L I B RA RY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 U N I VLR.5 ITY 
 
 Of 1 LLI NO I 5 
 
 8£3 
 
 VJ&2.CO 
 v. I 
 

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 in 2010 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/contrabandorlosi01whyt 
 
CONTRABAND; 
 
 OR, 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
CONTRABAND; 
 
 OR, 
 
 & losing p?a?atfc 
 
 By G. J. WHYTE-MELVILLE, 
 
 AUTHOR OF " DIGBY GRAND," " CERISE," " THE WHITE ROSE," ETC. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON : 
 CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 
 
 1871. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY VIRTUE AND CO. 
 
 CITY ROAD. 
 
 
8£2> 
 
 CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Rain-Clouds .1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 An Alliance 17 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Sir Henry Hallaton 33 
 
 o 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 7 
 
 Amazons . ■ 50 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 o 
 6 A Outrance 79 
 
 S CHAPTER VI. 
 
 - u Terrarum Dominos " 99 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 , Frank .117 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 y June Roses . 135 
 
 a 
 
 & 
 
vi CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PAGE 
 152 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 An<>\! 177 
 
 CHAPTER XT. 
 Mani rvuiv. 197 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 The Syren 220 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 S vnAY in London 242 
 
 CHAPTER XIY. 
 Post-Time 255 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Between Cup and Lip 273 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 "A Facer" 291 
 
CONTRABAND; 
 
 OR, A LOSING HAZARD. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 RAIN-CLOUDS. 
 
 " In confidence, Sir Henry — " 
 
 " In confidence, Mrs. Lascelles, of course. 
 I think you can depend upon meP And Sii 
 Henry, as directed by a weather-beaten guide- 
 post, turned into a narrow lane on his homeward 
 way, while the lady with whom he had been 
 riding, jogged her tired horse gently along the 
 high road, absorbed in thoughts, pleasant, sug- 
 gestive, engrossing — not precisely in "maiden 
 meditation," for she was a widow — nor yet, 
 although she was nearer thirty than twenty, 
 wholly " fancy free." 
 
 VOL. I. b 
 
2 CONTRABAND. 
 
 Mrs. Lasccllcs loved licr horse dearly, and had 
 been riding him with the liberality and con- 
 fidence that spring from true affection, in a lady- 
 like manner no doubt, and gracefully enough, 
 but with considerable daring, and no small 
 expenditure of pace. The good generous animal 
 had a perfect right to be tired, having borne his 
 precious burden honourably and safely close to 
 hounds as long as a stout old fox could live 
 before them, and had fairly earned the caresses 
 she lavished on his toil -stained crest and 
 shoulders, while the hoof- tread of his late com- 
 panion died out in the distance. Mrs. Lascelles, 
 I have said, loved her horse dearly. For the 
 first time in her life, perhaps, she was beginning 
 to find out she could love something better than 
 her horse. 
 
 The light waned rapidly. Heavy clouds, 
 gathering in the west, sailed up steadily on 
 the moaning wind that so often in our English 
 winter rises with set of sun. The day had been 
 sad-coloured and overcast, delightful for hunting 
 purposes, but for every other pursuit melancholy 
 
RAIN-CLOUDS, 3 
 
 in the extreme, and evening was drawing on, 
 sadder, gloomier, and more disheartening than 
 the da}'. Certain elms and ashes that skirted 
 the high road trembled in every leafless limb, 
 shivering and whispering together, as if they too 
 were moved by ghostly forebodings of cold and 
 darkness to come. Why should Mrs. Lascelles 
 have looked so radiant and happy? How had 
 been kindled that light in her bine eyes; and 
 what, in the name of chaste Diana, conld have 
 occurred during a day's hunting thus to fix and 
 deepen the colour in her check? "Wiis it that 
 she loved to recall the stirring memories of the 
 last few hours, — the joyous rally of the find, 
 the dash and music of the hounds, the pace, the 
 pastures, the glorious turns and windings of 
 the chase ? Or was it that she had her own 
 private successes to register, her own secret 
 triumphs to record, exulting that she too had 
 hunted her fox fairly in the open, and was 
 running into him at last ? 
 
 Eose Lascelles, like many another who has 
 squared her life to the rule of expediency rather 
 
4 CONTRABAND. 
 
 than right, was a woman thrown away. An am- 
 bitious girl, in her marriage with Mr. Lascelles, 
 now deceased, she had been guided by a desire 
 for social advancement, rather than by individual 
 preference, or even a taste for domestic life. He 
 was young, handsome, agreeable, — a finished 
 man of the world — thoroughly selfish ; and some 
 women would have loved him dearly, but for 
 Bosc Vanneck he was simply an eligible partner 
 as heir to a good fortune and a title. So he 
 treated her very badly, outraged her feelings, 
 brought all sorts of people into her drawing- 
 room, spent her money recklessly as his own, 
 and finally drank himself to death, just six 
 months too early to make his wife a peeress ; 
 having lived long enough, however, to leave her 
 in the enjoyment of as comfortable a jointure as 
 if he had succeeded to the title, and so far 
 content with her lot that she appreciated the 
 thorough independence of her position ; for who 
 is so completely her own mistress as a childless 
 widow, young and attractive, with a balance at 
 her bankers? 
 
RAhX-CLOUDS. 5 
 
 It is needless to say slie had many suitors. 
 Independent of her well-filled purse, the lady's 
 own charms were powerful enough to collect 
 men of all ages, stations, and characters in her 
 train. The clear blue eyes so bright, so frank, 
 might have seemed hard and cold, but for the 
 dark pencilled lashes that shaded their lower as 
 richly as their upper rims ; the white even teojdi 
 would have been too broad and strong, but for 
 the sweet red lips that disclosed them so graci- 
 ously in half- saucy, half- confiding, and wholly 
 winning smiles. There might have been a shade 
 too much of colour in her cheek, of auburn in 
 her hair, but that health and rich vitality so 
 obviously imparted to each its lustre and its 
 bloom. There was nobility in her arched brows 
 and regular Xorman features, just as there were 
 grace and dignity in her tall, well-rounded figure ; 
 nevertheless, something beyond and independent 
 of these physical advantages gifted her with a 
 peculiar fascination of her own. She seemed to 
 bloom in the natural freshness and fragrance of a 
 flower, a meadow, or a landscape ; bright and 
 
6 CONTRABAND. 
 
 healthy as a cow in a June pasture, a child from 
 its morning tub, as Venus herself glowing 
 and radiant, emerging like a sunrise from 
 the eastern sea ! 
 
 Such a woman was pretty sure to obtain her 
 full share of admiration in any society. Perhaps 
 nowhere would her conquests be more general 
 and more permanent than in the hunting-field. 
 TThen she came down from London by train for 
 the enjoyment of her favourite amusement with 
 the Bragford hounds, lords, commoners, squires, 
 yeomen, farmers, and horse-breakers, combined 
 in yielding her a general ovation. To break a 
 fence for Mrs. Lascelles ; to open a gate for 
 Mrs. Lascelles ; to show Mrs. Lascelles the nar- 
 rowest part of the brook, or the soundest side of 
 the ford, was a pride, a pleasure, and a privilege 
 to " all who buckled on the spur." If Mrs. 
 Lascelles had sustained a fall, which heaven 
 forbid ! or otherwise come to grief by flood or 
 field, saddles would have been emptied, stalwart 
 scarlet arms been extended, and whiskers of 
 every hue known to art or nature, would have 
 
RAIX-CLOUDS. 7 
 
 stood on end with dismay, ere a single hair of 
 that dainty anbnrn head should have touched 
 the earth. 
 
 Of conrse they fell in love with her by scores. 
 Of course, too, the man who paid her least 
 attention, the man whose whole thoughts seemed 
 centred in himself, his "coots, his horses, and his 
 riding, found most favour in her wilful woman's 
 heart. That was why to-day she had refused 
 point-blank to become the wife of a much 
 younger man, rich, good-hearted, actual partner 
 in a bank, possible member for a county; 
 that was why she had imparted this refusal, 
 "in confidence, Sir Henry," to the companion 
 of her homeward ride, and gathered, from the 
 manner in which her narrative was received, 
 hopes that sent the light dancing to her eyes, 
 the blood rising to her brain. 
 
 What she saw in Sir Henry it passes my 
 knowledge of feminine nature to explain. He 
 was twenty years older than herself, grey, worn, 
 and withered ; showing such marks of dissipation 
 and hard living on his sunken features as had 
 
8 CONTRABAND. 
 
 nearly obliterated every trace of the good looks 
 which were now a matter of history. Twice a 
 widower, with a grown-up family, an im- 
 poverished estate, and not the best of characters, 
 Mrs. Lascelles could scarce have selected a less 
 eligible admirer amongst the troops of light 
 horsemen who aspired weekly to her favour; 
 but she had chosen to set her heart on him 
 nevertheless, and in her whole life had not 
 felt so happy as to-day, when she flung down, 
 "in confidence,*' the precious pearls that had 
 been offered her, before the unclean animal, 
 who should hereafter turn and rend her for her 
 pains. Women seldom give away their hearts 
 unasked. When they are so liberal, I think the 
 gift is usually without reserve ; though even if 
 accepted, like many other priceless thhigs, it is 
 rarely valued at its worth. Sir Henry never 
 told Mrs. Lascelles he cared for her; but habit is 
 second nature, — and he had made so much love 
 in his life that his manner to all women had 
 insensibly acquired a certain softness and tender- 
 ness, which perhaps constituted the only charm 
 
RAIX-CLOUDS. 9 
 
 left by a youth spent in ease, self-indulgence, 
 
 and the luxury of doincj as much harm as lay in 
 Ills power. She thought, no doubt, she had at 
 last succeeded in winning the one heart she 
 coyeted ; and undismayed by grizzled whiskers, 
 grown-up daughters, or an impoverished estate, 
 rode soberly along, lost in a rosy dream that 
 caused the tired horse, the coming rain, the 
 gathering night, to seem but so many delight fid 
 ingredients of a day taken out of Paradise 
 express for the occasion. 
 
 Mrs. Lascelles, as behoved her sex and 
 position, went hunting with becoming pomp, 
 accompanied by a groom, whose duty it was, so 
 far as his powers of equitation permitted, to keep 
 close to his mistress during the day. In addi- 
 tion to this functionary, other seiwants were 
 disposed and dotted about at different posts, — 
 such as the railway station, the country-inn, 
 where a carriage was left with dry things, the 
 stable where her hunters stood, and the terminus 
 in London, where a brougham awaited her 
 return. 
 
io CONTRABAND. 
 
 Altogether, a day's hunting involved the em- 
 ployment of some half-dozen people, and the 
 expenditure of as many pounds. With all this 
 forethought it was not surprising that she should 
 have found herself riding home at nightfall, alone 
 and unattended, perfectly satisfied nevertheless 
 With her situation, and utterly forgetful of the 
 groom, "whose horse had lost a shoe, and who was 
 to overtake her as soon as another had been 
 put on. 
 
 So she patted her favourite's neck, smiled, 
 sighed, shook her head, and relapsed into a 
 brown study and a walk. 
 
 The rain gave her but little warning. Two or 
 three large drops fell on the sleeves of her habit, 
 then came a squall and a driving shower, such 
 as wets the best broad-cloth through and through 
 in less than five minutes. Even the good horse 
 shook Ins ears in mute protest; and Mrs. Las- 
 celles was fain to sidle him under the hedge, 
 cowering for as much shelter as could be got from 
 the ivy-covered stem of a stunted pollard tree. 
 
 People have different ideas of pleasure. For 
 
 i 
 
RAIN-CLOUDS. u 
 
 some, the most uncomfortable incidents of the 
 chase borrow a charm from the seductive pur- 
 suit to which the)' are unavoidable drawbacks. 
 The infatuated votary accepts falls, lame horses, 
 drenched garments, long rides in the dark, con- 
 siderable fatigue, and occasional peril of body, 
 with an equanimity marvellous to the unini- 
 tiated; and only to be accounted for by the 
 strange perversity of human nature when in 
 headlong pursuit of an idea. Perhaps, after all, 
 the career of life is not inaptly represented 
 by a run with hounds. Difficulties to be sur- 
 mounted and risks to be encountered add infi- 
 nitely to the zest of both. In each, there are 
 unremitting exertions to get forward, a constant 
 strain to be nearer and yet nearer some ima- 
 ginary place of prominence and superiority — 
 an emulation mellowed by good-fellowship with 
 those whom we like and respect for their very 
 efforts to surpass ourselves — a keen excitement 
 damped only by vague wonder that the stimu- 
 lant should be so powerful, by dim misgivings 
 of which the fatal cui bono ? is at the root ; lastly, 
 
i2 CONTRABAND. 
 
 a pleasing sense of fatigue and contentment, of 
 resignation rather than regret, when the whirl 
 and tumult of the day are over, and it is time to 
 go home. 
 
 Mrs. Lasccllcs, sitting in a wet habit under 
 the hedge, neither drooped with fatigue nor 
 shivered with cold. Her reflections must have 
 been strangely pleasant, for she was almost dis- 
 appointed when her servant trotted up with the 
 lately shod horse, and touching his hat respect- 
 fully, suggested that the weather was getting 
 "worser" — that the horses would catch their 
 deaths, poor things ! — that it was still five miles 
 to the station, and that they should proceed — he 
 called it "shog on" — in that direction without 
 delay. 
 
 The groom was a sober fellow enough, but he 
 had decided, with some justice, that such a wet- 
 ting as he was likely to encounter justified a 
 glass of brandy on leaving the blacksmith's shop. 
 
 His loyalty to his mistress and love for the 
 good animals under his charge were, doubtless, 
 not diminished by this cordial ; and while with 
 
RAIN-CLOUDS, 13 
 
 numbed fingers lie unrolled the water-proof cape 
 that was buckled before his own saddle, and 
 wrapped it round her dripping shoulders, he 
 could not forbear congratulating Mrs. Lascelles, 
 that " things," as he expressed it, "was no 
 wuss." 
 
 " The 'osscs is tired, Ma'am, no doubt, an' a 
 long trashing day it's been for 'osses ; but, bless 
 ye, Ganymede, he won't take no notice ; he'll 
 have his head in the manger soon as ever his 
 girths is slacked, and they're both of 'em as 
 sound as when they left the stable. Ah ! we've 
 much to be thankful fur. we have ! but how 
 you're to get to the station*, Ma'am, without a 
 ducking — that's wot beats me !" 
 
 "I must take my ducking, I suppose, James, 
 and make the best of it," she answered plea- 
 santly; "but it's going to be a fearful night. 
 It comes on worse every minute." 
 
 James, who had dropped back a horse's length, 
 now pressed eagerly forward. 
 
 "I hear wheels, Ma'am," said he, "and it's 
 a'most a living certainty as they're going our 
 
i+ CONTRABAND. 
 
 way. If it was mc, Fd make so bold as ask for 
 a lift inside. Ganymede, he'll lead like a child, 
 and you'll have all the more time to — to — shift 
 ycrsclf, Ma'am, afore the train be due." 
 
 While he spoke, a one-horse fly, with luggage 
 on the top, halted at her side, a window was let 
 down, and a pleasant woman's voice from within 
 proffered, to the benighted lady on horseback, 
 any accommodation in the power of the occupant 
 to bestow. 
 
 It was already too dark to distinguish faces ; 
 but the stranger's tones were courteous and 
 winning. Mrs. Lascelles had no hesitation in 
 availing herself of so opportune a shelter. The 
 flyman was off his box in a twinkling, the lady 
 leaped as quickly to the ground, James signified 
 his approval, Ganymede gave himself a shake, and 
 in another minute Mrs. Lascelles found herself 
 jerking, jolting, and jingling towards the station 
 by the side of a perfect stranger, whose features, 
 in the increasing obscurity, she strove vainly to 
 make out. 
 
 Some indefinable instinct suggested to her, 
 
RAIN-CLOUDS. 15 
 
 vevcr, that her companion was young and 
 pretty. A certain subtle fragrance which, may or 
 may not be the result of scents and essences, but 
 which seems indigenous to all tahing women, 
 pervaded her gloves, her hair, her gown, nay, 
 the very winter jacket with which she defied the 
 cold. The rustle of her dress as she made room, 
 the touch of her hand as she took sundry wraps 
 from the front seat of the carriage and heaped 
 them in her guest's lap, told Mrs. Lascelles that 
 this errant damsel, wandering about in a hired fly 
 through the rain, was one for whom lances had 
 already been broken, and champions, it may be, 
 laid gasping on the plain. For several seconds 
 she racked her brains, wondering who and what 
 the traveller could be, where coming from, 
 where going to, why she had never met, nor 
 heard of her before. 
 
 It was not to be expected that silence be- 
 tween these two ladies should last long. Cross- 
 examining each other with great caution and 
 politeness, they presently discovered that they 
 were both bound for London, and by the same 
 
1 6 CONTRABAND. 
 
 train. This coincidence involved, no doubt, a 
 feeling of sisterhood and mutual confidence; yet 
 the coloured lights of the station were already 
 visible, and the fly was turning into its gravelled 
 area, ere Mrs. Lascelles could divine with any 
 certainty the place her companion had lately 
 quitted. 
 
 "What a long drive it is, to he sure!" ob- 
 
 rved the latter wearily. " And they call it only 
 five miles to Midcombc Junction from Black- 
 grove !" 
 
 Mrs. Lascelles felt her heart give a jump, and 
 she caught her breath. 
 
 " From Blackgrove !" she repeated. "Do you 
 know Sir Henry Hallaton?" 
 
 "I do know Sir Henry," replied the other 
 with emphasis. " I know him thoroughly !" 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 AX ALLIANCE. 
 
 Ix the boudoir of a dear little house, just far 
 enough off Piccadilly to be out of the roar 
 of its carriages, sat Mrs. Lascelles, " waiting 
 luncheon," as she called it, for her travelling 
 companion of the day before. 
 
 The ladies had been so charmed with each 
 other in their railway journey the previous 
 evening, that an invitation to the pleasantcst of 
 all meals was given, and accepted with great 
 cordiality, before they parted ; and the mistress 
 of Xo. 40, as she loved to designate it, was glad 
 to think 'that her pretty home should look its 
 best for the reception of this new friend. A 
 canary was perched in the window, a fire blazed 
 in the grate, a pug-dog was snoring happily on 
 
 vol. i. c 
 
1 8 CONTRABAND. 
 
 the rug, a bullfinch swelling in splendid sulks on 
 the work-table : with a peal at the door bell this 
 simple machinery seemed all set in motion at 
 once — the canary twittered, the pug barked, the 
 bullfinch subsided, Mrs. Lascelles jumped up, 
 the door opened, and a footman announced 
 "Miss Boss!" 
 
 If Miss Eoss looked well under the dim light 
 of a railway carriage, she lost nothing of her 
 prestige when exposed to the full glare of day. 
 She was pale, certainly, and perhaps a little too 
 thin, but her black eyes were certainly splendid ; 
 while over her rather irregular features and her 
 too resolute mouth and chin was cast a wild, 
 mournful expression, half pathetic, half defiant, 
 expressly calculated, it would seem, for the 
 subjugation of mankind, especially that portion 
 who have outlived the fresher and more healthy 
 tastes of youth; add to this, masses of black 
 hair, a little bonnet with a scarlet flower, a 
 graceful figure, lithe as a panther's, clad in a 
 dark but very becoming dress, and I submit that 
 the general effect of such an arrival fully jus- 
 
 
AN ALLIAXCE. ig 
 
 titled the disturbance it created in the boudoir 
 at So. 40. 
 
 Mrs. Lascellcs, it is needless to observe, took 
 in all these details at a glance, — she had 
 " reckoned up" her visitor, as the Yankees say, 
 long before she let go the hands she clasped in 
 both her own yarn so cordial a welcome. 
 
 " This woman," thought she, " would be a 
 formidable enemv. I wonder whether she might 
 not also prove a valuable Mend." 
 
 Then, sharp and cold, shot through her the 
 misgiving of the day before ; what had she been 
 doing at Elackgrove, this dark-eyed girl, and 
 what did she know of Sir Henry Hallaton ? Xo 
 stone would she leave unturned till she found 
 out. 
 
 Miss Eoss, however, did not seem at all a 
 mysterious person, at least on the surface. 
 
 Before she had taken off her bonnet and made 
 friends with the pug, she had already broached 
 the subject nearest the other's heart. 
 
 " You are very kind to me, Mrs. Lascelles," 
 she said, folding the pug's ears back with her 
 
zo CONTRABAND. 
 
 white, well-shaped hands; "but I must not 
 come into your house and waste your substance 
 under false colours. Do I look like an adven- 
 turer, adventuress, — what do you call it? — a 
 person who lives from hand to mouth, who has 
 no settled abode, — a sort of decently-dressed 
 vagrant, not exactly starving, but barely respect- 
 able ? Because that's what I am /" 
 
 Mrs. Lascelles stared, and called her dog 
 away. 
 
 " I went to Blackgrove as an adventuress," 
 continued Miss Boss, in calm, placid tones, with 
 no appearance of earnestness but in the firm 
 lines round her mouth, " I left it as an adven- 
 turess. I can hold my own anywhere, and. with 
 any one ; but I should have been worse than I 
 am had I stayed a day longer in that house. " 
 
 '• Tell me about it!" exclaimed Mrs. Lascelles 
 eagerly. "I am sure you arc not — not — at all 
 the sort of person I shouldn't like to know." 
 
 " I will tell you," said the other, speaking 
 lower and faster now, with a bright gleam in her 
 black eyes. " I haven't a friend in the world — I 
 
AN ALLIANCE. 21 
 
 never did have a woman friend ; if I had — well, 
 it 's no nse thinking of that now. INever mind ; 
 I'll tell you every thing, because — because I 
 fancy I can guess something, and yon ought to 
 know. Have you ever seen Miss Hallaton, 
 Helen Hallaton? — a girl with black eyebrows, 
 and a face like an old Greek bas-relief. Well, I 
 was to be Helen's companion; — does that sur- 
 prise you? If you were a widower, Mrs. Las- 
 celles, and had daughters, am I the sort of 
 person you would engage as their companion?" 
 
 It was a difficult question. From the 
 widower's point of view, Mrs. Lascelles was not 
 quite sure but she would. Miss Ross, however, 
 went on without waiting for an answer. 
 
 " Shall I tell you how I lived before I ever 
 thought of being anybody's companion ? Shall I 
 tell you all I learned in a school at Dieppe, in a 
 convent at Paris, amongst the strange people 
 who struggle on for bare existence in the foreign 
 quarter of London ? I have sat for a model at 
 half-a-crown an hour; I have sung in a music- 
 hall at half-a-guinea a night. I suppose it was 
 
22 CONTRABAND. 
 
 my own fault that I was horn without a home, 
 without a position, without parents, as I some- 
 times think, — certainly without a conscience and 
 without a heart ! Yet I know hundreds who 
 have been twice as bad as I ever was, without 
 half my excuses. Mrs. Lascelles, I have been at 
 war with most of my own sex and the whole of 
 the other ever since the days of short frocks and 
 a skipping-rope. Don't you think I must some- 
 times long to sit down and rest, to leave off 
 being a she- Arab, if only for half an hour?" 
 
 "Was that why you went to Blackgrove?" 
 asked the other, wondering, interested, a little 
 frightened, yet also a little fascinated, by her 
 guest. 
 
 " I was in London with a capital of three 
 pounds seventeen shillings," laughed Miss Boss, 
 "and a personalty of five dresses, two bracelets, 
 and Alfred de Musset's poems half-bound, the 
 morning I answered the advertisement that took 
 me to Blackgrovc. Can you believe that when 
 I left it yesterday, I might have stayed, if I had 
 chosen, as mistress of the house, the flower 
 
AN ALLIANCE. 23 
 
 garden, the whole establishment, and wife of the 
 worst — well, one of the worst men I have ever 
 had to do with ? For a moment I hesitated — I 
 own I hesitated ; though I knew her so little, I 
 could almost have clone it for Helen's sake. 
 Mrs. Lascelles, that girl is an angel, and her 
 father is — is — not to use strong language — quite 
 the reverse" 
 
 ]\Irs. Lascelles was woman enough to defend 
 an absent friend, and the colour rose to her brow 
 while she thought how confidentially they were 
 riding together along the Bragford road not 
 twenty-four hours ago. 
 
 " I have known Sir Henry some time," she 
 said, drawing herself up, and blushing yet deeper 
 to reflect that the " some time" was but a very 
 few weeks after all; "I cannot believe him what 
 you describe. You ought not to say such things 
 if you have no proof of them." 
 
 "It was to prove them I came here to-day," 
 replied Miss Boss. " It was to prevent a bad 
 man from making a fool of another woman as he 
 has tried to make a fool of me. Plain speaking, 
 
24 CONTRABAND. 
 
 Mrs. Lascelles, but listen to my story before you 
 ring the bell for the footman to turn me out of 
 the house. The first fortnight I was at Black- 
 grove I never saw the papa at all ; and I honestly 
 own I was becoming every day more attached 
 to the eldest girl. It was a quiet, peaceful life ; 
 and what with the country air, the sleep, the 
 fresh butter and cream, I began to feel quite 
 strong and healthy. Sometimes I thought I was 
 even getting gentle and almost good; I do 
 believe I could have lived there with Helen, and 
 looked after the younger ones, and gone to bed 
 at ten o'clock, and never wanted change or 
 excitement for years. I don't know — it seems 
 as if it was not me, but somebody else, who 
 passed such a calm and happy fortnight in that 
 quiet old country house. 
 
 "But I woke up the first day Sir Henry came 
 home. I was looking my best, and he took care 
 I should know he thought so before he had been 
 five minutes in the room. At dinner, too, he 
 was perfectly odious, and the way he helped me 
 to claret, after three hours' acquaintance, was an 
 
AN ALLIANCE. 25 
 
 insult in itself. Can you believe the man wrote 
 me a letter that very night, and had the effron- 
 tery to put it on my pincushion himself after 
 I had gone down to breakfast ? Such a letter ! 
 excusing the outrageous nature of the whole 
 proceeding, and thus showing he knew perfectly 
 well how badly he was behaving, on the score, 
 if you please, of his age and experience in such 
 matters ! He had often fancied himself in love 
 before, he said, but he now knew that he had 
 met his fate for the first and last time. He 
 should leave home, he protested, that same 
 day, and unless I could give him some hope of 
 toleration, if not forgiveness, should probably 
 never return, for he dreaded my displeasure 
 more even than he loved the very ground I trod 
 on, &c., &c. All in the worst and washiest 
 style, as silly and vulgar as a Valentine ! But 
 he didn't leave home ; for, to my dismay, he 
 appeared at tea-time, on the best possible terms 
 with himself, having been out all the morning 
 with the Bragford Hounds, and lunched, as he told 
 us, in very charming society at the i Peacock.' " 
 
26 CONTRABAND. 
 
 A Bed Indian displays, I believe, wonderful 
 fortitude and self-command under punishment, 
 but a woman tortured by another woman far 
 surpasses the savage in the calm hypocrisy with 
 which she masks and subdues her pangs. Not 
 a quiver in her voice, not a shadow on her face, 
 betrayed more than natural curiosity, while 
 Mrs. Lascellcs inquired, in a tone of perfect un- 
 concern — 
 
 "Do you remember, by chance, whether it 
 was the day of the railway accident?" 
 
 The day of the railway accident was impressed 
 on her memory, less indeed by the collision, 
 which only 'damaged a few trucks in a goods- 
 train, than by an interview she held with Sir 
 Henry after luncheon, in which he had given 
 her to understand, as distinctly as he could with- 
 out saying it in so many words, that amongst all 
 the women of the world there was but one for 
 him, and her name was Rose Lascclles ! 
 
 "I do remember something about a smash 
 that same day at Bragford Station," answered 
 Miss Ross, " and it seemed to me miraculous 
 
AN ALLIAXCE. 27 
 
 that nobody was hurt. I only saw it in the 
 papers next morning, for Sir Henry never men- 
 tioned the subject — I suppose he was so full of 
 other matters/' 
 
 "What do you nican?" said Mrs. Lascelles, 
 getting up to stir the fire, and so turning her face 
 from her companion. "You think I am inte- 
 rested in Sir Henry Hallaton, and you have got 
 something more to tell me about him. Frankly, 
 I am interested — to a certain extent. Be as 
 open with me as I am with you, and tell me all 
 you know." 
 
 Miss Eoss took the pug on her lap, settled 
 herself in a comfortable attitude, and proceeded 
 calmly with her narrative. 
 
 "That same evening, when the girls went to 
 bed, Sir Henry detained me, almost by force, in 
 the library. Without the slightest reserve or 
 hesitation, he related all the particulars of his 
 interview that afternoon with yourself. He 
 assured me solemnly, that you were avowedly 
 attached to him, and ready at any time to 
 become his wife. He showed me a letter vou 
 
28 CONTRABAND. 
 
 wrote him, and a ring yon had given him to 
 keep." 
 
 "He took it to be mended !" interrupted the 
 other, with great indignation. " I never gave 
 it him — I insisted on having it back that very 
 day.' 5 
 
 "It wouldn't come off," proceeded Miss Eoss, 
 "for I own I was malicious enough to ask for 
 it as a proof of his sincerity, and I couldn't help 
 laughing while he tugged and tugged to get it 
 over the joint of his little finger. Then he told 
 me that he had thought of marrying only for the 
 sake of his daughters ; that he had looked about 
 him for what the advertisements call c a suitable 
 person,' and had selected Mrs. Lascclles — I use 
 his own words — as a ladylike woman, with a good 
 fortune, not at all bad-looking, and thoroughly 
 devoted to himself." 
 
 "Upon my word, I am very much obliged to 
 him!" broke in the other, with but little more 
 vehemence, after all, than the occasion de- 
 manded. " The man has lied to you like a 
 villain ! and his lie is all the more cowardly 
 
AN ALLIANCE. 29 
 
 that it has a certain leaven of truth. Engaged 
 to him I never was ; love him I never did ; I 
 might have liked him, perhaps, if I hadn't fonnd 
 him out in time, but there is no fear that I shall 
 ever like him now ! " 
 
 " All this fiction, then," continued Miss Boss, 
 " served as a preamble for a proposal in form to 
 the young lady who had entered his house as 
 companion to his daughters, and whom he was 
 bound, by every manly sentiment, to shelter and 
 protect. I told him so, and he answered that 
 he could in no way fulfil this duty so completely 
 as by making me his wife. Then I laughed at 
 him — I couldn't help it — and he looked so hurt 
 and sad, for he's not a bad actor, that I almost 
 pitied him for the moment, as you do pity people 
 on the stage, though you know it 's acting all the 
 time. At last I got sleepy, and wanted to go to 
 bed, so I determined to put him to a real test, 
 knowing perfectly well what would be the result. 
 
 " I pretended to soften. I gave him my hand, 
 no more, though he was an old player, and 
 obviously accustomed to consider such con- 
 
3 o CONTRABAND. 
 
 cessions the preliminaries of a winning game. 
 Then I told him he ought to know my history ; 
 that I had entered his honsc under false pre- 
 tences ; that long ago, and far away (this is true, 
 Mrs. Lascelles, but let it never again be alluded 
 to by yon or me), I had loved and been deceived, 
 and conld never care for any one in that way 
 again. Lastly, I reminded him of his children, 
 his age (I couldir t resist that !) and his position, 
 watching him very narrowly while I shammed a 
 good cry, and sobbed out i Sir Henry, I am not 
 fit to be your wife.' 
 
 "Then I unmasked my man, just as I 
 expected all along. His face brightened, he 
 never dropped my hand, he looked pleased and 
 altogether relieved, while he embarked on a long 
 and fluent dissertation, in which he insisted on 
 the advantages of a protector and a home, on his 
 own merits, on my friendless position, and on the 
 reparation I owed him for his resolution at once 
 to break off with you. Not a word now about 
 matrimony. Oh ! I was never deceived in him 
 from the beginning— not for a moment ! 
 
AN ALLIAXCE. 3 1 
 
 "I told him so. 'Do you think,' I said, 
 1 after all I have gone through, after all I have 
 confessed to you, that I have a spark of senti- 
 ment, an atom of romance left — that I would 
 trust myself to the tender mercies of any man 
 living, except as his wife ? ' 
 
 " He turned pale, walked to the fire, poked it 
 furiously, and came back, with his hands in his 
 pockets, glaring at me like a tiger. 'Then be 
 my wife, Miss Boss ! ' he growled. c You won't 
 like it, but I'll do my best to make you happier 
 than the others ! ' He was horridly put out, 
 I saw, so I made him a curtsey, took my 
 candlestick, and marched off to bed. I locked 
 my door, you may be sine, and as he was off 
 early next morning to pay a visit in the neigh- 
 bourhood, he came and knocked several times to 
 wish me ( Good-bye,' but I pretended to be 
 asleep, and before he returned yesterday I was 
 gone. 
 
 u ^Irs. Lascelles, you are the only person who 
 was ever good to me without a selfish motive. I 
 have tried to repay you, by putting you on your 
 
32 CONTRABAND. 
 
 guard. I can begin my figlit with flic world 
 where I left off — I rather like it. But think 
 of me kindly sometimes, and try not to forget 
 our drive in the dark to Midcombe Station. I 
 must go now. I don't suppose we shall ever 
 meet again !" 
 
 But she didn't go, notwithstanding, for Mrs. 
 Lascellcs had many more questions to ask, many 
 more confidences to receive, all tending to the 
 condemnation of her false adorer, Sir Henry 
 Hallaton. Tea-time found the ladies still in 
 earnest conclave, and their intimacy must have 
 been closely cemented, for Miss Boss had already 
 confided to her hostess that her Christian name 
 was Yirginie, and that she was familiarly called 
 "Jin." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 SIR HEXRY IIALLATOX. 
 
 Warriors of long standing, who, like the Latin 
 poet, have "militated," not 'without success, in 
 many campaigns against tho Fair, accept re- 
 verses, scars, and even knock-down blows, with a 
 wondrous affectation, at least, of stoicism and 
 unconcern. I have my own opinion on these 
 matters, and hold that the raw recruit, though 
 he may bleed more freely, may make wryer 
 faces over his gashes, thrusts, and gun-shot 
 wounds, yet recovers their effects sooner and 
 more completely than the drier and tougher 
 veteran. The heart, I think, is mended less and 
 less easily after each successive breakage. At 
 List, like an old boot that has been patched and 
 cobbled over and over again, it lets in the enemy 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
34 COXTRABAND. 
 
 with a sadly wasteful facility, and the careless 
 Don Juan of twenty finds himself a jealous, fret- 
 ful, unhappy, yet dotingly devoted Don Alfonso 
 at fifty. There is retribution perhaps even here. 
 A man who lavishes his money in youth, be- 
 comes the slave of a guinea in old age. There 
 must be a day of reckoning for waste of time, 
 health, intellect — why not also for a reckless 
 squandering of the affections? Whatever may 
 have been its practice, the moral code of chivalry 
 was, doubtless, of the noblest and the best. Men 
 little know what they throw away in that 
 thoughtless prostitution of the heart which they 
 are never taught to consider weak, unmanly, 
 and dishonourable. They abandon the brightest 
 beacon to renown, the surest guide to success, 
 nay, one of the nearest paths to heaven. All 
 these are to be found in an honest love for a 
 pure woman, and all these arc bartered every day 
 for the smile of a coquette, or the empty vanity 
 of an hour. 
 
 When it is too late, there is something very 
 piteous in that longing of human nature for the 
 
SIR HEXRY HALLATOX. 35 
 
 good and the true, which causes it to accept, 
 with its eyes open, the false and the bad. A 
 second marriage, when the first had been a 
 failure, was described by a well-known wit as 
 " the triumph of hope over experience ; '' surely 
 the grasping at a shadow, when the substance 
 has proved unattainable, may be called the 
 anodyne of illusion for despair. " I only ask to 
 be happy and to have every thing my own way," 
 is the unreasonable outcry of youth, embarking 
 on a summer-sea with fair wind and hopeful pro- 
 mise, though the golden islands are yet, as they 
 ever will be throughout the voyage, below the 
 horizon, and the safe anchorage of thoughtless 
 childhood is already far on the lee. 
 
 "I have a right to be ha ppy !" shouts man- 
 hood in stern defiance and rebellion, when the 
 waves are rising and the storm darkens around, 
 while he ploughs his way towards his aim by dint 
 of ceaseless toil and weary watches, and heart- 
 breaking efforts that are in themselves unhappi- 
 ncss and pain. 
 
 "I deserve to have been happy!" grumbles 
 
3 6 CONTRABAND. 
 
 old age, though the haven is at last in sight, — 
 sorrowful but not penitent, regretting with re- 
 vilings and maledictions, not with remorse and 
 self-reproach, the fair opportunities neglected, 
 the chances lost or thrown away, — ready on the 
 vaguest and wildest encouragement to 'bout- 
 ship even now, and, reckless of shrivelled sails 
 and used-up stores, to put out into that dark, 
 dreary, disheartening sea once more. 
 
 It is well for man and woman too to have 
 known a deep, engrossing, and sincere affection ; 
 so elevating as to have ennobled their existence 
 with its lustre, so strong as to have swept all 
 rivalry from its path, so prosperous that they 
 have never been driven to seek in paltry imita- 
 tions some fictitious solace for its loss. 
 
 Sir Henry Hallaton had been twice married ; 
 first, in his early youth, when he became the 
 victim of one of those women happily rare in 
 our English society, who literally go about seek- 
 ing whom they may devour. She accepted him 
 after a week's acquaintance, and was tired of 
 him in less than a year. Then she ran away with 
 
SIX HEXRY HALLATOX. 37 
 
 a foreign Count, physically, mentally, and soci- 
 ally, far inferior to her husband; and in moral 
 qualities, at least, then, not fit to black his boots. 
 "Who shall explain these things? Sir Henry 
 had a shot at the Count, and winged him ; but so 
 madly was he in love with the woman by whom 
 he had been thus outraged, that he refused to try 
 for a divorce. Had she not died a few months 
 later, he believed she might have returned to 
 him — and he would have taken her back ! This 
 consideration somewhat softened the pain he 
 was weak enough to feel in her loss. Then he 
 married again a lady who was devoted to Mm, 
 this time, and who bore him a family, of which 
 his daughter Helen was the eldest. That he 
 proved a faithful husband to this true and affec- 
 tionate wife, I cannot take upon myself to 
 affirm, but he was good to the children, and 
 especially fond of his eldest. After a few short 
 years he lost his second wife too, and now began 
 the least excusable part of Sir Henry's life. 
 
 He was still handsome, with all the energy 
 and most of the tastes of youth. He was gay, 
 
3 8 CONTRABAND. 
 
 popular, somewhat unscrupulous, and a great 
 favourite with women. The married ones liked 
 liim well enough, in all honour; and of such he 
 used to say, that "they could take care of them- 
 selves;" but amongst the unmarried, many 
 aspired to legal possession of himself and his 
 home ; with these, unless he was much belied, 
 he took cruel advantage of feelings he ought 
 never to have awakened, and hopes he never 
 intended to fulfil. 
 
