THE NEW 
 PEINCE FOKTUNATUS 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM BLACK, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 M A PRINCESS OF THULE," "MACLEOD OF DARE," ETC. 
 
 NEW AND CHEAPER EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 SAMPSON LOW, MAESTON, SEAELB, & RIVINGTON, 
 
 LIMITED, 
 
 &t. JBtmstan's ^ouse, 
 
 FETTER LANE FLEET STREET, E.G. 
 
 1890. 
 
 [All rights reserved.] 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. A REHEARSAL .... 
 
 II. THE GREAT GOD PAN . 
 
 III. NINA 
 
 IV. COUNTRY AND TOWN 
 V. WARS AND RUMOURS 
 
 VI. A DEPARTURE .... 
 
 VII. IN STRATH AIVRON 
 
 VIII. THE TWELFTH .... 
 
 IX. VENATOR IMMEMOR 
 
 X. AIVRON AND GEINIQ 
 
 XI. THE PHANTOM STAG 
 
 XII. A GLOBE OF GOLD-FISH. 
 
 XIII. A NEW EXPERIENCE 
 
 XIV. A MAGNANIMOUS RIVAL 
 
 XV. 'LETT THE STRICKEN DEER GO WEEP.' 
 
 XVI. AN AWAKENING .... 
 
 XVII. A CRISIS 
 
 XVI II. AN INVOCATION . . . 
 
 XIX. ENTRAPPED ..... 
 
 XX. IN DIRER STRAITS 
 
 XXI. IN A DEN OF LIONS, AND THEREAFTER 
 
 XXII. PRIUS DEMEKTAT .... 
 
 XXIII. A MEMORABLE DAY 
 
 XXIV. FUIENHS IN NEED 
 
 XXV. CHANGES 
 
 XXVI. TOWARDS THE DAWN . 
 
 XXY1L A REUNION . 
 
 PAOB 
 1 
 
 16' 
 32 
 50 
 67 
 83 
 99 
 115 
 133 
 149 
 1G4 
 181 
 197 
 214 
 231 
 246 
 262 
 279 
 294 
 310 
 325 
 341 
 357 
 374 
 390 
 404 
 409 
 
 M86292 
 
THE NEW PRINCE FORTUNATUS, 
 
 CHAPTER. J.,, . . ..,, , ... 1 
 
 A REHEARSAL. - '. . ' ' 
 
 WHEN the curtain fell on tlie last act of The Squire's Daughter, 
 the comedy-opera that had taken all musical London by storm, 
 a tall and elegant young English matron and her still taller 
 brother rose from their places in the private box they had been 
 occupying, and made ready to depart; and he had just assisted 
 her to put on her long- skirted coat of rose-red plush when an 
 attendant made his appearance. 
 
 " Mr. Moore's compliments, your ladyship, and will you 
 please to step this way ? " 
 
 The box was close to the stage. Lady Adela Cunyngham 
 and her brother Lord Kockminster followed their guide through 
 a narrow little door and almost at once found themselves in the 
 wings, amid the usual motley crowd of gas-men> scene-shifters, 
 dressers, and the like. But the company were still fronting 
 the footlights; for there had been a general recall, and the 
 curtain had gone up again; and probably, during this brief 
 second of scrutiny, it may have seemed odd to these two 
 strangers to find themselves looking not at rows of smiling 
 faces on the stage but at the backs of the heads of the per- 
 formers. However, the curtain once more came down ; the 
 great wedding-party in the Squire's hall grew suddenly quite 
 business-like and went their several ways as if they had no 
 longer any concern with each other ; and then it was that the 
 Squire's daughter herself a piquant little person she was, in 
 a magnificent costume of richly flowered white satin, and with 
 a portentous headgear of powdered hair and brilliants and 
 strings of pearls was brought forward by a handsome young 
 gentleman who wore a tied wig, a laced coat and ruffles, 
 
 B 
 
2 The Neiv Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 satiii knee-breeches, shining silken stockings, and silver-buckled 
 shoes. 
 
 *' Lady Adela," said he, " let me introduce you to Miss 
 Burgoyne. Miss Burgoyne has been kind enough to say she 
 will take you into her room for a little while, until I get off 
 my war-paint. I shan't keep you more than a few minutes." 
 
 " It is very good of you," said the tall young matron in the 
 crimson coat to this gorgeous little white bride, whose lips 
 were brilliant with cherry-paste, and whose bright and frank 
 eyes^were surrounded by such a mighty mass of make-up. 
 
 'J^ot a&. qti' j&e answered pleasantly enough, and there- 
 with! she lejd'.tlirwuy.iJown some steps into a long white- tiled 
 , corridor,. fr,ou\ .whic,h .branched the various dressing-rooms. 
 ."5Jmj steajcf; L-cin'tJ iVe* you any tea now; but there's some 
 ' leTiionacle 6f my <3wnmaMhg it has become very popular in 
 the theatre you would hardly believe the number of callers I 
 have of an evening." 
 
 By this time Lionel Moore, who was responsible for these 
 strangers being in the theatre, had gone quickly off to his own 
 dressing-room to change his attire, so that when the two ladies 
 reached a certain half-open door where the prima donna's maid 
 was waiting for her, Lord Rockminster naturally hung back 
 and would have remained without. Miss Burgoyne instantly 
 turned to him. 
 
 " Oh, but you may come in too ! " she said with great 
 complaisance. 
 
 Somewhat timorously he followed these two into a prettily- 
 furnished little sitting-room, where he was bidden to take a 
 seat, and regale himself with lemonade, if he was so minded ; 
 and then Miss Burgoyne drew aside the curtain of an inner 
 apartment, and said to her other guest 
 
 " You may come in here, if you like. Mr. Moore said you 
 wished to know about stage make-up and that kind of thing 
 I will show you all the dreadful secrets Jane ! " Thereupon 
 these three disappeared behind the curtain, and Lord liock- 
 minster was left alone. 
 
 But Lord Rockminster liked being left alone. He was a 
 great thinker, who rarely revealed his thoughts, but who was 
 quite happy in possessing them. He could sit for an hour at 
 a i-l ul (-window, calmly gazing out into the street, and be per- 
 fectly content. It is true that the pale tobacco-tinge that 
 overspread the young man's fair complexion seemed to speak 
 of an out-of-door life ; but he had long ago emancipated himself 
 
A Rehearsal. 3 
 
 from the tyranny of field-sports. That thraldom had begun 
 early with him, as with most of his class. He had hardly been 
 out of his Eton jacket when gillies and water-bailiffs got 
 hold of him, and made him thrash salmon-pools with a 
 seventeen-foot rod until his back was breaking; and then 
 keepers and foresters had taken possession of him, and compelled 
 him to crawl for miles up wet gullies and across peat-hags, 
 and then put a rifle in his hand, expecting him to hit a be- 
 wildering object on the other side of a corrie when, as a matter 
 of fact, his heart was like to burst with excitement and fear. 
 But the young man had some strength of character. He re- 
 belled ; he refused to be driven like a slave any longer ; he 
 struck for freedom and won it. There was still much travelling 
 to be encountered ; but when he had got that over, when he 
 had seen everything and done everything, and there was 
 nothing more to do or to see, then he became master of himself, 
 and conducted himself accordingly. Contemplation, accom- 
 panied by a cigarette, was now his chief good. What his 
 meditations were no one knew, but they sufficed unto himself. 
 He had attained Nirvana. He lived in a region of perpetual 
 thought. 
 
 But there was one active quality that Lord Rockminster 
 certainly did possess : he was a most devoted brother, as all 
 the town knew. He was never tired of going about with his 
 three beautiful sisters, or with any one of them; he would 
 fetch and carry for them with the most amiable assiduity. 
 " Eock " they called him, as if he were a retriever. Then the 
 fact that they followed very different pursuits made all the 
 greater demand on his consideration. His youngest sister, 
 Lady Rosamund Bourne, painted indefatigably in both water 
 and oils, and had more than once exhibited in Suffolk Street ; 
 Lady Sybil devoted herself to music, and was a well-known 
 figure at charitable concerts ; while the eldest sister, Lady 
 Adela, considered literature and the drama as more particularly 
 under her protection, nor had she ceased to interest herself in 
 these graceful arts when she married Sir Hugh Cunyngham, 
 of the Braes, that famous breeder of polled cattle. The natural 
 consequence of all this was that Lord Rockminster found him- 
 self called to a never-ending series of concerts, theatres, private 
 views, and the like, and always with one or other of his 
 beautiful, tall sisters as his companion ; while on a certain 
 occasion (for it was whispered that Lady Adela Cunyngham 
 was engaged in the composition of a novel, and her brother was 
 
 B 2 
 
4 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 the soul of good nature) he had even gone the length of asking 
 a publisher to dine at his club. And here he was seated in an 
 actress's room, alone, while his sister was inspecting powder- 
 puffs, washes, patches, and paste jewelry ; and not only that, but 
 they were about to take an actor home to supper with them. 
 What he thought about it all he never said. He sate and 
 stroked his small yellow moustache ; his eyes were absent ; and 
 on his handsome, almost Greek, features there dwelt a perfect 
 and continuous calm. 
 
 Presently the door was opened, and the smart-looking young; 
 baritone who had stolen away the hearts of half the women in 
 London made his appearance. He was a young fellow of about 
 eight and twenty, pleasant-featured, his complexion almost 
 colourless, his eyes grey with dark lashes, his eyebrows also 
 dark. In figure he was slight and wiry rather than muscular ; 
 but where he gave evidence of strength was in his magnificent 
 throat and in the set of his head and shoulders. It may be 
 added that he possessed, what few stage-singers appear to 
 possess, a remarkably well-formed leg a firm -knit calf tapering 
 to a small ankle and a shapely foot ; but as he had now doffed 
 his professional silken stockings and silver-buckled shoes for 
 ordinary evening wear, his merits in this respect were mostly 
 concealed. 
 
 No sooner had he begun to talk to Lord Rockminster than the 
 sound of his voice summoned forth from the inner apartment 
 Ladv Adela, who, with many expressions of thanks, bade good- 
 night to the prima donna, and put herself under charge of the 
 young baritone. 
 
 " My sisters are at the Mellords' to-night," said she, as she 
 accompanied him along the corridor and up the steps and 
 through the now almost deserted wings. " They were dining 
 there, and wo left them as we came to the theatre, and promised 
 to pick them up on our way home. There will be a bit of a 
 crush, I suppose : you won't mind coming in for a few minutes, 
 will you, Mr. Moore ? " 
 
 " I don't know Mrs. Mellord," said he, with becoming 
 modesty. 
 
 " But everybody knows you that is the groat point," said 
 this tall young Englishwoman, who looked very gracious and 
 charming, and who, when she turned to talk to her companion, 
 had a quick, responsive smile ever ready in her clear, intelli- 
 gent, grey-blue eyes. " Oh, yes, you must come. It is one of 
 the prettiest houses in London ; and Mrs. Mellord is one of the 
 
A Rehearsal 5 
 
 nicest women. We will get Sybil and Rose away as soon as we 
 can ; and I shouldn't at all wonder if we found Georgie 
 Lestrange and her brother there too. Oh, almost certain, I 
 should say. Then we could carry them off to supper, and after 
 that Pastora might try over her duet with Damon. But as 
 regards the Mellords, Mr. Moore," said she, with a pleasant 
 smile, as he handed her into her brougham, which had been 
 brought round to the stage-door, "I shall consider you to be 
 under my protection, and I will take care no one shall ask you 
 to sing." 
 
 " But you know, Lady Adela, I am always delighted to sing 
 for any friend of yours," said he, promptly enough; and thsn, 
 when he and Lord Rockminster had entered the carriage, and 
 the footman had shut the door and got on the box, away the 
 drove^ through the busy midnight world of London. 
 
 It did not take them long to get from the New Theatre to 
 the house of the famous Academician ; and here, late as it was, 
 they found plenty of people still arriving, a small crowd ot 
 onlookers scanning the various groups as they crossed the 
 pavement. On this hot night in May, it seemed pleasantly 
 cool to get into the great hall of white and black marble, 
 where the miniature lake, on which floated an alabaster swan, 
 was all banked round with flowers ; and when Lady Adela had 
 dispossessed herself of her long plush coat, it was evident she 
 had dressed for the reception before going to the theatre, for 
 now she appeared in a costume of silver-grey satin with a very 
 considerable train, while there were diamond stars in her light 
 brown hair, and at her bosom a bunch of deep crimson roses. 
 At the head of the stairs they encountered Mrs. Mellord, who 
 received the young baritone with the most marked kindness. 
 Indeed, he seemed to be known to a considerable number of the 
 people who were assembled in these spacious rooms of white 
 and gold ; while those who were not personally acquainted with 
 him easily recognised him, for were not his photographs in every 
 stationer's window in London ? The Ladies Sybil and Rosa- 
 mund Bourne they found in the studio, talking to the great 
 Academician himself. These two young ladies were even 
 taller, as they likewise were fairer in complexion, than their 
 married sister: moreover, they were much more dignified in 
 demeanour than she was, though that may have merely arisen 
 from maidenly reserve. But when Mr. Mellord exhibited 
 at the Royal Academy his much talked-of picture of the three 
 sisters, most people seemed to think that though the two 
 
6 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 younger ladies might have carried off the palm for their 
 handsome, pale, regularly-cut features and their calm, observant 
 eyes, there was something in the bright, vivacious look of the 
 eldest that outweighed these advantages; while in society, and 
 especially as a hostess in her own house, the charm of Lady 
 Adela's manner, and her quick, sympathetic, engaging ways 
 made her a universal favourite. And if one were in amaze- 
 ment to ask how it came about that a woman so alert and 
 intelligent, so conversant with the world, so ready to note the 
 ridiculous side of things, could not understand what a poor and 
 lamentable figure she made as an amateur authoress? But had 
 the Lady Sybil any less confidence in her musical attainments, 
 when she would undertake to play a duet with one of the most 
 distinguished of professional musicians, she on the violin, he at 
 the piano ? And here, at this very moment, was Lady Rosa- 
 mund talking to by far and away the greatest painter in 
 England, and there was a picture before them on an easel, and 
 she was saying to him with perfect coolness 
 
 " Why, I see you use cadmium yellow, Mr. Mellord ! I 
 never do." 
 
 Somehow an impression got abroad through these brilliant 
 rooms that Mr. Moore was going to sing; and at length 
 Mrs. Mellord came to the young man and frankly preferred 
 her request. 
 
 " Oh, yes," said he, most good-naturedly. 
 
 " The serenade ? " she ventured to hint. 
 
 " Oh, not the serenade ! " said he, with a laugh. " Every 
 butcher's boy in the streets whistles it." 
 
 *' All England is singing it and a good thing too," she 
 made answer ; and then she said, with some emphasis : " I am 
 sure no one rejoices more than myself at the great popularity of 
 The Squire's Daughter. I am very glad to see that a comedy- 
 opera may be based on the best traditions of English music ; 
 and I hope we shall have a great deal less of the Offenbach 
 tinkle-tankle." 
 
 "The serenade, if you like, then," said he, with careless 
 good-humour : what did it matter to him ? 
 
 " And whom shall I get to play an accompaniment for 
 you?" 
 
 " Oh, you needn't trouble I can do that for myself 
 
 " But you must make one young lady supremely happy," 
 said she, with insidious flattery. 
 
 He glanced round the studio. 
 
A Rehearsal. 7 
 
 "I see Miss I/estrange over there she has played it for me 
 before without the music, I mean." 
 
 " Then I'll go and fetch her," said the indefatigable hostess ; 
 and now everybody seemed to know that Mr. Lionel Moore was 
 abont to sing " The Starry Night." 
 
 Miss Georgie Lestrange was 110 sooner appealed to than she 
 came through the crowd, smiling and laughing. She was an 
 exceedingly pretty lass, with fresh-complexioned cheeks, a pert 
 and attractive nose, a winsome mouth, and merry blue eyes that 
 were hardly made grave by the pince-nez that 'she habitually 
 wore. She was very prettily dressed, too in blue and silver 
 brocade, with a high Medici collar of silver lace, puffed sleeves 
 with twisted cords of silver, and silver fillets binding the 
 abundant masses of her ruddy-golden hair. She sate down at 
 the piano, and the first notes of the accompaniment deepened 
 the silence that now prevailed not only in this big studio but 
 throughout the communicating rooms. 
 
 Probably there was not a human being in the place who had 
 not heard this serenade sung a dozen times over, for it was the 
 most popular air of the most popular piece then being played 
 in London ; but there was some kind of novelty in listening to 
 the same notes that had thrilled through the theatre (rather, 
 that had sent their passionate appeal up to a certain mysterious 
 balcony, in the dim moonlight of the stage) now pulsating 
 through the hushed silence of these modern rooms. Lionel 
 Moore was not a baritone of altogether rare and exceptional 
 gifts, otherwise he might hardly have been content with even 
 the popularity and the substantial rewards of "comic opera ; but 
 he had a very excellent voice for all that, of high range, and 
 with a resonant and finely sympathetic timbre that seemed easily 
 to find its way (according to all accounts) to the feminine heart. 
 And the music of this serenade was really admirable, of subtle 
 and delicate quality, and yet full of the simplest melody, and 
 perhaps none the less to be appreciated that it seemed to 
 suggest a careful study of the best English composers. The 
 words were conventional enough, of course; but then the 
 whole story of The Squire's Daughter was as artificial as the 
 wigs and powder and patches of the performers ; and even now, 
 when Harry Thornhill, bereft of all his gay silk and lace and 
 ruffles and become plain Mr. Lionel Moore, in ordinary evening 
 dress, sang to Miss Georgie Lestrange's accompaniment, tho 
 crowd did not think of the words they were entranced by the 
 music. The starry night this is how Harry Thornliill in the 
 
8 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 opera addresses Grace Mainwaring, he standing in the moonlit 
 garden and looking up to her window 
 
 The starry nigltt brings me no rest ; 
 My ardent love now stands confessed; 
 Appear, my sweet, and shame the sides , 
 That have no splendour, 
 That have no splendour like thine eyes ! 
 
 The serenade was followed by a general murmur of approba- 
 tion rather than by any loud applause; but the pretty Mrs. 
 Mellord came up to tho singer, and was most profuse of thanks. 
 Prudently, however, he moved away from the piano, being 
 accompanied by Miss Georgie Lestrange, who seemed rather 
 pleased with the prominence this position gave her ; and very 
 soon a surreptitious message reached them both that they were 
 wanted below. When they went down into the hall they 
 found that Lady Adela had got her party collected, including 
 Miss Lestrange's brother Percy ; thereupon the four ladies got 
 into the brougham and drove off; while the three gentlemen 
 proposed to follow on foot, and have a cigarette the while. It 
 was a pleasantly warm night, and they had no further to go 
 than Sir Hugh Cunyngham's house, which is one of the large 
 garden-surrounded mansions on the summit of Campden Hill. 
 
 When at length they arrived there, and had entered by the 
 wooden gate, the semicircular carriage-drive, lit by two solitary 
 lamps, and the front of the house itself, half-hidden among the 
 black trees, seemed somewhat sombre and repellent at this 
 silent hour of the morning; but they found a more cheerful 
 radiance streaming out from the hall-door, which had been left 
 open for them ; and when they went into the large dining- 
 room, where the ladies had already assembled, there was no 
 lack of either light or colour there, for all the candles were 
 ablaze, and the long table was brilliant with silver and Vene- 
 tian glass and flowers. And indeed this proved to be a very 
 merry and talkative supper-party ; for as soon as supper was 
 served, the servants were sent off to bed ; Lord Rockminster 
 constituted himself butler, and Percy Lestrango handed round 
 the pheasants' eggs and asparagus and such things; so that 
 there was no alien ear in the room. Lionel Moore, being less 
 familiar with tho house, was exempted from these duties; in 
 truth, it was rather tho women-folk who waited upon him 
 and petted him as ho was used to be petted, wherever that 
 fortunate young man happened to go. 
 
A Rehearsal. 9 
 
 However, it was not supper that was chiefly occupying the 
 attention of this band of eager chatterers (from whom the 
 silent Lord Rockminster, walking gravely round the table with 
 a large jug of champagne-cup in his hand, must honourably be 
 distinguished), it was the contemplated production of a little 
 musical entertainment called The Chaplet, by Dr. Boyce, which 
 they were about to attempt, out-of-doors, on some afternoon 
 still to be fixed, and before a select concourse of friends. And 
 the most vivacious of the talkers was the red-headed and merry- 
 eyed young maiden in blue and silver and brocade, who seemed 
 incapable of keeping her rosebud of a mouth closed for more 
 than a minute at a time. 
 
 " I do think it's awfully hard on me," she was protesting. 
 " Look how I'm handicapped ! Everybody knows that Pastora 
 was played by Kitty Olive ; and everybody will say, ' That 
 Lestrange girl has cheek, hasn't she? thinks she can play 
 Kitty Olive's parts ! ' And you know Pastora is always calling 
 attention to her fascinating appearance." 
 
 " Georgie, you're fishing for compliments ! " the young 
 matron said, severely. 
 
 "No, I'm not, Adela," said Miss Lestrange, who, indeed, 
 looked as charming as any Kitty Clive could ever have done. 
 " Then there's another thing : fancy my having to sing a duet 
 with Mr. Moore ! It's all very well for you to sing a song off 
 your own bat " 
 
 " That would be difficult, Georgie," Lady Adela observed. 
 
 " Oh, you know what I mean. But wben you come to sing 
 in conjunction with an artist like Mr. Moore, what then ? They 
 will say it is mere presumption, when my little squeak of a 
 voice gets drowned altogether." 
 
 " If you give any weight to a professional opinion, Miss 
 Lestrange," the young baritone said, *' I can assure you, you 
 sing your part in that duet or in anything else I've heard you 
 sing very well indeed. Very well indeed." 
 
 " Ah, now Georgie's happy," said Lady Adela, with a laugh, 
 as the blushing damsel cast down her eyes. " Well, I propose 
 that we all go into the drawing-room, and we'll hear for 
 ourselves how Pastora and Damon sing together. You may 
 make as much noise as ever you like : the children are in 
 Hampshire ; Hugh is in Scotland ; the servants are out of 
 hearing ; and our neighbours are a long way off." 
 
 This suggestion, coming from the lady of the house, was of 
 the nature of a command ; and so they leisurely trooped into 
 
1 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 the great drawing-room, where the candles were {-till burning. 
 But there was something else than these artificial lights that 
 attracted the sharp eyes of Miss Georgie Lestrange the moment 
 she entered this new apartment. There was a curious, wan 
 kind of colour about the curtains and the French windows that 
 did not seem natural to the room. She walked quickly for- 
 ward, drew the lace hangings aside, and then suddenly she 
 exclaimed 
 
 " Why, it's almost daylight ! Look here, Adela, why 
 shouldn't we have a rehearsal of the whole piece, from end to 
 end a real rehearsal, this time, on the lawn, and Rose can tell 
 us all how we are to stand, and Mr. Moore will show us what 
 we should do besides merely speaking the lines ? " 
 
 This bold proposal was greeted with general acclaim, and 
 instantly there was a bustle of preparation. Lady Sybil began 
 to tune her violin by the side of the open piano ; Lady Rosa- 
 mund, who was at once scene-painter and stage-manager, as it 
 were, got out some sheets of drawing-paper on which she had 
 sketched the various groups ; and Lady Adela brought forth 
 the MS. books of the play, which had been prepared under the 
 careful (and necessary) supervision of Lionel Moore. 
 
 "Rockminster will have to figure as the audience," his 
 eldest sister said, as she was looping up her long train of 
 silver-grey satin preparatory to going out. 
 
 "That is a part I could play to perfection," put in Miss 
 Lestrange's brother. 
 
 " Oh, no," Lady Adela remonstrated. " You may be wanted 
 for Pal&mon. You see, this is how it stands. The young 
 shepherd was originally played at Drury Lane by a boy and 
 in Dublin by an actress : it is a boy's part, indeed. Well, you 
 know, we thought Cis Yorke would snap at it ; and she was 
 eager enough at first ; but " and here Lady Adela smiled 
 demurely " I think her courage gave way. The boy's dress 
 looked charming as Rose sketched it for her and the long 
 cloak made it quite proper, you know and very picturesque, 
 too but but I think she's frightened. We can't count on 
 her. So we may have to call on you for Palsemon, Mr. 
 Lestrange." 
 
 " And I have taken the liberty of cutting out the song, for 
 it's rather stupid," said Lionel Moore, " so you've only got a 
 few lines to repeat." 
 
 " The fewer the better," replied Mr. Percy Lestrange, who 
 was possibly right in considering that, with his far from 
 
A Rehearsal. 11 
 
 regular features and his red hair and moustache, his appear- 
 ance as a handsome young swain (should not have too much 
 prominence given it. 
 
 Notwithstanding that it had been Miss Lestrange's auda- 
 cious proposal that they should go masquerading in the open 
 air, she was a wise young virgin, and she took care before going 
 out to thrust a soft silk handkerchief into the square opening 
 of her dress ; the Ladies Sybil and Rosamund followed her 
 example by drawing a lace scarf round their neck and shoul- 
 ders ; it was the young matron who was reprehensibly careless, 
 and who, when the French windows were thrown open, went 
 forth boldly, and without any wrap at all, into the cool air of 
 the dawn. But for a second, as they stood on the little stone 
 balcony above the steps leading down to the garden, this group 
 of revellers were struck silent. The world looked so strange 
 around them. In the mysterious grey light, that had no sort 
 of kindly warmth in it, the grass of the lawn and the foliage of 
 the surrounding trees seemed coldly and intensely green ; and 
 cold and intense, with no richness of hue at all, were the 
 colours of the flowers in the various plots and beds. Not a 
 bird chirped as yet. Not a leaf stirred. But in this ghostly 
 twilight the solitary gas-lamps were beginning to show pale ; 
 and in the southern heavens the silver sickle of the moon, 
 stealing over to the west, seemed to be taking the night with 
 it, and leaving those faintly-lilac skies to welcome the uprising 
 of the new day. 
 
 At firbt, indeed, there was something curiously uncanny 
 something unearthly and phantasmal almost in the spectacle 
 of these figures, the women in white, the men in black, moving 
 through this wan light; and their voices sounded strangely 
 in the dead silence ; but ere long a soft saffron tinge began to 
 show itself in the east; one or two scraps of cloud in the 
 violet skies caught a faint touch of the coming dawn ; there 
 was a more generous tone on the masses of foliage, on the 
 flower-beds, and on the grass; and now the cheerful chirping 
 of the birds had begun among the leaves. And what more 
 beautiful surroundings could have been imagined for the pro- 
 duction of any pastoral entertainment? The wide lawn was 
 bounded on one t-ide by a dense thicket of elms and limes and 
 chestnuts, and on the other by a tall dark hedge of holly ; 
 while here and there was a weeping-willow round the stem of 
 which a circular seat had been constructed, the pendulous 
 branches enclosing a sort of rustic bower. As this fantastic 
 
12 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 performance went forward, the skies overhead slowly became 
 more luminous ; there was a sense of warmth and clear day- 
 light beginning to tell ; the birds were singing and chattering 
 and calling everywhere; and the sweet, pure air of the morn- 
 ing, as it stirred, and no more than stirred, the trembling 
 leaves, brought with it a scent of mignonette, that seemed to 
 speak of the coming of June. 
 
 Laura, in the person of Lady Adela Cunyngham, had re- 
 proached the faithless Damon (who was no other than Mr. 
 Lionel Moore) 
 
 1 Ungrateful Damon, is it come to this ? 
 Are these the happy Scenes of promts' d Bliss ? 
 Ne'er hope, vain Laura, future peace to prove ; 
 Content ne'er harbours with neglected Love. 1 
 
 and Damon had replied (not mumbling his lines, as a privileged 
 actor sometimes does at rehearsal, but addressing them properly 
 to the hapless Laura) 
 
 ' Consider, Fair, the ever-restless PotcV, 
 Shifts with the Breeze, and changes with the Hour : 
 Above Restraint, he scorns a fixt Abode, 
 And on his silken Plumes flies forth the rambling God. 1 
 
 Then Lady Sybil took out her violin from its case and drew the 
 bow across the strings. 
 
 " We'll let you off the song, if you like, Mr. Moore," Lady 
 Adela said to the young baritone, but in a very half-hearted 
 kind of way. 
 
 "Oh, no," said he, pleasantly, "perhaps/this maybe my only 
 rehearsal." 
 
 "The audience," observed Lord Rockminster, who, at a 
 little distance, was lying back in a garden-chair, smoking a 
 cigarette, *' the audience would distinctly prefer to have the 
 song sung." 
 
 Lady Sybil again gave him the key-note from the violin ; 
 and without further accompaniment he thus addressed his 
 forsaken sweetheart 
 
 * You say at your Feet that I iccpt in 
 And vow'd that no A ngel was ever so fair ; 
 Jlmr could you believe all the Nonsense I spoJce 
 Wliat know we of Anqels, I meant it in Joke, 
 
 I meant it in Joke, 
 What know we of Angels, I meant it in Joke* 
 
A Rehearsal. 13 
 
 When, in his rich, vibrating notes he had sung the two 
 verses, all the ladies rewarded him by clapping their hands, 
 which was an exceedingly wrong thing to do, considering that 
 they formed no part of the audience. Then Damon says 
 
 ' To-day Demsetus gave a rural Treat, 
 And I once more my chosen Friends must meet : 
 Farewell, sweet Damsel, and remember this, 
 Dull repetition deadens all our Bliss.' 
 
 And Laura sadly answers 
 
 ' Where baleful Cypress forms a gloomy Shade, 
 And yelling Spectres haunt the dreary Glade ; 
 Unknown to all, my lonesome Steps I'll bend ; 
 There weep my Sufferings, and my Fate attend? 
 
 Here Laura ought to sing the song ' Vain is every fond 
 Endeavour ; ' but Lady Adela said to the violinist 
 
 " No, never mind, Syb ; no one wants to hear me sing, until 
 the necessity of the case arises. Let's get on to the feast; I 
 think that will be very popular; for we must have lots of 
 shepherds and shepherdesses ; and the people will be delighted 
 to recognise their friends. Where's your sketch, Kose ? I 
 would have groups round each of the willows, and occasional 
 figures coming backwards and forwards through those rhodo- 
 dendrons." 
 
 " You must leave the principal performers plenty of stage," 
 Lionel Moore interposed, laughing. " You mustn't hem us in 
 with supers, however picturesque their dress may be." 
 
 And so they went on discussing their arrangements, while 
 the refulgent day was everywhere declaring itself, though as 
 yet no sound of the far-off world could reach this isolated 
 garden. Nor was there any direct sunshine falling into it ; but a 
 beautiful warmth of colour now shone on the young green of 
 the elms and chestnuts and hawthorns, and on one or two tall- 
 branching, trembling poplars just coming into leaf; while the 
 tulip-beds the stars, the crescents, the ovals and squares were 
 each a mass of brilliant vermilion, of rose, of pale lemon, of 
 crimson-and-orange, or clearest gold. This new-found dawn 
 seemed wholly to belong to the birds. Perhaps it was their 
 universal chirping and carolling that concealed the distant echo 
 of the highways ; for surely the heavily-laden wains were now 
 making in for Coven t-Garden ? At all events there was nothing 
 here but this continuous bird clamour ; and the voices of these 
 
14 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 modern nymphs and swains as they went this way and that 
 over the velvet-smooth lawn. 
 
 And now the bewitching Pastora appears upon the scene 
 (but would Mrs. Olive have worn a gold pince-nez at rehearsal ?) 
 and she has just quarrelled with her lover Palsemon. 
 
 ' Insulting Boy ! I'll tear him from my mind ; 
 Ah ! wou'd my Fortune cou'd a Husband find : 
 And just in Time, young Damon comes this Way, 
 A handsome Youth he is, and rich, they say.' 
 
 The butterfly-hearted Damon responds at once 
 
 ' Vouchsafe, sweet Maid, to hear a wretched Swain, 
 Who lost in Wonder, hugs the pleasing Chain ; 
 For you in Sighs I hail the rising Day ; 
 To you at Eve I sing the lovesick Lay ; 
 Then take my Love, my Homage as your due. 
 The Devil's in her, if all this wont do.' [Aside. 
 
 It must be confessed that the pretty and smiling and blushing 
 Miss Georgie Lestrange looked just a little self-conscious as she 
 had to listen to this extremely frank declaration ; but she had 
 the part of the coquettish Pastora to play ; and Pastora, as soon 
 as she discovers that Damon has no thought of marriage, 
 naturally declines to have anything to do with him. And here 
 came in the duet which had first suggested this escapade : 
 
 DAMON. From Flow'r to Flow'r his Joy to change 
 
 Flits yonder wanton Bee ; 
 From Fair to Fair thus will I range, 
 
 And I'll be ever free. 
 From Fair to Fair thus will I range, 
 
 And I'll be ever free. 
 
 I'ASTOUA. You little Birds attentive view, 
 That hop from Tree to Tree ; 
 I'll copy them, I'll copy you, 
 For I'll be ever free. 
 
 DUETTO. Then let's divide to East and West, 
 Since we //"// n<'< r ogree ; 
 
 Am! tnj irho /.vry,x //,,//' I'mmtBe l)Cst 
 
 Aii'l irli'* tin lain/iff free. 
 Letx try trim !;<</ >* Mj if I'romise best 
 And who's the longest free. 
 
 And again the audience made bold to clap their hands ; for Miss 
 Georgie Lestrange, despite her self-depreciation, sang very well 
 iml'< (1 : and <>t' course Lionel Moore knew how to moderate his 
 
A Rehearsal 15 
 
 voice, so that the combination was entirely pleasing. The 
 further progress of the little comedy needs not to be described 
 here ; it has only to be said that the injured Laura is in the 
 end restored to her repentant lover; and that a final duet 
 between her and Damon closes the piece with the most praise- 
 worthy sentiments 
 
 * For their Honour and Faith be our Virgins renown d, 
 Nor false to his Vows one young Shepherd be found ; 
 Be their Moments all guided by Virtue and Truth, 
 To preserve in their Age what they gained in their Youth, 
 To preserve in their Age what they gain'd in their Youth.' 
 
 Lord Eockminster rose from his chair, stretched his long 
 legs, and threw away his cigarette. 
 
 " Very well done," said he, slowly. " Congratulate all of 
 you." 
 
 " This is the first time I ever saw Eockminster sit out a 
 morning performance," observed Percy Lestrange, with a playful 
 grin. 
 
 " As for you young things," the mistress of the house said 
 to her girl-guests, as they were all trooping in by the French 
 windows again, " you must hurry home and get indoors before 
 the servants are up. I don't want this frolic to be talked about 
 all over the town." 
 
 "A frolic, indeed!" Miss Georgie protested, as her brother 
 was putting her cloak round her shoulders. " I don't call it a 
 frolic at all. I call it very serious business ; and I'm looking 
 forward to winning the deepest gratitude of the English public 
 or at least as much of the English public as you can cram 
 into your garden, my dear," 
 
 Then as soon as the light wraps and dust-coats had been 
 distributed and donned, the members of the gay little party 
 said good-bye to Lady Adela in the front hall, and went down 
 the carriage sweep to the gate. Here there was a division ; for 
 the Lestranges were going north by Holland Lane to Netting 
 Hill ; while Lord Eockminster and his two sisters, making for 
 Palace Gardens Terrace, walked with Lionel Moore only as far 
 as Campden Hill Eoad : thereafter he pursued his journey to 
 Piccadilly alone. 
 
 And even now London was not fully awake, though the sun 
 was touching the topmost branches of the trees, and here and 
 there a high window, struck by the level rays, flashed back a 
 gleam of gold. In this neighbourhood the thoroughfares were 
 
16 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 quite deserted; silence reigned over those sleeping houses; the 
 air was sweet and cool; now and again a stirring of wind 
 brought a scent of summer-blossom from within the garden- 
 enclosures. It is true that when he got down into Kensington 
 Road he found a long procession of waggons slowly making 
 their way into the vast city ; but this dull, drowsy noise was 
 not ungrateful ; in much content and idly he walked away 
 eastward, looking in from time to time at the beautiful green- 
 sward of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. He was in no 
 hurry. He liked the stillness, the gracious coolness and 
 quietude of the morning, after the hot and feverish nights 
 at the theatre. When at length he reached his lodging in 
 Piccadilly, let himself in with his latchkey, and went upstairs 
 to his rooms ; he did not go to bed at once. He drew an easy- 
 chair to the front window, threw himself into it, lit a cigarette, 
 and stared absently across to the branching elms and grassy 
 undulations of the Green Park. Perhaps he was thinking of 
 the pretty, fantastic little comedy that had just been performed 
 up in that garden at Campden Hill like some dream-picture 
 out of Boccaccio. And if he chanced to recall the fact that the 
 actor who originally played the part of Damon, at Drury Lane, 
 some hundred and forty years ago, married in real life an 
 earl's daughter, that was but a passing fancy. Of Lord 
 Fareborough's three daughters, it was neither Ludy Sybil nor 
 Lady Rosamund, it was the married sister, Lady Adela Cunyng- 
 ham, who had constituted herself his particular friend. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE GREAT GOD PAN. 
 
 LAM; as ho went to bed, sleep did not long detain him, for in 
 his own happy-go-lucky, troubadour sort of life, he was one of 
 the most occupied of men even in this great, hurrying, bustling 
 capital of the world. As soon as he had donned his dressing- 
 gown and come into the sitting-room he swallowed a cup of 
 coffee that was waiting for him, and then, to make sure that 
 unholy hours and cigarettes had not hurt his voice, he dabbed 
 a note on the piano, and began to practice, in the open-throated 
 Italian fashion, those vocalises which sound so strangely to the 
 uninstructed ear. He rang for breakfast. He glanced in a 
 
flie Great God Pan. 17 
 
 despairing way at the pile of letters and parcels awaiting him, 
 the former, no doubt, mostly invitations, the latter, as he could 
 guess, proofs of his latest sittings to the photographers, albums 
 and birth-day books sent for his autograph, music beseeching 
 commendation, even MS. plays accompanied by pathetic appeals 
 from unknown authors. Then there was a long row of potted 
 scarlet geraniums and large white daisies which the house- 
 porter had ranged by the window ; and when he opened the 
 note that had been forwarded with these he found that the 
 wife of a famous statesman had observed as she drove along 
 Piccadilly that the flowers in his balcony wanted renewal and 
 begged his acceptance of this graceful little tribute. He took 
 up a pair of dumb-bells, and had some exercise with them, to 
 keep his arms and chest in good condition. He looked at 
 himself in the mirror; no, he did not seem to have smoked 
 inordinately ; nevertheless, he made sundry solemn vows about 
 those insidious cigarettes. Then he began to open the en- 
 velopes. Here was an imposing card, ' To have the honour of 
 
 meeting their Royal Highnesses the King and Queen of ' 
 
 here was a more modest bit of pasteboard with * R.S. V.P. to 
 Mess President ' at the lower corner ; here were invitations to , 
 breakfasts, to luncheons, to afternoon squawks, to Sunday 
 dinners, to dances and crushes, in short, to every possible kind 
 of diversion and frivolity that the gay world of London could 
 devise. He went steadily 011 with his letters. More photo- 
 graphers wanted him to sit to them. Would he accept the 
 dedication of The Squire's Daughter Fantasia? The composer of 
 The Starry Night Yalses would like a lithographic portrait of 
 Mr. Lionel Moore to appear on the cover. A humble admirer 
 of Mr. Lionel Moore's great impersonation of Harry Thornhill 
 begged to forward the enclosed acrostic, and might he be 
 allowed to print it in the Mudborough Young Men's Mutual 
 Improvement Magazine ? Messrs. Smith and Smith would be 
 extremely obliged if Mr. Lionel Moore would honour them with 
 his opinion of the accompanying pair of their patent silver- 
 mounted automatic self-adjusting braces. 
 
 " If I don't get a secretary," he muttered to himself, " I shall 
 soon be in a madhouse." 
 
 Nor did he pay much attention to his breakfast when it was 
 put on the table, for there were newspapers to be opened and 
 glanced through country journals, most of them, with marked 
 paragraphs conveying the most unexpected, and even startling, 
 intelligence regarding himself, his occupation, and forthcoming 
 
 c 
 
18 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 engagements. Then there were the book packets and the rolls 
 of music to be examined ; but by this time he had lit an after- 
 breakfast cigarette, and was proceeding with something of 
 indifference. Occasionally he strolled about the room, or went 
 to the window and looked down into the roaring highway of 
 Piccadilly or across to the sunny foliage and pale blue mists 
 of the Green Park. And, then, in the midst of his vague 
 meditations, the following note was brought to him : it had 
 been delivered by hand : 
 
 * MY DEAR MR. MOORE, I do so awfully want to see you, about 
 a matter of urgent importance. Do be goodnatured and come and 
 lunch with us any time before half-past two, if possible. It 
 will be so kind of you. I hope the morning performance has 
 done you no harm. Yours sincerely, ADELA CUNYNGHAM.' 
 
 Well, luncheon was not much in his way, for on week-days 
 he had to dine at five ; nevertheless, Lady Adela was an especial 
 friend of his, and had been kind to him, and here was some 
 serious business. So he hurried through what correspondence 
 was absolutely necessary ; he sent word to Green's Stables that 
 he should not ride that morning ; he walked round to a certain 
 gymnasium and had three-quarters of an hour with the fencing- 
 master (this was an appointment which he invariably held 
 sacred) ; on his way back to his rooms he called in at Solomon's 
 for a button-hole ; and then, having got home and made certain 
 alterations in his toilet, he went out again, jumped into a 
 hansom, and was driven up to the top of Campden-hill, arriving 
 there shortly after one o'clock. 
 
 He found Lady Adela and Miss Georgie Lestrange in the 
 drawing-room, or rather just outside, on the little balcony over- 
 looking the garden, and neither of them seemed any the worse 
 for that masquerading in the early dawn : indeed, Miss Georgie's 
 naturally fresh and bright complexion flushed a little more than 
 u>n:il when she saw who this new-comer was, for perhaps she 
 was thinking of the very frank manner in which Damon had 
 expressed his admiration for Pastora but a few short hours ago. 
 
 " I have been telling Georgie all about the dresses at the 
 Drawing-room," said the tall young matron, as she gave him 
 her hand, and regarded him with a friendly look ; " but that 
 won't interest you, Mr. Moore. We shall have to talk about 
 the new beauties, rather, to interest you." 
 
 Ho was a little puzzled. 
 
The Great God Pan. 19 
 
 " I thought, Lady Adela, you said there was something 
 
 something of importance " 
 
 " That depends," said she, with a pleasant smile in her clear 
 grey-blue eyes. " I think it of importance ; but it remains to 
 be seen whether the world is of the same opinion. Well, I 
 won't keep you in suspense." 
 
 She went to the piano, and brought back three volumes 
 plainly bound in green cloth. 
 
 " Behold ! " 
 
 He took them from her, and glanced at the titlepage : 
 * Kathleen's Sweethearts, a Novel, by Lady Arthur Castletown ' was 
 what he found there. 
 
 " So it is out at last," said he, for he had more than once 
 heard of this great work while it was still in progress. 
 
 " Yes," said she, eagerly, " though it isn't issued to the 
 public yet. The fact is, Mr. Moore, I want you to help me. 
 You know all about professional people, and the newspapers, 
 and so on who better ? and of course I'm very anxious about 
 my first book my first big book, that is and I don't want it 
 to get just thrown aside, without ever being glanced at. Now 
 what am I to do ? You may speak quite freely before Georgie 
 she's just as anxious as I am, every bit, I believe only what 
 to do we can't tell." 
 
 " All that I can think of," said the ruddy-h aired young 
 damsel, with a laugh, " is to have little advertisements printed, 
 and I will leave them behind me wherever I go in the stalls 
 of a theatre, or at a concert, or anywhere. You know, Adela, 
 you can not expect me to turn myself into a sandwich-man, and 
 go about the streets between boards." 
 
 " Georgie, you're frivolous," said Lady Adela, and she again 
 turned to Lionel Moore, who was still holding the three green 
 volumes in his hands, in a helpless sort of fashion. "You 
 know, Mr. Moore, there are such a lot of books published 
 nowadays crowds ! shoals ! and, unless there is a little 
 attention drawn beforehand, what chance have you? I want a 
 friend in court I want several friends in court and that's the 
 truth ; now, how am I to get them ? " 
 
 This was plain speaking; but he was none the less be- 
 wildered. 
 
 " You see, Lady Adela, the theatre is so different from the 
 world of letters. I've met one or two newspaper-men now and 
 again, but they were dramatic critics I never heard that they 
 reviewed books." 
 
 c 2 
 
20 The New Prince PortuncUiA 
 
 "But they were connected with newspapers? then they 
 must know the men who do," said this alert and intelligent 
 lady. " Oh, I don't ask for anything unfair ! I only ask for a 
 chance. I don't want to be thrown into a corner unread, or 
 sold to the second-hand bookseller uncut. Now, Mr. Moore, 
 think. You must know lots of newspaper men if you would 
 only think : why, they're always corning about theatres. And 
 they would do anything for you, for you are such a popular 
 favourite; and a word from you would be of such value to a 
 beginner like me. Now, Mr. Moore, be good-natured and- 
 consider. But first of all come away and have some lunch : 
 and then we'll talk it over." 
 
 When they had gone into the dining-room and sate down at 
 table, he said 
 
 " Well, if it comes to that, I certainly know one newspaper- 
 man ; in fact, I have known him all my life ; he is my oldest 
 friend. But then he is merely the head of the Parliamentary 
 reporting staff of the Morning Mirror he's in the Gallery of the 
 House of Commons, you know, every night and I'm afraid he 
 couldn't do much about a book." 
 
 "Couldn't he do a little, Mr. Moore?" said Lady Adela, 
 insidiously. "Couldn't he get it hinted in the papers that 
 4 Lady Arthur Castletown ' is only a nom de plume ? " 
 
 " Then you don't object to your own name being men- 
 tioned?" asked this simple young man. 
 
 " No, no, not at all," said she, frankly. "People are sure to 
 get to know. There are some sketches of character in the book 
 that I think will make a little stir I mean people will be 
 asking questions ; and then you know how a pseudonym whets 
 curiosity they will certainly find out and they will talk all 
 the more then. That ought to do the book some good. And 
 then you understand, Mr. Moore," continued this remarkably 
 naive person, " if your friend happened to know any of the 
 reviewers, and could suggest how some little polite attention, 
 might be paid them, there would be nothing wrong in that, 
 would there ? I am told that they are quite gentlemen nowa- 
 days they go everywhere and and indeed I should like to 
 make their acquaintance, since I've come into the writing 
 fraternity myself." 
 
 Lionel Moore was silent; he was considering how he should 
 approach the fastidious, whimsical, sardonic Maurice Mangan 
 on this extremely difficult subject. 
 
 " Let me see," he said, presently. " This is Wednesday ; 
 
The Great God Pan. 21 
 
 my friend Mangan won't be at the House; I will send a 
 message to his rooms, and ask him to come down to the theatre; 
 then we can have a consultation about it. May I take this 
 copy of the book with me, Lady Adela ? " 
 
 " Certainly, certainly ! " said she, with promptitude. " And 
 if you know of any one to whom I should send a copy, with the 
 author's name in it my own name, I mean it would be 
 extremely kind of you to let me know. It's so awfully hard 
 for us poor outsiders to get a hearing. You professional folk 
 are in a very different position the public just worship you 
 you have it all your own way you don't need to care what the 
 critics say but look at me ! I ma;y knock and knock at the 
 door of the Temple of Fame until my knuckles are sore, and 
 who will take any notice unless, perhaps, some friendly ear 
 begins to listen? Do you think Mr. Mangan did you say 
 Mangan ? do you think he would come and dine with us some 
 evening ? " 
 
 The artless ingenuousness of her speech was almost em- 
 barrassing. 
 
 " He is a very busy man," he said, doubtfully, " very busy. 
 He has his Gallery work to do, of course ; and then I believe 
 he is engaged on some important philosophical treatise he has 
 been at it for years, indeed " 
 
 " Oh, he writes books too ? " Lady Adela cried. " Then 
 certainly you must bring him to dinner. Shall I write a note 
 now, Mr. Moore ? a Sunday evening, of course, so that we may 
 secure you as well " 
 
 " I think I would wait a little, Lady Adela," he said, " until 
 I see how the land lies. He's a most curious fellow, Mangan : 
 difficult to please, and capricious. I fancy he is rather dis- 
 appointed with himself; he ought to have done something 
 great, for he knows everything at least he knows what is fine 
 in everything, in painting, in poetry, in music ; and yet with 
 all his sympathy he seems to be for ever grumbling and 
 mostly at himself. He is a difficult fellow to deal with 
 
 " I suppose he eats his dinner like anybody else," said Lady 
 Adela, somewhat sharply : she was not used to having her 
 invitations scorned. 
 
 " Yes, but I think he would prefer to eat it in a village ale- 
 house," Lionel said, with a smile, " where he could make ' the 
 violet of a legend blow, among the chops and steaks.' How- 
 ever, I will take him your book, Lady Adela ; and I have no, 
 doubt he will be a/ble to give you some good advice," 
 
22 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 It was late that evening when, in obedience to the summons 
 of a sixpenny telegram, Maurice Mangan called at the stage- 
 door of the New Theatre, and was passed in. Lionel Moure 
 was on the stage as anyone could tell, for the resonant 
 baritone voice was ringing clear above the multitudinous music 
 of the orchestra ; but Mangan, not wishing to be in the way, 
 did not linger in the wings, he made straight for his friend's 
 room, which he knew. And in the dusk of the long corridor 
 he was fortunate enough to behold a beautiful apparition in the 
 person of a young French officer in the gayest of uniforms, who, 
 apparently to maintain the character he bore in the piece (it 
 was that of a young prisoner of war liberated on parole, who 
 played sad havoc with the hearts of the village maidens by 
 reason of his fascinating ways and pretty broken English), had 
 just facetiously chucked two of the women dressers under the 
 chin ; and these damsels were simpering at this mark of 
 condescension, and evidently much impressed by the swagger 
 and braggadocio of the miniature warrior. However, Mile. 
 Girond (the boy-officer in question) no sooner caught sight of 
 the newcomer than she instantly and demurely altered her 
 demeanour ; and as she passed him in the corridor she favoured 
 him with a grave aud courteous little bow, for she had met him 
 more than once in Miss Burg03ne's sitting-room. Mangan 
 returned that salutation most respectfully ; and then he went 
 on and entered the apartment in which Lionel Moore dressed. 
 
 It was empty ; so this tall, thin man with the slightly 
 stooping shoulders threw himself into a wicker-work easy-chair, 
 and let his eyes which were much keener than was properly 
 compatible with the half- affected expression of indolence that 
 had become habitual to him roam over the heterogeneous 
 collection of articles around. These were abundantly familiar 
 to him the long dressing-table with all its appliances for 
 making up, the mirrors, the wigs on blocks, the gay-coloured 
 garments, the fencing-foils and swords, the framed series of 
 portraits from Vanity Fair, the innumerable photographs stuck 
 everywhere about. Indeed it was something not immediately 
 connected with these paraphernalia of an actor's existence that 
 seemed to be occupying his mind, even as he idly regarded the 
 various pastes and colours, the powder-puffs and pencils, the 
 pots of vaseline. His eyes grew absent as he sate there. Was 
 lie thinking of the Linn Moore of years and years ago who 
 used to reveal to the companion of his boyhood all his high 
 aims and strenuous ambitions how he was resolved to become 
 
The Great God Pan. 23 
 
 a Mendelssohn, a Mozart, a Beethoven? Whither had fled all 
 those wistful dreams and ardent aspirations? What was Linn 
 Moore now ? why, a singer in comic opera; his face beplastered 
 almost out of recognition ; a pet of the frivolous-fashionable 
 side of London society ; the chief adornment of photographers ' 
 windows. 
 
 " ' Half a beast is the great god Pan,' " this tall, languid- 
 looking man murmured to himself, as he was vacuously staring 
 at those paints and brushes and cosmetics ; and then he got up 
 and began to walk indeterminately about the room, his hands 
 behind his back. 
 
 Presently the door was opened, and in came Lionel Moore, 
 followed by his dresser. 
 
 " Hallo, Maurice ! you're late," said Harry Thornhill, as he 
 surrendered himself to his factotum, who forthwith began to 
 strip him of his travelling costume of cocked hat, frogged ccat, 
 white leather breeches, and shining black boots, in order to 
 make way for the more brilliant attire of the last act. 
 
 " Now that I am here, what are your highness's commands?" 
 Mangau asked. 
 
 " There's a book there -written by a friend of mine," 
 Lionel said, as he was helping his dresser to get off the 
 glittering top-boots. " She wants me to do what I can for her 
 with the press. What do I know about that ? Still, she is a 
 very particular friend and you must advise me." 
 
 Mangan rose and went to the mantel-piece and took down 
 Volume I. 
 
 " Lady Arthur Castletown " said he. 
 
 " But that is not her real name," the other interposed. 
 " Her real name is Lady Adela Cunyngham of course you 
 know who she is." 
 
 " I have been permitted to hear the echo of her name from 
 those rare altitudes in which you dwell now," the other said 
 lazily. " So she is one of your fashionable acquaintances ; and 
 she wants to secure the puff preliminary, and a number of 
 favourable reviews, I suppose ; and then you send for me. 
 But what can I do for you except ask one or two of the 
 Gallery men to mention the book in their London Correspon- 
 dent's letter? " 
 
 " But that's the very thing, my dear fellow ! " Lionel Moore 
 cried, as he was getting on his white silk stockings. '* T he 
 very thing ! She wants attention drawn to the book. She 
 doesn't want to be passed over. She wants to have the name 
 
24: The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 of the book, and the name of the author, brought before the 
 public " 
 
 "Her real name?" 
 ." Yes, certainly, if that is advisable." 
 
 " Oh well, there's not much trouble about that. You can 
 always minister to a mind diseased by a morbid craving for 
 notoriety if a paragraph in a country newspaper will suffice. 
 So this is part of what your fashionable friends expect from 
 you, Linn, in return for their patronage ? " 
 
 " It's nothing of the kind : she would do as much for me, if 
 Bhe knew how, or if there was any occasion." 
 
 " Oh well, it is no great thing," said Mangan, who was 
 really a very good-natured sort of person, despite his super- 
 cilious talk. " In fact, you might do her ladyship a more 
 substantial service than that." 
 
 "How?" 
 
 " I thought you knew Quirk Octavius Quirk ? " 
 
 " But you have always spoken so disparagingly of him ! " 
 the other exclaimed. 
 
 " What has that to do with it ? " he asked ; and then he 
 continued in his indolent fashion : " Why, I thought you knew 
 all about Quirk. Quirk belongs to a band of literary weaklings, 
 not any one of whom can do anything worth speaking of; but 
 they try their best to write up each other ; and sometimes they 
 take it into their head to help an acquaintance and then their 
 cry is like that of a pack of beagles ; you would think the 
 Press of London, or a considerable section of it, had but one 
 voice. Why don't you take Lady Arthur's Lady Constance's 
 what's her name? why don't you take her book to the noble 
 association of log-rollers ? I presume the novel is trash ; they'll 
 welcome it all the more. She is a woman she is not to be 
 feared ; she hasn't as yet committed the crime of being success- 
 ful she isn't to be envied and anonymously attacked. That's 
 the ticket for you, Linn. They mayn't convince the public 
 that Lady What's-her-name is a wonderful person; but they 
 will convince her that she is ; and what more does she want ? " 
 
 " I don't understand you, Maurice ! " the young baritone 
 cried, almost angrily. " Again and again you've spoken of 
 Octavius Quirk as if he were beneath contempt." 
 
 "What has that to do with it?" the other repeated 
 placidly. " As an independent writer, Quirk is quite beneath 
 contempt quite. There is no backbone in his writing at all ; 
 and he knows fris own weakness ; and he thinks ho can conceal 
 
The Great God Pan. 25 
 
 it by the use of furious adjectives. He is always in a frantic 
 rush and flurry, that produces no impression on anybody. A 
 whirlwind of feathers, that's about it. He goes out into tho 
 highway and brandishes a double-handed sword in order to 
 sweep off the head of a buttercup. And I suppose he expects 
 the public to believe that his wild language, all about nothing, 
 means strength ; just as he hopes that they will take his noisy 
 horse-laugh for humour. That's Octavius Quirk as a writer a 
 nobody, a nothing, a wisp of straw in convulsions ; but as a 
 puffer ah, there you have him ! as a puffer, magnificent, 
 glorious, a Greek hero, invincible, invulnerable. My good 
 man, it's Octavius Quirk you should go to ! Get him to call on 
 his pack of beagles to give tongue; and then, my goodness, 
 you'll hear a cry for a while at least. Is there anything at 
 all in the book ? " 
 
 " I don't know," said Harry Thornhill, who had changed 
 quickly, and was now regaling himself with a little of Miss 
 Burgoyne's lemonade, with which the prima donna was so kind 
 as to keep him supplied. " Well, now, I shall bo on the stage 
 some time : what do you say to looking over Lady Adela's 
 novel?" 
 
 " All right." 
 
 There was a tapping at the door : it was the call-boy. 
 But Lionel Moore did not immediately answer the summons. 
 " Look here, Maurice ; if you should find anything in the 
 book anything you could say a word in favour of I wish 
 you'd come round to the Garden Club with me, after the per- 
 formance, and have a bit of supper. Octavius Quirk is almost 
 sure to be there." 
 
 " What, " Quirk ? I thought the Garden was given over to 
 Dukes and comic actors ? " 
 
 " There's a sprinkling of everybody in it," the young 
 baritone said ; " and Quirk likes it because it is an all-night 
 club he never seems to go to bed at all. Will you do 
 that?" . 
 
 u Oh, yes," Maurice Mangan said ; and forthwith, as his 
 friend left the dressing-room, he plunged into Lady Adela's 
 novel. 
 
 The last act of The Squire's Daughter is longer than its pre- 
 decessors ; so that Mangan had plenty of time to acquire some 
 general knowledge of the character and contents of these three 
 volumes. Indeed, he had more than time for all the brief 
 scrutiny he deemed necessary ; when Lionel Moore reappeared, 
 
26 The Neiv "Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 to get finally quit of his theatrical trappings for the night, his 
 friend was standing at the fireplace, looking at a sketch in 
 brown chalk of Miss Burgoyne, which that amiable young lady 
 had herself presented to Harry Thorrihill. 
 
 " Well, what's the verdict?" 
 
 Mangan turned round rather bewildered ; and then he 
 recollected that he had been glancing at the novel. 
 
 " Oh, that ? " he said, regarding the three volumes with no 
 very favourable air. " Mighty poor stuff, I should say : just 
 about as weak as they make it. But harmless. Some of the 
 conversation between the women is natural : trivial, but 
 natural. The plain truth is, my dear Linn, it is a very foolish, 
 stupid book, which should never have been printed at all ; but 
 I suppose your fashionable friend could afford to pay for having 
 it printed." 
 
 "But, look here, Maurice," Lionel said, in considerable 
 surprise, " I don't see how it can be so very stupid, when Lady 
 Adela herself is one of the brightest, cleverest, shrewdest, most 
 intelligent women you could meet with anywhere quite 
 unusually so." 
 
 '* That may be ; but she is not the first clever woman who 
 has made the mistake of imagining that because she is socially 
 popular she must therefore be able to write a book." 
 
 "And what am I to say to Octavius Quirk?" 
 
 "What are you to say to the log-rollers? Don't say any- 
 thing. Get Lady Adela to ask one or two of them to dinner. 
 You'll fetch Quirk that way easily : they say Gargantua was a 
 fool compared to him." 
 
 " I've seen him do pretty well at the Garden, especially 
 about two in the morning," was the young baritone's comment; 
 and then, as he began to get into his ordinary attire, he said 
 " To tell you the truth, Maurice, Lady Adela rather hinted that 
 she would be pleased to make the acquaintance of any of any 
 literary man 
 
 " Who could do her book a good turn ? " 
 
 " No, you needn't put it as rudely as that. She rather feels 
 that in becoming an authoress she has allied herself with 
 literary people and would naturally like to make acquaint- 
 ances ; so, if it catne to that, I should consider myself em- 
 powered to ask Quirk whether he would accept an invitation to 
 dinner I mean, at Aivron Lodge. It's no use asking you, 
 Maurice?" he added, with a little hesitation. 
 
 Maurice Mangan laughed. 
 
The Great God Pan. 27 
 
 " No, no, Linn, my boy ; thank you all the same. I say," 
 he continued, as he took up his hat and stick, seeing that 
 Lionel was about ready to go, " do you ever hear from Miss 
 Francie Wright, or have you forgotten her among all your fine 
 friends ? " 
 
 "Oh, I hear from Francie sometimes," he answered care- 
 lessly, "or about her, anyway, whenever I get a letter from 
 home. She's very well. Boarding out pauper sick children is 
 her new fad; and I believe she's very busy, and very happy 
 over it. Come along, Maurice : we'll walk up to the Garden, 
 and get something of an appetite for supper." 
 
 When they arrived at the Garden Club (so named from its 
 proximity to Covent Garden) they went forthwith into the 
 spacious apartment on the ground-floor which served at once as 
 dining-room, newspaper-room, and smoking-room. There was 
 hardly anybody in it. Four young men in evening-dress were 
 playing cards at a side-table; at another table a solitary 
 member was writing; but at the long supper-table which was 
 prettily lit up with crimson-shaded lamps, and the appoint- 
 ments of which seemed very trim and clean and neat all the 
 chairs were empty, and the only other occupants of the place 
 were the servants, who wore a simple livery of white linen. 
 
 "\\hat for supper, Maurice?" the younger of the two 
 friends asked. 
 
 "Anything with salad," Mangan answered: he was 
 examining a series of old engravings that hung round the walls. 
 
 " On a warm night like this what do you say to cold lamb, 
 salad, and some hock and iced soda-water ? " 
 
 " All right." 
 
 Supper was speedily forthcoming, and as they took their 
 places, Mangan said 
 
 " You don't often go down to see the old people, Linn ? " 
 
 " I'm so frightfully busy ! " 
 
 " Has Miss Francie ever been up to the theatre to see The 
 Squire's Daughter, I mean ? " this question he seemed to put 
 rather diffidently. 
 
 " No. I've asked her often enough ; but she always laughs 
 and puts it off. She seems to be as busy down there as I am up 
 here." 
 
 " What does she think of the great name and fame you have 
 made for yourself?" 
 
 " How should I know ? " 
 
 Then there was silence for a second or two. 
 
28 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " I wish you'd run down to see them some Sunday, Linn : 
 I'd go down with you." 
 
 "Why not go down by yourself ? they'd be tremendously 
 glad to see you." 
 
 " I should be more welcome if I took you with me. You 
 know your cousin likes you to pay a little attention to the old 
 people. Come ! Say Sunday week." 
 
 " My dear fellow, Sunday is my busiest day ! Sunday night 
 is the only night I have out of the seven. And I fancy that it 
 is for that very Sunday evening that Lord Eockminster has 
 engaged the Lansdowne Gallery: he gives a little dinner-party, 
 and his sisters have a big concert afterwards we've all got to 
 sing the chorus of the new marching-song that Lady Sybil has 
 composed for the army." 
 
 " Who is. Lady Sybil ? " 
 
 "The sister of the authoress whose novel you were 
 reading." 
 
 " My gracious, is there another genius in the family ? " 
 
 " There's a third," said Lionel, with a bit of a smile. 
 " What would you say if Lady Rosamund Bourne were to paint 
 a portrait of me as Harry Thornhill for the Eoyal Academy ? " 
 
 "I should say the betting was fifty to one against its 
 getting in." 
 
 " Ah, you're unjust, Maurice : you don't know them. I 
 dare say you judged that novel by some high literary standard 
 that it doesn't pretend to reach. I am sure of this, that if it's 
 half as clever as Lady Adela Cunyngham herself, it will do 
 very well." 
 
 " It will do very well for the kind of people who will read 
 .it," said the other, indifferently. 
 
 This was a free-and-easy place : when they had finished 
 supper, Lionel Moore lit a cigarette, and his friend a briar-root 
 pipe, without moving from the table ; and Mangan's prayer 
 was still that his companion should fix Sunday week for a visit 
 to the little Surrey village where they had been boys together, 
 and where Lionel's father and mother (to say nothing of a 
 certain Miss Francie Wright, whose name cropped up more 
 than once in Mangan's talk) were still living. But during this 
 entreaty Lionel's attention happened to be attracted to the 
 glass-door communicating with the hall ; and instantly he said 
 in an undertone 
 
 ** Here's a stroke of luck, Maurice : Quirk has just come in. 
 How am I to sound him ? What should I do ? " 
 
The Great Gocl Pan. 29 
 
 " Haven't I told you ? " said Mangan curtly. "Get your 
 swell friends to feed him." 
 
 Nevertheless this short, fat man who now strode into the 
 room, and nodded briefly to these two acquaintances, speedily 
 showed that on occasion he knew how to feed himself. He 
 called a waiter, and ordered an underdone beefsteak with 
 Spanish onions, toasted cheese to follow, and a large bottle of 
 stout to begin with ; then he took the chair at the head of the 
 table, thus placing himself next to Lionel Moore. 
 
 " A very empty den to-night," observed this newcomer, 
 whose heavy face, watery blue eyes, lank hair plentifully streaked 
 with grey, and unwholesome complexion would not have pro- 
 duced a too favourable impression on any one unacquainted 
 with his literary gifts and graces. 
 
 Lionel agreed ; and then followed a desultory conversation 
 about nothing in particular, though Mr. Octavius Quirk was 
 doing his best to say clever things and show off his boisterous 
 humour. Indeed, it was not until that gentleman's very 
 substantial supper was being brought in that Lionel got an 
 opportunity of artfully asking him whether he had heard 
 anything of Lady Adela Cunyngham's forthcoming novel. He 
 was about to proceed to explain that 4 Lady Arthur Castletown ' 
 was only a pseudonym when he was interrupted by Octavius 
 Quirk bursting into a roar a somewhat affected roar of 
 scornful laughter. 
 
 " Well, of all the phenomena of the day, that is the most 
 ludicrous," he cried " the so-called aristocracy thinking that 
 they can produce anything in the shape of art or literature. 
 The aristocracy the most exhausted of all our exhausted social 
 strata what can be expected from it? Why, we haven't 
 anywhere now-a-days either art or literature or drama that is 
 worthy of the name not anywhere it is all a ghastly, 
 spurious make-believe a mechanical manufactory of paintings 
 and books and plays without a spark of life in them " 
 
 Lionel Moore resentfully thought to himself that if Mr. 
 Quirk had been able to do anything in any one of these 
 directions he might have held less despairing views; but of 
 course he did not interrupt this feebly tempestuous monologue. 
 
 " We are all played out, that is the fact the soil is 
 exhausted we want a great national upheaval new condition 
 of things a social revolution, in short. And we're going to 
 get it," he continued, in a sort of triumphant way ; " there's no 
 mistake about that : the social revolution is in the air, it is 
 
30 The Neiv Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 under our feet, it is pressing in upon us from every side ; and 
 yet at the very moment that the aristocracy have got notice to 
 quit from their deer-forests, and their salmon-rivers and grouse- 
 moors, they so far mistake the signs of the times that they 
 think they should be devoting themselves to art and going on 
 the stage. Was there ever such incomprehensible madness ? " 
 
 " I hope they won't sweep away deer-forests and grouse- 
 moors just all at once," the young baritone said, modestly, " for 
 I am asked to go to the Highlands at the beginning of next 
 August " 
 
 " Make haste then, and see the last of these doomed institu- 
 tions ! " observed Mr. Quirk, with dark significance, as he 
 looked up from his steak and onions. " I ,tell you deer-forests 
 are doomed ; grouse-moors are doomed ; salmon-rivers are 
 doomed. They are a survival of feudal rights and privileges 
 which the new democracy the new ruling power will make 
 short work of. The time has gone by for all these absurd 
 restrictions and reservations ! There is no defence for them : 
 there never was : they were conceived in an iniquity of logic 
 which modern common sense will no longer suffer. * Bona 
 vacantia can't belong to anybody therefore they belong to the 
 King : ' that's a pretty piece of reasoning, isn't it ? And if the 
 crofter or the labourer says 'Bona vacantia can't belong to 
 anybody therefore they belong to me ' isn't the reasoning as 
 good ? But it is not merely game-laws that must be abolished, 
 it is game itself " 
 
 " If you abolish the one, you'll soon get rid of the other," 
 Maurice Mangan said, with a kind of half-contemptuous in- 
 difference : he was examining this person in a curious way, as 
 he might have looked through the wires of a cage in the Zoo- 
 logical Gardens. 
 
 "Both must be abolished," Mr. Octavius Quirk continued, 
 with windy vehemence. " The very distinction that takes any 
 animal ferae natures and constitutes it game is a relic of class- 
 privilege and must go 
 
 " Then Irish landlords will no longer be considered feres 
 naturse ? " Mangan asked, incidentally. 
 
 " We must be free from these feudal tyrannies, these 
 mediaeval chains and manacles that the Norman kings imposed 
 on a conquered people. We must be as free as the United 
 States of America 
 
 " America ! " Mangan said ; and he was rude enough to 
 laugh. " The State of New York has more stringent game- 
 
The Great God Pan. 31 
 
 laws than any European country that I know of ; and why 
 not ? They wanted to preserve certain wild animals, for the 
 general good ; and they took the only possible way." 
 
 Quirk was disconcerted only for a moment ; presently he 
 had resumed, in his reckless, mouton-enrage fashion 
 
 " That may be ; but the Democracy of Great Britain has 
 pronounced against game ; and game must go ; there is no dis- 
 puting the fact. Hunting in any civilised community is a relic 
 of barbarism ; it is worse in this country it is an infringement 
 of the natural rights of the tiller of the soil. What is the use 
 of talking about it? the whole thing is doomed: if you're 
 going to Scotland this autumn, Mr. Moore, if you are to be 
 shown all those exclusive pastimes of the rich and privileged 
 classes, well, I'd advise you to keep your eyes open, and write 
 as clear an account of what you see as you can ; and, by Jove, 
 twenty years hence your book will be read with amazement by 
 the new generation ! " 
 
 Here the pot of foaming stout claimed his attention ; he 
 buried his head in it ; and thereafter, sitting back in his chair, 
 sighed forth his satisfaction. The time was come for a large 
 cigar. 
 
 And how in the face of this fierce denunciation of the 
 wealthy classes and all their ways, could Lionel Moore put in a 
 word for Lady Adela's poor little literary infant ? It would be 
 shrivelled into nothing by a blast of this simulated simoom. It 
 would be trodden under foot by the log-roller's elephantine 
 jocosity. In a sort of despair he turned to Maurice Mangan, 
 and would have entered into conversation with him, but that 
 Mangan now rose and said he must be going, nor could he be 
 prevailed on to stay. Lionel accompanied him into the hall. 
 
 " That Jabberwock makes me sick ; he's such an ugly 
 devil," Mangan said, as he put on his hat; and surely that was 
 strange language coming from a grave philosopher who was 
 about to publish a volume on the Fundamental Fallacies of 
 M. Comte. 
 
 " But what am I to do, Maurice? " Lionel said, as his friend 
 was leaving. ** It's no use asking for his intervention at 
 present; he's simply running amuck." 
 
 " If your friend Lady VV hat's-her-name is as clever as 
 you say, she'll just twist that fellow round her finger," the 
 other observed, briefly. " Good-night, Linn ! " 
 
 And indeed it was not of Octavius Quirk, nor yet of Lady 
 Adela's novel, that Maurice Mangan was thinking as he 
 
32 The Neiv Prince FortunatuS. 
 
 carelessly Walked away through the dark London thorough- 
 fares, towards his rooms in Victoria Street. He was thinking 
 of that quiet little Surrey village ; and of two boys there who 
 had a great belief in each other and in themselves, too, for the 
 matter of that ; and of all the beautiful and wonderful dreams 
 they dreamt while as yet the far-reaching future was veiled 
 from them. And then he thought of Linn Moore's dressing- 
 room at the theatre ; and of the paints and powder and vulgar 
 tinsel that had to fit him out for exhibition before the foot- 
 lights ; and of the feverish whirl of life and the bedazzlernent 
 of popularity and fashionable petting ; and somehow or other 
 the closing lines of Mrs. Browning's poem would come ever and 
 anon into his head as a sort of unceasing refrain 
 
 ' The true gods sigh for the cost and pain, 
 For the reed that grows nevermore again 
 As a reed with the reeds in the river.'' 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 NINA. 
 
 ONE morning Lionel was just about to go out (he had already 
 been round to the gymnasium and got his fencing over) when 
 the house-porter came up and said that a young lady wished to 
 see him. 
 
 " What [does she want ? " he said, impatiently for some- 
 thing had gone wrong with the clasp of his cigarette-case, 
 and he could not get it right. " What's her name ? Who 
 is she?" 
 
 " She gave me her name, sir ; but I did not quite catch it," 
 said the factotum of the house. 
 
 " Oh, well, send her up," said he : no doubt this was some 
 trembling debutante, accompanied by an ancient duenna and a 
 roll of music. And then he went to the window, to try to get 
 the impenitent clasp to shut. 
 
 But perhaps he would not have been so wholly engrossed 
 with that trifling difficulty had he known who this was who 
 had come softly up the stair and was now standing irresolute, 
 smiling, wondering at the open door. She was a remarkably 
 pretty, even handsome young lady, whose pale clear olive 
 complexion and coal-black hair bespoke her southern birth; 
 
Nina. 33 
 
 while there was an eager and yet timid look in her lustrous 
 soft black eyes, and something about the mobile, half-parted 
 mouth that seemed to say she hardly knew whether to cry 
 or laugh over this meeting with an old friend. A very 
 charming picture she presented there ; for besides her attrac- 
 tive personal appearance, she was very neatly, not to say 
 coquettishly, dressed; her costume, which had a distinctly 
 foreign air, being all of black, save for the smart little 
 French-looking hat of deep crimson straw and velvet. 
 
 At last she said 
 
 "Leo!" 
 
 He turned instantly, and had nearly dropped the cigarette- 
 case in his amazement. And for a second he seemed paralysed 
 of speech 'he was wholly bewildered perhaps overcome by 
 some swift sense of responsibility at finding Antonia Eossi in 
 London, and alone. 
 
 " Che, Nina mia," he cried, " tu stai cca a Londra ! chesta 
 mo, chi su credeva ! e senza manca scriverme nu viers' e 
 lettere Nina! mi pare nu suonno! 
 
 She interrupted him ; she came forward smiling and the 
 parting of the pretty lips showed a sunny gleam of teeth; she 
 held up her two hands, palm outwards, as if she would shut 
 away from herself that old familiar Neapolitanese. 
 
 " No, no, no, Leo," she said, rapidly, " I speak English now 
 I study, study, study, morning, day, night ; and always I say, 
 * When I see Leo, he will have much surprise that I speak 
 English ' always I say, ' Some day I go to England, and 
 when I see Leo' " 
 
 The happy eager smile suddenly died away from her face. 
 She looked at him. A strange kind of trouble of doubt and 
 wonderment and pain came into those soft, dark, expressive 
 eyes. 
 
 " You you not wish to see me, Leo ? " she said, rather 
 breathlessly and as if she could hardly believe this thing. 
 " I come to London and you not glad to see me " 
 
 Quick tears of wounded pride sprang to the long black 
 lashes ; but with a dignified, even haughty inclination of the 
 head she turned from him and put her hand on the handle of 
 the door. At the same instant he caught her arm. 
 
 " Why, Nina, you're just the spoiled child you always 
 were ! Ah, your English doesn't go so far as that : you don't 
 know what a spoiled child is? e la cianciosella, you Neapolitan 
 girl ! Why, of course I'm glad to see you I am delighted to 
 
34 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 see you but you frightened me, Nina your coming like this, 
 alone " 
 
 " I frighten you, Leo ? " she said, and a quick laugh shone 
 brightly through her tears. " Ah, I see it is that I have no 
 chaperon ? But I had no time I wished to see you, Leo I 
 said, ' Leo will understand, and afterwards I get a chaperon 
 all correctly.' Oh, yes, yes, I know but where is the time ? 
 yesterday I go through the streets it is Leo, Leo everywhere 
 in the windows I see you in this costume, in the other 
 costume and your name so large, so very large, in the in 
 the " 
 
 "The theatre-bills? Well, sit down, Nina, and tell me how 
 you come to be in London." 
 
 She had by this time quite forgiven or forgotten his first 
 dismay on finding her there ; and now she took a chair with 
 much quiet complaisance, and sate down, and put her black 
 silk sunshade across her knees. 
 
 " It is simple," she said, and from time to time she regarded 
 him in a very frank and pleased and even affectionate way, as 
 if the old comradeship of the time when they were both 
 studying in Naples was not to be interfered with by the 
 natural timidity of a young and extremely pretty woman 
 coming as a stranger into a strange town. " You remember 
 Carmela, Leo ? Carmela and her her spouse they have great 
 good fortune they get a grand prize in the lottery then he 
 says ' Carmeluccia, we will go to Paris we will go to Paris, 
 Carmeluccia and why not Nina also?' Very kind, was it 
 not ? but Andrea is always kind, so also Carmela, to me. 
 Then I am in Paris. I say, ' It is not far to London ; I go to 
 London; I go to London, and see Leo.' Perhaps I get an 
 engagement oh, no, no, no, you shall not laugh ! " she broke 
 in though it was she herself who was laughing, and not he at 
 all. " I am improved oh, yes, a little a little improved you 
 remember old Pandiani he always t^ay my voice not bad, but 
 that agilita was for me very difficult." 
 
 He remembered very well; but he also remembered that 
 when he left Naples Signorina Kossi was labouring away with 
 the most pertinacious assiduity at cavatinas full of runs and 
 scales and fiorituri generally; and he was quite willing to 
 believe that such diligence had met with its due reward. But 
 when the youug lady modestly hinted that she had left her 
 music in the hall below, and would like Leo to hear whether 
 she had not acquired a good deal more of flexibility than her 
 
Nina. 35 
 
 voice used to possess, and when he had fetched the music and 
 taken it to the piano for her, he was not a little surprised to 
 see her select Ainbroise Thomas' * lo son Titania.' And he was 
 still more astonished when he found her singing this difficult 
 piece of music with a brilliancy, an ease, a verve of execution 
 that he had never dreamed of her being able to reach. 
 
 "Brava! Brava! Bravissima! Well, you have improved, 
 Nina?" he exclaimed. "And it isn't only in freedom of pro- 
 duction, it is in quality, too, in timbre my goodness, your 
 voice has ever so much more volume and power ! Come, now, 
 try some big, dramatic thing " 
 
 She shook her head. 
 
 " No, no, Leo, I know what I do," she said. " I shall never 
 have the grand style never but you think I am improved, 
 yes ? Well, now, I sing something else." 
 
 He forgot all about her lack of a chaperon : they were 
 fellow-students again, as in the old days at Naples, when 
 they worked hard (and also played a little) when they com- 
 forted each other, and strove to bear with equanimity the 
 grumbling and querulousness of that always dissatisfied old 
 Pandiani. Signorina Rossi now sang the Shadow Song from 
 " Dinorah ; " then she sang the Jewel Song from " Faust ; " she 
 sang Caro nome from " Rigoletto," or anything else that he 
 could suggest ; and her runs and shakes and scale passages 
 were delivered with a freedom and precision that again and 
 again called forth his applause. 
 
 " And you have never sung in public, Nina ? " he asked. 
 
 " At one concert, yes, in Naples," the young lady made 
 answer. " And at two or three matinees." And then she turned 
 to him with a bright look. " You know this, Leo ? I am 
 offered no I was oifered an engagement to sing in opera; 
 oh, yes ; it was the Impresario from Malta he comes to Naples 
 Pandiani makes us all sing to him then will I go to Malta, 
 to the opera there ? No ! " 
 
 "Why not, Nina? Surely that was a good opening?" he 
 said. 
 
 She turned away from him again, and her fingers wandered 
 lightly over the keys of the piano. 
 
 " I always say to me, ' Some day I am in England ; the 
 English give much money at concerts ; perhaps that is better.' " 
 
 " So you've come over to England to get a series of concert 
 room engagements : is that it, Nina ? " 
 
 She shrugged her shoulders ever so slightly. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 The Neiv Prince Forlunatus. 
 
 " Perhaps. One must wait and see. It is not my ambition. 
 No. The light opera, that is popular? is it right ? " 
 
 " Yes, yes." 
 
 "It is very popular in England," said the young Italian 
 lady, with her eyes coming back from the music-sheets to seek 
 those of her friend. " Well, Leo, if I take a small part to 
 begin, have I voice sufficient ? What do you think ? No ; be 
 frank : say to yourself ' I am Pandiani ; here is Antonia Rossi 
 troubling me once more; it is useless; go away Antonia 
 Rossi, and not trouble me ! ' Well Maestro Pandiani, what 
 you say?" 
 
 " So you want io go on the stage, Nina ? " said he ; and 
 again the dread of finding himself responsible for this solitary 
 young stranger sent a qualm to his heart. It was an em- 
 barrassing position altogether ; but at the same time the 
 thought of shaking her off of getting free from this responsi- 
 bility by telling a white lie or two and persuading her to go 
 back to Naples that thought never even occurred to him. To 
 shake off his old comrade Nina? He certainly would have 
 preferred, for many reasons, that she should have taken to 
 concert-room business; but if she was relying on him for 
 an introduction to the lyric stage, why he was bound to help 
 her in every possible way. " You know you've got an excellent 
 voice ! " he continued. " And a very little stage training 
 would fit you for a small part in comedy-opera, if that is what 
 you're thinking of, as a beginning. But I don't know that 
 you would like it, Nina. You see, you would have to become 
 under-study for the lady who has the part at present ; and 
 they'd probably want you to sing in the chorus; and you'd get 
 a very small salary at first, you know, until you were 
 qualified to take one of the more important parts and then 
 you might get into a travelling-company 
 
 " A small part ? " said she, with much cheerfulness. " Oh, 
 yes ; why not ? I must learn." 
 
 "But I don't know that you would like it," he said, still 
 ruefully. " You see, Nina, you might have to dress in the same 
 room with two or three of the chorus-girls 
 
 *' And then ? " she said, with a little dramatic gesture, and 
 an elevation of her beautifully-formed black eyebrows. " Leo, 
 you never saw my lodgings with the family Debernardi you 
 have only mount the stairs 
 
 * My goodness, Nina, I could guess what the inside of the 
 rooms was like, if they .were anything like those interminable 
 
Nina. 37 
 
 and horrid stairs ! " lie exclaimed, with a laugh. " And you 
 who were always so fond of pretty things, and flowers, and 
 always so particular when we went to a restaurant to live with 
 the Debernardis ! " 
 
 " Ah, Leo, you imagine not why ? " she said, also laughing, 
 and when she laughed, her milk-white teeth shone merrily. 
 " Old Pietro Debernardi he lives in England some years ; he 
 speaks English, perhaps not very well, but he speaks ; then he 
 teach me as he knows; and when it is possible I go on the 
 Risposta and sail over to Capri, and all the way, and all the 
 return, I listen, and listen, and listen to the English people ; 
 and I remember, and I practise alone in my own room, and I 
 say ' Leo, he must not ridicule me, when I go to England.' " 
 
 " Eidicule you ! " said he, indignantly. " I wish I could 
 speak Italian as freely as you speak English, Nina ! " 
 
 " Oh, you speak Italian ver' well ! " said she. " But why 
 you speak still the Neapolitan dialetto dialect, is it right? 
 that you hear in the shops and the streets ? Ah, I remember 
 you are so proud of it, and when I] try to teach you proper 
 Italian, you laugh you wish to speak like Sabetta Debernardi, 
 and Giacomo, and the others. That is the fault to learn by 
 ear, instead of the books, correctly. And you have not forgotten 
 yet!" 
 
 " Well, Nina," he resumed, " I don't seem to have frightened 
 you with the possibility of your having to dress in the same 
 room with two or three chorus-girls whom you don't know; 
 and in fact, if I happened to be acquainted with the theatre, I 
 dare say I could get the manager to make sure you were to 
 dress along with some nice girl, who would show you how to 
 make up, and all that. But you would get a very small salary 
 to begin with, Nina ; perhaps only thirty shillings a week and 
 an extra pound a week when you had to take up your under- 
 study duties however, that need not trouble you, because we 
 are old comrades, Nina, and while you are in England my purse 
 is yours " 
 
 She looked at him doubtfully. 
 
 " Ah, you don't understand," he said, gently. " It's only 
 this, Nina: I have plenty of money ; if you are a good comrade 
 and a good friend, you will take from me what you want 
 always at any moment " 
 
 The pretty, pale olive face flushed quickly, and for a brief 
 second she glanced at him with grateful eyes ; but it was per- 
 haps to cover her embarrassment that she now rose from the 
 
38 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 piano, and pretended to be tired of the music and of these 
 professional schemes. 
 
 " It is enough of business," she said, lightly ; " come, Leo, 
 will you go for a small walk ? have you time ? " 
 
 *' Oh, yes, I have time," said he, " but you must not say 
 booziness, Nina ; it is bizness" 
 
 " Beezness ! beezness ! " she said, smiling. " It is enough of 
 beezness. You go for a walk with me yes? How beautiful 
 the weather ! " she continued, in a suddenly altered tone as she 
 looked out at the sunlit foliage of the Green Park ; and then 
 she murmured, almost to herself, in those soft Italian vowel- 
 sounds 
 
 " Ah, Leo mio, che sarei felice d'essere in campagna ! " 
 
 It was a kind of sigh ; perhaps that was the reason she had 
 inadvertently relapsed into her own tongue. And as they went 
 down the stairs, and he opened the door for her, the few words 
 he addressed to her were also in Italian. 
 
 " The country ! " he said. ** We will just step across the 
 street, Nina, and you will find yourself in what is quite as 
 pretty as the county at this time of year. You may fancy 
 yourself sitting in the Villa Reale, if you could only have a 
 flaish of blue sea underneath the branches of the trees." 
 
 But when they had crossed over and got into the compara- 
 tive quiet of the Park, she resolutely returned to her English 
 again ; and now she was telling him about the people in Naples 
 whom he used to know and of their various fortunes and cir- 
 cumstances. Sometimes neither of them spoke; for all this 
 around them was very still and pleasant the fresh foliage of 
 the trees and the long lush grass of the enclosures as yet 
 undimmed by the summer dust ; the cool shadows thrown by 
 the elms and limes just moving as the wind stirred the wide 
 branches ; altogether a world of soft, clear, sunny green un- 
 broken except by here and there a small copper beech with its 
 bronze leaves become translucent in the hot light. It is true 
 that the browsing sheep were abnormally black ; and the 
 yellow-billed starlings had perhaps less sheen on their feathers 
 than they would have had in the country ; nevertheless, for a 
 park in the midst of a great city, this place was very quiet, and 
 beautiful, and sylvan ; and indeed, when these two sate down 
 on a couple of chairs under a fragrant hawthorn, Nina's lustrous 
 dark eyes became wistful and absent, and she said 
 
 " Yes, Leo, it is as you say in the house it all appears a 
 dream." 
 
Nina. 39 
 
 " What appears like a dream to you ?" her companion aske'd. 
 " To be in London, sitting with you, Leo, and hearing you 
 speak," she answered in a low voice. " Often I think of it 
 often I think of London wondering what it is like and I ask 
 myself * Will Leo be the same after his great renown ? Are we 
 friends as before ? ' And now I am here, and London is not 
 dark and terrible with smoke, but we sit in gardens oh, very 
 beautiful ! and Leo is talking just as in the old way perhaps 
 it is a dream?" she continued, looking up with a smile. "Per- 
 haps I wake soon ? " 
 
 " Oh, no, it isn't a dream, Nina," said he, ** only it might 
 pass for one, for you haven't told me how you managed to get 
 here. It is all a mystery to me. Where are you staying, for 
 example ? " 
 
 " My lodging ? " she said. " I have an apartment in the 
 Kestaurant Gianuzzi." 
 "Where is that?" 
 
 " Rupert Street," she answered, with a valiant effort at the 
 proper pronunciation. 
 
 "My goodness, what are you doing, Nina?" he said, almost 
 angrily. " Living by yourself, in a foreign restaurant, in the 
 neighbourhood of Leicester Square ! You'll have to come out 
 of that at once ! " 
 
 " You must not scold me, Leo," she said, in rather a hurt 
 way. " How am I to know ? " 
 
 " I am not scolding you," he said (indeed, he knew better 
 than to do that : if once the notion had got into her little head 
 that he was really upbraiding her, she would have been 
 up and off in a moment, proud-lipped, indignant-eyed, with a 
 fierce wrong rankling in her heart ; and weeks it might take 
 him to pet her into gentleness again, even if she did not forth- 
 with set out for the South, resolved to return to this harsh, cold 
 England no more). " I am not scolding you, Nina," he said, 
 quite gently. " Of course you didn't know. And of course 
 you were attracted by the Italian name you thought you 
 
 would feel at home " 
 
 " They are very nice people, yes, yes ! " she said and still 
 she was inclined to hold her head erect, and her mouth was a 
 little proud and offended. 
 
 "Very likely indeed," he said, with great consideration, 
 "but, you see, Nina, a single young lady can't stay at a 
 restaurant by herself, without knowing some one, some one to 
 go about with her " 
 
40 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " Why," she said, vehemently, almost scornfully, " you 
 think I not know that ! An Italian girl and not know that ! 
 Last night, hour after hour, I sit and think * Oh there is Leo 
 singing now if I may go to the theatre ! to sit and hear him 
 and think of the old days and perhaps to write home to the 
 Maestro, and tell him of the grand fame of his scholar.' But 
 no. I cannot go out. There is no time yet to see about a 
 chaperon. When it comes eleven hour, I say 'The theatre is 
 ceased ' ; and I go to bed. Then this morning I know no 
 person ; I say * Very well, I go and see Leo ; he will under- 
 stand ; it is how I meet him in the Chiaja, and he says " Good- 
 morning, Nina ; shall we go for a little walk out to Pozzuoli ? " 
 it is just the same.' " 
 
 11 Yes, I understand well enough, Nina," said he, good- 
 naturedly, " and I wasn't scolding you when I said you must 
 get some better place to stay at while you are in London. 
 Well, now, I am going to tell you something. I don't know 
 much about what actors and actresses are in Italy ; but here in 
 England they are exceedingly generous to any of their number 
 that have fallen into misfortune ; and a case of the kind 
 happened a little while ago. An actor, who used to be well- 
 known, died quite suddenly, and left his widow entirely unpro- 
 vided for ; whereupon there was a subscription got up for her, 
 and a morning performance, too, in which nearly all the leading 
 actors and actresses managed to do something or other ; and 
 the result is that they have been able to take the lease of a 
 house in Sloane Street, and furnish the rooms for her, and she 
 is to earn her living Toy keeping lodgers. Now, if you really 
 want to remain in London, Nina, don't you think that might be 
 a comfortable home for you ? She is a very nice ladylike little 
 woman; and she's a great friend of mine, too; she would do 
 everything she could for you. There's a chaperon for you 
 ready-made ! for I'm afraid she has only one lodger to look after 
 as yet, though she has all the necessary servants, and the es- 
 tablishment is quite complete. What do you say to that, Nina ? " 
 Her face had brightened up wonderfully at this proposal. 
 " Yes, yes, yes, Leo ! " she said, instantly. " Tell me 
 how I go, and I go at once, to ask her if she can give me 
 apartments." 
 
 He glanced at his watch. 
 
 " The fact is," said he, slowly, " I was to have lunched with 
 a very small party to-day at a Duchess's house at a Duchess's 
 bouse, think of that, Nina J " 
 
Nina. 41 
 
 She jumped to her feet at once, and frankly held out her 
 hand. 
 
 " Forgive me, Leo ! I retard you I did not know." 
 
 " Don't be in such a hurry, Nina," he said, as he also rose. 
 " I'm going to break the appointment, that's all about it ; 
 Signorina Antonia Kossi doesn't arrive in England every day. 
 I'll tell you what we have got to do : we will get into a hansom 
 and drive to a telegraph-office, and I'll get rid of that engage- 
 ment ; then we'll go on to the Restaurant Gianuzzi, and you 
 and I will have a little luncheon by ourselves, just to prepare 
 us for the fatigues of the day ; then you will get your things 
 ready, and I will take you down to Mrs. Grey's in Sloane 
 Street, and introduce you to that most estimable little lady; 
 and then, if Mrs. Grey happens to be disengaged for the 
 evening, she might be induced to come with you to the New 
 Theatre, and she could take you safe home after the perfor- 
 mance. How will that do, Nina ? " 
 
 " You always were kind to me Leo," she said though the 
 gratitude plainly shining in the gentle, dark eyes rendered the 
 words quite unnecessary. 
 
 And indeed she was delighted with a sort of childish delight 
 to sit in this swift hansom, bowling along the smooth thorough- 
 fare; and she chatted and chattered in her gay, rapid, discon- 
 nected fashion ; and she had .nothing but contempt for the 
 shabby Neapolitan fiacre and the jolting streets that Leo of 
 course remembered ; and when at last she found herself and 
 her companion of old days seated at a small, clean, bright 
 window-table in the Restaurant Gianuzzi they being the only 
 occupants of the long saloon she fairly clapped her little 
 hands together in her gladness. And then how pretty she 
 looked ! She had removed her bonnet ; and the light from the 
 window, falling on the magnificent masses of her jet-black hair, 
 gave it almost a blue sheen in places ; while here and there 
 about the wax-like ear, for example, a ringlet had got astray, 
 and its soft darkness against the olive complexion seemed to 
 heighten the clear, pure pallor ol the oval cheek. And now all 
 doubts as to how Leo might receive her had fled from her 
 mind; they were on the old familiar terms again; and she 
 followed with an eager and joyous interest all that he had to 
 say to her. Then how easily could she accentuate her sym- 
 pathetic listening with this expressive face ! The mobile, 
 somewhat large, beautifully-formed mouth, the piquant little 
 nose with its sensitive nostrils, the eloquent dark eyes could 
 
42 The Neiv Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 just say anything she pleased ; though, to be sure, however 
 varying her mood might be, in accordance with what she 
 heard and what was demanded of her, her normal expression 
 was one of an almost childish and happy content. She poured 
 her glass of Chianti into a tumbler, and filled that up with 
 water, and sipped it, as a canary sips. She made little pellets 
 of bread with her dainty white fingers but that was in forget- 
 fulness that was in her eagerness of listening. And at last 
 she said 
 
 "What is it, Leo? you wish to frighten me with your 
 trials ? no ! for now you laugh at all these these mortifica- 
 tions. Then a man is proud he is sensitive he is not patient 
 as a woman oh, you think you frighten me ? no, no ! " 
 
 The fact is, he began to see more and more clearly that she 
 was resolved upon trying her fortune on the lyric stage; and 
 he thought it his duty to let her know very distinctly what 
 she would have to encounter. He did not exactly try to dis- 
 suade her ; but he gave her a general idea of what she might 
 expect, and that in not too roseate colours. His chief difficulty, 
 however, was this : he was possessed by a vague feeling that there 
 might be some awkwardness in having Antonia Eossi engaged 
 at the same theatre with himself; and yet, looking round all 
 the light operas then being performed, he had honestly to 
 confess that the only part Nina could aspire to take, with her 
 present imperfect pronunciation of English, was that of the 
 young French officer played at the New Theatre by Mile. 
 Girond. Nor did it lessen his embarrassment to find as soon 
 as he mentioned this possibility, that to join the New Theatre 
 was precisely what Signorina Eossi desired. 
 
 " I don't think there would be much difficulty about it, 
 Nina," he was forced to admit carefully concealing his 
 reluctance the while. "Lehmann, that is our manager, is 
 talking about getting up a second travelling company, for the 
 opera is so popular everywhere ; and there is to be a series of 
 rehearsals of under-studies beginning next Monday, and you 
 could see all the coaching going on. Then you could sit in 
 front at 'night, and watch Mile. Girond's * business : ' how 
 would you like that, Nina ? whether what she does is clever 
 or stupid, you would have to copy it ; the public would expect 
 that 
 
 " Why not ? " Nina said, with a pleasant smile. " Why not ? 
 I learn. She knows more ; why not I learn ? " 
 
 " It's a shame to throw away a fine voice like yours on a 
 
Nina. 43 
 
 small part in a comic opera," he said, still with vague dreams 
 before him of a concert-room career for her. 
 
 " But I must begin," said she, with much practical common 
 sense, " and while I am in the small part, I learn to act, I learn 
 the stage-affair, I learn better English, to the end of having a 
 place more important. Why, Leo, you are too careful of me ! 
 At Naples I work hard, I am a slave to old Pandiani I suffer 
 everything can I not work hard here in London ? You think 
 I am an infant? Certainly I am not no, no I am old 
 
 old " 
 
 "But light-hearted still, Nina," he said, for she was clearly 
 bent on laughing away his fears. Then he looked at her with 
 a little hesitation. " There's another thing, Nina : about the 
 costume ? " 
 
 " Yes ? " she asked innocently. 
 
 " I don't know whether you would quite like but I'll show 
 you Mile. Girond's dress any way then you can judge for your- 
 self," said he. He called the waiter. He scribbled on a piece of 
 paper, " Photograph of Mile. Girond as Capitaine Crepin in The 
 Squire's Daughter." " Send round to some stationer's shop, will 
 you, and get me that ? " 
 
 When the messenger returned with the photograph, Lionel, 
 rather timidly, put it before her; but indeed there was nothing 
 in the costume of Mile. Girond to startle any one the uniform 
 of the boy-officer was so obviously a compromise. Nina glanced 
 at it though tfully. 
 
 " Well, Leo," she said, looking up, "you see no harm?" 
 " Harm ? " said he, boldly taking up his cue, " of course not ! 
 It isn't like any uniform that ever was known ; I suppose it's 
 Mile. Girond's own invention ; but at all events there's nothing 
 to prevent any modest girl wearing it. Why, I know more 
 than one fashionable lady who would think nothing of appear- 
 ing as liosalind and Rosalind's is a real boy's dress, or ought 
 to be and then they haven't the excuse that an actor or 
 actress has, that it is a necessity of one's profession. However, 
 there's nothing to be said about that costume any way : I really 
 had forgotten that Miss Girond had got her pretty little 
 blue coat made with so long a skirt. Besides, Nina, with a 
 voice like yours, you will soon be beyond having to take parts 
 like that." ' 
 
 Indeed she was so evidently anxious to obtain an engage- 
 ment in the same theatre that he himself was engaged in, that 
 his vague reluctance ultimately vanished; and he began con- 
 
44 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 sidering when he could bring her before Mr. Lehmann, the 
 manager, and Mr. Carey, the musical conductor, so that they 
 should hear her sing. As to their verdict, as to what the 
 manager would do, he had no doubt whatever. She had a 
 valuable voice ; and her ignorance of stage requirements would 
 speedily disappear. A-t the very time that Lehmann was 
 trying to get new understudies with a view to the formation 
 of a second travelling-company, why, here was a perfect 
 treasure discovered for him. And Lionel made certain that, 
 as soon as Antonia Rossi had had time to study Mile. Giroud's 
 " business," and perhaps one or two chances of actually playing 
 the part, she would be drafted into one or other of the 
 travelling-companies, and sent away through the provinces; 
 so that any awkwardness arising from her being in the same 
 theatre with herself, and he her only friend in England, to 
 whom she would naturally appeal in any emergency, would 
 thus be obviated. 
 
 " Nina," said he, as they were driving in a hansom to 
 Sloane Street (all her belongings being on the top of the cab), 
 " Lehmann, our manager, is to be at the theatre this afternoon, 
 about some scenery, I fancy; and there's a chance of our 
 catching him if we went down some little time before the 
 performance. Would you come along and sing one or two 
 things ? you might have the arrangement made at once." 
 
 " Will you go with me, Leo? " 
 
 " Oh, yes," he said, " I mean Mrs. Grey will take you, you 
 know ; for I will try to get places for her and you in front 
 afterwards; but I will go with you as well. You won't be 
 afraid ? " 
 
 She laughed. 
 
 " Afraid ? no, no what I can do I can do there is no 
 Pandiani to scold me if they are not satisfied that is my own 
 beezness is it right? oh, I say to you, Leo, if you hear 
 Pandiani when I refuse to go to Malta you think you know 
 the Neapolitan deealet dialect ? no, it is not good for you to 
 know all the wicked words of Naples and he is old and evil- 
 tempered it is no matter. But in this theatre there is no 
 Pandiani and his curses 
 
 ** No, no, not curses, Nina," he said. " I see old Debernardi 
 has taught you some strange English. Of course the Maestro 
 did not use curses to his favourite people oh, yes, you were, 
 Nina, a great favourite, though he was always grumbling and 
 growling. However, remember this, Nina, you must sing your 
 
45 
 
 best this evening, and impress them : and I shouldn't wonder 
 if Lehmann gave you exceptional terms." 
 
 "More leezness?" she said, with a smile that showed a 
 gleam of her pretty teeth : the sound of the word had tickled 
 her ear somehow : more than once, as the cab rolled away down 
 Kensingtonwards, he could hear her repeat to herself " leezness! 
 beezness ! " 
 
 This young Italian lady seemed to produce a most 
 favourable impression on the little, pale-faced widow, who 
 appeared to be very grateful to Mr. Lionel Moore for having 
 thought of her. The ground-floor, sitting-room and bed-room, 
 she explained, were occupied by her sole lodger ; the young 
 lady could have the choice of any of the apartments above. 
 The young lady, as it turned out, was startled beyond measure 
 at the price she was asked to pay (which, in truth, was quite 
 moderate, for the rooms were good rooms, in a good situation, 
 and neatly furnished), and it was only on Lionel insisting on 
 it that she consented to take the apartments on the second 
 floor. 
 
 " I beg you not miscomprehend," Nina said, somewhat 
 earnestly, to the little landlady (for was she not a friend of 
 Leo's ?). " The price is perhaps not too large it is to me that 
 it is large " 
 
 " Oh, that's all right, Nina," Lionel broke in, " that's all 
 settled. You see, Mrs. Grey, Miss Kossi has come over here to 
 get an engagement in comedy-opera, or perhaps to sing at 
 concerts ; and if a manager calls to see her on business, why, 
 of course she must be in decent rooms. Yoii can't go and live 
 in a slum. Mrs. Grey knows what managers are, Nina ; you 
 must take up a good position and hold your own ; and and, 
 in fact, Nina, when you are in London, you can't afford to go 
 and climb those frightful Neapolitan stairs and hide yourself 
 in a garret. So it's settled ; and I'm going out directly to hire 
 a piaiio for you." 
 
 " For how much expense, Leo? " she said, anxiously. 
 
 " Oh, we'll see about that by-and-by," said he. 
 
 He then explained to Mrs. Grey that Miss Nina was that 
 very evening going along to the New Theatre to be heard by 
 the manager and the conductor ; that thereafter she wished to 
 see the performance of The Squires Daughter, in which she 
 hoped ere long to take a part herself; and that, if Mrs. Grey 
 could find it convenient to accompany the young lady, it would 
 be a very great obligation to him, Mr. Moore. Mrs. Grey 
 
46 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 replied to this that her solitary lodger had gone down to 
 Richmond for two or three days ; she herself had no engage- 
 ment of any kind for that evening ; and when, she asked, did 
 any one ever hear of an old actress refusing an invitation to go 
 to the theatre ? 
 
 " So that's all settled too," said this young man, who seemed 
 to be carrying everything his own way. 
 
 Then he went out and hired a piano necessarily a small 
 upright which was to be taken down to Sloane Street that 
 same evening ; next he sought out a telegraph office, and sent a 
 message to Mr. Lehmann and to Mr. Carey ; finally he called 
 at a florist's and bought a whole heap of flowers for the better 
 decoration of Signorina Rossi's new apartments. In this last 
 affair he was really outrageously extravagant, even for one 
 who was habitually careless about his expenditure ; but he said 
 to himself 
 
 " Well, I throw away lots of money in compliments to 
 people who are quite indifferent to me ; and why shouldn't I 
 allow myself a little latitude when it is my old comrade Nina 
 who has come over to England ? " 
 
 When at length he got back to the house he found it would 
 soon be time for them to be thinking of getting down to the 
 theatre ; so he said 
 
 " Now, look here, Mrs. Grey, when Miss Nina has done with 
 her singing and her talk with the manager, you must take her 
 to some restaurant and get some dinner for both of you, for you 
 can't go on without anything until eleven. You will just have 
 time before the performance begins. I'm sorry I can't take 
 you ; but, you see, as soon as I hear what the manager says, I 
 must be off' to dress for my part. Then at the end of the per- 
 formance I can't ask you to wait for me; you will have to 
 bring her- home, either in a cab or by the Underground, for 
 Nina is very economical. I hope you won't think I am treating 
 you ill in leaving you to yourselves " 
 
 " Why, Leo, you have given up the whole day to me ! " Nina 
 exclaimed. 
 
 " You gave up many an afternoon to me, Nina," he rejoined, 
 " when I sprained my ankle down at that confounded Castello 
 Dell* Ovo." 
 
 The ordeal that the debutante had now to undergo was of 
 course made remarkably easy for her through the intervention 
 of this good friend of hers. When they got down to the 
 theatre, they went at once on to the stage, where Nina found 
 
Nina. 47 
 
 herself in the midst of an old-fashioned English village, with 
 a gaily-bedecked Maypole just behind her, while in front of 
 her was the great, gaunt, empty, musty-smelling building, 
 filled with a dim twilight, though also there was here and 
 there one or two orange points of gas. Lionel sent a messenger 
 to the manager's office, and also told him to ask if Mr. Carey 
 had come; then he opened Nina's roll of music for her, and 
 began to discuss with her which piece she should choose. 
 Fortunately Mr. Lehmann had not yet left here he was a 
 stout, clean-shaven, sharp-eyed sort of man, in a frock-coat and 
 a remarkably shiny hat : he glanced at the young lady in what 
 she considered a very rude and unwarrantable manner, but the 
 fact was he was merely, from a business point of view, trying 
 to guess what her figure was like. Lionel explained all the 
 circumstances of the case to him, and gave it as his own con- 
 fident opinion that as soon as they had heard Miss Rossi sing 
 there would be little doubt of her being engaged. At the same 
 moment, Mr. Carey appeared a tall, blonde, extremely hand- 
 some person of the fashion-plate sort ; and at a word from the 
 manager, two or three scene-shifters went and wheeled on to 
 the stage a small upright piano. 
 
 Nina did not seem at all disconcerted by their business-like 
 air and want of little formal politenesses. Quite calmly she 
 took out ' Caro nome ' from her music, and handed it to the 
 conductor, who was at the piano. He glanced at the sheet; 
 appeared a little surprised ; but struck the opening chords for 
 her. Then Nina sang ; and though for a second or two the 
 sound of her own voice in this huge empty building seemed 
 strange seemed wrong almost and unnatural she had speedily 
 recovered confidence, and was determined she would bring no 
 discredit upon her friend Leo. Very well indeed she sang ; 
 and Lionel was delighted ; while of course Mr. Carey was 
 professionally interested in hearing for the first time a voice so 
 fresh and pure and so perfectly trained ; but when she had 
 finished, the manager merely said 
 
 " Thank you, that will do : I needn't trouble you further." 
 Then, after a word or two partly aside with Mr. Carey, he 
 turned to Lionel and abruptly asked what salary she wanted 
 just as if Lionel had brought him some automaton and made it 
 work. 
 
 " I think you ought to give her a very good salary," the 
 young man said, in an undertone; "she has studied under 
 Pandiani at Naples. And if I were you, I wouldn't ask her to 
 
48 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 sing in the chorus at all ; I would rather keep a voice like that 
 fresh and unworked, until she is fit to take a part." 
 
 " Singing in the chorus won't hurt her," said he, briefly, " for 
 a while at least, and she'll become familiar with the stage." 
 
 But here Lionel drew the manager still further aside ; and 
 then ensued a conversation which neither Nina nor Mr. Carey 
 could in the least overhear. At the end of it Mr. Lehmann 
 nodded acquiescence, and said " Very well, then ; " and 
 straightway he departed, for he was a busy man, and had little 
 time to waste on the smaller courtesies of life especially in 
 the case of debutantes. 
 
 Lionel returned to the young lady whose fate had just been 
 decided. 
 
 " That's all right, Nina," he said. " You are engaged as 
 under-study to Miss Girond, and you'll have 31. a week as soon 
 as you have studied her business and are ready to take the part 
 when you're wanted. I will find you a full score, and you 
 may get up some of the other music, when you've nothing 
 better to do. The rehearsals of the under-studies begin on 
 Monday but I'll see you before then and let you know all 
 about it. You won't mind my running away? I'm on in the 
 first scene. There is Mrs. Grey waiting for you you must go 
 and get something to eat and when you come back, call at the 
 stage-door, and you'll find an envelope waiting for you, with 
 two places in it the dress circle, if it can be managed, for I 
 want you to be some distance away from the orchestra. Good- 
 bye, Nina ! " 
 
 She held his hand for a moment. 
 
 " Leo, I thank you," she said, regarding him with her dark 
 eyes ; and then he smiled and waved another farewell to her as 
 he disappeared ; and she was left to make her way with 
 her patient chaperon out of this great hollow, portentous 
 building, that was now resounding with mysterious clankings 
 and calls. 
 
 And it was from a couple of seats in the back of the dress- 
 circle that Mrs. Grey and her young charge heard the comedy- 
 opera of The Squires Daughter; and Lionel knew they were 
 there ; and no doubt he sang his best for if Nina had been 
 showing off what she could do in the morning, why should not 
 lie show off now, amid all these added glories of picturesque 
 costumes and surroundings? Nina was in an extraordinary 
 state of excitement, which she was unable altogether to 
 conceal. Mrs. Grey could hear the little muttered exclamations 
 
Nina. 49 
 
 in Italian ; she could see how intently that expressive face 
 followed the progress of the piece, reflecting its every move- 
 ment, as it were; she caught a glimpse of tears on the long 
 dark lashes when Lionel was singing with impassioned fervour 
 his love-lorn serenade ; and then the next moment she was 
 astonished by the vehemence of the girl's delight when the 
 vast house thundered forth its applause indeed, Nina herself 
 was clapping her hands furiously, to join in the universal 
 roar of a recall she was laughing with joy she appeared 
 to have gone mad. Then at the end of the second act she said 
 quickly 
 
 "Mrs. Grey, can I send to him a note? is there letter- 
 paper?" 
 
 " Well, my dear, if we go into the refreshment-room and 
 have a cup of tea, perhaps one of the young ladies could give 
 us a sheet of writing-paper." 
 
 And thus it was that Lionel, when he was leaving the 
 theatre that night, found a neatly-folded little note awaiting him. 
 He was in a considerable hurry ; for he had to go home and 
 dress and get off to a crush in Grosvenor Square, where he 
 hoped to find Lady Adela Cunyngham, her sisters, and Miss 
 Georgie Lestrange (there was some talk of an immediate 
 presentation of the little pastoral comedy) so that he had only 
 time to glance over Nina's nervously pencilled scrawl. Thus it 
 ran 
 
 4 Leo, it is magnificent, it is splendid, you are a true artist, 
 to-morrow I write to Pandiani, he will be overjoyed as I am. 
 But Miss Burgoyne no, no, no she is not artist at all she is 
 negligent of her part, of the others in the scene she puts up 
 her fan, and talks to you from behind it why you allow that ? 
 it is insult to the public ! She believes not her part ; and 
 makes all the rest false. What a shame to you, Leo ; but your 
 splendid voice, your fine timbre, carries everything ! Bravo, 
 my Leo ! It is a great trionf, brilliant, beautiful, and Nina is 
 proud of her friend. Good-night from 
 
 4 NINA.' 
 
 As Lionel was spinning along Piccadilly in his swift 
 hansom, it occurred to him that if Nina were going to join the 
 Squire's Daughter company, it might be just as well for her not 
 to have any preconceived antipathy against Miss Burgoyne. 
 For Miss Burgoyne was an important personage at the New 
 Theatre. 
 
 E 
 
50 The New Prince Fortimatus. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 COUNTRY AND TOWN. 
 
 ON this Sunday morning, when all the good people had gone 
 to church, there was no sign of life on these far-stretching 
 Winstead Downs. The yellow roads intersecting the undu- 
 lations of blank-and-golden gorse were undisturbed by even a 
 solitary tramp ; so that Lionel Moore and his friend Mangan, 
 as they idly walked along, seemed to be the sole possessors of 
 the spacious landscape. It was a beautiful morning, warm and 
 clear and sunny ; a southerly breeze stirred the adjacent elms 
 into a noise as of the sea, caused the chestnuts to wave their 
 great branches bearing thousands of milky minarets, and sent 
 waves of shadows across the silken grey-green of a field of rye. 
 There was a windmill on a distant height, its long arms 
 motionless. A strip of Scotch firs stood black and near at one 
 portion of the horizon; but elsewhere the successive lines of 
 wood and hill faded away into the south, becoming of a paler 
 and paler hue until they disappeared in a silvery mist. The 
 air was sweet with the resinous scent of the furze. In short, it 
 was a perfect day in early June, on a wide, untenanted, high- 
 lying Surrejr common. 
 
 And Maurice Mangan, in his aimless, desultory fashion, was 
 inveighing against the vanity of the life led by certain classes 
 hi the great Babylon out of which he had just haled his rather 
 unwilling friend ; and describing their mad and frantic efforts 
 to wrest themselves free of the demon ennui ; and their 
 ceaseless, eager clamour for hurry and excitement, lest, in some 
 unguarded moment of silence, their souls should speak. 
 
 " It is quite a fallacy," he was saying, as he walked care- 
 lessly onwards, his head thrown forward a little, his hands 
 clasped behind his back, his stick trailing after him, " it is 
 altogether a fallacy to talk of the ' complaining millions of 
 men ' who ' darken in labour and pain.' It is the hard-working 
 millions of mankind who are the happiest ; their constant 
 labour brings content ; the riddle of the painful earth doesn't 
 vex them they have no leisure ; they don't fear the hour of 
 sleep they welcome it. It is the rich, who find time drag 
 remorselessly on their hands, who have desperately to invent 
 occupations and a whirl of amusements, who keep pursuing 
 shadows they can never lay hold of, who are really in a 
 
Country and Town. 51 
 
 piteous case ; and I suppose you take credit to yourself, Linn, 
 my boy, that you are one of the distractions that help them to 
 lighten the unbearable weariness of their life. Well," he 
 continued, in his rambling way, "it isn't quite what I had 
 looked forward to ; I had looked forward to something different 
 for you. I can remember, when we used to have our long 
 Sunday walks in those days, what splendid ambitions you had 
 for yourself, and how you were all burning to begin the 
 organist of Winstead Church was to produce his Hallelujah 
 Chorus, and the nations were to listen ; and the other night, 
 when I was in your room at the theatre, when I saw you 
 smearing your face and decking yourself out for exhibition 
 before a lot of fashionable idlers, I could not help saying to 
 myself, ' And this is what Linn Moore has come to ! ' ' 
 
 " Yes, that is what Linn Moore has come to," the other said, 
 with entire good nature. "And what has Maurice Mangan 
 come to ? I can remember when Maurice Mangan was to be a 
 great poet, a great metaphysician, a great I don't know what. 
 Winstead was far too small a place for him ; he was to go up 
 and conquer London, and do great and wonderful things. And 
 what is he now? a reporter of the gabble of the House of 
 Commons." 
 
