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 UNF*. OF CALIF. LIBRARY. LOS ANGELES
 
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 A MUMMER'S WIFE 
 
 By 
 
 GEORGE MOORE 
 
 AUTHOR OF K THE CONFESSIONS OF A YOUNG MAN," " ESTHER WATERS," ETC. 
 
 New York 
 
 BRENTANO'S 
 
 Union Square 
 1908
 
 5m 
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 TO MY FRIEND, 
 
 JAMES DAVIS, 
 
 I DEDICATE THIS BOOK, IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT 
 
 OF A LITERARY DEBT.
 
 "Change the surroundings in which man lives, and, 
 in two or three generations, you will have changed his 
 physical constitution, his habits of life, and a goodly 
 number of his ideas."— Victor Duruy, L' Introduction 
 Qtnerale d VHistoire de France.
 
 A MUMMER'S WIFE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 |N default of a screen, a gown and a red petticoat 
 had been thrown over a clothes-horse, and this 
 shaded the glare of the lamp from the eyes of 
 the sick man. In the pale obscurity of the room, 
 his bearded cheeks could be seen buried in a heap of tossed 
 pillows. By his bedside sat a young woman. As she dozed, 
 her face drooped until her features were hidden, and the 
 lamp-light made the curious curves of a beautiful ear look 
 like a piece of illuminated porcelain. Her hands lay upon 
 her lap, her needlework slipped from them ; as it fell to the 
 ground, she awoke. 
 
 Pressing her hands against her forehead, she made an 
 effort to rouse herself. As she did so, her face contracted 
 with an expression of disgust, and she remembered the 
 ether. The soft, vaporous odor drifted towards her from 
 a small table strewn with medicine bottles, which stood 
 at the foot of the iron bedstead. Arising, she passed silently 
 across the room, and, taking care to hold the cork tightly 
 in her fingers, so as to avoid any sound, she squeezed it 
 firmly into the bottle. At that moment the clock struck 
 eleven. The clear tones of its bell broke the silence sharply ; 
 the patient moaned as if in reply, and his thin hairy arms 
 stirred feverishly on the wide patchwork counterpane. 
 Kindly she took them in her hands and covered them over. 
 The pillows were bowed in, beaten almost flat; she tried 
 to arrange them more comfortably, but as she did so he 
 turned and tossed impatiently. His forehead was moist 
 with perspiration, but, fearing to disturb him, she put back 
 the handkerchief she had taken from the pillow, and stood
 
 2 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 staring vaguely into the shadows that clouded the further 
 end of the room. Then, regaining her chair, with a weary 
 movement, she picked up the cloth that had fallen from 
 her knees, and slowly continued her work. 
 
 It was, like the counterpane on the bed, a piece of patch- 
 work, and in this instance the squares of a chessboard had 
 been taken as a design. Selecting a fragment of stuff, she 
 trimmed it into the required shape, and with tailor-like 
 precision stewed it into its allotted corner. For fancy work 
 she had not much taste or time, but in the long hours she 
 was forced to pass at her husband's bedside she strove thus 
 to utilize the odds and ends of the shop. 
 
 Nothing was now heard but the methodical click of her 
 needle as it struck the head of her thimble, and then the 
 long swash of the thread as she drew it through the cloth. 
 The lamp at her elbow burned steadily, and the glare 
 glanced along her arm as she raised it with the large move- 
 ment of sewing. Wherever the light touched it her hair 
 was blue, and it encircled, like a piece of rich black velvet, 
 the white but too prominent temples ; a dark shadow denned 
 the fine straight nose, hinted at a thin indecision of lips, 
 whilst a broad touch of white marked the weak but not un- 
 beautiful chin. On her knees lay the patchwork, with its 
 jagged edges, and the floor at her feet was covered with 
 innumerable scraps, making a red and black litter. On 
 the corner of the table lay a book, a well-worn volume in 
 a faded red paper cover. It was a novel she used to read 
 with delight when she was a girl, and, hoping that it might 
 help her to pass away these weary hours, she had sought 
 for it at the bottom of an old trunk; but it had somehow 
 failed to interest her, and after a few pages she had laid 
 it aside, preferring for distraction her accustomed sewing. 
 She was now well awake, and, as she worked, her thoughts 
 turned on things concerning the daily routine of her life. 
 She thought of the time when her husband would be well, 
 of the pillow she was making, of how nice it would look in 
 the green armchair, of the much greater likelihood of let- 
 ting their rooms, if they were better furnished, of their new 
 lodger, and of the probability of a quarrel between him 
 and her mother-in-law, Mrs. Ede. So engrossed was she
 
 A Mummer's Wife 3 
 
 in her musings thai she did not notice how difficult and 
 laboured her husband's breathing had become. He had 
 thrown the coverlet from him, his chest heaved, and his 
 breath came from him with a loud wheeze which momen- 
 tarily thickened in sound. When at length she looked up a 
 look of supreme pity passed across her face. Putting her 
 work aside she approached the bed. 
 
 As she did so he opened his eyes. 
 
 " Do you feel bad, dear ? " she asked in a low voice. 
 
 " Oh, yes, I do. I'm suffocating ; lift me up. I'm going 
 to have a fit; I hope it won't be a bad one." 
 
 Placing her arms round him she helped him into a sitting 
 position, and then propped up the pillows, so as to form a 
 support for his back. She also took a small red shawl from 
 her shoulders and pinned it round his. Nothing more 
 could then be done but to wait and see how the attack 
 would proceed. Gathering his legs under him he leaned 
 forward snorting like a wounded animal. His face was 
 emaciated, and his dark thick hair fell over his forehead 
 in sticky masses. From time to time he attempted to 
 cough, but his breath ran short in his throat, and the ef- 
 forts seemed to exhaust him. At times he had not the 
 strength to separate the saliva from his lips, but as he got 
 rid of the phlegm that oppressed him he appeared to grow 
 a little better, and signed to Kate to remove the basin. She 
 felt no disgust, but only a noble desire to relieve his suffer- 
 ings. Presently he spoke, and in a deep and husky voice 
 said — 
 
 " Oh, what I have done to merit such suffering ? And it 
 is all the fault of that cursed actor; I wish I had never 
 heard his name." 
 
 " Hush, hush," said Kate, trying to soothe him. " He 
 won't interfere with you, and it will bring us a connection 
 which will enable us to keep our rooms always let." 
 
 For more than a week past the new lodger had formed 
 the staple subject of conversation in this household. Mrs. 
 Ede, Kate's mother-in-law, was loud in her protestations 
 that the harboring of an actor could not but be attended 
 by bad luck. Kate, whose Puritanism was of a less marked 
 kind, only felt a little uneasy. She had inherited the vague
 
 4 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 distrust of her class against all that was itinerant; otherwise 
 she was quite unprejudiced. Perhaps at first she had felt in- 
 clined to agree with her mother-in-law, but her husband 
 had shown himself so stubborn, and had so persistently 
 declared he was not going to keep his rooms empty any 
 longer, that for peace sake she was fain to side with him. 
 The question had arisen in a very unexpected way. Dur- 
 ing the whole winter they had been unfortunate with their 
 rooms; they had made many attempts to get lodgers, had 
 even advertised. Some few people had asked to see the 
 rooms, but they merely made an offer. One day, however, 
 a man who had come into the shop to buy some paper col- 
 lars asked Kate if she had any apartments to let. On her 
 replying that she had, they went upstairs, and after a cur- 
 sory inspection he told her that he was the agent in advance 
 to a travelling opera company, and that if she liked he 
 would recommend her rooms to the stage manager — a par- 
 ticular friend of his. The proposition was somewhat 
 startling, but not liking to say no she proposed to refer 
 the matter to her husband. 
 
 At the particular moment Mr. Ede happened to be en- 
 gaged in a violent dispute with his mother, and so angry 
 was he that when Mrs. Ede raised her hands to protest 
 against the introduction of an actor into the household, he 
 straightway told her that, " If she did not like it she might 
 do the other thing." Nothing more was said for the pres- 
 ent; the old lady retired in indignation, and Mr. Lennox 
 was written to. Kate sympathized alternately with both 
 sides. Mrs. Ede was sturdy in defence of her principles; 
 Mr. Ede was petulant and abusive; and between the two 
 Kate was blown about like a feather in a storm. Daily the 
 argument waxed warmer until one night, in the middle of 
 a scene characterised by much biblical quotation, Mr. Ede 
 declared he could stand it no longer, and rushed out of the 
 house. In vain the women tried to stop him, knowing well 
 what the consequences would be. A draught, a slight ex- 
 posure, amply sufficed to give him a cold, and with him 
 a cold always ended in an asthmatic attack. And these 
 were often so violent as to lay him up for weeks at a time. 
 In the present instance the result was as foreseen. When
 
 A Mummer's Wife 5 
 
 Mr. Ede, his temper grown cooler under the influence of 
 the night air, returned, he was coughing, and the next night 
 found him breathless. His anger had at first vented itself 
 against his mother, whom he refused to see, and thus the 
 whole labor of nursing him was thrown on Kate. She 
 did not grumble at this, but it was terrible to have to listen 
 to him. 
 
 It was Mr. Lennox, and nothing but Mr. Lennox. All 
 the pauses in the suffocation were utilized to speak on this 
 important question, and even now Kate, who had not yet 
 perceived that the short respite which the getting rid of 
 the phlegm had given him was coming to an end, expected 
 him to say something concerning the still unknown person. 
 But Mr. Ede did not speak, and, to put herself as it were 
 out of suspense, she said, referring to some previous con- 
 versation — 
 
 " I am sure you are right ; the only people in the town 
 who let their rooms are those who have a theatrical con- 
 nection." 
 
 " Oh, I don't care, I'm going to have a bad night," said 
 Mr. Ede, who now thought only of how he should get his 
 next breath. 
 
 " But you seemed to be getting better," she replied hur- 
 riedly. 
 
 " Oh ! oh ! I feel it coming on — I am suffocating. Have 
 you got the ether ? " 
 
 Without answering, Kate made a rapid movement to- 
 wards the table. Snatching the bottle she uncorked it. 
 The sickly odor quietly spread like oil over the close at- 
 mosphere of the room ; it made her feel sick, but, mastering 
 her repugnance, she held it to him, and, in the hope of 
 obtaining relief, he inhaled it greedily. But the remedy 
 proved of no avail, and he pushed the bottle away. 
 
 "Oh, these headaches! My head is splitting," he said, 
 after a deep inspiration which seemed as if it would cost 
 him his life. " Nothing seems to do me any good. Have 
 you got some of those cigarettes ? " 
 
 " I am sorry to say they have not arrived yet. I wrote 
 for them," she replied, hesitating ; " but do you not 
 think—?"
 
 6 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 Shaking his head, and resenting Kate's assiduities, with 
 trembling fingers he unfastened the shawl she had placed 
 on his shoulders. He did this in order to have his chest 
 entirely free. Then planting his elbows on his knees, with 
 a fixed head and elevated shoulders, he gave himself up to 
 the struggle of taking breath. 
 
 Kate watched him, and at that moment she would have 
 laid down her life to save him from the least of his pains. 
 But it was agony to sit by him, listening to the terrible 
 sobbing, and to know that nothing could be done to relieve 
 him. There he lay before her, helpless in his suffering, 
 moaning piteously. 
 
 She had seen the same scene repeated a hundred times 
 before, but it never seemed to lose any of its horror. In the 
 first month of her marriage she had been frightened almost 
 out of her life by one of these asthmatic attacks. It had 
 come on in the middle of the night, and she remembered 
 well how she had prayed to God that it should not be her 
 fate to see her husband die at her very feet, and in such 
 agony. Now she knew that death was not to be appre- 
 hended, and that the paroxysm would wear itself out, but 
 she knew also of the horrors that would have to be endured 
 before the time of relief came. She could count them upon 
 her fingers — she could see it all as in a vision — a ghostly 
 nightmare that would drag out its long changes until the 
 dawn began to break. Heaving a deep sigh as she antici- 
 pated the hours of the night, she laid her hand yearningly 
 on her husband's. It was cold as lead, and he was wet with 
 perspiration. 
 
 " Air — air ! I'm suff — o — eating ! " he sobbed out with 
 a desperate effort. 
 
 Kate ran to the door and threw it open. The paroxysm 
 had now reached its height. Eesting his elbows well on his 
 knees he gasped many times, but before the inspiration 
 was complete his strength failed him. So exhausted was he 
 that no want but that of breath could have forced him to 
 try again ; and the second effort was even more terrible than 
 the first. A great upheaval, a great wrenching and rock- 
 ing, seemed to be going on within him ; the veins on hi? 
 forehead were distended, the muscles of his ehest labored,
 
 A Mummer's Wife 7 
 
 and every minute seemed as if it were going to be his last. 
 However, with a supreme effort, he managed to breathe, and 
 then there was a moment of respite, the infinitesimal pause 
 before the process of expiration began. This, although 
 painful, did not seem to distress him to the same extent as 
 the inspiration. But he was obviously thinking of the next 
 struggle, for he breathed avariciously, letting the air that 
 had cost him so much agony pass slowly through his lips. 
 
 At this point of the attack it is impossible for the patient 
 to remain lying clown, and as if by instinct, divining that 
 in his present position another inspiration was out of the 
 question, he slipped out of bed and attempted to gain the 
 window. 
 
 A very ghastly scene then followed. Unable to proceed 
 farther than the table where she was in the habit of sitting, 
 he stopped and placed his hands upon it. So engrossed 
 was he in the labor of breathing that he pushed the paraf- 
 fin lamp roughly, and it would have fallen had Kate not 
 been there to catch it. She besought of him to say what 
 he wanted, but he made no reply, and continued to drag 
 himself from one piece of furniture to another. Grasping 
 the back of a chair, with his head thrown back and his 
 shoulders raised to the level of his ears, he breathed by 
 jerks, each inspiration being accompanied by a violent 
 spasmodic wrench, violent enough it seemed to break open 
 his chest. The agony he appeared to be in was appalling. 
 Often she had seen him suffer until she thought she would 
 go mad with mingled fear and pity; but in the present at- 
 tack there was something unnatural, something that no 
 constitution could endure for long. 
 
 Tremblingly, with apprehension, she watched, afraid to 
 leave him, expecting every moment to see him roll over a 
 corpse. Wildly she asked herself what she was to do, for 
 it seemed to her impossible that it could be her only duty 
 to stand by him, helplessly wiping away the great drops of 
 perspiration which dripped down his face and glistened 
 at the end of his beard. 
 
 But he had forbidden her ever to send for a doctor, ever 
 to leave him, and for the last five years she had heard that 
 there was no real remedy, as there was no real danger, and
 
 8 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 that the only thing to do was to wait patiently until the 
 time of relief came. Kate remembered all this, and she 
 strove to reconcile herself to the task of watching these 
 remorseless pantings. She strove to pray, but she could 
 not abstract her thoughts from the piteous object before 
 her. And he was a piteous object. A long pallid face 
 crushed under a shock of dark matted hair, a dirty night- 
 dress draggling round a pair of thin legs, was the meagre 
 reality ; but for the moment the grandeur of human suffer- 
 ing covered him, lifted him beyond the pale of loving or 
 loathing, and invested and clothed him in the pity of tragic 
 things. The room, too, seemed transfigured. The bare 
 wide floor, the gaunt bed, the poor walls plastered with 
 religious prints cut from journals, even the ordinary furni- 
 ture of everyday use — the little washhand-stand with the 
 common delf ewer, the chest of drawers that might have 
 been bought for thirty shillings — lost their coarseness; 
 their triviality disappeared, until nothing was seen or felt 
 but this one suffering man. 
 
 The minutes went, slipping like the iron teeth of a saw 
 over Kate's sensibilities. A hundred times she had run 
 over in her mind the list of remedies she had seen him use. 
 They were few in number, and none of any real service 
 except the cigarettes which she had not. Piteously she 
 asked him to allow her to try iodine, but he could not or 
 would not make her any answer. With his nightshirt torn 
 open, grasping the back of a chair, he stood rigid and ter- 
 rible as a picture of Pain by Michael Angelo. 
 
 The atmosphere of the room was close and dusty, and 
 bitter with the smell of medicine. Kate had thought of 
 opening the window, but had not done so for fear of giving 
 him cold ; but he now moved towards it of his own accord. 
 It was cruel to see him struggling, but he resisted any as- 
 sistance, and alone reached the toilet-table. There, how- 
 ever, he had to stop, and watching like one in a dream, 
 penetrated with her own powerlessness to save or avert, 
 Kate remained crouching by the fireplace without strength 
 to think or act, until she was suddenly awakened by seeing 
 him relax his hold and slip heavily on the floor. 
 
 Instantly rushing towards him and stepping over the
 
 A Mummer's Wife 9 
 
 body, she tore aside the curtains, raised the sash, and let the 
 cool air into the room. She had then to lift him from the 
 ground. 
 
 By putting forth her whole strength she could get him 
 into a sitting position, but when she attempted to place 
 him in a chair he slipped through her arms. There was, 
 therefore, nothing to do but to shriek for help, and hope 
 to awaken her morther-in-law. The echoes rang through 
 the house, and as they died away, appalled she listened to 
 the silence. At length it grew clear that Mrs. Ede could 
 not be awakened, and Kate saw that she would have to 
 trust to herself alone. 
 
 Entwining both arms round the body, she endeavoured 
 to lift him, but as before, when she got him nearly to the 
 height of a chair, her strength was exhausted, and she was 
 obliged to lay him back again on the floor. After two or 
 three failures she determined to restore him to conscious- 
 ness before attempting to move him. Placing a pillow 
 under his head, she sprinkled his face with cold water, and 
 in a few minutes was rewarded by seeing him open his eyes. 
 
 But it was only for a moment; after one little stare he 
 slipped back into insensibility, and this was repeated several 
 times. Kate, however, redoubled her efforts, and at last 
 Ralph recovered himself permanently, and she was enabled 
 to place him in a chair. Pale and chill, he sat there striv- 
 ing and struggling with his breath, unable to move, and 
 soaked with perspiration. Then she buttoned his night- 
 shirt across his poor panting chest, and covered his shoul- 
 ders with the red shawl. He submitted like a child, and it 
 was with a thrill of pleasure that she noticed how the roar- 
 ing of his breath seemed to soften in sound. 
 
 The night was soft, and a cool breeze blew over the house- 
 tops refreshingly in their faces. The danger of his catch- 
 ing cold again was very great, but as he would not consent 
 to return to bed, she could do no more than cover him up 
 as well and warmly as possible. For this purpose she 
 fetched a blanket from her bed in the next room, wrapped 
 it firmly round and tucked it under his legs. He then ap- 
 peared to be pretty comfortable and, although still unable 
 to speak, sat quietly in his chair. With a sentiment of real
 
 10 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 tenderness she took his hand in hers, and as she looked at 
 him she felt her heart grow larger. 
 
 It was one of those simple and ardent emotions that 
 spring from the human heart like flowers from the earth. 
 Sitting by him she felt quite glad, and her eyes grew soft 
 with the happiness that welled, bright like a spring of pure 
 water, up through her mind. He was her husband ; he had 
 suffered terribly, and was now getting better; and she was 
 his wife, whose duty it was to attend him. She only wished 
 he would allow her to love him a little better. But against 
 her will, facts pierced through this luminous mist of senti- 
 ment, and she could not help remembering how petulant he 
 was with her, how utterly all her wishes were disregarded. 
 " What a pity he is not a little different," she thought ; and 
 certain romantic recollections flashed across her faintly 
 and dimly, for they were too far distant to be clear, the time 
 was too pressing for them to endure, and when she looked 
 at him and saw how he suffered, all other thoughts were 
 once more drowned and swept away. She forgot how he 
 often rendered her life miserable, well nigh unbearable, by 
 small vices, faults that defy definition, unending selfishness 
 and unceasing irritability. But now all dissatisfaction and 
 bitternesses were again merged into a sentiment that was 
 akin to love; and in this time of physical degradation he 
 possessed her perhaps more truly, more perfectly, than even 
 in his best moments of health. 
 
 But her life was one of work, not of musing, and there 
 was plenty for her to attend to. Ealph would certainly 
 not be able to leave his chair for some time yet; she had 
 wrapped him up comfortably in a blanket, she could do no 
 more, and whilst he was gradually recovering it would be 
 as well to tidy up the room a bit. There were slops to 
 empty, and he would never be able to sleep in a bed that 
 he had been lying in all day. 
 
 This was important, for he generally got a little ease to- 
 wards morning, particularly after a bad attack. So, hoping 
 that the present occasion would not prove an exception, 
 Kate set to work to make the bed. Resolving to do this 
 thoroughly, she turned the mattress over, beating it and 
 shaking it with all her force. She did the same with the
 
 A Mummer's Wife 11 
 
 pillows, and fearing that there might be a few crumbs stick- 
 ing to the sheets, she shook them out several times. 
 
 When the last crease had been carefully smoothed away 
 she went back to her husband. In reply to her many ques- 
 tions he only motioned her to shut the window, and so im- 
 patiently that she feared he would reproach her for having 
 left it open so long. 
 
 Mr. Ede, although he could not yet speak or even breathe 
 without much discomfort, was obviously better. The vio- 
 lence of the paroxysm had passed, and he eventually al- 
 lowed her to lead him back to bed. There she overwhelmed 
 him with little attentions. She insisted on being allowed 
 to paint his back with iodine, although he did not believe 
 in the remedy; and on his saying he was thirsty she went 
 groping down the narrow stairs to the kitchen, hunted for 
 the matches in the dark, lighted a spirit-lamp, and made 
 him a hot drink. 
 
 He drank it, however, without a word or look of thought- 
 fulness, and she felt a little disappointed. 
 
 These duties of the sickroom were followed by the 
 dreariness of a long vigil. She was now wholly tired. 
 Whilst she had anything to do she could bear up ; but to 
 sit silently watching through half-closed eyelids the clouded 
 outline of a stooping figure in the shadow of the bed, 
 watching with aching eyes the red glimmer of the lamp 
 with its solitary round of light above it on the darkened 
 ceiling, and listening with frightened ears to the long 
 wheezing of the asthmatic, was a terrible ordeal. 
 
 She had had very little sleep for the last two nights, and 
 for the present she saw no prospect of being able to leave 
 him. He did not seem to grow better. 
 
 For some time she had not noticed any change in his ap- 
 pearance. Now and again he would lie down, but he soon 
 began to choke, and the necessity of breathing would force 
 him into a sitting position. And even when there came to 
 him a short moment of respite, he only used it to bemoan 
 his evil fortune. Leaning over the side of the bed, in an 
 agonizing voice he would murmur — 
 
 " Oh, will this ever end ? Why did you leave that win- 
 dow open so long? I am sure it has made me worse."
 
 12 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 These complainings wounded Kate's feelings, and the 
 transient glow of tenderness she had felt for him was now 
 lost in an utter sense of lassitude. Her thoughts slipped 
 and faded into a dreamy confusion, and in her ears his 
 asthmatic breathing throbbed like the sound of distant 
 falling waters. Sometimes the noise would awake her, 
 and when she opened her eyes she would look at him, 
 fearing vaguely that he would reproach her with neglect. 
 But a glance sufficed to reassure her on this point. In his 
 usual position, with his elbows on his knees, and an ex- 
 pression of extreme distress on his face, he labored for 
 breath, quite unconscious of what was passing around 
 him. Seeing this, she would lie back to be blinded again 
 by the soft veils of forgetfulness in whose folds she felt 
 herself drifting away. A great blurred heavy thought, 
 that she would awake to find her husband a corpse, op- 
 pressed her; she reasoned with it obtusely, until the last 
 shadow of sleep fell upon her. 
 
 How long she slept she could not say, but suddenly she 
 was awakened by her husband's voice calling to her peev- 
 ishly. She looked up abruptly and seeing what had hap- 
 pened, said — 
 
 " Oh, I am sorry, Ealph, but I could not help it. I 
 was so very tired — " 
 
 Mr. Ede was lying down, and the dreadful dyspnoea was 
 now confined to a low wheezing. He had been looking 
 at his wife for some time, but as the remembrance of what 
 he had suffered pierced through his thoughts the expres- 
 sion of his face changed. He had at first hesitated before 
 awakening her, but as the door had been left open he 
 fancied he felt a draught; he could not resist the tempta- 
 tion of hearing what she would have to say in defense of 
 her conduct. 
 
 " Do I want anything ? " he said, " there is the door 
 wide open, and I might have died for anything you would 
 have known or cared." 
 
 This unmerited reproof brought color to Kate's face. 
 She walked across the room without a word and shut the 
 door, but as she came back to her place she said —
 
 A Mummer's Wife 13 
 
 « 
 
 I do not know how you can speak to me so ungrate- 
 fully." 
 
 " Prop me up ; if I lie so low I shall get bad again. I 
 wish you had a touch of this asthma yourself, and you 
 would know then what it is to be left alone for several 
 hours." 
 
 Frightened at this accusation, Kate looked at the clock, 
 and saw she had been asleep a little more than half an 
 hour. But without contradicting him she arranged the 
 pillows and settled the blankets up under his chin. Then 
 thinking it would perhaps be advisable to say something, 
 she congratulated him on seeming so much better. 
 
 "Better! If I am better it is no thanks to you," he 
 said. " You must have been mad to have left the window 
 open so long." 
 
 " You wanted it open ; you know very well that when 
 you are very bad like that you must have change of air. 
 The room was so close." 
 
 " Yes, but that is no reason for leaving it open half an 
 hour." 
 
 " I offered to shut it and you wouldn't let me." 
 
 " I daresay you are sick of nursing me, and would like 
 to get rid of me. The window was not a bad dodge." 
 
 Kate remained silent, being too indignant for the mo- 
 ment to think of replying; but it was evident from her 
 manner that she would not be able to contain herself much 
 longer. He had hurt her to the quick, and her brown eyes 
 swam with tears. He, with his head laid back upon the 
 built-up pillows, fumed slowly, trying to find new matter 
 for reproach, and breath wherewith to explain it. At 
 last he thought of the cigarettes. 
 
 " Even supposing that you did not remember how long 
 you left the window open, I cannot understand how you 
 forgot to send for the cigarettes. You know well enough 
 that it is the only thing that relieves me when I am in this 
 state. I think it was most unfeeling — yes, most unfeel- 
 ing ! " Having said so much he leaned forward to get 
 breath, and coughed. 
 
 " You had better lie still, Ralph; you will only make
 
 14 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 yourself bad again. Now that you feel a little easier you 
 should try to go to sleep." 
 
 So far she got without betraying any emotion, but as 
 she continued to advise him her voice began to tremble, 
 her presence of mind to forsake her, and she burst into a 
 flood of tears. 
 
 " I don't know how you can treat me as you do," she 
 said, sobbing hysterically. "I do everything — I give up 
 my night's rest to you, I work hard all day for you, and in 
 return I only receive hard words. Oh ! it is no use," she 
 said, " I can bear it no longer; you will have to get some 
 one else to mind you." 
 
 This outburst of passion came suddenly upon Mr. Ede, 
 and for some time he was at a loss how to proceed. At 
 last, feeling a little sorry, he resolved to make it up, and 
 putting out his hand to her he said — 
 
 " Now, don't cry, Kate ; perhaps I was wrong in speaking 
 so crossly. I didn't mean all I said — it is this horrid 
 asthma." 
 
 " Oh ! I can bear anything but to be told I neglect you 
 — and when I stop up watching you three nights run- 
 ning — " 
 
 These little quarrels were of constant occurrence. Irri- 
 table by nature, and rendered doubly so by the character 
 of his complaint, the invalid at times found it impossible 
 to restrain his ill-humor; but he was not entirely bad; he 
 had inherited a touch of kindheartedness from his mother, 
 and being now moved by Kate's tears he said — 
 
 " That's quite true, and I'm sorry for what I said ; you 
 are a good little nurse. I won't scold you again. Make 
 it up." 
 
 But Kate found it hard to forget merely because Ralph 
 desired it, and for some time she refused to listen to his 
 expostulations, and walked about the room crying. 
 
 But her anger could not long resist the dead weight of 
 sleep that was oppressing her, and eventually she came and 
 sat down in her old place by him. The next step to recon- 
 ciliation was more easy. Kate, although quick-tempered, 
 was not vindictive, and at last, amid some hysterical sob- 
 bing, peace was restored. Then Mr. Ede drifted into speak-
 
 A Mummer's Wife 15 
 
 ing of his asthma. He told her how he had really fancied 
 he was going to die, and when she expressed her fear and 
 regret he hastened to assure her that no one had ever died 
 of asthma — that a man might live fifty, sixty, or seventy 
 years, suffering all the while from the complaint. It did 
 you no harm ; it was merely something awful. In this way 
 he rambled on until words and ideas together failed him, 
 and he fell asleep. With a sigh of relief Kate rose to 
 her feet, and seeing that he was settled for the night she 
 turned to leave him, and passed into her room with a slow 
 and dragging movement. But the place had a look so cold 
 and unrestful that it pierced through even her sense of 
 weariness. For a moment she stood trying to urge her 
 tired brains to think of what she should do. At last, re- 
 membering that she could get a pillow from the room they 
 reserved for letting, she turned to go. 
 
 Facing their room, and only divided by the very nar- 
 rowest of passages, was the stranger's apartment. 
 
 Both doors were approached by a couple of steps, which 
 so reduced the space that were two people to meet on the 
 landing one would have to give way to the other. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Ede found this proximity to their lodger, when they 
 had one, somewhat inconvenient, but, as he said — 
 
 " One didn't get ten shillings a week for nothing." 
 
 Kate lingered a moment on the threshold, and then, 
 ■ with the hand in which she held the novel she had been 
 reading, she picked up her skirt and stepped across the 
 way.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 OR the next few hours Kate lay buried in a dull, 
 deep sleep. The steam tramways had been 
 whistling for an hour or more, but they did not 
 awake her, and it was not until nine o'clock that 
 she became conscious that a dark figure was passing 
 through the twilight of the room. At first she could not 
 determine who it was, but as the blinds were suddenly 
 drawn up and a flood of sunlight poured across the bed, 
 she fell back amid the pillows, having recognized her 
 mother-in-law in a painful moment of semi-blindness. The 
 old woman carried a slop-pail, which she nearly dropped, 
 so surprised was she to find Kate in the stranger's room. 
 
 " But how did you get here ? " she said hastily. 
 
 " Oh, I had to give Ralph my pillow, and when he went 
 to sleep I came to fetch one out of the bed-room here; and 
 then I thought I would be more comfortable here — I was 
 too tired to go back again — I don't know how it was — what 
 does it matter ? " 
 
 Kate, who was stupefied with sleep, had answered so 
 crossly that Mrs. Ede did not speak for some time; at last, 
 at the end of a long silence, she said — 
 
 " Then he had a very bad night ? " 
 
 " Dreadful ! " returned Kate. " I never was so much 
 frightened in my life." 
 
 " And how did the fit come on ? " asked Mrs. Ede, deeply 
 interested. 
 
 " Oh, I can't tell you now," said Kate. " I am so tired. 
 I am aching all over." 
 
 " Well, then, I will bring you up your breakfast. And 
 you do look tired ! It will do you good to remain in bed." 
 
 " Bring me up my breakfast ! Then, what time is it ? " 
 said Kate sitting up in bed with a start. 
 
 " What does it matter what the time is ? If you are tired, 
 lie still ; I'll see that everything is right."
 
 A Mummer's Wife 17 
 
 " But I have promised Mrs. Barnes her dress by to- 
 morrow night. Oh, my goodness ! I shall never get it done. 
 Do tell me what time it is ? " 
 
 " Well, it is just nine/' the old woman answered apolo- 
 getically ; " but Mrs. Barnes will have to wait ; you can't 
 kill yourself. It is a great shame of Ralph to have you 
 sitting up when I could look after him just as well, and all 
 because of that horrid man." 
 
 " Oh, don't, mother," said Kate, who knew that on that 
 subject Mrs. Ede could speak for a good half-hour; and 
 remembering all that had been endured for the sake of the 
 letting of their rooms, she took the old woman's coarse 
 hands in h'ers, and looking earnestly in her face, said — 
 
 " You know, mother, I have a hard time of it, and I try 
 to bear up as well as I can. You are the only person I have 
 to help me. Well, don't you turn against me. Ealph has 
 set his mind on having the rooms let. Mr. Lennox is com- 
 ing here to-day ; it is all settled. Will you promise me not 
 to do anything to unsettle it? Ealph will be so angry if 
 Mr. Lennox is not satisfied, and when he is angry you know 
 how miserable it makes us all. While Mr. Lennox is here, 
 will you try to make him comfortable? A great deal de- 
 pends on you, for I have my dressmaking to attend to, and 
 I cannot be always after him. Now will you do this thing 
 for me ? " 
 
 They were the greatest friends, and Kate often thought 
 that if she had not this steadfast, kind-hearted woman to 
 lean on that she would never be able to bear up against the 
 hardships of her life; and in her turn Mrs. Ede loved her 
 daughter-in-law dearly, perhaps better even than she did 
 her own son. This working woman's principles were as 
 strong as they were narrow, and her sorrow arose with a 
 gulp in her throat as she listened to Kate's request. She 
 had already opposed by every means in her power the letting 
 of the rooms to actors, and had tolerably well satisfied her 
 conscience by so doing. But her position in this household, 
 although strong (she had an annuity of thirty pounds a 
 year), was not impregnable, and she felt that it would 
 perhaps be better to give way rather than risk a definite 
 family rupture. Still she found it very hard when the time 
 2
 
 18 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 came to make a formal surrender. Kate's entreaties were, 
 however, difficult to resist, and after a moment or so of 
 indecision she said — 
 
 " I do not believe that money made out of such people 
 can bring anyone any luck, but since you all wish it, I 
 suppose I must give way. But you won't be able to say I 
 didn't warn you." 
 
 " Yes, yes, I know you did," replied Kate ; " but will you 
 promise not to be disagreeable to him? Since we cannot 
 prevent his coming, will you promise that whilst he is here 
 you will attend to him just as you did to the other gentle- 
 man ? " 
 
 After some hesitation, she said : " I shall say nothing to 
 him, and if he doesn't make the house a disgrace, I shall 
 be well satisfied." 
 
 " How do you mean a disgrace ? " 
 
 " Don't you know, my dear, that actors have always a 
 lot of women after them, and I for one am not going to 
 attend on wenches like them. If I had my way I'd whip 
 such people until I slashed all the wickedness out of them." 
 
 " But he won't bring any women here ; we won't allow it," 
 said Kate, a little shocked, and she strove to think how 
 they should put a stop to such behavior. " If Mr. Lennox 
 does not conduct himself properly " 
 
 " Of course, I shall try to do my duty, and if Mr. Lennox 
 respects himself I shall try to respect him." 
 
 Mrs. Ede spoke these words very hesitatingly, but the ad- 
 mission that she possibly might respect Mr. Lennox satis- 
 fied Kate, and not wishing to press the matter further, 
 she said, suddenly referring to their previous conversation : 
 
 " But didn't you say that it was nine o'clock ? " 
 
 " It is more than nine now." 
 
 " Oh Lord, oh Lord ! how late I am ! I suppose the two 
 little girls are here ? " 
 
 " They arrived just as I was coming upstairs, but I set 
 them to work." 
 
 " I wish you'd get the tea ready, and you might make 
 some buttered toast; Ralph would like some, and so should 
 I, for the matter of that." 
 
 Then Mr. Ede's voice was heard calling, and, without
 
 A Mummer's Wife 19 
 
 waiting for an answer, Kate hurried to him. When she 
 entered he had his back turned to her, and was endeavoring 
 to settle himself. Seeing what was wanted, she hastened 
 to his assistance. 
 
 " Where were you last night ? " he asked, after a pause. 
 
 " I slept in the stranger's room ; I thought you would 
 not require me. I was more comfortable there. The bed 
 in the back room is scarcely bearable." 
 
 He did not answer at once, but continued to breathe 
 heavily in a way that made her fear he was going to have 
 another attack. 
 
 Kate looked at him earnestly. Although she had never 
 loved him, his utter dependence upon her had endeared 
 him to her. She had known nobody else; other men had 
 only passed before her like phantoms; of him at least she 
 had a distinct knowledge, and had he been a little kinder 
 he would have satisfied her. Her dreams did not fly high, 
 and now as she sat by him, holding his clammy hand, she 
 thought she would have felt happy were she sure of even so 
 much affection. A little love would have made her life so 
 much pleasanter. It did not matter who gave it; she sighed 
 for a little, ever so little. 
 
 " Is mother in a great rage because I won't let her in ? " 
 he said presently. 
 
 " She is very much cut up about it, dear ; you know she 
 loves you better than anyone in the world. You would 
 do well to make it up with her." 
 
 " Well, perhaps I was wrong," he said after a time, and 
 with good humor, " but she annoys me so dreadfully. She 
 will interfere in everything; as if I hadn't a right to let 
 my rooms to whom I pleased. Of course she pays for all 
 she has here, but I would much sooner she left us than 
 be lorded over in that way." 
 
 " She does not want to lord it over you, dear. It is all 
 arranged. She promised me just now she would say noth- 
 ing more about it ; indeed she promised she would be quite 
 agreeable to Mr. Lennox." 
 
 At this announcement of submission to his will the in- 
 valid smiled cheerfully. He declared he was right ; he was 
 sure Mr. Lennox would turn out very well; that the only
 
 20 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 thing he regretted was the trouble an extra person in the 
 house would give his wife and mother. 
 
 " But I shall soon be well/' he said, with a faint show of 
 irony. " I fancy the worst is over now, and I daresay I 
 shall be downstairs looking after the shop in a week, and 
 that will take a lot off your hands/'" 
 
 Against such imprudence Kate protested. She declared 
 that they could get on without him, owing, she was careful 
 to add, so as not to offend his vanity, to the terrible slack- 
 ness of business. This led to a small conversation concern- 
 ing the state of trade, and then Kate suggested that she 
 should go and see after his breakfast. Mr. Ede had no 
 objection to offer, so bidding him good-bye for the moment 
 she went downstairs. When she entered the front kitchen 
 she found Annie assisting Mrs. Ede to make the toast. 
 Lizzie stood at the table buttering it and piling it upon a 
 plate. As it was against Kate's theories that apprentices 
 should assist in the household work, the two brown-haired 
 little girls drew their chairs to the table under the window 
 and commenced sewing; Kate and Mrs. Ede coming to and 
 from the kitchen arranged the table for breakfast. When 
 all was ready Mrs. Ede remembered that she had to make 
 her peace with her son, and, seizing the tray, she went 
 upstairs. 
 
 While she was away Kate sat down wearily on the red 
 calico-covered sofa. Like an elongated arm-chair, it looked 
 quaint, neat, and dumpty, pushed up against the wall 
 between the black fireplace on the right and the little win- 
 dow shaded with the muslin blinds, under which a pot of 
 greenstuff bloomed freshly. Overpowered by the labor and 
 excitement of the night, Kate lay back thinking vaguely. 
 Her cup of hot tea was uppermost in her mind, and she 
 hoped that Mrs. Ede would not keep her long waiting. 
 Then as her thoughts detached themselves, she remembered 
 the actor whom they expected that afternoon. The annoy- 
 ances which he had unconsciously caused her had linked 
 him to her in a curious way, and in the sensation of near- 
 ness that each succeeding hour magnified, all her prejudices 
 vanished, and she wondered who this being was who, even 
 before she had seen him, had brought so much trouble into
 
 A Mummer's Wife 21 
 
 her life. As the word trouble went through her mind 
 she paused, arrested by a passing feeling of sentimentality ; 
 but it explained nothing, defined nothing, only touched her 
 as a breeze does a flower, and floated away. The dreamy 
 warmth of the fire absorbed her more direct feelings, and 
 for some moments she dozed in a haze of dim sensuousness 
 and emotive numbness. As in a dusky glass she saw herself 
 a tender, loving, but unhappy woman ; by her side were her 
 querulous husband and her kind-minded mother-in-law, 
 and then there was a phantom she could not determine, 
 and behind it something into which she could not see. Was 
 it a distant country? — was it a scene of revelry? Impos- 
 sible to say, for whenever she attempted to find definite 
 shapes in the glowing colors, they vanished in a blurred 
 confusion. 
 
 But amid these fleeting visions there was one shape that 
 particularly interested her, and she pursued it tenaciously, 
 until in a desperate effort to define its features she awoke 
 with a start ; and, disappointed to find she had been dream- 
 ing, she spoke more crossly than she intended to the little 
 girls, who had pulled aside the curtain and were intently 
 examining the huge theatrical poster which adorned the 
 corner of the lane. But as she scolded she could not help 
 smiling, for she saw how her dream had been made out 
 of the red and blue dresses of the picture. 
 
 The arrival of each new company in the town was an- 
 nounced pictorially on this corner wall, and, in the course 
 of the year, pretty well all the vicissitudes to which human 
 life is liable received an ample illustration there. One 
 week showed wrecks at sea, robberies on the highways, 
 prisoners perishing in dungeons; and these terrible events 
 were interlarded with green lanes and lovers, babies, glow- 
 ing hearths, and heroic young husbands. The opera com- 
 panies were, however, more frivolously inclined. Their 
 pictures were concerned only with crowds of strangely 
 dressed people and gallants kissing their hands to ladies 
 standing on balconies. 
 
 In the pauses of their work the little girls examined these 
 pictures and commented on them ; and on Saturdays it was 
 a matter of the keenest speculation what the following
 
 22 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 week would bring them. Lizzie preferred exciting scenes 
 of murder and arson, while Annie was moved more by 
 passionate pleadings, leavetakings, and declarations of un- 
 alterable affection. These differences of taste often gave 
 rise to little bickerings, and last week there had been much 
 prophesying as to whether the tragic or the sentimental 
 element would prove the staple ingredient of next week's 
 illustrations. Lizzie had voted for robbers and mountains, 
 Annie for lovers and a nice cottage. And, remembering 
 their little dispute, Kate, who from the sofa could only 
 see some violet and green dresses, said: 
 
 " Well, dears, is it a robber or a sweetheart ? " 
 
 " We are not sure," exclaimed both children in a dis- 
 appointed tone of voice ; " we can't make the picture out." 
 Then Lizzie, who cared little for uncertainties, said: 
 
 " It isn't a nice picture at all ; it is all mixed up. " 
 
 " Not a nice picture at all, and all mixed up ? " said 
 Kate, smiling, yet interested in the conversation. " And all 
 mixed up ; how is that ? I must see if I can make it out 
 myself." 
 
 The huge poster contained some figures nearly life-size. 
 It showed a young girl in a bridal dress and wreath strug- 
 gling between two police agents who had arrested her in a 
 market place of old time, in a strangely costumed crowd, 
 who were clamoring violently. The poor bridegroom was 
 being held back by his friends ; a handsome young man in 
 knee breeches and a cocked hat watched the proceedings 
 cynically in the right-hand corner, whilst on the left a big 
 fat man frantically endeavored to recover his wig, which 
 had been lost in the melee. This glaring advertisement was 
 headed " Morton and Cox's Operatic Company," and con- 
 cluded with the announcement that Madame Angot would 
 be played at the Queen's Theatre, Hanley. After a few mo- 
 ments spent in examining the picture, which puzzled her 
 quite as much as it did the children, Kate suggested that it 
 must have something to do with France. 
 
 "Angot isn't an English name, and the dresses look 
 French." 
 
 This explanation rendered the children thoughtful; but 
 although they willingly admitted that the unintelligibility
 
 A Mummer's Wife 23 
 
 of the picture was fully accounted for by the fact that it 
 was a French one, they did not seem to grow less anxious 
 to solve the riddle. 
 
 " I know what it means/' cried Lizzie, who had in the 
 meanwhile been thinking how the picture could be ex- 
 plained into signifying a scene of atrocious cruelty; "you 
 see that old chap on the right? Well, he is a rich man 
 who has sent the two policemen to carry the bride to his 
 castle, and it is the young fellow in the corner who has 
 betrayed them." 
 
 The ingenuity of this explanation took Kate and Annie 
 so much by surprise that for the moment they could not 
 attempt to controvert it, and remained silent whilst Lizzie 
 looked at them triumphantly. The more they examined 
 the picture the more clear did it appear that Lizzie was 
 right. At the end of a long pause Kate said — 
 
 " Anyhow, we shall soon know, for one of the actors of 
 the company is coming here to lodge, and we will ask him." 
 
 " A real actor coming here to lodge ? " exclaimed Annie. 
 " Oh, how nice that will be ! And will he take us to see 
 the play?" 
 
 " How silly of you, Annie," said Lizzie, who, proud of 
 her successful explanation of the poster, was a little in- 
 clined to think she knew all about actors. " How can he 
 take us to the play ? Isn't he going to act it himself ? But 
 do tell me, Mrs. Ede, is he the one in the cocked hat ? " 
 
 " I hope at all events he isn't the fat man who has lost 
 his wig," said Annie, looking mournfully at her elder sister. 
 
 " I don't know which of those gentlemen is coming here. 
 For all I know it may the policeman," Kate added malici- 
 ously. 
 
 " Oh, Mrs. Ede, I hope not ! " exclaimed Annie and 
 Lizzie with one accord. 
 
 Kate smiled at the children's earnestness, and wishing to 
 keep up the joke, said — 
 
 " You know, my dear, they are only sham policemen, and 
 are, I daresay, very nice gentlemen in reality." 
 
 Annie and Lizzie hung down their heads ; it was evident 
 they had no sympathies with policemen, not even with sham 
 ones.
 
 24 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 " But if it isn't a policeman, who would you like it to be, 
 Lizzie ? " said Kate. 
 
 " Oh, the man in the cocked hat," replied Lizzie with- 
 out hesitation. 
 
 " And you, Annie ? " 
 
 Annie looked puzzled, and after a moment said, with a 
 slight whimper — 
 
 " Lizzie always takes what I want . I was just going 
 
 " Oh yes, miss, we know all about that," returned Lizzie 
 derisively. " Annie never can choose for herself, she always 
 tries to imitate me. She'll have the man who's lost his 
 wig ! Oh yes, yes ! isn't it so, Mrs. Ede ? Isn't Annie going 
 to marry the man who's lost his wig ? " 
 
 Annie's eyelids trembled with tears at these bitter sallies, 
 but as she happened at that moment to catch sight of the 
 young man in white, she declared triumphantly that she 
 would choose him. 
 
 " Well done, Annie," said Kate laughing as she patted 
 the child's curls, but in so doing her eyes fell on the neg- 
 lected apron, and seeing how crookedly it was being hemmed 
 she said reprovingly — 
 
 " Oh, my dear, this is very bad ; you must go back, undo 
 all you have done this morning, and get it quite straight." 
 
 Bending over the table she undid some three or four 
 inches of the sewing, and then showed the child how the 
 hem was to be turned in. She did this methodically, all 
 the while thinking of what had just been said. A smile 
 moved round the corners of her thin lips ; it amused her to 
 wonder which of these men was coming to lodge at her 
 house. At this moment Mrs. Ede arrived upon the scene ; 
 she entered expostulating, but Kate could only catch the 
 words " waiting " and " breakfast cold " and " sorry." The 
 little girls, who lived in a constant state of awe of the old 
 lady, returned to their work. The two women sat down to 
 breakfast. 
 
 " How could you," exclaimed Mrs. Ede, " think of leav- 
 ing the window open so long? He might have caught his 
 death. He says he was very bad last night," 
 
 " Oh, dreadful," said Kate. " I never was so frightened
 
 A Mummer's Wife 25 
 
 in all my life; I called and called for you, but nothing 
 would awake you." 
 
 This charge of sleepyheadedness seemed to discounten- 
 ance her, but to hold her tongue was an impossibility, and 
 during breakfast she jerked out comments on things in 
 general and the actor in particular. She hoped that he 
 wouldn't give them much trouble; above all that he 
 wouldn't keep late hours, and she questioned Kate minutely 
 as to what was going to be done regarding the latch key. 
 She referred also to the evils of bad company, and trusted 
 that because they had an actor in the house that that 
 wouldn't be a reason for frequenting the theatre and falling 
 into idle habits. Then the conversation turned on Miss 
 Hender, Kate's assistant. This young woman was one of 
 Mrs. Ede's particular dislikes. Of her moral character she 
 had the gravest doubts, for what could be expected of a 
 person who turned up her nose when she was asked to stay 
 and attend evening prayers, and who kept company with a 
 stage carpenter? 
 
 She did not cease talking until Miss Hender entered. 
 There were then many apologies for being an hour behind 
 time, but she really could not help it. Her sister had been 
 very ill, and she had been obliged to sit up with her all 
 night. Mrs. Ede smiled at this explanation, and withdrew 
 into the shop, leaving Miss Hender to gaze after her in 
 scorn. Kate doubted the truth of the excuse put forward 
 by her assistant, but she said nothing, and the conversation 
 shortly after turned on the aprons the little girls were mak- 
 ing. She explained that she had bought a dozen of a 
 traveller who had called upon her, and she had sold two 
 yesterday and three the day before, so she thought she 
 could not do better than cut out a few more after the same 
 pattern. 
 
 " I quite agree with you, ma'am," replied Miss Hender 
 smartly, " they are quite pretty, nice, and tasty, without 
 being common." 
 
 Miss Hender tried hard to think what else she could say 
 that would delay, were it only for a few minutes, the in- 
 evitable going up to the workroom. Kate herself felt lazy ; 
 it was too soon after breakfast, but she remembered that
 
 26 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 Mrs. Barnes's dress had been promised for Tuesday morn- 
 ing, and, awakening from her reverie with a start, she 
 said — 
 
 " Come, we are wasting all the morning ; we must get 
 on with Mrs. Barnes's dress." They went upstairs. 
 
 Miss Hender was a stout, buxom, carotty-haired girl of 
 twenty, who worked solely in order to have money to spend 
 when she went out to enjoy herself with the stage carpenter. 
 She was always full of information concerning things theat- 
 rical, and she considered it an unfortunate circumstance 
 that her employer took so little interest in the big red 
 house in Queen Street. Such funny things were continually 
 happening there, and she was sure that the hours in the 
 workroom would not seem half so long if Kate would wake 
 up a bit, go to the play, and chat about what was going on 
 in the town. It seemed incredible to Miss Hender that any- 
 one could exist who did not go to the theatre above twice in 
 the year. Besides, there was that horrid old woman always 
 hanging about, with religion and salvation. It made her 
 (Miss Hender) feel sick. She hadn't time for such things, 
 and as for Bill, he said it was all " Tommy rot." Beyond 
 these excellent reasons for disliking Mrs. Ede, she sus- 
 pected that " the hag," as she called her, had tried to get 
 her dismissed. This conviction afforded Miss Hender 
 much satisfaction, and when she had heard that there was 
 a question of admitting an actor into the house as a lodger, 
 she had not failed to suggest that no one in the town could 
 hope to keep their rooms let except through a theatrical 
 connection. 
 
 Miss Hender, although a lazy and dissolute girl, was an 
 excellent workwoman, and seeing from Kate's manner that 
 the time had not come for conversation, she applied herself 
 diligently to her business. 
 
 Placing the two side-seams and the back under the 
 needle, she gave the wheel a turn, and then worked the ma- 
 chine with her feet. Bapidly the little steel needle darted 
 up and down into the glistening silk, which Miss Bender's 
 thick hands pushed methodically forward. The work was 
 too delicate to admit of any distraction, so for some time 
 nothing was heard but the clinking rattle of the machine
 
 A Mummer's Wife 27 
 
 and the " swishing " of the silk as Kate drew it across the 
 table and snipped it with the scissors which hung from 
 her waist. 
 
 But at the end of about half an hour the work came to a 
 pause. Miss Hender had finished sewing up the body and 
 had tacked on the facings. Kate had cut out the skirt 
 and basted it together. The time, therefore, had arrived 
 for interchanging a few words. Her promise to Mrs. 
 Barnes had been the subject of her thoughts. Lifting her 
 head from her work, she asked Miss Hender if she could re- 
 main that evening and do a little overtime. Miss Hender 
 said she was very sorry, but it was the first night of the new 
 opera company, and she had passes for the pit, and had 
 promised to take a friend with her. She would, therefore, 
 have to hurry away a little before six, so as to have her tea 
 and be dressed in time. 
 
 " Well, I don't know what I shall do," said Kate, sorrow- 
 fully. "As for myself, I simply couldn't pass another 
 night out of bed. You know I was up minding my husband 
 all night. Attending a sick man, and one as cross as Ralph, 
 is not very nice, I can assure you." 
 
 Miss Hender congratulated herself inwardly that Bill 
 was never likely to want much attendance. 
 
 " I think you had better tell Mrs. Barnes that she can't 
 expect the dress; it will be impossible to get it done in the 
 time. I'd be delighted to help you, but I couldn't disap- 
 point my little friend. Besides, you have Mr. Lennox com- 
 ing here to-day ; you'll have to look after the rooms. You 
 can't get the dress done by to-morrow night." 
 
 Miss Hender had been waiting for a long time for an 
 opportunity to lead up to Mr. Lennox. 
 
 " Oh, dear me ! " said Kate, " I had forgotten him, and 
 he'll be coming this afternoon, and may want some dinner, 
 and I'll have to help mother." 
 
 " They always have dinner in the afternoon," said Miss 
 Hender, with a feeling of pride at being able to speak 
 authoritatively on the ways and habits of actors. 
 
 " Do they ? " replied Kate, reflectively ; and then, sud- 
 denly remembering her promise to the little girls, she said — 
 
 " But do you know what part he takes in the play ? "
 
 28 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 Miss Hender smiled. She always looked pleased when 
 questioned about the theatre, but on this occasion her 
 pleasure was not unmingled with regret. All the stage car- 
 penter had been able to tell her about the company was that 
 it was one of the best travelling; that Frank Bret, the 
 tenor, was supposed to have a wonderful voice; that the 
 amount of presents he received in each town from ladies 
 in the upper ranks of society would set up a small shop; 
 and with a greedy-looking smile on her face she concluded — 
 
 " 'Tis said that they'd sell the shoes off their feet for 
 him." 
 
 Kate laughed, at the same time trying to assume the 
 appearance of being shocked. Miss Hender continued her 
 comments. The stage carpenter had also informed her 
 that Joe Mortimer's performance in the Cloches was extra- 
 ordinary — that he invariably brought the house down in 
 his big scene with the gold; and that Lucy Leslie was the 
 best Clairette going. 
 
 Now that they were going to have an actor lodging in 
 their house, Kate felt a certain interest in hearing what 
 such people were like; and she congratulated herself that 
 it was not Mr. Lennox whom the ladies ran after; while 
 Miss Hender gossiped about all she had, or imagined she 
 had, heard. Suddenly Kate remembered that her question 
 relating to Mr. Lennox had remained unanswered. 
 
 " But you have not told me what part Mr. Lennox plays. 
 Perhaps he is the man in white who is being dragged away 
 from his bride ? " 
 
 In making this suggestion her thoughts reverted to what 
 the little girls had said on the subject, and without quite 
 knowing why, she now began to hope that she would find 
 Mr. Lennox something that might command admiration. 
 
 Miss Hender thought of him as a sort of avatar who was 
 coming to herald a new age — an age made up of drinks, 
 laughter and coarse jokes, and the suggestion coming from 
 her mistress that he might be going to play the part of the 
 bridegroom had so astonished her that she could only raise 
 her head from her sewing and wait for an explanation. 
 Divining the cause of her embarrassment, Kate said, laugh- 
 ing—
 
 A Mummer's Wife 29 
 
 " I have been examining the big picture ; the little girls 
 were so curious to know what it meant." 
 
 The explanation seemed to disappoint Miss Hender. 
 However, at the end of a long silence she said, like a person 
 after mature reflection — 
 
 "Yes, he may play that part; it is called Pom — Pom — 
 Pouct — I can't pronounce it right, it is French. P>ut in 
 any case you'll find him very nice. All theatre people are 
 nice. The other day I went behind to talk to Bill, and M r. 
 Eickett stopped to speak to me as he was running to make a 
 change." 
 
 " What's that ? " asked Kate, somewhat bewildered. 
 
 " Oh, they call dressing in a hurry, making a change." 
 
 " I hope you won't get into trouble ; stopping out so late 
 is very dangerous for a young girl. And I suppose you 
 walk up Piccadilly with him after the play ? " 
 
 " Sometimes he takes me out for a drink," replied Miss 
 Hender, anxious to avoid a discussion on the subject, but 
 at the same time tempted to make a little boast of her 
 independence. " But you must come and see Madame 
 Angot; I hear it is going to be beautifully put on, and Mr. 
 Lennox is sure to give you a ticket." 
 
 " I daresay I should like it very much ; I don't have much 
 amusement." 
 
 " Indeed you don't, and what do you get for it ? I don't 
 see that Mr. Ede is so kind to you for all the minding and 
 nursing you do ; and old Mrs. Ede may repeat all day long 
 that she is a Christian woman, and what else she likes, but 
 it doesn't make her anything less disagreeable. I wouldn't 
 live in a house with a mother-in-law — and such a mother- 
 in-law ! " 
 
 As she spoke of Mrs. Ede, Miss Hender got her words 
 out in a hurry, knowing well that her mistress would not 
 allow her mother-in-law to be abused in her presence. But 
 Kate, who was very tired and out of spirits, instead of in- 
 dignantly repudiating Miss Hender's words, contented her- 
 self with answering — 
 
 " You don't get on with Mrs. Ede, but I don't know what 
 I should do without her : she is the only friend I have." 
 
 " That's not so," said Miss Hender, looking affectionately
 
 oO A Mummer's Wife 
 
 at Kate, for she really liked her employer, although she 
 could not help feeling some contempt for her scruples of 
 conscience. "Half your time you are shut up in a sick-room, 
 and even when he is well he is always blowing and wheez- 
 ing. He's not the man that would suit me." 
 
 " Ealph is very good to me. He can't help being cross 
 sometimes," said Kate, who was thinking of the fatigue of 
 last night's watching. She felt it still in her bones, and her 
 eyes ached. As she considered the hardships of her life, 
 her manner grew more abandoned. Miss Hender wondered 
 what her companion was thinking about, and waited im- 
 patiently for her to speak. Eeverie was less to this young 
 woman's taste even than Avork, and noticing the skirt that 
 was slipping on the floor, she said — 
 
 " If you'll let me have the skirt, ma'am, I'll stitch it up." 
 
 Kate handed her the silk wearily, and was about to speak 
 when Mrs. Ede entered. 
 
 " Mr. Lennox is downstairs," she said, sternly. " I don't 
 know what you'll think of him. I'm a Christian woman 
 and I don't want to misjudge any one, but he looks to me 
 like a person of very loose ways." 
 
 Kate flushed a little red with surprise. After a moment 
 she said — 
 
 " I suppose I had better go down and see him. But per- 
 haps he won't like the rooms after all. What shall I say 
 to him?" 
 
 " Indeed, I can't tell you," said Mrs. Ede, somewhat 
 testily. " I have the dinner to attend to." 
 
 " But," said Kate, getting frightened, " you promised me 
 not to say any more on this matter." 
 
 " Oh, I say nothing. I'm not mistress here. I told you 
 that I would not interfere with Mr. Lennox; no more I will. 
 Why should I ? What right have I ? But I may warn you, 
 and I have warned you. I have said my say, and I'll abide 
 by it." 
 
 These hard words, showing as they did the unalterable 
 attitude of Mrs. Ede's mind, only tended to confuse Kate; 
 all her doubts returned to her, and she remained irres- 
 olute. Miss Hender watched a moment with an expres- 
 sion of contempt on her coarse face, and then returned
 
 A Mummer's Wife 31 
 
 to her sewing. As she did so Kate moved towards the door. 
 She waited on the threshold, but seeing that her mother- 
 in-law had turned her back, her courage returned to her and 
 she went down stairs. She felt a little nervous; she gen- 
 erally did when anything was going to happen, and when 
 she caught sight of Mr. Lennox she shrank back frightened. 
 He was a man of about thirty years of age. His face was 
 bronzed, and had it not been for his clear blue eyes he 
 might have passed for an Italian. 
 
 Leaning his large body against the counter, he examined 
 a tray of ornaments in black jet. She thought he was 
 handsome. He wore a large soft hat, which was very po- 
 litely lifted from his head when she entered. The attention 
 embarrassed her, and somewhat awkwardly she interrupted 
 him in his explanations of how he had been recommended 
 to her house, and asked him if he would like to see the 
 rooms. The suddenness of the question seemed to surprise 
 him, and after replying to it affirmatively, he talked of their 
 mutual acquaintance, the agent in advance, and of the 
 difficulty of getting lodgings in the town. As he spoke he 
 stared at her — and he appeared interested in the shop. 
 
 It was a very tiny corner, and, like a Samson, Mr. Len- 
 nox looked as if he would have only to extend his arms to 
 pull the whole place down upon his shoulders. From the 
 front window round to the kitchen door ran a mahogany 
 counter ; behind it, built up to the ceiling, there were lines 
 of cardboard boxes, the lower rows of which were broken 
 and dusty. Spread out upon wires lay several coarse shirts 
 and a couple of pair of stays in pink and blue. At the far 
 end of the counter stood a looking-glass, shaded and shel- 
 tered under several shawls which dangled above it. The 
 windows were 'filled with babies' frocks, hoods, and many 
 pairs of little woollen shoes. 
 
 After a few remarks from Mr. Lennox the conversation 
 came to a pause, and Kate asked him again if he would 
 like to see the rooms. He declared he would be delighted. 
 She lifted the flap and let him pass into the house. On the 
 right of the kitchen door there was a small passage, at the 
 end of it the staircase began. The first few steps turned spi-
 
 32 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 rally, but after that it ascended like a huge canister or bur- 
 row to the first landing. 
 
 There, to her annoyance, Kate found Miss Hender peep- 
 ing and Mrs. Ede gazing scornfully from behind the door 
 of the workroom. But Mr. Lennox did not seem to notice 
 them, and continued to talk affably of the difficulty of find- 
 ing lodgings in the town. 
 
 Even the shabby gentility of the room, which his pres- 
 ence made her realize more vividly than ever, did not 
 appear to strike him. He examined with interest the patch- 
 work cloth that covered the round table, looked compla- 
 cently at the little green sofa with the two chairs to match, 
 and said that he thought he would be very comfortable. 
 But when Kate noticed how dusty was the pale yellow 
 wall-paper, with its watery roses, she could not help but 
 feeling ashamed, and she wondered how so fine a gentleman 
 as he could be so easily satisfied. Then, plucking up cour- 
 age, she showed him the little mahogany cheffonier which 
 stood next the door, and explained that it was there she 
 would keep whatever he might order. The chimney-piece 
 was ornamented with a small looking-glass engarlanded 
 with green paper cut into fringes. Mr. Lennox walked 
 nearer, twirled his fair moustache with both hands and 
 admired his whiter teeth. 
 
 The inspection of the drawing-room being over, they 
 went up the second portion of the canister-like staircase, 
 and after a turn and a stoop arrived at the bed-room. Mr. 
 Lennox thought the two steps a curious arrangement. Kate 
 feared her husband would call for her, and she was shocked 
 at the appearance of the room : everything was in disorder, 
 and the bed was just as she had left it. 
 
 " I am sorry that you should see the room like this, but I 
 was obliged to sleep here last night ; my husband — " 
 
 " I assure you I take no objection to the fact of your 
 having slept here," he replied gallantly. 
 
 Kate blushed violently, and an awkward silence followed. 
 
 As Mr. Lennox looked round an expression of dissatis- 
 faction passed over his face. It was a much poorer place 
 than the drawing-room. Eeligion and poverty went there 
 hand-in-hand. A rickety iron bedstead covered with an-
 
 A Mummer's Wife 33 
 
 other patchwork quilt occupied the centre of the room, and 
 there was a small chest ot drawers in white wood placed 
 next the fireplace — the smallest and narrowest in the world. 
 Upon the black painted chimney-piece a large red apple 
 made a spot of color. The vulgarity of the blue flower 
 vases hurt the eye. The carpet was in rags, and the lace 
 blinds were torn and hung like fish-nets. Mr. Lennox 
 apparently was not satisfied, but when his eyes fell upon 
 Kate it was clear that he thought that so pretty a woman 
 might prove a compensation. But the pious exhortations 
 hung on the walls seemed to cause him a certain uneasiness. 
 Above the washstand there were two cards bearing the in- 
 scriptions, " Thou art my hope," " Thou art my will ;" and 
 these declarations of faith were written within a painted 
 garland of lilies and roses. 
 
 " I see that you are religious." 
 
 " I am afraid not so much as I should be, sir." 
 
 " Well, I don't know so much about that ; the place is 
 covered with pictures — I mean holy pictures." 
 
 " Those were put there by my mother-in-law : she is Yery 
 good." 
 
 " Oh, ah," said Mr. Lennox, apparently much relieved by 
 the explanation. " Old people are very pious, generally, 
 aren't they ? But this patchwork quilt is yours, I suppose ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir ; I made it myself," said Kate blushing. 
 
 He had made several attempts to talk to her of general 
 things, but she had answered him in briefest phrases. 
 Her whole mind was occupied by one idea, and she could 
 not detach her thoughts from it. " Is he going to take the 
 rooms, I wonder?" she asked herself many times. At 
 last he said — 
 
 " I like these apartments very well ; and you say that I 
 can have breakfast here ? " 
 
 " Oh, you can have anything yon order, sir. I, or my 
 mother, will — " 
 
 " Very well, then ; we may consider the matter decided. 
 I'll tell them to send down my things from the theatre." 
 
 This seemed to conclude the affair, and they went down- 
 stairs. But Mr. Lennox stopped on the next landing, and 
 without any apparent object re-examined the drawing-room. 
 3
 
 34 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 Speaking like a man who wanted to get up a conversation, 
 he manifested interest in everything, and asked questions 
 concerning the rattle of the sewing-machine, which could 
 be heard distinctly; and before she could stop him he had 
 opened the door of the workroom. He wondered at all the 
 brown paper patterns that were hung on the walls, and Miss 
 Hender, too eager to inform him, profited by the occasion 
 to glide in a word to the effect that she was going to see 
 him that evening at the theatre. Kate was amused, but 
 felt it was her duty to take the first opportunity of inter^ 
 rupting the conversation. For some unexplained reason 
 Mr. Lennox seemed loath to go, and it was with difficulty 
 he was got downstairs. Even then he could not pass the 
 kitchen door without stopping to speak to the apprentices. 
 He asked them where they had found their brown hair 
 and eyes, and attempted to exchange a remark with Mrs. 
 Ede. Kate thought the encounter unfortunate, but it passed 
 off better than she expected. Mrs. Ede replied that the 
 little girls were getting on very well, and, apparently satis- 
 fied with this answer, Mr. Lennox turned to go. His man- 
 ner indicated his Bohemian habits, for after all this waste 
 of time he suddenly remembered that he had an appoint- 
 ment, and would probably miss it by about a quarter of an 
 hour. 
 
 " Will you require any dinner ? " asked Kate, following 
 him to the door. 
 
 At the mention of the word dinner he again appeared to 
 forget all about his appointment. His face changed its ex- 
 pression, and his manner again grew confidential. He 
 asked all kind of questions as to what she could get him to 
 eat, but without ever quite deciding whether he would be 
 able to find time to eat it. Kate thought she had never 
 seen such a man. At last in a fit of desperation, he said — 
 
 " I'll have a bit of cold steak. I haven't the time to 
 dine ; but if you'll put that out for me. ... I like a 
 bit of supper after the theatre — " 
 
 Kate wished to ask him what he would like to drink 
 with it, but it was impossible to get an answer. He couldn't 
 stop another minute, and, dodging the passers-by, he rushed 
 rapidly down the street. She watched until the big
 
 A Mummer's Wife 35 
 
 shoulders were lost in the crowd, and asked herself if she 
 liked the man who had just left her ; but the answer slipped 
 from her when she tried to define it, and with a sigh she 
 turned into the shop and mechanically set straight those 
 shirts that hung aslant on the traversing wires. At that 
 moment Mrs. Ede came from the kitchen carrying a basin 
 ' of soup to her sick son. She wanted to know why Kate had 
 stayed so long talking to that man. 
 
 " Talk to him ! 1 suppose if we are going to take his 
 money it is only right that we should try to make him com- 
 fortable." 
 
 " A miserable ten shillings a week, when by it we are har- 
 boring wickedness and sin. I have been taught that no 
 good can come of the knowledge of such people, and I abide 
 by what I have been taught." 
 
 With this the old woman went upstairs, backbone and 
 principles equally rigid, leaving Kate to fume at what she 
 termed her mother-in-law's unreasonableness. 
 
 But Kate had not time to indulge in many angry 
 thoughts; for before she had been gone a moment the 
 gaunt, spare woman came back with tears in her eyes to beg 
 pardon. The only thing she could not do was to restrain 
 her tongue, and her greatest sorrows were the remem- 
 brances of the hard words she had said to " dear Kate." 
 Kate on her side did not return the affection she accepted 
 so warmly as it was given. She liked the old woman well 
 enough ; she took her scoldings in good part ; but now she 
 felt a little cross with her mother-in-law, and turned away 
 pettishly, when Mrs. Ede said — 
 
 " I am so sorry. Did I speak crossly, dear ? I'll say no 
 more about the actor, I'll promise." 
 
 Kate knew how deeply she was loved, and it was the 
 vague belief that she might rule absolutely if she chose to 
 take up her position, that induced her to acquiesce as calmly 
 as she usually did in her mother-in-law's dictation. Some- 
 times she felt desirous of assuring herself of the value of 
 her unasserted power. The present instance was a case 
 in point. 
 
 "I don't see why I should be bullied in my own house,"
 
 30 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 she said. " Why shouldn't I let my rooms to Mr. Lennox 
 if I like?" 
 
 " You are right," said Mrs. Ede, " I have perhaps said 
 too much but I am sorry you turn against me." 
 
 The tone of suffering the words conveyed touched Kate 
 to the heart, and she answered warmly — 
 
 " No, no, mother ; I don't turn against you. You are 
 the only person I have to love." 
 
 A look of quick pleasure passed over the hard, blunt 
 features of the peasant woman, and she said with tears in 
 her voice — 
 
 " You know I'm a bit hard with my tongue, but that's 
 all ; I don't mean it." 
 
 Nothing more was said, and on the front landing they 
 separated. Kate went into her workroom. Miss Hender, 
 already returned from dinner, was trembling with excite- 
 ment, and she waited impatiently for the door to be shut 
 that she might talk. She had been round to see her friend 
 the stage carpenter, and he had told her all about the actor. 
 Mr. Lennox was, on this authority, the boss of the show. 
 Mr. Hayes, the acting manager, was a nobody, who was gen- 
 erally pretty well boozed, and Mr. Cox, the London gent, 
 did not travel. Miss Hender's lover had also professed a 
 very high opinion of Mr. Lennox. He had heard of him 
 before, and had expected a fellow up to snuff; but from 
 what he had seen of him that morning he didn't mind say- 
 ing that he had the whole bag of tricks at his fingers' ends. 
 
 Kate listened bewildered, not understanding half of what 
 was said. The superior knowledge Miss Hender displayed 
 of theatrical slang and back-door doings alarmed her. A 
 reproof rose to her lips, but she checked it in her eagerness 
 to learn more about Mr. Lennox. 
 
 " And what part does he play in the Madame Angot, I 
 think you call it?" she asked as she bent her head to ex- 
 amine the passementerie she was stitching on to the sleeves. 
 
 " Oh, the low comedy part," said Miss Hender ; but see- 
 ing that Kate did not understand, she hastened to explain 
 that the low comedy parts meant the funny parts. 
 
 " He's the man who's lost his wig — La — La Eavodee, I 
 think they call it — and a very nice man he is. When I was
 
 A Mummer's Wife 37 
 
 talking to Bill I could see Mr. Lennox between the wings ; 
 he had his arm round Miss Leslie's shoulder. I'm sure he's 
 sweet on her." 
 
 Kate looked up from her work and stared at Miss Hender 
 slowly. The announcement that Mr. Lennox was the funny 
 man was disappointing, but to hear that he was a woman's 
 lover disgusted her at once with him, and she could not help 
 saying — 
 
 "All those actors are alike. I see now that my mother- 
 in-law was right. I should not have let him my rooms." 
 
 " One's always afraid of saying anything to you, ma'am ; 
 you do twist one's words so. I am sure I did not mean to 
 say there was any harm between him and Miss Leslie. 
 There, perhaps you'll go and tell him that I spoke about 
 him." 
 
 " I'm sure I shall do nothing of the sort. Mr. Lennox 
 has taken my rooms for a week, and there's an end of it. 
 I am not going to interfere in his private affairs." 
 
 The conversation then came to a pause, and all that was 
 heard for a long time was the clicking of the needle and the 
 rustling of silk. Kate wondered how it was that Mr. Len- 
 nox was so different off the stage from what he was on, 
 and it seemed to her strange that such a nice gentleman — 
 for she was obliged to admit that he was that — should 
 choose to play the funny parts. As for his connection with 
 Miss Leslie, that of course was none of her business. What 
 did it matter to her whom he was in love with ? She would 
 have thought he was a man who would not easily fall in 
 love ; but perhaps Miss Leslie was very pretty, and, for the 
 matter of that, they might be going to be married. Miss 
 Hender, in the meanwhile, regretted having told Kate any- 
 thing about Mr. Lennox. The best and surest way was to 
 let people find out things for themselves. Having an in- 
 stinctive repugnance to virtue — at least, to questions of 
 conscience — she could not abide whining about spilt milk, 
 and, beyond an occasional reference to their work, the 
 women did not speak again, until at three o'clock Mrs. Ede 
 announced that dinner was read)''. There was, however, 
 not much to eat, and Kate had little appetite, and she was 
 glad when the meal was finished. She had then to help
 
 38 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 Mrs. Ede in getting the rooms ready, and when this was 
 done it was time for tea. But not even this meal did they 
 get in comfort. Suddenly it was remembered that Mr. 
 Lennox had ordered a beefsteak for supper. Mrs. Ede, 
 however, said she would see to this, and Kate went into the 
 shop to attend to the few customers who might call in the 
 course of the evening. The next event was the departure 
 of Miss Hender, who came downstairs in a violent hurry, 
 saying she had only just allowed herself time to dress and 
 to get to the theatre before the curtain went up. She was 
 very sorry Kate was not coming, but she promised to tell 
 her to-morrow all about Mr. Lennox, and how the piece 
 went. As Kate bade her assistant good night a few cus- 
 tomers dropped in, all of whom gave a great deal of trouble. 
 She had to pull down an immense number of packages to 
 find what was wanted, and these had to be tied up and put 
 back in their places. Then her next door neighbor, the 
 stationer's wife, called to ask after Mr. Ede and to buy a 
 reel of cotton; and so, in evening chat, the time passed, 
 until the fruiterer's boy came to ask if he should put up the 
 shutters. 
 
 Kate answered affirmatively, and remarked to her friend, 
 who had risen to go, what a nice, kind man Mr. Jones was. 
 
 " When Mr. Ede is ill I have nothing to do but to ask, 
 and he sends his boy morning and night to take down and 
 put up my shutters." 
 
 " Yes, indeed, they are very kind people, but their prices 
 are very high. Do you deal with them ? " 
 
 Kate replied that she did ; and, as the fruiterer's boy put 
 up the shutters with a series of bangs, she strove to decide 
 her neighbor to buy a certain gown she had been long 
 talking of. 
 
 " Trimming and everything, it won't cost you more than 
 thirty shillings ; you'll want something fresh now that sum- 
 mer's coming on." 
 
 " So I shall. I'll speak to my man about it to-night. I 
 think he'll let me have it." 
 
 " He won't refuse you if you press him." 
 
 " Well, we shall see." 
 
 On this a last good-bye was said, and the stationer's wife
 
 A Mummer's Wife 39 
 
 slipped away. The shops were now closing. The streets 
 were filled with dark masses of people who passed in surg- 
 ing confusion towards Piccadilly. The evening was fine. 
 Streaks of purple and touches of yellow were dying out of 
 the west, and the wide gray slopes of the hills rendered 
 insignificant and toylike the unending brick angles of the 
 town. Brick ! It was a sea of brick — brick of all colors : 
 the pale brown of the decaying yards, the implacable red 
 brick that turns to purple of the newly built warehouses, 
 whilst overhead an uninterrupted succession of scarlet-tiled 
 roofs pointed their sharp backs to the light of a few wan 
 stars. 
 
 Kate stood for a long time looking at the hills that faded 
 into the night-clouds, and against the huge gray back- 
 ground the bright small flames of gas-jets started and re- 
 mained before her like golden nails upon the face of a 
 door. 
 
 Her thoughts drifted vaguely. She thought of what she 
 had thought of a hundred times before. The same ideas 
 turned in her brain monotonously, as the hands of a clock 
 round the dial. She wondered if her lodger would be satis- 
 fied with her mother-in-law's cooking. She hoped so. He 
 was a very nice man, and it would be tiresome if they did 
 not pull together. Then as his image floated from her 
 Kate feared seriously for Miss Hender's virtue. If Mrs. 
 Ede knew of her conduct there was not a doubt but she 
 would not allow her in the house. The difficulty she was in 
 with Mrs. Barnes's dress next suggested itself, and with a 
 shiver and a sigh she shut the street door and went upstairs. 
 The day had passed ; it was gone like a hundred days before 
 it — wearily, perhaps, yet leaving in the mind an impression 
 of something done, of duties honestly accomplished.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 H, ma'am ! " broke in Miss Hender, " you can't 
 think how amusing it was last night. I never 
 enjoyed myself so much in my life. The place was 
 crammed. You never saw such a house, and Miss 
 Leslie got three encores, and a call after each act/' 
 
 " And what was Mr. Lennox like ? " 
 
 " Oh, he only played a small part — one of the policemen. 
 He don't play Pom-poucet; I was wrong. It is too heavy 
 a part, and he's too busy looking after the piece. But Joe 
 Mortimer was splendid : I nearly died of laughing when he 
 fell down, and lost his wig in the middle of the stage. And 
 Frank Bret looked so nice, and he got an encore for his 
 song, ' Oh, certainly I love Clairette.' And he and Miss 
 Leslie got another for the duet. To-morrow they play the 
 Cloches" 
 
 "But now you've seen so much of the theatre, I hope 
 you'll be able to do a little overtime with me. I have 
 promised to let Mrs. Barnes have her dress by to-morrow 
 morning." 
 
 " I'm afraid I sha'n't be able to stay after six o'clock." 
 
 " But surely if they are doing the same play you don't 
 want to see it again ? " 
 
 " Well, 'tisn't exactly that, but — well, I prefer to tell 
 you the truth ; tisn't for the piece I go to the theatre ; I am 
 one of the dressers, and I get twelve shillings a week, and I 
 can't afford to lose it. But there's no use in telling that to 
 Mrs. Ede ; she'd only kick up a row." 
 
 " How do you mean, dressing ? " 
 
 " The ladies of the theatre must have some one to dress 
 them, and I look after the principals — Miss Leslie and 
 Miss Beaumont, that's all." 
 
 " And how long have you been doing that ? " 
 
 * Why, about a month now. Bill got me the place." 
 
 This conversation had broken in upon a silence of nearly
 
 A Muvimer's Wife 41 
 
 half an hour. For about that time not a word had been 
 spoken; with bent heads and clicking needles, Kate and 
 Miss Hender had been working assiduously at Mrs. Barnes's 
 skirt. 
 
 Having a great deal of passementerie ornamentation to 
 sew on to the heading of the flounces, and much fringe to 
 arrange round the edging of the drapery, Kate looked for- 
 ward to a heavy day. She had expected Miss Hender an 
 hour earlier, and she had not turned up until after nine. 
 An assistant whose time was so occupied that she couldn't 
 give an extra hour when you were in a difficulty was of very 
 little use, and the sooner her place was supplied the better. 
 Besides, all this talk about theatres and actors was very 
 wrong ; there could be little doubt but that the girl was los- 
 ing her character, and to have her coming about the house 
 would give it a bad name. Such were Kate's reflections as 
 she handled the rustling silk and folded it into large plait- 
 ings. Now and again .she tried to come to a determination, 
 but she was not sincere with herself. She knew she liked 
 the girl, and would not find the courage to dismiss her. 
 Miss Hender's conversation amused her, and to send her 
 away meant to surrender herself completely to her mother- 
 in-law's stern kindness and her husband's irritability. 
 
 Miss Hender was the window through which Kate viewed 
 the bustle and animation of life, and she dreaded the dark- 
 ness that the closing of it would bring. Even now, annoyed 
 as she was that she would not be able to get the dress done 
 in time, she could not refrain from listening to the girl's 
 chatter. There was about Miss Hender that dominating 
 charm which material natures possess even when they 
 offend. Being of the flesh we must sympathize with it, 
 and the amiability of Miss Hender's spirits made a great 
 deal pass that would have otherwise appeared shocking. 
 She could tell — without appearing too rude — how Mr. 
 Wentworth, the lessee, was gone on a certain lady in the 
 new company, and would give her anything if she would 
 chuck up her engagement and come and live with him. 
 When Miss Hender told these stories, Kate, fearing that 
 Mrs. Ede might have overheard, looked anxiously at the 
 door, and under the influence of the emotion, it interested
 
 42 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 her to warn her assistant of the perils of frequenting bad 
 company. But as Kate lectured she could not help wonder- 
 ing how it was that her life passed by so wearily. Was she 
 never going to do anything else but work, she often asked 
 herself. How hateful it was! Then to repulse these 
 thoughts, which she knew were wicked, she would seek con- 
 solation in thinking of her excellent conduct. She would 
 often thank God that she had nothing to reproach herself 
 with, and it afforded her a kind of calm enjoyment to look 
 back upon her tranquil working life. 
 
 Her story, until the arrival of Mr. Lennox, was un- 
 marked by any event of importance, and its psychological 
 significance can be well and easily inferred from the follow- 
 ing statement of the facts. 
 
 Kate had never known her father; her mother was a 
 hard-working woman, an earnest believer in Wesley, who 
 made a pound a week by painting on china. This was amply 
 sufficient for their wants; so Mrs. Howell's only terrors 
 were that she might not succeed in saving her soul, or 
 might lose her health, die before her time, and leave her 
 daughter in want. To avoid this calamity she worked 
 early and late at the factory, and Kate was left in the 
 charge of the landlady, a childless old woman who, sitting 
 by the fire, used to tell stories of her deceptions and mis- 
 fortunes in life. The little girl considered these hours quite 
 delicious, and her childish brain was thus early intoxicated 
 with sentiment. It will therefore be seen that the mother's 
 influence was at an unfortunate time counteracted, and the 
 Bible readings and extemporary prayers offered up by their 
 bedside in the evening had been neutralized earlier in the 
 day. Schooldays came next in Kate's youth, but they were 
 unimportant, and exercised little influence on her after 
 life. 
 
 And, like an empty dream, eighteen years passed. Kate 
 grew softly and mystically as a dark damask rose into a 
 pretty woman, with a soul made up two-thirds of sentiment, 
 and one-third of superstition. For, notwithstanding her 
 early training, religion had never taken a very firm hold 
 upon her. Although she had married into a family very 
 similar to her own, although her mother-in-law was almost
 
 A Mummer's Wife 43 
 
 a counterpart of her real mother — a little harder and more 
 resolute, but as Godfearing and as kind — Kate had caught 
 no blast of religious fervor ; it had taught her nothing, in- 
 spired her with nothing, could influence her in little. She 
 was not strong nor great, nor was she conscious of any deep 
 feeling that if she acted otherwise than she did she would 
 be living an unworthy life. She was merely good because 
 she was a kind-hearted woman, without bad impulses, and 
 admirably suited to the life she was leading. 
 
 But in this commonplace inactivity of mind there was 
 one strong characteristic, one bit of color in all these gray 
 tints : Kate was dreamy, not to say imaginative. When she 
 was a mere child she loved fairies, and took a vivid interest 
 in goblins ; and when afterwards she discarded these stories 
 for others, it was not because it shocked her logical sense to 
 read of a beanstalk a hundred feet high, but for a tenderer 
 reason. Jack did not find a beautiful lady to love him. 
 She could not help feeling disappointed, and when the 
 London Journal came for the first time across her way, 
 with the story of a broken heart, her own heart melted with 
 sympathy. And the more sentimental and unnatural the 
 romance, the more it fevered and enraptured her. She 
 loved to read of singular subterranean combats, of high 
 castles, prisoners, hair-breadth escapes ; and her sympathies 
 were always with the fugitives. It was also very delightful 
 to hear of lovers who were true to each other in spite of a 
 dozen wicked uncles, of women who were tempted until 
 their hearts died within them, and who years after threw 
 up their hands and said, " Thank God that I had the 
 courage to resist." 
 
 And the second period of her sentimental education was 
 when she passed from the authors who deal exclusively 
 with knights, princesses, and kings, to those who interest 
 themselves in the love fortunes of doctors and curates. 
 
 Amid these there was one story that interested her in 
 particular, that caused her deeper emotions than perhaps 
 even the others had done. It concerned a beautiful young 
 woman with a lovely oval face, who was married to a very 
 tiresome country doctor. This lady was in the habit of 
 reading Byron and Shelley in a rich, sweet-scented meadow,
 
 44 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 down by the river which flowed dreamily through smiling 
 pasturelands adorned by spreading trees. But this meadow 
 belonged to a young squire, a superb man with grand, broad 
 shoulders, who day after day used to watch these readings 
 by the river, without, however, venturing to address a word 
 to the fair trespasser. One day, however, he was startled 
 by a shriek ; in her poetical dreamings the lady had slipped 
 into the water. A moment sufficed to tear off his coat, and 
 as he swam like a water-dog, he had no difficulty in rescu- 
 ing her. After this adventure he had, of course, to call 
 and inquire, and from henceforth his visits grew more and 
 more frequent, and by a strange coincidence, he used gen- 
 erally to come riding up to the hall-door when the husband 
 was away curing the ills of the country folk. Hours never 
 to be forgotten were passed under the trees by the river, he 
 pleading his cause, and she refusing to leave poor Arthur — 
 he was too good a fellow. Heart-broken, at last the squire 
 gave up the pursuit, and went to foreign parts, where he 
 Avaited thirty years until he heard Arthur was dead. Then 
 he came back with a light heart to his first and only love, 
 who had never ceased to think of him, and lived with her 
 happily forever afterwards. The grotesque mixture of prose 
 and poetry, both equally false, used to enchant Kate, and 
 she always fancied had she been the heroine of the book 
 that she would have acted in the same way. 
 
 The taste for novel-reading caused Kate's mother the 
 deepest distress; she thought it "a sinful waste of time, 
 not to speak of the way it turned people's heads from God ;" 
 and when one day she found Kate's scrap-book, made up of 
 poems cut from the Family Herald, she began to despair of 
 her daughter's salvation. For notwithstanding all her 
 efforts, she could not awake the girl to this belief, and the 
 answer Kate generally made to her mother's reproaches was : 
 " Mother, I have been sewing all day ; I can't see what harm 
 it can be to read a little before I go to bed. Nobody is 
 required to be always saying their prayers." 
 
 The next two years passed away unperceived by either 
 mother or daughter, and then an event occurred of some 
 importance. Their neighbors at the corner of the street 
 got into difficulties, and were eventually sold out and their
 
 A Mummer's Wife 45 
 
 places taken by strangers, who changed the oil-shop into a 
 drapery business. The new arrivals caused, of course, the 
 keenest interest, and Mrs. Howell and her daughter called 
 to see what they were like, as did everybody else. The 
 acquaintance thus formed was renewed at church, where, 
 much to their surprise and pleasure, they discovered that 
 they were of the same persuasion. 
 
 Henceforth the Howells and Edes saw a great deal of 
 each other, and every Sunday after church the mothers 
 walked on in front, and, at a distance of thirty yards, the 
 young people followed. Ralph spoke of his ill-health, and 
 Kate pitied him, and when he complimented her on her 
 beautiful hair she blushed with pleasure. For such as she 
 had revelled in fictitious sentiment, she had somehow never 
 thought of seeking it in nature, and now that she had found 
 a lover, the critical sense was not strong enough in her to 
 lead her to compare reality with imagination, and she 
 accepted Ralph as unsuspectingly as she had before accepted 
 the tawdry poetry of her favorite fiction. Her nature not 
 being a passionate one, she was able to do this without any 
 apparent transition of sentiment. She pitied him, hoped 
 she could be of use in nursing him, and then felt flattered 
 at the idea of being mistress of a shop. 
 
 The mothers, whose thoughts had been travelling for 
 some time in the same direction, were delighted. No mar- 
 riage could in their eyes be more desirable. Religious 
 opinions coincided, and dressmaking was a suitable ad- 
 junct to the drapery business. Kate brought the talent, 
 Ralph the means of putting it into execution, and very 
 soon after she was installed in her own workroom. Of 
 love small mention was made. The bridegroom spoke of 
 his prospects, of improving the business, the bride listened, 
 interested for the while in his enthusiasm ; orders came in, 
 and Kate was soon transformed into a hard-working 
 woman. 
 
 With marriage her reading ceased, and the scrap-book 
 was left to sleep at the bottom of an old trunk. This 
 change of character passed unperceived by all but Mrs. 
 Howell, who died wondering how it had come about. Kate 
 herself did not know, and she fancied that it was fully ac-
 
 46 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 counted for by the fact that she had no time, — " no time 
 for reading now." 
 
 This was no more than the truth ; but she did not com- 
 plain ; she accepted her husband's kisses as she did the toil 
 he imposed on her — meekly, unaffectedly, as a matter of 
 course. Apparently she had known all through that the 
 romances which used so strongly to fascinate her were 
 merely idle dreams, having no bearing upon the daily life 
 of human beings — things fit to amuse a young girl's fancies, 
 and to be thrown aside when the real cares of life were 
 entered upon. The only analogy between the past and 
 present was an ample submission to authority and an indif- 
 ference to the world and its interest. Even the fact of 
 being without children did not seem to concern her, and 
 when her mother-in-law regretted it she merely smiled 
 languidly, or said, " We are very well as we are." 
 
 Of the world and the flesh she lived in ignorance, sus- 
 pecting their existence only through Miss Hender. For 
 rfome months past a friendship had been steadily growing 
 up between the two women. Miss Hender was attracted 
 by her employer's kindness and softness of manner, Kate 
 by her assistant's strength of will. Had she known for cer- 
 tain of the existence of a lover she would not have kept her, 
 but the possibility of sin attached her to the girl in the 
 sense that it forced her continually to think of her. And 
 then there was a certain air of bravado in Miss Hender's 
 freckled face that Kate unconsciously admired. She in- 
 stituted comparisons between herself and the assistant, 
 and she generally came to the conclusion that she preferred 
 that fair, blooming, blonde complexion to her own clear 
 olive-colored skin, and the sparkle of the red frizzy hair 
 disgusted her with the thick wavy blue tresses which en- 
 circled, as would a piece of black velvet, her small temples. 
 
 As she continued her sewing she reconsidered the ques- 
 tion of Miss Hender's dismissal, but only to perceive more 
 and more clearly the blank it would occasion in her life. 
 But besides her personal feeling there was the important 
 fact to consider, that to satisfy her customers she must 
 have an assistant who could be depended upon. And she 
 did not know where she would find another who would
 
 A Mummer's Wife 47 
 
 turn out work equal to Miss Hender's. At last Kate 
 said: — 
 
 " I don't know what I shall do ; I promised the dress by 
 to-morrow morning." 
 
 " I think we'll be able to finish it to-day," said Miss 
 Hender ; " I'll work hard at it all the afternoon ; a lot can 
 be done between this and seven o'clock." 
 
 " Oh, I don't know," replied Kate dolefully ; " these 
 leaves take such a time to sew on ; and then there's all the 
 festooning." 
 
 " I think it can be managed, but we must stick at it." 
 
 On this expression of good will the conversation ceased 
 for the time being, and the clicking of needles and the 
 buzzing of flies about the brown-paper patterns was all 
 that was heard until, about twelve o'clock, Mrs. Ede burst 
 into the room. 
 
 " I knew what it would be," she said, shutting the door 
 after her. 
 
 " What is it said Kate, looking up frightened. 
 
 " Well, I offered to do him a chop or some fried eggs, 
 but he says he must have an omelette. Did you ever hear 
 of such a thing? I told him I didn't know how to make 
 one, but he said 'that I was to ask you if you could spare 
 the time." 
 
 "' I'll make him an omelette," said Kate rising. " Have 
 ' you got the eggs ? " 
 
 " Yes. The trouble that man gives us ! What with his 
 bath in the morning, and two pairs of boots to be cleaned, 
 and the clothes that have to be brushed, I have done noth- 
 ing but attend to him since ten o'clock; and what hours 
 to keep ! — it is now past eleven." 
 
 " What's the use of grumbling ? You know that the 
 work must be done, and I can't be in two places at once. 
 You promised me you wouldn't say anything more about it, 
 but would attend to him just the same as any other lodger." 
 
 " I can't do more than I am doing ; I haven't done any- 
 thing all the morning but run upstairs," said Mrs. Ede 
 very crossly ; " and I wish you'd take the little girls out of 
 the kitchen, I can't look after them, and they do nothing 
 but look out of the window."
 
 48 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 " Very well, I'll have them up here ; they can sit on the 
 sofa. We can mange with them now that we have finished 
 the cutting out." 
 
 Miss Hender made no reply to this last speech, which 
 was addressed to her. There was nothing she hated so 
 much as having the little girls up in the workroom. 
 
 To make Mr. Lennox's omelette did not take Kate a long 
 while. There was a bright fire in the kitchen, the muffins 
 were toasted, and the tea was made. 
 
 " This is a very small breakfast," she said as she put the 
 plates and dishes on the tray. " Didn't he order anything 
 else?" 
 
 " He spoke about some fried bacon, but I'll attend to 
 that; you take the other things up to him." 
 
 As Kate passed with the tray in her hand she reproved 
 the little girls for their idleness and told them to come up- 
 stairs, but it was not until she motioned them into the 
 workroom that she realized that she was going into Mr. 
 Lennox's room. After a slight pause she turned the handle 
 of the door and entered. 
 
 Mr. Lennox was lying very negligently wrapped in his 
 dressing-gown. 
 
 " Oh, I beg your pardon, sir ; I didn't know — " she said, 
 starting back. 
 
 Then, blushing violently for shame at her own silliness 
 in taking notice of such things, she laid the breakfast things 
 on the table. He, however, did not seem the least put out by 
 her discomfiture; but wrapping himself up more closely, 
 drew his chair forward, and smacked his lips. As he did 
 so he said — 
 
 " I hope I haven't shocked you, but I didn't know you 
 were coming in, and I always like to sit an hour or two 
 in my dressing-gown before dressing." 
 
 " Oh, it doesn't matter," she said, hating him for the mo- 
 ment for forcing her to allude to the subject again. " I 
 hope you'll like your omelette, sir." 
 
 " Oh, very nice indeed," he replied, taking the cover off 
 the dish, " but I am afraid I have given you a great deal 
 of trouble ; that old lady told me you were very, very busy."
 
 A Mummer's Wife 49 
 
 " I have to finish a dress to-day, sir, and my assist- 
 ant " 
 
 Here Kate stopped, remembering that as Mr. Lennox 
 had probably renewed his acquaintance with Miss Hender 
 at the theatre, any allusion to her would give rise to further 
 conversation, — and she now thought only of escaping from 
 the room. 
 
 " Oh yes, I know Miss Hender ; she's one of our dressers ; 
 she looks after our two leading ladies, Miss Leslie and 
 Miss Beaumont. But I don't see the bacon here." 
 
 " Mrs. Ede is cooking it ; she'll bring it up in a minute 
 or two." said Kate, edging towards the door. 
 
 "We have nothing to do with the dressers," said Mr. 
 Lennox, speaking rapidly, so as to detain his landlady; 
 " but if you are as pressed with your work as you tell me, 
 I daresay, by speaking to the lessee, I might manage to get 
 Miss Hender off for this one evening." 
 
 " Thank you, sir; I am sure it is very kind of you, but 
 I shall be able to manage without that." 
 
 Mr. Lennox spoke with such an obvious desire to oblige 
 that Kate could not choose but like him, and it made her 
 wish all the more that he would cover up his big, bare neck. 
 
 " 'Pon my word this is a capital omelette," he said, as he 
 greedily devoured the yellow substance. " There is nothing 
 I like so much as a good omelette. I was very lucky to 
 come here," he added, glancing at Kate's waist, which was 
 slim even in her old blue striped dress. 
 
 " It is very kind of you to say so, sir," she said, and a 
 glow of rose-color flushed the dark complexion. There 
 was something very human in this big man, and Kate did 
 not know whether his animalism irritated or pleased her. 
 
 " You were not at the thearte last night ? " he said, forc- 
 ing a huge piece of deeply-buttered spongy French roll into 
 his mouth. 
 
 " No, sir, I wasn't there ; I rarely go to the theatre." 
 
 " Ah, I'm sorry. How's that ? We had a tremendous 
 house. I never saw the piece go better. If this business 
 keeps up to the end of the week I think we shall try to get 
 another date."
 
 50 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 Kate did not know what " another date " meant, but she 
 resolved to ask Miss Hender. 
 
 " You have only to tell me when you want to see the 
 piece, and I'll give you places. Would you like to come to- 
 night?" 
 
 " Not to-night, thank you, sir. I shall be busy all the 
 evening, and my husband is not very well." 
 
 The conversation then came to a pause. Mr. Lennox 
 scraped up the last fragments of the omelette, and had just 
 poured himself out another cup of tea, when Mrs. Ede 
 appeared with the broiled bacon. At once, on seeing Kate 
 talking to Mr. Lennox, she assumed an air of mingled 
 surprise and regret. 
 
 Kate noticed this, but Mr. Lennox had no eyes for any- 
 thing but the bacon, which he heaped on his plate and de- 
 voured voraciously. It pleased Kate to see him enjoy his 
 breakfast, but while she was admiring him Mrs. Ede said 
 as she moved towards the door, " Can I do anything for you, 
 sir?" 
 
 " Well, no," replied Mr. Lennox indifferently; but see- 
 ing that Kate was going too he swallowed a mouthful of 
 tea hastily and said, " I was just telling this lady here that 
 we had a tremendous success last night, and that she ought 
 to come and see the piece. I think she said she had no one 
 to go with. You should take her. I'm sure you will like 
 the Cloches." 
 
 Kate looked startled at this proposition, and Mrs. Ede 
 looked indignant. After a moment she recovered herself, 
 and she said severely and emphatically, " Thank you, sir, 
 but I'm a Christian woman. No offense, sir, but I don't 
 think such things are right." 
 
 " Ah ! don't you, indeed ? " replied the actor, looking at 
 her in blank astonishment. But the expression of his face 
 soon changed, and as if struck suddenly by some painful 
 remembrance, he said, " You are a Dissenter or something 
 of that kind, I suppose. W T e lost a lot of money at Brad- 
 ford through people of your persuasion; they jolly well 
 preached against us." 
 
 To this speech Mrs. Ede made no reply, and Kate, 
 frightened out of her life, certain that something terrible
 
 A Mummer's Wife 51 
 
 was going to happen, made a hurried explanation that her 
 mother-in-law held very severe views, but that it would 
 not do for us all to think alike. 
 
 This brought the conversation to a dead lock, and it was 
 clear to all parties that they felt too deeply on the subject 
 to trust themselves to further argument. Mrs. Ede ac- 
 cepted the suggestion that " Ralph might be waiting for 
 something upstairs/' and after a few brief and apologetic 
 phrases Kate withdrew discountenanced to her workroom. 
 
 Would Mr. Lennox take offense and leave them ? was the 
 question she asked herself as she sat sewing passementerie 
 leaves on to the silk sleeves. Occasionally Miss Hender 
 looked up inquiringly. She suspected that something had 
 occurred, and was dying to hear what it was; but there 
 sat those idiotic little girls, and of course it wouldn't do to 
 speak before them. Nevertheless from time to time she 
 hazarded an indirect allusion. Once she hinted she had 
 heard that Mr. Lennox, although a very nice man, was a bit 
 quick-tempered. 
 
 Kate answered this query evasively. She said that it 
 was difficult to know what Mr. Lennox was like, and with 
 that remark she allowed the conversation to fall to the 
 ground. Words were to her an effort, and she could not 
 detach a single precise thought from the leaden-colored 
 dreams which hung about her. 
 
 Click, click, went the needles all day long. Mrs. Barnes 
 was Kate's best customer, but she could not understand 
 what a woman who lived in a thirty pound house could 
 want with a ten pound dress. But that was no affair of hers, 
 and as it was most important she should not disappoint 
 her, Kate kept Miss Hender to dinner ; and as compensation 
 for the press of work, she sent round to the public for three 
 extra half-pints. They needed a drink, for the warmth of 
 the day was intense. Along the red tiles of the houses, 
 amid the brick courtyards, the sun's rays created an oven- 
 like atmosphere. From the high wall opposite the dead 
 glare poured into the little front kitchen through the mus- 
 lin blinds, burning the pot of greenstuff, and falling in 
 large spots upon the tiled floor. Overcome by the heat, 
 the two women lay back on the little red calico-covered sofa,
 
 52 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 languidly sipping their beer, and thinking vaguely of when 
 they would have to commence work again. Miss Hender 
 lolled with her legs stretched out; Kate wearily rested 
 her head upon her hand ; Mrs. Ede sat straight, apparently 
 unheeding the sunlight which fell across the plaid shawl 
 which she wore winter and summer. She drank her beer 
 in quick gulps, as if even the time for swallowing was 
 rigidly portioned out. The others watched her, knowing 
 that when her pewter was empty she would turn them out 
 of the kitchen. In a few moments she said, " I think, 
 Kate, that if you're in a hurry you'd better get on with 
 your dress. I have to see to Mr. Lennox's dinner, and I 
 can't have you a-hanging about. As it is I don't know 
 how I am to get the work done. There is a leg of mutton 
 to be roasted, and a pudding to be made, and all by four 
 o'clock." 
 
 Kate calmed the old woman with a few words, and tak- 
 ing Ralph's dinner from her, carried it upstairs. She 
 found her husband better, but he complained of being neg- 
 lected. Setting the tray on the edge of the bed, she briefly 
 answered the questions he put to her concerning the actor, 
 then begged of him to excuse her, and slipped out of the 
 room. About half-past three Mr. Lennox came in with 
 two men, whom she found out afterwards to be Joe Morti- 
 mer the low comedian and young Montgomery the conduc- 
 tor. Miss Hender was in a wild state of curiosity, and it 
 became difficult to prevent her from listening at the doors, 
 and almost useless to remind her of the fact that there 
 were children present, so excited did she become when she 
 spoke of Bret's love affairs. 
 
 But at six o'clock, she put on her hat determinedly ; the 
 children took their leave at the same time, and Kate was 
 left to finish the silk dress alone. There was still much 
 to be done, and when Mrs. Ede called from the kitchen that 
 tea was ready, Kate did not at first answer, and when she 
 did descend she did not remain above ten minutes, — just 
 long enough to eat piece of bread and butter. Her head 
 was filled with gTave forebodings, which gradually drifted 
 and concentrated into one fixed idea, not to disappoint Mrs. 
 Barnes. Once, and quite suddenly, she was startled by an
 
 A Mummer's Wife 53 
 
 idea which, led up to by nothing, flashed across her mind, 
 and stopping in the middle of a leaf, she considered the 
 question that had propounded itself. Lodgers often made 
 love to their landladies ; what would she do if he made love 
 to her ? such a thing might occur. An expression of annoy- 
 ance contracted her face, and she passively resumed her 
 sewing. The hours passed slowly and oppressively. It was 
 now ten o'clock ; the tail had still to be bound with braid, 
 and the side-strings to be sewn in. Having no tape by her, 
 she thought of putting off these finishing-touches till the 
 morning, but plucking up her courage, she determined to 
 go down and fetch from the shop what was required. The 
 walk did her good, but it was hard to sit down again to 
 work; and the next few minutes seemed to her intermin- 
 able: but at last the last stitch was given, the thread bitten 
 off, and the dress held up in triumph. She looked at it for 
 a moment with a feeling of pride, which soon faded into 
 a sensation of profound lassitude. 
 
 However, her day's labor was over, and she was now free. 
 But the thought carried with it a savor of bitterness, for she 
 remembered that there was no place for her to go to but 
 her sick husband's room. Unconsciously she had been look- 
 ing forward to having at least one night's rest, and it ex- 
 asperated her to think that there was nothing for her but 
 a hard pallet in the backroom, and the certainty of being 
 awakened several times to attend to her husband. Then 
 she asked passionately if she was always going to remain a 
 slave and a drudge? Miss Hender's words came back to 
 her with a strange distinctness, and she saw that of pleas- 
 ure, or even of happiness, she knew nothing ; and in a very 
 simple way she wondered what were really the ends of life. 
 She longed to be good and religious, like her mother or her 
 mother-in-law, but somehow she could never feel as they 
 did, it all seemed so far away. Of course it was a great 
 consolation to think there was a happier and better world ; 
 
 still— still . Not being able to pursue the thread any 
 
 further, she stopped puzzled, and when her thoughts again 
 detached themselves, she was thinking of the lady who used 
 to read Byron and Shelley, and who so bravely resisted her 
 lover's entreaties. Every part of the forgotten story came
 
 54 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 back to her. She completely realized the place they used 
 to dream in. She could see them watching with ardent eyes 
 the paling of the distant sky as they listened to the hum- 
 ming of insects, breathing the honied odor of the flowers; 
 she saw her leaning on his arm caressingly, whilst pensively 
 she tore with the other hand the leaves as they passed up 
 the long terrace. 
 
 Then, as the vision became more personal, and she identi- 
 fied herself with the heroine of the book, she thought of the 
 wealth of love she had to give, and it seemed to her un- 
 utterably sad that it should, like a rose in a desert, lie 
 unknown and unappreciated. 
 
 This was the last flight of her dream. The frail wings 
 of her imagination could sustain her no longer, and too 
 weary to care for or even to think of anything, she went up- 
 stairs. There she found Mrs. Ede painting her son's chest 
 and back with iodine. He had had a bad attack, which was 
 beginning to subside. His face was haggard, his eyes tur- 
 gid, and his laboring chest produced the whole asthmatic 
 scale, from the highest wheeze to the lowest grunt. The 
 usual vapory smell of ether pervaded the room, and the 
 lamp burned with a fierce red glow behind the red petticoat. 
 
 The two women talked together. Mrs. Ede, indignant, 
 told of the trouble she had had with the dinner. She had 
 had to fetch cigars and drinks. Kate listened, watching her 
 husband all the while. He at last began to get a little 
 better, and Mrs. Ede took advantage of the occasion to 
 suggest that it was time for evening prayers. 
 
 In days when speech was possible, it was Mr. Ede who 
 read the customary chapter of the Bible and led the way 
 with the Lord's Prayer; but when words were forbidden 
 to him his mother supplied his place. The tall figure knelt 
 straight. It was not a movement of cringing humility, 
 but of stalwart belief, and Kate, as she handed her the 
 Bible, could not help thinking that there was pride in her 
 mother-in-law's very knees. 
 
 The old woman turned over the leaves for a few seconds 
 in silence ; then, having determined on a chapter, began to 
 read. But she had not got beyond a few sentences before
 
 A Mummer's Wife 55 
 
 she was interrupted by the sound of laughing voices and 
 stamping feet. 
 
 Horrified, she stopped reading, and looked from Kate 
 to her husband. He was at the moment searching for his 
 pocket-handkerchief. Trembling, Kate rose to assist him, 
 and Mrs. Ede said, 
 
 " It is shameful ! 'tis disgraceful ! " 
 
 " It is only Mr. Lennox coming in." 
 
 " Only Mr. Lennox ! " At that moment she was inter- 
 rupted by the lighter laughter of female voices, and she 
 paused to listen. Then shutting the book fiercely she said, 
 " From the first I was against letting our rooms to an actor ; 
 but I certainly did not think I should live to see my son's 
 house turned into a nighthouse. I shall not stop here." 
 
 " Not stop here, eh, eh ? We must tell — tell him that it 
 can't be allowed," wheezed Mr. Ede, as he mopped his 
 sweating face. 
 
 " And I should like to know who are these women he has 
 dared to bring into — People he has met in Piccadilly, I 
 suppose ! " 
 
 " Oh, no ! " interrupted Kate. " I am sure that they are 
 the ladies of the theatre." 
 
 " And where's the difference ? " Mrs. Ede asked fiercely. 
 Sectarian hatred of worldly amusement flamed in her eyes, 
 and made common cause with the ordinary prejudice of the 
 British landlady. Mr. Ede shared his mother's opinion; but 
 as he was then suffering from a splitting headache, his chief 
 desire was that she should lower the tone of her voice. 
 
 " For goodness sake, don't speak so loud ! " he said plain- 
 tively. " Of course he mustn't bring women into the house ; 
 but he had better be told so. Kate, go down and tell him 
 that these ladies must leave." 
 
 Hearing her fate thus determined, Kate stood aghast, 
 and she asked herself how she was to tell Mr. Lennox 
 that he must put his friends out of doors. She hesitated, 
 and during a long silence all three listened. A great guf- 
 faw, a woman's shriek, a peal of laughter, and then a clink- 
 ing of glasses was heard. Even Kate's face admitted that 
 she thought it very improper, and Mrs. Ede said with a 
 theatrical air of suppressed passion :
 
 56 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 "Very well; I suppose that is all that can be done at 
 present." 
 
 Feeling very helpless, Kate murmured, " I do not see 
 how I am to tell them to go. Hadn't we better put it off 
 until morning?" 
 
 " Till morning ! " said Mr. Ede, trying to button his 
 dirty night-shirt across his hairy chest. " I'm not going 
 to listen to that noise all night. Kate, you g — go and 
 tur — r — n them out." 
 
 " I'm sorry, dearie," said Mrs. Ede, seeing her daughter- 
 in-law's distress. " I'll soon send them away." 
 
 " Oh, no ! I'd rather go myself," said Kate. 
 
 " Very well, dear. I only thought you might not like to 
 go down among a lot of rough people." 
 
 The row downstairs was in the meanwhile increasing. 
 I.'alph grew as angry as his asthma would allow him. 
 " They are killing me with their noise. Go down at once 
 and tell them they must leave the house instantly. If you 
 don't I'll go myself." 
 
 With a look of horror at this threat, Mrs. Ede made a 
 movement towards the door, hut Kate stopped her, saying, 
 
 " I'll go ; it is my place." As she descended the stairs 
 she heard a man's voice screaming above the general hub- 
 bub: 
 
 " I'll tell you what, if Miss Beaumont doesn't wait for 
 my beat another night, I'll insist on a rehearsal being called. 
 She took the concerted music in the finale of the first 
 act two whole bars before her time. It was damned awful. 
 I nearly broke my stick trying to stop her." 
 
 " Quite true ; I never saw the piece go so bad. Bret 
 was ' fluffing ' all over the shop." 
 
 Kate listened vaguely to these fragments of conversation, 
 and tremblingly asked herself how she was to walk in upon 
 those people and tell them that they must keep quiet. 
 
 " And the way Beaumont tries to spoon with Dick. She 
 nearly missed her cue once with sneaking after him in the 
 wings." 
 
 A peal of laughter followed. This sally determined Kate 
 to act ; and, without having made up her mind what she was
 
 A Mummer's Wife 57 
 
 going to say, she turned the handle of the door and walked 
 into the room. 
 
 The three gasburners were blazing, wineglasses were on 
 the table, and Mr. Lennox stood twisting a corkscrew into a 
 bottle which he held between his fat thighs. As Kate 
 entered he looked up. 
 
 On the little green sofa Miss Lucy Leslie lay back, play- 
 ing with her bonnet-strings. Her legs were crossed, and 
 a lifted skirt showed a bit of striped stocking. Next her, 
 with his spare legs sprawled over the arm of the easy-chair, 
 was Mr. Montgomery, the thinnest being possible to ima- 
 gine, in gray clothes. His nose was enormous, and he 
 pushed up his glasses when Kate came into the room with 
 a movement of the left hand that was clearly habitual. On 
 the other side of the round table sat Mr. Joe Mortimer, 
 the heavy lead, the celebrated miser in the Cloches. A tall 
 girl standing behind him playfully twisted his back-hair. 
 He addressed paternal admonitions to her from time to 
 time in an artificially cracked voice. 
 
 " Please, sir," said Kate pleadingly, " I'm very sorry, but 
 we cannot keep open house after eleven o'clock." 
 
 A deep silence followed this announcement. Miss Leslie 
 looked up at Kate curiously. Mr. Lennox stopped twisting 
 the corkscrew into the bottle, and his big blue eyes beamed 
 with amazement. 
 
 Then the low comedian, seizing the opportunity, mur- 
 mured in his mechanical voice to the girl behind him, 
 " Open house ! Of course, she's quite right. I knew there 
 was a draught somewhere ; I felt my hair blowing about." 
 
 Everybody laughed, and the merriment contributed to 
 still further discountenance the workwoman. 
 
 " Will he never speak and let me go ? " she asked herself. 
 At last he did speak, and his words fell upon her like blows, 
 
 " I don't know what you mean, Mrs. Ede," he said in a 
 loud, commanding voice. " I made no agreement with 
 you that I was not to bring friends home with me in the 
 evening. Had I known that I was taking lodgings in a 
 church I wouldn't have come." 
 
 Kate did not know what answer to make. She felt dread-
 
 58 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 fully humiliated, and nothing was really present in her 
 mind but a vague desire to conciliate Mr. Lennox. 
 
 " It is not my fault, sir. I really don't mind ; but my 
 mother-in-law and my husband will not have people com- 
 ing into the house after ten o'clock." 
 