 There were strange stories of Sir Henry's 
 rides with Miss Fanny, and his walks with 
 3Iiss Yiolet, of the pic-nic that got Lady Jane 
 into such a scrape with her aunt, and the dis- 
 appearance for several more hours than was 
 decorous of a young beauty, once the pride of 
 half-a-dozen parishes, subsequently ostracised 
 for misdemeanours, in which she was far the 
 least erring culprit of the two. Scandals like 
 these, however, neither caused people to shut 
 their doors against the reckless baronet, nor, 
 indeed, brought him into such disrepute as 
 might have been expected with that jury of 
 
SIR HEXRY HALLATON 
 
 39 
 
 matrons who constitute the court of appeal for 
 county society , and whose verdict in defiance 
 of all evidence is almost always given in con- 
 demnation of the accused. Had it not been for 
 Helen, perhaps Sir Henry, in an unguarded 
 moment, would have surrendered himself once 
 ail, to recommence his search after happiness 
 in matrimonial fetters, calculated not only to 
 impede his activity but creating much untoward 
 noise and jingle in his pursuit. The image of 
 his child, I believe, saved him many times from 
 folly, more than once from guilt. The tempta- 
 tion must have been very great, the seductions 
 more than ordinarily powerful, that could have 
 induced Sir Henry either to abandon Iris 
 daughter and his home, or to place another in 
 that home, over that daughter's head. His last, 
 and one of his most foolish escapades, had been 
 a sudden infatuation for Miss Boss. He was 
 also not a little ashamed of his discomfiture, 
 at her cavalier rejection of his addresses, and 
 masterly retreat from his house. 
 
 The morning after her departure Sir Henry 
 
4 o CONTRABAND, 
 
 sat at breakfast, revolving in his mind many 
 matters of affection and sentiment, which did 
 not, however, seem to affect his spirits or his 
 appetite. lie was a late man, and his family, 
 consisting of three daughters, for the only son 
 was abroad with his regiment, generally dis- 
 persed to their several occupations before he 
 came down. Only Helen, after she had ordered 
 dinner and set the domestic works of the 
 establishment in motion, habitually paid him 
 a visit to pour out his tea and chat with her 
 papa while he ate. To-day, she was later than 
 usual, and her absence gave him time to reflect 
 on his demonstration and its repulse. Strange 
 to say, while he saw the folly of which he would 
 fain have been guilty, and laughed indulgently 
 at his own infatuation, there was a degree of 
 soreness about his failure, more galling than that 
 of disappointed fantasy, or mere wounded self- 
 love. 
 
 " Can it be that I really care for this girl?" 
 thought Sir Ilenry ; "and if so, that I of all 
 men in the world am likely to be baffled in my 
 
SIR HENRY HALLATOX. 41 
 
 pursuit? Have I quite lost the art in which. 
 
 I was tolerably perfect twenty, ten, ay, five 
 years ago ? and even if I have, is it not worth 
 anything to know that I can feel as I used, and 
 am young in heart and affections still ?" 
 
 He would have got up and stared in the glass, 
 deploring, as he often did, the wrinkles about his 
 eyes, the grey hairs in his whiskers, but that 
 Helen coming into the room began to pour out 
 his tea and look after the comforts of his re- 
 past. 
 
 She was a girl to be proud of, ay, and 
 fond of too. Miss Eoss described her beauty 
 graphically enough when she said it was that 
 of an old Greek las-relief. The features were 
 as regular, the brow as low and wide, the 
 under part of the face slightly prominent, and 
 the mouth, when seen in front, forming that 
 beautiful curve so rarely modelled but in the 
 antique — such a mouth as denotes sensibility, 
 firmness, courage, sympathy, and other noble 
 characteristics of womankind. 
 In addition to these advantages, Helen pos- 
 
42 CONTRABAND. 
 
 sessed what arc called "Irish eyes" — deep, soft, 
 and winning, frank, modest, and full of intellect. 
 I can think of no other epithet to convey their 
 lustre and their charm. They were, probably, 
 blue-grey, like Minerva's, but you never thought 
 of their colour, fringed as they were by curling 
 eye-lashes darker than her hah*, and surmounted 
 by firm, well-defined eye-brows of a yet deeper 
 shade than either. She was rather tall, too, and 
 handsomely formed, with shapely hands and 
 feet; but the graceful figure suggested a fair 
 amount of strength and energy, nor were you 
 surprised to learn that she could ride, walk, 
 garden, and milk a cow. There were few 
 better waltzcrs anywhere, and no such skater 
 in the shire. Moreover, though she never con- 
 fessed to it, I believe she used to play cricket 
 with her brother, and was an undeniable 
 long-stop. 
 
 Sir Henry looked fondly in her face, and his 
 heart smote him to think that he should ever 
 have contemplated the possibility of setting any 
 other woman over his daughter's head. 
 
SIR HENRY HALLATON. 43 
 
 "Letters, Nelly," said he, tossing her over 
 a packet of them to open, while he proceeded 
 with his breakfast. "The old story, of course, 
 comity meetings, advertisements for wire-fences, 
 curse them ! cheap wines ; nothing from Harry — 
 he never writes but when he wants money — to 
 be sure that's nearly every mail — and two or 
 three tradesmen's bills, which you may put in 
 the fire without opening." 
 
 "Why don't you pay your bills?" said Miss 
 Helen, who was rather fond of lecturing her 
 papa ; it was her favourite way of petting him. 
 " You let them run up, and forget all about it ; 
 and then, when you want to buy a horse, the 
 money is required for something else. Now, 
 look at me ; I keep the house accounts to a 
 fraction, and pay them the first Monday in every 
 month to a minute." 
 
 Sir Henry laughed. 
 
 "How can I pay your debts and my own 
 too? You spend all my money in soap and 
 sand-paper, you little tyrant, and expect me to 
 find myself in boots, gloves, saddlery, and the 
 
4+ CONTRABAND. 
 
 common necessaries of life. Nelly, you're the 
 plague of my existence !" 
 
 "I wish you -would let me manage all these 
 things for you," insisted Miss Nelly, with great 
 solemnity; "Fm sure you're cheated, papa, and 
 you're far too generous and open-hearted. lie- 
 sides, you hate accounts, and I know you pay 
 them often without adding them up. How I 
 like figures ! I like managing — I like looking 
 into things — I like having plenty to do." 
 
 " You'll have a house of your own to manage 
 some day," answered her father gaily, "and a 
 husband too, you little witch. I'm sure I don't 
 envy him !" 
 
 But his face fell while he spoke ; for he was 
 thinking, when the fatal time came, what should 
 he do without his darling, the light, and joy, 
 and comfort of his home ? 
 
 Miss Helen blushed. Perhajxs she too had not 
 been without her maiden dreams of some such 
 contingency hereafter. Perhaps she had fore- 
 shadowed to herself the semblance of a future 
 lord, whom she would tend as fondly and 
 
SIR HENRY HALLATOX. 45 
 
 love even more devotedly than papa. Perhaps 
 already that phantom shape had been filled in 
 and coloured, and appeared visibly in the flesh. 
 
 61 Halloo, young woman!" exclaimed Sir 
 Henry, tossing another letter across the table, 
 " here's something for you! An enormous en- 
 velope, stamped with the arms of the Household 
 Cavalry. Bravo, Nell ! Have they offered you 
 a cornetcy, or a situation as band-master, or 
 what?" 
 
 The blush deepened on Helen's face till it 
 spread to the roots of her thick dark hair ; but 
 she put back the unopened letter in her father's 
 hand, and, stealing round his chair, leaned on 
 his shoulder, while she stood behind him. 
 
 "Read it, papa," said she; " nobody in the 
 world can have anything to say to me that ought 
 not to come to you first." 
 
 Again that pang of remorse shot through 
 him, as he remembered his own unworthincss. 
 "What a good girl I have got!" he thought; 
 " and what a poor, irresolute wretch I am ! I 
 cannot trust myself for a day ! I ought to be 
 
46 CONTRABAND. 
 
 better ; I wish I could try to be better ! Here 
 have I been, ready to gamble away my child's 
 position and her cvery-day comfort for the sake 
 of a pair of black eyes and lanthorn jaws that 
 I had never seen a month ago, that I don't 
 care for half as I do for Nell ! — that don't care a 
 brass farthing for me ! And I'd do it again, I 
 know, under temptation — that's the worst of it ! 
 Ah ! I wish I had led a different life, for Nelly's 
 sake. I wonder if it's too late to begin now !" 
 
 Then he read his daughter's letter, a correct 
 and harmless production as could possibly be 
 addressed to a }'oung lady under the immediate 
 supervision of her papa, consisting indeed but of 
 a few choice lines, to express, with much polite- 
 ness, the writer's intention of " availing himself 
 of Sir Henry's kindness, and of trespassing on 
 his hospitality for a couple of days' hunting the 
 following week," with a studied apology for 
 addressing the daughter of the house, according 
 to her father's express directions, who had feared 
 he might be away from home when the letter 
 arrived; the whole concluding with a vague 
 
S/jR HENRY HALLATOK. 47 
 
 ■11 to a ball of the previous season, -which 
 might mean anything, or might not. 
 
 " I told him to write to you, Nelly," said Sir 
 Henry, tearing the letter across and throwing it 
 into the waste-paper basket ; " it's lucky I did, 
 for I had forgotten all about it. And now I'm 
 not quite sure which of these fellows it is, 
 they're all so alike, and they all ride chestnut 
 horses with great liberality, I must admit. 
 Vanguard, Vanguard, — which was Vanguard? 
 The little fellow with light hair, or the stout 
 man who spilt sherry over your dress ? I 
 believe I asked them all here next week." 
 
 " Xonsense, papa!" replied Helen; "you're 
 thinking of Sir Charles Carter and Mr. Peacock. 
 Captain Vanguard is the gentleman we met at 
 Lady ClearwelPs, and who was so civil about his 
 brougham when our carriage got smashed." 
 
 "I remember ! " exclaimed Sir Henry, suddenly 
 enlightened, " a man with a squint — " 
 
 "A squint!" returned Helen indignantly. 
 " Oh, papa ! how can you say so ? He's got 
 
 .utiful eyes; at least — I mean — " she added, 
 
4 8 CONTRABAND. 
 
 picking herself Tip with some confusion, " he 
 hasn't the slightest vestige of a squint ! And 
 you thought him good-looking." 
 
 "Did you think him good-looking, Kelly?" 
 said her father ; " that's more to the purpose." 
 
 " I never thought about it," answered the girl, 
 tossing her head, yet smiling a little with her 
 deep expressive eyes. u He seemed gentleman- 
 like and good-natured, and you said you wanted 
 to he civil to him ; so he'd better come here, I 
 suppose, and I'll see that his room is comfortable 
 and his fire lit — that's my department. Xow, 
 papa, if you mean to be provoking, I'll go and 
 attend to my own business : I've plenty to do, 
 and you're not to have any more tea. "What an 
 hour to have just finished breakfast ! Shall I 
 ring?" 
 
 "Piing away, Nelly," said her father, putting 
 a cigar in his mouth, and sauntering off for his 
 usual visit to the stables. 
 
 13ut Helen dipped into the waste-paper basket, 
 and extracted therefrom the two torn halves of 
 Frank Vanguard's letter, which she pieced to- 
 
SIR HEXRY HALLATON. 49 
 
 gether and perused attentively. Then she folded 
 them carefully in their envelope, also torn, and 
 
 placed the whole in her apron pocket, ere 
 
 « 
 
 she rang the bell and sailed off on her daily 
 avocations ; from all which I infer that, not- 
 withstanding her denial, she had thought about 
 the writer's good looks, and was, at least, 
 perfectly satisfied that his eyes had not the 
 remotest tendency to a squint ! 
 
 vol. 1. E 
 
CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 AMAZONS. 
 
 "My dear, the Amazons were quite right." It 
 was Mrs. Lascelles who spoke, sitting in the 
 easiest chair of her boudoir, and listening to an 
 account of those remarkable women, read aloud 
 by Miss Eoss. The ladies had not been studying 
 Herodotus, amusing and improbable as arc 
 the anecdotes of that gossiping historian, but 
 took their information from an author of later 
 date, less quaint, more voluminous, and perhaps 
 as little to be trusted. 
 
 Miss Eoss shut her book and yawned. " I 
 think they should have gone in for man-hating 
 altogether," she replied. "I am dead against 
 half-measures, and I never can see why you 
 shouldn't lack people because they are down !' ? 
 
AMAZOXS. 51 
 
 " I wish I had always thought so," said the 
 other, with something like a sigh. "We poor 
 women must learn to take care of ourselves. 
 Well, I'm wiser now, and really, Jin, I think 
 it's partly owing to you.'' 
 
 Miss Eoss was still thinking of the Amazons. 
 "Why didn't they kill their prisoners at once ?' 3 
 she asked. " It would have been more dignified, 
 and more — what shall I say? more manly alto- 
 gether." 
 
 " I think the other plan was better," answered 
 3Irs. Lascelles. " You see, they kept them long 
 enough to make them unhappy, if they had no 
 other motive, and then put them out of the 
 way just as the captives were beginning to get 
 attached to their conquerors. They don't seem 
 to have minded mutilating themselves ; I daresay 
 that was very natural. — Jin, I think I should 
 like to have been an Amazon." 
 
 "You're too soft-hearted," answered the other. 
 " Xow I could condemn a man to death with ] 
 compunction than you would show in ordering a 
 child to be whipped. I have no pity for the 
 
 UN WERSITY OF 
 Ul "0lS L,BR ARY 
 
52 CONTRABAND. 
 
 nobler sex, as they call themselves. ' War to the 
 knife !' that's my motto !" 
 
 u I think I have been used badly enough, " 
 said Mrs. Lascelles, looking the while extremely 
 prosperous and self-satisfied. "I am sure my 
 early life has not been the happier for my rela- 
 tions with the lords of the creation. Two or three 
 false lovers, my dear, and a bad husband, are not 
 calculated to raise one's opinion of the race ; but 
 I am not so bitter as you are, by many degrees." 
 
 " Heaven forbid!" replied Miss Eoss, while 
 a shadow passed across her dark, expressive face. 
 11 1 should be sorry for any woman who could 
 feel as I do ; sorrier still if she had learnt her 
 lesson as I did." 
 
 She was silent for a few minutes, looking back, 
 as it seemed, with horror and self-aversion, into 
 the depths of a cruel and hideous past ; a past 
 that had unsexed and made her what she was 
 now ; that had caused her to originate one of 
 the strangest compacts ever entered into by two 
 women, and enthusiastically to abide by her own 
 share in the agreement. 
 
AMAZONS. 53 
 
 Mrs. Lascclles and Miss Eoss had struck up 
 a firm alliance, offensive and defensive, with the 
 object of persistently carrying out a system of 
 aggressive warfare against the masculine half of 
 the human race. The elder and richer lady had 
 proposed to the younger and poorer, that she 
 should take up her abode with her, and be to 
 her as a sister. In the world, Mrs. Lascclles 
 gave out that Miss Eoss was her cousin ; nor did 
 a large circle of London acquaintances think it 
 worth while to verify the assumed relationship. 
 They saw two pretty women, living together in 
 a good house, remarkably well dressed, driving 
 the neatest carriage and the truest steppers in 
 London, going out little, but to " good places," 
 and were quite willing to accept their own 
 account of themselves, without making further 
 inquiry. Everybody knew tvho Mrs. Lascclles 
 was (it would have denoted rustic ignorance not 
 to be aware that she had missed becoming Lady 
 St. Giles), and, after the first week or two, the 
 companion who went about with her was no 
 longer " a Miss Eoss, but had established her 
 
54 CONTRABAND. 
 
 position as " Miss Ross — clever girl, with black 
 eves — cousin, you know, of dear Rose." 
 
 So these two might be seen in the Park twice 
 a week ; at the Opera, once ; occasionally at a 
 ball ; more frequently at those unaccountable 
 functions called " drums," where hundreds of 
 people congregate in a space intended for tens, 
 and the world seems engaged, somewhat wearily 
 and with customary ill success, in looking about 
 for its wife. 
 
 But it was Miss Eoss who had struck out the 
 happy idea on which hung the whole strength 
 and motive of the alliance. 
 
 She it was who suggested, that at all times, 
 and under all conditions, as much harm should 
 be done to the peace of mind of every man within 
 reach as could be accomplished by two fascinating 
 women, with all the advantages of good fortune, 
 good looks, good taste, and good position. 
 
 " You've got the money, dear," said she to 
 her patroness, "and most of the beauty, in my 
 opinion, the friends, the foothold, and the rest of 
 it ; but, I think, Pve got the energy and the 
 
AMAZONS. 55 
 
 obstinacy, and my share of the brains; above 
 all, the rancour that can carry us through any 
 opposition in the world !" 
 
 So they started on the war-path at once, even 
 before Easter ; and a very pleasant " fillibuster- 
 ing " expedition they made of it. Not many 
 scalps were taken perhaps at first ; but the 
 defences of the white man were examined and 
 broken through, his habits studied, his weapons 
 blunted, his mode of strategy laid bare. By the 
 middle of May, sundry Pale-Faces were going 
 about with strange sensations under their waist- 
 coats, that only wanted a little chafing to become 
 serious disease of the heart. The aggravation 
 was sure to follow, else wherefore were dresses 
 of exquisite fabric contracted, gloves and bonnets 
 sent home, coils of fragrant hair laid fold on fold, 
 smooth, shining, and insidious as the involutions 
 of the great Serpent himself ? It was difficult to 
 say which of these two Amazons could boast the 
 highest score of victims. Perhaps Mrs. Lascelles 
 proved most successful in the massacre of middle- 
 aged adorers, while young boys and old gentle- 
 
50 CONTRABAND. 
 
 men fell prostrate without effort, willing captives 
 to the devilry and seductions of Miss Eoss. 
 
 Amongst the eldest of these, and the wisest, 
 in his own opinion, was a certain Mr. Groves, 
 a relative by marriage of Mrs. Lascelles, who 
 persisted in calling him "Uncle Joseph," a 
 name by which he soon became known in 
 the circle of her intimates. This gentleman, 
 at a mature period of life, when years arc 
 counted by scores and romance is supposed 
 to have made way for comfort and self-indul- 
 gence, found his defences suddenly exposed to 
 the merciless attacks of Miss Eoss. He liked 
 it uncommonly at first, flattering himself that at 
 his age flirtation was a harmless and pleasing 
 excitement, which he could leave off when it 
 became oppressive or inconvenient, and that, if 
 worst came to worst, he was in good hands, — 
 the girl seemed so attached to him, so confiding, 
 so sincere ! Uncle Joseph used to rub his bald 
 head in his cooler moments, and wonder fully Its 
 much at her as himself; but, with the lapse of 
 years, he had at least learned that it is not well 
 
AMAZONS, 57 
 
 to analyse our pleasures too minutely ; and he 
 generally summed up with the philosophical 
 reflection, that there was no accounting for 
 taste. If the girl liked a man old enough to be 
 her father, why it only showed she was a girl of 
 sense, who knew the world, " Ay, and more than 
 that, sir, a girl who knows her own mind !" 
 
 By degrees, however, Uncle Joseph, having, 
 it is to be presumed, forgotten the tender ex- 
 periences of youth, was surprised to find his 
 habits altered, his snuff-box put aside, his after- 
 dinner slumbers abolished, nay, the fashion of 
 his garments derided, his very tailor changed, 
 and tyrannical exception taken to the thickness 
 of his boots. He kicked stoutly at first, but 
 without avail. He was never comfortable now. 
 seldom happy. The clubs and haunts he had 
 once delighted to frequent knew him no more, 
 and he had taken to wander about the Park like 
 a restless spirit, amongst boys who might have 
 been his grandsons, disappointed, as it would 
 seem, in a vague search for some object, which 
 yet he never really expected to find. 
 
58 CONTRABAND. 
 
 So altered was the man, that lie actually con- 
 sulted an eminent hairdresser on the propriety of 
 setting up a wig ! 
 
 " Don't be late, dear, to-night," said Mrs. 
 Lascelles, waking up from a fit of musing, 
 possibly on the habits of the Amazons ; " there's 
 nobody coming, I think, but Uncle Joseph, 
 and he hates waiting for dinner. Perhaps 
 he's still more fidgety when he is waiting for 
 you." 
 
 In Miss Boss's black eyes rose a sparkle that 
 denoted intense love of mischief, rather than 
 gratified vanity or demure self-applause. 
 
 " He does wait for me, nevertheless, very 
 often," she answered; "and I don't let him off 
 because he hates it, you may be sure. Do you 
 remember him that night at the French Play ? 
 Didn't he get savage ? And wasn't it fun?" 
 
 Mrs. Lascelles laughed. 
 
 "You never spare him, Jin, that you must 
 allow." 
 
 "I spare nobody!" answered the other, and 
 the dark eyes glittered fiercely. 
 
AMAZONS. 59 
 
 Her friend looked at her with more than 
 common interest, and something of pity no less 
 than curiosity in her face. 
 
 "What makes you so wild, Jin," said she, 
 "so wicked, so merciless, so unlike other people? 
 I love you dearly, as you know, because I do 
 believe you love me. But why should you hate 
 everybody else ? Above all, why are you so 
 bitter, so ivnkind, so utterly without heart, 
 towards those who show a regard for yourself? 
 It seems to me, that directly a man betrays the 
 slightest interest in you, down he goes in the 
 Black List, and you pitch into him without 
 compunction or remorse." 
 
 "Shall I make a clean breast of it?" said 
 Miss Boss, drawing her chair near her Mend. 
 "You have often heard me say what a wretched 
 childhood mine was, what an unhappy youth; 
 but I have never told even you of the one crown- 
 ing sorrow of my life, the one outrage that 
 turned my few good impulses and instincts into 
 ' malice, hatred, and all uncharitablencss.' As 
 a child, I had no parents, no relations. I was 
 
Go CONTRABAND. 
 
 brought up by a stern old woman in black, whom 
 I had been taught to call 'Aunty/ but who was 
 careful to impress on me, nevertheless, that I 
 was not her niece ; and I had no playmates, nor 
 companions of my own age. I could have clung 
 very fondly to anything that showed interest in 
 me or loved me. I know it, because when I was 
 taken across the Channel to school at Dieppe, I 
 made acquaintance with the steward's dog in the 
 steamer, and I shall never forget the wrench of 
 parting with that friend of six hours' standing, 
 nor the look in his meek brown eyes when I 
 kissed him and wished him good-bye. I re- 
 member I cried for two hours, and ' Aunty' 
 thought it was at parting with her. She scolded 
 me without pity ; but even then I was wise 
 enough to know she would have reviled me still 
 more bitterly had I told her the truth. How I 
 hated that school at Dieppe, the cafe au lait, 
 the long rolls of bread, the louilli] and the fast 
 days. The lessons I didn't so much mind, but the 
 ' recreations,' as they called them, I thought 
 would have driven me mad ! I was quite a little 
 
AMAZONS. 6 1 
 
 girl when I went there, but nobody petted me, 
 nor seemed to care one snap of the fingers whether 
 I was dead or alive ; though they said I was 
 pretty, I don't think I could have been what is 
 called 'a taking child.' I was often punished too, 
 and always more or less in disgrace for c insubor- 
 dination,' because I lifted up my young voice and 
 protested against the injustice to which we were 
 daily victims. The school consisted of French 
 and English girls, I liked the latter least ; they 
 were the most prejudiced and overbearing, affect- 
 ing airs of superiority, and calling the former 
 i foreigners ' in their own country ! 
 
 "When I left Dieppe and was removed to a 
 convent in Paris everybody seemed glad, and I 
 was delighted to go myself. 
 
 " Oh ! Eose, you have never been in a con- 
 vent ! Thank your stars, my dear, or your gods, 
 if you have any ; and pray that you never may 
 be. The discipline, the dulness, the wearisome 
 routine, made one feel like a wild beast in a 
 cage. I think I should have torn somebody in 
 pieces if I had stayed. There was nothing to see, 
 
62 CONTRABAND. 
 
 nothing to do, and nothing to learn. Though I 
 waa such a little rebel, I had neither been stupid 
 nor idle at school, and there was little they 
 taught in the convent, except needle-work, that 
 I didn't know fully better than my instructors. 
 So I ran away. I am ashamed to tell you how I 
 managed it — what lies I told, what feelings I 
 simulated, what smiles I lavished to induce a 
 young man, whom I had only seen three times 
 and spoken with twice, to assist me in my flight. 
 He called it ' un enlevement ; ' but I think I 
 managed all the details, and had, therefore, the 
 less difficulty in giving him the slip within an 
 hour of my escape from prison. He was a 
 'friseur,' I believe. He told me he was an 
 artist. I certainly shouldn't have known 
 him again in a week's time, but he was useful 
 to me, and I think he said his name was 
 Adolphe. 
 
 u ~So friends — no money. A run-away school- 
 girl, and loose in the streets of Paris. Can you 
 wonder that my wits are sharpened, my opinions 
 somewhat advanced ? I was self-reliant, however, 
 
AMAZONS. 63 
 
 and had 110 intention of starving, so I pawned 
 a black silk jacket of my own, and a bracelet 
 Adolphe had lately given me. I regret to say 
 the latter ornament fetched but a few francs. 
 I had capital enough now to keep me a few days, 
 and felt that I could afford to make my own 
 bargain with an employer, whatever might be 
 the task or the terms. 
 
 " Perhaps it was because I could do without 
 it for the moment, that I obtained an engagement 
 the same day to sing at one of the l Cafes 
 Chantants ' that abound in the outskirts of Paris. 
 In a low dress, at sixteen, singing to two 
 hundred people I had never seen before, I give 
 you my word I wasn't the least shy. Truth to 
 tell, my blood was up. I had detected in the 
 Manager's politeness, and the readiness with 
 which he met my terms, something of that pre- 
 datory tendency which I had already learned 
 from books, from reflection, from the experience 
 of others, affects the dealings of men towards 
 ourselves. I was ten times better in defence, I 
 knew, than he could be in attack ; and I felt a 
 
6+ CONTRABAND. 
 
 fierce pleasure in pondering how I could turn his 
 own weapons against himself. 
 
 " So I ran through a succession of shakes, and 
 squeals, and shrieks, and sometimes sang false, 
 to the delight of an enthusiastic audience and my 
 own intense gratification. One man never took 
 his eyes off me ; and, somehow, hcfore I had 
 finished my third or fourth bar, I found I had 
 forgotten Manager, self, and company, and was 
 singing to this man alone. "When I went back at 
 night to the bare little room I had hired during 
 the afternoon, shall I confess to you that his 
 face haunted me in the dark? and I dreamt of 
 him — I did, upon my word — though I was so 
 tired I fell dead asleep the instant I lay down." 
 
 " My dear, you had fallen in love," observed 
 her listener. 
 
 " IS"o, I hadn't," answered the other; "at 
 least, not then. Next day I found a note and 
 a bouquet from the ' manager. I did wish for a 
 moment it had been from somebody else; but 
 it proved to me, at least, I was admired by an 
 old fool, who might have been my grandfather, 
 
AMAZONS. 65 
 
 and so my vanity should have been gratified, 
 but it only made me savage and irritable. 
 I don't think I ever liked people one bit because 
 they liked me ! 
 
 " That evening the same man was there to 
 hear me sing again. I confess my heart gave 
 a jump when I saw him, and I knew that he 
 knew it ! lie never applauded but once, and 
 he shook his head whenever I made a false 
 note. What pains I took, and how pleased 
 I was, when he said ' Bravo ! ' out loud as I 
 made my curtsey ! I was in love with him that 
 night when I went to bed, and felt I had a right 
 to dream of him as much as ever I liked. 
 
 "It is not difficult to make acquaintance with 
 a friendless girl singing for bread in a place like 
 Paris. I thought it very hard that a whole 
 week should pass without his speaking to me, 
 though I saw him every night, always staring, 
 and always in the same place. Of course the 
 time came at last, and when I had him all to 
 myself on two chairs, with a dcux-sous newspaper, 
 in the Tuilerics gardens, I did feel that life was 
 
 VOL. I. F 
 
66 CONTRABAND. 
 
 something to enjoy, to revel in, to be grateful 
 for. Mrs. Lascelles, I shall never be near 
 heaven now, but I think I was then. I was so 
 happy that it made me good. 
 
 "I wonder if he knew what he was doing. 
 Sometimes I think men are often brutes, only 
 because they are fools. We were married though. 
 I protest to you solemnly, as I am a living 
 woman, we were married in a church ! I took 
 his name, such as it was, and when next I sang 
 they put me in the bills as Madame Picquard. 
 He did not like me to leave off my profes- 
 sion, he said, and I would have gone out 
 willingly with a rake and a basket to earn my 
 day's wages as a scavenger in the streets if he 
 had only said it was a pleasant life. 
 
 i i We were not rich, though he always seemed 
 to have plenty of money. I lived in a very 
 modest apartment, and I used to think I saw 
 less of my husband after he was my husband. 
 I imagine this is sometimes the case, but it 
 grieved me then. I was even fool enough to 
 cry about it. Fancy my crying with nothing to 
 
AMAZOXS. 67 
 
 gain, and nobody to dry my eyes. A good joke, 
 isn't it ? But we have changed all that. How 
 I used to langh at his French ! He said he 
 was an Alsatian, that was why it was so bad. 
 I never heard him speak English but once. 
 I was nearly run over by a fiacre, and he said, 
 1 Take care, dear! 7 just as you or I might. 
 His mother, he told me, had been an English- 
 woman, but he scarcely knew another word of 
 the language. 
 
 " Soon after this my boy was born. Such a 
 noble little fellow, 3Irs. Lascelles — so strong, so 
 handsome, with beautiful little hands and finger 
 nails as perfect as a model. My darling boy ! 
 He knew me, I am sure he did, when he was ten 
 days old, and — and — it's nonsense, of course, and 
 they hate one when they're grown up. But 
 I wasn't such a bad mother to him, after 
 all ! 
 
 " Did I tell you my husband's name was 
 Achille ? Well, Achille was very good to me 
 at first — sending in flowers, and things for baby, 
 and coming to see me every day. To be sure, 
 
68 CONTRABAND. 
 
 the doctor wouldn't let him stay above five 
 minutes. I was very happy, and looked forward 
 to getting well and singing again, and working 
 hard at home and abroad for the comfort of my 
 husband and child. 
 
 " But I didn't get well. I was very young, 
 you know, and it was weeks before I was able to 
 walk into the next room, so that I couldn't 
 accompany my husband anywhere out-of-doors, 
 and I dare say I was a sadly stupid companion 
 in the house. Perhaps that was why he got 
 tired of me. How can I tell ? or what does it 
 signify? It seems as if all these things had 
 happened a hundred years ago. What a fuss 
 people make about their feelings and their 
 affections, and so on ! What is the good of 
 them after all ? and how long do they last ? 
 
 "Achille hadn't been to see me for a week, 
 when one day the nurse came in, and said a 
 gentleman was waiting outside, and wished to 
 know if he might be admitted. I was on the 
 sofa with baby in my lap, and felt stronger than 
 usual of late, so I said l Certainly,' when, 
 
AMAZOXS. 69 
 
 behold, enter my friend the Manager, bearing 
 an enormous bouquet, profuse in civilities, con- 
 gratulations, compliments, and more hateful 
 than ever; he wanted to kiss baby, who was 
 frightened at him — no wonder — and drew his 
 chair so close to my sofa, that I should have 1 
 liked to box his ears on the spot. 
 
 " He hadmt been five minutes in the room 
 before he made a declaration of love, which I 
 resented with considerable energy ; finally, as a 
 last resource, threatening to acquaint my hus- 
 band with his insolence, who, I said, should 
 kick him from one end of the Boulevard to the 
 other. I shall never forget the hateful laugh 
 with which he received my menace. 
 
 "'Is Madame aware,' said he, 'that Monsieur 
 has left Paris ; that I am his chosen friend and 
 comrade ; that I have regulated his affairs to the 
 last ; that he wishes me to protect Madame as he 
 would himself, and to stand in the place of a 
 father to his child ? ' 
 
 " Then he put a letter in my hand, which he 
 kissed at the same time with much effusion, and, 
 
70 CONTRABAND. 
 
 walking to flic other end of the room, buried 
 himself in the Charivari^ while I read. 
 
 " Such a letter, Mrs. Lascclles ! Need I tell 
 you what it all meant ? Need I tell you that 
 
 Achille was base, treacherous, cowardly, shame- 
 less ? Enfin, that he was a man ! lie said I 
 had no legal claim on him ; that our marriage 
 was a sham ; that we had lived pleasantly enough 
 for a time, but of course this could not go on for 
 ever, and that I could hardly expect his future — 
 his future ! — I should like to know what he had 
 done with mine ! — to be sacrificed to a liaison, 
 however romantic, of a few months' standing. 
 He had left funds, he went on to say, at my 
 disposal, in the hands of his good friend, the 
 Manager, Avith whom, as he had made a point of 
 arranging, I could place myself advantageously 
 at once. With regard to the boy, he added, I 
 must consult my own feelings ; but so long as a 
 noble institution was supported by the State for 
 the reception of en f ants tronves, he could not 
 charge himself with the support of us both. The 
 Manager was an excellent man, in the prime of 
 
AMAZONS. 71 
 
 life, and he wished me much happiness in the 
 successful career in which, thanks to his care 
 and provision, I could now embark. 
 
 "I suppose I am not like other women; I 
 neither fainted, nor raved, nor burst into fits of 
 weeping, nor sat as they do on the stage, white 
 and motionless, turned to stone. All in a 
 moment I seemed to have grown quite cool and 
 composed, and as strong as a milkmaid. My 
 instinct was doubtless to hit again. Achille 
 might be out of reach, but here was his con- 
 federate, disarmed, and open to a blow. Some 
 intuitive consciousness, possessed, I believe, only 
 by women, taught me that this man was in my 
 power. I determined he should know what that 
 meant before I had done with him. 
 
 " The crackling of the letter, as I refolded it, 
 brought him back to my side. He took my hand 
 and kissed it once more. I did not withdraw it 
 now. 
 
 " * I was quite prepared for this,' I said 
 quietly, * as, of course, you know. My husband 
 and I have been on bad terms for some time. 
 
72 CONTRABAND. 
 
 You must be very much in his confidence, how- 
 ever, if he has told you why — that is my affair, 
 so is the question of money ; in that matter he 
 has behaved well, but I cannot take it.' 
 
 "His fat, heavy face gleamed with absolute 
 delight. 
 
 "'You cannot take it!' he repeated; i and 
 why?' 
 
 " Because I have no claim on him as a wife ; 
 because, morally, he is not my husband ; because 
 women have sentiments, affections, amour propre, 
 egoism, if you will ; en/In, because I love an- 
 other.' 
 
 " But I was careful, you may be sure, not to 
 tell him who that other was. Before he quitted 
 me that afternoon he had persuaded me, nothing 
 loth, to accept the pittance left by my good-for- 
 nothing husband ; though a fortnight afterwards, 
 having been to see me every day, he was still in 
 torments about the unknown object, growing 
 always more and more infatuated, in a way that 
 would have been ludicrous had it not been 
 simply contemptible. 
 
AMAZONS. 73 
 
 " I doled him out little morsels of encourage- 
 ment ; I accepted from him valuable presents, 
 and even sums of money ; I tantalized, irritated, 
 and provoked him with the ingenuity of a fiend. 
 I shuddered when he came near me, vet I let 
 him kiss my face once, — my baby's never ! At 
 last I gave way, with a great storm of sobs and 
 emotion, made my confession, whispered that he, 
 and he alone, had been the mysterious object ; 
 that I had cared for him from the first ; that to 
 him was owing my coldness towards my hus- 
 band, our estrangement, and eventual separation. 
 Finally, I promised to meet him the very next 
 morning, never more to part ; and within six 
 hours my baby and I were established, bag and 
 baggage, in the train for Lyons ; nor have I 
 ever seen my fat friend from that day to this. 
 
 "Except a flower I once gave him in ex- 
 change for a Spanish fan, I don't think he got 
 anything out of our acquaintance but, as Hamlet 
 says, ' the shame and the odd hits.' 
 
 " I wasn't altogether unhappy at Lyons. 
 Baby was my constant companion ; and, so long 
 
7+ COXTRABAXD. 
 
 as my money lasted, I was contented enough 
 only to wash and nurse him, and see him grow, 
 and teach him to say ' Mamma.' It was a long 
 while before I gained sufficient strength to sing 
 again, and in the meantime I picked up a few 
 francs by sitting to artists for a model, but I 
 didn't like it. If I took baby, I couldn't keep 
 him quiet ; and a" painting room was so bad for 
 him. If I left him at home, I always expected 
 to find something dreadful had happened when I 
 came back. I was advised to put him out to 
 nurse. Though I couldn't bear to part with my 
 boy, I saw that, sooner or later, it must come to 
 this ; but he was over two years old before I 
 made up my mind. 
 
 " They had offered me a six weeks' engage- 
 ment at Avignon. My voice had come back, 
 the terms were good, it looked likely to lead to 
 something better, and I accepted eagerly. 
 
 " There was low fever then prevalent in that 
 town. I could not take little Gustavo to a hot- 
 bed of sickness, so I left him in charge of a kind, 
 motherly woman, who had a child of her own, in 
 
AMAZONS. 75 
 
 a healthy part of Lyons, only too near the 
 river. 
 
 "Poor little darling! I am sure he knew I 
 was going away, for he set up a dreadful howl 
 when I pnt him down. It seems silly enough, 
 but I suppose I wasn't properly trained then, 
 for I could have howled too with all my heart. 
 
 " What a long six weeks it was ! And, after 
 all, I came back before the close of my engage- 
 ment, and forfeited half my salary. There had 
 been floods as usual in Lyons, the poor woman I 
 had left him with couldn't write, and I was 
 getting uneasy about my boy. 
 
 " Oh ! Mrs. Lascelles, when I returned there 
 I couldn't find him. The cottage I left him 
 in had been swept away when the river rose. 
 Xo trace even remained of the quiet little street. 
 The authorities had done all in their power for 
 hundreds of ruined families ; what was one poor 
 woman and a two-years old child amongst all 
 those sufferers ! I searched the markets, the 
 streets, the hospitals. I haunted the police- 
 office ; I offered everything I possessed, freely, 
 
7 6 CONTRABAND. 
 
 everything! for tidings of my boy. One Com- 
 missary of Police was especially kind and con- 
 siderate, but even he let out at last that I was 
 well rid of my child ! Madame, as he expressed 
 it, so young, so handsome, with such talents, so 
 sympathique with himself! And this was a ?««//, 
 my dear, not a brntc — at least, not more a brnto 
 than the rest ! 
 
 "He it was who found out for me that the 
 poor woman was drowned with whom I had left 
 my boy ; there was no clue to the fate of her 
 child nor of mine. Monsieur le Commissaire, with 
 supreme good taste, chose the hour in which he 
 made me this communication, to couple with it 
 a proposal that did not increase my respect for 
 himself or his sex. You may imagine I did not 
 even yet relax my endeavours to find out some- 
 thing certain about my boy. I went to the 
 Mayor, the Prefet ; in my desolation, I even 
 wrote to my old admirer, the Manager, in Paris. 
 On all sides I met with the same treatment ; 
 civility, compliment, egoism, and utter heartlcss- 
 ness. In time I came to think that there was not 
 
AMAZONS. 77 
 
 only nothing new t but nothing good, under the sun. 
 If I were romantic I should say I was a tigress 
 robbed of her cub ; as I am only practical, I call 
 myself simply a woman of the world, whom the 
 world has hardened ; cunning, because deceived ; 
 pitiless, because ill-treated; heartless, because 
 desillusionee. You have taken me in, and tamed 
 me for a time, but nothing will change my 
 nature now. 
 
