^ m 
 
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 /jr
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 . OF GAUF. LIBRARY. LOS AHGH
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR 
 
 IN A NORTH COUNTRY VILLAGE 
 
 THE STORY OF DAN 
 
 A DAUGHTER OF THE SOIL 
 
 MAIME O' THE CORNER 
 
 FRIEZE AND FUSTIAN 
 
 AMONG THE UNTRODDEN WAYS 
 
 MISS ERIN 
 
 THE DUENNA OF A GENIUS 
 
 YEOMAN FLEETWOOD 
 
 PASTORALS OF DORSET 
 
 FIANDER'S WIDOW 
 
 NORTH, SOUTH, AND OVER THE SEA 
 
 THE MANOR FARM
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 A Novel 
 
 BY 
 
 M. E. FRANCIS 
 
 (Mas. FRANCIS BLUNDELL) 
 
 Author of " Fiander's Widow," "Yeoman Fleetwood," "The 
 Duenna of a Genius," "The Manor Farm" 
 etc., etc. 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO 
 
 91 AND 93 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK. 
 LONDON AND BOMBAY 
 1903
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1902, BY 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
 J. 3. Cubing & Co. Berwick * Smith Co. 
 Norwood, MM*., U.S-A.
 
 TO 
 
 THOSE MAKERS OF MUSIC 
 WHO HAVE BROUGHT JOY INTO MY LIFE 
 
 2129805
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 PART I 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 I I . I 
 
 .; 8 
 
 A 
 
 .CZ. M- if . +-'-m-*- 
 -tS>---i^-9 i ' 9 
 
 ALL that luggage on one carriage and 
 with three persons inside. No, that 
 will not do. And where, then, do the highborn 
 Herrschaften desire to go ? To the Schone 
 Aussicht ? Da oben." Here the driver of the 
 Droschke paused dramatically, and threw out 
 his hand with an expressive upward sweep. 
 " Right up there in the woods ? But no ; it is 
 impossible unmoglich. The gracious gentry 
 must engage another carriage an Einspanner 
 will do. That, they know, can take up the big 
 baggage; and the Herrschaften and the small- 
 and-required-for-immediate-use-packages can re- 
 main where they are."
 
 2 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 The tall white-haired gentleman whom the 
 coachman addressed made no reply to this per- 
 suasive harangue, but contemplated the speaker 
 with a calmly thoughtful air, almost as though 
 he had not heard. The young girl by his side, 
 however, signalled hastily to the nearest one- 
 horse fly, detecting, as it approached, a satisfied 
 wink exchanged by the drivers of the respective 
 vehicles, while even the stolid Teutonic faces of 
 the porters were momentarily illuminated. 
 
 The elderly energetic maid, who had been 
 standing by the piled-up truck, now came 
 forward. 
 
 " If you would get Mr. Lennox into the car- 
 riage, miss, I could follow with the luggage," 
 she suggested. " There wasn't any necessity 
 for taking that other one ; we could all have 
 fitted quite well, and the luggage too ; but 
 since it's here " 
 
 " Have you observed, Juliet," remarked the 
 gentleman, rousing himself as his daughter laid 
 her hand on his arm, " have you observed what 
 a magnificent head our driver has ? It would 
 quite interest me to learn his history. Do you 
 notice the brow, and that curious width between 
 the eyes ? The fellow should be a dreamer." 
 
 " Get in, dear, won't you ? " said Juliet, in a 
 gentle persuasive tone. " Andrews will follow
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 3 
 
 with the luggage. We have a long drive 
 before us, and it is rather cold standing just 
 here." 
 
 Mr. Lennox pulled vaguely at the collar of 
 his coat, as though with the intention of turning 
 it up, but failed to accomplish his purpose, and 
 continued to speculate as he mounted slowly 
 into the vehicle. 
 
 " It would not at all surprise me to learn that 
 this man was a dreamer. If you come to think 
 of it, the very life he leads would conduce to the 
 development of the imaginative faculty. His 
 employment, you see, does not exercise his in- 
 tellect at all : after the slight effort of memory 
 required for registering the street and house 
 to which he is bound, his task becomes purely 
 mechanical. Eye and hand work automatically, 
 so to speak You are not listening to me." 
 
 Juliet, indeed, had been busily occupied in 
 stowing away their travelling paraphernalia in 
 various corners of the carriage, and was at that 
 moment in the act of buttoning her father's 
 coat. 
 
 " You are not listening to me," he repeated, 
 his dark eyes full of reproach, his white brows 
 slightly drawn together. " What do these men 
 want ? Where is my purse, child ? " 
 
 " I have paid the porters, sir ; you don't need
 
 4 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 to give them any more," put in Andrews, push- 
 ing aside the clamouring Gepacktrager, who, 
 taking note of the English gentleman's weak- 
 ness with regard to the Einspanner, deemed he 
 might safely be imposed upon a little further. 
 
 With sudden irritation the old man turned 
 upon them, upbraiding them in fluent German 
 with a severity which caused them to draw back, 
 abashed. He turned to Juliet with a smile, 
 however, as the coachman whipped up his 
 horses. 
 
 " At least my driver is no rogue," he said. 
 
 The girl, calling to mind the exceedingly 
 knowing expression which she had recently 
 observed in the far-apart orbs of the gentleman 
 in question, was conscious of certain doubts, 
 but was careful to keep them to herself. 
 
 " Conceive," went on her father, pursuing his 
 former train of thought, " conceive the variety 
 of experiences which must fall to this man's 
 lot. Imagine the different aspects of life that 
 are daily presented to him. From his coign of 
 vantage there " indicating the box " he can 
 look on at an ever-flowing, ever-changing tide 
 of life life which sweeps round him and in 
 which he has no part. To-day he encounters 
 tragedy, perhaps ; to-morrow comedy. All man- 
 ner of people sit in his vehicle ; he stops before
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 5 
 
 all sorts of places ; he comes into momentary 
 contact with his fellow-creatures of every kind 
 and degree, in every variety of mood ; they 
 go their ways and pass out of his life, and he 
 remains unmoved, unaffected by it all. Don't 
 you think all that is enough to give him food 
 for reflection, little girl ? " 
 
 He smiled at her, pensively. Juliet smiled 
 too with a quaint little air of tender indulgence, 
 which contrasted oddly with their relation to 
 each other and with her extreme youth. 
 
 Though she was very slenderly fashioned, 
 and possessed of more grace of carriage than is 
 usual in maidens scarcely more than half-way 
 through their teens, she conveyed an impres- 
 sion of immaturity that was almost childishness. 
 Her long silky fair hair was tied back with a 
 ribbon ; her skirts were not by any means of 
 fashionable length. Moreover, as she glanced 
 about her now, her face wore a look of expect- 
 ancy so complete, so blissful, that it could only 
 have been assumed by one to whom the whole 
 world was fresh and delightful. 
 
 Juliet's eyes were very large and expressive. 
 They were set sufficiently wide apart to please 
 her fastidious father, and were in colour hazel, 
 deepening sometimes to velvety brown, and at 
 other times appearing to be full of golden light.
 
 6 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 Her brow was wide and high, her complexion 
 very fair, the texture of the skin being exqui- 
 sitely fine ; for the rest it was a small face, 
 conveying an impression of unusual intelli- 
 gence, and, moreover, an indefinite suggestion 
 of spirituality; a face which, without being 
 regularly beautiful, somehow charmed all be- 
 holders. 
 
 Now Professor Lennox on the other hand 
 was strikingly handsome though he looked 
 old too old for his years. His tall figure was 
 bent with study, his abundant hair, like the 
 drooping moustache which shielded a too sen- 
 sitive mouth, had been prematurely bleached 
 by sorrow. 
 
 The droschke rattled along the Kaiser 
 Strasse, past the green arcades which earned 
 its name Schonwald for the little town, and 
 the pretty gardens with their fountains and 
 stretches of water ; past the gay shops, and up 
 the Berg Strasse, up, up, always overshadowed 
 by greenery, until at last streets and even 
 solitary houses were left behind, and there 
 remained only the woods. 
 
 What woods ! Towering beeches, sturdy oaks, 
 graceful slender birches, with here and there a 
 pine, ruddy of stem and gloomy of foliage. At 
 this hour of the September afternoon the al-
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 7 
 
 most level rays of the sun came piercing through 
 the branches, falling upon white-stemmed 
 beeches and birches with dazzling, silvery 
 radiance, turning the trunks of the firs to gold, 
 bringing out a wonderful glow from the un- 
 dulating ground beneath, which was thickly 
 sown with the fallen leaves of many a year. 
 
 All round, what unexpected jewels of light, 
 afloat, as it were, in the gentle green dusk! 
 Here a leaf looking like a living emerald, there 
 a flame of yellow, above the lambent blue of the 
 sky; and now and then, where the trees grew 
 less thickly, a curious effect of pearly, almost 
 ethereal radiance, a kind of shimmering oasis 
 in this desert of exquisite gloom. 
 
 Juliet suddenly rose from her seat with a 
 gasp: 
 
 " Oh, look, Daddy," she cried, " look ! Is not 
 this enchanted ground ? Do look at those 
 trees; see how they are stretching out their 
 arms to us. Listen to the leaves talking over- 
 head. What are they saying ? Don't you 
 think they are promising us all kinds of good 
 things ? " 
 
 Her father looked at her and smiled ; then 
 a shadow fell upon his face. 
 
 " You are very like your mother, Baby," he 
 said.
 
 8 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " Baby " was the name he had given his wife, 
 and he only used it to Juliet in moments of 
 supreme tenderness. 
 
 After a moment he went on. "You have 
 more imagination than your mother; she was 
 very observant a witty creature too," with a 
 sigh, "but she was not fanciful like you, Juliet ; 
 and neither am I very imaginative I wonder 
 how you came by this faculty." 
 
 " I'm a freak," said Juliet. " But don't you 
 pretend you are not imaginative, Daddy. What 
 about your contemplative cabman ? " 
 
 " Ah, that is another thing," said her father, 
 and he launched forth once more into a discus- 
 sion of their driver's rare opportunities, his 
 sadness laid aside for the nonce. 
 
 Presently they arrived at the Schone Aus- 
 sicht, a big, rambling, brand-new building, the 
 barrack-like appearance of which was atoned 
 for by its exquisite surroundings. 
 
 Shortly after their installation, the Professor 
 came into Juliet's room, as she stood by the 
 open window, drinking in the pure keen air, 
 and letting her eyes wander over the wilder- 
 ness of woods, the distant blue hills, and the 
 little town which nestled in the valley below, 
 and which was already making itself gay with a 
 multiplicity of lights.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 9 
 
 " My dear," he said, " this is not what I ex- 
 pected." 
 
 " Isn't it, Daddy ? It is far more beautiful 
 than I hoped for." 
 
 " Oh, yes, I dare say it is very beautiful, but 
 I did not come here because of the view, you 
 see; I came because I wanted to be quiet; I 
 can't be quiet in London, and I can't be quiet 
 at home." 
 
 " Yet most people think Moor's Hill quiet 
 enough," put in the girl. " I don't believe any- 
 one but my Professor would call it distract- 
 ingly lively." 
 
 " My darling child," said the Professor, ear- 
 nestly, so earnestly that he was obliged to walk 
 close up to Juliet and put his hands upon her 
 shoulders, " my darling child, don't tell me that 
 it is possible for any man to think, much less 
 to study, in a country-place. Those cows alone ; 
 those cocks oh, I sympathise with Carlyle. 
 And the deer when I know the deer are to 
 be seen from my windows, how is it possible to 
 avoid looking at and watching their movements 
 and their manners ? Yes, that is the worst of 
 it ; I get interested in the creatures, and can't 
 for the life of me help observing them. Do 
 you remember how I once lost a whole valuable 
 morning because I knew that an impudent
 
 io CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 little squirrel was catering for his larder close 
 under my window ? " 
 
 He laughed at the recollection, but Juliet's 
 face assumed an alarmed, not to say tragic 
 expression. 
 
 " Do you know I'm afraid there are squir- 
 rels here ; I am almost sure I saw one just 
 now." 
 
 "Squirrels!" said Mr. Lennox, inconsequently 
 waving his hand, as though the subject were 
 too trivial to be dwelt upon, "Squirrels ! If we 
 had nothing worse than poor little harmless 
 squirrels to fear, I should not complain. But 
 there are people here, I find people actually 
 staying in the house, and, what is more, they 
 come up by shoals every fine day to take coffee 
 under the trees in front right under my room. 
 I felt alarmed when I saw the tables, so I ques- 
 tioned the waiter, and he informed me with the 
 greatest triumph and jubilation that not only 
 were there seven or eight 'stuck' staying in 
 the house, but that, as I tell you, crowds come 
 up in the afternoon." 
 
 " Never mind," said Juliet, soothingly, " you 
 shall change rooms with me, dear; you can see 
 nothing but woods and hills from this window, 
 with just a glimpse of a little fairy town, far, far 
 beneath."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 13 
 
 " No, miss, that he isn't," returned Andrews, 
 with prompt decision. " I caught sight of him 
 just now going into his room ; a handsome 
 young gentleman, too, but not an Englishman 
 you have only to look at his head to see that. 
 I often wonder to myself, miss," she continued 
 ruminatively long service entitled her to be 
 as garrulous as she chose, and her lonely young 
 mistress was often glad to prolong such conver- 
 sations "I often wonder to myself, miss, how 
 it is that them foreign gentlemen never seem 
 able to leave their heads alone. Now our 
 English gentlemen wash and brush them, and 
 have their hair cut every fortnight, say, and 
 there's an end of it ; but these foreigners, they 
 must be either shaving their heads, or trimming 
 their hair like hearthbrushes, or else letting it 
 grow long." 
 
 " And what variety of head does this young 
 man possess?" inquired Juliet, laughing. 
 
 " Well, miss, I may have seemed to be find- 
 ing fault with it, but upon my word I can't help 
 saying so, he has a beautiful head of hair." 
 
 " Then it is long, I suppose ? " 
 
 " Well, not that long either, miss not right 
 down his neck like some have. But, anyhow, 
 you'll see this young gentleman for yourself at 
 \tablio?
 
 I 4 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " Tablio " was Andrews' rendering of table 
 d'hote. Mr. Lennox would have preferred din- 
 ing in a private room, but finding that the pub- 
 lic meals amused Juliet, he kept his wishes to 
 himself, and daily sat out eight or nine courses 
 with praiseworthy patience.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 ~*^ cres. 
 
 ^ 
 
 WHEN the gong sounded for supper the 
 father and daughter went downstairs 
 together, being ushered into the Speisesaal with 
 great pomp by the head waiter. 
 
 " Do you see ? " murmured the Professor to 
 his daughter as, on the invitation of this func- 
 tionary, they took their seats at a table in an 
 alcove at the further end of the room, " there 
 are quite a number of people here four tables 
 are prepared, you observe, besides that one in 
 the balcony. What did Countess de Galphi 
 mean by saying that after the Schonwald sea- 
 son was over this place was deserted ? "
 
 16 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 Juliet scarcely heard him, she was anxiously 
 on the look-out for the young gentleman with 
 the beautiful head. 
 
 The diners strolled in by twos and threes; 
 and though her eyes remained fixed upon the 
 door, she kept up a running commentary for 
 her father's benefit. 
 
 " Two old ladies, Daddy two such terrible 
 old ladies. One is very thin and looks as if she 
 had been fed on sauer-kraut all her life, and the 
 other positively she is a perfect cube, as broad 
 as she is long, and as thick the other way 
 through. Poor thing, she can hardly walk, 
 she is trotting along just like those little toys 
 that they sell in the Strand, you know you 
 wind them up, and they only cost a penny, and 
 they break directly you've bought them 
 Really, Daddy, if you'd just turn your head 
 you'd see what I mean." 
 
 The Professor did not turn his head, but he 
 smiled benevolently. 
 
 " Now, there is a man coming," she continued 
 "that's not he" (this half to herself) "a 
 man with an ugly nice face; oh," dropping her 
 voice "he's coming to the table next ours, 
 so I can't enter into details. And now there's 
 a jolly-looking elderly lady, who is making a 
 regal bow to the waiters I wonder if that's
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 17 
 
 the princess. She is followed by a tall woman 
 with a young back and an oldish face per- 
 haps that's the dame de compagnie. It is the 
 princess, for I see she is being ushered into the 
 balcony, away from the common herd. Poor 
 thing, she must find it rather chilly out there 
 at this time of night ; and really, if it wasn't for 
 the honour and glory of the thing, she might 
 just as well sit inside, for the door is left open 
 and she is in full view of the multitude. . . . 
 And now " her voice changed and she paused 
 for a moment, and then leaned towards her 
 father : 
 
 " Look round, Daddy; do, please, look round. 
 You are so fond of analysing faces tell me 
 what you think of this one. Do you see the 
 boy who is coming in now ? He has a remark- 
 able head, if you like." 
 
 Mr. Lennox turned in his chair and looked 
 in the direction she indicated. A tall young man 
 was just entering the room, and Juliet had 
 identified him at first sight as the hero of 
 Andrews' tale. His head was indeed a remark- 
 able one, quite apart from the fact that the hair, 
 nutbrown in colour and with golden lights, was, 
 according to English notions, a little too artis- 
 tically redundant. The brow was high, massive, 
 with great fulness over the eyes which were large
 
 i8 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 with elongated corners ; the features fine and 
 clear-cut, the mouth in particular being sensi- 
 tive and very handsome. The whole face had 
 in it something of the statuesque, to which its 
 pallor conduced the pallor that belongs to 
 the type and is associated with a peculiarly 
 transparent and fine-grained skin but conveys 
 no idea of delicacy. Any such suggestion, in- 
 deed, would have been contradicted by the 
 vigour of the tall, well-knit frame. 
 
 " A beautiful boy," said the Professor, approv- 
 ingly, after considering him for a moment. 
 " You did well to call my attention to him, 
 Juliet you have shown me something worth 
 looking at." 
 
 " But what do you see in his face ? " cried 
 the girl, eagerly. " Look at his brow don't 
 you think he must do something ? " 
 
 Mr. Lennox returned to his quiet scrutiny, 
 and Juliet, too, furtively watched. The young 
 man, feeling their eyes upon him, sent a long 
 penetrating glance in their direction, taking in 
 the newcomers from head to foot, apparently, 
 and then fell to examining the menu, drumming 
 meanwhile upon the table. 
 
 " I know what he is," exclaimed Juliet, sud- 
 denly ; " he is a musician. Look at his hands ; 
 see how he plays upon the table. It is not
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 19 
 
 merely the Devil's Tattoo, you see. He is 
 playing octaves and now a little bit of chro- 
 matic scale, and now he is stretching his fin- 
 gers that man can take ten notes easily." 
 
 " He might be a musician," said her father, 
 still reflectively contemplating the youth in 
 question. " That fulness about the brows 
 would seem to indicate it. And his face alto- 
 gether yes, it certainly belongs to the artistic 
 type. But who is his companion I wonder? 
 Her face, Juliet, is quite as interesting in its 
 own way not in such an agreeable way, I 
 grant you, but what power, what tenacity of 
 purpose! Look at the jaw and chin. That 
 woman has got a will." 
 
 A lady had hastily entered and crossed the 
 room to the table where the young man sat, a 
 table so far away from the alcove occupied by 
 Juliet and her father, that, as may have been 
 divined, the discussion could be carried on with- 
 out risk. The newcomer was of middle height 
 and of indeterminate age ; her strong dark face, 
 with its heavy brows and marked features, had 
 probably never looked young, and certainly did 
 not look young now, recording as it did many 
 sufferings and disillusions in hard and bitter 
 lines. These momentarily disappeared when 
 she smiled, the whole face softening then and
 
 20 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 brightening in a way that was not without its 
 charm. She smiled now, as she paused a 
 moment beside her companion, resting her hand 
 upon his arm while she glanced over his shoul- 
 der at the menu ; but her face almost immedi- 
 ately darkened again as she looked up with some 
 evidently petulant remark. She shrugged her 
 shoulders and sat down, not again speaking to 
 him, but looking round the room while waiting 
 to be served. 
 
 It was the custom of the Schbne Aussicht to 
 invite its guests to supper long before the meal 
 was actually ready. Now, though they had 
 been summoned nearly a quarter of an hour 
 before, the first dish had not yet appeared. 
 Meanwhile the Lennoxes' nearest neighbour, 
 the man with the " nice ugly face " to quote 
 from Juliet's description had been listening 
 with quiet amusement to their various remarks 
 and surmises. His dark moustache twitched 
 from time to time, his eyes, small and of no 
 definite colour, but set about with kindly lines, 
 twinkled. When Juliet had announced her 
 discovery as to the nature of the young man's 
 career he had nodded almost imperceptibly ; 
 but presently he fell to considering her father 
 with an eager interest, only withdrawing his 
 eyes when they had attracted the Professor's
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 21 
 
 own. Then he produced a newspaper which 
 he perused during the pauses in the repast. 
 Had the girl been less preoccupied she would 
 have been interested in discovering that the 
 paper in question was the Standard, for though 
 the arrangement of his hair what remained 
 of it would not have called forth any stric- 
 tures from Andrews, this man did not look 
 like an Englishman. 
 
 But Juliet was absorbed in her musician. 
 She watched his face and took note of how 
 sensitive it was, how mobile ; how it lit up 
 when he smiled ; she watched his hands, long 
 and supple and always restless, now finger- 
 ing his sleeve, now the table: she almost 
 fancied she could distinguish the air he was 
 playing. 
 
 By-and-bye, quite suddenly, he pushed away 
 his plate, got up, and went out of the room. 
 His companion looked after him, half rose from 
 her chair, and then, with a momentary lifting 
 of the eyebrows, resumed her supper. The 
 room now seemed to Juliet to have grown 
 dull and empty, the meal to be insufferably 
 long. She lifted a corner of the curtain nearest 
 to her and looked out at the placid starlit 
 night. 
 
 " Shall we go out after supper, Daddy ? "
 
 22 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " Not to-night, dear. I will do a little work, 
 I think. I must secure an hour or two while 
 the house is quiet." 
 
 " May I walk in the woods with Andrews 
 then ? They are so inviting. It will be cool 
 and delicious after this stuffy room. Look 
 out at the dear trees: they are beckoning 
 to me." 
 
 " You may go if you do not stray away too 
 far. Andrews is a host in herself, and I 
 should think these woods are very safe and 
 quiet." 
 
 But when Juliet made the same proposition 
 to Andrews on going upstairs, it was not by 
 any means so well received. 
 
 "Go out now, Miss Juliet, when there's so 
 much to be done ? All these boxes must be 
 unpacked before bedtime; and when am I to 
 get my supper ? " 
 
 " I forgot your supper," said the girl, peni- 
 tently, but with evident disappointment. 
 
 That of course settled the question. She 
 knew Andrews too well to dream of interfering 
 with what she often called " the sacred meal." 
 She went to the window, threw it open, and 
 leaned out. Oh, the woods, the woods! She 
 had told her father just now that they were 
 beckoning to her ; as she leaned forth into the
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 23 
 
 fresh sweet night they seemed to woo her. 
 What music of swaying boughs, of rustling 
 leaves all the indescribable forest sounds ! 
 What gusts of cool spicy air, what mystery in 
 those dim aisles, where only here and there a 
 silver pillar caught the moonlight. 
 
 " Andrews," she said suddenly, " I must go 
 down there and stand under the trees for a few 
 moments. They come close under this window, 
 and you could hear me if I called. You can go 
 on with your unpacking. I will stay quite near 
 the house ; I only want to feel the woods about 
 me before I go to bed." 
 
 Andrews was beginning to expostulate, but 
 Juliet was already gone. The back-stairs close 
 to her room led down to a door, used chiefly 
 by the hotel servants. Juliet met no one, and 
 slipped out, past the kennel where the great 
 dog greeted her with a warning growl, across 
 the grassy slope beyond ; beneath the trees 
 at last. She singled out a group of firs, 
 and going up to one patted its rough bark 
 caressingly. 
 
 " You are a warrior," she said ; " you shall be 
 my sentinel and take care of me." 
 
 She remained quite still, gazing about her, 
 and inhaling the delicious fragrance. But all 
 at once she started violently. A figure brushed
 
 24 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 past her, went forward a little way, and then, 
 returning, came close up to her, bending for- 
 ward as if to speak. Juliet, indeed, in her white 
 dress looked sufficiently ethereal and unreal to 
 have startled anyone at this hour, but it was she 
 herself who was frightened at the silent advance 
 of this shadowy form. It was a woman's form, 
 moving with swift noiseless grace, the face still 
 bent forward, as though the eyes would pierce 
 the gloom. 
 
 Presently an arm shot forward and seized 
 Juliet by the wrist. The girl screamed. The 
 other, with a laugh and a half contemptuous 
 shrug, turned and glided away as quietly as she 
 had come. 
 
 Juliet drew a long breath of relief; she had 
 recognised the musician's companion. But she 
 was trembling still ; the woods were very lonely 
 after all, and the distant trees took odd shapes, 
 and the noises sounded more mysterious than 
 ever almost uncanny in fact. The charm 
 was broken ; in another moment she was flying 
 across the moonlit space and up the steps, the 
 big dog adding to her terror by barking violently 
 and dragging at his chain. In characteristic 
 fashion, however, she immediately composed 
 herself, walked deliberately upstairs, and made 
 no allusion to her momentary panic when
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 25 
 
 Andrews commented upon her unexpectedly 
 speedy return. 
 
 " It was growing rather chilly out there," she 
 remarked. Nevertheless, going once more to 
 the window, she was soon again absorbed in 
 the beauty of the night.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 " TULIET, Juliet." 
 J " Yes, Daddy dear." 
 
 " I find it quite impossible to work I can- 
 not even collect my thoughts for a moment. It 
 is maddening ! It ought not to be allowed." 
 
 The Professor's eyes were flashing fire ; he 
 had run his fingers distractedly through his 
 hair so often that it stood out like a snowy 
 nimbus round his head ; his lip was actually 
 quivering with wrath and woe ; his hands were 
 twitching. 
 
 " Daddy, what is the matter? " 
 
 " My dear child, don't you hear it? It has 
 been going on for an hour and a half; and 
 it is now nearly eleven o'clock. It is mon- 
 strous enough to drive one out of one's 
 senses! If one is not to have quiet at this 
 time of night, when can one count on it? I'll 
 
 26
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 27 
 
 speak to the manager at once. I'll put a stop 
 to it." 
 
 " But, dear Daddy, do tell me what is it," 
 pleaded Juliet, almost piteously. 
 
 "You don't hear it in this room you are 
 fortunate ! What do I mean ? Oh, don't be 
 dense, child ! I mean the piano, the piano of 
 course. Come to my room and you'll hear it." 
 
 In the Professor's room the distant sound of 
 a piano could indeed be heard, but so muffled and 
 far-away that the tune was not distinguishable. 
 
 " That makes it all the worse," cried Mr. 
 Lennox, when Juliet had put forth this plea. 
 " One finds oneself unconsciously endeavouring 
 to identify it. But I will make an end of this. 
 I will tell the manager he has no right to 
 tolerate a public nuisance." 
 
 " Oh, don't," cried Juliet, eagerly. " Please 
 don't. I know it is that boy we saw down- 
 stairs: you remember you admired his face. 
 I am sure he is poor. Andrews says he has 
 got a room right up at the top among all the 
 servants. Perhaps he is obliged to practise, 
 and if the manager forbids him to use this 
 piano he mayn't be able to play anywhere else. 
 I'll I'll run down and ask him to stop for 
 to-night, and then to-morrow you can change 
 rooms with me."
 
 28 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 Her father, still pacing up and down, gave 
 a somewhat irritable consent, and the girl went 
 quickly downstairs, pausing irresolutely, how- 
 ever, when she had reached the long corridor 
 below. She could hear the music more dis- 
 tinctly now, and recognised the theme, Chopin's 
 Ballade in A flat, played in masterly fashion. 
 Guided by the sound she went forward to the 
 reading room, which she entered very softly. 
 The "beautiful boy," as the Professor called 
 him, was, as she expected, seated at the piano, 
 which was placed so that it faced the door. 
 The little instrument, though old and worn, 
 had been a good one in its day ; it now rocked 
 beneath his strenuous touch, and now sent 
 forth sounds of magical sweetness. 
 
 Juliet paused just within the doorway, amazed, 
 entranced, bewildered. What made this music 
 unlike any she had ever heard ? She had 
 heard much, for she loved it passionately, and 
 her father had spared no pains in the cultivation 
 of this taste. Already she had listened to 
 many noted players, but there was something 
 about this player that seemed to set him apart 
 from them all. In the same way the Ballade, 
 every note of which was familiar to her, revealed, 
 under his fingers, beauties which had hitherto 
 been hidden from her, poetry which she could
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 29 
 
 all at once interpret, but of which until now 
 she had not possessed the key. 
 
 By-and-bye she recovered herself sufficiently 
 to look about her. 
 
 At the further end of the room sat the prin- 
 cess and her companion, listening in a kind 
 of condescending ecstasy, and murmuring 
 " Wunderschon," or " Ausgezeich.net ! " from 
 time to time. 
 
 The musician's friend stood by the piano 
 with her hands behind her, and her face rigidly 
 set, apparently keeping guard ; the man who 
 had been the Lennoxes' neighbour at supper 
 was also in the room, and outside the open 
 window was gathered a little crowd of listening 
 waiters and subordinates. 
 
 The player himself seemed quite unaware of 
 his audience. 
 
 Juliet had observed with disappointment 
 earlier in the evening that he did not appear 
 to be wholly devoid of self-consciousness ; his 
 very mode of entering and leaving the room 
 had denoted that he was aware of, and not 
 averse to, attracting attention ; once or twice, 
 to her confusion, he had caught her glance, and 
 had returned it with one which seemed to say, 
 " Yes, look at me ; I am a person of impor- 
 tance." But now he was wholly absorbed ; his
 
 30 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 face was almost majestic in its repose, if that 
 could be called repose which mirrored such 
 manifold emotion. The eyes were downcast, 
 the mouth firmly set, yet, just as the glassy 
 water of a lake reflects all that passes across its 
 surface, from a thunder-cloud to a butterfly, so 
 did this face gather power as the strong, supple 
 hands came down upon the keys in full grand 
 chords, and soften as the music grew more 
 tender, and become dreamy and inspired with 
 his theme. 
 
 Juliet's courage failed as she remembered her 
 errand ; at least she would wait, she thought, 
 until he paused before venturing to put for- 
 ward her father's plea. But he did not pause. 
 At the conclusion of the Ballade, and without 
 lifting his fingers from the keys, he passed, 
 after a few modulations, into the Berceuse 
 which he played with such exquisite delicacy 
 and grace, that Juliet was fairly transported. 
 The poor Professor's irritation and her own 
 anxiety to prevent his personal interference 
 were alike forgotten ; she was conscious of 
 nothing but the music flooding her soul. 
 
 " Enough ! " said a decided voice in German, 
 almost before the last notes had died away. 
 Juliet started as violently as the musician, but 
 he recovered himself immediately, and turned
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 31 
 
 round to cast an angry glance on his com- 
 panion, who had stepped up to his chair and 
 laid an imperative hand on his shoulder. 
 
 " What does that mean : enough ? It is not 
 enough. Here I am, and here I mean to stay." 
 
 " Enough, I tell you," she returned. " Why 
 are we here then ? That you may continue to 
 wear yourself out ? I will not allow it. Aber 
 was ! You want to be in the doctor's hands 
 again, I suppose ? Come, come to bed ! " 
 
 He shook off her hand. 
 
 " I will do what I like ; I am not a child. 
 Go away, Annola. You are tiresome. I wish 
 to play, and I will play." 
 
 Annola composedly walked up to the nearest 
 chandelier, and making a series of upward 
 springs, extinguished one after the other of the 
 flaming gas jets. 
 
 The ugly man looked up with a laugh, and 
 rose. 
 
 " Good night," he said to the player, in Eng- 
 lish, but with a slight foreign accent. " You 
 have given me a great deal of pleasure ; I thank 
 you very much." 
 
 " Good night," returned the musician, shortly, 
 and with a formal bow ; he was moodily watch- 
 ing the movements of Annola who was now at 
 work on the second chandelier.
 
 32 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 The group outside the window melted away, 
 and the princess and her companion who had 
 hitherto been mute, now rose in their turn and 
 came forward with little sliding curtsies and 
 enthusiastic compliments. The young man 
 got up from his chair, and again bowed, stiffly 
 and unsmilingly. 
 
 "Come, you are on your feet at last!" cried 
 his friend. " You give me a great deal of 
 trouble, you know. Well, are you coming, or 
 must I finish this business ? " 
 
 " What a bother you are, Annola ! I hate 
 you ! " 
 
 This was spoken with a real boy's peevish- 
 ness. Annola's face changed ; she turned and 
 came close up to him, saying something in 
 a language which Juliet, now the only other 
 occupant of the room, did not understand 
 an odd-sounding language that seemed to 
 be made up of little words and to redound 
 in vowels. 
 
 He flushed and bit his lips ; then his face 
 softened, and he stooped with a laugh and 
 kissed her hand; after which without further 
 protest he closed the piano. 
 
 A certain shyness had kept Juliet in her place 
 at the further end of the room; she had not 
 dared to thank the musician as everyone else
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 33 
 
 had done, and she thought it would seem un- 
 gracious to go away without a word. In the 
 semi-darkness, consequent on Annola's opera- 
 tions, her presence would not be noticed by the 
 preoccupied pair, she fancied, and when they 
 were gone, she, too, would slip upstairs to make 
 what apologies she could to her father. 
 
 But before they had reached the door she 
 heard Annola reply to some murmured query 
 of the other: 
 
 " It is the little one whom I saw in the woods 
 just now die kleine Englanderin. I took 
 her for a ghost, you know. But I told you 
 about it, Dummkopf ! " 
 
 The young man unexpectedly turned aside, 
 and went straight up to the shrinking little 
 figure in its retirement. 
 
 " You like the woods very much ? " he in- 
 quired in slow deliberate English, "did you 
 also like my music?" 
 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed Juliet, and stopped short, 
 catching her breath. He had taken her by 
 surprise, and in any case she was incapable of 
 expressing in words how much, how very much 
 she had liked his music. But he looked at her 
 transfigured face, and was satisfied. 
 
 " Then I will play again. It was for myself 
 before ; now it shall be for you."
 
 34 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 Annola glanced sharply round, but made no 
 remark; and before Juliet, once more con- 
 science-stricken, had had time to stammer a 
 reply, his fingers were again wandering over 
 the notes. How indeed could she have had 
 the heart to object to what was so kindly 
 meant: surely this would not have been the 
 moment to make a protest which, no matter 
 how delicately worded, must be, to a certain 
 extent, wounding? 
 
 " You have been wandering in the moonlight 
 you shall hear about the moonlight," he said, 
 suddenly breaking off in his prelude and at once 
 beginning the first movement of the Sonata in 
 C sharp minor. 
 
 A more competent critic than Juliet would 
 have been struck by the perfection of his ren- 
 dering, would have marked how amid all its 
 poetry it never lost the perfect sincerity and 
 simplicity which is essential to the just inter- 
 pretation of Beethoven. To the girl the won- 
 derful music was fraught with the very essence 
 of the woods ; it brought back to her all the 
 impressions which had seized her at first sight 
 of them: the wonder, the delight a delight 
 which was not so much the consciousness of 
 actual bliss as a promise, an anticipation of 
 some intangible future joy.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 35 
 
 Presently the door opened and Professor 
 Lennox came in, his face dark, not so much 
 with displeasure, as with disappointment. Juliet 
 had failed to keep her promise, she had unex- 
 pectedly proved to be deficient in that moral 
 courage for which he had always given her credit. 
 
 On first entering, however, his sense of just 
 wrath gave place to bewilderment. The large 
 room was very imperfectly lighted, all the jets 
 of gas near the piano having been extinguished; 
 the young man, however, was playing with as 
 much zest and unconcern as though the even- 
 ing were but just beginning; and Juliet, his 
 little Juliet whom he had expected to find in 
 an attitude of shrinking timidity, nervously 
 waiting the moment when she might deliver 
 her message, Juliet was sitting with rapt up- 
 turned face even in the dusk he could see its 
 silhouette against the dark velvet chair, the lips 
 parted, the large eyes wide open Juliet was 
 listening in evident ecstasy. 
 
 All at once she turned and saw him, and before 
 he had time to summon her she rose noise- 
 lessly and came swiftly towards him. There 
 was no penitence in her face, only delight. 
 
 " Daddy, Daddy," she whispered as soon as 
 she was near enough, " is it not beautiful ? And 
 only think, he is playing it for me ! "
 
 36 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 Now the Professor was endowed with a very 
 keen sense of humour, so genuine a sense 
 that he many a time positively enjoyed a laugh 
 against himself. He laughed now, and putting 
 his arm round her, drew her down beside him 
 on the sofa. 
 
 " Oh, Daddy," she murmured, drawing a deep 
 breath, " Daddy, is not this very good ? " 
 
 The Professor listened for a moment, and 
 then darted a keen glance from under his white 
 brows at the musician. 
 
 " Yes, Baby ; it is very good." 
 
 There was something magnetic in the qual- 
 ity of this playing ; it charmed the old man as 
 it had charmed the girl. Mr. Lennox had 
 come downstairs irritated, and with nerves on 
 edge; his predominant feeling towards the 
 player being strong dislike ; yet before he had 
 listened to him for five minutes he succumbed 
 to his influence. Despite his recent annoyance, 
 no one loved music better than the Professor ; 
 it was perhaps his very love for it that had 
 caused him to feel so intensely irritated with 
 the persistent recurrence of sounds too distant 
 to be identified, yet sufficiently penetrating to 
 be perpetually intrusive to the detriment of 
 fixed and serious thought. He listened now 
 with a softened face, sometimes glancing ten-
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 37 
 
 derly at Juliet's shining eyes and glowing 
 cheeks, and at other times gazing intently at 
 the player. 
 
 " That young man interests me," he said, 
 half to himself as the final notes were struck, 
 " there is something electric in his personality. 
 He will go far in his career." 
 
 This agreeable prognostication he repeated 
 a few moments later to the musician himself, 
 shaking him warmly by the hand the while. 
 The young man flushed with pleasure and 
 thanked him repeatedly. 
 
 " Ah," he said with an expressive gesture, 
 " but it is so long to wait. I want to begin 
 my career now." 
 
 " ' Tout vient a qui sait attendre,' " said the 
 Professor, smiling. " Proverbs are useful things 
 sometimes, particularly for young people." 
 
 " Monsieur, you are wrong," said Annola, 
 turning on him suddenly. " Proverbs are fool- 
 ish and may often be read in different ways. 
 You English, for instance, might translate the 
 one you have just quoted, ' Everything comes 
 to him who knows how to expect.' " 
 
 " No, no, we are more sensible than that," 
 cried Mr. Lennox, laughing. " We have, on 
 the contrary, a saying, ' Blessed is he that ex- 
 pecteth not, for he shall not be disappointed.' "
 
 38 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " But I, for one, expect much," cried the 
 youth, his face again flushing. " I expect 
 everything, and so according to Annola's 
 theory everything will come to me." 
 
 " But no, but no," cried Annola, speaking 
 rapidly and excitedly. " I say on the contrary, 
 Tout vient a qui n'attend rien. My God, yes ! 
 Everything comes, sorrow, disappointment, dis- 
 illusion, one on top of the other, pele-mele 
 and you who expected nothing are breathless, 
 stunned." 
 
 " Bah, you are a croaker," cried the other, 
 sharply. " I expect another kind of Every- 
 thing and I will get it. I expect fame, suc- 
 cess, all that life can give, and I mean to 
 have it." 
 
 Juliet looked at him critically, almost disap- 
 provingly ; she liked and admired his ambition, 
 but something in his tone jarred upon her. She 
 glanced inquiringly at her father to ascertain 
 if he shared her feeling, but he was wholly ab- 
 sorbed in contemplating the woman called An- 
 nola, in whom he seemed to take a vivid interest. 
 The musician meanwhile had been quick to 
 read Juliet's expression. 
 
 " You do not like what I say ? You think I 
 boast?" 
 
 " I think," she said, with a little smile, " it
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 39 
 
 would be better to let some one else say these 
 things for you." 
 
 He looked at her quite unabashed ; his grey 
 eyes full of mischief. 
 
 " I assure you I am only stating facts. You 
 call me conceited many people have called 
 me conceited before but believe me, it is not 
 so. I am simply telling you what I am going 
 to do." 
 
 Juliet looked dubious, and he suddenly ceased 
 laughing. 
 
 " You have heard me play," he said in a low 
 voice ; " do you mean to tell me I shall not 
 succeed ? " 
 
 " No, no," she hastened to reply in a tone of 
 such conviction that he could not doubt her 
 sincerity: "indeed, I am sure you will." 
 
 " I also am sure," he said quietly. 
 
 At this moment the door was opened by a 
 sleepy waiter, who glanced round him in aston- 
 ishment at the semi-darkened room, and then 
 inquired in an aggrieved tone if the gracious 
 Herrschaften intended to remain much longer; 
 the lights were generally extinguished long be- 
 fore that time, but of course if the Herrschaften 
 did wish to remain he could wait a little. A 
 general move towards the door ensued and the 
 two couples parted in the passage ; the musician
 
 40 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 and his companion making their way towards 
 the back-stairs, while the Lennoxes ascended to 
 their comfortable rooms on the first floor. 
 
 Andrews was waiting in some dudgeon for 
 her young lady. 
 
 " If you had unpacked as many boxes as I 
 have, Miss Juliet, you would know what it was 
 to be ready for your bed. There's this book 
 here, too, has been waiting and waiting for you 
 I don't know how long. It is the visitors' book, 
 and the head waiter made a special favour of 
 your writing your name in it to-night but it 
 will be too late to bring it back to him now." 
 
 Juliet examined the book with eager curiosity. 
 Here were the Princess' name and title duly set 
 forth, followed by the plebeian scrawls of " Maria 
 and Emma Krell " those would be the two 
 terrible old ladies next came in a small neat 
 man's hand, " Horace Bulkeley, Engineer." 
 
 " I'm glad I know his name," said Juliet, 
 " so that I needn't go on calling him the Ugly 
 Man. But I want to see about the other two, 
 and to find out what relation that odd-looking 
 woman is to the clever boy." 
 
 But the names when she found them gave 
 her no information on this point : they occupied 
 the top of a blank page ! First came " Annola 
 Isto," with no indication of the status of its
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 41 
 
 owner, or whether she were married or single. 
 Juliet, after glancing at it, suffered her eyes to 
 pass on quickly to the line immediately below, 
 and to linger on it. The words were written 
 in a delicate flowing hand that had nevertheless 
 much firmness about it, and every letter was 
 distinctly formed. 
 
 " Christian Thai : Musician."
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 NEXT morning breakfast was served on 
 one of the little tables in the verandah. 
 The Lennoxes took their meal alone, being less 
 matutinal than the other inhabitants of the 
 hotel. While Juliet was dressing she had seen 
 the princess and her companion setting forth 
 briskly down the hill ; and now the spinsters 
 Krell were returning from the hot springs where 
 they had drunk a morning glass apiece. There 
 was no sign of the gentleman who spoke like a 
 foreigner and had an English name, or of 
 Christian and Annola. 
 
 " Daddy, can you guess at the nationality of 
 those people?" said Juliet, suddenly. " I mean 
 the musician and his companion. She is called 
 Annola Istd, and he is Christian Thai. They 
 speak English quite well and also French, 
 but they speak German between themselves, 
 and I heard them talking in such a funny lan- 
 guage last night ; quite unlike anything that 
 I have ever heard. What do you think ? " 
 
 42
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 43 
 
 She leaned her elbows on the table and 
 looked at him earnestly. The Professor came 
 out of his brown study and appeared to consider 
 the point. 
 
 " She is a woman of very decided character," 
 he remarked somewhat irrelevantly ; " an orig- 
 inal creature too. She interests me exceedingly. 
 Did you hear her parodied proverb, ' Tout vient 
 a qui n'attend rien ' ? It took a clever woman 
 to find out that truth, and to put it so tersely. 
 We, who ask nothing of life, receive too much." 
 
 Juliet considered her father gravely and sym- 
 pathetically, but said nothing. 
 
 " I suppose," he went on, " I suppose only one 
 man out of a hundred would have had my ar- 
 dent wish to stand apart and think and work for 
 mankind. It was not selfishness on my part, 
 not mere studious egotism ; I felt that whereas 
 other men were called upon to act, I was called 
 upon to think ; and that the result of my thought, 
 when thoroughly matured and reduced to a 
 proper system, would confer a lasting benefit on 
 the whole human race. And what happened ? 
 The current of my life was turned aside, and for 
 years has been flowing idly over waste places." 
 
 He paused, drumming on the table with his 
 long shapely fingers ; Juliet continued to gaze at 
 him thoughtfully, her eyes seeming to become
 
 44 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 ever larger and more solemn. Both were too 
 much absorbed to notice that Mr. Horace 
 Bulkeley had come out of the hotel and seated 
 himself at a table a few yards away from theirs. 
 
 " When I come to think of it," continued the 
 Professor, with a laugh that was somehow 
 mingled with a groan, " it seems almost incredi- 
 ble. I can scarcely believe that I / should 
 have thus suffered myself to drift. When I 
 ask myself what those things were that came, 
 one after another, to block the channel of my 
 thought, I could laugh to myself if my heart 
 were not so sad. What were they, Juliet? The 
 common every-day things that come to every 
 man and I who flattered myself that I was 
 secure on my pedestal, that I could look upon 
 them and touch them not ! Wealth came first 
 vulgar sordid wealth." 
 
 " Oh, poor Moor's Hill ! " exclaimed Juliet. 
 " How can you call it such hard names ? " 
 
 " My dear, I use them relatively. I mean 
 that wealth in itself is no boon to me rather 
 the reverse. I was quite happy at Oxford : I 
 had made a position for myself there. Moor's 
 Hill is well enough I should not be a Lennox 
 if I did not respect and even venerate the old 
 place ; but that is just the crux. I must live 
 up to its traditions I must accept its respon-
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 45 
 
 sibilities. No, child, look at it in whichever 
 way I will, I cannot think poor George's death 
 anything but a misfortune. Well, what was I 
 saying? First came this inheritance, and 
 then marriage. I was obliged to marry in 
 order to ensure an heir to the property, but I 
 did not calculate on falling in love. I fell in 
 love with your mother, Juliet, after I married 
 her." 
 
 His face changed and softened. 
 
 " And then " he broke off. 
 
 " And then I came," said Juliet, in a very 
 small insinuating voice. 
 
 He looked at her, still with that softened 
 expression on his face, but with the ghost of 
 a twinkle in his eyes. 
 
 " And then you came, Baby," he said, and 
 sighed. 
 
 " Am I not satisfactory ? " inquired Juliet. 
 
 " I don't say you are unsatisfactory," re- 
 turned her father, reflectively. " You are a 
 very good little girl, as little girls go, but you 
 see I didn't happen to want a little girl. And 
 your coming cost me dear, Juliet." 
 
 " I know," she said thoughtfully, and without 
 a shadow of wounded feeling. A perfect under- 
 standing existed between father and child, and 
 she knew that the regrets in which he some-
 
 46 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 times indulged in no way interfered with his 
 almost passionate love for her. 
 
 Mr. Bulkeley had, since his arrival, been con- 
 templating the pair with intense curiosity and 
 interest, his eye resting in particular upon the 
 massive head of the Professor. The waiter 
 brought him his breakfast at this juncture, and 
 he desired him in an undertone to fetch the 
 visitors' book. 
 
 " Daddy," said Juliet, after a minute, very 
 seriously, " there is one thing that ought to 
 comfort you. You want to help people, and all 
 your work and all your thought have been for 
 that. Don't you think," speaking diffidently 
 and pleadingly, " don't you think you will help 
 them all the better for having felt so much 
 yourself ? " 
 
 Her father turned and looked at her, and she 
 blushed, but continued bravely : 
 
 " As long as you were up on your pedestal 
 you may have been able to see very far, and to 
 think your great thoughts without being dis- 
 turbed, while the poor people down below were 
 struggling and being knocked about ; but now 
 that you have been in the crowd and have felt 
 the blows, you know what it is like and you 
 can sympathise even more ; and when you are 
 on your pedestal again you can call out to them,
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 47 
 
 and tell them which way to go, or how to stand 
 firm." 
 
 He leaned forward and pinched her cheek. 
 
 " But I must first get upon my pedestal 
 again, Baby," he said ; " and that is not so easy. 
 For seventeen years I have been trying, and I 
 always slip back and find myself amongst the 
 crowd." 
 
 " Ah, Daddy, but you will always be head 
 and shoulders over it! " cried Juliet. 
 
 The Professor smiled, and held out his cup 
 in silence for some more coffee. Presently he 
 began to talk of other matters, but Juliet knew 
 by the very tone of his voice that she had 
 pleased and, in a manner, comforted him. 
 
 By-and-bye a shadow fell across their table, 
 and looking up, somewhat startled, they saw 
 Mr. Bulkeley standing by with a shy smile 
 upon his face. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," he said. " Professor 
 Lennox, forgive this intrusion, but I cannot 
 help speaking to you." 
 
 The Professor looked up with the kindly 
 tolerance of the notable man accustomed to 
 be recognised. 
 
 "You will not remember me, of course," 
 continued the other, hurriedly, " how could 
 you ? At the time you helped me you were
 
 48 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 at the zenith of your fame, and I was a poor 
 obscure boy, struggling at a small college 
 but / have never forgotten what you did for 
 me. It is twenty years ago ; your hair was 
 as black as ebony then, and your figure would 
 have been a credit to any of our athletes." 
 
 " Ah," said Mr. Lennox, with a quiet smile, 
 " you were very clever to recognise me." 
 
 " I did not recognise you at first, beyond a 
 dim feeling that I had met you before; but 
 just now when I heard you speaking to your 
 daughter it flashed upon me that it could be 
 no one but you; and when I saw your name 
 in the hotel book I was of course sure." 
 
 " Well, well," said the Professor, somewhat 
 in the encouraging tone of a master towards 
 a promising pupil, " I am very glad that we 
 have met again. Sit down, and tell me first 
 of all who you are, and then what I did for 
 you." 
 
 " My name is Horace Bulkeley : it will con- 
 vey nothing to you. I was sent to college to 
 study for the Church, and I fancied myself a 
 philosopher. I was brought up in the very 
 strictest and narrowest Evangelicalism and 
 fell into the other extreme at the University. 
 I read myself out of all wish to take Orders. 
 I became intimate with men who set to work
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 49 
 
 to undermine all my religious beliefs in the 
 end between the reproaches of my people, the 
 gibes of my new friends, and my own doubts 
 I was very nearly driven crazy. Suddenly one 
 day after attending one of your lectures " 
 
 " Ah," interrupted the Professor, his fine face 
 all aglow with pride and pleasure. " I remember 
 that course twenty years ago you say ? Yes, 
 yes ; I remember the series. It helped you, did 
 it?" 
 
 " Not so much the lectures themselves," said 
 Bulkeley, " as what they led to. A sentence in 
 one came like a ray of light to me : I said to 
 myself, ' Here is a man who will help me ! ' And 
 I called upon you next day. Yes, I have won- 
 dered since at my own daring. I came, poor 
 unfledged nobody that I was, and actually forced 
 myself upon the great Professor Lennox whose 
 name just then was in everybody's mouth. I 
 would not be denied : I made my way past 
 your servant; I clamoured for admittance at 
 your very bedroom door. Oh, I remember 
 it so well ! You heard the noise and opened 
 your door, and told me to come in. You were 
 shaving, and all your cloudy hair stood back 
 from your brow, and your eyes looked so dark 
 and piercing in contrast with the lather on your 
 face."
 
 50 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 Juliet's gaze was fixed on him with deep 
 interest: and her father, leaning back in his 
 chair, listened with a half smile. The narrator 
 went on, growing more and more animated as 
 he proceeded, and gesticulating, almost as a 
 foreigner might have done ; indeed his very 
 phraseology had a certain picturesqueness which 
 was un-English. 
 
 " I began straightway to pour forth I know 
 not what torrent of doubts and difficulties ; I 
 quoted, I remember, from certain German scep- 
 tics I brought out whole pages of Voltaire, 
 intermingled with much blasphemous nonsense 
 of my own. In the midst of my real agony 
 of perplexity I remember a certain glow of 
 pride and self-satisfaction. At least, I thought, 
 you would realise how seriously I had studied 
 these questions and be gratified to find your- 
 self consulted by such a well-read young fellow. 
 You let me go on without saying a word 
 in fact if I remember aright you continued 
 shaving, but I could see the reflection of those 
 eyes of yours in the glass, and could not move 
 my own from them. After a time your silence 
 maddened me, I talked more wildly even than 
 before, I launched out into yet fiercer diatribes ; 
 and all at once you put down your razor, and 
 turned round, and laid your hand gently on
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 51 
 
 my shoulder. I can feel it now the quiet 
 controlling pressure. Thus might a mother 
 stretch out her hand to steady a very little 
 child which has been running so fast that 
 it is in danger of falling. ' Look there, my 
 boy,' said you, pointing with the other hand, 
 ' what do you see over there in that corner 
 of the room ? ' ' What do I see ? ' I stammered, 
 after vainly staring for a moment or two, ' I 
 see nothing but a boot.' ' Just so,' you replied 
 very quietly, ' there is nothing but a boot there ; 
 but when I see a boot I know that it must 
 belong to a foot. Oh, you foolish boy, to come 
 and ask me if there be a God ! ( Shut up your 
 books and use your eyes ! *) And after a mo- 
 ment you laughed and clapped me on the back, 
 and took up your razor again. If you had 
 argued with me for hours it would not have 
 clone me so much good as the homely illustra- 
 tion. And then the way you said it your 
 look, the tone of your voice. I went away and 
 followed your advice ; and I found many Foot- 
 prints." 
 
 " You are not a clergyman now, I think," 
 said Mr. Lennox, after a short pause, glancing 
 at Bulkeley's clothes. 
 
 " No, no, I am an engineer. I have wan- 
 dered all my life, and lately have secured a post
 
 52 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 under Government at Stattingen. The work 
 suits me very well, and I have grown fond of 
 my adopted country." 
 
 Mr. Lennox sat smiling to himself for a 
 moment or two. 
 
 " I had forgotten all about it," he said. " It 
 is very odd ; I have absolutely no recollection 
 of the incident." 
 
 " It was the turning-point of my life," said 
 the other. " I have always thought of you 
 since, Professor, with what I may call venera- 
 tion. I have read every word you have ever 
 written ; I have even treasured up old reports 
 of your lectures, and paragraphs connected 
 with your doings." 
 
 Juliet looked up at her father with shining 
 eyes, her heart swelling with pride and tri- 
 umph. What a man he was, how wonderful 
 must be the treasures of his wisdom when even 
 a stray crumb had had such power ! 
 
 " Well," said Mr. Lennox, extending his 
 hand with one of his peculiarly charming 
 smiles to Horace Bulkeley, " I thank you very 
 much for reminding me of this ; you have done 
 me good. I have been suffering from very 
 great depression lately." 
 
 " You will forgive me," said Horace ; " I 
 could not help overhearing some of your con-
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 53 
 
 versation with your daughter, and I think I 
 understand." 
 
 They shook hands silently and then Mr. 
 Lennox went on : 
 
 "You knew me, Bulkeley, in my prime. 
 You see what I am now a broken man whose 
 message to the world is only half spoken. 
 That is the trouble I had called the world, 
 and it was listening and now I lack the 
 power to speak. If I die without completing 
 my work it were better that I had never lived." 
 
 Horace was opening his lips to answer when 
 the sound of a piano came suddenly from the 
 open window of the reading room, close to 
 which the party was sitting. Not the Moon- 
 light Sonata this time, not Chopin, not even a 
 fragment from some composer of lighter merit: 
 the sounds which now fell upon their ear 
 resembled rather those produced by a particu- 
 larly conscientious piano tuner. 
 
 " It is young Thai practising his technique," 
 said Horace, with a smile and a shrug. " He 
 is studying, as you know, at Stattingen under 
 the famous Professor Adlersohn. The Maes- 
 tro, as his pupils call him, is rigorous in exact- 
 ing perfection in technique." 
 
 The Professor pushed back his chair with an 
 expression of irritation.
 
 54 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " Well, I shall withdraw," he said. " I admire 
 the young man very sincerely, but one may 
 have too much of a good thing." 
 
 " My room is beautifully quiet," put in Juliet 
 in the soft voice and with the wistful expression 
 which she unconsciously assumed when her 
 father was annoyed. " I told Andrews to move 
 your things there, and to see that the writing- 
 table was carried in just as it was, so that noth- 
 ing should be disturbed." 
 
 " A very necessary precaution," commented 
 Mr. Lennox as he turned away. 
 
 Bulkeley was sensible of a transitory feeling 
 of wonder that this evidence of forethought 
 should have been rewarded by no word of com- 
 mendation, no smile of recognition ; but Juliet 
 herself expected none. She and her father 
 knew each other's ways, and in her own fashion 
 she was the more philosophical of the two. 
 
 Bulkeley returned to his unfinished break- 
 fast, and presently strolled away; but Juliet 
 remained where she was, enjoying the pure 
 crisp air and the sunshine, and letting her eyes 
 roam over the distant hills. And Christian 
 Thai went diligently on with his exercises, 
 varying them occasionally by rapid runs and 
 curious inharmonious chords. 
 
 Juliet had almost ceased to pay attention to
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 55 
 
 them and to wonder as she had done at first 
 what particular feat of strength or flexibility 
 the studies in question were destined to pro- 
 duce, when there came a sudden pause in the 
 performance, and she was startled by the 
 musician's voice sounding apparently close 
 to her. 
 