 " I suppose I am a failure," said this tall, thin, contem- 
 plative-looking man who spoke quite dispassionately of himself, 
 just as he spoke with a transparent honesty and simplicity of 
 his friend. " But at least I have kept myself to myself I 
 haven't sold myself over to the Moloch of fashion " 
 
 " Oh, your dislike of fashionable people is a mere bundle of 
 prejudice ! " Lionel cried. " The truth is, Maurice, you don't 
 know those fashionable people you seem to despise so heartily. 
 If you did, you would discover that they had the ordinary 
 human qualities of other people only that they are better 
 educated and more courteous and pleasant in manner. Then 
 their benevolence if you knew how much they give away in 
 charity " 
 
 " Benevolence ! " Mangan broke in, impatiently. " What is 
 benevolence ! It is generally nothing more nor less than an 
 expression of your own satisfaction with yourself. You are 
 stuffed with food and wine; your purse is gorged; here's a 
 handful of sovereigns for you, you poor devil crouching at the 
 corner ! What merit is in that ? Do you call that a virtue ? 
 But where charity really becomes a heroism, Linn, is when a 
 poor, suffering, neuralgic woman, without any impulse from 
 
 E 2 
 
52 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 abundance of health or abundance of comfort, sets laboriously 
 to work to do what she can for her fellow-creatures. Then that 
 is something to regard that is something to admire " 
 
 Lionel burst out laughing. 
 
 " A very pretty description of Francie Wright ! " he cried. 
 " Francie a poor, suffering, wretched woman because she 
 happened to have a touch of neuralgia the last Sunday you 
 were down here ! There's very little of the poor and suffering 
 about Francie ; she's as contented and merry a lass as you'd 
 find anywhere." 
 
 Mangan was silent for a second or two ; and then he said, 
 with a little hesitation 
 
 " Didn't you tell me Miss Wright had not been up yet to 
 see The Squire's Daughter ? " 
 
 " No, she has not," Lionel answered lightly. " I don't 
 know whether you have been influencing her, Maurice, or 
 whether you have picked up some of her highly superior 
 prejudices ; anyhow, I rather fancy she doesn't quite approve of 
 the theatre I mean, I don't think she approves of the New 
 Theatre, for she'd go to any other one fast enough, I suppose, if 
 you could only get her away from her sick children. But not 
 the New Theatre, apparently. Perhaps she doesn't care to see 
 me making myself a motley to the view." 
 
 " She has a great regard for you, Linn. I wouldn't call her 
 opinions prejudices," Mangan said but with the curious 
 diffidence he displayed whenever he spoke of Lionel's cousin. 
 
 " Oh, Francie should have lived in the fifteenth century 
 she would have been a follower of Savonarola," Lionel said, 
 with a laugh. " She's far too exalted for these present days." 
 
 " Well, Linn," said his friend, " I'm glad you know at least 
 one person who has some notion of duty and self-sacrifice, who 
 has some fineness of perception, and some standard of conduct 
 and aim to go by. Why, those people you associate so much 
 with now seem to have but one pursuit the pursuit of 
 pleasure, the gratification of every selfish whim ; they seem to 
 have no consciousness of the mystery surrounding life of the 
 fact that they themselves are inexplicable phantoms whose very 
 existence might make them pause and wonder and ask ; no, it 
 is the amassing of wealth, and the expending of it, that is all 
 sufficient. I used to wonder why God should have chosen the 
 Jews, of all the nations of the earth, for the revelation that 
 there was something nobler than the acquisition of riches ; but 
 I suppose it was because no race ever needed it so much. And 
 
Country and Town. 53 
 
 what new revelation what new message is coming to the 
 multitudes here in England who are living in a paradise of 
 sensual gratification, blinded, besotted, their world a sort of 
 
 gorgeous pig-sty " 
 
 " Oh, that's all right," Lionel said, cheerfully. " Octavius 
 Quirk has settled all that. The cure for everything is to be a 
 blowing of the whole social fabric to bits. Then we're going 
 to begin all over again ; and the New Jerusalem will be reached 
 when each man has to dig for his own potatoes." 
 
 " Quirk ! " said Maurice Mangan, contemptuously : and then 
 he took out his watch : " NVe'd better be getting back, Linn. 
 We'll just be in time to meet your people coming out of 
 church." y 
 
 So they turned and walked leisurely across the gorse- 
 covered downs until they reached the broad and dusty highway 
 leading towards Winstead village. And then again they 
 struck into a by-lane with tall hedges, the banks underneath 
 which were bright with stitchwort and speedwell and white 
 dead-nettle. Now and again, through a gap or a gate, they 
 caught a glimpse of the lush meadows golden with buttercups : 
 in one of them there was a small black pony standing in the 
 shadow of a wide-spreading elm. They passed some cottages 
 with pretty gardens in front : they stopped for a second to look 
 at the old-fashioned columbine and monkshood, the none-so- 
 pretty, the yellow and crimson wall-flower, the pseony roses. 
 Then always around them was this gracious silence, which 
 seemed so strange after the roar of London ; and if the day 
 promised to become still hotter, at least they had this welcome 
 breeze, that rustled the quick-glancing poplars, and stirred the 
 white-laden hawthorns, and kept the long branches of the 
 wych-elms and chestnuts swaying hither and thither. They 
 were not talking much now : one of them was thinking of a 
 pair of grey eyes. 
 
 At last they came to a turnstile, and, passing through that, 
 found themselves in one of those wide meadows : at the farther 
 side of it the red-tiled roof, the grey belfry, and slated spire of 
 "Winstead Church just showed above the masses of green 
 foliage. They crossed the meadow, and entered the church- 
 yard. A perfect silence reigned over the place ; they could not 
 hear what was going on within the small building ; out here 
 there was no sound save the chirping of the birds and the 
 continuous murmur of the trees. They walked about looking 
 thoughtfully at the gravestones many of them bearing names 
 
54: The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 familiar enough to them in bygone years. And perhaps one or 
 other of them may have been fancying that when the great, 
 busy world had done with him, and used him up and thrown 
 him aside here at least there would be peace preserved for 
 him, an ample sufficiency of rest under this greensward, with 
 perhaps a few flowers put there by some kindly hand. The 
 dead did not seem to need much pity on this tranquil day. 
 
 Then into the universal silence came suddenly a low booming 
 sound that caused Lionel Moore's heart to stand still : it was 
 the church organ that awakened a multitude of associations 
 and recollections, that seemed to summon up the vanished yars, 
 and the dreams of his youth, when it was he himself who used 
 to sit at the instrument and call forth those massive chords and 
 solemn tones. Something of his boyhood came back to him ; he 
 seemed again to be looking forward to an unknown future ; 
 wondering and eager, he painted visions ; and always in them, 
 to share his greatness and his fame, there was some radiant 
 creature, smiling-eyed, who would be at his side in sorrow and 
 in joy, through the pain of striving and in the rapture of 
 triumph. And now now that the years had developed them- 
 selves what had become of these wistful hopes and forecasts ? 
 Boyish nonsense, he would have said (except just at such a 
 moment as this, when the sudden sound of the organ seemed to 
 call back so much). He had encountered the realities of life 
 since then ; he had chosen his profession ; he had studied hard ; 
 he had achieved a measure of fame. And the beautiful and 
 wonderful being, who was to share his triumphs with him ? 
 Well, he had never actually beheld her. A glimmer here and 
 there, in a face or a form, had taken his fancy captive more 
 than once ; but he remained heart-whole ; he was too much 
 occupied, he laughingly assured Maurice Maugan again and 
 again, to have the chance of falling in love. 
 
 " Getting married ? " he would say. " My dear fellow, I 
 haven't time ; I'm far too busy to think of getting married." 
 
 So the radiant bride had never been found, even as the new 
 Hallelujah Chorus that was to thrill the hearts of millions had 
 never been written; and Linn Moore had to be content with 
 the very pronounced success he had attained in playing in comic 
 opera, and with a popularity in the fashionable world of London, 
 especially among the women-folk therein, that would have 
 turned many a young fellow's head. 
 
 When they thought the service was about over they went 
 round to the porch, and awaited the coming out of the con- 
 
Country and Town. 55 
 
 gregation. And among the first to make their appearance 
 issuing from the dusky little building into this bewilderment 
 of white light and green leaves were old Dr. Moore and his 
 wife, and Miss Francie Wright, who passed for Lionel's cousin, 
 though the relationship was somewhat more remote than that. 
 Maurice Mangan received a very hearty welcome from these 
 good people; and then, as they set out for home, Lionel walked 
 on with his father and mother, while Lionel's friend naturally 
 followed with the young lady. She was not a distinctly 
 beautiful person, perhaps, this slim-figured young woman, with 
 the somewhat pale face, the high- arched eyebrows, and light 
 brown hair ; but at least she had extremely pretty grey eyes, 
 that had a touch of shrewdness and humour in them, as well as 
 plenty of gentleness and womanliness ; and she had a soft and 
 attractive voice, which goes for much. 
 
 " It is so kind of you, Mr. Mangan," said she, in that soft 
 and winning voice, " to bring Linn down. You know he won't 
 come down by himself : and who can wonder at it ? It is so 
 dull and monotonous for him here, after the gay life he leads 
 in London." 
 
 "Dull and monotonous!" he exclaimed. "Why, I have 
 been preaching to him all the morning that he should be 
 delighted to come down into the quietude of the country, as a 
 sort of moral bath after the insensate racket of that London 
 whirl. But no one ever knows how well off he is," he continued 
 as they walked along between the fragrant hawthorn hedges, 
 " it's the lookers-on who know. Good gracious, what wouldn't 
 I give to be in Linn's place ? " 
 
 " Do you mean in London, Mr. Mangan ? " she asked, and 
 for an instant the pretty grey eyes looked up. 
 
 " Certainly not ! " he said, with unnecessary warmth. " I 
 mean here. If I could run down of a Sunday to a beautiful, 
 quiet, old-fashioned place like this, and find myself in my own 
 home, amongst my own people, I wonder how many Sundays 
 would find me in London ? You can't imagine, you have no 
 idea, what it is to live quite alone in London, with no one to 
 turn to but club-acquaintances ; and I think Sunday is the 
 worst day of all, especially if it is fine weather, and all the 
 people have gone to the country or the seaside to spend the day 
 with their friends." 
 
 " But, Mr. Mangan," said Miss Francie Wright, gently, " I 
 am sure, whenever you have a Sunday free like that, we should 
 be only too glad if you would consider us your friends unless 
 
56 The Neiv Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 you think the place too dreadfully tedious, as I'm afraid my 
 cousin finds it." 
 
 ' k It is very kind of you very," said he. " And I know the 
 old Doctor and Mrs. Moore like to see me well enough, for I 
 bring down their boy to them ; but if I came by myself, I'm 
 afraid they wouldn't care to have an idling, dawdling fellow 
 like me lounging about the place of a Sunday afternoon." 
 
 " Will you come and try, Mr. Mangan ? " said she, quietly. 
 " For Linn's sake alone I know they would be delighted to have 
 you here. And if it is rest and quiet you want, can't we give 
 you the garden and a book?" 
 
 " You musn't put such visions before me," he said. " It's 
 too good to be true. I should be sighing for Paradise all through 
 the week, and forgetting my work. And shouldn't I hate to 
 wake up on Monday morning and find myself in London ! " 
 
 " You might wake up on Monday morning and find yourself 
 in Winstead," said she, " if you would take Linn's room for 
 the night." 
 
 " Ah, no," he said, " it isn't for the like of me to try to take 
 Linn's place in any way whatever. He has always had every- 
 thingeverything seemed to come to him by natural right; 
 and then he has always been such a capital fellow, BO modest 
 and unaffected and generous, that nobody could ever grudge 
 him his good fortune. Prince Fortunatus he always has been." 
 
 " In what way, Mr. Mangan?" his companion asked, rather 
 wonderingly. 
 
 " In every way. People are fond of him ; he wins affection 
 without trying for it; as I say, it all comes to him as if by 
 natural right." 
 
 " Yes, they say he is very popular in London, amongst those 
 fine folk," observed Miss Francie, quite good-naturedly. 
 
 " Oh, I wasn't thinking of his fashionable friends," Mangan 
 rejoined. " Being made much of by those people doesn't seem 
 to me one of the great gifts of fortune. And yet I wonder it 
 hasn't spoiled him. He doesn't seem the least bit spoiled, 
 does he?" 
 
 " Really, I see so little of him," Miss Francie said, with a 
 smile ; " he honours us with so few visits, that I can hardly 
 tell." 
 
 " No, he is not spoiled you may take my word for it," her 
 companion said, with decision. And then he added : " I 
 suppose he gets too much of that petting ; he is kept in such a 
 turmoil of gaiety that its evil effects have no time to sink into 
 
Country and Town. 57 
 
 him. He is too busy as he said this morning about 
 marrying." 
 
 " What was that, Mr. Mangan ? " she asked. 
 
 " He said he was too busy to think of getting married." 
 
 "Oh, indeed?" she said, with her eyes directed towards 
 the ground. " We we have always been expecting to hear 
 of his being engaged to some young lady seeing he is made 
 
 so much of in London ' She could say no more, for now 
 
 they were arrived at the Doctor's house, which was separated 
 from the highway by a little strip of front-garden. They 
 passed in through the iron gate; and found the door left open 
 for them. 
 
 " Well, Miss Savonarola," said Lionel, as he hung up his hat 
 in the hall and turned to address her, " how have you been all 
 this time ? " 
 
 " I have been very well, Mr. Pagan," said she, smiling. 
 
 "And how are all those juvenile Londoners that you've 
 planted about in the cottages ? " 
 
 u They're getting on nicely, every one of them," she said, 
 with quite an air of pride ; and then she added : " When is 
 your Munificence going to give me another subscription ? " 
 
 " Just now, Francie," was the instant reply. " How much 
 do you want ? " 
 
 " As much as ever you can afford," said she. 
 
 He pulled from his pocket a handful of loose coin, and began 
 to pick out the sovereigns. But Miss Francie with a little 
 touch of her fingers put the money away. 
 
 "No, Linn, not from you. You've given me too much 
 already. You give too freely ; I like to have a little difficulty 
 in obtaining subscriptions ; it feels nicer somehow. But if my 
 funds should run very low, then I'll come to you, Linn." 
 
 "Whenever you like, Francie," said he, carelessly; he 
 poured the money into his pocket again; and bade Maurice 
 JMangan come up to his room, to get the dust of travel removed 
 from his hands and face, before going in to luncheon. 
 
 Then while Mangan was busy with his ablutions in this 
 small upper chamber, Lionel drew in a chair to the open 
 window and gazed absently abroad on the wide stretch of 
 country visible from the Doctor's house. It was a familiar 
 view ; yet it was one not easily to get tired of; and of course on 
 such a morning as this it lost none of its charm. Everywhere 
 in the warm breeze and the sunshine there was a universal 
 rustling and trembling and glancing of all beautiful things of 
 
58 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 the translucent foliage of the limes, the pendulous blossoms of 
 lilacs and laburnums, the swaying branches of the larch, and 
 the masses of blue forget-me-nots in the garden below. Then 
 there were all the hushed sounds of the country the distant, 
 quick footfall of a horse on some dusty road ; the warning 
 cluck of a thrush to her young one's down there among the 
 bushes; the glad voices and laughter of some girls in an 
 adjacent garden they, too, likely to be soon away from the 
 maternal nest ; the crow of a cock pheasant from the margin of 
 the wood ; the clear ringing melody of an undiscoverable lark. 
 Everywhere white light, blue skies, and shadows of great clouds 
 slow-sailing over the young green corn and over the daisied 
 meadows in which the cows lay half-asleep. And when he 
 looked beyond that low green hill, where there were one or two 
 hares hopping about on their ungainly high haunches, and past 
 that great stretch of receding country in which strips of red 
 and white villages peeped here and there among the woods, 
 behold ! a horizon as of the sea, faint and blue and far, rising 
 and ever rising in various hues and tones, until it was lost in a 
 quivering mist of heat ; and he could only guess that there, too, 
 under the glowing sky, some other fair expanse of our beautiful 
 English landscape lay basking in the sunlight and sweet air of 
 the early summer. 
 
 Of course Lionel was the hero of the hour when they were 
 all assembled in the dining-room at a very sumptuously 
 furnished board, by the way, for the hule old Doctor was fond of 
 good living and a firm believer in the virtues of port-wine. 
 Moreover, the young man had an attentive audience ; for the 
 worthy old lady at the head of the table never took her 
 admiring eyes off this wonderful boy of hers ; and Miss Francie 
 Wright meekly listened too ; while, as for Maurice Mangan, who 
 was he in his humble station to interrupt this marvellous tale 
 of great doings and festivities ? Not that Lionel magnified his 
 own share in these things : nay, he modestly kept himself out 
 altogether ; it was merely to interest these simple country folk 
 that he described the grand banquets, the illuminated gardens, 
 the long marquees, and told them how the Princess looked, and 
 who it was who had the honour of taking her in to supper. 
 But when he came, amongst other things, to speak of the 
 rehearsal of the little pastoral comedy, in the clear light of the 
 dawn, by Lady Adela Cunyngham and her friends, he had to 
 admit that he himself was present on that occasion ; and at 
 once the fond mother took him to task. 
 
Country and Town. 59 
 
 " It's wicked, Lionel," she said, severely, " it's downright 
 wicked to keep such hours. Look at the result of it all. You 
 can't eat anything you're not taking a mouthful ! " 
 
 " But you know, mother, I'm not used to luncheon," he said, 
 cheerfully enough. " I have to dine at five every day and 
 I've no time to be bothered with luncheon, even if I could 
 eat it." 
 
 " Take a glass of port, my lad," the old Doctor said. " That 
 will put some life into you." 
 
 " No, thanks," he said, indifferently, " I can't afford to play 
 tricks. I have to study my throat." 
 
 "Why, what better astringent can you have than tannic 
 acid?" the old gentleman called down the table. "I suppose 
 you drink those washy abominations that the young men of the 
 day prefer to honest wine : what's that I hear about lemonade ? 
 Lemonade! " he repeated, with disgust. 
 
 " It's home-brewed it's wholesome enough ; Miss Burgoyne 
 makes some for me when she is making it for herself," the 
 young man said ; and then he turned to his mother ; " Mother, 
 
 I wish you would send her something from the garden " 
 
 "Who, Lionel?" 
 
 " Miss Burgoyne at the theatre, you know. She's very 
 good to me lends me her room, if I have any swell friends who 
 want to come behind and makes me this lemonade, which is 
 better than anything else on a hot night. Couldn't you tend 
 her something from the garden? not flowers she gets too 
 many flowers, and doesn't care for them ; but if you had some 
 early strawberries or something of that kind, she would take 
 them as a greater compliment, coming from you, than if some 
 idiot of a young fool spent guineas on them at a florist's. And 
 when are you coining up to see The Squire's Daughter, Francie ? 
 The idea that you should never have been near the place, when I 
 hear people confessing to each other that they have been to see 
 it eight, and ten, or even a dozen times ! " 
 
 " But I am so busy, Lionel ! " she said ; and then perhaps 
 an echo of something that had been said in the morning may 
 have recurred to her mind : for she seemed a trifle confused ; 
 and kept her eyes downcast, while Lionel went on to tell them 
 of what certain friends of his were going to do at Henley 
 Regatta. 
 
 After luncheon they went out into the garden, and took 
 seats in the shade of the lilac trees in the sweet air. Old Mrs. 
 Moore had for form's sake brought a book with her; but she 
 
60 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 was not likely to read much when the pride of her eyes had come 
 down on a visit to her, in his off-hand, light-hearted way. 
 Maurice Mangan had followed the Doctor's example, and pulled 
 out his pipe which he forgot to light, however. He seemed 
 dissatisfied. He kept looking back to the house from time to 
 time. Was there no one else coming out? There was the 
 French window of the drawing-room still open : was there no 
 glimmer of a grey dress anywhere with its ornamentation of a 
 bunch of scarlet geraniums ? At last he made bold to say to 
 the Doctor 
 
 " Where has Miss Francie gone to ? Isn't she coming out 
 too ? " 
 
 " Oh, she's away after those London brats of hers, I have no 
 doubt," the old gentleman said. " You won't see her till tea- 
 time, if even then." Whereupon Mangan lit his pipe, and pro- 
 ceeded to smoke in silence, listening at times and absently to 
 Lionel's vivacious talking to his mother. 
 
 In fact, before Miss Francie Wright returned that afternoon, 
 Lionel found that he had to take his departure ; for there are 
 no trains to Winstead on Sunday, and he would have to walk 
 some three miles to the nearest station. When he declared he 
 had to go, the old lady's protests and entreaties were almost 
 piteous. 
 
 ** You come to see us so seldom, Lionel ! And of course we 
 thought you'd dine with us, at the very least ; and if you could 
 stay the night as well, you know there's a room for Mr. 
 Mangan too. And we were looking forward to such a pleasant 
 evening." 
 
 " But I have a long standing engagement, mother : a dinner 
 engagement I could not get out of it." 
 
 "And you are dragging Mr. Mangan away up to town 
 again, on a beautiful afternoon like this, when we know he is 
 so fond of the country, and of a garden " 
 
 " Not at all," Lionel said. " I need not spoil Maurice's day, 
 if I have to spoil my own : he'll stay, of course ; and I suppose 
 Francie will be back directly." 
 
 " I'm sure, Mr. Mangan," the old lady said, turning at once 
 to her other guest, " if Lionel must really go, we shall be 
 delighted if you will remain and dine with us I hope you 
 will and you can have Lionel's room if you will stay the 
 night as well." 
 
 *' Thank you, I couldn't do that," said he, very gratefully, 
 " but if you will have me, I shall be very glad to stay on, and 
 
Country and Town. 61 
 
 go up by a late train. In the meantime, I think I'll walk to 
 the station with Linn." 
 
 " And come back with a good appetite for dinner," said the 
 Doctor, calling after him. " We'll have something better than 
 lemonade, I warrant ye ! " 
 
 They have slow trains on these Surrey lines on Sunday; by 
 the time that Lionel had got up to town, and driven to his 
 rooms, and dressed, it was very near the hour at which he was 
 due at the Lansdowne Gallery, where Lord Rockminster was 
 giving a dinner-party, as a preliminary to the concert and 
 crush that were to follow. And no sooner had he alighted 
 from his hansom, and entered the marble vestibule of the 
 Gallery, than whom should he descry ascending the stairs in 
 front of him but Mr. Octavius Quirk ! 
 
 " Lady Adela hasn't let the grass grow under her feet," he 
 said to himself. " Captured her first critic already ! " 
 
 Lady Adela was at the head of the stairs receiving her 
 brother's guests ; and the greeting that she accorded to Mr. 
 Octavius Quirk was of a most special and gracious kind. She 
 was very complaisant to Lionel also, and bade him go and see if 
 the place they had given him at dinner was to his liking. He 
 took this as a kind of permission to choose what he wanted 
 (within discreet limits) ; and as he just then happened to meet 
 Miss Georgie Lestrange, he proposed to that smiling and ruddy- 
 haired damsel that they should go and examine for themselves 
 and perhaps alter the dispositions a little. So they passed 
 away through those brilliantly-lit galleries (which served as a 
 picture-exhibition on week-days) and at the farther end of the 
 largest room they found the oblong dinner-table, which was 
 brilliant with flowers and fruit, with crystal and silver. Of 
 course Lionel and his companion had to be content with very 
 modest places; for this was a highly-distinguished company 
 whom Lord Kockminster had invited ; but at all events they 
 made sure they were to sit together, and that arrangement 
 seemed to be satisfactory to them both. 
 
 This was rather a magnificent little banquet ; and Lionel, 
 looking down the long, richly- coloured table, may once or 
 twice have thought of the quiet small dining-room at Winstead 
 (perhaps with the curtains still undrawn, and the evening 
 light shining blue in the panes) and of the solitary guest 
 whom he had left to talk to those good people; but indeed 
 he was not permitted much time for reverie, for the young 
 lady with the pince-nez was a most lively chatterer, she 
 
62 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 knew everything that was going on in London, and seemed to 
 take a particularly active interest therein. Among other 
 solemn items of information which she communicated to her 
 companion, she mentioned that the issue of Lady Adela's novel 
 had been postponed. 
 
 " Yes, it's quite ready, you know," she continued, in her 
 blithe, discursive, happy-go-lucky fashion ; " all quite ready ; 
 but she doesn't want it to go before the public until there has 
 been a little talk about it, don't you understand ? She wants 
 some of the Society papers to mention it ; but she isn't quite 
 sure how to get that done ; and nobody seems able to help her 
 it's really distressing. Do you see that hideous creature- 
 down there at the corner ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " He's a writer," observed this artless maiden, in mysterious 
 tones. 
 
 " You don't say so ! " 
 
 "Yes, he is writes in all kinds of places. Why, now I 
 think of it, Lady Adela said he was a friend of yours ! I'm 
 sure she did. So you pretend not to know him is that on 
 account of his complexion ? Have you any more such beauties 
 among your acquaintances, Mr. Moore? I thought he might 
 be taking me in to dinner ; and that's why I was so glad you 
 brought me to look at the cards. Very rude, wasn't it; but 
 you had permission, hadn't you ? And there's another one 
 coming to-night." 
 
 " Another what ? " 
 
 " A writing man. But this other one is an American. Of 
 course Lady Adela wants to have the curiosity of the American 
 public excited just as well as the English. Have you heard 
 Lady Sybil's marching-song yet ? " 
 
 No." 
 
 "Well, I think it is charming really charming. Rock- 
 minster was dining with the officers of the Boldstream Guards 
 the other evening, and he promised to send a copy to the Band- 
 master, as soon as it is published. But Sybil wants more than 
 that, of course ; she wants to see whether the Commander-in- 
 Chief wouldn't recommend it, so that it could be taken up by 
 all the regiments. Wouldn't that be splendid to think that 
 Sybil should provide a marching-song for the whole British 
 Army! " 
 
 " Yes, indeed," said he, with great politeness. " And why 
 shouldn't the Commander-in-Chief recommend it? A march- 
 
Country and Town. 63 
 
 ing-song is as important as a new button. But I must get a 
 look at the music, if we are all to join in the chorus." 
 
 The dinner was not long-protracted, for there was to be a 
 concert during the evening ; and indeed people began to arrive 
 early strolling through the galleries, looking at the pictures, 
 or talking together in small groups. It was during this pro- 
 miscuous assembling that Octavius Quirk got hold of Lionel, 
 and with savage, disgust drew his attention to an ostler- 
 looking person who had just come into the room. 
 
 " Do you see that ill-conditioned brute ; what's he doing 
 here?" 
 
 Lionel glanced in the direction indicated. 
 
 " I don't know who he is." 
 
 " Don't you know Quincey Hooper ? the correspondent of 
 the Philadelphia Roll Call a cur who toadies every Englishman 
 he meets and at the same time sneers at everything English 
 in his wretched Philadelphia rag." 
 
 Then Lionel instantly bethought him of Miss Lestrange's 
 hint: was this the correspondent who was to arouse the 
 interest of the great American Continent in Lady Adela's 
 forthcoming novel, even as Octavius Quirk was expected to 
 write about it in England? But surely, with the wide 
 Atlantic lying between their respective spheres of operation, 
 there was no need for rivalry ? Why did Mr. Quirk still glare 
 in the direction of the new-comer with ill-disguised, or rather 
 with wholly undisguised, disdain ? 
 
 " Why," said he, in his tempestuously frothy fashion, " I've 
 heard that creature actually discussing with another American 
 what sort of air a man should assume in entering a drawing- 
 room ! Can you conceive of such a thing ? Where did all 
 that alarmed self-consciousness of the modern American come 
 from that unceasing self-consciousness that makes the Ameri- 
 can young man spend five-sixths of his waking-time in asking 
 himself if he is a gentlemen? Not from the splendid assur- 
 ance, the belief in himself, the wholesome satisfaction of old 
 John Bull. It's no use for the modern American to say he is of 
 English descent at all! " continued this boisterous controver- 
 sialist, who was still glaring at the hapless mortal at the door, 
 as if every windy sentence was being hurled at his head. 
 " Not a bit ! there's nothing English about him, or his ways, 
 or his sympathies, or character. Fancy an Englishman con- 
 sidering what demeanour he should assume before entering a 
 drawing-room ! The modern American hasn't the least idea 
 
64 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 from whom he is descended : what right has he to claim any- 
 thing of our glorious English heritage? or to say there is 
 English blood in him at all ? Why, as far back as the Declara- 
 tion of Independence, the people of English birth or parentage 
 in the Eastern States were in a distinct minority ! And as to 
 the American of the future look at the thousands upon 
 thousands of Germans pouring into the country as compared 
 with the English immigration. That is the future American 
 a German ; and it is to be hoped he will have some backbone in 
 him, and not alarm himself about his entering a drawing- 
 room ! America for the Americans ? it's America for the 
 Germans ! I tell you this : in a generation or two the great 
 national poet of America will be Goethe ! " 
 
 Happily at this moment Lady Adela came up, and Lionel 
 most gladly turned aside, for she had evidently something to 
 say to him privately. 
 
 " Mr. Moore, I want to introduce you to Mr. Hooper to 
 Mr. Quincey Hooper he doesn't seem to know anybody, and I 
 want you to look after him a little " 
 
 " No, no, Lady Adela, you must really excuse one," said he, 
 in an undertone, but he was laughing all the same. " I can't 
 really. I beg your pardon, but indeed you must excuse me. 
 I've just had one dose of literature a furious lecture about 
 about I don't know what oh, yes, immigration into America. 
 And do you know this that in a generation or two the great 
 national poet of America will be Goethe ? " 
 
 " What ? " said she. 
 
 He repeated the statement; and added that there could 
 be no doubt about it, for he had it on Mr. Octavius Quirk's 
 authority. 
 
 "Well, it's a good thing to be told," she said, sweetly, 
 "for then you know." And therewithal, as there was a 
 sudden sound of music issuing from the next gallery, she bade 
 Lionel take her to see who had begun it was Lady Sibyl, 
 indeed, who was playing a solo on the violin to an accompani- 
 ment of stringed instruments, while all the crowd stood still 
 and listened. 
 
 The evening passed pleasantly enough. There were one or 
 two courageous amateurs who now and again ventured on a 
 song ; but for the most part the music was instrumental. A 
 young lady, standing with her hands behind her back, gave a 
 recitation, and attempted to draw pathetic tears by picturing 
 the woes of a simple-minded chimney-sweep who accidentally 
 
Country and Town. 65 
 
 killed his tame sparrow, and who never quite held up his head 
 thereafter; he seemed to pine away somehow, until one 
 morning they found him dead, his face downward on the tiny 
 grave in which he had buried his little play-fellow. Another 
 young lady performed a series of brilliant roulades on a silver 
 bugle, which seemed to afford satisfaction. A well-known 
 entertainer sate down to the piano and proceeded to give a 
 description of a fashionable wedding; and all the people 
 laughed merrily at the {clever and sparkling way in which 
 he made a fool of not themselves, of course, but their friends 
 and acquaintances. And then Lionel Moore went to his 
 hostess. 
 
 " Don't you want me to do anything ? " he said. 
 
 " You're too kind," Lady Adela made answer, with grateful 
 
 eyes. " It's hardly fair. Still, if I had the courage ' 
 
 " Yes, you have the courage," he said, smiling. 
 " If I had the courage to ask you to sing Sibyl's song for 
 her?" 
 
 " Of course I will sing it," he said. 
 
 " Will you ? Will you really ? You know, I'm afraid those 
 two girls will never give enough force to it. And it is a man's 
 song if you wouldn't mind, Mr. Moore 
 
 44 Where can I get the music ? I'll just look it over." 
 Quite a little murmur of interest went through the place 
 when it was rumoured that Lionel Moore was about to sing 
 Lady Sibyl's " Soldiers' Marching Song ; " and when he 
 stepped on to the platform at the upper end of the gallery, 
 people came swarming in from the other rooms. Lady Sibyl 
 herself was to play the accompaniment the grand piano being 
 fully opened so as to give free egress to the marshalled chords ; 
 and when she sate down to the keyboard, it was apparent that 
 the tall, pale, handsome young lady was not a little tremulous 
 and anxious. Indeed, it was a very good thing for the 
 composer that she had got Lionel Moore to sing the song ; for 
 the quite trivial and commonplace character of the music was 
 in a large measure concealed by the fine and resonant quality 
 of his rich baritone notes. The chorus was not much of a 
 success Lady Sibyl's promised accomplices seemed to have 
 found their courage fail them at the critical moment ; but as 
 for the martial ditty itself, it appeared to take the public ear 
 very well ; and when Lionel finally folded the music together 
 again, there was quite a little tempest of clapping of hands. 
 Here and there a half-hearted demand for a repetition was 
 
66 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 heard ; but this was understood to be merely a compliment to 
 Lady Sibyl; and indeed Lionel strolled out of the room as 
 soon as his duties were over. Fortunately no one was so 
 indiscreet as to ask him what he privately thought of the 
 " Soldiers' Marching Song," or of its chances of being recom- 
 mended to the British Army by His Boyal Highness the 
 Commander-in-Chief. 
 
 When at length Lionel thought it was about time for him 
 to slip away quietly from these brilliant, busy, murmuring 
 rooms, he went to bid his hostess privately good-night. 
 
 "It was so awfully kind of you, Mr. Moore," she said, 
 graciously, "to give us the chance of making Mr. Quirk's 
 acquaintance. He is so interesting, you know, so unconven- 
 tional, so original in his opinions quite a treat to listen to 
 him, I assure you. I've sent him a copy of my poor little 
 book : some time or other I wish you could get to know what 
 he thinks of it ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, certainly. I will ask him," Lionel said ; and 
 again he bade her good-night, and took his leave. 
 
 But as he was going by the entrance into a smaller gallery, 
 which had been turned into a sort of supper-room (there was a 
 bu/et at one end, and everywhere a number of small tables at 
 which groups of friends could sit down, the gentlemen of the 
 party bringing over what was wanted) he happened to glance 
 in, and there, occupying a small table all by himself, was Mr. 
 Octavius Quirk. Lionel at once made his way to him. He 
 found him with a capacious plate of lobster-salad before him, 
 and by the side of that was a large bottle of champagne. 
 
 "Going to sit down?" Quirk asked but with no great 
 cordiality ; it was for one person, not for two, that he had 
 secured that bottle. 
 
 " No ; I dined here," said Lionel, with innocent sarcasm. 
 " My dear fellow," observed the other, earnestly, " a good 
 dinner is the very best preparation in the world for a good 
 supper." 
 
 "I hear Lady Adela has sent you her book; have you 
 looked at it? " Lionel asked. 
 
 "Yes, I have," said the other, with his mouth full of 
 lobster-salad. " Capital ! I call it capital ! Plenty of verve 
 and go knowledge of society nobody can do that kind of 
 thing like the people who are actually living in it. Her 
 characters are the people one really meets, you know they are 
 in [the world they belong to life. Oh, yes, a capital novel ! 
 
Wars and Rumours. 67 
 
 Light, airy, amusing, sparkling I toll you it will bo the book 
 of the season ! " 
 
 " Oh, I'm very glad to hear that," said Lionel, thoughtfully; 
 and then he went and got his light over-coat and crush-hat, 
 and descended the wide stone steps, and made his way home 
 to his rooms in Piccadilly. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WARS AND RUMOURS. 
 
 LITTLE could Lionel Moore have anticipated what was to come 
 of his introducing his old comrade Nina to the New Theatre. 
 At first all went well ; and even the prima donna herself was 
 so good as to extend her patronage to Lionel's protegee ; inso- 
 much that, arriving rather early at the theatre one evening, 
 and encountering Nina in the corridor, she said to her 
 
 " You come into my room, and I'll show you my make-up." 
 
 It was a friendly offer ; and the young Italian girl, who 
 was working hard in every way to fit herself for the stage, was 
 glad to be initiated still further into these mysteries of the 
 toilet. But when she had followed Miss Burgoyne into the 
 sacred inner room, and when the dresser had been told she 
 should not be wanted yet awhile, Nina, who was far from being 
 a stupid person, began to perceive what had prompted this 
 sudden invitation. For Miss Burgoyne, as she was throwing 
 off her things, and getting ready for her stage-transformation, 
 kept plying her guest with all sorts of cunning little questions 
 about Mr. Moore questions which had no apparent motive, it 
 is true, so carelessly were they asked ; but Nina, even as she 
 answered, was shrewd enough to understand. 
 
 " So you might call yourself quite an old friend of his," the 
 prima donna continued, busying herself at the dressing-table. 
 " Well, what do you think of him now? " 
 
 " How, Miss Burgoyne ? " Nina said. 
 
 " Why, you see the position he has attained here in London 
 very different from what he had when he was studying in 
 Naples, I suppose. Don't you hear how all those women are 
 spoiling him ? What do you think of that ? If I were a friend 
 of his an intimate friend I should warn him. For what 
 
 F 2 
 
68 The Neiv Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 will the end be ? he'll marry a rich woman, a woman of 
 fashion, and cease to be anybody. Fancy a man's ruining his 
 career giving up his position, his reputation becoming 
 nobody at all in order to have splendid horses and give big 
 dinner-parties ! Of course she'll have her doll, to drive by her 
 side in the Park ; but she'll tire and .then ? And he'll get 
 sick-tired, too ; and wish he was back in the theatre ; and just 
 as likely as not he'll take to drinking, or gambling, or some- 
 thing. Depend on it, my dear, a professional should marry in 
 the profession ; that's the only safe thing ; then there is a 
 community of interests ; and they understand each other, and 
 are glad of each other's success. Don't you think so yourself? " 
 
 Nina was startled by the sudden appeal ; but she managed 
 to intimate that, on the whole, she agreed with Miss Burgoyne ; 
 and that young lady proceeded to expand her little lecture, and 
 to cite general instances that had come within her own know- 
 ledge of the disastrous effects of theatrical people marrying 
 outside their own set. As to any lesson in the art of making- 
 up, perhaps Miss Burgoyne had forgotten the pretext on which 
 she asked Nina to come to her room. Her maid was called 
 in to help her now. And at last it was time for Nina to go, 
 for she also, in her humble way, had to prepare herself for the 
 performance. 
 
 But this friendliness on the part cf the prima donna towards 
 the young baritone's protegee did not last very long. For one 
 thing, Lionel did not come to Miss Burgoyne's sitting-room as 
 much as he used to do, to have a cup of tea, and a chat with 
 one or two acquaintances : he preferred standing in the wings 
 with Nina, who was a most indefatigable student, and giving 
 her whispered criticisms and comments as to what was going 
 forward on the stage. When Miss Burgoyne came upon them 
 so employed, she passed them in cold disdain. And by degrees 
 she took less and less notice of Miss Boss (as Nina was now 
 called), who, indeed, was only Miss Girond's understudy, and 
 a person of no consequence in the theatre. Finally, Miss 
 Burgoyne ceased to recognise Miss Ross, even when they 
 happened to be going in by the stage-door of an evening ; and 
 Nina, not knowing how she had offended, nevertheless accepted 
 her fate meekly and without protest, nor had she any thought 
 of asking Lionel to intervene. 
 
 But worse was to befall. One day Lionel said to her 
 
 "Nina, I never knew any one work harder than you are 
 doing. Of course it's veiy handy your having Mrs, Grey to 
 
Wars and Rumours. G9 
 
 coach you ; and you can't do better than stand opposite that 
 long mirror and watch yourself doing what she tells you to do 
 She's quite enthusiastic about you; perhaps it's because you 
 are so considerate she says you never practice until the other 
 lodgers have gone out. By the way, that reading dialogue 
 aloud is capital ; I can hear how your English is getting freer 
 and freer ; why, in a little while you'll be able to take any 
 part that is offered you. And in any case, you know, the 
 English audiences rather like a touch of foreign accent; oh, 
 you needn't be afraid about that. Well, now, all this hard 
 work can't go on for ever ; you must have a little relaxation ; 
 and so I'm going to take you and Mrs. Grey for a drive down 
 to Hampton Court, and we'll dine there in the evening, in a 
 room overlooking the river very pretty it is, I can tell you. 
 What do you say ? Will next Friday do ? Friday is the night 
 of least consequence in a London theatre ; and if you can 
 arrange it with Mrs. Grey, I'll arrange it with Lehmann ; my 
 understudy is always glad of a chance of taking the part. 
 You persuade Mrs. Grey, and I'll manage Lehmann ; is it a 
 bargain ? " 
 
 So it came about that on a certain bright and sunny morn- 
 ing in June Lionel was standing at the window of a private 
 room in a hotel near the top of Regent Street, where he 
 proposed (for he was an extravagant young man) to entertain 
 his two guests to lunch before driving them down to Hampton 
 Court. He had ordered the wine, and seen that the flowers on 
 the table were all right ; and now he was looking down into 
 the street, vaguely noticing the passers-by. But this barouche 
 that drove up ? there was something familiar about it wasn't 
 it the carriage he had sent down to Sloane Street ? then the 
 next moment he was saying to himself 
 
 " My goodness gracious, can that be Nina ! " 
 And Nina it assuredly was ; but not the Nina of the black 
 dress and crimson straw hat with which he had grown familiar. 
 Oh, no ; this young lady who stepped down from the carriage, 
 who waited a second for her friend, and then crossed the 
 pavement, was a kind of vision of light summer coolness and 
 prettiness ; even his uninstructed intelligence told him how 
 charmingly she was dressed ; though he had but a glimpse of 
 the tight T ntting gown of cream-white, with its silver-girdle, 
 the white straw hat looped up on one side and adorned on the 
 other with large yellow roses, the pale yellow gloves with 
 silver bangles at the wrists, the snow-white sunshade, with its 
 
70 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 yellow satin ribbons attached. The vision of a moment 
 then it was gone; but only to reappear here at the open 
 door. And who could think of her costume at all when Nina 
 herself came forward, with the pretty, pale, foreign face FO 
 pleasantly smiling, the liquid black eyes softly bespeaking 
 kindness, the half-parted lips showing a glimmer of milk-white 
 teeth. 
 
 " Good-morning, Leo ! " 
 
 " Good-morning, Nina ! They say that ladies are never 
 punctual ; but here you are to the moment ! " 
 
 " Then you have to thank Mrs. Grey and your own 
 goodness in sending the carriage for us. Ah, the delightful 
 flowers ! " said she, glancing at the table, and her nostrils 
 seemed to dilate a little, as if she would welcome all their 
 odours at once. "But the window, Leo you will have the 
 window open ? London it is perfectly beautiful this morning ! 
 the air is sweet as of the country oh, it is the gayest city in 
 the world ! " 
 
 " I never saw London fuller, anyway," said he, as he 
 rang the bell, and told the waiter to have luncheon produced 
 forthwith. 
 
 Nina, seated at table in that cool summer costume, merely 
 toyed with the things put before her (except when they came 
 to the strawberries) ; she was chattering away, with her little 
 dramatic gestures, about every conceivable subject within her 
 recent experience, until, as she happened to say something 
 about Naples, Lionel cruelly interrupted her by asking her if 
 she had heard lately from her sweetheart. 
 
 "Who?" she said, with a stare; and also the little widow 
 in black looked up from her plate and seemed to think it a 
 strange question. 
 
 '* Don't you pretend to have forgotten, Nina," Lionel said, 
 reprovingly. ** Don't you look so innocent. If you have no 
 memory, then I have." ' 
 
 " But who, Leo ? " she demanded, with a touch of indigna- 
 tion. " Who who ? who ? What is it you mean ? " 
 
 " Nina, don't you pretend you have forgotten poor Nicolo 
 Ciana." 
 
 " Oh, Nicolo ! ' she exclaimed, with supreme contempt (but 
 all the same there was a faint flush on the clear olive com- 
 plexion). You laugh at me, Leo ! Nicolo ! He was all, as 
 they say here, sham sham jewellery, sham clothes, all pretence, 
 except the oil for his hair that was plenty and substantial, 
 
Wars and Eumours. 71 
 
 yes. And a sham voice he told lies to the Maestro about his 
 
 wonderful compass " 
 
 " Now, now, Nina, don't be unjust," ho said. " Mrs. Grey 
 must hear the truth. Mrs. Grey, this was a young Italian who 
 wanted to be better acquainted with Miss Nina here I believe 
 he used to write imploring letters to her, and that she cruelly 
 wouldn't answer them ; and then he wrote to Maestro Pandiani, 
 describing the wonderful tenor voice he had, and saying he 
 wanted to study. I suppose he fancied that if the Maestro 
 would only believe in the mysterious qualities of this wonderful 
 organ of his he would try to bring them out ; and in the 
 meantime the happy Nicolo would be meeting Nina continually. 
 A lover's stratagem nothing worse than that ! What is the 
 harm of saying that you could take the high C if you were in 
 ordinary health, but that your voice has been ill-used by a 
 recent fever? It was Nina he was thinking of. Don't i 
 remember how I used to hear him coming along the garden- 
 paths in the Villa Eeale if there were few people about you 
 could hear his vile falsetto a mile off and always it was 
 
 * Antoniella, Antonio., 
 Antoniella, Antonio. ; 
 Votate, Nenna bella, votate cca, 
 Vedimmo a pettenessa comme te sta.' '' 
 
 "Leo," she said, with proud lips, "he never called me 
 Nenna mia never ! He dared not ! " 
 
 In another instant, he could see, there would have been 
 protesting tears in her eyes ; and even Mrs. Grey, who did not 
 know the meaning of the familiar Neapolitan phrase,* noticed 
 the tremulous indignation in the girl's voice. 
 
 " Of course not, Nina," he said, at once, " I was only joking 
 but you know he did use to sing that confounded ' Antoniella, 
 Antonia,' and it was always you he was thinking of." 
 
 " I did not think of him, then ! " said she, almost instantly 
 recovering her self-control. " Him ? No ! When I go out 
 when I was going out in the Risposta, I looked at the English 
 gentlemen all so simple and honest in their dress perhaps a 
 steel watch-chain to a gold watch not a sham gold chain to no 
 watch ! Then they looked so clean and wholesome is it right, 
 wholesome ? not their hair dripping with grease, as the 
 
 * Nenna mia, or Nenna lella is the pet phrase used by the Neapolitan 
 young mail in addressing his sweetheart. Nenna has nothing to do with 
 Nina, which is a contraction of Antonia. 
 
72 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 peasant-girls love it. And then," she added, with a laugh, for 
 her face had quickly resumed its usual happy brightness of 
 expression, " then I grow sentimental. I say to myself ' These 
 are English people they are going away back to England, 
 where Leo is can they take him a message? can they tell 
 him they were going over to Capri, and they met on the ship 
 on the steamer an Italian girl,- who liked to look at the 
 English, and liked to hear the English speak ? ' And then I 
 say ' No ; what is the use ; what would any message do ; Leo 
 has forgotten me.' " 
 
 " Oh, yes," said he, lightly, " you must have been quite 
 certain that I had forgotten my old comrade Nina ! " 
 
 They got a beautiful, warm, sunny afternoon for their drive 
 down to Hampton Court ; nor was it fated to be without 
 incident either. They had passed along Oxford Street and 
 were just turning out of the crowded thoroughfare to enter 
 Hyde Park and Lionel, as a man will, was watching how his 
 coachman would take the horses through the Marble Arch 
 when Nina said in a low voice 
 
 ' Leo ! " 
 
 * Well ? " said he, turning to her. 
 
 * Did you not see ? " 
 'See what?" 
 
 ' The carriage that went past," Nina said, looking a little 
 concerned. " Miss Burgoyne was in it she bowed to you " 
 
 *' Did she ? I didn't see her I'll have to apologise to her 
 to-morrow," said he, carelessly. " Perhaps the compliment was 
 meant for you, Nina." 
 
 " For me ? Ah, no. Miss Burgoyne speaks no more to me." 
 
 " She doesn't speak to you ? Why ? " he asked, in some 
 amazement. 
 
 The young Italian lady made a little gesture of indifference. 
 
 "How do I know? But I am not sorry. I do not like her 
 no! she is not she is not straightforward, is it right? 
 she is cunning and she has a dreadful temper oh ! I have 
 heard I have heard such stories ! Again she is not an artist 
 I said that to you from the beginning, Leo no, not an 
 artist : why does she talk to you from behind her fan, when 
 she should regard the others on the stage? Why does she 
 talk always and always to you when she has nothing to say ? " 
 
 " Oh, but she finds plenty to say ! " he observed. 
 
 " Yes," said Nina, contemptuously, " she has always plenty 
 to say to you on the stage, if she has not a word the moment 
 
Wars and Humours. 73 
 
 the scone is over. Why ? You don't understand ? You don't 
 reflect ? I will tell you, Leo, if you are so simple. You think 
 she does not know that the public can see she talks to you? 
 She knows it well ; and that is why she talks. It is to boast 
 of her friendship with you, her alliance with you. She says to 
 the ladies in the stalls, ' See here, I can talk to him when I 
 please you are away you are outside.' It is her vanity. She 
 says to them, ' You can buy his portrait out of the shop-window 
 perhaps you can ask him to your house perhaps and he goes 
 for an hour, among strangers but see here every night I am 
 talking to him ' " 
 
 " Yes, and see here, Nina," he said, with a laugh, " how 
 about my vanity ? don't you think of that ? Who could have 
 imagined I was so important a person ! But the truth is, Nina, 
 they've lengthened out that comic scene inordinately with all 
 that gagging ; and Miss Burgoyne has nothing to do in it : if 
 she hides her talking behind her fan " 
 
 " Hides ? " said Nina, with just a trace of scorn. " No ; she 
 shows ! It is display ! It is vanity. And you think a true 
 artist would so forget her part would wish to show the people 
 that she talks privately " 
 
 " Miss Nina is quite right, you know, Mr. Moore," said the 
 little widow in black, and she was entitled to speak with 
 authority. "I didn't think it looked well myself. A ballet- 
 girl would catch it if she went on the same way." 
 
 " What would you have her do ? " he said for he was a very 
 tolerant and good-natured person. " Sit and look on at that 
 idiotic comic gag?" 
 
 " Certainly," said the little dame, with decision. " She is in 
 the scene. She is not Miss Burgoyne ; she is Grace Mainwaring ; 
 and she ought to appear interested in everything around her." 
 
 " Oh, well, perhaps I have been to blame," he said, rather 
 uneasily. " I dare say I encouraged her. But really I had no 
 idea the audience could have noticed it." 
 
 " It was meant for them to notice it," Nina said, vindictively ; 
 and then, as she would have nothing more to say on this 
 wretched subject, she turned to look at the gay lilacs and 
 laburnums in the neighbourhood of the Serpentine, at the 
 shimmering blue of the wide stretch of water, and at the 
 fleet of pleasure-boats with their wet oars gleaming in the 
 golden sunlight. 
 
 Her equanimity was soon restored ; she would have nothing 
 further to say of Miss Burgoyne on such a gracious afternoon ; 
 
74 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 and indeed when they had crossed the Thames at Putney, and 
 got into the opener country down by Barnes and East Sheen 
 and Richmond, she was chattering away in her delight over 
 everything they encountered the wide commons, the luxuriant 
 gardens, the spacious mansions, the magnificent elms, the 
 hawthorn-trees, red and white, that sweetened all the soft 
 summer air. Of course when they arrived at the top of Rich- 
 mond Hill they halted for a minute or two at the Star and 
 Garter to water the horses, while they themselves had a stroll 
 along the terrace, a cup of tea, and a look abroad over the wide, 
 hazy, dreamlike landscape stretching far out into the west. Then 
 they crossed the river again at Richmond Bridge ; they bowled 
 along by Twickenham and Teddington; finally they drove 
 through the magnificent chestnut-avenues of Bushey Park, 
 which were just now in their finest blossom. When they 
 stopped at the Mitre it was not to go in : Nina was to be shown 
 the gardens of Hampton Court Palace : there would be plenty 
 of time for a pleasant saunter before dinner. 
 
 Miss Burgoyne, indeed ! Nina had forgotten all about Miss 
 Burgoyne as the little party of three passed through the cool 
 grey courtyard of the Palace and entered into the golden glow 
 of the gardens for now the westering sun was rich and warm 
 on the tall elms and limes, and threw deep shadows on the 
 greensward under the short black yews. They strolled down 
 towards the river, and stood for a long time watching the irre- 
 gular procession of boats many of them pulled by young girls 
 in light summer dresses that lent some variety of colour to 
 this sufficiently pretty picture. It was altogether an attractive 
 scene the placid waters, the soft green landscape, the swift- 
 gliding boats, from which from time to time came a ripple of 
 youthful laughter or song. And indeed Nina was regarding 
 rather wistfully those maidens in palest blue or palest pink who 
 went swinging down with the stream. 
 
 " Those young ladies," she said, in an absent kind of way, 
 to the little widow who was standing beside her, "it is a 
 pleasant life they live. It is all amusement. They have no 
 hard work; no anxieties; no troubles; everything is made 
 gentle for them by their friends ; it is one enjoyment, and 
 again and again ; they have no care." 
 
 " Don't bo so sure of that, Miss Nina," Mrs. Grey said, with 
 a quiet smile. " I dare say many a one of those girls has 
 worked as hard at her music as ever you have done, and has 
 very little to show for it. I dare say many a one of them 
 
Wars and Humours. 75 
 
 would be glad to change her position for yours I mean, for 
 the position you will have ere long. Do you know, Mr. Moore," 
 she said, turning to Nina's other companion, " that I am quite 
 sure of this if Miss Burgoyne's under-study was drafted into 
 a travelling company, I am quite sure Miss Nina here could 
 take her place with perfect confidence." 
 
 " I don't see why not," he said, as if it were a matter of 
 course. 
 
 " Then you know what would happen," Mrs. Grey con- 
 tinued, turning again to the young lady, in whose future she 
 seemed greatly interested. "Miss Burgoyne would want a 
 holiday, or her doctor would order her to give her voice a fort- 
 night's rest, or she might catch a bad cold and then comes 
 your chance ! You know the music thoroughly ; you know 
 every bit of Miss Burgoyne's * business ' ; and Mr. Moore would 
 be on the stage, or in the wings, to guide you as to your 
 entrances and exits. That will be a proud night for me, my 
 dear ; for I'll be there oh, yes, I'll be there ; and if I have 
 any stage-experience at all, I tell you it will be a splendid 
 triumph with such a voice as yours and there won't be any 
 more talk of keeping you as under-study to Miss Girond. 
 No," she added, with a shrewd smile, " but there will be some- 
 thiDg else. Miss Burgoyne won't like it : she doesn't like rivals 
 near the throne, from what I can hear. She'll try to get you 
 drafted off into one of the country companies mark my 
 words." 
 
 " The country ? " said Nina, rather aghast. " To go away 
 into the country ? " 
 
 " But look at the chance, my dear," said the little ex-actress, 
 eagerly. " Look at the practice the experience ! And then, 
 if you only take care of your voice, and don't strain it by over- 
 work, then you'll be able to come back to London and just 
 command any engagement you may want." 
 
 " To come back to London after a long time ? " she said, 
 thoughtfully ; and [she was somewhat grave and reserved as 
 they walked idly back through the gardens, and through the 
 Palace buildings, to the riverside hotel. 
 
 But no far-reaching possibilities of that kind were allowed 
 to interfere with Nina's perfect enjoyment of this little dinner- 
 party that had been got up in her honour. They had a room 
 all to themselves on an upper floor ; the windows were thrown 
 wide open ; even as they sate at table they could look abroad 
 on the spacious landscape whose meadows and hedges and woods 
 
76 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 stretched away into distant heights crowned by a solitary wind- 
 mill. Indeed, the young lady was so rude as to leave the table 
 more than once, and go and stand at the open window : there 
 was a charm in the dying out of the day in the beautiful 
 colours now encircling the world in the hushed sounds coming 
 up from the stream that she could not withstand. The 
 evening glow was warm on the rose-hued front of the Palace 
 and on the masses of sunny green foliage surrounding it ; on the 
 still blue river the boats were of a lustrous bronze ; while the 
 oars seemed to be oars of shining gold as they dipped and 
 flashed. By-and-by, indeed, the glory faded away ; the stream 
 became grey and ghostly ; there were no more ripples of laughter 
 or calls from this side to that; and Nina resumed her place 
 more contentedly at the table, which was all lit up now. She 
 made her small apologies ; she said she did not know that 
 England was such a beautiful place. Lionel, who in no way 
 resented her thus withdrawing herself from time to time, had 
 been leisurely talking to Mrs. Grey of theatrical things in 
 general ; and now that coffee was coming in, he begged per- 
 mission to light a cigarette. Altogether it was a simple, 
 friendly, unpretentious evening, that did not seem to involve 
 any serious consequence. As night fell, they set out on their 
 homeward drive; and through the silent country they went, 
 under the stars. Lionel left his two friends at their door in 
 Sloane Street ; and as he was driving home to his lodgings, if 
 he thought of the matter at all, he no doubt hoped that he had 
 given his friends a pleasant little treat. 
 
 But there was more to come of it than that. On the follow- 
 ing evening Lionel got down to the theatre rather later than 
 usual, and had to set to work at once to get ready, so that he 
 had no opportunity of seeing Miss Burgoyne until ho actually 
 met her on the stage. Now those of the public who had seen 
 this piece before could not have perceived any difference of 
 manner on the part of the coquettish Grace Maimvaring towards 
 the young gentleman who had so unexpectedly fallen in her 
 way to wit, Harry Thornhill ; but Lionel instantly became 
 aware of it ; and while he was endeavouring, after the fashion 
 of the young stage gallant, to convey to Miss Grace Maimcaring 
 the knowledge that she had suddenly captured his fancy and 
 made him her slave for life, ho was inwardly reflecting that ho 
 should have come down earlier to the theatre, and apologised to 
 Miss Burgoyno for the unintentional Blight of the previous day. 
 As soon as the scene was over, and they were both in the wings, 
 
Wars and Rumours. 77 
 
 he hastened to her (they had left the stage by opposite sides) 
 and said 
 
 " Oh, Miss Burgoyne, something very awkward happened 
 yesterday I am so sorry I want to apologise 
 
 "I hope you will do nothing of the kind,' said she, 
 haughtily, " it is quite unnecessary." 
 
 " Oh, but look here, I'm really very sorry," ho was en- 
 deavouring to say when she again interrupted him : 
 
 " t lf you choose to go driving through London with chorus- 
 girls," said she, in measured and bitter tones, " I suppose your 
 attention must be fully occupied." 
 
 And therewith she marched proudly away from him : nor 
 could he follow her to protest or explain, for he was wanted on 
 the stage in about a second. He felt inclined to be angry and 
 resentful ; but he was helpless ; he had to attend to this im- 
 mediate scene. 
 
 Meanwhile Miss Burgoyne did not long preserve that lofty 
 demeanour of hers ; the moment she left him her rage got the 
 better of her, for here was the Italian girl most inopportunely 
 coming along the corridor; and just as poor Nina came up, 
 Miss Burgoyne turned to her maid, who was holding open the 
 dressing-room door for her, and said aloud, so that everyone 
 could overhear 
 
 " Oh, we don't want foreigners in English opera ; why 
 don't they take a barrel-organ through the streets, or a couple 
 of canaries in a cage ? " 
 
 Nor was that all ; for here was Mile. Girond ; and the smart 
 little boy-officer, as she came along the passage, was gaily 
 singing to herself 
 
 Le roti, la salade, 
 
 L' amour, la promenade 
 
 A deux dans les 
 Dans les 
 
 Deux dans les 
 A deux dans les bluets ! 
 
 " Oh, there's another of the foreign chimpanzees ! " exclaimed 
 Miss Burgoyne, in her fury ; and she dashed into her room, and 
 slammed the door behind her. 
 
 Mile. Girond stood staring at the door ; then she turned to 
 look at Nina ; then she burst out laughing. 
 
 " Quel ouragan, grand Dieu ! " she cried. " Ma pauvre enfant, 
 qu'allez vous faire maintenant ? " She turned to the door and 
 
78 TJie New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 laughed again. '* Ello a la tete pres du bonnet, n'est ce pas ? 
 Bon Dieu, elle s'enflamme comme de la poudre ! " 
 
 But Nina did not stay to make any explanation : somewhat 
 paler than usual, and quite silent and reserved, she took up her 
 position in the wings ; nor had she a word to say to Lionel 
 when he came off the stage and passed her with a nod and a 
 smile of greeting on his way to his room. 
 
 Then things went from bad to worse, and swiftly. On the 
 very next afternoon, which was a Sunday, Lionel was about to 
 walk down to Sloan e Street, to have a chat and a cup of tea 
 with Mrs. Grey and Nina ; but before going he thought he 
 would just have time to scribble a piece of music in an album 
 that Lady Eosamund Bourne had sent him and affix his name 
 thereto. He brought his writing-materials to the table and 
 opened the big volume ; and he was glancing over the pages 
 (Lady Eosamund had laid some very distinguished people, 
 mostly artists, under contribution, and there were some inter- 
 esting sketches) when the house-porter came up and presented 
 a card. Lionel glanced at the name Mr. Per rival Miles and 
 wondered who the stranger might be; then he recollected that 
 surely this was the name of a young gentleman who was 
 a devoted admirer of Miss Burgoyne. Miss Burgoyne had, 
 indeed, on one occasion introduced the young man to him ; 
 but he had paid little heed ; most likely he regarded him 
 with the sort of half-humorous contempt with which the 
 professional actor is apt to look upon the moon-struck youths 
 who bring bouquets into the stalls and languish about stage- 
 doors. However, he told the house-porter to ask the gentleman 
 to step \ipstairs. 
 
 But he was hardly prepared for what followed. The young 
 gentleman who now came into the room he was a pretty boy, 
 of the fair-haired English type, with a little yellow moustache, 
 and clear grey eyes seemed almost incapable of speech, and 
 his lips were quite pale. 
 
 " In in what I have to say to you, Mr. Moore," he said, in 
 a breathless kind of way, " I hope there will be no need to 
 mention any lady's name. But you know whom I mean. That 
 that lady has placed her interests in my hands she has 
 appealed to me I am here to demand reparation in the usual 
 
 " Reparation for what ? " Lionel asked, staring at the young 
 iirm as if ho were an escaped lunatic. 
 
 " Your attentions," said the hapless boy, striving hard to 
 
Wars and Rumours. 79 
 
 preserve a calm demeanour, " your attentions are odious and 
 objectionable she will not submit to them any longer 
 
 " My attentions," Lionel said. " If you mean Miss Burgoyne, 
 I never paid her any you must be out of your senses ! " 
 
 " Shuffling will do you no good," said this fierce warrior, 
 who seemed to be always trying to swallow something perhaps 
 his wrath " The lady has placed her interests in my hands : I 
 demand the only reparation that is possible between gentlemen." 
 
 " Look here, my young friend," Lionel said, in a very cool 
 sort of fashion, " do you want to go on the stage ? Is that a 
 specimen of what you can do? For it isn't bad, you know for 
 burlesque." 
 
 "You won't fight? 1 ' said the young man, getting paler and 
 more breathless than ever. 
 
 "No, I will not fight about nothing," Lionel said, with 
 perfect good-humour. ** I am not such an ass. If Miss Bur- 
 goyne is annoyed because I passed her on Friday without 
 recognising her, that was simply a mistake for which I have 
 already apologised to her. As for any cock-and-bull story about 
 my having persecuted her with odious attentions, that's all 
 moonshine : she never put that into your head : that's your own 
 imagination " 
 
 " By heavens, you shall fight ! " broke in this infuriate young 
 fool, and the next moment he had snatched up the ink-bottle 
 from the table before him and tossed it into his enemy's face. 
 That is to say, it did not quite reach its aim ; for Lionel had 
 instinctively raised his hand, and the missile fell harmlessly on 
 to the table again not altogether harmlessly, either, for in 
 falling the lid had opened and the ink was now flowing over 
 Lady Rosamund's open album. At sight of this mishap, Lionel 
 sprang to his feet, his eyes afire. 
 
 "I've a mind to take you and knock your idiotic brains 
 against*that wall," he said to the panting, white-faced youth. 
 "But I won't. I will teach you a lesson instead. Yes, I will 
 fight. Make what arrangements you please: I'll be there. 
 Now get out." 
 
 He held the door open : the young man said as he passed 
 
 " You shall hear from me." 
 
 And then Lionel went back to Lady Rosamund's ill-fated 
 album, and began to spunge it with blotting-paper, while with 
 many a qualm he considered how he was to apologise to her and 
 make some kind of plausible explanation. Fortunately the 
 damage turned out to be less serious than at first sight appeared. 
 
80 The Neiv Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 The open page, which contained a very charming little sketch 
 in water-colour by Mr. Mellord, was of course hopelessly ruined ; 
 but elsewhere the ink had not penetrated very far ; a number 
 of new mounts would soon put that right. Then he thought 
 he would go to Mr. Mellord and lay the whole affair before him, 
 and humbly beg for another sketch (artists always being 
 provided with such things) ; so that, as regarded the album, no 
 great harm had been done. 
 
 But as he was sitting in Mrs. Grey's little parlour, at tea, 
 Nina fancied he looked a little preoccupied and was not talking 
 as blithely as usual, and she made bold to ask him if anything 
 was the matter. 
 
 " Yes," said he, " something is the matter. I'm afraid I've 
 made a fool of myself." And then he added, with a smile, 
 " Nina, I'm going to fight a duel." 
 " A duel, Leo ! " she said, faintly. 
 
 " Yes ; and what I fear about it is the ridicule that may 
 follow. But don't be alarmed, Nina," he said, cheerfully, ** I 
 don't think I'm going to fall on the deadly field of battle ; I can 
 take care of myself. The trouble is that the whole thing is so 
 preposterous so absolutely idiotic ! The fact is, what the 
 young gentleman really wants is a thorough good caning, and 
 there's nobody to give it him. Very well, he must have 
 something else ; and I propose to teach him a wholesome lesson. 
 I'm not going to take the trouble of crossing over to France or 
 Belgium I dare say that will be the programme for nothing. 
 Then there's another thing, Nina : I am the challenged party ; 
 I ought to have the choice of weapons. Well, now, I am not a 
 vtry good shot ; but I'm considered a fair fencer ; and I suppose 
 you would say that I should be magnanimous, and choose 
 pistols ? Oh, no ; I'm not going to do anything of the kind. 
 There might be a very awkward accident with pistols that is 
 to say, if our bloodthirsty seconds put in more than half a 
 charge of powder. But with swords I fancy I shall be rather 
 master of the situation ; and perhaps a little prod or a scratch, 
 just to show him the colour of his own blood, will do him a 
 world of good. It may turn out the other way, no' doubt : I've 
 heard of bad fencers breaking through one's guard just by pure 
 ignorance and accident ; but the betting is against that kind of 
 thing." 
 
 " But what is it all about, Leo?" Nina exclaimed : she was 
 for more concerned about this mad project than he appeared 
 to be. 
 
Wars and Rumours. 81 
 
 " Oh, I can't tell you that," said he, lightly, " without telling 
 you the name of the lady for of course there is a lady in it 
 and that is never allowed." 
 
 Nina sprang to her feet, and stretched out her hand towards 
 him. 
 
 " I know I know ! " she said, in a breathless sort of way : 
 " Leo, you will not deny it to me it is Miss Burgoyne ! Ah, 
 do I not know ! she is a serpent ! a cat ! a devil ! " 
 
 "Nina," he said, almost angrily, "what are you talking 
 about ! Do you suppose Miss Burgoyne would want a duel 
 fought just because I happened to pass her, by accident, without 
 raising my hat ? it's absurd." 
 
 " Ah, there is more than that, Leo ! " Nina cried, eagerly ; 
 and then she paused, in some hesitation and embarrassment. 
 "Yes, there is more than that," she repeated, as if with an 
 effort, and there was a slight flush in the pretty pale face. 
 " Why should I not say it to you ? You are too simple, Leo. 
 You do not understand. She wishes to have the reputation to 
 be allied with you in the theatre out of the theatre. Then 
 she sees that you drive with me in an open carriage ; she hates 
 me what more natural? And she is angry with you " 
 
 " Now, Nina," said he, "do you think any woman could be 
 so mad as to want to have a duel fought simply because she saw 
 me driving past in a carriage with Mrs. Grey and you is it 
 reasonable ? " 
 
 "Leo, you did not see her last night," Nina said, but still 
 with a little embarrassment, " when she meets me in the 
 corridor oh, such a furious woman ! her face white, her eyes 
 burning. As for her insulting me, what may I care ? I am a 
 foreigner, yes : if one says so, I am not wounded. Perhaps the 
 foreigners have better manners a little? but that is not of 
 importance: no, what I say is, she will be overjoyed to have 
 you fight a duel about her why, it is glory for her ! every 
 one will talk your names will be joined in newspapers when 
 the people see you on the stage they will say, 'Ah, ah, he is 
 back from fighting the duel ; he must be mad in love witli 
 Miss Burgoyne.' A duel yes, so unusual in England every- 
 one will talk ah, that will be the sweetest music for Miss 
 Burgoyne's ears in the whole world prouder than a queen 
 she will be when the public have your name and her name 
 rumoured together. And you do not understand it, Leo ! " 
 
 He had been listening in silence, with something of vexation 
 deepening upon his features. 
 
82 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " What you say only makes matters worse and worse ! " he 
 exclaimed, presently. " If that were true, Nina -just supposing 
 that were the true state of the case why, I should be fighting 
 a duel over a woman I don't care twopence about, and with a 
 young jackass whom I could kick across the street ! That is what 
 I ought to have done ! why didn't I throw him downstairs ? 
 But the mischief of it is that the thing is now inevitable ; I 
 can't back out ; I declare I never was in such a quandary in my 
 life before ! " 
 
 " And you will go and put yourself in danger, Leo," Nina 
 said, indignantly, " that a deceitful woman has the pride to 
 hear the public talk ! Have you the right to do it ? You say 
 there are sometimes accidents both with swords as pistols 
 yes, every one knows it. And you put your life in danger 
 for what ? You care nothing for your friends, then you think 
 they will not heed much if if an accident happens? You 
 think it is a light matter nothing a trifle done to please a 
 boy and a wicked-minded woman? Leo, I say you have no 
 right to do it ! You should have the spirit, the courage, to say 
 no ! You should go to that woman and say ' You think I 
 will make sport for you ? no, I will not ! ' And as for the 
 foolish boy, if he comes near to you, then you take your riding- 
 whip, Leo, and thrash him ! thrash him ! thrash him ! " Nina 
 exclaimed,* with her teeth set hard : indeed, her bosom was 
 heaving so with indignation, that Mrs. Grey put her hand 
 gently on the girl's shoulder, and reminded her that Lionel was 
 in sufficient perplexity, and wanted wise counsel rather than 
 whirling words. 
 
 As for Lionel himself, he had to leave those good friends 
 very shortly ; for he was going out to dinner, and he had to 
 get home to dress. And as he was walking along Piccadilly, 
 ruminating over this matter, the more he thought of it the less 
 he liked the look of it : not that he had been much influenced 
 by Nina's apprehensions of personal harm, but that he most 
 distinctly feared the absurdity of the whole affair. Indeed, 
 the longer he pondered over it, the more morose and resentful 
 ho became that ho should ever have been placed in such an 
 awkward position; and when he was going upstairs to his 
 room, ho was saying to himself with gloomy significance : 
 
 " Well, it' that young fool persists, I'd advise him to look 
 out : I'm not going over the water for nothing." 
 
A Departure. 83 
 
 CHAPTEK VI. 
 
 A DEPARTURE. 
 
 THERE was but little sleep for Nina that night. She was sick 
 at heart to think that in return for the unceasing kindness 
 Lionel had shown her since her arrival in England, she should 
 be the means of drawing him into this foolish embroilment. She 
 saw the situation of affairs clearly enough. Miss Burgoyne 
 was an exacting, irritable, jealous woman, who had resented 
 Nina's presence in the theatre almost from the beginning, 
 and who had been driven into a sudden fury by the sight 
 of Lionel (he taking no notice of her either) driving past 
 with this interloping foreigner. Moreover, Miss Burgoyne 
 was inordinately vain : to have the popular young baritone 
 fight a duel on her account to have their names coupled 
 together in common talk what greater triumph could she 
 desire than that? But while Miss Burgoyne might be the 
 ostensible cause of the quarrel, Nina knew who was the real 
 cause of it; and again and again she asked herself why she 
 had ever come to England, thus to bring trouble upon her old 
 ally and companion Leo. 
 
 And then in that world of visions that lies just outside the 
 realm of sleep in which great things become small, and small 
 things acquire a fantastic and monstrous importance she 
 worried and fretted because Lionel had laughingly complained 
 on the previous evening that henceforth there would be no 
 more home-made lemonade for him. Well, now, if she that 
 is to say, if Nina were in her humble way to try what she 
 could do in that direction? It might not be so good as the 
 lemonade that Miss Burgoyne prepared; but perhaps Lionel 
 would be a litle generous, and make allowance? She would 
 not challenge any comparison. She and Mr.s. Grey between 
 them would do their best ; and the result would be sent anony- 
 mously to his rooms in Piccadilly ; if he chose to accept it 
 well, it was a timid little something by way of compensation. 
 Nina forgot for the moment that within the next few days an 
 unlucky sword-thrust might suddenly determine Lionel's in- 
 terest in lemonade as in all other earthly things : these trivial 
 matters grew large in this distorted land of waking dreams : 
 nay, she began to think that if she were to leave England 
 altogether, and go away back to Naples, and perhaps accept an 
 
 G 2 
 
84 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 engagement in opera at Malta, then matters would be as 
 before at the New Theatre; and when Lionel and Miss 
 Burgoyne met in the corridor, it would be, ' Good-evening, 
 Miss Burgoyne ! ' and ' Good-evening, Mr. Moore ! ' just as it 
 used to be. There would be no Italian girl interfering, and 
 bringing dissension and trouble. 
 
 But the next morning, when the aclual facts of the case 
 were before her clearer vision, she had better reason for 
 becoming anxious, and restless, and miserable. As the day 
 wore on, Mrs. Grey could hardly persuade her to run down to 
 the Crystal Palace for the opening of the Handel Festival, 
 though, as the little widow pointed out, Mr. Moore had pro- 
 cured the tickets for them, and they were bound to go. Of 
 course, when once they were in the great transept of the 
 Palace, in the presence of this vast assemblage, and listening 
 to the splendid orchestra and a chorus of between three and 
 four thousand voices dealing with the massive and majestic 
 strains of the Messiah, the spell of the music fell upon Nina 
 and held absolute sway over her. She got into a curious 
 state of exaltation ; she seemed breathless ; sometimes, Mrs. 
 Grey thought, she shivered a little with the strain of emotion. 
 And all the time that Mr. Santley was singing ' Why do the 
 nations,' she held her hand tightly over her heart ; and when 
 he had finished when the thrilled multitude broke forth into 
 an extraordinary thunder of enthusiasm Nina murmured to 
 herself : 
 
 " It is it is like to take my life-blood away." 
 
 But when they were in the train again, and on their way 
 up to town, it was evident to her companion that the girl had 
 returned to her anxious fears. 
 
 " Mrs. Grey," she said, suddenly, " I speak to Miss Burgoyne 
 to-night." 
 
 " Oh, no, don't do that, Miss Nina ! " said Mrs. Grey, with 
 much concern ; for she knew something of the circumstances of 
 the case. " I hope you won't do that ! You might simply 
 make matters worse. Mr. Moore would not have spoken to 
 you if he thought you would interfere, depend upon that. 
 And if Miss Burgoyne is vexed or angry, what good would you 
 do? I hear she has a sharp tongue : don't you try her temper, 
 my dear," the little woman pleaded. 
 
 But Nina did not answer these representations; and she 
 was mostly silent and thoughtful all the way to town. When 
 they reached London, they had some tea at the railway-station, 
 
A Departure. 85 
 
 and she went on at once to the theatre. She was there early ; 
 Miss Burgoyne had not arrived ; so Nina lingered about the 
 corridor, listening to Mile. Girond's pretty chatter, but not 
 hearing very much. 
 
 At length the prima donna appeared ; and she would have 
 passed Nina without recognition, had not the latter went 
 forward a step, and said somewhat timidly 
 
 " Miss Burgoyne ! " 
 
 " What?" said Miss Burgoyne, stopping short, and regarding 
 the Italian girl with a by no means friendly stare. 
 
 " May I have a word with you ? " Nina said, with a little 
 hesitation. 
 
 " Yes : what is it?" the other demanded, abruptly. 
 
 "But but in private?" Nina said again. "In your 
 room ? " 
 
 " Oh, very well, come in ! " Miss Burgoyne said, with but 
 scant courtesy ; and she led the way into her sitting-room ; and 
 also intimated to her maid that she might retire into the inner 
 apartment. Then she turned to Nina. 
 
 " What is it you want ? " 
 
 But the crisis found Nina quite unprepared. She had con- 
 structed no set speech : she had formulated no demand. For a 
 second or so she stood tongue-tied tongue-tied and helpless 
 unable to put her passionate appeal into words : then all of 
 a sudden she said 
 
 "Miss Burgoyne, you will not allow it this folly! It is 
 madness that they fight about about nothing ! You will not 
 allow it! what is it to you? you have enough fame, enough 
 reputation as a prima donna, as a favourite with the public 
 what more? Why should you wish more and at such a 
 dreadful risk " 
 
 " Oh, I don't know what you're talking about ! " said Miss 
 Burgoyne. " What are you talking about ? " 
 
 "The duel " said Nina, breathlessly. 
 
 "What duel?" 
 
 Nina stared at her. 
 
 " Ah, you do not know, then ? " she exclaimed. 
 
 " What don't I know ! " Miss Burgoyne said, impatiently. 
 " What are you talking about ! What duel ? Is it something 
 in the evening papers. Or have you taken leave of your 
 senses ? " 
 
 Nina paid no heed to these taunts. 
 
 " You do not know, then," she asked, " that^Mr. Moore is 
 
86 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 going to fight a duel with, a young gentleman who is your 
 friend ? No ? you do not know it ? " 
 
 It was Miss Burgoyne's turn to stare in amazement. 
 
 "Mr. Moore?" she repeated, with her eyes (which were 
 pretty and coquettish enough, though they were not on the 
 same plane) grown wide and wondering. " A friend of mine ? 
 And you come to me as if I had anything to do with it ? Oh, 
 my goodness ! " she suddenly exclaimed, and a curious smile of 
 intelligence "began to dawn upon her face. " Has that young 
 donkey carried the matter so far as that ? " 
 
 " But she was not displeased ; nay, she was rather inclined 
 to laugh. 
 
 " Well, that would make a stir, wouldn't it ? And how did 
 you find|it out ? who told you ? A duel ? I thought he was 
 talking rather mysteriously yesterday morning Conrad the 
 Corsair kind of thing glooms and daggers ; so it was a duel 
 he was thinking of? But they are not really going to fight, 
 Miss Ross ? " continued Miss Burgoyne, who had grown quite 
 friendly. " You know people can't give up an engagement at 
 a theatre to go and fight a duel : it's only French gentlemen 
 who have no occupation who do that sort of thing. A duel ? 
 a real, actual duel do you seriously mean it ? " 
 
 The prospect seemed to afford her great satisfaction, if not 
 even a cause for merriment. 
 
 " Miss Burgoyne, you will not permit it ! " Nina exclaimed. 
 
 "I?" said the other. "What have I to do with it? If 
 two men want to fight, why shouldn't they ? " said she, with 
 apparent carelessness. 
 
 " Ah, but you know well what you have to do with it," 
 Nina said, with some touch of scorn. " Yes, you pretend ; but 
 you know it well. The young man he goes from you yesterday 
 to provoke the duel you have been talking to him and yet 
 you pretend. You say, why should they not fight? Then it is 
 nothing to you that one friend or the other friend may be 
 killed? that is nothing to you? and you know you can 
 prevent it if you choose? You do not wish to interfere it 
 will be amusing to read in the papers ! Oh, very amusing ! 
 And if the one is killed ! " 
 
 "But you know, Miss Ross, they don't go such lengths 
 nowadays," said Miss Burgoyne, with great good-humour. 
 " No, no ; it's only honour and glory they go out for ; it's only 
 the name of the thing; they don't want to kill each other. 
 Besides, if two men mean to fight, how can a woman interfere ? 
 
A Departure. 87 
 
 What is she supposed to know of the cause of the quarrel ? 
 These things are not supposed to be known." 
 
 " Then," said Nina, whose lips had grown still more 
 indignant and scornful, " this is what I say : if anything 
 happens, it is your conscience that will speak to you in after 
 time. You wish them to fight, yes, for your vanity to be 
 pleased ! you wish it said that they fight about you ! And 
 that is a trionf for you something in the papers and you do 
 not care what harm is done if you are talked about ! That is 
 your friendship ! what do you care ? any one may be sacrificed 
 to your vanity " 
 
 " I suppose if they were fighting about you you wouldn't 
 say a word against it ! " observed Miss Burgoyne, coolly. In 
 fact the vehement reproaches that Nina had addressed to her 
 did not seem to have offended her in the least ; for she went on 
 to say, in the best of tempers : " Well, Miss Ross, I have to 
 thank you for bringing me the news. But don't be alarmed : 
 these dreadful duels, even when they get into the newspapers, 
 seldom show much harm done. And in the mean time will you 
 excuse me? Jane is grumbling in there, I know. Tell me 
 anything you may hear about it by-and-bye and meanwhile I 
 am very much obliged to you." So Nina found herself dis- 
 missed : neither her piteous appeal nor her indignant protest 
 having had apparently any effect whatever. 
 
 But Miss Burgoyne, while transforming herself into Grace 
 Mainwaring, had plenty of time to think over this startling 
 position of aifairs, and to consider how she could best use it to 
 her own advantage. She had a nimble brain ; and it may have 
 occurred to her that here was a notable chance for her to 
 display the splendid magnanimity of her disposition to over- 
 whelm Mr. Lionel Moore with her forgiveness and her generous 
 intervention! on his behalf. At all events, in the first scene in 
 which these two met on the stage, Harry Thornhill became 
 instantly aware that the merry and mischievous Grace Main- 
 waring appeared bent on being very friendly towards him 
 even while she looked curiously at him, as if there was some- 
 thing in her mind. Moreover, she seemed in excellent spirits ; 
 there was no perfunctory " drag " in her give-and-take speeches 
 with the adventurous young gentleman whom fate had thrown 
 in her way. He was very well pleased to find the scene going 
 so well ; he sang his share in the parting duet with unusual 
 verve ; she responded with equal animation ; the crowded house 
 gave them an enthusiastic recall. But the public could not tell 
 
88 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 that even in the midst of this artistic triumph, the audacious 
 young lover had his own thoughts in his head ; and that he 
 was really saying to himself * What the mischief is she at 
 now?' 
 
 He was to leam later on in the evening. Just as he got 
 dressed for the ball-room scene, a message was brought him that 
 Miss Burgoyne would like to see him for a minute or two as 
 soon as he was ready. Forthwith he went to her room, tapped 
 at her door, entered, and found himself the sole occupant ; but 
 the next moment the curtain concealing the dressing-room was 
 opened about five feet from the ground ; and there (the rest of 
 her person being concealed) he beheld the smiling face of Grace 
 Mainwaring, with its sparkling eyes, and rouge, and patches, to 
 say nothing of the magnificent white wig with its nodding 
 sprays of brilliants. 
 
 " Just a moment, Mr. Moore," said she, " and I shall be with 
 you directly " and therewith the vision was gone, and the 
 crimson curtains came together again. 
 
 " Very shortly thereafter the Squire's Daughter came forth 
 in all the splendour of her white satin and pearls ; and she lost 
 no time in letting him know why he had been summoned. 
 
 "You are a very bloodthirsty man," said she, in accents of 
 grave reproach (though her eyes were not so serious), " and I 
 am ashamed of you that you should think of harming that poor 
 boy; but I am not going to allow it " 
 
 " Why, who told you anything about it ? " he said ; for he 
 could not pretend not to know what she meant. 
 
 " A little bird," she made answer, with much complacence. 
 "And the idea that you should really want to do such a thing ! 
 how many voices like yours are there wandering about in 
 comedy-opera that you should consider you have any right to 
 run such a risk? I don't mean being killed I mean catching 
 a cold ! I suppose you have got to take your coat and waistcoat 
 off on Calais sands with a wind blowing in from the sea : 
 that is a nice thing for your chest and throat, isn't it ? Well, 
 I'm going to step in and prevent it. I consider you have 
 treated me very badly pretending you didn't see me, when 
 you were so very particularly engaged ; but never mind ; I 
 never bear malice ; and, as I say, I'm going to step in and 
 prevent this piece of folly." 
 
 '* Very much obliged, I am sure," he said, politely. 
 " When men propose to fight, it is so extremely pleasant to find 
 a woman appear to throw a protecting arm over thorn ! " 
 
A Departure. 89 
 
 " Oh, I am not going to be repelled by any of yonr ferocious 
 sentiments," said she, good-naturedly. " I am a friend of both 
 of you I hope ; and I won't have anything of the kind I tell 
 you, I won't allow it " 
 
 " I'm afraid your intervention has come too late," said ho 
 quietly. 
 
 " Why ? " she demanded. 
 
 " Oh, it isn't worth speaking about," said he. " The young 
 gentleman went a little too far he has got to be taught a 
 lesson, that is all " 
 
 " Oh, listen to him ! listen to his blood thirstiness ! " she 
 exclaimed, in affected horror ; and then she suddenly altered 
 her tone. " Come, now, Mr. Moore, you're not seriously going 
 to try to harm that poor boy ! He is a very nice boy, as honest 
 and simple-minded as yon could wish. And such a pretty boy, 
 too no, no, it is quite absurd 
 
 " You are right there," said he. " It is quite absurd. The 
 whole thing is absurd. But it has gone too far." 
 
 Here Miss Burgoyne was called. 
 
 " Will you leave it in my hands ? " she said, leisurely rising 
 from her chair, and tucking up her long train so that she might 
 safely pass into the wings. 
 
 " Certainly not," said he. " You have no right to know 
 anything about it. The quarrel was forced upon me ; I had no 
 wish to harm your pretty boy ; nor have I much now except 
 in trying to keep myself from being harmed. But that is 
 all over now; and this thing has to be seen through to the 
 end." 
 
 He held open the door for her ; and then he accompanied 
 her along the passage, and up the steps, until they were both 
 ready for their entrance on the stage. 
 
 " Men are so obstinate," said she, with an air of vexa- 
 tion ; " so obstinate and foolish. But I don't care : I'll see 
 if I can't get something done : I won't allow two dear friends 
 of mine to do anything so stupid if I can help it. Why, 
 the idea ! getting into a quarrel with a harmless young 
 fellow like that ! You ought to have been kind to him for 
 my sake for he really is such a dear boy so simple and good- 
 natured " 
 
 " But where is Grace?" said a voice out there in the wide 
 ball-room ; and as this was Miss Burgoyne's cue, she tripped 
 lightly on to the stage with her smiling answer " One kiss, 
 papa, before the guests arrive." And, as it turned out, there was 
 
90 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 no further opportunity of talk that night between Miss Bur- 
 goyne and Mr. Lionel Moore. 
 
 But two days thereafter, and just as Lionel was about to 
 go out for his morning ride, the house-porter brought him a 
 card. It was Mr. Percival Miles who was below. 
 
 " Ask the gentleman to come up." 
 
 Here were the preliminaries of battle, then. Lionel had a 
 vague kind of notion that the fire-eating youth ought not to 
 have appeared in person that he ought to have been repre- 
 sented by a friend ; however, it was not of much consequence. 
 He only hoped that there would be no further altercation or 
 throwing of ink-bottles : otherwise he considered it probable 
 that this interview would terminate in a more English manner 
 than the last. 
 
 The young gentleman came in, hat in hand. He was 
 apparently very calm and dignified. 
 
 " Mr. Moore," said he, slowly, as if he were repeating words 
 already carefully chosen, " I am about to take an unusual 
 course. I have been asked to do so I have been constrained 
 to do so by the one person whose wish in such a matter must 
 be respected. I have come to apologise to you for my conduct 
 of the other day." 
 
 " Oh, very well," said Lionel, but somewhat coldly ; he 
 did not seem well satisfied that this young man should get 
 off so easily, after his unheard-of insolence. Indeed, Lionel 
 was very much in the position of the irate old Scotch-woman 
 whose toes were trodden upon by a man in a crowd. " I 
 beg your pardon," said the culprit. " Begging my paurdon 
 '11 no dae," was the retort, " I'm gaun to gie ye a skelp o' 
 the lug ! " 
 
 " I hope you will accept my apology," the pale-faced young 
 gentleman continued, in the same stiff and embarrassed manner. 
 *' I don't know whether it is worth while my offering any 
 excuse for what I did except that it was done under a mis- 
 apprehension. The the lady in question seemed annoyed 
 perhaps I mistook the meaning of certain phrases she used 
 and certainly I must have been entirely in error in guessing as 
 to what she wished me to do. I take the whole blame on 
 myself. I acted hastily on the spur of the moment ; and now 
 I am exceedingly sorry ; and I ask your pardon." 
 
 " Oh, very well," Lionel said, though somewhat ungraciously. 
 " But you see you are getting rather the best of this perform- 
 ance. You come here with a ridiculous cock-and-bull story, 
 
A Departure. 91 
 
 you threaten and vapour and kick up mock-heroics, you throw 
 a bottle of ink over a book belonging to a friend of mine 
 and then you are to get off by saying two or three words of 
 
 " What can I do more ? " said the humble penitent. " I 
 have tried to explain. I I was as ready to fight as you 
 could be ; but but now I obey the person who has the 
 best right to say what shall be done in such an affair. I 
 have made every apology and explanation I could ; and I ask 
 your pardon." 
 
 " Oh, very well," Lionel said again. 
 
 " Will you give me your hand, then ? " Mr. Percival Miles 
 asked, and he somewhat timidly advanced a step, with out- 
 stretched palm. 
 
 "That isn't necessary," said Lionel, making no other 
 response. 
 
 The fair-haired young warrior seemed greatly embarrassed. 
 
 " I I was told " he stammered ; but Lionel, who was 
 now inclined to laugh, broke in on his confusion. 
 
 " Did Miss Burgoyne say you weren't to come away with- 
 out shaking hands with me is that it ? " he Basked, with a 
 smile. 
 
 " Y yes," answered the young gentleman, blushing 
 furiously. 
 
 "Oh, very well, there's no trouble about that," Lionel said, 
 and he gave him his hand for a second ; after which the love- 
 lorn youth somewhat hastily withdrew, and no doubt was glad 
 to lose himself in the busy crowd of Piccadilly. 
 
 That same afternoon Lionel drove down to Sloane Street. 
 He was always glad to go along and have a friendly little chat 
 about musical affairs with the eagerly enthusiastic Nina ; and 
 as this particular evening was exceedingly fine and pleasant, he 
 thought he might induce her to walk in to the theatre, by way 
 of Belgrave Square and the Green Park. But hardly had they 
 left the house when Nina discovered that it was not about 
 professional matters that Lionel wanted to talk to her on this 
 occasion. 
 
 "Nina," said he, with befitting solemnity, "I have great 
 news for you. I am saved. Yes, my life has been saved. And 
 by whom, think you ? Why, by Miss Burgoyne ! Miss Bur- 
 goyne is the protecting goddess who has snatched me away in 
 a cloud just as my enemy was about to pin me to the earth 
 with his javelin." 
 
92 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " There is (o be no duel, Leo ? " she said, quickly. 
 
 " There is not," he continued. " Miss Burgoyne has for- 
 bidden it. She has come between me and rny deadly foe, and 
 held up a protecting hand. I don't know that it is quite a 
 dignified position for me to find myself in; but one must 
 recognise her friendly intentions anyway. And not only that, 
 Nina, but she sent me a bottle of lemonade yesterday ! Just 
 think of it: to save your life is something, but to send you 
 lemonade as well that is almost too much goodness." 
 
 Poor Nina ! If this careless young man had only looked at 
 the address on the wrapper of the bottle, he could easily have 
 guessed whose was the handwriting especially recognisable 
 in the foreign-looking L and M. That timidly-proffered little 
 gift was Nina's humble effort at compensation; and now he 
 was bringing it forward as a proof of Miss Burgoyne's great 
 good-nature ! And it was Miss Burgoyne who had intervened 
 to prevent this absurd duel Miss Burgoyne, who knew nothing 
 at all about it until Nina told her ! Nina, as they now walked 
 along towards Constitution Hill, was too proud to make any 
 explanation : only she thought he might have looked at the 
 address on the wrapper. 
 
 " Seriously," he said to his companion, " seriously, Nina, she 
 has put me under a very great obligation, and shown herself 
 very magnanimous as well. There is no doubt she was offended 
 with me about something or other : and she had the generosity 
 to put all that aside the moment she found I was embroiled in 
 this stupid affair. And mind you, I'm very glad to be out of 
 it. It would have looked ridiculous in the papers ; and every- 
 thing gets into the papers nowadays. Of course that young 
 idiot had no right to go and tell her about the duel ; but I 
 suppose he wanted to figure as a hero in her eyes poor devil, 
 he seems pretty bad about her. Well, now that her inter- 
 vention has got mo out of this awkward scrape, how am I to 
 show my gratitude to her ? what do you say, Nina ? " 
 
 But Nina had nothing to say. 
 
 " There's one thing I can do for her," he continued. " You 
 know how fond actors and actresses are of titled folks. Well, 
 Miss Burgoyne is going down to Henley Regatta with a lot of 
 other professionals ; and I am going too, with another party 
 Lady Adela Cunyngham has got a house-boat there. Very 
 well, if I can find out where Miss Burgoyne is and I dare say 
 she will be conspicuous enough, though she's not very tall I 
 will take Lord Kockminster to pay his respects to her and leave 
 
A Departure. 93 
 
 him with her: won't that do? They have already been 
 introduced at the theatre ; and if Rockminster doesn't talk 
 much, I have no doubt she will chatter enough for both. 
 And Miss Burgoyne will be quite pleased to have a lord all to 
 herself." 
 
 " Leo," said Nina, gently, " do you not think you yourself 
 have too much liking for for that fine company ? " 
 
 " Perhaps I have," said he, with pei feet good-humour. 
 " What then ? Are you going to lecture me too ? Is Saul 
 among the prophets ? Has Maurice Mangan been coaching you 
 as well?" 
 
 " Ah, Leo," said she, " I should wish to see you give it all 
 up yes all the popularity and your fine company and 
 that you go away back to Pandiani " 
 
 " Pandiani ! " he exclaimed. " Here's romance indeed ! 
 You want us both to become students again, and to have the 
 old days at Naples back again " 
 
 " No, no, no ! " she said, shaking her head. " It is the 
 future I think of. I wish to hear you in grand opera, or in 
 oratorio I wish to see you a great artist that is something 
 noble, something ambitious, something to work for day and 
 night. Ah, Leo, when I hear Mr. Santley sing * Why do the 
 nations ' when I see the thousands and thousands of people 
 sitting entranced, then I say to myself ' there is something 
 grand and noble to speak to all these people to lift them 
 above themselves : to give them this pure emotion surely that 
 is a great thing it is high, like religion it is a purification 
 it is But here she stopped with a little gesture of 
 
 despair. " No, no, Leo, I cannot tell you I have not enough 
 English." 
 
 "It's all very well," said he, "for you to talk about 
 Santley ; but where will you get another voice like his ? " 
 
 " Leo, you can sing finer music than The Starry Night,' " 
 she said. "You have the capacity. Ah, but you enjoy too 
 much ; you are petted and spoiled, yes ; you have not a great 
 ambition " 
 
 " I'll tell you what I seem to have, though, Nina," said 
 he. " I seem to have a faculty of impressing my friends 
 with the notion that I could do something tremendous if only 
 I tried ; whereas I know that this belief of theirs is only a 
 delusion." 
 
 "But you do not try, Leo," said this persistent counsellor. 
 " No ; life is too pleasant for you ; you have not enthusiasm ; 
 
94 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 why your talk is always persiflage it is the talk of the 
 fashionable world. And you an artist ! " 
 
 However, at this moment Lionel suddenly discovered that 
 this leisurely stroll was likely to make them late in getting to 
 the theatre ; so that perforce they had to leave these peaceful 
 glades of the Green Park and get into Piccadilly, where they 
 jumped into a Hansom-cab and were rapidly whirled away 
 eastward. 
 
 But if Lionel was to be reproached for his lack of ambition, 
 that was a charge which could not be brought against certain 
 of those fashionable friends of his at whom Nina (in uncon- 
 scious collusion with Maurice Mangan) seemed inclined to look 
 askance. At the very height of the London season, Lady 
 Adela Cunyngham, and her sisters, Lady Sybil and Lady 
 Rosamund Bourne, had taken the town by storm ; and it 
 seemed probable that before they departed for Scotland they 
 would leave quite a trail of glory behind them in the social 
 firmament. The afternoon production of The Chaplet, in the 
 gardens of Sir Hugh's house on Campden Hill, had been a most 
 notable festivity, doubtless; but then it was a combination 
 affair ; for Miss Georgie Lestrange had shared in the honours 
 of the occasion; moreover, they had professional assistance 
 given them by Mr. Lionel Moore. It was when the three 
 sisters attacked their own particular pursuits that their indivi- 
 dual genius shone; and marked success had attended their 
 separate efforts. His Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief, 
 it is true, had not as yet invited the Colonels of the British 
 Army to recommend Lady Sybil's * Soldiers' Marching Song ' to 
 the band-masters of the various regiments ; but in default of 
 that, this composition was performed nightly, as the concluding 
 ceremony at the international exhibition then open in London ; 
 and as the piece was played by the combined bands of the 
 Royal Marines, with the drums of the 1st Battalion Grenadier 
 Guards, the Highland Pipers of the 2nd Battalion Scots 
 Guards, and the drums of the 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards, 
 the resultant noise was surely sufficient to satisfy the hungriest 
 vanity of any composer, professional or amateur, who ever 
 lived. Then not only had Lady Rosamund exhibited a large 
 picture at the Lansdowne Gallery (a decorative work this was, 
 representing the manumission of a slave, with the legend 
 underneath (* Rune hominem liberum esse volo ')," but also the 
 proprietors of an illustrated weekly newspaper, had published 
 in their summer number, as a coloured supplement, what she 
 
A Departure. 95 
 
 had ventured to call * An all-the-year-round valentine.' She 
 had taken the following rhyme (or perhaps some one had found 
 it for her) 
 
 1 In these fair Violets of tlie Veins, 
 The Verdure of the Spring remains ; 
 Ripe Cherries on thy Lips display 
 The lustre of the Summer day ; 
 If I for Autumn were to seek, 
 I'd view the Apples on thy Cheek ; 
 There's nought cou'd give me Pain in thee, 
 But Winter in thy Heart to see.' 
 
 and she had drawn four pretty little landscapes, which, when 
 reproduced on one sheet by chromo-lithography, looked very 
 neat and elegant ; while the fair artist was much gratified to 
 observe her name figuring on the placards at railway-stations, 
 or on the boards in front of stationers' shops, as she drove 
 along Kensington High Street. 
 
 But of course the crowning achievement of the gifted 
 family was Lady Adela Cunyngham's novel. If it was not 
 quite the success of the season, as far as the outer world was 
 concerned, it certainly was the most talked-of book among 
 Lady Adela's own set. Every character in it was identified as 
 somebody or another; and although Lady Adela, as a true 
 artist, maintained that she did not draw individuals but types, 
 she could not stem the tide of this harmless curiosity, and had 
 to submit to the half-humorous inquiries and flattering 
 insinuations of her friends. As for the outer world, if it 
 remained indifferent, that only showed its lack of gratitude; 
 for here, there, and everywhere among the evening and weekly 
 papers (the morning papers were perhaps too busy with politics 
 at the time) attention was drawn to Lady Arthur Castletown's 
 charming and witty romance of modern life. Alp called to 
 Alp, and deep to deep, throughout Satan's invisible world : 
 Kathleen's Sweethearts was dragged in (apparently with ten men 
 pushing behind) for casual allusion in 'Our Weekly Note- 
 Book ; ' Lady Arthur's smart sayings were quoted in the gossip 
 attached to this or that monthly magazine ; the correspondent 
 of a country journal would hasten to say that it was not neces- 
 sary to inform his readers that Lady Arthur Castletown was in 
 reality Lady Adela Cunyngham, the wife of the well-known 
 breeder of polled cattle, Sir George Cunyngham of the Braes. 
 In the midst of all this Lionel went to his friend Maurice 
 Mangan, 
 
96 The New Prince Fortunaius. 
 
 "Look here, Maurice," said he, "that book can't be as bad 
 as you tried to make out." 
 
 " It is the most insensate trash that was ever put between 
 boards," was the prompt repty. 
 
 " But how can that be? Look at what the papers say ! " 
 
 "The papers what papers? That isn't what the papers 
 say that is what the small band of log-rollers say, calling 
 industriously to each other, like frogs in a pond. Didn't I tell 
 you what would happen if you got hold of Octavius Quirk, or 
 any one of them ? How many dinners did your swell friends 
 expend on Quirk ? " 
 
 " Oh, I don't know. He is pretty often at the house." 
 
 "He is pretty often at the house, is he?" Mangan repeated. 
 
 " I hope they won't ask him to Scotland," Lionel said, rue- 
 fully. " I can't bear the fellow : it's just as you say, he's 
 always in a whirlwind of insistence about nothing; and he 
 doesn't grin through a horse-collar, he roars and guffaws 
 through it. But then, you see, he has been very kind about 
 this book ; and of course a new author, like Lady Adela, is 
 grateful. I admit what you say is right enough perhaps the 
 family are a little anxious for notoriety; but to are a good 
 many other people : and there's no great harm in writing, or 
 painting, or composing music as well as you can. Mind, I 
 think there's a little professional jealousy about you, Maurice," 
 continued the sage Mentor. "You don't like a woman of 
 fashion to come into your literary circles. But why shouldn't 
 she ? I'm sure I don't object when any one of them tries to 
 produce a little dramatic or musical piece ; on the contrary, 
 I would rather help. And look at Mellord the busiest painter 
 of the day look at the trouble he takes in advising Lady 
 Rosamund ; she has the free entree into his studio, no matter 
 who is sitting to him. I think, for amateurs, the work of all 
 the three sisters is very creditable to them ; and I don't see 
 why they shouldn't like to have the appreciation of the public, 
 just as other people like it." 
 
 " My dear fellow," Mangan said, but with obvious indif- 
 ference, " do you think I resent the fact of your friend Lady 
 Arthur or Lady Adela writing a foolish novel ? Far from it, 
 You asked my opinion of it, and I told you ; if you don't see 
 for yourself that the book is absolute trash but harmless trash, 
 as I think then you are in a happy condition of mind, for you 
 jnust be easily pleased. Come, let's talk of something worth 
 talking about. Have you been down to Winstead lately ? " 
 
A Departure. 97 
 
 "No never since that Sunday." 
 
 " Do you know, your people were awfully good to me," 
 this long, lank, lazy-looking man went on but now he seemed 
 more interested than when talking about Lady Adela's novel. 
 " I never spent a more delightful evening never. I wonder 
 they did not turn me out, though ; for I stayed and stayed, and 
 never noticed how late it was getting. Missed the last train, 
 of course ; and walked all the way up to London ; not a bit 
 sorry, either, for the night was cool and there was plenty of 
 starlight : I'd walk twice as far to spend another such evening. 
 I I'm thinking of going down there next Sunday," he added, 
 with a little hesitation. 
 
 " Why not ? " Lionel said, cordially enough. 
 
 "You see," Mangan continued, still rather hesitatingly, 
 " the fact is I'm rather in the way of getting illustrated 
 papers and and summer numbers and children's books I 
 mean, when I want them, I can get them for lots of these 
 things come to the newspaper offices, and they're not much use 
 to anybody ; so I thought I would just make up a parcel and 
 send it down to Miss Frances, don't you understand, for her 
 sick children " 
 
 "I daresay you went and spent a lot of money," Lionel 
 said, with a laugh. 
 
 " And she was good enough to write back that it was just 
 what she wanted ; for several of the children most of them, 
 I should say couldn't read, but they liked looking at pictures. 
 And then she was kind enough to add that if I went down next 
 Sunday, she would take me to see how the things had been 
 distributed the pictures hung up on walls, and so forth and 
 and that's why I think I may go down." 
 
 " Oh, yes, certainly," Lionel said, though he did not under- 
 stand why any such excuse was necessary. 
 
 " Couldn't you come down too, Linn? " Mangan suggested. 
 
 " Oh, no, I couldn't, I'm so busy," was the immediate reply * 
 " I'm going to Scotland the first or second week in August. 
 The doctor advises me to give my voice a long rest ; and the 
 Cunynghams have asked me to their place in Ross-shire. 
 Besides, I don't care about singing in London when there's 
 nobody but country cousins, and none too many of them. Of 
 course I'll have to go down and bid the old folks good-bye 
 before starting for Scotland, and Francie too. Mind you tell 
 that wicked Francie that I am very angry with her for not 
 having come up to see The Squire's Daughter" 
 
 n 
 
98 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " Linn," said his friend, after a second, " why don't you 
 take the old people over to Aix or some such place for a 
 month? They're so awfully proud of you; and you might 
 take Miss Frances as well: she seems to work so hard she 
 deserves a rest. Wouldn't that be as sensible as going to 
 Scotland?" 
 
 " My good chap, I would do that in a moment I should be 
 delighted," said he for he was really a most generously- 
 disposed young man, especially as regarded money : time was 
 of greater consideration with him. " But it's no use thinking 
 of such a thing. The old folks are much too content with 
 home: they won't travel. And Francie she wouldn't come 
 away from those precious babes. Well, I'm off. Mind you 
 scold Francie for me ! " 
 
 "Perhaps," said Mangan, as he accompanied his friend to 
 the door. 
 
 So it was that on a certain evening in August Lionel Moore 
 drove up to Euston Station and secured a sleeping-berth in the 
 train going North ; and no doubt the consciousness that after 
 a long spell of hard work he was entering upon a well-earned 
 holiday was a very welcome and comfortable thing. If only he 
 had been a little more reflective, he might have set to work 
 (here in the railway-carriage, as he lit his cigar, and proceeded 
 to fix up his reading-lamp) and gone on to consider how 
 entirely satisfactory all his circumstances were at this moment. 
 Prince Fortunatus indeed ! Was ever any one more happily 
 situated ? Here he was, young, full of health and high spirits, 
 excellent-tempered, and sufficiently good-looking; he had acquired 
 a liberal measure of fame and popularity ; he had many friends 
 he had ample means, for he did not know the difference between 
 a backer and a layer, nor yet the difference between a broker 
 and a jobber in fact, gambling either in Stocks or on the Turf 
 had never even occurred to him as a thing worth thinking 
 about. But there was something further than all this for 
 which he ought to have been profoundly grateful. As the long 
 train thundered away into the night, there was no dull misery 
 of farewell weighing heavily upon him ; there were no longing 
 fancies wandering wistfully back to a certain house, a certain 
 figure, a pair of too eloquent eyes. He dragged no lengthening 
 chain with him on this journey North. For notwithstanding 
 his pleasant companionship with Nina, and her constant sym- 
 pathy with him, and her interest in his professional career; 
 notwithstanding the affectionate regard of his Cousin Francie, 
 
In Strathaivron. 99 
 
 which was none the less sincere that it remained unspoken and 
 only to be guessed at ; notwithstanding the somewhat jealous 
 favour which the priina donna of the New Theatre seemed 
 inclined to bestow on him ; notwithstanding the pert coquetries 
 and fascinations of Miss Georgie Lestrange, to say nothing of 
 the blandishments and pettings showered upon him by crowds 
 of ladies of exalted rank, this fortunate young man (so far at 
 least as he was himself aware) was going away to Scotland 
 quite heart-whole. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 IN STRATHAIVRON. 
 
 IT was still early in the afternoon when Lionel found himself 
 driving along a loftily- winding road overlooking the wide and 
 fertile valley of the Aivron. Eight down below him, and 
 visible through the birch-trees, was the river itself, of a brilliant 
 clear-shining blue, save where in some more distant sweeps it 
 shone a silver white ; on the other side of the broad strath rose 
 a range of hill fringed along its base with wood, but termin- 
 ating in the west in far altitudes of bare rock and heather; 
 while now and again he could catch a glimpse of some still 
 more distant peak or shoulder, no doubt belonging to the 
 remote and mountainous region of Assynt. And there, in the 
 middle of the plain, stood the shooting-lodge for which he was 
 bound a long, rambling building or series of buildings with 
 all sorts of kennels and outhouses and deer-houses attached ; 
 and as he was regarding this goal and aim of his journey, and 
 wondering how he was going to get across the swift-flowing 
 stream, behold ! a white fluttering of handkerchiefs just 
 outside the porch. It was a signal to him, he knew ; and ho 
 returned it more than once until, indeed, he discovered that 
 his driver was leaving the road and about to take the horses 
 down a rudely cut track on the hill-side. 
 
 " I say, isn't there a bridge anywhere ? " he asked : for he 
 was not used to such exploits. 
 
 " Aw no, there's no brudge," the old Highland driver said, 
 coolly, as he jammed down the brake. " But we'll do ferry 
 well at the ford ; the watter is not so high the now." 
 
 "And when the water is high, what do they do then?" 
 
 H 2 
 
100 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 Lionel asked as lie regarded with some concern the almost 
 vertical pole and the straining harness. 
 
 " Aw, well, there uss a boat ; and if there's a spate on the 
 ruvver they can come and go ; "but not with the heavy things. 
 Ay, I hef seen tons of coal waiting for them at Invershin for 
 near a fortnight when there wass a heavy spate on the ruvver. 
 The leddies are so particular nowadays; peat will not do for 
 them for the cooking ; naw, they must hef coal " 
 
 But now the horses were entering the stream, and the old 
 man's loquacity ceased. The animals, however, seemed quite 
 accustomed to this performance ; without any hesitation they 
 adventured into the rapid current, and splashed their way 
 forward, getting such footing as was possible among the big 
 loose stones and shingle. Indeed, the passage was effected with 
 very little trouble, if with a good deal of jolting and bumping ; 
 and thereafter there was a pleasant trot along some sufficiently 
 smooth greensward up to the door of the lodge. 
 
 Yes, here were the three tall and handsome sisters, looking 
 very picturesque in their simple northern attire ; and here was 
 Miss Georgie Lestrange conspicuous in a Tarn o' Shanter of 
 bright blue ; and no sooner had the young man descended from 
 the waggonette than they surrounded him, laughing and 
 questioning, and giving him the heartiest of welcomes. How 
 could he answer them all at once ? When the poor man was 
 taken into the dining-room, and set down to his solitary 
 luncheon, they were all for waiting on him and talking to him 
 at the same time. 
 
 " It is so awfully kind of you to come," Lady Adela said, 
 with one of her most gracious smiles. " Now we shall hear 
 about something else than dogs and guns and grouse." 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Moore," cried Lady Rosamund (who was tho 
 youngest, and had a bit of a temper, and was allowed to 
 interfere when she liked) " do you know a masque called 
 Alfred ? You do ? how delightful ! Well, then, you remember 
 the visions of the future Kings and Queens that pass before 
 Alfred when he is in the Isle of Athelney : how can I get that 
 done in the open air ? What kind of gauze do you use in the 
 theatre ? Could you get me a bit ? And would painted shades 
 do instead of living persons ? you see we have so few people 
 to come and go on up here." 
 
 " And, Mr. Moore," cried Lady Sybil, " how are wo to 
 manage about an accompaniment ? A single violin is no use 
 out in the open. Would it be too dreadful if we had a har- 
 
In Strathaivron. 101 
 
 monium concealed somewhere 9 - y?& criuld' j gei ! row 
 Inverness; and you know a harmonium -would - r dt>' Very* 
 for the music that introduces the visions.'' 
 
 "Mr. Moore," put in Miss Georgie Lestrange, with a 
 complaining air, " fancy their having given me another of 
 Kitty Olive's characters : isn't it too bad ! Why, I'll go on 
 and on until I identify myself with her altogether: and 
 then, you know, Kitty Olive wasn't I'm afraid she wasn't 
 quite -- " 
 
 " Oh, Mrs. Olive was all right ; she was a great friend 
 of Dr. Johnson," Lionel made answer, to> reassure the young 
 lady. 
 
 " But I wish you girls would leave off chattering, and let 
 Mr. Moore get something to eat," the young matron said 
 impatiently; and she herself was so kind as to go and fetch 
 the claret-jug from the side-table and fill his glass. 
 
 However, there was peace in store for him. When he had 
 finished with this late lunch, Lady Adela begged him to 
 excuse them if they left him to shift for himself: they were 
 busy dress-making, she said. Would she send for one of the 
 keepers, who would show him one or two of the nearest pools, 
 so that he might try for a salmon? The gentlemen had all 
 gone down the strath, to test some new rifle, she thought : this 
 was out of consideration for her, for she could not bear shooting 
 close to the house : would he walk in that direction, and see 
 what they were doing ? 
 
 "Don't you trouble," he said, instantly. "You leave me 
 to nryself. I like to wander about and find out my sur- 
 roundings. I shall go down to the river, to begin with : I 
 saw some picturesque bits higher up when we were coming 
 along." 
 
 " You'll almost certainly find Honnor Cunyngham there," 
 said Miss Lestrange. " I suppose she has gone storking as 
 usual." 
 
 " Stalking ? " said he, in some amazement. 
 
 " No, no storking, as I call it. She haunts the side of the 
 river like a crane or a heron," said the red-haired damsel. " I 
 think she would rather land a salmon than go to heaven." 
 
 " Georgie," said the young matron, severely, " you are not 
 likely ever to do either ; so you needn't be spiteful. Come 
 away and get to work. Mr. Moore, we dine at eight ; and if 
 you are anywhere up or down the strath, you'll hear the bell 
 over the stables rung at seven, and then at half-past." 
 
102 lie, tyep Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 S<> vlij)}\w^n,t oif anl ,l$ft -him ; and lie was not displeased ; 
 Le passed ort "by ttq front door, lit a cigar, and strolled down 
 towards the banks of the Afvron. It was a bright and sweet- 
 aired afternoon ; he was glad to be at the end of his journey ; 
 and this was a very charming, if somewhat lonely, stretch of 
 country in which he now found himself. The wide river, the 
 steep hillside beyond hanging in foliage, the valley narrowing 
 in among rocks and then leading away up to those far solitudes 
 of moorland and heather broken only here and there by a single 
 pine all these features of the landscape seemed so clear and 
 fine in colour ; there was no intervening haze ; everything was 
 vivid and singularly distinct, and yet aerial and harmonious 
 and retiring of hue. But of course it was the stream with 
 its glancing lights, its living change and motion, its murmuring, 
 varying voice that was the chief attraction ; and he wandered 
 on by the side of it, noting' here and there the long rippling 
 shallows where the sun struck golden on the sand beneath, 
 watching the oily swirls of the deep black-brown pools as if at 
 any moment he expected to see a salmon leap into the air, and 
 not even uninterested in the calm eddies on the other side, 
 where the smooth water mirrored the yellow-green bank and 
 the bushes and the overhanging birch-trees. He sat down for 
 a while, listening absently to this continuous, soothing murmur, 
 perhaps thinking of the roar of the great city he had left. He 
 was quite content to be alone ; he did not even want Maurice 
 Mangan to be discoursing to him in those seasons of calm in 
 which questions, long unanswered, perhaps never to be 
 answered, will arise. 
 