 "The rest of my history you know; the 
 depths to which I sank, the meannesses of which 
 I was capable, the hypocrisy that re-established 
 me in a station of respectability, and swindled 
 people out of such recommendations as the one 
 that enabled me to make a fool of Sir Henry 
 Hallaton. As I told you before, my motto now 
 is, ' War to the knife ! ' I might add, l Woe to 
 the vanquished !' " 
 
 The tears stood in her listener's blue eyes 
 more than once during this strange recital ; but 
 Mrs. Lascelles brightened up when it was over, 
 and pointed to the clock, with a light laugh — 
 
 " Go and put your armour on, my dear,'' said 
 
78 CONTRABAND. 
 
 she, "and bid your maid look to the joints of 
 your harness. We fight to-night in champ clos, 
 and you have two champions to encounter, both 
 eager for the fray !" 
 
 Miss Eoss smiled — 
 
 "Let the best man win!" she answered. 
 "He may find to-night that the ' latter end of 
 a feast ' is not at all unlike ' the beginning of a 
 fray!'" 
 
CEAPTEE V. 
 
 A OUTRANGE. 
 
 Xo Amazon, I imagine, in the experience of 
 Herodotus, Sir Walter Raleigh, or our own, was 
 
 ever known to be careless of her weapons, suffer- 
 ing them to grow blunt from neglect or rusty 
 from disuse. The boar whets his tusks, the stag 
 sharpens his antlers ; the nobler beasts of chase 
 are not dependent for safety on flight alone ; and 
 shall not woman study how she can best bring 
 to perfection that armour with which Nature 
 provides her for attack, defence, and eventual 
 capture of her prey ? 
 
 Brighter or more accomplished warriors never 
 entered lists, than the two now sitting in the 
 drawing-room at No. 40 : cool, fragrant, dia- 
 phanous ; redoubtable in that style of beauty 
 which is so enhanced and set off by art. 
 
So CONTRABAND. 
 
 To these, enter a young gentleman, hot, shy, 
 bewildered ; who has followed into the room a 
 name not the least like his own, with consider- 
 able trepidation ; hardly clear if he is on his 
 head or his heels ; and, although worshipping 
 the very pattern of the carpet on which one 
 of these divinities treads, yet conscious, in his 
 heart of hearts, that it would be unspeakable 
 relief to wake up and find himself three-quarters 
 of a mile off at his club. 
 
 Mr. Goldthred, whose announcement by a 
 pompous butler as "Mr. Gotobed," had not 
 served to increase his confidence, was by no 
 means a bold person in general society, and 
 possessed, indeed, as little of that native dignity 
 they call " cheek," as any of the rising genera- 
 tion with whom it was his habit to associate; 
 but on the present occasion he felt nervous to 
 an unusual degree, because, alas ! he had fallen 
 in love with a woman older, cleverer, more 
 experienced, and altogether of higher calibre 
 than himself. 
 
 lie had come early, half hoping to find her 
 
A OUTRAXCE. Si 
 
 t was it a relief to be spared the ordeal 
 of a Ute-d-Ute that seemed so delightful infancy. 
 
 course, being her ntter bond-slave, lie paid 
 his homage to Mrs. Lascelles with ludicrous 
 
 stiffness, and blundered at once into an inconse- 
 quent conversation with Miss Eoss. That syren 
 took pity on his embarrassment — the pity a 
 eat takes on a mouse. It amused her to mark 
 the poor youth's efforts to seem at ease, his 
 uncomfortable contortions, his wandering replies, 
 and the timid glances he cast on the hem of his 
 conqueror's garment, who would willingly have 
 met him half-way, had he only gone up and 
 flirted with her in good earnest. 
 
 ""We haven't seen you for ages, Mr. Gold- 
 thred. What have you been doing ? Where 
 have you been hiding ? Eosc and I were talking 
 about you this very afternoon." 
 
 How he wished he, too, might call his goddess 
 "Eose;" but she had been talking about him, 
 blessed thought ! that vcrv da v. His heart was 
 ill his throat, and he murmured something about 
 k * French play.*' 
 
 VOL. I. G 
 
8z CONTRABAND. 
 
 "You can't have been at the French play 
 day and night," laughed Miss Ross; "but I'm 
 not going to cross-examine you. Besides, you 
 weren't asked here to flirt with me. I've got 
 my own young man coming, and he's hideously 
 jealous. I hear him now coughing on the stairs ! 
 Only us four. It's a small party. We shall find 
 each other very stupid, I daresay." 
 
 Gathering encouragement, no doubt, from 
 this supposition, and emboldened by a fresh 
 arrival, Mr. Goldthred stole a glance in his idol's 
 face while she rose to welcome Uncle Joseph. 
 The blue eyes rested on their worshipper very 
 kindly for about half-a-second. But that half- 
 second did his business as effectually as half-an- 
 hour. If Uncle Joseph was also shy, greater 
 age, wisdom, and corpulence rendered him more 
 capable of concealing such embarrassment. He 
 shook his hostess cordially by the hand ; he told 
 Miss Eoss she looked like a " China-rose," a 
 flower of which he had formed some vague con- 
 ception, far removed from reality; and announced 
 that he had spent his day in the City, and was 
 
A OUTRAXCE. S 3 
 
 very hungry. — more like a man in business than 
 a man in love. This gentleman took down Mi 
 Ross ; Mrs. Lascelles followed with young Gold- 
 thred, leaning more weight on his arm than the 
 steepness of the stairs seemed to necessitate. He 
 wished the journey twice as long, and for half a 
 minute was half-persuaded he felt happy ! 
 
 I am sorry I cannot furnish the bill of fare : 
 Uncle Joseph put it in his pocket. It was a way 
 he had, after perusing it solemnly through a pair 
 of gold eye-glasses, with the intention of working 
 it deliberately to the end. 
 
 A dinner organised for an express purpose 
 is generally a failure. On the present occasion 
 there was no particular object to be gained 
 beyond the general discomfiture of two unoffend- 
 ing males, and it went on merrily enough. 
 Drinking is. no doubt, conducive to sentiment ; 
 but eating has, I think, a contrary tendency, and 
 should never be mixed up with the affections. 
 Uncle Joseph, though far gone, had not yet 
 lost enough heart to weaken his appetite, and 
 young Golclthred helped himself to everything 
 
84 CONTRABAND, 
 
 with the indiscriminate and indecent carelessness 
 of a man under thirty. The ladies pecked, and 
 sipped, and simpered, yet managed to take a fair 
 share of provender on "board ; and after cham- 
 pagne had been twice round, the party were 
 thoroughly satisfied with themselves, and with 
 each other. Even Goldthrcd mustered courage 
 enough to carry on the siege, and began making 
 up for lost time. Her fish was so lively, Mrs. 
 Lascclles thought well to wind in a few yards of 
 line. 
 
 "Either you are very romantic, Mr. Gold- 
 thred," she objected, "or else you don't mean us 
 to believe what you say." 
 
 "I wish you to believe it," he answered, 
 lowering his voice and blushing, really blushing, 
 though he was a man, "and — and — I never used 
 to be romantic till I came hercP 
 
 "It's in the air I suppose," she answered 
 laughing, " and we shall all catch it in turn — 
 I hope it isn't painful ! I sometimes think it 
 must be, unless one has it in the mildest form. 
 "We'll ask Miss Ecss. Jin, dear, Mr. Gold- 
 
A OUTRAXCE. 85 
 
 thred wants to know if you/ye any romance 
 about yon. I tell him I don't think you've an 
 atom." 
 
 "How* can yon say so !" exclaimed Miss Eoss. 
 " Don't yon know my especial weakness? Cant 
 anybody see I'm heart all oyer ?" 
 
 "Uncle Joseph looked up from his cutlet, mas- 
 ticating steadily the while, and his grave eyes 
 rested on the dark, meaning face of the lady by 
 his side. Their gaze indicated surprise, incre- 
 dulity, and the least touch of scorn. 
 
 She was a beautiful fighter, she had prac- 
 tised so much, and knew exactly when and how 
 to return. Shooting one reproachful glance from 
 her large dark eyes full into his own, under 
 coyer of the others' voices she murmured two 
 words, — "Strangers yet !" 
 
 It was the title of a song she sang to him 
 only the day before in the boudoir ; a song into 
 which she put all the wild, tender pathos of her 
 flexible and expressive yoice. Its burden had 
 been ringing in his ears half-an-hour ago, while 
 he dressed for dinner. 
 
86 COXTRABAND. 
 
 The round, you sec, was a short one ; but 
 Uncle Joseph caught it heavily and went down ! 
 To borrow the language of the prize-ring — 
 "First blood for Miss Boss." 
 
 lie came up smiling nevertheless, and finished 
 his glass of champagne. 
 
 "I wish you were a little plainer, Miss Eoss. 
 I'm not paying you a compliment, or I should 
 say you could easily afford to be a great deal 
 plainer than you are. I mean what I say." 
 
 "And I mean what I say too — sometimes," 
 she whispered, drooping her thick black eye- 
 lashes. " I don't think I should like to be thought 
 so very plain by youP 
 
 Uncle Joseph went down again, having 
 received, I fancy, no less punishment in this 
 round than the last. 
 
 Meanwhile young Goldthred, fortified by re- 
 freshment, and further stimulated by the interest 
 Mrs. Lascellcs either felt or affected, embarked 
 on a touching recital of his pursuits, belongings, 
 and general private history. lie described in 
 turn, and with strict attention to details, his 
 
A GUTRAXCE. 87 
 
 schooner, his tax-cart, and his poodle ; enlarging 
 on the trim and rigging of the first, the varnish 
 of the second, the elaborate shaving of the third — 
 and, indeed, almost soared into eloquence abont 
 his dog. 
 
 "It shows he has a good heart,*' thought the 
 listener; "but none the less must he take his 
 punishment like the rest !" 
 
 With a little more champagne he glided, by 
 an easy transition, into his possessions, his ex- 
 pectations, his prospects in general ; why he had 
 done well in " Spanish,*' what a mess he had made 
 of "Peruvians," the advantage of early infor- 
 mation about American politics, and how nearly 
 he had missed a great uncle's munificent bequest 
 by exposing his ignorance of the French Credit 
 MoMlier. He was not quite a fool, however, and 
 stopped himself with a laugh. 
 
 "What a bore you will think me, Mrs. Las- 
 celles," said he. "One is so apt to fancy every- 
 body is interested in what one cares for oneself." 
 
 " I am," she answered, with her brightest, 
 kindest look. " I always want to know 
 
88 CONTRABAXD. 
 
 everything about people I like. Wlien they 
 leave the stage I follow them in fancy behind the 
 scenes, and I do think I should feel hurt if I 
 believed they were really so different without 
 their rouge, wigs, padding, and false calves." 
 
 " It ? s not, 'Out of sight, out of mind' with you, 
 eh?" observed the young gentleman in consider- 
 able trepidation. To do him justice, he saw his 
 opportunity, but could make no more of it than 
 the above. 
 
 "Do you think it is?" she returned. "And 
 what would one be worth if it was ? How little 
 people know each other. We all seem to go 
 about with masks for faces. I daresay mine is 
 like the rest, but I would take it off in a minute 
 if I was asked." 
 
 Another opening for Goldthred. He felt full 
 of sentiment, up to his eye-lids; was, indeed, 
 choking with it, but somehow it wouldn't 
 come out. 
 
 " I've never been to a regular masquerade," 
 said he simply; "I should think it was capital 
 fun." 
 
A OUTRAXCE. 89 
 
 Miss Boss, whom nothing escaped, whatever 
 she had on hand, saw his discomfiture, and came 
 to the rescue. 
 
 "You're at one every day of your life," she 
 broke in. " Eose is quite right. Xobody speaks 
 the whole truth, except Mr. Groves, who has just 
 told me I'm hideous. You know you did, and 
 you think you're a capital judge. I shall not 
 forgive you till after coffee. I must say I can't 
 agree with Eose about one's friends. As for 
 mine, with a few brilliant exceptions, the less I 
 see of them the better I like it." 
 
 "If that's the case, Jin, we'll go up-stairs," 
 said the hostess, rising slowly and gracefully, 
 as she fastened the last button of her glove. 
 " Uncle Joseph," she added, with her sweetest 
 smile, " you're at home, you know. You must 
 take care of Mr. Goldthred;" and so swept out, 
 keeping the blue eyes Goldthred so admired 
 steadily averted from his eager face. He 
 returned to the table after shutting the door 
 quite crest-fallen and disappointed. lie had 
 counted on one more look to carry him through 
 
9 o CONTRABAND. 
 
 the tedious half-hour that must intervene ere he 
 could see her again, and she probably knew this 
 as well as he did. Ladies are sometimes exceed- 
 ingly liberal of such small encouragements ; 
 sometimes, as if from mere caprice, withhold 
 them altogether. ~No doubt they adapt their 
 treatment to the symptoms shown by the 
 sufferer. 
 
 It was a long half-hour for the two gentlemen 
 thus left over their dessert, without a subject 
 of interest in common. Uncle Joseph's mature 
 prudence, over-reaching itself, mistrusted a single 
 lady's cellar, and he stuck faithfully to pale 
 sherry ; while Goldthred, with youthful temerity, 
 dashed boldly at the claret, and was rewarded 
 by finding an exceedingly sound and fragrant 
 vintage. ]Sot that he knew the least what he 
 was drinking, but swallowed sweetmeats and 
 filled bumpers with a nervous impatience for 
 release, that lengthened every minute into ten. 
 The other, wondering why his relative had 
 asked this guest to dinner, and what merit she 
 could see in him, thought him the stupidest 
 
A OUTRANCE. 91 
 
 young man lie had ever come across, and was 
 sorely tempted to tell him so. 
 
 They tried the usual topics in vain — the 
 instability of the Government, the good looks of 
 the Princess, the disgraceful uncertainty of the 
 weather. At last, Goldthred, driven to despair, 
 propounded the comprehensive question, "Wnat 
 were they doing to-day in the City?" and the 
 companions got on better after so suggestive an 
 inquiry. 
 
 Uncle Joseph delivered his opinions solemnly 
 on certain doubtful securities ; the younger man 
 made a shrewd observation concerning his own 
 investments. Obviously they had in one respect 
 a similarity of tastes, and each found his dislike 
 of the other decreasing every moment. Uncle 
 Joseph even began to debate in his own mind, 
 whether he ought not to ask his new acquaint- 
 ance to dinner. He had drunk five glasses of 
 sherry, and I think one more would have settled 
 the point ; but the welcome moment of release 
 chimed out with the half-hour from a clock on 
 the chimney-piece, so flinging down his napkin 
 
92 CONTRABAND. 
 
 lie pointed to the empty claret-jug, and suggested 
 they should proceed up-stairs. 
 
 There was nothing Goldthred desired so much. 
 lie pulled his tie straight, — it had a tendency to 
 get under his left car, — bounced into the passage, 
 whisked his hat off the hall table, weathered the 
 butler coming out with tea, and was already 
 engaged with the enemy, before Uncle Joseph 
 had fairly extricated himself from the dining- 
 room. 
 
 The ladies were wrapped in silence ; they 
 generally are when the men come up after 
 dinner. They had disposed themselves, also, 
 very judiciously. Mrs. Lascelles sat at the 
 open window, not quite in the room, not quite 
 on the balcony. Jin, with considerable fore- 
 thought, had entrenched herself in a corner near 
 the pianoforte, free from draughts. The soft 
 mellow lamp-light threw a very becoming lustre 
 on these bewitching individuals. Each knew 
 she was looking well, and it made her look 
 better still. After a bottle of sound claret, it 
 was not to be expected that a man should enact 
 
A OUTRAXCE. 93 
 
 " his grandsirc cut in alabaster " in such com- 
 pany. Goldthredj armed with a flat hat and a 
 coffee-cup, advanced in tolerably good order to 
 the attack. 
 
 It was a fine night even in London. The 
 moon sailed broad and bright in a clear, fathom- 
 1( ss sky. The very gas-lamps, studding street 
 and square, through the flickering leaves of 
 spring flashed out a diabolical enchantment 
 of their own, half revelry, half romance. The 
 scent of geraniums and mignionette stole with 
 a soft, intoxicating fragrance on the rebellious 
 senses ; and a German band, round the corner, 
 was playing a seductive measure of love and 
 languor and lawlessness from the last new 
 opera. Mrs. Lascelles, moving out on the 
 balcony, drank in the soft night-air with a deep- 
 drawn breath that was almost a sigh. Young 
 Goldthred followed as the medium follows the 
 mesmerist, the bird the rattle-snake. His heart 
 beat fast, and the coffee-cup clattered in his hand. 
 Time and. scene were adapted, no doubt, for senti- 
 ment, especially out of doors. 
 
9+ CONTRABAND. 
 
 It is done every day, and all day long. Also, 
 perhaps, more effectually still on nights like these. 
 Pull a man's purse, madam, from his waistcoat- 
 pocket, and although you have la go's authority 
 for considering it "trash," you may find your- 
 self picking oakum as a first consequence, and 
 may finish, in due course, at the penitentiary; 
 but dive those pretty fingers a thought deeper, 
 take his heart scientifically out of his pericar- 
 dium, or wherever he keeps it, squeeze it, drain 
 it, rinse it quite dry, return him the shrivelled 
 fragments with a curtsey, and a " thank you 
 kindly, sir," you will receive applause from the 
 bystanders, and hearty approbation from the 
 world in general for your skill. 
 
 So Mrs. Lascelles, stifling all compunction, 
 played out the pretty game. They leaned over 
 the balcony, side by side ; they smelt the mig- 
 nionette, with their heads very close together; 
 they looked at the moon, and into each other's 
 eyes, and down on the street, where a faded 
 figure, in torn shawl and tawdry bonnet, flitted 
 past, to be lost in the shadow of darkness farther 
 
A OUTRANCE. 95 
 
 on ; sighing, smiling, whispering, till the boy's 
 blood surged madly to his brain; and the woman, 
 despite of craft, science, and experience, felt that 
 she must practise all her self-command not to be 
 softer and kinder, if only for a moment, than she 
 desired. 
 
 Her white, cool hand lay on the edge of the 
 mignionette box. He covered it with his own. 
 In another moment he would have seized and 
 pressed it, hungrily, rapturously, to his lips. 
 She rose just in time, and came full into the 
 lamp -light from within. 
 
 " What nonsense we have been talking !" she 
 exclaimed, with a laugh ; " and what a deal of 
 sentiment !• It is nice to talk nonsense some- 
 times, and sentiment too, but a little goes a long 
 
 way." 
 
 He was hurt, and, not being a woman, showed 
 it. 
 
 " I am sorry," said he gloomily ; "I thought 
 you liked it." 
 
 She did not want to snub him too much. 
 
 " So I do," she answered, stepping back into 
 
9 6 CONTRABAND. 
 
 the drawing-room, " when it's the real thing, 
 sweet and strong, little and good. Come and 
 listen to Jin's song ; it's better for you than 
 flirting in the dark on the balcony." 
 
 Though mocking and mischievous, there was 
 yet something kind and playful in her tone ; he 
 felt quite happy again as he followed her in, 
 meekly, like a lamb to the slaughter. 
 
 Miss Eoss, although she had taken up a posi- 
 tion more adapted to the comfort of an elderly 
 and rheumatic admirer, did not suffer the shining 
 hour to pass away unimproved. She possessed a 
 full, sweet voice, of rare compass, and was a 
 thorough mistress of the musical art, accompany- 
 ing her own or other people's songs with equal 
 taste and skill. Uncle Joseph, in an arm-chair, 
 with a hand on each knee, sat spell-bound by 
 the Syren, — eyes, ears, and mouth wide open, 
 under the influence of her strains. 
 
 It was but a simple ditty of which she gave 
 him the benefit, yet neither nature nor art were 
 spared to render it as destructive as she could. 
 He had never heard it before ; but, as he ex- 
 
A OUTRANCE. 97 
 
 pressed entire approval of its rhythm, and asked 
 for it again, I feel justified in giving it here. 
 She called it — 
 
 " OVER THE WATER." 
 
 I stand on the brink of the river, 
 
 The river that rims to the sea ; | 
 The fears of a maid I forgive her, 
 
 And bid her come over to me. 
 She knows that her lover is waiting-, 
 
 She's longing his darling to be, 
 And spring is the season of mating, 
 
 But — she dares not come over to thee ! 
 
 I have jewels and gold without measure, 
 
 I have mountain and meadow and sea ; 
 I have store of possessions and treasure, 
 
 All wasting and spoiling for thee. 
 Her heart is well worthy the winning, 
 
 But Love is a gift of the free, 
 And she vowed from the very beginning, 
 
 She'd never come over to thee. 
 
 Then lonely I'll wed with my sorrow — 
 
 Dead branch on a desolate tree — 
 My night hath no hope of a morrow, 
 
 Unless she come over to me. 
 Love takes no denial, and pity 
 
 Is love in the second degree, 
 So, long ere I'd ended my ditty, 
 
 The maiden came over to me ! 
 
 The two guests left jSTo. 40 together, and 
 
 VOL. I. H 
 
^8 CONTRABAND. 
 
 parted at the end of the street; the junior 
 betaking himself to his cigar, the senior to his 
 whist. Each carried away with him a vague 
 idea that he had spent an evening in Paradise. 
 "Which of the two had been made the greater 
 fool of, it is not my province to decide ; but I 
 have some recollection of an old couplet in the 
 West of England to the following effect : — 
 
 " Young man's love soon blazeth and is done, 
 Old man's love burnetii to the bone." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " TERRARUAI D03HX0S." 
 
 " Xeae side, man ! the near side ! Take it np 
 two holes — that'll do. Sit tight behind !" 
 
 The leaders cringed and winced against their 
 bars. One wheeler, accepting under protest a 
 wipe with the double thong across his quarters, 
 threw himself wildly off the pole; the other, 
 butting like a goat, bounced into his collar ; and 
 so, starting the whole coach, the painted, var- 
 nished, glittering toy passed on, in clouds of 
 dust, through, all that wealth of oak and fern, 
 and hill and dale, and gleaming glade and 
 darkling dell, that make a midsummer fairy-land 
 of Windsor Forest on your way to Ascot Eaces. 
 
 The man who had thus pulled up his team for 
 alteration of their harness was a well-dressed, 
 
ioo CONTRABAND. 
 
 clean-made, good-looking young fellow enough. 
 From the crown of his white hat to the soles of 
 his varnished boots he was a " gentleman" all 
 over ; and if the choice little posy in his button- 
 hole betrayed a suspicion of dandyism, it was 
 redeemed by the frankness of manner, the good- 
 humoured and unaffected bonhomie cultivated by 
 our young warriors of the Ilousehold Brigade, 
 horse and foot. 
 
 Frank Vanguard, who belonged to the former 
 of these services, was now steering the regi- 
 mental drag and a roof-ful of brother officers to 
 the great Olympic gathering of modern times on 
 the Cup Day at Ascot. 
 
 Good spirits, good humour, banter, repartee, 
 and nonsense, reigned supreme, constituting a 
 combination called " chaff;" just as light wine, 
 effervescence, and fragrant herbs, in due propor- 
 tions, become " cup." The driver had enough 
 to do, with a free but not very handy team and 
 a crowded road, to the whole of which every 
 carriage he passed assumed a prescriptive right ; 
 yet could he find leisure to answer in correspond- 
 
" TERRARUM DOMINOS? 101 
 
 ing vein a volley of jesting remarks shot freely 
 him from behind. 
 "Frank," says a fresh-coloured young warrior, 
 
 well qualified to enact the part of Achilles, so 
 long as that hero was yet in girl's clothes, 
 " there's a nice bit of galloping ground over the 
 rise. You're not driving a hearse ! Do spring 
 'em a bit, and give 'em the silk !" 
 
 "I'm not so fond of the silk as you are!'' 
 answered Frank, touching his near leader lightly 
 under the bars, as a fly-fisher throws his line. 
 " You used to get double-thonged pretty hand- 
 
 aely at Eton, I remember, but it hasn't done 
 you much crood." 
 
 "Eating and flogging," answered the other, 
 puffing out volumes of smoke; "that's the way 
 to spoil your young entry !" 
 
 "Waste of whipcord," says a graver youth, 
 desirous, of all things in life, that he should 
 become a Master of Hounds. " They never 
 made you steady from hare ! ' ' 
 
 "You got that, Charlie!'' laughed another; 
 but Charlie, ere this, has found a new interest 
 
ioz CONTRABAND. 
 
 in spasms of anxiety lest tliey should be passed 
 by a rival drag, coming up in clouds of dust on 
 their quarter, like an enemy's frigate through. 
 the smoke of battle. 
 
 ""Who's this cove?" he exclaimed eagerly. 
 " Sits well on his box — nice short-legged team — 
 keeps his whip quiet, and drives to an inch." 
 
 "Snob!" replies a sententious captain, with 
 long moustaches, "by name, Picard. Wouldn't 
 have him in the Club. Did something abroad. 
 Quite right. Heavy load and a roughish lot. 
 Team, I should say, better bred than the com- 
 pany. Don't let him get by. D — n it all, 
 Frank ! that's a close shave !" 
 
 It was a close shave ! Xothing but the 
 affability with which the near wheeler, having 
 recovered its temper, answered both rein and 
 thong, kept the coach out of a roadside ditch, 
 which would have sent one of the most pro- 
 mising coveys of Her Majesty's peculiar de- 
 fenders into the thick of Her Majesty's preserves. 
 
 In keeping ahead of his rival, Frank Vanguard 
 passed a barouche, from the inside of which was 
 
" TERR ARUM DOMIXOS." 103 
 
 turned up to him a fair statue-like face, "with 
 dark eyes and hair, that flushed faintly under 
 its white lace veil, as it gave him a little modest 
 nod of recognition. Xo wonder he looked back ; 
 no wonder, thus looking, he brought his wheel 
 so near the edge of a chasm, that one turn more 
 would have turned him over, and that Miss 
 Hallaton, holding her breath, shut both hands 
 tight, while her father exclaimed — 
 
 " Xearest thing I ever saw in my life ! Who's 
 driving, Helen? He bowed to yov.P 
 
 And Helen, answering demurely, — "Captain 
 Vanguard, I think, papa," — reflected how, had he 
 been upset and hurt, the whole brightness of her 
 day would have darkened into sorrow, and how 
 she wished he wouldn't be quite so reckless, 
 though she liked him for being so bold. 
 
 Behind their barouche came a tax-cart ? and 
 behind the tax-cart another open carriage, in 
 which drove the party who had assembled at 
 dinner in Xo. 40, not very long ago. 
 
 Uncle Joseph, with his back to the horses, sat 
 in unusual pomp and magnificence, pointing out 
 
104 CONTRABAND. 
 
 the humours, explaining the races, and generally 
 laying clown the law, as though he combined in 
 his own person the Mastership of the Buck- 
 hounds with the authority of the whole Jockey 
 Club. Owner of a pretty little villa on the 
 Thames, he had invited his kinswoman, the lady 
 of his affections, and Mr. Goldthred to stay with 
 him for Ascot Eaccs. Therefore " The Lilies " 
 smiled gay in chintz and muslin and fresh-cut 
 flowers. Therefore Uncle Joseph, basking in 
 a June sun and the light of Miss Ross's eyes, 
 felt ten, twenty years younger — hopeful, enter- 
 prising, volatile as a boy ! 
 
 Mrs. Lascelles was at all times a person of 
 equable spirits. Perhaps it would be more 
 correct to say, that she possessed that self- 
 command which forbids emotion to appear on 
 the surface. She looked bright, smiling, gracious 
 as usual ; her lustrous eyes, rosy lips, and white 
 teeth, enhanced by bonnet, dress, pink-tinted 
 parasol, general sense of triumph, and flush of 
 the summer's day. Poor Goldthred, sitting over 
 against her, strove to stifle certain misgivings 
 
" TERRARUM DOMIXOSr 1 05 
 
 that such a goddess Tras too noble a prize for 
 creatures of common mould, and vaguely wished 
 he had kept away from the flame, round which, 
 like some singed moth, he could not help 
 fluttering in senseless, suicidal infatuation ! 
 
 Parties of pleasure cannot always be equally 
 pleasant to everybody concerned. Miss Eoss, 
 too, seemed out of spirits and pro-occupied ; less 
 gracious to Goldthred, less confiding with Mrs. 
 Lascelles, less susceptible to the attentions of 
 Uncle Joseph himself. Jin, as she was now 
 called in her own set, sank back among the 
 cushions, buried in strange, sad memories, that 
 made her unconscious of the noise, the dust, the 
 glare, the confusion of tongues, the crush of 
 carriages, all the charms of the expedition. 
 This, because playing at a cottage door, shouting 
 vigorously as they passed, she had caught a 
 glimpse of a ruddy, dark-eyed urchin, who 
 reminded her painfully of her child. It was 
 but one glance, as he sat triumphant in the 
 dust, waving two dirty little hands round a 
 black curly head, yet it was enough. She was 
 
io6 CONTRADAXD. 
 
 back in sunny France once more, with some- 
 thing to trust in, something to "work for, some- 
 thing to love. Looking in Uncle Joseph's 
 battered old face and cloudy eves, rather near 
 her own, she could scarce repress a movement 
 of abhorrence and disgust ; while he, good man, 
 under the impression that he was more delightful 
 than usual, inveighed against the furious driving, 
 the extravagant habits, and general recklessness 
 of the Household Cavalry. 
 
 "He's very good-looking!" observed Jin, 
 rousing herself to make a remark that she knew 
 would be unpalatable to her listener ; " isn't he, 
 Rose?" 
 
 " Very!" assented Mrs. Lascelles; " but you 
 should see him in regimentals, my dear. I think 
 I'll ask him to dinner." 
 
 Symptoms of mental disquietude in Uncle 
 Joseph and young Goldthred. Each marvelling 
 that a transitory glimpse, while passing at a 
 hand-gallop, should have made so vivid an im- 
 pression; and the latter wondering whether, if he 
 were to alter the whole tenor of his life, to arm 
 
" TERRARUM DOMIXOSr 107 
 
 his chest with a cuirass, and plunge his legs into 
 jack-boots, Mrs. Lascelles -would deem him also 
 -worth looking at in " regimentals," as an officer's 
 uniform is called by nobody but ladies who have 
 never been in a regiment. 
 
 Xo amusement, except perhaps cricket, seems 
 so popular as racing, yet out of every hundred 
 people -who attend Epsom, Ascot, or Doncaster, 
 do you suppose five know one favourite from 
 another, or, indeed, ever look at the noble 
 animal, except he shows temper in his canter 
 before the start ? Helen Hallaton, though she 
 dearly loved a horse, could not even have told 
 you how many were going for the race about to 
 commence as she took up her station on the 
 Course ; and yet the pretty pageant, bright and 
 blooming like a June flower-bed, passed under 
 her very nose. But she could have given a clear 
 account of the masterly manner in which Frank 
 Vanguard brought his coach into the enclosure ; 
 how he laid it alongside Viscount Jericho's, with 
 as much pomp and little less manoeuvring than 
 moors an iron-clad at regulation distance from 
 
ic8 CONTRABAND. 
 
 her consort; with what easy magnificence lie 
 
 flung his reins to right and left, condescendingly 
 facetious the while with sundry muscular cads, 
 who put their shoulders to the wheels and deftly 
 extracted the pole. She could have told you 
 how he leaped like a Mercury from his box, how 
 carefully he laid aside his whip in its case, how 
 with a silk handkerchief he dusted his white hat, 
 his shirt-front, his curling moustaches, and the 
 places where his whiskers were coming fast; 
 lastly, how he took from the inside of the coach 
 a beautiful little nosegay, daintily tied up, and 
 stuck it into his button-hole, causing her to 
 admit in her own mind that she wouldn't mind 
 wearing one of those flowers herself, if she could 
 have it without its being given her. 
 
 Of all this, I say, Miss Hallaton made accurate 
 note ; butr I doubt if she had an idea of Mr. 
 Picard's team, though it came next ; of his flash- 
 looking load, with a loudish lady on the box ; of 
 his blue coach, his red wheels, his well-dressed 
 servants, or the workmanlike pull-up which 
 brought the whole thing to an anchor, and was, 
 
" TERRARUM DOMINO Sr icg 
 
 indeed, one of the best performances of the 
 
 day. 
 
 «/ 
 
 And now a dozen two-year-olds, after a dozen 
 false starts, have run off their five furlongs with 
 the speed of an express train, and "the Terma- 
 gant filly, 7 ' overpowering her jockey, a little 
 bundle of pink satin and buff, huddled up on her 
 back, has won by a neck. There is a lull till the 
 numbers are up for the next race, and even the 
 Eing, hungry, insatiate, roaring like the ocean, 
 has subsided into a momentary calm. Sir Henry 
 takes a cigar from a gorgeous case, and turns to 
 his daughter. 
 
 "Backed her for her blood, Nell," says he; 
 " they're all speedy, but they can't stay. Only 
 a pony — that's better than nothing, however." 
 
 "How cam you, papa?" replies Nell. "It's 
 wicked of you to bet, though you do generally 
 seem to win." 
 
 Helen draws the usual distinction as to the 
 immorality of gambling. To win is less than 
 folly, to lose is more than sin. I do not think 
 though that Sir Henry was equally confiding 
 
no CONTRABAND. 
 
 about his wagers when his judgment had been at 
 fault. He seemed in the best of humours now. 
 
 " Nell, that's the prettiest bonnet we've hoisted 
 the whole season, and the dress isn't the worst 
 I've seen to-day. It's cruel to waste such a 
 i get-up ' in a carriage. Come across, and we'll 
 show ourselves on the Lawn." 
 
 "And you won't bet on the next race, papa?" 
 says Helen, delighted ; for is there not a chance, 
 nay, almost a certainty, that Captain Vanguard, 
 having eaten, and drunk, and smoked, and been 
 through all the other privileged portals, wiH 
 come to the lawn for inspection of countless 
 ladies drawn up in line-of-battle on their own 
 special parade-ground ? 
 
 The great tumult of the day was over ; the 
 Eoyal party had arrived under the usual burst of 
 cheers ; the greys had been admired ; the car- 
 riages commented on ; the Master of the Buck- 
 hounds, his horse, his figure, his boots, his seat, 
 and all that covered it, subjected to rigid 
 criticism. Everybody had a few spare minutes 
 to walk about and admire or ridicule everybody 
 
" TERRARUM DOMINOS? 1 1 1 
 
 else. As father and daughter set foot on the 
 smooth burnt-tip slope in front of the boxes, 
 they came suddenly face to face with Mrs, 
 Lascelles and Miss Ross. Each lady caught 
 sight of Sir Henry at the same moment, and 
 waited to see what her friend would do. I 
 believe that if one had turned coldly on her 
 heel, in answer to his ready salute, the other 
 would have followed suit, and neither would ever 
 have spoken to her fickle admirer again. But it 
 is probable that the latter' s habits familiarized 
 him with such meetings, for in an instant he had 
 both by the hand, and was accosting them with 
 that mixture of interest, deference, and cordiality, 
 which constituted the charm of his very agreeable 
 manner. He seemed to take it as a matter of 
 course that he should have made love to both, 
 that they should all meet at Ascot, and that he 
 should proceed to make love to them again. 
 
 " So glad to see you, Mrs. Lascelles ! " ex- 
 claimed this hardened offender. "How wet you 
 must have got the last time we parted. I sent 
 my carriage after you directly I got home, but it 
 
ii2 CONTRABAND. 
 
 was too late. So glad to sec you, Miss Eoss. 
 You left us in such a hurry we didn't half wish 
 you good-bye. Helen and I were very dull 
 without you. Hero she is — don't she look well ? 
 don't you both look well ? don t we all look 
 well?" 
 
 With such effrontery it was impossible not to 
 fall into an easy strain of conversation, and after 
 an affectionate greeting had been exchanged 
 between Helen and her two presumptive step- 
 mothers, the whole party proceeded to Mrs. 
 Lascelles's box, from whence, without crowding 
 or inconvenience, they could sec the race for the 
 Cup, in so far as it was affected by the run-in 
 seventy yards from home. 
 
 Sir Henry, who had another "pony" depend- 
 ing on this event, would have liked to be a little 
 nearer the Judge's chair; but I doubt if the 
 ladies cared much for the final struggle, decided 
 by half a length. Mrs. Lascelles, thinking 
 that her old admirer looked worn, handsome, 
 and gentlemanlike, in spite of crow's-feet and 
 grizzling whiskers, while resolving to punish 
 
•• TERRARUM DOMIXOSr 1 1 3 
 
 him severely for his treachery, was reflecting 
 
 that the process -would be by no means unplea- 
 sant to herself. Miss Eoss continued silent 
 and preoccupied, haunted by the vision of that 
 sturdy boy kicking and crowing in the dirt. 
 "While Helen, commanding the four-in-hand 
 coaches with her glass, saw only Vanguard's 
 shapely figure on the roof of his drag as he 
 turned to watch the race ; and when the excite- 
 ment was over, sprang down to mingle with the 
 crowd that poured into the Course, on his way, 
 as she hoped and believed, to join them here. 
 
 Now he stops to speak to a good-looking bad- 
 looking man, whom she recognises as the driver 
 of the coach which so nearly overtook his own. 
 Certain courtesies of the road have already made 
 these two acquaintances and almost friends. 
 Now he bows to a duchess, now nods to a gipsy ; 
 presently he is lost in the throng, and emerges 
 under their very box, when good-humoured Mrs. 
 Lascelles, doing as she would be done by, 
 beckons him up at once, and makes ready a place 
 for him at Miss ILallatoir s side. 
 
 VOL. I. I 
 
ii4 COXTRABAXD. 
 
 He has something pleasant to say to each 
 lady; and Miss Eoss ronses herself to observe 
 his good looks, enhanced by that frank air of 
 courtesy, peculiar to an English gentleman, 
 which is so fascinating to the women least accus- 
 tomed to it. She gives him the benefit of a 
 deadly shot or two from her black eyes, as he 
 seats himself by Helen's side, and the girl, quick- 
 sighted, silent, sensitive, feels each glance like a 
 stab. 
 
 But it is pleasant to have him here, out of 
 the crowd, amidst this beautiful scenery, under 
 the summer sim, and over her steals that feeling 
 of security and complete repose which is the 
 infallible test of genuine affection. 
 
 He is quiet and happy too. Neither of them 
 says much; perhaps they have a good deal to 
 think of, and are thinking of it. 
 
 Uncle Joseph and young Goldthred, retailing 
 from an unremunerative expedition to the betting- 
 ring, are somewhat discomfited to observe this 
 invasion of their territories, but become speedily 
 reassured in detecting Sir Henry's obvious 
 
TERRARUM DOMINOSr 
 
 I IH 
 
 • anxiety to escape, that lie may get " on " for the 
 next race, and the ill-concealed admiration of 
 Prank Vanguard for that reckless individual's 
 daughter. 
 
 Mr. Groves backs Mrs. Lascelles's invitation 
 freely. 
 
 "You will come and dine, Sir Henry," says 
 she ; u promise, and I'll let you off this minute. 
 You know you are dying to get back to that 
 wicked betting. Think of Helen. She'll be 
 tired to death with the journey to London in a 
 stuffy railway. Things ! You don't want any 
 things. Besides, why not work the wires? 
 Telegraph for your servants to bring them down. 
 We needn't dress for dinner. Captain Vanguard, 
 if you can get away from the barracks, won't 
 you come too?" 
 
 Frank looked at Helen, Helen looked resolutely 
 at the card in her hand. He was forced, un- 
 willingly, to decline, but doubtless remarked the 
 colour fade in her cheek while he did so, express- 
 ing at the same time a hope of meeting next day. 
 Uncle Joseph, who had quite abandoned the 
 
u6 CONTRABAND. 
 
 control of his own household, expressed entire 
 satisfaction with everybody's arrangements, and 
 Miss Eoss whispered in his ear, " it was very 
 dear of him to be so good-natured !" 
 