 " Good morning," it said. 
 
 " Good morning," she replied, turning round, 
 and observing that he was leaning out of the 
 window just behind her. 
 
 They smiled at each other for a moment 
 without speaking, and then she said shyly: 
 
 " You have been working very hard, have 
 you not ? " 
 
 " Ah, you have been listening ? Yes, I am 
 building up the scaffolding." 
 
 " I should hardly have thought it was neces- 
 sary for you to go through that kind of 
 drudgery." 
 
 His brow darkened. 
 
 " You say well : it is drudgery, and I myself 
 think I have too much of it. As I say to 
 Annola : ' What does one want with scaffolding 
 when the house is built ? ' ' 
 
 "I suppose she your sister will not be 
 content with anything short of perfection for 
 you."
 
 56 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 He leaned out of the window a little more, 
 smiling again. 
 
 " How rude you are to say my playing is not 
 already perfect! But you are right: it is not 
 by any means perfect yet. I shall no doubt 
 thank Annola some day, as she often tells me, 
 but she makes me furious now. . . . She is 
 not my sister, you know," he added, after a 
 pause, during which he had been drumming 
 absently on the window sill. 
 
 " Oh," said Juliet. "Then is she what is 
 she ? I mean what relation is she to you ? " 
 
 She had scarcely spoken before she repented 
 of what she stigmatised to herself as imperti- 
 nent curiosity ; but he on his side did not ap- 
 pear to resent it at all. 
 
 "Oh, Annola is no relation," he said, idly 
 watching the movements of his fingers; "no 
 relation at all. We are not even of the same 
 nationality. She is Hungarian, you see, and 
 I I call myself Slav : it is comprehensive, 
 and will do, since one must say something ; but 
 my ancestry is mixed. I have Polish blood in 
 me and Bohemian. I was born in Germany, 
 so I suppose I am more German than any- 
 thing else, but what does it matter ? " with 
 a shrug of the shoulders "I belong to the 
 world."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 57 
 
 Juliet was silent. He glanced up quickly, 
 divining her thought. 
 
 " I have again offended your sense of decorum. 
 A young man should not say such things, should 
 he? He should wait until the world claims 
 him before announcing that he belongs to the 
 world. That is what you are thinking, is it 
 not?" 
 
 " Not exactly," she returned ; " but I don't 
 like to hear you speak in that way, I confess." 
 She had caught up some of her father's tricks 
 of speech which, coming from her, sounded 
 quaintly pedantic "I think you should be 
 above it ; it seems affected, and I am sure 
 you are not that." 
 
 " There you are wrong," he replied com- 
 posedly. " I am naturally affected, I was born 
 affected just as I was born with a good mem- 
 ory. I have such a memory you cannot think 
 what a memory I have ! I never forget a face. 
 Perhaps I shall never see you again, yet even 
 after ten or twenty years I shall remember your 
 face ; I shall also remember this room," with 
 a half turn of his head towards the interior of 
 the apartment behind him. " When here I 
 never look at anything but the piano, yet I 
 could tell you everything that is in it. In ten 
 years' time I could describe it for you, beginning
 
 58 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 with the placard over the stove which politely 
 requests Germans not to smoke, gently prays 
 Frenchmen to refrain from doing so, and 
 curtly informs Englishmen that it is for- 
 bidden." 
 
 He laughed, and Juliet laughed too. He 
 looked such a boy this morning, and his non- 
 sense amused her so much that she felt quite 
 at her ease with him. She almost forgot the 
 admiration, well-nigh amounting to reverence, 
 with which his genius had inspired her on the 
 preceding evening, and frankly enjoyed the 
 young bright companionship. It never struck 
 her that she might possibly be offending against 
 the proprieties in conversing thus freely with 
 a comparative stranger : Professor Lennox had 
 ever been impatient of conventionalities, and 
 moreover treated Juliet alternately as a child, 
 and as a person of his own age, according to 
 the mood in which he found himself. And 
 Juliet accepted the one situation quite meekly 
 and calmly, and strained every nerve to reach 
 the level of the other. As in either case the 
 Professor deemed lessons in worldly wisdom 
 equally unnecessary, she had never even heard 
 of Mrs. Grundy. 
 
 Presently she returned to the subject of 
 Annola, who alike puzzled and interested her.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 59 
 
 " I don't quite understand about your friend," 
 she said. " Are you always together ? " 
 
 " We have been together," he returned, " for 
 let me see ten years. Yes, ten years. I 
 was ten years old when she took me away and 
 I am twenty now." 
 
 " Then she adopted you ? " 
 
 " Oh, call it that if you like. She took me 
 to make an artist of me. You see she had 
 failed, herself. She wanted to be a singer 
 she even went on the stage, and then when she 
 was still quite young, only four- or five-and- 
 twenty, she got a bad cold or something, and 
 lost her voice. You may notice how hoarse she 
 is, even in speaking." 
 
 " Poor thing," said Juliet. " How very sad ! " 
 
 " Yes," agreed Christian, looking past the 
 girl at the distant hills, but without seeing them. 
 " I wonder she did not go mad, or kill herself. 
 If I were to lose the use of my hands ach ! " 
 He struck his brow and closed his eyes as 
 though the idea were too dreadful to be con- 
 templated. 
 
 " Well," he continued, presently resuming his 
 narrative tone, " there, you see, was poor Annola 
 left with all that artist soul of hers pining for 
 expression, and no outlet. So when she came 
 across me, and heard me play, she took me to be
 
 60 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 her outlet. All the music that was in her she 
 has put into me, all the dramatic instincts, all 
 her ambition. She works only for me; she 
 lives only for me." 
 
 Juliet was very much astonished and im- 
 pressed. 
 
 " And what do your parents think about it ? " 
 she inquired. " Did they want to give you up ? " 
 
 " Oh, I was an orphan when she found me ; 
 that made it easy, you see, but in any case I 
 would have gone with her; I would have left 
 parents, home, everything to be a musician." 
 
 " How grateful you must be to her ! " com- 
 mented the girl, after meditating for a moment 
 or two. 
 
 " I owe everything in the world to her," said 
 Christian, pensively ; " she found me ; she 
 made me." 
 
 " No wonder she has such power over you," 
 continued Juliet, pursuing her train of thought. 
 " I thought it strange ; but, of course, your 
 gratitude to your benefactress " 
 
 " I don't look on her in that light, you 
 know," he interrupted, throwing back his head 
 quickly. " If she is necessary to me I am 
 necessary to her: she cannot do without me. 
 She considers herself lucky to have come across 
 me, and with reason, for you see she could not
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 61 
 
 give me everything. She helped me to develop 
 of course ; but still, from the very first I was 
 always /." 
 
 "But she oh, I don't think you ought to 
 speak like that ! " cried Juliet, much scandalised. 
 
 " Why not ? You do not understand, but 
 she does. A burdensome gratitude is the last 
 thing she would expect or even wish. My 
 success will repay her for everything." 
 
 Juliet was again reduced to silence, and he 
 resumed, after a pause : " You said she had 
 great power over me ? I suppose she has : I 
 must own that when she reminds me of our 
 joint object, and I call to mind the sacrifices 
 she has made to attain it, I cannot resist her 
 will." 
 
 " Then you are grateful after all," put in 
 Juliet, quickly. 
 
 He continued as though he had not heard 
 her: 
 
 " And then, you see, I am forced to admit 
 that she knows best what is for my good. I 
 am sometimes how would you say it ? I have 
 fancies. I vary from day to day. People think 
 that an artist should be like a barrel-organ, 
 always ready to make music. But no ; some- 
 times I cannot play a note, and sometimes peo- 
 ple want me to play for them and they have not
 
 62 
 
 got sympathetic faces and so I can't. And 
 sometimes I want to play for myself quite alone 
 all day and all night ; I would often play all 
 night were it not for Annola, but she will not 
 let me. She comes and stands by me in her 
 peignoir and leaves me no peace until I go to 
 bed. I think her very tiresome, but in my 
 heart I know it is for my good." 
 
 He had begun unconsciously to finger a tune 
 upon his sleeve, and now fell into silence, smil- 
 ing at his own thoughts. Juliet did not know 
 what to make of him. His calm egotism, his 
 dispassionate analysis of his own moods puzzled 
 and somewhat shocked her. She herself had 
 been brought up in such a very different school 
 that she could hardly understand, much less 
 sympathise with, a condition of mind in which 
 moods and impulses appeared to hold so im- 
 portant a part. Ever since she had been a very 
 little child she had been taught to conquer all 
 unreasonable inclinations and to be superior to 
 unwarrantable impulses. She remembered yet 
 her first lesson in philosophy. Some friend had 
 promised to take her to a pantomime when she 
 was yet so tiny that she firmly believed that 
 the fairies would be real. Almost at the last 
 moment a heavy snowstorm came on and her 
 father decided that the expected pleasure must
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 63 
 
 be renounced. He took her on his knee and 
 explained very gently the various risks and 
 dangers which would attend the carrying out 
 of the project in such weather, and finished by 
 saying decidedly : 
 
 " So you see, my little girl, it is better to put 
 it off for another day." 
 
 " Yes, Daddy," answered the child, and sud- 
 denly burst into tears. How well she remem- 
 bered it even now ! The Professor gazed at 
 her seriously, and reasoned with her very 
 kindly but firmly. It was silly of her to cry 
 for a thing that could not be helped. Did 
 she want to catch a very bad cold and be ill 
 perhaps for weeks ? No, Juliet certainly did 
 not want that. Did she know the snow might 
 come down so thickly that no horse could get 
 along in the streets ? That would be very dread- 
 ful, Juliet sobbed. Had she ever known her 
 father to break a promise unless he was abso- 
 lutely obliged to do so? Never, never! Why 
 then did she cry ? She thought of the fairies 
 again, but choked back her sobs in silence. He 
 went on talking to her, and she listened with all 
 her might, and tried her very best to understand ; 
 and said " Yes, Daddy " by-and-bye when he 
 asked her if she were quite satisfied. But she 
 did not recover her spirits until she went up-
 
 64 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 stairs to Andrews, who said : " Well, to be 
 sure ! " in a vexed tone on hearing of the Profes- 
 sor's decision and promised her to play forfeits 
 after tea. Then Juliet felt that the world was 
 not all dark. Nevertheless, when the next dis- 
 appointment came and how many such dis- 
 appointments fall to the lot of a particularly 
 precious child, when the words "another 
 day " are supposed by their adoring and too 
 anxious-minded elders to be a panacea for 
 all woe Juliet bore it like a little stoic. 
 She said : 
 
 " Very well, Daddy," and walked away, and 
 looked out of the window for a moment. When 
 she turned back again into the room she saw 
 that her father was watching her, and immedi- 
 ately made some small remark about the 
 weather; whereupon the Professor caught her 
 in his arms and kissed her repeatedly. She 
 understood that, and many a subsequent vic- 
 tory was won, and many a wayward impulse sub- 
 dued chiefly with the desire to please her father. 
 However, from whatever motive the training 
 was equally effective ; " sweet reasonableness " 
 governed the girl's actions and in a manner 
 dominated her very thoughts. She found Chris- 
 tian's behaviour the more unaccountable. He 
 seemed to have an instinctive knowledge of
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 65 
 
 her disapproving attitude, and looked up pres- 
 ently with a smiling glance. 
 
 " What would you have ? " he said. " I am 
 made like that. But if you will come in I will 
 play to you now, and you shall approve of me 
 again." She jumped up quickly, and soon joined 
 him in the reading room where he was already 
 seated at the piano. Again it seemed to her 
 that from the moment his fingers touched the 
 keys a transformation came over him. All his 
 affectations fell from him like a garment. He 
 seemed to rise above them, to become ennobled 
 and in a manner spiritualised. It was no mere 
 whimsical yet fascinating youth who sat before 
 her dominating his instrument: it was a great 
 artist, a great man.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE interminable table d'hote dinner was 
 somewhat enlivened by the addition of 
 Mr. Bulkeley to the Lennoxes' table, at the re- 
 quest of the Professor. They talked together, 
 of old times and new, in a manner which Juliet 
 found delightful to listen to. Presently Mr. 
 Lennox, wishing to refer to his note-book, dis- 
 covered that he had left his pince-nez upstairs, 
 and immediately despatched Juliet in search of it. 
 
 Horace watched her as she rose with alacrity 
 and threaded her way deftly through the rows 
 of tables which ran the length of the room, 
 vanishing presently through the door. 
 
 " What are you looking at ? " inquired the 
 Professor, observing that Bulkeley had turned 
 in his chair. 
 
 " I was looking at your daughter," he returned, 
 wheeling round again. " I was thinking that 
 
 66
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 67 
 
 I had never seen a girl of her age so absolutely 
 free from awkwardness or self-consciousness. 
 Yet it must have been rather an ordeal to pass 
 so many people by herself." 
 
 " Juliet has never been accustomed to think 
 of anything of the kind," said her father, com- 
 posedly. " She is, thank Heaven, simplicity 
 itself." 
 
 " She is a singularly interesting and grace- 
 ful creature," resumed the other. " Peculiarly 
 graceful ; every movement is full of charm." 
 
 " Ah, yes," conceded Mr. Lennox. " Yes, she 
 is naturally graceful. If you were to see her 
 dance you would be quite struck. She has a 
 perfect genius for dancing. It is in fact the 
 only thing for which she has a genius. Her 
 dancing is not merely graceful, but full of poetry 
 one might almost say inspiration. Last year 
 she had a great wish to learn some curious, fan- 
 ciful figures from a little American girl who 
 came to London for a time, and who had the 
 pretty idea of indicating certain phases of nature 
 by means of dancing and gestures. One little 
 exercise, for instance, simulates the growth and 
 movement of a flower, another the flight of a 
 bird, a third the swaying of trees in the wind. 
 The movements are very pretty and suggestive, 
 and Juliet has caught up the notion very well."
 
 68 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " I should like to see these dances," cried 
 Bulkeley, to whom the idea appealed, and who 
 now watched Juliet with increased curiosity as 
 she re-entered the room. 
 
 "Nothing easier," returned the Professor. 
 " She shall give a little exhibition this after- 
 noon. Mr. Bulkeley would like to see your 
 flower dances, dear," he remarked when she 
 drew near. "You remember them, do you not ? 
 though I dare say you are out of practice." 
 
 " Oh, I think I could manage them," said 
 Juliet, without hesitation. " But it won't go so 
 well without music." 
 
 " I dare say that young fellow yonder would 
 play," said the Professor, calmly. " He would 
 be willing possibly to spare a few moments from 
 his abominable finger exercises." 
 
 Juliet coloured. 
 
 " He he mightn't like " she began, but 
 the Professor interrupted her. 
 
 " Nonsense, child. I will ask him myself ; I 
 am quite sure he will make no objection." 
 
 Juliet demurred no longer, and finished her 
 dinner composedly enough. Herr Thai was 
 not likely to object, she thought, in fact it was a 
 very simple thing to ask. She had not danced 
 for some time, and had almost fancied she was 
 growing too old for it, but since her father ap-
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 69 
 
 parently did not think so it must be all right. 
 And anyhow she loved dancing. After dinner 
 the Professor himself went up to Christian, and 
 made his request in his own courteous, dignified 
 fashion. The young man had risen at his ap- 
 proach, and acceded with a bow and smile ; sub- 
 sequently casting a look of surprised interest 
 at the girl, who had remained standing beside 
 Bulkeley in the doorway. 
 
 Leaving the table, where Annola sat looking 
 straight before her as though without noticing 
 what was going on, Christian accompanied Mr. 
 Lennox and the rest of the party to the reading 
 room, the Professor pausing on the way to speak 
 to the head waiter. 
 
 " I have made sure that we shall not be dis- 
 turbed," he remarked as he rejoined the others. 
 " I don't want any strangers to break in upon us. 
 The child would naturally be disconcerted. It 
 is a different matter just dancing for a friend 
 like you, Bulkeley." 
 
 Juliet glanced quickly at Christian, but her 
 father considered him no more than if he had 
 been indeed the barrel-organ to which, as he 
 had recently complained, so many people ap- 
 peared to liken him. 
 
 " What is it to be a waltz ? " he inquired, 
 as he seated himself at the piano.
 
 70 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " It need not be a waltz something slow, 
 and with a marked rhythm would do. I will 
 dance a little, and you will see." 
 
 She threw out her arms, slender, immature, 
 childish arms, but infinitely graceful in form 
 and movement, pointed a taper little foot, and 
 began to glide about the room, glancing back 
 over her shoulder at the musician, who watched 
 her gravely, his hands upon the keys. 
 
 " You see ? " she said, without pausing. Her 
 eyes were dilated till they seemed almost black, 
 but their gaze remained frankly interested ; she 
 tossed up her arms again, the loose sleeves of 
 her white dress fallinq- back from them and 
 
 O 
 
 revealing all their slim youthfulness ; the little 
 foot was poised ready for the spring that would 
 carry her a yard or two away. 
 
 " I see," said Christian, and he began to play 
 softly a Melodic of Rubinstein's that adapted 
 itself admirably to the swing and rhythm of 
 the dance. 
 
 The Professor nodded approval, and fol- 
 lowed his daughter's movements with aesthetic 
 pleasure. 
 
 " Why is your hair not down ? " he inquired 
 presently, however, with a little frown. "It 
 should be loose and flowing; it should float 
 round you when you are playing with the
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 71 
 
 wind. The illusion is not complete as it is. 
 You have forgotten, Juliet; you always used 
 to have your hair about your shoulders." 
 
 " That was because I wore it loose, then," 
 said Juliet, pausing. " It was last year ; I 
 had not begun to tie it back. Don't you 
 think I am too big to have it loose now?" 
 
 Her very seriousness made her seem more 
 of a child than ever, and her father scouted the 
 notion. 
 
 " Let it down, dear," he said. " You are not 
 so big as all that, and it looks ever so much 
 prettier." 
 
 With a laugh she obeyed, untying the ribbon 
 which fastened the thick tress and shaking out 
 her shining hair till it floated round her like a 
 veil. It was veiy fine and light and silky, and 
 glittered in the sunshine like gold. 
 
 Her father leaned back with a sigh of artistic 
 contentment, and Juliet continued to play ball 
 with the wind, and to swoop and hover, as it 
 seemed, like a swallow, and to advance with 
 the rising tide, and to rock on swaying forest 
 boughs. Every now and then she would ex- 
 plain the meaning of this or that phase of the 
 performance, and Bulkeley would nod in token 
 of his appreciation of the exactness of her 
 rendering. But in reality he cared little for
 
 72 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 the meaning of the representation ; he was 
 absorbed in watching the girl herself. The 
 slender, willowy figure, the supple limbs, the 
 beautiful attitudes and movements, above all 
 the face, with its rapt look a look in which 
 pure joy of life and action was combined with 
 something which might almost have been 
 called inspiration it was an unforgettable 
 face. 
 
 " To me," observed the Professor, chiming in 
 suddenly with his thoughts, "to me the great 
 charm of the performance is the child's own 
 enjoyment. She dances with something of the 
 ease and delight with which a bird sings ; and 
 with the same simplicity. If I were to detect 
 the least sign of self-consciousness I should 
 make an end of this at once; but as you see, 
 there is none." 
 
 Bulkeley murmured his assent, darting the 
 while a sidelong" look at his friend and revered 
 teacher. The autocratic tone, breaking in as 
 it did on his own secret enthusiasm, jarred 
 on him. Did this great man appreciate his 
 treasure as she deserved to be appreciated ? 
 
 Christian Thai, meanwhile, played on, vary- 
 ing his theme occasionally and adapting it al- 
 most as by intuition to Juliet's movements, some 
 of which were unexpected and almost freakish.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 73 
 
 He made no remark during her occasional 
 pauses ; and she herself, tingling with delight- 
 ful excitement, almost forgot his existence. 
 
 When at last she dropped down, laughing 
 and breathless, on the sofa beside her father, 
 he turned in his chair and said quietly : 
 
 " I have never seen dancing like that." 
 
 " You must rest, my pet," said Mr. Lennox, 
 taking her hand. " How this little pulse is 
 jumping; and you are quite pale!" 
 
 " Oh, I am always pale when I dance, because 
 I am so happy, I think," cried she. " I shall 
 go on presently; I am not a bit tired only 
 out of breath." 
 
 " No, no ; we have had enough for to-day. 
 Mr. Bulkeley has seen as much as he wants, 
 and I cannot let you be overtired. I am very 
 much obliged to you," he added, rising, and 
 turning to Christian ; " your music was admira- 
 ble, and added greatly to our enjoyment. Come, 
 Juliet, you must rest a little upstairs before 
 going out." 
 
 He drew her hand through his arm and led 
 her towards the door. Christian bowed as 
 they passed, and then turned to Horace. 
 
 Their eyes met, and the elder man passed on. 
 
 Annola, entering a moment or two later, 
 found Christian standing as though in a brown
 
 74 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 study, with his eyes fixed on the ground. He 
 did not observe her until she was close to him ; 
 and turned towards her with a start of surprise. 
 
 " Well," she said, with a sardonic smile, " you 
 advance, mein lieber; you have reason to be 
 proud. You have got so far in your career 
 that your music is considered good enough for 
 Miss to dance to. I congratulate you." 
 
 " Do not be foolish, Annola," he cried, flush- 
 ing. " You are talking nonsense. You know 
 quite well I could not refuse a request that was 
 so civilly made. Dear God ! what could have 
 been more simple ? " 
 
 " I now dream of a future for you," she went 
 on in the same mocking tone, " such a future 
 as I never dared to hope for. Who knows ? 
 You may yet attain to the dignity of playing in 
 a band two violins and a 'cello, and Mr. Chris- 
 tian Thai hammering out waltzes and polkas 
 on the piano. With this gentleman's recom- 
 mendations you could, I dare say, count on 
 being patronised by London society. Ja wohl ! 
 You might even have the good misfortune 
 to replace from time to time a Hungarian 
 band." 
 
 " Now, Annola, you are trying to make me 
 angry, and for what reason ? Ach ! it is not 
 difficult to make me lose patience, as you know
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 75 
 
 well ; I am etwas spitzig. But what is it all 
 about ? that is what I want to know." 
 
 " What is it about ? " cried she, and the eyes 
 under her heavy brows seemed to flash fire. 
 " Christian Thai, do you think it is for this I 
 have toiled and thought and starved all these 
 years? That you should turn into a mere compla- 
 cent puppet ready to bow to the first who pulls 
 the string ! If you have no pride and self-respect 
 as a man, have you not at least the dignity of 
 the artist to uphold ? It is unworthy of your 
 vocation that you should be at the beck of 
 every stranger." 
 
 " How you go on," returned he, vexed. " As 
 if it were not the most trivial thing in the 
 world ! The greatest artist living would have 
 consented." 
 
 " Well, in your place I should have sent 
 them about their business," retorted she, vio- 
 lently. " They would not have dared to ask a 
 great artist ; but they asked you because they 
 thought you of no account. You and the head 
 waiter alike conduced to the convenience of 
 the performance. You by assisting as a ma- 
 chine might have assisted, he by keeping other 
 people away. Do you think I do not know 
 how little they considered you ? Was I not 
 there, outside the window, watching and listen-
 
 76 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 ing? Oh, I raged. Did anyone so much as 
 look towards you, once they had made sure of 
 your help ? They noticed you no more than if 
 you had been a servant; they thanked you at 
 the end as they would have thanked a servant. 
 I tell you, I felt all the blood in my body rush 
 to my face when I heard the insulting words. 
 ' Thank you ; we have had enough for to-day ! ' 
 And you you did not resent them ; you 
 scarcely seemed to notice them ; you stood 
 there smiling I could have struck you ! " 
 
 Christian had turned red and pale by turns ; 
 but now he suddenly laughed, and threw out a 
 long forefinger, shaking it in warning. 
 
 " Annola," he said, " you are in a passion. 
 Take care because I shall very likely get into 
 a passion myself, and you know it is not amus- 
 ing when we both lose our tempers together. 
 Besides, you are saying too much. One or 
 two arrows might have struck home, but when 
 you throw a whole sheaf at once it does not 
 carry so far. Now, go away. I'm going to 
 practise." 
 
 He laughed quite good-humouredly as he sat 
 down to the piano. Annola stood by, still at 
 a white heat, and continuing to gibe at him. 
 He made no answer in words, but taunted her 
 back through the medium of the instrument
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 77 
 
 with grotesque effect. Thus when she hurled 
 denunciations at his head, he struck a series of 
 melodramatic chords ; when she laughed scorn- 
 fully, he echoed it with pattering treble notes ; 
 and when she suddenly exchanged her w r rathful 
 tone for one of almost tearful reproach, he im- 
 mediately passed into the minor, drawing forth 
 a series of such plaintive and pathetic sounds, 
 and looking up at her the while with so much 
 mischief in his eyes, that at last she fairly 
 stamped upon the ground and rushed from 
 the room. Christian let his hands fall from the 
 keys, looked after her, sighed, shrugged his 
 shoulders, and finally played Rubinstein's Melo- 
 die in lingering, caressing pianissimo. Then 
 he stood up and looked frowningly at the keys. 
 " Annola is right in one thing," he said. 
 "They cared no more for me than if I were a 
 machine. But we shall see. We can soon put 
 this to rights."
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE next morning while Christian was 
 dutifully practising his technique under 
 the guardianship of Fraulein Istd, who was 
 walking up and down with the measured tread 
 of a sentinel, he chanced to look up suddenly 
 and saw her pause before one of the windows, a 
 kind of spasm momentarily convulsing her face. 
 
 " What is it ? " he queried quickly. 
 
 " Nothing ! " she said, and walked on. 
 
 He stopped playing and listened : a blithe 
 laugh broke upon his ear. 
 
 " Aha ! " commented he, and went on with 
 his exercise. 
 
 By-and-bye, however, he paused again. 
 
 " Annola, why do you hate that girl ? " 
 
 " /hate her? What are you talking about? 
 What do I know of her, that I should hate her ? " 
 
 " It is just what I ask you." 
 
 " She is not worth my hating," resumed An- 
 78
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 79 
 
 nola, hastening her steps ; a scarlet spot blazed 
 in each sallow cheek. 
 
 " Nevertheless," persisted Christian, " I am 
 right." 
 
 " Well, if I do hate her," she said, turning on 
 him vehemently, " what is it to you ? What 
 can a boy like you understand of a woman's 
 jealousy ? " 
 
 " Oh ho ! " he exclaimed, wheeling round so 
 as to look at her more directly. " Jealousy, 
 Annola ! What does that mean ? " 
 
 " You can know nothing of it, I say," she 
 cried. " You cannot even guess at the torture 
 of it. What am I ? A woman not yet past her 
 prime, a woman with more life and energy in 
 her little finger than that doll possesses in her 
 whole frame. Yet to her, and such as her, 
 are given the prizes of life ! Women like me 
 wear themselves out in striving and doing ; 
 things " with indescribable scorn " things 
 of her kind wrap themselves in cotton wool, and 
 are cherished and petted and cossetted and 
 crowned ! Gott ! what fools we are all of us ! " 
 
 " Annola ! " exclaimed the musician, amazed 
 at the outburst. 
 
 " There, pay no attention to me," she re- 
 turned, dropping her voice suddenly and trying 
 to laugh. " I am the greatest fool of all I
 
 8o CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 am giving you proof of it, am I not ? But, do 
 you see, Christian, it is not so long ago since 
 I, too, was young like that, and happy. I, too, 
 had a father who idolised me ach, and now ! 
 Dear Heaven, he has changed since then ! I 
 was as pretty as she is " 
 
 " No, no," interrupted Christian, decidedly, 
 " that you can never have been. Spirituelle, 
 yes clever, interesting, intelligent, anything 
 you like. Maitresse femme always. But 
 pretty ? No, my dear Annola ; never that." 
 
 " Ah," cried she in a choked voice, " you say 
 that to me, Christian ! You ! " 
 
 " But certainly," he replied with merciless 
 calm. " Come, Annola, be reasonable. What 
 takes you to-day? Did I ever think you 
 pretty ? " 
 
 " No, that is true," she said in a low tone. 
 She took another turn or two about the room 
 and again paused opposite him. " You say 
 well," she went on, " you never had a generous 
 illusion about me ; never a spark of enthusi- 
 asm. You take all my work, my talent, my 
 hopes, my prayers, my very life have I any 
 existence apart from yours? And you give 
 me nothing ! " 
 
 Christian rose to his feet, and, coming up to 
 her, placed a hand on either of her shoulders
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 81 
 
 and looked into her face. His own was astir 
 with a variety of emotions : anger was there, 
 and surprise, and wounded feeling, and under- 
 lying all a kind of compassionate tenderness. 
 
 " I will give you everything back one day," 
 he said with forced gentleness. " I will pay 
 you a hundredfold. Come, have we not often 
 talked of it ? I thought all this was understood 
 between us. It is true you do much for me 
 I am not likely to forget it but are we not one, 
 after all ? Have we not a single intention, a 
 single aim ? Be patient, Annola." 
 
 He bent forward as though to kiss her cheek, 
 but she pushed him away violently, and turned 
 from him. 
 
 " Oh, very well," he said, now thoroughly 
 vexed; "just as you like, my dear. I regret 
 that I cannot please you better, but if it is 
 necessary to pay you compliments in order to 
 earn your good graces I am afraid I must re- 
 main out of favour. Compliments between you 
 and me, Annola ! Think of it, then ! " becom- 
 ing good-humoured all at once, and laughing 
 boyishly. " I should as soon think of telling 
 you you were pretty, as of telling you that your 
 skin was as white as Miss Lennox's and your 
 hair as fair ! " 
 
 " Christian ! " she cried, almost hissing the
 
 82 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 word, " I forbid you I forbid you to name 
 that girl to me. You are right ! I hate her ! " 
 
 " Behute ! " said Christian, opening his great 
 eyes very wide, and staggering back in affected 
 alarm. " We have a tragedy queen here, it 
 seems. Pom, pom, pom, pom, pom ! Now the 
 drums should strike up. Brrrrr /" 
 
 Annola threw out her arms : " Ah, you mock 
 me like that ! You mock me, you, ungrateful 
 that you are ! You deride my most sacred 
 sorrow, you turn even the cruel disappointment 
 to which you owe your own good fortune into a 
 weapon against me ! That only was wanting ! " 
 
 " Annola ! Annola ! " he cried, turning pale 
 in his turn, and sobered in an instant, " surely 
 you cannot think I meant to taunt you with 
 your misfortune ? " 
 
 " I know it," she returned violently. " You 
 meant to ridicule the dream of my life; the 
 dream for which I gave up everything: my 
 home, my parents, my rank. Oh, it is well 
 said, ' Noblesse oblige ' ! You have this day 
 proved yourself to be what you are canaille J^L 
 
 " Call me what you like," he said breathlessly, 
 though the colour rushed back to his face as 
 if she had struck him, " but believe me, believe 
 me, Annola ! I had no intention in what I 
 said - it was the merest childishness ! "
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 83 
 
 Again he would have gone to her, but she 
 pushed him vehemently on one side, and was 
 gone before he had recovered his equilibrium. 
 
 " To the devil with women ! " he cried. 
 " Pfui ! She has a temper, Annola. And all 
 because I said she was not pretty. She is not 
 pretty she is not! And when she is in a 
 temper she is frightful. Yes, frightful. My 
 good Annola, I detest you to-day positively I 
 do. You are ugly, ugly. Your skin is dark 
 and your hair is coarse and rusty. There ! " 
 
 Having in a measure relieved his feelings, he 
 returned to the piano, but found that his hands 
 were trembling. 
 
 " There ! " he cried vengefully, " she talks so 
 much of helping me and this is what she 
 does ! She makes me a scene so that I cannot 
 play a note. I will go for a walk. It is your 
 fault, stupid Annola, that I shall lose an entire 
 morning." 
 
 He went out moodily into the brilliant sun- 
 shine, and presently was swallowed up by the 
 j^woods. Once in their midst his ill-humour 
 vanished as though by magic, and indeed there 
 was enchantment in the place. Autumn was 
 advancing by scarcely perceptible degrees, each 
 of which, it would seem, added to her glory. 
 The air was still warm as in June, and yet had a
 
 84 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 savour, a sparkle not to be found amid summer 
 languors ; the foliage had assumed every variety 
 of exquisite tint, a whole gamut of colour, from 
 palest primrose to deepest chocolate brown ; 
 there were strong notes of orange and amber 
 and rose to accentuate the cadence of this silent 
 forest music, and there was still an undertone 
 of green, holding its own like the pedal of an 
 organ, and adding depth, and richness, and 
 solemnity to the whole. 
 
 Some such fanciful thoughts flitted through 
 Christian's mind as he strode along under the 
 lightly swaying boughs, and let his keen inquir- 
 ing eyes pierce the mystery of the glades. 
 Beech-mast and acorns crackled under his feet, 
 a finch flew now and then across the track 
 with a flash of jewelled wings, a squirrel leaped 
 from branch to branch overhead, and he paused a 
 moment to watch it, and to mark the mixture of 
 speed and grace and strength in every movement. 
 
 At a little distance a bluish haze was float- 
 ing up between the shining beech stems, and 
 on coming nearer he saw two old men at 
 work near a small wood fire. Their figures 
 were very old and bent, and they wore blue 
 smocks, and went about their work with great 
 deliberation. They were repairing one of the 
 rustic benches with which the kindly authori-
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 85 
 
 ties have amply provided these woods, and 
 were using for the purpose the limbs of a 
 sturdy young fir tree ; the fire was probably 
 intended for melting their glue. Be that as it 
 might, it looked pretty and poetical, glowing 
 there amid the green, and sending its wavering 
 column of smoke up amid those nobler, sturdier 
 pillars of beech and pine. 
 
 Christian strolled idly towards them. 
 
 " You work hard, good fathers," said he with 
 light irony, as he watched their dawdling move- 
 ments. 
 
 " Ach, yes, gnadiger Herr," returned one old 
 fellow in entire good faith. " Yes, it is hard 
 work, but men must live." 
 
 " You are mending the bench, I see," said 
 Christian. " So ! it is fine. How long will it 
 take you ? " 
 
 The old man looked at his companion. 
 
 " Two days, perhaps," he said tentatively. 
 
 The other nodded. 
 
 Two days. And when that was done would 
 they repair another bench ? 
 
 " Yes, to be sure, there were plenty more that 
 wanted mending, as the gnadiger Herr could see 
 for himself if he chose to look about him." 
 
 " And when they are all mended," inquired 
 Christian, seriously, " what will you do then ? "
 
 86 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " Then, gnadiger Herr, we shall begin to 
 paint them." 
 
 " And when they are all painted ? " persisted 
 the youth, turning his limpid eyes guilelessly 
 upon them. The old man scratched his head, 
 and looked at his comrade, who looked frown- 
 ingly back. 
 
 " Ach," said the first, with a toothless depre- 
 cating smile, "only the lieber Gott can know 
 what will happen then. Probably some of the 
 benches will be damaged again." 
 
 " First mending benches, and then painting 
 benches, and then mending them afresh," com- 
 mented Christian to himself as he nodded and 
 turned away, striking out for a little path that 
 wound round the side of the hill. " That is a 
 life ! " 
 
 He walked more briskly now, unconsciously 
 rejoicing in his own vigorous youth. Up and 
 up, pausing from time to time to look about 
 him. A few newly fallen leaves lay scattered 
 like golden sprigs on the ruddy carpet of by- 
 gone days ; every now and then the presence 
 of a clump of firs announced itself by a rush of 
 aromatic scent, and here and there through the 
 tall colonnades he caught sight of stretches of 
 undergrowth still vividly green. Often, as he 
 climbed upwards, his eyes passed idly over one
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 87 
 
 of the various placards by means of which the 
 almost too thoughtful guardians of the woods 
 had forestalled the possibility of any hapless 
 wayfarer losing himself, or even becoming over- 
 fatio-ued. Little arrows indicated the direction 
 
 O 
 
 of this or that point of interest with irritating 
 frequency, and were supplemented by an exact 
 calculation of the number of minutes it would 
 take to reach the spot in question. The way- 
 farer likewise received polite but firm instruc- 
 tions as to the paths in which he was permitted 
 to walk, and the other paths in which he was by 
 no means to ride ; he was also threatened with 
 the divers pains and penalties attached to cer- 
 tain acts of rashness, such as dropping lighted 
 matches, or throwing sticks and stones into the 
 gaily tinkling little springs. He was further 
 informed, with tender solicitude, of the where- 
 abouts of the different places of entertainment 
 where he could refresh his inner man, and was 
 altogether taken such prodigious care of, and 
 encompassed about with so many warnings and 
 counsels, that he might very well have felt 
 occasionally bewildered. 
 
 Christian, as has been said, had gone on his 
 way without paying much heed to these friendly 
 admonitions, but suddenly his attention was 
 attracted by the fact that three of these notices
 
 88 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 successively announced that the path he was 
 pursuing led to the Adlerskopf. 
 
 " Do I want to go to the Adlerskopf ? " 
 inquired Christian, coming to a standstill and 
 looking about him. " Why not ? They say 
 the view is fine from there." 
 
 He went on more rapidly, and looking about 
 him with even keener interest. The road 
 broadened suddenly, opening out to a sort of 
 plateau which was studded by gigantic oaks 
 and fenced off at the further end, whence it 
 descended precipitously, by a barrier of rough- 
 hewn losfs. Benches and little tables were set 
 
 O 
 
 here and there beneath the trees, and a kind of 
 rustic shelter, also provided with seats, afforded 
 doubtless such accommodation as the good 
 townsfolk loved when they toiled to the place 
 in summer, laden with baskets of provisions. 
 
 But the spot was deserted now, and Christian 
 was going forward to the fence, whence a beauti- 
 ful view was obtainable over a lengthened vista 
 of wooded hills, when he observed that the 
 bench immediately in front of it was occupied 
 by an imposing-looking female who seemed to 
 regard it as her own particular property. An 
 open umbrella was securely tied to one end, in 
 the shade of which she had ensconced herself ; 
 her feet were comfortably propped up on a heap
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 89 
 
 of stones, and a large, open work-basket lay 
 on the seat beside her. She glanced up 
 severely as Christian approached, and then 
 went on with her stitching, flourishing her 
 needle with a somewhat aggressive air. 
 
 He moved away, smiling to himself ; and, 
 skirting the shelter and leaving the path 
 proper, struck out a track for himself, across 
 the crisp rustling leaves. By-and-bye their 
 crackling ceased, and his foot fell noiselessly 
 on springy emerald moss. On his left a plan- 
 tation of firs shut out the view of the wooden 
 arbour and the benches, and the severe female 
 with the work-basket. He gave a little cry of 
 glee: now the woods \vere all his own he 
 would penetrate to the heart of them. 
 
 But even as he uttered this exclamation he 
 discovered that he was not alone ; there, a few 
 paces away from him, reclining on the soft moss 
 between the spreading roots of a large beech 
 was Juliet Lennox. She had taken off her 
 hat, and was lying with her clasped hands 
 beneath her head, looking up through the 
 shifting branches into the heights above. As 
 Christian advanced she sat up, blushing a little, 
 and greeted him with a smile. 
 
 " Are you here all alone ? " said he, dropping 
 down beside her.
 
 90 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " Not exactly alone. My maid is over there, 
 sitting on one of the benches. I could not 
 induce her to come here. She said she was 
 too old to sit upon the ground, and she could 
 not get on with her work. Poor Andrews ! 
 She thinks the day is lost if she does not do a 
 certain amount of stitching, and I believe at 
 this moment her heart is sore within her 
 because she could not carry out her sewing- 
 machine." 
 
 " She ought to like working in such a pretty 
 spot," remarked the young man. " There is a 
 lovely view from the Kopf. You liked to come 
 here better to be by yourself?" he added 
 interrogatively. 
 
 " Yes, I came away because I wanted to try 
 and forget I was so near the beaten track. 
 Don't you know what it is to want to get away 
 from things and people especially people ? 
 The mere sight of these placards, and the dear 
 old oaks fenced round with stones, and the 
 benches, and the tables, and the summer-house, 
 all remind me so painfully of my kind. Don't 
 be shocked at me," she added, bending forward 
 with mock earnestness, " but do you know, I 
 can't bear my fellow-creatures ? " 
 
 " That is very discouraging to the particular 
 fellow-creature who happens to be beside you."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 91 
 
 " Oh, I don't mean in that way," she cried 
 hastily, fearing that she had been uninten- 
 tionally rude. " I am speaking of them en 
 bloc. All the preparations for their entertain- 
 ment over there conjure up the vision of 
 crowds and I hate crowds, don't you ? " 
 
 " No," returned Christian, thoughtfully, " I 
 rather like them, because I never find myself in 
 the midst of one without feeling that I have 
 the power to dominate it. ' Some day,' I say 
 to myself, ' I will rule over you or such as you : 
 I will be your master.' I think of a great hall 
 packed right up to the roof ; all the faces 
 turned in one direction, all the eyes bent on 
 one man, swayed by him, responding to every 
 emotion he chooses to call forth and I say to 
 myself, ' I will be that man.' " 
 
 " There you and I differ," said Juliet. " I 
 should like of course to have such a power, but 
 I think I should almost feel it a kind of des- 
 ecration to give my best to the multitude. I 
 should want to keep it for just a few. I 
 imagine," she went on, laughing, " that what 
 I should like best of all would be to make my 
 music all alone, out in the woods perhaps. 
 Only Nature about me, and the notes going out 
 in the solitude to complete the beauty and the 
 grandeur. Did you ever hear of that little fable
 
 92 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 of Stevenson's? our Stevenson, you know, our 
 great writer about the stranger who comes 
 to an unknown land where he first wanders 
 through a forest and falls in love with the trees, 
 and afterwards is taken to a large city where 
 everyone is bent on business or pleasure. 
 ' These are very stupid people,' he says ; ' I like 
 best the people with the green heads.' Well 
 I like the people with the green heads best, 
 too." 
 
 " It would be a little difficult to carry a 
 grand piano out into the woods, though," re- 
 marked Christian ; " almost more difficult than 
 to provide your maid with a sewing-machine 
 yonder. You are most fortunate ; for your 
 art is complete in itself, and you may enjoy it 
 anywhere." 
 
 " My art ? " repeated Juliet in surprise. " I 
 was not aware I had one." 
 
 " When one can dance like you, is it not an 
 art?" said he. "I think it is. And on that 
 point I have a complaint to make." 
 
 " A complaint ? " 
 
 " Yes, I feel myself aggrieved. I did my 
 best to please you yesterday, and you did not 
 give me a single word of thanks." 
 
 " Didn't I ? I am so sorry. But surely my 
 father "
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 93 
 
 " Mr. Lennox indeed was good enough to 
 thank me in the same manner that one thanks 
 the waiter who fills one's glass. ' Thanks, that 
 is enough ! ' Yes, I will own it I felt dis- 
 tinctly slighted." 
 
 " I am very sorry," said Juliet, really per- 
 turbed, for beneath his light vein she detected 
 a certain element of seriousness ; " I assure 
 you he I we both were most grateful to 
 you." 
 
 " I did my best," he continued, as though he 
 had not heard her ; " I endeavoured to be sym- 
 pathetic and sustaining. I subordinated my- 
 self to you, which was the more noble of me 
 because my anxiety to be in harmony with you 
 and to do you full justice, preoccupied me so 
 much that I was deprived of the pleasure I 
 should otherwise have had in watching you. 
 No, it was not fair!" 
 
 " What more can I do ? " cried Juliet, half 
 laughing, half distressed. " I have told you 
 how grateful my father and I are to you, and 
 how how unintentional was any slight on our 
 part. I thank you again most heartily, and I 
 apologise. Are you not satisfied ? " 
 
 " Not yet," he said. " You must make full 
 amends by dancing for me now. Oh, you must 
 not refuse ! Why should you not dance for me,
 
 94 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 as well as for Mr. Bulkeley ? Dance for me 
 and the people with the green heads." 
 
 " There is no music," she said, hesitating. 
 
 " No, there is not but we can imagine the 
 music ; and everything else is perfect. This 
 springy moss makes a most delicious floor, and 
 the forest people are sympathetic and apprecia- 
 tive. Think of your own words just now, and 
 give us of your best. One moment, if you 
 please," he added gravely as, tossing aside her 
 wide-brimmed hat, she stepped out into the 
 midst of a little piece of level ground, free of 
 roots, and thickly carpeted with moss. " The 
 hair must come down." 
 
 " I don't think that is necessary," cried she, 
 hastily, and a little vexed. 
 
 " Pardon me : the trees and I will not be 
 content with less than Mr. Bulkeley. The 
 hair was loosened for him we claim our 
 rights." 
 
 She pulled off the ribbon quickly and shook 
 her hair about her. 
 
 " Remember," he called out as she prepared 
 to begin, " remember you have for audience Na- 
 ture in her most sympathetic mood; you your- 
 self are just a part of the harmony of the woods." 
 
 Whether the words inspired her, or whether 
 the beauty of the spot and the sparkling fragrant
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 95 
 
 air intoxicated her, certain it is that Juliet never 
 danced as she danced that sunny morning. Her 
 hair flew out about her transfigured little face, 
 her feet seemed scarcely to touch the ground ; 
 the swaying supple figure exhibited ever more 
 and more grace ; each movement, each attitude 
 was more exquisite than the preceding one. 
 
 Christian smiled now and then as she turned 
 towards him, and was unable to repress an occa- 
 sional murmur of admiration ; but she did not 
 heed him ; indeed in a few moments she abso- 
 lutely forgot his presence. He watched her at 
 first with a suspicion of distrust, for the thought 
 flashed across him that this assumption of 
 indifference might possibly be feigned ; close 
 observation would probably reveal some touch 
 of coquetry or at least of consciousness. But the 
 indication for which he looked, perhaps hoped, 
 was not forthcoming. He himself was not more 
 absorbed in the expression of his own peculiar 
 gift than was Juliet in hers. So he gave up 
 analysis and abandoned himself to entire en- 
 joyment. 
 
 In after years the scene often recurred to 
 him ; the magic circle of glowing moss, the 
 fronds tipped as it were with fire where the 
 sunlight came slanting down athwart the leafy 
 canopy, a canopy all spangled with amber and
 
 96 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 gold ; the little army of fir trees, each sending 
 forth its own incense to greet the woodland 
 queen ; the tall slender grasses that here and 
 there encroached upon the moss, catching the 
 sunlight on their fawn-coloured crests so that 
 these were turned to flame. Stretching all about 
 them, falling away from the plateau which they 
 had made their own and mounting again and 
 rolling away to meet the sky-line, the glowing 
 floor of the forest, all as it seemed of burnished 
 copper. And the silence ! The flutter of a 
 falling leaf could be heard as it slipped from 
 branch to branch; but for this occasional slight 
 sound, and the faint rustling of Juliet's draperies, 
 the woods were absolutely still. This stillness 
 adds to the effect of unreality of glamour, and 
 Christian almost found himself wondering 
 whether the ethereal floating figure before 
 him were not after all a vision, whether the 
 witchery to which he felt himself succumbing 
 were not the witchery of a dream. 
 
 But she stopped all at once, and came towards 
 him, a little shy for the first time, but laughing. 
 
 " Did you understand it all ? " she asked. 
 
 He shook his head, smiling: 
 
 " Not all." 
 
 Her face fell. 
 
 "Ah," she said, "of course you could not
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 97 
 
 understand. I was trying to work out some 
 new ideas to put in some of the things I had 
 seen here this morning. But I could not expect 
 you to guess at them. Yet one or two were 
 easy. Did you not recognise the squirrel ? " 
 
 " The squirrel ? " echoed he. 
 
 " Yes. How disappointing ! I thought you 
 would have been sure to see what I meant by 
 those flights and pauses, and little tripping 
 steps." 
 
 He looked at her, with a curious expression, 
 but without speaking. Some impulse of boy- 
 ish chivalry kept back the words which had 
 rushed to his lips. Had he spoken he would 
 have said too much. She had meanwhile been 
 tying up her hair, and now put out her hand 
 for her hat, which he presented to her gravely. 
 By the time she had put it on, and again turned 
 a radiant rosy face towards him, he had found 
 his tongue and his self-possession. 
 
 " I thank you," he said, " in the name of the 
 forest folk. I am more than rewarded my 
 injuries are forgotten."
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 ANNO LA IS TO was standing bare-headed 
 at the entrance to the woods, screening 
 her eyes with her hand and anxiously scanning 
 the divers paths, when Juliet and Christian 
 came in view. They were walking very con- 
 tentedly side by side, while Andrews and the 
 work-basket brought up the rear. At sight of 
 them her hand dropped by her side, and she 
 hurried forward to meet them. 
 
 Contrary to Christian's expectations she 
 greeted them with a smile, and bowed gra- 
 ciously to Juliet. 
 
 "You have been for a walk," she said. "You 
 98
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 99 
 
 did well to profit by this lovely morning. I 
 have not yet explored the woods; you must 
 take me with you next time." 
 
 " They are worth exploring, indeed," returned 
 Juliet, adding eagerly: "It would be very nice 
 to take a walk together sometimes. My father 
 is so busy I cannot persuade him to come out, 
 and my maid cannot walk far." 
 
 " But certainly, it would be delightful," said 
 Annola, gaily. " We must talk of that." 
 
 And nodding brightly at the girl, and pass- 
 ing her arm through Christian's she led him 
 into the house. As they went she chatted 
 pleasantly about indifferent things without ap- 
 pearing to notice that his face was set, and 
 that the arm on which she leaned was rigid 
 as marble. The fact was that the sight of 
 her had recalled her injustice of the morning, 
 and above all the taunt which she had flung 
 at him. " Canaille ! " The word stuck in his 
 throat, and moreover the contrast between that 
 disagreeable scene and the idyll in which he 
 nad recently taken part was so strong that he 
 well-nigh turned from his companion with dis- 
 gust. Why should she force herself upon him 
 now? Why should she remind him by her pres- 
 ence of what sweeter scenes had momentarily 
 effaced ?
 
 ioo CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 They crossed the hall and mounted the stairs, 
 Annola still talking, and her companion steel- 
 ing himself against her. At last they reached 
 the topmost story, interrupting sundry love 
 passages on the landing between a scullion in 
 his white cap and a red-armed house-maid, and 
 almost knocking over a little waiter who was 
 descending from his attic resplendent in his 
 greasy tail-coat. Christian's arm had dropped, 
 but Annola still clung to it. 
 
 " Not here," she said, as he would have halted 
 at his own door. " Come into my room for a 
 moment." 
 
 He suffered her to draw him into the adjoin- 
 ing chamber such a poor little room with a 
 bare boarded floor and curtainless windows 
 and there stood facing her, frowning, and look- 
 ing very handsome and rebellious. He expected 
 more reproaches and recriminations, and was 
 surprised at the gentleness with which she 
 asked : 
 
 " Where have you been, Christian ? " 
 
 " First I took a walk," he answered de- 
 fiantly. " After the scene you made me my 
 hands shook so that it was useless to attempt 
 to play ; therefore I went out walking, and I 
 met Miss Lennox, and while talking to her 
 I suddenly remembered your kind remarks the
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 101 
 
 other day as to the value she and her father 
 put upon my services. I remembered also 
 other accusations you were good enough to 
 make, and I thought I would see for myself 
 how much truth there was in this one. I 
 asked Miss Lennox if she would prove her 
 appreciation of my help by dancing again for 
 me for myself alone. And she did it with all 
 the good-will in the world. You see, Annola, 
 she was not too proud to despise this canaille! 
 Her mind is not distorted and suspicious like 
 some people's, thank Heaven." 
 
 He flung out the taunt, partly out of sheer 
 boyish bravado, partly to reinstate himself in' 
 his own good opinion and hers, for his heart 
 was sore within him at the memory of her 
 bitter words. He would prove to her that 
 though she had unjustly scorned him, this girl 
 of whom she had avowed herself jealous knew 
 how to appreciate him. 
 
 But he was not prepared for the effect of his 
 announcement: Annola suddenly covered her 
 face with her hands and burst into tears. 
 
 " Oh," he groaned, and threw himself into a 
 chair with an absurd assumption of the tone of 
 a blase man of the world. " Oh, these women ! 
 First recriminations, then tears." But his 
 better nature soon asserted itself, and, rising,
 
 102 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 he came towards her, clasping her wrists and 
 speaking very gently. 
 
 "Annola, Annola, this is not like you! I 
 have never seen you cry before." 
 
 She did not pull away her hands as he half 
 expected, but, continuing to bury her face in 
 them, sank upon her knees. 
 
 " Oh, Christian," she sobbed, " Christian, 
 forgive me ! I was wrong do not punish me 
 by taking away your love." 
 
 His heart was touched; he bent over her, 
 throwing his arm about her, and trying to see 
 her face. 
 
 " Why, Annola, what nonsense ! As if I 
 should ever stop being fond of you ! What are 
 you thinking of? We have only had such a 
 quarrel as we have had hundreds of times 
 before without either of us being a bit the 
 worse." 
 
 " Ah, but I was wrong," moaned she. " I 
 said so many wicked things things that were 
 not true. None of them were true, mein lieber 
 not one. I think I was mad. I have no dis- 
 like at all to that pretty Miss Lennox ; and as 
 for you you know, Christian, you are all my 
 world." 
 
 " Why, of course I do," cried he. " Think no 
 more of it. I told untruths too."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 103 
 
 Here he pulled down her hands and gently 
 lifted her face. Her eyes seemed almost unnat- 
 urally large and were bright with tears ; there 
 was a little colour in her cheeks, and her lips, 
 still quivering, looked soft and full. 
 
 " I swear you are a very pretty woman," he 
 said affectionately. " I lied this morning. 
 When you look at me like that, Annola, you 
 are beautiful." 
 
 She laughed a little sadly, and rose, pushing 
 back her heavy hair from her brow. 
 
 " No, Christian, you spoke the truth," she 
 said. " But perhaps you were a little hard. 
 They say a mother is always beautiful to her 
 child. Was it not natural that I, who look on 
 you as a son, should wish you to have some- 
 thing of the same feeling for me? " 
 
 " Now do not be absurd," said Christian, 
 bluntly. " You and I are not in the least like 
 mother and son,and never could be." He paused, 
 startled by the sudden flash which had come 
 into her eyes, but continued, after a moment, 
 gaily : " We are just a pair of comrades ; good 
 sturdy comrades working together for the same 
 end ; the best of friends always, and all the better 
 after availing ourselves of one of the greatest 
 privileges of true friendship quarrelling." 
 
 He shook her hand, kissed her lightly on
 
 104 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 both cheeks, and went away, leaving her stand- 
 ing in the middle of the room, with her eyes 
 on the ground. 
 
 By-and-bye she roused herself, bathed her 
 face, and stood by the open window until all 
 traces of emotion had disappeared. When the 
 gong sounded for the mid-day meal, she went 
 downstairs, humming a gay little tune under 
 her breath. 
 
 In the hall she overtook the Lennoxes and 
 Horace Bulkeley, walking leisurely towards 
 the Speisesaal ; and saluted the Professor 
 with unusual graciousness. 
 
 " What a beautiful day ! " she exclaimed as 
 he paused to return her greeting. " I was sug- 
 gesting to your daughter, just now, that we 
 should take advantage of this fine weather to 
 make one or two little expeditions. She tells 
 me she is sometimes at a loss for a companion 
 and cannot wander far in consequence. I should 
 be delighted to take her for a walk occasionally 
 when she has nothing better to do to-morrow, 
 for instance, if it is as fine as to-day, we might 
 go for a ramble, and finish up with coffee at one 
 of the restaurants at the other side of the 
 wood." 
 
 "Oh!" cried Juliet, with a spring of delight 
 as she seized her father's arm. " Oh, what a
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 105 
 
 lovely plan! Do come too, Daddy do! Just 
 for once, let us have a real happy idle day to- 
 gether." 
 
 " Yes, sir," put in Christian, who had now 
 joined the group; "pray be idle, and then I 
 can be idle too with an approving conscience. 
 We shall work all the better for it afterwards." 
 
 " Well, then," said the Professor, looking 
 down at Juliet's bright pleading face, " for once 
 I will agree to take a holiday ; but after this you 
 young folks must be content to be idle without 
 me." 
 
 " But that is perfect," said Annola, with a grace- 
 ful inclination towards Mr. Lennox ; then, turn- 
 ing to Bulkeley, " Will not this gentleman 
 also consent to be of the party ? " 
 
 Horace willingly agreed, and they separated 
 on the understanding that, weather permitting, 
 they should start on their expedition at three 
 o'clock on the morrow.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 * >, 
 
 * * * 
 
 fra-li" i i Hi ' i 
 
 THE next day proved as perfect as even 
 Juliet could desire, and at the appointed 
 hour the party set forth. Christian looked very 
 boyish in white flannels, which became him 
 mightily, and his bright face was a contrast 
 to the careworn countenance of Annola, who 
 to-day made no pretence of light-heartedness, 
 and walked in silence, and with a preoccupied 
 air. 
 
 " Just see those two children," said the Pro- 
 fessor, his face all kindly smiles as he looked 
 after Christian and Juliet who had run on 
 ahead, talking eagerly and pointing out to each 
 other certain woodland wonders. " How happy 
 they are ! What a wonderful thing is youth ! 
 We should not care to go scrambling over 
 marshy places and clambering up steep banks." 
 
 " They will lose themselves," cried Annola, 
 starting forward ; " they should keep to the 
 
 1 06
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 107 
 
 path. Where are you going, Christian ? " she 
 cried, raising her voice. 
 
 " I want to show Miss Lennox a wren's nest," 
 he called back, over his shoulder. 
 