 Mr. Lennox's face showed that his heart had softened 
 towards her, and when she mentioned that her husband was 
 lying ill in bed, turning round to his company he said, 
 
 " I think we are making too much noise ; we should not 
 like it ourselves if " 
 
 But just at that moment, when all was about to end 
 pleasantly, Mrs. Ede was heard at the top of the stairs. 
 
 " I am a Christian woman, and will not remain in a 
 house where drinking and women " 
 
 This speech changed everything. Mr. Lennox's eyes 
 flashed with passion. He made a movement as if he were 
 going to shout an answer back to Mrs. Ede, but checking 
 himself he said, addressing Kate, " I beg that you will leave 
 my rooms, ma'am. You can give me warning in the morn- 
 ing if you like, or rather, I'll give it to you ; but for this 
 evening, at least, the place is mine, and I shall do what I 
 like." On that he advanced towards the door and threw 
 it open. 
 
 Tears stood in her eyes. She looked sorrowfully at Mr. 
 Lennox. It was a pitiful, appealing glance which he no- 
 ticed, but was too angry to understand. The look was her 
 whole soul. She did not see Miss Leslie sneering, nor Mr. 
 Montgomery's grinning face. She saw Mr. Lennox, and 
 nothing but him, and stunned by the thought of his leaving 
 them, she followed her mother-in-law upstairs. The old 
 woman scolded and rowed. To have that lot of men and 
 women smoking and drinking after eleven o'clock in the 
 house was not to be thought of, and she tried to force her 
 son to say that the police must sent for. But it was im- 
 possible to get an answer from him; the excitement and 
 effort of speaking had rendered him speechless, and, hold- 
 ing his moppy black hair with both hands, he wheezed in 
 deep organ tones. Kate looked at him blankly. To sit up 
 with him another night she felt was impossible, and she 
 longed for some place out of hearing of his breath and out
 
 A Mummer's Wife 59 
 
 of the smell of the medicine-bottles. His mother, who was 
 now insisting on his taking a couple of pills, called upon 
 Kate to find the box. The sharp, sickly odor of the aloes 
 was abominable, and with her stomach turning, she watched 
 her husband trying vainly, with the aid of a glass of water, 
 to swallow the dose. Stop in this room ! no, that she 
 couldn't do; it would poison her. She wanted sleep and 
 fresh air. Where could she get them ? The actor was in 
 the spare bedroom; but he would be gone to-morrow, and 
 she could be left alone. The thought startled her, though 
 she soon forgot it in her impetuous longing to get out of 
 her husband's sight. Every moment this desire grew 
 stronger, and at last she said, 
 
 " I cannot stay here; another night would kill me. Will 
 you let me have your room ? " 
 
 " Certainly I will, my dear," replied the old woman, 
 astonished not so much at the request, but at the vehemence 
 of the emphasis laid upon the words. " You are looking 
 dreadfully worn out, my dear ; I will see to my boy." 
 
 When once her request had been granted, Kate felt the 
 burning wish grew cold in her heart. She hesitated as if 
 she feared she was doing wrong, and she looked at her hus- 
 band wondering if he would call her back. 
 
 But he took no heed ; his attention was too entirely occu- 
 pied by his breath to think either of her or of the necessity 
 of sending for the police, and he waved his mother away 
 when she attempted to speak to him. Then, turning to 
 Kate as the next person in authority, she asked, 
 
 " Are those men going to stop there all night ? " 
 
 " Oh ! I really don't know ; I am too tired to bother about 
 it any more," replied Kate petulantly. " It is all your 
 fault — you are to blame for everything; you have no right 
 to interfere with the lodgers in my house." 
 
 Mrs. Ede raised her arms as she sought for words, but 
 Kate, without giving her time to answer, walked out of the 
 room. Suddenly a voice cried in a high key, 
 
 " Who do you take me for, Dick ? I wasn't born yester- 
 day. A devilish pretty woman, if you ask me; and what 
 black hair ! "
 
 60 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 Kate stopped. " Black hair," she said to herself, " they 
 must he talking of me," and she listened intently. 
 
 The remark, however, did not appear to have been par- 
 ticularly well timed, for after a long silence, a woman's 
 voice said, 
 
 " Well, I don't know whether he likes her, and I don't 
 care, but what I'm not going to do is to wait here listen- 
 ing to you all cracking up a landlady's good looks. I'm 
 off." 
 
 A scuffle then seemed to be taking place; half-a-dozen 
 voices spoke together, and in terror of her life Kate flew 
 across the workroom to Mrs. Ede's bed. 
 
 The door of the sitting-room was flung open, and cajoling 
 and protesting words echoed along the passage and up and 
 down the burrow-like staircase. It was undoubtedly dis- 
 graceful, and Kate expected every minute to hear her 
 mother-in-law's voice mingling in the fray. However, 
 peace was restored, and for at least an hour she listened to 
 sounds of laughing voices mingling with the clinking of 
 glasses. But at last Dick wished his friends good-night, 
 and they went, leaving a long dark silence behind. Kate, 
 who lay trembling under the sheets, listened. Something 
 was going to happen. " He thinks me a pretty woman ; she 
 is jealous," were phrases that rang without ceasing in her 
 ears. Then hearing his door open she fancied he was com- 
 ing to seek her, and in consternation buried herself under 
 the bedclothes, leaving only her black hair over the pillows 
 to show where she had disappeared. But the duplicate drop 
 of a pair of boots was conclusive, and assuring herself that 
 he would not venture on such a liberty, she strove to com- 
 pose herself to sleep.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 BOUT eleven o'clock on the following day Kate 
 walked up Market Street with Mrs. Barnes's 
 dress. She had just received an angry letter 
 from that lady, saying that she would not require 
 the dress — that it was now of no earthly use to her. This 
 was a very serious matter, and as Kate walked with her face 
 set against the empty square of sky, set in the end of the 
 street as in a frame, she thought of what she could say to 
 satisfy her client. 
 
 Market Street, although scarcely less rigid, presented a 
 less mercantile appearance than the rest of Hanley. There 
 was just a feeble look of idleness about it which was visible 
 nowhere else. In the open place at the bottom of the hill 
 crowds of children were constantly playing about three 
 dilapidated swings and a merry-go-round. The green and 
 yellow paint of these neglected toys suggested fancies that 
 faded as the eye scanned the acres of bare brick. Half 
 of the pipe of the shooting-gallery had been broken away, 
 and was lying amid the wheels of a dilapidated showman's 
 cart. These were the only signs of decay the town pos- 
 sessed. Even the factory chimneys looked new, and the 
 dwelling-houses seemed as if they had been run up accord- 
 ing to contract by the gross. The eye was hurt by naked red 
 angles, by the raw green of the blinds, and the similarity 
 of each proportion. Some few of the doorways, but very 
 few, were adorned with stucco porches and iron railings; 
 generally a woman sat under a black beam, and screamed 
 down a dark passage after a child. 
 
 Kate's anxiety of mind caused her to walk fast towards 
 the square of sky, where the passers seemed like figures on 
 the top of a monument. There she would turn to the 
 left, and descend towards the little quasi villa residences 
 which form the suburb of Northwood ; and when, ten min- 
 utes later, hot, and out of breath, Kate approached Mrs.
 
 62 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 Barnes's door, she matured her plans, determining if the 
 worst came to the worst to let the dress go at a reduction. 
 For the moment she had forgotten her other troubles, and 
 it was not until she had received her money that she re- 
 membered that her rooms would again be empty. 
 
 She was sorry Mr. Lennox was going. She did not think 
 how rudely he had turned her out of his room; she dwelt 
 rather on his kindness when she brought him up his break- 
 fast, and the nice pleasant way he had of speaking. A dim 
 feeling of unexplained tenderness grew upon her mysteri- 
 ously as mists gather along a low shore, and almost uncon- 
 sciously she gazed upon the view before her. She slipped 
 years back into the past, until she stood again a young girl 
 on the playground of her youth, watching the rolling hills 
 spreading up and along the sky-line. 
 
 Below her, in the dazzling morning light, lay a valley 
 miles upon miles in length. It was one of those terrible 
 cauldrons in which man melts and moulds this huge age of 
 iron. And of what did this valley consist Of black 
 plains that the sunlight could not change in color; of 
 patches of grass, hard and metallic in hue; of tanks of 
 water glittering like blades of steel; of gigantic smoke- 
 clouds rolling over the stems of a thousand factory chim- 
 neys. Like the bayonets of an advancing army they came, 
 encircling Bucknell, a single oasis in this black desert, 
 through whose woods curled constantly the white steam 
 of a passing train. 
 
 Kate stood on the side of a steep declivity. Through its 
 worn sides black cinders protruded, and the ruins of de- 
 serted collieries stood close at hand. On her left, some fifty 
 feet below, running in the shape of a fan round a belt of 
 green, were the roofs of Northwood — a river of black brick 
 unrelieved by any trace of color saving the yellow chimney- 
 tops that were speckled upon a line of fluffy clouds. Sharp 
 as the teeth of a double saw were the interminable gables, 
 and not ray of light glinted against the black windows. 
 So black was everything that even the spire of the church 
 remained a silhouette in the liquid sunlight that was poured 
 as out of a diamond vase from the long pale space of sky 
 which rose behind the hills of Western Coyney. On the
 
 A Mummer's Wife 63 
 
 right, Southwark, another river of brick, trickled down in- 
 to the valley, but this time the color was red. There the 
 lines were more irregular, and the jagged houses seemed 
 like cartloads of gigantic pill-boxes cast in a hurry from the 
 counter along the floor. The lines of the pavement could 
 just be distinguished. Kate watched the crowds passing. 
 A hansom with a white horse appeared and disappeared 
 amid these angular streets, sometimes seen against the 
 green blinds of a semi-detached villa, sometimes against 
 the broad background of a group of pottery ovens basking 
 with their yellow bellies raised up to the light. 
 
 The sun was now rapidly approaching the meridian, and 
 the kingstar blazed, a vision of dancing flame ; white clouds 
 trimmed the edges of the long hills, and in the vibrating 
 light the wheels of the most distant collieries could almost 
 be counted, and the stems of the far-off factory chimneys 
 appeared like tiny fingers. 
 
 Kate saw with the eyes and heard with the ears of her 
 youth, and the past became as clear as the landscape before 
 her. She remembered the days when she came to read on 
 this hillside. The titles of the books rose up in her mind, 
 and she could recall the sorrow she felt for the heroes and 
 heroines. It seemed to her strange that that time was so 
 long past, and she wondered why she had forgotten it. Now 
 it all seemed so near to her that she felt like one only just 
 awakened from a dream. And these memories made her 
 happy. She took an infinite pleasure in recalling every 
 little event — an excursion she made when she was quite 
 a little girl to the ruined colliery, and, later on, a conversa- 
 tion with a chance acquaintance, a young man who had 
 stopped to speak to her. 
 
 At the bottom of the valley, right before her eyes, the 
 white gables of Bucknell Rectory, hidden amid masses of 
 trees, glittered now and then in an entangled beam 
 that flickered between chimneys, across brick-banked 
 squares of water darkened by brick walls. Then behind 
 Bucknell were more desolate plains full of pits, brick, and 
 smoke; and then for miles rose up against the sky, with a 
 roll oceanic in gradeur, the interminable hills. 
 
 The American tariff had not yet come into operation,
 
 64 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 and every wheel was turning, every oven baking; and 
 through a drifting veil of smoke the sloping sides of the 
 hills with all their fields could be seen sleeping under im- 
 mense covertures of shadow, or basking naked upon beds 
 of light. A deluge of rays fell upon them, defining every 
 angle of Watley Rocks, and floating over the grasslands of 
 Standon until all was lost in a huge embrasure filled with 
 the almost imperceptible outlines of the Wever Hills. For, 
 like a reversed teacup placed in a basin is the mound on 
 which the red town of Hanley is built; and the intersecting 
 lines, squares, and oblongs of the hill-fields render the like- 
 ness more apparent, representing as they do a pattern simi- 
 lar to the painted edging of a Staffordshire basin. 
 
 And these vast slopes, which formed the background of 
 every street, were the theatre of all Kate's travels; and 
 before life's struggles had ground her down she never saw 
 them without dreaming. When as a little girl she played 
 about the black cinders of the hillside she used to stop 
 to watch the sunlight flash along the far-away green spaces, 
 and in her thougths connected them with the marvels she 
 had read of in her books of fairy tales. Surely beyond 
 these wonderful hills were the palaces of the kings and 
 queens, who could wave their wands and vanish ? Then a 
 few years later it was there, or beyond those slopes, that the 
 lovers lived with whom she sympathized in the pages of her 
 novels. 
 
 She had not been where she now stood for months, and 
 under the influence of all her new-found emotions she 
 wondered why she had never thought before of revisiting 
 these old places. For, sudden as the splash of a stone 
 dropped into a well, the knoweldge came to her that she 
 was no longer happy, that her life was no more than a 
 burden, a misery. But the analysis of her thoughts is 
 difficult, so rapid, so contradictory were they. A hundred 
 different things occurred to her at once. Above all, she 
 remembered her marriage, and how Mrs. Ede had persuaded 
 her into it, and for the first time she blamed the old woman 
 for her interference. But this was not all. Kate was will- 
 ing to admit that there was no one she loved like Mr. Ede, 
 but still it was hard to live with a mother-in-law who had
 
 A Mummer's Wife 65 
 
 a finger in everything and used the house like her own. 
 It would be all very well if she were not so very obstinate 
 — if she were not so very certain that she was always right. 
 Religion was very well, but that perpetual " I'm a Chris- 
 tian woman/' was sickening. Xo wonder Mr. Lennox 
 couldn't stand it. Poor man, why should he not have a 
 few friends up in the evening ? The lodgings were his own 
 while he paid for them. She blamed herself bitterly for 
 having insulted the man in his rooms, and before bis 
 friends. No wonder he cut up rough; no wonder he was 
 leaving them. If so she would never see him again. The 
 thought caught her like a pain in the throat, and with a 
 sudden instinct she turned to hurry home. As she did 
 so her eyes fell on Mr. Lennox; he was walking towards 
 her. At such an unexpected realization of her thoughts 
 she uttered a little cry of surprise; but, smiling affably, 
 and in no way disconcerted, he raised his big hat from his 
 head. On account of the softness of the felt this could only 
 be accomplished by passing the arm over the head and 
 seizing the crown as a conjuror would a pocket-handker- 
 chief. The movement was large and unctuous, and it 
 impressed Kate considerably. 
 
 " I took the liberty to stop, for you seemed so interested 
 that I felt curious to know what could be worth looking at 
 in those horrid chimneys and mounds of cinders." 
 
 " I was not looking at the factories, but at the hills. The 
 view from here is considered very fine. Don't you think so, 
 sir ? " she asked, feeling afraid that she had made some mis- 
 take. 
 
 " Ah, well, now you mention it, perhaps it is. How far 
 away, and yet how distinct! They look like the gallery 
 of a theatre. We're on the stage, the footlights run round 
 here, and the valley is the pit ; and there are plenty of pits 
 in it," he added laughing. " But I mustn't speak to you 
 of the theatre." 
 
 " Oh, I'm sure I don't mind ! I'm very fond of the thea- 
 tre," said Kate hastily. 
 
 This indirect allusion to last night brought the con- 
 versation to a close, and for some moments they stood look- 
 ing vacantly at the landscape. Overhead the sky was one 
 5
 
 06 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 serene sheet of dazzling blue, and so still was the air that 
 the smoke-clouds trailed like the wings of gigantic birds 
 slowly balancing themselves. Waves of white light rolled 
 up the valley as if jealous of the red, flashing furnaces. An 
 odor of iron and cinders poisoned the melting air, and rose 
 through it from the black gulf below like intestine exhala- 
 tions from the open belly of a lately slaughtered animal. 
 After some moments of contemplation, which seemed to 
 draw them closer together, Mr. Lennox said, 
 
 " There is no doubt but the view is very grand, but it is 
 tantalizing to have those hills before your eyes when you 
 are shut up in red brick oven. How fresh and cool they 
 look ! What wouldn't you give to be straying about in those 
 fresh woods far away ? " 
 
 Kate looked at Mr. Lennox with ravished eyes ; his words 
 had flooded her mind with a thousand forgotten dreams. 
 She felt she liked him better for what he had said, and she 
 murmured as if half ashamed — 
 
 " I was never out of Hanley. I never saw the sea, and 
 when I was a child I used to fancy that the fairies lived 
 beyond those hills; even now I can't help imagining that 
 the world is quite different over there. Here it is all brick, 
 but in novels they never speak of anything but gardens and 
 fields." 
 
 " Never seen the sea ? Well there isn't much to see in it," 
 said Mr. Lennox laughing at the pun. " When you were a 
 little girl you used to come here to play, I suppose ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir ; I was born over there in one of those cottages." 
 
 Mr. Lennox did not seem to know whether to look sorry 
 or sentimental, but he listened patiently to Kate who, 
 proud of being able to show him anything, pointed out the 
 different points of view. The white gables that could just 
 be distinguished in the large dark masses of trees, the one 
 oasis in the ocean of cinders, was Bucknell Rectory. The 
 fragment of the cliff on the top of the highest ridge half- 
 way up the sky was Watley Rocks ; then came Western Coy- 
 ney, the plains of Standon, and far away, in a blue mist, 
 the faint outlines of the Wever Hills. But Mi. Lennox 
 did not seem very much interested ; the sun was too hot for 
 him, and in the first pause of the conversation he asked
 
 A Mummer's Wife 67 
 
 Kate which way she was going. He had to get on to the 
 theatre, and he asked her if she would show him the way 
 there. 
 
 " You can't do better than to go down Market Street; but 
 if you like I will direct you." 
 
 " I shall be so glad if you will ; but Market Street — I 
 think you said Market Street ? That is just the way I have 
 come." 
 
 Market Street was where people connected with the thea- 
 tre generally lived, and Kate knew at once he had been there 
 looking for lodgings; but she was ashamed to tax him with 
 it, and they walked on for some time without speaking. 
 But every moment the silence became more irritating, and 
 at last, determined to know the worst, she said, " I suppose 
 you were looking for lodgings ; all the theatre people put up 
 in that street." 
 
 Mr. Lennox flinched before this direct question. 
 
 " Why no, not exactly ; I was calling on some friends ; 
 but there are, as you say, some of the profession living in 
 the street ; and now you mention it, I suppose I shall have 
 to find some new diggings/' 
 
 " I am sorry, sir, very sorry," said Kate looking up into 
 the big blue eyes. " I ought not to have come down; you 
 are, of course, master in your own rooms." 
 
 " Oh, it was not your fault ; I could live with you for- 
 ever. You mustn't think I want to change, if you could 
 only guarantee that your mother-in-law will keep out of 
 my way." 
 
 Kate felt at that moment that she would guarantee any- 
 thing that would prevent Mr. Lennox from leaving her 
 house. 
 
 " Oh, I don't think there will be any difficulty abouj; 
 that," she said eagerly. " I'll bring your breakfast and 
 dinner up, and you are out nearly all day." 
 
 " Very well, then, and I will promise not to bring home 
 any friends," he added gallantly. 
 
 " But I'm afraid you'll be very lonely, sir." 
 
 " I'll have you to talk to sometimes." 
 
 Kate made no answer, but they both felt that the words 
 implied more than they actually meant, and like people
 
 68 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 who had come to some important conclusion, they remained 
 silent. Then after a long pause, and without any transition, 
 Mr. Lennox spoke of the heat of the weather, and of the 
 harm it was likely to do their business at the theatre. She 
 asked him what he thought of Hanley. Mr. Lennox smiled 
 through his white moustache, and said the want of trees 
 made it very dreary; he cared little for the country, but to 
 see nothing but brick made it hard for the eyes. 
 
 Not feeling quite satisfied with this last observation, Kate 
 spoke of the pretty sites there were about the town, and 
 pointing down a red perspective backed by the usual hills, 
 she told him that Trentham, the Duke of Sutherland's 
 place, was over there. 
 
 " What, over those hills ? That must be miles away." 
 
 " Oh, not so far as that. Hanley does not reach to there. 
 The country is perfectly beautiful, once you get past Stoke. 
 I went once to see the Duke's place, and we had tea in the 
 inn. That was the only time I was ever really in the coun- 
 try, and even then we were never quite out of sight of the 
 factories. Still, it was very nice." 
 
 " And who were you with ? " 
 
 " Oh, with my husband." 
 
 " He's an invalid, is he not ? " 
 
 " Well, he suffers very much at times, I'm afraid ; but 
 he's often well enough." 
 
 The conversation again came to a pause, and both 
 thought of how happy they would be were they taking tea 
 together at the inn at Trentham. 
 
 They were now in the centre of the town, close to the 
 Town Hall — a stupid square building, staring as an official 
 document. Two black cannons stood on either side of the 
 door. Opposite was a huge shop with " Commercial 
 House" written across the second story in gold letters. 
 Vulgar carpets and coarse goods were piled about the door- 
 way; and from these two houses Piccadilly, and Broad 
 Street, its continuation, ran down an incline, and Church 
 Street branched off, giving the town the appearance of a 
 two-pronged fork. 
 
 All was red — generally red brick turning to purple, and 
 it blazed under a blank blue sky. No spray of green re-
 
 A Mummer's Wife 60 
 
 lieved the implacable perspectives, no aesthetic intention 
 broke the frigidity of the remorseless angles. Wide widths 
 of red walls, bald rotundities of pottery ovens, iron, and 
 brick, reigned supreme; before them nature had disap- 
 peared, and the shrill scream of the steam-tram as it rolled 
 solemnly up the incline seemed to be man's cry of triumph 
 over vanquished nature. 
 
 After looking vacantly about him, Mr. Lennox said, 
 " What I object to in the town is that there's nothing to do. 
 And it is so blazing hot ; for goodness sake let us get under 
 the shadow of a wall." 
 
 Kate smiled, and as they crossed over they both wiped 
 their faces. 
 
 "There are the potteries," she said, referring to Mr. 
 Lennox's complaint that there was nothing to do in the 
 town. " Everybody that comes to Hanley goes to see them ; 
 but the best are in Stoke." 
 
 " I am sure I'm not going to Stoke to see potteries," he 
 answered decisively, " but if there are any in Hanley I dare- 
 say I shall turn in some afternoon. I have heard some 
 of our people say they are worth seeing. But," he added, 
 as if a sudden thought had struck him, " I might go now; I 
 have nothing to do for the next couple of hours. How far 
 are the nearest ? " 
 
 Kate told him that Powell and Jones's works were close 
 by in the High Street. She pointed out the way, but fail- 
 ing to make Mr. Lennox understand her, she consented to 
 go with him. Mr. Lennox pleaded complete ignorance. 
 From the word pottery he guessed that it had something 
 to do with pots and pans. He had a kind, soft manner of 
 speaking, which drew her towards him as irresistibly as if 
 he had taken her in his arms, and it was astonishing how 
 intimate they had grown in the last few minutes. 
 
 " It doesn't look very interesting," he said, as they 
 stopped before an archway and looked into a yard filled with 
 straw and packing-cases. 
 
 " Oh, yes, it is ; but you must see the different rooms. 
 You must go up to the office and ask for a permission to 
 see the works."
 
 70 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 " Oh, I don't think I'd care to go by myself. Won't you 
 come with me ? " 
 
 Kate hesitated, for suddenly a desire to see the old places 
 had crept into her mind. She had very little to do at home ; 
 she could say that Mrs. Barnes had kept her waiting. 
 
 " Do come," he said after a pause during which he looked 
 at her eagerly. 
 
 " Well, I should like to see the room where my mother 
 used to work, but we mustn't stop too long. I shall be 
 missed at home." The matter being so arranged they en- 
 tered the yard, and Kate pointed out a rough staircase 
 placed against the wall. " You must go up there, the office 
 is at the top; ask for a permission to see the works. I'll 
 wait for you here." 
 
 For the moment she was glad to be left alone, and she 
 looked round the old brick yard with tenderness. Half- 
 a-dozen men were packing crockery into crates with spades. 
 She watched them wondering how it was they did not break 
 the delf. She saw herself again a little girl running with 
 her mother's dinner just as she used to ten years ago. 
 
 One afternoon she remembered particularly well. 
 Promising to be very good, she had been allowed to sit by 
 her mother and watch her painting flowers that wound in 
 and out and all about a big blue vase. She remembered 
 how she was reproved for peeping over her neighbor's 
 shoulder, and how proud she felt sitting among all the 
 workwomen. She could recall the smell of the paint and 
 turpentine, and her bitter grief when she was told that she 
 should not learn painting, that she was too delicate, and 
 was going to be put out to dressmaking. But now that 
 time was gone ; her mother was dead and she was married. 
 Everything was changed or broken, as was probably that 
 beautiful vase. It astonished Kate to find herself thinking 
 of these things. She had passed the High Street twenty 
 times within the last six months without it even occurring 
 to her to visit the old places, ;md when Mr. Lennox canu; 
 back he noticed that there were tears in her eyes. He made 
 no remark, but hastily explained that he had been told 
 that there was a party just that minute gone on in front of 
 them and they were to catch them up.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 71 
 
 " This way, then," she said, pointing to a big archway. 
 
 " Oh, I can't run ; don't be in such a hurry," said Mr. 
 Lennox panting. 
 
 Kate laughed and admitted that the heat was terrific. 
 Out of a sky burnt almost to white the huge glare descended 
 into the narrow brick yards. The packing straw seemed 
 ready to catch fire; the heaps of wet clay, which two boys 
 were shovelling, smoked, emitting as it did so an unpleasant 
 wet odor. On passing the archway they caught sight of 
 three black frock coats and three black shovel hats. 
 
 " Oh ! " said Kate, stopping disappointed, " we'll have to 
 go the round with those clergymen." 
 
 " What does that matter ? It will be amusing to listen 
 to them." 
 
 " But mother knows all of them." 
 
 " Oh, nonsense ; they must be strangers in the town or 
 they wouldn't be visiting the potteries." 
 
 This reassured Kate, and they joined the party. The 
 Dissenting clergymen looked askance at Mr. Lennox, and 
 the guide said, as he showed them into a small white cell, 
 " You are in plenty of time, sir ; these are the snagger 
 makers." 
 
 Two men were beating a heap of wet clay in order to 
 insure a something in the bakery which nobody understood, 
 but which the guide took some trouble to explain. The 
 clergymen clustered forward to listen. Mr. Lennox wiped 
 his face, and they were then hurried into a second cell, 
 where unbaked dishes were piled all around upon shelves. 
 It was said to be the dishmakers' place, and was followed 
 by another and another room, all, Mr. Lennox thought, 
 equally hot and uninteresting. He strove to escape from 
 the guide, who drew him through the line of clergymen 
 and remorselessly explained to him the mysteries of earthen- 
 ware. 
 
 At last these preliminary departments were disposed of, 
 and they were led to another part of the works. On their 
 way thither they passed the ovens. These were scattered 
 over the ground like bee-hives in a garden. Mr. Lennox 
 patted their round sides approvingly, and for the first time 
 showed some signs of interest. He said they reminded him
 
 72 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 of oyster boys in a pantomime, and he declared it would 
 not be a bad feature to introduce into the next Christmas 
 show. Kate looked wonderingly at her friend. She could 
 not understand how he could think of such things, and the 
 clergymen murmured among themselves. 
 
 After this little adventure the party seemed to grow more 
 imited, and in the printing-room they listened to all that 
 was said. The guide was remarkably discursive, and ap- 
 parently considered it of the highest importance that clergy- 
 men, actor, and dressmaker should understand the dif- 
 ferent processes the earthenware had to pass through before 
 it was placed on toilet or breakfast table. 
 
 They were now in a long lobby with big rafters overhead. 
 Smoking flannels hung on lines all around, and the sunlight 
 poured through the white skylights. Like laundresses at 
 their tubs, four or five women washed the printed paper 
 from the plates. In one corner a man in a paper cap was 
 bending over a stove; he plastered hot brown stuff over 
 metal plates, and, apparently dissatisfied with the guide's 
 explanation of his work, he broke out into a voluminous 
 flow of technical details, which even the clergymen failed 
 to follow. At the other end of this vast workroom there 
 was a line of young girls who cut the printed matter out of 
 sheets of paper with marvellous dexterity. The scissors ran 
 in and out of flowers, tendrils, and little birds without 
 ever injuring one. Delighted, the clergymen watch the pro- 
 cess, while Mr. Lennox got behind Kate and whispered how 
 he had just caught the tall Dissenter winking at the dark 
 girl on the right. The truth of this statement did not con- 
 cern Mr. Lennox, for it gave him a pretext for breathing 
 on Kate's neck, a lead up to the love-scene which he had 
 now decided was to come off on the first occasion that 
 should present itself. A devilish pretty woman, he thought, 
 and he continued to make jokes at the expense of the three 
 Dissenting ministers, who walked before them like three 
 black turkeys. 
 
 Having passed through a brick alley with a staircase lead- 
 ing to a platform built like a ship's deck, they went on 
 through a series of rooms until they came to a place almost 
 as hot as a Turkish bath. Presses filled with unbaked
 
 A Mummer's Wife 73 
 
 plates and dishes stood in the middle of the room, and the 
 wet smell of the clay drying in steam diffused from under- 
 neath was very unpleasant. It caused one of the ministers 
 to cough violently, whereupon the guide explained that 
 the platemakers' apartments were considered the most un- 
 healthy of any in the works ; the people who worked there, 
 he said, usually suffered from what is known as the potter's 
 asthma. This interested Kate, and she delayed the guide 
 with questions as to how the potter's asthma differed from 
 the ordinary form of the disease, and when their little pro- 
 cession was again put in motion she told Mr. Lennox how 
 her husband was affected, and the nights she had spent 
 watching at his side. But although Mr. Lennox listened 
 attentively she could not help thinking that he seemed 
 rather glad than otherwise that her husband was an invalid. 
 The unkind way in which he spoke of sick people shocked 
 her, and she opposed the opinion that a person in bad 
 health was a disgusting object. 
 
 She could not be brought to agree to this view. In dis- 
 cussing the question they lingered behind, and Mr. Len- 
 nox profited by the occasion to whisper into her ears that 
 she was far too pretty a woman for an asthmatic husband ; 
 and, encouraged by her blushes, he even hazarded a few 
 coarse jokes anent the poor husband's deficiencies. He 
 wanted to know how a man could kiss if he couldn't breathe, 
 for if there was a time when breath was essential, accord- 
 ing to him, it was when four lips meet. 
 
 Kate felt frightened. No one had ever spoken to her in 
 this way before, and she did not really know what Mr. 
 Lennox meant. Had she known how to do so she would 
 have resented his familiarities, but his good humour dis- 
 armed her. Once their hands met. The contact caused 
 her a thrill, and she put aside the unbaked plate they were 
 examining. 
 
 " We had better make haste," she said, " or we shall lose 
 them." 
 
 The next two rooms were considered by everybody both 
 amusing and instructive. Even the three clergymen lost 
 something of their stolid manner, and spoke once or twice 
 to Mr. Lennox. They asked him, apropos of nothing, his
 
 74 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 opinion concerning the religious character of Hanley, and 
 if he were of their persuasion. 
 
 " What is that ? " asked Mr. Lennov, affecting a comic 
 innocence which he hoped would tickle Kate's fancy. 
 
 " Oh, we are Wesleyans," said the minister. 
 
 " And I'm an actor ; but I beg your pardon, stage nianag- 
 ing's more my business." 
 
 This remark, much to Mr. Lennox's satisfaction, seemed 
 to thoroughly horrify the three black turkeys, and leaving 
 them to make what they could of his reply, he cast a vicious 
 ogle at Kate, and drew her confidentially forward to show 
 her how jam-pots were made. 
 
 An old man sat straddle-legged on a high narrow table 
 just on a line with the window. He was covered with 
 clay; his forehead and beard were plastered with it. Be- 
 fore him was an iron plate, kept continually whirling by 
 steam, which he could stop by a pressure of his foot. Hold- 
 ing a lump of clay with both hands, he squeezed it into a 
 long shape not unlike a tall ice, then forcing it down into 
 the shape of a batter-pudding he hallowed it. Round and 
 round went the clay, the hands forming it, all the while 
 cleaning and smoothing until it came out a true and perfect 
 jam-pot, even to the little furrow round the top, which 
 was given by a movement of the thumbs. He had been at 
 work since seven in the morning, and the shelves round 
 him were encumbered with the result of his labors. Every 
 one marvelled at the old creature's dexterity until he was 
 forgotten in the superior attractions of the succeeding room. 
 This was the turning-house, and Mr. Lennox could not help 
 laughing outright, so amusing did the scene appear to 
 him. Women went dancing up and down on one leg, and 
 at such regular intervals that they seemed absolutely like 
 machines. They were at once the motive power and the 
 feeders of the different lathes. It was they who handed 
 the men lumps of dry clay, which they turned into shapes 
 as wood might be. The strangeness of the spectacle gave 
 rise to much comment. The clergymen were anxious to 
 know if the constant jigging was injurious to health. Mr. 
 Lennox inquired how much coin they made by their one- 
 legged dancirg, and he spoke in high terms of their good
 
 A Mummer's Wife 75 
 
 looks. This led him easily into the question of morals, a 
 subject in which he was much interested. He wanted to 
 know if this crowding together of the sexes could be effected 
 without danger. Surely cases of seduction must occur occa- 
 sionally. In answering him the guide betrayed a certain 
 reticence of manner which encouraged Mr. Lennox to harass 
 him with inquiries. Did he really mean to say that nothing 
 ever happened ; that these young women who were working 
 all day side by side with people of the other sex never, 
 never thought of anything but their work ? The word work 
 indicated to the hotly pressed guide his way of escape, and 
 he assured Mr. Lennox that there was no time to think of 
 such nonsense in the factory, and anxious to vindicate the 
 honor of the establishment, he declared with fervor that any 
 who took the smallest liberty with any female would be 
 instantly dismissed from the works. The ministers, al- 
 though they seemed to think the subject might have been 
 avoided, listened approvingly. Kate felt a little embar- 
 rassed, and Mr. Lennox watched a big blonde-haired woman 
 who smiled as if quite ready, notwithstanding the ludicrous 
 bobbing up and down position she was in, to get up a flirta- 
 tion. But when Kate noticed this, with a courage that 
 surprised herself, she cut the guide short by proposing that 
 they should go on. 
 
 For in addition to the annoyance that the woman's imper- 
 tinence caused her, she was beginning to feel uneasy at the 
 time she had been away from home. She was sure that Mrs. 
 Ede would be fretting all over the place, and she could well 
 imagine how cross Ralph would be if he heard of it. She 
 felt very sorry for the one, and a little resentful towards 
 the other, but the sentimental desire to see the painting- 
 room where her mother used to work prevailed, and with 
 her heart full of recollections she followed the party to the 
 ovens. 
 
 Their way hither led them around the building, and they 
 passed through many workrooms. These were generally 
 clean, airy spaces, with big rafters and whitewashed walls. 
 Sometimes a bunch of violets, a book, or a newspaper lying 
 on the table, suggested an absent owner, and a refined coun- 
 tenance was instinctively sought for in the different groups
 
 76 A Mummer s Wife 
 
 of women. There was also a difference in the hats and 
 shawls, and it was easy to tell which belonged to the young 
 girls, which to the mothers of families. Everyone looked 
 healthy and contented. All were, as Mr. Lennox continued 
 to assert, nice-looking, and all worked industriously at their 
 numberless employments, one of the most curious of which 
 consisted in knocking the roughness off the finished earthen- 
 ware. 
 
 A dozen women sat in a circle ; above them and around 
 them were piles of dinner-services of all kinds. Each held 
 with one hand a piece of crockery on her knees, whilst with 
 a chisel she chopped away at it as if it could not by any 
 possibility be broken. In this warehouse the noise, as may 
 easily be imagined, was bewildering. 
 
 Through this room and others, up and down many 
 narrow staircases, the visiting party went, the guide lead- 
 ing, the three black clergymen following, Kate lingering 
 behind with Mr. Lennox until they came to the ovens. The 
 entrance was from an immense corridor, prolonged by 
 shadow and divided clown the middle by presses full of dry- 
 ing earthenware, the smell of which was not, however, as 
 strong as in the platemakers' place, and the difference was 
 noticed by the clergyman with the cough. He said he was 
 not affected to nearly the same extent. 
 
 At long distances two open doors allowed a double stream 
 of light to enter, and a loophole far away placed a square 
 of white in the vague obscurity. The party of visitors had 
 from time to time to give way to men who marched in 
 single file carrying what seemed to be huge cheeses. The 
 guide explained that within these were cups, saucers, bowls, 
 and basins, and men mounted on ladders piled these yellow 
 tubs up the walls of the ovens like honeycombs in a hive. 
 They all had a peep up the huge interior, and then they 
 visited the furnaces. These were set in the oven's inner shell, 
 which made a narrow circular passage slanting inwards 
 as it ascended like the neck of a champagne bottle. The 
 fires glared furiously, and suggested many impious thoughts 
 to Mr. Lennox. The three black turkeys made him think 
 of devilled bones, and he proposed to ask if there were any 
 warmer corners in hell. He had taken advantage of the
 
 w 
 
 A Mummer's Wife 77 
 
 darkness to put his arm round Kate's waist. But the con- 
 stant whispering in her ear, which had at first amused her, 
 now irritated and annoyed her; other emotions filled her 
 mind with a vague tumult, and she longed to he left to 
 think in peace. She bogged of him to keep quiet. Her 
 heart beat with suspense, and as they crossed one of the 
 yards she asked the guide if she could not go straight to 
 the painting-room. He replied that there was a regular 
 order to be observed, and insisted on marching them 
 through two rooms, and fully explaining three or four 
 more processes. Then after begging of them to be careful 
 and hold the rail, he led them up a high rickety staircase. 
 The warning caused Kate a thrill, for she remembered well 
 the orders she used to receive. Every step of this staircase 
 was a terror to her mother. 
 
 The room itself however proved a little disappointing. 
 Things had been changed ; the tables were not arranged 
 in quite the same way, and these alterations deprived her of 
 the emotions she had expected. Still it gave her a great 
 deal of pleasure to point out to Mr. Lennox where her 
 mother used to work. 
 
 But to find the exact spot was not by any means easy. 
 There were upwards of a hundred young women sitting on 
 benches, leaning over huge tables covered with unfinished 
 pottery. Each held in her hand a plate, bowl, or vase, on 
 which she executed some design. The clergymen showed 
 more interest than they had hitherto done, and as they 
 leaned to and fro examining the work, one of them dis- 
 covered the something Guardian, a Wesleyan organ, on one 
 of the tables, and hailing his fellows they all three hur- 
 riedly proceeded to interview the proprietor. But the guide 
 said they had to visit the storerooms, and forced them 
 away from their " lamb." 
 
 The storerooms were wildernesses of white. Ridges of 
 vases, mounds of basins and jugs, terraces of plates, formed 
 masses of sickly white, through which rays of light were 
 caught and sent dancing with a blinding brilliancy. Along 
 the wall on the left-hand side presses were overcharged with 
 dusty tea-services. They were there as numerous as leaves 
 in a forest. On the right were square gray windows, under
 
 78 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 which the convex sides of salad-bowls, like gigantic snow- 
 balls, sparkled in the sun; and from rafter to rafter, in 
 garlands and clusters like grapes, hung countless mugs, 
 gilded, and bearing a device suitable for children. Down 
 tbe middle of the floor a terrace was built of dinner-plates, 
 the edges burnished with light, the rest being in gray tint. 
 
 Two rooms away a huge mound of chamber-pots formed 
 an astonishing background, and against all this white efface- 
 ment the men who stood on high ladders dusting the crock- 
 ery came out like strange black climbing insects. 
 
 The clergymen said it was very interesting, and the guide 
 explained, just as he did everything else, the system of 
 storing employed by the firm; how the crockery 
 was packed, and how the men would soon be working 
 only three days a week on account of the American tariff. 
 But he was not much listened to. Everyone was now tired, 
 and the clergymen who since the discovery of the news- 
 paper had been showing signs that they regarded their 
 visit to the potteries as effected, pulled out their watches 
 and whispered mysteriously that their time was up. It was 
 vain to tell them that there were only a few more rooms 
 to visit ; they declared that they must be off, and demanded 
 to be conducted to the door. This request was an embar- 
 rassing one. It was against the rules ever to leave visitors 
 when going the rounds. The guide had, therefore, either 
 to conduct the whole party to the door, or transgress his 
 orders. After a slight hesitation, influenced no doubt by a 
 conversation he had had with Mr. Lennox, in which mention 
 was made of tickets for the theatre, he decided to take the re- 
 sponsibility on himself, and asked that gentleman if he 
 would mind waiting a few minutes with his lady while the 
 religious gentlemen were being shown the way out. Mr. 
 Lennox assented with readiness to this arrangement, and the 
 three black figures and the guide disappeared a moment 
 after behind the bedroom utensils. After an anxious glance 
 round, Mr. Lennox looked at Kate. As she gathered to 
 herself all the remembrances that the place had evoked, 
 her manner grew more and more abandoned. She knew 
 the room she was in well. Through it she used to pass daily 
 with her mother's dinner, and she remembered how in her
 
 A Mummer's Wife 79 
 
 childhood she wondered how big the world must be to hold 
 enough people to use such thousands of cups and saucers. 
 All the half-forgotten fancies of infancy came trooping back 
 to her in a succession as regular as the crockery on the 
 wall. There used to be a blue tea-service in the tar corner, 
 and she remembered that it had been once her greatest am- 
 bition to possess it ; she had often lingered to imagine a suit- 
 able parlor for it, then she used to see herself pouring out 
 a dream husband's tea. There was a similar tea-service 
 there now, but it was only the mocking ghost of the other. 
 Little by little she remembered everything. One day she 
 had torn her frock coming up the stairs, and was terribly 
 scolded ; another time Mr. Powell, attracted by her black 
 curls, had stopped to speak to her, and he had given her 
 as a present one of the children's mugs — one exactly like 
 those hanging over her head. She had treasured it a long 
 time, but it at last was broken. It seemed that all things 
 belonging to her had to be broken ; her dreams were made in 
 crockery. 
 
 But as Kate looked into the past she became gradually 
 conscious of a voice whispering to her. 
 
 At first her thoughts were so far away that the presence 
 of the man next to her was only felt remotely, and his 
 words, referring as they did to the charms of memory, 
 did not for some time break the thread of her reverie. See- 
 i ing what was her mind's mood, Mr. Lennox strove to adapt 
 himself to it. 
 
 " How strangely things do pass away ; life is only a 
 dream when we think of it. And how odd it is that you 
 should never have thought of revisiting this place until you 
 met me." 
 
 Commonplace as these words were, they caused Kate's 
 soul to rise to her lips, and she lifted her eyes, liquid with 
 love, to Mr. Lennox's. The look he considered as arriv- 
 ing quite apropos, for he felt that he could not manage 
 another phrase like the last, and anxious to come to the 
 point, he turned to see if they were watched. There was 
 no one within twenty yards of them; where they were all 
 was still. At their feet a pile of plates and teacups slept in
 
 80 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 a broad flood of sunlight, and the boys on the high ladder 
 dusted the mugs three rooms away. 
 
 " And what a pretty child you must have been. I can 
 fancy you with your black hair falling about your shoulders. 
 Had I known you then I should have taken you in my arms 
 and kissed you. Do you think you would have liked me 
 to have kissed you? " he said, laughing just a little coarsely, 
 for sentiment was not his forte. 
 
 But Kate knew nothing of this, and so moved was she 
 that she had neither the will nor the sensation of what she 
 did. She raised her eyes again, and a vague feeling of how 
 nice, how kind he was, rushed through her. 
 
 Perceiving his advantage, Mr. Lennox affected to examine 
 a ring on her finger. The warm pressure of his hand 
 caused her to start, and she would have put him from her, 
 but his voice calmed her. 
 
 " Ah ! " he said, " had I known you then, I should have 
 been awfully in love with you." 
 
 Kate closed her eyes, and for a moment abandoned her- 
 self to an ineffable sentiment of weakness and ravishment ; 
 and then imagining that it was all right, Mr. Lennox took 
 her in his arms and kissed her rudely and lasciviously. 
 
 But at the first movement of his arms, at the first con- 
 tact of his lips, quick, angry thoughts rushed to her head, 
 and obeying an impulse in contradiction to her desire she 
 cast him off. 
 
 " Oh, what a shame ! what right had he ? what a beast ! " 
 were the words that occurred to her; and shaking herself 
 free, she looked at him, vexed and humiliated. 
 
 This unexpected rebuff seemed to mortify Mr. Lennox 
 not a little, and he attempted to soothe Kate by a little 
 jocularity. 
 
 " Oh ! how very cross we are ; and about a kiss, just a 
 tiny, wee kiss." 
 
 Kate did not answer. She stood staring at him, only 
 half hearing what he said, and irritated against him and 
 herself. The substance of her thoughts was a painful regret 
 that he had thus brutally disturbed the calm depth of hap- 
 piness which she had been enjoying. 
 
 " I'm sure I didn't mean to offend you," he continued
 
 A Mummer's Wife 81 
 
 after a pause, for Kate's manner puzzled him ; " I love you 
 too well." 
 
 " Love me ? " she cried, astonished, but with nevertheless 
 a tone of interrogation in her voice. " Why, you never saw 
 me till the other day." 
 
 " I loved you the first moment — I assure you T did." 
 
 Kate looked at him softly, as imploring of him not to 
 deceive her. There was in his big blue eyes an honest 
 frankness, and his face said as clearly as words, " I think 
 you a deuced pretty woman, and I'm sure I could love you 
 very much," and recognizing this Kate remained silent. 
 
 Thus encouraged, Mr. Lennox attempted to renew his 
 intentions. But actions have to be prefaced by words, and 
 he commenced by declaring as passionately as he could. 
 " That when a man would give the whole world for a kiss. 
 it was not to be expected that — " 
 
 Here words began to fail him, and he strove to think 
 of the famous love scene in The Lady of Lyons. But it was 
 years since he had played the part, and he could only mur- 
 mur something about reading no books but lovers' books, 
 singing no songs but lovers' songs. Further he could not 
 get, and remembering that the guide would be back in a 
 few minutes, and inspired by Kate's pale face, he came to 
 the conclusion that it would be absurd to let her go without 
 kissing her properly. 
 
 He was a strong man, but Kate had now really lost her 
 temper, and determined that he should not gain his end, 
 she struggled vigorously. He had taken her in his arms, 
 but she writhed with determination, and tried to tear his 
 face. Three times his lips had rested on her cheek, once 
 he had kissed her chin, but as he attempted to close her 
 mouth she managed to twist her face away. It was certainly 
 difficult to hold her, and in his excitement, not liking to 
 be beaten, he lost sight of everything but the immediate 
 end in view. Kate, too, had sworn to herself that he should 
 not get her lips, and she fought with the tenacity of a bull- 
 dog. Staggering backwards, she placed one hand on his 
 throat, and with the other strove to catch at his moustache ; 
 she had given it a WTench that had brought tears into his 
 eyes, but now he was pinioning her, and she could feel his
 
 82 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 breath upon her cheek, and see his big face approaching. 
 Summoning up all her strength she strove to get away, but 
 that moment, happening to tread on her skirt, her feet 
 slipped. He made a desperate effort to sustain her, but her 
 legs had gone between his, and a fall was imminent. 
 
 The crash was tremendous. A pile of plates three feet 
 high was sent spinning, a. row of salad-bowls was kicked 
 over, and then with a heavy stagger Mr. Lennox went over 
 and into a dinner-service, the soup-tureen of which rolled 
 gravely into the next room. 
 
 In an instant half-a-dozen people were around them. A 
 feeling at first prevailed that some serious accident had 
 happened, but when Kate rose pale and trembling from the 
 debris of a bedroom set, and Mr. Lennox was lifted out of 
 the dinner-service with nothing apparently worse than a 
 cut hand, there was heard a murmur of voices asking the 
 cause of the disaster. But before a word could be said the 
 guide came running towards them. He declared that he 
 would lose his place, and spoke vaguely to those around 
 him of the necessity of suppressing the fact that he had left 
 visitors alone in the storerooms. 
 
 Mr. Lennox, on the other hand, was very silent. He had 
 evidently received some bad cuts of which he did not speak. 
 He put his hand to his legs and felt them doubtfully. There 
 was a large gash in his right hand, from which he picked a, 
 piece of delf, and as he tied the wound up with a pocket- 
 handkerchief he partly quieted the expostulating guide by 
 assuring him that everything would be paid for. Then, 
 taking Kate's arm, he hobbled out of the place. 
 
 The suddenness and excitement of the accident had for 
 the moment quenched her angry feelings, and now, over- 
 whelmed with pity for the poor wounded hand, she thought 
 of nothing but getting him to a doctor. Indeed, it was not 
 until she heard him telling Mr. Powell in the office that he 
 was subject to fits, and that in striving to hold him up the 
 lady had fallen too, that she remembered how he had be- 
 haved, how he had disgraced her. But her mouth was 
 closed, and she listened in mute amazement to him as he 
 invented detail after detail with surprising dexterity. He 
 did not even hesitate to call in the evidence of the guide,
 
 A Muvimer's Wife So 
 
 who in his own interests, was obliged to assent ; and when 
 Mr. Powell inquired after the three clergymen, Mr. Len- 
 nox at once declared that they had left them in the yard 
 after visiting the ovens. To Kate, who from her childhood 
 had lived between lines so narrow that a lie was almost an 
 impossibility, this wreath of falsehood was positively be- 
 wildering; and so ingeniously did Mr. Lennox dovetail his 
 statements that in her astonishment for his ingenuity, and 
 gratitude for getting her out of the difficulty, she almost 
 forgave him his wrongdoings. 
 
 Mr. Powell was very kind ; he listened with a look of pity 
 on his face, told an anecdote of a poor brother of his who was 
 likewise subject to fits, and possibly influenced by the re- 
 membrance, refused to receive any remuneration for the 
 broken crockery. In a firm like theirs a few plates more or 
 less was of no importance. 
 
 This being settled, Mr. Lennox inquired the way to the 
 doctor's and hobbled away, leaving a little pool of blood on 
 the floor of the office. He looked very pale, and Kate 
 feared that he was going to faint. She had to lend him 
 her handkerchief — his was now saturated — to tie round his 
 hand, and he confessed to her that he had got a bad cut in 
 the leg, and could feel the blood trickling down into his 
 boot. 
 
 " I must get off now, my dear ; a bit of sticking-plaster is 
 all I want. What a crash there was ; I shall never forget it." 
 
 " Oh, yes, it was terrible ; but do go at once," said Kate, 
 laying her hands on his arm. " Oh, do let me send for a 
 carriage." It was astonishing how intimate the accident 
 had rendered them. As they spoke in the street a passer-by 
 would have taken them for husband and wife. 
 
 " It isn't worth while; I'll be round at the doctor's in a 
 minute. They tell me there is one round the corner in 
 Church Street. Which is the way ? " 
 
 " Oh, take the first turn to the right, and you are in it ; 
 but do go." 
 
 " I assure you it is nothing; I'll be able to go on to-night ; 
 I'll make a bit of effect out of my limp. But how strong 
 you are ; you're like a lion. But you mustn't struggle like 
 that next time."
 
 84 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 At the suggestion that there was going to be a next time, 
 Kate's face clouded, but she was so alarmed for his safety 
 that it was only momentarily. She had hardly noticed that 
 he called her " dear." He used the word so naturally and 
 simply that it touched her with swift pleasure, and was as 
 soon lost in a crowd of conflicting emotions. 
 
 The man was coarse, large, sensual, even as is a mutton 
 chop. But each movement of his fat hands was protective, 
 every word he uttered was kind, the very intonation of his 
 voice was comforting. He was in a word, human, and this 
 attracted all that was human in you. The intelligence 
 counted for nothing; his charm lay in his humanity.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 N leaving Mr. Lennox, Kate walked slowly along 
 the streets, trying vainly to arrange her thoughts, 
 striving to arrive at a distinct notion of what had 
 happened. But the events of the day were so 
 utterly outside her experience that she could form no just 
 conception of what they foreshadowed, of what they would 
 bring. She was conscious only of a huge blotting out and 
 a misty sensation of present happiness. 
 
 Interested vaguely in everything, she basked in the 
 warmth of her thoughts like a beggar in the sun. Things 
 she had seen a thousand times before struck her in a pecu- 
 liarly new light. A pair of dummy spectacles over an opti- 
 cian's shop caused her to smile; she could not but help 
 thinking that they were hardly too large for Mr. Lennox's 
 eyes. A flock of pigeons strutting between the legs of some 
 cab-horses awoke emotions which she could not explain. 
 An extraordinary curiosity seemed to have been suddenly 
 developed in her. She wondered who were the people who 
 passed her in the streets, where they were going, what were 
 their occupations. Her thoughts, generally so shadowy, 
 were concentrated, and took an active and minute notice of 
 the most trivial things. The whole attitude of her mind 
 was changed. Three hours ago she gazed at the wide hills 
 and dreamed of the earliest years of her life; now her 
 thoughts did not rove beyond the present hour. Subjec- 
 tively, nothing was clear; a veil hung, as it were, between 
 her and herself; objectively, everything was distinct as if 
 seen in a crystal. She could recall each word he said, could 
 feel his breath on her cheek ; see his blue eyes looking into 
 hers; but they no longer frightened her. She dreamed of 
 them placidly and with a strange lucidity. Being a child of 
 the people, his brutality had not impressed itself on her, 
 and every now and then she murmured to herself, " Poor 
 fellow, what a fall he had ; I hope he didn't hurt himself."
 
 86 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 The shock she had received had acted upon her like a 
 strong spirit. By turns she thought of things totally dif- 
 ferent — of Miss Hender, of the little girls, who would re- 
 gret her absence from the workroom. Their affection was 
 very dear to her, and she now suddenly wished they were 
 her own children. The wish was only momentary, but it 
 was the first time the desire for motherhood had ever 
 troubled her. 
 
 It amused her to think of their smiling faces, and to 
 make sure of their smiles she entered a shop and bought a 
 small packet of sweet-stuff, and with the paper in her hand 
 continued her walk home. The cheap prints in a newspaper 
 shop delayed her, and the workmen who were tearing up 
 the road forced her to consider how a suspension of traffic 
 would interfere with her business. She was now in Broad 
 Street ; and when she raised her eyes she saw her own house. 
 It was quite a new building. High and narrow, it stood in 
 the main street at the corner of a lane, and so much was it a 
 corner house that the curve of the pavement exactly echoed 
 the arch of the doorway. The ground-floor windows were 
 completely curtained by light goods ; men's shirts hung four 
 on a wire, underneath were some black hats with feathers. 
 There were also children's dresses, and a few print neckties 
 trimmed with white lace. 
 
 As she entered the shop Mrs. Ede, who was in the front 
 kitchen, cried, " Well, is that you, Kate ? Where have you 
 been ? I waited dinner an hour for you ; and how tired you 
 look ! " 
 
 In her present state of mind Mrs. Ede, with her loud 
 questioning, was the last person Kate would have cared to 
 meet. 
 
 "What is the matter, my dear; are you unwell? Shall 
 I get you a glass of water? " 
 
 " Oh no, mother; I'm all right. Can't you see that I'm 
 only very hot? " 
 
 "But where have you been to? I have waited dinner 
 an hour for you. Why, it's past two o'clock! ' ; 
 
 Kate did not know how to account for her absence from 
 home. Words rose to her lips to tell Mrs. Ede to mind 
 her own business; but the feeling that she had been doing
 
 A Mummer's Wife 87 
 
 wrong turned her irritability to cowardice, and after a 
 pause she answered, thinking of Mr. Lennox as she spoke, 
 " Mrs. Barnes kept me waiting above an hour trying her 
 dress on, and then I was so done up with night-watching 
 and sewing that I thought I'd go for a walk." 
 
 Nothing Mrs. Ede dreaded so much as anything ap- 
 proaching to a quarrel with Kate. So at once, and in 
 hurried words, she proceeded to assure her that she 
 couldn't have done better; that a good long walk was just 
 what was required to set her up. " The only thing is, 
 my dear, you shouldn't remain out in such a sun as this; 
 you might have got a sunstroke." 
 
 Kate wearily wiped her hot face, and without acknowl- 
 edging the advice tendered, said abruptly, " Have you done 
 any business to-day? Have many people been in the 
 shop?" 
 
 " Well, yes, half-a-dozen or more; and I sold the rest of 
 those aprons." 
 
 Then she proceeded to recount the different events of 
 the morning. It was Mrs. White who had bought one of 
 the aprons, and she had said that she had not seen the 
 pattern before; a stranger had taken another; and Miss 
 Sargent had called, and she wanted to know how much it 
 would cost to make her blue dress. 
 
 " Oh ! I know ; she wants me to re-line the skirt and put 
 new trimming on the body for seven and sixpence; we can 
 do without her custom. And then?" 
 
 " And then — ah! I was forgetting — Mrs West came in to 
 tell us that her friend Mrs. Wood, the bookseller's wife, 
 you know, up the street, was going to be confined, and 
 would want some baby-linen, and she recommended her 
 here." 
 
 " Did you see nobody else ? " 
 
 " Well, yes, a young man who bought half-a-dozen 
 pocket-handkerchiefs. I let him have the half-dozen for 
 four shillings; and I sold a pink necktie to one of the 
 factory hands over the way." 
 
 " Why, mother, you have done a deal of business, and 
 I'm glad about the baby-linen. We have a lot in stock, 
 and it hasn't gone off well. I don't know Mrs. Wood,
 
 88 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 but it was very kind of Mrs. West to recommend us; and 
 Miss Hender, how has she been getting on with the skirt? 
 You know I promised it by Friday? " 
 
 " Well, I must say she has been working very well; she 
 was here at half-past eight, and she did not stop away 
 above three-quarters of an hour for dinner." 
 
 " I am glad of that, for I was never so backward in my 
 life with my work, what with Kalph being ill and Mr. 
 
 Kate tried to stop herself. The conversation had so 
 far been an agreeable one, and she did not wish to spoil 
 it by alluding to a subject on which there was no likeli- 
 hood of their agreeing. 
 
 But Mrs. Ede had anticipated the hated name of Len- 
 nox. Her face clouded instantly, and she said, " Yes, I 
 wanted to talk to you about that. Mr. Lennox has not 
 sent anyone to take away his things, and he did not even 
 speak to me when I took him up his breakfast this morn- 
 ing." 
 
 For the last five years Kate had lived inertly, glad to 
 shirk all responsibility, delighted to leave the control of 
 the house in her mother-in-law's hands, contented to work 
 hard without thinking of a result. But the quarrels that 
 had preceded the arrival of Mr. Lennox had awakened 
 her to a sense of her position, and this sentiment, now 
 strengthened by her present liking for the man, deter- 
 mined her to assert her authority. 
 
 " I do not think that Mr. Lennox is leaving us," she 
 said after a pause. " I thought it was arranged last night 
 that he was to be told that he must not bring friends after 
 eleven o'clock at night. When I see him I'll speak to him 
 about it." 
 
 And resolved to take the situation at one stroke, Kate 
 walked haughtily into the kitchen and sat down to her 
 dinner. Mrs. Ede, although quite ready to make a pro- 
 fession of her opinion when the occasion offered, followed 
 with a dog-like look of affection on her face; and though 
 fearing to lose the advantage gained, Kate entered into 
 an explanation with a view of soothing the old woman's 
 feelings. This done she went upstairs to see Ealph, whom 
 Mrs. Ede declared to be very much better. On passing
 
 A Mummer's Wife 89 
 
 the workroom the door opened suddenly, and the bright 
 faces of the little girls darted out. 
 
 " Oh ! is that you, Mrs. Ede. How we have missed you 
 all the morning," cried Annie joyously. 
 
 " And Miss Hender lias been so busy that she has to get 
 me to help her with the skirt, and I did a great long piece 
 myself without a mistake. Did I not, Miss Hender? " 
 
 " I am going up to see my husband," said Kate smiling, 
 " but I shall be down presently, and I have bought some- 
 thing for you." 
 
 " Oh! what is it? " cried Annie excitedly. 
 
 " You shall see presently." 
 
 Ralph was lying still in bed: he was propped up in his 
 usual attitude, with his legs tucked under him. The room 
 smelt very bad. 
 
 " Don't you think we might open something? " she said, 
 as she sat down by the bedside; " and your sheets want 
 changing, too." 
 
 " Oh, if you have only come in to turn everything up- 
 side down you might as well have stayed away." 
 
 " It is very unkind of you to speak like that, Ealph; 
 you know that — " 
 
 "I know that very well, but leave me alone; don't you 
 see I can't breathe? " 
 
 "I think you are better," said Kate, mollified by the 
 excuse; "but wouldn't it do you good to change the air 
 sometimes? " 
 
 " No, no; on the contrary, the great thing is not to 
 change it. I don't notice any smell. It is only because 
 you have come out of the street." 
 
 Accepting this explanation as a possible one, Kate ex- 
 amined her husband attentively. His face was a dead 
 white, and his eyes were dark, hollow cavities. With a 
 weak, trembling hand he pushed the thick hair off his 
 forehead, and he spoke with difficulty and in a thin 
 wheeze. There was no doubt, however, that he was bet- 
 ter. The dreadful dyspnoea was fast leaving him, and 
 when he had recovered from the prostration caused by it 
 he would be well. 
 
 " I think the pills did me good last night," he said after
 
 90 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 a pause; and then added, laughing as much as his breath 
 would allow him, " and what a rage mother was in. But 
 tell me, what were they doing downstairs? Were there 
 any ladies there ? I was too bad to think of anything." 
 
 " Yes, there were some of the ladies of the theatre 
 there," said Kate severely; " but I don't think that mother 
 had a right to kick up the row she did." 
 
 " And it just came in upon her prayers," said Ralph, 
 smiling laboriously. 
 
 Although crossgrained and passionate, Mr. Ede was not 
 always an unpleasant man. He had a sense of dry humor, 
 and often, in sudden flashes of affection, the kind heart 
 of his mother was recognizable. 
 
 " You mustn't laugh, Ralph," said Kate, looking aside, 
 for the comic side of the question had suddenly dawned 
 upon her. 
 
 Their hilarity was, however, of not long endurance. 
 Poor Mr. Ede was seized with a violent fit of coughing, 
 and when this was over he lay back exhausted. At last 
 he said: 
 
 "But where have you been all day? We have been 
 wondering what had become of you." 
 
 The question, although not put unkindly, caused Kate 
 a feeling of annoyance. " One would think I had come 
 back from a long journey," she said to herself. " It is 
 just as Miss Hender says, if I'm out half an hour more 
 than my time every one is, as they say, i wondering what 
 has become of me.' " Assuming, however, an air of in- 
 difference, she told him that Mrs. Barnes had kept her 
 an immense while, and that she had gone for a walk. 
 
 " I'm glad of that," he said. " You wanted a walk 
 after being shut up with me three nights running. And 
 what a time you must have had of it! But tell me what 
 you have been doing in the shop." 
 
 In brief phrases Kate, in pity for his foolish jealousy, 
 made light of the morning sales, for to be ill while busi- 
 ness had been brisk Mr. Ede regarded as the cruellest 
 misfortune that could have happened to him. 
 
 "And you really did sell all the aprons? I knew they, 
 would go. I told you so, didn't I? " he said.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 91 
 
 "You did, dear," said Kate, seeking to satisfy hini; 
 " but you must not talk so much; you'll make yourself 
 bad again." 
 
 " But are you going? " 
 
 " I've been out so long that I have a lot to do; but I'll 
 come back and see you in the evening." 
 
 " Well, then, kiss me before you go." 
 
 Kate bent her head, and as she did so the image of Mr. 
 Lennox arose before her with a singular distinctness: she 
 remembered how he had struggled to obtain what she was 
 now giving as a matter of course. It appeared strange to 
 her that it should be so : but she had always complied with 
 the ordinances of the marriage state without passion or re- 
 volt. Now for the first time it disgusted her to kiss her hus- 
 band, and she was glad to get away. But as she stepped into 
 the passage she almost stood in Mr. Lennox's room. Never 
 had the proximity of the two rooms struck her so forcibly 
 before — one step took you across. The door was ajar, and, 
 full of the natural sentiment that a woman feels in the 
 room of a man she is interested in, and hoping that Mrs. 
 Ede had not yet set everything straight, she walked in to 
 assure herself. Slippers and boots lay about; the port- 
 manteau yawned wide open, with some soiled shirts on 
 the top; a pair of trousers trailed from a chair on the floor. 
 Protesting against Mrs. Ede's negligence, Kate hung the 
 trousers on the door, placed the slippers tidily by his bed- 
 side, and put away the dirty linen. But in doing so she 
 could not refrain from casting a rapid glance at the con- 
 tents of the portmanteau. There, stowed carelessly away, 
 she saw many of the traces which follow those who fre- 
 quent women's society. The duchess works a pair of 
 slippers for her lover, and the chorus-girl does the same. 
 The merchant's wife, as she holds the loved hand under 
 the ledge of her box at the theatre, clasps the ring she 
 has given; the rich widow opposite has a jewel-case in her 
 pocket which will presently be sent round to the stage- 
 door for the tenor, who is now thinking of his high B flat. 
 
 Under the dirty shirts Kate found a pair of slippers, 
 a. pin-cushion, and the inevitable ring. But there were 
 other presents more characteristic of the man; there was
 
 92 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 a bracelet, a scent bottle, and two pots of pate de foie gran 
 wrapped up in a lace-trimmed chemise. Kate examined 
 everything, but without being able to adduce any conclu- 
 sion beyond a vague surmise that Mr. Lennox lived in a 
 world far beyond her reach. The foie gras suggested 
 delicacy of living, the chemise immorality, the bottle of 
 scent refinement of taste, the bracelet she could make 
 nothing of. Prosaic and vulgar as were all these articles, 
 in the dressmaker's imagination they became both poet- 
 ized and purified. An infinite sadness, that she could not 
 explain, rose up through her mind, and, staring vaguely 
 at the pious exhortation hung on the wall, " Thou art my 
 will, Thou art my hope," she thought of Mr. Lennox's 
 wounded legs. This led her to consider the softness of 
 his bed, and to wonder if she could do anything to make 
 him more comfortable. It vexed her to see that he had 
 chosen to use the basin-stand made out of a triangular 
 board set in a corner, and not the proper one, where she 
 had hung two clean towels; and it was not until at last, 
 remembering what she had told the little girls, and how 
 they would be expecting her, that she could make up her 
 mind to tear herself away. 
 
 " What have you got for us? " said four red lips as Kate 
 entered. 
 
 " Oh, you must guess," she replied, taking a chair, and 
 bidding Miss Hender good-morning. 
 
 " An apple ? " cried Annie. 
 
 " No." 
 
 " An orange? " cried Lizzie. 
 
 Kate shook her head, and at the sight of their bright 
 looks she felt her spirits return to her. 
 
 " No, it is sweet-stuff." 
 
 "Brandy balls?" 
 
 " No." 
 
 "Toffy?" 
 
 " Yes; Annie has guessed right," said Kate, as she 
 divided the toffy equally between the two. 
 
 "And do you get nothing for guessing right?" said 
 Annie doubtfully.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 93 
 
 " Oh, Annie! for shame! I didn't think you were 
 greedy/' 
 
 " I think it's I who should get the most," replied Lizzie 
 in self-defence. " Had it not been for me Miss Hender 
 would never have got through her skirt. I helped you 
 famously, didn't I, Miss Hender?" 
 
 The assistant nodded an impatient assent and gazed at 
 her mistress in avid curiosity. In Miss Hender's opinion 
 the next best thing to doing wrong oneself was to know 
 that some one else had been. But the children being 
 present, she could only watch her employer's face, and 
 strive to read there some sign of dissipation. 
 
 Unconscious of the scrutiny, Kate sat idly talking of 
 the skirt that was finished. In watching the others work- 
 ing, the clicking of the needles sounded as sweet music 
 in her ears, and, like one lying under green boughs, she 
 abandoned herself to all sorts of soft and floating reveries. 
 Not for years had she known what it was to drink her fill 
 of rest; and her thoughts balanced on one side and then 
 on the other as voluptuously as flowers, and hid them- 
 selves in the luxurious current of idleness which lapped 
 loosely around her. 
 
 The afternoon passed charmingly, full of ease and 
 pleasant quiet. Miss Hender told them how Les Cloches 
 had gone last night; of Miss Leslie's spirited singing, of 
 the cider song, of Joe Mortimer's splendid miser scene, 
 of Bret's success in the barcarole. One would have 
 thought, so eagerly did she speak of them, that she had 
 herself received the applause she described. Kate listened 
 dreamily, and the little girls sucked toffy, staring the while 
 with interested eyes.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 JUT neither that evening nor the next could Kate 
 manage to see Mr. Lennox. On both occasions 
 he came in very late, and what caused her nearly 
 to despair was that he ordered no breakfast in 
 the house, and was away before she was down. She tor- 
 mented herself trying to find reasons for his absence, and 
 it pained her to think that it might be because the break- 
 fasts were not to his taste. It seemed to her strange, too, 
 that when a man cared to walk about the potteries with a 
 woman, and had talked as nicely as he had done to her, 
 that he should not take the trouble to come and see her, 
 if it was only to say good-morning; and in a thousand 
 different ways did these thoughts turn, change, twist, tor- 
 ture, break and become united in Kate's brain, as she 
 sat sewing opposite Miss Hender, in the workroom. This 
 young woman had ceased talking about Mr. Lennox. She 
 had made up her mind that there was something between 
 the stage-manager and her employer, and it irritated her 
 when Kate assured her that she had not seen him for the 
 last two days. On her side, too, Kate was not very suc- 
 cessful in the pursuit of information, for Miss Hender, 
 determined to be avenged, said she had not noticed that 
 Mr. Lennox limped in any way, whereas Mrs. Ede declared 
 that his walk was almost that of a cripple. 
 
 This threw Kate into a fever of excitement, and in- 
 venting a fabulous excuse for early rising, she left her 
 husband's room i.t seven o'clock next morning, and took 
 up her post to wait for him in the kitchen. But this 
 ruse was not successful. Mr. Lennox did not come down 
 till ten, and at that moment she was serving a customer 
 in the shop, and he darted out at the side door. Whether 
 he had done this on purpose to avoid her, or whether it 
 was the result of chance, Kate passed the morning in con- 
 sidering. She had hitherto succeeded in completely ignor-
 
 A Mummer's Wife 95 
 
 ing their ridiculous fall amid the teacups, but the memory 
 of it now surged up in her mind; and certain coarse de- 
 tails, which she had forgotten, continued to recur to her 
 with a singular persistency, and deaf to Miss Hender's 
 conversation, she sat sullenly sewing, hating even to go 
 down to the shop to attend when Mrs. Ede called from 
 below that there was a customer waiting. 
 
 About three o'clock Mrs. Ede's voice was heard. 
 
 " Kate, come down ; there is someone in the shop." 
 
 Passing round the counter she found herself face to face 
 with a well-dressed woman. 
 
 " I was recommended here by Mrs. West," the lady said, 
 after a slight hesitation, " to buy a set of baby clothes." 
 
 " Is it for a new-born infant? " Kate asked, putting on 
 her shop airs. 
 
 " Well, the baby is not born yet, but I hope it will soon 
 be." 
 
 " Oh ! I beg pardon," said Kate, casting a rapid glance 
 in the direction of the lady's waist. 
 
 The baby clothes were kept in a box under the counter, 
 and in a few moments Kate reappeared with a bundle of 
 flannels. 
 
 " You will find these of the very best quality; if you 
 will feel the warmth of this, ma'am," she said, spreading 
 out something that looked like two large towels. 
 
 The lady seemed satisfied with the quality, but from her 
 manner of examining the strings Kate judged she was at 
 her first confinement, and with short phrases and quick 
 movements proceeded to explain how the infant was to 
 be laid in the middle, and how the tapes were to be tied 
 across. 
 
 " And you will want a hood and cloak? We have some 
 very nice ones at two pounds ten; but, perhaps, you would 
 not like to give so much? " 
 
 Without replying to this question the lady asked to see 
 the articles referred to, and then beneath the men's shirts, 
 which hung just above their heads, the two women talked 
 with many genuine airs of mystery and covert subtlety. 
 The lady spoke of her fears, of how much she wished the 
 next fortnight was over, of her husband, of how long she
 
 90 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 had been married. She was Mrs. Wood, the stationer's 
 wife in Piccadilly. Kate said she knew her shop per- 
 fectly, and assumed a sad expression of countenance when 
 in her turn she was asked if she had any children. On 
 her replying in the negative, Mrs. Wood said, with a sigh 
 of foreboding, " That people were possibly just as well 
 without them." 
 
 It was at this unpropitious moment that Mr. Lennox 
 entered. A quick expression of surprise passed over 
 Kate's face, and she tried to sweep away and to hide up 
 the things that were on the counter. Mrs. Wood was 
 mildly embarrassed, and with a movement of retiring she 
 attempted to resume the conversation. 
 
 " Very well, Mrs. Ede," she said, " I quite agree with 
 you and I will call again about those pocket-handker- 
 chiefs." 
 
 But Kate, in her anxiety not to lose a chance of doing 
 a bit of business, foolishly replied — 
 
 " Yes, but about those baby clothes — shall I send them, 
 Mrs. Wood?" 
 
 Mrs. Wood murmured something inaudible in reply, and 
 as she sidled and backed out of the shop she bumped 
 against Mr. Lennox. 
 
 He apologized with ease, lifted his big hat, and strove 
 to make way for her — a difficult matter, they both being 
 large people. At last, by his getting into a corner, it be- 
 came possible for the lady to pass, and when this feat, 
 amid blushes and confusion, had been : chieved, he took 
 a step forwards, and leaning on the counter, said in a 
 hurried voice: 
 
 " I have been waiting to see you for the last two days. 
 Where have you been hiding yourself ? " 
 
 The unexpected question disconcerted Kate, who, instead 
 of answering him coldly and briefly as she had intended, 
 said: 
 
 " Why, here ; where did you expect me to be ? But you 
 have been out ever since," she added simply. 
 
 " It was not my fault — the business I have had to do. 
 I was in London yesterday, and only got back last night in 
 time for the show. There was talk of our boss drying up,
 
 A Mummer's Wife 97 
 
 but I think it is all right. I'll tell you about that another 
 time. I have an appointment now, and had only time 
 to cut round here for a few minutes. I want you to 
 come to the theatre to-morrow night. Here are some tickets 
 for the centre circle. I'll come and sit with you when I get 
 the curtain up, and we'll be able to talk." 
 
 The worm does not easily realize the life of the fly, and 
 Kate did not understand. The rapidly stated facts whirled 
 and bewildered her, and she could only say, in answer to 
 his again repeated question, 
 
 " Oh, I should like it so much, but it is impossible ; if my 
 mother-in-law heard of it I don't know what she would 
 say." 
 
 " Well, then, come to-night ; but no, confound it, I shall 
 be busy all to-night. Hayes, our acting manager, has 
 been drunk for the last three days; he can't even make 
 up the returns. No, no ; you must come to-morrow night. 
 Come with Miss Hender; she's one of the dressers. I'll 
 make that all right; you can tell her so from me. Will 
 you promise to come?" 
 
 " I should like it so much ; but what excuse can I give 
 for being out till half-past ten at night ? " 
 
 " You needn't stay till then ; you can leave before the 
 piece is half over. Say you went out for a walk." 
 
 The most ingenious and complete fiction that Mr. Len- 
 nox's inventive brain might have worked out would not have 
 appeased Kate's fears so completely as the simple sugges- 
 tion of a walk, and as she remembered how successfully she 
 had herself made use of the same excuse, her face lit up 
 with a glow of intelligence. 
 
 " Then, you will come," he said, taking her look for an 
 answer. 
 
 " I'll try," she replied, still hesitating. 
 
 " Then, that's all right," he murmured, pressing two or 
 three pieces of paper into her hands, which he held for 
 a moment affectionately in his. " You don't know how 
 I have been thinking of you ever since; if you did, you 
 would like me better than you do." 
 
 Kate smiled slowly, and a slight flush for a moment 
 illuminated the pale olive complexion. 
 7
 
 98 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 " I dreamt that we were going up to London together, 
 and that your head was lying on my shoulder, and it was 
 so nice and pleasant and when I woke up I was disap- 
 pointed/' 
 
 Kate shivered a little and drew back as if afraid; and in 
 the pause which ensued Mr. Lennox remembered an ap- 
 pointment. " I must be off now," he said, " there's no 
 help for it; but you won't disappoint, will you? The 
 doors open at half-past six. If you are there early I may 
 be able to see you before the piece begins." 
 
 With that, and a grand lift of the hat, the actor hur- 
 ried away, leaving Kate to examine the three pieces of 
 paper he had given her. With hesitating fingers she 
 opened them. For the moment she was incapable of 
 thought, and she could not fix her attention even suffi- 
 ciently to read the large print that danced under her eyes. 
 .She remembered that he had told her many things ; that he 
 had been in London, and that he had thought of her, that 
 he had asked her to meet him at the theatre to-morrow 
 night, and that she had promised to do so. But in her 
 mind all was still vague until it flashed across her mind 
 that he had told her to confide in Miss Hender. Clearly 
 it was impossible for her to go to the theatre without her 
 assistant finding it out, therefore the best possible plan 
 was to confide in Miss Hender. 
 
 There was a subtle persuasiveness in the thought of hav- 
 ing someone to whom she could talk of Mr. Lennox when 
 he went away. But, although of Miss Hender's secrecy 
 she had no doubt, she was in no way disposed to let her 
 know any more of her affairs than suited her purpose, and 
 she excited and fevered herself thinking how she should 
 approach the subject — how, in fact, she should lead her 
 assistant into believing that it was the play and not Mr. 
 Lennox that she (Kate), was interested in. She thought 
 also how she should excuse herself when he came and sat 
 by them during the performance. A thousand insinuations 
 occurred to her, but for different reasons she abandoned 
 them one after the other. Her ideas did not come to her 
 smoothly, but with broken and jagged edges, and every 
 now and then she would awake from her tortuous reverie
 
 A Mummer's Wife 99 
 
 to see Miss Hender's bland and freckled face staring at her 
 with a look of sensual and imbecile curiosity. At last, 
 as if with sudden collapse, she lifted her head from her 
 work and explained in the simplest words possible that she 
 would like to go to the theatre. As she had expected, there 
 was first a stare of sheer astonishment, and then a look 
 of honest satisfaction spread from the fat chin to the 
 crinkly hair, and at the risk, as she expressed it, of stalling 
 her mistress off, she asked many questions. This was an- 
 noying, and Kate grew fretful. She wished to leave every- 
 thing, the facts as well as her conception of them, in the 
 vague ; and when Miss Hender wanted to know if she was 
 real spoons on the actor, she declared she would rather 
 not go near the theatre at all if it made people suppose 
 such things. Whereupon Miss Hender took a view less 
 carnal, and in little brief phrases the two women discussed 
 how the slip should be given to old Mrs. Ede. The idea of 
 the walk was not approved of, it was too simple; but on 
 this point Kate would take no advice, although she accepted 
 the suggestion that she was to go upstairs, and under the 
 pretext of changing her petticoat, should fold her hat into 
 her mantle and tie the two behind her just as she would 
 a bustle. This device was not without ingenuity, but Kate 
 found it very difficult to put it into practice. 
 
 Mr. Ede was out of bed, and having been deprived of 
 speech for more than a week his garrulity was excessive. 
 He followed Kate into the back-room, driving her nearly 
 distracted with questions about the shop, his health, his 
 mother, and Mr. Lennox, whom he declared he was mighty 
 anxious to see. 
 
 However, by a great deal of manoeuvring, she managed to 
 tie up and carry away unperceived the things she wanted. 
 In doing all this she was certainly not free from certain 
 twinges of conscience, and she felt humiliated at the quan- 
 tity of falsehood such an innocent thing as spending an 
 evening at the play seemed to entail. But the excitement 
 kept her up and prevented her from thinking of anything 
 but her promise to Mr. Lennox. Now that she came to 
 think of it, she was prepared to admit that she had probably 
 done wrong in promising ; but it was done now, and could
 
 100 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 not be undone. Besides, it couldn't much matter; he was 
 going away to-morrow, and it was her only chance of seeing 
 him again. 
 
 The time went slowly, but it went; and at five o'clock 
 Mrs. Ede came up to say she was going up the town to do 
 a little marketing for Sunday, and to ask Kate to come 
 down to the front kitchen, where she could be in sight of 
 the shop. Nothing, as Miss Hender said, could have 
 happened more fortunately, and, with many instructions 
 as to where they should meet, she hurried away. But 
 she had no sooner gone than Kate grew dismally frightened, 
 for it occurred to her that she was alone, and had no one 
 to leave in charge of the shop. This was a terrible over- 
 sight, but after a few short mental struggles she resolved 
 to turn the key in the door and leave her mother-in-law to 
 come in by the side way. This was determined upon as she 
 settled her hat before the toilette-glass that stood on the 
 counter for the use of customers. The mantle gave her 
 some uneasiness; it did not seem to hang well, and she 
 examined herself with all those gracious turns and balanc- 
 ings of the hips and shoulders of a woman before a mirror. 
 There was a twitch to be given to the skirt, and a finger- 
 ing to be done at the necktie, and, after a second's hesita- 
 tion, she decided that she would take a pair of gloves from 
 the window. It was impossible to wear those that had 
 been lying in her pocket for the last month. As she was 
 pulling on a pair of gray thread with the calm air of satis- 
 faction that prospective pleasure gives, she heard some- 
 thing stirring slowly behind her. With the rapidity of an 
 inspiration, it struck her that her husband had come down- 
 stairs. Trembling, she waited for him to appear, and. 
 wheezing loudly, he dragged himself through the doorway. 
 Compared with the man she was going to see, he looked a 
 miserable little chap. After drawing a deep breath or two, 
 he said — 
 
 " What — do you look so f ri — frightened at ? You did — 
 didn't expect to see me, did you ? " 
 
 " No, I did not ? " Kate answered as if in dream. 
 
 " Feeling a good deal better. I thou — ght I would come 
 down, but — but the stairs — have tired me."
 
 A Mummer's Wife 101 
 
 " So I see," said Kate, who was trying to think of an 
 excuse; "but come into the kitchen and sit down on the 
 sofa/' 
 
 Mr. Ede walked with great difficulty, and it was some 
 moments before he could speak again ; at last he said : 
 
 " But where are you going?" 
 
 " I was thinking of taking a walk." 
 
 " You — you're always thinking of walking now." As 
 far as the wheezing would allow it to appear, there was an 
 intonation of reproach in this last remark, but Mr. Ede felt 
 too exhausted to object definitely. 
 
 " I don't know that I am." 
 
 "Perhaps not; but if you are going out I'll mind the 
 shop." 
 
 The shop was Mr. Ede's great love. It was there his 
 life was centred. The counter was to him what a picture is 
 to an artist, what a book is to an author, what a child is to 
 its mother. Xothing put him in such good humor as 
 when he himself had done a good day's business; nothing 
 annoyed him so much as when Kate anticipated him in 
 answering a call from the shop, and his anger was regulated 
 in proportion to the purchases the customers had made; 
 and to avoid being forestalled he would hang about the 
 kitchen, fidgetting in and out, rearranging the articles 
 exhibited in the window. These enthusiasms were often a 
 positive source of loss, for as their business lay in articles 
 peculiarly feminine, the presence of a man attending was 
 not at all desirable; but Mr. Ede would not consider this 
 side of the question, and. his head resting on his hand, 
 he would remain over the counter slowly working out some 
 commercial problem, picking the while a bad tooth with a 
 hairpin taken from the drawers. 
 
 The present descent from his room had been influenced 
 by mercantile ardor, for since Kate had told of the sale 
 of the aprons and the order for the baby clothes, his mind 
 had been harassed by visions of crowds of customers, and 
 his ears deafened by a perpetual jingling of half-crowns; 
 and, unable to endure torments so great any longer, he 
 had come down to take possession of his well-beloved till. 
 He was, therefore, in the hopes of a customer, not ill-pleased
 
 102 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 at the prospect of getting rid of his wife. The compla- 
 cency with which he had made his last remark had revealed 
 the truth to Kate, and, her lips trembling with exultation, 
 she said : 
 
 " You are sure you don't mind, dear ; you are sure you 
 are strong enough ? " 
 
 " I'm all right. You go on." 
 
 Without waiting for anything further, Kate, with her 
 heart in her mouth, hurried away. Her time was up, and 
 fearing to miss Miss Hender, she raced along, dodging the 
 passers with quick turns and twists. She was, as it were, 
 blinded with the light and color of the theatre, which in 
 imagination danced before her eyes, and she saw and heeded 
 nobody until she suddenly heard someone calling after 
 her, " Kate ! Kate ! Kate ! " Pale with apprehension, she 
 turned round and stood facing her mother-in-law. 
 
 " Where on earth are you going at that rate ? " said M rs. 
 Ede, who carried a small basket on her arm. 
 
 " Only for a walk," Kate replied in a voice dry with 
 enforced calmness. 
 
 " Oh, for a walk ; I'm glad of that, it will do you good. 
 But which way are you going ? " 
 
 " Anywhere round about the town. Up on the hill, St. 
 John's Eoad.' 
 
 " How curious, I was just thinking of going back that 
 way. There's a fruiterer's shop where you can get potatoes 
 a penny a stone cheaper than you can here." 
 
 If a thunderbolt had destroyed Hanley before her eyes 
 at that moment, it would not have appeared to her of the 
 importance that did this destruction of her evening's 
 pleasure. A sort of deaf defiance of Mrs. Ede beat in her 
 ears, and it was with the bitterest difficulty that she saved 
 herself from saying straight out that she was going to the 
 theatre to see Mr. Lennox, and bad a right to do so if she 
 pleased. Mastering her anger, however, with an effort she 
 said: 
 
 "But I like walking fast; perhaps 1 walk too fast for 
 you. Do not come." 
 
 " Oh, no, not at all. My old legs are as good as your 
 young ones. Kate, dear, what is the matter? Are you
 
 A Mummer's Wife 103 
 
 not all right ? " she said, seeing how cross her daughter-in- 
 law was looking. 
 
 " Oh yes, I'm all right, but you do bother one so." 
 
 This very injudicious phrase led to a demonstration of 
 affection on the part of Mrs. Ede, and whatever were the 
 chances of getting rid of her before, they were now reduced 
 to nothing. Hurrying along by the young woman's side, 
 she begged and besought, questioned and explained, until 
 Kate felt that the top of her head was lifting off, that she 
 was going mad. This continued up one street, down an- 
 other. But Kate heard very little of what was said; her 
 mind was too occupied in thinking how disappointed Mr. 
 Lennox would be. 
 
 That evening about eleven o'clock, when Mr. Lennox's 
 heavy, lolloping footstep was heard on the dark stairs, Kate 
 stole out of her workroom to meet him. He saw her as he 
 scraped a match on the wall; dropping it he put out his 
 hands towards her. 
 
 " Is that you, dear," he said. " Why didn't you come 
 to the theatre ? We had a magnificent house." 
 
 " I couldn't ; I met my mother-in-law." 
 
 The red embers of the match that had fallen on the floor 
 now went out, and the indication of their faces was swept 
 away in the darkness. 
 
 " Let me get a light, dear." The intonation of his voice 
 as he said " dear " caused her an involuntary feeling of 
 voluptuousness. She trembled as the vague outline of his 
 big cheeks became clear in the red flame of the match 
 which he held in his hollowed hands. 
 
 " Won't you come in ? " she heard him say a moment 
 after. 
 
 " No, I couldn't ; I must go upstairs in a minute. I only 
 came to tell you, for I didn't want you to go away angry; 
 it was not my fault. I should so much have liked to have 
 gone to the theatre." 
 
 "It was a pity you didn't come; I was waiting at the 
 door for you. I could have sat by you the whole time." 
 
 Kate's heart died within her at thought of what she had 
 lost, and after a long silence she said very mournfully :
 
 104 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 " Perhaps when you come back another time I shall be 
 able to go to the theatre." 
 
 " We've done so well here that we are going to get another 
 date. I'll write and let you know ? " 
 
 " Will you ? And will you come back and lodge here ? " 
 
 " Of course, and I hope that I sha'nt be so unlucky the 
 next time as to fall down amid the crockery." 
 
 At this they both laughed, and the conversation came to 
 a pause. 
 
 " I must bid you good night now." 
 
 " But won't you kiss me ? Just a kiss, so that I may have 
 something to think of you." 
 
 " Why do you want to kiss me ? You have Miss Leslie 
 to kiss." 
 
 " I never kissed Leslie ; that's all nonsense, and I want to 
 kiss you because I love you." 
 
 Kate made no answer, and following her into the heavy 
 darkness that hung around the foot of the staircase he took 
 her in his arms and glued his lips to hers. She at first made 
 no resistance, but the passion of his kiss caused her a 
 sudden revolt, and she struggled with him. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Lennox, let me go, I beg of you," she said, 
 speaking with her lips close to his. " Let me go, let me 
 go ; they will miss me." 
 
 Possibly fearing another fall, Mr. Lennox loosed his em- 
 brace, and she passed away from him.
 
 CHAPTER VIT. 
 
 BOUT eleven o'clock, the morning after the kiss 
 in the dark, Mr. Lennox was seen struggling with 
 his luggage in the passage, and the whole fam- 
 ily, including Mr. Ede, who was now almost re- 
 established in health, had the pleasure of wishing him 
 good-by. The little asthmatic, dressed out in his Sunday 
 best — a threadbare black frock coat buttoned across his 
 thin chest, a red necktie, an ill-fitting pair of gray trousers 
 — came slowly down the stairs, followed by his wife and 
 mother, whom he was taking to church. The fat actor 
 took off his hat in his very largest manner to the ladies, 
 and the bow was done so deferentially, and seemed to be- 
 token so much respect for the sex, that even Mrs. Ede 
 could not help thinking that Mr. Lennox was very polite. 
 As for Kate, the sweep of the arm, the glistening of the 
 teeth, the frizzly hair, the blue eyes, and the white hand, 
 quite overcame her, and she bent her head partly in shame 
 for the doings of last evening, partly to hide her sorrow 
 at his leaving. But Mr. Lennox did not make the eyes 
 at her that she feared he would; on the contrary, he oc- 
 cupied himself solely with her husband. Shaking hands 
 with Mr. Ede, he asked him several questions about his 
 asthma. Were there no cures for it? Did it not affect 
 the health? 
 
 After his shop, the question that most interested Mr. 
 Ede was his malady. He kept an account of his attacks 
 very much as racing-men do of their horses, and when the 
 subject was brought forward there was one celebrated at- 
 tack which he would back against anything that had ever 
 been known in the way of asthma. Mr. Lennox listened, 
 oblivious to everything in the interest of this now five- 
 year-old memory of a past shortness of breath, and it was 
 not until Mrs. Ede suggested that they would be late for 
 church that it occurred to him that his chance of catching
 
 106 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 the eleven o'clock train was growing more and more re- 
 mote. Then, with a hasty comment on his dilatoriness, 
 he caught up a parcel and a rug and shook hands with 
 them all. 
 
 With husband and wife he was equally sincere. His 
 love and his pity were equally spontaneous, and he seemed 
 to pass from one sentiment to the other without any in- 
 termediate transition of feeling. 
 
 However, he was off now. The cab rattled away, and 
 Mr. Ede, walking very slowly between his womankind, 
 proceeded up the red, silent streets towards the Wesleyan 
 Church. After they had gone some twenty or thirty 
 paces, Mr. Ede said, 
 
 " There's no doubt but that Mr. Lennox is a very nice 
 man — a very nice man indeed; you must admit, mother, 
 that you were wrong." 
 
 " He's polite if you will," replied Mrs. Ede, who for 
 the last few minutes had been considering the ungodliness 
 of travelling on Sunday. 
 
 " Oh, don't walk so fast," said Mr. Ede. " I must stop 
 to get breath.' 
 
 " Well, then, we shall be late for church! " 
 
 At this a little color rose to his pallid cheeks, and, as 
 far as his breath would allow, he abused his mother 
 roundly. In his crossgrained disposition these sudden 
 knots were of frequent occurrence, and then no words 
 were too bitter or too hard for him to use. If she wanted 
 to make him ill s gain she was going the right way about 
 it. A nice thing -t would be if he had to leave the church 
 in the middle of one of the hymns! She did not remem- 
 ber when he had to be helped out during the sermon, and 
 how very nice it looked. And if he had asthma, whose 
 fault was it? She did not remember how she had not 
 sent for the doctor when he caught the terrible cold, two 
 years ago, until he was at death's door? Kate wisely 
 refrained from joining in this discussicn, and as she 
 nourished a little rancor against Mrs. Ede for having 
 prevented her from going to the theatre, there was an 
 abstract and remote pleasure in hearing the old woman 
 catch it, while she, Kate, lingered behind and dreamed
 
 A Mummer's Wife 107 
 
 vaguely of the big man who was to come back to see her 
 in three months' time. And during church time she ex- 
 perienced the most delicious emotions. The unison of 
 the voices, the grandeur of the simple chants, united to 
 the beauty of the words, awakened in her a vague but 
 elevated sentiment of extraordinary joy — a joy that she 
 had never experienced before; and in the fulness of it 
 she sang loudly, vigorously, like a thrush in the balmy 
 deeps of English woods on some May morning. Her 
 voice, always strong and sweet, had never been heard to 
 greater advantage, and it seemed to carry with it such a 
 flavor of faith that Mrs. Ede could not but cast a glance 
 of warm approval at her daughter-in-law. She was too 
 excited to think whether she was wrong or right in lov- 
 ing Mr. Lennox. No such thought occurred to her, and 
 when she sat down to listen to the sermon, it was only to 
 pass into an ecstasy as delicious even as that which she 
 had experienced during the singing. The voice of the 
 preacher sounded as dimly as the sighing of the breeze 
 in the ears of a dreamer who counts the petals of the 
 flowers between him and the sun. Everything swayed be- 
 fore her in a mist; the heads of the congregation appeared 
 like a dark sea, and the white walls were clear spaces 
 deep, in her imagination, as the depths of the sky, where 
 passed a multitude of infinitesimal sensations — words 
 spoken, tender answers that gave place at once to plead- 
 ings and kisses, sensations like soft odors, desires as frag- 
 ile as the tints of roses; things and places the most differ- 
 ent flowed in and out of each other, producing a confused 
 but harmonious vision of audible color and visible sound; 
 and the constantly recurring phrase, " He will be back in 
 three months," shed shuddering gleams of silver upon her 
 dream as will a passing wind over a calm sea. 
 
 Her happiness was in herself, and almost lasciviously 
 she yielded to the idleness of the day. During dinner 
 she enjoyed herself immensely in sitting still and lan- 
 guidly listening to her husband and mother-in-law fight- 
 ing over again the battle of the actor. Mr. Ede had now 
 recovered his temper, and was prepared to maintain calmly 
 his opinions regarding Mr. Lennox. He declared he, Mr. 
 Ede, was just as good a Christian as his mother, and for
 
 108 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 that very reason refused to judge a fellow Christian. She 
 answered that she did not judge Mr. Lennox, but she had 
 always been taught to believe that people who did not go 
 to church led godless lives. 
 
 Sunday was kept strictly in this family. Three ser- 
 vices were regularly attended. Kate, hoping to recover 
 the sensations of the morning, attended church in the 
 afternoon. But the whole place seemed changed. All 
 her passion was gone. The cold, white walls chilled her, 
 and the people about her appeared to her in a very small 
 and miserable light. Unpleasant fancies, too, occurred 
 to her, and she suffered from nervousness and irritability, 
 even to the point of thinking she was ill. She was glad 
 to get home, and after tea no entreaties could get her to 
 leave the house. She longed to be left alone, and Mrs. 
 Ede's fussing and arguing jarred terribly on her already 
 excited feelings. Her thoughts had gone back to the book 
 she had fallen asleep over last Sunday night when she sat 
 by her husband's bedside, and when the house was quiet 
 she went upstairs and fetched it. But after reading a few 
 pages the heat of the house seemed to her intolerable. 
 There was no place to go to for a walk except St. John's 
 Road, and there turning listlessly over the pages of the 
 old novel the time passed imperceptibly. It was like sitting 
 on the sea-shore; the hills extended like an horizon, and 
 as the sea-dreamer strives to pierce the long illimitable line 
 of the wave and follows the path of the sailing ship, so did 
 Kate gaze out of the sweeping green line that enclosed all 
 she knew of the world, and strove to look beyond into the 
 country to where her friend was going. 
 
 And the evening was superb. Northwood, with its hun- 
 dreds of sharp roofs and windows, slept under pale salmon- 
 colored tints, and the bells of its church sounded clearer 
 and clearer at each peal. Warm breaths, soft as caresses, 
 passed over the red roofs of Southwark, and below in the 
 vast, hollow of the valley all was still, all seemed abandoned 
 as a desert; no whiff of white steam was blown from the 
 collieries ; no black cloud of smoke rolled from the factory 
 chimneys, and they raised their tall stems like a suddenly 
 dismantled forest to a wan, an almost colorless sky. The 
 hills nlone maintained their unchangeable aspect.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ENCEFORTH Kate's character gradually under- 
 went a change, or rather it seemed to be return- 
 ing to what it originally was. "With some modifi- 
 cations, all the salient points of her special 
 temperament, which seven years of married life had effaced, 
 returned just as the leaves do imperceptibly after the first 
 breath of spring; and this metamorphosis was acomplished 
 as silently as the alternations of the seasons. There was no 
 internal struggle, no analysis of mind, no more conscious- 
 ness of change than there is in the earth when she offers 
 March the first daffodils. The living clay brought up her 
 flowers as simply as the dead. 
 
 By the well-known ways, the dog comes back to his ken- 
 nel, the sheep to the fold, the horse to the stable, and even 
 so did Kate return to her sentimental self. One day as she 
 was turning over the local paper, her eyes, suddenly obey- 
 ing a long-forgotten instinct, wandered to the poetry 
 column, and again, just as in old time, she was caught by 
 the same simple sentiments of sadness and longing. She 
 found there the usual song, in which regret rhymes to for- 
 get. The same dear questions which used to enchant seven 
 years ago were again asked in the same naive and childish 
 fashion ; and they touched her now as they had before. She 
 refound all her old dreams ; it seemed as if not a day had 
 passed over her. 
 
 The hearts of the people change but little — if at all. 
 When rude work and misery does not grind and trample all 
 feeling out of them, they remain ever children in their 
 sentiments, understanding only such simple emotions as 
 correspond to their daily food. The contrary is seen in the 
 woman of the world. At thirty she hates the man she 
 loved at twenty; the books that charmed her when she 
 was a girl she learns to regard as contemptible. Her taste 
 changes ; she requires as she goes on more subtle and com-
 
 110 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 plex sensations, just as the epicure in his progress from one 
 dish to another demands higher seasoning and stranger 
 delicacies. 
 
 But in the woman of the people there is no intellectual 
 advancement; she never learns to judge, to discriminate. 
 What pleases her at one age does at another. Toil, if not 
 sufficient to kill, preserves. The rich man changes, the 
 peasant remains the same ; and what is witnessable in cen- 
 turies is witnessable in a single life. The years may freeze, 
 but otherwise they do not alter a working woman's heart; 
 and should a thaw come, the simple sentiments of her 
 youth again burst into blossom. Her choice of books shows 
 how little time has taught her. The same grotesque ad- 
 ventures enrapture her as they did before. She is as in- 
 capable at thirty as at twenty to distinguish between the 
 false and the true; — apparently even less so, for if exper- 
 ience has influenced her taste at all, it has rendered it more 
 childish and ignorant, and now more than before is her 
 imagination the palpitating prey of the absurd fiction, 
 and now more than ever does she relish the stories of super- 
 natural heroism, abnegation, and sacrifice. 
 
 But sentiment above all ; true rhyming to you, regret to 
 forget, part to heart, is sufficient to force her to tears, to 
 produce a gross exultation of the senses. The wording may 
 be simple, the substance commonplace; but the mere state- 
 ment that two people are separated and love each other is 
 sufficient. For her the art is never deficient, and the same 
 sing-song cry will never fail to give her the same sensations 
 of regret and longing. 
 
 And so it used to be with Kate. When she was a girl 
 she collected every scrap of love poetry that appeared in 
 the local paper, pasted it into a book, and in secret, de- 
 voured each little effusion with all sorts of tender sad- 
 nesses. And now the events of the week having roused her 
 from the lethargy into which she had fallen, she, as instinc- 
 tively as an awakened child turns to the breast, turned to 
 the Hartley Courier for a poem. 
 
 The verses she happened to hit on were those after her 
 own heart, and just what were required to complete the 
 transformation of her character —
 
 A Mummer's Wife 111 
 
 I love thee, I love thee, how fondly, how well, 
 Let the years that are coming my constancy teU ; 
 I think of thee daily — my night-thoughts are thine, 
 In fairy -like vision thy hand presses mine : 
 And even though absent you dwell in my heart ; 
 Of all that is dear to me, dearest thou art. 
 
 In reading these lines Kate experienced a quick beating 
 of the heart, her eyes filled with tears, and wrapped in 
 brightness, like a far distant coast-line, a vision of her girl- 
 hood arose. She recalled, with a joy that was giddy, that 
 danced in her brain, as might sunlight amid flowers, the 
 emotions she once experienced, the books she had read, the 
 poetry that she had gathered together, that was lying up- 
 stairs in an old trunk pushed under the bed. It seemed 
 to her incredible that it had been forgotten so long; her 
 memory skipped from one fragment to the other, picking 
 up a word here, a phrase there, until a remembrance of her 
 favorite novel seized her, and involuntarily substituting 
 herself for the lady who used to read Byron and Shelley 
 under the green trees to the gentleman who went to India 
 in despair, she became the heroine of it all. 
 
 As the fitness of the comparison dawned upon her she 
 yielded to an ineffable sentiment of weakness : George was 
 the husband's name in the book, she was Helene, and Dick 
 was the lover to whom she could not, would not give herself, 
 and who on that account had gone away in despair. The 
 coincidence appeared to her as something marvellous, some- 
 thing above nature, and she turned it over, examined it in 
 her mind, as a child would a toy. And forgetful of her 
 desire to overlook her souvenirs of old times, she went up- 
 stairs to the workroom hoping to be able to talk of Dick 
 to Miss Hender. His Christian name had come upon her 
 suddenly; her landlady instincts disappeared, and hence- 
 forth she thought of him as Dick. 
 
 The missed visit to the theatre was a favorite theme of 
 conversation between the two women. It afforded Miss 
 Hender constant opportunities of expressing her views con- 
 cerning men, women, and matrimony, of speaking of Bill. 
 of expatiating on the pleasure of the lark she had with 
 him a night or two ago, and abusing Mrs. Ede. Kate con-
 
 112 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 tributed little to these discussions; she listened, hazarding 
 a word of reproof when the description of Bill's behavior 
 became too coarse, and the denunciations of "the hag" 
 grew disgraceful. She was sharp enough, however, not to 
 make any confidences, and she resented all Miss Hender's 
 insinuations, declaring, whenever she got the opportunity, 
 that she did not admire Mr. Lennox, and that on the night 
 in question she had been merely desirous of seeing the 
 play. Miss Hender, although she did not believe, did the 
 amiable, and smiled graciously. She saw no reason for 
 annoying her employer by doubting her words. Noth- 
 ing would be gained by so doing. The workroom had now, 
 according to Miss Hender's notion, become a much more 
 agreeable place of resort than ever it had been before. All 
 the religious humbug had been done away with, and now 
 you could talk pleasantly and agreeably without being 
 afraid of being pulled up at every moment for one word 
 or other. Kate listened to what went on behind the scenes 
 with greater indulgence, and she seemed to have become 
 accustomed to the idea that Bill and Miss Hender were 
 something more than friends. In like manner she was 
 more tolerant when "the hag's" religious opinions were 
 attacked. It was, of course, impossible to pass over the 
 epithet of hag without reproof ; it would be wicked to hear 
 her faith sneered at, and Kate made many efforts to control 
 her assistant's abusive language, only these efforts were not 
 as firm or as conclusive as they were formerly. She was 
 conscious of these cowardices, and when she was alone she 
 often blamed herself bitterly. Remembering the old wo- 
 man's love, the sacrifices she would make for her, Kate felt 
 her heart sink; she detested herself for it, and she often 
 resolved never more to allow Miss Hender to speak ill of 
 Mrs. Ede. But the temptation was so subtle, for when 
 she was lamenting the monotony of her life (a thing she 
 did frequently now), a little railing against her mother-in- 
 law was a high, plaintive note which her heart vaguely 
 sighed for. Often she unconsciously led up to this point, 
 and had Miss Hender been contented to keep her place and 
 do no more than duly echo her mistress's sentiments, her 
 companionship would have left nothing to be desired. But
 
 A Mummer' t Wife 113 
 
 the girl's brutal nature could not understand wandering 
 thoughts, and she would insist on determining the mean- 
 ing of every chance complaint by some coarse and vigor- 
 ous epithet. As Kate often said, it was abominable to have 
 her thoughts interpreted in that way. She loved her 
 mother-in-law very dearly, she didn't know what she'd do 
 without her, but — fSo it went on; struggle as she would 
 with herself, there still lay at the bottom of her mind, like 
 a bone that a dog has hidden, the thought that Mrs. Ede 
 had prevented her from going that evening to the theatre, 
 and turn, twist, and wander away as she would, she came 
 back to gnaw it invariably. 
 
 Frequently Miss Hender had to repeat her questions 
 before she obtained an intelligible answer, and often, with- 
 out even vouchsafing a reply, Kate would nervously pitch 
 her work aside, saying she wanted to see what was going on 
 in the shop. During these days very little work was done. 
 Miss Hender was not the person to wear out her fingers 
 when conversation and sympathy were all that were re- 
 quired of her, and Kate did not seem to care how things 
 went. Her thoughts were elsewhere; she was waiting im- 
 patiently for an opportunity for a couple of hours during 
 which she would not be disturbed, for the purpose of over- 
 looking the old trunk, full of the trinkets, books, verses, 
 souvenirs of her youth, which lay under her bed, pushed 
 up against the wall. But a free hour was not a thing of 
 frequent occurrence in her life ; it was only possible on the 
 condition of Mr. Ede being out. Then her mother-in-law 
 had to mind the shop, and Kate, at the top of the house, 
 would be sure of privacy. 
 
 There was no valid reason why she should dread being 
 found out in so innocent an amusement as turning over 
 a few old papers. Her fear was merely an unreasoned and 
 nervous apprehension of ridicule. Her sentimentality had, 
 since she could remember, always been a subject either of 
 mourning or pity, and in allowing it to die out of her 
 heart she had learned to feel ashamed of it: the idea of 
 being discovered going back to it revolted her, and she did 
 not know which would annoy her the most : her husband's 
 sneers or Mrs. Ede's blank alarm. Kate remembered how 
 
 8
 
 114 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 she used to be told that books like novels had nothing in 
 them that led the soul to God, and, therefore, must be 
 wicked and sinful, and, resolved to avoid any further lec- 
 tures on this subject, she devoted herself to the task of per- 
 suading Mr. Ede to leave his counter and go out for a walk. 
 This was not easy, but she arrived at last at the point of 
 helping him on with his coat, handing him his hat, con- 
 ducting him to the door, she bid him not to walk fast and 
 be sure to keep in the sun, and then went upstairs, her 
 mind relaxed, determined to enjoy herself to the extent of 
 allowing her thoughts for an hour or so to wander at their 
 own sweet will. 
 
 The trunk was an oblong box covered with brown hair; 
 to pull it out she had to get under the bed, and it was with 
 trembling and eager fingers that she untied the old twisted 
 cords. Souvenir with Kate was a cult, but her husband's 
 indifference and her mother-in-law's hard and determined 
 opposition had forced it out of sight : but now, on the first 
 encouragement, it gushed forth like a suppressed fountain 
 that an incautious hand had suddenly liberated. And with 
 what joy she turned over the old books! She examined 
 the color of the covers, she read a phrase here and there: 
 they were all so dear to her that she did not know which 
 she loved the best. Scenes, heroes, and heroines, long for- 
 gotten came back to her; and in what minuteness and how 
 vividly ! It appeared to her that she could not go on fast 
 enough ; a glow of gladness had rushed to her head until 
 she wished and longed to scream forth her delight. Her 
 emotion gained upon her until it became quite hysterical. 
 In turning feverishly over some papers a withered pansy 
 floated into her lap. Immediately the tears started to her 
 eyes, and she pressed it to her lips. There was a pitiful 
 tenderness in the poor little flower forgotten for so long, 
 and there seemed to be a meaning even in its feeble flutter. 
 It had sought refuge in her bosom, — and then had fallen 
 into her lap. She could not remember when she gathered 
 it ; all memory of it had faded ; but it had come to her — it 
 had come back to her. Kate's feelings were overwrought ; 
 her lips quivered, the light seemed to be growing dark, and 
 a sudden sense of misery eclipsed her happiness, and unable
 
 A Mummer's Wife 115 
 
 to restrain herself any longer, she burst into a tumultuous 
 storm of sobs. 
 
 But after having cried for a few minutes her passion 
 subsided, and she wiped the tears from off her hands and 
 face, and smiling very sadly at herself, she continued her 
 search. Everything belonging to that time, verses and 
 faded flowers, interested her; but her thoughts were espe- 
 cially centred on an old copybook in which she kept the 
 fragments of poetry that used to strike her fancy at the 
 moment. When she came upon it her heart beat quicker 
 and with mild sentiments of regret, she read through the 
 slips of newspaper. They were all the same, but as long 
 as anyone was spoken of as being the nearest and the dear- 
 est Kate was satisfied. Even the bonbon mottoes, of which 
 there were large numbers, drew from her the deepest sighs. 
 The little Cupid firing at a target in the shape of a heart, 
 with " Tom Smith & Co., London," printed in small let- 
 ters underneath, did not prevent her from sharing the sen- 
 timent expressed in the lines : — 
 
 Let this cracker torn asunder 
 
 Be an emblem of my heart, 
 And as we have shared the plunder 
 
 Pray you of my love take part. 
 
 Sitting on the floor, with one hand leaning on the open 
 trunk, she read, letting her thoughts drift through past 
 scenes and sensations. All was dreamy, far away ; and she 
 turned over the debris that the past had thrown up on the 
 shore of the present, without seing any connection between 
 it and the needs of the moment until she lit on the follow- 
 ing verses : — 
 
 Wearily I'm waiting for you, 
 
 For your absence watched in vain ; 
 Ask myself the hopeless question, 
 
 Will he ever come again ? 
 
 "6* 
 
 All these years am I forgotten ? 
 
 Or in absence are you true ? 
 Oh ! my darling, 'tis so lonely 
 
 Watching, waiting here for you !
 
 116 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 Has your heart from its allegiance 
 
 Turned to greet a fairer face ? 
 Haye you welcomed in another 
 
 Charms you missed in me, and grace ? 
 
 Long, long years I have been waiting, 
 
 Bearing up against my pain ; 
 All my thoughts and vows have vanished, 
 
 Will they ever come again ? 
 
 Yes, for woman's faith ne'er leaves her, 
 
 And my trust outweighs my fears, 
 And I still will wait his coming, 
 
 Though it may not be for years. 
 
 As the deer when it believes it has eluded the swift hunt- 
 ing hounds leaves the burning plains and plunges into the 
 cool woodland water, Kate bathed her tired soul letting it 
 drink its fill of this very simple poem. Tenderly the sen- 
 timent came to her through the weak words; and melting 
 with joy, she repeated them over and over again. 
 
 At last her sad face lit up with a smile. It had occurred 
 to her to send the poem that gave her so much pleasure to 
 Dick. Like a ray of sunlight the thought had flashed 
 through her soul. It would make him think of her when 
 he was far away; it would tell him that she had not for- 
 gotten him. The idea pleased her so much that it did not 
 occur to her to think if she would be doing wrong in sending 
 these verses to her lodger, and with renewed ardor and 
 happiness she continued her search among her books. 
 There was no question in her mind as to which she would 
 read, and she anticipated hours of delight in tracing re- 
 semblances between herself and the lady who used to read 
 Byron and Shelley to her aristocratic lover. She feared at 
 first she had lost this novel, but when it was discovered it 
 was put away for immediate use. The next that came 
 under her hand was also the story of a country doctor. In 
 this instance the medical hero had poisoned one sister to 
 whom he was secretly married in order that he might wed 
 a second. Kate at first hesitated, but remembering that 
 there was an elopement, with a carriage overturned in a 
 muddy lane, she decided upon looking through it again.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 117 
 
 Another book related with much pathos the love of a young 
 lady who found herself in the awkward predicament of not 
 being able to care for anyone but her groom, who was lucky 
 enough to be the possessor of the most wonderful violet 
 eyes. The fourth described the distressing position of a 
 young clergyman, who when he told the lady of his choice 
 that his means for the moment did not admit of his taking 
 a wife, was answered that it did not matter, for she was, 
 in the meantime, quite willing to be his mistress. This 
 devotion and self-sacrifice touched Kate so deeply that she 
 was forced to pause in her search to consider how those 
 who have loved much, are forgiven. But at this moment 
 Mrs. Ede entered. 
 
 " Oh, Kate ! what are you doing there ? " 
 
 Although the question was asked in an intonation of 
 voice affecting to be one only of astonishment, there was 
 nevertheless in it an accent of reproof, which, in her pres- 
 ent mood, was especially irritating to Kate. A deaf anger 
 against her mother-in-law's interference oppressed her, but 
 getting the better of it she said quietly though somewhat 
 sullenly — 
 
 " You always want to know what I am doing ! I declare 
 one can't turn round but you're after me, just like a 
 shadow." 
 