 Then he rose and went on again, for from the high road along 
 which he had driven he had caught a glimpse of a wilder part 
 of the glen, where the river seemed to come tumbling down a 
 rocky chasm, with some huge boulders in mid-channel; and 
 even now he could hear the distant, muffled roar of the waters. 
 But all of a sudden ho stopped. Away along there, and 
 keeping guard (like a stork, as Miss Georgio Lestrange had 
 suggested) above the pool that lay on this side of the double 
 waterfall, was a young lady, her back turned towards him. So 
 far as ho could make out, she wasn't doing anything ; a long 
 fishing-rod, with the butt on the ground, she held idly in her 
 right hand ; while with her left hand she occasionally shaded 
 her face and looked across towards the west probably, as he 
 imagined, she was waiting for some of those smooth-sailing 
 clouds to come and obscure the too fierce light of the sun. He 
 
In Strathaivron. 103 
 
 knew who she was ; this must be Honnor Cunyngham, Lady 
 Adela's sister-in-law ; and of course he did not wish to intrude 
 on the young lady's privacy ; he would try to pass by behind 
 her unobserved, though here the strath narrowed until it was 
 almost a defile. 
 
 He was soon relieved from all anxiety. Sharper eyes than 
 his own had perceived him. The young lady wheeled round ; 
 glanced at him for a second ; turned again ; and then a thin, 
 tall, old man, who had hitherto been invisible to him, rose from 
 his concealment among the rocks close to her, and came along 
 the river-bank. He was a very handsome old man, this super- 
 annuated keeper, with his keen, aquiline nose, his clear grey 
 eyes, and frosted hair. 
 
 '* Miss Honnor says will you hef a cast, Sir. There's some 
 clouds will be over soon." 
 
 " Oh, no, thank yon, I could not dream of interrupting 
 her," Lionel said : and then it occurred to him that he ought to 
 go and thank the young lady herself for this frank invitation, 
 " I I'll go along and tell her so." 
 
 As he walked towards her he kept his eye, somewhat fur- 
 tivel} 7 , on her, though now she had turned her back again ; and 
 all he could make out was that she had a very elegant figure ; 
 that she was tall though not so tall as her three sisters-in- 
 law ; and that her abundant brown hair was short and curly, 
 and kept close to her head almost like a boy's. Were not her 
 shoulders a trifle square-set for a woman ? but perhaps that 
 appearance was owing to her costume, for she wore a Norfolk 
 jacket of grey homespun that looked as if it could afford a 
 good defence against the weather. She was entirely grey, 
 in fact ; for her short-skirted dress was of the same material ; 
 and so also was the Tarn o' Shanter, adorned with salmon 
 flies, that she wore on her shapely head of golden-brown 
 curls. Oh, yes, she looked sufficiently picturesque, standing 
 there against the glow of the western skies, with the long 
 salmon-rod in her right hand; but he was hardly prepared 
 for what followed. The moment that she heard him draw 
 near, she wheeled round and regarded him for a second 
 regarded him with a glance that rather bewildered him by 
 reason of its transparent honesty and directness. The clear 
 hazel eyes seemed to read him through and through, and 
 yet not to be aware of their own boldness ; and he did not 
 know why he was so glad to hear that she had a soft and 
 girlish voice as she said 
 
104 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " You are Mr. Moore. I am Lady Adela's sister of course 
 you know. Won't you take my rod? There will be some 
 shadow very soon, I think." 
 
 " Oh, certainly not certainly not," said he. " But I should 
 be delighted if you would let me stay and look on : it would 
 interest me quite as much every bit as much." 
 
 "Oh, stay by all means," said she, turning to look at the 
 western sky. " But I wish you would take my rod. What are 
 they all about to let you come wandering out alone, on the 
 first day of your arrival?" 
 
 " Oh, that's quite right," said he, cheerfully. " Lady Adela 
 and the young ladies are all busy dress-making." 
 
 " Ye may be getting ready, Miss Honnor," old Robert inter- 
 posed. " There'll be a cloud over the sun directly." 
 
 Thus admonished the tall young fisher-maiden stepped down 
 by the side of a rock overhanging this wide black-swirling 
 pool, and proceeded to get her tackle in order. 
 
 " You know I'll give you my rod whenever you like to take 
 a turn," said she, addressing Lionel even as she was getting 
 the fly on to the water. " But we can't afford to waste a 
 moment of shadow. I have done nothing all day on account of 
 the sunlight." 
 
 And now the welcome shade was over, and after a pre- 
 liminary cast or two to get the line out she was sending her 
 fly well across, and letting it drift quietly down the stream, to 
 be recovered by a series of small and gentle jerks. Lionel was 
 supposed to be looking on at the fishing; but, when he dared, 
 he was stealing covert glances at her ; for this was one of the 
 most striking faces he had seen for many a day. There was a 
 curiously pronounced personality about her features, refined as 
 they were ; her lips were proud and perhaps a little firmer 
 than usual just now when she was wielding a seventeen-foot 
 rod ; her clear hazel eyes were absolutely fearless ; and her 
 broadly-marked and somewhat square eyebrows appeared to 
 lend strength rather than gentleness to the intellectual fore- 
 head. Then the stateliness of her neck and the set of her 
 head : she seemed to recall to him some proud warrior-maiden 
 out of Scandinavian mythology though she was dressed in 
 simple homespun and had for her only henchman this quiet old 
 Robert who, crouching down under a birch-tree, was watching 
 every cast made by his mistress with the intensest interest. 
 And at last Lionel was startled to hear the old man call out, 
 but in an undertone" Ho ! " 
 
In Strathawron. 105 
 
 Honnor Cunyngham began coolly to pull in her lino through 
 the rings. 
 
 " What is it ? " Lionel asked, in wonder. 
 
 "I rose a fish then, but he came short," she said, quietly. 
 " We'll give him a rest. A pretty good one, wasn't lie, 
 Robert?" 
 
 *' Ay, he wass that, Miss Honnor, a good fish. And ye did 
 not touch him ? " 
 
 " Not at all : he'll come again sure enough." 
 
 And then she turned to Lionel ; and he was pleased to 
 observe, as she went on to speak to him about her sis<ers-in- 
 law and their various pursuits, that, proud as those lips were, 
 a sort of grave good-humour seemed to be their habitual expres- 
 sion, and also that those transparently honest hazel eyes had a 
 very attractive sunniness in them when she was amused. 
 
 " The dress-making," she said : " Of course you know what 
 that is about. They are preparing another of those out-of-door 
 performances. Oh, yes, they are very much in earnest," she 
 went on, with a smile that lightened and sweetened the pro- 
 nounced character of her face. " And you are to be entertained 
 this time. They are not going to ask you to do anything. 
 Last time, at Campden Hill, you took a principal part, didn't 
 you? but this time you are merely to be a guest a 
 spectator." 
 
 "And which are you to be, Miss Cunyngham?" he made 
 bold to ask. 
 
 " I ? Oh, they never ask me to join in those things," she 
 said, pleasantly enough. " The sacred fire has not descended 
 on me. They say that I regard their performances as mere 
 childish amusement ; but I don't really ; it isn't for a Philistine 
 like myself to express disdain about anything. But then, you 
 see, if I were to try to join in with my clever sisters, and 
 perhaps when they were most in earnest, I might laugh ; and 
 enthusiasts couldn't be expected to like that, could they ? " 
 
 She spoke very honestly and fairly, he thought, and without 
 showing anything like scorn of what she did not sympathise 
 with ; and yet somehow he felt glad that he was not expected 
 to take a part in this new masque. 
 
 " From what I remember of it," said he, " I suppose it will 
 be mostly a pageant there is plenty of patriotic sentiment in 
 it, but hardly any action, as far as I recollect. Of course, I 
 know it chiefly because the poet Thomson wrote it, or partly 
 wrote it, and because he put * Rule Britannia ' into it. Isn't it 
 
106 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 odd," lie added, with a touch of adroit flattery (as he con- 
 sidered), " that the two chief national songs of England, Ye 
 Mariners of England ' and ' Rule Britannia ' should both have 
 been written by Scotchmen ? " 
 
 She paid no heed to this compliment : indeed he might have 
 known that the old Scotch families (many of them of Norman 
 origin, by the way) have so intermarried with English families 
 that they have very little distinct nationality, though they may 
 be proud enough of their name. This young lady was no more 
 Scotch than himself. 
 
 " I will try him again now," said she, with a glance at the 
 water; and forthwith she set to work with rod and line, 
 beginning a few yards further up the stream, and gradually 
 working down to where she had risen the fish. As she came 
 near the spot, Lionel could see that she was covering every 
 inch of the water with the greatest care, and also that at the 
 end of each cast she let the fly hang for a time in the current. 
 He became quite anxious himself. Was she not quite close to 
 the fish now ? Or had he caught too clear a glimpse of the fly 
 on the previous occasion, and gone away ? Yes, she must be 
 almost over him now ; and yet there was no sign. Or past 
 him ? Or he might have turned and gone a yard or two further 
 down ? Then, as this eagerly interested spectator was intently 
 watching the swirls of the deep pool, there was a sudden wave 
 on the surface, she struck up her rod slightly, and the next 
 moment away went her line tearing through the water, while 
 the reel screamed out its joyous note of recognition. Old 
 Eobert jumped to his feet. At the same instant the fish made 
 another appalling rush, far away on the opposite side of the 
 river, and at the end of it flashed into the air a swift gleam of 
 purple-blue and silver that revealed his splendid size. Lionel 
 was quite breathless with excitement. He dared not speak to 
 her, for fear of distracting her attention. But she was ap- 
 parently quite calm ; and old Robert looked on without any 
 great solicitude, as if ho knew that his young mistress needed 
 neither advice nor assistance. Meanwhile the salmon had 
 come back into the middle of the stream, where it lay deep, 
 only giving evidence of its existence by a series of vicious 
 tugs. 
 
 " I don't like that tugging, Robert," she said. " Ho knows 
 too much. He has pulled himself free from a fly before." 
 
 " Ay, ay, I'm afraid of that too," old Robert said, with his 
 keen eyes fixed on every movement of the straining line. 
 
In Strathaivron. 107 
 
 Then the fish lay still and sulked ; and she took the 
 opportunity of moving a little bit up-stream, and reeling in a 
 yard or two. 
 
 " Would you like to take the rod now, Mr. Moore ? " she 
 said generously. 
 
 " Oh, certainly not," he exclaimed. " I would not for worlds 
 you should lose the salmon and do you think I could take the 
 responsibility ? " 
 
 He ceased speaking, for he saw that her attention had once 
 more been drawn to the salmon, which was now calmly and 
 steadily making up stream. He watched the slow progress of 
 the line ; and then to his horror he perceived that the fish was 
 heading for the other side of a large grey rock that stood in 
 mid-channel. If he should persist in boring his way up that 
 further current, would not he inevitably cut the line on the 
 rock ? What could she do ? Still nearer and nearer to the big 
 boulder went that white line, steadily cutting through the 
 brown water ; and still she said not a word, though Lionel 
 fancied she was now putting on a heavier strain. At last the 
 line was almost touching the stone ; and there the salmon lay 
 motionless. He was within half a yard of certain freedom, if 
 only he had known ; for the water was far too deep to allow of 
 old Robert wading in and getting the line over the rock. But 
 just as Lionel, far more excited than the fisher-maiden herself, 
 was wondering what was going to happen next, the whole 
 situation of affairs was reversed in a twinkling ; the salmon 
 suddenly turned and dashed away down-stream until it was 
 right at the end of the pool, and there, in deep water on the 
 other side, it resumed its determined tugging, so that the pliant 
 top of the rod was shaken as if by a human hand. 
 
 " That is what frightens me," she said to Lionel. " I don't 
 like that at all." 
 
 But what could he do to help her ? Eager wishes were of 
 no avail ; and yet he felt as if the crowning joy of his life 
 would be to see that splendid big fish safely out here on the 
 bank. All his faculties seemed to be absorbed in the contem- 
 plation of this momentous struggle. The past and the future 
 were alike cut off from him he had forgotten all about the 
 theatre and its trumpery applause he had no thought but for 
 the unseen creature underneath the water that was dashing its 
 head from side to side, and then boring down, and then 
 sailing away over to the opposite shallows, exhausting every 
 manoeuvre to regain its liberty. He could not speak to her : 
 
108 Tlie New Prince Fortimatus. 
 
 what was anything he could say as compared with the tremen- 
 dous importance of the next movement on the part of the fish ? 
 But she was calm enough. 
 
 "He doesn't tire himself much, Eobert," she said. "He 
 keeps all his strength for that tugging." 
 
 But just as she spoke the salmon began to come into mid- 
 stream again, and she stepped a yard or two back, reeling in 
 the line swiftly. Once or twice she looked at the top of the 
 rod : there was a faint strain on, nothing more. Then her 
 enemy seemed inclined to yield a little ; she reeled in still more 
 quickly; knot after knot of the casting-line gradually rose 
 from the surface ; at last they caught sight of a dull bronze 
 gleam the sunlight striking through the brown water on the 
 side of the fish. But he had no intention of giving in yet ; he 
 had only come up to look about him. Presently he headed up- 
 stream again quietly and steadily; then there was another 
 savage shaking of his head and tugging ; then a sharp run and 
 plunge ; and again he lay deep, jerking to get this unholy 
 thing out of his jaw. Lionel began to wonder that any one 
 should voluntarily and for the sake of amusement undergo this 
 frightful anxiety. He knew that if he had possession of the 
 rod, his hands would be trembling ; his breath would bo 
 coming short and quick ; that a lifetime of hope and fear 
 would be crowded into every minute. And yet here was this 
 girl watching coolly and critically the motion of the line, and 
 showing not the slightest trace of excitement on her finely-cut, 
 impressive features. But he noticed that her lips were firm : 
 perhaps she was nerving herself not to betray any concern. 
 
 " 1 think I am getting the better of him, Robert," said she, 
 presently, as the fish began to steer a little in her direction. 
 
 " I would step back a bit, Miss Honnor," the keen-visaged 
 old gillie said ; but he did not step back ; on the contrary, ho 
 crouched down by the side of a big boulder, close to the water, 
 and again he tried his gaff, to make sure that the steel clip was 
 firmly fixed in the handle. 
 
 Yes, there was no doubt that the salmon was beaten. He 
 kept coming nearer and nearer to the land, led by the gentle, 
 continuous strain of the pliant top ; though over and anon ho 
 would vainly try to head away again into deep water. It was 
 a beautiful thing to look at : this huge gleaming creature taken 
 captive by an almost invisible line, and gradually yielding to 
 inevitable fate. Joy was in Lionel's heart. If he had won- 
 dered that any one, for the sake of amusement, should choose 
 
In Btrathaivron* 109 
 
 to undergo such agonies of anxiety, lie wondered no more. 
 Here was the fierce delight of triumph. The struggle of force 
 against skill was about over ; there was no more tugging now ; 
 there were no more frantic rushes, or bewildering leaps in the 
 air. Slowly, slowly, the great fish was being led in to shore. 
 Twice had old Robert warily stretched out his gaff, only to find 
 that the prize was not yet within his reach. And then, just as 
 the young lady with the firm-set lips said " Now, Robert ! " and 
 just as the gaif was cautiously extended for the third time, the 
 salmon gave a final 1 urch forward, and the next instant before 
 Lionel could tell what had happened the fly was dangling 
 helplessly in the air, and the fish was gone. 
 
 " Au Yeea / " said Robert in an undertone to himself ; while 
 Lionel, as soon as he perceived the extent of the catastrophe, 
 felt as though some black horror had fallen over the world. 
 He could not say a word : he seemed yearning to have the fish 
 for one second again where he had lately seen it and then 
 wouldn't he have gladly jumped into the stream, gaff in hand, 
 to secure the splendid trophy ! But now now there was 
 nothing but emptiness, and a lifeless waste of hurrying water. 
 
 And as regards the young lady? Well, she smiled in a 
 disconcerted way, to be sure ; and then she said, with apparent 
 resignation 
 
 " I almost expected it. I never do hope to get a tugging 
 salmon; all the way through I was saying to myself we 
 shouldn't land him. However, there's no use fretting over lost 
 fish. We did our best, Robert, didn't we ? " 
 
 "Indeed you could not hef done better, Miss Ilonnor," 
 said the old gillie. " There wass no mistake that you made at 
 ahl." 
 
 " Very well," said she, cheerfully ; and she looked in a 
 kindly way towards the old man. "I did everything right; 
 and as for you, no one will tell me that the best gillie in Ross- 
 shire did anything wrong; so we have nothing to reproach 
 ourselves with, Robert, have we ? " 
 
 " But it is such a dreadful misfortune ! " exclaimed Lionel, 
 who could hardly understand this equanimity. " Another 
 couple of seconds and you must have had him." 
 
 " Well, now, Robert," said she, briskly, " shall we go up 
 and try the tail of the Long Pool? Or go down to the 
 Stones?" 
 
 " We'll chist go up to the tail of the Long Pool, Miss 
 Honnor," said he ; and he took the rod from her, picked up her 
 
110 Tlie New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 waterproof, and set out ; while Lionel, without waiting for any 
 further invitation, accompanied her. 
 
 And as they walked along, picking their way among 
 boulders and bracken and heather, he was asking her whether 
 the heart-breaking accidents and bitter disappointments of 
 salmon-fishing were not greater than its rewards ; as to which 
 she lightly made answer 
 
 " You must come and try. None of the gentlemen here are 
 very eager anglers ; I suppose they get enough of salmon- 
 fishing in the spring. Now if you care about it at all, one rod 
 is always enough for two people ; and we could arrange it this 
 way that you should take the pools where wading is necessary. 
 They'll get a pair of waders for you at the lodge. At present 
 old Robert does all the wading that is wanted ; but of course I 
 don't care much about playing a fish that has been hooked by 
 somebody else. Now you would take the wading pools." 
 
 " Oh, thank you," said he, " but I'm afraid I should show 
 myself such a duffer. I used to be a pretty fair trout-fisher 
 when I was a lad," he went on to say ; and then it suddenly 
 occurred to him that the offer of her companionship ought not 
 to be received in this hesitating fashion. " But I shall be 
 delighted to try my hand, if you will let me ; and of course you 
 must see that I don't disturb the best pools." 
 
 So they passed up through the narrow gorge, where the 
 heavy volume of water was dashing down in tawny masses 
 between the rocks, and got into the open country again, where 
 the strath broadened out in a wide expanse of moorland. Hero 
 the river ran smooth between low banks, bordered now and 
 again by a fringe of birch; and there was a greater quiet 
 prevailing, the further and further they got away from the 
 tumbling torrents below. But when they reached the Long 
 Pool no fishing was possible ; the afternoon sun struck full on 
 the calm surface of the water ; there was not a breath of wind 
 to stir the smooth-mirrored blue and white; they could do 
 nothing but choose out a heathery knoll on the bank, and sit 
 down and wait patiently for a passing cloud. 
 
 " I suppose," said she, clasping her fingers together in her 
 lap, "I suppose you are all eagerness about to-morrow 
 morning ? " 
 
 " Oh, I am not going shooting to-morrow," said he. 
 
 " What ! " she exclaimed. " To be on a grouse-moor on the 
 Twelfth, and not go out? " 
 
 "It is because it is the Twelfth: I don't want to spoil 
 
In Strathaivron. Ill 
 
 sport," said he, modestly. " And I don't want to make a fool of 
 myself either. If I could shoot well enough, and if there was a 
 place for me, I should be glad to go out with them ; but my 
 shooting is like my fishing, a relic of boyhood's days ; and I 
 should not like to make an exhibition of myself before a lot of 
 crack shots." 
 
 " That is only false pride," said she, in her curiously direct, 
 straightforward way. " Why should you be ashamed to admit 
 that there are certain things you can't do as well as you can do 
 certain other things ? There is no particular virtue in having 
 been brought up to the use of a gun or rod. Take your own 
 case. You are at home on the stage. There you know every- 
 thing you are the master, the proficient. But take the crack 
 shots and put them on the stage, and ask them to do the 
 simplest thing then it is their turn to be helpless, not to say 
 ridiculous." 
 
 " Perhaps," said he, rather tentatively, " you mean that we 
 should all of us keep to our own walks in life ? " 
 
 " I am sure I don't mean anything of the kind," said she, 
 with much frankness. " I only mean that if you are not a 
 first-rate shot, you need not be ashamed of it : you should 
 remember there are other things you can do well. And really 
 you must go out to-morrow morning. My brother was talking 
 about it at breakfast; and I believe the proposal is that you go 
 with him and Captain Waveney. If any little mistake is made 
 Captain Waveney is the man to retrieve it at least so I've 
 heard them say." 
 
 " At all events," said he, " if I go with them at all, it will 
 not be under false pretences. I shall warn them, to begin with, 
 that I am a bad shot; then I can't be found out. And 
 they must put me in a position where I can't do much harm." 
 
 " I dare say you shoot very well," she said with a smile. 
 " Gentlemen always talk like that on the evening before the 
 Twelfth, if they have come to a strange moor." 
 
 But now she had risen again, for a breath of wind was 
 stirring along the strath, while some higher air-currents were 
 slowly bringing certain fleecy clouds across from the west. As 
 soon as the welcome shade had stolen over the river, she began 
 to cast ; and on this smooth water he could see more clearly 
 what an excellent line this was that she sent out. Not a long 
 line perhaps twenty-three or twenty-four yards but thrown 
 most admirably, the fly lighting on the surface like a snowflake. 
 Moreover, he was now a little bit behind her, so that he could 
 
112 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 with impunity regard the appearance of this newly-found com- 
 panion her lithe and agile form, the proud set of her neck and 
 head, the beautiful close masses of her curly golden-brown hair, 
 and the fine contour of her sun-tanned cheek. Then the 
 vigorous exercise in which she was engaged revealed all the 
 suppleness and harmonious proportions of her figure ; for here 
 was no pretty wrist-work of trout-fishing, but the wielding of a 
 double-handed salmon-rod; and she had taught herself the 
 gillies' method of casting that is to say, she made the backward 
 cast by throwing both arms right up in the air, so that, as she 
 paused to let the line straighten out behind, her one hand was 
 on a level with her forehead, and the other more than a foot 
 above that. Lionel thought that before he tried casting in the 
 presence of Miss Honnor Cunyngham, he should like to get a 
 few quiet lessons from old Eobert. 
 
 However, all this expenditure of skill proved to be of no 
 avail. She could not move a fin ; nor had Eobert any better 
 luck, when, they having come to a shallow reach, she allowed 
 the old man, who was encased in waders, to get into the water 
 and fish along the opposite bank. When he came ashore again, 
 his young mistress said 
 
 " Dame Fortune hasn't forgiven us for letting that first one 
 go." 
 
 And old Robert, who had probably never heard of Dame 
 Fortune (or may have considered the phrase a polite and young- 
 lady-like form of swearing), merely made answer 
 
 " Ay, Miss Honnor, we'll go and try the Small Pool, now." 
 
 The Small Pool lies between the Long Pool and the Eock 
 Pool; it is a circular deep black hole, in which the waters 
 collect before dashing and roaring down between the great 
 grey boulders ; and to fish it you must get out on certain knife- 
 like ledges that seem to offer anything but a secure foothold. 
 However, Miss Honnor did not think twice about it; and 
 indeed, as she made her way out on those narrow slips of rock, 
 Lionel perceived that her boots, which were laced in front like 
 men's boots, if they were small enough as regarded that portion 
 covering the foot, were provided with most sensibly wide soles, 
 which again were studded with nails. And there, balancing 
 herself as best she might, she got out a short line, and began 
 industriously to cover every inch of the surging and whirling 
 water. A most likely-looking place, Lionel thought to himself, 
 as he sate and looked on. But here also they were doomed to 
 disappointment. It is true she hooked a small sea-trout and 
 
In Strathaivron. 113 
 
 was heartily glad when it shook itself free, thereby saving her 
 time and trouble. All the rest of her labour was expended for 
 nothing : so finally [she had to reel up and make her way 
 ashore, where she surrendered her rod to the old gillie. 
 
 Then they passed down through the narrow defile again, 
 and came in view of the wide strath now all saffron-tinted in 
 the evening sunlight with the lodge and its straggling depen- 
 dencies in the midst of the plain. Perhaps it was this sight of 
 the house that recalled to her what they had been talking of 
 some time before ; for as they walked along the river-bank she 
 was again urging him to go out on the following morning ; and 
 not only that but she declared that he must have one or two 
 days' deer-stalking while he was in the north. If he missed, 
 then he missed : why should he care what foresters and gillies 
 thought of him ? Of course he was very grateful to her for all 
 her kind patronage ; but he could not help thinking it rather 
 odd to find a woman lending courage to a man counselling 
 him to be independent, and to have no fear of ridicule. 
 
 " I recollect," he said to her, " once hearing Lord Rock- 
 minster say that until a man has gone deer-stalking he can have 
 no idea what extremes of misery a human being is capable of 
 enduring." 
 
 " Lord Rockminster is incurably lazy," she said ; " I think if 
 you found yourself riding along this strath some night about 
 eight or nine o'clock, knowing that away up among the hills 
 you had left a stag of ten or twelve points to be sent for and 
 brought down the next morning then I think you wouldn't be 
 reflecting on the discomforts you had gone through, or, if you 
 did, it would be with pride. Why," said she, "you surely 
 didn't come to the Highlands to play at private theatricals ? " 
 
 " I get enough of the theatre in the south," he said, " as you 
 may well imagine." 
 
 But here was a bend of the river sheltered from the welter- 
 ing sun by a steep and wooded hill ; and Miss Cunyngham, at 
 old Robert's suggestion, began work again. It was really most 
 interesting to watch this graceful casting : Lionel, sitting down 
 on the heather, and smoking a cigarette, seemed to want no 
 other occupation ; he forgot what the object of throwing a fly 
 was, the throwing of the fly seemed to be enough in itself. He 
 had grown to think that all these oily sweeps of brown water, 
 touched here and there by dark olive-green reflections, were 
 useful only as showing where the fly dropped ; there was no 
 fish watching the slow jerking of the " Bishop " across the 
 
 I 
 
114 . The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 current ; the one salmon" that haunted the Rock Pool had put in 
 an appearance and gone away long ago. But suddenly there 
 was a short, sharp scream of the reel : then silence. 
 
 " What is it, Eobert ? " she said apparently holding on to 
 something. " Another sea-trout ? " 
 
 " Oh, no. Miss Honnor, I am not thinking that " 
 
 The words were hardly out of his mouth when it became 
 abundantly clear that the unknown creature in the deeps 
 had not the least intention of concealing his identity. A 
 sudden rush down-stream, followed by a wild splashing and 
 thrashing on the surface, was only the first of a series of perform- 
 ances that left Miss Honnor not a single moment of breathing 
 space. Either she was following him rapidly down the river, 
 or following him up again, or reeling in swiftly as he came 
 sailing towards her, or again she could only stand in breathless 
 suspense as he flung himself into the air, and then beat and 
 churned the water, shaking the line this way and that. 
 
 " Oh, you wicked little wretch ! " she cried, at a particularly 
 vicious flourish out of the water ; but this was the kind of fish 
 she liked ; this was a fish that fought fair a gentlemanly fish, 
 without the thought of a sulk in him a very Prince Kupert 
 even among 'grilse ; this was no malevolent, underhand, deep- 
 boring tugger. Indeed these brilliant dashes and runs and 
 summersaults soon began to tell. The gallant little grilse was 
 plainly getting the worst of it. He allowed himself to be led ; 
 but whenever she stepped back on the bank, and tried to induce 
 him to come in, at the first appearance of shallow water he 
 would instantly sheer off again with all the strength that was 
 left in him. Fortunately he seemed inclined to head up-stream ; 
 and she humoured him in that, for there the water was deeper 
 under the bank. Even then he fought splendidly to the last. 
 As soon as he got to recognise that an enemy was waiting for 
 him an enemy armed with some white shining thing that he 
 more than once warily slipped out he would make struggle 
 after struggle to keep away until at last there was a sudden, 
 swift, decisive stroke of the steel clip, and Eobert had his 
 glittering prize safely ashore. 
 
 " What o'clock is it, Mr. Mooro?" said Miss Honnor but 
 she seemed pleased with the result of this brisk encounter. 
 
 Ho looked at his watch. 
 
 " Half-past seven," he said. 
 
 " Yes ; I thought I heard the first bell : we must make haste 
 home. Not but that my sisters are very good to me," she con- 
 
The Twelfth. 115 
 
 tinued, as she took the fly that Eobert handed her and stuck it 
 in her Tarn o' Shanter, " if I happen to have got hold of a fish, 
 I am allowed to come into dinner anyhow. And then, you 
 know, there is no great ceremony at this bungalow of a place: 
 it's different at the Braes, if Lady Adela happens to have a largo 
 house-party then I have to behave like other folk. What do 
 you say, Robert seven pounds ? Well, he made a good fight of 
 it. And I'm glad not to be going home empty-handed." 
 
 So Lionel picked up her waterproof and put it over his arm ; 
 she shouldered her fishing-rod after having reeled in the line ; 
 the handsome old gillie brought up the rear with the gaff and 
 the slung grilse ; and thus equipped the three of them set out 
 for the lodge across the wide valley that was now all russet 
 and golden under the warm light still lingering in the evening 
 skies. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE TWELFTH. 
 
 WHEN Lionel went down early next morning, he found Lady 
 Adela's father in sole possession ; and was not long in discover- 
 ing that the old Earl was in a towering rage. 
 
 " Good-morning ! " said this tall, pale, stooping-shouldered 
 old gentleman, whose quite hairless face was surmounted by a 
 brown wig. " Well, what do you think of last night's per- 
 formance ? What do you think of it ? Did you ever know of 
 any such gross outrage on common decency? Why, God bless 
 my soul and body, I never heard of such a thing ! " 
 
 Lionel knew quite well what he meant. The fact was that 
 a Free Church Minister whom Sir Hugh Cunyngham had met 
 somewhere had called at Aivron Lodge ; as the custom of that 
 part of the country is, he was invited to stay to dinner ; he sate 
 late, told many stories, and drank a good deal of whisky, until 
 it was not judged prudent to let him try to get his pony across 
 the ford, even if hospitality had not demanded that he should 
 be offered a room for the night : and then, when every one was 
 thinking of getting away to bed, the worthy man must needs 
 insist on having family worship, to which the servants had also 
 to be summoned. It was the inordinate length of this service 
 at such a time of night that had driven old Lord Fareborough 
 tp the verge of madness. 
 
 i 2 
 
116 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " Look at me ! " he said to Lionel in tones of deep and bitter 
 indignation. '* Look at me a skeleton a wreck of a human 
 being who can only get along by the most careful nursing of 
 his nervous system. My heart is affected; I have serious 
 doubts about the state of my lungs; it is only through the 
 most assiduous nursing of my nerves that I exist at all. And 
 what is more maddening than enforced restraint imprisonment 
 no chance of leaving the room with all those strange servants 
 at the door ? why, God bless my soul, I call it an outrage ! I 
 yield to no one in respect for the cloth, whether it is worn by a 
 Presbyterian, or a Catholic, or one of my own Church ; but I 
 say that no one has a right to thrust religious services down 
 my throat ! What the devil did Cunyngham mean by asking 
 him to stay to dinner at all ? " 
 
 " As I understand it," said Lionel, with a becoming diffi* 
 dence, " it was some suggestion of Captain Waveney's. He 
 said the Free Church ministers were particular friends of the 
 crofters and of course the goodwill of the crofters is of im- 
 portance to a shooting-tenant " 
 
 44 The goodwill of the crofters ! " the bewigged old nobleman 
 broke in, impatiently. " Are you aware, sir, that the Strath- 
 aivron Branch of the Land League met last week and passed a 
 resolution declaring salmon to be ground-game ? What are you 
 to do with people like that ? How are you to reason with them ? 
 What is the use of pacifying them ? They are in the hands of 
 violent and malevolent revolutionaries it is war they want 
 it is 1789 they want it is plunder and robbery and confiscation 
 they want and the right of every man to live idle at the cost 
 of the state ! Why, God bless my soul, the idea that you are to 
 
 try to pacify these ignorant savages " 
 
 But here Lionel, who began to fancy that he had discovered 
 another Octavius Quirk, was afforded relief; for the Minister 
 himself appeared ; and at the very sight of him Lord Fare- 
 borough indignantly quitted the room. The Minister, who was 
 a rather irascible-looking little man with a weather-reddened 
 face and rusty whiskers, inquired of Lionel whether it was 
 possible to procure a glass of milk ; but when Lionel rang the 
 bell and had some brought for him, the Minister observed that 
 milk by itself was a dangerous thing in the morning ; where- 
 upon the butler had to bo sent for, who produced the spirit- 
 decanter ; and then, and finally, the Minister, boldly discarding 
 1he milk altogether, poured out for himself a good soli4 dram, 
 and drank it off with much evident satisfaction. 
 
The Twelfth, 117 
 
 Now the ladies began to make their appearance, some of 
 them going along to the gun-room to hear what the head-keeper 
 had to say, others of them trooping out by the front door to 
 guess at the weather. Among the latter was Miss Honnor 
 Cunyngham ; and Lionel, who had followed her, went up to her. 
 " A beautiful morning, isn't it? " he said. 
 " I'm afraid it's too beautiful," said she in reply. " Look up 
 there." 
 
 And she was right. This was far too picturesque and vivid 
 a morning to portend well for a shooting-day. Down at the 
 further end of the strath, the skies were banked up with dark 
 and heavy clouds ; the lake-like sweep of the river was of a 
 sombre and livid blue ; and between the indigo stream and the 
 purple skies, a long neck of land, catching the sunlight, burned 
 the most brilliant gold. And even as they stood and looked, a 
 faint grey veil gradually interposed between thern and the 
 distant landscape ; a rainbow slowly formed, spanning the broad 
 valley ; and then behind the fairy curtain of the shower they 
 could see the yellow river-banks, and the birch woods, and the 
 farther-stretching hills all vaguely and spectrally shining in 
 the sun. 
 
 " But this is a very peculiar glen," said she. " It often 
 threatens like that when it means nothing. You may get a 
 perfectly dry, still day after all. And, Mr. Moore, may I ask 
 you if what you said about your shooting yesterday afternoon 
 was entirely true, or only a bit of modesty ? " 
 
 " If it comes to that," he said, " I never shot a grouse in my 
 life no, nor ever shot at one." 
 
 " Because," she continued, with a certain hesitation which 
 was indeed far removed from her usual manner, " because you 
 you seem rather sensitive to criticism to other people's opinion 
 and if you wouldn't think it impertinent of me to offer you 
 some hints well, for what they are worth 
 
 " But I should be immensely grateful ! " he answered at once. 
 " Well," she said, in an undertone, so that no one should 
 overhear, " you know, on the Twelfth, with such still weather 
 as we have had for the last week or two, the birds are never 
 wild; you needn't be in the least anxious; you won't be 
 called upon for snap-shots at all ; you can afford to take plenty 
 of time and get well on to the birds before you fire. You see, 
 you will be in the middle ; you will take any bird that gets up 
 in front of you ; my brother and Captain Waveney will take 
 the outside ones and the awkward cross shots. And if a covey 
 
118 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 gets up all at once, they won't expect you to pick out the old 
 cock first ; they'll do all that ; in fact, you must put yourself 
 at your ease, and not be anxious, and everything will be 
 right " 
 
 " Honnor ! " called Lady Adela. " Come away at once 
 breakfast is in." So that Lionel had no proper opportunity of 
 thanking the young lady for her friendly counsel and the 
 interest she took in his small affairs. 
 
 Breakfast was a merry meal ; for as soon as the things had 
 been brought in, the servants were allowed to leave ; and while 
 Lady Adela poured out the tea and coffee, the gentlemen carved 
 for themselves at the sideboard or handed round the dishes at 
 table. The Eev. Mr. MacNachten, the little Free Church 
 Minister, was especially vivacious and humorous, abounding 
 with facetious anecdotes and jests and personal reminiscences ; 
 until, observing that breakfast was over, he composed his 
 countenance, and proceeded to return thanks. The grace (in 
 spite of Lord Fareborough's nervous qualms) was comparatively 
 a short one ; and at the end of it they all rose and were for 
 going their several ways. 
 
 But this was not to the Minister's mind. 
 
 " Your leddyship," said he, addressing his hostess in im- 
 pressive tones, " it would be ill done of us to be assembled on 
 such an occasion without endeavouring to make profitable use 
 of it. I propose to say a few words in season, if ye will have 
 the kindness to call in the servants." 
 
 Lady Adela glanced towards her husband with some appre- 
 hension on her face (for she knew the importance attached to 
 the morning of the Twelfth), but whatever Sir Hugh may have 
 thought he made no sign. Accordingly there was nothing for 
 it but that she should ring the bell and summon the whole 
 household ; and in a few minutes the door of the room was 
 surrounded by a group of Highland women-servants and gillies, 
 the English servants rather hanging back in the hall. The 
 breakfast-party had resumed their seats ; but the Minister 
 remained standing ; and presently, when perfect silence had 
 been secured, he lifted up his voice in prayer. 
 
 Well, it was a sufficiently earnest prayer ; and it was listened 
 to with profound attention by the smart-looking lasses and tall 
 and swarthy gillies clustering about the .door; but to the 
 English part of his audience its chief features were its curiously 
 exhortatory and argumentative character and also its intermin- 
 able length. As the Minister went on and on, the frown of 
 
The Twelfth. 119 
 
 impatience on Lord Fareborough's face deepened and deepened ; 
 he fretted and fumed and fidgeted ; but of course he could not 
 bring disgrace on his son-in-law's house by rising and leaving 
 the jroom. Nor did it convey much consolation to the sports- 
 men to hear the heavy tramp of the head-keeper just outside 
 the windows ; for they knew that Roderick must be making 
 use of the most frightful language over this unheard-of 
 delay. 
 
 But at last the tremendous oration for it was far more of 
 an oration than a prayer came to an end ; and the congregation 
 drew a long breath and were about to seize their newly-found 
 liberty when the Minister quietly remarked 
 
 " We will now sing the Hundred and Twenty-First 
 Psalm." 
 
 " God bless my soul ! " exclaimed Lord Fareborough, aloud ; 
 and Lady Adela flushed quickly; for it was not seemly of her 
 father to give way to such anger before those keen-eyed and 
 keen-eared Highland servants. 
 
 However, the Rev. Mr. MacNachten took no heed. Ho 
 began to sing, in a slow and raucous fashion, and to the 
 melancholy tune of Ballerma 
 
 'I to the hills will lift mine eyes, 
 From whence doth come mine aid ; ' 
 
 and presently there came from the door a curious nasal wail, 
 men and women singing in unison, and seemingly afraid to 
 trust their voices. As for the people in the room no one tried 
 to join in this part of the service no one except Honnor 
 Cunyngham, who appeared to know the words of the Psalm 
 and the music equally well, for she accompanied the Minister 
 throughout, singing boldly and simply and without shyness, 
 her clear voice making marked contrast with his raven notes. 
 Nor was this all ; for when the Psalm was finished, the Minister 
 said 
 
 " My friends, when it hath pleased the Lord that we should 
 meet together, we should commune one with another, to the 
 perfecting of ourselves for that greater assemblage to which I 
 hope we are all bound." And then, without further preface, 
 he proceeded to exhort them to well-doing in all the duties of 
 life as masters and mistresses, as servants, as parents, as 
 children, as brothers, as fellow-Christians ; while at the end of 
 each rambling and emphatic passage there came in a verse from 
 Ecclesiastes : " Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter : 
 
120 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 Fear God, and keep His commandments : for this is the whole 
 duty of man." 
 
 Alas ! there was no conclusion to this matter. The little 
 violent-faced Minister warmed to his work, insomuch that 
 several times he used a Gaelic phrase the better to impress 
 those patient listeners at the door, while he paid less and less 
 attention to the congregation in the room. Indeed the hopeless 
 resignation that had at first settled down on some of their faces 
 had given place to a most obvious resentment ; but what did 
 that matter to Mr. MacNachten, who was not looking their 
 way ? Again and again Sir Hugh Cunyngham forlornly pulled 
 out his watch ; but the hint was not taken. Lord Fareborough 
 was beside himself with unrest ; he drummed his fingers on the 
 table-cloth ; he crossed one leg, and then the other ; while more 
 than once he made a noise between his tongue and his teeth, which 
 fortunately could not be heard far amid the rolling periods of the 
 sermon. Captain Waveney, who was master of the ceremonies 
 in all that concerned the shooting even as he was Sir Hugh's 
 right-hand man in the matter of cattle-breeding at the Braes 
 on several occasions, when a momentary pause occurred, jumped 
 to his feet as if on the assumption that the discourse was 
 finished : but this ruse was quite ineffectual ; for the preacher 
 took no notice of him. And meanwhile the huge figure of 
 Roderick Monro could be seen marching up and down outside 
 the windows, while a pair of wrathful eyes glared in from time 
 to time ; and Lady Adela, noticing these baleful glances, began 
 to hope that the irate head-keeper would not secretly instruct a 
 gillie to go and throw the Minister into the river as he was 
 crossing the ford on his way home. 
 
 " May God forgive the scoundrel ! " cried Lord Fareborough, 
 when, the sermon at long length being over and the small 
 crowd allowed to disperse, ho was free to hasten along to the 
 gun-room to get his boots. " And I am expected to shoot after 
 having my nerves tortured like this ! Who are going with 
 me? Rockminster and Lestrange? Well, they must under- 
 stand that I will not be hurried and flurried I say I will 
 not bo hurried and flurried I don't want to fall down dead 
 my heart won't recover this morning's work for months to 
 come ! God bless my soul, who asked that insolent scoundrel 
 to stay the night ! And what's that, Waveney the ladies 
 coming out to lunch? The ladies coming out to lunch on 
 the Twelfth and the day half over ; they must be out of their 
 senses ! " 
 
The Twelfth. 121 
 
 "That is the arrangement," Captain Waveney said, with 
 rather a rueful laugh, as he, too, was lacing tip his boots. 
 " Lady Rosamund is going to take a sketch of the luncheon- 
 party." 
 
 " Let her take a sketch of the devil ! " said this very angry 
 and inconsiderate papa. "Why can't she do it some other 
 day? why the Twelfth? Good heavens, is everything con- 
 spiring to vex and annoy me so that I shan't be able to hit a 
 haystack?" 
 
 " Sir Hugh never says no to anything that Lady Eosamund 
 asks," observed Captain Waveney, with much good-humour. 
 
 " Sir Hugh be " And here Lord Fareborough expressed 
 
 a wish about his son-in-law and host that was probably only a 
 figure of speech. 
 
 "Well, I don't know about that," the other replied com- 
 placently, as he went to the couch and removed the cloth laid 
 over the guns to protect them from the fine peat-dust (for a 
 huge peat-fire burned continuously in this great gun-room, for 
 the drying of garments brought home wet from the shooting 
 or fishing). " I don't know about that ; but at present the 
 arrangement is that we lunch at the top of the Bad Step ; and 
 I believe that Miss Cunyngham is coming back from the 
 Junction Pool, so that Lady Eosamund may have her sketch 
 complete." 
 
 Indeed, this untoward incident of the Minister's misplaced 
 zeal seemed to throw a certain gloom over the small party to 
 which Lionel soon found himself attached, as it moved away 
 from the house. The tall, brown-bearded head-keeper was in 
 a sullen rage, though he could only reveal his wrath in sharp 
 little sentences of discontent. Sir Hugh had also been put out 
 at losing the best part of the morning ; and Captain Waveney, 
 who was a dapper little man, full of brisk spirits, did not care 
 to talk to silent persons. As for Lionel, he was certainly very 
 nervous and anxious ; but none the less resolved to remember 
 and act upon Honnor Cunyngham's advice. The tail of the 
 procession was brought up by a gillie leading, or rather holding 
 in, two brace of remarkably handsome Gordon setters, and 
 another gillie in charge of a patient-eyed pony with a couple of 
 panniers slung over its back. 
 
 However, the busy work of the day soon banished these idle 
 regrets. When they had climbed a bit of the hill-side, and 
 passed through a gate in a rude stone wall, they stopped for 
 a second to put cartridges in their guns ; the keeper had two 
 
122 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 of the dogs uncoupled ; while the gillie, putting a strap on the 
 coupling of the other two, led them away to a convenient 
 knoll, where he lay down, the gillie with the pony following 
 his example. And scarcely had the two dogs began to work 
 this open bit of moorland when one of them suddenly ceased its 
 wide ranging suddenly as if it had been turned to stone ; and 
 then slowly, slowly it began to draw forward, its companion, a 
 younger dog, backing beautifully, and looking on with startled, 
 watchful eyes. It was an anxious moment for the famous 
 young baritone of the New Theatre ; for the dog was right in 
 front of him ; and as the three guns, in line, stealthily moved 
 forward, he made sure that this bird was going to get up just 
 before him. Despite all his resolve to be perfectly cool and 
 calm, his heart was beating quickly ; and again and again he 
 was repeating to himself Honnor Cunyngham's counsel and 
 wondering whether he would disgrace himself at the very 
 outset when some bewildering brown thing sprang from the 
 ground there was a terrific whirr a crack ! from Captain 
 Waveney's gun and away along there the grouse came tumbling 
 down into the heather. Almost at the same moment there was 
 another appalling ivhirr on his right followed by a bang from 
 Sir Hugh's gun and another bird fell headlong. After the 
 briefest pause for reloading, the setter, that had obediently 
 dropped at the first shot, was encouraged to go forward, the 
 guns warily following. But it turned out that this had been 
 an outlying brace of birds ; the dogs were soon ranging freely 
 again ; Koderick picked up the slain grouse ; and the whole 
 party went on. 
 
 " Sorry you didn't get the first shot, Mr. Moore," said Sir 
 Hugh who was a short, thick-set man, with a fresh-coloured 
 face, iron-grey hair, and keen, light-blue eyes. 
 
 "I wish the birds would all rise to you two," Lionel 
 said. " Then I shouldn't have to pitch into myself for 
 missing." 
 
 " Oh, you'll soon get into the way of it," Sir Hugh 
 said, good-naturedly. " There's never much doing along this 
 face." 
 
 " I'll bet Bruce is on to something," Captain Waveney ex- 
 claimed, suddenly. In fact only one of the ranging setters was 
 now in sight ; and Roderick had quickly ran up to the top of 
 a heathery knoll, to have them both in view. At the same 
 moment they saw him hold up his arm to warn the inattentive 
 Venus. 
 
The Twelfth. 123 
 
 " How, Venus ! How, Venus ! " he called in a low voice ; 
 and immediately the dog, observing that its companion was 
 drawing on to a point, became rigid. 
 
 The guns were on the scene directly ; and they were just in 
 time ; for with a simultaneous rattle of wings that seemed to 
 fill the air, a small covey of birds sprang from the heather and 
 appeared to vanish into space. At least Lionel saw nothing of 
 the others ; his attention was concentrated on one that seemed 
 to be flying away in a straight line from him ; and after pausing 
 for half a second (during which he was calling on himself to bo 
 cool) he pulled the trigger. To his inexpressible satisfaction 
 the bird stopped in mid-air, and came down with a thump on 
 the heather, where it gave but one flutter and then lay still. 
 He turned to see what his companions had done with their 
 brisk fusillade. But he could not make out. They were still 
 watching the setter, that was again being encouraged to go on, 
 lest a stray bird or two might still be in hiding. However, the 
 quest was fruitless. The whole of the small covey had risen 
 simultaneously. So Eoderick picked up the dead birds, and put 
 them on a conspicuous stone, at the same time signalling to the 
 gillie with the pony, who was slowly coming up. Then the 
 shooting party went forward again. 
 
 " How many birds rose then ? " Lionel asked of his host. 
 
 " Five." 
 
 " And you got them all ?"he said, judging by what he had 
 seen the head-keeper pick up. 
 
 " Oh, yes, we got them all. They spread out like a fan. 
 Waveney got one brace, and I another. I suppose," he added, 
 with a smile, " you' were too intent on your own bird to 
 notice ? " 
 
 " Yes, I was," he said, honestly ; but he was none the less 
 elated; for he knew that a good beginning would give him 
 confidence. 
 
 And it did. They were soon at a part of the moor where 
 the fun grew fast and furious ; and keeping as close as he could 
 to certainties, or what looked like certainties, he was doing 
 very fairly well. As for the other two, he could only judge 
 of their prowess by the birds the keeper picked up ; for he kept 
 strictly to his o\vn business ; and rarely ventured on a second 
 shot. But it was clear that both Sir Hugh and Captain 
 Waveney were highly pleased by the way things were going. 
 There were plenty of birds ; they lay well ; the dogs were 
 working beautifully; and the bag was mounting up at a rate 
 
124 The New Prince Fortiwatus. 
 
 that promised to atone for the delay of the morning. In fact 
 they were now disposed to regard that episode as rather a 
 comical affair. 
 
 " I say, Waveney," Sir Hugh remarked, as they paused for 
 a moment to have a sip of cold tea, for the day was hot, " you'd 
 better confess it ; you put up the old Minister to give us that 
 frightfully long service this morning. It was a joke on Lord 
 Fareborough now, wasn't it ? " 
 
 " It may have been ; but I had nothing to do with it 
 anyway," was the answer. " Not I. Too serious a joke. I 
 thought his lordship was going to have a fit of apoplexy when 
 he came into the gun-room." 
 
 " My good fellow, don't talk like that ! " the other exclaimed. 
 " If you mention apoplexy to him, he'll add that on to the 
 hundred-and-twenty diseases and dangers that" 4 threaten his life 
 every moment. Apoplexy ? What has he got already ? gout, 
 asthma, heart disease, his lungs giving way, his liver in a 
 frightful condition, his nervous system gone to bits and yet 
 all the same the old hypocrite is going to tiy for a stag before 
 he leaves. I suppose he'll want JRoderick to carry him as soon 
 as he quits the pony ! Well, come along, Mr. Moore : we've 
 done pretty well so far, I think." 
 
 But it was not Lionel who needed any incitement to go for- 
 ward ; he was far more eager than any of his companions, now 
 that he had been acquitting himself none so ill. Moreover, he 
 had youth on his side, and a sound chest, while nature had not 
 given him a pair of well-formed calves for nothing ; so that he 
 faced the steep hill-sides or got over the rough ground with 
 comparative ease, rejoicing the while in the unwonted freedom 
 of knickerbockers. It was Sir Hugh, with his bulky habit of 
 body, who got blown now and again : as for Captain Waveney, 
 he was a pretty tough subject and wiry. So they fought 
 bravely on, to atone for the inhuman detention of the morning ; 
 and by the time it was necessary to make for the appointed 
 luncheon-rendezvous they had the wherewithal to give a very 
 excellent account of themselves. 
 
 Now several times during the morning they had come in 
 view of the Aivron, winding far below them through the wide 
 strath, or narrowing to a thread as it rose towards the high 
 horizon-line in the west ; and always, when there was a momen- 
 tary chance, Lionel's eye had sought those distant sweeps and 
 bends for some glimpse of the lonely angler-maiden, and sought 
 in vain. The long valley seemed empty ; and some little feel- 
 
The Twelfth. 125 
 
 ing of shyness prevented his asking his companions to point 
 out the Junction Pool, whither, as he understood, she had been 
 bound in the morning. And as they now approached the 
 appointed place of meeting, ho was quite disturbed by the 
 fancy that she might have strayed away into unknown regions, 
 and be absent from this general pic-nic ; and the moment they 
 came in sight of the group of people who were strolling about, 
 or looking on while the servants spread out the table-cloth on 
 the heather, and brought forth the various viands, one swift 
 glance told him she was not present. Elere was a disappoint- 
 ment ! He wanted to tell her how he had got on under her 
 kind instruction this was his own explanation of the pang her 
 absence caused him ; but presently he had found another ; for 
 Lady Kosamimd was grouping the people for her sketch ; and 
 what would the sketch be without Honnor Cunyngham in it ? 
 He made bold to say so. 
 
 " Oh, you can't depend on Honnor," Lady Adela said. " She 
 may have risen a fish, or may have got hold of one. But if you 
 want to know whether she is likely to turn up, you might go 
 out to that point, Mr. Moore, and then you'll be able to see 
 whether she is coming anywhere near the Bad Step." 
 
 Willingly enough he went down through the scattered birch- 
 trees to a projecting point overlooking the river from a very 
 considerable height ; and there, right below him, he discovered 
 what it was they called the Bad Step. The precipice on which 
 he stood going sheer down into the Aivron, the path along the 
 stream left the banks some distance off, came up to where he 
 stood, and then descended again by a deep gorge probably cut 
 by water-power through the slaty rock. And even as he was 
 regarding this twilit chasm it suddenly appeared to him that 
 there were two figures away down there, crossing the burn at 
 the foot ; and then one of them, in grey unmistakably the 
 fisher-maiden herself began the ascent. How she managed to 
 obtain a footing he could not make out ; for the path was no 
 path, but merely a zig-zag track on the surface of the loose 
 shingle shingle so loose that he could see it yield to her every 
 step, while the debris rolled away down to the bed of the burn. 
 But still she fought her way upward, and at last she stood face 
 to face with him, smiling, but a little breathless. 
 " That's a frightful place to come up," said he. . 
 "Oh, it's nothing when you know it," she said, lightly. 
 " Tell me, how did you get on this morning? " 
 
 " Thanks to you, I think I did pretty well," said he. 
 
126 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " I'm awfully glad of that," said she ; and the soft clear 
 hazel eyes repeated her words in their own transparent way. 
 
 " I remembered all your instructions," he continued (and he 
 was in no hurry that Miss Cunyngham should go on to the 
 luncheon- party, while old Eobert stood patiently by). " And I 
 was very fortunate in getting easy shots. Then when I did 
 miss, either Sir Hugh or Captain Waveney was sure to get the 
 bird : I never saw such smart shooting." 
 
 " What have you done ? " 
 
 "Altogether?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " I don't know. The panniers are being emptied, to make a 
 show for Lady Kosamund's sketch. I fancy there are close on 
 sixty brace of grouse, with some blue hares, and a snipe, and a 
 wild duck." 
 
 " What has Lord Fareborough's party done ? " 
 
 " I don't know : they have just shown up so you needn't 
 hurry on, unless you're hungry." 
 
 " But I am very hungry," said she, with a laugh. " I have 
 been hard at work all the morning." 
 
 " Oh, in that case," he said, eagerly, " by all means come along, 
 and I'll get you something at once. You and I needn't wait for 
 the emptying of the other panniers. Oh, yes, that will do 
 first-rate : I'm a duffer at shooting, you know, Miss Cunyngham, 
 but I'm a splendid forager at a pic-nic. Let me carry the gaff 
 for you." 
 
 *' Oh, no, thank you," she said, " I merely use it as a walking- 
 stick coming up the Bad Step." 
 
 " And there," he exclaimed, as they went on through the 
 birch-wood, " look at the selfishness of men ! You ask all 
 about my shooting ; but I never asked what luck you had with 
 your fishing." 
 
 " Well, I've had rather bad luck," she said, simply. " I lost 
 a fish in the Geinig Pool, after having him on for about five 
 minutes, and I rose another in the Horse-shoo Pool, and couldn't 
 get him to come again all I could do. But I mean to call upon 
 him in the afternoon." 
 
 A sudden inspiration flashed into his brain. 
 
 " I should like to come and see you try for him," he said, 
 quickly. " I suppose they wouldn't mind my sending home 
 my gun ? " 
 
 " Mr. Moore ! " she said, with her eyes downcast. " They'd 
 think you were mad to leave a shooting-party on the Twelfth, 
 
The Twelfth. 127 
 
 You can soo a salmon caught, or catch one yourself, any 
 time." 
 
 He felt a little bit snubbed, he hardly knew why ; but of 
 course she knew what was right in all such things ; and so ho 
 humbly acquiesced. Indeed, he could not contest the point ; 
 for now they had come upon the picnic-part}^ where luncheon 
 was in full swing. Lord Fareborough had declared on his 
 arrival that he would not wait for the completion of his 
 daughter's sketch ; his nervous system was not to be tried in 
 any such fashion ; luncheon must be proceeded with at once, 
 and Lady Rosamund could make her drawing when the gentle- 
 men were smoking afterwards. Lady Adela wanted to wait 
 for Mr. Moore, but she, too, was overruled by the impatient 
 hypochondriac. So Lionel set to work to form a seat for Miss 
 Honnor, out of some bracken that the gillies had cut and 
 brought along; and also he exclusively looked after her to 
 Miss Georgie Lestrange's chagrin ; for Lord Eockminster was 
 too lazy to attend to any one but himself; and what girl likes 
 being waited on by her brother, when other young men are 
 about? 
 
 And now the burly and broad-shouldered host of all these 
 people called on them unanimously to forgive the Minister for 
 the injury he had unintentionally done them in the morning. 
 
 " It wasn't the good man's fault at all ; it was Waveney's," 
 Sir Hugh continued, as he got hold of a spoon and delved it 
 into a pigeon-pie. ** 1 assure you it was a practical joke that 
 Captain Waveney played upon the whole of you. He gave the 
 Minister a little hint and the thing was done." 
 
 Lord Fareborough glared at the culprit as if he expected to 
 see the heavens fall upon him ; but Lady Adela observed, with 
 a touch of dignity 
 
 *' I hope I know Captain Waveney well enough not to 
 believe that he would turn any religious service into a practical 
 joke." 
 
 "I hope so too, Lady Adela," the dapper little Captain 
 instantly replied, though without any great embarrassment. 
 " That's hardly my line of country. But there's another thing : 
 Sir Hugh may ask you to believe anything, but he won't make 
 you believe that I could trifle with such a sacred subject as the 
 morning of the Twelfth." 
 
 " Faith, you're right there, Waveney," Sir Hugh said, with 
 a lauo'li. " Well, we've done our best to make up for the loss of 
 time. And now, Rose, if you want to have your sketch, fire 
 
128 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 away ! I'm going to light a pipe ; but, mind, we shan't stop 
 here very long. You'd better put in us men at [once ; and then 
 you can draw in the ladies, and the game, and "the luncheon at 
 your leisure." 
 
 " And if you want me, Rose," Honnor Cunyngham said, 
 " please put me in at once, too; for I'm going away back to the 
 Horse-shoe Pool." 
 
 " My dear child," Lady Adela protested, " you'll break your 
 neck some day going down that Bad Step. I really think 
 Hugh should have a windlass at the top, and let people down 
 by a rope. Now look alive, Eose, and get your sketch begun : 
 I can see the gentlemen are all impatient to be off. And mind 
 you have Mr. Moore rolling up a cigarette ; it won't be natural 
 otherwise." 
 
 She was right about one thing anyway ; the sportsmen were 
 undoubtedly impatient to be off; and it is to be feared that 
 Lady Rosamund's sketch suffered by the restlessness of her 
 models. Indeed, after a very little while, Lord Fareborough 
 indignantly rose, and declared he never had known a Twelfth 
 of August so shamelessly sacrificed. He, for one, would have 
 no more of it. He called to the under-keeper to bring along 
 the gillies and the dogs ; whereupon Lady Rosamund, who had 
 a temper not quite in consonance with the calm and statuesque 
 beauty of her features, closed her sketch-book and threw it 
 aside, saying she would make the drawing some other day when 
 she found the gentlemen a little more considerate. 
 
 And soon Lionel and his two companions were at their brisk 
 occupation again ; though ever and anon his thoughts would go 
 wandering awa} r to the Horse-shoe Pool, and his fancy was 
 picturing the fisher-maiden on the summit of a great grey 
 boulder, while a fifteen-pounder raced and chased in the black 
 deeps below. Sometimes he tried to get a glimpse of the upper 
 stretches of the river ; but this was a dangerous trick when all 
 his attention was demanded by the work on hand. In any case 
 his scrutiny of those far regions was unavailing; for the Horse- 
 shoe Pool is on the Geinig, a tributary of the Aivron, and 
 not visible from the hill-slopes along which they were now 
 shooting. 
 
 The bag mounted up steadily ; for the afternoon, despite 
 the threats of the morning, remained fine and clear and still ; 
 the birds lay close; and the two outside guns were skilful 
 performers. As for Lionel, he had now acquired a certain 
 confidence; he took no shame that he reserved himself for the 
 
27*0 Twelfth. 129 
 
 easy shots ; the nasty ones he could safely leave to his com- 
 panions. At last, as they came in sight of a peaceful little tarn 
 lying under a distant hillock, and could descry two small dots 
 floating on the smooth surface of the water, Sir Hugh said to 
 his head-keeper 
 
 " See here, Roderick, are those duck or mergansers ? " 
 
 The keeper took a long look before he made reply. 
 
 " I'm not sure, Sir Hugh, but I am thinking they are mer- 
 gansers, for I was seeing two or three lately." 
 
 " Very well, call in the dogs. I'm going to sit down and 
 have a pipe. I suppose you'll do the same, Mr. Moore though 
 I must say |this for you that you can walk. You have the 
 advantage of youth ; and you haven't as much to carry as I 
 have. Well, I propose we have a few minutes' rest ; and we 
 will occupy ourselves in watching Waveney stalk those mer- 
 gansers. There's a job for you, Waveney. They are the most 
 detestable birds alive to have near a forest or a salmon-stream." 
 
 " Why, what harm can they do to the salmon ? " Lionel 
 asked, as he saw Captain Waveney at once change the 
 cartridges in his gun for No. 4's, and set off down the hill-side. 
 
 " They snap up the parr, of course," said his heavy- 
 shouldered host, as he drew out a wooden pipe and a pouch of 
 black Cavendish, " but that isn't the worst : they disturb the 
 pools most abominably swimming about under water they 
 frighten the salmon out of their senses. But when you get 
 them about a deer-forest they are a still more intolerable 
 nuisance; you are never safe; just as you are getting. up to the 
 stag, creeping along the course of a burn, perhaps, bang ! goes 
 one of those brutes like a sky-rocket, and the whole herd are 
 instantly on the alert. Oh, that's a job old Waveney likes 
 well enough ; and it will give the dogs a rest as well as 
 ourselves." 
 
 By this time the stalker had got out of sight. He was 
 making a considerable detour so as to get round by the back of 
 the hillock unobserved; and when he came into view again, 
 he was on the other side of the valley. The mergansers, if 
 they were mergansers, were still swimming about unsuspect- 
 ingly, though sometimes at a considerable distance apart. 
 
 " Does Miss Cunyngham shoot as well as fish ? " Lionel 
 ventured to ask. 
 
 " She has tried it," her brother said, as he called up Roderick, 
 and gave him a dram out of his capacious flask. " And I think 
 she might shoot very well ; but she doesn't c ire about it. It is 
 
 K 
 
130 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 too violent, she says. The sudden bang disturbs the charm of 
 the scenery something of that kind I'm not up in these 
 things ; but she's an odd kind of girl. Tremendously fond of 
 quietude and solitude ; we've found her in the most unexpected 
 places and there are some lonely places about these hills. I 
 tell her she shouldn't go on these long excursions without 
 taking old Robert with her : supposing she were to sprain her 
 ankle she might have to remain there all night and half the 
 next day before we could find her. Sooner or later I know 
 she'll startle some solitary shepherd out of his senses : he'll 
 come back to his hut swearing that he has seen a Grey Lady 
 where no mortal woman could be. Hullo, there's Waveney 
 again he'll soon be on them." 
 
 They could see him stealing across the top of the hillock, 
 and then making his way down behind certain rocks that 
 served as a screen between him and the birds. Then he dis- 
 appeared again. 
 
 " Why doesn't he fire ? " Lionel asked presently. " He must 
 be quite close to them." 
 
 " Not so close as you imagine," was the answer. " Probably 
 he is waiting until they come nearer together." 
 
 The next moment there stepped boldly forth the slight 
 brown figure; the birds instantly rose from the water, and 
 with swift straight flight made down the valley ; but they had 
 not got many yards when there were two white puffs of smoke, 
 both birds almost simultaneously came tumbling to the ground, 
 and then followed the double report of a gun. 
 
 " Waveney has got his eye in to-day for certain," Sir Hugh 
 said. " But what's the use of his bringing the birds along ? 
 they're no good to anybody." 
 
 " I thought perhaps they might be of some use for salmon- 
 flies," Captain Waveney explained, as he came up. " Aren't 
 they, Roderick?" 
 
 The keeper regarded the two birds contemptuously, and 
 shook his head. 
 
 " Well, Waveney, we will give you five minutes' grace, if 
 you like," Sir Hugh said. " Sit down and have a pipe." 
 
 " But this slim and wiry warrior had not even taken the 
 gun from his shoulder. 
 
 " No, no," said he, " if you are ready, I am. I can get 
 plenty of smoking done in the South." 
 
 So they began again: but the afternoon was now on the 
 wane, and the beats were leading them homewards. Only two 
 
The Twelfth. 131 
 
 small incidents that befell the novice need mentioning. The 
 first happened in this wise : the dogs were ranging widely over 
 what appeared to be rather a barren beat, when suddenly one 
 of them came to a dead point a considerable distance on. Of 
 course Captain Waveney and Sir Hugh hurried forward ; but 
 Lionel could not, for he had got into trouble with a badly 
 jammed cartridge. Just as he heard the first shot fired, he 
 managed to get the empty case extracted and to replace it with 
 a full one ; and then he was about to hasten forward when ho 
 saw the covey rise a large covey it was while Captain 
 Waveney got a right and left, and Sir Hugh fired his remain- 
 ing barrel, for he had not had time to reload. At the same 
 instant Lionel found that one of the birds had doubled back 
 and was coming right over his head : up went his gun ; he 
 blazed away; and down rolled the grouse some dozen yards 
 behind him. 
 
 " Well done ! " Sir Hugh called out. " A capital shot ! " 
 
 " A ghastly fluke, Sir Hugh ! " Lionel called out in return. 
 *' I simply fired in the air." 
 
 " And a very good way of firing too ! " was the naif 
 rejoinder. 
 
 But his next achievement was hardly so creditable. They 
 were skirting the edge of a birch- wood that clothed the side of 
 a steep precipice overlooking the Aivron, where there were 
 some patches of bracken among the heather, when the setter in 
 front of him a young dog began to draw rather falteringly 
 on to something. 
 
 " Ware rabbit, Hector ! " the keeper said, in an undertone. 
 
 But meanwhile the older dog, that was backing in front of 
 Captain Waveney, whether it was impatient of this uncertainty 
 on the part of its younger companion, or whether it was 
 jealous, managed unobserved to steal forward a foot or two, 
 until suddenly it stopped rigid. 
 
 " Good dog, Iris, good dog ! " Captain Waveney said (for ho 
 had overlooked that little bit of stealthy advance), and ho 
 shifted bis gun from his right hand to his left, and stooped 
 down, and patted the animal's neck though all the time ho 
 was looking well ahead. 
 
 Then all at once there was a terrific whirr of wings; 
 Waveney quickly put his gun to his shoulder paused took it 
 down again ; at the same moment Lionel, finding a bird within 
 his proper field, as he considered though it was going away at 
 a prodigious speed took steady aim and fired. That distant 
 
 K 2 
 
The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 object dropped there was not a flutter. Of course the keeper 
 and Sir Hugh were still watching the young dog ; but when 
 this doubtful scent came to nothing, Sir Hugh turned to 
 Lionel. 
 
 "That was a long shot of yours, Mr. Moore," said he. 
 " And very excusable." 
 
 "Excusable?" said Lionel, wondering what he had done 
 this time. 
 
 "Of course you knew that was a greyhen ? " the other 
 said. 
 
 " A greyhen ? " he repeated. 
 
 " Didn't you hear Koderick call out ? Didn't you see 
 Waveney put up his gun and then take it down? " 
 
 " Neither the one nor the other ; I only saw a bird before 
 me and fired." 
 
 " Oh, well, there's no great harm done : if a man has no 
 worse sin on his conscience than shooting a greyhen on the 
 Twelfth, he should sleep sound o' nights. Waveney is fastidious. 
 I dare say if the bird had come my way, I should not have 
 resisted the temptation." 
 
 Lionel considered that Sir Hugh was an exceedingly con- 
 siderate and good-natured person; and in fact when they 
 picked up the dead bird, and when he was regarding its sober 
 plumage, it cannot fairly be said that he was much surprised at 
 his venial mistake. Only he considered he was bound in 
 honour to make confession to Miss Cunyngham. 
 
 Alas ! he was to see little of Miss Cunyngham that night. 
 As soon as dinner was over and Sir Hugh and his satellite 
 had left the dining-room to enter up the game-book, write 
 labels for special friends, and generally finish up the business 
 of the day Lady Adela proposed a game of Dumb Crambo ; 
 and in this she was heartily backed up by the Lestranges, for 
 Miss Georgie seemed to think that the mantle of Kitty Clive 
 had descended upon her shoulders, while her brother evidently 
 regarded himself as a facetious person. Speedily it appeared, 
 however, that there was to be a permanent an'd stationary 
 audience. Lord Faroborough especially after dinner, when 
 his nervous system was still in dark deliberation as to what it 
 meant to do with him was too awful a personage to be 
 approached; Honnor Cunyngham good-humouredly said that 
 she was too stupid to join in ; and Lord Bockminster declared 
 that if that was her excuse, it applied much more obviously to 
 himself. Accordingly, the remaining members of the house- 
 
Venator Immemor. 133 
 
 party had to form the entertainers; and never had Lionel 
 entered into any pastime with so little zest. These people 
 could not act a bit ; and yet he had to coach them ; and then he 
 and they had to go into the drawing-room and perform their 
 antics before that calm-browed young lady (who nevertheless 
 regarded the proceedings with the most friendly interest) and 
 her companion, the stolid young lord. He could not help 
 acknowledging to himself that Miss Honnor Cunyngham and 
 Lord Rockminster formed a remarkably handsome couple as 
 they sate together there on a couch at right angles with the 
 fireplace ; but the distinguished appearance of the audience did 
 not console him for the consciousness that the performers were 
 making themselves absurd. He was impatient, ashamed, of the 
 whole affair. Dark and sullen thoughts went flashing through 
 his brain of saving up every penny he could get hold of and 
 going away into some savage wilderness in Ross or Sutherland, 
 to be seen of actors and amateurs no more. His gun and his 
 rod would be his sole companions ; his library would consist of 
 St. John, Colquhoun, ' Stonehenge,' and Francis (not of Assisi) ; 
 by moor and stream he would earn his own subsistence ; and 
 theatres, and fashionable life, and the fantastic aspirations and 
 ambitions of les Precieuses Ridicules would be banished from 
 him for ever. But fortunately a nine o'clock dinner had 
 driven this foolish entertainment late, so that it did not last 
 long ; the ladies were unanimously willing to retire ; the 
 gentlemen thereupon trooped off to the gunroom to have a 
 smoke and a glass of whisky and soda-water, and very soon 
 thereafter the deep-breathing calm of the whole household told 
 that the labours of the Twelfth were over. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 VENATOR IMMEMOR. 
 
 AND why was it, when in course of time it became practicable 
 to arrange a deer-stalking expedition for him, why was it that 
 he voluntarily chose to encounter what Lord Rockminster had 
 called the very extremes of fatigue and human misery ? He 
 knew that he was about to undergo tortures of anxiety and 
 privation ; and, what was worse, he knew he was going to 
 miss. He had saturated his mind with gillies' stories of capital 
 
134 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 shots who had completely lost their nerve on first catching 
 sight of a stag. The " buck-ague " was already upon him. 
 Not for him was there waiting away in those wilds some 
 Muckle Hart of Ben More to gain a deathless fame from his 
 rifle-bullet. He was about to half-kill himself with the labours 
 of a long and arduous expedition, and at the end of it he 
 foresaw himself returning home defeated, dejected, in the 
 deepest throes of mortification and chagrin. 
 
 And look what he was giving up. Here was a whole house- 
 full of charming women all ready to pet him and make much of 
 him ; and in their society he would be at home, dealing with 
 things with which he was familiar. Lady Sybil would be 
 grateful to him if he helped her with the music she was 
 arranging for " Alfred : a Masque ; " he could be of abundant 
 service, too, to Lady Rosamund, who was now making indi- 
 vidual studies for her large drawing of " Luncheon on the 
 Twelfth ; " though perhaps he could not lend much aid to 
 Lady Adela, who was understood to be getting on very well 
 with her new novel. But at all events he would be in his own 
 element ; he would be among things that he understood ; he 
 would be no trembling ignoramus adventuring forth into the 
 unknown. And yet when early in the morning the old and 
 sturdy pony was brought round to the door, and when the 
 brown-bearded Eoderick had shouldered the rifle and was ready 
 to set forth, Lionel had little thought of surrendering his chance 
 to any one else. 
 
 " I call this very shabby treatment," his burly and good- 
 humoured host said, as he stood at the open door. " When a 
 man goes stalking, if there's a pretty girl in the house, she 
 ought to make her appearance and give him a little present for 
 good luck. It's an understood thing ; it's an old custom ; and 
 yet there isn't one of those lazy creatures down yet." 
 
 "This is the best I can do for you, old fellow," Percy 
 Lestrange said at the same moment. "I can't give you the 
 flask, for my sister Georgie gave it to me ; but I will lend it to 
 you for the day ; and it's filled with an excellent mixture of 
 cura9oa and brandy. You'll want some comfort ; and I don't 
 expect they'll let you smoke. What do you think of my 
 crest?" 
 
 He handed the silver flask to Lionel, who found engraved 
 on the side of it a merry and ingenious device consisting of 
 two briar-root pipes, crossed, and surrounded by a heraldic 
 garter bearing the legend " Dulce eat de-sip-ere in loco ? " Was 
 
Venator Immemor. 135 
 
 this Miss Georgie's little joke ? Anyhow ho pocketed the flask 
 with much gratitude ; he guessed he might have need of it, if 
 all tales were true. 
 
 "I hope you'll get a presentable head," Sir Hugh said. 
 " The stags themselves are not in very good condition yet ; but 
 the horns are all right the velvet's off." 
 
 " It doesn't much matter," Lionel made answer, contentedly. 
 " I know beforehand I am going to miss. Well, good-bye, for 
 the present ! Go ahead, Maggie ! " 
 
 But at the same moment there was a glimmer of a grey 
 dress in the twilight of the hall ; and the next moment Honnor 
 Cunyngham appeared on the doorstep, the morning light 
 shining on her smiling face. 
 
 " Mr. Moore," she said, coming forward without any kind of 
 embarrassment, " there's an old custom didn't my brother tell 
 you? you must take a little gift from some one in the house, 
 just as you are going away, for good luck. You haven't yet ? 
 Here it is then." 
 
 " It is exceedingly kind of you," said he, " and I wish I 
 could make the omen come true ; but I have no such hope. I 
 know I am going to miss." 
 
 " You are going to kill a stag ! " said she, confidently. 
 " That is what you are going to do. Well good-bye, and good 
 luck ! " 
 
 So the little party of three Lionel, Roderick, and the 
 attendant gillie straightway left the lodge, and began to make 
 for the head of the strath. And it was not altogether about 
 deer that Lionel was now thinking. The tiny, thin packet he 
 held in his hand seemed to burn there. What was it Honnor 
 Cunyngham had brought downstairs for him ? However trivial 
 it might be, surely it was something he could keep. She had 
 given it to him for good luck ; but her wishes were not 
 confined to this one day ? Then, when he had got some 
 distance from the house, so that his curiosity could not be 
 observed, he threw the reins on Maggie's neck, and proceeded 
 to open this small packet covered with white paper. What did 
 he find there ? why, only a sixpence a bright new sixpence 
 not to be compared in value with the dozens on dozens of 
 presents which were lavished upon him by his fair admirers in 
 London courteous little attentions which, it must be confessed, 
 he had grown to regard with a somewhat callous indifference. 
 Only a small bright coin this was ; and yet he carefully 
 wrapped up the precious talisman again in its bit of tissue 
 
130 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 paper ; and as carefully he put it away in a waistcoat pocket, 
 where it would be safe even among the rough-and-tumble 
 experiences that lay before him. The day seemed all the 
 happier, all the more hopeful, that he knew this little token of 
 friendly sympathy was in his possession. Ought not a lucky 
 sixpence to have a hole bored in it ? He could wear it in secret, 
 even if she might not care to see it hanging at his watch-chain ; 
 and who could tell what subtle influence it might not bring io 
 bear on his fortunes, wholly apart from the stalking of stags ? 
 He grew quite cheerful ; he forgot his nervousness ; he was 
 talking gaily to the somewhat taciturn Roderick, who, never- 
 theless, no doubt much preferred to find his pupil in this 
 confident mood. 
 
 Their course at first lay along the nearer bank of the 
 Aivron ; but when they had got away up the strath towards 
 the neighbourhood of the Bad Step which was of course 
 impassable for the pony Lionel had to separate from his 
 companions, and ford the river, following up the other side. 
 Fortunately there was not much water in the stream ; old 
 Maggie knew her way well enough ; and with nothing more 
 than an occasional stumble among the slippery boulders and 
 loose stones they reached the opposite bank in safety. About a 
 mile further up the return-crossing had to be made ; but this 
 second ford was shallow and easy ; and thenceforward the 
 united party went on together. At last they struck the 
 Geinig ; and here a rude track took them away from the 
 valley of the Aivron altogether, into a solitary land of moor 
 and rock. 
 
 It was a still and rather louring morning ; but yet he did 
 not perceive any gloom in it at all ; nay, there was rather a 
 tender and wistful beauty up in this lonely wilderness ho was 
 entering. The heavy masses of cloud hung low and brooding 
 over the purple hills; the heavens seemed to be in close com- 
 munion with the murmuring streams in these otherwise voice- 
 less solitudes ; the long undulations were not darkly stained, 
 they only lay under a soft, transparent shadow. Even among 
 the greys and purple-greys of the sky there was here and there 
 a mild sheen of silver; and now and again a pale radiance 
 would begin to tell upon an uprising slope, until something 
 almost like sunlight shone there, glorifying the lichened rocks 
 and the crimson heather. This was one of the days that Honnor 
 Cunyngham loved ; and he, too, had got to appreciate their 
 sombre beauty, the brooding calm, the gracious silence, when 
 
Venator Immemor. 137 
 
 he went with her on her fishing-expeditions into the wilds. 
 And here was her favourite Geinig sometimes with tawny 
 masses boiling down between the boulders, sometimes sweeping 
 in a black-brown current round a sudden curve, and sometimes 
 racing over silver-grey shallows; but always with this con- 
 tinuous murmur that seemed to offer a kind of companionship 
 where there was no other sound or sign of life. And would she 
 be up here later on, he asked himself, with a curious kind of 
 interest ? Would she have a thought for the small party that 
 had passed in the early morning and disappeared into the 
 remote and secret fastnesses among those lonely hills ? Might 
 she linger on in the evening, in the hope of finding them coming 
 home again perchance with joyful news ? For, after all, this 
 lucky sixpence had buoyed up his spirits ; he was not so entirely 
 certain he would miss, if anything like a fair chance presented 
 itself; and he knew that if that chance did offer, he would 
 bring all that was in him to bear on the controlling of his 
 nerves he would not breathe his life would be concentrated 
 on the small cleft of the rifle if his heart cracked in twain the 
 instant after the trigger was pulled. 
 
 But these vague and anxious speculations were soon 'to bo 
 discarded for the immediate interests of the moment. They 
 were getting near to the ground after a sufficiently rough 
 journey of close on eight miles ; and now, as they came to the 
 bed of a little burn, Lionel was bidden to descend from his 
 venerable steed; the saddle was taken off; and old Maggie was 
 hobbled, and left to occupy herself with the fresh sweet grass 
 growing near to the stream. 
 
 " Now look here, Roderick," Lionel said, " I'm entirely in 
 your hands, and mind you don't spare me. Since I'm in for 
 it, I mean to see it through." 
 
 " When it is after a stag we are, there is no sparing of any 
 one," said Roderick, significantly, as he took out his telescope. 
 " And you will think of this, sir, that if we are crahling along, 
 and come on the deer without expecting it, and if they see you, 
 then you will lie still like a stone. Many's the time they will 
 chist stand and look at you, if you do not move ; and then 
 slowly, slowly you will put your head down in the heather 
 again, and wait till I tell you what to do. But if you go out of 
 sight quick ay, so will they." 
 
 At first, as it appeared to Lionel, they went forward with a 
 dangerous fearlessness, the keeper merely using his natural 
 eyesight to search the slopes and corries; but presently he 
 
The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 began to go more warily ; again and again he paused, to watch 
 the motion of the white rags of cloud clinging to the hill -sides ; 
 and occasionally, as they got up into the higher country, he 
 would lie down with his back on a convenient mound, cross one 
 knee over the other, and, with this rest for his telescope, pro- 
 ceed to scrutinise, inch by inch, the vast prospect before him. 
 There was no more talking now. There was a kind of stealthi- 
 ness in their progress, even when they walked erect ; but it 
 soon appeared to Lionel that Eoderick, who went first, seemed 
 to be keeping a series of natural eminences between them and a 
 certain distant tract of this silent and lonely land. It was only 
 a guess ; but it accounted for all kinds of circuitous little turns ; 
 anyhow there was nothing for him but to follow blindly whither 
 he was led. Of course he kept his eyes open ; but there was no 
 sign of life anywhere in this barren wilderness; there was 
 nothing but the empty undulations of heath and thick grass, 
 with sometimes a little tarn coming in sight, and always the 
 further hills forming a sort of solitary amphitheatre along the 
 horizon. 
 
 Suddenly Roderick stopped short, and quietly put out his 
 hand to arrest the progress of his companion. Involuntarily 
 they stooped ; and he not only did likewise, but presently he 
 was on his back on the heather, with the telescope balanced as 
 before. After a long and earnest scrutiny, he offered the glass 
 to Lionel. 
 
 " They're there," he said, " but in an ahfu' bad place 
 for us." 
 
 Eagerly Lionel got hold of the telescope, and tried to balance 
 it as the keeper had done ; but either his hand was trembling, 
 or the wind had a purchase on the long tube, or he was unac- 
 customed to its use : at all events he could make out nothing 
 but nebulous and uncertain patches of colour. 
 
 " Tell me where they are," he said quickly, as he put aside 
 the glass. " 1 have good eyes." 
 
 " Do you see the grey scar on the hill-side yonder ? then 
 right below that the rocks and, then the open place can you 
 see them now? Ay, and there's not a single hind with 
 them 
 
 " They're all stags ? " exclaimed Lionel, breathlessly. 
 
 " Every one," said Roderick. " And when there's no hinds 
 with them, it is easier to get at them, for they are not near 
 so wary as the hinds ; but that is a bad place where they are 
 feeding the now a terrible bad place. I'm thinking it is no 
 
Venator Immemor. 139 
 
 use to try to get near them there ; but they will keep feeding 
 on and on until they get over the ridge ; and what wo will do 
 now is we will chist go aweh down wind, and get round to them 
 from anither airt." 
 
 Little did Lionel know what was involved in this apparently 
 simple scheme. At first everything was easy enough ; for 
 when they had fallen back out of sight of the deer, they merely 
 set forth upon a long walk down wind, going erect, without 
 any trouble. It is true that Lionel in time began to think that 
 the keeper, instead of having the deer in mind, was bent on a 
 pilgrimage into Cromarty or Sutherland, or perhaps towards 
 the shores of the Atlantic ; but this interminable tramp was a 
 mere trifle compared with their labours when they began to go 
 up wind again. For now there was nothing but stooping, and 
 crawling, and slouching behind hillocks, up peat-hags, and 
 through marshy swamps ; while the heat produced by all this 
 painful toil was liable to a sudden chill whenever a halt was 
 called to enable Roderick to writhe his prostrate figure up to 
 the top of some slight eminence, where, raising his head inch 
 by inch, he once more informed himself of the whereabouts of 
 the deer. There seemed to be no end to this snake-like squirm- 
 ing along the ground and creeping behind rocks and hillocks ; 
 in fact they were now in a quite different tract of country from 
 that in which they had first caught sight of the stags a much 
 more wild and sombre landscape was this, with precipitous 
 black crags overhanging a sullen 4 *and solitary loch that had not a 
 bush or a tree along its lifeless shores. As for Lionel, he fought 
 along without repining. His arms were soaking wet up to tho 
 elbows ; his legs were in a like condition from his knees down- 
 ward. Then he was damp with perspiration ; while ever and 
 anon, when he had to lie prone in the moist grass, or crouch 
 like a frog behind a rock, the cold wind from the hills sent a 
 shiver down his spine or seemed to strike like an icy dagger 
 through his chest. But he took it all as part of the day's work. 
 There was in his possession a little silver token that afforded 
 him much content. He would acquit himself like a man if he 
 could ; at any rate, he would not grumble. 
 
 After what seemed ages of this inconceivable torture, Lionel 
 was immensely relieved to find the keeper after a careful 
 survey from the top of a mound to which he had crawled 
 motion with his hand to him to come up to his side. This he 
 did with the greatest circumspection, scarcely raising his head 
 above the grass and heather ; and then, when he had joined 
 
140 The Neiv Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 Eoderick, he began to peer through the waving stalks and twigs 
 just before his eyes. Suddenly his gaze was arrested by certain 
 brown tips tips that were moving : were these the stags' horns, 
 he asked himself in a kind of bewilderment of fear ? There 
 could be no doubt of it. The beasts were now lying down he 
 could not see their bodies but clearly enough he could make 
 out their branching antlers, as they lazily moved their heads, or 
 perhaps turned to flick a fly away. 
 
 " They're too far off", aren't they ? " Lionel whispered and 
 despite all his sworn resolves to keep calm, ho felt his heart 
 going as if it would choke him. 
 
 " They're lying down now," Roderick said, with professional 
 coolness, " and they're right out in the open : it is no use at all 
 trying to get near them until they get up in the afternoon and 
 begin to feed again, and then maybe they will feed over the 
 shoulder yonder. No use at all," said he; but just at this 
 moment his quick eye caught sight of something else that had 
 just appeared on the edge of one of the lower slopes, and the 
 expression of his face instantly changed into something like 
 alarm. " Bless me, look at that now ! " 
 
 Lionel slowly and cautiously turned his head ; and then, 
 quite clearly, he could see a small company of seven or eight 
 stags that had come along from quite a different direction. 
 They paused at the crest of the slope, looking all about them. 
 
 " Was ever anything so mischievous ! " Roderick exclaimed, 
 in smothered vexation. " If they come over this way they will 
 get our wind ; and then it is good-bye to all of them. And we 
 cannot get away neither well, well, was there ever the like 
 now ! There is only the one chance mebbe they will go along 
 to the others, and keep with them till they begin feeding in 
 the afternoon. Indeed, now, it is a terrible peety if we are to 
 miss such a chance and not a hind anywhere to be on the 
 w,atch ! " 
 
 Happily, however, Roderick's immediate fears were soon 
 dispelled. The newcomers slowly descended the slope; then 
 they bore up the valley again ; and after walking about a while, 
 they followed the example of the rest of the herd, and lay down 
 on the heather. 
 
 " Ay, ay, that is better now," Roderick said, with much 
 satisfaction. "That is ferry well now. And since there is 
 nothing to be done till the whole of them get up to feed in the 
 afternoon, we will cjrist creep aweh down into a peat-hag, and 
 wait there, and you can have your lu;nch, sir," 
 
Venator Imiiwinor. 141 
 
 So there was another crawling performance down from this 
 exposed height ; and eventually the small party managed to 
 hide themselves in a black and moist peat-hag, where their 
 extremely frugal repast was produced. 
 
 " But look here, Roderick," Lionel said, " it's only twelve 
 o'clock now : do you mean to say we have to stop in this wet 
 hole till two or three in the afternoon ? " 
 
 " Ay, chist that," the keeper said coolly. " They will begin 
 to feed about three ; and until they go over the ridge, it is no 
 use at all trying to get near them." 
 
 " And what are we to do all the time? " 
 
 " Chist wait," Roderick said, with much simplicity ; and 
 then he and the gillie withdrew a little way down the peat-hag, 
 so that they might have their luncheon, and a cautious whisper- 
 ing in Gaelic, by themselves. 
 
 It was tantalising in the last degree. The breathless 
 consciousness that the deer were close by made him all the 
 more impatient for the half-dreaded opportunity of having a 
 shot at one of them. He wished it was well over. If he was 
 going to miss, he wanted to have his agony of mortification 
 encountered and done with, instead of enduring this maddening 
 delay. The peat-hag became a prison ; and a very uncomfort- 
 able prison too. His sandwiches were soon disposed of: there- 
 after what ? He dared not smoke ; he had no book with him ; 
 the keeper and the gillie, having withdrawn themselves, were 
 exchanging confidences in their native tongue. His clothes 
 were wet and cold and clammy ; Percy Lestrange's flask 
 appeared to afford him no comfort whatsoever. And of course 
 the longer he brooded over the chances of hit or miss, the more 
 appalling became the responsibility. How much depended on 
 that fifteenth part of a second ! He was half inclined to say 
 " Here, Roderick, I can bear this anxiety no longer. Let us get 
 as near the deer as we can; sight the rifle for a long distance, 
 you whistle the stags on to their legs and I'll blaze into the 
 thick of them. Anything to get the shot over and done with ! " 
 
 Indeed this intolerable waiting was about as bad a thing as 
 could have happened to his nerves ; but it did not last quite as 
 long as the keeper had anticipated ; for about t\vo o'clock 
 Roderick ascertained that the stags were up again and feeding. 
 This was good news anything was good news, in fact, that 
 broke in upon this sickening suspense ; had Lionel been informed 
 that the deer had taken alarm and disappeared at full gallop, he 
 would have said " Amen ! " and set out for home with a light 
 
142 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 heart. But by-and-by, when it was discovered that the stags 
 had gone over the ridge one of them remained on the crest for 
 a long time, staring right across the valley, so that the stalkers 
 dared not move hand or foot when this last sentinel had also 
 withdrawn, the slouching and skulking devices of the morning 
 had to be resumed. Not a word was spoken ; but Lionel knew 
 that the fateful moment was approaching. Then, when they 
 began to ascend the ridge over which the stags had disappeared, 
 their progress culminated in a laborious crawl, Roderick going 
 first, with the rifle in one hand, Lionel dragging himself 
 after, the gillie coming on as best he might. It was slow 
 work now. The keeper went forward inch by inch, as if at 
 any moment he expected to find a stag staring down upon 
 him. And at last he lay quite still : then, with the slightest 
 movement of his disengaged hand, he beckoned Lionel to come 
 up beside him. 
 
 Now was the time for all his desperate and summoned calm- 
 ness. He shut his lips firm, breathing only by his nose ; he 
 gradually pushed his way through the tall, withered grass; and 
 at last, when he was almost side by side with Roderick, he 
 peered forward. They were startlingly near, those brown and 
 dun beasts with the branching antlers! he almost shrank 
 back and yet he gazed and gazed with a strange fascination. 
 The stags, which were not more than fifty or sixty yards off, 
 were quite unconscious of any danger; they were quietly 
 feeding; sometimes one of them would cease, and raise his head, 
 and look lazily around. Just at this moment, too, a pale sun- 
 light began to shine over the plateau on which they stood ; and 
 a very pretty picture it lit up the silver-grey rocks, the wild 
 heath, and those slim and elegant creatures grouped here and 
 there as chance directed. Every single feature of the scene (as 
 he discovered long thereafter) was burned into Lionel's brain ; 
 yet he was not aware of it at the time ; his whole attention, as 
 he imagined, was directed towards keeping himself cool and 
 restrained and ready to obey Roderick's mute directions. The 
 rifle was stealthily given to him, and as stealthily pushed 
 through the grass. With his forefinger the keeper indicated 
 the stag at which Lionel was to fire ; it was rather lighter in 
 colour than the others, and was standing a little way apart. 
 Lionel took time to consider, as he thought ; in reality it was 
 to still the quick pulsation of his heart ; and as he did so the 
 stag, unfortunately for him, moved, so that instead of offering 
 him an easy broad-side shot, it almost faced him, with its head 
 
Venator Immemor. 143 
 
 down. Still, at any moment it might afford a fairer mark ; and 
 so, with the utmost caution, and with his lips still shut tight, 
 he slowly raised himself somewhat, and got the rifle into his 
 hands. Yes, the stag had again moved: its shoulder was 
 exposed : his eyes inquired of Roderick if now was the time : 
 and the keeper nodded assent. 
 
 The awful crisis had arrived : and he seemed to blind him- 
 self and deaden himself to all things in this mortal world except 
 the little notch in the rifle, the shining sight, and that fawn- 
 coloured object over there. He took a long breath ; he steadied 
 and steadied the slightly-trembling barrel until it appeared 
 perfectly motionless ; and then he fired. 
 
 Alas! at the very moment when he pulled the trigger 
 when it was too late for him to change his purpose the stag 
 threw up its head to flick at its side with its horns, and thus 
 quite altered its position ; he knew he ought not to fire but it 
 was too late too late and in the very act of pulling the 
 trigger he felt that he had missed. 
 
 Roderick sprang to his feet ; for the deer, notwithstanding 
 that they could not have discerned where the danger lay, with 
 one consent bounded forward, and made for a rocky defile on 
 the further side of the plateau. 
 
 " Come on, sir ! Come on, sir ! " the keeper called to Lionel. 
 " You've hit him. Come along, sir ! " 
 
 " I haven't hit him I missed missed clean ! " was the 
 hopeless answer. 
 
 " I tell ye ye've hit him ! " the keeper exclaimed. " Run, 
 sir, run ! if he's only wounded he may need the other barrel. 
 God bless me, did ye not hear the thud when the ball 
 struck?" 
 
 Thus admonished Lionel unwittingly but nevertheless as 
 quickly as he could followed the keeper ; and he could show a 
 nimble pair of heels when he chose, even when he was hampered 
 with this heavy rifle. Not that he had any heart in the chase. 
 The stag had swerved aside just as he fired ; he knew he must 
 have missed. At the same time any one who goes out with a 
 professional stalker must be content to become as clay in the 
 hands of the potter ; so Lionel did as he was bid : and though 
 he could not overtake Roderick, he was not far behind him 
 when they both reached the pass down which the deer had fled. 
 
 And there the splendid animals were still in view bound- 
 ing up a stony hill-side some distance off, in straggling twos 
 and threes, and going at a prodigious speed. But where was 
 
144 The New Prince Fortunatus* 
 
 the light-coloured stag? Certainly not among those brown 
 beasts whose scrambling tip that steep face was sending a 
 shower of stones and debris down into the silent glen below. 
 
 "I'm thinking he's no far aweh," Eoderick said, eagerly 
 scanning all the ground in front of them. " We'll chist go 
 forrit, sir; and you'll be ready to shoot, for if he's only 
 wounded, he may be up and off again when he sees us." 
 
 "But do you really think I hit him?" Lionel said, 
 anxiously enough. 
 
 " I sdh him struck," the keeper said, emphatically. " But 
 he never dropped no, not once on his knees even. He was off 
 with the best of them ; and that's what meks me think he was 
 well hit, and that he's no far aweh." 
 
 So they went forward on the track of the herd, slowly, and 
 searching every dip and hollow. For Lionel it was a period of 
 agonising uncertainty. One moment he would buoy himself 
 up with the assurance that the keeper must know ; the next he 
 convinced himself that he had missed the stag clean. Now he 
 would be wondering whether this wide undulating plain really 
 contained the slain monarch of the mists ; again he pictured 
 to himself that light-coloured, fleet-footed creature far away 
 in advance of all his companions, making for some distant 
 sanctuary among the mountains. 
 
 " Here he is, sir ! " Roderick cried, with a quick little 
 chuckle ; and the words sent a thrill through Lionel such as he 
 had never experienced in his life before. "No he's quite 
 dead," the keeper continued, seeing that the younger man was 
 making ready to raise his rifle again. "I was thinking he was 
 well hit and no far aweh." 
 
 At the same moment Lionel had eagerly run forward. With 
 what joy and pride with what a curious sense of elation with 
 what a disposition of good-will towards all the world, he now 
 beheld this splendid beast lying in the deep peat-hag that had 
 hitherto hidden it from view ! The stag's last effort had been 
 to clear this gully; but it had only managed to strike the 
 opposite bank with its fore-feet when the death-wound did its 
 work, and then the hapless animal had rolled back with its final 
 groan into the position in which they now found it. In a 
 second, Roderick was down in ithe peat-hag beside it, holding 
 up its head by one of the horns, and examining the bullet- 
 mark. 
 
 " Well, sir," said he, with a humorous smile that did not 
 often lighten up his visage, " if this is what you will be calling 
 
Venator Immemor. 145 
 
 the missing of a stag, it is a ferry good way to miss it ; for I 
 never sail a better shot in my life." 
 
 " It's a fluke, then, Roderick : I declare to you I was certain 
 I had missed," said he though he hardly knew what he was 
 saying : a kind of bewilderment of joy possessed him ho could 
 not keep his eyes off the dead stag and now, if he had only 
 chanced to notice it, his hand was certainly trembling ! Pro- 
 bably Eoderick did not know what a fluke was : in any case his 
 response was 
 
 " Well, sir, I'm chist going to drink your good health ; ay, 
 and more good luck to you, sir; and it's ferry glad I am that 
 you hef got your first stag ! " and therewith he pulled out his 
 small zinc flask. 
 
 " Oh, but you mustn't draw on your own supplies ! " Lionel 
 exclaimed in the fulness of his pride and gratitude. " See, here 
 is a flask filled with famous stuff. You take it you and Alec : 
 I don't want any more to-day." 
 
 " Do not be so sure of that," the keeper said, shrewdly, and 
 he modestly declined to take Percy Lestrange's decorated flask. 
 " It's a long weh from |home we are ; far longer than you 
 think ; and mebbe there will be some showers before we get 
 back." 
 
 " I don't care if there's thunder and lightning all the way ! " 
 Lionel cried, gaily. " But I'll tell you what, Eoderick, I wish 
 you'd lend me your pipe. Have you plenty of tobacco ? A 
 cigarette is too feeble a thing to smoke by the side of a dead 
 stag. And and on my way south I mean to stop at Inverness, 
 and I'll send you as much tobacco as will last you right through 
 the winter ; for you see I'm very proud of my first stag and 
 of course it was all owing to your skill in stalking " 
 
 Roderick handed the young man his pipe and pouch. 
 
 " Indeed you could not do better, sir, than sit down and hef 
 a smoke, while me and Alec are grallochiog the beast. Then 
 we'll drag him to a safe place, and cover him up with heather, 
 and send for him the morn's. morning." 
 
 " Couldn't you put him on the pony and take him down 
 with us ? I can walk," Lionel suggested : for had he not some 
 dim vision in his mind of a triumphal procession down the 
 strain, towards the dusk of the evening, with perhaps a 
 group of fair spectators awaiting him at the door of the 
 lodge ? 
 
 " Well, sir," the keeper made answer, as he drew out his 
 gralloching knife, " you see, there's few things more difficult 
 
146 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 than to strap a deer on the back of a powny when there's no 
 proper deer-saddle. No, sir, we'll just leave him in a safe place 
 for the night, and send for him in the morning." 
 
 " And do you call that a good head to get stuffed, Eoderick ? " 
 the young man asked still gazing on his splendid prize. 
 
 " Aw, well, I hef seen better heads, and I hef seen worse 
 heads," the keeper said evasively. " But the velvet is off the 
 horns whatever." 
 
 This was tremendously strong tobacco that Roderick had 
 handed him, and yet, as it seemed to him, he had never smelt a 
 sweeter fragrance perfuming the soft mountain air. Nor did 
 these appear grim and awful solitudes any longer ; they were 
 friendly solitudes, rather; as he sate and peacefully and 
 joyously smoked, he studied every feature of them each rock, 
 and swamp, and barren slope, every hill and corrie and misty 
 mountain-top ; and he knew that while life remained to him he 
 would never forget this memorable scene with the slain stag 
 in the foreground. No, nor how could he ever forget that wan 
 glare of sunlight that had come along the plateau where the 
 deer were quietly feeding? he seemed to see again each 
 individual blade of grass close to his face, as well as the noble 
 quarry that had held him breathless. And then he took out 
 the bright little coin : surely Honnor Cunyngham. could not 
 object to his wearing it, seeing that it had proved itself such a 
 potent charm ? He rejoiced that he had not been frightened 
 off his expedition by tales of its monotonous sufferings and dire 
 fatigues. This was something better than arranging an out-of- 
 door performance for a parcel of amateurs ! Stiff and sore he 
 was, his clothes were mostly soaked and caked with mire, and 
 he did not know what he had not done to his shins and knees 
 and elbows ; but he did not mind all that ; Honnor Cunyngham 
 was right as he rode down Strathaivron that evening towards 
 the lodge, it would not be of fatigues and privations he would 
 bo thinking ! it would be of the lordly stag left away up there 
 in the hills, to be sent for and brought down in triumph the 
 next day. 
 
 By the time they had got the stag conveyed to a place of 
 concealment, and carefully covered over with heather, the 
 afternoon was well advanced ; then they set out for the little 
 corrie in which the pony had been left. But Lionel was now to 
 discover that they had come much further into these wilds than 
 he had imagined : indeed, when they at length came upon the 
 stolid and unconcerned Maggie, he did not in tho least regret that 
 
Venator Itnmemor. 147 
 
 it was a riding-saddle, not a deer-saddle, they had brought with 
 them in the morning. He had offered to walk these remaining 
 eight miles in order to have the proud satisfaction of taking the 
 stag home with them ; now he was just as well content that it 
 was he, and not the slain deer, that Maggie was to carry down to 
 Strathaivron. So he lit another cigarette, got into the saddle, 
 and with a light heart set forth upon the long and tedious jog- 
 jog down towards the regions of comparative civilisation. 
 
 Yet it was hardly so tedious, after all. He was mentally 
 going over again and again every point and incident of the day's 
 thrilling experiences ; and now it seemed as if it were a long 
 time since he had been squirming through the heather, with 
 all his limbs aching, and his heart ready to burst. He recalled 
 that beautiful picture of the stags feeding on the lonely plateau ; 
 he wondered now that he was able to steady the rifle-barrel 
 until it ceased to be tremulous ; he asked himself whether he 
 had not in _ reality pulled the trigger just before the stag 
 swerved its head aside. And what would have been his feel- 
 ings now, supposing he had missed ? Biding home in silence 
 and dejection trying to account for the incomprehensible 
 blunder fearing to think of what he would have to say to the 
 people at the lodge. And he was not at all sorry to reflect that, 
 as soon as the little party got back home, Miss Honnor Cunyng- 
 ham should see for herself that he, a mere singer out of comedy- 
 opera, was not afraid to face the hardships that had proved too 
 much for Lord Rockminster yes, and that he had faced them 
 to some purpose. 
 
 Very friendly sounded the voice of the Geinig, when it first 
 struck upon his ear ; they were getting into a recognisable 
 neighbourhood now ; here were familiar features not a waste 
 of the awful and unknown. But it was too much to expect 
 that Miss Cunyngham should still be lingering by any of 
 those pools ; the evening was closing in ; she must have set out 
 for home long ago, fishing her way down as she went. They 
 passed a shepherd's solitary cottage : the old man came out to 
 hear the news which was told him in Gaelic. They reached 
 the banks of the Aivron, and trudged along under the tall 
 cliffs and through the scattered birch and hazel. Then came 
 the fording of the river the tramp along the other side the 
 return ford and the small home-going party was re-united 
 again. They skirted the glass} 7 sweeps of the Long Pool, the 
 darker swirls of the Small Pool, and the saffron-tinted masses 
 of foam hurling down between the borders of the Rock Pool ; 
 
 L 2 
 
148 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 and then at last they came in view of the spacious valley, and 
 far away in the midst of it Strathaivron Lodge. 
 
 Had they been coming back with bad news this might have 
 been rather a melancholy sight, perhaps the long, wide strath 
 with the wan shades of twilight stealing over the meadows, 
 and the woods, and the winding river ; but now (to Lionel at 
 least) it was nothing but beautiful. If the glen itself looked 
 ghostly and lifeless and colourless, there were warmer hues 
 overhead ; for a pale salmon-flush still suffused the sky ; and 
 where that half-crimson glow, just over the dark, heather- 
 stained hill, faded into an exquisite transparent lilac, there 
 hung a full moon a moon of the lightest and clearest gold, 
 with its mj'sterious continents appearing as faint grey films. 
 The prevailing peace seemed to grow more profound with the 
 coming of the night. But this was not a night to be feared 
 this was a night to be welcomed a night with that fair golden 
 moon hanging high in the heavens, the mistress and guardian 
 of the silent vale. 
 
 When Lionel rode up to the door of the lodge, he found 
 all the gentlemen of the house congregated there, and dressed 
 for dinner. Sir Hugh -held up his hand. 
 
 " No, not one word ! " he cried. " Not necessary. I can 
 always tell. It is written in every line of your face." 
 
 "It isn't a hind, is it?" inquired Lord Kockminster, doubt- 
 fully. 
 
 " A hind of ten points ! " Lionel said, with a laugh, as he 
 pushed his way through. " Well, I must see if I can have a 
 hot bath to soften my bones 
 
 "My good fellow, it's waiting for you," his host said. " I 
 told Jeffreys the moment I saw you coming down the strath. 
 We'll put back dinner a bit ; but be as quick as you can." 
 
 " At the same moment there appeared a white-draped figure 
 on the landing above, leaning over the balustrade. 
 
 " What have you done, Mr. Moore ? " called down the well- 
 known voice of Honnor Cunyngham. 
 
 " I've got a stag," ho said, looking up with a good deal of 
 satisfaction or gratitude, perhaps ? in his eyes. 
 
 " How many points ? " 
 
 " Ten." 
 
 " Well done I Didn't I tell you you would get a stag ? " 
 
 "It's all owing to the lucky sixpence you gave me," he 
 said ; and she laughed as she turned away to go to her room. 
 
 After a welcome bath he dressed as quickly as he could for 
 
Aivron and Geinig* 149 
 
 dinner dressed so quickly, indeed, that he thought ho was 
 entitled to glance at the outside of the pile of letters awaiting 
 him there on the mantel-piece. He had a large correspondence, 
 from all kinds of people; and when he was in a hurry this 
 brief scrutiny of the address was all he allowed himself; he 
 usually could tell if there was anything of unusual importance. 
 On the present occasion the only handwriting that arrested him 
 for a second was Nina's ; and some sort of half-understood com- 
 punction made him open her letter. Well, it was not a letter ; 
 it was merely a little printed form, such as is put about the 
 stalls and boxes of a theatre when an announcement has to be 
 made. This announcement read as follows : " NOTICE : In con- 
 sequence of the sudden indisposition of Miss BURGOYNE flic part of 
 4 Grace Mainwaring ' will be sustained this evening by Miss ANTONIA 
 Boss." while above these printed words Nina had written in a 
 rather trembling hand : " Ah, Leo, if you were only here to-night ! " 
 Apparently she had scribbled this brief message before the 
 performance ; perhaps haste, or nervousness, might .account for 
 the uncertain writing. So Nina was to have her great oppor- 
 stunity after all, he saidto himself, as he went joyfully down- 
 tairs to join the brilliant assemblage in the drawing-room. 
 Poor Nina ! he had of late almost forgotten her existence. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 AIVRON AND GEINIG. 
 
 HONNOR CUNYNGHAM was quite as proud as Lionel himself that 
 he had killed a stag ; for in a measure he was her pupil ; at all 
 events it was at her instigation that he was devoting himself to 
 these athletic sports and pastimes, and so far withdrawing him- 
 self from the trivialities and affectations of the serious little 
 band of amateurs. Not that Miss Cunyngham ever exhibited 
 any disdain for those pursuits of her gifted sisters-in-law ; no ; 
 she listened to Lady Sybil's music, and regarded Lady Rosa- 
 mund's canvases, and even read the last MS. chapter of Lady 
 Adela's new novel (for that great work was now in progress) 
 with a grave good-humour and even with a kind of benevo- 
 lence ; and it was only when one or the other of them, with 
 unconscious simplicity, named herself in conjunction with some 
 master of the art she was professing wondering how lie could 
 
150 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 do such and such a thing in such and such a fashion when she 
 found another method infinitely preferable it was only at such 
 moments that occasionally Honnor Cunyngham's clear hazel 
 eyes would meet Lionel's, and the question they obviously 
 asked was, ' Is not that extraordinary ? ' They did not ask ' Is 
 not that absurd ? ' or ' How can any one be so innocently and 
 inordinately vain?' they only expressed a friendly surprise, 
 with perhaps the smallest trace of demure amusement. 
 
 On the other hand, if Miss Cunyngham rather intimated to 
 this young guest and stranger that, being at a shooting-lodge in 
 the Highlands, he ought to devote himself to the healthful and 
 vigorous recreations of the place, instead of dawdling away 
 his time in drawing-room frivolities, it was not that she herself 
 should take possession of him as her comrade on her salmon- 
 fishing excursions. He soon discovered that he was not to have 
 any great encouragement in this direction. She was always 
 very kind to him, no doubt ; and she had certainly proposed 
 that, if he cared to go with her, he could take the wading 
 portions of the pools; but beyond that she extended to him 
 very little companionship, except what he made bold to claim. 
 And the fact is, he was rather piqued by the curious isolation 
 in which this young lady appeared to hold herself. She seemed 
 so entirely content with herself; so wholly indifferent to the 
 little attentions and flatteries of ordinary life ; always good- 
 natured when in the society of any one, she was just as satisfied 
 to be left alone. Now Lionel Moore had not been used to this 
 kind of treatment. Women had only been too ready to smile 
 when he approached; perhaps, indeed, familiar success had 
 rendered him callous; at all events he had managed to get 
 along so far without encountering any violent experience of 
 heart-aching desire and disappointment and despair. But this 
 young lady with the clear, fine, intellectual face, the proud lips, 
 the calm, observant eyes, puzzled him almost vexed him. 
 Nina, for example, was a far more sympathetic companion : 
 either she was enthusiastically happy, talkative, vivacious, gay 
 as a lark, or she was wilfully sullen and offended, to be coaxed 
 round again and petted, like a spoilt child, until the natural 
 sunshine of her humour came through those wayward clouds. 
 But Miss Cunyngham, while always friendly and pleasant, 
 remained (as he thought) strangely remote, imperturbable, 
 calm. She did not seem to care about his society at all. Per- 
 haps she would rather have him go up the hill ? though the 
 birds were getting rather wild now for a novice. In any case 
 
Aivron and Geinig. 151 
 
 she could not refuse to let him accompany her on the morning 
 after his deer-stalking expedition ; for all the story had to bo 
 told her. 
 
 " I suppose you are very stiff," she said, cheerfully, as they 
 left the lodge he walking heavily in waders and brogues old 
 Robert coming up behind with rod and gaff. " But I should 
 imagine you do not ask for much sympathy. Shall I tell you 
 what you are thinking of at this moment ? You have a vague 
 fear that the foxes may have got at that precious animal during 
 the night ; and you are anxious to see it safely down here at 
 the lodge ; and you want to have the head sent at once to Mr. 
 Macleay's in Inverness, so that it mayn't get mixed up with the 
 lot of others which will be coming in when the driving in the 
 big forests begins. Isn't that about it ? " 
 
 " You are a witch," said he, " or else you have been deer- 
 stalking yourself. But, you know, Miss Honnor, it's all very 
 well to go on an expedition like that of yesterday once in a 
 way as a piece of bravado, almost ; and no doubt you are very 
 proud when you see the dead stag lying on the heather before 
 you ; but I am not sure I should ever care for it as a continuous 
 occupation, even if I were likely to have the chance. The 
 excitement is too furious, too violent. But look at a day by 
 the side of a salmon-river," continued this adroit young man. 
 " There is absolute rest and peace except when you are 
 engaged in fighting a salmon ; and for my own part, that is not 
 necessary to my enjoyment at all. No ; I would rather see you 
 fish ; then I know that everything is going right that every 
 pool is being properly cast over that Robert is satisfied. And 
 in the meantime I can sit and drink in all the beauty of the 
 scenery the quietude the loneliness : that is a real change 
 for me, after the busy life of London. I have got to be great 
 friends with this river ; I seem to have known it all my life ; 
 when we were coming home last evening, after being away in 
 those awful solitudes, the sound of the Geinig was the most 
 welcome thing I ever heard, I think." 
 
 " It is to the Geinig we are going now," said his companion, 
 who appeared quite to ignore the insidious appeal conveyed in 
 these touching sentiments. " I promised to leave all the Aivron 
 pools to Mr. Lestrange. But we may take the Junction Pool, 
 for he won't have time to come beyond the Bad Step ; and by 
 the way, Mr. Moore, if you feel stiff after yesterday, going up 
 and down the Bad Step won't do you any harm." 
 
 Well, the ascent of this Bad Step (whether so named from 
 
152 TJie New Prince Fortitnatus. 
 
 the French or the Gaelic nobody seemed to know) was not so 
 difficult after all, for it was gradual ; and a brief breathing- 
 space on the summit showed them the far-stretching landscape 
 terminating in the wild mountains of Assynt ; but the sheer 
 descent into the gloomy chasm on the other side was rather an 
 awkward thing for any one encased in waders. However, 
 Lionel managed somehow or another to slide and scramble 
 down this zig-zag track on the face of the loose debris ; they 
 reached the bottom in safety, and crossed the burn; they 
 followed a more secure pathway cut along the precipitous slope 
 overlooking the Aivron ; then they got down once more to the 
 river-side, and found themselves walking over velvet-soft turf, 
 in a wood of thinly-scattered birch and hazel. 
 
 But when they emerged from this wood, passed along by 
 some meadows, and reached the Junction Pool (so called from 
 the Geinig and Aivron meeting here) they found that the sun 
 was much too bright ; so they contentedly seated themselves 
 on the bank, to wait for a cloud ; while old Robert proceeded 
 to consult his fly-book. Neither of them seemed in a very 
 talkative mood ; indeed, when you are in front of a Highland 
 river, with its swift-glancing lights, its changing glooms and 
 gleams, its continual murmur and prattle, what need is there 
 of any talk ? Talk only distracts the attention. And this part 
 of the stream was especially beautiful. They could hardly 
 quarrel with the sunlight when, underneath the clear water, 
 it sent interlacing lines of gold chasing each other across the 
 brown sand and shingle of the shallows ; and if the cloudless 
 sky overhead compelled this unwilling idleness, it also touched 
 each of those dancing ripples with a gleam of most brilliant 
 blue. Further out those scattered blue gleams became con- 
 centrated until they formed glassy sweeps of intensest azure, 
 where the deep pools were ; and these again gave way to the 
 broken water under the opposite bank, where the swift-running 
 current reflected the golden-green of the overhanging bushes 
 and weeds. Where was the call for any speech between these 
 two? When at length Robert admonished the young man to 
 get ready, because a cloud was coming over, and this part of 
 the Aivron had to be waded, Lionel got up with no great 
 good- will : that silent companionship, in the gracious stillness 
 and soothing murmur of the stream, seemed to him to be more 
 profitable to the soul than the lashing of a wide pool with a 
 seventeen-foot rod. 
 
 But ho buckled to his task, like a man ; and as he could 
 
Aivron and Geinig. 153 
 
 wado a good distance in, there was no need for him to attempt 
 a long line. Surreptitiously, on many occasions, he had been 
 getting lessons from old Robert ; and now, if his casting was 
 not professional in its length, it was at least clean. Moreover, 
 by this time he had learnt that \ the expectant moment in 
 salmon-fishing is not when the fly lights away over at the 
 other side, and begins to sweep round in a semi-circle, but 
 when it drags in the current before it is withdrawn ; and ho 
 was in no haste in recovering. 
 
 " Why, Mr. Moore, you are casting beautifully," Miss 
 Honnor Cunyngham called to him ; and the words were sweet 
 music to his ears; for it may be frankly admitted that this 
 somewhat sensitive novice was playing to the gallery. His 
 diligent and careful thrashing, however, was of no avail. He 
 could not stir anything ; and as in time the deepening water 
 drove him ashore, he willingly surrendered his rod to his fair 
 companion, who could now fish from the bank. 
 