 " Will you not go with them," she said, turn- 
 ing to Horace with a forced laugh. " These 
 young people will get into mischief if they are 
 left to themselves. Feather-heads ! " 
 
 " No, no," cried Mr. Lennox, clutching at 
 Bulkeley's arm. " I will not have him victim- 
 ised. He does not want to inspect wrens' nests ! 
 He wants to talk to me and to you, mein 
 Fraulein and they do not want him to spoil 
 sport. Young things are best left to themselves." 
 
 Annola said no more, but continued to walk 
 along abstractedly, her eyes seeking to pierce 
 the thickets, amid which she could every now 
 and then catch a glimpse of Juliet's muslin 
 skirts, or of Christian's white-clad form. They 
 did not wander far, and their voices were often 
 distinctly audible ; but strain her ears as she 
 might she could not catch what they said. She 
 had not bargained for this state of affairs when 
 proposing the expedition, and was now con- 
 scious of a feeling akin to rage, in recalling 
 that she had of her own accord laid herself 
 open to this exquisite form of torture. 
 
 Meanwhile Professor Lennox theorised and
 
 io8 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 philosophised to his heart's content, and tran- 
 quilly enjoyed the sunshine and the warm 
 sweet air. Horace answered occasionally when 
 an answer seemed to be required, but he, too, 
 was ill at ease. By-and-bye the unresponsive- 
 ness of his companions appeared to strike Mr. 
 Lennox, and he paused in his flow of speech. 
 Annola's preoccupation was evident to him ; he 
 was surprised and disappointed to find her so 
 uncompanionable ; many of his sallies, indeed, 
 had been designed to draw her out. Perhaps, 
 after all, he had been mistaken in his estimate 
 of her and had been talking over her head. 
 
 No one could adapt himself more readily to 
 his company than the Professor when he chose. 
 Turning to her now, with a half apologetic and 
 wholly charming smile he began to speak of 
 musical matters ; discussing Christian in par- 
 ticular, and auguring for him a great future. 
 
 " He has every qualification needful to a 
 musician," he said : " the temperament, the 
 physique, the necessary ambition, and, I am 
 pleased to see, sufficient aplomb. That power 
 of absorption in his art is of itself a wonderful 
 gift it will be a safeguard against the fatal 
 nervousness which is the ruin of many a fine 
 player." 
 
 " Yet surely he will have his moments of
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 109 
 
 nervousness too," put in Horace. " I am told 
 the artistic nature is not complete without it. 
 He will conquer it, of course, as others have done 
 
 and must do. Even " (naming a certain 
 
 renowned violinist) " suffered from it at one 
 time so acutely that, as his Impresario once 
 related to me, he more than once implored him 
 to send the audience away. ' Why,' he asked, 
 ' should those crowds come to listen to a fool 
 like me?' Once he actually put his head down 
 upon his instrument and hid his face, like a 
 woman ! " 
 
 " A woman ! " exclaimed Annola, turning 
 upon him fiercely. " Say a child it was the 
 child in him that acted so foolishly. A woman 
 would have had more self-restraint." 
 
 " Come, come," said the Professor, delighted 
 to see her emerge from her shell, and quite 
 unconscious of the secret source of this sudden 
 irritability, " no need for you to stand up so 
 fiercely for your sex. Surely all geniuses 
 have in them something of the woman." 
 
 " Genius is a sexless thing, Monsieur. It is 
 god-like in that it creates and brings forth of 
 its own essence. It is neither male nor female 
 it stands apart." 
 
 She paused for a moment, wheeling round so 
 as to face the two men.
 
 no CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " I grant you this much : many of the qualities 
 which are essential to genius are commonly and 
 thoughtlessly believed to be peculiarly feminine. 
 Genius must be expansive if it would exist 
 it must do away with reserve, it must confide 
 its loves and sorrows to the world, it must 
 pour them forth into the ear of the public as 
 a woman is supposed to prattle her so-called 
 secrets to her friends." 
 
 Mr. Lennox screwed up his mouth with a 
 whimsical expression, and shot an amused 
 glance at her from under his white brows. 
 
 " Let us hear," he said. " How do you work 
 out this theory ? " 
 
 " Sir," cried she, " what are they always 
 doing, these geniuses ? What is their life's 
 work but the laying bare of their secret soul ? 
 What is poetry but the exposition in beautiful 
 words of the author's keenest emotions ? What 
 is painting, what is music, but the outward ex- 
 pression of that which is most vividly present 
 to the artist's heart ? Art is simply the 
 epanchement of Genius a reticent genius 
 therefore cannot exist. Do we not owe some 
 of the most exquisite music of many of the 
 great composers to the unhappy passions by 
 which they were swayed. A common man 
 would have kept such troubles to himself and
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL in 
 
 been corrupted and degraded by them in 
 beings such as these dross itself is turned to 
 gold." 
 
 " Aha," said the Professor, looking at her 
 with his head on one side. " H'm, h'm." 
 
 "Vulgar ideas," she went on, "commonly 
 received notions are sometimes worth analysis 
 if only to prove their falsity. We are talking 
 of reticence, are we not ? Ah, reticence is a 
 fine thing, an essentially manly quality ; among 
 women it is rare, if not entirely absent is it 
 not so ? Well, I tell you that the reticent man 
 is the commonplace man ; he who speaks his 
 mind, he who is not afraid to cry out when 
 he is hurt, he who takes the world into his 
 confidence when he loves, or hates, or grieves, 
 or rejoices, he is the great man. Now, which 
 is the greater of you two? Monsieur, is it 
 not? " laying her hand for a moment on the 
 Professor's sleeve "well, it is Monsieur who 
 must speak out of his inmost soul, and this 
 one " with a somewhat scornful sidelong look 
 at Horace "who will suffer many things 
 without a word." 
 
 " I am not sure," said Mr. Lennox, reflec- 
 tively. " I have always looked upon myself 
 as a reserved person ; it is not my habit to 
 wear my heart upon my sleeve."
 
 ii2 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " No," she interrupted quickly, " but you 
 draw little diagrams of it and publish them 
 at intervals so that all the world may know its 
 exact state. Do not deny it you are a writer, 
 and though you may do so unconsciously, your 
 real thought is bound to come out in your 
 work. But to continue," she resumed, walking 
 on again, her head bent a little forward, her 
 hands clasped behind her, " reticence, as we 
 agreed, is rarely to be found among women, 
 yet you may find it in me if you choose to look 
 for it. And why? Because there are in me 
 the elements of genius ah, you may not 
 believe me, but it is true ! What a contradic- 
 tion, is it not? I claim to be reticent on the 
 score of genius, having just said that genius 
 and reticence cannot co-exist ! But wait a 
 little the elements of genius I said not 
 genius itself. I am a barren trunk, messieurs, 
 which will never bring forth flowers or fruit, 
 which was blasted before the sap had time to 
 rise. My genius is dumb, and therefore it is 
 not ! and therefore though my heart were torn 
 from my body I would not cry out." 
 
 She stopped short again, bringing forward 
 her arms and clutching at her bosom, and 
 then throwing out her hands with a passionate 
 gesture.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 113 
 
 " Very interesting," said Professor Lennox, 
 half to himself ; " most interesting." 
 
 Bulkeley, however, was distinctly uncomfort- 
 able ; he felt that some secret well-spring of 
 bitterness was at the bottom of Annola's talk, 
 but could not divine its nature. He certainly 
 did not consider her a pleasant companion and 
 moreover her antagonism to himself surprised 
 as much as it offended him. What had called 
 it forth ? Surely not his failure to respond at 
 once to her appeal with regard to accompanying 
 the young folk ? That would be too absurd. 
 And yet he had misgivings on the subject. 
 
 Meanwhile the voices of the " children," as 
 Mr. Lennox dubbed them, sounded ever more 
 blithely in their ears, and, when at last they all 
 met at a juncture of paths a little distance from 
 their destination, their faces were glowing and 
 radiant. 
 
 " We have found such a lot of mushrooms," 
 said Juliet, " and oh, such lovely toadstools ! I 
 should like to make a collection of toadstools, 
 Daddy ; they keep beautifully in spirits of wine 
 only I am afraid you wouldn't like to travel 
 about with so many little bottles." 
 
 " And I have been relating the history of the 
 robber cave," said Christian. 
 
 " It is a very romantic story," chimed in Juliet.
 
 ii 4 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " The caves are not far from here, right under 
 the mountain. The robber's wife used to steal 
 geese I think it should have been something 
 more soul-stirring than geese. It takes the edge 
 off the tragedy to think she only stole geese, 
 because one might do that without marrying a 
 robber and living in a cave. Do you know any 
 robber stories, Mr. Bulkeley ? " she asked. 
 
 She was walking by his side now, with An- 
 nola on the other hand, her father and Christian 
 having fallen behind. 
 
 " Ah, you are fond of robber stories ? " 
 said Annola. " I will tell you one if you 
 like." 
 
 " A true one ? " cried Juliet, with sparkling 
 eyes. 
 
 " Necessarily a true one ; it is my own. When 
 I was about your age, Miss Lennox, I thought 
 the whole world was at my feet I thought I 
 had only to stretch out my hand to lay hold of 
 whatever prize I would. I was not a good, 
 gentle, well brought up girl like you," with a 
 scarcely perceptible sneer, " but en revanche I 
 was clever ten times, twenty times cleverer 
 than you. I had a mind that could grasp like 
 the mind of a man of an intellectual man ; I 
 had the power of seizing in a moment the dra- 
 matic aspect of things, and moreover the gift of
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 115 
 
 reproducing it. Had Fate been kind to me, 
 I should have been the greatest tragic actress 
 of my time." 
 
 No one seeing her expressive face and im- 
 passioned gestures could deem the boast un- 
 founded. 
 
 " I had besides an extraordinary talent for 
 music ; I had a voice, a golden voice people 
 called it ah, I should have been heard of, had 
 Fate been kind. Listen, Miss Lennox : I was 
 not meek and good and tame, as I have told 
 you ; I was passionate and unruly. In my home, 
 in the midst of my family, a noble family, be it 
 said" with a shrug "full of the antiquated 
 narrow-minded traditions, supposed to be essen- 
 tial to rank, my genius had no scope. I deter- 
 mined therefore to break with my family. I cast 
 it off one day and ran away. I went to Pesth first, 
 where I starved and studied, and then I travelled 
 to Vienna, where I went on the stage as a 
 chorus-girl to keep myself alive. By-and-bye I 
 was given small parts ; and then by a lucky 
 chance I made a hit, and was advancing by 
 leaps and bounds when I was struck down. 
 You hear me ? Bah ! you have noticed my voice 
 before what a voice, is it not? The very 
 crows are musical compared to me. I made a 
 maladie diphtheria it was and Death was
 
 ii6 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 cruel enough to spare me, and I am now 
 what I am ! " 
 
 She paused : Juliet did not dare to speak, but 
 her sympathetic face told even more plainly than 
 words how great was her compassion. 
 
 " My people had shut their doors to me," went 
 on Annola. " Not that I should ever have gone 
 back to them I would have died first I was 
 too proud ; besides I would never have relin- 
 quished my liberty. They announced that I 
 had taken the veil. The veil ! " she smiled 
 grimly " and I, to spare their susceptibility, 
 assumed another name. I call myself ' Istd ' as 
 you know, which is a diminutive of Stephen in 
 our language. I was born on St. Stephen's 
 day, and it is as good a name as another. Were 
 I to mention my real name you would perhaps 
 be surprised : it is known all over Europe. So 
 there I was homeless, hopeless, without an 
 object in life, and with all that genius tearing 
 at my heart." 
 
 Here, after a comprehensive gesture that 
 seemed to describe at once the emptiness of 
 her external life and the struggles of the pent- 
 up passion within, she paused with the air of a 
 tragedy queen. 
 
 " I should have died," she went on in a lower 
 and softer tone, " I should have died if I had
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 117 
 
 not chanced to find Christian. Out of his 
 young promise and power I built up my hopes 
 anew ; our lives are one he cannot exist with- 
 out me nor I without him. He would have 
 made nothing of his extraordinary gift if it had 
 not been for me. He was a poor boy without 
 the means or opportunities of studying, abso- 
 lutely unknown, absolutely dependent. He 
 would have had to labour with those hands, 
 mademoiselle, those delicate, wonderful, pre- 
 cious hands, to gain his daily bread, if it had not 
 been for me. But I took him ; out of the pit- 
 tance that barely sufficed for myself I supported 
 him; many a time I have had hunger, Miss 
 Lennox, that there might be more for him to 
 eat. But oh ! I was recompensed by his rapid 
 progress. Many a wintry night I have sat up 
 shivering, yet with my heart dancing within me 
 because of the strides he was making. Now 
 better times have come, thank Heaven : we 
 have at least enough to eat and I need no longer 
 work so hard. I have classes for elocution. 
 Yes, even in spite of my voice people have 
 recognised my dramatic gift: I have trained 
 many a successful actress. I also give lessons 
 in gesture. Yes, all will go well if Christian 
 perseveres as he should." 
 
 She was speaking more slowly now and fixed
 
 ii8 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 Juliet with a peculiar look. Of Horace she 
 took absolutely no notice. " There are mo- 
 ments," she continued, " when I tremble for his 
 future. I say to myself, ' My God, what if 
 after all he should fail me now! What if he 
 should turn aside just as the prize is in his 
 grasp ? ' ' 
 
 " But surely," said Juliet, seeing that she was 
 expected to speak, and being in truth absolutely 
 astonished and dismayed, "surely that is not 
 likely. Herr Thai seems so full of his work, 
 so ambitious. Why, he is longing for the time 
 when his career may fairly begin. Besides, 
 how could he suppress such a talent ? " 
 
 " He is incurably light-minded," went on 
 Annola, "fickle, reckless of consequences. Noth- 
 ing seems to make any serious impression on 
 him. Of late he has been idle idle and un- 
 grateful. Yes, I ask myself sometimes whether, 
 after all my sacrifices, he will not yet play me 
 false. But as to that, he cares nothing for my 
 sacrifices. He is capable of taking everything 
 from me and then throwing me aside." 
 
 Her face was working, her hands clasping 
 and unclasping each other convulsively. 
 
 " I think you misjudge him," said Juliet, 
 much grieved and shocked. " Only the other 
 day he told me that you had done everything
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 119 
 
 for him, and that he hoped to repay you by his 
 success." 
 
 " He told you that ? " said Annola, quickly. 
 " When ? " 
 
 " On Thursday, I think," said Juliet, conscien- 
 tiously. She was very pink and felt extremely 
 uncomfortable. " He told me everything 
 almost everything that you have told me and 
 he said he was counting on paying you back 
 a hundred fold." 
 
 "When did he tell you all this?" inquired 
 Annola, looking at her fixedly. " Oh, I re- 
 member Thursday I think you said in the 
 morning when he should have been practising, 
 I suppose ? Yes, he makes fine speeches and 
 great resolves, and he won't take the necessary 
 steps for accomplishing them. What is to be- 
 come of his technique if he does not practise, 
 and unless his technique is perfect how can he 
 be a great musician? It is because I have so 
 ardent a wish for his success that I insist on 
 these things, yet directly my back is turned he 
 behaves like a silly schoolboy, playing truant." 
 
 " I am afraid," said Juliet, " it was partly my 
 fault: I should not have encouraged him to 
 talk." 
 
 Her conscience-stricken face and nai've man- 
 ner caused even Annola to relax.
 
 120 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " Well, it would be kinder in the long run 
 to leave him to himself," she said, more gently? 
 yet with a latent earnestness which the girl en- 
 tirely failed to understand. " You wish my 
 artist well, I am sure do not encourage him 
 to be idle. It would be wiser to keep out of 
 his way." 
 
 " I will," promised Juliet, with a little nod. 
 She felt as if she herself had been scolded, and 
 moreover was anxious to divert Fraulein Istd's 
 wrath from Christian; the latter appearing to 
 her for the nonce somewhat in the light of 
 a playmate, whose misconduct she had un- 
 wittingly abetted. She was now anxious to 
 change the conversation. " I thought," she 
 said gaily, " that you were going to tell me the 
 story of a robbery. You said it was to be a rob- 
 ber story." 
 
 " Did I ? " returned Annola, and then she 
 paused. She had set out on her history with 
 very different intentions, but Juliet's attitude 
 had disarmed her. " A robber story what 
 can I have been thinking of ? But yes, of 
 course : do you not see it was Fate who was the 
 thief ? Cruel Fate who robbed me of my career. 
 So long as he does not again deprive me of my 
 hopes ! " 
 
 " Oh, no, I am sure," returned Juliet, again
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 121 
 
 vaguely discomfited by her tone and manner. 
 " I think I will just run back to my father; he 
 does not like to walk so fast." 
 
 Annola looked after her without disquietude, 
 but rather with a kind of contemptuous amuse- 
 ment. 
 
 " What a child ! " she said. 
 
 " Yes," cried Horace. " She is still a com- 
 plete child, thank Heaven ! I for one would be 
 sorry to see her older or wiser by a day. It 
 would be a great responsibility, Fraulein Istd, 
 to tarnish by so much as a chance word that 
 perfect innocence." 
 
 " Bah ! " said Annola ; and pushing past him 
 she walked on in silence.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 
 
 
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 FOR the next few days Juliet sedulously 
 kept out of Christian's way during the 
 hours when he might be supposed to pur- 
 sue his studies ; a mark of consideration 
 which that young gentleman took in very evil 
 part. 
 
 " Why do you never come to hear me play?" 
 he inquired, meeting her one day upon the 
 stairs. " Are you already tired of me ? " 
 
 " Oh, no, indeed : I am afraid of interrupting 
 and perhaps making you talk." 
 
 " Well, do you not like me to talk ? " 
 
 " Not when you ought to be practising," said 
 Juliet, with a very demure air.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 123 
 
 " All sorts of stupid people come to listen to 
 me," he went on, discontentedly. " Everyone 
 who is in the hotel. Herr Schmidt stands in 
 the passage and the waiters and cook-maids, and 
 people like that, come outside the window. I 
 don't want them." 
 
 " I thought you liked crowds," said she, mis- 
 chievously. 
 
 " Why do not you and your father come to 
 the reading room after dinner?" he insisted 
 petulantly. 
 
 " My father generally writes in the evening," 
 said she. 
 
 " And you, why do you not come as well as 
 everybody I don't want ? Do come to-night 
 do. I will not talk. I promise you, not one 
 word but I will play to you." 
 
 Juliet laughed and promised; after all, even 
 Fraulein Istd could not reproach her for this. 
 And since so many people came to listen, it 
 seemed a little hard that she, who perhaps 
 loved music better than any of them, should be 
 obliged to stay away. 
 
 " It is a promise," said Christian, as she went 
 on down the stairs. " Remember that, no matter 
 how many are in the room, I shall be playing 
 only for you." 
 
 " Thank you," said Juliet. She turned to cast
 
 124 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 back at him one of her bright glances and was 
 a little startled at his expression. 
 
 Why did he look so strange ? she thought ; 
 her own heart began to beat, she knew not why, 
 and she ran downstairs very fast. 
 
 " Why, what rosy cheeks ! " said her father. 
 " This place certainly suits you." 
 
 Christian kept his word, and spoke not a 
 syllable to Juliet that evening, but she thought 
 that she would almost have known he was play- 
 ing for her even had he not told her so. His 
 repertoire was composed only of what she had 
 previously said she liked, and he added as an 
 after-thought a sequence of Russian dances 
 which she had never heard before, but which 
 she instinctively felt were intended as a special 
 tribute to her prowess. She was fluttered and 
 excited, and perhaps more carried away by 
 the music than she had ever been before. 
 On going upstairs she went into her father's 
 room to say good night, and began to describe 
 her pleasure enthusiastically. " He played 
 some Russian dances," she said, with an odd 
 tremor in her voice. " I had never heard 
 them before, Daddy I think he must have 
 played them on account of my dancing, you 
 know." 
 
 " Very likely," said her father. " You look
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 125 
 
 well to-night, child you look very well : this 
 place certainly agrees with you." 
 
 " Oh, because I am so happy ! " cried Juliet. 
 "It is such a lovely place; I simply adore it. 
 Only look at the stars to-night." 
 
 " The stars are not peculiar to Schonwald," 
 said the Professor. 
 
 "I don't know; I think they shine more 
 brightly here than in other places. And oh, 
 Daddy, look at the silvery light over the town 
 yonder. It looks as if a little tiny baby search- 
 light had been thrown over it." 
 
 Her father laughed and nodded, and she 
 passed through the long French window into 
 the balcony, where she stood leaning against 
 the railing, and resting her flushed cheek upon 
 her hand. 
 
 All at once she started. Some one had pro- 
 nounced her name, and, looking down, she saw 
 a figure standing in the moonlight immediately 
 beneath her. 
 
 " Miss Lennox ! " 
 
 " Yes ; it is you, Herr Thai, is it not ? " 
 
 " Yes. Did you like the dances ? I played 
 them to remind you of that morning in the 
 wood." 
 
 " I thought you did," cried she, delightedly. 
 " That little one in the middle with the swing-
 
 126 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 ing movement the very quaint one, you know, 
 that went like this" humming the air. "I 
 guessed you meant it for the swaying of the 
 trees. You were thinking of that, were you not ? " 
 
 "No," returned Christian. "I was just think- 
 ing of you." 
 
 " Oh," said Juliet in an altered voice. Then 
 after a pause, " Good night I am going in 
 now." 
 
 " Good night. You are not angry ? " She 
 shook her head, and went indoors. 
 
 "Going to bed?" said her father, as she 
 dropped a gentle little kiss on his bent head. 
 " That is right. Go to bed, and get some 
 beauty sleep." 
 
 But there was not much sleep for Juliet in 
 the early hours of that night ; the varied 
 fantastic rhythm of Liadow's dance sequence 
 seemed to float and throb in her brain. 
 Whether she stared with wide-open eyes at 
 the darkness, or whether she resolutely closed 
 them, the figure of Christian was alike present 
 to her ; the face with its ever changeful expres- 
 sion, the long, powerful hands. And his voice 
 sounded in her ears, oddly mingled with the 
 pulsing of the music: 
 
 " I shall be playing only for you. ... I 
 was just thinking of you."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 127 
 
 Towards dawn she fell asleep, and only woke 
 to find her room flooded with brilliant sun- 
 shine, while the clatter of cups in the verandah 
 beneath warned her that it was breakfast time. 
 
 " I think Mr. Lennox has gone down," re- 
 marked Andrews, who was surveying her from 
 the foot of the bed. " I have been in twice, but 
 you was that sweet asleep I didn't like to dis- 
 turb you." 
 
 As Juliet sprang up other sounds fell upon 
 her ear: Christian was already practising his 
 scales. She laughed aloud with an inexpli- 
 cable feeling of relief. She had at first felt as 
 if something unusual had happened and behold! 
 everything was just the same as ever. 
 
 "What a lovely day! "she cried jubilantly; 
 " Andrews, we will go out directly after break- 
 fast and explore." 
 
 " I thought maybe you would like to sit out 
 to-day," suggested Andrews, rather timidly. 
 " There is your white blouse. It seems a 
 funny thing that something always happens to 
 take me off just when I feel regular inspired to 
 sew." 
 
 " I am not in the least in a hurry for it. No, 
 no, we will go for a good walk right out of 
 the beaten track." 
 
 They sallied out, therefore, as soon as might
 
 128 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 be after the morning meal, and leaving the 
 paths behind, plunged into the very heart of 
 the woods, their feet now sinking deep in fallen 
 leaves, now slipping on wet moss, now stum- 
 bling over unseen roots. Juliet laughed and 
 chattered as they walked; and Andrews panted 
 and groaned and thought ruefully of the unfin- 
 ished blouse ; and all at once dropped down 
 upon a fallen tree-trunk declaring she could go 
 no further. 
 
 " Very well. Let us rest awhile," conceded 
 her mistress. " I am not sorry to stay a little 
 longer in this pretty spot." 
 
 It was a sort of clearing in the midst of a 
 pine plantation into which the sunshine came 
 pouring with most comfortable radiance ; the 
 grass grew thickly, and here and there were 
 even a few lingering wild flowers. Juliet sat 
 down on the further end of the log and fell 
 silent all at once. Andrews brought out a half- 
 finished collar from some hidden receptacle, 
 and began to stitch with a relieved counte- 
 nance. A squirrel scrambled and chattered in 
 a neighbouring tree. The light fell on his 
 ruddy coat, and on the trunk to which he was 
 clinging. Juliet, looking up, marked it absently, 
 and observed further, as she gazed pensively 
 down the glade, how each of the tall stems of
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 129 
 
 fir and beech was touched, at a uniform height 
 from the ground, with a streak of sunshine, so 
 that the glowing oasis which she had made her 
 resting-place would seem to be indicated by a 
 fiery finger to all wanderers in the outer desert 
 of green. 
 
 " The musical young gentleman didn't stick 
 long to his practising," remarked Andrews, pres- 
 ently, as she bit off a thread. " He seems to 
 be coming up here." 
 
 Juliet woke with a start from her reverie, 
 and saw that Christian was indeed making his 
 way towards them amidst the sunlit trees. 
 
 " I knew this path would guide me to you," 
 he observed a moment later as he paused, a 
 little breathless, a pace or two away. " I feared 
 you had escaped me, but when I found a path 
 of light, I knew I must be on your track." 
 
 " You ought to be studying," said Juliet, 
 severely. 
 
 " I am not in the mood to-day. The woods 
 were calling me, do you see ? I was obliged to 
 come." 
 
 " That seems a funny thing," remarked An- 
 drews. " When Miss Juliet came here she said 
 the same. Do you remember the first night, 
 Miss Juliet, you had to go and stand under the 
 trees because you said they were calling you ? "
 
 130 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 Here Andrews glanced up with a smile that 
 was half proud and half indulgent, as though 
 inviting comment on the clever fancies of her 
 former nursling. 
 
 " Ah ! you have felt that, too ? " cried Chris- 
 tian, turning to Juliet. "You always seem to 
 discover such beautiful spots," continued he, 
 dreamily, as he looked about him, " or is it you 
 who make them beautiful ? " 
 
 " I don't like the beaten track, as I told you," 
 said she. " Now, Andrews, if you are rested, 
 let us be getting home." 
 
 " Let me first show you a favourite walk of 
 mine," he pleaded. " It is not far from here. 
 It is quite, quite solitary a wood all of firs 
 which have never been thinned out, and which 
 grow so close together that you can scarcely 
 squeeze between them ; it smells all gum and 
 spice in that place, and the light can hardly 
 get in there are only little points of it here 
 and there and the ground is thickly covered 
 with slippery needles. Do come ; it is still 
 quite early." 
 
 " Well, perhaps if we make haste," said she, 
 hesitating. "Come, Andrews be quick." 
 
 " Miss Juliet, there's things a body can't do," 
 said Andrews, firmly. " How do you think I'm 
 going to manage walking on slippery fir leaves,
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 131 
 
 among trees that close together? The gentle- 
 man himself says he can hardly get through, and 
 I'm sure he's slight enough. No, really, miss, if 
 you must go, I'll stop here till you come back." 
 
 " Yes, yes, that will be much the best plan," 
 cried Christian. " We could never have got 
 the good woman along," he remarked seriously, 
 as soon as they were out of earshot. 
 
 They ran together out of the plantation, 
 down a steep bank, across a deserted roadway ; 
 and then were forced to proceed more cau- 
 tiously, for here the ground was marshy and 
 threaded by streams which they sometimes 
 jumped over, and sometimes crossed by means 
 of stepping-stones, Christian in each case ex- 
 tending his hand to his companion. 
 
 Now they climbed up a winding path be- 
 tween low-growing elders and hazels, and at 
 last emerged on a grassy plateau which was 
 bordered by the belt of pines described by the 
 musician. They were silent as they penetrated 
 into its shady, fragrant depths ; a stray shaft of 
 light fell now and then across Juliet's figure, as 
 she glided noiselessly amid the slender, densely- 
 packed stems. Once a blackbird flew out 
 shrieking, and once a hare started up almost 
 from beneath their feet. At last the trunks 
 became less serried, spaces of grass appeared
 
 132 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 between the tawny patches of fir-needles, the 
 sky was visible overhead ; they had reached 
 the further side of the copse where it adjoined 
 the forest proper. 
 
 " We must go back," said Juliet, regretfully. 
 " You are right it is very beautiful. I am 
 glad you brought me here." 
 
 " When I come here again," returned Chris- 
 tian, from the rear, " when perhaps in years 
 hence I find myself here, I shall say to myself: 
 ' On the twenty-fifth of September, eighteen 
 hundred and ninety she was here with 
 
 me." 
 
 His voice shook a little as he spoke but 
 Juliet did not heed it. She turned round with 
 a startled look. 
 
 " The twenty-fifth of September ! " she re- 
 peated. "Is that the date? I forgot I did 
 not think it was so near." 
 
 " What did you forget ? " he asked, coming 
 up to her. 
 
 " My birthday. I shall be seventeen on the 
 day after to-morrow." 
 
 " Ah ! I will remember to felicitate you." 
 
 " Please don't it is a very sad day for my 
 father and me." 
 
 " Of course, you are so old," said Christian, 
 smiling.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 133 
 
 " No ah ! you must not laugh. We are 
 always very sorrowful on my birthday, my 
 father and I ; you see my mother died when I 
 was born. I dare not try and comfort Daddy, 
 because it seems as if his wound were so painful 
 he could not bear a touch his love and grief 
 are just as fresh as ever after all these years." 
 
 " But that is beautiful," said Christian, 
 gravely. 
 
 " I just sit and watch him," went on Juliet, 
 sorrowfully, " and neither of us speaks a word 
 and we are both equally miserable." 
 
 " That should not be," broke in Christian, 
 impulsively. " The remembrance of a great 
 love should not bring suffering." 
 
 " When there is loss there must always be 
 suffering," returned Juliet, as she slid gently 
 through the close-growing trunks. 
 
 " What would you have ? " he said. " Though 
 two love each other, one must die before the 
 other. Better to part thus, when the fire is at 
 its height, than to sit one on each side of a 
 cold hearth, looking at the ashes." 
 
 " But that never happens when there is real 
 love," cried Juliet, decidedly. 
 
 " It happens," asserted the boy, with an air 
 of superior wisdom. " Oh, yes, it happens only 
 too often."
 
 134 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " I am quite certain that if my mother had 
 lived, my father would have adored her always," 
 she proceeded indignantly. " My mother was 
 a lovely creature, quite, quite young, and won- 
 derfully clever." 
 
 " Perhaps who knows? she might not al- 
 ways have adored him particularly if she were 
 much younger than he. I think the young 
 should only marry the young; it is not fair 
 otherwise. A very old man does not want 
 love ; he only requires tenderness, and that the 
 draughts should be kept away from him, and 
 that his little bouillon or his little panada 
 should be nicely served and very punctually." 
 
 The girl's colour rose ; she turned round 
 with sparkling eyes. 
 
 " You should not speak like that," she cried. 
 "You should know better than to say such 
 things in connection with my father." 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders. " I am sorry to 
 have offended you, but I was not alluding to 
 your father, in particular your father is not 
 yet a very old man. Nevertheless the day will 
 come when these things will happen you will 
 think it quite natural and will cut yourself into 
 four pieces in order to arrange everything to 
 his taste. Do not be displeased ; it is the 
 inevitable, and why not face it ? You see there
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 135 
 
 is here no question of love only of filial ten- 
 derness. But for a wife for a wife still young 
 and beautiful, one must confess it would not 
 be gay." 
 
 " I am disappointed in you. I thought your 
 ideals were higher. Do you see that squirrel 
 over there ? " 
 
 Christian looked at her in surprise. The 
 query was propounded in the same tone of in- 
 dignant severity as that in which the previous 
 reproach had been delivered, and he at first 
 thought it had some bearing on the recent argu- 
 ment. But presently he burst out laughing. 
 
 " Yes, I see the squirrel. I am unworthy to 
 discuss these abstract questions, am I not ? You 
 wish to confine our conversation to the strictly 
 commonplace. Well, let us admire the beau- 
 ties of Nature. The squirrel is very pretty and 
 wonderfully agile. Blackbirds are also inter- 
 esting creatures, particularly male blackbirds, 
 because they have yellow beaks. Mrs. Black- 
 bird is not so captivating. Now it is your 
 turn to say something. Say you admire Mrs. 
 Blackbird, and then we can have quite innocent 
 argument." 
 
 " But I don't admire her," cried Juliet. The 
 corners of her mouth were twitching, and her 
 wrath had already subsided. " She is a dowdy
 
 136 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 little creature, not worthy of her handsome 
 mate." 
 
 " Miss Lennox," exclaimed the musician, 
 standing still, and throwing out his hand, 
 " you speak flippantly. Now you have re- 
 vealed yourself in your true colours, and I 
 can again hold up my head. I thought your 
 ideals were higher and I am disappointed in 
 you. The bright eye of Mr. Blackbird doubt- 
 less penetrates beyond the exterior. It is the 
 solid qualities of his spouse that have gained 
 his heart." 
 
 Juliet laughed in spite of herself; whereupon 
 he laughed too, so boyishly and gleefully that 
 her lingering vexation melted away, and they 
 ran out of the wood as happily as they had 
 entered it.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 
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 JULIET came pensively downstairs on the 
 morning of her birthday. It was a lovely 
 day another of the bright golden series that 
 autumn sometimes steals from an ungenerous 
 summer. It seemed a pity that everyone could 
 not be joyous and happy, but Juliet dared to be 
 neither the one nor the other this sunny morning. 
 " Miss Lennox," said a voice behind her, and 
 turning she saw Christian leaning out of the 
 reading-room window. " At least you must let 
 
 137
 
 138 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 me say how many good things I wish you," he 
 murmured, and would have added more, but 
 that at this moment the Professor's tall bent 
 figure appeared in the doorway. 
 
 The musician immediately vanished, and the 
 old man came forward, kissed Juliet more 
 gravely than usual, and sat down in silence. 
 Juliet poured out his coffee, and by-and-bye 
 made one or two remarks which he answered 
 and let drop. Once she said something about 
 his work, and he looked up quickly and some- 
 what reproachingly : 
 
 " I shall not work to-day," he said. 
 
 She coloured and fell silent. And almost 
 at this moment Christian Thai began to play. 
 
 " Ah ! " exclaimed Mr. Lennox, looking up 
 angrily; "can he not leave us in peace for just 
 half an hour? This is too much." 
 
 " I will tell him to stop, Daddy, shall I ? " 
 cried Juliet, half rising. " Shall I ? " she re- 
 peated timidly a moment or two later, as the 
 Professor made no answering sign. But already 
 sweet and wonderful harmonies were floating 
 towards them, and she saw that her father was 
 listening. 
 
 " Sit down," he said presently under his 
 breath. " What is he playing ? I seem to know 
 it and yet yes do you know what it is,
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 139 
 
 Juliet? It is part of the Gloria in Gounod's 
 ' Mass of St. Cecilia ' ; he has actually managed 
 to adapt it to the piano. He is a wonder, that 
 boy. Listen ! One would think it was an 
 orchestra. Hark ! Now the Angels' voices 
 come in now he is improvising." 
 
 He relapsed into silence, and the music 
 flowed on, sweet and solemn, with ever and 
 anon a suggestion of rapt ecstatic joy. The 
 Professor's face softened as he listened and his 
 heart grew more tender, and all at once he 
 stretched out his hand to Juliet, and she took 
 it with a tremulous smile. 
 
 Christian played on, passing almost insen- 
 sibly from one theme to another, but ever keep- 
 ing up the same suggestion of solemn joy and 
 peace ; and after a time Juliet, looking at her 
 father, saw that his eyes were wet. 
 
 By-and-bye with a final majestic sequence of 
 chords, the music ceased, and rousing himself, 
 the Professor said huskily : 
 
 " Tell him to come here tell him I want 
 him." 
 
 Hastening to the window, Juliet peered in at 
 the musician. He was still seated at the piano, 
 apparently sunk in thought. 
 
 " My father wants you, Herr Thai," said she. 
 
 He looked round with a start, rose, and in
 
 140 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 a moment swung himself out of the window. 
 The Professor smiled as he noted the action, 
 and the youthful vigour of the form that came 
 striding up to his chair. Christian wore his 
 flannels that warm day, the shirt was open at 
 the throat, and the sleeves rolled up half way 
 between the wrist and elbow ; a casual observer 
 at that moment would have thought him more 
 like an athlete than an artist, but the comparison 
 would have been belied by his face. It was as 
 white almost as his raiment, and yet lit up as by 
 some inward glow ; transfigured, inspired, ma- 
 jestic even a painter would have deemed him 
 a superb model for a triumphant St. Michael or 
 St. George. Mr. Lennox leaned forward and 
 took him by the hand. 
 
 " You played for me, my boy," he said. 
 
 " Yes," returned Christian, simply. 
 
 " I need not ask if you know what day 
 this is. I thank you you have done me 
 good." 
 
 Christian bowed in silence ; he was trembling. 
 The Professor felt the twitching of the hand 
 which he still grasped, and gazed meditatively, 
 first at it, and then at the sensitive face. 
 
 " I want to talk to you," he said, giving the 
 hand a final pressure and releasing it. " You 
 interest me very much. Are you aware of
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 141 
 
 the scope and power of this wonderful gift of 
 yours ? " 
 
 Christian's face was all a-quiver with excite- 
 ment, and his voice was unsteady as he an- 
 swered that he thought he hoped to do great 
 things some day. 
 
 " Great things," repeated the old man : " I 
 wonder if you know how great ? Now under- 
 stand, my boy, I have no wish whatever to puff 
 you up with idle praise, but to make you realise 
 the responsibilities of your high calling. Yours 
 is a sublime vocation you are called to a 
 great priesthood. You should dwell for ever in 
 the high places remember that all your life." 
 
 Rising, he placed his hands on Christian's 
 shoulders, and the two looked into each other's 
 eyes ; the old man's face was still astir with his 
 recent emotion, his deep-set eyes were glow- 
 ing, and fixed with a curious intentness. He 
 looked a seer, a mystic ; and the youth as 
 he gazed at him felt as though a prophet 
 were speaking. 
 
 " Such genius as yours," pursued the Profes- 
 sor, " is the very breath of God. Listen well ; 
 I am not using a mere figure of speech I say 
 the words deliberately. When people talk idly 
 about ' sacred fire,' and the ' divine afHatus,' they 
 do not realise they are indeed speaking the
 
 142 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 truth. /*Such genius as yours, I repeat it with all 
 reverence, is an emanation from the very Spirit 
 of God the Spirit that moveth and quickeneth. 
 Bow before it, young man, and pray Heaven for 
 strength to fulfil your destiny/V 
 
 He leaned upon the boy's broad shoulders 
 with a momentary pressure as though he would 
 have forced him to his knees. Christian's eyes 
 dilated, his lips parted ; his form swayed a little 
 under the compelling grasp : in another moment 
 he would indeed have knelt at the Professor's 
 feet had not the latter by suddenly removing his 
 hands, broken the spell. 
 
 " Remember it," he went on, still in the same 
 impressive tone, himself almost as deeply moved 
 as the young musician ; " remember it is not 
 for yourself that you have received this marvel- 
 lous power ; not that you should master the 
 world, but that you should serve the world by 
 uplifting and purifying it. You can do it if you 
 will you can do it ! Do I not know it ? Have 
 I not myself succumbed to your power ? I tell 
 you my heart was like a stone when I arose this 
 morning and in your hands it became as wax. 
 Oh, my boy, keep those hands of yours clean, 
 keep your feet upon the mountain-tops ! ' How 
 beautiful on the mountain-tops are the feet of 
 him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 143 
 
 peace ' such peace as you have given me to- 
 day." 
 
 All her life long did Juliet remember that 
 scene so strange amid its incongruous sur- 
 roundings. The clatter of hotel life going on 
 as usual a few paces away from them ; waiters 
 passing and repassing, the sisters Krell waddling 
 up the path from the town, each swinging a glass 
 by a leather strap, a couple of maids shaking a 
 rug by the open door and here, under the 
 plum tree, this white-haired prophet pouring 
 forth into the ear of the young ardent neophyte 
 the revelation which his own sorrow and the 
 new-found softness of his heart had given him 
 to speak. 
 
 Juliet's eyes were dim, and her heart beat fast. 
 What a man was this father of hers ! How far- 
 seeing, how wise, how noble ! And the boy ! 
 Hearkening with that rapt face, a face that 
 seemed to glow with a kind of white fire of 
 spiritual passion was he not indeed fit to go 
 forth and conquer the world ? 
 
 Words were struggling to Christian's lips, 
 but before he had time to speak them he caught 
 sight of Horace Bulkeley, who just then came 
 strolling leisurely forth. 
 
 " I will not forget," he said hurriedly, " I will 
 never forget. "
 
 144 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 And without waiting to greet Horace he 
 walked away slowly with head bent and down- 
 cast eyes, and re-entered the house. 
 
 Drawing her arm through his the Professor 
 strolled with Juliet into the woods, where they 
 wandered for an hour or two. They did not 
 speak much, but Juliet felt very peaceful and 
 content. Never had she known such a happy 
 birthday.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 JULIET went to bed that night as calmly 
 happy as any maid of seventeen could wish 
 to be ; yet long before she woke she was con- 
 scious of vague disquietude and uneasiness. 
 At last, starting from a feverish dream of tem- 
 pest and shipwreck she realised that the tur- 
 moil came from without, that the world in fact 
 was groaning under a fierce and sudden storm. 
 Sitting up and looking towards her uncurtained 
 window, she could see the dark shapes of the 
 trees writhing, tortured by the blast ; she could 
 hear the rain beat upon the panes, being dashed 
 against them every now and then by a violent 
 gust as a wave is dashed upon a rock ; straining 
 
 45
 
 I 4 6 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 her eyes in the dim light, she could see whole 
 flocks of the broad leaves of the plane trees 
 whirling past like flights of storm birds, and the 
 wind blew throughout with such a moaning 
 eerie sound, sometimes sinking to a low mutter 
 and sometimes rising to a scream, that she 
 fairly shuddered to hear it. She lay awake till 
 her usual hour for rising, feeling troubled and 
 uneasy, she knew not why ; in all probability 
 the state of the elements reacted on her sensitive 
 and highly strung nerves. Every sad thought 
 that could suggest itself came to her mind as 
 she lay there : she thought of her pretty mother 
 who had died when only a few years older 
 than she was now, of her father's advancing 
 years, and how little she could do to help and 
 comfort him; of Annola's disagreeable face, and 
 of a certain significant glance of hers as Juliet 
 had passed her on going to bed. What had 
 she meant by it ? Did she think her admiration 
 of Christian's playing exaggerated ? And yet 
 surely no admiration could be too great ! Per- 
 haps she deemed Juliet forward in expressing 
 it she must be more careful in future, she 
 reflected ; yet how difficult it was to keep silence 
 when so deeply moved. 
 
 " This is a nice morning, miss, I'm sure," 
 remarked Andrews when she brought the girl's
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 147 
 
 cup of tea. " They don't seem to make no pro- 
 vision at all for cold weather in this house. I 
 said I supposed you'd be having breakfast in 
 the spysal this morning, and the waiter says that 
 'ud be impossible. ' Never in the spysal,' he 
 says. So I said : ' Where will you give it to 
 them then ? Do you think my gentleman and 
 my young lady are like geese or ducks that they 
 want to take their breakfasts out there in the 
 pouring rain ? ' So he said he supposed you'd 
 take it in your rooms." 
 
 " In our rooms ! " ejaculated Juliet ; " I don't 
 like that idea. Surely there must be some 
 other place." 
 
 " That's what he said," asseverated Andrews, 
 lugubriously. " Either outside or in your rooms 
 is the rule of this place, being a Lift-cure-out, he 
 said whatever he meant by that ! Why, there 
 isn't a lift here at all. And never a sign of a 
 fire anywhere that I can see,, only little black 
 holes in the walls where them nasty stoves 'ull 
 be coming not that they're much good to 
 anyone! There's no denying, Miss Juliet, 
 England's the land for comfort." 
 
 She set down the cup with a heavy sigh and 
 withdrew. 
 
 Juliet drank her tea, which tasted more of 
 hay than anything else, and, being possessed of
 
 148 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 one of those natures which deem it incumbent 
 upon them to endeavour to be the more cheerful 
 the more they find other folks affected by de- 
 pressing surroundings, she resolved bravely to 
 make the best of the day. 
 
 She had almost completed her toilet when 
 a loud single knock at the door took her by 
 surprise. On opening it she found a very 
 minute waiter balancing on his five finger-tips 
 a tray bearing breakfast for one. 
 
 " I did not order it here," protested she. 
 
 The waiter repeated the explanation he had 
 already given to Andrews. Such he announced 
 was the invariable rule at a Luftkurort. 
 
 " But my father? " said Juliet. 
 
 " The gracious gentleman has slept badly and 
 will not breakfast for another hour." 
 
 There was evidently nothing for it but to 
 submit, and Juliet sat down to eat her repast 
 in her cold, disordered room with what appetite 
 she might possess. By-and-bye another knock 
 at her door heralded the arrival of Andrews 
 and the housemaid. 
 
 " We are going to do the room now, miss," 
 said the maid ; " we sha'n't be long, and perhaps 
 you'd like to go to the sitting room till we have 
 finished." 
 
 Juliet stood hesitating, not wishing to dis-
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 149 
 
 turb her father, whose practice it was to leave 
 open the door which connected his bedroom 
 with their joint sitting room, yet dreading 
 Annola's displeasure if she ventured to go 
 down to the reading room. Presently she 
 heard the piano and paused to listen. 
 
 " If he is practising his exercises, I will not 
 go down," she said to herself ; " I will not have 
 Fraulein Istd saying I prevent him from doing 
 serious work." 
 
 But a moment's attention assured her that 
 this was no exercise. He was playing Chopin. 
 After all, why should not she go down and 
 listen ? He would be too much absorbed to 
 notice her, and Annola could say nothing: the 
 reading room was common to all. 
 
 Downstairs she went, feeling almost irresisti- 
 bly drawn by the sounds, catching her breath, 
 indeed, as she stood in the passage without. 
 Ah, how he was playing, with what passion and 
 force, and how well the subject assorted with 
 the day ! It was the " Storm Study," taken at 
 break-neck speed, and rendered as it seemed to 
 her with a kind of diabolical fierceness and 
 fury. She shuddered and stood still for a 
 moment with her fingers on the door-handle. 
 The wind whistled down the corridor, making 
 every door creak or bang; the rain had forced
 
 150 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 its way through the skylight, and with each 
 fresh gust dropped noisily into the pails set to 
 catch it. Mingled with the actual strife of the 
 elements was the thunder of Christian's music ; 
 the crash and roll of it filled Juliet's ears and 
 brain. She could distinguish as it seemed to 
 her the roaring of a forest in a gale, the 
 shock of precipitated clouds, the leaping and 
 rocking of waves; the solemn, warning toll 
 of a lightship sounding at intervals. And 
 through all this storm and stress of nature she 
 was aware of the waging of another battle : a 
 soul was struggling and crying out in anguish, 
 and it seemed to her that the powers of evil 
 were closing in upon it and stifling its voice. 
 
 She turned the handle softly, impelled by a 
 sudden desire to look upon the face of the 
 musician, but the door did not give way; she 
 pushed, and discovered that it was locked. 
 
 Loosing the handle as gently as she had 
 grasped it, she stood in silence waiting till 
 he had finished. That human voice which 
 she had thought to distinguish amid the pas- 
 sion of sound sobbed and pleaded and grew 
 faint; the storm was passing dying away; 
 the tortured soul, weak with the recent strug- 
 gle, continued at intervals so it seemed to 
 the girl's fancy to appeal, and lament, and
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 151 
 
 reiterate its sorrowful denial. Now there came 
 a sudden and terrible crash, a shriek of unholy 
 triumph and then silence. The tempter had 
 conquered : the soul was lost. 
 
 Seized with unaccountable panic, Juliet again 
 tried the door; she even rattled the handle, and 
 knocked ; but within all was deathlike silence. 
 She would have called aloud, but was restrained 
 by a movement of pride and wounded feeling. 
 She turned away, pale, and holding her head 
 high, to find Annola at her elbow. 
 
 She passed her quickly and fled upstairs with 
 suddenly burning cheeks and a throbbing heart ; 
 but she had marked the gleam of triumph in 
 Annola's eyes and the smile that curled her lips. 
 All that day the thought of it stung her, and she 
 was haunted besides by the memory of Chris- 
 tian's strange behaviour. That he should have 
 locked himself in to begin with; she had 
 thought it accidental at first, but now was 
 convinced the precaution had been taken de- 
 signedly ; then that he should have taken no 
 notice of her unconscious appeal, that he should 
 not even have vouchsafed a word of explanation 
 in answer to her knock it was rude ! It was 
 positively insulting. She felt as though he had 
 struck her. 
 
 As she sat motionless in her own room, now
 
 152 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 trying to account for this sudden and extraordi- 
 nary change, now wrathfully resolving never to 
 give this unkind and unmannerly youth so 
 much as another thought, she was conscious, 
 during the occasional pauses in the storm, of 
 a continued pacing to and fro in the room over- 
 head, which she knew to be Annola's, and all at 
 once the idea leaped into her mind that she had 
 perhaps been shut out too and she found it 
 distinctly comforting. 
 
 She now be^an to strain her ears afresh for 
 
 O 
 
 the notes of the piano, but, though as long as 
 the wind raged and the rain lashed her win- 
 dow, her fancy cheated her with the notion that 
 Christian was playing, and she could even have 
 sworn that whole bars were borne to her ear 
 athwart the medley of sounds, when the gale 
 abated she became aware that all was silent, 
 save for the throbbing of her own heart, and 
 the measured footsteps overhead. 
 
 " Perhaps it is he who is walking in Annola's 
 room," she said to herself, and her heart sank 
 again. 
 
 As Juliet passed the reading room on her 
 way to dinner, she could not resist a glance 
 in its direction, and saw to her great surprise 
 that the key was sticking in the lock on 
 the outer side of the door.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 153 
 
 Could it be possible that his friend had 
 locked him in? Was this the almost absurd 
 explanation of the conduct which had puzzled 
 her? Annola had locked him up to prevent 
 his playing truant; and he had been too much 
 chagrined at being thus treated to confess the 
 fact to Juliet when she had knocked at the 
 door. Her spirits went up with a bound, and 
 she almost laughed aloud so great was her 
 relief. 
 
 She took her place at the table with a very 
 bright face, eagerly watching for Christian's 
 entrance. Her face was all dimpled with mis- 
 chievous smiles : it would be impossible to 
 resist teasing him presently about this, she 
 thought. 
 
 But though Annola presently entered with a 
 moody countenance, no Christian appeared. 
 
 The wind was a little less boisterous in the 
 afternoon, but the rain was still falling in tor- 
 rents, when Juliet, finding it too dark to read, 
 betook herself somewhat mournfully to the 
 window, where she remained for some time 
 gazing out at the melancholy prospect. 
 
 The plane trees were almost stripped of their 
 leaves ; drifts of these, some scarcely edged with 
 autumn yellow, were lying on the sodden soil. 
 Round every tree was a miniature moat ; a very
 
 154 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 river raced impetuously over the terrace and 
 down the incline towards the road ; each branch 
 and twig was a waterspout, adding its quota to 
 the ever-increasing flood. The dripping woods 
 were wrapt about with dense mist, all the glow- 
 ing colours of yesterday giving place to a gen- 
 eral monotonous gloom, though here and there 
 through the grey shroud the drenched yellow 
 branches of beech or birch pierced with almost 
 uncanny effect. 
 
 As Juliet stood pressing her languid forehead 
 against the pane, she suddenly saw a figure 
 emerge from the mist and advance towards the 
 house, without looking to right or to left. It 
 was Christian. Christian, bare-headed, with his 
 soaked clothes clinging to him, and his stream- 
 ing hair pasted to his face. Rivulets of water 
 fell from him at every movement ; his shirt 
 looked like a limp rag, his shoes were coated 
 with mud. Juliet had no time to dwell upon 
 these details, for her attention was at once 
 riveted on his face. It was deadly pale but 
 with what a different pallor to that of yesterday ! 
 Now his very lips were white, every feature set 
 and drawn, the brows frowning. 
 
 He entered the house without looking up, 
 and listening intently she presently heard a 
 door bang overhead.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 155 
 
 The long day wore to a close at last: Juliet 
 had been a prey during all those weary hours 
 to many fears, and much wonder. Something 
 had happened, she said to herself over and over 
 again, something must have happened. She 
 lingered a little after the supper-gong had 
 sounded. Christian was always a little late, 
 and she had a secret hope that he would over- 
 take her on the stairs. She must ask him what 
 was amiss. Perhaps he had received bad news 
 poor Christian ! 
 
 It was almost dark on the stairs, and though 
 she had purposely awaited the descent of some- 
 one from the flight above she gave a violent 
 start when Annola's voice sounded close to her. 
 
 " He is not coming down," it said. 
 
 Poor little Juliet blushed hotly in the merci- 
 ful darkness. 
 
 "Is he is Herr Thai not well?" she 
 faltered. 
 
 " He is perfectly well," responded the other, 
 adding with insolent emphasis : " He does not 
 care to come down."
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 
 
 4Wfr r j = 
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 t" 
 
 
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 j 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 MY dear Juliet," said her father when 
 they met next morning in the newly 
 improvised breakfast room which the authori- 
 ties of the Schone Aussicht, moved by the 
 united protests of its guests, had grudgingly 
 consented to place at their disposal. " My 
 dear Juliet, are you not surprised at the sud- 
 den flight of our friends ? " 
 
 For a moment the dreary little chamber, with 
 its long oilcloth-covered table and rows of 
 wooden chairs, seemed to spin round the girl ; 
 but she answered quietly : 
 
 " You mean the musician and Fraulein Istd, 
 I suppose ? Are they gone ? 
 
 " I never was so much astonished at anything 
 in my life," resumed her father. " Yes, gone ; 
 bag and baggage. I saw the fly drive away 
 with both of them inside, and their luggage 
 
 156
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 157 
 
 piled up beside the driver. Did you know 
 nothing of it then ? " 
 
 She shook her head. 
 
 " I must say I am disappointed," went on 
 Mr. Lennox. " It would have been civil to 
 say good-bye ... I have taken a good deal 
 of trouble with that young man, too, and I had 
 intended to help and advise him further before 
 we parted. A little guidance, a weighty judi- 
 cious word or two, is of very great use now and 
 then to a young fellow in his position. Yes, I 
 think I could have helped him," he continued, 
 musing. " The lad interested me very much. 
 He was sympathetic and responsive ; I should 
 have liked to keep in touch with him. It is a 
 thousand pities he should have rushed off like 
 that ; I might have asked him to communicate 
 with me now and then. These lads are all 
 alike, I see : impressionable, impulsive and 
 too often ungrateful." 
 
 Juliet kept her eyes fixed on her plate and 
 made a brave pretence of eating, though she felt 
 as if every morsel must choke her; her heart 
 swelled within her, and when the Professor sor- 
 rowfully passed judgment it seemed to cry out 
 in fierce endorsement. 
 
 Oh, yes, Christian's conduct was unpardon- 
 able, inexplicable. To avoid them first as
 
 158 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 though they, his friends, had ever done any- 
 thing except admire and wish him well, and 
 then to leave them without so much as a 
 word it was worse than ungrateful, it was 
 almost offensive. 
 
 She made her escape as soon as possible 
 after breakfast and sat down to think over 
 matters in her own room ; but in spite of long 
 and painful meditation her brain remained as 
 muddled as ever and her heart as sore. 
 
 Poor little Juliet! It was her first great dis- 
 illusion, and she could not get over it. Chris- 
 tian had filled her thoughts more than she had 
 been herself aware of, and now there came a 
 great blank in her life which the sad and bitter 
 memories he had left behind could not fill, 
 incessantly though they preyed upon her. 
 
 The weather had broken; the Schone Aus- 
 sicht was emphatically a summer resort, and did 
 not aspire to be anything else, so that at this 
 time of year it was the reverse of comfortable. 
 Certain black uninviting-looking stoves were in- 
 deed introduced into the living rooms where 
 they made very poor cheer; the large china 
 erection in the corner of the reading room was 
 duly set going, with the result that the heads 
 and faces of any occupants of the chamber 
 burnt violently while their feet remained pro-
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 159 
 
 portionately cold. Yet Juliet's lonely little 
 figure might often have been seen in the big 
 room which looked so empty and dreary now. 
 She would wander round it, sometimes pausing 
 by the window, whence Christian had looked 
 out on her that first morning, to recall his 
 boyish talk; sometimes telling herself with a 
 fierce heat of indignation that he had shown 
 her from the first he was selfish and ungrateful ; 
 sometimes smiling in spite of herself, when her 
 eyes rested on the placard with the threefold 
 notice to which he had drawn her attention. 
 
 MAN BITTET NICHT ZU RAUCHEN ! ON EST PRIE DE 
 
 NE PAS FUMER. 
 SMOKING FORBIDDEN. 
 
 And sometimes she would open the piano, and 
 gaze for a long time at the notes, striving to 
 call back some of Christian's exquisite music. 
 At least she had heard it : it would be some- 
 thing to remember all her life that she had 
 heard it. 
 
 Horace came in one day and found her thus 
 engaged. 
 
 " Are you going to play, Miss Lennox ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 " No," said Juliet, quickly, " I was only look- 
 ing at the piano."
 
 160 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 He glanced at her with troubled eyes, but 
 went on speaking at random : 
 
 " Do you not play at all ? I should have 
 thought with such a perfect sense of rhythm 
 you would have found pleasure in it." 
 
 She shook her head. 
 
 " Ah well," said he, " one cannot do every- 
 thing. Your dancing is enough." 
 
 Her hand was already on the door-handle, 
 but she paused to look back absently at the 
 corner of the room where she had danced for 
 him and Christian Thai. 
 
