. FACE TO FACE FACE TO FACE " Our slender life runs rippling by, and glides Into the silent hollow of the past ; What is there that abides To make the next age better for the last ? Is earth too poor to give us Something to live for here that shall outlive us?'' LOWELL'S COMMEMORATION ODE NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1886 COPYRIGHT, 1886, BY. CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS M'NTINO AND BOOKB,ND 1Na COMPANY, HEW YORK. FACE TO FACE. I. WHO can fitly describe the stretch of Thames water between Henley and Windsor ? The river glides past daisy-crowned fields, groves of state- ly trees and close-cropped lawns with a tranquillity that suggests the blithe content of a matron whose spouse and children satisfy her heart. Here is seen the perfection of finished scenery, telling of an old civilization self-centred and slow to change. Now and again some vista of overarching boughs affords a delicious glimpse of manor house or ornate villa, or the eye lingers among the ruins of Medmenham Abbey, built when abbots still ruled England and the dead hand of the Church clutched far and wide. On either side the landscape spreads away into the dis- tance with level precision, marked by the gardens and hedge-rows and thatched cottages, neat even in dilapidation, of a conservative yeomanry, who, en- grossed in the preparation of vegetable marrows for the market, scarcely heed the gay water-parties that f 2061761 2 FACE TO FACE. float along the stream with the buoyant aspirations of youth. One morning, early in the summer, a young lady was taking a spin before breakfast in a wherry over a portion of this stretch of water. Her father's resi- dence was on the banks of the river, situated near by the famous Cookham Reach, the most charming bit of scenery of the Thames. It was a pretty little estate, comprising an ivy-mantled house of some an- tiquity, but recently doctored to suit the prevailing fashion supposed to be in vogue when Anne was queen, and an exquisite lawn kept in order by the overflow of the current which at times penetrated the cellar as well. The Honorable Mortimer Pim- lico was the father of seven daughters, of whom the young lady in question was his youngest. The family goes back to the time of the Norman con- quest, with great credit to themselves, and can point to a duke as ancestor ; but, being the representative of a younger branch, Mr. Pimlico was only the Hon- orable, and from a stress of straitened circumstances he had been forced to swallow his pride and become a banker. But, despite this degrading step, for which he had been censured by the head of the house, a leading peer of the realm, Mr. Pimlico had never lost sight of his aristocratic claims, and the hope of rehabili- tating himself some day in the eyes of the world had given a zest to his speculations. He had pros- pered exceedingly, so much so that he had been able to wed his three eldest daughters to men of FACE TO FACE. 3 high rank, one of whom was no less than an earl, and to dower them proportionally. More than this, his improved social position had lately permitted him in turn to be a dictator of terms instead of an aspirant for favors, and he had affianced the next to the youngest of his girls to the son of a very affluent brewer. Nor was he without hopes of doing equally well for the others. There was, however, notwithstanding her fine physique and excelling beauty, a cloud of distrust in Mr. Pimlico's mind that made him knit his brows whenever he thought of the baby of the. family,. as Evelyn was still called. She was totally unlike the rest of his children, and when she announced her desire to become a student of Girton College, it was as though a thunder-bolt had fallen upon the domestic circle. He had himself rather a fancy for dabbling in the laws of heredity and was a moderate disciple of Mr. Gallon, this being his sole inclina- tion toward the new thought of the day. In all other respects he clung tenaciously to the old, and took care, moreover, to hug his child of Satan, as his excellent better half stigmatized this offshoot of science, with circumspection. In his distress, how- ever, he had consulted in vain for a prototype, the genealogy of his wife, who claimed descent through a trio of orthodox deans, as well as his own. Being a conscientious man, he further put the question to himself whether, in deviating from the beaten path pursued by the family for generations, he had not been guilty of setting a bad example ; but reflection 4 FACE TO FACE. assured him that there was a wide difference be- tween his conduct and that proposed by Evelyn. What might be pardonable in a man became mon- strous in a woman. Nor had this been Evelyn's first offence. Ever since childhood she had shown a tendency to disre- gard precedent and authority very distasteful to her parents. She had early taken the stand that it was her only brother's part to fetch her slippers rather than hers to fetch his, a proposition aptly defined by that young gentleman, with the applause of the rest of the family, as savoring of radicalism, a word which to a Pimhco was fraught with unspeakable horror. They were one and all, from the aforesaid peer of the realm to the most insignificant cadet of the stock, staunch Tories, whom nothing could shake in their allegiance to party principles, and who still grieved at heart over the disestablishment