 " What you say is unjust, Kate," replied the old woman 
 warmly. " I'm sure I never pry after you." 
 
 " Well, anyhow, there it is ; I'm looking out for a book 
 to read in the evenings, if you want to know." 
 
 " I thought you had given up reading those vain and sin- 
 ful books; they cannot do you any good." 
 
 " What harm can they do me ? " 
 
 " They turn your thoughts from Christ. I have looked 
 into them to see that I may not be speaking wrongly, and 
 I have found them nothing but vain accounts of the world 
 and its worldliness. I did not read far, but what I saw was 
 a lot of excusing of women who could not love their hus- 
 bands, and much sighing after riches and pleasure. I 
 thanked God you had given over such things. I believed 
 your heart was turned towards Him. Now it grieves me 
 bitterly to see I was mistaken."
 
 118 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 " I don't know what you mean. Kalph never said that 
 there was any harm in my reading tales." 
 
 " Ah ! Kalph, I'm afraid, has never set a good example. 
 I would not blame him, for he's my own son, but I would 
 wish to see him not prizing so highly the things of the 
 world." 
 
 " We must live, though," Kate answered, without quite 
 understanding what she said. 
 
 " Live, of course we have to live ; but it depends how we 
 live and what we live for — whether it be to indulge the de- 
 sires of the flesh, the desire of the eye, or to regain the 
 image of God, to have the design of God again planted in 
 our souls. This is what we should live for, and it is only 
 thus that we shall find true happiness." 
 
 Though these were memories of phrases heard in the 
 pulpit, they were uttered by Mrs. Ede with a fervour, with 
 a candour of belief, that took from them any appearance of 
 artificiality; and Kate did not notice that her mother-in-law 
 was using words that were not habitual to her. 
 
 " But what do you want me to do ? " said Kate, who began 
 to feel frightened. 
 
 " To go to Christ, to love Him. He is all we have to help 
 us, and they who love Him truly are guided as to how to live 
 righteously. Whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, 
 it springs from or leads to the love of God and man." 
 
 These words stirred Kate to her very entrails ; a sudden 
 gush of feeling brought the tears to her eyes, and she was on 
 the point of throwing herself into Mrs. Ede's arms. 
 
 The temptation to have a good cry was almost irresistible, 
 and the burden of her pent-up emotions was more than she 
 could bear. But she hesitated, communing the while 
 rapidly within herself, until an unexpected turn of thought 
 harshly put it before her that she was being made a fool of 
 — that she had a perfect right to look through her books 
 and poetry, and that Miss Hender's sneers were no more 
 than she deserved for allowing a mother-in-law to bully her. 
 Then the tears of sorrow became those of anger, and striving 
 to speak as rudely as she could, she said — 
 
 " I don't talk about Christ as much as you. But He judges
 
 A Mummer's Wife 119 
 
 us by our hearts and not by our words. You would do well 
 to humble yourself before you come to preach to others." 
 
 " Dear Kate, it is because I see you interested in things 
 that have no concern with God's love that I speak to you so. 
 A man who never knows a thought of God has been staying 
 here, and I fear he has led you " 
 
 At these words Kate, who had thrown the last papers into 
 the trunk, and pushed it away, turned round fiercely. 
 
 " Led me into what ? What do you mean ? Mr. Lennox 
 was here because Ralph wished. I think that you should 
 know better than to say such things. I do not deserve it." 
 
 On this Kate left the room, her face clouded and tremb- 
 ling with a passion that she did not quite feel. To just an 
 appreciable extent she was conscious that it suited her con- 
 venience to quarrel with her mother-in-law. She was tired 
 of the life she was leading, her whole heart was in her novels 
 and poetry, and determined to take in the London Reader 
 or Journal, she called back to Mrs. Ede that she was going 
 to consult Ralph on the matter. 
 
 At this time Mr. Ede was in capital spirits. The affairs 
 in the shop were going on more satisfactorily than usual, 
 a fact which he did not fail to attribute to his superior 
 commercial talents. " A business like theirs went to the 
 bad," he declared, " when there was not a man to look after 
 it. Women so much preferred being attended to by one of 
 the other sex ; " and beaming with artificial smiles, the 
 little man measured out yards of ribbon, and suggested 
 " that they had a very superior thing in the way of petti- 
 coats just come from Manchester." His health was also 
 much improved, so much so that his asthmatic attack 
 seemed to have done him good. A little color flushed his 
 cheeks around the edges of the thick beard. In the even- 
 ings after supper, when the shop was closed, an hour before 
 they went up to prayers, he would talk of the sales he had 
 made during the day, and speak authoritatively of the pos- 
 sibilities of enlarging the business. According to him the 
 thing to do was to find some one in London who would 
 forward them the very latest fashions; of course not all 
 the fashions, but, for example, a person who would be 
 clever enough to pick out and send them some stylish but
 
 120 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 simple dress which Kate could copy. He would work the 
 advertisements, and if the articles were well set in the 
 window he would answer for the rest. The great difficulty 
 was, of course, the question of frontage, and Mr. Ede's 
 face grew grave as he thought of his wretched little win- 
 dows. " Nothing," he said, " could be done without plate- 
 glass," and the wonders he saw behind a single pane daz- 
 zled him very much as the possibility of a six-inch tele- 
 scope did Galileo. Five hundred pounds would buy out 
 the fruit-seller, and throw the whole place into one. Then 
 they would require a couple of assistants! These dreams 
 of attainable earthly grandeur caused Mr. Ede to sigh 
 deeply; and Kate, interested in all that was imaginative, 
 would then raise her eyes from the pages of her book, and 
 ask if there was no possibility of realizing this grand 
 future. But as the days went by an unaccustomed tender- 
 ness would fill her eyes as she looked at him. She was 
 reading a novel that affected her profoundly. It was full 
 of the most singular and exciting scenes, and she thought 
 that under the circumstances she would have felt and acted 
 just as the heroine did. As for the hero, had he asked her 
 for her life she would willingly have laid it down at his 
 feet. So charming was he, so good and so true, that 
 heaven seemed on her lips while she read the grand and 
 elevated thoughts that he gave utterance to on all occa- 
 sions. Never did Kate remember, even when she was a 
 child, having been impassioned and enraptured by a novel 
 to the same extent as she was by this. For the emotions 
 she drew from current fiction when a girl were abstract 
 and diffused. She sighed over and was sorry for those who 
 were disappointed in love, but now there was a shade of 
 jealousy in her mind, and unconsciously she regretted that 
 it was not her lot to captivate handsome young lords, and 
 that no occasions presented themselves in her life for ro- 
 mantic self-sacrifices. In old times she was contented to 
 accept the heroes and heroines as beings as far beyond her 
 as the world beyond the hills; now she wished to know 
 both, and devoured by an ardent thirst, she worked out 
 preposterous resemblances betweeD the people she read of 
 and those who moved within, or had passed across, the nar-
 
 A Mummer's Wife 121 
 
 row circle of her life. Dick, of course, came in for the 
 lion's share of these imaginings, and successively she saw 
 him as a French noble being led to execution, an Italian 
 brigand in love with a young girl who sat perpetually in 
 the oriel window of a castellated castle, as an English lord 
 sacrificing everything for a lovely maiden. Indeed, the dis- 
 guises in which he appeared to her were as numerous and 
 as fantastic as those he assumed in his opera-bouffes. But 
 he was not the only person she idealized; everyone she 
 knew had to be likened, either to their advantage or dis- 
 advantage, to someone ; and in her present book " Prince 
 Charmian," she had discovered a character who reminded 
 her of her husband. This person was a courtier at the 
 court of Louis XIV. He said sharp things, and often 
 made himself disagreeable, but there was nevertheless 
 something about him that pleased, and under the influence 
 of this fancy she began to find new qualities, the existence 
 of which she had not before suspected, in Ealph. Some- 
 times even the thought struck her that if he had been al- 
 ways like what he was now she would have loved him 
 better. One evening as she was following out the resem- 
 blance between him and the cross-grained courtier, she 
 came across a phrase that amused her immensely. After 
 a moment her smile deepened, and then as the humor of 
 the scene continued to tickle her she burst out laughing. 
 
 " What are you laughing at, Kate ? " said her husband, 
 looking admiringly at her pretty face. Mrs. Ede sternly 
 continued her knitting, but Ralph seemed so pleased, and 
 begged so good-naturedly to be told what the matter was, 
 that the temptation to do so grew irresistible. 
 
 " You won't be angry if I tell you ? " 
 
 " Angry, no. Why should I be angry ? " 
 
 " You promise ? " 
 
 " Yes, I promise," replied Ealph, extremely curious. 
 
 " Well then, there is a cha — cha — rac — ter so — so 
 like " 
 
 " Oh ! if you want to tell me don't laugh like that. I 
 can't hear a word you are saying." 
 
 " Oh, it is so — so — so like " 
 
 " Yes, but do stop laughing and tell me."
 
 122 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 At last Kate had to stop laughing for want of breath, 
 and she said, her voice still trembling: 
 
 " Well, there's a fellow in this book — you promise not to 
 be angry ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, I promise." 
 
 " Well then, there's someone in this book that does re- 
 mind me so much — of you — that is to say, when you are 
 cross, not as you are now." 
 
 At this announcement Mrs. Ede looked up in astonish- 
 ment, and she seemed as hurt as if Kate had slapped her 
 in the face. Ralph's face, on the contrary, beamed with 
 the delight of gratified vanity. His front teeth showed 
 through the heavy mustache, they were set wide apart, but 
 the space had been filled in with some white substance, 
 which always looked as if it were going to fall out. Kate, 
 whenever she noticed it looked aside. Ralph, who knew 
 nothing of feminine revulsions of feelings, with eager 
 curiosity begged of her to read the passage. Without giv- 
 ing it a second thought she began, but she had not read 
 half-a-dozen words before Mrs. Ede had gathered up her 
 knitting and was preparing to leave the room. 
 
 " Oh, mother, don't go ! I assure you there's no harm." 
 
 " Leave her alone. I'm sick of all this nonsense about 
 religion. I should like to know what harm we're doing," 
 said Ealph. 
 
 Kate made a movement to rise, but he laid his hand up- 
 on her arm, and a moment after Mrs. Ede was gone. 
 
 " Oh, do let me go and fetch her," exclaimed Kate. " I 
 shouldn't, I know I shouldn't, read these books. It pains 
 her so much to see me wasting my time. She must be 
 right." 
 
 " There's no right about it ; she'd bully us all if she had 
 her way. Do be quiet, Kate ! Do as I tell you, and let's 
 hear the story." 
 
 Relinquishing another half-hearted expostulation which 
 rose to her lips, Kate commenced to read. Ralph was en- 
 chanted, and deliciously tickled at the idea that he was 
 like someone in print, he chuckled under his breath. Soon 
 they came to the part that had struck Kate as being so 
 particularly appropriate to her husband. It concerned a
 
 A Mummer's Wife 123 
 
 scene between this ascetic courtier and a handsome, middle- 
 aged widow who was passionately in love with him. Fre- 
 quently she had given him to understand what her feelings 
 were on the subject of himself, but on every occasion he 
 had pretended to misunderstand them. The humor of the 
 whole thing consisted in the innocence of the lady, who 
 fancied she had not explained herself sufficiently; and 
 harassed with this idea, she pursued the courtier from the 
 Court ball into the illuminated gardens, and there told 
 him, and in language that admits of no doubt, how she 
 wished to marry him. The courtier was indignant, and 
 answers her so tartly that Kate, even in reading it a second 
 time over, could not refrain from fits of laughter. 
 
 "It is — is so — s — o like what you w — wo — uld say if a 
 wo — wo — man were to fol — low you," she said, with the 
 tears rolling down her cheeks. 
 
 " Is it really ? " asked Ralph, joining in the laugh, al- 
 though in a way that did not seem to be very genuine. The 
 fact was that he felt just a little piqued at being thought 
 so indifferent to the charms of the other sex. He looked 
 at his wife for a moment or two in a curious sort of way, 
 trying to think the while how he should express himself. 
 At last he said: 
 
 " I am sure that if it was my own Kate who was there 
 I shouldn't answer so crossly." 
 
 Kate ceased laughing, and looked up at him so suddenly 
 that she increased his embarrassment, but the remem- 
 brance that he was after all only speaking to his wife soon 
 came to his aid, and confidentially he sat down beside her 
 on the sofa. Her first impulse was to draw away from 
 him — it was so long since he had spoken to her thus. Then 
 she remembered that he was her husband. 
 
 " Could you never love me again if I were very kind to 
 you?" 
 
 " Of course I love you, Ralph, but " 
 
 " So much the more reason. It wasn't my fault if I 
 was ill— and you don't feel inclined to love anyone when 
 you're ill. Give me a kiss, dear." 
 
 A recollection of how she had kissed Dick flashed across 
 her mind, but in an instant it was gone ; and, bending her
 
 124 'A Mummer's Wife 
 
 head, she laid her lips to her husband's. It in no way dis- 
 gusted her to do so ; she was glad of the occasion. She was 
 only surprised at the dull and obtuse anxiety she exper- 
 ienced. They then spoke of indifferent things, but the flow 
 of conversation was often interrupted by complimentary 
 phrases. While Ralph discoursed on his mother's non- 
 sense in always dragging religion into everything, Kate 
 congratulated him on looking so much better; and, as she 
 told him of the work that she would, at all costs, have to 
 get through before Friday, he either squeezed her hand or 
 said that her hair was getting thicker, longer, and more 
 beautiful than ever. 
 
 *l% *{C •^C 5j» "J* *I» *t^ *fi 
 
 Next morning Kate received a letter from Dick, saying 
 he was coming to Hanley on his return visit, and hoped 
 that he would be able to have his old rooms.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 DESIRE to talk to Miss Hender about Mr. Len- 
 nox took precedence in Kate's mind over any 
 other thought. But that young person would 
 not arrive for another hour, and Kate could not 
 put off speaking to her husband. So she profited by an 
 occasion when Mrs. Ede was present to hand him the letter. 
 Nothing had ever seemed to her so important as that Dick 
 should not be prevented from staying at her house. It was 
 therefore with bated breath that she waited for Ralph to 
 speak. At last his answer came, and it was satisfactory. 
 He declared that they could not have a nicer lodger than 
 Mr. Lennox, and the little he had seen of him made him 
 only desirous of renewing the acquaintance. These were 
 Ralph's shop phrases, and he continued all through break- 
 fast to eulogize Mr. Lennox. Mrs. Ede, whose opinions 
 were thus directly attacked, said not a word, but sat 
 munching her bread and butter with apparently stoical in- 
 difference. But it was not permitted to anyone to be in- 
 different to Ralph's wishes, and determined to resent the 
 impertinence, he derisively asked his mother if she had 
 any objections. 
 
 " You're right to do what you like with your rooms ; 
 but I should like to know why you so particularly want 
 this actor here ? One would think he was a dear friend of 
 yours, to hear you talk. Is it the ten shillings a week he 
 pays for his room you're hankering after, and the few pence 
 you make out of his breakfasts ? " 
 
 " Of course I want to keep my rooms let, and am 
 not going to throw away ten shillings a week. Perhaps 
 you'd like to pay it yourself ; you could have all the clergy- 
 men in the town to see you once a week, and a very nice tea- 
 party you'd make in the sitting-room." 
 
 Ralph was very cross that morning, and he continued to 
 badger his mother with the bitterest taunts he could select.
 
 12G A Mummer's Wife 
 
 Kate did not interfere, and quite calmly she watched him 
 work himself into a passion, As his rage increased his 
 ideas grew loftier, until he declared that he had other 
 reasons, more important than the ten shillings a week, 
 for wishing to have Mr. Lennox staying in the house. 
 This statement caused Kate just a pang of uneasiness, and 
 she begged for an explanation. Partly to reward her for 
 having backed him up in the discussion, and through a 
 wish to parade his own farseeing views, he declared that 
 Mr. Lennox might be of great use to them, if he were so 
 inclined, in their little business. Kate could not repress 
 a look of triumph : she knew now that nothing would keep 
 him from having Mr. Lennox in the house; and wishing 
 to conclude the matter she said, as she rose from table — 
 
 " Shall I write to him to-day, then, and say that we can 
 let him have the rooms from next Monday ? " 
 
 Ralph replied " Of course/' and Kate went upstairs 
 with Miss Hender, who had just come in. Then when the 
 door of the workshop was closed the little girls were told 
 to move aside — that there was a lot of cutting to be done. 
 This was said preparatory to telling them, a little later on, 
 that they were too much in the way, and would have to go 
 down and work in the front kitchen under the superin- 
 tendence of Mrs. Ede. Miss Hender was at the machine, 
 stitching up the body of a dress, but as Kate had a dress- 
 ing-gown " in order," she unrolled the blue silk and fid- 
 geted round the table as if she had not enough room for 
 laying out her pattern-sheets. Miss Hender noticed these 
 manoeuvres with some surprise, and when Kate had said, 
 " Now, my dear children, I'm afraid you are very much in 
 my way; you'd better go downstairs," she looked up with 
 the expression of one who expects to be told a secret. This 
 manifest certitude that something was coming discoun- 
 tenanced Kate, and she thought it would be better after 
 all to say nothing about Mr. Lennox, but again changing 
 her mind, she said, assuming an air of indifference : 
 
 " Mr. Lennox will be here on Monday. I've just got a 
 letter from him." 
 
 " Oh, I'm so glad ; for perhaps, this time, it will be 
 possible to have one spree on the strict q.t"
 
 A Mummer's Wife 127 
 
 Kate was thinking of exactly the same thing., but Miss 
 Mender's crude expression took" the desire out of her heart, 
 and she remained silent. 
 
 " I am sure 'tis for you he's coming," said the assistant. 
 ' I know he admires you; I could see it in his eyes. You 
 can always see if a man likes you by his eyes." 
 
 Although it afforded Kate a great deal of pleasure to 
 think that Dick liked her, it was irritating to the last de- 
 gree to hear her feelings thus spoken of, and she had begun 
 to regret that she had ever mentioned the subject at all, 
 when Miss Hender said : 
 
 " But what's the use of his coming if you can't get out ? 
 A man always expects a girl to be able to go with him. 
 The ' hag ' is sure to be about, and even if you did manage 
 to give her the slip, there's your husband. "Lord ! I hadn't 
 thought of that before. What frightful luck ! Don't you 
 wish he'd get ill again? Another fit of asthma would 
 suit us down to the ground." 
 
 To hear expressed in audible words what we are ashamed 
 to admit even remotely to ourselves is the acutest pain. 
 The blood rushed to Kate's face, and snapping nervously 
 with the scissors in the air, she said : 
 
 " I don't know how you can bring yourself to speak in 
 that way. How can you think that I would have my hus- 
 band ill so that I might go to the theatre with Mr. Lennox ? 
 What do you fancy there is between us that makes you 
 say such a thing as that ? " 
 
 " Oh ! I really don't know," Miss Hender answered with 
 a toss of her head ; " if you are going to be as cross and 
 hoighty-toighty as all that, there's no use talking." 
 
 On that the conversation fell to the ground. Kate 
 thought it very provoking that Miss Hender could never 
 speak except in that coarse way. She was a very nice girl, 
 very good-hearted, and it would be nice, convenient indeed, 
 to be friendly with her; but if she could not keep herself 
 from making such nasty remarks, there was no help for 
 it but to treat her just as a workwoman at so much a day. 
 Quite unwittingly Miss Hender had inflicted a very deep 
 stab ; the iron rankled deep in Kate's heart. It would have 
 given her infinite satisfaction to have said something dis-
 
 128 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 agreeable to her freekled-faced friend, but remembering 
 that it would be pleasant to go to the theatre, and that the 
 only chance of being able to do so was by their remaining 
 friends, she bit her lips and smothered her anger. Be- 
 sides, she had let Miss Hender into a good many of her 
 secrets, and it would be most inconvenient to have her 
 turn round on her. Not indeed that she supposed she'd 
 
 be wicked enough to do anything of the kind, but still 
 
 Influenced by these considerations, Kate determined not 
 to quarrel, but to avoid speaking of Mr. Lennox for the 
 future, at least until there was a definite reason for men- 
 tioning his name, and even with her own people she main- 
 tained until Dick arrived an attitude of shy reserve, de- 
 clining on all occasions to discuss the subject either with 
 her husband or mother-in-law. " I don't care whether 
 he comes or not; decide your quarrels as you like, I have 
 had enough of them," was her invariable answer. This 
 air of indifference ended by annoying Ealph, but she was 
 willing to do that if it saved her from being forced into 
 expressing an opinion — that was the great point ; for, with 
 a woman's instinct, she had already divined that she would 
 not be left out of the events of the coming week. But 
 there was still another reason, one hidden away almost 
 a secret from herself, and the most feminine of them all. 
 Kate was somehow a little ashamed of her own treachery, 
 and she fancied it would be less deceitful to remain silent. 
 Otherwise her conscience did not trouble her; it was 
 crushed beneath a weight of desire and expectancy, and 
 for three or four days she moved about the house in a 
 dream. Like a star in still waters, her heart burned with- 
 in her, and, in fear of breaking its fiery peace, she avoided 
 the family arguments. But in the desert silence of her 
 brain she could almost hear the striking of the hours, in 
 a great lucidity of thought she could almost see the sands 
 of the minutes as they slid and fell into the void behind, 
 and, like one in sleep, she submitted to her husband's new- 
 found tenderness. When they met on the stairs, and he 
 joked her about the roses in her cheeks, she smiled curi- 
 ously, and begged him to let her pass. But in the work- 
 room she was happy. The mechanical action of sewing
 
 A Mummer's Wife 12!» 
 
 allowed her to follow the train of her dreams and drew 
 the attention of those present away from her. She had 
 tried her novels, but the most exciting now failed to fix 
 her thoughts. The page swam before her eyes, a confusion 
 of white and black dots, the book in a few minutes would 
 fall upon her lap, and she would relapse again into think- 
 ing of what Dick would say to her, and of the hours that 
 still separated them. On Sunday, without knowing why, 
 she insisted on attending all the services. Ralph in no 
 way cared for this excessive devotion, and he proposed to 
 take her for a walk in the afternoon, but she preferred to 
 accompany Mrs. Ede to church. 
 
 The solemnity of the place exalted her spirits, and it 
 loosened the tension of her thoughts to raise her voice in 
 the hymns. And in walking back the old woman's gabble 
 was pleasant to listen to ; it filled her ears with a murmur 
 of meaningless sound. But when they arrived at home the 
 peace of mind she had gained was seriously disturbed by 
 the discovery of Dick's portmanteau, which was found 
 lying at the foot of the stairs. Ralph explained that he 
 had taken it in, and was waiting for some one to help him 
 upstairs with it. Never did a woman regret the time she 
 had spent in devotional exercises more than did Kate, and 
 even the certitude that she would take him up his break- 
 fast next morning seemed to her but a poor consolation. 
 " And I have missed seeing him. Oh ! how stupid, how 
 stupid ! I thought he wouldn't be here till Monday," she 
 whispered to herself a thousand times as she arranged his 
 room and put fresh sheets on his bed. He had told Ralph 
 that he had a lot of business to do with the acting manager, 
 and would not return before they went up to prayers ; still 
 Kate did not lose hope, and on the off chance that he might 
 feel tired ofter his journey, and come home earlier than he 
 expected, she endeavored to prolong the conversation after 
 supper. By turns she spoke to Mrs. Ede of the sermons 
 of the day, and to Ralph of the possibilities of enlarging 
 their shop-front. But the old lady grew restive when she 
 was forced to hear how the actor was to send them new 
 fashions from London, as did Ralph when the conversa- 
 tion turned on the relative merits of the morning and
 
 130 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 afternoon sermon. It was the old story of the goat and the 
 cabbage — each is uneasy in the other's company; and even 
 before the usual time mother and son agreed that it would 
 be better to say prayers and get to bed. 
 
 Kate would have given anything to see Dick that night, 
 and she lay awake for hours listening for the sound of the 
 well-known heavy footstep. At last it came, tramp, tramp, 
 a dull, heavy noisy flapping through the dark silence of 
 the house. She trembled, fearing that he would, mistaking 
 the door, come into their room; if he did, she felt she 
 would die of shame. The footsteps approached nearer and 
 nearer; her husband was snoring loudly, and, casting a 
 glance at him, she wondered if she should have time to 
 push the bolt to. Immediately after, Dick stumbled up 
 the steps into his room, leaving her free to fall back upon 
 her pillow; and, hugging the thought that he was again 
 under her roof, dream of their meeting in the morning. 
 
 Kate had counted a great deal on the pleasure of this 
 meeting, and she had taken some trouble in considering 
 what his first look would be when she carried in the break- 
 fast tray. She was, however, disappointed in all her imag- 
 inings. The duty of taking up the hot water to the lodgers 
 devolved upon Mrs. Ede, it not being considered proper 
 for Kate to go into a gentleman's room; but on this occa- 
 sion, Mrs. Ede being out, and Ralph in bed, as Dick con- 
 tinued ringing, there was nothing for it but to fill a jug 
 and carry it up to him. He was asleep, or rather dozing, 
 when she entered, and evidently mistaking her for Mrs. 
 Ede, did not open his eyes. Congratulating herself, and 
 hoping to pass away unperceived, Kate glided to the wash- 
 hand-stand, and put down the jug. But the clink of the 
 delf caused him to look round. 
 
 " Oh ! is that you, Kate ? " he said, brushing aside with a 
 wave of his bare arm his frizzly hair. " I didn't expect to 
 see so pretty a sight first thing in the morning. And how 
 have you been ? " 
 
 " I am very well, thank you, sir," Kate replied, retreat- 
 ing. 
 
 " Well, I don't see why you should run away like that. 
 What have I done to offend you? You know," he said,
 
 A Mummer's Wife 131 
 
 lowering his voice to a confidential whisper, "I didn't 
 write to you about the poetry you sent me (at least I sup- 
 pose it was from you, it had the Hanley post-mark; if it 
 wasn't I'll burn it), because I was afraid that your old 
 mother or your husband might get hold of my letter." 
 
 " I must go away now, sir ; your hot water is there," she 
 said, looking nervously towards the door, which was ajar. 
 
 " But tell me, wasn't it you who sent me the verses ? I 
 have them here, and I brought you a little something, I 
 won't tell you what, in return." 
 
 " I can't talk to you now," said Kate, casting on him 
 one swift glance of mingled admiration and love. Al- 
 though somewhat inclined to corpulence, he was a fine 
 man, and looked a tower of strength as he lay tossed back 
 on the pillows, his big arms and thick brown throat bare. 
 A flush rose to her cheeks when he said that he had brought 
 her a little something ; her wildest dreams had not reached 
 further than a hope that she was not quite forgotten. It 
 was delicious to know that he did not utterly despise her 
 poetry, that he had it by him. Nevertheless, it was impos- 
 sible to stop talking to him now, and hoping to make him 
 understand her position, she said, raising her voice : 
 
 " And what can I get you for breakfast, sir ? Would you 
 like an omelette?" 
 
 " Oh, I sha'n't be able to wait for breakfast ; I have to be 
 up at our acting manager's by nine o'clock. What time is 
 it now ? " 
 
 " I think it's just going the half-hour, sir." 
 
 " Oh, then, I have lots of time yet," replied Dick, settling 
 himself in a way that relieved Kate of all apprehension that 
 he was going to spring out before her on the floor. 
 
 " Then shall I get you breakfast, sir ? " 
 
 " No, thanks, I sha'n't have time for that ; I shall have 
 something to eat up at Haye's. But tell me, is there anyone 
 listening ? " he said, lowering his voice again. " I want to 
 speak to you now particularly, for I am afraid I shall be out 
 all day." 
 
 Afraid that her husband might overhear her, Kate made 
 a sign in the negative, and whispered — " To-morrow at 
 breakfast."
 
 132 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 Although the thought that he had a present for her made 
 her heart beat with delight, Kate was not satisfied with this 
 interview. She had not imagined it like this. There was a 
 vague idea of something pretty, something coquettish asso- 
 ciated in her mind with carrying in his breakfast tray 
 (doubtless a souvenir of the ribbon-bedecked chambermaids 
 she had read of in novels), which was absent in the more 
 menial office of taking in his hot water. Besides, had he 
 not told her that he was going to be out all day? 
 
 The week he was going to remain with them had at first 
 appeared to her like a long vista of days to the end of which 
 she could not quite see. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday 
 she had dotted over with little plans ; Thursday and Friday 
 she knew nothing of. Saturday? Well, there was just a 
 possibility that he might not go away without kissing her. 
 For this thought she felt irritated with herself, but she 
 could not rid herself of it ; a bitter sense of voluptuousness 
 burnt the while at the bottom of her heart, and in a sort 
 of deaf anger she railed again all things. Sunday she had 
 missed him, and Monday had ended as abruptly as a barren 
 nut. Even the magic words that he had brought her a 
 present could not compensate for the vague sense of dis- 
 appointment, and Miss Henders interminable questions 
 nearly drove her mad, and she already despaired of being 
 able to go to the theatre. Nothing seemed to be going 
 right. It wasn't this she had expected, but something 
 totally different. Even the little gold earrings which Dick 
 took out of a velvet case and wanted to put into her ears 
 only added a bitterer drop to her cup. All she could do 
 was to hide them away where no one could find them. It 
 tortured her to have to tell him that she could not wear 
 them, and the kiss that he would ask for, and she could not 
 refuse, seemed only a mockery. He was going away on 
 Sunday, and this time she did not know when he would re- 
 turn. In addition to all these bitter disappointments, she 
 found herself obliged to go a long walk on Tuesday after- 
 noon to see a lady who had written to her about a dress. 
 She did not get home until after six, and then it was only 
 to learn that Mr. Lennox had been about the house all day, 
 idling, talking to Ralph in the shop — that they had gone
 
 A Mummer's Wife 133 
 
 off to the theatre together. Mrs. Ede was more than indig- 
 nant, and when the little man was brought home at night, 
 speaking painfully in little short gasps, she declared that it 
 was a judgment upon him. Next day he was unable to 
 leave his room. When Dick was told what had happened 
 he manifested much concern, and insisted on seeing the 
 patient. Indeed, the sympathy he showed was so marked 
 that Kate at first was tempted to doubt its sincerity. But 
 she was wrong. Dick was truly sorry for poor Ealph, and 
 he sat a long time with him, thinking what could be done 
 to relieve him. He laid all the blame at his own door. He 
 ought never to have kept a person liable to such a disease 
 out so late at night. There was a particular chair in which 
 Ralph always sat when he was affected with his asthma. 
 It had a rail on which he could place his feet, and thus 
 lift one knee almost on to a level with his chest; and in this 
 position, his head on his hand, he would remain for hours 
 groaning and wheezing. Dick watched him with an expres- 
 sion of the most genuine sorrow on his big face. So clear 
 was it that he regretted what he had done that for a mo- 
 ment even Mrs. Ede's heart was softened towards him. 
 But the thaw was only momentary; she froze again into 
 stone when he remarked that it was a pity that Mr. Ede 
 was ill, for they were going to play Madame Angot on 
 Thursday night, and he wanted them all to come. Ralph's 
 vanity was immensely flattered, and resolved not to be 
 behind-hand in civility, he declared between his gasps that 
 no one should be disappointed on his account — that he 
 would feel highly complimented by Mr. Lennox's taking 
 Mrs. Ede to the theatre. Kate blushed violently, but Dick 
 seemed in no way put out, and on the spot it was arranged 
 that Kate and Miss Hender should go together on Thurs- 
 day night to see Madame Angot. 
 
 Suppressing her emotion as well as she could, Kate took 
 the first opportunity of getting out of the room and run- 
 ning downstairs to tell Miss Hender of the good news. 
 
 She felt that she must die if any accident happened to 
 rob her of this little pleasure. She had endured enough in 
 the way of restraint, and could endure no more. But noth- 
 ing would occur. All that was required of her was to as-
 
 134 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 sume an air of indifference, and not betray herself to Mrs. 
 Ede, whom she suspected of watching her. But her ex- 
 citement rendered her nervous, and Kate found the calm 
 exterior she was so desirous of imposing on herself difficult 
 to maintain. The uncertainty of her husband's temper 
 terrified her. It was liable at any moment to change, and 
 on the night in question he might order her not to leave 
 the house. If so, she asked herself if she would have the 
 courage to disobey him? The answer slipped from her: it 
 was impossible for her to fix her attention on anything; 
 and although she had a press of work on her hands, she 
 availed herself of every occasion to escape to the kitchen, 
 where she might talk to Lizzie and Annie about the play, 
 and explain to them the meaning of the poster, which she 
 now understood thoroughly. Their childish looks and ques- 
 tions soothed the emotions that were burning within her. 
 
 Thursday morning especially seemed interminable, but 
 at last the long-watched clock on the staircase struck the 
 wished-for hour, and still settling their bonnet-strings, 
 Kate and Miss Hender strolled in the direction of the 
 theatre. The evening was dry and clear, and beyond Stoke, 
 over an embrasure of the hills, the sun was setting in a red 
 and yellow mist. The streets were full of people; and 
 where Piccadilly opens into the market-place, groups and 
 couples of factory girls were eagerly talking, some stretch- 
 ing forward in a pose that showed a lost profile; others, 
 graver of face, walking straight as reeds, with their hands 
 on their right hips, the palms flat, and the fingers half en- 
 circling the narrow waists. 
 
 " How deuced glad you must be to get out," said Miss 
 Hender. " To be cooped up in the way you are ! I couldn't 
 stand it." 
 
 " Well, you see, I can enjoy myself all the more when I 
 do get out." 
 
 Kate would have liked to answer more tartly, but, on 
 second thoughts, she decided it was not worth while. It 
 bored her to be reminded of the humdrum life she led, and 
 to be told perpetually that it was extraordinary that she 
 had been to the theatre only twice in her life. Of this fact 
 she now felt deeply ashamed, particularly when it was
 
 A Mummer's Wife 135 
 
 mentioned in Dick's presence; and for some time back she 
 had been secretly determining to reform her life in the way 
 of its pleasures. 
 
 " We're too soon," said Miss Hender, breaking in jauntily 
 on Kate's reflections ; " the doors aren't open yet." 
 
 " I can see that." 
 
 " But what are you so cross about ? " asked Miss Hender, 
 who was not aware of what was passing in her mistress's 
 mind. 
 
 " I'm cross about nothing at all. But how long shall we 
 have to wait? Mr. Lennox said he'd meet us here, didn't 
 he?" 
 
 " Oh, he can't be long now, for here comes Wentworth 
 with the keys to open the doors." 
 
 The street they were in was wide. At the far end it 
 branched to the right and left rectangularly. Opposite 
 were large flat walls, red in color, and roofed like a barn, 
 and before one black doorway some fifty or sixty people had 
 collected. The manager pushed his way through the crowd, 
 and soon after, like a snake into a hole, the line began 
 to disappear. Miss Hender explained that this was the 
 way to the pit, and that the stage entrance was what Kate 
 took for a cellar. A young man with a big nose, whom she 
 recognized as Mr. Montgomery, stared at them as he passed ; 
 then came two ladies — Miss Leslie and Miss Beaumont. 
 Dick did not appear for some time after, but at last the big 
 hat was seen coming along. Although, as usual, in a great 
 hurry, he was apparently much pleased to see them, and he 
 offered Kate his arm and conducted her across the street 
 into the theatre. 
 
 " You're a bit early, you know. The curtein doesn't go 
 up for haif-an-hour yet," he said, as they ascended a high 
 flight of steps, at the top of which sat a woman with tickets 
 in her hand. 
 
 " We were afraid of being too late." 
 
 " It was very good of you to come. 1 hope you will have 
 a pleasant evening; it would be quite a treat to act when 
 you were in the house." 
 
 " But aren't you going to act, sir ? " 
 
 " You mustn't call me sir ; everybody calls me Dick ; and
 
 136 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 I don't know anyone who has a better right to do so than 
 you." 
 
 " But aren't you going to act, Di ? I can't say it." 
 
 " I don't call it acting. I come on in the first act. I 
 just do that to save the salary, for, you know, I have an 
 interest in the tour." 
 
 Kate had no idea as to what was meant by having " an 
 interest in the tour," and fearing to waste her present hap- 
 piness in questions, she did not ask. Her attention was 
 concentrated on the big man by her side, and her observa- 
 tion of all things about her was as if diffused, and gave her 
 no exact idea of their extent or character. She scarcely 
 knew she was in a theatre, and had as yet perceived neither 
 the star-light nor the drop-curtain. Dick spoke to her of 
 herself, of himself; but he said nothing that recalled any 
 of the realities of her life, and when he suddenly lifted his 
 hand from hers and whispered, " Here comes Miss Hender. 
 We mustn't appear too intimate before her," she exper- 
 ienced the sensation of one awaking out of a most delicious 
 dream. 
 
 Immediately after Miss Hender had cast a last retort at 
 the two men with whom she was chaffing, and descending 
 through the chairs, said — 
 
 " Mr. Lennox, you are wanted behind." 
 
 Promising to see them again when the act was over, Dick 
 hastened away, and Miss Hender, after settling herself in 
 her chair, looked at Kate in a way which said as distinctlv 
 as words, " Well, my young woman, you do go it when 
 you're out on the loose." But she refrained from putting 
 her thoughts into words, possibly because she feared to turn 
 her mistress from what she considered, too obviously indeed, 
 to be the right path. 
 
 They were sitting in the middle division of a gallery 
 divided into three parts. The brown twilight was unbroken 
 except by the yellow-painted backs of the chairs; and a 
 series of mirrors, enframed in black wood, decorated the 
 walls, and reflected monotonously different small corners of 
 the house. Only a dozen or fifteen people had as yet come 
 in, and they moved about like melancholy shades ; or, when 
 sitting still, seemed like ink-spots on a dark background.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 137 
 
 Kate and Miss Hender gazed into the night of the pit, 
 which extended to the line of the orchestra. Through this 
 huge space an agitated roll progressed in one direction, 
 and a darkness similar to that seen at sea slumbered over 
 the heads of the people. These could not readily be dis- 
 tinguished, but a bald head or a bunch of yellow flowers 
 in a woman's bonnet appeared for an instant like the crest 
 of a wave. Overhead the darkness was still more sombre ; a 
 dozen pale jets of a miserable iron gas-fixing hanging out of 
 the tenebrous shadows of the roof struggled in the middle 
 gloom, leaving the outlines of the muses that decorated the 
 cone of this warehouse-looking theatre as undefinable as the 
 silhouettes of the shopkeepers in the pit. But if there was 
 not sufficient light whereby to examine the figures on the 
 roof, the blue of the drop-curtain triumphed over every 
 shadow. This picture was made up of a lake bluer than 
 anjihing ever seen, except the sky above it; the boats were 
 in rich brown, and the sailors seemed to wear live coals of 
 fire in lieu of caps on their heads. 
 
 Kate had not been to the theatre since the first year 
 of her marriage. Of the story of the play she had seen per- 
 formed she preserved still a vague remembrance, although 
 all its surroundings and adjuncts were completely for- 
 gotten. Since then a rapid glance at the red house as she 
 passed up Queen Street, and an occasional dispute between 
 her mother-in-law and husband regarding the wickedness 
 he had been guilty of, in having taken his wife to such a 
 place, was all she had to keep her memory fresh on the 
 subject. But her interest was now of a different nature. 
 She had come with the man who, had she examined her 
 conscience for a moment, she would have seen already pos- 
 sessed her utterly. She had come to see him act — to see him 
 dressed in fine clothes, to hear him singing songs, saying 
 beautiful things ; she didn't know what, but something out- 
 side, beyond the limits of her experience. 
 
 To act ! Who shall explain the miracle ! The very word 
 tells us it is an untruth, and yet how quickly do we forget 
 the prosaic individuality of the actor in the poetry and the 
 silken hose of the Prince of Denmark! The intellect, at 
 least all the sense of logic, appears for the time to be in
 
 138 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 total abeyance. The mad are not more certain of the 
 actuality of their delusions. And it would seem that it is 
 not the truth nor the beauty of what is passing before our 
 eyes that so entirely fevers and passions us. The baldest 
 melodrama often wins the most tears ; the most improbable 
 farce often convulses us with the most violent laughter; 
 and if we are thus deceived, what then must have been the 
 extent and depth of the deception created in Kate's mind ? 
 She was a simple woman of the people, whose febrile and 
 vacillating imagination had on one side been crushed and 
 repressed by the circumscribing and monotonous routine 
 of her humble life, and on the other exalted bv the fervour 
 of a faith which, although it had not been able to mould her 
 character, had nevertheless endowed it with a certain ideal- 
 ism of thought; and when to these influences are added 
 the demoralising effects of hundreds of sentimental and 
 romantic stories, read in her early youth, it will be under- 
 stood with what abandonment of the senses, with what 
 alienation of the brain, Kate threw herself into the enjoy- 
 ment of this evening ; with what frenzy she waited for Dick, 
 who was going that night to act for her. 
 
 The musicians had now taken their places in the orches- 
 tra ; the discord attendant on the tuning of the instruments 
 commenced, and across the dark pit the profiles of fiddlers 
 were seen curiously bent forward, their features etched 
 darkly against the round spots of light which the reading- 
 lamps threw on the music-paper. 
 
 " They are going to begin now," said Miss Hender. 
 
 " Are they ? " replied Kate eagerly. 
 
 " Of course ; here's Montgomery." 
 
 And from under the stage the thin young man came up 
 with a swagger, pushing his glasses higher on his beak- 
 like nose. Then taking his place on the high stool, he 
 squared his shoulders, looked around, waved his stick, and 
 the sweet capricious music flowed on in all its delightful 
 suggestiveness of folly and light love. 
 
 It was now three months since the first idea of going to 
 the theatre had been suggested to Kate, and in the hours 
 of waiting the desire to possess had been laboriously, se- 
 cretly at work in her heart, and had constructed in her
 
 A Mummer's Wife 139 
 
 imagination a world of phantasmal splendor, of super- 
 human pleasure, the vague concealing veils of which were 
 now being lifted as the curtain was going up on the opera- 
 bouffe of Madame Angot. 
 
 The sparkling marriage chorus, with the fanciful peas- 
 ants and the still more fanciful bridegroom in silk, the 
 bright appearance of Clairette at the window, and the 
 sympathy awakened by her love for the devil-may-care 
 revolutionary poet, dazzled and seduced Kate like a sensual 
 dream, and in all she saw and felt there was a mingled 
 sense of nearness and remoteness, a divine concentration, 
 and an absence of her own proper individuality. Never 
 had she heard such music. How suave it was compared 
 with the austere and regular rhythm of the hymns she 
 sang in church ! The gay tripping measure of the market- 
 woman's song filled her with visions and laughter, bright 
 as the sunlight on faces of young girls dancing under 
 cherty-trees. There was an accent of insincerity in the sere- 
 nade, which troubled her as sudden cloud might the dreams 
 of the most indolent of lazzaroni, but the beseeching pas- 
 sion of the duet revealed to her sympathies for parting 
 lovers that even her favorite poetry had been impotent to 
 do. The melting chords were as molten lead poured into 
 her heart, and all her musical sensibilities rushed to her 
 head like wine ; it was only by a violent effort, full of acute 
 pain, that she saved herself from raising her voice with 
 those of the singers, and dreading a giddiness that might 
 precipitate her into the pit, she remained staring blindly 
 at the stage. 
 
 Her happiness would have been complete, if such vio- 
 lent emotions can be called happiness, had it not been for 
 Miss Hender. This young person, actuated probably by a 
 desire of displaying her knowledge, could not be prevented 
 from talking. As each actor or actress entered she ex- 
 plained their position in the company, and all she knew 
 of their habits in private life. Mr. Mortimer's dispute 
 the other night with Bill, the scene-shifter, necessitated 
 quite a little tirade against drunkenness, and as it was 
 necessary to tell of what had been said in the ladies' dress- 
 ing-room, a description of Miss Beaumont's underclothing
 
 140 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 was introduced ; it was very elegant, silk stockings and lace- 
 trimmed chemises ; whereas Miss Leslie's was declared to be 
 much plainer. Once or twice Miss Hender was asked to 
 keep quiet, but Kate did not much mind. The thunder of 
 applause which rose from a pit filled with noisy factory 
 boys and girls was accepted in good faith, and it floated 
 through her mind, elevating and exciting her emotions as 
 the roar of the breakers on the shore does the dreams of a 
 dreamer awaiting the rising of a star. But the star she was 
 expecting had not yet appeared. She had seen Miss Leslie, 
 Miss Beaumont, Joe Mortimer, and Frank Bret, and num- 
 berless other people, who had appeared in all sorts of dresses 
 and had sung all kinds of enchanting songs, but Dick was 
 nowhere to be found. She had searched vainly for him in 
 the maze of color that was being flashed before her eyes. 
 Would he appear as a king, a monk, a shepherd, or would 
 he wear a cocked-hat? She did not know, and was too 
 bewildered to think. She had a dim notion that he would 
 do something wonderful, set everything to rights — that 
 they would all bow down before him when he entered, and 
 she watched every motion of the crowd, expecting it every 
 moment to make way for him. But he did not appear, and 
 at last they all went away singing. Her heart sank within 
 her, but just when she had begun to lose hope, two men 
 rushed across the stage, and commenced to spy about and 
 make plans. At first Kate did not recognize her lover, so 
 completely was he disguised, but soon the dreadful truth 
 commenced to dawn on her. Oh, misery! Oh, horror! 
 How could this be? And she closed her eyes to shut out 
 her dreadful disappointment. Why had he done this 
 thing? She had expected a king, and had found a police- 
 man. 
 
 " There he is, there he is ! r whispered Miss Hender. 
 " Don't you see, 'tis he who does the policeman ? A French 
 policeman, you know ; he drags the bride away at the end 
 of the act." 
 
 Poor Kate felt very unhappy indeed. Her fanciful house 
 of cards had fallen down and crushed her under the ruins. 
 She felt she could no longer take an interest in anything. 
 The rest of the act was torture to her. What pleasure
 
 A Mummer's Wife 141 
 
 could it be to her to see her lover, looking hideous, drag a 
 bride away from her intended ? Had it not been for shame 
 of Miss Hender, she thought, she would have left the thea- 
 tre: the fall of the curtain closing the ugly vision came 
 as a welcome relief: and when Dick, looking no worse for 
 his impersonation of the foreign policeman, sat down by 
 her side her embarrassment was increased. 
 
 " Well, how did you like the piece, dear ? " 
 
 " Oh ! very much," returned Kate plaintively, fearing 
 she was being laughed at. 
 
 " I'm afraid you didn't," replied Dick, laying his hand 
 affectionately on hers, a movement which caused Miss Hen- 
 der to retire precipitately. Kate begged of her to stay, but 
 she said she had to speak to the manager on some business 
 which she had until now forgotten. 
 
 " Why do you want her to stay ? " said Dick, " don't you 
 like being alone with me ? " Kate answered him with a 
 look, wondering all the while what could have induced him 
 to play the part of that ugly policeman. " I'm sure you 
 didn't like the piece," he continued, " and yet I must say 
 from behind it seemed to go very well; but then there are 
 so many things you miss from the wings." 
 
 Kate understood nothing of what he said, but seeing that 
 he was terribly sincere, and fearing to pain him, she hast- 
 ened to give the piece her unqualified approbation. 
 
 " I assure you I couldn't have liked anything more, the 
 music is so pretty." 
 
 " And how did you think I looked ? It is only a small 
 part, you know, but at the same time it requires to be 
 played. If there isn't some go put into it the finale all goes 
 to pot." 
 
 Now Kate felt sure he was quizzing her, and at length she 
 said, the desire to speak her mind triumphing over her shy- 
 ness, " But why did you make yourself look like that ? It 
 wasn't a nice part, was it ? " 
 
 " It is only a trumpery bit of a thing, but it is better for 
 me to take it than have another salary on the list. In the 
 next act, you know, I come on as the captain of the guard." 
 
 " And will that be nice ? " Kate asked, her face flushing 
 at the idea of seeing her lover in a red coat.
 
 142 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 " Oh, yes, it looks well enough, but it isn't an acting 
 part. I am only on for a few minutes. I am only supposed 
 to come on in search of the conspirators. I take a turn or 
 two of the waltz with Miss Beaumont, who plays Lange, 
 and it is all over. Have you ever heard the waltz? " Kate 
 never had ; so drawing her close to him, he sang in her ear 
 the soft flowing melody. In her nervousness she passion- 
 ately squeezed his hand, and this encouraged him to say, 
 " How I wish it were you that I had to dance with ! how 
 nice it would be to hold you in my arms ! Would you like 
 to be in my arms ? " 
 
 Kate looked at him appealingly; but nothing more was 
 said, and soon after Dick remembered he had to get the 
 stage ready for the second act. As he hurried away, Miss 
 Hender appeared. She had been round to the " pub " to 
 have a drink with Bill, and had been behind talking to her 
 ladies, who were all, as she said, " full of Dick's new mash." 
 
 " They have seen you, and are as jealous as a lot of cats." 
 
 " It is very wicked of them to say there's anything 
 between Mr. Lennox and me," replied Kate, angrily. " I 
 suppose they think everybody is like themselves — a lot of 
 actresses." 
 
 Miss Hender made no answer, but she turned up her 
 
 nose at what she considered to be d insulting to the 
 
 profession. 
 
 However, in a few minutes, when her indignation evap- 
 orated, she called Kate's attention to what a splendid 
 house it was. 
 
 " I can tell you what, with a shilling pit, a sixpenny 
 gallery, and the centre and side circles pretty well full, it 
 soon runs up. There must be nigh on seventy pounds in ; 
 and that for Thursday night ! " 
 
 They were now well on in the second act. The brilliancy 
 of the " Chceur des Merveilleuses," the pleading pity of 
 " She is such a simple little thing," the quaint drollery of 
 the conspirators, had almost made Kate forget the asper- 
 sions cast on her character. The light music foamed in her 
 head like champagne, and in a whirling sense of intoxica- 
 tion a vision of Dick in a red coat passed and repassed be- 
 fore her. But for this she had to wait a long time. How-
 
 A Mummer's Wife 143 
 
 ever, at last the sounds of trumpets were heard, and those 
 on the stage cried that the soldiers were coming. Kate's 
 heart throbbed, a mist swam before her eyes, and immedi- 
 ately after came a sense of bright calm; for, in all the 
 splendor of uniform, Dick, big and stately, entered at the 
 head of a regiment of girls in red tights. The close-fitting 
 jacket had reduced his size, the top-boots gave a dignity to 
 his legs. He was doubtless a fine man ; to Kate he was more 
 than divine. Then the waltz began, the sweet undulating 
 tune he had sung in her ears, and casting a glance of ex- 
 planation in the direction of the gallery, he put his arm 
 round Miss Beaumont's waist. The action caused Kate 
 a heart-pang, but the strangeness of the scene she was wit- 
 nessing distracted her thoughts. For immediately the 
 other actors and actresses in their startling dresses selected 
 partners, and the stage seemed transformed into a wonder- 
 ful garden of color swinging to the music of a fountain, 
 which under the inspiration of the moonlight, broke from 
 its monotonous chant into rhythmical variations. Dick, 
 like a great tulip in his red uniform, turned in the middle, 
 and Miss Beaumont in her long yellow dress sprawled upon 
 him. Each time she passed in front, through her dress, 
 which was open on both sides, her thick pink legs were seen 
 to the knees, which Kate for disgust strove not to see. 
 Miss Leslie in her bride's dress bloomed a lily white, as she 
 danced with a man whose red calves and thighs seemed pro- 
 longed into his very chest. La Rivodiere cast despairing 
 glances at Lange, poor Pomponet strove to get to his bride, 
 and all the blonde wigs and black collars of the conspirators 
 were mixed amid the strange poke bonnets of the ladies, 
 and the long swallow-tailed coats, reaching almost to the 
 ground, flapped in and out of the legs of the female sol- 
 diers. Kate smiled feebly and drank in the music of the 
 waltz. It was played over again ; like a caged canary's song 
 it haunted Clariette's orange-blossoms, like the voluptuous 
 thrill of a nightingale singing in a rose-garden it flowed 
 about Lange's heavy draperies and glistening bosom, like 
 the varied chant of the mocking bird it came from under 
 Ange Pitou's cocked-hat. It was sung separately and in 
 unison, and it penetrated, winding and unwinding itself.
 
 144 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 into the deepest recesses with the long undulations of a 
 beautiful snake and the mystery of a graceful cat. It 
 went and it came, stretching forth invisible hands, as might 
 sirens leaning out of blue ocean waters; it whispered, as 
 they might, of fair pleasure places where scent, and music, 
 and love are one, where lovers never grow weary, and 
 where kisses endure for ever. She was conscious of deep 
 self-contentment, of dreamy idleness, of sad languor, and 
 the charm to which she abandoned herself resembled the 
 enervations of a beautiful climate, the floating softness of 
 a church, and she yearned for her lover and the fanciful 
 life of which he was the centre, as one might for some ideal 
 fatherland. On the sweet current of the music she was 
 carried far away, far beyond the great hills into a land of 
 sleep, dream, and haze, and a wonderful tenderness swam 
 within her as loose and as dim as the green sea depths that 
 a wave never stirs. She struggled, but it was only as one 
 in a dream strives to lift himself out of the power that 
 holds; and when the conductor waved his stick for the last 
 time, and the curtain came down amid deafening applause, 
 irritated and enervated, she shrank from Miss Hender, as 
 if anxious not to be wholly awakened. 
 
 The third act passed she scarcely knew how. She was 
 overborne and over tempted ; all her blood seemed to be in 
 her head and heart, and, from time to time, she was shaken 
 with quick shudderings. 
 
 When Dick came to see her she scarcely understood what 
 he said to her, and it annoyed her not to be able to answer 
 him. When the word love was pronounced she smiled, but 
 her smile was one of pain, and she could not rouse herself 
 from a sort of sad ecstasy in which she was plunged. Glad as 
 the tunes might be, there was to her a savor of cynicism in 
 all the merriment. A fathomless grief seemed to be vaguely 
 reflected therein, and occasionally it startled her happiness. 
 
 But when, like an irritating dream, the music came to 
 an end, she found herself walking in the street with Dick. 
 It was a lovely night. A large gold moon swam through 
 the clear September sky, and the streets were filled with 
 long spaces of light and shadow.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 145 
 
 " How nice it is to be here out of that hot, stuffy theatre/' 
 said Dick, putting his arm round her. 
 
 " Oh, do you think so ? I could listen to that music for- 
 ever/' 
 
 " It is pretty, isn't it ? I'm so glad you liked it. T told 
 you the waltz was lovely." 
 
 " Lovely ! I should think so. I shall never forget it." 
 
 And losing her habitual shyness in her enthusiasm, she 
 sang the first bars with her face raised towards her lover's ; 
 then gaining courage from his look of astonishment and 
 pleasure, she gave all the modulations with her full voice. 
 
 " By Jove, you have a deuced nice soprano, and a devilish 
 good ear, too. 'Pon my soul, you sing that waltz as well 
 as Beaumont." 
 
 " Oh, Dick, you mustn't laugh at me." 
 
 " I swear I'm not laughing. Sing it again, nobody's 
 listening." 
 
 They were standing in the sade of a large warehouse, 
 whose line of slates made a crescent of the full moon. The 
 silence of the street was clear as silver, and amid the re- 
 verberating yards and brickways the voice sounded as pene- 
 trating and direct as a flute. The exquisite accuracy of 
 Kate's ear enabled her to give each note its just value. 
 Dick was astonished, and he said when she had finished — 
 
 " I really don't want to flatter you, but with a little teach- 
 ing you would sing far better than Beaumont. Your ear is 
 perfect ; it is the production of the voice that wants looking 
 to. 'Tis, of course, a bit throaty." 
 
 Kate did not answer, and suffocated with secret joy, she 
 walked by Dick's side. She was conscious of having in- 
 terested him in herself as she had not done before. Now 
 he treated her as an equal. He talked to her of the dif- 
 ferent tunes, listened to what she had to say, and encour- 
 aged her to try to recall the rest of the music. At every 
 twenty yards he would stop to beg of her to repeat, and he 
 showed her how to emphasize the air of certain songs. In 
 particular he was anxious that she should learn the legend 
 of Madame Angot. And so deeply interested were they, 
 that, indifferent to time or place, they raised their voices, 
 10
 
 14G A Mummer's Wife 
 
 and went through the action of the hands on the hips and 
 shakes of the head that the song required. 
 
 " Now/* said Dick, " I'll sing the symphony, and we'll 
 go through it with all the effects — one, two, three, four, 
 ta ra ta ta ta ta ta." 
 
 But as Kate attacked the first bar it was taken up by 
 three or four male voices, the owners of which, judging by 
 the sound, could not be more than forty or fifty yards 
 away. 
 
 " Here's Montgomery, Joe Mortimer, and all that lot. I 
 wouldn't for anything be caught here with you." 
 
 " By going up to this passage we can get home in two 
 minutes." 
 
 " Can we ? Well, let's cut ; but no, they are too close on 
 us. Do you go, dear; I'll remain and tell them it was a 
 lady singing out of that window. Here, take my latchkey. 
 Off you go." 
 
 Without another word Kate fled down the alley, and 
 Dick was left to explain whatever he pleased concerning 
 the mythical lady whom he declared he had been serenad- 
 ing. 
 
 When Kate arrived home that night she lay awake for 
 hours, restlessly tossing, her brain whirling with tunes 
 and parts of tunes. The conspirators' chorus, the waltz 
 song, the legend, and a dozen disconnected fragments of 
 the opera all sang together in her ears, and under strange 
 conditions she continued to take singing lessons from Dick. 
 The profound and intimate happiness caused by the certain 
 knowledge that he loved her did not leave her, and when 
 next morning she met Miss Hender she could withhold 
 little of her secret. The desire to speak of Dick burnt her 
 like a thirst, and the whole day the women talked of love 
 and the delights thereof. During the pauses of the conver- 
 sation, and when she was not speaking, she communed 
 greedily with herself. She was dreamily satisfied, and it 
 was not until Miss Hender left her to go to the theatre, 
 that is to say to go to Dick, that she commenced to realize, 
 in all its direct brutality, the fact that on the morrow she 
 would have to bid good-bye to her lover. In the silence of 
 the front kitchen there was nothing to distract Kate's
 
 A Mummer' t Wife 147 
 
 thoughts. Her husband wheezed on the sofa, her mother- 
 in-law read the Bible, sitting bolt upright in the armchair, 
 and the shaded lamp covered the table with light. A rage 
 that seemed every moment to be getting the upper hand 
 of her burnt fiercely within her, and fearing she might 
 be provoked into shrieks or some violent manifestation of 
 temper she went to bed as early as she could. But there her 
 torments became still more intolerable. All sorts of ideas 
 and hallucinations, magnified and distorted, but rendered 
 astonishingly clear by the effects of insomnia, filled her 
 brain. She could re-see the murders she had read of in her 
 novels. Her imagination supplied details the author had not 
 dreamed of. The elopements, with all their paraphernalia of 
 moonlight and roses, came back to her as landscapes do to a 
 still lake. But these were the sweet moments of relief, divine 
 cessations of pain, from which she was cruelly awakened by 
 the certitude that in a few hours they would be separated 
 forever. An extreme nervousness took possession of her. 
 and she trembled at her own thoughts. One imperative and 
 convincing desire had swollen her heart until she seemed to 
 herself to be all heart. Other joys appeared vain, weak, 
 and unmeaning. By times, when she remembered the 
 pious, religious life she had been brought up in, she started, 
 unable to understand her present attitude of mind, and 
 then when she looked into her own soul she saw there a 
 wicked, violent woman whom she did not know, just as a 
 woman before a glass after a feverish night might fail to 
 recognize her own changed face. But notwithstanding this 
 excitement and rage, she never attempted to come to a con- 
 clusion — to mark out for herself a distinct line of con- 
 duct. She merely hopelessly and helplessly abandoned 
 herself to her suffering, and often in positive frenzy she 
 buried her head in the pillows in the hopes of shutting out 
 the sound of her husband's snores. 
 
 At last she felt him moving like one about to awake, and 
 a moment afterwards heard him say, " There's Mr. Len- 
 nox at the door ; he can't get in ; he's kicking up an awful 
 row. Do go down and open for him." 
 
 "Why don't you go yourself?" she answered, starting 
 up into a sitting position.
 
 148 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 " How am I to go ? You don't want me to catch my 
 death at that door ? " Ralph replied angrily. 
 
 Kate did not answer, but quickly tying a petticoat about 
 her, and wrapping herself in her dressing-gown, she went 
 downstairs. It was quite dark, and she had to feel her way 
 along. At last, however, she found and pulled back the 
 latch, but when the white gleam of moonlight entered she 
 retreated timidly behind the door. 
 
 " I am so sorry," said Dick, trying to see who was the 
 concealed figure, " but I forgot my latchkey." 
 
 " It does not matter," said Kate. 
 
 " Oh, it is you, dear. I have been trying to get home all 
 day to see you, but couldn't. Why didn't you come down 
 to the theatre ? " 
 
 " You know that I can't do as I like." 
 
 " Well, never mind ; don't be cross ; give me a kiss." 
 
 Kate shrunk back, but Dick took her in her arms. " You 
 were in bed, then ? " he said, chuckling. 
 
 "Yes, but you must let me go." 
 
 " I should like never to let you go again." 
 
 "But you are leaving to-morrow." 
 
 " Not unless you wish me to, dear." 
 
 Kate did not stop to consider the impossibility of his 
 fulfilling his promise, and, her heart beating, she went up- 
 stairs. On the first landing he stopped her, and laying his 
 hand on her arm, said, " And would you really be very glad 
 if I were to stay with you ? " 
 
 " Oh, you know I would, Dick." 
 
 They could not see each other. After a long silence she 
 said, " We must not stop talking here. Mrs. Ede sleeps, you 
 know, in the room at the back of the workroom, and she 
 might hear us." 
 
 " Then come into the sitting-room," said Dick, taking 
 her hands and drawing her towards him. 
 
 " Oh, I cannot." 
 
 " I love you better than any one in the world." 
 
 " No, no ; why should you iove me ? "
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 S this the stage entrance ? " 
 
 " Yes, ma'am. During the performance the real 
 stage-door is used as a pit entrance, and we pass 
 under the stage." 
 
 This explanation was given when a swaggering attitude 
 had been assumed, and a knowing wink, the countersign 
 for " Now I'm going to do something for your amusement," 
 had been bestowed on his pals. The speaker was a rough 
 man with a beard and a fez cap. He was the prominent 
 figure of a group loitering before a square hole with an 
 earthward descent, cut in the wall of the Hanley theatre. 
 
 Kate was, however, too occupied with her own thoughts 
 to notice that she was being laughed at, and she said in- 
 stantly, " I want to see Mr. Lennox ; will you tell him I'm 
 here?" 
 
 " Mr. Lennox is on the stage ; unless yer on in the piece 
 I don't see 'ow it's to be done." 
 
 At this rebuff Kate cast a circular look, full of embar- 
 rassment, on the grinning faces, but at that moment a 
 rough-looking fellow, of the same class as the speaker, 
 ascended from the cellar-like opening, and after nudging 
 his " pal," touched his cap, and said with the politeness 
 of one who had been tipped, " This way, niarm. Mr. Len- 
 nox is on the stage, but if you'll wait a minute I'll tell 
 'im yer 'ere." 
 
 At such evident signs of managerial patronage, defer- 
 entially the group made way for Kate to pass down the 
 rough, boarded way. 
 
 " Take care, marm, or yer'll slip ; very arkerd place to 
 get down, with all 'em baskets in the way. This company 
 do travel with a deal of luggage. That's Mr. Lennox's, the 
 one as yer 'and is on." 
 
 " Oh, indeed," said Kate, stopping on her way to read 
 Mr. Lennox's name on the basket.
 
 150 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 "We piles 'em 'gainst that 'ere door so as to 'ave em 
 'andy for sending down to the station ter-morrow morning. 
 But if you will remain here a moment, marm, I'll run up 
 on the stage and see if I can see 'im." 
 
 The mention made by the scene-shifter of the approach- 
 ing removal of Dick's basket struck Kate with a chill of 
 despair. She had scarcely spoken to him since last night. 
 He had been obliged to go out in the morning before break- 
 fast ; and though he had tried hard to meet her during the 
 course of the day, fate seemed to be against them. On one 
 occasion Mrs. Ede could not be got rid of; on another it 
 had so happened that she had just gone round the corner. 
 It was terrible, Kate thought, that such things should 
 happen; and towards evening her brain took fire, and she 
 resolved at all costs to see him ; and without even troubling 
 to invent an excuse to account for her absence she had 
 rushed off to the theatre. 
 
 Overhead was heard the multitudinous sound of tramp- 
 ling feet; on the right the noise of fiddles and cornets, 
 followed by the high whistling of a clarionet, pierced 
 through the open boarding. She was in a large, low-roofed 
 storeroom with an earthen floor. The wooden ceiling was 
 supported by an endless number of upright posts, which 
 gave the place the appearance of a ship. At the further 
 end there were two stone staircases leading to opposite sides 
 of the stage. In front of her were a drum and a barrel, and 
 the semi-darkness at the back was speckled over with the 
 sparkling of the gilt tinsel-stuff used in pantomimes; a 
 pair of lattice-windows, a bundle of rapiers, a cradle, and a 
 breastplate, formed a group in the centre — a broken trom- 
 bone lay useless at her feet. The soft, flaccid odor of size 
 which the scenery exhaled was suggestive of Ralph's room ; 
 and spasmodically she considered the things around her. 
 She wondered if the swords were real, what different uses 
 the tinsel-paper might be put to, until, like one rent by a 
 fierce neuralgic pain, she would awake from her dream, 
 asking herself bitterly why he did not come down to see 
 her. Then, in the pause that followed the question, she was 
 startled by a prolonged shout from the chorus. The or- 
 chestra seemed to be going mad, the drum was thumped,
 
 A Mummer's Wife 151 
 
 the cymbals were clashed, and back and forward rushed the 
 noisy feet, first one way, then the other; — a soprano voice 
 was heard for a moment clear and distinct, and then was 
 drowned immediately after in a general scream. What 
 could it mean ? Had the place taken fire ? Kate asked her- 
 self wildly. 
 
 " The finale of the act 'as begun, marm ; Mr. Lennox will 
 be hoff the stage directly." 
 
 " Has nothing happened, then ? is the ? " 
 
 The scene-shifter's look of astonishment showed Kate 
 that she was mistaken; and then Bill, for it was he, tried 
 to make himself agreeable by speaking of Miss Hender. 
 But before they had time to exchange many words, the 
 trampling and singing overheard suddenly ceased, and the 
 muffled sound of clapping and applause was heard in the 
 distance. 
 
 " There's the act," said Bill ; " he'll be down now im- 
 mediately; he'll take no call for the perliceman." 
 
 It seemed to Kate that the mention of the policeman must 
 have been meant as a sneer, but intimidated by the mystery 
 of the language in which it was couched she said nothing. 
 A moment after, a man attired in knee-breeches, with a 
 huge cravat wound several times round his throat, came 
 running down the stone staircase." 
 
 " Oh, 'ere he is," said Bill. " I'll leave yer now, marm." 
 
 " And so you found your way, dear ? " said Dick, putting 
 out his arm to draw Kate towards him. 
 
 But he looked so very strange with the great patches of 
 coarse red on his cheeks, and the deep black lines drawn 
 about his eyes, that she could not conceal her repulsion. 
 Guessing the cause of her embarrassment, he said laugh- 
 ing: 
 
 " Ah, I see you don't know me ! 'Tis a good make-up, 
 isn't it ? I took a good deal of trouble with it." 
 
 Kate made no answer ; but the sound of his voice soothed 
 her, and she leaned upon his arm. 
 
 " Give me a kiss, dear, before we go up," he said coax- 
 ingly. 
 
 Kate looked at him curiously, and then, laughing at her
 
 152 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 own foolishness, said, "Wait until you have the soldiers 
 dress on." 
 
 At the top of the staircase the piled-up side-scenes made 
 so many ways and angles that Kate had to keep close to 
 Dick for fear of getting lost. However at last they ar- 
 rived in the wings, where gaslights were burning blankly 
 on the white-washed walls. A crowd of loud-voiced, per- 
 spiring girls, in short fancy petticoats and bare necks and 
 arms, pushed their way towards, and scrambled up, mys- 
 terious and ladder-like staircases. Ange Pitou had taken 
 off his cocked-hat and was sharing a pint of beer with 
 Clairette. It being her turn to drink, she said : 
 
 " Now hold my skirts in, there's a dear ; this beer plays 
 the devil with white satin." 
 
 " What nonsense ! " replied Ange. " It isn't on to your 
 skirts it will go if you spill it, but into your bosom. Stop 
 a second, and I'll give the bottom of the pot a wipe, then 
 you'll be all right." 
 
 In the meanwhile Pomponet and La Eivodiere were en- 
 gaged in a violent quarrel. 
 
 " Just you understand," shouted Mortimer, " if you want 
 to do any clowning you had better fill your wig with saw- 
 dust. It had better be stuffed with something." 
 
 This sally was received with looks of approbation from a 
 circle of supers, who were waiting in the hopes of hearing 
 some spirited dialogue. 
 
 " Clowning ! And what can you do ? I suppose your 
 line is the legitimate. Go and play Don John again, and 
 you'll read us the notices in the morning." 
 
 "Notices! What's the use of your talking of notices! 
 You never had one, except one to quit from your landlady- 
 poor woman ! " replied Mortimer in his most nasal intona- 
 tion of voice. 
 
 Enchanted at this witticism, the supers laughed, and 
 poor Dubois would have been utterly done for if Dick had 
 not at that moment interposed. 
 
 Then the scene became more than ever fantastic. Dick, 
 in the costume of a policeman of a bygone age, keeping the 
 peace between a hideous bridegroom in white, with long 
 ringlets over his neck, and a little man Avearing a card-
 
 A Mummer's Wife 153 
 
 board skull. What did it mean? A pained sense of be- 
 wilderment, but one so clear and acute that it could not be 
 taken for a dream, was Kate's first feeling. The sweet 
 indolence, the vague mystery she had experienced, when 
 she was in the theatre on Thursday night, were replaced 
 by a glittering nearness of vision that was at once frag- 
 mentary and irritating; and, longing to shade her dazzled 
 eyes and stay her stunned ears, she withdrew into a corner. 
 The crowding chorus stared at her, and the principals, who 
 loitered in the wings, leered and whispered. Kate could 
 see that she was attracting attention, and passionately she 
 wished that the bridegroom and the baldheaded man would 
 leave off disputing, and allow Dick to come back to her. 
 But they seemed as if they would never cease talking. 
 After abusing each other in as close proximity as Dick 
 would allow them to get, they generally walked away, as 
 turkey-cocks will, but, just as a hope began to dawn that it 
 was all over, one would suddenly return and open the whole 
 argument up afresh. It was impossible to say which was 
 the worse; the bridegroom was the most offensive, but 
 Pomponet strutted and shook his bald head very aggres- 
 sively. Kate often feared that they were going to kill each 
 other ; but nothing of the kind happened, and after a deal 
 of cajolery Dick got them into their dressing-room. 
 
 ' What do you think, dear," he said, drawing her aside, 
 " if I go and make my change now ? I don't come on till 
 the end of the act, and we'll be able to talk without inter- 
 ruption till then. Besides, you say you like me better as 
 the captain of the guard." 
 
 Kate looked at him in astonishment. She had expected 
 him to explain the rights and wrongs of that terrible 
 quarrel, which so providentially had passed off without 
 bloodshed, and he seemed to have forgotten all about it. 
 
 '' But those two gentlemen — the actors — what will hap- 
 pen ? Are they going to go away ? " 
 
 " Go away ? Oh Lord, no ! They are both right and both 
 wrong. Of course it is riling to have a fellow mugging 
 behind you with his wig when you are speaking, but one 
 must go in for a bit of extra clowning on a Saturday night." 
 
 Kate knew not what to answer, and. without waiting to
 
 154 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 consider the matter further, Dick darted down a passage. 
 When he was with her it was well enough, but the moment 
 his protection was withdrawn all her old fears returned to 
 her. She did not know where to stand. The scene-shifters 
 had come to carry away the scenes that were piled up in 
 her corner, and one of the huge slips had nearly fallen 
 on her. A troop of girls in single colored gowns and poke 
 bonnets had stopped to stare at her. She remembered their 
 appearance from Thursday, but she had not seen then their 
 vulgar, everyday eyes, nor heard until now their coarse, 
 everyday laughs and jokes. Amid this group Lange, fat 
 and lumpy, perorated. She was abusing Hanley. 
 
 " The most beastly place I ever was in, my dear. I al- 
 ways dread the week here. Just look round the house. I 
 don't believe there's a man in front who has a quid in his 
 pocket. Now at Liverpool there are lots of nice men. You 
 should have seen the things I had sent me when I was there 
 with Harrington's company; and the bouquets. There 
 were flowers left for me every day." 
 
 What all this meant Kate did not know, and she did not 
 care to guess. For a moment the strange world she found 
 herself in had distracted her thoughts, but it could do so 
 no longer; no, not if it were ten times as strange. What 
 did she care for these actresses? What was it to her what 
 they said or what they thought of her? She had come to 
 look after her lover; that was her business, and that only. 
 He was going away to-morrow, and they had arranged noth- 
 ing! It was that that was terrible. She did not know 
 whether he was going to remain, or if he expected her to 
 follow with him, and the uncertainty, the delay, irritated 
 and maddened her. She hated the people around her; she 
 hated them for their laughter, for their fine clothes; she 
 hated them above all, because they were all calling for him. 
 It was Mr. Lennox here and Dick there. What did they 
 want with him ? Could they do nothing without him ? It 
 seemed to her that they were all mocking her, and she 
 hated them for it. 
 
 The stage was now full of women. The men stood in the 
 wings or ran to the ends of distant passages and called 
 " Dick, Dick, Dick."
 
 A Mummer's Wife 155 
 
 The orchestra had ceased playing, and the noise in front 
 of the curtain was growing every moment angrier and 
 louder. 
 
 At last Dick appeared, looking splendid in red tights 
 and Hessian boots. Bushing on the stage he caught hold 
 of two or three girls, changed their places, peeped to see 
 if Montgomery was all right, and then gave the signal to 
 ring up. 
 
 But once the curtain was raised, he was surrounded by 
 half-a-dozen persons, who all wanted to speak to him. Rid- 
 ding himself of them, he contrived to get to Kate's side, but 
 they had not exchanged half-a-dozen words before the pro- 
 prietor asked if he could " have a moment." Then Miss 
 Hender turned up, and begged of Kate to come and see the 
 dressing-rooms, but fearing to miss him she declared she 
 preferred to stay where she was. Nevertheless it was ditii- 
 cult not to listen to her friend's explanations as to what 
 was passing on the stage, and in one of these unguarded 
 moments Dick disappeared. It was heartbreaking, but she 
 could do nothing but wait until he came back. This was 
 not for at least ten minutes, and Kate had a terrible time 
 of it. Like an iron, the idea that she was about to lose her 
 lover forced itself deeper into her heart. The fate of her 
 life was hanging in the balance, and the few words that 
 were to decide it were, time after time, by things of no 
 importance, being delayed. Dick, who had now returned, 
 was talking with the gasmen, who wanted to know if the 
 extra " hand " he had engaged was to be paid by the com- 
 pany or the management. It was maddening. Never in 
 her life had she felt so miserable. Every now and again 
 an actress or an actor would rush through the wings and 
 stare at her; sometimes it was the whole chorus, headed by 
 Miss Beaumont, whose rude remarks frequently reached 
 her ears. 
 
 She tried to retreat, but the rude eyes and words fol- 
 lowed her. Occasionally the voice of the prompter was 
 heard, " Now then, ladies, silence if you please; I can't 
 hear what's being said on the stage." But no one listened 
 to him. Like animals in a fair, they continued to crush 
 and to crowd in the passage, between the wings and the
 
 156 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 whitewashed wall. A tall, fat girl stood close by; her 
 hand was on her sword, which she slapped slowly against 
 her thighs. Kate quailed beneath her glance, and shrank 
 back disgusted. The odor of hair, cheap scent, necks, bosoms, 
 and arms, was overpowering, and to Kate's sense of modesty 
 there was something revolting in this loud display of body. 
 But a bugle call was soon sounded in the orchestra, and 
 this was the signal for much noise and bustle. The con- 
 spirators rushed off the stage, threw aside their cloaks 
 and immediately after the soft curling strains of the waltz 
 were heard; then the bugle was sounded again, and the 
 girls began to tramp. 
 
 " Cue for soldiers' entrance," shouted the prompter. 
 
 " Now then, ladies, are you ready ? " cried Dick, as he 
 put himself at the head of the army. 
 
 " Yes," was murmured along the line, and Kate watched 
 the burly shoulders of her hero marching away at the 
 head of the red legs. 
 
 Tears mounted to her eyes; suddenly her grief became 
 too great for her to bear, and she burst into an uncon- 
 trollable fit of sobbing. What was she to do? she asked her- 
 self. She had been deserted. How foolishly, how wickedly 
 she had acted! But in reality her emotion was more phys- 
 ical than anything else — a passionate outburst of harassed 
 and exhausted sensibilities. At the bottom of her heart 
 she did not fear desertion so much as she would pretend to 
 herself. A woman's instinct tells her when the real wolf 
 is nigh, and listening to the melodious song of the waltz, 
 she examined her grief somewhat as she might a plaything. 
 With tears streaming down her cheeks she sang the tune 
 sadly in an undertone, and it consoled her as a cradle-song 
 might a child. It consisted of one melodious phrase, a 
 long sigh of conscious sensuality, backed up by short, crisp 
 variations that sounded like a series of little cynical laughs. 
 
 She was now left alone. Everyone was on the stage, 
 the wings were deserted ; only the gasman stood at his taps, 
 and his back was turned to her, and under the influence of 
 the music gradually the dreams of the other night began to 
 float like rosy mists through the halo of her sorrow. But 
 this was for a moment only. The gasman suddenly un-
 
 A Mummer's Wife 157 
 
 wound a rope, down came the curtain, and Kate was again 
 surrounded by a herd of females. The strangeness of the 
 costume lent them a coarseness more than their own. It 
 was horrifying to see Beaumont holding her dress above her 
 calves. The conspirators had pulled off their wigs, and 
 there was something indescribably painful in the contrast 
 their close-cut pates made with their knee-breeches, and 
 long coats of old time. Familiarity hides many of the 
 abominations of our lives from us, and we have no suspicion 
 of the truth until we change the form. The bitterness 
 or sweetness of a well-worn adage appeals to us when it is 
 clothed in new language; in the old words, its philosophy 
 would have passed unperceived. And thus it was with 
 these supers and chorus-girls. In pea-jackets and print 
 dresses their coarseness would have attracted no attention; 
 to see and judge of their animalism it was necessary to 
 disguise them in the costumes of the Directoire. 
 
 Kate shrank back mortified and enraged that this crowd 
 should be witness to her tears. 
 
 " What's she crying for ? Who is she ? " 
 
 " A spoon of Dick's," someone whispered, and the lot 
 chuckled and laughed. At last, unable to endure it any 
 longer, Kate profited by a break in the ranks to step aside, 
 and she ran through the wings towards the back of the 
 stage. There she met Dick. 
 
 " And what is the matter, dear ? " he said, drawing her 
 to him. "What is all this crying about?" 
 
 " Oh, Dick ! you shouldn't neglect me as you do. I have 
 been waiting here, amid those horrid girls, nigh an hour 
 for you, and you are talking to everybody but me." 
 
 " It wasn't my fault, dear ; I was on in the last act. They 
 couldn't have finished it without me." 
 
 " I don't know, I don't know ; but you are going away to- 
 morrow, and I shall never see you again. It is very hard 
 on me that this last night — night — that " 
 
 " Now, don't cry like that, dear. I tell you what. It 
 is impossible to talk here; everybody's after me. I'll take 
 off these things, and we'll go for a walk through the town — 
 will that do ? I know we've a lot of things to speak about." 
 
 The serious way in which he spoke this last phrase
 
 158 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 brought courage to Kate, and she strove to calm herself, 
 but she was sobbing so heavily that she could not answer, 
 
 " Well, you wait here, dear ; no one will disturb you, 
 and I sha'n't be above two minutes." 
 
 Kate nodded her head in reply, and, smiling through her 
 tears, raised her face for a kiss. 
 
 Five minutes after they were walking up the street to- 
 gether. 
 
 " And how did you get out, dear ? Did they see you ? " 
 
 " No ; Ealph is bad with his asthma, and mother is sit- 
 ting upstairs with him. I said I had some sewing to do." 
 
 " You must find it dreadful dull ; five minutes' talk with 
 the old woman gives me the blues for a week." 
 
 " It seems very stupid to me, too — at least, since I have 
 known you. Oh, Dick, Dick ! I can't bear to think you are 
 going. I shall never see you again." 
 
 " Yes you will, dear ; we'll try to manage something. 
 You know you have a nice little voice ; I could get you some- 
 thing to do. I wonder if your husband would consent to 
 your going on the stage ? " 
 
 " That's impossible ; who would do the dressmaking for 
 him ? He talks of the business, but if we were relying on 
 what we sell, we'd be starving to-morrow." 
 
 To this Dick made no answer. Now, wrapped in thought, 
 he walked with Kate hanging on his right arm, his left he 
 carried across his chest so that he might hold her hand in 
 his. She told him in brief and passionate phases how im- 
 possible it would be for her to endure her life when he went 
 away. She begged of him not to desert her ; she besought 
 of him to prolong his stay at least another week, and re- 
 fused to understand that this was utterly impossible, that 
 another company would be in Hanley on Monday morn- 
 ing. 
 
 Slowly they passed on; stopping when their talk grew 
 more than ever earnest, and facing each other they held 
 each other's hands, regardless of the jeers of the laughing 
 factory girls. 
 
 " I wouldn't kiss her to-night if I were you," said the 
 most impudent. 
 
 " Wouldn't you, indeed ? " cried two youths, who, steal-
 
 A Mummer's Wife lo'J 
 
 ing up from behind, seized two of the girls by the waists, 
 and at once administered a series of vigorous kisses. In 
 the struggle and jolting with which these embraces were 
 received Dick and Kate got pushed into the street, and this 
 kind of incident was repeated constantly. Like rabbits 
 come out to disport in the evening, the inhabitants of Han- 
 ley had come out of their brick burrows and were enjoy- 
 ing themselves in the market-place. The old men talked 
 in groups and loitered in the roadway, the young men, 
 amorously inclined, larked along the pavement. 
 
 " Let's get out of this row," said Dick. " Is there no 
 quiet street where we could talk in peace." 
 
 " There's Market Street up there. You remember, Dick 
 — where you met me, the day you took me to the potteries." 
 
 " Let's walk up there then, dear ; it will be nice to see 
 the place again. I didn't know I loved you till that morn- 
 ing." 
 
 These reminiscences were very bitter to talk of, now that 
 only a few hours of love remained to them, but for the 
 moment she said nothing. They passed the dusty square 
 of ground where, in the daytime, the children pulled at the 
 swings and the broken merry-go-rounds. Dark shadows 
 now filled the spaces, and only a few figures could be seen 
 strolling under the high walls at the back. Dick tried 
 to remember in which of the pillbox-looking houses he had 
 been recommended to seek for lodgings. It seemed to him 
 very singular that if he hadn't missed a turning he wouldn't 
 be now thinking of running away with a married woman. 
 
 Kate thought of how she had come out that eventful 
 morning with Mrs. Barnes's dress, and how she had stopped 
 to look at the hills, and was thinking of the world far be- 
 yond them, when he came up and spoke to her. And filled 
 with these half sad, half sweet recollections, they walked 
 towards the square of sky enframed in the end of the street. 
 At last, as they were approaching the summit, Dick said : 
 
 "I hope they won't miss you at home. What excuse 
 would you give for being out so late ? " 
 
 " You mean to say you want to get rid of me ! Oh, Dick, 
 Dick ! how can you be so cruel ! " 
 
 " My dear, I swear to you I never thought of such a
 
 160 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 thing. Now don't begin to cry; I assure you I was only 
 thinking of that confounded old woman. What, after all, 
 is it to you what she says ? " 
 
 " Yes, what is it to me ? Why should I care ? They only 
 make me miserable, you make me happy ; at least I should 
 be happy if I did not think I was going to lose you. Oh, 
 Dick ! you won't leave me ; tell me, tell me, that you won't 
 leave me ? " 
 
 They had now reached the exact spot where they had 
 met on that memorable day that had decided the fate at 
 least of her life. Full of sad languor, Kate clung to Dick's 
 arm, and they walked back and forwards about the grass- 
 grown mounds of cinders. 
 
 Below them lay the immense black valley, growing dim- 
 mer in the vague and melancholy mists of evening. From 
 the dream-filled opening on the left, where in the clear sun- 
 light the outlines of the Wever Hills are seen, the vapors 
 now, like a gray army of ghosts bearing with them winding- 
 sheets and cere-cloths of soft shadow, stole slowly forward. 
 In the vast calm a warm air was exhaled from this bowel 
 of the earth; already the brutal abruptness of the brick- 
 work of the distant factories was a little blended, just as 
 too hard a drawing is modulated by the passing of a neutral 
 tint over it; and the deep harmonic measures of mono- 
 chrome were broken nowhere, except by the black spire of 
 Northwood church, which pierced the one band of purple 
 that yet remained. Below it the crescent-shaped suburb 
 slept like a scaly reptile just crawled from out of its bed 
 of slime. Not a light was yet visible in its innumerable 
 windows, and as the night advanced the white gables of 
 Bagnall Rectory disappeared in the middle gloom of a 
 milk-colored fog. Up above, however, there was more light. 
 and the dark stems and lowering smoke of the chimneys 
 still contrasted with the dim background of the hills. But 
 this distinction was rapidly disappearing. A scattered veil 
 seemed to fall from the gray heights of the sky and to be 
 dragged in fragments along the valley, between the specta- 
 tors and the wide green masses of the hills. Woods and 
 fields were now blurred and confused, all distinctness, all 
 detail was lost, and the huge rolling sides seemed more than
 
 A Mummer's Wife 161 
 
 ever like the swell of some gigantic tide-wave pausing 
 before it should engulf on its onward way the Band- 
 mound constructed by some intrepid child. As Kate 
 watched the hills disappearing from her sight, she thought 
 of the influence they had exercised upon her, and she re- 
 called the imagination they had fed, the dreams they had 
 given her. But this time of tenderness did not last long; 
 the bitterness that had been for weeks past surging within 
 her against the imprisoning walls of the town rose from her 
 heart to her head, and in a gross moment of exultation she 
 remembered that never before had she looked out to the 
 horizon without seeing these huge mountain-sides barring 
 her view. Now they were passing away, and heedless of 
 Dick's questions she watched the outlines disappearing. 
 She almost trembled in fear that some miracle might stay 
 the increasing darkness, and she could not avoid thinking 
 of Joshua and the sun standing still. 
 
 At last, awakening up from her reveries, she said pas- 
 sionately, throwing her arms on his shoulder — 
 
 " But you won't desert me ? Tell me that you will take 
 me away from this horrible place. I could not bear it when 
 you were gone — I would sooner die." 
 
 This was the first time that a direct mention of an elope- 
 ment had been made. They had both been unconsciously 
 considering the agreeabilities of such an act for some time 
 past, but the consequences thereof had not occurred to 
 either party until the proposition had been put forward 
 in so many words. 
 
 " Of course I'll take you away, my dear," said Dick with 
 a distinct vision of the Divorce Court in his mind, " but 
 you know that will mean giving up everything and travel- 
 ling about the country with us, and I don't know that you 
 will like it." 
 
 " You mean that you don't love me enough to take me 
 away," cried Kate frantically. " Oh, I did not think you 
 were so cruel ! I thought you loved me better." 
 
 Passion and jealousy were now dominant in Kate, and 
 the suspicion of fear that she had at first felt at the 
 thoughts of leaving her home vanished in the rage that her
 
 165J A Mummer's Wife 
 
 lovers fancied hesitation had caused her. Clinging about 
 him, she waited for his answer. 
 
 " I'll take you away, dear, if you'll come. I never liked 
 a woman as I do you. The train-call is for ten o'clock. We 
 must contrive something. How are you to meet me at the 
 station ? " 
 
 It was Kate's turn then to hesitate. The knowledge of 
 the power of bearing children forces every woman to look 
 to her home as a bird to its nest. In the highest and lowest 
 ranks this natural instinct is counteracted by circum- 
 stances, but the whole life of the middle-class woman tends 
 to confirm it. She is rich enough to possess a home, but too 
 poor to leave it, except on the rarest occasions. Her power 
 begins and ends there ; she is unknown beyond it. She may 
 be vile or virtuous, but in either case her good or bad quali- 
 ties flourish within the threshold of her own door. 
 
 And with Kate the ties of home, or rather those of local- 
 ity were, of course, doubly strong. She had never been out 
 of the Potteries in her life; born, reared, and married she 
 had been here. Beyond the awful circle of the hills all was 
 as vague to her as beyond the sea-banks is to the oyster. 
 And not only was she going away into this unknown region, 
 without hope of ever being able to return again, but she was 
 going there to roam she did not know whither — adrift, and 
 as helpless as a tame bird freed and delivered to the enmi- 
 ties of an unknown land. Half the truth dawned upon her 
 in that moment, and lifting her eyes, she said — 
 
 " Oh, Dick ! you are asking a great deal of me. What 
 shall I do ? Never, never, never to see Hanley again ! " 
 
 " I didn't know that you cared so much about Hanley. 
 And you accused me just now of not loving you enough to 
 take you away. I think it is you who don't love me." 
 
 " Oh, Dick ! you know that I love you better than any- 
 thing in the world ! But to give up everything, never to 
 see what you have seen all your life." 
 
 " I don't think you will regret it, dear ; we'll be very 
 happy. We are going from this to Derby, and from that to 
 Blackpool, a very jolly place by the sea. We'll go out boat- 
 ing and picnicing." 
 
 Actors who are not gypsies by nature invariably marry
 
 A Mummer's Wife 163 
 
 alter a few years of travelling. The monotony of constant 
 change, the incessant veneering of the mind with new im- 
 pressions, no sooner produced than wiped out, the certain 
 breaking up of all ties that their mechanical hurry from 
 town to town entails, forces the most fickle to long to be, 
 if no more, constant to their heart's desire, and instinctively 
 leads the most volatile to dream of something stable and 
 tangible. For the travelling actor there is no society. He 
 arrives in a strange town : the discomfort of living in a 
 whirl of new lodging-houses he has probably grown accus- 
 tomed to, but the dreadful hours of inoccupation passed 
 amid fresh scenes and unfamiliar faces remain as burden- 
 some as ever. Many of his " pals " are married ; he cannot 
 intrude upon them, and therefore his only amusement or 
 distraction is a chance of conversation in a public-house. 
 These influences had been at work upon Dick for a long 
 time past. Before being placed at the head of the present 
 tour he had been playing heavy leads in Shakespearean re- 
 vivals. There everybody was married, and Dick had a tire- 
 some time of it. His recent liaison with Miss Leslie, and 
 several still more ephemeral loves with the ladies of the 
 chorus, had interested him for the time being ; but neverthe- 
 less, the recollections of the family comforts he had been 
 recently witness to remained in his mind, and now that 
 the chance of realizing a nice settled life presented itself 
 he found himself unable to resist availing himself of the 
 occasion. He was sick of being alone. Kate was a very 
 pretty woman, had a nice little soprano voice, and he was 
 sure he'd be able to get her something to do by-and-by. 
 Besides, he was very fond of her, and he was quite sure 
 they'd get on famously together. 
 
 This was the substance of his thoughts concerning Kate, 
 and he knew no more about the matter than that he loved 
 her far better than he had any one since his affair with the 
 countess, who had come thirty times to see him play the 
 part of the Indian in the Octoroon. Indolent as this man 
 was by nature, he could when the occasion required wake 
 up to fits of the most surprising energy. He had, there 
 being no need for his interference, accepted Kate's affection 
 lazily; but now, the moment there was danger of losing
 
 164 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 her, he began to bestir himself. Putting his arms quito 
 around her, with a movement that could not fail to delight 
 a woman, so full was it of softness and protective strength, 
 he said — 
 
 " You must not think about it any more, dear. I can- 
 not, I could not, leave this place without you. What is 
 your husband to you when you love me ? We shall be hap- 
 pier than you ever dreamed of being. Kiss me, darling." 
 
 Kate raised her face to his, feeling then that nothing 
 but this man concerned her in the world. 
 
 Behind them were the back-yards of a row of small 
 houses. Two or three girls stood on the doorsteps talking 
 to their admirers, and the print dresses made pale stains 
 in the gloom. Overhead the sky was murky and cold ; a few 
 stars shimmered, and a vapid moon struggled through 
 heavy masses of travelling clouds; below an immense sea 
 of purply vapor had filled full the valley. The tide of mist 
 had flowed from the lowest deeps to the highest ridges, and 
 as these were barely defined against the wide gray sky, an 
 exact image of the ocean was produced. But the imitation 
 exceeded the reality in grandeur, for the horizon's line 
 being placed high above the eye, the illusion of unbounded 
 space was perfectly realized. Otherwise the likeness was 
 complete, and so striking was it that even Dick did not 
 fail to perceive it. After a moment's contemplation he 
 said — 
 
 " You told me, dear, that you had never the sea ; well 
 the view before you is more like it than anything I ever saw 
 in my life ; that is to say, as it looks at night." 
 
 Kate did not answer at once, but at the end of a long 
 silence she said, " You mustn't laugh at me, dear Dick, but 
 I can't tell you how frightened I am at not being able to see 
 those hills. I have been watching them all my life, and 
 never lost sight of them till now." 
 
 For answer Dick kissed her, and again they relapsed into 
 contemplation. 
 
 Momentarily the spectacle grew more striking and mag- 
 nificent. Furnace-fires flashed everywhere through the 
 wide shadow-sea. For miles, on the right, on the left, they 
 sprang into existence, and then remained fixed like stars in
 
 A Mummer's Wife 165 
 
 the purple concave of night. In the foreground — that is 
 to say, in the heart of the valley — they were most numerous. 
 There were there separate lights, groups, and constellations, 
 and in lines they wandered over miles of country, becoming 
 scarcer as they ascended the hidden slopes of the hills. 
 Along the ridges they appeared like vessels passing about 
 the horizon of a vast sea. On the left Northwood's sharp 
 back was seen like the rough line of a rocky coast; on the 
 right the lights of Southwark might have been mistaken 
 for a fleet of fishing-boats riding at anchor in a dead calm. 
 The tall stems of the factory chimneys, the bottle-shaped 
 pottery-ovens, the intricate shafts of the collieries, were 
 hidden as deep in the mist as ever a city was in the sea; 
 and had there been stars overhead to account for the mul- 
 titudinous fires below, this region of man's most ceaseless 
 activity would have appeared as untrodden as any ocean 
 view that any coast-land of the north could show. 
 
 In rapt contemplation Kate watched the centres of lire 
 that burst through the evening vapors, as her own desires 
 had burst through the vague dreams that had so long en- 
 veloped her life. Like doves seeking a place to rest for the 
 night, her eyes eagerly followed the enigmatic flight of 
 the furnaces. And as these earth-stars mounted towards 
 the sky, her interest in them became more intense; it 
 throbbed in her brain even as did their reverberating lights 
 in the air, and in a sort of palsied amazement she watched 
 them as a child might a glittering flight of strange butter- 
 flies making for the sea. She even wondered for their 
 safety. At last a furnace blazed into existence high amid 
 the hills, so high that it must have been on the very last 
 verge. It seemed to Kate, in a wild moment, like a hearth 
 of pleasure and comfort that was awaiting her in a mystic 
 and unimagined country, and for some time her enamored 
 eyes and dreams caressed the distant light; but soon her 
 glance was attracted by another still further away, still 
 higher in the heavens. Then quickly her fancies followed, 
 according themselves to this pale luminary, until she saw 
 it was only a star that had risen above the hills. Humili- 
 ated, and half conscious of the indefinite allegory, she 
 sought to fix her interest in the star, but below, only sepa-
 
 166 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 rated apparently by a few feet, the earthly light blazed a 
 carnal red as if in answer defiant to the more spiritual pal- 
 lor of its heavenly sister. 
 
 Then Kate forgot her fears for the future. Her pas- 
 sionate hate of the present returned in ten times accentu- 
 ated force, and without any words of transition she flung 
 her arms upon Dick's shoulder. " Oh, yes, Dick, I'll go with 
 you. Why shouldn't I ? Are you not everything to me ? I 
 never knew what happiness was till I saw you ; I never had 
 any amusement, I never had any love; it was nothing but 
 drudgery from morning to night. Better be dead than con- 
 tinue such an existence. Oh ! you don't know what it is. 
 I have been a good wife; I have spent whole nights sitting 
 by Ralph's bedside listening to his wheezing, giving him 
 his medicines; and what did I get for it but coarseness 
 and abuse ? I never loved him, and I don't think he ever 
 loved me very much; at any rate, he has never shown it. 
 My mother and his made up the marriage, and I don't know 
 why I consented. Ah, if I hadn't I should be free now, 
 and you might marry me, and we would go away from this 
 horrible place together; far away beyond these hills that I 
 have been watching since I was a child, and that I'm sick 
 of watching. There is a beautiful country far by the sea — 
 at least, I have read there is — and we shall go there. Tell 
 me, Dick, dear, oh my darling! tell me that you'll take me 
 away." 
 
 Dick listened calmly and quietly to these passionate be- 
 seechings,and taking her in his arms he kissed her fervidly, 
 though somewhat with the air of one who deems further 
 explanation unnecessary. But when he withdrew his face 
 Kate continued, at first plaintively, but afterwards with 
 more passion — 
 
 " It is very wicked, I know it is. but I can't help myself. 
 I was brought up religiously, nobody more so, but I never 
 could think of God and forget this world like my mother 
 and Mrs. Ede. I always used to like to read tales about 
 lovers, and I used to feel miserable when they did not 
 marry in the end and live happily. But then those people 
 were good and pure, and were commanded to love each 
 other, whereas I am sinful, and shall be punished for my
 
 A Mummer's Wife 167 
 
 sin. I don't know how that will be; perhaps you will cease 
 to love me, and will abandon me. Ah, when you cease to 
 love I hope I shall die. But you will never do that, Dick ; 
 tell me that you will not. You will remember that I gave 
 up a great deal for you ; that I left my home for you ; that 
 I left everything." 
 
 Dick could not help thinking that this was a little weari- 
 some. He was very fond of Kate, and she liked him, and 
 they were going away together; so far he knew, so much 
 had been decided, and as far as he could see there the matter 
 ended. Besides, it was getting very late; the third act 
 must be now nearly over, and he had a lot of business to 
 get through. But it was difficult to suggest that they 
 should go home, for Kate, unable to control herself any 
 longer, had burst into tears, and it was necessary to console 
 her. 
 
 " Don't cry like that, dear," he said softly, " we shall be 
 far away from here to-morrow, and you will find out then 
 how well I love you." 
 
 " Oh ! do you really love me ? If I were only sure that it 
 was so." 
 
 " If I didn't love you, why should I ask you to go away 
 with me ? If I didn't love you, could I kiss you as I do ? n 
 
 These words reassured Kate, and she told passionately 
 how her love had grown upon her. 
 
 " Of course we have been very wicked, and you can't 
 respect me very much; but then you made love to me so, 
 and the music made me forget everything. It wasn't all 
 my fault, I think, and you were so different from all the 
 other men I have seen — so much more like what I imagined 
 a man should be, so much more like the heroes in the novels. 
 In the books there is, you know, always a tenor who comes 
 and sings under the windows in the moonlight, and sends 
 the lady he loves roses. You never sent me any roses, 'tis 
 true, but then there are no roses in Hanley. But then you 
 were so kind and nice, and spoke so different, and when 
 I looked at your blue eyes I couldn't help feeling I loved 
 you. I really think I knew — at least I couldn't talk to you 
 quite in the same way as I did to other men. You remem- 
 ber when I was showing you over the rooms, how you
 
 168 'A Mummer's Wife 
 
 stopped to talk to me about the pious cards Mrs. Ede had 
 hung on the wall. Well then, since then I felt that you liked 
 me. And it was so different since you came to live in the 
 house. I didn't see much of you, you were always so busy, 
 but I used to lie awake at night to hear you come in." 
 
 Dick was not in the least averse to hearing himself 
 praised, but he nevertheless found it impossible to forget 
 the accounts he had to go through with the manager before 
 leaving the town, and that his wardrobe had yet to be 
 packed. Where they were to sleep that night he hadn't a 
 notion, but that was a detail. Anyhow, it was clear they 
 were doing no good where they were and he had to get back 
 to the theatre. 
 
 " Look here, dear, I know you are very fond of me, so am 
 I of you, but I must get back to the theatre. You have no 
 idea of the business I have to get through to-night, and as 
 Ave are going away together we'll have to look out for some 
 place to put up." 
 
 This necessity for immediate action at once startled and 
 frightened her, and bursting again into a passionate fit of 
 sobbing she exclaimed — 
 
 " Oh, Dick ! this is a terrible thing you are asking me to 
 do. Oh ! what will become of me ? But do you love me ? 
 Tell me again that you do love me, and that you'll not leave 
 me." 
 
 Reassuring her with caresses and kind words, Dick drew 
 her tenderly away, and clasping him for present and future 
 protection, she allowed herself to be led. She did not 
 speak again, and she only once again looked towards the 
 hills, the misty hills that had so silently shadowed and 
 moulded the forms of her thoughts. 
 
 Like a river of flame discharging itself into an ocean 
 of fire Northwood blazed. On the right distance had 
 blended and rendered hazy the thousand lights of South- 
 wark, until it seemed like one of the luminous clouds that 
 crown the vomiting mouth of a volcano. The furnace- 
 fires had increased by tens; each dazzling line was now 
 crossed and interwoven with other lines; and through the 
 tears that blinded her eyes, Kate saw an immense sea of 
 fire and beyond nothing but unfathomable gray.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 HE morning of the following day was misty, and 
 it threatened rain. Nevertheless bright, hard 
 shafts of sunlight broke occasionally from the 
 gray bondage of the clouds, and danced over the 
 wet tiles of the roofs. One of these escaped rays had found 
 its way through the dull window of a coffee-room. The 
 silver of the cruet-stand sparkled, and a little pool of light 
 slept on a corner of the tablecloth, within a few inches of 
 Kate's impatiently moving fingers. 
 
 She looked anxiously at Dick, who, with bent head and 
 shoulders, sat eagerly devouring a fat chop. The meal 
 seemed to her interminable. While she had been unable 
 to do more than crumble a piece of bread and sip a cup of 
 tea, he had been emptying plates of crumpets and racks of 
 toast. Certain that they would never be able to reach the 
 station in time to catch the train, she felt she would go 
 mad if forced to spend another night in Hanley. Her dis- 
 tress of mind fluctuated. After a passionate appeal for 
 haste, her anxiety would slip from her, and she would 
 abandon herself to the delight of dreaming of the time when 
 she would see the landscape passing behind her, feel the wind 
 in her face, and know that she was being carried as fast as 
 steam could take her to a remote country, from whence 
 there is no returning. During these pauses in the conver- 
 sation Dick chewed the succulent meat greedily, and asked 
 himself if there would be time to put away another plate 
 of fried eggs before ten minutes to ten. To assure himself 
 on this point he had to turn to look at the clock, which was 
 behind him. The movement awaked Kate from her rev- 
 eries, and a host of nervous fears flashed upon her. 
 
 " Oh, Dick, Dick ! make haste, I beg of you ; you don't 
 know what I'm suffering. Supposing my husband was to 
 come in now and find us here, what should I do ? " 
 
 " He can't know that we are here ; the station is the first
 
 170 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 place he'd go to ; there's no use hanging about there longer 
 than we can help." 
 
 " Oh, dear, I'd give ten years of my life if we were once 
 in the train. And Mrs. Ede, what should I do if I met her ? 
 It would be worse than Kalph." 
 
 " There's no use exciting yourself like that, dear ; I'll 
 see that you don't meet anyone." 
 
 " How will you manage that ? " 
 
 " I'll tell you in the cab. I think on the whole we'd 
 better start now. Luckily we haven't much luggage to de- 
 lay us. Waiter, bring the bill and call me a cab." 
 
 Terrified as she was by the announcement that the sta- 
 tion was to be feared as the real point of danger, she never- 
 theless felt that she would prefer to brave it rather than 
 to patiently wait to be ignominiously captured as she sat 
 watching Dick finishing another plate of eggs and bacon. 
 
 " And how will you save me from meeting him should he 
 be there before us ? " Kate said to Dick as they drove away. 
 
 " I'll leave you in the cab, and I'll cut down and see if he 
 is there." 
 
 " Oh, no ; I couldn't bear to be left alone in the cab. 
 He might come from behind somewhere and find me when 
 you were gone, and that would be worse than anything. He 
 might kill me, and I should have no one to save me." 
 
 Dick made no answer to Kate's frightened fancy. He 
 was, in truth, a little puzzled to know how to act. There 
 was no getting away from the fact that it was only too 
 possible, not to say probable, that they would find Mr. Ede 
 waiting for them. Disguises, secret doors, and remem- 
 brances of heroes and heroines who had passed under their 
 watcher's nose without being perceived flashed through the 
 actor's mind; but masks and wigs are not available in rail- 
 way stations. A recollection of Falstaff reminded him of 
 the wardrobe-baskets, but a moment's reflection convinced 
 him of the impracticability of stowing Kate away in one of 
 these. He dreaded the strength of the bottom, and, besides, 
 what was to be done with the dresses ? He then thought of 
 wrapping a railway rug around his newly-acquired wife, and 
 carrying her thus concealed in his arms ; but that would not
 
 A Mummer's Wife 171 
 
 do either. Mr. Ede would be sure to ask him what he had 
 there — the feet would be sticking out. 
 
 Kate, in the meanwhile suffering agonies of mind, 
 watched the great brick roads, vistas of red turning to 
 purple on the left, spaces of pure red on the right, behind 
 them and before them high walls of pale brown melting 
 into ochre-color. The implacable reality of these mad- 
 dened her; her mind was charged with visions of green 
 fields and dreams of love that was eternal. This would be 
 hers if she could only escape. Oh, to be a few miles away 
 — only a few — and look out of the railway-carriage window 
 and see Hanley fading out of sight! For the moment she 
 knew no regret. The desire of escape and the danger she 
 ran of capture completely dominated her mind, and she was 
 conscious of nothing else. The thoughts of the man and the 
 woman did not run on similar lines, but they tended to- 
 wards the same point. For, sum the question up as they 
 would, they found themselves still face to face with the still 
 unsolved question of what they were going to do if they 
 met Mr. Ede. At length, after a long silence, Kate said : 
 
 " Oh, Dick, dear ! what shall I do if we find him waiting 
 on the platform ? You will protect me, will you not ? You 
 will not desert me ! I couldn't go back to him." 
 
 " Of course not. Let him take you away from me ? Not 
 me! If you don't want to live with him any more you 
 have a right to leave him. If he gives me any of his cheek 
 I'll knock him down." 
 
 "You won't do that, will you, dear? Remember how 
 small and weak he is ; you'd kill him. 
 
 " That's true, so I would. Well, I'm damned if I know 
 what to do ; I was never in such a fix in my life. One thing 
 is clear, you'll have to come with me even if he does kick 
 up a row and wants to get you back. It will be deuced un- 
 pleasant, and before the whole company too. Don't you 
 think that you could wait a. moment in the cab while I have 
 a look round — I won't go far." 
 
 " Oh, I'd be too afraid ! Couldn't you ask some one to 
 go for you ? " 
 
 " I'll see who's there," said Dick, twisting his neck to 
 look round the corner. " Bv Jove ! they're all there — Beau-
 
 172 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 rnont, Dolly Goddard, and that confounded bore Mortimer, 
 and Montgomery. I think I'll ask Montgomery, he's a 
 devilish good chap. We had better stop the cab here and 
 I'll call to him." 
 
 Kate consented, and a moment after the musician's im- 
 mense nose and scarecrow face was poked in the window. 
 
 " Hey, old pal, what is it ? Waiting — but — I beg " 
 
 " Never mind that," said Dick, laying his hand on the 
 young fellow's arm ; " I want you to do me a great favor. 
 I want you to cut down on the platform, and see if there's 
 a little scraggy man about the height of Dubois hanging 
 about anywhere. You can't mistake him: he has a dirty 
 dark beard that grows on his face like a bunch of grass, and 
 he's no chest, little thin shoulders, and he'd have on " 
 
 " A pair of gray trousers, and a red woollen comforter 
 round his neck," whispered Kate, feeling bitterly ashamed. 
 
 " All right," said Montgomery, " I'll spot him if he's 
 there. But you know that the train goes in ten minutes 
 or less, and Hayes says that he can't take the tickets, that 
 you have all the coin." 
 
 " So I have ; I forgot to send it round to him last night. 
 Ask him to step up here, there's a good fellow." 
 
 " Now, I bet you Hayes won't be able to get the tickets 
 right. He's perfectly useless, always boozed — nipping you 
 know." 
 
 Kate did not answer, and an uneasy silence ensued, which 
 was broken at length by the appearance of a hiccuping, 
 long-whiskered man. 
 
 "How are you, o-o-ld man. Eh! who is ? I don't 
 
 think I have the pleasure of this lady's acquaintance." 
 
 " No ? Mrs. Ede, Mr. Hayes, our acting manager. Now, 
 look here. Hayes, you go and get the tickets. I can't leave 
 this lady. Thirty-five will do." 
 
 " How thirty-five ? We travel forty-one." 
 
 " You know well enough that thirty-five is what we al- 
 ways get. Damn it, man, make haste." 
 
 " Don't damn me. New member of the eom-com-panv, 
 eh?" 
 
 ' Pll tell you all about that after, old man," said Dick, 
 leaning forward aud pretending to whisper confidentially.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 173 
 
 This satisfied the tippler, who, after pulling his silky 
 whiskers and serving Kate to another blank, drunken stare, 
 hurried off, black bag in hand. 
 
 " Confounded nuisance it is to have to deal with a fellow 
 like that. He's perfectly incapable, and he thinks he's such 
 a dab at business — and 'tis for show that he always goes 
 about with the black bag." 
 
 Kate wondered how Dick could talk about such things. 
 She was trembling, and her brain throbbed. Leaning back 
 in the cab she placed her hands before her eyes. Two min- 
 utes, maybe three, passed ; it seemed to her an eternity, and 
 then she heard Montgomery's voice crying, 
 
 " 'Tis all right. There's no such person there, I'm sure." 
 
 Kate felt her mind grow clear, and the strain on her 
 nerves was relaxed. She looked at Montgomery and read 
 in his eye that he was her friend. The glance was as cheer- 
 ing as is the song of a bird amid the wet trees when the 
 storm is over. 
 
 " Then get out, dear," said Dick, " we haven't a moment 
 to lose." 
 
 Kate jumped out on the pavement, but she hadn't walked 
 a dozen yards before she stopped panic-stricken. 
 
 " Mrs. Ede — my mother-in-law — perhaps she is there ! 
 Oh, Dick! what shall I do?" 
 
 " I know whom you mean. She isn't there. I couldn't 
 mistake, for I know her by sight." 
 
 As she hurried towards the station, Kate looked again 
 at Montgomery; their eyes met, and they felt they were 
 signing a sort of compact of friendship. For now that 
 she was really adrift in a new world, amid strange people, 
 the slight fact of his knowing her mother-in-law by 
 sight meant to her what a footprint does to a lost one in 
 a desert. 
 
 As they passed through the station they were stared at. 
 Kate was astonished at the number of people. They re- 
 minded her of a school. The girls strolled about in groups 
 and couples. Some had paired off with young men. Joe 
 Mortimer stood in the centre of the platform, and ha- 
 rangued a small crowd that had collected round him. Dick 
 smiled and nodded to everybody. Kate felt a little proud
 
 114 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 v, hen she perceived he was not ashamed of her. He did not 
 speak to her, but rushed about, dragging her after him, 
 giving orders everywhere. The gray asphalt was strewn 
 with luggage of all kinds — brown portmanteaus and huge 
 white baskets. All were labelled " Morton and Cox's Oper- 
 atic Company." The baggage-man was shouting at porters, 
 and ladies of the company ran after the baggage-man. 
 
 " We shall be off in a minute, dear," Dick whispered 
 softly in her ear, " and then " 
 
 " Whose carriage are you going in, Dick ? " said a little 
 stout man who walked with a strut and wore a hat like a 
 bishop's. 
 
 " I really don't know : I don't mind ; anywhere except 
 with the pipe-smokers. I can't stand that lot." 
 
 " Perhaps he's going to take a first-class compartment 
 with hot-water pans," remarked Mortimer. 
 
 This little speech was delivered in the usual nasal twang 
 which was supposed to convert the baldest platitudes into 
 the keenest wit, and the little group of admirers all laughed 
 consumedly. 
 
 Dick, who overheard what had been said, let his face 
 cloud, and he said, half to himself, half to Kate : — 
 
 " What a confounded fool that fellow Mortimer is ! I 
 very nearly kicked him into the orchestra at Halifax about 
 six months ago." 
 
 " What do they think of me ? " replied Kate, very fright- 
 ened. " I'm afraid they all despise me." 
 