 Then he sat down to watch and to dream. He could see 
 that she was getting out more and more line, and throwing 
 beautifully ; but he had persuaded himself (or thought he had 
 persuaded himself) into the belief that the singular and con- 
 stant charm of this river had no association with her, or with 
 the quiet hours these two bad passed there together. It was the 
 stream talking to him that had fascinated him, as he sate idly 
 and listened. He had grown familiar with every cadence of 
 that mysterious voice now a-whispering and laughing as the 
 water danced over the sunny shallows then a harsher note 
 where the current, fretting and chafing, as it were, was broken 
 by multitudes of stones again a low murmur as the black 
 river swept dark and sullen through a contracted channel 
 finally a fiercer tumult as this once placid Aivron, increasing 
 in pace and volume every moment, flung itself lion-like over 
 the masses of rocks its tawny mane upheaved to the daylight 
 and then fell crashing and plunging into a mighty chasm, 
 the birchwoods around reverberating with its angry roar. Far 
 away is the lonely sea. This friendly river may laugh or 
 brawl as it will ; but there is peace for it at last ; its varying 
 voices must eventually disappear in the dull, slow tumult of 
 the distant world. And almost it seemed to him to complain 
 as it went by to appeal to him ; and yet why to him, if he, 
 too, was summoned away from this still solitude and sucked 
 into a murmuring ocean still more awful than the sea ? " 
 
 " Well done, Miss Honnor ! " old Eobert called out. 
 
154 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 Suddenly startled from his idle reverie, Lionel beheld the 
 line being swiftly taken across to the other side of the river, 
 sending tip a little spurt of spray as it cleft the current. 
 
 " A good one this time, Robert, isn't it ? " she cried. 
 
 " Ay, I'm thinking that's a good fish," old Eobert made 
 answer, as he rose from the bank and came down to her 
 side. 
 
 " And there's a fair field and no favour," she continued. 
 " Plenty of. room for him and he doesn't seem inclined to 
 tug." 
 
 No, this was not a "jiggering" fish; but he was a pretty 
 lively customer, for all that, as they were soon to find out. 
 For after having rested for a minute or so, he made a wild 
 rush up-stream, still on the other side, and took a dangerous 
 length of line out, and kept her running after him, and winding 
 up when possible, as well as she was able. Further and 
 further he went, until she had arrived at the junction of the 
 Geinig and the Aivron, she being on the Geinig shore, and 
 the fish making up the other stream. Here was a pleasant 
 predicament ! 
 
 " Mr. Moore," she called out, " take the rod and wade in ! 
 I daren't give him more line quick, quick, please ! " 
 
 Her entreaty was quite pathetic in its earnestness : but old 
 Eobert was less excited. 
 
 " If Mr. Moore was not here, you would be in the watter 
 yourself, Miss Honnor," the old man said, with a smile. 
 
 However, before the rod could be given into Lionel's hands, 
 the salmon had changed his tactics. He came dashing across to 
 the nearer side of the Aivron, so that the nose of land separating 
 the two rivers threatened to come between the fish and his 
 captor : there he lay still. 
 
 " Robert," she cried in despair, " if he goes another yard up 
 stream, he will have the line on that bush ! What is to be 
 done?" 
 
 Almost- at the same moment the fish began to move again 
 slowly this time and with agonised anxiety they saw the line, 
 despite all her efforts to keep it off, being quietly drawn into 
 the small hazel-bush. But Robert knew that bush and its 
 ways. 
 
 "Take the rod in, sir, as far as you can go," he said to 
 Lionel ; and then he himself ran round to a shallow ford of the 
 Geinig, crossed over, went along the bank, and proceeded to 
 get the line cautiously off the twigs and leaves. As soon as he 
 
Aivron and Geinig. 155 
 
 had accomplished that, he stealthily withdrew, stooped down, 
 and crept along the Aivron bank until he was a little ahead of 
 the fish, which indeed was almost underneath his feet ; then ho 
 suddenly raised himself to his full height, and threw up both 
 arms. That was enough for the salmon. Away to the other 
 side ho rushed, leading down stream ; and Lionel had now his 
 work cut out for him, for he was standing in deep water, on a 
 shelving bank of loose shingle, and he had to follow somehow, 
 reeling in as best ho might. But ever as he struggled after 
 that obdurate unseen creature, he made for shallower water; 
 and at length he reached dry land, and was glad to give the 
 rod into Miss Honnor's hands again the fish, which had never 
 once shown himself, being now almost opposite her, and in mid 
 channel. 
 
 Well, they had a good deal of trouble with this salmon, for 
 he did not exhaust himself with any further rushes, nor did he 
 disport himself in the air ; he simply lay low in the water, in a 
 pretty strong current, and awaited events. But here in the 
 open Miss Honnor had regained her confidence and usual com- 
 posure ; and in the end the continuous pressure of the pliant 
 top was too much for him ; he began to yield fiercely fighting 
 now and again to get away, to be sure ; but the climax was a 
 sudden flash of Eobert's steel clip, and a heavy-shouldered 
 fifteen-pounder was out on the stones. Old Robert, smiling 
 grimly at the success of his young mistress, but saying 
 nothing, had to "wet" the fish all by himself; for Miss 
 Honnor's drink was water ; and as for Lionel, his throat was 
 too valuable and sensitive a possession to be treated to raw 
 spirits at this time of the morning. Then, that ceremony 
 being over, they deposited the salmon in a hole in the bank, to 
 be picked up on their homeward journey, and forthwith set out 
 again, up the valley of the Geinig. 
 
 Their surroundings were now becoming more wild and 
 lonely this, in fact, being the route by which Lionel had 
 travelled the day before when he was after the deer. Down in 
 the glen, it is true, everything was pretty enough the silver- 
 grey rocks, the rushing brown water, the banks hanging with 
 birches ; but far away on those upland heights there was 
 nothing but the monotonous deep purple of the heather, broken 
 here and there, perhaps, by a dark green pine ; and beyond 
 those heights again rose the rounded tops and shoulders of the 
 distant cloud-stained hills. It was after Miss Honnor had 
 industriously but unsuccessfully fished the Horse-Shoe and the 
 
156 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 Cormorant Pools that she chanced to be regarding the moun- 
 tainous line along the sky ; and she then perceived that, one of 
 those far shoulders was gradually changing from a sombre blue 
 into a soft and pearly grey. 
 
 " Do you see the veil that has come over the high peak 
 yonder ? " she asked of her companion. " There is rain falling 
 there ; and most likely we shall have a shower or two here by- 
 and-by ; and as you have no waterproof, we may as well push 
 on to a place of shelter where we can have our lunch. I know 
 a pretty little dell up there, just above the Geinig Pool ; and it 
 will be quite a new sensation for me to have any one with me, 
 for ordinarily I have my lunch there in solitary state, and I sit 
 and stare, and sit and stare, until I believe I know every stone 
 in the burn and every spear of grass on the opposite bank." 
 
 Even as she spoke there was a slight pattering here in the 
 sunlight, and diamonds began to glitter on the breckan. Then 
 came a cold stirring of wind ; there was a sensation of darkness 
 overhead of impending gloom of hushed expectancy; finally, 
 just as they reached the little glade, descended into it, crossed 
 the burn, and took refuge beneath some overhanging birch- 
 trees, the heavy rattle of the deluge was heard all around them, 
 and they were glad enough to be under this canopy of 
 trembling leaves. It was only a sharp shower, after all. That 
 universal whirr grew fainter ; the air became warmer ; a kind 
 of watery glow begun to show itself in the sky ; presently, as 
 they ventured to look up through the dripping pendulous 
 branches, there was a glimpse of heavenly blue above them : 
 behold, the rain was over and gone ! 
 
 Then carefully did the handsome old gillie spread out her 
 waterproof on the sloping bank for Miss Honnor to sit on ; he 
 brought forth the little parcels neatly tied up in white paper ; 
 likewise a bottle of milk and two silver drinking-cups ; when 
 he had seen that she was all properly cared for, he handed to 
 Lionel the game-bag which had held the luncheon, so that that 
 might serve as the other seat, if he chose ; and then the old 
 man withdrew a few yards down the little hollow, to be within 
 call if he was wanted. 
 
 And what had Lionel to say for himself, now that he had 
 been admitted into this secret haunt of the river-maiden ? 
 Well, if the truth must bo told, he was considerably em- 
 barrassed. For one thing, he was mortally afraid that she 
 might suddenly bethink herself of Paul and Virginia, and bo 
 annoyed by a situation which was certainly none of his con- 
 
Aivron and Geinig. 157 
 
 triving. What was still worse, she might bo amused! IIo 
 could not get it out of his head that there was something 
 dangerously, almost ludicrously, conventional in the whole 
 position ; it seemed to suggest some foolish, old-fashioned, 
 sentimental picture. The solitary dell, and the two figures: 
 why, he felt as if blue ribbons were beginning to sprout at his 
 knees ; and he feared to turn to his companion lest he should 
 find her with a crook and a kirtle. He did not ask himself 
 why wretched reminiscences of theatrical tradition should 
 thrust themselves upon him here in the lonely wilds of Koss- 
 shire : what he dreaded was that some such idea might occur to 
 her, and provoke her resentment what was still more ghastly, 
 it might make her laugh ! 
 
 Honnor Cunyngham, for her part, was quietly and con- 
 tentedly munching her sandwiches of salmon and vinegared 
 lettuce-leaf; and no such idle town-fancies were troubling her. 
 Probably she was thinking that the hot sunlight after the 
 shower made everything intensely vivid the silver-stemmed 
 birches in this picturesque little dell rising gracefully into the 
 keen blue of the sky ; the diamond-starred breckans and grass 
 shining after the wet ; the clear tea-brown water at her feet 
 glancing in the sun ; the green and bronze stones and pebbles 
 showing clear at the bottom of the pellucid brook as it chased 
 and danced on its way down to the Geinig. And whatever 
 else she may have been thinking of, she was almost certainly 
 conscious that vinegared lettuce-leaf in a sandwich was a vast 
 improvement. 
 
 " Do you come here often ? " he said, at length. 
 " It is my favourite nook," she made answer. 
 "I confess that I feel horribly like an interloper," he 
 remarked, hesitatingly. " I feel as if I as if I had no right to 
 be here as if I was invading a sacred retreat " and there he 
 stopped ; for he would like to have added " the sacred retreat 
 of a sylvan Goddess or a Nymph of the Stream," but that he 
 somehow felt that fantastic imagery of that kind would hardly 
 be appropriate. 
 
 "You had more need of the shelter than I," said this 
 exlremely matter-of-fact young person, "for you had no water- 
 proof, and I had. Come, if you have finished, shall we go up 
 to the Top Pool ? I want you to have a cast over that, for it is 
 an experience; and though the sun is out, it won't much 
 matter; there is always such a boiling and surging in that 
 caldron," 
 
158 Tl\e New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 Old Robert, whose head was just visible above the bracken, 
 was thereupon called to pack up the remains of the simple 
 feast, and then they set forth again skirting, but not troubling 
 the Geinig Pool, for the sun was too strong. A beautiful pool 
 was this Geinig Pool the water coming tumbling down over 
 the boulders in masses of chestnut-hue and white, then sailing 
 away in a rapid sweep of purplish-blue, and then breaking 
 over shallows (whose every ripple was flashing a diamond 
 point) as it went whirling into the rocky channel beyond. 
 The sun lay hot on the steep banks, where not a leaf of the 
 birch-trees stirred now, and on the lichened rocks, and on the 
 long strand of lilac-grey pebbles ; altogether a beautiful pool 
 this was, set deep in its cup among the hills, but for their 
 present purposes useless. 
 
 The Top Pool, which they presently reached, was altogether 
 a different sort of place ; for here the waters plunged into a 
 roaring caldron, with a din that stunned the ears ; and now it 
 was that Lionel discovered Miss Honnor's intention he was to 
 have the amusement of throwing a fly over this Maelstrom 
 from the side of the sheer bank, while the only foothold 
 afforded him was the stump of an out-projecting pine. Well, 
 he was not going to refuse and ask a young lady to take his 
 place. lie dug his feet into the soft herbage about the roots of 
 the tree ; old Eobert handed him the rod ; he got out some 
 line ; and then began to try how he could get a fly down into 
 that raging vortex, while keeping clear of the branches over 
 his head. His first impression was, that he might as well 
 attempt to throw a fly to the moon; but presently things 
 began to look more hopeful ; and he found at length, that, when 
 the fly did get just beyond the downward rush of the fall, 
 it was swept by the current into certain glassy deeps, where 
 he could work it pretty well. Hard as he laboured, however, 
 that jerking little grey shrimp (for that was what the fly 
 looked like in the water) could not stir anything. He worked 
 away until even the indefatigable Eobert said he had done 
 enough ; then he reeled up ; and perhaps he was not sorry to 
 regain the top of this sheer precipice, where there was but 
 that single fir-slump and a few loose branches of birch between 
 him and the seething and surging whirpool below. 
 
 He was more fortunate in the Geinig Pool, which Miss 
 Cunyngham also compelled him to take, good-naturedly re- 
 marking that she had her fish already, and that he must have 
 its fellow to carry home in the evening. There were some 
 
Aivron and Geinig. 159 
 
 welcome clouds about now ; and the rock from which ho had 
 to cast over the Geinig Pool afforded him a much better 
 foothold than the fir-roots. At first things did not seem 
 favourable; for he went over all the deep smooth water 
 without moving a fin ; in fact, he had fished almost right 
 to the end of the pool, when, in the very act of recovering 
 his line, he got hold of something. And very soon ho found 
 that he had got hold of a very lively something; for the 
 cantrips which this small salmon played were most extra- 
 ordinary. For a second or two he seemed inclined to go right 
 down the stony channel (which would have instantly settled 
 the matter, as there was no possible means of following him) 
 but the next moment he had dashed right up through the 
 middle of the pool, tearing the water as he went, and 
 frightening the luckless fisherman half out of his wits with 
 this dangerously slackening line. That, however, was soon 
 righted ; and now the salmon lay in an eddy just below the 
 fall. Would he attempt to breast that bulk of water in a mad 
 effort to be free of this hateful thing that had got hold of him ? 
 then good-bye to him for ever ! But no that was not his 
 fancy : he suddenly sprung into the air and again sprung 
 and then savagely beat the surface with body and tail ; after 
 which fearsome performance he swerved round and came right 
 in under the rock on which Lionel was standing, where they 
 could see him lying perfectly still in the deep clear water. 
 He neither tugged nor bored ; that olive-green thing (for so he 
 appeared in these depths) lay perfectly motionless no doubt 
 planning further devilment, and only waiting to recover his 
 strength. Meanwhile Lionel had scrambled a bit higher up 
 the rock so as to get the rod at a safer angle. 
 
 " He's a lively fellow, that one ! " old Eobert said, with a 
 grin. " Ay, sir, and ye hooked him ferry well too." 
 
 "I should say I did! " Lionel exclaimed. " I had no idea 
 there was a fish there I never saw him coming I was 
 drawing the line out of the water, and all at once thought I 
 had struck on a log. He's well hooked, I should think ; but I 
 didn't hook him he hooked himself." 
 
 " He's not a ferry big one, but he's a salmon whatever," 
 old Eobert said ; and then he suddenly called out, " Mind, sir ! 
 let him go ! let him go ! " 
 
 For away went that little wretch again, tearing over to the 
 other side, where he lashed and better lashed the surface ; and 
 then, getting tired of that exercise, he somewhat sullenly came 
 
160 
 
 TJie New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 sailing into mid-sfreara, where there was a smooth, dark 
 current, bounded on the side next the fisherman by some brown 
 shelves of rock only a few inches under water. And what 
 must this demon of a fish do but begin boring into the stream, 
 so that every moment the line was being drawn nearer and 
 nearer to the knife-like edge. 
 
 "Here, Kobert, what am I to do now?" Lionel cried in 
 dismay. " Another couple of inches, and it's all over ! How 
 are we to get him out of that hole ? " 
 
 " Mebbe he'll no go mich deeper," Eobert observed, calmly 
 but with his grey eyes keenly watching. 
 
 " If I lose this fish," Lionel said between his teeth, " I'll 
 throw myself into the pool after him ! " 
 
 " You'd better not," said Miss Cunyngham, placidly, r i" for 
 if Eobert has to gaff you, you'll find it a very painful 
 experience." 
 
 But now the line was slackening a little; the fisherman 
 reeled in quickly ; the salmon made his appearance un- 
 doubtedly yielding ; and then, coming over the shallow rocks 
 in obedience to the pressure of the rod, he once more sailed into 
 the black clear pool just below them. Cautiously old Eobert 
 crept down. When he was close to the water, he bared his 
 right arm, and grasped the gaff by the handle ; then he waited 
 and watched for the salmon was still too deep. Lionel, 
 meanwhile, had got back a bit on the rock, so that any sudden 
 rush might not snap the top of his rod in two ; then he also 
 waited and watched but somewhat increasing the pressure on 
 the fish. Miss Honnor was probably as interested as either of 
 them ; but she only said 
 
 " I think he is well hooked and you'll get him but don't 
 bear too hardly on him for all that." 
 
 The conclusion of the fight proved to be a series of rapid 
 and cautious skirmishes between the salmon and old Eobert ; 
 for as soon as the former discovered that danger awaited him at 
 the foot of the rock, he made every possible effort to break 
 away, and then, getting more and more exhausted, allowed 
 himself to be led in again. And then at last, on his sailing in 
 almost on his side, so dead beat was he, a firm stroke of the 
 gaff caught him behind the shoulder, and the next moment he 
 was in mid-air, the next again on the bare rock. 
 
 Now, when you have slain a stag one day, it is not so much 
 of a triumph to kill a salmon the next ; nevertheless, Lionel 
 was as heartily glad to see that fish ashore as he would have 
 
Aivron and Geinig. 161 
 
 been deeply mortified had it escaped. For was not Honnor 
 Cunyngham looking on ? Nay, she was kind enough to say to 
 him 
 
 " You played that fish very well, Mr. Moore." 
 " I have "been watching you so often," said he, modestly, 
 " that I must have learned something. And now you must 
 take all the pools on the way home. I won't touch the rod 
 again unless when wading is absolutely necessary. You see, I 
 have no right to this salmon at all ; I consider you have made 
 me a present of him." 
 
 " We must try and get another somehow, between us, before 
 getting back to the lodge," said she; and this unconscious 
 coupling of themselves as companions sounded pleasant to his 
 oars. 
 
 Moreover, as old Eobert had now the fish to carry, Lionel, 
 as usual, made bold to claim Miss Honnor's waterproof, which 
 he slung over his arm ; and that also was a privilege he greatly 
 on joyed. Indeed, his satisfaction as they now proceeded to 
 walk along to the Horse-Shoe Pool was but natural in the 
 circumstances. This charming companionship, secured all to 
 himself the capture of the salmon the tribute that had been 
 paid to his skill the magnetic waterproof hanging over his 
 arm the prospect of a long ramble home on this beautiful 
 afternoon : all these things combined were surely sufficient to 
 put any young man in an excellent humour. And there was 
 something more in store for him. 
 
 " Do you know," he was saying, as they walked along 
 together, " that I have grown quite used to the solitariness of 
 this neighbourhood ? I don't find it strange, or melancholy, or 
 oppressive any longer. I suppose when I get back to a crowded 
 city the roar of it will be absolutely bewildering ; indeed, I am 
 looking forward with a good deal of interest to seeing some- 
 thing of the world again at Kilfearn which can't be a very big 
 place either." 
 
 '* Oh, are you going to the opening of the Kilfearn Town 
 Hall?" she asked. 
 
 Yos," said he, with a little surprise, "I thought everybody 
 was going. Aren't you ? I understood the whole world of 
 
 --shire was to be there; and that I was to make a sudden 
 plunge into a perfect whirlpool of human life." 
 
 4 '"it will amuse you," she said, with a quiet smile. tl You 
 will see all the county families there, staring at each other's 
 ; and you will hear a lot of songs like ' My Pretty Jane,' 
 
162 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 and 'Ever of Thee,' sung by bashful young ladies. At the 
 opening of the proceedings my brother Hugh will make a 
 speech ; he is their chairman ; and I know precisely what he 
 will say. Hugh always speaks to the point. It will be some- 
 thing like this ' Ladies and gentlemen, I am glad to see you 
 here to-night. We still want 180Z. We mean to give two 
 more concerts to clear the debt right off. You must all come, 
 and bring your friends. I will not longer stand in the way 
 of the performers who have kindly volunteered their services.' " 
 
 "And that is a most admirable speech," her companion 
 exclaimed. " It says everything that is wanted, and nothing 
 more : I call it a model speech ! " 
 
 "Mr. Moore," she said, suddenly looking up, "are you going 
 to sing at the concert ? " 
 
 " I believe so," he answered. 
 
 " What are you going to sing ? " 
 
 " Oh, I don't know yet. Whatever I am asked for. Lady 
 Adela is arranging the programme." And then he added rather 
 breathlessly : " Is there anything you would care to have me 
 sing?" 
 
 " Well, to tell you the truth," said she, quite frankly, " 
 hardly intended going. But if I thought there was a chance of 
 hearing you sing some such song as 4 The Bonnie Earl o' Moray,' 
 I would go/' 
 
 " The Bonnie Earl o' Moray ' ? " he said, eagerly. " The 
 song that Miss Lestrange sang the other night ? " 
 
 " The song that Miss Lestrange made a fool of the other 
 night," she said, contemptuously. " But if you were to sing it, 
 you would make it very fine and impressive I should like to 
 hear you sing that in a large hall 
 
 " Oh, but certainly I will sing it ! " he said, quickly, for ho 
 was only too rejoiced that she should prefer this small request, 
 as showing that she did take some little interest in him and 
 what he could do. " I will make a stipulation that I sing it, if 
 I sing anything. Miss Lestrange won't mind, I know." 
 
 " I almost think you should go under an assumed name," 
 Miss Honnor said, presently, with a bit of a laugh. " I dare say 
 the people wouldn't recognise you, in ordinary dress. And 
 then, when the amateur vocalists had been going on with their 
 Pretty Janes and Meet me by Moonlights, when you gave them 
 * The Bonnie Earl o' Moray,' as you would sing it, I should 
 think amazement would be on most faces. But I dare say Lady 
 Adela has had it announced in the Inverness Courier that you 
 
Aivron and Geinig. 163 
 
 are to sing, for they want to make a grand success of the con- 
 cert, to help to clear off the debt ; and of course all the people 
 from the shooting-lodges will be coming, for it isn't every 
 autumn they have a chance of hearing Mr. Lionel Moore in 
 Ross-shire." 
 
 Really, she was becoming quite complaisant! this proud, 
 unapproachable huntress-maiden, who seemed to live remote 
 and isolated in a world all of her own. And so she was coming 
 to this amateur concert, merely to hear him sing ? Be sure the 
 first thing he did that evening, on entering the drawing-room 
 after dinner, was to go up to Miss Georgie Lestrange with a 
 humble little speech, asking her whether she would object to 
 his borrowing that particular ballad from her repertory. The 
 smiling and gracious young damsel instantly replied that, on 
 the contrary, she would be delighted to play the accompaniment 
 for him. Would he look at the music now ? He did look at it ; 
 found it simple enough ; imagined that the refrain verse might 
 be made rather effective. Would he try it over now ? Yes, if she 
 would be so kind. She forthwith went to the piano, he follow- 
 ing ; and at once there was silence in the long low-ceilinged 
 drawing-room. Of course this was but a trial ; and the room 
 had not been constructed with a view to any acoustic require- 
 ments; nevertheless the fine and penetrating timbre of his 
 trained voice told all the same ; indeed, it is probable there was 
 a lump in the throat of more than one of those young ladies 
 when he sang the pathetic refrain, with its proud and sonorous 
 finish 
 
 ' lang, lang may his Lady 
 Look frae the Castle Doune, 
 Ere she see the Earl o 1 Moray 
 
 COME SOUNDING THROUGH THE TOUN.' 
 
 Simple as the 'air was, it haunted the ear even of this profes- 
 sional vocalist all the evening ; but perhaps that was because he 
 was looking forward to a coming occasion on which he would 
 have to sing the ballad; and well he knew that however 
 numerous his audience might be though he might be standing 
 before all the Rosses and Frasers, the Gordens and Munroes, the 
 Mackays and Mackenzies of the county well he knew that he 
 would be singing that he intended to sing to an audience of 
 one only. And which would she like to have emphasised the 
 more the pathetic and hopeless outlook of the lady in the 
 tower, or the proud state and ceremony of the Earl himself as 
 
 M 2 
 
164 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 he used to * come sounding through the toun ' ? Well, he would 
 practise a little, and ascertain what he could do with it on 
 some occasion when he found himself alone away up in the 
 hills, with a silence around him unbroken save for the hushed 
 whisper of the birch-leaves, and the distant, low murmur of the 
 Geinig falls. | 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE PHANTOM STAG. 
 
 BUT if he were so anxious about how he should sing (for his 
 audience of one only) that old Scotch ballad, he was not acting 
 very wisely, or else he had a sublime confidence in the 
 soundness of his chest ; for on his host's offering him another 
 day's stalking, he cheerfully accepted the same; and that 
 notwithstanding they had now fallen upon a period of ex- 
 tremely rough, cold, and wet weather. Was this another piece 
 of bravado, then undertaken to produce a favourable im- 
 pression in a certain quarter or had the hunter's hunger really 
 got hold of him ? On the evening before the appointed raid, 
 even the foresters looked glum ; the western hills were 
 ominous and angry; and the wind that came howling down 
 the strath seemed to foretell a storm. But he was not to be 
 daunted ; he said he would give up only when Eoderick 
 assured him that the expedition was quite impracticable and 
 useless. 
 
 " I hear you are going after the deer to-morrow," said the 
 pretty Miss Georgie Lestrange to him, in the drawing-room after 
 dinner, while Lady Sybil was performing her famous fantasia 
 ' The Voices of the Moonlight,' to which nobody listened but 
 her own admiring self. " And I was told all about that custom 
 of making the stalker a little present on his setting out, for 
 good luck. It was Honnor Cunyngham who did that for you 
 last time ; and I think it should be my turn to-morrow 
 morning." 
 
 " Oh, thank you ! " said he ; but ' Thank you for nothing ! ' 
 he said in his heart ; for why should any frivolous trinket even 
 when presented by this very charming and complaisant young 
 damsel be allowed to interfere with the prerogative of 
 Cunyngham's sacred talisman ? 
 
The Phantom Stag. 1G5 
 
 " I say," continued the bright-eyed, ruddy-haired lass, " what 
 do you and Honnor Cunyngham talk about all day long, when 
 you are away on those fishing excursions ? Don't you bore each, 
 other to death? Oh, I know she's rather learned; though she 
 doesn't bestow much of her knowledge upon us. Well, I'm not 
 going to say anything against Honnor; for she's so awfully 
 good-natured ; you know, she allows her sisters-in-law to 
 experiment on her as an audience, and she has always some- 
 thing friendly and nice to say, though I can guess what she 
 thinks of it all. Now, what do you two talk about all day 
 long?" 
 
 " Well, there's the fishing," said he, " for one thing." 
 
 "Oh, don't tell me!" exclaimed this impertinent young 
 hussy (while the Voices of the Moonlight moaned and mourned 
 their mysterious regrets and despairs at the far end of the 
 drawing-room). " Don't tell me ! Honnor Cunyngham is far 
 too good-looking for you to go talking salmon to her all day 
 long. Yery handsome, I call her : don't you ? She's so dis- 
 tinguished, somehow so different from any one else. Of course 
 you don't notice it up here so much, where she prides herself 
 on roughing it you never met her in London ? in London 
 you should see her come into a drawing-room her walk and 
 manner are simply splendid. She'll never marry," continued 
 this garrulous little person with the coquettish pince-nez 
 perched on her not too Grecian nose. " I am sure she won't. 
 She despises men all of them except her brother, Sir Hugh. 
 Lord Rockminster admires her tremendously ; but he's too 
 lazy to say so, I suppose. How has she taken such a fancy 
 to you ? " 
 
 " I was not aware she had," Lionel discreetly made answer, 
 though the question had startled him, and not with pain. 
 
 " Oh, yes, she has. Did she think you were lone and unpro- 
 tected, being persecuted by the rest of us ? I am quite certain 
 she wouldn't allow my brother Percy to go fishing a whole day 
 with her ; most likely Lord Rockminster wouldn't care to take 
 the trouble. I wonder if she hasn't a bit of a temper ? Lady 
 Eosamund is awful sometimes ; but she doesn't show that to 
 you catch her ! But Honnor Cunyngham well, the only time 
 I ever went with her on one of her storking exhibitions, the 
 water was low, and she thrashed away for hours, and saw 
 nothing. At last a stot happened to come wandering along ; 
 and she said quite savagely, * I'm going to hook something ! ' 
 You don't know what a stot is ? it's a young bullock. So she 
 
166 The Neiv Prims Fortunatus. 
 
 deliberately walked to within twenty yards or so of the animal, 
 threw the line so that it just dropped across its neck, and the 
 fly caught in the thick hair. You should have seen the gay 
 performance that followed ! The beast shook its head and 
 shook its head for it could feel the line, if it couldn't feel the 
 fly ; and then getting alarmed, it started off up the hill, with 
 the reel squealing just as if a salmon was on, and Honnor 
 running after him as hard as she could over the bracken and 
 heather. If it was rage made her hook the stot, she was 
 laughing now laughing so that when the beast stopped she 
 could hardly reel in the line. And old Robert I thought he 
 would have had a fit. ' Will I gaff him now, Miss Honnor ? ' he 
 cried, as he came running along. But the stot didn't mean to 
 be gaffed. Off it set again ; and Honnor after it, until at last it 
 caught the line in a birch-bush and broke it ; then, just as if 
 nothing had happened, it began to graze as usual. You should 
 have seen the game that began then old Eobert and Honnor 
 trying to get hold of the stot, so as to take the casting-line and 
 the fly from its mane it isn't a mane, but you know and the 
 stot trying to butt them whenever they came near. The end of 
 it was that the beast shook off the fly for itself, and old Robert 
 found it ; but I wonder whether it was real rage that made 
 
 Honnor Cunyngham hook the stot " 
 
 " Of course not 1 " he said. " It was a mere piece of fun." 
 " It isn't fun when Lady Rosamund comes downstairs in a 
 bad temper after you gentlemen have left," remarked Miss 
 Georgie, significantly; and then she prattled away in this 
 careful undertone. " What horrid stuff that fantasia is : don't 
 you think so ? A mixture of Wagner, and Chopin, and ' Home, 
 sweet home.' Lady Adela has put you in her novel. Oh, yes, 
 she has; she showed me the last pages this morning. You 
 remember the young married English lady who is a great 
 poetess ? well, she is rescued from drowning in the Bay of 
 Syracuse by a young Greek sailor, and you are the Greek 
 sailor. You'll be flattered by her description of you. You are 
 entirely Greek and god-like what is that bust ? Alcibiades ? 
 no, no, he was a general, wasn't he ? Alcinous, is it ? or 
 Antinous ? never mind, the bust you see so often in Florence 
 and Rome well, you're described as being like that ; and the 
 young English lady becomes your patron, and you're to be 
 educated, and brought to London. But whether her husband 
 is to be killed off, to make way for you ; or whether she is 
 going to hand you over to one of her sisters, I don't know yet. 
 
The Phantom Stag. 167 
 
 It must be rather nice to look at yourself in a novel, and see 
 what other people think of you, and what fate they ordain for 
 you. Lady Adela has got all the criticisms of her last novel 
 all the nice ones, I mean cut out, and pasted on pages, and 
 bound in scarlet morocco. 1 told her she should have all the 
 unpleasant ones cut out and bound in green envy and jealousy, 
 don't you see ? but she pretends not to have seen any besides 
 those she has kept. The book is in her own room ; I suppose 
 she reads it over every night, before going to bed. And really, 
 after so much praise, it is extraordinary that she is to have no 
 money for the book no, quite the reverse, I believe. She was 
 looking forward to making Sir Hugh a very handsome present 
 all out of her own earnings, don't you know ; and she wrote 
 to the publishers ; but instead of Sir Hugh getting a present, 
 he will have to give her a cheque to cover the deficit, poor 
 man. Disappointing, isn't it? quite horrid, I call it; and 
 every one thought the novel such a success your friend, 
 Mr. Quirk was most enthusiastic and we made sure that the 
 public would be equally impressed. It isn't the loss of the 
 money that Lady Adela frets about ; it is the publishers telling 
 her that so few copies have been sold ; and we made sure from 
 all that was said in the papers especially those that Mr. Quirk 
 was kind enough to send that the book was going to be read 
 everywhere. Mind you don't say anything of the young 
 Greek sailor until Lady Adela herself shows you the MS. ; and 
 of course you musn't recognise your own portrait ; for that is 
 merely a guess of mine. Oh, thank you, thank you ! " 
 
 The last words were a murmur of gratitude to Lady Sylvia 
 Bourne for her kindness in playing this piece of her own com 
 position ; and thereafter Miss Georgie's engaging and instruc- 
 tive monologue was not resumed ; for the evening was now 
 about to be wound up by a round or two of poker, and at poker 
 Miss Georgie was an eager adept. 
 
 All that night it poured a deluge ; and the morning beheld 
 the Aivron in roaring spate ; the familiar landmarks of the 
 banks having mostly disappeared, and also many of the mid- 
 channel rocks ; while the blue-black current that came whirling 
 down the strath seemed to bring with it the dull, constant 
 thunder of the distant falls. The western hills looked wild 
 and stormy; there was half-a-gale of wind tearing along the 
 valley ; and if the torrents of the night had mitigated, there 
 were still flying showers of rain that promised to make of the 
 expedition anything but a pleasure excursion. 
 
168 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " Tell me if it is any use at all ! " Lionel insisted, for it must 
 be confessed that the keepers looked very doubtful. 
 
 " Well, sir," said the bushy-bearded Roderick, " the deer will 
 be down from the hills oh, yes but they'll be restless and 
 
 moving about " 
 
 " Do you expect I shall have a chance at one that's all I 
 want to know," was the next demand. 
 
 "Oh, yes, there may be that; but you'll get ahfu wet, 
 sir 
 
 "I'm going," said he, definitely; whereupon the pony was 
 straightway brought up to the door. 
 
 And here was Miss Georgie Lestrange, in a charming 
 morning costume which the male pen may not adequately 
 describe ; and she held a small packet in her hands. 
 
 "I told Honnor Cunyngham it was my turn," she said, 
 with a kind of bashful smile, as she handed the little present to 
 him, " and she only laughed I wonder if she thinks she can 
 command all the luck in Ross-shire : has she got a monopoly of 
 it ? Well, Mr. Moore, they all say you'll get fearfully wet ; 
 and that is a silk handkerchief you must put round your neck : 
 what would the English public say if you went back from the 
 Highlands with a hoarse throat ! " 
 
 " I'm not thinking of the English public just at present," 
 said he, cheerfully. "I'm thinking of the stag that is wandering 
 about somewhere up in the hills ; and I am certain your good 
 wishes will get me a shot at him. How kind of you to get up 
 so early ! good-bye ! " 
 
 This, it must be admitted, was a most hypocritical speech ; 
 for although, as he rode away, he made a pretence of tying the 
 pale pink neckerchief round his throat, it was on the influence 
 of Miss Cunyngham's lucky sixpence the pierced coin was 
 secretly attached to his watch-chain that he relied. In fact, 
 before he had gone far from the lodge, he removed that babyish 
 protection against the rain, and stuck it in his pocket ; he was 
 not going to throw out a red flag to warn the deer. 
 
 After all, the morning was not quite so dismal as had been 
 threatened ; for now and again, as they went away up the strath, 
 there was a break in the heavy skies ; and then the river shone 
 a deep and brilliant purple-blue save where it came hurling in 
 alo-hued masses over the rocks, or rushed in surging white 
 foam through the stony channels. Sometimes a swift glimmer 
 of sunlight smote down on the swinging current; but these 
 flashes were brief; for the lowering clouds were still being 
 
The Phantom Stag. 169 
 
 driven over from the west ; and no one could tell what the day 
 would bring forth. 
 
 " What will Miss Honnor do in a spate like that ? " Lionel 
 inquired of the head-keeper. " Will she go out at all ? " 
 
 " Oh, ay, Miss Honnor will go out," Roderick made answer ; 
 " but she will only be able to fish the tail-end o' the pools ay, 
 and it will not be easy to put a fly over the water, unless the 
 wind goes down a bit." 
 
 " But do you mean she will go out on a day like this ? " 
 he demanded again as he looked at the wild skies and the 
 thundering river. 
 
 " Oh, ay, if there's a chance at ahl Miss Honnor will be 
 out," said Roderick, and he added, with a demure smile, " even 
 if the chentlemen will be for staying at home." 
 
 However, Lionel had soon to consider his own attitude 
 towards this swollen stream, when it became necessary to ford 
 it on the hither side of the Bad Step. To tell the truth, when 
 he regarded that racing current, he did not like the look of 
 it at all. 
 
 " I don't see how we are to get across," he said, with some 
 hesitation. 
 
 "Maggie knaws the weh," Roderick made answer, with a 
 bit of a laugh. 
 
 " Yes, that's all very well," said the mounted huntsman. 
 " I dare say she knows the way ; but if she gets knocked over 
 in the middle of the current, what is to become of me, or of 
 her either?" 
 
 " She'll manage it, sir," said the keeper, confidently, " never 
 fear." 
 
 Lionel was just on the point of saying, "Well, you come 
 yourself and ride her across ; and I'll go over the Bad Step on 
 foot ; " but he did not like to show the white feather ; so, some- 
 what apprehensively, he turned the old pony's head to the 
 river-bank. And very soon he found that old Maggie knew 
 much better what she was about than he did ; for, as soon as 
 she felt the weight of the water, she did not attempt to go 
 straight across ; she deliberately turned her head down-stream, 
 put her buttocks against the force of the current, and thus 
 side-ways, and very cautiously, and with many a thrilling 
 stumble and catching up again, she proceeded to forge this 
 whirling Aivron. Never once did she expose herself broadside ; 
 her hind legs were really doing most of the fight ; and right 
 gratefully did Lionel clap the neck of this wise beast when ho 
 
170 The Neiv Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 found himself on solid land. The ford further up was much 
 less dangerous : and so once again the reunited party held on 
 its way. 
 
 Then here was the Geinig no longer the pretty and 
 picturesque river that lie knew, but a boiling and surging 
 torrent sweeping in red wrath clown its narrow and rocky 
 channel. The farther heights, too, that now came into view, 
 had lost their wonted pale and ethereal hues : there were no 
 soft cloud-stains on the purple slopes of heather a darkness 
 dwelt over the land. As he gradually got up into that wilder 
 country, the gloom grew more intense, the desolation more 
 awful. The roar of the Geinig was lost now in this dreadful 
 silence. He seemed to have left behind him all human sym- 
 pathies and associations to have forsaken his kindred and his 
 kind to have entered a strange world peopled only with dark 
 phantoms and moving shadows and ghosts. A voiceless solitude, 
 too, save for the moaning of the wind, that came sweeping in 
 bitter blasts down from the rainy hills. He did not recognise 
 the features of this melancholy landscape ; they had all changed 
 since his last visit; nay, they were changing under his very 
 eyes, as this or that far mountain-top receded behind a veil of 
 grey, or a shadow of greater darkness advanced with stealthy 
 tread along one of those lonely glens. There was something 
 threatening in the aspect of both earth and sky ; something 
 louring, conspiring, as if some dread fate were awaiting this 
 intruding stranger; at times he fancied he could hear low- 
 murmuring voices, the first mutterings of distant thunder. 
 What if some red bolt of lightning were suddenly to sever this 
 blackness in twain, and reveal its hidden and awful secrets ? 
 But no; there was no such friendly, or avenging, glare; the 
 brooding skies lay over the sombre valleys : and the gloomy 
 phantasmagoria slowly changed and changed in that unearthly 
 twilight, as the mists and the wind and the rain transformed 
 the solid hills and the straths into intermingling vapours and 
 visions. A spectral world, unreal, and yet terrible ; apparently 
 voiceless and tenantless ; and yet somehow suggesting that 
 there were eyes watching, and vaguely moving and menacing 
 shapes passing hither and thither before him in the gloom. 
 
 During these last few days he had been assuring himself 
 that he would enter upon this second stalking expedition without 
 any great tremor. It was only on the first occasion, when 
 everything was strange and unknown to him, that he was 
 naturally nervous. Even the keepers had declared that the 
 
The Phantom Stag. 171 
 
 shooting' of the first stag was everything ; that thereafter ho 
 would have confidence ; that he would take the whole matter 
 as coolly as themselves. And yet when they now began to 
 proceed more warily (old Maggie having been hobbled some 
 way back) and when every corrie and slope and plateau had to 
 be searched with the glass, he found himself growing not a little 
 anxious at the thought of drawing the trigger; insomuch, 
 indeed, that those sombre fancies of the imagination went out 
 of his head altogether, and gave place to the apprehension that 
 on such a day it would be impossible to make a good shot. 
 Their initial difficulty, however, was to find any trace of the 
 " beasts." The wild weather had most likely driven them away 
 from their usual haunts into some place of shelter, the smaller 
 companies joining the main herd; at all events, up to lunch- 
 time the stalkers had seen nothing. It was during this brief 
 rest in a deep peat-hag, down which trickled a little stream of 
 rain-water that Lionel discovered two things: first, that he 
 was wet to the skin, and, second, that the wind in these altitudes 
 was of an Arctic keenness. So long as he had been kept going, 
 he had not paid much attention ; but now this bitter blast 
 seemed to pierce him to the very marrow ; and he began to 
 think that these were very pleasant conditions for a professional 
 singer to be in -for a professional singer whose very existence 
 depended on his voice. 
 
 " Here goes for congestion of the lungs," he philosophically 
 observed to himself, as he shiveringly munched his wet sand- 
 wiches. 
 
 Presently Roderick came along the peat-hag. 
 
 " Would you like to wait here, sir, for a while ? " said he in 
 his accustomed undertone. " I'm thinking Alec and me will 
 go aweh up to the top of Meall-Breac and hef a look round 
 there ; and if we are seeing nothing, we will come back this 
 weh, and go down the Corrie-nam-Miseag " 
 
 "And I am to wait here for you?" Lionel exclaimed. 
 " Not if I know it ! By the time you come back, Roderick, 
 you would find me a frozen corpse. I've got to keep moving 
 somehow, and I may as well go on with you. I suppose I can- 
 not have a cigarette before setting out ? " 
 
 " Aw naw, sir ! " Roderick pleaded. " In this weather, you 
 cannot say where the deer may be you may happen on them 
 at any moment and there will be plenty of time for you to 
 smok on the weh horn." 
 
 " Very well," Lionel said ; and he got up and tried to shake 
 
172 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 his blood into freer circulation ; then he set out with his two 
 companions for the summit of Meall-Breac. 
 
 This steep ascent was fatiguing enough ; but at all events 
 it restored some warmth to his body. He did not go quite to 
 the top ; he sate down on a lichened stone while Eoderick pro- 
 ceeded to crawl inch by inch until his head and glass were just 
 over the crest of a certain knoll. A long scrutiny followed ; 
 then the forester slowly disappeared the gillie following in 
 his serpent-like track ; and Lionel sate on in apathetic patience, 
 slowly getting chilled again. He asked himself what Nina 
 would say to him if she knew of these escapades. He held his 
 back to the wind until he was frozen that way ; then he turned 
 his face to the chill blast, folding his arms across his chest. 
 He took a sip from Percy Lestrange's flask ; but that was more 
 for employment than anything else ; for he discovered there 
 was no real warmth to be got that way. He thought Eoderick 
 was never coming back from the top of the hill. He would 
 have started off down the ascent again, but that they might 
 miss him ; besides, he might do something fatally wrong. So 
 he sate on this cold stone and shivered ; and began to think 
 of Kensal Green. 
 
 Suddenly he heard footsteps behind him ; he turned and 
 found the two men coming towards him. 
 
 " Not a sign of anything, sir," was Eoderick's report. " It's 
 awfu' dark and difficult to see ; and the clouds are down all 
 along Glen Bhoideach. We'll just step along by the Corrie- 
 nam-Miseag. They very often stop for a while in the corrie 
 when they're crossing over to Achnadruim." 
 
 Lionel was not sorry to be again in motion ; and yet very 
 soon he found that motion was not an unmixed joy ; for these 
 two fellows, who were now going down wind along the route 
 they had come, and therefore walking fearlessly, took enor- 
 mously long strides, and held straight on, no matter what 
 sort of ground they were covering. For the sake of his 
 country, he fought hard to keep up with them ; ho would 
 not have them say they could outwalk an Englishman and 
 an Englishman considerably younger than either of them ; 
 but the way those two went over this rough and broken 
 land was moat extraordinary. And it seemed so easy; they 
 did not appear to be putting forth any exertion ; in spite 
 of all he could do, he began to lag a little ; and so ho thought 
 he would mitigate their ardour by engaging them in a little 
 conversation. 
 
The Phantom Stay. 173 
 
 " Roderick," said he, " do you think this neighbourhood 
 was ever inhabited ? " 
 
 " Inhabited ? " said Eoderick, turning in surprise. " Oh, 
 ay, it was inhabited ahlways by foxes and eagles." 
 
 " Not by human beings? " 
 
 " Well, they would be ferry clever that could get a living 
 out of land like this," Eoderick said, simply. 
 
 " But they say in the House of Commons that the deer- 
 forests are depriving a large portion of the population of a 
 means of subsistence," Lionel observed rather breathlessly, 
 for these long strides were fearful. 
 
 "Ay, do they say that now?" Eoderick made answer, with 
 much simplicity. " In the House of Commons ? I'm thinking 
 there is some foolish men in the House of Commons. Mebbe 
 they would not like themselves to come here and try to get 
 their living out of rocks and peat-hags." 
 
 "But don't you think there may have been people in these 
 parts, before the ancient forests rotted down into peat?" 
 Lionel again inquired. 
 
 " I do not know about that," Eoderick said, discreetly : per- 
 haps he knew that his opinions about prehistoric man were not 
 of great value. 
 
 But what Lionel discovered was that talking in nowise 
 interfered with the tremendous pace of the forester ; and ho 
 was just on the point of begging for a respite from this 
 intolerable exertion when a change in their direction caused 
 both Eoderick and the gillie to proceed more circumspectly : 
 they were now coming in view of the Corrie-nam-Miseag, and 
 they had to approach with care, slinking along through hollows 
 and behind mounds and rocks. 
 
 By this time, it must be confessed, Lionel was thoroughly 
 dead-beat : he was wet through, icily cold, and miserable to the 
 verge of despair. The afternoon was well advanced ; they had 
 seen no sign of a stag anywhere ; the gloomy evening threat- 
 ened to bring darkness on prematurely; and but for very 
 shame's sake, he would have entreated them to abandon this 
 fruitless enterprise, and set out for the far-off region of warmth, 
 and reasonable comfort, and dry clothes. And yet when 
 Eoderick, having crawled up to the top of a small height, 
 suddenly and eagerly signalled for Lionel to follow him, all this 
 hopeless lassitude was instantly forgotten. His heart began to 
 burn, if his limbs were deadly cold ; and .quickly he was on the 
 ground, too, moving himself alongside the keeper. The glass 
 
174 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 was given him, but his trembling fingers could not hold it 
 straight ; he put it down, and by-and-by his natural eyes 
 showed him what he thought were some slightly moving 
 objects. 
 
 "There's two of them two stags," Roderick whispered, 
 " and we can get at them easily if there's no more wandering 
 about that I cannot see. Mebbe the others are over that hill. 
 There's one of them is a fine big beast, but he has only the one 
 horn ; the other one, his head is not ferry good. But a stag is 
 a stag whatever ; and the evening is wearing on. Now come 
 aweh with me, sir." 
 
 What Roderick meant by getting at them easily Lionel was 
 now to find out ; he thought he would never have done with 
 this agonising stooping, and crawling, and wading through 
 burns. Long before they had got to the neighbourhood of the 
 deer, he wished heartily that the night would come suddenly 
 down, or the stags take the alarm and make off anything so 
 that he might be released from this unspeakable toil and suffer- 
 ing. And vet he held on, in a sort of blind, despairing 
 fashion : the idea in his head being that if nature gave way 
 he would simply lie down and fall asleep in the heather 
 whether to wake again or not he hardly cared. But by-and-by 
 he was to have his reward. Roderick was making for a certain 
 cluster of rocks ; and when these were reached, Lionel found, 
 to his inexpressible joy, not only that he was allowed to stand 
 upright, but that the stalk had been accomplished. By peering 
 over one of the boulders, he could see both stags quietly 
 feeding at something like seventy yards' distance. It was 
 going to be an easy shot in every way : himself in ample 
 concealment ; a rock on which to rest his rifle ; the deer 
 without thought of danger. He would take his time, and 
 calm down his nerves. 
 
 "Which one?" he whispered to Roderick. 
 
 " The one with the one horn is a fine beast," the keeper 
 whispered in return ; " and the other one, his head is worth 
 nothing at all." 
 
 With extremest caution Lionel put the muzzle over the 
 ledge of the rock, and pushed it quietly forward. He made 
 sure of his footing. He got hold of the barrel with his left 
 hand, and of the stock with his right ; he fixed the rifle firmly 
 against his shoulder ; and took slow and steady aim. He was 
 not so nervous this time ; indeed, everything was in his favour : 
 the stag standing broadside on, and hardly moving; and this 
 
The Phantom Stag. 175 
 
 rock offering so convenient a rest. He held his breath for a 
 moment concentrated all his attention on the long, smooth 
 barrel and fired. 
 
 " You've got him, sir ! " exclaimed Roderick in an eager 
 whisper, and still keeping his head down ; but seeing that the 
 other stag had caught sight of the rifle-smoke and was off at 
 the top of his speed, he rose from his place of concealment, and 
 jumped on to the rock that had been hiding him. 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir, he'll no go far," he cried to Lionel, who was 
 scrambling up to the same place. " There, he's down again on 
 his knees. Come aweh, sir ; we'll go after him. Give me the 
 rifle." 
 
 Lionel had just time to get a glimpse of the wounded stag, 
 which was stumbling pitifully along far behind its now dis- 
 appearing companion when he had to descend from the rock 
 in order to follow Eoderick. All three ran quickly down the 
 hill and rounded into the hollow where they had last seen the 
 stag, following up his track, and looking out everywhere for his 
 prostrate body. But the further they went, the more amazed 
 became Roderick and the gillie : there was no sign of the beast 
 that both of them declared could not have run a couple of 
 hundred yards. The track of him disappeared in the bed of a 
 burn, and could not be recovered, search as they would ; so they 
 proceeded to explore every adjacent hollow and peat-hag, in the 
 certainty that within a very few minutes they must find the 
 lost quarry. The few minutes lengthened out and out ; half- 
 hours went by ; and yet there was no sign. They went away 
 down the burn; they went away up the burn; they made 
 wider casts, and narrowed in, like so many retrievers ; and all 
 to no purpose. And meanwhile darkness and the night were 
 coming on. 
 
 " He's lying dead somewhere, as sure as anything can be," 
 Roderick said, looking entirely puzzled and crest-fallen ; " and 
 we'll hef to bring up a terrier in the morning, and search 
 for him. I never sah the like o' that in my life. When he fell 
 where he stood I made sure he was feenished ; then he was up 
 again, and ran a little weh, and again he went down on his 
 knees " 
 
 "It was then I saw him," Lionel exclaimed, "and I expected 
 him to drop the next moment. Why, he must be about here, 
 Roderick, he couldn't vanish into the air he wasn't a ghost 
 for I heard the thud of the bullet when it struck him 
 
 ** Ay, and me too," Roderick said, " but we will do no good 
 
17G The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 now, for it is getting BO dark ; and you hef to cross the two 
 fords, sir " 
 
 " The fords ! " said Lionel. " By Jove, I forgot them. I 
 say, we must hurry on. I suppose you are sure to find him in 
 the morning?" 
 
 " We will bring up a terrier whatever," Roderick said 
 doubtfully; for he seemed to have been entirely disconcerted 
 by the disappearance of the phantom stag. " Ay, I hef known 
 them rin a long weh after being wounded miles and miles 
 they will go but this wan wass so hard hit, I thought he 
 would drop directly. The teffle tek him I could hef given 
 him the other barrel myself ! " 
 
 And still they seemed loth to leave the ground, notwith- 
 standing the gathering darkness. They kept wandering about, 
 examining and searching ; until it was quite obvious that even 
 if the stag were lying within easy distance of them they could 
 hardly distinguish it; so finally they withdrew beaten and 
 baffled, and made away down to the lower country, where 
 the old pony Maggie was probably wondering at their unusual 
 length of absence. 
 
 That was a sombre ride home. It was now raining heavily ; 
 and all the night seemed to be filled with a murmuring of 
 streams and a moaning of winds among the invisible hills, 
 Koderick walked by the pony's head; and Lionel could just 
 make him out, and no more, so pitch dark it was. Of course he 
 had no idea of the route he was taking or of the nature of the 
 ground they were getting over ; but he could guess from 
 Maggie's cautious steps when they were going over rough 
 places, or he could hear the splash of her feet when they were 
 crossing a swamp. Not a word was uttered ; no doubt all the 
 forester's attention was bent on making out a path ; while as 
 for Lionel, he was too wet and cold and miserable to think of 
 talking to anybody. If he had certainly known that some- 
 where or other he had left up there a stag, which they could 
 bring down in the morning, that would have consoled him 
 somewhat; but it was just as likely as not that all this 
 privation and fatigue had been endured for nothing. As they 
 trudged along through the gloomy night, the rain fell more 
 heavily than ever, and the bitter wind seemed to search out 
 every bone in his body. 
 
 And then when at length they came within sound of the 
 Geinig, there was no longer a friendly voice welcoming them 
 back to more familiar regions; it was an angry and threatening 
 
Phantom Stag. 177 
 
 roar ; lie could sec nothing ; lio could only imagine the wild 
 torrent hurling along through this black desolation. 
 
 " Look here, Roderick," he said, " mind you keep away from 
 that river. If wo should stumble down one of the steep banks, 
 we should never be heard of again." 
 
 " Oh, ay, we're a long distance from the ruvver; and it is 
 as well to keep aweh ; for if we were to get into the Geinig 
 to-night, we would be tekken down like straws." 
 
 And how welcome was the small red ray that told of the 
 shepherd's cottage just below the junction of the Geinig and 
 the Aivron ! It was a cheerful beacon ; it spoke of human 
 association and companionship; the moan of the hurrying 
 Aivron seemed to have less of boding in it now. It is true they 
 still had the two fords to encounter, and another long and weary 
 tramp, before they got back to the lodge ; but here at least 
 was some assurance that they were out of those storm-haunted 
 solitudes where the night was now holding high revel. That 
 ray of light streaming from the solitary little window seemed 
 to Lionel a blessed thing ; it served to dissipate the horrors of 
 this murmuring and threatening blackness all around him ; it 
 cheered and warmed his heart ; it was a joyful assurance that 
 they were on the right way for home. When they reached the 
 cottage, they knocked at the door ; and presently there was a 
 delightful ruddy glow in the midst of the dark. Would the 
 gentleman not come in and warm himself at the fire, and get 
 his clothes dried ? No : Lionel said that getting wet through 
 once was better that getting wet through twice ; he would go 
 on as he was. But might he have a glass of milk ? The 
 shepherd disappeared, and returned with a tumbler of milk arid 
 a piece of oatcake; and never in his life had the famous 
 baritone from the far city of London tasted anything sweeter, 
 for he was half-dead with hunger. Greatly refreshed by this 
 opportune bit and sup, the tired and " droukit " rider cheerfully 
 resumed his way ; and it was with a stout heart that, after a 
 certain time, he found Roderick cautiously leading the pony 
 down to the water's edge. And then a sudden thought struck 
 him. 
 
 " Look here, Roderick," said he, " I suppose I can get across 
 this ford safely enough ; but how on earth am I to know when 
 I get to the next one? I can't see a yard in front of the pony's 
 head." 
 
 "I'm coming with ye, sir," was the simple answer; and 
 at the same moment there was a general splashing which told 
 
 B 
 
178 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 him. that both Maggie and the tall keeper were in the rushing 
 stream. 
 
 " Well, I suppose you can't be wetter than you are," he 
 said. 
 
 " Indeed that's true," Roderick answered, with much 
 composure. 
 
 Now this first ford, though a ticklish thing in the pitch 
 darkness, they managed successfully enough ; but the next one 
 proved a terrible business. Eoderick went by the pony's head, 
 with his hand on the bridle ; but whether he helped Maggie, or 
 whether Maggie helped him, it would be hard to say. Lionel 
 could only guess what a mighty floundering there was going 
 on ; but Eoderick kept encouraging his four-footed companion 
 to hold up; and more than once, when they attained a safe 
 footing, he called a halt to let the faithful Maggie recover her 
 breath. 
 
 " Take your feet out o' the stirrups, sir," he said, when they 
 were about half-way across ; " there's some nasty sharp ledges 
 the other side, and if she loses her footing, you'll chist slip off 
 before she goes over; and it will not tek ye above the waist 
 whatever, so that you can get ashore by yourself." 
 
 When they did reach those ledges, Maggie seemed to under- 
 stand the awkwardness of the situation quite as well as he ; she 
 went forward only an inch or two at a time ; and if her hind feet 
 occasionally skated a little, her fore feet remained firm where 
 she had planted them. As for Lionel, he was of course quite 
 helpless ; he did not seek to interfere in any way ; he was 
 merely ready to slip off the saddle if Maggie rolled over. But 
 presently a sudden red flash revealed to him that they were 
 near land (this was Alec striking a vesuvian to give them a 
 friendly lead) ; there was some further cautious sliding and 
 stumbling forward ; then the uplifting of Maggie's neck and 
 shoulders told him she had gained solid ground and was going 
 up the bank. Never was soft and sure foot-fall more welcome. 
 
 The arrival of the belated and bedrenched little party at 
 the lodge created no little surprise ; for it had been concluded 
 that, having been led away by a long stalk, or perhaps follow- 
 ing a wounded deer into unexpected regions, and finding 
 themselves overtaken by the dark, they had struck across 
 country for the Aivron-Bridge Inn, to pass the night there. 
 However, Sir Hugh bustled about to have his guest properly 
 looked after ; and when Lionel had got into dry clothes, and 
 swallowed some bit of warmed-up dinner, he went into the 
 
The Phantom Stag. 179 
 
 drawing-room, where they were all of them playing poker all 
 of them, that is to say, except Lord Fareborough, who in a big 
 easy chair by the fire was nursing his five-and- twenty ailments, 
 and no doubt inwardly cursing those people for the chatter 
 they were keeping up. They stopped their game when Lionel 
 entered to hear the news ; and when he had told his heart- 
 rending tale, Lady Adela's brother lazily called to her 
 
 " I say, Addie, there's a chance for you to try that terrier 
 of yours. If he's as intelligent as you say, send him out 
 with the gillies to-morrow, and see if he can find the stag for 
 them." 
 
 " Why, of course," Lady Adela instantly responded. " Mr. 
 Moore, I have just become possessed of the wisest little terrier 
 in the whole world, I do believe. He only arrived this 
 evening ; but he and I have been friends for a long time ; I 
 bought him only yesterday from a shepherd down the strath. 
 Oh, I must show you the letter that came with the dog. 
 Georgie, dear, would you mind running into my room and 
 bringing me a letter you will find on the dressing-table ? " 
 
 Miss Georgie was absent only a couple of seconds : when she 
 returned she handed Lionel the following epistle, which was 
 written on a rather shabby sheet of paper. Its contents, 
 however, were of independent value. 
 
 " Altnashielacli. Tuesday moarniug. 
 Lady Addela Cunningham, 
 
 Honnerd Lady, I am sendin you the terrier by my 
 sin Jeames that was takking the milk from Bragla to your lady- 
 ship's house the last year when he was butten by the red dog 
 and your ladyship so kind as to giv him five shullins the 
 terrier's name is Donacha bit he will soon answer to his English 
 name that is Duncan Honnerd Lady you must be kind to him 
 for he will be a little shy the first time he is awa from home 
 and because he will not understand your languish as he was 
 taught Gealic he got plenty of Blood on the foxes he can warry 
 wan with himself alone let me no how you will be please with 
 him and if he is behaved and obadient I will be glad to have 
 the news 
 
 from your ladyship's humble servant 
 
 Magnus Boss, Altnashielach." 
 
 " A wee terrier that can worry a fox all by himself must be 
 a gallant little beast, mustn't he ? " said Lady Adela, who 
 seemed quite proud of her new acquisition. " And I know ho 
 
 N 2 
 
180 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 will find that stag for you, Mr. Moore, if he is to be found ; for 
 Donacha, or Duncan, is the wisest little creature you ever saw. 
 I wish I could talk Gaelic, just to make him feel at home the 
 first few days." Then she turned to her companions. " Who 
 began this round Mr. Lestrange ? Very well, when it comes 
 to Sybil, I propose we let you gentlemen go off to your cigars 
 in the gun-room; for poor Mr. Moore, I know, hasn't been 
 allowed to smoke all day ; and I am sure he must be far too 
 tired to think of playing poker. How many do you want, 
 Hose?" 
 
 AVhen this round of poker was finished, the gentlemen did 
 not seem to resent being dismissed to the so-called gun-room, 
 where, round the great, blazing peat fire, and with cigars and 
 pipes and whiskey- and -sod a to console them in their banish- 
 ment, Lionel was called upon to give them more minute details 
 regarding his da3 7 's adventures. And very various were the 
 opinions expressed as to the chances of that stag being found. 
 Some ominous stories were told of the extraordinary distances 
 deer were known to have run even when mortally wounded ; 
 and there were possibilities suggested of his having fallen into 
 a rapid watercourse and been carried down to the rushing 
 river ; while Sir Hugh ventured to hint that, if he were not 
 found on the morrow, the probability was that some shepherd 
 in his remote and lonely shieling just outside the forest would 
 be feasting on venison for a considerable time to come. Lionel 
 cared less now ; heat and food had thawed him into a passive 
 frame of mind ; he was tired, worn-out, and sleepy ; and very 
 glad was he when he was allowed to go to bed. 
 
 As a matter of fact, that magic one-horned stag was not 
 found on the next day ; no, nor any following day ; nor has it 
 ever been heard of since in those parts. And if it vanished 
 from the earth through some evil enchantment, be sure that 
 Lionel who had picked up some of the superstitions of the 
 neighbourhood, and who had profited on a former occasion by 
 the possession of a lucky sixpence bo sure he attributed his 
 cruel ill-fortune, solely and wholly, to that wretched red rag 
 that had been given him by Miss Georgie Lestrange. 
 
A Globe of Gold-fah. 181 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A GLOBE OF GOLD-FISH. 
 
 WHAT, then, was the secret charm and fascination exercised 
 over him by this extremely independent, not to say un- 
 approachable, huntress-maiden ; why should he be so anxious 
 to win her approval ; why should he desire to be continually 
 with her even when all her attention was given to her salmon- 
 line, and she apparently taking no notice of him whatever? 
 She was handsome, no doubt, and fine-featured, and pleasant to 
 look upon ; she was good-humoured, and friendly in her own 
 way ; and she had the education, and manners, and tact, and 
 gentleness of one of her birth and breeding; but there were 
 lots of other women similarly graced and gifted who were only 
 too eager to welcome him and pet him and make much of him, 
 and towards whom he found himself absolutely indifferent. 
 Was he falling in love ? Had he been asked the question, he 
 would honestly have answered that he was about the last 
 person in the world to form a romantic attachment. There 
 was no kind of sentimental wistfulness in his nature ; his 
 imagination had no poetical trick of investing the face and 
 form of any passably good-looking girl with a halo of rainbow- 
 hues ; even as a lad his dreams had concerned themselves more 
 with the possibility of his becoming a great musician than 
 with his sharing his fame and glory with a radiant bride. 
 But, above all, the rodomontade of simulated passion that he 
 heard in the theatre, and the extravagance of action necessary 
 for stage-effect, would of themselves have tended to render him 
 sceptical and callous. He saw too much of how it was done. 
 Did ever any man in his senses swear by the eternal stars in 
 talking to a woman ; and did ever any man in his senses kneel 
 at a woman's feet ? In former times they may have done so, 
 when fustian and attitudinising were not fustian and attitudinis- 
 ing but common habit and practice ; but in our own day did the 
 love-making of the stage, with all its frantic gestures and wild 
 appeals, represent anything belonging to actual life? Of 
 course, if the question had been pushed home, he would have 
 had to admit that love as a violent passion does veritably exist, 
 or otherwise there would not be so many young men blowing 
 out their brains, and young women drowning themselves out 
 of disappointment ; but probably he would have pointed out 
 
182 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 that in these cases the coroner's jury invariably and charitably 
 certify that the victim is insane. 
 
 No ; romance had never been much in his way, except the 
 sham romance which he had assumed along with a painted face 
 and a stage costume, and of which he knew the just and 
 accurate value. He had never had time to fall seriously in 
 love, he used to say to Maurice Mangan. And now, in this 
 long spell of idleness in the north, amid these gracious sur- 
 roundings, if he had had to confess that he found a singular 
 fascination in the society of Honnor Cunyngham, why, he 
 would have discovered a dozen reasons and excuses rather than 
 admit that poetical sentiment had anything to do with it. 
 For one thing, she was different from any woman he had ever 
 met before ; and that of itself piqued his curiosity. You had 
 to speak the downright truth to her when she looked at you 
 with those clear hazel eyes : little make-believes of flattery 
 were of no use at all. Her very tranquillity and isolation were 
 a sort of challenge; her almost masculine independence was 
 like to drive a man to say " I am as peremptory as she proud- 
 minded." Nevertheless, she was no curst Katherine; her 
 temper was of the serenest; she was almost too bland and 
 placid, Lionel thought it showed she cared too little about you 
 to be either exacting and petulant, or, on the other hand, 
 solicitous to please. 
 
 There came into these silent and reverie-haunted solitudes a 
 letter from the distant and turbulent world without ; and of a 
 sudden Lionel felt himself transported back into the theatre 
 again, in the midst of all its struggles and hopes and anxieties, 
 its jealousies and triumphs, its ceaseless clamour and unrest. 
 The letter was from Nina. 
 
 " My dear friend Leo, I have waited now some time that I 
 send you the critiques of my new part, but the great morning 
 newspapers have taken no notice of poor Nina, it is only some 
 of the weekly papers that have observed the change in the 
 part, and you will see that they are very kind to me. Ah, but 
 one I do not send it I could not send it to you, Leo it has 
 made me cry much and much that any one should have such 
 malignity, such meanness, such lying. I forget all the other 
 ones ; that one stabs my heart ; but Mr. Carey he laughs and 
 says to me You are foolish ; you do not know why that is said 
 of you ? He is a great ally of Miss Burgoyne, he does not like 
 to see you take her place, and be well received by the public. 
 Perhaps it is true ; but, Leo, you do not like to be told that 
 
A Globe of Gold-fish. 183 
 
 you make the part stupid, that there is no life in it, that you 
 are a machine, that you sing out of tune. I have asked Mr. 
 Lehmann, I have asked Mr. Carey, and said to them If it is 
 true, let me go ; I will not make ridicule of your theatre. But 
 they are so kind to me ; and Mrs. Grey also ; she says that I 
 have not as much cheek as Miss Burgoyne, but that Grace 
 Mainwaring should remember that she is a gentlewoman, and it 
 is not necessary to make her a laughing waitress, although she 
 is in comedy-opera. I cannot please every one, Leo ; but if 
 you were here I should not care so much for the briccone, who 
 lies, who lies, who hides in the dark, like a thief. You know 
 whether I sing out of tune, Leo. You know whether I am so 
 stupid, so very stupid. Yes, I may not have cheek : I wish not 
 to have cheek : even to commend myself to a critic. Ah, well, 
 it is no use to be angry ; every night I have a reception that 
 you would like to hear, Leo, for you have no jealousy : and my 
 heart says those people are not under bad influence ; they are 
 honest in saying they are pleased ; to them I sing not out of tune, 
 and am not so very stupid. If I lie awake at night, and cry 
 much, it is then I say to myself that I am stupid ; and the next 
 morning I laugh, when Mrs. Grey say some kind thing to me. 
 
 " Will you be surprised, most excellent Signor, if you have 
 a visit from Miss Burgoyne ? Yes, it is possible. The doctor 
 says she has strained her voice by too long work but it was a 
 little reedy of its own nature, do you not think, Leo ? and says 
 she must have entire rest, and that she must go to the Isle of 
 White ; but she said everyone was going to Scotland, and \* hy 
 not she, and her two friends, her travelling companions. Then 
 she comes to me and ask your address. I answer Why to me ? 
 There is Mr. Lehmann ; and at the stage-door they will know 
 his address, for letters to go. So, you see, you will not bo 
 alone in the high-lands, when you have such a charming visitor 
 with you, and she will talk to you, not from behind a fan, as on 
 the stage, but all the day, and you will have great comfort and 
 satisfaction. Yes, I see her arrive at the castle. She rings at 
 the gate ; your noble friends come out, and ask who she is ; 
 they discover, and drive away such a person as a poor canta- 
 trice. But you hear, you come flying out, you rescue her 
 from scorn ah, it is pitiable, they all weep, they say to 
 you that you are honourable and just, that they did wrong 
 to despise your charming friend. Perhaps they ask her to 
 dine ; and she sings to them after ; and Leo says to himself, 
 Poor thing ; no ; her voice is not so reedy. The denouement ? 
 
184 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 but I am not come to it yet ; I have not arranged what will 
 arrive then. 
 
 " What is the time of your return, Leo ? And you know 
 what will be then? You will find on the stage another Grace 
 Mainwaring, who will sing always out of tune, and be so stupid 
 that you will have fury and will complain to the Manager. 
 Ah, there is now no one to speak with you from behind a fan 
 only a dull heavy stupid. Misera me ! What shall I do ? 
 All the poetry departed from Harry ThornhilVs singing there 
 is no more fascination for him he looks up to the window he 
 sings ' The starry night brings me no rest ' and he says 
 ' Bother to that stupid Italian girl ! why am I to sing to her ? ' 
 Poor Leo, he will be disconsolate ; but not for long, No ; Miss 
 Burgoyne will be coming back ; and then be will have some 
 one for to talk with from behind the fan. 
 
 " Now, Leo, if you can read any more, I must attend to 
 what you call beesness. When Miss Burgoj'ne returns, I do not 
 go back to be under-study to Miss Girond no Mr. Lehmann 
 has said he is pleased with me, and I am 1o take the part of 
 Miss Considine, who goes into the provincial company. You 
 know it is almost the same consequence as Grace Mainwaring 
 towards the public, and I am, oh, very proud of such an 
 advancement ; and I have written to Pandiani, and to Carmela 
 and Andrea, and Mrs. Grey is kinder than ever, and I take 
 lessons always and always when she has a half-hour from the 
 house-governing. I am letter perfect is it what they say ? in 
 this part as in the other ; my bad English does not appear on 
 the stage ; I practise and practise always. I am to share in 
 Miss Girond's room, and that will be good, for she is friendly to 
 me, though sometimes a little saucy in her amusement. Already 
 I hear that the theatre-attendant people are coining back and 
 you ? when is your return ? You had benevolence to the poor 
 chorus-singer, Signer Leo ; and now she is prima donna do you 
 think she will forget you ? No, no ! To-day I was going up 
 Regent Street, and in a window behold ! a portrait of Mr. 
 Lionel Moore and a portrait of Miss Antonia Ross side by side ! 
 I laughed I said, Leo did not look to this a short time ago. 
 It is the same fotografer ; I have had several requests ; but only 
 to that one I went, for it is the best one of you he has taken 
 that is seen anywhere. Of course I have to dress as like Miss 
 Burgoyne as possible, which is a pity to me, for it is not too 
 graceful, as I think I could do ; but I complain nothing, since 
 Mr. Lehmann gave ine the great advancement ; and if you will 
 
A Globe of Gold-fish. 183 
 
 look at the critiques you will see they say I have not a bad 
 appearance in the part. As for the bricconc pah ! when I 
 talk like this to you, Leo, I despise him he is nothing to me 
 I would not pay twopence that he should praise me. 
 
 " Will you write to me, Leo, and say when you return ? 
 Have you so much beesness that you have only sent me one 
 letter ? Adieu ! Your true friend, NINA." 
 
 Well, this prattling letter from Nina caused him some re- 
 flection, and some uneasy qualms. He did not so much mind 
 the prospect of having, on his return, to transform his old friend 
 and comrade into his stage-sweetheart, and to make passionate 
 love to her every evening, before an audience. That might be 
 a little embarrassing at first ; but the feeling would soon wear 
 off; such circumstances were common and well-understood in 
 the theatre, where stage-lovers cease their cooing the moment 
 they withdraw into the wings. But this other possibility of 
 finding Miss Burgoyne and her friends in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood of Strathaivron Lodge? Of course there was no 
 reason why she shouldn't travel through Ross-shire just as well 
 as any one else. She knew his address. If she came anywhere 
 round this way say to Kilfearn he must needs go to call on 
 her. Then both Lady Adela Cunyngham and Lord Rock- 
 minster had been introduced to Miss Burgoyne in the New 
 Theatre ; if he told them, as he ought, on whom he was going 
 to call, might they not want to accompany him, and renew the 
 acquaintance? Lady Adela and her sisters considered them- 
 selves the naturally appointed patrons of all professional folk 
 whose names figured in the papers ; was it not highly probable 
 that Miss Burgoyne and her friends, whosoever these might be, 
 would receive an invitation to Strathaivron Lodge? And 
 then? why, then might there not be rather too close a resem- 
 blance to a band of poor players being entertained by the great 
 people at what Nina imagined to be a castle ? A solitary guest 
 was all very well : had Miss Burgoyne preceded or succeeded 
 him, he could not have objected : but a group of strolling 
 players, as it were ? might it not look as if they had been 
 summoned to amuse the noble company ? And fancy Miss 
 Burgoyne coming in as a spy upon his mute, and at present 
 quite indefinite, relations with Miss Honnor Cunyngham.! 
 Miss Burgoyne, who was a remarkably sharp-eyed young- 
 woman, and had a clever and merry tongue withal, when she 
 was disposed to bo humorous. 
 
 Then he bethought him of what Honnor Cunyngham, with 
 
186 TJie Neiv Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 her firm independence of character, her proud self-reliance, 
 would have said to all these nervous fancies. He knew 
 perfectly well what she would say. She would say : " Well, 
 but even if Miss Burgoyne were to appear at Straithaivron 
 Lodge, how could that affect you ? You are yourself ; you are 
 apart from her ; her visit will be Lady Adela's doing, not yours. 
 And if people choose to regard you as one of a band of strolling 
 players, how can that harm you ? Why should you care ? The 
 opinion that is of value to you is your own opinion : be right 
 with yourself; and leave others to think what they please. 
 Whoever could so entirely misjudge your position must be a 
 fool : why should you pause for a moment to consider the 
 opinion of a fool or any number of fools ? * To thine own self 
 be true' ; and let that suffice." 
 
 For he had come to know pretty accurately, during these 
 frequent if intermittent talks and chats along the Aivron banks, 
 how Miss Honnor would regard most things. The wild weather 
 had been succeeded by a period of calm ; the river had dwindled 
 and dwindled, until it seemed merely to creep along its channel ; 
 where a rushing brown current had come down there now 
 appeared long banks of stones, lilac and silver-grey and purple, 
 basking in the sun ; while half-way across the stream in many 
 places the yellow sand and shingle shone through the lazily- 
 rippling shallows. Consequently there was little fishing to be 
 done. Honnor Cunyngham went out all the same, for she loved 
 the river-side in all weathers; and as often as he discreetly 
 might, Lionel accompanied her; but as they had frequently 
 to wait for half-hours together until a cloud should come over, 
 he had ample opportunity of learning her views and opinions 
 on a great variety of subjects. For she spoke freely, and 
 frankly, and simply, in this enforced idleness ; and from just a 
 little touch here and there, Lionel began to think that she must 
 have a good deal more of womanly tenderness and sympathy 
 than he had given her credit for. Certainly she was always 
 most considerate towards himself; she seemed to understand 
 that he was a little sensitive on the score of his out-of-door 
 performances; and while she made light of his occasional 
 blunders, she would quietly hint to him that he in turn ought to 
 exercise a generous judgment when those people at the Lodge 
 ventured to enter a province in which he was a past master. 
 
 " We are all amateurs in something or another, Mr. Moore," 
 she would say. "And the professionals should not treat us 
 with scorn." 
 
A Okie of Gold-fish. 187 
 
 " I wonder in what you show yourself an amateur," said he, 
 bethinking himself how she seemed to keep aloof from the 
 music, art, and literature of her accomplished sisters-in-law. 
 " Everything you do you do thoroughly well." 
 
 She laughed. 
 
 " You have never seen me try to do anything % but cast a 
 line," said she, " and if I can manage that, the credit rests with 
 old Eobert." 
 
 But the consideration that she invariably extended to her 
 brother's guest was about to show itself in a very marked 
 manner; and the incident arose in this wise. One morning, 
 the weather being much too bright and clear for the shallower 
 pools of the Aivron, they thought they would take luncheon 
 with them, and stroll up to the Geinig, where, in the afternoon, 
 the deeper pools might give them a chance, especially if a few 
 clouds were to come over. Accordingly the three of them went 
 away along the valley, passed over the Bad Step, meandered 
 through the long birch wood, and finally arrived at the little 
 dell above the Geinig Pool, which was Miss Honnor's favourite 
 retreat. They had left somewhat late ; the sun was shining 
 from a cloudless sky ; luncheon would pass the useless time ; 
 so Kobert got the small parcels and the drinking cups out of 
 the bag, and arranged them on the warm turf. It was a 
 modest little banquet, but in the happiest circumstances ; for 
 the birch branches above them afforded them a picturesque 
 shelter ; and the burn at their feet, attenuated as it was, and 
 merely threading its way down through the stones, flashed 
 diamonds here and there in the light. And then she was so 
 kind as to thank him again for singing ' The Bonnie Earl o' 
 Moray ' which had considerably astounded the people assembled 
 at the opening of the Kilfearn Public Hall, or, at least, such of 
 them as did not know that a great singer was among the guests 
 at Strathaivron Lodge. 
 
 " I was rather sorry for them who had to follow you," she 
 said : " they must have felt it was hardly fair. It was like 
 Donald Dinnie at the Highland Games : when he has thrown 
 the hammer, or tossed the caber, the spectator hardly takes 
 notice of the next competitor. By the way, I suppose you will 
 be going to the Northern meeting at the end of this month?" 
 
 " I am sorry I cannot stay so long, though Lady Adela was 
 good enough to ask me," he made answer. " I must go south 
 very soon now." 
 
 " Oh, indeed ? " she said. " That is a pity. It is worth 
 
188 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 while being in Inverness then : you see all the different families 
 and their guests ; and the balls are picturesque with the kilt 
 and tartan. It is really the wind-up of the season ; the parties 
 break up after that. We come back here and remain until 
 about the middle of October; then we go on to the Braes 
 worse luck for me. I like the rough-and-tumble of this place ; 
 the absence of ceremony ; the freedom and the solitude. It will 
 be very different at the* Braes." 
 
 " Why shouldn't you stop on here, then ? " he naturally 
 asked. 
 
 "All by myself?" she said. "Well, I shouldn't mind the 
 loneliness you see, old Robert is left here, and Roderick, too, 
 and one or two of the girls to keep fires on ; but I should have 
 nothing to do but read ; the fishing is useless long before that 
 time. And so you are going away quite soon ? " 
 
 "Yes," said he, and he paused for a second for there was 
 some wild wish in his heart that she would express just one 
 word of regret. " I must go," he continued, seeing that she 
 did not speak. " I am wanted. And I have had a long holiday 
 a long and delightful holiday ; and I'm sure when I look 
 back over it, I can't thank you sufficiently for all your kindness 
 to me." 
 
 " Thank me, Mr. Moore ? " she said, with obvious surprise/9 
 
 " Oh, yes, indeed," he said warmly. " If it was only a word 
 now and again, it was always encouragement. I should never 
 have ventured out after the deer if it had not been for you : 
 probably I should never have taken up a gun at all. Then all 
 those delightful days by the river : haven't I to thank you for 
 them ? It seems rather hard that I should be so much indebted 
 to you " 
 
 " I am sure you are not at all," she said. 
 
 " without a chance of ever being able to show my grati- 
 tude : repayment, of course, is out of the question, for we could 
 never meet again in similar circumstances in reversed circum- 
 stances, rather I mean, you have had it all your own way in 
 your your toleration, shall I say ? or your commiseration, of 
 a hopeless duffer. Oh, I know what I'm talking about. Most 
 people in your position would have said, ' Well, let him go and 
 make a fool of himself! ' and most people in my position would 
 have said, * No, I'm not going to make a fool of myself.' " 
 
 "I don't quite understand," she said, simply, "why you 
 should care so much for the opinion of other people." 
 
 " I suppose there is no chance of my ever seeing you in 
 
A Globe of Gold-fish. 189 
 
 London, Miss Honnor," ho continued, rather breathlessly. " If 
 if I might presume on the acquaintanceship formed up hero, 
 I should like well, I should like to show you I had not for- 
 gotten your kindness. Do you ever come to London? I think 
 Miss Lestrange said you sometimes did." 
 
 " Why, I am in London a great part of every year ! " she 
 said. " And this winter I shall be next door to it ; for my 
 mother goes to Brighton in November ; and she will want me 
 to be with her." 
 
 " To Brighton ! " he said quickly and eagerly. " Then of 
 course you would be in London sometimes. Would you would 
 you care to come behind the scenes of a theatre ? or be present 
 at a dress rehearsal, or something of that kind ? No, I'm afraid 
 not I'm afraid that wouldn't interest you " 
 
 " Oh, but it would," she said, pleasantly enough. " It would 
 interest me very much." 
 
 And perhaps he would have gone on to assure her how 
 delighted he would be to have the opportunity of showing her, 
 in the great capital, that he had not forgotten her kindness and 
 help in these northern wilds, but that Miss Honnor, seeing that 
 their frugal meal was over, called for Robert. The handsome 
 old fisherman appeared at once ; but she instantly perceived by 
 his face that something was wrong. 
 
 " This is ferry strange, Miss Honnor," said he, " that the fly- 
 book is not in the bag. And I could not have dropped it out. 
 I was not thinking of looking for it when we started, for I knew 
 I had put it there " 
 
 " Oh, I know, Robert," she said at once. " Mr. Lestrango 
 asked me this morning for some small Durham Rangers ; and I 
 told him to go and take them out of the book. So he has 
 taken the book out of the bag, and stupidly forgot to put it 
 back." 
 
 " Then I will go aweh down to the Lodge and get it," 
 Robert suggested. 
 
 "Is it worth while?" she said. "There is a fly on the 
 casting-line; and there won't be much fishing this after- 
 noon ? " 
 
 " I am not so sure," old Robert made answer. " There 
 might be some clouds ; and it is safer to hef the book what- 
 ever." 
 
 " Very well," said she. " And in that case I will take 
 Mr. Moore over to the other side of the Geinig Pool, and ask 
 him to creep out on the middle rock ; and perhaps he will 
 
190 Hie New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 see something. Will there be any gold-fish in the globe, 
 Robert?" 
 
 Old Eobert grinned. 
 
 " Oh yes, Miss Honnor, the fish will be there ; but there is 
 little chance of your getting one out." 
 
 " At any rate, Mr. Moore will be pleased to see a globe of 
 gold-fish in the middle of a Highland moor," she said ; and 
 when Eobert had packed up the luncheon things, they all set 
 off down the Geinig valley together. 
 
 But when they reached a certain wooden foot-bridge across 
 the stream, Robert held on his way, making for the Lodge, 
 while Lionel, well content, and asking no questions, followed 
 the young lady. She led the way across the bridge, and along 
 the opposite bank, until they reached the Geinig Pool, where 
 they scrambled down to the side of the river, just above the 
 falls. Here she showed him how to step from one boulder to 
 another until he found himself on a huge grey rock right ill 
 the middle ; and forthwith she directed him to crawl out to the 
 edge of the rock, and just put his head over, and see what ho 
 could see. As for crawling, he considered himself quite an 
 adept at that now ; in an instant he was down on hands and 
 knees, making his way out to the end of the rock. And cer- 
 tainly what he beheld when he cautiously peered over the edge 
 was worth all the trouble. Here, in an almost circular pool, 
 apparently of great depth, the surface of the water was as 
 smooth as glass ; for the bulk of the stream tumbled in and 
 tumbled out again along the southern side, leaving this dark 
 hole in an eddy ; and the sunlight, striking down into the 
 translucent depths, revealed to him certain slowly moving 
 forms which he recognised at once as salmon. They were not 
 like salmon in colour, to be sure; through the dun water their 
 purplish-blue backs showed a dull olive-green ; but salmon 
 they undoubtedly were, and of a good size too. Of course he 
 was immensely excited by such a novel sight. With intensest 
 curiosity he watched them making their slow circles of the 
 pool, exactly like gold-fish in a globe. They seemed to be 
 about four or five feet under the surface. Was it not possible 
 to snatch at one of them with a long gaff? Or was it not 
 possible, on the other hand, to tempt one of them with a fly ? 
 
 He slowly withdrew his head. 
 
 " That is most extraordinary," he called to his companion, 
 who was standing a few yards further back. " Miss Honnor, 
 won't you put a fly over them ? " 
 
A Globe of Gold-fish. 191 
 
 " What is the use? " said she. " They will look at it ; but 
 they won't take it ; and I don't think it is well they should 
 know too much about the patterns that Mr. Watson dresses. 
 They know quite enough already. Some of the old hands, I do 
 believe, are familiar with every fly made in Inverness." 
 
 " Won't you try ? " he pleaded. 
 
 " Well, if you would like to see them look at the fly, I'll 
 put it over them," she said goodnaturedly, " but, you know, it 
 is most demoralising." 
 
 So she, also, had to creep out to the edge of the rock ; and 
 then she cautiously put out the rod, and the short line she had 
 previously prepared. She threw the fly to the opposite side of 
 the pool ; let it sink an inch or two ; and then quietly jerked 
 it across, until it came in the way of the slow-circling salmon. 
 To her it was merely an amusement, but to Lionel it was a 
 breathless excitement, to watch one after another of those big 
 fish, in passing, come up to look at this beautiful, gleaming, 
 shrimp-like object, and then sink down again and go on its 
 round. They would not come within two feet of this tempting 
 lure. She tried them in all parts of the pool, sinking the fly 
 well into the plunging fall, and letting it be carried right to 
 the other side before she dragged it across the clear open. 
 
 "Won't one of you take it?" she said. " It's as pretty a fly 
 as ever was dressed, though they do call it the Dirty Yellow." 
 
 But all of a sudden the circumstances were changed in a 
 most startling manner. A swift, half-seen creature came 
 darting up from out of the plunging torrent, shot into the 
 clear water, snatched at the small object that was floating there, 
 and down went fly and rod until the top was almost touching 
 the surface. Thelree] had caught in her dress somehow. But 
 in another second all that was altered she had got the reel 
 free she was up on her feet the line was singing out the 
 rod raised, with the pliant top yielding to every movement of 
 the fish and Lionel, quite bewildered by the rapidity of the 
 whole occurrence, wondering what he could do to assist her. 
 Miss Honnor, however, was quite competent to look after 
 herself. 
 
 " Who could have expected that ! " she said, as the salmon 
 went away down into the deep pool, and deliberately sulked 
 there. " I wasn't fishing, I was only playing ; and he very 
 nearly broke me, at the first plunge. Keally it all happened so 
 quickly that I could not see what size he was : could you, 
 Mr. Moore?" 
 
192 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " Not I ! " he answered. " The creature came out of the 
 rough water like a flash of lightning I only saw the splash 
 his tail made as he went down again. But what are you going 
 to do, Miss Honnor? Shall I run down the strath, and tell old 
 Robert to hurry back ? " 
 
 "Not at all! we'll manage him by ourselves," she 
 replied, confidently. " Here, you take him ; and I'll gaff him 
 for you." 
 
 " I will do nothing of the kind," said he, distinctly. " You 
 have given me too many of your fish. You have been far too 
 generous all the way through. No ; I will gaff him for you 
 but you must tell me how for I never tried before." 
 
 "Oh, it is simple enough," she said. "You've seen old 
 Eobert gaff plenty of fish. Only mind you don't strike across 
 the casting-line. Get behind the casting-line about half way 
 down the fish get well over him and then a sharp, bold 
 stroke will fetch him out." 
 
 Accordingly, armed with the gaff, Lionel made his way 
 down to the lowest ridge of the rock, so that he found himself 
 just over the black-brown pool. And indeed his services were 
 called upon much sooner than he had expected ; for the salmon, 
 grown tired of sulking, now began to swim slowly round and 
 round, sometimes coming up so that they could just catch a 
 glimmer of him, and again disappearing. But the fortunate 
 thing for them was that there were no shallows to frighten the 
 fish ; he knew nothing of his danger as he happened to come 
 sailing round Lionel's way ; and he was gradually coming 
 nearer and nearer to the surface, until they could watch his 
 every motion as he made his slow rounds. Once or twice 
 Lionel tried to get the gaff over him, and had to withdraw it ; 
 but at last Miss Honnor called out 
 
 " This next time, Mr. Moore, as he comes round to you, I 
 will lift him a bit : be ready ! " 
 
 But what was this amazing thing that happened all in one 
 wild second? Lionel struck at the fish, pinned him securely, 
 dragged him out of the water, and then, to his horror, found 
 that the unexpected weight of this fighting and struggling 
 creature was proving too much for him he was overbalanced 
 he could not recover himself down they all went together, 
 himself, the gaff, and the salmon, into the still, deep pool! As 
 for him, that was nothing ; he could swim a little ; a few 
 strokes took him to the other side, where he clambered on to 
 the rocks; he managed to recover his cap ; and then, with the 
 
A Globe of Gold-fish. 193 
 
 deepest mortification in his soul, he made his way back to 
 rejoin his companion. What apology could he offer for his 
 unheard-of bungling and stupidity? Would she not look on 
 him as an unendurable ass ? Why had he chosen so insecure a 
 foothold ; and made such a furious plunge at the fish ? Over- 
 eagerness, no doubt 
 
 And then the next moment he noticed that her rod was still 
 curved ! 
 
 " We'll get him yet, Mr. Moore ! "she called to him in the 
 most good-humoured fashion. " Come out on to the rock, and 
 you'll see the strangest looking salmon you ever saw in your 
 life." 
 
 And indeed that was an odd sight the big fish slowly 
 sailing round and round the pool, with the gaff still attached, 
 and the handle floating parallel with its side. 
 
 "It will take some time, though," said she. "I think 
 you'd better go away home and get dry clothes on. I'll manage 
 him by myself." 
 
 " I dare say you would manage him better by yourself than 
 with any help of mine," he said, in his bitter chagrin and self- 
 contempt. " I made sure I had lost you the salmon." 
 
 " And what then ? " she said, with some surprise. " I assure 
 you it wasn't the salmon I was thinking of when I saw you in 
 the water but the moment you struck out I knew you were 
 safe." 
 
 He did not speak any more ; he was too humiliated and 
 vexed. It is true that when at length the salmon, entirely 
 dead beat, suffered himself to be led into the side of the rock, 
 Lionel managed to seize the handle of the gaff, and this time, 
 making sure of his foothold, got the fish on land ; but this final 
 success in no way atoned for his having so desperately made a 
 fool of himself. In silence he affixed the bit of string she gave 
 him to the head and tail of this very pretty twelve-pounder ; 
 and in silence he set out, he carrying the salmon, and she with 
 the rod over her shoulder. 
 
 " It will be a surprise for old Eobert when we meet him," 
 she said, cheerfully. " But he will wonder how you came to be 
 so drenched." 
 
 " Yes," said he, " it will be a pretty story of tomfoolery for 
 them all to hear. I should like to make a comic drawing of it, 
 if I could. It would have done capitally for John Leech, 
 among the exploits of Mr. Briggs," 
 
 She glanced at him curiously. She knew what he was 
 
 o 
 
194 Tlie New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 thinking of of the tale that would be told among the keepers 
 and the gillies of his having soused himself into the Geinig Pool 
 in trying to gaff a fish. And might not the story find its way 
 from the kennels into the gun-room, and thence into the 
 drawing-room ? 
 
 There was no doubt he was thoroughly ashamed, and crest- 
 fallen, and angry with himself; and though she talked and 
 chatted just as usual, he was quite taciturn all the way down 
 the side of the Geinig. They reached the Junction Pool. 
 
 " Come now, Mr. Moore," she said, with the utmost good- 
 nature, " you make too much of that little mistake. You are 
 far too afraid of ridicule. But I am going to put it all right 
 for you." 
 
 What was his astonishment and consternation to see her, 
 after she had laid her rod on the shingle, deliberately walk a 
 yard or two into the shallow water, and then throw herself 
 down into it for a second, while she held out her hand to him ! 
 
 " Pull me out, Mr. Moore ! " she said. 
 
 " Good heavens, Miss Honnor ! " he exclaimed but instantly 
 he caught her hand, and she rose to her feet, and began to 
 shake the water from her as best she might. " What do you 
 mean ! " 
 
 " You've pulled me out of the river," said she, laughing, as 
 she shook her dripping sleeves and her skirts ; and then she 
 went on coolly to explain. " I know you are rather sensitive 
 to ridicule ; and you don't like to think of those people telling 
 the story against you as to how you fell into the Geinig Pool. 
 Very well ; there needn't be any such story. If any one asks 
 you how you came to be so wet, you can say I got into the 
 water, and you pulled me out. It will sound quite heroic." 
 
 " So I am to have the credit of having saved your life ? " he 
 said. 
 
 "You needn't put it that way," she answered, as she took 
 up the fishing-rod and resumed her homeward walk. " All 
 kinds of accidents are continually happening to people who go 
 salmon-fishing ; and no one takes any notice of them. My 
 maid is quite used to getting my things dried whether they're 
 soaked through with rain or with river-water doesn't much 
 matter to her. And old Eobert can take your clothes to the 
 fire in the gun-room long before the gentlemen come back from 
 the hill. So, you see, there will probably be no questions 
 asked ; but if there should be, you have what is quite enough 
 of an explanation." 
 
A Globe of Qold-fisli. 19:> 
 
 " Well, Miss Honnor," said he, " I never heard of such a 
 friendly act in all iny life such a gratuitous sacrifice : hero 
 you have risked getting your death of cold in order to save my 
 childish vanity from being wounded. Really, I don't know 
 how to thank you though I wish all the same you had not put 
 me under such a tremendous obligation. But don't imagine 
 that I am going to claim that I am going to steal the credit 
 of having saved your life I am not quite so mean no, if I am 
 asked, I will tell the whole truth " 
 
 " And make two people ridiculous instead of one ? " she said, 
 with a smile. " No, you can't do that." 
 
 However, as it turned out, this Quixotic act of considera- 
 tion was allowed to remain a dark secret between these two. 
 With the brisk walking and the warm sunlit air around them 
 their clothes were already drying ; and when old Robert met 
 them, in the dusky chasm at the foot of the Bad Step, he was 
 far too much engaged with the fish to notice their limp and 
 damp garments ; while again, as they resumed their march, he, 
 carrying the fish, lagged in the rear, and thus they escaped his 
 keen eyes. Indeed, by the time they reached the Lodge, and 
 as Miss Honnor was about to enter, Lionel said to her that he 
 felt quite warm and comfortable, and proposed to go for a 
 further walk down the strath before dinner ; but she peremp- 
 torily forbade this, and ordered him off to his own room to get 
 changed. 
 
 It is not to be imagined that an incident of this kind could 
 do aught but sink deep into the mind of any young man, and 
 especially into the mind of a young man who had particular 
 reasons for wanting to know how this young lady was affected 
 towards him. She herself had made light of the matter ; it had 
 been merely a sudden impulse, born of her own abundant 
 
 food-nature; probably she would have done as much for 
 ercy Lestrange. But would she have done as much for Percy 
 Lestrange ? Lionel kept asking himself. He was vain enough 
 to think she would not. Who had been her protege all this 
 time ? To whom had she given unobtrusive little hints when 
 she thought these might be useful? In whose exploits and 
 triumphs and failures had she shown an exceptional interest 
 and sympathy ? Whom had she permitted to go fishing with 
 her on those long days, when the world seemed to belong to 
 the two of them? whom had she admitted into the little del] 
 above the Geinig Pool which was her chosen and solitary 
 retreat ? And he could not but reflect that while there were 
 
 o 2 
 
196 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 plenty of women who were eager to present him with silver 
 cigarette-cases, blue and white flower-jars, and things of that 
 kind, there was not one of them, as he believed, who would dip 
 her little finger in a bottle of ink for his sake. More than 
 that, which of them would herself have dared ridicule in order 
 to save him from ridicule? And in what light should he 
 regard this suddenly-prompted action on her part, which 
 seemed to him so bewildering at the time, but which she 
 appeared to look on as only a sort of half-humorous freak of 
 friendship ? 
 
 These speculations only came back to the original question, 
 or series of questions, that had already puzzled him. Why 
 should he set such store by her opinion ? why be so anxious to 
 please her? why be so proud to think that he had won some 
 small share of favourable regard ? It was not his ordinary 
 attitude towards women, who troubled him rather, and inter- 
 fered with his many interests and the calls of his professional 
 duties. Falling in love ? that could hardly be it : he felt no 
 desire whatever to go down on his knees before her, and swear 
 by the eternal stars. Besides, she was so far away from him 
 living in such a different sphere among occupations and 
 surroundings and traditions entirely apart from his. Falling 
 in love ? with the isolated, the unapproachable fisher-maiden, 
 the glance of whose calm hazel eyes would be death to any 
 kind of theatrical sentiment? It was all a confusion and a 
 perplexity to him ; but at least he was glad to know that he 
 would sit at the same table with her that night at dinner, and 
 thereafter, perchance, have some opportunity of talking to her 
 in the drawing-room, where a certain incident, known to 
 themselves alone, would serve as a sort of secret tie. And he 
 was cheered to remember that, although he w r as leaving this 
 still and beautiful neighbourhood (where so many strange 
 dreams and fancies and new and welcome experiences had 
 befallen him) he was not bidding good-bye to all of these 
 friends for ever. Miss Honnor Cunyngham would be in 
 Brighton in November: and Brighton was not so far away 
 from the great city and the dull, continuous, thunderous roar 
 that would then be all around him. 
 
A New Experience. 197 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 A NEW EXPERIENCE. 
 
 WAS it possible in the nature of things that Prince Fortunatus 
 should find his spirits dashed with gloom he whose existence 
 had hitherto been a long series of golden moments, each 
 brighter and welcomer than the other ? Even if he had to 
 leave this still and beautiful valley where he had found so 
 much gracious companionship and so many pleasant pursuits, 
 look what was before him : he was returning to be greeted 
 with the applause of enthusiastic audiences, to be sought after 
 and courted and petted in private circles, to find himself talked 
 about in the newspapers and his portraits exhibited in every 
 other shop window in short, to enjoy all the little flatteries 
 and attentions and triumphs attaching to a wide and not ill- 
 deserved popularity. And yet as he sate at this farewell 
 luncheon on the day of his departure, he was the only silent 
 one among these friends of his, who were all chattering around 
 him. 
 
 "I'm sure I envy you, Mr. Moore," said his charming 
 hostess, " going away back to the very centre of the intellectual 
 world. It will be such a change for you to find yourself in the 
 very midst of everything hearing about all that is going on 
 the new books, the new plays, the new pictures. I suppose 
 that in October there are plenty of pleasant people back in 
 town ; and perhaps the dinner-parties are all the more enjo} r - 
 able when you know that the number of nice people is limited. 
 One really does get tired of this mental stagnation " 
 
 " I wish, Mr. Moore," said Lady Rosamund, rather spitefully 
 (considering that her brother was present), " you would take 
 Rockminster with you. He won't go on the hill; and he's 
 no use in the drawing-room. I am certain at this minute 
 he would rather be walking down St. James's Street to his 
 club." 
 
 " I don't wonder at it ! " cried Miss Georgie Lestrange, 
 coming gallantly to the apathetic young man's rescue. " Look 
 how he's situated. There's Sir Hugh and my brother away all 
 day ; Lord Fareborough has never come out of his room since 
 the morning he tried deerstalking ; and what can Lord Rock- 
 minster find to amuse him in a pack of girls ? Oh, I know 
 what he thinks of us," she continued, very placidly. "I 
 
198 The Neiv Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 remember, if he chooses to forget. Don't you recollect, Rose, 
 the night we were constructing an ideal kingdom by drawing 
 up a list of all the people we should have banished ? Every 
 one had his or her turn at saying who should be expelled 
 people who come late to dinner, people who fence with spiked 
 wire, people who talk in theatres, people who say 'like he 
 does,' and so forth ; and when somebody suggested ' All young 
 women who wear red veils,' Lord Eockminster immediately 
 added ' And all young women who don't wear red veils.' Now 
 you needn't deny it " 
 
 " Excuse me, I'm sure I never said anything of the kind ; 
 but it's not of the least consequence," Lord Eockminster 
 observed, with perfect composure. " Anything to please you 
 poor dears. You understand well enough why I linger on here 
 just to give you young creatures a chance of sharpening 
 your wits on me. You wouldn't know what to do without 
 me." 
 
 " Eockminster is going to give the world a volume of poems," 
 said Lady Eosamund, who seemed to be rather ill-tempered and 
 scornful this morning. " Nobody could stare at the clouds and 
 hills as he does without being a poet. When he does burst 
 into speech it will be something awful." 
 
 " Have you your flask filled ? " said that much-bepestered 
 young man, calmly turning to Lionel. 
 
 " Oh, yes, thanks." 
 
 "When you get to Invershin," his lordship continued 
 thoughtfully, " you can telegraph to the Station Hotel at 
 Inverness what you want for dinner. No soup ; I make it a 
 rule never to take soup in a big hotel ; a friendly manager 
 once warned me in confidence. You'll be glad to have a bit of 
 white fish after so much grilse and sea-trout 
 
 " Oh, I'll take my chance," Lionel said : it was not dinner 
 that was occupying his thoughts. 
 
 There was a sound of horses' hoofs and carriage wheels ; the 
 waggonette was being brought round to the front door. 
 
 " I consider it very shabby of Honnor not to have stayed to 
 say good-bye," Lady Adela said to her departing guest. " She 
 might have given up one morning's fishing, I think, especially 
 as you have been such an assiduous attendant carrying her 
 things for her, and keeping her company on those long 
 excursions " 
 
 " Oh, don't be afraid," said Miss Georgie, with a bit of a 
 covert laugh. "Honnor won't forsake her friend like that. 
 
A Neiv Experience. 199 
 
 I'll bet you she won't be far from the Horse's Drink when Mr. 
 Moore has to cross the stream." 
 
 " If I were you," Lord Eockminster finally said, in a con- 
 fidential undertone, as they all rose from the table, " I would 
 telegraph about dinner." 
 
 How Lionel hated the sight of this open door, and the 
 waggonette, and the portmanteau up beside the coachman ! 
 
 " Good-bye, Mr. Moore," said the pleasant-mannered young 
 matron to him, as she took his hand for a moment. " I'm afraid 
 it has been awfully dull for you " 
 
 "Lady Adela!"he said. 
 
 " But the next time you come we shall try to be less mono- 
 tonously bucolic. Perhaps by then the phonograph will be 
 able to bring us a whole musical evening from London, when- 
 ever we want it a whole performance of an operetta " 
 
 " Offenbach in a Highland valley ! " he exclaimed. 
 
 '* No," she said, very quietly and graciously ; " but perhaps 
 something by the composer of The Squire's Daughter and there 
 might be in it an sir as delightful as that of 'The Starry 
 Night.' Oh, Mr. Moore, don't let them produce any other 
 piece at the New Theatre until we all get back to London 
 again ! Well, good-bye it's so kind of you to have taken pity 
 on us in this wilderness " 
 
 " If you knew how sorry I am to go, Lady Adela ! " he said. 
 " And will you say good-bye for me to Miss Cunyngham ? " 
 
 " You needn't bother to leave a message," said Miss Georgie, 
 with significant eyes. " You'll find she won't be far away 
 from the Horse's Drink." 
 
 And as it chanced, Miss Georgie's forecast (whether inspired 
 by a saucy impertinence or not) proved correct. Lionel, having 
 bade farewell to all these friends, got into the waggonette ; and 
 away the carriage went quietly, at first, over the soft turf 
 and stones to the river. Of course he looked out. Yes, there 
 was Miss Honnor fishing the Whirl Pool with old Eobert 
 sitting on the shingle, watching her. Would she notice ? or 
 would he get down, and walk along to her, and claim the good- 
 bye she had forgotten? The next moment he was reassured. 
 She caught sight of the approaching waggonette ; she carefully 
 placed her rod on the shingle, and then came walking along the 
 river-bank, towards the ford, at which the horses had now 
 arrived. 
 
 Even at a distance he could not but admire the grace and 
 ease and dignity of her carriage the harmonious movement of 
 
200 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 a perfectly-formed figure ; and as she drew nearer he kept 
 asking himself (as if the question were necessary) whether he 
 would be able to take away a keen mental photograph of those 
 fine features the clear and placid forehead, the strongly-marked 
 eyebrows, the calm, self-reliant eyes, the proud and yet not 
 unsympathetic lines of the mouth. She came nearer ; a smile 
 lit up her face; and there was a kind of radiance there, he 
 thought. He had leapt down from the waggonette ; he went 
 forward to meet her ; her hand was outstretched. 
 
 " I am sorry you are going," she said, frankly. 
 
 " And I am far more sorry to have to go," said he, and he 
 held her hand a little longer than there was any occasion for, 
 until she gently withdrew it. " There are so many things I 
 should like to say to you, Miss Honnor; but somehow they 
 always escape you just when they're wanted ; and I've told you 
 so often before that I am not likely to forget your kindness to 
 me up here " 
 
 " Surely it is the other way about ! " she said, pleasantly. 
 " You have come and cheered up my lonely hours and been so 
 patient never grumbled never looked away up the hill as if 
 you would have given your life to be after the grouse and in 
 the drawing-room of an evening you've always sung when I 
 asked you when I was inconsiderate enough to ask you " 
 
 " My goodness, Miss Honnor," he said, " if I had known you 
 looked on it in that light, I should have sung for you 
 constantly, whether you asked or not." 
 
 " Well, it's all over now," said she, " and I hope you are 
 taking away with you a pleasant memory of Strathaivron." 
 
 " I have spent the happiest days of my life here," he said ; 
 and then he hesitated was about to speak hesitated again 
 and finally blurted out : " Is there anything I can do for you 
 in London, Miss Honnor ? " 
 
 " No, thanks," she said. " By the way, you'll have an hour 
 or two in Inverness. You might go in to Mr. Watson's and 
 ask him to send me out a few more flies if you have plenty of 
 time, that is." 
 
 " I shall be delighted," said he, as if she had conferred the 
 greatest favour on him. 
 
 " Well, good-bye I mustn't keep you late for the train." 
 
 " But we shall meet in the South ? " 
 
 " I hope so," she said, in a very amiable and friendly 
 fashion ; and she stood waiting there until he had got into the 
 waggonette and until the horses had splashed their way across 
 
A New Experience. 201 
 
 the ford : then she waved her hand to him, and, with a parting 
 smile, turned down the stream again, to rejoin Robert and pick 
 up her rod. 
 
 Nor was this quite the last ho was to see of those good 
 friends. When the horses had strenuously hauled the carriage 
 up that steep hill-side and got into the level highway, he 
 turned to look back at the Lodge set in the midst of the wide 
 strath, and behold ! there was a fluttering of white handker- 
 chiefs there, Lady Adela, and her sisters, and Miss Georgie, 
 still lingering in the porch. Again and again he made response. 
 Then, as he drove on, he caught another glance of Miss 
 Honnor, who, far below him, was industriously fishing the 
 Whirl Pool; when she heard the sound of the wheels, she 
 looked up and waved her hand to him as he went by. Finally, 
 there came the crack of a gun across the wide strath ; it was a 
 signal from the shooting-party away on a distant hill-side 
 and he could just make out that they, also, were sending him 
 a telegraphic good-bye. At each opening through the birch- 
 wood skirting the road he answered these farewells, until 
 Strathaivron Lodge was no longer in sight ; and then he 
 settled himself in his seat, and resigned himself to the long 
 journey. 
 
 This was not a pleasant drive.' He was depressed with a 
 vague aching and emptiness of the heart that he could not well 
 account for. A schoolboy, returning to his tasks after a long 
 holiday, could not be more profoundly miserable more hope- 
 less, dissatisfied, and ill at ease. And perhaps it was the loss 
 of one of those pleasant companions that was troubling him ? 
 Which one, then (he made pretence of asking himself), was he 
 sorriest to part from ? Lady Adela, who was always so bright 
 and talkative and cheerful, so charming a hostess, so con- 
 siderate and gentle a friend ? Or the mystic-eyed Lady Sybil, 
 who many an evening had led him away into the wonderland 
 of Chopin, for she was an accomplished pianist, if her own 
 compositions were but feeble echoes of the masters ? Or the 
 more quick-spirited Lady Rosamund, the imperious and 
 petulant beauty, who in a way most unwonted with her, had 
 bestowed upon him exceptional favour? Or that atrocious 
 little flirt, Miss Georgie Lestrange, with her saucy smiles and 
 speeches, her malicious laugh, and demure, significant eyes ? 
 it was hardly to be wondered at if she made an impression on 
 any young man, for the minx had an abundance of good looks, 
 despite her ruddy hair and pert nose. As for Miss Honnor 
 
202 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 Cunyngham oh, no ! she was too far away she lived re- 
 mote, isolated, apart she neither gave nor demanded sympathy 
 or society she was sufficient unto herself alone. But why ask 
 whether it was this one or that ? Soon he would be forgotten 
 by them all. He would be swallowed up in the great city 
 swept away in the currrent of its feverish activities his voice 
 hardly heard above the general din ; while they would still be 
 pursuing their various pastimes in this little world of solitude 
 and quiet, or moving on to entertain their friends with the 
 more pompous festivities of the Braes. 
 
 It was odd that he should be carrying away with him the 
 seeds of home-sickness for a place in which his stay had been 
 counted by weeks. So anxious, indeed, was he to assure 
 himself that his relations with that beautiful valley and its 
 inmates were not entirely severed that, the moment he reached 
 Inverness, instead of going into the Station Hotel and ordering 
 his dinner like a reasonable being, he must needs go straightway 
 off to Mr. Watson's shop. 
 
 " I suppose," said he, with a little hesitation for he did not 
 know whether to mention Miss Cunyngham's name or not he 
 was afraid he might betray some quite uncalled-for embarrass- 
 ment " I suppose yon know the flies they use on the Aivron 
 this time of year." 
 
 Mr. Watson knew well enough; who better? 
 
 " I mean on the Strathaivron Lodge stretch of the water ? " 
 Lionel continued. 
 
 " Oh, yes ; I am often sending flies to Miss Cunyngham," 
 was the answer. 
 
 " Oh, Miss Cunyngham ? " said Lionel. "It is for her I want 
 some flies." 
 
 "Very well, sir, I will make up a small packet and send it 
 to her : Miss Cunyngham has an account with me 
 
 ** No, no, that isn't what I mean at all," Lionel interposed, 
 hastily. " I want to make Miss Cunyngham a little present. 
 The fact is, I was using her book," he observed, with some im- 
 portance (as if it could in the least concern a worthy tackle- 
 maker in Inverness to know who had gone fishing with Miss 
 Cunyngham), " and I whipped off a good number, so I want to 
 make amends, don't you see ? " 
 
 " Very well, sir : how many will I put up ? " 
 
 " All you've got," was the prompt reply. 
 
 Mr. Watson stared. 
 
 "Oh, yes," Lionel said. "Miss Cunyngham may as well 
 
A New Experience. 203 
 
 have a good stock at once. You know the proper kinds Blue 
 Doctors, Childerses, Jock Scotts, Dirty Yellows, Bishops, Bees 
 that's about it, isn't it ? and put in plenty of various sizes. 
 Then don't make a parcel of them ; put them into those ja- 
 panned boxes with the cork in them never mind how many ; 
 and if you can't tell me at once how much it will all come to, 
 I will leave you my London address, and you'll send the bill to 
 me. Now, if you will be so kind as to give me a sheet of 
 paper and an envelope I will write a note to accompany the 
 packet." 
 
 Mr. Watson probably thought that this young man" was 
 daft ; but it was not his business to say so ; he took down his 
 erratic customer's address, and said that all his instructions 
 would be attended to forthwith. 
 
 Next Lionel went to a tobacconist's shop and (for he was a 
 most lavish young man) he ordered a prodigious quantity of 
 " twist," which he had made up into two parcels, the smaller 
 one for Eoderick, the larger to be divided equally among the 
 other keepers and gillies. The two parcels he had put into a 
 wooden case, which, again, was filled up with boxes of vesu- 
 vians three or four dozen or so ; and it is to be imagined that 
 when that small hamper was opened at Strathaivron, there was 
 many a chuckle of gratification over the division of the splendid 
 spoil. 
 
 Finally for human nature is but human nature, after all : 
 he had been thinking of others so far, and he was now entitled 
 to consider himself a little he thought he would go along to 
 Mr. Macleay's. When he arrived at the shop, he glanced in at 
 the windows ; but among the wild-cats, ptarmigan, black game, 
 mallards, and what not, there was nothing to arrest his atten- 
 tion : it was a stag's head he had in his mind. He went 
 inside ; and his first sensation was one of absolute bewilderment 
 this crowded museum of birds, beasts, and fish skarts, 
 goosanders, sand-grouse, terns, eagles, ospreys, squirrels, foxes, 
 big-snouted trout, harts, hinds, bucks, does, owls, kestrels, 
 falcons, merlins, and every variety of the common gull shot by 
 the all-pervading Cockney staring, stuffed, silent, they were 
 a confusion to the eyes, and nowhere could he find his own, his 
 particular, his precious stag. Alas ! when Mr. Macleay was so 
 kind as to take him behind into the workshop which re- 
 sembled a hugh shambles, almost and when from among the 
 vast number of heads and horns lying and hanging everywhere 
 around the Strathaivron head was at last produced, Lionel 
 
204 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 was horribly shocked and disappointed. Was this, then, his 
 trophy that he hoped to have hung up for the admiration of his 
 friends and his own ecstatic contemplation this twisted, 
 shapeless, sightless lump of hide and hair, with a great jaw of 
 discoloured teeth gleaming from under its flabby folds ? It is 
 true that here were the identical horns, for had he not gone 
 lovingly over every tine of them? but was this rag of a thing 
 all that was left of the splendid stag he had beheld lying on 
 the heather ? However, Mr. Macleay speedily reassured him. 
 He was shown the various processess and stages of the taxider- 
 mist's art, the amorphous mass of skin and hair gradually 
 taking shape and substance until it stood forth in all its glory 
 of flaming eye and proud nostril and branching antlers ; and he 
 was highly pleased to be told that this head he had got in 
 Strathaivron was a very fairly good one, as stags now go in the 
 North. So, all his shopping being done, he set off again for the 
 Station Hotel, where he got what he wanted in the shape of 
 dinner, followed by a long and meditative smoke in the 
 billiard-room, with visions appearing among the curls of blue 
 vapour. 
 