of the Irish Church and the passage of the Reform Bill. To say that they viewed with distrust the innovating spirit of the times would be a very mild statement as compared with the truth, and there was no one among them more stable in the profession of his faith than the Honorable Mortimer, who would, if he could have had his way, have banished Mr. Glad- stone from the national councils as an enemy to the permanence of law and order ; and when in the bosom of his family he gave vent, as was often the case, to the vehemence of these feelings, he found an admiring chorus in six of his daughters. The reason why Evelyn was permitted to have FACE TO FACE. 5 her own way, and graduate from Girton, was due to her having announced as an alternative her inten- tion of eloping with a young man in the neighbor- hood, of an intelligent cast of mind but lowly ori- gin, with whom she had become intimate in her six- teenth year through the medium of a common taste for boating. Great as was the shock that a child of the Pimlico blood should desire to be unconven- tional, it would palpably have been even more humili- ating that her future should be blasted by a plebeian misalliance, for already it was apparent that in per- sonal charms she was to be the most favored of the seven. Accordingly, she was packed off in disgrace with all possible secrecy as to the whereabouts, and the family ignored her existence, so to speak, dur- ing the term, of four years that she remained at college. During her visits home in vacation the subject was never broached, except when her father took her aside and sought to appeal to her pride, by showing how famously her elder sisters had prospered by following his advice. But he came away with a graver face after each interview, filled with wonder that a child of his could harbor such sentiments, which, if put in practice, must, in his opinion, induce chaos ; and once, when, in response to his warning that such a course, if persevered in, would irremediably prejudice against her a certain nobleman he had in view as a husband for her, she declared that the abolition of the entire peerage would be a blessing to the country, he had been seized with dizziness, an incident which furnished 6 FACE TO FACE. his wife a pretext for the familiar but cutting proph- ecy that Evelyn would bring down her father's gray hairs in sorrow to the grave. During Evelyn's last two or three visits home, it had been observed that she was grown more digni- fied as well as more beautiful. A seriousness of deportment that was rather awe-inspiring at times had replaced the hobble-de-hoy immaturity of the school-girl. Her tables were littered with books, the very titles of which were unintelligible to the rest of the family, over which she pored with assid- uity to the deep distress of either parent, who scented anti-Christ between the lines. But her spirits were fresh and buoyant as ever, and her fondness for vigorous recreation had not abated a jot. She could without difficulty beat the curate at lawn-tennis, then a new-found pastime, and her stroke on the river was the admiration of watermen. To look at, she was tall and commanding, with a broad brow, a sweet mouth, and eyes which, fit either for love or for lightning, sparkled with an intelli- gence that was half playful and half tender. One day her father had the mortification of read- ing in the daily newspaper, side by side with the details of murders and defalcations and shop-keepers' advertisements, her name his daughter's name as the winner of a prize for a dissertation on " Evolu- tion," which she had apparently delivered, before a host of people, from the rostrum of the dreadful college of which she 'was a member. As if this were not humiliating enough, short-haired women who FACE TO FACE. 7 left visiting cards without a prefix to distinguish maid from matron, began to come down from Lon- don to call upon her. This was just at the date of Evelyn's graduation. She had been at home for about a week on the day we have discovered her enjoying a matutinal row. The freshness of the beautiful summer morning, and the verdure just in its prime, had a soothing effect on her nerves, jaded with the severe study of examination time, and the wear and tear of being on unsympathetic terms with her family. For, firm as she was in her ideas, the partial estrangement had necessarily cost her many a sleepless night and given to her reflections an almost morbid tinge. And what made the situation all the more dis- couraging was that her highly creditable scholar- ship had rather widened the gulf than otherwise, and no alternative seemed to be left between for- saking her principles and being ostracized by her relatives. The whole family happened for the moment to be under one roof. It was natural that the Hon- orable Mortimer should seek to bring this to pass as often as possible, for one might have ransacked England in vain for a finer looking set of children, and grandchildren to boot. They were a little stolid in feature, perhaps, but that implied strong wills and a proper self-respect. For the rest, they were very elegant and fastidious, with sufficient languor not to be suspected of becoming unduly enthusiastic over anything, saving always, in the 8 FACE TO FACE. order named, their babies, their sovereign, and their hereditary principles of church and state. There was Gwendolen Edith, wife of Sir