 Goldthrcd, too, having lost nine pairs of 
 gloves, six and a half, three buttons, to Mrs. 
 Lascelles, was in the seventh heaven. Alto- 
 gether, not many race-goers left the Course 
 better pleased with themselves that day. And 
 Mr. Picard, looking down at Helen as he passed 
 her carriage driving home, said to the loudish 
 lady by his side — 
 
 " That's the handsomest girl I've seen the 
 whole season! I wonder who she is ?" 
 
 To which the loudish lady replied with acri- 
 mony — 
 
 " Bo you think so ? "Well, perhaps she is 
 fresh looking, in a bread-and-butter, missyish 
 sort of style. Can't you go a little faster ? One 
 gets choked with this horrid dust !" 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FRANK. 
 
 The barrack-room of a subaltern in the House- 
 hold Cavalry has been lately described by a 
 gifted authoress as resembling " the boudoir of a 
 young duchess." My experience of the latter, I 
 honestly confess, is exceedingly limited, but I 
 think I know enough of the former tenement to 
 submit that our talented romancer has over- 
 stated her case. She would have been nearer 
 the mark, I imagine, had she compared the lair 
 of the formidable warrior to a servants' hall, a 
 laundry, a condemned cell, or some such abode 
 of vacuity and desolation, modified principally 
 by whitewash. Gaudy pictures on the walls, 
 gaudy flowers in the window-sill, do indeed 
 serve to brighten the neutral tints prevailing in 
 an officer's quarters, as provided by his grateful 
 
n8 CONTRABAND. 
 
 country, and a barrack-room chair is an exceed- 
 ingly comfortable resting-place in which to 
 smoke the pipe of peace in the stronghold of 
 war. For ease, merriment, and good-fellowship, 
 give me the habitation of the dragoon; but 
 when yon talk of pomp, luxury, taste, and re- 
 finement, I am prepared to back the duchess, 
 ay, even though she be a dowager duchess, 
 against all the cavalry regiments in the Army 
 List, and give you the Horse Artillery in ! 
 
 Let us take, for example, the room in which 
 Frank Vanguard lies fast asleep, at ten in 
 the morning, though a summer sun, streaming 
 through the open window, bathes him, like a 
 male Danae, in floods of gold. lie possesses 
 horses, carriages, costly jewellery, clothes in 
 abundance, boots innumerable, yet his furniture 
 consists of the following items : — 
 
 One iron bedstead, without curtains; one 
 wooden tub ; one enormous sponge, one medium- 
 sized ditto ; a chest of drawers, constructed to 
 travel by baggage-waggon; a huge box, meant 
 to hold saddlery ; a stick and whip stand ; 
 
FRANK. 119 
 
 twelve pairs of spurs ; a set of boxing-gloves ; 
 four steeple-chase prints ; and a meerschaum 
 pipe he never smokes. These, with a chair or 
 two, and a few toilet necessaries, comprise the 
 whole furniture of his apartment; and he is 
 happier here than in luxurious London lodgings, 
 lordly castle, or stately country house. 
 
 The song of birds, the flutter of the summer 
 morning, snort, stamp, and stable-call, ring of 
 bridle, and clink of steel, all fail to wake him. 
 He is not for duty to-day, and never went to 
 bed till five in the morning. 
 
 To say nothing of the mess-man and his 
 satellites, it is a heavy week, that of Ascot Eaces, 
 for field-officers, captains, subalterns, and all 
 concerned in the dispensation of unbounded 
 hospitality at Windsor during the meeting. They 
 entertain countless guests, they convey them 
 to and from the Course, they provide board 
 and lodging for the gentlemen, amusement and 
 adoration for the ladies, they are afoot day 
 and night ; yet seem always fresh, lively, good- 
 humoured, and on the alert. But even cavalry 
 
i2o COXTRABAXD. 
 
 officers are mortal, and though the}' never con- 
 fess it, the)' must be very tired, and a little 
 thankful when the whole function is over. 
 
 ]S~o wonder Frank sleeps so sound — dreaming 
 doubtless of — what? His dark-brown charger, 
 his chestnut marc, the stag he shot last year in 
 Scotland, the team he drove yesterday to Ascot ? 
 Of Miss Hallaton, perhaps, and the deep lustrous 
 eyes that haunted him so while he flung himself 
 on his bed and went off into the very slumber 
 from which he is roused, even now, by uncere- 
 monious knuckles tapping at the door. 
 
 A sleepy man says "come in" without 
 waking, and enter a soldier-servant nearly seven 
 feet high, who proceeds to fill the tub, and further 
 dressing arrangements generally, with a clatter, 
 that he has found from experience of many 
 masters is the surest way to get a sluggard out 
 of bed. This stalwart personage considers him- 
 self responsible (and. it is no light burthen) that 
 his officer should always be in time. With a 
 Comet his prevision is touching, and almost 
 maternal in its care. Having thoroughly roused 
 
FRANK. 1 2 1 
 
 the sleeper, his servant plants himself at the bed- 
 side, drawn np to an exceeding altitude, in the 
 position drill-sergeants call "attention." 
 
 " "What is it ?" says Frank yawning. 
 
 "Gentleman come to breakfast, sir. Waiting 
 in the little mess-room." 
 
 " Order it at once, Blake, and say I'll be down 
 in twenty minutes." 
 
 Exit Blake, facing to the right, solemnly but 
 far less noisily than he came in; while Frank 
 with one bound is on the floor, and with another 
 in his tub, not feeling his eyes quite open till he 
 has splashed the bracing cold water into them 
 more than once. 
 
 While he shaves and dresses, getting through 
 each process with surprising celerity, I may 
 state that the gentleman waiting breakfast for 
 him below is none other than Mr. Picard, the 
 driver of the blue-coach with red wheels, the 
 quick-stepping browns, and the loudish lady of 
 the day before. 
 
 A timely pull in Frank's favour, when the 
 latter was in difficulties with his team at an 
 
122 CONTRABAND. 
 
 awkward corner on the Heath, — a little judicious 
 flattery extolling the capabilities of that team, and 
 the mode in which it was handled, — a draught of 
 champagne-cup offered, — a cigar exchanged, — 
 and Vanguard was so pleased with his new friend, 
 that he pressed the invitation which now brought 
 him to breakfast in the officers' mess-room, accom- 
 panied by an appetite that never failed, and a 
 determination to make the most of this, as of all 
 other advantages in the game of life. 
 
 A couple of Cornets are already hard at work, 
 with the voracity of youth just done growing in 
 length but not breadth. Their jaws cease simul- 
 taneously at the entrance of a stranger, and, boys 
 as they are, the instinct of each warns him 
 against this plausible personage whom, as a 
 guest, they welcome nevertheless with, hospi- 
 tality and perfect good breeding. It speaks well 
 for Picard's savoir fairc, that long ere his enter- 
 tainer comes down, he has made a favourable 
 impression on these late Etonians, so that, emerg- 
 ing to smoke outside in couples as usual, says 
 one inseparable to the other — 
 
FRANK. 123 
 
 M Pleasant company that liahy chap, and tongue 
 enough for a street-preacher ! Who the devil is 
 he, Jack, and where did Frank pick him up ?" 
 
 To which Jack, whose real name is Frederic, 
 replies with deliberation — 
 
 u Xot quite the clean potato, young man, you 
 may take my word for it. But that makes no 
 odds. We'll have him to dinner. Shouldn't 
 wonder if the party could sing a good song and 
 do conjuring tricks." 
 
 " Pea-and-thimble and the rest of it," rejoins 
 his friend. u Come and look at my bay mare." 
 
 So, dismissing Picard from their thoughts, they 
 leave him to Frank Vanguard and breakfast. 
 
 These appear simultaneously. Frank, looking 
 exceedingly clean, fresh, and handsome, is full of 
 apologies for keeping his guest waiting. 
 
 "But you see we were very late last night," 
 he urges, " and I'm not one of those fellows who 
 can do entirely without sleep. If I don't get 
 four or five hours I'm fit for nothing. It's con- 
 stitutional, no doubt. I think I must have been 
 bom tired." 
 
12.}. CONTRABAND. 
 
 Picard laughs — and when lie laughs his ex- 
 pression changes for the worse. "I can sit up 
 for ever," says he, "if there's anything to sit up 
 for. A roll in the blankets and a tub are as 
 good as a night's rest to me. Now, yon'll hardly 
 believe I was playing ecarte till six this morning, 
 and came down by the nine o'clock train !" 
 
 Frank didrCt believe it, thongh it was true 
 enough, but helped himself to a cutlet without 
 expressing incredulity. 
 
 " Did you drive all the way back yesterday ?" 
 said he. "You must have been late in London, 
 and it's a good day's work." 
 
 " I had three teams on the road," answered 
 the other, "and only one of them took any 
 getting together. Faith, the heaviest part of the 
 business was talking to Mrs. Battersea ! She 
 would come, and she would sit on the box, and she 
 sulked all the way home. You'll never guess why." 
 
 Mrs. Battersea was a celebrity of a certain 
 standing in certain circles, not quite without the 
 pale of decent society, yet as near the edge as 
 was possible, short of actual expulsion. If a 
 
FRANK. 125 
 
 male Battersea existed he never appeared, and 
 the lady who bore his name, a showy middle-aged 
 woman, with a fine figure, and all the airs of a 
 beauty, seemed in no wise restricted by matri- 
 monial thraldom. She was one of those people to 
 be seen at reviews, races, and all open-air gather- 
 ings within twenty miles of London. — at flower- 
 shows, plays, operas, and charity concerts in the 
 metropolis ; but nobody ever met her at a dinner- 
 party, a ball, or a "dram." To sum up — men 
 like Picard called her "a stunner;" ladies like 
 Mrs. Lascelles said she was "bad style." 
 
 Frank, thinking none the better of this new 
 friend for the freedom with which he talked of 
 his female acquaintance, professed ignorance of 
 Mrs. Battersea's reasons for discontent. 
 
 £: ZSTot easily pleased, I dare say," he an- 
 swered carelessly. " Sometimes they're not, 
 when they have every thing their own way. 
 Nervous on a coach, perhaps ? And yet that 
 could hardly be, for you've got the hand! 
 team out, and I can see you're as good as most 
 professionals." 
 
126 CONTRABAND. 
 
 u Guess again," said the other, who had 
 finished breakfast, and was lighting a cigar. 
 
 Frank pondered. 
 
 " Seen a better-looking woman than herself, 
 then ; that'll do it sometimes, I've remarked. 
 And they're bad to hold when they think there's 
 something else in the race. If it wasn't that, I 
 give it up." 
 
 " You're right, Vanguard, " exclaimed his 
 guest. " You've hit it, sir, plumb-centre, as we 
 used to say on the Potomac. Mrs. Eattersea 
 never ceased talking all the way down; and 
 some queer things she told us, too ! The rough 
 side of her tongue rasps like a file ! Well, she 
 was in high feather the whole day. Liked 
 her luncheon, liked her bonnet, liked herself, 
 liked her company, so she said ; but, coming 
 off the Course, we passed a duck of a girl in 
 an open carriage : a girl with wonderful eyes 
 and a pale face, but features like Melpomene. 
 She'd got on a light-coloured dress, with a lilac 
 sort of bonnet — I daresay you didn't notice 
 her." 
 
FXAXA'. 
 
 127 
 
 Frank's heart leaped to his throat, meeting 
 his final gulp of coffee. DidnH notice her, for- 
 sooth ! while the wonderful eyes, pale face, 
 Melpomene month, light dress, even the lilac 
 bonnet, had been haunting him for the last 
 twelve hours. 
 
 "I only said, 'What a pretty girl!' as we 
 went by," continued Picard, "and, will yon 
 believe it, Mrs. Eattersea got her frill out on the 
 instant ! She never gave us another civil word 
 the whole way to London : not one to share 
 amongst the whole coach-load. Those two little 
 Carmine girls that I bronght down for j\Tac- 
 donald and Algy Brown were so frightened they 
 wanted to stop at Honnslow and go home by the 
 omnibus ! That was after she caught Eosie 
 making faces behind her back. Algy tried to 
 take his poor little ' pal's ' part, and didn't she 
 chaw him np, too ! Bather ! I'd nothing to do 
 but mind my driving and think of the Helen 
 who had done all this mischief." 
 
 a How did you know her. name was Helen ?" 
 asked Frank, completely off his guard. 
 
iz8 CONTRABAND. 
 
 "Well, I didvit" said the other, wondering at 
 his host's excitement ; " bnt I suppose now that 
 it is, and that you know her. Couldn't you 
 introduce me ?" 
 
 " Certainly, if you wish it," was the reply, 
 " though probably we don't mean the same lady. 
 There is a Miss Hallaton that answers to your 
 description, and she was at the races yesterday. 
 Daughter of Sir Henry Hallaton, rather a good- 
 looking, oldish man, in a white hat and red 
 neckcloth." 
 
 "That's it!" exclaimed Picard; "I spotted 
 the father, red neckcloth and all ! Depend upon 
 
 it you're right, and it must have been Miss 
 
 What's her name ? Hallaton ? Well, all I can 
 say is, I've not seen a better-looking one since I 
 left Charleston, and very few who could beat 
 her there. Do they go much to London ? Do 
 they live anywhere near here? I think the 
 governor's a loosish fish. I saw him drinking 
 ' cup ' with some queer-looking peojne behind 
 my coach, and he was in and out of the Eing all 
 day. Beg pardon, Vanguard, if they're friends 
 
FRANK. 129 
 
 of yours. I didn't mean to say anything dis- 
 agreeable, I give you my word." 
 
 " Oh ! I don't know them very well," said 
 Frank, growing red, and feeling that ho was 
 making himself ridiculous. " I stayed with 
 them last winter, near Bragford. Capital place 
 to hunt from, and Sir Henry was very kind and 
 hospitable. If you're quite done, shall we come 
 outside ? The drag will start in an hour, and I 
 will have a place kept for you, if you'd like to 
 go with the others from here." 
 
 " I am not going at all," answered Picard. 
 " The fact is, I'm not much of a racing man, and 
 two days running is rather a benefit. Don't let 
 me put you out in your arrangements, I beg. 
 This is a beautiful neighbourhood, and I've been 
 so much abroad, that I quite enjoy the air, and 
 the English scenery, and the rest of it. I'd 
 rather take a quiet walk while you're all at the 
 races ; but I'll stay and see you start the team 
 notwithstanding. ' ' 
 
 "Not going !" thought Frank. " IIow very 
 odd ! Now, what can a fellow like this have to 
 
 yol. 1. K 
 
i3o CONTRABAND. 
 
 do down here on the sly ? Country walk ! 
 Gammon ! He's after some robbery, I'll lay a 
 hundred ! " but he only said — 
 
 " My Cornet's going to drive. I don't think 
 I shall be on the Ileath at all, unless I gallop a 
 haek over in the afternoon." 
 
 "Hot work," answered Picard carelessly. 
 "I thought everybody was keen about racing, 
 except me." But he too wondered at the taste 
 of his entertainer in thus preferring a solitary 
 morning to a pleasant drive in the merriest of 
 company, accounting for it on a theory of his 
 own. 
 
 " War-path, of course ! and, keen as a true 
 Indian, means to follow it up alone. Got ' sign,' 
 no doubt, and sticks to the trail like a wolf. 
 Won't come back, I'll lay a thousand, without 
 ' raising hair.' Ah ! this child, too, could take 
 scalps once, and hang them round his belt, with 
 
 the best of ye ! And now Well, I'm about 
 
 no harm to-day, at any rate, and that's refresh- 
 ing, if it's only for a change ! " 
 
 So he sat himself down on a garden seat in 
 
FRANK. 131 
 
 front of the officers' quarters, where, producing 
 a case the size of a portmanteau, filled with such 
 cigars as are only consumed by trans-Atlantic 
 smokers, and, offering them liberally all round, 
 he soon became the centre of an admiring circle, 
 civil as well as military, to whom he related 
 sundry experiences of international warfare in 
 the States, well told, interesting, no doubt, and 
 more startling than probable. 
 
 Mr. Picard had certain elements of popularity, 
 such as launch a man in general society fairly 
 enough, but fail to afford him secure anchorage 
 in that restless element. He was good-looking, 
 well-dressed, plausible, always ready to eat, 
 chink, smoke, dance, play, or, indeed, partake in 
 the amusement of the hour. He looked like a 
 gentleman, but nobody knew who he was. He 
 seemed to have a sufficiency of money, but nobody 
 knew where he got it. The Court Guide vouched 
 for him as J. Picard, Esq., under the letter "P," 
 with two addresses, a first-rate hotel and a third- 
 rate club. The Morning Post even took charge 
 of him in its fashionable arrivals and departures. 
 
132 CONTRABAND. 
 
 Men began to know liim after "the Epsom Spring," 
 and by Hampton races he had ceased to arouse 
 interest, scarcely even excited curiosity, but had 
 failed to make a single female acquaintance 
 above the class of Mrs. Battersea; nor had he, 
 indeed, gained one step of the social ladder 
 peojrie take such pains to climb, in order to 
 obtain, after all, but a wider A'iew from Dan to 
 Becrshcba. 
 
 Such men crop up like mushrooms at the 
 beginning of CA^cry London season, and fade 
 like annuals with the recess. Goodwood sees 
 the last expiring blaze of their splendour, and 
 next year, if you ask for them, they are extinct ; 
 but, as the Highland soldier says, "There are 
 plenty more where they come from." In dr< 
 style, manner, they vary but little. All dine 
 constantly at Richmond, shoot well, and drive 
 a team, in the handling of which they improve 
 vastly as the season wears on. 
 
 Mr. Picard could, however, lay claim to a 
 little more interest than the rest, in his character 
 of a soldier- adventurer, to which he was entitled 
 
FRANK. 133 
 
 by service with the Confederates during their 
 
 prolonged struggle against overwhelming odds. 
 Somehow, every soldier-adventurer concerned in 
 that war seems to have been a Southerner. Cer- 
 tainly the romance was all on their side, though the 
 scale, weighed down by ;i great battalions," turned 
 in favour of the North. From his own account, 
 Picard had done his "little best," as he called it, 
 for the party he espoused ; and observing a gash 
 on his cheek, which could only be a sabre-cut, 
 it was hard to listen coldly while he talked of 
 Stonewall Jackson and Brigadier Stuart as ordi- 
 nary men do of Bright and Gladstone — perhaps 
 with no more familiar knowledge of the heroes 
 than a general public has of these statesmen. 
 Still, the subject was captivating and well 
 treated, the contrast between Stuart's dashing, 
 desperate, rapidly-moving light horsemen and Her 
 Majesty's Cuirassiers of the Guard was exciting, 
 the similarity in many points flattering to both. 
 Cornets listened open-mouthed, and felt the pro- 
 -ional instinct rising strong in their martial 
 young souls ; older officers smiled approbation, 
 
i 3 + CONTRABAND. 
 
 not disdaining to gather liints from one who had 
 seen real warfare, as to nosebags, havresacks, 
 picket-ropes, and snch trifling minutiae as affect 
 the efficiency of armies and turn the tide of 
 campaigns. AVhen the drag appeared nobody 
 discovered that Frank Vanguard had made a 
 masterly retreat ; and Picard had received as 
 many invitations to remain and be " put-up" in 
 barracks as would have lasted him till the regi- 
 ment changed quarters, and his entertainers had 
 found out half he said was an old story and the 
 other half not true. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 JUNE E0SES. 
 
 Uncle Joseph was a good judge of many tilings 
 besides bonds, debentures, share-, and scrip. 
 When he bought "The Lilies" we may be sure 
 he had his wits about him, and made no impru- 
 dent investment. A prettier villa never was 
 reflected in the Thames. Huge elms, spreading 
 cedars, delicate acacias quivering in the lightest 
 air, the very point-lace of the forest, were 
 grouped by Nature's master-hand round a wide- 
 porched, creeper-clad building, with long low 
 rooms, and windows opening on a lawn, all 
 aglow with roses budding, blushing, blooming, 
 to the waters edge. It was a little Paradise of 
 leaf and flower and stream, such as is only to be 
 found on the banks of our London river; such 
 
136 CONTRABAND. 
 
 as calls up at Bight images of peace and love 
 and hope, and sweet untried romance for the 
 young and trustful; such as wafts a thrill, not 
 altogether painful, to the hearts of weary, way- 
 worn travellers, for whom, in all that golden 
 belief of the Past, there is nothing real now but 
 a memory and a sigh. Such a lawn, such a 
 scene, such flowers, were thoroughly in keeping 
 with such a woman as Mrs. Lascelles, moving 
 gracefully among the roses under a summer sky. 
 
 So thought poor Goldthred, emerging from 
 the French windows of the breakfast-room for a 
 tete-a-tete with his goddess, that might last half- 
 an-hour, that might be cut short (he knew her 
 caprices) in less than five minutes ! A tctc-d-tete 
 from which he hoped to advance positively and 
 tangibly in her favour, but which, like many others 
 of the same kind, he feared might terminate in 
 disappointment, discomfiture, despair. 
 
 Breakfast, with this unfortunate young man, 
 had been a repast of paroxysms, alternating 
 between rapture and dismay, such as completely 
 <1< >troycd anything like appetite or digestion. 
 
JUNE RO$ES. 137 
 
 It was all very well for Uncle Joseph to go 
 twice at the ham 011 the side-table, and devour 
 such a lump of pate defoiegras as would have 
 choked a coal-heaver. It was all very well for 
 Sir Henry, lounging down when everybody else 
 had nearly done, avowedly with no appetite, 
 after a cup of exceedingly hot coffee, to play as 
 good a knife and fork as an Eton boy. It was 
 all very well for the ladies, Mrs. Lascelles espe- 
 cially, to peck here and peck there — a slice of 
 chicken, a strawberry, a bit of toast, an egg, a 
 morsel of muffin, the least possible atom of pie 
 — till each had made a pretty substantial meal. 
 But could their heartless voracity stifle his 
 (Goldthred's) sensibilities, or prevent his food 
 tasting like leather, his tea like camomiles ? 
 Breakfast was over ere he recovered his proper 
 senses, and then it was too late ! The tonic so 
 long denied this patient sufferer consisted of a 
 few words from Mrs. Lascelles, not addressed, 
 indeed, to himself, but accompanied by a glance 
 he interpreted correctly, and accej^tcd with de- 
 light. 
 
138 CONTRABAND. 
 
 ''Uncle Joseph," said she, "your roses are 
 shamefully neglected, and I shall inspect them 
 thoroughly when I've drunk my tea." 
 
 Uncle Joseph, who, for sanitary reasons, never 
 stirred till half an hour had elapsed after eating, 
 grunted acquiescence ; but Goldthred, unmindful 
 of the convenances, rapturously followed his 
 tyrant into the garden, the instant her muslin 
 skirt disappeared over the window-sill. 
 
 She waited till they were out 01 sight from 
 the house, then gathered a rose, fragrant, bloom- 
 ing, lovable as herself, and gave it him with a 
 winning smile. 
 
 " I've got something to say to you, 3Ir. Gold- 
 thred — something I don't want everybody else 
 to hear." 
 
 But for the flower pressed close against his 
 lips, he felt that his heart must have leaped out 
 of his mouth, and fallen at her feet. Never a 
 word he spoke, but the light in his eyes, the 
 glow on his face were answer enough. 
 
 " You won't be offended?" she continued, 
 gathering rose after rose, and tying them up in 
 
JUNE ROSES. 139 
 
 a cluster, as she walked on. " You won't be 
 cross, unreasonable, unkind? Indeed, it's for 
 your own sake quite as much as mine. Mr. 
 Goldthred, you can do me a great favour. 
 Promise now; will you do it?" 
 
 He made no bargain ; he showed no hesita- 
 tion, but his very cars were crimson with 
 sincerity while he answered — 
 
 " Do it, Mrs. Lascelles ! What is there I 
 wouldn't do for you? I wish you — you'd ask 
 me to do something dangerous, or difficult, or — 
 or impossible even ! You'd see there's some- 
 thing in me, then, and perhaps you'd think 
 better of me than you do now." 
 
 " Think better !" she repeated gaily. "Upon 
 my word, I wonder what you'd have ! But I 
 don't want you to do anything impossible, no, 
 nor even disagreeable. On the contrary, I 
 should say it would be very pleasant. I want 
 you to — to flirt a little with Miss Hallaton — 
 there!" 
 
 " Mrs. Lascelles ! " was all he said, but 
 something in his tone caused her to laugh 
 
140 CONTRABAND. 
 
 rather nervously, and quicken her pace as she 
 continued — 
 
 " Oh ! it's nothing to make a fuss about, and 
 you needn't look so reproachful ! Miss Ilallaton 
 is a very nice girl, and very pretty. I'm sure 
 everybody thinks so, though she hasn't quite 
 colour enough for my taste. You know you 
 admire her, Mr. Goldthred, and why should you 
 mind telling her so ?" 
 
 " But I donH /" persisted Goldthred, in a great 
 heat and fuss. " Cant you see, Mrs. Lascelles ? 
 Is it not plain?" 
 
 She made no scruple of interrupting him. 
 
 " Then you must /" she insisted, tying a white 
 rose deftly in amongst its blushing sisters. " You 
 needn't be too much in earnest, you know, but 
 I wish you to pay a little attention to Miss 
 Ilallaton, for reasons of my own. If you're very 
 good I'll tell you what they are." 
 
 Oh ! cool and crafty spider ! Oh ! silly 
 struggling fly ! I31uc-cyed spider in muslin and 
 ribbons, fresh, smiling, radiant as morning. 
 Helpless fly in tweed and broad-cloth, won- 
 
JUNE ROSES. 141 
 
 dcring, blundering, blind as midnight. The 
 fly buzzed a faint affirmative, and the spider 
 went on. 
 
 " The met is, Mr. Goldthred, yon see voir re 
 a good deal with 11s, and I'm sure we're always 
 delighted to have von. Both Jin and I like von 
 very much. Jin says yon are the only pleasant 
 young man she knows. But the world will talk, 
 and — and — people are beginning to make re- 
 marks. I'm almost old enough to be your 
 mother. "Well ; you needn't contra diet one so 
 flat. You know what I mean, you men are so 
 much, younger of your age than us poor women. 
 But that makes no difference. One can't be too 
 careful. Now if you were seen making up a 
 little to Helen, — and she is a very charming girl, 
 I assure you, — it would stop all their mouths. 
 They say very disagreeable things as it is, and 
 one must do something. I shouldn't like to think 
 you were never to come and see me any more." 
 
 Was not this a golden opportunity ? Did she 
 hear the grating of that accursed rake just round 
 the laurel-bush ? Could that be why her blue 
 
1+2 CONTRABAND. 
 
 eyes shone so soft and kind, why the words 
 dropped from her rosy month like honey from 
 the comb ? The gravel-walk (lately raked, and 
 he hanged to it !) was rough as Brighton shingle ; 
 his trowsers were of the thinnest fabric known 
 to Messrs. Miles ; yet I confidently believe 
 Goldthrcd would have popped down on his 
 knees, then and there, to run that one 1 great 
 chance he dwelt on night and day, but for the 
 additional step that brought them face to face 
 with a gardener working leisurely, in rolled-up 
 shirt-sleeves, and surrounded by the implements 
 of his art. Goldthred swore, I fear, though not 
 aloud. The happy moment had slipped through 
 his fingers like running-water, like the sands of 
 time, like change for a sovereign, like everything 
 else in a world that "keeps moving," whether 
 we will or no. Of all impossibilities, there is 
 none so impossible as to put the clock back. 
 
 Beyond this inopportune gardener, they came 
 in sight of certain hay-makers, and toning from 
 these were close to the house once more. Xo 
 further explanation was practicable, but unL 
 
JUNE ROSES. 143 
 
 some tacit agreement had been made to the 
 lady's satisfaction, she would hardly have pushed 
 
 her roses in the gentleman's face, with a sweet 
 smile and a recommendation to inhale their 
 fragrance while they were fresh. 
 
 " Yon deserve them all, indeed you do ! " she 
 said warmly. '-'And I'll put the best of them on 
 your dressing-table myself. Thank you really. 
 Ton. won't forget your promise ? I know I can 
 depend upon youP 
 
 Then she marched into the drawing-room laden 
 with her spoils, well-pleased; while Goldthred, 
 retiring to smoke the morning cigar, felt 1 
 satisfied, on reflection, than he had been when 
 the white fingers and red roses were so close to 
 his lips a while ago. 
 
 • It seems that in all couples, not excepting the 
 matrimonially tethered, a pair must necessarily 
 pull different ways. Goldthred' s innocent notion 
 of heaven upon earth was that this despotic lady 
 should become his wife, but she had handled him 
 so skilfully, he dared not ask for fear of being 
 refused. Mrs. Lascelles, who deserved seme 
 
i ++ CONTRABAND, 
 
 credit for crushing down tlic instinct of appro- 
 priation, natural to all women, however little 
 they may prize an admirer, would have been 
 glad, to do her justice, that Helen, for her own 
 Bake, should make an advantageous marriage. 
 She reflected, moreover, that her furtherance of 
 such an arrangement would bring her into closer 
 relations with Sir Henry. Then she wondered 
 whether she still liked him, confessing in her 
 secret heart she was almost afraid she did. 
 
 That careless, easy-going personage had dis- 
 posed himself, in the meantime, on the most 
 sloping of garden chairs under a tree. Helen 
 had brought him the morning and weekly papers, 
 also one of the evening before. He was cool, 
 comfortable, and thoroughly satisfied with Sir 
 Henry Hallaton. His rings were more abundant, 
 his whiskers more riotous, his handkerchief of 
 brighter hues than ever. Had he not looked so 
 like a gentleman his style of dress would have 
 been gaudy and almost slang ; but the combina- 
 tion had done him good service for many years, 
 and he stuck to it still. Smoking a huge cigar, 
 
JUNE ROSES. 145 
 
 lie watched its wreathes curling and clinging 
 
 about the dark, crisp foliage of the cedar-branch 
 overhead, while his thoughts wandered dreamily 
 amongst the various interests of his pleasant, 
 lazy, useless, and rather selfish life : his Alder- 
 neys at Blackgrove ; his bailiff's book ; the two- 
 year old they were breaking at home ; the 
 brougham Barker was building him in London ; 
 Outrigger's chance in the Thames Handicap 
 to-day; Uncle Joseph's dry champagne last 
 night ; the dress Mrs. Lascelles wore yesterday 
 at the races ; how Miss Boss had pulled in her 
 waist this morning; on divine women in end- 
 less perspective, whom he had loved, or thought 
 he loved, or made love to, without even that 
 excuse, concluding how very few were equal to 
 Helen. TThat a dear little thing it was as a 
 child ! What a graceful, engaging girl ! So 
 frank, so gentle, such a lad?/, and so fond of htm ! 
 Suspecting that, after all, he really cared more 
 for his own daughter than he had ever cared for 
 the daughter, or wife, or mother of anybody 
 else. 
 
 vol. 1. L 
 
146 CONTRABAND. 
 
 Arriving at this conclusion, and the end of his 
 cigar, he was aware of a light step on the lawn, 
 a rustle of muslin skirts trailing across the sward, 
 — a familiar sound, to which, I fear, Sir Henry's 
 car turned, as turns the charger's to the trumpet 
 call, the hunter's to the well-known challenge 
 of a "find." Miss Eoss, carrying a plateful of 
 strawberries, bent over him, a world of mirth 
 and mischief gleaming in her bright black 
 eyes. 
 
 " You take life very easily, Sir Henry," said 
 she, looking down on his recumbent figure with 
 a sort of sarcastic admiration. "I'm a pretty 
 cool hand myself, so people tell me, but I can't 
 hold a candle to you, I must confess." 
 
 "Exactly," replied Sir Henry. "Prettier, 
 but not so cool. I quite agree with you. I 
 know what you mean." 
 
 "I don't mean it a bit!" exclaimed Miss 
 
 Eoss; "and of all people in the world I don't 
 
 it you to tell me I'm pretty. You know that, 
 
 or, at least, you ought to know it by this time !" 
 
 "Don't you think I'm a good judge?" asked 
 
JUNE ROSES. 147 
 
 this incorrigible person, with a smile of entire 
 satisfaction. 
 
 She could not help laughing. 
 
 " Perhaps too good a judge," she answered; 
 "but a judge that shall never find me guilty, I 
 promise yon ! Xo ; what I envy is your un- 
 rivalled sang-froid, your entire freedom from 
 anxiety in a position that -would make most 
 people feel awkward, if not uncomfortable." 
 
 ''"Uncomfortable!" he repeated; "why un- 
 comfortable ! Ah ! perhaps you're right, and 
 I do want another cushion. I'd go and fetch it, 
 Miss Eoss, only I'd much rather stay where I 
 am, and talk to you." 
 
 She shot another scornful glance, not that he 
 was the least abashed by it, and went on : — 
 
 " You've got all sorts of duties, cares, responr 
 sibilities, but they don't seem to affect you 
 in the least — property, debts, of course " (Sir 
 Henry nodded assent), ''politics, position, that 
 charming daughter; a bad day yesterday — you 
 see I know all about it — and a certain loss 
 to-day, if you don't bestir yourself, on the 
 
1 48 CONTRABAND. 
 
 Thames Handicap. Yet there you sit, as un- 
 moved and almost as highly ornamented as a 
 Hindoo idol. I wish I had your secret." 
 
 " Very simple," answered the other. " Irons ! 
 Xothing but irons ! Plenty of them, and put 
 them all in the fire at once. Dividing your cares 
 is like dividing your affections — one balances 
 another, and you carry them as easy as a milk- 
 maid carries her pails." 
 
 " That's all very fine in theory," replied Miss 
 Boss; "but there's such a thing as spilt milk, 
 and a dozen cold irons won't prevent a hot one 
 burning your fingers. There's a hot one to-day 
 in the Thames Handicap. Never mind how I 
 know it, Sir Henry, but I do know it. This 
 horse they call Outrigger has no more chance of 
 winning than your hat ! Why do you tie that 
 hideous gauze thing round it?" 
 
 Sir Henry was equal to the occasion. 
 
 "Suits my style of ugliness," he answered; 
 adding, with well-assumed carelessness — " So 
 Outrigger won't win, Miss Eoss. Why won't 
 he?" 
 
JUNE ROSES. 149 
 
 u Xot meant !" 
 
 " I never thought he was," said Sir Henry, 
 who had backed the horse for more money than 
 he liked to think of. "My impression, you see, 
 agrees with your information. I don't doubt it, 
 of course, particularly as you won't tell me 
 where you got it." 
 
 "I won't, indeed," asseverated Jin, who 
 would have been puzzled to name her authority, 
 inasmuch as the startling intelligence originated 
 in her own fertile brain. For particular reasons 
 this unscrupulous young lady was anxious the 
 whole party from The Lilies should start for 
 the races together, while she alone remained at 
 home. In discussing their plans the evening 
 before, great lukewarmness had been shown on 
 this point ; Helen, perhaps for particular reasons, 
 too, professing indifference to the coming day's 
 sport. Even Sir Henry did not seem to have 
 made up his mind ; but Miss Eoss argued, cor- 
 fectly enough, that if he went, Mrs. Lascelles 
 would go, arid the rest of the party would surely 
 accompany their hostess ; then, at the last 
 
1 5 o CONTRABAND. 
 
 moment, she could frame an excuse, and so have 
 the day to herself. Therefore it was she made 
 no scruple in calumniating the merits of Out- 
 rigger and the honesty of his owners. 
 
 Sir Henry was now in a desperate fidget to be 
 off. He must ^ct u out," he felt, at any price, 
 and a few minutes might make all the difference. 
 He stretched himself, yawned with an affectation 
 of carelessness that did not in the least deceive 
 his companion, and asked when the carriages 
 were ordered. 
 
 " The same time as yesterday," answered Miss 
 Eoss, pleased with the result of her stratagem. 
 "You won't say I told you," she added, 
 looking coquettishly down at the recumbent 
 baronet. 
 
 "Of course not," was the reply; but his 
 thoughts were far away, probably with a 
 stout speculator, wearing a suit of gorgeous 
 tartan, and diamond rings on exceedingly dirty 
 hands. 
 
 "How shall I stop your mouth?" she said, 
 innocently enough, blushing nevertheless, though 
 
JUNE ROSES. 151 
 
 she rarely betrayed confusion, as the words 
 escaped her. 
 
 It "was impossible to be offended at the quaint, 
 mischievous expression with which Sir Henry 
 looked up in her face, and Jin fairly burst out 
 laughing, while she popped a ripe red strawberry 
 between his lips. 
 
 " This will do it for the present!" said she; 
 "and don't forget you owe me a good turn for 
 giving you what, I believe, you racing gentle- 
 men call 'the straight tip !' " 
 
CIIAPTEB IX. 
 
 TOUCH AND GO. 
 
 A LAWN commanded by the windows of a draw- 
 ing-room, in which people are settling their plans 
 for the da}', can scarcely be considered a fitting 
 locality for the interchange of courtesies not 
 intended for general supervision. The stoppage 
 of Sir Henry's mouth, as described in the pre- 
 ceding chapter, was witnessed by three different 
 persons, all of whom, in their respective degrees, 
 chose to feel aggrieved, disgusted, and surprised. 
 The position was picturesque, no doubt, the 
 accessories in perfect keeping, the strawberry 
 rich and ripe, but such familiarities are apt to 
 breed contempt in the bystanders, especially if of 
 the better-behaved and less tolerant sex. Helen 
 did not approve of these liberties being taken 
 
TOUCH AXD GO. 153 
 
 with papa ; Mrs. Lascellcs, for the first time, 
 doubted whether she had acted wisely in enter- 
 ing on so close an alliance with this reckless 
 adventuress, remembering a certain fable, in 
 which the horse, having called in the assistance 
 of man against his enemy, was never his own 
 master again ; while Uncle Joseph, looking pom- 
 pously out of window, with his hands in his 
 pockets, turned yellow from jealousy, and became 
 speechless with disgust. 
 
 There is no pleasanter hour of the day than 
 that which succeeds breakfast in a country- 
 house, while people are organising the occupa- 
 tions, or amusements, as they call them, that 
 must last till dinner ; but with the party col- 
 lected at The Lilies there seemed to be more 
 than the usual diversity of opinion as to how 
 their time should be spent. 
 
 Helen "didn't much care about going to the 
 races — wondered if it would rain — feared it 
 would be hot — did feel a little tired this morn- 
 ing,'' but, being pressed, was obliged to confess, 
 " she enjoyed yesterday very much!" Still, it 
 
i5+ CONTRABAND. 
 
 was evident Helen did not want to go, equally 
 evident she would not explain why. 
 
 Uncle Joseph, who had meditated a long walk 
 with Miss Ross, combining exercise and senti- 
 ment, wonld have voted persistently against the 
 Heath, but for the episode of the strawberry, 
 which had so roused his wrath. He now de- 
 clared "it would be absurd to stay away, when 
 at so short a distance," that "they had better 
 go in the same order as yesterday," and that 
 "he would desire luncheon to be put up at 
 once;" Uncle Joseph wisely considering that 
 important meal a necessity of any " outing " in 
 which pleasure was the avowed object. 
 
 Mrs. Lascelles did not the least care how she 
 spent her morning, so long as it was passed in 
 the company of Sir Henry. Goldthrcd, again, 
 was willing to go anywhere or do anything if 
 he might be with Mrs. Lascelles. Altogether 
 everybody's movements seemed dependent on 
 the baronet, who walked coolly up the lawn to 
 the drawing-room windows, pinning the gauze 
 veil more carefully round his hat. 
 