 " I shall never dance again," she said half to 
 herself, then raising her eyes and looking defi- 
 antly at Bulkeley, she added : " I am too old." 
 
 Meanwhile the Professor was totally uncon- 
 scious of his daughter's state of mind, and for 
 his own part was perfectly content. His work 
 proceeded smoothly, the emptiness of the place 
 pleased him enormously; perhaps the absence 
 of Christian which he had regretted at first 
 became subsequently a source of satisfaction 
 to him, being one notable cause of distraction 
 the less; the gloomy weather also fell in with 
 his mood, and even his little black stove. 
 When the sun did not shine a man was less 
 tempted to wander abroad, and when there 
 were no little dancing flames or glowing crum-
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 161 
 
 bling caverns to induce one to sit idly in the 
 chimney corner, study and work proceeded at 
 a brisker pace. 
 
 " Yes," Mr. Lennox allowed one day, " this 
 place suits me to a nicety. I don't know when 
 I have been in better vein or felt it more easy 
 to concentrate my attention. It is lucky you 
 are so happy here too, Baby, and that I need 
 have no scruple in remaining." 
 
 The Professor's power of concentration was 
 indeed so exclusively bent on his work that he 
 took no notice of his surroundings except in so 
 far as they affected it. Even at meal times he 
 would sit in perfect silence revolving some 
 theory in his mind, or else he would converse 
 exclusively concerning it with Juliet or Bulke- 
 ley. Bulkeley was a favourite with him, and 
 was often invited to share his table, and Mr. 
 Lennox would not infrequently on these occa- 
 sions plunge into lengthy dissertations on the 
 subject uppermost in his thoughts, Horace be- 
 ing sometimes an inattentive listener, for his 
 eyes would wander in spite of himself to Juliet's 
 face and he would tell himself discontentedly 
 that it was growing smaller every day. 
 
 Professor Lennox's studious peace was, how- 
 ever, unexpectedly put an end to. As he and 
 Juliet were descending the stairs on their way
 
 162 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 to dinner one day they were aware of a great 
 commotion in the hotel. The only two 
 remaining waiters were hurrying distractedly 
 hither and thither ; Boots was labouring 
 upstairs with a large canvas-covered trunk 
 poised on his shoulder, followed by a cabman 
 bearing a portmanteau. Schmidt, from the 
 bottom step, was imperatively summoning Lena, 
 the chambermaid, and a loud, clear, unmistaka- 
 bly British voice was talking rapidly in the hall. 
 
 " You ought to have a proper entrance ; it 
 is very inconvenient arriving by the back way. 
 Ich liebe niche den Riickenweg, nein, pas 
 du tout. Oil est ma boite? Wo ist mien Kof- 
 fer? Have you paid the driver hasn't he 
 got any change ? Hat der Mann kein Wech- 
 seln pas de change? Geben Sie mir zuruck 
 da jetzt ein pour-boire." 
 
 "Daddy!" cried Juliet, with such an ecstatic 
 little laugh as she had not given for a long 
 time, "only Countess de Galphi could speak 
 such German and such French ! Oh, yes, 
 there is her bonnet, the same dear old bonnet 
 with the cock's feathers. Oh, I am so glad ! " 
 
 She was jumping up and down now as she 
 held on to the balusters. 
 
 " Countess de Galphi ! " ejaculated the Pro- 
 fessor, with a crest-fallen face. " Is he there too ?
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 163 
 
 Now there is indeed an end of peace. Who 
 would ever have dreamed of their coming here ? 
 I thought they were in Brussels." 
 
 Meanwhile Juliet had run downstairs and 
 thrown her arms round the advancing form of 
 a white-haired lady who was just beginning 
 the ascent. 
 
 " So there you are!" cried Countess de Galphi, 
 kissing her affectionately, if brusquely. " I 
 thought we should catch you came this way 
 on purpose. How do you do, Professor; isn't 
 this a surprise ? We broke our journey here on 
 your account wasn't it good of us? Est ce 
 qu'on a porte mes petites choses en haut ? " she 
 inquired, turning abruptly to Herr Schmidt. 
 " Meine kleine Dinge. Ignace, cherchez vos 
 petites choses pour 1'amour du ciel." 
 
 She turned as she spoke to a tall and very 
 meagre gentleman whose spare form, tightly 
 buttoned in an overcoat, had hitherto occupied 
 an unobtrusive position in the rear. He now 
 advanced, taking no manner of notice of his 
 energetic spouse, to extend a limp hand to 
 Juliet, and then passing her with a bow, pro- 
 ceeded to the first landing, where he bestowed 
 a similar greeting on Mr. Lennox. 
 
 When and where Count and Countess de 
 Galphi had first come across each other was a
 
 1 64 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 mystery to all their acquaintances. The Count- 
 ess, who belonged by birth to a good old family 
 of the North of England, had led a roving life 
 for many years before she suddenly astonished 
 her family and friends by appearing with a 
 foreign husband in tow. Some people said he 
 had been starving in an attic when she had 
 taken compassion on him ; others that he had 
 dissruised himself as a courier in order to obtain 
 
 O 
 
 access to her ; others on the contrary indignantly 
 protested against such surmises, and asserted 
 that the match had been made up by the Eng- 
 lish ambassador in Rome or in Vienna. The 
 Countess herself maintained a discreet silence 
 on the subject and her spouse was absolutely 
 impenetrable. That he had no money was evi- 
 dent ; it was also clear to the most suspicious 
 that he was a harmless creature, dignified after 
 his own unobtrusive fashion, easily pleased, 
 and devoted to his lively, good-natured wife. 
 His very nationality was, however, shrouded in 
 mystery ; presumably the Countess knew from 
 what soil he had sprung, but she did not deem 
 it necessary apparently to take the world into 
 her confidence. Once or twice she had alluded 
 to his pedigree, dropped a hint of the " Alma- 
 nach de Gotha," and asserted with some heat 
 that she could never have looked at any man
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 165 
 
 who had not at least seize quartiers. She ad- 
 dressed him indifferently in French, German, 
 and Italian of the same execrable quality, while 
 he responded invariably in an English that was 
 uniformly bad, but which occasionally became 
 entertaining from a certain originality which he 
 managed to introduce into it. Thus on being 
 presently introduced to Horace Bulkeley, and 
 on observing that the latter held between his 
 fingers the smouldering end of a cigar, he drew 
 a cigarette from his own pocket and inquired 
 politely : 
 
 " Might I incommode you for the fire ? " 
 
 And Horace stared for a moment before he 
 realised that the query was another form of the 
 conventional one : " May I trouble you for a 
 light ? " 
 
 " Now venez, venez, Ignace, es ist jetzt Mahl- 
 zeit. Wir essen um ein Uhr, nicht wahr? une 
 heure. Keep a table next you, Juliet. Gar- 
 9on," shrilly over the balusters to the waiter, 
 " Kellner, nous desirons garder une table a cote 
 de ce Monsieur et cette jeune dame." 
 
 " Bitte ? " said the poor little boy waiter 
 appealingly from the foot of the stairs. He 
 had picked up a little English, but French 
 was not included in the curriculum of the 
 Schone Aussicht ; and even if it had been, it
 
 166 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 is doubtful if he would have understood the 
 Countess's peculiar idiom. 
 
 " Dear me, what a stupid little fellow ! Ich 
 will ein Tisch halten ganz nahe zu dieser Herr 
 
 verstehen Sie? zwei Tischen zusammen 
 
 so." 
 
 The Professor came mournfully downstairs. 
 Countess de Galphi was one of his oldest 
 friends, and he was exceedingly fond of her, 
 but in his present mood he considered her visit 
 inopportune; and the close proximity at meals 
 for which she had so thoughtfully provided 
 filled him with dismay. As he was crossing 
 the hall her voice came cheerfully down to him 
 from the flight above : 
 
 " You see we're going to have war with 
 Russia at last." 
 
 " What ? " cried Mr. Lennox, with a start of 
 surprise. 
 
 " Oh, yes. I saw it in the paper to-day 
 got one on my way up from the station. I 
 always knew it was coming, didn't you?" 
 
 " But I read the Times through this morn- 
 ing," protested Horace, recovering in some 
 measure from the stupor into which the an- 
 nouncement had thrown him, "and there was 
 nothing of the kind in it. The German papers 
 must have got hold of some cock and bull story."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 167 
 
 " It was an English paper, though," returned 
 the Countess, with a kind of gloomy triumph 
 from her upper landing. " I always make a 
 point of getting an Englische Zeitung immedi- 
 ately on arriving at a new place. I'll send it 
 down to the dining room, and you can see it 
 for yourselves." 
 
 Presently, indeed, the Professor, effectually 
 roused from the abstracted mood which had 
 recently become almost habitual to him, was 
 eagerly scanning one sheet of a certain aggres- 
 sively Radical organ, while Bulkeley searched 
 the columns of the other; but neither could 
 discover the disturbing item of intelligence in 
 question. 
 
 They were still pursuing this fruitless quest 
 when the Countess and her husband joined 
 them. 
 
 " Can't find it ! " she ejaculated, as they both 
 fell upon her with aggrieved complaints. 
 " Well, you must be dull. But men never do 
 see things that are actually under their noses. 
 N'est-ce pas, Ignace, je dis toujours que vous 
 ne voyez jamais ce qui est sous votre nez ? 
 Give me the Zeitung." 
 
 She glanced at the page, popped her finger 
 on a certain spot, and handed it triumphantly 
 back to Mr. Lennox.
 
 1 68 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " There, you see, I found it in a minute." 
 
 " Where ? " 
 
 " There in the middle of that long thing, 'A 
 forecast of the Future' Don't you see they 
 say we are certain to have war with Russia 
 before long ? " 
 
 The Professor threw down the sheet with a 
 laugh that was half irate and half amused. 
 
 " It is plain enough, I think," cried the old 
 lady, jubilantly, " I always felt it was coining, as 
 I say, and if you ask me I think we shall prob- 
 ably have a thorough good beating. Things 
 are looking very black for us all round, it seems 
 to me." 
 
 The Professor laid down his knife and fork 
 and gazed at her more in sorrow than in anger 
 for a moment or two, after which he proceeded 
 to demonstrate to her at great length and with 
 no little heat how impossible it would be even 
 if the prognostics of some irresponsible scribblers 
 were fulfilled, which was most unlikely for 
 the greatness of England ever to be diminished 
 by so much as a tittle or for her defenders to 
 prove unequal to any emergency. 
 
 Countess de Galphi sustained her share of 
 the argument with equal energy, and retained 
 throughout the spirit of cheerful pessimism 
 which appeared to be characteristic of her.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 169 
 
 Horace occasionally joined in, but was little 
 noticed by either of the disputants until some 
 chance allusion of his drew the lady's attention 
 to himself. 
 
 " My Radical tenets ! " she cried, " what do 
 you mean by that ? I am a Conservative, I 
 would have you to know." 
 
 " Conservative ! " he echoed, astonished, for 
 she had been enunciating theories of the most 
 advanced description, and her strictures on ex- 
 isting conditions were of a sweeping order. 
 
 " Yes," she returned with conviction, "strong ! " 
 
 Thereupon Horace collapsed, and the Pro- 
 fessor ceased to argue and began to laugh.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THOUGH the advent of the Countess de 
 Galphi brought with it an element of 
 cheerful bustle, exhilarating to Juliet if some- 
 what disturbing to her father and his friend, 
 after the first day or two things returned more 
 or less to their normal groove. The Professor 
 again became silent and abstracted, parrying 
 with polite brevity the old lady's perpetual 
 efforts to draw him out, and confining his own 
 contributions to the conversation to an occa- 
 sional remark to Horace on some subject too 
 abstruse for ordinary comprehension. 
 
 One day, after watching him with uncon- 
 170
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 171 
 
 cealed disapproval for some time, the Countess 
 suddenly startled him by exclaiming : 
 
 " Well, I don't wonder that Juliet looks dull 
 and triste. Poor child, what is to become of 
 her when I go I can't think." 
 
 Juliet looked up with a start. 
 
 " I am not dull, I assure you. I am quite 
 happy here ; of course I shall miss you dread- 
 fully, but still - 
 
 " Don't talk nonsense, my dear. Anyone 
 can see you are moped to death ; what young 
 creature wouldn't be ! And you don't look a 
 bit well either. As I said to my husband when 
 we first arrived, ' Cette enfant a perdu ses 
 roses' n'est-ce pas, Ignace, j'ai dit que Made- 
 moiselle ici avait perdu ses roses? And so she 
 has ! I wonder you don't notice it, Professor. 
 The child is as pasty as possible, and quite 
 black under the eyes." 
 
 " I always thought this place suited Juliet," 
 returned Mr. Lennox with dignity. " She has 
 frequently assured me that she liked it im- 
 mensely, and it seemed to me that she was 
 looking particularly well." 
 
 " Look at her now, then," returned the Coun- 
 tess, " and tell me if she appears robust. Her 
 face is about the size of a threepenny bit, to 
 begin with! She has lost all her spirits too
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 anyone can see that. Nicht wahr, Ignace, das 
 Kind 1st nicht so lustig als sie war ? Wir haben 
 es oft gesagt, nicht ? " 
 
 The Count paused to allow the meaning of 
 his wife's words to penetrate to his brain : a 
 needful precaution ; for though it was one of 
 her peculiarities to use on all occasions a foreign 
 tongue in preference to her own, she demon- 
 strated another phase of her somewhat erratic 
 conservatism by adhering rigorously to the 
 British pronunciation of most vowels and 
 consonants. 
 
 It was probably some sudden inspiration on 
 his own part which enabled the good fellow to 
 grasp at length her purport, whereupon, turning 
 towards Juliet with an expression of respectful 
 sympathy, he remarked, as usual in English: 
 
 " It is true that the young Meess seem to have 
 lost her colours, and that she appear no longer 
 so enjoy." 
 
 Under other circumstances the Professor 
 would have been amused at this quaint render- 
 ing of the word " enjouee," but now he was too 
 much disturbed at the announcement to note 
 the phraseology. He, too, turned to Juliet with 
 a startled look, and beckoned. 
 
 " Come here, child. Tell me, are you not 
 well ? Let me feel your pulse."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 173 
 
 " No use doing that. Ce n'est pas en sentant 
 le pouls que vous saurez combien elle est en- 
 nuyee, pauvre petite. She wants a change. 
 Would you like to come with me to the ceme- 
 tery on Sunday and see all the smart people 
 put flowers on the graves ? I always go. The 
 first Sunday in November is a great day here. 
 The fashionable folk drive up by hundreds 
 with white Kranzen and pots of beautiful Blu- 
 men, and they make the graves look so bright 
 and nice. We could have tea at a cafe after- 
 wards it will be a nice little outing. You 
 would like it, would you not ? " 
 
 Juliet did not answer, but her father felt her 
 shiver within his encircling arm. He himself 
 was beginning some indignant protest when 
 he suddenly caught sight of tears glistening 
 in her eyes, and stopped in consternation. 
 Thereupon the girl made some faltering excuse, 
 broke down, and finally, releasing herself from 
 his embrace, ran out of the room. 
 
 " What can it mean ? " he exclaimed blankly. 
 " I have never known her lose her self-control 
 like this. She must be really ill ! How blind 
 I have been not to have noticed it. I must go 
 after her I must " 
 
 " Now just leave her alone for a few minutes, 
 my good man, if you can do anything so sensible.
 
 174 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 You have been blind certainly as blind as a 
 bat but she isn't a bit ill. She is only triste. 
 Here she is isolee sur une montagne, au fonds 
 des bois, rien pour 1'egayer que des feuilles 
 mortes. No companions but two savongs who 
 can talk of nothing more cheerful than centrif- 
 ugal forces and primary instincts and that kind 
 of thing. Yes, Professor, I am very angry with 
 you ; you pay no more attention to that charm- 
 ing child than if she were a stock or a stone." 
 
 " I own," said the old man in a nettled tone, 
 " that it would not have occurred to me to pro- 
 pose a visit to the churchyard as a means of 
 restoring cheerfulness." 
 
 " At least she would have been brought in 
 contact with human nature," retorted the 
 Countess, stoutly. " Human nature alive or 
 dead is better than your old dry-as-dust 
 theories." 
 
 " Juliet has always expressed interest in my 
 work," this very stiffly. " She has, moreover, 
 frequently assured me that she delighted in 
 the woods " 
 
 " Not in their present dripping state, je 
 parie," cried his adversary. 
 
 " She seemed amused and pleased with the 
 life here," he continued, disregarding the inter- 
 ruption.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 175 
 
 " When there were a few more people in the 
 place, perhaps. I don't believe you know the 
 difference between summer and winter vous 
 avez toujours la tete dans les nuages, vous savez. 
 But the facts speak for themselves. Mr. Bulke- 
 ley, I appeal to you. Can this draughty, mouldy, 
 melancholy place offer any attractions now to a 
 young girl ? Mr. Bulkeley? reaching across the 
 table to poke him with a plump ringer, " do you 
 hear me ? " 
 
 " I beg your pardon !" he exclaimed, emerging 
 with a start from what seemed a somewhat 
 gloomy reverie. " You are quite right. There 
 is nothing nothing here now which could 
 possibly interest Miss Lennox." 
 
 " You ought to take her away at once," pur- 
 sued Countess de Galphi, inexorably. " Take 
 her home and let her have some hunting before 
 the frost sets in. With a groom, you know 
 she would be all right with a groom." 
 
 " To Moor's Hill ? " queried the Professor, 
 aghast. 
 
 " Why not ? Well, to Paris if you like it 
 better. Yes, do take her to Paris and let her 
 rub up her French. She is not so fond of 
 speaking French as I should wish her to be. 
 I often notice that when I purposely speak 
 French to her she answers in English."
 
 i;6 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " But my work! " gasped Mr. Lennox; "if I 
 am again disturbed I shall be thrown back for 
 months. I am only beginning to get into swing. 
 I had intended," looking blankly round, " to 
 remain here during the winter." 
 
 " Now, you mustn't be so selfish," cried the 
 old lady. " What does it matter about your work 
 you've got plenty of money. If you keep 
 that girl here during the winter it will be a cry- 
 ing shame. Even my husband notices how 
 poorly Juliet is looking, and he is not at all an 
 observant person. Je dis, mon ami, que tu 
 n'es pas observant, mais que tu trouves que Ju- 
 liet n'a pas 1'air du tout forte." 
 
 After the customary interval for assimilation 
 the gentleman responded mournfully that he 
 had indeed remarked that Mees had a bad air 
 lately. " Did you not observe," he added mys- 
 teriously, bending towards the perturbed father, 
 "when my wife speak to her first she rouged 
 and then she teared she was in fact quite 
 set-up." 
 
 Mr. Lennox cast a look of helpless consterna- 
 tion towards Bulkeley, and the latter roused 
 himself in response to the mute appeal. 
 
 " Some compromise may surely be hit upon," 
 he said, smiling. " It should not be very dif- 
 ficult to devise a plan which would suit all parties.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 177 
 
 Professor Lennox wishes to remain here for at 
 least another month or two. Why should he 
 not do so ? On the other hand, there is no rea- 
 son why Miss Lennox, whom the place evidently 
 does not agree with at this time of year, should 
 not pass the interval elsewhere in visiting 
 friends, for instance," he added, looking sugges- 
 tively at the Countess de Galphi. 
 
 " What a capital idea ! " cried she, clapping 
 her hands, " and how stupid of me not to have 
 thought of it. I will carry her off with me, and 
 we'll have a grand frisk together. I'll take her 
 to Stattingen she shall go to operas and con- 
 certs, and have German lessons and all sorts of 
 things. Now, Professor, there's your difficulty 
 solved." 
 
 " But," said he, doubtfully, " Juliet has never 
 been separated from me in her life. I don't 
 think she will consent to go." 
 
 " She must go ! " cried the lady. 
 
 " She really ought to go ! " murmured Bulke- 
 ley, while even the Count chimed in with an 
 unusually energetic expression of opinion. 
 
 And so between them they talked the Pro- 
 fessor round, and when he presently summoned 
 Juliet to impart to her the proposal, his mind 
 was made up. In vain did the girl plead and 
 protest ; it generally took some time for Mr.
 
 1 78 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 Lennox to come to a decision of the kind, but 
 once thoroughly convinced of its advisability 
 it was impossible subsequently to shake him. 
 Juliet therefore found she must prepare to 
 face the inevitable and was somewhat consoled 
 when Horace Bulkeley, drawing her aside on 
 the first opportunity, told her hurriedly that he 
 himself intended to remain over Christmas at 
 the Schone Aussicht, and would take care of 
 her father and send her frequent reports of his 
 health and spirits. 
 
 " How good of you ! " she cried gratefully. 
 " You are staying on purpose to look after 
 him." 
 
 " It is a privilege," said Horace. " And after 
 all, when a man is as lonely as I am it does not 
 matter much where he spends his Christmas." 
 
 The smile which accompanied these words 
 quite transfigured his honest, plain face, and 
 Juliet smiled back confidently and brightly, 
 congratulating herself on the thought of leav- 
 ing her father in the care of this devoted dis- 
 ciple. Only once again did she demur at the 
 proposed plan, and that was when some allu- 
 sion was made to the pleasures which she might 
 expect to find at Stattingen. 
 
 " I wish it had been any other place but 
 Stattingen," she murmured, half under her
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 179 
 
 breath. " I thought Countess de Galphi spoke 
 of going to Dresden." 
 
 " Now, Juliet, you are unreasonable," said 
 her father. " You have not seen either of these 
 places, and Stattingen is the gayer and more 
 important of the two. Moreover, your first 
 visit to Austria should make an epoch in your 
 life. Confess that you can give no adequate 
 reason for your objection to Stattingen." 
 
 She shook her head : even to her father she 
 could not have explained that the idea of visit- 
 ing Stattingen was repugnant to her solely 
 because of the association of the place with 
 Christian Thai.
 
 PART II 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 
 STATTINGEN! Gay, bright, delightful 
 Stattingen, with its gabled and painted 
 roofs, tall houses ornamented with many a 
 quaint design, oriel windows and covered bal- 
 conies jutting out wherever the fancy took them; 
 its odd mixture of broad streets, and dark wind- 
 ing alleys, its noble river, its countless churches, 
 its treasures of art, its endless bustle and chatter 
 and laughter. No wonder Juliet's head was 
 well-nigh turned by the charm of the place. 
 For the first few days she could do nothing but 
 gaze about her ; it seemed to her that the life 
 of the streets was of itself all-sufficient in its 
 interest and gaiety. The carts and cabs dash- 
 ing past, many of them drawn in somewhat 
 casual fashion by a single horse harnessed to 
 one side of the pole, but accompanied by what 
 jingling of bells and cracking of whips and 
 
 i So
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 181 
 
 shouting of jocular drivers how unlike were 
 these volatile Austrians to the phlegmatic 
 folk of Schonwald ! Then, the more imposing 
 equipages of the aristocrats with their magnifi- 
 cent Hungarian horses, the liveries of the ser- 
 vants being now in the extreme of English fash- 
 ion, now of the many-braided, many-buttoned 
 order denoting a Magyar household ; the bright 
 shops, the beautifully clad lady pedestrians, the 
 tight-waisted, mustachioed officers spick and 
 span in their marvellous uniforms the very 
 street-vendors in their varied costumes all 
 were new and delightful to watch. 
 
 After a few days the party were settled in a 
 small flat on the ground-floor of a tall, newly- 
 built house in a somewhat unfashionable quarter 
 of the town. Life with the Countess de Galphi 
 was certain to be varied and original, and Juliet 
 found no small amusement in the unconven- 
 tional little shifts and contrivances by which 
 the good lady managed to eke out a not very 
 enormous income. The motley collection of 
 stores in the dining-room cupboard, selected 
 and brought home by themselves, and com- 
 prising every conceivable requirement from foie 
 gras to linseed meal, entertained her exces- 
 sively ; the little travelling tea apparatus which 
 was daily set forth and subsequently washed up
 
 182 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 by her own hands, appeared to her a marvel of 
 comprehensive ingenuity ; the boiling up of their 
 morning coffee on a spirit lamp ; the running out 
 to the pastry-cook's to supplement a defective 
 supply of rolls all was to Juliet, the pampered 
 child of fortune, full of piquant novelty. She 
 knew that her father had taken care that her visit 
 .should put her kind entertainers to no expense, 
 and meanwhile she was much interested and 
 diverted by a mode of life so unlike that to 
 which she had been accustomed. Even the 
 Countess's occasional appearance at the morn- 
 ing meal without her hair and attired in a most 
 unprepossessing neglige, and the Count's in- 
 variable practice of cleaving to dressing-gown 
 and slippers until mid-day, did not disconcert 
 her. As for the dinners at out-of-the-way 
 restaurants, the scrambling suppers after con- 
 cert or play, the viands being frequently 
 brought home in paper bags from the pastry- 
 cook's and partaken of by the light of a solitary 
 candle, well, they all formed part of the 
 cheery, irregular, Bohemian existence, and were 
 therefore to be appreciated. Juliet was inter- 
 ested in everything and in everybody ; in Lena 
 the young wife of the portier, and her pale, 
 sickly baby; in her fellow lodgers whom she 
 occasionally met upon the stone stairs. Herr
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 183 
 
 Dr. Prutt and his newly-made wife lived on the 
 first floor. Juliet often saw the little bride 
 peering anxiously forth from between the lace 
 curtains of her sitting room, and told herself 
 that she was watching for patients. The Hen- 
 Doctor did not seem to have many patients as 
 yet. Juliet wove quite a romance about the 
 anxious little wife and the pale young doctor, 
 and often found herself unconsciously hoping 
 that this or that passer-by, who seemed to be 
 slackening his pace as he approached the house, 
 might be thinking of consulting the Medicin- 
 Arzt. An elderly lawyer occupied the flat 
 immediately opposite the de Galphis', and men 
 and women of various denominations found 
 refuge on the upper flights. 
 
 Only one of these appeared to Juliet in the 
 slightest degree interesting. A tall, round- 
 shouldered youth with shaggy black hair al- 
 ways tumbling into his eyes these eyes alone 
 atoning by their luminousness and intelligence 
 for the plainness of his sallow face. 
 
 Once or twice as he came swinging past 
 Juliet he hummed a tune to himself, and occa- 
 sionally she fancied she heard the muffled notes 
 of a distant piano. 
 
 " Ja wohl," said Lena, when questioned on 
 this point. " There is a piano in the house
 
 1 84 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 right up there in the garret. It belongs to 
 Herr Michotte, the young Frenchman, whom 
 the Hochgeborenes Fraulein might have no- 
 ticed he with the black eyes who is always 
 singing. Yes, he is lustig, the Herr Michotte, 
 though often there is no fire da oben, and 
 many a time the poor young fellow goes with- 
 out his dinner, of that she felt sure." 
 
 And then Juliet felt even more sorry for the 
 young Herr Michotte than for Dr. Prutt, who 
 at least dined every day, as was testified by the 
 appetising savours that came floating down 
 from his apartment about one o'clock. A little 
 before seven one memorable evening, Juliet 
 and her friends sallied forth for the first time to 
 the opera-house. They proceeded on foot, as 
 is the custom in Stattingen, cloaks protecting 
 their sober morning dress, and lace kerchiefs 
 covering the ladies' heads. Count de Galphi 
 walked between his wife and Juliet, giving an 
 arm to each, and was quite brilliant as he dis- 
 coursed of the powers of the Prima Donna and 
 of her unsurpassed rendering of "du holder 
 Abendstern:" 
 
 Juliet almost danced along, and could hardly 
 restrain from jerking her conductor's arm in 
 her anxiety to make him go faster; her eyes 
 were shining like stars under her white head-
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 185 
 
 gear. The Countess on her side talked as 
 usual, nineteen to the dozen in a variety of 
 languages, her little high-heeled shoes went 
 tock-tock along the pavement and were freely 
 displayed, as was also a good deal of black silk 
 stocking, beneath her carefully tucked-up skirts. 
 All were in the highest good humour when 
 they found themselves in the arcade leading to 
 the opera-house, and after threading the inter- 
 minable passages and mounting the handsome 
 stairs were at length inducted into their box. 
 
 " I was determined you should do it properly 
 the first time, at any rate," cried the Countess. 
 " There is nothing like a box. Half one's 
 pleasure is spoilt if one happens to have a 
 disagreeable neighbour. I am sure I am glad 
 of it to-night. Heavens, what a lot of Jews ! 
 I do dislike Jews. Well, this is comfortable 
 and so cheap too twenty-one kronen, would 
 you believe it ? And there's that nice little sort 
 of anteroom where we can go and sit between 
 the acts." 
 
 But her remarks fell unheeded : the overture 
 had already begun, and Juliet was listening 
 spell-bound. She had never been to an opera 
 in her life, and seen thus under particularly 
 happy auspices one may imagine the glamour 
 of this new experience. When the curtain fell
 
 1 86 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 after the first act she still sat with dilated eyes 
 and flushed cheeks gazing towards the stage. 
 
 " I believe you think the curtain will go up 
 quicker if you sit staring at it," said the 
 Countess, shrugging her shoulders. " Well, 
 I'm going to this snug little anteroom to rest 
 my eyes. I am sure there is not much to be 
 seen unless you like looking round at all these 
 Jew faces. There's a girl down there quite 
 bald, I do declare. She doesn't know we can 
 see the top of her head. Voyez, Ignace, une 
 jeune dame qui est chauve." 
 
 But Ignace had already retired to the ante- 
 room, where his spouse presently joined him, 
 and Juliet was left to watch the drop-scene in 
 peace. 
 
 But by-and-bye she felt herself impelled to 
 look upwards. Her eyes, drawn by that strange 
 magnetism produced by the earnest scrutiny of 
 other eyes, were lifted, past the tiers of boxes, 
 past the gallery above, up, up to the highest 
 row of all, where they suddenly fixed them- 
 selves upon a face that stood out for a moment 
 amid a crowd of other faces, and then was 
 gone. 
 
 Juliet sat still, gazing with strained eager- 
 ness at the place where it had been ; but pres- 
 ently she rubbed her eyes.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 187 
 
 It was fancy, she said to herself. It was 
 scarcely possible to distinguish anyone at such 
 a distance ; she had been momentarily deceived 
 by a chance resemblance. And yet she had 
 not been thinking of Christian Thai ; why was 
 it that for a brief space before the sudden rush 
 of blood had made her head swim, it had 
 seemed to her that he was there, looking down 
 at her with a white intent face ? 
 
 She leaned back in her chair with a sigh ; 
 the glamour of the place seemed to have faded ; 
 her head ached, the air had become heavy and 
 stifling. Idly she watched the members of the 
 orchestra come strolling back to their places, 
 feeling none of the keen excitement with which, 
 had it not been for the recent incident, she 
 would have hailed this indication of their ap- 
 proaching resumption of duty. The door of 
 the next box opened and there was a mur- 
 mured colloquy and a laugh from one of the 
 Israelitish ladies. Juliet did not turn her head; 
 she did not even look round when in another 
 moment there was a knock at the door of their 
 own box and she heard the Countess de Galphi 
 say"Entrez" the formula which she prefer- 
 ably used in England or Germany. Some 
 vendor of ices was probably endeavouring to 
 dispose of his wares. In another moment, how-
 
 i88 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 ever, Juliet was roused from her apathy by a 
 summons from the Countess. 
 
 "Juliet, this gentleman says he is a friend of 
 yours." 
 
 She turned quickly enough now. It was 
 Christian Thai. He stood in the doorway, his 
 eyes shining, his face radiant with smiles. 
 Had he ever been unkind ? Surely she had 
 but dreamed it ! With two strides he was at 
 her side, and now her hand was in his and he 
 was telling her over and over again how glad 
 he was to see her and how surprised, and how 
 he had hardly believed his eyes when first he 
 had caught sight of her. 
 
 " But I knew I could not be mistaken," he 
 cried. " There could not be another Juliet 
 Lennox in the world." 
 
 His hand still held hers, his eyes were 
 dilated, glowing he made no attempt to con- 
 ceal the fact that he was bubbling over with 
 delight at their meeting, yet somehow at his 
 confident air Juliet felt a momentary return 
 of anger. She drew away her hand and looked 
 at him gravely. 
 
 " I am sometimes tempted to think," she said, 
 in the formal tone which was an unconscious 
 echo of her father's, " I am sometimes tempted 
 to think that there are two Christian Thais."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 189 
 
 He stared at her for a moment and then 
 laughed and shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " One the artist, and one the man ? " he 
 inquired. 
 
 " Does that account for it ? " said she, still 
 coldly. 
 
 A sudden light appeared to break in on him ; 
 his face grew serious, even moody. 
 
 " I can explain all that," he said in a low 
 voice ; and then stopped short, for at this 
 moment the orchestra struck up and the 
 Countess and her husband returned to their 
 seats. 
 
 " Will you not introduce me ? " said Chris- 
 tian. There was an empty place behind Juliet's 
 chair, and as he spoke he looked at it mean- 
 ingly. Madame de Galphi intercepted the glance 
 and her eyes twinkled. She was the soul of 
 good nature and liked nothing so much, as 
 she frequently averred, as to see young things 
 happy. As Christian happened to be a particu- 
 larly attractive specimen of a young thing, and 
 as, moreover, Juliet's eager face unconsciously 
 endorsed the unspoken petition, the old lady, 
 who had a fine scent for romance coupled 
 with a characteristic disregard of consequences, 
 shook hands warmly with her new acquaint- 
 ance and invited him to join the party. The
 
 190 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 curtain had risen and now new wonders began 
 to unfold and Juliet looked and listened all 
 the more entranced because of the proximity 
 of her friend and the happy consciousness 
 of restored confidence. Meanwhile Christian 
 devoted himself almost exclusively to watching 
 her; the absorbed face, the small bent head, 
 the slender clasped hands. Ah ! there was 
 only one Juliet there should be only one 
 Christian too. 
 
 Once she tossed back the golden tress of hair 
 which fell over her shoulder without perceiving 
 that for a moment the silken ends of it rested 
 on Christian's hands, which hung over the back 
 of her chair as he sat bending forward. He 
 looked at it, hardly daring to breathe. How 
 fine it was, how soft it seemed to hold the 
 light as it lay there. In another moment she 
 moved slightly and it slipped away from him. 
 At the close of the act the Countess bounced up 
 and propelled her husband before her into the 
 anteroom. 
 
 " Those children want to talk to each other," 
 she said in her worst German as he was about 
 to protest. " They won't say a word if we are 
 there." 
 
 The Count, shrugging his shoulders, insinu- 
 ated that it was not perhaps quite wise.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 191 
 
 " Sit down," cried the lady, " and ne gatez 
 pas le sport." 
 
 Meanwhile Juliet, whom this manoeuvre of 
 her friend's had thrown into sudden confusion, 
 was silent for a moment or two, and then, tak- 
 ing courage, looked Christian full in the face. 
 
 " I want to hear you explain," she said. 
 
 He did not look at her, but she could see 
 that he was breathing quickly. 
 
 " Ask," he said, after a pause. 
 
 Juliet forgot her transitory perturbation, and 
 leaning back in her chair gazed at him with 
 the air of a young judge. 
 
 " The day before you left," she began in a 
 low voice, u the stormy day, do you remember ? " 
 
 He bowed his head and she thought she saw 
 him shudder. 
 
 " You were playing," she went on ; " you 
 were playing Chopin's ' Storm Study.' I stood 
 outside and listened, and when you had finished 
 I turned the handle of the door." 
 
 " It was locked," said Christian, laconically. 
 
 " Yes, it was locked, but you must have heard 
 me. Did you know that it was I ? " 
 
 He nodded. 
 
 " Well, I think that requires a little explana- 
 tion," said Juliet, once more in unconscious 
 mimicry of her father's judicial tone.
 
 192 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " The explanation is that the key was in 
 Annola's pocket." Those fine, thin nostrils of 
 his were still rising and falling rapidly, but he 
 had lifted his eyes and it seemed to Juliet that 
 they were faintly twinkling. 
 
 " Could you not at least have said so ? " she 
 cried with gathering wrath. 
 
 " I was in a very bad temper, you see." 
 
 " I do not think that is any excuse for being 
 rude to me." 
 
 " I am very sorry." 
 
 There was no twinkle in the eyes now ; but 
 they looked more gloomy than penitent. 
 
 " Annola does not want me to be happy," he 
 said, and suddenly dropped his chin in his hands. 
 
 " Did she insist on taking you away then ? " 
 
 He nodded. 
 
 " But surely she did not forbid you to say 
 good-bye ? " 
 
 He unclasped his hands and sat upright. 
 
 " No, it was I who would not say good-bye." 
 
 " And do you not think it was it was " 
 her voice shook and she turned away her head. 
 
 " Do not let us speak of it now," he cried, 
 impulsively, "let us be happy. I mean to be 
 happy, one has but one youth, after all." 
 
 Juliet did not look towards him; he could 
 hear her little shoe tapping on the floor. He
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 193 
 
 edged round his chair, bending forward so that 
 she was forced to look at him. 
 
 " Forgive me," he whispered. " As you said, 
 there were two Christian Thais in those days 
 the artist and the man. The artist belonged 
 to Annola before now it shall belong to the 
 man. There shall be only one Christian." 
 
 " Well, I hope he will be nice," said Juliet, 
 and she began to laugh. 
 
 " It is time for me to go in, I think," said 
 the Countess, craning her head round the par- 
 tition. " That young fellow is actually sitting 
 in her pocket." 
 
 Christian discreetly pushed back his chair 
 and stood up as she entered, and was imme- 
 diately put through a catechism as to his 
 age, occupation, and prospects in life. 
 
 She was much interested in his replies, which 
 were delivered with affability and ease, and 
 presently dropped into a dissertation on musi- 
 cal matters to which he listened with no small 
 amusement. After descanting on the merits 
 of Weber, Wagner, and Strauss, all of whom 
 she included in the same category, and all of 
 whose names she pronounced in her own 
 whole-hearted, British fashion, she announced 
 that she would like to hear Christian play. 
 
 "But nothing is easier," cried he, delighted.
 
 194 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " I will come and play to you to-morrow 
 any day. Where are you staying ? " 
 
 She gave the address, but added, somewhat 
 disconsolately, that she had no piano. 
 
 "Ah, but wait a little," cried he, eagerly, 
 " Ludwig Strasse, 45, you say? What luck! 
 A friend of mine lodges in the same house. 
 He lives in a garret, but he has got a lovely 
 piano. I can easily arrange it all. Bobo will 
 be charmed." 
 
 " Is Bobo your friend's name ? " inquired the 
 Countess, disapprovingly. 
 
 " Well, his real name is Prosper Michotte, 
 but he is always called Bobo. Most of our 
 students are given little names, you see little 
 friendly names and we call him Bobo, be- 
 cause he has always got something the mat- 
 ter with him earache, or toothache, or a cut 
 finger ' un petit bobo,' he says, with such a 
 doleful face so we call him Bobo." 
 
 " And have they any name for you ? " put 
 in Juliet. 
 
 "Yes, they call me Caesar, because I want 
 to conquer the world." 
 
 " Don't be too ambitious," said Madame de 
 Galphi, severely. " La fierte a eu un tombeau 
 une chute, I mean. Much better begin by 
 having a humble opinion of yourself."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 195 
 
 Christian smiled benignly, but made no di- 
 rect response, observing however, after a pause, 
 that he would hunt up Bobo at once, and 
 would, if possible, play for the Countess on 
 the morrow. 
 
 On emerging from the box the Count care- 
 fully cloaked his wife, tied on her muffler, and 
 insisted on inserting two pellets of cotton-wool 
 in her ears ; after which he turned to Juliet, 
 who had however already accepted Christian's 
 assistance, and whom that young gentleman 
 was now preparing to pilot downstairs. 
 
 The Count, after a momentary pause of 
 astonishment, proceeded to don his own great- 
 coat and to pad his own ears. 
 
 On reaching the street he was about to offer 
 Juliet his spare arm, when he discovered that 
 Christian was already briskly stepping away 
 with her. He looked down at his wife, but 
 observing no appearance of alarm on her cheer- 
 ful countenance, dismissed with a slight shrug 
 his momentary qualms. 
 
 So the young folks threaded their way gaily 
 through the broad, well-lighted streets of the 
 beautiful city, and made the usual remarks of 
 young people under such circumstances about 
 the calm night and the clear sky and the stars. 
 They had left the fashionable quarter of the
 
 196 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 town and were making their way through nar- 
 rower and less frequented streets, when all at 
 once Christian, pointing out two figures in front 
 of them, cried gaily: 
 
 " I am sure that is Bobo ; I should know 
 his old round back anywhere. We can arrange 
 about our little seance at once. Bobo ! Hola ! 
 Bobo ! " 
 
 The round-shouldered youth turned, as did 
 also the little lady clinging to his arm, and im- 
 mediately both hastened up to Christian. 
 
 " Happy meeting ! " cried Thai in French. 
 " Bobo, you are the very person I want. Let 
 me present you at once to my friend Miss Juliet 
 Lennox. Rosie," turning to the little lady, 
 "you would also like to make acquaintance, 
 would you not? Miss Juliet Lennox Miss 
 Rosie Gordon. Bobo, my dear friend, we want 
 your piano to-morrow. I am coming to play 
 in your room at half past ten o'clock." 
 
 " Parfaitement," said Bobo, good-humouredly; 
 " but say rather eleven, mon cher. The diabol- 
 ical Madchen can never manage to make my 
 bed before that hour." 
 
 Meanwhile Rosie Gordon had tilted back her 
 blond, tam-o'-shanter-crowned head, and was 
 staring at Juliet with a pair of blue eyes that 
 looked very bright in the light of the street
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 197 
 
 lamp. She was quite young and had a pretty 
 pink-and-white face with a little cocked nose. 
 
 "Are you also going to study under the 
 Maestro ? " she asked. 
 
 " Oh, no," returned Juliet, " I am not clever 
 enough for that. I am only staying here for a 
 little while." 
 
 " I thought I had not seen you at the classes," 
 returned Miss Gordon. 
 
 Meanwhile Monsieur Prosper Michotte, 
 clutching his friend's sleeve, had announced in 
 a stage whisper that some mysterious " she " 
 was divine. 
 
 In another moment the Count and Countess 
 came jogging up, rather out of breath ; intro- 
 ductions were gone through, and arrangements 
 finally made for the musical performance on 
 the morrow. 
 
 Then the pretty Rosie and her cavalier 
 pursued their way, and the rest of the party 
 walked on together, soon arriving at their 
 destination. 
 
 Christian stood looking at the house for a 
 moment after Juliet had disappeared and then 
 began to waltz down the street, tossing up his 
 hat and catching it again with great dexterity 
 as he twirled. Presently he collided with an 
 old gentleman who uttered an astonished
 
 198 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " Behiite ! " Christian bowed and apologised 
 with great suavity, put on his hat with a flour- 
 ish, and continued his progress after a more 
 rational manner. 
 
 His face, however, still wore so unaccustomed 
 an expression of exhilaration and excitement 
 that Annola, whose door opened noiselessly as 
 he passed, started at sight of him. 
 
 " What is the matter, Christian ? You are 
 late what have you been doing ? " 
 
 " I have been escaping from the Horselberg," 
 he returned with sudden gravity; and as she 
 stared at him he began to sing under his 
 
 breath : 
 
 " Doch ich aus diesen ros' gen Duften 
 Verlange nach des Waldes Luften 
 Nach unseres Himmels klarem Blau " 
 
 Annola set down her light and opened her 
 door more widely. 
 
 " What is the matter with you to-night ? " she 
 cried suspiciously. "It is not possible that 
 you have been drinking." 
 
 " I am, as you can see, intoxicated," returned 
 he, and took up his chant at another point. " I 
 have escaped, I tell you, from the Venusberg," 
 he resumed presently, " I am a free man free 
 and young. Have I not reason to be intoxi- 
 cated?" '
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 199 
 
 She came out into the passage and laid her 
 hands on his shoulders. Her figure looked 
 thin and frail in a cotton dressing-gown, which 
 was, it must be owned, none of the cleanest; 
 her face, haggard in the dim light, wore at that 
 moment its most unpleasing expression ; her 
 black hair, loose for the night, fell heavy and 
 lank upon her shoulders. 
 
 Christian surveyed her with marked disfa- 
 vour : perhaps he was thinking of the shining 
 silky tress that had for a moment fallen across 
 his hands. 
 
 " You are not very like Venus, Annola ! " he 
 cried with a little laugh, and, pushing her aside, 
 went to his room, still singing.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Ifl=rj5^^^fe^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 0^-^-9 =C V 
 
 THE first person whom Juliet encountered 
 on the following morning was Prosper 
 Michotte. He was emerging from the porter's 
 room and at sight of her backed diffidently 
 against the wall. She nodded gaily and passed 
 on, but not before she had observed that he 
 was carrying a small, a very small shovelful of 
 coals. Many of these fell clattering on the 
 floor as he made way for her, and when pres- 
 ently, unable to resist the temptation of watch- 
 ing him, she peeped out through a chink of 
 the door, she discovered him on his knees 
 carefully picking them up even to the smallest 
 fragment, and her heart smote her at this evi- 
 dence of his preparations for the coming 
 entertainment, remembering, as she did, Lena's 
 remark that he seldom had a fire for himself. 
 
 Later on she again came across him carry- 
 ing a pot containing a shrivelled and dusty 
 
 200
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 201 
 
 plant of the laurel kind which he had pre- 
 sumably borrowed from Lena, for her voice 
 pursued him with shrill injunctions to be care- 
 ful of her property, and on no account to let 
 the pot fall. He greeted Juliet this time with 
 a bashful smile, remarking that everything 
 would soon be ready, and that he was indeed 
 honoured at the prospect of entertaining her 
 and her friend. 
 
 A little before the appointed hour Christian 
 came to pay his respects to the Countess, whom 
 he found very alert, and primed with fresh 
 curiosity. 
 
 " Who was that young person who was with 
 your friend, Mr. Bobo, last night ? " 
 
 " That was Rosie Gordon. Some of the 
 English pupils call her Dumpling, but I never 
 do the name is not pretty enough for her." 
 
 " Is she any relative of your friend's ? " 
 
 " No, certainly not. Rosie is a Scotch- 
 woman." 
 
 " Are they fiances, then ? " 
 
 " No, I don't think Rosie is engaged to any- 
 one just now. Bobo was engaged last year, 
 but the girl has gone away." 
 
 " Is he in love with Miss Gordon, then ? " 
 
 " Ah, you ask because he was seeing her 
 home last night? That means nothing, you
 
 202 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 know. They had been to the Symphony Con- 
 cert, you see. Oh, they always see each other 
 home. But he may be in love with her he 
 is always in love with somebody." 
 
 "Juliet, my dear," said the Countess, with 
 mock severity, "you must be careful or he will 
 perhaps devote his affections to you." 
 
 " No, he shall not," cried Christian, eagerly, 
 as he saw Juliet redden and frown. " The idea 
 displeases you, does it not? I will not allow it 
 I will tell him he must not think of it. He 
 must go on being in love with Rosie." 
 
 At this moment there came a tap at the 
 door, which on being cautiously opened ad- 
 mitted the head and a portion of the diffident 
 person of Mr. Bobo himself. He bowed all 
 round, blushed furiously, and timidly invited 
 Christian to come upstairs, and see if all was 
 arranged to his liking. Christian obligingly 
 complied, and a vast deal of gallopading up 
 and down stairs ensued, accompanied by whis- 
 pering and stifled laughter before he reap- 
 peared breathless to announce that everything 
 was ready. 
 
 Now came an apparently interminable prog- 
 ress up these same stairs, the Countess being 
 obliged to halt twice and to prop herself against 
 an angle of the wall for a short breathing space.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 203 
 
 On one of these occasions Juliet chanced to 
 look up just in time to see a shaggy black head 
 disappearing behind the balusters, while imme- 
 diately afterwards rapid steps were heard re- 
 treating upwards. She knew by the twinkle 
 in Christian's eye that he too had taken note 
 of the circumstance, but he made no remark 
 and appeared to be absorbed in attending to 
 the Countess. 
 
 " Does that little girl Dumpling Pudding, 
 whatever you call her play well ? " panted 
 that lady, resuming the conversation which had 
 been interrupted a short time before. 
 
 " Rosie ? Yes, she has a very pretty talent," 
 returned Rosie's fellow-pupil condescendingly. 
 " She can do almost everything with those little 
 cushioned hands of hers." 
 
 The faint sound of a cough floating from the 
 upper regions suggested his next inquiry. 
 
 " Would you like to take my arm while we 
 go on ? " 
 
 " No, thanks, you might go too fast besides 
 I want to hold up my petticoats. You young 
 folks had better go on first and let me follow 
 at my leisure." 
 
 He stood aside to let Juliet pass, and skipped 
 joyfully after her while the Countess de Galphi 
 mounted laboriously in her own peculiar fash-
 
 204 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 ion, which necessitated the planting of both 
 feet firmly on each step before another could be 
 ascended. She was far behind when Juliet and 
 Christian arrived on the top landing, where, con- 
 trary to the girl's expectation, no one was wait- 
 ing to receive them. 
 
 Preceding her along the passage, Christian 
 tapped ceremoniously at one of the closed doors 
 and was politely bidden to enter. 
 
 Bobo, who had been seated by the stove, book 
 in hand, rose with great alacrity and bade them 
 welcome. 
 
 " I was, as you see, awaiting you," he re- 
 marked with a gracious smile. 
 
 Remembering the gallopading up and down 
 stairs and the vanishing black head, Juliet found 
 it a little difficult to simulate belief in Monsieur 
 Prosper's attitude of passive expectation. 
 
 Before she could speak, however, Christian 
 drew his friend hastily on one side. 
 
 " Malheureux, there are but two chairs ! I 
 shall need one at the piano. Do you expect, 
 then, one of these ladies to stand ? " 
 
 Bobo, much depressed, made some inaudible 
 rejoinder, and Juliet, watching him out of the 
 corner of her eye, fancied that she detected a 
 sideways jerk of his head in the direction of the 
 bed in one corner of the room.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 205 
 
 " Impossible ! " rejoined Thai in the same 
 scandalised undertone. "What are you think- 
 ing of? It does not look in the least like a 
 sofa. It would be to the last degree incon- 
 venant. Now here is the Countess who arrives. 
 Ah 9a, mon cher, it is not you who have shown 
 esprit. Make some excuse ; entertain these 
 ladies for a few minutes until I return." 
 
 He darted out of the room just as the rotund 
 figure of the Countess appeared in the doorway. 
 
 Michotte came forward much crestfallen to 
 receive her, and nervously proposed that the 
 ladies should just just make the round of the 
 room to s:ive themselves an idea of how artists 
 
 O 
 
 lived. The tour of inspection could not indeed 
 last long, for this garret of Bobo's was very 
 tiny. It had a sloping roof, and one or two odd 
 bulges in the white-washed walls, and a minute 
 rusty stove in one corner from which little puffs 
 of smoke occasionally came forth, denoting, as 
 it seemed to Juliet, how seldom it was used. 
 The little pallet bed bore certainly no most 
 remote resemblance to a sofa though possibly 
 Bobo had hoped to convey this effect by plac- 
 ing a pillow discreetly covered with a red cotton 
 handkerchief at each end ; there were two 
 chairs, a very small table and a cottage piano. 
 " Have you seen my flowers ? " inquired the
 
 206 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 proprietor of the apartment in an insinuating 
 voice. 
 
 On the top of the piano was a tiny glass 
 vase holding a bunch of violets, which looked 
 very like those worn by Christian on first ar- 
 riving. 
 
 Juliet remembered having observed that on 
 his second appearance his buttonhole was 
 empty. 
 
 " How sweet they are ! " she said, bending 
 down to smell them. 
 
 " Ah, the violets ? I did not mean them I 
 meant have you seen these ? " 
 
 Countess de Galphi and Juliet turned simul- 
 taneously, and approached the table where Bobo 
 stood pointing out with an air of modest pride 
 a peculiar looking object in the centre. Ele- 
 vated on a pile of books, the pot draped with a 
 red cotton handkerchief similar to those which 
 decorated the pillows, was Lena's sickly laurel, 
 the dingy foliage of which was, however, en- 
 livened by orange blooms of a kind unknown to 
 botanists. 
 
 " What in the world is it ? " exclaimed the 
 Countess. " I never saw such a thing. Where 
 did you get it? I do believe the leaves are 
 real but what on earth are these yellow things 
 supposed to be ? "
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 207 
 
 " They are camellias," explained Bobo, his 
 face falling. " Do you not think they look like 
 camellias?" he added anxiously. " They always 
 said I made them so well." 
 
 " But what are they wax ? No, they are 
 quite sticky. Who ever saw orange camellias, 
 I wonder ! What a funny smell they have." 
 
 "They are made of carrot," said Bobo, mourn- 
 fully. " I sat up till midnight cutting them out 
 with my penknife. They are better when they 
 are made of turnip," he conceded, " but I could 
 not get a turnip. Lena was just going to put 
 this into the soup, but I coaxed her to " 
 
 At this moment a curious sound, as of a min- 
 iature battering-ram at the door, diverted their 
 attention from Bobo's original floral decorations, 
 and that young gentleman flew to admit Chris- 
 tian, much out of breath and carrying, legs up- 
 permost, a large office-stool presumably the 
 lawyer's. 
 
 " I had to go to the ground floor for this," 
 he grumbled. " And now it is too high for the 
 piano. But perhaps," looking appealingly at 
 Juliet, " Miss Lennox would not mind sitting on 
 it. You will have all the better view of my 
 hands," he added as an inducement. 
 
 Juliet climbed on to her high perch, and the 
 Countess took possession of one of the chairs ;
 
 208 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 Bobo officiously hastened to place the other in 
 readiness for his friend, and then prepared to 
 listen with rapt attention. Juliet gazed sur- 
 reptitiously at the lank, ungainly figure with 
 its thin sallow face, its big hands and feet 
 poor Bobo ! at this stage of his existence these 
 were the most noticeable things about his per- 
 son yet once the music had begun that ugly 
 face of his was pleasant to watch. How ab- 
 sorbed it was, how transfigured by the purest 
 and most unselfish artistic delight ! Now his 
 black eyes would flash in their cavernous setting, 
 his lip would quiver, his nostrils dilate. Once 
 he murmured to himself with a sigh of rapture, 
 " Que c'est beau, mon Dieu, que c'est beau ! " 
 When Christian had concluded, Bobo wrung 
 him by the hand and then turning to Juliet 
 remarked with a certain proud proprietary air : 
 
 " C'est qu'il est fort, ce gallon-la ! il est fort, 
 hem ? " 
 
 " He plays very nicely indeed," said the 
 Countess, obligingly. " Merci beaucoup, danke 
 schon. But now we must hear you." 
 
 " I ? Oh, after Christian I do not advise it, 
 madame. No, really it would be a pity." 
 
 " Nonsense," said Christian, " you play very 
 well. Do not make too much noise and it will 
 go."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 209 
 
 " What do you advise ? " said Bobo, gazing 
 at him darkly. " The Liszt ? " 
 
 " The Liszt will do very well, but do not 
 forget that the room is a small one." 
 
 Bobo stared at him for a moment unseeingly, 
 pulling out his long fingers and kneading his 
 broad palms ; then with a sigh he sat down at 
 the piano. 
 
 Nothing could be more unlike the graceful, 
 self-possessed Christian than this odd-looking 
 hobbledehoy, yet no sooner had he struck a 
 few chords than Juliet was aware of certain 
 points of resemblance between them. The 
 same absorption, the same absolute self-sur- 
 render ; here was the music taking possession 
 of him just as a few moments before she had 
 seen it taking possession of Christian. 
 
 Those chords made the piano stagger, and 
 now a very torrent of sound filled the little 
 room. Bobo's form swayed from side to side 
 in a kind of ecstasy, his big red hands flew 
 over the notes, his lank black locks fell over his 
 face and were impetuously jerked back : it was 
 an extraordinary performance. 
 
 " Good gracious ! " exclaimed the Countess 
 when the crashing was at its height and the 
 little window jingled in its ill-fitting socket, 
 while the very floor shook under each vigorous
 
 210 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 stamp of the pedal. " We shall be deaf if this 
 goes on much longer ! " And her fingers flew 
 to her ears. 
 
 " Ah, please ! " whispered Christian, plead- 
 ingly, " he will be so hurt if he turns round 
 poor Bobo ! " 
 
 He stepped noiselessly to the window, which 
 he very quietly opened so as to permit some 
 of the volume of sound to escape. Bobo played 
 on, unconscious of everything except the music, 
 into which he threw himself with ever-increas- 
 ing zest. In fact the most noticeable feature 
 of his performance, besides undeniable power 
 and brilliancy of execution, was a passionate 
 fervour a very frenzy of ardour and delight. 
 Looking at him Juliet was insensibly reminded 
 of a phrase she had once heard applied to 
 Rubinstein : " Ce geant endiable du piano." 
 
 " Play your little Bach, Bobo," cried Chris- 
 tian when he had finished; while the Countess 
 sat mute and bewildered, and Juliet vainly 
 cudgelled her brain for words in which to 
 convey her impressions. 
 
 " Tu crois ? " returned his friend, doubtfully. 
 " Well, if you will." 
 
 He played his little Bach with, it must be 
 owned, a certain amount of violence, and turned 
 round at the end with a dissatisfied face.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 211 
 
 " I have no scope in Bach," he complained. 
 
 " You did not make the most of the Musette" 
 said Christian. " It is very delicate." 
 
 " Bah ! I have no taste for musical-box effects. 
 I am going to learn something new. I am 
 getting up a Beethoven." 
 