 What the Highland Railway manages to do with the trains 
 which it despatches from Inverness at 10 P.M. and reproduces 
 the next morning at Perth about 7, it is impossible for the 
 mind of man to imagine ; but it is not of much consequence so 
 long as you are snugly ensconced in a sleeping-berth; and 
 Lionel passed the night in profound oblivion. With the new 
 day, however, these unavailing and torturing regrets began 
 again; for now he felt himself more completely than before 
 shut off from the friends he had left ; and Strathaivron and all 
 its associations and pursuits had grown distant, like a dream. 
 He was lucky enough, on this southward journey, to get a com- 
 partment to himself; and here was an excellent opportunity for 
 him to have sung a gay air or two ; but it was not of music, nor 
 of anything connected with the theatre, that he was thinking. 
 He was much franker with himself now. He no longer tried to 
 conceal from himself the cause of this vague unrest, this useless 
 looking back and longing, this curious down-hearted sense of 
 solitariness. A new experience, truly, and a bewildering one ! 
 Indeed, he was ashamed of his own folly. For what was it 
 that he wanted ? A mere continuance of that friendly alliance 
 and companionship which he had enjoyed all this time ? Was 
 ho indulging a sort of sentimental misery simply because he 
 could not walk down to the Aivron's banks, and talk to Miss 
 
A New Experience. 205 
 
 Honnor, and watch the sun tracing threads of gold among her 
 loosely-braided hair ? If that was all, he might got out at the 
 next station, make his way "back to the beloved strath, and be 
 sure that Honnor Cunyngham would welcome him just as of old 
 and allow him to carry her waterproof, or ask him to have a 
 cast over the Junction Pool. He had no reason to fear any 
 break in this friendship that had been formed. When he 
 should see her in Brighton, she would be to him as she had 
 been yesterday, when they said good-bye by the side of the 
 river. And were not these the only possible relations between 
 them ; and ought he not to be proud and content that he could 
 look forward to an enduring continuance of them ? 
 
 Yes ; but some man would be coming along and marrying 
 her; and where would he be then? What would become of 
 this alliance, this friendly understanding perhaps, even, some 
 little interest on her part in his aifairs what would become of 
 all these relations, then ? It was the way of the world. Their 
 paths would be divided he would hear vaguely of her 
 perhaps see her name in the papers as being at a Drawing- 
 Eoom or something of the kind. She would have forgotten all 
 those long, still days by the Aivron and the Geinig; no echo 
 would remain in her memory of " The Bonnie Earl o' Moray " 
 as he had sung it for her, with all the passionate pathos of 
 which he was capable ; she would be a stranger moving afar 
 one heard of only a remembrance and no more. So the 
 impalpable future was interwoven with those dreams and not 
 too happy forecasts, as the train thundered on its way, along 
 the wooded banks of the Allan Water and towards the winding 
 Links of Forth. 
 
 But there was an alternative that would recur again and 
 again to his fancy, though in rather a confused and breathless 
 way. What if, in the very despair of losing her altogether, at 
 the very moment of parting with her, he had made bold to 
 claim this proud-spirited maiden all for himself? Might not 
 some such sudden and audacious proposal have been the very 
 thing to appeal to her the very thing to capture her? A 
 challenge a demand that she should submit that she should 
 come down from those serene heights of independence and yield 
 herself a willing and grSbcious helpmeet and companion for life 
 to this daring suitor : might not that have secured for him this 
 wondrous prize ? If she had any regard for him at all, she 
 might have been startled into confession. A couple of words 
 there by the side of the Aivron might have been enough. No 
 
206 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 theatrical professions nor mock homage, no kneeling at her feet 
 or swearing by eternal stars ; but a look into her eyes a clasp 
 of the hand a single question? Something he had indeed 
 meant to say to her, as they stood face to face there for the last 
 time something, he hardly knew what ; and yet his hesitation 
 had been but natural ; he might have been hurried into saying 
 too much; he dared not offend. Nay, even as he held her 
 hand, he was unaware of the true state of his feeling towards 
 her ; it was this separation this ever increasing distance 
 between them that had enabled him to understand. 
 
 And then again his mood changed into one of bitter self- 
 reproach and scorn. What miserable folly was this crying for 
 the moon this picturing of a marriage between the daughter 
 of an ancient and wealthy house one, too, who was unmis- 
 takably proud of her lineage and a singer in comic opera ! Not 
 for nothing had he heard of the twin brothers Cunyngham 
 who fell on Flodden Field. It is true that at the present time 
 he and she mingled in the same society ; for he was the pet and 
 plaything of the hour, in the fashionable world ; but he was 
 not entirely blinded by that favour, he did not wholly mistake 
 his position. And even supposing a wild conjecture ! that 
 she entertained an exceptional regard for him that she could 
 be induced to think of marrying him would she be content 
 that her husband remained on the stage, and painted his face 
 every evening, and postured before the footlights ? On the 
 other hand, apart from the stage, what was he? a mere 
 nobody, not too well-instructed, having no particular gifts of 
 wit or conversation, without even a well-filled purse the 
 meanest of qualifications to recommend him. No doubt they 
 might make a very pretty bargain between them : he might go 
 to her and say 
 
 " Let there bo a sacrifice on both sides. I give up the theatre 
 I give up the applause, the popularity, the opportunities of 
 making pleasant friendships all the agreeable things of a stage- 
 life : and you on your part give up your pride of birth, and, it 
 may be, something of your place in society. It is a surrender 
 on both sides. Let our motto be c All for love ; and the world 
 well lost.' " Yes, a very pretty bargain ; but as he considered 
 that he was now wandering into the region of romance a 
 region which he unhesitatingly despised as having no relation 
 with the facts of the world he withdrew from that futile and 
 useless and idle speculation, and took to thinking of Miss Honnor 
 Cunyngham as she actually was, and wondering over which of 
 
A New Experience. 207 
 
 tho Aivroii pools the proud-featured fisher-maiden would bo 
 casting at this moment. 
 
 And here, again, as the hours crept by, was something of a 
 more practical nature to remind him of the now far distant 
 strath. In order to save him from the hurry of a twenty- 
 minutes' railway-station dinner, Lady Adela had ordered a 
 luncheon-basket to be packed for him, and her skill and fore- 
 thought in this direction were unequalled, as many a little 
 shooting party had joyfully discovered. When Lionel leisurely 
 began to explore the contents of the basket, he was proud to 
 think that it was under her own immediate supervision that 
 these things had been put together for him. There was some 
 kind of sentimental interest attaching to the chicken, and 
 tongue, and galantine, to the salad and biscuits and cake and 
 what not ; and he knew that it was no servant who had thought 
 of filling a small tin canister with peaches and grapes, even as 
 he knew that only Lady Adela was aware of his preference for 
 the particular dry Sillery, of which a half bottle here lay in its 
 covering of straw. As he took out the things and placed them 
 on the seat beside him, he could have imagined that a pair of 
 very gentle hands had arranged that repast for him. Then 
 from this much too sumptuous banquet his mind wandered 
 away back to the simple fare that old Kobert used to bring 
 forth from the fishing-bag, when Miss Honnor had taken her 
 place among the bracken. Again he was with her in that little 
 dell away among the solitudes of the hills, with the murmur of 
 the Geinig coming up to them from the chasm below. The 
 sunlight flashed on the rippling burn at their feet ; the leaves 
 of the birches trembled, and no more than trembled, in the still 
 air ; the deep clear blue of the sky overhead told them to be in 
 no hurry they would have to wait till the afternoon for clouds. 
 In the perfect silence (for the humming of the bees in the 
 heather was hardly a sound at all) he could hear every soft 
 modulation of her voice though, to be sure, it was not lovers' 
 talk that passed between them. " Mr. Moore, won't you have 
 the rest of this soda-water ? " or " Yes, one of those brown 
 biscuits, thank you," or " Please, Mr. Moore, will you crush 
 those bits of paper together and bury them in a hole ? Nothing 
 is so horrid as to come upon traces of a pic-nic on a hill- side or 
 along a river." Already those long days of constant companion- 
 ship seemed to be becoming remote. It was the black night- 
 journey between Inverness aad Perth that had severed that 
 shining time from the dull and common-place hours he had now 
 
208 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 entered upon. He looked out of the window as the train 
 thundered along Preston "Wigan Warrington everywhere 
 squalor, hurry, and noise, with a smoke-laden sky lowering 
 over the sad and dismal country : different indeed from that 
 other world he knew of, with its crimson slopes of heather, its 
 laughing waters, its lonely solitudes in their noonday hush, the 
 fair azure of the heavens becoming paler and paler towards the 
 horizon until it touched the distant peaks and shoulders of 
 Assynt. " Muss aus dem Thai jetzt scheiden, wo alles Lust und 
 Klang ; " but at least the memory of it would remain with him 
 a gracious possession. 
 
 The long afternoon wore on; Crewe, Stafford, Lichfield, 
 Tamworth went by, as things in a dream ; for his thoughts were 
 far away. Sometimes, it is true, he would rebel against this 
 morbid, restless, useless regret that had got hold of him ; and he 
 would valiantly attack the newspapers, of which he had an 
 ample supply ; but somehow or another the grey columns would 
 fade away, and in their place would come a picture of Strath- 
 aivron Lodge, and the valley, and the river, and of an upturned 
 face smiling a last farewell to him as the waggonette rolled on. 
 Was it really only yesterday that he had seen her talked with 
 her taken her hand ? A yesterday that seemed years away ! 
 A vision already growing pale. 
 
 Well, London came at last, and all the hurry and bustle of 
 Euston Station ; and when he had got his things put on the top of 
 a hansom, and given his address to the driver, there was an end 
 of dreams. No more dreams were possible in this great vortex 
 of a city into which he was now plunged a turbulent, be- 
 wildering, vast black hole it seemed, and yet all afire with its 
 blaze of windows and lamps. In Strathaivron the night was a 
 gentle thing it came stealing over the landscape as soft as 
 sleep ; it brought silence with it and a weight to tired eyes ; it 
 bade the woods be still ; and to the lonely and darkened peaks 
 of the hills it unveiled its canopy of trembling stars. But hero 
 there was no night there was yellow fire, there were black 
 phantoms unceasingly hurrying hither and thither, and a dull 
 and constant roar more continuous than that of any sea. Tot- 
 tenham Court Koad after Strathaivron ! But here at least was 
 actuality; the time for sentimental sorrows, for dumb and 
 hopeless regrets, was over and gone. 
 
 And who was the first to greet him on his return to London 
 who but Nina ? not in person, truly, but by a very graceful 
 little message. The moment he went into his sitting-room his 
 
A New Experience. 209 
 
 eyes fell on the tiny nosegay lying on the table ; and when ho 
 took the card from the accompanying envelope, he knew whoso 
 handwriting he would find there. 'Welcome home from Nina ! ' 
 that was all ; but it was enough to make him rather remorse- 
 ful. Too much had he neglected his old comrade and ally ; he 
 had scarcely ever written to her ; she had been but little in his 
 thoughts. Poor Nina! it was a shame he should treat so 
 faithful a friend so ill ; he might have remembered her a little 
 more, had not his head been stuffed with foolish fancies. Well, 
 as soon as he had changed, and swallowed some bit of food, he 
 would jump into a hansom and go along to the New Theatre ; 
 he would be too late to judge of Nina's Grace Mainwaring as a 
 whole, but he would have a little chat with herself in the 
 wings. 
 
 He was later in getting there than he had expected ; indeed, 
 as he made his way to the side of the stage, he discovered that 
 his locum tenens had just been recalled and was singing for the 
 second time the well-known serenade ' The Starry Night ' and 
 very well he sang it, too, confound him ! Lionel said to himself. 
 And here was Nina, standing on a small platform at the top of 
 a short ladder, and waiting until the passionate appeal of her 
 sweetheart (in the garden without) should be finished. She 
 did not kno*Y of the presence of the new-comer. Lionel might 
 have pulled her skirts, it is true, to apprise her of his being 
 there ; but that would not have been decorous ; besides, he 
 dared not distract her attention from the business of the stage. 
 As soon as the last verse of the serenade had been sung, with its 
 recurring refrain 
 
 * Appear, my sweet, and shame the skies, 
 That have no splendour, 
 TJiat have no splendour UJce thine eyes.' 
 
 Nina that is, Grace Mainwaring carefully opened the case- 
 ment at which she was supposed to be standing. A flood of 
 moonlight lime-light, rather fell on her; but Lionel could 
 not see how she looked the part, because her back was towards 
 him. Very timidly Grace Mainwaring glanced this way and 
 that, to make sure that no one could observe her ; she took a 
 rose from her hair, kissed it, and dropped it to her enraptured 
 lover below. It was the end of the act. She had to come 
 down quickly from the platform for the recall that resounded 
 through the theatre ; she did not chance to notice Lionel ; she 
 was led on and across the stage by Hatry ThornJdll, she bowing 
 
 p 
 
210 TJie Neiv Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 repeatedly and gracefully, he reserving his acknowledgment 
 until he had handed her off. The reception both of them got 
 was most gratifying ; there could be no doubt of the sincerity 
 of the applause of this crowded house. 
 
 " It seems to me I am not wanted here any more," Lionel 
 said to himself. "Even Nina won't take any notice of the 
 stranger." 
 
 The next moment Nina, who was coming across the stage, 
 caught sight of him, and with a little cry of delight she ran 
 towards him yes, ran ; for what cared she about carpenters 
 and scene-shifters ? and caught both his hands in hers. 
 
 " Ah, Leo ! " she cried, with glad-shining eyes. " Oh, so 
 brown you are ! a hunter ! you are from the forests ! And 
 to-day you arrive and already at the theatre did you hear 
 the duet no ? Ah, it is good to see you again, after so long ! 
 I could laugh and cry together, it is such a joy to see you 
 and see you looking so well " 
 
 " I say, Nina," he said, " that fellow Doyle sings tremen- 
 dously well he's ever so much improved they'll be wanting 
 him to take my place altogether, and sending me off into the 
 country." 
 
 " You, Leo ! " she said, with a merry laugh, and still she 
 regarded him with those delighted welcoming eyes. " Ah, yes, 
 it is likely ! Ah, you will see what reception they will give 
 you on Monday. Yes, it is in all the papers already every- 
 where I see it ; but come Miss Girond and I, we have Miss 
 Burgoyne's room for the present you can wait for a few 
 minutes, then I come out to talk to you." 
 
 Lionel (feeling very much like a stranger in this place) 
 followed her into Miss Burgoyne's room, where he found Mile. 
 Girond only too ready to throw away the French novel she was 
 reading. Nina had to disappear into the dressing-room ; but 
 this small boy-officer in the gay uniform, with his or her pretty 
 gesticulation and charm of broken English, was quite willing 
 to entertain Mr. Moore, though at times she would forget all 
 about him, and walk across to the full-length mirror, and twist 
 her small moustache. She chatted to him now and again ; she 
 returned to the mirror to touch her eyebrows or adjust her 
 eash ; she walked about, or flicked the dust from her shining 
 Wellingtons with a silk handkerchief ; again she contemplated 
 lierself in the glass, and lightly sang 
 
 ' En dtfbordant de Saint-Malo 
 Nos longs avirom lattaient I'eau ! ' 
 
A New Experience. 211 
 
 Then she was called away for the beginning of the last act ; 
 and Nina, having made the change necessary for her next 
 appearance, canie out from the dressing-room and sat down. 
 
 " Oh, you are wicked, Leo," she said, as she contentedly 
 crossed her hands in her lap, and looked at the young man 
 with those friendly eyes, " that you stayed away so long. I 
 wished to sing the duet with you but no you begin Monday 
 and Miss Burgoyne comes back Monday 
 
 " Does she? I thought she was ordered a long rest." 
 
 Nina laughed. 
 
 " She sees in the papers that you come back it is to be a 
 great occasion she says to herself, * Will he sing with that 
 Italian girl ? No ! Let my throat be well or ill, I am going 
 back ; ' and she is coming, Leo. Never mind ; I am to have 
 the part of Clara; is it not an advancement? And every- 
 thing is so much more comfortable now ; Miss Girond has taken 
 a room with Mrs. Grey ; then we go home always together ; 
 and she has the use of the piano " 
 
 " Miss Ross, please ! " called a voice at the door. 
 
 " All right ! " she called in reply. 
 
 " The chorus is on, Miss." 
 
 " All right I " 
 
 " Ah," she continued, " it is so good to see you back, Leo ; yes, 
 yes ; London was a stranger city when you were away there 
 was no one. And it is all you I have to thank, Leo, for my 
 introduction here and my good fortune 
 
 " Oh, nonsense, Nina ! " he said. " What else could I have 
 done ? It isn't you who ought to thank me it's Lehmann : I 
 consider him precious lucky to have got a substitute for 
 Miss Burgoyne so easily. So Miss Burgoyne is coming back on 
 Monday?" 
 
 " Yes," said Nina, as she went to the door. " Shall I see 
 you again, Leo, to-night?" 
 
 " Oh, I'm coming to hear you sing ' Now to the dance,' " he 
 said, as he followed her out into the corridor, and ascended with 
 her into the wings. 
 
 This was a busy act for Nina ; and the next time he had an 
 opportunity of talking with her was after she had dressed 
 herself in her bridal robes and was come up ready to go on the 
 stage. Nina looked a little self-conscious when she first 
 encountered him in this attire ; perhaps she was afraid of his 
 contrasting her appearance with that of Miss Burgoyne. If he 
 did, it was certainly not to Nina's disadvantage. No; Nina 
 
 p 2 
 
212 TJie New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 was much more distinguished-looking and refined than the 
 pert little doll-like bride represented by Miss Burgoyne : she 
 wore the gorgeous costume of flowered white satin with ease 
 and grace; and her portentous white wig, with its feathered 
 brilliants and strings of pearls, seemed to add a greater depth 
 and softness and mild lustre to her dark, expressive eyes. For 
 an instant, as she came up to him, those beautiful, liquid eyes 
 were turned to the ground. 
 
 " I did not choose anything, Leo," she said, modestly ; " I 
 have had to copy Miss Burgoyne." 
 
 " Well, there's a difference somehow, Nina," said he ; " and 
 I think Miss Burgoyne had better begin and copy you." 
 
 For a swift instant she raised her eyes : she was more than 
 pleased. But she said nothing indeed, she had now to go on 
 the stage. And if be had contrasted her appearance favourably 
 with that of Miss Burgoyne, he was now inclined to give a 
 similar verdict with regard to her acting. It certainly wanted 
 the self-confidence of long experience, and also the emphasis 
 and exaggeration of comedy-opera ; it was not nearly impudent 
 enough for the upper gallery ; but it was graceful and natural 
 to a degree that surprised him. As for her voice, that was 
 incomparably better than Miss Burgoyne's ; it was a fresh, 
 sympathetic, finely modulated voice that had been uninjured 
 either by excessive training or excessive work. Lionel was 
 quite proud of his protegee ; unseen, here in the wings, he could 
 applaud as loudly as any ; if Nina did not hear, she must have 
 been deaf. And when she came off at the end of the act or 
 rather, immediately after the recall, which was as enthusiastic 
 as the soul of actor or actress could desire there was no stint 
 to his praise ; and Nina's heartfelt pleasure on hearing this 
 warm commendation shone through all her stage make-up. 
 He asked if he should wait to act as escort to Miss Girond and 
 herself; but Nina said no; Miss Girond and she went home 
 every night by themselves in a four-wheeled cab ; she knew lie 
 must be tired after his long journey ; and he must go away and 
 get to bed at once. So Lionel shook hands with her ; and left 
 the theatre ; and walked carelessly and absently home to his 
 lodgings in Piccadilly. 
 
 IT Well, he was glad to find his old friend and comrade Nina 
 getting on so well, and so proud of her success, and looking so 
 charming in her new part ; and he guessed that she must have 
 written to the grumbling old Pandiani, and sent photographs 
 of herself as Grace Mainwaring to Andrea and Cannela and her 
 
A Neiv Experience. 213 
 
 other Neapolitan friends. But it was not of Nina that ho 
 thought long, as he lay in the easy-chair, and smoked, and 
 listened to the heavy murmur of the streets without. He had 
 not got used to London yet. The theatre seemed to him a 
 great, glaring thing ; the lime-light an impertinent sham ; 
 even the applause of the delighted audience somehow brutal 
 and offensive. There was no repose, no reticence, no self- 
 respect and modesty about the whole affair; it was all too 
 violent ; a fanfaronade ; a coarse and ostentatious make-believe, 
 that seemed a kind of insult to a quiet mind. He turned away 
 from it altogether. His fancies had fled to the North again ; 
 the long railway-journey was annihilated ; again he was driving 
 out to the still and beautiful valley, where those kind friends 
 were standing at the door of the Lodge, fluttering a white 
 welcome to him. He goes down the steep hill-side ; he crosses 
 the stream at the Horse's Drink ; he reaches the hall-door, and 
 is shaking hands with this one and that. And if the tall, proud 
 maiden with the fine forehead and the clear calm hazel eyes is 
 not among this group, be sure she will be here in the evening, 
 to add her greeting to the rest. Oh, to think of that next 
 morning the sweet air blowing down from the hills the silver 
 lights among the purple clouds the Aivron swinging along its 
 gravelly bed, a deep clear bronze where the sunlight strikes 
 the shallows ! Further and further into the solitudes those two 
 idly wander away from human ken until the dogs in the 
 kennels are no longer heard, nor is there even a black-cock 
 crowing in the woods : nothing but the hum of the bees, and 
 the whisper of the birch-branches, and the hushed low thunder 
 of the Geinig falls. He could almost hear it now : or was not 
 the continuous murmur that dazed and dinned his ears a sadly 
 different sound the muffled roar of cabs and carriages along 
 Piccadilly, bearing home this teeming population from the blare 
 and glare of the crowded theatres ? A different sound indeed ! 
 He had come into another world ; and the Aivron and Geinig, 
 far away, were alone with the darkness and the stars. 
 
214 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 A MAGNANIMOUS RIVAL. 
 
 THAT Monday night at the New Theatre was a great occasion ; 
 for although there were a few people (themselves not of much 
 account, perhaps) who went about saying there was no one in 
 London, an enormous house welcomed back to the stage those 
 well-known favourites, Miss Burgoyne and Mr. Lionel Moore. 
 And what had become of the Aivron and the Geinig now ? their 
 distant murmurs were easily drowned in the roar of enthusiasm 
 with which the vast audience a mass of orange-hued faces 
 they seemed across the foot-lights greeted the prima donna 
 and the popular young baritone. Nina was here also, in her 
 subordinate part. And all that Miss Burgoyne could do, on the 
 stage and off the stage*, to attract his attention, did not hinder 
 Lionel from watching with the most affectionate interest, the 
 manner in which his protegee, his old comrade Nina, was acquit- 
 ting herself. Clara was perhaps a little bit too eager and 
 anxious ; she anticipated her cues ; her parted lips seemed to 
 repeat what was being said to her ; lights and shadows of 
 expression chased each other over the mobile features and 
 brightened or darkened her eloquent eyes ; and in her passages 
 with Grace Mainwaring she was most effusive, though that other 
 young lady maintained a much more matter-of-fact demeanour. 
 
 " Capital, Nina ! Very well done ! " Lionel exclaimed (to 
 himself) in the wings. " You're on the right track. It is easier 
 to tone down than to brace up. Don't be afraid keep it going 
 you'll grow business-like soon enough " 
 
 Here Clara had to come tripping off the stage, and Lionel 
 had to go on ; he had no opportunity of speaking to her until 
 the end of the act, when they chanced to meet in the long 
 glazed corridor. 
 
 " You're a bit nervous to-night, Nina," he said, in a kindly 
 way. 
 
 " But so as to be bad ? " she said, quickly and anxiously. 
 
 *' It was very well done indeed it was splendid but you 
 almost take too much pains. Most girls with a voice like yours 
 would merely sing a part like that and think the management 
 was getting enough. I suppose you don't know yourself that 
 you keep repeating what the other person is saying to you as 
 if he wasn't getting on fast enough 
 
A Magnanimous Rival. 215 
 
 She paused for a second. 
 
 "Yes, I understand I understand what you mean," she 
 said rather slowly ; then she continued in her usual way : 
 "But to-night, Leo, I am anxious oh, there are so many 
 things ! this is the first time I act with Miss Burgoyne ; and 
 I wish them not to say I am a stick for your sake, Leo you 
 brought mo here I must do what I can " 
 
 " Oh, Nina, you don't half value yourself ! " he said. " You 
 think far too little of yourself. You're a most wonderful 
 creature to find in a theatre. I consider that Lehmann is under 
 a deep obligation to me for giving him the chance of engaging 
 you. By the way, have you heard what he means to do on 
 Sunday week ? " 
 
 No not at all ! " 
 
 " Saturday week is the 400th night," he continued ; " and 
 to celebrate it, Lehmann is going to give the principal members 
 of the company, and a few friends, I suppose, a dinner at the 
 Star and Garter at Richmond. Haven't you heard ? but of 
 course he'll send you a card of invitation. The worst of it is 
 that it is no use driving down at this time of the year ; I 
 suppose we shall have to get there just as we please, and meet 
 in the room ; but I don't know how all the proper escorts are 
 to be arranged. I was thinking, Nina, I could take you and 
 Miss Girond down, if you will let me." 
 
 There was a bright, quick look of pleasure in Nina's eyes 
 but only for an instant. 
 
 " No, no, Leo," she said, with lowered lashes. " That is not 
 right. Miss Burgoyne and you are the two principal people 
 in the theatre you are on the stage equals off the stage 
 also you are her friend you must take her to Richmond, Leo." 
 
 " Miss Burgoyne ? " 
 
 But here the door of Miss Burgoyne's room was suddenly 
 opened, and the voice of the young lady herself was heard, in 
 unmistakeably angry tones : 
 
 " Oh, bother your headache ! I suppose it was your head- 
 ache made you split my blue jacket in two, and I suppose it 
 was your headache made you smash my brooch last night I 
 wonder what some women were born for ! " And therewithal 
 the charming Grace Mainwaring made her appearance ; and not 
 a word hardly a look did the indignant small lady choose to 
 bestow on either Lionel or Nina as she brushed by them on her 
 way up to the wings. 
 
 Yes, here he was in the theatre again, with all its trivial 
 
216 TJie Neiv Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 distractions and interests, and also its larger excitements, and 
 ambitions, and rewards, not the least of which'was the curious 
 fascination he found in holding a great audience hushed and 
 enthralled, listening breathlessly to every far-reaching, passion- 
 ate note. Then his reappearance on the stage brought him a 
 renewal of all the friendly little attentions and hospitalities that 
 had been interrupted by his leaving for Scotland ; for if certain 
 of his fashionable acquaintance were still away at their country- 
 houses, there were plenty of others who had returned to town. 
 Club-life, had begun again, too. But most of all, at this time 
 Lionel was disposed to enjoy that quiet and gentle companion- 
 ship with Nina, which was so simple and frank and unreserved. 
 He could talk to her freely, on all subjects save one and that 
 he was trying to put away from himself, in these altered 
 circumstances. He and she had a community of interests ; 
 there was never any lack of conversation whether he was 
 down in Sloane Street, drinking tea and trying over new music 
 with her, or walking with Miss Girond and her to the theaire, 
 through the now almost leafless Green Park. Sometimes, 
 when she was grown petulant and fractious, he had to scold 
 her into good-humour ; sometimes she had seriously to re- 
 monstrate with him ; but it was all given and taken in good 
 part. He was never embarrassed or anxious in her society : he 
 was happy, and content, and careless, as she appeared to be 
 also. He did not trouble to invent any excuse for calling 
 upon her ; he went down to Sloane Street just whenever he 
 had a spare half-hour or hour ; and if the morning was bright, 
 or even passable (for it was November now, and even a toler- 
 able sort of day was welcome), and if Miss Girond did not wish 
 to go out or had some other engagement, Nina and he would 
 set off for a stroll by themselves, up into Kensington Gardens, 
 it might be, or along Piccadilly, or through the busy crowds of 
 Oxford Street ; while they looked at the shops and the passers- 
 by, and talked about the theatre and the people in it, or about 
 old days in Naples. There was no harm; and they thought 
 no harm. Sometimes he could hear her hum to herself a frag- 
 ment of one of the old familiar canzoni " Antoniella Antonia ! " 
 or " Voca, voca, ncas' a mano " so light-hearted was she ; and 
 occasionally they said a word to each other in Neapolitanese 
 but this was seldom, for Nina considered the practice to be 
 most reprehensible. What she had chiefly to take him to task 
 for, however, was his incurable and inordinate extravagance 
 especially wherever she was concerned. 
 
A Magnanimous Bival. 217 
 
 "Leo, you think it is a compliment?" she said to him, 
 earnestly. " No, not at all ; I ana sorry. Why should you buy for 
 me this, that, whatever strikes your eye, and no matter the price ? 
 I have everything I desire. Why to me ? why, if you must 
 give, why not to your cousin you tell me of, who is so kind to 
 the sick children, in boarding them in the country? There, 
 now, is something worthy, something good, something to bo 
 praised " 
 
 " Oh, preach away, Nina ! " he answered, with a laugh. 
 " But I've contributed to Francie's funds until she won't take 
 anything more from me not at present. But why do you 
 always talk about saving and saving ? You are an artist, Nina, 
 and you put such value on money ! " 
 
 " But an artist grows old, Leo," she said. 
 
 " Perhaps you have been saving a little yourself, Nina? " he 
 said, at a venture. 
 
 " Oh, yes, I have, Leo, a little," she answered, rather 
 shamefacedly. 
 
 " What for ? " he made bold to ask. 
 
 "Oh, how do I know?" she said, with downcast eyes. 
 " Many things might happen: is it not safer? No, Leo, you 
 must not say I love money for itself; it is not fair to me ; but 
 but if a dear friend is ill if a doctor says to him ' suspend 
 all work, and go away to Capri, to Algeria, to Eg Egippo '- 
 is it right ? arid perhaps he has been indiscreet he has been 
 too generous to all his companions he is in need then you 
 say ' Here, take mine it is between friends.' Then you are 
 proud to have money, are you not? " 
 
 " I'm afraid, Nina, that's what they call a parable," said he, 
 darkly. " But I am sure of this, that if that person were to be 
 taken ill, and were so very poor, and were to go to Nina for 
 help, I don't think he would have to fear any refusal. And 
 then, as you say, Nina, you would be proud to have the money 
 just as I know you would be ready to give it." 
 
 It was rarely that Nina blushed, but now her pretty, pale 
 face fairly burned with conscious pleasure; and he hardly 
 dared to look, yet he fancied there was something of moisture 
 in the long, dark lashes ; while she did not speak for some 
 seconds. Perhaps he had been too bold in interpreting her 
 parable ? 
 
 Yes, there was no doubt that this spoilt favourite of the 
 public, who lived amid the excitements, the flatteries, the 
 gratifications of the moment, with hardly a thought of the 
 
218 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 future, was dreadfully extravagant, though it was rarely on 
 himself that he lavished his reckless expenditure. Nina's pro- 
 tests were of no avail ; whenever he saw anything pretty, or 
 odd, or interesting, that he thought would please her, it was 
 purchased there and then, to be given to her on the first oppor- 
 tunity. One day he was going through Vigo Street, and 
 noticed in a shop-window a pair of old-fashioned, silver-gilt 
 loving-cups those that interclasp; and forthwith he went in 
 and bought them : " I'll take those ; how much are they ? " 
 being his way of bargaining. In the afternoon he carried them 
 down to Sloane Street. 
 
 " Here, Nina, I've brought you a little present ; and I'll 
 have to show you how to usa it, or you would never guess what 
 it is for." 
 
 When he unrolled his pretty gift out of the pink tissue- 
 paper Nina threw up her hands in despair. 
 
 " Oh, it is too much of a folly ! " she exclaimed. " Why do 
 you do it, Leo ! What is the use of old silver to me ! " 
 
 " Well, it's nice to look at," said he. " And it will help to 
 furnish your house when you get married, Nina." 
 
 " Ah, Leo," said she, " if you would only think about your- 
 self ! It is always to-day, to-morrow, with you : never the 
 coming years " 
 
 " Yes, I know all about that," he interposed. " Now I'm 
 going to show you how these are used. They're loving-cups, 
 you know, Nina " 
 
 " Loving-cups ? " she repeated, rather timidly. 
 
 " Yes ; and I will show you how the ceremony is performed. 
 Now, will you get me some lemonade, Nina, and a little of the 
 vermouth that I sent to Mrs. Grey ? " 
 
 She went and got these things for him ; and when she 
 returned he poured into one of the tiny goblets about a tea- 
 spoon of the vermouth, filling it up with the lemonade ; then 
 he put the other cup on the top of this one, so that they formed 
 a continuous vessel ; he shook the contents ; then ho separated 
 the cups, leaving about half the liquid in each, and one of them 
 he handed to Nina, retaining the other. 
 
 " We drink at the same time, Nina with any kind of 
 wishes you like." 
 
 She glanced towards him and then shyly lowered her eyes 
 as she raised the small cup to her lips. What were her 
 wishes ? Perhaps he did not care to know ; perhaps she would 
 not have cared to toll. 
 
A Magnanimous Eival. 219 
 
 " You see, it is a simple ceremony, Nina," he said, as ho put 
 the little goblet on the table again. " But at the same time it 
 is very confidential. I mean, you wouldn't ask everybody to 
 go through it with you it would hardly, for example, be quite 
 circumspect for you to ask any young man you didn't know 
 very well " 
 
 " Leo ! " 
 
 The sound of her voice startled him : there were tears of 
 indignation in it : he looked up and found she had grown 
 suddenly pale. 
 
 " You," she said, with quivering lips, " you and I, Leo wo 
 have drunk together out of these and you think I allow any 
 one else any one living in the world to drink out of them 
 after that ? I would rather have them dashed to pieces and 
 thrown into the sea ! " 
 
 Her vehemence surprised him and might have set any 
 other person thinking ; but he was used to Nina's proud and 
 wayward moods ; so he merely went on to tell her that there 
 was nothing, after all, so very solemn in the ceremony of 
 drinking from a loving-cup ; and then he asked her whether 
 she ought not to call Miss Girond, for it was about time they 
 were going down to the theatre. 
 
 Of course the forthcoming dinner that Mr. Lehmann was 
 about to give at the Star and Garter created quite a stir behind 
 the scenes, where the routine of life is much more monotonous 
 than the people imagine who sit in the stalls and regard the 
 antics of the merry folk on the stage. There were all kinds of 
 rumours and speculations as to who was going with whom, as 
 to the number and quality of the visitors, and as to the possi- 
 bility of the manager presenting each of his lady guests with a 
 little souvenir in honour of the occasion. So when Lionel was 
 summoned to Miss Burgoyne's room one evening, he was not 
 surprised to find her begin to talk of the following Sunday. 
 
 " Will you make yourself some tea, Mr. Moore ? " she said, 
 from the inner room. " There's some cake on the top of the 
 piano. Then you can bring a chair to the curtain, and I'll talk 
 to you for I'm not quite finished yet." 
 
 He drew a chair to the little opening in the curtain, where 
 he could hear what she had to say, and answer, without any 
 indiscreet prying. 
 
 " I am at your service, Miss Grace," said he, lightly. 
 
 "How are you going down to Richmond on Sunday?" she 
 asked at once. 
 
220 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " By train, I suppose." 
 
 There was a moment's silence perhaps she was waiting for 
 him to ask a similar question. 
 
 " Lord Denysfort is going to drive down," said the voice in 
 the inner room. 
 
 " Lord Denysfort ! " he said, contemptuously. " What she 
 is the attraction now ? I don't like that kind of thing : it gets 
 the theatre a bad name. If I were Lehmann, I wouldn't have 
 a single stranger allowed in the wings." 
 
 " Not unless they were your own friends," said the unseen 
 young lady, complacently. "Now I know you're scowling. 
 But I believe you are quite wrong. Lord Denysfort is simply 
 a business-acquaintance of Mr. Lehmann's there are money- 
 matters between them, and that kind of thing ; and when he 
 was asked to be present at the dinner, it was quite natural he 
 should offer to drive some of us down. You have no particular 
 detestation of lords, have you ? What has become of the tall, 
 handsome young man you brought to us at Henley the lazy 
 man and didn't he come to the theatre one night?" 
 
 " Lord Kockminster? he is in Scotland still, I believe." 
 
 " Somebody ought to put fireworks in his coat-tail pockets ; 
 but he's awfully good-looking he's just frightfully handsome. 
 He quite fluttered me." 
 
 " I say, Miss Burgoyne," Lionel interposed, quickly, " there's 
 a sister-in-law of his coming to town shortly, on her way to 
 Brighton a Miss Cunyngham and I should like to have her 
 mother and herself come behind for a little while, some night 
 they were at the theatre it is interesting to those people, you 
 know " 
 
 "You are the one who would have no strangers in the 
 wings ! " said the voice. 
 
 " And I want you to be civil to them " 
 
 " Tea and cake ? All right. But you haven't told me how 
 you are going down to Richmond." 
 
 " Yes, I have. I'm going down by train, most likely." 
 
 " Oh, by train. I suppose I ought to accept Lord Denys- 
 fort's invitation." 
 
 "What's the good of driving at this time of year?" he 
 asked. " It will be pitch dark." 
 
 " There will be a full moon, they say." 
 
 " You won't see it because of the fog. In fact, the whole 
 thing is a mistake. The dinner should have been given in 
 London." 
 
A Magnanimous Rival. 221 
 
 " Oh, I think it will be groat fun dining at a half-deserted 
 hotel it will be ghostly and I'm going out on the terrace if 
 it is as black as midnight." 
 
 *' And what are you going to do with your gallant warrior 
 with the furious fire-eater who wanted to bring my humble 
 career to a premature end ? " 
 
 " I don't know whom you mean," said the voice, but with 
 no great decision. 
 
 "You don't remember saving my life, then?" he asked. 
 " Have you forgotten the duel that was to have been fought 
 before I went to Scotland ; and how you stepped in to protect 
 me? If it hadn't been for you, I might have fallen on the 
 
 gory field of battle " 
 
 " It's all very well for you to mock," said she, but there's 
 nothing that young man wouldn't do for my sake ; and I don't 
 see anything to laugh at in true esteem and affection. They're 
 too rare nowadays. I know one or two gentlemen who might 
 be improved by a little more devotion and and chivalry. But 
 
 it's all persiflage nowadays. Everything is connu " 
 
 " Behind the scenes, perhaps ; but it's different when you 
 import the fresh, the ingenuous element from the outer world," 
 said he (but what interest had he in the discussion ? he did 
 not wear his heart on his sleeve for Miss Burgoj 7 ne to peck at). 
 " Aren't you going to take Mr. Miles down with you ? " 
 
 " Poor Percy ! " said the now muffled voice (perhaps she had 
 a pin in her teeth, or perhaps she was still further touching up 
 her lips), "I suppose he would come if he were invited; but 
 he doesn't know any of them." 
 
 " Why don't you ask Lehmann for an invitation for him ? " 
 " What do you mean, Mr. Moore ? " demanded the voice 
 sharply enough now. 
 " Oh, nothing." 
 
 " I consider you are very impertinent. Why should I ask 
 for an invitation for Mr. Miles ? What would that imply ? Do 
 you suppose I particularly wish him to be there ? " 
 
 " Oh, I didn't mean to offend," Lionel said, quite humbly. 
 " Only you see the other night you showed me that in- 
 genious dodge of covering the ring you wear with a bit of 
 white india-rubber and and I thought it might be an 
 
 engagement ring worn on that finger " 
 
 "Then you're quite wrong, Mr. Clever," said the voice. 
 " That ring was given me by a very dear friend, a very, very 
 dear friend I won't tell you whether a he or a she and it 
 
222 TJie New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 fits that finger; but all the same I don't want the public 
 to think I am engaged. So there for your wonderful 
 guessing ! " 
 
 " I'm sure I beg your pardon," said he ; "I didn't mean to be 
 inquisitive." 
 
 But at this moment the intervening curtains were thrown 
 open, and here was Grace Mainwaring, in full panoply of white 
 satin, and pearls, and powdered hair. She was followed by her 
 maid. She went to the long mirror in this larger room, and 
 began to put the finishing touches to the set of her costume 
 and also to her make up. Then she told Jane to go and get 
 the inner room tidied ; and when the maid had disappeared, 
 she turned to the young baritone. 
 
 " Mr. Moore," said she, rather pointedly, " you are not very 
 communicative." 
 
 " In what way ? " 
 
 " I understand you are going to take Miss Boss and Miss 
 Girond down to Richmond on Sunday : I don't see myself why 
 you should conceal it." 
 
 " I never thought of concealing it ! " he exclaimed, with a 
 little surprise. '* Why should a trifling arrangement like that 
 be concealed or mentioned either ? " 
 
 Miss Burgoyne regarded herself in the mirror again, and 
 touched her white wig here and there, and the black beauty- 
 spots on her cheek and chin. 
 
 " I have been told," she remarked, rather scornfully, " that 
 gentlemen are fond of the society of chorus-girls I suppose 
 they enjoy a certain freedom there that they don't meet 
 elsewhere." 
 
 " Neither Miss Eoss nor Miss Girond is a chorus-girl,'\he 
 said though he wasn't going to lose his temper over nothing. 
 
 " They have both sung in the chorus," she retorted, 
 snappishly. 
 
 " That is neither here nor there," he said. " Why, what 
 does it matter how we go down, when we shall all meet there 
 on a common footing? It was an obviously simple arrange- 
 ment Sloane Street is on my way, whether I go by road or 
 rail 
 
 " Oh, pray don't make any apology to me I am not inte- 
 rested in the question," she observed, in a most lofty manner, 
 as she still affected to bo examining her dress in the mirror. 
 
 "I wasn't making any apology to anybody," he said, 
 bluntly. 
 
A Magnanimous Rival. 223 
 
 " Or explanation," she continued, in the same tone. " You 
 seem to have a strange fancy for foreigners, Mr. Moore ; and I 
 suppose they are glad to be allowed to practice talking with 
 any one who can speak decent English." 
 
 " Nina I mean, Miss Eoss is an old friend of mine," he 
 said, just beginning to chafe a little. " It is a very small piece 
 of courtesy that I should offer to see her safely down to 
 Eichmond, when she is a stranger, with hardly any other 
 acquaintance in London " 
 
 " But fpray don't make any excuse to me what have I to 
 do with it ? " Miss Burgoyne said, sweetly. And then, as she 
 gathered up her long train and swung it over her arm, she 
 added : " Will you kindly open the door for me, Mr. Moore ? " 
 And therewith she passed out, and along the corridor, and up 
 into the wings he attending her, for he also was wanted in 
 this scene. 
 
 Well, Miss Burgoyne might drive down to Eichmond with 
 Lord Denysfort or with anyone else; he was not going to 
 forsake Nina. On the afternoon appointed, just as it was dark, 
 he called at the house in Sloane Street, and found the two 
 young ladies ready, with nothing but their bonnets to put on. 
 Both of them, he thought, were very prettily dressed, if Nina's 
 costume had a somewhat severer grace; and, indeed, that 
 rather comported with Nina's demeanour towards this little 
 French chatterbox, whom she seemed to regard with a kind of 
 grave and young-matronly consideration and forbearance. 
 When they had got into the brougham which was waiting 
 outside for them, and had started away for Putney Bridge, it 
 was Mile. Girond who was merry and excited and talkative : 
 Nina only listened, in good-humoured amusement. Mile. 
 Girond had never been to Eichmond ; but she had heard of it ; 
 she knew all about the beautiful view, and the terrace over- 
 looking the river ; and she was promising herself the romance 
 and charm of a stroll in the moonlight. 
 
 " I don't see much sign of that full moon as yet," Lionel 
 said to her, peering through the window of the brougham, 
 " but I suppose the glare of the gas-lamps would hide it in any 
 case. However, there's a good deal of fog always along the 
 Thames at this time of year : don't be disappointed, Miss 
 Girond, if you have to remain indoors. Indeed, it is far too 
 cold to go wandering about among statues in the moon- 
 
 light." 
 
 " And if in the dark, they will be all the more mysterieuz, 
 
224 TJie New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 do you not think?" said Miss Girond, eagerly. "And there 
 will be surprises perhaps a laugh, perhaps a shriek if you 
 run against some one ? " 
 
 " Oh, no, I am not going to allow anything of that kind," 
 said he. " I have to look after you young ladies, and you must 
 conduct yourselves with the strictest decorum." 
 
 " Yes, for Nina," Miss Girond cried, gaily. " That is for 
 Nina for me, no ! I will have some amusement ; or I will run 
 away. Who gave you control of me, Monsieur ? I thank you ; 
 but I do not wish it." 
 
 " Estelle ! " said Nina, in tones of grave reproach. 
 
 " Ah ! " said the wilful young lady, and she put out the tips 
 of her fingers as though she would shake away from her these 
 too serious companions. " You have become English, Nina. 
 Very well. If I have no more gay companion, I go out and 
 seek a statue I beckon to him I defy him ah ! he freezes 
 me he nods his head it is the Commendatore ! " And she 
 sang, in portentous bass notes 
 
 " Don Giovanni, a cenar teco 
 W invitasti e son venuto I " 
 
 Lionel let down the window. 
 
 " Do you see that, Miss Girond ? " 
 
 Far away above the blue mists and the jot-black trees (for 
 they were out in the country by this time) hung a small 
 opaque disc of dingy orange. 
 
 " It is the moon, Leo ! " cried Nina. " Ah, but so dull ! " 
 
 " That is the fog lying over the low country," he said, " it 
 may be clearer when we get to the top of the hill. It is to be 
 hoped so, at all events. Fancy a theatrical company going out 
 to a rustic festivity, and not provided with a better moon than 
 that ! " 
 
 However, when they eventually reached the Star and 
 Garter, they had forgotten about the moon and the aspect of 
 the night; for here were the wide steps and the portico all 
 ablaze with a friendly yellow glow; and just inside stood 
 Mr. Lehmann with the most shining shirt front ever beheld 
 receiving his guests as they arrived. Here, too, was Lord 
 Denysfort, a feeble-looking young man, with huge ears and no 
 chin to speak of, who, however, had shown some sense in 
 engaging a professional whip to drive the four-in-hand down 
 through the fog. Of course there was a good deal of bustle 
 and hurry and confusion friends anxious about the non-arrival 
 
A Magnanimous Rival. 225 
 
 of other friends and so forth in the midst of which Lionel said 
 to his two companions 
 
 " Dinner will bo a long time yet. The ladies who have 
 driven down will bo making themselves beautiful for another 
 quarter of an hour. Suppose we go out on the balcony, and see 
 whether any of Miss Girond's statues are visible." 
 
 They agreed to this, for they had not taken off their cloaks ; 
 so he led them along the hall and round by a smaller passage 
 to a door which he opened ; they got outside, and found them- 
 selves in the hushed still night. Below them, on the wide 
 terrace, they could make out the wan grey plaster pillars and 
 pediments and statues, among the jet-black shrubs ; but beyond 
 that all was chaos; the river and the wooded valley were 
 shrouded in a dense mist, pierced only here and there by a 
 small orange ray some distant window or lamp. They wan- 
 dered down the wide steps ; they crossed to the parapet ; they 
 gazed into that great unknown gulf, in which they could 
 descry nothing but one or two spectral black trees, their top- 
 most branches coming up into the clearer air. Then they 
 walked along to the southern end of the terrace; and here they 
 came in sight of the moon a far-distant world on fire it 
 seemed to be, especially when the sombre golden radiance 
 touched a passing tag of cloud and changed it into lurid smoke. 
 All the side of the vast building looking towards them was 
 dark saved for one window that burned red. 
 
 "Is that where we dine ?" asked Nina, as they returned. 
 
 " Oh, no," Lionel answered. " Our room is at the end of the 
 passage by which we came out I suppose the shutters are 
 shut. I fancy that is the coffee room." 
 
 "I am going to have a peep in," Mile. Girond said, as they 
 ascended the steps again; and when they had reached the 
 balcony, she went along to the window, leaving her com- 
 panions behind, for they did not share in this childish curiosity. 
 But the next moment little Capitaine Crepin came back, in a 
 great state of excitement. " Come, come, come ! " she said, 
 breathlessly. " Ah, the poor young gentleman all alone ! 
 my heart feels for him Mr. Moore, it is piteous 
 
 " Well, what have you discovered now ! " said Lionel 
 mdifferentlj*, for he was getting hungry. 
 
 " Come and see come and see ! All alone no one to say 
 a word 
 
 Lionel and Nina followed their eager guide along the dark 
 balcony, until they had got near the brilliant red window 
 
 Q 
 
226 TJie New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 They looked in. The room was bright with crimson-shaded 
 lamps, and its solitary occupant they made out clearly enough : 
 it was Mr. Percival Miles in evening dress, standing before 
 the fireplace, gazing into the coals, his hands in his pockets. 
 
 " Ah," said Nina, as she quickly drew back, " that is the 
 young gentleman who f sometimes waits for Miss Burgoyne, 
 is it not, Leo? And he is all by himself? It is hard." 
 
 "You think it is hard, Nina?" Lionel said, turning to her, 
 as the three spies simultaneously withdrew. 
 
 " Oh, yes, yes ! " Nina exclaimed. 
 
 " Well, you see," continued Lionel, as he opened the glass 
 door to let his companions re-enter the hotel, " an outsider who 
 comes skylarking after an actress, and finds her surrounded by 
 her professional friends and her professional interests, has to 
 undergo a good deal of tribulation. That poor fellow has come 
 down here to dine all by himself, merely to be near her. But 
 mind you, it was that same fellow who wanted to kill me " 
 
 " He, kill you ! " Nina said scornfully. " You allowed him 
 to live yes?" 
 
 " But I don't bear any malice. No, I don't. I'm going to 
 make that boy just the very happiest young man there is in the 
 kingdom of Great Britain this evening " 
 
 " Ah, I know, I know ! " exclaimed Nina, delightedly. 
 
 " Oh, no, you don't know. You don't know anything about 
 it. What you and Miss Girond have got to do now is to go into 
 the cloak-room and leave your things, and afterwards I'll meet 
 you in the dining-room " 
 
 " Yes, but you are going to Mr. Lehmann ! " said Nina, with 
 a laugh. " I do not know ? yes, I do know. Ah, that is 
 generous of you, Leo that is noble." 
 
 " Noble ? trash ! " he said ; and he hurried these young 
 people along to the disrobing room and left them there. Then 
 he went to the Manager, who was still in the hall. 
 
 "I say," he began, without more ado, "there's a young 
 friend of mine in this hotel whom I wish you'd invite to dine 
 with us." 
 
 The Manager looked rather startled then hesitated then 
 stroked his waxed moustache. 
 
 " I I presume a gentleman-friend?" 
 
 "Yes, of course," said Lionel, angrily. "It's a Percival 
 Miles why, you must have heard of Sir Barrington Miles 
 and this is his eldest son, though he's quite a young 
 fellow " 
 
A Magnanimous Rival. 227 
 
 " Oh, very well ; oh, yes, certainly ! " said Mr. Lehmann, 
 apparently much relieved. " Will you ask him ? " 
 
 " Well, no, I can't exactly," Lionel said. " But I will send 
 him a formal note in your name * Mr. Lehmann presents his 
 compliments ' may I ? " 
 
 "All right; but dinner will be served almost directly. 
 Would you mind telling the waiters to lay another cover ? " 
 
 About five minutes thereafter, when the company had 
 swarmed into the dining-room most of them chatting and 
 laughing, but the more business-like looking for their allotted 
 places at table Mr. Percival Miles put in an appearance, very 
 shy and perhaps a little bewildered, for he knew not to whom 
 he owed this invitation. Lionel had got a seat for him between 
 Mile. Girond and Mr. Carey, the musical conductor; if he 
 could, and if he had dared, he would have placed him next Miss 
 Burgoyne ; but Miss Burgoyne was at the head of the table, 
 between Lord Denysfort and Mr. Lehmann besides, that fiery 
 young lady might have taken sudden cause of offence. As it 
 was, the young gentleman could gaze upon her from afar ; and 
 she had bowed to him with some surprise clearly showing 
 in her face just as their eyes had met on his coming into the 
 room. Lionel was next to Nina ; he had arranged that. 
 
 It was a protracted banquet, and a merry one withal ; there 
 was a perfect Babel of noise ; and the excellent old custom oi 
 drinking healths with distant friends was freely adopted. Miss 
 Girond did her best to amuse the good-looking boy whom she 
 had been instrumental in rescuing from his solitary dinner in 
 the coffee-room ; but he did not respond as he ought to have 
 done ; from time to time he glanced wistfully towards the head 
 of the table, where Miss Burgoyne was gaily chatting with Lord 
 Denysfort. As for Nina, Nina was very quiet, but very much 
 interested, as her dark, expressive eyes eloquently showed. 
 
 " It is so beautiful, Leo," she said. " Every one looks so 
 well : is it the light reflected from the table ? " And then she 
 said in a lower tone: " Do you see Miss Burgoyne, Leo? She 
 is acting all the time. She is acting to the whole table." 
 
 " That Albanian jacket of hers is gorgeous enough anyway," 
 Lionel responded : he was not much interested apparently 
 in the question of Miss Burgoyne's behaviour. 
 
 When dinner had been some little time over, the women- 
 folk went away and got wraps and shawls, and the whole 
 company passed outside, the men lighting their cigars at the 
 top of the steps. The heavens overhead were now perfectly 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 clear; the moonlight shone full on the long terrace, with its 
 parapet, and pedestals, and plaster figures ; while all the world 
 below was shut away in a dense fog. Indeed, as the various 
 groups idly walked about or stood and talked their shadows 
 sharply cut as out of ebony on the white stone the whole scene 
 was most extraordinary ; for it appeared as though these people 
 were the sole occupants of some region in cloud-land a clear- 
 shining region raised high above the forgotten earth. 
 
 " Lehmann is lucky," Lionel said to Nina. " I thought his 
 moonlight effect was going to be a failure." 
 
 Miss Girond came up in an eager and excited fashion. 
 
 "Nina!" 
 
 "What is it, Estelle?" 
 
 " Monsieur of the pretty face," she said, in a whisper, " oh, so 
 sad he was all dinner ! regarding Miss Burgoyne, and she 
 coquetting, oh, frightful, frightful ! but it is all right now 
 he was at the door when we come out he takes her hand 
 ' How you do, Miss Burgoyne ? ' ' Oh, how you do, Mr. Miles ? f 
 and he leads her away before she can go to any one else. 
 And there away down there do you see them? He has 
 compensation, do you think? " She drew Nina a little aside, 
 and sang into her ear 
 
 " Ce soir, as-tu vu 
 La fille a noire maitre, 
 
 Ifun air resolu 
 Guettant a sa fenetre ? 
 
 Eli lien ! qu'en dis iu ? 
 Je dis que fai tout vu, 
 
 Mais je n'ai rien cru ; 
 
 Je I'aime, je Vaime, 
 
 Je laime quand meme ! " 
 
 and then she broke into a malicious laugh. 
 
 " What are you two conspiring about now ? " Lionel asked 
 from the bench on which he had carelessly seated himself, the 
 better to enjoy his cigar. 
 
 "You must know the consequence of doing a good action, 
 Leo," Nina said to him. "Do you see the black bushes 
 yonder and the two figures ? Estelle says it is Miss 
 Burgoyne and the young gentleman who would have been all 
 alone but that you intercede. Is he not owing a great deal 
 to you ? " 
 
 " Well, Nina, if there is any gratitude in woman's bosom, 
 Miss Burgoyne ought to bo indebted to me too. She has got 
 her pretty dear. I dare say he would have managed to procure 
 
A Magnanimous Rival. 229 
 
 a little interview with her, in some surreptitious way, in any 
 case I dare say that was his intention in coming down ; but 
 now that ho is one of the party, one of the guests, she can talk 
 to him before every one. And since I have been the means of 
 bringing the pair of turtle-doves together, I hope they're 
 happy." 
 
 " Ah, Leo, you do not understand," Nina said to him for 
 Miss Girond was now talking to Mr. Carey, who had 
 come up. 
 
 " I don't understand what? " 
 
 " You do not understand Miss Burgoyne," said Nina. 
 
 " What don't I understand about her, then ? " 
 
 Nina shook her head. 
 
 " Why should I say ? You will not believe. Perhaps she 
 is grateful io you for bringing in that young man yes, per- 
 haps but if she would rather have yourself to go and talk 
 with her and be her companion before all those people ? Oh, 
 you do not believe ? No ! you are too modest as she is vain, 
 and jealous. All during the dinner she was playing coquette, 
 openly, for every one to see : Estelle says it was to pique the 
 young man who came from the other room : no, Leo, it was 
 not it was meant for you ! " 
 
 " Oh, nonsense, Nina ! I wasn't thinking anything about 
 her!" 
 
 "Does she think that, Leo?" Nina said to him gently. 
 "Ah, you do not know that woman. She is clever; she is 
 cunning ; she wishes to have the fame of being associated with 
 you even in a photograph for the shop- windows ; and you are 
 so blind ! The duel ? yes, she would have liked that, too, for 
 the newspapers to speak about it, and the public to talk, and 
 her name and yours together ; but then she says * No, he will 
 owe more to me if I interfere, and get an apology for him.' It 
 is one way or the other way anything to win your attention 
 that you should care for her and that you should show it to 
 the world " 
 
 " Nina, Nina," said he, " you want to make me outrageously 
 vain. Do you imagine she had a single thought for me when 
 she had Lord Denysfort to carry on with he hasn't much in 
 his head, poor devil, but a title goes a long way in the 
 theatrical world and when she could practise on the suscepti- 
 bilities of her humble adorer who was further down the table ? 
 Oh, I fancy Miss Burgoyne had enough to occupy herself with 
 this evening without thinking of me. She was quite busy." / 
 
230 The Neiv Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " Ah, you do not understand, Leo," Nina said. " But some 
 day you may understand if Miss Burgoyne still finds you 
 indifferent, and becomes angry. But before that, she will try 
 much " 
 
 " Nina ! " 
 
 " You will see, Leo ! " Nina said ; and that was all she could 
 say just then, for Mr. Lehmann came up to take the general 
 vote as to whether they would rather have tea out here in the 
 moonlight or return to the dining-room. 
 
 But any doubt as to the manner in which Miss Burgoyne 
 regarded his intercession on behalf of Mr. Percival Miles was 
 removed, and that in a most summary fashion, by the young 
 lady herself. As they were about to leave the hotel, the men 
 were standing about in the hall, chatting at haphazard, or 
 lighting a fresh cigar, while they waited for the women folk to 
 get ready, Lionel saw Miss Burgoyne coming along the 
 corridor, and was glad of the chance of saying good-night to 
 her before she got on to the front of Lord Denysfort's drag, 
 But it was not good-night that Miss Burgoyne had in her 
 mind. 
 
 " Mr. Moore," she said, when she came up, and she spoke in 
 a low, clear, incisive voice that considerably startled him. " I 
 am told it was through you that that boy was invited to the 
 dinner to-night." 
 
 He looked at her in amazement. 
 
 " Well, what then ? " he exclaimed. " What was the objec- 
 tion ? I thought he was a friend of yours. That boy ? that 
 boy is a sufficiently important person, surely heir to the Pet- 
 mansworth estates why, I should have thought " 
 
 She interrupted him. 
 
 " I consider it a gross piece of impertinence," she said 
 haughtily. " I suppose you thought you were conferring a 
 favour on me I How dared you assume that any one that any 
 one wished him to be present in that room ! " 
 
 She turned proudly away from him without waiting for his 
 reply. 
 
 '* Lord Denysfort, here I am," said she ; and the chinless 
 j'oung man with the large ears gave her his arm and conducted 
 her down the steps. Lionel looked after her bewildered. 
 
< Let the Stricken Deer go iveep' 231 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 'LET THE STRICKEN DEER GO WEEP.' 
 
 BUT if Lionel regarded this constant association with Nina- 
 this unreserved discussion of all their private affairs even the 
 sort of authority and guidance he exercised over her at times 
 as so simple and natural a thing that it was unnecessary to 
 pause and ask whither it might tend, what about Nina her- 
 self? She was quite alone in this country; she had more 
 regard for the future than he had ; what if certain wistful 
 hopes, concealed almost from herself, had sprung up amidst all 
 this intimate and frankly affectionate companionship ? 
 
 One morning she and Estelle were walking in to Eegent 
 Street, to examine proofs of certain photographs that had been 
 taken of them both (for Clara figured in the shop-windows now 
 as well as Capitaine Crepin). Nina was very merry and viva- 
 cious on this sufficiently bright forenoon ; and to please Estelle 
 she was talking French her French being fluent enough, if it 
 was not quite perfect as to accent. They were passing along 
 Piccadilly when she stopped at a certain shop. 
 
 " Come, I show you something," she said. 
 
 Estelle followed her in. The moment the shopman saw 
 who this was he did not wait to be questioned. 
 
 '* It is quite ready, Miss ; I was just about to send it 
 down." 
 
 He brought forward the double loving-cup that Lionel had 
 given to Nina ; and as the young lady took it into her hands 
 she glanced at the rim. Yes, the inscription was quite right : 
 " From Leo to Nina " that was the simple legend she had had 
 engraved. 
 
 " Here is the cup I spoke of, Estelle : is it not beautiful ? 
 And then I would not trouble Lionel to have the inscription 
 made I told him I would have it done myself, and asked him 
 what the words should be behold it ! " 
 
 The cup was duly admired and handed back to be sent 
 down to Sloane Street; then Estelle and she left the shop 
 together. 
 
 " Oh, yes, it is very beautiful," said the former, continuing 
 to speak in her native tongue ; " and a very distinguished 
 present; but there is something still more piquant that Jie will 
 be buying for you ere long can you not guess, Nina? no? 
 not a wedding-ring? " 
 
232 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 The audacity of the question somewhat disconcerted Nina ; 
 but she met it with no sham denial, no affected protest. 
 
 " He has not spoken to me, Estelle," Nina said, gravely and 
 simply. " And sometimes I ask myself if it is not better we 
 should remain as we are we are such good friends and com- 
 panions. We are happy ; we have plenty to occupy ourselves 
 with ; why undertake more serious cares ? Perhaps that is all 
 that Lionel thinks of it; and if it is so I am content. And 
 then sometimes, Estelle, I ask myself if it would not be better 
 for him to marry when he has made his choice, that is to say ; 
 and I picture him and his young wife living very happily in a 
 quite small establishment perhaps two or three rooms, only, 
 in one of those large buildings in Victoria Street and every- 
 thing very pretty around them, with their music and their 
 occupations and the visits of friends. Would not that be for 
 him a life far more satisfactory than his present distractions 
 the gaieties and amusements the invitations of strangers? " 
 
 " Yes, yes, yes ! " her companion cried, with instant assent. 
 "Ah, Nina, I can see you the most charming young house- 
 mistress I can see you receive your guests when (they come 
 for afternoon music you wear a tea-gown of brocade the 
 colour of wall-flower, with cream-coloured lace you speak 
 French, English, Italian, as it is necessary for this one and 
 that your musical reunions are known everywhere. Will 
 Madame permit the poor Estelle to be present ? Estelle, who 
 will not dare to sing before those celebrated ones, but who will 
 applaud, applaud in herself a prodigious claque ! And now, 
 behold ! Miss Burgoyno arrives Miss Burgoyne in grand state 
 and nevertheless you are her dear Nina, her charming 
 friend, although in her heart she hates you for having carried 
 off the handsome Lionel " 
 
 " Estelle," said Nina, gently, " you let your tongue run 
 away. When I picture to myself Lionel in the future, I leave 
 the space beside him empty. Who is to fill it ? perhaps ho 
 has never given a thought to that. Perhaps it will always bo 
 empty; perhaps one of his fashionable friends will suddenly 
 appear there, who knows? He does not seein ever to look 
 forward ; if I remonstrate about his expenditure, he laughs. 
 And why should he give me things of value? I am not 
 covetous. If he wishes to express kindness, is not a word 
 better than any silver cup ? If he wishes to be remembered 
 when he is absent, would not the smallest message sent in 
 a letter bo of more value than a bracelet with sapphires " 
 
* Let the Stricken Deer go weep. 9 233 
 
 " Oh, Nina," her companion exclaimed, laughing, " what a 
 thing to say ! that you would rather have a scrap of writing 
 from Lionel Moore than a bracelet with sapphires " 
 
 " No, Estelle, I did not," Nina protested, rather indignantly ; 
 " I was talking of the value of presents generally, and of their 
 use, or uselessness." 
 
 " And yet you seemed very proud of that loving-cup, Nina, 
 and of the inscription on it," Estelle said demurely ; and there 
 the subject ended ; for they were now approaching the 
 photographers. 
 
 It was a Saturday night that Honnor Cunyngham and her 
 mother who had come up from Brighton for a few days had 
 been induced to fix for their visit to the New Theatre ; and as 
 the evening drew Dear, Lionel became more and more anxious, 
 so that he almost regretted having persuaded them. All his 
 other troubles and worries he could at once carry to Nina, 
 whose cheerful common-sense and abundant courage made light 
 of them and lent him heart ; but this one he had to ponder 
 over by himself; he did not care to tell Nina with what 
 concern he looked forward to the impressions that Miss 
 Cunyngham might form of himself and his surroundings 
 when brought immediately into contact with these. And yet 
 he was not altogether silent. 
 
 "You see how it is, Nina," he said, in tones of deep 
 vexation. " That fellow Collier has been allowed to gag and 
 gag until the whole piece is filled with his music-hall tom- 
 foolery, and the music has been made quite subsidiary. I 
 wonder Lehmann doesn't get a lot of acrobats and conjurors, 
 and let Miss Burgoyne and you and me stop at home. The 
 Squire's Daughter is really a very pretty piece, with some de- 
 lightful melody running through it; but that fellow has 
 vulgarised it into the lowest burlesque " 
 
 " What does it matter to you, Leo ? " Nina said. " What 
 he does is separate from you. He cannot vulgarise your 
 singing." 
 
 " But he makes all that clowning of his so important it 
 has become so big a feature of the piece that any friends of 
 yours coming to see the little opera might very naturally say, 
 * Oh, is this the kind of thing he figures in ? This is an intel- 
 lectual entertainment, truly ! ' " 
 
 " But you do not join in it, Leo ! " Nina protested. 
 
 " In the most gagging scene of all, I've got to stand and 
 look on the whole time ! " he said. 
 
234 The Neio Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " Oh, no, Leo," Nina said with mock sympathy, " you can 
 listen to Miss Burgoyne as she talks to you from behind her fan." 
 
 " Those two ladies I told you of," he continued, " who are 
 coming on Saturday night I wonder what they will think of 
 all that low comedy stuff. I begin to wish I hadn't asked 
 them to come behind; but I thought it might be a sort of 
 inducement. Miss Cunyngham was very kind to me when I 
 was in the Highlands ; and this was all I could think of; but 
 I don't think she has much of the frivolous curiosity of her 
 sisters-in-law ; and I am not sure her mother and she would 
 even care much for the honour of having tea in Miss Burgoyne's 
 room. No, I wish I hadn't asked them " 
 
 " Do you value their opinion so highly, then, Leo ? " Nina 
 asked gently. 
 
 "Oh, yes," he said, with some hesitation "that is, I 
 shouldn't like them to form any unfavourable impression to 
 go away with any scornful feeling towards comic opera and 
 towards the people engaged in it I should like them to think 
 well of ithe piece. I suppose I couldn't bribe Collier to leave 
 out the half of his gag, or the whole of it, for that particular 
 night. Did you see what one of the papers said about the 
 400th performance ? that the fate of The Squire's Daughter had 
 for some time been doubtful, but that it had been saved by the 
 increased prominence given to the part played by Mr. Tom 
 Collier ! a compliment to the public taste ! the piece saved 
 by lugging in a lot of music-hall buffoonery ! " 
 
 " But, Leo," Nina said, " your friends who are coming on 
 Saturday night will not think you responsible for all that." 
 
 " People are apt to judge of you by your associates, Nina," 
 he said, absently : he was clearly looking forward to this visit 
 with some compunction, not to say alarm. 
 
 Then he went to Miss Burgoyne. Miss Burgoyno had 
 forgiven him for having introduced Percival Miles to the 
 Richmond dinner-party ; indeed, she was generally as ready to 
 forgive as she was quick to take offence. 
 
 " I wish you would do me a very great favour," he said. 
 
 " What is it ? " asked Grace Mainwaring, who was standing 
 in front of the tall mirror, adjusting the shining stars and 
 crescents that adorned her powdered hair. 
 
 " I suppose you could wear a little nosegay with that dress," 
 he said, " of natural flowers, done up with a bit of white satin 
 ribbon, perhaps, and a silver tube and cord, or something of 
 that kind." 
 
' Let the Stricken Deer go weep. 1 235 
 
 " Flowers ? " she repeated. " Oh, yes, I could wear them 
 if any one were polite enough to give me them." 
 
 " I shall be delighted to send you some every evening for a 
 month, if you'll only do this for me on Saturday," said he. "It 
 is on Saturday night those two ladies are coming to the 
 theatre ; and you were good enough to promise to ask them to 
 your room and offer them some tea. The younger of the two 
 that is, Miss Cunyngham has never been behind the scenes of 
 a theatre before ; and I think she will be very pleased to be 
 introduced to Miss Grace Mainwaring ; and don't you think it 
 would be rather nice of Miss Grace Mainwaring to take those 
 flowers from her dress and present them to the young lady, as a 
 souvenir of her visit ? " 
 
 She wheeled round, and looked at him with a curious 
 scrutiny. 
 
 " Well, this is something new ! " she said, as she turned to 
 the mirror again. " I thought it was the fortunate Harry 
 Thornhill who received all kinds of compliments and attentions- 
 from his lady-adorers ; I wasn't aware he ever returned them. 
 But do you think it is quite fair, Mr. Moore ? If this is some 
 girl who has a love-sick fancy for Harry Thornhill, don't you 
 think you should drop Harry Thornhill, and play David Garrick, 
 to cure the poor thing? " 
 
 " Considering that Miss Cunyngham has never seen Harry 
 Thornhill " he was beginning, when she interrupted him. 
 
 " Oh, only heard him sing in private ? Quite enough, I 
 suppose, to put nonsense into a silly schoolgirl's head." 
 
 " When you see this young lady," he observed, " I don't 
 think you will say she looks like a silly schoolgirl. She's 
 nearly as tall as I am, for one thing." 
 
 "I hate giraffes," said Miss Burgoyne, tartly. "Do you 
 put a string round her neck when you go out walking with 
 her?" 
 
 He was just on the point of saying something about green- 
 room manners ; but thought better of it. 
 
 " Now, Miss Burgoyne," he said to her, " on Saturday night 
 you are going to put on your most winning way you can do it 
 when you like and you are going to captivate and fascinate 
 those two people until they'll go away home with the conviction 
 that you are the most charming and delightful creature that 
 ever lived. You can do it easily enough if you like no one 
 better. You are going to be very nice to them and you'll send 
 them away just in love with Grace Mainwaring." 
 
236 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 Miss Burgoyne altered her tone a little. 
 
 " If I give your giraffe-friend those flowers, I suppose you 
 expect me to tell lies as well ? " she asked, with some approach 
 to good-humour. 
 
 "About what?" 
 
 " Oh, about being delighted to make her acquaintance, and 
 that kind of thing." 
 
 "I have no doubt you will be as pleased to make her 
 acquaintance as she will be to make yours," said he ; " and a 
 few civil words never do any harm." 
 
 Here Miss Burgoyne was called. She went to the little 
 side-table, and sipped some of her home-brewed lemonade ; then 
 he opened the door for her; and together they went up into 
 the wings. 
 
 "Tall, is she?" continued Miss Burgoyne, as they were 
 looking on at Mr. Tom Collier's buffooneries out there on the 
 stage. " Is she as silent and stupid as her brother ? " 
 
 "Her brother?" 
 
 " Lord Rockminster." 
 
 " Oh, Lord Rockminster isn't her brother. You've got them 
 mixed up," said Lionel. "Miss Cunynghain's brother, Sir 
 Hugh, married a sister of Lord Rockminster the Lady Adela 
 Cunyngham who came to your room one night don't you 
 remember ? " 
 
 " You seem to have the whole Peerage and Baronetage at 
 your fingers' ends," said she, suddenly ; and the next moment 
 she was onjthe stage, smiling and gracious, and receiving her 
 father's guests with that charming manner which the heroine 
 of the operetta could assume when she chose. 
 
 Even with Miss Burgoyne's grudgingly-promised assistance, 
 Lionel still remained unaccountably perturbed about that visit 
 of Lady Cunyngham and her daughter; and when on the 
 Saturday evening he first became aware through the confused 
 glare of the footlights that the two ladies had como into the 
 box he had secured for them, it seemed to him as though he 
 was responsible for every single feature of the performance. 
 As for himself, ho was at his best, and he knew it ; he sang 
 * The starry night brings me no rest ' with such a verve that 
 the enthusiasm of the audience was unbounded ; even Miss 
 Burgoyne Miss Grace Mainwaring, that is, who was perched 
 up on a bit of scaffolding in order to throw a rose to her lover 
 listened with a new interest instead of being busy with her 
 ribbons and the set of her hair; and when she opened the 
 
* Let the Stricken Deer go weep' 237 
 
 casement in answer to his impassioned appeal, she kissed the 
 crimson cotton blossom thrice ere she dropped it to her en- 
 raptured swain below. This was all very well ; but when the 
 comic man took possession of the stage, Lionel instead of 
 going off to his dressing-room, to glance at an evening paper, or 
 have a chat with some acquaintance remained in the wings, 
 looking on with an indescribable loathing. This hideous 
 farcicality seemed more vulgar than ever : what would Honnor 
 Cunyngham think of his associates ? He felt as if he were an 
 accomplice in foisting this wretched music-hall stuff on the 
 public. And the mother the tall lady with the proud, fine 
 features, and the grave and placid voice what would she think 
 of the new acquaintance whom her daughter had introduced 
 to her ? Had it been Lady Adela or her sisters, he would not 
 have cared one jot. They were proud to be in alliance with 
 professional people ; they flattered themselves that they rather 
 belonged to the set; actors, authors, artists, musicians, those 
 busy and eager amateurs considered to be, like themselves, of 
 imagination, all compact. But that he should have asked 
 Honnor Cunyngham to come and look on at the antics of this 
 gaping and grinning fool ; that she should know he had to 
 consort with such folk ; that she should consider him an aider 
 and abettor in putting this kind of entertainment before the 
 public this galled him to the quick. The murmur of the 
 Aivron and the Geinig seemed dinning in his ears. If only he 
 could have thrown aside these senseless trappings if he were 
 an under-keeper now, or a water-bailiff, or even a gillie 
 looking after the dogs and the ponies, he could have met the 
 gaze of those clear hazel eyes without shame. But here he was 
 the coadjutor of this grimacing clown; and she was sitting in 
 her box there and thinking. 
 
 "What is it, Leo?" said Nina, coming up to him rather 
 timidly. " You are annoyed." 
 
 " 1 have made a mistake, that is all," he said, rather im- 
 patiently. " I shouldn't have persuaded those two ladies to 
 come to the theatre ; I forgot what kind of thing we played in ; 
 I might as well have asked them to go to a penny gaff. Collier 
 is worse than ever to-night 
 
 "And you better, Leo," said Nina, who had always com- 
 forting words for him. " Did you not hear how enthusiastic 
 the audience were ? And if this is the young lady you told 
 me of who was so friendly in Scotland that she did not fear 
 ridicule for herself in order to save you from the possibility of 
 
238 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 ridicule surely she will be so well-wishing to you that she 
 will understand you have nothing to do with the foolishness on 
 the stage " 
 
 " If you are thinking of that salmon-fishing incident," he 
 said, rather hastily, " of course you mustn't imagine there was 
 any fear of her encountering any ridicule. Oh, certainly not. 
 It was no new thing for her to get wet when she was out 
 fishing 
 
 " At all events it was a friendly act to you," said Nina, on 
 whom that occurrence seemed to have made some impression. 
 " And if she is so generous, so benevolent towards you, do you 
 think she will not see you are not responsible for the comic 
 business ? " 
 
 It was at the end of the penultimate act that an attendant 
 brought round Miss Cunyngham and her mother the latter a 
 handsome and distinguished-looking elderly lady, with white 
 hair done up a la Marie Antoinette behind the scenes ; and 
 Nina, hanging some way back, could see them being presented 
 to Miss Burgoyne. Nina was a little breathless and bewildered. 
 She had heard a good deal about the fisher-maiden in the far 
 north, of her hardy out-of-door life, and her rough and ser- 
 viceable costume; and perhaps she had formed some mental 
 picture of her very different from the actual appearance of 
 this tall young Englishwoman, whose clear, calm eyes, strongly- 
 marked eyebrows, and proud, refined features were so striking. 
 Here was no simple maiden in a suit of serge ; but a young 
 woman of commanding presence, whose long cloak of tan- 
 coloured velvet, with its hanging sleeves showing a flash of 
 crimson, seemed to Nina to have a sort of royal magnificence 
 about it. And yet her manner appeared to be very simple and 
 gentle ; she smiled as she talked to Miss Burgoyne ; and the 
 last that Nina saw of her as they all left together in the 
 direction of the corridor, Lionel obsequiously attending them 
 was that the tall young lady walked with a most gracious 
 carriage. Nina made sure that they had all disappeared before 
 she, too, went down the steps ; then she made her way to her 
 own room, to get ready for the final act. Mile. Girond, of 
 course, was also here ; but Nina had no word for Estelle ; she 
 seemed pre-occupied about something. 
 
 Never had Harry TJiornhill dressed so quickly ; and when, 
 in his gay costume of flowered silk and ruffles, tied- wig, and 
 buckled shoes, he tapped at Miss Burgoyno's door and entered, 
 he found that young lady was still in the curtained apartment, 
 
'Let the Stricken Deer go weep, 9 239 
 
 though she had sent out Jane to see that her two visitors were 
 being looked after. Lionel, too, helped himself to some tea ; 
 and it was with a singular feeling of relief that he discovered, 
 as he presently did, that both Lady Cunyngham and her 
 daughter were quite charmed with the piece, so far as they 
 had seen it. They appeared to put the farcicality altogether 
 aside, and to have been much impressed by the character of the 
 music. 
 
 " What a pretty girl that Miss Ross is ! " said the younger 
 of the two ladies incidentally. " But she is not English, is 
 she ? I thought I could detect a trace of foreign accent here 
 and there." 
 
 " No, she is Italian," Lionel made answer. " Her name is 
 really Kossi Antonia Rossi but her intimate friends call her 
 Nina," 
 
 " What a beautiful voice she has ! " Miss Honnor continued. 
 " So fresh and pure and sweet. I think she has a far more 
 beautiful voice than " 
 
 He quickly held up his hand ; and the hint was taken. 
 
 "And she puts such life into her part she seems to be 
 really light-hearted and merry," resumed Miss Honnor, who 
 appeared to have been much taken by Nina's manner on the 
 stage. " Do you know, Mr. Moore, I could not help to-night 
 thinking more than once of The Cliaplet, and my sisters, and 
 their amateur friends. The difference between an amateur 
 performance and a performance of trained artists is so marvel- 
 lous ; it doesn't seem to me to be one of degree at all ; at an 
 amateur performance, however clever it may be, I am conscious 
 all the time that the people are assuming something quite 
 foreign to themselves, whereas on the stage the people seem to 
 be the actual characters they profess to be. I forget they are 
 actors and actresses " 
 
 "You must be a good audience, Miss Cunyngham," said he 
 (it used to be " Miss Honnor " in Strathaivron, but that was 
 some time ago then he was not decked out and painted for 
 exhibition on the stage). 
 
 " Oh, I like to believe," she said. " I don't wish to criticise. 
 I wholly and delightfully give myself up to the illusion. 
 Mother and I go so seldom to the theatre that we are under no 
 temptation to begin and ask how this or that is done, or to 
 make any comparisons; we surrender ourselves to the story, 
 and believe the people to be real people all we can. As for 
 mother, if it weren't a dreadful secret " 
 
240 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 But here the curtains were thrown wide, and out came Miss 
 Burgoyne, obviously conscious of her magnificent costume, and 
 profuse in her apologies for not appearing sooner. Something 
 had gone wrong, and the mishap had kept her late ; indeed she 
 had just time to go through the formality of taking a cup of 
 tea with her guests when she was called and had to get ready 
 to go. 
 
 " However, I need not say good-bye, just yet," she said to 
 them, as she tucked up her voluminous train. " Wouldn't you 
 like to look on for a little while from the wings ? You could 
 have the prompter's chair, Lady Cunyngham, so that you could 
 see the audience or the stage, just as you chose ; if Miss 
 Cunyngham didn't mind standing about among the gasmen." 
 
 "If you are sure we shall not be in the way," said the 
 elder lady, who had perhaps a little more curiosity than her 
 daughter. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Moore will show you," said Miss Burgoyne, 
 making no scruple about preceding her visitors along the corri- 
 dor and up the steps, for she had not too much time. 
 
 The prompter's office, now that this piece had been running 
 over four hundred nights, was practically a sinecure, so that 
 there was no trouble about getting Lady Cunyngham installed 
 in the little corner, whence, through a small aperture, she 
 could regard the dusky-hued audience or turn her attention to 
 the stage just as she pleased. Miss Honnor stood close by her, 
 when she was allowed keeping out of sight of the opposite 
 boxes as much as she could ; though she observed that the 
 workmen about her did not care much whether they were 
 visible or not, and that they talked or called to each other with 
 a fine indiiference towards what was going forward on the 
 stage. At present a minuet was being danced; and very 
 pretty it was ; she could not help noticing how cleverly Miss 
 Burgoyne managed her train. As for her mother, the old lady 
 peemed intensely interested, and yet conscious all the time that 
 she herself, in this strange position, was an interloper ; again 
 and again she rose and offered to resign her place to the rather 
 shabby-looking elderly man who was the rightful occupant; 
 but he just as often begged her to remain he seemed mostly 
 interested in the management of the gas-handles just over 
 his head. 
 
 And now came in the comic interlude which Lionel had 
 feared most of all the Squire's faithful henchman going 
 through all the phases of getting drunk in double-quick stage- 
 
'Let the Stricken Deer go weep.' 241 
 
 time ; and while those stupidities were going forward Lionel 
 and Miss Burgoyne were supposed to retire up the stage some- 
 what and look on. Well, they took up their positions Grace 
 Mainwaring being seated. 
 
 " Your giraffe is rather handsome," she said, behind her 
 fan. 
 
 " I believe she is considered to be one of the best-looking 
 women in England," said he, somewhat stiffly. 
 
 "Oh, really! Well, of course, tastes differ," Miss Grace 
 Mainwaring said. " I don't think a woman should have 
 blacking-brushes instead of eyebrows. But it's a matter of 
 taste." 
 
 " Yes," said he, " and comic opera is the sort of place where 
 one's taste becomes so refined. What do you think of this gag 
 now ? Is this what the public like when they come to hear 
 music ? " 
 
 " You're very fastidious you want everything to be super- 
 fine but you may depend on it that it keeps the piece going 
 with the pit and gallery." 
 
 His answer to that was one of this young lady's strangest 
 experiences of the stage : Lionel Moore had suddenly left her, 
 and, indeed, quitted this scene in which he was supposed to be 
 a chief figure. He walked down the wings, until he found 
 himself close to Miss Honnor Cunyngham. 
 
 " Miss Cunyngham ! " he said. 
 
 She turned her eyes somewhat bewildered by the glare of 
 light on the stage. 
 
 " Come back, please," he said. " I don't want you to see 
 this scene it has nothing to do with the operetta and it is 
 dull and stupid and tedious beyond description." 
 
 She followed him two or three steps, wondering. 
 
 " You say you like the music," he continued here in the 
 twilight of the wings, "and the little story is really rather 
 pretty and idyllic ; but they will go and introduce a lot of 
 music-hall stuff to please the groundlings. I should prefer you 
 not to see it. Won't you rather wait a little, and talk about 
 something ? it isn't often you and I meet. Did you get many 
 salmon after I left Strathaivron ? " 
 
 " Oh, no," said she still rather surprised. " Towards the 
 end of the season, the red fish are really not worth landing." 
 
 " It seems a long time since then," he said. " I find myself 
 sitting up at night and thinking over .all those experiences 
 making pictures of them and the hours go by in a most 
 
242 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 astonishing fashion. Here in London, among the November 
 fogs, it seems so strange to think of those splendid days, and 
 the long clear twilights. I suppose it is all so well-known to 
 you, you do not trouble to recall it ; but I do it is like a 
 dream only that I see everything so distinctly I seem almost 
 to be able to touch each leaf of the bushes in the little dell 
 where we used to have luncheon : do you remember ? " 
 
 " Above the Geinig Pool ? oh, yes ! " she said, smiling. 
 
 " And the Junction Pool," he continued, with a curious 
 eagerness, as if he were claiming her sympathy, her interest, on 
 account of that old companionship " I can make the clearest 
 vision of it as I sit up all by myself at night you remember 
 the little bush on the opposite side that you used sometimes to 
 catch your fly on and the shelf of shingle going suddenly 
 do vvn into the brown water I always thought that was rather 
 a dangerous place. And how well you used to fish the Eock 
 Pool ! Old Robert used to be so proud of you ! Once, at the 
 tail of the Eock Pool, you wound up, and said to him, ' Well, I 
 can't do any better than that, Eobert ; ' and then he said ' No 
 man ever fished that pool better oh, I beg your pardon, Miss 
 Honnor : no one at all ever fished that pool better.' I suppose 
 Strathaivron is nothing to you you must be so familiar with 
 it but to me it is a sort of wonderland, to dream of when I am 
 all by myself at night " 
 
 Alas ! it was at this very moment that Nina came up from 
 her room : Clara, the innkeeper's daughter, had to go on im- 
 mediately after the ball-room scene was over. And Nina, as 
 she came by, caught sight of those two ; and for a moment she 
 stood still, her eyes staring. The two figures were in a sort of 
 twilight a twilight as compared with the glare of the stage 
 beyond them; but there were gases here quite sufficient to 
 illumine their features : it was no imagination on Nina's part 
 she saw with a startling clearness that Lionel was regarding 
 this tall, English-looking girl with a look she had never seen 
 him direct towards any woman before a timid, wistful, half- 
 beseeching look that needed no words to explain its meaning. 
 For a second Nina stood there, paralysed not daring to breathe 
 not able to move. Yet was it altogether a revelation to her, 
 or only a sudden and overwhelming confirmation of certain half- 
 frightened misgivings which had visited her from time to time 
 and which she had striven hard to banish? The next moment 
 Nina had passed on silently, like a ghoat, and had disappeared 
 in the dusk behind some scenery. 
 
' Let the Stricken Deer go weep. 9 243 
 
 " When shall you bo back in Strathaivron, Miss Honnor ? " 
 he asked. 
 
 " In the spring, I suppose, for the salmon-fishing," she made 
 answer. 
 
 " You will be up there in the clear April days, by the side 
 of that beautiful river, and I shall be playing the mountebank 
 here, among the London gas and fog." 
 
 But at this moment the orchestra began the slow music that 
 intimated the resumption of the minuet ; and this recalled him 
 to his senses ; he bad hurriedly to take leave of her, and then he 
 went and rejoined Miss Burgoyne, who merely said "Well, 
 that's a pretty trick ! " as she gave him her hand for the dance. 
 
 A still stranger thing, however, happened in the next scene, 
 where the gay young officer, the French prisoner of war, makes 
 love to the innkeeper's daughter. Estelle noticed with great 
 surprise that not only did Nina deliver the English maiden's 
 retorts without any of the saucy spirit that the situation 
 demanded, but also that she was quite confused about the 
 words, stammering and hesitating, and getting through them 
 in the most perfunctory manner. At last, when the little 
 Capitaine Crepin says ' Bewitching maid, say you will fly ivith me ! ' 
 Clara's reply is ' You forget I am to be married to-morrow see, 
 here comes my betrothed ' but Nina only got as far as ' married 
 to-morrow' then she paused hesitated she put her hand to 
 her head as if everything had gone from her brain and at the 
 same moment Estelle, with the most admirable presence of 
 mind, exclaimed along ' See, here comes your betrothed ' thus 
 giving the lover his cue. The dialogue now remained with 
 Estelle and this husband-elect, so that Nina had time to 
 recover ; and in the trio that closes the scene she sang her part 
 well enough. Directly they had left the stage, Estelle ran to 
 her friend. 
 
 " Nina, what was the matter ! " she exclaimed. 
 
 " My head " said Nina, pressing her hand against her 
 forehead, and talking rather faintly "I do not know my 
 head is giddy, Estelle oh, I wish it was all over ! I wish I 
 was home ! " 
 
 " You have very little more to do now, Nina ! " Estello said 
 quickly to her in French. " Come, you must have courage, 
 Nina I will run and get you my smelling-salts, and it will 
 pass away oh, you must make an effort, Nina would you let 
 Miss Burgoyne see you break down no, no, indeed ! You will 
 be all right, Nina, I assure you and I will tell the prompter 
 
 R 2 
 
244: The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 to be on the watch for you oh, I wouldn't give way before 
 Miss Burgoyne if I were you, no, not for a hundred pounds ! " 
 Therewith the kind-hearted little French officer sped away 
 to her own room, and brought back the smelling-salts, and was 
 most eagerly solicitous that Nina should conquer this passing 
 attack of hysteria, as she deemed it. And indeed Nina managed 
 to get through the rest of her part without any serious break- 
 down to Estelle's exceeding joy. 
 
 As they went home together in the four-wheeled cab, Nina 
 did not utter a word. Once or twice Estelle fancied she heard 
 a slight sob ; but she merely said to herself 
 
 " Ah, it has come back, that trembling of the nerves ? But 
 I will make her take some wine at supper, and she will go to 
 bed and sleep well : to-morrow she will have forgotten all 
 about it." 
 
 And Estelle was most kind and considerate when they got 
 down to Sloane Street. She helped Nina off with her things ; 
 she stirred up the fire ; she put a bottle of white wine on the 
 table, where supper was already laid ; she drew in Nina's chair 
 for her. Then Mrs. Grey came up, to see that her children, as 
 she called them, were all right ; and she was easily induced to 
 stay for a little while, for a retired actress is always eager to 
 hear news of the theatre ; so she and Miss Girondfell to talking 
 between themselves. Nina sate silent ; her eyes seemed heavy 
 and tired ; she only pretended to touch the food and the wine 
 before her. 
 
 "Very well, then, Nina," her friend said, when. Mrs. Grey 
 had gone, " if you will have nothing to eat or to drink, you 
 must go to bed and see what a sound night's rest will do for 
 you. I am going to sit up a little while to read, but I shall not 
 disturb you." 
 
 " Good-night, then, Estelle," said Nina, rather languidly ; 
 " you have been so kind to me ! " 
 
 They kissed each other; then Nina opened the folding 
 doors, and disappeared into her own room ; while Estelle took 
 up her book. It was Les Vacance* dc Camille she had got hold 
 of ; but she did not turn the pages quickly ; there was some- 
 thing else in her mind. She was thinking of Nina. She was 
 troubled about her, in a vague kind of way. She had never 
 seen Nina look like that before ; and she was puzzled and 
 a little concerned. 
 
 Suddenly, in this hushed stillness, she heard, or fancied she 
 heard, a slight sound that startled her ; it came from the adjoin- 
 
' Let the Stridden Deer go ivcep.' 245 
 
 ing room. Stealthily she arose and approached the door ; she 
 put her ear close and listened ; yes, she had not been mistaken 
 Nina was sobbing bitterly. Estelle did not hesitate a 
 moment ; she boldly opened the door and went in ; and tho 
 first thing she beheld was Nina, just as she had left the other 
 room, now lying prone on tho bed, her face buried in tho 
 pillow, while in vain she tried to control the violence of her 
 grief. 
 
 " Nina ! " she cried, in alarm. 
 
 Nina sprung up she thrust out both trembling hands, as if 
 wildly seeking for help and Estelle was not slow to seize 
 them. 
 
 " Nina, what is it ? " she exclaimed, frightened by tho hag- 
 gard face and streaming eyes. 
 
 " Estelle ! Estelle ! " said Nina in a low voice that simply 
 tore the heart of this faithful friend of hers. " It is nothing ! 
 It is only that my life is broken my life is broken and I 
 have no mother Poverina ! she would have said to me " 
 
 Her sobs choked her speech ; she withdrew her trembling 
 hands ; she threw herself again on the bed, face downward, and 
 burst into a wild fit of weeping. Estelle knew not what to do : 
 she was terrified. 
 
 " Nina, what has happened ! " she cried again. 
 
 " It is nothing ! it is nothing ! it is nothing ! " she said, 
 between her passionate sobs. " I have made a mistake ; I am 
 punished oh, God, can you not kill me! I do not wish to 
 five " 
 
 " Nina ! " said Estelle, and the girl bent down and put her 
 cheek close to her friend's, and she tenderly placed both her 
 hands on the masses of beautiful blue-black hair. "Nina - 
 tell me ! " 
 
 In time the violent sobbing ceased, or partially ceased ; 
 Nina rose, but she clung to Estelle's hand, and kissed it 
 passionately. 
 
 " You have been so kind, so affectionate to me, Estelle ! 
 To-morrow you will know perhaps. I will leave you a letter. 
 I am going away. If you forget me well, that is right ; if 
 you do not forget me, do not think bad of of poor Nina ! " 
 
 " I don't know what you mean, Nina," said Estelle, who 
 was herself whimpering by this time ; but I won't let you go 
 away. No, I will not. You do not know what you say. It is 
 madness to-morrow morning you will reflect to-morrow 
 morning you will tell me, and rely on me as a friend." 
 
246 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " Yes, to-morrow morning, all will be right, Estelle," Nina 
 said, again kissing the hand that she clung to. " Pardon me 
 that I have kept you up and disturbed you. G-o away to 
 your bed, Estelle to-morrow morning, all will be right ! " 
 
 Very reluctantly Estelle was at length persuaded to leave ; 
 and as she left she turned off the gas in the sitting-room. A 
 few minutes thereafter Nina, still dressed as she had come 
 home from the theatre, entered the room, re-lit the gas, and 
 noiselessly proceeded to clear a portion of the table, on which 
 she placed writing materials. Then she went into her bedroom 
 and fetched a little drawer in which she kept her valuables ; 
 and the first thing she did was to take out an old-fashioned 
 gold ring she had brought with her from Naples. She put the 
 ring in an envelope, and (while her eyelids were still heavy 
 with tears, and her cheeks wan and worn) she wrote outside 
 'ForEstelk: 
 
 CHAPTEE XVI. 
 
 AN AWAKENING. 
 
 LONDON is a dreary-looking city on a Sunday morning, especially 
 on a Sunday morning in November ; people seem to know how 
 tedious the hours are going to be, and lie in bed as long as they 
 decently can ; the teeming and swarming capital of the world 
 looks as if it had suddenly grown lifeless. When Lionel got 
 up, there was a sort of yellow darkness in the air ; hardly a 
 single human being was visible in the Green Park over the 
 way ; a solitary saunterer, hands deep in the pockets of his 
 overcoat, who wandered idly along the neglected pavement, 
 had the appearance of having been out all night, and of not 
 knowing what to do with himself, now that what passed for 
 daylight had come. All of a sudden there flashed into the 
 brain of this young man standing by the French window a 
 yearning to get away from this dark and dismal town there 
 came before him a vision of clear air, of wind-swept waves, 
 with an after-church promenade of fashionable folk in which 
 he might recognise the welcome face of many a friend. He 
 looked at his watch; there was yet time; he would hurry 
 through his breakfast and catch the 10.45 to Brighton. 
 
 But was there nothing else prompting this unpremeditated 
 
An Awakening. 247 
 
 resolve to get away down to Victoria Station ? Not some secret 
 hope that ho might perchance descry Lady Cuiiyngham and 
 her daughter among the crowd swarming on to the long 
 platform ? They had not definitely told him at the theatre 
 that they were returning the next morning ; but was it not 
 just possible or rather, extremely probable ? And surely ho 
 might presume on their mutual acquaintance so far as to get 
 into the same railway-carriage, and have some casual chatting 
 with them on the way down ? He had been as attentive as he 
 could to them on the previous evening ; and they had seemed 
 pleased. And he had tried to arouse in Miss Honnor's mind 
 some recollection of the closer relationship which had existed 
 between her and him in the solitudes of far Strathaivron. 
 
 When he did arrive at Victoria Station he found the people 
 pouring in in shoals ; for now was the very height of the 
 Brighton season ; besides which there were plenty of Londoners 
 glad to escape, if only for a day, from the perpetual fog and 
 gloom. And yet, curiously enough, although the carriages 
 were being rapidly filled, he took no trouble about securing a 
 seat. After he had gone down the whole length of the train, 
 he turned, and kept watching the new arrivals as they came 
 through the distant gate. The time for departure was im- 
 minent ; but he did not seem anxious about getting to Brighton. 
 And at last his patience, or his obstinacy, was rewarded ; he saw 
 two figures away along there that he instantly recognised ; 
 even at a greater distance he could have told that one of these 
 was Honnor Cunyngham, for who else in all England walked 
 like that? The two ladies were unattended by either man or 
 maid ; and as they came along they seemed rather concerned at 
 the crowded condition of the train. Lionel walked quickly 
 forward to meet them. There was no time for the expression 
 of surprise on their part only for the briefest greeting. 
 
 "I must try to get you seats," said he, "but the train 
 appears to be very full, and the guards are at their wits' end. 
 I say ! " he called to a porter. " Look here ; this train is 
 crammed, and the people are pouring in yet : what are they 
 going to do ? " 
 
 " There's a relief train, sir," said the porter, indicating a 
 long row of empty carriages just across the platform. 
 
 " You are sure these are going ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Then we can get in now? " 
 
 The man looked doubtful; but Lionel soon settled that 
 
248 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 matter by taking the two ladies along to a Pullman car, where 
 the conductor at once allowed them to pass. It is true that as 
 soon as the public outside perceived that these empty carriages 
 were also going, they took possession without more ado ; but 
 in the meantime Lionel and his two companions had had their 
 choice of places, so that they were seated together when the 
 train started. 
 
 " It was most fortunate we met you," Lady Cunyngham 
 said, bending very friendly eyes on the young man. "I do so 
 hate a crowded train : it happens so seldom in travelling in 
 England that one is not used to it. Are you going down to 
 Brighton for any time, Mr. Moore ? " 
 
 " Mother," said Honnor Cunyngham, almost reproachfully, 
 *' you forget what Mr. Moore's engagements are." 
 
 " Yes," said he, with a smile, ** it is rather a cruel question. 
 My glimpses of the sea and sky are few and far between. The 
 heavens that I usually find over my head are made of canvas ; 
 and the country scenes I wander through are run on on 
 wheels." 
 
 " But don't you think," said Miss Honnor to him (and it 
 seemed so cheerful to be away from the London gloom, and out 
 here in the clearer air : to find himself sitting so near this 
 young lady, able to regard her dress, listening to her voice, 
 sometimes venturing to meet the straight-forward glance of 
 her calm eyes all this was a wondrous and marvellous thing) 
 " don't you think you enjoy getting away from town all the 
 more keenly ? I shall never forget you in Strathaivron : you 
 were never bored like some of the other gentlemen." 
 
 " Each and every day was one to be marked with a white 
 stone," he said, with an earnestness hardly befitting railway- 
 carriage conversation. 
 
 " The wet ones, too ? " she asked pleasantly. 
 
 " Wet or dry, what was the difference ?" he made bold to 
 say. "What did. I care about the rain if I could go down 
 to the Aivron or away up to the Geinig with you and old 
 Kobert?" 
 
 " You certainly were very brave about it," she said, in the 
 most friendly way ; you never once grumbled when the sand- 
 wiches got damp not once." 
 
 And so the three of them kept lightly and carelessly talking 
 and chatting together, as the long train thundered away to the 
 south ; while ever and anon they could turn their eyes to that 
 changing phantasmagoria of the outer world that went whirl- 
 
An Awakening. 249 
 
 ing by the windows. It was rather a wild-looking day, some- 
 times brightening with a wan glare of sunlight, but more often 
 darkening until the country looked like a French landscape, in 
 its sombre tones of grey and black and green. Yet nevertheless 
 there was a sort of picturesqueness in the brooding sky, the 
 russet woods, the purple hedges, and the new-ploughed furrows; 
 while now and again a distant mansion, set on a height, shone 
 a fair yellow above its terraced lawn. Scattered rooks swept 
 down the wind and settled in a field. The moorhens had 
 forsaken the ruffled water of the ponds, and sought shelter 
 among the withered sedge. Puffs of white steam from the 
 engine flew across and were lost in the leafless trees. Em- 
 bankments suddenly showed themselves high in the air, and 
 as suddenly dipped again ; then there were long stretches of 
 coppice, with red bracken, and a sprinkling of gold on the 
 oaks. To Lionel the time went by all too quickly : before ho 
 had half said all he wanted to say, behold ! here they were at 
 Preston Park. 
 
 " You are at least remaining over until to-morrow ? " Lady 
 Cunyngham asked of him. 
 
 " Well, no," said he, " I did not think of coming down until 
 this morning, and so I had made no arrangements. I should 
 think it hardly likely there would be a vacant bedroom at the 
 Orleans Club at this time of year no, in any case, I must get 
 back by the 8.40 to-night." 
 
 " And in the meantime," she asked again, " have you any 
 engagement?" 
 
 " None. I dare say I shall have a stroll along the sea-front, 
 and then drop in for lunch to the Orleans." 
 
 " You might as well come down now and lunch with us," 
 said she, simply. 
 
 Lionel's face brightened up amazingly : he had been looking 
 forward to saying good-bye at the station with anything but 
 
 jy- 
 
 " I should be delighted if I am not in the way," wasjhis 
 prompt answer. 
 
 " Oh, Honnor and I are entirely by ourselves at present," 
 said this elderly lady with the silver-white hair. " Wo are 
 expecting Lady Adela and her sisters this week, however ; and 
 perhaps my son will come down later on." 
 
 " Are they back from Scotland ? " 
 
 " They arrive to-morrow, I believe." 
 
 ' And Lady Adela's novel?" 
 
250 TJie New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " Oh, I don't know anything about that," said she, with a 
 good-humoured smile. " Surely she can't have written another 
 novel already ! " 
 
 When they got into the station, a footman was awaiting 
 them, but they had no bags or baggage of any description ; 
 they walked a little way along the platform and entered the 
 carriage ; presently they were driving away down to the sea- 
 front. What Honnor Cunyngham thought of the arrangement, 
 it is impossible to say ; but the invitation was none of her 
 
 fiving; no doubt it was merely a little compliment in ac- 
 nowledgment of Mr. Moore's kindness of the preceding night. 
 However, when the barouche pulled up in front of a house 
 in Adelaide Crescent, Mr. Moore had his own proposal to 
 make. 
 
 " It seems so pleasant down there," said he, looking towards 
 the wide stretches of greensward and the promenade along the 
 sea-wall, where the people, just come out of church, were stroll- 
 ing to and fro ; " everyone appears to be out don't you think 
 we should have a little walk before going in ? " 
 
 Honnor Cunyngham said nothing ; it was her mother who 
 at once and good-naturedly assented ; and when they had 
 descended from the carriage they forthwith made their way 
 down to mix in this idle throng. It was quite a bright and 
 pleasant morning here a stiff south-westerly breeze blowing 
 a considerably heavy sea thundering in and springing with jets 
 of wjiite spray into the air the sunlight shining along the 
 yellow houses of Brunswick Terrace where there were cheerful 
 bits of green here and there in the balconies. Then the crowd 
 was rather more gaily dressed than an English crowd usually 
 is ; for women allow themselves a little more latitude in the 
 way of colour during the Brighton season : and on such a morn- 
 ing there was ample excuse for a display of sunshades. And 
 was it merely a wish to breathe the fresh-blowing wind and to 
 listen to the hissing withdrawal and recurrent roar of the 
 waves that had induced Lionel to ask his two companions to 
 join in this slow march up and down? Young men have their 
 little vanities and weaknesses, like other folk. Rumour had on 
 more than one occasion coupled his name with that of tsome fair 
 damsel : what if he were to say now Well, if you will talk, 
 here is one worth talking about. He was conscions on this 
 shining morning that Miss Cunyngham the more beautiful 
 daughter of a beautiful mother was looking superb, he re- 
 membered what Miss Georgio had said about Honnor's proud 
 
An Awakening. 251 
 
 and graceful carriage. He knew a good many of the people in 
 this slow-moving assemblage ; and he was not sorry they should 
 see him talking to this tall and handsome young English- 
 woman who, also, appeared to have a numerous acquaintance- 
 ship. 
 
 " Why, you seem to know everybody, Mr. Moore ! " she said 
 to him, with a smile. 
 
 " You would think all London was here this morning it's 
 really astonishing ! " he made answer. 
 
 Occasionally they stopped to have a chat with more particu- 
 lar friends ; and then Lionel would remain a little bit aside ; 
 though once or twice Lady Cunyngham chose to introduce him, 
 and that pleased him, he hardly knew why. But at last she 
 said 
 
 " Well, I think we must be getting home. Properly 
 speaking we have no right to be in the Prayer-Book Brigade at 
 all, for we have not been to church this morning." 
 
 Not unlikely the squire of these two ladies was rather loth 
 to leave this gay assemblage ; but he was speedily consoled, 
 for to his inexpressible joy he found, when they got indoors, 
 that there was no one else coming to lunch these three were 
 to be quite by themselves. And of what did they not talk 
 during this careless, protracted, idling meal ! Curiously 
 enough, it was Nina, not Miss Burgoyne, who appeared to have 
 chiefly impressed the two visitors on the preceding evening ; 
 and when Lady Cunyngham discovered that she was an old 
 companion and fellow student of Lionel's, she was much 
 interested, and would have him tell her all about his experiences 
 of Naples. And again Miss Honnor recurred to the difference 
 between amateur and professional acting that seemed to have 
 struck her so forcibly the previous night. 
 
 _" Keally, Mr. Moore," said she, " you must have an aston- 
 ishing amount of good nature and tolerance. If I had com- 
 plete command of any art, and saw a band of amateurs attempt- 
 ing something in it, and not even conscious of their own 
 amateurishness, I don't know whether I should be more in- 
 clined to laugh or to be angry. I used to be amused, up there 
 in Strathaivron, with the confidence Georgie Lestrango showed 
 
 in singing a duet with you " 
 
 " Ah, but Miss Lestrange sings very well," said he. " And, 
 you know, if Lady Adela and her sisters perform a piece like 
 The Chaplctwett, that is a Watteau-like sort of thing Sevres 
 china force or passion of any kind isn't wanted it's all 
 
252 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 artificial, and confessedly so. And then, when the professional 
 actor finds himself acting with amateurs, I dare say he modifies 
 
 himself a little " 
 
 "Becomes an amateur, in short," she said. 
 
 " In a measure. Otherwise he would be a regular bull in a 
 china shop. And surely, when you get a number of people in 
 a remote place like Strathaivron, the efforts of amateurs to 
 amuse them should be encouraged and approved. I thought it 
 was very unselfish of them very kind though they generally 
 succeeded in sending Lord Fareborough to bed. By the way, 
 Miss Cunyngham, did Lord Fareborough ever get a stag ? " 
 
 For it was observable that this young man, whenever he got 
 the chance, was anxious to lead away the conversation from the 
 theatre and all things pertaining thereunto, and would rather 
 talk about Strathaivron, and salmon-fishing, and Miss Honnor's 
 plans with regard to the coming year. 
 
 " Oh no," she said, " he never went out but that once, and 
 then he nearly killed himself, according to his own account. 
 We never quite knew what happened; there was some dark 
 mystery that Eoderick wouldn't explain ; and, you know, Lord 
 Fareborough himself is rather short-tempered. He ought not 
 to have gone out a man who has imagined himself into that 
 hypochondriacal state. However, it has given him an excuse 
 for thinking himself a greater invalid than ever ; and he has 
 got it into his head now that we all of us persuaded him to try 
 a day's stalking a conspiracy, as it were, to murder him. 
 There was some accident at one of the fords, I believe. He 
 came home early. I never heard of his having fired at a stag 
 at all." And then she added, with a smile : " Mr. Moore, what 
 made you send me such a lot of salmon-flies ? " 
 
 " Oh, well," he said, " I thought you ought to have a good 
 stock." How could ho tell her of his vague hope that the Jock 
 Scotts and Silver Doctors might serve for a long time to recall 
 him to her memory? 
 
 " I suppose you have got the stag's head by now ? " she 
 asked. 
 
 *' Oh, yes, indeed ; and tremendously proud of it I am," he 
 responded eagerly. "You know I should never have gone 
 deer-stalking but for you. I made sure I was going to make 
 a fool of myself " 
 
 " I remember you were rather sensitive, or anxious not to 
 miss, perhaps ? " she said, in a very gentle way. " I thought of 
 it again last night, when I saw you so completely master in 
 
An Awakening. 253 
 
 your own sphere so much at home with everything at your 
 command " 
 
 " Oh, yes, very much at home," he answered her, with just 
 a touch of bitterness. " Perhaps it is easy to be at home in 
 harlequinade though you may not quite like it." And then 
 once more ho refused to talk of the theatre. " I am going to 
 send old Kobert some tobacco at Christmas," said he. 
 
 " I heard of what you did already in that way," she said, 
 smiling. " Do you know that you may spoil a place by your 
 extravagance? I should think all the keepers and gillies in 
 Strathaivron were blessing your name at this very moment." 
 
 " And you go up in the Spring, you said ? " 
 
 " Yes. That is the real fishing-time. My brother Hugh 
 and I have it all to ourselves then : Lady Adela and the rest of 
 them prefer London." 
 
 And then it was almost in his heart to cry out to her 
 May not I, too, go up there if but for a single week for six 
 clear-shining days in the spring-time ! Ben More, Suilven, 
 Canisp oh, to see them once again! and the windy skies, and 
 Geinig thundering down its rocky chasm, and Aivron singing 
 its morning song along the golden gravel of its shoals ! What 
 did he want with any theatre? with the harlequinade in 
 which he was losing his life ? Could he not escape ? Euston 
 Station was not so far away and Invershin? It seemed to 
 him as though he had already shaken himself free that a 
 gladder pulsation filled his veins that he was breathing a 
 sweeter air. The white April days shone all around him ; the 
 silver and purple clouds went flying overhead ; here he was by 
 the deep brown pools again, with the grey rocks, and the over- 
 hanging birchwoods, and the long shallows filling all the world 
 with that soft, continuous murmur. As for his singing ? oh, 
 yes, he could sing he could sing, if needs were 
 
 lang, lang may his lady 
 
 Lookfrae the Castle Doune, 
 Ere she see the Earl o' Moray 
 
 Come sounding through the toon 
 
 but there is no gaslight here there are no painted faces 
 he has not to look on at the antics of a clown, with shame and 
 confusion in his heart 
 
 The wild fancy was suddenly snapped in twain : Lady 
 Cunyngham rose : the two younger people did likewise. 
 
 " Now, I know you gentlemen like a cigar or cigarette after 
 
254 Tlie New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 luncheon," she said to Lionel, " and we are going to leave you 
 quite by yourself you will find us in the drawing-room when 
 you please." 
 
 Of course he would not hear of such a proposal ; he opened 
 the door for them, and followed them upstairs. What were 
 cigars or cigarettes to him when he had such a chance of 
 listening to Honnor Cunyngham's low-modulated voice, or 
 watching for a smile in the calmly observant hazel eyes? 
 Indeed, in the drawing-room, as Miss Honnor showed him a 
 large collection of Assiout ware which had been sent her by an 
 English officer in Egypt (by what right or title, Lionel swiftly 
 asked himself, had any English officer made bold to send Miss 
 Cunyngharn a hamper-full of these red-clay idiotcies?) this 
 solitary guest had again and again to remind himself that he 
 must not outstay his welcome. And yet the}' seemed to find a 
 great deal to talk about ; and the elder of the two ladies was 
 exceedingly kind to him ; and there was a singular fascination 
 in his finding himself so entirely en famille with them. But 
 alas ! even if he or they had chosen to forget, the early dusk of 
 the November afternoon was a sufficient warning; the windows 
 told him he had to go. And go he did, at last. He bade them 
 good-bye ; with some friendly words still dwelling in his ears 
 he made his way down the dim stairs and had the door opened 
 for him ; then he found himself in this now empty and hopeless 
 town of Brighton, that seemed given over to the low, multitu- 
 dinous murmur of that wide waste of waves. 
 
 He did not go along to the Orleans Club; his heart and 
 brain were too busy to permit of his meeting chance acquaint- 
 ance. He walked away towards Shoreham, till a smart shower 
 made him turn. When he got back to the town, the lamps 
 were lit, throwing long golden reflections on the wet asphalte ; 
 but the rain had ceased ; so he continued to pace absently along 
 through this blue twilight, hardly noticing the occasional dark 
 figures that passed. What was the reason, then, of this vague 
 unrest this unknown longing this dissatisfication arid almost 
 despair? Had he not been more fortunate than he could have 
 hoped for? He had met Miss Honnor and her mother in the 
 morning, and had been with them all the way down ; they had 
 been most kind to him ; he had spent the best part of the day 
 with them ; they had parted excellent friends ; looking back, 
 he could not recall a single word he would have liked unsaid. 
 Then a happy fancy struck him : the moment he got up to 
 town he would go and seek out Maurice Mangan. There was 
 
An Aivdkening. 255 
 
 a wholesome quality in Mangan's saturnine contempt for the 
 non-essential things of life ; Mangan's clear penetration, his 
 covert sympathy, his scorn of mock-melancholy would help him 
 to ged rid of these vapours. 
 
 When Lionel returned to town a little after ten o'clock that 
 night he walked along to Mangan's rooms in Victoria Street, 
 and found his friend sitting in front of the fire, alone. 
 
 " Glad you've looked in, Lynn." 
 
 " Well, you don't seem to be busy, old chap : whoever saw 
 you before without a book or a pipe ? " 
 
 " I've been musing, and dreaming dreams, and wishing I 
 was a poet," said this tall, thin, languid-looking man, whose 
 abnormally keen grey eyes were now grown a little absent. 
 " It's only a fancy, you know perhaps something could be 
 made of it by a fellow who could rhyme 
 
 " But what is it ? " Lionel interposed. 
 
 " Well," said the other, still idly staring into the fire before 
 him, " I think I would call it * The cry of the violets ' the 
 violets that are sold in bunches at the head of the Haymarket 
 at midnight. Don't you fancy there might be something in it 
 if yon think of where they came from the woods and copses 
 children playing, and all that and of what they've come 
 to the gas-glare and drunken laughter and jeers. I would 
 make them tell their own story I would make them cry to 
 Heaven for swift death and oblivion before the last degradation 
 of being pinned on to the flaunting dress." And then again he 
 said, " No, I don't suppose there's anything in it ; but I'll tell 
 you what made me think of it. This morning, as we were 
 coining back from Winstead Church you know how extra- 
 ordinarily mild it has been of late, and the lane going down to 
 the church is very well sheltered I found a couple of violets 
 in at the roots of the hedge within a few inches of each other, 
 indeed and I gave them to Miss Francie, and she put them in 
 her Prayer-book and carried them home. I thought the violets 
 would not object to that, if they only knew." 
 
 * So you went down to Winstead this morning ? " 
 
 'Yes." 
 
 ' And how are the old people ? " 
 
 ' Ob, very well." 
 
 'And Francie?" 
 