TOUCH AND GO. 155 
 
 "What time are we to start?" said he, taking 
 it for granted, as he wished to go himself, that 
 everybody else did. " I'm afraid I must be on 
 the Course early ; but that need not hurry the 
 others. Kelly and I can go in my carriage, and 
 I'll order it at once. Or I can take Mr. Gold- 
 thred, or do anything anybody likes. "Who 
 wants to come with me ? You mustn't all speak 
 at once !" 
 
 " I don't care about going at all, papa," said 
 Helen, but intercepting a glance from their 
 hostess, which ordered Goldthred, as plainly as 
 eyes could speak, to remain and keep her com- 
 pany, added hastily, "unless there's plenty of 
 room." 
 
 "Plenty of room!" echoed Mrs. Lascellcs, 
 with her own arrangements in view. "We shall 
 only want one carriage if we take mine. Four 
 of us inside, and Mr. Goldthred, for so short a 
 distance, won't mind sitting on the box. Xo, 
 that won't do ; where are we to put Jin ?" 
 
 "Jin's not going!" interrupted a voice from 
 the open window of an upper room. "Jin's got 
 
i 5 6 CONTRABAXD. 
 
 a headache, and some letters to write. You 
 won't get her to Ascot to-day unless you drag 
 her with wild horses, so von needn't distress 
 yourselves about Jin !" 
 
 Uncle Joseph's face turned from yellow to its 
 normal tint of mottled brown. What a trump 
 of a girl he thought her after all ! And, fully 
 convinced she was scheming to pass the whole 
 morning with himself, sorely repented he should 
 have so misjudged her a quarter- of- an-hour ago. 
 
 His difficulty now was to avoid joining the 
 rest of the party ; but bethinking him of a 
 certain substantial pony in the stable, called 
 " Punch," he declared he thought a thorough 
 shaking would do him good, and expressed his 
 intention of riding that animal to the Course. 
 
 " Once they're off," argued Uncle Joseph, 
 " they'll never trouble their heads about their 
 host, and then, my pretty Jin, you and I can 
 come to an understanding at last !" 
 
 Even with a party of four, however, it takes 
 time to get pleasure-goers under weigh. 3Irs. 
 Lascelles forgot her smelling-bottle, Helen mis- 
 
TOUCH AND GO. 157 
 
 laid a shawl ; Sir Henry, on whose account 
 they had all hurried themselves, was ten minutes 
 behind everybody else. The carriage stood a 
 good half-hour at the door before it was fairly 
 started, and Uncle Joseph spent that time in his 
 own dressing-room, with his heart beating like a 
 boy's. 
 
 At last the welcome sound of wheels announced 
 that the coast was clear. He sallied forth eagerly, 
 and, considering his years, with no little alacrity, 
 in pursuit of his ladye-love. Not in her bed- 
 room, certainly, for the door stood wide open ! 
 Not in the drawing-room — the dining-room — the 
 billiard-room, nor the boudoir ! Zounds ! not 
 in the conservatory, nor on the lawn ! Beads 
 of perspiration broke out on Uncle Joseph's bald 
 head, and he couldn't tell whether it was anger 
 or anxiety that made him feel as if he was going 
 to choke. Panting, protesting, under a burning 
 sun, he followed the shrubbery walk that 
 brought him to the hay-field, through which a 
 thoroughfare for foot people led to the high. road. 
 Here he ran into the very arms of Goldthrcd, 
 
158 CONTRABAND. 
 
 coming back by tliis short cut for his race- 
 glasses, which he had forgotten, while the 
 carriage waited at the nearest angle of the 
 fragrant meadow, flecked and rippled with its 
 new-mown hay. 
 
 Uncle Joseph was without his hat. He must 
 have lost his head also, when, thinking it neces- 
 sary to account for his disturbed appearance, he 
 inquired vehemently — 
 
 "Have you seen Miss Ross? I — I forgot to 
 order dinner before starting. I want to find 
 Miss Boss." 
 
 "You won't overtake her," answered Gold- 
 thred coolly. " She was half way across the 
 next field when I came into this. She must be 
 at the turnpike by now." 
 
 "Uncle Joseph waited to hear no more. Break- 
 ing wildly from his informant, he dashed off 
 towards the stable, while the latter, recovering 
 his glasses, walked solemnly back to the carriage, 
 and jumped in, as if nothing had happened. 
 
 There is, at least, this good quality belonging 
 to a man in love, that he is not easily astonished, 
 
TOUCH AND GO. 159 
 
 nor docs he occupy himself with the affairs of 
 others. Goldtlirccl had forgotten his meeting 
 with Uncle Joseph, and dismissed the whole 
 subject from his mind, "before the carriage had 
 got twenty yards or Mrs. Lascelles had spoken 
 as many words. 
 
 Xow Punch was a good stent cob, of that 
 class and calibre which is so prized by gentle- 
 men who have left off reckoning up their age 
 and weight. After fifty, and over fifteen stone, 
 it is needless to be continually balancing the 
 account. Punch possessed capital legs and feet, 
 sloping shoulders, an intelligent head with very 
 small cars, a strong neck, and an exceedingly 
 round stomach. Such an animal, I confess, I 
 cannot but admire, and have no objection to ride, 
 unless I am in a hurry. Even when time presses 
 I bear the creature no malice, but I fear he 
 hates me ! Punch could scuttle along at his 
 own pace for a good many miles, safely and 
 pcTsevcringly enough; but against yours, if you 
 were in the habit of riding a thoroughbred hack, 
 he would protest in a very few furlongs. Ob- 
 
i bo CONTRABAND. 
 
 viously, to such a quadruped, time was of the 
 utmost importance, and it seemed hard so much 
 of it had to be wasted daily in preparing him 
 for a start. 
 
 Docile in his general character, perfectly free 
 from nervousness and vice, he had yet a pro- 
 voking trick of puffing himself out during the 
 operation of saddling to a size that rendered the 
 roomiest girths in the stable too scanty for his 
 swelling carcase. Ten minutes at least Uncle 
 Joseph and the stable boy butted and tugged and 
 swore, ere, to use the expression of the latter, 
 they could "make tongue and buckle meet." 
 Ten minutes more were wasted in water brush- 
 ing the pony's mane and blacking his round, 
 well- shaped feet ; for the urchin, true to the 
 traditions of his craft, would forego not the 
 smallest rite of that stable discipline in which he 
 had been trained. Altogether, by the time Uncle 
 Joseph was fairly in the saddle for pursuit, Miss 
 Ross had got such a start as, with her light step 
 and agile figure, precluded the possibility of 
 being caught against her will. 
 
TOUCH AND GO. 161 
 
 Four miles an hour, heel and toe, gracefully 
 and without effort, as if she was dancing, this 
 active young person flitted across the hay-fields, 
 till she reached a humble little cottage standing 
 between the highway and the river's brink. 
 Here she disappeared from Uncle Joseph's sight, 
 who had just viewed her, having bustled Punch 
 along the hot, hard road at a pace which put 
 them both in a white lather. 
 
 The rider's first idea was to secure his steed 
 and follow up the chase ; but few men act on 
 impulse after — what shall we say ? — fifty ; and 
 Punch, who had his own opinion about waiting 
 in the sun, might very probably slip his bridle 
 in order to trot home ! Eeflecting with dismay 
 on such a contingency, in such weather for walk- 
 ing, Uncle Joseph "concluded," as the Americans 
 say, that he would wait where he was, and watch. 
 
 Miss Eoss, in the meantime, happily uncon- 
 scious that she was observed, tapped at the 
 cottage door, which was opened by a dark-eyed 
 urchin of five years or so, whom, to his intense 
 astonishment, she smothered in lasses on the 
 
 VOL. I. 31 
 
1 62 CONTRABAND. 
 
 spot. Mrs. Mole, tlic owner of the cottage, 
 emerging from the gloom of her back kitchen, 
 was aware of a toss of black curls, and a pair of 
 sturdy, struggling legs, not over clean, in the 
 embrace of a radiant being who had dropped, to 
 all appearance, from the clouds. 
 
 "Your servant, miss," said the old woman, 
 drying her arms on her apron, while she per- 
 formed a defiant curtsey. "You've — a — taken 
 quite a fancy to my little lad, seemingly. Yet I 
 don't remember to have ever seen you afore." 
 
 I often think the poor resent a liberty with so 
 much more dignity than their betters. 
 
 For answer, Jin, whose French education had 
 afforded her many useful little hints, slipped a 
 packet of tea into the old woman's hand. It 
 was what they drank at The Lilies, strong, 
 fragrant, and five shillings a pound. 
 
 " I haven't the pleasure of knowing you, 
 ma'am," said she civilly; "but I've seen this 
 little angel before, and I can't help admiring 
 him. Have you no more of them ?" 
 
 Mrs. Mole was sixty if she was a day ; but, 
 
TOUCH AND GO. 165 
 
 like your grandmother and mine, like every- 
 body's grandmother, Eve herself, she was open 
 to flattery. The supposition that this pretty child 
 might be hers was pleasing; the inference that 
 he had brothers and sisters, possibly younger 
 than himself, gratifying indeed. 
 
 " He isn't my own, miss," said she, stroking 
 the child's curls, who clung tight to her gown, 
 with his eyes fixed on Miss Eoss. " And more's 
 the pity ! — go to the lady, Johnnie, do I — for a 
 sweeter babe, and a 'earthier, you'll not put your 
 'and on, not from here to Windsor Castle. He 
 ain't got no mother, miss, nor he don't want none, 
 do you, Johnnie ? not so long as you've your old 
 Moley to love ye — that's what he calls me, miss. 
 My name's Mole, miss, askin' your pardon." 
 
 The child, who was a bold little fellow enough, 
 having inspected the visitor thoroughly, as chil- 
 dren always do inspect an object of apprehen- 
 sion, now took courage to seat himself on her 
 knee, with his finger in his mouth and his eyes 
 fixed on his boots, in undivided attention. 
 
 Miss Eoss turned the plain little frock down 
 
1 64 CONTRABAND. 
 
 to where, below the sunburned neck, his skin 
 "was white and pure as marble, all but one 
 mottled mark, the size of a five-franc piece. 
 Then she burst out crying, and Johnny, sprawl- 
 ing in haste to the floor, howled hideously for 
 company. 
 
 "Deary, deary me!" ejaculated Mrs. Mole, 
 completely softened, and, to use her own expres- 
 sion, "upset," by these signals of distress. 
 " Don't ye take on so, miss. Whist! Johnnie, 
 this moment, or I'll give you something to cry 
 for ! Take a glass of water, miss. You've been 
 walking too fast in the sun — or say the word, 
 and I'll make ye a cup o' tea in five minutes." 
 
 " A glass of water, please," gasped Miss Eoss ; 
 and while the old woman went to fetch it, 
 followed by Johnnie, the young one summoned 
 all her self-command not to betray her secret 
 and her relationship to the child. 
 
 It was her own Gustave. Of that she could 
 have no doubt since she had laid bare the mark 
 between his shoulders. Perhaps she was sure of 
 him yesterday, shouting at the cottage-door while 
 
TOUCH AND GO. 165 
 
 the carriage passed ; perhaps she had been sure 
 all last night, waking every ten minutes from a 
 dream of her boy; all this morning, resolving that 
 nothing should prevent her seeing him to-day ; 
 no, not the certainty of calumny, exposure, open 
 shame ! Had it been otherwise, she must have 
 broken down more foolishly, more completely. 
 Now she recovered herself, as she had often 
 done before in positions of far greater difficulty. 
 When she took the glass of water from Mrs. 
 Mole's sympathising hand, her voice was steady, 
 her face perfectly calm and serene. 
 
 " You are right," she said, " the sun is hot, 
 and I walked here very fast. The sight of this 
 pretty child, too, was rather trying. He reminds 
 me of — of — a nephew I lost long ago. Thank 
 you. I'm better now, but I should like to sit 
 down and rest for half an hour, if I'm not in 
 your way. So — so — this little fellow isn't yours, 
 Mrs. Mole, after all." 
 
 Mrs. Mole dearly loved a gossip. So would 
 you or I, if we spent our days in a two -roomed 
 cottage, with no companion but a child, no 
 
 
1 66 CONTRABAND. 
 
 amusement whatever, no occupation but cleaning 
 household utensils for the purpose of dirtying 
 them forthwith, no daily paper, no exchange 
 of ideas, no exercise of the intellect, beyond a 
 weekly effort to keep awake during the parson's 
 sermon. Gossip, indeed ! If it was not for 
 gossip how many good, industrious, hard-living 
 women would go melancholy mad? 
 
 " He's not mine, miss. I wishes he wur," 
 she answered, with an elbow in the palm of each 
 hand, an attitude Mrs. Mole considered favour- 
 able to conversation. "But, whatever I should 
 do without Johnnie, or Johnnie without me, I 
 know no more than the dead. The sense of that 
 there child, miss, and the ways of 'un, you'd 
 think as he was twelve year old at least. To see 
 him take off his little boots, and fold up his little 
 clothes, every article, and come an' say his little 
 prayers on my knee afore ever he goes to his 
 little bed, it's wonderful, that's what it is !" 
 
 The tears were rising to Jin's eyes once more. 
 "Who taught him to say his prayers?" she 
 asked, keeping them down with an effort. 
 
TOUCH AND GO. 167 
 
 "Well, he didn't know none when he came 
 here first," answered Mrs. Hole apologetically. 
 " He's very young a-conrse, and he hadn't been 
 taught none maybe. But, Lor' bless ye, that 
 there child didn't want no teaching. Ah ! 
 there's children in heaven, I hnmbly hope, 
 and I'll never believe but they're like my 
 Johnnie !"• 
 
 "A little tidier I should suppose," thought 
 Miss Eoss, bnt she conld have hugged this plain 
 old woman nevertheless, for her kindly, honest 
 heart. 
 
 " I can see he's well taken care of," she 
 observed, turning the child's clothes with a 
 mother's hand. " His skin shows how healthy 
 he is, and he's as clean as a new pin." 
 
 Mrs. Mole glanced sharply in her visitor's 
 face. " I ask yer pardon, ma'am," she said, 
 "I kep on calling of you 'miss,' and maybe 
 you've children of your own." 
 
 Hugging the boy's head to her breast Jin took 
 no notice of this remark, but asked in turn, 
 how long the child had been there. 
 
1 68 CONTRABAND. 
 
 The question, though simple, produced a 
 narrative of considerable volume, digressive, 
 complicated, not free from tautology, and ample, 
 even exuberant in detail. It comprised Mrs. 
 Mole's girlhood, early life, peculiar character, 
 and extraordinary experiences, together with a 
 sketch of the late Mr. Mole's biography, his 
 failure in the undertaking business, and the 
 reasons which prompted her, the narrator, to 
 accept him for a husband ; the birth of two 
 children, with red noses, the image of Mole, both 
 of whom, to use her own expression, she had 
 "buried;" the unaccountable disappearance of 
 their father, taking with him whatever portable 
 property was in their joint possession, including 
 bed and bedding, an eight-day clock, and a 
 warming-pan ; the deceitfulness of the male sex 
 in general, and their sad tendency to falsehood, 
 coupled with inebriety; the inscrutable ways of 
 Providence, by which it seemed ordered that her 
 own sex should be "put upon" in all relations 
 of life ; the difficulty, which no one could contra- 
 dict, of earning bread, as a lone woman, with 
 
TOUCH AND G0> ibg 
 
 rent and taxes to pay, everything rising in price, 
 except her own labour, and an inflexible deter- 
 mination to keep herself respectable ; the matri- 
 monial offer she had received not longer back 
 than five years gone last Easter Monday, from 
 an energetic bargeman, of imposing appearance, 
 and a bad habit of swearing " awful," which 
 offer she could not prudently entertain, partly 
 from uncertainty as to Mole's fate, partly from 
 suspicion of the proposer's solvency, not to say 
 sobriety ; the depression of spirits resulting from 
 this disappointment of the affections, and the 
 " lonesomeness " of the cottage in the long 
 winter nights, when she felt as if she " couldn't 
 hardly a-bear it without a drop o' comfort." 
 Finally, the determination she was driven to of 
 taking in a child to nurse, " as should make the 
 little place seem home-like, and help to get a 
 livin' for us both." 
 
 11 And it's past belief, miss," added Mrs. Mole, 
 "as I put a notice in the weekly paper, an' 
 never heard no more, till a matter of ten weeks 
 ago, when a gentleman brought this here little 
 
170 , CONTRABAND. 
 
 lad to the door, and left him for me to nurse and 
 look after, quite confident and agreeable. ' Mrs. 
 Mole,' says he — 'your name's Mole, or I'm mis- 
 informed.' 'Yes, sir,' says I, 'you're right 
 enough so fur as you know.' ' Mrs. Mole,' 
 says he, ' I leave the child with you, an' I've 
 no call to bid you take care of him, for I see it 
 in your face, and you'll be as good as his own 
 mother to him, supposin' he ever had one.' With 
 that he slips a sovereign into my hand. I'm not 
 deceivin' you, miss, and I drops him a curtsey, 
 an', says I, i Perhaps you'll favour me,' says I, 
 'with the babe's name,' says I, 'for I wouldn't 
 call him out of it,' says I. It's my belief, miss, 
 as the gentleman wasn't used to childer', an' 
 didn't make no account of such things as 
 nameses, for he thought a bit, an' l Moses,' says 
 he, 'that's the boy's name,' says he; but he 
 answers much kinder to Johnnie, miss, as you 
 can see for yourself. He was a hasty gentleman, 
 seemingly, an' harbitrary, but a pleasant way 
 with him ; an' the child took on an' pined a bit 
 for the first day or two, when he wur gone to 
 
7 OUCH AND GO. 171 
 
 London or what-not, but lie loves his old Molcy 
 best now, don't ye, deary? an' will tell ye, plain 
 as he can speak, he don't want to leave his old 
 Moley, never no more." 
 
 Miss Eoss was puzzled. But for the mark on 
 the boy's back, and something in her own heart, 
 she would have believed herself mistaken after all. 
 
 Who could this man be, then ? and how had he 
 obtained possession of her boy? her boy, whom 
 she had mourned so bitterly, believing that he 
 slept beneath the waters of the turbulent Ehone. 
 
 "Have you never seen this gentleman again?" 
 she asked, still pressing the child's head to 
 her breast, a position he accepted with perfect 
 equanimity. 
 
 " Seen him ! " repeated Mrs. Mole. u He comes 
 here once-a-week regular and pays, I'll say that 
 for him — pays like the bank. ' Handsome is as 
 handsome does,' says I, an he's a real gentleman, 
 I make no doubt." 
 
 "Is he young or old?" pursued Miss Eoss. 
 " Tall or short ? Dark or fair ? How is he 
 dressed ? In one word — what is he like ?" 
 
] 7 2 CONTRABAND. 
 
 Mrs. Mole, whoso memory and perceptive 
 powers in general were failing a little, thereby 
 affording wider scope to her imagination, plunged 
 at once into a comprehensive description, much 
 ornamented and idealised, of the person who had 
 lately become so important an object in her qniet 
 every- day life — a description from which Miss 
 Eoss felt she conld not have identified any indi- 
 vidual simply human; but which was happily 
 cut short by a step on the high road, and a click 
 at the little green gate giving access to the front 
 door of the cottage. 
 
 " It's not his day, miss?" said Mrs. Mole, pull- 
 ing her gnest to the window. "But here he is, 
 for sure, and you can judge for yourself !" 
 
 One glance was enough. Miss Boss, dropping 
 Johnnie (in the safest possible attitude) on the 
 floor, fled to the back kitchen panting for breath. 
 
 It was Achillc ! There could be no doubt 
 about it ! The same jaunty air, the same gaudy 
 dress, the same manner, gestures, ways, even to the 
 cigar between his teeth — a little stouter, perhaps, 
 and more prosperous looking than when she saw 
 
TOUCH AND GO. 173 
 
 him last ; but still unmistakeably the husband who 
 
 deceived, outraged, deserted her, to whom, if she 
 were really married, she felt she had better have 
 tied a mill-stone round her neck, and plunged 
 herself into the sea ! 
 
 Escape was her first impulse — escape at any 
 price ! He must never find her ! He must on 
 no account see her here ! With a hasty farewell 
 to ]\Irs. Mole, who thought all the better of her 
 visitor for the modesty that forbade her to con- 
 front a strange gentleman, she vanished through 
 the back-door of the cottage, as Picard, for it was 
 no other, entered at the front, and running down 
 a stony path direct to the river-side found herself 
 wishing only that she could swim, so as to make 
 her plunge, and strike out at once for the oppo- 
 site shore. Glancing wistfully around, there was 
 yet something in the whole situation that struck 
 her as ludicrous in the extreme. Hemmed in by 
 cottage gardens, escape was out of the question 
 on either side, while to retrace her steps along 
 the stony pathway was to return into the jaws of 
 the enemy. At her feet, the river looked cool, 
 
i 7 4 CONTRABAND. 
 
 shallow, and inviting. Jin wondered if it would 
 be possible to wade. In her perplexity she 
 clasped her bands and began to laugh. Then she 
 thought of her boy and began to cry. This young 
 person was by no means a subject for hysterics ; 
 but her feelings had been cruelly wrought on 
 during the last half-hour, and there is no saying 
 what might have happened if assistance had not 
 arrived at the opportune moment from an un- 
 looked-for quarter. 
 
 It has been already stated that Helen Hallaton 
 showed less inclination to go to the races than is 
 usual with a young lady, who has a new bonnet 
 in a box up-stairs, and an excuse for taking it 
 out. Frank Vanguard too, contrary to all pre- 
 cedent, declined driving his team to the Course, 
 and remained tranquilly in barracks with the 
 orderly-officer and the mess-waiters, whilst every- 
 body else was off for the day. I no not suppose 
 these young people understood each other ; but I 
 fancy they thought they did, and perhaps this was 
 the reason one only started with her companions 
 under pressure, while the other preferred a skiff 
 
TOUCH AXD GO. 175 
 
 and a pair of sculls (not an out-rigger observe, in 
 which there is only room for the oarsman) to the 
 box of his drag, and a sustained contest for many 
 miles with the iron mouth of his near wheeler. 
 
 This young officer then, stripped to the very 
 verge of decency, came flashing up the stream 
 with steady strokes and strong that brought him 
 alongside of Mrs. Mole's cottage, within a few 
 seconds of Jin's flight from that sanctuary. It is 
 not to be supposed that any amount of preoccu- 
 pation woidd prevent our floating dragoon from 
 resting on his oars to admire the rare and radiant 
 vision : a handsome girl clad in bright trans- 
 parencies, exhaled as it would seem by an ardent 
 sunshine from the teeming margin of Father 
 Thames. 
 
 He thought of Ehodes and Helios, and the pic- 
 ture in last year's exhibition. So thinking, he 
 backed water, of course, with the utmost energy. 
 
 " Captain Vanguard," pleaded a voice, he had 
 thought yesterday not without its charm, "will 
 you be a good Samaritan and give me a passage 
 to The Lilies?" 
 
i 7 6 CONTRABAND. 
 
 "He would be delighted." Of course he 
 would ! To take such a sitter ought to be plea- 
 sure enough ; but better still to have so good an 
 excuse for calling at The Lilies and finding Miss 
 Uallaton at home. 
 
 " I've been visiting a poor woman in that 
 cottage," said Miss Boss, giving him her hand 
 as she stepped lightly into the fragile bark he 
 brought so skilfully to her feet. " But it really 
 is too hot for walking back along the road. I'm 
 in luck. If I hadn't seen you, I do believe I 
 should have jumped in to swim !" 
 
 " I'm the lucky one, Miss Boss," answered 
 
 Frank, looking very manly and handsome, as with 
 
 lengthened strokes he shot into the stream. 
 
 "I'm very glad now I didn't go to the races. 
 
 It's as well too that I brought this skiff instead 
 
 of the out-rigger!" 
 
 And Uncle Joseph, quarrelling fiercely with 
 
 Punch, beheld it all, boiling, chafing, growling, 
 
 wondering at the perfidy of woman, cursing the 
 
 imbecility of man. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 AFLOAT. 
 
 It was a pleasant trip for waterman and freight. 
 Over-handed sculls, light sitter, and buoyant 
 boat, Frank laid himself out to his work as if 
 he liked it ; and Miss Eoss, dipping her white 
 fingers in the pleasant ripple, looked kindly 
 into the oarsman's eyes, while her lissome figure 
 bent and swayed in graceful unison with his 
 stroke. 
 
 Steadily, smoothly, swimmingly, they shot on, 
 through deep, cool, silent shade, where over- 
 hanging boughs bent longingly towards the 
 laughing waters as they ran past ; across broad 
 burnished sheets of gold, where dazzling sun- 
 shine flashed and glittered on the stream ; over 
 placid pools, translucent and serene, where the 
 
 VOL. i. N 
 
178 CONTRABAND. 
 
 drooping water-lily scarce ruffled a languid petal 
 to kiss the lingering current stealing by ; under 
 high fragrant banks, rich in tints of pearl and 
 pink, emerald and ruby, of all the brightest, 
 fairest hues that Nature lavishes on the flower, 
 like the gem; past lawn and villa, past water- 
 mill and meadow land, past nibbling sheep and 
 wading cattle, a barking dog, a boat-house, an 
 unsuccessful angler in a punt ; and so to a fair 
 expanse of smooth untroubled water, a mile 
 below the lock. 
 
 There are voyages on which Ave all embark 
 unconsciously to ourselves, careless of life-belt 
 or sea-stores, making no provision for the climes 
 to which they lead ; voyages that begin with 
 a fair wind, a summer sea, and a smiling sky ; 
 that end, too often, in loss of crew and cargo, 
 in shipwreck, disaster, and despair. Miss Boss, 
 though she scarcely suspected it, had even now 
 set foot on a plank which was to sink with her 
 hereafter, and leave her choking in the dark 
 pitiless waves. 
 
 " Isrit it nice?" said she, taking off a jaunty 
 
AFLOAT. 
 
 179 
 
 little hat, to smooth her hair back with dripping 
 hands. "I delight in the motion — something 
 between swimming and riding. I should like 
 to row, myself. Don't yon find it hard work? 
 Yon must be tired. Let us stop here a little 
 in the shade." 
 
 A longer pull wonld have failed to tire Frank, 
 who was no mean waterman, and in excellent 
 condition, 
 
 u But then the situation had its charm," 
 
 and to rest in the shade with lEiss Eoss was no 
 unpleasant break in a day's work. 
 
 She fanned him with her hat, rocking the boat 
 to and fro as it lay under the bank, sheltered 
 by a thick screen of fragrant, flickering lime 
 branches. 
 
 "I can't thank you enough," continued Jin, 
 in her most winning tones. " I'm so fond of the 
 water, I think I was meant for a sailor. I 
 should like to go on it every day." 
 
 "I'll take you!" said Frank, as what else 
 could he say? "Every day, and all day long. 
 Shall we fix to-morrow, at the same place and 
 
i8o CONTRABAND. 
 
 the same time ?" lie was laughing, but thought, 
 nevertheless, it would be no bad way of spend- 
 ing the summer, while so unfortunate as to be 
 quartered at Windsor. Ah ! if it had only been 
 Helen ! But it wasn't. So there was no use in 
 thinking about that ! 
 
 " We can't always do what we like," answered 
 Jin, looking pensively into the depths of the 
 Thames. "At least women can't — certainly I 
 can't ! Think how I should be pitched into 
 when I got home ! You wouldn't like me to be 
 scolded for your sake, Captain Vanguard?" 
 
 " I think I should" replied the inexcusable 
 young officer. "I think I should like to scold 
 you myself, if I had the right." 
 
 "Ah! you'd like making up again, I dare- 
 say!" laughed Jin, and, with that, the black 
 eyes delivered one telling shot straight into 
 Frank's, and were instantly averted. 
 
 "We'll quarrel as much as you please, on 
 those terms," said he gaily, and, for aught I can 
 guess, might have proceeded to premature re- 
 conciliation forthwith, but that she knew the 
 
AFLOAT. 181 
 
 game so well, and checked him at the right 
 moment. 
 
 "I quarrel with my friends, Captain Van- 
 guard," she objected; "and you are only an 
 acquaintance as yet. It takes me a long time to 
 become really intimate with people. I wonder 
 if I should like you more when I knew you 
 better?" 
 
 " I'm sure you would," answered Frank, 
 rattling the boat's chain, as he prepared for 
 work again. " You would improve me so, do 
 you see ; and I am so willing to be improved. 
 You wouldn't be able to do without me in a 
 week." 
 
 " I don't think that would be a good plan," 
 she said, in rather a mournful tone, gazing 
 dreamily at him with her great black eyes, as 
 if she saw miles into the future. " I can take 
 good care of myself — nobody better. But if I like 
 people at all I like them very much. It's my 
 nature — I wish it wasn't." 
 
 " Then you don't like me at all?" he replied, 
 in a low voice, bending down to alter the 
 
1 82 CONTRABAND. 
 
 stretcher at his feet. " Just my luck ! " Why 
 couldn't he leave edged tools aloue? Like a 
 very child, he must needs play with them, only 
 because they lay to his hand. How we all cut 
 our fingers without the slightest occasion long 
 after we believe ourselves old enough and wise 
 enough to run alone ! 
 
 " If I did, I shouldn't tell you so," answered 
 Jin, lowering her voice in harmony with his. 
 " Do you think a woman never keeps a secret ? 
 Captain Vanguard, I can't quite make you out ; 
 you puzzle me more than anybody I know." 
 
 Frank, sculling leisurely on, began to think 
 this was very pleasant. It gratified him to 
 suppose there should be depths unfathomed in 
 his character ; it nattered him to learn that this 
 clever, accomplished woman had thought it 
 worth while to try and search them to the 
 bottom. Perhaps tJ^e exercise flushed it a little, 
 but there was a very becoming colour in his face 
 while he replied — 
 
 "The plainest fellow in the world, Miss Boss, 
 and the honcstest, as you'll find, when you know 
 
AFLOAT. 183 
 
 mc better. I may chaff a little sometimes, like 
 other people, but everybody can tell what's chaff 
 and "what's earnest. You can, I'm sure." 
 
 She nodded and smiled. " Are you in earnest 
 now ?" she said, looking with real pleasure into 
 the comely, honest young face. 
 
 "I am, I'll swear!" he exclaimed, forgetting 
 that nothing had yet been spoken to be earnest 
 about. " What I think I say, and what I say 
 I mean !" 
 
 " I wish — no — I wonder, whether I can be- 
 lieve you," she answered very softly, and again 
 the black eyes seemed to pierce right through 
 his jersey to his heart. 
 
 Meanwhile their boat shot merrily over the 
 dead water, urged by her oarsman's skilled and 
 vigorous strokes. Jin watched with critical 
 approval the play of his muscular shoulders, the 
 ease and freedom of his movements, the strength, 
 symmetry, and youthful vitality of the man. 
 
 "Do you like poetry?" she asked, after a 
 minute's silence. 
 
 "Poetry?" repeated Frank doubtfully. "I 
 
1 84 CONTRABAND. 
 
 don't mind it," but qualified the admission by 
 adding, "glees, and songs, and that." 
 
 She was rather thinking aloud than speaking 
 to her companion, while she continued — 
 
 " I always admire that description of the 
 Scandinavian warrior's accomplishments : there 
 is something so simple about it, and so manly : — 
 
 1 These arts are mine, to wield the steel, 
 
 To curb the warlike horse ; 
 To swim the lake, or skate on heel, 
 
 To urge my rapid course ; 
 To draw the how, to fling the spear, 
 
 To brush with oar the main : 
 All these are mine, and shall I bear 
 
 A Danish maid's disclaim ? ' 
 
 I wonder, for my part, that the Danish maid 
 could resist him." 
 
 "Oh, I don't!" answered Frank. "Danish 
 maids are pretty tough, I should think ; spotted 
 too, probably, like Danish dogs. "Who did you 
 say the fellow was, and what did he brush?" 
 
 " I said he was a soldier," replied Miss Boss 
 demurely. "Most likely a mounted volunteer." 
 
 " And who was the lady? — the Danish maid, 
 I mean." 
 
AFLOAT. 185 
 
 " I don't know — I wish /was !" she answered, 
 with a sigh. 
 
 Frank pondered, resting on his oars. It was 
 not this young officer's habit to puzzle his wits 
 unnecessarily in the solution of intricate pro- 
 blems, and whatever genins he possessed was in 
 no way akin to that of a mathematician, who 
 takes pleasure in the actnal process by which 
 results are worked out. To ride a comrade's 
 horse "truly through" in a steeple-chase, to 
 make the most of his own in a run, to lead his 
 squadron straight, and as fast as his colonel 
 would permit, to have his troop at the highest 
 possible pitch of efficiency, befriending the men, 
 pacifying their wives, and keeping an especial 
 eye on buckles, to drive the regimental coach 
 without '* putting it over," and never to turn his 
 back on a Mend, comprised the simple articles of 
 his creed ; nor, until he met Helen Hallaton at 
 her father's house, had it ever entered his head 
 there could be an interest in life more engrossing 
 than regimental duty and field-sports. But 
 he was learning to think now, and, like all 
 
1 86 CONTRABAND. 
 
 beginners, found himself somewhat at sea in 
 the process. 
 
 AYliat was this strange, subtle intoxication of 
 the brain, rather than the heart, which stole over 
 him so gently, while he looked in that pale, eager, 
 restless face, not a yard off, over the stretcher 
 yonder, turned so wistfully towards his own, 
 while he caught the tones of that low, pleading 
 voice, blending so musically with the jerk of his 
 oars, the leap and gurgle of the stream beneath 
 his prow ? "Was this the enchantment he had a 
 vague recollection of as practised by the Syrens 
 in his school-books, by the Merinaidens of 
 nursery lore, by the Ondines and Lurlines, the 
 Wilis and "Walpurgis of the stage ? Must he 
 learn so soon, while yet in the flush of youth 
 and hope, that the coquette is immortal as the 
 vampire, equally thirsty, tenacious, and insa- 
 tiable ? Was this the same mysterious influence 
 exercised on him by Miss Hallaton? or was it 
 not rather a dazzling and illusive imitation, re- 
 sembling truth as the scenery of a theatre resem- 
 bles Nature's landscapes; its tinsel and glitter, 
 
AFLOAT. 187 
 
 the splendour of real gems and gold ? Well, it 
 was no use troubling one's head about these 
 matters. If you once begin analysing, what 
 becomes of everything we call pleasure ? Who 
 would drink wine if he knew how it was made, 
 or, indeed, a glass of pure water, if he reflected 
 on the mingled gases and impurities of which 
 that innocent element is composed ? 
 
 Sculling on towards the lock, Frank Van- 
 guard was content to leave his own questions 
 unanswered, and abandon himself to the claims 
 of his companion and the fascination of the 
 hour. 
 
 With her it was different. Young in years, 
 Miss Boss was yet an old stager in that broad 
 road between the roses, along which it is all 
 down hill. She had travelled it many a time, 
 usually at her own pace, and, so to speak, with 
 horses perfectly well broke. She knew, none 
 better, each smiling nook, each romantic peep of 
 the country on either side, — this awkward turn, 
 that comfortable resting-place, when to put the 
 drag on with judicious caution, where to make 
 
1 88 CONTRABAND. 
 
 the most of her ground at a gallop. She liked 
 to feel her blood stir to the old familiar pastime 
 once more, liked it none the worse that the team 
 was getting out of her hand, the pace no longer 
 at her own control. 
 
 All the while it was no more the real Frank 
 Vanguard who excited these welcome sensations 
 in her ill -regulated mind than it was Uncle 
 Joseph, or young Goldthred, or Punch ! Men 
 and women, we are but children in our dearest 
 dreams, and Jin was no wiser than the rest of us. 
 She had dressed her doll in the gaudy habili- 
 ments that suited her own taste, and persuaded 
 herself the creation of her fancy was a tangible 
 and existing truth. 
 
 Frank Yanguard seemed at present her ideal of 
 the robust Scandinavian, polished up a little and 
 modernised, of course. It would be a duty, she 
 considered, to sacrifice him in accordance with 
 her principles of manslaughter. It would be a 
 pleasure to watch the tortures of her victim at 
 the stake. Perhaps, after all, she would grant 
 him a milder punishment than the rest. She 
 
AFLOAT. 189 
 
 wondered more than ever at the northern girl's 
 insensibility to her stalwart admirer. 
 
 " Xo," she murmured, after a pause, during 
 which Frank had set the boat going once more ; 
 " I don't think I should have snubbed him long, 
 if I had been the Danish maid." 
 
 " I believe you are the Danish maid !" said he. 
 " You're not quite English, I'm sure, though I 
 can't tell how I know. You're not Scotch, for 
 you don't speak the language. Welsh ? No. 
 You're scarcely my idea of a Welsh woman ; at 
 least, judging by those I've seen with wooden 
 collars and milkpails in London." 
 
 " Guess again." 
 
 " Irish; that's it. { Kathleen Mavoumeen,' 
 ' Arrah na Pogue,' ' Xorah Creina,' and ' The 
 Shan Yan Yoght!'" 
 
 " You might have added, l Teddy, you 
 Gander,'" she replied, laughing. "Xo; what 
 should make you think I'm Irish? I never 
 was in Ireland in my life ? I don't mind 
 telling you I'm more a French woman than any- 
 thing else. In honest truth, I've no country, 
 
iqo CONTRABAND. 
 
 no relations, no belongings, no friends," and 
 she carolled out in her rich clear voice — 
 
 u I care for nobody, no, not I, 
 And nobody cares for me." 
 
 " That's impossible!" exclaimed Frank, push- 
 ing the boat out of certain shallows into which 
 he had inadvertently gnided it, with the blade of 
 his oar, and looking over his shoulder to see how 
 far the lock was ahead. " That's simply impos- 
 sible !" he repeated, as they shot back into deep 
 water, where, nevertheless, the stream ran very 
 swift and strong. " I should say a great many 
 people did. More than you think, I am sure. 
 Steady ! Miss Eoss. Let him alone, please ! 
 He'll swamp us in two seconds, if he tries to 
 come on board. Ah ! I thought how it would 
 be ; and, of course, she can't swim !" 
 
 The last sentence Frank sputtered out with a 
 mouthful of Thames water, shaking his head the 
 while, to clear his eyes, as he came to the surface 
 from an immersion, sudden as involuntary, con- 
 sequent on the indiscreet proceedings of his 
 passenger. Since the adventure of Leda down 
 
AFLOAT. 191 
 
 to our own times, when Landseer lias consigned 
 him to an immortality of suffering in the eagle's 
 clutch, it appears that the swan has been a con- 
 sistent admirer of beauty, both in and out of his 
 proper element. He drew the car of Venus, he 
 piloted the galley of Cleopatra, he spied Miss 
 Eoss glittering like a jewel on the bosom of 
 Father Thames. Exasperated, as it would seem, 
 by Vanguard's good fortune, he made rapidly for 
 the boat containing this treasure, wreathing his 
 neck, ruffling his wings in angry curves, and 
 tearing up the water like a river steamboat. 
 Miss Eoss laughed merrily, and splashed the 
 enemy with considerable energy. The swan 
 advanced, the lady leaned over, Frank backed 
 water hard with one scull, a heavy lurch, a 
 little scream, a sway, a surge, and the rushing 
 stream rose over the boat's side from stem to 
 stern, while a wisp of muslins, a gaudy hat, and 
 a tangle of black hair, were already splashing, 
 struggling, sinking, a dozen yards farther down 
 the river in the direction of London and the 
 fsove. Frank was a good swimmer, Miss Eoss 
 
1 92 CONTRABAND. 
 
 possessed courage and presence of mind. The 
 shallows were close, and a punt was already put- 
 ting out from the neighbouring lock, where the 
 man in charge had a view of the accident, 
 nevertheless it was not without the exertion of 
 considerable strength and skill, without great 
 personal risk, a very sufficient wetting, and the 
 swallowing of at least a quart of dirty water, 
 that Vanguard succeeded in placing the lady on 
 her feet in the shallows before mentioned, thank- 
 ing Heaven fervently in his heart that they were 
 not five strokes farther off, and that he had been 
 enabled to reach them with his burden by aid 
 of a strong stream running in his favour. 
 Draggled, limp, exhausted, dripping from top to 
 toe, Miss Eoss clung tight to her preserver, with 
 the more reason that although the stream here 
 scarcely reached her knees, it ran so hard she 
 found some difficulty in keeping her feet. She 
 behaved, thought Frank, very pluckily and well. 
 Ko nonsense, no hysterics, no theatrical gratitude 
 of gasps and groans. She held one of his hands, 
 indeed, very tight, and her face was paler than 
 ever, but she only said—- 
 
AFLOAT. 193 
 
 " How stupid of me to upset the boat ! What 
 a ducking we've both had, Captain Vanguard ! 
 You'll never take me on the water again." 
 