Edgar Bradish, K.C.B., with six little Bradishes just one a year ; Gladys, Countess of Harleth, with an embryo earl in leading-strings ; Emily, Mrs. Caithness Corrie, whose husband was an M. P. and never in need of the party whip to make him toe the mark in de- fence of the rights of the ncble class to which he confidently expected to belong some day ; Florence Henrietta and Muriel Grace, in the full flush of social success ; and Margaret Frances, shortly to become the wife of the brewer's son, Mr. Sparks, just before whom in seniority stood the sole son and heir, Mortimer Lawrence Ponsonby. The countess had arrived only on the previous evening, and brought with her such a flavor of the Court that Evelyn felt herself more than commonly out in the cold. But the fine exercise sufficed, as has been said, to raise her spirits, and she sped down stream without further effort to solve the knotty problem of her own future, which had been her con- stant companion, both waking and sleeping, since her return home. So cheery, in fact, became her mood that she lost account of time and did not get back to the house until all the family had break- fasted save the Countess Gladys, simultaneously with whom she made her appearance at table. So handsome did Evelyn look, with the glow of exercise suffusing her cheeks, that her ladyship could not repress a glance of admiration. She had FACE TO FACE. 9 left home while Evelyn was still a child, and knew of her sister's eccentricities chiefly from second-hand sources. She was an amiable, sweet-tempered woman in her way, with a fondness for having beautiful objects about her, and while she sipped her coffee the idea of inviting Evelyn to come to her for the next season struck her favorably. She felt little doubt that Evelyn's peculiarities would speed- ily disappear in the whirl of the metropolis, and coupled with this disinterested reflection was the consciousness that her beauty would be apt to cause a sensation in fashionable circles. It did not occur to her as possible that Evelyn would refuse such an invitation, one which, by the way, she had never extended in so unreserved a fashion to any of the others ; and her blue eyes opened in astonishment akin to exasperation at the response she received, which was to the effect that Evelyn was very much obliged to her, but had no wish to go into London society. " But, Evelyn," murmured the Lady Gladys, feel- ing the duty of showing her sister how wrong- headed she was added to her other motives (and where a question of duty was concerned a Pimlico never faltered), " how can you talk so ! You sure- ly don't want to live cooped up here all your days ? It is time, high time you are twenty, I believe for you to see something of the world. You are a wom- an now, and ideas which were all very well when you were younger are out of place. If you would reflect, you would see that I'm giving you an op- 10 FACE TO FACE. portunity to make a fresh start and please papa ; for, without wishing to be unkind, you must be aware that papa is very unhappy on your account. If, now, you were to go to London and make a brill- iant match, we should all be united again. Why shouldn't you do as well as I did ? If anything, you are prettier than I was at your age." In appealing to Evelyn's common-sense, and speak- ing thus firmly but without severity, the Countess of Harleth flattered herself that she was displaying tact. She had long had an impression that it would merely be necessary to point out to Evelyn the error of her ways in a dispassionate manner in order to con- vince her of her folly, instead of getting angry with her as she suspected the others of doing. But she experienced an annoyed and half-uneasy feeling at observing the derisive smile with which her words were listened to. Yet the reply was gracious enough : " I am very much obliged to you, Gladys more than I seem, perhaps and you must not think me ungrateful because I do not accept your offer, but I am sure I shouldn't enjoy the sort of life you would wish me to lead in London. As you say, I have not seen much of the world, but I am not en- tirely without knowledge of what would be expected of me. Our tastes happen to be dissimilar, that's all. Thank you kindly, but I would rather remain quietly at home for the present." "I don't understand what you mean. It is a great misfortune to a girl to get the reputation of being odd." FACE TO FACE. II " I am pretty well used to that already." The countess was resolved not to lose her temper. She believed that Evelyn's contrariness was ac- counted for by being a little bitter at the censure of the rest of the family. For her own part she felt guiltless in this respect, as she forthwith explained. " You must not forget that I am your sister, Eve- lyn, and that whatever others may have said to wound your feelings, I have had no share in it. The past is the past so far as I am concerned, and you may rest assured that I shall never taunt you with having been different from the rest of us." For an instant the same amused expression stole over Evelyn's face, then her eyes filled with tears and she answered : " I know you mean to be kind, Gladys dear, and I wish I were not different from you all. But I am made so, and I don't think you would understand me if I were to try to explain why I had rather not accept your invitation. Ask Florence or Muriel in- stead. Either one of