 ' he asked fondly, caressing her as he spoke. She hesitated. Then at last she murmured, ' I was thinking only of you.' ' Of me ! ' ' But, Claude,' she pleaded, ' I cannot be married without consulting anyone, can I ? ' ' Why not, dearest 1 Whom do you want to consult ? Am I not enough "i ' ' Yes, yes,' said the girl fondly, yet still evidently ponder- ing over the question. ' I suppose you are enough. For me certainly you are enough. And Gardie is dead — dear, dear Gardie.' ' Yes, dear Aunt Claudia ! She would have been so glad, 208 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA Lilian. I almost think she knows — all about it,' he was going to add. Then the ' all ' stuck in his throat somewhat. ' I think I ought to let Cousin Mary know first,' said the girl gravely. He noticed even then with a thrill that she did not propose consulting her, but still the idea alarmed him. ' Oh, Mrs. Betterton ! Why, how can you ? She is — two months away,' he said almost bitterly. 'We must be married at once.' ' Must we ? ' said Lilian, looking frightened but unresisting. ' Then had I better telegraph 1 ' ' That can do no good,' said Mr. Fortescue, almost roughly. ' But do you think it is right 1 ' asked the girl, looking up at him as if rather to read the answer in his face than hear his words. ' What right, my own sweet one ? ' ' Why, that we should be married in this way so quickly, without any thinking it over beforehand as it were. I had fancied that before a grave step like that people should pause and consider it in all its bearings — how it affects them and everyone else. People do not marry for themselves alone, do they 1 And it is irrevocable.' ' Yes, thank God — thank God it is a step once taken there is no retracing. That makes marriage like death, so restful,' said he with something of that strange expression in his eyes that had frightened her in the garden by the river. 'But of what else have I thought for years, ever since I knew you, sweetest? I have paused too long already, considered too much.' He was walking about the room now, straightening here a photo- graph, taking up there a book in a way very characteristic of him. ' It must be as you wish, of course,' said Lilian quickly. ' I know you love me, and I love you. But,' looking up plead- ingly once again, ' marriage seems to me for other people, a step taken before the world, and a solemn thing. I feel a little afraid, Claude,' and her voice trembled as she turned away. ' I will take care of you, my dearest one. And if that is not enough, you know you can still count upon Mrs. Fitz- Hugh.' Then she laughed, as he knew she would. And it was a delight to him to see that her colour was coming back, and how each time she laughed now her laugh had a fresher, mer- rier sound. He trusted she was a child yet at heart, for it MRS. FITZHUGH UNDER SAIL 209 was a child he had first fallen in love with. He had always supposed that she must one day grow into a woman, but he hoped that had not quite come about yet. During that anguished meeting at Wuhu he had been seized by a horrible dread that his Lilian had been changed by some enchantment into a young lady of fashion. That he had hoped she might always have escaped. It was a development of the genus woman in which he saw no utility and a most doubtful elegance. But that had all passed away. She was his Lilian once more, the Lilian he had always loved, straightforward, trustful, and unsophisticated for all her little high-bred air, as well as her travelling about the world. Only one thing he did not allow for — she had learnt to keep her thoughts to herself. It did not follow she was not thinljiing because there was no further spoken hesitation. CHAPTER XXVII THE EIFT ^yITIIIN THE LUTE I know not of a keener smart Can come to finer souls than his Who hears men praise him, mind or heart, For something higher than he is. Who fain would say, ' Behold me, friends, That which I am, not what you deem. But dares not, lest discovery foul Not his name only ' Lewis Mor.sis. There had come one little appealing note from Lilian : ' Mrs. FitzHugh says I must have a new dress, and it can't be made in the time. Does it really matter what I am married in 1 ' And Claude Fortescue had written back : ' It doesn't matter in the least. But if you have some little frock I knew you in at Northampton, wear that on our wedding-day, nevermind how old it is. Yours, as I have always been, Claude Fortescue. P.S. And if the dear old frocks are all stored up "the other side of the moon," wear what you like best, and rest assured I shall like that best too. After all, we are not marrying Mrs. FitzHugh.' So Lilian wore the little old green and white cotton dress 210 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA ■we saw her in first, and the big flapping hat which had been proved, as Mrs. Betterton had told her it would be, so useless in China, but which unbelieving Lilian had at the last moment flattened into one of her boxes on first coming out, and now produced in triumph. Mrs. FitzHugh had had the satisfaction of getting it straightened for her, and retrimmed with three white ostrich feathers, which made it appear rather imposing and unlike itself. But Lilian looked such a child in her little pale green and white frock peeping from under her hat with eager childish excitement to see if he recognised it, that Claude Fortescue's conscience smote him, and for the first time he wished he had sent a telegram to the old lawyer, her guardian, at Northampton, at least if to no one else. She certainly did look too much of a child to take such a grave step unadvised. But it was the last she would have to take, he hoped ; hence- forth he would be always by her side. No one had made any difficulties, neither the clergyman nor the Consul. The girl was under age, of course, but they all understood that she was Mrs. 'FitzH.ngh's protigee, Mrs. Betterton's niece sent down by her from Chungking for the express purpose of marrying Mr. Fortescue, the late Chungking Consul, a man known at least by repute to everyone in China, and of course an excellent marriage for the girl, who to them all was merely a missionary's niece. ' You're dispensing with settlements,' the Consul-General had said casually. ' Insured your life ? ' ' I am going to do so,' said Claude Fortescue, ' and to make a will.' ' Ah, well, you know all that is necessary. And I don't suppose settlements are of much consequence, are they 1 ' said the Consul-General, who had had some experience of penniless girls coming out to China whose passages had to be paid for them, but none of heiresses. ' Not since the last Act, I suppose 1 A woman's property remains her own after marriage as before, as I understand,' said Claude Fortescue. Still he felt a little like a thief, think- ing of LiUan's money, all the details about the investment of which he had heard so often from Miss Gardiner and the old gentleman at Northampton. He almost wished that she had had none. As to the aged missionary on whose arm Lilian came up the aisle, he considered himself simply as an ornamental adjunct, and his presence purely perfunctory and to oblige THE RIFT WITHIN THE LUTE 211 Mrs. Betterton. He certainly had understood from the latter that the young lady was going to study medicine in Shanghai, and then she herself had said she was leaving for England at once, and now it seemed that she was marrying Consul Fortescue. He did not rightly understand about it all, but even had he opposed the marriage his opinion would have carried but little weight with Lilian. On the first evening of her stay in his house he had obser^•ed her looking at the three pictures of different ladies that adorned one waU of his drawmg-room. ' That,' the reverend gentleman had said, with the elaborate courtesy peculiar to him, ' that is the portrait of my first wife. That is the portrait of my second wife. And this, as you see, is the portrait of my present living consort.' The girl had shuddered, and sought comfort in the company of Dr. Donaldson, who still mourned his first and only wife after forty years of separation. As it was, how- ever, Mrs. FitzHugh was evidently an intimate friend of both parties, as also of Mrs. Betterton, the young lady's aunt. Not a doubt but that the marriage had already received Mrs. Betterton's approval ever crossed the minds of the worthy couple. It was over — both ceremonies ! No 'just cause,' no impediment could now be brought forward to separate them. Claude and Lilian were Mr. and Mrs. Fortescue now, man and wife, whom ' it should never be lawful to put asunder.' Claude Fortescue's feverish agitation had died away into an almost overstrained solicitude for the girl who had trusted all to him ; and the little party, who had been together to the church, were sitting at luncheon in the comfortable missionary household, with its little decorations in the form of Christmas cards framed and silken wall-pockets that never pocketed anything, h£(,ving to the last resisted all Mrs. FitzHugh's friendly pressure to have a wedding breakfast in her house, when a telegram was brought in. ' Ah, well, I suppose we must start for Kiukiang,' said Mr. Fortescue, and, looking tenderly at his young bride, put it into her hands, that she might read their fate for herself. ' No ! no ! it is for me,' cried Lilian triumphantly. ' It must be from Mrs. Betterton. I telegraphed to her.' ' You did ! ' cried her husband. He had made sure that she would not know how to set about sending a telegram to Chungking, since he had, as it must seem to her, forgotten to undertake it for her. Now, as in her wedding excitement p2 212 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA her hand a little trembled in undoing the envelope, he almost snatched it from her, and read it himself before giving it back to her. 'You have my prayers,' he said then, almost mechanically. ' Not good wishes, not congratulations, only prayers,' said Mrs. FitzHugh. ' It sounds a little cold, but our dear Mrs. Betterton always was a trifle peculiar.' ' It is what I asked for. I telegraphed " Pray for me " ' Lihan began explaining, tlaen broke off with a tone of agony. ' Dearest, what is it ? ' Mr. Fortescue was leaning back in his chair, his hand pressed to his heart, his face deathly white. ' Some wine perhaps ? Brandy ! ' suggested Mrs. Fitz- Hugh ; and Mr. Fortescue had to drink the brandy and water she prepared for him before he at all recovered colour, or seemed himself again. Their missionary hosts, who were as ardent teetotallers as any Mussulman, had been full of innocent delight in preparing a wedding breakfast about which there was to be nothing alcoholic, and Claude and Lilian had given a ready acquiescence in anticipation. It was a disappointment now that after all the breakfast was not teetotal, but in life so few things turn out quite as they are intended. Only it did seem strangely for- tunate that Mrs. FitzHugh should have a flask of brandy in her carriage at the door, and not an arrangement that, but for this sudden call for it, her hosts could at all approve. But as it turned out that they had not a drop of wine or brandy in the house, and as in a case of sudden illness they conceded it might be the best remedy, they had not a word to say. Only for years afterwards the old missionary's present living consort kept an eye upon Mrs. FitzHugh as a woman who might any day develop a turn for secret drinking. But Mrs. FitzHugh was rather a lady with an eye beforehand for any practical difliculties that might arise. She emphatically had not I'esprit de I'escalier. Such persons are often more valuable in their generation than great geniuses. She never could have made a good missionary, any more than if she had been a soldier she would ever have volunteered to go upon a forlorn hope. Hers was emphatically the temperament to think that He who fights and runs away May live to fight another day — neither a hero's nor a martyr's temperament, but a very useful THE RIFT WITHIN THE LUTE 213 character in every-day life, when mixed with a great dose of kindness and an unfailing fund of good-humour. Lilian asked no further question, and only a very close observer could have detected that her eyes followed her husband's every movement, for she seemed to show less anxiety about him than anyone. How much he must have suffered some time or other, she was thinking, that even Mrs. Betterton's very name cost him such agony ! But she had observed that being questioned brought back that expression she had seen once in the gorges, and wished never to see again. She meant to share his griefs, but she was already resolved never to add to his sufferings by asking him about them. She made up her mind now that she must wait her opportunity, and learn from some doctor what his former illness had been, and whether it had any connection with this last attack of pain. But there and then at their wedding breakfast she resolved she must never say anything about it to him. It was a sad resolve for so young a wife to make. It was she now who made light of her husband's indisposition, and passed it off, for she felt at once he did not want it commented upon. Then, as it seemed they were not to be summoned to Eaukiang, at least for that day, they adjourned to Mrs. FitzHugh's villa. And that good lady's heart was at last made happy, for she could say for ever after, ' Mr. and Mrs. Fortescue spent their honeymoon in my house,' or ' When the Fortescues were honeymooning in my little cottage.' Indeed, of the wedding party Mrs. FitzHugh was the only one who looked the least like it, dressed all in heliotrope with fresh white tulle bonnet-strings tied somewhat loosely under her chin in a bow of those magnificent proportions that all Mrs. FitzHugh's adjuncts always tended to assume. Lilian's feathers were, however, a great consolation to her, for she herself had bought those feathers, and superintended the curling of them. And now she had a delightful further responsibility weighing upon her, for had she not under- taken to see that her own tailor progressed with and did his duty by those various new garments that Lilian had at last consented to order of him under Mrs. FitzHugh's very severe compulsion 1 After this, any persons who doubted that she and Lilian Grey had been bosom friends in England, had better keep those doubts to themselves. Mrs. FitzHugh could give proofs to the contrary. ' Sit here, dearest, by the open window,' said Lilian softly. 2U A MARRIAGE IN CHINA ' I am not ill, my darling. I am perfectly well.' ' Yes, I know. I know. But then I can sit at your feet, and feel the cool air on the back of my neck, as I love to do, and — look up at you.' Only she did not. ' Oh, if you like such a lowly position ' ' I want to go through all life at your feet — to learn of you.' Something, she knew not what, had occurred to un- hinge him, to make it necessary for her to come forward more than she would otherwise have done, to protect him. So she abased herself now, that she might raise him again in his own eyes. There was a book of Dr. Donaldson's on the table, and after they had sat together for awhile hand clasped in hand in too close union for any words, Lilian took up this book and asked him about it. He had not read it, but he spoke some- what warmly, admiringly of the writer. ' He is a friend of yours ! ' cried Lilian joyously. ' So many people speak as if they could not be friends with mis- sionaries. That is so beautiful, that in that as in every- thing else you have so much higher thoughts than other people.' If there is one thing more painful than another to a high- minded man, it is to have merit attributed to him when he knows he deserves no praise. But Claude Fortescue accepted her tribute without a word of deprecation. Only there was something of the old look of suffering on his face as he said, ' Whatever we may any of us say of missionaries and mission work as it is carried on, there is no doubt there are some among them who are the noblest of men,' Lilian clasped her hands in delight. ' Do you think so highly of missionaries, though, my child 1 After all, you have had more opportunity than most of us of seeing their inner life. Do you think they really do good ? ' ' You too, Claude 1 Do you ask me that ? ' exclaimed Lilian, laughing. ' What do you yourself think of clergymen in England 1 Do you think they really do good 1 ' ' I — I suppose so. I really have no means of judging.' ' And what have 1 1 ' cried Lilian, clapping her hands. ' You have certainly lived longer in England than I have in China. And it must be a good deal easier for you to judge about English people than for me to judge about Chinese.' Then more gently, and twining her arm in his, but carefully abstaining from looking at him, 'Dearest, I want you to THE RIFT WITHIN THE LUTE 215 think more kindly of Cousin Mary. It was very good of her to send me that telegram. You know she grudges every penny she spends away from mission work. And she need not have telegraphed. And I feel so sure, too, it is true that she has been really praying for us to-day. Cousin Mary is not like some people, who say that sort of thing and do not mean it.' ' No, dear, I know she is not.' He spoke as gently as she had done. ' And for all her love for you I know I ought to be grateful to her. Only that seems so natural. How could she help it ? And she has been able to help loving me, which indeed is more difficult ! ' 'But, Claude, she does not speak unkindly of you. I want to tell you something. After I met you that day — that day when you got the boat for me ' He stooped down and kissed her again and again then — hot, burning kisses. And Lilian continued with glowing agitation, ' After that day — I was very unhappy, and one day at last I told Cousin Mary I had met you, and I asked her — I was very unhappy all the time, but I don't know how such a strange idea came into my head — I asked her whether you had ever committed any great sin, killed anyone, or stolen anyone's money — by mistake of course. But such things do happen, at least in books, some- times.' It was dark now, but she could feel that he had withdrawn from her, and that whilst she was not looking at him, he was looking steadily at her, waiting, expectant, but no longer caressing. 'And she said — she did not speak hastily — but in that firm way she has sometimes, that makes one sure every word she says is true — quite, quite true, " No, not in his own eyes. In mine, yes ; for he has lived a life without God in the world." ' ' Was that all she said ? ' His voice sounded hard and metallic through the fast darkening twilight. ' Yes, except that she said she had heard you had been very ill, but not mad, she said, not mad. So I knew you could not have been, or else Cousin Mary would have been sure to have told me so, for she did not want me to see you again. I know she did not.' In anyone else's case" it would have seemed pitiful to him how Lilian collected every little shred of evidence to prove to him that he had never been really out of his mind, and how 216 A MAREIAGE IN CHINA logical she was about it, but as it was his own case he could not help finding it somewhat comical. ' I am glad you are satisfied as to my sanity, for I should have great difficulty in proving it to myself,' he said, and laughed. Then in a graver tone, ' But you are quite right. Mrs. Betterton is one of the truly good people. I will always think of her as such henceforward, and try to love her for your sake.' Then he drew his wife to him, and pressed a long, lingering, almost reverential kiss upon her lips. For a moment he had fancied Mrs. Betterton had told her the truth about him, and that Lilian had married him knowing what obstacles there lay between them. She would not have been his Lilian if she had, and for one anguished moment he had realised that if his faith in her stainless purity had gone, his faith in all things would have left him, and even his love for her could not have remained behind. All this he sought to atone for by his added reverence now. But he could not tell his young wife how for him she represented not only faith in herself, but faith in God and heaven. Even now that Lilian was his wife so many things seemed still coming between them, and ' putting them asunder.' He wondered must it always go on so 1 And even as ho was wondering came a telegram and a parcel. The telegram was to say the Consul at Kiukiang was better, so that Mr. Fortescue need not apprehend being suddenly called away to replace him. The parcel contained a bit of Chinese embroidery. What they neither of them saw exactly, for just as Lilian was taking it out of its wrappings, exclaiming, ' How exquisite ! ' her husband hastily took it from her, and thrust it into its paper coverings again. He said something to the servant who had brought in the parcel, and the man took it away. ' Some one must have worked it,' said Lilian bewildered. ' Some one works all the embroideries that you buy. Some Chinese ! ' said Claude Fortescue with a strange tone of scorn vibrating in his voice. ' I do not want to buy embroideries.' But Lilian knew perfectly that fairy-like little bit of embroidery in its delicate wrappings had not been sent for sale, and for the first time her confidence in her husband's truthfulness was shaken. ' A life without God ! ' Mrs. Betterton's words came back to her. They had seemed to clear Claude Fortescue of any deadly sin at the time. But was not such a life in itself a deadly sin ? Yet whenever she had spoken with him about religion he had always, she thought, THE RIFT WITHIN THE LUTE 217 spoken so reverently and earnestly. And she remembered how Miss Gardiner had said of him, ' A man naturally of such a religious turn of mind ! ' And she was nineteen, and it was her wedding-day, and the boy had brought the lights, and they were to sit down to dinner alone together for the first time in their lives. He was looking at her with a yearning, questioning expression that brought out all the likeness in him to the pictures of the ' Man of Sorrows, acquainted with grief.' No ! certainly he did not look like a man who lived a life without God ! And she trusted him utterly once more. CHAPTER XXVIII THE RIFT WIDENING The wail of a woman's voice, And the cry of a new-born child I — The snowy drifts were eddying far, The night was bitter and wild ; And ever above the wind there came And over the snowdrifts piled, The wail of a weary woman's voice. The cry of a little child. None other saw what the Master B.aw, None other heard what He heard ; Alone with the ghost of a bygone deed, Alone with the risen dead. Aethde Salmon. ' If Shakespeare had lived in China would he have resembled Rabelais ? ' asked Claude Fortescue with that subtle smile of his, noting some fresh peculiarity of Chinese life in the road below, as seen from the window of Mrs. FitzHugh's villa. ' I should think that might be discussed at almost as great length as the real meaning of the word Tao,' said Lilian laughing. ' Why is not everyone as satisfied as I am that it answers to the " Word " of the Gospel of St. John ? ' They had been married some days now, and naturally she had not been Claude Fortescue's wife so long without hearing some- thing about Taoism. He had even shown her his great manuscript, but there had been no attempt to read that yet. 218 A MARRIAGE IF CHINA Her hands were busy with the breakfast cups, and his buried in his trousers pockets. They made a sufficiently striking contrast had there been anyone there to see them both to- gether. Her pose, the movements of her slightly tapering fingers, the very set of her head, all betokened so much energy, such complete inward conviction that life was a task to be carried out faithfully to the end. Whilst his bent figure, his pocketed hands, even his smile, all revealed the man born to look on at life rather than to live. ' Are you so satisfied 1 ' he asked now, smiling again at her tone. ' And what does the Word of the Gospel of St. John answer to ! Anyway, when I have written my magnum opus upon it — in three octavo volumes — I will dedicate it to you as the one person who has arrived at a conviction regarding Tao. It shall be my wedding present.' Lilian glanced down at a ring upon her finger. ' Oh ! that is nothing. Bought out of a shop. I never consider that a present. My gift shall be of the fruit of my brains, worked out of my own moral consciousness, the only way now possible. For although one of the three religions of China — indeed the only genuine Chinese religion, for Con- fucianism is merely a school of morals, and Buddhism came from India, yet — Taoism of to-day is no help to understanding what it was. To know that, one must dream oneself into Lao-tsze's soul, and so evolve it as he evolved it.' ' I like what he says about water,' said Lilian, looking up brightly. ' The highest goodness is like water, which benefits all things, and without striving for a higher place occupies that which all men dislike.' ' Yes, and again : " There is nothing in the world more supple and soft than water, and yet for dealing with things that are hard and strong nothing can surpass it. Everyone knows that the soft overcomes the hard, and the supple the strong, but no one carries it out in practice." When I thought of that I always used to think of you, the only human being who ever seemed to me fully to exemplify the influence of water.' He was standing over her, looking down at her now. And it was perhaps under his looks, as much as under his words, Lilian blushed such a vivid blush. ' And so all you thought, when you thought yourself back into Lao-tsze's soul, is to be given to me as my wedding present,' said she, putting her hand into his. 'Thank you, Claude. I am sure it will be the costliest present ever wife THE RIFT WIDENING 219 received. But you must not hasten to give it to me. I want it to be the work of years yet,' and she looked up at him timidly. ' Years in which we are to be always together, and always happy as we are now,' he interrupted. ' Yes, if I can fancy myself Lao-tsze with you sitting by my side.' Then the conversation diverged a little, as such conversa- tions are apt to diverge between a bride and bridegroom. They had had very few wedding presents. One, that fairy-like piece of embroidery, had never been seen again. And another also had seemed somewhat to trouble Claude Fortescue. It was a not very handsome blotting-book, with a red cover on which was embroidered in letters of gold : ' Look not mournfully back into the past.' 'Why not? Why should a blotting-book say that?' wondered Lilian. 'Oh! I see. "Blot it out." Who has sent you that, Claude 1 ' 'Mrs. Robinson, I suppose. It is her writing. But it may be Nelly. The letters are very badly worked, are they not?' 'I think they are,' said Lilian. 'That is the lady you were staying with at Wuhu 1 ' Then after a pause, during which she waited for him to say something, ' Do you think her a very nice woman, Claude ? ' ' No — no ! Not a woman I should like you to be friends with.' ' I could never be friends with her,' said Lilian quickly, but with a little sort of shudder. ' Why not 1 What do you know of her ? ' Lilian, however, said she had only seen her once or twice, and would not explain further. People had respected their seclusion until they appeared at church on Sunday. Lilian had been a little anxious about that going to church, recalling always Mrs. Betterton's words. But although Mr. Fortescue made a little groan about how he supposed he must put on a Sunday coat, no idea of their not going to church together seemed ever to have suggested itself to him. And after that his friends began to call. Among the first were Mr. and Mrs. Stuckey, who were lingering making a few final purchases before proceeding to their out- port. They indeed had been present at the wedding, sitting in a back corner of the church, holding one another's hands, 220 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA for Mrs. Stuckey was emotional, and her emotions were apt to be too much for her. She had then and there conceived a tremendous devotion to LiHan, which somewhat troubled Mr. Stuckey. Mr. Stuckey was indeed altogether puzzled by his wife. ' Stuckey badly wanted a wife,' said Mr. Cunningham of him. ' But he has got what he didn't bargain for — a woman ! and he can't make it out.' ' Any man would be surprised,' said the broker, with his hat tipped more on one side than usual, for Sheridana were going up just then, though business otherwise was not brisk. ' Any man would be surprised to find a woman in such very small compass. She stands no higher than a large Canton vase. A man might think himself safe to get nothing more than a wife in that size.' Mr. Cunningham looked a little surprised, for he had not been addressing his remarks to the genial broker, who was, however, always to the fore. He accepted the interruption, however, only adding to it, ' And with vitality enough for a woman of the usual size, not to speak of her eyes.' ' Oh, her eyes won't save lanterns,' said the broker. ' Though I never saw such eyes ! I only was saying something about Belmonts, and ' The conversation drifted into the usual talk about investments ; but if Shanghai had been better versed in the language of Mrs. Stuckey's eyes, or possessed more confidence in them, Belmonts would have gone down then instead of some years later, and there might have been more saved. Mrs. Stuckey was not an heiress, people in China now said, decidedly not an heiress, but a sculptor or a sculptress. They did not know which to call her, and they told the tale of how she had got the order to execute her colossal statue of Washington. She had wept before the President, they said. Anyhow she had now married Mr. Stuckey, and she was full of ambition for him. But in the first place she was distracted by inward doubts and misgivings as to the position of the Emperor of China. ' He also has a soul,' said Mrs. Stuckey. ' What efforts have been made to reach it 1 ' And her large dark eyes looked like lamps shining out into the evening as she asked this question. ' The Jesuits had a cathedral almost in the palace grounds,' said Claude Fortescue. ' I have never heard that any of them THE RIFT WIDENING 221 had interviewed him. But many things happen in China of which one never hears, I fancy.' ' He is described as sickly, violent-tempered — throwing anything that comes to hand at the head of anyone who vexes him — with a great dislike to study. In fact, just what one would expect of a boy brought up as he has been,' said Mr. Cunningham, who had always been one of Mr. Fortescue's intimates, being, indeed, one of the few members of the mercantile world who interested himself in things Chinese. He had actually at one time read a paper before the Asiatic Society. People had predicted after that that his business must fail. But it had not so far. ' His character we cannot alter,' said Mrs. Stuckey, turn- ing her lustrous eyes full upon him. ' His surroundings ! But he is — there, a human soul ! And think of carving a man out of a Chinese Emperor ! Modelling in clay seems hke child's play by comparison. "What is a statue of Washington more or less in the world ? ' ' My dear, recollect I am a Chinese official,' said Mr. Stuckey nervously. 