 " No, Bobo, do not," cried Christian, earnestly. 
 " Beethoven you cannot play ; it is folly to 
 attempt it. Liszt, yes ; Brahms und Rubin- 
 stein, and any of the Russian school, and 
 even Grieg some of him all that. But 
 Beethoven ? No, my dear Bobo, no." 
 
 The Countess and Juliet listened, much 
 interested and amused. Both the young men 
 seemed to have forgotten their presence and 
 were gazing at each other, the one in real con- 
 cern, the other alarmed and slightly resentful. 
 
 " It is too late," said Bobo, at last, somewhat 
 sulkily. " I am to have my first lesson in 
 the ' Moonlight ' on Thursday week." 
 
 Thai cast up eyes and hands to heaven: 
 
 " The Master will grind you to powder," he 
 said. " But never mind ; we have all had our 
 turn." 
 
 " Is Herr Adlersohn as hard on you as ever? " 
 inquired Countess de Galphi. " I used to think 
 him dreadfully severe and sarcastic." 
 
 " He grows worse as he grows older," re-
 
 212 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 turned Christian, with a kind of gloomy pride. 
 " Ah, the old eagle has kept his claws, I prom- 
 ise you. That poor fellow the other day you 
 remember, Bobo ? " 
 
 " If I remember ! " cried Bobo, " I wonder if 
 he is still alive. I should not have survived 
 such disgrace." 
 
 " The poor wretch," resumed Christian, turn- 
 ing to the Countess. " He was to play for the 
 first time in the class, you understand ; and 
 the Master had a touch of the gout. Ah, he 
 was brutal." 
 
 " But what happened ? " cried the Countess 
 and Juliet together. 
 
 " Ce pauvre diable," said Bobo. " He sat 
 down, you see, with the Master at the other 
 piano, watching him from under his great 
 tufted brows. Well, he begins, le malheureux, 
 plays a few bars, and breaks down. The 
 Master turns a little more towards him, but 
 says nothing. He makes a fresh start and 
 breaks down again. The old man's eyes 
 are like two little points of fire hein, were 
 they not, Christian?" 
 
 Christian corroborated this statement with a 
 nod. 
 
 " Once more (for the third time, remark it 
 well) he makes the same attempt with the same
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 213 
 
 result. There was a silence was there not a 
 silence, Christian ? We were all afraid to 
 breathe, and then the Master gets up very 
 slowly, and the other gets up too, and backs 
 away before him to the door. His face was 
 as white as my shirt and his eyes starting from 
 his head. Once arrived at the door the Master 
 takes him by the shoulders and turns him 
 round ' Adieu ! ' says he. Ma parole d'hon- 
 neur! You understand that after that it was 
 finished ! " 
 
 " How cruel ! " said Juliet, indignantly. " I 
 think I detest your Maestro." 
 
 " Oh, no, mademoiselle," cried both the 
 youths together, " on the contrary, if you knew 
 him you would love him ! " 
 
 " He is adorable," added Bobo, rapturously, 
 on his own account. 
 
 " There is no one like him," said Christian, 
 more soberly. " You see it is good for one 
 to be how do you say? kept up to the 
 mark " 
 
 "What does that mean de mark?" put in 
 Bobo, plaintively. 
 
 " It sharpens one up," pursued his friend, 
 without noticing the interruption, " to know 
 that nothing will be passed ever, that the 
 smallest slip, the smallest oversight will bring
 
 214 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 down the old man's thunderbolts. And then 
 what he puts into one what he makes one 
 see what he makes one feel. I tell you, 
 mademoiselle, one feels one's brain expand, 
 one's powers grow under the domination of 
 his. He is a Genius." 
 
 " But the classes must be terrible," objected 
 Juliet. 
 
 " Yes perhaps, before one has reached a 
 certain point. What we mind most is not so 
 much him as each other. One minds being 
 turned into ridicule before everyone else " 
 
 " Ah ! " groaned Bobo, with a shudder. 
 " Figure to yourself thirty or forty of your 
 comrades all eyes and ears, clever, critical, 
 censorious each one for the moment not a 
 comrade but a judge. And then when the 
 Maestro puts you upon the rack and when 
 they watch your contortions ah, one is not 
 inclined to laugh, I can tell you." 
 
 " Bah, each one has his turn," said Christian, 
 lightly. " Do not look so horrified, ladies, it is 
 not always like that. Sometimes he is pleased, 
 and shows that he is pleased, also before every- 
 one. Then on est joliment heureux." 
 
 " Je crois bien ! " cried the Countess, plung- 
 ing into the conversation with terribly nasal 
 emphasis. " These classes must be very am us-
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 215 
 
 ing. I should like to go one day. Should you 
 like to see one of these classes, Juliet? " 
 
 " Immensely ! " responded the girl, enthu- 
 siastically. "It must be so interesting so 
 exciting ! But could we ? " she added dubi- 
 ously. " Would he Professor Adlersohn 
 allow strangers to come ? " 
 
 " Strangers ! " repeated the Countess, indig- 
 nantly. " I beg to state, my dear, that I know 
 Herr Adlersohn quite well. I have been to a 
 soiree at his house." 
 
 The two musicians, who had been looking at 
 each other doubtfully, now cheered up. 
 
 " Ah, of course if madame knows the Maestro 
 it should not be difficult. He sometimes does 
 allow his friends to be present." 
 
 " Write, madame, write and ask his permis- 
 sion," cried Christian, eagerly. " It is an ex- 
 perience which will amuse and interest you 
 both ; of that I feel sure." 
 
 " You will hear me play my ' Moonlight,' " 
 said Bobo, beginning once more to knead his 
 hands together with an absent look. Christian 
 turned on him sharply. 
 
 " How did you manage to persuade him to 
 give you Beethoven ? " 
 
 " Oh, I don't know ; I implored ; I believe 
 I wept. He said I was right to have a culte
 
 216 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 for Beethoven. If I approached him in the 
 proper spirit as I would approach a sacred 
 shrine ; if I put off my shoes and uncovered 
 my head; I might try." 
 
 " My poor Bobo ! " sighed the other, gazing 
 at him dispassionately. " I fear me if you do 
 put off your shoes you will still make too 
 much noise." 
 
 Bobo coloured, but smiled good-humouredly 
 enough. 
 
 " You should certainly come to the class, 
 mademoiselle," he said, turning to Juliet. " Ce 
 gaillard-la he shows you a little what to ex- 
 pect. But think, forty pupils, forty critical 
 judges, forty Caesars." 
 
 "What folly!" cried his friend. "There is 
 only one Caesar, mon cher."
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 / leggiero. 
 
 AN urgent, oddly-worded characteristic note 
 was presently despatched by Countess de 
 Galphi to the great Professor Adlersohn, the 
 light of the musical world, the maker of repu- 
 tations, the cultivator of genius critic, seer, 
 and craftsman all in one. Him did she ap- 
 proach as no other woman in the world would 
 have approached him and with success. 
 
 A small unfastened envelope, bearing a five- 
 heller stamp and containing a visiting-card, 
 arrived on the morning after her appeal had 
 gone forth. Underneath the Maestro's name 
 was scrawled the single word : Yes. 
 
 Juliet laughed and clapped her hands. 
 
 " How delightful ! I do love these people 
 and their ways. They are all so queer 
 unlike everybody else ! " 
 
 217
 
 2i8 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " You will be getting quite Bohemian your- 
 self soon," said the Countess, smiling good- 
 naturedly, however. " Did I hear you call that 
 long black boy Bobo, yesterday ? " 
 
 " He begged and implored me to do it," re- 
 turned Juliet, growing very red. " He said they 
 all call each other by their names. And they all 
 do. Haven't you noticed it ? And they they 
 said I was giving myself airs; and they wzY/call 
 me 'Juliet.'" 
 
 " Who's they ? " inquired Madame de Gal- 
 phi, with her head on one side. 
 
 " Oh, Bobo Michotte and Christian Herr 
 Thai, I mean ; they all do it, and Rosie does 
 it too. And I thought it seemed ridiculous for 
 me to hold out if it's the custom here. I 
 wrote and told Daddy about it do you think 
 he'll mind ? " 
 
 " I don't suppose he will," returned the old 
 lady, who had herself a sublime disregard of all 
 conventionality. " Boys and girls together 
 such a lot of you you can't be stiff. It 
 wouldn't do for you to be a prig, Juliet ; and 
 anyhow it doesn't matter one way or the other ; 
 you will probably never meet these young 
 people again." 
 
 " Oh, I hope I shall meet Christian again ! " 
 cried Juliet, with sparkling eyes. " It will be
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 219 
 
 delightful when he is famous to think I have 
 known him like this. Think, what an honour 
 to be a real friend of a celebrity ! " 
 
 " H'm, I like what's-his-name Bobo best 
 though he does very nearly break the drums of 
 one's ears when he plays. He is a nice simple 
 creature. Now your Mr. Thai thinks too 
 much of himself." 
 
 " No, no, he doesn't really ; he can't help 
 knowing what he is. But haven't you noticed 
 that once his hands are on the piano he forgets 
 all about himself ? " 
 
 Juliet's cheeks were pink and her eyes were 
 shining. The Countess looked at her sharply, 
 opened her lips as though to speak, but, appar- 
 ently changing her mind, smiled instead. 
 
 " He is extraordinarily handsome," she re- 
 marked after a pause, quite irrelevantly, "and 
 poor Bobbles Bobo I mean is certainly not 
 joli gar9ong." 
 
 " That has nothing whatever to say to it," 
 returned Juliet, with dignity; and just then 
 Bobo's sallow face, appearing at the door with 
 an ingratiating smile, put an end to the con- 
 versation. 
 
 Juliet and her hostess had seen Mr. Bobo 
 pretty frequently during the few days which 
 had elapsed since they had first made his
 
 220 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 acquaintance. Christian also, on one pretext 
 or another, managed to bestow a good deal of 
 society upon them. They had learned to lie 
 in wait for the inevitable little ceremonial ; a 
 brisk step in the passage without, a momentary 
 pause, a discreet tap, and then a head, followed 
 by an insinuating person, coming diffidently 
 round the door. 
 
 " It's the black one this time," said the 
 Countess, half aloud as she took up her knit- 
 ting, "but no doubt the blond one will soon 
 follow ; perhaps two blond heads. I think 
 young Thai said something about Rosie coming 
 ou est Mademoiselle Rosie?" she inquired. 
 
 " Ah," said Bobo, dolorously, seating himself 
 on the edge of a chair, " it is of her I came to 
 speak. Ah, the little perfide " 
 
 And he bent towards Juliet, continuing the 
 conversation in an undertone. 
 
 " All right," muttered Madame de Galphi, 
 " that'll keep 'em going for an hour or two ; 
 I think I'll go and look after my Count. The 
 black boy is very safe; I'm not so sure about 
 the other." 
 
 Bobo, indeed, found apparently much delecta- 
 tion in pouring forth his sentimental woes into 
 Juliet's sympathetic ear. It had been conveyed 
 to him gently but firmly by Christian that he
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 221 
 
 was on no account to transfer his affections to 
 Miss Lennox, and, though his fidelity some- 
 times wavered, Bobo managed on the whole to 
 adhere pretty well to the promise extracted 
 from him on that occasion. Rosie, it seemed, 
 was cruel, Rosie was coy, she was capricious: 
 it gave Bobo great comfort to tell Juliet all 
 these things, and though, as has been hinted, 
 there were moments when the recipient of his 
 confidences looked so pretty and animated that 
 the narrator occasionally lost the thread of his 
 story, and paused to roll admiring eyes on the 
 consoler, Juliet found it easy, by a few calm 
 and suggestive words, to bring him back to his 
 original point. He would sometimes also tell 
 her about the old father and mother in Paris, 
 the little shop in the narrow back street, the 
 pinching and scraping and self-denial, which 
 had enabled the good folks at home to send 
 their promising son all those leagues away so 
 that his talent might be cultivated. 
 
 "That is another reason, you see, why I 
 must succeed," he said, gazing at her dreamily. 
 " Yes, I must grow rich and famous so that 
 Rosie may not be ashamed of me ; and then 
 les vieux ! I must reward them." 
 
 There were tears in the black eyes; his 
 features were twitching almost convulsively.
 
 222 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 Poor Bobo ! how different he was from Chris- 
 tian, and yet was there not perhaps some- 
 thing more human about him ? 
 
 At last the eventful Thursday came, and the 
 Countess and Juliet set forth for the famous 
 musical class. 
 
 Herr Adlersohn's house was not very far 
 from the quarter in which the de Galphis lived. 
 As they drew near, Juliet was struck by a 
 certain remote resemblance to St. John's Wood. 
 The houses stood back from the road, each the 
 possessor of a garden, while a row of trees on 
 either side of the street must have lent pleasant 
 shade and coolness in summer. They arrived 
 somewhat early, and Juliet was conscious of an 
 unaccountable excitement as she mounted the 
 steps. Her heart was beating so fast indeed 
 that she herself might have been about to take 
 a lesson from the redoubtable Maestro. 
 
 She and her companion were ushered into 
 a large room forming one of a suite, after the 
 manner prevalent in Austrian houses; a smaller 
 apartment opening into it on the left, while 
 another of larger size could be reached through 
 double doors on the same side as the door of 
 entrance. These were now closed, but Juliet 
 noticed that the eyes of many of the people 
 present and the room was already half
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 223 
 
 full were fixed on them inquiringly and 
 expectantly. 
 
 Two grand pianos stood side by side in the 
 centre of the room, and the rest of the available 
 space was taken up with rows of chairs chiefly 
 occupied by young girls. Lively conversa- 
 tion was being carried forward in a variety of 
 tongues : French, German, English, Italian ; 
 one or two little groups even talking eagerly in 
 languages quite unknown to Juliet. Here and 
 there this mass of talented youth was leavened 
 by an eager-faced elder or two, a Vorbereiterin, 
 or preparatory teacher, or a particularly favoured 
 parent. As a rule Herr Adlersohn discouraged 
 the attendance of parents : they were nervous 
 and fussy and for the most part uninteresting ; 
 but now and then he made an exception. 
 
 Groups of young men stood in the back- 
 ground and in the corners of the two rooms, 
 some talking and laughing, some with pensive 
 and preoccupied faces, keeping silently apart. 
 Amongst these Juliet presently recognised Bobo 
 Michotte, who saluted them with a low bow, 
 and a ghastly smile, but made no attempt to 
 enter into conversation. 
 
 By-and-bye Christian came in and looked 
 eagerly round, his face brightening at sight of 
 Countess de Galphi and her companion,
 
 224 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " Ah, you have come ! " he cried. " That is 
 well. But you have not got good places ; you 
 must sit a little more to the left so as to see the 
 players' hands, and the Maestro's face. See, 
 there are two chairs secure them quick ! or 
 they will be taken." 
 
 " What is the matter with poor Rosie ? " said 
 Juliet, catching sight of a pale woe-begone face 
 in one of the rows behind, as they moved. 
 " She is crying and how ill she looks ! " 
 
 " That is only because she is going to play," 
 returned Christian, quite unmoved. " It is 
 nothing; they are nearly all like that. Some 
 of the girls are actually sick quite sick in 
 the morning before the class. Bobo is nearly 
 as bad ; he has been sitting in my room ever 
 since breakfast with his head in his hands, say- 
 ing that never, never, never will he go through 
 this anguish again. It is the last time he comes 
 to the class, he says ; he would rather go back 
 to Paris and become Chiffonier? 
 
 " And you are quite calm, I suppose ? " said 
 the Countess, as he paused laughing. 
 
 " As you see, Madame la Comtesse, I am 
 calm," he returned, looking at her without 
 flinching ; but Juliet noticed that he was breath- 
 ing quickly, and that the hand which rested on 
 the back of the chair trembled slightly.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 225 
 
 " It will still be a few minutes before the 
 Maestro comes," he continued presently. 
 " Would you like to make the tour of the 
 rooms, Juliet, while you are waiting ? if Madame 
 la Comtesse would be so good as to keep your 
 chair." He smiled insinuatingly. 
 
 " Bien, bien," said Madame de Galphi. " I'll 
 keep it. Trot away I don't suppose there is 
 very much to see." 
 
 But as it happened there were a good many 
 things to see, things which interested Juliet 
 enormously. Besides the intrinsic worth of the 
 pictures and objets d'art which the apartment 
 contained, many of them were priceless from 
 their associations. The beautiful statuette of 
 Beethoven in one corner was a gift from the 
 pupils ; the portrait of Grieg was presented by 
 himself. Yonder were busts of Mendelssohn 
 and Chopin each with a story attached to it, 
 and here was the Maestro himself. 
 
 " What a head, hein ? " said Christian, falling 
 back a little, the better to gaze at it. 
 
 The massive head with its great overhanging 
 brow and rugged features was already familiar 
 to Juliet ; she had seen many presentments of 
 it since her arrival in Stattingen. The towns- 
 folk were proud of their great genius, and busts 
 of all sizes, pictures, photographs, even post-
 
 226 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 cards adorned with his portrait were plentiful 
 in the place. But she looked at it now with 
 fresh interest. What a strong face but how 
 harsh the lines ! 
 
 " What a man, hein ? " said Christian, admir- 
 ingly. " More than a man a colossus. And 
 once he was like one of ourselves. We have 
 time yet let us slip away in the little ante- 
 room there is a picture of him in his youth." 
 
 He opened the door as he spoke and led the 
 way quickly across the hall to a small room 
 on the opposite side, the walls of which were 
 crowded with prints and photographs. 
 
 " Surely that never can have been like him ! " 
 exclaimed the girl, as he silently pointed out 
 a small picture. 
 
 The beardless face of a young man looked 
 out at her from the canvas; a face with the 
 powerful brow that she knew ; the massive jaw 
 was there also, but the eyes seemed less pierc- 
 ing than dreamy, and the whole countenance 
 was remarkable rather for delicacy and sensi- 
 tiveness than for the masterful energy which 
 in later life appeared to be its prevailing char- 
 acteristic. 
 
 " They say it was very like him once," re- 
 turned her guide. " People whisper that he is 
 at heart as sensitive as any of us ; and it is
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 227 
 
 well known that he was always too nervous to 
 play in public. That is why he is so merciless 
 to our terrors : nervousness is the unforgivable 
 sin. He never spares us but all for our own 
 good, you know. If we did not get over our 
 nervousness now, we never should ; and no 
 concert audience could be more alarming than 
 this little assembly. See," he added in an 
 altered voice, as he rapidly pointed from one 
 to the other of the portraits on the walls, " there 
 is Rubinstein, here is Francis Plante, and here 
 is Paderewski. If there was time it would in- 
 terest you to read the inscriptions tributes 
 from great men to one as great. Upstairs in 
 another room are all our photographs ; not 
 framed like these treasures, but stuck anyhow 
 into a band along the wall ; the favourites have 
 a way of coming to the top, and when one is 
 in disgrace one gets pushed out of sight alto- 
 gether. Sometimes one disappears. But let 
 us go back. He will be coming directly." 
 
 As they returned to the music room, which 
 was now packed to the utmost, as well as the 
 smaller salon at the further end, they found 
 that silence had fallen on the assembly. The 
 folding doors had been opened and the large 
 chamber into which they gave access was also 
 full.
 
 228 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 Everyone was attentive expectant. As 
 Juliet regained her seat, the door of the further 
 room opened and the Maestro came in. A 
 shaggy, iron-grey man: power, force in every 
 line of face and figure ; eyes keen, almost fierce 
 under the frowning brows, nervous vigour in 
 the long-fingered, capable hands. 
 
 He advanced a few steps, bowed quickly and 
 as it were impatiently, right and left, and swept 
 a glance round the crowded rooms. 
 
 " Who plays ? " he inquired abruptly. 
 
 A kind of petrifaction seemed suddenly to 
 have taken the place of the agitated expectancy 
 of a little while before. All the young faces 
 were turned towards him, but no one spoke. 
 
 After a pause, during which one might have 
 heard a pin drop, he repeated with gathering 
 ire: 
 
 " Wer spielt ? Um Gotteswillen wer spielt ? " 
 
 Rosie, with the courage born of despair, got 
 up, tumbled over two or three sets of feet, and 
 made her way to the piano beside which Herr 
 Adlersohn was standing, where she paused, 
 murmuring something inaudible to all but 
 him. He nodded, and his face relaxed for a 
 moment : the little Scotch girl was a favourite 
 of his. 
 
 " There goes Caesar ! " murmured some one
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 229 
 
 behind, as Christian, very white but with a 
 nonchalant air, walked leisurely up to the great 
 man. 
 
 No softening of the face for him : a lightning 
 glance from beneath a thunderous brow, a brief 
 sharp word, a name scrawled with an irritably 
 nervous hand on the Professor's tablets, and 
 Christian stepped back. Gathering courage 
 now, the pupils approached their master in 
 twos and threes until a sufficient number had 
 signified their readiness to play, when the 
 tablets were closed, a straggler or two dis- 
 missed with an imperative wave of the hand, 
 and Herr Adlersohn seated himself at one 
 piano, while Rosie with a gasp of anguish took 
 possession of the other. 
 
 " Those little cushioned hands," of which 
 Christian had once spoken, did indeed seem 
 able to do anything. If Rosie lacked the mag- 
 netism of Thai himself, if the fine fury of Bobo 
 was also missing, she possessed a finished charm 
 peculiarly her own. The perfection of training 
 was here evident, and also, it might be said, the 
 perfection of response. An admirably quick, 
 sympathetic and receptive nature, a most pliant 
 instrument these had been placed at the dis- 
 posal of a master. What wonder that he had 
 achieved marvels ! The technique was fault-
 
 230 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 less, the touch exquisite, every point was seized, 
 every delicate nuance made the most of; the 
 listeners felt that skill and polish could go no 
 further, and amid their subdued murmurs of 
 applause reminded each other in whispers that 
 it was Dumpling's last course and that she was 
 practically " ready." 
 
 The Maestro said nothing, but something in 
 his expression when she rose, made Rosie's face 
 flame with pleasure and she came back to her 
 place as though walking upon air. 
 
 It was now Christian's turn, and he approached 
 the piano with his head thrown back, his lips 
 slightly compressed and his nostrils dilated. 
 
 Herr Adlersohn's face once more lost its 
 transient placidity, and he made an impatient 
 gesture as the young man deliberately seated 
 himself and struck a few preliminary chords. 
 Juliet watched anxiously and curiously while 
 the performance proceeded. It seemed to her 
 that a species of antagonism existed between 
 master and pupil, not incompatible with ap- 
 preciation and even admiration. On Christian's 
 side, at least, these were evident and once or 
 twice as he played she thought she detected 
 in a momentary lifting of the Maestro 's brows 
 and softening of his face that he was as it were 
 coerced into approval.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 231 
 
 All at once, however, he leaned forward 
 with a harsh guttural exclamation, and seized 
 the player's wrist. 
 
 Christian started violently: he had as usual 
 forgotten his surroundings and been wafted 
 miles away. He had been playing one of 
 Chopin's most exquisite nocturnes, and his 
 whole soul was still flooded with melody. He 
 looked at the Maestro with vague dreamy 
 eyes, eyes which scarcely saw him, and a rapt 
 smile. 
 
 " You drag that phrase abominably," said 
 Herr Adlersohn in his most grating tones. 
 " You play it like a sentimental school girl. 
 Pray, who gave you leave to take liberties with 
 Chopin ? There is no rallentando in the text." 
 
 Christian came down to earth again, but his 
 face still wore an inspired look as of one who 
 had seen visions. 
 
 " I take no liberties," he said in a low voice. 
 "I gave my reading that is all. One must 
 have scope for one's own individuality." 
 
 Professor Adlersohn rose and bowed low 
 with his most sarcastic smile. A titter went 
 round the room followed by a breathless pause. 
 
 " So-o-o ? " he remarked, then with scathing 
 incisiveness : " Has it ever occurred to you 
 that the world which has received Chopin may
 
 232 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 possibly dispense with the individuality of 
 Christian Thai?" 
 
 Fresh titters and whispers applauded this 
 speech. Christian stood up, and threw a de- 
 fiant glance round the room ; then he turned 
 and faced the Professor. 
 
 "I tell you, Master," he said, "the day will 
 come when the world will own that Chopin has 
 gained new beauties from Christian Thai." 
 
 With that he bowed, and walked away from 
 the piano, pushing through the ranks of aston- 
 ished students, until he reached a corner of the 
 room where, with folded arms and eyes that 
 proudly returned the curious glances of his 
 companions, he took up his position. 
 
 For a moment or two an awful silence reigned 
 as the Maestro followed his recalcitrant pupil 
 with a searching glance. His face was red ; 
 his brows heavily drawn together, his mouth 
 fiercely compressed. The little crowd waited, 
 trembling, for him to open it and fulminate 
 forth Christian's condemnation. Surely he 
 would fall upon him and rend him. Probably 
 he would avenge his senseless inconceivable 
 defiance by a sentence of perpetual banish- 
 ment; a sentence which to this devout band of 
 worshippers meant death to a musical career. 
 But Herr Adlersohn said nothing. After fix-
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 233 
 
 ing Christian with a gaze that had as much 
 inquiry as wrath in it, he jerked out his tablets, 
 glanced at them, and impatiently signed to the 
 owner of the next name on his list to come 
 forward.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 a tempo. 
 
 JULIET sat alone on the following morning, 
 a book open on her lap, but her thoughts 
 busy with the events of the previous day. She 
 remembered a little anxiously the comments 
 on Christian's rashness which had greeted her 
 ears on all sides, as, at the conclusion of the 
 seance, she and the Countess de Galphi made 
 their way to the door of the class-room. Chris- 
 tian's temerity was evidently considered by every- 
 one an unheard-of, inexplicable thing, and the 
 Maestro's attitude toward him was deemed 
 more extraordinary still. Many were of the 
 opinion that it boded ill for the rebellious stu- 
 
 234
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 235 
 
 dent. Had he been openly denounced, had the 
 chastisement for which all were prepared fallen 
 upon him then and there, his chances of ulti- 
 mate forgiveness would have been better. But 
 that ominous silence, that deadly calm oh, 
 it was terrible ! Especially as anyone could see 
 how great was the Master's secret fury ! He 
 was biding his time and that stupid Caesar 
 would soon rue his folly ! 
 
 And certainly, as Juliet now recalled with 
 a sinking heart, Christian's delinquency had 
 thrown the old man into a savage temper. 
 The rest of the pupils had been made to suf- 
 fer for it. How he had gibed at them, mocked 
 them, rated them ! Now he had been all 
 ghastly politeness, now all fiery scorn. Bobo, 
 as the time drew near for him to play, had 
 been seized with abject terror, and holding his 
 handkerchief to his face to check a simulated 
 bleeding of the nose, had made a tremulous 
 exit, his progress to the door being hastened 
 by a glance of withering contempt flung at him 
 by Herr Adlersohn, whom his mendacity had 
 entirely failed to deceive. 
 
 Juliet smiled to herself even now as she 
 called up the vision of Bobo's agonised ex- 
 pression and goggling, panic-stricken eyes ! 
 But then her mind flew back to another
 
 236 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 image Christian standing motionless in the 
 corner, his set face, his fierce looks. 
 
 Someone in passing yesterday had whispered 
 that he found himself in that room probably 
 for the last time ; even the Countess, pursu- 
 ing her usual vein of cheerful pessimism, had 
 repeatedly declared that he had done for him- 
 self. Oh, surely not ! Surely the great career 
 which he had marked out, the career which, 
 as Juliet's father had foreseen, was to stamp 
 its impress on the world, would not receive 
 a check thus early. 
 
 Ah ! someone was coming quickly down the 
 passage ; not Bobo the step was at once 
 lighter and more rapid ; the subsequent tap 
 on the door was more imperative than his. 
 Yes, as she expected, it was the blond head 
 which presently appeared in the aperture. 
 
 " Alone ! " said Christian, and in a moment 
 came round the door and closed it. He paused 
 for a moment just within the room, looking 
 towards Juliet from beneath knitted brows. His 
 face was pale and moody, and there were dark 
 circles round his eyes. 
 
 " What is the matter ? " cried the girl, rising 
 quickly, and coming towards him. " There is 
 no bad news ? Oh, I hope " 
 
 " Why should there be bad news ? " he inter-
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 237 
 
 rupted, and with a quick impatient backward 
 jerk of the head. 
 
 " I only thought I was afraid oh, Chris- 
 tian, I cannot help being anxious ever since 
 yesterday. I am afraid you were not wise in 
 defying your Master ! Everyone seemed to 
 think it extraordinary. They were all saying 
 that he would give you your conge ! " 
 
 " He knows better than that," said Christian, 
 with a short laugh. " He hates me he is 
 furious with me but he is proud of me. He 
 knew very well that I was speaking the truth 
 yesterday I saw it in his face ; did not you ? 
 Besides," he went on, without pausing for a 
 reply, " even if the old man were to cast me 
 off, should I not still be what I am ? Why are 
 you silent ? Do you doubt me ? " 
 
 Juliet, confounded by his vehemence, did not 
 answer immediately, and his face changed, the 
 hands which had been passionately gesticulat- 
 ing suddenly dropped. He stood staring at 
 her blankly, and then uttered a groan. 
 
 " You do not believe in me," he said tragically ; 
 " then perhaps after all I am deluded myself, 
 perhaps I am only a miserable dreamer, perhaps 
 my ambitions are worthless. Yes, I see it in 
 your face you think I can do nothing, you 
 think I am a poor conceited fool ! "
 
 238 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 Juliet burst out laughing: "Oh, Christian, 
 if you could see your face ! And what non- 
 sense you are talking ! Now you know that 
 I know " 
 
 She stopped, still smiling though with a 
 certain timidity. 
 
 " What do you know ? " he cried eagerly. 
 
 He dropped down beside her on the sofa, 
 first removing the book which she had laid 
 down on his entrance. 
 
 " Give me my book, and I will show you. 
 There, " rapidly turning over the pages, 
 "you see this little Edelweiss which I have put 
 here to press ? Well, let that tell you all I 
 expect you to do." 
 
 " That little woolly flower ? " said Christian, 
 with a laugh that had an odd tremor in it. 
 
 " Ah, but think of where it grows," cried she ; 
 " on the mountain-tops ! Remember my father 
 told you that you were to walk the heights." 
 
 " And do you tell me that, too ? " he asked 
 in a low voice, his eyes with their full lids were 
 downcast, his lips serious. " If you tell me I 
 will do it." 
 
 "Juliet!" cried the Countess, suddenly burst- 
 ing through the door, and starting back as she 
 saw the two young heads bent together over 
 the book. "Good gracious ! who's that? Oh, it's
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 239 
 
 you, Monsieur Thai. Well, aren't you ashamed 
 of yourself? Juliet, your maid is going into fits 
 because you have not gone to try on. She 
 says that, do what she will, she can never get 
 hold of you." 
 
 Christian rose to take his leave. 
 
 " I am not at all ashamed," he said softly. 
 " No, not at all. Perhaps the Maestro is, but 
 I not." 
 
 " You might be the better of it, my friend," 
 returned the old lady, tartly. " What in the 
 world were you talking about," she added 
 abruptly, as the door closed behind him. 
 
 " Oh, lots of things," said Juliet, colouring. 
 
 " Humph," said the Countess, " was it neces- 
 sary for him to sit so close to you on the sofa ? 
 In Austria and Deutschland young men never sit 
 on sofas only dowagers do. Now come along 
 and try on. I'll come, too, to give my opinion." 
 
 They encountered Andrews in the passage. 
 
 " I was on the look-out for you, Miss Juliet ; 
 I thought as soon as the musical young gentle- 
 man was gone I'd maybe have a chance." 
 
 The girl went into her bedroom without 
 replying, but her face and neck, even her little 
 ears turned scarlet, and Andrews's next remark 
 did not tend to restore her equanimity. 
 
 " I can't help thinkin'," said that worthy,
 
 240 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 removing half-a-dozen or so of pins from her 
 mouth, " how people does change as they grow 
 up. Now, Miss Juliet, you was a terrible one 
 when you was a child for disliking young gen- 
 tlemen. Dear, I remember when those nice 
 little Master Harrises from the Rectory used 
 to come up to play with you now and again, 
 how you used to hate it ! ' Now they'll all 
 come tramperin' in,' says you to me once, when 
 we was expectin' them to tea in the nursery, and 
 another time after they'd been, when I asked 
 you had you enjoyed yourself, ' No, indeed,' 
 says you, ' to tell you the truth I don't like 
 boys they're too runny and jumpy,' says you." 
 
 Countess de Galphi rolled her black eyes 
 wickedly : 
 
 " Young people change very much as they 
 grow up, as you say, Andrews. Miss Lennox 
 seems to have conquered her aversion in a 
 wonderful way." 
 
 " Oh, you know you can't compare Christian 
 to an ordinary boy," cried Juliet, turning round 
 with cheeks once more aflame. " Besides, it is 
 not so much for what he is now that I like and 
 and admire him, as for what he is going 
 to be." 
 
 " Humph ! " said the old lady, with her head 
 on one side. The incredulity plainly expressed
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 241 
 
 in her countenance caused Juliet a twinge of 
 conscience. A vision suddenly floated before 
 her mind's eye of Christian's handsome, win- 
 some face and laughing eyes. Was it indeed 
 only for his future greatness that she liked and 
 admired him ? 
 
 " Well, you must admit he is not an ordinary 
 boy, anyhow," she resumed quickly. " The 
 ordinary boy, all angles and elbows and great 
 big feet - 
 
 " Like Bobo," put in the Countess, slyly. " I 
 am sorry to hear that you have so great a con- 
 tempt for poor Bobo. He would be desper- 
 ately wounded if he knew." 
 
 The gay vision conjured up by Juliet's fancy 
 vanished at her words and was replaced by the 
 image of honest, ugly Bobo ; an image which 
 called up sentiments humorous, affectionate, 
 sympathetic anything rather than contemp- 
 tuous. 
 
 " Poor Bobo, too," she began, and then she 
 burst out laughing ; " I suppose I have changed," 
 she owned. 
 
 " And a very good thing too," said her friend. 
 " Your father has kept you till now in a band- 
 box, well wrapped up in cotton-wool. You'll 
 get rid of some of that here, that's one comfort." 
 
 The sun was setting on that same afternoon
 
 242 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 and the sharp tingling cold which portended 
 coming frost had already begun to make itself 
 felt when Annola Istd made her way home- 
 wards after a shopping expedition. Her face 
 was nipped by the keen air, and her spare frame 
 shivered ; she carried no muff, and as she 
 walked pulled the cuffs of her jacket over her 
 shabbily gloved hands ; a purely mechanical 
 action, for she was so much preoccupied that 
 she was scarcely conscious of the biting cold. 
 
 On reaching the house where she and Chris- 
 tian lodged she ran up the stairs, with a speed 
 unusual to her, arriving quite breathless on the 
 landing of the third story. As she paused a 
 moment, panting, she listened eagerly for the 
 sound of Christian's piano, and frowned at the 
 all-pervading stillness. 
 
 " Out again, I suppose ! " she muttered to 
 herself ; and then hastening along the passage 
 unceremoniously burst open the door of his 
 room. 
 
 The blast which rushed towards her as she 
 threw open the door announced that the win- 
 dow was open ; the little stove looked black 
 and cheerless, and the temperature of the room 
 was that of an ice-house. 
 
 But Christian was not out ; on the contrary, 
 he was kneeling by the window, his elbows rest-
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 243 
 
 ing on the narrow sill and his head supported 
 by his hands, apparently quite unconscious of 
 the temperature of the breeze which was lifting 
 the loose hair from his brow. 
 
 Annola pushed the door to behind her and 
 strode across the room, seizing him by the 
 shoulder. 
 
 " Christian ! " she cried, " Christian, what is 
 it ? Surely you are not weeping." 
 
 The evening sky without was all dappled 
 with amber and rose, bright paths of light 
 shone out across the roofs of the houses oppo- 
 site, every gable was aflame; down in the 
 street yonder the very pavements seemed to be 
 of gold. The little room, too, was full of light, 
 and Christian as he turned towards his friend 
 showed a radiant face from out his nimbus of 
 dishevelled locks. 
 
 " Weeping, Annola ! " he cried with gay sur- 
 prise. "In the name of Heaven, why should I 
 weep ? " 
 
 His tone, his laughing face, contrasting with 
 the burning anxiety which had tortured her 
 during the greater part of that day, aroused in 
 Annola a sudden frenzy. She pushed him 
 from her, and then falling back a little, gazed 
 at him in wrathful silence, afraid for the 
 moment to trust her own voice.
 
 244 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 Christian closed the window, rose leisurely, 
 treated himself to an almost imperceptible 
 stretch, and walked toward the stove. 
 
 " Why, the fire is nearly out," he cried cheer- 
 fully, and, flinging open the little door devoted 
 himself with much clattering and hammering 
 to the task of mending it. Annola stood a 
 moment or two longer by the window, with 
 compressed lips and hands tightly squeezed 
 together; then she came slowly towards him. 
 
 " Christian, what is the meaning of it ? Put 
 down that poker," with increasing irritation, as 
 he continued to scrape and rattle. " Put down 
 that poker and attend to me." 
 
 Christian asserted his independence by keep- 
 ing hold of the poker, but he obediently 
 straightened himself and looked her full in the 
 face. 
 
 " What is the meaning of what ? " he asked, 
 smiling. 
 
 " Of your extraordinary behaviour of the 
 change which has come over you lately. You 
 always seem to me absorbed, preoccupied as 
 if you did not realize what you were doing. 
 You seem to me to live in a dream." 
 
 " Perhaps I do," said Christian, quietly. He 
 turned toward the stove again, and inserted the 
 narrow hooked poker between the bars.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 245 
 
 With an inarticulate exclamation Annola 
 sprang upon him, pinioning his arm and 
 endeavouring to wrest the implement from him. 
 
 " I will have an answer," she cried, almost 
 spitting out the words : " I will not be put off 
 like this. You shall attend to me." 
 
 He relinquished the poker so suddenly that 
 she staggered back a pace or two : it was a 
 real boy's trick, and he laughed mischievously. 
 Making a sharp effort to regain her self-control, 
 Annola said sharply : 
 
 " What were you doing by the open window 
 just now ? " 
 
 Christian glanced at the window, and then 
 back again at her. 
 
 " As you yourself suggested, I was probably 
 dreaming, Annola." 
 
 "Dreaming!" she cried violently. "Yes, 
 you can dream while I can hardly breathe for 
 anguish. Christian ! " she cried, almost with a 
 shriek, " what are you thinking of ! Do you 
 realise that by your insane conduct yesterday 
 you have jeopardised your whole career ? On all 
 sides I have heard of nothing else. Everyone 
 is thunderstruck. What in Heaven's name 
 induced you to be so rash so mad ? " 
 
 Christian stared at her for a moment blankly, 
 then with dawning recollection :
 
 246 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 "What? that? I had almost forgotten it." 
 
 She made a futile effort to drag him towards 
 the now fast fading light. 
 
 " You are either a liar or a fool," she said 
 from between her closed teeth. "You had 
 almost forgotten it! And I every ring of 
 the bell, every step on the stairs makes my 
 heart beat till I nearly suffocate ! I keep 
 expecting each moment that a messenger will 
 come to announce that the Master has dis- 
 missed you. And you you you can forget 
 it you can dream." She threw out the last 
 word with scornful emphasis. Christian re- 
 mained silent, smiling a little, but not imper- 
 tinently. Suddenly he threw his arm lightly 
 round her shoulders. 
 
 " Did you never dream, Annola," he said 
 softly, " when you were young ? Were you 
 ever young, Annola ? " 
 
 " Dream ? no," she cried, ignoring the last 
 question, shaking him off and turning upon 
 him fiercely. " My life was too full. I planned 
 I desired I resolved I worked ! But 
 dream no." 
 
 " Then you were never young," said Chris- 
 tian, nodding gently to himself. " I thought 
 as much." 
 
 Her eyes suddenly blazed.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 247 
 
 " There is something behind it all," she 
 exclaimed, her voice wavering and almost fail- 
 ing her. " What is it what is it, Christian ? 
 You live as you say in a dream. You neglect 
 your work. You are constantly out. Christian, 
 where do you go so often ? " 
 
 Her hands were on his shoulders now, her 
 eyes were looking at him piteously. He took 
 hold of her wrists gently and drew down her 
 hands. 
 
 " You are very curious, Annola," he said, but 
 not unkindly. " I don't know why you should 
 put me through such a catechism. If you must 
 know, I go to Bobo Michotte's house." 
 
 She stared at him incredulously. 
 
 " You go to see Bobo Michotte ! But why 
 this sudden friendship ? There never was 
 much sympathy between you." 
 
 " He is an excellent fellow," he returned 
 carelessly; and then, loosing her hands, went 
 over to the piano and began to play. Annola 
 knew it was useless to endeavour to prolong 
 the discussion. Christian did not intend that 
 she should ; he had been careful that no hint 
 of Juliet's presence in the place should come to 
 Annola's ears, and as he now buried himself in 
 his technique he privately resolved to warn 
 Bobo to be equally discreet.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE days flew rapidly by, each, as it seemed 
 to Juliet, more full of new and joyous ex- 
 perience than the last. She wrote to her father 
 constantly, describing her doings with graphic 
 humour. The Professor smiled to himself as he 
 read her letters in the morning between his sips 
 of coffee ; and sent her brief notes in reply. 
 He was very well; extraordinarily busy; the 
 book was making strides. Horace Bulkeley 
 was a most sympathetic and intelligent com- 
 panion. He was delighted to hear that his 
 baby was enjoying herself and that she was get- 
 ting on with her German. He kissed her two 
 dear pink cheeks and hoped they were very 
 
 248
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 249 
 
 plump and pink and that was all ! Sometimes 
 instead of his last remark about Juliet's cheeks, 
 he bestowed an imaginary kiss upon his favour- 
 ite dimple. Not a word about Christian or 
 Bobo ; no hints of disapproval or the unconven- 
 tionalities by which she was surrounded ; no 
 opinion as to the advisability or the reverse 
 of allowing the promiscuous use of one's Chris- 
 tian name. Juliet sighed, pondered, decided 
 that Daddy was too deep in his work to think 
 of such trivial matters and let herself go with 
 the tide. 
 
 One evening she and the Countess were re- 
 turning in high spirits from the opera-house, 
 where Juliet had for the first time witnessed the 
 performance of Carmen. Count de Galphi who 
 was suffering from a cold, had prudently remained 
 at home; and his wife, clutching Juliet's arm, 
 had announced that they were quite capable of 
 taking care of themselves. She was now enter- 
 taining her at the top of her voice and in a 
 variety of languages, with certain reminiscences 
 of an enlivening kind. Juliet, in spite of her 
 amusement, was somewhat abashed at the fre- 
 quency with which the passers-by turned to 
 look at them; and in spite of a paroxysm of 
 laughter was constrained to haul her companion 
 on by main force when she paused to treat her
 
 250 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 to an accurate representation of the goose-step 
 as practised by certain German soldiers. 
 
 They had almost reached their own quarters 
 when her own attention was attracted by the 
 peculiar appearance and gait of a brace of fig- 
 ures at a short distance from them : two men 
 or youths tightly linked together, making a slow 
 and very devious progress in the same direction 
 as that in which they were themselves proceed- 
 ing. 
 
 " These seem to be very tipsy fellows," re- 
 marked Madame de Galphi, catching sight of 
 them almost at the same moment. " They 
 look as if they were quarrelling too. Let us 
 go slowly and let them get on a little." 
 
 Juliet obeyed, nothing loth ; and they loitered 
 behind the pair who went serpentining on, 
 pausing occasionally to struggle with each other, 
 and then advancing again. 
 
 Their voices, eagerly and angrily disputing, 
 came to Juliet's ears all at once, and she started. 
 
 " I do believe that's Bobo's voice," she cried ; 
 " and the other yes, the other is Christian." 
 
 " Then I am sorry for it, my dear," returned 
 the Countess, severely, " for they are both in a 
 most improper state no doubt about it ! " 
 
 " No, no look! I see what it is, Bobo is 
 trying to get away from Christian all the time,
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 251 
 
 and Christian won't let him go. I don't believe 
 either of them are tipsy," she added after a 
 moment's eager scrutiny. " Christian seems 
 to be trying to get Bobo home, and Bobo seems 
 to want to go in another direction. Do you 
 see, he won't turn down our street ? " 
 
 The Countess, immediately fired with curios- 
 ity, quickened her pace, dragging Juliet along 
 with her, and soon came up to the corner where 
 the pair of disputants, still tightly linked to- 
 gether, were carrying on a fierce and heated 
 argument. 
 
 " Vous tombez du ciel," exclaimed Christian 
 under his breath as they came up with him. 
 " Quick, quick, say you are going home to sup- 
 per with him. He wants to drown himself I 
 have just dragged him back from the river. He 
 must be kept at home at any price." 
 
 " Had he not better come to supper with 
 us?" inquired Madame de Galphi, unconsciously 
 adopting his low, hurried tone. 
 
 " No, no, that would not do. He might start 
 up and run away at any moment. As your 
 host he could not. Quick, say you are com- 
 ing." 
 
 " But what is the matter ? " gasped the poor 
 lady. 
 
 " There is not time to tell you now. It was
 
 252 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 at the class the Professor but no, I dare 
 not. I have not left him for a moment ever 
 since." 
 
 The unhappy Bobo had drawn back a little 
 at sight of the ladies, his friend still clutching 
 him by the arm, and, after a tragic gesture 
 which had seemed to forbid them to accost him, 
 had covered his face with one large hand. 
 Christian now pulled him forward with a kind 
 of spasmodic cheerfulness. 
 
 " These ladies are coming to supper with 
 you to-night, Bobo," he cried. " Is it not so, 
 madame ? " 
 
 " Certainly," responded the Countess, vaguely 
 hilarious, " to be sure ! Juliet and I have been 
 to the theatre, and we feel it would be dull to 
 have supper by ourselves, besides we we are 
 en train, you see. We came out to enjoy our- 
 selves and we haven't had enough yet." 
 
 " Ha ! " said poor Bobo, rolling his eyes toward 
 her. " You are too good, madame, you honour 
 me too much. But I alas ! Christian, ex- 
 plain ! " 
 
 Here he wrenched himself free and started 
 off across the street at a kind of clumsy gallop. 
 Christian followed him at a bound, caught him 
 up, hooked on to him again, and silently dragged 
 him back.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 253 
 
 " He will be delighted, madame," he said 
 emphatically. " He is, as he says, too much 
 flattered. Don't be a fool, Bobo," he added, 
 in a stage whisper. " How have you the ef- 
 frontery to be uncivil to these ladies? Que 
 diable ! There would be plenty of time for you 
 to drown yourself afterwards." 
 
 This argument seemed to have a certain 
 weight with Bobo, who suffered himself to be 
 propelled onwards for a few steps. Madame 
 de Galphi catching at the suggestion, hastened 
 to follow it up. 
 
 " Certainement," she cried, " chez nous en 
 Angleterre quand un homme va etre pondu 
 on lui donne toujours un tres bon dejeuner." 
 
 In spite of her accent the meaning of her 
 consolatory words penetrated to the victim's 
 inner consciousness, and he walked on with 
 docility for the most part, though every now 
 and then his anguish became too much for 
 him, and he would make a spasmodic attempt 
 to escape. Christian was invariably on the 
 look-out, however, bringing him back after each 
 digression with apparently undisturbed equa- 
 nimity. By-and-bye, profiting by his friend's 
 momentary abstraction, Christian turned tow- 
 ards Juliet and held up a paper bag. 
 
 " Our supper," he breathed in a scarcely au-
 
 254 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 dible whisper. " You will have to bring some- 
 thing to eat too. There are only two sausages 
 here, and I daren't let him go." 
 
 Juliet seized the first opportunity of impart- 
 ing this piece of advice to the Countess, who 
 was much excited, and secretly charmed with 
 the whole enterprise. 
 
 " Of course, of course," she said. " I don't 
 suppose the poor fellow could afford to give us 
 anything to eat, to begin with. But what have 
 we got, Juliet? Is there anything in the cup- 
 board ? " 
 
 " We can buy some brodchens at the corner 
 of our street," cried Juliet. "And there is 
 some foie gras at home, and biscuits there 
 are plenty of biscuits." 
 
 The whole party presently halted at the 
 baker's shop, even Bobo so far relaxing as to 
 become gloomily interested, and there the 
 Countess purchased sundry appetising little 
 rolls and cakes, after which they continued 
 their progress. 
 
 " I'll go upstairs with them, my dear," she 
 whispered eagerly as they entered the house ; 
 " I must stick to him, you see, or he might 
 change his mind again. You go and forage. 
 If the Count is there, tell him he had better go 
 to bed."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 255 
 
 Her eyes were shining with excitement, her 
 cheeks flushed, her capuchon rakishly tilted to 
 one side ; she was enjoying herself enormously. 
 
 Juliet nodded and turned into the little din- 
 ing room, leaving the other three to march 
 solemnly up the stairs. 
 
 To her relief the Count was not in the 
 adjoining room, having forestalled his wife's 
 counsel and already betaken himself to his 
 couch. She turned on the electric light and 
 rummaged the cupboard ; having already 
 secured the biscuits and foie gras, when the 
 sound of rapid steps behind her made her start, 
 and turning round she saw Christian. He 
 paused opposite to her looking somewhat 
 sheepish. 
 
 " He Bobo has got no fire up there," he 
 remarked diffidently. " Countess de Galphi 
 said I was to bring up some fuel." 
 
 " There is the coal box," said Juliet. " Is it 
 too heavy for you ? And here is a newspaper 
 to light the fire with. But we must have some 
 wood. Joy, here is an old box in a corner of 
 the cupboard. That will do splendidly, won't it? " 
 
 Christian nodded gaily. His diffidence was 
 gone and his eyes were dancing. 
 
 " I left the Countess and Bobo preparing the 
 table," he said. " She was hunting in his
 
 256 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 wardrobe for a large white pocket handker- 
 chief; but most of his are coloured and they 
 have all got holes in them." 
 
 Juliet laughed, " Lena is in bed, I suppose, 
 and will have locked up all our belongings 
 too. But why does he want to drown himself ? " 
 she added, becoming serious all a.t once as, 
 armed with provisions and fuel, they made their 
 way to the door. 
 
 Christian's face changed and he set down his 
 coal box. 
 
 " Ah, there was a terrible scene at the class 
 to-day le malheureux Bobo ! I don't know 
 what took him, but he imagined to himself to 
 play his Beethoven. Judge a little before he 
 had even had a lesson in it. He has moments 
 of inconceivable folly, that fellow. Well, Bobo 
 and Beethoven, you can figure to yourself what 
 an effect they made. The Maestro was quite 
 quiet for a little. Then he jumped up and 
 seized Bobo by the shoulders so as to turn him 
 round ; then rushed across the room and 
 threw himself on his knees before Beethoven's 
 statue in the corner. ' Forgive, Master,' he 
 cried, turning up his face and raising his 
 clasped hands, ' forgive, forgive.' You can 
 imagine poor Bobo why are you laughing ? " 
 he added reproachfully.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 257 
 
 " I am not laughing," she retorted, " at least 
 I don't mean to laugh I don't want to laugh. 
 You are laughing yourself," she concluded 
 sharply. 
 
 " That's just it ; no one can help it. And it 
 was the same to-day we all laughed. It was 
 irresistible if you had seen the Maestro ! But 
 all the same it was horrible cruel ! Poor 
 Bobo sat and gasped, and then got up and 
 rushed out of the room. I went out after him 
 and found him raving in the street and saying 
 he would not survive. I have not left him for 
 a second since. But it will not last he will 
 cheer up." 
 
 "And you how did you get on to-day?" 
 inquired Juliet, as he took up his burden. 
 
 " Oh, with me it went very well. I have 
 had two lessons since, you know since the 
 last class I mean. The first day he scarcely 
 spoke at all ; the second time he nearly tore 
 me to pieces, but I was very meek. It took 
 some courage to propose to play to-day, but 
 I did, and he was not in one of his worst 
 humours. When I went to the piano he said, 
 very sarcastically : ' Here comes the music- 
 maker by excellence.' So I paused and bowed 
 and said, ' And there sits the musician-maker 
 by excellence.' "
 
 258 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " And was he pleased ? " asked Juliet, eagerly, 
 as she toiled up the stairs in his wake. 
 
 " He scowled and snarled, but I think he liked 
 the mot. He let me play without interruption." 
 
 At this moment clattering steps were heard 
 on the flight above them, and Bobo's head was 
 thrust over the balusters. 
 
 " But make haste, Christian ! What are you 
 doing since an hour? The Countess is shiver- 
 ing." 
 
 " We come, we come ! " cried Christian. 
 " Have you found a tablecloth yet ? " 
 
 " No at least yes; I think I have an idea." 
 
 The dishevelled head disappeared and the 
 clumsy boy's feet went hammering upstairs 
 again : in spite of himself there were certain 
 indications of unwilling exhilaration about poor 
 Bobo which Christian was quick to notice. He 
 turned a radiant face over his shoulder towards 
 Juliet. 
 
 " Already it goes better ! " he cried jubilantly. 
 
 Madame de Galphi's voice sounded through 
 Michotte's open door as they arrived panting 
 on the topmost landing. 
 
 " Cut it ! Certainement pas ! What are 
 you thinking of? Look here, it is quite wide 
 enough like this, and we can double the rest 
 underneath."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 259 
 
 " But unfortunately, madame, it will make a 
 lump. Ah, I have an idea. This table has 
 a drawer, do you see, madame ? We will shut 
 the neck and sleeves inside." 
 
 " Je vous fais mes compliments," said the 
 Countess, laughing ecstatically. " Vous etes 
 tres habile, Monsieur Bobo." 
 
 Bobo was modestly disclaiming as Juliet 
 and Christian entered the room, but there was 
 an air of unmistakable triumph on his face. 
 He and the Countess were busily covering the 
 table with a spotless white cloth. It was a 
 somewhat peculiarly shaped cloth; double to 
 begin with, of sloping form, and having two 
 little gussets perceptible just where it dropped 
 from the edge of the table on one side. As 
 the newcomers approached, Madame de Galphi 
 hastily enclosed what appeared to be a super- 
 abundance of material in the table drawer. 
 Christian gave one glance at it and discreetly 
 averted his eyes. 
 
 " The first thing to be done is to light a 
 fire," he remarked cheerfully. " If you would 
 superintend, Juliet, I think I could manage it." 
 
 As they bent over the stove together he 
 whispered : 
 
 " The tablecloth ! have you observed the 
 tablecloth? It is it is" almost choking
 
 26o CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 with suppressed laughter "it is a night- 
 shirt ! " 
 
 " Now, Monsieur Bobo," called the Countess, 
 imperiously, noting certain symptoms of relapse 
 on his part, " come and help me ; we haven't 
 half finished. Where are your sausages ? No, 
 you can't leave them just in a paper bag 
 that would spoil the illusion. Haven't you got 
 a plate ? No ? Oh, we must invent some- 
 thing. Excellong, mag-ni-fique idee. Now 
 another. I said you were a garcong d'esprit. 
 . . . Now, Messieurs les convives, vous etes 
 servis." 
 
 The fire was crackling pleasantly by this time, 
 and Juliet and Christian rising from their knees 
 with alacrity approached the table. The Coun- 
 tess stood on one side with her capuchon slip- 
 ping ever further and further away, and waving 
 her hand with triumphant flourishes towards the 
 repast; while Bobo, a little in the rear, was unable 
 to resist an apologetic chuckle. In the centre 
 of the improvised tablecloth was set forth the 
 bottom of a soap-dish across which the two 
 sausages were delicately balanced, and which 
 was flanked on either side by the pot of foie 
 gras and a symmetrical heap of brodchens. 
 The biscuits were disposed in circles at either 
 end of the table, and two paper-knives and
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 261 
 
 plates of folded writing-paper concluded prepa- 
 rations which were felt to be as elegant as they 
 were original. 
 
 Juliet and Christian were loud in their praises 
 of these ingenious contrivances ; the Countess 
 hastened to disclaim all credit in the matter, 
 and Bobo was obviously conscious of a thrill 
 of pride. Indeed, when the ladies had taken 
 possession of the chairs and he, after attending 
 to their wants, had seated himself beside Chris- 
 tian on the bed, he unwittingly began to swing 
 his long legs with childish satisfaction. 
 
 What a ridiculous meal that was ! 
 
 The sausages judiciously sliced with pocket- 
 knives and served up on brodchens cut in half, 
 the foie gras spread with paper-cutters, the 
 biscuits respectfully handed on paper dishes 
 and incontinently sliding off. The two boys 
 perpetually hopped off and on the bed, rushing 
 at the ladies between every mouthful with some 
 fresh attention or suggestion, tumbling over 
 each other in their eagerness, and varying th'e 
 entertainment every now and then by mock 
 quarrels, and abortive passes at each other with 
 the paper-cutters. Bobo's eyes began to sparkle 
 under their swollen lids ; his voice became 
 more and more animated, and he greeted 
 Christian's sallies with enthusiastic laughter.
 
 262 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 Once indeed the mirthful harmony seemed 
 in danger of dissolution. The Countess, in de- 
 scribing the performance at which she and 
 Juliet had that evening assisted, chanced to 
 remark that her pleasure had very nearly been 
 spoilt by an irritating neighbour, who had every 
 now and then annoyed her by humming the 
 finest airs under his breath. 
 
 " And what did you do, madame ? " inquired 
 Christian, frowning in sympathy. 
 
 " Oh, I just glared at him, and said very dis- 
 tinctly to Juliet how tiresome it was, and how I 
 hoped he would stop." 
 
 " Ah, I have a better plan than that," re- 
 turned he. " I generally turn to my irritating 
 neighbour with a very amiable smile. ' Sir,' I 
 say, ' you have a very pretty voice ! ' The poor 
 wretch generally falls into the trap. ' But no, 
 Monsieur; indeed I have no voice at all!' 
 1 Then why do you sing ? ' I ask. Ah, you 
 understand, he begins to look foolish and is 
 glad enough to keep quiet." 
 