 " Oh, nonsense. Despise you ? I should like to know 
 what for. But what compartment shall we take? You 
 know we always travel in separate cliques. Let's go with 
 Leslie and Dubois and Montgomery; they are the quietest. 
 Let me introduce you to Miss Leslie. Miss Leslie, Mrs. 
 Ede — a lady I'm escorting to Blackpool." 
 
 " I'm afraid you'll find us a very noisy lot, Mrs. Ede." 
 said Miss Leslie, in a way that made Kate feel intimate with 
 her at once. 
 
 " Now look here," exclaimed Dick, " you two talk to- 
 gether. I won't go far ; I'll be back in a minute, but I must 
 see after Hayes; if I don't he may forget all about the 
 tickets."
 
 A Mummer's Wife 175 
 
 Kate was ashamed to stop him ; and once he was gone her 
 fears of meeting her husband returned, and the strange 
 faces terrified her. They were of all sorts, and were rec- 
 ognizable by marked similarity. Miss Leslie had a bright 
 smiling face, with clear blue eyes, and a mop of dyed hair 
 peeped from under a prettily-ribboned bonnet, and Kate, 
 notwithstanding her trouble, could not help noticing how 
 beautifully cut were the plaits of her skirt, from under 
 which an arched foot in tightly buttoned leather was con- 
 stantly advanced. Miss Beaumont sported large diamonds 
 in her ears, and she wore a somewhat frayed yellow French 
 cloak which, she explained to the girls near her, particu- 
 larly to her pal, Dolly Goddard, was quite good enough for 
 travelling. The friendship between these two no one in 
 the company could understand. The knowing ones declared 
 that Dolly was Beaumont's daughter; others, who professed 
 to be more knowing, entertained other views. Dolly was 
 a tiny girl with crumpled features, who wore dresses that 
 were re-made from the big woman's cast-off garments. She 
 sang in the chorus, was in receipt of a salary of five-and- 
 twenty shillings a week, and was a favorite with everyone. 
 Around her stood a group of girls; they formed a black 
 mass of cotton, alpaca, and dirty cloth. A little on the 
 right half a dozen chorus-men talked seriously of the pos- 
 sibility of getting another drink before the train came up. 
 \ Their frayed boots and threadbare frock coats would have 
 caused them to be mistaken for street idlers, but that one 
 or two of their number exhibited patent leathers and smart 
 made-up cravats of the latest fashion. Everywhere some 
 contradiction was observed. Dubois's hat gave him the ap- 
 pearance of a bishop, his tight trousers confounded him 
 with a groom. Joe Mortimer made up very well, with his 
 set expression of face, and his long curls, for the actor 
 whose friends once believed he was a genius. But it was 
 Montgomery who had been struck the most decidedly with 
 the trade-mark that had been laid sometimes lightly, some- 
 times heavily, upon this band of travelling mummers. Al- 
 though it was clear that they were separated as much by 
 birth as they were by education, as much by fortune as they 
 were by talent, it was nevertheless curious to remark how
 
 176 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 they were united by that inexpressible something, that look 
 of unrest, that homeless air, which change of place and 
 fortune imprints upon the human vagrant. There was the 
 same difference between the worthy tradesman walking 
 with his wife at the other end of the platform, and these 
 forty-two wanderers, as there is between the firm land that 
 the peasant tills and the loose sand that the sea-wind blows. 
 Montgomery was a perfect specimen : the very tails of his 
 long Newmarket coat seemed as if they would preclude his 
 frail body from resting long in any one place, just as the 
 down of the dandelion catches the breeze and hurries the 
 floating seed away. His face was generally seen in profile, 
 for he had a knack of leaning his head to the left and right 
 as he talked, and a profile in Montgomery's case meant a 
 long nose and a side view of a pince-nez. He spoke of finales 
 and the difficulty he experienced when he first went into an 
 orchestra of beating two in a bar. Even now when he was 
 talking to Kate, who shrank back trembling at the appear- 
 ance of every fresh face on the platform, he could not 
 divest his conversation of theatrical allusions. Around the 
 unfortunate woman a circle was forming. Only Miss 
 Leslie, little Dubois, who had of course undertaken to put 
 every thing to rights, talked to her; the others stood as 
 near to her as they could, to listen and watch. The news 
 that Dick was running away with a married woman, and 
 that the husband was expected to appear every minute to 
 stop her, had gone about. It had reached even the ears of 
 the chorus-men in the refreshment-room, and they gulped 
 down their beer and hurried back to see the sport. Morti- 
 mer declared that they were going to see Dick for the first 
 time in legitimate drama, and that he wouldn't miss it for 
 the world. The joke was repeated through the groups, and 
 everyone was convulsed with laughter. Beaumont alone spoke 
 unkindly, and she whispered, and in whispers that were too 
 audible, that she couldn't understand how Dick was such a 
 fool, that they didn't want a shopwoman travelling with 
 them. These remarks did not, however, meet with much 
 approval, and the fat woman had many indignant glances 
 levelled at her. She did not seem to mind : but when Kate, 
 whose agony of mind had for some time past been growing
 
 A Mummer's Wife 177 
 
 intolerable, burst into tears, Beaumont, looking a little 
 ashamed, pressed forward to see and console. Her efforts 
 were however repulsed, and then a very pretty movement 
 of commiseration was visible in the crowd. Miss Leslie 
 pulled out a lace handkerchief which she pressed against 
 Kate's eyes, and in the gray twilight which fell through the 
 dirty glass roofing, the weeping woman walked aside with 
 her new-found friend. 
 
 Immediately after a growling noise was heard, and the 
 green-painted engine, enshrouded in its white steam, puffed 
 into sight, and at the same moment, dragging drunken Mr. 
 Hayes along with him, Dick was also seen making his way 
 towards them from the refreshment-room. 
 
 Then Kate felt glad, and almost triumphantly she dashed 
 the tears from her eyes. No one now could stop her. She 
 was going away, and with Dick, to be loved and live happy 
 forever. Beaumont was forgotten, and the fierce longing 
 for change she had been so long nourishing now completely 
 mastered her, and, with a childlike impetuosity, she rushed 
 up to her lover, and, leaning on his arm, strove to speak. 
 She could not find words for passion. 
 
 " What is it, dear ? " he said, bending towards her. 
 " What are you crying about ? " 
 
 " Oh, nothing, Dick. I'm so happy. Oh ! were we once 
 outside this station ! Where shall I get in ? " 
 
 Even if her husband did come, and she were taken back, 
 she thought that she would like to have been at least inside 
 a railway carriage. 
 
 " Get in here. Where's Montgomery? Let's have him." 
 
 " And, oh ! do ask Miss Leslie? She has been so kind to 
 me." 
 
 " Oh, yes ; she always travels with us," said Dick, stand- 
 ing at the carriage door. " Come, get in, Montgomery, and 
 do make haste, Dubois." 
 
 " But where's Bret ? " shouted some one. 
 
 " I haven't seen him," replied several voices. 
 
 " Is there any lady missing ? " asked Montgomery. 
 
 " No," replied Mortimer in the deepest nasal intonation 
 he could assume, "but I noticed a relation of the chief 
 12
 
 178 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 banker in the town in the theatre last night. Perhaps our 
 friend has had his check stopped." 
 
 Eoars of laughter greeted this sally, the relevance of 
 which no one could even faintly guess: and the guard 
 smiled as he said to the porter: 
 
 " That's Mr. Mortimer. Amusing is them theatre gentle- 
 men." Then turning to Dick, "I must start the train. 
 Your friend will be late if he don't come up jolly quick." 
 
 " Isn't it extraordinary that Bret can never be up to 
 time ? Every night there's a stage wait for him to come on 
 for the serenade," said Dick, withdrawing his head from the 
 window. 
 
 " Here 'e is, sir," said the guard. 
 
 " Come on, Bret ; you'll be late," shouted Dick. 
 
 A tall, thin man in a velvet coat, urged on by two porters, 
 was seen making his way, with a speed that was evidently 
 painful, down the platform. 
 
 " Come in here," said Dick, opening the door and haul- 
 ing the panting creature into the moving train. 
 
 Out of the dim station they passed into the bright air; 
 but it was some time before they got out of the huge ways 
 and embankments of brick that impeded on every side 
 the view. There were long lines of coal-wagons, and others 
 laden with the produce of Hanley — chimney-pots and tiles. 
 These were covered with black tarpaulin, and the impres- 
 sion produced was that of a funeral procession marching 
 through a desert whose color was red. The collieries 
 steamed above their cinder-hills, the factory chimneys 
 belched forth their filthy smoke, and looking at the passing 
 vision Kate strove to feel perfectly glad. For suddenly her 
 joy had been touched by the light, sharp wings of that sor- 
 row which is so completely a part of our nature, that we are 
 conscious of its presence even in bidding good-by to things 
 that we hate ; and as she looked out on this world of work 
 that she was leaving forever, she listened at once to the un- 
 certain trouble that mounted up through her mind, and to 
 the voices of the actors talking of comic songs and dances. 
 
 Then instinctively she put out her hand to find Dick's. 
 He was sitting beside her, and she felt happy again. At 
 these intimacies none but Frank Bret seemed in the least
 
 A Mummer's Wife 1?^ 
 
 surprised, and the laugh that made Kate blush was occa- 
 sioned by the tenor's stupid look of bewilderment. It was 
 the first time he had seen her, and the story of her elope- 
 ment he had not yet heard. His glance went from one to 
 the other, vainly demanding an explanation : to increase 
 the hilarity Dick said: 
 
 " But, by the way, Bret, what made you so late this 
 morning ? Were you down at the bank cashing a check ? " 
 
 " What are you thinking of ? There are no banks open 
 on Sunday morning," said Bret, who of course had not the 
 least idea what was meant. 
 
 The reply provoked peals of laughter from all save Miss 
 Leslie, and all possible changes were rung on the joke until 
 it became as nauseous to the rest of the company as to the 
 bewildered tenor, who bore the chaff with the dignified 
 stupidity of good looks. 
 
 They were in a third-class railway carriage. Kate sat 
 next the window, with her back to the engine; Dick was 
 beside her, Miss Leslie faced her; then came Dubois and 
 Bret, with Montgomery at the far end. 
 
 The conversation, which had fallen to the ground on the 
 expiration of the Sunday check joke, had just been re- 
 sumed. Dubois was explaining his method of delivering 
 blank verse, much to Bret's and Montgomery's amusement. 
 Dick sought to attract Miss Leslie's attention, and passing 
 his arm around Kate's waist to draw her closer, the three 
 whispered together. 
 
 " Now, I want you two to be pals," he said. " Lucy is 
 one of my oldest friends. I knew her when she was so 
 high, and it was I who gave her her first part — wasn't it, 
 Lucy?" 
 
 "Yes. Don't you remember, Dick, the first night I 
 played Florette in the Brigands? Oh ! wasn't I in a fright ! 
 And. do you remember how you pushed me on the stage 
 from the wings ? " 
 
 Leslie had a way of raising her voice as she spoke until 
 it ended in a laugh and a display of white teeth; Kate 
 thought she had never seen any one look so nice or heard 
 any one speak so sweetly. In fact she liked her better off the 
 stage than on. The others she did not yet recognize. They
 
 180 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 were still to her figures moving through an agitated dream. 
 Leslie was the first to awake to life. 
 
 The tendency of Dick's conversation was io wander; but 
 after having indulged for some time in the pleasures of 
 retrospection, returning to the subject in point, he said: 
 
 " Well, it's a bit difficult to explain. But, you see, this 
 lady, Mrs. Ede, was not very happy at home, and having 
 a nice voice — you must hear her sing some Angot — and 
 such an ear ! She never heard the waltz but once, and she 
 can give it note for note. Well, to make a long story short, 
 she thought she'd cut it, and try what she could do with 
 us." 
 
 Covered with confusion, Kate appealed to Dick to say no 
 more. 
 
 " My dear, everybody in the company," he answered, 
 " knows something about it already. Isn't it better they 
 should know the true story than to have them concocting 
 nonsense ? " 
 
 " Besides," said Miss Leslie, " what can a woman do if 
 she's unhappy at home but to leave home ? " 
 
 The philosophy of this remark was very soothing to 
 Kate's feelings, and she murmured: 
 
 "You are all very kind; but I'm afraid I've been very 
 wicked." 
 
 " Oh my ! " said Miss Leslie, laughing, " you mustn't 
 talk like that, you'll put us all to the blush." 
 
 " I wonder how such theories would suit Beaumont's 
 book?" said Dick. 
 
 Seeing how little she could understand of the ideas and 
 conversation of her present companions, Kate could not 
 help feeling a little miserable. She was the tame sparrow, 
 born and reared in captivity, who, finding the door of its 
 cage open, had spread its tiny wings and was striving to 
 fly with the swallows. She leaned back, and taking no 
 further part in the conversation, listened vaguely to Dick, 
 who explained how he and Kate had left Hanley without 
 a stitch of clothes, and would have to buy everything in 
 Derby. To be able to talk more at his ease he had begged of 
 Bret to move down a bit, and allow him to get next to 
 Leslie.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 181 
 
 The tenor, conductor, and second low comedian had 
 spread a rug over their knees, and were playing Nap. They 
 shouted, laughed, and sang, when they made or anticipated 
 making points, portions of their evening music. Kate was 
 left, therefore, to herself, and she looked out of the window. 
 
 They were passing through the most beautiful parts of 
 Staffordshire, and she saw, for the first time, the places she 
 had so often read of in her novels. It seemed to her just 
 like the spot where the lady with the oval face used to read 
 Shelley to the handsome baronet when her husband was 
 away doctoring the countryfolk. 
 
 The day was full of mist and sun. Along the edges of 
 the woods the white vapors heaved, half concealing the 
 forms of the grazing kine; and the light shadows floated 
 on the grass, long and prolonged, even as the memories that 
 were now filling the mind of this sentimental workwoman. 
 Her heart beat; and, silent with expectation, she savored 
 a joy that was ineffable. It seemed to her that she was 
 now on, or almost on. the threshold of a new life — the life 
 of which she had so long dreamed. Her lover was near her, 
 but ah. why were they not walking together, side by side, in 
 those fair grass-grown places, plucking as they went the 
 wet leaves that brushed across their way? There were 
 birds singing there; but in her imagination the clinking 
 of needles and the rustling of silk were mingled with the 
 loud thrilling of the thrushes. Then forgetting the land- 
 scape, with a sigh she set to thinking of what they were 
 saying of her at home. 
 
 She knew Mrs. Ede would refuse for a long time to be- 
 lieve; she would have the whole town searched, and when 
 it was no longer possible to entertain a doubt, she would 
 say that Kate's name must not again be mentioned in her 
 presence. Kate asked herself if it would be possible to 
 write and explain. Alas! "What could she say? It was 
 terrible to think that the old woman would forever hate 
 and detest her — her whom she had once loved so dearly. 
 As for her husband, Kate felt she did not care quite so 
 much what he thought of her ; nor, indeed, could she quite 
 imagine what the attitude of his mind would be. In turn 
 she fancied him swearing, and cursing, and sending the
 
 182 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 police after her; and then he would appear to her as a 
 sullen, morose figure, moving about the shop, growling oc- 
 casionally at his mother, and muttering from time to time 
 that he was devilish glad that his wife had gone away. She 
 would have wished him to regret her; and when she re- 
 membered the little girls, she felt the tears rise to her eyes. 
 What explanation would be given to them? Would 
 they too learn to hate her? She thought not; but 
 still they would have to give over coming to the shop — 
 there was no one now to teach them sewing. Her 
 absence would change everything. Mrs. Ede would never 
 be able to get on with Miss Hender, and even if she 
 did, neither of them knew enough of dressmaking to keep 
 the business going. What would happen then? she asked 
 herself sorrowfully. They would not be able to live upon 
 what they sold in the shop — that was a mere nothing. 
 Poor Ralph's dreams of plate-glass and lamps ! Where 
 were they now? Mrs. Ede's thirty pounds a year would 
 barely pay the rent. A vision of destruction and brokers 
 passed before her mind, and she realized for the first time 
 the immense importance of the step she had taken. Not 
 only was her own future hidden in the darkest of gulfs, 
 on whose face she could read no sentence, no word, no 
 letter, but that of those she had left behind was, through 
 her, equally plunged in obscurity. All the miseries she had 
 endured were forgotten ; she thought only of the kindnesses 
 she had received, of the quiet, certain life she might have 
 led, in and out from the shop to the front kitchen, and up 
 to her workroom. After all, that was her own. Now she 
 had nothing but this man's love. Ah! if she were to lose 
 that ! With an effort she swept the thought from her mind 
 and cast upon Dick a look of passionate entreaty. 
 
 He immediately responded, and, leaving Miss Leslie, 
 came and sat down by her. The attention was very gratify- 
 ing, and Kate knew she was blushing with pleasure. 
 Trembling with a mingled sense of fear for the future 
 and love of the present, she laid her hand upon his, and 
 said, 
 
 " Oh, Dick ! tell me that you love me a little bit, and that 
 vou won't leave me."
 
 A Mummer's Wife 183 
 
 " Leave you ! why aren't we going away together ? ' : 
 
 Leslie 6miled at the lovers ; and moving towards the card- 
 players, she placed her arm round Bret's shoulders and ex- 
 amined his hand. Then the three men raised their heads. 
 Dubois, with the cynicism of the ugly little man who has 
 ever had, both in real and fictitious life, to play the part 
 of the disdained lover, giggled, leered, and pointed over his 
 shoulder. Montgomery smiled too, but a close observer 
 would detect in him the yearnings of a young man from 
 whose plain face the falling fruit is ever invisibly lifted. 
 Bret looked round also, but his look was the indifferent 
 stare of him to whom love has come often, and he glanced 
 as idly at the picture as a worn-out gourmet would over the 
 menu of a table d'hote dinner. 
 
 A moment after all eyes were again fixed on the game, 
 and, unobserved, Dick and Kate talked from their different 
 points of view. She was anxious to hear of his unalterable 
 affection, and she sought in sentimental phrases to explain 
 how definitely her life was bound up in his. He, however, 
 was too deeply interested in thinking of how they were 
 going to manage when they got to Derby, to follow exactly 
 the thread of her argument. There was a very nice lodging 
 where he might take her, but he was puzzled to imagine 
 how he would account for their want of luggage to the land- 
 lady. Interrupting her suddenly he said, 
 
 " I can give you twenty pounds to fit yourself out. Do 
 you think you could manage with that ? " 
 
 "Manage with twenty pounds! Of course I could, on 
 half that ; you forget I can make my own dresses." 
 
 " Yes, but that'd take time, and I'd like you to look a 
 bit neat, and you forget you have to buy everything ; a trunk 
 alone will cost you three pounds." 
 
 " I'm afraid I'm putting you to a lot of expense, dear." 
 
 " Not more than you are worth. You don't know what a 
 pleasant time we shall have travellin' about; it is so tire- 
 some bein' always alone. There's no society in these coun- 
 try towns, but I sha'n't want society now." 
 
 " And do you think that you won't get tired of me ? Will 
 you never care again for any of these fine ladies ? " asked 
 Kate, turning her large voluptuous brown eyes on to Dick
 
 184 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 until they drew his lips down to hers. The kiss was deli- 
 cious, and the fear of being seen by the others, who were 
 all wrangling for the deal, rendered it unutterably thrilling. 
 
 In the tunnels which they passed through the tempta- 
 tion to repeat the experiment was irresistible, but owing to 
 Dubois's attempt to light matches it ended in failure. Dick 
 bumped his head severely against the woodwork of the car- 
 riage; Kate felt she hated the little comedian, and before 
 she recovered her temper the train began to slacken speed 
 and there were frequent calls from the windows of the dif- 
 ferent compartments for Dick. 
 
 " Is the railway company going to stand us treat this 
 journey ? " shouted Mortimer. 
 
 " Yes/' replied Dick, putting his head out, " seven the 
 last time and seven this ; we should have more than a couple 
 of quid." 
 
 When the train stopped and a voice was heard crying, 
 " All tickets here ! " he said to Dubois, Bret, and Mont- 
 gomery, " Now then, you fellows, cut off ; get Mortimer and 
 a few of the chorus-men to join you ; we are seven short." 
 
 As they ran off he continued to Miss Leslie, " I hope 
 Hayes won't bungle it ; he's got the tickets to-day." 
 
 " You shouldn't have let him take them ; you know he's 
 always more or less drunk, and may answer forty-two." 
 
 " 1 can't help it if he does ; I had something else to look 
 after at Hanley." 
 
 " Tickets ! " said the guard. 
 
 " Our acting manager has them ; he's in the end car- 
 riage." 
 
 " You know I don't want anything said about it ; Hayes 
 and I are old pals ; but it's a damned nuisance to have an 
 acting manager who's always boozed. I have to look after 
 everything even to making up the returns. But I must 
 have a look and see how he's gettin' on with the guard," 
 said Dick jumping up and putting his head out of the win- 
 dow. 
 
 After a moment or two he withdrew it and said hastily, 
 " By Jove ! there's a row on. I must go and see what's up. 
 I bet that that confounded fool Hayes has gone and done 
 somethin'."
 
 A Mummer's Wife 185 
 
 In a minute he had opened the carriage-door and was 
 hurrying down the platform. 
 
 " Oh, what is the matter ? do tell me," said Kate to Miss 
 Leslie. " I hope he won't get into any trouble." 
 
 " It's nothing at all. We never, you know, take the full 
 number of tickets, for it is impossible for the guard to 
 count us all ; and besides, there are some members who al- 
 ways run down the platform; and in that way we save a 
 good deal of coin, which is spent in drinks all round." 
 
 Kate felt for the moment like one who had been suddenly 
 struck on the head ; and in looking at Miss Leslie she could 
 not conquer an invincible feeling of repulsion which crept 
 over her. Since she had been in the train all her sensi- 
 bilities had been continually shocked. The careless matter- 
 of-fact way with which Leslie had put her arm round Bret's 
 shoulders had forced Kate to recognize more vividly than 
 she would otherwise have done the truth of her own shame, 
 and made her on more than one occasion withdraw her 
 hand from Dick's; and the levity of the conversation, al- 
 though only half understood, had both confused and fright- 
 ened her. Had it not been for the absolute presence of her 
 lover, she would have often bitterly regretted her flight 
 from home, and now the affair of the tickets, coming after a 
 day filled with complex and exhausting emotions, conjured 
 up in Kate's imaginative brain visions of thieves and bands 
 of thieves. She was beginning to cry when Miss Leslie said, 
 " You know, dear, there's no cheating in it. The company 
 provides us with a carriage, and it is all the same to them if 
 we travel five-and-thirty or forty-two."
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 HE rest of the journey was accomplished monoto- 
 nously. When Hayes' drunkenness had been com- 
 mented on, and many anecdotes told concerning 
 it, the conversation wandered into a discussion, 
 in the course of which mention was made of actors, singers, 
 theatres, prices of admission, " make-ups," stage manage- 
 ment, and music. Montgomery treated little Dubois with 
 scorn when he suggested that there never was an opera like 
 Les Cloches. Leslie and Bret were of opinion that it had 
 never been well sung in London; and Dick explained how 
 he would have made all the girls walk in procession if he 
 had had the mounting of the piece in the first instance. 
 The principal towns in England were likewise alluded to. 
 Sheffield was remarkable for the fact that Beaumont had 
 not been able to come on on the first night of the panto- 
 mime, owing to the present of a case of " fizz " and an un- 
 2oleasant letter she had received the same evening; and 
 Mortimer, who was playing a demon, had to keep gagging 
 away until they got a chorus-girl on in her place. As for 
 Birmingham, why it was difficult not to die with laughing, 
 for was it not there that Ashton, Leslie's understudy, had 
 sung the tenor's music instead of her own in the first act 
 of the Cloches; and poor so-and-so, who was playing the 
 Grenicheux, how he did look when he heard his B flat go 
 off! 
 
 " Flat," murmured Montgomery sorrowfulfy, " isn't the 
 word. I assure you it loosened every tooth in my head. I 
 broke my stick trying to stop her, but it was no b — good." 
 Then explanations of how the different pieces had been 
 produced in Paris were volunteered, and the talents of the 
 different composers were passionately discussed; and when 
 Dubois, who Kate began to perceive was the company's 
 laughing-stock, declared that he thought Offenbach too 
 polkaic, all held their sides and roared.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 187 
 
 Kate, who did not understand the allusions, nor even the 
 drift of the conversation, could scarcely help looking be- 
 wildered, or from time to time timidly putting her hand 
 out to Dick, as if she was afraid he was going to escape 
 from her. She was very glad when the train rolled into 
 Derby. 
 
 " How are you, Bill ? " said Dick, and addressing a red, 
 pimply-faced man in a round hat. " Do you think we shall 
 do good business? Have you got good places for your 
 posters ? " 
 
 " Spiffing," answered the man, as he saluted Miss Leslie. 
 " But I couldn't get you the rooms. They are let ; and, 
 between ourselves, you'll 'ave a difficulty in finding what 
 you want. This is cattle-show week, you must remember. 
 You'd better come on at once with me. I know an hotel 
 that isn't bad, and you can have first choice — Beaumont's 
 old rooms ; but you must come at once." 
 
 Kate was glad to see that Mr. Bill Williams, the agent in 
 advance, did not remember her. She, however, recognized 
 him at once as the man who had sent Dick to her house. 
 
 " Cattle-show week ! All the rooms in the town let ! " 
 cried Miss Leslie, who had overheard part of Mr. Williams's 
 whisperings. " Oh dear, I do hope that my rooms aren't 
 let. I hate going to an hotel. Let me out ; I must see about 
 them at once. Here, Frank, take hold of this bag." 
 
 " There's no use being in such a hurry ; if the rooms are 
 let they are let. What's the name of the hotel you were 
 speaking of, Williams ? " 
 
 " I forget the name, but if you don't find lodgings, I'll 
 leave you the address at the theatre," said the agent in ad- 
 vance, winking at Dick. 
 
 " You're too damned clever, Williams ; you'll be making- 
 somebody's fortune one of these days." 
 
 Kate had some difficulty in keeping close to Dick, for 
 the moment he stepped out on the platform he was sur- 
 rounded. The baggage-man had a quantity of questions 
 to ask him, and Hayes was desirous of re-explaining how 
 the ticket-collector had happened to misunderstand him. 
 Pulling his long whiskers, the acting-manager walked about 
 murmuring, " Stupid fool ! stupid darned fool ! ' : There
 
 188 r A Mummer's Wife 
 
 were, besides, some twenty young women struggling to get 
 a word with the popular fat man. With their little hands 
 laid on his arms they talked pleadingly. 
 
 " Yes, dear ; that's it," he answered kindly ; " I'll see to 
 that to-morrow. I'll try not to put you in Miss Crawford's 
 dressing-room, since you don't agree." 
 
 " And, Mr. Lennox, you will see that I'm not shoved into 
 the back row by Miss Dacre, won't you ? " 
 
 " Yes, dear ; yes, dear ; I'll see to that too ; but I must be 
 off now; and you'd better see after lodgings, I hear that 
 they are very scarce. If you aren't able to get any come up 
 to the Hen and Chickens, I hear they have rooms to let 
 there," said Dick, whose good-nature forced him to help 
 every lame dog over every stile. 
 
 " Poor little girls ! " he murmured to Williams as they 
 got into a cab, "they only have twenty-five bob a week ; one 
 can't see them robbed by landladies who can let their rooms 
 three times over." 
 
 " Just as you like," said Williams, " but you'll have the 
 hotel full of them. 
 
 Kate longed at that moment to lean her face against 
 Dick's and kiss him. Love and gratitude struggled for 
 mastery in her heart, for she now knew that she could 
 trust him, that he would not desert her and leave her to die 
 of want in the street. 
 
 As they drove through the town Dick called attention to 
 the animated appearance of the crowds, inferring thereby 
 an excellent week. Williams explained the advantages of 
 the corners he had chosen, and he pointed to his posters 
 with the air of a painter walking through a gallery with 
 visitors. 
 
 At last the cab stopped at the hotel, or rather before the 
 archway of a stone passage some four or five yards wide. 
 
 " There's no hotel here ! " 
 
 " Oh, yes, there is, and a very nice hotel, too ; the en- 
 trance is a little way up the passage." 
 
 It was an old-fashioned place — probably it had been a 
 fashionable resort for sporting squires of the beginning 
 of the century. The hall was wainscoted in yellow painted 
 wood ; on the right-hand side there was a large brown press,
 
 A Mummer's Wife L89 
 
 with glass doors, surmounted by a pair of buffalo horn ; 
 on the opposite wall hung a barometer ; and the wide, slowly 
 sloping staircase, with its low thick banisters, ascended in 
 front of the street door. The apartments were, however, 
 not furnished with archaeological correctness. A wallpaper 
 of an antique design contrasted with a modern tablecloth, 
 and the sombre red curtains were ill suited to the plate- 
 glass which had replaced the narrow windows of old time. 
 Dick did not like the dust nor the tarnish, but there being 
 no other bed and sitting-room available, a bargain was 
 soon struck, and the proprietor, after hoping that his guests 
 would be comfortable, informed them that the rule of his 
 house was that the street door was barred and locked at 
 eleven o'clock, and would be re-opened for no one. He was 
 a quiet man who kept an orderly house, and if people could 
 not manage to be in before midnight he did not care for 
 their custom. Dick, after having grumbled a bit, remem- 
 bered that the pubs closed at eleven, and as he did not 
 know any one in the town there would be no temptation to 
 stay out. Williams, who had on convenient occasions been 
 attentively examining Kate, said that he was going down 
 to the theatre, and asked if he should have the luggage 
 sent up. This was decidedly an inconvenient question, and 
 as an explanation was impossible before the hotel-keeper, 
 Dick was obliged to wish Kate good -by for the present, 
 and accompany Williams down to the theatre. 
 
 When she found herself alone, she took off her bonnet 
 mechanically, threw it on the table, and sat down in an 
 armchair by the window. Without an effort her thoughts 
 reverted to those at home. Whatever doubt there might 
 have been at first, they now knew that she had left them — 
 and forever. The last three words cost her a sigh, but 
 she was forced to admit them. Uncertainty there could 
 be none now in Ealph's and his mother's mind but that 
 she had gone off with Mr. Lennox. Yes, she had eloped ; 
 there could be no question about the fact. She had done 
 what she had so often read of in novels, but somehow it did 
 not seem at all the same thing. This was a startling dis- 
 covery to make, and Kate tried to think how in her case 
 the ideal did not correspond with the reality. Visions of
 
 190 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 tlim lords, and clinging Lady Clares, and words of unalter- 
 able affection, whispered whilst postilions cracked their 
 whips in sonorous mountain-passes, filled her mind; but 
 around her she only saw a damp, faded room, with stiff 
 mahogany furniture, and she heard only the noisy voices 
 of chorus-girls squabbling in the passages. The world is 
 forever out of tune with our desires, and although her 
 present surroundings were by many times handsomer than 
 those she had left, the sum of inward and outward contra- 
 dictions remained as evenly balanced as ever. The hazy 
 dream she had dreamed of love and elopement hal not 
 been accomplished, and the brutality of every proof of this 
 wounded her sensibilities. 
 
 But of the secret of her disappointment she was nearly 
 unconscious; and rousing herself from the torpor into 
 which she had fallen, she hoped Dick would not stop long 
 away. It was so tiresome waiting. Soon, however, Miss 
 Leslie came running upstairs. 
 
 " Dinner has been ordered for five o'clock, and we have 
 made up a party of four — you. Dick, myself, and Frank/' 
 
 " And what time is it now? " 
 
 " About four. Don't you think vou'll be able to hold 
 out till then ? " 
 
 " Oh, dear me, yes; I'm not very hungry." 
 
 " And anything you want for to-night Fll lend you.'' 
 
 " Thanks, it is awfully kind of you. Would you like to 
 come out for a walk — this room is so dismal." 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 Kate wondered why Miss Leslie was so kind to her, and 
 a little pang of jealousy entered her heart when she thought 
 that it might be for Dick's sake. Annoyed by this idea, 
 she watched them during dinner, and was delighted to see 
 that Mr. Frank Bret occupied the prima donna's entire 
 attention. She spoke, it is true, very familiarly with Dick, 
 but for the matter of that so did every one in the company. 
 Even the chorus-girls ventured occasionally to address him 
 by his Christian name. Continually he was plied with all 
 sorts and kinds of questions concerning matters theatrical. 
 Montgomery wanted to know how long it would take, dat- 
 ing from the first rehearsal, to produce a three-act opera.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 191 
 
 Beaumont could not remember if a certain burlesque 
 actress had made the acquaintance of her " mug " in '80 or 
 '81. Leslie and Bret, casting languishing glances at each 
 other, discussed eagerly the production of the voice in 
 singing. 
 
 Soon after dinner the party dispersed. Some of the men 
 wont off to the pubs, some of the ladies thought they would 
 go round and see how the other members of the company 
 were getting on. Dick and Kate went out to walk. As 
 they passed along the streets they deplored that it was 
 Sunday, and that they would not be able to supply them- 
 selves with even a brush and comb until the next morning. 
 They would have to buy everything. Stopping under 
 a lamp-post he gave her five-and-twenty pounds and told 
 her to pal with Leslie, that she was the best of the lot. It 
 seemed to her quite a little fortune, and as Dick had to go 
 to London next morning, she sent up word to Miss Leslie 
 to ask if she would come shopping with her. The idea of 
 losing her lover so soon frightened her, and had it not been 
 for the distraction that the buying of clothes afforded her 
 the week she spent in Derby would have been intolerable. 
 She did not know what she would have done. Leslie was, 
 it is true, full of laughter and good-nature. She often 
 came to sit with Kate, and on more than one occasion wont 
 out to walk with her. But there were long hours which 
 she was forced to pass alone in the gloom of the hotel sit- 
 ting-room, and as she sat making herself a strong travelling 
 dress, oppressed and trembling with thoughts, she was often 
 forced to lay down her work. Nothing, she w^as forced to 
 admit, had turned out as she had expected. Even her own 
 pow r er of loving appeared feeble in comparison to the wealth 
 of affection she had imagined herself lavishing upon him. 
 Something seemed to separate them; even when she lay 
 back and he held her in his arms, she was not as near to 
 him as she had dreamed of being. For in an inexplicable 
 and irritating way the past was mixed up with and domi- 
 nated the present. Try as she would she found it impos- 
 sible to wipe out of her mind the house in Hanley. It rose 
 before her, a dark background with touches of clear color, 
 vivid as a picture by Teniers. She saw the little girls work-
 
 192 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 ing by the luminous window with the muslin curtains 
 and the hanging pot of greenstuff. She saw the stiff -backed 
 woman moving about with plates and dishes in her hands, 
 and the invalid wheezing on the little red calico sofa. In 
 a word, the past was a tangible reality, the present to her 
 was still as vague as a dream. She could not, do what she 
 would, realize the fact that she had left forever her quiet 
 home in the Potteries, and was travelling about the country 
 with a company of strolling actors. Since she was a child 
 every hour had pointed to an accustomed duty ; her life had 
 gone round with the methodical monotony of a clock. But 
 suddenly the instrument had been allowed to run down ; now 
 the divisions of the day, which she had always considered 
 immutable as the rising and setting of the sun, remained 
 unmarked. She got up when she pleased ; even dined when 
 she liked. This relaxation of discipline prolonged time 
 to an almost infinite extent, and in her unoccupied brain 
 every thought grew distorted, and during the three horrible 
 days that her lover remained away she experienced sensa- 
 tions of trembling and giddiness. The spider that had 
 spun itself from the ceiling did not seem suspended in life 
 by a less visible thread than herself. Supposing Dick were 
 never to return. The thought was appalling, and on more 
 than one occasion she fell down on her knees to pray to be 
 preserved from such terrible misfortune. 
 
 But her hours of solitude were not the worst she had to 
 bear. Impelled by curiosity to hear all the details of the 
 elopement, and urged by an ever-present desire to say un- 
 pleasant things, Miss Beaumont paid Kate many visits. 
 Sitting with her thick legs crossed, she insinuated all she 
 dared. A direct statement she did not venture upon, but by 
 the aid of a smile and an indirect allusion it was easy to 
 suggest that love in an actor's heart is brief. As long as 
 Miss Beaumont was present Kate repressed her feelings, 
 but when she found herself alone tears flowed down her 
 cheeks, and sobs echoed through the dusty sitting-room. 
 
 It was in one of the trances of emotion that Dick 
 found her when he returned. But she was easily consoled, 
 and that night she accompanied him to the theatre. The 
 piece played was Les Cloches de Cornevilh, and, rocked to
 
 A Mummer's Wife 193 
 
 rest, she listened for three hours to the melody of the music. 
 Miss Beaumont as Germaine disappointed her, and she 
 could not understand how it was that the Marquis was not 
 in love with Serpolette. But the reality that most grossly 
 contradicted her idea was that Dick should be playing the 
 part of the Bailie; and when she saw her hero fall down in 
 the middle of the stage and heard everybody laugh at him. 
 she felt both ashamed and insulted. The romantic char- 
 acter of her mind asserted itself, and, against her will. 
 forced her to admire and invest with her sympathies the 
 purple-cloaked Marquis. Then her thoughts turned to 
 considering if she would be able to act as did any one of 
 the ladies on the stage. It did not seem to her very diffi- 
 cult. Had not Dick told her that, with a little teaching, 
 she would be able to sing as well as Beaumont ? The sad 
 expression that her face wore disappeared, and she grew 
 impatient for the piece to finish so that she might speak to 
 Dick about taking lessons. They were now in the third act, 
 and the moment the curtain was rung down she hurried 
 away, asking as she went the way to the stage-door. It 
 was by no means easy to find. She lost herself once or 
 twice in the back streets, and when she did apply at the 
 right place, the hall-keeper for a long time refused her 
 admittance. 
 
 " Do you belong to the company ? " 
 
 After a moment's hesitation Kate replied that she did 
 not; but that moment's hesitation was sufficient for the 
 porter, and he at once said, " Pass on, you'll find Mr. Len- 
 nox on the stage." 
 
 Timidly she walked up a narrow passage filled with men 
 talking at the top of their voices, and from thence made her 
 way into the wings. There she was told that Mr. Lennox 
 was up in his room, but would be down shortly. 
 
 For a moment Kate could not realize where she was, so 
 different was the stage now to what it had been whenever 
 she had seen it before. The present aspect was an entirely 
 new one. 
 
 It was now dark like a cellar, and, in the flaring light 
 that spurted from an iron gas-pipe, the stage-carpenter 
 carried rocking pieces of scenery to and fro. The audi- 
 13
 
 194 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 torium was a round blank overclouded in a deep twilight, 
 through which Kate saw the long form of a gray cat mov- 
 ing slowly round the edge of the upper boxes. 
 
 Getting into a corner so as to be out of the way of the 
 people who were walking up and down the stage, and matur- 
 ing her plans for the cultivation of her voice, she waited 
 patiently for her lover to finish dressing. This he took 
 some time to do, and when he did at length come down- 
 stairs, he was of course surrounded; everybody as usual 
 wanted to speak to him, but, gallantly offering her his arm, 
 and bending his head, he asked, in a whisper, how she liked 
 the piece, and insisted on hearing what she thought of this 
 and that part before he replied to any one of the crowd of 
 friends who in turn strove to attract his attention. This 
 was very flattering, but she was nevertheless obliged to re- 
 linquish her plan of explaining to him there and then her 
 desire of learning singing. He could not keep his mind 
 fixed on what she was saying. Mortimer was telling a 
 story at which everybody was screaming, and just at her 
 elbow Dubois and Montgomery were engaged in a violent 
 argument regarding the use of consecutive fifths. But be- 
 sides these distractions there was a tall thin man who kept 
 nudging away the whole while at Dick's elbow, begging of 
 him to come over to his place, and saying that he would 
 give him as good a glass of whiskey as he had ever tasted. 
 Who this stranger was nobody knew. Dick said he had for- 
 gotten who the man was, but that he thought he had met 
 him somewhere up in the North. But the mention of 
 liquor rendered Mortimer and Hayes indifferent to the date 
 of the introduction, and they besought of Dick to come and 
 make a night of it. 
 
 " I have been about, gentlemen : I have been in America 
 and I have been in France, and I lead a bachelor life. My 
 house is across the way, and if you'll do me the honor to 
 come in and have a glass with me, all I can say is that I 
 shall be very glad. If there is one thing I do enjoy, it is 
 the conversation of intellectual men, and after the per- 
 formance of to-night I don't see how I can do better than 
 to come to you for it." 
 
 This speech produced a visible effect among the group.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 195 
 
 Mortimer, who could not think of anything suitable to 
 say, pretended not to have heard. Dubois settled himself 
 straight, and seemed in doubt whether, to prove his intelli- 
 gence, he had not better produce his lowest note; Beau- 
 mont eyed the stranger sharply, and mentally calculated if 
 he were worth a substantial part of her hotel bill. 
 
 "But," he continued gallantly, " if I said just now that 
 I was a bachelor, it is, 1 assure you, not because I dislike 
 the sex. My solitary state is my misfortune, not my fault, 
 and if these ladies will accompany you, gentlemen, need 
 I say that I shall be charmed ? " 
 
 A murmur of satisfaction greeted these words. The in- 
 vitation was accepted forthwith, and the whole party fol- 
 lowed the tall thin man to his house. It was a small affair, 
 with a porch and green blinds, such as might be rented by 
 a well-to-do commercial traveller. The furniture was 
 mahogany and leather, and when the sideboard was opened, 
 the acrid odor of tea, and the sickly smells of stale bread 
 and rank butter were diffused through the room ; but these 
 were quickly dominated by the fumes of the malt. A bottle 
 of port was decanted for the ladies. Certainly the host did 
 his best for his company. He helped the dirty maid to 
 fetch the glasses, and he insisted on a piece of cold beef 
 being brought up from the kitchen. Then everyone made 
 themselves comfortable. Hayes drank his whiskey in silence. 
 Mortimer, as far as he could, monopolized the conversation, 
 and bored everybody by talking of the regeneration of the 
 stage. Montgomery, with his legs over the arm of an easy- 
 chair, tried to get in a word concerning the refrain of a 
 comic song he had just finished scoring. 
 
 During this part of the evening the ladies looked tired, 
 but they showed signs of coming interest when a reference 
 was made to the morality of the leading English actresses. 
 The tall thin man listened with an expression of anxious 
 interest on his face. He seemed to think that it was of the 
 most vital importance that he should not lose the thread 
 of Dubois' argument. The little man, with his bishop's hat 
 tilted over the back of his head, propounded the most 
 strange opinions, until at last, as if to clinch all he had 
 said previously, he stated emphatically that he did not he-
 
 196 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 lieve in the virtue of any woman in the world. This 
 brought them all to their feet. Dubois was declared to have 
 insulted the profession. Dick agreed it was damned bad 
 form, and Montgomery, who had a sister-in-law starring 
 in Scotland, turned purple, and refused to be appeased 
 until he was asked to accompany Bret and Leslie in a duet. 
 The thin man (as everybody now called him) said he had 
 never been so much touched in his life, a statement which 
 Beaumont did her best to justify by going to the piano and 
 singing three songs one after another. The third was 
 the signal for departure. Montgomery declared that it was 
 quite enough to have to listen to Beaumont during business 
 hours, and soon after it was discovered that Hayes had 
 fallen asleep. So, bidding the kindest of farewells to their 
 host, whom they hoped they would see the following evening 
 at the theatre, and upholding drunken Mr. Hayes between 
 the lot of them, they stumbled into the street. 
 
 It was very hard to get him along. Every ten or a dozen 
 yards he would insist on stopping in the middle of the road- 
 way to argue the value and the sincerity of the friendship 
 his comrades bore for him. Mortimer declared that he 
 would stand in a puddle all night if by so doing he might 
 hope to prove to him the depth of his trusting heart. Du- 
 bois said that to sit with him in the cold September moon- 
 light, and talk of the dear days of the past, would be bliss. 
 Striving to understand, Hayes pulled his long whiskers, 
 and stared at them blankly. But the monotony of this sort 
 of joking soon began to be felt, and the ladies proposed 
 they should walk on in front, and leave the gentlemen to 
 get their friend home as best they could. It was then that 
 Dick remembered that the hotel-keeper had told him that 
 he shut his doors at eleven o'clock, and would open them 
 again for nobody before morning. 
 
 " What are we to do ? " asked Leslie. " It is very cold." 
 
 " We'll ring him up," answered Dubois. 
 
 " But if he doesn't answer," suggested Bret. 
 
 " I'll jolly soon make him answer," said Dick. " Now 
 then, Hayes, wake up, old man, and push along." 
 
 " Pou — sh — al — ong ! How can — you — talk to me like
 
 A Mummer's Wife 197 
 
 that? Yer — yer — shunting me — me — for one of those 
 other fellows." 
 
 " We'll talk about that in the morning, old man. Now, 
 Mortimer, you get hold of his other arm, and let's run him 
 along." 
 
 Mr. Hayes struggled, declaring the while he would no 
 longer believe in the world's friendship; but everybody 
 being now in earnest, and Montgomery pushing from be- 
 hind, the last hundred yards were soon got over, and the 
 drunken burden deposited safely against the wall of the 
 passage. 
 
 The sky was quite clear overhead, and at the end of 
 the lateral lines of the houses the moon jutted from behind 
 a row of chimney-pots. A stream of light floated over the 
 flagstones, but the buttress under which Hayes was lying 
 threw a long shadow. Going to the bell, Dick gave it a 
 pull, and the whole party listened to the distant tinkling. 
 Then, after a minute or two of suspense, Mortimer said : 
 
 " That won't do, Dick ; ring again. We shall be here all 
 night." 
 
 Clatter, clatter, clatter, went the bell, and a husky voice, 
 issuing from the dark shadow of the buttress, said : 
 
 " I rang for another whiskey, waiter, that's all." 
 
 The effect was most comical and unexpected, and the 
 whole party roared with laughter. Nothing was seen of the 
 drunkard but his feet, with a bit of white stocking gleam- 
 ing fiercely in the moonlight. 
 
 Then the bell was rung again and again, and whilst one 
 was pulling at the wire, another was hammering away with 
 the knocker. The noise was deafening, but no answer could 
 be obtained, and the actors consulted in silence. Some sug- 
 gested one thing, some another. Leslie and Bret proposed 
 that they should seek admittance at another hotel ; Dubois, 
 that they should beg hospitality of the other members of 
 the company ; Montgomery, that they should go back to the 
 theatre. Eventually, Dick's and Mortimer's plan was de- 
 clared to be the best ; it was to beat in the door. The hotel- 
 keeper had no right to lock them out, and they had a per- 
 fect right to break into his house. The law on the subject 
 interested them profoundly, and as they searched for a piece
 
 198 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 of wood to serve as a ram, the chances they ran of " doing 
 a week " were anxiously debated. However, no piece of 
 wood of sufficient size could be found, much to the relief 
 of the ladies and Dubois, who strongly advised Dick to re- 
 nounce this door-smashing experiment. 
 
 " Oh, Dick ! pray don't/' whispered Kate. " What does 
 it matter? it will be daylight in a few hours." 
 
 " That's all very well, but I tell you he has no right to lock 
 us out; he's a licensed hotel-keeper. Are you game Morti- 
 mer ? We can burst the door in with our shoulders." 
 
 " Game ! " said Mortimer, in a nasal note that echoed 
 down the courtyard, " partridges are in season in Septem- 
 ber. Here goes," and taking a run he jumped with his 
 full weight against the door. 
 
 " Out of the way," cried Dick, breaking away from Kate, 
 and hurling his huge frame a little closer to the lock than 
 the comedian had done. 
 
 The excitement being now at boiling pitch, the work was 
 begun in real earnest, and as they darted in regular succes- 
 sion out of the shadow of the buttress across the clear 
 stream of moonlight flowing down the flagstones, they ap- 
 peared like a procession of figures thrown on a cloth by a 
 magic-lantern. Mr. Hayes' white stocking served for a 
 line, and bump, bump, they went against the door. Each 
 effort was watched with different degrees of interest by the 
 ladies. When little Dubois toddled forward, and sprang 
 with what little impetus his short legs could give him, it 
 was difficult not to laugh, and when Montgomery's reed-like 
 shanks were seen passing, Kate clung to Miss Leslie in fear 
 that he would crush his frail body against the door, but 
 when it came to the turn of any of the big ones, the ex- 
 citement grew intense. Mortimer and Bret were watched 
 eagerly, but most faith was placed in Dick, not only for his 
 greater weight, but for his superior and more plucky way of 
 jumping. Springing from the very middle of the passage 
 he went, his head back and his shoulder forward, like a 
 thunderbolt against the door. It seemed wonderful that he 
 did not bring down the wall as well as the woodwork. The 
 spirit of competition was very great, and a round of ap- 
 plause rewarded each effort. Mr. Hayes, who fancied him-
 
 A Mummer's Wife 199 
 
 self in bed, and that the waiter was calling him at some 
 unearthly hour in the morning, shouted occasionally the 
 most fearful of curses from his dark corner. The noise 
 was terrific, and the clapping of hands, shrieks of laughter, 
 and cries of encouragement, reverberated through the echo- 
 ing passage and the silent moonlight. 
 
 At last Dick's turn came again, and enraged by past fail- 
 ures he, putting forth his whole strength, jumped from the 
 white stocking with his full weight against the door. It 
 gave way with a crash, and he was precipitated into the 
 hall. 
 
 At that moment the proprietor appeared coming down 
 stairs. He held a candle in his hand, and he looked over 
 the banisters to see what had happened. But everybody made 
 a rush, and picking up Dick, who was not in the least hurt, 
 they struck matches on the wall and groped their way up 
 to their rooms, heedless of the denunciations of the enraged 
 proprietor. He declared that he was going to the police- 
 station — that he would take an action against them. 
 
 The poor man was in his dressing-gown, and by the light 
 of his flickering candle he surveyed his dismantled thresh- 
 old. It was clear that he would have to fasten the place 
 up somehow, and he looked about for the means of doing 
 so, until he at last caught sight of Mr. Hayes' white stock- 
 ing. As he did so a wicked light gleamed in his eye, and 
 after a few efforts to awake the drunkard he walked to the 
 gateway and looked up and down the street to see if a 
 policeman were in sight. In real truth he was doubtful as 
 to his rights to lock visitors out of their hotel, and did not 
 feel disposed to discuss the question before a magistrate. 
 But what could be said against him for requesting the re- 
 moval of a drunken man ! He did not know who he was, 
 nor was he bound to find out. So argued the proprietor 
 of the Hen and Chickens, and Mr. Hayes, still protesting 
 he did not want to be called before ten, was dragged off to 
 the station. 
 
 Next morning the hotel-keeper denied knowing anything 
 whatever about the matter. He had called, it is true, the 
 policeman's attention to the fact that there was a man 
 asleep under the archway, but he did not know that the
 
 200 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 man was Mr. Hayes. This statement was of course not be- 
 lieved, and vowing that they would never again go within 
 a mile of his shop, the whole company went to see poor 
 Hayes pulled out before the beak. It was a forty-shilling 
 affair or the option of a week, and in compensation Dick 
 invited last night's party to dinner at a restaurant. They 
 weren't going to put their money into the pocket of that 
 cad of a hotel-keeper. Hayes was the hero of the hour, 
 and he made everybody roar with laughter at the way in 
 which he related his experiences. But after a time Dick, 
 who had always an eye to business, drew his chair up to 
 Mortimer's, and begged of him to try and think of some 
 allusions to the adventures which could be worked into the 
 piece. The question was a serious one, and until it was 
 time to go to the theatre the art of gagging was warmly 
 argued. Dubois held the most liberal views. He said that 
 after a certain number of nights the author's words should 
 be totally disregarded in favor of topical remarks. Bret, 
 who was slow of wit, maintained that the dignity of a piece 
 could only be maintained by sticking to the text, and cited 
 examples to support his opinion. It was, however, finally 
 agreed that Mortimer should say, whenever he came on 
 the stage, " Derby isn't a safe place to get drunk in," and 
 that Dubois should reply, " Rather not." 
 
 Owing to these little emendations, the piece went with 
 a scream, the receipts were over a hundred, and Morton and 
 Cox's Operatic Company, having done a very satisfactory 
 week's business, assembled at the station on Sunday morn- 
 ing bound for Blackpool. 
 
 Kate and Dick got into a compartment with the same 
 people as before, plus a chorus-girl, who, in the hopes of 
 being allowed to say on the entrance of the duke, " Oh, 
 what a jolly fellow he is ! " was making up to Montgomery. 
 Mortimer shouted unintelligible jokes to Hayes, who always 
 went with the pipe-smokers; Dick spoke about the pos- 
 sibility of producing some new piece at Liverpool, and 
 the planks of the carriage trembled with criticism and 
 suggestions. Everybody seemed to be in high spirits but. 
 Kate. The events of the last few days had completely be- 
 wildered her, and with dizzy and confused thoughts she was
 
 A Mummer's Wife 201 
 
 carried forward helpless and inert like a leaf in a storm. 
 She could not realize the actuality of the life around her ; 
 the people she saw might be phantoms, so impossible did 
 she find it to force upon herself a consciousness of their 
 existence. Things flew past her so rapidly that they did 
 not produce upon her any of the sensations of living with 
 which she was acquainted. The effect was painful, and it 
 was heavy and obtuse, even as a nightmare. She was weary 
 of the shouting and bawling of the actors, of their con- 
 versations which she did not understand, and of the whirl- 
 ing centre of eternal hurry in which they lived. It made 
 her sick to watch them. Dubois, Mortimer, Bret, and the 
 chorus-girl were playing Nap. Dick, Leslie, and Mont- 
 gomery were singing tunes or fragments of tunes to each 
 other, and talking about " effects." 
 
 Then suddenly the conversation changed, and loud grew 
 the lamentations that no money could be saved this trip in 
 the taking of the tickets. Hayes' stupidity was roundly 
 abused, and Dick was closely questioned as to when, in his 
 opinion, it would be safe to try on again their little plant. 
 Instead of answering he leaned back, and gradually a pleas- 
 ant smile began to trickle over his broad face. He was 
 evidently maturing some plan. " What is it, Dick ? Do 
 say like a good fellow," was repeated many times, but he 
 refused to give any reply further than that he was going 
 to see what could be done. This aroused the curiosity of 
 the company, and it grew to burning pitch when the train 
 drew up at a station and Dick began a conversation with 
 the guard concerning the length of time they would have 
 at Preston, and where they would find the train that was 
 to take them on to Blackpool. 
 
 " You'll have a quarter of an hour's wait at Preston. 
 You'll arrive there at 4.20, at 35 past you'll find the train 
 for Blackpool drawn up on the right-hand side of the sta- 
 tion." 
 
 " Thanks very much," replied Dick as he tipped the 
 guard, and then turning his head towards his friends, he 
 whispered, " 'Tis as right as a trivet; I shall be back in a 
 minute." 
 
 " Where's he off to ? " asked everybody.
 
 202 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 "He's just gone into the telegraph office/' said Mont- 
 gomery who was stationed at the window. 
 
 A moment after Dick was seen running up the platform. 
 His fat shoulders waggled, and his big hat gave him the 
 appearance of an American. As he passed each compart- 
 ment of their carriage he whispered something in at the 
 window. 
 
 " What can he be saying ? What can he be arranging ? " 
 asked Miss Leslie. 
 
 " I don't care how he arranges it as long as I get a drink 
 on the cheap at Preston," said Mortimer. 
 
 " That's the main point," replied Dubois. 
 
 " Well, Dick, what is it ? " exclaimed everybody, as the 
 big man sat down beside Kate. 
 
 " The moment the train arrives at Preston we must all 
 make a rush for the refreshment-rooms and ask for Mr. 
 Simpson's lunch. 
 
 "Who's Mr. Simpson? What lunch? Oh, do tell us! 
 What a mysterious fellow you are," were the exclama- 
 tions reiterated all the way along the route. But the only 
 answer they received was, " Now what does it matter who 
 Mr. Simpson is? I tell you he's going to stand us treat 
 at Preston ; isn't that enough for you ? " Even Kate could 
 get nothing more from her lover. He talked to her about 
 Blackpool, of what a nice place it was, and of how she 
 would enjoy the sea. To have him so devoted to her was 
 delightful, and she wished they would leave off bothering 
 him about Mr. Simpson, and was glad when they arrived 
 at Preston, if only that the incessant questioning might 
 cease. 
 
 " Come on, now," said Dick, " eat and drink all you can, 
 and for the life of you don't ask who Mr. Simpson is, but 
 only for his lunch." 
 
 This order was at once acted on, and actors, actresses, 
 chorus-girls and men, conductor, prompter, manager, and 
 baggage-man rushed like a school towards the glass doors 
 of the refreshment-room. There they found a handsome 
 collation laid out for forty people. 
 
 " Where's Mr. Simpson's lunch ? " shouted Dick.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 20o 
 
 "Here, sir, here; all is ready," replied two obliging 
 waiters. 
 
 " Where's Mr. Simpson's lunch ? " echoed Dubois and 
 Montgomery. 
 
 "This way, sir; what will you take, sir? Cold beef, 
 chicken and ham, or a little soup ? " asked half-a-dozen 
 waiters. 
 
 The ladies were at first shy of helping themselves and 
 hung back a little, but Dick drove them on, and, the first 
 step taken, they ate ravenously of everything. But Kate 
 refusing all offers of chicken, ham, and cold beef, clung to 
 Dick timidly. 
 
 " But is this paid for ? " she whispered to him. 
 
 " Of course it is. 'Tis Mr. Simpson's lunch. Take care 
 of what you are sayin'. Tuck into this plate of chicken; 
 will you have a bit of tongue with it ? " 
 
 Not having the courage to refuse, Kate complied in 
 silence, and Dick crammed her pockets with cakes. But 
 soon the waiters began to wonder at the absence of Mr. 
 Simpson, and had already commenced their inquiries. 
 
 Approaching Mortimer, the head waiter asked that 
 gentleman if Mr. Simpson was in the room. 
 
 " He's just slipped round to the bookstall to get a Sun- 
 day paper. He'll be back in a minute, and if you'll get me 
 another bit of chicken in the meantime I shall feel obliged." 
 
 In five minutes more the table was cleared, and every- 
 body made a movement to retire, and it was then that 
 the refreshment-room people exhibited a frantic interest 
 in the person of Mr. Simpson. One waiter begged of 
 Dick to describe the gentleman to him, another besought 
 of Dubois to say at what end of the table Mr. Simpson 
 had had his lunch. In turn they appealed to the ladies 
 and to the gentlemen, but were always met with the same 
 answers. "Just saw him a minute ago, going up the sta- 
 tion; if you run after him you're sure to catch him." 
 "Mr. Simpson? why he was here a minute ago; I think 
 he was speaking about sending a telegram; perhaps he's 
 up in the office," &c, &c. The bell then rang, and, like a 
 herd in motion, the whole company crowded to the train. 
 The guard shouted, the panic-stricken waiters tumbled
 
 204 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 over the luggage, and running from carriage to carriage, 
 begged to be informed as to Mr. Simpson's whereabouts. 
 
 " He's in the end carriage, I tell you, back there, just at 
 the other end of the train." 
 
 The seedy black coats were then seen hurrying down the 
 flags, but only to return in a minute, breathless, for further 
 information. But this could not last forever, and the 
 guard blew his whistle, the actors began gagging. And, 
 oh! the singing, the whistling, the cheers of the mummers 
 as the train rolled away into the country, now all agleam 
 with the sunset ! Tattoos were beaten with sticks against 
 the woodwork of each compartment. Dick, with his body 
 half out of the window, and his curls blowing in the wind, 
 yelled at Hayes. Montgomery disputed with Dubois for 
 possession of the other window, and three chorus-girls 
 giggled and munched stolen cakes, and tried to get into 
 conversation with Kate. But a shame darker than any she 
 had yet known lay heavily upon her. Love had compen- 
 sated her for virtue; but what could make amends to 
 her for her loss of honesty ? She could break a moral law 
 with less suffering than might be expected from her bring- 
 ing up, but the sentiment the most characteristic, and 
 naturally so, of the middle classes, is a respect for the prop- 
 erty of others; and she had eaten of stolen bread. Op- 
 pressed and sickened by this idea, she shrank back in her 
 corner, and filled with a sordid loathing of herself, she 
 longed, as she might to trample on a disgustful thing, to 
 tear this vile page from her memory. When Dick sat down 
 by her she moved instinctively away from him, for even he 
 for the moment, like all else she could feel and see, was 
 horrifying and revolting. 
 
 At Blackpool, Mr. Williams's pimply face was the first 
 thing that greeted them. There was the usual crowd of 
 landladies who presented their cards and extolled the com- 
 fort and cleanliness of their rooms. One of these women 
 was introduced, and especially recommended by Mr. Wil- 
 liams. He declared that her place was a little paradise, 
 and an hour later, still plunged in black regret, Kate sat 
 sipping her tea in a rose-colored room.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 | HAT night in bed Kate cried hysterically, and 
 Dick did not succeed in comforting her until he 
 promised to send a check and settle with the 
 refreshment-room people at once. This made 
 her feel happier, and in a few days, with the facility of a 
 person of weak nature, she began to fall into the ways, and 
 apparently to habituate herself to the manners and morals, 
 of her new life. And for the time being she was conscious 
 of no special pangs of conscience, of nothing beyond the 
 mechanical conviction that she was a very wicked woman, 
 and deserved to be punished. When Sunday came round 
 (they were staying for a fortnight at Blackpool) she went 
 to church, but the words of God inspired her with only a 
 sense of voluptuous sorrow, which was intensified by the 
 knowledge that for her no repentance was possible. The 
 very idea terrified her, and as if to hide herself from it she 
 wrapped herself more determinedly than ever in the sullen 
 and sensual enjoyment of the time. 
 
 The morning hours were especially delightful. Im- 
 mediately on getting out of bed she went into the sitting- 
 room to see after Dick's breakfast. It was laid out on a 
 round table, the one white tint in the rose twilight of the 
 half-drawn blinds. Masses of Virginia creeper, now weary 
 of the summer and ready to fall with the first October 
 winds, grew into the room, and the two armchairs drawn up 
 by the quietly burning fire seemed, like all the rest, to 
 inspire indolence. Kate lingered settling and dusting little 
 rickety ornaments, tempted at once by the freshness of her 
 dressing-gown and the soothing warmth of the room. It 
 penetrated her with sensations of happiness too acute to 
 be durable, and as they mounted to her head in a sort of 
 effervescent reverie, she would walk forwards to the fold- 
 ing doors to talk to Dick of — it did not matter what — it 
 was for the mere sound of his voice that she came ; and, in
 
 206 'A Mummer's Wife 
 
 default of anything better to say, she would upbraid him 
 for his laziness. The room, full of the intimacy of their 
 life, enchanted her, and half in shame, half in delight, she 
 would affect to arrange the pillows while he buttoned his 
 collar. When this was accomplished she led him tri- 
 umphantly to the breakfast table, and with one arm rest- 
 ing on his knees, watched the white shapes of the eggs seen 
 through the bubbling water. This was the great business 
 of the morning. He would pay twopence a piece to have 
 fresh eggs, and was most particular that they should be 
 boiled for three minutes and not one second more. The 
 landlady brought up the beefsteak and the hot milk for 
 the coffee, and if any friend came in orders were sent 
 down instantly for more food. Such extravagance could 
 not fail to astonish Kate, accustomed as she had been from 
 her earliest years to a strict and austere mode of life. Fre- 
 quently she begged of Dick to be more economical, but he, 
 who had always lived Bohemian-like on money easily 
 gained, paid very little attention to what she said beyond 
 advising her to eat more steak and put color into her cheeks. 
 And once the ice of habit broken through, she likewise 
 began to abandon herself thoroughly to the pleasures of 
 these rich warm breakfasts, and to look forward to the idle 
 hours of digestion which followed, and the heavy happy 
 dreams that could then be indulged in. Before the tea- 
 things were removed Dick opened the morning paper, and 
 from time to time read aloud scraps of whatever news he 
 thought interesting. These generally concerned the latest 
 pieces produced in London ; and, as if ignorant of the fact 
 that she knew nothing of what he was speaking of, ex- 
 plained to her his views on the subject — why such and such 
 plays would and others would not do for the country. 
 Kate, although she only understood half of what was told 
 her, listened with riveted attention; and the flattery of 
 being taken into his confidence was a soft and fluttering 
 joy. In these moments all fear that he would one day 
 desert her died away like an ugly wind ; and, with the noise 
 of the town drumming dimly in the distance, they aban- 
 doned themselves to the pleasure of thinking of each other. 
 Dick congratulated himself on the choice he had made, and
 
 A Munnner's Wife #07 
 
 assured himself that he would never know again the ennui 
 of living alone. She was one of the prettiest women you 
 could see anywhere, and luckily not too exacting. In fact 
 she hadn't a fault if it weren't that she was a bit cold, and 
 he couldn't understand how it was; women were not gen- 
 erally cold with him. The question interested him pro- 
 foundly, and as he considered it his glance wandered from 
 the loose blue masses of hair to the white satin shoe which 
 she held to the red blaze. 
 
 Then the vague expression of Kate's face disappeared, 
 and she frowned slightly. It annoyed her to perceive that 
 he thought of her so. She dreamed of love as independent 
 of the realities of life. She desired an affection that would 
 be ever present, that would exclude all other things — that 
 would be an atmosphere, as it were, to the heart that would 
 soften and harmonize it, even as a mist does a landscape. 
 
 These meditations generally ended by Kate going to sit 
 on Dick's knees. Laying her head upon his shoulder she 
 usually murmured : 
 
 " Dick, do you think you will always love me as you do 
 now ? " 
 
 " I'm sure of it, dear." 
 
 " It seems to me if one really loves once one must love 
 always. But I don't know how I can talk to you like that, 
 for how can you respect me ? I have been so very wicked." 
 
 " What nonsense, Kate, how can you talk like that ? I 
 wouldn't respect you if you went on living with a man 
 you didn't care about." 
 
 " Well, I liked him well enough till you came, dear, but 
 I couldn't then — it wasn't all my fault ; but if you should 
 cease to care for me I think I should die. But you won't ; 
 tell me that you won't, dear Dick ? " 
 
 On the words " dear Dick," Kate would press her face 
 against his neck, and clasping him more tightly to her, 
 sob from excess of emotion. Then Dick comforted her, 
 held her hands in his, drew her down towards him for a 
 kiss, and in that kiss it seemed to her that her happiness 
 must last forever, so completely did she belong to her lover, 
 so defended and so concealed were they from the gray
 
 208 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 bitterness of the outer world in the sweet sentiment of their 
 rose-colored room. 
 
 One morning Montgomery came to see them. Kate 
 jumped off Dick's knee, and settling her skirts with the 
 pretty movement of a surprised woman, threw herself into 
 a chair on the opposite side of the fireplace. The musician 
 had come to speak about his opera, especially the opening 
 chorus, about which he could not make up his mind. 
 
 " My boy," said Dick, " don't be afraid of making it too 
 long. There's nothing like having a good strong number 
 to begin with — something with grip in it, you know." 
 
 Montgomery looked vaguely into space ; he was obviously 
 not listening, but was trying to follow out some musical 
 scheme that was running in his head. After a long silence, 
 he said: 
 
 "What I can't make up my mind about is whether I ought 
 to concert that first number or have it sung in unison. 
 Now listen. The scene is the wedding festivities of Prince 
 Florimel, who is about to wed Eva, the daughter of the 
 Duke of Perhapsburg — devilish good name you know. Well 
 then, the flower-girls come on first, scattering flowers ; they 
 proceed two by two and arrange themselves in line on both 
 sides of the stage. They are followed by trumpeters and 
 a herald, then come the ladies-in-waiting, the pages, the 
 courtiers, and the palace servants. Very well; the first 
 four lines, you know, ' Hail ! hail ! the festive day ' — that, 
 of course, is sung by the sopranos." 
 
 " You surely don't want to concert that, do you ? " in- 
 terrupted Dick. 
 
 " Of course not ; you must think me an ignoramus. The 
 first four lines are sung naturally in unison; then there 
 is a repeat, in which the tenors and basses are singing 
 against the women's voices. By that time the stage will be 
 full. Well then, what I am thinking of doing is, when I 
 get to the second part you know — ' May the stars much 
 pleasure send you, may romance and love attend you,' to 
 repeat, ' May the stars. ' " 
 
 " Oh, I 9ee what you mean," said Dick, who began to 
 grow interested. " You'll give ' May the stars ' first to the 
 sopranos, and then repeat with the tenors and basses ? "
 
 A Mummer's Wife 209 
 
 " That's it. I'll show you," replied Montgomery, rush- 
 ing to the piano. " Here are the sopranos singing in G, 
 ' May the stars ' — tenors, c May the stars ' ; tenors and 
 sopranos, ' Much pleasure send you/ basses an octave lower, 
 ' May the stars — may stars.' Now I'm going to join them 
 together, ' May the stars ' " 
 
 Twisting round rapidly on the piano-stool, Montgomery 
 pushed his glasses high up on his beak-like nose, and de- 
 manded an opinion. But before Dick could say a word a 
 kick of the long legs brought the musician again face to 
 the keyboard, and for several minutes he crashed away, 
 occasionally shouting forth an explanatory remark, or mut- 
 tering an apology when he failed to reach the high soprano 
 notes. The love-song, however, was too much for him, and, 
 laughing at his own breakdown, he turned from the piano 
 and consented to resume the interrupted conversation. 
 Then the plot and musical setting of Montgomery's new 
 work was ardently discussed. Frequent mention was made 
 of the names of Offenbach and Herve. Both were admitted 
 to be geniuses, but the latter, it was declared, would have 
 been the greater had he had the advantage of a musical 
 education. Various anecdotes were related as to how he 
 had achieved his first successes. Dick was very firm on 
 this point, and he disputed violently with Montgomery, 
 who questioned the possibility of a man who could not 
 write down the notes being able to compose the whole score 
 of an opera. It was, he maintained, ridiculous to talk of 
 dictating a finale. 
 
 Kate listened, a little bewildered, to these discussions, 
 and she often wondered if she would ever be able to under- 
 stand what they were talking of. She thought not. The 
 conversation shifted so rapidly that even when she suc- 
 ceeded in picking up the thread of an idea it so soon got 
 entangled with another that she began to despair. But 
 notwithstanding these digressions, constant reference was 
 made to Montgomery's new piece; and when the names of 
 the ladies of the company were being run over in search 
 of one who could take the part of a page, with a song and 
 twenty lines of dialogue to speak, Dick said : — 
 14
 
 210 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 " Well, perhaps it isn't for me to say it, but I assure you 
 that I don't know a nicer soprano voice than Mrs. Ede's." 
 
 " Ho, ho ! " cried Montgomery, twisting his legs over 
 the arm of the chair, " how is it I never heard of this 
 before? But won't you sing something, Mrs. Ede? If 
 you have any of your songs here I'll try the accompaniment 
 over." 
 
 Kate, who did not know a crotchet from a semiquaver, 
 grew frightened at this talk of trying over accompani- 
 ments, and tried to stammer out some apologies and ex- 
 cuses. 
 
 " Oh, really, Mr. Montgomery, I assure you Dick is only 
 joking. I don't sing at all — I don't know anything about 
 music." 
 
 " Don't you mind her ; 'tis as I say, she's got a very nice 
 soprano voice; and as for an ear, I never knew a better in 
 my life. There's no singing flat there, I can tell you. 
 But, seriously speaking," he continued, taking pity on Kate, 
 whose face expressed the agony of shame she was suffering, 
 " of course I know well enough she don't know how to pro- 
 duce her voice; she never had a lesson in her life, but I 
 think you'll agree with me, when you hear it, that the organ 
 is there. Do sing something, Kate." 
 
 Kate cast a beseeching glance at her lover, and mur- 
 mured some unintelligible words, but they did not save her. 
 Montgomery crossed himself over the stool, and, after run- 
 ning his fingers over the keys, said : — 
 
 " Now, sing the scale after me — do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, la 
 — that's the note ; try to get that clear — se, do ! " 
 
 Not liking to disoblige Dick, and seeing how little was 
 asked of her, Kate consented to have her voice tried. She 
 sang the scale after Montgomery in the first instance, and 
 then, encouraged by her success, gave it by herself, first 
 in one octave and then in the other. 
 
 "Well, don't you agree with me?" said Dick. "The 
 organ is there, and there's no fluffing the notes ; they come 
 out clear, don't they?" 
 
 " They do indeed," replied Montgomery, casting a warm 
 glance of admiration at Kate ; " but I should so much like 
 to hear Mrs. Ede sing a song."
 
 A Mummer's Wife 211 
 
 " Oh ! I really couldn't " 
 
 " Nonsense; sing the song of 'The Bells' in the Cloches," 
 said Dick, taking her by the arm. She pleaded and argued, 
 but it was no use, and when at last it was decided she was 
 to sing, Montgomery, who had in the meantime been trying 
 the finale of his first act in several different ways, stopped 
 short and said suddenly, 
 
 " Oh, I beg your pardon, you are going to sing the song 
 of ' The Bells.' I'll tell you when to begin — now, ' Though 
 they often tell us of our ancient masters/" 
 
 When Kate had finished singing Montgomery spun 
 round, and, bringing himself face to face with Dick said, 
 speaking professionally — 
 
 " 'Pon my word, its extraordinary how well she does sing. 
 Of course it is a head voice, but could we get a few chest 
 notes you have no idea how different it would sound." 
 
 "And hasn't she a good ear; did you ever hear better 
 tune?" 
 
 Under this fire of compliments Kate drew back, blush- 
 ing at once from shame and delight. Never had she heard 
 herself praised before; never had she suspected she was 
 capable of achieving anything worth notice ; and the double 
 sensation, whilst it confused her, stung her with a tingling 
 of spiritual pleasure. 
 
 " You know I don't pretend to be able to teach singing, 
 but were you under my grandfather for a year or so, I am 
 perfectly certain that Beaumont wouldn't be in the same 
 street with you." 
 
 "Yes, but as he isn't here," replied Dick, who always 
 kept an eye on the possible, " don't you think it would be 
 as well for her to learn a little music ? " 
 
 "I shall only be too delighted to teach Mrs. Ede the 
 little I know myself. I'll come in the morning, and we'll 
 work away at the piano; and you know," continued Mont- 
 gomery, who began to regret the confession of his inability 
 to teach singing, " although I don't pretend to be able to 
 do what my grandfather could with a voice, still I know 
 something about it. I used to attend all his singing-classes, 
 and am pretty well up in his method, and — and — if Mrs. 
 Ede likes, I shall be only too happy to do some singing
 
 212 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 with her; and, between you and me, I think that in a few 
 lessons I could get rid of that throatiness, and show her 
 how to get a note or two from the chest." 
 
 "I'm sure you could, my boy; and I shall be awfully 
 delighted with you if you will. Of course we must con- 
 sider it as a matter of business." 
 
 " Oh, nonsense, nonsense, between pals ! " exclaimed 
 Montgomery, who saw a perspective of long hours passed 
 in the society of a pretty woman — a luxury which his long 
 nose and scraggy figure prevented him from indulging in 
 as frequently as he desired. 
 
 After some further discussion, it was arranged that 
 Montgomery should call round some time after breakfast, 
 and that Dick should then leave them together to work 
 away at do, re, mi, fa. Hamilton's system was purchased, 
 and it surprised and amused Kate to learn that the notes 
 between the spaces spelt " face." But it was in her singing 
 lessons that she took the most interest, and her voice soon 
 began to improve both in power and quality. She sang the 
 scales for three-quarters of an hour daily, and before the end 
 of the week she so thoroughly satisfied Montgomery in her 
 rendering of a ballad he had brought for her, that he 
 begged Dick to ask a few of the " Co." in to tea next Sun- 
 day evening. The shine would be taken out of Beaumont, 
 he declared with emphasis. Kate, however, would not 
 hear of singing before anybody for the present, and she 
 gave up going to the theatre in the evening so that she 
 might have two or three hours of quiet to study music- 
 reading by herself. In the morning she woke to talk of 
 Montgomery, who generally came in while they were at 
 breakfast; and when the lesson was over he would often 
 stop on until they were far advanced in the afternoon, 
 and, looking at each other from time to time, they spoke 
 of the next town they were going to, and alluded to the 
 events of their last journey. Kate would have liked, but 
 she felt ashamed, to speak much of Dick ; but she listened, 
 interested, to all Montgomery told her of himself, of the 
 difficulties he had to contend against, of his hopes for the 
 future. He spoke a great deal of his opera, and he ex- 
 plained his intentions concerning it. The piano was ever
 
 A Mummer's Wife 213 
 
 handy, and he often sprang up in the middle of a sentence 
 to give a practical illustration of his meaning on the in- 
 strument. But these musical digressions did not weary 
 Kate, and she judged, to the best of her ability, the dif- 
 ferent versions of the finale. " Give the public what they 
 wanted," that was his motto, and he intended to act up 
 to it. He had written two or three comic songs that had 
 been immense successes, not to speak of the yards of panto- 
 mime music he had composed, and he knew that when he 
 got hold of a good book in three acts that he'd be able to 
 tackle it. What he was doing now was not much more than 
 a lever de rideau; but never mind, that was the way to 
 begin. You couldn't expect a manager to trust you with 
 the piece of the evening until you had proved that you 
 could interest the public in smaller work. At this point 
 of the argument Montgomery generally spoke of Dick, 
 whom he declared was a dear good fellow, who would be 
 only too glad to give a pal a lift when the time came. Kate, 
 on her side, longed to hear something of her lover from an 
 outside source. All she knew of him she had learned from 
 his own lips. Montgomery, in whose head all sorts of 
 reveries concerning Kate were floating, was burning to talk 
 to her of her lover, and to hear from her own lips of the 
 happiness which he imagined a true and perfect affection 
 bestowed upon human life. They had talked on all subjects 
 but this. Kate from timidity had not spoken; Mont- 
 gomery, for fear of wounding her feelings, had avoided it ; 
 but they were conscious that the restraint jarred their 
 intimacy. One afternoon Dick suddenly burst in on their 
 tete-a-tete. He was in a great hurry, and after some pre- 
 amble he told them that he had arranged to meet there 
 some gentlemen with whom he had important business to 
 transact. Montgomery took up his hat and prepared to 
 go; Kate offered to sit with the landlady in the kitchen. 
 
 " I'm afraid you'll bore yourself, dear," Dick said after 
 a pause. " But I'll tell you what you might do — I shan't 
 be able to take you out to-day. Why not go for a walk with 
 Montgomery ? " 
 
 " I shall be delighted ; I'll take you for a charming walk 
 up the hill, and show you the whole town."
 
 214 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 Kate had no objection to make ; so, bidding the manager 
 good-by, they started off on their excursion. Montgomery 
 wore a long Newmarket coat, the tails of which flapped 
 about his legs as he strode forward. Kate was dressed in 
 a brown costume, trimmed with feathers to match ; a small 
 bonnet crowned the top of her head, and her face looked 
 adorably coquettish amid the big bows into which she had 
 tied the strings. Her companion was very conscious of this 
 fact, and with his heart full of pride, he occasionally jerked 
 his head round to watch the passers-by, doubting at the 
 same time if any were as happy as he. 
 
 As the Lennoxes lived high up in the town in an outlying 
 street amid the sandhills, it took five minutes' walk to reach 
 the Sea Eoad. Blackpool is an airy and wide town, and it 
 bears the same relation to the other towns of Lancashire 
 as the seventh day does to the other six of the week. It is 
 the huge Lancashire Sunday, where the working classes 
 of Accrington, Blackburn, Preston, and Burnley, during 
 a week or a fortnight of the year, go to recreate them- 
 selves. A sense of decorum always reigns in the streets; 
 they are built with large pavements, so that jostling may 
 be avoided. There are many open spaces where people may 
 loiter and congregate; the bonnets exhibited in the plate- 
 glass windows are obviously intended for holiday wear, and 
 it is easy to see freshly-painted walls and bright mahogany, 
 though the strings of the spick and span green Venetian 
 blinds be closely drawn. By the sea the mock Elizabethan 
 gables show an attempt at taste; but they only line the 
 lengthy Sea Eoad like an endless procession of well-to-do 
 tradespeople dressed out in their Sunday best. They were 
 then gaudy notes of red color set on a dead blue eastern 
 sky. 
 
 On the left, twenty feet below, is a long strand, over 
 which the two spider-legged piers crawl at a low tide, and 
 beyond the villas a high headland crowns the ocean with a 
 cap of green. AHer about ten minutes' walk they began 
 to leave the town behind them; a wide waste of scrubby 
 land lay in front of them. 
 
 "Do you know that the fellow who owns that building 
 has made a fortune ? " said Montgomery, pointing to the
 
 A Mummer's Wife 215 
 
 roofs which began to appear above the edge of the common. 
 
 "Did he really?" replied Kate, trying to appear in- 
 terested. 
 
 " Yes ; he began with a sort of shanty where he sold 
 ginger-beer and lemonade. It became the fashion to go out 
 there, and now he's got dining-rooms and a spirit license. 
 We went up there last week, a lot of us, and we had such 
 fun; we went donkey-riding, and Leslie got such a fall. 
 Did she tell you of it?" 
 
 " No ; I have scarcely spoken to her for the last few 
 days/' 
 
 " How's that ? I thought you were such friends." 
 
 " I like her very much ; but she's always on the stage at 
 night, and I don't like — I mean I should like — but I don't 
 know that she would like me to go and see her." 
 
 " And why not, pray ? " 
 
 This question was embarrassing, and Kate did not 
 answer for some time. At last, raising her eyes, and as 
 suddenly casting them down, she said — 
 
 " Well, I thought she mightn't like me to come and see 
 her, because I'm — well, on account of Dick." 
 
 " Oh, what nonsense ! There's nothing between them 
 now ; that's all over ages ago, and she's dead nuts on Bret." 
 
 Kate had now been nearly a fortnight with the actors; 
 but as she had lived from timidity almost apart, little had 
 as yet come under her observation which had let her into 
 the secret of their manners and morals. Dick had scarcely 
 spoken to her on the subject. She had, therefore, not yet 
 learned that in the society she was in no opprobrium was 
 attached to the fact of a woman having a lover, and she 
 still innocently supposed that because she had left her 
 husband Leslie might not like to associate with her. To 
 learn, then, that she had only replaced another woman 
 in Dick's affections came upon her with a very sud- 
 den shock, and it was the very suddenness of the blow 
 that saved her from half the pain; for it was impossible 
 for a woman who saw in the world nothing but the sacri- 
 fice she had made for the man she loved, to realize the fact 
 that Dick's love of her was a toy that had been taken up, 
 just as love of Miss Leslie was a toy that had been laid
 
 216 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 down. It did not occur to her to think that the man she 
 was living with might desert her, nor did she experience 
 any very cruel pangs of jealousy; she was more startled 
 than anything else by the appearance of a third person in 
 the world which for the last week had seemed so entirely 
 her own. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " she said, stopping abruptly. 
 " Was Dick, then, in love with Miss Leslie before he knew 
 me ? " 
 
 Seeing his mistake, Montgomery colored and strove to 
 improvise excuses. 
 
 " No," he said, " of course he wasn't really in love with 
 her ; but we used to chaff him about her ; that was all." 
 
 " Why should you do that, when she was in love with 
 Bret ? " said Kate harshly. 
 
 Montgomery, who dreaded a quarrel with Dick as he 
 would death, grasped at a bit of truth to help him out of 
 his difficulty, and, trembling with excitement, he answered 
 eagerly — 
 
 " But I assure you Bret and Leslie's affair only began a 
 couple of months ago. When we first went out on teur 
 there was nothing between them, and then we joked Dick 
 about her just to vex him. If you don't believe me, you 
 can ask the rest of the company. 
 
 To this Kate made no reply, and with her eyes upon the 
 ground she remained for some moments thinking. The 
 light and matter-of-course way in which her companion 
 spoke of the affections troubled her exceedingly, and very 
 naively she asked herself if it were possible that the people 
 she was with saw no sin living together. In the meanwhile 
 Montgomery watched her, and he considered what phrases 
 were best to employ to convince her that Dick had never 
 been Miss Leslie's lover. After a long silence he said, 
 
 " Eeally it is too bad to be taken up in that way. There's 
 always a bit of chaff going on ; but if it were all taken for 
 gospel truth I don't know where we should be. I give 
 you my word of honor that I don't think he ever looked 
 twice at her; anyhow, he didn't hesitate between you, nor 
 could he, for, of course, you know you are a fifty times 
 prettier woman."
 
 A Mummer's Wife 217 
 
 Kate answered the flattery with a delightful smile, and 
 Montgomery thought that he had nearly convinced her. 
 But the young man was deceived by appearances. He had 
 succeeded more in turning the current of her thoughts than 
 in persuading her. 
 
 "You seem to think very lightly of such things," she 
 said, raising her brown eyes with a look that melted her 
 face to a heavenly softness. 
 
 Montgomery did not understand, and she was forced to 
 explain. This was difficult to do, but, after a slight hesita- 
 tion, she said, 
 
 " Then you really do believe that Miss Leslie and Mr. 
 Bret are lovers? " 
 
 " Oh, I really don't know," he said hastily, for he saw 
 himself drawn into a fresh complication ; " I never pry 
 into other people's affairs. They seem to like each other, 
 that's all." 
 
 It was now Kate's turn to see that indiscreet questions 
 might lead to the quarrels she was most anxious to avoid, 
 and they walked along the breezy common in silence. In 
 the foreground a dozen donkey-boys who had been fortunate 
 enough to secure clients belaboured their animals with 
 sticks and strove to frighten them with shouts. The sails 
 of a windmill were seen turning over the crest of a hill, 
 and, nearly lost in the dim horizon, a factory chimney or 
 two smoked. On the left, the cliff took a sheer dip of fifty 
 feet down to the long, uncovered reaches which stretched 
 away for miles and miles; glistening patches of water, 
 weedy wastes of stone filled full with the white wings of 
 sea-gulls, touched here and there with the black backs of 
 the shrimp-fishers. The sea was a hazy, distant streak, 
 and the dome of the sky immense. 
 
 " How beautiful the country is ! I didn't know what it 
 was like till lately. I never was out of Hanley before. 
 How I should like to live here always by the sea ! And how 
 strange it is that it should go and come like that! I had 
 never seen it till the day before yesterday as it is now, and 
 Dick was so amused, for I thought it was going to dry up. 
 The morning after our arrival here we sat down by the 
 bathing-boxes on the beach and listened to the waves. They
 
 218 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 roared along the shore. It was very wonderful. Do you 
 not think so?" 
 
 " Yes, indeed I do. When I was here before, I spent one 
 whole morning listening to the waves, and their surging 
 suggested a waltz to me. This is the way it went," and 
 leaning on the rough paling that guarded the precipitous 
 edge, Montgomery sang his unpublished composition. " I 
 never got any farther," he said, stopping short in the 
 middle of the second part ; " I somehow lost the character 
 of the thing; but I like the opening." 
 
 " Oh, so do I. I wonder how you can think of such 
 tunes. How clever you must be ! " 
 
 Montgomery smiled nervously, and he proposed that they 
 should go over to the hotel to have a drink. The sweet 
 face of the woman enframed in the infinite and misty 
 spaces of sea and sky was overpowering, and he had to 
 struggle with his feelings as he would against the persua- 
 siveness of a narcotic. It seemed impossible not to betray 
 himself, and he strove not to look eagerly at her — at the 
 richness of the black velvety tresses, and the still com- 
 plexion filled with the delicate greens of an ostrich egg, 
 and modelled as delicately. The last few days had accom- 
 plished almost miraculous changes in Kate. The strong 
 air breathed in her walks along the seashore, and the under- 
 done beefsteaks eaten in the morning, had rendered her 
 organism, as it were, joyous, and in this material existence 
 the woman became singularly beautiful. A little of the 
 rapidly circulating blood flowed to her cheeks, and tinted 
 them with hues more tender than the rarest carnations can 
 boast of. The shadows and signs of work and unrest dis- 
 appeared; the draggings of the skin and the too incisive 
 lines of the features — all that marks age in a woman — 
 melted and cleared away. Her figure, which had threat- 
 ened to turn angular, now commenced to swell like a bud- 
 ding flower into delicate roundnesses, and as she leaned on 
 the rail the flesh of her arms in one or two places distended 
 the seams of her dress. 
 
 " Oh, I don't like to go up there," she said after examin- 
 ing for some moments this hillside bar-room. " Look at 
 all the men there are before the door."
 
 A Mummer's Wife 21U 
 
 " What does it matter ? We'll have a table to ourselves. 
 Besides, you'd better have something to eat, for now we 
 are out we may as well stay out. There's no use going back 
 yet awhile. Dick may have to ask those men to lunch." 
 
 Kate debated within herself if she should accept or re- 
 fuse, but Montgomery talked so rapidly of his waltz — of 
 whether he should call it the " Wave," the " Seashore," 
 or the " Cliff," that he did not give her time to collect her 
 thoughts, and they were soon within a few yards of the 
 porch. 
 
 " I can't go in there," she said ; " why, it's only a public- 
 house." 
 
 " Oh, nonsense ; everybody comes up here to have a 
 drink. It is quite the fashion." 
 
 The men round the doorway stared at her, and Kate felt 
 bitterly ashamed; but seeing some of their own chorus- 
 girls coming from where the donkeys were stationed, in the 
 company of young men with high collars and tight trousers, 
 she ran into the bar-room. 
 
 " Now you see what a scrape you have led me into. I 
 wouldn't have met those people for anything." 
 
 " What does it matter ? If it were wrong do you think 
 I'd bring you in here ? You ask Dick when you get 
 home." 
 
 A doubt of the possibility of Dick thinking anything 
 wrong clouded Kate's mind, and Montgomery ordered 
 sandwiches and two brandies and sodas. Horror of a 
 public-house, since her childhood, had been vigorously im- 
 pressed on Kate's mind; and she had always been taught 
 to consider as the most degraded of human beings the dark- 
 shawled and crumpled-bonnetted women who slide out of 
 the swinging doors to slink down an alley. It astonished 
 her, therefore, to hear Montgomery say that he saw no more 
 harm in having a drink and a bite in a pub than anywhere 
 else. The point was argued passionately, but it did not 
 prevent them from enjoying themselves. The sandwiches 
 were excellent, and Kate, who had scarcely tasted anything 
 but beer in her life, thought the brandy and soda very re- 
 freshing. When she had finished Montgomery tried to 
 persuade her to try a " split " with him, but she answered
 
 220 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 laughing, that if she did he would have to take her home 
 in a carriage. The question then came of how to get out of 
 the place, and after much hesitation and conjecturing, they 
 slipped out the back way through the poultry-yard and 
 stables. 
 
 In front of them was a very steep path which led to the 
 sea-strand. Large masses of earth had given way, and 
 these had formed ledges which, in turn, had somehow 
 become linked together, and down these it was just possible 
 to climb. 
 
 "Do you think you could manage?" he said, holding 
 out his hand. 
 
 " I don't know ; do you think it dangerous ? " 
 
 "No, not if you take care; but the cliff is pretty high; 
 it would not do to fall over. Perhaps you had better come 
 back across the common by the road." 
 
 " And meet all those girls ? " 
 
 " I don't see why you should be afraid of meeting them," 
 said Montgomery, who was secretly anxious to show the 
 chorus that if he were not the possessor, he was at least 
 on very intimate terms with this pretty woman. 
 
 " Oh no, no ! I wouldn't meet them for the world, and 
 coming out of a public-house, too! I don't see why we 
 shouldn't come down this way. I am sure I can manage 
 it if you will give me your hand and go first." 
 
 The descent then began. Kate's high-heeled boots were 
 hard to walk in, and every now and then her feet would 
 fail her, and she would utter little cries of fear, and lean 
 against the cliff's side. It was delightful to reassure her, 
 and Montgomery profited by those occasions to lay his hands 
 upon her shoulders and hold her arms in his hands. Below 
 them lay the blank, wide reaches of the sea; above them a 
 dome of misty sky. Xo human creature was in hearing or 
 in sight, and solitude seemed to unite them and the mimic 
 danger of the descent to endear them to each other. The 
 quiet and enchantment of earth and air melted into her 
 thoughts until she enjoyed a perfect bliss of unreasoned 
 emotion. He, too, was conscious of the day, and his happi- 
 ness, touched with a diffused sense of desire, was intense, 
 even to a savor of bitterness. Like all young men, he
 
 A Mummer's Wife 221 
 
 longed to complete his youth by some great passion, but out 
 of horror of the gross sensualities with which he was always 
 surrounded, his delicate artistic nature took refuge in a 
 pseudo-platonic affection for his friend's mistress. It was 
 an infinite pleasure, and could it have lasted forever he 
 would not have thought of changing it. To take her by 
 the hand and help her to cross the weedy stones ; to watch 
 her pretty stare of wonderment when he explained that 
 the flux and reflux of the tides were governed by the 
 moon; to hear her speak of love, and to dream what that 
 love might be was enough. 
 
 Along the coast there were miles and miles of reaches, 
 and to gain the sea they were obliged to make many detours. 
 Sometimes they came upon long stretches of sand separated 
 by what seemed to them to be a river, and Montgomery 
 often proposed that he should carry Kate across the stream- 
 let. But she would not hear of it, although, on one occasion, 
 she did not refuse until he had placed his arms around her 
 waist. Escaping from him she ran along the edge, saying 
 she would find a passing-place. Montgomery pursued, 
 amused by the fluttering of her petticoats; and they both 
 stopped like disappointed children when, after a race of 
 twenty or thirty yards, they found that their discovered 
 river was only a long pool that owned no outlet to the sea. 
 
 " Well, never mind," said Kate ; " did you ever see such 
 beautiful clear water ? I must have a drink." 
 
 " You have no cup," he said, turning away so that she 
 should not see him laughing. " You might manage to get 
 np a little in your hands." 
 
 " So I might. Oh what fun ! Tell me how I am to do 
 
 it." 
 
 Very gravely he made her kneel on the firm sand, and 
 having showed her how to hollow her hands, he waited to 
 enjoy the result of his joke. And forgetful that the sea 
 was salt she lifted the brine to her lips ; but when she spat 
 out the horrible mouthful and turned on him a questioning 
 face, he only answered that if she didn't take care she would 
 be the death of him. 
 
 " And didn't urns know the sea was salt, and did urns
 
 222 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 think it very nasty, and not half as nice as a brandy-and- 
 soda." 
 
 Kate watched him for a moment, and then her face 
 clouded, and pouting her pretty lips she said: 
 
 " Of course T don't pretend to be as clever as you, but if 
 you had never seen the sea until a week ago you might for- 
 o-et " 
 
 " Yes, yes, for — for — get that it — it was not as nice as 
 brandy-and-soda," cried Montgomery, holding his sides. 
 
 " I wasn't going to say that, and it was very rude of 
 you to interrupt me in that way." 
 
 " Now come, don't get cross. You should understand a 
 joke better than that," he replied, for seeing the tears in her 
 eyes he began to fear he had spoiled the delight of their day. 
 
 " I think it is unkind of you to laugh at me and play 
 tricks on me like that," said Kate, trying to master her 
 emotion. The tears stood in her eyes. 
 
 Then as they walked under the pale sunset, Montgomery 
 broke long and irritating silences by apologizing for his 
 indiscretion, but until they arrived at a place where a little 
 boy and girl were fishing for shrimps, Kate did not answer 
 him. Here there was quite a little lake, and amid the rocks 
 and weedy stones the clear water flowed as it might in an 
 aquarium. The light from above decorated the liquid sur- 
 face with the most delicate opal tints, and the reflections 
 of the children's plump limbs in the water were adorable. 
 
 " Oh, how nice they look ! What little dears ! " exclaimed 
 Kate, but as she pressed forward to watch the children her 
 foot dislodged a young lobster from the corner of rock in 
 which he had been hiding. 
 
 " That's a lobster," cried Montgomery. 
 
 " Is it ? " cried Kate, and she pursued the ungainly thing, 
 which sought vainly for a crevice. 
 
 After an animated chase, with the aid of her parasol she 
 caught it, and was about to take it up with her fingers when 
 Montgomery stopped her. 
 
 " You had better take care ; it will pretty well nip the 
 fingers off you." 
 
 " You aren't joking ? " she asked innocently.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 223 
 
 "No, indeed I'm not; but I hope you don't mind my 
 telling you." 
 
 At that moment their eyes met, and Kate, seeing how 
 foolish she had been, burst into fits of laughter. 
 
 " No, no, no, I — I don't mind your telling me that — that 
 a lobster bites, but " 
 
 " But when it comes to saying sea-water is not as nice 
 as brandy-and-soda," he replied, bursting into a roar of 
 merriment, " we cut up rough, don't we ? " 
 
 The children climbed up on the rocks to look at them, 
 and it was some time before Kate could find words to ask 
 them to show what they had caught. The little boy was 
 especially clever at his work, and regardless of wetting 
 himself, he plunged into the deepest pools, intercepting 
 with his net at every turn the swiftly crawling shrimps who 
 vainly sought to escape him. His little sister, too, was not 
 lacking in dexterity, and between them they had filled a 
 fairly-sized basket. Kate examined everything with an 
 almost feverish interest. Long gluey masses of seaweed she 
 tore from the rocks and insisted on carrying home ; the mus- 
 sels she found on the rocks interested her profoundly, and 
 concerning a dead starfish she questioned the little shrimp- 
 fishers for several minutes. They looked at her in amaze- 
 ment, evidently thinking it very strange that a grown- 
 up woman should ask such questions. Finally, however, 
 the little boy showed her what she was to do with the lobster. 
 He wedged the claws with two bits of wood, and attached 
 a string whereby she might carry it in her hand. Mont- 
 gomery affected to be much amused by her innocence, but 
 in truth he knew very little more of the sea than did his 
 companion. 
 
 At moments expressions of patient beatitude passed over 
 their faces. For him, whose life was spent in the dark 
 twilight of rehearsals, whose sun was the gas at night, 
 whose fields were a cloth of green baize, and who breathed 
 but the odors of size, violet-powder, and dust; for her, 
 whose life had been spent in the glare of red brick walls, 
 whose sky had been over a smoke-cloud, whose fields had 
 been spaces of black cinders, this long and odoriferous sea-
 
 22A A Mummer's Wife 
 
 shore, ventilated by the rose-tinted evening sky, was a 
 mysterious and luminous revelation. 
 
 With delicate gourmandise they abandoned themselves to 
 thinking of their happiness, and in silences that were only 
 interrupted by occasional words they picked their way 
 along the strand. 
 
 Kate thought of Dick — of what he was doing, of what 
 he was saying. She saw him surrounded by men; there 
 were glasses on the table. She looked into his large, melan- 
 choly blue eyes, and dreamed of when she would sit again 
 on his knees and explain to him for the hundredth time 
 that love was all-sufficing, and that he who possessed it could 
 possess nothing more. Montgomery was also thinking of 
 Dick, and for the conquest of so pretty a woman the dreamy- 
 minded musician viewed his manager with admiration. 
 The morality of the question did not appeal to him, and his 
 only fear was that Kate would one day be deserted. " If 
 so," he then thought, and not without a certain exaltation 
 of the senses, " I must support her." Such a duty appeared 
 to him an imparadised dream, and to realize it he thought 
 of the music he would have to compose — songs, all of which 
 would be dedicated to her. After a long silence she said : 
 
 " Have you known Dick a long time ? " 
 
 " Well, yes, two or three years or so," replied Mont- 
 gomery, a little abashed at a question which sounded at that 
 moment like a distant echo of his own thoughts, " Why do 
 you ask?" 
 
 " For no very particular reason, only you seem such great 
 friends." 
 
 " Yes, I like him very much, he's such a dear good fellow, 
 he'd divide his last bob with a pal." 
 
 The conversation then came to a pause. Both suddenly 
 remembered how they had set out on their walk determined 
 to seek information of each other on certain subjects. 
 Montgomery wished to hear from Kate how Dick had per- 
 suaded her to run away with him ; Kate wanted to learn 
 from Montgomery something of her lover's private life — if 
 he were faithful to a woman when he loved her, if he had 
 been in love with many women before. As she considered 
 how she would put her questions a gray cloud passed over
 
 A Mummer's Wife 235 
 
 her face, and she thought of Miss Leslie. But just as she 
 was going to speak Montgomery interrupted her. He said : 
 
 " You did not know Dick before he came to lodge in your 
 house at Hanley, did you ? " 
 
 Kate raised her eyes with a swift and startled look, but 
 being anxious to speak on the subject she replied, speaking 
 very softly: 
 
 "No, never; and perhaps it would have been well if he 
 had never come to my house/' 
 
 There was not so much insincerity in the phrase as may 
 at first appear. Nearly all women consider it necessary to 
 maintain to themselves and to others that they deeply regret 
 having sinned. The delusion at once pleases and consoles 
 them, and they cling to it to the last. 
 
 " I often think of it/' said Montgomery. " It appears to 
 me such a romantic story, that you who sat all day and mi 
 — mi — " he was going to say minded a sick husband, but for 
 fear of wounding her feelings he altered the sentence to 
 " and never, or hardly ever, left Hanley in your life, should 
 be going about the country with us." 
 
 Kate, who guessed what he had intended saying, an- 
 swered : 
 
 " Yes, I'm afraid I've been very wicked. I often think 
 of it, and you must despise me. That's what makes me 
 ashamed to go about with the rest of the company. I'm 
 always wondering what they think of me. Tell me, do tell 
 me the truth, I don't mind hearing it. What do they say 
 about me ? Do they abuse me very much ? " 
 
 " Abuse you ? They abuse you for being a pretty woman, 
 I suppose, but as for anything else, good heavens ! they'd 
 look well ! Why, you are far the most respectable one 
 among the lot. Don't you know that ? " 
 
 " I suspected Beaumont was not quite right, perhaps ; 
 but you don't mean to say there isn't one ? Not that little 
 thing with fair hair who sings in the chorus ? " 
 
 "Well, yes, they say she's all right. There are one or 
 two perhaps ; but when it comes to asking me if Beaumont 
 and Leslie are down on you for leaving your husband ! Oh, 
 that's too good ! " and Montgomery burst out laughing. 
 
 This decided expression of opinion was grateful to Kate's 
 15
 
 22G A Mummer's Wife 
 
 feelings, and the conversation might have been pursued with 
 advantage, but seeing an opportunity of speaking of Dick, 
 she said: 
 
 " But you told me there was nothing between Mr. Bret 
 and Miss Leslie/' 
 
 " I told you I didn't know whether there was or not ; but 
 I'm quite sure there never was between her and Dick. You 
 see I can guess what you are trying to get at." 
 
 " I can scarcely believe that. Now I think of it, I remem- 
 ber she was in his room the night of the row, when he 
 turned me out." 
 
 " Yes, yes ; but there were a lot of us. The principals in 
 a company generally stick together. It is extraordinary 
 how you women will keep on nagging at a thing. I swear 
 to you that I am as certain as I stand here there was never 
 anything between them. Do let us talk of something else." 
 
 They had now wandered back to the fine pebbly beach, 
 to within a hundred yards of the pier ; and above the high 
 cliff they could just see the red chimney-stacks of the 
 town. Some women were collecting their towels which had 
 been left to dry on the stones. A bathing-machine offered 
 a convenient seat. 
 
 " Let us sit here," said Kate, seating herself on one of 
 the shafts; " I'm a little tired." 
 
 Montgomery placed himself beside her. 
 
 Far away beyond the wet stretches of sand and slimy 
 rocks, beyond the shrimp-fishers and the congregating gulls, 
 a luminous line indicated the beginning of the sea. One 
 boat made a black stain on the shimmering mist which rose 
 high into the sky simplyfying it to a simple flat gray tint. 
 The sun sank, a blushing patch of light, and looking 
 through the grim legs of the skeleton pier, the water lazily 
 flapped to gold, the one note of color in this gray sea-piece. 
 Montgomery sang his waltz softly over, but before he ar- 
 rived at the second part his thoughts wandered, and he 
 said: 
 
 "Have you heard anything of your husband since you 
 leftHanley?" 
 
 The abruptness of the question made Kate start ; but she 
 was not offended, and she answered :
 
 A Mummer's Wife 227 
 
 " No, I haven't. I wonder what he'll do ? " 
 
 " Possibly apply for a divorce. If he does, you will be 
 able to marry Dick." 
 
 A flush of pleasure passed over Kate's face, and when she 
 raised her eyes her look seemed to have caught some of the 
 brightness of the sunset. But it died, even as the light 
 above, into gray gloom, and she said, sighing : 
 
 " I do not suppose he would marry me." 
 
 " Well, if he wouldn't there are lots who would." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " asked Kate simply. 
 
 " Oh, nothing ; only I should think that any one would be 
 glad to marry you," the young man answered, hoping fer- 
 vidly that she would not repeat the conversation to her 
 lover. 
 
 " I hope he will ; for if he were to leave me, I think I 
 should die. But tell me — you will, won't you ? for you are 
 my friend, are you not ? " 
 
 " I hope so," he replied constrainedly. 
 
 " Well, tell me the truth ; do you think he can be con- 
 stant to a woman ? Does he get tired easily ? Does he like 
 change ? " 
 
 Kate laid her hand on Montgomery's shoulder, and looked 
 pleadingly in his face. 
 
 " Dick is an awful good fellow, and I'm sure he couldn't 
 but behave well to anyone he liked — not to say loved ; and 
 I know that he never cared for anybody as he does for you ; 
 he as much as told me." 
 
 Kate's smile was expressive of pleasure and weariness, 
 and after a pause, she said : 
 
 " I hope what you say is true ; but I don't think men ever 
 love as women do. When we give our heart to one man, we 
 cannot love another. I don't know why, but I don't believe 
 that a man could be quite faithful to a woman." 
 
 " That's all nonsense. I'm sure that if I loved a woman 
 it would not occur to me to think of another." 
 
 " Perhaps you might," she answered ; and, unconsciously 
 comparing them with Dick's jovial features, she examined 
 intently the enormous nose and the hollow, sunken cheeks. 
 Montgomery wondered what she was thinking of, and he 
 half guessed that she was considering if it were possible
 
 2*8 'A Mummer's Wife 
 
 that any woman could care for him. To die without ever 
 having been able to inspire an affection was a fear that was 
 habitual to him, and often at night he lay awake, racked 
 by the thought that his ugliness would ever debar him from 
 attaining this dearly desired end. 
 
 " Were you ever in love with anybody ? " she asked, after 
 a long silence. 
 
 " Yes, once." 
 
 " And did she care for you ? " 
 
 " Yes, I think she did at first. We used to meet at dinner 
 every day ; but then she fell in love with an acrobat — I sup- 
 pose you would call him an acrobat — I mean one of those 
 gutta-percha men who tie their legs in a knot over their 
 heads. The child was deformed. Oh, I was awfully cut up 
 about it at the time, but it is all over now." 
 
 The conversation then came to a pause. Kate did not 
 like to ask any further questions, but as she stared vaguely 
 at the pale sun setting, she wondered what the acrobat was 
 like, and how a girl could prefer a gutta-percha man to the 
 musician. As the minutes passed, the silence grew more 
 irritating, and the evening colder. The sum, as it descended, 
 slipped into large flat masses of mist, from which it peeped 
 only occasionally, like a golden ghost or an aureoled face 
 at a window. On the right, looking over the pier, a deep 
 blue curtain of cloud was being drawn by the wind across 
 the yellow and rose-tinted spaces. On the left a sea-fog 
 was gathering, and the high grass-grown promontory from 
 whence they had come was now hardly visible — it was mo- 
 mentarily disappearing. 
 
 " I'm afraid we shall catch a chill if we remain here much 
 longer," said Montgomery, who had again begun to sing 
 his waltz over. 
 
 "Yes, I think we had better be getting home," Kate 
 answered dreamily. 
 
 After some searching, they found a huge stairway, cut 
 for the use of bathers in the side of the cliff, and up this 
 feet-torturing path Montgomery helped Kate carefully and 
 lovingly.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ROM Blackpool Morton and Cox's opera company 
 proceeded to Southport, and, still going north- 
 ward, they visited Newcastle, Durham, Dundee, 
 Glasgow, and Edinburgh. But in no one town 
 did they remain more than a week. Every Sunday morn- 
 ing, regardless as swallows of chiming church-bells, they 
 met at the station and were whirled as fast as steam could 
 take them to new streets, lodging-houses, and theatres. To 
 Kate this constant change was at once wearying and per- 
 plexing, and she often feared that she would never be able 
 to habituate herself to her new mode of life. But on the 
 principle that we can scarcely be said to be moving when 
 all around is moving in a like proportion, Kate soon learned 
 to regard locality as a mere nothing, and to fix her centre 
 of gravity in the forty human beings who, bound to her by 
 the light ties of opera bouffe, were wandering with her. 
 For wherever she went her life remained the same. She 
 saw the same faces, heard the same words. Were they 
 likely to do good business, was debated when they got out of 
 the train ; that they had or had not done good business was 
 affirmed when they got into the train. Soon even the change 
 of apartments ceased to astonish her, and she saw nothing 
 surprising in the fact that her chest of drawers was one 
 week on the right and the following on the left-hand side 
 of her bed. Nor did she notice after two or three months 
 of travelling whether wax flowers did or did not decorate 
 the corners of her sitting-room, and it seemed to her of 
 no moment whether the Venetian blinds were green or 
 brown. The dinners she ate were as good in one place as 
 in another; the family resemblance which slaveys bear to 
 each other satisfied her eyes, and the difference of latitude 
 and longitude between Glasgow and Aberdeen she found 
 did not in the least alter her daily occupations. 
 
 Montgomery came to see her every morning, and the
 
 230 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 tunefulness or untunefulness of the piano was really all 
 that reminded them of their change of residence. From 
 twelve until three they worked at music, both vocal and 
 instrumental. During these hours Dick generally sought 
 for excuses to absent himself, but when he returned he al- 
 ways insisted that Montgomery should remain to dinner. 
 All formalities between them were abolished, and Kate did 
 not hesitate to sit on her lover's knees in the presence of her 
 ungainly music-master. But he did not seem to care, he 
 only laughed a little nervously. Kate sometimes wondered 
 if he really disliked witnessing such familiarities. In her 
 heart of hearts she was conscious that there were affinities 
 of sentiment between them, and during the music lessons 
 they talked continually of love. The sight of Montgomery's 
 lanky face often interrupted with a feeling of repugnance 
 the sweetest currents of emotion, but he could sympathize 
 and follow her where Dick could not. And to lean her head 
 on her hand and listen to him playing were moments of 
 divine abandonment inexpressibly dear, and to hear him 
 talk of the operas he hoped to compose produced in her de- 
 lightful sensations of enthusiasm. Few are there to whom 
 anything but material advantages and pleasures are com- 
 prehensible; but Kate could in a vague and fragmentary 
 way enjoy what the French call " une jouissance de tete." 
 And as a plant that has been dying for days in a dark 
 cellar, when exposed to the air, will in a sickly sort of gaiety 
 lift up its poor leaves to the light, this faculty which for 
 years had been crushed out of sight now began to assert 
 itself. 
 
 Montgomery was as light to Kate, and soon he became 
 almost as necessary to her spiritual happiness as her lover 
 was to her material. He was so kind, so gentle, and he 
 allowed her to talk to him as much as she liked of Dick. 
 Indeed he seemed quite as much interested in the subject 
 as she was. It was always Dick, Dick, Dick. He told her 
 anecdotes concerning him — how he had acted certain parts ; 
 how he had stage-managed certain pieces ; of supper parties ; 
 of adventures the}- had been engaged in. These stories 
 amused Kate, although the odor of woman in which they 
 were bathed, as in an atmosphere, annoyed and troubled
 
 A Mummer's Wife 231 
 
 her. As if to repay him for his kindness, she, in her turn, 
 became confidential, and one day she told him the story 
 of her life. It would, she said, were it taken down, make 
 the most wonderful story-book ever written. Beginning at 
 the beginning, she gave rapidly an account of her child- 
 hood, accentuating the religious and severe manner in which 
 she had been brought up, until the time she and her mother 
 made the acquaintance of the Edes. There it was necessary 
 to hesitate. She did not wish to tell an absolute lie, but 
 was yet desirous to convey the impression that her mar- 
 riage with Mr. Ede had been forced upon her; but Mont- 
 gomery had already accepted it as a foregone conclusion. 
 With his fingers twisted through his hair, and his head 
 thrust forward in the position in which we are accustomed 
 to see composers seeking inspiration depicted, he listened, 
 passionately interested ; and when it came to telling gf the 
 mental struggle she had gone through when struggling 
 between her love for Dick and her duty towards her hus- 
 band, Montgomery's face, under the influence of many 
 emotions, straightened, and contracted. He asked a hun- 
 dred questions, and was anxious to know what she had 
 thought of Dick when she saw him for the first time. She 
 told him all she could remember. Her account of the visit 
 to the potteries proved very amusing, and in fits of laughter, 
 she made Montgomery swear he would never breathe a word 
 before she told him of their fall amid the cups and saucers. 
 
 " Oh, the devil ! Was that the way he cut his legs ? He 
 told us that he had forgotten his latchkey, and that he had 
 done it in getting over the garden-wall." 
 
 Eunning his hand over the piano, Montgomery begged of 
 Kate to continue her story; but as she proceeded with the 
 analysis of her passion the events became more and more 
 difficult to narrate. It was necessary to employ many 
 words and many circumlocutions of phrase to tell how she 
 went down in the one dark night to open the street-door 
 to Dick. And yet it was essential to do this so that the 
 whole blame should fall on him. She alluded vaguely to 
 violence and to force. Then Montgomery's face darkened 
 and he protested against his friend's conduct. 
 