 " WoritW* thought Frank, helping her into 
 the punt which had now eome to the rescue, 
 and wondering at the masses of black hah', 
 released and straightened bv immersion, that 
 hung round her in such unusual length and 
 volume. 
 
 Like most bachelors, Frank entertained exag- 
 gerated notions as to feminine delicacy, both of 
 mind and body. In the present instance, he 
 was satisfied that unless Miss Boss could be 
 enveloped in blankets, dosed with hot brandv- 
 and-water, and taken home on the instant, death 
 must inevitably ensue. Assisted by the locks- 
 man and his wife, who, without partaking of his 
 fears, joined heartily in his exertions, he had 
 Miss Pioss swathed up like a mummy in less 
 than ten minutes; and, by her own desire, helped 
 her to walk the short distance between the lock 
 and The Lilies at as good a pace, and, indeed, 
 almost with the same results, as if they had been 
 
 vol. 1. 
 
i 9 4 CONTRABAND. 
 
 waltzing. Frank found so much to think of, that 
 it was not till he reached the gate he remem- 
 bered his own dishevelled plight, and the 
 unusual costume, or rather want of it, in which 
 he meditated a morning call. Reflecting that 
 his straw hat was gone, that he was bare to the 
 shoulders, that his dress consisted only of a light 
 Jersey, flannel trowscrs, and canvas shoes, the 
 whole of which, after being thoroughly saturated, 
 had dried on a dusty road, he was perhaps hardly 
 disappointed to learn that the ladies were at the 
 races, and nobody had stayed at home except 
 Mrs. Lascellcs's maid. 
 
 " Then I'll wish you good-bye, Miss Boss," 
 said Frank. " I can't do anything more for you 
 now. Only mind you go to bed till dinner-time, 
 and I hope you haven't caught cold." 
 
 ""Won't you come in?" asked Miss Eoss. 
 " They'll give you some sherry, or brandy, or 
 whatever you ought to have. I'm sure you 
 must want it." 
 
 " Xever felt so well in my life !" he answered 
 gaily. "Besides, I must go back to recover my 
 
. AFLOAT. 195 
 
 floating capital : jacket, hat, boat, stretcher, and 
 pair of sculls, not to mention your pretty 
 parasol. They were all swimming different ways 
 when I saw them last, but I dare say they'll get 
 together ac;ain on this side of Staines. We 
 landed the cargo, which was the great thing, but 
 I wish we could have managed to keep it dry." 
 
 He was turning away, with a light laugh, 
 when she called him back. " I've never thanked 
 you," said she, "but I know you risked your 
 own life to-day to save mine. If you had lost 
 it — I — I should like to have gone down too !" 
 
 He started. There was a tremble in her voice 
 that seemed very strange to him, nor was the 
 sensation without its charm ; but he had not 
 yet contemplated the subject from this romantic 
 point of view, so he could think of no better 
 answer than to put out his hand. 
 
 She caught it eagerly, and for one half- 
 second pressed it against her heart, while she 
 murmured — 
 
 " Good-bye, Captain Vanguard, good-bye ; 
 when shall I see you again P" 
 
1 96 CONTRABAND. 
 
 The dark, pleading eyes were turned on him 
 so kindly, the pale, bewitching face was drawing 
 so near his own — close, closer yet, as he bent 
 towards it — and so their lips met in one long, 
 clinging, and totally unjustifiable kiss. Then 
 Miss Eoss, blushing to her ears, scudded up-stairs 
 like a lap -wing, while Frank walked dreamily 
 away from the front door, feeling as if he had 
 behaved very badly about something or some- 
 body, and couldn't bring Iris mind to regret it 
 as he ought. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 MAXCETJVPJXG. 
 
 We must return to Uncle Joseph, endeavouring 
 to compose his mind by riding Punch at an un- 
 comfortable jog-trot along a succession of shady 
 lanes calculated to bring him back by a round- 
 about way to his own dwelling-place. This 
 detour, much against the pony's inclination — 
 for that sagacious animal protested at every home- 
 ward turn — he took advisedly and with delibera- 
 tion, that he might have time to ponder on his 
 position and his wrongs. Like most men who 
 have passed middle age, he set a great value on 
 the blessing of health, and prudently reflected 
 that a towering passion, an obstinate cob, and a 
 broiling sun, formed a combination likely to pro- 
 duce one of those bilious attacks which lay the 
 
iq8 contraband. 
 
 Eerer on his back for a week, and make him as 
 yellow as a guinea for a fortnight. Therefore lie 
 thought it wise to cool clown in solitude, and 
 consider his own case dispassionately, bef< 
 deciding on a future line of conduct. Had he 
 been a young man he would have broken with 
 Jin on the spot. Storms of invective, reproach, 
 and recrimination, would have ensued, to be suc- 
 ceeded* by thorough reconciliation and a subse- 
 quent state of slavery more degrading than the 
 first, after much unnecessary wear and tear of 
 body and mind. But Uncle Joseph had arrived 
 at a period of life when, highly as we prize our 
 hearts, we set also a sufficient value on our livers, 
 and see no reason why lacerated affections should 
 be aggravated by an impaired digestion. Ther. 
 much knowledge of human nature comprised in Sir 
 John Suckling's shrewd and suggestive stanza : — 
 
 '■Why so pale and wan, fond lover, 
 Prithee, why so pale ? 
 Will, if looking well can't move her, 
 Looking ill prevail P " 
 
 That is doubtless the least decisive defeat which 
 is most skilfully concealed, and one of the first 
 
MAN(EUVRING. 199 
 
 principles in manoeuvring is to "show a front," 
 the steadier the better, however severe may be 
 
 the loss under which yon are compelled to retire. 
 
 By the time Uncle Joseph had ridden a mile 
 
 (and at Punch's pace, when turned away from 
 
 home, this distance afforded some leisure for 
 reflection) he made np his mind not to put him- 
 self in a passion. Ere he had gone two, and 
 settled another difference with the pony by 
 diverse jobs in the mouth and kicks in the 
 stomach, he sought and found many excuses for 
 the young lady's conduct, and almost decided not 
 to quarrel with her at all. 
 
 If less agile and less ardent, these mature 
 lovers are, at any rate, more patient, more con- 
 siderate, more forbearing, than their impetuous 
 juniors. They take thought, they give time, 
 they make allowances, they have learned one 
 of life's most important lessons, only set forth 
 towards the end of the chapter, " Not to expect 
 too much.*' Could they but keep the smooth 
 skin, the jaunty step, the trim waist, the clear 
 eye, the gl jsy I iks, fch • buoyancy, the .vie, 
 
200 COXTRABAXD. 
 
 and the bloom ! Alas ! alas ! turn it how wo 
 will, there is no disputing that the one quality of 
 youth outweighs all advantages of experience, 
 wisdom, fame, intellect ; and that the figure 50, 
 so acceptable in a rouleau — 
 
 " Sounds ill in love, whate'er it may in money." 
 
 While he thus rode along the shady lanes, 
 Uncle Joseph's cogitations, interrupted only by 
 the carelessness and other shortcomings of Punch, 
 jumbled themselves together into something like 
 the following soliloqu}^ : — 
 
 " Comes down to breakfast as sulky as a bear ; 
 ' low spirits ' the women call it, and l over- 
 fatigue,' but I know what that means — restless 
 manner, wandering eye, and not half an appetite. 
 Scarcely truffles enough, by the wa}*, in that pie ; 
 mustn't forget to write about it. (Hold up, you 
 brute. Such another as that and you'll be on the 
 top of your stupid head !) Then off she goes in a 
 desperate fidget to write letters up-stairs. Up- 
 stairs indeed ! I ought to have known at once there 
 was something wrong, for I never remember her 
 in a fidget before ; and as for letters, I should 
 
MANOEUVRING* 201 
 
 suppose she was tlic worst correspondent in 
 Europe ! Then, after everybody's hack is turned, 
 off like a shot through the hay -fields, under a 
 tropical sun, and down to the river. Some sense 
 in that if she'd jumped in for a cold bath. I 
 shouldn't have pulled her out ; yes, I should ! 
 The gild's a dear girl, and a pretty one. It 
 mayn't he so bad after all. She could not have 
 looked at me as she did last night, when she 
 pinned the pinks in my button-hole, unless she 
 liked me. Why does my tailor never put a loop 
 in ? Does he think I'm so old nobody gives me 
 flowers, or is he a deep dog, who reflects I ought 
 to have the pull of their being pinned in ? She 
 shall never pin one in again for me though, un- 
 less she can give an account of to-day's doings ! 
 What was she about in that cottage, I should 
 like to know, exposing herself to infection of all 
 kinds, and why did she stay so long? Then, 
 who ever heard of a voims; lady rushing down 
 to the water-side, and jumping into the first boat 
 that passes (I wonder she didn't upset it. and I 
 almost wish she had!), with a half-naked man 
 
202 CONTRABAND. 
 
 she never saw before in her life ? Who was the 
 man, I wonder ? I could only make out that he 
 had very Few clothes on ! Miss Eoss ! Miss Boss 1 
 yon are not treating me well ! Perhaps yon 
 think I'm an indulgent old fool, and only too 
 pleased to let yon do as yon like. So I would, 
 my pretty Jin, so I would, if I had your perfect 
 confidence, and felt I could depend upon you. 
 I'm not the least a jealous fellow, I know, though 
 of course I don't want you to make up to any- 
 body else; but I shouldn't mind your pretty 
 little coaxing manner, and your flirting ways. 
 In fact, I rather like them, No, I don't, not a 
 bit, so it's no use saying so. But I could be 
 very good to her if she cared for me. Perhaps 
 she doesn't, after all. And yet that seems un- 
 likely. Julia Bright did, and Jemima Fetters, 
 and I think Miss Flouncer would have, if I'd 
 been more in her set. Can I be so much altered 
 since then ? " And thus Uncle Joseph, with his 
 reins on the pony's neck, dropping gradually 
 into a walk, pursued a train of varied thoughts, 
 retrospective and otherwise, comprising diverse 
 
MANCEUVRING. 203 
 
 incongruous subjects — his shares, his dinner, his 
 present hopes, the state of his health, the in- 
 creasing proportions of his figure, Punch's fail- 
 ings, Jin's perfidy, the columns of his banker's 
 book, wine, trades-people, double-entry, boy- 
 hood's pastimes, manhood's gains, his last invest- 
 ment, and his first romance. 
 
 The afternoon began to wane ere Punch's 
 willing head was in the manger, and Uncle 
 Joseph rang the bell at his own hall-door. The 
 race-goers having returned early, because this, 
 the last day, afforded but a meagre bill of fare 
 for sport, were yet so worn out with the heat 
 that they had retired to their respective dressing- 
 rooms. Was Miss Eoss back? Well, sir, Miss 
 Ptoss came home some time ago, but she seemed 
 to have met with — with something of an acci- 
 dent. No occasion to be alarmed, said the butler, 
 but miss was wet through, however — not a dry 
 stitch on her, the maid told him — and went to 
 her own room at once. Could his master see her ? 
 The well-drilled servant thought not. Miss Ptoss 
 had given orders she was on no account to be 
 
20+ CONTRABAND. 
 
 disturbed till dinner ; and lie, the butler, rather 
 opined she had gone to bed : adding, with a 
 sense of what was due to his own importance, 
 that, "for his part, he was thankful it wasn't no 
 worse !" 
 
 But Miss Boss had not the least intention of 
 going to bed, nor could she have slept a wink on 
 the softest couch that ever was spread. Busy 
 thoughts were teeming in her brain, strange con- 
 tradictoiy feelings thrilling at her heart. She 
 was half pleased with herself, half angry, some- 
 times absolutely revelling in the recollections of 
 the day, sometimes wishing she had never gone 
 to the cottage at all. In her dark eyes shone a 
 light that told of some new fire kindled within ; 
 on her delicate cheek, usually so pale, burned 
 that blush of pleasure which is all the dearer 
 and deeper for being tinged by self-reproach and 
 shame. 
 
 Mrs. Lascelles saw the change at a glance, and 
 knew with womanly instinct that something more 
 had happened to her friend than a common river 
 accident, however dangerous it might have been. 
 
MANOEUVRING. 205 
 
 Without removing her bonnet, she settled herself 
 in an arm- chair the moment she entered the 
 others room, determined to find out everything 
 that had taken place. As the two "women ,sat 
 together in that light, cheerful, prettily-furnished 
 chamber, they afforded no unsightly study of 
 effect, as resulting from contrast, of the respec- 
 tive proportion in which feminine attractions are 
 enhanced by dress and deshabille. The fairer 
 beauty wore a costume I am constrained to 
 admire, but shrink from attempting to describe, 
 inasmuch as it seemed to combine the different 
 attractions by which victory is assured at balls, 
 dinners, regattas, races, suburban breakfasts, 
 county archery -meetings, the morning cricket- 
 match, and the afternoon tea. How it was put 
 together, and of what fabric, I am brutally 
 ignorant : you might as well ask me to articulate 
 the anatomy of a humming-bird or describe the 
 dress of a dragon-fly ; but I am prepared to 
 protest that it was voluminous, enchanting, trans- 
 parent, and that there was mauve in it. To have 
 white teeth, red lips, dancing blue eyes, rich 
 
206 COXTRABAXD. 
 
 brown hair, and a bloom like a peach, is all very 
 well, but docs it seem quite fair play to dispose 
 around these natural advantages certain delicate 
 and filmy draperies, that set them off as a summer 
 haze glorifies some Devonshire valley under the 
 noon- day sun? " Scaldings ! " quoth honest 
 Jack-tar, creeping along the deck with anything 
 that may be spilt. " Vca Viciis /" says Brcnnus, 
 turning up his moustache at the gates of Borne. 
 " Look out for yourselves, gentlemen !" seems to 
 be the interpretation of either warning, "and 
 make the best terms you can !" For my part, I 
 think it is wise policy to surrender at discretion, 
 and sink point with the first clash of steel. 
 
 Mrs. Lascelles, you see, shone in mail and 
 plate ; armed, so to speak, at all points. Miss 
 Boss, on the other hand, was in light skirmishing 
 order — none the less dangerous, however — and 
 prepared, you may be sure, for immediate attack. 
 ller black hair fell about her in shining folds, 
 over a white surface fretted with frills and laces, 
 set off by knots of cherry -coloured ribbon; a 
 band of the same hue was drawn loosely round 
 
MANCEUVRING. 207 
 
 licr slender waist ; open sleeves disclosed a pair 
 of ivory arms to the elbows ; and she had slip- 
 pers on, but no stockings. I think I have 
 described her enough. 
 
 u So he pulled you out, dear, just as you were 
 sinking, propped you in his arms, with your 
 head on his shoulder, and both did the regular 
 stage business, of course : ' My precious ! ' — ' my 
 preserver I ' — ' awakened feelings ! ' — ' eternal 
 gratitude ! ' and a duet at the foot-lights. Seriously, 
 Jin, it is quite a romance in these prosaic days." 
 
 Mrs. Lascelles found herself amused as well as 
 interested by the glowing colours, not devoid of 
 caricature, in which IMiss Eoss described her late 
 adventure and its hero. 
 
 " Nothing of the kind," protested Jin, with 
 enersrr. " On the contrary, I never saw a man 
 take anything so quietly. You'd think he pulled 
 people out of the Thames once a week. I don't 
 suppose the thing will ever enter his head again." 
 
 " That would be very uncomplimentary, my 
 dear," answered Mrs. Lascelles; "and you can't 
 really suppose anything of the sort. Now, honour ! 
 
2o8 CONTRABAND. 
 
 Don't you expect him to call here to-morrow 
 morning, the very first thing after breakfast?" 
 
 " Why shouldn't he ?" replied Jin hotly. " It 
 wouldn't follow that he meant more than an act 
 of common courtesy, which he must have paid 
 any lady after so — so ludicrous a performance as 
 ours !" 
 
 Here she burst out laughing, but did not 
 thereby in the least deceive her friend. 
 
 " Jin," said the latter, after a pause, during 
 which each had scanned the other narrowly, 
 " what do you think of him?" 
 
 "Think of who?" said Jin. It was bad 
 grammar, but people are very obstinate about 
 grammar in common conversation, particularly 
 when they turn away their heads with a blush. 
 
 "Who?" repeated Mrs. Lasccllcs. "Why, 
 this new admirer, of course. This hero, perhaps 
 I ought rather to say, this Lcander, this Windsor 
 Bridge swan, this duck of a dragoon ! Shall you 
 be able to abide by our compact, and treat him 
 like the rest ? Jin, Jin, I should be sorry for 
 you, my poor girl, very sorry, of course, but yet 
 
MANOEUVRING. 209 
 
 I should laugh, I am afraid, too, if you were to 
 be caught at last, aud fall iu love — souse ! — as 
 you fell iuto the Thames !" 
 
 "I don't know what you mean," answered 
 Miss Eoss, with great dignity. "The one I 
 couldn't help, and it would have heen hard on 
 me to be drowned. If I did the other, I should 
 deserve never to get my head above water 
 again." 
 
 "After all, I don't see why it should be so 
 inexcusable," pursued her tormentor. u Though 
 they have not had such a chance as yours, de- 
 pend upon it, lots of others are after him. He's 
 a strong, enterprising young man, as you've 
 reason to admit. Xobody can deny his good 
 looks, and though he hasn't a superfluity of 
 brains, he's always very well dressed." 
 
 "You wouldn't have said so if you had seen 
 him to-day," laughed Miss Eoss. "My dear, 
 he was almost ready for bathing long before he 
 jumped out of the boat. But seriously," she re- 
 sumed with imposing gravity, " I have no secrets 
 from you, Eose, and I don't wish you, of all people, 
 
 vol. 1. P 
 
zio CONTRABAND. 
 
 to cany away a false impression of me or my 
 opinions. About Captain Vanguard's good looks 
 I know nothing, for I've never considered them, 
 and as for his being stupid, that I'm sure he's 
 not. Decidedly well-read, I should say, from 
 his conversation. However, that's not the 
 question. He has done me a very great service, 
 the greatest, probably, that one human being 
 can do another ; for, though I laugh at it now, 
 it seemed no laughing matter, I assure you, 
 while that dreadful whirl of water was filling 
 mouth, and nose, and ears ; but if you think 
 I am so missy-ish that I consider it necessary 
 to fall in love with Captain Vanguard because 
 he saved me from drowning, why you never 
 were more mistaken in your life. He's a gentle- 
 man, Rose, and a fine fellow, I freely admit. 
 I shall always feel grateful to him, and look on 
 him as a friend, but as for .being in love with 
 him — bosh ! Knowing me as well as you do, 
 Rose, I wonder you can talk such nonsense !" 
 
 Prom all which vehemence, and especially 
 from the gratuitous energy of her friend's 
 
MANCEUVRING. 211 
 
 denial, I think Mrs. Lascelles was justified iu 
 entertaining a strong impression the very reverse 
 of that which was intended to he conveyed. 
 
 Her opinion gained strength from the readi- 
 ness with which Jin accepted a suggestion that 
 it might be more prudent to remain another day 
 at the villa, instead of returning to London on 
 the morrow, taking into consideration the after- 
 noon's excitement, the hot weather, and the 
 comfort of their present quarters. 
 
 " My dear, I shoidd like to stay a month!'' 
 exclaimed Miss Eoss. " It's a paradise on earth 
 for scenery. Uncle Joseph's the best host in 
 the universe, and we're all so happy. Besides, 
 London is too detestable in this weather. I 
 declare to you, Eose, it was hotter last week 
 than I ever felt it in the South of France." 
 
 Mrs. Lascelles pondered, reflecting that she, 
 too, had liked her visit very much. It was 
 pleasant enough to keep her hand in by laying 
 siege to Sir Henry, no great infliction to accept 
 the slavish adoration of Goldthred. If th< 
 could be induced to remain, a few days might 
 
212 CONTRABAND. 
 
 pass very agreeably at The Lilies, and Uncle 
 Joseph, of course, would only he too happy to 
 keep them as long as they liked. 
 
 " 13ut our London engagements," said she 
 doubtfully. 
 
 " There arc none for the next week we need 
 mind throwing over," replied Jin, whose memory 
 
 3 always to he depended on. "A heavy 
 dinner at Lord Gasper's — twenty people we don't 
 know, not a man under forty, and all the windows 
 shut. Mrs. Potterton's concert — second-rate 
 company, third-rate singers, two hundred people 
 asked and sitting-room for fifty. Lady Jericho's 
 drum — small and early, like young potatoes; 
 she'll he mortally affronted, and won't ask us 
 again ; but she's not going to give anything more 
 this season, so that don't signify ! Lear Eose, 
 it would be very nice. Let us stay." 
 
 Now, in justice to Miss Eoss, I feel bound to 
 insist that this sudden hatred of London gaiety 
 and passion for rural scenery was not due solely 
 to her adventure with Frank Vanguard. One 
 of the strongest motives that can sway a woman's 
 
MANOEUVRING. 213 
 
 feelings prompted her to remain in tlie neigh- 
 bourhood of Mrs. Mole. To have seen her long- 
 lost eliild for one short hour, to have held him 
 in her arms, set him on her knees, and folded 
 his curly little head to her bosom, was like a 
 mouthful of water to a man fainting from thirst, 
 delightful, invigorating, life-restoring, but creat- 
 ing an insupportable craving for more. 
 
 It may be that this interview had softened 
 Jin's whole moral being, rendering her more 
 susceptible to the gentler emotions of her nature, 
 against which she had long waged unnatural 
 war. It may be that in the subjection of Frank 
 Vanguard she hoped to acquire another vassal, 
 or at least an ally, against the time when she 
 might want to summon all her forces for the fur- 
 therance of her plans. Perhaps she had many 
 reasons, perhaps she had none at all, but acted, 
 womanlike, on her instinct and her desires. 
 However this may be, she brought out all her 
 powers of persuasion to fortify her friend in the 
 plan that seemed so delightful, of remaining yet 
 a while longer at The Lilies ; but I must leave 
 
2 14- CONTRABAND. 
 
 to those who understand a woman's nature, 
 if such philosophers there be, the task of ex- 
 plaining why Jin should have felt at this 
 moment less affection, less gratitude to Mrs. 
 Lascelles, and altogether less dependence on her 
 benefactress, than during the whole of their pre- 
 vious acquaintance. 
 
 Dinner that day, at least until the champagne 
 had circulated, was less lively than usual. 
 Everybody seemed silent and pre-occupied. Sir 
 Henry, to use his own expression, had not "got 
 out " in time on one of the principal races, and, 
 as the favourite was never "in the hunt," being 
 beaten half-a-mile from home, the baronet expe- 
 rienced a double annoyance, of losing his money, 
 and feeling also that he had been less astute 
 than his neighbours when he suffered Outrigger 
 to carry a large stake for him in the Thames 
 Handicap. Mrs. Lascelles, watching his face 
 narrowly, began to torment herself, but taking 
 her tone from his, these two presently recovered 
 their equanimity. Sir Henry liked champagne, 
 and drank it freely. The exhilarating tendency 
 
MANOEUVRING. 215 
 
 of that agreeable wine, acting on the buoyancy 
 of his disposition, soon put dull care to night, 
 and before dinner was half over, he had for- 
 gotten ill-luck, losses, and embarrassments, and 
 disposed himself to grasp the enjoyments of the 
 present as only such natures can. 
 
 But not all the wine that ever was corked at 
 Epemay could have enlivened Uncle Joseph after 
 the disclosures of to-day. He hardly spoke to 
 Miss Eoss before they sat down ; and when she 
 offered him the usual little posy for his button- 
 hole, refused the flowers with a rudeness that 
 would have been brutal, but for the wounded 
 feelings his petulance revealed. Truth compels 
 me to admit that, notwithstanding his mercantile 
 probity, Uncle Joseph scarcely behaved like an 
 honest man in the present transaction. He was 
 not really half so angry as he pretended to be ; 
 but remembering, in his previous experience, 
 that such little quarrels often cleared the way to 
 mutual understanding and good-will, he resolved 
 to stick by the precepts of that great amatory 
 authority, " Ovid with the Nose," and prepare, 
 
2i6 CONTRABAND. 
 
 by a good close of sulks to-night, for a " rcdintc- 
 gratio amoris " to-morrow. 
 
 Jin, on tlic contrary,, whose present idea it 
 was to keep all her irons in the fire, suffering no 
 profusion of birds in the bush to distract her 
 entirely from the one in hand, proceeded to 
 approach and circumvent her host as craftily as 
 a Scotch keeper stalks an old cock grouse in 
 October. She gazed on him at intervals with 
 mournful curiosity, withdrawing her eyes the 
 instant they met his glance. She sighed, she 
 talked at him, she even tried to flirt a little with 
 Goldthred, something in the day's adventures 
 preventing her from sharpening her weapons on 
 Sir Henry ; as a last resource, she affected head- 
 ache and extreme fatigue, while she related, 
 with touching frankness, the accident she had 
 sustained, making light of its danger, and most 
 ungratefully ignoring the gallantry of her pre- 
 server. 
 
 J3ut all to no purpose — she deceived nobody. 
 Uncle Joseph grew crustier every moment, and 
 Sir Henry, who was easily amused, smiled as he 
 
MANOEUVRING. 217 
 
 bethought him that, but for the good looks of 
 the lady, this ill-matched couple reminded him 
 forcibly of a monkey and, a bear. 
 
 Goldthred, I need hardly observe, was always 
 the same in the presence of his mistress, absent, 
 confused, over-polite, and prone to blush at short 
 notice. At no time did he aspire to be a viva- 
 cious companion, but in the company of Mrs. 
 Lascelles he became simply idiotic. 
 
 Helen, too, seemed absent and pre- occupied ; 
 of course, with the old excuse, that she was 
 over-tired. The weather had been so hot, the 
 road so dusty ! and if she had indeed expected to 
 meet Captain Vanguard on the Heath, his absence 
 might perhaps have been accounted for more 
 satisfactorily than by the recital of his adventure 
 with Miss Eoss, which met her immediately on 
 her return. Dinner, therefore, , in spite of the 
 cook's undoubted talents, progressed but heavily, 
 and with long intervals of silence, dispiriting in 
 the extreme. 
 
 Later, in the drawing-room, it was worse. A 
 light rain prevented egress on the lawn, intra- 
 
2i 8 CONTRABAND. 
 
 sive cockchafers, buzzing in at the open ■windows, 
 blundered drowsily about the lights; and — an 
 unusual circumstance — when coffee came, it was 
 not only thick, but cold. The . gentlemen were 
 sleepy, or pretended to be ; Miss Eoss was too 
 tired to sing ; and Helen sat by herself, turning 
 over the leaves of a photograph book. 
 
 Even Mrs. Lascelles found her animal spirits 
 unequal to the pressure, and, at an earlier hour 
 than usual, made signals to retire for the night. 
 
 Standing on the stairs, with a bed-room candle 
 in her hand, she could not forbear expressing to 
 Miss Eoss the sense of depression and low spirits 
 under which she laboured. 
 
 " If we're all to be as deadly-lively at Cliefden 
 to-morrow," said she, " our pic-nic won't be 
 much fun. I believe I shall follow your ex- 
 ample, my deai', and drop quietly into the 
 Thames." 
 
 " To come up again at Cremorne!" replied 
 Jin, yawning drearily. " I'm completely done 
 up, Eose, and tired out. Good night." 
 
 Notwithstanding this protestation, however, 
 
MANCEUVRING. 219 
 
 Miss Eoss lay awake many a long hour after the 
 other inmates of The Lilies, thinking, wishing, 
 doubting, for the first time in her life mistrust- 
 ing her own powers, and fearing there was a 
 task before her she would be unequal to perform. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE SYREX. 
 
 Could those be the same people, assembled round 
 a white table-cloth, held down at the four corners 
 by judicious pebbles, and covered as vet only 
 with plates and glasses, though hampers, half un- 
 packed, much litter of straw and scatter of paper, 
 denoted that a plentiful feast was in progress of 
 preparation ? The ice had not melted, nor were 
 the eggs broken, while even the salt had been 
 remembered by a careful caterer, who bethought 
 him also of borage for the claret-cup, and mint- 
 sauce for the cold lamb. Last night's rain had 
 coolQd the air, though scarce a cloud now necked 
 the calm, blue heaven, and a dazzling sky bur- 
 nished the Thames into floods of reflected sun- 
 shine. Beautiful Cliefden seemed to realise the 
 poet's dream of a very Arcadia, rich in gleams of 
 
THE SYREN. 221 
 
 light, and deep cool masses of shade, in flicker of 
 leaf, ripple of stream, and song of birds ; bright 
 in the prime of her June loveliness, decked with 
 all her wealth of wood and water, clad in her 
 holiday attire of green and gold. 
 
 By the courtesy of one of the kindest and 
 most generous of peers, the party from The 
 Lilies had permission to land and hold their 
 revels in this earthly paradise. Uncle Joseph 
 himself dressing the salad with great pomp and 
 ceremony, vowed "the Duke was a trump of the 
 first water, and if ever he could do him a turn, 
 he would !" 
 
 That gipsy Jin had once more coaxed her 
 elderly admirer into perfect good-humour and 
 a return of entire confidence in herself. This 
 desirable reconciliation was effected by the frank- 
 ness with which she asked to sit by his side on 
 the voyage hither, a distinction he was too angry 
 to offer, and a position indeed of no slight con- 
 straint and inconvenience, inasmuch as he in- 
 sisted on steering the boat, occupying for that 
 purpose a scanty perch, as little adapted to his 
 
222 
 
 CONTRABAND. 
 
 proportions as would have been the five-pound 
 saddle in which a slim subaltern or undergraduate 
 rides a hurdle-race. 
 
 Ilerc, like "lissome Vivien" twining herself 
 about her Merlin's feet, she coaxed him into 
 good humour in ten minutes. Perhaps yester- 
 day's practice on the river had served to keep 
 her hand in. Xo sooner were they fairly under 
 weigh, and the attention of the others distracted 
 by a passing barge, than she nestled to his side, 
 crossed two taper forefingers under his nose, and 
 looking up in his face with a glance that mingled 
 affection and reproach in deadliest proportions, 
 murmured the single monosyllable, "Why?" 
 
 Uncle Joseph, neglecting t his rudder, melted 
 visibly. All the oars on stroke side touched 
 ground at once, and ~Ko. 2 caught a crab. Still 
 he did not choose to surrender over-hastily, and 
 pulling hard at his tiller-ropes, replied in a 
 hoarse whisper — 
 
 "Miss Eoss, you know your own business 
 best, but I don't think you treat me quite on the 
 square." 
 
THE SYREN. 223 
 
 " JIi'ss Boss /" she repeated, and again those 
 black reproachful eyes would have pierced a 
 rhinoceros, crackling and all. " I thought you 
 were never to call me by that hateful name again. 
 I'm always to be ' Jin.' Always, even when 
 you're angry with me. And to tell you the 
 truth, I shouldn't have liked you not to mind 
 about what I did yesterday, though indeed it 
 wasn't my fault." 
 
 " Kow, then, look ahead !" For a minute or 
 two Uncle Joseph could think of nothing but an 
 Eton eight flashing down stream at the rate of 
 twelve miles an hour, threatening to cut him in 
 two from stem to stern unless he got out of the 
 way. Isot till this water-dragon was half a mile 
 off did he recover composure to put the pertinent 
 question, " When you went out yesterday, did 
 you expect to meet Captain Vanguard on the 
 
 river ?' : 
 
 " You know I didn't," exclaimed Jin; "it's 
 cruel to ask me !" Then out came a long story, 
 well-conceived, deftly constructed, and told with 
 such downcast glances, in such low pleading 
 
224 CONTRABAND. 
 
 murmurs, with such pretty little flashes of pique, 
 and shades of penitence, and sparkles of fun, all 
 repressed and toned down not to be overheard, 
 that, had the success of their voyage depended 
 on the steersman, I fear boat and crew and pas- 
 sengers might have come to disastrous shipyvreck 
 at least a dozen times between Maidenhead-reach 
 and Clicfden landing-place. 
 
 But Jin at any rate succeeded in gaining a 
 temporary haven, and dropped her anchors 
 to-day in Uncle Joseph's breast with a sense of 
 triumph that such moorings never afforded her 
 before. 
 
 Mrs. Lascelles meanwhile had taken possession 
 of Sir Henry, leaving Miss Hallaton to the en- 
 forced attentions of Goldthred. Helen, I believe, 
 in her heart would have given a good deal to 
 change rd acGS with " bow," — a sturdy knave, 
 brawny, deep-chested, and curly as a retriever ; 
 nor was she incapable of handling an oar for a 
 short distance almost as effectually as that skilled 
 waterman. It would have been at least a relief 
 from her companion, whose politeness ncverthe- 
 
THE SYREN, its 
 
 less was unimpeachable as his conversation was 
 correct and monotonous in the extreme. 
 
 Such a dialogue as the following would have 
 excited her mirth, but that Helen just now 
 seemed to have lost all sense of the ludicrous, 
 with her spirits, energy, and general interest in 
 life:— 
 
 " Don't you enjoy the water on a day like 
 this, Miss Hallaton?" 
 
 " Immensely." 
 
 " There seems no chance of rain at present. 
 I think the fine weather will last us now till the 
 moon changes." 
 
 " Probably." 
 
 " That's a great advantage, you know, for the 
 people who have already got their hay down." 
 
 " Undoubtedly." 
 
 " How smooth the boat goes, Miss Hallaton. 
 A smooth row is — is — much smoother, isn't it, 
 and pleasant er, than a rough one?" 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 "And this is a very nice row, I think," con- 
 tinued Goldthied, encouraged by an approving 
 
 vol. i. Q 
 
22 6 CONTRABAND. 
 
 glance from Mrs. Lascelles, to whom his eyes, 
 like his thoughts, were continually turned, — 
 which accounted, indeed, for the abnormal idiotcy 
 of his conversation. " I shall be almost sorry 
 when we get to Cliefdcn ; shan't you?" 
 
 " Oh, no!" exclaimed Helen, truthfully 
 enough, but with a fervency that startled herself, 
 and caused her companion to retire from any 
 further attempts at small talk in confusion and 
 dismay. 
 
 Sir Henry caught his daughter's eye, and 
 could not help laughing. Perhaps, much as he 
 loved her, the only feeling of his child in which 
 he could thoroughly sympathise, was a certain 
 susceptibility, inherited from himself, of being 
 bored, and a tendency to adopt the ridiculous 
 view even of so distressing a calamity. 
 
 He felt for her at present all the more that his 
 own position was perfectly to his taste — smoking 
 an excellent cigar, propped by soft cushions, 
 with the summer sky above, the lap and wash of 
 the cool water around, pleasant company, a good 
 luncheon in prospect, and a pretty woman, half in 
 
THE SYREN. 
 
 zi"l 
 
 love with him, shading his face with, her parasol, 
 while her soft tones murmured in his ear. Sir 
 Henry did not care how long the voyage lasted, 
 though prepared to - accept its conclusion with 
 the greater resignation, that their party was to 
 be reinforced at Cliefden by a few agreeable 
 acquaintances eking out the end of a gay Ascot 
 week, and a sprinkling of young officers from 
 Windsor. 
 
 The latter addition was a bright thought of 
 Mrs. Lascelles, who, being thoroughly good- 
 natured, intended it especially for Helen's grati- 
 fication. But, as she had no time' to receive 
 answers to her notes of invitation before starting, 
 and, like most women, imagined military duties 
 ceaseless and unvarying, she said nothing about 
 the warlike element for fear it should be un- 
 attainable, forbearing to raise the young lady's 
 hopes only that they might be destroyed. " I 
 didn't like being disappointed myself when I was 
 a girl," thought Mrs. Lascelles. " I'm not sure 
 I like it a bit better now." 
 
 She was getting very fond of Helen, believed 
 
228 CONTRABAND. 
 
 in her goodness, admitted her beaut}-, and was, 
 perhaps, the only person in the world who 
 thought her the image of her father. 
 
 In all matters of affection Mrs. Lasccllcs was 
 clear-sighted enough, and it did not escape her 
 that Helen's spirits, during the last day or two, 
 had sunk lower than was natural at her time of 
 life under no more sedative influences than sun- 
 shine and dust. It was partly to rouse the girl 
 from her depression, as well as for purposes of 
 her own, that she commanded Goldthred to place 
 himself at Miss Hallaton's disposal ; but certain 
 suspicions that the young lady required a more 
 warlike vassal than this obedient slave, were 
 much strengthened by the light that sparkled in 
 her eyes when, nearing Cliefden, a group of gen- 
 tlemen became visible on the landing-place, in 
 the midst of whom she could not mistake the 
 shapely form of Frank Vanguard. 
 
 Mrs. Lascelles, you see, had a good afternoon's 
 work on hand. A score of people to entertain, 
 couples to pah', flirtations to encourage, and Jin's 
 vagaries to overlook, lest she should drive Uncle 
 
THE SYREN. 229 
 
 Joseph beyond the bounds of patience ; besides 
 keeping Sir Henry at her own apron-string, while 
 enacting the part of a blue-eyed Cleopatra to that 
 laziest and least warlike of Antonys. 
 
 Half-a-dozen swinging, vigorous jerks, an ex- 
 clamation of pleasure from the passengers, an 
 "easy all!" in gruff syllables from " Stroke," 
 and the galley poised her oars, as a sea-bird 
 spreads her pinions, ere she folds them to 
 alight. The officers cheered, the ladies chattered, 
 greetings were exchanged, muslins shaken out, 
 parasols unfurled — a cool air stole across the 
 water, a black-bird struck up from the copse, 
 the leaves danced, the boat danced, the sun- 
 shine danced, the scene was all colour, motion, 
 and variety, like a ballet after Watteau, set to 
 music by Offenbach. 
 
 In these days it is the affectation of society to 
 be natural, and nobody can dispute the advantage 
 of such a change from that pompous reserve and 
 frozen insensibility which represented good-breed- 
 ing some five-and-twenty years ago. The party 
 gathered round their table-cloth on the grass at 
 
2 3 o COXTRABAND. 
 