them would be delighted at the very idea of such a thing." " It is you I want," answered Lady Gladys, with Pimlico firmness. "The other girls are doing very well as it is, and can go out with mamma. I really wonder at you, Evelyn, that you do not appreciate the advantages of my offer. You seem to forget that my husband is an earl, and occupies a social position that would bring you into association with your sovereign and the princes of the blood. There is no telling but that the queen might take a fancy 12 FACE TO FACE. to you and appoint you about her person. Only think what an honor that would be ! " - n,, yv.u think so, Gladys? Now, to my mind, it would be a dreadful bore." " Why, Evelyn, I'm surprised at you. I wonder you arc not afraid to say such a thing. If anyone were to overhear you and repeat it, you might get us into serious trouble." " You needn't be alarmed," laughed Evelyn ; " I have no desire to compromise the family more than is necessary. But the whole difficulty, Gladys, lies in the fact that you and the other girls like to run after lords and titles, and I don't care a button about them. I'd just as soon talk to a respectable commoner as a peer of the realm at any time ; in f.u-t. rather, nine times out of ten. So you see it would only be a waste of opportunities to take me to court." Her sister gave a gasp. She was fast losing pa- tience at this uncalled-for attack on rank and pre- rogative. " The next thing we shall hear is that you are on the stage. You are very young and foolish, Evelyn. As I have already told you, I have every disposi- tion to be your friend, but I cannot listen to such sentiments without indignation. If you prefer the society of vulgar people to that of dukes and cabi- net ministers, all I can say is, there is no account- ing for tastes." " I quite agree with you. But there is no use in our disputing, Gladys, for we should never take the FACE TO FACE. 13 same view. I only hope for your sake," Evelyn added, indicating the embryo earl who was pulling at his mother's wrapper, " that the peerage will not be extinct before little Ponsonby gets his title." This was the last straw. The countess, with flam- ing cheeks, snatched up the child as though fearful of infection, and, in a voice trembling with anger, cried : " You wicked girl, how dare you hint at such a thing?" Evelyn's speech was unfortunate, certainly, and one which she would never have made, could she have foreseen the effect it would have upon her sister, who, darting glances of reproach, swept out of the room in the direction of the library, where the Honorable Mortimer was engrossed in the morning papers. Accordingly the culprit was hardly pre- pared for the complacent expression on her father's face when the family came together at dinner time. But the cause was soon made apparent. A Tory administration had added to the royal titles that of Empress of India, a fact which he proceeded to an- nounce with an unction that found response in the murmur of gratification that ran around the table. "Quite the most important measure of the ses- sion," he added, magnificently ; "one which cannot fail to add greatly to our prestige as a nation. A marvellously clever fellow, that Dizzy ! " Then his glance chanced to fall on Evelyn, and his brow darkened ominously, for she was sitting with her eyes fixed on her plate, taking no share in the general applause. 14 FACE TO FACE. " Well, Evelyn, have you nothing to say in appro- bation of the great honor your queen has done us all by assuming the title of Empress of India ? " " I, papa ? " "Yes, you, Evelyn. I should think that anyone with the smallest particle of loyal feeling would wish to celebrate such an event. It wounds me to the quick to see a child of mine sit glum and uncon- cerned when all the rest of the empire are rejoicing. Can it be possible you do not sympathize with us in our satisfaction ?" " If you ask my opinion, papa, I must say I think it sounds rather ridiculous to give the queen a new title at this time of her life, without any apparent reason for it." "Indeed!" Mr. Pimlico crumbled his bread to control his wrath. " I cannot say I am surprised at such Agrarian sentiments, young lady. They are quite of a piece with the radical and insulting re- marks which you have been reported to me as mak- ing this morning. If you will believe it, my dear," he continued, addressing his wife, " even our sweet little Ponsonby is not safe from the mad vagaries of our undutiful child. Because Gladys, out of kind- ness of heart, invited Evelyn to pass the season with her, Evelyn saw fit to predict that our grandson would never be a peer. And now this insult to her sovereign caps the climax. I am fairly worn out with her unnatural conduct. One would suppose that she had passed her days in the United States, among law- less and ignorant people, instead of under this roof." FACE TO FACE. 1 5 The Honorable Mortimer spoke with unusual vehemence, and a dreadful pause followed what seemed to the other sisters almost an anathema. But, spite of tender hearts, they felt their father's words to be just, and that the insinuation regarding little Ponsonby deserved a most strenuous rebuke. As for Evelyn, she sat hardened as ever, to all ap- pearances, which diverted from her any sympathy that might have been accumulating. Although Mrs. Pimlico's feelings were no less outraged than those of the rest of