'Yes! Moved to Peking! Promoted! Private business to be transacted with the Emperor ! Then I would go in your place,' mused Mrs. Stuckey, ' and speak to him soul to soul. He would not know what to make of it at first. But there is something in the voice of the soul that makes it always intelligible ' ' If it speaks in pure Pekingese,' interposed Claude Fortescue. ' I must study the mandarin dialect,' said Mrs. Stuckey, rising, as if she were going to set about it at once. ' That will at least take her some time,' laughed Mr. Stuckey. ' And you, my dear Mrs. Fortescue, do you not feel that you too have a mission 1 ' asked the little American, looking much taller than she really was in her cloud of draperies, but still looking like a fairy imp before Lilian. ' Or is being beautiful enough 1 Does it satisfy your soul just to give pleasure by your presence, a flesh and blood Psyche — all complete too, back of the head and arms and all ? ' So Mrs. Stuckey, too, was struck by the resemblance in his wife to the mutilated Psyche at Naples. ' Do you see the likeness 1 ' Claude Fortescue asked. ' Yes, the likeness I Nothing more. That Psyche is 222 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA Greek, and I have always thought soulless. It is Mrs. Fortescue's soul that we admire when we look at her. We seem hardly to see the envelope, which in most people is all of which one is conscious. When she speaks, it is not her words we listen to, although she is the only Englishwoman I have ever met who pronounced her words to the end. But it is her face we read. She might speak Greek, we should all understand her just as well. But if she spoke to the Chinese Emperor, in whatever language it might be, he would not understand, because he has not been refined — attuned — set to that key. Her emotions, everything about her would be too delicate for him. All crowned heads must necessarily have somewhat coarser sensations than other people. Seen the difference between the domestic pig and the wild pig ? I have. I have been out pig-sticking. With the domestic animal you must appeal to his senses rather coarsely — rub his head, then magnetise him. You do not believe in animal magnetism 1 Ah ! but try using it ! Mrs. Fortescue does not, of course. There is too little of the animal about her. She is like a hothouse flower. But I should like to have the draping of her.' ' I wish you had,' said Claude Fortescue, seeing that she paused at last. He had driven poor Mrs. FitzHugh half distracted by his want of appreciation of her tailor's handi- work. He had lived too long in China not to have an ingrained horror of yards of good stuff slashed to bits and called trim- mings. Besides, ' Don't cut cloth without due cause ' is one of the commandments of Taoism. And his eye also had been trained to demand somewhat more harmonious combinations of colour than are usual in Europe. Then at once Mrs. Stuckey began to drape and to dilate upon the idea of her draperies as she did so, whilst ]Mr. Stuckey stood by delighted to have her energies diverted into an innocuous channel. ' However,' as he said, ' fortunately we are not moved to Peking — and promoted — and all ! ■ Will a little place like Wuhu reduce her aspirations, or make them rise and swell ? If they do she must burst,' he added with mock alarm. ' How do you think you shall like life in Wuhu ? ' asked Lilian, as together she and her husband saw them off one fine moonlight evening. ' I shall rest,' said the little artist, stretching herself. There was so very little of her to stretch. ' I do not know what it is like to rest. I have always lived in New York and THE RIFT WIDENING 223 worked or travelled hard. But I mean to rest hard now. And then besides^I have my husband's soul to look into.' Lilian pealed with laughter as she repeated this speech. ' Let me look into your soul, Claude.' ' No ! I object,' said Mr. Fortescue ; then added plain- tively, ' And Stuckey's not the fellow to like it either. Stuckey has always gone in for being something of a mystery. Was not his manner rather strange to you at first 1 He seemed quite nervous.' ' He asked me to marry him when we met before,' said Lilian, who had no idea of concealing anything from her husband. ' Oh, indeed ! ' It was a disagreeable idea to Claude Fortescue that any other man should ever have presumed to think of her in this way. She had always been so emphatically his Lilian to him, that he felt as if other men ought to have known it. But Lilian did not realise this, as she went on to ask, ' And, Claude, how was it Mr. Mortimer was not best man after all 1 „wlr. Stuckey was asking me about him, and I did not know.^ There was a slight pause before Mr. Fortescue replied. ' He said he had to go north at once to take up his new consulate.' ' But Mr. Stuckey said he was here on our wedding-day. He saw him off himself that evening.' ' Mortimer said he had to leave beforehand,' said Mr. Fortescue with again a little stress upon the said. ' I liked him so much,' said Lilian a little sadly, almost more because of her husband's tone. ' So do I,' said Mr. Fortescue ; then looking up quickly, ' He did not offer to you too, did he ? I never thought of that.' ' Oh, no, he never oflFered to me,' said Lilian, and saw the momentary gleam that had lighted up her husband's face give way once more to an expression of settled sadness. It was her right now to try to charm that away, and she set to work at once ; but the remembrance of that sadness did not pass away so quickly from her heart as the furrow from her hus- band's brow. Soon they had to go to their first party, a dinner at the Cpnsulate, and Lilian — all in white, as draped by Mrs. Stuckey, and approved by Claude Fortescue, with her mother's string 224 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA of pearls as her only ornament — was at once pronounced the beauty of the season. After that everyone spoke of her as ' the beautiful Mrs. Fortescue.' And Shanghai opened its arms to the newly married couple as it only does in very special cases now, for it has long ago become cosmopolitan, and ceased to be a happy family, though still persisting in keeping up some of the old usages. It even forgave them for having had a quiet wedding ; and all the gaieties that were arranged now were somehow arranged with an eye to the Fortescues. The Asiatic Society became fashionable at once, since if Mr. Fortescue did not himself read a paper, he might at least be relied on to comment upon other people's ; whilst the Debating Society had even to turn away people from the doors the night Mr. Fortescue opened the discussion as to whether the recent influx of missionaries was undermining the religious feeling of the Chinese. ' After all he seems to be a Christian,' was the discontented comment of more than one missionary as he walked away. ' I went to oppose him altogether, but there was nothing to oppose. His speech was simply deeply suggestive.' ' Yes, deeply suggestive ! And how poetic ! But I never knew all that about the Chinese. Have I been dream- ing all the years I have lived in China, and has Mr. Fortescue ? ' asked Dr. Donaldson. ' Szechuan is, I have heard, the most religious province in China,' said another great Sinologue. ' Buddhism seems to have come more directly from India to it. And Lao-tsze, I believe, lies buried there, having died on his way to India.' ' I don't believe a word of it ! ' cried Dr. Donaldson, pre- pared to jump down the other's throat. These two always contradicted each other on every subject that ever came up at the Asiatic. But the other went on quiikly now, determined to have his say out, ' And the Yangtsze Gorges, which cut off Szechuan from the rest of China, are the cradle of all old Chinese poetry — something like the Rhine to the Germans, the land of legend and song. Mr. Fortescue has felt inspired by the beautiful scenes he has been living amongst.' His opening speech was reported at length in the Shanghai morning and evening papers, and stirred up quite a wave of emotion in missionary circles. The missionaries all wanted to curse it altogether, yet found nothing to curse. As to the Shanghai Club, it pronounced it the finest speech that had THE RIFT WIDENING 225 ever been delivered in China, and conversation at the Club bar was perceptibly raised for some days afterwards. ' You see, it is what none of us know anything about,' said the broker. ' We know nothing of the religious feeling of the Chinese — didn't know they had any, indeed — and it is over our heads a good deal too, perhaps ; but there's something in it I feel as if I'd been wanting to say ever since I was in China. And that fellow has gone and stood up for the Chinese religion, and made better Christians of us into the bargain. No, thank you ! I don't liquor up to-day. I've had enough, I think.' This was a phenomenal speech from the broker, who always seemed to be the representative Shanghai man, and sufficiently betokened the feeling of the others. But the broker looked weary. ' Oh, he is breaking up. That's the fact. A man does not do after fifty in China, and he has aged fast,' was the comment. Men stood and looked at him. ' Oh, he's breaking up,' they said. Meanwhile Lilian was asked to read no papers, take part in no discussions, and though she had been allowed to be present at her husband's, and been rapt in interest, her life seemed chiefly composed of trying on new clothes, paying and receiving calls, and dining out. ' Claude, do you not think I ought to do something, as Mrs. Stuckey said ? ' ' I don't remember her saying it exactly. But you haven't got a mission to the Emperor of China, have you ? That would be poaching on Mrs. Stuckey 's preserves, would it not?' 'I don't want to poach,' said Lilian equally gaily. He was stiU sitting at the breakfast- table, glancing over the morning paper, but he laid one hand on her shoulder now, that he might the better look at her, smiling into her face as he did so. ' But I used to teach regularly in the parish school at Northampton, and Cousin Mary was quite pleased at the way in which I got Susanna and little Mark on. So I thought perhaps — perhaps I might be of some use at the Eurasian school here.' She spoke very humbly. But before she had finished her sentence she saw the light fade out of her husband's faoe, and she felt the hand upon her shoulder tremble. ' Oh, Claude, I am so sorry I spoke of it,' she exclaimed quickly. ' I can do any- thing else. Of course, I have calls to pay.' ' Yes, you have so many calls to pay ; I don't know how Q 226 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA you are to get through them,' said he, but his voice lacked somethina of its usual music. ' I am sure I could never make so many visits. He had tried at first to pay calls with her. But it always turned out that the people had moved from the houses in which Mr. Fortescue had been used to know them, or that he could not find their houses ; and when at last they did find the address they were seeking, Mr. Fortescue either got into such an interesting conversation that it was impossible to come away, or if the people were uncongenial groaned so much over such an absolute waste of time and intelligence, and required so much mental reviving afterwards, that Lilian found together they never made more than two or three calls in an afternoon. And fresh people, whose calls must be returned, were coming every day now. So she generally returned her calls now every afternoon, before he left his office, going through them methodically, with a list docketed, and trying to give a regulation ten minutes to each. Calls paid in this way are never interesting, and it was partly because she was so very weary of them she had been thinking of some new occupation for herself. But, anyhow, she could not pay calls in the morning. So when her husband left her to go to his office, she sat and thought by herself, went over the whole little scene again, and knew better than if he had told her that it was at the word ' Eurasian ' his hand had trembled. If husbands realised a little that they cannot put their wives' minds away as they do their hats when they go to their offices, hanging them on an assigned peg till wanted, they would be more in favour than they are of intellectual studies, at least during the first years of married Hfe, when the occupation of — as Mrs. Stuckey expressed it — looking into her husband's soul has not yet lost the attraction of novelty for the wife. Few men's souls will stand the amount of micro- scopic inspection for which that newly married life ofi'ers scope in the East, where people are cut off from all early associa- tions and old friends, without any of those little daily duties life at home almost always affords. As Lilian sat and thought, so many things unnoticed at the time seemed coming back to her ; even Claude's soft ' I object ' when she had asked to look into his soul. Like many another naturally intellectual girl, she was altogether ignorant of much in life, only dimly beginning to be aware of her own THE RIFT WIDENING 227 ignorance. But tlie other day she had read ' The Merry Wives of Windsor ' with much delight. She would not have delighted in reading it now. But she was very ignorant still, and only beginning to be aware of her own ignorance, and a little frightened. If her faith in her husband left her, she felt as if everything would be gone, there would be nothing then in life worth Sving for. Perhaps she had been tired out with all the long hot summer and her subsequent gaieties. Was that the reason the tears began to run down her cheeks ? It had certainly been a great trial of strength. But was that the reason why she laid her head on the table and wept bitterly ? They had not been a month married yet. CHAPTER XXIX A MISSIONARY S TROUBLES Mothers are the creed of their children. — Mvixt Willard. It is odd that a man who knows so little about this world can tell us so much about the next. — John BnionT. But it is high time to return to Mrs. Betterton, whom we seem to have left upon her kuecs all this time, as we left her once before, even the shadow of the ti-ackers' coffins taken away from her. Had it been earlier in the day when she got Lilian's telegram, she might perhaps have sent a different answer. But she only received it, as Lilian had thought she would, after a long, weary morning's work, when owing to the noise — they were still trying to teach Chinese children to sing, and the result at 6rst was certainly calculated to break the drums of any but Chinese ears — she had returned home feeling perfectly exhausted, to find that Susanna, having first carefully divested her little brother of every article of clothing, had been insisting on his spending his morning in a bath, by way of keeping him cool, as she said, and was now, and apparently had been for some time past, forcibly holding him down in it. Little Mark after two hours of a cold bath was nearly blue as to his lips, and in convulsions of crying. J6e Chinese nurse was not to be found at first, and when at last discovered and cross-questioned, would only say she had never q2 228 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA in all her life seen so naughty a child as Miss Susanna, and had gone away to avoid any longer being the unhappy spec- tator of so much wickedness. In the intervals of kissing little Mark, and otherwise seeking to restore the poor child's vitality, as also soothe his wounded feelings, for it was evident there was some deep dark tragedy underlying this treatment of the bath, Mrs. Betterton appealed to Susanna, but found her stolid and shameless. ' Everyone has been hot all the summer,' was all she said, and she had been deter- mined once for all to make her little brother quite cool. As for that woman — meaning the nurse — ' she tells lies, and she has no sense.' Mrs. Betterton knew both these last accusations were true, and felt hopeless. If only Lilian were still there ! She was the only person who had ever been able to soften Susanna's stubborn spirit. If only the other ladies of the mission would help a little ! But of course they would say they had not come out to China to see after the education of Mrs. Betterton's children. Must she give up her work to see more to them, then ? For it was evident Susanna might any day kill little Mark out of an unflinching desire to do him good. ' I must just shut them up in separate rooms, that's what I must do,' said the ardent missionary, with a pang at her mother's heart the while. Then she opened Lilian's telegram, and instinctively looked at the clock as she read it. She had had nothing to do with weddings in China, and she supposed the old twelve-o'clock law — which is so deeply impressed upon the hearts of the passing-away generation that few but those who have had practical experience realise that it has been replaced — might hold good in Shanghai. ' If she is married already, it would be of no use to say anything against it. It is too late, anyhow, now. She says the day after to-morrow. That means to-day,' said Mrs. Betterton. ' I must make haste and send my answer.' Then with both arms round the much injured Mark, she knelt down and prayed, and only when she rose up from her knees did the telegram she sent occur to her as the most natural and the most suitable under the circumstances. So she was naarrying him after all. And possibly, if Mrs. Betterton had not brought her out to China, it would never have happened ; just as her mother might never had married her father but for her going away and leaving her. ' It is all my doing, I do believe, in the end. Oh, why must I always A MISSIONARY'S TROUBLES 229 be doing something t Why couldn't I refuse to bring her out to China with me ? I feel inclined to vow I'll never do any- thing again. And, after all, what good does it do 1 She has married the man who will spoil all her life for her, just as her mother did before her. It is ingrained in the character, I believe, what people do. But then, if that's the case, what is the use of trying to convert the Chinese 1 ' But this idea was so contrary to the whole missionary bent of her character she refrained from pursuing it. ' It is my character, I sup- pose, to try to make people better, whether it can be done or not ; just as it is in Susanna's to try to make Mark cool — poor child ! ' He had fallen asleep now, wearied out. ' I wonder what Mr. Fortescue has told her. Ho can't surely have married her without telling her anything. Oh, I sup- pose he has made it good to her somehow. Lilian loves him, poor child ! Her heart would plead on his side even more convincingly than he could. Well, I suppose they will be very happy for a time. They have very much the same tastes, half philosophical, half poetical, neither of them quite certain of anything in spite of all Lilian's directness. That is more than I could say of her father and mother. He was such a thorough man of the world, she sucli a mere child — at least when he married her. They'd have liked this marriage, I believe. Yes, that's curious when one comes to think of it. I don't believe he'd have seen anything to object to in it, and she would never have understood. They'd both have liked Mr. Fortescue himself. After all, Lilian has married quite into her own class. I married out of mine. I believe I should have felt it a little if we had lived in England.' But Mrs. Betterton's was too busy a life for her to sit and wonder long about it all. And, curiously enough, no thought of Lilian's money, and how Mr. Fortescue had managed about that, even occurred to her at the time. The reality of Lilian's money had never been very present to her ; she had had nothing to do with looking after it, or the matters of guar- dianship ; and that other reality of Claude Fortescue's chil- dren, and their Chinese mother, darkened everything else to her in the consideration of his marriage. Her heart bled for Lilian, and the pain she thought the girl must have suffered, the more so as she contrasted it with her own whole-souled happiness in her marriage. Why should this innocent girl have such a shadowed spring-time 1 But Mrs. Betterton had troubles enough upon her shoulders. Just as in summer-time 230 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA it had been impossible to get a breath of fresh air into their Chinese house, so, now the autumn was advancing, it seemed equally impossible to shut out the draughts. And already it felt so cold. It was of no use to look at the thermometer and see it was nothing like so low as at Shanghai, and to say snow never fell and there were no frosts at Chungking. There was also no sunshine — day after day the same leaden sky, and encircling darkness rather than fog. Everything felt damp ; people went by in the streets coughing and sneezing as in England, and everyone shivered. Then, besides the hardened wickedness of Susanna, which was becoming an annoyance to everyone, it was clear that Dr. Maxwell and Miss Pearco were feeling a very natural attraction to one anothei', and that the announcement of it to the world could not be ^'ery long delayed. That in itself was not a matter to be regretted ; but on the other hand Miss Alger was giving trouble, had been doing so for some time past. She was not well, and it was evident it would be better for her to be moved to some other station, possibly even into some other mission. Dr. Maxwell had not behaved altogether well about it all, Mrs. Betterton thought ; she had been somewhat dis- appointed in him. Anyhow, the position for some time past had been a strained one, even for the onlookers. Then Mr. Jenkins was a trial. He had insisted on wearing Chinese dress, and he was only just passing out of the stage of wanting everyone to sympathise with him in the burden of having the front of his head shaved once a week, almost going the length of inviting all the ladies to be present at the ceremony, and describing all the details of his feelings under the operation with the greatest minuteness. His pigtail was never out of his mind for a moment ; he was always catching it, or expecting to catch it, in some- thing ; and his winter clothes, which made him look twice the man he naturally was, were as great a source of exulta- tion to him as a new vestment to a High-Church curate. Now he wanted to start a branch mission on his own account somewhere in the province. He thought he and his wife might rent a house somewhere, and other workers come out from England to join them ; and he talked grandly of itinerating. All the while he made little progress in Chinese, and Mrs. Betterton, whose own knowledge of Szeohuanese was remarkable, felt ashamed of him directly he opened his lips, and tried to make him see that the A MISSIONARY'S TROUBLES 231 Chinese only understood him when they knew what he was going to say. But the sight of him showing off his old-gold silk pantaloons and violet satin coat, always taking the latter on and off to exhibit its white sheepskin lining, made her feel so irritable she was almost ready to consent to his going to an outlying station, or anywhere. Then there was poor Janie Frost, always sickening with fresh attacks of fever, and rising up from her sick-bed, gaunt but resolute, declaring she was at last this time quite well, and must address her mothers' meeting. She would go, too, and speak words of power rather from the manner in which they were said than from the matter of them, making the women feel they had, as they said, a wonderful saintly woman amongst them. But in what the saintliness consisted they did not well know, nor that they were themselves in any way called upon to imitate her. They only saw that she was dying as the winter wore on, and the cough settled upon her lungs, whilst the colour deepened on her high Scotch cheek-bones. Dr. Maxwell himself said now there was no hope, unless she could be sent away to good European food and the comforts of a European house. And all the while poor Janie Frost was studying Chinese with an intensity born of the fever that was devouiing her, refusing to allow her books to be moved from her bedside, and apparently never realising that she would have no need for Chinese in the land towards which she was hastening. There was no one to send down river with her, and no European house short of Hankow, over a thousand miles away. ' She ought to go to the hospital in Shanghai,' Dr. Maxwell said. ' Sea air might give her a chance.' No one dared to tell her it was only a chance, and as the leaden skies hung immovable over the city — never a breath of fresh country air, never a ray of sunshine — the poor thing at last herself became impatient to go away. She wanted to grow quite strong again, she said, that she might do her work for the Lord. Work ! always her work ! That was poor Janie Frost's one sole idea. No thought of marrying or giving in marriage entered into her head. Her prayers were for the conversion of the Chinese, her one hope to be herself enabled to tell them how God loved them, how Christ died for them. Nothing else ; that was all she wanted to say. 'For they are good people — good people,' she would say gravely, 'only without God,' 232 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA ' I have it,' said Mrs. Betterton at last one day when Dr. Maxwell had come away from the sick-room with an even more discouraging report than usual, and was representing the case as urgent — ' She must go or she will die ' — ' I wiU send Susanna down with her. All that naughtiness will turn into goodness, I believe, when the child feels she has a responsibility laid upon her.' Then Mrs. Betterton summoned Susanna, and talked to her, told her how very naughty she was, and the despair of everyone, but that she, her mother, had confidence in her not- withstanding, and was about to show it. Susanna's cheeks glowed, Susanna's eyes brightened. Although without the settled redness that was such a disfigurement to her mother's face, she went about looking so like Mrs. Betterton that they all laughed at the likeness. Even poor Janie Frost laughed. ' Do you think I'U be able to keep you in order, Susanna 1 ' she asked, too much delighted at the prospect of getting to fresh air and no smells to be critical about her companion. 'It is I who am to take care of you, Miss Frost,' said Susanna with dignity, ' and here is your medicine. I have only been waiting till the clock struck to give it to you.' And as she had begun, so she went on. She put screens round Miss Frost to shield her from every current of air, or fanned her, and wrung out wet rags to apply to her burning forehead as occasion demanded. She had no energy left for naughtiness now, for it was all put into nursing Janie Frost in exact accordance with the Doctor's instructions. She was even so full of it she hardly seemed to feel the parting from her mother and brother. 'You are an heroic mother, Mrs. Betterton,' said Threshie Reid in his loud, genial tones, having waved his hat to the two young ladies, as he called them, and even started a three times three with no one to second him but the Doctor. He had returned from his exploring expedition, and now turned up to see the start ; for events do not happen every day in Chungking. Lilian and her companion had been the last Europeans to go down. And none had come up since the three boats arrived together. But Mrs. Betterton had broken down completely, and the face of anguish that she now turned upon him was quite too tiuch I'll Ml. Reid. ' I have only little Mark left,' she said. A MISSIONARY'S TROUBLES 233 ' And even he is more than a handful,' said the jovial Consul. ' I say, send him round to me when you go out in the mornings. The Consulate is none so lively but that it might be livelier with a youngster tumbling round. And he can't get into more mischief there than he would at home. He and I are just the size for playfellows, aren't we, Mark ? ' The little fellow,, who was the image of his father, put his hand into the large hand of the Consul, and said enthusiastically, ' Yes, if you'll be Goliath, and then I— I'll be David ; and I'll sling the stone.' 