 It was at this juncture that Bobo uttered a 
 hollow groan, and buried his face in the pillow. 
 
 " Hola ! what is the matter ? " cried his friend, 
 tugging at his shoulders. 
 
 " Go away ! you are a monster ! you turn the 
 dagger in the wound ! "
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 263 
 
 And Bobo wallowed in the pillow, and groaned 
 again. After a pause of dismay Christian again 
 put his hand on the broad shoulder, eliciting 
 fresh lamentations. 
 
 "You have no heart, va! How would you 
 like to be made to look foolish ? I can assure 
 you it is not pleasant ! " 
 
 Christian paused, looked blankly round as 
 though seeking a means of escape, and suddenly 
 cried out as if in consternation : 
 
 " These ladies have nothing to drink ! Quick, 
 Bobo, quick ! Imagine something ! Your 
 honour as host is at stake." 
 
 Michotte sat up, thinking a moment and 
 looking extremely rueful with his hair standing 
 on end ; then, jumping up, he ran to a shelf in 
 one corner of the room, and produced a small 
 tin of coffee and another of condensed milk ; 
 then from behind the stove he drew forth with 
 a flourish an extremely black and much battered 
 little saucepan. 
 
 What cooking ensued, how much discussion, 
 how much excitement ! And how extremely 
 nasty was the compound that was finally poured 
 into Bobo's solitary tumbler! 
 
 The Countess promptly and candidly de- 
 livered her opinion of this decoction, and im- 
 mediately made over her share of it to Juliet ;
 
 264 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 the remainder being kept simmering on the top 
 of the stove until the glass should be passed on 
 to the young men. 
 
 " He has ideas ! " remarked Christian, look- 
 ing fondly and proudly at his friend. " He has 
 ideas like nobody else. What do you think, 
 madame, he imagined to himself the other day? 
 We were walking together along the Graben. 
 I had been talking as I often do" with a 
 droll, apologetic look "about the mysterious 
 attraction which the possessor of a great talent 
 exercises over his fellow men, about the ease 
 with which such a one can draw together 
 crowds, when he suddenly said : ' I will under- 
 take to collect a crowd without playing a note 
 or saying a word or doing anything in the least 
 wonderful.' He looks up and down the street 
 with a very important air, draws a piece of 
 string from his pocket, and gives me one end 
 to hold. 'You stand there,' he says, ' and when 
 I make a sign to you, put it down on the 
 ground as if we were measuring it.' So off he 
 goes, toujours d'un air tres affaire, until he 
 is about twenty paces away, which is the limit 
 of his string, you understand when he turns 
 round and pops down his end of cord on the 
 ground. I do the same. He looks along the 
 string frowningly, nods, waves his hand to me,
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 265 
 
 and walks on again. I follow his example. At 
 the end of another twenty paces he stops and 
 recommences. The passers-by begin to look 
 round, then to draw near, then to ask questions. 
 He waves them aside imperiously, being too 
 much occupied, you understand, to attend to 
 them ; then on he goes, followed by twenty or 
 thirty people. At the end of another twenty 
 paces meme jeu his face always solemn, pre- 
 occupied, rather anxious. I naturally follow 
 suit. More and more people gather round us. 
 ' Something has gone wrong with the electric 
 light,' says one. ' No, it is the water-works,' 
 cries another. ' I fancy it must be the tele- 
 phone,' exclaims a third. Bobo appears not to 
 hear any of them, continues to nod and frown 
 to himself, makes cabalistic signs to me, to 
 which I respond to the best of my ability, and 
 finally jerks the string out of my hand, rolls it 
 up, puts it in his pocket, and then just as the 
 traffic is in danger of being seriously impeded, 
 he remarks in a loud voice, ' Now it is finished,' 
 takes my arm, and walks away." 
 
 By this time Bobo was so far recovered as 
 to join in the laughter which greeted this anec- 
 dote, and to swing his legs once more with evi- 
 dent glee. 
 
 " Ah, c'est un farceur, allez ! " went on Chris-
 
 266 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 tian, stimulated to further effort. " Last week, 
 again, in the picture gallery you remember, 
 Bobo?" 
 
 Bobo giggled appreciatively. 
 
 " He suddenly said to me," continued Chris- 
 tian, " ' Now I am going to be an Englishman.' 
 You know he cannot speak a word of Eng- 
 lish, but he clasped his hands behind his back, 
 held himself very stiff and straight, and began 
 to speak in quite an English voice, I assure 
 you a most extraordinary jargon, with 'Oh, 
 yes,' at intervals. I don't know how he man- 
 aged it, but it really did sound like English. 
 People began to follow us round, and to say, 
 * What can he be ? He has a strange accent. 
 He is certainly an Englishman, but it is impos- 
 sible to understand a word he says.' " 
 
 Michotte sat with his eyes cast down, smil- 
 ing to himself. 
 
 " Now I cannot believe that," said the Count- 
 ess, laying down the paper-knife with which she 
 had been spreading foie gras, and turning laugh- 
 ingly round. 
 
 "Bobo," cried Christian, imperiously, "this 
 lady does not believe in you you must give 
 her a sample of your prowess." 
 
 " Oh, do, do ! " cried Juliet, ecstatically. 
 
 Bobo got off the bed for probably the forti-
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 267 
 
 eth time that evening, clasped his hands behind 
 him, and, with head thrown back and shoul- 
 ders stiffly set, began to parade up and down 
 the narrow space, holding forth the while in a 
 gibberish which certainly did bear a curious 
 resemblance to the English tongue. His into- 
 nation, at least, was perfect, and the impassive 
 face and magisterial air faithfully copied, no 
 doubt, from some travelling British magnate 
 contrasting as it did with his own unmistakably 
 Gallic personality, made a combination that was 
 indescribably funny. 
 
 The Countess and Juliet laughed till the tears 
 ran down their cheeks ; Christian chuckled and 
 rubbed his hands ; only Bobo himself remained 
 imperturbable, and with varying inflections in 
 his strident voice continued his unintelligible 
 harangue. 
 
 Christian was in the act of applauding him 
 with loud claps, and the Countess, leaning back 
 in her chair, was testifying to her approval by 
 rapping the edge of the now empty soap-dish 
 with her paper-knife, when the door was 
 suddenly thrown open, and Annola Istd en- 
 tered the room. 
 
 " Christian ! are you here, Christian ? " she 
 cried as she advanced. " I happened to find 
 myself in the neighbourhood and thought I
 
 268 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 would run up here on the chance of finding 
 you. You might walk home with me. It is 
 late, and I do not like " 
 
 The conclusion of the phrase was never 
 spoken. She had been peering about her 
 anxiously and nervously, and now stopped 
 short, almost leaping back and throwing out 
 her hands with an involuntary gesture of 
 surprise and dismay, for at that moment Juliet 
 rose from her seat.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 ^ 
 
 A DEAD pause ensued. Christian remained 
 absolutely motionless ; Bobo Michotte 
 stood pulling his long fingers, and vainly en- 
 deavouring to hit upon a remark which should 
 relieve the tension of the situation; and the 
 Countess de Galphi stared with all her eyes at 
 the strange gaunt woman whose unceremonious 
 advent seemed to have cast a blight on the 
 little assembly. 
 
 Juliet was the first to regain her self-posses- 
 sion. Pushing back her chair, she made her 
 way to the spot where Annola stood, and held 
 out her hand. 
 
 " How do you do, Fraulein Istd ? " she said. 
 
 Annola mechanically touched her hand, and 
 then let her own drop by her side. 
 
 " I did not know you were here," she mut- 
 tered, the words hardly intelligible, so stiff and 
 dry were her lips. "How long how long 
 have you been in this place ? " 
 
 269
 
 270 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " Oh, we have been in Stattingen some time," 
 returned Juliet, quietly, though her heart was 
 beating fast. " I am staying in this house with 
 Countess de Galphi." 
 
 She looked towards the Countess as she 
 spoke, and that lady acknowledged the semi- 
 introduction with a stately bow, which would 
 have been more impressive if her head-gear, 
 precariously poised as has been said, had not 
 seized the opportunity to slip forward over one 
 eye. 
 
 Annola's glance rested on her for a moment 
 half contemptuously, and then swept round the 
 room, taking in every detail of the curious 
 feast, the general disorder of the poor little 
 place, the dishevelled appearance of the guests ; 
 noticing even that Juliet's pretty hands were 
 blackened by her labours in fire-lighting and 
 cooking. 
 
 " I did not know you were here," said Annola 
 again, her gaze reverting to the girl. " Christian 
 did not tell me. And you, Prosper Michotte," 
 she added in French, turning to him, with 
 sudden anger, " you did not tell me that Miss 
 Lennox lodged here." 
 
 " Mon Dieu ! " exclaimed Bobo, with a shrug, 
 and a mendacious assumption of carelessness, 
 " I have such a head, do you see, mademoiselle.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 271 
 
 No, it is impossible to imagine such a head ! 
 I never remember to tell anyone anything." 
 
 " Well it does not matter," she returned, 
 drawing in her breath sharply. " Are you 
 ready, Christian ? " 
 
 " Ready for what ? " 
 
 He had retained his impassive attitude and 
 spoke frigidly, but his eyes glared at her. 
 
 " I wish you to come home with me," she 
 said, with forced calmness. 
 
 " I have not yet finished my supper," he 
 responded defiantly. 
 
 " Then I will wait," said Annola. 
 
 " Will you not at least sit down ? " exclaimed 
 Bobo, mindful of the duties of hospitality but 
 making the proposal in a somewhat lukewarm 
 tone. 
 
 She looked round mechanically, and Juliet 
 hastily put forward her chair. 
 
 " Pray, take this seat I do not want it, I 
 assure you. I think we are going immediately." 
 
 She looked pleadingly at the Countess, but 
 though the old lady was in the act of winding 
 up her repast she was not disposed to be hur- 
 ried ; in fact her resentment towards Annola 
 was only equalled by her burning curiosity. 
 
 " Who is she ? " she inquired, in a stage 
 whisper, as Juliet took up a position behind
 
 272 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 her chair. " How did you come to know her ? 
 Why does she take possession of young Thai ? 
 Eh ? I can't hear you, child. Never mind, 
 I'll find you for myself Je demande a cette 
 jeune dame " Madame de Galphi could never 
 be made to relinquish the practice of conferring 
 brevet-rank on her young friend " je demande 
 a cette jeune dame quelles relations vous etes 
 vous, et Monsieur Thai." 
 
 " Madame ! " ejaculated Annola, in wrathful 
 astonishment. 
 
 " Dear Countess," murmured Juliet, fiery red 
 with embarrassment, " Fraulein Istd speaks 
 English quite well. But don't you really think, 
 if you have finished supper, we might go ? " 
 
 " Tres-bien, ma chere enfant, nous irons dans 
 un moment," returned the old lady, loftily ignor- 
 ing the first hint. " Est-ce-que c'est votre 
 tante?" she inquired, abruptly turning to 
 Christian, and designating Annola by a wave 
 of the hand. 
 
 " Non," replied he, shooting out the word 
 viciously. 
 
 " Cousine ? " 
 
 " No," he returned this time in English, " no 
 relation at all. She brought me up." 
 
 " Ah ! " said the Countess, in a satisfied tone. 
 " Je comprend ! Une vieille gouvernante."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 273 
 
 " Christian, will you not satisfy this lady's 
 curiosity ? " cried Annola, turning to him sud- 
 denly and speaking in her fluent, emphatic, 
 rather deliberate Hungarian French. " Ex- 
 plain to her the nature of my claim upon you." 
 
 He hesitated for a moment, and then turned 
 to Madame de Galphi. 
 
 " I owe my artistic training entirely to 
 Fraulein Istd. When I was quite a little boy 
 she discovered me, took me to live with her, 
 educated and provided for me. As far as my 
 musical career is concerned I may say in a word 
 that she has made me." 
 
 He spoke with studied calm, being evidently 
 careful to avoid any ironical emphasis on the 
 words, which in themselves were all that 
 Annola in her most exacting mood could have 
 desired ; but it would be impossible to describe 
 the iciness of his tone : it made of the enforced 
 tribute an almost cruel act of insolence. 
 
 Tears started to Annola's eyes, but she turned 
 her head quickly so that he should not see them. 
 
 Bobo, however, took note of her emotion and 
 hastened to throw himself into the breach. 
 
 " Christian, another slice of sausage. Madame 
 la Comtesse, may I not offer you this remaining 
 cake? Mademoiselle" turning to Annola, 
 who had now recovered herself " will you not
 
 274 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 be persuaded to join our little feast? There 
 are still let me see three biscuits, a bit of 
 sausage, half a roll, and no, there is no more 
 foie gras. But the biscuits and the sausage 
 are, I assure you, delicatessen of the highest 
 order. What, nothing ! not even the roll ?" 
 as she disdainfully shook her head " you 
 despise our simple repast ! " 
 
 " It must indeed have been simple," returned 
 Annola, speaking hurriedly, and scarcely taking 
 the trouble to think of what she said, being in 
 fact still smarting with her own pain, " un 
 festin d'anchorite." 
 
 "You may say so," cried Christian, his 
 pent-up irritation bubbling over at last. " II ne 
 nous manque plus meme la Tete de Mort!" 
 
 The allusion was too marked to be lost on 
 any of the little company ; even Countess de 
 Galphi felt that it was time to make a move ; 
 the atmosphere was too much charged with 
 electricity to be pleasant. 
 
 Juliet gladly followed her out of the room, 
 and Bobo tremulously assisted Fraulein Istd to 
 pull up the wrap which she had loosened. Her 
 lips were quivering, but she glared angrily at 
 his compassionate face through the tears which 
 she would not suffer to fall. 
 
 " Say then, Christian," he remarked after she
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 275 
 
 had gone downstairs, to his friend who lingered 
 to light with defiant deliberation a cigarette at 
 the little lamp. " It was a little strong what 
 you said there." 
 
 " She irritates me too much," retorted he. 
 
 " What an unfortunate accident, hein ? Her 
 chancing to look for you to-night ? " 
 
 " Accident ! " repeated Christian. " She dogs 
 my steps, she watches my face, she spies out 
 every change of mood. Je suis a bout ! " 
 
 He stood still for a moment, his hands in his 
 pockets, his frowning gaze looking towards the 
 door; then 
 
 " I will have an end of it ! " he cried and 
 stalked out of the room, banging the door 
 behind him. 
 
 " Ce pauvre Christian ! " ejaculated Bobo, 
 looking anxiously after him. " Ce pauvre 
 diable ! So long as he does nothing impru- 
 dent ; but he is so impetuous, so self-willed ! " 
 
 He shook his head sagely, and groaned over 
 his friend's follies, having quite forgotten his 
 own suicidal intention a little while before. 
 
 Christian found Annola waiting for him at 
 the foot of the stairs, and the two set forth 
 together in absolute silence. 
 
 She did not attempt to take his arm, nor to 
 say a single word as they walked along, but
 
 276 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 now and then when the light from a street 
 lamp fell across his face she stole a surrepti- 
 tious glance at it. It was more statuesque 
 than ever in its stern fixity and pallor. When 
 they reached their lodgings she was conscious 
 of a strong feeling of relief, which was, however, 
 short lived, for instead of going straight to his 
 own room, Christian opened the door of the 
 meagre little sitting room where Annola re- 
 ceived her pupils, turned up the light, and with 
 formal politeness requested her to come in. 
 
 " I have a word or two to say to you," he added. 
 
 "Must it be to-night?" she asked, looking 
 round at the tireless room, and shivering, partly 
 with cold, partly with excitement, partly with a 
 curious kind of fear. She was afraid of herself 
 sometimes of her passionate undisciplined 
 nature, and the lengths to which it led her; to- 
 night, too, for the first time in her life Christian 
 intimidated her. What might not this inter- 
 view bring forth? What unforgivable words 
 might be said ; what impassable barriers might 
 be erected ! 
 
 " Yes ; to-night. We must have an explana- 
 tion, Annola." 
 
 " With all my heart," cried she. " I, too, have 
 something to say to you ! " 
 
 " As you can have nothing to tell me which
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 277 
 
 you have not already told me more than a hun- 
 dred times, suppose I save you the trouble?" he 
 said, in this new tone of frigid insolence which 
 she found so hard to bear. " But I think to- 
 night I have already repeated my lesson without 
 fault. You found me, you made me ; do not 
 think that I am likely to forget it. I owe you 
 much, but some day you shall be paid in full 
 to the last farthing. You should be satisfied 
 with this." 
 
 She stood leaning with both hands on the 
 back of a chair, her eyes fixed on him with a 
 strained look, her lips unconsciously forming 
 the words that he said. 
 
 " You understand I am fully conscious of 
 your claim. Is not that enough ? " 
 
 " It is not enough," she returned in a low 
 voice. " I have a right to your confidence ; 
 you have deceived me." 
 
 " Now listen, Annola," he said authoritatively. 
 " It is as well this point should be made clear 
 between us. I am an artist, yes I owe the 
 fact of being an artist possibly altogether to 
 you ; but I am also a man, and with the making 
 of me as a man you had nothing whatever to 
 do. My life, as distinct from my artistic 
 career, is my own ; my youth is my own ; my 
 personal liberty must not be tampered with.
 
 278 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 My thoughts and hopes are free. The time 
 has come to say these things. I will not be 
 spied upon and interfered with and dictated to. 
 Understand that once for all, Annola. One 
 has but one youth, parbleu ! one life. I will 
 do what I like with mine." 
 
 She made no answer, but he saw her hands 
 tighten round the chair until the finger-tips 
 showed white beneath the nails. His heart 
 smote him for a moment, but he steeled it 
 against her. 
 
 " That is all I have to say," he remarked in 
 an altered tone. 
 
 "It is well," she said. " I too have learnt my 
 lesson but it is very hard. It will be very 
 difficult to remember. After all these years, 
 Christian " 
 
 Her voice failed her and she broke off, put- 
 ting her hand quickly to her lip to still its 
 trembling. Christian immediately softened, 
 though the first outcome of his emotion was a 
 petulant reproach. 
 
 " Then why do you irritate me ? " he cried, 
 springing to her side. " Annola, you know 
 it was too much. You you pushed me to it. 
 You make me out of myself. Naughty Annola, 
 what a face you made us to-night, hein ? What 
 a face ! Are you not ashamed of it ? "
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 279 
 
 " Ah, yes ! The Death's Head ! " said Annola 
 with a smile that was half sad and half bitter. 
 
 " Ah, yes ; I said that," owned Christian peni- 
 tently, " but if you could have seen your face, 
 Annola! And we had all been so gay so 
 happy ! Why could you not let us be happy ? " 
 
 His tone was tender now and his arm had 
 crept round her. 
 
 She yielded a little to his caress, glad to re- 
 gain his allegiance at any price ; but she did 
 not speak. 
 
 " You know," he said in her ear, " I must be 
 happy. You must let me, you must." 
 
 Her eyes had drooped beneath their hea'vy 
 lids ; her long lashes almost sweeping her 
 cheeks. Suddenly she looked up with a 
 smile : 
 
 " All this because I broke in upon your little 
 reunion ? " she cried playfully. 
 
 " Annola," he said seriously, " do not pretend 
 to be ignorant. You know. Oh," he went on 
 eagerly, " why are you so hard to me ? Why 
 should you oppose me in this you have been 
 so good to me in far less important things. Let 
 me be happy, Annola. I must live I must 
 love." 
 
 There was a long pause ; she drew away her 
 hand.
 
 
 280 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " What do you want me to do ? " she asked 
 coldly. 
 
 " Oh, nothing," he returned rather irritably. 
 " Only to leave me alone." 
 
 " Well, I will promise that," she said. 
 
 Again his mood changed and he seized her 
 hand once more. " You are an angel ! " he 
 cried enthusiastically.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 ^V r l " r |^f=r^^5^E*j| gg^ 
 
 i i = 
 
 ONE afternoon in the following week, the 
 Countess de Galphi and her young friend 
 happened to be walking in one of the parks, 
 not far from Herr Adlersohn's house. 
 
 It was a fine day, cold and sunny, one of 
 those days which insensibly exhilarate, and 
 Juliet almost danced along the glittering frost- 
 bound path between the diamond-spangled 
 clumps of evergreens. She was tripping on 
 in advance of her companion when suddenly, at 
 an abrupt turn in the path, she almost ran into 
 the great Maestro himself. She had stammered 
 half way through her apology before she identi- 
 
 281
 
 282 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 fied him ; upon which she became immediately 
 overcome with blushes and confusion. 
 
 The old man, however, was not in one of his 
 alarming moods : he nodded and smiled, looked 
 benignly at her pretty rosy face, and helped her 
 out with her explanation : 
 
 Gewiss : it was easily understood ; the path 
 turned so sharply just there and she was 
 doubtless occupied with her own pleasant 
 thoughts. Here he smiled again, peered into 
 her face, and suddenly exclaimed in an even 
 more cordial tone : 
 
 " Ah, but I know you, my Fraulein. I have 
 seen you before ! You were at my house some 
 weeks ago, nicht ? I know it ! " he added tri- 
 umphantly, " I never forget a face ! " 
 
 Juliet in the midst of her tremors remembered 
 how Christian had once said the same thing, 
 and wondered if this kind of memory were pecul- 
 iar to musicians. 
 
 The Countess now came up, and at once 
 plunged into the conversation after her own 
 polyglot fashion, to the intense amusement of 
 the great man, who took a malicious pleasure 
 in making her repeat some of her most pre- 
 posterous phrases ; and by artful interpolations 
 induced her to veer about from one tongue to 
 another with even greater frequency than usual.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 283 
 
 As he stood there with his hat pushed to the 
 back of his head, and his face puckered into a 
 thousand humorous wrinkles, he looked so 
 good-natured, not to say benign, that Juliet 
 found it hard to reconcile this actual present- 
 ment of him with her previously conceived 
 idea. 
 
 Turning to her suddenly, he read her thoughts. 
 
 " The old eagle is not always savage," he said, 
 looking at her with twinkling eyes. 
 
 There was a certain unconscious roguishness 
 in Juliet's smile, confused though she was, 
 which seemed to please Herr Adlersohn. 
 
 " The old eagle is not always savage," he 
 repeated, surveying her with great favour. 
 " Sometimes it is even possible to approach his 
 eyrie unharmed. Now if you were to come to 
 the eyrie to-morrow, you would find the old 
 bird cooing like a turtle-dove, and all the eag- 
 lets at play." 
 
 Turning to Madame de Galphi, he explained 
 that one of his little parties would take place 
 on the morrow. Some of his pupils only 
 the good ones ! throwing out his finger with 
 a portentous frown at Juliet would be there 
 in the evening, and would dance, he believed, 
 and play about, and make a great noise. 
 
 " Will you come, both of you ? " he asked.
 
 284 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " Wollen wir kommen ? " cried the old lady. 
 " Est-ce-qu'un canard veut nager ? " 
 
 He stared at her for a minute : 
 
 " Is it a riddle ? " he asked. " I give it up. 
 I never can guess riddles, and I am personally 
 unacquainted with the habits of ducks. Now 
 if you had asked me a question about geese, I 
 might have been able to answer I have a 
 good deal to do with young geese." 
 
 " Ah, mechang, mec/iang / " cried the Count- 
 ess, and she actually had the hardihood to tap 
 his arm playfully with her umbrella. 
 
 He only chuckled and walked on, turning 
 after a few paces to shout out : 
 
 " Eight o'clock ! " 
 
 Juliet was delighted at the prospect of being 
 present at one of the famous entertainments of 
 which she had so often heard, and which were 
 the cause of so much heart-burning and vexa- 
 tion of spirit among Herr Adlersohn's disciples. 
 Not all even among the favoured ones were 
 privileged to be present : in fact, the arbitrari- 
 ness of his selection was universally recognised. 
 At the forthcoming festivity both Christian 
 Thai and Bobo Michotte were to be present by 
 invitation, though it was well known that 
 recently both had in their several ways seri- 
 ously offended the Maestro ; while Rosie Gor-
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 285 
 
 don, who was as good as gold and acknowledged 
 by Master and pupils alike to be a credit to 
 the school, was, for no reason at all, left out. 
 
 Countess de Galphi was highly elated and 
 took entire credit to herself for having con- 
 ducted affairs to this prosperous issue. 
 
 " It never does to make a bugbear of a man," 
 she cried. " You saw how pleased he was when 
 I chaffed him. My dear, men don't like to be 
 taken too seriously. I believe if all those stu- 
 dents didn't look on him as a bogey, they would 
 get on much better." 
 
 All the next day both the old lady and the 
 young one were equally excited ; and at eight 
 o'clock punctually they mounted the Master's 
 steps. 
 
 A babel of voices greeted their ears on the 
 opening of the door, a surging mass of young 
 folks blocked the hall ; everyone was deter- 
 mined to be punctual, but no one had dared to 
 arrive too soon. 
 
 Presently they seemed to melt away to some 
 extent, and the hubbub diffused itself over the 
 house ; the notes of a piano were heard from 
 an upper storey, jarring with a vigorous waltz- 
 measure which had just been struck up in the 
 class-room below ; already some twelve or fifteen 
 couples were revolving in the cleared space.
 
 286 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 Looking round for the Maestro, the Countess 
 and Juliet discovered, to their astonishment, 
 that his were the fingers which supplied the 
 necessary accompaniment to the dance. He 
 nodded good-naturedly as he caught the girl's 
 eye, smiled humorously at the Countess, and 
 continued to hammer out his waltz without a 
 moment's relaxation, occasionally emphasising 
 the strain by a simulated obligato in a somewhat 
 cracked voice. 
 
 Christian and Bobo made simultaneous rushes 
 at Juliet from different corners of the room, 
 Christian with his usual good-luck being the 
 first to arrive and immediately securing her 
 for his partner. Bobo, looking somewhat crest- 
 fallen, halted, shrugged his shoulders, and turned 
 to the Countess with a pleasant smile : 
 
 " And you, madame ? " he inquired, " will you 
 not honour me by taking a little turn ? " 
 
 " Je ne suis pas une si grande sotte que j'ai 
 1'air," responded the old lady, promptly. 
 
 The Professor cackled from his music-stool : 
 
 " Allez toujours, madame. We are all fools 
 together to-night. My wife is over there, caper- 
 ing with the rest of them." 
 
 " Not a waltz then," said she, with a jolly 
 laugh, " I cannot dance anything more rapid 
 than a mazurka."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 287 
 
 " It shall be a mazurka," said Professor Adler- 
 sohn, instantaneously passing into the required 
 measure to the surprise and momentary confu- 
 sion of the young dancers. 
 
 The Countess figured away with great zest 
 and activity, and Bobo too, in spite of an appar- 
 ent superabundance of arms and legs, acquitted 
 himself most creditably. Christian and Juliet 
 for their part floated round as it seemed on air ; 
 the young man throwing into his performance 
 the poetry and passion peculiar to his race. 
 Juliet, ever quick to apprehend and assimilate, 
 adapted herself with her customary grace to 
 her part in the complicated evolutions which 
 go to make up the real Slav mazurka. 
 
 " It seems more like acting than dancing," she 
 said, laughing, as with a dramatic flourish the 
 music came to an end. 
 
 " You should see our Hungarian czardas," 
 cried Christian. " See, the Maestro is getting 
 up he is exhausted, the brave old fellow ! 
 Come, we'll get Karoly to play us a czardas 
 there is a good sprinkling of Hungarians in 
 the room. You must be my partner, of course; 
 you will learn it directly." 
 
 Karoly, a black-haired Jewish-looking boy 
 with a magnificent brow, was forced to sit down 
 at the piano, and looked laughingly round.
 
 288 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 In another moment the slow wailing notes 
 of the Lassu were floating from the keys, and a 
 ring was forming round half-a-dozen pairs of 
 Magyar lads and lasses. 
 
 " We must put our hands on each other's 
 shoulders," said Christian, in a dreamy tone, 
 " we must look in each other's eyes oh ! but 
 you must look at me," as her glance fell before 
 his " we must think of all kinds of pleas- 
 ant things, and so, we sway lightly, until the 
 music quickens." 
 
 Her clear eyes gazed as if fascinated into his. 
 What was it she read there ? She began to 
 breathe quickly, to feel frightened. She was 
 about to obey an unaccountable impulse to 
 dart away, when the measure altered, became 
 rapid, passionate, furious. She found herself 
 doing all manner of strange things in obedi- 
 ence to Christian's whispered commands, now 
 they were flying round together, now she was 
 whirling apart from him ; their hands touched, 
 dropped asunder, joined again ; then the music 
 once more slackened, passed into a pathetic 
 minor, and again they were swaying opposite 
 each other and Christian's eyes were looking 
 into hers. 
 
 " I think I will go back to the Countess," said 
 Juliet, as Karoly was pushed off the music-stool
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 289 
 
 by Bobo, who began to hammer out a polka. 
 " It is too hot to dance any more." 
 
 " Come into the garden," said he ; " it is 
 cool enough there ; I will get you a cloak. 
 There is moonlight, see it will be delightful." 
 
 He cloaked her with great care in a fur 
 mantle belonging to somebody else, and they 
 passed through the open window down the 
 stone-steps which led to the garden. Here the 
 grass was white with frost, the evergreens 
 a-glitter, the very gravel sparkling in the light of 
 a great majestic moon. Peals of laughter came 
 from the further corner where a pretty girl was 
 conducting a dancing lesson, her partner being 
 a somewhat lanky English youth ; one or two 
 other couples were pacing sedately along the 
 paths, but the arbour was empty. They en- 
 tered it and sat down in silence. Even in the 
 dusk Juliet felt Christian's eyes upon her, and 
 the consciousness filled her with a sense of 
 constraint mingled with an odd kind of expec- 
 tation. The dancing lesson was continued 
 amid little screams of laughter; across the brill- 
 iantly-lighted windows of the saloon, a stream 
 of revolving figures passed and repassed. All 
 at once Bobo's polka came to an end, and in 
 the interlude a medley of voices and laughter 
 rang out; then the piano was heard again
 
 290 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 no dance-music this time; somebody was 
 playing Chopin's " Storm Study." 
 
 Juliet uttered an involuntary exclamation as 
 she identified it. 
 
 " Do you not like it ? " inquired Christian. 
 " It is Karoly again ; he plays it well." 
 
 " Yes I don't think I mind hearing him 
 play it." 
 
 His quick ear detected the scarcely percep- 
 tible emphasis on the pronoun. 
 
 " Does that mean you do not like to hear 
 me?" 
 
 " The last time I heard you I did not like it." 
 
 " I played it so badly ? " queried he, naively 
 astonished. 
 
 " No, so well but so wickedly. You made 
 the music wicked." 
 
 " But that was right, surely ? " he cried. " I 
 was feeling wicked myself that day, and I 
 always put everything that I feel into the 
 music, the bad as well as the good." 
 
 " Ah ! " said she, bending forward earnestly, 
 " I should like it to be only good. You know 
 you are to preach to the world, is not that what 
 Daddy said? 'You should use your great 
 power to uplift and purify the world.' " 
 
 " If I ever preach," said Christian, very softly, 
 " it shall be your gospel."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 291 
 
 He was silent for a moment and then con- 
 tinued hesitatingly: 
 
 " Lately my music has pleased you, has it 
 not? it was all good. Have you not noticed 
 something new in it? New and yet as old 
 as the world. Can you not guess ? " he added, 
 leaning forward suddenly. " Oh, Juliet, it is 
 love ! " 
 
 She threw out her little hands with an al- 
 most childish gesture of alarm. 
 
 " But, Christian, I I know nothing about 
 love ! " 
 
 " You know nothing about love. But I will 
 teach you. My little white bird, you shall learn 
 my song. Oh !" he cried ecstatically, " to think 
 that I should be the first the very first. Ju- 
 liet, you will learn from me, will you not ? 
 you will let me tell you all about it ? You will 
 not find the lesson very hard." 
 
 " But, Christian, we are too young," she fal- 
 tered, her hands fluttering in his, her dilated 
 eyes shining in the dusk. 
 
 "Too young to marry perhaps," said he, "but 
 not too young to love. We shall live for one 
 another henceforth, you and I. You will in- 
 spire me, you will uplift me, and so, do you see, 
 I will carry out your father's wish, and uplift 
 the world. And some day, some day, when I
 
 292 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 have conquered the world, I will come and give 
 you again the honours which will have been 
 already yours, for you will have won them all 
 and you shall give me yourself. Oh, Ju- 
 liet ! promise me." 
 
 Before she could answer, and, indeed, words 
 were not readily forthcoming, a rush of feet 
 on the crisp gravel announced that their retreat 
 was about to be invaded, and in another mo- 
 ment Bobo came charging in. 
 
 " Is it here I find you, Christian ? I have 
 been looking for you everywhere. We are 
 going to have supper. Juliet, it is you? 
 Madame de Galphi is looking for you. Come 
 along ; I have a wolf's hunger, moi ! Come 
 along, Christian." 
 
 Christian gripped his arm savagely as Juliet 
 flitted out. 
 
 " To the devil with thee and thy accursed 
 supper!" he whispered fiercely. "Why art thou 
 for ever thrusting thy detestable long nose 
 where it is not wanted ? " 
 
 " A thousand pardons, mon cher," gasped 
 Bobo, writhing in his clutch. " I did not mean 
 to come at the wrong moment." 
 
 " The wrong moment, idiot ! It was the su- 
 preme moment, the moment of moments, and 
 now you have spoilt it ! "
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 293 
 
 Juliet had fluttered away as if she had been 
 indeed the little white bird to which he had 
 likened her, nor was there again an opportu- 
 nity for private conversation. Once when he 
 besought her to dance with him, she answered 
 him almost imploringly: "Not now; do not 
 talk to me any more to-night. I must think." 
 
 But she could not think consecutively ; she 
 felt like one in a dream. Throughout the re- 
 mainder of the evening, indeed, she was con- 
 scious of a curious, all -pervading sense of 
 unreality. She ate and drank mechanically, 
 danced with the conscience-stricken Bobo and 
 one or two others, laughed at the ridiculous 
 antics of some of the young folks, and re- 
 sponded gaily to the sallies of Professor Adler- 
 sohn, who had evidently taken her into favour ; 
 but all the time she had an odd feeling of 
 being somebody else. 
 
 At midnight, the Frau Professorin locked 
 the piano, and good-humouredly announced 
 that she was going to bed. 
 
 " That is what may be called a gentle hint," 
 said Countess de Galphi. " Come, Juliet, it is 
 time for us to trot." 
 
 " But the evening is not half over." cried 
 Karoly, " the Master is in such a good temper 
 to-night he doesn't want us to go yet. Bobo
 
 294 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 and I are going to sing a waltz, and Caesar shall 
 beat time. Quick, Bobo, quick, or these ladies 
 will be going. Tra-la-la-la-la-la." 
 
 " Pom-pom-pom, pom-pom-pom," obediently 
 chimed in Bobo, the deep bass of whose accom- 
 paniment almost overpowered Karoly's labour- 
 ing tenor. 
 
 " You go too quick," cried the latter, break- 
 ing off. " Caesar, where is Caesar ? Caesar, you 
 are wanted to restrain this enthusiast. Here 
 is your baton," cramming a Naples biscuit into 
 his unwilling hand. " Mount quickly on this 
 chair. Now, Bobo, keep your eye on the con- 
 ductor. Now ! " 
 
 They were off again ; Christian, after a whim- 
 sical deprecating glance at Juliet, marking the 
 metre conscientiously with his biscuit. The 
 dancers gyrated with renewed vigour, taking 
 up the strain when Karoly grew breathless, 
 and interrupting themselves with bursts of 
 laughter; Bobo's unwearying bass dominated 
 all other sounds. 
 
 " Pfui, what a din ! " cried the Maestro, rais- 
 ing his fingers to his ears. " My children, there 
 must be an end of this the neighbours will 
 be saying that Professor Adlersohn is celebrat- 
 ing his third wedding. Come down, Jungling," 
 he added, laying hold of the Conductor's vigor-
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 295 
 
 ous arm. " You had better eat that biscuit, 
 you are the greatest baby of them all." 
 
 Christian dropped his biscuit and jumped 
 down with a somewhat offended air. He was 
 still at the age when it is nothing less than in- 
 sulting to be taxed with youthfulness. He made 
 his way to Juliet, who had just made her final 
 farewells, and whispered gravely in her ear : 
 
 " I am glad this childishness is over. As you 
 may imagine my thoughts to-night are full of 
 more serious things." 
 
 But Juliet's little tremulous smile had a spice 
 of malice in it, for she had not failed to notice 
 the zest with which the Conductor had thrown 
 himself into his part. 
 
 Someone coming up at this juncture, seized 
 him by the arm: 
 
 " You have played us nothing to-night, 
 Caesar! Come to the piano." 
 
 " I will not play dance music," protested he. 
 " Not now ; not to-night." 
 
 " The Maestro was not too proud ; but play 
 what you like." 
 
 As Christian passed Juliet, he bent down to 
 murmur in her ear: 
 
 " I shall be playing for you it shall be my 
 heart speaking to yours." 
 
 Yet after he had sat down at the instrument
 
 296 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 and struck a chord or two, his hands dropped 
 from the keys. 
 
 " To-night," he said with a deep sigh, " to- 
 night I cannot." Then as they pressed him : 
 " Look at my hands." 
 
 Indeed, they were shaking oddly. 
 
 " Thou hast danced too much, my friend," 
 cried Karoly. 
 
 " Or drunk too much of the Maestro's 
 moselle," suggested another. 
 
 Bobo cast a searching glance at his friend, 
 blushed violently on meeting his eye, and fell 
 to cracking his fingers in an abstracted fashion.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 JULIET lay long awake that night, her heart 
 a prey to a tumult of emotions. Astonish- 
 ment, wonder, a little fear, struggled with an 
 ever-growing sense of happiness. How mar- 
 vellous to be loved by Christian, to help him 
 with his great work ! Oh, she was not good 
 enough, but then he thought so. Dear Chris- 
 tian, how could she ever prove her gratitude to 
 him? Surely Daddy would not be angry if he 
 knew surely he would even be glad to think 
 that she was associated with such a high 
 vocation. 
 
 297
 
 298 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 The hours wore on, golden, for all their 
 darkness to the outer world, and Juliet's heart 
 sang a happy song which drowned the clatter 
 of the busy street beneath her window. The 
 town of Stattingen was unusually wakeful that 
 night ; the rattling of vehicles over the cobble- 
 stones was to be heard even during the small 
 hours as well as the tramping of pedestrians 
 who laughed and chatted as they walked and 
 frequently whistled and sang as cheerfully as 
 though treading a country lane in mid-day. 
 
 Only now and then did Juliet pay any heed 
 to the medley of sounds : once when after a 
 momentary lull a brisk footfall rang upwards 
 from the pavement. That tread seemed to be 
 young and elastic ; it might have been Chris- 
 tian's; again some passer-by whistled a frag- 
 ment of a waltz tune, and she laughed to herself 
 in the darkness as she recalled the boyish figure 
 on the conductor's perch, his laughing face, his 
 ridiculous imitation of the mannerisms of the 
 well-known artist who led the orchestra at the 
 opera-house. Every now and then when he 
 had caught her eye he had sent her an appeal- 
 ing glance as though to say : " I submit to this 
 folly against my will," and then presently the 
 spirit of frolic had laid hold of him and he was 
 laughing and jesting as before. Dear Chris-
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 299 
 
 tian, dear boy ! How could she ever have said 
 that she did not like boys? Surely it was 
 the youth in him which cried out to her so 
 strongly. She loved him now just as he 
 was, for himself and not for the promise of the 
 greatness to be. 
 
 The January dawn was filtering in through 
 the shutters when at last she fell asleep, and it 
 was with a violent start that she awoke two or 
 three hours later to find Andrews standing by 
 her bed, with an irate and perturbed face. 
 
 " I am sure I don't know whatever is the 
 matter, Miss Juliet," she said. " I was for let- 
 ting you have your sleep out, for you was that 
 sound it did seem cruel to disturb you. I've 
 been in two or three times and you never 
 stirred, but the Countess thought it might be 
 something important and the lady she keeps 
 askin' and askin'." 
 
 An imperative tap caused her to break off, 
 and the door opening to an impatient hand 
 gave admittance to the spare form of Annola 
 Istd. Juliet sat up, her eyes heavy though 
 they were with slumber, dilating themselves 
 in astonishment and alarm. 
 
 " Has anything happened ? " she cried ; " is 
 Christian ill ? " 
 
 " Christian is quite well, thank you," responded
 
 300 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 the other with forced calm though her lips were 
 pale. " I merely wished to lose no time in 
 speaking with you on a matter of importance. 
 As your repose seemed likely to last indefi- 
 nitely, and I had already waited some time, I 
 thought I might venture to disturb you." 
 
 " It's all right, Andrews," said Juliet, turning 
 to her maid, who still stood firmly planted by her 
 couch, actuated apparently by some dim intui- 
 tion that her mistress needed protection. " Peo- 
 ple often do receive visits in their bedrooms in 
 this country though I can't help feeling that 
 it is rather disrespectful," she added, turning 
 to her newcomer with a little nervous laugh. 
 
 The remark was received in silence, and 
 Andrews after placing a chair, reluctantly with- 
 drew. 
 
 Annola did not seem to notice the maid's at- 
 tention, but went forward, still in silence, till 
 she reached the foot of Juliet's bed, where she 
 took up her position, staring at the girl with 
 sombre eyes. Never had Juliet appeared so 
 much of a child as now, with her rufHed fair 
 locks curling round her little flushed face, the 
 wide lace frills of her nightgown falling away 
 from her white neck, her figure almost ethereally 
 slight beneath the clinging cambric folds. As 
 she gazed, Annola's hand went involuntarily to
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 301 
 
 her own throat, and encountering its leanness 
 dropped again as though stung. Still she did 
 not speak, and Juliet unable any longer to brook 
 those glowering eyes, stammered confusedly : 
 
 " Christian I suppose Christian has told 
 you ? " 
 
 " He has told me nothing, but I guessed ; 
 and now I know." 
 
 Once more that strange terrible silence. 
 Juliet glanced up at the gaunt set face with a 
 fear that was almost physical, and yet with 
 an odd sense of compassion. 
 
 " You are angry," she said pleadingly, after 
 a pause. " Do not be angry ! After all he 
 need not love you less because he loves me." 
 
 Annola's thin hands clutched the bedpost 
 savagely ; she looked at the girl as though she 
 would have slain her. 
 
 " Love ! " she exclaimed in a strangled voice. 
 " It is not a question of love, nor even what 
 is much more important in my eyes of broken 
 faith, of betrayed confidence. It simply means 
 the end of his career." 
 
 Juliet felt herself turn pale, but she gathered 
 up all her courage, and looked her enemy for 
 such she intuitively felt Annola to be full in 
 the face. 
 
 " I do not see why that need be," she said
 
 302 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 gently. " It will not harm him to love me, on 
 the contrary it may help him." 
 
 " You fool ! " cried the other violently. " I 
 can excuse your ignorance of the claims of Art, 
 but that you should pretend to know Christian 
 and yet imagine that this silly affair, coming 
 just at this crucial moment, will not certainly 
 unsettle and most probably ruin him bah ! I 
 have no patience with you ! " 
 
 Juliet clasped and unclasped her hands ner- 
 vously, but she did not answer. 
 
 " Let me tell you," went on Annola, vehe- 
 mently, " Art is a jealous mistress and will not 
 be content with a divided heart. He who would 
 woo her must devote his life to her every 
 thought, every feeling, every aspiration above 
 all at the outset. As for Christian, you who 
 have seen so much of him of late," here 
 those deepset eyes of hers seemed positively 
 to shoot forth flames, "have you not yet 
 found out what he is ? Excitable, impression- 
 able, weak ! This fancy of his will pass, no 
 doubt," with a sneer, "but coming now, 
 at a moment when it is essential that he 
 should devote his whole soul, his entire 
 energies to his work, it will most certainly 
 do him irreparable injury. He loves you, 
 or thinks he loves you," she went on after a
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 303 
 
 momentary pause, "and you no doubt imag- 
 ine that you love him, and yet you would do 
 him this injury." 
 
 Juliet's heart was sinking lower and lower. 
 She threw out her hands as though to ward off 
 a blow. 
 
 " Injure him ! " she cried. " I ! Oh, no, no." 
 
 Annola stamped impatiently. 
 
 " Oh, no, no ! " she echoed sardonically ; " and 
 yet you do it. That is not love ! / love him 
 as he should be loved. I can make sacrifices 
 for him I can efface myself for him. I toil 
 unwearyingly for his sake. I submit to his 
 coldness and his ingratitude, and work for him 
 still. I have always pushed him on. And you, 
 what would you do ? You would clasp those 
 weak foolish arms of yours about him and drag 
 him down; you would hang upon him a 
 clog, so that he must become as impotent as 
 yourself. I tell you, if you really loved him 
 you would set him free." 
 
 Juliet gazed at her dizzily. Was this fierce 
 cruel woman speaking the truth ? Was this 
 wonderful new sweet dream indeed so selfish 
 and hurtful ? Like a flash her memory went 
 back to that little episode of the previous even- 
 ing : Christian turning round on the piano-stool 
 and dropping his inert hands, " I cannot play
 
 304 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 to-night." He could not play because of 
 her. 
 
 Annola, quick to read her face, observed that 
 she had made an impression, and continued in a 
 gentler tone : 
 
 " Your own common-sense must prove to you 
 that I am right. You must see for yourself 
 -that Christian has become fitful and idle. He 
 does not study regularly; he displeases his 
 master. He is irritable, unsettled never to 
 be depended on from one moment to another. 
 Is this the spirit in which a young artist should 
 prepare himself for his life's work ? Every 
 month what do I say every day is now of 
 importance. He ought to devote himself heart 
 and soul to his studies, now more than ever, 
 yet he only pursues them in a desultory fashion. 
 He is dreamy, listless ach " she struck her 
 forehead. " I tell you if this goes on, his whole 
 future will be wrecked." 
 
 " I said we were too young," said Juliet, half 
 to herself; her lip trembled and there were 
 tears in her voice. 
 
 But a short time ago she had smiled to her- 
 self over the thought of this divine youth, but 
 now each one of Annola's words fell upon her 
 heart like lead. She had been so proud to 
 think that she was to help him, to encourage
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 305 
 
 him, to be the promoter of his highest and 
 best. Not what was it the woman said ? 
 to be a clog on him, to drag him down. 
 
 " What do you want me to do ? " she said 
 almost in a whisper. 
 
 Annola leaned forward, her face livid in its 
 eagerness. 
 
 " I want you to give him up," she said. 
 " Give him up now, at once, that no further 
 precious time may be lost." 
 
 "But but he will not give me up," cried 
 Juliet. Her voice sounded harsh and strange 
 in her own ears, her head was in a whirl ; she 
 felt as though a blinding, choking darkness 
 were closing in upon her, but made one last 
 desperate effort towards the light. Even if 
 she were to sacrifice herself, Christian would 
 not permit it. 
 
 " If you are in earnest he will have to give 
 you up. Now listen to me ; I am speaking to 
 you as if you were not the child that you are, 
 but a woman. I am willing to believe " her 
 voice vibrated with her earnestness " that you 
 do love Christian, and I appeal to you because 
 of your love to save him from himself. Leave 
 him, go away from him ; put it out of his 
 power to divide his allegiance. When you are 
 gone when he is unable either to see or to write
 
 306 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 to you, for he must be ignorant of your address 
 
 he will become sane again ; his art will once 
 more be all in all to him." 
 
 " Do you mean that I must never see him 
 again?" said Juliet, with a gasp. 
 
 " You you," broke out Annola and paused 
 choking. A wave of blind, unreasoning fury 
 had suddenly swept over her. How dared she 
 
 the little creature, the foolish baby look 
 at her with that stricken face ? What could 
 she know of the anguish of baffled love ? But 
 after a moment she forced back the scathing 
 retort that had risen to her lips and shrugged 
 her shoulders; after all, better humour the 
 child. " Never that is a big word. In future 
 perhaps, when he stands firm, when his success 
 is assured " 
 
 " No," said Juliet, hopelessly. " It is the end. 
 If I part from him now so unkindly if I break 
 off all communication with him it must be 
 the end. Will you please go away now ? " she 
 added, dropping back on her pillows. " I want 
 to be alone I must think." 
 
 " I do not leave you until you have given me 
 your word. You must choose. On the one 
 hand there is your own selfish gratification, the 
 satisfaction of Christian's passing whim and 
 the blighting of his life. On the other, self-
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 307 
 
 sacrifice, a little pain perhaps even great 
 pain " watching the girl narrowly " and 
 the consciousness that you have saved him 
 from destruction." 
 
 " I will do it," said Juliet, in a low, exhausted 
 voice ; then, as Annola bent over her and 
 would have taken her hand, she cried with a 
 vehemence of which the other had not thought 
 her capable : " Don't touch me ! Don't come 
 near me ! I pray I may never see your face 
 again ! "
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 g2?bl<* * \ r=* 
 
 _ -Pfr-*"* -fr 
 
 ar=r: 
 
 ^ ^ 
 
 t* 
 
 I come like wa - ter, and like wind I go 
 
 I 
 
 CANNOT understand it," said Professor 
 
 grow more and more complicated. Countess 
 de Galphi's telegram throws no light at all 
 upon the matter in fact, I can't make out 
 what she means. If it were not for this abomi- 
 nable gout I should start at once for Stattin- 
 gen." ' 
 
 As he spoke he glanced ruefully at the 
 swathed limb stretched out stiffly before him, 
 
 308
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 309 
 
 and groaned, partly with pain and partly 
 because of his perturbation of mind. 
 
 " Let me see the telegram," said Horace 
 Bulkeley. 
 
 " There they are both of them. That is 
 Juliet's on the little table." 
 
 Bulkeley unfolded the paper and read slowly : 
 " / beg of you let me come to you at once. Most 
 urgent. Yes, she certainly seems in earnest, 
 and now the Countess's in answer to yours, I 
 suppose ? " 
 
 " Yes, in answer to mine, asking if Juliet were 
 ill, and requiring an explanation." 
 
 "Juliet quite well" read Horace. " Pay no 
 attention. Only a label. Surely there must be 
 a mistake it cannot be ' label.' " 
 
 " I have been racking my brain over that 
 word," said the Professor, fretfully. " It cer- 
 tainly is 'label,' but it makes no sense." 
 
 " I will go down to the post-office and have 
 the wire repeated," said Horace, soothingly. 
 " They are a little uncertain about their Eng- 
 lish, you know; there must be a mistake. 
 Meanwhile do not," he added hesitatingly, " do 
 not distress yourself too much ; after all, we 
 know Miss Lennox is well, and that is the main 
 point." 
 
 " I have never known her behave in such a
 
 3io CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 way," said Mr. Lennox, rolling his head rest- 
 lessly on his cushions. " It cannot be merely 
 a sudden aversion to Stattingen yet certainly 
 she did seem to take an unaccountable dislike 
 to this place. What is to be done ? I cannot 
 encourage these caprices and yet you see 
 the child says most urgent? 
 
 " I will go to the post-office," said Horace, 
 taking up his hat. " Try not to worry till I 
 return." 
 
 But it is needless to say the Professor almost 
 fretted himself into a fever during the hour-and- 
 a-half which elapsed before his friend came 
 back, and conjured up every conceivable mis- 
 fortune which might be likely to account for 
 Juliet's unexpected appeal. 
 
 " The word is lubie" said Horace, pausing 
 beside the couch and smiling in spite of himself. 
 " Is it not characteristic of Countess de Galphi? 
 If we had borne her peculiarities in mind we 
 might have remembered that it would be quite 
 impossible to her to keep to her native tongue 
 even in a telegram." He grew grave again, 
 however, as he continued. " I met a telegraph 
 boy on the steps just as I came back he got 
 here on his bicycle more quickly than I could. 
 Perhaps this will throw a little light upon the 
 matter."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 311 
 
 The Professor took the neatly fastened paper 
 quickly from his hand. " Consent I implore of 
 you. I would not ask without good reason. 
 I think I must give in, Bulkeley ; but how on 
 earth is it to be managed ? I hardly like to let 
 her come so far with no better escort than 
 Andrews. It is not a very direct journey, and 
 though Andrews is a good travelling maid, still 
 of course, she cannot speak the language fluently. 
 And Juliet is so young I don't think it would 
 do for her to travel all that way, practically 
 unprotected." 
 
 " Would you allow me to go and fetch her ? " 
 said Bulkeley, answering the appeal in his eyes. 
 " I should be delighted. I would set off at 
 once so as to reach Stattingen to-morrow 
 morning." 
 
 " My dear fellow, if you will do this for me," 
 said Mr. Lennox, grasping his hand, " it will be 
 a weight off my mind. It will be a proof of 
 friendship which I shall not easily forget. Let 
 us wire to the child at once, let us put her out 
 of pain. After all, it will be nice to see her 
 little face again eh, Bulkeley ? " 
 
 Horace assented cordially and withdrew to 
 despatch the telegram and make his prepara- 
 tions for departure. He had proffered his ser- 
 vices somewhat hesitatingly, being aware that
 
 312 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 in so doing he was acting in a somewhat un- 
 conventional manner, but the Professor was 
 accustomed to disregard the trammels of social 
 observances when it seemed good to him, and, 
 moreover, could never bring himself to realise 
 that Juliet was no longer a child. 
 
 After many hours of incessant travelling 
 Horace arrived at Stattingen, and was received 
 by the Countess with a mixture of relief and 
 indignation. Juliet was not in the room. 
 
 " I can't think what has come to the girl. 
 She was as merry as a cricket until two days 
 ago. As I said to my husband : ' La petite est 
 gaie comme une cigale,' and now she has taken 
 to shutting herself up, and pining, and moping, 
 and refusing to say anything but that she must 
 return to her father at once. It is the greatest 
 dummheit. She was. getting on so nicely with 
 her German, and the life here was so educating 
 for her. As I said, she was beginning to get 
 rid of a little of the cotton-wool. But there is 
 no use in arguing with her; she wants to get 
 back to her bandbox." 
 
 " It certainly seems extraordinary," said 
 Horace, seeing that something was expected of 
 him, " but after all, outsiders cannot always 
 judge. Miss Lennox has probably some private 
 reason, which is a good one."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 313 
 
 " Private fiddlesticks ! " retorted the old lady. 
 " A child of that age ! N'est ce pas, Ignace, ce 
 serait impossible pour une enfant comme Juliet 
 d'avoir des raisons privees ? Elle n'est pas cap- 
 able d'avoir des raisons privees comme je dis, 
 elle a ete gaie comme rien tout de temps." 
 
 " It is true," responded the Count, slowly. 
 " Miss Juliet till this moment appeared to amuse 
 herself well. She seemed to like the young 
 society here. It is perhaps a a little affair of 
 the heart which has " he paused " which 
 has how would one say ? echoue chewed." 
 
 "Une affaire de cceur! Nonsense! betise, 
 mon ami." 
 
 The Count bowed and collapsed. 
 
 " I mean," continued Madame de Galphi, 
 turning to Horace, " if it was a love affair, she 
 wouldn't be in such a hurry to get away from 
 the young man, would she ? " 
 
 " Then there is a young man ? " said Horace. 
 
 " There are two if it comes to that, though 
 I think Christian Thai is the most favoured. 
 You remember young Thai ? a good-looking 
 boy and a wonderful player, but conceited. He 
 and Juliet apparently parted on the most friendly 
 terms the very night before she took this fancy 
 into her head. Well, and he has been here a 
 dozen times since; he has been simply clamour-
 
 314 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 ing for her, but she won't see him or the other 
 one either. She won't come downstairs for fear 
 of meeting them she is altogether impossible. 
 Fond as I am of her I am positively glad to 
 have her taken off my hands. I am a little afraid 
 of of that, you know " here she tapped her 
 forehead meaningly; "brain, you understand 
 brain ! " 
 
 " I think you need have no fears on that 
 score," returned Bulkeley, with an indignation 
 which he made no attempt to conceal. 
 
 " Don't be too sure," retorted the old lady, 
 with her usual triumphant pessimism. " I 
 shouldn't be a bit surprised at something of 
 the kind in her father's daughter genius and 
 madness you know. Too much brain on the 
 one side and perhaps too little on the other. 
 And, anyhow, Mr. Lennox is very odd himself." 
 
 Horace was in no mood to enter upon an 
 argument, and the matter was suffered to drop. 
 But he was even more disquieted than before ; 
 the Count's suggestion had confirmed his own 
 private hypothesis. He remembered young 
 Thai very well, and had formed his own opinion 
 as to the cause of Juliet's depression after his 
 departure from Schonwald. 
 
 The girl's appearance when, early on the fol- 
 lowing morning, she met him in the passage,
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 315 
 
 did not tend to reassure him. How pale the 
 little face, what dark circles round the eyes 
 she looked years older than when he had parted 
 from her, and yet there was a pathetic appeal- 
 ing helplessness about her that more than ever 
 suggested the child. 
 
 "It was very good of you to come," she said 
 hurriedly ; " you have always been good to me. 
 I wonder if if you would do one more thing 
 for me." 
 
 " What is it ? " he asked in a voice which gave 
 the required promise. 
 
 " I want you to come with me right up to 
 the top of the house and to give a message." 
 
 "Are you there, Juliet? " called the Countess 
 from the adjoining room. " I am pouring out 
 your coffee." 
 
 " In one moment," answered Juliet. She ran 
 noiselessly up the stairs, looking over her 
 shoulder every now and then to see if Bulkeley 
 was following, and indeed he kept close behind 
 her. When they reached the topmost landing 
 she paused breathless. " Do you see that door ? " 
 she whispered, pointing with her finger. " I want 
 you to knock at it, and to tell M. Michotte 
 who lives there to come to me for a moment." 
 