the family, being a cautious woman, she deemed it unfortunate that such an explosion should have occurred within ear- shot of the servants. With feminine tact she sought, therefore, to change the subject, and, taking advan- tage of the allusion to the United States, she an- nounced the receipt that morning of a letter from Willoughby Pimlico, a first-cousin of her husband, who some years previous had married an American heiress and taken up his residence in New York. " And what has Willoughby to say for himself ? " inquired the Honorable Mortimer, less savagely than might have been expected. He was not an unamiable man, and having uttered his protest in forcible language, was ready to smile again as soon as dignity would permit. " He is very anxious to have one of our girls pay him a visit," answered Mrs. Pimlico, with a simper- ing laugh that implied the extreme improbability of such a thing. " I dare say. Fancy, my love, one of your daugh- 1 6 FACE TO FACE. ters riding a buffalo, as is not an uncommon prac- tice with young persons of your sex in the less civilized portions of that country, I am given to understand. Humph ! " he added, reflectively ; " has Willoughby's wife any brothers of an eh eligible age ? I believe some of those Americans make very fair husbands when they are tamed." " Oh, but the savages, papa ! " exclaimed Florence Henrietta. "Yes, and the Mormons, papa?" cried Muriel Grace. " I have been told on good authority, sir," broke in the son and heir, fingering as he spoke an in- cipient mustache, " that everybody over there is in trade." " How dreadful ! " sighed Mrs. Caithness Corrie. " I fancy," answered the father, " that most of the reports we hear have been somewhat exaggerated. They are undoubtedly an ignorant and vulgar people, lax both in their personal habits and marriage laws ; but I judge that in the so-called sea-board cities one rarely comes into contact with either the red-man or the bigamist. The latest books, however, men- tion the almost universal carrying of firearms as a protection against the cow-boy, a kind of satyr of the plains ; and the flavor of the forest is still ob- servable in much of their nomenclature an instance of which, in my own branch of business, comes to my mind in the use of the word ' wild-cat ' to de- scribe securities that are not sound. As you have well observed, Mortimer, they are universally en- FACE TO FACE. 1 7 gaged in trade, but such is the rapidity with which fortunes are acquired owing partly to the natural resources of the country and partly to the low standard of commercial integrity that a class called merchant princes has come into existence, whose manner of living is said to rival the extreme luxury of the East. Cities are built in a night by the in- dustry of the negro, who is, however, fast giving place to the Chinaman, whose physical conformation enables him to labor on a quantity of food utterly insufficient to support civilized human life. But notwithstanding these peculiarities, there are in Boston and in parts of New York, where my cousin lives, people whose habits are not dissimilar to our own, and who have a fair degree of culture, I am told by those who have stopped there. " They, however, are very unpopular with the masses, who exclude them from public office and are threatening to pass laws of a still more Agrarian character than already exist. It has long been a source of surprise to me that a finished gentleman like Willoughby Pimlico has escaped assassination. He can scarcely have become popular, except at the cost of much personal dignity and self-respect." " What a terrible place to live in ! " exclaimed his wife, as he finished this peroration. " I wonder that Willoughby supposed we would allow one of our girls to risk her life." " Hardly so bad as that, I fancy. I have always understood that they treat their women with more consideration than most foreigners do," said Mr. 1 8 FACE TO FACE. Pimlico, who, having defined his views regarding the people of the United States, could not help re- flecting that, from all accounts, there must be young men of large means among them who would doubt- less be glad to come over and settle in England for the sake of the social position he would be able to give them. He believed himself to be a progressive person, and it had always been one of his theories that, some day or other, the United States would de- velop into a great nation. Already their stocks were coming into notice, as short cuts to fortune, not desirable for the notice of the general public, but opportunities that a wide-awake banker might improve. He had himself made a few ventures in that line with success. Moreover, Willoughby was accustomed to write as if there were society of a cer- tain sort which he frequented, the members of which paid their way in five-dollar gold pieces without ask- ing for change, and in which the women were at- tired with a gorgeousness equal to traditional con- ceptions of Cleopatra. He was conscious that if he could knock off twenty years, he should be tempted to investigate for himself. To tell the truth, The Honorable Mortimer was rather impatient to have his daughters married. De- spite his fortunate American speculations, he had been hit pretty hard lately by a number of domestic failures, which, coming after the drain on his purse requisite to set up his three eldest daughters and to see his son