'Yes, and cut my head off,' said the big man good- naturedly. ' No, I'll not — not cut your head off,' said little Mark staunchly. ' But David did. He cut off Goliath's ! ' ' Did David 1 ' said the little child very gravely, his eyes wide open, and with a far-away expression, such as his father might have worn when suddenly confronted with a too literal applica- tion of some Christian mystery. Little Mark expressed no opinion on Da's'id's conduct, but softly caressed the big Consul's hand, and from that moment fellowship was sealed between them. It was an immense comfort to Mrs. Betterton, who would have been yet more comforted had she seen the great games that henceforward went on at the Consulate — Threshie Reid on all fours and roaring like a dozen lions, and little Mark always overpowering hiJii in one way or another. But she saw the rosy cheeks and excellent appetite with which the child returned. Susanna meanwhile was all importance. Miss Frost was astonished by her. The child not only stood like a tyrant over her at the fixed times, insisting upon the regulation drauglit, but she slipped out of bed in the morning and dressed herself without a sound, that she might not disturb the invalid's morning slumbers. And when poor Janie's cough was very troublesome at night, she would be shocked to find Susanna awake, turning her pillows for her, and bringing her refreshing drinks. But the great moment for Susanna, the phenomenal moment which she would remember all her life afterwards, was when they arrived at Ichang, and found a steamer actually there, and on the eve of starting ; and she, Susanna, went on board it and told the captain that she wanted two berths, one a very 234 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA good one for a sick lady; and she hoped the steamer was not a very noisy one, and did not shake much, for the sick lady could not bear to be shaken. It may be imagined how the up-river captain was delighted with the child ; and how many suggestions she made for Miss Frost's comfort before she was quite satisfied. The captain carried them all out. He would have been ready in any case to do what he could for a sick lady, but he would never have thought of half that he did if it had not been for Susanna, who was quite like a grown woman, except that she asked for everything she wanted for Miss Frost, without ever considering whether she might not be asking rather much. ' And now, what do you want for yourself 1 ' asked the captain, when they had settled Miss Frost quite to their own satisfaction, and very much to hers. The steamer seemed so beautifully fresh and so spotlessly clean after all her Chinese surroundings of late, and everything looked so English and nattily arranged, a shelf and a place for everything. ' I could fancy myself away at home,' sighed Miss Frost. ' Oh, I can put up with anything, thank you,' said Susanna. ' I am so very strong. That's what makes me so naughty, they say.' ' Oh, so you are naughty, are you ? ' asked the captain. ' Yes, very,' said Susanna with decision. ' I am the despair of everyone. Mother told me so herself.' ' Oh, then you won't have any jam tarts for dinner. Of course it is only good little children like jam tarts,' said the captain. ' Please,' said Susanna, ' if you have any real mutton, that would be a great treat. And have you green vegetables here — that are safe, I mean 1 ' ' I don't know what the Consul may have sent off,' said the captain. ' He generally sends me a basket from his garden. And so you don't care about jam tarts ? ' ' I do like them very much,' said Susanna. ' But, you see, we can get them at Chungking. Now, the mutton we get there is not real mutton. I remember what it used to taste like, I think, and I should like to taste it again. And mother only lets us eat tinned green vegetables there. When I am grown up,' said Susanna, ' I mean never to eat a single tinned thing again — except pears. Pears are all right,' she conceded. In the course of the voyage the captain got fairly well posted as to all the intricacies of housekeeping and living at A MISJSIONARY'S TROUBLES 235 Chungking, and a great deal besides. He even heard the true, deep, dark inwardness of Susanna's putting her little brother into the bath, why she did it, and how she felt it her duty to hold him down in it. But the captain was never quite sure that he rightly understood that business. What he never should forget, he said, however, was the sight of Susanna standing outside Miss Frost's door in the early morning the first day after their coming on board, herself not completely dressed, but only in a petticoat and petticoat body, with bare feet, and her hair yet tumbled from sleep, but with her finger to her lips, gesticulating violently. ' And if you please, little missy insisted that the ship's orders should be given in a whisper,' continued the delighted captain, ' because Miss Frost never got what my young lady called proper sleep till the morning.' Between them poor Janie Frost could not have been better attended to if she had been the Queen herself. She had every- thing done for her that could be done. Susanna herself skimmed the last drops of grease off every cup of broth before Miss Frost was even allowed to see it. And the captain himself superintended their trans- shipment at Hankow into one of the large lower-river steamers, that seem comfortable enough when you go up, but like wanton luxury when you come down from the interior. But with all their care and coddling. Miss Frost did not revive. Hankow was too cruelly cold, and it was too late for honest beef and mutton to do her any good. She had longed for them. But when they came, she turned from them to the old despised chicken broth, and even that was a trouble to her now. CHAPTER XXX MISS FROST AND SUSANNA That when Thy lips, grown pale for us, Have taught we dream in vain Of happiness beneath the sun, Which darkened with Thy pain, They yet may tell us, ' Thou shalt be To-day in Paradise with Me.' — E. B. Bkownino. The St. Andrew's ball had gone off with the usual iclat. Shanghai is full of Scotchmen, and it is the Scotch ball that 236 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA opens the winter season. Quite a number of men had appeared in kilts, and Italian and German officers had stood round in crowds, watching the wild vagaries of the Highland fling. For weeks beforehand there had been reel practisings, and whilst a young Scotch lassie, the wife of an engineer, had won universal admiration by her steps, there were people who contended that the beautiful Mrs. Fortesoue — after the reel practisings — danced the reel as well as any Scotchwoman of them all. There were not so many Scotch women as men to dance the reel, however, and a Spanish lady and an Austrian, not to speak of two French ladies, had to be admitted into Highland circles for the night. The Shanghai Club had been turned topsy-turvy for the festivity. The St. Andrew's and the Mih Ho Loong balls are the only two occasions on which those sacred precincts are invaded by the ladies. The last is the ball given by the Hook and Ladder Company of the Volunteer Fire Brigade. ' Say the word, and down comes your house,' is their device, and they dance in scarlet shirts, leather girt, black trousers, and leathern helmets, the dress in which they extinguish the so-frequently-ocourring fires. Some people say the Mih Ho Loong ball is the best of the season ; it is the last, and professes to be the most select. The Scotch ball, on the other hand, piques itself on including all the Scotch, except those men who have not subscribed. And certainly the Scotch dress, when worn by a well-built man dancing a sword dance before an admiring ballroom, could not well be sur- passed. Lilian had never seen anything of the kind before, and even Claude Fortescue looked on amused. ' To think of these men, with these dresses and wild whoops, trying to elevate that product of ancient civilisation, the stilly moving, softly silken-clad Chinaman ! ' said he. ' You were not in it just now, my dearest. Anyone could see you were an Englishwoman. I dare say we danced wild dances of the kind in the time of the Druids, but not since then.' Little time, however, for him to converse with Lilian, for she Avas in high request. Scotchmen declared she danced nearly as well as if she were a Scotch girl, and, one and all, they had hopes that she would soon dance what they called tho Shanghai waltz. Claude Fortescue laughed as he heard them talk, for he was sure it was no prejudice made him think his wife the best dancer and the most exquisitely graceful woman there. It gave him pleasure to go to a ball just to see her moving about among the crowd, always refined, high-bred, MISS FROST AND SUSANNA 237 self-possessed, and so fair to look upon. As for himself, lie had never danced, and could not have done so now if he had tried, but he liked to watch the others. Neither was he a Scotchman, so there was no temptation to stay for the second supper, after the ladies have gone, when all the Scotch- men take hands and sing ' Auld Lang Syne,' and the fun waxes fast and furious. And at a fairly early hour they left the rooms which a whole company of blue-jackets, from the English man-of-war in harbour, had been busy decorating all day. Then came all the Christmas festivities — tableaux at one house, chiefly in honour of Mrs. Fortescue, who was requested to appear in ' Una and the Lion,' also as the Queen of the Fairies. At another house they were asked to an enormous dinner-party, where tables stretched and slanted all about the room, so as to get in all the guests, and where, in the course of dinner, a servant went round distributing wreaths of flowers, after which men and ladies alike sat rose-crowned, like ancient Romans, many of the men improving wonderfully in appearance under this adornment. After that the County Club begain its entertainments, and Lilian was asked to take part in a play there. All Shanghai was delighted, and declared such acting had never been seen before. ' But I did not act at all, Claude. I was just myself,' said Lilian, in some trouble, after it was over, and she found herself overwhelmed with compliments. ' You must never complain that rewards and punishments are unjustly awarded,' said he, quoting with great seriousness from a Taoist classic. ' I do not want to complain,' said Lilian. ' But did you think I acted well — I mean that I acted at all ? ' He meditated for a moment or two. ' I had great delight in watching you,' he said. ' I would not have had a gesture or an intonation difi'erent. It was, I think, a completely perfect impersonation. But if you ask me if you acted — No ! I believe you are right. There was no acting at all in it ; there is no acting at all in you. You could not play a part to save your life, I believe.' Then the colour mounted into Lilian's cheeks. Did he really think that of her ? And was she not playing a part all the while ? She thought, for some reason or other — what she could not understand — he wanted her to be satisfied with balls and parties. And she had tried to seem satisfied. Had she really played her part so well in life that he believed her 238 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA incapable of acting, and satisfied 1 There was a fancy-dress ball in prospect. Her next occupation must be to arrange her dress for it, and his. She was glad it was his, too, this time. It was not at all after Lilian's heart, but she was becoming versed in scraps of Taoist lore now, and she murmured to her- self, ' One pure act of internal resignation is more worth than a hundred thousand exercises of one's own will.' Then, as he went oif to his office, she sat down with a volume of national costumes. Was that like Claude 1 Was this 1 Or this ? He did not seem particularly suitable for a Spanish matador or a Greek pirate. Lilian felt a little weary, almost as if life would be tolerable were it not for its amusements. A knock at the door ! And a small figure standing in the doorway. ' Please, Mrs. Fortescue, may I come in 1 Miss Frost is at the hospital. She's dying, and the doctor says you must come at once if you want to see her. So I've kept my ricksha waiting.' ' Susanna ! Is that really you, Susanna 1 Why, how wonderful ! Where are Cousin Mary and Mark ? But don't say Mrs. Fortescue. Call me Cousin Lilian, as you used to do.' ' I didn't know if I might now that you are a married lady,' said the child, surveying her from head to foot gravely. ' Why ! how you are grown, Susanna ! And you look so much older, too.' ' I can't say as much for you. Cousin Lilian. Why, I had a frock just like that when I was last in England. Doesn't it make you look j ust like a little child ? I feel the oldest now. But you are not coming at once. And I must go back, whether you come or not.' Then Lilian hastened to put on her outdoor garments. ' And will you tell her. Cousin Lilian 1 Or ought I to ! ' ' Tell her what 1 ' asked Lilian. ' Why, that she is dying. The doctor here says she may die any minute, and she doesn't know it a bit. I thought I was rather young perhaps.' ' Yes, I should have thought the doctor ' ' Why, it is his business to cure her if he can. It is ours to prepare her for the other world.' Susanna spoke so exactly in her mother's tones Lilian was petrified. ' Not but that I think she is prepared. Only she has got one of those dreadful Chinese characters — twenty-three strokes in it — and she can't MISS FROST AND SUSANNA 239 feel sure she has got iL into her head. I have, I think,' said Susanna. 'It is grass at the top, and there is no cover, but a sentence underneath — yes, and walking, and the radical is that prancing horse they have. I think I could write it. But Miss Frost does not feel sure she could, and she is too weak to sit up and try. It means "to alarm," you see, and she has got it on her nerves. She says if she can't at least learn one Chinese character a day, how is she ever to get on 1 That shows she doesn't know she is going to die,' said Susanna triumphantly. ' But as to being prepared, I am sure she is that. So it is nothing but telling her. And I thought of doing it. Then I thought it might be better for you. She might have some last things to say she wouldn't say to me. She has something she wants to say to you, I know, because she said so. And that made the doctor tell me I must come for you at once. There was no time to be lost, he said.' There was none indeed. Lilian was startled by the change. They found the tall, gaunt Scotchwoman with a burning colour, her eyes wild, her hair dashed back from her temples. She looked like one of the ancient prophetesses as she lifted a long bony arm. ' Mrs. Fortescue,' she said, ' I have long wished to see you. For I have a message to give you face to face, and in the presence of God. " Is this a peace that ye have made unto yourselves ? " To have married a man who is without Christ in his heart — you that were to be God's missionary when I last saw you, bringing gifts of healing — gifts of healing to the nations ' She was gasping for breath between her sentences, but she held up one bony finger and pointed, holding Lilian spellbound, whilst the colour flamed in her worn cheeks, and her breath came in hot, panting gusts. ' After all that we have heard of him in Chungking, your marriage is a disgrace to the whole missionary body in China. It is a disgrace and — and a scandal to have married a man who — who ' 'Miss Frost, you will do yourself harm if you talk so much,' said the stern voice of Susanna, rearranging the bed- clothes, that Miss Frost in her agitation had displaced. ' Oh, my dear child, it doesn't matter now.' ' But you wouldn't leave her in pain, would you ? ' said her youthful tyrant. ' Look at her face ! And you understand you've got to go, don't y ou ? No more need for Chinese there. Let me put away the books. And do you kiss and make friends.' ' Oh, Susanna, you're too — too — good,' gasped Miss Frost. 240 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA Susanna took these words as a parting recognition of her ministrations. But Lilian, even pained and startled as she was, could not but see that Miss Frost, always tormented by a sense of humour, even in her death agony could not refrain from being tickled by the self-conscious sense of importance of the child. ' My husband is not what you think him,' she said now, speaking each word so distinctly it even startled herself. ' Believe me, his wife. But thank you for warning me, dear Janie. When one is too happy, one is apt to forget ' Tears stopped her utterance. Susanna looked at her curiously. To a child the sight of a grown person crying is always more surprising than pathetic. ' I think we ought to pray for Miss Frost now, Cousin Lilian,' she said. ' Will you say the Lord's Prayer 1 She likes that. She does not like all our prayers.' Together Lilian and Susanna knelt down and prayed, Janie Frost's face showing by its workings that she was still follow- ing the prayer. There was a radiance over the hard Scotch face. ' Our Father,' she said, and again she murmured, ' Thine is the kingdom,' but that was very low. ' She said once she should like to die to the Old Hundredth,' said Susanna, rising from her knees ; and standing bolt upright by the side of Miss Frost's bed, with her hands clasped tight in front of her to help her to remember the tune, Susanna sang in clear childish tones, and without one false note, ' All people that on earth do dwell.' Miss Frost's face lit up once again at the sound of the beloved words, then a shadow seemed to steal over it, only as Susanna's voice rang out clearer and louder, the child actually straining her voice that the words might reach the dying vroman's ears, ' Cume ye before Him and rejoice,' she was rewarded by seeing the light of joy on the homely Scotch features, that for that moment shone glorious with a glory as beyond death. The thin hands were out- stretched, the head just raised from the pillow; then it fell back, and Janie Frost was goiio from among them, passed away to the land where there would be indeed no more need for Chinese books. ' And now, what do we do next 1 ' asked Susanna, suddenly looking very blank, and as if she were going to cry, now that she had sung her psalm to the end. Lilian began to find her insistence on always doing something rather appalling. But one of the Sisters of St. Vincent, witii the bis white bonnet MISS FROST AND SUSANNA 241 and grey-blue dress, now came forward from a distant corner, where she had hidden because the sight of her rosary was too great a trial to the anti-papistical Scotchwoman in her fever- ish condition. And it was she who closed Miss Frost's eyes, and undertook to do all that was now needed. ' And don't you think they might be buried with her 1 ' asked Susanna, with another glance at the Chinese books. They were evidently very much on the child's mind. In reality she longed to possess them, to siiidy Chinese out of them, and always tell the tale how they had killed their first owner. Besides, she had seen Janie Frost using them so often. ' The doctor said they killed her. If she would only ha^ e given her mind rest, even on the voyage down herej he says, she might have recovered. But it was of no use my telling her so. If I took the books away, she kept thinking about them, and only worried worse than ever. Look ! shall I show you that character that kept her awake last night ? I can write it, I think.' But Lilian could not see it for her tears. Tlien she looked at her watch, and hurried Susanna away. Claude would be coming home ; he would bo missing her ; she had never been out when he returned before. Only then did Susanna remember she had a long letter for Lilian from her mother. ' And I'm to stay with you, if you'll have me. Or you're to send me to school, just as you think best, just as if I were your own child. And I'm to be very good, and do everything you tell me. And I mean to. Cousin Lilian, though you do look so young and have such a baby frock. For I don't want to have too much to think of when I die, like poor Miss Frost there. Cousin Lilian, do you think I'll have to think then of how I put Mark into the bath and held him down ? I could write and tell mother how sorry I am I ever did it. And I really am, because I know it grieved mother dreadfully. And I know mother would never have sent me away if I hadn't been so naughty. And she must miss me dreadfully, I'm sure, because, you see, at least I made somebody in the' house she could talk to. Mark is too little, you see. But I don't want to have to think of it all when I lie dying, because it was very unpleasant. I got wet all over, and Mark bit my hands, though I never told. Do you think I'll have to repent of it all over again when I'm dying ? ' ' I don't know,' said Lilian gravely, though in her heart she was echoing Miss Frost's words, ' Susanna, you are too E 242 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA good.' ' But you certainly ought to write and tell your mother you are very sorry you were so naughty.' ' I am indeed,' said Susanna. ' And Miss Frost said, you see, I'd been good to her, and so I mean to be with you, Cousin Lilian. But you must do just what you like about me.' Lilian was about to beg her to consider their house her home, and tell her she should love to have her with her, when she remembered her husband might not like it. Somehow, there never was anything she felt quite sure of his liking or not liking beforehand. And with that thought came back to her with a fresh sting the bitter recollection of Miss Frost's words : ' After all that we have heard of him in Chungking, your marriage is a disgrace and a scandal.' Just as she was thinking of them afresh — they had never been quite out of her mind since she had heard them — Susanna shook her wise little head, and said abruptly, ' And, Cousin Lilian, Miss Frost had a great deal of fever, and did not always know quite what she was saying these last few days. I did not understand what she was saying to you. But I saw it hurt you. And if I were you, I wouldn't think twice about it. I was often hurt by what she said to me, but she didn't mean it, I know.' ' Thank you, Susanna,' said Lilian very quietly. Then the next moment she was folded in her husband's arms. He would have liked ' to carry her in his hands,' as the Germans say, and to make all life's ways smooth for her. And he had never come home and missed her before. And now to see her come home with such a pale grave face made him additionally solicitous. He had never seen Miss Frost, and though grieving at once with Lilian's grief, he was soon intensely amused by Susanna's quaint, grave ways, as Lilian had expected he would be. And he at once told the child she was to stay with them as long as they could make her happy, for he always knew what Lilian would like. All luncheon time Susanna ate and talked, and made them laugh ' inwardly, awfully,' as the little boy said he swore— ' not aloud, you know, auntie.' But luncheon was hardly over before the child said, ' And now, please, Cousin Lilian, can I have paper and ink to write to mother at once? I want to tell her how sorry I am, and all about it all, before I forget.' ' So now an occupation has come to you in your own house, Lilian,' said her husband, ' which is much better than going out MISS FROST AND SUSANNA 243 to it. You can teach Susanna her lessons, if such an advanced young woman can take lessons. Is not that much better than going out to a school, as you proposed 1 ' When he referred so lightly to her request to go to the Eurasian school, Lilian almost thought all she had thought, felt, imagined, and wept over had been pure fancy, nothing more. But Janie Frost's words were still ringing in her ears, and she knew, whatever Susanna might say, Miss Frost had known what she was talking about when she spoke them. ' She heard my answer,' Lilian kept repeating to herself. ' I made her hear that.' But then the thought came to her, IMirs Frost was dead now, and whatever was true she knew it now. And LiHan hung her head, for she knew she did not herself know the truth. And she also realised now, for the first time, that she did not wish to know it now. ' You look tired out, my dearest, and no wonder. But do, pray, rest now.' ' Why, Claude, I am always resting. And there is ttfe funeral ' ' I will inquire about that. You want to go to that 1 You must not overtax yourself, Lilian,' and he looked at her so anxiously, so troubled in her tr(juble, Lilian collected all her strength again to look calm and self-possessed, and speak as usual. ' I should like to go, and Susanna will certainly wish to. I think we ought both to go. We all came out together, you know. And Miss Frost was always so really good. Ah ! that reminds me. I suppose I ought to write and tell Mrs. FitzHugh. Oh, and, Claude, after all. Dr. Maxwell and Miss Pearce are going to be married. At least, so Cousin Mary says she thinks.' ' Dr. Maxwell ? ' he said vaguely. ' Yes, Dr. Maxwell — the doctor they would not allow me to help any more, because they said he was making love to jne — or I to him. I really never understood which. That was why I was to come down to Shanghai to study medicine, instead of learning from him any more.' Then, after all, Mrs. Robinson had had some ground for her accusation ! Claude Fortescue went away looking nearly as serious as Lilian had done. He wondered how many more there might be who had paid their court to her. It was a most disagreeable idea to him. He would have preferred to think that his wife had never even been looked upon by another man before he married her. And it seemed unworthy E 2 244 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA of Lilian, all this love-making. She said Mr. Mortimer never had. For his own part, he knew now that he had always felt as if he, too, were in love with her. Could that possibly account for his refusing to be best man? It rankled in Claude Fortescue's breast, and had given him more pain than he had ever allowed to himself. For were they not in the same service, and did he not know that the other's saying he must positively leave by the steamer of the night before was a mere excuse, whether he had or had not done so 1 But there had been that about Mortimer's manner when he declined the honour, as he had called it, that had made it impossible to press the matter. ]Meanwhile Susanna was writing in her childish round hand : ' I like Mr. Fortescue very much. He is a very kind gentleman, and asked me to stay directly he saw me. Cousin Lilian did not. But she did hug me so when I came in. And now, dear mother, I must tell you a very sad thing, and I don't know what you will think about it. But directly Miss Frost saw Cousin Lilian, she began to scold her really awfully, and say dreadful things about Mr. Fortescue, so I thought it was best to stop her, because I have often heard you say " the spoken word no man can take back," and I did not know what more Miss Frost might be going to say. So I just told her straight out she was going to die, and I thought they had better kiss and make friends. I don't know if you will think I did right, but poor Cousin Lilian almost looked as if she would die too. I told her afterwards that I hadn't understood what Miss Frost had said, which wasn't quite true, because I did understand all she said, only she didn't say why she spoke like that, and I can't think. And I told Cousin Lilian after- wards that Miss Frost often did not know what she was say- ing the last few days, and had hurt me more than once. And that was not quite true, too, because I never felt hurt. But I meant I should have if I had thought she was quite herself . So I hope these are not stories that I shall have to repent when I lie dying. Because I don't want to have things like that to think about then. And I don't want to have to repent about putting Mark in the bath either. So please, mother, will you believe I am very sorry that I did it, and that I was always so naughty at Chungking ? I say it quite solemnly now, all the same as if I were dying. And I can't think why it was, unless it was the bad air and never going out. For I don't ever wish to be naughty now. I don't indeed, but just MISS FROST AND SUSANNA 245 the other way. I hope you and Mark are quite well. My love to Mark, and to Mr. Threshie Reid, and to everyone. 'P.S. — Cousin Lilian looks quite different now — not as she used to do when I always had to do my lessons only because she wished it. She has a frock like what grandmama gave me last time we went to England, only hers is green, and mine was blue. ' P.S. 2. — I am sure Mr. Fortescue is a real Christian. He looks just like one. When I marry, I should like to have a husband just like him. He looks at Cousin Lilian in such a way as if she were too good to last. I mean to be very good. Ever, dear, dear mother, your most loving and repentant daughter, Susanna.' CHAPTER XXXI SUSANNA IN THE SEAT OF JUDGMENT Having no duties to perform, I am obliged to put up with pleasures. — Monokton Milnes. If Claude Fortescue had so far escaped much questioning from his wife, he now met with the severest daily cross- examinations at Susanna's lips. The child's curiosity was violently excited about him, and she wanted to know the why and the wherefore of everything. ' Cousin Claude,' she said one Sunday, ' if you think the Taoist religion worth spending so much time upon, I wonder you think it necessary to go to church.' ' I do not think it necessary, I believe,' said he, smiling at his tormentor, ' any more than any other ritual observance. But it may tend to edification — or it may not,' he added to himself, with an uncomfortable recollection of the trial of that morning's service. ' I do not see how it can tend to edification,' said Susanna, with her most grown-up air, ' where there is so little earnest- ness on the part of the congregation. I have always heard that Shanghai is a sink of iniquity. Those were Mr. Jenkins' very words, and Dr. Maxwell quite agreed with him. And as to the sermons, I should be ashamed to preach such a baby one as we heard this morning.' 246 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA ' I am surprised at you, Susanna. Have you forgotten the text, " Judge not, that ye be not judged " 1 ' 'Now, about that text,' asked Susanna, looking up eagerly, with her mouth full. 'Are you quite sure it was in the original ? And is it properly translated ? Because I don't know Greek, you see, nor Hebrew, and people make such mistakes with Chinese, I know. And I don't want to obey a doubtful text, which seems to me a very ridiculous one too.' ' O Susanna ! ' cried Lilian, greatly shocked. ' Well, Cousin Lilian, does anyone obey it 1 Aren't people judging all the time ? And what was judgment given for if you are not to use it 1 Peoplg only quote that.ifixt .when they don't like your judgment. Cousin Claude doesn't really like the sermons any better than I do, for he always goes to sleep. I see him. It is only the Roman Catholics who say no one is to use the judgment at all. And that's what we think so wicked in them, wrapping in a napkin the talent God has given them. No, when I grow up I think I shall be a Free- thinker, for that's what all the nicest people are. Mr. Threshie Reid said he was, and you are too, aren't you. Cousin Claude ? I like to be free.' ' How would you like to be an Agnostic, and humbly say life is a great mystery and you knew nothing about it ? ' ' I should not like that at all,' said Susanna. ' And I don't see any mystery in life. You have to eat to live, and to eat wholesome food to keep well — this water has all been boiled, hasn't it. Cousin Lilian ? Now, I think death is a mystery, if you like. There was Miss Frost, one minute wanting everything done for her, and the next minute you couldn't do anything for her any more. That made me think,' said Susanna. ' But I am quite used to life. Only what mother always said was, the one important thing is whether you are in the right way or not. Do you think you are in the right way, Cousin Claude ? ' ' What, Tao ! You are attacking me in my stronghold, Susanna ! You must read the Tao Teh King and the divine classic of Nan Hua if you want to understand how to follow the straight wide road, from which the many wrong ways of men diverge.' ' Mr. Fortesoue always answers like that, so that one knows no more,' said Susanna, folding her hands to say her grace after luncheon. ' But do you think. Cousin Lilian, he really means that one must learn Chinese 1 I always thought SUSANNA IN THE SEAT OF JUDGMENT 247 the Bible was quite enough, and mother always reads it in English, and nobody could be more good than mother.' 