 " Very busy and very happy, I think. If she doesn't 
 deserve to be, who does? " he continued, rousing himself some- 
 what from his absent manner. " I suppose, now, there is no 
 
256 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 absolutely faultless woman ; and yet I sometimes think it 
 would puzzle the most fastidious critic of human nature to 
 point out any one particular in which Miss Francie could be 
 finer than she is. I think it would. It is not my business to 
 find fault ; I don't want to find fault ; but I have often thought 
 over Miss Francie her occupations, her theories, her personal 
 disposition, even her dress and I have wondered where the 
 improvement was to be suggested. You see, she might be a 
 very good woman, and yet have no sense of humour ; she might 
 be very charitable, and also a little vainglorious about it ; she 
 might have very exalted ideas of duty, and be a trifle hard on 
 those who did not come up to her standards: but in Miss 
 Francie's case these qualifications haven't to be put in at all. 
 She always seems to me to be doing the right thing, and just in 
 the right way with a kind of fine touch that has no namby- 
 pambyness about it. Oh, she can be firm, too : she can scold 
 them well enough, those children when she doesn't laugh and 
 pat them on the shoulder the minute after." 
 
 " This is indeed something as coming from you, Maurice ! " 
 Lionel exclaimed. " Has it been left for you to discover an 
 absolutely perfect human being ? " 
 
 " It isn't for you to find fault with her anyway," the other 
 said, ratherly sharply. " She's fond enough of you." 
 
 "Who said I was finding fault with her? not likely I am 
 going to find fault with Francie ! " Lional replied, with 
 sufficient good-humour. " Well, now that have discovered an 
 absolutely faultless creature, you might come to the help of 
 another who is only too conscious that he has plenty of faults, 
 and who is so dissatisfied with himself and his surroundings 
 that he is about sick of life altogether." 
 
 Notwithstanding the light tone in which he introduced the 
 subject, Mangan looked up quickly, and regarded the younger 
 man with those penetrating grey eyes. 
 
 ** Where have you been to-day, Lynn ? " 
 
 " Brighton." 
 
 " Among the dukes and duchesses again ? Ah, you needn't 
 be angry I respect as much as anybody those whom God has 
 placed over us I haven't forgotten my Catechism I can 
 order myself lowly and reverently to all my betters. But tell 
 mo what the matter is. You sick of life ? I wonder what the 
 gay world of London would think of that ? " 
 
 And therewithal Lionel, in a somewhat rambling and in- 
 coherent fashion, told his friend of a good many things that 
 
An Awakening. 2.77 
 
 had happened to him of late of his vague aspirations and 
 dissatisfactions of Miss Cunyngham's visit to the theatre, and 
 his disgust over the music-hall clowning of his going down to 
 Brighton that day, and his wish to stand on some other footing 
 with those friends of his : winding up by asking, to Mangan's 
 surprise, how long it would take to study for the bar and get 
 called, and whether his training the confidence acquired on 
 the stage might not help in addressing a jury. 
 
 " So the idol has got tired of being worshipped," Mangan 
 said at last. " It is an odd thing. I wonder how many thousands 
 of people there are in London not merely shop-girls who 
 consider you the most fortunate person alive in whose imagina- 
 tion you loom larger than any saint or soldier, any priest or 
 statesman of our own time. And I wonder what they would 
 say if they knew you were thinking of voluntarily abdicating 
 so proud and enviable a position. Well, well ! and the reason 
 for this sacrifice ? Of course you know it is a not uncommon 
 thing for women to give uyj their carriages and luxuries and 
 fine living, and go into a retreat, where they have to sweep out 
 cells, and even keep strict silence for a week at a time, which I 
 suppose is a more difficult business. The reason in their case is 
 clear enough ; they are driven to all that by their spiritual 
 needs ; they want to have their souls washed clean, by penance 
 and self-denial. But you," he continued in no unfriendly 
 mood, but with his usual uncompromising sincerity " whence 
 comes your renunciation? It is simply that a woman has 
 turned your head. You want to find yourself on the same 
 plane with her ; you want to be socially her equal ; and to do 
 that you think you should throw off those theatrical trappings. 
 You see, my dear Linn, if I have remembered my Catechism, 
 you have not : you have forgotten that you must learn and 
 labour truly to get your own living, and do your duty in that 
 state of life unto which it has pleased God to call you. You 
 want to change your state of life ; you want to become a 
 barrister. What would happen? The chances are entirely 
 against your being able to earn your own living at least for 
 years ; but what is far more certain is that your fashionable 
 friends whose positions and occupations you admire would 
 care nothing more about you. You are interesting to them now 
 because you are a favourite of the public, because you play the 
 chief part at the New Theatre. What would you be as a brief- 
 less barrister? Who would provide you with .salmon-fishing 
 and deer-stalking then ? If you aspired to marry one of those 
 
258 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 dames of high degree, what would be your claims and qualifi- 
 cations ? You say you would almost rather be a gillie in charge 
 of dogs and ponies. A gillie in charge of dogs and ponies doesn't 
 enjoy many conversations with his young mistress ; and if he 
 made bold to demand any closer alliance, Pauline would pretty 
 soon have that Claude kicked off the premises and serve him 
 right. If you had come to me and said, * I am too well off ; I am 
 being spoiled and petted to death ; the simplicity and dignity 
 of life is being wholly lost in all this fashionable flattery, this 
 public notoriety and applause ; and to recover myself a little 
 as a kind of purification I am going to put aside my trappings ; 
 I will go and work as a hod-carrier for three months or six 
 months ; I will live on the plainest fare ; I will bear patiently 
 the cursing the master of the gang will undoubtedly hurl at 
 me ; I will live on the plainest food, and sleep on a straw 
 mattress ' then I could have understood that. But what is it 
 you renounce ? and why ? You think you would recommend 
 yourself better to your swell friends if you dropped the theatre 
 altogether " 
 
 " Don't you want to hire a hall ? " said Lionel, gloomily. 
 
 " Oh, nobody likes being preached at less than I do myself," 
 Mangan said, with perfect e'quanimity, " but you see I think I 
 ought to tell you, when you ask me how I regard the situation. 
 And mind you, there is something very heroic very impracti- 
 cably heroic but magnanimous all the same in your idea 
 that you might abandon all the popularity and position you 
 have won as a mere matter of sentiment. Uf course you won't 
 do it. You couldn't bring yourself to become a mere nobody 
 as would happen if you went into chambers and began reading 
 up law books. And you wouldn't be any nearer to salmon- 
 fishing and deer-forests that way : or to the people who possess 
 these by birth and inheritance. The trouble with you, Linn, 
 my boy, as with both of us, is that you weren't born in the 
 purple. It is quite true that if you were called to the bar you 
 could properly claim the title of esquire, and you would find 
 yourself not further down than the hundred and fiftieth or 
 hundred and sixtieth section in the tables of precedence ; but 
 if you went with this qualification to those fine friends of yours, 
 they would admit its validity, and let you know at the same 
 time you were no longer interesting to them. Harry Thornhill, 
 of the New Theatre, has a free passport everywhere ; Mr. Lionel 
 Moore, of the Middle Temple, wouldn't be wanted anywhere. 
 
 " You are very worldly-wise to-night, Maurice," 
 
An Awakening. 259 
 
 " I don't want to see you make a sacrifice that wouldn't bring 
 you what you expect to gain by it," Mangan said. " But, as I 
 say, you won't make any such sacrifice. You have had your 
 brain turned by a pretty pair of eyes perhaps by an elegant 
 figure and you have been troubled, and dissatisfied, and 
 dreaming dreams." 
 
 " If that is your conclusion and summing-up of the whole 
 matter," Lionel said, with studied indifference, ''perhaps you 
 will offer me a drink, and I'll have a cigarette, and we can talk 
 about something on which we are likely to agree." 
 
 " I'm sure I beg your pardon," Mangan said, with a laugh ; 
 and he went and brought forth what modest stores he had ; and 
 he was quite willing that the conversation should flow into 
 another channel. 
 
 And little did Lionel know that at this very moment there 
 was something awaiting him at his own rooms that would (far 
 more effectually than any reasoning and plain speaking) banish 
 from his mind, for the moment at least, all those restless aspira- 
 tions and vague regrets. When eventually he arrived in 
 Piccadilly and went upstairs, he was not expecting any letters, 
 this being Sunday ; and as there was on the table only a small 
 parcel, he would probably have left that unheeded till the 
 morning (no doubt it was a pair of worked slippers or a couple 
 of ivory-backed brushes, or something of the kind) but that in 
 passing he happened to glance at the note on the top of it, and 
 he observed that the handwriting was foreign, He took it up 
 carelessly, and opened it ; his carelessness soon vanished. The 
 message was from Mile. Girond ; and it was in French. 
 
 "DEAR MR. MOORE, 
 
 " To-day Mrs. Grey and I have called twice at your 
 apartments, but in vain, and now I leave this letter for you. It 
 is frightful, what has happened ; Nina has gone, no one knows 
 where; we can hear nothing of her. This morning when I 
 came down to her room, she was gone ; there was a letter for 
 me, one for Mr. Lehmann, one for Miss Constance, asking her 
 to be ready to sing to-morrow night, another to Mrs. Grey, with 
 money for the apartments until the end of the month, and also 
 there was this little packet for you. In her letter to me she 
 asks me to see them all delivered ; during the night she must 
 have made these arrangements ; in the morning she is gone ! I 
 am in despair ; I know not what to do. Will you have the 
 goodness to come down to-morrow as soon as possible ? 
 
 " ESTELLE." 
 
 s 2 
 
260 TJie New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 And then mechanically he drew a chair to the table, and sate 
 down and pulled the small package towards him ; perhaps the 
 contents might help to explain this extraordinary thing that 
 had occurred. But the moment that he took the lid off the 
 pasteboard box he was more bewildered than ever ; for the first 
 glimpse told him that Nina had returned to him all the little 
 presents he had made to her in careless moments. 
 
 " Nina ! " he said, under his voice, in a tone of indignant 
 reproach. 
 
 Yes, here was every one of them, from the enclasped loving- 
 cup to the chance trinkets he had purchased for her just as they 
 happened to attract his eye. He took them all out ; there was 
 no letter, no message of any kind. And then he asked himself, 
 almost angrily, what sort of mad freak was this. Had the way- 
 ward and petulant Nina forgetting all the suave and gracious 
 demeanour she had been teaching herself since she came to 
 England had she run away in a fit of temper, breaking her 
 engagement at the theatre, and causing alarm and anxiety to 
 her friends, all about nothing? For he and she had not quar- 
 relled in any way whatsoever, as far as he knew. One fancy, 
 at least, never occurred to him or, if it occurred to him, it was 
 dismissed in a moment that Nina might have had a secret 
 lover that she had honestly wished to return these presents 
 before making an elopement. It was quite possible that Nicolo 
 Ciana, if he had heard of Kina's success in England, might have 
 pursued her, and sought to marry so very eligible a helpmeet ; 
 but if the young man with the greasy hair and the sham 
 jewellery and the falsetto voice had really come to this country, 
 Lionel knew who would have been the first to bid him return 
 to his native shores and his zuccherelli. Had not Nina indig- 
 nantly denied that he had ever dared to address her as " Nenna 
 mia" or that his perpetual " Antoniella, Antonia" in any way 
 referred to her ? No ; Lionel did not think that Nicolo Ciana 
 had much to do with Nina's disappearance. 
 
 And then, as he regarded this little box of useless jewellery, an- 
 other wild guess flashed through his brain, leaving him somewhat 
 breathless, almost frightened. Was it possible that JSina had 
 mistaken these gifts for love-gifts had discovered her mistake 
 and, in a fit of wounded pride, had flung them back and fled 
 for ever from this England that had deceived her? He was not 
 vain enough to think there could be anything more serious, that 
 Nina might be breaking her heart over what had happened to 
 her ; but it was quite enough if he had unconsciously led her to 
 
An Aivakening. 261 
 
 believe that he was paying her attentions. He looked at that 
 loving-cup with some pricking of conscience ; he had to confess 
 that such a gift was capable of misconstruction. It had never 
 occurred to him that she might regard it as some kind of mute 
 declaration as a pledge of affection between him and her that 
 necessitated no clearer understanding. He had seen the two 
 tiny goblets in a window; he had been taken by the pretty 
 silver-gilt ornamentation ; he had been interested in the old- 
 fashioned custom ; and he had lightly imagined that Nina would 
 be pleased that was all. And now that he thought of it, he 
 had to confess he had been indiscreet. It is true he had given 
 Nina those presents from time to time in a careless and hap- 
 hazard fashion that ought not to have been misunderstood 
 only, as he had to remind himself, Nina must have perceived 
 that he did not give similar presents to Miss Burgoyne, or 
 Estelle Girond, or anybody else in the theatre. And was Nina 
 now thinking that he had treated her badly ? Nina, who had 
 been always his sympathising friend, his gentle adviser, and 
 kind companion? Was there any one in the world that he less 
 wished to harm ? He supposed she must have been angry when 
 she returned these jewels and gewgaws : clearly she was too 
 proud to send him any other message. And now she would bo 
 away somewhere where he could not get hold of her to pet 
 her into a reconciliation again ; no doubt there was some hurt 
 feeling of injury in her heart ; perhaps she was even crying. 
 
 " Poor Nina ! " he said to himself (little dreaming of the true 
 state of affairs). " I hope it isn't so ; but if it is so, here have 
 I, through mere thoughtlessness, wounded her pride, and, what 
 is more, interfered with her professional career. I suppose she'll 
 go right away to old Pandiani ; and they'll be precious glad to 
 get her now at Malta, after her success in England. Perhaps 
 some day we shall hear of her coming over here again as a 
 famous star in Grand Opera ; that will be her revenge. But I 
 never thought Nina would want to be revenged on me." 
 
 And yet he was uneasy ; there was something in all this he 
 did not understand ; he began to long for the coming of the next 
 day, that he might go away down to Sloane Street and hear what 
 Miss Girond had to tell him. Why, for example, he asked 
 himself, had Nina taken this step so abruptly so entirely 
 without warning ? How and when had she made the discovery 
 that she had mistaken the intention of those friendly little acts 
 of kindness and his constant association with her? Then he 
 tried to remember on what terms he had last parted from her. 
 
262 The Neiv Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 It was at the theatre, as he patiently summoned up each 
 circumstance. It was at the theatre on the preceding night. 
 She had come to him in the wings, observing that he looked 
 rather vexed, and she had given him comforting and cheerful 
 words, as was her wont. Surely there was no anger in her 
 mind against him then ? But thereafter ? Well, he had seen 
 no more of Nina. When Miss Cunyngham had come behind the 
 scenes, he had forgotten all about Nina. And then suddenly he 
 remembered that he must have been standing close by the 
 prompter's box, absorbed in talking to Miss Cunyngham, when 
 Nina would have to come up to go on the stage. Had she 
 passed them ? Had she suspected ? Had she, in her proud and 
 petted way, resented this intimacy, and resolved to throw back 
 to him the harmless little gifts he had bestowed on her ? Poor 
 Nina! she had always been so wilful so easily pleased, so 
 easily offended ; but of late he had rather forgotten that ; for 
 she had been bearing herself with what she regarded as an 
 English manner ; and indeed their friendship had been so con- 
 stant and unvarying, so kind and considerate on both sides, that 
 there had been no opportunity for the half- vexed, half-laughing 
 quarrels of earlier days. He would seek out this spoiled child 
 (he said to himself) and scold her into being good again. And 
 yet, even as he tried to persuade himself that all would still be 
 well, he could not help recalling the fierce vehemence with 
 which Nina had repudiated the suggestion that perhaps she 
 might let some one else drink out of this hapless loving-cup that 
 now lay before him. " I would rather have it dashed to pieces 
 and thrown into the sea ! " she had .said, with pale face and 
 quivering lips, and eyes bordering on tears. He remembered 
 that he had been a little surprised at the time not thinking 
 what it all might mean. | 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 A CRISIS. 
 
 WHEN he went down to Sloane Street in the morning, he found 
 Estelle eagerly awaiting him. She received him in Nina's small 
 parlour ; Mrs. Grey had just gone out. A glance round the 
 room did not show him any difference, except that a row of 
 photographs (of himself, mostly, in various costumes) had dis- 
 appeared from the mantel-shelf. 
 
A Crisis. 263 
 
 " Well, what is all this about ? " lie said, somewhat abruptly. 
 
 " Ah, do not blame me too quick ! " Estelle said, with tears 
 springing to her clear blue eyes. "Perhaps I am to blame 
 perhaps, when I see her in such trouble on Saturday night, I 
 should entreat her to tell me why ; but 1 said ' To-night I will 
 not worry her more; to-morrow morning 1 will talk to her; 
 we will go for a long walk together ; Nina will tell me all her 
 sorrow.' Then the morning comes, and she is gone away, what 
 can I do ? Twice I go to your apartment " 
 
 " Oh, I am not blaming you at all, Miss Girond," he said at 
 once and quite gently. " If anybody is to blame, I suppose it's 
 myself, for I appear to have quarrelled with Nina without 
 knowing it. Of course you understood that that packet you 
 left yesterday contained the various little presents I have given 
 her from time to time worthless bits of things but all the 
 same her sending them back shows that Nina has some ground 
 of offence. I'm very sorry : if I could only get hold of her I 
 would try to reason with her; but she was always sensitive 
 and proud and impulsive like that. And then to run away 
 because of some fancied slight " 
 
 Estelle interrupted him with a little gesture of impatience, 
 almost of despair. 
 
 " Ah, you are wrong, you are wrong," she said. " It is far 
 more serious than that. It is no little quarrel. It is a pain 
 that stabs to the heart that kills. You will see Nina never 
 again to make up a little quarrel. She has taken her grief 
 away with her. I myself, when I first saw her troubled at the 
 theatre, I also made a mistake I thought she was hysteric " 
 
 "At the theatre?" said he, with some sudden recalling of 
 his own surmise. 
 
 " You did not regard her, perhaps, towards the end of her 
 part, on Saturday night ? " said Estelle. " I thought once she 
 would fall on the stage. On the way home I think she was 
 crying I did not look. Then she is in this room oh, so silent 
 and miserable as one in despair; until I persuade her to go to 
 sleep until the morning, when she would tell me her sorrow. 
 Then I was reading ; I heard something ; I went to the door 
 there it was Nina crying, oh, so bitterly ; and when I ran to 
 her, she was wild with her grief. ' My life is broken, Estelle, 
 my life is broken ! ' she said " 
 
 But here Estelle herself began to sob, and could not get on 
 with her story at all : she arose from her chair and began to 
 pace up and down. 
 
264 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 I " I cannot tell you it was terrible " 
 
 And terrible it was for him too, to have tliis revelation made 
 to him. Now he knew it was no little quarrel that had sent 
 Nina away ; it was something far more tragic than that ; it was 
 the sudden blighting of a life's hopes. 
 
 " Estelle," said he (quite forgetting), " you spoke of a letter 
 she had left for you : will you show it to me ? " 
 
 She took it from her pocket and handed it to him. There 
 was no sign of haste or agitation in these pages; Nina's small 
 and accurate hand- writing was as neat and precise as ever ; she 
 even seemed to have been careful of her English as she was 
 leaving this her last message, in the dead watches of the night. 
 
 " Dear Estelle," Nina wrote, " forgive me for the trouble I 
 cause you ; but I know you will do what I ask, for the sake of 
 our friendship of past days. I leave a letter for Mr. Lehmann, 
 and one for Miss Constance, and a packet for Mr. Moore ; will 
 you please have them all sent as soon as possible? I hope 
 Mr. Lehmann will forgive me for any embarrassment; but 
 Miss Constance is quite perfect in the part ; and if she gets the 
 letter to-day it will be the longer notice. I enclose a ring for 
 you, Estelle ; if you wear it, you will sometimes think of Nina. 
 For it is true what I said to you when you came into my room 
 to-night I go away in the morning. I have made a terrible 
 mistake, an illusion, a folly, and now that my eyes are opened, 
 I will try to bear the consequences as I can ; but I could not go 
 on the stage as well; it would be too bad a punishment; I 
 could not, Estelle. I must go, and forget it is so easy to say 
 forget ! I go away without feeling injured towards any one ; 
 it was my own fault, no one was in fault but me. And if I 
 have done wrong to any one, or appear ungrateful, I am sorry; 
 I did not wish it. Again I ask you to say to Mr. Lehmann, 
 who has been so kind to me in the theatre, that I hope he will 
 forgive me the trouble I cause ; but I could not go on with my 
 part just now. 
 
 " Shall I ever see you again, Estelle ? It is sad, but I think 
 not ; it is not so easy to forget as to write it. Perhaps some 
 day I ^end you a line no, perhaps some day I send you a mes- 
 sage ; but you will not know where I am ; and if you are my 
 friend you will not seek to know. Adieu, Estelle ! I hope you 
 will always be happy, as you are good ; but even, in your 
 happiest days you will sometimes give a thought to poor 
 Nina." 
 
 He sate there looking at the letter long after he had finished 
 
A Crisis. 265 
 
 reading it ; there was nothing of the petulance of a spoiled 
 child in this simple, this heartbroken farewell. And Nina 
 herself was in every phrase of it in her anxiety not to be a 
 trouble to any one her gratitude for very small kindnesses 
 her wish to live in the gentle remembrance of her friends. 
 
 " But why did no one stop her ? why did no one remon- 
 strate ? " he asked, in a sort of stupefaction. 
 
 " Who could, then ? " said Miss Girond, returning to her seat, 
 and clasping her hands in front of her. " As soon as the house- 
 maid appears in the morning, Nina asks her to come into the 
 room ; the money is put into an envelope for Mrs. Grey ; the 
 not great luggage is taken quiet down the stair, so that no one 
 is disturbed. Everything is arranged; you know Nina was 
 always so so business-like " 
 
 "Yes, but the fool of a housemaid should have called Mrs. 
 Grey ! " he exclaimed. 
 
 "But why, Mr. Moore?" Estelle continued. "She only 
 thought that Nina was so considerate no one to be awakened 
 and then a cab is called, and Nina goes away 
 
 " And of course the housemaid didn't hear what direction was 
 given to the cabman ! " 
 
 " No, it is a misfortune," said Estelle, with a sigh. " It is a 
 misfortune, but she is not so much in fault. She did not con- 
 jecture she thought Nina was going to catch an early train 
 that she did not wish to disturb any one. All was in order ; all 
 natural, simple ; no one can blame her. And so poor Nina 
 disappears-^ " 
 
 " Yes, disappears into the world of London, or into the larger 
 world, without friends, without money had she any money, 
 Miss Girond?" 
 
 " Oh, yes, yes ! " Estelle exclaimed. " You did not know ? 
 Ah, she was so particular ; always exact in her economies ; and 
 sometimes I laughed at her ; but always she said perhaps some 
 day she would have to play the part of the the benevolent 
 fairy to some poor one, and she must save up 
 
 " Had she a bank-account ? " 
 
 Estelle nodded her head. 
 
 " Then she could not have got the money yesterday, if she 
 wished to withdraw it : she must have been in London this 
 morning ! " 
 
 "Perhaps," said Estelle. "But then? Look at the letter. 
 She says if I am her friend, I will not seek to know where she is." 
 
 " But that does not apply to me," he retorted while his 
 
266 The Neiv Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 brain was filled with all sorts of wild guesses as to whither 
 Nina had fled. 
 
 " You a,re not her friend? " Estelle said, quietly. 
 
 " If I could only see her for three minutes ! " he said in his 
 despair, as he rose and went to the window. " Why should she 
 go away from her friends if she is in trouble ? Besides our- 
 selves and the people in the theatre, she knows no one in this 
 country. If she goes away back to her acquaintances in Italy, 
 she will not say a word ; she will have no sympathy, no dis- 
 traction of any kind ; and all the success she has gained here 
 will be as good as lost. It is like Nina to say she blames no 
 one ; but her sending me back those bits of jewellery tells me 
 who is to blame " 
 
 Estelle hesitated. 
 
 " Can I say ? " she said, in rather low tones, and her eyes were 
 cast down. " Is it not breaking confidence ? But Nina was 
 speaking of you she took me into the shop in Piccadilly to 
 show me the beautiful gold cup and when I said to her * It is 
 another present soon it is a wedding-ring soon he will give 
 you ' ' 
 
 " Then it is you who have been putting those fancies into her 
 head ! " he said, turning to her. 
 
 " I ? Not I ! " answered Estelle, with a quick indignation. 
 " It is you ! Ah, perhaps you did not think perhaps you are 
 accustomed to have every ones to have every one give homage 
 to the great singer you amuse the time what do you care ? 
 I put such things into her head ? No ! not at all ! But you ! 
 You give her a wishing-cup what is the wish? You come 
 here often you are very kind to her oh, yes, very kind, and 
 Nina is grateful for kindness you sing with her what do you 
 call them ? songs of love. Ah, yes, the chansons amoureuses are 
 very beautiful very charming but sometimes they break 
 hearts." 
 
 " I tell you I had no idea of anything of the kind," he said 
 for to be rated by the little boy-officer was a new experience. 
 " But I am going to try to find Nina whatever you may choose 
 to do." 
 
 " I respect her wish," said Miss Girond, somewhat stiffly. 
 However, the next moment she had changed her mood. " Mr. 
 Moore, if you were to find her, what then ? " she asked, rather 
 timidly. 
 
 " I should bring her back to her friends," he answered, simply 
 enough. 
 
A Crisis. 267 
 
 11 And then ? " 
 
 " I should want to see her as happy and contented as she nsed 
 to be the Nina we used to know. I should want to get her 
 back to the theatre, where she was succeeding so well. She 
 liked her work ; she was interested in it ; and you know she 
 was becoming quite a favourite with the public. Come, Miss 
 Girond," he said, " you needn't be angry with me : that won't 
 do any good. I see now I have been very thoughtless and care- 
 less ; I ought not to have given her that loving-cup ; I ought 
 not to have given her any of those trinkets, I suppose. But it 
 never occurred to me at the time ; I fancied she would be pleased 
 at the moment, that was all." 
 
 " And you did not reflect, then," said Estelle, regarding him 
 for a second, " what it was that may have brought Nina to Eng- 
 land at the beginning ? no ? what made her wish to play at 
 the New Theatre ? Ah, a man is so blind ! " 
 
 " Brought Nina to England ?" he repeated, rather bewildered. 
 
 " But these are only my conjectures," she said, quickly. " No, 
 I have no secrets to tell. I ask myself what brings Nina to 
 England, to the New Theatre, to the companionship with her 
 old friend I ask myself that, and I see. But you perhaps it 
 is not 3 T our fault that you are blind : you have so many ladies 
 seeking for favour you have no time to think of this one or that, 
 or you are grown indifferent, it may be. Poor Nina ! she that 
 was always so proud, too; it is herself that has struck herself; 
 a deep wound to her pride ; that is why she goes away, and she 
 will never come back. No, Mr. Moore, she will never come 
 back. I asked you what you would do if you were to find her 
 it is useless. She will never come back : she is too proud." 
 
 Estelle looked at her watch. 
 
 " Soon I must go in to the theatre. There was a note from 
 Mr. Lehmann this morning ; he-^wishes me to go over some parts 
 with Miss Constance, to make sure." 
 
 " What hour have you to be there ? " he said, taking up his hat. 
 
 " Half-past eleven." 
 
 " I will walk in with you, if you like," he said ; " there will 
 be time. And I want to see that Lehmann isn't put to any 
 inconvenience ; for, you know, I introduced Nina to the New 
 Theatre." 
 
 On their way into town Estelle was thoughtful and silent ; 
 while Lionel kept looking far ahead, as if he expected to descry 
 Nina coming round some street-corner or in some passing cab. 
 But at last his companion said to him 
 
268 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 "You had no quarrel, then, with Nina, on the Saturday 
 night?" 
 
 " None ! On the contrary, the last time she spoke to me was 
 in the most kindly way ! " he said. 
 
 " Then why does she resolve to send you back those presents ? " 
 Estelle asked. " Why is it she knows all at once that her life 
 is broken ? You have no conjecture at all ? " 
 
 " Well," said he, with a little hesitation, " it is a difficult 
 thing to speak of. If Nina was looking forward as you think 
 if she mistook the intention of those trinkets I gave her well, 
 you know, there was a young lady and her mother, two friends 
 of mine, who came to the theatre on Saturday night, and I dare 
 say Nina passed while I was talking to the young lady in the 
 wings and and Nina may have imagined something. I can 
 only guess it is possible 
 
 "ftow I know," said Estelle, rather sadly. "Poor Nina! 
 And still you think she would come back if you could find her ? 
 Her pride makes her fly from you ; and you think you would 
 persuade her ? Never, never ! She will not come back she 
 would drown herself first." 
 
 " Oh, don't talk like that ! " he said, with frowning brows ; 
 and both relapsed into silence and their own thoughts. 
 
 Mr. Lehmann did not seem much put about by this defection 
 on the part of one of his principal singers. 
 
 " It is a pity," he said to Lionel. " She had a fresh voice ; 
 plie was improving in her stage-business ; and the public liked 
 her. What on earth made her go off like this ? " 
 
 " She left no explanation with me," Lionel said, honestly 
 enough. " But in her letter to Miss Girond she hopes you 
 won't be put to any inconvenience. By the way, if Miss Boss 
 owes you any forfeit, I'll settle that up with you." 
 
 " No, there's no forfeit in her agreement ; it wasn't considered 
 necessary," the Manager made answer. " Of course I am as- 
 suming that it's all fair and square, that she hasn't gone off to 
 take a better engagement 
 
 " You needn't be afraid of that," Lionel said, briefly ; and as 
 Miss Constance here "made her appearance, he withdrew from 
 the empty stage, and presently had left the building. 
 
 He thought he would walk up to the Restaurant Gianuzzi in 
 Eupert Street, and make enquiries there. But he was not very 
 hopeful. For one thing, if Nina were desirous of concealment 
 or of getting free away, she would not go to a place where, as 
 he knew, she had lodged before; for another, he had disap- 
 
A Crisis. 269 
 
 proved of her living there all by herself, and Nina never even 
 forgot his least expression of opinion. When he asked at the 
 Eestaurant if a young lady had called there on the previous day 
 to engage a room, he was answered that they had no young- 
 lady visitor of any kind in the house : he was hardly disap- 
 pointed. 
 
 But as he walked along and up Kegent Street (here were 
 the well-remembered shops that Nina and he used to glance 
 into as they passed idly on, talking sometimes, sometimes 
 silent, but very well content in each other's society) he 
 began to ask himself whether in truth he ought to seek out 
 Nina and try to intercept her flight, even if that were yet 
 possible. Estelle's questions were significant. What would he 
 do, supposing he could induce Nina to come back ? At present, 
 he vaguely wished to restore the old situation to have Nina 
 again among her friends, happy in her work at the theatre, 
 ready to go out for a stroll with him if the morning were fine. 
 He wanted his old comrade, who was always so wise, and 
 prudent, and cheerful, whom he could always please by sending 
 her down a new song, a new waltz, an Italian illustrated jour- 
 nal, or some similar little token of remembrance. But if 
 Estelle's theory were the true one that Nina was gone for ever, 
 never to return ; her place was vacant now, never to be refilled ; 
 and somehow or other perhaps hidden in London, perhaps on 
 her way back to her native land there was a woman, proud, 
 silent, and tearless, her heart quivering from the blow that he 
 had unintentionally dealt. How could he face that Nina? 
 What humble explanations and apologies could he offer? To 
 ask her to come back would of itself be an insult. Her wrongs 
 were her defence ; she was sacred from intrusion, from expostu- 
 lation and entreaty. 
 
 At the theatre that evening, he let the public fare as it liked, 
 so far as his part in the performance was concerned. He got 
 through his duties mechanically. The stage lacked interest; 
 the wings were empty; the long glazed corridor conveyed a 
 mute reproach. As for the new Clara, Miss Constance did fairly 
 well: she had not much of a voice; but she was as bold as 
 brass ; and her " cheek " seemed to be approved by the audience. 
 At one point Estelle came up to him. 
 
 " Is it not a change for no Nina to be in the theatre ? But 
 there is one that is glad oh, very glad ! Miss Burgoyne 
 rejoices !" and Estelle, as she passed on, made use of a phrase, 
 in French, which, perhaps fortunately, he did not understand. 
 
270 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 After the performance, he went up to the Garden Club he 
 did not care to go home to his own rooms, and sit thinking. 
 And the first person he saw after he passed into the long coffee- 
 room was Octavius Quirk, who was seated all by himself, devour- 
 ing a Gargantuan supper. 
 
 " This is luck," Lionel said to himself. " Maurice's Jabber- 
 wock will begin with his blatherskite nonsense it will be 
 something to pass the time." 
 
 But on the contrary, as it turned out, the short fat man with 
 the unwholesome complexion was not at this moment in a 
 humour for frothy and windy invective about nothing : perhaps 
 the abundant supper had mollified him : he was quite suave. 
 
 " Ah, Moore," said he, " haven't seen you since you came back 
 from Scotland. It was awfully kind of Lady Adela to send me 
 a haunch of venison." 
 
 " It would serve you for one meal, I suppose," Lionel thought : 
 he did not say so. 
 
 " I dine with them to-morrow night," continued Mr. Quirk, 
 complacently. 
 
 " Oh, indeed," said Lionel : Lady Adela seemed rather in a 
 hurry, immediately on her return to town, to secure her tame 
 critic. 
 
 " Very good dinners they give you up there at Campden 
 Hill," Mr. Quirk resumed, as he took out a big cigar from his 
 case. " Excellent excellent and the people very well chosen, 
 too, if it weren't for that loathsome brute Quincey Hooper. 
 Why do they tolerate a fellow like that the meanest lick- 
 spittle and boot-blacker to any Englishman that has got a 
 handle to his name, while all the time he is writing in his 
 wretched Philadelphia rag every girding. thing he can think of 
 against England. Comparison, comparison, continually and 
 far more venomous than the feeble Higginson sort of stuff, which 
 is only Anglophobia and water ; and yet Hooper hasn't the 
 courage to speak out either it's a morbid envy of England that 
 is afraid to declare itself openly, and can only deal in hints and 
 innuendoes. What can Lady Adela see in a fellow like that? 
 Of course he writes puffing paragraphs about her, and sends 
 them to her; but what good are they to her, coming from 
 America? She wants to be recognised as a clever woman by 
 her own set. She appeals to the dii majorum gentium : what does 
 she care for the verdict of Washington, or Philadelphia, or New 
 York?" 
 
 Well, Lionel had no opinion to express on this point : on a 
 
A Crisis. 271 
 
 previous occasion he had wondered why these two Augurs had 
 not been content to agree, seeing that the wide Atlantic rolled 
 between their respective spheres of operation. 
 
 " I have been favoured," resumed Mr. Quirk, more blandly, 
 " with a sight of some portions of Lady Adela's new novel." 
 
 "Already?" 
 
 " Oh, it isn't nearly finished yet ; but she has had the earlier 
 chapters set up in type, so that she could submit them to to 
 her particular friends, in fact. You haven't seen them ? " asked 
 Mr. Quirk, lifting his heavy and boiled-gooseberry eyes and 
 looking at Lionel. 
 
 " Oh, no," was the answer. " My judgment is of no use to 
 her ; she is aware of that. I hope you were pleased with what 
 you saw of it. Her last novel was not quite so successful as they 
 had hoped, was it ? " 
 
 " My dear fellow ! " Mr. Quirk exclaimed, in astonishment 
 (for he could not have the power of the log-rollers called in 
 question). " Not successful ? Most successful ! most suc- 
 cesful ! I don't know that it produced so much money but 
 what is that to people in their sphere ? " 
 
 " Perhaps not much," said Lionel, timidly (for what did he 
 know about such esoteric matters ?) "I suppose the money 
 they might get from a novel would be of little consideration 
 but it would show that the book had been read." 
 
 " And what, again, do they care for vulgar popularity ? the 
 approbation of the common herd of the bovine-headed multi- 
 tude? No, no, it is the verdict of the polished world they 
 seek it is fame eclat it is recognition from their peers. It 
 may be only un succes d'estimea,\l the more honourable ! And 
 I must say Lady Adela is a very clever woman ; the pains she 
 takes to get Kathleen's Sweethearts mentioned even now are 
 wonderful. Indeed, I propose to give her an additional hint or 
 
 two to-morrow. Of course you know is doomed ? " asked 
 
 Mr. Quirk, naming a famous statesman who was then very 
 seriously ill. 
 
 "Really?" 
 
 "Oh, yes. Gout at the heart; hopeless complications; he 
 can't possibly last another ten days. Very well," continued 
 Mr. Quirk, with much satisfaction, as if Providence were 
 working hand-in-hand with him, " I mean to advise Lady Adela 
 to send him a copy of Kathleen's Sweethearts. Now do you 
 understand ? No ? Why, man, if there's any luck, when he 
 dies and all the memoirs come out in the newspapers, it will be 
 
272 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 mentioned that the last book the deceased statesman tried to 
 read was Lady Adela Cunyngham's well-known novel. Do you 
 see? Good business? Then there's another thing she must 
 absolutely do with her new book. These woman-suffrage people 
 are splendid howlers and spouters : let her go in for woman- 
 suffrage thick and thin and she'll get quoted on a hundred 
 dozen of platforms. That's the way to do it, you know ! Bless 
 you, the publisher's advertisements are no good at all nowadays ! " 
 
 Lionel was not paying very much heed; perhaps that was 
 why he rather indifferently asked Mr. Quirk whether he himself 
 was in favour of extending the suffrage to women. 
 
 " I ? " cried Mr. Quirk, with a boisterous horse-laugh. " What 
 do I care about it ? Let them suffer away as much as ever they 
 like?" 
 
 " Yes, they're used to that, aren't they ? " said Lionel. 
 
 " What I want to do is to put Lady Adela up to a dodge or 
 two for getting her book talked about; that's the important and 
 immediate point; and I think I can be of some service to her," 
 said Mr. Quirk ; and then he added more pompously : " I think 
 she is willing to place herself entirely in my hands." 
 
 Happily at this moment there came into the room two or 
 three young gentleman, intent upon supper and subsequent 
 cards, who took possession of the further end of the table ; and 
 Lionel was glad to get up and join the new comers, for he felt 
 he could not eat in the immediate neighbourhood of this ill- 
 favoured person. He had his poached eggs and a pint of hock 
 in the company of these new friends ; and after having for some 
 time listened to their ingenuous talk which was chiefly a 
 laudation of Miss Nellie Farren he lit a cigarette and set out 
 for home. 
 
 So it was Octavius Quirk who was now established as Lady 
 Adela's favourite ? It was he who was shown the first sheets of 
 the new novel; it was he who was asked to dinner immediately 
 on the return of the family from Scotland ; it was he who was to 
 be Lady Adela's chief counsellor throughout the next appeal to 
 the British public ? And perhaps he advised Lady Sylvia, also, 
 about the best way to get her musical compositions talked of; 
 and might not one expect to find, in some minor exhibition, a 
 portrait of Octavius Quirk, Esq., by Lady Kosamund Bourne ? 
 It seemed a gruesome kind of thing to think of these three 
 beautiful women paying court to that lank-haired, puffy, 
 bilious - looking baboon. He wondered what Miss Georgie 
 Lestrange thought of it; Miss Georgie had humorous eyes, that 
 
A Crisis. 273 
 
 cotlld say a good deal. And Lord Rockminster how did Lord 
 Rockminster manage to tolerate this uncouth creature? was 
 his good-natured devotion to his three accomplished sisters 
 equal even to that ? 
 
 Lionel did not proceed to ask himself why he had grown 
 suddenly jealous of a man whom he himself had introduced to 
 Lady Adela Cunyngharn. Yet the reason was not far to seek. 
 Before his visit to Scotland, it would have mattered little to him 
 if any one of his lady-friends or any half-dozen of them, for 
 the matter of that had appeared inclined to put some other 
 favourite in his place ; for he had an abundant acquaintance in 
 the fashionable world; and, indeed, had grown somewhat 
 callous to their polite attentions. But Lady Adela and her two 
 sisters were relations of Honnor Cunyngham ; they were going 
 down to Brighton this very week ; he was anxious (though 
 hardly knowing why) to stand well in their opinion and be of 
 importance in their eyes. As he now walked home he thought 
 he would go and call on Lady Adela the following afternoon : 
 if she were going down to that house in Adelaide Crescent, 
 there would be plenty of talk amongst the women folk ; his 
 name might be mentioned. 
 
 Next morning there was no further word of Nina. When he 
 had got his fencing over, he went along to Sloane Street, but 
 hardly with any expectation of news. No ; Estelle had nothing 
 to tell him : Nina had gone away and wished to remain 
 undiscovered. 
 
 " Poor Nina ! " said Estelle, with a sigh. 
 
 Somewhat early in the afternoon he went up to Campden 
 Hill. Lady Adela was at home. He noticed that the man- 
 servant who ushered him into the drawing-room was very slow 
 and circumspect about it, as if he wished to give ample warning 
 to those within ; and, indeed, just as he had come into the hall, 
 he had fancied he heard a faint shriek, which startled him not a 
 little. When he now entered the room he found Miss Georgie 
 Lestrange standing in the middle of the floor, while Lady Adela 
 was seated at a small writing-table a little way off. They both 
 greeted him in the most friendly fashion ; and then Miss Georgie 
 (a little embarrassed, as he imagined) went towards the French 
 window and looked out into the wintry garden. 
 
 " You have come most opportunely, Mr. Moore," said Lady 
 Adela, in her pleasant way. " I'm sure you'll be able to tell us ; 
 how high would a woman naturally throw her arms on coming 
 Suddenly on a dead body ? " 
 
 T 
 
274 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 He was some what staggered. 
 
 " I I'm sure I don't know." 
 
 " You see, Georgie has been so awfully kind to me this morn- 
 ing," Lady Adela continued. " I have arrived at some very 
 dramatic scenes in my new story, and she has been good enough 
 to act as my model ; I want to have everything as vivid as 
 possible ; and why shouldn't a writer have a model as well as a 
 painter ? I hope to have all the attitudes strictly correct to 
 describe even the tone of her shriek when she comes upon the 
 dead body of her brother. Imagination first, then actuality of 
 detail : Kose tells me that Mr. Mellord, after he has finished a 
 portrait, won't put in a blade of grass or a roseleaf without 
 having it before him. If there's to be a crust of bread on the 
 table, he must have the crust of bread." 
 
 " Yes, but Mr. Moore," said Miss Georgie, coming suddenly 
 back from the window and she was blushing furiously, up to 
 the roots of her pretty golden-red hair, and covertly laughing 
 at the same time, " my difficulty is that I try to do my best as 
 the woman who unexpectedly sees her dead brother before her ; 
 but I've got nothing to come and go on. I never saw a dead 
 body in my life ; and it would hardly do to try it with a real 
 dead body 
 
 " Georgie, don't be horrid ! " Lady Adela said, severely. 
 " Here is Mr. Moore, who can tell you how high the hands 
 should be held, and whether they should be clenched or 
 open." 
 
 " Well, Lady Adela," he said, in his confusion (for he was 
 in mortal terror lest she should ask him to get up and posture 
 before her), " the fact is that on the stage there are so many 
 ways of expressing fear or dismay that no two people would 
 probably adopt the same gestures. Would you have her hands 
 above her head ? Wouldn't it be more natural for her to have 
 them about the height of her shoulders the elbows drawn 
 tightly back her palms uplifted as if to shut away this terrible 
 sight 
 
 " Yes, yes ! " said Lady Adela, eagerly ; and she quickly 
 scribbled some notes on the paper before her. " The very thing I 
 the very thing ! " 
 
 " But don't you think," he ventured to say, " that that would 
 look rather mechanical rather stagey, in fact ? I know nothing 
 about writing; but I should think you would want to deal 
 mostly with the expression of the woman's face " 
 
 " I want to have it all I " the anxious authoress exclaimed. 
 
A Crisis. 275 
 
 "I want to have attitudes gestures everything; to make 
 
 the picture vivid. I must have the actual tone of her shriek 
 _^____ 
 
 " Which Mr. Moore heard as he came in," Miss Georgie said, 
 as a kind of challenge. 
 
 " Yes, I thought I heard a slight cry," he admitted, 
 gravely. 
 
 " Thank you so much, Mr. Moore," said Lady Adela, with her 
 most charming smile, as she began to fold up her notes. " The 
 little piece of realism you have suggested will come in admir- 
 ably ; and I think I've done enough for to-day thanks to 
 Georgie here, who has just been an Angel of Patience." 
 
 Tea followed, and some idle talk, during which Lionel learnt 
 that Lady Adela and her sisters were going down to Brighton 
 the following day. He incidentally mentioned Octavius Quirk's 
 name ; whereupon his hostess, who was a sharp and a shrewd 
 woman when she was not dabbling in literature, instantly and 
 graciously explained to him that she had been corresponding a 
 good deal with Mr. Quirk of late, over her new work. She in- 
 formed him, further, that Octavius Quirk was coming to dine 
 there the next night what a pity it was' that Mr. Moore was 
 engaged every evening at the theatre ! When Lionel left, she 
 had persuaded him that he was just as much a favourite as ever ; 
 he could very well understand that she had cultivated Octavius 
 Quirk's acquaintance only in his capacity as a kind of pseudo- 
 literary person. 
 
 Day after day of this lonely week passed ; Lionel, all un- 
 known to himself, was marching onwards to his fate. On the 
 Saturday there were two performances of The Squire's Daughter ; 
 at night he was very tired which was unusual with him : that, 
 or some other palpable excuse, was sufficient to take him down 
 to Victoria Station on the Sunday morning. He had forgotten, 
 or put aside, all Maurice Mangan's cool-blooded presentation of 
 his case ; undefined longings were in his brain ; the future was 
 to be quite different from the past and somehow Honnor 
 Cunyngham was the central figure in these mirage-like visions. 
 He had formed no definite plans ; he had prepared no persuasive 
 appeal ; the only and immediate thing he knew was that he 
 wished to be in the same place with her, breathing the same air 
 with her, with the chance of catching a distant glimpse of her, 
 even if he were himself to remain unseen. Would she be out 
 walking along the sea-front after church ? Surely so, when she 
 had Lady Adela and her sisters as her guests. And if not, he 
 
 T 2 
 
276 The Neiv Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 would call in the afternoon : how well he remembered the rather 
 dusky drawing-room, and its curious scent of sweet-briar or some 
 similar perfume. A hushed half-hour there would be something 
 to be treasured up and conned over again and again in subse- 
 quent recollection. Would she be sitting near the window, half 
 shadowed by the curtains ? Or standing in front of the fire, 
 perhaps absently gazing into it, her tall and elegant figure out- 
 lined by the crimson flames ? 
 
 When he arrived in Brighton he walked rapidly away down 
 to the King's Road, and there he moderated his pace, keeping 
 his eyes alert. The people were beginning to come out from 
 the various churches; and many of them, before going indoors, 
 joined that slow promenade up and down the greensward 
 further west. But look where he might, there was no sign of 
 Lady Cunyngham and her daughter, nor of Lady Adela and her 
 two sisters. They would have been easily distinguishable, he 
 thought. That they were .in Brighton, he had no doubt; but 
 apparently they were nowhere in this throng ; so rather down- 
 hearted he retraced his steps to the Orleans Club, where he 
 passed an hour or two with such acquaintances as he met 
 there. 
 
 He was more fortunate in the afternoon. When he went 
 along to Adelaide Crescent, Lady Cunyngham and her daughter 
 were both at home ; and it was with a sense of joyous relief 
 and yet with a touch of disquietude too that he found 
 himself ascending the soft-carpeted stairs. When he was 
 shown into the drawing-room, he found only one occupant 
 there it was Honnor Cunyngham herself, who was standing 
 by a big portfolio set on a brass stand, and apparently engaged 
 in arranging some large photographs. She turned and greeted 
 him very pleasantly, and without any surprise ; she went to 
 two low settles coming out at right angles from the fireplace 
 and sate down, while he took a seat opposite her ; if he was 
 rather nervous and bewildered at finding himself thus suddenly 
 face-to-face with her, and alone with her, she was quite calm 
 and self-possessed. 
 
 " Mother has just gone upstairs ; she will be here presently," 
 Miss Honnor said. " But what a pity my sisters did not know 
 you were coming down. After church they all went off to 
 visit an old^ lady, a great friend of theirs, who can't get out- 
 of-doors nowadays ; and I suppose they stayed on so as to keep 
 her company. However, I have no doubt they will be here 
 before long. What a pleasant thing it must be for you," bhe 
 
A Crisis. 277 
 
 added, " to bo able to run down to Brighton for a day after a 
 week's hard work at the theatre." 
 
 " Yes," he answered, in a half-bitter kind of fashion. " It is 
 a pleasant thing to get away from the theatre anywhere. I 
 think I am becoming rather sick of the theatre and all its 
 associations." 
 
 " Really Mr. Moore," she said with a smile, " it is surprising 
 to hear you say so you of all men." 
 
 " What comes of it ? You play the fool before a lot of idle 
 people, until until your nature is subdued to what it works 
 in, I suppose. What service do you do to any human being? 
 of what use are you in the world ? " 
 
 " Surely you confer a benefit on the public when you provide 
 them with innocent amusement ? " she ventured to say she 
 had not considered this subject much, if at all. 
 
 "But what comes of it? They laugh for an hour or two and 
 go home. It is all gone like a breath of wind " 
 
 " But isn't mere distraction a useful and wholesome thing ? " 
 she remonstrated again. " I know a great philosopher who is 
 exceedingly fond of billiards, and very eager about the game 
 too : but he doesn't expect to gain any moral enlightenment 
 from three balls and a bit of stick. Distraction, amusement, is 
 necessary to human beings ; we can't always be thinking of the 
 problems of life." 
 
 " They talk of the divine power of song ! " he continued. 
 " Well, what I want to do is this. I can sing a little ; and I 
 want to know that this gift I have from nature hasn't been 
 entirely thrown away scattered to the winds and lost*. Here 
 in Brighton they are always getting up morning or afternoon 
 concerts for charitable purposes; and I wish, Miss Honnor, 
 when you happen to be interested in any of these, you would 
 let me know : I should be delighted to run down and volunteer 
 my services. I should be just delighted. It would be some- 
 thing saved. If I were struck down by an illness, and had to 
 lie thinking, I could say to myself that I had done this little 
 scrap of good not much for a man to do, but I suppose all that 
 could be expected from a singer." 
 
 She could not understand this strange disparagement of 
 himself and his profession; and she may have bee i vaguely 
 afraid of the drift of these confidences ; at all events, when she 
 had thanked him for his generous offer, she rose and went to 
 the portfolio. 
 
 " There are some things here that I think will interest you, 
 
278 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 Mr. Moore," she said. " They only arrived last night, and I 
 was just putting them away when you came in." 
 
 He went to the portfolio ; she took out two or three large 
 photographs and handed them to him ; the first glance showed 
 him what they were pictures of the Aivron and the Geinig 
 valleys, with the rocks and pools and overhanging woods he 
 knew so well. He regarded them for an instant or two. 
 
 " Do you know what first made me long to get away from the 
 theatre ? " he said in a low voice. " It was those places there. 
 It was Strathaivron and you." 
 
 "I, Mr. Moore?" 
 
 And now he had to go on ; he had taken his fate in his hands ; 
 there was some kind of despairing recklessness in his brain ; his 
 breath came and went quickly and painfully as he spoke. 
 
 " Well, I must tell you now, whatever comes of it. I must 
 tell you the truth you may think it madness I cannot help 
 that. What I want to do is to give up the theatre altogether. 
 I want to let all that go, with a past never to be regretted 
 never to be recalled. I want to make for myself a new future 
 if you will share it with me." 
 
 " Mr. Moore ! " 
 
 Their eyes met : hers frightened, his eagerly and tremblingly 
 expectant. 
 
 " There, now you know the truth. Will you say but one 
 word ? Honnor may I hope ? " 
 
 He sought to take her hand, but she shrank back a step 
 not in anger, but apparently quite stupefied. 
 
 " Oh, no, no, Mr. Moore," she said piteously. " What have I 
 done? How could I imagine you were thinking of any such 
 thing ? And and on my account that you should dream of 
 making such a sacrifice giving up your reputation and your 
 position 
 
 Where was his acting now ? where the passionate appeal he 
 would have made on the stage ? He stood stock still his eyes 
 bent earnestly on hers and he spoke slowly 
 
 " It is no sacrifice. It is nothing. I wish for another life 
 but with you with you. Have you one word of hope to give 
 me?" 
 
 He sav\ his answer already. 
 
 " I cannot I cannot," she said, with downcast eyes, and 
 obviously in such deep distress that his heart smote him. 
 
 " It is enough," said he. " I I was a fool to deceive myself 
 with such imaginings that are far beyond me. You will 
 
An Invocation. 279 
 
 forgive me, Miss Honnor : I did not wish to cause you any pain : 
 why, what harm is done except that I have been too presump- 
 tuous and too frank and you will forgive that. Tell me you 
 forgive me ! " 
 
 He held out his hand ; she took it for a moment ; and for 
 another moment he held hers in a firm grasp. 
 
 " If I could tell you," he said in a low voice, " what I thought 
 of you what every one thinks of you you might perhaps 
 understand why I have dared to speak." 
 
 She withdrew her hand quickly : her mother was at the door. 
 When Lady Cunyngham came into the room, her daughter was 
 apparently turning over those photographs and engravings. 
 Lionel went forward to the elder lady to pay his respects; there 
 was a brief conversation, introduced by Miss Hone or, about 
 Mr. Moore's generous proposal to sing at any charitable concert 
 they might be interested in ; and then, as soon as he could, 
 Lionel said good-bye, left the house, and passed iLto the outer 
 world where the dusk of the December afternoon was coming 
 down over the far wastes of sea. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 AN INVOCATION. 
 
 ALL his vague, wild, impracticable hopes and schemes had sud- 
 denly received their death-blow ; but there was nothing worse 
 than that; he himself (as he imagined) had been dealt no 
 desperate wound. For one thing, flattered and petted as this 
 young man had been, he was neither unreasoning nor vain; 
 that a woman should have refused to marry him did not seem 
 to him a monstrous thing ; she was surely within her right in 
 saying no ; while, on the other hand, he was neither going to 
 die of chagrin nor yet to plan a melodramatic revenge. But 
 the truth was that he had never been passionately in love with 
 Honnor Cunyngham. Passionate love he did not much believe 
 in ; he associated it with limelight, and crowded audiences, and 
 ihe odour of gas. Indeed it might almost be said that he had 
 been in love not so much with Honnor Cunyngham as with the 
 condition of life which she represented. He had grown restless 
 and dissatisfied with his present state ; he had been imagining 
 for himself another sort of existence but always with her as 
 
280 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 the central figure of those fancied realms; he had been dreaming 
 dreams of which she had invariably formed part. And now 
 he had been awakened (somewhat abruptly, perhaps, but that 
 may have been his own fault) ; and ihere was nothing for it 
 but, to summon his common sense to his aid, and to assure him- 
 self that Honnor Cunyngham, at least, was not to blame. 
 
 And yet sometimes, in spite of himself, as he smoked a final 
 cigarette at midnight in those rooms in Piccadilly, a trace of 
 bitterness would come into his reveries. 
 
 " I have been taught my place, that's all," he would say to 
 himself. " Maurice was right I had forgotten my Catechism. 
 I wanted to play the gardener's son, or Mordaunt to Lady 
 Mabel ; and I can't write poetry, and I'm not in the House of 
 Commons. I suppose my head was a little bewildered by the 
 kindness and condescension of those excellent people. They 
 are glad to welcome you into their rooms you are a sort of 
 curiosity you sing for them they're very civil for an hour or 
 two but you must remember to leave before the footmen 
 proceed to shut the hall-door. Well, what's to be done ? Am I 
 to rush away to the wars, and come back a Field Marshal ? 
 Am I to make myself so obnoxious in Parliament that the noble 
 earl will give me his daughter in order to shut my mouth ? Oh, 
 no ; they simplify matters nowadays ; ' as you were ' is the word 
 of command ; go back to the theatre ; paint your face and put 
 on your finery ; play the fool along with the rest of the comic 
 people ; and we'll come and look at you from the stalls ; and if 
 you will marry, why, then, keep in your own sphere, and marry 
 Kate Burgoyne ! " 
 
 For now when he was peevish, and discontented, and rest- 
 less, or even sick at heart, he hardly knew why there was no 
 Nina to solace and soothe him with her gentle companionship, 
 her wise counsel, her bright, and cheerful, and wayward good- 
 humour. Apparently he had as many friends and acquaintances 
 as before ; and yet he was haunted by a curious sense of solitude. 
 Of a morning he would go out for a stroll along the familiar 
 thoroughfares Bond Street, Conduit Street, Regent Street, 
 where he knew all the shops at which Nina used to linger for a 
 moment, to glance at a picture or a bonnet and these seemed 
 altogether different now. He could not have imagined he 
 should have missed Nina so mucb. Instead of dining in his 
 rooms at five o'clock and thereafter walking down to Sloane 
 Street to have a cup of tea with Nina and Miss Girond before 
 they all three set out for the theatre, he spent most of hie after- 
 
An Invocation. 281 
 
 noons at the Garden Club, where there was a good deal of 
 the game of poker being played by young gentlemen in the 
 upstairs rooms. And sometimes he returned thither after the 
 performance, seeking anew the distraction of card-playing and 
 betting, until he became notorious as the fiercest plunger in the 
 place. Nobody could "bluff" Lionel Moore ; he would "call " his 
 opponent if he himself had nothing better than a pair of twos ; 
 and many a solid handful of sovereigns he had to pay for that 
 privilege of gazing. 
 
 Day after day went by, and still there was no word of Nina : 
 at times he was visited by sudden sharp misgivings that terrified 
 him. The heading of a paragraph in a newspaper would startle 
 his eyes ; and then he would breathe again when he found that 
 the poor wretch who had grown weary of the world was 
 unknown to him. Every evening, when Miss Girond came into 
 the theatre, she was met by the same anxious, wondering ques- 
 tion ; and her reply was invariably the same. 
 
 "Don't you think it very strange?" he asked of Estelle. 
 " Nina said she would write to you or send you a message I 
 suppose as soon as all her plans were made. I hope nothing 
 has happened to her," he added, as a kind of timid expression of 
 his own darker self-questionings. 
 
 " Something something terrible ? " said Estelle. " Ah, no. 
 We should hear. No; Nina will make sure we cannot reach 
 her that she is not to be seen by you or me then perhaps I 
 have a message. Oh, she is very proud ; she will make sure ; 
 the pain in her heart, she will hide it and hide it until some 
 time goes, and she can hold up her head, with a brave face. 
 Poor Nina ! she will suffer for she will not speak, no, not to 
 any one." 
 
 " But look here, Miss Girond," he exclaimed, " if she has gone 
 back to her friends in Italy, that's all right ; but if she is in 
 this country, without any occupation, her money will soon be 
 exhausted she can't have had so very much. What will 
 become of her then ? Don't you think I should put an adver- 
 tisement in the papers not in my name, but in yours your 
 initials begging her at least to let you know where she is ? " 
 
 Estelle shook her head. 
 
 " No, it is useless. Perhaps I understand Nina a little better 
 than you though you know her longer. She is gentle, and 
 affectionate, and very grateful to her friends ; but under that 
 there is firmness oh, yes. She has firmness of mind although 
 she is so loving; when she has decided to go away and remain, 
 
282 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 you will not draw her back, no, not at all ! She will remain 
 where she wishes to be ; perhaps she decides never to see any of 
 us again well, well, it is pitiable, but for us to interfere, that 
 is useless." 
 
 " Oh, I am not so sure of that," he said. " As you say, I have 
 known Nina longer than you have; if I could only learn where 
 she is, I amnot so sure that I could not persuade her to come back." 
 
 " Very well try ! " said Estelle, throwing out both hands. 
 " I say no that she will not say where she is. And your 
 London papers how will they find her ? Perhaps she is in a 
 small English village perhaps in Paris perhaps in Naples 
 perhaps in Malta. For me, no. She said, 'If you are my 
 friend, you will not seek to discover where I have gone.' I am 
 her friend ; I obey her wish. When she thinks it is right, she 
 will send me a message. Until then, I wait." 
 
 But if Nina had gone away depriving him of her pleasant 
 companionship, her quick sympathy, her grave and almost 
 matron-like remonstrances there was another quite ready to 
 take her place. Miss Burgoyne did not at all appear to regret 
 the disappearance from the theatre of Antonia Kossi. She was 
 kinder to this young man than ever ; she showered her expe- 
 rienced blandishments upon him, even when she rallied him 
 about his gloomy looks or listless demeanour. All the time he 
 was not on the stage, and not engaged in dressing, he usually 
 spent in her sitting-room ; there were cigarettes and lemonade 
 awaiting him ; and when she herself could not appear, at all 
 events she could call to him a sort of conversation from the 
 inner sanctuary. And often she would come out and finish her 
 make-up before the large mirror, the while she talked to him. 
 
 " They tell me you gamble," she said to him on one occasion, 
 in her blunt way. 
 
 " Not much," he said. 
 
 " What good do you get out of it ? " she asked again. 
 
 " Oh, well, it is a sort of distraction. It keeps people from 
 thinking. 
 
 "And what have you to think about?" continued Grace 
 Mainwaring, regarding herself in the glass. " What dreadful 
 crimes have you to forget ? You want to drown remorse, do 
 you ? I dare say you ought ; but I don't believe it all the same. 
 You men don't care what you do and poor girls' hearts get 
 broken. But gambling ! Well, I imagine most men have one 
 vice or another; but gambling has always seemed to me the 
 stupidest thing one could take to, Drink kills you ; but I 
 
An Invocation. 283 
 
 suppose yon get some fun out of it. What fun do you get out 
 of gambling? Too serious isn't it? And then the waste of 
 money. The fact is, you want somebody to take care of you, 
 Master Lionel ; and a fine job she'll have of it, whoever under- 
 takes it ! " 
 
 "Why should it be a she," he asked, "assuming that I am 
 incapable of managing my own affairs ? " 
 
 " Because it is the way of the world," she answered, promptly. 
 " And you of all people need somebody to look after you. Why 
 should you have to take to gambling, at your time of life. 
 You're not shamming ennui, are you, to imitate your swell 
 acquaintances? Ennui ! I could cure their ennui for them, if 
 they'd only come to me ! " she added, scornfully. 
 
 " A cure for ennui ? " he said. " That would be valuable 
 what is it?" 
 
 " I'd tell them to light a wax match and put it up their nostril 
 and hold it there till it went out," she answered, with some 
 sharpness. 
 
 "It would make them jump, anyway, wouldn't it?" he said, 
 listlessly. 
 
 " It would give them something to claim their very earnest 
 attention for at least a fortnight," Miss Burgoyne observed, 
 with decision ; and then she had to ask him to open the door, for 
 it was time for her to get up to the wings. 
 
 Christmas was now close at hand; and one evening, when 
 Harry Thornhill, attired in his laced coat and ruffles, silken 
 stockings and buckled shoes, went as usual into Miss Burgoyne's 
 room, he perceived that she had somewhere or other obtained a 
 piece of mistletoe, which she had placed on the top of the piano. 
 As soon as Grace Maimvaring knew he was there, she came forth 
 from the dressing-room and went to the big mirror, kicking out 
 her resplendent train of flounced white satin behind her, and 
 proceeding to judge of the general effect of her powder and 
 patches and heavily-pencilled eyebrows. 
 
 " ^ here are you going for Christmas ? " she asked. 
 
 "Into the country," he answered. 
 
 " That's no good," said the brilliant-eyed white little bride, 
 still contemplating herself in the glass, and giving a finishing 
 touch here and there. " The country's too horrid at this time 
 of year. We are going to Brighton, some friends and I, a rather 
 biggish party ; and a whole heap of rooms have been taken at a 
 hotel. That will be fun, I promise you. A dance in the evening. 
 You'd better come : I can get you an invitation." 
 
284 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " Thanks, I couldn't very well. I am going to play the good 
 boy, and pass one night under the parental roof. It isn't often 
 I get the chance." 
 
 " I wish you would tell me where to hang up that piece of 
 mistletoe," she said, presently. 
 
 " I know where I should like to hang it up," he made answer, 
 with a sort of lazy impertinence. 
 
 "Where?" 
 
 " Just over your head." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " You would see." 
 
 She made a little grimace. 
 
 " Oh, no, I shouldn't see anything of the kind," she retorted 
 confidently. " I should see nothing of the kind. "You haven't 
 acquired the right, young gentleman. On the stage Harry 
 Thornhill may claim his privileges or make believe ; but off the 
 stage he must keep his distance." 
 
 That significant phrase about his not having acquired the 
 right was almost a challenge. And why should ho not say 
 " Well, give me the right ! " What did it matter ? It was of 
 little concern what happened to him. As he lay back in his 
 chair and looked at her, he guessed what she would do. He 
 imagined the pretty little performance. " Well, givo me the 
 right, then 1 " Miss Burgoyne turns round from the mirror. 
 " Lionel what do you mean ? " " You know^what I mean : let 
 us be engaged lovers off the stage as well as on." She hangs 
 down her head. He goes to her and kisses her without any 
 mistletoe; she murmurs some doubt and hesitation, in her 
 maiden shyness ; he laughingly reassures her ; it is all over, in 
 half-a-dozen seconds. And then ? Why, then he has secured 
 for himself a sufficiently good-natured life-companion; it will 
 be convenient in many ways, especially when they are engaged 
 at the same theatre; he will marry in his own sphere and 
 everybody be satisfied. If he has to give up his bachelor ways 
 .and habits, she will probably look after a little establishment as 
 well as another ; where there is no frantic passion on either side, 
 there will be no frantic jealousy ; and, after all, what is better 
 than peace and quiet and content? 
 
 Was he too indolent, then, to accept this future that seemed 
 to be offered to him ? 
 
 " Looks rather odd to go to a Brighton hotel for Christmas," 
 he said at random. 
 
 " It's the swagger thing to do, don't you know?" said Miss 
 
An Invocation. 285 
 
 Burgoyne (whose phraseology sometimes made him wince). 
 " It's the latest fad, among people who have no formal family 
 ties. I can imagine it will be the jolliest thing possible. In- 
 stead of the big family gathering, where half the relations hate 
 the sight of the other half, you have all nice people, picked 
 friends and acquaintances ; and you go away down to a place 
 where you can have your choice of rooms, where you have plenty 
 of freedom and no responsibility, where you can have every- 
 thing you want and no trouble in getting it. Instead of 
 foggy London, the sea ; and at night, instead of Sir Roger de 
 Coverley with a lot of hobbledehoys, you have a charming little 
 dance, on a good floor, with capital partners. Come, Master 
 Lionel, change your mind ; and you and I will go down together 
 on Christmas morning in the Pullman. Most of the others are 
 there already ; it's only one or two poor professionals who will 
 have to go down on Christmas day." 
 But Lionel shook his head. 
 " Duty duty," he murmured. 
 
 " Duty ! " said she, contemptuously. " Duty is a thing you 
 owe to other people which no one ever thinks of paying to 
 you." And therewith this profound moralist and epigrammatist 
 tucked up her white satin train, and waited for him to open the 
 door, so that she might make her way to the stage, he humbly 
 following. 
 
 On the Christmas morning the displa} r of parcels, packets, 
 and envelopes, large and small, spread out on the side-table in 
 his sitting-room was simply portentous; for the fashionable 
 world of London had had no intimation yet that their favourite 
 singer was ill-disposed towards them, and had even at times 
 formed sullen resolutions of withdrawing altogether from their 
 brilliant rooms. As he quite indifferently turned the packages 
 and letters over, trying to guess at the name of the sender by 
 
 the address, he said to himself 
 
 " They toss you those things out of their bounty as they 
 fling a shilling to a crossing-sweeper because it is Christmas- 
 day." 
 
 But here was one that he opened, recognising the handwriting 
 of his cousin Francie ; and Francie had sent him a very pretty 
 pair of blue velvet slippers, with his initials worked by herself 
 in thread of gold. That was all right ; for he had got for Miss 
 Francie a little present that he was about to take down with 
 him a hand-bag in green lizard-skin that might be useful to 
 her when she was going on her numerous errands. It was 
 
286 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 different with the next packet he opened (also recognising the 
 writing) for this was a paper-weight an oblong slab of crystal 
 set in silver, with a photograph of the sender showing through, 
 and the inscription at the foot " To Lionel Moore, from his 
 sincere friend, K. B." And he had never thought of getting any- 
 thing for Miss Burgoyne ! Well, it was too late now ; he would 
 have to atone for his neglect of her when he returned to town ; 
 meanwhile he recollected that just about now she would be 
 getting down to Victoria Station en route to Brighton ; and 
 indeed, had it not been for the duty he owed the old people, he 
 would have been well content to be going with her. The last 
 time he had been in a Pullman car on the way to Brighton, it 
 was with other friends or acquaintances; he knew his place 
 now; and was resigned. So he continued opening these parcels 
 and envelopes carelessly and somewhat ungratefully, merely 
 glancing at the various messages, until it was time to bethink 
 him of setting forth. 
 
 But first of all, when the cab had been summoned and his 
 portmanteau put on the top, he told the man to drive to a certain 
 number in Sloane Street : he thought he would call for a minute 
 on Mrs. Grey and Miss Girond, and wish them a pleasant 
 Christmas. Estelle, when she made her appearance, knew better 
 what had brought him hither. 
 
 " Ah, it is so kind of you to send me the pretty work-case 
 thank you, thank you very much ; and Mrs. Grey is so proud 
 of the beautiful lamp she will tell you in a moment when she 
 comes in. And if there is something we might have liked 
 better? pardon, it is no disfavour to the pretty presents, not at 
 all it is what you would like too, I am sure it is a message 
 from Nina. Yes, I expected it a little I was awake hour after 
 hour this morning when the postman came I ran down the 
 stairs no ! no word of any kind." 
 
 He stood silent for a minute. 
 
 '* I confess I had some kind of fancy she might wish to send 
 you just a line or a card any sort of reminder of her existence 
 on Christmas-day ; for she knows the English custom," he said, 
 rather absently. " And there is nothing nothing of any kind, 
 you say. Well, I have written to Pandiam." 
 
 " Ah, the maestro ? yes ? " 
 
 '* You see, I knew it was no use writing to her friends," he 
 continued, " for if she were with them, she would tell them not 
 to answer. But it is different with Pandiani. If she has got 
 any musical engagement in Naples, or if she has gone to Malta, 
 
An Invocation. 287 
 
 he would know. It seems hard that at Christmas-time we 
 should be unable to send a message to Nina." 
 
 "Perhaps she is sure that we think of her," Estelle said, 
 rather sadly. " I did rot know till she was gone that I loved 
 her so much and would miss her so much ; because sometimes 
 sometimes she reproved me and we had little disagreements 
 but all the same she was so kind and always it was for your 
 opinion I was corrected it was what you would think if I did 
 this or that. Ah, well, Nina will take her own time before she 
 allows us to know. Perhaps she is not very happy." 
 
 Nor had Mrs. Grey any more helpful counsel or conjecture to 
 offer ; so rather downheartedly he got into the hansom again 
 and set out for Victoria Station, where he was to meet Maurice 
 Mangan. 
 
 Maurice he found in charge of a bewildering number of vari- 
 ously-sized packages, which seemed to cause him some anxiety, 
 for there was no sort of proper cohesion amongst them. 
 
 " Toys for Francie's children, I'll bet," said Lionel. 
 
 " Well, how otherwise could I show my gratitude ? " Mangan 
 said. " You know it's awfully good of your people, Linn, to 
 ask a poor solitary devil like me to join their Christmas family- 
 party. It's almost too much " 
 
 " I should think they were precious glad to get you ! " 
 Lionel made answer, as he and his friend took their seats in 
 one of the carriages. 
 
 " And I've got a little present for Miss Francie herself," con- 
 tinued Mangan, opening his bag, and taking therefrom a small 
 packet. He carefully undid the tissue-paper wrappers, until he 
 could show his companion what they contained : it was a copy 
 of 'Aurora Leigh,' bound in white vellum, and on the cover 
 were stamped two tiny violets, green-stemmed and purple- 
 blossomed. 
 
 " * Aurora Leigh,' " said Lionel not daring, however, to 
 take the dainty volume in his hands. " That will just suit 
 Miss Savonarola. And what are the two violets, Maurice 
 what do they mean ? " 
 
 " Oh, that was merely a little device of my own," Mangan 
 said evasively. 
 
 " You don't mean to say that these are your handiwork ? " 
 Lionel asked, looking a little closer. 
 
 " Oh, no. I merely drew them : and the binder had them 
 stamped in colour for me." 
 
 " And what did that cost?" 
 
288 The New Prince Fortunatus* 
 
 " I don't know yet." 
 
 " And don't care so long as it's for Francie. And yet you 
 are always lecturing me on my extravagance ! " 
 
 " Oh, well, it's Christmas-time," Mangan said ; " and I con- 
 fess I like Christinas and all its ways. I do. I seem to feel 
 the general excitement throughout the country tingling in me 
 too ; I like to see the children eagerly delighted ; and the 
 houses decorated with evergreens ; and the old folk pleased and 
 happy with the enthusiasm of the youngsters. If I've got to 
 drink an extra glass of port, I'm there ; if it's Sir Roger de 
 Coverley, I'm there; I'll do anything to add to the general 
 Schwdrmerei. What the modern litterateur thinks it fine to 
 write about Christmas being all sham sentiment is simply 
 insufferable bosh. Christinas isn't in the least bit played 
 out though the magazinist may be, or may pretend to be. I 
 think it's a grand thing to have a season for sending good 
 wishes, for recollection of absent friends, for letting the young 
 folk kick up their heels. I say, Linn, I hope there's going to 
 be some sunlight down there. I am longing to see a holly- 
 tree in the open air the green leaves and scarlet berries glit- 
 tering in the sunlight. Oh, I can tell you an autumn session of 
 Parliament is a sickening thing when the interminable 
 speeches and wranglings drag on and on until you think 
 they're going to tumble over into Christmas-day itself. There's 
 fog in your brain as well as in your throat ; and you seem to 
 forget there ever was an outer world ; you get listless and 
 resigned, and think you've lived all your life in darkness. 
 Well, just a glimmer of sunshine, that's all I bargain for just 
 a faint glimmer, and a sight of the two holly-trees by the gate 
 of the doctor's house." 
 
 What intoxication had got into the head of this man ? 
 Whither had fled his accustomed indifference and indolence, 
 his sardonic self-criticism? He was like a schoolboy off for 
 holidays. He kept looking out of the window with persistent 
 hope of the grey sky clearing. He was impatient of the delay 
 at the various stations. And 'when 'at length they got out, 
 and found the doctor's trap awaiting them, and proceeded to 
 get up the long and gradual incline that leads to Winstead 
 village, he observed that the fat old pony, if he were lent for 
 a fortnight to a butcher, would find it necessary to improve his 
 pace. 
 
 When they reached the doctor's house, and entered, they 
 found that only the good old lady was at home : the doctor had 
 
An Invocation. 289 
 
 gone to visit a patient ; Miss Francio was as usual away among 
 ner young convalescents. 
 
 " It lias been a busy time for Francie," Mrs. Moore said. 
 " She has been making so many different things for them. 
 And I don't like to hear her sewing-machine going so late, 
 at night." 
 
 " Then why do you let her do it ?" Lionel said, in his 
 impetuous way. " Why don't you get in somebody to help her? 
 Look here, I'll pay for that. You call in a seamstress to do 
 all that sewing, and I'll give her a sovereign a week. Why 
 should Francie have her eyes ruined ? " 
 
 " Lionel is like the British Government, Mrs. Moore," Mangan 
 said, with a smile. " He thinks he can get over every diffi- 
 culty by pulling out his purse. But perhaps Miss Francie 
 might prefer carrying out her charitable work herself." 
 
 So Maurice Mangan was arrogating to himself, was he, the 
 right of guessing at Francie's preferences ? 
 
 " Well, mother, tell me where I am likely to find her. I am 
 going to pull her out of those fever-dens and refuges for cripples. 
 Why, she ought to know that's all exploded now. Slumming, 
 as a fad, had its day, but it's quite gone out now " 
 
 " Do you think it is because it is fashionable, or was fashion- 
 able, that Miss Francie takes an interest in those poor children ?" 
 Maurice asked, gently. 
 
 Lionel was nearly telling him to mind his own business: why 
 should he step in to defend cousin Francie ? 
 
 " She said she was going across the common to old Widow 
 Jackson's," his mother answered him, " and you may find her 
 either there or on the way to the village." 
 
 " Widow Jackson's? " he repeated in doubt. 
 
 ** Oh, I know it," Mangan said cheerfully. And again 
 Lionel was somewhat astonished. How had Maurice Mangan 
 acquired this particular knowledge of Francie's surroundings? 
 Perhaps his attendance at the House of Commons had not been 
 so unintermittent as he had intimated ? 
 
 There were still further surprises in store for Master Lionel. 
 When at length they encountered Miss Francie how pretty 
 she looked as she came along the pathway through the gorse, 
 in her simple costume of dark grey, with a brown velvet hat 
 and brown tan gloves ! it was in vain that he tried to dissuade 
 her from giving up the rest of the afternoon to her small 
 protegees. In the most natural way in the world she turned to 
 Maurice Mangan and her eyes sought his in a curiously 
 
 u 
 
290 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 straight-forward, confiding fashion that caused Lionel to 
 wonder. 
 
 " On Christmas -day, of all the days of the year ! " she said, 
 as if appealing to Maurice. " Surely, surely, I must give up 
 Christmas-day to them ! Oh, do you know, Mr. Mangan, there 
 never was a happier present than you thought of for the little 
 blind boy who got his leg broken you remember ? He learned 
 almost directly how to do the puzzle ; and he gets the ring off so 
 quickly that no one can see how it is done ; and he laughs with 
 delight when he finds that any neighbour coming in can only 
 growl and grumble and fail. I'm going there just now ; won't 
 you come? And mind you be very angry when you can't get 
 the ring off; you may use any language you like about your 
 clumsiness poor little chap, he has heard plenty of that in his 
 time." 
 
 Maurice needed no second invitation : this was what he had 
 come for ; he had found the sunlight to lighten up the Christ- 
 mas-day withal ; his face, that was almost beautiful in its fine 
 intellectuality, showed that whenever she spoke to him. Lionel, 
 of course, went with them. 
 
 And again it was Maurice Mangan whom Miss Francie 
 addressed, as they walked along to the village. 
 
 " Do you know, in all this blessed place, I can't find a copy 
 of Mrs. Hernans' poems ; and I wanted you to read ' The Arab 
 to his Horse ' is that the title ? at my school-treat to-morrow. 
 They would all understand that. Well, we must get something 
 else ; for we're to make a show of being educational and 
 instructive before the romping begins. I think the * Highland 
 Schottische ' is the best of any for children who haven't learnt 
 dancing : they can all jump about somehow and the music is 
 inspiriting. The Vicar's daughters are coming to % hammer at 
 the piano. Oh, Mr. Mangan," she continued, still appealing to 
 him, " do you think you could tell them a thrilling folk-story ? 
 wouldn't that be better ? " 
 
 " Don't you want me to do something, Francie ? " said Lionel 
 (perhaps a little hurt). 
 
 " Do you mean 
 
 " The only thing I'm fit for I'll sing them a song, if you 
 like. * My Pretty Jane ' no, that would hardly do * The 
 Death of Nelson ' or * Rule Britannia ' " 
 
 " Wouldn't there be rather a risk, Lionel ? If you were to 
 miss your train and disappoint a great audience in London ? " 
 she said, gently. 
 
An Invocation. 291 
 
 " Oli, I'll take my chance of that ; I'm used to it/' ho said. 
 " I'll have Dick and the pony waiting outside. Oh, yes, I'll 
 sing something for them." 
 
 " It will be very kind of you," she said. 
 
 And again, as they went to this or that cottage, to see that 
 the small convalescent folk were afforded every possible means 
 of holding high holiday (how fortunate they were as compared 
 with thousands of similar waifs and strays, shivering away the 
 hopeless hours in dingy courts and alleys, gin clutching at every 
 penny that might have got food for their empty stomachs 
 or rags for their poor shrunken limbs !) it was to Maurice 
 Mangan that Francie chiefly talked, and, indeed, he seemed 
 to know all about those patient little sufferers, and the time 
 they had been down here, and when they might have to be 
 sent back to London to make way for their successors. There 
 was also a question as to which of their toys they might be 
 permitted to carry off with them. 
 
 " Oh, I wouldn't deprive them of one," Mangan said, dis- 
 tinctly. " I have brought down a heap more this morning." 
 
 "Again again?" she said, almost reproachfully; but the 
 gentle grey eyes looked pleased notwithstanding. 
 
 Well, that Christmas evening was spent in the doctor's house 
 with much quiet enjoyment; for the old people were proud 
 to have their only son with them for so long a time; and 
 Francie seemed glad to have the various labours of the day 
 over; and Maurice Mangan, with quite unwonted zest, kept the 
 talk flowing free. Next morning was chiefly devoted to pre- 
 parations for the big entertainment to be given in the school- 
 room ; and in due course Lionel redeemed his promise by singing 
 no fewer than four songs at the shyly-proffered request of the 
 Vicar's pretty daughters : thereafter, leaving Maurice to conduct 
 the gay proceedings to a close, he got out and jumped into the 
 trap and was driven off to the station. He arrived at the New 
 Theatre in plenty of time : the odour of consumed gas was 
 almost a shock to him, well as he was used to it, after the clear 
 air of Winstead. 
 
 And did he grudge or envy the obvious interest and confidence 
 that appeared to have sprung up between his cousin and his 
 friend ? Not one bit. Maurice had always had a higher appre- 
 ciation of Francie and her aims and ideals than he himself had, 
 much as he liked her; and it was but natural she should turn 
 to the quarter from which she could derive most sympathy and 
 practical help. And if Maurice's long-proclaimed admiration 
 
 u 2 
 
292 The New Prince Foftunatus. 
 
 for Miss Savonarola should lead to a closer bond between those 
 two what then ? 
 
 It was not jealousy that had hold of Lionel Moore's heart just 
 at this time: it was rather a curious unrest that seemed to 
 increase as day by day went by without bringing any word of 
 Nina. Had she vouchsafed the smallest message, to say she 
 was safe and well, to give him some notion of her whereabouts, 
 it might have been different ; but he knew not which way to 
 turn, north, south, east, or west ; at this season of kindly 
 remembrance he could summon up no sort of picture of Nina 
 and her surroundings. If only he had known, he kept repeat- 
 ing to himself! He had been so wrapt up in his idle dreams 
 and visions that all unwittingly he had spurned and crushed 
 this true heart beating close to his side. And as for making 
 amends, what amends could now be made ? He only wanted 
 to know that Nina was alive and could forgive. 
 
 As he sate by himself in the still watches of the night, 
 plunged in silent reverie, strange fancies began to fill his brain. 
 He recalled stories in which he had read of persons separated 
 by great distances communicating with each other by some 
 species of spiritual telegraphy ; and a conviction took possession 
 of him that now, if ever now as the old year was about to go 
 out arid the new year come in he could call to Nina across the 
 unknown void that lay between them, and that she would hear 
 and perchance respond. Surely, on New Year's eve, Nina 
 would be thinking of her friends in London ; and if their earnest 
 and anxious thoughts could but meet her halfway, might there 
 not be some sudden understanding, some recognition, some glad 
 assurance that all was well? This wild fancy so grew upon 
 him that when the last day of the year arrived it had become a 
 fixed belief; and yet it was with a haunting sense of dread a 
 dread of he knew not what that he looked forward to the stroke 
 of twelve. 
 
 He got through his performance that night as if he were in a 
 dream, and hurried home ; it was not far from midnight when 
 he arrived. He only glanced at the outside of the letters await- 
 ing him; there was not one from her; not in that way was 
 Nina to communicate with him, if her hopes for the future, her 
 forgiveness for what lay in the past, were to reach him at all ! 
 He drew in a chair to the table, and sate down, leaving the 
 letters unheeded. 
 
 The slow minutes passed ; his thoughts went wandering over 
 the world, seeking for what they could not find. And how was 
 
An Invocation. 293 
 
 he to call to Nina, across the black gulf of the night, whereso- 
 ever she might be? Suddenly there leapt into his recollection 
 an old German ballad he used to sing. It was that of the three 
 comrades who were wont to drink together, until one died, and 
 another died, and nevertheless the solitary survivor kept the 
 accustomed tryst, and still, sitting there alone, he had the three 
 glasses rilled, and still he sang alond ' aus voller Brust* There 
 came an evening ; as he filled the cups, a tear fell into his own ; 
 yet bravely he called to his ghostly companions : * I drink to 
 you, my Brothers but why are you so mute and still ? ' And 
 behold ! the glasses clinked together ; and the wine was slowly 
 drank out of all the three. * Fiducit ! du wackerer Zeclier ! ' it 
 was the loyal comrade's last draught. And now Lionel, hardly 
 knowing what he was doing for there were such wild desires 
 and longings in his brain went to a small cabinet hard by and 
 brought forth the loving-cup he had given to Nina. They two 
 were the last who had drank out of it. And if now, if once 
 again on this last night of all the nights of the year, he were 
 to repeat his challenge, would she not know ? He cared not 
 in what form she might appear Nina could not be other than 
 gentle silent she might be, but surely her eyes would shine 
 with kindness and forgiveness. He was not aware of it, but 
 his fingers were trembling as he took the cup in twain, and 
 put the two tiny goblets on the table and filled them with wine. 
 Nay, in a sort of half-dazed fashion he went and opened the 
 door and left it wide might there not be some shadowy foot- 
 fall on the empty stair ? He returned to the table and sate 
 down ; it was almost twelve ; he was shivering a little the 
 night was cold. 
 
 All around him the silence appeared to grow more profound ; 
 there was only ihe ticking of a clock. As minute after minute 
 passed, the suspense became almost unendurable ; something 
 seemed to be choking him; and yet his eyes would furtively 
 and nervously wander from the small goblets before him to the 
 open door, as if he expected some vision to present itself there, 
 from whatsoever distant shore it might come. 
 
 The clock behind him struck a silver note ; and instantly 
 this vain fantasy vanished : what was the use of regarding the 
 two wine-filled cups when he knew that Nina was far and far 
 away? He sprang to his feet, and went to the window, and 
 gazed out into the black and formless chaos beyond. 
 
 " Nina ! " he called, " Nina ! Nina ! " as if he would pierce 
 the hollow distance with this passionate cry. 
 
294 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 Alas! how could Nina answer? At this moment, over all 
 the length and breadth of England, innumerable belfries had 
 suddenly awakened from their sleep, and ten thousand bells 
 were clanging their iron tongues, welcoming in the new-found 
 year. Down in the valleys, where white mists lay along the 
 slumbering rivers ; far up on lonely moorlands, under the clear 
 stars ; out on the sea-coasts, where the small red points of the 
 windows were face-to-face with the slow-moaning, inarticulate 
 main: everywhere, over all the land, arose this clamour of joy- 
 bells ; and how could Nina respond to his appeal ? If she had 
 heard, if she had tried to answer, her piteous cry was swallowed 
 up and lost : heart could not speak to heart, whatever message 
 they might wish to send, through this universal, far-pulsating 
 jangle and tumult. 
 
 But perhaps she had not heard at all ? Perhaps there was 
 something more impassable between her and him than even the 
 wide dark seas and the night? 
 
 He turned away from the window. He went back to the 
 chair ; he threw his arms on the table before him and hid his 
 face. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 ENTRAPPED. 
 
 THERE were two young gentlemen standing with their backs to 
 the fire in the supper-room of the Garden Club. They were 
 rather good-looking young gentlemen, very carefully shaven and 
 shorn, grey-eyed, fair-moustached : and indeed they were so 
 extremely like each other that it might have been hard to dis- 
 tinguish between them but that the one chewed a toothpick 
 and the other a cigarette. Both were in evening dress, and both 
 still wore the overcoat and crush-hat in which they had come 
 into the club. They could talk freely, without risk of being 
 overheard ; for the members along there at the supper-table 
 were all listening with much laughter to a professional 
 entertainer, who, unlike the proverbial clown released from the 
 pantomime, was never so merry and amusing as when divert- 
 ing a select little circle of friends with his own marvellous 
 adventures. 
 
 " It's about time for Lionel Moore to make his appearance," 
 said one of two companions, glancing at the clock. 
 
Entrapped. 295 
 
 " I would rather have anybody else, if it conies to that," said 
 the other, peevishly. " Moore spoils the game all to bits. You 
 never know where to have him " 
 
 " Yes, that's just where he finds his salvation," continued he of 
 the toothpick. " Mind you, that wild play has its advantages. 
 He gets caught now and again ; but he catches you at times. 
 You make sure he is bluffing, you raise him and raise him, then 
 you call him and find he has three aces ! And I will say this 
 for Moore he's a capital loser. He doesn't seem to mind losing 
 a bit, so long as you keep on. You would think he was a 
 millionaire; only a millionaire would have an eye on every 
 chip, I suppose. What salary do they give him at the New 
 Theatre?" 
 
 " Fifty pounds a week, I've heard say ; but people tell such 
 lies. Even fifty pounds a week won't hold out if he goes on 
 like that. What I maintain is that it isn't good poker. For 
 one thing, I object to 'straddling' altogether; it's simply a 
 stupid way of raising the stakes ; of course, the straddler has 
 the advantage of coming in last, but then look at the disad- 
 vantage of having to bet first. No, I don't object to betting 
 before the draw ; that's sensible ; there's some skill and judg- 
 ment in that ; but straddling is simply stupid. You ought to 
 make it easy for every one to come in ; that's the proper game ; 
 frighten them out afterwards if you can." And then he added, 
 gloomily, " That fellow Moore is a regular bull in a china- 
 shop." 
 
 " I suspect he has been raking over a few of your chips, 
 Bertie," his companion said, with a placid grin. 
 
 Just as he was speaking, Lionel entered the room, and, having 
 ordered some supper, took a seat at the table, One of those 
 young gentlemen, throwing away his toothpick, came and sato 
 down opposite him. 
 
 " Big house to-night, as usual ? " he asked. 
 
 " Full," was the answer. " 1 dare say when the archangel 
 blows his trump, the Squires Daughter will still be advertised 
 in the bills all over the town. I don't see why it should stop 
 before then." 
 
 " It would be a sudden change for the company, wouldn't 
 it?" the young man on the other side of the table said. 
 "Fancy, now, a music-hall singer no disrespect to you, 
 Moore I mean a music-hall comic fancy his finding himself 
 all at once in heaven ; don't you think he'd feel deuced awk- 
 ward ? He wouldn't be quite at home, would he ? want to get 
 
296 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 back to Mr. Chairman and the chorus in the gallery, eh, 
 what ? 'pon my soul, it would make a capital picture if you 
 could get a fellow with plenty of imagination to do it quite 
 tragic, don't you know, you'd have the poor devil's face just 
 full of misery riot knowing where to go or what to do 
 
 " The British public would be inclined to rise and rend that 
 painter," said Lionel, carelessly; this young man was useful as 
 a poker-player, but otherwise not interesting. 
 
 Two or three members now came in ; and by the time Lionel 
 had finished his frugal supper, there was a chosen band of five 
 ready to go upstairs and set to work with the cards. There 
 was some ordering of lemon-squashes and further cigarettes ; 
 new packs were brought by the waiter ; the players took their 
 places; and the game was opened. With a sixpenny 'ante' 
 and a ten-shilling 'limit,' the amusement could have been kept 
 mild enough by any one who preferred it should remain so. 
 
 But the usual thing happened. Now and again a fierce fight 
 would ensue between two good hands, and that seemed to 
 arouse a spirit of general emulation and eagerness ; the play 
 grew more bold ; bets apart from the game were laid by indivi- 
 dual players between themselves. The putting up of the 
 * ante ' became a mere farce, for every one came in as a matter 
 of course, even if he had to draw five cards ; and already the 
 piles of chips on the table had undergone serious diminution 
 or augmentation in the latter case there was a glimmer of 
 gold among the bits of ivory. There was no visible excite- 
 ment, however ; perhaps a player caught bluffing might smile 
 a little that was all. 
 
 Lionel had been pretty fortunate, considering his wild stylo 
 of play : but then his very recklessness stood him in good stead 
 when he chanced to have a fair hand his reputation for 
 bluffing leading on his opponents. And then an extraordinary 
 bit of luck had befallen him. On this occasion the first hand 
 dealt him contained three queens, a seven, and a five. To make 
 the other players imagine he had either two pairs or was 
 drawing to a flush, he threw away only one of the two useless 
 cards the five, as.it chanced ; but his satisfaction (which he 
 bravely endeavoured to conceal) may be imagined when he 
 found that the single card dealt him in its place was a seven 
 he therefore had a full hand ! When it came to his turn, 
 instead of beginning cautiously as an ordinary player would 
 have done, he boldly raised the bet ten shillings. But that 
 frightened nobody. His game was known ; they imagined he 
 
Entrapped. 297 
 
 had either two pairs or had failed to fill his flush and was 
 merely bluffing. When, however, there was another raise of 
 ten shillings from the opposite side of the table, that was a 
 very different matter; one by one the others dropped out, 
 leaving these two in. And then it went on : 
 
 " Well, I'll just see your ten shillings, and raise you another 
 ten." 
 
 " And another ten." 
 
 " And another ten." 
 
 " And another ten." 
 
 Of course universal attention was now concentrated on this 
 duel. Probably four out of five of the players were of opinion 
 that Lionel Moore was bluffing : that at least was certainly the 
 opinion of his antagonist, who kept raising and raising without 
 a qualm. At length both of them had to borrow money to go 
 on with ; but still the duel continued, and still the pile of gold 
 and chips in the middle of the table grew and increased. 
 
 " And another ten." 
 
 " And another ten." 
 
 Not a word of encouragement or dissuasion was uttered by 
 any one of the onlookers ; they sate silent and amused, wonder- 
 ing which of the two was about to be smitten under the fifth 
 rib. And at last it was Lionel's opponent who gave in. 
 
 "On this occasion," said he, depositing his half-sovereign, "I 
 will simply gaze ; what have you got ? " 
 
 "Well, I have got a full hand," Lionel answered, putting 
 down the cards on the table. 
 
 " That is good enough," the other said stolidly. " Take away 
 the money." 
 
 After this dire combat, the game fell flat a little ; but interest 
 was soon revived by a round of Jack-pots; and here again 
 Lionel was in good luck. Indeed, when the players rose from 
 the table, about three o'clock, he might have come away a 
 winner of close on 40 had not some reckless person called out 
 something about whisky-poker. Now whisky-poker is the very 
 stupidest form of gambling that the mind of man has ever con- 
 ceived, though at the end of the evening some folk hunger after 
 it as a kind of final fillip. Each person puts down a certain 
 sum it may be a sovereign, it may be five sovereigns ; poker 
 hands are dealt out, the cards being displayed face upwards on 
 the table; there is no drawing; whoever has the best hand 
 simply annexes the pool. It looks like a game, but it is not a 
 game ; it is merely cutting the cards ; but as the stakes can be 
 
298 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 doubled or trebled each round, the jaded appetite for gambling 
 finds here a potent and fiery stimulant just as the party breaks 
 up. Lionel was not anxious to get away with the money he 
 had won. It was he who proposed to increase the stakes to 
 10 from each player which the rest of them, to their credit 
 be it said, refused to do. In the end, when they went to get 
 their hats and coats before issuing into the morning air, some 
 one happened to ask Lionel how he had come off on the whole 
 night ; and he replied that he did not think he had either won 
 or lost anything to speak of. He hardly knew. Certainly he 
 did not seem to care. 
 
 The dawn was not yet. The gas-lamps shone in the murky 
 thoroughfares as he set out for Piccadilly alone. The others 
 all went away in hansoms ; he preferred to walk. And even 
 when he reached his rooms, he did not go to bed at once ; he 
 sate up thinking, a prey to a strange sort of restlessness that 
 had of late taken possession of him. For this young man's gay 
 and happy butterfly-life was entirely gone. The tragic dis- 
 appearance of Nina, followed by the sudden shattering of all 
 his visionary hopes in connection with Honnor Cunyngham 
 had left him in a troubled, anxious, morbid state that he himself, 
 perhaps, could not well have accounted for. Then the sense of 
 solitariness that he had experienced when he found that Nina 
 had so unexpectedly vanished from his ken had been intensified 
 since he had taken to declining invitations from his fashionable 
 friends, and spending his nights in the aimless distraction of 
 gambling at the Garden Club. Was there a touch of hurt 
 pride in his withdrawal from the society of those who in 
 former days used to be called ' the great ' ? At least he dis- 
 covered this, that if he did wish to withdraw from their society, 
 nothing in the world was easier. They did not importune 
 him. He was free to go his own way. Perhaps this also 
 wounded him ; perhaps it was to revenge himself that he sought 
 to increase his popularity with the crowd; at night he sang 
 with a sort of bravado to bring down the house ; in the day- 
 time it comforted him to perceive from a distance in that or 
 the other window a goodly display of his photographs, which 
 he had learned to recognise from afar. But in whatever direc- 
 tion these wayward moods drew him or tossed him, there was 
 ever this all-pervading disquiet, and a haunting regret that 
 almost savoured of remorse, and a sick impatience of the slow- 
 passing and lonely hours. 
 
 He had given up all hopes of hearing from Nina now, or of 
 
Entrapped. 299 
 
 gaining any news of her. Pandiani had nothing to tell him. 
 The Signorina Antonia Kossi had not written to any of her 
 Neapolitan friends, so far as could be ascertained, since the 
 previous December: certainly she had not presented herself 
 here in Naples, to seek any engagement. The old maestro, in 
 praying his illustrious and celebrated correspondent to accept 
 his respectful submissions, likewise begged of him, should 
 anything be learnt with regard to the Signorina Eossi, to 
 communicate further. There was no hope in that quarter. 
 
 But one morning Estelle made a new suggestion. 
 
 " There is something I have recalled : yes ; it is perhaps of 
 not great importance; yet perhaps again," she said. "One 
 day Nina and I we were speaking, of this thing and the other, 
 and she said it was right and proper that a young lady should 
 have a dot what is the English ? no matter. She said the 
 young lady should bring something towards tbe the manage- 
 ment ; and she asked how she or I could do that. Then comes 
 her plan. She was thinking of it before she arrives in Eng- 
 land. It was to go to America to be engaged for concerts 
 oh, they pay large, large salaries, if you have a good voice and 
 Nina would take engagements for all the big cities, until she 
 got over to San Francisco, and from there to Australia a great 
 tour a long time but at the end, then she has the little 
 fortune, and she is independent, whatever happens. Marriage ? 
 well, perhaps not ; but she is independent. Yes, it was Nina's 
 plan to go away on that long tour; but she comes to England 
 she is engaged at the New Theatre she practices her little 
 economies but not so as it would be in America ; and now, 
 now if she wishes to go away for a long, long time, is it not 
 America ? She goes on the long voyage ; she forgets what 
 she wishes to forget. Her singing, it is constant occupation ; 
 she must work ; and they welcome a good voice there she will 
 have friends. Do you consider it not possible ? Yes, it is 
 possible for that is to go entirely away, and there is no danger 
 of any one interfering." 
 
 "It's just frightful to think of," he said, "if what you 
 imagine is correct. Fancy her crossing the Atlantic all by 
 herself landing in New York unknown to any human being 
 there " 
 
 " Ah, but do you fear for Nina ? " Estelle cried. " No, no- 
 she has courage she has self-reliance, even in despair she 
 will have made preparations for all. Everywhere she has her 
 passport in her voice. 'I am Miss Boss, from the New 
 
300 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 Theatre, London,' she says. l How do we know that you are 
 Miss Koss ? ' ' Give me a sheet of music, then.' Perhaps it is 
 in a theatre or a concert-room. N ina sings. * Thank you, Made- 
 moiselle, it is enough; what are the terms you wish for an 
 engagement ? ' Then it is finished ; and Nina has all her plans 
 made for her, by the management ; and she goes from, one town 
 to the other, far away perhaps, perhaps she has not much time 
 to think of England. So much the better : poor Nina ! " 
 
 And for a while he took an eager interest in the American 
 newspapers. Such of them as he could get hold of he read 
 diligently particularly the columns in which concerts and 
 musical entertainments were announced or reported. But there 
 was no mention of Miss Eoss, or of any new singer whom he 
 could identify with her. Gradually he lost all hope in that 
 direction also. He did not forget Nina. He could not ; but he 
 grew to think that whether she was in America or in Aus- 
 tralia, or in whatever far land she might be she had gone away 
 for ever. Her abrupt disappearance was no momentary with- 
 drawal ; she had sundered their familiar association, their close 
 comradeship, that was never to be resumed; according to the 
 old and sad refrain, it was * Adieu for evermore, my dear, and 
 adieu for evermore ! ' Well, for him there were still crowded 
 houses with their dull thunder of applause ; and there were 
 cards and betting to send the one feverish hour flying after the 
 other; and there were the lonely walks through the London 
 streets in the daytime when the hours did not fly so quickly. 
 He had carefully put away those trinkets that Nina had returned 
 to him ; he would fain have forgotten their existence. 
 
 And then there was Miss Burgoyne. Miss Burgoyne could 
 be very brisk and cheerful when she chose ; and she now seemed 
 bent on showing Mr. Lionel Moore the sunnier side of her 
 character. In truth she was most assiduously kind to the 
 young man, even when she scolded him about the life he was 
 leading. Her room and its mild refreshments were always at 
 his disposal. She begged for his photograph, and, having got 
 it, she told him to write something very nice and pretty at the 
 foot of it : why should formalities be used between people so 
 intimately and constantly associated ? On more than one occa- 
 sion she substituted a real rose (which was not nearly so 
 effective, however) for the millinery blossom which Grace 
 Mainwaring had to drop from the balcony to her lover below ; 
 and of cour.se Lionel had to treasure the flower, and keep it in 
 water, until the hot and gassy atmosphere of hie dressing-room 
 
Entrapped. 301 
 
 killed it. Once or twice she called him Lionel, by way of 
 pretty inadvertence. 
 
 There came an afternoon when the fog that had lain all day 
 over London deepened and deepened until in the evening the 
 streets were become almost impassable. The various members 
 of the company, setting out in good time, managed to reach the 
 theatre though there were breathless accounts of adventures 
 and escapes as this one or that hurried through the wings and 
 down into the dressing-room corridor; but the public, not being 
 paid to come forth on such a night, for the most part preferred 
 the snugness and safety of their own homes, so that the house 
 was but half filled, and the faces of the scant audience were 
 more dusky than ever were almost invisible beyond the blaze 
 ' f the footlights. And as the performance proceeded, Miss 
 Burgoyne professed to become more and more alarmed. Dreadful 
 reports came in from without. All traffic was suspended. It 
 was scarcely possible to cross a street. Even the policemen, 
 familiar with the thoroughfares, dared hardly leave the pavement 
 to escort a bewildered traveller to the other side. 
 
 When Lionel, having dressed for the last act, went into 
 Miss Burgoyne's room, he found her (apparently) very much 
 perturbed. 
 
 " Have you heard ? It's worse than ever ! " she called to him 
 from the inner apartment. 
 
 " So they say." 
 
 " Whatever am I to do I " she exclaimed her anxiety proving 
 too much for her grammar. 
 
 " Well, I think you couldn't do better than stop where you 
 are," Harry Thornliill made answer, carelessly. 
 
 '* Stop where I am? It's impossible 1 My brother Jim would 
 go frantic. He would make sure I was run over, or drowned, 
 or something and be off to the police-stations." 
 
 " Oh, no, he wouldn't he wouldn't stir out on such a night, 
 if he had any sense." 
 
 " Not if he though his sister was lost ? That's all you know. 
 There are some people who do have a little affection in their 
 nature," said Miss Burgoyne, as she drew aside the curtain, and 
 came forth, and went to the tall glass. " But surely I can get 
 a four-wheeled cab, Mr. Moore ? I will give the man a sovereign 
 to take me safe home. And even then it will be dreadful. I 
 get so frightened in a bad fog absolutely terrified and espe- 
 cially at night. Supposing the man were to lose his way? Or 
 he might be drunk ? I wish I had a^ked Jim to come down for 
 
302 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 rue. There's Miss Constance's mother never misses a single 
 night : I wonder who she thinks is going to run away with that 
 puny-faced creature I " 
 
 " Oh, if you are at all afraid to make the venture alone, I 
 will go with yon," said he. "I don't suppose I can see further 
 in a fog than any one else ; but if you are nervous about being 
 alone, you'd better let me accompany you." 
 
 " Will you?" she said, suddenly wheeling round, and bestow- 
 ing upon him a glance of obvious gratitude. " That is indeed 
 kind of you ! Now I don't care for all the fogs in Christendom. 
 But really and truly," she added, " really and truly you must 
 tell me if I am taking you away from any other engagement." 
 
 " Not at all," he said idly. " I had thought of going up to 
 the Garden Club for some supper; but it isn't the sort of night 
 for anybody to be wandering about. When I've left you in the 
 Edgware Koad, I can find my way to my rooms easily. Once 
 in Park Lane, I could go blindfold." 
 
 And very proud and pleased was Miss Burgoyne to accept his 
 escort that is to say, when he had, with an immense amount 
 of trouble, brought a four-wheeled cab, accompanied by two 
 link-boys with blazing torches, up to the stage-door. And when 
 they had started off on their unknown journey through this 
 thick chaos, she did not minimise the fears she otherwise should 
 have suffered : this was thanking him by implication. As for 
 the route chosen by the cabman, or rather by the link-boys, 
 neither he nor she had the faintest idea what it was. Outside 
 they could see nothing but the gold-and-crimson of the torches 
 flaring through the densely yellow fog ; while the grating of 
 the wheels against the kerb told them that their driver was 
 keeping as close as he could to the pavement. Then they would 
 find themselves leaving that guidance, and blindly adventuring 
 out into the open thoroughfare to avoid some obstacle some 
 special wain or omnibus got hopelessly stranded ; while there 
 were muifled cries and calls here, there, and everywhere. They 
 went at a snail's pace, of course. Once, at a corner, the near 
 wheels got on the pavement ; the cab tilted over ; Miss Burgoyne 
 shrieked aloud, and clung to her companion-; then there was a 
 heavy bump, and the venerable vehicle resumed its slow pro- 
 gress. Suddenly they beheld a cluster of dim, nebulous, phantom 
 lights high up in air. 
 
 " This must be Oxford Circus, surely," Lionel said. 
 
 He put his head out of the window, and called to the cabman. 
 
 " Where are we now, cabby ? " 
 
Entrapped. 303 
 
 " Blessed if I know, sir ! " was the husky answer, coming 
 from under the heavy folds of a cravat. 
 
 "Boy," he called again, " where are we? Is this Oxford 
 Circus ? " 
 
 " No, no, sir," responded the sharp voice of the London gamin. 
 " We ain't 'alf-way up Eegent-street yet ! " 
 
 He shut the window. 
 
 "At this rate, goodness only knows when you'll ever get 
 home," he said to her. "You should have stopped at the 
 theatre." 
 
 " Oh, I don't mind," said she, cheerfully. " It's an adventure, 
 It's something to be talked of afterwards. I shouldn't wonder 
 if the theatrical papers got hold of it just the kind of para- 
 graph to go the round Harry Tliornliill and Grace Mainwaring 
 lost in a fog together. No, I don't mind. I'm very well off. 
 But fancy some of those poor girls about the theatre, who must 
 be trying to get home on foot. No four-wheeled cabs for them : 
 no companion to keep up their spirits. I shan't forgot your 
 kindness, Mr. Moore." 
 
 Indeed Lionel was much more anxious than she was. He 
 would rather have done without that paragraph in the news- 
 papers. All his senses were on the rack ; and yet he could 
 make out absolutely nothing of his whereabouts in this formless 
 void of a world, with its opaque atmosphere, its distant calls, 
 enquiries, warnings, its murky lamp-lights that only became 
 visible when they were over one's head. Miss Burgoyne seemed 
 to be well-content, to be amused even. She liked to see her 
 name in the newspapers. There would be a pretty little para- 
 graph to get quoted in gossipy columns, even if she and her 
 more anxious fellow-adventurer did not reach home till breakfast 
 time. 
 
 The link-boys certainly deserved the very substantial reward 
 that Lionel bestowed on them ; for when, after what seemed 
 interminable hours with all u kinds of stoppages and en- 
 quiries in this Egyptian darkness the cab came to a final 
 halt, and when Miss Burgoyne had been piloted across the 
 pavement, she declared that here, indubitably, ,was her own 
 door. Indeed, at this very moment it was opened, and there 
 was a glimmer of a candle in the passage. 
 
 " No, Mr. Moore," she said distinctly, when Lionel came 
 back after paying the cabman, " you are not going off like that, 
 certainly not. You must be starving ; you must come upstairs 
 and have something to eat and drink. " Jim," she said, address- 
 
304 TJie New Prince Fortunatus* 
 
 ing her brother, who was standing there, candle in hand, " have 
 you left any supper for us ? " 
 
 " I haven't touched a thing yet ! " said he. " I've been wait- 
 ing for you I don't know how long." 
 
 " There's a truly heroic brother ! " exclaimed the young lady, 
 as she pulled Lionel into the little lobby, and shut the door. 
 " What's enough for two is enough for three. Come along, Mr. 
 Moore ; and now you've got safely into a house, I think you'd 
 much better have Jim's room for the night or the morning, 
 rather : I'm sure Jim won't mind taking the sofa." 
 
 " I ? Not I ! " said her brother, blowing out the candle as 
 they entered the lamp-lit room. 
 
 It was a pretty room, and with its blazing fire looked very 
 warm and snug after the cold, raw night without. Miss Bur- 
 goyne threw off her cloak and hat, and set to work to supple- 
 ment the supper that was already laid on the central table. 
 Her brother Jim who was a dawdling, good-natured-looking 
 lad of about fifteen, clad in a marvellous costume of cricketing 
 trousers, a * blazer ' of overpowering blue and yellow stripes, 
 and an Egyptian fez set far back on his forehead helped her to 
 explore the contents of the cupboard ; and very soon the three 
 of them were seated at a comfortable, and most welcome, little 
 banquet. Indeed the charming little feast was almost sump 
 tuous : insomuch that Lionel was inclined to ask himself 
 whether Miss Burgoyne, who was an astute young lady, had not 
 foreseen the possibility of this small supper-party before leaving 
 home in the afternoon. The oysters, for example : did Miss 
 Burgoyne order a dozen oysters for herself alone every evening ? 
 for her brother declared that he had never touched, and would 
 not touch, any such thing. Lionel observed that his own 
 photograph, which he had recently given her, had been accorded 
 the place of honour on the mantle-shelf : another portrait of 
 him, which she had bought, stood on the piano. But why these 
 trivial suspicions ? when she was so kind and hospitable and 
 considerate ! She pressed things on him ; she herself filled up 
 his glass; she was as merry as possible, and talkative, and 
 good-humoured. 
 
 "Just to think we've known each other so long, and you've 
 never been in my house before ; " she said. * That's a portrait 
 of my younger sister you're looking at isn't she pretty? It's 
 a pastel Miss Corkran's. Of course she is not allowed to sit 
 up for me ; only Jim does that ; he keeps me company at 
 supper-time ; for I couldn't sit down all by myself, could I, in 
 
Entrapped. 305 
 
 the middle of the night ? Oh, yes, you must have some more : 
 I know gentlemen are afraid of champagne in a house looked 
 after by a woman ; but that's all right ; that was sent me as a 
 Christinas present by Mr. Lehmann " 
 
 " It is excellent," Lionel assured her, " but I must keep my 
 head clear if I am to find my way into Park Lane : after that it 
 will be easy enough getting home." 
 
 " But there's Jim's room ! " she exclaimed. 
 
 " Oh, no, thank you," he said; "I shall get down there with- 
 out any trouble." 
 
 And then she went to a cabinet that formed part of a book- 
 case and returned with a cigar-box in her hand. 
 
 " I am not so sure of these," she said. " They are some I got 
 when papa was last in town; and he seemed to think them 
 tolerable 
 
 " Oh, but I shan't smoke, thanks no, no, I couldn't think of 
 it ! " he protested. " You'll soon be coming down again to 
 breakfast " 
 
 " To please me, Mr. Moore," she said, somewhat authorita- 
 tively. " I assure you there's nothing in the world I like so 
 much as the smell of cigars." 
 
 What was she going to say next ? But he took a cigar and 
 lit it ; and again she filled up his glass which he had not 
 emptied ; and they set to talking about the Royal Academy of 
 Music, while she nibbled Lychee nuts, and her brother Jim 
 subsided into a French novel. Miss Burgoyne was a sharp 
 and shrewd observer ; she had had a sufficiently varied career; 
 jand had come through some amusing experiences. She talked 
 veil ; but on this evening, or morning, rather, always on the 
 rood-natured side ; if she described the foibles of any one with 
 vhom she had come in contact, it was with a laugh. Lionel 
 vas inclined to forget that outer world of thick cold fog, so 
 varm and pleasant was the bright and pretty room, so easily 
 he time seemed to pass. 
 
 However, he had to tear himself away in the end. She 
 nsisted on his having a muffler of Jim's to wrap round his 
 hroat ; both she and her brother went downstairs to see him 
 >ut ; and then, with a hasty good-bye, he plunged into the 
 ark. He had some difficulty in crossing to the top of Park 
 jane, for there were waggons come in from the country waiting 
 or the daylight to give them some chance of moving on ; but 
 ventually he found himself in the well-known thoroughfare, 
 nd thereafter had not much trouble in getting down to his 
 
306 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 rooms in Piccadilly. This time lie went to bed without sitting 
 up in front of the fire, in aimless reverie. 
 
 This was not the last he was to hear of that adventure. Two 
 days afterward the foreshadowed paragraph appeared in an 
 evening paper; and from thence it was copied into all the 
 weekly periodicals that deal more or less directly with theatrical 
 affairs. It was headed " The Squire's Daughter in Wednesday 
 night's fog ; " and gave a minute and somewhat highly coloured 
 account of Miss Burgoyne's experiences on the night in question ; 
 while the fact of her having been escorted by Mr. Lionel 
 Moore was pointed to as another instance of the way in which 
 professional people were always ready to help each other. That 
 this account emanated in the first place from Miss Burgoyne 
 herself, there could be no doubt whatever; for there were 
 certain incidents as, for example, the cab wheels getting up on 
 the pavement, and the near upsetting of the vehicle which 
 were only known to herself and her companion ; but Lionel did 
 not in his own mind accuse her of having directly instigated its 
 publication. He thought it was more likely one of the adver- 
 tising tricks of Mr. Lehmann, who was always trying to keep 
 the chief members of his company well before the public. It 
 was the first time, certainly, that he, Lionel, had had his name 
 coupled (unprofessionally) with that of Miss Burgoyne in the 
 columns of a newspaper ; but w r as that of any consequence ? 
 People might think what they liked. He had grown a little 
 reckless and careless of late. 
 
 But a much more important event was now about to happen 
 which the theatrical papers would have been glad to get for 
 their weekly gossip, had the persons chiefly concerned thought 
 fit. Just at this time there was being formed in London, under 
 distinguished patronage, a loan-collection of arms and embroi- 
 deries of the Middle Ages ; and there was to be a Private View 
 on the Saturday preceding the opening of the exhibition to the 
 public. Amongst others, Miss Burgoyne received a couple of 
 cards of invitation ; whereupon she came to Lionel, told him 
 that her brother Jim was going to see some football match on 
 that day, explained that she was very anxious to have a look at 
 the precious needlework, and virtually asked him to take her to 
 the show. Lionel hung back : the crowd at this Private View 
 were sure to include a number of fashionable folk ; there might 
 be one or two people there whom he would rather not meet. 
 But Miss Burgoyne was gently persuasive, not to say pertina- 
 cious; he could not well refuse; finally it was arranged he 
 
Entrapped. 307 
 
 should call for her about half-past one o'clock on the Saturday, 
 BO that they might have a look round before the crush began in 
 the afternoon. 
 