through the University, had left him feel- ing far from well off. The demands of his family FACE TO FACE. If) were, however, as imperative as ever. In order to give Florence and Muriel an opportunity to be seen, a house had to be taken in town for the season, and extensive orders given to the most expensive dress- makers. And now there was Evelyn to provide for. He frowned as he thought of her, for he had been sorely vexed by her refusal of her sister's offer. The dinner was finished and he was puffing at his cigar with an air of cogitation. He reflected that it would hardly be fair to the other girls, with their delicate tastes and ideas, to let either of them go to America ; but it might be the very thing Evelyn needed to counteract the vicious opinions which had taken pos- session of her. If she believed in radicalism, let her see it in the country of its luxuriance, and learn from personal experience what a monster she was cherishing. And, if in the course of coming to her senses some desirable young fellow should be capti- vated by her beauty and breeding, he was not pre- pared to say that he would refuse to receive such a son-in-law. The more he thought over the scheme, the more it pleased him, and when he mentioned it to his wife, although shocked at first, she came round to his view in the end. The next thing was to consult Evelyn. II. IF Mr. Pimlico had realized that an ardent par- tiality for America and everything American was at the root of all his youngest daughter's short- comings, he would never have reached this conclu- sion. No wonder she accepted eagerly his proposal that she should pay her cousin a visit, when for the last six years her dearest ambition had been to look, think, and act as an American girl would look, think, and act. Several summers before, while travelling with her parents in Switzerland in a rebellious frame of mind at sundry formalities which they obliged her to re- gard she had met a gay party from across the ocean whose lack of conventionality seemed to her amply justified by an apparent originality and independ- ence of soul which lifted them above the narrow prejudices of European life, much as the Alpine peak soars beyond the limitations of the valley. This had been her individual reflection, though it was the result rather of observation from aloof than personal contact, for both her father and her mother had frowned unmistakably on the disposition the strangers manifested to strike up an acquaintance. So, with the exception of a few commonplace re- FACE TO FACE. 21 marks apropos of passing the butter or the salt, Evelyn had been unable to gratify her wish to become fam- iliar ; but she had watched them with a furtive and constantly increasing admiration, dreamed about them at night ; and, when her father diverged from his carefully planned route in order to be rid of them, constructed a theory regarding their charac- ters which had supplied her with an incentive ever since. She had been at the time of just the age when a strong impression is apt to stretch its roots far down and influence character. An incident supplies the nucleus and imagination does the rest. Dating from that summer, a decided change came over Evelyn, noticeable in various ways, but chiefly in outcrop- pings against the established order of Uiings highly distasteful to her own flesh and blood, who little sus- pected their impetus ascribable to the great raw Re- public founded on disobedience. It became a gen- uine cult with her to glean all the information pos- sible concerning the United States, and in the course of her investigations she was still able to detect, in the marvellous diatribes of her own countrymen who had travelled there and the equally perplexing pages of transatlantic fiction, a distinct flavor of the spirit she worshipped. Her fancy claimed sympathy with the pioneers of the boundless prairies, who, even as they ploughed, carried on with the maidens of their choice a dialogue whose goal was the secret of the spheres. But she had not been content with dreaming. The 22 FACE TO FACE. key-note of her conception was unremitting zeal in the investigation after truth. Presently she was quick to perceive that, outside the circle of her social surroundings, there were ample facilities afforded by the libraries, lecture-rooms, and colleges of her own land for the detection of error. She plunged into the sea of modern thought with all the zeal of a proselyte. Darwin and Huxley and Ruskin and Spencer and Browning and George Eliot appeased her thirst, and yet left her yearning for more. Her college life had been one vast, absorbing revelation, and at this moment of her graduation she had come to the surface, as it were, for a breathing spell before renewing her investigations. But still her glance stole over the real waters toward the land where she believed there were no kings, nor fetters upon con- science, no superstitions, nor shams, nor gilded lies ; where the rich accumulated for the eradication of suffering, and the poor persevered for the perma- nence of order and the dignity of the race. Her impressions regarding the land of her desire were almost entirely subjective. Of its physical properties, of its bricks and mortar or its dollars and cents, she knew comparatively little, assuming per- haps, in philosophic fashion, that where the national life is sound all else must conform. She had con- ceived