 To Kate it was consoling to meet some one who thought
 
 232 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 she was not entirely to blame, and the conversation came 
 to a pause. 
 
 " And now I am going about the country with you all. 
 and am thinking of going on the stage." 
 
 " And will be a success, too — that I'll bet my life." 
 
 " Do you really think so ? Do tell me the real truth ; do 
 you think I shall ever be able to sing ? " 
 
 " I'm sure of it." 
 
 " Well, I'm glad to hear you say so, for it is now more 
 necessary than ever." 
 
 " How do you mean ? Has anything fresh happened ? 
 You are not on bad terms with Dick, are you? Tell me." 
 
 " Oh ! not the least ! Dick is very good to me ; but if I 
 tell you something you promise not to mention it ? " 
 
 " I promise." 
 
 " Well, we were — I don't know what you call it — sum- 
 moned, I think — by a man before we left Blackpool to 
 appear in the Divorce Court." 
 
 For nearly half a minute they looked at each other in 
 silence; then Montgomery said — 
 
 " I suppose it was after all about the best thing that 
 could happen." 
 
 This answer surprised Kate. " Why," she said, " do you 
 think it is the best thing that could happen to me ? " 
 
 " Because when you get your divorce you will, if you 
 play your cards well, be able to get Dick to marry you." 
 
 Kate made no reply, and for some time both considered 
 the question in silence. She wondered if Dick loved her 
 sufficiently to make such a sacrifice for her: Montgomery 
 reflected on the best means of persuading his friend "to 
 do right by the woman." At last he said : 
 
 " But what did you mean just now when you said that 
 it was more necessary than ever that you should go on the 
 stage ? " 
 
 " I don't know, only that if I am going to be divorced 
 I suppose I had better see what I can do to get my living." 
 
 "Well, it isn't my fault if you aren't on the stage already. 
 I have been trying to induce you to make up your mind for 
 the last month past." 
 
 "Oh. the chorus! that horrid chorus! 1 never could
 
 A Mummer's Wife 233 
 
 walk about before a whole theatreful of people in those red 
 tights." 
 
 " What nonsense you do talk ! There's nothing indecent 
 in wearing tights. Our leading actresses play in travestie. 
 In Famt Trebelli Bettini wears tights, and no one, I'm 
 sure, can say anything against her." 
 
 Between the three, friend, mistress, and lover, this was 
 a constant subject of discussion. All sorts of arguments 
 had been adduced, but none of them had shaken Kate's un- 
 reasoned convictions on this point. A sense of modesty, 
 inherited through generations, rose to her head, and a feel- 
 ing of repugnance, that seemed almost invincible, forbade 
 her to bare herself thus to the eyes of a gazing public. But 
 although inborn tendencies cannot be eradicated, the will 
 that sustains them can be broken by force of circumstances, 
 and when, at the close of innumerable reasonings, Dick 
 declared that the thirty shillings a week she would thus 
 earn would be a real assistance to them, her resolutions be- 
 gan to fail her. In reality the manager had no immediate 
 need of the money, but it went against his feelings to allow 
 principles, and above all principles he could not but think 
 absurd, to stand in the way of his turning over a bit of 
 coin. Besides, as he said, " How can I put you into a lead- 
 ing business all at once? No matter how well you knew 
 your words, you'd dry up when you got before the foot- 
 lights. You must get over your stage fright in the chorus. 
 On the first occasion I'll give you a line to speak, then two 
 or three, and then when you have learned to blurt them out 
 without hesitation we'll see about a part." 
 
 These and similar phrases were dinned into her ears, 
 until at last the matter got somehow decided, and the Lon- 
 don costumier was telegraphed to for a new dress. When 
 it arrived a few days after, the opening of the package 
 caused a good deal of merriment. Dick held up, and before 
 Montgomery, the long red stockings as Kate called the 
 tights. She hid her face in her hands and fled into the 
 next room. But it was too late now to retract. The dress 
 looked beautiful, and tempted on all sides, she consented 
 to appear that night in Les Cloches. So at half -past six, 
 with her bundle under her arm, she walked down to the
 
 234 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 theatre. Dick had not allotted to her a dressing-room, and 
 to avoid Miss Beaumont, who was always rude, she went 
 of her own accord up to number six. An old woman opened 
 the door to her, and when Kate had explained what she had 
 come for, she said : 
 
 " Very well, ma'am. I'm sure I don't mind ; but we are 
 already eight in this room, and have only one basin and 
 looking-glass between the lot. I'm afraid you won't be 
 very comfortable." 
 
 " Oh ! that won't matter. It may be only for to-night. 
 If I'm too much in the way I'll ask Mr. Lennox to put me 
 somewhere else." 
 
 On that Kate entered. It was a long, narrow, white- 
 washed room, smelling strongly of violet-powder and 
 clothes. Nobody had as yet arrived, and, awaiting the 
 wearers, the dresses lay spread out on chairs. Kate ex- 
 amined, and involuntarily she calculated that she would 
 not be able to take an order for a costume like the one 
 before her for less than four pounds. It was one 
 of the peasant-girls' dresses — a short calico skirt, 
 trimmed with wreaths of wild flowers. She thought 
 it charming, and she expressed her regret that she could 
 not exchange the page's attire she was being shown how 
 to put on for one of the others. These opinions were con- 
 sidered surprising by the dresser, who informed Kate that 
 the ladies generally preferred men's clothes to women's. 
 
 "And as regards the tights," added the old woman, 
 "you'd have to wear them just as well with peasant-girls' 
 frocks as with these trunks, for the skirts, as you can see, 
 only just come below the knees." 
 
 At this moment the conversation was interrupted by the 
 clattering of feet on the rickety staircase. Immediately 
 after the door was suddenly opened, and with loud words 
 two girls entered. Kate had often spoken to them in the 
 wings, and when a few questions had been asked she was 
 surprised to find that her determination to go on the stage 
 elicited no other remark than that it was odd she hadn't 
 got tired of sitting at home long ago. 
 
 Then more women arrived, and a general stripping be- 
 gan. Bosoms and raised arms glistened, making a faint
 
 A Mummer's Wife 235 
 
 note of pink on the pallor of the whitewashed wall ; water 
 was heard splashing, and the flat, sickly smell of soap- 
 suds filled the heated air. Three voices shouted at once for 
 the dresser, who had begun to lose her head. One lady 
 could not find her tights, another insisted on the body of 
 her dress being laced up at once, the third failed to make 
 herself understood. The looking-glass was in great requisi- 
 tion, and a girl who was still in her chemise quarrelled 
 furiously with another attired in breastplate and helmet. 
 But these comical contrasts could not take away the animal 
 repulsiveness of the scene. 
 
 At once horrified and bewildered, Kate withdrew her 
 chair as far out of reach as possible of the flying petticoats 
 and the scattered boots and shoes. She hated everything, 
 and, much as she feared the inspection of her person that 
 would take place when she got downstairs, she was glad 
 when the call-boy knocked at the door and shouted — 
 
 " Ladies ! ladies ! Mr. Lennox is waiting ; the curtain is 
 going up." 
 
 " All right ! all right ! " cried an octave of treble voices, 
 and those who were read)', tripping over their swords, 
 hurried downstairs, leaving the others screaming at the 
 dresser, who was vainly attempting to tidy the room. 
 
 When Kate got on the stage the first person she saw was 
 the very one she wished most to avoid — Montgomery. After 
 having conducted the overture he had come up to find out 
 the reason of the " wait." Dick was rushing about, de- 
 claring that if this ever occurred again half-a-crown would 
 be stopped out of all the salaries. The noise in front was 
 deafening. 
 
 " Oh ! how very nice we look ! and they are not a bit 
 thin," exclaimed Montgomery, pushing his glasses up on 
 his nose; and, forgetting his difficulties as if by magic, 
 Dick smiled delightfully, and, holding her at arm's length, 
 he looked at her critically all over. 
 
 " Charming, my dear ! There won't be a man in front 
 who won't fall in love with you. But I must see where I 
 can place you." 
 
 All the rest passed as rapidly as in a dream, and before 
 she could again think distinctly she was walking round the
 
 Zo6 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 stage in the company of a score of other girls. Treading 
 in time to the music, they formed themselves into lines, 
 making place for Leslie, who came running down to the 
 footlights. But Kate had neither ears nor eyes for any- 
 thing. She felt that everyone was gazing at her. One old 
 gentleman in a box annoyed her excessively ; with his opera- 
 glasses fixed upon her he remained immovable. Twenty 
 times she asked herself when he would look the other way, 
 and she sought for a position in which he would not be 
 able to see her face. Then, remembering that it was pos- 
 sibly only her legs that interested him, from very shame 
 she grew nervous. Once she caught Montgomery's eyes, 
 and not knowing what was passing in her mind, he laughed. 
 She hated him for it. But soon the cue for an exit came, 
 and they were marched into the wings. There she was 
 jostled and stared at, and she remembered, and with anger, 
 how disgusting all these women had seemed to her when 
 she stood behind the scenes for the first time. Now she was 
 one of them. 
 
 These were, however, rare moments; there was no time 
 for thinking; she was whirled along. Between the acts 
 she had to rush upstairs to put on another dress ; between 
 the scenes she had to watch to know when she had to go on. 
 Sometimes Dick spoke to her, but he was generally far 
 away, and it was not until the curtain had been rung down 
 for the last time that she got an opportunity of speaking 
 to him. 
 
 As they walked home up the dark street when all was 
 over, she laid her hand affectionately on his arm — 
 
 " Tell me, Dick, are you satisfied with me ? I have done 
 my best to please you." 
 
 " Satisfied with you ? " replied the big man, turning 
 towards her in his kind, unctuous way, " I should think so; 
 you looked lovely, and your voice was heard above every- 
 body's. I wish you had heard what Montgomery said. I'll 
 give you a line to speak when you have got a bit of con- 
 fidence. You are a bit timid, that's all." 
 
 These words of praise from the man she loved brought 
 the color to Kate's face. It had been her intention to ask 
 him to allow her to give up the idea of accepting the stage
 
 A Mummer's Wife 237 
 
 as a vocation,, but now, through mingled feelings of vanity 
 and dislike to interrupt the peace and pleasure of the mo- 
 ment, she maintained a silence that grew momentarily 
 more cowardly and uneasy. Above all things, she did not 
 wish to annoy, to disappoint him, and when he spoke of the 
 time when she would be a leading actress, she listened de- 
 lighted, imagining not the plaudits of the public, but the 
 illimitable love he would bestow upon her when she had 
 achieved the successes he had so glowingly depicted. And 
 of these he spoke until the early hours of morning. Dick 
 was as insatiable a talker as he was an eater, and when the 
 cold meat had been devoured, lying back in an armchair, 
 smoking interminable cigarettes, he recounted his opera 
 bouffe adventures. They appeared to be inexhaustible, 
 and by easy transitions he passed from one story to another. 
 At one moment he was telling of how he found himself, 
 when he had the Olympic Theatre in London, two days 
 before the opening night, unable to pay the gas. At such 
 times the difficulties of raising a hundred quid are im- 
 mense, and the conditions of the capitalist were — that his 
 mistress was to play one of the leading parts at a high 
 salary, and that he was to take over the bars. That was 
 thirty pounds a week gone; and the woman sang so fear- 
 fully out of tune that she got hissed, and that settled the 
 piece. Kate clasped her hands, but Dick puffed at his 
 cigarette, interested only to know if it were still alight. 
 Once being assured on this point, he proceeded without 
 delay to sing most of the principal airs and choruses and 
 explain the different situations. A casual reference to the 
 dresses led up to a detailed account of how he had bought 
 the satin down at the Docks at the extraordinary low 
 price of two shillings a yard. This in turn prepared the 
 way for a long story concerning a girl who had worn one of 
 these identical dresses. She was now a leading London 
 actress, and every step of her upward career was gone 
 
 into. Then followed several biographies. Charlie 
 
 sang in the chorus. He was now a leading tenor. Miss 
 
 had married a rich man on the Stock Exchange ; and 
 
 so on. Indeed, everybody in that ill-fated piece seemed to 
 have succeeded except the manager himself. But no such
 
 238 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 criticism occurred to Kate. Her heart was swollen with 
 admiration for the man who had been once at the head of 
 all this talent, and the rich-colored future he would shape 
 for her flowed hazily through her mind. She grew, as it 
 were, a little drunk with stories, and laying her hand on 
 his, all suffering and past sorrow slipped from her in sensa- 
 tions that were calm and benedictive. Never had an even- 
 ing appeared to her so thorough, so complete, and she 
 looked down an endless perspective of similar evenings 
 spent listening by his side — evenings in which the quietude 
 should never be broken except by the sound of a kiss or the 
 striking of a match wherewith to light a fresh cigarette. 
 
 And as the days passed, Kate grew happier, until she 
 began to think she must be the happiest woman living. 
 Her life had now an occupation, and no hour that went 
 pressed upon her heavier than would a butterfly's wing. 
 The mornings had always been delightful; Dick was with 
 her then, and the afternoons had been taken up with her 
 musical studies. It was the long evenings she used to 
 dread; now they had become part and parcel of her daily 
 pleasures. They dined about four, and when dinner was 
 over it was time to talk about what kind of house they were 
 going to have, to fidget about in search of brushes and 
 combs, the curling-tongs, and to consider what little neces- 
 saries she had better bring down to the theatre with her. 
 At first it seemed very strange to her to go tripping down 
 these narrow streets at a certain hour — streets that were 
 filled with people, for the stage and the pit entrance are 
 always within a few yards of each other. 
 
 Very soon now touches of Bohemianism appeared in her. 
 Her face lost its meekness of expression, her walk became 
 more undulating and lazy; and the passers-by whispered 
 as she went by, " She's one of the actresses." The first 
 time she heard the words she grew frightened, but her fear 
 soon subsided, and nervously she wondered what they 
 thought of her as she hurried from them towards the stage. 
 Once safely there she often turned round to look, and 
 hoped as she gave her name to the hall-keeper that they 
 admired her sufficiently to come to the theatre to see her. 
 One day she found a letter waiting for her, and not sus-
 
 A Mummer's Wife 239 
 
 pecting what was in it, she tore open the envelope in pres- 
 ence of half-a-dozen chorus girls who had collected in the 
 passage. A diamond ring fell on the floor, and in astonish- 
 ment Kate read : 
 
 "Dear Miss D'Arcy, — In recognition of your beauty ami the 
 graceful way in which you play your part, I beg to enclose you a 
 ring, which I hope to see on your finger to-night. If you wear it on 
 the right hand I shall understand that you will allow me to wait for 
 you at the stage-door. If, however, you decide that my little offering 
 suits better your left hand, I shall understand that I am unfortunate. 
 
 (Signed) "An Admirer." 
 
 " Who left this here ? " asked Kate of the doorkeeper. 
 
 " A tall young gent — a London man I should think by 
 the cut of him, but he left no name." 
 
 " A very pretty ring, anyhow," said a girl picking it up. 
 
 " Not bad," said another; " I got one like it last year at 
 Sheffield." 
 
 " But what shall I do with it ? " asked Kate. 
 
 " Why, wear it, of course," answered two or three voices 
 simultaneously. 
 
 This very simple way of settling the difficulty horrified 
 her, and feeling very much like one in possession of stolen 
 goods, she hurried on to the stage, intending to ask Dick 
 what she was to do. She found him disputing with the 
 property-man. Throwing herself between them, and draw- 
 ing her lover by main force away, she begged of him to ad- 
 vise her. But it was some time before Dick could bring 
 himself to forget the annoyance that a scarcity of daggers 
 had occasioned him. At last, however, with a violent effort 
 of will, he took the note from her hand and read it through. 
 When he had mastered its contents a good-natured smile 
 illumined his chub-cheeked face, and he said : 
 
 " Well, what do you want to say ? I think the ring a 
 very nice one ; let's see how it looks on your hand." 
 
 She felt as if her life was sinking away from her. Was 
 this all? Was there then nothing wrong or right in the 
 world? she asked herself, feebly. 
 
 " You don't mean, do you, that I am to wear it ? " 
 
 " And why not ? I think it is a very nice ring," said the 
 manager, unaffectedly.
 
 240 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 "Why not, indeed?" she murmured to herself, and so 
 stunned was she that in her bewilderment she would have 
 asked him on which hand she was to wear it had he not 
 said: 
 
 " Wear it first on one hand and then on the other, dear ; 
 that will puzzle him." 
 
 " But supposing he comes to meet me at the stage door ? " 
 
 " Well, what will that matter ? We'll go out together ; 
 I'll see that he keeps his distance." 
 
 Relieved to find that there was a point which she was not 
 asked to pass, she went up to the dressing-room. A volley 
 of questions greeted her. Most of the girls were undressed. 
 Dolly Goddard was walking about in a pair of blue silk 
 stockings. Obeying an instinct of shame which habit did 
 not seem able to destroy, Kate started as if she were about 
 to retreat. 
 
 " Now then, come in, don't be shocked," cried Dolly ; 
 "you are as bashful as an undergraduate." 
 
 A roar of laughter greeted this sally, and, humiliated, 
 she began to dress. 
 
 " You haven't heard Dolly's story of the undergradu- 
 ate ? " shouted a girl from the other end of the room. 
 
 "No, and don't want to," replied Kate, indignantly. 
 " The conversation in this room is perfectly horrible. I 
 shall ask Mr. Lennox to change me. And really, Miss 
 Goddard, I think you might manage to dress yourself with 
 a little more decency." 
 
 " Well, if you call this dress," exclaimed Dolly, fanning 
 herself, " I suppose one must take off one's stockings to 
 please you. You are as bad as " 
 
 Dolly was the wit of No. 6 dressing-room, and having 
 obtained her laugh she sought to conciliate Kate. To 
 achieve this she began by putting on her tights. 
 
 " Now, Mrs. Lennox," she said, " don't be angry ; if I 
 have a good figure I can't help it. And I do want to hear 
 about the diamond ring." 
 
 This was said so quaintly, so, what the Americans would 
 call cunningly, that Kate couldn't help smiling through 
 her anger, and abandoning her hand she allowed Dolly to 
 examine the ring.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 241 
 
 " I never saw anything prettier in my life. It wasn't an 
 undergra — ? " said the girl, who was a low comedian at 
 heart and knew the value of repetition. " I must drink to 
 his health. "Who has any liquor? Have you, Vincent?" 
 
 " Just a drain left/' said a fat girl, pulling a flat bottlo 
 out of a dirty black skirt, " but I'm going to keep it for fhe 
 end of the second act." 
 
 " Selfishness will be your ruin," said Dolly. " Let's 
 subscribe to drink the gentleman's health," she added, 
 winking at the bevy of damsels who stood waiting, their 
 hands on their hips. It being impossible for Kate to mis- 
 understand what was expected of her she said — 
 
 " I shall be very glad to stand treat. What shall it be? " 
 
 This was a difficult matter to decide. Some were in 
 favor of brandy, some of gin. Eventually it was agreed 
 that they could not do better than a bottle of whiskey. The 
 decrepit dresser was given the money, with strict injunc- 
 tions from Dolly not to uncork the bottle. " We can do 
 that ourselves," the girl added, facetiously. And until 
 the arrival of the liquor a noisy interest was manifested 
 in the ring, the sender, and the letter. Kate told what Dick 
 had advised her to do, and Dolly spoke authoritatively on 
 the invariable line of conduct pursued by Beaumont in 
 such cases. But this clatter and talk did not silence Kate's 
 qualms of conscience. The method of an antecedent life, 
 the teaching of years, rose in revolution and denied her 
 right to act thus. For a moment a sense of shame, bitter 
 and blinding as a wild salt wind, overwhelmed her, and 
 she could not repress a positive loathing of herself. Since 
 she had left Hanley it was the strongest shock her moral 
 nature had received. Vainly she searched for an excuse, 
 but could find none. It was not until she had drunk a 
 couple of whiskeys that she began to forget and find cour- 
 age to laugh at Dolly's dirty stories. The number of 
 glasses was not sufficient, but that did not matter, and the 
 merriment did not cease until the call-boy was heard cry- 
 ing, " Ladies, ladies ! Mr. Lennox is waiting on the stage." 
 Then there was a scramble for the glass and the dresser, 
 and Dolly's voice was heard screaming — 
 
 " Now then, Mother Hubbard, have you got the sweet- 
 ie
 
 243 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 stuff I told you to get? T don't want to go downstairs 
 stinking of raw spirit." 
 
 " I couldn't get any/' said the old woman, " but I 
 brought two slices of bread ; that'll do as well." 
 
 " You're a knowing old card," said Dolly. " Eat a 
 mouthful or two., it'll take the smell off, Mrs. Lennox. 
 But I'm afraid you've had a drop too much. You aren't 
 used to it. Open the window, Mother Hubbard." 
 
 " It is the heat," answered Kate faintly. " I shall be all 
 right in a minute." 
 
 " For goodness sake, do. Mr. Lennox will kick up such 
 a row with me should he find it out. Eat another piece 
 of bread if you can, there's nothing like it." 
 
 At present Kate was only a little giddy, but when she 
 got on the stage, with the fumes of the gas, a vague sickness 
 mounted to her head. Montgomery's arms, as he beat time 
 in the orchestra, seemed to her of immeasurable length, 
 and the auditorium reeled, a confused mixture of lights 
 and black spots. The music sounded in her ears like some 
 harsh cruelty, and at times the voices of those singing 
 round her became as unmerciful as the howling of demons 
 mocking her out of the depths of some meaningless night- 
 mare. Each clash of the cymbals seemed more pitiless than 
 the last, and she had at last to stagger into the wings and 
 ask for a glass of water. Fortunately, Dick was on the 
 0. P. side, and did not notice her absence, and beyond 
 some sly laughs and whispering among the girls, the acci- 
 dent attracted no attention. Whether she wore the ring 
 on her left or on her right hand she had no idea, and when 
 Dick asked during their walk home if she had noticed any- 
 one watching her from a stage-box, she could give no 
 answer. But it mattered little; a few days later she was 
 a hundred miles away, playing to new faces and attracting 
 fresh admirations. The incident consequent to a theatrical 
 career was soon blunted and its identity submerged in a 
 thousand other events, and the most lasting trace it left 
 was the ambition to become an actress. The phrase of the 
 letter which complimented her on the graceful way in 
 which she went through her part remained in Kate's mind,
 
 A Mummer's Wife 243 
 
 and henceforth she did not cease to beg of Dick to give her 
 " something to do." 
 
 It is extraordinary to see how quickly a lady gets on in 
 her profession when she has convinced the heads of the 
 departments of her talents or her beauty. The way in 
 which subordinate parts are discovered that would just 
 suit her is surprising. To this principle Dick and Mont- 
 gomery proved no exceptions. Soon it became apparent 
 that the first scene in Les Cloches played very short, a few 
 extra lines written into it to be spoken by one of the girls 
 would improve it vastly. The scrip was obtained from the 
 prompter, Montgomery invited to supper, and until three 
 in the morning he and Dick collaborated. Kate sat in the 
 armchair and wondered. 
 
 What can she say to the Baillie? The scene is the sea- 
 shore near Corneville ; they are on their way to the market. 
 
 " Supposing she said something like this, eh ? ' Mr. 
 Baillie, do you like brown eyes and cherry lips ? ' And 
 then another would reply, ' Cherry brandy most like.' " 
 
 " No, I don't think the public — you must remember we 
 are not playing to a London public — would see the point. 
 I think we'd better have something broader." 
 
 "Well, what?" 
 
 " Well, you remember the scene in Chilperic when " 
 
 In the explanation of the scene in Chilperic the conver- 
 sation wandered, and Mr. Diprose's version of the piece and 
 his usual vile taste in the stage management severely com- 
 mented on. In such pleasant discussion an hour was agree- 
 ably spent; but at last the sudden extinguishing of a 
 cigarette reminded them that they had met for the pur- 
 pose of writing some dialogue. After a long silence Dick 
 said — 
 
 " Supposing she were to say, ' Mr. Baillie, you have a 
 fine head.' You know I want something she'd get a laugh 
 with." 
 
 " If she said the truth, she'd say a fat head," replied 
 Montgomery with a laugh. 
 
 " And why shouldn't she? That's the very thing. She's 
 sure to get a laugh with that—' Mr. Baillie, you have a
 
 244 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 fat head/ Let's get that down first. But what shall she 
 say after ? " 
 
 Here hoth authors came to an embarrassing pause, and 
 in silence they ransacked their memories of all the opera 
 bouffes they had seen for a joke which could be fitted to 
 the one they had just discovered. 
 
 After some five minutes of deep consideration, Dick, 
 wearied by the unaccustomed mental strain put upon his 
 mind, said: 
 
 " Do you know the music of Trone D'Ecosse ? Devilish 
 good. If the book had been better it would have been a big 
 success." 
 
 " The waltz is about the prettiest thing Herve has done." 
 
 This expression of opinion led up to an animated discus- 
 sion, in which the rival claims of Herve and Planquette 
 were forcibly argued. Many cigarettes were smoked, and 
 not until the packet was emptied did it occur to them that, 
 up to the present, only one " wheeze " had been found. 
 
 " I never can do anything without a cigarette ; do try to 
 find me one in the next room, Kate, dear. Listen, Mont- 
 gomery, we have got ' Baillie, you've a fat head.' That'll 
 do very well for a beginning; but I'm not good at finding 
 wheezes." 
 
 " And then I can say, ' Baillie, you've a fine head,' " said 
 Kate, who had been listening dreamily for a long time, 
 afraid to interrupt. 
 
 " Not a bad idea," said Dick. " Let's get it down." 
 
 " And then," screamed Montgomery, as he perched both 
 his long legs over the arm of his chair, " she can say, ' I 
 mean a great head, Mr. Baillie.' " 
 
 For a moment Dick's eyes flashed with the light of ad- 
 miration, and he seemed to be considering if it were not his 
 duty to advise the conductor that his talents lay in dialogue 
 rather than in music. But his sentiments, whatever they 
 may have been, disappeared in the burst of inspiration he 
 had been waiting for so long. 
 
 " We can go through the whole list of heads," he ex- 
 claimed triumphantly. " Fat head, fine head, broad head, 
 thick head, massive head — yes, massive head. The Baillie 
 will appear pleased at that, and will repeat the phrase, and
 
 A Mummer's Wife 245 
 
 then she will say ' Dunder head ! ' He'll get angry, and she 
 will run away. That will make a splendid exit — she'll exit 
 to a roar." 
 
 Kate raised and cast down her brown eyes softly, and 
 her heart was filled with a mixed sense of admiration and 
 wonder. It seemed to her extraordinary that a man should 
 do so much, and for her. 
 
 Dick noted down the phrases on a piece of paper, to be 
 pasted afterwards into the scrip. When this was done, he 
 said: 
 
 " My dear, if you don't get a roar with these lines, you 
 
 can call me a And when we play the piece at Hull, I 
 
 shouldn't be surprised if you got noticed in the papers. 
 But you must pluck up courage and cheek the Baillie." 
 
 Kate said nothing, but she felt unutterable things, and 
 a vision of greatness assuaged the suspicion that too much 
 was being asked of her. 
 
 " We must put up a rehearsal-call to-morrow for these 
 lines. Now listen, Montgomery, and tell me how it reads."
 
 CHAPTEK XV. 
 
 EHEARSAL to-morrow at twelve for all those in 
 the front scene of the Cloches" cried the stage- 
 door keeper to half-a-dozen girls as they pushed 
 past him. 
 
 " Well 1 never, and I was going out to see the castle and 
 the ramparts of the town/' said one girl. 
 
 " I wonder what it's for," said another ; " it went all 
 right, I thought — didn't you? Did you hear any reason, 
 Mr. Brown?" 
 
 " I 'ear there are to be new lines put in," replied the 
 stage-door keeper, surlily, " but I don't know. Don't 
 bother." 
 
 At the mention of the new lines the faces of the girls 
 brightened, but instantly they strove to hide the hope and 
 anxiety the announcement had caused them, and in the 
 silence which ensued each tried to think how she could get 
 a word with Mr. Lennox. At length one more enterpris- 
 ing than the rest said: 
 
 " I must run back. I've forgotten my handkerchief." 
 
 " You needn't mind your handkerchief, you won't see 
 Mr. Lennox to-night," exclaimed Dolly, who always 
 trampled on other people's illusions as readily as she did 
 on her own. 
 
 The brutality of the answer caused a titter, but it soon 
 subsided, everybody being anxious to hear the news, for 
 Dolly's tone of voice intimated that she knew what was 
 going to happen. Dispelling the angry look from the face 
 of the girl she had attacked by putting her arm affection- 
 ately round her shoulder, Dolly continued: 
 
 " The lines are not for you, nor me, nor any of us. You 
 little silly, can't you see who they are for? Why, for his 
 girl, of course ! " 
 
 Murmurs of assent followed this statement, and, her 
 hands on her hips, Dolly triumphantly faced her auditors.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 247 
 
 " I know it is damned hard lines, but there it is. You 
 didn't expect the man to take her out of her linendrapery 
 for nothing. You take my word for it, she'll get on now 
 like a house on fire." 
 
 The old stage-door keeper, whose attention had been con- 
 centrated on what he was eating out of a jam-pot, now 
 suddenly woke up to the fact that the passage was blocked, 
 and that a group of musicians with boxes in their hands 
 were waiting to get through. 
 
 " Now, ladies, I must ask you to move on, there are a lot 
 of people behind you." 
 
 " Yes, get on, girls ; we're all up a tree this time, and 
 the moral of it is that we haven't yet learned how to fall in 
 love with the managers. The paper-collar woman has 
 beaten us at our own game." 
 
 A roar of laughter followed this remark, which was 
 heard by everybody, and pushing the girls before her Dolly 
 cleared the way. 
 
 Notwithstanding her distaste for, her determined opposi- 
 tion to the dirty stories told in the dressing-room, and her 
 continued refusal to contribute an item of information to 
 the eternal question of " Who was the nicest man you ever 
 knew ? " Kate's quiet and unmarked character had made her 
 a general favorite. Except on the point above mentioned, 
 she inclined easily to everybody's whims and foibles; she 
 appeared ever ready to oblige, and she made no disagreeable 
 remarks. At first, it is true, her pretty face caused some 
 cruel bickerings, but the unassuming way in which she 
 rather repudiated than accepted admiration softened the 
 acidity of feminine jealousies, and the fact that she was 
 not ill-looking finished by being gracefully accepted. She, 
 moreover, was possessed of the soft, weak features that 
 women invariably admire in their own sex. This was 
 another recommendation in her favor, and as she never 
 interfered with any of the men who came about the theatre, 
 it had become the fashion, when the question was mooted, 
 as to who could be called a really pretty woman, to cite 
 Kate as an example. But she now found that she had 
 jeopardized her popularity by accepting the small part of 
 Jeanne. These girls, whose ambitions in life are limited,
 
 248 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 first to obtaining a line — that is to say, permission to shout, 
 in their red tights, when a low comedian appears on the 
 stage, " Oh, what a jolly good fellow the Duke is ! " — sec- 
 ondly, to being asked out to dinner by somebody they 
 imagine looks like a gentleman, revolted against hearing 
 this paper-collar woman, as they now called her, speak the 
 long-dreamed-of, long-descried phrases; and at night all 
 they dared do they did to " queer " her scene. They 
 crowded round her, mugged, and tried to divert the atten- 
 tion of the house from her. She had to say, " Mr. Baillie, 
 you've a fine head." Baillie, patting his crown — " Yes, a 
 fine head." Kate — "A fat head." Baillie, indignantly — 
 " A fat head ! " Kate, hurriedly — " I mean a broad head." 
 Baillie — " Yes, a broad head." Kate — " A thick head." 
 Baillie, indignantly — " A thick head ! " Kate — " No, no ; 
 a solid head," and so on ad lib. for ten minutes. 
 
 The scene went enormously. The pit screamed, and the 
 gallery was in convulsions, and next day in the streets 
 nothing was heard but ironical references to fat and thick 
 heads. The girls had not succeeded in spoiling the scene, 
 for, encouraged by the applause, Kate had chaffed and 
 mocked at the Baillie so vigorously and wittily that she at 
 once won the sympathy of the house. But the following 
 night a tall, sour-faced girl, who wore pads, and with whom 
 Kate had had some words concerning her coarse language, 
 hit upon an ingenious device for interfering with her suc- 
 cess. It consisted in bursting into a roar of laughter just 
 before she had time to say, " A fat head." The others soon 
 tumbled to the trick, and in a night or two they worked so 
 well together that Kate grew so nervous that she could not 
 speak her lines. This made her feel very miserable ; and her 
 stage experience being limited, she ascribed her non-success 
 to her own fault, until one night Dick rushed, the moment 
 the curtain was down at the end of the first act, into the 
 middle of the stage. Putting up his arms with a large 
 gesture, he called the company back. 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen," he said, " I have noticed that 
 the front scene in this act has not been going as well as it 
 used to. I don't want anyone to tell why this is so; the 
 reason is sufficiently obvious, at least to me. I shall expect,
 
 'A Mummer's Wife 249 
 
 therefore, the ladies whom this matter concerns to attend 
 a rehearsal to-morrow at twelve, and if after that I notice 
 what I did to-night, I shall at once dismiss the delinquents 
 from the company. I hope I make myself understood." 
 
 After this explanation, any further interference with 
 Kate's scene was, of course, out of the question, and the 
 verdict of each new town more and more firmly established 
 its success. But if Dick's presence controlled the girls 
 whilst they were on the stage, his authority diminished as 
 it ascended to the dressing-rooms, and many were the ex- 
 pedients there resorted to to annoy Kate. Her particular 
 enemy was Dolly Goddard. Not a night passed that this 
 girl did not refer to the divorce cases she had read of in the 
 papers, or pretended to have heard of. Her natural sharp 
 wit enabled her to do this with considerable acidity. 
 " Never heard such a thing my life, girls," she would begin. 
 " They talk of us, but what we do is child's play compared 
 with the doings of the respectable people. A baker's wife 
 in this blessed town has just run away with the editor of a 
 newspaper, leaving her six little children, one of them being 
 a baby no more than a month old, behind her." 
 
 "What will the husband do?" 
 
 "Get a divorce." (Chorus — "He'll get a divorce, of 
 course, of course, of course ! ") 
 
 To this delicate irony no answer was possible, and Kate 
 could only bite her lips, and pretend not to understand. 
 But it was difficult not to turn pale and tremble sometimes, 
 so agonizing were the anecdotes that the active brain of 
 Dolly conjured up concerning the atrocities that pursuing 
 husbands had perpetrated with knife and pistol on the be- 
 trayers of their happiness. And when these scare-crows 
 failed, there were always the dirty stories to fall back 
 upon. A word sufficed to set the whole gang recounting 
 experiences, and comparing notes. Often a sneer curled the 
 corners of Kate's lips, but to protest she knew would be 
 only to expose herself to a rude answer, and to appeal to 
 Dick couldn't fail to excite still further enmity against her. 
 Besides, what could he do ? How could he define what were 
 and what were not proper conversations for the dressing- 
 rooms? Clearly, the best thing for her to do was to ask
 
 250 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 him to put her to dress with the principals, and this she 
 decided to do one evening when the words used in No. 6 had 
 been more than usually warm. 
 
 Dick, of course, made no objection, and with Leslie and 
 Beaumont Kate got on better. 
 
 " I am so glad you have come," said Leslie, as she bent 
 to allow the dresser to place a wreath of orange-blossoms on 
 her head. " I wonder you didn't think of asking Mr. Len- 
 nox to put you with us before." 
 
 " I didn't like to. I was afraid of being in your way," 
 said Kate, as she examined with a circular look the blank 
 whitewash, the overfilled slop-pail, and the naked gas-jet. 
 " I hope Beaumont won't mind my being here." 
 
 " What matter if she does ? Beaumont isn't half a bad 
 sort once you begin to understand her. Just let her talk to 
 vou about her diamonds and her men, and it will be all 
 right." 
 
 " But why haven't you been to see me lately ? I want 
 you to come out shopping with me one day next week. We 
 shall be at York. I hear you can get some nice things 
 there." 
 
 " Yes, there are some nice shops there. I would have 
 been to see you before, but Frank has just got some new 
 scores from London, and he wanted me to try them over 
 with him. There's one that's just been produced in Paris — 
 the loveliest music you ever heard in all your life. Come 
 up to my place to-morrow and I'll play it over to you. But 
 talking of music, I hear that you are getting on splendidly." 
 
 " I think I'm improving ; Montgomery comes to practice 
 with me every morning." 
 
 " He's all very well for the piano, but he can't teach you 
 to produce your voice. What does he know ? That brat of 
 a boy! I'll tell you what I'll do," cried Leslie, suddenly 
 confronting Kate ; " we're going to York next week. Well, 
 I'll introduce you to a first-rate man. He'd do more with 
 you in six lessons than Montgomery in fifty. And the week 
 after we shall be at Leeds. I can introduce you to another 
 there." 
 
 " The curtain is just going up, Miss Leslie," cried the 
 call-boy.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 251 
 
 " All right/' cried the prima donna, throwing the hare's 
 foot to the dresser. " I must be off now. We'll talk of this 
 to-morrow." 
 
 Immediately after the stately figure of Beaumont en- 
 tered. Putting her black bag down with a thump on the 
 table she exclaimed: 
 
 " Good heavens ! not dressed yet ! My God ! you'll be late." 
 
 " Late for what ? " asked Kate in astonishment. 
 
 " Didn't Mr. Lennox tell you that you had to sing my 
 song, the market woman's song, in the first act ? " 
 
 " No, I heard nothing of it." 
 
 " Then for goodness sake make haste. Here, stick your 
 face out. I'll do your make-up while the dresser laces you. 
 But you'll be able to manage the song, won't you? It is 
 quite impossible for me to get dressed in time. I can't 
 understand Mr. Lennox not having told you." 
 
 " Oh, yes, I shall be able to get through it — at least I 
 hope so," Kate answered, trembling with the sudden excite- 
 ment of the news. " I think I know all the words except 
 the encore verse." 
 
 " Oh, you won't need that," said Beaumont, betrayed by 
 a twinge of professional jealousy. " Now turn the other 
 cheek. By Jove, we've no time to lose; they are just finish- 
 ing the wedding chorus. If you're late it won't be my fault. 
 I sent down word to the theatre to ask if you would sing 
 my song in the first act, as I had some friends coming down 
 from London to see me. You know the Marquis of Worth- 
 ing — has been a friend of mine for years. That'll do for 
 the left eye." 
 
 " If you put out your leg a little farther I'll pull on 
 your stocking, and then you'll be all right," said the 
 dresser. 
 
 This was done in a jiffy, and just staying a moment to 
 pull up her garters in a sort of nervous trance, she rushed 
 on to the stage, followed into the wings by Beaumont, who 
 had come to hear how the song would go. 
 
 It was a complete success, and from an enthusiastic pit 
 she got a double encore. 
 
 These little triumphs encouraged Kate more than ever 
 to take Miss Leslie's advice; and in no town they visited
 
 252 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 where the advantages of musical instruction could be ob- 
 tained did she neglect to avail herself of the chance. 
 Montgomery was at first inclined to jealously resent the 
 interference of other masters, but all the objections he had 
 to offer were steadily overruled by Dick. And he, more 
 than any one, urged her to continue her studies. In mat- 
 ters of money he remained as heedlessly generous as ever. 
 " Your lessons cost you three pounds, dear? Very well, 
 here's five quid," he would say, pulling a lot of loose sover- 
 eigns out of his waistcoat pocket. 
 
 " But what am I to do with the rest? " 
 
 " You are sure to want it. Buy yourself some gloves, or 
 a new hat." 
 
 She felt that she would never be able to repay him for 
 his kindness. She experienced the most delicious inter- 
 vals of love, and her heart was over-filled with sensations 
 of gratitude. Indeed, unless the familiarity, the spoony 
 ways of which he seemed unable to divest himself in speak- 
 ing to a woman, be pleaded against him, his conduct to- 
 wards her was irreproachable. But the considerateness 
 he showed on all other points rendered this frailty the 
 more noticeable, and in all Kate's examinations of con- 
 science pushed it into irritating prominence. Yet it was 
 only natural that doubt should grow upon her. The con- 
 stant presence, the very odor of skirts in which they lived, 
 was revolting to think of, and daily to desire to possess 
 him beyond the power, the assailing temptation of any 
 woman, became an increasing want in her mind. 
 
 The continual nerve-excitement in which c-he lived, the 
 rich diet, the brandies and sodas supped in the dressing- 
 rooms, the constant gratification of bodily pleasure, com- 
 bined to produce in her naturally placid nature violent re- 
 volts and demands for passionate outbursts. Often at her 
 music lesson she would grind her little teeth; a sudden 
 thought would strike her that he had taken advantage of 
 her absence to go round and see one of the girls. Then, 
 again, under her very- eyes, before the curtain had gone 
 up, when the girls were assembled on the stage, he would 
 put his arm round the shoulders of some girl who had come 
 to ask him a question. These were moments in which a
 
 A Mummer's Wife 25<{ 
 
 little childish rage boiled like a kettle within her, and she 
 would clench her hands, and a mad instinct of scratching 
 awoke in the muscles of her arms. Bitterly, too, at night, 
 when they got home after the theatre, she used to reproach 
 him; and what annoyed her even more than the fact itself, 
 was the absolute unconsciousness he always displayed of 
 having ever done anything wrong. At last, exasperated 
 by the eternal " My dear, I don't remember," she seized 
 him by the fuzzy hair, and pulled until the tears came into 
 his eyes. It was, however, half in fun, and Kate burst 
 out laughing soon after; but Dick, unobservant as he was, 
 could not help looking at her in astonishment. The 
 change that had come over her since she left Hanley was 
 apparent. Physically, the change was for the better. 
 Her cheeks were fuller, the lines of her face softer; her 
 eyes had become less monotonous in color, and more pro- 
 voking in expression: and she smiled more readily. Psy- 
 chologically, the change was even more marked. The 
 broad, simple lines on which her views of life and things 
 had formerly been based, had become twisted, broken, 
 and confused; her tastes were now more complex and her 
 desires more febrile. Even her principles of honesty had 
 become shaken. Anecdotes of clever swindles no longer 
 wounded her feelings; she now listened to and laughed 
 at them with the rest. The middle-class woman, in a 
 word, had disappeared, and the Bohemian taken her place; 
 and had it not been for the anger with which she repulsed 
 all levity of conversation, and the cold way she frowned 
 upon the spicy little stories, the delight of theatrical 
 supper-tables, the closest scrutiny might have failed to 
 find a clue wherewith to trace her back to her origin. But 
 regarding the moral question, she seemed daily to grow 
 more severe, and many were the disputes Kate and Dick 
 had on the subject. For the smallest thing said in her 
 presence she would challenge him with not respecting her. 
 And it was amusing to watch the poor good-natured creat- 
 ure, who neither respected nor disrespected any living 
 thing, but lived only for the enjoyment of the moment, 
 striving to lead the conversation away from dangerous 
 ground. Beaumont and Mortimer often made this ex-
 
 254 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 tremely difficult for him, and when they met at dinner or 
 supper Dick's attempts at steering a clear way through 
 the sticky suggestiveness of their allusions recalled often 
 the struggles of a bluebottle threading his way out of a 
 spider's web. For, besides maintaining a tight rein over 
 his own tongue, he was likewise made responsible for the 
 conduct of others, and expected, on the first suspicion of 
 impropriety, to call the offender to account. This was 
 as may be easily imagined, not too facile a task, and often 
 placed Dick in a somewhat ludicrous position. But Kate 
 forced obedience upon him. Out of her former placid 
 nature had arisen a perky little spirit, which, although it 
 sometimes worried, was not without charm for her soft- 
 hearted lover. Little as he cared for the opinions of 
 others, he could not help feeling proud of her, and the 
 novelty of seeing her assert herself pleased him. Was 
 he not enjoying the society of a second woman whose ex- 
 istence till now he had not suspected? This dose of au- 
 thoritative self-reliance had been introduced into her char- 
 acter; first, by the fact that she was now a divorced woman; 
 secondly, by the fact that she was now earning two pounds 
 a week, and received nightly a round of public applause. 
 The news of the decree nisi had, of course, suggested many 
 thoughts for the future, and had frightened her consider- 
 ably. But in the reflections and analysis of her life which 
 these fears forced upon her, it became gradually clear to 
 her that she was not such a very unimportant person after 
 all. She was getting on with her music; she could play 
 most things, and sing a little at sight, and everybody said 
 that, when she got a part, that she would make a success 
 of it. Besides, she was admired more than any one in the 
 company. At this point, however, Kate's thoughts came 
 always to a sudden stop. What was vaguely floating in 
 her mind was that she had only to make a choice to get 
 any man she liked; but the morality of years intervening, 
 she shrank from defining her thoughts. A wave of sup- 
 pressed pride would sweep up through her soul, and with 
 a flush in her cheeks she remembered that she was, after 
 all, the honestest woman in the theatre. She admitted that 
 she had deserted her husband for another man. It was
 
 A Mummer' a Wife 255 
 
 very wicked, that she knew; but she could not help her- 
 self. They should have been kinder to her than they had 
 been at home. Her husband had never really loved her, 
 
 and her mother-in-law . But she could not bring her- 
 
 self,even in thought, to abuse Mrs. Ede, and in preference 
 it pleased her to think how great was her love for Dick. 
 If she was living with a man to whom she was not mar- 
 ried, it was because she cared for him. Kate clung reso- 
 lutely to this last fleeting remnant of her past life, and for 
 this reason she passionately — even at the risk of making 
 herself unpopular — could not refrain from asserting her 
 claims to the title of an honest woman; and this, and an 
 overmastering desire to succeed in her profession, were the 
 two things that now occupied her mind. In speculations 
 as to when she would obtain a part, her jealousy was for- 
 gotten, and for the time being her lover was spared many 
 bitter recriminations. Nevertheless, she grumbled very 
 much at having nothing to do. When her little scene 
 with the Baillie was over, she had to walk aimlessly about 
 with the rest of the chorus. In Madame Angot she hadn't 
 a line; after her success with the fishwife's song, Beau- 
 mont took good care not to give her another chance. 
 Every night this matter was discussed, but Dick could not, 
 as he said, sack the principals. All sorts of expedients 
 were suggested, even to the possibility of mounting a new 
 opera — a proposition much approved of by Montgomery; 
 but nothing could be agreed on save the advisability of 
 Kate setting to work to understudy Miss Leslie. 
 
 " Kate could play Serpolette as it was never played be- 
 fore," exclaimed Dick, who believed implicitly in her 
 talent. 
 
 " And I'll engage that she does," cried Montgomery; 
 " I'll bring up the score to-morrow and we'll have a go 
 at it," 
 
 Once begun, the studies proceeded gayly. Apparently 
 deeply interested, in the somnolent beatitude of the morn- 
 ing hours, Dick lay back, smoking perpetual cigarettes in 
 the armchair. Montgomery hammered with nervous 
 vigor at the piano; Kate stood by his side, her soul burn- 
 ing in the ardors of her task. She would have preferred
 
 256 A Mtimmer's Wife 
 
 the part of Germaine; it would have better suited her mild 
 demeanor than the frisky Serpolette; hut in vain it seemed 
 to hope for illness or any accident that would prevent 
 Beaumont from playing. They could only suggest that 
 Leslie was often imprudent, and praying for a bronchial 
 visitation they watched at night to see how she was 
 wrapped up. 
 
 When Kate knew the music a rehearsal was called for 
 her to go through the business, and it was then that the 
 long-smouldering indignation broke out against her. In 
 the first place the girl who till now had been entrusted 
 with the understudy, and had likewise lived in the hopes 
 of coughs and colds, burst into floods of passionate tears 
 and storms of violent words. She attacked Kate vigor- 
 ously; and the scene was doubly unpleasant, as it took 
 place in the presence of everybody. The most remorseless 
 references were made to dying and deserted husbands, and 
 all the acridness of the chorus-girl was squeezed into allu- 
 sions anent the Divorce Court. This was as disagreeable 
 for Dick as for Kate. The rehearsal had to be dismissed, 
 and the lady in question was sent back to London. Sym- 
 pathy at first ran very strongly on the side of the weak, 
 and the ladies of the theatre were united in their efforts 
 to make it as disagreeable as possible for Kate. She bore 
 up, however, courageously; and after a time her continual 
 refusal to again rehearse the part won a reaction in her 
 favor; and when Miss Leslie's cold began to grow worse, 
 and it became clear that some one must understudy Serpo- 
 lette, the part fell without opposition to her share. 
 
 And now every minute of the day was given to learning 
 or thinking out in her inner consciousness some portion of 
 her part. In the middle of her breakfast she would hur- 
 riedly lay her cup with a clink in the saucer and say, 
 " Look here, Dick; tell me how I am to do that run in — 
 my first entrance, you know." 
 
 " What are your words, dear? " 
 
 " * Who speaks ill of Serpolette? ' " 
 
 The breakfast-table would then be pushed out of the 
 way and the entrance rehearsed. Dick seemed never to 
 get tired, and the run was practised over and over again.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 257 
 
 Coming home from the theatre at night, it was always a 
 question of this effect and that effect; of whether Leslie 
 might not have scored a point if she had accentuated the 
 lifting of her skirt in the famous song. 
 
 That was, as Dick declared, the " number of grip; " and 
 often, at two o'clock in the morning, just as she was get- 
 ting into bed, Kate would, in her chemise, begin to sing — 
 
 " Look at me here ! look at me there ! 
 Criticise me everywhere ! 
 From head to feet I am most sweet, 
 And most perfect and complete." 
 
 But, above all, there was a scene in the first act in which 
 Serpolette had to run screaming with laughter away from 
 her cross old uncle, Gaspard, and dodge him, hiding be- 
 hind the Baillie and his clerk. To do this effectively re- 
 quired a certain chic, a gayety, which Kate did not seem 
 able to summon up; and therein lay the weak place in her 
 rendering of the part. " You're all right for a minute, and 
 then you sober down into a Germaine," Dick would say, 
 at the end of a long and critical conversation. And for 
 days this judgment formed the theme of Kate's rumina- 
 tions. Thinking it cannot be called, but in the efforts of 
 her intelligence to generate in herself and give birth to 
 the being indicated by the dramatist, she mentally trans- 
 ported herself to scenes of artificial pleasure — scenes in 
 which she was surrounded by lovers who, drinking wine 
 from goblets of gold, crowned her with roses and mad- 
 dened her with laughter. Thus she divined a wild gay- 
 ety, as in the murmuring of a sea-shell we hear the wash 
 of the sea; and far away saw, as we see reflections in deep 
 Avaters, flying figures and floating hair, in the middle of 
 which kisses were snatched. 
 
 The business she learned to " parrot "; Dick taught her 
 the gestures and the intonations of voice to be used, and 
 after she had had a glass of wine, he said he would back 
 her to go through the part quite as well as Leslie. 
 
 Leslie! The word was now constantly in their minds. 
 Would her cold get worse or better? was the question dis- 
 cussed the most frequently between Dick, Kate, and Mont-
 
 258 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 gomery. Sometimes it was better, sometimes worse; but 
 at last at the moment of their greatest despondency the 
 welcome news came that she had slipped downstairs and 
 ,-prained her foot badly. 
 
 " Oh, the poor thing! " said Kate; " I'm so sorry. Had 
 I known that was " 
 
 " Was going to happen you wouldn't have learnt the 
 part," exclaimed Montgomery, with his loud, vacant laugh. 
 
 Answering him with an angry glance, she cast down her 
 eyes, and beat her foot impatiently on the ground. After 
 a long silence she said, " I shall go and see her." 
 
 ' You'd much better run through your music with Mont- 
 gomery, and mind not to forget to see the dresser about 
 your dress. And, for God's sake, do try and put a bit of 
 gayety into the part. Serpolette is a bit of a romp, you 
 know." 
 
 " Try to put a bit of gayety into the part," rang in Kate's 
 ears unceasingly. It haunted her as she took in the waist 
 of Leslie's dress, while she leaned over Montgomery's 
 shoulder at the piano or listened to his conversation. He 
 was enthusiastic, and she thought it very pretty of him to 
 say, " I am glad to have had a share in your first success. 
 No one forgets that; that's sure to be remembered." 
 
 It was the nearest thing to a profession of love he had 
 ever made, but she was preoccupied with other thoughts, 
 and had to send him away for a last time to study the dia- 
 logue before the glass. 
 
 " Try to put a little gayety into the part. Serpolette is 
 a romp, you know." 
 
 "Yes, a romp; but what is a romp?" Kate asked her- 
 self; and she strove to realize in detail that which she had 
 accepted till now in outline. The first thing to be done 
 was to get rid of her gloom; and feeling angry like one who 
 has started at a shadow, she went over to the cupboard, 
 took out a decanter, and drank a couple of glasses of 
 sherry. The stimulant had the desired effect. Gayly she 
 skipped now from the graver scenes of her married life 
 which had irritated her to reminiscences of factory boys 
 and girls larking together; to recollections of village fetes; 
 to all things that would help her to attune her thoughts
 
 A Mummer's Wife 259 
 
 to the sentiments of the three hours to be passed in the 
 day of the footlights and the shadow of painted trees. 
 The struggle was a hard one, but it was on this evening, 
 more than any other, that she freed herself from the 
 weight of ten years of work which pressed upon her, and 
 trod the heaviest tread on the head of her anterior life.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 ADIES and gentleman," said Mr. Hayes, who 
 had much against his will been pushed before 
 the curtain of the Theatre Royal, Bristol, to 
 make the following statement, " I am sorry to 
 inform you that in consequence of indisposition — that is 
 to say, the accidental spraining of her ankle — Miss Leslie 
 will not be able to appear to-night. Your kind indulgence 
 is therefore requested for Miss D'Arcy, who has, on the 
 shortest notice, consented to play the part of Serpolette." 
 
 " Did yer ever 'ear of any one spraining an ankle on pur- 
 pose? " asked a scene-shifter. 
 
 " Hush! " said the gasman, " he'll 'ear you." 
 
 Amid murmurs of applause, Mr. Hayes backed into the 
 wings. 
 
 " Well, was it all right? " he asked Dick. 
 
 " Right, my boy, I should think it was; there was a touch 
 of Gladstone in your accidental sprained ankle." 
 
 " What do you mean? " said the discomfited acting man- 
 ager. 
 
 " I haven't time to tell you now. Now then, girls, are 
 you ready? " he said, rushing on to the stage and hurriedly 
 changing the places of the choristers. Putting his hand 
 on a girl's shoulder, he moved her to the right or left as 
 his taste dictated. Then retiring abruptly, he cried, 
 " Now then, up you go! " and immediately after thirty 
 voices in one sonority sang, 
 
 " In Corneville's wide market-pla — a — ces 
 Sweet servant girls with rosy fa — a — ces 
 Wait here, wait here." 
 
 " Now, then, come on. You make you entrance from 
 the top left." 
 
 " I don't think I shall ever be able to do that run in." 
 " Don't begin to think about anything. If you don't
 
 A Mummer's Wife 261 
 
 like the run, I'll tell you how to do it," said Dick, his face 
 lighting up with a sudden inspiration; " do it with a 
 cheeky swagger, walking very slowly, like this; and then 
 when you get quarter of the way down the stage, stop for a 
 moment and sing, 'Who speaks ill of Serpolette?' Do 
 you see! " 
 
 " Yes, yes, that will suit me better; I understand." 
 Then standing under the sloping wing, they both list- 
 ened anxiously for the cue. 
 " She loves Grenicheux." 
 
 " There's your cue. On you go, give me your shawl." 
 The footlights dazzled her. The shadow-filled audi- 
 torium spotted with hundreds of faces, was appalling; a 
 burst of applause rather frightened than reassured her, 
 and a prey to a sort of dull dream, she sang her first lines. 
 But she was a little behind the beat. Montgomery brought 
 down his stick furiously, the repliques of the girls buffeted 
 her ears like palms of hands, and it was not until she was 
 half-way through the gossiping couplets, and saw Mont- 
 gomery's arm swing peacefully to and fro over the bent 
 profiles of the musicians that she fairly recovered her 
 presence of mind. Then came the little scene in which 
 she runs away from her uncle Gaspard and hides behind 
 the Baillie. And she dodged the old man with such 
 sprightliness from one side of the stage to the other that 
 a murmur of admiration floated over the pit, and, arising 
 in circular echoes, was prolonged almost until she stepped 
 down to the footlights to sing the legend of Serpolette. 
 
 The quaintly tripping cadences of the tune and the hu- 
 mor of the words, which demanded to be rather said than 
 sung, were rendered to perfection. It was impossible not 
 to like her when she said, 
 
 " I know not much of my relations, 
 I never saw my mother's face ; 
 And of preceding generations 
 I never found a single trace. 
 
 " I may have fallen from the sky, 
 Or blossomed in a rosebud sweet ; 
 But all I know is this, that I 
 Was found by Gaspard in his wheat."
 
 262 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 A smile of delight filled the theatre, and Kate felt the 
 chilling sense of separation which exists between the pub- 
 lic and a debutante being gradually filled in by a delicious 
 but almost incomprehensible notion of contact — a sensa- 
 tion more delicate than the touch of a lovers breath on 
 your face. This reached a climax when she sang the third 
 verse, and had not etiquette forbade, she would have had 
 an encore for it alone. 
 
 " I often think that perhaps I may 
 The heiress to a Kingdom be, 
 But as I wore no clothes that day 
 I brought no papers out with me." 
 
 These words, that had often seemed coarse in Leslie's 
 mouth, in Kate's seemed adorably simple. So winning 
 was the smile and so coquettishly conscious did she seem 
 of the compromising nature of the statement she was mak- 
 ing, that the entire theatre was actuated by the impulse 
 of one thought — Oh! what a. little dear you must have been 
 lying in the wheat-field! The personality of the actress 
 disappeared in the rosy thighs and chubby arms of the 
 foundling, and notwithstanding the length of the song, she 
 had to sing it twice over. Then there was an exit for 
 her, and she rushed into the wings. Several of the girls 
 spoke to her, but it was impossible for her to reply to 
 them. Everything swam in and out of sight like shapes 
 in a mist, and she could only distinguish the burly form 
 of her lover. He wrapped a shawl about her, and a mur- 
 mur of amiable words followed her, and, with her thoughts 
 fizzing like champagne, she tried to listen to his praises. 
 
 Then followed moments in which she anxiously waited 
 for her cues. She was nervously afraid of missing her 
 entrance, and she dreaded spoiling her success by some 
 mistake. But it was not until the end of the act when she 
 stepped out of the crowd of servant-girls to sing the famous 
 coquetting song, that she reached the summit of her 
 triumph. 
 
 Kate was about the medium height, a shade over five 
 feet five. When she swung her little dress as she strutted 
 on the stage she reminded you immediately of a pigeon.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 263 
 
 In her apparent thinness from time to time was revealed 
 a surprising plumpness. For instance, her bosom, no 
 more in a walking dress than an indication, in a low body 
 assumed the roundness of a bird's, and the white lines of 
 her falling shoulders floated in long undulations into the 
 blue masses of her hair. The nervous sensibility of her 
 profession had awakened her face, and now the brown eyes 
 laughed with the spiritual maliciousness with which we 
 willingly endow the features of a good fairy. The hips 
 were womanty, the ankle was only a touch of stocking, 
 and, when coquettishly lifting the skirt, she sang, 
 
 " Look at me here, look at me there, 
 Criticise me everywhere. 
 I am most sweet from head to feet, 
 And most perfect and complete." 
 
 the whole house rose to a man and roared. The audience, 
 principally composed of sailors — men home from months 
 of watery weariness, nights of toil and darkness, maddened 
 by the irritating charm of the music and the delicious 
 modernity of Kate's figure and dress, looked as if they 
 were going to precipitate themselves from the galleries. 
 Was she not the living reality of the figures posted over 
 the hammocks in oil-smelling cabins, the prototype of the 
 short-skirted damsels that decorated the empty match 
 boxes which they preserved and gazed at under the light 
 of the stars? 
 
 Her success was enormous, and she was forced to sing, 
 
 " Look at me here," 
 
 five times before her friends would allow the piece to pro- 
 ceed. At the end of the act she received an ovation. Two 
 reporters of the local newspapers obtained permission to 
 come behind to see her. London engagements were 
 spoken of, and in the general enthusiasm some one talked 
 about grand opera. Even her fellow artists forgot their 
 jealousies, and in the nervous excitement of the moment 
 complimented her highly. Beaumont, anxious to kick 
 down her rival, declared, " That, to say the least of it, it
 
 204 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 was a better rendering of the part than Leslie's." On 
 hearing this, Bret, whose forte was not repartee, moved 
 away; Mortimer, in his least artificial manner, said that it 
 was not bad for a beginning and that she'd get on if she 
 worked at it. Dubois strutted and spoke learnedly of how 
 the part had been played in France, and he was pleased to 
 trace by an analysis which was difficult to follow a resem- 
 blance between Kate and Madame Judic. 
 
 The second act went equally well. And after seeing the 
 ghosts she got a bouquet thrown to her, so cheekily did she 
 sing the refrain, 
 
 " For a regiment of soldiers wouldn't make me afraid." 
 
 She had therefore now only to maintain her prestige to the 
 end, and when she had got her encore for the cider song, 
 and had been recalled before the curtain at the end of the 
 third act, with unstrung nerves she wandered to her dress- 
 ing-room, thinking of what Dick would say when they got 
 home. But the pleasures of the evening were not over 
 yet: there was the supper, when her success would be thor- 
 oughly discussed, still to be looked forward to. She 
 would have liked to have been alone with Dick; but on 
 consideration, thinking it would look awkward not to ask 
 Montgomery, she whispered to him in the wings, when she 
 came down from the dressing-room, that they hoped to see 
 him at their place later on. He said he would be very 
 glad, but for the moment he was obliged to cut away as he 
 had some music to copy out. 
 
 Kate was left alone in the vacant twilight of the stage. 
 The scene-shifters were carrying to and fro the long swing- 
 ing wings, the T-light was flaring. As she walked up and 
 down the rough boards a warm joy, a luxurious conscious- 
 ness of success, penetrated her whole being, and her 
 thoughts balanced themselves voluptuously on the remem- 
 brance. She recalled each round of applause she had re- 
 ceived; she dwelt upon and tickled herself amorously with 
 the souvenir of the compliments that had been paid to her. 
 Indistinct visions of future successes amassed themselves 
 in her mind, and in feelings that were profoundly sensual
 
 A Mummer's Wife 2G5 
 
 she savored in advance the pleasure that would presently 
 be hers when, sitting between Dick and Montgomery, she 
 would hear them talking of her, and discussing in detail 
 the events of which she had been the heroine. From time 
 to time chorus-girls passed across going in the direction 
 of the stage-door. As they went by her they invariably 
 stopped and, with a few mechanical words and a hard 
 smile, strove to compliment her. Kate thanked them and 
 continued her walk. At last Beaumont and Dolly God- 
 dard came by. After a phrase or two concerning the piece, 
 questions were asked about Dick. Kate answered that she 
 was waiting for him. At that moment a scene-shifter 
 who happened to be passing, supplied the information that 
 he had seen Mr. Lennox leaving the theatre some twenty 
 minutes ago, and that he had not returned. Kate won- 
 dered where he had gone to, and while she puzzled her 
 brains to think why he had not left a message for her, she 
 listened to Beaumont who was proposing that they should 
 go round, before it was too late, and have a drink at the 
 pub. Afraid he might return in her absence, and know- 
 ing how he disapproved of her going to public-houses with 
 the girls, she hesitated; but Beaumont insisted, and as it 
 was a question of drinking to that night's success, Kate, 
 fearing to appear ungenerous, consented. A word was left 
 with the stage-door keeper. 
 
 " No, not here," said Beaumont, shoving an inch or so 
 apart the swinging doors. Dolly and Kate were behind 
 her. " "lis too full. I'll show you the way round by the 
 side entrance." 
 
 And giggling, the girls slipped into the private apart- 
 ment. 
 
 " What will you have, dear? " asked Beaumont in an 
 apologetic whisper. 
 
 " I think I'll have a whisky." 
 
 " You'll have the same, Dolly? " 
 
 "Scotch or Irish?" asked the barman. 
 
 The girls consulted a moment, and decided in favor of 
 Irish. 
 
 With nods and glances the health of Serpolette was 
 drunk, and then fearing to look as if she were sponging,
 
 266 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 Kate insisted on likewise standing treat. Fortunately 
 when the second round had been drunk closing time was 
 announced by the man in the shirt-sleeves, and bidding her 
 friends good-by, Kate stood in the street trying to think 
 if she ought to return to the theatre to look after Dick or 
 go home and find him there. 
 
 Deciding on the latter alternative, she walked slowly 
 along the street. A chill wind blew up from the sea, and 
 the sudden transition from the hot atmosphere of the bar 
 brought the fumes of the whisky to her head and she felt 
 a little giddy. An idea of drunkenness suggested itself; 
 it annoyed her, and repulsing it vehemently, her thoughts 
 somewhat savagely fastened on to Dick as the culprit. 
 " Where had he gone to ? " she asked, at first curiously, 
 but at each repetition she put the question more sullenly 
 to herself. If he had come back to fetch her she would 
 not have been led into the public-house with Beaumont; 
 and, irritated that any shadow should have fallen on the 
 happiness of the evening, she walked sturdily along until 
 a sudden turn brought her face to face with her lover. 
 
 " Oh! " he said, starting, " is that you, Kate? I was just 
 cutting back to the theatre to fetch you." 
 
 " Yes, a nice time you've kept me waiting," she an- 
 swered; but as she spoke she recognized the street they 
 were in as the one in which Leslie lived. The blood 
 rushed to her face, and tearing the while the paper fringe 
 of her bouquet, she said, " I know very well where you 
 have been to! I want no telling. You have been round 
 spending your time with Leslie." 
 
 " Well," said Dick, embarrassed by the directness with 
 which she divined his errand, " I don't see what harm there 
 was in that. I really thought that I ought to run and see 
 how she was." 
 
 Struck by the reasonableness of this answer, Kate for 
 the moment remained silent, but a sudden remembrance 
 forced the anger that was latent in her to her head, and 
 facing him again she said: 
 
 u How dare you tell me such a lie. You know very well 
 you went to see her because you like her, because you love 
 her."
 
 A Mummer's Wife 267 
 
 Dick looked at her surprised. 
 
 " I assure you, you are mistaken," he said. But at that 
 moment Bret passed them in the street, hurrying towards 
 Leslie'?. The meeting was an unfortunate one, and it sent 
 a deeper pang of jealousy to Kate's heart. 
 
 " There," she said, " haven't I proof of your baseness? 
 What do you say to that? " 
 
 "To what?" 
 
 " Don't pretend innocence. Didn't you see Bret pass- 
 ing? You choose your time nicely to pay visits — just 
 when he should be out." 
 
 " Oh! " said Dick, surprised at the ingenuity of the de- 
 duction. " I give you my word that such an idea never 
 occurred to me." 
 
 But before he could get any further with his explana- 
 (ion Kate again cut him short, and in passionate words 
 told him he was a monster and a villain. So taken aback 
 was he by this sudden manifestation of temper on the part 
 of one in whom he did not suspect its existence, that he 
 stopped, to assure himself that she was not joking. A 
 glance sufficed to convince him; and making frequent 
 little halts between the lamp-posts to argue the different 
 points more definitely, quarrelling they proceeded home. 
 But on arriving at the door, Kate experienced a moment 
 of revolt that surprised herself. The palms of her hands 
 itched, and consumed with a childish desire to scratch and 
 beat this big man, she beat her little feet against the pave- 
 ment. Dick fumbled at the lock. The delay still further 
 irritated her, and it seemed impossible that she could enter 
 the house that night. 
 
 " Aren't you coming in? " he said at last. 
 
 " No, not I. You go back to Miss Leslie; I'm sure she 
 wants you to attend to her ankle." 
 
 This was too absurd, and Dick gently expostulated. 
 But nothing he could say was of the slightest avail, and 
 she refused to move from the doorstep. Then began a 
 long argument; and in brief phrases, amid frequent inter- 
 ruptions, all sorts of things were discussed. The wind 
 blew very cold; Kate did not seem to notice it, but Dick 
 shivered 'in his fat. Noticing his trembling she taunted
 
 208 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 him with it, and insultingly advised him to go to bed. 
 Not knowing what answer to give to this, he walked into 
 the sitting-room and sat down by the fire. How long 
 would she remain on the doorstep? he asked himself 
 humbly, until his reflections were interrupted by the 
 sound of steps. It was Montgomery, and chuckling, Dick 
 listened to him reasoning with Kate. The cold was so 
 intense that the discussion could not be continued for long; 
 and when the two friends entered Dick was prepared for 
 a reconciliation. But in this he was disappointed. She 
 merely consented to sit in the arm-chair, and from time to 
 time she glared at her lover. Montgomery tried to argue 
 with her, but he could scarcely succeed in getting her to 
 answer him. It was not until he commenced to question 
 Dick on the reason of the quarrel that she consented to 
 speak; and then her utterances were more passionate de- 
 nials of her lover's statements than any distinct explana- 
 tion. There were also long silences, during which she sat 
 savagely picking at the paper of the bouquet, which she 
 still retained. At last Montgomery noticing the supper 
 that no one cared to touch said: 
 
 " Well, all I know is, that it is very unfortunate that you 
 should have chosen this night of all others, the night of 
 her success, to have a row. I expected a pleasant eve- 
 ning." 
 
 " Success, indeed! " said Kate, starting to her feet. 
 " Was it for such a success as this that he took me away 
 from my home? Oh, what a fool I was! Success! A lot 
 I care for the success, when he has been spending the eve- 
 ning with Leslie." And unable to contain herself any 
 longer, she tore a handful of flowers out of her bouquet 
 and threw them in Dick's face. Handful succeeded hand- 
 ful, each being accompanied by a shower of vehement 
 words. The two men waited in wonderment, and when 
 passionate reproaches and spring flowers were alike ex- 
 hausted, a flood of tears and a rush into the next room 
 ended the scene.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 jATE'S anger lasted until the following day, until 
 it was announced that Miss Leslie suffered so 
 much with her ankle, that she would be unable 
 to travel. Then the whole company called to see 
 the poor invalid; the chorus left their names, the princi- 
 pals went up to sit by the sofa-side. They all brought 
 her something: Beaumont, a basket of fruit; Dolly God- 
 dard, a bouquet of roses; Dubois, an interesting novel; 
 Mortimer, a fresh stock of anecdotes. The subject of 
 sprains was eagerly discussed. Dubois had known a 
 premiere danseuse at the Opera House in Paris, who, etc. 
 Beaumont tried to tell the story of a certain piece of 
 orange-peel, but she soon lost the thread of her story, and 
 gave them instead a good deal of information concerning 
 her intimacy with Lord Worthing. But Bret was the per- 
 son of the hour; it was he who undid the bandages, and 
 changed Miss Leslie's position when she asked to be moved. 
 It would, of course, be impossible to produce either opera 
 without him; and when he and Dick went out of the room 
 a look of inquiry was passed round. 
 
 " You needn't be uneasy. I wouldn't let Bret stop for 
 anything. I shall be very very comfortable here. My 
 landlady is as kind as she can be, and the rooms are very 
 nice." 
 
 A murmur of approval followed these words, and con- 
 tinuing Miss Leslie said, laying her hand on Kate's, 
 
 " And my friend here will play my parts until I come 
 back. You must begin to-night, my dear, and try to work 
 up Clairette. If you are a quick study you may be able to 
 play it on Wednesday night." 
 
 This was too much; the tears stood in Kate's eyes. She 
 had in her pocket a little gold porte-bonheur which she 
 had bought that morning to make a present of to her once- 
 hated rival, but she waited until they were alone to slip
 
 270 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 it on the good-natured prima donna's wrist. The parting 
 between the two women was very touching and being in 
 the melting mood Kate made a full confession of her quar- 
 rel with Dick, and, abandoning herself, she sought for con- 
 solation. Leslie smiled curiously, and after a long pause 
 said, 
 
 " I know what you mean, dear, I have been jealous my- 
 self; but you'll get over it, and learn to take things easily 
 as I do. Men aren't worth it." The last phrase seemed 
 to have slipped from her inadvertently, and seeing how 
 she had shocked Kate she hastened to add, " Dick is a very 
 good fellow, and will look after you; but take my advice, 
 don't kick up a row; we women don't gain anything bv 
 it." 
 
 The words dwelt long in Kate's mind, but she found 
 it hard to act up to the counsel given. Her temper sur- 
 prised even herself. It seemed to be giving way, and she 
 trembled with rage at things that before would not have 
 stirred an unquiet thought in her mind. Remembrances 
 of the passions which used to convulse her when a child 
 returned to her. As is generally the case, there was right 
 on both sides. Her life, it must be confessed, was woven 
 about with temptations. Dick's character easily engendered 
 suspicion, and when the study of the part of Clairette was 
 over, the iron of distrust began again to force its way into 
 her heart. The slightest thing sufficed to arouse her. On 
 one occasion, when travelling from Bath to Wolverhamp- 
 ton, she could not help thinking, judging from the ex- 
 pression of the girl's face, that Dick was squeezing Dolly's 
 foot under the rug ; without a word she moved to the other 
 end of the carriage and remained looking out of the window 
 for the rest of the journey. Another time she was seized 
 with a fit of mad rage at seeing Dick dancing with Beau- 
 mont at the end of the second act of Madame Angot. There 
 were floods of tears and a distinct refusal "to dress with 
 that woman." Dick was in despair ! What could he do ? 
 There was no spare room, and unless she went to dress with 
 the chorus he didn't know what she'd do. 
 
 " My God ! " he exclaimed to Mortimer, as he rushed 
 across the stage after the " damned property-man," " never
 
 A Mummer's Wife 271 
 
 have your woman playing in the same theatre as your- 
 self ; it is awful ! " 
 
 The situation could not have been better summed up. 
 For the last couple of weeks Kate had been pestering him 
 to death. Everything he did seemed to be wrong. Success, 
 instead of satisfying her, seemed to render her more irri- 
 able, and instead of contenting herself with the plaudits 
 that were nightly showered upon her, her constant occupa- 
 tion was to find out either where Dick was or what he had 
 been doing or saying. If he went up to make a change 
 without telling her she would invent some excuse for send- 
 ing to inquire after him ; if he were giving some directions 
 to the girls at one of the top entrances, she would walk 
 from the wing where she was waiting for her cue to ask 
 him what he was saying. This watchfulness caused a great 
 deal of merriment in the theatre, and in the dressing-rooms 
 Mortimer's imitation of the catechism the manager was put 
 to at night was considered very amusing. 
 
 " My dear, I assure you you are mistaken in your calcu- 
 lation. I only smoked two cigarettes after lunch, and then 
 I had a glass of beer. I swear I am concealing nothing 
 from you." 
 
 This is scarcely a parody of the strict surveillance under 
 which Dick lived, but from a mixture of lassitude and good- 
 nature it did not seem to annoy him too much, and he 
 appeared to be most troubled when Kate murmured that 
 she was tired, that she hated the profession and would like 
 to go and live in the country. For now she complained 
 of fatigue and weariness; the society of those who formed 
 her life no longer interested her, and she took violent and 
 unreasoning antipathies. It was not infrequent for Morti- 
 mer and Montgomery to make an arrangement to grub with 
 the Lennoxes whenever a landlady could be discovered who 
 would undertake so much cooking. But now, suddenly, 
 without being able to explain why, Kate declared she 
 could not abide sitting face to face with the heavy lead, 
 and listening any longer to his drawled-out stories. She 
 saw and heard quite enough of him at the theatre without 
 being bothered by him in the daytime. Dick made no ob- 
 jection. Indeed, he confessed willingly that he was a bit
 
 272 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 tired of disconnected remarks, whose wit lay in their irrel- 
 evancy; and Mortimer always got sulky if you didn't laugh 
 at his jokes. Montgomery still continued to board with 
 them, and although he and Kate did not always manage 
 to hit it off, they on the whole got on very well together. 
 Love helped him to bear with a good deal of pettishness, 
 and Dick regarded him as a sort of breakwater, over and 
 against which a great deal of unpleasantness rippled harm- 
 lessly away. Dubois, who was asked to take Mortimer's 
 place for a time, got on better with her. For after the 
 drawled-out dirt of Mortimer's dress and speech, the natty 
 appearance of the little foreigner was a welcome change, 
 and the importance with which he handed round pieces 
 of information concerning all things, from Gladstone to 
 Offenbach, was very funny. He was the type of the man 
 who can do everything better than anybody else. It did not 
 matter whether you spoke of Balzac's position in modern 
 fiction or the rolling of cigarettes, you were sure to be 
 interrupted with, " I assure you, my dear fellow, you are 
 mistaken," uttered in a stentorian voice. But it was his 
 naivete that was most astonishing. On the subject of his 
 bass voice a child could draw him out, and, under the 
 pretext of instituting a comparison between him and one of 
 the bass choristers, Montgomery never failed to induce 
 him to give the company an idea of his register. At first 
 to see the little man settling the double chin into his chest 
 in his efforts to get at the low D used to convulse 
 Kate with laughter, but after a time even this grew mon- 
 otonous, and wearily she begged of Montgomery, to leave 
 him alone. " Nothing seems to amuse you now," he would 
 say with a mingled look of affection and regret. A shrug 
 of the shoulder she considered a sufficient answer for him, 
 and she would sink back as if pursuing to its furthest con- 
 sequences the train of some far-reaching idea. 
 
 And, wondering, these men watched the progress of 
 Kate's malady without ever suspecting what was really the 
 matter with her. She was homesick. 
 
 After excesses of all kinds comes a more or less violent 
 reaction. Her doses of pleasure she had steadily increased,
 
 A Mummer's Wife 273 
 
 until in her successful appearance as Serpolette in Les 
 Cloches de Corneville she had reached the maximum attain- 
 able quantity. Her love of Dick remained to her, and if she 
 quarrelled with him it was because she dreaded losing him 
 more vividly than before. But her love could not, now that 
 a pause had come in her life, keep back the terrible weight 
 of early influences. Kate had not become an actress, she 
 was merely a middle-class woman veneered with Bohemian- 
 ism, and again the peace and calm on which she had been 
 nourished began to appear through the varnish, and when 
 she thought that there was nothing before her but this ever- 
 rolling hurry from town to town, from lodging-house to 
 lodging-house, she grew appalled at the future that awaited 
 her. It seemed to her like some horrible punishment, and 
 she often awoke screaming from nightmares in which she 
 was bound to a wheel that rolled on forever. But besides 
 this she had lately began to suspect that she was enceinte. 
 The doubt terrified her, and there were times when her 
 cravings for a little rest amounted to delirium. Now she 
 rarely missed saying on Saturday nights when the labour 
 of packing had to be begun: — 
 
 " Oh, Dick ! how tired I am ! What would I give for 
 a little holiday, just to be quiet for a bit, and do nothing — 
 nothing, except go out to walk with you and sit on a sea- 
 shore, as we used to in Blackpool ! " 
 
 Week by week the idea of the inevitable railway-station 
 grew upon her, until it became as nauseous to her as the 
 expected dose of medicine is to a child. And the very 
 fact that the travelling had to be done on a Sunday added 
 to its repulsiveness ; for when they drove through a closed 
 town the remembrance of the church hour of old time 
 would overwhelm her with insuperable sweetness, and the 
 temptations to revive the Hanley Sundays brought burn- 
 ing tears to her eye-lids. One day as they were preparing 
 to start, the vision of the long railway journey, with all its 
 certain horrors of card-playing, smoking, and lewd anec- 
 dotes, arose in her mind side by side with the memory of 
 the clear lofty windows, the severe pews, the pure elevation 
 of the soul, the simple hymns, their soft assuagements, and 
 all the benedictive felicities of the Sabbath. 
 18 - -
 
 274 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 The shock was too sudden and admitted of no resistance, 
 and she exclaimed passionately, 
 
 " No, I cannot ! I will not go to-day on that horrible 
 journey ! I cannot, Dick ; do not ask me." 
 
 Dick looked up, surprised beyond measure. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " he said after a pause. " You 
 won't come to Bath ? Well, and I should like to know who's 
 to play Clairette to-morrow night ? " 
 
 " Why, I am, of course." 
 
 " I don't understand. You don't mean to say that you 
 want us to do another week at Leamington when we are 
 dated for Bath?" 
 
 " Of course not ! I can follow on to-night by a later 
 train." 
 
 "And what good will that do you, dear?" said Dick, 
 feeling much relieved by the explanation. 
 
 " Well, I'd like to have one Sunday in quiet ; I'd like to 
 go to church, that's all. I daresay you think it nonsense, 
 but I don't." 
 
 For a moment Dick looked at Kate in silent and lazy 
 astonishment. The examination irritated her. Her face 
 twitched, and her fingers fidgeted with the plaits of her 
 dress. At last he said. 
 
 " Well, I never ! You seem to get more and more 
 capricious every day." 
 
 " Then you won't let me ? " said Kate, with a flush flow- 
 ing through her olive cheeks. 
 
 " Won't let you ? Why shouldn't you stay if it pleases 
 you, dear? It does no harm to anybody. Besides, Mont- 
 gomery is staying too ; he wants to see an aunt of his who 
 lives in the town." 
 
 Dick's unaffected kindness so touched Kate's sensibili- 
 ties that the tears welled up into her eyes, and, hysterically 
 sobbing, she flung herself into his arms. For the moment 
 she was very happy, and she looked into the dream of the 
 long day she was going to spend with Montgomery. She 
 had now learned to joy in this Platonic friendship, almost 
 to the detriment of her love of the other man. Her affec- 
 tion for Dick was not waning, but with him from the first 
 there had been no illusions; she had been overcome and
 
 A Mummer's Wife 275 
 
 was held by the mere fleshly force of humanity ; and it was 
 out of this hotbed of sensualism that floated the pale per- 
 fumes of the secret affinities that united her in spirit with 
 the sentimental soul of the musician. Now it seemed 
 to her that he was a necessary part of her existence, and 
 she almost congratulated herself that Dick was not going 
 to be with them at Leamington. There is always a side of 
 a woman's character that no one man can understand. 
 
 The day was not less charming than the dream, and 
 trembling with nervous delight, they hurried through the 
 town, inquiring for the Wesleyan church. At last it was 
 found. On entering she hesitated, overcome by a rush of 
 memories. But this was only momentarily. When she had 
 secured a place, the sensation of kneeling was ;n itself a 
 joy. To hide the tears upon her cheeks she was forced 
 to bury her face in her hands, and in the soft snoring of 
 the organ recollections of her life frothed up, drowning 
 her heart in illimitable and unexplained sorrow. Her 
 whole life seemed to be weeping within her, and in mean- 
 ingless distraction she regretted she had ever been born. 
 But as the psalm proceeded her excitement abated, until 
 at last it subsided into a state of ecstasy, full at once of 
 cruelty and sweetness, out of which she made no effort to 
 lift herself. And it was not until the congregation kneeled 
 down with one accord for the extemporary prayer that, 
 obeying a sudden impulse, she passionately demanded grace 
 and pardon for her child. But the effort exhausted her, and 
 she relapsed into reveries. She saw in herself a sort of 
 helpless martyr to circumstances, and unconsciously she 
 drew comparisons between the life she led and the life 
 she had hoped to attain. She remembered the mater- 
 ialism of her existence, the coarse conversation that made 
 virtue of vice, the constant parade of bod3 r , the strains of 
 sensual music, whose rhythm expressed not love nor rever- 
 ence but lust and cynicism. 
 
 And these sad beatitudes of mind were prolonged in- 
 definitely through the day. It was midsummer, and out 
 of the flame of light in the diaphanous shadow of the wide- 
 spreading trees, watching the boats passing up the lucid 
 river, they dreamed through the long afternoon, and in
 
 276 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 spirit, at least, they were united perfectly and completely. 
 She spoke of the decrees of fate, and hesitatingly he an- 
 swered by a look, trembling lest he should say more and 
 destroy the tenderness of the day. Everything delighted 
 them; they had a thousand confidences to make, and to 
 recount their impressions and opinions of life in general 
 interested them beyond measure. It astonished them to 
 find how their ideas coincided, and in secret they both 
 wondered why they had never spoken to each other like 
 this before. So enwrapped was he in the personality of the 
 woman, so lost was he in the liquid felicities of her brown 
 eyes, that it was a wearying effort to detach his thoughts 
 from them; and when she asked him about his opera he 
 could only tell her that he had heard her voice in the music 
 as he composed it. Strong as was the artistic temperament 
 in him, it was overpowered by the force of his love, it irri- 
 tated him to think of his score ; his desires slipped from it, 
 and were obsorbed in the charms of the evening and the 
 grace of Kate's melancholy attitudes. 
 
 Dick had only been mentioned occasionally, and when- 
 ever his name was pronounced the conversation fell awk- 
 wardly to the ground. She was willing to allow herself to 
 drift on that rainbow-tinted current of sentiment whose 
 reality, being less than that of a dream, is resisted by no 
 woman, especially when her heart is inflamed with the 
 ardours of a violent physical passion. 
 
 And while speaking of themselves their walk had been 
 prolonged far into the country, and it was not until the 
 certainty that the day was over forced itself through their 
 thoughts that they commenced to speak definitely of Dick 
 and the opera company, towards which they were journey- 
 ing, carrying with them in their souls the corpse of their 
 happiness. They had dined at a country inn, and now, 
 saturated with tenderness, they walked towards Leaming- 
 ton. The ways were filled with Sunday strollers — mothers 
 leading a tired child moved steadily forward; a drunken 
 man staggered over a heap of stones; sweethearts chased 
 each other; occasionally a girl, kissed from behind as she 
 stretched to reach a honeysuckle, rent with a scream the 
 sickly-colored, airless evening.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 277 
 
 But through this pleasant day Kate's thoughts had lain 
 on her mind heavy as lead. Sometimes in the excitement 
 of conversation, now in the hurry of getting to the station 
 in time, her apprehensions were lost sight of; but when 
 the tickets were taken, and the train commenced rolling, 
 with a slight oscillating motion, into the open country, to 
 conceal her tears she looked away, pretending to be in- 
 terested in the receding town. Dim masses of trees inter- 
 rupted by spires and roofs were painted upon a huge 
 orange-colored sky, that somehow reminded her of an opera 
 bouffe. Then everything seemed to her but one horrible 
 profanity. 
 
 " What are you crying for ? " Montgomery asked, bend- 
 ing forward. 
 
 " Oh, I don't know ! — nothing," exclaimed Kate, sob- 
 bing ; " but I am very unhappy. I know I have been very 
 wicked, and am sure to be punished for it." 
 
 " What nonsense ! Who's going to punish you ? " 
 
 " God will punish me — I know He will. I felt it all 
 to-day in church. And when I think, I don't know what 
 will become of me." 
 
 " I don't know what you have to complain of. You have 
 made a success on the stage. I never saw any one get on 
 so well in so short a time ; and you are loved," he added with 
 a certain bitterness, " as much as any woman could be." 
 
 " That's what you think, but I know better. I see him 
 flirting every day with different girls." 
 
 "You imagine those things. Dick can't speak roughly 
 to any one if he tried; but he doesn't care for any woman 
 but you." 
 
 " Of course, you say so. You are his friend." 
 
 " I assure you, 'pon my word of honor ; I wouldn't tell 
 you so if it weren't true. You are — are you not? — ray 
 friend as much as he." 
 
 So penetrated were these words with an accent of strained 
 feeling that Kate raised her eyes to Montgomery. Then, 
 as if afraid that she should read his thoughts, he added: 
 
 " I am sure he hasn't kissed any one since he knew you. 
 I can't put it plainer than that, can I ? " 
 
 " I am glad to hear you say so. I don't think you would
 
 278 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 tell me a lie; it would be too cruel, wouldn't it? for you 
 know what a position I'm in. If Dick were to desert me 
 to-morrow what should I do? When I think of it, it 
 frightens me to death ; and I suppose it will have to come. 
 It is always the way it ends, isn't it ? " 
 
 " You're in a mournful humor. Why should Dick 
 desert you? Where would he find a woman as pretty as 
 you? And even if he did I don't see that it would be 
 such an awful fate." 
 
 Startled, Kate raised her eyes suddenly and looked him 
 straight in the face. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " she said. 
 
 The abruptness of her question made him hesitate. In 
 a swift instant he regretted having risked himself so far, 
 and he reproached himself for being false to his friend; 
 but the temptation was irresistible, and overcome by the 
 tenderness of the day, and irritated by the memory of 
 years of vain longing, he said, 
 
 " Even if he did desert you, you might, you would, find 
 somebody better — somebody who would marry you. 
 
 They were alone in the railway-carriage, and during a 
 long and nervous silence they listened to the rattle of the 
 train. Outside the violet night rolled over the woodlands, 
 'and gazing at the one band of yellow that remained, a yel- 
 low like that of a tea-rose, each waited for the other to 
 speak. It was one of those pauses which decide the destiny 
 of lives. At last Kate said : 
 
 " I could never marry any one but Dick." 
 
 " Why ? Do you love him so much ? " 
 
 " Yes, I love him better than anything in the world ; but 
 even if I didn't there are reasons which would prevent my 
 marrying any one but him." 
 
 "What reasons?" 
 
 Kate hung down her head. The subject was a delicate 
 one, and she sought for words to make herself understood. 
 She did not know if she ought to confide her secret to Mont- 
 gomery, but a desire that some one should know of her 
 trouble smothered all other considerations — but after an- 
 other effort to speak she renounced the attempt. Still 
 Montgomery persisted.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 279 
 
 " Why ? Tell me why you could not marry any one but 
 Dick?" 
 
 The sound of his voice startled her, and then, in a mo- 
 ment of sudden naturalness, she answered : 
 
 " Because I'm in the family-way." 
 
 To Montgomery there was a blotting out of all things; 
 a sheet of darkness seemed to have slipped before his mind, 
 and a dull blind pain wrenched his heart. Logic there 
 was none in his grief. This woman was not, could never be, 
 anything to him. To speak to her of love would be to 
 betray the confidence of his friend. All this he knew well, 
 and yet the confession he had just heard was to him a sort 
 of annihilation. The rattle of the train shook emptily in 
 his ears, and his thoughts pressed him into a state of mute 
 stupor — mute for he dare not utter a cry; silence was im- 
 posed upon him. Kate knew he was suffering, but the in- 
 tensity of her own feelings did not leave her time for pity. 
 The thought, why, after all, should she not marry Dick? 
 shot through her mind in such piercing fervor that she 
 remained as if transfixed, seeing in a dream a distant 
 vision of white. Why should she not marry Dick? The 
 words sang like violins in her ears. What was there pre- 
 vent it ? Nothing. What a fool she had been ! Why had 
 she not asked for this reparation before ? In a second her 
 life had become illuminated and animated, and in a deep, 
 tranquillity of mind she savored the sweetness of her joy, 
 as a convalescent might a bouquet of freshly culled violets. 
 
 " Then why don't you marry him ? " said Montgomery 
 hoarsely. 
 
 The words that were death-knells to him were marriage 
 bells in her ears, and she said, speaking out of her hope 
 like a prisoner out of his cell: 
 
 " Perhaps he will marry me when I tell him all — I am 
 sure he will." 
 
 " What ! haven't you told him what you told me ? " 
 
 " No," Kate answered timidly ; " I was afraid to." 
 
 " Then you must do so at once," exclaimed Montgomery, 
 now waking up vigorously from his lethargy ; and the poor 
 vagrant musician whom nobody had ever loved said, and 
 it was an act of heroic courage,
 
 280 'A Mummer's Wife 
 
 "I will speak to him about it the first time I get a 
 chance. He must marry you. It would be wicked of him 
 not to. He couldn't refuse, even if he didn't love you, 
 which he does." 
 
 The last streak of yellow had now died out of the sky, 
 in the dusky meadows the cattle slept under the light of 
 a few shimmering stars, and, penetrated with a sentiment 
 of fathomless content, Kate watched the flying landscape. 
 So ended the day that had begun so sweetly for both. She 
 pitied him from the bottom of her heart; but being a 
 woman what could she do but look at him with eyes full 
 of gratitude, and murmur as he developed his plans to her, 
 " I am sure it is very good of you to take such an interest 
 in me."
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 N Bath Kate scored an immense success. She was 
 applauded to the echo in Madame Angot and Les 
 Cloches de Corneville. As Clairette and Serpo- 
 lette she was declared to be equally perfect. Dick 
 was enthusiastic, and he talked extravagantly of how she 
 would eclipse the London prima donnas when they went 
 up to town. In general lines he sketched out a hundred 
 projects for getting a new work over from France, in which 
 Kate would create the principal part. The only points 
 on which he was not decided were, which of his three illus- 
 trious composers he should choose for the music, and which 
 London theatre it would be most suitable to take a lease 
 of. These discussions rendered Montgomery very irritable. 
 He was willing to dream of a London theatre till daylight 
 dawned, but the eulogies passed on M. Herve rendered him 
 desperate, and the conversationel ruses he employed to get 
 back to his own opera were most ingenious. 
 
 Opposite the two men, lying back in an armchair, Kate 
 listened. Their arguments wearied her. Her thoughts were 
 bent too firmly on her marriage. Would he or would he 
 not make her his wife when she told him all ? she asked her- 
 self night and day. Sometimes she fancied he would, and 
 then the sweetness of the idea brought a smile to her lips ; 
 but remembering that not in all the books she had read 
 could she recall a single instance of a man marrying his 
 mistress, she grew frightened. 
 
 " Oh ! when will they cease talking of their horrible the- 
 atres ? " she would say to herself. " Who cares whether 
 Offenbach or Herve writes the best music ? " Even when 
 they spoke of herself, and in glowing terms praised her 
 performance of Clairette, she was but faintly interested. 
 Upon a stock of many generations of middle-class people, 
 people whose ideas had ever been confined to a routine of 
 material and spiritual life, both being accepted as earnestly
 
 282 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 as uninquiringly, the artistic graft had taken but sparingly; 
 and it was clear that as soon as the bonds of love that bound 
 it were taken off, it would fall as an excrescence, rejected 
 by hereditary instincts. Already her marriage took far 
 greater importance in her eyes than any stage success. Al- 
 ready her mind was tinged with dreams that were but an 
 echo of her first life in Hanley. Anything to stay this 
 horrible weekly journey that was driving her mad. Even 
 her confinement, far distant as it was, seemed to her like 
 an assurance of rest ; and she thought of the long hours of 
 weak peace, when Dick, sitting reading to her, could be 
 hers as he had never been. And the baby — it would unite 
 them ; they could never be parted then. Ah ! all would yet 
 be well if he would marry her. 
 
 The Monday and Tuesday at Bath she spent considering 
 how the demand — for she was determined that it should 
 take the form of a demand — should be put to him. It had 
 always been vaguely understood that they were to be mar- 
 ried — that is to say, it had been taken for granted that when 
 they had time, when a fitting occasion presented itself, they 
 would render their cohabitation legal. This understanding 
 had till now satisfied her. In her happiness she had not 
 thought of pressing matters, and Dick, who let a thing slide 
 until the iron rod of necessity pushed it down his throat, 
 had not troubled himself about the matter. Nothing this 
 man loved so ardently as to talk about work to be done, 
 but only an expectation of the most immediate result could 
 induce him to execute any of his projects, and his marriage 
 he treated exactly as he did his theatrical speculations. Of 
 course he intended they should be married; there was no 
 doubt about it; but there was no hurry — some time later 
 on, when they were more settled. 
 
 In her present mode of mind these answers were to Kate 
 especially exasperating. She however tried to keep her 
 temper, and to speak calmly. 
 
 ' But Dick, dear, why not at once ? Kemember the life 
 of sin we are leading. You don't know how miserable it 
 makes me." 
 
 Out of his animal repose Dick smiled at this argument.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 283 
 
 If there was one thing more than another that irritated 
 her it was to be laughed at, and, being always on the watch 
 for a sneer, she naturally made some startling discoveries 
 in that way. On the present occasion the blood rushed 
 instantly to her face, and she exclaimed: 
 
 " If you did seduce me, if you did drag me away from 
 my peaceful home, if you did make a travelling actress of 
 me, there is one thing you might refrain from doing, that's 
 insulting my religion ! " 
 
 " Dick looked up surprised. Kate had put down her 
 knife and fork — they were finishing dinner — and was pour- 
 ing herself out a large glass of sherry. She was evidently 
 going to work herself up into one of her rages. Her fingers 
 trembled and the brown eyes were full of gold light. 
 
 " I assure you, my dear, I never intended to insult your 
 religion, and I wish you wouldn't drink all that wine, it 
 only excites you." 
 
 " Excites me ! What does it matter to you if I excite 
 myself or not ? " 
 
 " My dear Kate, this is very foolish of you. I don't see 
 why — if you will only listen to reason " 
 
 " Listen to reason ! " she said, spilling the sherry over 
 the table, " ah ! it would have been better if I had never 
 listened to you." 
 
 " You really mustn't drink any more wine ; I can't allow 
 it," said Dick, passing his arm across her and trying to take 
 away the decanter. 
 
 This was the climax, and, her pretty face curiously 
 twisted, she screamed as she struggled away from him — 
 
 " Leave me go, will you ! leave me go ! Oh, I hate you ! ' : 
 Then clenching her teeth, and more savagely, " No, I will 
 not be touched ! No ! no ! no ! I will not ! " 
 
 So astonished was Dick at this burst of passion that he 
 loosed for a moment the arms he was holding, and Kate, 
 profiting by the opportunity, seized him by the frizzlv hair 
 with one hand and dragged the nails of the other down 
 his face. 
 
 At this unpropitious moment Montgomery entered, 
 stopping suddenly with lifted eyebrows and open mouth,
 
 284 r A Mummer's Wife 
 
 he stood aghast, and Kate, whose anger had now expended 
 itself, burst into a violent fit of weeping. Dick wiped the 
 blood from his cheek. 
 
 "What does this mean?" said Montgomery, speaking 
 very slowly. 
 
 Neither answered. The man sought for words; the 
 woman walked about the room, swinging herself. Not 
 knowing what to make out of it, Montgomery appealed 
 to Kate, and as she passed before him he stopped her and 
 begged for an explanation. She gave him a swift look of 
 grief, and, breaking away from him, shut herself in the 
 bedroom. The two men were then alone. 
 
 "What does this mean?" 
 
 Dick looked round vaguely, astonished at the authori- 
 tative way the question was put, but without inquiring he 
 answered: 
 
 " That's what I want to know. I never saw anything 
 like it in my life. We were speaking of being married, 
 when suddenly Kate accused me of insulting her religion, 
 and then — well, I don't remember any more. She got into 
 such a passion — you saw it yourself." 
 
 " Did you say you wouldn't marry her? " 
 
 " No, on the contrary. I can't make it out. For the 
 last month her caprices, fancies, and jealousies have been 
 something awful! " 
 
 Montgomery made a movement as if he were going to 
 reply, but checking himself, he remained silent. His face 
 then assumed the settled appearance of one who is in- 
 wardly examining the different sides of a complex ques- 
 tion. At last he said: 
 
 " Let's come out for a walk, Dick, and we'll talk the 
 matter over." 
 
 " Do you think I can leave her? " 
 
 " 'Tis the best thing you can do. Leave her to have her 
 cry out." 
 
 Adopting the suggestion, Dick picked up his hat, and 
 without further words the men went out of the house, 
 walking slowly arm in arm. 
 
 " I cannot understand what is the matter with Kate. 
 When I knew her first she hadn't a bad temper."
 
 A Mummer's Wife 285 
 
 To this Montgomery made no answer. He was think- 
 ing. 
 
 After a pause Dick continued, as if speaking to himself: 
 
 " And the way she does badger me with her confounded 
 jealousies. I'm afraid now to tell a girl to move up higher 
 on the stage. There are explanations about everything, 
 and I can't think what it is all about. She has everything 
 she requires. She hasn't been a year on the stage, and 
 she is playing leading parts, and scoring successes too." 
 
 " Perhaps she has reasons you don't know of." 
 
 " Reasons I don't know of? What do you mean? " 
 
 " Well, you haven't told me yet what the row was about." 
 
 " Tell you! That's just what I want to know myself! " 
 
 " What were you speaking about when it began? " asked 
 Montgomery, who was still feeling his way. 
 
 " About our marriage." 
 
 " Well, what did you say? " 
 
 "What did I say? I really don't remember; the row 
 has put it all out of my head. Let me think. I was say- 
 ing — I mean she was asking me when we should be mar- 
 ried." 
 
 " And what did you say to that? Did you fix a day? " 
 
 "Fix a day! " said Dick, looking in atsonishment at his 
 friend. ** How could I fix a day? " 
 
 " I think if I loved a woman and she loved me I would 
 manage somehow to fix a day." 
 
 These words were spoken with an earnestness that at- 
 tracted Dick's attention, and he looked inquiringly at the 
 young man. 
 
 " So you think I ought to marry her? " 
 
 "Think you ought to marry her?" exclaimed Mont- 
 gomery indignantly; "really, Dick, I did not think you 
 
 were Just remember what she has given up for you. 
 
 You owe it to her. Good heavens! " 
 
 " Well, you needn't get into a passion; I've had enough 
 of passions for one day." 
 
 The impetuousness of the youth had struck through the 
 fat nonchalance of the man, and he said after a pause: 
 
 " Yes, I suppose I do owe it to her." 
 
 The apologetic, easygoing air with which this phrase
 
 286 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 was spoken maddened Montgomery; he could have struck 
 his friend full in the face, but for the sake of the woman 
 he was obliged to keep his temper. 
 
 "Putting aside the question of what you owe and what 
 you don't owe, I'd like to ask you whether you could find a 
 nicer wife? She is the prettiest woman in the company, 
 she is making now five pounds a week, and she loves you as 
 well as ever a woman loved a man. I should like to know 
 what more you want." 
 
 This was very agreeable to hear, and after a moment's 
 reflection Dick said: 
 
 " That's quite true, my boy, and I like her better than 
 any other woman. I don't think I could get anything 
 better. If it weren't for that infernal jealousy of hers. 
 Really, her temper is no joke." 
 
 " Her temper is all right; she was as quiet as a mouse 
 when you knew her first. Take my word for it, there are 
 excellent reasons for her being a bit put out." 
 
 " What do you mean? " 
 
 " Can't you guess? " 
 
 The two men stopped and looked each other full in the 
 face. Montgomery stood the examining gaze, and then 
 resuming his walk, said: 
 
 " Yes, it is so; she told me in the train coming up from 
 Leamington." 
 
 Tears glittered in Dick's eyes, and he became in that 
 moment all pity, kindness, and good-nature. 
 
 " Oh, the poor dear! Why did she not tell me that be- 
 fore? And I was scolding her for being ill-tempered." 
 
 His humanity was as large as his fat, and although he 
 had never thought of the joys of paternity, now, in the 
 warmth of his sentiments, he melted into one feeling of 
 rapture. After a pause, he said: 
 
 " I think I had better go back and see her." 
 
 " Yes, I think you had better; fix a day for your mar- 
 riage." 
 
 " Of course." 
 
 Nothing further was said, and absorbed each in different 
 thoughts, the two men retraced their steps. When they 
 arrived at the door, Montgomery said:
 
 A Mummer's Wife 287 
 
 " I think I had better wish you good-by." 
 " No, come in, old man, she'd like to see you." 
 And as if anxious to torture himself to the last, Mont- 
 gomery entered. Kate was still locked in the bedroom, 
 but there was such an unmistakable accent of trepidation 
 and anxiety in Dick's fingers and voice that she opened 
 immediately. Her beautiful black hair was undone, and 
 fell in rich masses about her. Dick took her in his arms, 
 and held her sobbing on his shoulder. All he could say 
 was, " Oh, my darling, I am so sorry; you will forgive me, 
 won't you? "
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 |ELL, what are you going to give her? Do you 
 see anything you like here ? " 
 
 " Do you think that paper-cutter would 
 do?" 
 
 " You can't give anything more suitable, ma'am. Then 
 there are these card-cases; nobody could fail to like them." 
 
 " What are you going to give, Annie ? " 
 
 " Oh, I'm going to give her a pair of earrings we saw 
 yesterday; but if I were you I wouldn't spend more than 
 half a sovereign — it's quite enough." 
 
 " I should think so indeed — a third of a week's screw," 
 whispered Dolly, " but she ain't a bad one, and Dick will 
 like it, and may give me a line or so in Olivette. How do 
 you think she'll do in the part? " 
 
 " We'll talk about that another time. Are you going 
 in for the paper-cutter? " 
 
 Casting her eyes in despair around the walls of the 
 fancy-goods shop to see if she could find anything she liked 
 better, Dolly decided in favor of the paper-cutter and, after 
 a feeble attempt at bargaining, paid the money. 
 
 In the street they saw Moritimer coming along. All 
 heads were turned to look at him. He had now allowed 
 his hair to grow in long, snake-like curls completely over 
 his shoulders, and he wore a frock-coat with tails reaching 
 to the knees. 
 
 " For goodness sake come away," cried Beaumont, " I 
 do hate speaking to him in the street, everybody stares so." 
 
 The girls turned to fly, but the heavy lead was upon 
 them, and in his most nasal tones said: — 
 
 " Well, my dear young ladies, engaged in the charming 
 occupation of buying nuptial gifts? " 
 
 " How very sharp you are, Mr. Mortimer," answered 
 Dolly in her pertest manner; " and what are you going to 
 give? We should so much like to know."
 
 'A Mummer's Wife 289 
 
 After a moment's hesitation he said, throwing up his 
 chin after the manner of a model sitting for a head of 
 Christ:— 
 
 " My dear young lady, you must not exhibit your curios- 
 ity in that way; it is not modest." 
 
 " But do tell us, Mr. Mortimer; you are a person of such 
 good taste." 
 
 The comic tragedian considered for a moment what he 
 could say most ill-natured and so get himself out of his 
 difficulty. 
 
 " I tell you, young lady, I am not decided, but I think 
 that a copy of Wesley's hymns bound up with the book of 
 the Grand Duchess might not be inappropriate." 
 
 Spite passes currently for wit, and Mortimer glided out 
 of his difficulty. The question of the marriage was then 
 discussed, and Dick's wisdom in thus pairing for ever 
 prophetically commented upon. Kate's talent received 
 some hard critical knocks, and finally it was agreed that 
 the luck lay for her in their going to Liverpool just after 
 the row. Otherwise, Beaumont declared, there would have 
 been no marriage. 
 
 " You must be in a town a fortnight. I know that to 
 my cost, for when Lord Wedmore sent me out on tour with 
 the Dragon Fly — well, no matter about that. You have 
 to be a fortnight in a place before you can get a license, 
 and when are we a fortnight anywhere? In Blackpool we 
 were, but she wasn't divorced then. Lord! we might have 
 gone on until the end of next year, and he'd have got tired 
 of her by that time. I know Dick." 
 
 " Quite so," said Dolly reflectively, " and as it was, to 
 make up the time they had to leave us in the middle of 
 the week at Bath." 
 
 "But how do you think she'll play the Countess?" 
 asked Beaumont. 
 
 " Oh, we mustn't speak of that now she's going to be 
 married," and, thinking he could not better this last re- 
 mark, Mortimer bade the ladies good-by and went off with 
 curls and coat-tails alike swinging in the breeze. Far- 
 ther up the street Beaumont and Dolly were joined by 
 Leslie, Bret, and Dubois, and the same topics were again 
 19
 
 290 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 discussed. " What are you going to give? " " Have you 
 bought your present?" "Have you seen mine?" "Do 
 you know who's going to be at the wedding breakfast? 
 They can't ask more than a dozen or so." " Have you 
 heard that the chorus have clubbed together to buy Dick 
 a chain? " " It is very good of them, but they'll feel hurt 
 at not being asked to the breakfast." " What will the 
 Lennoxes do?" These and a hundred other questions of 
 a similar sort had been asked in the dressing-rooms, in the 
 wings, in the streets, at every available moment since 
 Morton and Cox's opera bouffe company had arrived in 
 Liverpool. Everybody professed to consider the event the 
 happiest and most fortunate that could have happened, 
 but Mortimer's words, " There's many a slip between the 
 ring and the finger," recurred to them whenever the con- 
 versation came to a pause, and they hoped the marriage 
 might yet be averted even when they stood one bright 
 summer morning assembled on the stage, there awaiting 
 the arrival of the bride and bridegroom. The name of the 
 church had been kept a secret, and all that was known was 
 that Leslie — who had joined another company in Liver- 
 pool — Bret, Montgomery, and Beaumont had gone to at- 
 tend as witnesses, and that they would be back at the the- 
 atre at twelve to run through the third act of Olivette be- 
 fore producing it that night. 
 
 Many false alarms were given, but when at last the 
 bridal party walked from the wings on to the stage they 
 were received with cheers and long congratulations. 
 Dick's appearance provoked a little good-natured laughter, 
 so respectable did he look in a spick and span new frock- 
 coat, and his tall hat, much too small for him, gave a 
 curiously incongruous look to his big face. Kate had 
 never looked prettier; Mortimer said her own husband 
 would not know her. She wore a dark green silk plaited 
 down the front, from underneath which a patent-leather 
 boot peeped as she walked; a short jacket showed the 
 drawing of her shoulders, the delicacy of her waist, and 
 the graceful fall of the hips. She carried in her hand a 
 bouquet of yellow and pink roses, a present from Mont- 
 gomery.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 291 
 
 " Now, ladies and gentlemen, I won't detain you long, 
 but do let us run through the third act, so as to have it 
 right for the night. Montgomery, will you oblige me by 
 playing over that sailor chorus? " 
 
 Then, to the tinkling of the piano, Dick took the girls 
 in sections and placed them in the positions he desired 
 them to hold. 
 
 " Now then; enter the Countess. Who's in love with 
 the Countess? " 
 
 " Well, if you don't know, I don't know who does," said 
 Mortimer. " I hear you have been swearing all morning 
 ' till death do us part.' " 
 
 Roars of laughter greeted this pleasantry, and Dick him- 
 self could not refrain from joining in it. At last he said: 
 
 " Now, Kate dear, do leave off laughing and run through 
 your song." 
 
 " I — I — ca — n't — can — 't ; you — you — are — t — t — too f u 
 — nny." 
 
 " We shall never get through this act," said Dick, who 
 had just caught Miss Leslie walking off with Bret into the 
 green-room. " Now, Miss Leslie, can't you wait until this 
 rehearsal is over? " 
 
 " They'll be late for church to-day; they may as well 
 wait." 
 
 Another roar of laughter followed this remark, and Kate 
 said: 
 
 "You had better give it up, Dick, dear; it will be all 
 right at night. I assure you I shall be perfect in my music 
 and words." 
 
 " I must go through the act. The principals are re- 
 sponsible for themselves, but I must look to the chorus. 
 Where's that damned property-master?" 
 
 On the subject of rehearsals Dick was always firm, and 
 seeing that it could not be shirked, the chorus pulled them- 
 selves together, and the act was got through somehow. 
 Then a few more invitations were whispered in the corners 
 on the sly, and the party in couples and groups repaired 
 to the Lennoxes' lodgings. Mortimer, Beaumont, Dick, 
 and Kate walked together, talking of the night's show. 
 Dubois crushed his bishop's hat over his eyes, straddled
 
 292 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 his ostler-like legs, and discussed Wagner's position in 
 music with Montgomery and Dolly Goddard. A baronet's 
 grandson, a chorus-singer, told how his ancestor had won 
 the Goodwood Cup half a century ago, to three ladies in 
 the same position in the theatre as himself. Bret and 
 Leslie followed very slowly, apparently more than ever 
 enchanted with each other. 
 
 For the wedding breakfast, the obliging landlady had 
 given up her own rooms on the ground-floor. The table 
 extended from the fireplace to the cabinet, the panels of 
 which Mortimer was respectfully requested not to break 
 when he was invited to take the foot of the table and help 
 the cold salmon. The bride and bridegroom took the 
 head, and the soup was placed before them; for this was 
 not, as Dick explained, a breakfast served by Gunter, but 
 a dinner suitable to people who had been engaged for some 
 time back. At this joke no one knew if they should laugh 
 or not, and Mortimer slyly attracted the attention of the 
 company to Bret and Leslie, who were examining the cake. 
 
 Then all spoke at once of the presents. They were of 
 all sorts, and had come from different parts of the country. 
 Mr. Cox had given a large diamond ring. Leslie had pre- 
 sented Kate with a handsome inkstand. Bret had bought 
 her a small gold bracelet. Dubois, whose fancies were 
 light, offered a fan; Beaumont, a pair of earrings; Hayes, 
 a cigarette case; Dolly Goddard a paper-knife; Mont- 
 gomery, a brooch which must have cost him at least a 
 month's salary. Mortimer exclaimed that his wife had 
 been behaving rather badly lately, and that, &c. But Dick 
 could not listen to his excuses, so overpowered was he when 
 he found on the table a thick gold chain sent to him from 
 the ladies of the chorus. Their intention had been in- 
 geniously kept a secret, and resolving that the surprise 
 should be a complete one, they had kept back their gift 
 till the last moment. The kindness of the girls seemed to 
 affect him deeply, and, interrupting Kate, who was thank- 
 ing her friends for all their tokens of good-will, he said: 
 
 "I must really thank the ladies of the chorus for the 
 very handsome present they made me. How sorry I am 
 that they are not all present to receive my thanks I cannot
 
 A Mummer's Wife 293 
 
 say; but those who are here will, I hope, explain to their 
 comrades how we were pressed for place." 
 
 " One would think you were refusing a free admission," 
 snarled Mortimer. 
 
