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Les diagrammas suivants illuatrent le m4thcr*e. 1 2 3 4 6 MICROCOPY ;(ESOLUTION TEST CHART (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) 1.0 2.8 ta m m 2.5 2.2 [2.0 1.8 1.4 1.6 A APPLIED IIU^GE 1653 East Main Street Rochester, New York 14609 LISA (716) 482 -OMO-Ptione f716) 288 - 5989 -Fax J, ,^ instructions a to how to ask her way at every turn, and to be careful n crossing the street. Mrs. Potter shuddered a these journeys to Fleet Street or St. Paul's church- yard, and It seemed a wonder to her that the child came back alive, but she stood in too much a^^^ her lodger's learning and importance to question she had all the discretion of a woman, and was able cr^^"her°' '" '^?^' ^"' ^° ^^^^ '^^ " scrawl in her own neat penmanship, when he hid written against time in a kind of shorthand of his Td -f,/-^-;-- which Antonia soon mas! dutv J. '^^"''*'°" °^ ^''' ^^"^ht^'- was the one duty that Thornton had never shirked. Hack Grub-Street Scribblers 9 scrihhler as he was, he loved books for their own sake, and he loved imparting knowlcdfje to a child whose quick appreciation lightened the task and made it a relaxation. He gave her of his best thinking that he did her a service in teaching her to despise the beliefs that so many of her fellow- creatures cherished, ranking the Christian r-ligion with every hideous superstition of the dark ages' as only a little better than the delusions of nian-catinir savages m im unexplored Africa, or those sunlU isles where Cook was slaughtered. This man was, perhaps, a natural product of that dark age which went before the great revival-the age vvhen not to be a deist and a scoffer was to be out of the fashion. He had been an ordained clergy- man of the Church of England, taking up that trade as he took up the trade of letters, for bread and cheese. The younger son of a well-born York- tt[f??n'^ ^u ^''" ^ P^'^^'S^t^ ^"^ - spend- thrift at Oxford, but was clever enough to get a degree, and to scrape through his ordination As he had never troubled himself about spiritual ques- tions and_ knew no more theology than sufficed to satisfy an indulgent bishop, he had hardly considered the depth of his hypocrisy when he tendered himself as a shepherd of souls. He had a fluent pen, and could vvrite a telling sermon, when it was worth his while; but original eloquence was wasted upon his bovine flock in L ncolnshire, and he generally read them any old printed sermon that came to hand among the rubbish heap of his book-shelves He migrated from one curacy to another, and from one farm-house to another, drinking with the farmers iHinting with the squires ; diversified this dull rotmd with a year or two on the Continent as bear leader lO The Infidel to a wealthy inerchant's son and heir ; brought home an Itahan wife, and while she lived was tolerably constant and tolerably sober. That brief span of wedded life, with a woman he fondly loved, made the one stage in his life journey to which he might have looked back without self-reproach. He was delighted with his daughter's quick intel- lect and growing love for books. She began to help him almost as soon as she could write, and now in her twentieth year father and daughter seemed upon an intellectual level. " Nature has been generous to her," he told his chums at " The Portico." " She has her mother's beauty and my brains." " Let's hope she'll never have your swallow for gin punch, Bill," was the retort, that being the favorite form of refreshment in "The Portico" room at the Red Lion. " Nay, she inherits sobriety also from her moth- er, whose diet was as temperate as a wood nymph's." His eyes grew dim as he thought of the wife long dead — the confiding girl he had carried from her home among the vineyards and gardens of the sunny hillside above Bellagio to the dismal Lincoln- shire parsonage, between gray marsh and sluggish river. He had brought her to dreariness and pen- ury, and to a climate that killed her. Nothing but gin punch could ever drown those sorrowful mem- ories ; so 'twas no wonder Thornton took more than his share of the bowl. His companions were his juniors for the most part, and his inferiors in edu- cation. He was the Socrates of this vulgar academy, and his disciples looked up to him. The shabby second floor in Rupert's Buildings Grub-Street Scribblers ii was Antonia's only idea of home. Her own eerie was on the floor ah(jve— a roomy (-arret, with a casement window in tlie sloping roof.a wmdow that seemed to command all London, for she could see Westminster Abbey and the houses of Parliament, and across the river to the more rustic-looking ?