'That's right, Susanna. Follow your mother, and you can't go astray.' ' If we could all be like Cousin Mary ! ' sighed Lilian. ' My dear Mrs. Fortescue '— and there was Mrs. FitzHugh, magnificent in her Sunday best — 'excuse my coming in on Sunday and at luncheon time, but will you join in a special minuet for the fancy ball ? I came at once to ask you, because, if so, that pretty well settles the question of dress. And, to tell the truth, I've promised to persuade you. She'll look exquisite in powder ' — this aside to Mr. Fortescue. ' Run away, Susanna, I can't have your mind contami- nated by fancy-dress discussions on Sunday. And I'm sure it's time for your Sunday-school class,' said Claude Fortescue. Susanna went promptly. ' And will you, my dear Mrs. Fortescue, drive me to the next paper chase 1 1 want so much to go, and alone, you know. And there's that bazaar they are talking of for the tower of the church. I thought it would be so very nice if we could share a stall together. I'd provide all the things, and ' But there Claude Fortescue interfered. His wife was undertaking too much already, and he could not consent to her joining in a bazaar stall. He was a little surprised by Lilian's grateful look, till Mrs. FitzHugh went away, and she explained that, from her point of view, a bazaar to get up funds for a church desecrated the building it raised funds to build. But Mrs. FitzHugh immediately pursed up her lips, and assumed that mysterious air of complete intelligence thought necessary by some women. ' Then we give up the bazaar stall,' she said. ' Oh, no ! I shouldn't think of it by myself — shouldn't think of it. I will help dear Mrs. Forbes and Mrs. Phelps. They are both at their wits' ends.' But she went to two paper chases with the Fortescues, and it was only after that she allowed herself to be put up for the Country Club, and entered the charmed portals as a member, not only a guest upon sufferance. She was indeed becoming a leading personage in Shanghai now. And before they all knew where they were, the Shanghai winter, with its brilliant sunshine, and keen fresh air — the winter with its frosts and threatenings of snow that never fell, with its beautiful sunsets and occasional soft spring-like 248 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA days, interspersed with bouts of raw, black weather, when the wind blew straight off the icebergs round the North Pole down into everyone's bones and marrow — the winter was over. Twenty-three steamers had started for Tientsin on one day, communication with the North of China being again reopened by sea, and the peach orchards round Shanghai had all looked for a fortnight as if dressed out by fairies in pink and red skirts. The Mih Ho Loong ball was already a thing of the past, cross-country riding forbidden because of the crops, and the spring races were upon them . The Shanghai races are not what they used to be when everyone had ponies, and people rode their own, and backed their own or one another's luck. The Leviathan Stables, entering a string of twenty ponies or more, and buyiilg up all the high-priced grifiSns over everyone else's head, have spoiled the excitement somewhat, though if the end of racing be to improve the breed of horses, it certainly tends each year towards bringing down a larger mob of griffins from the North. Business men are apt now to go up country for the holidays ; every houseboat on the Soochow Creek is usually engaged for the occasion long beforehand, and there are even cheap return trips to Japan, when people get four days' sea-sickness and a day in Nagasaki cheap, if it suits them. But the races are still a great meeting time, against which men, if they can, plan their run up to Shanghai, and in conjunction with which ladies from the outports try to time their visits to the den- tist, and inspection of spring or autumn fashions, as the case may be, in the Shanghai shops . The autumn races are the most important from that point of view ; they are also, as a rule, the first cheerful event after the depression that falls on people when in the month of September so many sicken and even die after the heat of the summer is over. But the spring races, on the other hand, are the last grand flourish of merry- making before summer holds China in its grip once niore, and the spring dresses are the prettiest. So there is something to be said for both race meetings. The Shanghai racecourse is as nearly perfect as the Model Settlement boasts are its cricket ground, its paper chases, boat races, drag hunts, and every other accessory of all possible sports. For Shanghai men are nothing if they are not athletic ; they pique themselves upon being picked men as to health and stature, and certainly their rosy cheeks and general boyishness of aspect on into the forties speak well for SUSANNA IN THE SEAT OF JUDGMENT 249 the uses of exercise under a sub-tropical climate. It is only when they get into the fifties Nature seems to avenge herself, and they age rapidly. There is, however, one fault in their racecourse, and it is a great one as far as ladies are concerned. With an absolute disregard of that wind-and-water philo- sophy, or science of aspects, that is often said to be the real religion of the Chinese, the Shanghai men, who have built their theatre with its door to the north-east, so as to welcome every icy blast in winter, and deny access to every reviving breeze in summer, have also turned their grand stand so as to court the north-east breeze. The consequence is, ladies, especially ladies in spring dresses, eagerly quit its comfortable seats to walk up and down and up and down the plots of turf against the railing, and when too tired to walk more, drop in to those large tea-parties in the neighbouring villas that are more and more every year attracting people from the race- course, to the detriment of the general gaiety of the scene. This year, however, it was understood that only Mrs. Fitz- Hugh's party on the third afternoon was to interfere with the races. People understood it was to be a big aflFair, but vei y select, therefore necessary to show yourself to make evident that you too had been invited. Mrs. FitzHugh's windows com- manded the racecourse, and Captain FitzHugh had rigged up all manner of marvellous marquees, outside blinds, and ham- mocks so as to see the races with every luxury and comfort. That, however, was to be on the third day. CHAPTER XXXII SHANGHAI RACES The Dean is dead: (pray what is trumps ? ) Then Lord have mercy on his soul 1 (Ladies, I'll venture for the vole.) Six deans, they say, must bear the pall. (I wish I knew what king to call.) Madam, your husband wiU attend The funeral of so good a friend. Swift. The first race had been run, but there were very few ladies yet on the- grass plots, when Mr. and Mrs. Fortescue walked on, Lilian in one of the new costumes just arrived from 250 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA England, that are always an event in life in the East. They were at onoe received, as it were, by Mrs. FitzHugh. ' My dear Lilian, how lovely ! That bonnet is quite the last thing, I am sure. I have only seen it in "Punch " as yet ; that is always my fashion-book. And now I want you to take a ticket for the raffle that I am getting up for poor Mrs. Frederick. You know her husband has just died at Amoy, and left her absolutely destitute. They call it sunstroke, but it was of course— Oh, she has gone through a great deal. So I am raffling some silk embroidered curtains for her — the most exquisite things ! I don't know how they came by them. Then there are some ivory-backed brushes — quite fairy-like ! I have not decided yet whether to make two lots of them, or put them with the curtains. But you won't care, I know, if you'll take a ticket to oblige me. You see, being in the same service with Captain FitzHugh, I feel called upon to do all I can. And she is a most sweet little woman. Two tickets ! Oh, that's too kind. I should soon make up my numbers if everyone were so generous. They are five dollars each. Now I must take up my position by the pari inutuel. The men who win at least cannot refuse to take a ticket for poor Mrs. Frederick.' And take up her position she did. Claude Fortesoue was so entertained by watching what he called her modus 02)erandi, he could not be got away. ' But do^do, Claude. At least, don't stand so near. People will think I am mixed up in it,' said Lilian in great distress. ' No, I don't think they will,' said he, glancing at her with an amused smile for a moment, then listening again to Mrs. FitzHugh. One or two men had felt annoyed, and gone up to her rather impudently, tendering their money at once without being asked, as if she were a professional beggar. But Mrs. FitzHugh disarmed them. ' Oh, now, this is kind. Without being asked, and before you know whether you have won or not ! Now, this I do call real charity. Poor Mrs. Frederick ! I must tell her of it. It will comfort her to hear how she is felt for. I always knew you had a kind heart, Mr. Rhodes, and Jlr. Cardy too.' ' It is quite a lesson in diplomacy,' said Mr. Fortescue, glancing at his wife to see if she appreciated it. As he did so, he caught sight of a pair of broad shoulders, bushy brown whiskers, and a somewhat florid countenance, shouldering through the crowd of men to get a ticket. ' Ah, Threshie, is SHANGHAI RACES 251 that you ? Why, I thought you knew my wife ! ' as he saw the other look round shyly, half bow, then pass on. Mr. Eeid paused, and grew redder than ever. ' How are you, Mr. Reid 1 We heard you were expected. And how are they all at Chungking 1 ' asked LiUan, holding out her hand with great cordiality. Thus addressed, Mr. Eeid shook hands, which he did with much effusion, only remembering all the time, a little shyly, how often he had told Lilian that it was her duty to do all she could to entertain him at Chungking, because his prede- cessor had gone out of his mind from the dullness there. ' Mad as a hatter,' he remembered saying, and Lilian remem- bered it too. And there stood Claude Fortescue, dressed, like his wife, in his last new clothes from home, a flower in his button-hole, his hair cut and brushed, his hat dinted in in the fashionable way, and altogether looking quite as conventional as anyone. ' We have increased our numbers, and we're an open port now. But I have nothing to do with the place any more, of course. I am on my way to Corea now. But did you hear of Ward taking three months coming up to relieve me 1 ' ' Three months ! ' ' Yes ; he got stuck between Hankow and lohang — couldn't get the boat off. That took three weeks. One month up to Ichang. Then he started in a houseboat — got shipwrecked. Went back to lohang, and fell sick. Two months. Third month he started in a chair, found the bridges carried away in one place, couldn't get on, harked back. Tried another route, spraiued his ankle, got sunstroke, finally took boat at Changchow, and arrived at Chungking at the end of the third month, so cross there was no doing anything with him. A fine pace I came down, though,^,! can tell you. I came down in the post boat. Determined to do it from the first day I arrived there. Arranged it all beforehand — at least my boy did. Capital fellow, my boy ! But I haven't recovered my breath yet from the pace. How did you stand it, Mrs. Fortescue ? But the way you ladies all travel about quite beats me. It is not right, you know. It is not right. Poor Miss Frost, that was very sad ! And where's Miss Susanna ? ' ' Susanna does not think races right,' said Claude Fortescue slily. ' Whe-ew ! ' from Threshie Reid. 252 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA ' She was only not quite sure if her mother would ap- prove,' interposed Lilian quickly. ' So she asked to have some young friends to spend the day with her instead, which I think she will like much better. She is always very anxious not to do what her mother would not like." 'Now that her mother isn't there,' said Threshie Reid. ' That was a very 'cute move of Mrs. Betterton's, sending her away in charge of Miss Frost, though I can't understand how she'd the heart. Perhaps you're not aware that I am going to marry Miss Susanna. I'm sure she'd keep a tight hand over me, and I'm tired of keeping myself in check. I've saved all my salary, though, whilst I've been in Chungking — saved it entirely by not eating sausages.' ' We meet again, Mr. Reid,' said a small but high-toned voice. And there was Mrs. Stuckey, The orb^d maiden With -white fire laden Whom mortals call the moon I ' How are you, my dear Mrs. Fortescue ? And Mr. Fortescue ? Is Mr. Reid telling you that fable about his saving all his salary out of sausages 1 ' ' I did indeed,' cried Threshie Reid. ' I used to have one or two for breakfast, or at odd times, and if anyone dropped in, you know, unexpectedly, there went a tin with mashed potatoes, as fellows have them, you know. Well, one day I calculated the price — the initial cost, the freight from England to Shanghai, from Shanghai to Ichang, from Ichang to Chung- king — in short, what you could lay them down at there. Then I calculated how many I used per month. Why, it came to twice my salary in sausages alone. A man would have to be a sort of viceroy to stand it. So I forbade the boy to let a sausage look me in the face again, and — I saved my salary.' ' But you must have eaten something, you silly fellow.' ' No, I didn't. I always dined out when I was asked. And my boy used to give me some of his rice at other times.' ' Your boy ! Well, you paid him for it.' ' No, I didn't. It was his own rice. He is not just an ordinary boy, you know. I call him my kwan-tsze — butler, steward, confidential adviser, all in one.' ' Oh my, Mr. Reid ! Don't I wish I were your boy in the matter of wages, squeezes included, of course ! But there's the saddling bell at last ! I began to think these were races without any racing.' SHANGHAI RACES 253 ' Where's Stuckey ? ' asked Claude Fortescue, as together he and Mr. Reid escorted the ladies to the railings. ' Don't ask me. I've known where nobody was but Stuckey for the last six months. So I said to him, " Do let us make a change somehow. Do let us neither of us know where the other is while we are in Shanghai ! " So I don't even know where he is staying. I'm at the Astor House. But I really can't say if ho is or not.' The sun was shining brightly out of on unclouded sky. The crowds of Chinese spectators all round the course looked, as somebody has said, like ' a blue pincushion full of pins,' so great was the gathering of the blue gowns. And the colours of the jockeys shone out vividly in the bright sunshine, whilst there was the usual diifioulty in getting the stubborn, intelli- gent little China ponies into line. For the ponies and dogs in China are all, like the Chinese themselves, quite unaccustomed to discipline, with opinions of their own — most sensibleopinions too, when they are getting over the gigantic boulders and holes skirting the precipices of the Great Brick Tea Road or such like ; but still not sharing tlicir rider's opinions, which is all he wants on a racecourse. There was the usual number of false starts, the starters and the clerk of the course all much en Evidence, and it was a very straggling line when they did get off, received by a prolonged roar of excitement from the outside Chinese, whilst the Europeans, or Westerns as they call themselves in China to include Americans, all craned their necks in silence, the men with the best opera glasses by degrees warming up and dropping words of encouragement or warning. A cream from the Leviathan Stables at once assumed the lead, with two rank outsiders close up behind, however. At the Widow's Monument the cream was still leading, a chestnut going up, and a spotted pony last. Coming round the bushes, the Leviathan Stables were still leading, but not much, whilst a brown pony, ridden by a blue and silver jockey, had got into second place. Entering the straight, the brown pony came to the front, and whilst the Leviathan Stables fell back, one of the outsiders again crept up. These three then came on with a rush, all three being pushed along at a tremendous pace, the brown winning on the post by a short head. The outsider was second, and the Leviathan Stables third. Great was the cheering among the men, and there was a regular stampede to shake hands with and congratulate both owner and rider, stable and jockey being alike popular. 254 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA ' Now, let mc look at some of these athletes,' said little Mrs. Stuokey. ' Remember I have not seen a decently made man since I left here.' ' What ! not Stuckey 1 ' ' Now, I did not marry my husband to use him as a lay figure. Oh, perhaps you are like Mr. Stuokey, and think I'm a fraud because I have not made a statue since I've been in China. No clay, no plaster, no marble, and no model ! Yet that man expects a statue. Say ! have you heard we're promoted, and going to Peking 1 Well, I've managed that. Yes, I did. I marked two spots on a vase ; and I took them to represent the Inspector-General's eyes, and I sat and looked at them. I did it for half an hour every day. No good ! I stared for one hour. My brain reeled witli willing. At last one day I fainted — then the telegram came. Oh, you will see great things. Mr. Stuckey is a man of enormous adminis- trative ability. But we are not half doing it. We must go to the paddock, see the ponies, see the men who are to ride them, and decide who is to wiii.' ' Dear me ! we should all make a pot of money if we could do that,' laughed Threshie Reid. ' No, you may back my opinion if you like. I can't. I can only have the sympathetic thrill of victory. My whole strength has to be absorbed in willing. If I had money on, that would dissipate it.' ' May I take you into luncheon, Mrs. Fortescue ? I don't know if it is the right thing or not. But a man deserves some compensation who has .served his time in Chungking. And you'll tell me if I don't do the rii;iit thing, won't you ? As for that little lady, she is mad, I lielieve.' Then he re- membered again how he had called her husband mad, and felt he was already making a mess of it. ' I have often wondered how such an enthusiastic little genius would bear China,' said Lilian, smiling at his embarrass- ment. ' I am afraid it has not been very pleasant for her so far. But she has written me the most beautiful letters — only Aery odd. One was a most elaborate study of her husband's character. She fancies him a most remarkable man, beside whom she is only a flash in the pan. Now, I like Mr. Stuckey very much, and so does Mr. Fortescue ; but there does not seem to be anything very remarkable about him. And she must be a genius, I suppose, to have been chosen out of all the Americans by the President to make a colossal statue of Washington.' SHANGHAI RACES 255 ' Perhaps she made spots on a vase for his eyes. But — but excuse me, Mrs. Fortescue, is not this Russian salad something uncommonly good 1 There seems to be a savour — or flavour — or something quite ■ And this champagne, isn't it excellent 1 You'll warn me if I seem to be taking too much, won't you 1 You see, I'm only accustomed to champagne now dining with Taotais, when it would not be the proper thing not to do so. Why do you laugh ? ' ' Why, you talk as if you had been brought up in the West of China, not spent eighteen months there. And I don't believe you ever took too much wine in your life.' ' Well, then, I've been mistaken very often. I've constantly thought lately I was taking more than was good for me.' 'So you do, Threshie. A man of your complexion ought never to touch wine in this climate, certainly not while the sun shines,' interposed Claude Fortescue. ' And this is my first week in Shanghai. And I've been sustaining myself in my travels with warm Lao Chin ! Kill- joy ! But what grand doings you have been having at the Club lately ! ' ' Have we ? ' ' Haven't you heard about last night 1 ' ' No, I never go there at night.' ' Well, it wasn't there exactly. But if Mrs. Foitescue will excuse me — one of the sailors from the Russian man-of- war was at the theatre, abominably drunk, and Harry Dolliboy, who was in the dress circle and noticed it, went out and told one of the policemen to remove him. Meanwhile, Papier- mache, as they call him, came in with four or five young bloods, who had been dining at the club together. Papier- mach^ was leaning against a pillar, and you know how tumbling to pieces he always looks. Well, as the poUceman came into the house, the sailor, who was about as drunk as he could be, rolled off and under his seat, so that he could not be seen, and the policeman, who was under Dolliboy's orders to arrest some one, went straight up to Papier-mftch^ and arrested him. There was a lively remonstrance, not to say a little bit of a scuffle. And at the end of the performance what does Papier-mach^ do but walk up to the policeman outside the house, seize him by the collar, and shake him, and declare that was the way in which he had himself been handled. The policeman, who had found out by now the mistake he had made, was horribly frightened. Then the whole set of them 256 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA went back to the Club together, assured Papier-mach^ he had been insulted, and that the honour of his nation was at stake, and he ought to get a public apology. So, between one and two in the morning, he drives off to the police station, and insists on being looked up for the night. He was not locked up, I believe, but they could not get him away till the inspector came in the morning, asked him in to have some coffee with them, and then told him his trap was there, as if it had just driven up. But there's to be no end of a row about it yet — a public trial, I believe, that his character may bo solemnly cleared from the imputation of being the worse for liquor. His friends are very guarded. They all confine themselves to saying it was after dinner. I never saw a more absurd scene than the whole thing was at the theatre — worth going for, which the play was not. But you heard about the other aflTair, when tlie Russian admiral had a great dinner 1 No ! Not how one of the racing men, not out of mischief at all, I believe — but I really don't know, though — was treating all the Russian band to drinks, v.hen in came an officer. I don't know whether he had been dining with the admiral or not, but with him was the man they call Money Bags, that Moscow banker's son. The racing man ofiered them drinks. The Russian officer signified that he'd had more than he could carry already. The racing man laughed. The officer hit at him, or something. That does not seem to have been much. One of the boating men, a huge, powerful fellow, seized the Englishman, pinioning him with his arms behind. That was quite right, and he was a plucky fellow ; for the racing man's blood was up, and he was going to hit the Russian officer, and he'd have hit hard, and there'd have been a regular free fight ; when what does that Money Bags do 1 With the Englishman's arms pinioned, and him powerless, ho hits him in the face ! Tlien the other fellow went for him. And he fled howling into the very room where the admiral was still dining. There's to be no end of a business over that too. And you mean you had not heard of it ? ' ' No, even in this focus of dissipation you have no idea how calmly one can pursue the even tenor. It is you fellows who come down from the country who make all the gossip ; and the men from over the waters who make the rows, it seems. It is not we quiet Shanghai people. But since you are dis- posed to be so communicative, what is the true history of the Ichang riot ? It always strikes me as the most inexplicable of SHANGHAI RACES 257 the lot, especially ■with that extraordinary theatrical sort of announcement afterwards that there were to be no more riots, an announcement which has so far proved perfectly correct.' 'Oh, it was a regular got-up thing, if ever anything was,'said Mr. Reid in his loud voice, going at it full tilt. ' It was all over in twenty minutes, every foreigner's house in the place burnt down. "Where does your master keep his money?" they asked at each house. " He doesn't keep any. When he wants money he sends to the bank for it." " Very well, where is your petroleum tin, then 1 " and they set fire to the house with it. You heard of Everett putting on his consular cap — he hadn't time for the uniform, I understood — and sitting on alone in the Consulate 1 ' ' Yes, it was grand ! ' said Lilian, her eyes glistening. ' His servants, constable and all, every man jack of them, decamped, only sending him occasional messages that he must fly for his life. But Everett wouldn't budge. It was like the Roman senators in the forum, wasn't it t — till some one pulled some one's beard. No one pulled Everett's, or rather not his cap. But they knocked off the great General Lo's. That the Chinese speak of with bated breath. They think it a great deal more dreadful than burning the houses, little children being just saved by being snatched out of their baths and carried off wrapped in towels, and the Roman Catholic Sisters thrown bleeding into the river bed. Some of the children in their orphanage must have been burnt, if not many — if not many,' repeated Threshie Reid. ' Yes, but what is the true inwardness of it 1 Was it anti- missionary, got up by a secret society, or what 1 ' ' My dear fellow, the chapels and schools weren't touched ; the missionary services have been going on just the same ever since, only without any Europeans, of course. No, that anti- missionary talk is all my eye, in my opinion. The Chinese don't care. They'd give each of our sects a province to convert to-morrow, for a consideration. It is the foreign customs, that's what it is. Why, now that Chungking is an open port, every junk between Ichang and Chungking that flies a foreign flag, pretending to be chartered by one or other of the great Shanghai firms, avoids paying local dues. The foreign customs collect all the duty that is paid, and it goes right away, most part of it, while all the little local petty ofiicials, men of letters, who have passed their examinations and can't turn their hands to anything, are left starving to stare at the B 258 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA foreigners coming up with their big salaries— nothing in Chungking good enough for them ! Of course they feel dis- posed to get up riots. Then think of the feelings of a patriotic Chinaman — and, mind you, there must be such — seeing a foreign flag run up at every Likin station, and Kwei Fu and the other towns that lived by the collection of duties left high and dry. "When they get up a riot — which I always think is the best organised, most orderly thing in China — they use all the inflammatory material they can, of course, and put out proclamations against the missionaries — oh ! I have seen them of a most disgraceful nature — but that alone would prove to me that missionaries have nothing to do with the riots. They never mention the foreign customs, now do they 1 ' ' Why, to do so would be to fight against the Emperor himself. It is all very well to call them foreign customs. The Emperor is the head of them. It would be a revolution — declared.' ' Yes ; and perhaps you have noticed the Chinese generally prefer not to be so very explicit. But just think what one of the Chinese commissioners — first-class mandarins, some of them — must think of the so-called foreign commissioners — commissioners without any commissions — when he sees them in the inferior post, his subordinates, in receipt of twice or even three times such a salary as he gets ! ' ' Mr. Reid, I have been listening spellbound,' said Mrs. Stuckey, her great luminous eyes fixed upon his face. ' And I have a favour to ask of you. Will you sit to me as Hercules cleansing the stables of Augeus 1 I have never done a statue in action so far. And Hercules has never been represented active.' ' Why, have I been thumping the table too much 1 I asked you to tell me if I didn't behave,' with a reproachful glance at Lilian. 'Why, there's the Consul-General, and I haven't reported myself.' ' He is splendid,' sighed Mrs. Stuckey, as Mr. Reid left them. ' I have enjoyed every minute of his conversation, his gestures are so free. Why, if there isn't Mr. Stuckey looking at the ponies ! Just what I meant to do,' and she went oS to join him. ■ Do you think Mr Reid really believes he has been living on nothing a year 1 ' asked Lilian of her husband. ' Impossible to tell what a man believes after a term of Chungking ! ' SHANGHAI RACES 259 ' Did you find it so very lone — so very dreadful 1 ' asked she, slipping her hand through his arm. It was the first time they had ever spoken alone together of Chungking. To other people they had spoken of it in each other's presence. But they together to one another never. ' I found it both very lonely and very dreadful,' said Mr. Fortescue, looking somewhat gravely at her. ' If we were there together ! ' ' Sweetheart ! Together ! Why, Chungking would be paradise. Or any place where we could be quite alone together, sure of never seeing anyone else again.' ' That is the reason we came to the races, I suppose,' said Lilian, with that little fine smile that seemed to owe more to the exquisite curves of her lips than to any inward merriment. ' And why you asked Mr. Reid to luncheon. But Susanna will like to hear about her mother. How picturesque this grouping is ! I think I like this better than the races, these tall Sikh policemen, with their brilliant-coloured turbans like so many big tulips, and those blue-jackets, and then all those crowds of Chinese. Let us go round and look at them.' Just then Mr. Cunningham came up, and said he must point out to her the most remarkable man in China — the one man who had made money by writing a book upon it. ' As Mr. Fortescue can tell you, most books written upon China are given away, and only paid for by their writers.' ' Are they, Claude 1 ' Mr. Fortescue smiled a somewhat expressive smile. 'I have not written — a book yet.' ' But did that old gentleman sell a great many copies 1 ' asked Lilian. ' He sold five — in Shanghai.' ' Well, then ? ' ' Five hundred went down in the P. and 0. They were all insured at a little over their cost value. And that was the best sale a book upon China ever made. But you are not going before the Taotai's Cup, I hope. The Taotai himself is just coming in with all his retinue. It is better than anything you will see upon the London stage.' Her husband had been looking forward to showing it to her, but he now stood by and let Mr. Cunningham explain the motley procession, as it filed past with all its uncouth pageantry ; how these were the executioners with the high conical hats, these men carried all the Taotai's titles, each S2 260 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA man one on a board. Happiest of all looked the beggar boys, -who marched in front, the reeves, pheasant feathers stuck in their caps considerably longer than themselves. ' But I always forget you have been up country and seen it all before,' he finished in a tone of vexation. ' You could not put it on the London stage so ragged, though, could you 1 ' said Lilian, -without exactly ans-wering, being, indeed, lost in contemplation of the mediaeval scene, not painted, but living and moving before her, carrying the mind back so far across the centuries, as scenes in China are con- stantly doing, till sometimes one feels in the fifteenth century, sometimes in the thirteenth, occasionally in the days of Pompeii, and even sometimes reading the inscriptions on the memorial arches, transported to beyond the Fall, -when our ancestors all lived in Paradise. ' No, of course, tliose are all beggars and street ro-wdies, -who only slip their oflBcial finery over their rags. What are you smiling at, Fortescue ? ' ' I -was thinking ho-w many apparently Christian gentlemen are only savages -n'ith all their heathen rags on underneath, if ■we had the eyes to see them. And the racecourse presented such an odd appearance for a minute. But did you see those t-wo ladies just no-w, as the Taotai's procession -went up to the grand stand, stand right in his -^vay, so that the Taotai could hardly get by 1 And one of them said, " Chinese coming in here ! I don't think this ought to be allowed." And the other said to some man -with her, " Turn them out ! Order them off ! " It is the American Consul's -wife and Mrs.