 Horace glanced at her keenly: was it after 
 all not Thai, but this other?
 
 316 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " I only want to see him for a moment," she 
 said with tremulous eagerness. " I shall be 
 downstairs almost as soon as you are." 
 
 She turned so as to face the stairs while 
 Horace hastened along the passage, and tapped 
 loudly at the door which she had designated. 
 
 " Herein," cried a sleepy voice, and Horace 
 obeying the summons found himself speedily in 
 an icy garret chamber, where a swarthy shaggy- 
 haired youth sat up in bed with astonishment. 
 
 Horace gave his message hastily in French, 
 according to the stammered request of his host, 
 after he had made a futile attempt to explain 
 himself in German, and was immediately re- 
 warded by the thud of Bobo's bare feet upon 
 the floor. 
 
 " Be quick over your toilet," he advised some- 
 what grimly: "there is not much time to lose. 
 Miss Lennox and I are leaving by the 6.30 
 train." 
 
 " Leaving ! Just Heaven ! " ejaculated Bobo, 
 sinking on the side of his bed, and gazing at 
 him with a drooping jaw. 
 
 " Yes, leaving. Come, make haste, Monsieur 
 Miss Lennox cannot wait." 
 
 "Just Heaven!" Bobo exclaimed again, making 
 a wild plunge towards his garments, which lay 
 in a disordered heap on a neighbouring chair.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 317 
 
 " What a misfortune ! Tell her, I pray you, that 
 I will be with her in a moment. Leaving, 
 sapristi ! " 
 
 " It cannot be he," thought Bulkeley, as he 
 closed the door. " Yet he is certainly very 
 much overcome, and why should she wish to 
 see him ? Well, it is no affair of mine." 
 
 " He is coming," he announced, as Juliet 
 turned anxiously towards him, and passing her, 
 he ran swiftly down the stairs. 
 
 Almost immediately Bobo came hastening 
 from his room, his face wilder than ever under 
 his dishevelled hair. 
 
 " You are going ! " he ejaculated, as he 
 reached her. " Oh, Juliet, what does this 
 mean ? " 
 
 " I cannot tell you," she said, trying to 
 steady her voice, and looking at him with eyes 
 heavy with unshed tears. He took both her 
 hands and wrung them silently; there were 
 tears in his own eyes, and his honest, ugly face 
 was working. 
 
 " It is Christian who will be in despair," he 
 blurted out after a moment. " Poor fellow, he 
 is already almost out of his mind because you 
 will not see him. Why is it, Juliet ? Has he 
 offended you ? But at least you will see him 
 to say good-bye."
 
 318 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 "I cannot," said Juliet. "Oh, Bobo, I can't 
 explain don't ask me. I want you to give 
 him a message from me. Tell him that No, 
 tell him nothing, but give him this give it 
 to him after I am gone." She held out to him 
 a folded paper, which, in his agitation, he 
 clutched at. "You must hold it carefully 
 you must not crush it he will know what it 
 means." 
 
 " And is that all ? " stammered Bobo. 
 
 " That is all. He will know. Good-bye, 
 Bobo. Be kind to him." 
 
 She pressed his hands, and then withdrew 
 her own, and hurried downstairs blindly. 
 
 She had already sped some distance on her 
 way when Bobo fulfilled her last behest. He 
 found Christian pale and heavy-eyed after a 
 sleepless night, and told his tale haltingly and 
 with many qualms, dreading the storm which 
 as he thought must infallibly burst forth when 
 his friend learnt Juliet's departure. 
 
 The silence with which the announcement 
 was received, however, alarmed him more than 
 an outbreak of fury or despair. 
 
 " She is gone," said Christian, in a lifeless 
 voice, "gone without even saying farewell. 
 You knew she was going, and you did not 
 call me."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 319 
 
 " It was her wish," faltered Bobo. " I could 
 not have gone against her. She looked as 
 if she could bear no more. But she thought 
 of you, Christian ; she sent you a note." 
 
 "A note," echoed Christian, from between 
 his set teeth. " How much do you think that 
 comforts me when I may not even see her face 
 or touch her hand ? Oh, if you had not come 
 that night ! There," breaking off suddenly, 
 "give it to me." 
 
 He had taken the paper quickly from the 
 other's hand, but opened it reverently, with 
 shaking fingers. 
 
 " She said you would know what it meant," 
 said Bobo, as his friend turned the paper round 
 and round. 
 
 It contained no words only a dried flower. 
 
 Christian's face lit up amid all its woe. 
 
 " Yes, I know what it means," he said, and 
 pressed the little flower to his lips. 
 
 It was an Edelweiss.
 
 PART III 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Moderate. 
 
 3*41=24 
 
 / 
 
 SOME five years later a house party was 
 assembled at a certain beautiful old Kent- 
 ish Manor House for Eastertide; Sir Mark and 
 Lady Shipley having offered a few of their 
 friends a refuge from the intolerable desolation 
 of town during the Bank Holidays. It was a 
 somewhat mixed gathering: a Cabinet Minis- 
 ter; a personage from the War Office; a couple 
 of Foreign Attaches ; an American actress ; a 
 Society novelist ; two pretty women whom 
 everybody knew, and who were, in fact, re- 
 lated to the hostess ; and two other pretty 
 women whom not many people knew, but of 
 whom it was prophesied that they would soon 
 come to the front; a few smart young men 
 of no particular avocation; and, lastly, Juliet 
 Lennox. Juliet looking not so very much 
 
 320
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 321 
 
 older than when she had steamed away from 
 Stattingen in the company of Horace Bulkeley, 
 though she had put up her hair, and grown a 
 little taller. One glance would have* sufficed 
 to indicate that her intelligence, at least, had 
 developed to a remarkable degree; yet any 
 friend of the child Juliet would have missed 
 something in the face of the Juliet of to-day. 
 It was, as ever, sweet and bright, but the 
 confident, expectant expression which had char- 
 acterised it of old was now absent. 
 
 " You never seem to look forward to any- 
 thing," her hostess and cousin had said to her 
 that very evening ; " you, who always used to 
 be building castles in the air. You've not lost 
 your power of enjoyment, I hope ? " 
 
 " Not at all," said Juliet, with a laugh. " I 
 take things as they come, and if they are good 
 things, I enjoy them very much." 
 
 " You live altogether in the present, in fact," 
 returned the other ; " you don't look forward 
 to the future, and you don't look back upon 
 the past ; at least, I suppose you don't, but one 
 never can tell with you you are such a re- 
 served little creature." 
 
 Juliet smiled, but said nothing. She and her 
 father had only just returned to England after 
 an absence of more than two years, and were
 
 322 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 now settled in London, where they intended to 
 pass the season, not so much on the girl's 
 account as because Mr. Lennox, who was hard 
 at work on a new book, wished to be within 
 reach of the British Museum. 
 
 Dinner was over on the Monday evening and 
 the women folk were gathered round the library 
 fire, taking note of each other's dresses and talk- 
 ing in a somewhat desultory fashion. 
 
 Lady Shipley, who had been much bored by 
 her companion at dinner, and who at all times 
 discharged the duties of hostess in a somewhat 
 vague and perfunctory manner, was leaning 
 back in an armchair, extending one little em- 
 broidered shoe to the blaze and closing her 
 eyes; the actress had betaken herself to one of 
 the Louis Quinze mirrors which decorated the 
 room, and producing a powder-puff from a little 
 silver box, was diligently powdering her nose 
 which, as she confided to the novelist on leav- 
 ing the dining room, was, she felt, more lustrous 
 than was becoming. The pretty women split 
 up into couples, the two who were as yet a 
 little uncertain of their position avoiding each 
 other by mutual consent. 
 
 "Has anybody seen to-day's paper?" said 
 Mrs. Pontefract, one of Lady Shipley's cousins, 
 stifling a yawn.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 323 
 
 " My dear," said Lady Mary Sherborne, " the 
 idea of looking at a Bank Holiday paper ! as 
 if it ever had anything in it, except the weather 
 and Good Friday festivities for the people and 
 all that sort of thing." 
 
 " Isn't there anything about the Drawing- 
 room," said Mrs. Pontefract, " or about the 
 Cranley divorce ? I used to know Arthur 
 Pembroke rather well, poor fellow; I don't 
 believe it's his fault." 
 
 " There couldn't be anything going on about 
 it now," said Lady Shipley, sleepily, from her 
 armchair. " The courts don't sit, or whatever 
 they call it." 
 
 " Oh, oh, oh ! " cried Mrs. Pontefract, with 
 sparkling eyes, " I have found something worth 
 knowing though. Christian Thai is playing at 
 Canterbury to-morrow." 
 
 Juliet, who had been describing sundry of 
 her travels to the novelist, lost the thread of 
 her discourse, and after an ineffectual attempt 
 to recover herself turned round in her chair. 
 
 " A new pianist, I suppose," she said as 
 quietly as she could. 
 
 Lady Mary had jumped up and crossed the 
 room to her cousin's side, while Lady Shipley 
 opened her eyes and became animated all at 
 once.
 
 324 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " That divine creature ! " she cried. " Are you 
 sure, Theresa ? " 
 
 " Perfectly," returned the other. " Here it 
 is : ' Mr. Christian Thai, who is making a tour 
 in the provinces previous to his recital in 
 London, will play at Canterbury to-morrow ; 
 thence the talented artist proceeds to Dover; 
 and he will also, we understand ' ! 
 
 " Just my fate," exclaimed Lady Shipley. 
 " To-morrow ! And we are booked for these 
 abominable races." 
 
 " Oh, but must we go," cried Mrs. Pontefract, 
 "when that wondrous playing is to be heard 
 only sixteen miles away ? " 
 
 Lady Mary looked a little pensive, and 
 presently remarked that though she was pas- 
 sionately fond of music, racing was very jolly 
 too. " Particularly a point-to-point, when you 
 know everybody that's ridin'," she added. 
 
 " There's no question about which we must 
 do," said Lady Shipley, resignedly. " Mark 
 would never hear of anything but the races ; 
 that's the worst of these hunting men, they are 
 so narrow-minded. He wants to sell a horse 
 or two besides." 
 
 " Have you heard Christian Thai, Ethel ? Is 
 he very good ? " inquired Juliet, turning to her 
 and speaking in rather a wavering voice.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 325 
 
 There was a general outcry. " Good ! My 
 dear child, he's superb ! Do you mean to say 
 you have never heard of him ? " 
 
 " Is this his first visit to England ? " inquired 
 Juliet. "You see, having been away for so 
 long, I know very little of what's going on. 
 We have spent about eighteen months in 
 Japan in remote parts, you know; my father 
 would not have any English papers sent to us; 
 he said it spoilt the charm and the illusion ; so 
 that I've often wondered how the world was 
 wagging." 
 
 There was a general murmur of commisera- 
 tion. 
 
 " I call that rather selfish," said Lady Mary. 
 " Why, all sorts of things might have happened 
 and you mightn't know. Your dearest friend 
 might be dead and buried or married." She 
 added naively, " One is nearly as bad as the 
 other." 
 
 " We haven't got many friends," said Juliet. 
 " I didn't really mind." 
 
 " You horrid little thing ! " said Lady Mary ; 
 "you are getting nearly as unsociable as your 
 father." 
 
 " Juliet is very nice," said Lady Shipley, 
 languidly ; " I like her all the better for not 
 being like everybody else it's quite refreshing."
 
 326 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 "They give his programme in the Times" 
 cried Mrs. Pontefract at this juncture. " He is 
 playing the Waldstein Heavens ! And two 
 of the most lovely Nocturnes that Chopin ever 
 wrote ! " 
 
 " You have not answered my question," said 
 Juliet, gently. " Is this his first visit to 
 England?" " 
 
 " Here is this poor little Chin-chin asking 
 for information," said Lady Mary. " No ; by the 
 way, you were in Japan, weren't you ? Yum- 
 Yum would be more appropriate. You are 
 dreadfully behind the age, Yum-Yum, but we'll 
 take pity on you. Christian Thai came to 
 England a year ago and took the world by 
 storm ; he had already been very well received 
 on the Continent, and he has since been to 
 America, so that except in Japan, I suppose, he 
 has been heard of all over the world. I don't 
 pretend to admire his playing myself so much 
 as Voslau's. There is power if you like." 
 
 " Yes," interrupted Mrs. Pontefract, hastily, 
 "sledge-hammer power. They call him the 
 ' Harmonious Blacksmith,' don't they ? And 
 then he's such an ugly fellow. Now Thai is 
 beautiful no other word describes him." 
 
 Here Mrs. Leslie, one of the smart nobodies 
 who had been sedulously making up to Lady
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 327 
 
 Mary during the evening, took up the cudgels 
 in defence of her protege. 
 
 " But surely the immense nervous energy, 
 don't you know, in Voslau's face atones for any 
 irregularity of feature. Ah, when he lifts those 
 great glowing eyes of his and brings down his 
 hands on the piano in a mighty chord bang 
 it is magnificent." 
 
 " I can't bear him," said Lady Shipley, 
 faintly. 
 
 " Ah, you are like me," put in Mrs. Malmes- 
 buiy Smith, Mrs. Leslie's rival, "what I seek 
 first of all in music is delicacy that ethereal 
 charm, you know, such as Ghyschy has with the 
 violin. One hears his very soul as it were 
 escaping from his finger-tips. Now he has a 
 lovely face, if you like. Once last year I gave 
 him a tribute of flowers ; I had been so carried 
 away when I heard him before, don't you know, 
 and so I ordered a great stand of crimson roses 
 between five and six feet high. I chose 
 crimson on purpose to suit his complexion 
 that exquisite dark, clear colouring and to 
 my delight he placed it just behind him. It 
 threw him out so you can't think ; and there 
 was a kind of poetical charm in seeing his 
 figure outlined against the background of 
 flowers."
 
 328 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " I always think musicians are very much 
 bored by these floral offerings," said Lady 
 Mary, who had not found herself able to fore- 
 gather, as she expressed it, with Mrs. Malmes- 
 bury Smith, and who considered her distinctly 
 over-dressed. " I remember seeing a man once 
 I can't remember who it was now, but he 
 was an immense celebrity. Some admirer had 
 presented him with a wreath of laurel as big as 
 a cart-wheel, with long green silk streamers, 
 and he just trundled it off the stage, or what- 
 ever you call it, by the extreme end of one of 
 them. He looked so cross." 
 
 " What a programme ! oh, what a pro- 
 gramme!" exclaimed Mrs. Pontefract, looking 
 up from the paper. " Ethel, I can't go to those 
 races positively I can't. I couldn't be such a 
 Goth when Thai is playing only a few miles 
 away. I must go and hear him, whatever 
 everybody else does." 
 
 " Well, you can't walk sixteen miles, you 
 know," returned her cousin, tranquilly, " and you 
 can't have any horses. I'm very sorry, my dear, 
 but we shall want them all, I'm afraid." 
 
 " Isn't there a carrier's cart or a baker's van 
 or something or other in the village?" inquired 
 Mrs. Pontefract, eagerly. " If I have to charter 
 a donkey-cart, I'll go."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 329 
 
 "Why not the Vicarage pill-box," put in 
 Lady Mary, somewhat sarcastically. " I am 
 sure Mrs. Perkins would lend it to you. Her 
 horse is only seventeen, and you would have to 
 walk up all the hills, but you could get to Can- 
 terbury if you started early enough ! " 
 
 " Do you mean that covered wagonette 
 thing ? " said Mrs. Pontefract, brightening up. 
 " That's an idea ! As you say, I could get there 
 in time. Who will come with me ? You, Juliet. 
 I know you are passionately fond of music and 
 I'm sure you don't care about races." 
 
 " How can I be so rude as to say I don't ? " 
 stammered Juliet. 
 
 " As if any of us cared about races except 
 perhaps Mary," said Lady Shipley, plaintively. 
 " We are only going from a sense of duty ; 
 people expect it, and Mark would be furious if 
 we didn't. But you are not bound to come, 
 Juliet ; I'm sure I shouldn't if I were you." 
 
 Mrs. Pontefract clapped her hands and made 
 a little spring expressive of delight. 
 
 "You'll come, you'll come! I'll share my pill- 
 box with you, and you'll be more ravished than 
 you ever were in your life. You cannot even 
 conceive what he is like." 
 
 " Don't make me more envious than I am 
 already," said Lady Shipley. " I never have
 
 330 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 any luck ; I missed his last recital on account 
 of ' flu.' But I have heard him once, and he 
 transported me to another world. I felt so 
 happy and so good. Mark said I was a perfect 
 angel for nearly a fortnight afterwards. He 
 said he only wished I could hear him oftener." 
 
 " So you are coming," said Mrs. Pontefract, 
 addressing Juliet in a satisfied tone. " That's 
 very sweet of you. As a reward I'll play to you 
 by and by when the men come in." 
 
 Lady Mary made a grimace at Lady Shipley, 
 unseen by their mutual cousin. 
 
 " I thought we were going to play games," 
 she murmured. " I know a ripping new one ; 
 Kitchen Spoons have you ever played Kitchen 
 Spoons ? " 
 
 Lady Shipley shook her head without enthu- 
 siasm. 
 
 " Oh, it's screamingly funny," cried the other. 
 " Somebody's blindfolded, you know, and every- 
 body changes places, and he goes up to some- 
 body and taps him all over with two kitchen 
 spoons. Then he has to guess it's ripping." 
 
 " I don't think I should like it," said her 
 cousin, languidly; "but I wish Theresa wouldn't 
 play. We've been talking of Christian Thai, 
 and I've got his music in my head, and she'll 
 take away the flavour of it."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 331 
 
 " She's determined to play," returned Lady 
 Mary, somewhat acidly ; " better set her to work 
 as soon as possible and get it over." 
 
 Mrs. Pontefract was considered, and indeed 
 not without grounds, an exceptionally good am- 
 ateur, and Juliet remembered having listened to 
 her of old with considerable pleasure. She was 
 glad enough on the present occasion when her 
 cousin sat down at the piano ; the music might 
 tranquillise her thoughts, and would at least 
 relieve her of the necessity of further conver- 
 sation. Though Mrs. Pontefract took it for 
 granted that she would accompany her on 
 the morrow, she had not as yet agreed to do 
 so, and was in truth sorely exercised in her 
 mind on the subject. An immense longing 
 to see Christian again, to hear him, to witness 
 his triumphs, battled with a shrinking reluc- 
 tance to make one of the crowd, to hearken 
 to its meaningless admiration, to stand afar off 
 while he received the ovation of the indiffer- 
 ent. How could she bear it ? She, Juliet, 
 who had been enthroned in his heart of hearts, 
 to whom he had once laid bare every secret 
 aspiration of his soul ? She welcomed there- 
 fore the little breathing space ; yet when Mrs. 
 Pontefract played the opening bars of Cho- 
 pin's Ballade in A flat she was in imminent
 
 332 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 danger of breaking down. The performance 
 was very creditable, evincing genuine feeling 
 and good execution. Mrs. Pontefract pos- 
 sessed what the initiated among her friends 
 called "a wonderful natural ringer," and if 
 her bass was occasionally a little erratic she 
 was careful to keep the pedal down so that 
 hardly anybody noticed her slips. 
 
 Lady Mary, however, was one of the excep- 
 tions, and was determined her dear friend and 
 cousin should be made aware of the fact. 
 
 " Such a jolly thing," she remarked, " isn't it ? 
 That sort of hoppy part in the middle always 
 reminds me of a man driving along a lame 
 donkey. By the way, somebody told me a 
 good story the other day. You'll like it, 
 Theresa it's a musical one. It's about 
 Rubinstein, he often played wrong notes, you 
 know isn't it a comfort to think these big 
 men play wrong notes just like anybody else ? 
 Well, he was giving a concert somewhere or 
 other, and he had to finish up with an awfully 
 difficult piece ending with a run all the way 
 up ; and he missed the very last note of all 
 wasn't it hard luck ? Well, he was simply furi- 
 ous, and when he was recalled people nearly 
 standing on their heads with enthusiasm, don't 
 you know he simply wouldn't go back. They
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 333 
 
 clapped, and shouted, and shrieked, and whistled, 
 but he wouldn't. At last, however, somebody 
 fairly pushed him on the platform, and then 
 what do you think he did? He just marched 
 up to the piano, thumped the note that he had 
 missed, bowed to the audience and went away. 
 The audience was so delighted it nearly de- 
 voured him." 
 
 " By Jove ! " exclaimed Sir Mark, much 
 impressed, "good chap that; it's like taking a 
 horse back to a hurdle he's refused." 
 
 " Awfully jolly story," said a young man who 
 had dropped down beside Lady Mary on the 
 sofa. 
 
 " Yes, I can't imagine why I thought of it 
 now," returned she, innocently. " Isn't it rather 
 nice, Theresa ? " 
 
 " Splendid," rejoined her cousin, moving away 
 from the piano with a heightened colour. 
 
 " Now, what shall we play ? " cried Lady 
 Mary, with animation. " It's a bore that Ethel 
 doesn't like Kitchen Spoons. Let's play 
 Clumps, and you and I will go out. I'm 
 reservin' another clippin' game for later on 
 it has to be played when the bedroom candles 
 are lighted. Do you know The Ghost ? Don't 
 tell them if you do. 'Twill be such fun to 
 send Lord sprawling on his back."
 
 334 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 The rest of the evening was spent in the 
 intellectual manner common to gatherings of 
 the kind. 
 
 Juliet joined with the rest in asking 
 strings of questions, and blowing a feather 
 into the air, and playing Animal Grab. 
 When Lady Mary, impersonating a spectre, 
 had by a series of hollow-voiced instructions 
 persuaded the assembled guests to stand side 
 by side waving their hands aimlessly and bal- 
 ancing themselves insecurely on one leg, she 
 formed one of the band ; and when the lively 
 young woman, taking advantage of their defence- 
 less attitude, had by means of an adroit push to 
 the Cabinet Minister sent the whole party 
 reeling to the floor, she had tumbled down 
 with the rest, and picked herself up somewhat 
 bruised and shaken, but feigning like every- 
 body else to be much entertained by the amus- 
 ing surprise. 
 
 But how unreal it all seemed ; how unmean- 
 ing the glitter and clatter of Vanity Fair ; the 
 small talk, the petty jealousies, the rivalries 
 how senseless above all the prattle about music 
 and musical matters. Not thus had the real 
 devotees of the sacred art sought to plumb its 
 depths and scale its heights in that far-away 
 time when she had found herself in their midst.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 335 
 
 A gay irresponsible time enough to all appear- 
 ance, but moulding how many great ambitions 
 and high hopes ! 
 
 How strange that it should be no echo 
 from the artistic world but the foolish good- 
 natured voice of Society that had broken in for 
 the first time upon the long silence which had 
 enshrouded her soul's secret. 
 
 It seemed like desecration to her that the 
 tremendous news was to be thus announced : 
 Christian had fulfilled his destiny; Christian 
 armed and equipped at all points for the battle, 
 had thrown down his gauntlet to the world.
 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 IMMEDIATELY after breakfast the "pill- 
 box," as Lady Mary irreverently named the 
 Vicar's covered wagonette, arrived at the 
 door. An urgent appeal had been despatched 
 to Mrs. Perkins at early dawn, and she had 
 good-naturedly consented to lend the vehicle, 
 though the sixteen miles journey was consid- 
 ered beyond the powers of the ancient horse. 
 Another had, however, been procured from one 
 of Sir Mark's tenants ; a useful beast, shaggy 
 of fetlock and heavy of limb, employed chiefly 
 for 'farm work. He tilted up the shafts in 
 rather an unpleasant fashion, but as Mrs. Ponte- 
 
 336
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 337 
 
 fract remarked, the main point was to get to 
 Canterbury ; any little inconvenience that they 
 might suffer would be more than recompensed 
 by the delights of the afternoon. 
 
 Many times during the course of a sleepless 
 night had Juliet told herself that it would be 
 folly, and worse than folly, to submit to an ordeal 
 not only painful in itself but bound to cause 
 her many future heartburnings ; yet neverthe- 
 less at the last she had found herself unable to 
 resist the temptation of acceding to her cousin's 
 appeal. 
 
 The drive was wearisome in the extreme ; 
 the rough trot of the farm horse jolting them 
 in a manner that after a time became almost 
 excruciating; the "pill-box" was very stuffy 
 and hot, and its small windows rattled in an 
 irritating fashion. Mrs. Pontefract, who was a 
 tall woman, was obliged to sit with her head at 
 an uncomfortable angle to keep her hat from 
 being hopelessly flattened against the low roof; 
 notwithstanding which she chattered unceas- 
 ingly, and with imperturbable good-humour. 
 
 After regaling Juliet with a minute account 
 of her own musical prowess and the successes 
 which attended it, she proceeded to animadvert, 
 with a kind of jovial contempt, on the follies 
 and peculiarities of Lady Mary Sherborne.
 
 338 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " Poor dear thing, she is too charming for 
 words, but rather empty-headed, don't you 
 think ? I'm sure a serious girl like you, Juliet, 
 must find her empty-headed. She cares about 
 nothing but admiration, and is always trying to 
 put herself en evidence. That is why she is 
 always so keen on playing those idiotic little 
 games. She can't do anything else, poor darling ; 
 she pretends she's fond of music, but she doesn't 
 know anything about it really, as you can see. 
 Such nonsense about Voslau ; she doesn't know 
 a thing about Voslau ; she went to hear him 
 once with some special friend of hers, and he 
 admired him, and so she thought it was the 
 proper thing to do. He probably admired him 
 because he was so ugly; no man can stand a 
 handsome musician too absurd, isn't it ? Men 
 are awfully jealous, you know. My poor old 
 Jack is perfectly rabid. The only thing he can 
 find to say about a really good musician is, 
 ' Why doesn't he cut his hair ? ' If ever I want 
 to make him really cross, I tell him Christian 
 Thai is an Apollo." 
 
 " Yes ? " returned Juliet, with more animation 
 than she had hitherto shown. " Yes ? " 
 
 " He really is, you know. It's not only that 
 he's statuesque ; but altogether he is the very 
 impersonation of a young god. A sort of
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 339 
 
 majestic impassiveness, don't you know, as if 
 he were miles and miles above one, and then 
 when he plays and one sees his face kindle 
 the divine fire coming through I always think 
 that some day I shall go down on my knees and 
 worship." 
 
 Juliet's thoughts were far away by the time 
 her cousin had reached the end of her speech. 
 She was back again under the plane-tree out- 
 side the Schone Aussicht ; she saw in imag- 
 ination her father leaning upon Christian's 
 shoulders and heard his voice. " When people 
 talk idly about sacred fire and the Divine Afflatus, 
 they do not realise that they are indeed speaking 
 the truth. Suc/i genius as yours is an emanation 
 from the very Spirit of God" 
 
 Had Christian already begun to fulfil his 
 high vocation ? Surely, her cousin's idle words 
 hinted at the power that her father had 
 divined in him ; a deeper nature than hers 
 would have been uplifted bv it, impelled to 
 worship not the man himself, not even his 
 art, but the spirit that breathed through it, 
 the Divine Beauty, that Beauty " ever ancient 
 and ever new " which alone creates and vivifies. 
 Her heart swelled within her; happy proud 
 tears filled her eyes. 
 
 Mrs. Pontefract prattled on, and Juliet leant
 
 340 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 back in her corner, responding by an occasional 
 monosyllable, but inwardly revolting at the 
 babble which thus broke in upon her thoughts, 
 thoughts so soul-stirring, so sacred. It was a 
 relief to her when they at last reached the 
 town, and Mrs. Pontefract, who was by this 
 time exceedingly hungry, turned all her atten- 
 tion to luncheon. Yet, when, in the coffee 
 room of their hotel, Juliet chanced to overhear 
 scraps of conversation at the neighbouring 
 tables, Christian's name passing from mouth to 
 mouth, his personality discussed, his playing 
 criticised, she suddenly realised that she had 
 undertaken more than she could bear. She 
 grew red and pale by turns, and when she and 
 her cousin sallied into the street, where 
 placards announcing the recital greeted her 
 eyes at every corner, she clutched desperately 
 at her companion's arm. 
 
 "I I feel faint," she cried, " I must give the 
 concert up ; I know it would be too much for 
 me." 
 
 " But, my dear, what a disappointment ! " 
 ejaculated Mrs. Pontefract, aghast. " After com- 
 ing all that way. You do look very white, I 
 must say. What is to be done with you ? It 
 was all that horrid stuffy little machine. What 
 will you do?" staring blankly at her, and
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 341 
 
 casting about in her mind as to the easiest 
 manner of disposing of her. " Suppose we go 
 back to the hotel and get a room for you ? 
 You could lie down quite comfortably until 
 after the concert. You'd be all right, wouldn't 
 you ? " 
 
 " I don't think I'll do that," returned Juliet 
 " I prefer to remain in the air, thanks. I just 
 feel I could not endure the closeness of the 
 concert hall. I'll stroll about the Cathedral 
 grounds and the cloisters." 
 
 " Do, dear," said the other, eagerly ; " take 
 great care of yourself. Suppose we meet at 
 the hotel at five for tea ? I may be a few 
 minutes late, as he is sure to have five or six 
 encores. But you won't mind that, will you ? 
 You can order tea, you know, and have it all 
 ready." 
 
 Juliet agreed, and hastened away in the direc- 
 tion of the Cathedral. Entering the building 
 itself, and seeking a retired corner, she sank 
 into a seat, covering her face with her hands. 
 
 How foolish, she said to herself over and 
 over again, how wrong to be so much upset. 
 Christian was not hers, would never be hers ; 
 the laughing prophecy made of old was now 
 fulfilled ; he belonged to the world : the world 
 had a right to do what it would with its own.
 
 342 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 No need for her to resent this fancied profana- 
 tion of what had been to her an inner shrine. 
 She, too, might stand afar off if she would and 
 admire and applaud with the multitude. 
 
 " Never, never," she cried to herself while 
 hot tears forced their way through her fingers. 
 
 After a time she grew calmer, and began to 
 wander about the vast building; its majestic 
 beauty impressed her with a sense of settled 
 peace. Kneeling presently on the hallowed 
 stone worn away by generations of pilgrims, 
 she sent up her prayer as earnestly as any 
 petitioner who had ever knelt there. A voice- 
 less prayer indeed, but intensely human : the 
 cry of her sore heart for help and strength ; 
 and mingled with this yet another appeal for 
 blessings on the beloved. 
 
 By-and-bye feeling vaguely soothed and com- 
 forted, she strolled out into the cloisters, and 
 there remained, now wandering up and down, 
 her thoughts busy the while with Christian's 
 doings, now standing still, looking about her at 
 the quiet beauty of the place. 
 
 All at once the sound of a rapid step came 
 echoing along some unseen passage, and she 
 started, pressing her hands together. After a 
 moment she laughed. How absurd the fancy 
 that it resembled Christian's ! What should
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 343 
 
 bring him to the cloisters ? Besides, his con- 
 cert could scarcely yet be at an end. 
 
 But the step came nearer, and, as she held 
 her breath, a door opened at the further end 
 of the colonnade, and a figure passed through 
 and advanced towards her. A tall man, half 
 enveloped in a cloak, one end of which was 
 thrown carelessly over his shoulder; a man 
 walking quickly, looking with apparent interest 
 from side to side, and carrying his hat in his 
 hand, so that the spring sunshine filtering in 
 through the pillars fell full upon his uncovered 
 head. 
 
 Juliet stood transfixed, unable to breathe, 
 much less to cry out, and presently Christian 
 Thai, bringing down his eyes from the roof, 
 caught sight of her and stood absolutely still. 
 After a moment's pause he came hurrying 
 towards her with both hands outstretched. 
 
 " I knew I should find you some day," he 
 said. 
 
 Her hands flew out to meet his, and lingered 
 in his strong grasp. 
 
 " I knew I should find you," he repeated 
 exultantly. " Wherever I go, my first thought 
 is, ' Will she be there ? ' And when I find you 
 are not there, I send out my music to greet you 
 wherever you may be."
 
 344 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " Oh, Christian ! " said Juliet, finding her voice 
 at last with a great sob, " I thought you would 
 have forgotten me." 
 
 " Forgotten you," echoed he ; " I think there 
 has not been a day not an hour that I have 
 not thought of you. But why did you not 
 come to hear me play to-day ? " 
 
 " I could not," she answered. " I could not 
 go just as one of the crowd." 
 
 " I should have singled you out," he replied. 
 " For me, there would have been nobody there 
 but you. I have been searching for you so long. 
 Where have you been all these years ? " 
 
 " We have been travelling for the most part," 
 said she, her voice still wavering and uncertain, 
 her luminous eyes full of almost incredulous 
 joy. " We spent nearly two years in Japan, 
 cut off from all connection with home. Think 
 of it, Christian ! Until last night I did not even 
 know of your success." 
 
 She had withdrawn her hands, but of a sudden 
 laid one again upon his sleeve, crying out with 
 a tender little laugh that somehow had a sug- 
 gestion of tears in it. 
 
 " Caesar ! Caesar ! and so you have conquered 
 the world ! " 
 
 Even as she spoke there flashed across her 
 the thought of how he would have received
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 345 
 
 such a speech of old ; with what boyish elation, 
 what unconcealed consciousness of his own 
 worth. But the man Christian gazed back at 
 her with a gravity almost sad. 
 
 " Ah, Juliet," he said, " how little I knew in 
 those early days. How much there is to learn 
 how much there is to do. I am only at the 
 beginning; I have only climbed a little way. 
 I will go on I must go on, but shall I ever 
 reach the top ? " 
 
 " Surely," cried she, " you have changed." 
 
 " The higher one climbs," he said, " the more 
 clearly one sees. Peak upon peak seem to 
 tower above one " 
 
 He broke off suddenly, smiled, and stooping 
 kissed the little hand that rested on his arm. 
 
 " I have something here to show you," he 
 went on in an altered voice; "something that 
 will interest you." 
 
 Casting aside his cloak he unfastened a locket 
 from his watch-chain, and handed it to her. It 
 was of plain gold, except in the centre whereon 
 was a tiny scroll of white enamel, bearing in 
 minute letters the words In Excelsis. 
 
 " Open it," he said ; " press that spring " 
 touching an almost imperceptible projection at 
 one side. 
 
 Juliet obeyed, and the locket flew open, dis-
 
 346 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 closing beneath the crystal within a little Edel- 
 weiss. 
 
 " You remember it ? " he said. 
 
 " Is it mine?" asked Juliet, falteringly. 
 
 " Could it be any other ? It has been my 
 star all these years." 
 
 Juliet's heart beat fast and her form visibly 
 trembled. Surely now the moment had come 
 which she had so often dreamed of. He would 
 speak: he would exact an explanation of her 
 desertion of him; he would reproach her perhaps 
 how could she bear to be reproached by Chris- 
 tian, now, above all, in this moment of reunion ? 
 
 She threw out both her hands with a gesture 
 that was almost childish in its piteous appeal. 
 
 " Not now," she cried ; " oh, Christian, say 
 nothing now let us only remember that we 
 have met." 
 
 He had been looking at her with a curious, 
 troubled expression, but at her words his face 
 softened and brightened with an extraordinary 
 tenderness. 
 
 " There is no need for words between us 
 two," he murmured; then, smiling: "And so 
 you would not come to hear me play ? Well, I 
 must come to you I must come and play just 
 for you alone. When shall I come ? Do you 
 live near here ? "
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 347 
 
 " No. I am staying with friends just now, 
 but I return to London in a day or two." 
 
 " Ah, that is well," he said ; " I, too, go back 
 very soon. I will come to see you on Thursday." 
 
 She gave him her address and he made a 
 mental note of it, adding, " I will come and see 
 you in the afternoon ; no, I think the morning 
 the morning is better ; it is also sooner." 
 
 Both laughed, and then he fastened the 
 locket on his chain again, and once more 
 kissed Juliet's hand. 
 
 " Good-bye, then," he said ; " only for a very 
 little time. I must go or I shall miss my train. 
 My poor impressario is probably tearing his 
 hair at the station, thinking I have given him 
 the slip. I am to meet one of your great critics 
 to-night, and he is very anxious. For myself 
 I do not think it matters much : it is not the 
 critics who make a musician." 
 
 This was said without petulance or the faint- 
 est trace of the nai've vanity which had charac- 
 terised him of old, but with the dispassionate 
 calmness of one who states an obvious fact. 
 
 " Only for a short time," he repeated, smiling 
 once more brightly ; and then he left her, Juliet 
 watching his tall figure as it made its way 
 through alternate patches of shade and sunlight 
 to the end of the colonnade and there vanished.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 nit* i 
 
 3fcsii.-gr=j^ii p** *** r"fT1 r** 
 
 i 
 
 ^ ^ 
 
 JULIET sat alone on the morning after her 
 return to town in the big sunshiny drawing- 
 room where she reigned supreme. She had 
 chosen to receive Christian in this room because 
 of the piano, a beautiful Erard, with which her 
 father had presented her knowing that music 
 was one of her chief delights. 
 
 Her figure, sunk in the depths of an armchair 
 designed to sustain some portly matron, looked 
 almost ethereally slight and small ; there was 
 even a certain pathetic suggestion of loneliness 
 about it. She seemed so much too young to be 
 the sole mistress of the big house, the great 
 empty room. She had indeed already conveyed 
 some impress of her personality to this chamber 
 
 348
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 349 
 
 which before her advent had been bleak and 
 stiff enough. Her own knick-knacks lay here 
 and there, and many precious and curious me- 
 mentos of recent travels. The draperies were 
 all light in colour, and every available corner 
 was full of spring flowers ; the windows open- 
 ing on to a balcony which was positively 
 banked with them. 
 
 Christian, entering presently, took in these 
 details at a glance and with a distinct sen- 
 sation of pleasure. For the first time he saw his 
 love in her own home, and he was curiously glad 
 that it should be so artistic and even so luxurious. 
 Anything ugly or commonplace would have 
 been out of harmony with her dainty presence. 
 
 She rose to meet him with a bright smile, and 
 he took her hands in his without speaking; 
 then he turned to the piano and sat down at it 
 at once, running his fingers over the keys with 
 a satisfied air. 
 
 She crossed the room and placed herself near 
 him. He raised his eyes and gazed at her for 
 one moment ; and then he began to play. 
 
 As of old she saw the music take hold of him, 
 envelop him, absorb him. There were many dif- 
 ferences between the music of the boy Christian 
 with its precocious power, its promise, its fitful- 
 ness, and this music of the developed artist, the
 
 350 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 Master ; but at first Juliet could scarcely mark 
 them, so moved, so intoxicated was she by the 
 message which it conveyed to her to her alone. 
 All this passion of exquisite sound, this revela- 
 tion of undreamed-of beauty, these heights and 
 depths of wonder and delight were for her. 
 Even while she marvelled it seemed to be made 
 clear to her that she was the source of his in- 
 spiration and that his love for her made him 
 what he was. 
 
 At length he paused, and again their eyes 
 met ; hers were full of tears. 
 
 " Oh, Christian," she said, " I am not worthy." 
 
 She scarcely realised that she had spoken. 
 It was her thought answering that which she 
 had divined in him. 
 
 " Did I not tell you once," he said dreamily, 
 " that if ever I preached it should be your gospel ? 
 It will be to you that the world will listen as 
 much as to me." 
 
 His hands dropped upon the keys again, and 
 he played once more, keeping his eyes, however, 
 upon her face and but half surrendering himself 
 to his theme. Indeed, it seemed as though his 
 fingers strayed over the keys idly as it were 
 jestingly; his glance, too, was full of tender 
 archness. Juliet smiled, but felt more near 
 to tears, for the faint and delicate sounds
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 351 
 
 that fell upon her ears were echoes from the 
 past, bringing with them memories full of a poig- 
 nant sweetness. 
 
 One by one Christian's magic art raised up 
 these melodious ghosts ; now a fragment from 
 Rubinstein's Melodie ; now the motif of two 
 or three of Liadow's Dances ; now the Andante 
 of the Moonlight Sonata. All were rendered 
 pianissimo, as it were breathed. His expres- 
 sion and attitude were those of a man who 
 makes use of some well-remembered and oft- 
 repeated quotation to illustrate his thought, and 
 whose mind is too busy with the thought itself 
 to pay much heed to the beauty of the words. 
 But, presently, as he watched the play of Juliet's 
 mobile face, his mood changed. He drew away 
 his hands abruptly from the keys, dropping his 
 head at the same time for a moment on his 
 breast ; then, seeming to recover himself, he be- 
 came absorbed in the music once more, and it 
 pealed forth under his touch, grand, solemn, 
 ecstatic, a paean of unearthly joy and triumph. 
 
 When the last note died away he stood up : 
 
 " I must go," he said, " I have much work to 
 do to-day. I must also work to-morrow all 
 day. But at night I can come. I will come 
 about half-past nine and play to you again." 
 
 He spoke quite simply as if the proposition
 
 352 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 were the most natural thing in the world, and 
 Juliet answered in the same tone. 
 
 " At half-past nine. That will be perfect. 
 My father does not often work after dinner, and 
 will be free to listen to you. I want him to 
 hear you again." 
 
 He smiled and went away without even touch- 
 ing her hand, without, indeed, any attempt at 
 leave-taking ; they might have been people living 
 in the same house, and parting for a few hours. 
 
 Juliet remained standing as it were trans- 
 fixed, with burning cheeks and ice-cold trem- 
 bling hands ; presently she began to weep from 
 pure gladness of heart. 
 
 Thus her father found her when he came in 
 presently to inquire who had been her visitor. 
 
 " I thought I heard the piano," he added ; 
 then, catching sight of her tear-stained face, 
 "Why, child, what is the matter?" 
 
 She ran towards him and threw her arms 
 round his neck : 
 
 " Nothing, only that I am so happy. He has 
 been here Christian Christian Thai." 
 
 " Ah ! " said the Professor. He drew her 
 more closely to him, and felt her heart throb- 
 bing beneath his hand. Her little hot cheek 
 was pressed against his, she was trembling in 
 every limb.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 353 
 
 " I met him on Tuesday," whispered Juliet; 
 " he told me he was coming. I wanted to tell 
 you, but I I " 
 
 " I know," said her father, very softly. 
 
 This child of his was child no longer, but a 
 woman ; to her had come suddenly the crowning 
 joy and glory of a woman's life : she loved and 
 was beloved. Even while he folded her in his 
 arms this thought struck to the father's heart ; 
 such a little fragile creature, and yet beyond 
 his control. Rigidly guarded, jealously watched 
 over, with hardly a thought, as he had imagined, 
 that he had not, as it were, sanctioned ; yet in 
 spite of all she had outwitted him : love was 
 here in full possession. 
 
 " After all these years," went on Juliet, 
 brokenly. 
 
 " All these years," he echoed in a somewhat 
 toneless voice. All these years when he had 
 deemed her so happy. 
 
 " You know when I went away from Stattin- 
 gen," she continued, " I could not tell you much 
 about it. I I was too miserable." 
 
 " Of course," he agreed soothingly. 
 
 "You were so good, Daddy you did not 
 question me." 
 
 No, he had not questioned her; he had left 
 her to do battle alone with a trouble which he
 
 354 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 had thought half-imaginary, wholly childish. 
 But now the tone in which she said " all 
 these years " was a revelation to him. 
 
 " I thought then," whispered Juliet, " I was 
 told that anything between me and him would 
 be a hindrance to his career ; and so I came away." 
 
 " I see," commented the Professor. 
 
 Yes, she had consulted no one, she had made 
 this tremendous sacrifice all by herself, without a 
 word of advice, of help, of even sympathy from 
 her father, her father whose mission in life was, 
 as he conceived, to lead and succour the igno- 
 rant and afHicted. Well, well, life had taught 
 him many strange lessons, but none perhaps so 
 strange as this. 
 
 " But now," she went on, her clasp involun- 
 tarily tightening itself round his neck, her 
 cheek pressed even closer, her voice wavering 
 in its eager joy, " now his career is assured. 
 Now now he is free." 
 
 She broke off. Her father kissed her in 
 silence, with exceeding tenderness but with a 
 sinking heart. Not for worlds would he have 
 breathed a word to overshadow her young 
 ecstasy ; he would not even brush away the 
 bloom from a joy that was all the more exqui- 
 site because as yet intangible, undefined, by 
 formulating his thought aloud ; but within him- 
 self he said : " My bird will leave its nest"
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 M 
 
 THE next evening Christian came, ac- 
 cording to his promise, and the Professor 
 greeted him with affectionate warmth. He 
 proceeded to question the young man quietly 
 enough, though he watched him eagerly the 
 while, jealously anxious to prove his worthiness 
 of the treasure which was, as he now felt as- 
 sured, to be sooner or later committed to his 
 keeping. 
 
 Christian bore the ordeal well, answering 
 readily yet withal modestly, having lost every 
 trace of the almost unconscious egotism, the 
 too -confident conviction of his own genius 
 which had before occasionally grated on his 
 
 355
 
 356 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 friends. His boyish self-esteem had fallen from 
 him like a garment; the man stood revealed 
 the Master. As the Professor drew him out, 
 his own countenance softened more and more ; 
 presently he rose and clapped him on the 
 shoulder. 
 
 " Your soul has grown, my boy ! " he said ; 
 then, wringing him by the hand "You re- 
 member a certain sermon I preached to you 
 one autumn morning ? " 
 
 Christian smiled without speaking, and Mr. 
 Lennox seemed satisfied. 
 
 " You have perhaps already put it into ef- 
 fect ? " said he. 
 
 " I am beginning," said Christian. 
 
 " Well, remember," went on the old man, 
 "if your text is to be Sursum Corda, your own 
 heart must first be lifted up. You must dwell 
 always in the high places." 
 
 Christian smiled again, and went to the 
 piano, and as the Professor listened, he felt his 
 own heart at rest. 
 
 Christian played far into the night, and 
 rising at last, was making his way uncere- 
 moniously towards the door when Mr. Lennox 
 arrested him. 
 
 " I had forgotten to ask you something. 
 What about your friend your clever friend
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 357 
 
 who interested me so much? You have not 
 mentioned her name." 
 
 Christian turned and slowly retraced his 
 steps to the centre of the room, his eyes 
 being fixed with apparent abstraction upon the 
 floor. His face was very dark and moody. 
 
 As the Professor repeated his question, he 
 looked up with a start. 
 
 " Oh, Annola is always there," he said. His 
 eyes wandered round the room, at first half- 
 absently, but presently, when they rested on 
 Juliet, their expression changed, and for a mo- 
 ment his face contracted as though with a 
 spasm of pain. 
 
 " Always there ! " he repeated under his 
 breath, and turning abruptly, went away. 
 
 Mr. Lennox rose, and began to pace medita- 
 tively up and down, according to his custom 
 when preoccupied. 
 
 " I can't make it out," he said all at once, 
 coming to a standstill. " That musician of 
 yours is a fine fellow a noble fellow; after 
 what has passed between you one hardly dares 
 to accuse him of fickleness of purpose, yet he 
 seems to shrink from talking about his dearest 
 friend. Did you not notice it, child ? He was 
 not only reluctant to speak of her, but positively 
 seemed to dislike the sound of her name ; yet
 
 358 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 I understand he owes her everything. Do you 
 think they can have quarrelled ? " in a tone 
 of relief "Young men are so headstrong; 
 there may be some passing coolness between 
 them. I should not like to think him fickle 
 or ungrateful. Has he ever spoken of her to 
 you?" 
 
 " No," returned she, adding almost passion- 
 ately, " how could he when it was she who 
 drove us apart ? Oh, I know she did it for 
 the best, and perhaps it was best, but it was 
 cruel." 
 
 "Ah," returned her father, after pausing to 
 readjust his ideas : each fresh hint of the hith- 
 erto unplumbed depths of his daughter's heart 
 came as a revelation to him. "Ah, of course; 
 to be sure ; Christian must certainly know that 
 it was she who separated you. Yes, I suppose 
 it is natural that he should resent it." 
 
 " He must know; I think he must know or 
 he would have been more angry with me for 
 going away. He has not even asked me for an 
 explanation, so he must surely realise that I 
 did not leave him from caprice, or or want 
 of" 
 
 " Want of love, eh ? " said Mr. Lennox, 
 pinching her cheek half sadly. " That curious 
 woman that friend of his accused me once
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 359 
 
 of making little diagrams of my heart in or- 
 der to let the world know its exact condition. 
 You, Baby, can keep your secrets better, but 
 I fancy he knows a good deal." 
 
 And with that he went away, leaving Juliet 
 a prey to a medley of emotions. 
 
 It was true ; she felt it to be true ; Christian 
 knew, must always have known that she loved 
 him. She need feel no shame at the conscious- 
 ness of it ; should she not rather be proud in 
 realising that he had never once doubted her, 
 that he had evidently divined the motive of 
 her flight and gauged the strength of her love 
 by the cost of her sacrifice ? It must be so, 
 since he seemed to have taken up their court- 
 ship at a point beyond that at which it had 
 been abruptly cut off; he had divulged his 
 secret to her on that moonlight night long ago 
 at Stattingen, but, though five years had inter- 
 vened, he had not yet asked her for her answer. 
 He knew it already : as he had said himself, 
 there was no need of words between them. 
 And yet, as the girl told herself, half shrink- 
 ingly, for she hardly as yet dared to put the 
 thought into definite shape, it would be sweet 
 to make the confession to him, to lay bare her 
 heart with all its secrets. All that would come 
 some day ; he must choose a day, he must be
 
 360 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 the first to break this delicious silence by 
 speech more precious still. Oh, she was well 
 content to wait. 
 
 Nevertheless the recollection of her father's 
 words and a certain sense of expectation made 
 her more shy with Christian than she had 
 hitherto been when he appeared next day. He, 
 too, was silent, and a little constrained. He 
 sat down beside her for a few moments on first 
 arriving, but presently went to the piano, where 
 he began to play the second movement of the 
 Waldstein. He missed a note when about half- 
 way through, and immediately jumped up with 
 an angry exclamation, and shaking his hand. 
 
 " I play it at my recital," he said ; " and it 
 goes so badly as that ! I must go home and 
 practise. I ought not to have come but I 
 cannot keep away." 
 
 " That should not be," returned Juliet, earn- 
 estly. " You should not let me be a hindrance 
 to you. You know I would far rather not see 
 you at all than in any way interfere with your 
 art." 
 
 " Ah, you can say that," he cried, with flash- 
 ing eyes, " so calmly ? I must see you, I must 
 pay myself back now for the years of which I 
 have been robbed. I have been robbed," he 
 repeated with increasing agitation. " You know
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 361 
 
 it you know it. Oh, Juliet, why did you go 
 away ? All this time we might have been so 
 happy, and you left me in the prison house." 
 
 Juliet stood up too, turning very pale and 
 pressing her hands together. The moment 
 had come then, but not as she had dreamed of 
 late ; rather as she had so often dreaded. Chris- 
 tian was demanding his explanation with a 
 lowering face, and a voice that trembled with 
 wrath and grief rather than with tenderness. 
 
 " It was for your sake," she murmured al- 
 most inarticulately. " When Annola said that 
 your career would be blighted " 
 
 He threw out his hand quickly. 
 
 " Tell me no more," he cried in a choked 
 voice, " no more, or I shall curse her ! It was 
 she, then ? But I knew it. You were mine 
 and she drove you away to wander over the 
 world while I was kept in bondage." 
 
 He was striding about the room now, his 
 face convulsed, his chest heaving, his words 
 coming in gasps. Suddenly he stood still, op- 
 posite to her, with a passionate gesture. 
 
 "Oh, Juliet, why did you go away why 
 did you leave me ? You should not have 
 left me." 
 
 The words came out in a cry, such a cry as 
 might have been uttered by one in extreme
 
 362 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 physical anguish ; his eyes were still full of 
 angry pain. 
 
 " You left me alone," he continued incohe- 
 rently, " and I wanted you ; in all the world I 
 only wanted you." 
 
 Juliet came a little nearer to him, and laid 
 her hand upon his arm : 
 
 " Dear Christian, what does it matter now, 
 since you are here ? Have we not met at last ? " 
 
 He heaved a deep sigh as of one awaking 
 from a painful dream, and looked at her fixedly. 
 
 " What does it matter ? " she repeated in a 
 tone unconsciously caressing, while her sweet 
 eyes looking into his told him how much? 
 
 He sighed again and his face relaxed. 
 
 " After all, the spirit is not bound can 
 never be bound. Mine belongs to you ; it 
 has always been yours. You know it?" he 
 added in a lower voice. 
 
 " Yes," said Juliet, simply. 
 
 He stooped and kissed her hands very rever- 
 ently and gently, and then, loosing them, went 
 away without another word. 
 
 Juliet stood motionless looking at her hands, 
 on which she still seemed to feel the pressure 
 of his lips. And yet he had kissed them as 
 one might kiss the hands of the dead.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE musician did not appear for a few 
 days, and Juliet had begun to feel 
 vaguely depressed and uneasy, when one 
 morning he suddenly walked in. 
 
 " I have been working so hard," he cried, 
 " so hard that my poor brain is quite how 
 would you say? Muddled. I must rest to- 
 day ; I must have a holiday. I have come to 
 take you for a walk, Juliet." 
 
 " A walk," ejaculated she, somewhat taken 
 aback. " Do you forget that we are in 
 London ? " 
 
 "Have you not parks gardens?" he in- 
 quired quickly. " Is it possible that you are 
 thinking about the convenances. The con- 
 venances between you and me, Juliet how 
 ridiculous ! " 
 
 " This is not Stattingen," returned she, laugh- 
 363
 
 364 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 ing, and then becoming grave again. "Are we 
 not very happy here where no one interrupts 
 us ? " she went on somewhat wistfully. 
 
 " We are very happy here," he said, and then 
 paused, adding dreamily, " but I want to be out 
 with you under the trees and the sky, with the 
 grass beneath our feet. I want to bring back 
 Schonwald. It is a fancy what would you 
 have ? Well, will you come ? " 
 
 " Yes, I will come," said she. 
 
 They took a hansom to Kensington Gardens, 
 where they wandered blissfully under the trees, 
 keeping well away from the nurses and children 
 who chiefly pervade the place at such an early 
 hour, and feeling indeed as completely isolated 
 from the rest of the world as though they found 
 themselves in the forest at Schonwald. The 
 light-heartedness of those former days seemed 
 to have returned to both of them ; Christian 
 in particular was in the wildest spirits, and 
 appeared to have thrown aside for the time 
 being every serious thought. 
 
 All at once, however, for some unexplained 
 reason silence fell between them, and when 
 Juliet spoke it was in a pensive tone. 
 
 " Is it not strange, Christian, that though we 
 have taken up life again so naturally we should 
 know so little about each other? At least I
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 365 
 
 know very little about what you have been 
 doing these five years." 
 
 The brightness flitted from his face as the 
 sunshine from a hillside when the sky becomes 
 overcast. 
 
 " You know I have been to Japan," she went 
 on, laughing, yet with an underlying note of 
 seriousness, " and I know you have made a 
 successful tour in America ; but about you 
 you, yourself you have not told me much." 
 
 His eyes were fixed on the ground, and he 
 paced beside her without speaking. 
 
 " Do you not want to tell me ? " she went on 
 with gentle persistence. 
 
 He turned and faced her, catching at her 
 hand, his face alight once more, but this time 
 with inexplicable passion. 
 
 " Are we not well as we are ? " he cried. " Is 
 it not better to forget that we have ever been 
 parted, that anyone ever came between us? 
 You are so good, Juliet I am almost afraid 
 of your goodness. Perhaps if you knew too 
 much about me you would change to me." 
 
 " You know that is impossible," said she, in 
 a low voice. Her colour was coming and going, 
 and tears were standing in her eyes. " There 
 is nothing you could tell me that could make 
 any difference."
 
 366 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 He wrung her hand with almost feverish 
 excitement. 
 
 " If you say so, why should I doubt ? " he 
 cried agitatedly; then, seeming to recover him- 
 self, he went on more gently : 
 
 " But after all, why should we think about the 
 past ? The present is ours. To-day now 
 when we are together." 
 
 " And is not the future ours too ? " she thought 
 within herself, with a leaping heart, though 
 maidenly reticence kept the words from her 
 lips. Let him speak of the future at his own 
 time. The present was enough now ! 
 
 They paced on again, in dreamy happiness 
 if less childishly gay than before, and, as they 
 were turning at the end of an unfrequented 
 alley in order to retrace their steps, they sud- 
 denly came face to face with another couple, 
 walking very leisurely arm-in-arm, and simul- 
 taneously came to a standstill. 
 
 "Christian," cried Juliet, "there are the de 
 Galphis ! I thought she was in Constantinople, 
 but there she is, just the same as ever." 
 
 Christian had already taken off his hat and 
 was flourishing it ecstatically. "Hurrah!" he 
 cried, " Bravo ! There they are, indeed. Quick 
 let us go to them." 
 
 He took Juliet by the hand, and they ran
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 367 
 
 forward together, Christian crying out as they 
 went. 
 
 " See, madame, we are here. Nous voila, 
 cher comte. Behold us. What a surprise ! 
 Nicht ? " 
 
 The dear old lady had dropped her husband's 
 arm and was waddling towards them as fast as 
 her short legs would carry her. 
 
 " A la bonheur ! " she shrieked. " What 
 brings you here, mes enfants ? " 
 
 By this time her spouse had arrived on the 
 scene, and warmly grasping Juliet's hands 
 informed her joyfully that she had a very good 
 complexion. Addressing Christian in his turn, 
 he repeated the same statement with, if pos- 
 sible, increased enthusiasm ; and seeing that 
 the young couple appeared somewhat surprised 
 though they both laughed, he hastened to add 
 that of course he meant a good sanitary com- 
 plexion. 
 