^treets and lanes on the southern shore. She loved her garret for the sake of that window, which had a broad stone sill where she kept her garden of stocks and pansies, pinks and cowslips, maintained with the help of an occasional shilling from her father. The sitting-room was furnished with things that had once been good, for Mrs. Potter was one of those many hermits in the great city who had seen better days. She was above the common order of landladies, and kept her house as clean as a house m Rupert's Buildings could be kept. Tidiness was out of the question in any room inhabited by Wil- liam Thornton, whose books and papers accumu- lated upon every available table or ledge, and were never to be moved on pain of his severe dis- pleasure. It was only by much coaxing that his daughter could secure the privilege of a writing- table to herself. He declared that tiie removal of a suigle printer's proof might be his ruin, or even the rum of the newspaper for which it was intended. Such as her home was, Antonia was content with It. Such as her life was, she bore it patiently, un- sustamed by any hope of a happier life in a world to come— unsustained by the conviction that by her mdustry and cheerfulness she was pleasing God. She knew that there were homes in which life looked brighter than it could in Rupert's Buildings. She walked with her father in the evening streets 12 T he Infidel sonictinics wlicu his empty pockets and his score at the Red Lion furhade the pleasures of " The Portico." She knew the aspect of houses in Pall Mall and St. James Scpiare, in Arlin>;ton Street and Piccadilly ; heard the .sound of fiddles and French horn.s through open windows, lijj^ht music and lij;ht laughter ; caught glimpses of inner splendors through hidl doors ; saw coaches and chairs setting down gay company, a street crow. led with link- boys and running footmen. She knew that in this Lon(^,Jon, within a quarter of a mile of her garret, there as a life to which she must ever remain a stranger — a life of luxury and pleasure, led by the high horn and the wealthy. Sometimes when her father was in a sentimental mood he would tell her of his grandfather's mag- nificence at the family-scat near Yotk; would paint the glories of a country house with an acre and a lialf of roof, the stacks of silver plate, and a perpet- ual flow of visitors. Gargantuan hunt breakfasts, hunters and coach horses without number. He ex- ceeded the limits of actual fact, perhaps, in these reminiscences. The magnificence had all vanished away, the land was sold, the plate was melted, not one of the immemorial oaks was left to show where the park had been ; but Tonia was never tired of hearing of those prosperous years, and was glad to think she came of people who were magnates in the land. m Chapter II. MISS LESTKC. OF TIIK I'ATKN 1 THEATRES. Besides Mrs. Potter, to whom she was warmly attached, Antonia had one friend, an actress at Drury Lane, who had acted in her father's comedy of " How to Please Her," and who had made his daujfhter's acquaintance at the wings while his play was in progress. Patty Lester was, perhaps, hardly the kind of person a careful father would have chosen for his youthful daughter's hosoni friend, for Patty was of the world worldly, ;.nd had some- what lax notions of morality, thouf."^!! there was nothing to be said against her personally. No no- bleman's name had ever been hrackelt 1 with hers in the newspapers, nor had her charac er suffered from any intrigue with a brother acto; But she gave herself no airs of superiority over h. r less vir- tuous sisters, nor was she averse to the frivolous attentions and the trifling gifts of those ancient beaux and juvenile macaronis who flutten 1 at the side-scenes and got in the way of the stagt carpen- ters. Thornton had not reared his daughter in Arca- dian ignorance of evil, and he had no fear of her being influenced by Miss Lester's easy views f con- duct. i> ' t , I H The Infidel " The girl is as honest as any woman in England, but she is not a lady," he told Antonia, " and I don't want you to imitate her. But she has a warm heart, and is always good company, so I see no objection to your taking a dish of tea with her at her lodgings once in a way." This " once in a way " came to be once or twice a week, for Miss Lester's parlor was all that Antonia knew of gayety, and was a relief from the monotony of literary toil. Dearly as she loved to assist her father's labors, there came an hour in the day when the aching hand dropped on the manuscript or the tired eyes swam above the closely printed page, and then it was pleasant to put on her hat and run to the Piazza, where Patty was mostly to be found at home between the morning's rehearsal and the night per- formance. Her lodgings were on a second floor overlooking the movement and gayety of Covent Garden, where the noise of the wagons bringing asparagus from Mortlake and strawberries from Isleworth used to sound in her dreams hours before the indolent actress opened her eyes upon the