 Trust an actress to know how to dress for any possible occa- 
 sion ! When he called for her, he found her attired in a most 
 charming costume ; though, to be sure, when she was at last 
 ready to go, he may have thought her furs a trifle too magnifi- 
 cent for her height. They drove in a hansom to Bond Street. 
 There were few people in the rooms ; certainly no one whom 
 ho knew ; she could study those gorgeous treasures of embroi- 
 dery from Italy and the East, he could examine the swords and 
 daggers and coats of mail, as they pleased. And when they 
 had lightly glanced round the rooms, he was for getting away 
 again ; but she was bent on remaining until the world should 
 arrive, and declared that she had not half exhausted the interest 
 of the various cases. 
 
 As it chanced, the first persons he saw whom he knew were 
 Miss Georgie Lestrange and her brother ; and Miss Georgie, not 
 perceiving that any one was with him (for Miss Burgoyne was 
 at the moment feasting her eyes on some rich-hued Persian 
 stuffs), came up to him. 
 
 " Why, Mr. Moore, you have quite disappeared of late," the 
 ruddy-haired damsel said, reproachfully. "Where have you 
 been? What have you been doing ? " 
 
 " Don't you ever read the newspapers, Miss Lestrange ? " he 
 said. " I have been advertised as being on view every night at 
 the New Theatre." 
 
 " Oh, I don't mean that. Lady Adela says you have quite 
 forsaken her." 
 
 " Is Lady Adela to be here this afternoon ? " he asked, in an 
 off-hand way. 
 
 " Oh, certainly," replied Miss Georgie. " She is going every- 
 where just now, in order to put everything into her new novel. 
 It is to be a perfectly complete picture of London life as we see 
 it around us." 
 
 ".That is, the London between Bond Street and Campden Hill?" 
 
 " Oh, well, all London is too big for one canvas. You must 
 cut it into sections. I dare say she will take up Whitechapel 
 in her next book." 
 
 Miss Burgoyne turned from the glass case to seek her com- 
 panion, and seemed a little surprised to find him talking to 
 these two strangers. It was the swiftest glance ; but Miss 
 Georgie divined the situation in an instant. 
 
 x 2 
 
308 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " Good-bye for the present," she said, and she and her brother 
 passed on." 
 
 And now he was more anxious than ever to get away. If 
 La.dy Adela and her sisters were coming to this exhibition, was 
 it not highly probable that Honnor Cunyngham might be of the 
 party ? He did not wish to meet any one of them ; especially 
 did he not care to meet them while he was acting as escort to 
 Miss Burgoyne. There were reasons which he could hardly 
 define ; he only knew that the clicking of the turnstile on the 
 stair was an alarming sound ; and that he regarded each new 
 group of visitors, as they came into the room, with a furtive 
 apprehension. 
 
 " Oh, very well," Miss Burgoyne said, at length, "let us go." 
 And on the staircase she again said : " What is it ? Are you 
 afraid of meeting the mamma of some girl you've jilted ? Or 
 some man to whom you owe money for cards? Ah, Master 
 Lionel, when are you going to reform, and lead a steady and 
 respectable life?" 
 
 He breathed more freely when he was outside : here, in the 
 crowd, if he met any one to whom he did not wish to speak, he 
 could be engaged with his companion and pass on without 
 recognition. He proposed to Miss Burgoyne that they should 
 walk home, by way of Piccadilly and Park Lane; and that 
 young lady cheerfully assented. It was quite a pleasant after- 
 noon, for London in mid-winter. The setting sun shone with 
 a dull copper lustre along the fronts of the tali buildings ; and 
 over the trees of the Green Park hung clouds that were glorified 
 by the intervening red-hued mists. The air was crisp and cold 
 what a blessing it was to be able to breathe. 
 
 Lionel was silent and absorbed; he only said" Yes?" " Really ! " 
 " Indeed," in answer to the vivacious chatter of his companion, 
 who was in the most animated spirits. His brows were drawn 
 down ; his look was more sombre than it ought to have been, 
 considering who was with him. Perhaps he was thinking of 
 the crowded rooms they had recently left ; and of the friends 
 who might now be arriving there, from whom he had voluntarily 
 isolated himself. Had they, had any one of them, counselled 
 him to keep within his own sphere ? Well, he had taken that 
 advice : here he was walking with Miss Burgoyne ! 
 
 All of a sudden that young lady stopped and turned to the 
 window of a jeweller's shop ; and of course he followed. No 
 wonder her eyes had been attracted : here were all kinds of 
 beautiful things and splendours tiaras, coronets, necklaces, 
 
Entrapped. 309 
 
 pendaiits, bracelets, earrings, bangles, brooches, set with all 
 manner of precious stones, the clear-radiant diamond, the purple 
 amethyst, the sea-green emerald, the mystic opal, the blue- 
 black sapphire, the clouded pearl. Her raptured vision wan- 
 dered from tray to tray, but it was a comparatively trifling 
 article that finally claimed her attention a tiny finger-ring set 
 with small rubies and brilliants. 
 
 " Oh, do look at this ! " she said to her companion. " Did you 
 ever see such a love of a ring what a perfect engagement ring 
 it would make ! " 
 
 Then what mad, half-sullen, half-petulant, and wholly 
 reckless impulse sprang into his brain ? 
 
 " Well, will you wear that as an engagement- ring, if I give it 
 to you ? " he asked. 
 
 She looked up, startled, amused, but not displeased. 
 
 "Why, really really that is a question to ask I" she 
 exclaimed. 
 
 " Come along in and see if it fits your finger come along I " 
 and therewith Miss Burgoyne, a little bewildered, and still 
 inclined to laugh, found herself at the jeweller's counter. Was 
 it a joke ? Oh, certainly not. Lionel was quite serious and 
 matter-of-fact. The tray was produced. The ring was taken 
 out. For a moment she hesitated as to which finger to try it 
 on, but overcame that shyness, and placed it on the third finger 
 of her left hand, and said it fitted admirably. 
 
 " Just keep it where it is, then," he said ; and then he added a 
 word or two to the jeweller, whom he knew ; and he and his 
 companion left the shop. 
 
 " Oh, Lionel, what an idea ! " said Miss Burgoyne, with her 
 eyes bent modestly on the pavement. " If I had fancied you 
 knew that man, do you think I wo aid ever have entered the 
 place ? What must he think ! What would any one think 
 an engagement in the middle of the streets of London ! " 
 
 "Plenty of witnesses to the ceremony, that's all," said he 
 lightly. 
 
 Nay, was there not a curious sense of possession, now that he 
 walked alongside this little bright person in the magnificent 
 furs. He had acquired something by this simple transaction : 
 he would be less lonely now ; he would mate with his kind. But 
 he did not choose to look far into the future. Here he was 
 walking along Piccadilly, with a cheerful, and smiling, and 
 prettily-costumed young lady by his side who had just been so 
 
310 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 kind as to accept an engagement-ring from him; and what 
 more could he want ? 
 
 "Lionel," she said, still with modestly downcast eyes, "this 
 mustn't be known to any human being no, not to a single 
 human being not yet, I mean. I will get a strip of white 
 india-rubber to cover the ring, so that no one shall be able to 
 see it on the stage." 
 
 Perhaps he recalled the fact that recently she had been 
 wearing another ring similarly concealed from the public gaze ; 
 or perhaps he had forgotten that little circumstance. What 
 did it matter ? Did anything matter ? He only knew he had 
 pledged himself to marry Kate Burgoyne enough. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 IN DIRER STRAITS. 
 
 2*OW when a young man, in whatever wayward mood of petu- 
 lance, or defiance, or wounded self-love, chooses to play tricks 
 with his own fate, he is pretty sure to discover that sooner or later 
 he has himself to reckon with his other and saner self that 
 will arise and refuse to be silenced. And this awakening came 
 almost directly to Lionel Moore. Even as he went down to the 
 theatre that same evening, he began to wonder whether Miss 
 Burgoyne would really be wearing the ring he had given her. 
 Or would she not rather consider the whole affair a joke ? not 
 a very clever joke, indeed, but at least something to be put on 
 one side and forgotten. She had been inclined to laugh at the 
 idea of two people becoming engaged to each other in the middle 
 of the London streets. A life-pledge offered and accepted in 
 the front of a window in Piccadilly ! why, such was the way 
 of comic opera, not of the actual world. Jests of that kind 
 were all very well in the theatre, but they were best confined 
 to the stage. And would not Miss Burgoyne understand that 
 on a momentary impulse he had yielded to a fit of half-sullen 
 recklessness, and would she not be quite ready and willing to 
 release him ? 
 
 But when according to custom he went into her room that 
 
In Direr Straits. 311 
 
 evening, he soon became aware that Miss Burgoyne did not at 
 all treat this matter as a jest. 
 
 " See ! " she said to him with a becoming shyness and she 
 showed him how cleverly she had covered her engagement-ring 
 with a little band of flesh-tinted india-rubber. " No one will 
 be able to see it ; and I shan't have to take it off at all. Why, 
 I could play Galatea, and not a human being would notice that 
 the statue was wearing a ring ! " 
 
 She seemed very proud and pleased and happy, though she 
 spoke in an undertone (for Jane was within earshot). As for 
 him, he did not say anything. Of course he was bound to 
 stand by what he had done, and suffer the consequences, what- 
 ever they might be. When he left the room and went upstairs 
 into the wings, it was in a vague sort of stupefaction ; but 
 here were the immediate exigencies of the stage ; and perhaps 
 it was better not to look too far ahead. 
 
 But it was with just a little sense of shame that he found, 
 when the piece was over, and they were ready to leave the 
 theatre, that Miss Burgoyne expected him to accompany her on 
 her way home. If only he had had sufficient courage he might 
 have said to her 
 
 " Look here ; we are engaged to be married ; and I'm not 
 going to back out; I will fulfil my promise whenever you 
 please. But for goodness' sake don't expect me to play the 
 lover off the stage as well as on. Sweethearting is a silly sort 
 of business; don't we have enough every evening before the 
 footlights? Let us conduct ourselves as rational human 
 creatures when we're not paid to make fools of ourselves. 
 What good will it do if I drive home with you in this hansom ? 
 Do you expect me to put my arm round your waist ? No, 
 thanks ; there isn't much novelty in that kind of thing, for 
 Grace Mainwaring and Harry ThomhilL" 
 
 And when eventually they did arrive in Edgware Eoad, she 
 could not induce him to enter the house and have some bit of 
 supper with herself and her brother Jim. 
 
 "What are you going to do to-morrow, then?" she asked. 
 " Will you call for me in the morning and go to church with 
 me?" 
 
 " I don't think I shall stir out to-morrow," he said, " I feel 
 rather out of sorts ; and I fancy I may try what a day in bed 
 will do." 
 
 " How can you expect to be well if you sit up all night 
 playing cards?" she demanded, with reason on her side. 
 
312 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " However, there's to be no more of that now. So you won't 
 come in not for a quarter of an hour? " 
 
 She rang the bell. 
 
 " Oh, Lionel, by the way, do you think Jim should know ? " 
 she asked, with her eyes cast down in maiden modesty. 
 
 " Just as you like," he answered. 
 
 " Why, you don't seem to take any interest ! " she exclaimed, 
 with a pout. "I wonder what Percy Miles will say, when he 
 hears of it. Oh, my goodness, I'm afraid to think ? " 
 
 " What he will say won't matter very much," Lionel remarked, 
 indifferently. 
 
 "Poor boy, I'm sorry for him," she said, apparently with a 
 little compunction, perhaps even regret. 
 
 The door was opened by her brother. 
 
 " Sure you won't come in ? " she finally asked. " Well, I shall 
 be at home all to-morrow afternoon, if you happen to be up in 
 this direction. Good-night ! " 
 
 " Good-night," said he, taking her outstretched hand for a 
 second ; then he turned and walked away. There had not 
 been much love-making so far. 
 
 But, he did not go straight to his lodgings. He wandered 
 away aimlessly through the dark streets. He felt sick at 
 heart not especially because of this imbroglio into which he 
 had walked with open eyes ; for that did not seem to matter 
 much, one way or the other. But everything appeared to have 
 gone wrong with him, since Nina had left ; and the worst of it 
 was that he was gradually ceasing to care how they went, right 
 or wrong. At this moment, for example, he ought to have been 
 thinking of the situation he had created for himself, and resolv- 
 ing either to get out of it before more harm was done, or to 
 loyally fulfil his contract by cultivating what affection for Miss 
 Burgoyne was possible in the circumstances. But he was not 
 thinking of Miss Burgoyne at all. He was thinking of Nina. 
 He was thinking how hard it was that whenever his fancy went 
 in search of her away to Malta, to Australia, to the United 
 States, as it might be he could not hope to find a Nina whom 
 he could recognise. For she would be quite changed now. His 
 imagination could not picture to himself a Nina grown grave 
 and sad-eyed, perhaps furtively hiding her sorrow, fearing to 
 encounter her friends. The Nina whom he had always known 
 was a light-hearted and laughing companion, eagerly talkative, 
 a smile on her parted lips, affection, kindliness ever present in 
 her shining soft dark eyes. Sometimes silent, too ; sometimes, 
 
In Direr Straits. 313 
 
 again, singing a fragment of one of the old familiar folk-songs 
 of her youth. What was that one with the refrain lo te voglio 
 bene assaje, e tu non pienz 1 a me ! 
 
 La notta iutte dormeno, 
 E io die bub dormire! 
 Pensanno a Nenna mia 
 Nme sen? ascevoll. 
 Li quarte d'ora sonano 
 A wno, a doje e ire . . . 
 Jo te voglio bene assaje, 
 E tu non pienz, a me I 
 
 . . . Look, now, at this beautiful morning the wide bay all 
 of silver and azure Vesuvius sending its column of dusky 
 smoke into the cloudless sky the little steamer churning up 
 the clear water as it starts away from the quay. Ah, we have 
 escaped from you, good Maestro Pandiani; there shall be no 
 grumblings and incessant repetitions to-day ; no, nor odours of 
 onions coming up the narrow and dirty stairs : here is the open 
 world, all shining, and the sweet air blowing by, and Battista 
 trying to sell his useless canes, and the minstrels playing 'Santa 
 Lucia ' most sentimentally, as though they had never played it 
 before. Whither, then, Nina ? To Castellamare or Sorrento, 
 with their pink and yellow houses, their terraces and gardens, 
 their vine-smothered bowers, or rather to the filmy island out 
 yonder, that seems to move and tremble in the heat ? A couple 
 of words in their own tongue suffice to silence the importunate 
 coral girls; we climb the never-ending steps; behold, a cool 
 and gracious balcony, with windows looking far out over the 
 quivering plain of the sea. Then the soup, and the boiled corn, 
 and the caccia-cavallo you Neapolitan girl ! and nothing will 
 serve you but that orris- seen ted stuff that you fondly believe to 
 be honest wine. You will permit a cigarette ? Then shall we 
 descend to the beach again, and get into a boat, and lie down, 
 and find ourselves shot into the Blue Grotto find ourselves 
 floating between heaven and earth in a hollow-sounding globe 
 of azure .flame? . . . Dreams dreams! Io te voglio bene, e tu 
 non pienz* a me! 
 
 During the first period of Miss Burgoyne's engagement to 
 Lionel Moore, all went well. Jane, her dresser, had quite a 
 wonderful time of it ; her assiduous and arduous ministrations 
 were received with the greatest good nature; now she was 
 never told, if she hurt her mistress in lacing up a dress, that 
 she deserved to have her face slapped. Miss Burgoyne was 
 
314 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 amiability itself towards the whole company, so far as she had 
 any relations with them; and at her little receptions in the 
 evening, she was all brightness and merriment, even when she 
 had to join in the conversation from behind the heavy portiere. 
 Whether this small coterie in the theatre guessed at the true 
 state of affairs, it is hard to say ; but at least Miss Burgoyne 
 did not trouble herself much about concealment. She called 
 her affianced lover "Lionel," no matter who chanced to be 
 present ; and she would ask him to help her to hand the tea, 
 just as if he already belonged to her. Moreover, she told him 
 that Mr. Percival Miles had some suspicion of what had 
 happened. 
 
 " Not that I would admit anything definite," said the young 
 lady. "There will be time enough for that. And I did not 
 want a scene. But I'm sorry. It does seem a pity that so 
 much devotion should meet with no requital." 
 
 " Devotion ! " said Lionel. 
 
 " Oh, of course you don't know what devotion means. Your 
 fashionable friends have taught you what good form is ; you are 
 blase, indifferent ; it's not women, it's cards, that interest you. 
 You have no fresh feeling left," continued this ingenue of the 
 green-room. " You have been so spoiled " 
 
 "I see he's up at the Garden Club," said Lionel, to change 
 the subject. 
 
 "Who?" 
 
 " The young gentleman you were just speaking of." 
 
 " Percy Miles ? What does he want with an all-night club ? " 
 
 " I'm sure I don't know." 
 
 " Ah, well, I suppose he is not likely to get in," she "said, 
 turning to the tall mirror. " Percy is very nice just the very 
 nicest boy I know but I'm afraid he is not particularly clever. 
 He has written some verses in one or two magazines of course 
 you can't expect me to criticise them severely, considering who 
 was the ' only begetter ' of them 
 
 " Oh, that has nothing to do with it," Lionel interrupted 
 again. " He is sure to get in. There's no qualification at the 
 Garden, so long as you're all right socially. There are plenty 
 such as he in the club already." 
 
 " But why does he want to get in ? " she said, wheeling round. 
 " Why should he want to sit up all night playing cards ? Now 
 tell me honestly, Lionel, it isn't your doing ! You didn't ask 
 him to join, did you? You can't be treasuring up any feeling 
 of vengeance " 
 
In Direr Straits. 315 
 
 " Oh, nonsense ; I had nothing to do with it. I saw his name 
 in the candidates' book quite by accident. And the election is 
 by committee he'll get in all right. What does he want with 
 it? oh, I don't know. Perhaps he has been disappointed in 
 love, and seeks for a little consolation in card-playing." 
 
 "Yes, you always sneer at love because you don't know 
 anything about it," she said snappishly. " Or perhaps you are 
 an extinct volcano. I suppose you have sighed your heart out 
 like a furnace and for a foreigner, I'll be bound ? " 
 
 Nay, it was hardly to be wondered at that Miss Burgoyno 
 should be indignant with so lukewarm and reluctant a lover, 
 who received her coy advances with coldness, and was only 
 decently civil to her when they talked of wholly indifferent 
 matters. The mischief of it was that in casting about for some 
 key to the odd situation she took it into her head to become 
 jealous of Nina ; and many were the bitter things she managed 
 to say about foreigners generally, and about Italians in particular, 
 and Italian singers, and so forth. Of course Miss Ross was 
 never openly mentioned ; but Lionel understood well enough at 
 whom these covert innuendos were hurled ; and sometimes his 
 eyes burned with a fire far other than that which should be in 
 a lover's eyes when contemplating his mistress. Indeed it was 
 a dangerous amusement for Miss Burgoyne to indulge in. It 
 was easy to wound ; it might be less easy to efface the memory 
 of these wounds. And then there was a kind of devilish 
 ingenuity about her occult taunts. For example, she dared not 
 say that doubtless M.iss Isina Ross had gone away back to 
 Naples, and had taken up with a sweetheart, with whom she 
 was now walking about ; but she -described the sort of young 
 man calculated to capture the fancy of an Italian girl. 
 
 " The seedy swell of Naples or Rome he is irresistible to the 
 Italian girl," she said on one occasion. " You know him : his 
 shirt open at the neck down almost to his chest his trousers 
 tight at the knee and enormously wide at the foot a poncho- 
 looking kind of cloak, with a greasy Astrachan collar a tall 
 French hat, rather shabby a face the colour of paste an 
 odour of cigarettes and garlic dirty hands and a cane. I 
 suppose the theatre is too expensive, so he goes to the public 
 gardens, and strolls up and down, and takes off his hat with 
 a sweep to people he pretends to recognise ; or perhaps he 
 sits in front of a cafe, with a glass of cheap brandy before 
 him, an evening journal in his hands, and a tooth-pick in his 
 mouth." 
 
316 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " You seem to have made his very particular acquaintance," 
 said he, with a touch of scorn. " Did he give you his arm when 
 you were walking together in the public gardens ? " 
 
 "Give me his arm?" she exclaimed. "I would not allow 
 such a creature to come within twenty yards of me ? I prefer 
 people who use soap." 
 
 " What a pity it is they can't invent soap for purifying the 
 mind ! " he said, venomously ; and he went out, and spoke no 
 more to her during the rest of that evening. 
 
 Matters went from bad to worse ; for Miss Burgoyne, finding 
 nothing else that could account for his habitual depression of 
 spirits, his occasional irritability, and obvious indifference 
 towards herself, made bold to assume that he was secretly, even 
 if unconsciously, fretting over Nina's absence ; and her jealousy 
 grew more and more angry and vindictive until it carried her 
 beyond all bounds. For now she began to say disparaging or 
 malicious things about Miss Boss, and that without subterfuge. 
 At last there came a climax. 
 
 She had sent for him (for he did not invariably go into her 
 room before the beginning of the last act, as once he had done), 
 and as she was still in the inner apartment, he took a chair, and 
 stretched out his legs, and flicked a spot or two of dust from his 
 silver-buckled shoes. 
 
 " What hour did you get home this morning ? " she called to 
 him, in rather a saucy tone. 
 
 " I don't know exactly." 
 
 "And don't care. You are leading a pretty life," she went 
 on, rather indiscreetly, for Jane was with her. " Distraction ! 
 Distraction from what ! You sit up all night ! you eat supper 
 at all hours of the morning; you get dyspepsia and indigestion; 
 and of course you become low-spirited then there must be 
 distraction. If you would lead a wholesome life, you wouldn't 
 need any distraction." 
 
 " Oh, don't worry," he said, impatiently. 
 
 " What's come over that Italian friend of yours that Miss 
 Ross?" 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 " You've never heard anything of her ? " 
 
 " No nothing." 
 
 " Don't you call that rather cool on her part? You introduce 
 her to this theatre, you get her an engagement, you befriend her 
 in every way, and all of a sudden she bolts, without a thank 
 you ! " 
 
In Direr Straits. 317 
 
 " I presume Miss Ross is the best judge of her own actions," 
 said he, stiffly. 
 
 " Oh, you needn't be so touchy ! " said Grace Maimcaring, as 
 she caine forth in all the splendour of her bridal array, and at 
 once proceeded to the mirror. "But I can quite understand 
 your not liking having been treated in that fashion. People 
 often are deceived in their friends, aren't they? And there's 
 nothing so horrid as ingratitude. Certainly she ought to have 
 been grateful to you, considering the fuss you made about her 
 the whole company remarked it ! " 
 
 He did not answer ; he did not even look her way ; but there 
 was an angry cloud gathering on his brows. 
 
 " No ; very ungrateful I call it," she continued, in the same 
 dangerously supercilious tone. "You take up some creature 
 you know nothing about, and befriend her, and even make a 
 spectacle of yourself through the way you run after her, and 
 all at once she says, 'Good-bye; I've had enough of you' and 
 that's all the explanation you get ! " 
 
 " Oh, leave Miss Ross alone, will you ? " he said, in accents 
 that might have warned her. 
 
 Perhaps she was unheeding ; perhaps she was stung into 
 retort ; at all events she turned and faced him. 
 
 " Leave her alone ? " she said, with a flash of defiance in her 
 look. " It is you who ought to leave her alone ! She has 
 cheated I you why should you show temper ? Why should you 
 sulk with every one, simply because an Italian organ-grinder 
 has shown you what she thinks of you? Oh, I suppose the 
 heavens must fall, because you've lost your pretty plaything 
 that made a laughing-stock of you! You don't even know 
 where she is ? I can tell you ! she's wandering along in front 
 of the pavement at Brighton, in a green petticoat and a yellow 
 handkerchief on her head, and singing to a concertina ! That's 
 about it, I should think ; and very likely the seedy swell is 
 waiting for her in their lodgings waiting for her to bring the 
 money home ! " 
 
 Lionel rose ; he said not a word ; but the pallor of his face 
 .and the fire in his eyes were terrible to see. Plainly enough 
 she saw them ; but she was only half-terrified ; she seemed 
 aroused to a sort of whirlwind of passion. 
 
 " Oh, say it ! " she cried. Why don't you say it ! Do you 
 think I don't see it in your eyes ; ' I hate you ! ' that's what 
 you want to say ; and you haven't the courage you're a man 
 and you haven't the courage ! " 
 
318 TJie New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 That look did not depart from his face; but he stood in 
 silence for a second, as if considering whether he should speak. 
 His self-control infuriated her all the more. 
 
 " Do you think I care ! " she exclaimed, with panting breath. 
 " Do you think I care whether you hate me or not whether 
 you go sighing all day after your painted Italian doll ! And 
 do you imagine I want to wear this thing that it is for this I 
 will put up with every kind of insult and neglect ? Not I ! " 
 
 She pulled the bit of india-rubber from her finger, she dragged 
 off the engagement-ring and dashed it on the floor in front of 
 his feet while her eyes sparkled with rage, and the cherry- 
 paste hardly concealed the whiteness of her lips. 
 
 " Take it and give it to the organ-grinder ! " she called, in 
 the madness of her rage. 
 
 He did not even look whither the ring had rolled. Without 
 a single word he quite calmly turned and opened the door and 
 passed outside. Nay, he was so considerate as to leave the door 
 open for her ; for he knew she would be wanted on the stage 
 directly. He himself went up into the wings in his gay 
 costume of satin and silk, and powdered wig, and ruffles. 
 
 Had the audience only known, during the last act of this 
 comedy, what fierce passions were agitating the breasts of the 
 two chief performers in this pretty play, they might have 
 looked on with added interest. How could they tell that the 
 gallant and dashing Harry TJiornhill was in his secret heart 
 filled with anger and scorn whenever he came near his charming 
 sweetheart; how could they divine that the coquettish Grace 
 Mainwaring was not thinking of her wiles and graces at all, but 
 was on the road to a most piteous repentance ? The one was 
 saying to himself, * Very well, let the vixen go to the devil : a 
 happy riddance ! ' and the other was saying ' Oh, dear me, what 
 have I done ! why did he put me in such a passion ! ' But the 
 public in the stalls were all unknowing. They looked on and 
 laughed, or looked on and sate solemn and stolid, as happened 
 to be their nature ; and then they slightly clapped their pale- 
 gloved hands; and rose and donned their cloaks and coats. 
 They had forgotten what the piece was about by the time they 
 reached their broughams. 
 
 Later on, at the stage-door, whither a four-wheeler had been 
 brought for her, Miss Burgoyne lingered. Presently Lionel 
 came along. He would have passed her, but she intercepted 
 him ; and in the dusk outside she thrust forth her hand. 
 
 " Will you forgive me, Lionel ? I ask your pardon," she said 
 
In Direr Straits. 319 
 
 in an undertone that was suggestive of tears. " I don't know 
 what made me say such things I didn't mean them I'm very 
 sorry. See," she continued, and in the dull lamplight she 
 showed him her ungloved hand, with the engagement-ring in 
 its former place, " I have put on the ring again. Of course you 
 are hurt and offended ; but you are more forgiving than a 
 woman a man should be. I will never say a word against her 
 again; I should have remembered how you were companions 
 before she came to England ; and I can understand your affec- 
 tion for her, and your your regret about her going away. 
 Now \vill you be generous ? will you forgive me ? " 
 
 "Oh, yes, that's all right," he said as he was bound to say. 
 
 " But that's not enough. Will you come now and have some 
 supper with Jim and me, and we'll talk about everything 
 except that one thing ? " 
 
 "No, thanks, I can't; I have an engagement," he made 
 answer. 
 
 She hesitated for a moment. Then she offered him her hand 
 again. 
 
 " Well, at all events, bygones are to be bygones," she said. 
 " And to-morrow I'm going to begin to knit a woollen vest for 
 you, that you can slip on before you come out. Good night, 
 dearest ! " 
 
 " Good night," he said ; and he opened the door of the cab for 
 her ; and told the cabman her address ; then rather slowly and 
 absently he set out for the Garden Club. 
 
 The first person he beheld at the Garden Club was Octavius 
 Quirk of course at the supper-table. 
 
 " Going to Lady Adela's on the 3rd ? " said the bilious-looking 
 Quirk, in a gay manner. 
 
 " I should want to be asked first," was Lionel's simple re- 
 joinder. 
 
 " Ah," said the other, complacently. " I heard you had not 
 been much there lately. A charming house most interesting 
 quite delightful to see people of their station so eagerly 
 devoted to the arts. Music, painting, literature all the ele- 
 gancies of life and all touched with a light and graceful hand. 
 You should read some of Lady Adela's descriptions in her new 
 book not seen it? no? ab, well, it will be out before long for 
 the general world to read. As I was saying, her descriptions of 
 places abroad are simply charrnin' charmin'. There's where 
 the practised traveller comes in ; no heavy and laborious work ; 
 the striking peculiarities hit off with the most delicate appre- 
 
320 The New Prince Foriunatus. 
 
 elation ; the fine fleur of difference noted everywhere. Your 
 bourgeois goes and rams his bull's head against everything he 
 meets ; he's in wonderment and ecstasy almost before he lands ; 
 he stares with astonishment at a fisherwoman on Calais pier ; 
 and weeps maudlin tears over the masonry of the Sainte Cha- 
 pelle. Then Lady Adela's style marvellous, marvellous. I 
 give you my word as an expert ! Full of distinction ; choice ; 
 fastidious ; penetrated everywhere by a certain je ne sais quoi of 
 dexterity and aptitude ; each word charged with colour, as a 
 critic might say. You have not seen any of the sheets ? " con- 
 tinued Mr. Quirk, with his mouth full of steak and olives. 
 " Dear me ! You haven't quarrelled with Lady Adela, have 
 you ? I did hear there was some little disappointment that you 
 did not get Lady Sybil's ' Soldiers' Marching Song' introduced 
 at the New Theatre ; but I dare say the composer wouldn't 
 have his operetta interfered with. Even you are not all-power- 
 ful. However, Lady Adela is unreasonable if she has taken 
 offence : I will see that it is put right." 
 
 " I wouldn't trouble you thanks ! " said Lionel, rather coldly ; 
 and then, having eaten a biscuit and drank a glass of claret and 
 water, he went upstairs to the card-room. 
 
 There were two tables occupied one party playing whist, the 
 other poker ; to the latter Lionel idly made his way. 
 
 "Coming in, Moore?" 
 
 " Oh, yes, I'll come in. What are you playing ? " 
 
 " Usual thing : sixpenny ante and ten-shilling limit." 
 
 " Let's have it a shilling ante and a sovereign limit," he 
 proposed, as they made room for him at the table, and to this 
 they agreed, and the game began. 
 
 At first Lionel could get no hands at all ; but he never went 
 out ; sometimes he drew four cards to an ace or a queen, some- 
 times he took v the whole five ; while his losses, if steady, were 
 not material. Occasionally he bluffed, and got a small pot ; but 
 it was risky, as he was distinctly in a run of bad luck. At last 
 he was dealt nine, ten, knave, queen, ace, in different suits. 
 This looked better. 
 
 " How many ? " asked the dealer. 
 
 " I will take one card, if you please," he said, throwing away 
 the ace. 
 
 He glanced at the card, as he put it into his hand : it was a 
 king; he had a straight. Then he watched what the others 
 were taking. The player on his left also asked for one a 
 doubtful intimation. His next neighbour asked for two pro- 
 
Iii Direr Straits. 321 
 
 bably ho had throe of a kind. The dealer throw up his cards. 
 The Ago had already taken three no doubt ho had started 
 with the common or garden pair. 
 
 It was Lionel's turn to bet. 
 
 tl Well," said ho, " I will just go five shillings on this little 
 lot." 
 
 " I will see your five shillings, and go a sovereign better," 
 said his neighbour. 
 
 " That's twenty-five shillings for me to come in," said he 
 who had taken two cards. " Well, I'll raise you another 
 sovereign." 
 
 The Age went out. 
 
 " Two sovereigns against me," said Lionel. " Very well, 
 then, I'll just raise you another." 
 
 " And another." 
 
 This frightened the third player, who incontinently retired. 
 There were now left in only Lionel and his antagonist ; and 
 each had drawn but one card. Now the guessing came in. Had 
 the player been drawing to two pairs, or to fill a flush or a 
 straight; had he got a full hand ; or was he left with his two 
 pairs ; or, again, had he failed to fill, and was he betting on a 
 perfectly worthless lot? At all events the two combatants 
 kept hammering away at each other, until there was a goodly 
 pile of gold on the table, and the interest of the silent onlookers 
 was proportionately increased. Were both bluffing, and each 
 afraid to call the other? Or was it that cruel and horrible 
 combination a full hand betting against four of a kind ? 
 
 " I call you," said Lionel's enemy, at length, as he put in the 
 last sovereign he had on the table. 
 
 " A straight," was Lionel's answer, as he showed his cards. 
 
 "Not good enough, my boy," said the other, as he calmly 
 ranged a flush of diamonds before him. 
 
 " Take away the money, Johnny," said Lionel, as if it were a 
 matter of no moment. " Or, wait a second : I'll go you double 
 or quits." 
 
 But here there was an almost general protest. 
 
 " Oh, what's the iise of that, Moore ! It was the Duke who 
 brought that nonsense in ; and it ought to be stopped ; it spoils 
 the game. Stick to the legitimate thing. When you once 
 begin that stupidity, there's no stopping it." 
 
 However, the player whom Lionel had challenged had no 
 mind to deny him. 
 
 " For the whole pot, or for what you put in ? " he asked. 
 
 T 
 
322 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " Either whichever you like," Lionel said, carelessly. 
 
 " We'll say the whole pot, then ; either I give you what's on 
 the table, or you double it," the lucky young gentleman made 
 answer, as he proceeded to count the sovereigns and chips 
 there was 281 in all. " Will you call to me ? Very well. What 
 do you say this is ? " 
 
 Lionel spun a sovereign. 
 
 '* I say it's a head." 
 
 " You've made a mistake, then very sorry," said the other, 
 as he raked in his own money. 
 
 " I owe you 28Z., Johnny," Lionel said, without more ado ; 
 and he took out his note-book and jotted it down. Then they 
 went on again. 
 
 Now the game of poker is played in calm : happy is he who 
 can preserve a perfectly expressionless face through all its 
 vicissitudes. But the game of whiskey-poker (which is no 
 game) is played amid vacuous excitement and strong language 
 and derisive laughter especially towards four in the morning. 
 The whole of this little party seemed ready to go ; in fact, they 
 had all risen, and were standing round the table ; but neverthe- 
 less they remained, while successive hands were dealt, face up- 
 wards. At first only a sovereign each was staked ; then two ; 
 then three ; then four ; then five and there a line was drawn. 
 But in staking five sovereigns every time, with four to one 
 against you, a considerable amount of money can be lost ; and 
 Lionel had been in ill luck all the sitting. He did not, how- 
 ever, seem to mind his losses, so long as the fierce spirit of 
 gambling could be kept up ; and it was with no desperate effort 
 at recovering his money that he was always for increasing the 
 stakes. He would have sat down at the table and gone on in- 
 definitely with this frantic plunging but that his companions 
 declared they must go directly : at last three of them solemnly 
 swore they would have only one round more. There were then 
 left in only Lionel and the young fellow who had won his 281 
 early in the evening. 
 
 "Johnny, I'll go you once for twenty pounds," Lionel 
 said. 
 
 " Done with you." 
 
 "I say, you fellows," protested one of the bystanders, "you'll 
 smash up this club you'll have the police shutting it up as a 
 gambling hell. Besides, you're breaking the rules : you'll have 
 the Committee expelling you." 
 
 " What rules?" Lionel's opponent asked, wheeling round, 
 
In Direr Straits. 323 
 
 " The amount of the stakes, for ono thing ; and playing after 
 three o'clock, for another," was the answer. 
 
 " I'll bet you ten pounds there's no limit as to time in the 
 rules of this club I mean as regards card-playing," the young 
 man said, boldly. 
 
 "I take you." 
 
 The bell was rung; a waiter was sent to fetch a List of 
 Members ; and then he who had accepted the bet road out those 
 solemn words 
 
 " Kule XIX. No higher stakes than guinea points shall 
 over be played for, nor shall any Card or Billiard playing bo 
 permitted in the Club after 3 A.M." 
 
 " There's your confounded money : what a fool of a club to 
 let you stay here all night if you like, and to stop card playing 
 at three ! " He turned to Lionel. " Well, Moore, what did you 
 say, 20Z. ? I'll just make it thirty, if you like, and see if I can't 
 get back that 10Z." 
 
 " Right with you, Johnny." 
 
 The young man dealt the two hands : ho found he had a pair 
 of fours, Lionel nothing but a king. The winner took over the 
 loser's I.O.U. for the 30Z. ; and then said 
 
 " Well, now, I'll go you double or quits." 
 
 "Oh, certainly," said Lionel, "if you like. But I don't 
 think you should. You are the winner : stick to what you'vo 
 got." 
 
 " Oh, I'll give you a chance to get it all back," the young 
 man said; and this time Lionel dealt the cards. And again 
 the latter lost having to substitute an I.O.U. for 60/. for its 
 predecessor. 
 
 " Well, now, I'll give you one more chance," the winner said, 
 with a laugh. 
 
 " I'm hanged if you shall, Johnny ! " said one of the by- 
 standers ; and he had the courage to intervene and snatch up 
 the cards. "Come away to your beds, boys, and stop that 
 nonsense! You've lost enough, Moore; and this fellow would 
 go on till Doomsday." 
 
 But that insatiate young man was not to be beaten, after all. 
 When they were separating in the street below, he drew Lionel 
 aside. 
 
 " Look here, old man, why should we be deprived of our final 
 little flutter? I want to give you a chance of getting back the 
 whole thing." 
 
 "Not at all, my good fellow," Lionel said, with a smile. 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " Why don't you keep the money and rest content ? Do you 
 think I grudge it to you ? " 
 
 " Come ! an absolutely last double or quits ! " said the other, 
 and he pulled out a coin from his pocket and put it between his 
 two palms. " Heads or tails and then go home happy ! " 
 
 " Well, since you challenge me, I'll go this once more, and 
 this once more only. I call a tail." 
 
 The upper hand was removed: in the dull lamplight the 
 dusky gold coin was examined. 
 
 " It's a head," said Lionel, '* so that's all right, and it's you 
 who are to go home happy. I'll settle up with you to-morrow 
 evening. Do you want this hansom? I don't: I think I'd 
 rather walk. Good night, Johnny ! " 
 
 It was a long price to pay for a few hours of distraction and 
 forgetfulness ; still, he had had these ; and the loss of the money, 
 per se, did not affect him much. He walked away home. When 
 he reached his rooms, there were some letters for him lying on 
 the table ; he took them and looked at them ; he noticed one 
 handwriting that used to be rather more familiar. This letter 
 he opened first. 
 
 " Aivron Lodge, Campden Hill, Feb. 23. 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. MOORE, 
 
 " It is really quite shocking the way you have neglected 
 us of late, and I, at least, cannot imagine any reason. Perhaps 
 we have both been in fault. My sisters and I have all been very 
 busy in our several ways ; and then it is awkward you should 
 have only the one Sunday evening free But there, let bygones 
 be bygones, and come and dine with us on Sunday, March 3, at 8. 
 Forgive the short notice; I've had some little trouble in trying 
 to secure one or two people whom I don't know very well, and I 
 couldn't fix earlier. The fact is I want it to be an intellectual 
 little dinner; and who could represent music and the drama so 
 fitly as yourself? I want only people with brains at it perhaps 
 you wouldn't include Kockminster in that category, but I must 
 have him to help me, as my husband is away in Scotland looking 
 after his beasts. Now, do be good-natured, dear Mr. Moore, and 
 say you will come. 
 
 " And I am going to try your goodness another way. You 
 remember speaking to me about a friend of yours who was 
 connected with newspapers, and who knew some of the London 
 correspondents of the provincial journals? Could you oblige 
 me with his address, and the correct spelling of his name ? I 
 presume ho would not consider it out of the way if I wrote to 
 
In a Den of Lions, and thereafter. 325 
 
 him as being a friend of yours, and enclosed a card of invitation. 
 I want to have all the talents that is, all of them I can get to 
 come and hononr the house of a mere novice and beginner, I 
 did not catch either your friend's surname or his Christian 
 name. " Ever yours sincerely, 
 
 ' ADELA CUNYNGHAM." 
 
 He tossed the letter on to the table. 
 
 " I wonder," he said to himself, " how much of that is meant 
 for mo, and how much for Maurice Mangan and newspaper 
 paragraphs." 
 
 But it was high time to get to bed ; and that he did without 
 any serious fretting over his losses at the Garden Club. These 
 had amounted, on the whole gamble, to nearly 1701. ; which 
 might have made him pause. For did he not owe responsibi- 
 lities elsewhere ? If he went on at this rate (he ought to have 
 been asking himself), whence was likely to come the money for 
 the plenishing of a certain small household an elegant little 
 establishment towards which Miss Kate Burgoyne was no doubt 
 now looking forward, with pleased and expectant eyes. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 IN A DEN OF LIONS, AND THEREAFTER. 
 
 WHEN Maurice Mangan, according to appointment, called at 
 Lionel's rooms on the evening of Lady AdelaCunyngham's dinner- 
 party, he was surprised to find his friend seated in front of the 
 fire, wrapped up in a dressing-gown. 
 
 " Linn, what's the matter with you ! " he exclaimed, looking 
 at him. " Are you ill ? What have you been doing to your- 
 self?" 
 
 " Oh, nothing," was the answer. " I have been rather worried 
 and out of sorts lately, that is all. And I can't go to that 
 dinner to-night, Maurice. Will you make my excuses for me, 
 like a good fellow ? Tell Lady Adela I'm awfully sorry " 
 
 " I'm sure I shan 't do anything of the sort," Mangan said, 
 promptly. "Do you think I'm going to leave you here all by 
 yourself? You know why I accepted the invitation mere 
 curiosity : I wanted to see you among those people I wanted 
 
326 The New. Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 to describe to Miss Francie how you looked when you were 
 being adored " 
 
 " My dear chap, you would have seen nothing of the sort," 
 Lionel said. " To-night there is to be a shining galaxy of 
 genius, and each particular star will be eager to absorb all the 
 adoration that is going. Authors, actors, painters, musicians 
 that kind of people : kid-gloved Bohemia." 
 
 " Come, Linn ; rouse yourself, man," his friend protested. 
 " You'll do no good moping here by the fire. There's still 
 time for you to dress ; I came early in case you might want to 
 walk up to Campden Hill. And you shouldn't disappoint your 
 friends, if this is to be so great an occasion." 
 
 "I suppose you're right," Lionel said, and he rose wearily, 
 " though I would twenty times rather go to bed. You 
 can find a book for yourself, Maurice : I shan't keep you many 
 minutes " and with that he disappeared into his dressing- 
 room. 
 
 A four-wheeler carried them up to Campden Hill : a welcome 
 glow of light shone forth on the carriage-drive and the dark 
 bushes. As they entered and crossed the wide hall, they were 
 preceded by a young lady whose name was at the same moment 
 announced at the door of the drawing-room " Miss Gabrielle 
 Grey." 
 
 " Oh, really," said Mangan to his companion, as they were 
 leaving their coats and hats. "I always thought * Gabrielle 
 Grey ' was the pseudonym of an elderly clergyman's widow, or 
 somebody of that kind." 
 
 " But who is Miss Gabrielle Grey ? " 
 
 " You mean to say you have never even heard of her ? Oh, 
 she writes novels very popular, too and very deservedly so, 
 for that kind of thing excellent in tone, highly moral, and 
 stuffed full of High Church sentiment ; and I can tell you this, 
 Linn, my boy, that for a lady novelist to have plenty of High 
 Church sentiment at her command is about equivalent to 
 holding four of a kind at poker and that's an illustration 
 you'll understand. Now come and introduce me to my hostess, 
 and tell me who all the people are." 
 
 Lady Adela received both Lionel and his friend in the most 
 kindly manner. 
 
 " What a charming photograph that is of you in evening 
 dress," she said to Lionel. " Really, I've had to lock away my 
 copy of it ; girls are such thieves nowadays ; they think 
 nothing of picking up whatever pleases them and popping it 
 
In a Den of Lions, and thereafter. 327 
 
 in their pocket." And therewith Lady Adela turned to Mr. 
 Quirk, with whom she had been talking ; and the new-comers 
 passed on, and found themselves in a corner, from whence they 
 could survey the room. 
 
 The first glance revealed to Lionel that if all the talents were 
 there, the " quality " was conspicuously absent. 
 
 " I know hardly anybody hero," he Said in an undertone to 
 Mangau. 
 
 " Oh, I know some of them," was the answer, also in under- 
 tone. " Kather small lions I think she might have done 
 better, with proper guidance. But perhaps this is only a 
 beginning. Isn't your friend Quirk a picture ! Who is the 
 remarkably handsome girl just beyond ? " 
 " That is Lady Adela's sister, Lady Sibyl." 
 " The composer ? I see : that's why she's talking to that 
 portentous old ass, Schweinkopf, the musical critic. Then 
 there's Miss Gabrielle Grey poor thing, she's not very pretty 
 * I was not good enough for man, and so am given to ' 
 publishers. By Jove, there's Ichabod standing by the door : 
 don't you know him ? Egerton but they call him Ichabod at 
 the Garrick. Now what could our hostess expect to get out of 
 Ichabod ? He has nothing left to him but biting his nails like 
 the senile Pope or Pagan in the Pilgrim's Progress." 
 " What does he do ? " 
 
 " He's a reviewer, et pr deter ea niliil. Some twenty years ago 
 he wrote two or three novels, but people wouldn't look at them, 
 and so he became morose about the public taste and modern 
 literature. In fact, there has been no English literature for 
 twenty years: this is his wail and moan whenever an editor 
 allows him to lift up his voice. It was feeble on the part of 
 your friend to ask Ichabod : she won't get anything out of him. 
 I can see a reason for most of the others those whom I know ; 
 but Ichabod is hopeless." 
 
 Mangan suddenly ceased these careless comments : his atten- 
 tion was arrested by the entrance of a tall young lady who 
 came in very quietly without being announced even. 
 " I say, who's that ! " he exclaimed, under his breath. 
 And Lionel had been startled too; for he had convinced 
 himself ere he came that Honnor Cunyngham was certain to be 
 in Scotland. But there she was, as distinguished -looking, as 
 self-possessed as ever ; her glance direct and simple and calm, 
 though she seemed to hesitate for a moment as if seeking for 
 some one whom she might know in the crowd. From the fact 
 
328 The New Prince Fortunate. 
 
 of her not having been announced, Lionel guessed that she was 
 staying in the house; perhaps, indeed, she had been in the 
 drawing-room before. He hardly knew what to do. He forgot 
 to answer his friend's question, If dinner were to be happily 
 announced now, would it not save her from some embarrassment 
 if he and she could go their separate ways without meeting ; 
 and thereafter he could leave without returning to the drawing- 
 room ? Yet, if she was staying in the house, she must have 
 known that he was coming ? 
 
 All this swift consideration was the work of a single second ; 
 the next second Miss Honnor's eyes had fallen upon the young 
 man ; aud immediately and in the most natural way in the 
 world she came across the room to him. It is true that there 
 was a slight touch of colour visible on the gracious forehead 
 when she offered him her hand ; but there was no other sign of 
 self-consciousness ; and she said quite quietly and simply 
 
 "It is some time since we have met, Mr. Moore; but of 
 course I notice your name in the papers frequently." 
 
 "I hardly expected to see you here to-night," he said, in 
 reply. " I thought you would be off to Scotland for the salmon- 
 fishing." 
 
 " I go to-morrow night," she made answer. 
 
 At the same moment Lord Rockminster came up, holding a 
 bit of folded paper furtively in his hand : the faithful brother 
 looked perplexed, for he had to remember the names of these 
 various strangers ; but here at least were two whom he did 
 know. 
 
 " Mr. Moore, will you take Miss Cunyngham in to dinner ? " 
 he murmured as he went by ; so that Lionel found that there 
 would have been no escape for him in any case. But now that 
 the first little awkwardness of their meeting was over, there 
 was nothing elee. Miss Cunyngham spoke to him quite 
 pleasantly and naturally though she did not meet his eyes 
 much. Meantime dinner was announced, and Lord Bock- 
 minster led the way with a trim little elderly lady whom Lionel 
 afterwards discovered to be (for she told him as much) the 
 London correspondent to a famous Parisian journal devoted to 
 fashions and the beau monde. 
 
 And here he was seated side by side with Honnor Cunyngham, 
 talking to her, listening to her, and with no sort of perturba- 
 tion whatever. He began to ask himself whether he had ever 
 been in love with her whether he had not rather been in love 
 with her way of life and its surroundings. He was thinking 
 
In a Den of Lions, and thereafter. 329 
 
 not so much of her as of her departure on the morrow, and the 
 scenes that lay beyond. Why had he not 10,000 a year 
 5,000 nay, 1,000 a year and freedom? Why could he not 
 warm his soul with the knowledge that the salmon-rods were 
 all packed and waiting in the hall ; that new casting-lines had 
 been put in the fly-book ; that only the short drive up to Euston 
 and a single black night lay between him and all the wide 
 wonder of the world that would open out thereafter ? Forth 
 from the darkness into a whiter light a larger day a sweeter 
 air ; for now we are among the russet beech-hedges, the deep 
 green pines, the purple hills touched here and there with snow ; 
 and the far-stretching landscape is shining in the morning sun ; 
 and the peewits are wheeling hither and thither in the blue. 
 Then we are thundering through rocky chasms, and watching 
 the roaring brown torrent beneath ; or panting or struggling 
 away up the lonely altitudes of Drumouchter ; and again merrily 
 racing and chasing down into the spacious valley of the Spey. 
 And what for the end? the long, still strath after leaving 
 Invershin the penetration into the more secret solitudes the 
 peaks of Coulmore and Suilven in the west and here the 
 Aivron making a murmuring music over its golden gravel ! 
 There is a smell of peat in the air ; there are children's voices 
 about the keepers' cottages ; and here ia the handsome old 
 Eobert, rejoiced that the year has opened again, and Miss Honnor 
 come back ! " Well, Robert, you must come in and have a dram, 
 and I will show you the tackle I've brought with me." " I am 
 not wishing for a dram, Miss Honnor, so much as I am glad to 
 see you back again, ay, and looking so well ! " . . . 
 
 " Mr. Moore," she said (and she startled him out of his 
 reverie), " do you ever give a little dinner-party at your 
 rooms ? " 
 
 "Well, seldom," he said. "You see, I have only the one 
 evening in the week; and I have generally some engagement or 
 other." 
 
 " I should like to send you a salmon, if it would be of any 
 use to you," she went on to say. 
 
 " Thank you very much ; I would rather see you hook and 
 land it than have the compliment of its being sent to me twenty 
 times over. I was thinking this very minute of the Aivron, 
 and your getting down to the ford the day after to-morrow, and 
 old Eobert being there to welcome you. I envy him and you. 
 Are you to be all by yourself at the Lodge ? " 
 
 " For the present, yes," Miss Honnor said. " My brother 
 
330 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 and Captain Waveney come at the beginning of April. Of 
 course it is rather hazardous going just now ; the river might 
 be frozen over for a fortnight at a time ; but that seldom 
 happens. And in ordinarily mild weather it is very beautiful 
 up there the most beautiful time of the year, I think ; the 
 birch- woods are all of the clearest lilac, and the brackens turned 
 to deep crimson ; then the bent grass on the higher hills what 
 they call deer's-hair is a mass of gold. And I don't in the 
 least mind being alone in the evening in fact, I enjoy it. It 
 is a splendid time for reading. There is not a sound. Caroline 
 comes in from time to time to pile on more peats and sweep the 
 hearth ; then she goes out again ; and you sit in an easy-chair 
 with your back to the lamp ; and if you've got an interesting 
 book, what more company do you want ? Then it's very early 
 to bed in Strathaivron ; and I've got a room that looks both 
 ways across the strath and down ; and sometimes there is 
 moonlight making the windows blue ; or if there isn't, you can 
 lie and look at the soft red light thrown out by the peat, until 
 the silence is too much for you, and you are asleep before you 
 have had time to think of it. Now tell me about yourself," 
 she suddenly said. " I hope the constant work and the long 
 and depressing winter have not told on you. It must have been 
 very unpleasant getting home so late at night during the fogs." 
 
 He would rather she had continued talking about the far 
 Aivron and the Geinig ; he did not care to come back to the 
 theatre and Kate Burgoyne. 
 
 " One gets used to everything, I suppose," he said. 
 
 " But still it must be gratifying to you to be in so successful 
 a piece to be aware of the delight you are giving evening 
 after evening to so many people," Miss Honnor reminded him. 
 " By the way, how is the pretty Italian girl the young lady 
 you said you had known in Naples ?" 
 
 " She has left the New Theatre," he answered, not lifting 
 his eyes. 
 
 " Oh, really. Then I'm sure that must have been unfortunate 
 for the operetta ; for she had such a beautiful voice she sang 
 so exquisitely and besides that there was so much refinement 
 and grace in everything she did. I remember mother was so 
 particularly struck with her; we have often spoken of her 
 since ; her manner on the stage was so charming so gentle 
 and graceful it had a curious fascination that was irresistible. 
 And I confess I was delighted with the little touch of foreign 
 accent : perhaps if she had not been BO very pretty one would 
 
In a Den of Lions, and thereafter. 331 
 
 have been less ready to be pleased with everything. And where 
 is she now, Mr. Moore ? " 
 
 " I'm sure I don't know," Lionel said, rather unwillingly : he 
 would rather not have been questioned. 
 
 " And is that how friendships in the theatre are kept up ? " 
 Miss Honnor asked reproachfully. " But it is all very well for us 
 idle folk to talk. I suppose you are all far too busy to give 
 much time to correspondence." 
 
 " No, we have not much time for letter writing," he said, 
 absently. 
 
 Indeed it was well for him that he had this companion who 
 could talk to him in her quiet, low tones ; for he was out of 
 spirits, and inclined to be silent ; and certainly he had no wish 
 to join in the frothy discussion which Octavius Quirk had 
 started at the upper end of the table. Mr. Mellord, the famous 
 Academician, had taken in Lady Adela to dinner ; but she had 
 placed Mr. Quirk on her left hand ; and from this position of 
 authority he was roaring away like any sucking-dove, and 
 challenging everybody to dispute his windy platitudes. Lord 
 Eockminster, down at the other end, mute and in safety, was 
 looking on at this motley little assemblage, and probably won- 
 dering what his three gifted sisters would do next. It was 
 hard that he had no Miss Georgie Lestrange to amuse him : 
 perhaps Miss Georgie had been considered ineligible for admis- 
 sion into this intellectual coterie. Poor man ! and to think he 
 might have been dining in solitary comfort at his club, at a 
 quiet little table, with two candles, and a Sunday paper propped 
 up by the water-bottle ! But he betrayed no impatience ; he 
 sate, and looked, and meditated. 
 
 However, when dinner was over, and the ladies had left the 
 room, he had to go and take his sister's place, so that he found 
 himself in the thick of the babble. Mr. Quirk was no longer 
 goring spider's- webs ; he was now attacking a solid and sub- 
 stantial subject nothing less than the condition of the British 
 army ; and a pretty poor opinion he seemed to have of it. As 
 it chanced, the only person who had seen service was Lord 
 Eockminster (at Knightsbridge), but he did not choose to open 
 his mouth ; so that Mr. Quirk had it all his way except 
 when Maurice Mangan thought it worth while to give him a 
 cuff or a kick, just by way of reminding him that he was 
 mortal. Ichabod, in silence, stuck to the port-wine. Quincey 
 Hooper, the American journalist, drew in a chair by the side of 
 Lord Eockminster, and humbly fawned. And meanwhile Quirk, 
 
332 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 head downward, so to speak, charged rank and file, and sent 
 them flying ; arose again and swept the heads off* officers ; and 
 was just about to annihilate the volunteers when Mangan inter- 
 rupted him. 
 
 " Oh, you expect too much," he said, in his slow and half- 
 contemptuous fashion. " The British soldier is not over well- 
 educated, I admit; but you needn't try him by an impossible 
 standard. I dare say you are thinking of ancient days when a 
 Roman general could address his troops in Latin and make quite 
 sure of being understood ; but you can't expect Tommy Atkins 
 to be so learned. And our Generals, as you say, may chiefly 
 distinguish themselves at reviews ; but the reviews they seem 
 to me to be too fond of are those published monthly. As for 
 the volunteers " 
 
 ** You will have a joke about them too, I suppose," Quirk 
 retorted. " An excellent subject for a joke the safety of the 
 country ! A capital subject for a merry jest : Nero fiddling 
 with Rome in flames " 
 
 " I beg your pardon ; Nero never did anything of the kind," 
 Mangan observed, with a perfectly diabolical inconsequence, 
 * for violins weren't invented in those days." 
 
 This was too much for Mr. Quirk; he would not resume 
 argument with such a trifler ; nor, indeed, was there any oppor- 
 tunity ; for Lord Rockminster now suggested they should go 
 into the drawing-room and Ichabod had to leave that decanter 
 of port. 
 
 Now, if Maurice Mangan had come to this house to see how 
 Lionel was feted and caressed by " the great " in order that ho 
 might carry the tale down to Winstead, to please the old folk 
 and Miss Francie he was doomed to disappointment. There 
 were very few of " the great " present, to begin with ; and those 
 who were paid no particular attention to Lionel Moore. It was 
 Octavius Quirk who appeared to be the hero of the evening, so 
 far as the attention devoted to him by Lady Adela and her 
 immediate little circle was concerned. But Maurice himself 
 was not wholly left neglected. When tea was brought in, his 
 hostess came over to where he was standing. 
 
 " Won't you sit down, Mr. Mangan ? I want to talk to you 
 about something of very great importance importance to mo, 
 that is, for you know how vain young authors are. You have 
 heard of my new book ? yes, I thought Mr. Moore must have 
 told you. Well, it's all ready except the title-page. I am not 
 quite settled about the title yet ; and you literary gentlemen are 
 
In a Den of Lions, and flier eafter. 333 
 
 so quick and clever with suggestions I am sure you will give 
 me good advice. And I've had a number of different titles 
 printed, to see how they look in type : what do you think of 
 this one ? At present it seems to be the favourite : it was Mr. 
 Quirk's suggestion " 
 
 She showed him a slip with North and South printed on it in 
 large letters. 
 
 4% I don't like it [at all," Mangan said, frankly. " People will 
 think the book has something to do with the American Civil 
 War. However, don't take my opinion. My connection with 
 literature is almost infinitesimal I'm merely a newspaper hack, 
 you know " 
 
 44 What you say about the title is quite right ; and I am so 
 much obliged to you, Mr. Mangan," Lady Adela said, with 
 almost pathetic emphasis. " The American war, of course ; I 
 never thought of that ! " 
 
 "What is Ichabod's choice? I beg your pardon; I mean 
 have you shown the titles to Mr. Egerton ? " 
 
 " I'm afraid he doesn't approve of any of them," said Lady 
 Adela, sadly turning over the slips. 
 
 " No, I suppose not ; good titles went out with good fiction 
 when he ceased to write novels a number of years ago. May I 
 look at the others ? " 
 
 She handed him the slips. 
 
 " Well, now, there is one that in my poor opinion would be 
 rather effective Lotus and Lily a pretty sound " 
 
 " Yes perhaps," said Lady Adela, doubtfully ; " but then 
 you see it has not much connection with the book. The worst 
 of it is that all the novel is printed all but the three title- 
 pages. Otherwise I might have called my heroine Lily " 
 
 44 But I fear you could not have called your hero Lotus," said 
 Mangan, gravely. " Not very well. However, it is no use 
 speculating on that now, as you say. What is the next one ? 
 Transformation. Of course you know that Hawthorne wrote a 
 book under that title, Lady Adela ? " 
 
 44 Yee," said she, cheerfully. " But there's no copyright in 
 America ; so why shouldn't I take the title if it suits ? " 
 
 He hesitated ; there seemed to be some ethical point here ; 
 moreover, he was not aware that Transformation was the English, 
 not the American, title of Hawthorne's story. So he fell back 
 on base expediency. 
 
 44 It is a mistake for two authors to use the same title I'm 
 sure it is," said he. " Look at the confusion. The reviewers 
 
334 The Neiv Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 might pass over your novel, thinking it was only a new edition 
 of Hawthorne's book." 
 
 " Yes, that's quite true," said Lady Adela, thoughtfully. 
 
 " Well, here is one," he continued. '* Sicily and South Ken- 
 sington : that's odd ; that's new ; that might take the popular 
 fancy " 
 
 " Do you know, that is a favourite of my own," Lady Adela 
 said, with a slight eagerness, " for it really describes the book. 
 You understand, Mr. Mangan, all the first part is about the 
 South of Italy ; and then I come to London and try to describe 
 everything that is just going on round about us. I have put 
 everything in ; so that really though I shouldn't praise myself 
 but it isn't praise at ail, Mr. Mangan, it is merely telling 
 you what I have aimed at and really any one taking up my 
 poor little book some hundred years hence might very fairly 
 assume that it was a correct picture of all that was going on in 
 the reign of Queen Victoria. I do not say that it is well 
 done ; not at all ; that would be self-praise ; but I do think it 
 may have some little historical value. Modern life is so busy, 
 so hurried, and so complex that it is difficult to form any 
 impression of it as a whole ; I take up book after book, written 
 by living authors with whom I shouldn't dream of comparing 
 myself ; and yet I see how small a circle their characters work 
 in. You would think the world consisted of only eight or ten 
 people ; and that there was hardly room for them to move. 
 They never get away from each other ; they don't mix in the 
 crowd; there is no crowd. But here in my poor way I am 
 trying to show what a panorama London is always changing 
 occupations, desires, struggles following one another in 
 breathless rapidity in short, I want to show modern life as it 
 is, not as it is dreamed of by clever authors who live in a study. 
 Now that is my excuse, Mr. Mangan, for being such a dreadful 
 bore ; and I am so much obliged to you for your kind advice 
 about the title ; it is so easy for clever people to be kind just 
 a word and it's done. Thank you," said she, as he took her cup 
 from her and placed it on the table ; and then, before she left 
 him, she ventured to say, with a charming modesty : " I'm sure 
 you will forgive me, Mr. Mangan, but if I were to send you a 
 copy of the book, might I hope that you would find ten minutes 
 to glance over it ? " 
 
 " I am certain I shall read it with very great interest," said 
 he ; and that was strictly true ; for this Lady Adela Cunyiig- 
 ham completely puzzled him ; nho seemed so extraordinary a 
 
In a Den of Lions, and thereafter. 335 
 
 combination of a clever woman of the world and an awful 
 fool. 
 
 And Lionel ? Well, he had got introduced to Miss Gabrielle 
 Grey, whom he found to be a very quiet, shy, pensive sort of 
 creature, not posing as a distinguished person at all. He dared 
 not talk to her of her books, for he did not even know the names 
 of them ; but he let her understand that he knew she was an 
 authoress, and it seemed to please her to know that her fame 
 had penetrated into the mysterious regions behind the foot- 
 lights. She began to question him, in a timid sort of way, 
 about his experiences whether stage-fright was difficult to get 
 over whether he thought that the immediate and enthusiastic 
 approbation of the public was a beneficial stimulant whether 
 the continuous excitement of the emotional na.ture tended to 
 render it callous, or, on the other hand, more sensitive and 
 sympathetic and so forth : was she dimly looking forward to 
 the conquest of a new domain, whither the young ladies of the 
 rectory and the vicarage might be induced fearfully to follow 
 her? But Lionel did not linger long in that drawing-room. 
 He got Maurice Mangan away as soon as he could ; they slipped 
 out unobserved especially as there were plenty of new-comers 
 now arriving ; when they had passed down through the back 
 garden to the gate, the one lit a cigarette, and the other a pipe ; 
 and together they wended their way towards Kensington Koad 
 and Piccadilly. 
 
 " Why," said Mangan, " I shall have quite a favourable report 
 to carry down to Winstead. I did not see you treated with any 
 of that unwholesome adulation I have heard so much of ! " 
 
 " I am almost a stranger in the house, now," Lionel said, 
 briefly. 
 
 " Why ? " 
 
 " Oh, various circumstances, of late." 
 
 "They did not even ask you to sing," his friend said, in 
 accents of some surprise. 
 
 " They dared not. Didn't you see that most of the people 
 were strangers ? How could Lady Adela be sure she might not 
 be wounding somebody's susceptibilities by having operatic 
 music on a Sunday evening ? She knew nothing at all about 
 half these people they were merely names to her, that she 
 had collected round her in order that she might count herself in 
 among the arts." 
 
 "That ill-conditioned brute Quirk seemed to me to be 
 dominating the whole thing," said Mangan, rather testily. 
 
336 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " It's an awful price to pay for a few pufts. I wonder a woman 
 like that can bear him to come near her; but she pets the 
 baboon as if he were a King Charles spaniel. Linnie, my boy, 
 you're no longer first favourite. I can see that. Self-interest 
 has proved too strong; the flattering little review, the com- 
 plimentary little notice, has ousted you. It isn't you who are 
 privileged to meet my Lady Morgan in the street 
 
 * And then to gammon her, in the Examiner, 
 With a paragraph short and sweet.' 
 
 Well, now, tell about that very striking-looking girl or 
 woman, rather whom you took in to dinner. I asked you who 
 she was when she came into the room." 
 
 " That was Miss Honnor Cunyngham." 
 
 "Not the salmon-fishing young lady I have heard you 
 speak of?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Why, she didn't look like that," said Mangan, thoughtfully. 
 " Not the least. She has got a splendid forehead powerful 
 and clear ; and almost too much character about the square 
 brows and the calm eyes. I should have taken her to be a 
 strongly intellectual woman of the finer and more reticent 
 type. Well, well a salmon-fisher ! " 
 
 " Why shouldn't she be both?" 
 
 " Why, indeed ? " said Maurice, absently ; and therewith he 
 relapsed (as was frequently his wont) into silence ; and in 
 silence the two friends pursued their way eastwards to Lionel's 
 rooms. 
 
 But when they had arrived at their destination, when soda- 
 water fhad been produced and opened, and when Mangan was 
 lying back in an easy-chair, regarding his friend, he resumed 
 the conversation. 
 
 " I should have thought going to see those people to-night 
 would have brightened you up a little," he began, " but you 
 seem thoroughly out-of-sorts, Linn. What is the matter? 
 Over- work or worry ? I should not think over-work ; I've never 
 seen your theatre-business prove too much for you. Worry? 
 What about, then?" 
 
 " There may be different things," Lionel said, evasively, as he 
 brought over the spirit case. " I haven't been sleeping well of 
 late lying awake even if I don't go to bed till three or four ; 
 and I get a singing in my ears sometimes that is bothersome. 
 Oh, never mind mo ; I'm all right." 
 
In a Ben of Lions, and thereafter. 337 
 
 " But I'm going to mind you ; for you are not all right. Is 
 it money ? " 
 
 " No, no." 
 
 " What, then ? There is something seriously worrying you." 
 
 " Oh, there are several things," Lionel exclaimed, forced at 
 last into confession. " I can't think what has become of Nina 
 Boss, that's one thing ; if I only knew she was safe and well, I 
 don't think I should mind the other things. No, not a bit. But 
 there was something about her going away that I can't explain 
 to you only I I was responsible in a sort of way ; and Nina 
 and I were always such good friends and companions well, it's 
 no use talking about that. Then there's another little detail," 
 he added, with an air of indifference: "I'm engaged to be 
 married." 
 
 Mangan stared at him. 
 
 "Engaged to be married?" he repeated, as if ho had not 
 heard aright. " To whom ? " 
 
 " Miss Burgoyne." 
 
 " Miss Burgoyne of the New Theatre ? " 
 
 " The same." 
 
 " Are you out of your senses, Linn ! " Maurice cried angrily. 
 
 " No, I don't think so," he said, and he went to the mantel- 
 piece for a cigarette. 
 
 " How did it come about ? " demanded Maurice again. 
 
 " Oh, I don't know. It isn't of much consequence, is it ? " 
 Lionel answered carelessly. 
 
 Then Maurice instantly reflected that, if this thing were 
 really done, it was not for him to protest. 
 
 * Of course I say nothing against the young lady certainly 
 not. I thought she was very pleasant the night I was intro- 
 duced to her, and nice-looking too. But I had no idea you were 
 taken in that quarter, Linn : none hence the surprise. I used 
 to think you were in the happy position which Landor declared 
 impossible. What were the lines ? I haven't seen them for 
 twenty years but they were something like this 
 
 1 Fair maiden, when I looJc on thee, 
 I wish that I were young and free ; 
 But both at once, ah, who could be ? ' 
 
 I thought you were * both at once ' and very well content. 
 But supposing you have given up your freedom, why should 
 that vex and trouble you ? The engagement-time is said to be 
 the happiest period of a man's life : what is wrong in your case ? 
 
338 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 Lionel took a turn or two up and down the room. 
 
 " Well, I will tell you the truth, Maurice," he blurted out at 
 last. " I got engaged to her in a fit of restlessness, or caprice, 
 or some such ridiculous nonsense; and I don't regret it; I 
 mean, I am willing to stand by it ; but that is not enough for 
 her and I can look forward to nothing but a perpetual series 
 of differences and quarrels. She expects me to play Harry 
 Thorrihill off the stage, I suppose." 
 
 Mangan looked at him for some time. 
 
 "Even between friends," he said, slowly, "there are some 
 things it is difficult to talk about with safety. Of course you 
 know what an outsider would say : that you had got into a 
 devil of a mess that you had blundered into an engage- 
 ment with a woman whom you find you don't want to 
 marry." 
 
 "Well, is there anything uncommon in that?" Lionel 
 demanded. " Is that an unusual experience in human life ? 
 But I don't admit as much, in my case. I am quite willing to 
 marry her, so long as she keeps her temper, and doesn't expect 
 me to play the fool. I daresay we shall get on well enough, 
 like other people, after the fateful deed is done. In the mean- 
 time," he added, with a forced laugh, " in the meantime, I find 
 myself now and again wishing I was a sailor brave and bold, 
 careering round the Cape of Good Hope in a gale of wind, and 
 with no loftier aspiration in my mind than a pint of rum and 
 a well-filled pipe ! " 
 
 " Faith, I think that's just where you ought to be," said 
 Mangan, drily, "instead of in this town of London, at the 
 ptesent moment. I declare you've quite bewildered me. If 
 you had told me you were engaged to that tall salmon-fishing 
 girl you used to talk about her a good deal, you know or to 
 that fascinating young Italian creature and I've seen before 
 now how easily the gentle friend and companion can be trans- 
 formed into a sweetheart I should have been ready with all 
 kinds of pretty speeches and good wishes. But Miss Burgoyne 
 of the New Theatre? Linn, my boy, I've discovered what's the 
 matter with you; and I can prescribe an absolutely certain 
 cure." 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 " The cure ? You have partly suggested it yourself. You 
 must go at once and take your passage in a sailing-ship for 
 Australia. You can stay there for a time and examine the 
 Colony ; of course you'll write a book about it, like everybody 
 
In a Den of Lions, and thereafter. 339 
 
 else. Then you make your way to San Francisco ; and accept 
 a three months' engagement there. You come on to New 
 York; and accept a three months' engagement there. And 
 when you return to England, you will find that all your 
 troubles have vanished, and that you are once again the Linn 
 Moore we all of us used to know." 
 
 A wild fancy flashed through Lionel's brain : what if in 
 these far wanderings he were suddenly to encounter Nina? 
 In vain in vain : Nina had become for him but a shadow, a 
 ghost, with no voice to call to him from any sphere. 
 
 "You would have me run away? I don't see how I can do 
 that," he said quietly ; and then he abruptly changed the 
 subject. " What did you think of Lady Adela ? " 
 
 " Well, to tell you the truth, I've been wondering whether 
 she was at the same time a smart and clever woman and an 
 abject fool, or whether she was simply smart and clever and 
 thought me an abject fool. It must be either one or the other. 
 She played the literary ingenue very well a little too openly 
 perhaps. I'm curious about her book 
 
 " Oh, don't judge of her by her book ! " Lionel exclaimed. 
 " That isn't fair. Her book you may very likely consider 
 foolish ; but she isn't foolish not at all. I suppose her head 
 is a little bit turned by the things that Quirk and those fellows 
 have been writing about her ; but that's only natural. And if 
 she showed her hand a little too freely in trying to interest 
 you in her novel, you must remember how eager she is to 
 succeed. You'll do what you can for her book won't you, 
 Maurice?" 
 
 Maurice Mangan, on his way home that night, had other 
 things to think of than Lady Adela's poor little book. He saw 
 clearly enough the embroilment into which Lionel had landed 
 himself; but he could not see so clearly how he was to get out 
 of it. One question he forgot to ask : what had induced that 
 mood of petulance or recklessness or both combined in which 
 Lionel had wilfully and madly pledged away all his future 
 life? However, the thing was done; here was his friend 
 going forward to a manage de convenance (where there was very 
 little convenance, to be sure) with a sort of careless indifference, 
 if not of bravado ; while his bride, on the other hand, might 
 surely be pardoned if she resented, and indignantly resented, 
 his attitude towards her. What kind of prospect was this for 
 two young people? Maurice thought that on the very first 
 opportunity he would go away down to Winstead and talk the 
 
 z 2 
 
340 The New Princ t Fortunatus. 
 
 matter over with Francie : who than she more capable of advis- 
 ing in aught concerning Lionel's welfare ? 
 
 Notwithstanding his intercession with Maurice on behalf of 
 Lady Adela's forthcoming novel, Lionel did not seem disposed 
 to resume the friendly relations with the people up at Campden 
 Hill which had formerly existed. He did not even call after 
 the dinner-party. If Mr. Octavius Quirk were for the moment 
 installed as chief favourite at Aivron Lodge, he had no wish to 
 interfere with him : there were plenty of other houses open, if 
 one chose to go. But the fact is, Lionel now spent many after- 
 noons and nearly every evening at the Garden Club : whist 
 before dinner, poker after supper, being the established rule. 
 Moreover, a new element had been introduced, as far as he was 
 concerned. Mr. Percival Miles had been elected a member of 
 the club ; and had forthwith presented himself in the card- 
 room, where he at once distinguished himself by his bold and 
 intrepid play. The curious thing was that, while openly profess- 
 ing a kind of cold acquaintanceship, it was invariably against 
 Lionel Moore that he made his most determined stand ; with the 
 other players he might play an ordinarily discreet and cautious 
 game ; but when Moore could be challenged, this pale-faced 
 young man never failed promptly to seize the opportunity. And 
 the worst of it was that he had extraordinary luck, both in the 
 run of the cards and in his manoeuvres. 
 
 " "What is that young whipper-snapper up to ? " Lionel said 
 to himself, after a particularly bad night (and morning) as he 
 sate staring into the dead ashes of his fireplace. " He wanted 
 to take my life until my good angel interfered and saved me. 
 Now does he want to break me financially ? By Jove, they're 
 coming near to doing it amongst them. I shall have to go to 
 Moss to-morrow for another 250. Well, what does it matter ? 
 The luck must turn some time. If it doesn't? if it doesn't? 
 then there may come the trip before the mast, as the final 
 panacea, according to Maurice. Australia ? there would be 
 freedom there, and perhaps forgetfulness." 
 
 As he was passing into his bedroom he chanced to observe a 
 package that was lying on a chair, and for a second he glanced 
 at the handwriting of the address. It was Miss Burgoyno's. 
 What could she want with him now ? He cut the string, and 
 opened the parcel : behold, here was the brown and scarlet 
 woollen vest that she had knitted for him with her own fair 
 hands. Why these impatiently down-drawn brows? A true 
 lover would have passionately kissed this tender token of 
 
Pnus Dementat. 341 
 
 affection, and bethought him of all the hours, and half-hours, 
 and quarters-of-an-hour, during which she had been employed 
 in her pretty task, no doubt thinking of him all the time. Alas ! 
 the love-gift was almost angrily thrown on to the chair again~ 
 and he went into his own room, 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 PRIUS DEMENTAT. 
 
 Maurice Mangan left the train at Winstead, and climbed 
 out of the deep chalk cutting in which the station is buried, 
 and emerged upon the open downs, he found himself in a very 
 different world from that he had left. Far away behind him 
 lay the great city (even now the dusky dome of St. Paul's was 
 visible across the level swathes of landscape) with its miry 
 ways, and teeming population, and continuous thunder of traffic ; 
 while here were the windy skies of a wild March morning, and 
 swaying trees, and cawing rooks, and air that was sweet in the 
 nostrils and soft to the throat. As he light-heartedly strode 
 away across the undulations of blossoming gorse, fragments of 
 song from his favourite poets chased each other through his 
 brain ; and somehow they were all connected with the glad 
 opening out of the year ..." And then my heart with pleasure 
 fills, and dances with the daffodils " . . . " Along the grass sweet airs 
 are blown, our way this day in spring " . . . '* And in the gloaming 
 o' the wood, the throssil whistled sweet" . . . Mangan could sing 
 no more than a crow ; but he felt as if he were singing ; there 
 was a kind of music in the long stride,- the quick pulse, the deep 
 inhalations of the delicious air. For all was going to be well 
 now ; he was about to consult Francie as to Lionel's sad estate. 
 He did not stay to ask himself whether it was likely that a 
 quiet and gentle girl living in this secluded neighbourhood 
 could be of much help in such a matter ; it was enough that he 
 was going to talk it all over with Miss Francie ; things would 
 be clearer then. 
 
 Now as you go up from Winstead Station to Winstead Village 
 there is a strip of coppice that runs parallel with one part of 
 the highway ; and through this prolonged dingle a pathway 
 meanders, which he who is not in a hurry may prefer to the 
 
342 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 road. Of course Mangan chose this pleasanter way, though he 
 had to moderate his pace now because of the briers ; and right 
 glad was he to notice the various symptoms of the new-born 
 life of the world the pale anemones stirred by the warm, 
 moist breeze, the delicate blossoms of the little wood-sorrel, the 
 budded raceme of the wild hyacinth ; while loud and clear a 
 blackbird sang from a neighbouring bough. He did not expect 
 to meet anyone; he certainly did not expect to meet Miss 
 Francie Wright, who would doubtless be away at her cottages. 
 But all of a sudden he was startled by the apparition of a rabbit 
 that came running towards him, and then, seeing him, bolted 
 off at right angles ; and as this caused him to look up from his 
 botanisings, here, unmistakably, was Miss Francie, coming along 
 through the glade. Her pale complexion showed a little colour 
 as she drew near ; but there was not much embarrassment in 
 the calm, kind eyes. 
 
 " This is indeed a stroke of good fortune," he said, " for I 
 came down for the very purpose of having a talk with you all 
 by yourself about Lionel. But I did not imagine I should 
 meet you here." 
 
 " I am going down to the station," she said. " I expect a 
 parcel by the train you must have come by ; and I want it at 
 once." 
 
 " May I come with you and carry it for you ? " he said 
 promptly ; and of course she could not refuse so civil an offer. 
 The awkward part of the arrangement was that they had to go 
 along thrpugh this straggling strip of wood in single file, 
 making a really confidential chat almost an impossibility ; 
 whereupon he proposed, and she agreed, that they should get 
 out into the highway ; and thereafter they went on to the 
 station by the ordinary road. 
 
 But this task he had undertaken proved to be a great deal 
 more difficult and delicate than he had anticipated. To have 
 a talk with Francie that seemed simple enough : it was less 
 simple, as he discovered, to have to tell Lionel's cousin that 
 the young man had gone and engaged himself to be married. 
 Indeed, he beat about the bush for a considerable time. 
 
 " You see," he said, " a young fellow at his time of life, 
 especially if he has been petted a good deal, is very apt to be 
 wayward and restless, and likely to get into trouble through 
 
 the mere impulsiveness, the recklessness of youth " 
 
 " Mr. Mangan," Miss Francie said, with a smile in the quiet 
 grey eyes, " why do you always talk of Linn as if he were so 
 
Prim Dementat. 343 
 
 much younger than you ? There is no great difference. You 
 always speak as if you were quite middle-aged." 
 
 "I am worse than middle-aged I am resigned, and read 
 Marcus Aurelius," he said. "I suppose I have taken life too 
 easily. Youth is the time for fighting ; there is no fight left in 
 me at all ; I accept what happens. Oh, by the way, when my 
 book on Comte comes out, I may have to buckle on my armour 
 again ; I suppose there will be strife and war and deadly 
 thrusts : unless, indeed, the Positivists may not consider me 
 worth answering. However, that is of no consequence ; it's 
 about Linn I have come down ; and really, Miss Francie, I fear 
 he is in a bad way, and that he is taking a worse way to get 
 out of it." 
 
 " I am very sorry to hear that," she said, gravely. 
 
 " And then he's such a good fellow ! " Mangan continued. 
 " If he were selfish, or cruel, or grasping, one might think that 
 a few buffets from the world might rather be of service to him ; 
 but as it is I don't understand at all how he has got himself 
 into such a position or been entrapped into it : you see, I don't 
 know Miss Burgoyne very well " 
 
 " Miss Burgoyne ? " she repeated, doubtfully. 
 
 " Miss Burgoyne of the New Theatre." 
 
 Then Mangan watched his companion timidly and furtively 
 which was a strange thing for him, for ordinarily his deep- 
 set grey eyes were singularly intense and sincere. 
 
 " Perhaps I ought to tell you at once," he said, slowly, " that 
 that the fact is, Lionel is engaged to be married to Miss 
 Burgoyne." 
 
 " Lionel engaged to be married?" she said, quickly, and she 
 looked up. He met her eyes and read them : surely there was 
 nothing there other than a certain pleased curiosity ; she had 
 forgotten that this engagement might be the cause of her 
 cousin's trouble ; she only seemed to think it odd that Linn 
 was about to be married. 
 
 " Yes ; and now I am afraid he regrets his rashness, and is in 
 terrible trouble over it or perhaps that is only one of several 
 things. Well, I had made other forecasts for him," Mangan 
 went on to say, with a little hesitation. " I could have imagined 
 another future for him. Indeed, at one time, I thought that 
 if ever he looked out for a wife, it would be a little nearer 
 home " 
 
 Her eyes were swiftly downcast ; but the next instant she had 
 bravely raised them, and was regarding him. 
 
344 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " Do you mean me, Mr. Mangan ? " she asked. 
 
 He did not answer ; he left her to understand. Miss Francie 
 shook her head, and there was a slight smile on her lips. 
 
 " No, no," she said, " that was never possible at any time. 
 Where was your clear sight, Mr. Mangan ? Of course I am very 
 fond of Linn ; I have been so all my life ; and there's nothing 
 I wouldn't do to save him trouble or pain. But even a stupid 
 country girl may form her ideal and in my case Lionel never 
 came anywhere near to that. I know he is good, and generous, 
 and manly he is quite wonderful considering what he has 
 come through ; but on the other hand well oh, well, I'm not 
 going to say anything against Linn I will not." 
 
 " 1 am sure you will not," said Mangan, quietly ; and here 
 they reached the station. 
 
 The parcel had not arrived ; there was nothing for it but to 
 retrace their steps ; and on their way across the common they 
 returned to Lionel and his wretched plight. 
 
 " Surely," said Miss Francie, with a touch of indignation in 
 her voice, " surely, if Miss Burgoyne learns that he is fretting 
 over this engagement, she will release him at once. No 
 woman could be so shameless as to keep him to an unwilling 
 bargain " 
 
 " I am not so sure about that," Mangan made answer. " She 
 may think she has affection for two, and that all will be well. 
 It is a good match for her. His position in his profession, and 
 in society, will be advantageous to her. Then she may be vain 
 of her conquest so many different motives may come in. But 
 the chief point is that Linn doesn't want to be released from 
 this engagement ; he declares he will abide by it if only she 
 doesn't expect him to be very affectionate. It is an extra- 
 ordinary imbroglio altogether ; I am beginning to believe that 
 all the time he has been in love with that Italian girl whom he 
 knew in Naples, and who was in the New Theatre for a while ; 
 and that now he has made the discovery, when it is too late, he 
 doesn't care what happens to him. She has gone away ; he has 
 no idea where she is ; here he is engaged to Miss Burgoyne, 
 and quite willing to marry her ; and in the meantime he plays 
 cards heavily to escape from thinking. In fact, he is not taking 
 the least care of himself; and you would be surprised at the 
 change in his appearance, already. It isn't like Linn Moore to 
 lalk of going to bed when he ought to be setting out for a 
 dinner-party ; and the worst of it is he won't pay any heed to 
 what you say to him. But something must be done : Linn is 
 
Prius Dementat. 345 
 
 too good a fellow to be allowed to go to the mischief without 
 some kind of protest or interference." 
 
 " If you like," said Miss Francie, slowly, * I will go to Miss 
 Burgoyne. She is a woman ; she could not but listen. She 
 cannot want to bring misery on them both." 
 
 " No," said he, with a little show of authority. " Whatever 
 we may try not that. I have heard that Miss Burgoyno has a 
 bit of a temper " 
 
 " I am not afraid," said his companion, simply. 
 
 " No, no. If that were the only way, I should propose to go 
 to Miss Burgoyne myself," he said. " But, you see, the awk- 
 ward thing is that neither you nor I have any right to appeal 
 to her, so long as Linn is willing to fulfil the engagement. We 
 don't know her ; we could not remonstrate as a friend of her 
 own might. If we were to interfere on his behalf, she would 
 immediately turn to him ; and he is determined not to back 
 out." 
 
 " Then what is to be done, Mr. Mangan?" she exclaimed, in 
 despair. 
 
 "I I don't quite see at present," he answered her. "I 
 thought I would talk it over with you, Miss Francie. I 
 thought there might be something in that; that the way 
 might seem clearer. But I see no way at all ; unless you 
 were to go to him himself. He would listen to you. Or he 
 might even listen to me, if I represented to him that you were 
 distressed at the condition of affairs. At present he doesn't 
 appear to care what happens to him." 
 
 They had crossed the common ; they had come to the foot of 
 the wood ; and they did not go on to the highway, for Miss 
 Francie suggested that the sylvan path was the most interest- 
 ing. And so they passed in among the trees, making their 
 way through the straggling undergrowth; while the soft 
 March wind blew moist and sweet all around them, and the 
 blackbirds and thrushes filled the world with their silver 
 melody, and in the more distant woods the ringdoves crooned. 
 Maurice Mangan followed her in silence. Perhaps he was 
 thinking of Lionel ; perhaps he was thinking of the confession 
 she had made in crossing the common ; at all events he did 
 not address her; and when she stooped to gather some 
 hyacinths and anemones, he merely waited for her. But as 
 they drew near to the further end of the coppice, the path 
 became clearer, and now he walked by her side. 
 
 " Miss Francie," he said (and it was his eyes that were cast 
 
346 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 down now), ." you were speaking of the ideal that girls in the 
 country may form for themselves and girls everywhere, I 
 dare say : but don't you think it rather hard ? " 
 "What is?" 
 
 " Why, that you should raise up an impossible standard, and 
 that poor common human beings, with all their imperfections 
 and disqualifications, are sent to the right about ? " 
 
 " Oh, no," Miss Francie said cheerfully. " You don't under- 
 stand at all. A girl does not form her ideal out of her own 
 head. She is not clever enough to do that ; or rather, she is 
 not stupid enough to try to do that. She takes her ideal from 
 some one she knows from the finest type of character she has 
 met; so that it is not an impossible standard, for one person, 
 at least, has attained to it." 
 
 " And for the sake of that one, she discards all those unfor- 
 tunates who, by their age, or appearance, or lack of position, or 
 lack of distinction, cannot hope to come near," he said, rather 
 absently. " Isn't that hard ? It makes all sorts of things so 
 hopeless, so impossible. You put your own chosen friend on 
 this pedestal ; and then all the others, who might wish to win 
 your regard, they know what the result of comparison would be, 
 and they go away home, and hide their heads." 
 
 "I don't see, Mr. Mangan," she said, in a somewhat low 
 voice, and yet a little proudly too, " why you should fear com- 
 parison with any one no, not with any one ; or imagine that 
 anything could could displace you in the regard of your 
 friends." 
 
 He hesitated again anxious, eager, and yet afraid. At last 
 he said, rather sadly 
 
 " I wish I knew something of your ideals, and how far 
 away beyond human possibility they are." 
 
 " Oh, I can tell you," she said, plucking up heart of grace, 
 for here was an easy way out of an embarrassing position. 
 " My ideal woman is Sister Alexandra, of the East London 
 Hospital. She was down here last Sunday sweeter, more 
 angelic than ever. That is the noblest type of woman I know. 
 And I was so glad she enjoyed her rare holiday ; and when 
 she went away in the evening we had her just loaded with 
 flowers for her ward." 
 
 " And the ideal man ? " 
 
 " Oh," said Miss Francie, hurriedly, " I hardly know about 
 that. Of course, when I when I spoke of Linn a little while 
 ago, I did not wish to say anything against him certainly 
 
Prius Dementat. 347 
 
 not no one admires his better qualities more than I do 
 but but there may be other qualities " 
 
 They were come to the wooden gate opening on to the high- 
 way ; he paused ere he lifted the latch. 
 
 " Francio," said he, " do you think that some day you might 
 bo induced to put aside all your high standards and ideals, 
 and and in short, accept a battered old journalist, without 
 money, position, distinction, without any graces, except this, 
 that gratitude might add something to his affection for you ! " 
 
 Tears sprang into her eyes, and yet there was a smile there, 
 too : she was not wholly frightened perhaps she had known 
 all along. 
 
 "Ah, and you don't understand yet, Maurice," she said, 
 and she frankly gave him her hand, and her eyes were kind 
 even through her tears. " You don't understand what I have 
 been saying to you, that a girl's ideal is one particular per- 
 son her ideal is the man or woman whom she admires and 
 loves the most. Can you not guess ? " 
 
 " Francie, you will be my wife ? " he said to her, drawing 
 her closer to him, his hands clasped round her head. 
 
 She did not answer. She was silent for a second or two. 
 And then she said with averted eyes 
 
 "You spoke of gratitude, Maurice. I know who has the 
 most reason to be grateful and who will try the hardest to 
 show it." 
 
 So that betrothal was complete ; and when they passed out 
 from the coppice into the whiter air, behold ! the wild March 
 skies had parted somewhat, and there was a shimmer of silver 
 sunlight along the broad highway between the hedges. It was 
 an auspicious omen or at least their full hearts may have 
 thought so ; and then again there was a wedding chorus all 
 around them from the birds from the bright-eyed robin 
 perched on the crimson bramble-spray, from the speckled 
 thrush on the swaying elm, from the lark far-hovering over a 
 field of young corn. But in their own happiness they had 
 thought of others : Francie soon came back to Lionel again and 
 his grievous misfortunes ; and she was listening with meekness 
 to this tall, clear- eyed man who could now claim a certain 
 gentle authority over her. They were a long time before 
 they got to the Doctor's house. 
 
 That same evening Miss Kate Burgoyne invited Lionel to 
 come to her room for a cup of tea when he had dressed for the 
 last act ; and accordingly, when he was ready, he strolled along 
 
348 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 the corridor, rapped with his knuckles, and entered. It turned 
 out that the prima donna had other visitors : a young lady 
 whom he had never seen before, and Mr. Percival Miles. The 
 young gentleman in faultless evening dress seemed a little sur- 
 prised at the easy manner in which Lionel had lounged into 
 the place ; and perhaps Lionel was also a little surprised for 
 this was Mr. Miles's first appearance in the room ; but both men 
 merely nodded to each other, in a formal acquaintance style, as 
 they were in the habit of doing at the Garden Club. At the 
 same moment Miss Burgoyne opened a portion of the curtain, 
 so that she could address her guests. 
 
 " Mr. Moore, let me introduce you to my friend, Miss Ingram. 
 Mr. Miles, I think you know.'* 
 
 And Lionel was glad enough to turn to the young lady and 
 enter into conversation with her, for the pale young man 
 with the slight yellow moustache was defiantly silent, and 
 had even something fierce about his demeanour. It was no 
 business of Lionel's to provoke a quarrel with this truculent 
 fire-eater, especially in Miss Burgoyne's room. To quarrel 
 about Kate Burgoyne ? the irony of events could go no further 
 than that. 
 
 And of course, as the most immediate topic, they spoke of 
 the gale that had been blowing across London all the after- 
 noon and evening ; for the southerly winds that had prevailed 
 in the morning had freshened up and increased in violence 
 until a veritable hurricane was now raging, threatening roofs, 
 chimneys, and lamp-posts, to say nothing of the whirled and 
 driven and bewildered foot-passengers. 
 
 " I hear there has been a bad accident in Oxford Street," 
 Lionel said to the young lady. " Some scaffolding has fallen 
 a lot of people hurt. I'm afraid there will be a sad tale to tell 
 from the sea : even now, while we are secure in this big build- 
 ing, thinking only of amusement, I suppose there is many a 
 ship labouring in the gale, or going headlong on to the rocks. 
 Have you far to get home ? " he asked. 
 
 " Oh, I am going home with Miss Burgoyne," the young lady 
 answered. 
 
 But here Miss Burgoyne herself appeared, coming forth in 
 the full splendour of Grace Mainwaring's bridal attire and with 
 all her radiant witcheries of make-up ; and the poor lad sitting 
 there, who had never before been so near this vision of delight, 
 seemed quite entranced by its (strictly speaking) superhuman 
 loveliness. He could not take his eyes away from her. He did 
 
Prius Dementat. 349 
 
 not think of joining in the conversation. He watched her at 
 the mirror ; he watched her making tea ; he watched her 
 munching a tiny piece of bread and butter (which was impru- 
 dent on her part, after the care she had bestowed on her lips) 
 and always ho was silent and spell-bound. Miss Burgoyne, on 
 the other hand, was talkative enough. 
 
 " Isn't it an awful night ! " she exclaimed. " I thought the 
 cab I came down in would be blown over. And they say it's 
 getting worse and worse. I hear there has been a dreadful 
 accident : some of the men were telling Jane about it : have you 
 heard, Mr. Moore ? something about a scaffold. I suppose this 
 theatre is safe enough ; I don't feel any shaking. But I know 
 I shall be so nervous going home to-night I dread it 
 already " 
 
 "Miss Ingram says she is going home with you," Lionel 
 pointed out carelessly. 
 
 " But that is worse ! " the prima donna cried. " Two women 
 are worse than one they make each other nervous : no, what 
 you want is a man's bluntness of perception his indifference 
 and the sense of security you get from his being there. Two 
 frightened women : how are they going to keep each other's 
 courage up ? " 
 
 It was clearly an invitation : almost a challenge. Lionel 
 only said 
 
 " Why, what have you to fear ! The blowing over of a cab is 
 about the last thing likely to happen. If you were walking 
 along the pavement, you might be struck by a falling slate ; but 
 you are out in the middle of the road. If you go home in a 
 four-wheeled cab, you will be as safe as you are at this minute 
 in this room." 
 
 She turned away from him ; at the same moment the pale 
 young gentleman said rather breathlessly 
 
 " Miss Burgoyne, if you would permit me to accompany you 
 and Miss Ingram home, I should esteem it a great honour and 
 and pleasure." 
 
 She whipped round in an instant. 
 
 41 Oh, thank you, Percy Mr. Miles, I moan," she added* in 
 pretty confusion. " That will be so kind of you, We shall be 
 delighted, I'm sure very kind of you indeed." 
 
 No more was said at the moment ; for Miss Burgoyne had 
 been called ; and Lionel, as he wended his way to the wings, 
 could only ask himself 
 
 41 What is she up to now ! She calls me Mr. Moore "before her 
 
350 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 friends, and him Percy ; and she contrives to put him into the 
 position of rescuing two distressed damsels. Well, what does it 
 matter ? I suppose women are like that." 
 
 But Mr. Percival Miles's accompanying those two young 
 ladies through the storm did matter to him, in another way, and 
 seriously. When, the performance being over, he got into 
 evening dress, and drove along in a hansom to the Garden Club, 
 he found there two or three of the young gentlemen who were 
 in the habit of lounging about the supper-room, glancing at 
 illustrated papers, or chewing toothpicks, until the time for 
 poker had arrived. 
 
 " Johnny," he said to one of them, " somehow I feel awfully 
 down in the mouth to-night." 
 
 " That's unusual with you, then," was the cheerful reply. 
 " For you are the pluckiest loser I ever saw. But I must say 
 your luck of late has been just something frightful." 
 
 " Well, I'm down altogether in luck, in finances, and spirits; 
 and I'm going to pull myself up a peg. Come and keep me 
 company. I'm going to order a magnum of Perrier Jouet of 
 '74 ; and I only want a glass or two ; you must help me out, or 
 some of those other fellows." 
 
 " That's a pretty piece of extravagance ! " the other exclaimed. 
 " A magnum to get a couple of glasses out of it : like an otter 
 taking a single bite from a salmon's shoulder. Never mind, old 
 chap : I'm in. I hate champagne at this time of night ; but I 
 don't want you to kill yourself." 
 
 As they sate at supper, with this big bottle before them, 
 Lionel said 
 
 " It will be a bad thing for me if young Miles doesn't show 
 up to-night." 
 
 "I should have thought it would have been an excellent 
 thing for you if Miles had never entered this club," his com- 
 panion observed. 
 
 " That's true," said Lionel, rather gloomily. " But my only 
 chance now is to get some of my property back ; and I can only 
 get it back from him. You fellows are no use to me not if I 
 were winning all along the line." 
 
 "Look here, Moore," said the young man, in a more serious 
 tone, " you may say it's none of my business ; but the way you 
 and that fellow Miles have been going on is perfectly awful. 
 If the Committee should hear about it, there will be a row and 
 no mistake ! " 
 
 " My dear boy," Lionel protested, as he pushed the unneces- 
 
Prius Dementat. 351 
 
 sary bottle to his neighbour, " the Committee have nothing to 
 do with understandings that are settled outside the club. You 
 don't see Miles or me handing cheques for 200 or 300 across 
 the table. How can the Committee expel you for holding up 
 three fingers or nodding your head ? " 
 
 " Well, then, you'll excuse me saying it, but he's a young ass, 
 to gamble in that fashion," Johnny remarked, bluntly. " What 
 fun does he get out of it? And it's quite a new thing with him 
 that's the odd business. I know a man who was at Morton 
 with him ; and certainly Miles got into a devil of a scrape 
 which cut short' his career there ; but it had nothing to do with 
 gambling. He never was that way inclined at all ; it's a now 
 development, since he joined this club. Well, I suppose he can 
 do what he likes. The heir to a baronetcy and such a place as 
 Petmansworth can get just as much as he wants from the 
 Jews." 
 
 " My good man, he doesn't need to go to the Jews," said 
 Lionel, with grim irony. 
 
 " Where does he get all that money from ? Do you think his 
 father is fool enough to encourage him in such extravagance ? I 
 should hope not ! At the same time I wish I had a father tarred 
 with something of that same brush." 
 
 " Where does he get all the money from ? So far he has got 
 it from me," Lionel said, with a bit of a shrug. " He doesn't 
 need to go to his father, or to the Jews either, when .he can 
 plunder me. And such a run of luck as he has had is simply 
 astounding " 
 
 " It isn't luck at all," the other interrupted. " It's your play. 
 You play too bold a game too bold when you know he is going 
 to play a bolder. Twice running he caught you last night 
 bluffing on no hand at all ; and I don't know what fabulous 
 stakes were up with your nods and signs. It's no use your 
 trying to bluff that fellow. He won't be bluffed." 
 
 " The thing is as broad as it's long, man," Lionel said impa- 
 tiently. * If he is determined to see me every time, he must be 
 caught when I have a good hand it stands to reason. The 
 only thing is that my luck has been so confoundedly bad of 
 late " 
 
 " Yes ; and when the luck's against you, you go betting on no 
 hands at all with Miles waiting for you I" his companion 
 exclaimed. " All right : every man must play the game his own 
 way. You don't seem to have found it profitable so far." 
 
 " Profitable ! " Lionel said, with a dark look in his eyes. " I 
 
352 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 can tell you I am in a tight corner, and I reckoned on to-night 
 to settle it one way or the other not with you fellows ; I can't 
 get anything worth while out of you ; but with Miles. And 
 now he's gone away home with " 
 
 He stopped in time : ladies' names are not mentioned in clubs 
 at least, not in such clubs as the Garden. 
 
 " The odd thing is," continued Johnny, as he lit a cigarette, 
 and definitely refused to have any more of the wine, "the 
 extremely odd thing is that he doesn't seem to care to win from 
 the rest of us. He lets us share our modest little pots as if they 
 weren't worth looking at. It's you he goes for, invariably." 
 
 "And he's gone for mo to some purpose," Lionel said 
 morosely. " I'm just about broke broke five or six times over, 
 if it comes to that and by that pennyworth of yellow ribbon ! " 
 
 " You needn't call him names," said Johnny, as he lay back in 
 his chair. "Upon my soul I think Miles is somebody in 
 disguise a priest an Inquisitor somebody with a mission 
 to punish the sin of gambling. What does he ' care about the 
 game ? Nothing, I'll swear it ! He's only watching for you. 
 He's an avenger. He has been sent by some superior 
 power " 
 
 " Then it must have been by the devil," said Lionel, with a 
 sombre expression, " for he has got the devil's own luck at his 
 back. Wait till I get four of a kind when he is betting on a full 
 hand and then you'll see his corpse laid out 1 " This was all 
 he could say just then ; for here was the young man himself, 
 who must have come back from the Edgware Road in a remark- 
 ably swift hansom. 
 
 Almost directly there was an adjournment to the card-room ; 
 and the players took their places. 
 
 " I propose we have in the Joker," * Lionel called aloud, as 
 the cards were dealt for deal. 
 
 " I don't see the fun of it," objected the young man who 
 had been Lionel's companion at the supper-table. " You never 
 know where you are when the Joker is in. What do you say, 
 Miles ? " 
 
 " Oh, have it in by all means," Percival Miles said, with his 
 eyes fixed upon the table. 
 
 * The Joker ia a fifty-third card, of any kind of device, Which is added to 
 the pack : the player to whom it is dealt can make it any card he chooses, 
 For example, if the other four cards he holds are two queens and two sevens, 
 he can make the Joker card a third queen, and thus secure for himself a full 
 hand. 
 
Prius Dementant. 353 
 
 And perhaps it was that Lionel was anxious and nervous 
 (for much depended on the results of this night's play), but he 
 seemed to feel that the pale young man who sate opposite him 
 appeared to be even more cold and implacable in manner than 
 was usual with him. He began to have superstitious fears 
 like most gamblers. That was an uncanny suggestion his 
 recent companion had put into his head that here was an 
 avenger a deputed instrument an agent to inflict an 
 awarded punishment. At the same time he tried to laugh at 
 the notion. Punishment from this stripling of a boy! It 
 was a ludicrous idea, to be sure. When Lionel had in former 
 days accepted his challenge to fight, it was with some kind of 
 impatient resolve to teach him a wholesome lesson, and brush 
 him aside. And he had regarded his running after Miss 
 Burgoyne with a sort of good-natured toleration and contempt : 
 there were always those young fools in the wake of actresses. 
 But that he, Lionel, should be afraid of this young idiot? 
 "What was there to be afraid of? He was no swashbuckler 
 this pallid youth with the thin lips, who concentrated all his 
 attention on the cards, and had no word or jest for his 
 neighbours. How could there be anything baleful in the 
 expression of eyes that were curiously expressionless? It 
 was a pretty face (Lionel had at one time thought), but now 
 it seemed capable of a good deal of relentless determination. 
 Lionel had heard of people shivering when brought into 
 contact with the repellent atmosphere that appeared to surround 
 a particular person: but what was there deadly about this 
 young man ? 
 
 The game at first was not very exciting ; though now and 
 again the Joker played a merry trick, appearing in some 
 unexpected place, and laying many a good hand low. Indeed, 
 it almost seemed as if Lionel had resolved to recoup himself by 
 steady play ; and so far there had been no duel between him 
 and young Miles. That was not distant, however. On this 
 occasion Lionel, who was seated on the left of the dealer in 
 other words, he being Age when the cards were dealt found 
 himself with two pairs in his hand, aces and queens. It was a 
 pretty show. When the time came for him to declare his 
 intention, he said 
 
 " Well, I'm just going to make this another ten shillings to 
 come in." 
 
 That frightened no one; they all came in; what caused 
 
 2 A 
 
354 TJie New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 them to halt and reflect was that, on Lionel being subsequently 
 asked how many cards he wished to have, he said 
 
 " None, thank you." 
 
 Not a syllable was uttered : there were surmises too occult 
 for words. The player on Lionel's left bet a humble two 
 shillings. The next player simply came in. So did the third 
 who was Mr. Percival Miles. Likewise the dealer : in fact, 
 they were all prepared to pay that modest sum to inspect the 
 Age's hand. But Lionel wanted a higher price for that 
 privilege. 
 
 " I'm coming in with the little two shillings," said he, " and 
 I will raise you a sovereign." 
 
 That promptly sent out the player on his left; his neigh- 
 bour also retired. Not so the pallid young man with the thin 
 lips. 
 
 " And one better," he said, depositing another sovereign. 
 
 The dealer incontinently fled. There only remained Lionel 
 and his enemy ; and the position of aflairs was this that while 
 Lionel had taken no additional cards, and was presumably in 
 possession of a straight or a flush (unless he was bluffing) 
 Miles had taken one card, and most likely had got two pairs 
 (unless he was finessing). Two pairs against two pairs, then? 
 But Lionel had aces and queens. 
 
 44 And five better," Lionel said, watching his enemy. 
 
 " And five better," said the younger man, stolidly. 
 
 And now the onlookers altered their surmises. No one but 
 a lunatic would challenge a player who had declined to take 
 supplementary cards unless he himself had an exceptionally 
 strong hand, or unless he was morally certain that his opponent 
 was bluffing. Had Miles " filled " then, with his one card ; and 
 was a straight being played against a straight, or a flush 
 against a flush ? Or had the stolid young man started with 
 fours? The subdued excitement with which this duel was 
 now being regarded was enthralling ; they forgot to protest 
 against the wild raising of the bets ; and when Lionel and his 
 implacable foe, having exhausted all their money, had recourse 
 to nods merely marking their indebtedness to the pool on a 
 bit of paper lying beside them the others could only guess 
 at the amount that was being played for. It was Lionel who 
 gave in : clearly that insatiate bloodsucker was not to bo 
 whaken off. 
 
 44 1 call you." 
 
 " Three nines," was the answer and Miles laid down on the 
 
Prius Dementant. 355 
 
 table a pair of nines and the Joker. The other two were 
 worthless : clearly he had taken the one card as a blind. 
 
 " That is good enough take away the money," Lionel said 
 calmly ; and the younger man, with quite as expressionless a 
 face, raked over the pile of gold, bank-notes and counters. 
 
 There was a general sense of relief : that strain had been too 
 intense. 
 
 " Very magnificent, you know," said the player who was 
 next to Lionel, as he placed his ante on the table, " but it isn't 
 poker. I think if you fix a limit you should stick to it. Have 
 your private bets if you like ; but let us have a limit that 
 allows everybody to see the fun." 
 
 " Oh, certainly I agree to that," Lionel said at once. " We 
 will keep to the sovereign limit; and Mr. Miles and I will 
 understand well enough what we are betting when we happen 
 to play against each other:" 
 
 Thereafter the game went more quietly, though Lionel was 
 clearly playing with absolute carelessness : no doubt his com- 
 panions understood that he could not hope to retrieve his losses 
 in this moderate play. He seemed tired, too, and dispirited : 
 frequently he threw up his cards without drawing which was 
 unusual with him. 
 
 " Have a drink, old man, to wake you up," his neighbour said 
 to him, about half-past two. 
 
 "No thanks," he answered, listlessly looking on at the 
 cards. 
 
 " A cigarette, then?" 
 
 " No, thanks. I think I must give up smoking altogether 
 my throat isn't quite right." 
 
 But an extraordinary stroke of good luck aroused him. On 
 looking at his cards he found he had been dealt four aces and a 
 ten. Surely the hour of his revenge had sounded at last : for 
 with such a hand he could easily frighten the others out, while 
 he knew that Percival Miles would remain in, if he had any- 
 thing at all. Accordingly when it came to his turn he raised 
 before the draw raised the pool a sovereign ; and this caused 
 two of the players to retire, leaving himself, Miles and the 
 dealer. He took one card to his astonishment and concealed 
 delight he found it wasthe Joker. Five aces ! surely on such 
 a hand he might bet his furniture, his clothes, his last cigarette. 
 Five aces ! it was nothing but brute force : all that was wanted 
 was to pile on the money : he could well afford to be reckless 
 this time. He saw that Miles also asked for one card, and that 
 
 2 A 2 
 
356 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 the dealer helped himself to two; but what they took was a 
 matter of supreme indifference to him. 
 
 It was Percival Miles's turn to bet. 
 
 " I will bet a sovereign," said he. 
 
 " And I'll stay in with you," remarked the dealer, depositing 
 the golden coin. 
 
 "One better," said Lionel. 
 
 " And one better," said Miles. 
 
 Here the dealer retired ; so that these two were left in as 
 before well, not as before, for Lionel had five aces in his 
 hand ! And now they made no pretence of keeping to the 
 limit that had been imposed ; their bets were registered on the 
 bit of paper which each had by him ; and pertinaciously did 
 these two gladiators hack and slash at each other. Lionel 
 was quite reckless. His enemy had taken one card. Very 
 well. Supposing he had " filled " a flush or a straight, so 
 much the better. Supposing he also had got fours that, too, 
 was excellent well; for he could have nothing higher than 
 four kings. Strictly speaking, there was only one hand that 
 could beat Lionel's a straight flush; but then a straight flush 
 is an uncommonly rare thing : and besides, the appearance of 
 five aces in one's hand seems to convey a sense of quite un- 
 limited power. That five aces are technically* no better than 
 four aces does not strike the possessor of them ; he regards the 
 goodly show and strives to conceal his elation. 
 
 But even the onlookers, intensely interested as they were in 
 this fell combat, began to grow afraid when they guessed at 
 the sum that was now in the imaginary pool. The story 
 might get about the club ; the Committee might shut up the 
 card-room ; there might be a talk of expulsion. As for Lionel, 
 he kept saying to himself, " Well, this is a safe thing ; and I 
 could go on all night ; but I won't take a brutal advantage. 
 As soon as I think I have got back about what this young 
 fellow has already taken from me since he came into the club, 
 I will stop. I don't want to break him. I don't want to send 
 him to the money-lenders." 
 
 As for the pale young man across the table, his demeanour 
 was that of a perfect poker-player. The only thing that could 
 be noticed was a slight contraction of his pupils, as if he were 
 concentrating his eyes on the things immediately around him, 
 and trying to leave his face quite inscrutable. There was no 
 
 * Technically this is BO ; but practically the holder of the five aces has the 
 advantage of knowing that his opponent cannot have the Joker. 
 
A Memorable Day. 357 
 
 eagerness in his betting nor was there any affected resignation ; 
 it was entirely meohanical ; like clockwork came the raised and 
 raised bet. 
 
 " I call you," said Lionel at last, amid a breathless silence. 
 
 Without a word Percival Miles laid his cards on the table, 
 arranging them in sequence : they were five, six, seven, eight, 
 and nine of clubs not an imposing hand, certainly, but Lionel 
 knew his doom was sealed. He rose from his chair, with a brief 
 laugh that did not sound very natural. 
 
 " I think I know when I've had enough," he said. " Good- 
 night ! " And " Good-night ! " came from one and all of them 
 though there was an ominous pause until the door was shut 
 behind him. 
 
 He went down below, to the supper-room, which was all 
 deserted now ; he drew in a chair to a small writing-table, and 
 took a sheet of note-paper. On it he scrawled, with rather a 
 feverish hand 
 
 "As I understand it, I owe you 800 on this evening, with 
 300 from yesterday 1,100 in all. I will try to let you have 
 it to-morrow. L. M." and that he put in an envelope, which 
 he addressed to " Percival Miles, Esq.," and sent up-stairs by one 
 of the servants. Then he went and got his coat and hat, and 
 left. It was raining hard, and there was a blustering wind ; 
 but he called no hansom ; the wet and cold seemed grateful to 
 him, for he was hot and excited. And then, somewhat blindly, 
 and bare- throated, he passed through the streaming thorough- 
 fares caring little how long it took him to reach Piccadilly. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 A MEMORABLE DAY. 
 
 "... BUT do you know, dear Maurice, that you propose 
 marrying a beggar; and more than that, a most unabashed 
 beggar, as you will be saying to yourself presently ? The fact 
 is, immediately after you left this afternoon, the post brought 
 me a letter from Sister Alexandra, who tells me that two of her 
 small children, suffering from hip-disease, must be sent home, 
 for the doctors say they are getting no better, and the beds in 
 the ward are wanted. They are not fit to be sent home, she 
 writes; then all the Country Holiday money collected last 
 
358 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 summer has been spent ; and what is she to do ? Well, I have 
 told her to send them on to me, and I shall take my chance of 
 finding the 5 that will be necessary : the fact is, I happen to 
 know one of the poor little things Grace Wilson her name is, 
 the dearest little mite. But the truth is, dear Marvrice, I 
 haven't a penny ; for I have overdrawn the small allowance 
 that comes to me quarterly, and spent it all. Now don't bo 
 vexed that I ask you, so soon, for a little help ; a sovereign will 
 do, if Linn will give another ; and Linn has always been very 
 good to me in this way, though for some time back I have been 
 ashamed to take anything from him. The Doctor grumbles, 
 but gives me five shillings whenever I ask him ; Auntie will 
 give me the same ; and the rest I can get from our friends and 
 acquaintances about here. Don't be impatient with me, dear 
 Maurice ; and some day I will take you down to Whitechapel 
 and show you the very prettiest sight in the whole world 
 and that is Sister Alexandra with her fifty children. . . ." 
 
 Maurice Mangan read this passage as he was driving in a 
 hansom along Pall Mall, on his way to call on Lionel. The 
 previous portion of the letter, which more intimately concerned 
 herself and himself, he had read several times over before 
 coming out, studying every phrase of it as if it were an 
 individual treasure, and trying to listen for the sound of her 
 voice in every sentence. And as for this more practical matter, 
 why, although he was rather a poor man, he thought he was 
 not going to allow Francie to wander about in search of 
 grudging shillings and half-crowns so long as he himself could 
 come to her aid ; so at the foot of St. James's Street, he stopped 
 the hansom, went into the telegraph- oflice, and sent off" the 
 following message : " Five pounds will reach you to-morrow 
 morning. You cannot refuse my first gift in our new relation- 
 ship. Maurice." And thereafter he went on to Piccadilly 
 feeling richer, indeed, rather than poorer. 
 
 When he rang the bell at Lionel's lodgings, it was with no 
 very clear idea of the message or counsel he was bringing with 
 him ; but the news he now received put all these things out of his 
 head. The house-porter appeared, looking somewhat concerned. 
 
 " Yes, sir, Mr. Moore is up-stairs ; but I'm afraid he's very 
 unwell." 
 
 " What is the matter ? " Maurice asked instantly. 
 
 " He must have got wet coming home last night, sir ; and he 
 has caught a bad cold. I've just been for Dr. Whitsen ; and he 
 will bo here at twelve." 
 
A Memorable Day. ' 359 
 
 " But Dr. Whitsen is a throat doctor- 
 
 " Yes, sir ; but it is always his throat Mr. Mooro is most 
 anxious about ; and when he found himself husky this morning, 
 he would take nothing but a raw egg beaten up, and a little 
 port wine negus ; and now he won't speak he will only write 
 on a piece of paper. He is saving himself for the theatre 
 to-night, sir, I think that is it ; but would you like to go up and 
 see him ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, I will go up and see him," Mangan said ; and 
 without more ado he ascended the stairs and made his way into 
 Lionel's bedroom. 
 