- Robinson from Hanko-w, -where, you kno«', the Chinese are al-ways ordered off the footpath by the liver, and not allo-wed on the racecourse, I believe. I think I ought to go and speak, Will you come, Lilian ? ' 'Mr. Cunningham can take care of me,' said Lilian, turning away, though very gently. ' I want to ask you to dine with us to meet the Stuckeys before she starts to speak to the Chinese Emperor soul to soul.' ' With pleasure ! A lady with a mission indeed ! ' And then even to them came the news that had been making its way all round the racecourse, leaving grave faces everywhere — the popular broker, Shanghai's representative man, as we have sometimes called him, had died quite suddenly that morning. People went home from the racecourse somewhat thought- fully. A SNAKE IN THE GRASS 261 CHAPTER XXXIIT A SNAKE IN THE GRASS Ho who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, And he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere. Emekson, Omar Chiam. ' Isn't Fortescue a good "deal changed by marriage ? ' asked Threshie Reid, after he and the Consul-General had exchanged preliminary greetings and inquiries. ' Ah ! you notice it, do you ? I don't know. I am not — not quite comfortable about Fortescue. He used to be all quip and quiddity. No quips and quiddities now ; always hang- ing upon his wife's face.' ' Well, it is a very beautiful one.' ' Yes, he has that excuse.' ' My dear Ashley, aren't you taking things rather seriously ? ' ' Well, I'll tell you how it is. Of course I wouldn't tell everyone. But you are in the service, and it is in confidence, of course.' Mr. Reid nodded. ' The truth is, I think he has something on his mind, some- thing he is trying to conceal. And I am afraid I know what it is. I married them, you know.' ' Oh, you married them ! ' It was remarkable to observe how Mr. Reid had discharged all expression out of his face. He had only grown very red in the effort. Otherwise no Neapolitan thief, past master in the art, could have done it better. ' Yes, it was all in a great hurry. There was some idea of his being sent Q.ff at once to Kiukiang. And what I under- stood, but I really don't know how I heard it, was that she had been sent down by her aunt up country, a missionary, to marry Fortescue. Of course I thought I knew all about him, trusted him. She was under age. But she was staying with missionaries here. I thought she was one of the lot. JM rs. FitzHugh was an old friend, who seemed to understand all about it. They had all come out from England together. And I asked no questions.' ' Ah, you asked no questions.' In a more suspicious man his absolute want of expression would have aroused attention. But Mr. Ashley was not suspicious, nor apt to be observant of 262 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA his neighbour's countenance any more than the average Englishman, who yet would think scorn not to notice when a horse puts back its ears or a dog wags its tail. ' No ! In a laughing sort of way I said to Fortescue something about settlements, and I remember his answer, something about the last Married "Women's Property Act securing a woman's money to herself after marriage, as it does. But the long and the short of it is he married a girl not twenty- one without even asking the consent of her guardian. There's a man here now knows the guardian, met him after the marriage had occurred, but before he had even heard a word of it. And the girl turns out to be the daughter of that Grey in the Diplomatic Service who died of yellow fever in Rio, a very distinguished man indeed. His second wife was a German countess, who was lady in waiting in the late King of Hanover's court. And the girl's grandmother was one of the Drummonds, related to all the Drummonds. As far as I make out now, she has at least a thousand pounds a year.' ' Yes, I know she has,' said Threshie Reid. ' More than that, indeed.' 'Why, how do you know it ? ' ' From her cousin, Mrs. Betterton, who is a great friend of mine.' ' What, the aunt who sent her down to get married ? ' ' She didn't ! She is her cousin, mind you, not her aunt. But she never heard a word of it till it was all over.' ' Well, then, I think it was a — a very ungentlemanly thing of Fortescue to do,' said the Consul-General, going nearer to an oath than he had done for many a long day. ' And I'm uncommonly sorry I had anything to do with it. Why, I'm not sure it is not contrary to law. Thank goodness, she was not a ward in Chancery ! ' Threshie Reid was silent. This in itself was so pheno- menal an occurrence that it at last arrested e^'en Mr. Ashley's attention, and made him feel still more uncomfort- able. ' I say, by the way, you won't repeat what I've been telling you.' ' Not a word — unless to Mrs. Betterton. I might feel it my duty to tell her. But Fortescue is a perfectly honourable man where money is concerned. You might trust him with untold gold. I hope you might any of us, but certainly Fortescue,' A SNAKE IN THE GRASS 263 ' But -why hurry so, then ? It was hardly decent. Why consult no one t It is getting talked about — a good deal talked about, I believe. Even at the Club bar I hear it has been mentioned. And I am sorry it should be a man in our service.' Threshie Reid was dumb. But it seemed it was a good deal talked about. At the house at which he was dining that night, that and the broker's sudden death seemed to divide the honours of the conversation with the races. ' "Well, we all know the reason of the hurry, I think,' said Mrs. Robinson, shrugging her shoulders. It seemed other people did not know, and she did not explain at the dinner table ; but Mr. Reid felt it borne in upon him that by the time the gentlemen joined the ladies every woman at that party would have heard her J version. As to himself, he divulged notlung, though he did not know whether it might not be better to clear Fortescue from the other, in men's eyes, so much worse imputation. But he remembered Lilian's face, and he could not bring himself even to drop a suggestive ' I think there might be other reasons for Fortescue's hurrying his wedding.' It seemed like treason against her even to speak of such a thing. So he sat and swelled with indignation at the remarks made on his brother Consul till the conversa- tion tamed. ' Poor old daddy ! ' said one man. ' He was a good sort. But I've seen he has been breaking up for some time past.' Yes, they'd all seen it, they said. ' The cleverest and best read man in Shanghai,' said another. ' And the best fellow, take him all round.' ' Yes, the best fellow. I don't believe he had an enemy in the place. We sha'n't look upon his like again in a hurry. There are none of the young fellows growing up like him.' ' Well, perhaps it is just as well,' said another, a new comer this. ' Are you backing Petronel 1 There's a horse a young fellow in our office has got hold of, a queer sort of a strawberry ' ' Did he know he was dying, do you think ? ' ' Not in the least. Just didn't feel well, he said. Old Rogers went in to see him. They always took a cocktail together at the same hour every day — done it for years past, to the minute. He was leaning back in his armchair. " What ! am I late ? " he said. " Sorry. But I feel so tired. I 264 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA think I'd like to rest — altogether," and with that he was dead. How old was he ? ' ' Over fifty.' ' Fifty ! ' the other man stared astonished. ' Sixty ' Seventy ! ' ' No, fifty. Some men age fast. He was younger than you and I are.' Then they joined the ladies. ' It is only a pity they are not happier together,' shruggeu Mrs. Robinson, as the gentlemen filed sheepishly in one after another. ' But I always saw she was a little simpleton in spite of her pretty face. As to him, poor man, he looks per- fectly wretched . She keeps him tied to her apron-strings, I hear. I understand I am the first lady he ever left her side to speak to. Greatly honoured, I'm sure. And what do people make of Mrs. Stuckey 1 ' She was told none knew what to make of her, but they all agreed that he looked fat and rosy. People hoped to meet them at Mrs. FitzHugh's. Everyone laughed at but everyone seemed to like Mrs. Fitz- Hugh. She was so good-natured, they all said. Mrs. Robinson laughed too, but even she did not Bay anything against Mrs. FitzHugh. ' The most hospitable, kindly, genial fellow ! Helped everyone right and left. There's many a broker in the Western Ghauts will rue the day ' ' In the Western Ghauts 1 ' ' Yes, the China houses where the broken-down men live. He'd always some dollars for a friend.' ' I back Petronel ' ' I say, I hear there's a strawberry ' ' Oh, nonsense ! a young fellow's one pony is always a Phoenix.' CHAPTER XXXIV HIS EACB WAS RUN He loved the Dean (I lead a heart), But dearest friends, they say, must part. His time was come ; he ran his raoe ; We hope he's in a better place. — Swift. It was very early in the afternoon, as nearly at the luncheon hour as it well could be, the broker's funeral, so as to distract HIS RACE WAS RUN 266 people from the races as little as possible. The ladies had all just come out from lunoheoHj as also the men who had been lunching with them. The other men, who had had no ladies and trooped in by themselves, had not come out yet when the long procession began to file past. There had been an article in the morning paper in which the profound grief into which Shanghai had been plunged struggled with the brilliant sunshine with which it had been flooded the day before, and the extraordinary success of the racing. He had been written of as a representative man, the friend of all in distress, the most upright, the most honourable, a leading member of the community. And now every corporate body in the place had turned out to do him honour. There were the volunteers, for had he not years ago been a volunteer, and joined the home guard directly that had been started in the riot scare 1 There was the fire brigade, for had he not been one of them ? There was the town band, which had left the racecourse for the express purpose of following the funeral, and now summoned everyone to the far side of the course by its melancholy strains. The Municipal Council were neces- sarily there, individually and representatively, for for some years he had been a member of the Council, though not of recent date. The Freemasons also claimed him as their own, and were represented, although he had never been an active member of any lodge. The one gunboat in harbour sent a detachment of marines and blue-jackets as a compliment to Shanghai, and the Consul-General himself took the captain with him in his carriage. Only the Young Men's Christian Association and the Asiatic Society were conspicuous by their absence ; and there was not a single missionary present at the funeral. But the Cathedral clergyman officiated, and nearly every merchant in the place attended ; whilst not a broker was missing from the company around the grave. Needless to say, the leading broker himself attended in per- son, though amongst such a gorgeous and distinguished company the corpse often gets somewhat overlooked. But one or two men with rather wet eyes missed his spirit greatly, as they thought of the little comments he would have made upon the proceedings, and almost heard his voice saying them, as they had heard it, indeed, but two days before at the Club bar. ' Nobody would have been more cut up than he would have been to spoil the races so,' men said, as they hurried back to the course, some of them still in funeral black. 266 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA But as the melancholy strains from the town band died away in the distance, the first afternoon race was being rnn, people flocking back from looking at the funeral to the rails. ' A curious-coloured pony ! ' remarked Mr. Stuckey. A very tall young fellow, with a glowing face, was patting a strawberry pony, and generally assisting to settle himself in the saddle, a young fellow in a remarkably ill-fitting jockey get-up, a red cap, and black, red, and white jacket. ' Why, that's young Field in my handkerchief ! ' exclaimed Mrs. Stuckey. ' Have you made yourself a cap out of it t But you're never going to ride, are you 1 ' ' I'm going to try,' said the young fellow, hardly venturing to look up, his face all smiles and blushes. Never till the last moment had he known if he'd got leave from Wuhu, and his clothes had all been contrived on the way down, he was so very small. ' I say, O'Callaghan, don't let her jerk her head so.' ' You hold on by the knees, old boy. Shall I wax them 1 I say, don't you use a whip till you get to the bushes, what- ever you do — and — and ' The other directions were in- audible, the strawberry continuing alternately to rear and jerk its head in a manner apparently most bewildering to the rider. ' Say, Stuckey, if that child is killed, whatever will you do 1 Mrs. Field is a widow, and do you remember her last letter ? ' ' I do,' said Mr. Stuckey gravely. ' If I had had Ijhe least idea of this, I would never have given young Field leave. But don't say a word now. It is all we can do. I suppose O'Callaghan has picked him out as the lightest weight for that creature to throw.' But Mrs. Stuckey was not listening. Her lamps of eyes were fixed upon the young boy's beaming, flushing face, her little hands tight clasped. Wherever that strawberry jumped and jerked, there was Mrs. Stuckey not far oflT, gazing at its rider, till she found herself at last squeezed under a big German's arm ; he having good-naturedly let her slip in right up against the railing just by the starting-point. Twice there was a false start, all because of that strawberry. And the men round were getting impatient, and young O'Callaghan biting his lip with a feverish spot of colour in his cheeks. ' Petron^l ! Petron^l ! ' shouted the crowd. He was German owned, as well as first favourite. HIS RACE WAS RUN 267 Mrs. Stuckey never spoke nor moved. At last they were really off. ' Oh ! he is forcing him ! he is forcing him ! ' cried young O'Callaghan in a tone of despair, dropping his opera-glass, and turning his back upon the field. ' Don't you see he can't go slower ? ' said Lilian's soft, clear tones. ' Your horse can't go slower.' Mr. O'Callaghan, who had never even been introduced, just looked up at her with one half-terrified glance of surprise, and then turned to the course again, his opera-glass to his eyes, but shaking so he could hardly see through it. It was a mile race for bond fide griffins, and seven ponies had started for it. But from the first it appeared that the race was only between Petronel and the strange strawberry. The strawberry had walked away at first, but now steadily but surely Petronel seemed gaining. ' Petronel ! Petronel ! ' shouted the Germans. ' Go it Struwe ! Go it ! Go it ! ' 'Petronel ! Petronel ! ' shouted the English, a note higher, but not with such a powerful diapason. No one shouted for the strawberry. Only young O'Callaghan stood and trembled. Lilian heard his teeth chatter. She knew he could not see through those huge opera-glasses he was holding up rather to hide his face than for any good they could do him. ' Petronel is gaining,' she said gently. ' But Mr. Field has not used his whip yet.' Mr. O'Callaghan gave her another look, almost as if he could hug her this time. Mrs. Stuckey never spoke, only moved as the ponies moved, her eyes fixed, unblinking. At the Monument Petronel was leading. Hats were waved, handkerchiefs flashed out. Petronel was the pony upon which the German community had from the first placed their highest hopes and staked their stakes. Another pony was coming up now. A pony with a purple and gold rider was getting even with the strawberry ; neck and neck the two were coming on together by the green bushes, Petronel well in front. But what was it ? Was Petronel's jockey flogging him ? Could it be Petronel was showing signs of distress ? Anyhow, at that fatal turn some change seemed to occur, and as they came out into the straight, young Field could be seen using his whip. The strawberry made one great bound, and shot ahead. ' Petronel ! Petronel ! ' shouted the Germans in tones of despair. ' Give her her head, 268 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA Struwe ! Flog her ! ' Men mounted on the railings to adjure the jockey. But the strawberry came on with its long stride, and won the race by a couple of lengths, amidst loud cheers, mingled with groans of distress, having beaten the record and done the mile in 2 min. 8 sec. Mr. O'Callaghan was oflf like a shot to welcome his pony and champion ; and little Field was lifted off amongst an admiring group of young men. In the confusion none hardly noticed that little Mrs. Stuckey had fainted. But her husband was by her side, and he took her away at once. ' You did not go to the funeral, Fortescue ? ' ' No, I did not know him. D.T. was it 1 ' ' Oh, no. Not every man whom drink kills dies of D.T. Now, Mrs. Fortescue, how are you going to keep young O'Callaghan from breaking out to-night ? I have seen you watching him with great interest during this race. And little Field, too ! Every man here will want to stand them both a drink.' ' I never thought of that,' said Lilian. ' But he seemed so anxious, I could not help feeling for him, and I am so glad he has won. It was his only pony, you see. But you don't think he'll go and drink now, do you ? ' she asked anxiously. ' He was half drunk already.' ' With excitement. Only with excitement,' said Mr. Fortescue. And that was all young O'Callaghan got drunk with that race meeting. Her face steadied him, and reminded him he was responsible for Field, who came from the same part of Ireland, and was younger than he, and so small. The two young fellows went away as sober as judges, but so wild with joy none believed it of them. When anyone offered young O'Callaghan a drink that day, he remembered Lilian's pure face, and her kind eyes looking down on him ; even the very tones of her voice had purity in them. ' Oi dare not trust meself. Oi'm that drunk already,' was what he said, however, and people believed it of him. As to young Field, he was chiefly intent on getting the strawberry put up comfortably, and himself out of his ill-fitting, shivery clothes. ' I say, my arm is nearly out of the socket,' he said, ' and I think a warm bath is about the thing for me.' Men wanted him to ride again next day, but he was the only son of his mother, and such a little one. He knew what she felt about him. ' No, I rode for O'Callaghan,' he said. HIS RACE WAS RUN 269 ' But I don't ride again. My arm is out, I tell ye, and I'm pretty well done.' So they went to bed early that night and dreamed delight- ful dreams. If it could only always have been so ! CHAPTER XXXV THE SKELETON IN THE CUPBOAED So true is the observation of Confucius, that we take greater pains to persuade others that we are happy than in endeavouring to think so ourselves.— Goldsmith. Mr. Reid arrived early to luncheon. He had asked for a private interview with Susanna, saying he had many messages and grave instructions to give her from her mother. But Susanna received him looking so uncommonly like a young lady, with her figure so developed, and her hair done up, that poor Mr. Reid felt quite shy at first. Born and bred in China, the only effect the climate had upon her seemed to be in the way of over-development. LUian had been alarmed at her pre- cocity, and sent her now daily tQ the Convent School, that she might be as much with other children as possible. But they were all China bred, and young ladies. Susanna did not seem to become more juvenile under their influence. The child who had left Chungking her mother would never see again. But it was evident from her own absolute want of shyness that she had not quite attained to young-ladyhood yet. She was quite without self-consciousness. And she did not put on any air of being more interested in what Mr. Reid told her than she really was. It appeared that she was wholly absorbed in her own life, and that while very ready to tell about that to her mother, and even to consult her — at a distance — the idea that her mother and brother had a life of their own was even distasteful to her. She evidently could not imagine any life going on quite apart from her own per- sonality. Mr. Reid felt disappointed. He had completely entered into Mrs. Betterton's motherly anxieties, and promised to affect Susanna, and now he felt powerless to do so. She sat before him, a very fine young woman, with a bright colour, and her eyes shining, as she looked at him, but quite un- moved. Was Mark grown 1 Oh, was he really ? Mother 270 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA had said so. But slie supposed he was still little Mark. Would mother like to send him down to Shanghai for her to take care of ? 'I would be very good to him if she did — not as I used to be,' said Susanna with a blush. But when he came to talk about her own life she was quite different, and at once became full of animation. She seemed delighted with the presents that had been sent her, and thanked him profusely for the Buddha's hands that he had brought down, candied, in a bottle for her. ' They taste just like citron,' she said, ' and they do look so very curious. I shall give one to Cousin Lilian for her dinner parties ; for I always dine downstairs at parties now, so that I shall hear what the people will say about it.' Then he told her her mother was rather uneasy lest she was staying too long with the Fortescues. They might be finding her in their way, and Mrs. Betterton wanted to know if they never talked of sending her to school. 'Now, whether they find me in the way or not, I can't possibly know,' said Susanna with perfect candour. ' For one thing is quite certain, that if they did ever so much, they would never let me know, not either of them. But as there ia no reason why they should not send me to school if they wished, and mother herself suggested it, I suppose they don't mind having me here. I do go to the French Sisters every day, but that is not to learn, it is to meet other children. Cousin Claude said he thought his conversation was too im- proving for me. It is very improving, I think, don't you ? ' Mr. Reid did not know that he had thought about it, but certainly Mr. Fortescue was reckoned a very clever man. ' I think him a wonderfully clever man,' said Susanna, ' quite wonderfully clever. Sometimes when they have visitors I can sit and listen without talking, because nobody speaks to me. I like that much — much better than when somebody makes baby sort of talk on purpose for me, as they do sometimes. But then I always listen to Cousin Claude, and when he goes on for some time, do you know, my head quite aches with stretching to take it all in. Sometimes, indeed, I get so tired I just go to bed ;J for if I don't understand all he eays now, I try to recollect it all, that I may understand it some day. Some people, I know, say Cousin Claude is not a Christian. But, do you know, I think he is inspired, only then I understand quite.' Threshie Reid began to be afraid that by the time Susanna THE SKELETON IN THE CUPBOARD 271 was a little more grown up, she would be a great deal too superior for him. He had talked laughingly of marrying her yesterday. His speech now struck himself as the height of impertinence. Why, Susanna would never think of him a year or two hence. However, he continued to do his duty, and supposed she was quite happy there. ' I don't know if anyone is quite happy,' said Susanna gravely ; then, on a little pressure from him, said, ' Why, look at Cousin Lilian. You'd think she might be happy, but is she 1 ' ' Isn't she ? How do you know she isn't 1 ' asked the big man, growing a little pale. It was a very tender feeling he entertained for the girl he had known at Chungking, the lovely young girl who had looked in his face with such child- like directness, and whom he, as her Consul, had almost ordered off down river — to marry Claude Fortescue, before anyone knew what she was doing. And he had feared she was not happy directly he caught sight of her sweet, pale face once again. 'Why, I see it,' said Susanna downrightly. 'She says good-bye to Cousin Claude when he goes to his office, with that sweet little smile of hers, and she stands quite still, looking after him, and then, as he goes out of sight, the smile goes away, and as often as not there are the tears rolling down her cheeks, and her hands tight clasped. Then she sits quite still. And I say nothing. I did kiss her once or twice at first, but it did no good. Then presently she looks up, her face set to look bright again. " Susanna," she says,' continued Susanna, imitating Lilian's made-up-to-be-cheerful voice. ' I don't say it is always so. But Cousin Lilian is not happy, and as long as she is not, I can't be quite happy either, for I do love Cousin Lilian,' ' And why do you think it is ? ' asked Threshie Reid very bashfully, for he did not know if he ought to inquire of a child. But then Susanna looked so unlike a child, and he had promised Mrs. Betterton to let her know if he could, for she also had judged from Lilian's letters that she was not happy, that there was something wrong. Susanna shook her head. ' I can't think why it is,' she said. ' You'd say she had everything to make her happy, and yet Cousin Lilian is not the kind of person to be unhappy ■without a reason. She never complains,' said Susanna almost fiercely. ' She always talks as if she were very happy — very, 272 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA very happy. But I think she has something on her mind, something that is always there, and that she is trying to hide, for she is not the same Lilian she used to be, not at all.' 'Not at all,' echoed Threshie Reid. ' Then you see it too ? ' cried Susanna disconcerted. ' I hoped you would say I was quite wrong.' ' But what can she have to hide 1 And who is she hiding it from 1 ' persisted the Consul. ' Why, Cousin Claude, of course. Of course,' persisted Susanna. ' Doesn't she always smile as long as he is there t And then when he comes home, and finds her with a pretty colour — that's when she has been crying — and says, " What a bright colour you have ! Have you been asleep, dearest 1 " she says quite dreamily, as if she were not sure, "I don't think — I — have — been asleep." Sometimes I can hardly help say- ing, " Why, you know you haven't." ' ' And you have never told Mr. Fortescue that — that his wife has been crying ? ' ' I don't think that would be right, would it,' asked Susanna, ' when Cousin Lilian doesn't want him to know ? ' ' I don't suppose she wants me to know, poor dear ! ' said the big man pathetically. ' It isn't you she is trying to hide it from. And then I told you, I suppose,' said Susanna, growing very red lest she should have committed some indiscretion, ' because I forgot you weren't the Consul here. When you were Consul in Chungking, mother always looked upon you as the person to teU things to, and to help in every way. And I know it is in that way I have always looked on you.' ' I wish I could help now, I'm sure,' said Mr. Reid, more gratified by this frank, spontaneous testimony from a child than it would be easy to describe, for he had lived a lonely life for many years, first in one port, then in another, doing, without counting the cost, all the many little kindnesses that came in his way, but this was the first time he had ever heard that his kindly nature had been appreciated by others. Then Lilian came into the room, and in her gentle presence both the others felt like guilty conspirators before her. But Mr. Reid thought again how greatly she was altered from the candid girl-child who had looked up into his face with her clear eyes, and listened to his views at Chungking, and some- times combated them ; whilst Susanna felt as if she and Mr. THE SKELETON IN THE CUPBOARD 273 Reid had now a secret together, and felt more grown-up than ever in consequence. Mr. Reid now proceeded to give them information about their Chungking friends. Dr. Maxwell, he said, had become a Freethinker. ' I always thought he was too good a doctor for a missionary. But now he says dreadful things, rams Herbert Spencer and Huxley down your throat, whether you will or no, which I call worse than giving you bad wine, you know.' ' But what does his wife think 1 ' ' What do any women think of the opinions of the men they marry 1 I am sure I don't know. As Miss Pearce she was a hard-working missionary. And I believe she is still. So is he as far as physicking the people goes. Mr. Jenkins has joined an American mission, where he gets better pay, and there are a Mr. and Mrs. Selkirk come out, who seem splendid people. But they have started a branch mission out in the wilds, which they have no business to do, and where they are sure to be killed if they stay long enough. Miss Alger, I suppose you know, is married, and settled higher up the river ; a very hard-working man, her husband ; does real good work, I fancy. His father was a blacksmith, and he goes at the Chinese hammer and tongs. Mr. and Mrs. Wilcocks are still there, still working, and always in poor health. Then there came up a man to join them as a colporteui-, who seemed to me very unsatisfactory. He was in Shanghai in business — could not get on, and very badly thought of, I hear. All on a sudden he turned up as a colporteur. Coal porter he'd be more suitable for. Mrs. Betterton is unhappy about it, I know. Mr. Wilcocks says, in that sanctimonious voice of his, with its Chungking wail, " One can never account for the workings of the Spirit." But Mrs. Betterton says, " No ; but one must not always expect miracles." Mrs. Betterton and I are great friends. Oh, I've become very serious whilst I have been in Chungking.' ' Susanna contends you are a Freethinker,' said Mr. Fortescue. ' A Freethinker ! ' cried Threshie Reid, growing purple with indignation. ' I'm sure I never was such a thing in all my born days. But Mrs. Betterton's conversation has had a great effect upon me certainly.' ' Then she has converted one Chungking Consul,' said Claude Fortescue. But this was in an undertone. Then Mr. and Mrs. Stuckey came in, and joined the party 274 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA at luncheon. She seemed in a strangely excited state, and apparently the main spring of her excitement was the dis- graceful way in which little Mrs. Smith from Hankow was flirting. ' Oh, but I am so sorry for her,' said Lilian. ' She is quite young, and not very wise, and her husband is not very nice to her, I am afraid.' ' No, he drinks, and he is unfaithful ! ' 'Well, then ' exclaimed Lilian, with a face of horror and uplifted hands. ' That does not excuse her flirting in the way she does,' said Mrs. Stuckey. ' Though I should be the last woman in the world not to say it excused a great deal. Marriage is nothing but a social contract, I know, and when one party does not comply with the conditions, the other, of course, is free.' ' Is not that rather a dangerous doctrine 1 ' asked Claude Fortescue. ' Way rather a great preventive of danger,' said the little American. ' Oh, Mr. Stuckey was well posted in all my views before I married him, weren't you, Stuckey ? " Is it a time bargain, or for ever that you propose ? " I asked ; then I asked again if it included the past. And when I heard it did, I said, "I'll take care of your future, then."' ' I don't quite understand about including the past,' said Threshie Reid. 