 "What a bore that fellow is," whispered Dick to Mr. 
 Cox, the proprietor of the company, who had come down 
 from London to arrange some business with his manager. 
 
 " I am sure, Mr. Lennox, we were only too glad to be 
 able to give you something to show you how much we ap- 
 preciate your kindness," said a tall girl, speaking in the 
 name of the chorus. 
 
 " We must have some fizz after the show to-night on the 
 stage. What do you think, Cox? " said Dick. " And then 
 I shall be able to express my thanks to every one." 
 
 " And we must have a dance," cried Leslie. " My foot 
 is all right now." 
 
 To seat the fifteen people who had been invited, chairs 
 had to be fetched in from the bedroom, and even from the 
 kitchen. They were a curious assortment. The ladies 
 did not like sitting together, and the supply of men was 
 not sufficient. But these were slight drawbacks, and when 
 the first few spoonfuls of soup had been eaten and the 
 sherry tasted, every one wanted to know about Mr. Cox. 
 The women examined him with looks of deep inquiry, but 
 his face told them nothing; it was grave and commercial, 
 and he spoke little to any one except Kate and her hus- 
 band. In the middle of the table the baronet's son sat 
 with the three chorus-girls, whom he continued to pester 
 with calculations as to how much he would be worth, but 
 for his ancestor's ambition to win the Derby with Scotch 
 Coast. Leslie and Bret were on the other side of the wed- 
 ding-cake, and they bent and leant towards each other 
 with a thousand little amorous movements. Beaumont 
 and Dolly Goddard spoke vigorously of the evening's per- 
 formance, and the former, under pretext of questioning 
 Montgomery on certain points connected with the singing 
 of one of her songs, strove to attract Mr. Cox's attention. 
 
 " Do you think, Mr. Montgomery, that I ought to take 
 an encore — that is to say, if I get one — for my song, ' The
 
 294 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 Torpedo and the Whale? ' If I do, will it interfere with 
 the action of the piece? " 
 
 " I never heard a lady putting the piece before herself," 
 said Montgomery, with a loud laugh. He, too, was anxious 
 to attract Mr. Cox's attention, and availing himself of Miss 
 Beaumont's question as a " lead-up," he said, " I hope that 
 when my opera is produced I shall find artists who will look 
 as carefully after my interests." 
 
 " But when will you have your opera ready? " said Kate, 
 who saw that she could do something to help her friend. 
 Their eyes met for a moment, and they read each other's 
 thoughts in a look. Montgomery's were, " Oh, how bitter 
 it is to lose you like this. You don't know how I love 
 you. No one, I feel sure, could make you as happy as I 
 could." Hers were, " I am so sorry for you; I really, really 
 am. I know that you like me very much, although you 
 never told me so. But you know I love Dick. Still, I 
 hope we shall remain good friends." 
 
 " My opera? " he said, as soon as she averted the brown 
 eyes that burnt into his soul. " It is all finished. It is 
 ready to put on the stage when Dick likes." 
 
 The ruse proved successful, for Mr. Cox, bending for- 
 ward, said in an interested voice: 
 
 " May I ask what is the subject of your opera, Mr. Mont- 
 gomery?" 
 
 This was charming, and the musician at once proceeded 
 to enter into a complicated explanation, in which frequent 
 allusion was made to a king, a band of conspirators, a 
 neighboring prince, a beautiful daughter unfortunately in 
 love with a shepherd, and a treacherous minister. Beau- 
 mont listened wearily, and, seeing that no mention she 
 could make of her singing would avail her, she commenced 
 to fidget abstractedly with one of her big diamond ear- 
 rings. In the meanwhile, Montgomery's difficulties were 
 increasing. To successfully follow the somewhat intri- 
 cate story of king, conspirators, and amorous shepherd a 
 sustained effort of attention was necessary, and this Dick. 
 Kate, and Mr. Cox found it difficult to grant. For in the 
 middle of a somewhat involved bit— in which it was not 
 quite clear whether the king or the minister had entered
 
 A Mummer's Wife 295 
 
 disguised — the landlady would beg to be excused — if they 
 would just make a little way, so that she might remove the 
 soup. 
 
 This lady, in her Sunday cap, assisted by the maid-of- 
 all-work, from whose canvas-grained hands soap and water 
 had not been able to extract the dirt, strove to lift large 
 dishes of food over the heads of the company. There was 
 a sirloin of beef that had to be placed before Mortimer. 
 Then came two pairs of chickens, the carving of which 
 Dick had taken upon himself. A piece of bacon with cab- 
 bage, and a pigeon-pie, adorned the sides of the table. 
 The cutlets were handed round. 
 
 Then for some time conversation gave way to the more 
 necessary occupation of eating; but as it had been arranged 
 at the head of the table that Montgomery was to play, 
 when they went upstairs, some of the principal numbers 
 of his opera over to Mr. Cox, silent with hope he applied 
 himself to devouring a plate of beef. Even Bret and 
 Leslie left off billing and cooing; the grandson of the 
 baronet, forgetful of his family's misfortunes on the turf, 
 dug vigorously into and liberally distributed the pigeon- 
 pie. The clattering of knives and forks swelled into a 
 sustained sound, which was only broken by observations 
 such as " Thanks, Mr. Lennox, anything that's handy — a 
 leg, if you please." " May I ask you, Montgomery, for a 
 slice of bacon. No cabbage, thank you." " Mr. Morti- 
 mer, a little and some gravy; that'll do nicely." 
 
 It was not until the first helping had been put away, 
 and eyes began to wander in search of what would be best 
 to go on with, that conversation was resumed. To mollify 
 Mortimer, who had had a good deal of trouble with the 
 beef, Dick said, " I hope you are satisfied with your part, 
 Mortimer, and that we shall have some good roars. The 
 piece ought to go with a scream." 
 
 " I think I shall knock 'cm this time, old boy," said the 
 comic man, drawling his words slowly through his nose. 
 " It pretty well killed me when I read it over to myself, 
 so I don't know what it will be when I spit it out at them." 
 
 This was deemed unnecessarily coarse, and for a moment, 
 it was feared that Mortimer was as drunk as Mr. Hayes,
 
 296 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 whose eyes were now beginning to blink pathetically. He 
 awoke up, however, with a start and a smile when the first 
 champagne cork went off, and holding out his glass, said, 
 " Shall be very glad to drink your health, a wedding only 
 comes once in a life." 
 
 Mortimer tried to turn the embarrassing pause that fol- 
 lowed this remark to his profit. The beef having kept him 
 silent during the early part of the dinner, he resolved now 
 to prove what a humorist he was, and by raising his voice 
 he strove to attract to himself the attention of the com- 
 pany. This, however, was not easily done. Dubois had 
 begun to pinch the canvas-handed maid, who was lifting 
 a plate of custards over his head; but these frivolities did 
 not prevent him from discussing Carlyle's place in English 
 literature with the baronet's son on his left, and arguing, 
 from time to time, against certain effects employed by 
 Wagner in his orchestration with Montgomery on his right. 
 Kate often laid down her spoon and stared vaguely into 
 space. Under the table she had laid her hand on Dick's. 
 She was very happy. Her life seemed to her ended — to 
 have been perfectly accomplished. The past seemed now 
 to be completely blotted out. What more could she de- 
 sire? She wouid go on acting, and Dick would continue 
 to love her. By some special interposition of Providence 
 all the hazards of existence over which she might have 
 fallen appeared to have been swept aside. What broader 
 road could a woman hope to walk in than the one that lay 
 before her in all its clear and bland serenity? Oh, how 
 good God had been to her! how good He was going to be! 
 Her child! his child! What sweetness there was in the 
 words! and what a tie it would be to them! what a source 
 of future happiness! Would it not give them courage to 
 work? would it not give them strength to live? It would 
 be something to hope for. Already she speculated if it 
 would be a boy or a girl. She saw herself sitting by the 
 cradle; she already imagined the vacant, staring blue eyes, 
 and felt the round, plump limbs. Oh, how good God had 
 been to her; and how wicked she had been to Him! Tears 
 dimmed her eyes, and her heart filled with a fervor of faith 
 she had never felt before: and facing the gracious future
 
 A Mummer's Wife 297 
 
 which a child and husband promised her, she offered up 
 thanksgivings for her happiness, which she accepted as 
 eternal, so inherent did it seem in herself. The murmur 
 of friendly voices rang in her ears; she looked up at the 
 table, seeing nothing but smiling lips, until her eyes fell 
 on Mr. Hayes. His face was now nearly hidden in his 
 voluminous white waistcoat, and a richly-ringed hand ca- 
 ressed the famous silky beard. 
 
 " Oh, just look at him! " said Kate, waking up with a 
 start from her reveries. " How can he make such a beast 
 of himself? " 
 
 " Don't take any notice of him, dear; that's the best 
 way." 
 
 But the advice came too late. Mortimer, who had been 
 vainly struggling for the last five minutes to draw Beau- 
 mont from the memory of a lord, Dubois from his Wag- 
 nerian argument, and Bret and Leslie from their flirtation, 
 now seized on poor Hayes's drunkenness as a net wherein 
 he could capture everybody. Raising his voice so as to 
 ensure silence, he said, addressing himself to Mr. Cox at 
 the other end of the table, " How very affecting he is now, 
 how severely natural; the innocence of a young girl in her 
 teens is not, to my mind, nearly so touching as that of a 
 boozer in his cups. Have you ever heard how he fancied 
 the waiter was calling him in the morning when the police- 
 man was hauling him off to the station? " 
 
 Mr. Cox had not heard; and consequently the whole 
 story of how they bumped in the hotel door at Derby had 
 to be gone through. Having thus got the company by the 
 ear, Mortimer showed for a long time no signs of letting 
 them go. He went straight through his whole repertoire. 
 He told of a man who wanted to post a letter, but not 
 being able to find the letter-box, he applied to a police- 
 man. The bobby showed him something red in the dis- 
 tance, and explained that that was the post. " Keep the 
 red in your eye, my boy," said the drunkard; and this he 
 did until he found himself in a public-house trying to force 
 his letter down a soldier's collar. He had mistaken the red 
 coat for the pillar. This was followed by a story of a man 
 who apologized to the trees in St. James's Park, and ex-
 
 298 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 plained to them that he had come from a little bachelor's 
 party, until he at last sat down saying, " This no good; I 
 mus — mush wait till the pro — prochession has passed." 
 Mr. Cox, to whom these anecdotes were all new, laughed 
 prodigiously; and thus encouraged, Mortimer told stories 
 of tippling drollery, until most of those present eyed the 
 champagne as if considering if it were possible to drink 
 themselves out of their misery. The men especially looked 
 doleful, for they well knew that when the ladies left the 
 room Mortimer would start his series of dirty stories, and 
 that they knew could be prolonged indefinitely. 
 
 Montgomery's face especially assumed an appearance of 
 extreme dejection. When he was sad his long nose ap- 
 peared to grow longer; and now as he thought of his opera, 
 it seemed like competing for length with Mortimer's lo- 
 quacity. Indeed, there were times when the musician 
 looked as if he despaired of all things, and when he gazed 
 at the clock his face was expressive of the most utter 
 misery. But a heavy digestive indifference to everything 
 was written on each countenance; and in the slanting rays 
 of the setting sun the curling smoke vapors assumed the 
 bluest of tints. Odors of spirits trailed along the table- 
 cloth. Disconnected fragments of conversation, heard 
 against the uninterrupted murmur of Mortimer's story- 
 telling voice, struck the ear. The baronet's son was now 
 explaining to his three ladies that no woman could expect 
 to get on in life unless she was very immoral or very rich; 
 Dubois argued across the table with Leslie and Bret con- 
 cerning the poduction of the voice; Beaumont exchanged 
 luminous and provoking glances with Mr. Cox; Dick talked 
 to Kate of the inartistic methods of most stage managers 
 in arranging the processions. Mr. Hayes slept heavily, 
 and his snores were beginning to attract attention. In 
 Montgomery's ears they sounded as music, suggesting as 
 they did to him, a possible " cue " for the break-up of the 
 party. If they delayed much longer he would not have 
 time to play his opera to Mr. Cox. 
 
 It was Kate, however, who first read the meaning of his 
 despairing glances at the clock, and she whispered to Dick 
 that the cake had not yet been cut. This was an import-
 
 A Mummer's Wife 290 
 
 ant consideration, and when she rose to distribute the 
 white-sugared emblem of love and fidelity the wedding 
 party awoke to a burst of enthusiasm. Every one sug- 
 gested something, and much whisky and water was spilt 
 on the tablecloth. 
 
 But matters, although they were advanced a stage, did 
 not seem to be much expedited. The bride's health had 
 to be drunk, and Dick had to return thanks. He did not 
 say very much, but his remarks concerning Olivette sug- 
 gested a good deal of comment. Mortimer took a differ- 
 ent view of the question, and Dubois explained at length 
 how the piece had been done in France. Leslie insisted 
 that Bret should say something; and once on his legs, to 
 the surprise of everybody, the silent tenor became of the 
 most surprising garrulity. To Montgomery this was a 
 terrible ordeal. His waltz tune, his opening chorus, his 
 serenade, were running together in his head, and he trem- 
 bled with excitement: twenty times he asked himself, 
 "Will this never end?" At last, in pity for him, Kate 
 made a sign to the ladies. Then skirts swung on the 
 dress-improvers, color disappeared, and the room was left 
 to the flat chests and tweed coats. The musician prayed 
 that this after-dinner interval would not prove a long one; 
 but he dreaded the dirty stories, and the door was no 
 sooner closed than they began. The baronet's son sprang 
 off with a clear lead, watched by Mortimer and Dubois. 
 In the way of anecdotes these two would have been rivals 
 had it not been for the latter's fancy for more serious dis- 
 cussions. Still in the invention and collection of the most 
 atrocious, they both employed the energy and patience of 
 the entomologist. A chance word, out of which a racy 
 story might be extracted, was pursued like a rare moth 
 or a butterfly. Dubois' were more subtle, but Mortimer's 
 being more to the point, were more generally effective. 
 
 Eagerly they waited for the baronet's son to conclude, 
 and he had hardly pronounced the last phrase when Mor- 
 timer, coming with a rush, took the lead with " That re- 
 minds me of ." Dubois looked discomfited, and settled 
 
 himself down to waiting for another chance. This, how- 
 ever, did not come just at once; Mortimer told six stories,
 
 oOO A Mummer's Wife 
 
 each nastier than the last. Everybody was in roars ex- 
 cept Montgomery and Dubois; whilst one thought of his 
 opera, the other raked his memory for something that 
 would out-Herod Mortimer. This was difficult, but when 
 his turn came he surprised the company. Mr. Cox, as he 
 leaned over the table with a glass of whisky and water in 
 his hand, declared that he had never spent so pleasant a 
 day in his life. And thus encouraged Dubois was just 
 beginning to launch out into the intricacies of a fresh tale 
 when Montgomery, beside himself with despair, said to 
 Dick: 
 
 " It was arranged that I should play the music of my 
 new opera over to Mr. Cox. If you don't put a stop to this 
 it will go on for ever." 
 
 " Yes, my boy, it is getting a bit long, isn't it; just let 
 Dubois finish and we'll go upstairs." 
 
 The story proved a weary one ; but at last, like a long rail- 
 way journey, it drew to an end, and they went upstairs. 
 There they found the ladies yawning and looking at the 
 presents. Kate ran to Dick to ask him to arrange about the 
 music, but Beaumont had been a little before her and had 
 taken Mr. Cox out on the balcony. Bret was not in the 
 room; Leslie did not know the music, and in the face of 
 so many difficulties, Dick's attention soon began to wander, 
 and Kate was left to console the disappointed musician. 
 Once or twice she attempted to renew the subject^ but was 
 told that they were all going down to the theatre in half- 
 an-hour, that it had better be put off to another time. 
 
 Montgomery made no asnwer, but he could not cast off 
 the bitter and malignant thought that haunted him, " I 
 am as unfortunate in art as in love."
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 | HE date that marked the turning of the tide of 
 prosperity that till now had favoured the " Co." 
 was Kate's marriage. Somehow things did not 
 seem to go well after. In the first place the pro- 
 duction of Olivette was not a success. Mortimer was drunk, 
 did not know his words, and went " fluffing " all over the 
 shop. Kate, excited with champagne and compliments, 
 on one occasion sang the wrong music, and to complete 
 their misfortunes, the Liverpool public did not in the least 
 tumble to Miss Beaumont's rendering of the part of the 
 heroine. The gallery thought she was too fat, the papers 
 said she was not sprightly enough, and on Wednesday night 
 the old Cloches had to be put up. By this failure the man- 
 agement sustained a heavy loss. They had laid out a lot of 
 money on dresses, property, and scenery, all of which were 
 now useless to them ; and the other two operas, having been 
 on the road for the last three years, were beginning to droop 
 and lose their drawing power. The country, too, was suffer- 
 ing from a great commercial crisis, and no one cared to go 
 to the theatre. In many of the towns they visited strikes 
 were on, and the people were convulsed with discussions, 
 projects for resistance, and hopes of bettering their condi- 
 tion. Great social problems, the tyranny of capital, and 
 such like, occupied the minds of men, and at such times 
 there was naturally little taste for the laughing nonchalance 
 of La Fille de Madame Angot, or the fooling of the Baillie 
 in the Cloches. As forty thousand men had struck work, 
 our band of travelling actors rolled out of Leeds, and they 
 left it bearing with them only a reminiscence of empty 
 benches, and street-corners crowded with idling, sullen- 
 faced men. At Newcastle they were not more fortunate, 
 at Wigan they fared even worse, at Hull it was equally had. 
 Gayety seemed to have fled out of the north ; the public- 
 house and the platform drew away the pit and the gallery ;
 
 302 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 the frequenters of the boxes and dress-circle remained at 
 home, to talk around their firesides of their jeopardised 
 fortunes. When the workers grow weary of work a hard 
 time sets in for the sellers of amusement, and the fate of 
 Morton and Cox's Operatic Company proved no excep- 
 tion to the rule. Money was made nowhere, and every 
 Friday night a check for five-and-twenty pounds had to be 
 sent down from London to make up the deficit in the salary 
 list. For two months matters went on, nevertheless, very 
 smoothly. The remembrance of large profits made in pre- 
 ceding years was still fresh in thel minds of Messrs. Morton 
 and Cox, and hoping always that business would soon begin 
 to look up, they did not grumble much at losing in these 
 hard times. But still, a constant drain of from five-and- 
 twenty to forty pounds a week soon begins to tell, and after 
 a big failure in the City, in which Mr. Cox was mulcted 
 to the extent of a couple of thousand pounds, he began 
 writing letters full of uneasiness to Dick. The first sug- 
 gested that they had better look out for another opera. 
 This was welcome news to everybody; but no sooner had 
 Dick raised Montgomery to the seventh heaven of bliss, 
 than he had to knock him down to earth again, by telling 
 him that another letter had arrived from Mr. Cox, saying 
 that no opera was to be put up ; that it would be useless to 
 try anything new in such bad times ; that they had better 
 try to reduce expenses instead. 
 
 " Eeduce expenses ? I don't know what he means. How 
 are we to reduce expenses unless we reduce the salaries ? " 
 
 Nor do I," said Montgomery ; " but the expense of 
 mounting my piece would be very slight." 
 
 Without attempting to discuss so vain a question, Dick 
 said, " I must speak to Hayes." 
 
 Hayes was sent round for. He pulled his silky whiskers, 
 blinked his Chinese eyes, drank three glasses of whisky, 
 and changed the position of his black bag several times; 
 and the conversation gradually drifted into a long argu- 
 ment concerning the morality of leading actresses, and dur- 
 ing the afternoon an interesting list of names was com- 
 piled. 
 
 This was an agreeable way of dealing with their difficul-
 
 A Mummer's Wife 303 
 
 ties, and the matter was scarcely alluded to again until the 
 following fortnight, when Dick found himself forced to 
 write to Mr. Cox, demanding a check for thirty-five pounds, 
 to meet Saturday's treasury and the current expenses of the 
 following week. The check arrived, but the letter that came 
 with it read very ominously indeed. It ran as follows: 
 
 "Dear Mr. Lennox — I enclose you the required 
 amount ; but of course you will understand that this cannot 
 go on. I intend running down to see you on Tuesday 
 evening. Will you have the company assembled to meet 
 me at the theatre, as I have an important explanation to 
 make to them." 
 
 Dick had had too much experience in theatrical specula- 
 tions not to know that this must mean either a reduction of 
 salaries or a break-up of the tour; but as two whole days 
 still stood between him and the evil hour, it did not occur 
 to him to give the matter another thought, and it was not 
 until they returned home after the theatre, to prepare for 
 the Sunday journey, that he spoke of the letter he had 
 received to Kate. 
 
 Their portmanteaus were spread out before them, and 
 Kate was counting her petticoats when Dick said, 
 
 " I'll tell you what, Kate, I shouldn't be surprised if the 
 company broke up shortly, and we found ourselves all ob- 
 liged to look out for new berths." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " she said, with a startled look on 
 her face. 
 
 " Well, only that I think that Morton and Cox are begin- 
 ning to get tired of losing money. We have been doing, as 
 you know, very bad business lately, and I think they will 
 give us all the sack." 
 
 " Give us all the sack ! " repeated Kate, mechanically. 
 
 " Yes," said Dick, pursuing his own reflections, " I am 
 afraid it is so. It is a deuced bore, for we were very pleas- 
 ant together. But I don't think I showed you the letter I 
 got this morning." 
 
 Taking it from his pocket he read it aloud ; but when he 
 raised his eyes to question her as to her opinion regarding 
 it he could only ejaculate: - 
 
 "What's the matter, dear?"
 
 304 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 Pale as the petticoat at her feet, Kate stood with raised 
 eyebrows and hands that twitched at the folds of her dress. 
 
 " Oh Dick ! what shall we do ? We shall starve ; we 
 sha'n't have any place to go to ! " 
 
 " Starve ! " said Dick in astonishment, " not if I know 
 it. We shall easily find something else to do. Besides, I 
 don't care if he does break up the tour. I believe there's 
 a good bit of coin to be made out of the pier theatre at 
 Blackpool. I've been thinking of it for some time. With 
 a good entertainment, you know, and doing it as I should 
 do it. Then you know there's the drama Harding did for 
 me — a version of Wilkie Collins's story — The Yellow Mask 
 — devilish good it is too. I was reading it the other day. 
 We might take a company out with it. Let me see, whom 
 could we get to play in it ? " And, sitting over his port- 
 manteau, the actor proceeded to cast the piece, comment- 
 ing as he went along on the qualifications of the artists, 
 and giving verbal sketches of the characters in the play. 
 " Beaumont would play Virginie first rate, you know — a 
 strong, determined, wicked woman, who stops at nothing 
 I'd like to play the father ; Mortimer would be very funny 
 as the uncle. We'd have to write in something for you. 
 You couldn't take the sympathetic little girl yet; you 
 haven't had enough experience." 
 
 Then the expenses of scenery, properties, and posting 
 were gone into, and different estimates were cast up in a 
 dreamy and desultory manner. Kate looked at her husband 
 vaguely, and plunged in a sort of painful wonderment, 
 she asked herself how it was possible to stand on the brink 
 of ruin, and thus calmly make plans for the future. To the 
 actor, whose life had never run for a year without getting 
 entangled in some difficult knot or other, the present hitch 
 did not give the slightest uneasiness. A strange town to 
 face and half-a-crown in his pocket might cause him some 
 temporary embarrassment, but a hundred pounds at the 
 bank, and the notoriety of having been for two years the 
 manager of a travelling company, was to Dick an ex- 
 ceptionally brilliant start in life, and it did not occur to 
 him to doubt that he would, as soon as he chose, hop into 
 another shop as good as the one he had left. But as the
 
 A Mummer's Wife 305 
 
 woman had been engaged in none of these anxious battles 
 for existence, the news of a threatened break up of her 
 world fell with a cruel shock upon her. She experienced 
 the same dull nervous terror from which she had suffered 
 in the early days when she had first joined the company, 
 but in an aggravated form. For then the full tide of love 
 and prosperity bore along their bark, and quieted her fears. 
 But now in the first puff of the first squall she saw herself 
 like one wrecked and floating on a spar in a wide and un- 
 known sea of trouble. What was to become of them? she 
 asked herself, as, sitting on the bed where she would never 
 sleep again, she watched Dick counting on his fingers and 
 looking dreamily into the spaces of some impossible future. 
 The robes of the Bohemian, for the twentieth time since 
 she had donned them, fell from her, and she became again 
 in instincts and tastes a middle-class woman longing for a 
 home, a fixed and tangible fireside where she might sit in 
 the evening by her husband's side, mending his shirts, after 
 the work of the day. A sour and deaf detestation of her 
 wandering life rose to her head, and she longed to beg of 
 her husband to give up theatricals, and try and find some 
 other employment; and she saw herself looking after the 
 daily household duties just as she did when she was Ralph's 
 wife. She reproached herself for being such a wicked 
 woman, and it appeared to her more than usually sinful to 
 drive to the station as the church bells were chiming, and 
 spend the hours that should have been passed in praying, in 
 playing " nap," smoking cigarettes, and talking of wigs, 
 make-ups, choruses, and such like. But apparently there 
 was no help for it, and on Monday night, in her excitement, 
 increased by the arrival of Mr. Cox, she could not help 
 getting out of bed to beseech God to be merciful to them : 
 her husband's heavy breathing often interrupted her, it 
 told her that he was her husband, that was her only consola- 
 tion, and it proved a supreme one. 
 
 It astonished her that he could sleep as he did, having 
 in front of him the terrible to-morrow, when perhaps Mr. 
 Cox would cast them adrift ; and she trembled in every fibre 
 when she stood on the stairs leading to the manager's room. 
 There was a great crowd, the chorus-girls wedged themselves 
 20
 
 306 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 into a solid mass, and murmured good mornings to each 
 other; Mortimer told a long story from the top step, Dubois 
 tried to talk of Balzac, whom he had not read, to Mont- 
 gomery, who, fancying it was a question of a libretto, lis- 
 tened, at once puzzled and interested, whilst Bret, till now 
 silent as the dead, suddenly woke up to the conclusion that 
 it would probably all end in a reduction of salaries. At 
 last Dick appeared and called them into the presence of Mr. 
 Cox. Whiskey and water was on the table, and with the 
 silky whiskers plunged in the black bag, Mr. Haves fum- 
 bled aimlessly with many papers. The " boss, looking 
 very grave, twitched at a heavy mustache. When they were 
 all grouped about him, in his deepest and most earnest 
 tones, he explained his misfortunes. For the last four 
 months he had been forced to send down a weekly check of 
 not less than five-and-twenty pounds, sometimes, indeed, the 
 amount had run up to forty pounds. This, of course, could 
 not go on forever, he had not the Bank of England behind 
 him. But talking of banks, although there was no reason 
 why he should inflict on them an account of his bad luck, 
 he could not refrain from saying that had it not been for 
 a certain bank (now, alas ! well known to fame) he should 
 not be forced to ask them to accept half salaries. The words 
 brought a flush if indignation to Beaumont's cheeks. She 
 made a slight movement, as if she were going to violently 
 repudiate the suggestion, but the silence of those around 
 calmed her, and she contented herself with murmuring to 
 Dolly : 
 
 " This is an old dodge." 
 
 " I will leave you now," said Mr. Cox, " to consult among 
 yourselves as to whether you will accept my proposal, or if 
 you would prefer me to break up the tour at the end of the 
 week, and pay you your fares back to London." 
 
 As Mr. Cox left the room there was a murmur of inquiry 
 from the chorus ladies, and one or two voices heard above 
 the rest were heard saying, that they did not know how they 
 could manage on less than five-and-twenty shillings a week. 
 These objections were soon silenced by Dick, who in a per- 
 suasive little speech explained that the reduction of salaries 
 applied to the principals only.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 307 
 
 " Then why derange these ladies and gentlemen by ask- 
 ing them to attend at this meeting ? " said Mortimer. 
 
 To this question Dick made answer by telling the ladies 
 and gentlemen of the chorus they might, withdraw, and 
 the discussion was resumed by those whom it concerned. 
 Beaumont objected to everything. Bret spoke of going 
 back to Liverpool. Dubois explained his opinions on the 
 management of theatres in general, until Dick summoned 
 him back to the point. Were they or were they not going 
 to accept half salaries ? At length the matter was decided 
 by Mortimer getting upon a chair and shouting through his 
 nose as through a pipe: — 
 
 " I don't know if you're all fond of hot weather, but if 
 you are you'll find it to your taste in London, all the the- 
 atres are closed, and the cats are baking on the tiles." 
 
 This brought the argument to a pause, during which 
 Beaumont remembered that grouse were shot in August, 
 and settling her diamonds in her ears, she agreed that the 
 tour was to be continued. A few more remarks were made, 
 and then the party adjourned to a neighboring " pub " to 
 talk of opera bouffes and bad business. 
 
 The next places they visited were Huddersfield and Brad- 
 ford, but the houses they played to were so poor that Mr. 
 Cox summoned a general meeting on the Sunday morning, 
 and told them frankly that he could not go on losing money 
 any longer; he would however lend them the dresses, and 
 they might start a commonwealth if they liked. After 
 much discussion it was decided to accept his offer, and the 
 afternoon was spent in striving to decide how the business 
 was to be carried on. A committee was at last formed. 
 It consisted of Dick, Mortimer, Dubois, Montgomery, Bret, 
 and Mr. Hayes, and as they went on to Halifax by an eve- 
 ning train, they settled that the chorus was, hit or miss, 
 to be paid in full, and the takings then divided, propor- 
 tionately to the salary previously received, among the prin- 
 cipals. 
 
 In the face of the bad times it was a risky experiment, 
 and Williams, the agent in advance, was anxiously looked out 
 for at the station. What did he think ? Was there a chance 
 of their doing a bit of business in the town ? Were there
 
 308 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 bills up in all the public-houses ? Williams did not at first 
 understand this unusual display of eagerness,, but when the 
 commonwealth was explained to him, his face assumed as 
 grave an expression as the pimples would allow it. He 
 shoved his dust-eaten pot hot on one side, scratched his thin 
 hair, and after some pressing, admitted reluctantly that he 
 didn't think that they would do much good in the place ; as 
 far as he could see, everybody's ideas were on striking and 
 politics; the general election especially was playing the 
 devil with managers, at least that was what the company 
 that had just left said. 
 
 This was chilling news, and, alas! each subsequent eve- 
 ning proved only the correctness of Mr. Williams's anticipa- 
 tions. Seven-pound houses were the rule. On Friday and 
 Saturday they had two very fair pits, but this .could not 
 compensate for previous losses, and in the end when all 
 expenses were paid, only five-and-thirty shillings remained 
 to be divided among the principals. Their next try was at 
 Oldham, but matters grew worse instead of better, and 
 on Saturday night five-and-twenty shilings was sorrowfully 
 portioned out in equal shares. It did not amount to much 
 more than half-a-crown apiece. Eochdale, however, was 
 not far distant, and, still hoping that times woulcLmend, 
 Morton and Cox's band of travelling actors sped on their 
 way, dreaming of how they could infuse new life into their 
 mumming, and whip up the jaded pleasure-tastes of the 
 miners. But for the moment comic songs proved weak 
 implements in the search for ore, and the committee sitting 
 in the green-room, used likewise as a dressing-room by the 
 two ladies, counted out a miserable four-and-ninepence as 
 the result of a week's hard labour. 
 
 Beaumont fumed before the small glass, and arranged her 
 earrings as if she anticipated losing them; Kate trembled 
 and clung to her husband's arm, Montgomery cast glances 
 at her of sentimental admiration, Mortimer tried to think 
 of something funny, Dubois came to the point by asking : 
 
 " Well, what are you going to do with that four-and-nine- 
 pence? it is not worth dividing. I suppose we'd better 
 drink it."
 
 T A Mummer's Wife oO'J 
 
 At the mention of drinks Mr. Hayes blinked and shifted 
 the black bag from the chair to the ground. 
 
 " Yes, that's easily arranged/' said Dick, " but what 
 about the tour? I for one am not going on at four-and- 
 ninepence a week." 
 
 " Sp — pend — it — in drinks," stuttered Mr. Hayes, 
 awakening to a partial sense of the situation. 
 
 p]verybody laughed, but in the pause that ensued each 
 returned to the idea there was no use going on at four-and- 
 ninepence a week. 
 
 " For we can't live on drink, although Beaumont can 
 upon love," said Mortimer, determined to say something. 
 
 But the joke amused no one, and for some time only short 
 and irrelevant sentences broke the long silences. At last 
 Dick said: 
 
 " Well, then, 1 suppose we'd better break up the tour." 
 
 To this proposal no one made much objection. Murmurs 
 came from different sides that it was a great pity, after 
 having been so long together, that they should have to part 
 company in this way. Montgomery and Dubois contributed 
 largely to this part of the conversation, and through an 
 atmosphere of whiskey and soap-suds arose a soft penetrat- 
 ing poetry concerning the delights of friendship. It was 
 very charming to think and speak in this way, but all hoped, 
 with perhaps the exception of Montgomery, that no one 
 would insist too strongly on this point, for in minds of all 
 new thoughts and schemes had already begun to germinate. 
 Mortimer remembered a letter he had received from a Lon- 
 don manager; Dubois saw himself hobnobbing again with 
 the old "pals" in the Strand; Bret silently dreamed of 
 Miss Leslie's dyed hair and blue eyes, and of his chances of 
 getting into the same company. 
 
 "Then, if it is decided to break up the tour, we must 
 make a subcription to send the chorus back to London," 
 said Dick after a long silence. 
 
 Xobody till now had thought of these unfortunate people 
 and their twenty-five shillings a week, but Dick, always 
 readv to help a lame dog over a stile, planked down two 
 " quid," and called on the others to do what they could in 
 the same way. Mr. Hayes strewed the table instantly with
 
 310 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 the money he had in his pocket. Mortimer spoke about his 
 wife and mentioned details of an intimate nature to 6how 
 how hard up he was, he nevertheless stumped up a " thin 
 'un." Beaumont, rampant at the idea of " parting," contri- 
 buted the same. Indignant looks were levelled at her, and 
 Dick continued to exhort his friends to be generous. " The 
 poor girls," he declared, " must be got home ; it would never 
 do to leave them starving in Lancashire. Kate, touched 
 by his kindness, gave a sovereign of her savings, and in this 
 way something over ten pounds was made up, and with that 
 Dick said he thought he could manage. 
 
 This man's humanity was infinite ; the trouble he took to 
 manage everything was marvellous. On Sunday, when Kate 
 was at church, he was down at the railway station trying 
 to find out what were the best arrangements he could make, 
 and on Monday morning when they were all assembled on 
 the platform to bid good-bye to their fellow-workers, it 
 was curious to see this huge man, who at a first impression 
 would be taken for a mere mass of sensuality, rushing 
 about putting buns and sandwiches into paper bags for 
 these his poor chorus girls, encouraging them with kind 
 words, and when the train began to move, waving them 
 large and unctuous farewells with his big hat. 
 
 Kate, who since the first shock of the threatened break 
 up of the tour, had gradually grown accustomed to the 
 idea, now wept in silence. Without precisely suffering 
 from any pangs of fear for the future, an immense sadness 
 seemed to ache within her very bones. All things were 
 passing away. The flock of girls in whose midst she had 
 lived was gone, a later train would take Mortimer to Lon- 
 don, Bret was bidding them good-by, Beaumont was con- 
 sulting a " Bradshaw." How sad it seemed. The theatre 
 and artists, like a luminous dream, were vanishing into 
 darkness. Not a day, nor an hour could she see in front 
 of her. 
 
 " What shall we do now? " she whispered to Dick, as 
 she trotted along by his side. 
 
 " Well, I haven't quite made up my mind. I was think- 
 ing last night that it wouldn't be a bad idea to make up a 
 little entertainment — four or five of us — and see what we
 
 A Mummer's Wife 311 
 
 could do in the manufacturing towns. Lancashire is, you 
 know, honeycombed with them. Our travelling expenses 
 would amount to a mere nothing. We must have some 
 one to operate on the piano. I wonder if Montgomery 
 would care about coming with us." 
 
 Kate knew perfectly well that he would, and as she hap- 
 pened at that moment to catch sight of the long tails of 
 the Newmarket coat at the other side of the station, she 
 begged of Dick to call to the erratic musician. No sooner 
 was the proposition put forward than it was accepted, and 
 in five minutes, at lunch in a " pub," they were arranging 
 the details of the entertainment. 
 
 " We shall want an agent-in-advance, a bill-poster, or 
 something of that kind," said Montgomery. 
 
 " I have thought of that," replied Dick; " Williams is 
 our man, he'll see to all that, and I don't know if you know, 
 but he can sing a good song on his own account." 
 
 "Can he? Well then we can't have any one better — 
 and what shall we take out? " 
 
 " Well, we must have a little operetta, and I don't think 
 we can do better than Offenbach's Breaking the Spell." 
 
 " Right you are," said Montgomery, pulling out his 
 pocket-book. "Breaking the Spell, so far so good; now 
 we must have a song or a character sketch to follow, and 
 I don't think it would be a bad idea if we rehearsed a 
 comedietta. What do you say to The Happy Pair?" 
 
 " Eight you are, pencil it down, can't do better, it al- 
 ways goes well; and then I can sing between ' The Men 
 of Garlic' " 
 
 Montgomery looked a little awry at the idea of having 
 to listen to the " Men of Garlic," sung by Dick, but in the 
 discussion that followed as to what Kate was to do, the 
 disagreeableness of the prospect was lost sight of. 
 
 As Dick anticipated, Williams declared himself de- 
 lighted to accompany them in the double capacity of bill- 
 poster and occasional singer; and after a fortnight's re- 
 hearsal at Rochdale, the Constellation Company started on 
 its wanderings. Many drinks had been consumed in seek- 
 ing for the name; many strange combinations of sound 
 and sense had been rejected, and it was not until Dick
 
 312 
 
 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 began to draw lines on a piece of paper, affixing names to 
 the end of each, that the word suggested itself. What joy! 
 What rapture! A rush was made to the printers, and in 
 a few hours the following bill was produced — 
 
 THE CONSTELLATION COMPANY. 
 Miss Kate D'Arcy. 
 
 Mr. R. Lennoi. 
 
 Mr. P. Montgomery. 
 
 Mr. B. Williams.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 S the Constellation Company drove to the station, 
 Kate pointed out to Dick the curious resem- 
 blances that connected in her mind Rochdale 
 with Hanley. Being still a little superstitious, 
 the similarity the two towns bore to one another fright- 
 ened her, and she discovered analogies between her present 
 departure in life, and that she had made a year and a half 
 ago, when she left her husband, Ralph Ede. How strange 
 it was! Here was the same red town, narrow streets, built 
 of a brick that, under a dull sky, glared to a rich geranium 
 hue. The purplish tints of Hanley alone were wanting, 
 but the heavy smoke-clouds, and the tall stems of the 
 chimneys, were as numerous in Rochdale as in her native 
 place. And, coincidence still more marvellous, nature 
 had apparently helped and abetted what man's hand had 
 contrived, for in either town a line of hills swept around 
 the sky. The only difference was, that the characteristics 
 of Rochdale were not so marked as those of Hanley. The 
 lines of the hills, although conceived in the same spirit, 
 were not so rigid and immutable as those of the Stafford- 
 shire town, nor did the Lancashire valley possess the same 
 trenchlike appearance, as that which engirdles the potter- 
 ies. Perhaps almost as much smoke hung over it; but it 
 was not so black nor so arid. Between the collections of 
 chimneys there were green undulations, water courses, 
 trees, and stunted hedges, and these spread away until they 
 disappeared amid the hills which in their turn rolled until 
 lost in the waves of the surrounding country. Such is 
 Lancashire; and as the train steamed along the high em- 
 bankments, the actors talked of their comic songs. 
 
 Dick was going to sing " The Mulligan Guards " with 
 Kate, and he pointed out during the course of the journey 
 how admirably suited the country was to their kind of 
 entertainment. Towns there were on all sides. Under
 
 314 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 the green waste of a wold a chimney had been run up, 
 sheds, and laborers' cottages had followed, and in five 
 years, if the factory prospered, this beginning would swell 
 into a village; in twenty, it would possess twenty thousand 
 inhabitants. For just as in old times did the towns follow 
 the castles, so now do they follow in the wake of the fac- 
 tories. Wolds and factories everywhere; the arsenic green 
 sides of the former were striped with rough stone walls, 
 or blackened with an occasional coal pit; the ridges were 
 crested with trees, blown thin by the sea breezes; whilst in 
 the distance, spread like pieces of a broken chain, extended 
 the blue sharp lines of sheds spiked with long chimneys, 
 and crowned with the lowering smoke-cloud, ever exud- 
 ing and ever staining the white-trailing clouds that rilled 
 the autumn sky. Cold shafts of sunlight strayed for a mo- 
 ment on the dead green of the fields, pale as invalids tak- 
 ing the air for the last time before a winter's seclusion; 
 and later on, when the light mists of evening enveloped 
 the forms of the hills, the landscape took a strange swing- 
 ing appearance, producing on the spectator a distinct sen- 
 sation of mobility. 
 
 The first town the Constellation Company stopped at 
 was Bacup. Williams, who had gone on in front, met 
 them at the station. He declared that he had been in 
 every public-house, that bills had been distributed every- 
 where, and that he had reason to believe that they would 
 make a bit of money. His news was all good until Dick 
 asked about lodgings. Then his pimples grew grave, and 
 he confessed that he did not know what they should do. 
 There was but one hotel, and all the rooms were taken. 
 Dick, who on such occasions always took time by the fore- 
 lock, insisted on starting at once on their search — and up 
 and down the murky streets of the manufacturing town 
 they walked until it was time for them to repair to the 
 Mechanics' Hall, where they were going to play, and get 
 ready for the entertainment. 
 
 The " Mulligan Guards " proved a great success, as did 
 also the operetta, Breaking (he Spell. Kate's pretty face 
 and figure won the hearts of the factory hands, and she 
 was applauded to the echo whenever she appeared on the
 
 A Mummer's Wife 315 
 
 stage; and so frequent were the encores that it was half- 
 past ten before they had finished their programme, and 
 close on eleven before they got out of the hall into the 
 street. Then the search for lodgings had to begin again. 
 Montgomery and Williams, being single men, obtained 
 beds, but Kate and Dick were not so easily satisfied, and 
 they found themselves standing under a porch with the 
 lights going out on all sides, and a wet prospect of spend- 
 ing the night in the street, under an umbrella, staring 
 them in the face. At last Dick bethought himself of the 
 police station, but on applying to a policeman he was 
 directed to the back-door of a public-house. " He was 
 pretty sure," whispered the boy in blue, "to get put up 
 there." The door was opened with precaution, and they 
 were allowed in. The place was full of people; it took 
 them a long time to get served, and they were at length 
 told that in the way of a room nothing could be done for 
 them. Every bed in the house was occupied. Kate raised 
 her eyes to Dick, but her look of misery was anticipated 
 by a rough-faced carter who stood at the counter. 
 
 " You bear up, little woman," he said abruptly; " don't 
 yo' look so froightent. Yo' shall both come up to my 
 place, if yo' will; it isna up to much, but oi'll do th' best I 
 can for yo'." 
 
 There was no mistaking the kindness with which the 
 offer was made, though the idea of going to sleep at this 
 rough man's house for the moment staggered even the 
 mummer. But as it was now clear that they would have 
 either to accept their new friend's hospitailty, or spend 
 the night on a doorstep, it did not take them long to de- 
 cide on the former alternative. Their only reason for 
 hesitating was their inability to understand what were his 
 motives for asking them to come to his place. Then, as 
 if divining the reason of their uncertainty, he said: — 
 
 " I know yo' well, tho' yo' don't know me. I was up at 
 the 'all to-night, and yo' did make me so laugh that I 
 wouldna see yo' in the streets for nothing. Neaw, let it 
 be yea or nay, master." 
 
 For answer, Dick put out his hand; and when he had 
 thanked the hospitably-inclined carter put some questions
 
 31(3 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 to him about the entertainment. Soon the two began to 
 " pal," and after another drink they all went off together. 
 
 After wading down a few sloppy streets, he stopped be- 
 fore a low doorway, and ushered them into what looked 
 like an immense kitchen. They saw rafters overhead and 
 an open staircase ascending to the upper rooms, as might 
 a ladder through a series of lofts. When a candle had 
 been obtained the first thing their host did was to pull his 
 wife out of bed, and insist on his guests getting into it, a 
 request which the woman joined in as heartily as her hus- 
 band, when the reason for this unceremonious awakening 
 had been explained to her. And so wearied out were Kate 
 and Dick, and so tempting did any place of rest look to 
 them, that they could offer no opposition to the kind in- 
 tentions of their host and hostess, and in their bed they 
 slept heavily until roused next morning by a loud tram- 
 pling of feet passing through their room. It was the 
 family coming down from the lofts above, and as they de- 
 scended the staircase they wished their guests a broad 
 Lancashire good morning. 
 
 Then, when Kate and Dick had recovered from their 
 astonishment, they dressed and went out to buy some pro- 
 visions, which they hoped to be allowed to cook in the rough 
 kitchen; but when they returned with their purchases they 
 found the carter's daughter standing before an elaborately 
 prepared breakfast, consisting of a huge beefsteak and a 
 high pile of cakes. 
 
 " Lor, marm, why did yo' buy thoose things? " said the 
 girl, disappointed. 
 
 " Well," said Kate, " we couldn't think of trespassing 
 on you in that fashion. You must, you will, I hope, let us 
 prepare our own breakfast." 
 
 " Feyther will never 'ear of it, I know," said the girl; 
 and immediately after the carter with his brawny arms, 
 pushed Kate and Dick down into two seats at the big table. 
 Both cake and meat were delicious, and Dick's appetite 
 showed such signs of outdoing the carter's that Kate, for 
 mere shame, in the hope of diverting attention, commenced 
 an interesting conversation with the buxom maiden by her 
 side, and so successful were her efforts at agreeability that
 
 r A Mummer's Wife 317 
 
 a friendship was soon established between the women; and, 
 when the morning's work was done, Mary, of her own ac- 
 cord., sought out Kate, and as she knitted the thick woollen 
 stocking, was easily led into telling the inevitable love 
 story. 
 
 We change the surroundings, but a heart bleeds under 
 all social variations; and in this grim manufacturing town 
 the bridal dress seemed, when taken out of its lavender 
 and darkness, to possess a gleam of poetic whiteness that 
 it could not have had even if set off by the pleasant verdure 
 of a Devonshire lane. 
 
 " But you'll keep it for another; another will be sure to 
 come very soon," said Kate, trying to console. 
 
 " Nay, nay, I'll have no other," said the girl. " I'll just 
 keep the dress by; but I'll have no other." 
 
 Then the conversation lapsed into a long narrative con- 
 cerning tender hopes and illusions not broken through 
 until the party assembled before the altar rails. Kate 
 listened, as all women do, to the story of heart-aches and 
 deceptions, and in after years, when all other remem- 
 brances of the black country were swept away, the souvenir 
 of this white dress remained. 
 
 From Bacup they went to Whitworth, a town in such 
 immediate neighborhood that it might be called a suburb 
 of the former place. There they played in the Co-opera- 
 tive Hall, to an audience consisting of a factory man, two 
 children, and a postman who came in on the free list. 
 This was not encouraging; but they, nevertheless, resolved 
 to try the place again; and next day at dinner-time, as the 
 " hands " were leaving the factories, they distributed some 
 hundreds of bills. Dick said he should never forget it: to 
 watch Pimply Face cutting about, shoving his bills into the 
 women's aprons, was the funniest thing he had ever seen 
 in his life. But their efforts were all in vain. It rained 
 like mad, not a soul came to see them; and, in addition 
 to their other troubles, Whitworth was found to be an awk- 
 ward place to stop at. Dick and his wife had a room in a 
 pub; Montgomery and Williams had to walk over each 
 evening to sleep at Bacup. One day their landlady spoke 
 of Olayton-le-Moors. A fair, she said, was being held, and
 
 318 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 she advised the Constellation Company to try their enter- 
 tainment there. This was regarded in the light of a sen- 
 sible suggestion, and after a little reflection, on the top of 
 an omnibus, with their wigs and dresses and make-ups 
 stuck under their legs, the four mummers started for the 
 fair. It was a magnificent autumn morning. The sun- 
 light rolled over the great white sides of the booths, Aunt 
 Sullies were being shied at, the pubs were all open, and a 
 huge, rollicking population, fetid with the fermenting 
 sweat of the factories, were disporting themselves on 
 whisky and fresh air. A fairer prospect of a harvest never 
 buoyed up with hope the spirits of dejected strolling 
 players. The next thing to do was to distribute the hand- 
 bills, and find a place where they could set up their show. 
 But here lay the difficulty, and, to conduct their search 
 more thoroughly, they separated, after having decided on 
 a rendezvous. In this way the town was thoroughly ran- 
 sacked; but it was not until Kate, who had gone off on her 
 own accord, learnt from the landlord of a public-house, 
 where she had entered to get a drink, that he had a large 
 concert-room overhead, that there seemed to be slightest 
 chance of the Constellation Company being able to turn 
 the joviality of the factory hands at the fair to any ac- 
 count. Matters seemed now to be looking up, and a very 
 neat little arrangement was entered into with the pro- 
 prietor of the pub. It was as follows. Four entertain- 
 ments of ten minutes each were to be given every hour, 
 for each of which the sum of threepence a head was to be 
 charged, twopence to go to the artists, a penny to the land- 
 lord, who would, of course, make his " bit " also out of 
 the drink supplied. And what a success they had that 
 day! Not only did the factory hands come in, but they 
 paid their threepences over and over again. Of hearing 
 Dick and Kate sing the " Mulligan Guards " they seemed 
 never to grow tired, and when she called out " Corps," 
 and he touched his cap, and they broke into a dance, the 
 delight of the workpeople knew no bounds. Often they 
 stopped the entertainment to hand up their mugs of beer 
 to the mummers with a c; 'Ave a soop, mon." 
 
 From twelve o'clock in the day until eleven at night
 
 A Mummer's Wife 319 
 
 the affair was kept going; Kate, Dick, and Williams danc- 
 ing and singing in turn, and Montgomery all the while 
 spanking away at the dominoes. It was heavy work, but 
 the coin they took was considerable, and it came in handy, 
 for in the next three towns they did very badly. But at 
 Padiham, a curious accident turned out in the end very 
 iuckily for them. There were but five people in the house, 
 one of whom was drunk. This fellow very humorously 
 in the middle of the entertainment declared that he was 
 going to sing a song. He even wanted to appropriate 
 Williams's wig, and when Dick, who was always chucker- 
 out on such occasions, attempted to eject him, he climbed 
 out of reach and lodged himself in one of the windows. 
 From there he proceeded to call to the people in the street, 
 and with such excellent result that that evening they had 
 £18 in the hall. 
 
 This, and similar slices of good fortune, kept the Con- 
 stellation Company rolling from one adventure, from one 
 town to another. Sometimes a wet day came to their as- 
 istance; sometimes a dispute between some factory hands 
 and the masters brought them a little money. Their 
 wants were simple; a bed in a pub, and a steak for dinner, 
 was all they asked for. But at last, as winter wore on, 
 ill fortune commenced to follow them very closely and per- 
 sistently. They had been to four different towns and had 
 not made a ten pound note to divide between the lot of 
 them. In the face of such adversity it was not worth 
 while keeping on, besides Kate's expected confinement 
 rendered it impossible to prolong their little tour much 
 further. For these reasons, one November morning the 
 Constellation Company, hoping they would soon meet 
 again, under more auspicious circumstances, bade each 
 other good-by at the railway station. Williams and Mont- 
 gomery went to Liverpool, Kate and Dick to make a stay 
 at Rochdale, where they had heard that many companies 
 were coming. The companies came, it is true, but they 
 were, unfortunately, filled up, and Lennox and his wife 
 could not get an engagement in any of them. The little 
 money saved out of their tour enabled them to keep body 
 and soul together for about a month; but in the fifth week,
 
 320 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 they found themselves telling the landlady lies, and going 
 through all the classic excuses — expecting a letter every 
 day, by Monday at the very latest, &c, This in the face 
 of Kate's approaching confinement, was a state of things 
 that made even Dick begin to look anxiously round and 
 fear for the safety of the future. Kate, on the contrary, 
 although fretted and wearied, took matters more easily 
 than might have been expected; and the changing of their 
 last ten shillings frightened her less than had the first 
 announcement of the possible breaking up of Morton and 
 Cox's Operatic Company. Bohemianism had achieved in 
 her its last victory; and having lately seen so many of the 
 difficulties of life solving themselves in ways that were 
 inexplicable to her, she had unconsciously grown to think 
 that there was no knot that chance, luck, or fate would 
 not untie. Besides, her big Dick's resources were appar- 
 ently unlimited; the present weakness of her condition 
 tended to induce her to rely more than ever upon his pro- 
 tection; and in the lassitude of weak hopes, she contented 
 herself with praying occasionally that all would yet come 
 right. But her lover, although he told her nothing of his 
 fears, was not so satisfied. Never before had he been quite 
 so hard pressed. They owed now a week's rent, besides 
 other small debts; all of which, unless they pawned the 
 remainder of their clothes, they were unable to pay. Far 
 better, he said, it would be for them to go to Manchester, 
 leaving their things, to be redeemed some day, as security 
 with the landlady — that is to say, if they failed to get out 
 of the house without being perceived by her. Half-a- 
 crown still remained to them that would pay Kate's rail- 
 way fare. As regards himself, Dick proposed that he 
 should do the journey on foot; he would be able to walk 
 the distance easily in three hours, and would at eleven 
 o'clock join his wife at an address which he gave her, with 
 many injunctions as to the story that was to be told to the 
 landlady. So, as the clocks were striking seven one cold 
 winter's morning, they stole quietly downstairs, Dick car- 
 rying a small portmanteau. On the table of their room 
 a letter was left, explaining that a telegram received over
 
 A Mummer's Wife 321 
 
 night called them to Manchester, but that they hoped to 
 be back again in a few days — a week at latest. 
 
 This assurance Dick considered would amply satisfy the 
 old dame, and holding the portmanteau on his shoulder 
 with one arm, and supporting Kate with the other, he 
 made his way to the station. 
 
 The day had not yet begun to break. A heavy, slug- 
 gish night hung over the town. The streets were filled 
 with puddles and flowing mud; and Kate was frequently 
 obliged to stop and rest against the lamp-posts. She com- 
 plained of feeling very ill, and she walked with much dif- 
 ficulty. In the straggling light of the gas, Dick looked at 
 her pale, pretty features, accentuated by suffering; he felt 
 that he had never known before how dearly he loved her, 
 and the pity for her that filled his heart choked him when 
 he attempted to speak: and his eyes misted with tender- 
 ness. To have to leave her now, although only for a few 
 hours, seemed to him brutality that was utterly unbear- 
 able. He thought of the old dodge of travelling on the 
 luggage, but fearing that the woman to whose house they 
 were going would not let them in unless they had at least 
 one portmanteau to show, he determined to adhere to the 
 original plan of sending Kate on in front. Although tor- 
 tured by atrocious imaginings, hiding his fears, he assured 
 her that their troubles would be over once they set foot in 
 Manchester: all he had to do was to go down to the The- 
 atre Eoyal to get an engagement. So kindly did he speak, 
 that to learn that he loved her seemed to repay her for her 
 sufferings. For some days past she had been subject to 
 violent nauseas and acute pains, and as she bade him 
 good-by out of the railway-carriage window, she had to 
 bend and press herself against it. Dick read from her 
 face what was passing, and he strove to encourage her with 
 a few words of hope. But a cloud of deep melancholy 
 settled upon the cheeks, generally so restful in a happy 
 animality — yet the fat hand lifted the big-brimmed black 
 felt hat, the frizzly curls blew in the cold wind, the train 
 oscillated and then rolled and disappeared round a bend 
 in the line. That was all. What had been done was over, 
 as completely as the splash made by a stone dropped into 
 21
 
 322 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 a well, and the actor awoke to a feeling that something 
 new had again to be begun. 
 
 After descending the steps of the station, he asked to be 
 directed, and bravely he started to walk from Eochdale to 
 Manchester. For a long time his way lay through an in- 
 terminable street, made by red brick houses with stucco 
 porches; but at length these commenced to divide into 
 cottages; — and, curious characteristic, the pavements were 
 lined with immense flag-stones, set on end and bound to- 
 gether with iron clasps. After many inquiries, he was 
 shown into what he was told was an old Eoman road, called 
 " Going over Tindel." In front of him often arose the 
 green mass of a hill dirtied with tillage; on the left 
 stretched a wide valley, at the upper end of which lay 
 Rochdale. From the snow-patched wolds the wind blew 
 bitterly, and into a murky sky the trees that fretted the 
 higher ridges melted like veils of gray lace. 
 
 Walking was not Dick's forte. He was out of condition. 
 Each steep incline deprived him of breath. Leaning 
 against a farm gate, his eyes embraced the wild black 
 scenery, and remembrances of the Hanley hills drifted 
 through his thoughts. There were the same rolling 
 wastes, and, as the pieces on a chess-board, the factory 
 chimneys appeared at irregular intevals. But these topo- 
 graphical similarities attracted Dick only so far as they 
 filled his mind with old memories and associations, and 
 his thoughts flowed from the time he had stood with his 
 wife at the top of Market Street to the present hour. He 
 neither praised nor blamed himself. He accepted things 
 as they were without criticism, and they appeared to him 
 like a turgid dream, swollen and bleak as the confused ex- 
 panse of distance before him. The stupor into which he 
 occasionally fell, endured until a quick thought would 
 strike through the mental gloom that oppressed him, and, 
 relinquishing the farm gate, he would moodily resume his 
 walk through the heavy slosh of the wet roads. As he did 
 so his thoughts knotted themselves into cruel and tortuous 
 shapes. The vision of Kate's pain-stricken face haunted 
 him, and at every step his horror of the danger she ran 
 of being taken ill before arriving in Manchester grew
 
 A Mummer's Wife 'd',1'6 
 
 darker and deeper. Dead as was his imagination to spirit- 
 ual, it was quick to appreciate all physical suffering. His 
 pity being born of the flesh, concerned itself with the flesh, 
 and with it only, and, panting and blowing, he toiled up 
 hill after hill, yearning to be near her, desiring only the 
 power to relieve and to help. Memories of all he had 
 heard and read of what was a woman's agony under such 
 circumstances came to him in burning flashes, and spurred 
 him on like a jaded horse up the severe roads. Often the 
 intensity of his longing would force him into a run, and 
 then the farm laborers would turn from their work to gaze 
 on this huge creature, who stood on a hill-top wearily 
 wiping his forehead. 
 
 In those moments he grew sick of the long staring, roll- 
 ing landscape, with its thousand sinuosities, its standard 
 trees, its detailed foreground of scrub, hedges, brooks, 
 spanned by small brick bridges, the melting distance, the 
 murky sky, the belching chimneys: he asked himself if it 
 would never end, if it would never define itself into the 
 streets of Manchester. And as he descended each incline 
 his eyes searched for the indication of a town, until at last 
 he saw lines of smoke, factories, and masses of brick on his 
 left, and his heart big with expectation, he hastened to- 
 wards it. All the markings of the way were looked for- 
 ward to, the outlying streets were deemed interminable, 
 and so great was his hurry that before he discovered he 
 was in Oldham, he had walked into the middle of the 
 town. His disappointment was bitter and black, and for 
 the moment he felt that, come what would, he could go 
 no farther; his courage was exhausted, it was impossible 
 he could face that bleak mocking landscape again. Be- 
 sides, he was fainting for want of food. Had he possessed 
 a few pence to treat himself to a glass of beer and a bit 
 of bread and cheese, he thought he would be able to pull 
 himself together and make another effort; but he was 
 utterly destitute. Still he was forced to try again. The 
 thought of Kate burned in his brain. After having in- 
 quired the way, with weary and aching feet, he once more 
 trudged manfully on. A fretful suspicion that she might 
 not find the landlady as agreeable as would under the eir-
 
 324 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 cumstances be desirable now haunted him. He reasoned 
 with himself as he crossed into the open country, until 
 anxiety became absorbed by fatigue. Of every passer-by 
 did he ask the way, and as he passed the stately villas that 
 heralded the presence of the reeking centre of commerce 
 that lay behind, Dick felt that had there been much fur- 
 ther to walk he would have had to beg a lift from one of 
 the wagoners who constantly passed him driving their 
 heavy teams. But he was now in Manchester, another 
 half hour would see him in his wife's arms; and wonder- 
 ing what had happened since their parting, he stared into 
 the shop windows in search of a clock. He had taken 
 longer to do the distance than he had expected. It was 
 now mid-day, in four hours anything might have hap- 
 pened, and when he rang at the door of the lodging-house 
 his heart beat as rapidly as the jangling bell that pealed 
 through the house. The classic maid-of-all-work, be- 
 grimed with her pots and pans, answered him, and in reply 
 to his questions declared positively that no one had called 
 that morning, and that she had heard " nothing of no 
 lady." 
 
 Had the world suddenly given way beneath him it would 
 not have been to him a more complete annihilation. His 
 brain rocked, and it was only by a violent effort that he 
 could continue his questions. Upon cross examination 
 the maid admitted that she had been out on an errand, 
 and had not seen missus since ten o'clock. It was, there- 
 fore, possible that a lady might have called, but as for 
 being in the house, it was impossible, for they were as full 
 as they could hold. On hearing this Dick drew a deep 
 breath of relief, his terror faded; and the view, the street, 
 the doorstep, the maid, assumed their natural appearance, 
 just as if they had been lifted out of a fog. 
 
 " And are you certain that a lady might have called 
 about ten or half-past without your having seen her? ' : 
 
 " I was out of a herrant at that time, so I am sure they 
 might, for missus wouldn't mind to tell me if I wasn't to 
 get rooms ready for them." 
 
 "And what would your mistress do in the case of not 
 being able to supply a lady with rooms? "
 
 'A Mummer's Wife 325 
 
 " She would send, I should think, round to Mrs. 
 
 well, I don't remember right the name." 
 
 " Do you know the address? " 
 
 " I know it is behind the station, one of those streets 
 where — nay — but I don't think I could direct you right." 
 
 "Then what shall I do?" 
 
 " Missus will be in shortly. If you will take a set in 
 'all, I can't ask you into any other room, they're all oc- 
 cupied." 
 
 There was nothing to do but to accept, and after hav- 
 ing asked when the landlady might be expected in, and 
 receiving the inevitable, " Really couldn't say for certain, 
 sir, but I don't think she'll be long," he sat down in a 
 chair. His thoughts were as tired as his body, but a fero- 
 cious anxiety preyed upon him and allowed him no rest. 
 Visions of stretchers and hospital doors rose before his 
 eyes, and the high shrieks of a woman in labor echoed in 
 his ears. Weary, footsore as he was, there were times 
 when struck by a sudden thought he would make a move- 
 ment as if to start from his seat; but instantly remember- 
 ing his own powerlessness, he would slip back into his at- 
 titude of heavy fatigue. In the dining-room the clock 
 ticked, and he listened to the invincible march of the 
 minutes, wondering when the landlady would be back, tor- 
 tured by the idea that his wife was suffering, dying, and 
 that he was not near to help, to assist, to assuage. He for- 
 got that they were penniless, homeless, all was lost in a 
 boundless pity, and he listened to the footsteps growing 
 sharper as they approached, and duller as they went. At 
 last the small sound of the latchkey was heard in the lock, 
 and Dick started to his feet. It was the landlady. 
 
 " Have you seen my wife? " 
 
 "Yes, sir," exclaimed the astonished woman; "she was 
 here this morning, all our rooms are let, so I couldn't " 
 
 " Where is she gone to, do you know? " 
 
 " Well, sir, I was going to say, she asked me if I could 
 recommend her to some quiet place, and I sent her to Mrs. 
 Hurley's." 
 
 " And will you give me Mrs. Hurley's address? '' 
 
 ' Yes sir, certainly; but if I may make so bold, you are
 
 326 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 looking very tired, may I offer you a glass of beer? And 
 Mrs. Lennox is looking very bad too, she is." 
 
 " I am much obliged, but I have no time, if you would 
 give me the address? " 
 
 No sooner were the words spoken than, forgetful of his 
 aching feet Dick rushed away, and dodging the passers-by, 
 he ran until he laid hands on the knocker and bell in ques- 
 tion. 
 
 " Is Mrs. Lennox staying here ? " he asked of the lady 
 who opened the door. 
 
 " There was a lady of that name who inquired for rooms 
 here this morning." 
 
 " And isn't she here? Why didn't she take the rooms? " 
 
 " Well, sir, she said she was expecting to be confined, 
 and I didn't care to have illness in my house." 
 
 "You don't mean to tell me that you turned her out? 
 Oh, you atrocious ! If you were a man " 
 
 Overpowered with rage he stopped for words, and the 
 woman, fearing he would strike her strove to shut the door. 
 But Dick, with his thick leg, prevented her, and at this 
 moment they were joined by the maid, who, speaking over 
 her mistress's shoulder, screamed: 
 
 " The lady said she would come round here in a couple 
 o' hours' time to ask for you, and I advised her to try for 
 rooms at No. 28 in the street. You'll find her there." 
 
 This was enough for Dick, who, loosing his hold on the 
 door, made off; streets, carriages, passers-by, whirled before 
 his eyes. 
 
 "Is Mrs. Lennox here?" he asked, when the door was 
 opened, so roughly that the maid regretted having said yes, 
 when the word had passed her lips. 
 
 " On what floor? " 
 
 " The first, sir; but you had better let me go up first. 
 Mrs. Lennox is not very well; she's expecting her hus- 
 band." 
 
 " I am her husband." 
 
 And on that Dick rushed at the staircase. A few stride:, 
 brought him on the first landing; but a sudden disappoint 
 ment seized him — -the sitting-room was empty. Thinking 
 instantly of the bedroom, he flung open the door, and there
 
 A Mummer's Wife 327 
 
 he saw Kate, rocking herself to and fro, sitting on the edge 
 of the bed. Uttering a faint cry of mingled feelings, she 
 rose to her feet; the expression of weary pain was changed 
 to one of illimitable joy, and Dick locked her in his arms. 
 
 " I thought you would never come, and they would take 
 me in nowhere." 
 
 " Yes, my darling, I know all about it ; I know all." 
 
 Kisses he laid gently on the rich black-blue hair and the 
 pale tired face ; he felt light hands resting on him ; she felt 
 strong arms clasped about her, and each soul seemed to be 
 but the reflection of the other, just as the sky and the sea 
 are when the sun is at its meridian. 
 
 Then, as this brief but ineffable moment of spiritual uni- 
 son faded by gentle transitions, words returned to them, 
 and Kate spoke of all she had suffered. She whispered, 
 fearful lest any one should overhear, the story she had told 
 the landlady, and how she had ordered a big dinner, and 
 everything of the best, so that they might not be suspected 
 of being hard up. Dick approved of these arrangements ; 
 but just as he smacked his lips, a foretaste of the leg of 
 mutton in his mouth, Kate uttered a sort of low cry, and, 
 turning pale, pressed her hands to her side. A sharp pain 
 had suddenly run through her, and as quickly died away; 
 but a few minutes after this was succeeded by another, 
 which lasted longer and gripped her more acutely. Sup- 
 porting her in his arms ; largely and tenderly, he helped her 
 across the room and laid her on the bed. There she seemed 
 to experience some relief; but very soon she was again 
 seized by the most acute pangs. It seemed to her that she 
 was bound about with a buckler of iron. Frightened, Dick 
 rang for the landlady. The worthy woman saw at a glance 
 what was happening, and sent him off, weary as he was, to 
 fetch a doctor and the needful assistance.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 HE doctor aiid nurse arrived almost simultaneously, 
 and bidding Dick, who came running upstairs 
 a moment after, be of good cheer, they passed into 
 sick-room. The mummer took his hat from his 
 head and stood for a moment staring vacantly at the bed- 
 room door, as if striving there to read the secrets of life, 
 birth and death. Then, remembering how tired he was, 
 with a large movement of fatigue he sat down on the sofa. 
 The day was beginning to die, and a gloomy yellow sky 
 tilled the room with an oppressive and mournful twilight. 
 To relieve his aching feet Dick had kicked off his shoes, and 
 with his folded arms pressed against his stomach he sat 
 hour after hour, too hungry to sleep, listening to the low 
 moaning that came, as if from some hurt animal, through 
 the chinks of the door. He appeared to be totally forgotten. 
 Voices whispered on the staircase, people passed hurriedly 
 through the sitting-room, but none asked him if he wanted 
 anything; no one even noticed him. As an alien he was 
 ignored in the drama that was being enacted, and when the 
 landlady lighted the gas she uttered a cry of astonishment, 
 as if she had discovered an intruder in the room. 
 
 " Oh, lawks ! Mr. Lennox, we had forgotten all about you, 
 and you sittin' there so quiet. But your wife is getting on 
 nice, she has just had a cup of beef tea ; in about another 
 couple of hours it will be all over." 
 
 " Is she suffering much ? " 
 
 " Well sir, yes, I wouldn't consider it an easy confine- 
 ment ; but I think it will be all right, you will see your wife 
 and child alive and well to-morrow morning." 
 
 Dick could not help doubting, unless she came to his as- 
 sistance with food, the truth of the woman's statement. 
 Although almost starving, he was afraid to call for dinner 
 lest she should ask him for some money in advance, but at 
 that moment a cramp seized him. and turning pale he had
 
 A Mummer's Wife 329 
 
 to lean over the table to suppress the moan which rose to his 
 lips. 
 
 " What's the matter, sir ? You look quite ill/' the woman 
 asked. 
 
 " Oh, 'twas only a sudden pain/' said Dick, making an 
 effort to recover himself. " I have eaten nothing all day — 
 have had no time, you know." 
 
 " Then we shall have you laid up as well as your wife, 
 and there's the leg of mutton she ordered stewing away all 
 these hours. I'm afraid you won't be able to eat it? " 
 
 Absurd as the question appeared to him, Dick answered 
 adroitly, 
 
 " It will do very well, if you will bring it up as soon as 
 you can ; I may have to go out." 
 
 This was intended as a ruse to deceive the landlady, for 
 so tired was he that had it been to save Kate's life he did 
 not think he would have walked downstairs. He could 
 think of nothing but putting something into his stomach, 
 and hard and dry as the mutton was it seemed to him the 
 most delicious thing he had ever tasted. His pain melted 
 away with the first mouthful, and the glass of beer ran 
 through and warmed his entire system. Down the great 
 throat the victuals disappeared as if by magic, and almost 
 unheeded passed the unceasing cry that seemed now to fill 
 the entire house. 
 
 For a moment he would listen pityingly, and then like 
 an animal return to his food. Slice after slice had been 
 cut from the joint, he thought he could finish it, his hunger 
 seemed to grow upon him, and he often longed to take the 
 bone in his hand and pick it with his teeth. But he rea- 
 soned with himself ; it would not do to let the landlady sus- 
 pect they had no money, and as he gazed at the last potato, 
 which he was afraid to eat, he considered what he should 
 say in apology for his appetite ; but as he sought for a nice 
 phrase, something pleasantly facetious, he remembered the 
 terrible straits he was in for want of money. Money he 
 would have to find to-morrow — where, he could not say, 
 but money he would have to find. There were a thousand 
 things that would have to be paid for — the baby's clothes, 
 the cradle, the — he tried to think of what was generally
 
 330 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 wanted under such circumstances, but the cries in the next 
 room which had gradually swelled into shrieks, appalled 
 him. Involuntarily, like a flash, the thought struck him 
 that there might be a funeral to pay for as well as a birth. 
 
 Clasping his hands, he moved out on the staircase to sec 
 if he could find the landlad} r ; the solitude of the cold 
 sitting-room had grown intolerable. As he was about to 
 call out, the bell tinkled, and the maid came running up. 
 She carried a jug of hot water and flannels in her hand, 
 and pushing past him she declared that she hadn't a mo- 
 ment. Everybody seemed to have something to do but 
 him. Returning, he sat down by the table and listened. 
 The door of the bedroom was ajar. The room was full of a 
 roseate radiance. A fire burned, candles flared on the man- 
 telpiece, a basin stood on the floor, and at times nothing 
 was heard but a long moan, mingling with the murmuring 
 voices of the doctor and nurse. The place seemed like a 
 sanctuary in which some mysterious rite was being per- 
 formed. But suddenly the silence was broken by shrieks 
 so passionate and acute that all the earlier ones were only 
 remembered as feeble lamentations. Dick raised his big 
 face from his hands, the movement threw back the shock 
 mass of frizzly hair, and in the intensity of his emotion he 
 looked like a lion. 
 
 " Was this, then, life ? " he asked himself, " or death ; 
 and by whose order was a human creature tortured thus 
 cruelly?" The idea of God did not, however, arrest his 
 attention, and his thoughts fixing themselves on the child 
 as on a demon of malignity, he prayed through the mystery 
 of birth for life. What was this new life ? What was it to 
 him ? Could it not exist without the sacrifice of the old ? 
 he asked himself; and for a lucid interval such reflections 
 flowed rapidly and nervously through the actor's heavy 
 mind; but he gradually slipped back into the stupor from 
 which they had raised him, and was not again aroused until 
 after a piercing scream he heard a voice, still attuned to 
 the scream that had startled him, exclaiming : 
 
 " Oh, I never will again ! Oh, how I hate him — I could 
 kill him ! I'll never love him, never no more." 
 
 The pealing humanity of the cry touched the fat mummer
 
 A Mummer's Wife 331 
 
 through all the years of gross sensuality, through the in- 
 digestion of his big dinner, and, struck by the sense of her 
 words, he shuddered, remembering that it was he, not the 
 innocent child, who was the cause of this outrageous suffer- 
 ing. Was it possible, he asked himself, that she would 
 never love him again? He didn't know. Was it pos- 
 sible that he was culpable ? Strange notions respecting the 
 origin, the scheme, the design of the universe, flashed in 
 dim chiaro-oscuro through his thoughts, and for a mo- 
 ment he pondered, philosopher like, on the remote causes 
 and the distant finalities of men and things. The scene 
 was at once real, ideal, cynical, and pathetic, a sample slice 
 from the incongruous comedy of life. 
 
 In this way an hour full of moans and cries of suffering 
 passed painfully away, and then another shriek scattered 
 Dick's dreams to the winds, and brought him with a shock 
 to earth ; a second and a third tortured him with feelings of 
 pity that were delirious in their excess ; then a great silence 
 came, and the whole house seemed to sigh with a sense of 
 relief. 
 
 " The baby must be born now," he said ; and immediately 
 after a little thin cry was heard, and in his heart it was pro- 
 longed like a note of gladness, and his thoughts became 
 paternal. He wondered if it were a girl or a boy ; he fan- 
 cied he'd like a girl best. If she were pretty, and had a bit 
 of a voice, he'd be able to push her to the front, whereas with 
 a boy, that was more difficult. Eelinquishing his visions at 
 this point, Dick listened to the silence. He did not, with- 
 out quite knowing why, dare to knock at the door, but the 
 murmur of satisfied voices assured him that all was right. 
 Still it was very odd that they did not come out and an- 
 nounce the result to him. Did he count for nobody ? Did 
 they fancy that it was nothing to him if his wife and child 
 were dead or alive? The idea of being thus completely 
 unconsidered in an affair of such deep concern irritated 
 him, and he walked towards the sofa to brood over his 
 wrongs. Should he, or should he not, knock at the door? 
 At last he decided that he should, and, after a timid rap. 
 tried the handle. He was immediately confronted by the 
 nurse.
 
 332 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 " It is all right, sir, you shall come in in a moment when 
 the baby is washed." 
 
 " Yes, but I want to know how my wife is." 
 
 w She is doing very well, sir ; you shall see her presently." 
 
 The door was then gently but firmly closed, and Dick was 
 kept waiting. Great as was his anxiety to see his wife, 
 now that the terror of losing her was over, the fatigue of the 
 day began to press upon him, and when the nurse called for 
 him to come in, almost collapsing under it, he staggered into 
 the room. Pale and inert, Kate lay amid the sheets, her 
 beautiful black hair making an ink stain on the pillows. 
 She stretched an exhausted hand to him, and looked at him 
 earnestly and affectionately. To both of them their lives 
 seemed completed. 
 
 " Oh, my darling, my darling! " he murmured; and his 
 heart melted with happiness at the faint pressure of fingers 
 which he held within his. The nurse standing by him held 
 something red wrapped up in flannels. He scarcely noticed 
 it until he heard Kate say : 
 
 " It is a little girl. Kiss it, dear." 
 
 Awkwardly he touched with his lips the tiny whining 
 mass of flesh the nurse held forward, feeling, without know- 
 ing why, ashamed of himself. 
 
 "Hearing that madam was taken all unexpected, I 
 brought these flannels with me," said the large woman with 
 the long-tailed cap ; " but to-morrow I can recommend you, 
 if you like, sir, to a shop where you can get everything 
 required." 
 
 This speech brought Dick with a cruel jerk to the brink 
 of the atrocious situation in which he had so unexpectedly 
 found himself. To-morrow he would have to find money, 
 and a great deal too. How he was going to do it he did 
 not know, but money would have to be found. 
 
 " Yes, yes ; to-morrow I'll see to all that," he said, awak- 
 ening from his lethargy, like a jaded horse touched in some 
 new place by the spur. " but now I'm so tired I can scarcely 
 speak." 
 
 " That's so," said the landlady. " These walking tours 
 is dreadful. He's been over from Rochdale to-day, not, 
 counting the runnin' about he did after his wife. You
 
 A Mummer's Wife d'6'6 
 
 know they refused to take her in at number fifteen. But, sir, 
 I don't well know how we shall manage. I don't see how 
 I am to offer you a bed. The best I can do for you is to 
 make you up something on the sofa in the parlor." 
 
 " Oh, the sofa will do very well. 1 think I could sleep 
 on the tiles; so good-night dear," he said as he leaned and 
 kissed his wife ; " I'm sorry to leave you so soon." 
 
 " It isn't a bit too soon," said the doctor. " She must lie 
 still and not talk." 
 
 On this Dick was led away. The nurse and doctor con- 
 sulted by the bed where the woman would lie for days, 
 too weak even to dream, while the man went off into the 
 Manchester crowd to search for food. Beyond the bare 
 idea of " going down to see what they were doing at the 
 theatres," he had no plans. The scavenger dog that prowls 
 about the gutter in search of offal could not have less. But 
 he felt sure that something would turn up ; he was certain 
 to meet someone to whom he could sell a piano or for whom 
 he could build a theatre. He never made plans. There was 
 no use in making plans ; they were always upset by an acci- 
 dent. Far better, he thought, to trust to the inspiration of 
 the moment; and when he awoke in the morning, heavy 
 with sleep, he felt no trepidation, no fear beyond that of 
 how he should get his sore feet into his shoes. It was only 
 with a series of groans and curses that he succeeded in doing 
 this, and the limps by which he proceeded down the street 
 were painful to watch. At the stage-door of the Theatre 
 Eoyal a conciliatory tone of voice was mechanically as- 
 sumed as he asked the porter if Mr. Jackson was in. But 
 before the official could answer, Dick caught sight of Mr. 
 Jackson coming along the passage. 
 
 " How do you do, old man ? Haven't seen you for a long 
 
 time." 
 
 "What you, Dick, in Manchester? Come and have a 
 drink, old man. Very glad to see you. Stopping long 
 
 here ? " 
 
 "Well, I'm not quite decided. My wife was confined, 
 
 you know, last night." 
 
 "What! you a father, Dick?" 
 
 Leering, Mr. Jackson poked him in the ribs, and com-
 
 334 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 menced a list of anecdotes. To these Dick had to listen, 
 and, in the hopes of catching his friend in an unwary mo- 
 ment of good-humor, he laughed heartily at all the best 
 points. But digressive as conversation is in which women 
 are concerned, sooner or later a reference is made to the 
 cost and the worth, and at last Mr. Jackson was incautious 
 enough to say: 
 
 ' Very expensive those affairs are, to be sure." 
 
 This was the chance that Dick was waiting for, and im- 
 mediately buttonholing his friend he said : 
 
 " You are quite right, they are ; and to tell you the truth, 
 old man, I'm in the most devilish awkward position I ever 
 was in my life. You heard about the breaking up of 
 Morton and Cox's company? Well, that left me stranded." 
 
 At the first words gayety disappeared from Mr. Jackson's 
 face, and during Dick's narrative of the tour in Lancashire 
 he made many ineffectual wriggles to get awa}\ Judging 
 from these well-known indications, that to borrow money 
 might be attended with failure, Dick, after a pathetic 
 description of his poverty, concluded with : 
 
 " So now, my dear fellow, you must find something for 
 me to do. It does not matter what — something temporary 
 until I can find something better, you know." 
 
 It was difficult to resist this appeal, and after a moment's 
 reflection Mr. Jackson said:— 
 
 " Well, you know we're all made up here. There's a 
 small part in the new drama to be produced next week, but 
 I wouldn't like to offer it as it is, but I might get the author 
 to write it up." 
 
 " It will do first-rate. I'm sure to be able to make some- 
 thing of it. What's the screw ? " 
 
 " That's just the point. We can't afford to pay much for 
 it; our salary list is too big as it is." 
 
 " What did you intend giving for it ? " 
 
 " Well, we meant to give it to a super, but for you I can 
 have it written up. What do you say to two-ten?" 
 
 Dick thought it would be judicious to pause, and after a 
 short silence he said : — 
 
 " I've had, as you know, bigger things to do ; but I'm 
 awfully obliged to yon, old pal. You are doing me a good
 
 A Mummer's Wife 'd'do 
 
 turn that I sha'n't forgot: we can consider the matter as 
 settled." 
 
 This was a stroke of luck, and Dick congratulated himself 
 warmly, until he remembered that £2 10s. at the end of next 
 week did not put a farthing into his present pocket. Money 
 he would have to find that day, how he did not know. He 
 called upon everybody he had ever heard of; he visited 
 all the theatres and ball-rooms, drank interminable drinks, 
 listened to endless stories, and when questioned as to what 
 he was doing himself, grew delightfully mendacious, and, 
 upon the slight basis of his engagement for the new drama 
 at the Royal, constructed a fabulous scheme for the pro- 
 duction of new pieces. In this way the afternoon went by, 
 and he was beginning to give up hopes of turning over any 
 money that day, when he met a dramatic author. After the 
 usual salutations — " How do you do, old boy? How's busi- 
 ness? " &c. — had been exchanged, the young man said : — 
 
 " Had a bit of luck ; just now sold my piece ; you know 
 the drama I read you, the one in which the mother saves 
 her child from the burning house ? " 
 
 " How much did you get ? " 
 
 " Seventy-five pound down, and two pounds a night." 
 
 At the idea of so much money Dick's eyes glistened, and 
 he immediately proceeded to unfold a scheme he had been 
 meditating for some time back for the building of a new 
 theatre. The author listened attentively, and after hav- 
 ing dangled about the lamp-posts for half an hour, they 
 mutually agreed to eat a bit of dinner together and after- 
 wards go home and read another new piece that was, so said 
 the fortunate author, a clinker. No better excuse than his 
 wife's confinement could be found for fixing the rendezvous 
 at the young man's lodging, and in the enthusiasm which 
 the reading of the acts engendered, it was easy for Dick to 
 ask for, and difficult for his friend to refuse, a check for 
 £15.
 
 CHAPTEE XXIII 
 
 \N about a week Kate was sufficiently restored to sit 
 up in bed. Her very weakness and lassitude were 
 a source of happiness; for, after long months of 
 turmoil and racket, it was sweet to lie in the 
 lucid dreaminess of the covertures, and suffer her thoughts 
 to grow out of unconsciousness or sink back into it without 
 an effort. Then from these twilight trances flowed im- 
 perceptibly another period, when with coming strength 
 awoke in her a feverish love for the little baby-girl who 
 lay sleeping by her side. For hours in the reposing ob- 
 scurity of the drawn curtains mother and child would re- 
 main hushed in one long warm embrace. To see, to feel, 
 this little life moving against her side was enough. She 
 looked not into the future nor thought of what, fate the 
 years held in store for her daughter, but lost in emotive con- 
 templation, watched the blind movements of hands and 
 the vague staring blue eyes, content. This puling pulp, in 
 which there was life that was hers, developed in her un- 
 imaginable yearnings, and she often trembled for pride in 
 being the instrument through which was worked so much 
 mystery. Knowing nothing of children, to talk of the dark 
 dawn of creation, and of the day sweet with maternal love 
 that lay beyond, was to Kate a source of infinite joy. To 
 hear the large, hobbling woman tell of the different babies 
 she had successfully started that year on their worldly 
 pilgrimage, seemed never to weary Kate. She interested 
 herself in each special case, and when the nurse told her 
 she must talk no more she lay back, held as if by a sort of 
 secret affinity, to dream of the great boy with the black eyes 
 who had so nearly been the death of his little flaxen-haired 
 mother. 
 
 She felt great interest in this infant, who, if he went on 
 growing at the present rate, it was prophesied would be in 
 twenty years' time the biggest man in Manchester. But on
 
 A Mummer's Wife 337 
 
 questioning the nurse, it was admitted that all the children 
 were not so strong and healthy. Indeed, it was only last 
 week that a little baby she had brought into the world per- 
 fectly safely had died within a few days of its birth, for no 
 cause that anyone could discover. It had pined away just 
 like a flower. The tears rolled down Kate's cheeks as she 
 listened, and she pressed her own against her breast and 
 insisted on nursing it, although expressly forbidden to do 
 so by the doctor. 
 
 These days were the best of her life. She felt more at 
 peace with the world, she placed more confidence in her hus- 
 band than she had ever done before ; and when he came in 
 of an afternoon and sat by her side and talked of herself 
 and of their little baby, softened in all the intimate fibres 
 of her sex, she laid her hand in his, and sighed for sheer 
 joy. The purpose of her life seemed now to show a definite 
 sign of accomplishment. 
 
 The only drawback to their happiness was their poverty. 
 The fifteen pounds of borrowed money had gone through 
 their hands like water, and had Dick not been fortunate 
 enough to make another " tenner " by looking after a piece 
 given at a morning performance, they would never have 
 been able to manage. What with the doctor's bill, the 
 nurse's wages, the baby's clothes, they were forever break- 
 ing into their last sovereign. Dick spoke of their difficulties 
 as little as possible. He would not have mentioned them to 
 her had he not felt that he had exhausted all his sources 
 of getting money, and that there was no prospect of their 
 being able to pull through unless Kate were shortly able to 
 accept an engagement. He often spoke to her on the sub- 
 ject, but although she was now up and apparently well, 
 she always answered with a " Yes, dear, I hope I shall be 
 well enough to go to work again soon." She would not, 
 nevertheless, fix a day, or even allow Dick to speak to the 
 managers about her. The idea seemed distasteful, and she 
 would invent all sorts of plausible excuses. Who was there 
 to mind the baby ? If they had nurse back again it would 
 cost them a pound a week, pretty near ; and then there was 
 the chance of her knocking herself up, and that would be 
 far worse than the loss of a miserable three pounds a week 
 22
 
 338 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 she should get for playing some trumpery little part, Be- 
 sides, she did not wish to let herself down in the profession, 
 She had been playing leading parts, and it would not do 
 to accept the first thing that she could get. 
 
 A month passed away, and Kate grew more than ever 
 averse to all proposals to go back to work. When Dick tried 
 to persuade her to keep her name before the public, she 
 answered that she had not yet recovered from her confine- 
 ment — that she had worked, as it was, too much last year, 
 that she wanted a rest. Never since she had left Hanley 
 had they been so long stationary, and in the pause frag- 
 ments of the wreck of her old life commenced to float up 
 through the new to the surface. She began to look after 
 the housekeeping, and her fingers seemed to itch for the 
 needle and thread. She insisted on mending Dick's clothes, 
 and she made hoods and shoes for the baby. Her manner 
 of thought, of speech, was marked everywhere with traces 
 of a curious return to her first life. She no longer played 
 in opera bouffe, but in domestic drama ; and although the 
 reality of her hearth was little more than that of a stage 
 property, still when she sat by her fireside reading a novel, 
 you saw reflected in Mrs. Lennox a curious likeness of the 
 Mrs. Ede of former days. Even her taste for fiction was re- 
 produced. While she was touring about the country she 
 had unconsciously given up reading ; once she had bought a 
 copy of the Family Herald, hoping that it would help her to 
 kill an hour or so in the train, but it had failed to fix her 
 attention. The weak, airy sentimentality, that used to divert 
 her when she was with Ralph, had seemed to her when she 
 was with Dick, unreal, uninteresting. Her own life was 
 then a strange romance, and so much more glaring was it 
 in its contrasts, so infinitely deeper in its humanity, that 
 the frail girls of the story-book could not satisfy her mind 
 in the hot days of desire ; but now in the laxity of its eve- 
 ning, when the turmoil of a noisy afternoon was remem- 
 bered only like the murmur of a low tide rippling under 
 the sunset, the grace, the peace, the goodness of the heroes 
 and heroines, who lived unsullied by any too dark stain 
 of humanity in a sweetly regulated world of convention, 
 enraptured and fascinated her.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 339 
 
 She wondered why she had neglected her books so long. 
 And towards the end of these stories there were allusions 
 to mothers. She was a mother now, and in the drift of her 
 dreams could see a blissful future made of children's 
 smiles; she heard their glad laughter ringing down the 
 procession of the years, felt their soft cheeks against hers, 
 their chubby warm bodies upon her knees; and when she 
 raised her eyes, a tear of joy fell upon the page, and then 
 in the effusion of these sensations she would take her little 
 girl, that she had till now forgotten, and press it almost 
 wildly against her breast. 
 
 It was a small weakly little thing, out of whose white 
 wax complexion shone the violet blue eyes it had inherited 
 from its father. And before leaving, the nurse had given 
 Kate many directions about the baby. It was to have its 
 bath in the morning, to be kept thoroughly clean; it was 
 to be given its bottle when it cried. These instructions 
 Kate did, in a sort of way, fulfill, but not being used to 
 children she did not readily divine the baby's wants, and 
 she often put either too much or too little water in the 
 feeding bottle. She was devoted to her child, but the atten- 
 tion she gave it was unpractical and unsustained. 
 
 The christening had awakened in her many forgotten 
 emotions, and now that she was an honest married woman, 
 she did not see why she should not resume her old church- 
 going ways. The story she was reading was full of allusions 
 to the vanity of this world and the durability of the next ; 
 and thus encouraged, Kate bought a Bible and spent the 
 long evenings when Dick was at the theatre with it on her 
 knees. It made her feel she was doing something, and cer- 
 tain passages were for her so filled with memories that in 
 reading them she felt her being evaporate into a cloud of 
 happiness. 
 
 Her feet on the fender, penetrated with the dreamy 
 warmth of the fire, she abandoned herself to the seduction 
 of her reveries. Everything conspired against her. Being 
 still very weak the doctor had ordered her to keep up her 
 strength with stimulants; a tablespoonful of brandy and 
 water taken now and then was what was required. This 
 was the ordinance, but the drinks in the dressing-rooms
 
 340 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 had taught her the comforts of such medicines, and dur- 
 ing the day several glasses were consumed. Without getting 
 absolutely drunk, she rapidly sank into sensations of numb- 
 ness, in which all distinctions were blurred, and thoughts 
 trickled and slipped away like the soothing singing of a 
 brook. It was like an amorous tickling, and as her dreams 
 balanced between a tender declaration of love and the 
 austere language of the Testament, the crying of the sick 
 child was unheeded. 
 
 Once Kate did not hear it for hours; she did not know 
 she had forgotten to warm its milk, and that the poor little 
 thing was shivering with cold pain. At last she awoke, and 
 going over to the cot tried to collect her drink-laden 
 thoughts. The little legs were drawn up, the face was like 
 ivory, and a long thin wail issued from the colorless lips. 
 Alarmed, Kate called for the landlady, who, after feeling 
 the bottle advised that the milk should be warmed. When 
 this was done the child drank a little and appeared re- 
 lieved. 
 
 Shortly after a bell was heard ringing, and the landlady 
 said : — 
 
 " I think it's your husband, ma'am." 
 
 It was usual for Dick, when he came in at night, to tell 
 what. Kate termed " the news." It amused her to hear what 
 had been done at the theatre, what fresh companies had 
 come to town. On this occasion it surprised him that she 
 took so little interest in the conversation, and after hazard- 
 ing a few remarks he said : 
 
 "But what's the matter, dear, aren't you well?" 
 
 " Oh, yes, I am quite well," Kate answered stolidly. 
 
 " Well, what's the matter ; vou don't speak? " 
 
 " I'm tired, that's all." 
 
 " And how's the baby ? " 
 
 " I think she's asleep ; don't wake her." 
 
 Dick went over, nevertheless, and holding a candle in one 
 hand he looked long and anxiously at his child. 
 
 " I'm afraid the little thing is not well, she's fidget-ting, 
 and is as restless as possible." 
 
 " I wish you would leave her alone : if she awakes, it is
 
 A Mummer's Wife 341 
 
 I who will have the trouble of it, not you. I have been 
 minding her all day. It's very unkind of you." 
 
 Dick looked at his wife astonished. He at first fancied 
 he must be mistaken, and said nothing; but as she con- 
 tinued to speak, the evidences of drink became so unmis- 
 takable that he said, trying not to offend her: — 
 
 "lam afraid that you have been drinking a little too 
 much of the brandy the doctor ordered you." 
 
 At this accusation, Kate drew herself up and angrily 
 denied having touched a drop of anything that day. 
 
 " How dare you accuse me of being drunk ? you ought to 
 respect me more." 
 
 " Drunk, Kate ? I never said you were drunk, but I 
 thought you might have taken an overdose." 
 
 " I suppose you'll believe me when I tell you that I have 
 not had a teaspoonful of anything." 
 
 "Of course I believe you, dear," said Dick, who could 
 not credit his ears. He did not think that Kate was capable 
 of telling such a deliberate lie, but seeing that there was no 
 use in discussing the subject at the present time, and being 
 fearfully tired, he suggested getting to bed. Kate made no 
 objection, and she took off her things as steadily as she 
 could. To unlace her stays was difficult, but when Dick 
 offered to assist her she grew cross. 
 
 " Do let me alone, let me alone," she said, tearing furi- 
 ously at the strings. 
 
 Without answering, Dick kicked off his shoes; and this 
 was the excuse for another outburst. 
 
 " How can you be so unkind ? I don't know really what 
 I have done to you, that you should try to wake up that 
 poor sick child." 
 
 " I assure you, my dear, I couldn't help it, the shoe 
 slipped off unexpectedly." 
 
 Feeling very miserable and unhappy, as if the whole 
 world had set its face against her, Kate wept silently. At 
 first Dick tried to console her, but seeing soon that this was 
 hopeless, he turned his face to the wall and went to sleep. 
 
 For a long time she sobbed amid the covertures. There 
 being no blinds, the window behind her was a square of deep 
 blue, and the room, into whose depths she could not choose
 
 342 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 but look, had in this glamour an uncertain and tomb-like 
 appearance, and each recess seemed full of strange terrors. 
 At the foot of the bed stood the cradle, and she could just 
 distinguish the baby's face upon the lugubrious pallor of 
 the little pillow. Kate watched, and her husband's breath- 
 ing irritated her. At last a low wailing cry broke the heavy 
 stillness, and she felt certain she could see the baby moving. 
 " It wants its bottle," she said to herself ; but for some 
 time she could not make up her mind to get up. But as 
 the crying continued, pity mastered her fear, and filled with 
 all kinds of maternal solicitudes, she took the poor ailing 
 thing out of its cot and rocked it in her arms. For a long 
 half hour she walked up and down the room, soothing and 
 kissing it. Should she lose it she thought she should go 
 mad, and every feminine fibre in her nature quivered with 
 pain at the thought. But there was no danger of that. Had 
 not the landlady told her that it would be all right in a day 
 or two, that she must not be afraid — infants were never 
 very well. This time, though, she took care to warm the 
 milk ; it was no use ; she might cram the teat as much as she 
 liked into its mouth, but it would not suck. It seemed as 
 if it would do nothing but wail. To listen to it was most 
 distressing, but at length, as if tired out, it sank to sleep, 
 and with an uneasy heart Kate put it back into its cot. 
 There she sat watching, until a cold piercing shiver ran 
 through her and forced her to remember her imprudence. 
 It was a winter's night, and she thought of what would 
 happen if she too were taken ill. Under such circumstances 
 it was impossible for her not to think of the brandy, and 
 taking the bottle out of a chest of drawers where she had 
 hidden it under some clothes, she poured herself out a large 
 glass. It was the first time she had drunk the spirit neat, 
 and it ran through her, diffusing instantly a delightful and 
 grateful warmth. So satisfied was she with its effect, that 
 after a few moments' hesitation, she drew the cradle close 
 up to the bed, where she could soe it the first thing in the 
 morning, and went back to the brandy. She drank the sec- 
 ond glass slowly, leaning her arms upon the chest of drawers 
 as she might upon a bar counter. She thought of her child 
 and husband, of how good she intended to be to them,
 
 A Mummer's Wife 343 
 
 until ideas became broken and slipped from her, and she 
 staggered back to bed. Then sleep fell crushingly upon her, 
 and amid the shadows of the heavily-heaped blankets the 
 prolonged breathing of the sleepers reverberated through 
 the stillness of the room. But in the twilight, that was 
 becoming gradually clearer, the baby still slept: the moon 
 was beginning to touch with gold the corner of a distant 
 chimney, and soon after a long white ray entered and laid 
 a blanching finger upon the trailing fold of the cradle cover- 
 let. Then, as if awakened by an unearthly presence, the 
 infant uttered a low thin wail; but only the deep snores 
 of the parents made answer, and in the transparent ob- 
 scurity the little face was twitched with suffering, and one 
 tiny hand raised its dying pallor to heaven. 
 
 Above the dark roof the moon had now become a crescent, 
 and as an angel stealing and leaning forward, a white ray 
 kissed with cold supernatural kisses the cheeks of the lonely 
 child, — and instantly, as if in fear, the blue staring eyes 
 were opened, the little legs were drawn up to the very chest, 
 the weak wail ceased and the convulsions began. Would 
 f ather or mother awake to soothe the pitiful struggle ? No, 
 the shivering little limbs stirred only to the hideous accom- 
 paniment of the drunken woman's snores; and even as 
 needless, majestic in naked golden glory, the moon swam 
 up through the azure peace of the skies, until brought 
 face to face with the child. 
 
 Then, in a strange and luminous pause, a green presence 
 took possession of the whole room, including every detail 
 in its mysterious embrace. The meanest objects became 
 weird and fearsome; form and sound were transfigured. 
 Demon-like, the brandy bottle stood on the chest of drawers, 
 and the huddled group in the dusky bed seemed as a vile 
 world snoring, equally indifferent to life and to death. 
 Yet for a moment there was hope, for, as if subdued by the 
 magnetism of an unearthly power, the convulsions grew less, 
 and a sweet calm came over the cradle. The respite, how 
 brief it was ! Soon the little blankets were cast aside, the 
 legs twisted on to the chest, and the eyes blinked convul- 
 sively. But no smile of joy, nor tear of grief, changed the 
 mild crueltv of the amber-colored witch at the window:
 
 344 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 softly as a drinking snake, she drank of this young life. 
 Thou shalt be mine and mine only, she seemed to say ; and 
 in the devouring gleams the struggle was continued. Out 
 of the flower-like skin black stains grew ; all the soft round- 
 nesses fell into distortions ; chubby knees were wrenched to 
 and fro, muscles seemed to be torn and the bones beneath 
 to be broken violently : as in the Laocoon, every movement 
 spoke of pain. 
 
 So, for an unappreciable space of time, the white rays 
 glorified the poetic agony; and then the little wan body 
 lay still in a flood of passionless light. Not a star watched 
 the bird-like remains: only the moon knew of the moon's 
 tragedy; and after lingering an hour, the pale aureole 
 moved up the sky, leaving the child to sleep in darkness for- 
 ever.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 T had been raining all night, and it was still rain- 
 ing, and the mud flowed. The sky, a dead gray, 
 was shot with the smoke of Manchester, and a 
 faint odor of cinders hovered about the humid 
 atmosphere. The perspectives of the streets were veiled 
 with blue vapor, through which were seen the balancing 
 backs of two cabmen who, perched high above the splash- 
 ing wheels, leaned to exchange a remark as they passed. 
 Kate, sobbing spasmodically, allowed her dress to trail 
 frequently in the dirt. The mutes had turned up the ends 
 of their trousers, but, at every step they sent the gutter 
 over their knees and the fringes of the pall. Of the many 
 sad things in this world a child's funeral is perhaps the 
 saddest. In a fleeting instant we see love, beauty, hap- 
 piness, all of which we think in one dream-hour it would 
 have attained, and we mourn the darkness, ashes, and 
 worms that have overtaken it. Vain, perhaps, are these 
 visions; it would have gained only what we ourselves have 
 gained; but still it seems cruel to have been denied a part 
 in the battle. Thus we dream for a moment, and then the 
 little cortege passes on, scarcely noticed, untalked of, un- 
 cared for. A dozen people are the most that attend; there 
 are no horses, no plumes. A man in front, another be- 
 hind, carry what would be mistaken, were it not for its 
 black dress, for a hand barrow. There is not much grief, 
 only a few mother's tears, that is all. 
 
 And little Kate's burial differed only from the hundred 
 other baby funerals we have seen in our English streets in 
 this, that it passed even more unnoticed than is usual in 
 such cases. The Lennoxes lived in an unfrequented part 
 of the town not far from the cemetery, and soon the 
 melancholy shops of statuaries, the pallor of the head- 
 stones with dates written in indelible black, the crosses 
 of consolation, and the kneeling angels were caught sight
 
 346 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 of. One of these, a beautiful girl with large wings, bent 
 right over her back, especially took the mother's fancy. 
 After examining it, and considering if there was a chance 
 of her ever having enough money to buy it, she said: 
 
 " Oh, Dick, what a pity it is that we can't put a beauti- 
 ful monument like one of those over the poor little thing's 
 grave." 
 
 " Yes, isn't it? But if she had lived I think she'd have 
 grown into a pretty girl. She was very like you, dear." 
 
 He had been offered an engagement for Kate to play 
 the part of the Countess in Olivette, and had accepted it, 
 hoping in the meanwhile to be able to persuade her to take 
 it. It was rather hard to ask her to play the day after the 
 funeral, but there was no help for it. The company would 
 arrive in town to-morrow, and Dick thought it would be a 
 pity to let the chance slip. He had not, however, yet 
 dared to speak to her about it. Since her child's death 
 she had had some terrible attacks of hysterical grief. She 
 had refused either to eat or drink, and, uttering low wail- 
 ing cries, had walked about her room for one whole day 
 and night. Dick and the landlady had in turn tried to 
 console her, but, with wild movements of arms, she had 
 had either buried her face in the pillows or frantically 
 clasped the little dead thing to her breeast. But there 
 was a want of naturalness in this sorrow. It was too vehe- 
 ment, and it came too much in jerks to be considered a 
 spontaneous expression of true grief. It was not sus- 
 tained, there were times when she forgot herself, and re- 
 lapsed into indifference. And yet she was perfectly sin- 
 cere. Knowing what a mother should feel she strove to 
 force those feelings upon herself, but the truest sentiment 
 in her heart was hatred of herself for having got drunk 
 and neglected her child. It seemed to her that she must 
 tear and beat herself for what she had done. She thought 
 herself vile and abominable, but of the sweet illimitable 
 love of the mother, she only heard a faint echo in her 
 heart. This blank in her affections was partly inborn, 
 partly the result of later circumstances. She had met 
 Dick in her seven-and-twentieth year, when the sap of her 
 -lowly-developing nature was rising to its highest point,
 
 // Mummer's Wife 347 
 
 when it was burning and forcing to blossom the fancies and 
 passions of a dreamy youth. A few more years would have 
 killed those desires, as the October winds the flowers, and 
 Kate would have lived and died an honest workwoman. 
 But Dick had passed in time for the harvesting, and the 
 flower had fallen into his hands. He had absorbed her 
 heart and drained it of all the love it could feel for living 
 thing — the febrile, emotional, dissolute life she had since 
 led had worn out her lymphatic temperament, and to her 
 existence was now no more than a nervous erethism; and 
 the gentle imagination had become morose, cynical, and 
 dissatisfied. 
 
 We have, therefore, arrived at the period of decadence 
 of Kate's character. 
 
 Her want of motherly instincts, and her forced hyster- 
 ical grief, were owing to the above-named causes; and, as 
 the funeral approached the cemetery her sobbing was so 
 boisterous that one of the mutes looked round. 
 
 " Oh, Dick," she said, " to think they'll put her down 
 into the ground, and that we shall perhaps never even see 
 her grave again. We may be a hundred miles from here 
 to-morrow, or after." 
 
 Dick, who had had credit of the undertaker, looked 
 around uneasily. Seeing, however, that Kate had not 
 been overheard, he said, 
 
 "Poor little thing. It is sad to lose her, isn't it? I 
 should like to have seen her grow up." 
 
 Never did anything seem so utterly lost to Kate as her 
 child soon would be. The multitude of graves was ap- 
 palling. Out of the soaking earth, up to the wet gray sky, 
 the headstones lifted their countless faces. They ex- 
 tended in profusion over a level plain, and so thick were 
 they that a child would not be able to find its way out of 
 the labyrinth. The conventional yew trees stood black as 
 ink by the spikes of the encircling railing, and the big, 
 white-painted backs of the houses, where the living lived, 
 grew yellow upon a dim background of murky sky. 
 
 The coffin was first deposited in the middle of a vault - 
 like church. The mutes remained outside in the porch, 
 and Dick fidgeted, feeling ill at ease amid the great barren
 
 348 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 benches. He twisted the brim of his big hat nervously, 
 troubled by the service which the parson in a white flow- 
 ing surplice read from the reading-desk. Kate, on the 
 contrary, appeared much consoled, and she mumbled so 
 many prayers that, involuntarily, Dick began to consider 
 the time it would take to learn a part of equal length. 
 The little brown box remained all the while like a piece 
 of lost luggage, lonely in the grayness of this station-house- 
 looking church; and when the mutes came to claim it Kate 
 burst again into tears. This reminded the parson that he 
 was there to console, and, in soft and unctuous words, he 
 assured the weeping mother that her child had only been 
 removed to a better and brighter world, and that we must 
 all submit to the will of God. In the porch, however, his 
 attention was distracted, and looking anxiously at the 
 dirty drift of clouds that threatened another downpour, 
 he talked confidentially with the sexton, who had come 
 ro show them the way. "A little more of this," he thought, 
 " and others will be doing for me what I am now doing for 
 others." 
 
 But there being no help for it, with the white surplice 
 blowing, he followed the procession through the intermin- 
 able tombstones. It seemed a mystery how place for the 
 little grave had been found, and amid much indifference, 
 the service was continued. Dick could not keep his at- 
 tention fixed, and not a sob was heard until the parson 
 sprinkled earth upon the coffin and the ropes were brutally 
 withdrawn. This last " situation " in the comedy of life 
 cut the mother's heart, but she was now worn out with 
 grief, and in silence threw her flowers into the narrow 
 opening. Dick said nothing, but it made him despair to 
 see her scrambling over the heaps of clay, and it seemed 
 to him pretty well impossible that she would ever be able 
 to play the Countess in Olivette on the morrow. She was 
 so fearfully haggard and worn that he doubted if any 
 amount of rouge would make her look the part. This was 
 a great pity. He would have done anything for his little 
 girl while she was alive, but now that she was dead — . 
 Besides, after all, she was only a baby. For some time 
 past this idea had occurred to him as an excellent argu-
 
 A Mummer's Wife 349 
 
 ment to convince Kate that there was really no reason 
 why she should not go to the rehearsal on the following 
 morning. If he had not yet spoken in this way it was 
 only because he was afraid that she would round on him. 
 and call him a heartless beast. Lacking moral courage, 
 he would do anything to evade a sulky look; and now, 
 when the funeral was over, and they were walking home 
 wet, sorrowful, and tired, it was curious to watch how he 
 gave his arm to Kate, and the timidity with which he in- 
 troduced his subject. At first he only spoke of himself, 
 and his hopes of being able to obtain a better part and a 
 higher salary in the new drama. Mention to a mummer 
 who is lying on his death-bed that a new piece is going to 
 be produced, and he will not be able to resist asking a ques- 
 tion or two about it; and Kate, weary as she was, at once 
 pricked up her ears and said — 
 
 " Oh, they are going to do a new piece! You didn't tell 
 me of that before." 
 
 " It was only decided last night," replied Dick. 
 
 The spell was now broken, and when they got home and 
 had dinner the conversation was resumed in a strain that, 
 after the mournful tones of the last few days, might be 
 considered as being almost jovial. Dick felt as if a big 
 weight had been lifted from his mind, and the thought 
 again occurred to him, What was the good of making such 
 a fuss over a baby that was only three weeks old? Kate, 
 too, seemed to be awakening to the conviction that there 
 was no use in grieving for ever. The state of torpor she 
 had been living in — for to stifle remorse she had been 
 drinking heavily on the quiet — now began to wear off, and 
 her brain to uncloud itself; and Dick, surprised at the 
 transformation, could not help exclaiming — 
 
 " That's right, Kate; cheer up, old girl. A baby three 
 weeks old isn't the same as a grown person." 
 
 " I know it isn't, but if you only knew — I'm afraid T 
 neglected the poor little thing." 
 
 " Nonsense," replied Dick, who, having an eye con- 
 stantly on the main chance, wished to avoid any fresh 
 outburst of grief, " you looked after it very well indeed; 
 besides, you'll have another," he added with a smile.
 
 350 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 "I want no other/' replied Kate, vexed at being mis- 
 understood, and yet afraid to explain herself more thor- 
 oughly. 
 
 The conversation then came to a pause, and both sought 
 for words to break a long and irritating silence; at last 
 Dick said: 
 
 [ wish there was a part for you in the new piece." 
 
 : Yes, so do I. I haven't been doing anything for a 
 long while now." 
 
 Thus encouraged, Dick told Kate that in the so-and-so 
 company the part of the Countess might be had for the 
 asking. 
 
 " Only they play to-morrow night." 
 
 " Oh, to-morrow night! It would be dreadful to act 
 so soon after my poor baby's death, wouldn't it? " 
 
 ' I can't see why. We shall be as sorry for it in a week's 
 time as now, and yet one must get to work some time or 
 other." 
 
 Dick considered this a very telling argument, and, not 
 wishing to spoil its effect, he remained silent, so as to give 
 Kate time to digest the truth of what he had said. 
 
 The next steps towards arriving at a decision were easily 
 made. Dick pleaded their poverty, told of his indebted- 
 ness to friends, explained that so good a chance might not 
 occur again, and expatiated on the dangers that artists 
 ran of being let drop out if they did not keep their names 
 before the public. Kate listened very amiably to these 
 arguments; she whined a bit when pressed for an answer, 
 but next morning, when Dick admitted that he had com- 
 promised himself considerably in the matter, she consented 
 to play the part, and they went down to rehearsal. The 
 manager was delighted with her appearance. He told her 
 that the photo that Dick had forwarded did not do her 
 justice; and, handing her the scrip, he said: 
 
 " Now you must make your entrance from this side." 
 
 " What's the cue? " 
 
 " Here it is. I think I shall now beat a retreat in the 
 direction of home." 
 
 " Ah! I see." 
 
 And, striving to decipher the MS., Kate walked towards
 
 A Mummer's Wife 351 
 
 the middle of the stage. " I haven't seen the Duke for 
 twenty-four hours,, and that means misery." 
 
 " You'll get a laugh for that if you'll turn up your eyes 
 a hit," said Dick. Then, turning to the manager he mur 
 mured, " I wish you had seen her as Clairette. The 
 notices were immense. But I must be off now to my own 
 show." 
 
 This engagement relieved the Lennoxes for the time 
 being of their embarrassments. During the last month a 
 good many debts had been contracted, the payment of 
 which could not be avoided; but with Kate's four and 
 Dick's two ten a week, doctor, nurse, landlady, and under- 
 taker were eventually settled with. Their lives were now 
 working with clock-like exactitude. At four they dined, at 
 six bade each other good-by, and repaired to their respec- 
 tive theatres. Dick was playing in drama, Kate in opera- 
 bouffe; and something before a quarter to eleven she ex- 
 pected him to meet her at the stage-door of the Prince's. 
 On this point she was very particular, and if he were a 
 few moments late she questioned him minutely as to where 
 he had been, what he had been doing. 
 