world of reality. She was at home this windy March afternoon, squatting on the hearth-rug toasting muffins, when Miss Thornton knocked at her door. " Come in, if you're Tonia," she cried. " Stay out if you're an odious man." " I doubt you expect some odious man," said Tonia, as she entered, " or you wouldn't say that." " I never know when not to expect 'em, child. There are three or four of my devoted admirers audacious enough to think themselves always wel- come to drop in for a dish of tea ; indeed, one of 'em has a claim for my civility, for he is in the India Miss Lester IS trade, and keeps me in gunpowder and bohea. But 'tis only General Henderson I expect this after- noon — him that gave me my silver canister," added Patty, who never troubled about grammar. " I would rather be without the canister than plagued by that old man's company," said Tonia. " Oh, you are hard to please — unless 'tis some scholar with his mouth full of book talk ! I find the general vastly entertaining. Sure he knows every- body in London, and everything that is doing or going to be done. He keeps me azo courrong," concluded Patty, whose French was on a par with her English. She rose from the hearth, with her muffin smok- ing at the end of a long tin toasting fork. Her par- lor was full of incongruities — silver, tea-canister, china cups and saucers glorified by sprawling red and blue dragons, an old mahogany tea-board and pewter spoons, a blue satin negligee hanging over the back of a chair, and open powder-box on the side-table. The furniture was fine but shabby — the sort of fine shabbiness that satisfied the landlady's clients, who were mostly from the two patent thea- tres. The house had a renown for being comfort- able and easy to live in — no nonsense about early hours or quiet habits. " Prythee make the tea while I butter the muf- fins," said Patty. " The kettle is on the boil. But take your hat off before you settle about it. Ah, what glorious hair ! " she said, as Antonia threw off the poor little gypsy hat ; " and to think that mine is fiery red ! " " Nay, 'tis but a bright auburn. I heard your old general call it a trap for sunbeams. 'Tis far prettier than this inky black stuff of mine." i6 The Infidel II Antonia wore no powder, and the wavy masses of her hair were bound into a scarlet snood that set oil their raven gloss. He complexion was of a marble whiteness, with no more carnation than served to show she was a woman and not a statue. Her eyes, by some freak of heredity, were not blaclc, like her mother's — whom she resembled in every other feature— but of a sapphire blue, the blue of Irish eyes, luminous yet soft, changeful, capricious, capa- ble of dazzling joyousness, of profoundest melan- choly. Brown-eyed, auburn-headed Patty looked at her young friend with an admiration which would have been envious had she been capable of ill-nature. " How confoundedly handsome you are to- day ! " she exclaimed ; " and in that gown, too ! I think the shabbier your clothes are the lovelier you look. You'll be cutting me out with my old general." " Your general has seen me a dozen times, and thinks no more of me than if I were a plaster image." " Because you never open your lips before com- pany, except to say yes or no, like a long-headed witness in the box. I wonder you don't go on the stage, Tonia. If you were ever so stupid at the trade your looks would get you a hearing and a salary." " Am I really handsome ? " Tonia asked with calm wonder. She had been somewhat troubled of late by the too florid compliments of booksellers and their as- sistants, whom she saw on her father's business; but she concluded it was their way of affecting gal- lantry with every woman under fifty. She had a i:> as- Miss Lester 17 temper tliat repelled disagreeable attentions, and , kept the boldest admirer at arm's length. " Handsome ? You are the most beautiful crea- ture I ever saw, and I would chop ten years off my old age to be as handsome, though most folks calls me a pretty woman," added Patty, bridling a little, and pursing up a cherry mouth. Slie was a pink-and-white girl, with a complexion like new milk, and cheeks like cabbage-roses. She had a supple waist, plump shoulders, and a neat foot and ankle, and was a capable actress in all secondary characters. She couldn't carry a great playhouse on her shoulders, or make a dull play seem inspired, as Mrs. Pritchard could ; or take the town by storm as Juliet, like Aliss Bellamy. " Well, I doubt my looks will ever win me a for- tune ; but I hope I may earn money from the book- sellers before long, as father does." " Sure 'tis a drudging life— and you'd be happier in the theatre." " Not I, Patty. I should be miserable away from my books, and not to be my own mistress. I work hard, and tramp to the city sometimes when my feet are weary of the stones ; but