'If an unmarried man may make bold to inquire ' ' Why, I've no objection to a widower,' said Mrs. Stuckey. ' But I should object to finding out after I'd married that there was some one else I had never been told one word about, who had done all the little things I did for my husband, only rather differently, in a past he meant me to have nothing to do with. Do you know, a missionary told me the other day of a Chinese convert who discarded his first wife, married be- fore he was converted, and married a young girl at Peking, and brought her down to Shanghai with him. Both the women were Christians, and when they heard of each other, both were very unhappy, and so was the man then. He went and asked what mistake he had made ; he had only wanted to do "all the same Englishman," he said. No, I think the heathen Chinee's view is the right one, and the number one wife's the place of honour. A man should marry young, and it should be the first woman he lives with, and not just the last, whom THE SKELETON IN THE CUPBOARD 275 he should love and honour and live with for the rest of his days.' ' In that case you and I could never have married,' said her husband, ' for we never even met each other till we were both advanced in years.' He looked decidedly uncomfortable, and as if he wanted to turn the conversation, but Mrs. Stuckey seemed to be under the influence of some overpowering excite- ment, that prevented her from noticing that or anything else. ' Advanced in years ! Only hear him ! Wouldn't anyone think we were middle-aged 1 And I declare I'm only twenty- six, after all.' Whilst she was speaking, Mr. Stuckey had poured out a glass of wine, and as if absently put it almost under Claude Fortescue's hand, instead of by his own plate. ' But you've lived so fast, my dear, you are much more like thirty-six.' Then in an aside, ' Try that wine, Fortescue ; I am not sure it is all right.' But Mr. Fortescue did not lift the glass of wine to his lips. The indisposition of which Mr. Stuckey, sitting next him, had first become aware from seeing the growing earnest- ness and alarm in Mrs. Fortescue's eyes, seemed to have suddenly increased upon him. Lilian produced ether now, and began to apply restoratives. ' He will be all right directly. This is what the doctor recommends. It is merely a passing attack,' she said smilmg. ' Susanna, dear, will you ' Then Susanna conducted everyone into the drawing-room. ' Mr. Fortescue often has Kttle attacks,' said she with great coolness, evidently taking her cue from her cousin. Lilian followed them in a few minutes, looking, as Threshie Reid noticed with sorrow, as bright and composed as he had ever seen her, so that he could never have imagined there had been anything to alarm or distress her had he not been present in the dining-room but a few minutes before. Presently Mr. Fortescue followed her, looking pale and weary enough, but more distressed to have disturbed the party. 'What doctor do you consult?' asked Mr. Stuckey. ' Oh, I have not seen any doctor. It is nothing. After a lifetime in China a man cannot expect to be free from every ailment. I have a weak heart, I suppose. It is better than liver, anyway.' ' Did you notice that Mrs. Fortescue said, " This is what the doctor recommends,^' and that Fortescue said he had t3 276 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA consulted no doctor ? ' said Mr. Reid, as the two men walked away together. ' Ye-es, I noticed it,' said the other. ' Perhaps he is really very ill — more than he knows of — and she knows it, and it is that that's troubling her.' ' No-o, I don't think it is that,' said Mr. Stuckey. ' You see, too, there is something 1 ' ' Certainly I do,' looking up with an air of surprise at being asked. Then, after a pause, ' Wasn't there some girl he lived with before he married 1 He can hardly have been seeing her again, can he ? ' ' Oh, no ! no ! Fortescue wouldn't do that.' ' Well, I wouldn't answer for him. These Sinologues have as queer ideas of duty as of everything else. So have all men queer ideas about such matters, when you come to inquire. It is not only they act strangely ; they think strangely. But depend upon it, whatever has been wrong, she has heard of it, and she is just bearing it all alone, and it is breaking her heart.' ' You think so, too 1 ' said Threshie, almost with a groan. He had never been in love with her exactly, for he had always felt that it was not only in the Chungking Consulate that Fortescue had been before him. But if it hadn't been for that — and to think that the girl he would himself so have idolised should be exposed to this ! ' It is a strange world ! ' he said at last, grinding his teeth. ' It is, indeed. Thank God, I've married a wife who, what- ever else she may do, will never break her heart over keeping anything to herself. I dare say you are surprised at the way in which Mrs. Stuckey talks. I am myself very often. But ■when you marry, let your marriage include your past, old fellow. Depend upon it, it is the only way to be ever really happy. I married as a widower, of course.' Then, as Mr. Reid began to laugh, ' You didn't know I had been married before ? But I was — to a woman who fascinated me utterly. I thought I'd reclaim her. I didn't. There was no possibility of living with her. So my people shipped me off to China. A burnt child dreads the fire ; and I never thought of a woman again till I met Mrs. Fortescue. My first wife was just dead then, and I offered to her. She refused me, for which, of course, I have every reason to be thankful to her now. Though I still think her — I think her,' said Mr. Stuckey, growing rather red, ' the holiest woman I have ever THE SKELETON IN THE CUPBOARD 277 met, and I don't care who knows it. And so now you know what, I believe, some people have called the mystery of my life. A poor sort of mystery ! ' ' I wonder you never tried for a divorce before that.' ' I was nineteen when I married. She was rather a well- known character. My people wouldn't have cared about the notoriety. No, my father disinherited me, and shipped me off. I don't know why I'm telling you all this now, except that I believe we men shrink from being thought better than we are. And at the same time I shouldn't like you to think I'd bamboozled Mrs. Stuckey. You know the story of my life now. But don't tell it again. Why don't you think of that Miss Betterton, by the way 1 She seems a nice girl.' ' She's rather young, isn't she 1 ' stammered Mr. Reid. ' Ah, well, you can't have everything, you know. Thirteen ! No, you don't say so ! But she doesn't feel thirteen. And somehow I thought she looked as if she expected something of you. And I'm sure she'd feel flattered.' Then Mr. Stuckey left him, and Threshie Reid sat at the club with a sheet of note paper, and pondered within himself. Should he write 1— 'My dear Mrs. Betterton, — Miss Susanna looks un- commonly well. She is such a big girl now, and so pretty, I could not say all you asked me, for I felt quite bashful, and as if she were a great deal more grown-up than I was. She seems very happy. As to Mr. and Mrs. Fortescue, I am afraid Stuckey is right, and that he has not made a clean breast of everything, but that she has somehow learnt the truth. Some unkind person, I suppose. She tries to look happy, but doesn't take in anyone. He had an attack of palpitations I didn't at all like the look of to-day. She seemed to know exactly what to do for him, and came in smiling as if nothing had happened, so that one could hardly believe one had seen that agonised terror in her eyes a minute or two before. Again, as I write, I think Stuckey is wrong, and that Fortescue is dying, and she knows it, and hasn't told him, as the only way of keeping him alive. But somehow I don't think it is that either. Only there is certainly something wrong. ' And now to turn to another subject. When Miss Susanna is older, would you object to me for a son-in-law 1 I'm afraid she is too young to ask now, but I'm afraid, too, if I don't make haste, some other man will. So I'd like to have you on my side ; though I fancy Miss Susanna would take the 278 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA matter very much into her own hands. And m afraid she'll never think of me, when ' But if it is my fate to marry Susanna, I suppose I shall, anyhow. And if it is hers to marry some one else, I suppose she will. People seem always to do what is ingrained in their characters. Who ever would think of Stuckey — after having had one escape, too — marrying a mad woman like that — a woman who says dreadful things, calculated to do untold mischief 1 Marriage merely a social contract, indeed ! — a time bargain ! ' Then he thrust his unfinished letter into his pocket, and, like everyone else, decided it would be convenient to drop in at Mrs. FitzHugh's in passing for a cup of tea. CHAPTER XXXVI FORESHADOWINGS Love, are we drifting thoughtlessly apart ? They say it, but I will not deem it true— I swerve not for a moment night or day. Oh, say that thou remainest true in heart ; Oh, tell me, dearest, thou art steadfast too, And drive my doubts for evermore away. J. G. F. Nicholson. ' I can't think what can have been the matter with Mrs. EitzHugh to-day. Her head must be getting quite turned,' said Lilian that evening to her husband. ' Do you know, after you went away, she suddenly set to and abused Mrs. G. J. Smith ; reproached her with all her husband's misdeeds ; told her they were all her fault, that he had been fond of her, and she might have made something of him, and that now what she'd got to do was to go straight home, and see if she couldn't possibly get him to care for her again. I never saw such a scene. All her brogue came back, and Mrs. FitzHugh behaved like an Irish fishwife. Her language was quite coarse, and she actually told Mrs. Smith quite out before all of us that her husband was unfaithful to her, and everyone knew it. Fortunately there were not many people there.' ' And what did Mrs. G. J. Smith do ? ' ' She cried, and she tried to answer Mrs. FitzHugh. And then she cried again. And at last she flounced out of the room, declaring she'd never speak to one of us again for not taking her part. But no one could say anything. Mrs. FORESHADOWINGS 279 FitzHugh never paused for a moment. She seemed to say just anything — sometimes too ridiculous things. Then, when Mrs. Gr. J. Smith went away, she just fanned herself and said, " Well, I've got rid of her, anyhow. Will anyone have some raore tea ? I'm quite thirsty," and never apologised to anyone for what really was a most painful scene.' 'Poor child ! I'm sorry you came in for it. But Mrs. G. J. must have done something to provoke such an out- break.' ' No, indeed ! That is the odd part of it. And the way I know is, because she had been sitting quite quietly talking to me. I felt so sorry for her, because none of the other ladies would speak to her when she came in.' ' And what was she talking about ? ' ' I really hardly know. She has a way of meandering on. I fancy she really is very stupid. But I knew she was talking about the Hankow Convent, and schools, and — and how she was so much interested in charities, and about some children — Dearest, you are not ill again, are you 1 ' She had been on the point of saying Eurasian schools and Eurasian children, but remembering how the word had once affected him, had been careful to leave it out. But the need for doing this had made her quicker to see the change in her husband's face. It had grown grey, and he looked very weary. But he said decidedly, ' No, it is nothing. I am only tired. That is why I came away from Mrs. FitzHugh's. But I'd rather you wouldn't see anything more of Mrs. G. J. Smith. She was only humbugging. I know her well enough to know she is not in the least interested in charities. And I admire Mrs. FitzHugh. That woman has a good heart.' ' But, Claude,' said Lilian gravely, ' you did not hear the way she spoke. And I think, too, there are some things people should never speak about.' If he had been going to tell her anything, that stopped him. He sat leaning back in his comfortable armchair, and meditated. It was the first time he had thought his wife's judgment on a moral question at fault, and yet he knew that it was he himself and his general tone of thought that had led Lilian to express this opinion. It was not inborn in her. But whilst he had been leading her on to hold such a view until at last she thus tersely formulated it, he himself had been 280 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA learning to think lifo would be far simpler were there a little more plain speaking. Yet how could he, a man, insist upon it if his innocent wife shrank from it 1 Yet the more he thought, the more he saw no other way out of the growing reserve between them ; a reserve that was ever and again cutting him to the heart, and under which he feared Lilian was suffering yet more. He acknowledged his responsibility towards his children, and must continue to do so, even with- out Dr. Donaldson's refusal to relieve him altogether of it. Their mother had married a Macao Portuguese, now in Mr. G. J. Smith's employ. And he had decided to place the children at last in the Eurasian school, before there might be another family for them to be mixed up with. He had thought it right to take his children to the school himself, partly, perhaps, because it was so exquisitely painful to him to do so, partly because he felt he owed it to them to give them something of a father's care, while depriving them for ever of their mother's. The boy had shown such great delight at seeing him again that he had been greatly touched. The little girl had shown only regret at being parted from her mother. But he had discovered a curious likeness in her to his own aunt Claudia ; her blue eyes were surely like Miss Gardiner's. Then, as he was coming away, greatly moved, he had met Mrs. G. J. Smith, and sought to pass her by. But she had been voluble in her explanations as to why she had come to see the home, voluble, yet, as he remembered, strangely confused. He remembered, also, that Mrs. FitzHugh, he had been told, was one of the most energetic members of the committee. Evi- dently now she knew all about it, and had valiantly thrown herself into the breach to prevent Lilian's hearing anything from silly, chattering Jlrs. Smith. Was it right that he should leave his wife liable at any moment to learn what must pain her so much from almost anyone ? Ought he to force good-natured people, like Mrs. FitzHugh, to sacrifice themselves and make scenes ? Had not poor Mrs. Smith herself on this occasion been somewhat victimised ? Possibly she had even gone to see the children at their mother's request, for he believed she was very kind- hearted. She might not in the least suspect their connection with himself. Yet if she had even only mentioned meeting him at the school, what must Lilian have thought, seeing how united they were, and that he had never mentioned going there to her ! In any case, evidently Mrs. FitzHugh knew, or FORESHADOWINGS 281 at least suspected, the truth. And Mrs. Robinson knew the truth, and hated Lilian ; that he knew. Very likely it was she really who had set Mrs. Smith on to talk to Lilian. It would be quite in character if she had. Dared he leave Lilian at Mrs. Robinson's mercy, to hear any day from her that he had already two children when he married her — to learn from her what he had never been able to explain to her him- self, why he had not offered to her in England, why he had shrunk from her in the Niukan Gorge ? He felt now what an unutterable relief it would be to tell Lilian all, to speak freely with her of so many things that were like a sealed book between them now. He had such confidence in her love, he felt he could not lose that, whatever happened. Her love had at last given him a belief in tlie love of God for men. He believed in God's love for himself now, as he believed in Lilian's. But he did not feel that he could force his con- fidence upon her. And Lilian had said very earnestly — almost as if she had a hidden meaning in so saying — ' I think there are some things people should never speak about ! ' She had said speak, not do. He had felt great anxiety about Lilian's health of late. If other people had noticed cause for uneasiness, how could it escape him, her husband, whose eyes hung upon her face, and watched her every move- ment ? Her mother had died when she was born. And he often recalled with pain Mrs. Stuckey's comparing Lilian at first sight to a hothouse flower. To himself she seemed hardly robust enough to become a mother, and yet for some months now he knew how Lilian had been looking forward with all her heart to God's trusting her with a little child to bring up for Him, as she expressed it. And to him, as to her, it seemed as if the highest moment of his life would be when Lilian could show him her child — his and hers. The paternal instincts that had been repressed by the simple grossness of his previous connection were yet strong in Claude Fortescue, as in so many men, and perhaps it was thanks to his training in Chinese philosophy that whilst he worked untiringly at his great book, he yet always regarded having children as the only perfect way of attaining immortality, transmitting by his own struggles and sufferings weakened tendencies towards vice, stronger aspirations after higher aims. But as Claude Fortescue sat and thought, looking forward into the future, he could only see drearily a life with a greater and ever greater gulf between him and Lilian, more and more 282 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA subjects — sealed subjects — between them too. Susanna came in from school, but she also seemed unusually thoughtful, sitting with a lesson-ijook before her, yet hardly seeming to be reading it. So they all three pursued the separate current of their thoughts, till the evening passed on into the night, and one more day was gone. ' It is difficult, but it is not impossible, I suppose,' sighed Susanna, and got up and went to bed. They did not know if she meant her lesson. 'If you form in your heart a good intention, although you may not have done any good, the good spirits follow you,' read Claude Fortescue, taking up a piece of paper she had left behind her. ' Why, if there isn't little Susanna studying the Taoist Book of Rewards and Punishments.' ' She has often heard you say missionaries are so ignorant as to the religions they wish to convert the Chinese from. And Cousin Mary has always told her she hopes she'll be a mis- sionary. So Susanna has been full of studying Taoism, as that is what you are interested in. And I thought that was the easiest book for her.' ' But, Lilian, is it good for her 1 Are we doing our duty by this child 1 ' For a moment their eyes met, and they were both pain- fully conscious of the gulf between them. Their eyes looked longingly across it into one another's, then fell. The next minute Lilian had risen, and put her arms caressingly about her husband. ' Claude, you seem so strangely serious to-night. I think Susanna is quite happy, and I am sure she is growing more and more good eveiy day. But was I wrong to tell her of the Book of Rewards and Punishments ? Of course I have never read it, at least not in Chinese. And Susanna intends to be a great Chinese scholar. But what have you been thinking of all the evening 1 ' ' Of you, my heart's darling, my one and only love.' Then in the embrace that followed they forgot everything for the moment but their love for one another. But as he held her face near him, looking down at it, Claude noticed with sorrow that Lilian's face looked thinner than when he had last seen it, and surely there were dark rings round her eyes. But she laughingly told him the lampshade cast shadows, and that kneeling beside him made her feel faint now. So she got up, and she, too, went to bed. He sat and looked at Susanna's translations. ' If a man PORESHADOWINGS 283 who has done wrong repents and converts himself, if he abstains from evil deeds, and accomplishes all sort of good works, he will at length obtain joy and felicity. This is called changing evil fortune for good.' Then at last a smile stole over his wearied features. ' " It is difficult, but it is not impossible, I suppose." God bless you, Susanna ! ' he murmured. But it is one thing to know what is right, quite another to be moved to do it. The whole Chinese race may be taken as the best living illustration of this. It presents the old truth in such a new, incongruous light to us. But we each daily illustrate it to ourselves. CHAPTER XXXVII A CONFESSION OP FAITH He had wed me, and girt me with worship ; he had built me, to ban mj least cares, Hanging gardens, where fountains o{ porphyry played splendid from flowery parterres. But 'twas love, only love, that illumined his looks when they dwelt upon mine, As I called him my conqueror, my hero, my warrior, my chieftain divine. And we lifted our rose-wreathen goblets, we fed upon love's richest fruits, While from clustered acacias came floating the music of Palmyrene lutes. Did I dream ? Was the darkness dividing ? Had he heeded the prayer I had prayed ? Then a voice. ... It was his, yet so mournful ! ' Amyitis I art thou not afraid ? ' ' No I no I no I ' I flashed forth . . . And I cried, ' Whatso'er thine abasement, low down to it, Lord, let me bow I Though the barrier between us be loathsome, still, love, I am I, thou art thou I N ight by night we met thus, tiU the bondage that fettered and foiled him had ceased, Till he rose once more Nebuchadnezzar — he rose disenthralled and released. Edoab Fawceti. Next morning hardly had Mr. Fortescue gone to his office before Mrs. Stuckey appeared again. Lilian felt more than everpuzzled 284 A MAREIAGE IN CHINA what to make of her, for she seemed to have nothing to say, but she sat and spent the morning with her without any apology. Only, whenever she tried to talk to her, Mrs. Stuckey said, ' Oh, don't mind me,' and took up a book and seemed to read. But Lilian soon felt her great eyes wander back to her face. ' I am studying the outlines of your head and throat,' she said once, by way of explanation. She stayed to luncheon as a matter of course, and even then did not offer to go away. Yriien asked about Mr. Stuckey, she said, with a toss of the head, ' Oh, he knows where I am ' ; then added, as an afterthought, ' He is working up some statistics. No one has the least idea what a head Mr. Stuckey has for figures. He does not tabulate, he condenses.' But she did not seem inclined to pursue the subject, and Lilian, always having her doubts about Mr. Stuckey's wonderful abilities, did not pursue it either. So they sat in silence after Claude Fortescue had once more gone back to his office. Lilian's doctor came to see her. And Mrs. Stuckey did not offer to leave the room even then. So Lilian took him away upstairs for a hurried few minutes. But he came back to the drawing-room for his hat and stick, and then he took the opportunity of saying to Mrs. Stuckey, ' I understand you are a great friend of Mrs. Fortescue's. Can't you get her to tell you what she has on her mind ? There is something that is wearing her quite away. I have never come across a case of such nervous repression. She has tremendous self-command. But it would be far better if she could break down and have a good cry.' ' I know it,' said Mrs. Stuckey in her quick American way. 'And every day it is put off it becomes more dangerous,' said the doctor, rather put out by her assumption of knowledge. ' She might have an attack of hysterics,' began Mrs. Stuckey musingly. ' Not she,' said the doctor. ' But even that would be better. She is wearing out her whole strength as it is. Get her to speak to you freely, if you can.' ' To me ! I'm nobody,' said Mrs. Stuckey. ' Her husband is all the world. It is to him she must speak. That's just what I'm here for.' The doctor went away, thinking, like many people, that Mrs. Stuckey was an eccentricity. ' But, after all, any woman is better than none. The poor girl has got no mother,' he A CONFESSION OF FAITH 285 thought to himself, then put his head back into the room to say, 'I shall be at home from five to six. After that pro- bably at ' and he scribbled an address. I'm dining at the Ashleys', if I get there.' Mrs. Stuckey looked at the piece of paper, then opened her bag, ' I've got bromide, smelling salts, vinegar, you see.' Her bag was full of bottles. ' Oh, you'll do, ' said the doctor. ' Enough to invigorate an army.' And he went away laughing. ' The woman is mad,' he thought, ' but there is a method in her madness.' When Claude Fortescue came in, to his surprise he found Mrs. Stuckey still there, and Lilian looking sadly tired. So, to relieve her, he at once set to work energetically to entertain Mrs. Stuckey, and take her off Lilian's hands. And being himself full of it, he showed the little artist the last manuscript sheet of his magnum opus, as he always lovingly called it — so far he had only published papers, though some of his Consular Reports were said to be the best reafding extant upon China, though, like Baber's immortal 'Travels in Western China,' alas ! buried in a blue cover. And he began to explain to her the composition of a Chinese character that had great interest for him, as bearing upon some Taoist mystery. ' What first attracted you to Taoism ? ' asked Mrs. Stuckey abruptly. ' I imagine in the first instance it was rather the paradoxi- cal character of the sayings of Chuangtsze, the spiritual Lao- tsze's most philosophical follower. All Chinese literature teems with allusions to the sayings of this greatest meta- physician that China has ever produced.' ' And then 1 ' asked Mrs. Stuckey. She seemed really interested. It is not every day that a man who is studying Taoism gets an interested listener. ' What rivets my attention to it now is the light it casts upon the essential nature of religion, all religion, and its fate on earth. Lao-tsze is the first of the great teachers whose writings have come down to us. No one ever aimed at purer abstractions ; his teaching seems to have been a forecast of the highest Gospel truths. The world has a first cause, which first cause was the mother of all men — as we say, their father. If a man has once found his mother, he recognises thereby that he is her child. When he does this, and returns to his mother, then the passing away of his body has no terror for him. He who knows the Eternal is Tao's, and therefore eternal too. He 286 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA who lives for outward things, puts all his pleasure in them, and follows after them, he at the end of this life is not to be saved — dies the death, as we say. Tao helps all men, is the protecting sanctuary for all to flee to ; and just as He is the most precious treasure of the good — a pearl above price — so He never abandons those who are not good. He is their helping Saviour, since He allows them also to find Him, if they will but seek after Him, and forgives them their sins. Therefore is He in all the world the most precious. What other religion, besides Christianity admits the possibility of God being a God of the unrighteous as well as the godly ? Is it not a revelation of the Saviour ? And five centuries before Christ, remember. Lao-tsze was born 601 B.C. And there is no doubt about his writing the Tao Teh King. Before Buddha and before Confucius ! Even Chuangtsze, who was so far below Lao-tsze spiritually, though he may have been above him intellectually, says, " I wiU have heaven and earth for my sarcophagus ; the sun and moon shall be the insignia when I lie in state, and all creation shall be the mourners at my funeral ; " and when people remonstrated, saying the birds of the air would devour his corpse, he replied, "What matters it r" His face shone as he quoted the sayings, that had been indeed a revelation of Divine Truth to him. And Mrs. Stuckey understood what Susanna meant by saying she thought him at times inspired. She crossed her little feet, leaning back in her chair, only showing her sympathy by her expressive eyes, that she might not interrupt him. ' The misfortune was that Lao-tsze was too far ahead of the men of his time. And therefore almost at once his teach- ings, which, I take it, were a reformation, a new testament, rather than an original revelation, became overlaid with every possible corruption — rankest materialism mixed with magical acts. "Thus in this vile world below. Noblest things have vilest using." Taoism — which says directly a man says, "I know Tao," he destroys Tao, because Tao must be unknowable, incomprehen- sible — Taoism shows more than anything the grossness of that human mind through which we attempt to reflect to ourselves the Divine essence, and explains why, ever and again, a man, nobler than his fellows, looking round at the travesty of God held up to him by men, refuses to bow the knee before such an idol, till at last, confused, he denies even the existence of God, or rests acquiescent in doubt. A CONFESSION OF FAITH 287 '" Om Mani padme hum" — "The jewel is in the lotus," which, as I understand, signifies, "God is in us and about us, and in Him we live, and move, and have our being," God alone being life — this, which, like the poor Thibetan, I understand to be the great cardinal truth of all religion, the great first principle, without which no religion could exist, has been so overlaid with rites and ceremonies, appealing to man's senses, that in all forms of religion handed down to us people attribute more value to some ordinance, perhaps for the time expedient, than to walking with God, absorption in His will. The Thibetan climbs on his roof nightly, and lights a fire at sundown. He flings out his praying-banners, that the four winds may blow the six sacred syllables to and fro, and at each breath bring down a blessing upon the whole