 One day she happened to catch him talking at the cor- 
 ner of the street with a lady, whom she recognized as be- 
 longing to the same theatre as he did. At the time the 
 fact did not strike her very forcibly, but gradually, from 
 words heard here and there, which, through a slow process, 
 were assimilated and twisted in her excited brain, the 
 strangest conclusions were arrived at; and the dreadful 
 jealousies and suspicions which her marriage had appeased 
 returned, and tortured her night and day with a cruel 
 ferocity. At first the approach of pain was manifested by 
 a nervous anxiety for her husband's presence. She seemed 
 dissatisfied and restless when he was not with her, and 
 after breakfast in the mornings, when he took up his hat 
 to go out, she would beg of him to stay, and find fault with 
 him for leaving her. He reasoned with her very softly 
 and kindly, insisted, and assured her that he had the most 
 important engagements. On one occasion it was a man 
 who had given him an appointment in order to speak with 
 him concerning a new theatre, of which he was to have
 
 :J52 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 the entire management; another time it was a man who 
 was writing a drama, and wanted a collaborator to put the 
 stage construction right ; and as these seances of collabora- 
 tion occupied both morning and afternoon, Kate, until 
 four o'clock, was thrown entirely on her own resources. 
 The first two or three novels she had read during her con- 
 valescence had amused her, but they all now seemed one 
 so much like the other that they ended by boring her; and, 
 too excited to be able to fix her attention, she often read 
 without understanding what she was reading. Her mind 
 was a chaos of conflicting emotions. On one side the 
 memory of her baby's death preyed upon her; she still 
 could not help thinking that it was owing to her neglect 
 that it had died. On the other, the thought that her hus- 
 band was playing her false goaded her to madness. Some- 
 times she attempted to follow him, but this only resulted 
 in failure, and she returned home after a fruitless chase 
 more dejected than ever. " Ah! if the baby had not died, 
 there would have been something to live for," she mur- 
 mured to herself a thousand times during the day, until 
 at last her burden of remorse grew quite unbearable, and 
 she thought of the brandy the doctor had ordered her. 
 Since her engagement to play the Countess she had for- 
 gotten it, but now a strange desire seized her as suddenly 
 as if she had been stung by a snake. There was only a 
 little left in the bottle, but that little cheered and restored 
 her even more than she had expected. Her thoughts came 
 to her more fluently, she ate a better dinner, and acted 
 joyously that night at the theatre. " There is no doubt," 
 she said to herself, " the doctor was right. What I want 
 is a little stimulant." Of the truth of this she was more 
 than ever convinced when next morning she found herself 
 again suffering from the usual melancholy and dulness of 
 spirits. The very sight of breakfast disgusted her, and 
 when Dick left she wandered about the room, unable to 
 interest herself in anything. There was a yearning in her 
 throat for the tingling sensation that brandy would bring, 
 and she longed for yesterday's lightness of conscience. 
 But there was no liquor in the house, not even a glass of 
 sherry. What was to be done? Kate hesitated for some
 
 A Mummer's Wife 353 
 
 time before applying to the landlady. What would the 
 woman think? Such people were always too ready to put 
 a wrong interpretation upon everything. Still, Mrs. 
 Clarke knew that the doctor had ordered her to take a 
 little brandy when she felt weak. Resolving, however, not 
 to put herself into anybody's power she determined to 
 wait until dinner-time. Half an hour of misery passed, 
 and then, excited to the last degree by the craving for 
 drink, she remembered that it would be very foolish to risk 
 her health for the sake of a prejudice. To obey the doc- 
 tor's orders was her first duty. This reflection was in- 
 finitely consoling; it relieved her mind at once of much 
 uncertainty, and, ringing the bell, she prepared her little 
 speech. 
 
 " Oh! Mrs. Clarke, I'm sorry to trouble you, but — I'm 
 feeling so weak this morning — and, if you remember, the 
 doctor ordered me to take a little brandy when I felt I 
 wanted it. Do you happen to have any in the house? " 
 
 " No, ma'am, I haven't, but I can send out for it in a 
 minute. And you do look as if you wanted something to 
 pick you up." 
 
 " Yes," said Kate, throwing as much weakness as she 
 could into her voice, " somehow I have never felt the same 
 since my confinement." 
 
 " Ah! I know well how it pulls one down. If you only 
 knew how I suffered with my third baby! " 
 
 " I can well imagine it." 
 
 The conversation then came to a pause, and Mrs. Clarke, 
 not seeing her way to any further family confidences, said: 
 
 " What shall I send for, ma'am — half a pint? The gro- 
 cer round the corner keeps some very nice brandy." 
 
 " Yes, that will do," said Kate, seeing an unending per- 
 spective of drinks in half a pint. 
 
 " Shall I put that down in the bill, or will you give me 
 the money now, ma'am? " 
 
 This was very awkward, for Kate suddenly remembered 
 that she had this week given over her salary to Dick, with- 
 out keeping anything out of it. However, there was no 
 help for it now, and putting as bold a face on it as she 
 cold, she told Mrs. Clarke to book it. What did it matter 
 23
 
 354 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 whether Dick saw it or not. Had not the doctor told her 
 she required a little stimulant? 
 
 Henceforth brandy drinking became an established part 
 of Kate's morning hours. Even before Dick was out of 
 bed she would invent a pretext for stealing into the next 
 room so that she might have a nip on the sly before break- 
 fast. The bottle, and a packet of sweetstuff to take the 
 smell out of her mouth, were kept behind a large oleo- 
 graph representing Swiss scenery. The fear that Dick 
 might pop out upon her at any moment often nearly caused 
 her to spill the liquor over the place: but existence was 
 impossible without drink. She couldn't eat, and she felt 
 she was bound to get rid of the miserable moods of mind 
 to which she woke. Before eleven o'clock Dick was out 
 of the house, and this left Kate four hours of lonely idle- 
 ness staring her blankly in the face. Sometimes she prac- 
 tised a little music, but it wearied her. She had courage 
 now for nothing, and the only thing that killed the dreari- 
 ness that ached in heart and head was brandy-and-water. 
 Many half-pint bottles had succeeded the first, and, 
 ashamed to admit her secret drinking, she now regularly 
 paid the landlady out of her own money. When funds 
 were low, a little bill was run up, and this was produced 
 and talked over when the two women were having a glass 
 together of a morning. To pay these debts Kate had to 
 resort to the most abject lying. All kinds of excuses had 
 to be concocted. Her first idea was to tell Dick she in- 
 tended to continue her music lessons. He would be sure, 
 she thought, never to ask her a question on the subject; 
 but Dick, who was still terribly hard up, begged of her to 
 Avait until they were better off before incurring new ex- 
 penses. Annoyed, she fell back on the subject of clothes, 
 and when he asked her if she could not manage to go on 
 with what she had for a bit, it astonished him to see the 
 little mad rage into which she instantly fell. Was it not 
 her own money, had she not earned it, and was he going 
 to rob her of it? Did he only keep her to work for him? 
 If so, she'd very soon put that to rights by chucking up 
 her engagement; then he would be forced to keep her; she 
 wasn't going to be bullied. Dick, in his usual kind way,
 
 A Mummer's Wife 355 
 
 tried to calm her. He explained to her their position, told 
 her of his projects. But the fear of discovery was a fixed 
 thought in her mind, and she refused to listen to reason 
 until he put his hand in his pocket and gave her two 
 pounds ten. This was just the sum required to pay what 
 she owed at the Ayre Arms. Then, seeing her difficulties 
 removed, her better nature asserted itself, and, after a 
 moment of trembling reflection, the tears started to her 
 eyes, and she begged of Dick to forgive her. She had lost 
 her temper, and she did not know what she was saying. 
 For a swift instant she thought of confessing the truth, 
 but the idea died in a resolution to amend. It was not 
 worth speaking of; she was getting stronger, and would 
 need no more stimulants. 
 
 And for two days Kate kept to her promise; instead of 
 sitting at home, she called on one of the ladies of the the- 
 atre, and passed a pleasant morning with her. Struck by 
 this success, she paid visits to other members of the com- 
 pany, and went out shopping with them. But when three 
 or four met at the corner of a street, after a few intro- 
 ductory remarks, a drink was generally proposed, not as 
 men would propose it, but slyly, and with much affecta- 
 tion. Skirting furtively along the streets, a quiet bar 
 would be selected, and then, " What will you have, dear? " 
 would be whispered softly. " A drop of gin, dear." On 
 one of these occasions Kate only just escaped getting hope- 
 lessly drunk. Fortunately, Dick did not return home to 
 dinner, and a good sleep and a bottle of soda-water pulled 
 her together, so that she could go down to the theatre 
 and play her part without exciting observation. This de- 
 cided her not to trust herself again to the temptation of 
 her girl friends, and she asked Dick to allow her to ac- 
 company him sometimes. He made a wry face at this 
 proposal, hesitated, and explained that his collaborator 
 suffered no one to interrupt their seances; he was a timid 
 man, and couldn't work in the presence of a third person. 
 Kate only sighed, but although she did not attempt to dis- 
 pute the veracity of this statement, she felt that it was cruel 
 that she should be left thus, hour after hour, entirely 
 alone. She deceived herself, however, with resolutions
 
 356 'A Mummer's Wife 
 
 and hopes that she would require no more brandy. But 
 in her heart of hearts she knew that she would not be able 
 to resist, and, docile as the sheep under the butcher's 
 hand, she recognized her fate, and accepted it. A new 
 novel was bought, a fresh bill run up at the grocer's, and 
 the mornings were passed in a state of torpor. Without 
 getting absolutely drunk, she drank sufficient to confuse 
 her thoughts, to reduce them to a sort of nebulae, enough 
 to blend and soften the lines of a too hard reality to a long 
 sensation of tickling, in which no idea was precise, no de- 
 sire remained long enough to grow to a pain, but caressed 
 and passed amorously away. Sometimes, of course, she 
 overdosed herself, but on these occasions, when she found 
 consciousness slipping a little too rapidly from her, she 
 was cunning enough to go and lie down. Living, as she 
 did, in constant fear of detection, she endowed the sim- 
 plest words and looks with a double meaning, and she 
 could not help hating him if he asked her questions or 
 dared to accuse her of being sleepy and heavy about the 
 eyes. Did he intend to insult her — was that it? if so, she 
 wasn't going to stand it. But the climax was reached 
 when one day he stood before the oleograph, apparently 
 examining with deep interest the different aspects of the 
 Swiss scenery. In reality, his thoughts were far away, 
 but Kate, who did not know this, grew so nervous and 
 angry, that it was with difficulty she contained herself. 
 
 On half a dozen different pretexts she had tried to get 
 him away. There was a bottle hidden behind the blue 
 mountains, and should he touch them, discovery was in- 
 evitable. Under these circumstances, there was nothing 
 to do but fly into a violent passion, so snatching up a plate 
 from the table she dashed it violently against the ground. 
 The color rushed to her forehead, and she abused him 
 roundly for his neglect. Was she so utterly beneath his 
 notice that he could not even answer a question? The 
 crash caused Dick to jump round as if he had been shot, 
 and he sought to pacify his wife. This was not easy, and 
 almost every day a dispute of the same sort arose. Danger 
 of discovery assailed her from all sides, and this engen- 
 dered, if not hatred, a fierce resentment; and to deceive
 
 A Mummer's Wife 357 
 
 herself as to the true reason she criticised his conduct and 
 manner of life bitterly and passionately from every point 
 of view. Jealousy was natural to her; it had been long 
 smouldering in her heart. Once or twice it had blazed 
 into flame, but circumstances had, for the time being, 
 quenched it. Now there was nothing to oppose it, and it 
 burnt with resistless fury. All things served as fuel, and 
 inwardly Kate raged for some opportunity to show her 
 spite. She was conscious of no wrongdoing, she believed, 
 and believed sincerely, that she was acting legitimately in 
 defence of her own interests. Certain she was that Dick 
 was deceiving her, and the want of moral courage in the 
 man, which forced him to tell lies — lies in which he was 
 sometimes found out — tended to confirm her in this be- 
 lief. For a few days past a quarrel had been preparing. 
 It was a weapon that had been forged by a thousand 
 strokes, fashioned by insults and tempered in the crudest 
 slanders. Still the time for fight had not yet come, and 
 she chafed under the delay. One night, however, he kept 
 her waiting half an hour at the stage-door. Where had 
 he been to? what had he been doing all this while? were 
 the questions she put to him in many different forms of 
 phrase as they walked home. Dick assured her he had 
 been detained by his manager, who wanted to speak with 
 him concerning a new production. He had been asked to 
 undertake the arrangement of some of the processions. 
 But Kate would not accept any of these excuses, and she 
 quarrelled venomously. Convinced he had been after a 
 woman, she stuck to her opinion, and the bickering con- 
 tinued. It was very irritating. After a wearying argu- 
 ment, full of protestations, admonitions, and promises, a 
 long silence would establish itself between them, and, 
 fondly hoping that peace was restored, the man would 
 allow his thoughts to take up the thread of some theatrical 
 difficulty — the price of the ballet-girls' dresses, or the 
 possibility of the refreshment contractor advancing some 
 money on the bars. Nothing more was said until they got 
 up to their room, and then Dick, as usual, forgetful of even 
 the immediate past, began to speak of his manager's inten- 
 tions regarding a new piece. He did not, however, get far
 
 358 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 before he was brought to a sudden standstill by a fresh ex- 
 plosion of wrath. 
 
 " What have I done now? " he asked. 
 
 "Done! Do you suppose I want to hear about that 
 woman ? " 
 
 " What woman? " 
 
 " Oh! you needn't do the innocent with me! " 
 
 " Really! I give you my word " 
 
 "Your word! a nice thing, indeed! " 
 
 " Well, what do you want me to do? " 
 
 "To leave me in peace/' said Kate savagely breaking 
 the string of her stays. 
 
 Dick, who was very tired, took the hint, and, without at- 
 tempting to argue the point further, quietly undressed and 
 got to bed. There the quarrel was resumed, and for an 
 hour or more a sort of guerilla warfare was maintained. 
 He lay with his head turned close to the wall; hers danced 
 over the extreme edge of the pillow, and the soimd of her 
 complaining voice harassed the darkness of the room. The 
 same tale was repeated without mercy. 
 
 " Why don't you go away and leave me ? I cannot think 
 how you can be so cruel, and to me, who gave up every- 
 thing for you! " 
 
 It was the wail of petulant anger; but as yet she showed 
 no violence, and it was not until her husband, worn out 
 by two hours of unceasing lamentations, begged of her to 
 allow him to go to sleep, that her temper commenced to 
 overcome her. In the morning, however, she was more 
 agreeable, and it was not until she had paid a couple of 
 visits to the blue Swiss mountains that she became again 
 taciturn and irritable. Dick, on his part, did not as yet 
 even remotely suspect his wife of drunkenness, he merely 
 thought that she had grown lately very ill-tempered, and 
 that a jealous woman was about the most distressing thing 
 in existence; and, anxious to avoid another scene, he hur- 
 ried through his breakfast. She watched him eating in 
 silence, knowing well he was counting the minutes till he 
 could get away. At last she said: 
 
 " Will you take me to church to-day ? "
 
 A Mummer's Wife 359 
 
 " My dear, I'm afraid I've an appointment, but I'll try 
 to come back if I can." 
 
 Knowing very well that he had no intention of return- 
 ing she said nothing, and a few minutes later, after ask- 
 ing speciously up to what time he would find her in, he 
 slipped away. Then what to do she knew not, unless, in- 
 deed, she invited the landlady to come up and have a glass 
 with her; but feeling somewhat out of humor for the turgid 
 conversation of that respectable person, she put on her hat 
 and ran after her husband, determined to watch him. But 
 he was not to be seen, and after roaming aimlessly about for 
 some time she turned into a church, and sat through the 
 whole of the service. She did not attempt to keep her atten- 
 tion fixed on what was going on, but to kneel down, to 
 stand up, with the crowd — that is to say, to abandon herself 
 to a general impulse — was in itself a relief, and relaxed the 
 strain of her thoughts. Her fevered hand twitched, her 
 eyes stared painfully, her brain boiled with angry excite- 
 ment, and when church was over she wandered through the 
 town, drinking at the different public-houses. When she 
 got home she was slightly boozed; but feeling somewhat 
 less miserable and wretched, she inquired after Dick. He 
 had not yet come in. This was unfortunate, for her heart, 
 that was relenting towards him, was again, in a swift mo- 
 ment of suspicion, tightened into bitterness, and in the 
 solitude of her room, asking herself why he treated her 
 thus cruelly, she worked herself into a state of positive 
 frenzy. It pretty nearly drove her mad to think that at the 
 moment she was patiently waiting dinner for him he might 
 be in the arms of another woman; and when the landlady 
 came upstairs a second time in hope of a sociable glass, 
 Kate told her she might bring the soup up (they always 
 had soup on Sundays) ; that if Mr. Lennox didn't choose 
 to come in for his meals he might go without them. At 
 that moment a ring at the door was heard, and Dick walked 
 into the room. Throwing himself into an arm-chair he 
 said: 
 
 " I declare I never was so tired in my life, I'm dead 
 beat.
 
 3G0 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 " I daresay you are, I can easily understand that," was 
 
 the curt reply. 
 
 An expression of pain passed over his face. 
 
 " Goodness me, Kate ! " he said in a perplexed voice. 
 " You don't mean to say you are angry still." 
 
 No attention was paid to the landlady, who was placing 
 the soup on the table, and she, being pretty well accustomed 
 to their quarrels, said with an air of indifference as she 
 left the room : 
 
 " Dinner is served, I shall bring the leg of mutton up 
 when you ring." 
 
 No answer was made to her, and the couple sat moodily 
 looking at each other. After a pause, Dick tried to be 
 conciliator} 7 , and in the most affectionate phrases he could 
 select he besought Kate to make it up. 
 
 " I assure you, you are wrong/' he said, " I have been 
 after no woman. Do, for goodness sake, make it up." 
 
 Then approaching her chair, he tried to draw her toward 
 him, but pulling herself away passionately, she exclaimed : 
 
 " No, no, leave me alone — leave me alone — don't touch 
 me — I hate you." 
 
 This was not encouraging, but at the end of another 
 silence he attempted again to reason with her. But it was 
 useless ; and worn and impatient, he begged of her at least 
 to come to dinner. 
 
 " If you aren't hungry, I am." 
 
 There was no answer; lying back in her chair she sulked, 
 deaf to all entreaty. 
 
 " Well, if you won't I will," he said, seating himself in 
 her place. 
 
 Her eyes flashed with a dull lurid light, and walking 
 close to the table, she looked at him steadily, fidgetting as 
 she did so with the knives and glasses. 
 
 " I can't think how you treat me as you do ; what have 
 I done to you to deserve it ? Nothing. But I shall be re- 
 venged, that I will ; I can bear it no longer." 
 
 " Bear what ? " he asked despairingly. 
 
 " You know well enough. Don't aggravate me. I hate 
 you! Oh, yes," she said, raising her voice, "I do hate 
 you!"
 
 A Mummer's Wife 361 
 
 " Sit down and have some dinner, and don't be so 
 foolish," he said, trying to be jocular, as he lifted the 
 cover from the soup. 
 
 " Eat with you ? Never ! "' she answered theatrically. 
 But the interest he showed in the steaming liquid annoyed 
 her to such a degree, that overcome by a sudden gust of 
 passion she upset the tureen into his lap. Dick uttered 
 a scream, and in starting back he overturned his chair. 
 Although not scalding, the soup was still hot enough to 
 burn him, and he held his thighs dolorously. The table- 
 cloth was deluged, the hearthrug steamed; and, regardless 
 of everything, Kate rushed past, imprecating violently as 
 she went. In brief, broken phrases, she accused her hus- 
 band of cruelty, of unfaithfulness, stopping only to re- 
 proach him with a desire to desert her. Dick said noth- 
 ing, nor could he, so quickly did her words flow, but in 
 dripping trousers watched her in mute astonishment. With 
 mild looks for words, he asked, What does all this mean? 
 What have I done? The expression of his face changed 
 till it seemed to say, you surely must have gone mad to 
 act like this. Of complex emotions in the scene there were 
 none, only a deaf fixity of intention, such as two quarreling 
 animals are conscious of in their prolonged disputes. 
 
 The brown of Kate's eyes was dim, but occasionally it 
 flashed to a dull gold tint, and as she hurried up and down 
 the room, her hair became unloosened and hung down her 
 shoulders, like a sheaf of black plumes. Dick thought of 
 changing his clothes, but the intensity of her passion de- 
 tained him. Stopping suddenly before the table she poured 
 out a tumbler of sherry, and drank it almost at a gulp. 
 Nauseous it was to her taste as lukewarm water, and she 
 yearned for the burning fervors of brandy. They would 
 sting her, would awake the dull ache of her palate to life to 
 animation. She knew well where was the bottle, she could 
 see it in her mind's eye, the darling black neck leaning 
 against the frame of the picture. Why should she not go 
 and fetch it, and insult him with the confession of her sin ? 
 Was it not he who drove her to it? So Kate thought in 
 her madness, and the lack of courage to execute her wishes 
 angered her still further against the fat creature who lay
 
 362 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 staring at her, lying back in the arm-chair. Applying her- 
 self again to the sherry she swallowed greedily. 
 
 " For goodness sake," said Dick, who began to get 
 alarmed, " don't drink like that ! You'll get drunk." 
 
 " Well, what does it matter if I do ? It is you who drive 
 me to it. If you don't like it, go to Miss Vane." 
 
 " What ! You've not finished with that yet ? Haven't 
 I told you twenty times that there's nothing between me and 
 Miss Vane? I haven't spoken to her for the last three 
 days." 
 
 " That's a lie ! " shrieked Kate. " You went to meet 
 her this morning. I saw you. Do you take me for a fool ? 
 But oh ! I don't know how you can be such a beast ! If you 
 wanted to desert me, why did you ever take me away from 
 Hanley? But you can go now, I don't want the leavings 
 of that creature." 
 
 Taken aback by what was nothing more than a random 
 guess, Dick hesitated, and then deciding that he might as 
 well be caught out in two lies as in one, he said, as a sort 
 of forlorn hope : — 
 
 " If you saw us you must have seen that she was with 
 Jackson, and that I did not do any more than raise my 
 hat." 
 
 Kate, who was too excited to follow out the train of the 
 simplest idea, made no answer, and continued to rave forth 
 incoherent statements of all kinds. In the meanwhile, 
 the landlady came up to ask when she should bring up the 
 leg of mutton, but she went away frightened. There was 
 no dinner that day. Amid screams and violent words the 
 evening died slowly, and the room darkened until nothing 
 was seen but the fitful firelight playing on Dick's hands; 
 but still, through the shadows, passed, like a figure of aveng- 
 ing fate, the vague form of the woman. Would she never 
 grow tired and sit down? he asked himself a thousand 
 times. It seemed as if it would never cease, and the in- 
 cessant repetition of the same words and gestures turned 
 in the brain with the mechanical movement of a wheel, 
 dimming the sense of reality and producing the obtuse 
 terror of a nightmare. But from this state of semi-con-
 
 A Mummer's Wife 363 
 
 sciousness he was suddenly awakened by the violent ringing 
 of the bell. 
 
 " What do you want ? Can I get you anything ? " 
 
 Kate did not deign to answer him. When the landlady 
 appeared, she said: — 
 
 " I want some more sherry, I am dying of thrist." 
 ' You shall not have any more," said Dick, interposing 
 energetically. " Mrs. Clarke, I forbid you to bring it up." 
 
 " I say she shall," replied Kate, her face twitching with 
 passion. 
 
 " I say she shall not." 
 
 "Then I'll go out and get it." 
 
 "No, I'll see you don't do that," said Dick, getting 
 between her and the door. As he did so he turned his 
 back to speak to the landlady. Kate seized a handful of 
 the frizzly hair and almost pulled him to the ground. 
 Twisting round he took her by the wrist and freed himself, 
 but this angered and still further excited her. 
 
 • You'd better let her have her way," said the landlady. 
 : ' I won't bring up much, and it may put her to sleep." 
 
 Dick, who at the moment would have given half his life 
 for a little peace, nodded his head affirmatively, and went 
 back to his chair. He did not know what to do. Never had 
 he witnessed so terrible a scene before. Since three or 
 four days back this quarrel had been working up crescendo, 
 and now the landlady brought up the sherry, Kate seized 
 the decanter, and, complaining that it was not full, resumed 
 her drinking. 
 
 " So you see I did get it, and I'll get another bottle if I 
 choose. Y^ou think that I like it. Well, you are mistaken ; 
 I don't, I hate it. I only drink it because you told me not, 
 because I know that you begrudge it to me, you begrudge 
 me every bit that I put into my mouth, the very clothes I 
 wear. But it was not you who paid for them. I earned the 
 money myself, and if you think to rob me of what I earn 
 you are mistaken. You shan't. If you try to do so I 
 shall apply to the magistrate for protection. Yes, and if 
 you dare to lay a hand on me I shall have you locked up. 
 Yes, yes — do you hear me?' she screamed, advancing 
 towards him, spilling as she did the glass of wine she held
 
 .504 A Mummer 8 Wife 
 
 in her hand over her dress. " I shall have you locked up, 
 and I should love to do so, because it was you who ruined 
 me, who seduced me, and I hate you for it." 
 
 She spoke with a fearful volubility, and her haranguing 
 echoed in Dick's ears with the cruel meaningless sound of 
 a water-tap heard splashing on the flagstones of an echoing 
 courtyard. 
 
 Sometimes he would get up, determined to make one 
 more effort, and in his gentlest and most soothing tones 
 would say: 
 
 " Now look here, dear, will you listen to me ? I know you 
 well, and I know you are a bit excited ; if you will believe 
 me " 
 
 But it was no use. Apparently she did not hear him. 
 Indeed, it almost seemed as if her ears had become stones. 
 Her hands were clenched, and dragging herself away from 
 him, she would resume her tigerish walk. The roaring 
 solitude of an African forest is all that that terrible mid- 
 night can be compared to. Sometimes Dick wondered at the 
 strength that sustained her, and the thrill of joy that he ex- 
 perienced was intense, when about two o'clock, after eight 
 or ten hours of the terrible punishment, he noticed that she 
 seemed to be growing weary, that her cries were becoming 
 less articulate. Several times she had stopped to rest ; her 
 head sank on her bosom, and every effort she made to 
 rouse herself was feebler than the preceding one. At 
 length her legs gave way under her, and she slipped in- 
 sensible on the floor. 
 
 Dick watched for a time, afraid to touch her, lest by some 
 horrible mischance she should wake up and recommence the 
 terrible scene that had just been concluded, and at least 
 half an hour elapsed before he could muster up courage 
 to undress her and put her to bed.
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 JEXT morning, when recovered from her drunken 
 fit, Kate was duly repentent, and she begged of 
 Dick to forgive her for all she had said and done. 
 She told him that she loved him better than 
 anything in the world, and she persuaded him that if she 
 had taken a drop too much, it was owing to jealousy, and 
 not to any liking for the drink itself. Why, oh why ! did he 
 make her jealous ? It was that that maddened her. When 
 she thought of his being with another woman she was not 
 responsible for her actions, and he must forgive her. Dick 
 adopted the theory willingly (every man is reluctant to be- 
 lieve that his wife drinks), and thoroughly deceived by the 
 credulity with which he had accepted her excuse, Kate 
 resolved to endure the direst pangs that jealousy could in- 
 flict upon her rather than have recourse to brandy for 
 relief. Jealousy! Chance hews the cornerstone of our 
 lives. She had discovered the word — the plinth whereon 
 to erect a guardian demon. 
 
 Nevertheless she was true for a time to her resolve, and 
 submitted to Dick's neglect with almost stoic resignation. 
 Had she remained in Manchester, or had she even been 
 placed in surroundings that would have rendered possible 
 the existence of a fixed set of principles, she might have 
 cured herself of her vice. But before two months her en- 
 gagement at the Prince's came to an end, and Dick's at the 
 Royal very soon followed suit. They then passed into 
 other companies, the first of which dealt with large Shakes- 
 pearean revivals. Dick played successfully Don John in 
 Much Ado About Nothing, the Ghost in Hamlet, the Friar 
 in Borneo and Juliet. Kate on her side represented with a 
 fair amount of success a series of second parts, such asRosa- 
 linde in Borneo, Bianca in Othello, Sweet Ann Page in the 
 Merry Wives. There were times when her behaviour was 
 not all that could be desired, somtimes from jealousy, some-
 
 1506 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 times from drink; generally from a mixture of the two. 
 But on the whole she managed very cleverly, and it 
 was not more than whispered, and always with 
 a good-natured giggle, that Mrs. Lennox was not 
 averse to a glass. From the Shakespearean they went 
 to join a dramatic company, where houses were blown 
 up and ships sank amid thunder and lightning. Dick 
 played a desperate villian, and Kate a virtuous parlor- 
 maid, until one night, having surprised him in the act 
 of kissing the manager's wife, she ran off to the nearest 
 pub, and did not return until she was horribly intoxicated. 
 Calling him the most awful names, she staggered on to 
 the stage, accusing him at the same time of adultery, and 
 pointing out the manager's wife as his paramour. There 
 were shrieks and hysterics, and Dick had great difficulty 
 in proving his innocence to the angry impresario. He 
 spoke of his honor and a duel, but as the lady in question 
 was starring, the benefit of the doubt had to be granted 
 her. On those grounds the matter was hushed up. Never- 
 theless, after so public an esclandre it was impossible for 
 the Lennoxes to remain in the company. Dick was very 
 much cut up about it, and, without even claiming his week's 
 salary, he and his wife packed up their baskets and boxes 
 and returned to Manchester. There he entered into a 
 quantity of speculations, of the character of which she had 
 not the least idea ; all she knew was, that she never saw him 
 from one end of the day to the other. Out of the place he 
 was at ten o'clock in the morning, and never did he return 
 before twelve at night. These hours of idleness and soli- 
 tude were hard to bear, and Kate begged of Dick to get her 
 an engagement. But, fearful of another scandal like the 
 last, he always gave her the same answer — that he had as 
 yet heard of nothing, but as soon as he did he would let 
 her know. Believe him she didn't, but she had to submit, 
 for she could never muster up courage to go and look for 
 anything herself, and the long summer days passed wearily 
 in reading the accounts of the new companies, and the new 
 pieces produced. This sedentary life, and the effects of the 
 brandy, which she could now no longer do without, soon 
 began to tell upon her health, and the rich olive complexion
 
 A Mummer's Wife 367 
 
 began to fade to a sickly yellow. Even Dick noticed that 
 she was not looking well ; he said she required change of air, 
 and a few days after he burst into the room and told her 
 gaily that he had just arranged a tour to go round the coast 
 of England and play little comic sketches and operettas 
 at the pier theatres. This was good news, and the next few 
 days were fully occupied in trying over music, making up 
 their wardrobes, and telegraphing to London for the dif- 
 ferent books wherefrom they would make their selections. 
 A young man whom Dick had heard singing in a public- 
 house proved a great hit. He wrote his own words, some 
 of which were considered so excruciatingly funny that at 
 Scarborough and Brighton he frequently received a couple 
 of guineas for singing a few songs at private houses after 
 the public entertainment. Afterwards he appeared at the 
 Pavilion, and for many years supplied the axioms and 
 aphorisms that the jeunesse doree of the metropolis are in 
 the habit of using to garnish the baldness of their native 
 speech. 
 
 For a time the sea proved very beneficial to Kate's health, 
 but the never-ending surprises and expectations she was 
 exposed to finished by so straining and sharpening her 
 nerves that the stupors, the assuagements of drink became, 
 as it were, a necessary make-weight. Her love for Dick 
 pressed upon and agonized her ; it was a dagger whose steel 
 was being slowly reddened in the flames of brandy, and in 
 this subtilization of the brain the remotest particles of pain 
 detached themselves until life seemed to her nothing but 
 a burning and unbearable frenzy. What she wanted of 
 him she knew not, but with a longing that was nearly mad- 
 ness she desired to possess him wholty ; she yearned to bury 
 her poor aching body, throbbing with the anguish of nerves, 
 in that peaceful hulk of fat. so calm, so grand, so invulner- 
 able to pain, marching amid, and contented in, its sensuali- 
 ties, as a stately bull grazing amid the pastures of a succu- 
 lent meadow. 
 
 Unkind he never was to her ; the soft sleek manner that 
 had won her remained ever the same, but she would have 
 preferred a blow. It would have been something to have 
 felt the strength of his hand upon her. She wanted an emo-
 
 368 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 tion; she longed to be brutalized. She knew when she 
 tortured him with reproaches she was alienating from her- 
 self any affection he might still bear for her ; but, neverthe- 
 less, she found it impossible to restrain herself. There 
 seemed to be a devil within her that goaded her until all 
 power of will ceased, and against her will she had to obey 
 its behests. A blow might exorcise this spirit. Were he to 
 strike her to the ground she thought she might still be saved ; 
 but, alas ! he remained as kind and good-natured as ever. 
 
 The bottle was now generally hidden under the mattress ; 
 and to disguise her drunkenness she had to exaggerate her 
 jealousy. The two were now mingled so thoroughly in her 
 head that she could scarcely distinguish one from the other. 
 She knew there were women all around him ; she could see 
 them ogling him out of the little boxes at the side of the 
 stage. How they could be such beasts she couldn't conceive. 
 Behind the scenes they stood for hours waiting for him, 
 and she was told they had come for engagements. Baskets 
 of food came for him, pork pies and tongues, but these she 
 pitched out of the window ; and the ears of one little wretch, 
 whom she had found loitering about the stage-door, she 
 had soundly boxed. 
 
 Sometimes in her suspicions Kate was right, sometimes 
 wrong, but in all and every case they accentuated the neu- 
 rosis, occasioned by alcohol, from which she was suffering. 
 Still by some extraordinary cunning, she contrived for 
 some time to regulate her drinking so that it should not 
 interfere with business, and on the rare occasions when 
 Dick had to apologize to the public for her non-appearance 
 she insisted that it was not her fault ; and from a mixture 
 of vanity, and a wish to conceal his wife's shame, the poor 
 man still believed, and argued with the friends who knew of 
 his trouble, that his wife had no real taste for liquor — that 
 she never drank except when she had " those infernal jeal- 
 ous fits upon her." 
 
 But instead of diminishing, their quarrels seemed to grow 
 of more frequent occurrence. After the big row, when she 
 threw the soup tureen into his lap, for a month nothing ex- 
 cept a few disagreeable evenings disturbed their peace ; but 
 lately two fights, that had lasted respectively two and three
 
 A Mummer's Wife 369 
 
 days, had rendered the continuance of the sea-side tour 
 impossible. Jealousy might or might not be the cause, but 
 at any rate Kate was often in a state that prevented her 
 appearance on the stage, and, as nothing could be done with- 
 out her, Dick had begun to think of returning to London. 
 He had been now in the provinces some years, and up in 
 town changes might have occurred which he hoped to be 
 able to turn to his advantage : nearly all recent speculations 
 had proved successful, and out of the piers he had saved a 
 couple of hundred pounds. 
 
 For the provincial actor a London theatre is a temptation 
 at once divine and irresistable, and Dick had met lately a 
 very extraordinary person, whom he thought might be 
 worth looking after. Is it necessary to say that this being 
 was a woman? The acquaintanceship had come about in 
 this way. One morning Dick had escaped from his wife, 
 who was raging about the house in a towering passion. 
 Wearied with the shrieked upbraidings which had been ring- 
 ing in his ears since morning, his thoughts turned to some 
 place where he could find peace and solitude. The pier 
 being completely deserted at two o'clock, he had gone down 
 there, and sitting on one of the benches in the sun, he 
 watched idly the liquid tranquillity of a tide that has at- 
 tained its plenitude amid the languors of a windless day. 
 No sun was visible, but the sky was full of an inner radi- 
 ance, and one black boat heaved voluptuously on the sweet 
 blue bosom of the sea. The heat was sweltering, and in 
 the solitude of the baking woodwork a few officials moved 
 round the theatre, whose tin cupolas were scarcely visible 
 against the discolored blue of the sky. 
 
 But, "out of sight, out of mind ;" — he had already almost 
 forgotten Kate's unfortunate caprices of temper, and a 
 thousand theatrical projects had begun to balance them- 
 selves in his mind, when his attention was attracted by a 
 strange-looking creature in a green silk dress. The color 
 contrasted vividly with the pale shimmer of the sea, and 
 judging from the monstrous coquetry with which the 
 wearer caught up the voluminous skirt, it was impossible 
 not to think of her but as the inmate of an asylum. As if 
 fascinated. Dick watched her. They were alone on the deck. 
 24
 
 370 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 As she passed she bowed, smirked, looking back over the 
 green silk with the most grotesque movements possible to 
 imagine. Her gilt hair slipped from under a black battered 
 bonnet, and in huge, shapeless hands she held a manu- 
 script which she glanced at from time to time. 
 
 " She's learning a part, I'll be hanged if she ain't. I 
 wonder who she can be ? What a good make-up that would 
 be for a farcical comedy," thought Dick. 
 
 Up and down she went, flaunting herself like an aged 
 cockatoo in the sun. 
 
 At last he determined to speak to her, and having noticed 
 that she generally made a pause at one particular part of 
 her eccentric promenade, he went and stationed himself 
 there. The thing was done in a second; encouraged by a 
 couple of good ogles, he ventured to remark that the soli- 
 tude of the pier was favorable to study. 
 
 "Yes, at this time of the day, but at all others it is crowded 
 with the hubbub of the world that knows no aspiration; 
 but now, in front of the sea, I can fancy myself alone with 
 my heroes." 
 
 " And who are your heroes, may I ask ? " said Dick, re- 
 pressing a smile. This was even more than he had expected. 
 
 " My heroes are here," she answered, tapping the manu- 
 script with her knotted fingers, " the brave young spirits of 
 the old world." 
 
 " Oh, I see ; that is one of your own poems, I suppose ? " 
 
 " Yes ; I am studying it for recitation. I am going to 
 recite it at a lecture on the chastity of the marriage state, 
 which I am going to give next week at the Working Men's 
 Club." 
 
 " And is the poem on the subject of the chastity of the 
 marriage state?" 
 
 " Only indirectly, just as, indeed, are all noble thoughts." 
 
 Dick did not understand, but the fact that a lady .was 
 going in for a recitation argued that she was interested in 
 theatricals. 
 
 Then, with his ears pricked, like a hound who has got 
 wind of something, he said with a sweet smile that showed 
 a whole row of white teeth —
 
 A Mummer's Wife 371 
 
 " Being an actor myself, I will take the liberty of ask- 
 ing you to allow me to look at your poem." 
 
 " So you are an actor ! I was not, then, mistaken. I 
 recognized that you looked nobler than the rest. But you 
 asked to look at my poem. It is a classical cartoon." 
 
 " The devil it is/' thought Dick. " I wonder what that 
 means ? " 
 
 " Would you like to hear me recite it ? " 
 
 " Very much, indeed." 
 
 Settling herself into as dramatic an attitude as her sack- 
 like body would allow, she began — 
 
 " Fifth Classical Cartoon. 
 " Harptle. 
 
 " The offspring of Neptune and Terra, daughters of earth and of 
 ocean. 
 
 Dowered with fair faces of woman, capping the bodies of vultures ; 
 
 Armed with sharp, keen talons ; crushing and rending and slaying, 
 
 Blackening and blasting, defiling, spoiling the meats of all bancmets ; 
 
 Plund'ring, perplexing, pursuing, cursing the lives of our heroes, 
 
 Ever the Harptire flourish — just as a triumph of evil. 
 
 But their thousands on thousands flourish from childhood, ensnaring 
 
 By every art, trick of evil, weakness, deceit, and pollution. 
 
 The noble, the brave, and the loyal, spreading their nets for de- 
 struction. 
 
 Harptia? waltz in our ball-rooms, breathing fierce breath that is 
 poison 
 
 Over the promise of manhood, over the faith and the love-light 
 
 That glows in the hearts of our bravest for all of their kind that is 
 weaker — 
 
 The chivalrous fire of knighthood that honors the title of woman. 
 
 Harptise stand by our altars, Harptia? sit by our hearthstones. 
 
 Harpti* suckle our children, Harptia? ravish our nation." &c. 
 
 It would, however, be useless to relate further the cruel- 
 ties the Harptia? are in the habit of committing. For at 
 least half an hour the cock-eye rolled, and the cracked 
 voice poured out the verses with ever-increasing fury. 
 Sometimes fearing they might be overheard, Dick looked 
 round nervously. But all was still — the town dozed be- 
 hind the green blinds of the distant houses, and the very 
 water seemed too lazy to lap. 
 
 At last the chanting voice ceased and said in plain prose,
 
 372 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 " I hope it touches a noble chord in your heart. Do 
 you approve of my manner of giving the hexameters? " 
 
 "I think the idea very fine; but — but — if vou'll permit 
 me " 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 " Well, there are questions of elocution I would like to 
 speak to you about. I am afraid that I have to run away 
 now; but we are sure to meet again." 
 
 " You will find me every day at five at my hotel, and I 
 should like to avail myself of your instruction." 
 
 " Thank you; I shall do myself the pleasure of calling 
 on you to-morrow afternoon; so for the present good-by." 
 
 " You do not know my name. Oh! you men of genius 
 are so full of forgetfulness," she said, ogling him until 
 even her glass eye looked as if it were about to melt. 
 " Here is my card." 
 
 Dick had no appointment. The reason of his desire to 
 get away was fear of being surprised by his wife. Well- 
 defined hopes of turning his strange acquaintance to ac- 
 count had arisen in his mind, and having no wish to see 
 his plans nipped in the bud by stupid violence and jeal- 
 ousy, he had come suddenly to the conclusion that the 
 interview had better be relegated to some more favorable 
 spot than the publicity of the pier. Had the lady not 
 given him her card he had intended to follow her home. 
 There was no need for that now; but as he examined the 
 piece of pasteboard a perplexed expression passed over his 
 face. " Mrs. Forest, Mother Superior of the Yarmouth 
 Convent, Alexandra Hotel, Hastings." 
 
 " By Jove! she is even more cracked than I thought. 
 But. if she were sane she'd be no use to me," he said chuck- 
 ling. "Mother Superior! Classical cartoons! Chastity 
 of marriage! What a combination! However, I shall 
 know all about it to-morrow. I mustn't miss her. But I 
 had better tear up this card. If Kate came across it all 
 the fat would be in the fire. I sha'n't forget — Mrs. Forest, 
 Alexandra Hotel." Then his thoughts faded into dreams, 
 and when they again detached themselves, he murmured, 
 casting the while the fragments of white paper into the
 
 A Mummer's Wife 373 
 
 lazy, sun-stricken water. " No, I really couldn't; I hope 
 it will be all strictly platonic." 
 
 It was this adventure that had finally decided Dick to 
 try his fortune in London. His interview with the Mother 
 Superior at the Alexandra Hotel had turned out a com- 
 plete success, and after some hours of conversation certain 
 conclusions had been arrived at. The story of the differ- 
 ent soul-tremors and searchings which had induced her to 
 establish a place of refuge for the weak in spirit had proved 
 a little wearisome; but when it had been definitely ascer- 
 tained that the convent was a thing of the past, and that 
 the tastes of the Mother Superior were now operatically 
 inclined, and that she had even gone so far as to compose 
 the first act of a piece in which there was question of 
 Buddhists, stars, daggers, and flowers, Dick, too, began to 
 feel himself endowed with the gift of second sight, and to 
 see visions of property-masters, Eastern scenery, and 
 armies of red-legged girls, at whose head he should reign 
 sovereign lord and master. 
 
 It was very unfortunate, he considered, that he could not 
 attend the lecture on the chastity of marriage; but they 
 were engaged to do a week at Margate, and he didn't care 
 to disappoint the manager. Mrs. Forest might turn out, 
 after all, the veriest of delusions. Far better give her an 
 appointment, and engage to meet her at the beginning of 
 next month in London; by that time he would be able to 
 set everything straight, and wind up his little tour with 
 appropriate decency. 
 
 Henceforth the nostalgia of the pavements took com- 
 plete possession of him, and he counted the days he would 
 still have to remain in these monotonous sea-side resorts 
 listening to the perpetual quarrelling of his wife. He 
 said little, but in his heart he was very weary of her, and 
 he looked forward to London as the panacea for all his 
 troubles. There, in a lodging well out of the way, up in 
 Islington, for example, he hoped to settle her. There she 
 would be completely lost, and he would be free to take up 
 the thread of his old associations. A new door was opened 
 to him, and through it he saw defiling a fresh series of 
 adventures and speculations. Each day of delay hung
 
 374 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 like a millstone round his neck. However, he had not 
 long to wait. Chance came to his assistance and helped 
 him along the road up which he had already travelled in 
 imagination. Through the medium of the poste restante 
 a correspondence had been established between himself 
 and Mrs. Forest. Projects did not lag in this lady's mind. 
 Excited by a mixture of personal vanity, blown to red- 
 heat by the praises that had been lavished upon her opera, 
 and a mad admiration of Dick, whom she addressed in her 
 letters as a " god-like being," she had already commenced 
 negotiations for the lease of a London theatre. Convents 
 and platonic marriages were consigned to the limbo of 
 forgotten things, and now at last in the heyday of her 
 forty-fifth year, she saw herself the joyous possessor of 
 love, fame, and a multitude of other things which she 
 sought to give expression to in a series of classical car- 
 toons. These were regularly received by the fat mum- 
 mer, who, it is needless to say, thrust them as rapidly as 
 possible out of the way. It took him as it was a great 
 part of his leisure to extract from the quasi-hexametric 
 letters that came with the poems the few phrases they 
 contained to the point. " Nothing can be done without 
 you," said Mrs. Forest, " and if you don't come at once we 
 shall miss getting a theatre this season, and without a 
 theatre we are helpless. The Church merely sketches the 
 cold thin outline of humanity's passion in its appeal to 
 its reasoning power of discrimination between right and 
 wrong, while, on the other hand, the Stage takes into its 
 picture of appeal all the vivid coloring of truth, etc." 
 
 " I know — four pages more of that rot; none of that for 
 me," said Dick as he put the letter into his breast pocket, 
 and went out to telegraph to Montgomery to engage rooms 
 for them. Kate, when he told her of his plans, made no 
 remark. Afraid to express an opinion, she remained si- 
 lent, but in truth she was secretly delighted. She saw a 
 possibility of realizing a long-cherished project. To a 
 woman there is always an infinite charm in the society of 
 a man to whom she never can, never intends to, give her- 
 self. The power that this platonic affection exercises ovei 
 her is scarcely less ardent than the strongest sensual pas-
 
 A Mummer's Wife 375 
 
 sion; it is the best poetry her nature is capable of, and for 
 it many women will risk compromising themselves in their 
 husband's eyes. The excitement of fancied victories ob- 
 tained over themselves, of mock examinations of con- 
 science, satisfies an ideal; and Kate, above most women, 
 was subject to such nervous sentimentalities. Ever since the 
 breaking up of the Constellation Company she had kept 
 up a correspondence with Montgomery. She looked back 
 sometimes with tears of pleasure to their long walks and 
 conversations, when in mingled joy and fear she trembled 
 lest he should pronounce the vows of love which she could 
 see hesitating on his lips. To find, therefore, that in her 
 life of change one thing remained unchanged would be in 
 itself a delight. She was wearied of this perpetual danc- 
 ing and serio-comic singing, and at times her head filled 
 with vague remembrances of her successes in the part of 
 Serpolette, she dreamed of the applause of a London the- 
 atre. She still entertained dim hopes of one day taking 
 a definite place in her profession. Besides, the study that 
 this ambition entailed would occupy her mind and enable 
 her to conquer her passion for drink. This she was deter- 
 mined to do, for in her sober moments she did not fail to 
 recognize the hold that it had upon her. " Ah ! but all will 
 be different in London," she would then say to herself, " it 
 will be a new life. In these towns where one is only a few 
 days — a week at the outside — there is nothing to do. In 
 London we shall be settled in a home, and I shall have 
 plenty to look after." 
 
 Such were Kate's hopes and expectations, but the reality 
 unfortunately in no wise corresponded with the dream. A 
 little lodging behind the Cattle Market in Islington, was 
 the home he gave her, and there she was left from ten in 
 the morning to twelve at night, to kill time as best she 
 could. From the very first day, on the plea of searching 
 for work, he had left her alone. She had pictured herself 
 visiting the great thoroughfares, being appalled by the size 
 of the shops, by the plate-glass and the immense show- 
 rooms, where, in blazing mirrors rutilant with gas and 
 electric light, fairy-like ball dresses, wreathed with flowers, 
 are prolonged to infinity. Then there were the theatres.
 
 376 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 Of those wonderful pleasure-palaces, capable of realizing 
 in consecutive acts the icy plains of the North Pole and 
 the tropical luxuriance of South Africa, she had heard 
 Dick and Montgomery talk until her brain turned with 
 visions, — visions composed of the skirts of a million ballet- 
 girls, of pink tights, and the radiant armor of a thousand 
 choristers; of endless perspectives; of beautiful princesses 
 singing in the green stillness of sycamore boughs, whilst 
 above the dripping murmur of cascades shepherds listen to 
 the longings of plaintive love. 
 
 A scattered and puzzling mixture of these two dreams 
 made the psychology of Kate's mind on arriving in Lon- 
 don. She had begged of Dick to take her out to see the 
 sights, and he had promised to do so when he had time. 
 The excuse grieved her but she said nothing, so deter- 
 mined was she to turn over a new leaf and control her tem- 
 per. Montgomery came once to see her, but the visit had 
 not proved as pleasant as either had expected. Anxious 
 lo know what her husband was doing, in what work he was 
 engaged, she eagerly cross-examined the musician. In 
 the name of their friendship she appealed to him to tell her 
 the truth, but all she could get from him was an assurance 
 that he knew nothing of Dick's affairs. The argument was 
 continued for some time, increasing in warmth with each 
 answer, until unable to contain herself she locked herself 
 in her bedroom, leaving her platonic lover to find his way 
 out of the house by himself. 
 
 For an hour she cried bitterly, feeling all the while that 
 she was the most miserable woman in the world. Oh! what 
 had she done? Was all she was suffering now a punish- 
 ment for having run away from Ealph ? (This was the first 
 time she had thought of him for months.) She couldn't 
 say, she didn't know. All she knew was that she wished 
 she were dead. During these fits of dejection, the long, 
 low cravings for drink that oppressed her were, as it were, 
 irresistible. Sometimes they tempted her in the stomach, 
 which imperatively demanded the warm comfort of the 
 stimulant; sometimes it was in the throat that she felt the 
 fiery fingers of the alcohol. And there the grasp tight- 
 ened, until, with a convulsive movement, she would raise
 
 A Mummer's Wife 377 
 
 her hands as if she intended to tear (pen her flesh to free 
 herself from her tormentor. This was bad, but the worst 
 of all was when the temptation attacked her in the head, 
 and she remembered the delicious lassitudes the heavenly 
 forgetfulness of her miseries that a few glasses of brandy 
 would give her. Over and over again she would, with a 
 shudder, chase the delicate vision from her mind. To 
 avoid it she would move from one room to the other, from 
 the armchair to the sofa. It was the regular English 
 thirty-shillings-a-week lodgings. In the sitting-room 
 there were the well-known prints, " With the Stream " 
 and " Against the Stream; " the usual wax flowers stood 
 on a mahogany stand; the familiar round table, with a 
 sideboard, always emitting smells of tea and sugar, facing 
 a hideous gilt mirror that stared above the mantelpiece. 
 In the bedroom the worn carpet could scarcely be seen for 
 large pieces of oilcloth. The white-curtained bed, how- 
 ever, looked clean; the basin-stand was broken, and the 
 one window commanded a view of some tiled roofs, sur- 
 mounted by red chimney pots, that, in their turn, were 
 topped by arrows and other curious smoke-abating con- 
 trivances in zinc. 
 
 The landlady, the mother of ten children, who scrambled 
 perpetually about the mouth of the kitchen staircase, was 
 sulky and surly, and she resented all the attempts that 
 Kate made to visit her in the parlor. 
 
 Thus passed away Kate's dreams of London. Maddened 
 by regrets, despairs, and temptations, she had once, the 
 third day after her arrival, attempted to see the town by 
 herself. She felt very lonely, but determined not to be 
 beaten, and imagining the magnificent shops, the monu- 
 ments that were the wonder of the world, she strove to 
 struggle through the sordid and barren streets of Isling- 
 ton. Dreaming she went, her head still filled with visions 
 of wealth and grandeur, past butchers' and bakers' shops 
 little better than those of Hanley. Was this all? Had 
 London nothing more to show than this? she asked herself 
 a hundred times. Having no knowledge whatever of the 
 town, she could not apply to the policemen to direct her 
 to any particular spot. What she wanted was to see Lon-
 
 378 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 don, and she was in London, only it did not correspond in 
 the least to the London of her imagination. Next day, 
 however, she was more fortunate. Having consulted the 
 landlady, she drove in a cab to St. Paul's, and then to the 
 British Museum. There, through the cold spacious rooms, 
 she wandered idly, too weary to try to interest herself in 
 the long galleries of eternally suspended gestures. A tear- 
 less sorrow lay heavy on her heart, and the dust of many 
 memories choked her, and when she again wandered into 
 the sunlight that terrible feeling of strangeness grew upon 
 her, that awful sensation of being lost amid a myriad 
 beings, which a great city produces on a new-comer. All 
 appeared to her impossible. The theatres of which she 
 had heard so much faded from her mind, and she grew 
 bewildered in the fearful Babel of scenes that crowded in 
 limitless confusion upon her. 
 
 Down in the alleys in the dark shadows of archways she 
 saw women in crumpled bonnets nursing children on their 
 knees. With one hand they held the thin blue-veined 
 breast, with the other the box of matches that saved them 
 from the policeman's grip. Kate looked at these creatures 
 in terror. In the streets the sunlight glared, falling on 
 the pavements in wide sheets of whiteness. The traffic 
 roared, the huge dray-horses and their piles of barrels 
 crushed along the narrow ways, the hansom cabmen swore 
 from their high seats; and through the fierce entanglement 
 the white legs of a footman, the fat rein-holding hands of 
 the coachman, and the aristocratic delicacy of two cen- 
 turies of idleness, shading herself with sunward-slanting 
 parasol, passed like a vision of fate mocking at the in- 
 utility of toil. 
 
 Asking her way of the blue-coated policemen who at the 
 crossings directed the movements of this monster machine, 
 Kate dragged through a series of squares and crescents 
 until she came to the Euston Eoad; but Islington was still 
 far away, and she lost herself a hundred times and had to 
 retrace her steps. She could scarcely understand what 
 was said to her; one turning was so like another and the 
 labyrinth seemed so endless that she felt she would like 
 to give up the struggle and in some quiet corner lie down
 
 A Mummer's Wife 3? 9 
 
 and die. The heat was suffocating, the trees were white 
 with dust, and the acid smell of the fruit shops poisoned 
 the stagnating air. Inside a public-house Kate had re- 
 solved not again to enter, but now so ill and exhausted did 
 she feel that there was no manner of doubt in her mind 
 that without some little refreshment she would never be 
 able to get home. Xo sooner had this idea formed itself 
 in her mind than a longing for a drop of gin assailed her 
 with a fury so intense that to relieve herself of the ex- 
 cruciating pain of resistance she hastened her steps and 
 entered the first public-house she came to. She could not 
 wait to find a private corner, but boldly went up to a bar 
 where a crowd of working men were drinking. A large 
 strong girl was just being pushed through the swinging 
 doors. Her black eyes stared with a strange fixity in the 
 sunlight, and not recognizing the young man who was 
 supporting her, she raised her bared arms vaguely, as if 
 seeking to defend herself. 
 
 Kate cast one swift look of fear, but the craving for gin 
 was in her throat, and she gave her order. Still there was 
 enough shame left to make her speak of having walked a 
 long distance, of having been overpowered by the heat of 
 the sun. This was true, and after the flagstones and the 
 raw midday glare, the cool sawdust-strewn floor and the 
 subdued light of the bar were infinitely refreshing. And 
 the gin! Never before had she experienced a sensation of 
 such absolute relief. Perhaps no pleasure is equal in de- 
 light to the sudden cessation of pain, and in one moment all 
 the awful weakness, mental and physical, that had made 
 her life for many days an aching burden to bear, an ach- 
 ing sight to see, slipped from her, and she was transformed 
 into a cheerful, happy woman. Life suddenly seemed to 
 her as full of color and song as a May morning, and ex- 
 changing sympathetic remarks with the barmaid, she 
 nibbled a hard biscuit. The roughs stared at her, but 
 not offensively, and when they heard she was a stranger 
 in town, chatted, she thought, pleasantly and good-nat- 
 uredly. Still she was a little frightened, and in a few 
 minutes she said she must be thinking of getting home,
 
 380 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 and she left the public glad with the conviction of having 
 spent there a very agreeable half-hour. 
 
 But long was the way to Islington, and more than once 
 had she to stop to assuage her parched throat with another 
 and another quartern. Fortunately she had not enough 
 money with her to get absolutely tipsy, and when she 
 staggered past the landlady, that severe moralist only 
 stared after her, being uncertain whether it was drink or 
 fatigue that made her lodger so uncertain on her legs. 
 Next morning, of course, came the violent reaction — the 
 gloom, the terrible despondency that the victories of 
 stimulants over lassitudes of all kinds entail, and so de- 
 pressed was Kate, so eagerly did she long for just one little 
 drop to set her straight, that she did not attempt to detain 
 Dick when he took up his hat and spoke of his appoint- 
 ment in the city at eleven. He seemed grateful for the 
 respite from the usual reproaches, and gladly, when she 
 asked him to give her five shillings, he slipped a sover- 
 eign into her hand. Then they parted for the day, mutu- 
 ally relieved of each other's society. At heart she hated 
 to see him leave her; had it not been for the fierce craving 
 for that which would dissipate the miserable melancholy 
 that rendered existence unbearable she would have im- 
 plored him to remain. 
 
 The minutes were counted until she thought he was 
 fairly in his 'bus; then bonnet-strings were hurriedly tied, 
 and with rapid steps she hastened away to buy the liquor 
 herself. Her present landlady was not to be trusted. The 
 idea of the necessity of keeping her strength up was always 
 present in Kate's mind. She only wanted a little drop 
 to pull herself together; she had drunk too much yester- 
 day, it was true, but she would not do so again. To make 
 sure of this she bought a supply of her favorite fiction, and 
 with a bottle under her shawl and a bundle of Family 
 Heralds in her hand she returned home unsuspected. 
 
 Then from morning to evening, locked in her room with 
 the gin bottle on the table and the periodical on her knees, 
 for a week she dreamed passively, re-living in confused 
 remembrances her whole existence. Incapable of under- 
 standing a word of the book whose leaves she turned over,
 
 A Mummer's Wife ^81 
 
 her eyes looked stupidly into space. It seemed that her 
 brain, saturated with sentimental adventures of all kinds, 
 was incapable of absorbing any more. From her hands 
 the journal would slip slowly, and she would abandon her- 
 self to a large, sad current of memory, on whose gray sur- 
 face floated like rubbish trivialities of all kinds — recollec- 
 tions of commonplace events. From Hanley the torrent of 
 the years came pouring through the devious winding chan- 
 nels of her Bohemian life; it rolled and eddied now round 
 the remembrance of her dead child, like waves around a 
 post so deeply sunk in the river's bed that its fury could 
 not bear it away. 
 
 Ah! if the baby had lived she would have had something 
 to live for; but now she was alone, she was deserted. Dick 
 cared for her no longer. It was very cruel. What had she 
 done to merit such unhappiness ? Inflections such as these 
 were generally the culminating point of the reveries, and 
 then suddenly she would burst into a flood of tipsy tears. 
 Sometimes she dreamed of pursuing her truant husband, 
 but after a few staggering steps in the direction of the 
 door she would relinquish the attempt, and guided by a 
 sort of obtuse cunning would lie down on her bed and there 
 sleep off the best part of her drunkenness. Then it was 
 impossible when she awoke to undertake to do anything 
 before having a drink, and so the days passed, — a moment 
 of passion lost between a booze and a booze. 
 
 Yet no one suspected her. An instinct like that which 
 guides a bird to conceal its nest continually saved her. 
 She found that by passing her arm up the chimney she 
 could reach a crossing flue where a good store of bottles 
 might be hidden away, and when she went out to buy 
 drink never did she forget to buy sweetstuff that would 
 take all smell from her breath; nor did she ever neglect 
 to complain of sick headaches, so that the landlady might 
 not guess the reason of her constant siestas. 
 
 This period lasted until the sovereign he had given her 
 was spent, and the last drop from the last bottle was 
 drained. Feeling very bad one morning she had got up 
 when Dick was asleep and finished what remained from 
 overnight. The dose did her good, but not having any-
 
 382 A i\himmer's Wife 
 
 thing to eat after it, and fearing he would smell it upon her, 
 she had shammed illness, and refused to get up for break- 
 fast. For the same reason she had been afraid to ask him 
 for any money before he left. She hoped to be able to 
 pass one day at least without tasting drink. For an hour 
 or more, ill and wretched, living upon herself like an ani- 
 mal in a state of torpor; and listening to a series of dreams 
 that passed through her brain, she lay helpless and inert, 
 plunged in a moody melancholy that robbed her of all 
 powers of will. The landlady when she came to remove the 
 breakfast things spoke kindly, and asked if she might get 
 her a cup of hot tea. Sighing and complaining Kate con- 
 sented, but when it was brought it tasted as filth in her 
 mouth, and she had to put it away. By two o'clock she had 
 succeeded in dressing herself; the craving for liquor then 
 became intolerable; if she didn't take something she felt 
 she would die; to bear up against the dreadful depression 
 any longer was impossible; a little drop she must have to 
 put her right, and she'd take no more. But apply to the 
 landlady she dared not, credit she had none, being a 
 stranger in the neighborhood ; and she had no clothes of 
 her own that she could well spare. At that moment her 
 eyes fell on a pair of trousers belonging to Dick. She felt 
 ashamed of herself, but she did jot hesitate long. The 
 strength of her desire killed her scruples, and with the 
 garment wrapped up in brown paper she hurried out of the 
 house. Dick would go on wearing what he had on for at 
 least a day or two, and by that time she would have the 
 money to redeem his pair of best trousers. 
 
 ►So eager was she that even the ominous three gilt balls 
 did not cause her to hesitate, and throwing her parcel 
 down on the counter she asked how much thev would srive 
 her upon it. Five shillings was proposed. She at once 
 agreed, and was hurrying away when the man handed her 
 a quantity of letters he had taken out of one of the pockets. 
 Putting them mechanically aside she thought nothing of 
 the matter until, during the course of the evening, she 
 remembered that she would have to put them away in some 
 place where Dick would be likely to find them, without, 
 however, being specially reminded of the absence of his
 
 A Mummer's Wife 383 
 
 trousers. As she sought for a solution of this difficulty 
 her attention was attracted by the fact that the handwrit- 
 ing was undoubtedly that of a woman. Instantly, like a 
 fire burning sullenly in some dark dull twilight, a red 
 flame of jealousy glowed through her drink-sodden brain. 
 Ah ! this was the business that kept him out all day, that 
 did not leave him a moment to take her out; it was to be 
 free to make love to this creature that he had buried her, 
 his lawful wife, up in this filthy hole at the back end of 
 Islington. Feverishly she strove to read, but the MS. was 
 very difficult, and she beat her hands in little fits of mad 
 rage at her inability to decipher these extraordinary effu- 
 sions. The classical cartoons puzzled her for a long tinje, 
 and holding her temples with both hands, Kate spelt 
 through a great deal of number four. It was filled with 
 allusions to heroes, the glory of manhood, and to the hor- 
 rible river that guards the dominions of Pluto. Several 
 times lines such as the following: — 
 
 " Zeus, the monarch of heaven, clothed in the form of a mortal, 
 Kneeling, caressed and caressing, drank from her lips joy and love- 
 draughts." 
 
 caused Kate to dash the manuscript away from her, and to 
 Imrst into hysterical tears. 
 
 Were these descriptions of love interviews which her 
 husband had enjoyed? Kate asked herself, without, how- 
 ever, being able to arrive at any very definite conclusion. 
 Whenever she thought she had hold of an important clue 
 it slipped from her, lost in a flat fog of m) r thological refer- 
 ences. Her very inability to understand, which she attrib- 
 uted to drink, made her more angry, and she was on the 
 point of tearing the manuscript piecemeal, when she saw 
 something that looked like prose on one or two of the 
 flyleaves. The lady was in the habit of writing her notes 
 on the back of her poems, and from these, though they 
 were much obscured by ridiculously high-flown expressions, 
 Kate was enabled to gather that Dick and a certain Mrs. 
 Forest had taken a theatre, where they were rehearsing 
 Montgomery's opera, preparatory to producing a grand
 
 384 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 spectacular piece on an Indian subject by the author of the 
 cartoons. 
 
 Staggering to her feet, Kate caught up the papers and 
 heaped them away in one of Dick's drawers. Drunk as she 
 was, the bitterness of what she had just learned rose, like 
 burning vapor, through her intoxication, and she was 
 shaken by an acute pain. Every feeling was tortured to 
 the utmost, as a victim's joints might be on the rack. The 
 man she loved — yes, with a love that touched on the con- 
 fines of madness — she now knew was unfaithful to her. 
 The suspicion that had for months been gnawing at her 
 heart, serpent-like, opened its jaws to suck her down ait 
 once into its monstrous gullet. For her there was nothing 
 now but to drink. She did not care now whether he saw 
 her drunk or sober. What did it matter ? So he had found 
 a woman who was starting him in a theatre, and they 
 were rehearsing Montgomery's opera, and they had never 
 told her a word about it. They had never offered her a 
 part, but had shut her up here out of the way. Through 
 the great gloom of grief a small sorrow will often raise its 
 face; and, like a small bird's call heard in the deeps of a 
 roaring forest, this little cry of personal vanity sent forth 
 from the bottom of her troubled heart a shrill, sharp note. 
 
 And Montgomery ! This was the reason he had not been 
 to see her ; this, then, was the end of all their friendship ! 
 
 Her grief appeared to her to be infinite, and, like clouds 
 drifting through a gray expanse, recollections of all she 
 had suffered flowed through her mind, and conscious of the 
 terrible contradiction existing between her life as she had 
 dreamed it and as it lay before her in all its miserable 
 helplessness, she wept for hours. Even the bottle of drink 
 lay untouched, and it was not until she heard her husband's 
 step on the stairs that a throb of courage leaped into her 
 heart. 
 
 Starting to her feet she stood waiting for him, her eyes 
 dilated with passion. She did not attempt to put away the 
 bottle of gin. What did it matter if he knew that she 
 drank ? Was it not he who drove her to it ? Pushing the 
 door open, Dick walked into the room with his deliberate, 
 elephantine movements. The first glance showed him what
 
 A Mummer's Wife 385 
 
 he had to expect, and he inwardly hoped that it was not 
 going to be an all-night affair. 
 
 " Where have you been ? You don't even come home to 
 dinner now," she said in a voice made husky with drink. 
 
 " I couldn't to-day, I had such a lot of business to look 
 after," he answered in the most conciliatory manner he 
 could assume. 
 
 " Business ! I know d d well what your bus — iness 
 
 was! I know all about it. You and your filthy woman, 
 Mrs. Forest, and the theatre she has taken for you, where 
 you are rehearsing Montgomery's opera," Kate exclaimed, 
 sobered for a moment by the sheer force of her passion. 
 
 So astonished was he that instead of denying her accusa- 
 tions he stood wondering how she had obtained her in- 
 formation. At these evident signs of culpability her anger 
 increased. She advanced upon him, her teeth set and her 
 eyes staring as if they were going to drop from their 
 sockets. 
 
 Dick watched in alarm. He really feared she was going 
 mad, and with an instinctive movement he put out his 
 arms to restrain her. 
 
 " Don't touch me ! don't touch me ! " she screamed, while 
 she struck at him with white clenched hands. 
 
 Dick defended himself with the ease of a strong man, 
 but nevertheless, she managed to strike him a heavy blow 
 across the face. 
 
 " Take that, and that, and that, you beast ! Oh, you 
 beast ! you beast ! you brute ! " 
 
 Her shrieks rang through the house. Pursuing her hus- 
 band she struck at him. As she gathered her sleek little 
 body to spring, he retreated round the table, like a lumber- 
 ing bull striving to escape from an attacking feline crea- 
 ture. 
 
 " Ah ! how do you like that ? " .she cried as she tore his 
 face with her nails, and she laughed diabolically when she 
 saw the blood trickling down his cheeks. " That will teach 
 you to go messing about after other women. I'll settle you 
 before I've done with you." 
 
 Dick asked her no more to keep quiet, but from time to 
 time a fervid prayer rose up in his mind that the land- 
 35
 
 38G A Mummer's Wife 
 
 lady might be out. Were she not., it were absurd to hope 
 she would not hear, so awful was the noise. Chairs were 
 thrown down, the coal scuttle had been upset, and at last, 
 as Dick tried to get out of the room, Kate rushed against 
 the rosewood cabinet which stood next the door, and one of 
 the green china vases was sent, with its glass shade, crash- 
 ing to the ground. 
 
 This unexpected incident caused Kate to pause in her 
 attack, and in that moment the fictitious strength that pas- 
 sion had given ebbed suddenly from her, and she sank weak 
 and breathless into a chair. 
 
 At the same time came a knock at the door. It was the 
 landlady; and, trying to conceal his wounds, Dick strove 
 to say something about his wife having had a fit. 
 
 " Fit or no fit, I hope you'll leave my house to-morrow." 
 
 Dick made no answer, but shutting the door in the face 
 of the indignant householder, went into the bedroom to 
 wash the blood from his face. Whilst so engaged he kept 
 a close watch on his wife. She had poured herself out a 
 large glass of raw gin, but he made no attempt to prevent 
 her drinking it. 
 
 " The sooner she drinks herself helpless the better," he 
 thought. " I shall then be able to put her to bed, and we 
 shall have some peace." 
 
 For this purpose he remained as long as possible out of 
 sight, and as he plastered his bleeding face he wondered 
 how he should account for his wounds to Mrs. Forest. 
 There was no doubt but that Kate had torn him very badly. 
 The scratches she had given him before their marriage were 
 nothing to these. One side of his nose was well-nigh 
 ripped open, and there were two big, deep gashes running 
 right across his face, from the cheek-bone to his ear. It 
 was very lucky, he thought, she had not had his eye out. 
 But how was he to account for his face? It would never 
 do to say he had cut himself while shaving; and a bump 
 against a wall in the dark did not, as an explanation, seem 
 to him at all satisfactory. 
 
 Against his wife he felt no fiery resentment, only a 
 vague and heavy regret that she could not contain herself, 
 that she could not help giving way to these frantic jeal-
 
 A Mummer's Wife 387 
 
 ousies. He had accepted in his good-natured manner the 
 theory that she only drank when she was in a rage; but 
 now as he undressed her and laid her in her half-unloosened 
 clothes upon the bed, his eyes wandered round the room 
 inquiringly: a hitherto unperceived association of ideas 
 established itself in his mind, and as if by magic a thou- 
 1 sand unconsisdered trifles were linked and revealed until 
 the scattered ends were formed into a mass of seemingly 
 irrefutable evidence. The languor, the momentary uncon- 
 sciousness, the blinking of the eyes, the violent passions — 
 he remembered them all. and their meaning suddenly 
 became clear. Yes, there was little doubt of it; his wife 
 was a confirmed drunkard. But no sooner had the thought 
 framed itself than, resenting the vileness of the accusation, 
 he commenced to argue with himself. He knew that she 
 took a drop too much when she was in a passion, but be- 
 lieve that she was a confirmed drunkard he could not. To 
 be that she would have to drink constantly, and he had 
 never found the smell of drink upon her, nor a trace of it 
 in the place. And yet — Here Dick's eyes w r andered round 
 the room, and he proceeded to make a thorough search. The 
 wardrobes, the cupboards, behind the shutters, every recess 
 was ransacked, but without avail. Pleased at his failure 
 to discover proofs, but still not convinced, he stood in the 
 middle of the floor irresolute. At last the fireplace at- 
 tracted his attention. Deciding instantly, as if with an 
 inspiration, he walked to it. He hesitated a moment, but. 
 mastering his repugnance, he leaned, put his arm up, and 
 brought down a bottle. Looking at it he read, " Best Old 
 Tom." Another and another dive was made, until five 
 large-sized bottles were placed on the hearthrug. 
 
 Comment was impossible, and listening to the hissing 
 gaslight, he stood, unable to collect his thoughts, wondering 
 vaguely how long she would have taken to have made up 
 the half-dozen. Then, going to the bedroom door, he looked 
 at her. Amid a mass of draggle-tailed skirt a pair of worn 
 elastic-sides and a bit of striped stocking caught the eye.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 | EXT morning when Dick opened his eyes he rose 
 from his uncomfortable position on the sofa, and 
 stole very softly on tiptoe to the bedroom door 
 and looked in. For a moment he considered the 
 possibility of abstracting the basin from the stand; but 
 remembering the sticking-plaster on his face, he decided 
 that the best thing he could do would be to wash his hands 
 and brush his clothes in a hairdresser's shop. Besides, 
 as he had an appointment at the corner of the National 
 Gallery with Mrs. Forest, it would not do to run the risk 
 of awakening his wife. The line of bottles on the hearth- 
 rug attracted his attention, and recalling as they did the 
 terrible scene of the night before, a gray cloud passed 
 over his face. For a moment he thought of removing 
 them, but a glance at the clock showed that he had not a 
 moment to lose, and he hurried away. 
 
 He was very dusty and dirty, but after the proposed two- 
 penny clean, on the top of a 'bus he set himself to think 
 out the stage arrangement for the wedding of the Prince 
 Florimel. 
 
 With the exception of his domestic troubles, life had 
 been flowing very smoothly for him of late. In the first 
 place, Mrs. Forest was wildly in love with him, and that 
 meant receiving checks and classical cartoons. The for- 
 mer were for different services rendered — the reconstruc- 
 tion of her opera, and the various expenses connected with 
 the theatre. The reason for the sending of the latter was 
 never explained, and Dick felt no curiosity on the sub- 
 ject, but contented himself with thanking the authoress 
 for her gracious thoughts of him, and changing the con- 
 versation as rapidly as possible. This was not difficult 
 to do, for they had always much business to talk over 
 whenever they met. As indicated by the letter that had 
 fallen into Kate's hands, Mrs. Forest and Dick were the
 
 A Mummer's Wife 389 
 
 joint proprietors of the Opera Comique, and were now 
 daily rehearsing Montgomery's opera. With the taking 
 of the theatre Dick had had very little to do. " Inspired," 
 as she said in one of her letters, " by his god-like pres- 
 ence, by the glory of his manhood, whose magnificence 
 made her dream of the noble heroes of the Icelandic 
 legends/' she had determined that a stage was the fitting 
 place for the exhibition of his " seraph-like qualities," and 
 had acted accordingly. On this point she would take no 
 refusal, nor, indeed, did Dick trouble her with one. " Most 
 managements," he argued, " had been begun under similar 
 conditions, and had in the end turned out every success- 
 ful. Why not this one ? To be sure, he hadn't much faith 
 in her Indian opera, notwithstanding the bit of construc- 
 tion he had put into it, but that couldn't be helped. They 
 were going, at any rate, to begin with Montgomery's piece, 
 and that, he felt sure, would turn out all right; particu- 
 larly since the suggestion he had made to Harding, who 
 had done the book, for the introduction of certain effects — 
 a devilish clever fellow — he had had his eye on him for 
 some time. And, now he came to think of it, it wouldn't 
 be a bad plan to get him to write up to Mrs. Forest's 
 scenery and dresses. When her piece was a failure, they 
 could put up the other, and in that way good material 
 would not be let go to waste. The only thing was that 
 Harding was going in for writing novels, and didn't seem 
 to care much for theatrical work. Still, you could always 
 get at authors when you had a bit of coin to show before- 
 hand. 
 
 In this way Dick's thoughts ran on until the omnibus 
 drove into Trafalgar Square, and Mrs. Forest's waddling 
 walk was caught sight of. She was the first at the rendez- 
 vous. 
 
 " Good lord ! " he said to himself, " isn't she awful ! If 
 it weren't for poor Montgomery and his piece I think I 
 would drop her." 
 
 She certainly did look a ludicrous object. As she ad- 
 vanced to meet him, she smiled and ogled; and, holding 
 up her skirt with the most coquettish movement, she held 
 out to him a soft perspiring hand.
 
 390 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 " You looked so noble, so grand, as you descended grap- 
 pling with strong hands at the ladder, that I could not help 
 thinking of my sixth classical cartoon. You received it, 
 did you not ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ! — yes, but for the moment I cannot recall the 
 passage you allude to." 
 
 " I had no particular phrase in view, my hero, my young 
 god, in my thoughts; but the general tone — did you not 
 notice ? " Then, after a long silence and a deep sigh, " But 
 did you not notice that I introduced some lines, so as to 
 relieve the — the — of the hexameter ? " 
 
 " Of course I noticed it," said Dick, who had thrown the 
 packet aside the moment he had satisfied himself that it 
 contained no note referring to checks or the theatre, " and 
 a very pretty song it was." 
 
 " Which one do you mean ? The one Atalanta sings just 
 before the Parcae begin their chant ? " 
 
 " Yes, that's it." 
 
 " ' Ye gods, they fail, they falter, 
 
 Thy hand hath struck them down 
 Their woof the Parcae alter. 
 
 Beware thy mother's frown ! 
 What such as I in glory 
 
 Compared with such as thee ? 
 Would, in the conflict gorv, 
 
 That I had died for thee ! ' " 
 
 With lifted face Mrs. Forest recited these verses in a 
 quailing undertone, the socket of her false eye watering 
 profusely. She was not more than five feet high ; Dick re- 
 mained over six feet, dragged down as he was by the hob- 
 bling little tub by his side. 
 
 " Of course you understand what I meant to tell you in 
 those verses?" said Mrs. Forest after a long silence. 
 
 Fearing a downright avowal of love, he squeezed the 
 hand that lay on his arm. 
 
 "I like them as well as any 1 have written. They came 
 to me without an effort. I never truly knew before thr 
 ecstasy of an inspiration. I was thinking of introducing 
 them into my opera. How would you advise me?" 
 
 " I am afraid it is a bit serious, considered from the
 
 A Mummer's Wife 391 
 
 point of view of a musical setting," he said, gladly avail- 
 ing himself of this occasion of changing the subject of 
 the conversation, which was beginning to alarm him. 
 " You know in an opera you want something more 
 simple. But that reminds me. Have you heard from 
 Taylor about the pages' dresses in the second act?" 
 
 " No ; but I got a letter this morning from the scene- 
 painter. He writes to say that " 
 
 " Oh, that's no matter, he can wait ! But will you prom- 
 ise to come round with me to the costumier's immediately 
 after the rehearsal ? " 
 
 " Of course I will promise you anything. You know I 
 can refuse you nothing." 
 
 All Dick cared was that her affection for him should be 
 sufficiently profound to ensure the safety of the ballet 
 girl's dresses. To probe the secrets of her heart to any 
 further extent he had no desire, and, eager to avoid any 
 compromising confidences, he entered into a long descrip- 
 tion concerning the piece and its prospects of success, ven- 
 turing even to discuss the ultimate fortunes of the theatre. 
 Knowing that he would be sure to stumble against some 
 acquaintance in the Strand, he led his fair companion 
 through Long Acre and round by Drury Lane, praying the 
 while that she might not cast any more of those ludicrously 
 languishing glances at him. Whenever they came to a cor- 
 ner he looked anxiously round to see if they were watched. 
 She did look, he thought, so frightfully rediculous, that 
 it was a punishment to have to walk in the street with 
 her. 
 
 At last they arrived at the stage entrance. It was in a 
 small, narrow street. Groups of young girls and men 
 who gave way respectfully before them blocked up the 
 pavement. Dick felt as if he should die of shame. Mrs. 
 Forest picked up her skirt, and flaunting and flirting like 
 a grotesque bird, passed into the theatre, followed by a 
 sniggering crowd. 
 
 In the meantime, Kate lay on her bed, helpless as ever, 
 just as Dick had left her. It was not until he had given his 
 preliminary instructions to the ballet-girls, and Mont- 
 gomery had struck the first notes of his opening chorus,
 
 o92 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 that a ray of consciousness pierced through the heavy, 
 drunken stupor that pressed upon her brain, with vague 
 movements of hands, she endeavored to fasten the front of 
 her dress, and with a groan rolled herself out of the light. 
 But her efforts to fall back to insensibility were unavail- 
 ing. Implacable as the dawn that slips and swells through 
 the veils of night, a pale waste of consciousness forced 
 itself upon her. First came the curtains of the bed, then 
 the bare blankness of the wall, and then the great throb- 
 bing pain that lay like a lump of lead just above her fore- 
 head. Her mouth was clammy as if it were filled with 
 glue, her limbs weak as if by violent blows they had been 
 beaten to a pulp. She was all pain, but, worse still, a 
 horror, huge and black, of her life crushed and terrified 
 her, until she buried her face in the pillow and wept and 
 moaned for mercy. Nevertheless, to remain in bed was 
 impossible. The pallor of the place was intolerable, and 
 sliding her legs over the side she stood, scarcely able to 
 keep her feet. The room swam as if in a mist; she held 
 her head with clasped hands ; the top of it seemed to be lift- 
 ing off. With much difficulty she staggered as far as the 
 chest of drawers, and remained for some minutes trying 
 to recover herself, thinking of what had happened over- 
 night. She had been drunk, she knew that, but where was 
 Dick ? Where had he gone to ? What had she said to him ? 
 All mental effort was agony; but she had to think, and 
 straining at the threads of memory, she strove to follow 
 one to the end. But it was no use. Hopelessly it en- 
 tangled, and with a low cry she moaned, " Oh, my poor 
 head ! my poor head ! I cannot, cannot remember." Still, 
 the question, " What has become of Dick ? " continued to 
 torture her. Raising her face suddenly from her arms, 
 she hitched up her falling skirts, and seeing at that mo- 
 ment the bottle on the table, she went into the sitting-room 
 and poured herself out a little, which she mixed with water. 
 
 " Just a drop," she murmured to herself, " to pull me 
 together. Oh ! never will I take too much again ; it was 
 his fault; until he put me in a passion I was all right." 
 
 But at that moment the five bottles which Dick had 
 taken out of the chimney and had left standing in a line
 
 A Mummer's Wife 393 
 
 on the hearthrug caught her eyes, and she let fall on the 
 table the tumbler she held in her hand. The thoughts 
 the liquor had awakened in her were suddenly paralyzed, 
 and all down her body she felt herself breaking into a cold 
 sweat. 
 
 " So he has found it out — so he found it out," she mur- 
 mured to herself; and then the sharp grinding noise of 
 teeth was heard, her glance darkened, a lowering expres- 
 sion fixed itself upon her face, and with trembling fingers 
 she poured herself out another glass of gin-and-water. A 
 new life then seemed to generate, to be melting through her ; 
 ideas began to define themselves. 
 
 " Ah ! so he has been spying after me," she murmured 
 through her set teeth. " So he has been spying after me." 
 And sudden as the fall of a curtain, hatred, bitter and 
 black, fell in front of her mind, and in sullen impotence she 
 raged against her husband. His innocence and her own 
 culpability were as oil that fed, and as winds that blew the 
 flames of her passion. To trample him under her feet, 
 to tear him as a starving beast tears raw flesh, was all that 
 she could now think of. She had not even presence of 
 mind to invent an excuse whereby she might charge him 
 with some part of her fault, of her sin. Up and down 
 the room she walked, wringing her hands, beating them 
 against the furniture in frantic paroxysms of fury. Her 
 rage was blind and deaf ; only a faint color of blood danced 
 before her eyes, and it was thus she remembered the scenes 
 of overnight, how she had torn his cheeks and had seen the 
 blood flow. To do so again her fingers itched, and she 
 longed to feel his flesh yielding beneath the sharp nails. 
 Her nerves were strung like strained cords for the con- 
 flict. The solitude of the room irritated her; up and 
 down she went, gradually wearing out the fictitious strength 
 the glass of gin-and-water she had drunk had given her, 
 and this continued until she again staggered under a pro- 
 found feeling of weakness. Then she poured out some 
 more spirits, and, having drunk them undiluted, she sank 
 into a chair. But when the first moments of exhaustion 
 were over she commenced to think more calmly, and 
 through the stupor of her brain, clumsily, thoughts began
 
 394 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 to appear. The curtain of black hate was still undrawn; 
 but it was no longer tossed to and fro in gusts of passion, 
 and more melancholy than ever in its foldless extent, it 
 lay before her eyes. 
 
 She felt that she should never forgive him ; and whenever 
 she saw the five bottles, she experienced a sudden revolt, 
 and her anger threatened to break forth again into wild 
 gesticulations. But the gin held her back with mild per- 
 suasiveness, and for a long time she sat moodily thinking 
 over her wrongs. And as her thoughts wavered they grew 
 softer and more argumentative. She considered the ques- 
 tion from all sides, and, reasoning with herself, was dis- 
 posed to conclude that it was not all her fault. If she did 
 drink, it was jealousy that drove her to it. Why wasn't 
 he faithful to her? Had she not given up everything for 
 him? Why did he want to be always running after a lot 
 of other women? Where was he now, she'd like to know? 
 As this question appeared in the lens of her thought, she 
 raised her head from the hand on which it had sunk, and 
 stared vacantly into space. Boozed as she was, the memory 
 of the letters she had seen appealed to her. 
 
 " Oh, yes, that's where he's gone to, is it ? " she mur- 
 mured to herself. " So he's down with his poetess at the 
 Opera Comique, rehearsing Montgomery's opera." 
 
 Slowly a determination to follow him formed itself in 
 her mind, and she managed to map out the course that she 
 would have to pursue. It seemed to her that she was beset 
 with difficulties. To begin with, she did not know where 
 the theatre was, and she could not conceal from herself the 
 fact that she was scarcely in a fit state to take a long walk 
 through the London streets. The spirit drunk on an empty 
 stomach had gone to her head ; she reeled a little when she 
 walked ; and her own incapacity to act maddened her. Oh, 
 good heavens! how her head was splitting! What would 
 she not give to be all right just for a couple of hours, just 
 long enough to go and tell that beast of a husband of hers 
 what a pig he was, and let the whole theatre know how he 
 was treating his wife. It was he who drove her to drink. 
 Yes, she would go and do this. Her head, it was true, 
 seemed as if it were going to roll off her shoulders, but a
 
 A Mummer's Wife 395 
 
 good sponging would do it good, and then a bottle or two 
 of soda would put her quite straight — so straight that 
 nobody would know that she had touched a drop. 
 
 It took Kate about half an hour to make her arrange- 
 ments. In a basin she drenched herself, and regardless of 
 her dress, let her hair lie dripping on her shoulders. The 
 landlady brought her up the soda water, and seeing what 
 a state her lodger was in, placed it on the table without a 
 word, without even referring to the notice to quit she had 
 given overnight. Steadying her voice as best she could, 
 Kate asked her to call a cab. 
 
 " Hansom, or four-wheeler ? " 
 
 " Fo — four wheel — er — if you please." 
 
 " Yes, that'll suit you best," said the woman, as she went 
 downstairs. " You'd perhaps fall out of a hansom. If 
 I were your husband I'd break every bone in your body." 
 
 Nevertheless, Kate was now much more sober, and weak 
 and sick she leaned back upon the hard cushions of the 
 clattering cab. Her mouth was full of water, and the 
 shifting angles of the streets produced on her an effect 
 similar to sea-sickness. London rang in her ears; she 
 could hear a piano tinkling; she saw Dick directing the 
 movements of a line of girls. Then her dream was brought 
 to an end by a gulp. Oh ! the fearful nausea ; and she did 
 not feel better until, flooding her dress and ruining the red 
 velvet seats, all she had drunk came up. The vomit, how- 
 ever, brought her great relief, and had it not been for a 
 little dizziness and weakness, she would have felt quite 
 right when she arrived at the stage-door. She was in a 
 terrible state of dirt and untidiness, but she noticed noth- 
 ing; her mind was now fully occupied in thinking what 
 she should say, first to the stage-door keeper, and then 
 to her husband. But suddenly an immense lassitude over- 
 whelmed her. She did not seem to have courage enough 
 for anything, and she felt as if she would like to sit down 
 on a doorstep and cry. The menacing threats, the bitter 
 upbraidings she had intended, all slipped from her like 
 dreams, and she felt utterly wretched. 
 
 At that moment, in her little walk up the pavement she 
 found herself opposite a public-house. Something whis-
 
 3tf6 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 pered in her ear that after her sickness one little nip of 
 brandy was necessary, and would put her straight in a mo- 
 ment. She hesitated, but some one pushed her from be- 
 hind and she went in. Then a four of brandy freshened her 
 up wonderfully. It enabled her to think of what she had 
 come to do, and to remember how badly she was being 
 treated. A second drink put light into her eyes and wicked- 
 ness into her head, and she felt she could, and would, face 
 the devil. " I'll give it to him ; I'll teach him that I'm not 
 to be trodden on," she said to herself as she strutted man- 
 fully, walking on her heels so as to avoid any unsteadiness 
 of gait, towards the stage-door. 
 
 The man in the little box was old and feeble. He said 
 he would send her name by the first person going down; 
 but Kate was not in a mood to brook delays, and, profiting 
 by his inability to stop her, she banged through the swing- 
 ing door and commenced the descent of a long flight of 
 steps. Below her was the stage. Between the wings she 
 could see the girls ranged in a semi-circle. Dick, with a 
 big staff in hand, stood in front of the footlights direct- 
 ing the movements of a procession which was being formed ; 
 the piano tinkled merrily on the 0. P. side. 
 
 " Mr. Chappel, would you be good enough to play the 
 'Just put this in your pocket ' chorus over again ? " cried 
 Dick, stamping his staff heavily upon the boards. 
 
 " Now then, girls, I hear a great deal too much talking 
 going on at the back there. I dare say it is very amusing ; 
 but if you'd try to combine business with pleasure. Now, 
 who did I put in section one ? " 
 
 Kate hesitated a moment, arrested by the tones of his 
 voice, and she could not avoid thinking of the time when 
 she used to play Clairette ; besides, all the well-known faces 
 were there. Our lives move as in circles; no matter what 
 strange vicissitudes we pass through, we generally find 
 ourselves gliding once more into the well-known groves.^ 
 and Dick, in forming the present company, had naturally 
 fallen back upon the old hands, who had travelled with 
 him in the country. They were nearly all there. Mor- 
 timer, with his ringlets and his long nasal drawl, stood, 
 as usual, in the wings making ill-natured remarks. Dubois
 
 A Mummer's Wife 397 
 
 strutted as before, and tilting his bishop's hat, explained 
 that he would take no further engagement as a singer; 
 if people would not let him act they would have to do with- 
 out him. Miss Leslie, with her dyed hair tucked neatly 
 away under her bonnet, smiled as agreeably as ever. Beau- 
 mont alone seemed to be missing, and Montgomery, in all 
 the importance of a going-to-be-produced author, strode. 
 alone up and down the stage, apparently busied in thought. 
 The tails of a Newmarket coat still flapped about his thin 
 legs, and when he appeared in profile against the scenery 
 he looked, as he always had done, like the flitting shadow 
 thrown by an enormous magic-lantern. 
 
 Sullenly Kate watched them, tightly gripping the rail 
 of the staircase. The momentary softening of heart, occa- 
 sioned by the remembrance of old times, died away in the 
 bitterness of the thought that she who had counted for so 
 much was now pushed into a corner to live forgotten or 
 disdained. Why was she not rehearsing there w r ith them? 
 she asked herself. At once the answer came. Because 
 your husband hates you — because he wants to make love 
 to another woman. Then a flood of mad passion rushed to 
 her head, and, as a torrent a leaf, it carried her down the 
 steps and sent her rushing on to the stage. She did not 
 know what she was doing; she remembered not the dirty 
 disorder of her person; she did not even hear Mortimer 
 and Dubois cry out as she pushed past, " There's Mrs. 
 Lennox ! " She thought of nothing but to revenge herself. 
 
 In the middle of the stage, however, she looked round, 
 discountenanced by the silence and the crowd, and, hop- 
 ing to calm her, Dick advised her, in whispers, to go up- 
 stairs to his room. But this was the signal for her to 
 break forth — 
 
 " Go up to your room ? " she screamed. " Never, never ! 
 Do you suppose it is talk to you that I came here? No, 
 I despise you too much. I hate you, and I want every one 
 here to know how you treat me." 
 
 With a dull stare she examined the circle of girls who 
 stood whispering in groups, as if she were going to ad- 
 dress one in particular. Several drew back, frightened.
 
 398 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 Dick attempted to say something, but it seemed that the 
 very sound of his voice was enough. 
 
 " Go away, go away ! " she exclaimed at the top of her 
 voice. " Go away; don't touch me! Go to that woman of 
 yours — Mis. Forest — go to her, and be damned to you, you 
 beast ! You know she is paying for everything here. You 
 
 know that you are " 
 
 ' For goodness sake remember what you are saying/' 
 said Dick, interrupting, and trembling as if for his life. 
 He cast an anxious glance around to see if the lady in ques- 
 tion was within hearing. Fortunately she was not on the 
 stage. 
 
 The chorus, looking like a school in their walking- 
 dresses, crowded timidly forward. The carpenters had 
 ceased to hammer, and were peeping down from the flies; 
 Kate, like the girl in the print dress she had seen drunk 
 outside the public-house, stood balancing herself and star- 
 ing blindly at those who surrounded her. Leslie and Mont- 
 gomery, in the position of old friends, were endeavoring to 
 soothe her, whilst Mortimer and Dubois argued passionately 
 as to when they had seen her drunk for the first time. The 
 first insisted that when she had joined them at Hanley she 
 was a bit inebriated ; the latter declared that it had begun 
 with the champagne on her wedding-day. 
 
 " Don't you remember Dick was married with a scratched 
 face?" 
 
 " To judge from present appearances," said the come- 
 dian, forcing his words slowly through his nose, "he's 
 likely to die with one." At this sally three supers retired 
 into the wings holding their sides, and Dubois, furious at 
 being outdone in a joke, walked away in high dudgeon, 
 calling Mortimer an unfeeling brute. 
 
 In the meantime the drunken row was waxing every 
 moment more furious. Struggling frantically with her 
 friends, Kate called attention to the sticking-plaster on 
 Dick's face, and declared that she would do for him. 
 
 " You see what I gave him last night, and he deserved 
 it. Oh ! the beast ! and I'll give him more ; and if you 
 knew all you wouldn't blame me. It was he who seduced 
 me, who got me to run away from home, and he deserts
 
 A Mummer's Wife 399 
 
 me for other women. But he sha'n't, he sha'n't, he sha'n't ; 
 111 kill him first ; yes, I will, and nobody shall stop me." 
 
 Looking quite broken with shame, Dick listened to these 
 awful harangues. He had, in excuse for the absence of his 
 wife, told Mortimer and Motgomery that London did not 
 agree with her, and that she had to spend most of her time 
 at the seaside. All had condoled with him. They were 
 searching London for a. second lady, and that Mrs. Len- 
 nox was just the person they wanted for the part all had 
 agreed. What a pity, they said, she was not in town. At 
 the present moment Dick wished her the other side of 
 Jordan. For all he knew, she might remain screaming at 
 him the whole day, and if Mrs. Forest came back — well, he 
 didn't know what would happen, the whole game would 
 then be up the spout, and what a shame, for Montgomery's 
 opera, he felt sure, would be a success. Perhaps the best 
 thing to do would be to tell him of the danger his piece was 
 in ; he might be able to get Kate away. They had always 
 been friends ; she might listen to him. 
 
 Such were Dick's reflections as he stood bashfully trying 
 to avoid the eyes of his ballet-girls. He really didn't know 
 where to go. In front of him there was a wall of people, 
 whereon certain faces detached themselves. He saw Du- 
 bois' mumming mug widening with delight until the grin 
 formed a semi-circle round the Jew nose. Mortimer looked 
 on with the mock earnestness of a tortured saint in a. 
 stained glass window. The girls' faces, it must be said, 
 all expressed pity ; and a tall woman, who leaned a deli- 
 cately gloved hand on a super's shoulder, looked as if she 
 were going to melt with compassion. 
 
 But Kate, although held by Montgomery and Miss 
 Leslie, still continued to advance. The long black hair 
 hung in disordered masses ; her brown eyes were shot with 
 golden lights; the green tints in her face became, in her 
 excessive pallor, dirty and abominable in color, and she 
 seemed, indeed, more like a demon than a woman as her 
 screams echoed through the empty theatre. 
 
 u By Jove ! we ought to put up Jane Eyre," said Mor- 
 timer. "If she were to play the mad woman like that, 
 we'd be sure to draw full houses."
 
 400 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 " I believe you," said Dubois; but at that moment he was 
 interrupted by a violent scream, and suddenly disengaging 
 herself from those who held her, Kate rushed at Dick. 
 With one hand she grappled him by the throat, and before 
 anyone could interfere she succeeded in nearly tearing the 
 shirt from his back. 
 
 When at length they were separated, she stood staring 
 and panting, every fibre of her being strained with passion ; 
 and it was not until someone, in a foolish attempt to pacify 
 her, ventured to side with her in her denunciations of her 
 husband, that she again burst forth. 
 
 " How should such as you dare to say a word against 
 him ! I will not hear him abused ! No, I will not ; I say 
 he is a good man. Yes, yes ! he is a good man, the best man 
 that ever lived ! " she exclaimed, stamping her foot on the 
 boards, " the best man that ever lived ! I will not hear a 
 word against him ! No, I will not ! He's my husband ; 
 he married me ! Yes he did ; I can show my certificate, 
 and that's more than any one of you can. I know you, a 
 damned lot of hussies ! I know you ; I was one of you my- 
 self. You think I wasn't. Well, I can prove it. You go 
 and ask Montgomery if I did not play Serpolette all 
 through the country, and Clairette too. I should like to 
 see any of you do that, with the exception of Lucy, who was 
 always a good friend to me; but the rest of you I despise 
 as the dirt under my feet; so do you think that I would 
 permit you — that I came here to listen to my husband being 
 abused, and by such as you ! If he has his faults he's 
 accountable to none but me." 
 
 Here she had to pause for lack of breath ; and Dick, who 
 had been pursuing his shirt-stud, which had rolled into the 
 footlights, now drew himself up, and in his stage-com- 
 manding voice declared the rehearsal to be over. Some few 
 of the girls lingered, but they were beckoned away by 
 others, who saw that the present time was not suitable for 
 the discussion of boots, and tights, and dressing-rooms. 
 There was then no one left but Leslie, Montgomery, Dick, 
 Kate, and Harding, who, twisting his mustache, watched 
 and listened apparently with the greatest interest. 
 
 " Oh, you have no idea what a nice woman she used to be,
 
 A Mummer's Wife 401 
 
 and is, were it not for that cursed drink/' said Mont- 
 gomery, with the tears running down his nose. " You re- 
 member her, Leslie, don't you? Isn't what I say true? 
 f never liked a woman so much in my life." 
 
 " You were a friend of hers then ? " said Harding. 
 
 " I should think I was." 
 
 " Then you never were — Yes, yes, I understand. A 
 little friendship flavored with love. Yes, yes. Wears 
 better, perhaps, than the genuine article. What do you 
 think, Leslie ? " 
 
 " Not bad," said the prima donna, " for people with 
 poor appetites. A kind of diet suitable for Lent, I should 
 think." 
 
 " Ah ! a title for a short story, or better still for an 
 operetta. What do you think, Montgomery? Shall I do 
 you a book entitled Lovers in Lent, or A Lover's Lent? and 
 Leslie will " 
 
 " No, I won't. None of your forty days for me." 
 
 " I can't understand how you people can go on talking 
 nonsense with a scene so terrible passing under your eyes," 
 cried the musician, as he pointed to Kate who was calling 
 after Dick as she staggered in pursuit of him up the stairs 
 towards the stage-door. 
 
 " Well, what do you want me to do ? " 
 
 " She'll disgrace him in the street." 
 
 " I can't help that. I never interfere in a love affair ; 
 and this is evidently the great passion of a life." 
 
 Casting an indignant glance at the novelist, Montgomery 
 rushed after his friends ; but when he arrived at the stage- 
 door he saw the uselessness of his interference. 
 
 In the narrow street, where the sun sweltered between the 
 old houses that leaned and lolled upon the huge black 
 traversing beams, like aged women on crutches, amid the 
 stage carpenters, the chorus-girls, the idlers that a theatre 
 collects, standing with one foot in the gutter, where vege- 
 table refuse of all kinds rotted, Kate raved against Dick 
 in language that was fearful to hear. Her beautiful black 
 hair was now hanging over her shoulders like a mane; some 
 one had trodden on her dress and nearly torn it from her 
 waist, and, in avid curiosity, women with dyed hair peeped 
 26
 
 402 'A Mummer's Wife 
 
 out of a suspicious-looking tobacco shop. Over the way, 
 stuck under an overhanging window, like a yellow eye, was 
 an orange-stall; the proprietress stood watching, whilst 
 a crowd of vermin-like children ran forward, delighted at 
 the prospect of seeing a woman beaten. Close by, in shirt- 
 sleeves, the pot-boy flung open the public-house door, partly 
 for the purpose of attracting custom, half with the inten- 
 tion of letting a little air into the bar-room. 
 
 " Oh, Kate ! I beg of you not to go in there," said Dick ; 
 " you've had enough ; do come home ! " 
 
 " Come home ! " she shrieked, " and with you, you beast ! 
 It was you who seduced me, who got me away from my 
 husband." 
 
 This occasioned a good deal of amusement in the crowd, 
 and several voices asked for information. 
 
 " And how did he manage to do that, marm ? " cried 
 one. 
 
 " With a bottle of gin. What do you think ? " cried an- 
 other. 
 
 There were moments when Dick longed for the earth to 
 open ; but he nevertheless continued to try to prevent Kate 
 from entering the public-house. 
 
 " I will drink ! I will drink ! I will drink ! And not 
 because I like it, but to spite you, because I hate you." 
 
 When she came out she appeared to be a little quieted, 
 and Dick tried very hard to persuade her to get into a cab 
 and drive home. But the very sound of his voice, the very 
 sight of him, seemed to excite her, and in a few moments 
 she broke forth into the usual harangue. Several times 
 the temptation to run away became almost irresistible, but 
 with a noble effort of will he forced himself to remain with 
 her. Hoping to avoid some part of the ridicule that was 
 being so liberally showered upon him, he besought of her 
 to keep up Drury Lane and not descend into the Strand. 
 
 " You don't want to be seen with me ; I know, you'd pre- 
 fer to walk there with Mrs. Forest. You think I shall dis- 
 grace you. Well, come along then. 
 
 " Look at me here, look at me there, 
 Criticise me everywhere. 
 I am so sweet," &c.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 40D 
 
 " That's right, old woman, give us a song. She knows 
 the game," answered another. 
 
 Raising his big hat from his head, Dick wiped his face, 
 and as if divining his extreme despair, Kate left off sing- 
 ing and dancing, and the procession proceeded in quiet- 
 past several different wine-shops. It was not until they 
 came to Short's she declared she was dying of thirst and 
 must have a drink. Dick forbade the barman to serve her, 
 and brought upon himself the most shocking abuse. Know- 
 ing that he would be sure to meet a crowd of his " pals " 
 at the Gayety bar, he used every endeavor to persuade her 
 to cross the street and got out of the sun. 
 
 " Don't bother me with your sun," she exclaimed surlily ; 
 and then, as if struck by the meaning of the word, she said, 
 " but it wasn't a son, it was a daughter ; don't you re- 
 member ? " 
 
 " Oh, Kate ! how can you speak so ? " 
 
 " Speak so ? I say it was a daughter, and she died ; and 
 you said it was my fault, as you say everything is my fault, 
 you beast ! you venomous beast ! Yes, she did die. It was 
 a pity; I could have loved her." 
 
 At this moment Dick felt a heavy hand clapped on his 
 shoulder. Turning round he saw a pal of his. 
 
 " What, Dick, my boy ! A drunken chorus lady ; trying 
 to get her home? Always up to some charitable action." 
 
 " No ; she's my wife." 
 
 " I beg your pardon, old chap ; you know I didn't mean 
 it;" and the man disappeared into the bar-room. 
 
 " Yes, I am his wife," Kate shrieked after him. " I got 
 that much right out of him at least; and I played the 
 Serpolette in the Cloches. 
 
 " Look at me here, look at me there ! " 
 
 she sang, flirting with her abominable skirt, amused by the 
 applause of the roughs. " But I'm going to have a drink 
 here," she said, suddenly breaking off. 
 
 " No, you can't, my good woman," said the stout guard- 
 ian at the door. 
 
 "And why — why not?"
 
 404 A Mttmmer's Wife 
 
 " That don't matter. You go on, or I'll have to give 
 you in charge." 
 
 Kate was not yet so drunk that the words " in charge " 
 did not frighten her, and she answered humbly enough, 
 " I'm here wi — th my hu — s — band, and as you are so im — 
 impertinent I shall go — go elsewhere." 
 
 At the next place they came to Dick did not protest 
 against her being served, but waited, confident of the result, 
 until she had had her four of gin, and came reeling out into 
 his arms. Shaking herself free she stared at him, and 
 when he was fully recognized, cursed him for his damned 
 interference. But it could not last much longer. She 
 could now scarcely stand on her legs, and, much to her 
 husband's relief, after staggering a few yards further, she 
 fell helplessly on the pavement. 
 
 Calling a cab, he bundled her into it and drove away.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 H, Dick dear! what did I do yesterday? Do tell 
 me ? Was I very violent ? " 
 
 " What is the use of going over that again ? 
 It is over now. We must pack up our things and 
 get out of this house." 
 
 " But won't the landlady let us stay ? Oh, what shall I 
 do? It is I who am getting you turned out of the house. 
 It is my fault ; I know it is ; it is my fault." 
 
 " It doesn't matter whose fault it is. You had better 
 get up and get dressed." 
 
 " But I can't — I can't. I feel so ill. Oh, my head ! my 
 head ! " 
 
 " I dare say you do feel ill; it would be astonishing if 
 you didn't." 
 
 " But I never will again. Oh, that I promise you. But 
 do tell me what I did ; I don't quite remember. Did I not 
 go down to the theatre ? " 
 
 " You did." 
 
 " And I disgraced you ? Oh, no ! don't say that I dis- 
 graced you ! And those wounds on your face — the sticking- 
 plaster; I didn't do that; don't tell me that I did that; 
 I love you too much." 
 
 "If you love me you have a queer way of showing it, 
 that's all I can say." 
 
 " Oh yes ! I do love you better than anything in the 
 world; better than my very life. Oh, Dick! don't say 
 I don't love you ; don't — don't ! " 
 
 " I don't say anything, I only ask you to get up. We have 
 to be out of this by twelve o'clock." 
 
 "Yes, and through my fault! through my fault. But 
 not all my fault. You said just now that you did not be- 
 lieve I loved you. Well, do you think if it were not love 
 I would do all I do ? It is love of you that is killing me — 
 that is driving me to my ruin. Yes, you needn't laugh;
 
 406 r A Mummer's Wife 
 
 it is as I say. It maddens me to think that yon are looking 
 at other women. I can't control myself when I think you 
 are speaking to one. It is that that drives me to drink, 
 for you are, I know, surrounded by them all day long ; and 
 you never once think of me. It is that that is killing me ; 
 it is that that drives me to drink. Ah ! yes, it is ; you 
 mustn't smile. All I say is, I assure you, the truth and no 
 more than the truth ; and if you could only know how much 
 I love you you might pity me — you might forgive. It is 
 not all my fault ; it was finding out about Mrs. Forest that 
 drove me to desperation. I could not stand it. My brain 
 was on fire, and I had to drink." 
 
 " And how did you find out about Mrs. Forest ? " 
 
 " Oh ! I was told it ; I was told it. What does it matter ? 
 My head is splitting. I am the wretchedest woman alive. 
 Oh ! don't tease me now ! I want you to forgive me if you 
 can, and I'll promise never to drink again." 
 
 " Well, whoever told you about Mrs. Forest told you a 
 lie. There is, I swear, nothing between her and me. She 
 is a writer, a woman of talent, and she wants me to help 
 her to bring out her pieces, that is all. And by kicking up 
 rows, and coming down to the theatre drunk, you are only 
 taking the bread out of our mouths. I am now in a very 
 good position, and shall hold it if you don't contrive — and 
 you are doing your very best — to kick me out of it." 
 
 " Oh, Dick ! how can you talk to me so ? it is unkind of 
 you. How can you think that I would do anything to injure 
 you?" 
 
 " Well, it is useless to discuss the question any further. 
 We have to get out of this place by twelve o'clock, and it 
 is eleven now." 
 
 This conversation took place the morning after the scene 
 at rehearsal. Kate was in bed ; Dick sat on a chair, staring 
 vaguely at a portmanteau which lay gaping in the middle 
 of the floor. He looked very wean r , and often an expression 
 of hopelessness clouded his face, 
 
 " For goodness' sake get up, Kate. There is no use lying 
 there complaining of me, yourself, and everything else." 
 
 " Well, there's no use being cross with me. I do feel so 
 ill, so ill. My head seems as if it were splitting."
 
 A Mummer's Wife 407 
 
 " But, splitting or not splitting, you'll have to get up," 
 said Dick, losing patience. 
 
 But the only answer he got was a moan ; and it was im- 
 possible to persuade her to leave the tossed, tumbled bed- 
 clothes until the landlady came upstairs, and warned them 
 that it was half-past eleven, and that they must make 
 haste. Then, staggering on to the floor, Kate sought for 
 her stockings. The progress of dressing was awful to fol- 
 low. Dirty, limp petticoats a week old were tied anyhow 
 round her waist. Garters could not be found, and a piece 
 of the lining of a dress was used instead. The dress was 
 bundled on like a bag, and the boots were left unbuttoned. 
 
 " Well, I do pity a man who has a wife like that," said 
 the landlady ; " and he is so gentle, too, with her." 
 
 "Hussies like her always has nice husbands," said the 
 maid-of-all-work. " It isn't like my poor sister, who has 
 been beaten black and blue." 
 
 From Islington Dick took his wife to Holborn, to the 
 house of a woman he knew, and who, he hoped, would view 
 his wife's faults with a little more indulgence than their 
 last landlady. It was most unpleasant to be turned out 
 at such extremely short notice, no matter what the rights 
 and wrongs of the case might be; and to guard against a 
 repetition of the scene he resolved to make a little explana- 
 tion in the parlor when Kate went up to the sitting-room 
 to take off her bonnet. As he anticipated, Mrs. Stevens 
 proved very docile. Many were the bland looks of sym- 
 pathy, many were the speaking glances, which said as 
 plainly as words, " Ah ! yes, I understand ; I have heard of 
 such things. Of course, we must look after her, and hope 
 for the best." 
 
 All this was very encouraging, and Kate herself was pro- 
 fuse in her promises of amendment. She was resolved 
 never to touch liquor again. Come what may, she would 
 never again let a drop pass her lips. The only thing she 
 had to complain of was that she was a bit lonely sitting at 
 home all day. She had no friends in London. She did not 
 know where to go to, and at night the time seemed very 
 long, indeed, waiting up for him — he never was home before 
 half-past twelve. Would he see and get her an engage-
 
 408 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 ment at some theatre? She didn't mind what she got to 
 do. She only wanted something to occupy her time. Be- 
 sides, she would be earning her bit, and in these hard times 
 every little helps. 
 
 Dick promised to do what he could. He would that very 
 day cut round and see if there was arching going; if so, 
 he would let her know. But now he must positively be off. 
 He had an appointment, and would miss it if he stayed a 
 moment longer. And with a recommendation to her to 
 cultivate the landlady's society, he rushed away. 
 
 Dick had said that he would look out for an engagement 
 for his wife, because it was not in his nature to answer 
 " No " to anything in the world. Had he been asked for 
 a star out of the sky, he would undoubtedly have replied, 
 " Certainly, I'll see what I can do for you." His present 
 opinions concerning Kate amounted to nothing. He merely 
 wished to keep her out of the way. She might reform or 
 might not; on that point he could not speak; but to get 
 her an engagement either at his own or any other theatre 
 he hadn't the slightest intention. How did he know what 
 row she might not kick up, and what she might not say 
 about himself or Mrs. Forest? Besides, he really hadD't 
 the time. He had now to cut down to see about the spangles 
 on the ballet-girls' dresses, and at one o'clock he had an 
 appointment with Mrs. Forest at the theatre. Fortu- 
 nately, he told the old lady that he was married. She had 
 nearly died of it, but he was not such a fool as to have 
 risked the chance that any one else should tell her; it was 
 better that it should have come from him. She had borne 
 it better than he expected. Drunkenness was a famous 
 excuse. No lady minded a drunken woman if she were 
 kept out of the way. That was the principal thing — keep 
 her out of the way. 
 
 Upon such lines ran Dick's thoughts, as, with a huge 
 limp, he hurried away in the direction of the Strand, leav- 
 ing Kate weak, helpless, and ill in the loneliness of their 
 new lodgings. Her thoughts were now occupied solely with 
 the problem how she was to cure herself of her vice. But 
 as she considered the question, the bitterest remembrances 
 fled shrieking over her poor desolated mind like mournful
 
 A Mummer's Wife 409 
 
 winds across a heath. Among these, the loudest and chil- 
 liest was the memory of her child's death, and as she lay 
 these long summer afternoons, weeping and sighing on her 
 bed, she could see distinctly defined on a deep blue back- 
 ground every feature of its little pale face. It was all her 
 fault that it had died; it was the fault of that accursed, 
 ihat thrice accursed drink, that was ruining her, that was 
 killing her. Who had taught her to like it ? she could not 
 remember; she fancied that it had begun in the dressing- 
 rooms. But what did it matter where it had commenced, 
 she would have to cure herself of the habit now. As the 
 resolution formed itself in her mind, the taste of the spirit 
 rose to her lips, and shuddering, she buried her face in the 
 pillow. The warm burning flavors of brandy ravished her 
 palate; the soft sweetnesses of the gin were as the appeal- 
 ing seductiveness of a youth's lips; and her whole nature 
 seemed to sink, to fall away helplessly, as she strove to con- 
 vince, to force it on herself that she would never know any 
 of them again. 
 