 He found his friend under a perfect mountain of clothes that 
 had been heaped upon him ; and certainly he was not shivering 
 now on the contrary, his face was flushed and hot, and his 
 eyes singularly bright and restless. As soon as Lionel saw who 
 this new-comer was, he made a sign that a block of paper and a 
 pencil lying on the table should be brought to him; and 
 turning slightly, he put the paper on the pillow and wrote 
 
 " I'm nursing my voice hope to be all right by night are 
 you busy to-day, Maurice ? " 
 
 " No there is no House on Saturday," Maurice made 
 answer. 
 
 " I wish you would stay by me," Lionel wrote with rather a 
 shaky hand. " I'm in dreadful trouble. I undertook to pay 
 Percival Miles 1,100 and Lord Eockminster 300 to-day 
 without fail ; and I haven't a farthing ; and don't know where 
 to send or what to do." 
 
 " Oh, never mind about money ! " Maurice said, almost 
 impatiently for there was something about the young man's 
 appearance he did not at all like. " Why should you worry 
 about that ? The important^business is for you to get well " 
 
 " I tell you I MUST pay Eockminster to-day," the trembling 
 pencil scrawled. " He was the only one of them who stood my 
 friend. I tell you I MUST pay him if I have to get up and go 
 out and seek for the money myself " 
 
 " Nonsense ! " Mangan exclaimed. " What do people care 
 about a day or two, when they hear you are ill ? However, you 
 needn't worry, Linn. As for that other sum you mention, well, 
 that is beyond me I couldn't lay my hands on it at once but 
 as for the 300, I will lend you that so set your mind at rest 
 on that point." 
 
 " And you'll give it into Lord Eockminster's own hands 
 this day f " 
 
360 TJie New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " Surely it will be quite the same if I send the cheque by a 
 commissionaire : he must get it sooner or later." 
 
 The earnest, restless eyes looked strangely supplicating. 
 
 " Into his own hands, Maurice ! " 
 
 " Very well very well," Mangan had just time to say for 
 here was the doctor. 
 
 Dr. Whitsen examined his patient with the customary pro- 
 fessional calm and reticence; asked a few questions which 
 Lionel answered with such husky voice as was left him ; and 
 then he said 
 
 " Yes, you have caught a severe chill, and your system is 
 feverish generally : the throat is distinctly congested " 
 
 " But to-night, doctor the theatre to-night ! " Lionel broke 
 in, excitedly. " Surely by eight o'clock " 
 
 "Oh, quite impossible: not to be thought of," the doctor 
 responded with decision. 
 
 " Why can't you do something to tide me over for the one 
 night ? " the young man said, with appealing and almost pathetic 
 eyes. " I've never disappointed the public once before never 
 once. And if I could only get over to-night, there's the long 
 rest to-morrow and Monday " 
 
 " Come, come," said the doctor, soothingly, " you must not 
 excite yourself about a mere trifle. You know it is no uncommon 
 thing ; and the public don't resent it ; they would be most un- 
 reasonable if they did. Singers are but mortal, like themselves. 
 No, no, you must put that out of your mind altogether." 
 
 Lionel turned to Maurice. 
 
 " Maurice," he said, in that husky voice, and yet with a 
 curious subdued eagerness, " telegraph to Lehmann at once 
 at once. Doyle is all right ; he has sung the part often enough. 
 And will you send a note to Doyle he can go into my dressing- 
 room and take any of my things he wants : Lingard has the 
 keys. And a telegram to mother in case she should see some- 
 thing in the newspapers : tell her there is nothing the matter 
 only a trifling cold " 
 
 '* Really, Mr. Moore," said the doctor, interposing, " you must 
 have a little care; you must calm yourself; I am sure your 
 friend will attend to all these matters for you ; but in the mean- 
 time you must exercise the greatest self-control, or you may do 
 your throat some serious injury. Why should you bo disturbed 
 by so common an incident in professional life ? Your substitute 
 will do well enough ; and the public will greet you with all 
 the greater favour on your return," 
 
A Memorable Day. 361 
 
 " It never happened before," the young man said, in lower 
 tones. " I never had to give in before " 
 
 " Now tell me," Dr. Whitson continued. "Dr. Ballardyce ia 
 'your usual medical attendant, is he not ? " 
 
 " I know him very well ; ho is an old friend of mine ; but 
 I've never had occasion to trouble him much," was the answer, 
 given with some greater care and reserve. 
 
 " I will call on him as I go by ; and if possible we will come 
 down together in the afternoon," the doctor said ; and then 
 Maurice fetched him writing materials from the other room, 
 and he sate down at the little table. Before he went, ho 
 gave some general directions ; then the two friends were left 
 alone. 
 
 Lionel took up the pencil again, and turned to the block of 
 paper. 
 
 " The 300, Maurice," his trembling fingers scrawled, showing 
 how his mind was still torturing itself with these obligations. 
 
 " Oh, that's all right," Maurice answered lightly. " You give 
 me Lord Rockminster's address, and I'll take the cheque to him 
 myself as soon as the doctors have been here in the afternoon. 
 Don't you worry about that, Linn, or about anything ; for you 
 know you mustn't increase that feverishness, or we shall have 
 you a right down bond fide patient on our hands ; and then when 
 will you get back to the theatre again ? I am going out now 
 to telegraph to Lehmann. But I don't think I need alarm the 
 Winstead people ; you see, they don't read the Sunday papers ; 
 and, indeed, if I send a note now to Francie, she will get it 
 the first thing in the morning. Linn," he continued, after a 
 moment's hesitation, "are you too much upset by your own 
 affairs to listen to a bit of news ? I came with the intention of 
 telling you ; but perhaps I'd better wait until you get over 
 these present troubles 
 
 Lionel looked at him with those bright, restless eyes for a 
 second or two, as if to gather something from his expression ; 
 and then he wrote 
 
 " Is it about Erancie ? " 
 
 Maurice nodded : it was enough. Lionel stretched out his 
 hot hand, and took that of his companion. 
 
 " I am glad," he said in a low voice. And then, after a 
 moment or two's thinking, he turned to his writing again ; 
 " Well, it is hard, Maurice. I have been looking forward to 
 this for many a day, and have been wondering how I should 
 congratulate you both. And I get the news now when I'm 
 
362 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 ruined. I haven't enough money even to buy a wedding- 
 present for Francie ! " 
 
 " Do you think she will mind that? " Mangan said, cheerfully. 
 " But I'm going to send her your good wishes, Linn now, 
 when I write. And look here, if she should come up to see you 
 or your father and mother for it is quite possible the doctors 
 may insist on your giving your voice a rest for a considerable 
 while well, if they should come up from Winstead, mind you 
 say nothing about your monetary troubles. They needn't be 
 mentioned to anybody ; nor need they worry you ; I dare say I 
 shall be able to get something more done. Only, if the Winstead 
 people should come up, don't you say anything to them about 
 these monetary affairs, or connect me with them ; for it might 
 put me into an awkward position you understand ? " 
 
 And the last words Lionel wrote on the block of paper before 
 Mangan went out to execute his various commissions were 
 these 
 
 " You are a good friend, Maurice." 
 
 When the doctors arrived in the afternoon, Mangan had come 
 back. They found Lionel complaining of acute headache and a 
 burning thirst ; his skin hot and dry ; pulse full and quick ; 
 also he seemed drowsy and heavy, though his eyes retained 
 their restless brightness. There could be no doubt, as they 
 privately informed Maurice, he was in the first stages of a 
 violent fever*; and the best thing that could be done was to 
 get in a professional nurse at once. Yes, Mr. Mangan might 
 communicate with his friends ; his father, being himself a 
 doctor, would judge whether it was worth while coming up just 
 then ; but of course it would be inadvisable to have a lot of 
 relations crowding the sick-room. Obviously the immediate 
 cause of the fever was the chill caught on the previous night ; 
 but there might have been|predisposing causes ; and everything 
 calculated to excite the mind unduly was to be kept away from 
 him. As for the throat, there were no dangerous symptoms as 
 yet ; the simple congestion would probably disappear, when the 
 fever abated, with a return to health : but the people at the 
 theatre might as well know that it would be a long time before 
 Mr. Moore could return to his duties. Dr. Ballardyce would 
 see at once about having a professional nurse sent : meanwhile, 
 quiet, rest, and the absence of mental disturbance were the 
 great things. And so the two augurs departed. 
 
 The moment that Mangan returned to Lionel's room, the 
 latter glanced at him quickly and furtively. 
 
A Memorable Day. 363 
 
 " Are they gone, Maurice ? " ho whispered. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " And the cheque for Lord Kockminster ? " 
 
 " There it is, already drawn out," was the answer, as the slip 
 of lilac paper was unfolded. " But I can't take it to him until 
 the nurse comes certainly not." 
 
 " She may be an hour, Maurice," Lionel said restlessly. " I don't 
 want anybody to wait on me. If you think it necessary, call up 
 Mrs. Jenkins, and she can sit in the next room : the bell here is 
 enough. Oh, my head ! my head ! " and he turned away 
 wearily. 
 
 Maurice saw well enough that he would never rest until this 
 money was paid ; so he called up the house-porter's wife, and 
 gave her some instructions ; and forthwith set off for the address 
 in Palace Gardens Terrace which Lionel had given him. 
 When he arrived there, he was informed that his lordship was 
 not at home. His pressed his inquiries ; he said his business 
 was of the utmost importance ; and at last he elicited, after 
 considerable waiting, that though no one in the house could 
 say whither Lord Eockminster had gone, it was understood that 
 he was dining at the Universities Club that evening. With 
 this information Mangan returned to Piccadilly. He found the 
 nurse already arrived, and installed. He pacified Lionel with 
 the news; for, if he went along to the Universities Club at 
 half-past eight, he must surely be able to place the money in 
 Lord Rockminster's own hands. 
 
 " Maurice, you're awfully kind," his friend murmured. " And 
 you've had nothing to eat all day. Tell Mrs. Jenkins to get you 
 something " 
 
 " Oh, that's all right," Mangan said, carelessly. " I'll just 
 scribble a line to Francie, to tell her what the doctors have said ; 
 and I'll take that down to the post myself. Then I'll get some- 
 thing to eat ; and come back here ; and at half-past eight I'm 
 going along to Pall Mall, where I'm certain to catch Lord 
 Kockminster so that it's all quite right and straight, you see." 
 But as it chanced, when he went along to the Universities 
 that evening, he found he had missed his man by only a 
 minute or two. He was surprised and troubled ; he knew how 
 Lionel would fret. The hall-porter did not know whither Lord 
 Rockminster had gone : that is to say, he almost certainly did 
 know, but it was not his business to tell. Luckily, at this same 
 moment, there was a young fellow leaving the club, and as he 
 was lighting his cigar, he heard Maurice's inquiries and 
 
364 The Neiv Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 perhaps was rather struck by his appearance, which was 
 certainly not that of a sheriff's officer. 
 
 " I think I can tell you where they have gone, sir," said the 
 young man, good-naturedly. " Some of them had an early 
 dinner to-night, to go up to the billiard-handicap at the Palm- 
 Tree: I fancy Lord Eockminster was of the party, and that 
 you will find him there." 
 
 This information proved correct, Mangan went up to the 
 Palm-Tree Club in St. James's Street; and sent in his card. 
 Almost directly he was invited to step upstairs to the billiard- 
 room. Just as he entered the door, he saw Lord Eockminster 
 leave the raised bench where he had been seated by the side of 
 a very artificial-looking palm-tree stem, and the next moment 
 the two men were face-to-face. 
 
 "How do you do, Mr. Mangan?" Lord Eockminster said, in 
 his usual impassive way. " You remember I had the pleasure 
 of meeting you at my sister's. What is the matter with your 
 friend Mr. Moore? I see by the evening paper he is not to 
 appear to-night." 
 
 " He is far from well a chill followed by a fever," Mangan 
 answered. " I have just come from him, with a message for 
 you." 
 
 " Oh, really," said the young nobleman. * Ah, I dare say I 
 know ; but I assure you it is quite unnecessary. Tell him not 
 to mind. When a fellow's ill, why should he be troubled ? " 
 
 Maurice had taken out his pocket-book, and was searching 
 for the lilac slip. 
 
 " But here is the cheque, Lord Eockminster ; and nothing 
 would do him but that I must give it into your own hands." 
 
 "Oh, really.'] 
 
 Lord Eockminster took the cheque, and happened to glance 
 at it. 
 
 " Ah, I see this is drawn out by yourself, Mr. Mangan," ho 
 said. *'I presume eh that you have lent Mr. Moore the 
 money." 
 
 Maurice hesitated ; but there was no prevarication handy. 
 
 " If you ask the question, it is so. However, I suppose it is 
 all the same." 
 
 " All the same ? yes," Lord Eockminster said slowly ; " with 
 only this difference, that before he owed me the money, and 
 now he owes it to you. I don't see any necessity for that 
 arrangement. I haven't asked him for it ; I shan't ask him for 
 it until he is quite ready and able to pay; why, therefore, 
 
A Memorable Day. 365 
 
 should lie borrow from you? Take back your cheque, Mr. 
 Mangan ; I understand what you were willing to do for your 
 friend ; I assure you it is quite uncalled for." 
 
 But Maurice refused. He explained all the circumstances of 
 the case Lionel's feverish condition, his fretting about the 
 debt, the necessity for keeping his mind pacified, and so on ; 
 and at last Lord Eockminster said 
 
 " Very well; you can tell him you have given me the cheque. 
 At the same time you can't compel me to pay it into my 
 bankers; and I don't see why I should take 300 of your 
 money when you don't owe me any. When Mr. Moore gets 
 perfectly well again, you can tell him he still owes me 300 
 and he can take his own time about paying it." And with that 
 Maurice took his leave, Lord Eockminster going down the 
 stair with him and out to the hall-door, where he bade him 
 good-bye. 
 
 When he returned to Piccadilly, he said to the nurse 
 
 " I suppose you can sleep at a moment's notice ? " 
 
 " Pretty well, sir," she answered, with a demure professional 
 smile. 
 
 " Then you'd better find out this room that Mrs. Jenkins has 
 got for j'ou, and lie down for a few hours. I shan't be leaving 
 until after midnight perhaps one or two o'clock. Then, when 
 I go, you can have this sofa here ; and I shall be back early in 
 the morning, to give you another rest." 
 
 " Thank you, sir." 
 
 He went into the adjoining room. 
 
 " Headache any better, Linn, my boy ? " he asked, stooping 
 over the bed. 
 
 There was no answer for a second or two : then the eyes were 
 opened, showing a drowsy, pained expression. 
 
 *' Did you see him, Maurice ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, that's all settled," Mangan said, cheerfully. " I 
 can't say there is much of the grasping creditor about your 
 friend. I could hardly persuade him to take the cheque at all 
 after I had hunted him from place to place. What made you 
 so desperately punctilious, Linn ? You don't imagine he would 
 have talked about it to any women-folk, even supposing you 
 had not paid up ? Is that it ? No, no, you can't imagine he 
 would do anything of that kind : I should call him a thoroughly 
 good fellow, if one might be so familiar with our betters. How- 
 ever, I don't want you to say anything ; you mustn't speak ; 
 I'm going to talk to you." He drew in a chair to the bedside, 
 
366 The New Prince Foriunatus. 
 
 and sate down. " Now I wish you to understand. You've got 
 a mortal bad cold, which may develop into a fever ; and you 
 have a slightly congested throat ; altogether, you must consider 
 yourself an invalid, old man ; and it may be some time before 
 you can get back to the theatre. Now the first thir*g for you is 
 peace of mind ; you're not to worry about anything ; you've 
 got to dismiss every possible care and vexation." 
 
 "It's all you know, Maurice," the sick man said, with a 
 wearied sigh. 
 
 "Oh, I know more than you think. We'll just take one 
 thing at a time. About this 1100, for example. You are 
 aware I am not, strictly speaking, a Croesus, yet I have made 
 my little economies, and they are tied up in one or two fairly 
 
 safe things. Well, now Oh, be quiet, Linn, and let me 
 
 have it out. Something happened to me yesterday that more 
 than ever convinced me of the worthlessness of riches. You 
 know the coppice that goes up from Winstead Station. At the 
 further end there is a gate. At that gate yesterday I heard a 
 dozen words twenty or thirty, perhaps that were of more 
 value to me than Pactolus in full flood or all the money heaped 
 up in Aladdin's cave. And now I am so puffed up with joy and 
 pride that I am going still further to despise my wealth my 
 hoards and vast accumulations ; and on Monday, if I can, I am 
 going to get you that 1100, just as sure as ever was " 
 
 " Maurice you have to think of Francie," Lionel said, in his 
 husky low voice. And here Mangan paused for a second 
 or two. 
 
 " Well," said he, more thoughtfully, " what happened yester- 
 day certainly involves responsibilities ; but these haven't been 
 assumed yet ; and the nearest duty is the one to be considered. 
 I don't know whether I shall tell Francie ; I may, or I may 
 not ; but I am certain that if I do she will approve certain as 
 that I am alive." 
 
 " I won't rob Francie," said Lionel, with a little moan of 
 weariness or pain. 
 
 " You can't rob her of what she hasn't got," Mangan said, 
 promptly. " I know this, that if Francie knew you were in 
 these straits, and worrying about it, she would instantly come 
 up and offer you her own little money, which is not a very large 
 fortune, as I understand : and I also know that you would 
 refuse it." 
 
 " A dose of prussic acid, first," Lionel murmured to himself. 
 
 " Prussic acid ! Bosh ! " said Maurice. " What is the use of 
 
A Memorable Day. 367 
 
 talking rubbish ! Well, I'm not going to let you talk at all. 
 I'm going to read you the news out of the evening papers, until 
 you go to sleep." 
 
 When Dr. Ballardyce called next morning, he found that the 
 fever had gained apace ; all the symptoms were aggravated 
 the temperature, in especial, had seriously increased. The sick 
 man lay drowsily indifferent, now and again moaning slightly ; 
 but sometimes he would waken up, and then there was a 
 curiously anxious and restless look in his eyes. The nurse said 
 she was afraid he had not been asleep at all, though occasionally 
 he had appeared to be asleep. When the doctor left again, she 
 was sent to bed, and Maurice Mangan took her place in the 
 sitting-room. 
 
 That was an extraordinary Sunday, long to be remembered. 
 Anything more hopelessly dismal than the outlook from these 
 Piccadilly windows it was impossible to imagine. The gale of 
 Friday had blown itself out in rain ; and that had been followed 
 by stagnant weather and a continuous drizzle ; so that the trees 
 in the Green Park opposite looked like black phantoms in the 
 vague grey mist ; while every thing seemed wet and clammy 
 and cold. Maurice paced up and down the room, his feet shod 
 in noiseless slippers ; or he gazed out on that melancholy 
 spectacle until he thought of suicide ; or again he would go 
 into the adjoining apartment, to see how his friend was getting 
 on, or whether he wanted anything. But as the day wore 
 on, matters became a little brisker ; for there were numerous 
 callers, and some of them waited to have a special message 
 sent down to them ; while others, knowing Mangan, and 
 learning that he was in charge of the invalid, came up to 
 have a word with himself. Baskets of flowers began to arrive, 
 too ; and these, of course, must have come from private con- 
 servatories. No one was allowed to enter the sick-room ; but 
 Maurice carried thither the news of all this kindly remem- 
 brance and sympathy, as something that might be grateful to 
 his patient. 
 
 " You've got a tremendous number of friends, Linn, and no 
 mistake," he said. "Many a great statesman or poet might 
 envy you." 
 
 "I suppose it is in the papers?" Lionel asked, without raising 
 his head. 
 
 " In one or two of the late editions last evening, and in most of 
 to-day's papers ; but to-morrow it will be all over the country 
 I have had several London correspondents here this afternoon." 
 
368 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " All over the country ? " Lionel repeated absently ; and tlien 
 lie lay still for a second or two. " No use no use ! " he moaned 
 in so low a voice that Mangan could hardly hear. And then 
 again he looked up wearily. 
 
 " Come here, Maurice. I want to to ask you something. If 
 if I were to die do you think they would put it in any of 
 the papers abroad ? " 
 
 " Nonsense what are you talking about ! " Maurice ex- 
 claimed, in a simulated anger. *' Talking of dying because 
 you've got a feverish cold : that's not like you, Linn ! You're 
 not going to frighten your people when they come up from 
 Winstead, by talking like that ? " 
 
 " Don't let them come up," was all he said ; and shut his 
 eyes again. 
 
 Among the callers that afternoon who, learning that Mr. 
 Mangan was upstairs, came personally to make inquiries, was 
 Miss Burgoyne, who was accompanied by her brother. 
 
 " What is the matter ? " she said, briefly, to Maurice. " One 
 never can trust what is in the newspapers." 
 
 He told her. 
 
 " Serious ? " 
 
 " That depends," he said, in a low voice, as they stood 
 together at the window. "I hope not. But I suppose the 
 fever will have to run its course." 
 
 "It will be some time before he can be back at the 
 theatre?" 
 
 " It will be a very long time. There is some slight conges- 
 tion of the throat as well. When he pulls through with the 
 fever, he will most likely be sent abroad, for rest to his throat." 
 
 She [considered for a second or two ; then she said, with a 
 matter-of-fact air 
 
 " They needn't make a fuss about that. His throat will be 
 all right. It is only repeated congestions that seriously affect 
 the membrane; and he has been exceptionally lucky or 
 exceptionally strong, perhaps. Who is his doctor ? " 
 
 " Dr. Ballardyce." 
 
 * Don't know him." 
 
 " Then there's Dr. Whitsen." 
 
 "Oh, that's all right he'll do. It's the voice that's tho 
 important thing: the general system must take its chance. 
 Well, tell him I'm very sorry. I suppose there's nothing one 
 can send him ? " 
 
 " Thank you, I don't think there is anything. Look at the 
 
A Memorable Day. 369 
 
 flowers and grapes and things there already and this is 
 Sunday." 
 
 She glanced at those gifts with open disdain. 
 
 " Very easy for rich folks to show their sympathy by sending 
 an order to their head gardener ! " 
 
 " I will tell him that you called, and left kind messages for 
 him." 
 
 " Yes, tell him that. And tell him Doyle does very well 
 quite well enough though he's as nervous as a pantomime- 
 girl hoisted in a transformation-scene. If I were you," con- 
 tinued this extremely practical young lady, " I wouldn't let 
 any of the newspaper men know that it may be a considerable 
 time before Mr. Moore is back. Nobody likes to lose touch of 
 the public more than he can help, you understand ; and if 
 they're always expecting you back, that's something. Good- 
 bye ! " 
 
 Maurice accompanied her downstairs and to the door ; then 
 he returned to the sitting-room, and to his private meditations. 
 For this brief interview had been of the keenest interest to 
 him ; he had studied every expression of her face, listened to 
 every intonation of her voice : almost forced, in spite of himself, 
 to admire her magnificent nerve. But now, of course, in 
 recalling all these things, he was thinking of Francie ; ag a 
 man invariably does when he places the one woman of the 
 world on a pedestal, that all the rest of her sex may be com- 
 pared with her ; and even his extorted admiration of the prima 
 donna's coolness, and self-possession, and business-like tact, did 
 not prevent his rejoicing at the thought that Francie and 
 Miss Burgoyne were poles asunder. 
 
 That evening Maurice was startled. He had gone very 
 quietly into the sick-room, just to see how his patient was 
 getting on ; and found him breathing heavily, and also rest- 
 lessly muttering to himself. Perhaps even the slight noise 
 of his entrance had attracted the notice of one abnormally 
 sensitive ; at all events, Lionel opened his eyes, which were no 
 longer drowsy but eager and excited, and said 
 
 " Maurice, have you not sent for Nina yet ? " 
 
 "For Nina?" 
 
 " Oh, yes, yes," Lionel went on, as quickly as his labouring 
 breath would allow. " How can I go abroad without saying 
 good-bye to Nina ? Tell Jenkins to go down to Sloane-street 
 at once at once, Maurice before she leaves for the theatre. 
 I have been waiting for her all day I heard the people coming 
 
 2 B 
 
370 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 up one after another but not Nina. And I cannot go without 
 saying good-bye. I want to tell her something. She must 
 make friends with Miss Burgoyne, now she has got into the 
 theatre. Lehmann will give her a better part by-and-bye 
 oh, yes, I'll see to that for Nina and I must write to Pandiani, 
 to tell him of her success " 
 
 " Oh, but that's all settled, Linn," his friend broke in, 
 perceiving the situation at once. " Now you just keep quiet ; 
 and it will be all perfectly arranged perfectly. Of course 
 I know you are glad your old friend and companion has got 
 a place in the theatre." 
 
 " Yes, she was my friend she was my friend once," he said ; 
 and he looked appealingly to Maurice ; " but but I sometimes 
 think sometimes it is my head that there is something wrong. 
 Can you tell me, Maurice ? There is something I don't know 
 what but it troubles me I cannot tell what it is. When she 
 was here to-day, she would not speak to me. She came and 
 looked. She stood by the door there. She had on the black 
 dress and the crimson bonnet but she had forgotten her music 
 I thought perhaps she was going down to the theatre but 
 why wouldn't she speak to me, Maurice? she did not look 
 angry she looked like like oh, just like Nina and I could 
 not ask her why she would not say anything my throat was 
 so bad 
 
 " Yes, I know that, Linn," Maurice said, gently, " and that 
 is why you mustn't talk any more now. You must lie still 
 and rest, so that you may take your place in the theatre 
 again " 
 
 " But haven't they told you I am never going to the theatre 
 again?" he said, eagerly. "Oh, no; as soon as I can I am 
 going away abroad I am going away all over the world 
 to find some one. You said she was my friend and my good 
 comrade do you think I could let her be away in some distant 
 place, and all alone I could not rest in my grave ! It may be 
 Malta or Cairo or Australia or San Francisco but that is 
 what I am set on I have thought of it so long that that I 
 think my head has got tired and my heart a little bit broken, 
 as they say only I never believed in that: never mind, 
 Maurice, I am going away to find Nina ah, that will be a 
 surprise some day a surprise just as when she first came here 
 into the room in the black dress and the crimson bonnet 
 la cianciosclla, she was going away again ! she was always so 
 proud and easily offended always the cianciosella ! 
 
A Memorable Day. 371 
 
 He turned a little, and moaned, and lay still ; and Maurice, 
 fearing that his presence would only add to this delirious 
 excitement, was about to slip from the room, when his sick 
 friend called him back. 
 
 " Maurice, don't forget this now ! When she comes again, 
 you must stand by her at the door there, and tell her not to be 
 frightened : I am not so very ill. Tell Nina not to be frightened. 
 She used not to be frightened. Ask her to remember the after- 
 noons when I had the broken ankle she and Sabetta Debernardi 
 used to come nearly every day and Sabetta brought her zither 
 and Nina and I played dominoes. Maurice, you never heard 
 Nina sing to herself just to herself, not thinking and some- 
 times Sabetta would play a barcarola oh, there was one that 
 Nina used to sing sometimes Da la parte de Castelo ziraremo 
 mio tesoro mio tesoro ! la passara el Bucintoro per condur el 
 Dose in mar I heard it last night again but but all stringed 
 instruments and the sound of wind and waves it was so 
 strange and terrible when I was listening for Nina's voice. 
 I think it was at Capri along the shores but it was night- 
 time and I could not hear Nina because of the wind and the 
 waves. Oh, it was terrible, Maurice. The sea was roaring all 
 round the shores and it was so black only I thought if the 
 water was about to come up and drown me, it might it might 
 take me away somewhere I don't know where perhaps to the 
 place where Nina's ship went down, in the dark. Why did she 
 go away, Maurice ? why did she go away from us all ? the 
 poor cianciosella ! " 
 
 These rambling, wearied, broken utterances were suddenly 
 arrested : there was a tapping at the outer door and Lionel 
 turned frightened, anxious eyes on his friend. 
 
 " I'll go and see who it is," Mangan said, quietly. " Mean- 
 while you must lie perfectly quiet and still, Linn, and be sure 
 that everything will come right." 
 
 In the next room, at the open door, he found the reporter of 
 a daily newspaper which was in the habit of devoting a column 
 every Monday morning to music and musicians. He was bidden 
 to enter. 'He said he wished to have the last authentic new/ 
 of the condition of the popular young baritone, for of course 
 there would be some talk, especially in " the profession," about 
 Mr. Moore's non-appearance on the preceding night. 
 
 " Well," said Maurice, in an undertone, " don't publish any- 
 thing alarming, you know, for he has friends and relatives who 
 fire naturally anxious. The fever has increased somewhat ; that 
 
 2 B 2 
 
372 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 is the usual thing ; a nervous fever must run its course. And 
 to-night he has been slightly delirious 
 
 " Oh, delirious ? " said the reporter, with a quick look. 
 
 " Slightly slightly just wandering a little in his feverish- 
 ness. I wouldn't make much of it. The public don't care for 
 medical details. When the crisis of the fever comes, there will 
 be something more definite to mention." 
 
 " If all goes well, when do you expect he will be able to 
 return to the New Theatre ? " 
 
 " That," said Maurice, remembering Miss Burgoyne's hint, 
 " it is quite impossible to say." 
 
 "Thanks," said the reporter. "Good-night!" "And there- 
 with Mangan returned to the sick-room. 
 
 ' He found that Lionel had forgotten all about having been 
 startled into silence by the tapping at the outer door. His 
 heated brain was busy with other bewildering possibilities 
 now. 
 
 " Maurice Maurice ! " he said eagerly. " It is near the time 
 quick, quick ! get me the box behind the music on the 
 piano " 
 
 " Look here, Linn," said his friend, with some affectation of 
 roughness, " you must really calm yourself, and be silent, or 
 I shall have to go and sit in the other room. You are straining 
 your throat every time you speak, and exciting yourself as 
 well." 
 
 " Ah, and it is my last chance ! " Lionel said, piteously, and 
 with burning eyes. " If you only knew, Maurice, you would 
 not refuse ! " 
 
 "Well, tell me quietly what you want," Mangan said. 
 
 " The box on the top of the piano," Lionel made answer, 
 in a low voice, but his eyes were tremblingly anxious. " Quick, 
 Maurice ! " 
 
 Mangan went and without any difficulty found the box that 
 held Nina's trinkets and returned with it. 
 
 "Open it!" Lionel said, clearly striving to conceal his 
 excitement. "Yes, }*es put these other things aside yes, 
 that is it the two cups take them separate : it isn't twelve 
 yet, is it? No, no ; there will be time ; now put them on the 
 table by the window there yes, that is it now pour some 
 wine into them never mind what, Maurice, only be quick ! " 
 
 Well, he could not refuse this appeal : he thought that most 
 likely the yielding to these incoherent wishes would prove the 
 best means of pacifying the feverecl mjnd ; so ho went into the 
 
A Memorable Day. 373 
 
 next room, and brought back some wine, and half-filled the two 
 tiny goblets. 
 
 "Now, wait, Maurice," Lionel said, slowly, and in a still 
 lower voice, though his eyes were afire. " Wait and watch 
 closely, closely don't breathe or speak. It is near twelve. 
 Watch. Do not take your eyes off them ; and at twelve o'clock, 
 when you see one of the cups move, then you must seize it 
 seize it, and seize Nina's hand ! and hold her fast ! Oh, I can 
 tell you she will not leave us any more not when I have 
 spoken to her and told her how cruel it was of her to go away. 
 I do not know where she is now ; but at twelve, all of a sudden, 
 there will be a kind of trembling of the air that is Nina for 
 she has been here before : how long to twelve now, Maurice ? " 
 he asked eagerly. 
 
 " Oh, it is a long time till twelve yet," his friend said. " I 
 think, if I were you, I would try to sleep for an hour or two ; 
 and I'll go into the other room so as not to disturb you." 
 
 " No, no, Maurice," Lionel said, with panting vehemence. 
 " You must not stir ! It is quite near, I tell you it is close on 
 twelve watch the cups, Maurice, and be ready to spring up 
 and seize her hand and hold her fast. Quite near twelve . . . 
 surely I hear something ... is it something outside the 
 window . . . like stringed instruments . . . and waves, dark 
 waves ... no, no ! Maurice, Maurice I it is in the next room ! 
 it is some one sobbing ! it is Nina-! Nina ! " 
 
 He uttered a loud shriek, and struggled wildly to raise him- 
 self ; but Maurice, with gentle pressure and persuasive words, 
 got him to lie still. 
 
 "It is past twelve now, Linn ; and you see there has been 
 nothing. We must wait ; and some day we will find out all 
 about Nina for you. Of course you would like to know about 
 your old companion. Oh, well find her, rest assured ! " 
 
 Lionel had turned away, and was lying moaning and mutter- 
 ing to himself. The only phrase his companion could make 
 out was something about " a wide, wide sea ... and all dark." 
 
 But Maurice, finding him now comparatively quiet, stealthily 
 put back the various trinkets into the box and carried it into 
 the other room. And then, hearing no further sound, he 
 remained there remained until the nurse came down to take 
 his place. 
 
 He told her what had occurred ; but she was familiar with 
 these things ; and doubtless knew much better than himself 
 how to deal with such emergencies. At the street-door he 
 
374 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 paused to light his pipe his first smoke that day, and surely 
 well-earned. Then he went away through the dark thorough- 
 fares down to Westminster, not without much pity and sadness 
 in his mind, also perhaps with some curious speculations 
 as to the lot of poor luckless mortals, their errors and redeeming 
 virtues, and the vagrant and cruel bufferings of fate. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 FRIENDS IN NEED. 
 
 ON the Monday morning matters were so serious that Mangan 
 telegraphed down to Winstead; but the old Doctor and his 
 wife, and Francie, were already on their way to town. When 
 they arrived in Piccadilly, and went into the sick-room, Lionel 
 did not know them : most likely he merely confused them with 
 the crowding phantoms of his brain. He was now in a high 
 state of fever; but the delirium was not violent; he lay mur- 
 muring and moaning, and it was only chance phrases they could 
 catch about some one being lost and a wide and dark sea 
 and so forth. Sometimes he fancied that Nina was standing at 
 the door ; and he would appeal piteously to her ; and then sink 
 back with a sigh, as if convinced once more that it was only a 
 vision. The Winstead people took apartments for themselves 
 at a hotel in Half-Moon Street ; but of course they spent nearly 
 all their time in this sitting-room, where they could do little but 
 listen to the reports of the doctors, and wait, and hope. 
 
 In the afternoon Mangan said 
 
 " Francie, you're not used to sitting indoors all day : won't 
 you come out for a little stroll in the Park over there ? " 
 
 " And I'm sure you want a breath of fresh air as much as any 
 one, Mr. Mangan," the old lady said. " What would my boy 
 have done without you all this time ! " 
 
 Francie at once and obediently put on her things, and she 
 and Maurice went down-stairs and crossed the street and entered 
 the Park, where they could walk up and down the unfrequented 
 ways, and talk as they pleased. 
 
 " I suppose you will be going down to the House of Commons 
 almost directly ? " she asked. 
 
 " Oh, no," he answered. " I've begged off. I could not think 
 of getting to work while Linn is so ill as that." 
 
 " Do you know what I have been thinking all day, Maurice ? " 
 
Friends in Need. 375 
 
 she said, gently. " When I saw you with the doctors, and 
 when I heard of all you have done since Saturday morning 
 well, I could not help thinking that there [must be something 
 fine about Lionel to have secured him such a friend." 
 
 Ho looked at her with some surprise. 
 
 " But you have been his friend all these years ! " he said. 
 
 " Ah, that's different : we were brought up together. Tell 
 me the Nina he is always talking about I suppose that is the 
 Italian girl who was at the theatre and whom he knew in 
 Naples he used to write home about her " 
 
 "Yes," he said; "and it is only now I am beginning to 
 understand something of the situation. I do believe mental 
 distress has had as much to do with bringing on this fever as 
 anything else : the chill may have been only an accident that 
 developed it. I told you when I saw him, before he was struck 
 down, how he seemed to be all at sixes and sevens with himself 
 everything wrong worried, harassed, and sick of life, though 
 he would hardly explain anything : he was always too proud to 
 ask for pity. Well, now, I am piecing together a story, out of 
 these incoherent appeals and recollections that come into his 
 delirium ; and if I am right, it is a sad enough one, for it seems 
 to me so hopeless. I believe he was all the time in love with 
 that Nina Miss Ross and did not know it ; for their associa- 
 tion, their companionship, was so constant, so like an intimate 
 friendship. Then there seems to have been some misunder- 
 standing, and she went away unexpectedly there is a box of 
 jewels and trinkets on the top of the piano, and I am certain 
 these were what she sent back to him when she left. I don't 
 think he has the slightest idea where she is ; and that is troubling 
 him more than anything else " 
 
 " But, Maurice," said Franoie, instantly, " could we not find 
 out where she is? surely she would come and see him and 
 pacify his mind : it would just make all the difference ! Surely 
 we could find out where she is ? " 
 
 Mangan hesitated : it was not the first time this idea had 
 occurred to himself. 
 
 " I am afraid," said he, " that even if we knew where she 
 was, it would be rather awkward to approach her. There may 
 have been something about her going away that prevented 
 Linn from trying to find her out. For one thing, his engage- 
 ment to Miss Burgoyne. I believe he blundered into that in a 
 sort of reckless despair ; but there it is ; and there it is likely 
 to be, unfortunately " 
 
376 The New Prince Foriunatus. 
 
 "But surely, surely, Maurice," said Francie, "Miss Ross 
 would not make that any obstacle if she knew that her coming 
 would give peace and rest to one who is dangerously ill. Surely 
 she would not think of such a thing at such a time " 
 
 " And then again," he said, " the chances are all against our 
 finding her, if she wishes to remain concealed, or even absent. 
 Linn talks of Malta, of Australia, of San Francisco, and so on ; 
 but I don't believe he has the slightest idea where she is. No, 
 I am afraid it's no use thinking of it : the crisis of the fever 
 will be here before any such thing could be tried." 
 
 Then he said presently 
 
 " I had a visit from Miss Burgoyne yesterday afternoon." 
 
 " I suppose she was terribly distressed," Francie said naturally 
 enough. 
 
 " Oh, no. On the contrary, she was remarkably cool and 
 composed. I almost admired her self-possession. She does not 
 think Lionel's throat will suffer ; and no doubt she trusts to his 
 sound constitution to pull him through the fever ; so perhaps 
 there is not much reason that she should betray any anxiety. 
 Oh, yes, she was very brave about it and and business-like. 
 At the same time I confess to a sort of prejudice in favour of 
 womanly women. I think a little touch of femininity might 
 improve Miss Burgoyne, for example. However, she knows 
 she is in possession ; and if Linn pulls through all right, there 
 she is, waiting for him." 
 
 It seemed to Francie that her companion had managed to 
 form a pretty strong dislike towards that young lady, considering 
 how little he could possibly know of her. 
 
 " I suppose one ought not to contemplate such things," he 
 continued, " but if Linn were to come out of the fever with the 
 loss of his voice, I suspect he would have little trouble in freeing 
 himself from that engagement with Miss Burgoyne." 
 
 " But surely a woman could not be so base as to keep a 
 man to an unwilling engagement ! " Francie protested, as she 
 had protested before. 
 
 " I don't know about that," her companion said. "As I told 
 you, Miss Burgoyne is a business-like person. Linn, with his 
 handsome figure and his fine voice, with his popularity and 
 social position, is a very desirable match for her ; but Linn 
 become a nobody his voice gone his social success along with 
 it would be something entirely different. At the same time, 
 Dr. Whitsen agrees with her in thinking there won't be any 
 permanent injury : it is the fever that is the serious thing." 
 
Friends in Need. 377 
 
 They went back to the house ; the reports were no better. 
 And all that night Lionel's fevered imaginings did not cease. 
 He was haunted now by visions of cruelties and sufferings 
 being inflicted on some one he knew in a far distant land ; he 
 pleaded with the torturers; he called for help; sometimes ho 
 said she was dead and released, and there was no more need for 
 him to go away in a ship to seek for her. The wearied brain 
 could get no rest at all. Daylight came, and still he lay there 
 moaning and murmuring to himself. But help was at hand. 
 
 Between ten and eleven, Dr. Ballardyce, who had paid his 
 usual morning visit, was going away, and Maurice, as his 
 custom was, went down-stairs with him to hear the last word. 
 He said good-bye to the doctor, and opened the door for him ; 
 and just as he did so he found before him a young woman who 
 was about to ring the bell. She glanced up with frightened 
 eyes ; he was no less startled ; and then, with a hurried " I beg 
 your pardon," she turned to go away. But Maurice was by her 
 side in a moment bare-headed as he was. 
 
 ** Miss Eoss ! " he exclaimed for surely, surely, he could not 
 have mistaken the pale olive face and the beautiful soft dark 
 lustrous eyes ; nay, he made bold to put his hand on her arm, 
 so determined was he to detain her. 
 
 " I I only wished to hear how he was but but not that 
 he should know," Nina said (she was all trembling, and her lips 
 were pale). 
 
 " Oh, yes," Mangan said. " But you must not go away I 
 have something to tell you come indoors ! You know he is 
 seriously ill you cannot refuse 
 
 There was but an intervening step or two; she timidly 
 followed and entered the little hall; and he closed the door 
 after them. 
 
 " Is he so very ill ? " she said in a low voice. " I saw it in 
 the newspapers I could not wait but he is not to know that 
 I came " 
 
 "But but I have something to say to you," he answered 
 her, somewhat breathlessly, for he was uncertain what to do : 
 he only knew that she must not go. " Yes, he is very ill and 
 distressed his brain is excited and we want to calm him. 
 Surely you will come and speak to him 
 
 She shrank back involuntarily, and there was a pathetic fear 
 in the large, timid eyes. 
 
 " Me ? No no ! " she said. " Ah, no, I could not do that ! 
 Is he so very ill ? " 
 
378 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 Tears stood in the long black lashes, and she turned her head 
 away. 
 
 "But you don't understand," Maurice said, eagerly. "All 
 the way through this illness, it is about you he has been griev- 
 ing ; you have never been out of his thoughts ; and if you saw 
 his distress, I know you would do anything in your power to 
 quiet him a little. It is what his cousin said yesterday. * If 
 we could only find Miss Ross/ she said, * that would be every- 
 thing ; that would bring him rest ; he would be satisfied that 
 she was well, and remembering him, and not gone away for 
 ever.' I never expected to see you ; I thought it was useless 
 trying to find you ; but now now you cannot be so cruel as 
 to refuse him this comfort ! You would be sorry if you saw 
 him. Perhaps he might not recognize you probably not. 
 But if you could persuade him that you really were in London 
 that you would come some other day soon to see him again 
 I know that would pacify him, just when peace of mind is all- 
 important. Now, can you refuse ? " 
 
 " No, no," Nina said, in a low voice ; " you will do with me 
 what you like. It is no matter what it is to me. Do with me 
 as you please." And then again she turned her large, dark 
 eyes upon him, as if to make sure he was not deceiving her. 
 " Did you say that that he remembered me that he had asked 
 forme?" 
 
 " Remember you ! If you only could have heard the piteotis 
 way he has talked of you always and always and of your 
 going away. I have such a lot I could tell you 1 He had those 
 loving-cups filled one night there was some fancy in his head 
 he could call you back " 
 
 She was sobbing a little ; but she bravely dried her tears, 
 and said 
 
 " Tell me what I am to do." 
 
 But that was precisely what he did not know himself for a 
 moment. He considered. 
 
 " Come upstairs," he said. " His family are there. I will 
 tell him a visitor has called to see him. He often thinks you 
 are there, but that you won't speak to him. Well, you will 
 just say a few words, to convince him, and as quietly as you 
 can, and come out again. Perhaps he will take it all as a 
 matter of course ; and that will be well ; and I will tell him 
 you will come again, after he has had some sleep. Of course 
 you must bo very calm too : there must be no excitement." 
 
Friends in Need. 379 
 
 " No, no," Nina murmured in the same low voice, and she 
 followed him up-stairs. 
 
 On entering the sitting-room she glanced apprehensively at 
 those strangers ; but Francie, divining in an instant who she 
 was, and why Maurice had brought her thither, immediately 
 came to her, and pressed her hand, in silence. 
 
 Maurice went into the sick-room. 
 
 It" Linn," said he, cheerfully, "I've brought you a visitor; 
 but she can't stay very long ; she will come again some other 
 time. You've always been asking about Miss Eoss, and why 
 she didn't come to see you ; well, here she is ! " 
 
 Lionel slowly opened his tired eyes and looked towards the 
 the door ; but he seemed to take no interest in the girl who was 
 standing there, pale, trembling, and quite forgetting all she 
 had been enjoined to do. Lionel, with those restless, fatigued 
 eyes, regarded her, for but a second then he turned away, 
 shaking his head. He had seen that illusory phantom so often ! 
 
 "Linn," said his friend, reproachfully, "when Miss Boss 
 comes to see you, are you not going to say a word to her ? " 
 
 It was Nina herself who interrupted him. She uttered a 
 little cry of appeal and pity " Leo ! " she went quickly 
 forward, and threw herself on her knees by the bedside, and 
 seized his hand, and bathed it with her hot tears. " Leo, do 
 you not know me ? I am Nina ! If you wish me to come back 
 see ! see ! I am here ! I kiss your hand it is Nina ! " 
 
 He looked at her strangely, and turned with bewildered eyes 
 to Maurice. 
 
 "Maurice, is it twelve o'clock? Has she really come this 
 time ? Did you hear her speak just now? Is it Nina at last ! 
 at last ! " 
 
 With her head still bowed down, and her whole frame 
 shaken with her sobbing, but still clasping his hand, she mur- 
 mured to him some phrase Maurice guessed it was in the 
 familiar Neapolitan dialect; for Lionel presently said to her 
 slowly, because of his heavy breathing 
 
 " Ah, you are still la cianciosella I but you have come back 
 and not to go away! I have forgotten so many things. My 
 head is not well. But wait a little while, Nina wait a little 
 while " 
 
 "Oh, yes, Leo," she said, and she rose and dried her eyes 
 with her head turned aside somewhat. " I will wait until you 
 have plenty of time to tell me. I shall come and see you when- 
 ever vou want me." 
 
380 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 She looked at Maurice humbly for directions : his eyes plainly 
 said yes, it was time she should withdraw. She went into the 
 other room rather blindly, as it seemed to her and she sank 
 into a chair, still trembling and exhausted : but Francie was by 
 her side in a moment. 
 
 " Did he know you? " she asked in an undertone. 
 
 " Yes, I think," Nina answered. " But oh, he looks so strange 
 so different. He has suffered. It is terrible ; but I am glad 
 that I came " 
 
 " It L is so kind of you for I see you are so tired ! " said 
 Francie, in her gentle way. " Perhaps you have been 
 travelling ? " 
 
 " Only last night but I did not sleep any " 
 
 " Shall I get you some tea ? " was the next inquiry. 
 
 But here the old doctor, who had been stealthily moving 
 about the room, interfered, and produced a biscuit-box and a 
 decanter of port- wine and a glass ; while the old lady begged 
 Miss Boss to take off her cloak and remain with them a little 
 while. At this moment Mangan came out from the sick-room. 
 
 " Doctor," said he in a whisper, " you must go in presently ; 
 I think you'll see a difference. He is quite pleased and content 
 talking to himself a little, but not complaining any more. 
 Twice he has said : ' Maurice, Nina has spoken at last.' " 
 
 There was a tinkle of a bell ; Maurice answered it with the 
 swiftness of a nurse in a hospital. He returned in a minute 
 looking a little puzzled. 
 
 *' He wants to make quite sure you have been here," he said 
 to Nina, in the same undertone ; " and I told him you were in 
 the next room, but that you were tired, and could not see him 
 just now. No, I don't think it would do for you to go back at 
 present what do you say, Doctor? he seems so much more 
 tranquil, and it would be a pity to run any risk. But if you 
 could just let him know you were here he might hear you 
 talking to us that would be no harm " 
 
 41 1 know how to tell Leo that I am here," Nina said simply ; 
 and she went to the piano and opened it. Then, with the most 
 exquisite softness, she began to play some familiar Neapolitan 
 airs slowly and gently so that they must have sounded in the 
 sick-chamber like mere echoes of song coming from across wide 
 waters. And would he not understand that it was Nina who 
 was speaking to him ; that she was only a few yards from him ; 
 and not the ghostly Nina who had so often come to the sick- 
 room door and remained there strangely silent, but the wilful, 
 
Friends in Need. 381 
 
 gentle, capricious, warm-hearted cianciosella who had kissed his 
 hand but a little while ago, and wept over it, amidst her bitter 
 sobs ? These were love-songs for the most part that she was 
 playing ; but that was neither here nor there ; the soft-rippling 
 notes were more like the sound of a trickling waterfall, in some 
 still summer solitude. " Cannctella, oje Cannetc! " " Clicllo che tu 
 me dice, Nenna, non bo'glio fa." "Jo te voglio bene assaje, e tu non 
 pienz' a me I " He would know it was Nina who was playing 
 for him until slowly and slowly, and gently and more gently, 
 the velvet-soft notes gradually ceased, and at length there was 
 silence. 
 
 Old Mrs. Moore went over to the girl, and patted her affec- 
 tionately on the shoulder, and kissed her. 
 
 "Lionel has told us a great deal about you," the old lady 
 said ; " even when he was in Naples we seemed to know you 
 quite well : and now I hope we shall be friends." 
 
 And Nina made answer, with downcast eyes 
 
 " Whenever you wish it, Madame, I shall be glad to come 
 and play a little if he cares to hear the Neapolitan airs that he 
 used to know in former days." 
 
 Yes, there was no doubt that this opportune visit had made a 
 great difference in Lionel's condition ; for though the fever did 
 not abate and could not be expected to abate until the crisis 
 had been reached there were no more of those agonised plead- 
 ings and murmurings that showed such deep distress of mind. 
 Frequently, indeed, he seemed to know nothing of what had 
 occurred ; he would talk of Nina as being in Naples, or as 
 having gone down to the theatre; but all the same he was 
 more tranquil. As for Nina, she said she would do just as they 
 wished. She had arrived in London that morning, and had 
 gone to Mrs. Grey's, in Sloane-street, and engaged a room. 
 She could go down there now, and wait until she was sent for, 
 if they thought it would please Lionel to know that one of his 
 former companions had come to see him. She put it very 
 prettily and modestly ; it was only as an old ally and comrade 
 of Lionel's that she was here ; perhaps he might be glad to 
 know of her presence. Or, if they thought that might disturb 
 him, she would not come back at all ; she would be content to 
 hear, from time to time, how the fever was going on, if she 
 might be permitted to call and ask the people below. 
 
 It was Maurice who answered her. 
 
 " If you don't mind, Miss Boss," said he, " I should like you 
 to be here just as much as ever jyou found convenient. 1 
 
382 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 keep telling Lionel you are in the next room ; and that, at any 
 moment he wants you, you will play some of those Neapolitan 
 airs for him; and he seems satisfied. It has been the worst 
 part of his delirium that he fancied you were away in some 
 distant place, and were being cruelly ill-used; and he has 
 excited himself dreadfully about it. Well, we don't want that 
 to come back ; and if at any moment I can say ' But look ! 
 here is Nina* I beg your pardon!" said Mangan, blushing 
 furiously, and looking as sheepish as a caught schoolboy. " I 
 mean if I could say to him Look ! here is Miss Ross, perfectly 
 safe and well/ that would pacify him." 
 
 " And if you are fatigued after your journey," said Dr. Moore, 
 who was a firm believer in the fine old-fashioned fortifying 
 theory, " we shall be having our mid-day meal by-and-by, in a 
 room up-stairs, and I'm sure we'll make you heartily welcome." 
 
 "And I think, ray dear," said the mother, rising from her 
 chair, and taking the girl kindly by the hand, " that if you and 
 I and Francie wese to go up there now, we should be more out 
 of the way ; and there would be no chance of our talking being 
 heard." 
 
 It was at this plain but substantial mid-day meal, served in 
 an up-stairs room, that Nina incidentally told them something 
 of her adventures and experiences during the past six months, 
 though of course nothing was said about her reasons for leaving 
 London. Maurice happened to inquire where it was that she 
 had heard of Lionel's illness. 
 
 " In Glasgow," said Nina. " I saw about it in a newspaper 
 yesterday; I came up by the train last night, because bo- 
 cause " here some slight colour appeared in the pale clear 
 complexion " because if an old friend is very ill, one wishes to 
 be near." And perhaps it was to escape from this little 
 embarrassment that she proceeded to say : " Oh, they are so 
 kind, the Glasgow people : I have never seen such domesticity." 
 She glanced at Maurice, as if to see whether the word was 
 right : then she went on. " When I was engaged by the 
 Director of the Saturday Evening Concerts, he told me that 
 they had to change their singers frequently, that if I wished to 
 remain in Glasgow or Edinburgh, I must sing at private 
 concerts, and give lessons, to have continual employment. And 
 there was not much difficulty : oh, they are so enthusiastic, the 
 Scotch people, about music ! to sing in the St. Andrews' Hall 
 or the City Hall and especially if you sing one of their own 
 Scotch songs the enthusiasm, the applaus.6, it is like fire going 
 
Friends in Need. 383 
 
 through the nerves. Well, it is very pleasant, but it is not 
 enough employment, oven though I get one or two other 
 engagements, like the Edinburgh Orchestral Festival. No, it 
 is not enough ; but then I began to sing at musical evenings, 
 in the fashionable private houses, and also to give lessons in 
 the daytime ; and then it was I began to know the kindness of 
 that people, their consideration, their benignitance to a stranger, 
 their good humour, and good wishes to you. Oh, a little 
 brusque sometimes, the father of a family, perhaps : the lady of 
 the house and her daughters never ! More than once a lady 
 has said to me * What, are you all alone in this big town I my 
 daughters will call for you to-morrow and take you to the 
 Botanic Gardens; and after you will come back to tea.' Or 
 again they have shown me photographs of a beautiful large 
 h ouse lik e a castle, almost on the side of a hill, among trees ; 
 and they say t That is our house in the summer ; it is by the 
 sea ; if you are here in the summer, you must come and stay 
 with us, and you will play lawn-tennis with the girls, and go 
 boating with them, and fishing, all day ; then every evening we 
 will have a little concert " 
 
 " I beg your pardon," interposed the blunt-tongued doctor, 
 " but do you call that Scotch hospitality, Miss Koss ? to invite 
 a professional singer to their house, and get her services for 
 nothing ? " 
 
 " Ah, no, no, you mistake," said Nina, putting up the palm 
 of her right hand for a second. " You mistake. I was offered 
 terms as well generous, oh, yes, very generous ; but it was 
 not that that impressed me it was their kindness their 
 admitting me into their domesticity I have found the mother 
 as kind to me as to her own daughters. No airs of patronage ; 
 they did not say ' You are a foreigner ; we cannot trust you ; ' 
 they said ' You are alone ; come into our family, and be friends 
 with us.' But not at once ; no, no ; for at first I did not know 
 any one " 
 
 "I should think it would be easy for you to make friends 
 anywhere," said Francie, in her gentle fashion. 
 
 They did not linger long over that meal ; it was hardly a 
 time for feasting ; indeed, Maurice had gone down before the 
 others, to hear the nurse's report. She had nothing to say ; the 
 sick-room had been so still, she had not even ventured in, 
 hoping the patient was asleep. 
 
 That afternoon there were many callers ; and Mangan, who 
 went down to such of them as wanted to have special intelli- 
 
384 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 gence, was pleased in a way. " Well," lie would say to him- 
 self, as he went up and down the stairs, " the public have a 
 little gratitude, after all, and even mere acquaintances do think 
 of you occasionally. It is something. But if you should go 
 under, if you should drop out from amid the universal forward- 
 hurrying throng: what then? If you have done something 
 that can be mentioned, in art, or letters, or science, the news- 
 papers may toss you a paragraph ; or if you have been a 
 notorious criminal, or charlatan, or windbag, they may even 
 devote a leader to you; but the multitude what time have 
 they to think ? A careless eye glances at the couple of obituary 
 lines that have been paid for by relatives : then onwards again. 
 Perhaps, here and there, one solitary heart is struck deep; 
 and remembers ; but the ordinary crowd of one's acquaintances 
 what time have they ? Good-bye, friend ! but we are in 
 such a hurry ! " Nevertheless, he was glad to tell Lionel of 
 these callers, and of their flowers, and cards, and messages, and 
 what not. 
 
 On this Tuesday afternoon Miss Burgoyna also called ; but 
 hearing that there were some relations come, she would not go 
 up-stairs. Maurice went down to see her. 
 
 "What brought on this fever? "she asked, after the usual 
 inquiries. 
 
 " A variety of causes, I should imagine," he answered. " The 
 immediate one was a severe chill." 
 
 "They say he has lost all his money, and is deeply in debt," 
 she observed. 
 
 " Who says ? " he demanded too sharply, for he did not like 
 this woman. 
 
 " Qh, I have heard of it," she answered. 
 
 " It is not true then. I don't know of his being in debt at 
 all; if he is, he has friends who will see him through, until he 
 gets all right again." 
 
 " Oh, well," she said, apparently much relieved, " it is of no 
 great consequence, so long as his voice is not touched. With 
 his voice he can always retrieve himself, and keep well ahead. 
 They do tell such stories. Thank you, Mr. Mangan Good-bye ! " 
 
 " Good-bye," said he, with unnecessary coldness : why should 
 a disciple of Marcus Aurelius take umbrage at any manifesta- 
 tion of our common human nature ? 
 
 She turned for a moment as he opened the door for her. 
 
 " Tell him I called ; and that his portrait and mine are to 
 appear in this week's Footlights in the same number." 
 
Friends in Need. 385 
 
 " Very well." 
 
 "Good-bye!' 
 
 When Dr. Ballardyce came that evening to make his usual 
 examination, his report was of a twofold character : the fever 
 was still ravaging the now enfeebled constitution the tem- 
 perature, in especial, being seriously high; but the patient 
 seemed much calmer in mind. 
 
 " Indeed," said the doctor to Maurice, at the foot of the stair, 
 as he was going away, " I should say that for the moment the 
 delirium was quite gone. But I did not speak much to him. 
 Quiet is the great thing sleep above all." 
 
 Then Maurice told him what had happened during the day ; 
 and asked him whether, supposing they found Lionel quite 
 sane and sensible, it would be advisable to tell him that Miss 
 Ross was in the house, or even ask her to go and see him. 
 
 " Well, I should say not not unless he appears to be 
 troubled again. His present tranquillity of mind is everything 
 that could be wished ; I would not try any unnecessary 
 experiment. Probably he does not know now that he has even 
 seen her. Sometimes they have a vague recollection of some- 
 thing having happened ; more frequently the whole thing is 
 forgotten. Wait till we see how the fever goes : when he is 
 convalescent perhaps then." 
 
 But Maurice, on his own responsibility, went into the sick- 
 room after the doctor had left went in on tip-toe, lest Lionel 
 should be asleep. He was not asleep. He looked at Mangaii. 
 
 " Maurice, come here," he said, in a hard-labouring voice. 
 
 " You're not to talk, Linn," his friend answered, with a fine 
 affectation of carelessness. " I merely looked in to see how 
 you were getting on. There's no news. The Government 
 seem to be in a mess, but even their own friends are ashamed 
 of their vacillation. They're talking of still another lyric 
 theatre; you'll have to save up your voice, Linn by Jove, 
 you fellows will be in tremendous request. What else ? Oh, 
 nothing. There's been a plucky thing done by a servant-girl 
 in rescuing two children from a fire if there's a little testi- 
 monial to her, I'm in with my humble guinea. But there's 
 nothing in the papers I'm glad I'm not a leader-writer." 
 
 He went and got some more water for a jug of white lilies' 
 that stood on the table ; and began to put things a little 
 straight as if he were a woman. 
 
 " Maurice ! " 
 
 " You're not to talk, Linn, I tell you ! " 
 
 2 c 
 
386 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 " I must just, a word," Lionel said ; and Mangan was forced 
 to listen. " What does the doctor really say ?" 
 
 " About you ? oh, you're going on first-rate ! Only you've 
 to keep still and quiet, and not trouble about anything." 
 
 " What day is this ? " 
 
 " Why, Tuesday." 
 
 He thought for a little. 
 
 "It it was a Saturday I was taken ill? I have forgotten 
 so many things. But but there's this, Maurice : if anything 
 happens to me the piano in the next room it belongs to me 
 you will give that to Francie for her wedding-present. I 
 would have given her something more, but you know. And 
 if you ever hear of Nina Eossi, will you ask her to to take 
 some of the things in a box you'll find on the top of the piano 
 they all belonged to her if she won't take them all back, 
 she must take some as a as a keepsake. She ought to do 
 that. Perhaps she won't think I treated her so badly when 
 it's all over " 
 
 He lay back exhausted with this effort. 
 
 " Ob, stuff and nonsense, Linn ! " his friend exclaimed, in 
 apparent anger. " What's the use of talking like that ! You 
 know you were worried into this illness ; and I want to explain 
 to you that you needn't worry any longer, that you've nothing 
 to do but get well ! Now listen and be quiet. To begin with, 
 Lord Eockminster has got his 300 " 
 
 " I remember about that it was awfully good of you, 
 Maurice 
 
 "Be quiet. Then there's that diabolical 1100. Well, 
 things have to be faced," continued Mangan, with a matter-of- 
 fact air. " It's no use sighing and groaning when you or your 
 friends are in a pickle : you've just got to make the best of it. 
 Very well. Do you see this slip of paper ?- this is a cheque 
 for 1100, drawn out and signed by me, Maurice Mangan, 
 barrister-at-law, and author of several important works not yet 
 written. I took it up this afternoon to that young fellow's 
 rooms in Bruton Street, to get a receipt for the money, for I 
 thought that would satisfy you better ; but I found he was in 
 Paris. Never mind. There is the cheque; and I am going 
 to post it directly; so that lie will get it the moment he 
 returns " 
 
 ** Maurice, you must ask Francie." 
 
 " I will not ask Francie," his friend said promptly. " Francie 
 must attend to her own affairs until she has acquired the legal 
 
Friends in Need* 387 
 
 right to control me and mine. You needn't make a fuss about 
 a little thing like that, Linn. I can easily make it up ; in fact, 
 I may say I have already secured a means of making it up, as 
 a telegram I received this very afternoon informs me. Hero is 
 the story : I can talk to you, if you may not talk to me ; and I 
 want you to know that everything is straight and clear and 
 arranged. About ten days ago I had a letter from a syndicate 
 in the north asking me if I could write for them a weekly 
 article not a London correspondent's news-letter but a series 
 of comments on the important subjects of the day, outside 
 politics. Outside politics, of course ; for I dare say they will 
 supply this article to sixty or eighty country papers. Very 
 well. You know what a lazy wretch I am : I declined. Then 
 yesterday, when I was dawdling about the house here, it 
 suddenly occurred to me that after all I couldn't do better than 
 sit down and write to my enterprising friends in the north, 
 and tell them that they could have that weekly column of 
 enlightenment, if they hadn't engaged any one else, and if they 
 were prepared to pay well enough for it. This afternoon comes 
 their answer : here it is * Offer still open : will four hundred 
 suit you ? ' 400 a year will suit me very well." 
 
 " Maurice, you're taking on all that additional work on my 
 account," Lionel managed to say, by way of feeble protest. 
 
 " I am taking it on to cure myself of atrocious habits of 
 indolence. And look at the educational process. I shall 
 have to read all the important new books, and attend the 
 Private Views, and examine the working of local government ; 
 bless you, I shall become a compendium of information on every 
 possible modern subject. Then think of the power I shall 
 wield : let Quirk and his gang beware ! I shall be able to 
 kick those log-rollers all over the country there will bo a 
 buffet for them here, and a buffet for them there, until they'll 
 go to their mothers and ask, with tears in their eyes, why they 
 ever were born. Or will it be worth while ? No. They are 
 hardly important enough; the public don't heed them. But 
 the 400 is remarkably important to any one looking forward 
 to having an extravagant spendthrift of a wife on his hands ; 
 and so you see, Linn, everything promises well. And I will 
 say good-night to you now though I am not leaving the 
 house yet oh, no! you can send the nurse for me if you want 
 me. Schlaf wohl!"' 
 
 The sick man murmured something unintelligible in reply, 
 and then lay still. 
 
 2 c 2 
 
388 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 Now Maurice Mangan had spoke of his dawdling about tliis 
 house; but the fact was that he had his hands full from 
 morning till night. The mere correspondence he had to 
 answer was considerable. Then there were the visitors, and 
 the doctors, to be received ; and the nurse to be looked after ; 
 and the anxious mother to be appeased and reassured. Indeed, 
 on this evening, the old lady, hearing that her son was sensible, 
 begged and entreated to be allowed to go in and talk to him ; 
 and it took both her husband and Maurice to dissuade her. 
 
 " You see," said Mangan, " he's used to me ; he doesn't mind 
 my going in and out; but if he finds you have all come up 
 from Winstead, he may be suddenly alarmed. Better wait 
 until the crisis is over then you may take the place of the 
 nurse whenever you like." 
 
 Shortly thereafter the old people and Francie left for their 
 hotel ; then Maurice had to see about Nina, whom they had 
 left in the upstairs-room. 
 
 "Just as you wish," she paid, with a kind of pathetic 
 humility in her eyes. If I can be of any service, I will stay 
 all the night; a chair, here, will be enough for me. Indeed, 
 I should be glad to be allowed 
 
 " No, no," said he, " at present you could not be of any use, 
 you must get away home and have a sound night's rest after 
 your travelling. I have just called the nurse ; she will be down 
 in a minute. And if you will put on your things I will send 
 for a four-wheeled cab for you ; or I will walk along with you 
 until we get one." 
 
 All day long Nina had betrayed no outward anxiety; she 
 had merely listened intently to every word, watched intently 
 the expression of every face, as the doctors came and went. 
 And now, as Mangan shut the door behind them, he did 
 not care to discuss the chances of the fever : it was a 
 subject all too uncertain and too serious for a few farewell 
 words. But there was one point on which, delicate as it might 
 be, he felt bound to question her. 
 
 "Miss Iloss," said he, "I hope you won't think me im- 
 pertinent. You must consider I represent Lionel. I am in his 
 place. Very well; he would probably ask you, in coming so 
 suddenly to London, whether you were quite sufficiently 
 provided with funds you see I am quite blunt about it 
 for your lodgings and cabs and so forth. I know he would ask 
 you, and you wouldn't be angry : -well, consider that I ask you 
 in his place." 
 
Friends in Need. 389 
 
 " I thank you," said Nina, in a low voice. " I understand. 
 It is what Leo would do yes ho was always like that. But 
 I have plenty. I have brought everything with me. I do not 
 go back to Glasgow." 
 
 " No ? " said he ; and then, rather hesitatingly, for it was 
 dangerous ground, he added : " Wasn't it strange that, with 
 you singing at those public concerts in Glasgow, Lionel should 
 never have seen your name in the papers should never have 
 guessed where you were ? " 
 
 " I took another name Signorina Teresa I was," Nina said, 
 simply. 
 
 " So you are not going back to Glasgow ? " he asked again. 
 
 "No. The concert season is about over there. Besides," she 
 added, rather sadly, " I have been a little a little homesick. 
 The people there were very kind to me; but I was much 
 alone. So now when Lionel is over the worst of the fever 
 when he promises to get well when you say to me I can be of 
 no more use then I return to Naples to my friends." 
 
 "Oh, to Naples? But what to do there?" he made bold 
 to ask. 
 
 " Ah, who knows ? " said Nina, in so low a voice that he 
 could hardly hear. 
 
 He put her safely into a four-wheeled cab ; then went back 
 to Lionel's rooms to see that all arrangements were made for 
 the night ; finally he set out for his own chambers in West- 
 minster. No, it had not been a dawdling day for him at all : 
 on the contrary, he had not had time to glance at a single 
 newspaper ; and now as he got some hot drink for himself, 
 and lit his pipe, and hauled in an easy-chair to the fire, he 
 thought he would look over the evening journals. And about 
 the first paragraph he saw was headed " Death of Sir Barrington 
 Miles, M.P." Well, it was a bit of a coincidence, he considered ; 
 nothing more; the 1100 had been paid; and, apart from that 
 circumstance, it must be confessed his interest in the Miles 
 family was of the slightest. Only he wondered what the 
 young man had been doing in Paris, with his father so near the 
 point of death. 
 
390 The New Prince Fortunatua. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXV. 
 
 CHANGES. 
 
 SHORTLY after ten on the Wednesday morning a young gentle- 
 man clad in travelling costume drove up to the door of a house 
 in Edgware-road, got out of the hansom, stepped across the 
 pavement, and rang the bell. The smart little maidservant 
 who answered the summons appeared to know him, but was 
 naturally none the less surprised by so early a visit. 
 
 " Miss Burgoyne isn't down yet, sir ! " she said, in answer to 
 his inquiiies. 
 
 " Very well, I will wait," said the young man, who seemed 
 rather hurried and nervous. " Will you tell her that I wish to 
 see her on a matter of great importance. She will know what 
 it is." 
 
 Well, it was not the business of this rosy-cheeked maid to 
 check the vagaries of impetuous lovers ; so she merely said 
 
 " Will you step up-stairs, sir : there's a fire in the morning- 
 room." 
 
 She led the way, and when she had left him in the bright 
 little chamber where breakfast-things for one were laid on the 
 table she departed to find, perhaps to arouse, her mistress. 
 The young man went to the window, and stared into the street. 
 He returned to the fire, and stared into the red flames. He 
 took up a newspaper that was on the table, and opened it, but 
 could not fix his attention. And no wonder ; for he had just 
 succeeded to a baronetcy and the extensive Petmansworth 
 estates ; and he was determined to win a bride as well even as 
 he was on his way to his father's funeral. 
 
 Miss Burgoyne was some considerable time before she came 
 down ; and when she did make her appearance she seemed none 
 too well pleased by this unconscionable intrusion : at the same 
 time she had paid some little attention to her face, and she wore 
 a most charming tea-gown of pink and sage-green. 
 
 " Well ? " she said, rather coldly. " What now ? I thought 
 you had gone over to Paris ! " 
 
 " But don't you know what has happened ! " he said, rather 
 breathlessly. 
 
 " What has happened ? " 
 
 He took up the newspaper, opened it, and handed it to her in 
 silence, showing her a particular paragraph. 
 
Changes. 391 
 
 " Oh ? " she said, with startled eyes, and yet she read the 
 lines slowly, to give time for consideration. And then sho 
 recollected that she ought to express sympathy. "I am so 
 very sorry so sudden and unexpected it must have been 
 such a shock to you. But," she added, after a second, 
 "but why are you here? You ought to have gone home at 
 once " 
 
 " I'm on my way home I only got the telegram yesterday 
 afternoon I reached London this morning," the young man 
 said, disconnectedly : all his eager and wistful attention was 
 concentrated on her face : what answer was about to appear 
 there to his urgent prayer ? " Don't you understand why I am 
 here dear Kate ? " said he, and he advanced a little, but very 
 timidly. 
 
 " Well, really," said she, for she was bound to appear a trifle 
 shocked, " when such a dreadful thing happens your father's 
 sudden death really I think that should be the first thing in 
 your mind I think you ought not to delay a moment in going 
 home " 
 
 " You think me heartless but you don't understand," said he, 
 eager to justify himself in her eyes. " Of course I'm sorry. 
 But my father and I never got on very well. He was always 
 trying to thwart me " 
 
 " Yes, but for the sake of mere outward form and decency," 
 she ventured to say. 
 
 " That's just it ! " he said quickly. " I'll have to go. away 
 down there ; and I don't know how long I may be kept ; and 
 and I thought if I could take with me some assurance that 
 these altered circumstances would weigh with you you see, 
 dear Kate, I am my own master now I can do what I like 
 and you know what it is I ask. Now tell me you will be my 
 wife! I can quite understand your hesitating before; I was 
 dependent upon my father ; if he had disapproved there might 
 have been trouble ; but now it is different " 
 
 Miss Burgoyne stood silent, her eyes fixed on the floor, her 
 fingers interclasped. He looked at her. Then finding she 
 had no answer for him, a curious change of expression came 
 over his face. 
 
 " And if you hesitate now," he said, vindictively. " I know 
 the reason, and I know it is a reason you may as well put out 
 of your mind. Oh, I am quite aware of the shilly-shallying 
 that has been going on between you and that fellow Moore I 
 know you'vo been struck, like all the rest of the women but 
 
392 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 you may as well give up that fancy. Mr. Moore isn't much of 
 a catch, now ! " 
 
 She raised her head, and there was an angry flash in her 
 eyes that for a second frightened him. 
 
 " Magnanimous ! " she said, with a curl of her lip. " To 
 taunt a man with being ill ! when perhaps he is lying on his 
 death-bed ! " 
 
 " It is not because he is ill," he retorted ; and his naturally 
 pale face was somewhat paler. "I dare say he'll get well 
 enough again. It is because he is dead broke and ruined. 
 And do you know who did it ? " he went on, more impetuously 
 still. "Well, I did it! I said I would break him; and I 
 broke him. I knew he was only playing with you and making 
 a fool of you ; and I said to myself that I would have it out 
 with him either he or I would have to go to the right-about. 
 I said I would smash him ; and I have smashed him. Do you 
 see this cheque ? That was waiting for me at my rooms this 
 morning. Eleven hundred pounds that was two days' work 
 only ; and I had plenty more before. But do you think it is his 
 cheque ? Not a bit ! It is drawn out by a friend of his. It is 
 lent him. He is just so much the more in debt ; and I don't 
 believe he has a farthing in the world. And that's the won- 
 derful creature all you women are worshipping ! " 
 
 Now this foolish boy ought to have taken care ; but he had 
 been carried away on a whirlwind of jealous rage. All the 
 time that he was pouring forth his vengeful story, Miss Bur- 
 goyne's face had become more and more hard. And when he 
 ceased, she answered him, in low and measured tones that 
 conveyed the most bitter scorn. 
 
 " Yes," she said, " we women are worthy of being despised, 
 when when we think anything of such creatures as men are 
 capable of showing themselves to be ! Oh, it is a fine time to 
 come and boast of what you have done, when the man } T OU hate 
 when the man you fear is lying ill, delirious, perhaps dying. 
 That is the time to boast of your strength, your prowess ! And 
 how dare you come to me," she continued, with a sudden toss of 
 her head, " with all this story of gambling and debt ? What is 
 it to me ? It seems that is the way men fight now with a pack 
 of cards ! That is fighting between men and the victor waves 
 a cheque in triumph and comes and brags about it to women ! 
 Well I I don't appreciate such such manliness. I think 
 you had better go and see to your father's funeral instead 
 of of bringing such a story to me ! " said Miss Burgoyne, 
 
Changes. 393 
 
 with heaving bosom ; and it was real indignation this 
 time; for there were tears in her eyes as she turned proudly 
 away from him and marched straight for the door of the 
 room. 
 
 " For Heaven's sake ! " he cried, intercepting her. " Kate, I 
 did not mean to offend you ! I take back what I said. How 
 could any one help being jealous seeing your off-and-on. rela- 
 tions with him all this time; and you would never say one 
 thing or another. Forgive me " 
 
 She turned to him, and there were still indignant tears in her 
 eyes. 
 
 "It isn't fair!" she said. "It isn't fair! -he is ill you 
 might have a little humanity " 
 
 " Yes, I know," he said, quite humbly and imploringly (for 
 this young man was in a bad way, and had lost his head as 
 well as his heart). " And I didn't mean half what I said 
 indeed I didn't ! And and you shouldn't reproach me with 
 not going at once down to Petmansworth, when you know the 
 cause. I shall be among a lot of people who won't know my 
 relations to you I shall have all kinds of duties before me 
 now and I wanted to take with me one word of assurance. 
 Even if it was only sympathy I wanted, why should I not come 
 first to you, when you are the one I care for most in the world ? 
 Isn't it a proof of that, when my first thought is of you, when 
 this great change has taken place? Don't you see how you will 
 be affected by it at least, if you say yes. I know you are fond 
 of the theatre, and of all the flattery you get, and bouquets, and 
 newspaper-notices ; but you might find another way of life just 
 as satisfying to your pride I mean a natural pride, a self- 
 respect such as every woman should have. Oh, I don't mind 
 your remaining on the stage, for a time, any way ; we could not 
 be married for at least six months, I suppose, according to usual 
 observances ; but I think if you knew how you could play the 
 part of great lady down at Petmansworth, that might have as 
 much attraction for you as the theatre. I was considering in 
 the train last night," continued this luckless youth studying 
 every feature of his mistress's face for some favourable sign of 
 yielding " that perhaps you might agree to a private marriage, 
 in a week or two's time, by private licence ; and we could have 
 the marriage announced later on 
 
 " Oh, Percy, you frighten me," said the young lady, whose 
 wrath was clearly being mollified by his persuasive words or 
 perhaps by other considerations. " I couldn't think of such a 
 
394 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 thing ! Oh, no, no ! What would my people say ? And what 
 would the public say, when it all came out?" 
 
 " I only offered the suggestion," said he submissively. * It 
 would be making everything sure, that was all. But I can 
 quite understand that a young lady would rather have a grand 
 wedding, and presents, and a list of friends in the Morning 
 Post : well, I don't insist ; it was only a fancy I had, last night 
 in the train ; but I am sure I would rather study your wishes 
 in every respect." 
 
 She stood silent for a little time, he intently waiting her 
 answer. 
 
 " It is too serious a matter for me to decide by myself," she 
 said at last, in a low voice. 
 
 " But who else has any right to interfere ! " he exclaimed. 
 " Why should you not decide for yourself? You know I love 
 you you have seen it and I have waited and waited and 
 borne with a good deal. But then I was hardly in a position to 
 demand an answer ; there would have been some risk on your 
 part ; and I hesitated. Now there can be none. Dear Kate, 
 you are going to say one word ! and I shall go away down to 
 all this sad business that lies before me with a secret comfort 
 that none of them will suspect." 
 
 " It is too sudden, Percy," she said, lingeringly ; " I must 
 have time to consider " 
 
 " What have you to consider ? " he remonstrated. 
 
 " A great many things," she said, evasively. " You don't 
 know how a girl is situated. Here is papa coming to town this 
 very morning Jim and Cicely have gone up to Paddington to 
 meet him. Well, I don't know how he might regard it. If 
 you wanted me to leave the theatre altogether, it would 
 make a great difference : I do a great deal for Jim and 
 Cicely " 
 
 " But, Katie," he said, and he took her hand in spite of her, 
 " these are only matters of business ! Do you think I can't 
 make all that straight ? Say yes 1 " and he strove to draw her 
 towards him, and would have kissed her, but that she withdrew 
 a step, with her cheeks flushing prettily through the thin 
 make-up of the morning. 
 
 " You must give me time, Percy," she said, with downcast 
 eyes. " I must know what papa says." 
 
 "What time?" 
 
 " Well a week," she said. 
 
 " A week be it : I won't worry you beyond your patience, 
 
Changes. 395 
 
 dear Kate," said this infatuated young man. " But I know 
 what you will have to say then to make me the happiest 
 of human beings alive on this earth. Good-bye, dearest 1 " 
 
 And with that he respectfully kissed her hand, and took his 
 leave ; and so soon as she was sure he was out of the house, she 
 rang for breakfast, and called down to the little maid to look 
 sharp with it, too. She was startled and pleased, in one 
 direction ; and, in another, perhaps a trifle vexed ; for what 
 business had any man coming bothering her with a proposal of 
 marriage before breakfast ? How could she help displaying a 
 little temper, when she was hungry, and he over pertinacious? 
 Yet she hoped she had not been too outspoken in her anger 
 for there were visions before her mind that somehow seemed 
 agreeable. 
 
 That was another anxious day for those people in Piccadilly ; 
 for the fever showed no signs of abating, while some slight 
 delirium returned from time to time. Nina, of course, was in 
 constant attendance ; and when he began, in his wanderings, to 
 speak of her, and to ask Maurice what had become of her, she 
 would simply go into the room, and take a seat by the bed-side, 
 and talk to him just as if they had met by accident in the 
 Piazza Cavour. For he had got it into his head now that they 
 were in Naples again. 
 
 "Oh, yes, it is all right, Leo," she would say, putting her 
 cool hand on his burning one, " they will all be in time, the 
 whole party ; when we get down to the Risposta, they will all 
 be there ; and perhaps Sabetta will bring her zither in its case. 
 Then there will be the long sail across the blue water; and 
 Capri coming nearer and nearer; then the landing, and the 
 donkeys, and the steep climb up and up. Where shall we go, 
 Leo ? to the Hotel Pagano, or the Tiberio ? The Pagano ? 
 very well, for there is the long balcony shaded from the sun, 
 and after luncheon, we shall have chairs taken out yes, and 
 you can smoke there and you will laugh to see Andrea go to 
 the front of the railings, and sing ' Al ben de tuoi qual vittima,' 
 with his arms stretched out like a windmill, and Carmela very 
 angry with him that he is so ridiculous. But then no one 
 hears what matter? no one except those perhaps in the small 
 garden-house for the billiard. Will there be moonlight to- 
 night before we get back ? To-morrow Pandiani will grumble. 
 Well, let him grumble : I am not afraid of him no ! " 
 
 So she would carelessly talk him back into quietude again ; 
 and then she would stealthily withdraw from the room, and 
 
396 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 perhaps go to the piano, and begin to play some Neapolitan 
 air but so softly that the notes must have come to him like 
 music in a dream. 
 
 Lord Eockminster called that afternoon, and was shown 
 upstairs. 
 
 " I am going down to Scotland to-night," said he to Maurice, 
 " and I have just got a telegram from Miss Cunynghain you 
 may have heard of her from Mr. Moore ? " 
 
 "Oh, yes," Mangan said. 
 
 " She wishes me to bring her the latest news." 
 
 Well, he was told what there was to tell which was not 
 much, amidst all this dire uncertainty. He looked perplexed. 
 
 " I should like to have taken Mi^s Cunyngham some more 
 reassuring message," he said, thoughtfully. " I suppose there is 
 nothing either she or I could do ? " And then he drew Maurice 
 aside, and spoke in an undertone. "Except perhaps this. I 
 have heard that Moore has been playing a little high of late 
 and has burnt his fingers. I hope you won't let his mind be 
 harassed by money-matters. If a temporary loan will serve, 
 and for a considerable amount if necessary, I shall rely on your 
 writing to me : may I ? " 
 
 " It is exceedingly kind of you," Maurice said but made no 
 further promise. 
 
 No, Lionel had not been forgotten by all his fashionable 
 friends. That same afternoon a package arrived, which, accord- 
 ing to custom, Maurice opened, lest some acknowledgment 
 should be necessary. It proved to be Lady Adela Cunyngham's 
 new novel the three volumes prettily bound in white parch- 
 ment. 
 
 " Is the woman mad with vanity ? " said Francie, in hot 
 indignation, " to send him her trash at such a time as this ? " 
 
 Maurice laughed : it was not often that the gentle Francie 
 was so vehement. 
 
 " Why, Francie, it was the best she could do," he said. " For 
 when he is able to read it it will send him to sleep." 
 
 He was still turning over the leaves of the first volume. 
 
 " Oh, look here," he cried. " Hero is the dedication To 
 Octavius Quirk, Esq.,M.A., in sincere gratitude for much kindly 
 help and encouragement.' Now that is very indiscreet. The 
 log-rollers don't like books being dedicated to them ; it draws 
 the attention of the public ; and exposes the game. Ah, well, 
 not many members of the public will see that dedication! " 
 
 A great change, however, was now imminent. Saying as 
 
Clianges. 307 
 
 little as possible indeed, making all kinds of evasions and 
 excuses, so as not to alarm the women-folk old Dr. Moore 
 intimated that he thought it advisable he should sit up this 
 night with Lionel ; and Maurice, though he promised Francie 
 he would go home as soon as she and the old lady had left, was 
 too restless to keep his word. They feared, they hoped they 
 knew not what. Would the exhausted system hold out any 
 longer against the wasting ravages of this fell disease, or 
 succumb and sink into coma and death? Or would Nature 
 herself step in, and with her gentle fingers close the tired eyes 
 and bring restoring sleep and calm? Maurice meant to go 
 home, but could not. First of all, he stayed late. Then, when 
 the nurse came down, she was bidden to go back to bed again, 
 if she liked. Hour after hour passed. He threw himself on 
 the sofa, but it was not to close his eyes. And yet all seemed 
 going well in the sick-room. Both the Doctor and he had con- 
 vinced themselves that Lionel was now asleep no lethargic 
 stupor this time, but actual sleep, from which everything was 
 to be hoped. Maurice would not speak ; he wrote on slips of 
 paper, when he had anything to say. And so the long night 
 went by, until the window-panes slowly changed from black to 
 blue, and from blue to grey. 
 
 About eight o'clock in the morning the old Doctor came out 
 of the room, and Maurice knew in a moment the nature of his 
 tidings. 
 
 " All is going well," he whispered. " The temperature is 
 steadily decreasing nearly three degrees since last night ; and 
 he is now in a profound sleep : the crisis is over, and happily 
 over, as I imagine. I'm going along to tell his mother and 
 Francie and to go to bed for a bit." 
 
 And Maurice ? Well, here was the nurse ; he was not 
 wanted; he was a good-natured sort of person; and he had 
 seen how patiently and faithfully Nina had concealed her grief, 
 and done mutely everything they wanted of her. A few 
 minutes' drive in a hansom would take him down to Sloane 
 Street ; the fresh air would be pleasant for his head felt 
 stupefied for want of rest ; and why should not Nina have this 
 glad intelligence at the first possible moment? So forth he 
 went, into the white light of the fresh April morning ; and 
 presently he was rattling away westward, as well as the 
 eastward-flowing current of the newly-awakened town would 
 allow. But very much surprised was he, when he got to Mrs. 
 Grey's house, to find that Nina was not there. She had gone 
 
398 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 out very early in the morning, the maidservant told him ; she 
 had done so the last two or three days back without waiting 
 for breakfast even. 
 
 " But where does she go ? " he demanded, wondering. 
 
 "I don't know, sir," the girl said ; so there was nothing for 
 it but to walk leisurely away back to Piccadilly after all, 
 Nina would be sure to make her appearance at the usual hour, 
 which was about ten. 
 
 By the time he was nearing Lionel's lodgings again, he had 
 forgotten all about Nina ; he was thinking that now, since 
 Lionel seemed on a fair way to recovery, there might be a little 
 more leisure for Francie and himself to talk over their own 
 plans and prospects. He was on the southern side of Piccadilly ; 
 and sometimes he glanced into the Green Park ; when suddenly 
 his eye was caught by a figure that somehow appeared familiar. 
 Was not that Miss Boss walking slowly along a pathway 
 between the trees, her head bent down, though sometimes she 
 turned and looked up towards the houses, for but a second, as if 
 she were asking some unspoken, pathetic question. She was 
 about opposite Lionel's rooms ; but some little way inside the 
 Park, so that it was not probable she could be seen from the 
 windows. Well, Maurice walked back until he found a gate, 
 entered, and went forward and overtook her. In fact, she 
 seemed to be simply going this way and that, hovering about 
 the one spot, while ever and anon a hopeless glance was cast on 
 the unresponsive house-fronts up there. 
 
 " Miss Eoss ! " he said. 
 
 She turned quickly, and, when she saw who it was, her face 
 paled with alarm. For a moment she could not speak. Her 
 eyes questioned him and yet not eagerly : there was a terrible 
 dread there as well. 
 
 " Why are you here ? " he asked, in his surprise. 
 
 " I could not rest Within-doors I wished to be nearer," she 
 answered, hurriedly ; and then fixing her eyes on him, she 
 said, " Well ? What is it ? What do they say ? " 
 
 " Oh, but I have good news for you," said he ; " such excel- 
 lent news that I went away down to Sloane Street, so that you 
 could hear it without delay. The crisis is over; and every- 
 thing going on satisfactorily." 
 
 She murmured something in her native tongue, and turned 
 away her face. He waited a minute or two, until she brushed 
 her handkerchief across her eyes, and raised her head some- 
 what. 
 
Changes. 399 
 
 " Come," said ho, " we will go in now. I hear you have had 
 no breakfast. Do you want to be ill too ? Mrs. Jenkins will 
 get you something. We can't have two invalids on our hands." 
 
 She accompanied him, with the silent obedience she had 
 shown all the way through ; she only said, in a low voice, as ho 
 opened the door for her 
 
 " I wonder if Lionel will ever know how kind you have been 
 to every one." 
 
 This was a happy day for that household ; though their joy 
 was subdued ; for a shadow of possibilities still hung over them 
 And perhaps it was the knowledge that now there was every 
 probability of the greater danger being removed that caused a 
 certain exaggeration of minor troubles and brought them to the 
 front. When Mangan begged his betrothed to go out for a five 
 minutes' stroll in the Park before lunch, he found, after all, 
 that it was not his and her own affairs that claimed their chief 
 attention. 
 
 " I don't know what to do, Francie," he said, ruefully. " I'm 
 in a regular fix, and no mistake. Here is Nina it seems more 
 natural to call her Nina, doesn't it ? well, she talks of going 
 away to-morrow, now that Linn is in a fair way to get better. 
 She is quite aware that he does not know she has been in 
 London, or that he has seen her ; and now she wishes he 
 should never be told ; and that she may get safely away again, 
 and matters be just as they were before. I don't quite under- 
 stand her, perhaps; she is very proud, for one thing; but she 
 is very much in love with him poor thing, she has tried to 
 conceal it as well as ever she could ; but you must have seen 
 it, Francie a woman's eyes must have seen it " 
 
 " Oh, yes, Maurice ! " his companion said ; then she added 
 "And and don't you think Linn is just as much in love with 
 her ? I am sure of it ! It's just dreadful to think of her going 
 away again these two being separated as they were before 
 and Linn perhaps fretting himself into another illness, though 
 never speaking a word " 
 
 " But how am I to ask her to stay ? " Maurice demanded, as 
 if in appeal to her woman's wit. "There's Miss Burgoyne. 
 Linn himself could only ask Nina to stay on one condition 
 and Miss Burgoyne makes it impossible." 
 
 " Then," said Francie, grown bold, " if I were you, Maurice, 
 I would go straight to Miss Burgoyne, and I would say to her 
 ' My friend Lionel is in love with another woman ; he never 
 was in love with you at all ; now will you marry him ? ' ' 
 
400 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 11 Yes, very pretty," lie said, moodily. " The first thing she 
 would do would be to call a policeman and get me locked up as 
 a raging lunatic. And what would Linn say to me about such 
 interference, when he came to hear of it ? No, I must leave 
 them to manage their own affairs, however they may turn out ; 
 the only thing I should like in the meantime would be for 
 Nina to see Linn before she goes. That's all ; and that I think 
 I could manage." 
 
 " How, Maurice ? " 
 
 " Well, there is simply nothing she wouldn't do for Linn's 
 s ike," he made answer ; " and if I were to tell her I thought 
 it would greatly help his recovery if he were to know that she 
 was well, that she was here in London, and ready to be friends 
 with him, and looking forward to his getting better, then I am 
 pretty sure she would remain for that little time at least, and 
 do anything we asked of her. Of course it would not do for 
 them to meet just now Linn is too weak to stand any excite- 
 ment and he will be so for some time to come : still, I think 
 Nina would wait that time if we told her she could be of help. 
 Then once these two have seen each other and spoken, let them 
 take the management of their own affairs. Why, good gracious 
 me," he exclaimed, in lighter tones, " haven't you and I got 
 our own affairs to manage, too ? I have just been drawing up 
 a code of regulations for the better governing of a wife ! " 
 
 " Oh, indeed ! " said Francie. 
 
 " Yes, indeed ! " said he firmly. " I am a believer in the 
 good old robust virtues that have made England what she is 
 or rather, what she has been. I'm not a sentimentalist. If the 
 sentimentalists, and the theorists, and the faddists go on as 
 they are doing, they'll soon leave us without any England at 
 all; England will be moralised away to nothing; there will 
 only be her name, and her literature, left to remind the world 
 that she once existed. The equal rights of women that's one 
 of their fads. The equal rights of women ! Bosh ! Women 
 ought to be very prcud and grateful that they are allowed 
 to live at all ! However, that is a general principle ; the 
 particular application of it is that a man should be master in 
 his own house, and that his wife's first and paramount duty is 
 to obey him " 
 
 " You shouldn't frighten me too soon, Maurice," she said but 
 she did not appear to be terribly scared. 
 
 " And I mean to begin as I mean to end," said he, ominously, 
 as they were about to cross the street on their way back. " I 
 
Changes. 401 
 
 am not going to marry a wife who will have all her interests 
 out of doors. I will not allow it. A woman, madam, should 
 attend to her own house and her own husband, and not spend 
 her time in gadding about hospitals and sick wards, and 
 making friends and companions of nurses." 
 
 Francie laughed at him. 
 
 " \Vhy, Maurice," said she, as they were about to enter, " you 
 yourself are the very best nurse I ever saw ! " 
 
 But it was not in this mood that Mangan received Miss 
 Burgoyne when she called that afternoon to make inquiries. 
 She and her brother were shown to the room upstairs ; and 
 thither Mangan followed them. He was very polite, and cold, 
 and courteous ; told her that Lionel was getting on very well ; 
 that the fever was subsiding, and that he was quite sensible 
 again, though very weak; and said he hoped his complete 
 recovery was now only a question of time. But when the 
 young lady with more hesitation than she usually displayed^ 
 preferred a request that she might be allowed to see Mr. Moore, 
 Maurice met that by a gently decisive negative. 
 
 " He is not to be disturbed in any way. Perfect rest is what 
 the doctors ordain. He has been left a wreck; but his fine 
 constitution will pull him through ; in the meantime we have 
 to be most careful." 
 
 She was silent and thoughtful for a minute. 
 
 " I can't see him ? " 
 
 " I think not it would be most unwise. You would not 
 wish to do anything inconsiderate." 
 
 " Oh, certainly not. May I write to him then ? " she asked. 
 
 " It will be some time before he can attend to any letters. 
 You have no idea how weak he is. We want him to remain in 
 perfect rest and quiet." 
 
 " This is Thursday," she said. " Supposing everything goes 
 well, and I called on Tuesday next, could I see him then ? " 
 
 " By that time it would be easier to say," he answered with 
 diplomatic ingenuity. " I should think it very likely." 
 
 "It will be a long time before he can come back to the 
 theatre? " she asked again. 
 
 " There is no doubt about that." 
 
 " But his voice will be all right when he gets well ?" 
 
 " Dr. Whitsen seems to think so." 
 
 She stood undecided for a moment ; then she said 
 
 " Well, I won't write until you give me leave. I don't mind 
 your seeing the letter, when I do. In the meantime, will you 
 
 2 D 
 
402 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 tell Lionel how awfully glad I am that he is going on 
 well ; and that we shall all be glad to have him back at the 
 theatre?" 
 
 " I will give him the message." 
 
 " Thanks good-bye ! " And therewithal Miss Burgoyne and 
 her brother Jim withdrew. 
 
 But if Maurice set his face against that young lady being 
 allowed to see Lionel in his present exhausted condition, it was 
 quite otherwise with his notions about Nina. He talked to the 
 three doctors, and to Mrs. Moore, and to Francie to Francie 
 most of all ; and he maintained that so far from such a meeting 
 causing any mental disturbance, the knowledge that Nina was 
 in London, was close by, would only be a source of joy and 
 placid congratulation and peace. They yielded at last ; and 
 the experiment was to be tried on the Saturday morning about 
 eleven. Nina was told. She trembled a little ; but was ready 
 to do whatever was required of her. 
 
 " Well, now," said Maurice to her, when she came up that 
 morning (he noticed that she was dressed with extreme neatness 
 and grace, and also that she seemed pale and careworn, though 
 her beautiful dark eyes had lost none of their soft lustre). " We 
 mustn't startle him. We must lead up to his seeing you. I 
 wonder whether your playing those Neapolitan airs may not 
 have left some impression on his brain? they might sound 
 familiar?" 
 
 At once Nina went to the piano, and silently opened it. 
 
 " I will go and talk to him," he whispered. " Just you play 
 a little, and we'll see." 
 
 Mangan went into the next room, and began to say a few 
 casual words, in a careless kind of way, but all the time 
 keeping watchful and furtive observation of his friend's face. 
 And even as he spoke there came another sound soft and low 
 and distant that seemed to say : A la fenesta affaciate . . . 
 nennela de stu core . . . to ti aggio addi die spasemo ma spasemo 
 d'amore . . . e cchiu non trovo requia, nennella mia, ppe te ! . . . 
 
 " Maurice ! " said Lionel, with staring eyes. " What is that? 
 Who is there?" 
 
 " Don't you know, Linn ? " his friend said, tranquilly. " She 
 has been here all through your illness she has played those 
 airs for you 
 
 "Nina? Nina herself?" Lionel exclaimed, but in a low 
 voice. 
 
 Yes. If you like I will bring her in to see you. She has 
 
 M 
 
Changes. 403 
 
 been awfully good. I thought it would please you to know she 
 was hero. Now be quite quiet, and she will come in and speak 
 to you for a minute for just a minute, you know " 
 
 He went and asked Nina to go into the room ; but he did 
 not accompany her : he remained without. Nina went gently 
 forward to the bedside. 
 
 "Leo, I I am glad you are getting on so well," she said, 
 with admirable self-possession : it was only her lips that were 
 tremulous. 
 
 As for him, he looked at her in silence; and tears rolled 
 down his cheek he was so nerveless. Then he said in his 
 weak voice 
 
 "Nina, have you forgiven me?" 
 
 " What have I to forgive, Leo ? " she made answer ; and she 
 took his hand for a moment. " Get well it is the prayer of 
 many friends. And if you wish to see me again before I go, 
 then I will come "' 
 
 " Before you go ? " he managed to say. " You are going 
 away again, Nina ? " 
 
 His eyes were more piteous than his speech : she met that 
 look and her resolution faltered. 
 
 " At least," she said, " I will not go until you are well no. 
 When you wish for me, I will come to see you. We are still 
 friends as of old, Leo, are we not ? Now I must not remain. I 
 will say good-bye for the present." 
 
 "When are you coming back, Nina?" he said, still with 
 those pleading eyes. 
 
 " When you wish, Leo." 
 
 "This afternoon?" 
 
 " This afternoon, if you wish." 
 
 She pressed his hand and left. Her determined self- 
 possession had carried her bravely so far: there had hardly 
 been a trace of emotion. But when she went outside when 
 the strain was taken off it may have been otherwise : at all 
 events, when with bowed and averted head, she crossed the 
 sitting-room and betook herself to the empty chamber above, 
 no one dreamed of following her until Francie, some little 
 time thereafter, went quietly upstairs, and tapped at the door, 
 and entered. She found Nina stretched at full length on the 
 sofa, her head buried in the cushion, sobbing as if her heart 
 would break. Perhaps she was thinking of the approaching 
 farewell, 
 
 2 D 2 
 
404 TJie New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 TOWARDS THE DAWN. 
 
 ON the Tuesday about mid-day, according to her promise, Miss 
 Burgoyne called, and again preferred her request. And, short 
 of a downright lie, Mangan saw no way of refusing her. 
 
 " At the same time," he said, in the cold manner which he 
 unconsciously adopted towards this young lady, " you must 
 remember he is far from, strong yet; and I hope you have 
 nothing to say to him that would cause agitation, or even 
 involve his speaking much. His voice has to be taken care 
 of, as well as his general condition." 
 
 " Oh, you may trust me for that," said she, with decision. 
 " Do you think I don't know how important that is ? " 
 
 Miss Burgoyne went into the room. Lionel was still in bed, 
 but propped up in a sitting posture; and to keep his arms and 
 shoulders warm he had donned a gorgeous smoking-jacket, the 
 fantastic colours of which were hardly in keeping with his 
 character as invalid. He knew of her arrival, and had laid 
 aside the paper he had been reading. 
 
 " I am so glad to know you are getting on so satisfactorily," 
 said Miss Burgoyne, in her most pleasant way. "And they 
 tell me your voice will be all right too. Of course you must 
 exercise great caution : it will be some time before you can 
 begin your vocalises again." 
 
 "How is Doyle doing?" he asked, in a fairly clear voice. 
 
 "Oh, pretty well," said she, but in rather a dissatisfied 
 fashion. "It is difficult to say what it is that is wanting 
 he looks well, acts well, sings well a very good performance 
 altogether and yet it is respectable, and nothing more. He 
 really has a good voice, as you know, and thoroughly well 
 trained; but it seems to me as if there were in his singing 
 everything but the one thing everything but the thrill that 
 makes your breath stop at times. However," added Miss 
 Burgoyne, out of her complaisance, " the public will wait a 
 long time before they find any one to sing ' The Starry Night ' 
 as you sang it, and as I hope you'll be singing it again before 
 long." 
 
 She was silent for a second or two ; she seemed to have some- 
 thing to say, and yet to hesitate about saying it. 
 
Towards the Dawn. 405 
 
 " I hear you are going to Italy when you are strong enough 
 to travel," she observed at last. 
 
 " That is what they advise." 
 
 " You will be away for some time ? " 
 
 " I suppose so." 
 
 And again she sate silent for a little while, pulling at the 
 fringe of her rose-lined sun-shade. 
 
 " Well, Lionel," she said at length, with down-cast eyes, 
 " there is something I have been thinking about for a long time 
 back ; and if you are going away very soon, and perhaps for a 
 considerable while, I ought to tell you. It may be a relief to 
 you as well as to me; indeed I think it will ; if I had imagined 
 what I have to say would vex you in any way, you may be sure 
 I wouldn't come at such a time as this. But to be frank that 
 engagement do you think we entered upon it with any kind of 
 wisdom, or with any fair prospect of happiness? Now if I 
 trouble you or hurt your feelings in any way, you can stop me 
 with a single word," she interposed, and she ventured to look 
 up a little, and to address him more directly. " The truth is, I 
 was flattered by such a proposal naturally and rather lost nay 
 head, perhaps, when I ought to have asked myself what was the 
 true state of our feelings towards each other. Of course, it was 
 I who was in the wrong ; I ought to have considered. And I 
 must say you have behaved most honourably throughout; you 
 never showed the least sign of a wish to break the engagement, 
 even when we had our little quarrels, and you may have received 
 some provocation. But after all, Lionel, I think you must admit 
 that our relations have not been quite quite what you might 
 expect between two people looking forward to spending their 
 lives together." 
 
 She paused here perhaps to give him an opportunity of 
 signifying his assent. But he refused to do that. He uttered 
 not a word. It was for her to say what was in her mind if she 
 wished to be released. 
 
 " I am quite sure that even now, even after what I have just 
 told you," she continued, " you would be willing to keep your 
 word. But but would it be wise ? Just think. Esteem, and 
 regard, and respect there would always be between us, I hope ; 
 but but is that enough ? Of course you may tell me that as 
 you are willing to fulfil your part of the engagement, so I should 
 be on my side ; and I don't say that I am not : if you challenged 
 me, and could convince me that your happiness depended on it, 
 you would see whether I would draw back. But you have heard 
 
406 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 me so far without a word of protest. I have not wounded you. 
 Perhaps you will be as glad to be free as I shall be I don't 
 mean glad, Lionel," she hastily put in, " except in the sense of 
 being free from an obligation that might prove disastrous to 
 both of us. Now, Lionel, what do you say ? You see I have 
 been quite candid ; and I hope you won't think I have spoken 
 out of any unkindness or ill-feeling." 
 
 He answered her at last. 
 
 " I agree with every word you have said." 
 
 A quick flush swept across Miss Burgoyne's forehead; but 
 probably he could not have told what that meant, even if he 
 had been looking ; and he was not. 
 
 " I hope you won't think me unkind," she repeated. " I am 
 sure it will be better for both of us to have that tie broken. If 
 I had not thought that it would be as grateful to you as to me 
 to be released, be sure I would not have come and spoken to 
 you while you were lying on a sick-bed. Now I promised 
 Mr. Mangan not to talk too much nor to agitate you," said she, 
 as she rose, and smoothed her sun-shade, and made ready to 
 depart. " I hope you will get strong and well very soon ; and 
 that you will come back to the New Theatre with your voice as 
 splendid as ever." But still she lingered a little. She felt that 
 her immediate departure might seem too abrupt ; it would look 
 as if she had secured the object of her visit, and was therefore 
 ready to run away at once. So she chatted a little further ; and 
 looked at the photographs on the wall ; and again she hoped he 
 would be well soon, and back at the theatre. At last she said, 
 " Well, good-bye ! " gave him her gloved hand for a second ; 
 then she went out and was joined by her brother. Mangan saw 
 them both down-stairs, and returned to Lionel's room. 
 
 " Had her ladyship any important communication to make ? " 
 he asked, in his careless way. 
 
 " She proposed that our engagement should be broken off 
 and I consented," said Lionel, simply. 
 
 Mangan, who was going to the window, suddenly stood stock 
 still, and stared, as if he had not heard aright. 
 
 " And it is broken off ? " he exclaimed. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 There was a dead silence. Presently Maurice said - 
 
 "Well, that is the best piece of news I have received for 
 many a day for you don't seem heart-broken, Linn 1 And 
 now have you any plans ? perhaps you have hardly had 
 time " 
 
Towards tlie Dawn. 407 
 
 He was looking at Lionel wondering whether the same idea 
 was in both their heads and yet afraid to speak. 
 
 " Maurice," Lionel said presently, with some hesitation, 
 "tell me could I ask Nina look at me such a wreck 
 could I ask her to become my wife ? It's about Capri I am 
 thinking we. could go together there, when I am a bit 
 stronger " 
 
 There was a flash of satisfaction in the deep-set, friendly 
 grey eyes. 
 
 " This is what I expected, Linn. Well, put the question to 
 herself and the sooner the better ! " 
 
 " Yes, but " Lionel said, as if afraid. 
 
 " Oh, I know," Maurice said, confidently. " Tell Nina that 
 you are not yet quite recovered that you have need of her care 
 and she will go to the world's end with you. Only you must 
 get married first, for the sake of appearances." 
 
 "What will she say, Maurice?" he asked again, as if there 
 was some curious doubt, or perhaps merely timidity, in his 
 mind. 
 
 " I think I know, but I am not going to tell," his friend 
 answered lightly. " I am off up-stairs now. I will send Nina 
 down ; but without a word of warning. You'll have to lead up 
 to it yourself and good-luck to you, my boy ! " And therewith 
 Maurice departed to seek out Nina in the chamber above ; and 
 as he went up the stairs he was saying to himself " Well, 
 well ; and so Miss Burgoyne did that of her own free will ? I 
 may have done the young woman some injustice. Perhaps she 
 is not so selfish and hard after all. Wish I had been more civil 
 to her ! " 
 
 Meanwhile Miss Burgoyne and her brother were walking in 
 the direction of Kegent Street. 
 
 "Now, Jim," she said, with almost a gay air, "I have just 
 completed a most delicate and difficult negotiation, and I feel 
 quite exhausted. You must take me into a restaurant and give 
 me the very nicest and neatest bit of luncheon you can possibly 
 devise all pretty little trifles, for we mustn't interfere with 
 dinner : and I am going to see how you can do it " 
 
 " Well, but, Katie," he said, frowning, " where do you 
 suppose " 
 
 " Oh, don't be stupid ! " she exclaimed, slipping her purse 
 into his hand. "I am going to judge of your savoir faire; I 
 will see whether you get a nice table ; whether you order the 
 proper things ; whether you command sufficient attention " 
 
408 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 "JI was never taught to bully waiters," said he. 
 
 ",To bully waiters! is that your notion of savoir faire?" 
 she answered cheerfully. "My dear Jim, the bullying of a 
 waiter is the most obvious and outward sign of the ingrained, 
 incurable cad. No, no. That is what I do not expect of you, 
 Jim. And I am going to leave the whole affair in your hands ; 
 for while you. are ordering for me a most elegant little luncheon, 
 I have an extremely important letter to send off." 
 
 So it was that when brother and sister were seated at a small 
 table on the ground floor of a well-known Kegent Street 
 restaurant, Miss Burgoyne had writing materials brought her, 
 and she wrote her letter while Jim was in shy confabulation 
 with the waiter. It was not a lengthened epistle : it ran so 
 
 " Tuesday, 
 " DEAR PERCY, 
 
 Let it be as you wish. 
 
 Your loving 
 
 KATE. 
 
 P.S. When shall you be in town ? Come and see me.' " 
 
 She folded and enclosed and addressed the letter ; but she did 
 not give it to the waiter to post. It was of too great moment 
 for that. She put it in her pocket : she would herself see it 
 safely despatched. 
 
 Well, for a boy, Jim had not done so badly ; though to be 
 sure, his sister did not seem to pay much attention to these 
 delicacies. Pier brain was too busy. And she trifled with this 
 thing or that, or sipped a little wine, she said 
 
 " Jim, I know what the dream of your life is it's to go to a 
 big pheasant-shoot." 
 
 " Oh, is it ! " he said, with the scorn born of superior know- 
 ledge. " Not much. I've tried my hand at pheasants. I know 
 what they are. It's all very well for those fellows in the 
 papers to talk about the easy shooting the slaughter the 
 tame birds and all that bosh : fellows who couldn't hit a 
 stuffed cockatoo at twenty yards. No, thanks : I know what 
 pheasants are the beasts ! " 
 
 " Well, what kind of shooting would you really like ? " said 
 this indulgent sister. 
 
 " I'll tell you," he said, with his face brightening. " I should 
 like to have the run of a good rabbit-warren, and to be allowed 
 to wander about entirely by myself, with a gun and a spaniel. 
 
A Reunion. 409 
 
 No keeper looking on, and worrying, and criticising that's my 
 idea." 
 
 " All right," said she, " I think I can promise you that." 
 
 "You?" he said, looking at her, and wondering if she had 
 gone out of her wits. 
 
 " Yes," she answered, sweetly. " Don't you think there will 
 be plenty of rabbits about a place like Petmansworth ? " 
 
 "And what then?" 
 
 "Well, I'm going to marry Sir Percival Miles," said Miss 
 Kate, with much serene complacency. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 A REUNION. 
 
 HERE is a long balcony, shaded by pillared arches, the windows 
 hung with loose blinds of reeds in grey and scarlet. If you 
 venture out into the hot sunlight, you may look away down 
 the steep and rugged hill, where there are groups of flat-roofed, 
 white houses dotted here and there among the dark palms and 
 olives and arboured vines ; and then your eyes naturally turn 
 to the vast extent of shimmering blue sea, with the faint 
 outline of the Italian coast and the peaked Vesuvius beyond. 
 But inside, in the spacious, rather bare, rooms, it is cooler. 
 And in one of these, at the further end, stands a young man 
 in front of a piano, striking a chord from time to time, and 
 exercising a voice that does not seem to have lost much of its 
 timbre; while there is an exceedingly pretty, gentle-eyed, 
 rather foreign-looking young lady engaged in putting flowers 
 on the central table, which is neatJy and primly laid out 
 for four. 
 
 " Come, Leo," she says, " is it not enough ? You are in too 
 great a hurry, I believe. Are you jealous of Mr. Doyle ? Do 
 you wish to go back at once ? No, no, we must get Mr. Mangan 
 and his bride to make a long stay, before we go over with them 
 to the big towns on the mainland. Will you go out and see if 
 the Risposta is visible 3 r et ? " 
 
 " What splendid weather for Maurice and Francie, isn't it, 
 Ntoniella ? " said he (for there are other pet names beside the 
 familiar Nina for anyone called Antonia). " I wish we could 
 
410 The New Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 have had onr wedding-day along with theirs. Well, at least 
 we will have our honeymoon-trip along with them; and we 
 shall have to be their guides, you know, in Venice, and Rome, 
 and Florence, for neither of them knows much Italian." 
 
 "Yes, but, Leo," said Nina, who was still busy with her 
 flowers, " when we go back with them to Naples, you really 
 must speak properly. It is too bad the dialect it is not 
 necessary you can speak well if you wish it was only to 
 make fun of Sabetta that you began now it is always." 
 
 He only laughed at her grave remonstrance. 
 
 " Oh, don't you preach at me, Ntoniella ! " he said, in the 
 very language she was deprecating. " There are lots of things 
 I can say to you that sound nicer that way." 
 
 He turned from the piano at last, and took up an English 
 newspaper that he had previously opened. 
 
 " Ntonie, tell me, did you read all the news this morning?" 
 
 "No a little," Nina answered, snipping off the redundant 
 stalks of the grapes. 
 
 " You did not see the announcement about about Miss 
 Cunyngham ? " 
 
 At the mention of this name, Nina looked up quickly ; and 
 there was some colour in the pale clear complexion. 
 
 "No. What is it, Leo?" 
 
 "I thought you might have seen that, at all events," he 
 said, lightly. " Well, I will read it to you. * A marriage has 
 been arranged and will shortly take place between Lord 
 Eockminster,* eldest son of the Earl of Fareborough, and 
 Miss Honnor Cunyngham, daughter of the late Sir George 
 Cunyngham, and sister of Sir Hugh Cunyngham, of the Braes, 
 Perthshire, and Aivron Lodge, Campden Hill.' I should like 
 to have sent them a little wedding-present," he went on, 
 absently, " for both of them have been very kind to me ; but 
 I am grown penurious in my old age ; I suppose we shall have 
 to consider every farthing for many a day to come " 
 
 "Leo, why will you not take any of my money?" Nina 
 exclaimed but with shy and downcast face. 
 
 " Your money ! " he said, laughing. " You talk as if you 
 were a Russian princess, Ntoniella ! " 
 
 He drew aside the reeded blind of one of the windows and 
 went out into the soft air : both land and sea that beautiful 
 stretch of shining blue seemed quivering in the heat and 
 abundant sunlight of June. 
 
 " Nina, Nina ! " he called, you must make haste ; the Eisposta 
 
A Eeunion. 411 
 
 -will soon be coming near; and we must be down in time to 
 welcome Maurice and Francie when they come ashore." 
 
 In a second or two she was ready ; and he also. 
 
 " There are so many things I shall have to tell Maurice," he 
 said, just as they were about to leave the house. " But do you 
 think I shall be able to tell him, Ntoniella? No. He must 
 guess. What you have been to me what you are to me how 
 can I tell him, or any one ? " 
 
 He took both her hands in his, and looked long and lovingly 
 into her upturned face. 
 
 " Ntonie, tu si state a sciorta mia ! " he said, meaning thereby 
 that good fortune had befallen him at last. It was a pretty 
 speech ; and Nina, with her beautiful dark eyes fixed on his, 
 answered him in the same dialect, and almost in the same terms 
 if in a lower voice 
 
 " E a sciorta mia si tu ! " 
 
 THE END. 
 
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List of Publications. \ ^ 
 
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1 3 Sampson Low, Marston, 6 Co.'s 
 
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 HARDY. 
 
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List of Publications* 9 
 
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 KINGSTON. 
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 PERCY GROVES. 
 
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 Great Hunting Grounds of the World. MI.UNIER. 
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 Adventures of Jimmy Frown. Illust. By W. L. ALDEN. 
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2o Sampson Low, Marston, o Co's 
 
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 Faith Gartney's Girlhood. By Mrs. WHI1NEY. 
 
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 My Wife and I. By Mrs. STOWE. 
 
 An Only Sister. By Madame DE WITT. 
 
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 My Summer in a Garden. By C. DUDLEY WARNER. 
 Low's Pocket Encyclopedia: a Compendium of General Know- 
 
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List of Publications. 21 
 
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