country-side. Then the villagers, men and women alike, give themselves up to drunken- ness and debauchery. The boy Buddhist priest, with his shaven head and six stigmata, prostrates himself before each shrine in his temple, reverently lighting a joss-stick before each in turn, and having thus done, he expects the exacting but easily appeased Deity to be satisfied. We think we can afford to look down upon their superstitions, that are not ours, as we call their images idols, and catalogue the sins that they commit, and which are really as much contrary to their religion as to ours. But are we so much better with our Sunday observance, that, instead of helping us to remember God on all our days, shunts Him off, as it were, on to the one day, and then does not even give Him that 1 ' Mrs. Stuckey nodded very expressively here. Otherwise her luminous eyes simply hung upon his lips, apparently drinking in every word he said. But she made no further sign of agreement or disagreement, only shifted her position a little, and seemed to ask for more. Claude Fortescue looked at his wife. He saw that she was resting, really resting now. She wore an expression of deep thankfulness, almost as if she were really in that presence of God of which he had been only speaking. ' Clergymen exhort people to go to church, to receive the Sacrament, without knowing whether their hearts may not be full of all uncleanness, disqualifying them for anything but an outward part in such holy rites. And then, as a nation, we send out our young men alone, away from the counsel and examples of relations and friends, to fight amongst people of other faith, other forms, other temperaments, against what 288 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA we call the world, the flesh, and the devil. Dr. Donne points out that "God doth not say it is not good for this or that par- ticular man to be alone, but is not good in the general, for the whole frame of the world, that man should be alone." The Chinese attach great importance to this. They guard their young men almost more than we guard our girls, as they inculcate the duty of keeping to Tao, or the Way, in opposition to what they call crooked paths. In the words of your favourite poet, Lilian : Wholly abstain or wed. The bounteous Lord Allows thee choice of paths ; take no by-ways. I think Watters cites this as an illustration of the meaning of Tao.' There was something specially pathetic in Claude For- tescue's appealing look at his wife as he quoted these lines. But Lilian was tired out; her mind was still dwelling on the quotation from Dr. Donne, which was new to her, and which seemed to her quite outside her husband's usual course of reading. She was still thinking it out, divining with a woman's power of divination that it was for her that it had been noted and remembered, and wondering with what especial object. Mrs. Stuckey noticed the husband's appeal, the want of response from the wife ; her heart was touched, and for a moment her eyes dropped. Mr. Fortescue's discourse wandered somewhat. ' One of the greatest blessings, for which we cannot, I think, be sufficiently thankful, is the early spread of Mahometanisni. But for that, Asia, and Africa even, might both have become nominally Christian at a period when it was impossible for them to receive Christian truths. And but for Mahomet, we might have a Christianity so overlaid with error that it would be impossible for any but scholars to discern the underlying beauty. As it is, when I enter a Roman Catholic church, with its ghastly crucifixes and bleeding hearts laid bare, I always echo Lowell's words : ' " Lo here I " said He, ' The images ye have made of Me ! " ' ' You are putting a false meaning on to that passage,' said Mrs. Stuckey, who knew her Lowell well. ' Yes, I know I am. But you remember the whole poem, which renders fully the idea that overwhelms me whenever I A CONFESSION OF FAITH 289 dare to enter one of those truly desecrated sanctuaries,' said Claude Fortescue, the veins in his forehead swelling, as he spoke now with force. ' To me a Buddhist temple, with its peaceful courtyards and shadowing groves of trees, is com- paratively pure, eveninits dustiness — which last, too, tells that it is but a survival of the past, a survival that has lost its meaning now, only once had one. We may be ripening for a new revelation, though till we have left off disputing about the authority of Jesus, to concentrate all our attention upon His teaching, and have at least attempted a society founded on its lines, I do not see that we can expect it. But of one thing I am certain : " pure religion and undefiled" we shall never find established in this world. That would make it heaven.' ' Pure ! ' murmured Mrs. Stuckey. ' Pure ! I never under- stand what people mean when they talk of purity. What do you mean when you use the word 1 ' Lilian looked round surprised. It was only the second time she had interrupted him by a question, and this seemed a strange one to Lilian. Mrs. Stuckey was no longer gazing at Mr. Forte.scue, drinking in his words — one might almost have said drawing them forth. She was now playing with her watch-chain, arranging her dress, apparently diverting her attention in all manner of little ways. But she had asked the question, and after a moment or two's pause Claude Fortescue attempted to answer it. ' I fancy we have made the meaning of the word diflBcult to ourselves by generally regarding it rather as an abstaining from evil than as in itself a positive virtue. We all know what the Judas kiss was. Do we always realise how the Judas kiss goes on through all the ages, betraying what it professes to love 1 Is not purity the sincerity of the affections, as truth is of the intellect, both of which, if for once, must be for ever t That says nothing as to how we subdivide our affections, any more than into how many divisions we break up truth for purposes of expression. I have never myself been able to see any impurity in plurality of wives. We are in a stage of development that has passed beyond it, that is all. When one reads the life of a man like Moltke, one feels at once the impossibility, not to say the undesirability, of a man like that having more than one wife. It would be a sin against nature. And I fancy for most of us now it is. But had not some of the old patriarchs as great a purity of thought as any of us ? ' 290 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA Though I notice, even among them, trouble seems always to have arisen from the introduction of the concubine ; as so often in China we see it now. Possibly it is always there, if we knew more of their inner life.' ' I never noticed that in the Old Testament,' said Lilian softly. Mrs. Stuckey seemed somehow to have effaced herself. And the husband and wife felt as if they were alone together. ' If you look through the Old Testament carefully, I think you will always find it so,' said Claude Fortescue, speaking very tenderly as to Lilian now. ' It was not revealed to them then that there was any wrongdoing in such a state of things, I suppose because for that period of the world's history it was probably a lesser wrong than leaving too large a body of women and children without the protection of some man of power. The Chinese system appears to be a survival, like so many things in China, from the old patriarchal days. It has lasted its time probably, and is dying out by degrees. God grant it may do so without making place for the so much wider spread vice of Europe ! ' ' Amen ! ' sai^ Mrs. Stuckey. ' I think Mrs. Fortescue looks pale. Will you see to her ? I hear Susanna.' And the next moment everyone could hear Susanna, and Mrs. Stuokey's welcome of her. Mrs. Stuckey, who had never been known to notice her before, seemed to have volumes to say to Susanna now. Mrs. Stuckey, who had sat so quiet, almost log-like, only listening to what was said to her, seemed all on a sudden boiling over with vitality and volubility, as she not only prevented Susanna from entering the room, but carried her off at once upstairs on some private business of her own. They heard her talk and laughter, dying away as she went upstairs, but they did not heed them, for they were alone together. And when Claude bent over Lilian to see if she were really so pale, he found that she was silently crying, and when he tried to kiss those tears away and comfort her, Lilian gently twined her arms round him, and looked into his face ; and in that pure loving gaze something moved him. And he told her all. So few words seemed needful in the end. And all through she seemed to understand so quickly, as if to spare him the pain of telling. And all she said was, as she took his hand in both hers, ' And whatever is right we must help each other to do now.' But the next moment she stood up, and as she did so she tottered and fell fainting. AT SEA AGAIN 291 CHAPTER XXXVIII AT SEA AGAIN Experience 1 Nonsense I What a man has done onoe, that he'll do again — with a difference. — Monckton Mimjes. It never occurred to Claude Fortescue to wonder, not even in the after years, that when he rang the bell Mrs. Stuckey and Susanna at once appeared with everything that was needful ; nor how the doctor was there before he himself had even realised he should be sent for. Everything was blotted out for him by the one over- whelming anxiety that rendered him useless as a nurse. Yet he would not leave Lilian's side, nor could they think of his doing so, for if he did but stir, her hand moved restlessly, seeking his, her poor dazed eyes asked where he was. Mrs. Stuckey, however, at once settled to stay the night, and Susanna once more shone as a nurse. ' That young woman is invaluable,' said the doctor. ' As far as I am concerned, I should like to have the world peopled with just such.' ' We also have our uses,' whispered the irrepressible Mrs. Stuckey, who had left the patient for a few minutes to inter- view her husband. ' She will live,' said the doctor, assuming the theatrical pose and expression that was the great weakness of one of the kindest men that ever lived. ' And Fortescue ? ' asked Mr. Stuckey. ' He is with her,' said Mrs. Stuckey indifferently. ' There'll be no baby 1 ' ' There'll be no baby,' said the doctor, again theatrically. ' There never can be now.' ' And Fortescue 1 ' asked Mr. Stuckey. ' He is doing what he can,' said the doctor good-naturedly. ' She will require the greatest care,' said he to Mrs. Stuckey. ' There must be no exciting influences ' ' And Fortescue 1 ' repeated Mr. Stuckey for the third time. ' Bless the man ! Fortescue has not had a baby. What does he mean with his " And Fortescues " ? ' asked the doctor angrily of Mrs. Stuckey. She looked at him. ' My dear, I am a husband myself, though you may have forgotten it for the moment. I can fancy how Fortescue is feeling. And he is with her. And you say there must be no exciting influences. You must have him down, and explain u 2 292 A MAERIAGE IN CHINA to him clearly — clearly, mind — that she will live, that he has not killed her.' ' I never thought of that,' said the doctor ; ■whilst Mr. Stuckey's expression seemed to say, ' I never overlook little details like that.' But all he said was, ' Better leave him to my wife. But be very explicit, my dear. Recollect, he'll be dazed. You mustn't mince matters.' So Claude Fortescue was summarily fetched away. ' I have killed her — I have killed my wife,' he was repeating to himself, as he came slowly down the stairs. ' No, you have not,' said Mrs. Stuckey, taking both his hands in hers to try to arrest his attention. ' Don't flatter yourself that everything that is done is just done by you.' He looked down at the little woman. And the despair of that glance made both the men turn away. ' She will need care — great care,' said Mrs. Stuckey. ' But she will live. The doctor says that she will live. Do you hear ? ' Claude Fortescue looked up, and the doctor just wheeled round and said once more dramatically, ' She will live ! ' Claude Fortescue still seemed hardly to understand, as he looked back once more at Mrs. Stuckey, who was still holding his hands. ' She was born delicate. And she was not made for China — this great brutal climate. I always told you she was a hothouse flower. But she will live,' repeated Mrs. Stuckey. ' Now, Stuckey, do you see after him. And when he is quite, quite calm, let him come back to her. She'll be missing him all the while, remember,' and she ran away upstairs. ' Sit down, Fortescue,' said Mr. Stuckey. And Mr. Fortescue sat down quite passively. ' Remember you must not thwart her,' said the doctor. Thwart her ! He thwart his wife ! The idea was startling to him. ' Let her work ! Let her be useful ! Do not ask her to sit and dream of the child she will never have now. Only geniuses should be set to sit and dream, and they are probably the worse for it. Do, for goodness sake, let your wife help other people, and she will do.' Then the doctor went away, and in Mr. Stuckey's silent but comfortable companionship Claude Fortescue became quite calm. ' We all have to consider our wives' characters a little,' Said Mr. Stuckey with a curious expression. ' It is very odd that it should be so, of course ; but I believe it is a fact.' AT SEA AGAIN 293 Then Claude Fortescue smiled. And after that he was quite fit to go back to his wife's bedside. The child they had dreamt of for so many months, the little angel-child Lilian had so longed for, it seemed that God was keeping to Himself, after all. He thought he knew what the disappointment would be to her. His own life all on a sudden looked cold and lonely by comparison with what he had pictured. But if only Lilian would live ! And she did live — came back to life much more quickly than they any of them anticipated ; and just as when she became unconscious, so her first thought on recovering con- sciousness was for her husband, putting out her own hand to feel for his, and clasping his with her thin fingers, but with a firm fond touch that said more than words. ' I am so glad I am to live, for your sake, dearest,' were the first words she spoke. ' And for your own ? ' he asked, with eyes full of tears. ' Dear husband, what a question ! Are we not too much one to have a divided life 1 I am glad to be with you, as you are to have me still.' But she never spoke of the baby that was to have been. And he dared not, she was still so weak. Then, like a dream, their Shanghai life of expectation seemed to pass away from them. For Claude Fortescue got orders to replace some other great Chinese scholar and proceed at once to join the Legation at Peking. ' If only Fortescue's Chinese knowledge would be made any use of ! ' men said bitterly. Everything had to be done for Lilian, and was done for her with kindly cordiality. Other hands packed away the baby-linen, and the little caps that she had worked. Other mothers shed tears over them, as they folded them all away with camphor and silver paper, not knowing what she would like to do with them, and not daring yet to ask her. When all the furniture was put up for auction, and everytliing that could remind her of her Shanghai life was packed away in tin-lined cases, then Lilian was carried from the hospitable friend's house in which they had been staying for the last few days, on to the northward-bound steamer, and she found herself once more afloat, among the nasty little chopping waves of the yellow China Sea. How many things seemed to have happened since last she felt the salt breeze on her face ! It seemed to her now aU her life. But she held her husband's hands in hers, and she 294 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA felt thankful. And as he saw the sea breeze bringing back the colour into her pale cheeks, he too felt thankful. ' It is very difficult, but it is not impossible, I suppose,' said he, thinking aloud. ' What is it, Claude 1 ' ' Oh, Tao, I suppose,' said he, equivocating — ' the Way, the Truth, and the Life. It certainly is a most difficult word to render,' but he was thinking of what she was thinking of. And yet he dared not speak frankly to her, not even yet. Thus already was a fresh wall of separation being built up between them. CHAPTER XXXIX EXPIATION Wliat would we not give, you and I, The early sweet of life to buy 1 Alas 1 sweetheart, that cannot we ; Life lapses by. — John Paynb. Gloeious hills all round, about whose summits the swifts circle in summer with whirring wings ; islands and rugged cliffs against which the whole force of the Pacific Ocean dashes in winter ; a coastline of great variety and extreme beauty ; a stretch of sand that invites to bathing, and a blue sea, and bay sparkling in the sunshine, somewhat recalling the Bay of Naples. That is Chefoo from the outside, as you arrive in the steamer. But alas ! that it has no background, is but a coastline, nothing more, like the cat little Alice saw in Wonderland, that vanished, till nothing was left of it but its grin — or rather, with the whole world of China for its background, a waste of roadlessness, treeless, manured and cultivated. But people must have lived in China to know what manured means, to know what a pleasure resort is like without pleasure, a sea-bath without bathing machines or bathing men, without donkeys, or nigger minstrels, or curious crystals on sale ; a sea-bath that only differs from any other place in that you can bathe in the sea there if you like, and swim, if you can, to Corea or Japan, or across to America, if your strength carries you — nothing hindering you ; nothing, either, helping you. Looked at from the outside, Chefoo is enchanting on a bright sunny morning. And as Mr. Mortimer came off to the steamer in a white- awninged boat, the consular flag flying overhead, and himself in a new summer suit, the very picture of health and strength, Lilian EXPIATION 295 sat up in her long chair for the first time, and held out her hand, brightly smiling. Only the officer on duty had seen him stop short and half turn away as he first caught sight of her. ' What we bring the girls we say we love to ! ' he muttered, then went for- ward to greet her. He had met Claude Fortescue already, escorting Susanna to the one great school of China, where she was to spend the summer among healthy sea breezes, whilst the Fortescues went on to Peking. ' And I don't think he does your care as much credit as he did mine,' said Mr. Mortimer. 'Mind you don't let them keep him sweltering in Peking. He can correct despatches just as well in a temple on the Western Hills. You've got to look after him, you know.' ' Oh, if he dies, I should die too ! And I am getting well as fast as I can,' was her apparently rather inconsequential reply. But Mr. Mortimer quite understood her. And the loving light in her eyes all on a sudden made him forgive Fortescue for having married her, though it gave him a little shock too. There is a sense of surprise, not altogether pleasurable, in finding that the girl you have thought ideal is altogether satisfied, even with your best man friend. But it made him forgive Fortescue. And at the same time he seemed to know intuitively that Lilian's chair was not placed exactly as she would like it, and he arranged her so that she could see the Bluff, and the waves breaking against it, and yet not be in- convenienced by the sunshine ; moving her chair so carefully, and arranging her cushions and shawls so ably, as at once to excite her surprise. 'Well, you see, I've five sisters, all married. And I'm not always out in China. Do I like this place better than Ichang ? Rather ! Capital shooting ; splendid bathing ; boating ; riding. And now the season coming on, as I hear. All the Shanghai ladies expected soon. Oh, it will be grand. Then I've got such a house, too ! I wish you could see my house. It is a sort of palace, with the most beautiful hanging garden, and such a view ! I've planted every flower you can think of in my garden. If one doesn't come up, the other will, I suppose. If they all come up at once, it will be what the Chinese call reh law, jolly crowded. We had no end of a jamburree on at the Club the other night,' and then in the fashion of out- ports he began to dilate upon their last concert and dance, as if there never had been such an entertainment. It was evi- dently the engrossing topic of the day. 296 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA Then after a while Claude Fortescue returned with Susanna to say good-bye to Lilian, and tell her what she herself thought of her school. ' A fine-grown young woman, Miss Betterton ! ' said Mr. Mortimer. ' School hardly seems the right place for her. Can I take her back, though 1 The consular barge is very much at her service, and I suppose I can do that much, though Sundays out, I'm afraid, are beyond a bachelor Consul. But I'll see the ladies look after her.' Then Susanna, having been quite long enough in China to snatch at the opportunity of the consular barge, pulled by four stout rowers, in preference to a sampan corkscrewingly propelled, the two were sent oft' together, Mr. Mortimer putting on all his consular dignity for the occasion, for Susanna certainly did not look thirteen, and the child, who had never shed a tear on parting from her mother, was now sobbing bitterly at being separated from her Cousin Lilian. ' Oh, Mr. Mortimer, you — you don't think she'll die. Cousin Lilian 1 You think she'll — she'll get well ? ' she sobbed out at last, evidently settling herself to dry her tears now. ' You seem to see the sun through them both a little, but, bless you, child, they're both quite happy. She has got her husband, and that's all she cares about ; and he has got her. And they're all right.' ' I think Cousin Lilian wanted a baby too,' said Susanna earnestly. ' I don't know why, I'm sure. I should think Cousin Claude was quite enough if I were his wife, shouldn't you 1 ' 'I really don't know. Miss Betterton, not having tried being anyone's wife yet. How is your mama ? Has she con- verted a great many Chinese yet t ' Then to his surprise, and altogether beyond his wishes, Susanna began to give him with most painstaking accuracy all the details as to the mission success and failures, till, as he declared afterwards, he nearly screamed with laughter. But at the time he only felt very much ashamed of himself, for he had asked out of idleness, and Susanna was so very much in earnest about this man, who, it was so sad, had taken to opium again, and that one, who was such a wealthy rice merchant, and had lost all his customers since he had be- come a Christian, and was still so staunch and never com- plained, though reduced to poverty. ' He bears it all for Christ's sake,' said Susanna, 'just as I mean to bear my school. No one can think that's very pleasant for me after enjoying Cousin Claude's conversation for months. I think EXPIATION 297 Mr. Fortescue the most superior man I have ever known, don't you 1 ' ' Ye-es, I suppose he is,' said Mr. Mortimer. ' And yet I don't think Confucius would quite have approved of him,' said Susanna. ' It is curious, isn't it ? For Confucius always thought everything of the superior man. Do you think it is that Taoism ? Taoism seems never to have answered.' But Mr. Mortimer had not an opinion on the subject of Taoism, he said, so couldn't oblige her with one. And meanwhile the steamer's pulses were throbbing, and the little steamer itself was making its way round the great sea-washed headlands, rolling a good deal, because it was necessarily flat-bottomed to get over the Taku Bar and up the winding Peiho, where steamers seem to tie knots in themselves, and meet their own bows or sterns, as the case may be, so incessant and so sharp are the Peiho's bends. They — the Fortescues — arrived at that cheery-looking Tientsin, that Gordon laid out, and that has for some time past seemed the most thriving port in China ; and fitting up a Chinese house- boat, proceeded with all their belongings for five days farther up the Peiho River, till they reached Tung Chow, only thirteen miles from Peking. But what a thirteen miles those are ! Over what was once a road paved with monumental blocks of stone, sometimes four feet long, and broad and deep in proportion, but now sometimes stood on end, cornerwise, or with their places knowing them no more ; springless carts ; trains of camels coming for, and carrying back, brick tea into Mongolia and Siberia ; donkeys, ponies, men, women, and children, stumble, strain, groan, and swear along that road, through the blinding dusts or the still viler smelling mud, year in year out, to and fro between the rest of the world and the imperial city, to which every mandarin of rank in all China is obliged to resort on receiving ofiice. It is a scene inconceivable, and in itself explains the condition of decay of the rest of the great empire, but is itself inexplicable, unless regarded as Peking's one great thirteen-mile-long rampart against the incursions of barbarians, as all non-Chinese are there considered. The city gates are closed at sundown, as is generally the case in China, and at whatever hour you leave Tung Chow there is always a sense of hurry to arrive before the gates are closed. Those thirteen miles, taken anyhow, are a hard day's work, as in a serried crowd of vehicles each traveller fights his way along, generally choked 298 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA and blinded all the way. Then comes one of the moments of a lifetime, recalling the first sight of St. Peter's at Rome, of the low white cliffs of England to those English-speaking people — so many now — born out of England, when the wonderful walls of Peking, far surpassing for stateliness and difficulty of construction the so much talked-of Great Wall of China, suddenly burst upon the view with their curious, somewhat mock, but still impressive, gate towers. And then after the fierce melee at the gate, when cartwheel gets locked in cartwheel, and oaths thicken, there comes a sense of be- wilderment as the traveller finds himself, not in a city apparently, but in a sort of dusty wilderness, besprinkled with shanties, and asks in phrase-book Chinese, carefully crammed for the occasion, ' Am I inside the city or outside the city ? ' then breathes relieved on being told what he could never have felt sure of for himself, and realises that the city gates are behind him, and there is no longer any need for anxious haste. Yet there is also a slight sense of depressed wonderment: ' Is this what I have come out into the wilderness to see ? ' For at first sight nothing can look less worth seeing than Peking. It is only gradually the mind of the astonished Westerner becomes capable of perceiving its grand plan, its magnificent perspectives, till at last he realises that even in Paris there is nothing like this Mantchu conception, as seen from the Central Drum Tower jio-i' excellence. But he feels the enchantment of Peking directly that, making an expedi- tion on purpose to see them, he discerns from afar the ex- quisite yellow-tiled pavilions of the imperial palace, within the fourfold inclosure of the Forbidden City, glittering in the sunshine, and wonders with a wonder never yet satisfied, ' Are there fairy-like treasures of art within, worthy of those truly fairy-tale-like pavilions ? ' But no European has ever yet gone within to see, and no Chinese has ever told. Only the report comes out — true or not — that three thousand eunuchs live within the Forbidden City's walls. But all these things, together with the filth and horror indescribable of the one great city of the world that makes no provision whatever for decency, and which are only intensified to the foreigner by the insult and derision with which his every movement is greeted in Peking, that since the Franco-Chinese War and its abortive conclusion altogether despises as it dislikes him — all these things pass from memory, as from sight, as the stranger enters under the great portals EXPIATION 299 of the British Legation. There a lawn-tennis ground smiles, mown and swept, with, scattered round it, the pleasant villa residences of the various secretaries, whilst to the right the great golden, vermilion, blue, and green pavilion, together with an exquisite perspective of entrance-halls and colonnades, leads to the palace of ample courtyards now set aside for many years to the British Legation, being from of old the place where the Chinese Empire used to entertain tributary kings. As the servants in the stately entrance-hall step for- ward to brush the dust from his feet, the visitor feels at once that he has entered within a charmed atmosphere, redolent with acts of kindness and delicate courtesies, but in which the whole great Empire of China drops out of view, together with the struggles and vicissitudes of the, at one time, merchant princes of England. English merchants have been smothered and bothered out of Asia Minor. And whilst they are being smothered and bothered out of China, none is permitted to pollute by his plebeian presence the pure aristocratic air of Peking, where in winter the representatives of the Diplomatic Corps are almost cut off even from postal communication with their nationals, and from which they themselves retire in summer to sanctuaries upon the Western Hills. Lawn tennis, and the temples the various legations had secured for their approaching summer flight from the city of dirt, dust, and disdain ; this one's beauty, that one's dress ; together with scraps of gossip hot-pressed from Europe ; some dancing and more riding, seemed to keep all fully occupied. In spite of the champagne-like air, the representatives of the various nations of the world hardly ever went out into the great mass of surrounding filth and stench that probably only the disinfecting, all-pervading dust saves from breeding a pestilence. For why should the members of a legation risk being insulted ? And have they not their tennis courts and garden parties ? At Peking everyone, of course, collects ; but even for that no necessity to stir outside. Is there not an exhibition spread every morning for inspection in their pagodaed entrance-halls 1 No need ever to go beyond the charmed precincts, unless to take the one Peking walk, along the top of those great masses of masonry, the walls. There are difficulties about that even, for there are briars besetting all the way, and besides, first the soldiers on guard, or some old woman to whom they have delegated their charge, have to be bribed, and when Peking is displeased with one or other of the legations, will not suffer anyone to go up. At other times 300 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA foreigners saunter along them, see from a distance the Altar of Heaven, where worship is still carried on in accordance with the oldest rite still in existence in continuity anywhere in the world, at the spring and autumn equinoxes ; note how it is only in their cities, where Westerns destroy them, that Chinese suffer trees to grow, each house having its tree in Peking ; or, if so disposed, wander on to gaze upon the two planispheres, the astrolabe, supported on exquisitely twisted dragons, with Chinese realism, heavily chained, although of bronze, the gigantic globe of the heavens, sundial, quadrant, sextant, and azimuth, all for hundreds of years in the open-air observatory on the walls, commanding a fine view of the heavens above, as also of the great examination halls below and the country round, not to speak of the imperial granaries built to sustain Peking in time of siege, though now reputed grainless. But though the walls are the one walk of Peking — and they even have their drawbacks — yet Peking is full of interest for those who have eyes to see it, and can overcome, at least so far, their natural disgust at things unseen elsewhere. There through the dust shine out shop-fronts that are miracles of gilding, and within the innermost of their inner rooms are treasures of jade and Indian ink (falsely so called). That is in the Chinese city. Then there are the Confucian temples, like classic poems in their severely simple dignity. And in the streets all about are the queer carts in which the highest dignitaries of the empire may be seen hurrying to i a.m. conferences in the palace. Then there are the long mediaeval funeral processions of red- and blue-button mandarins ; and sometimes well-grown, rosy-faced Mantchu women, with feet of the natural size, balancing themselves upon their extra- ordinarily, but not for Peking too, high clogs, almost over- balanced by their projecting coiffures. There also may be seen Thibetan lamas, with golden gowns and villanous count; nances. And by those who have the courage to risk a cudgelling, or worse, there are lamaserais to be visited, with even, in one of them, a real living Buddha. There are besides manuscripts in Peking, and books such as nowhere else. And, naturally, it is a breeding-ground of Sinologues. Lilian had already met Sinologues in Shanghai, men who doubted about ' characters,' were severely critical of 'tones,' and who could never by any possibility render the simplest Eng.ish phrase into current Chinese, or vice versd. But she felt now as if she had never really known the meaning of the term, as she found herself among a nucleus of Chinese EXPIATION 301 scholars, -who all alike thought that he alone had divined the real genius of the great Chinese language. And after one had come to dinner with his dress coat airily adjusted over a flannel shirt; and another had addressed his left shoulder the whole evening, looking always as if he saw something he wanted to brush away on it, yet never did; and after eacli had differed from Mr. Fortescue and from one another on every subject Chinese, yet without ever either affirming any- thing, committing himself to any theory, or even being definite about a ' tone,' she turned to her husband, when they were left alone, and laughed one of her old merry laughs again. Thus even a Sinologue has uses. Peking had been prepared to be delighted with the Fortescues, and to make much of them ; but after the first, Peking decided they had been spoilt by Shanghai. Mr. Fortescue did not take the Chinese sufficiently as a mystery, a great question to be discussed but never solved. lie seemed to regard them as human beings, who, if disposed, might find our usages from their point of view just as funny and contra- dictory as we are in the habit of finding theirs. ' Fancy what a Chinese mandarin's explanation of our Sacraments would be ! ' he was guilty of saying one day to some one who was describing one of their rites in the fashion- able low-comedy style. And thereby he shocked the mis- sionary element. 