 Cliefden, if more polished, were as joyous and 
 merry as so many lads and lasses at a fair. Of 
 course it took some little time before luncheon 
 could be got ready, of course it was necessary to 
 walk about during the interval, of course people 
 paired off for that purpose. Nobody goes to a 
 pic-nic, I imagine, with the view of discussing 
 grave subjects in full conclave — forbid it ! faun 
 and satyr, nymph and dryad, forest-fairy and 
 bottle-imp, the genius of the woodland, the goblin 
 of the cave, all the spirits of the hamper, the 
 corkscrew, and the rill ! 
 
 Xo ; for us seniors, let there be flowing cups, 
 though temperate, cooled with ice, and spiced 
 with fragrant herbs — a cunning pasty, a piece 
 of resistance, thus named because irresistible, egg- 
 sandwiches, French mustard, a currant-tart, and 
 a parti- coloured mayonnaise. So shall we flavour 
 the repast with quip and jest, with merry, quaint 
 conceit and pointed anecdote, pleasant or pathetic, 
 yet, in pity, not too long ! But, as for you young 
 people, off with you, while we uncork the wine ! 
 Climb the bank, if you know it, " whereon the 
 
THE SYREN. 231 
 
 wild-thyme grows;" dive into the recesses of the 
 forest, its paths are only wide enough for two ; 
 
 " Look in the lily-bell, ruffle the rose, 
 Under the leaves of the violet peep." 
 
 Reflect how pleasant it is to gather strawberries 
 with a Mademoiselle Therese in the wood oiMalieu. 
 
 " Quand on est deux, 
 Quand on est deux," 
 
 make the most of your golden hour, but come 
 back again ere you have kept your elders waiting 
 too long for luncheon, ere you yourselves have 
 said or done anything that shall cause a moment's 
 regret in the reaction that comes after happiness, 
 as surely as darkness follows day. 
 
 Uncle. Joseph, I have said, was preparing the 
 salad, therefore Miss Eoss found herself at liberty 
 to indulge in such devilries as were consistent 
 with the Satanic element in her nature. It was 
 not likely she would abstain from a shot or two 
 at Frank Vanguard, if only to "get the range," 
 as it were, of her batteries previous to real work. 
 She accosted him with exactly the right mixture 
 of diffidence and interest, held his hand for just 
 
23 2 CONTRABAND. 
 
 one second more than enough; and even con- 
 trived to raise a blnsh on her pale face, while, 
 meeting his eyes very shyly, she whispered, in 
 answer to his inquiries — " I haven't caught cold, 
 and I'm none the worse, and certainly none the 
 better ! And I shouldn't at all mind undertaking 
 the whole expedition over again." 
 
 TTliy wasn't it Helen ? Again, through grow- 
 ing interest and gratified vanity, rose almost 
 unconsciously that wistful thought ; but Helen 
 saw it all, and bit her lip, looking very cold and 
 pale, whilst she turned from his greeting with a 
 distant bow, beseeching Mr. Goldthred, whom, it 
 now occurred to her, she had treated with less 
 than civility, to gather her a water-lily floating 
 near the bank, and so detaching him from the 
 others, unintentionally constituted him her 
 " pair." These things are soon done, you see, 
 when people pounce for partners, as if they were 
 playing puss-in-the-corner, and nobody wants to 
 be "left out in the cold." 
 
 The moments were very precious, and would 
 have passed even more quickly than they did, 
 
THE SYREN. 233 
 
 but that the couples were all hungry, and quite 
 as ready for luncheon as love-making. Sir Henry, 
 indeed, absolutely refused to move a step from 
 the shady nook in which he had ensconced him- 
 self, and Mrs. Lascellcs made her position as 
 hostess an excuse for not accompanying a beard- 
 less subaltern in a climb after ferns up a perpen- 
 dicular bank, feathered to the top with those 
 graceful exotics of the forest. This enterprising 
 youth, not yet dismissed the riding-school, 
 thought it incumbent on him to place his cheerful 
 society at her disposal, whom he irreverently 
 designated "the loudest swell of the lot;" but 
 seemed relieved, nevertheless, by her refusal of 
 his attentions, and subsided with extreme good- 
 will into his comet-a-piston — an instrument on 
 which he played sundry negro melodies with 
 great enjoyment and no contemptible execution. 
 
 It had been agreed that, directly luncheon was 
 ready, he should summon the stragglers by per- 
 forming a popular air called " The Roast -beef of 
 Old England," into which, as he threatened, he 
 threw his whole mind, embroidering it with 
 
234 CONTRABAND. 
 
 masterly variations founded on a " call," well- 
 known in barracks as the solemn warning — 
 
 M You'll lose your "beef and pudding, my boys, 
 You'll lose your beef and pud — ding." 
 
 Goldtlircd had only wetted one sleeve to the 
 shoulder, and thrust the corresponding foot ankle- 
 deep in mud, while fishing water-lilies for Miss 
 Hallaton, ere these welcome sounds released him 
 from attendance, and he brought her back in 
 triumph — looking to Mrs. Lascelles, as little Jack 
 Horner might, from the corner in which he 
 boasted, ""What a good boy am I!" She re- 
 warded him as you reward a retriever, if not too 
 wet, by giving him her shawl to take care of. 
 
 Uncle Joseph, too, had been so engrossed with 
 the salad, that Miss Eoss was at his elbow again 
 almost before he missed her, though, short as 
 had been her absence, I cannot doubt she made 
 the best use of her time. 
 
 Much may be done, if I remember right, in a 
 few minutes, when paths are steep as well as 
 narrow, when glades arc deep and dark even 
 under a midsummer sun, when two people are 
 
THE STREX. zi 
 
 33 
 
 inclined, if only for pastime, to engage in that 
 game from which a loser so often rises under the 
 impression that he has won. 
 
 It was the old story — Miss Boss, with all her 
 craft, was playing stakes she could ill afford. 
 In the attachments, as in other relations of life, 
 wise is that aphorism of the canny Scot, " Beach 
 not out your hand farther than you can draw it 
 back again.'' Ere she rejoined the others, Jin 
 felt she must win at any sacrifice : she could not 
 get her hand back now; she would not if she 
 could. 
 
 Frank, sitting down to cut open a pigeon pie, 
 felt half-pleased, half-penitent. Like a child 
 being tickled, he was inclined both to laugh and 
 to resist. 
 
 He looked remorsefully across the table-cloth 
 at Miss Hallaton, but that perverse young 
 woman, obstinately avoiding his glance, per- 
 sisted in being amused by the cornet-player's 
 buffooneries, wishing drearily all the while that 
 she had never come. Frank thought he too 
 could be indifferent ; so the breach widened, 
 
236 CONTRABAND. 
 
 from the breadth of the table-cloth to a gulf that 
 could only be bridged over by loving memories 
 and painful thoughts, as the lake is spanned by 
 the rainbow, that owes its very existence to a 
 shower of Nature's tears. 
 
 Undoubtedly there is a deal of self-love mixed 
 up with these tender woes and joys. If vanity 
 constitutes much of their pleasure, surely it 
 produces more than half their pain. " Plus 
 aloes quam mcllis habct" says the Eoman satirist; 
 and perhaps, after all, the honey would be very 
 insipid without the sting. 
 
 But a pic-nic is no place for indulgence of 
 reflection or regret. The party had landed at 
 Clicfden for enjoyment, and were determined to 
 grasp the shadow of happiness if not the substance 
 thereof. So corks flew and tongues wagged 
 merrily, the cold lamb waned, the mayonnaise 
 disappeared, the currant tart bled freely. 
 
 " And when the pic was opened, the birds 
 began to sing," so, at least, said the young 
 subaltern, now in a state of exceedingly high 
 spirits; "and why shouldn't the ladies?" he 
 
THE SYREX. 
 
 •37 
 
 added, looking round him with, condescending 
 affability. " I'll accompany any or all of them 
 to any tune or in any direction she pleases. 
 Though I'm humble, I'm industrious ; and if I 
 seem too weak for the place, you must suit your- 
 selves ' elsewheres ;' for, to do man's work, I 
 must have man's wages, and I ain't half so soft 
 as I look I" 
 
 " You're a very impudent boy," said Mrs. 
 Lascelles, laughing; "but you're rather good 
 fun, and it's not a bad suggestion. Xow, who 
 will give us a song?" 
 
 There seemed rather a lack of volunteers. 
 The original proposer vowed he could neither 
 drink nor sing unless after a lady. He was shy, 
 he said, and blushed under his skin, therefore 
 nobody gave him credit for modesty. Helen 
 felt something in her throat that warned her she 
 must burst out crying, unless she kept it down. 
 One had a cold, others could not remember any 
 words, so it soon came round to Miss Boss, 
 "who was always so good-natured; everybody 
 was sure she wouldn't disappoint them!" 
 
238 CONTRABAND. 
 
 Jin never made any fuss about her singing. 
 
 " What shall it be ?" she asked Uncle Joseph, 
 who never knew one tunc from another, but 
 vastly enjoyed the proprietorship inferred by 
 such an appeal. 
 
 " Oh, that pretty air from the — the Well, 
 
 you know the one I mean ; or, or — anything you 
 please, dear Miss Eoss; they're all charming." 
 And Uncle Joseph passed his cigar-case round, 
 with the look of a man who had acquitted himself 
 handsomely of a difficult and delicate task. 
 
 " I'll sing you a new one I got the other day," 
 said Jin, flashing another of her dangerous 
 glances through the smoke that was curling 
 round Frank Vanguard's comely face. " It's 
 called, ' Yes — I like you,' and there's a moral 
 in it. Thanks ! It does best without an accom- 
 paniment," and, looking very bewitching as she 
 pushed her hair back, she began : — 
 
 "YES— I LIKE YOU." 
 
 When I meet you, can I greet you 
 
 With a haughty little stare ? 
 Scarcely glancing, where you're prancing, 
 
 By me on the chestnut mare. 
 
THE SYREN. 239 
 
 Still dissembling, though. I'm trembling, 
 Thus you know we're trained and taught. 
 
 For I like you, doesn't it strike you ? 
 Like you more than p'raps I ought ! 
 
 Yes — I like you, doesn't it strike you ? 
 Like you more than p'raps I ought ! 
 
 When I meet you, must I treat you 
 
 As a stranger, calm and cold, 
 Softer feeling, half revealing, — 
 
 Are you waiting to he told ? 
 D' you suppose, sir, that a rose, sir, 
 
 Picks itself to reach your breast ? 
 And I like you, doesn't it strike you ? 
 
 Like you more than all the rest. 
 Yes — I like you, &c. 
 
 "When I meet you, I could eat you, 
 
 Dining with my Uncle John ; 
 Sitting next you, so perplexed, you 
 
 Ought to guess my heart is gone. 
 While I'm choking, 'tis provoking 
 
 You can munch, and talk, and drink, 
 Though I like you, doesn't it strike you P 
 
 Like you more than you may think ! 
 Yes — I like you, Sec. 
 
 When I meet you, I could beat you, 
 
 For your solemn face and glum. 
 Don't you see, sir, you are free, sir, 
 
 I have all the worst to come ! 
 Mother's warning, sisters' scorning — 
 
 Qualms of prudence, pride and pelf. 
 Oh ! I like you — doesn't it strike you ? 
 
 Like you more than life itself ! 
 Yes — I like you, &c. 
 
2 4 o CONTRABAND. 
 
 There was no mistaking the hint conveyed in 
 this touching ditty ; but whether he accepted it 
 or not, the song was hardly concluded ere Frank 
 took leave of the company. Certain regimental 
 duties, he said, looking hard at Helen, required 
 his presence in barracks, and therefore he had 
 come on horseback, so as to return at his own 
 time. He regretted it extremely, of course. 
 He had spent a delightful day, and could not 
 thank his entertainers enough. This civil little 
 speech he addressed indeed to Uncle Joseph and 
 Mrs. Lascelles, but his eyes sought Miss Halla- 
 ton's the while, and their imploring expression 
 cut her to the heart. 
 
 There is a code of signals in use amongst 
 young people situated as these were, far more 
 intelligible than that employed by her Majesty's 
 Navy or the Eoyal Yacht Squadron. They 
 never shook hands, they exchanged no good-bye, 
 but Helen hoisted something in reply to his flag 
 of distress that appeared perfectly satisfactory to 
 both. Though Miss Eoss looked longingly after 
 him as he went away, Frank never turned to 
 
THE SYREX. 241 
 
 meet her glance ; and Helen, thoroughly enjoy- 
 ing the homeward trip at sunset, seemed in 
 better spirits and more like herself than she had 
 been all day. 
 
 Mrs. Lascelles was puzzled. She had missed 
 the exchange of signals, and could not make 
 it out. 
 
 VOL. 1. • R 
 
CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 SUNDAY IX LONDON. 
 
 There is a late train from Maidenhead to Pad- 
 dington that always reminds me of Charon's 
 hark chartered to carry deceased passengers 
 across the Styx. It seems, like that fatal ferry- 
 boat, to fix. a limit between two separate stages 
 of existence, — the river, the flowers, the cup, the 
 pleasant friends, the tender well-wisher, in short, 
 "the bright precincts of the cheerful day," and 
 that dark region, forbidding though unavoidable, 
 where we meet our fellow- creatures on more 
 equal, more practical, more distant, and more 
 uncomfortable terms. 
 
 Goldthred, who was obliged to be in London 
 the same night, sank into the lowest depths 
 of despondency while bidding adieu to Mrs. 
 
SUNDA Y IN L OXDON. 243 
 
 Lascelles and her party, as they embarked 
 under a purple sunset for their homeward 
 voyage. He felt sadly alone in the world, 
 even at the station, and getting into a vast 
 and gloomy compartment, of which he was sole 
 occupant, under a dim lamp, began to reflect 
 seriously on life and its vexations. His cigars 
 were done, his boots were wet, he suffered from 
 head-ache, heart-ache, and premonitory symptoms 
 of a dreadful disorder called the fidgets. Had 
 he only known that Frank Vanguard, who got 
 in at Slough, was in the very next carriage, 
 how gladly would he have communicated with 
 that migratory young officer, by knocking, 
 shouting, or any other riotous mode of attract- 
 ing attention ; but, for aught he could tell, 
 there was no passenger in the train but himself, 
 and the sense of solitude became nearly insup- 
 portable. Passing Hanwell, he found himself 
 envying the unfortunate inmates their varied 
 society, and the liveliness of their manners. 
 Goaded at last by his reflections, and summon- 
 in cc that most daring of all courage which is 
 
244 CONTRABAND. 
 
 furnished by despair, lie resolved to turn over 
 a new leaf, to assert himself and his own value, 
 to push the siege briskly, and asking Mrs. 
 Lascelles an important question point-blank, 
 stand or fall by her answer like a man. Se 
 faire valotr, he well knew, was the winning 
 game ; but, alas ! the more precious the heart 
 the lower the price it seems to place on itself, 
 and Goldthred, with all his short-comings, pos- 
 sessed in his character a vein of the true metal, 
 which makes men honest servants if not suc- 
 cessful masters. Taking counsel, then, of his 
 very fears, he determined to open the trenches 
 by organising another pic-nic, somewhere lower 
 down the river, to which he would invite all the 
 party of to-day, and such other additions from 
 London as he considered worthy of the honour. 
 Miss Hallaton, of course. Xice girl, Miss 
 Hallaton, and civil to Mm ! Distant, but that 
 was manner. Ah ! she would make a charming 
 wife to a fellow who admired that kind of 
 beauty. It was not his style, of course ; and 
 with this reflection, the image of a lovely 
 
SUXDA Y IN L OXDOX. 245 
 
 laughing face, and a pair of kind Line eyes, 
 seemed to brighten even the gloom of his dismal 
 railway carriage. 
 
 Thinking of Mrs. Lascellcs somehow called 
 Sir Henry unpleasantly to mind. And he 
 bethought him how that easy-going personage 
 had expressed certain vague intentions of start- 
 ing on an expedition of his own, to see some 
 yearlings, leaving his daughter at The Lilies. 
 "Then I'll write to Miss Hallaton herself," 
 thought Goldthred. " Wliy shouldn't I ? That 
 will prevent the possibility of a mistake, and 
 perhaps Mrs. Lascelles won't quite like it. I 
 wonder if she would care. I couldn't make 
 her unhappy, the angel, to save my life, but 
 I wish I was sure I had the power." 
 
 By the time he reached Paddington, Gold- 
 thred' s spirits had risen considerably, as is 
 usually the case with a man who has resolved 
 to take his own part ; and, after extricating an 
 overblown rose from his button-hole, and planting 
 it carefully in the neck of his water-bottle, he 
 went to bed, feeling keenly that the time was 
 
246 COXTRABAND. 
 
 fast approaching to decide his fate, and that the 
 next week, or say, perhaps, ten days, must 
 settle his business and make him "a man or 
 a mouse." 
 
 In pursuance of this desperate resolution he 
 rose the following morning in time for church, 
 and betook himself after service to his usual 
 Sunday resort, the Cauliflower Club. Here, 
 seated at a desert of writing-table, in a vast and 
 dismal library, he had an opportunity of com- 
 paring the gloom that reigned within and 
 without^ this sanctuary of his sex. Foreigners 
 can seldom recall unmoved the memories of a 
 Sunday in London. Whether it is because the 
 shops are shut, or the streets unwatered, or the 
 upper classes invisible, I know not, but certainly 
 on that holy day of rest and rejoicing, our 
 bustling metropolis looks grim and deserted as 
 a city of the dead. Doubtless, everybody goes 
 out of town that can. Those who remain, 
 thinking it, I presume, either eccentric or 
 wicked to be seen abroad, hide themselves with 
 extraordinary caution and success. The same 
 
SUJYDA Y IN L ONDON. 247 
 
 dulness seems to pervade all parts of the town, 
 except, perhaps, those very poor districts in 
 which vice and want allow their vassals no 
 change, no relaxation from the daily round of 
 dirt, discomfort, and sin. Yon may traverse 
 Tybnrnia and scarce meet a hnman creature. 
 Belgrave Square is sombre and noiseless as the 
 catacombs. A single Hansom represents traffic, 
 vitality, and commercial prosperity thronghont 
 Mayfair, Piccadilly, and St. James's Street. Go 
 into Hyde Park, you will observe one solitary 
 soldier, and his inevitable maid-servant, carry- 
 ing her prayer-book wrapped in a cotton pocket- 
 handkerchief. Search Kensington Gardens, yon 
 will find that beautiful woodland occupied by 
 a sleeping ragamuffin, a child with its sister, 
 and a wandering female of weak intellect. From 
 Brompton to Billingsgste, from Mary-le-bone to 
 the Minories, you will discover as few passengers 
 as you would see flies on a pane of glass at 
 Christmas. What becomes of the winter blue- 
 bottles I do not pretend to say, but of the two- 
 legged insects pervading our earth, I imagine 
 
2+8 CONTRABAND. 
 
 that on Sundays the males retire, like Goldthrcd, 
 in countless swarms to their clubs. Neverthe- 
 less, while he wrote the invitations, particularly 
 Miss IIallaton\s, with exceeding care and a hard- 
 nibbed pen, he found himself the only occupant 
 but one of the magnificent apartment, devoted 
 to literary labour by a judicious committee pre- 
 siding over the economy of the Cauliflower. 
 Of the student thus sharing his solitude, and 
 who might or might not be an intimate 
 acquaintance, nothing was visible but the back 
 of a curly brown head, as its wearer lay buried 
 in an enormous sofa, reading, or more probably, 
 asleep. Club-manners, except in certain profes- 
 sional circles where members are bound by their 
 trade in a common brotherhood, forbidding such 
 outrages, Goldthred, even had he been inclined, 
 must have forborne from hurling books across 
 the room, stealing behind to flirt ink on his face, 
 or adopting other such playful modes of attract- 
 ing notice, and assuring himself of the gentle- 
 man's identity, so he continued to write with 
 precision and perseverance, leaving the room 
 
SUNDA Y IX L OXDOX. 249 
 
 when lie had finished, without discovering that 
 its other occupant was Frank Vanguard. 
 
 The two men were scarcely twenty feet apart, 
 they could have assisted each other considerably 
 
 in their respective objects, they were thinking at 
 the same moment of the same person, yet for all 
 practical purposes they might as well have been 
 in different counties. 
 
 Frank was not asleep — far from it ; neither was 
 he reading, though wrapped in a train of thought 
 produced by a novel he had been perusing with 
 unusual avidity and attention. His duties at the 
 barracks had detained him all the previous even- 
 ing, and catching the last train, not without 
 difficulty, he succeeded in spending his Sunday in 
 London, to find himself with nothing to do when 
 he got there. Truth to tell, Frank was unsettled 
 and unlike himself. He breakfasted without 
 appetite at his cheerful little bachelor lodgings, 
 which were always kept ready, even when the 
 regiment was in London, and in which he slept 
 perhaps half a dozen times in a month. He 
 dressed in unseemly haste, he sallied out tumult- 
 
2;o 
 
 CONTRABAND. 
 
 uously, with no definite object, and took refuge 
 at last in the library of the Cauliflower, from 
 sheer weariness of body and vacuity of mind. 
 lie was so unaccustomed to weigh matters seri- 
 ously, as affecting the course of a whole lifetime, 
 so nnuscd to reflection on anything less obvious 
 than the front of a squadron or the speed of a 
 horse, that he felt really oppressed by the great 
 argument going on in his own mind, as to 
 whether he could, or could not, struggle through 
 existence without asking Miss Hallaton to be his 
 wife. 
 
 Young gentlemen of the present day are not 
 an uxorious race, and Frank was like his fellows. 
 He appreciated, nobody more, the liberty of a 
 single man, and had imbibed from his elders, by 
 precept, example, and warning, a certain dread 
 of the restraints and monotony that must accom- 
 pany married life. But then, to sit opposite 
 such a woman as Helen every morning at break- 
 fast, to have her all to himself, without scheming 
 for invitations, and watching for carriages ; with- 
 out necessity for being civil to a chaperone, or 
 
SUXDAF IX LOXDOX. 25 1 
 
 making up to a father, why it seemed a heaven 
 upon earth, to attain which he would — yes, hang 
 him if he wouldn't — give up even the regiment 
 itself! 
 
 Such being the frame of mind in which he sat 
 down to read his novel, it was but natural that 
 the progress of his studies should have con- 
 firmed any previous tendency to sentiment and 
 domestic subjugatiou. This eloquent work, in 
 three volumes, purporting to furnish a picture of 
 real life, painted up a little, but not overdrawn, 
 represented, of course, an impossible heroine, a 
 combination of circumstances that never could 
 have taken place, and a jeune premier beautiful as 
 Endymion ; nor, judging from his vagaries, ap- 
 parcntly much less under the influence of the 
 moon. To use Frank's own expression, the 
 scene that " fetched him," somewhere about the 
 middle of the third volume, ran as follows : — 
 
 " A sunset of the tropics, or of paradise, crim- 
 son, orange, gold, the plumage of the flamingo, 
 the tints of the dying dolphin, were all reflected in 
 the deep pure eyes of that fair girl, as she leaned 
 
252 COXTRABAXD. 
 
 one snowy arm on the balustrade, and peered ont 
 over the lake, herself radiant as the sunset, loving 
 as the flamingo, stern and resolved as the dolphin 
 in his death-pangs. ' lie comcth not,' she mut- 
 tered, c he comcth not ! ' and her fairy fingers, 
 closing on the parapet, broke off a morsel of the 
 stonework with the grip and energy of a black- 
 smith. It fell with a splash in the lake. Could 
 this be the expected signal ? Was that important 
 splash but the result of blind accident ? Nay, 
 was it not rather the summons of a relentless 
 Fate ? Ere the circles that it made in the limpid 
 element had wholly disappeared, a boat was heard 
 to grate upon the shingle beneath the castle. A 
 cloaked figure stood in the prow, masked, booted, 
 belted, and armed to the teeth. But when was 
 true love yet deceived by belts, boots, masks, or 
 pistols ? ' 'Tis he ! ' she exclaimed, * 'tis he ! ' 
 and in another moment Lady Clara was in 
 Roland's arms, sailing, sailing on towards the 
 sunset, never to part on earth, never to part 
 
 perhaps in " 
 
 " Quite right too!" said Frank, closing the 
 
SUNDA Y IN L OKDOX. 2 5 3 
 
 book with a bang. " Good fellow ! plucky girl ! 
 I'll be hanged if I wont have a shy ! She can 
 but say 'Xo. ? And if worst comes to worst, 
 there's always the other to fall back upon !" 
 
 So with this exceedingly disloyal and un- 
 complimentary adaptation of Miss Ross as a pis- 
 aller, Frank sat himself down at the table lately 
 occupied by Goldthred, to concoct a letter in 
 which, with as little circumlocution as possible, 
 he should ask Miss Hallaton to be his wife. 
 
 Much mutual surprise was expressed by these 
 two gentlemen, when, meeting an hour later in 
 Pall Mall, they discovered that they had been 
 fellow-travellers the night before, each in his own 
 mind having envied the good fortune of the other 
 in remaining at Windsor. With such a topic as 
 their past pic-nic to discuss, and a certain inde- 
 finable instinct that they had some mysterious in- 
 terests in common, they soon merged out of mere 
 acquaintance into friendship, or that which the 
 world calls friendship — an alliance for mutual 
 support and convenience, originating in discreet 
 regard for self. Further to cement this bond of 
 
254 CONTRABAND. 
 
 brotherhood, they dined together solemnly at 
 their club, and parted heartily tired of each other 
 before eleven o'clock, going straight to bed, I 
 verily believe, in sheer despair. And thns it 
 was that these unfortunates, ardent lovers in 
 their way, spent their Sunday in London. 
 
CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 POST-TIME. 
 
 Sunday at The Lilies was far pleasanter to every- 
 body concerned. Indeed, notwithstanding the 
 
 proverbial dulness of the day that succeeds a 
 festival, the female inmates of that charming 
 little retreat "were more inclined to be frolicsome 
 than usual. Their hilarity might partly be 
 accounted for by that principle of contra diction 
 which prompts us ail to merriment on such occa- 
 sions as demand unusual sobriety of demeanour. 
 You will observe children invariably predisposed 
 to a romp on Sunday morning. I think also 
 that each lady had reason to be satisfied in 
 reviewing her afternoon's work of the day before. 
 Mrs. Lascelles, if she did not succeed in adding 
 one single brick to the superstructure of her 
 
256 CONTRABAND. 
 
 castle in the air, believed she had, at least, con- 
 solidated its foundations, and that Sir Henry 
 became day by day more malleable, though she 
 felt constrained to admit the process of softening 
 was exceedingly gradual, and perceptible only 
 to herself. Miss Eoss had sundry topics for 
 reflection, all tending to self-gratulation. With 
 Uncle Joseph, whom we may call her "bird-in- 
 thc-hand," she had effected a thorough recon- 
 ciliation. She could perceive, by the unusual 
 splendour t of his Sunday plumage, that he was 
 more than ever enchanted with his captivity, 
 and meditated, at no distant period, some decided 
 effort to render it irrevocable. She felt confi- 
 dence enough in her own tact to be sure she 
 could postpone such a catastrophe till it suited 
 her convenience to bring it about, and this delay, 
 she decided, should depend entirely on her progress 
 in bagging her "bird-in-thc-bush." That Frank 
 Vanguard was hit severely, and " under the 
 wing/' she did not doubt, nor, though visited 
 by painful misgivings, while she dwelt on the 
 value of her prey, was she without strong hopes 
 
POST- TIME. 257 
 
 that by watching a timely opportunity, and 
 making a brilliant " snap-shot," she might 
 prove too quick for her rival, and pull him 
 down like "a rocketer" over Miss Ilallat oil's 
 head. This was a pleasant dream for the future. 
 She had, besides, a keen enjoyment to look for- 
 ward to in the immediate present. She was 
 about to see her bov — that alone would be 
 happiness enough for a week ! Nothing could 
 be easier than to steal awav, as if for afternoon 
 church, and speed to Mrs. Mole's. From that 
 garrulous old woman, too, she hoped to leam 
 something definite about Achille. "Why he was 
 in England ? what were his relations with the 
 child? whether — and her heart bounded at the 
 thought — it might not be possible, through the 
 agency of this humble old peasant-woman, to 
 obtain uncontrolled possession of her treasure ? 
 For such an object she felt she would willingly 
 forego the patronage of Mrs. Lascelles, the 
 vassalage of Uncle Joseph, home, position, pro- 
 spects ! Even Frank Vanguard himself ? On 
 
 VOL. I. S 
 
258 CONTRABAND. 
 
 the last point she could not quite make up her 
 mind, so left it for future consideration. 
 
 With all these interests and occupations, Jin 
 had yet found time to knit a tiny pair of socks 
 for her Gustavo. Tears filled her eyes while she 
 pictured the delight of fitting them to his chubby 
 little feet, that very afternoon as he sat on her 
 knee. Though she had many faults she was 
 yet a mother, and in mothers, even the most 
 depraved, a well-spring of natural affection is to 
 be found as surely as milk in a cow. 
 
 Helen, too, returning radiant from morning 
 church, looked, to use Sir Henry's expression, 
 " seven pound better " than the day before. 
 Something seemed to have infused fresh vitality 
 into the gild's existence ; but of Helen's senti- 
 ments I cannot take upon me to furnish an 
 analysis. In the pure unsullied heart of a young 
 and loving woman there arc depths it is desecra- 
 tion to fathom, feelings it is impossible to de- 
 scribe, and it would be sacrilege to caricature. 
 !None are so thoroughly aware of this as those 
 who know what the bad can be in that sex, of 
 
POST-TIME. 259 
 
 which the good arc so excellent. Well for him, 
 whose experience has lain amongst these last, 
 and who goes to his grave with trust unshaken 
 in the most elevating of earthly creeds — a belief 
 in woman's love and woman's truth — whose 
 worship of her outward beauty is founded on 
 implicit confidence in the purity and fidelity of 
 her heart ! Such privileged spirits walk lightly 
 over the troubles of their journey through life, 
 as if they were indeed borne np by angels, "lest 
 at any time they dash their foot against a stone." 
 
 Sunday luncheon, then, at The Lilies was a 
 pleasant and sociable meal enough.* Mrs. Lascelles, 
 though surprised to find she did miss Goldthred 
 a little, seemed in exuberant spirits, perhaps for 
 that very reason. The rest took their tone from 
 her whom they considered their hostess, and 
 the repast, which differed only from dinner in 
 the absence of soup and fish, being excellent and 
 elaborate, no wonder everybody was in high 
 good humour, and more disposed to talk than to 
 listen. 
 
 The conversation at first turned upon yester- 
 
26o CONTRABAND. 
 
 day's doings, and it is not to be supposed that 
 the dress, manners, looks, character, and pre- 
 sumptive age of every other woman at the pic- 
 nic escaped comment, criticism, or final con- 
 demnation. Sir Henry, indeed, true to his 
 traditions, made a gallant stand in favour of one 
 lady, the youngest of the party, " a miss in her 
 teens," as she was contemptuously designated 
 by his listeners, but found himself coughed 
 down with great severity and contempt. He 
 couldn't mean that odious girl in green ribbons ! 
 She was forward — she was noisy — she had 
 freckles — she romped with Captain Roe — she 
 flirted with Mr. Driver — she was ugly, unlady- 
 like, bad style. Even Helen wondered quietly, 
 " What papa could sec in her? Though, to be 
 sure, he always admired red hair !" 
 
 Their friends thus summarily disposed of, with 
 the first course, they began talking aboutwhat they 
 called "their plans." It seemed there was to be 
 an unavoidable break up on the morrow, miti- 
 gated, however, by faithful promises from the 
 absentees to return before the end of the week. 
 
POST-TIME. 261 
 
 "I won't ask you to stay hero and lose your 
 ball to-morrow night," said Uncle Joseph, filling 
 Helen's glass, with the kindly, half-protective 
 air affected by an elderly gentleman towards a 
 young lady when he is not fool enough to be 
 in love with her. "I know what these things 
 arc at your time of life, my dear. I used to 
 like them myself, and danced, too, I can tell 
 you ! We danced much harder in my day. 
 But why shouldn't you come back on Tuesday 
 or Wednesday ? See now, I'll arrange it all. 
 You're obliged to go to London to-morrow, you 
 said, Eose, didn't you?" 
 
 u i\o help for it!" Mrs. Lascelles admitted. 
 
 "I shall take my maid, sleep at Xo. 40, and 
 
 come down again next day." 
 
 " Then why shouldn't you take care of Miss 
 
 Hallaton, and bring her back with you?" 
 
 " Delightful ! " assented his kinswoman. " And 
 
 she can sleep at my house. It's the next street 
 
 to Lady Shuttlecock's, and Helen's chaperon can 
 
 drop her there after the ball. Sir Henry, will 
 
 you trust her with me ?" 
 
262 CONTRABAND. 
 
 Helen looked from Mrs. Lasccllcs to her 
 father; the latter gave a joyful affirmative. 
 
 " It will save me a fifty-miles journey," said 
 he. "Helen goes to the hall with her aunt, 
 and if you bring her down again, I needn't 
 travel all the way to London to fetch her." 
 
 " But are you quite sure I shall not he 
 troublesome ? " asked Helen meekly, willing 
 enough, however, to accept any arrangement 
 that should facilitate her attendance at a ball 
 she seemed very loth to miss. 
 
 " Troublesome ! my dear," repeated Mrs. Las- 
 cellcs. " You don't know what a pleasure it 
 is to have you ! I quite look forward to show- 
 ing you my pretty little house ; and you shall 
 sleep in Jin's room — unless you're coming too?" 
 she added, turning to Miss Eoss. 
 
 The latter, glancing at Uncle Joseph, who 
 tried hard to look unconcerned, declined, with a 
 bright smile. " She had nothing to tempt her in 
 London," she said, " unless she could be of use to 
 Eose. She would much rather stay in the pleasant 
 country, and — and take care of Mr. Groves !" 
 
POST-TIME. 263 
 
 Uncle Joseph coloured with delight, and Jin 
 felt that the cards were all playing themselves 
 into her hand. It was even possible that Frank 
 Vanguard might call to-morrow or the next day, 
 whilst Helen was in London. She was sure of 
 one, if not two, interviews with her child. 
 Lastly, she would have a golden opportunity of 
 showing Uncle Joseph how pleasant she could 
 make his house while entertaining himself and 
 his friends. 
 
 " You'll come hack to dinner now, Hallaton," 
 said the host, " as you're not due in town? 
 I've asked one or two neighbours and their 
 wives. What's more to the purpose, there's a 
 haunch of venison." 
 
 Even that gastronomic temptation, however, 
 was insufficient to affix certainty to any of Sir 
 Henry's movements. " He was going to see 
 some yearlings sold," he said — " the trains were 
 all at variance. He should hope to get back the 
 same day, but hadn't an idea whether he could. 
 Helen, who understood ' Eradshaw,' said not. 
 All he knew was, he had to meet Mr. Weights, 
 
264 CONTRABAND, 
 
 the trainer, at Ascot to-morrow at ten. He 
 should be obliged to get up in the middle of 
 the night!" 
 
 "Must you go so early?" asked Mrs. Las- 
 cclles, with a sympathising smile. 
 
 "Ko help for it," answered Sir Henry re- 
 signedly. " Shall have to breakfast at nine. 
 Such is life!" 
 
 So Mrs. Lascelles managed to rise early the 
 following morning, and come down to pour out 
 Sir Henry's coffee, looking exceedingly fresh and 
 handsome the while ; but it is probable she 
 might have saved herself the trouble, and en- 
 joyed at least two hours' more beauty-sleep, had 
 she foreseen that Helen would also be in the 
 breakfast-room to keep papa company, as was 
 her custom during his morning meal. 
 
 So Sir Henry, after an exceedingly hasty 
 repast, started off, with a cigar in his mouth, of 
 course, for the congenial society of a trainer, and 
 the delightful occupation of looking at untried 
 thorough-bred stock that he could not afford to 
 buy, leaving the ladies to such devices of their 
 
POST-TIME. 265 
 
 own as might while away their morning till the 
 welcome honr of post-time. 
 
 " Letters ! letters !" exclaimed Jin, who always 
 took upon herself to superintend its arrival, de- 
 parture, and, indeed, all arrangements connected 
 with the correspondence at The Lilies; "two for 
 Helen, one for Eose, one for me, and five for 
 Mr. Groves," — while she dealt from a packet 
 in her hand these several missives to their re- 
 spective owners, each of whom received the boon 
 with gratitude, except Uncle Joseph. 
 
 Women, I believe, always like to get letters. 
 To their craving dispositions, I imagine bad 
 news is better than none ; and they prefer the 
 excitement of sorrow to the stagnation of no 
 excitement at all. Even towards Christmas, 
 when the majority of written communications 
 tend to disturb our enjoyment of the season, only 
 from male lips is heard the fervent thanksgiving, 
 " Eo letters ? What a blessing ! " The ladies, I 
 am persuaded, would rather receive reminders 
 from their dressmakers, than feel themselves cut 
 off from all interest in the daily mail. 
 
266 CONTRABAND. 
 
 Uncle Joseph, who expected but little gratifi- 
 cation from his epistles, and under the most 
 favourable conditions reflected they would mostly 
 require answers, retired with a growl to peruse 
 them in his own den. Where we may leave him 
 to their full enjoyment, preferring to remain in 
 the bright and cheerful morning-room with the 
 ladies. 
 
 Miss Eoss read her letter with a smile of con- 
 siderable amusement, and a mischievous glance at 
 Mrs. Lascelles. 
 
 " From Goldie," said she, "and tolerably co- 
 Ik 'rent, considering the poor thing's state of mind. 
 Do you hear, Eose ? I have actually got a letter 
 from your Mr. Goldthred !" 
 
 " So have I," said Mrs. Lascelles quietly. 
 
 " So have I," echoed Helen; "I had no idea 
 he wrote so nice a hand." 
 
 Comparing their several communications, the 
 three ladies discovered that this painstaking 
 correspondent had written in precisely the same 
 terms to each, requesting, with no little formality, 
 the pleasure of their company at his proposed 
 
POST-TIME. 267 
 
 pic-nic. To so polite a circular all admitted it 
 was a thousand pities a refusal must be sent ; 
 but, alas ! Goldthrcd had selected for his party 
 a day fixed for one of those breakfasts in the 
 vicinity of London at which everybody asked 
 thinks it necessary to appear, while the uninvited 
 decline other engagements, partly in hopes of a 
 card at the last moment, partly that they may 
 not publish their exclusion from this suburban 
 paradise, to their friends. 
 
 It cost Helen some minutes' study to frame 
 her refusal of Mr. Goldthred's invitation. 
 
 She was little in the habit of writing to gen- 
 tlemen, and entertained grave doubts as to the 
 manner in which a young lady ought to address 
 her correspondents of the other sex. To begin 
 " Sir" she considered decidedly too formal. 
 "Dear Mr. Goldthred" would be too familiar. 
 After spoiling two sheets of note-paper, she re- 
 solved that " Dear Sir" was the correct thing, 
 and sat down to write her note accordingly, with 
 a beating heart and an exceedingly good pen. 
 
 It was not Mr. Goldthred's invitation, how- 
 
268 CONTRABAND. 
 
 ever, that caused this derangement of Ilclcn's 
 circulation, that brought the light to her eyes, 
 the colour to her cheeks. She had received 
 Frank Vanguard's letter by the same post, and 
 reading it, as she was forced to do, in the 
 presence of the others, could scarce keep down 
 a little cry of rapture and surprise at its con- 
 tents. She walked away, indeed, to the window, 
 so as to hide her face from her companions, and 
 took the earliest opportunity of escaping to her 
 own room, that she might devour it over and 
 over again in solitude, but was presently drawn 
 from that refuge by certain energetic house- 
 maids, and compelled to return to the drawing- 
 room without delay, inasmuch as the post left The 
 Lilies again before luncheon. Such a letter as 
 Frank's required an immediate answer, however 
 short it might be, and Helen's was indeed of 
 the shortest. She felt that until she had con- 
 sulted her father, it was better not to pour 
 out on paper the feelings thrilling at her heart. 
 A very few words would serve to convey her 
 sentiments in the meantime, so a couple of lines 
 
POST-TIME. 269 
 
 were considered enough to let Frank know that, 
 as far as the young lady herself was concerned, 
 his proposals should be favourably entertained. 
 