 " Ach ! " cried the countess. " Was fiir 
 Dumheit. II veut dire que vous avez bonne 
 mine. But what a rencontre ! The world's a 
 very small place certainly. N'est-ce pas, Ignace, 
 le monde est une tres petite place ? And to 
 think that only the day before yesterday we 
 met Bobo." 
 
 " Bobo," cried Christian and Juliet together,
 
 368 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 adding simultaneously, "what luck! What 
 brings him here ? " 
 
 " Neither more nor less than his honeymoon," 
 returned the old lady. " Oh, Bobo is a very 
 important person now I can tell you ; a married 
 man and a Professor into the bargain. Pro- 
 fessor at the Brussels Conservatoire. What do 
 you think of that? We made our traversee 
 together from Ostend." 
 
 " Bobo married ! " ejaculated Christian, with 
 an odd look. 
 
 "Bobo a Professor!" cried Juliet, laughing. 
 " Oh, he must come and see us where is he 
 staying, Countess? I must ask him to come 
 and see us." 
 
 " You may come and see him this very day 
 if you like," cried Madame de Galphi in high 
 glee, " and Madame Bobo too. They are both 
 coming to tea with me at four o'clock this 
 afternoon. Do come ; and you too, Herr Thai. 
 It will be like Stattingen over again. I've got 
 rooms at Carlyle Mansions not fashionable, 
 but quite respectable. I'll give you a good 
 tea Juliet, you shall help me to make tea in 
 the same little teapot ; you know the little tea- 
 pot that has travelled all over the world with 
 me. Now I mustn't keep my husband standing 
 in this treacherous May wind. Je dis, mon ami,
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 369 
 
 qu'il faut continuer notre petit trot. Ce Mai 
 vent est traiteux." 
 
 Christian's eyes met Juliet's, and they smiled ; 
 it was delightful to hear their old friend's 
 peculiar idioms again. 
 
 " It was luck," said the count ; " it was a good 
 luck for us that we imagined to take our 
 temperamental in this direction." 
 
 Madame de Galphi laughed with keen en- 
 joyment. 
 
 " He is just as funny as ever," she said in a 
 confidential aside to Juliet. 
 
 And she went away chuckling to herself and 
 sublimely unconscious of any little oddities of 
 diction on her own part. 
 
 Christian and Juliet were the first to arrive 
 that afternoon at Carlyle Mansions, where they 
 found Count de Galphi enveloped in his dress- 
 ing-gown and smoking an immense cigar, while 
 his wife was bending over the fire, on which 
 was insecurely balanced a very large and very 
 black kettle obviously found on the premises ; 
 the little china tea service, which Juliet remem- 
 bered of old, was set forth on the table flanked 
 by a noble supply of the most unwholesome- 
 looking cakes procurable for money. A delight- 
 ful atmosphere of Bohemianism pervaded the 
 apartment, and the countess was in her glory.
 
 3/0 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " Sit there," she cried, pointing emphatically 
 to the sofa, " sit there, facing the light so that 
 he may recognise you at once. I would not 
 miss seeing Bobo's face for twenty pounds. 
 Bon ! Here they come ! " 
 
 At this moment, indeed, the door was thrown 
 open, and the little servant, unable to cope with 
 the pronunciation of the newcomers' name, 
 announced after a fashion much in favour 
 with her kind : 
 
 " A lady and gentleman to see you, ma'am." 
 
 In came Bobo in his usual precipitate man- 
 ner, Bobo apparently just the same as ever, a 
 little broader, perhaps, and possibly a little 
 shaggier, but with the same incalculable amount 
 of angles about his person, and the same good- 
 humoured ugly face, now radiant with smiles. 
 
 He threw himself upon the countess's hand ; 
 dashed across the room, upsetting a chair as he 
 went, to seize the count's, and, catching sight 
 of Christian, staggered back with an expression 
 of incredulous delight, darted forward again, 
 and finally flung himself into his arms, crying 
 rapturously aloud between tears and laughter : 
 
 " Christian, Christian, you here ? Is it possi- 
 ble ? Ah, 9a, mon vieux, quel chance ! Ah, ah, 
 je n'en reviens pas. Ah, my dear Christian ! " 
 and then more embracings, more rapturous
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 371 
 
 handshakings, more inarticulate protests of 
 joy and affection. 
 
 Christian was very calm, very happy, very 
 much amused ; but when the demonstrations 
 had gone on for some little time he called his 
 friend's attention to Juliet, whose laughing face 
 and extended hand Bobo had not yet observed. 
 
 " Here, too, is someone who is glad to see 
 you," he said; "do you not remember Juliet, 
 Bobo ? " 
 
 " Do I remember Juliet ? " gasped Professor 
 Michotte. " Ah, my dear good Juliet, this is 
 indeed a happy day. You permit ? " 
 
 Somewhat to her astonishment Juliet found 
 herself enfolded in his arms and embraced in 
 brotherly fashion on each cheek. 
 
 " It is my wife who will be delighted," he 
 exclaimed ; " come here, Jeanne, come here, my 
 mignonne, that I may present thee. Here 
 is Juliet the dear Juliet of whom thou hast 
 often heard me speak ; and here is Christian 
 Thai, the great Christian Thai, our pride, our 
 joy, our genius. There he is what an honour 
 for thee, hein ? Thou mayest embrace her, 
 Christian." 
 
 Christian, with a laughing glance at Juliet, 
 bestowed the required salute, which Madame 
 Michotte, a pretty little plump blue-eyed woman,
 
 372 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 Flemish by nationality, received with the ut- 
 most placidity. Then, as the countess was 
 observed to stagger under the weight of the tea- 
 kettle which she was carrying across the room, 
 Christian flew to her assistance, while the rest 
 of the party seated themselves at the table, 
 the little bride being careful to secure a place 
 next to her big ungainly husband whom she 
 obviously adored. Indeed, during the greater 
 part of the meal the pair sat artlessly hand in 
 hand ; while more than once when the little 
 lady had distinguished herself by some sally, 
 Bobo was constrained to announce that she 
 was really adorable, and to embrace her with- 
 out ceremony. The manner in which he 
 flourished his right hand, adorned, according 
 to the custom of his race, with a brand-new 
 wedding-ring, amused more than one of the 
 guests ; indeed, Count de Galphi, observing 
 him, on one occasion, turning this ring round 
 and round with a conscious smile, was obliged 
 to remark upon it. 
 
 " One sees well that you are a young-married," 
 he observed with a chuckle ; " the alliance is 
 new to you, is it not ? New, and also very 
 agreeable." 
 
 As he spoke as usual in English, Madame de 
 Galphi proceeded to translate for Bobo's benefit.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 373 
 
 " Mon mari parle de votre bague de manage," 
 she explained, continuing to make the rest of 
 her husband's remarks intelligible to the musi- 
 cian after her own fashion. 
 
 " But yes," cried Bobo, jubilantly, turning to 
 the count, " it is indeed for me an agreeable, a 
 delicious sensation to feel this little circle on 
 my finger, reminding me as it does that I am 
 a slave, a prisoner, held fast by fetters which it 
 would be agony to break." 
 
 Christian stopped short suddenly in some 
 gallant speech to Madame Michotte, and looked 
 round. 
 
 " In your place I would not wear it," he cried 
 in a curiously harsh voice. " Fetters must 
 always be galling even when they are forged 
 by oneself" then, turning again to Madame 
 Michotte "Surely it cannot be your wish, 
 madame, that your husband should consider 
 himself fettered ? In such matters there should 
 be no constraint. You know that his heart is 
 yours is not that enough ? " 
 
 The little woman stared at him with round 
 astonished eyes, and then said good-humouredly 
 enough : 
 
 " Frankly, if you others, messieurs les artistes, 
 have such droll notions about marriage I think 
 it as well that my husband should \vear his
 
 374 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 alliance. It may be sometimes a useful remem- 
 brance." 
 
 " I would not wear it," cried Christian, vehe- 
 mently ; " an artist to be hampered by such 
 things. A musician above all. What ! Each 
 time that one lays one's hands upon the keys 
 to be reminded that another has claims even 
 upon your art I would not endure it." 
 
 " Pfui," exclaimed Madame de Galphi, " these 
 are pretty sentiments ! Do not listen to this 
 young madman, Ignace ; I cannot have you 
 demoralised." 
 
 Juliet's face flamed, and the consciousness of 
 colouring increased her sense of confusion. 
 She felt wounded to the heart's core, astonished, 
 even angry a rare event with her. Surely 
 such an attack coming from Christian under 
 these circumstances known to him and her 
 alone was inexplicable positively insulting. 
 
 Bobo's words did not tend to improve 
 matters. 
 
 " Ta-ta-ta-ta, my boy, there speaks Ignorance. 
 You will think very differently when the time 
 comes." 
 
 " Certainly," cried Madame de Galphi, " he 
 must ranger himself and I should not be 
 surprised if he did soon," she added, with a 
 meaning glance at Juliet. "With such wild
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 375 
 
 views as those, my friend, you certainly want 
 someone to take care of you." 
 
 " Yes, you should marry, Christian," said 
 Bobo ; " nearly all of us that were in the class 
 together are married now. Rosie you re- 
 member Rosie ? She was tres gentille, la 
 petite, was she not ? Well, she has married a 
 rich banker a rich Jew banker, and they 
 say she hardly ever touches the piano now. Is 
 it not a pity ? " 
 
 " Was Rosie the little Scotch girl whom you 
 used to call Dumpling ? " inquired the count- 
 ess, with her head on one side and a malicious 
 twinkle in her eye as she glanced at the bride. 
 
 "Dump-ling?" queried Madame Michotte, 
 pricking up her ears. " It is a funny name. 
 Why was she called Dump-ling ? " 
 
 " Because, my cherished one, she was rather 
 fat," returned the new-made husband, hastily. 
 " She used to play so well ; but so well ! And 
 now she is married to a Jew banker. And 
 Karoly, he also is married to an actress. It 
 is a pity that." 
 
 There was silence for a moment, and then 
 Bobo continued, pursuing his previous train of 
 thought : 
 
 " It is folly what you say there, Christian, 
 about its being degrading to an artist to wear
 
 376 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 a wedding-ring. It is on the contrary a source 
 of perpetual pride and joy. Believe me, when 
 one is away from the beloved it is a great satis- 
 faction to feel her ring upon your finger and 
 to think 'She is mine. It is no dream 
 she is mine.' And to one's art parbleu ! it 
 is a stimulant. When one sees the flash of it 
 as one's fingers run over the keys one thinks 
 of her, one says to oneself ' All this for her ' 
 can you not understand it ? " 
 
 " Yes," returned Christian, in an altered voice, 
 " I can understand it." He pushed back his 
 chair and rose from the table. 
 
 " I must go back to my work," he said ; " my 
 holiday is at an end. Adieu, madame." 
 
 He was bowing over Madame de Galphi's 
 hand, but she drew it sharply away. 
 
 " Nonsense, what fly stings you that you 
 must rush off like this ? You will not see Bobo 
 again, perhaps. They are only in London for 
 three days." 
 
 " Why this rage for work, my dear fellow ? " 
 put in Michotte, plaintively. " I have a thou- 
 sand things to say to you." 
 
 " Come round and see me to-night, then," 
 returned Christian, "late, quite late. I shall 
 be practising till then. My recital takes place 
 in a \veek now."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 377 
 
 " In a week ! And alas, we shall not be here. 
 No, we cannot stay for it ; I must get back to 
 my post. But we shall hear you in Paris per- 
 haps ; we go there for the New Year. And 
 you will come to Brussels without doubt ? " 
 
 " Without doubt," echoed Christian, mechani- 
 cally. He shook hands with Bobo and the 
 count, and then turned to Juliet. 
 
 " And you," he said, " how will you go back ? 
 I ought not to hurry you away." 
 
 " You need not worry about me," returned 
 she, in a tone of affected lightness, though her 
 lip trembled. " I will stay here a little longer 
 and then find my own way home." 
 
 He cast a keen look at her, taking note of the 
 trouble in her face which immediately became 
 reflected in his own, hesitated for a moment, 
 and then sat down again. 
 
 " No, I will wait," he said. 
 
 But the gaiety of the little party seemed to 
 be destroyed, and a certain constraint settled on 
 them all. Before very long Madame Michotte, 
 looking meaningly at her husband, began to 
 put on her gloves and announced that it was 
 time to go. Count de Galphi wrapping his 
 dressing-gown more closely round him accom- 
 panied them as far as the lift, and his wife took 
 advantage of his absence to inquire sharply
 
 3/8 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 of the remaining young pair what was amiss 
 between them. 
 
 " When I saw you walking this morning," 
 she said, "you seemed happy enough; but now, 
 what's the matter? I don't understand you," 
 
 Juliet did not answer, and after a moment's 
 hesitation Christian spoke. 
 
 " Madame," he said, " I am not easy to under- 
 stand very often I do not understand myself. 
 But you, Juliet," he added appealingly, " you, 
 I think, always understand me the better 
 part of me." 
 
 But Juliet was still ruffled and hurt. 
 
 " I do not understand you to-day," she said, 
 and rose to take her leave. 
 
 " Never mind him, my dear," said the old 
 lady as she embraced her, " men are the oddest 
 creatures and it doesn't do to pay attention to 
 them. Even my count has his moments. As 
 for you lovers, of course you will have fifty 
 quarrels without their meaning anything. Prut, 
 do not deny that you are lovers ; I have eyes in 
 my head, I suppose." 
 
 Greatly to the girl's relief Count de Galphi 
 entered at this juncture and announced his 
 readiness to escort them, too, to the lift. 
 
 Christian broke silence when he and Juliet 
 found themselves side by side in a hansom.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 379 
 
 " I have hurt you," he said. 
 
 " Yes," she returned with downcast eyes. 
 
 " Yet I would give my life to save you pain. 
 Oh, Juliet, it might have been better if we had 
 not met." 
 
 " Do you say this to me now, Christian ? " 
 
 " I say it," he returned vehemently, " but I do 
 not feel it. I feel that it was well, well, that we 
 have met. I grudge every moment that is not 
 spent in your company. An hour with you 
 is worth a lifetime. I would walk barefoot 
 to the end of the world for a glimpse of 
 your face." 
 
 " Christian, Christian, why do you talk so 
 wildly? And how you contradict yourself, 
 don't you ? " 
 
 She was laughing now, a wavering uncertain 
 laugh that was very near to tears. He meant 
 what he said now, whatever might have been 
 his motive for the tirade of a little while ago ; 
 she could not doubt it and the relief was 
 great. 
 
 " When I spoke of fetters," cried he, " can 
 you imagine for a moment that I was alluding 
 to you ? " 
 
 Then what did he mean, the girl asked her- 
 self, dismissing the thought, however, almost as 
 soon as it came.
 
 380 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " I am yours ; remember it," he cried still 
 passionately; "all that is best in me is yours. 
 My heart is yours my soul is yours. Never 
 doubt it." 
 
 She put her hand in his, and they spoke no 
 more until they reached her house.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 -fjiiz 
 
 IT was the day of Christian Thai's recital. 
 The great hall was filled, more than filled, 
 densely packed from floor to ceiling. There 
 was not even standing room in the galleries. 
 Juliet sat almost preternaturally still, her 
 heart beating tumultuously, her face white; the 
 platform on which Christian must presently 
 appear seemed to swim before her eyes ; she 
 felt rather than saw the great concourse of 
 people. Her father, conscious of her natural 
 agitation, though not fully aware of its extent, 
 endeavoured to distract her mind during the 
 period of waiting by calling her attention to 
 this or that personage of interest. 
 
 381
 
 
 382 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " It is not merely a fashionable assemblage," 
 he said, "your friend seems to draw notabili- 
 ties of many kinds, and particularly musicians. 
 
 Surely that is the violinist ; and those are 
 
 two remarkable heads up there to the right of 
 the balcony. Look." 
 
 Juliet raised her eyes to the spot indicated, 
 and a little colour came to her cheeks. 
 
 " Those are two of Professor Adlersohn's 
 former pupils," she cried. " I remember their 
 faces quite well. I heard them play at his class 
 at Stattingen. I suppose all the members of the 
 school in London are anxious to hear Cassar, 
 as they used to call him." 
 
 " Aha, Caesar ? " said her father. 
 
 " Yes, it was a name they gave him because 
 of his ambition," she returned with a little 
 laugh. " He always vowed he would vanquish 
 the universe." 
 
 Her father glanced once more round the hall. 
 
 " Well, his prophecy already seems likely to 
 be verified," he said. 
 
 At this moment enthusiastic applause an- 
 nounced that Christian had stepped forth upon 
 the platform. 
 
 Juliet drew a long breath, and, as he came 
 forward bowing gravely, tried to fancy what 
 impression he was likely to produce upon such
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 383 
 
 units of the vast crowd as then beheld him for 
 the first time. To her he was Christian, her 
 Christian, the first among men, inexpressibly 
 beloved ; his face, his gait, every little trick of 
 manner dear to her because a part of himself. 
 How did he strike others ? Surely everyone 
 must see how noble he was, how graceful, how 
 dignified. It seemed to her, indeed, as he faced 
 the crowd that day, that he possessed a certain 
 majesty of bearing which even she had never 
 before noticed. What was it her cousin had 
 said ? " He seems to be miles and miles above 
 one." And what was that bygone boast of 
 his? " I never find myself in the midst of a 
 crowd without feeling that I have the power 
 to dominate it." Well, he dominated this vast 
 concourse to-day; he was already its master. 
 The magnetic force of his personality swayed 
 it before he had so much as laid his fingers 
 upon the keys. 
 
 He stood for a moment, viewing the sea of 
 faces and listening to the tumultuous applause, 
 as a man might stand upon the shore watching 
 the incoming waves and barkening to the roar 
 of them, to all intents and purposes alone. He 
 was alone, alone with his art that art which 
 would presently enfold, uplift him, and with him 
 the listening throng around. Yet not entirely
 
 384 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 alone, for even as he turned towards his piano 
 he cast one swift look along the row of stalls 
 where Juliet sat, and their eyes met ; and she 
 knew that he took the thought of her with him. 
 When he played she felt as though her spirit 
 was being drawn forth from her body and wafted 
 with his on those exquisite sounds up, up to 
 the high regions where all was beauty and peace. 
 
 Suddenly a thunder of applause rent the air, 
 and she came down to earth again to find 
 Christian once more bowing to the audience, 
 and her father wiping his eyes. 
 
 " He is a wonder," he said ; " a great man 
 a genius indeed." 
 
 Juliet smiled faintly; had she not always 
 known it? 
 
 And now he was playing again, and once 
 more her soul was drawn to his, and it seemed 
 to her that they communed at ease, they two 
 alone; he was putting his love into definite 
 form, telling her all about it, now with sweet 
 iteration, now introducing some subtle exquisite 
 change. 
 
 And again there was silence, and then once 
 more a tumult of enthusiasm. 
 
 " Ten minutes' interval," said the Professor, 
 looking down at his programme ; " shall we go 
 into the Artists' Room ? "
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 385 
 
 " No, Daddy ; I couldn't," said she. 
 
 He looked down at her quickly. 
 
 " It has been almost too much for you," he 
 said. " Well, little girl, let me tell you that 
 even I feel proud to-day for your sake. I 
 have never heard such music ; he is like no one 
 else." 
 
 Juliet smiled again : of course he was like no 
 one else. Oh, she was proud, not of his triumph, 
 but of him, of himself, of the mind that could 
 conceive such beauty, of the hands that could 
 interpret it; above all, of the heart w r hich she 
 seemed to hear pulsing through every grada- 
 tion of sound, ever repeating the refrain meant 
 for her alone " My soul is yours, my soul is 
 yours." 
 
 Her very stillness and silence caused curious 
 glances to be turned upon her, and she, becom- 
 ing suddenly aware of them, cast down her 
 eyes lest they should betray her blissful 
 secret. 
 
 A programme lay open on her lap, the words 
 dancing before her gaze : Beethoven, Chopin, 
 Schumann. What did it matter whose music 
 he played ? she thought to herself. He made 
 of it what he would. 
 
 It was over at last ; even the ovation which 
 had greeted Christian at the conclusion had
 
 386 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 come to an end, and Juliet stumbled out with 
 the rest, clinging to her father's arm. 
 
 They had reached the air, found their car- 
 riage and proceeded for some way on their 
 homeward journey before the Professor spoke. 
 
 Leaning forward and looking at Juliet with 
 dreamy eyes, he murmured very softly : 
 
 " ' I will come to the visions and revelations 
 of the Lord. I know a man . . . (whether in 
 the body I know not: God knoweth) such an 
 one rapt even to the third heaven. And I 
 know such a man (whether in the body or out 
 of the body I cannot tell: God knoweth) 
 that he was caught up into Paradise ; and 
 heard secret words which it is not granted to 
 man to utter ' 
 
 He broke off, smiling. 
 
 " I thought of this several times while Chris- 
 tian was playing, yet it is not entirely appro- 
 priate. He hears the words indeed, but it is 
 granted to him also to utter them."
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 JULIET came down to breakfast, pale after 
 a sleepless night ; one of those " white 
 nights" which had been frequent with her of 
 late, and during which she had lain awake 
 from pure bliss. She scarcely felt weary, so 
 great w r as her exaltation of spirit ; she would 
 even have been reluctant to spend in oblivion 
 time better employed in dwelling on the events 
 of the previous day. Every doubt seemed now- 
 set at rest, every fear done away with. Lest 
 anything might have been wanting to complete 
 
 387
 
 388 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 the happiness of this day of days, Christian had 
 come in for a few moments just before bedtime, 
 exhausted, but supremely content ; they must 
 have another holiday, he said ; he would come 
 in good time on the morrow to take her out. 
 
 " Now he will speak," Juliet said to herself 
 over and over again in the night. " The time 
 has come at last ; he will surely speak now." 
 
 Small wonder that she had longed for the 
 coming of the dawn. 
 
 Punctual though she was, she found the 
 Professor already installed at the breakfast 
 table; for he had, as he explained, important 
 work to do that morning, and intended to 
 betake himself as soon as might be to the 
 British Museum. 
 
 " I, too, am going out," said Juliet, with a 
 smile. " Christian is coming early to take me 
 to Kensington Gardens." 
 
 " Aha," said Mr. Lennox, with a laugh and a 
 shrug of the shoulders ; " you are very uncon- 
 ventional, you two young folks ; but I suppose 
 your little affairs are practically settled. By 
 the way here is a letter which concerns you 
 more than me. It is from Bulkeley. It seems 
 news of your engagement has already reached 
 Stattingen, and the good people there are on 
 tiptoe with excitement."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 389 
 
 "My engagement!" exclaimed Juliet, and 
 stopped short with a conscious little laugh. 
 
 " You think the announcement is rather 
 premature ? " returned her father. " That is the 
 penalty one pays, you see, for associating one- 
 self with great men like your Christian. But it 
 matters very little, after all. There, read it for 
 yourself." 
 
 He propped up the Times in front of his 
 plate, according to his custom; leaving his 
 daughter free to peruse the letter which he 
 had tossed across the table. 
 
 To anyone less single-minded than Juliet, 
 Bulkeley's letter would have appeared con- 
 strained, and not altogether devoid of an ele- 
 ment of sadness ; but as she had never been 
 conscious of the tender admiration which 
 would, had Horace dared, have ripened into 
 something warmer, she merely took note of 
 the contents of the missive without paying 
 any heed to the mental attitude of the writer. 
 She uttered little exclamations every now and 
 then, which somewhat interrupted the Professor 
 in the assimilation of his leader, and he, ac- 
 cording to his custom, looked up with a smile 
 or a nod, or a brief response, and immediately 
 became absorbed again. 
 
 Thus, " So it was the Countess de Galphi,
 
 390 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 after all!" Juliet cried on one occasion; and 
 again " How their tongues must have wagged 
 at that tea-party ! " And once, with something 
 akin to petulance, " I wish people would not 
 discuss one's private affairs." 
 
 When she reached the fourth page of the 
 letter, however, her face changed. " Annola 
 Istd was there ! Well, Daddy, you have news 
 of her at last." 
 
 Mr. Lennox looked up, giving Juliet all his 
 attention this time. 
 
 " Yes, I was glad to hear she was well," he 
 said. " I am not quite satisfied with Christian's 
 attitude towards her. You see, Horace says 
 she complains of his not having written for 
 weeks. She actually declares that her last let- 
 ters to him have been returned to her through 
 the post ; he has not even had the civility to 
 inform her of his whereabouts. I cannot but 
 think this wrong, my dear. You should take 
 him to task for it." 
 
 Juliet turned to the letter again. 
 
 " I wish Mr. Bulkeley had not given her my 
 address," she murmured. " She says she is 
 going to write to me. I I she oh, I 
 wish she wouldn't write to me ! She will 
 only say disagreeable things. She will only try 
 to come between us."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 391 
 
 The Professor folded up his newspaper and 
 took off his spectacles. 
 
 " You should not rush to conclusions, child," 
 he said almost severely. " You are unduly 
 prejudiced against a very attractive and intel- 
 lectual woman. Fraulein Istd could have no 
 possible motive for wishing to interfere between 
 you and her friend now. His position is made ; 
 his training is complete ; he may consider him- 
 self independent of her, though motives of 
 gratitude and delicacy should naturally cause 
 him to consult her before undertaking any great 
 change in his life. It should do so, I say," he 
 added, in a more indulgent tone and relaxing 
 into 'a smile, "but young men are hot-headed, 
 and I dare say there is a certain pardonable 
 sense of irritation, I might even say resentment, 
 lingering in his mind when he recalls her for- 
 mer conduct. Events have proved, my dear 
 Juliet, that her action in this matter has had 
 the very best results. Some day you will prob- 
 ably confess as much, though I suppose it 
 would be too much to expect of you or your 
 Christian just yet. Take my advice, Baby, and 
 be generous to that poor woman both of you. 
 After all, she grudged no personal sacrifice for 
 the benefit of Christian's career. Now I'm go- 
 ing to my Museum ; you can, if you like, pass
 
 392 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 on some of my sage counsels to the young 
 man when he arrives." 
 
 He gathered up his letters as he spoke, and, 
 as he did so, caught sight of an unopened news- 
 paper lying amid the pile beside his plate. 
 
 " This is directed to you, I see," he said ; 
 " take it up with you, child. It is a German 
 paper, I believe yes, here is the Stattingen 
 postmark. Perhaps Bulkeley sent it to you. 
 Well, I haven't time to wait till you open it. 
 Take it up with you." 
 
 Juliet went upstairs examining the wrapper 
 as she went. It was directed in the regular 
 pointed hand common to those who habitually 
 employ German characters; the writing told 
 her nothing: she might have seen it before or 
 she might not. 
 
 She went into the drawing-room where a 
 flood of sunshine greeted her, the fresh breeze 
 making the curtains wave as she opened the 
 door. Through the French window the flower- 
 bedecked balcony showed bravely bright; the 
 room itself was full of delicate flower scents. 
 Juliet glanced round: Christian would soon be 
 here now ; it was well to ascertain that all about 
 her was at its best. She pushed forward a chair, 
 moved a vase or two of flowers, and opened the 
 piano ; then, as she sat down leisurely in her
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 393 
 
 accustomed place near the instrument, she 
 stripped off the wrapper from the newspaper. 
 
 It was a small sheet of familiar aspect, a copy, 
 in fact, of a certain journal to which Countess 
 de Galphi had regularly subscribed during her 
 stay at Stattingen, and which had been much 
 beloved by that lady, for it was its custom to 
 supplement its Fashionable Intelligence with 
 various delectable items of local gossip. 
 
 The paper which Juliet held was folded in 
 the middle and marked in one place with two 
 large crosses in red ink. She read the title at 
 a glance : 
 
 " Romance of a Musician," and crushed up 
 the paper, reddening and biting her lip. 
 
 It had got into print already. How dared 
 they ! How dared they before Christian him- 
 self had torn apart the veil of silence which 
 shrouded this most sacred and most intimate 
 secret ! Their love tale had not yet been fully 
 told and here it was blazoned forth in print ! 
 
 She smoothed out the paper, and again sought 
 the place, her breath coming quickly, her cheeks 
 burning. 
 
 All at once her eyes dilated, and she gazed at 
 the paragraph as though fascinated, the colour 
 ebbing from her face as quickly as it had come. 
 
 What was this ? What could this mean ?
 
 394 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " It may interest all admirers of the talented 
 artist, Mr. Christian Thai, to learn one of the 
 most romantic episodes in a very romantic 
 career. This, perhaps, most celebrated of 
 Professor Adlersohn's pupils, who at the age 
 of five-and-twenty finds himself already on the 
 pinnacle of fame, has been married for some 
 years to an interesting and remarkable lady 
 well known in Stattingen. The marriage, for 
 reasons best known to the contracting parties, 
 has been kept secret till the present time, but 
 now that the young musician occupies so promi- 
 nent a place in the eyes of the world it would 
 be manifestly unfair to withhold from the pub- 
 lic such an important fact in the life of one in 
 whom it takes so great an interest." 
 
 Juliet fell back in her chair, dropping the 
 paper from her hand, pallid, motionless, stunned. 
 Her eyes, dark under her gathered brows, looked 
 forth blankly. 
 
 " I shall understand soon," she said to her- 
 self ; " I shall know soon what it means." 
 
 At that moment she felt nothing but a sort of 
 dim surprise, such as might befit one recovering 
 from an anaesthetic and finding himself stretched 
 on the operating table. Soon consciousness 
 would come, and with it overwhelming pain. 
 
 Still gazing before her with those dazed eyes,
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 395 
 
 she saw the door open and Christian entering 
 the room. 
 
 He uttered an exclamation at sight of her, 
 and hurried towards her; and moving one 
 numb hand with immense difficulty she pointed 
 to the paper. 
 
 He stooped and picked up, not the paper, but 
 the wrapper. 
 
 " Annola sent you this," he cried. 
 
 So it was Annola! thought Juliet; then she 
 once more designated the journal. 
 
 He snatched it from the floor, and walked 
 with it nearer the window, though indeed the 
 room was flooded with light. Juliet turned her 
 head a little so as to follow him with her eyes, 
 and saw that his hand shook. 
 
 After what seemed to be an interval of a 
 thousand years he flung the paper on the 
 floor and came towards her. 
 
 "Juliet!" 
 
 Her eyes were still fixed on his face, but she 
 did not speak. 
 
 " Have you nothing to say to me, Juliet ? " 
 
 He stretched out his hand, and she, rousing 
 herself suddenly, caught it in both hers and 
 turned it over; then she raised her anguished 
 eyes to his face and said hoarsely, with a twitch- 
 ing lip :
 
 396 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " Christian, why do you not wear your wed- 
 ding-ring ? " 
 
 He had become white to the lips, but re- 
 turned her gaze steadily. 
 
 " You have heard my reason," he answered. 
 " I do not choose to be reminded of my chain." 
 
 The clutch of the little ice-cold hands relaxed; 
 he drew away his own, and looked at it and then 
 let it drop. 
 
 Juliet had fallen back in her chair once more, 
 being indeed too weak and dizzy to sustain her- 
 self. Her eyes still looked questioningly into 
 his questioningly, but not incredulously. She 
 knew now ; she was beginning to understand. 
 
 He bent over her suddenly, maddened by 
 their dumb pain. 
 
 " Why do you not speak ? " he cried ; " why 
 do you not reproach me ? " 
 
 She did not answer except by a gentle shake 
 of the head, and he, with a groan, stooped over 
 her lower still; he would have kissed her, but 
 that with a cry she pressed both her hands 
 against his breast, endeavouring with all her 
 strength to push him from her. 
 
 " Ah," he cried, starting back, " you love me 
 no more ! You love me no more ! " 
 
 " Oh, Christian ! " she said with a sob, " in- 
 deed it is not because I do not love you."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 397 
 
 He made no attempt to approach her again, 
 but sank down on the music-seat, covering his 
 face with his hands. After a moment, Juliet 
 rallied herself and sat up. 
 
 " You must tell me about it," she said. 
 
 He turned round so as to face her, his eyes 
 not meeting hers, however, but bent upon the 
 floor. He was as pale as she, and beads of 
 anguish stood upon his brow. 
 
 " It was two years after you left me at my 
 first concert at Stattingen. It was a triumph, 
 they said. She was standing in the doorway, 
 and I saw the tears pouring down her face. 
 You know I owed her everything. I thought 
 my success would have repaid her, but it was 
 not enough. I looked in her face and saw that 
 it was not enough. I had never imagined such 
 a thing before, but when I saw oh, I don't 
 know why I did it ; I was excited, overstrung 
 it seemed to me that her claim was para- 
 mount and you had gone away." 
 
 " I see," said Juliet, " I understand." 
 
 " She wished it kept secret," he went on, " and 
 I I did not care. No one guessed we had 
 always been together, you see. It is she of 
 course who has put this announcement in the 
 paper." 
 
 Silence fell between them.
 
 398 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 He could not look at her, and after a moment, 
 heaving a deep sigh, turned round upon the 
 music-stool, and let his hands wander absently 
 over the notes. 
 
 Juliet leaned forward plucking at his arm: 
 " Not 'to-day, Christian, do not play to-day ! " 
 
 He broke off, looking round at her with a 
 frown ; then suddenly turning to the piano 
 again, brought down his hands upon the keys 
 once more with a crash, and the opening notes 
 of the Storm Study came thundering out. 
 
 " No, Christian, no," cried Juliet, almost with 
 a wail. " Not that ! I cannot bear it." 
 
 He paid no heed to her, but played on like 
 one possessed, filling the room with a very 
 tempest of sound. Another tempest raged 
 within the souls of both. 
 
 Juliet started up at length, dragging his 
 hand from the keys, and he, too, sprang to 
 his feet. His face was convulsed. For a 
 moment they stood still, gazing at each other, 
 with terrified eyes. 
 
 Presently, with a gasp, Juliet pointed to the 
 door. 
 
 " You must go," she whispered. 
 
 " Oh, what folly ! " he cried. " We cannot 
 part you know that we cannot part. We 
 must never part again."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 399 
 
 He caught her hands and they fluttered in 
 his grasp like imprisoned birds. 
 
 " Destiny is too strong for us," he cried 
 hoarsely. " It has driven us together you 
 are mine and I am yours You know you 
 cannot live without me." 
 
 " Yes, I can live without you," she said, and 
 with a supreme effort she loosed her hands. 
 " With God's help I will never see you again." 
 
 He fell upon his knees at her feet, clutching 
 her dress, kissing it, pouring forth broken words ; 
 but she stooped and gently strove to disengage 
 herself. 
 
 Looking up pleadingly he saw the despair in 
 her eyes. 
 
 " How will you bear it ? " he gasped ; " if 
 you drive me from you, how will you bear it, 
 Juliet?" 
 
 He caught her hand again and for a moment 
 she let it rest in his, a tremor passing over her 
 frame. Then she braced herself and looked 
 down at him bravely. 
 
 " I can bear it," she said "I will bear it. 
 There is only one thing I could not bear 
 that you should that you should fail ! I think 
 that would kill me." 
 
 " But I want you," he cried ; " I only want 
 you I want nothing but you in the world."
 
 400 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " But I want more oh, much more for you. 
 I will not have you untrue to yourself. You 
 you are more to me than our love. Oh, I 
 am so little and you are so great I will not 
 have you cast away your greatness." 
 
 He pressed his burning lips to her hand and 
 then lifted up his head, his eyes catching some- 
 thing of the inspired light in hers. 
 
 " Christian," she went on earnestly, "Christian, 
 remember the Edelweiss ! Never forget the 
 Edelweiss ! " 
 
 He loosed her hand and stood up : " My soul 
 is yours," he said slowly ; " you shall do with it 
 what you will." 
 
 Their eyes met and she saw that his were 
 dim. 
 
 " It is you who are my Edelweiss," he said 
 falteringly. " My white flower I will leave 
 you in your snows." 
 
 And Juliet realised with an exceedingly bit- 
 ter pang that she had conquered. 
 
 ******** 
 
 Professor Lennox thought the room was 
 empty when he opened the door, but soon 
 caught sight of Juliet crouching in her chair. 
 
 " Ah, you have come home, I see. Has our 
 friend gone already? I thought he would 
 have stayed to-day, perhaps, and played to me.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 401 
 
 To-morrow, to-morrow I must hear him. You 
 look very white, my dear " coming nearer to 
 her " you have over-tired yourself, I fear." 
 
 " Christian will not come to-morrow," said 
 Juliet, in a faint voice " oh, Daddy, he will 
 never come again. I told him not to come 
 again. He is married ! " 
 
 " Married ! " cried her father, with flashing 
 eyes, while the colour rushed to his face. " Mar- 
 ried ! Then how did he dare " 
 
 " Oh, don't, please ! " said Juliet, feebly. " I - 
 I I suppose there are no such things as 
 broken hearts, but I feel as if mine were 
 broken." 
 
 The Professor's own heart was hot within 
 him, yet the sight of her grief-stricken face 
 caused him to choke down his wrathful curi- 
 osity and turn his attention to the task of con- 
 soling this cherished child. Many a wise 
 saying fell from his lips that day, many a 
 telling aphorism ; many a favourite theory, 
 often meditated on and appreciated by himself, 
 was brought to light for his daughter's benefit, 
 his eyes scanning her face the while with the 
 most acute anxiety. 
 
 "Do I help you at all?" he asked all at 
 once. 
 
 " No," said Juliet, with an irrepressible sob.
 
 402 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 And then he went down stiffly on his knees 
 beside her chair and took her in his arms, fond- 
 ling her with tender incoherent words : " My 
 little bird my darling my poor Baby." 
 
 "That helps me," she said, and clasped her 
 hands about his neck with a passion of tears.
 
 PART IV 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Allegro brioso. 
 
 A 
 
 H! Monsieur Michotte? Charmed to 
 see you. My husband has not yet ap- 
 peared, but he will not be long now. He gen- 
 erally works till dinner-time." 
 
 Bobo dropped the hand which he had been 
 holding, with a little laugh. " What a contrast, 
 madame, hein ? What a contrast to the old 
 times." 
 
 He glanced round the luxurious room: Chris- 
 tian Thai's Paris home wanted indeed nothing 
 that artistic taste could devise or money pro- 
 
 403
 
 404 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 cure. Annola herself, in a handsome dress 
 carelessly put on, looked out of place as its pre- 
 siding goddess. She had aged much of late ; 
 her sallow face was pinched and drawn, and 
 her manner was more restless than ever. 
 
 She threw herself into a chair now, with a 
 laugh which was not so pleasant to hear as 
 Michotte's naively delighted one of a moment 
 before. 
 
 " What a fortunate woman I am, monsieur, 
 am I not ? I have everything that the heart 
 can desire. Wealth, luxury, health I shall 
 live for ever, monsieur, I tell you that" here 
 those unquiet eyes of hers gleamed " honour 
 yes, I have even a vicarious share in my 
 husband's fame. The world knows, you see, 
 that it is to me he owes a measure of his great- 
 ness. Ah ! I assure you I am to be envied." 
 
 Bobo shot a keen glance at her from beneath 
 his shaggy brows and nodded ; he was never at 
 ease in the presence of this woman, and to-day 
 she made him feel more uncomfortable than ever. 
 
 " You have every reason to be proud of your 
 husband," he said gravely, after a pause. " What 
 a man ! Ah ! what a man ! Madame, I swear to 
 you that each time I hear him I am filled with 
 fresh wonder. I, even /, his old comrade, who 
 have heard him so often in the School. I tell
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 405 
 
 you, madame, every artist owes him a debt of 
 gratitude. Here in this decadent age, when 
 Art itself has become debased and debauched, 
 he has uplifted it, breathed into it a new spirit 
 become, in a word, an Apostle the Apos- 
 tle of Music. There, do you see, I can hardly 
 speak of it I am carried away by enthusiasm." 
 
 " So I perceive," said Madame Thai, drily ; 
 adding, with an undisguised sneer, " You would 
 agree without doubt with the writer in the 
 ' Guide Musical ' who declares that one might 
 imagine oneself listening to the playing of an 
 angel." 
 
 "Not at all," returned Bobo, hotly. "An 
 angel ? Nothing of the sort ! Christian's play- 
 ing is distinctly human it is even passionate, 
 but with a spiritualised passion that has in it 
 something divine." 
 
 Annola sat upright, flashing a strange look 
 at him. 
 
 " And what is my part in all this ? " she 
 asked. 
 
 " Your part ? " he stammered. 
 
 " I ask you, what is my part ? Since he 
 would not have been a musician at all without 
 me I must perforce have a share in his great 
 work. There, do not trouble yourself to an- 
 swer me you are not one of those who lie
 
 406 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 with ease. To change the subject, I believe 
 there is a telegram waiting here for you." 
 
 " A telegram," ejaculated Bobo, his face 
 lighting up. " It must be from my adored 
 one. De grace, madame, let me see it ! " 
 
 Annola rose and crossed the room to the 
 chimney-piece, from which she took the de- 
 spatch in question. 
 
 Michotte tore it open, reading half aloud : 
 "'A II well, a thousand kisses! Ah! my little 
 Jeanne." 
 
 He pressed the paper to his lips. 
 
 Annola burst out laughing. 
 
 "You carry sentiment a little too far, my 
 friend. Are you aware that you are kissing 
 the words scrawled by some poor devil of a 
 telegraph clerk ? " 
 
 " Madame," returned Bobo, whose face was 
 still radiant, " it matters to me little by whom 
 the words were written. It is the thought that 
 I embrace the thought of her. I will pay, 
 from this distance, homage to the affection 
 which prompted the message. It is the first 
 time we have been separated, you see ; I could 
 give her no indication of where I should be 
 staying to-night, but she knew that I should 
 hasten to see Christian, and so the blessed 
 little woman sends the greeting to me here."
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 407 
 
 " Ah ! so you have never been separated," 
 said Annola, carelessly. " Does Madame Mi- 
 chotte accompany you then when you go on 
 tour?" 
 
 " Until now, madame, she has done so," he 
 returned, with a sigh, " but henceforth I fear it 
 will be impossible. We have now three chil- 
 dren. The mother naturally could not leave her 
 little ones, and on the other hand it would be 
 difficult to travel with such a family. Alas ! I 
 and my cherished one must in future submit to 
 periodical partings." 
 
 " So much the better for your art," returned 
 Annola, sharply. " Do you think I accompany 
 my husband when he travels ? Never. From 
 the first I told him I should not expect it." 
 
 Bobo bowed with an embarrassed look. It 
 seemed to him that the cases were not parallel. 
 
 "So you have three children, now," she went 
 on, taking up the conversation at a fresh point, 
 as the pause threatened to become wearisome. 
 " How old are they, if one may ask ? " 
 
 " Madame, our eldest boy is two years and 
 eleven months old, and the youngest is six 
 weeks. Between them comes our little girl 
 our little angel Juliette." 
 
 "Ah!" 
 
 A kind of convulsion passed over Annola's
 
 408 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 face, and she fell into a moody silence until the 
 entrance of Christian some minutes later. 
 
 The four years which had elapsed since his 
 parting from Juliet had given him additional 
 dignity of bearing. The lines of his face were 
 stronger; it was less mobile than of old, but 
 was composed, even placid in expression. The 
 man had learnt to hide his thoughts. His face 
 lit up, however, as he grasped his friend's hand, 
 and he asked him many questions eagerly and 
 rapidly with regard to himself, his family, and 
 his work, all of which Bobo answered enthusi- 
 astically. Presently dinner was announced, and 
 Michotte, giving his arm to his hostess, con- 
 ducted her to the dining room. 
 
 Bobo talked incessantly during the ensuing 
 repast, being conscious, nevertheless, of an in- 
 creasing sense of constraint. Annola was so 
 silent, so restless; eating little, but fidgeting 
 perpetually. Her dark eyes, as they wandered 
 from him to her husband, had an unusual 
 gleam in them, and her face was flushed. 
 
 " Here sits the most miserable woman in the 
 world," thought Bobo ; " and yet is not her life 
 as she has made it ? " 
 
 Presently, in giving an account of his expe- 
 riences, Michotte chanced to mention that he 
 had recently been to London, bringing out the
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 409 
 
 announcement with some difficulty, and feeling, 
 rather than seeing, the effect produced on both 
 husband and wife. There was a momentary 
 pause before Christian responded, very quietly, 
 that he had no doubt his friend had been well 
 received in a city where music was so much 
 beloved. During that pause he had fixed his 
 eyes questioningly on the other's face, and 
 Annola, leaning forward in her chair, had ut- 
 tered a smothered exclamation. 
 
 " Ma foi ! one lives here on the edge of a 
 volcano," was Bobo's mental comment, and he 
 hastened to pass to a less disquieting subject. 
 
 At the conclusion of this very uncomfortable 
 meal, Christian, rising, came round the table, 
 and tapped his old comrade on the shoulder. 
 
 " Now, my friend, you come upstairs with 
 me. I will show you my atelier it is a real 
 work-shop ; and you must play to me. It will 
 be good to hear you play again." 
 
 " I play to you ? What a farce, my dear 
 fellow! But I will do it it will bring back 
 the old days." 
 
 They went upstairs together to a large room 
 at the top of the house a studio, built by 
 some former occupant. In one corner of it 
 stood Christian's grand piano. The vast room 
 was almost bare of furniture ; its simplicity
 
 410 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 contrasting with the evidences of luxury per- 
 ceptible in every other part of the house. 
 
 " One breathes more freely here ! " exclaimed 
 Bobo, involuntarily. 
 
 There was a lamp on the centre table, and 
 the light, though it failed to penetrate to the 
 further corners of the room, fell full upon 
 Christian's face as he sank into a chair be- 
 side it. 
 
 Bobo drew up another close to him, and, 
 leaning forward, tapped him lightly on the knee. 
 
 " Christian, I have seen her." 
 
 " Ah ! " said Christian. He turned a little 
 way from his friend, and leaned his elbows 
 on the table, shading his eyes with his hands. 
 But Bobo, from where he sat, could see the 
 lower part of his face, and noted a momentary 
 quiver of the lips. After a pause 
 
 " Is she well ? " asked Christian. 
 
 " She is well," responded Michotte, adding, 
 after another silence, "for the rest, she is as 
 always." 
 
 His eyes sought Thai's face once more, but 
 this time the lips told no tale. 
 
 " I spoke to her of you," went on Michotte 
 presently. " I told her of your work, and how 
 nobly you were fulfilling your mission ; of how 
 you had revolutionised the world of music, up-
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 411 
 
 lifting your hearers, and convincing them that 
 the best and most beautiful in Art, as in life, 
 is the highest and the purest." 
 
 Christian dropped his hands, and turned 
 round, with a long sigh. 
 
 " Ah ! my friend " he was beginning, but 
 broke off ; adding, after a moment, " But she 
 what did she say ? " 
 
 Bobo's voice shook a little as he answered. 
 
 " She said, ' His feet are on the mountain 
 tops.' Ah ! Christian, if you could have seen 
 her! Her eyes were full of tears, and yet I 
 swear to you there was joy in her face such 
 joy as might be found among the angels." 
 
 Christian rose and began to pace up and 
 down the room. " The mountain tops," he 
 repeated half to himself ; " Yes, Bobo, yes ! it is 
 her wish that I should climb, but the heights 
 are very lonely." 
 
 "Ah, my poor friend," cried Bobo, rising and 
 catching him by the hand. " The heights ! do 
 I not remember how she always longed that 
 you should reach them? Was it not I who 
 brought you the Edelweiss that day so many 
 years ago ? Yes, yes, I did not understand it 
 then, but I do now." He wrung Christian's 
 hand again, and would have said more, but 
 that at that moment the door was thrown open
 
 412 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 and Annola appeared, holding up one corner 
 of the heavy portiere. 
 
 " Well, Monsieur Michotte, are you not going 
 to play ? " she cried harshly. 
 
 " Ah, madame, how you startled me ! I did 
 not hear you approach ; that great curtain 
 seems to shut out all sound." 
 
 " It is intended to shut in sound," said Chris- 
 tian, in a curiously constrained voice. " My 
 wife, do you see, is sometimes wearied by the 
 sound of my piano." 
 
 " Then, certainly, I had better not inflict my 
 music on her," returned Bobo, with a clumsy 
 attempt at a joke. 
 
 Annola, without replying, made an imperious 
 motion towards the piano, and flung herself 
 into the chair which he had vacated. At the 
 close of his first piece, however, she rose 
 abruptly and went out of the room. 
 
 Neither of the men made any comment upon 
 her sudden departure, neither did they return 
 to the topic which had been under discussion 
 when she had entered. 
 
 It was late when Bobo took his departure, 
 but Christian remained pondering in his upper 
 room for long after he had left. 
 
 It was past one o'clock, indeed, when the 
 curtain was once more lifted, and the figure of
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 413 
 
 his wife appeared, still in her evening dress 
 and carrying a bedroom candle-stick. 
 
 She set this down upon the table, and walked 
 close up to her husband. 
 
 " Are you going to remain here all night ? " 
 
 He started up angrily, closing his hand 
 hastily over some small object which had been 
 lying before him on the table. 
 
 " Annola, this is too much," he cried. " There 
 are times when I must have privacy." 
 
 " Oh, of course ! " she returned, almost hissing 
 the words ; "it is I I, the wife, who am the 
 intruder. You wish to be alone, I suppose, that 
 you may brood over that cursed Edelweiss." 
 
 He made an indescribable gesture that was 
 at once appealing and dignified ; one would have 
 said that he was enfolding himself in a mantle 
 of reserve. But she went on with heightening 
 passion : 
 
 " The Edelweiss ! the Edelweiss ! Do you 
 think I did not guess why it was you carried it 
 about you day and night ? I guessed and I 
 know now. In excelsis to the heights ! " 
 bursting into a peal of hysterical laughter 
 "ah, it is she who makes you climb, does she? 
 and I what do I do ? " 
 
 He turned upon her almost savagely. 
 
 " Do not tempt me ! " he exclaimed. " Do
 
 414 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 not make me say that which neither of us can 
 ever forget." 
 
 " Do you think I will endure it ? " she shrieked. 
 " I tell you my life is a hell ; to be here beside 
 you, always looking upon your face, always 
 hearing your voice, and to know that we are as 
 far asunder as the poles. To know that I am 
 nothing to you nothing worse than noth- 
 ing an encumbrance a burden to be en- 
 dured ! while in your heart of hearts there is an 
 inner shrine, consecrated to the thought of her." 
 
 " Annola, I beseech of you," he cried brokenly. 
 
 But she cut him short excitedly. 
 
 " But I will live I will live, if only to keep 
 you apart. If pain could have killed I should 
 have been in my grave years ago, yet you still 
 see me here. I tell you I will not die I tell 
 you " 
 
 " Hush ! there must be no more of this," he 
 said. " I, at least, will not stay to hear you." 
 
 He turned quickly, and she, throwing herself 
 across the table, caught him by the sleeve. He 
 looked round with an impatient movement, 
 but even as he did so uttered a cry. In her 
 passionate eagerness to detain him she had 
 taken no heed of the lighted candle on the 
 table, and the gauze draperies of her dress were 
 on fire.
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 415 
 
 In a moment she was wreathed in flames, 
 her face still distorted by fury, looking out 
 from the midst of them with most terrible 
 effect. As he stood transfixed with horror she 
 rushed from him screaming. 
 
 " Throw yourself down ! " he cried, recovering 
 his presence of mind. " Throw yourself upon 
 the floor, Annola it is the only chance ! 
 My God, there is not even a carpet here ! 
 Ah, the portiere." 
 
 A violent wrench from his frenzied hands 
 brought it down and he rushed towards her 
 holding up the heavy fabric, and calling to her 
 imploringly to be still. 
 
 She turned towards him, a frightful spectacle, 
 her dress already reduced to tinder, her very 
 hair aflame, her eyes glaring at him from her 
 tortured face. 
 
 " Let me burn ! " she cried savagely ; " let me 
 burn, and you will be rid of me ! " 
 
 He threw himself upon her, his weight carry- 
 ing her to the floor, and wrapped the plush 
 folds closely about her, pressing out the flames 
 with feverish anxiety. 
 
 Suddenly, with a shriek of such anguish as her 
 own extremity had not wrung from her, she cried : 
 
 " Your hands, Christian ! For God's sake 
 remember your hands ! "
 
 416 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 " Do you think I will see you burn to death 
 before my eyes ? " returned he, clasping her 
 more closely still. 
 
 " Your hands," she repeated, her voice sink- 
 ing to a moan, " your precious hands ! Oh, 
 Christian let me die!" 
 
 She struggled in his arms, but her efforts 
 quickly became faint, and when Christian 
 relaxed his embrace he found that she was 
 unconscious.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 WHEN Annola opened her eyes some 
 hours later, they rested upon Christian's 
 figure. He was sitting by the side of her bed, 
 gazing at her sorrowfully. Her eyes the 
 only living things about her, as it seemed, 
 sought first his face, and then glanced at her 
 own swathed, inert limbs. 
 
 " This is death, I suppose," she said. 
 
 He bowed his head. 
 
 " Oh, Christian," she said with a little gasp, 
 " would that I had died last night with your 
 arms about me, and the knowledge in my heart 
 that you were thinking of me last night when 
 you risked what is more precious to you than 
 life, for my sake ! Christian, your hands ? " 
 
 417
 
 418 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 He held them out ; one was swathed in ban- 
 dages. 
 
 " They are uninjured," he said reassuringly ; 
 " a few blisters, that is all." 
 
 " But they might have been destroyed ! Oh, 
 Christian, if you knew if you knew what I 
 felt ! Oh, if I could have died then ! And yet I 
 am glad to be alive, because there is something 
 I must do. How long do they think I may 
 live?" 
 
 " My poor Annola, they say but a few 
 hours." 
 
 " I must live longer than that," she cried, 
 with something of her old energy. " I must 
 live another day at least. Christian, you must 
 do something for me." 
 
 " I will do anything in the world you ask," 
 he said, bending over her tenderly. 
 
 Looking down on this poor wreck of woman- 
 hood, he forgot her wrongs towards him, forgot 
 even the acute suffering she had brought upon 
 one far dearer to him than himself remem- 
 bered only that she, his old comrade, the friend 
 and protector of his childhood, was dying. 
 
 " What can I do for you ? " he asked. 
 
 " You must telegraph for Juliet, at once. Ah ! 
 you must not refuse," as she saw him involun- 
 tarily draw back. " I must see her I must
 
 CHRISTIAN THAL 419 
 
 speak to her before I die. Oh, why do you 
 hesitate ? Can you not trust me now ? " 
 
 It seemed almost miraculous that anyone 
 who had received such frightful injuries as 
 Annola, could manage to live even a few hours, 
 yet by sheer strength of will she kept Death at 
 bay until Juliet stood by her bedside. 
 
 Juliet was pale and trembling ; her whole 
 form indeed shivered as her eyes met those of 
 the dying woman. 
 
 " You need not fear me now," said Annola, 
 while those hollow eyes of hers were lit up with 
 a passing glow. " I have sent for you to atone." 
 
 " Oh, do not try to speak ! " cried Juliet, with 
 tears starting to her eyes. " Oh, Annola ! poor 
 Annola ! how dreadful to see you like this ! " 
 
 " I feel no pain," said Annola. " I had to live 
 until you came. I want to give him to you, 
 myself. He is mine still. You shall only take 
 him from me. Christian, are you here ? " 
 
 " I am here," said he, in an unsteady voice. 
 
 The ruling passion was indeed strong in 
 death, yet somehow this evidence of it filled 
 him with overwhelming compassion. Poor 
 Annola, poor, ardent, wayward woman ! It was 
 characteristic of her to cling thus desperately 
 to him to the very last. 
 
 " He is mine," she repeated feebly, " but he
 
 
 420 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 shall be yours now, yours, because I give him 
 to you. I give him to you of my own free will. 
 I wish you to marry and be happy. I have 
 never been happy. I snatched at everything 
 that I wanted in life, and yet I hold nothing 
 nothing but emptiness and shadows the reality 
 always escaped me. But you you " She 
 broke off, looking from one to the other with 
 eyes that were fast growing dim. " Clasp 
 hands," she said.
 
 EPILOGUE 
 
 Allegretto, COM moto. M.M. ^.=96. 
 
 * 
 
 PP /- 
 
 CHRISTIAN glanced up at the balcony of 
 the Lennoxes' London house as he rang 
 the bell : it was gay with flowers. Spring had 
 come again; spring, full of brightness and 
 promise. 
 
 The door opened immediately : he had been 
 expected. Professor Lennox himself came out 
 into the hall to greet him. 
 
 " She is waiting for you, my boy," he said, as 
 he grasped him by both hands. " Go up to her 
 she is waiting." 
 
 Christian bounded up the stairs with a step 
 almost as buoyant as that which had character- 
 ised him in his boyish days. 
 
 The old man looked after him, smiled to him- 
 self, rubbed his hands, and disappeared into his 
 study. There he immediately dropped into the 
 nearest chair and wiped his eyes. 
 
 421
 
 422 CHRISTIAN THAL 
 
 "My little girl," he said. "My little girl! 
 After this long trial sunshine at last. Well, 
 I shall have to part with her, so there must be 
 a few clouds somewhere. She has earned her 
 happiness yes, she has certainly earned her 
 happiness, and he too. Any shortcomings in 
 the past have been nobly atoned for he has 
 raised himself up, and uplifted the world." 
 
 He rose, and paced up and down the room a 
 moment or two, restlessly ; and then went to 
 the door, opening it softly, and listening. 
 
 " I don't hear the piano to-day," he said to 
 himself. " Well, well, together they will sing 
 to the Lord a new song. New, and yet the 
 same as in the beginning. The canticle of 
 canticles, indeed. ' I to my beloved, and my 
 beloved to me.'" 
 
 THE END
 
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