'The only way with Chinese is for us to do what we want to do, and let them acquiesce in what we have done after- wards,' he said on another occasion. ' No Chinese mandarin is sufficiently powerful to dare give us leave beforehand. Not even the Tsungli Yamen dares do that ! ' 'Evidently taking that distressing mercantile view about "putting our foot down," and that sort of thing. "We might as well revert to the old gunboat policy,' was the diplomatic comment. Evi- dently Claude Fortescue had mixed too much with the merchants of Shanghai, and become more bourgeois than diplomatic. Were they not all placed there, safe away, quite by themselves at Peking, to see that their troublesome nationals did not in any way take advantage of the Chinaman, and em- broil their respective nations with that unknown, and possibly therefore powerful, quantity, the Chinese army of the future ? As to Mrs. Fortescue, she was very sweet. She was lovely, certainly. But a wreck, a wreck ! Peking had other women to show almost as fair — and better dressed — with more toumv/re, more esprit ! 302 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA Then they all went out to the hills, to their temples. And the Fortescues, being too late to secure rooms in a temple, stayed with first one, then another. And then gradually they were all vanquished. 'But she watches her husband too much. She just lives in her husband,' said a laughing Frenchwoman. ' It is not like real life, but like a scene de thedtre at the Vaudeville, or a farce.' ' A very pretty farce, then,' said the English Minister's wife softly, with sympathetic tears in her eyes. ' But, my dear madame, do send away your baby, pray. I think she may come in at any moment. And she must not see your baby.' ' Not see my baby ! ' cried the Frenchwoman, swelling with a mother's offended pride. Then suddenly recollecting, ' Oh, no ! She must not see my beautiful — beautiful child. No wonder she hangs upon her husband, the poor — poor — poor thing ! ' But she kissed her baby once too often, and there was Lilian standing in the doorway. It had never struck her that they none of them let her see their children, always told her they were out or fast asleep. But it had been an understood con- vention from the first among the ladies of Peking that they should none of them show their babies to the sad-eyed, child- less mother, who still seemed to hold on to life as by a shred. It was unsealed, unratified, but hitherto had been as strictly observed as any international treaty. But now there was the vivacious French baby in full view, with its mother blushing like a guilty thing behind it. Lilian stood still for a moment in the doorway. Then she came forward, forgetting everything but the baby. ' Baby ! baby ! ' she said softly, twined the little thing's fingers round her own, and gazed into its up- turned face, till she could not choose but hide her own in the soft baby cheek. Then she sat and nursed it, and talked to it ; while the other women stood withdrawn, and watched, n'dther daring to interrupt her. Only the mother's throat swelled with pride, as she took it all as a special compliment to her hahy, the baby of all babies in the world ! It was a great, bouncing French baby, with big, black, vivacious eyes, and French airs and graces even in its cradle. But to Lilian, as she sat and nursed it, the first baby she had seen since then, it was her baby, the baby that might have been, and might even have supplanted her husband in her aflTectiona. He came in, her husband, and found her nursing the baby, and the two other women looking on guiltily from the shadow EXPIATION 303 of the window. Only then did Lilian give the baby up to its mother, throwing her arms round her, and kissing her, as she did so. Then only she turned away with a little sob to her husband. The two other women had gone at once, carrying off the baby, and leaving them alone together. His voice trembled as he folded his arms round her. 'My own darling ! My heart's heart ! ' ' Claude,' said she suddenly, taking courage, and looking up at him, 'if baby had been born, he would have been just so old.' ' I know — I know, dearest,' he stammered, though he had no idea of it at all, had never even glanced at the other baby. ' Claude, let us talk of baby now,' she said. ' There must nothing more grow up between us that we cannot talk about together.' Then at last they talked together of their hopes and grief, a sorrowful little talk for all it was so loving ; till at last Lilian said, ' I have never dared to say it to you before, but ' ' But what, sweetheart ? ' ' But if we had done what is right, sometimes I think God would have — — ' She stopped. His ' It is never out of my mind,' overpowered her. Then again she began, ' If you would only do what I wish, Claude.' ' What is it, dearest ? ' he asked, uncovering his face and looking up at her. ' Whatever it is, it shall be done, Lilian.' ' That makes it impossible to ask,' she replied, laying her hand very tenderly upon his arm. 'You must promise to con- sider — not to grant it to me just at once, before I ask it oven.' ' I promise — to consider it,' he said, speaking as if his strength were nearly at an end. Those two poor children ' • I knew it,' he groaned. ' I knew that was what you meant. But wait a little, dearest. Take time to think whether you really wish it — whether you can bear it, I mean.' ' I shall never have a child of my own now,' she pleaded. 'Let me haveyour children, that we may bring them up together. Claude, the world may condemn you for it. But bear that for my sake, will you not, my dearest ? ' 'That willingly. But not in China, Lilian. We must think of their future. Have you considered their position afterwards — known by everyone to be illegitimate, neither English nor Chinese 1 ' ' That is why I ask you to move to England for their sakes — for the children's.' She never asked him for his own, for 304 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA his ^health's sake — knew already instinctively that the one hope of prolonging his life was to abstain from ever arousing any anxiety in him about himself. And so gradually it became known that the Fortescues were leaving China, and that Claude Fortescue was retiring from the Consular Service. He had made one more faint protest. ' But I cannot live upon your money, dearest.' ' Is that so great a sacrifice to ask 1 ' pleaded Lilian. Her husband sighed. And thus it came about that he did everything he had always vowed to himself he never would do. CHAPTER XL AT THE CLUB BAR. FIKI3 Some day or other people will look on our Christianity much ag we look on Paganism. — Caelylb. There was a great gathering, as there so often is in Shanghai, to see the steamer off. In the East farewells to friends rank among its greatest social gatherings, if not among its jovialities. And on this occasion, besides personal friends, and the people who almost always went down to the jetty on the chance of meeting somebody they wanted to see, several men who did not generally do so sauntered down to take a last look at the beautiful Mrs. Fortescue. ' Why, they're taking his children with them. Bless my soul ! ' exclaimed one man. ' I call it positively indecent,' said his wife. ' I'm glad they're going away, aren't you ? ' addressing herself to a lady friend. ' One could never call there with those little illegiti- mate children hanging about.' ' No, indeed ! ' ' Well, does all that lead to this 1 ' said a student inter- preter. ' If so, I stick to my Americans.' ' Right you are, my boy,' said a broker, but not the broker, alas ! ' But Mrs. Fortescue must be agood woman.' And was it the wind, or was there really a suspicion of tears about his eyes ? ' And what do you think of Fortescue 1 ' asked the student interpreter defiantly. ' Oh, Fortescue's a fool,' and they both shrugged their shoulders. ' It is a regular premium upon vice, isn't it 1 ' said a AT THE CLUB BAR 305 rather over-dressed lady to our friend of the grey pongee coat. He was in another costume now, equally striking. ' I don't know where we shall all be if men are to bring up their children just as if they'd been properly married and all, and there's to be no diflFerence.' ' Just so,' said he, who made it a rule never to disagree •with a lady. ' I call it perfectly heroic of Mrs. Fortescue,' said the popular wife of a leading bank manager, with tears in her eyes. ' I only wish I thought that, if it were called for, we should all do the same.' She and her husband had married young, and they had ten children, and she no health to speak of. But she was immensely liked, and they hoped to leave China very shortly now themselves with what is there con- sidered a fortune. ' I always told you there was something above the common about my dear Mrs. Fortescue,' replied Mrs. FitzHugh. ' But it is her husband I admire just now, though she may have the most trouble afterwards.' ' Parcel of brats ! ' said a silk man contemptuously. ' They'll look very different after a year or two of England,' said a fine broad-shouldered man with good features and a serious expression. People said he was losing heavily in business, but then so was everyone who was doing any just then. The dollar continued falling, and so, alas ! did Sheridans. Shanghai no longer looked forward confidently to making its fortune in Colorado, but hoped and trembled. Already there was no ready money anywhere, and the banks were inexorable. After the steamer was ofi", there was a general adjourning to the Club bar. ' I say, Jerry, what do you call your new griffin ? ' For the autumn races were coming on now. ' I hear she is a oner. Is she entered yet 1 ' 'I call her "LiHan,"' said the man addressed, a good-looking fellow, with rather a dare-devil expression He had done for himself from a social point of view a few years before by, as it was believed, actually marrying a Chinese. Ladies said they could not call upon his wife, and not knowing her made it awkward to invite him to their houses. And so he had got generally left out. Men pronounced him a good fellow, but eccentric. Among themselves they commented a little upon ladies not asking him, and asking this one, and that one, and that other, who were certainly — a little notorious. - ' I advise you to back her. She'll win.' X 306 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA ' I'll back mine against her,' cried young O'Callaghan, who was already widening out quite in proportion to his six feet three in his stockings. ' And I call mine " Fair Fortescue." ' He was emphatically known as one of the rowdy lot. In the old days he would have been wrenching door-knockers. And wherever there was a row of any kind, he was sure to be mixed up in it somehow. But he had never forgotten the impression Lilian had made upon him when little Field rode his pony, and his griffin carried off the China Cup. ' I teU you what it is, you young fellows,' said Mr. Cunningham. ' I advise you to look out. We've got a new committee now, and they mean business. The Shanghai Club is to be a reformed place.' ' It isn't the young fellows who have got to look out, then,' muttered the youthful giant. But he went off rather crest- fallen, for his character for rowdiness was notorious. And after they had all spoken his praises, and not a few honest tears been shed over the old broker's funeral, the Club had taken advantage of such a very leading man being removed from among them to introduce a new regime. And already one old member, who had lived there and slanged the Club waiters for the last thirty years, was going round outside, begging anyone to give him a drink, because he had been sus- pended. And there was an awful rumour that one of the most popular of the racing lot was to be suspended that morning. Then they all took to talking of Mr. Robinson's failure, which must be very imminent indeed, since men spoke of it ; for, as they are all in business together in Shanghai, they respect one another's difficulties, and it is a point of honour not to speak of them till they are virtually all over. Then, if necessary, the subscription list goes round, and fills up easily. Shanghai piques itself on its readiness to help distress. ' I say, I didn't think Fortescue had it in him,' said the resident partner in one of the largest Bund firms to Mr. Cunningham as they walked away together. ' I expect it has cost him moi-e than we any of us know,' said Mr. Cunningham. ' Tha one I'm sorry for is the boy. If he is his father's son — and he has a look of Fortescue — how will he stand it when, after a first-rate education in England, and some years of Mrs. Fortescue's tenderness, he comes back to China, and sees his real mother as she is sure to beV ' Ah, well ! ' said the other. ' These things never quite right themselves, I suppose.' AT THE CLUB BAR 307 ' I believe the Chinese method is the right one,' continued Mr. Cunningham. ' Well, the dollar will go lower yet before it reaches its real value. And when it does, where shall we be then 1 That's what I'd like to know.' ' If a man stays long enough in China, he can't fail to be ruined. Why didn't you clear out years ago ? ' ' Missed my moment,' replied Mr. Cunningham, then went off repeating to himself, ' " Once to every man or nation comes the moment to decide." Well, Fortescue has decided. I wonder, now, how often he'U regret his decision.' As to Mr. Mortimer, who was once again in Shanghai, he simply would not go to see the Fortescues off, because he knew the children would be with them. Many people said he was growing quite peculiar, and that Chefoo even had done him no real good, after all. 'Why don't you marry, Mortimer 1 ' someone had asked him. ' What ! Bring the girl you love out to China 1 No, thank you. I shouldn't care for her to know all my street in England. You know all your street, and all everyone else's street too, in Shanghai.' So, after that, there was nothing to be done but make him the butt of the winter's burlesque, whon everybody took somebody off, and people laughed at the hits at one another. But this only served to confirm him in his view that China was not the place to bring the girl you loved to. CHAPTER XLI THE NEW LIFE Spring days are gone, and yet the grass, we see, Unto a goodly height again hath grown. Dear love, just so love's aftermath may be A richer growth than e'er spring days have known. SAunEL Wadding TON. They are living near Cambridge now, in a quaint, old-fashioned house, with a garden full of hollyhocks and daffodils and homely English flowers. They are living upon Lilian's money, although he is Professor of Chinese, and the young men prepared by him are said to acquire Chinese afterwards with wonderful rapidity. Perhaps something of this may be owing to their always going out thoroughly grounded in George Herbert as well, for Mr. Fortescue never ceases to insist upon that writer as a model of Elizabethan English, 308 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA yet in his terseness and humour not unlike the best Chinese style. The Betterton boys have always a home to come to in the holidays now ; but the elder, who is specially seriously disposed, is already talking of going out to join his mother. For Mrs. Betterton, they all know, will never leave the West of China now that Mark, little Mark, the apple of his mother's eye, the exact counterpart of his father, lies buried outside the walls of Chungking. Susanna has been for some time past the youngest girl at Newnham College, and shows no disposition to become a missionary. Threshie Reid was certain she would not have him, though Lilian tried to encourage him by telling him even budding professors of mathematics might be wooed and won like other girls, and she believed made excellent wives, only possibly a trifle careless as to their household accounts, treating them some- what on the x + y to the nth. principle, all the figures being so uncertain. At last she had to beg her husband to request Mr. Reid either to oflfer or to leave the house. On which he did both, met Susanna in the road, and at once consulted her about the predicament in which he found himself, as he called it. 'Why, I thought it was all an arranged thing,' said Susanna. ' What would have been the use of my keeping up with Chinese if I were not going back there ? ' ' I thought — perhaps — to be a missionary,' stammered her ruddy-faced, loud-voiced wooer. ' You know I couldn't be a missionary,' said Susanna indignantly. ' But could you ever care for me 1 It is not possible, I know,' said he, sighing portentously. ' Why, you know I always have,' she replied, greatly hurt. And it was the first and last time Threshie Reid ever hurt her feelings. ' You always said I was to be your wife when I was old enough. And I've never understood anything else. But I thought I was to pass my examinations first. And I must pass first, please.' So she is to pass her examinations first, and Threshie Reid can't yet believe they really are to be married afterwards. ' Whatever she can see in me ! ' he says. But some people think Susanna a lucky girl. Lilian is never quite sure about it all, only, as she says, Susanna has never thought of anything else. But the great interest now centres in Claude Fortescue's son, who, people already say, is to cast his father quite in the shade as a Chinese scholar ; for people in Cambridge expect THE NEW LIFE 309 great things of the lad, who is to combine Chinese and European culture, if it be possible, and, as some of them hope, altogether revolutionise China. Those who know China, the land built up upon the observance of the first commandment with promise, do not think it can be revolutionised so easily ; but they also watch the experiment with interest. At first Claude Fortescue could not look at his children without something of the old sense of repulsion ; could not see them at Lilian's side without being half choked by an indignation against himself, that he thought all the world must share. But the boy's humble devotion to himself — a return for the many painstaking hours of instruction, that the little fellow's thirsty soul had drunk in like so much nectar — this devotion could not but win his heart by degrees. And when the children were in England, acknowledged by every- one as Claude Fortescue's children by a Chinese mother, the first agonising sense of shame began to give place to a gradually growing pride in their acquirements. The little girl, in spite of her slanting eyes, certainly had a very decided likeness to Miss Gardiner, in which both Lilian and Claude rejoiced at times. The almond eyes were found piquant in England, whilst the Chinese taper fingers and delicately moulded arms were greatly admired, and Lilian already foresaw that the child would marry some Cambridge professor with a lively theoretical interest in race distinctions, and a complete practical ignorance of Chinese deficiencies. Tn that case, he would certainly get a thoroughly practical wife, who would keep her household accounts right to a farthing ; for it was amusing — if there had not been some- thing pitiful in it — to see how already every atom of the little girl's mind was turned to what she called real things ; Lilian often felt as if she were being educated by her in household economy. As to Mrs. FitzHugh, she still continues to flourish like a green bay-tree. She never quite understood the meaning of Mr, Fortescue's sending her such a very magnificent sable coat when he and Lilian first went to Peking. 'So very unseasonable a present, too, in the height of summer,' as she remarked. ' But that, too, is so like my dear Mr. Fortescue ! ' However, she still continues to wear it, and looks grander in it than ever. Poor little Mrs. G. J. Smith was so terrified by her violent upbraidings that she never merited anything of the kind again, but went back to Hankow, had a series of hysterics and in her turn so frightened her husband that he 310 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA became her devoted nurse, and before she got well once more, had become so used to going about with her, and taking care of her, that he never got out of the habit again. When Mr. Robinson was ruined, and died, or killed himself — there was always a mystery about the manner of his death — Mrs. Robinson, driven to support herself and Nelly, took to keeping a girls' school, which she did on a large scale Richmond way. The young ladies who come out from that establishment all marry young, and, alas ! they are not improved by their residence under her care. So the world is the worse, but Mrs. Robinson is making money. The student interpreter, of whom mention has once or twice been made, married one of Mrs. Robinson's young ladies, and then one day he shot himself. It was generally said there was no reason for the act, and people called it inexplicable. But it was one of those actions that is especially easy of ex- planation if people care to seek for it. His young widow not unnaturally preferred marrying again, for he left no money. And the world went on as before. Dr. and Mrs. Berner are at last reunited, and the worthy Doctor had to submit to a severe lecture when the three tables that figured so conspicuously in his accounts turned out to be but one reading-desk. But his last literary effort proved such a pecuniary success, that he has been able to present Mrs. Berner with tables for her drawing-room out of the proceeds, and she has been propitiated. The worthy Doctor may often noWpbe seenjsauntering about, at a loss what to do with his leisure, since he no longer carries on a monumental correspondence with his wife. Talking is very much quicker, for Mrs. Berner always cuts him short when he wanders from the main subject, and does not, indeed, encourage lengthy discourses. For she now has letters to write — to their children. However, his socks are in perfect order, and so are all his household appointments. Dr. Donaldson is dead long since, but by the last accounts received from him the mother of Claude Fortescue's children was the mother of a numerous offspring, and treated not unkindly by her half -Portuguese husband. All their children, when last heard of, were being brought up as members of the Church of England. She inquired, when the first was born, what Claude Fortescue's religious profession had been, and said she should like to have her children brought up in accordance with it. Her Macao husband made no objection. He had himself been trained in a'Roman Catholic school) but THE NEW LIFE 311 did not practise, as they say. But this request of herslooked a little as if the poor Chinese slave girl — the kitten of years ago — had had a soul all the time, if Claude Fortescue had but known where to find it, and as if in some indirect way he had yet made an impression upon it, too. Mrs. Stuckey's interview with the Emperor of China has not yet come off ; but her husband's administrative abilities are already becoming widely known. Mrs. Stuckey does not need to talk of them any longer, and there are many whispers about. Mrs. Stuckey herself has been deeply engaged upon a statue of a nursing mother ; the mother is Lilian, apparently impressed for ever upon her memory during that long day she spent with her. No one who had ever seen her could fail to recognise Mrs. Fortescue's throat and the droop of her head in the mother. But the baby is modelled from Mrs. Stuckey's own baby, whose features and limbs are, she says, truly classical, thanks to her own ardent study of and impassioned admiration for the antique. It is certain the baby is rather large than otherwise, and not like either Mr. or Mrs. Stuckey, except that it inherits its father's eyes, which, now that they see them in a baby face, undimmed by liver, people see are the eyes of an idealist— eyes that might see visions. ' Of course Mr. Stuckey is an idealist,' says his wife. ' How could he ever deal with figures as he does if he were not 1 But no one notices this, because he observes every detail. Nothing can escape him. And he acts at once, quite silently. He will never be appreciated at his real worth. But his work will be, though people may not always know it is his.' The women's hospital at Chungking is built now, built with Lilian's money. It is her one gift to China, to which she had at one time, somewhat sadly, meant to dedicate herself. Mrs. Betterton says it will be very useful. Mrs. Betterton writes always full of hopefulness, her trust in God ever unshaken, only longing a little more for heaven now that her husband and little Mark are both gone on before. Her letters to Lilian are always full of a great tenderness, and the receiving of them is a real joy to Lilian, who has never known what it is to have a mother, and who now often feels almost as if she were her mother. Certainly, Mrs. Betterton is the nearest approach to one that Lilian has ever known ; whilst Mr. Fortescue often says of her she is the one real missionary it has been his chance to meet. There may be many others like her, he says, but she is the only one that 312 A MARRIAGE IN CHINA ever crossed his path. His great book on Taoism is not completed yet, and when it is, he doubts if it -will find as many readers as it has taken him years to write. But scholars are already looking forward to it, and as some one said, referring to its advent, ' One grain of unadulterated truth added to the world's store is well worth a man's life.' There is also every prospect of its being intelligible, for although so highly esteemed as a Sinologue, Claude Fortescue's English is peUuoid. Untroubled, tenderly loved, surrounded by every comfort England can give him — there are some, he occasionally maintains, only to be had in China — his weak heart has long ago ceased to trouble him; and though it still exists, a possible source of danger, there is every prospect of a long and happy life of usefulaess before him. ' How very much Mrs. Fortescue's face would seem to say she has suffered ! ' people say sometimes. But then some one is sure to look up surprised, and say, ' Why, her face is like a psalm. It gives the idea of peace — the peace that passeth all understanding.' Both, perhaps, are right, and Mrs. Betterton was wrong. They were not only very happy together at first, though whether Lilian's life has been spoiled or not is another question. Sometimes as the sun shines brightly — as it does sometimes even in England on a summer afternoon— there comes a shadow over her face, and her eyes gain that far-away look they used so often to wear. For a moment she sees the precipices of the Bellows Gorge, and the great river far away below like a fearsome pool, and she hears the chant of the trackers, the chant that always sounded so merry till then, when she saw that last tracker's face as he tried to disengage himself, but failed — and fell ! Then, as that memory presses back over her, she shudders and looks sad. But her husband's hand rests gently on her should'er, and her husband's voice says tenderly, ' Are you among the rocks and rapids of the Yangtsze, my darling 1 ' Then she looks up into his face, and tries to smile, as she says, ' Yes, among the rocks and rapids.' And she remembers his face as it looked that day in the Niukan Gorge. And then, both thinking of what might have been, their hearts are full of a deep thankfulness. THE END. j^2^ottUicoode & Co. Printert^ New-ttreet Square^ London*