 It was very provoking, to be sure, that papa 
 was out of the way, and that his absence was of 
 such doubtful duration ; still he would surely 
 approve when he learned all particulars, and a 
 day or two did not seem long to wait after weeks 
 of uncertainty and anxiety. All at once Helen 
 felt as if she had known Captain Vanguard her 
 whole life, and never cared a straw for any other 
 creature on earth. Her heart leaped to think 
 there was a chance of meeting him to-night at 
 Lady Shuttlecock's. He would be sure to guess 
 she was going. Of course he would be 
 there ! 
 
 So, with a quickened pulse, as I have said, 
 but affecting much outward composure, Miss 
 Hallaton daintily folded two neat little packets, 
 and addressed them, notwithstanding her agita- 
 tion, in a perfectly steady handwriting, to William 
 Goldthred, Esq., and Captain F. Vanguard, re- 
 spectively, each at the Cauliflower Club, St. 
 
2 7 o CONTRABAND. 
 
 James's, S.W. Then she dropped them in a 
 letter-box that stood under the clock in the front 
 hall, and felt. so happy she could have snng alond 
 for joy. 
 
 13 nt a pair of lynx-eyes had been watching 
 Helen's movements ; a keen and bnsy brain was 
 ■working eagerly to account for every change 
 in the girl's demeanour, from the first flush of 
 pleasure with which she read her letters to the 
 buoyant step and joyous air with which she re- 
 entered the drawing-room after depositing their 
 answers in the box. Miss Eoss knew well 
 enough that a communication from Goldthred 
 was insufficient to produce this nnnsnal agitation, 
 and a keen instinct of jealousy whispered that 
 Helen's other letter mnst be from Frank Yan- 
 gnard. 
 
 Jin's pale face turned paler at the thought, but 
 it was her nature to confront a difficulty as soon 
 as suspected ; to overcome it unscrupulously and 
 without regard to the means employed, if it really 
 stood in her way. 
 
 She would have given a great deal to see the 
 
POST- TIME. 271 
 
 letter Helen read over half-a-dozen times under 
 her very eyes, but how was that possible when 
 it lay safely stowed away in the breast of a 
 morning gown ? Ko ; the letter was doubtless 
 out of reach, bnt she could get some information 
 surely from its answer ! 
 
 A walk before luncheon had been agreed on, at 
 the instigation indeed of Miss Eoss, who wanted 
 her afternoon clear for a visit to Mrs. Mole. She 
 was ready before the others ; and while they 
 were putting then bonnets on, ran downstairs 
 with a jug of warm water, to the astonishment of 
 the housemaid, who heard her say she was going 
 to water some plants in the library. Then she 
 fidgeted backwards and forwards from the hall 
 to the drawing-room, and Mrs. Lascelles, coming 
 out of the latter apartment, found her bending 
 over the letter-box. 
 
 "What are you about, Jin?" said her friend. 
 "Helen and I have been looking for you in the 
 conservatory." 
 
 " Only posting my answer to Goldic," replied 
 Miss Eoss with a laugh. "Don't be jealous, 
 
2 7 2 CONTRABAND. 
 
 Eosc. He'll show it to you, I'm sure, if you ask 
 him." 
 
 But she seemed absent and prc-occupied during 
 their walk, though more cordial and affectionate 
 in her manner to Helen than she had ever been 
 before. 
 
CHAPTEE XY. 
 
 BETWEEN CUP AND LIP. 
 
 Neyeb in her life, perhaps, had Helen enjoyed 
 anything so much as her afternoon's journey to 
 London with Mrs. Lascelles. The smiling land- 
 scape on either side the railroad looked fairer, 
 brighter, more like home than ever, when seen 
 under a glow of celestial light radiating from a 
 happy heart. For her, that seemed a glory, 
 shining direct from paradise, which was to her 
 companion but a glare of heat and discomfort, 
 dazzling, scorching — worse, unbecoming in the 
 extreme. 
 
 " It's good for the country, my dear, that's a 
 comfort ; but I'm sure it's fatal to one's com- 
 plexion," said Mrs. Lascelles, vainly endeavouring 
 to combine the shelter of a blind with the 
 
 VOL. I. T 
 
274 CONTRABAND. 
 
 draught from an open window at forty miles an 
 hour. " If they're to make hay when the sun 
 shines, now's their time. How provoking ! We 
 shall have him in here. I told the guard we 
 wanted this carriage to ourselves. Dear Helen, 
 cant you look as if you'd got the mumps ?" 
 
 But dear Helen was possibly not desirous of 
 assuming so disfiguring a malady, for the unwel- 
 come passenger put his head into their compart- 
 ment, and, being a man of the world, sued in 
 forma pauperis for an accommodation to which he 
 was entitled by the purchase of his first-class 
 ticket. He did not say, " I have as good a right 
 here as you, having paid my fare;" but, lifting 
 his hat, stepped quietly in with a smiling apology 
 for disturbing them. " The train is so full," said 
 he, "I cannot find room even second class. I 
 hope I shall not be much in your way." 
 
 We all know how readily the sex are disarmed 
 by cool audacity veiled under a respectful man- 
 ner. The " odious creature " became " a pleasant 
 gentleman-like man " on the spot, and Picard — 
 for it was none other — so ingratiated himself 
 
BETWEEN CUP AND LIP. 275 
 
 with tlic ladies that, when he left them at Pad- 
 ding ton, they burst forth simultaneously in praise 
 of his appearance, his manners, his whiskers, his 
 white hat, everything that was his. 
 
 ''Must be a foreigner," declared Helen. 
 " He's so well-bred ! " 
 
 This, I have observed, is a favourite femi- 
 nine fallacy, not to be exploded but by much 
 continental travel in mixed society. 
 
 "Must be somebody!" chimed in Mrs. Las- 
 celles. "lam sure I know his face. I think he 
 drives a drag. I declare, Helen, I'll bow to him 
 if I meet him anywhere about." 
 
 "So will I," said Helen; and forgot his 
 existence forthwith. 
 
 Was she not even now in the same town with 
 Frank Vanguard — treading the same pavement, 
 breathing the same air (and smoke) ? 
 
 "We'll have one turn for health in the 
 Park," said Mrs. Lascelles, as the two ladies 
 seated themselves in her open carriage. "You 
 know you're in my charge to-day, Helen ; and 
 I mean to bring you out in what your papa calls 
 
276 CONTRABAND. 
 
 the 'best possible form.' To-night, dear, I'm 
 determined yon shall win all your engage- 
 ments ! " 
 
 So her stout and florid coachman, shaving the 
 kerb-stone to an inch, turned under the Marble 
 Arch at a liberal twelve miles an hour, which 
 subsided into three before he reached Grosvenor 
 Gate, and so, losing his identity in a double 
 column of carriages, brilliant and glittering as 
 his own, commenced the performance of that 
 imposing function — grand, deliberate, and fune- 
 real — which is solemnized every lawful day in 
 Hyde Park between six and half-past seven p.m. 
 Barouches, sociables, tax-carts, Victorias, every 
 kind of wheeled conveyance, were wedged three- 
 deep in the road. All the chairs on the foot- 
 way were occupied, and the path was blocked 
 with walkers to the rails. Mounted policemen, 
 making themselves ubiquitous, pranced about 
 and gesticulated with unusual vehemence. 
 Those on foot ferried passengers across the 
 drive at intervals, majestically rebuking for that 
 purpose the horse and his rider, the charioteer, 
 
BETWEEN CUP AND LIP. 277 
 
 and the foaming, highly -Lit ted animal he con- 
 trolled. 
 
 It was once said of London Ly a visitor, I 
 believe, from Dublin, that "you could not see 
 the town for the houses." Here, in this high 
 tide of humanity, you could not see the people 
 for the crowd. 
 
 " Xot a soul in the Park!' 3 observed Mrs. 
 Lascelles, languidly scanning the myriads that 
 surrounded her. 
 
 " I can't think where they get to," said 
 Helen. "Nobody ever seems to come here that 
 one knows." 
 
 But a vivid blush rose to her temples while 
 she spoke. So Lecoming was its etfect, that a 
 young man, leaning against the rails, extricating 
 his intellect for a moment out of vacancy, ex- 
 claimed to his companion — 
 
 " Caramba ! Jack ! " — he had once Lcen at 
 Gibraltar for a week, and piqued himself on 
 swearing in Spanish — " Caramba ! Jack ! what 
 a good-looking girl ! Vriio is she ? " 
 
 And Jack, never at a loss, detailed her private 
 
278 CONTRABAND, 
 
 history forthwith, identifying lior as the daughter 
 of a foreign minister, and furnishing his friend 
 with a jaw-breaking German name, imprac- 
 ticable to pronounce, even had it been possible to 
 remember. But the origin of this young lady's 
 confusion occupied a position far beyond these 
 pedestrian admirers, and was, indeed, none other 
 than Frank Vanguard, taking the air on a very 
 desirable hack amongst several equestrians of 
 the season, but so partitioned off from Helen by 
 dandies, dowagers, peers, commoners, and ser- 
 vants in livery, to say nothing of an iron railing, 
 that, for all gratification to be obtained from his 
 society, he might as well have been the other 
 side of the Serpentine. 
 
 He saw her, though, that was some comfort. 
 So did Mrs. Lascelles, confirming thereby into 
 certainty the suspicions she entertained that 
 Helen cherished a real affection for this cap- 
 tivating dragoon. 
 
 " She's a dear girl," thought that quick- 
 sighted lady; " and Jin shall not interfere with 
 her. He's tolerably well off. They might both 
 
BETWEEN CUP AND LIP. 279 
 
 do worse ; and Sir Ilcnry would like it. Home, 
 John ! " 
 
 So, although Frank sent his hack along as 
 fast as our police-regulations permit, in order 
 to catch a glimpse of his charmer while she left 
 the Park at Albert Gate, he was rewarded only 
 with a back view of Mrs. Lascelles's carriage, 
 ornamented by a boy and a basket taking a free 
 passage to their next destination. 
 
 "Never mind," thought the rider. "I can't 
 miss seeing her to-night at Battledore House. 
 "We'll put it all right in the tea-room. I think 
 she'll say, ' Yes.' Why shouldn't she ? My 
 darling, I'll make you as happy as ever I'can." 
 
 I wonder if the hack thought his master's 
 caress at this moment was bestowed entirely for 
 his own sake. He shook his dainty head as if 
 he did, rolling his shoulders, and rising into 
 one or two managed gambols, as he bore Frank 
 homewards at a canter. 
 
 To meet one's lady-love at an exceedingly 
 smart ball with the desperate intention of pro- 
 posing to her then and there, ought to be excite- 
 
280 CONTRABAND. 
 
 ment enough, in all conscience, for any one clay ; 
 but, during the London season, people cram a 
 week's work into twenty-four hours, and Frank 
 had yet a good deal to do before he could find 
 himself in that tea-room at Battledore House, 
 to which he looked forward so longingly, and 
 with the recesses of which his previous expe- 
 rience, I fear, had rendered him unjustifiably 
 familiar. 
 
 A protracted mess-dinner to meet an illus- 
 trious personage must first be gone through. It 
 would be impossible to leave the barracks till 
 that personage gave the signal for breaking up ; 
 and although a London ball is the latest of all 
 festive gatherings, Frank, I think, was the only 
 individual present, at an early hour of the morn- 
 ing, who felt anything but regret when the guest, 
 who had thus honoured them, taking a kind and 
 cordial farewell of his entertainers, announced 
 himself ready to depart. 
 
 "If I can get there by two," thought the 
 young officer, " I may catch her before she 
 leaves. It's just my luck to have tumbled into 
 
BETWEEN CUP AXD LIP. 281 
 
 this d d thing, when I wanted to be else- 
 where ! " 
 
 Thus, you see, does one man undervalue 
 privileges which another perhaps esteems the 
 height of human felicity. Of all Thackeray's 
 keen touches, there are none keener than that 
 in which Lord Steync says, " Everybody wants 
 what they haven't got. 'Gad, I dined with the 
 King yesterday, and we'd boiled mutton and 
 turnips ! " 
 
 ""We're late, Frank," said young Lord Kil- 
 garron. "Jump into my brougham. It will 
 get us there quicker than a cab. Battledore 
 House, Tom. Drive like blazes!" The last to 
 a smart lad in livery, who obeyed this injunc- 
 tion to the letter, as Lord Kilgarron leaped 
 lightly in after his friend, and banged to the 
 door. 
 
 "I must go," added his lordship. " She's my 
 aunt, yon know. What's the use of an aunt, 
 Frank ? I get very little good out of mine. 
 Xow a grandmother'' s a decent kind of relation- 
 ship. Mine gave me the very mare we're 
 
282 CONTRABAND. 
 
 driving — half-sister to Termagant. She's a 
 
 rum 'un, I can tell you !" 
 
 " A fast one, I sec," remarked Frank, with 
 much composure, considering they were now 
 whirling past the lamps at a gallop. 
 
 " Is it fast?" demanded his companion, exult- 
 ingly. " Wouldn't she have won the Garrison 
 Cup at the Curragh last year, as sure as ever 
 she was saddled, only the fools ran the race at a 
 walk, and never began at all till the finish !" 
 
 Lord Kilgarron was a thorough Irishman, 
 devoted to sport, reckless of danger, and possess- 
 ing the knack, indigenous to his countrymen, 
 cf hitting off graphic description by a happy 
 blunder. 
 
 " She can go," he added, "and she can stay. 
 That marc, sir, would gallop for a week. Faith, 
 an' she's running off now !" 
 
 She was, indeed ! The Termagant blood, 
 roused by contradiction and an injudicious pull 
 at that side of her mouth which had not been 
 rendered callous in training, rose to boiling 
 pitch. Irritation, resentment, and fear of sub- 
 
BETWEEN CUP AXD LIP. 283 
 
 sequent punishment, combined to madden her. 
 A frantic rise at her collar, a plunge, a lift of 
 her shapely quarters, that only the strongest of 
 lacking-straps prevented from dissevering the 
 whole connection, and the mare was fairly out 
 of her driver's hands, and swinging down Picca- 
 dilly with a brougham and two dandies behind 
 her, almost as fast as she ever swept across the 
 Curragh of Kildare. 
 
 "This is too good to last long," observed 
 Prank, as, shaving a lamp-post, they slued 
 across the street, almost into the panels of a 
 stationary cab, causing its driver to swear 
 hideously in the vulgar tongue. "But it is the 
 only chance of being in time !" 
 
 "We'll pull through, well enough, bar lep- 
 ping ! " answered the other, a touch of the 
 brogue rising under excitement with mellow 
 fluency to his lips. "Ye done it now, by the 
 vestment!" he added, while half-sister to Ter- 
 magant, cannoning from the broad wheel of an 
 early vegetable waggon, against which she cut 
 her shoulder to the bone, lost her foothold, and 
 
28+ CONTRABAND. 
 
 fell with a crash on the slippery pavement, 
 bursting every strap and buckle of her harness, 
 smashing into fragments lamps, shafts, and 
 splash-board, to bring the whole carriage, with 
 its contents, atop of her in headlong confu- 
 sion. "Hurt, Kil?" demanded Frank, rising 
 from the footway, on which he had gone a 
 shooter through the swinging door, over the 
 entire person of his friend. 
 
 " Landed on my head!" answered Ivilgarron, 
 as esteeming the fact a sufficient assurance of 
 safety. "Where's Tom?" 
 
 "Here, my lord," replied that invincible 
 functionary, with a cut on his pate that, to use 
 his master's expression, would have " bothered 
 an Irishman." " I've got your lordship a cab." 
 Tom having indeed hailed one of these peripatetic 
 vehicles while in the act of regaining his feet to 
 secure the mare from destructive struggles by 
 kneeling on her head. 
 
 In such a thoroughfare as Piccadilly, assistance 
 is to be found even at two in the morning. Ere 
 long the mare was again on her legs, at least on 
 
BETWEEN CUP AND LIP. 285 
 
 three of them. The brougham was being towed, 
 like a dismasted wreck, into port ; and the two 
 passengers, having obtained clean water and the 
 use of a clothes-brush in a chemist's shop, 
 alighted from their cab at the door of Battledore 
 House, " not a ha'porth the worse," as Kil- 
 garron said, " an' fit to take the floor with the 
 best of them !" 
 
 This young nobleman was proud of his 
 dancing, pluming himself especially on a strict 
 attention to time, which he called "humouring 
 the tune." 
 
 But these untoward incidents befalling guests 
 who were too late at any rate, brought their 
 arrival to a period when most others were de- 
 parting, and the ball seemed nearly over. 
 Passing hastily through the crowd that always 
 clusters about an awning, and hurrying up the 
 cloth-covered steps with unseemly precipitancy, 
 Frank became aware of his ill-luck when he 
 heard the fatal announcement, "Lady Sycamore's 
 carriage stops the way ! Lady Sycamore 
 coming out !" 
 
286 CONTRABAND. 
 
 Lady Sycamore was Helen's aunt and occa- 
 sional chaperon. The Miss Planes, her lady- 
 ship's daughters, without pretension to beauty, 
 were large, healthy, fresh-looking girls, of the 
 dairy-maid style. Their mamma, wisely resolv- 
 ing that, whatever charms they did possess 
 should be deteriorated as little as possible by 
 bad an and want of sleep, invariably withdrew 
 her charges from ball, drum, or concert at the 
 earliest hour she could gather them under her 
 wing. 
 
 Frank, entering the cloak-room to leave his 
 paletot, foimd himself face to face with Helen 
 coming into the hall. 
 
 For the first hour or two that night, Miss Hal- 
 laton had reaped a very fair harvest of admiration. 
 Those who arrived later, and to whom she was 
 pointed out as a beauty of the season, opined she 
 was too pale, wanted freshness, brightness, and 
 wore a very saddened expression for so young a 
 girl. Lord Jericho, who danced his first qua- 
 drille with her, thought Miss Hallaton, without 
 exception, the pleasantest company he ever came 
 
BETWEEX CUP AXD LIP. 
 
 2S7 
 
 across, and held forth next day at luncheon in 
 praise of her beauty, wit, manners, originality, 
 and good nature, till his sisters, the ladies Enth 
 and Ecbecca Jordan, hated the very sound of 
 her name. Whereas, Vere Vacuous (of the 
 Foreign Office, with an inordinate opinion of 
 the last-named individual), who took her to tea, 
 considered Miss Hallaton " classical, perhaps — 
 statuesque rather. All very well as long as she 
 don't open her mouth ; but dull, he should say ; 
 probably quite uneducated. Provincial ; yes, 
 that described her, he thought. Great want of 
 animation, and much too pale !" 
 
 This last accusation he must have retracted 
 could he have seen the blush that reddened 
 Helen's cheek, when, coming suddenly out of 
 the cloak-room on the person she had been 
 expecting the whole evening, she almost butted 
 her head into the tie of his neckcloth ere she 
 coidd start back and take him calmly by the 
 hand. 
 
 Frank never saw it. How should he ? Neither 
 of these young people quite understood all that 
 
288 CONTRABAND. 
 
 was going on in the other's heart ; and yet both 
 were prepared to take the fatal plunge, and pass 
 the rest of their lives together in the same 
 element. Captain Vanguard, "wonderful to relate, 
 felt almost shy, and found himself strangely 
 unobservant of everything but a beating in 
 his temples, and a queer sensation abont his 
 diaphragm. Of course he would have denied it, 
 but his own colour rose higher than usual, while 
 Lady Sycamore, a portly person with vast scope 
 for the laces, jewels, and other ornaments which 
 decorated her before and behind, accosted him 
 with exceeding graciousness, wondering volubly 
 why he came so late ? Then he had to exchange 
 friendly greetings with the Miss Planes, each of 
 whom considered him an eligible partner for a 
 waltz, a cotillon, or a lifetime. At the last 
 moment too, Goldthred, who had a happy knack 
 of committing ill-timed civilities, and such little 
 social blunders, coming down stairs unoccupied, 
 pounced on Miss Hallaton to put her into the 
 carnage, thinking, no doubt, he was fulfilling 
 his duty to everybody's satisfaction, and Frank 
 
BETWEEN CUP AXD LIP. 289 
 
 was forced to offer his arm to Lady Syca- 
 more. 
 
 It was too provoking ! Poor Helen could have 
 cried; but, goaded to desperation, the moment 
 Goldthred released her by the carriage-door, she 
 contrived to drop her fan with so much energy, 
 that it fell clattering on the steps at Frank 
 Yan guard's feet. 
 
 He accepted the opportunity readily enough, 
 and while he put it in her hand, their heads came 
 very near together, under the inspection only of 
 an approving linkman — more than half- drunk. 
 
 " Did you get my note ?" she whispered, quick 
 as lightning. 
 
 "Mo." 
 
 " It's waiting for you. Thanks ! Captain Van- 
 guard. Good-night," and disappearing in the 
 gloomy vaults of the family coach, she rolled off 
 through the darkness, leaving him standing on 
 the steps at Battledore House, 
 
 " With a ghost-seer's look when the ghost disappears." 
 
 "I hope your honour's enjoyed your ball," 
 said the linkman. 
 vol. 1. u 
 
2 9 o CONTRABAND. 
 
 Frank started. He had never been up-stairs, 
 nor even made his bow to Lady Shuttlecock. 
 What had he to do with the ball ? 
 
 ^Nevertheless, he put his hand in his pocket 
 and gave the linkinan half-a-erown. 
 
CHAPTEE XYI. 
 
 "a facer. " 
 
 But Frank entertained no thoughts of returning 
 to the scene of gaiety he had quitted on its very 
 threshold. Stopping only to put a cigar in his 
 mouth he turned, without a pang, from these " halls 
 of dazzling light," to walk slowly away through 
 a succession of dark streets, like a man in a dream. 
 "It's waiting for you!" Of course it was; 
 and what a fool had he been not to inquire for 
 his letters at the "Cauliflower" ere he dressed for 
 dinner. She must have answered his proposal 
 very quickly, he thought ; couldn't have taken 
 time to consult papa, nor any one else ; must have 
 made up her mind in a moment — women always 
 did. Was this a good omen or not ? At each alter- 
 nate lamp-post he changed his opinion. Here 
 he argued, she had jumped at the offer the instant 
 
292 CONTRABAND. 
 
 it was made, loving him so dearly, and being so 
 determined to many him that it was needless to 
 consult any one else on the subject ; ten paces 
 further on, he saw the other side of the question. 
 If she meant to refuse him, it couldn't be done 
 too quickly, and the less said about it the better. 
 Such an answer would, of course, be sent by 
 return of post ; and, prc-occupied as he was, he 
 found himself vaguely calculating the many 
 deliveries of that valuable institution, speculating 
 whether he could indeed have received her letter 
 at his club, had he called for it so early as half- 
 past seven o'clock. 
 
 Revolving this irrelevant consideration in his 
 mind, Helen's beauty and confusion, as he saw 
 her ten minutes ago, rose like a vision before his 
 eyes, and he felt all joy and confidence once 
 more. " Sure of winning !" he said out loud, with 
 a puff of smoke into the hot, close night. " Cock- 
 sure, my boy, as if you'd got the race in your 
 pocket !" 
 
 In two more streets he would reach the " Cauli- 
 flower," and his heart leaped wildly to think of 
 
"A FACERr 293 
 
 the dainty white missive, with its delicate super- 
 scription, even now awaiting him in the lobby of 
 
 that caravanserai. 
 
 Quickening his pace, the sooner to end sus- 
 pense, he came in sight of a figure lurching along 
 the pavement some fifty yards ahead, with the 
 gait of a man who, not in the least overcome by 
 wine, is yet enough under its influence to walk 
 more leisurely and with a more pretentious swing 
 than usual. 
 
 He saw them by dozens every night of his life, 
 and would have taken little notice of this con- 
 vivial bird retiuming to roost, but that his atten- 
 tion was aroused by the scrutinizing manner in 
 which two men, by whom he was himself over- 
 taken at a quick walk, looked under the brim of 
 his hat as they passed by. Eeturning their stare, 
 he observed they were an ill-favoured couple 
 enough, and that one shook his head as if dis- 
 satisfied, crossing the street forthwith to join a 
 third figure that stole out of the shade cast by the 
 opposite houses. Whatever might be their object, 
 all three seemed now to join eagerly in chase. 
 
2 9 + CONTRABAND. 
 
 Frank slackened sail to observe their movements, 
 and was soon satisfied they were dogging the 
 steps of the passenger ahead, who walked care- 
 lessly on in happy unconsciousness that he was 
 watched or pursued. 
 
 These four, tracked and trackers, were pretty 
 close together as they turned out of the main 
 thoroughfare into a street, which several yards of 
 high dead wall without lamps rendered one of 
 the darkest in the West-End of London. Frank 
 looked up and down for a policeman in vain. 
 Uot a soul was to be seen, and finding him- 
 self the only occupant of the pavement, he ran 
 stealthily forward to the corner round which the 
 others had lately disappeared, much mistrusting 
 his assistance would be wanted without delay. 
 
 He was right. Already he could hear a scuf- 
 fling of feet, a smothered oath, two or three blows 
 exchanged, in short, sharp cracks like pistol- 
 shots, while a hoarse voice muttered — 
 
 "Slip it into him, George ! Would ye now? 
 Take that— and that?" 
 
 Notwithstanding their numbers, however, the 
 
"A FACER." 295 
 
 ruffians seemed to have a hard bargain of their 
 pr< The latter, with his hack to the dead 
 
 wall, fought like a wild cat, but three to one 
 make short work, and in a couple of minutes he 
 was overpowered, and down on his knee. Had 
 his head touched the pavement, it might never 
 have risen again, but at this critical juncture in 
 leaped Frank Vanguard, like an Apollo who had 
 learned to box. One remarkably straight left- 
 hander doubled up the smallest assailant like the 
 kick of a horse, while another sent the next in 
 size staggering into the middle of the road, where 
 he thought well to remain for a space, grasping 
 his jaw with both hands, and blaspheming hide- 
 ously. The biggest villain, shouting " Bobbie.- ! " 
 with an execration, and expressing his intention 
 to " hook it," took to his scrapers, as he called 
 them, at once, and was speedily followed by his 
 equally cowardly auxiliaries. 
 
 Frank looked wistfully after the assailants, 
 while he lifted their victim to his feet, exclaiming, 
 with the utmost surprise, "Why, it's Keard!" 
 as the dim light enabled him to identify that 
 
296 CONTRABAND. 
 
 gentleman, considerably mauled and disheveled, 
 yet apparently not very seriously hurt. 
 
 Bleeding and breathless, Picard's presence of 
 mind seemed, however, not to have deserted him. 
 Before thanking Vanguard he felt for a parcel 
 of notes in his breast-pocket, and laughed as 
 heartily as aching bones and heaving lungs 
 would permit. 
 
 " They've missed ' the swag,' " said he, wiping 
 his bloody face with a cambric handkerchief, 
 "and it's worth collaring, I can tell you. It's 
 always my maxim to stick by the stuff; but 
 if it hadn't been for you, 'squire, I must have 
 caved out this spell, I estimate. It would have 
 been a pity, too," he added, relapsing into the 
 English language as he cooled down, "for, bar 
 one at Baltimore, two years back, it's the best 
 night I ever had in my life. 'Pon my soul, 
 Vanguard, I'm heartily obliged to you; and 
 how you hit out ! Why, that dirty black- 
 muzzled chap spun round as if he was shot." 
 
 "He's hurt my knuckles, the little beast!" 
 said Frank, looking with much commiseration 
 
"A FACER." 297 
 
 at certain abrasions on a white and bony hand. 
 " But what have von been about, my dear fellow ; 
 and how did they know you'd got money ? Were 
 yon at all screwed?" 
 
 " Sober as a judge!" answered Picard. "In 
 fact, a deal soberer than some judges I've seen 
 down AYest in my time ! I've been playing 
 billiards ever since eleven o'clock, making game 
 after game off the balls in a form you'd hardly 
 believe. The fact is, I caught a flat, who 
 thought he was a sharp ! First he lost his 
 money, then his temper. Of course he played 
 on to get back both. I didn't win so very easy, 
 you know ; indeed I had rather a squeak for it 
 more than once ; but I always managed to nail 
 him in the last break. Then we got to double 
 or quits, and I needn't tell you how that went. 
 He'd a friend, too, from the country, what you 
 Britishers call ' a yokel,' I suspect, who backed 
 his man handsome and paid up like the Bank 
 of England. I drew this sportsman to a lively 
 tune, I can tell you. Altogether I landed a 
 hatful, and not a drop would I have to drink 
 
298 CONTRABAND. 
 
 till just before starting. I don't lldnlc they 
 hocussed me ; no, I've been hocussed before, 
 and I know what it is. But their brandy was 
 infernally strong, or the soda-water unaccount- 
 ably weak, for somehow I felt so jolly I said 
 I wouldn't have a cab, but walk home behind a 
 weed. 
 
 " Row I think of it, there was a big, awkward- 
 looking skunk loafing about the table most of 
 the night, who never betted nor played, but 
 seemed always on the watch, to see we didn't 
 steal the chalk, as I supposed. I know better 
 now. He sneaked out, I remarked, when I went 
 for a cocktail. Ro doubt he watched me start 
 off to walk, and followed with his pals. That's 
 the gentleman who ' skedaddled' just now so 
 freely when it came to a fight. Captain Van- 
 guard, I say again, I'm infernally obliged to 
 you!" 
 
 Frank, whose excitement had cooled down, 
 was on thorns to receive his letter. "Have a 
 cigar," said he, proffering his case. " I fear I 
 can't do anything more for you now. I'll see you 
 
"A FACER? 299 
 
 home, if you like, but I'm rather anxious to get 
 to my club before they shut up. It's the ' Cauli- 
 flower, 3 you know. Almost in the next street.' 7 
 
 "I live close by," exclaimed Picard. "We'll 
 go together, and I hope you'll come and look me 
 up at my rooms to-morrow. I've a few Yankee 
 notions, and things I've got together knocking 
 about Mexico and the States. They might 
 amuse you, and I can give you a capital weed — 
 nobody better; and you shall have the best I 
 have, you shall ! John Picard never yet forgot 
 a good turn nor a bad one. You're the right 
 sort, Captain, real grit ; and you and me are 
 mates for life. It's John Picard says so, and 
 there's his hand upon it!" 
 
 Frank, who entertained a truly British horror 
 of being thanked, would fain have escaped forth- 
 with, but there was no avoiding the proffered 
 hand ; and it struck him also that his new friend 
 reeled somewhat in his gait, talking the while 
 more volubly and thicker than at first. 
 
 Kesolving, therefore, to see him safely to his 
 own door, and return as speedily as possible to 
 
300 CONTRABAND. 
 
 the " Cauliflower," lie grappled his companion 
 firmly by the arm, and steered him without 
 difficulty along the now deserted pavement. 
 
 A couple of heavy blows on the head, with a 
 strong squeeze of the throat, had served, no 
 doubt, to intensify the effect of such villanous 
 brandy as Picard imbibed before leaving the 
 billiard-room in which he had been so successful. 
 He said as much, admitting a certain influence 
 on his physical powers, but repudiating, with 
 suspicious jealousy, the idea that hard knocks or 
 alcohol could in any way affect his brain. 
 
 "My boots are a little screwed," he observed, 
 contemplating them with a gentle forbearance, 
 "but my legs are right enough, and so am I. 
 John Picard isn't a man, sir, to be upset by a 
 drop of corn-brandy, nor a hug from a loafer 
 like that. I'd have whipped him into Devon- 
 shire cream if I'd had a clear stage. How many 
 were there now, according to your calculation? 
 I tell ye fair, I was down (because these d — d 
 boots chose to get drunk) before I'd time to 
 count !" 
 
" a facer:* 3 oi 
 
 " Only three," answered Frank, laughing, 
 "and not a good man in the lot. They 
 wouldn't have tried it on if we had been 
 together; but your boots went so fast I couldn't 
 catch them." 
 
 The other shook his head gravely. " Three," 
 said he. "An' I hadn't even a tooth-pick." 
 
 "Tooth-pick!" repeated Frank in astonish- 
 ment. " Lucky you hadn't — you'd have swal- 
 lowed it !" 
 
 Picard being now arrived at that stage in 
 which a man finds it impossible to make any 
 statement, however trivial, without turning 
 round and facing his companion, stopped short 
 beneath a lamp-post, while he explained with 
 great solemnity — 
 
 "A bowie-knife, about eighteen inches long, 
 sharp on both sides, and weighted in the handle, 
 is what we call a tooth-pick, young man, down 
 Arkansas way. It's a neat tool — very — and 
 balances beautiful. Some like them up the 
 sleeve. I used to wear mine down the collar 
 of my coat. That an' a six-shooter, if you're 
 
302 CONTRABAND. 
 
 pretty spry, will clear the kitchen smart enough 
 in a general row. Down to Colorado now, I'd 
 have laid those three loafers in the larder 
 before yon could say i bitters.' And to think 
 that to-night I shouldn't have had so much as 
 a pencil case on me ! How old Abe Affable 
 would laugh if he came to hear of it. Poor 
 old Abe ! The last time I saw him he wanted 
 to scalp a nigger for blacking his boots instead 
 of greasing them. Well, well ; different coun- 
 tries, different manners, and. different drinks, 
 no doubt. I like this country, Captain. After 
 all, I'm a citizen of the world, but more a 
 Britisher than anything else." 
 
 "Are we near your house now?" asked 
 Prank, whose impatience made him almost wish 
 he had left this citizen of the world to his fate. 
 
 "Xcxt lamp-post but two," replied the other, 
 with an unmeaning laugh. " Boots know where 
 they are now, I do believe — would find their 
 own way to the scraper if I was to pull 'em 
 off, I'll lay a hundred. Here you are, Captain, 
 latch-key sober, at any rate. You won't come 
 
"A FACER." 303 
 
 in ? Well, perhaps it is late ; good night, mate. 
 One word before yon cast off." 
 
 Poor Frank, chafing like an irritable horse 
 at the starting-post, returned on his track, and 
 Picard took hold of the lappet of his coat. 
 
 " I'll go back to Windsor with yon," said he 
 cordially. "I like Windsor, and I like you. 
 I've reason to like both. Look here, Vanguard ; 
 there's something at Windsor that would have 
 looked very queer if I'd been rubbed out jnst 
 now ; and I might have been, I don't deny it, 
 bnt for yon. Poor little chap, he's got nobody 
 in the world but me ! Perhaps that's why I'm 
 so fond of him. I dare say Pharaoh's daughter 
 thought there never was such a child as Moses 
 when she pulled him out of the water. I know 
 when I fished my boy out he put his chubby 
 arms round my neck as if I'd been his father. 
 Little rogue ! I couldn't care more for him 
 if he was my own, twenty times over. 
 
 " I'm a domestic fellow naturally, Vanguard, 
 though I'm yarning to you now, under a lamp- 
 post, at three in the morning. I've had a rough 
 
3 o f. CONTRABAND. 
 
 time of it, one way and another. Xot always 
 fail- play, I fancy. Sometimes I think I'm the 
 "biggest blackguard unhung. Sometimes I hope 
 I'm not so much worse than my neighbours." 
 
 Frank was thoroughly good-natured. 
 
 ""We'll talk that over to-morrow/ 7 said he; 
 " in the meantime, good night." 
 
 "Good night," repeated the other. "I know 
 what I say, Yanguard," he called out after his 
 friend, while putting his latch-key in the lock ; 
 " and to prove it, I'll show you, my boy!" 
 
 "He must be very drunk," thought Frank, 
 speeding down the street like a deer, "and 
 I'm glad I came across him in the nick of 
 time — there would have been mischief if those 
 fellows had got at him alone." 
 
 In another moment, palpitating and breathless, 
 he was on the steps of the "Cauliflower" Club, 
 where, passing swiftly into the hall,, he espied 
 Goldthred reading a letter by gaslight, with an 
 expression of countenance that denoted he was 
 profoundly mystified by its contents. 
 
 This gentleman, strolling in to quench his 
 
 v»- 
 
"A FACER." 305 
 
 thirst after the glare, heat, worry, disappoint- 
 ment, and general penance of Lady Shuttlecock's 
 ball, and running his eye as usual down the 
 letter-rack, drew from the compartment U G" 
 a laconic little epistle without signature, of 
 which the second and third perusals bewildered 
 him no less than the first — 
 
 " If you are really in earnest," so ran this 
 mysterious document, " come to-morrow, there 
 is somebody to be consulted besides me." 
 
 What could it mean ? A lady's handwriting, 
 to which he was an utter stranger. Xo name, 
 no date, no monogram. " Come to-morrow," 
 thought Goldthred. " Certainly! But where? 
 And when is to-morrow? It's ten minutes past 
 three now. Oh! this can't be intended for me!" 
 
 Then he turned it upside down, backwards and 
 forwards, inside out. The envelope was addressed 
 correctly enough, Christian and surname in full, 
 with even a flourish of calligraphy adorning his 
 humble title of " Esquire." Many members 
 of the " Cauliflower" would have pocketed the 
 effusion without emotion, as a mere every-day 
 
 vol. 1. x 
 
3 o6 CONTRABAND. 
 
 conquest of some anonymous admirer, but such a 
 suspicion never entered Goldthred's honest head. 
 In his utter freedom from self-conceit, this note 
 puzzled him exceedingly ; but to have believed it 
 due to his own powers of fascination, would, in 
 his loyalty to Mrs. Lascelles, have annoyed him 
 still more. 
 
 The same letter-rack, low down, under "V," 
 produced another epistle in a similar hand- 
 writing, which Frank snatched with eagerness 
 from its place and pressed hungrily to his lips, 
 as he rushed back into the street, feeling a 
 strange suffocating necessity on him to read it 
 in the open air. Earning an epicurean prolonga- 
 tion of pleasure, which most of us indulge in, 
 by deferring its actual commencement, he 
 walked some few paces on his homeward way 
 ere he tore open the envelope, with a blessing 
 on his lips for the girl he loved, and something 
 like tears of gratitude, affection, and happiness 
 starting to his eyes. 
 
 These started back again, however, and 
 clustered like icicles round his heart, while 
 
"A FACER." 307 
 
 ho read the following terse and explicit com- 
 munication : — 
 
 " Dear Sir, — 
 
 " I regret that a previous engagement 
 will prevent my availing myself of your polite 
 offer. I shall, of course, inform my father of 
 your proposal when he returns. 
 "And remain, 
 
 " Yours sincerely, 
 
 "Helen Hallaton." 
 
 Frank clenched his fists and shut his teeth 
 tight, for it hurt him. Hurt him very severely, 
 though he scorned to wince or cry out, only 
 smiling in anything but mirth, while he said 
 aloud to the gas-lamps — 
 
 " I didn't think she was such a bad one ! 
 Miss Eoss is worth a dozen of her. Helen, 
 how could you !" 
 
 Perhaps in all his life he never loved her 
 better than now, while he swore nothing should 
 induce him to see nor speak to her again. 
 
 END of vol. 1. 
 
LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY VIRTUE AND CO- 
 CITY ROAD. 
 
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