 Then, there were hours when all sorts of cowardly, 
 treacherous arguments insinuated themselves into her 
 mind, and she suffered all the cruelties of indecision. It 
 seemed as if the devils in hell were in league against her. 
 Things and ideas of things grew strangely altered, until 
 even her child's death, which above all else should have 
 aided her to persevere in her resolutions, became one of 
 the imposing forces against her. For why should she 
 struggle ? What did it matter what became of her ? Dick, 
 whom she loved better than anything in the world, cared for 
 her no longer. Had her baby lived there would have been 
 something for her to have lived for, but it had been taken 
 from her, as everything had been taken from her, so 
 why should she struggle? It was as if a darkened 
 glass lay perpetually before her eyes, wherein she was 
 forced not only to read, but absolutely to see, every 
 scene of her past life, and the mirror being con- 
 cave everything was distorted. Even her love of 
 Dick grinned at her with mephistophelian grimace. 
 What had it begun in ? Meanness. What had it ended in ? 
 She closed her ears to the answer, but still the procession
 
 410 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 of raarionnettes went on, and shrill mechanical voices con- 
 tinued to cry in her ears the cost and the worth of all she 
 had ever known. Everything was exhibited in cruel detail, 
 in miserable separateness. It was as if a beautiful watch 
 in all the wonder of its inviolate precision, had been sud- 
 denly shattered and the hidden wheels scattered under the 
 eyes of the owner in meaningless confusion. So did her 
 life now seem disjointed and broken. Often she strove to 
 put some part back into the case from which it had fallen. 
 But in vain. Kate Ede was the result of centuries of 
 inherited customs and forms of thought, and when to this 
 be added a touch of lightheadedness, so ordinary in char- 
 acter that, in the shop in Hanley, it had passed unper- 
 ceived, it will be understood how little fitted she was to 
 effect the psychological and even physical changes that her 
 new life demanded. She was the woman that nature turns 
 out of her workshop by the million, all of whom are cap- 
 able of fulfilling the duties of life, provided the conditions 
 in which they are placed, that have produced them, remain 
 unaltered. They are like cheap Tottenham Court Road 
 furniture, equal to an ordinary amount of wear and tear 
 so long as the original atmosphere in which they were 
 glued together is preserved; change this and they go to 
 pieces. This is precisely what had happened in the case of 
 Kate Ede. Not a whit worse was she than others of her 
 kind, but one of those million chances of which our lives 
 are made had drifted Mr. Lennox across her life. From the 
 first moment he entered her house the whole temperature 
 of her blood and brain had been altered. But the introduc- 
 tion of a passion into a character does not add to it any 
 more than a gust of wind does to a landscape. Principles 
 may be overthrown as trees may be blown down. Morals 
 may be perverted as land-marks may be destroyed, but no 
 new element of vitality or strength is gained in either case. 
 It was so with Kate, but in this instance a deadlier disaster 
 than a hurricane had occurred. It was as if a country had 
 been gradually submerged by a great tide that after satu- 
 rating and washing over it for years had slowly retired, 
 leaving behind it only wastes of foul-smelling mudbanks 
 and putrid reaches of slimy and decaying matter. So
 
 A Mummer's Wife 411 
 
 much Bohemianism had done for Kate Lennox. The 
 brackish ooze had penetrated her whole nature; it was 
 heavy with it as a sponge that has just been soaked in the sea 
 with brine. It was a sort of mental dissolution. Every senti- 
 ment in her was dead or sodden in drink; nothing human 
 was left except an inordinate, an exaggerated love of her 
 husband, which grew like a fungus out of all this psychi- 
 cal decay. 
 
 And perhaps the most painful part of all was the vivid 
 consciousness she possessed of her own misfortunes, of her 
 own failings. She knew very well that the scenes of violent 
 jealousies she was constantly enacting only served to alien- 
 ate her further from the man she loved, the man she adored ; 
 very well did she know that the passion that held her by the 
 throat had disgraced and dishonored her, and was dragging 
 her down to death. It Avas in this knowledge that the 
 bitterest bitterness lay. For hours she would sit with tears 
 running down her cheeks weeping at her misfortunes. 
 But she was helpless. From afar she could see the demon 
 watching her; often she tried to fly from him. Steadily 
 he would steal nearer until she could feel a red hand laid 
 upon her, and she would put on her bonnet and go out to 
 have just " two penn'orth." Then with a wee drop more 
 in a small bottle she would return home to brood over her 
 wrongs. Wrongs she undoubtedly had; and tortured with 
 suspicions of Mrs. Forest, she used to sit by her window 
 until her brain positively reeled as it were with the fumes 
 of suspicion. She suspected everybody of love designs on 
 Dick, and in solitary sullenness she spent her time con- 
 structing elaborate plots and plans out of the most trivial 
 incidents of ordinary life. In her brain, at once dazzled 
 by drink and rendered nervous by long brooding, the 
 smallest events became magnified and distorted. A word 
 heedlessly spoken hours, perhaps days ago, would suddenly 
 start into her memory, and then arguing upwards there 
 seemed to be no conclusion too preposterous for her to 
 arrive at, and working with such means it was not difficult 
 for her to pick quarrels with whatever friends she had. 
 Miss Leslie, who, although she thought Kate much changed, 
 for old friendship's sake often came to see her, had for
 
 412 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 some whimsical fancy been insulted and turned out of the 
 house; Montgomery she would not speak to because she 
 could not convince herself that it was not he who, for the 
 furtherance of his own schemes, had introduced Mrs. Forest 
 to her husband. The poor musician bore with her patiently, 
 hoping always that she would go back to her old self; but 
 as time went on she grew only more and more intractable 
 and hard to bear with. The impression that she was a per- 
 secuted woman prevented her from realizing how terrible, 
 nay, even ferocious, her temper had become. How it and 
 drink, like twin sisters, had joined hands, and by their 
 mutual assistance and encouragement the most diabolical 
 scenes were arrived at. Yet between the hours of passion 
 there were moments of peace and sweet affection. 
 
 She had a box in which she kept her souvenirs. They 
 were a curious collection. A withered flower, a broken 
 cigarette-holder, two or three old buttons that had fallen 
 from his clothes, and a lock of hair. But it was under- 
 neath these that lay the prize of prizes — a string of false 
 pearls. Never did she see this precious relic without 
 trembling, and to put it round her neck for a few minutes 
 after her lonely dinner when she was waiting for him to 
 come home, charmed and softened her as nothing else did. 
 It was a necklace she had to wear in a comedietta they had 
 both played in. The Lover's Knot. Well did she remember 
 the day they had gone out to buy it together ; it had been 
 one of the happiest in her life. But it was precisely the 
 reaction caused by these moments of tenderness that was 
 terrible to witness. Gradually from looks of dreamy happi- 
 ness the face would become clouded, and as bitter thoughts 
 of wrongs done her surged up in her mind, the tiny nostril 
 would dilate and the upper lip contract, until the white 
 canine tooth was visible. For ten minutes more she would 
 remain, her hands grasping nervously at the arms of her 
 chair: by that time the paroxysm would have obtained 
 complete mastery over her, and with her brain deaf and 
 cold as stone she would walk across the room to where 
 the liquor was kept, and moodily sipping the gin-and-water, 
 she would form plans as to how she would attack him when 
 he arrived home. Hours and hours would pass first, but at
 
 A Mummer's Wife 413 
 
 last, through the stillness of the night, she could hear his 
 heavy footsteps. Then she would prepare for battle. These 
 fights, which now never numbered fewer than three a week, 
 always began in the same manner. Dick entered in his 
 usual deliberate elephantine way ; Kate made no sign until 
 he was seated, but assuming then a air of indifference, if 
 the quarrel was premeditated, she would ask him what the 
 news was. 
 
 For many reasons this question was a difficult one to 
 answer. To tell that he had been round to tea with one 
 of the girls was clearly out of the question ; to explain how 
 he had wheedled Mrs. Forest into all sorts of theatrical 
 follies was likewise not to be thought of as a subject of 
 news, and as to making conversation out of the rest of the 
 day's duties he really didn't see how he was to do it. Miss 
 Howard had put out the entire procession by not listening 
 to his instructions; Miss Adair, although she was playing 
 the Brigand of the Ultramarine Mountains, had threatened 
 to throw up her part if she were not allowed to wear her 
 diamond earrings. The day had gone in deciding such 
 questions; had passed in drilling those infernal girls, and 
 what interest could there be in going through it all over 
 again. Besides, he never knew how or where he might 
 betray himself, and Kate was so quick in picking up the 
 slightest word and twisting it into extraordinary meanings, 
 that he really would prefer to talk about something else. 
 
 " I can't understand how you can have been out all day 
 without having heard something. It is because you want 
 to keep me shut up here and not let me know an}i;hing of 
 your going-on ; but I shall go down to the theatre to-morrow 
 and have it out of you." 
 
 " My dear, I assure you that I was at the rehearsal all 
 day. The girls don't know their music yet, and it puts me 
 out in my stage arrangement. That is, I give you my word, 
 all I heard or saw to-day. I have nothing to conceal from 
 you." 
 
 " You are a liar, and you know you are ! " 
 
 Blows and shrieks followed, and so it went on, often 
 until the dawn began to break. Sometimes, perhaps, Kate 
 would drink herself to sleep a little earlier, and, with a
 
 414 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 sigh, Dick would put her to bed. These quarrels were of 
 all sorts and kinds : and they differed widely, both in the 
 violence indulged in and in their duration. There was 
 only one thing that could be said, which was, that these 
 fits of uncontrolled anger seemed to be passing the border- 
 line, and to be drifting into a state of unbridled passion, 
 of rage so limitless that to account for its unreason was 
 possible in no other way but by supposing the patient to 
 be insane. And in Kate's worst paroxysms there were all 
 the symptoms of madness, for while she poured out her 
 torrents of abuse she often foamed at the mouth, and she 
 approached him with compressed lips and a virulent frown. 
 Then she drew back her lips, especially the corners of the 
 upper lip, and showed her teeth, aiming a vicious blow at 
 him. And not unfrequently in these combats did Dick run 
 close risks of carrying away with him something more 
 than a mere scratch on the face; for being in these times 
 entirely deprived of free-will, there was no object within 
 reach, no matter how dangerous, that she would not catch 
 up and use unhesitatingly as a weapon of offense. One 
 night she narrowly escaped committing manslaughter. She 
 had been waiting hours alone, and it was half-past eleven 
 o'clock, and Dick had not yet come in. But long before 
 this time she had worked herself into a fury of passion, 
 and when he entered he saw at once what he had to expect. 
 The only question was whether it would be a war of words 
 or of blows, or a mixture of both. Stopping in her walk, 
 she confronted him suddenly. 
 
 " What have you been doing out till this time of night? 
 Amusing yourself with Mrs. Forest, I suppose. I shall 
 pull that woman's nose off; I know I shall." 
 
 " I give you my word, my dear, that I have been the 
 whole evening with Montgomery and Harding cutting the 
 piece." 
 
 " Cutting the piece ! And I should like to know why I'm 
 not in that piece. I suppose it was you who kept me out 
 of it. Oh, you beast ! why did you ever have anything to 
 do with me"? It is you who are ruining me. Were it not 
 for you, do you think I should be drinking ? Not I — it was 
 all your fault."
 
 A Mummer's Wife 415 
 
 Dick made no attempt to answer these accusations, but 
 throwing his hat aside, he let himself fall into a chair. He 
 was very tired. Kate continued her march up and down 
 the room for some moments in silence, but he could see 
 from the twitching of her face and the swinging of her 
 arms that the storm was bound to burst soon. Presently 
 she said — 
 
 " You go and get me something to drink; I've had noth- 
 ing all this evening." 
 
 " Oh, Kate dear ! I beg of " 
 
 " Oh, you won't, won't you ? We'll see about that," she 
 answered as she looked around the room for the heaviest 
 object she could conveniently throw at him. 
 
 Seeing how useless it would be to attempt to contradict 
 her in her present mood, Dick, rising to his feet, said 
 hurriedly : 
 
 " Now there is no use in getting into a passion, Kate. 
 I'll go, I'll go." 
 
 " You'd better, I can tell you." 
 
 " What shall I get, then ? " 
 
 " Get me half-a-pint of gin, and be quick about it — I'm 
 dying of thirst." 
 
 Even Dick, accustomed as he was now to these scenes, 
 could not repress a look in which there was at once mingled 
 pity, astonishment, and fear, so absolutely demoniacal did 
 this little woman, her dark complexion gone to a dull green- 
 ish pallor, seem as she raved under the watery light of the 
 lodging-house gas. Involuntarily he called to mind the 
 mild-eyed workwoman he had known in the linen-draper's 
 shop in Hanley, and asked himself if it were possible that 
 she and this raging creature, more like a tiger in her pas- 
 sion than a human being, were one and the same person? 
 The question presented itself confusedly, stupidly, to his 
 mind, and little attraction as psychological analysis had 
 for him, he could not choose but wonder. But another 
 scream came, bidding him make haste, or it would be worse 
 for him. He bent his head and went to fetch the gin. 
 
 In the meantime Kate's fury leaped, crackled, and burnt 
 with the fierceness of a house in the throes of conflagration, 
 and in the smoke-cloud of hatred which enveloped her only
 
 tit) A Mummer's Wife 
 
 fragments of ideas and sensations flashed like falling 
 Bparks, intense and as transient, through her mind, Up 
 and down the room she walked swinging her arms, only 
 hesitating, as a fire will in the vacuum it has created, 
 for some new object whereon to wreak new fury. Suddenly 
 it struck her that Dick had been too long away — that ho 
 was keeping her waiting on purpose. Then, grinding her 
 teeth, she muttered — 
 
 " Oh, the beast ! Would he — would he keep me waiting, 
 and since nine this morning I have been alone." 
 
 In an instant her resolve was taken. It came to her 
 like the instinct of revenge to an animal, sullenly, obtusely. 
 No consideration was given, but, seizing a large stick, the 
 handle of a brush that happened to have been broken, 
 she stationed herself at the top of the landing. A feverish 
 tremor agitated her as she waited in the semi-darkness 
 of the stairs. At last, however, she heard the door open, 
 and Dick came up slowly with his usual heavy tread. Mak- 
 ing neither sign nor stir, she allowed him to get past her, 
 and then, raising the brush-handle, she landed him one 
 across the back. The poor man uttered a long cry, and the 
 crash of broken glass was heard. 
 
 " What did you hit me like that for? " he cried, holding 
 himself with both hands. 
 
 " You beast, you ! I'll teach you to keep me waiting. 
 You would, would you! Do you want another? Go into 
 the sitting-room." 
 
 Dick obeyed humbly and in silence. His only hope was 
 that the landlady had not been woke up, and he felt un- 
 easily at his pockets, through which he could feel the gin 
 dripping down his legs. 
 
 "Well, have you brought the drink I sent you for? 
 Where is it ? " 
 
 " Well," replied Dick, desirous of conciliating at any 
 price, " it was in my pocket, but when you hit me with that 
 stick you broke it." 
 
 " I broke it ? " cried Kate, her eyes glistening with fire. 
 
 " Yes, dear, you did ; it wasn't my fault." 
 
 " Wasn't your fault ! Oh, you horrid wretch ! you put it 
 there on purpose that I should break it."
 
 A Mummer's Wife 417 
 
 " Oh ! now really, Kate/' he cried, shocked by the illogi- 
 calness of the accusation, " how could I know that you 
 were going to hit me there ? " 
 
 " I don't know and I don't care ; what's that to me ? 
 But what I am sure of is that you always want to spite me, 
 that you hate me, that you would wish to see me dead, so 
 that you might marry Mrs. Forest." 
 
 " I can't think how you can say such things. I have often 
 told } r ou that Mrs. Forest and I " 
 
 " Oh ! don't bother me. I am not such a fool. I know 
 she keeps you, and she will have to pay me a drink to- 
 night. Go and get another bottle of gin; and mind you 
 pay for it with the money she gave you to-day. Yes, she 
 shall stand me a drink to-night ! " 
 
 " I give you my word I haven't another penny-piece upon 
 me ; it is just the accident " 
 
 But Dick did not get time to finish the sentence ; he was 
 interrupted by a heavy blow across the face, and like a 
 panther that has tasted blood, she rushed at him again, 
 screaming all the while, " Oh ! you have no money. You 
 liar ! you liar ! So you would make me believe that she docs 
 not give you money, that you have no money of hers in 
 your pocket. You would keep it all for yourself; but you 
 sha'n't, no, you sha'n't, for I will tear it from you and 
 throw it in your face ! Oh, that filthy money ! that filthy 
 mone\ ! " 
 
 The patience with which he bore with her was truly 
 angelic. With one stroke he might have easily felled her to 
 the ground, but he contented himself with merely warding 
 off the blows she aimed at him. This, from his great height 
 and strength, he was easily able to do, and she struck at him 
 with her little womanish arms as she might against a door. 
 
 " Take down your hands," she screamed, exasperated 
 to a last degree. " You would strike me, would you ? You 
 beast ! I know you would." 
 
 Her rage had now reached its height. Showing her 
 clenched teeth, she foamed at the mouth, the bloodshot eyes 
 protruded from their sockets, and her voice grew more and 
 more harsh and discordant. But although the excited brain 
 gave strength to the muscles and energy to the will, un- 
 27
 
 418 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 armed she could do nothing against Dick, and suddenly 
 becoming conscious of this she rushed to the fireplace and 
 seized the poker. With one sweep of the arm she cleared 
 the mantel-board, and as she advanced round the table, 
 brandishing her weapon, the mirror come in for a tremend- 
 ous blow; but, heedless of the shattered glass, she followed 
 in pursuit of Dick, who continued to defend himself dex- 
 terously with a chair. How long this combat might have 
 lasted it is difficult to say, had not his attention, when Kate 
 was using the poker by turns as spear and sabre, been in- 
 terrupted by the view of the landlady's face at the door; 
 and so touched was he by the woman's dismay when she 
 looked upon her broken furniture, that he forgot to guard 
 himself from the poker. Kate, taking advantage of the 
 occasion, whirled the weapon round her head. He saw it 
 descending in time, and half warded off the blow; but it 
 came down with awful force on the forearm, and glancing 
 off, inflicted a severe scalp wound. The landlady screamed 
 " Murder ! " and Dick, seeing that matters had come to 
 a crisis, closed in upon his wife, and undeterred by yells 
 and struggles, pinioned her and forced her into a chair. 
 
 " Oh. dear! Oh, dear! You are all bleeding, sir," cried 
 the landlady : " she has nearly killed you." 
 
 " Never mind me. But what are we to do? I think she 
 has gone mad this time." 
 
 " That's what I think," said the landlady, trying to 
 make herself heard above Kate's shrieks. 
 
 " Well, then, go and fetch a doctor, and let's hear what 
 he has to sa} r ," replied Dick, as he changed his grip on 
 Kate's arms, for in a desperate struggle she had nearly 
 succeeded in wrenching herself free. The landlady re- 
 treated precipitately towards the door. 
 
 "Well, will you go?" 
 
 " Yes, yes, I'll run at once." 
 
 " You had better," yelled the mad woman after her. 
 " I'll give it to you ! Let me go ! let me go, will you ? " 
 
 But Dick never ceased his hold of her. and the blood 
 dripped upon her trickling in large drops into her ears, and 
 down into her neck and bosom. 
 
 " You are spittiug on me, you beast ! You filthy beast !
 
 A Mummer's Wife 419 
 
 I'll pay you out for this." Then, perceiving that it was 
 blood, the intonation of her voice changed, and in terror 
 she screamed, " Murder ! murder ! He is murdering me ! 
 Is there no one here to save me." 
 
 The minutes seemed like eternities. Dick felt himself 
 growing faint, and should he lose his power over her before 
 the doctor arrived, the consequences might be fatal to him- 
 self, so he struggled with her for very life. 
 
 At last the door was opened, and a man walked, tripping 
 in so doing over a piece of the broken mirror, into the 
 room. It was the doctor, and accustomed as he was to be- 
 tray surprise at nothing, he could, nevertheless, not repress 
 a look of horror on catching sight of the scene around 
 him. 
 
 The apartment, to begin with, was almost dismantled; 
 chairs lay backless about the floor amid china shepherdesses 
 and toreadors; pictures were thrown over the sofa, and a 
 huge pile of wax fruit — apples and purple grapes — was 
 partially reflected in a large piece of mirror that had fallen 
 across the hearthrug. 
 
 " Come, help me to hold her," said Dick, raising his 
 blood-stained face. 
 
 The doctor with a quick movement took possession of 
 Kate's arms. " Give me a sheet from the next room ; I'll 
 soon make her fast." 
 
 The threat of being tied had its effect. Kate became 
 quieter, and after some trouble they succeeded in carrying 
 her into the next room and laying her on the bed. There 
 she rolled convulsively, beating the pillows with her arms. 
 The landlady then stationed herself at the door to give 
 notice of any further manifestation of fury, whilst Dick 
 explained the circumstances of the case to the doctor. 
 
 After a short consultation, he agreed to sign an order de- 
 claring that in his opinion Mrs. Lennox was a dangerous 
 lunatic. 
 
 " Will that be enough," said Dick, " to place her in an 
 asylum ? " 
 
 " No, you will have to get the opinion of another doctor." 
 
 The possibility of being able to get rid of his wife was to 
 him like the sudden dawning of a new life, and dazzled
 
 420 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 with joy and delight keener than anything he had known 
 before, Dick rushed off, bleeding, haggard, wild-looking as 
 he was, to seek for another doctor who would concur in the 
 judgment of the first. He could have knelt down and 
 kissed that man's hand. Was it possible, he asked himself, 
 to see Kate in her present position, and say conscientiously 
 that she was a person who could be safely trusted with her 
 liberty ? He thought not, and to his great joy this view was 
 taken by the second authority consulted, and having placed 
 his wife under lock and key, Dick lay down to rest a happier 
 man than he had been for many a day. The principal 
 question in his mind was, of course, as to the means he 
 should adopt to place her in the asylum. Force was not 
 to be thought of ; persuasion was in the first instance to be 
 tried. So far he was decided, but as to the arguments he 
 should advance to induce her to give up her liberty he knew 
 nothing, nor did he attempt to formulate any scheme, and 
 when he entered the sitting-room next morning he relied 
 more on the hope of finding her repentant, and appealing 
 to and working on her feelings of remorse than anything 
 else. " The whole thing," as he put it, " depended upon the 
 humor he should find her in." 
 
 In a dreadful state of deshabille, with stains of blood 
 still upon her face, Kate sat weeping bitterly as a Mag- 
 dalen, amid the broken furniture. 
 
 "Oh, Dick! Dick! What have I done? What have I 
 done ? Can you ever forgive me ? " she said, throwing her- 
 self at his feet. " I am so sorry. I am so miserable. But 
 it was not I who did all this. Tell me, Dick, tell me, for I 
 do not remember, it is all confused in my head — was I very 
 violent ? " 
 
 " Well, my dear," said Dick, casting an involuntary 
 glance round the room as he searched for a chair that 
 would be safe for him to sit on, " there is no use in 
 going over that subject again. It is a great pity that you 
 cannot do without the drink." 
 
 " I know it ! I know it ! but I cannot help it. To sit 
 here all those hours alone, and know that you are with other 
 women — it is that that maddens me. Oh, why do you do 
 it?"
 
 'A Mummer's Wife 421 
 
 "Don't let us talk about that, or you will excite your- 
 self again." 
 
 " Oh, no, I sha'n't. I feel too ill and too wretched." 
 
 To this Dick made no answer. He sat with his hands on 
 his fat knees and the big felt crushed over his eyes. This 
 was purposely arranged so, for the production of his 
 wounds was to be the " big effect," and he fervidly hoped 
 they would decide the situation. 
 
 " But tell me, Dick — Dick, tell me — was I very bad ? 
 I don't know what came over me, but I think I must have 
 felt what the mad feel. I could not — no, I could not — re- 
 strain myself. I really couldn't. But tell me — tell me, 
 Dick — did I strike you? I remember something — yes, I 
 remember that the doctor came, at least I think it was a 
 doctor, but it is all confused in my head. Tell me, what 
 did he say ? " 
 
 " He said that if you did not take care something very 
 serious would happen." 
 
 " Yes, yes, I know," sobbed Kate ; "I am making your 
 life miserable, yet I love you better than anything in the 
 world. It is very horrible, very terrible, and yet I can't 
 help myself." 
 
 "I know, that's just what the doctor said;" and after 
 pausing so as to give his words time to strike well home 
 he took off his hat and showed the linen bandages. 
 
 The effect was magical. With eyes staring with horror 
 Kate rose to her feet. 
 
 " Oh ! oh ! oh ! " she exclaimed, pressing her hands to her 
 face; then, withdrawing them, she looked round the room 
 anxiously, wildly, seeking unconsciously for the weapon 
 she had used. But the very action forced her to realize 
 the truth, and in a lightning instant she saw that she had 
 attempted her husband's life. 
 
 " Dick ! Dick ! " she screamed, " is it possible that it was 
 I who did that ? Ah ! yes, I remember I took the — " She 
 could not finish the sentence for shame. 
 
 " Well, dear," said Dick, as cautiously as a man who was 
 playing dice with his life at stake, " it was not your fault." 
 
 Not understanding she looked at him, and repeated the 
 words after him. "Not mv fault?"
 
 422 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 He felt that the slightest imprudence of phrase might 
 ruin him ; and, thinking that he had better be confidential, 
 he said, " Well dear, it was not your fault. You hadn't 
 the least idea of what you were doing — at least the doctor 
 said so ; but he also said that you would get well if you took 
 care of yourself." 
 
 A gray cloud passed over Kate's face, and she asked 
 calmly, but with intense emotion, " Dick, tell me — I be- 
 seech of you tell me truly what he said. Did he say that I 
 was mad ? " 
 
 Without answering this too direct question, Dick told in 
 brief phrases how she had commenced by breaking the fur- 
 niture, and then how she had caught up the poker, swearing 
 she would kill him ; and resolved to bend her to his wishes, 
 he insisted that it was only by the merest chance he had 
 escaped with his life. The conversation was interrupted 
 by sobs and protestations, and Kate allowed her arms to 
 fall across Dick's knees in picturesque movements full of 
 a grand despair. 
 
 With a thousand kind words he soothed, he consoled; 
 over and over again he hinted that it was not her fault, 
 venturing even to insinuate that she was not responsible 
 for her actions. 
 
 " Then I am really downright mad ? " said Kate, rais- 
 ing her tear-stained face from her arms. " Did the doctor 
 say so ? " 
 
 This was by far too direct a question for Dick to answer, 
 and he preferred to equivocate. 
 
 " Well, my dear — mad ? He didn't say that you were 
 alwa3's mad, but he said you were liable to fits, and that if 
 you didn't take care those fits would grow upon you, and 
 you would become " 
 
 Then he hesitated as he always did before a direct state- 
 ment. 
 
 " But what did he say I must do to get well ? " 
 
 " He advised, he suggested, that you should go and live 
 in some place where you would not be able to get hold of 
 any liquor; some place, you know, where you would be 
 looked after."
 
 A Mummer's Wife 423 
 
 u 
 
 You mean a madhouse. Oh, Dick! you wouldn't put 
 me in a madhouse, would you ? " 
 
 "Of course, my dear, I would not put you anywhere 
 where you did not like to go; but he said nothing about 
 a madhouse." 
 
 "What did he say, then?" 
 
 " He spoke merely of one of those houses which are under 
 medical supervision, and where any one can go and live 
 for a time; a kind of hospital, you know." 
 
 The argument was continued for an hour or more. 
 Weeping, Kate protested against being locked up as a mad 
 woman ; while he, conscious of the strong hold he had over 
 her, reminded her in a thousand ways of the terrible danger 
 she ran of awakening one morning to find herself a mur- 
 deress. Yet it is difficult, no matter how irrefutable the 
 reasons advanced may be, to persuade anyone to voluntarily 
 enter a lunatic asylum; and it was not until Dick on one 
 side skilfully threatened her with separation, and tempted 
 her on the other with the hope of being cured of her vice 
 and living with him happily ever afterwards, that she con- 
 sented to enter Dr. — 's private asylum, Craven street, 
 Bloomsbury. But even then the battle was not won, for 
 when he suggested going off there at once, he very nearly 
 brought another fit of passion down on his head. It was 
 only the extreme lassitude and debility produced from the 
 excesses of last night that saved him. She was now as help- 
 less, as limp, as a wet chicken. 
 
 " Oh, Dick, dear ! if you only knew how I love you ! I 
 would give my last drop of blood to save you from harm." 
 
 "I know you would, dear; it is the fault of that con- 
 founded drink," he answered, his heart tense with the hope 
 of being rid of her. Then the packing began. Kate, sit- 
 ting disconsolate on the sofa, watched Dick folding up her 
 dresses and petticoats. It seemed to her that everything had 
 ended, and wearily she collected the pearls which had been 
 scattered, in last night's skirmishing, from their string. 
 But some had been trodden on, others were lost. Only 
 about half the original number could be found, and this 
 accident appeared to her to be infinitely sad., and to foretell 
 still further unhappiness.
 
 424 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 The drive to the asylum in the cab was also very piteous. 
 Shaken with nervousness and lassitude, Kate cried and 
 wrung her hands. Dick sat next her, huge, kind, and in- 
 different, even as the world itself. 
 
 But you will come and see me? You promise me that 
 you will come — that you will come very often ? " 
 
 " Yes, dear, I'll come two or three times a week ; but I 
 hope that you'll be well soon — very soon."
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 |HE hope Dick thus kindly expressed, that his wife 
 would soon be well enough to return to him, was, 
 of course, neither more nor less than a lie — a simple 
 and unadulterated untruth. Fondly he looked 
 upon the house in Bloomsbury as the panacea of all his 
 woes, and fervidly he prayed that she would never cross 
 its doors again. But in this he was quickly and cruelly 
 disappointed. Before two days were over — two days that 
 appeared to him heaven, so blissful was their calm — he 
 received a letter from the asylum, saying that Mrs. Len- 
 nox was not in the least insane, and would have to be dis- 
 charged. The letter slipped from him, his head sank on 
 his arm, and he remained prostrate, stunned, dizzy, like 
 one who has received a violent blow on the head. Very 
 soon after, Kate entered the room. He raised his head and 
 looked at her. Interpreting that look at once, she said, 
 and in an intonation of voice that was full of supreme 
 sorrow — 
 
 " Well, Dick, I see you are very sorry to have me back 
 again." 
 
 The simple words took an awful importance in the situ- 
 ation. It was like the cry of the chorus in the Greek tragedy 
 against the mystery and inflexibility of fate. 
 
 Our lives run in grooves; we get into one and we follow 
 it out to the end. And the man answered just what might 
 have been expected he would have answered. 
 
 " I don't know that I am, dear ; if you would not give 
 way to those fits of jealousy we might get on all right." 
 
 For the word drunkenness, jealousy was as usual sub- 
 stituted. And why ? Because he could not bring himself to 
 say anything that would hurt her feelings. 
 
 Kate threw herself on her knees; she took his hand in 
 hers, she leaned her face against his, and in brief, passionate 
 phrases she promised everything she could for the moment
 
 426 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 think of. She vowed above all that she never would touch 
 a drop of gin again. Oh ! it was that that was the ruin of 
 her. Had it not been for that, they might be happy now as 
 they were long ago at Blackpool, and at Manchester where 
 their child was born. Oh, that poor child ! Had it lived, 
 had it only lived, she would not be what she was now. 
 Yes, yes, it was better to admit the truth ; she had neglected 
 it, and it was drink and those love stories that had made 
 her a bad mother, as she was now a bad wife. She was not 
 afraid, although it nearly broke her heart to confess these 
 things ; but, as the proverb said, " Better late than never," 
 and she was determined to turn over a new leaf. Never 
 again would she touch a drop of gin. Ah ! that was the 
 principal thing. He did not believe her? Well, she did 
 not blame him, for she had broken her promise so many 
 times; but this time was not like the other times, and he 
 must — it would be cruel of him not to believe her. Yes, 
 yes, she had been fearfully wicked from the very first ; but 
 there was no use talking of that, and she was determined 
 to prove herself a good wife, at least to one man. The other 
 she didn't love, but Dick she did. Yes, with a love that was 
 more than anything she could explain. 
 
 Dick's face expressed that on this point he had no doubt 
 whatever. Indeed, it was the truth of her statement that 
 he seemed to deplore, and reverting to his original idea 
 he said : — 
 
 " Yes, my dear, but those jealous fits are terrible. You 
 know I must look after my business, and by going down to 
 the theatre and kicking up a row with me about Mrs. Forest 
 you are only taking the bread out of my mouth." 
 
 "I know, Dick, I know," cried Kate passionately; "but 
 I promise you that I never will again. You may go where 
 you please, and do what you please, I will never say a word 
 to you again ; I know it is no use." 
 
 In his heart of hearts Dick did not believe she would 
 ever again be able to control her temper, but knowing well 
 that the expression of such an opinion would only excite 
 her, he, although unable to persuade himself that there 
 was much hope of peace for him in the future, as a weary 
 packman his pack, as a captured convict hi6 chains, took up
 
 A Mummer's Wife 427 
 
 the now almost unbearable fetters of a drunken married 
 life, resigned to trudge a little farther along the road that 
 extended its apparently endless and horrible length before 
 him. 
 
 Nevertheless, for many days Kate tried hard to keep 
 her promises; for more than a fortnight she was as nice 
 and as quiet as a man might wish a woman to be, until 
 even sceptical Dick began to lull himself with false hopes 
 of reformation. One evening, however, he noticed that she 
 looked more sullen than usual, that her eyes dropped as if 
 — the thought struck him hard — she had been drinking. 
 When once women give way there is no stopping them ; 
 and then followed a whole month of a life so wild that it 
 can only be compared to a lurid and fearful storm of wind 
 and lightning. Not a single day passed without some scene 
 of violence. On one occasion she ran at him with a knife, 
 and he had only just time to ward off the blow. The house 
 rang with shrieks and cries of all sorts. They were driven 
 from one lodging house to another. Everything was 
 pawned — trousers, dresses, hats, boots, shoes, her own as 
 well as his. It was at once comic and pitiful to see Dick, 
 with one of the tails of his coat lost in a scrimmage, talk- 
 ing at three o'clock in the morning to the dispassionate 
 policeman, whilst from the top windows the high treble 
 voice of a woman disturbed the sullen tranquillity of the 
 London night. There were times, of course, between these 
 paroxysms of fury when she grew repentant and begged of 
 her husband to forgive her. But there was no help for her 
 now. The latent germ of hysteria that the life of quietude 
 and work that she had led with Ealph Ede had kept in 
 check, the life of excitement and dissipation she had led 
 with Dick Lennox had developed, until the disease had 
 culminated in drink, and recovery seemed hopeless. Lat- 
 terly, too, great physical changes had been wrought in her. 
 Her plump, pigeon-like figure had grown thin and almost 
 angular. She suffered at times terribly from want of rest, 
 and towards morning would awake screaming from the 
 most terrible nightmares. Food she could not touch ex- 
 cept after drink, and her nervous system was terribly de- 
 ranged; it was as if a quantity of bell-wires had got so
 
 428 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 entangled and twisted that to touch them was impossible 
 without awakening a jangle, and always the peal came from 
 where you least expected it. But amid the ever-increasing 
 number of exciting influences, Dick remained the most 
 ruinous ; now even to see him was sufficient to set her trem- 
 bling with passion, or, to speak more correctly, acute nervous 
 excitement. The very love she bore for the man was, it 
 seemed, the cause of the disease — as it were, the battery 
 whence all these terribly hysterical storms proceeded. In 
 her sober moments, or rather in her calm moments — for 
 now passion and drunkenness had become so inextricably 
 mixed that it was impossible to distinguish where one 
 began and the other ended — no one deplored more than 
 she did the utter ungovernableness of her temper; but of 
 resistance to it she could offer no more than a leaf does 
 to the blast that bears it away. And yet Dick continued 
 with her — continued to allow himself to be beaten, scratched, 
 torn to pieces almost as he would be by a wild beast. Hu- 
 man nature can habituate itself even to pain, and it was so 
 with him. He knew that his present life was as a Nes- 
 sus shirt on his back, and yet he couldn't make up his 
 mind to have done with it. In the first place, he pitied 
 his wife; in the second, he did not know how to leave 
 her; and it was not until after another row with Kate 
 for having been down to the theatre that he sum- 
 moned up courage to walk out of the house with a fixed 
 determination never again to return. Kate at the time 
 was too tipsy to pay much attention to the announcement 
 he made to her as he left the room. Besides, " Wolf ! " 
 had been cried so often that it had now lost its terror in 
 her ears, and it was not until next day that she began to 
 experience any very certain fear that Dick and she had 
 at last parted forever. But when, with a clammy, thirsty 
 mouth, she sat rocking herself wearily, and the long idle- 
 ness of the morning hours became haunted with irritating 
 remembrances of her shameful conduct, of the cruel and 
 abominable life she led the man she loved, that the black 
 gulf of eternal separation became, as it were, etched upon 
 her mind ; and she heard the cold depths reverberating 
 with vain words and foolish prayers. Then her thin
 
 A Mummer's Wife 429 
 
 hands trembled on her black dress, and waves of shivering 
 passed over her. Involuntarily she thought that a little 
 brandy might give her strength, and as soon hated herself 
 for the thought. It was brandy that had brought her to 
 this. She would never touch it again. But Dick had not 
 left her forever ; he would come back to her ; she could not 
 live without him. It was terrible ! She would go to him, 
 and on her knees beg his pardon for all she had done. He 
 would forgive her; he must forgive her. Such were the 
 fugitive thoughts that flashed through Kate's mind as she 
 hurried to and fro, seeking for her bonnet and shawl. 
 She would go down to the theatre and find him j there she 
 would be sure to hear news of him, she said, as she strove 
 to brush away the mist that obscured her eyes. She could 
 see nothing; things seemed to change their places, and she 
 was forced to cling to any piece of furniture within reach, 
 so terrible were the palpitations of her heart. There at 
 last, however, subsided, and by walking very slowly she 
 contrived to reach the stage-door of the Opera Comique, 
 feeling very weak and ill. 
 
 " Is Mr. Lennox in ? " she asked, at the same time try- 
 ing to look conciliatingly at the hard-faced hall-keeper. 
 
 " No, ma'am, he ain't," was the reply. 
 
 " Who attended the rehearsal to-day, then ? " 
 
 " There was no rehearsal to-day, ma'am — leastways, Mr. 
 Lennox dismissed the rehearsal at half-past twelve." 
 
 "And why?" 
 
 " Ah ! that I cannot tell you." 
 
 " Could you tell me where Mr. Lennox would be likely 
 to be found ? " 
 
 " Indeed I could not, ma'am ; I believe he's gone into 
 the country." 
 
 " Gone into the country ! " echoed Kate. 
 
 " But may I ask, ma'am, if you be Mrs. Lennox ? because 
 if you be, Mr. Lennox left a letter to be given to you in 
 case you called." 
 
 Her eyes brightened at the idea of a letter. To know the 
 worst would be better than a horrible uncertainty, and she 
 said eagerly —
 
 430 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 "Yes, I am Mrs. Lennox; give me the letter.'" 
 The hall-keeper handed it to her, and she walked out of 
 the narrow passage into the street, so as to be free from 
 observation. With anxious fingers she tore open the ill— 
 shapen, commercial-looking enevelope, and read, 
 
 " My Dear Kate, — 
 
 " It must be now as elear to you as it is to me that it is quite im- 
 possible for us to go on living together. There is no use in our again 
 discussing the whys and the wherefores ; we had much better accept 
 the facts of the case in silence, and mutually save each other the pain 
 of trying to alter what cannot be altered. 
 
 " I have arranged to allow you two pounds a week. This sum will 
 be paid to you every Saturday, by applying to Messrs. Jackson & Co., 
 Solicitors, Arundel Street, Strand. 
 
 " Yours very affectionately, 
 
 " Richard Lennox." 
 
 Mechanically Kate repeated the last words, and she 
 walked gloomily through the glare of the day. A terrible 
 sense of loneliness, of desolation, was created in her heart. 
 For her the world seemed to have ended, and she saw 
 the streets and passers-by with the same vague, irrespon- 
 sible gaze as a solitary figure would the universal ruin 
 caused by an earthquake. Enwrapped in a winding-sheet 
 of sorrow, she seemed to be walking alone in a dark dream. 
 She had no friends, no occupation, no interest of any kind 
 in life. Everything had slipped from her, and she shivered 
 with a sense of nakedness, of moral destitution. Xothing 
 was left to her, and yet she felt, she lived, she was con- 
 scious. Oh yes, horribly conscious. And that was the 
 worst; and she asked herself why she could not pass out 
 of sight, out of hearing and feeling of all the crying misery 
 with which she was surrounded. 
 
 For the moment hope had deserted her. She did not 
 think of being reconciled to her husband, but abandoned 
 herself feebly to the presentiment that she would never 
 see him again. No thought was figurate or determinate, 
 and in a state of emotive somnambulism she walked 
 through the crowds. Suddenly she was startled from her 
 dreams by hearing a voice calling after her, " Kate ! Kate ! 
 — Mrs. Lennox ! "
 
 A Mummer's Wife -iol 
 
 It was Montgomery. 
 
 " I am so glad to have met you — so glad, indeed, for we 
 have not seen much of each other. I don't know how it 
 was, but somehow it seemed to me that Dick did not want 
 me to go and see you. T never could make out why, for he 
 couldn't have been jealous of me," he added a little bitterly. 
 " But perhaps you have not heard that it is all up as re- 
 gards my piece at the Opera Comique," he continued, not 
 noticing Kate's dejection in his excitement. 
 
 " No, I haven't heard," she answered mechanically. 
 
 " It doesn't matter much, though, for I have just been 
 down to the Gayety, and pretty well settled that it is to be 
 done in Manchester, at the Prince's ; so you see I don't let 
 the grass grow under my feet, for my row with Mrs. Forest 
 only occurred this morning. But what's the matter, Kate ? 
 what has happened ? " 
 
 " Oh, nothing, nothing. Tell me about Mrs. Forest 
 first; I want to know." 
 
 " Well, it is the funniest thing you ever heard in your 
 life : but you won't tell Dick, because he forbade me ever to 
 speak to you about Mrs. Forest — not that there is any- 
 thing but business between them ; that I swear to you. But 
 do tell me, Kate, what is the matter? I never saw you 
 look so sad in my life. Have you had any bad news?" 
 
 " No, no. Tell me about Mrs. Forest and your piece ; 
 I want to hear," she exclaimed excitedly. 
 
 " Well, this is it," said Montgomery, who saw in a glance 
 that she was not to be contradicted, and that he had better 
 get on with his story. " In the first place, you know that 
 the old creature has gone in for writing librettos herself, 
 and has finished one about Buddhism. You never saw such 
 a thing in your life ; the opening chorus is Mty lines long, 
 and she won't cut one; but I'll tell you about that after. 
 Well, I was to get one hundred for setting this blessed 
 production to music, and it was to follow my own piece, 
 which was in rehearsal. Well, like a great fool, I was 
 explaining to Dubois the bosh I was writing by the yard 
 for this infernal opera of hers. I couldn't help it; she 
 wouldn't take advice on any point. She has written the 
 song of the Sun-god in hexameters. I don't know what
 
 432 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 hexameters are, but I would as soon set Bradshaw — leav- 
 ing St. Pancras nine twenty-five, arriving at — ha ! ha ! ha ! 
 — with a puff, puff accompaniment on the trombone." 
 
 "For goodness sake don't torture me; go on with the 
 story/' cried Kate. 
 
 "Well, I was explaining all this," said Montgomery, 
 suddenly growing serious, " when out she darted from be- 
 lling the other wing. I never knew she was there. She 
 called me a thief, and said she would not have me another 
 five minutes in her theatre. Monti, the Italian composer, 
 was sent for. I was shoved out, bag and baggage, and 
 there will be no more rehearsals till the new music is 
 ready. That's all." 
 
 " I am very sorry for you — very sorry," said Kate very 
 quietly, and she raised her hand to brush away a tear. 
 
 " Oh, I don't care ; I'd sooner have the piece done in 
 Manchester. Of course it is a bore, losing a hundred 
 pounds. But, oh, Kate! do tell me what's the matter; 
 you know you can confide in me; you know I am your 
 friend." 
 
 At these kind words the cold deadly grief that encircled 
 Kate's heart like a band of steel melted, and she wept pro- 
 fusely. Drawing her arm into his, Montgomery pleaded 
 and begged to be told the reason of these tears; but she 
 could make no answer, and, with a passionate gesture, 
 she pressed Dick's letter into his hand. He read it at a 
 glance, and then hesitated, unable to make up his mind 
 as to what he should do. No words seemed to him adequate 
 wherewith to console her, and she was sobbing so bitterly 
 that it was beginning to attract attention in the streets. 
 They walked on without speaking for a few yards, Kate 
 leaning upon Montgomery until a hackney coachman, 
 guessing that something was wrong, signed to them with 
 his whip. 
 
 " Where are you living, dear ? " 
 
 Kate told him with some difficulty, and having directed 
 the driver, he lapsed again into considering what course 
 he should adopt. He was leaving London for Manchester 
 by the six-thirty express. To put off the journey was im- 
 possible; Dick had promised to meet him there. It was
 
 A Mummer's Wife 43o 
 
 now three o'clock. He had therefore, three hours to spend 
 with Kate — with the woman whom he had loved stead- 
 fastly throughout a loveless life. He had no word of 
 blame for Dick; he had heard stories that had made his 
 blood run cold ; and yet, and even now, knowing her faults 
 as he did, had it been possible, he would have opened his 
 arms, and crying through the fervor of years of waiting, 
 said to her, " Yes, I will believe in you ; believe in me and 
 you shall be happy." There had never been a secret 
 between them; their souls had been forever as if in com- 
 munication; and the love, unacknowledged in words, had 
 long been as sunlight and moonlight, lighting the spaces 
 of their dream-life. To the woman it had been as a dis- 
 tant star whose pale light was in hours of vexation a 
 'presage of quietude; to the man it seemed as a far Ely- 
 sium radiant with sweet longing, large hopes that waxed 
 but never waned, and where the sweet breezes of eternal 
 felicitude blew in musical cadence. 
 
 And yet he was deceived in nothing. He knew now as 
 he had known before, that although this dream might 
 haunt him forever, he should never hold it in his arms 
 nor press it to his lips; and in the midst of this surging 
 tide of misery there arose a desire that, glad in its own 
 anguish, bade him increase the bitterness of these last 
 hours by making a confession of his suffering; — and, 
 exulting savagely in the martyrdom he was preparing for 
 himself, he said — 
 
 " You know. Kate — I know you must know — you must 
 have guessed that I care for you. I may as well tell you 
 the truth now — you are the only woman I ever loved." 
 
 " Yes," she said, " I always thought you cared for me. 
 You have been very kind — oh ! very kind, and I often 
 think of it. Ah ! everybody has, all my life long, been very 
 good to me ; it is I alone who am to blame, who am in fault. 
 I have, I know I have, been very wicked, and I don't know 
 why. I did not mean it ; I know I didn't, for I am not at 
 heart a wicked woman. I suppose things must have gone 
 against me; that's about all." 
 
 Montgomery pushed his glasses higher on his nose; his 
 face grew ludicrous in its expression of sorrow; but it 
 28
 
 434 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 mattered little now whether he were handsome or ugly. 
 After a long silence, he said : 
 
 :c I have often thought that had you met me before you 
 knew Dick, things might have been different. We should 
 have got on better, although you might never have loved 
 me so well." 
 
 Kate raised her eyes, and she said : 
 
 ' No one will ever know how I loved, how I still love 
 that man. Oftentimes I think that had I loved him less 
 I should have been a better wife. He loved me, I think, 
 but it was not the love I dreamed of. Like you, I was 
 always sentimental, and Dick never cared for that sort of 
 thing." 
 
 " I think I should have understood you better," said 
 Montgomery; and the conversation came to a pause. A 
 vision of the life of devotion spent at the feet of an ideal 
 lover, that life of sacrifice and tenderness which had been 
 her dream, and which she had so utterly failed to attain, 
 again rose up to tantalize her like a glittering mirage ; and 
 she could not help wondering whether, if she had chosen 
 this other man, she would have realized this beautiful, 
 this wonderful might-have-been. 
 
 "But I suppose you will make it up with Dick," said 
 Montgomery somewhat harshly. 
 
 Kate awoke from her reverie with a start, and answered 
 sorrowfully that she did not know, that she was afraid 
 Dick would never forgive her again. 
 
 " I do not remember if I told you that I am going to see 
 him in Manchester; he promised to go up there to make 
 some arrangements about my piece." 
 
 " No, you did not tell me." 
 
 " Well, I will speak to him. I will tell him I have seen 
 you. I fancy I shall be able to make it all right," he 
 added, with a feeble smile. 
 
 " Oh ! how good you are — how good you are," cried Kate, 
 clasping her hands. " If he will only forgive me once again, 
 I'll promise, I'll swear to him never to — to " 
 
 Here Kate stopped abashed, and burying her face in her 
 hands, she wept bitterly. The tenderness, the melancholy 
 serenity of their interview, had somehow suddenly come
 
 A Mummer's Wife 485 
 
 to an end. Each was too much occupied with his or her 
 thoughts to talk much, and the effort to find phrases grew 
 more and more irritating. Both were very sad, and al- 
 though they sighed when the clock struck the hour of 
 farewell, they felt that to pass from one pain to another 
 was in itself an assuagement. Kate accompanied Mont- 
 gomery to the station. He seemed to her to be out of 
 temper; she to him to be farther away than ever. The 
 explanation that had taken place between them, had, if 
 not broken, at least altered the old bonds of sympathy, 
 without creating new ones; and they were discontented, 
 even like children who remember for the first time that to- 
 day is not yesterday. 
 
 They felt lonely watching the parallel lines of plat- 
 forms; and when Montgomery waved his hand for the last 
 time, and the train rolled into the luminous arch of sky 
 that lay beyond the glass roofing, Kate turned away over- 
 powered by grief and cruel recollections. When she got 
 home, the solitude of her room became unbearable; she 
 wanted someone to see, someone to console her. She had 
 a few shillings in her pocket, but she remembered her 
 resolutions, and for some time resented the imperious 
 clutch of the temptation. But the sorrow that hung about 
 her, that penetrated like a corrosive acid into the very 
 marrow of her bones, grew momentarily more burning, 
 more endurable. Twenty times she tried to wrench it out 
 of her heart. The landlady brought her up some tea : she 
 could not drink it: it tasted like soapsuds in her mouth. 
 Then, knowing well what the results would be, she re- 
 solved to go out for a walk. 
 
 Next day she was ill, and, to pull herself together, it was 
 necessary to have a drink. It would not do to look too 
 great a sight in the solicitor's office where Dick had told 
 her in his letter to go to get her money. There she found 
 not two, but five, pounds awaiting her, and this enabled 
 her to keep up a state of semi-intoxication until the end 
 of the week. She at last woke up almost speechless, suffer- 
 ing terribly from palpitation of the heart. Fortunately, 
 the bell-rope was at hand. Constant waves of shivering 
 passed over her, and when the landlady came to her bed-
 
 436 A. Mummer's Wife 
 
 side, she nearly lost her balance and fell to the ground, 
 so strenuously did Kate lean and cling to her for support. 
 The woman was frightened at the appearance her lodger 
 presented. The large eyes were hollow and lustreless, and 
 the plump olive complexion was now thin and dragged, 
 and full of dirty yellow tints. After gasping painfully 
 for some moments, Kate muttered: 
 
 " Oh, oh ! I am afraid I am dying. I am very ill." 
 
 " But what is the matter ? " 
 
 " Oh, these palpitations ! they — they are dreadful ! And 
 I have a pain in my side." 
 
 " Would you like to see the doctor ? " 
 
 " I don't know ; perhaps it might be as well." 
 
 " Shall I send at once, then ? " 
 
 " No, not at once. What do you think ? Suppose you 
 .pour me out a little brandy and water; and I'll see how 
 I am in the course of the day." 
 
 The woman did as she was desired; and when the drink 
 had taken its effect, Kate declared she felt better. If it 
 were not for the pain in her side and shoulder she'd be all 
 right. 
 
 The landlady looked a little incredulous ; but her lodger 
 had only been with her a fortnight, and so carefully had 
 the brandy been hidden, and the inebriety concealed, that 
 although she had her doubts, she was not yet satisfied that 
 Kate was an habitual drunkard. Certainly, the appear- 
 ances were against Mrs. Lennox ; but as regards the brandy 
 bottle, she had watched it very carefully, and was con- 
 vinced that scarcely more than sixpenny worth of liquor 
 went out of it daily. The good woman did not know how 
 it was replenished from another bottle that came some- 
 times from under the mattress, sometimes out of the chim- 
 ney. And the disappearance of the husband was very 
 satisfactorily accounted for by the announcement that he 
 had gone to Manchester to produce a new piece. Besides, 
 Mrs. Lennox was a very nice person, and it was a pleasure 
 to attend to her, and during the course of the afternoon 
 Mrs. White, the landlady, called several times at the sec- 
 ond floor to inquire after her lodger's health. 
 
 But there was no change for the better. Looking the
 
 A Mummer's Wife 437 
 
 picture of wretchedness, Kate lay back in her chair, declar- 
 ing in low moans that she never felt so ill in her life — that 
 the pain in her side was killing her. At first, Mrs. White 
 seemed inclined to make light of all this complaining, but 
 towards evening she began to grow alarmed, and strenu- 
 ously urged that the doctor should be sent for. 
 
 " I assure you, ma'am," she said, " it is always better to 
 see a doctor. The money is never thrown away; for even 
 if there's nothing serious the matter, it eases one's mind 
 to be told so." 
 
 Kate was generally easy to persuade, but fearing that 
 her secret drinking would be discovered, she declined for 
 a long time to take medical advice. At last, however, she 
 was obliged to give away, and the die having been cast, she 
 commenced to think how she might conceal part of the 
 truth. Something of the coquetry of the actress returned 
 to her, and, getting up from her chair, she went over to 
 the glass to examine herself. She was horrified at the 
 appearance she presented, and as she brushed back her 
 hair, she said very sorrowfully: 
 
 "I am a complete wreck. I can't think what's the 
 matter with me, and I have lost all my hair. You have no 
 idea, Mrs. White, of the beautiful hair I used to have; it 
 used to fall in armfuls over my shoulders; now, it is no 
 more than a wisp." 
 
 " I think you have a great deal yet," returned Mrs. 
 White, not wishing to discourage her. 
 
 " And how yellow I am, too ! " 
 
 To this Mrs. White mumbled something that was in- 
 audible, and Kate thought suddenly of her rouge-pot and 
 hare's-foot. Her " make-up," and all her little souvenirs 
 of Dick, lay securely packed away in an old band-box. 
 
 " Mrs. White," she said, " might I ask you to get me a 
 jug of hot water ? " 
 
 When the woman left the room, everything was spread 
 hurriedly over the toilet-table. To see her, one would have 
 thought that the call-boy had knocked at the door for the 
 second time. A thin coating of cold cream was passed over 
 the face and neck ; then the powder-puff changed what was 
 yellow into white, and the hare's-foot gave a sweet bloom
 
 4:38 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 to the cheeks. The pencil was not necessary, her eyebrows 
 being by nature dark and well-defined. Then all dis- 
 appeared again into the band-box, a drain was taken out 
 of the bottle whilst she listened to steps on the stairs, and 
 she had just time to get back to her chair when the doctor 
 entered. She felt quite prepared to receive him. Mrs. 
 White, who had come up at the same time, looked uneasily 
 around; and, after hesitating about the confines of the 
 room, she put the water- jug on the rosewood cabinet, and 
 said — 
 
 " I think I'll leave you alone with the doctor, ma'am ; 
 if you want me you'll ring." 
 
 Mr. Hooper was a short, stout man, with a large bald 
 forehead, and long black hair; his small eyes were watch- 
 ful as a ferret's, and his fat chubby hands were constantlv 
 laid on his knee-caps. 
 
 " I met Mrs. White's servant in the street," he said, 
 looking at Kate as if he were trying to read through the 
 rouge on her face, " so I came at once. Mrs. White, with 
 whom I was speaking downstairs, tells me that you are 
 suffering from a pain in your side." 
 
 " Yes. doctor, on the right side : and I have not been 
 feeling very well lately." 
 
 " Is vour appetite good ? Will vou let me feel your 
 pulse?" 
 
 " No, I have scarcely any appetite at all — particularly 
 in the morning. I can't touch anything for breakfast." 
 
 "Don't vou care to drink anvthing? Aren't you 
 thirsty?" 
 
 Kate would have liked to have told a lie, but fearing 
 that she might endanger her life by doing so, she 
 answered. 
 
 "Oh, yes! I am constantlv very thirsty." 
 
 "Especially at night-time?" 
 
 It was irritating to have your life thus read: and Kate 
 felt angry when she saw this dispassionate man watching 
 the brandy-bottle, which she had forgotten to put away. 
 
 " Do you ever find it necessary to take any stimulant ? " 
 
 Grasping nl the word "necessary." she replied. 
 
 "Yes. doctor: my life isn't a very happy one, and I
 
 A Mummer'* Wife 439 
 
 often feel so low, so depressed as it were, that if I didn't 
 take a little something to keep me up I think I should do 
 away with myself." 
 
 " Your husband is an actor, I believe ? " 
 "Yes; but he's at present up in Manchester, produc- 
 ing a new piece. I am on the stage, too. I have been 
 playing a round of leading parts in the provinces, but 
 since I have been in London I have been out of an engage- 
 ment." 
 
 "I just asked you because I noticed you use a little 
 powder, you know, on the face. Of course, I can't judge at 
 present what your complexion is; but have you noticed 
 any yellowness about the skin lately ? " 
 
 The first instinct of a woman who drinks is to conceal 
 her vice, and although she was talking to a doctor, Kate 
 was again conscious of a feeling of resentment against 
 the merciless eyes which saw through all the secrets of her 
 life. But, cowed, as it were, by the certitude expressed by 
 the doctor's looks and words, she strove to equivocate, and 
 answered humbly that she had noticed that her skin was 
 not looking as clear as it used to. Dr. Hooper then ques- 
 tioned her further. He asked if she suffered from a sense 
 of uncomfortable tension, fulness, weight especially after 
 meals ; if she felt any pain in her right shoulder ? and she 
 had to confess that he was right in all his surmises. 
 
 "Do tell me, doctor, what is the matter with me? I 
 would really, I assure you, much sooner know the worst." 
 
 But the doctor did not seem inclined to be communica- 
 tive, and he merely mumbled, in reply to her question, 
 something to the effect that the liver was out of order. 
 
 " I will send you over some medicine this evening," he 
 said, " and if you do not feel better to-morrow send round 
 for me, and do not attempt to get up. I think," he added, 
 as he took up his hat to go, " I shall be able to put you all 
 right. But you must follow my instructions; you must 
 not frighten yourself, and take as little of that stimulant 
 as you can help." 
 
 Kate answered that it was not her custom to take too 
 much, and she tried to look surprised at the warning. She 
 nevertheless derived a good deal of comfort from the
 
 440 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 doctors visit, and during the course of the evening suc- 
 ceeded in persuading herself that her fears of the morn- 
 ing were ill-founded, and, putting the medicine that was 
 sent her away for the present, she helped herself liberally 
 from a bottle that was drawn through a slit cut in the 
 carpet. The fact of having a long letter to write to Dick 
 to explain her conduct made it quite necessary that she 
 should take something to keep her up, and sitting in her 
 lonely room, she drank on steadily until midnight, until 
 she could only just drag her clothes from her back and 
 throw herself stupidly into bed. There she passed a fear- 
 some night — a night full of livid-hued nightmares, sudden 
 and lean horrors, from which she awoke shivering, and 
 suffering form terrible palpitations of the heart. The 
 silence of the house filled her with terrors, cold and obtuse 
 as the dreams from which she had awakened. Strength 
 to scream for help she had none; and thinking she was 
 going to die, she sought for relief and consolation in the 
 bottle that lay hidden under the carpet. When the drink 
 took effect upon her she broke out into a profuse perspira- 
 tion, and she managed to get a little sleep; but when her 
 breakfast was brought up about eleven o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, so ill did she seem that the servant, fearing she was 
 going to drop down dead, begged to be allowed to fetch 
 the doctor. Rejecting, however, all offers of assistance. 
 Kate lay moaning in an arm-chair, unable even to taste 
 the cup of tea that the maid pressed upon her. She con- 
 sented to take some of the medicines that had been or- 
 dered her, but whatever good they might have produced 
 was negatived by the constant nip-drinking she kept up 
 during the afternoon. The next day she was very ill in- 
 deed, and Mrs. White, greatly alarmed, insisted on send- 
 ing for Dr. Hooper. 
 
 He did not seem astonished at the change in his patient. 
 Calmly and quietly he watched for some moments in 
 silence. 
 
 The bed had window-curtains of a red and antiquated 
 material, and these contrasted with the paleness of the 
 sheets wherein Kate lay, tossing feverishly. Most of the 
 " make-up " had been rubbed away from her face ; and
 
 'A Mummer's Wife 441 
 
 through patches of red and white the yellow skin started 
 like blisters. She was slightly delirious, and when the 
 doctor took her hand to feel her pulse, gazing at him with 
 her big staring eyes, she spoke volubly and excitedly. 
 
 " Oh ! I am so glad you have come, for I wanted to speak 
 to you about my husband. I think I told you that he had 
 gone to Manchester to produce a new piece. I don't know 
 if I led you to suppose that he had deserted me, but if I 
 did I was wrong to do so, for he has done nothing of the 
 kind. It is true that we aren't very happy together, but 
 I daresay that is my fault. I never was, I know, as good 
 a wife to him as I had intended to be; but then he made 
 me jealous and sometimes I was mad. Yes, I think I must 
 have been mad to have spoken to him in the way I did. 
 Anyhow, it doesn't matter now, does it, doctor? But I 
 don't know what I am saying. Still, you won't mention 
 that I have told you anything. It is as likely as not that 
 he will forgive me, just as he did before ; and we may yet 
 be as happy as we were at Blackpool. You won't tell him, 
 will you, doctor ? " 
 
 "No, no, I will not," said Dr. Hooper, quietly and 
 firmly. " But you mustn't talk as much as you do ; if you 
 want to see your husband, you must get well first."' 
 
 " Oh, yes ! I must get well ; but tell me, doctor, how long 
 will that take?" 
 
 " Not very long, if you will keep quiet and do what I 
 tell you. I want you to tell me, how is the pain in your 
 side?" 
 
 " Very bad ; far worse than when I saw you last. I feel 
 it now in my right shoulder as well." 
 
 " But your side — is it sore when you touch it ? Will 
 you let me feel ? " 
 
 Without waiting for a reply, he passed his hand under 
 the sheet. 
 
 " Is it there that it pains you ? " 
 
 " Yes, yes. Oh ! you are hurting me." 
 
 Then the doctor walked aside with the landlady, who had 
 been watching the examination of the patient with anxious 
 eyes. She said:
 
 442 A Mummers Wife 
 
 " Do you think it is anything very dangerous ? Is it 
 contagious ? Had I better send her to the hospital ? " 
 
 " No, I should scarcely think it worth while doing that ; 
 she will be well in a week, that is to say if she is properly 
 looked after. She is suffering from acute congestion of 
 the liver, brought on by " 
 
 " By drink," said Mrs. White. " I suspected as much." 
 
 " You have too much to do, Mrs. White, with all your 
 children, to give up your time to nursing her ; I shall send 
 someone round as soon as possible, but, in the meantime, 
 will you see that her diet is regulated to half a cup of beef- 
 tea every hour or so. If she complains of thirst, let her 
 have some milk to drink, and you may mix a little brandy 
 with it. To-night I shall send round a sleeping draught." 
 
 " You're sure, doctor, there is nothing catching, for you 
 know, that with all my children in the house " 
 
 " You need not be alarmed, Mrs. White." 
 
 " But do you think, doctor, it will be an expensive ill- 
 ness? for I know very little about her circumstances." 
 
 " I expect she'll be all right in a week or ten days, but 
 what I fear for is her future. I've had a good deal of ex- 
 perience in such matters, and I have never known a case 
 of a woman who cured herself of the vice of intemperance. 
 A man sometimes, a woman never." 
 
 The landlady sighed and referred to all she had gone 
 through during poor Mr. White's lifetime; the doctor 
 spoke confidingly of a lady who was at present under his 
 charge; and, apparently overcome with pity for suffer- 
 ing humanity, they descended the staircase together. On 
 the doorstep the conversation was continued. 
 
 " Very well, then, doctor, I will take your advice ; but at 
 the end of a week or so, when she is quite recovered, I shall 
 tell her that I have let her rooms. For, as you say, a 
 woman rarely cures herself, and before the children the 
 example would be dreadful." 
 
 " I expect to see her on her feet in about that time, then 
 you can do as you please. I shall call to-morrow." 
 
 Next day the professional nurse took her place by the 
 bedside. The sinapism which the doctor ordered was ap- 
 plied to the hepatic region, and a small dose of calomel was 
 administered.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 443 
 
 Under this treatment she improved rapidly; but un- 
 fortunately, as her health returned her taste for drink 
 increased in a like proportion. Indeed, it was almost im- 
 possible to keep her from it, and on one occasion she tried 
 very cunningly to outwit the nurse, who had fallen asleep 
 in her chair. Waiting patiently until the woman's snor- 
 ing had become sufficiently regular to warrant the pos- 
 sibility of a successful attempt being made on the brandy- 
 bottle, Kate slipped noiselessly out of bed. Kate knew that 
 all the bottles stood in a line upon the chest of drawers, 
 but it was difficult to distinguish one from the other, and 
 the jingling she made as she fumbled amid them awoke 
 the nurse, who divining at once what was happening, arose 
 quickly from her chair and advancing rapidly towards her, 
 said : 
 
 " No, ma'am, I really can't allow it ; it is against the 
 doctor's orders." 
 
 " I'm not going to die of thirst to please any doctor. I 
 was only going to take a little milk. I suppose there is no 
 harm in that?" 
 
 " Not the least, ma'am, and if you had called me you 
 should have had it." 
 
 It was owing to this fortuitous intervention, when Dr. 
 Hooper called a couple of days after to see his patient, that 
 he was able to certify to a remarkable change for the better 
 in her. All the distressing symptoms had disappeared; 
 the pain in the side had died away; the complexion was 
 clearer. He therefore thought himself justified in order- 
 ing for her lunch a little fish and some weak brandy-and- 
 water; and to Kate, who had not eaten any solid food for 
 several days, this first meal took the importance of a very 
 exceptional event. Sitting by her bedside Dr. Hooper 
 spoke to her. 
 
 "Now, Mrs. Lennox," he said, " I want to give you a word 
 of warning. I have seen you through what I must specify 
 as a serious illness; dangerous I will not call it, although 
 I might do so if I were to look into the future and antici- 
 pate the development the disease will most certainly take, 
 unless, indeed, you will be guided by me, aDd make a vow 
 against all intoxicating liquors."
 
 444 'A Mummer's Wife 
 
 At this direct allusion to her vice Kate stopped eating, 
 and putting down the fork looked at the doctor. 
 
 " Now, Mrs. Lennox, you must not be angry," he con- 
 tinued in his kind way. " I am speaking to you in my 
 capacity as a medical man, and I must warn you against 
 the continuous nip drinking which, of course, I can see 
 you are in the habit of indulging in, and which was the 
 cause of the illness from which you are recovering. I will 
 not harrow your feelings by referring to all the cases that 
 have come under my notice where shame, disgrace, ruin, and 
 death were the result of that one melancholy failing — 
 drink." 
 
 " Oh, sir ! " cried Kate, broken-hearted, " if you only 
 knew how unhappy I have been, how miserable I am, you 
 would not speak to me so. I have my failing it is true, 
 but I am driven to it. I love my husband better than 
 anything in the world, and I see him mixed up always 
 with a lot of girls at the theatres, and it sends me mad. 
 and then I go to drink so as to forget." 
 
 " We have all got our troubles; but it does not relieve us 
 of the burden, it only makes us forget it for a short time, 
 and then, when consciousness returns to us, we only re- 
 member it all the more bitterly. No, Mrs. Lennox, take 
 my advice. In a few days, when you are well, go to your 
 husband, demand his forgiveness, and resolve then never 
 to touch spirits again." 
 
 " It is very good of you to speak to me in this way," 
 said Kate, tearfully, " and I will take our advice. The 
 very first day that I am strong enough to walk down to the 
 Strand I will go and see my husband, and if he will give 
 me another trial, he will not, I swear to you, have cause 
 to repent it. Oh ! " she continued, " you don't know how 
 good he has been to me, how he has borne with me. If 
 it hadn't been that he tried my temper by flirting with 
 other women we might have been happy now." 
 
 Then, as Kate proceeded to speak of her trials and temp- 
 tations, she grew more and more excited and hysterical, 
 until the doctor, fearing that she would bring on a relapse, 
 was forced to plead an engagement and wish her good-by. 
 
 As he left the room she cried after him, " The first day T 
 am well enough to go out I will go and see my husband."
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 HE next few days passed like dreams. Kate's 
 soul, tense with the longing for reconciliation, 
 floated at ease over the sordid miseries that lay 
 within and without her, and enraptured with 
 expectation, she lived in a beautiful paradise of hope. 
 
 So certain did she feel of being able to cross out, with 
 firm erasure, the last few years of her life, that her mind 
 was scarcely clouded by a doubt of the possibility of his 
 declining to forgive her — that he might even refuse to see 
 her. Charming the old days seemed to her, and looking 
 back, perfect even she seemed then to have been. There 
 her life appeared to have begun. She never thought of 
 Hanley now. Ralph and Mrs. Ede were like dim shadows 
 that had no concern in her existence. The potteries and 
 the hills were as the recollections of childhood, dim and 
 unimportant. The foot-lights and the applause of audi- 
 ences were also dying echoes in her ears. Her life for the 
 moment was concentrated in a loving memory of a Lanca- 
 shire seashore and a rose-colored room, where she used to 
 sit on the knees of the man she adored. The languors 
 and the mental weaknesses of convalescence were condu- 
 cive to this state of mental exaltation. She loved him 
 better than anyone else could love him; she would never 
 touch brandy again. He would take her back, and they 
 would live as did the lovers in all the novels she had ever 
 read. Like a scarf of white mist hanging around the face 
 of a radiant morning, these allusions filled Kate's mind, 
 and as she lay back amid the pillows, or sat dreaming by 
 the fireside in the long evenings that were no longer lonely 
 to her, she formed plans, and considered how she should 
 plead to Dick in this much-desired interview. During this 
 period dozens of letters were written and destroyed, and it 
 was not until the time had arrived for her to go to the the- 
 atre to see him that she could decide upon what she could
 
 4-ib' A Mummer's Wife 
 
 write. Then hastily she scribbled a note, but her hand 
 trembled so much that before she had said half what she 
 intended the paper was covered with blotted jmd blurred 
 lines. 
 
 " It will not do to let him think I am drunk again," 
 she said to herself, as she threw aside what she had written 
 and read over one of her previous efforts. It ran as 
 follows : — 
 
 " My Dabling Dick, 
 
 " You will, I am sure, be sorry to hear that I have been very ill. 
 I am now, however, much better ; indeed, I may say quite recovered. 
 During my illness I have been thinking over our quarrels, and I now 
 see how badly, how wickedly, I have behaved to you on many occa- 
 sions. I do not know, and I scarcely dare to hope that you will ever 
 forgive me, but I trust that you will not refuse to see me for a few 
 minutes. I have, I assure you, not tasted spirits for some weeks, so 
 you need not fear I will kick up a row. I will promise to be very 
 
 ?uiet. I will not reproach you, nor get excited, nor raise my voice, 
 shall be very good, and will not detain you but for a very short 
 time. You will not, you cannot, oh, my darling ! deny me this one 
 little request — to see you again, although only for a few minutes. 
 
 '• Your affectionate wife, 
 
 " Kate." 
 
 Compared with the fervid thoughts of her brain, these 
 words appeared to her weak and poor, but feeling that for 
 the moment, at least, she could not add to their intensity, 
 she set out on her walk, hoping to find her husband at the 
 theatre. 
 
 It was about eight o'clock in the evening. A light, gray 
 fog hung over the background of the streets, and the line 
 of the housetops was almost lost in the morose shadows 
 that fell from a pale soot-colored sky. Here and there a 
 chimney-stack or the sharp spire of a church tore the 
 muslin-like curtains of descending mist; below the streets 
 twisted, wriggling their luminous way through slime and 
 gloom, whilst at every turning the broad, flaring windows 
 of the public-houses marked the English highway. But 
 Kate paid no attention to the red-lettered temptations. 
 Docile and hopeful as a tired animal thinking of its stable, 
 she walked through the dark crowd that pressed upon her, 
 nor did she even notice when she was jostled, but went on,
 
 A Mummer's Wife 447 
 
 a heedless nondescript — a something in a black shawl and 
 a quasi-respectable bonnet, a slippery stepping-stone be- 
 tween the low women who whispered and the workwoman 
 who hurried home with the tin of evening beer in her hand. 
 Like one held and guided by the power of a dream, she lost 
 consciousness of all that was not of it. Vague as the mist, 
 thoughts of how Dick would receive her and forgive her 
 were folded, entangled, and broken within narrow limits 
 of time ; half an hour passed like a minute, and she found 
 herself at the stage-door of the theatre. Drawing her letter 
 from her pocket, she said to the hall-keeper : 
 
 " Will you kindly give Mr. Lennox this letter ? Has he 
 arrived yet ? " 
 
 " Yes, but he's very busy for the moment. But," the 
 man added, as he examined Kate's features narrowly, 
 "you'll excuse me, I made a mistake; Mr. Lennox isn't in 
 the theatre." 
 
 Her heart sank within her. Would she not be able to 
 get to see her husband, even for a few minutes? At that 
 moment the swinging door was thrust open, and the call- 
 boy screamed — 
 
 " Mr. Lennox says you are not to let Miss Thomas pass 
 to-night, and if there are any letters for him I am to take 
 them in." 
 
 "Here is one; will you give it to Mr. Lennox?" said 
 Kate, eagerly thrusting forward her note. " Say that I am 
 waiting for an answer." 
 
 The stage-door keeper tried to interpose, but before he 
 could explain himself the boy had rushed away. 
 
 " All letters should be given to me," he growled as he 
 turned away to argue with Miss Thomas, who had just 
 arrived. In a few minutes the call-boy came back. 
 
 " Will you please step this way," he said to Kate. 
 
 " No you sha'n't," cried the hallkeeper ; " if you try any 
 nonsense with me I shall send round for a policeman." 
 
 Kate started back frightened, thinking these words were 
 addressed to her, but a glance showed her that she was 
 mistaken. 
 
 " Oh ! how dare you talk to me like that ? You are an 
 unsophisticated beast ! " cried Miss Thomas.
 
 4:48 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 " Pass under my arm, ma'am," said the hallkeeper. " I 
 don't want this one to get through." And amid a storm of 
 violent words and the strains of distant music Kate went 
 up a narrow staircase that creaked under the weight of a 
 group of girls in strange dresses. When she got past them 
 she saw Dick at the door of his room waiting for her. The 
 table was covered with letters, the walls with bills announc- 
 ing " a great success/' 
 
 He took her hand very kindly, and placed her in a chair. 
 She looked at him, disappointed that he did not kiss her. 
 It seemed doubtful at first who would break an awkward 
 and irritating silence. At last Dick said: 
 
 " I am sorry to hear, Kate, that you have been ill ; but 
 you are looking better now." 
 
 " Yes, I'm better now," she replied drearily ; " but per- 
 haps if I had died it would have been as well, for you can 
 never love me again." 
 
 Dick seemed embarrassed by the question. He hesi- 
 tated, and sought for words. It was distinctly against his 
 nature to confess to any woman that he did not love her, 
 and he did not see his way for the moment to making an 
 exception even in the case of his wife. 
 
 " You know, my dear," he said, equivocating, " that we 
 did not get on well together." 
 
 Mistaken for signs of a possible forgiveness the want of 
 moral courage which prevented him from telling her man- 
 fully that nothing in heaven or earth would ever persuade 
 him to sleep under the seame roof with her again, Kate 
 at once melted to tenderness. The instincts of the actress 
 seemed to awaken in her, and she said, with tears in her 
 voice : 
 
 " Oh, Dick ! I know it. You were very good to me, and 
 I made your life wretched on account of my jealousy, but 
 I couldn't help it, for I loved you better than a woman ever 
 loved a man. I cannot tell you, I cannot find words to 
 express how much I love you. You are to me everything. 
 I lived for your love ; I am dying of it. Yes, Dick, I am 
 dying for love of you; I feel it here; it devours me like 
 a fire, and what is so strange is, that nothing seems real 
 to me except you. I never think of anything but of things
 
 A Mummer's Wife 449 
 
 that concern you. Anything that ever belonged to you 1 
 treasure up as a relic. You know the chaplet of pearls I 
 used to wear when we played The Lover's Knot. Well, I 
 have them still, although all else has gone from me. The 
 string was broken once or twice, and some of the pearls 
 were lost, but I threaded them again, and it still goes 
 round my neck. I was looking at them the other day, and 
 it made me very sad, for it made me think of the happy 
 days — ah, the very happy days ! — we have had together 
 before I took to — . But I won't speak of that. I have 
 cured myself. Yes, I assure you, Dick, I have cured my- 
 self; and it is for that I have come to talk to you. Were 
 I not sure that I would never touch brandy again I would 
 not ask you to take me back, for I would sooner die than 
 do what I have done, but I know that I never will. Can 
 you — will you — my own darling, Dick, give me another 
 trial?" 
 
 The intensity of her emotion gave new life to the words 
 that were often but memories of half-forgotten stage-plays, 
 and it was evident that Dick was fighting a hard fight 
 against his feelings, and was determined to do all he could 
 not to give way. From past experience, he knew well that 
 Kate's reformation was only a thing of to-day to-morrow, 
 or next day — that, sooner or later, she was bound to fall 
 back into her old ways, and that then would be re-enacted 
 all the horrible scenes that he had gone through, and that 
 he now hoped he had done with forever. Dick looked at 
 Kate, troubled in his very entrails. The victory hung in 
 the balance, but at that moment a superb girl, in all the 
 splendor of long green tights, and resplendent with breast- 
 plate and spear, flung open the door. 
 
 "Look here, Dick," she began, but seeing Kate, she 
 stopped short, and stammered out an apology. 
 
 " I shall be down on the stage in a minute, dear," he 
 said, rising from his chair. The door was shut, and they 
 were again alone; but Kate felt that chance had gone 
 against her. The interruption had. with a sudden shock, 
 killed the emotions she had succeeded in awakening, and 
 had supplied Dick with an answer that would lead him, by 
 a way after his own heart, straight out of his difficulty.
 
 450 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 " My dear," he said, rising from his chair, " I am aw- 
 fully glad you have given up the — you know what — for 
 between you and me, that was the cause of all our trouble ; 
 but, candidly speaking, I do not think it would be advis- 
 able for us to live together, at least for the present, and 
 I'll tell you why. I know that you love me very much, 
 but, as you said yourself just now, it is your jealousy and 
 the drink together that excites you, and leads up to those 
 terrible rows. Now, the best plan would be for us to live 
 apart, let us say for six months or so, until you have en- 
 tirely got over your little weakness, you know ; and then — 
 why, then we'll be as happy as we used to be at Blackpool 
 in the dear old times long ago." 
 
 " Oh, Dick ! don't say that I must wait six months ; I 
 might be dead before then. But you are not speaking the 
 truth to me. You were just going to say that I might 
 come back to you when the horrid girl came in. I know. 
 Yes, I believe there is something between you." 
 
 " Now, Kate, remember your promise not to kick up a 
 row. I consented to see you because you said you would not 
 be violent. Here is your letter." 
 
 " I am not going to be violent, Dick ; but six months 
 seems such a long time." 
 
 " It won't be as long passing as you think. And now I 
 must run away; they are waiting for me on the stage. 
 Have you seen the piece ? Would you like to go in front ? " 
 
 " No, not to-night, Dick ; I feel too sad. But won't you 
 kiss me before I go ? " 
 
 Dick bent his face and kissed her; but there was a chill 
 in the kiss that went to her heart, and she felt that his 
 lips would never touch hers again. But she had no pro- 
 test to make, and almost in silence she allowed herself to 
 be shown out of the theatre. When she got into the mist 
 she shivered a little, and drew her thin shawl tighter about 
 her thin shoulders, and. with one of the choruses still ring- 
 ing in her ears, she walked in the direction of the Strand. 
 Somehow her sorrow did not seem too great for her to bear. 
 The interview had passed neither as badly nor as well as 
 had been expected, and thinking of the six months of pro- 
 bation that lay before her. without, however, being in the
 
 A Mummer's Wife 451 
 
 least able to realize their meaning, she walked dreaming 
 through the sloppy, fog-smelling streets. The lamps were- 
 now but like furred patches of yellow laid on a dead gray 
 background, and a mud-bespattered crowd rolled in and 
 out of the darkness. The roofs overhead were completely 
 engulfed in the soot-colored sky that seemed to be descend- 
 ing on the heads of the passengers. Men passed carrying 
 parcels; the white necktie of a theatre-goer was caught 
 sight of ; but prostitution had for the moment monopolized 
 the town. From Lambeth, from Islington, from Pimlico, 
 from all the dark corners where it had been lurking in the 
 daytime, at the fading of the light it had descended raven- 
 ous and awful as a horde of wolves. Portly matrons, 
 respectable-looking in brown silk dresses and veils, stood 
 in the corners of alleys and dingy courts; young girls of 
 fifteen and sixteen, their dyed hair hanging about their 
 shoulders like wisps of dirty straw, and their faces be- 
 speaking generations of drunkenness in the by-streets of 
 Drury Lane, went by in couples — the elder undertaking 
 the responsibility of choosing. There was also much 
 trafficking in foreign tongues, Germans in long ulsters 
 being the most assiduous; policemen on their beats would 
 not have looked less concerned with amusement. The 
 English hung round the public-houses, enviously watching 
 the arched insteps of the French women, that alone tripped 
 spotless through the dreadful dirt. Smiles there were 
 plenty, but they were hard and mechanical ; even the Paris- 
 ians had lost their native levity, and could do no more than 
 wink like cynical dolls. It was sordid vice, black, evil- 
 smelling as the mud underfoot, remorseless as the sky over- 
 head. 
 
 Down Wellington Street the sickly flaring of the electric 
 light announced where the river flowed, and the white spire 
 of St. Mary's had disappeared in the thickening gloom. 
 Without seeing them, Kate examined the passers-by — the 
 men that hurried home, woollen comforters twisted round 
 their throats, the white-bearded one who walked slyly away 
 with their petticoat, the youths who gazed vacantly after 
 every ankle. It astonished her to find the world so busy ; she 
 would have changed her identity with the meanest, and she
 
 452 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 went on heedlessly, until she stumbled against a small man 
 who leaned against a doorway, coughing violently. 
 
 They stared at each other in profound astonishment, and 
 then Kate said in a pained and broken voice: 
 
 "Oh, Ralph! is it you?" 
 
 " Yes, indeed it is. But to think of meeting you here in 
 London ! " 
 
 They had, for the second, in a sort of way, forgotten that 
 they had once been man and wife, and after a pause Kate 
 said — 
 
 " But that's just what I was thinking. What are you 
 doing in London ? " 
 
 Ealph was about to answer when he was cut short by a 
 fit of coughing. His head sank into his chest, and his 
 little body was shaken until it seemed as if it were going 
 to break to pieces like a bundle of sticks. Kate looked at 
 him pityingly, and said, passing unconsciously over the 
 dividing years, just as she might have done when they 
 kept shop together in Hanley : 
 
 " Oh ! you know you shouldn't stop out in such weather 
 as this; you will be breathless to-morrow." 
 
 " Oh, no, I sha'n't ; I've got a new remedy. But I have 
 lost my way; that's the reason why I am so late." 
 
 " Perhaps I can tell you. Where are you staying ? " 
 
 " In an hotel in Bedford Street, near Covent Garden." 
 
 " Well, then, this is your way ; you have come too far." 
 
 And passing again into the jostling crowd they walked 
 on in silence side by side. A slanting cloud of fog had 
 drifted from the river down into the street, creating a 
 shivering and terrifying darkness. The cabs moved at 
 walking pace, the huge omnibuses stopped belated, and 
 their advertisements could not be read even when a block 
 occurred close under a gas-lamp. The jewellers' windows 
 emitted the most light; but even gold and silver wares 
 seemed to have become tarnished in the sickening atmos- 
 phere. Then the smell from fishmongers' shops grew 
 sourer as the assistant piled up the lobsters and flooded the 
 marbles preparatory to closing; and, just within the circle 
 of vision, inhaling the greasy fragance of soup, a woman 
 in a blue bonnet loitered near a grating.
 
 A Mummer's Wife 453 
 
 " This is Bedford Street, I think," said Kate, " but it 
 is so dark that it is impossible to see." 
 
 " I suppose you know London well ? " replied Ralph 
 somewhat pointedly. 
 
 " Pretty well, I have been here now for some time." 
 
 For the last three or four minutes not a word had been 
 spoken. Kate was surprised that Ralph was not angry 
 with her; she wanted to speak to him of old times; but it 
 was hard to break the ice of intervening years. At last, 
 as they stopped before the door of a small family hotel, 
 he said — 
 
 " It is now something like four years since we parted, 
 ain't it?" 
 
 The question startled her, and she answered nervously 
 and hurriedly — 
 
 " I suppose it is, but I had better wish you good-by now 
 — you are safe at home." 
 
 " Oh no ! come in ; you look so very tired, a glass of wine 
 will do you good. Besides, what harm? Wasn't I your 
 husband once?" 
 
 " Oh, Ralph ! how can you ? " 
 
 " Why, there is no reason why I shouldn't hear how you 
 have been getting on. We are just like strangers, so many 
 things have occurred, I have married since — but perhaps 
 you did not hear of it ? " 
 
 " Married ! Who did you marry ? " 
 
 " Well ! I married your assistant, Miss Hender." 
 
 " What, Miss Hender your wife ? " said Kate, with an 
 intonation of voice that was full of pain. A dagger thrust 
 suddenly through her side as she went up the staircase 
 could not have wounded her more cruelly than the news 
 that the woman who had been her assistant now owned 
 the house that had once been hers, and was now the wife 
 of the man who had been her husband. The story of the 
 dog in the manger is as eternal as the world. 
 
 Through the windows of the little public sitting-room 
 nothing was visible ; everything was shrouded in the yellow 
 curtain of fog. A commercial traveller had drawn off 
 his boots, and was warming his slippered feet by the fire. 
 
 " Dreadful weather, sir," said the man. " I'm afraid
 
 454 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 it won't do your cough much good. Will you come near the 
 fire?" 
 
 " Thank you/' said Ralph. 
 
 Mechanically Kate drew forward a chair. It would be 
 impossible for them to say a word, for the traveller was 
 evidently inclined to be garrulous. Both wondered what 
 were best to do, but at that moment the chambermaid came 
 to announce that the gentleman's room was ready. He 
 retired, carrying his boots with him, and they, who had once 
 been husband and wife, were left alone, and yet it seemed 
 as difficult as ever to speak of what was uppermost in their 
 minds. Kate helped Ralph off with his great-coat, and 
 she noticed that he looked thinner and paler. The ser- 
 vant brought up two glasses of grog, and when Kate had 
 taken off her bonnet, she said — 
 
 " Do you think I am much altered ? " 
 
 " Well, since you ask me, Kate, I must say I don't think 
 you are looking very well. You are thinner than you used 
 to be, and you have lost a good deal of your hair." 
 
 " I have only just recovered from a bad illness," she said 
 sighing, and as she raised the glass to her lips the gaslight 
 defined the whole contour of her head. The thick hair that 
 used to encircle her pale prominent temples like rich velvet 
 looked now like a black silk band frayed and whitened at 
 the seam. 
 
 " But what have you been doing ? Have things gone 
 pretty well with you ? " said Ralph, whose breath came 
 from him in a thin but continuous whistle. " What hap- 
 pened when I got my decree of divorce ? " 
 
 " Nothing particular for a while, but afterwards we were 
 married." 
 
 " Oh ! " said Ralph, " so he married you, did he? Well, 
 I shouldn't have expected it of him. So we are both mar- 
 ried. Isn't it odd? and meeting, too, in this way." 
 
 "Yes, many things have happened since then. I have 
 been on the stage — travelling all over England." 
 
 " What ! you on the stage, Kate ? " said Ralph, lifting 
 his head from his hand. "Oh lord! oh lord! how — Ha! 
 ha ! Oh ! but I musn't la — ugh ; I shall not be able to 
 breathe."
 
 A Mummer's Wife 455 
 
 Kate turned to him almost angrily, and the ghost of the 
 prima donna awakening in her, she said — 
 
 " I don't see what there is to laugh at. I have played 
 all the leading parts, and in all the principal towns in 
 England — Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds. The Newcastle 
 Chronicle said my Serpolette was the best they had seen." 
 
 Ralph looked bewildered, like a man blinded for a mo- 
 ment by a sudden flash of lightning. He could not at once 
 realize that this woman, who had been his wife, who had 
 washed and scrubbed in his little home in Hanley, was now 
 one of those luminous women who, in clear skirts and pink 
 stockings, wander, singing beautiful songs, amid illimit- 
 able forests and unscalable mountains. For a moment he 
 regretted he had married Miss Hender. 
 
 " But I don't think I shall ever act again." 
 
 " How is that ? " he said with an intonation of disap- 
 pointment in his voice. 
 
 " I don't know," said Kate. " I am not living with my 
 husband now, and I haven't the courage to look out for an 
 engagment myself." 
 
 Ralph stared at her vaguely. " Look out for an en- 
 gagement ? " he repeated to himself, it seemed to him that 
 he must be dreaming. 
 
 " Are you not happy with him ? Does he not treat you 
 well ? " said Ralph, dropping perforce from his dream back 
 into reality. 
 
 " Oh yes, he has always been very good to me. I can't 
 say how it was, but somehow after a time we did not get 
 on. I daresay it was my fault. But how do you get on 
 with Miss Hender ? " said Kate, partly from curiosity, 
 half from a wish to change the conversation. 
 
 " Oh, pretty well," said Ralph, with something that 
 sounded, in spite of his wheezing, like a sigh. 
 
 "How does she manage the dressmaking? She was 
 always a good workwoman, but she never had much taste, 
 and I should fancy would not be able to do much if left 
 entirely to herself." 
 
 "That's just what occurred. It's curious you should 
 have guessed so correctly. The business has all gone to the
 
 450 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 dogs, and since mother's death we have turned the house 
 into a lodging-house." 
 
 " And is mother dead ? " cried Kate, clasping her hands. 
 " What must she have thought of me ! " 
 
 Ralph did not answer, but after a long silence he said — 
 
 " It's a pity, ain't it, that we did not pull it off better 
 together ? " 
 
 Kate raised her head and looked at him quickly. Her 
 look was full of gratitude. 
 
 " Yes," she said, " I behaved very badly towards you, 
 but I believe I have been punished for it." 
 
 " You told me that he married you and treated you very 
 well." 
 
 " Oh ! " she said, bursting into tears, " don't ask me, it 
 is too long a story; I will tell you another time, but not 
 
 now." 
 
 It appeared to Kate that her heart was on fire and that 
 she must die of grief. " Was this life ? " she asked herself. 
 Oh, to be at rest and out of the way forever ! Ralph, too, 
 seemed deeply affected; after a pause he said: 
 
 " I don't know how it was, or why, but now I come to 
 think of it I remember that I used to be cross with you — 
 too cross with you, but it was the horrible asthma." 
 
 Kate's Bohemianism rushed away as water flows out of 
 sight, when a sluice is suddenly raised, and she became 
 again the middle-class working woman, ever thinking of, 
 ever willing to work in the interests of her home. 
 
 " There were faults on both sides," he continued, " and 
 I don't exempt mother from blame either. She was always 
 too hard upon you. Now I should never have minded your 
 going to the theatre and amusing yourself. I should not 
 have minded your being an actress, and I should have gone 
 to fetch you home every evening." 
 
 Kate smiled through her misery, and he continued, fol- 
 lowing his idea to the end. 
 
 " It wouldn't have interfered with the business if you 
 had been; on the contrary, it would have brought us a 
 connection, and I might have had up those plate-glass 
 windows, and taken in the fruiterer's shop." 
 
 Ralph stopped. The roar of London had sunk out of
 
 A Mummer's Wife 457 
 
 hearing in the yellow depths of the fog, and for some 
 minutes nothing was heard but the short ticking of the 
 clock. It was a melancholy pleasure to dream what might 
 have been had things only taken a different turn, and like 
 children making mud pies it amused them to rebuild the 
 little fabric of their lives: whilst one reconstructed his 
 vision of broken glass, the other lamented over the ruins 
 of penny journal sentiment. Then awakening by fits and 
 starts, each confided in the other. Ralph told Kate how 
 Mrs. Ede had spoken of her when her flight had been dis- 
 covered ; Kate tried to explain that she was not as much to 
 blame as might be imagined. Constantly Ralph's curiosity 
 got the better of him, and he could not but ask her to tell 
 him something about her stage experience. One thing led 
 to another, and before twelve o'clock it surprised her to 
 think she had told him so much. The conversation was 
 carried on in brief and broken phrases. Shivering, the 
 man and the woman sat close together, leaning over the 
 fire. There were no curtains to the windows, and the fog 
 had crept through the sashes into the room. Kate coughed 
 from time to time — a sharp, hacking cough — and Ralph's 
 wheezing grew thicker in sound. 
 
 " I'm a — fraid I shall have a b — bad night, this dre — ad- 
 ful weather." 
 
 " I should like to stop to nurse you ; but I must be get- 
 ting home." 
 
 " You surely won't think of going out such a night as 
 this ; you never will find your way home." 
 
 " Yes, yes, I shall ; it wouldn't do for me to remain 
 here." 
 
 They who had once been husband and wife looked at 
 each other, and both smiled painfully. 
 
 "Ve-ry well, I'll see you do — wnstairs." 
 
 " Oh, no ! you mustn't, you'll kill yourself ! ' : 
 
 Ralph, however, insisted. They stood on the doorstep 
 for a moment together, suffocating in a sulphur-hued 
 atmosphere. 
 
 " You'll come a — nd see me again to — to-morrow, 
 won't you ? " 
 
 " Yes, yes ! " cried Kate ; " to-morrow ! to-morrow ! " 
 and she disappeared in the darkness.
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 ATE, however, had not destined that they should 
 ever see each other again. After her over-exer- 
 tion and over-excitement Kate found herself 
 next day unable to leave her room; completely 
 exhausted she lay in bed. She had no one to whose care 
 she could entrust a letter, and when towards the end of 
 the week she went again to Bedford Street, she found 
 Ealph was gone, and what was worse, without having left 
 any message for her. He, upon consideration, had come 
 to the conclusion that this sentimentalizing over old times 
 could not be productive of much good. He was sorry that 
 Kate was not happy with her husband, but was not her life 
 of her own making, Had she not behaved very badly ? and 
 had not chance favored her ? Why, the man married her ! 
 What more could he do? And he, Ralph, was married 
 too, so he and she were as widely separated as if the Atlan- 
 tic were between them. Go back they could not, and look- 
 ing back was useless and sad. If they did meet again all 
 they could do would be to rake up a lot of old memories. 
 He could not help her; sooner or later they would have 
 to part, and if Mrs. Ede heard of their meeting she would 
 kick up an awful row. She would hit him, knock him all 
 over the place, which was very cruel of her; for, when he 
 had his asthma, he was totally unable to defend himself. 
 
 Influenced by these excellent reasons, Ralph congratu- 
 lated himself when Kate did not keep her appointment, 
 and, as soon as his business allowed him, he hurried out 
 of London, more anxious to be back in Hanley than he 
 could have imagined himself to be. He had thought, it is 
 true, of writing a note to explain his sudden departure, 
 but fearing to compromise himself, " to give her a hold 
 over him," he had gone without a word ; and when this was 
 explained by the parlormaid to Kate, sadly she left the 
 doorstep to return to her dreary home. She did not cry;
 
 A Mummer's Wife 459 
 
 tears were dry within her; she had suffered so much that 
 further misfortunes could only fall upon her like blows 
 upon a jaded animal. She was now heedless of whatever 
 might befall her. Every fibre of moral courage, of self- 
 respect, was broken through, all ties were destroyed. She 
 was alone, and could do nothing but abandon herself to the 
 current of vice and misery that was bearing her away. 
 Even the memory of the six months of probation she had 
 agreed to was lost sight of in the disappointment of not 
 seeing Balph, and before three days her loneliness had 
 again driven her to drink. After this relapse the stages 
 through which she sank in degradation were as rapid as 
 they were horrible. The two pounds a week allowed her 
 by her husband sufficed in a sort of way for her daily 
 wants. For the sum of six or seven shillings she got a 
 room " good enough for her ;" not two shillings a day was 
 spent in food, the rest went, wasted in public-houses. 
 Friends, even acquaintances, had disowned her, and for 
 the sake of hearing a human voice she was soon reduced 
 to treating the low women — charwomen and worse — whom 
 she met at the corners of the streets. In discolored sheets 
 she would remain all the morning, either dozing or tossing 
 feverishly; then she would try to force herself to taste a 
 cup of tea, but generally she could touch nothing, and it 
 was not until she had been out for what she called a walk — 
 a long night prowl through dingy and dirty back streets — 
 that she began to feel better, and in a coffee-shop would 
 stop to have something to eat. After this meal she would 
 sometimes descend into the Strand, and walking up and 
 down amid the unfortunates, wait for hours in the hope 
 of meeting Dick as he was returning from the theatre. In 
 these searches she was not successful ; for having once 
 caught sight of her he ever afterwards returned home by 
 the Embankment. Nevertheless, she did not give up hope, 
 and over glasses of whiskey explaining her (roubles to the 
 women — to whom she was known as Sentimental Kate — 
 she would loiter about the " private entrances " until one 
 o'clock in the morning. By that time she was well on in 
 liquor, and singing incoherently, she returned home stag- 
 gering. One night, however, she fell into the hands of the
 
 460 
 
 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 police, and passed a night at the station. It being a first 
 oifense she was let off with a small fine and a caution that 
 she must behave herself better for the future. But she 
 was now too hopelessly lost to be stayed in her downward 
 career by even this disgrace. Drink had degraded her to 
 the utmost; she had been dragged down until there was 
 between her and the lowest depths but one step. Even that 
 she was obliged to take. Hitherto she had remained virtu- 
 ous — her love of her husband burned like a pure white 
 flame in the dark night of ignominy in which she lived 
 and although in constant relationship with the vilest, she 
 had never dreamed it possible that she could stain herself 
 with their stain. But one morning, after a night of de- 
 bauch, she woke up stricken with doubt, driven wild with 
 an agonizing uncertainty of something half forgotten. All 
 she could remember was that she had been talking, about 
 midnight, to some women near Charing Cross, and that 
 a man had taken her to have a drink. She could recollect 
 nothing more, and now her chaplet of pearls lay scattered 
 about the floor, broken. It seemed to her like an omen, 
 and so many had now been lost that she could no longer 
 wear it round her neck. She wept bitterly for a time, 
 but her brain was capable of retaining neither ideas nor 
 sentiment; thought slipped from her like water through a 
 sieve. As her mind became weakened her capacity for drink 
 increased. Everything, even her violent temper, seemed 
 to have left her; she gradually became like a worn-out 
 machine, from which all rivets and screws had fallen, and 
 miserable as a homeless dog, she rolled from one lodging 
 to another ; — after a few days driven forth from the lowest 
 for dirt and dissoluteness. Under the pressure of such 
 excesses her disease increased daily, and to keep pace with 
 her exhaustion she was forced to take increased doses of 
 stimulants. But the end was now rapidly approaching, 
 a ad the next important event in her life was when she 
 found herself unable to leave her bed. She did not ring, 
 and it was not until evening that her landlady found time 
 to come upstairs to see what the matter was. When she 
 entered the room she started at the ghastly spectre before 
 her.
 
 A Mummer's Wife -id 
 
 Had she known in the first instance that the woman to 
 whom she was letting her top-floor-back was in such a bad 
 state of health, she probably would have refused to take in ; 
 but once having admitted her into possession it was diffi- 
 cult to turn her out; and, having satisfied herself that 
 Kate was in receipt of a weekly income of two pounds, 
 she made up her mind for the worst, and accorded such 
 attention as would, in the event of death, qualify her for 
 receiving compensation from the husband for the trouble 
 and annoyance she had been put to. She might have been 
 kinder; as it was, she merely did her duty. The beef -tea 
 she sometimes brought up with her own hands, and when 
 she had time she sat by the bedside and advised Kate to see 
 a doctor. This the patient refused to do, it was impossible 
 to persuade her, and three weeks passed, weeks filled with 
 silence, moans, and the livid shadow of death. Nothing 
 now remained on her stomach ; nausea and continuous 
 vomiting making her life a hell, until at last it became 
 clear even to the landlady, that she could no longer accept 
 the responsibility; and, having made the necessary in- 
 quiries, she hurried to the Opera Comique. When the 
 woman was shown in Dick was engaged in deciding a 
 delicate question relating to the skirts to be worn in the 
 second act of the new piece, but when it was explained to 
 him that his wife was dying he begged of the costumier 
 to excuse him. Yet, notwithstanding all that could be 
 said, he could not be induced to go and see Kate. Out of 
 sight out of mind. To appeal to this man's imagination 
 was vain; what he could not see he could not feel, and it 
 was quite out of his power to understand that his presence 
 could relieve or assuage. If he were a doctor he'd go at 
 once, was the answer he made to the woman's supplica- 
 tions; as it was it would only distress him and excite the 
 sufferer. He had endured too much, and had now neither 
 affection nor pity for giving. He offered merely a pas- 
 sive resistance; and when Mrs. Forest, interrupt- 
 ing the conversation, said, that as she had already met 
 Kate in a previous life and should see her again some 
 centuries hence, it was only just that she should start off 
 at once to nurse her, he attempted no opposition. Indeed,
 
 462 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 he seemed quite satisfied with the arrangement, merely 
 mentioning, as a parting word of advice, that the second 
 act would be put into rehearsal at the beginning of the 
 following week. 
 
 Henceforth Mrs. Forest's place was by Kate's bedside, 
 and, all the while committing her absurd lucubrations to 
 paper—" Sayings of the Sybil," by Alta Una, for the gene- 
 ral use of mankind, and choruses of policemen and nuns 
 for the particular benefit of Dick — she strove to unite the 
 discrepant offices of nurse and librettist. By a strange 
 coincidence, the doctor who attended was Mr. Hooper. 
 He at once recognized his patient, but a glance now suf- 
 ficed to convince him that she was doomed — that no power 
 could save her. Perhaps, had he seen that there was 
 still any chance of even averting for a time the certainty 
 of death, he would have insisted on Mrs. Forest's resign- 
 ing her post as nurse. But nothing could now be done. 
 He questioned her regarding the sufferer — asked her what 
 she knew of her history, and by whose authority she was 
 watching by the bedside. The answers he received were 
 vague in the extreme, and they consisted mostly of quota- 
 tions from the " Sayings." " I have lived eight times on 
 earth, witnessed the dread contest of death, and died for 
 the cause of Pan, and the Light-king, and Eros the im- 
 mortal, whose T am; and once again, for the ninth time, I 
 live and watch the contest — watch with joy which over- 
 comes fear, with love that conquers death." The contrast 
 between this strange creature and the quivering mass of 
 flesh on the bed was as awful as it was extraordinary. But 
 as matters stood it made little difference who was there; 
 and, having assured himself that the woman was sane 
 enough to attend to his directions, he took up his hat to 
 go. Eustling her voluminous silk, Mrs. Forest curtsied 
 him out. " Nothing," she said, " can be well worse than 
 the present state of earth-life in all its phases, and if the 
 human race is to be evolved into a higher degree of per- 
 fection no weak half measures will avail to effect the 
 change; there must, on the contrary, be a radical change 
 in hereditary environment." 
 
 The doctor listened a moment as if stupefied. With-
 
 A Mummer's Wife 46)i 
 
 out answering, he descended the staircase. As if enchanted 
 with the impression she had produced, Mrs, Forest went 
 back to her writing-table, and settling the folds of her 
 brown silk widely over the floor, she commenced to write, 
 according to certain indications in pencil at the top of the 
 paper, a chorus of policemen : — 
 
 ' ' We are bobbies, bobbies fat and merry, 
 And we love our buxom Mary Janes ; 
 Pickles, mutton, ale, and likewise perry, 
 Help us, heal us of our earthly pains." 
 
 At this point the inspiration seemed to desert her, and 
 raising her pen from the paper, she bit its end thought- 
 fully, seeking for a transitional phrase whereby she might 
 be able to allude to the Light-god. 
 
 They were in a six-shillings-a-week bedroom in the 
 neighborhood of the Strand. The window looked on a bit 
 of red-tiled roofing, a cistern, and a clothes-line, on which 
 a petticoat and an apron generally flapped. Facing the 
 light, close up against the wall, her stomach enormously dis- 
 tended by dropsy, Kate lay delirous. From time to time 
 her arms, wasted now to mere bones, were waved. She 
 had been for three whole days insensible, speaking in 
 broken phrases of her past life — of Mrs. Ede, the potteries, 
 the two little girls, Annie and Lizzie. Dick, she declared, 
 had been very good to her. Ralph, too, had been kind, and 
 she was determined that the two men should not quarrel 
 for her. They must not kill each other; she would not 
 allow it ; they should be friends. They would be all friends 
 yet ; that is to say, if Mrs. Ede would permit of it ; and why 
 should she stand between people and make enemies of 
 them? Then her ideas would grow still more confused, 
 until she imagined that it was for the part of the Baillie 
 that Dick and Ralph were quarrelling, and, apostrophizing 
 Mrs. Ede, she would express her regret that there was noth- 
 ing in the piece for her. Memories, too, of the baby-girl 
 who had died in Manchester were not wanting, and, fancy- 
 ing that Ralph had come to rob her of it, and making 
 every effort to get out of bed, in Mrs. Forest's arms she 
 would supplicate and pray of him to believe that it was
 
 4C4 A Mummer's Wife 
 
 not his but Dick's child. It required, however, very little 
 power to restrain her, and in a few moments, on the verge 
 of suffocation, Mrs. Forest would lay her back on the pil- 
 low. Apparently the mad woman saw nothing incongru- 
 ous in her conduct, and with an undisturbed mind she went 
 back to the chorus of policemen, which would be required 
 at the theatre in a few days. The landlady had given her 
 a small table to write on, but now, when Mrs. Forest arose 
 to attend the patient, she could scarcely pass between it 
 and the basin-stand. About the bedside were nailed a few 
 pieces of ragged carpet, but the boards in many places were 
 uncovered, and dust lay in heaps in every corner. A sour, 
 acid smell proceeded from the basin and poisoned the at- 
 mosphere. Mrs. Forest did not seem to notice this. 
 Fevered, impassioned by a sudden idea concerning the 
 Light-god, her pen went scratching over the paper, nor did 
 she perceive that Kate had recovered consciousness and was 
 looking at her interrogatively. " Give me something to 
 drink; I am dying of thirst," the sick woman murmured 
 faintly. 
 
 Mrs. Forest started from her reveries, and going over to 
 the fire-place, where the beef-tea was standing, poured out 
 half a cup ; but, owing to great difficulty in breathing, it 
 was some time before the patient could drink it. She was 
 now a dreadful thing to look upon. Her thin hair hung 
 like a wisp, and she had lost so much that the prominent 
 temples were large with a partial baldness. The rich olive 
 complexion was now changed to a dirty yellow, around the 
 nose and mouth the skin was pinched and puckered — it 
 looked, indeed, more like yellow blotting-paper than skin. 
 The appearance of the face was one of deep and painful 
 distress; the eyes were glazed but filled with eager search- 
 ing, the lids drooped, and so bad was the breath that Mrs. 
 Forest, when she approached the bed, had to stand with 
 averted head. After a long silence Kate said — 
 
 " I have been very ill, have I not ? I think I must be 
 dying." 
 
 " Death is not death,'" answered Mrs. Forest, " when we 
 die for Pan, the undying representative of the universe 
 cognizable to the senses."
 
 A Mummer's Wife 465 
 
 Kate made no reply. Over her mind lay a vague dream, 
 through whose gloom two things were just perceptible — 
 an idea of death and a desire to see Dick. But she was 
 almost too weak to seek for words, and it was with great 
 effort that she said — 
 
 " I do not remember who you are ; I can think of noth- 
 ing now, but I should like to see my husband once more. 
 Could you fetch him? Is he here?" 
 
 At this mention of Dick Mrs. Forest leered with the eye 
 that was not made of glass, and, moved by some sort of 
 grotesque jealousy, she said — 
 
 " You have not been happy with him I know, my sister ; 
 but I do not blame you. Your marriage was not a psycho- 
 logical union; that is the only marriage, and without it 
 Woman cannot set her foot on the lowest step of the 
 temple of Eros." 
 
 " I am too ill to talk with you," said the dying woman ; 
 " but I loved my husband well — oh, very well indeed. In 
 that box I keep all my little remembrances of him; they 
 are not much — not much — but I should like him to have 
 them when I am gone, so that he may know that I loved him 
 to the last. Perhaps then he might forgive me." 
 
 While talking of Eros the immortal, Mrs. Forest held 
 the box under Kate's eyes. She looked at the packet of old 
 letters, kissed the crumpled calico rose, the button she had 
 pulled off his coat in a drunken fit and preserved for love, 
 and she even slipped on her wrist the few pearls that re- 
 mained of the chaplet she wore when they played at sweet- 
 hearts in the Lovers' Knot. But when the souvenirs had 
 been put back in the box, and Kate had again asked Mrs. 
 Forest to bring Dick to her, she began to ramble in her 
 speech, and to fancy herself in Hanley; and as the mad 
 woman's thoughts discovered analogies between London 
 policemen and Pan, the Light-god and undying representa- 
 tive of the universe, her pen kept up a scratching accom- 
 paniment to the equally unintelligible ravings that pro- 
 ceeded from the bed. Scenes the most diverse were heaped 
 together in the complex confusion of a nightmare, ideas 
 the most opposed were intermingled. At one moment she 
 told the little girls, Annie and Lizzie, of the immorality 
 30
 
 466 'A Mummer's Wife 
 
 of the conversations in the dressing-rooms of theatres; at 
 another she stopped the rehearsal of an opera bouffe to 
 preach to the mummers — in phrases that were remem- 
 brances of the extemporaneous prayers in the Wesleyan 
 church — of the advantages of an earnest, working, religi- 
 ous life. It was like a costume ball, where chastity grinned 
 from behind a mask that vice was looking for, while vice 
 hid his nakedness in some of the robes that chastity had let 
 fall. Thus up and down, like dice thrown by demon 
 players, were rattled the two lives, the double life that this 
 weak woman had so miserably lived through. But a final 
 blending had to be reached, a point where the two became 
 one, and this was touched when she commenced to sing her 
 famous song, 
 
 "Look at me here, look at me there," 
 
 alternately with the Wesleyan hymns. Sometimes in her 
 delirium, she even fitted the words of one on to the tune 
 of the other. 
 
 Still, Mrs. Forest took no notice. In terrible cadence 
 her pen went scratch, scratch, until she had finished her 
 chorus of policemen. Then she turned to her pamphlet, 
 entitled " Sayings of a Sybil," and as she was inditing 
 some remarks anent super-socialistic government, it oc- 
 cured to her that although Dick's marriage had not been 
 a psychological one, it might be as well that he should 
 see his wife before she died. Having come to this conclu- 
 sion she suddenly put on her bonnet and left the house. 
 An hour passed, two hours passed, and the landlady 
 brought in the lamp. She placed in on the table, out of 
 sight of the dying woman's eyes, but she did not stop to 
 watch by the bedside : Kate was too fearful a thing to look 
 upon. 
 
 A dreadful paleness had changed even the yellow of her 
 face to an ashen tint; her lips had disappeared, her eyes 
 were dilated, and she tried to raise herself up in bed. Her 
 Avithered arms were waved to and fro, and in the red gloom 
 shed from the ill-smelling paraffin lamp the large, dimly- 
 seen folds of the bed-clothes were tossed to and fro by the
 
 A Mummer's Wife 467 
 
 convulsions that agitated the whole body. Another hour 
 passed away, marked, not by the mechanical ticking of a 
 clock, but by the cavernous breathing of the woman as she 
 crept to the edge of death. At last there came a sigh, 
 deeper and more prolonged, and with it she died. 
 
 Soon after, before the corpse had grown cold, heavy 
 steps were heard on the staircase, and Dick and Mrs. 
 Forest entered, one with a quantity of cockatoo-like flut- 
 terings, the other steadily, like a big and ponderous animal. 
 At a glance they saw that all was over, and in silence they 
 sat down, their hands resting on the table. In awkward 
 phrases the man spoke hesitatingly of a happy release; the 
 woman listened and leered, and, ill at ease, glancing occa- 
 sionally at the huge body beneath the bed-clothes, they 
 both sought vainly for edifying thoughts and words of* con- 
 solation. She would have liked to have said something 
 concerning psychological marriages ; he wished to say some- 
 thing nice and kind, but her presence put everything out of 
 his head, and so his ideas became more than ever broken and 
 disjointed, his thoughts wandered, until at last, lifting 
 his eyes from the MS. on the table, he said — 
 
 " Have you finished the second act, dear ? "

 
 
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