father and I are free creatures, and our evenings are our own." " Precious dull evenings," said Patty, with her el- bows on the table and her face beaming at her friend. " Have a bit more muffin. I wonder you're not azvmvccd to death." " I do feel a little triste sometimes, when the wind howls in the chimney, and every one in the house but me is in bed, and I have been alone all the evenmg. " Which you are always." " Father has to go to his club to hear the news. i8 The Infidel And 'tis his only recreation. But though T love my hooks, and to sit with my feet on the fender and read Shakespeare, I should love just once in a way to see what people arc like ; the women I see through their open windows on summer nights — such hand- some faces, such flashing jewels, and with snowy feathers nodding over their powdered heads " *' You should see them at Ranelagh. Why does not your father take you to Ranelagh? lie could get a ticket from one of the fine gentlemen whose speeches he writes. I saw him talking to Lord Kil- rush in the wings the other night." " Who is Lord Kilrush ?" " One of the finest gentlemen in town, and a fa- vorite with all the women, though he is nearer fifty than forty." "An old man?" " You would call him so," said Patty, with a sigh, conscious of her nine and twenty years. " He'd give your father a ticket for Ranelagh, I'll warrant." Tonia looked at her brown stuff gown, and laughed the laugh of scorn. " Ranelagh, in this gown ! " she said. " You should wear one of mine." " Good dear, 'twould not reach my ankles ! " " I grant there's overmuch of you. Little David called you the Anakim Venus when he caught sight of you at the side scenes. ' Who's that magnificent giantess ? ' he asked," " The people of Lilliput took Captain Gulliver for a giant and the Brobdingnagians thought him a dwarf. 'Tis a question of comparison," replied Tonia, huffed at the manager's criticism. " Nay, don't be vexed, child. 'Tis a feather in your cap for Garrick to be conscious you existed. ! S and Miss Lester 19 Well, if Ranclagh won't suit, there is Mrs. Manda- lay's dancing-room. She has a ball twice a week in the season, and a masquerade once a fortnight. You can borrow a domino from the costumer in the Piazza for the outlay of half a dozen shillings." " Do the women of fashion go to Mrs. Manda- lay's?" " All the town goes there." " Then I'll beg my father to take me. I am help- ing him with his new comedy, and I want to see what modish people are like — off the stage." " Not half so witty as they are on it. Is there a part for me in the new play? " Patty would have asked that question of Shakes- peare's ghost had he returned to earth to write a new " Hamlet." It was her only idea in associa- tion with the drama. " Indeed, Patty, there is an impudent romp of quality you would act to perfection." " I love a romp," cried Patty, clapping her hands. " Give me a pinafore and a pair of scarlet shoes, and I am on fire with genius. I hope David will bring out your dad's play, and that 'twill run a month." " If it did he would give me a silk gown, and I might see Ranelagh." " He is not a bad father, is he, Tonia ? " " Bad ! There was never a kinder father." " But he lets you work hard." " I love the work next best to him that sets me to it." " And he has been your only schoolmaster, and you are clever enough to frighten a simpleton like me." " Nay, Patty, you are the cleverest, for you can i 20 The Infidel i^i do things— fict, sing, dance. Mine is only bnnk- learning; but such as it is. I owe it all to my father." " I hate hooks. 'Twas as much as I could do to learn to read. But there's one matter in which your father has been unkind to you." " No, no — in nothing." " Yes," said Patty, shaking her head solemnly, " he has brought you up an atheist, never to go to church, not even on Christmas day ; and to read Vol- taire " — with a shudder. "Do you go to church. Patty? 'Tis handy enough to your lodgings." "Oh. Pni too tired of a Sunday morning, after acting six nights in a week; for' if Bellamv and Pritchard are out of the bill and going out a-visit- mg and strutting and grimacing in fine company, there's always a part for a scrub like me : and if Pm not in the play Pm in the burletta." " And do you think you're any wickeder for not going to church twice every Sunday? " " I always go at Christmas and at Easter," pro- tested Patty. " and I feel myself a better woman for going. You've been brought up to hate religion." " Xo. Patty, only to hate the fuss that's made about it, and the cruelties men have done to each other, ever since the world began, in its name." " I wouldn't read Voltaire if I were vou." said Patty. " The general told me it was an impious, in- decent book." " \'oltaire is the author of more than fortv books. Patty." " Oh. is it an author ? I thought 'twas the name of a novel li!