in a vague way that America was a vast do- main with room enough for everybody, gladly shared by the masters of a higher civilization with buffaloes, Indians, and the other engaging types of untram- melled existence. To the tales of its huge cities, FACE TO FACE. 2$ abundant harvests, and inexhaustible wealth she had listened with the heedless ear of one who values the material but little as compared with the spiritual. Hence it was that her father's description of the United States at the dinner-table had seemed to her inaccurate, because of the deductions he drew rather than from any misstatement of facts. Ideas and principles which he regarded as dangerous and dis- reputable were to her among the noblest springs of action. So she reasoned, and his stricture failed to disturb her in the least degree. But a reference to the Elysian Fields of her fancy was sufficient at any time to set her rhapsodizing, and as she went down to the water's edge after din- ner to watch the evening light creep over the river, she felt that she would sacrifice a great deal to be allowed to accept her relative's invitation. She well knew that it was out of the question. From what had been said it was plain that the chances of any of them going were very small, and she felt that she was the least likely to be selected of all the girls. Still, even against conviction, she could not help imagining herself on shipboard, and trying to form, with more ardor and vividness than ever, out of the resources of her imagination, a conception of the so-called land of liberty. Mingled with the serious visions of enfranchised humanity, her woman's nat- ure entertained doubtless the shy, sweet, personal hope of an ideal relation bringing the souls of youth and maiden into an accord unintelligible to the grosser civilization of the old world. 24 FACE TO FACE. Happy in her dreaming she sat until the twilight deepened into obscurity. At length, with a shake of her head as though to banish the cobwebs from her brain and fit it for reality, she arose and went up the lawn to the house. Her father was in the porch, still more content with his project, over an- other cigar. She listened to his proposal half dazed and mistrusting what she heard. His homily on the revolution which he expected the experience to work in her ideas gave her time to collect her thoughts. A few minutes later all was settled. She was to go in a fortnight, under the care of Mr. Brock, an elderly friend of their cousin's, whom "Willoughby Pimlico's letter had mentioned as in- tending to sail at that date. At last she was to realize the dream of her life. On the appointed day Evelyn went up to London with her father, to meet her escort, who was so little unlike other people both in his behavior and dress, that Mr. Pimlico expressed surprise on three differ- ent occasions at his speaking English so perfectly, imagining that he was thereby paying him a grace- ful compliment. But he listened less cordially to the account which Mr. Brock gave them, under the pleasant influence of " a glass of wine," as he called a bottle of champagne, of his rise in life from a penni- less country lad until he had become the founder of some of the largest manufacturing interests in the country, and the possessor of several million dollars. To Mr. Pimlico this frankness seemed ill-bred osten- tation, to say nothing of the doubt inspired in his FACE TO FACE. 2$ mind as to the truth of the other's statements, by the information which he had frequently received to the effect that the Americans were prone to tell " tall stories." But in proportion as her father's manner grew frigid, Evelyn's delight increased. She had been, perhaps, a trifle disappointed at first sight that Mr. Brock was not more unconventional. As she listened, however, to his graphic account of his own fortunes, interspersed with quaintly shrewd obser- vations on men and things, she felt that she had mis- interpreted him. The Honorable Mortimer bade them good-by at St. Pancras, and went home shak- ing his head over the fellowship already established between his daughter and this sometime street Arab, as he was inclined to stigmatize her companion. Seated in the train and whirling toward Liverpool Evelyn felt her travels fairly begun. Her spirits were at full height, and she spoke concerning the pleasure she expected to derive from her visit to America with an enthusiasm that charmed the old gentleman, inclined to believe, it may be, that Eng- lish girls ordinarily were stiff. Encouraged by her cheeriness he chatted on in easy fashion, telling her how much better most things were managed where they were going to, and discoursing on the great- ness of his country's institutions, illustrated with anecdotes taken from his own personal experience. Presently he took out of his pocket a russia leather case, and showed Evelyn the photograph of a girl of about her age, and of rare beauty. His eyes filled with tears as he explained that she was his niece, 26 FACE TO FACE. the last remaining member of his family, who had died nearly two years before, and that he was quite alone in the world. On arriving they went up to the Adelphi to lunch, and there Mr. Brock found a telegram obliging his immediate return to London in consequence of the decision of certain capitalists to accept terms which he had offered them for the purchase of an Amer- ican railway. There was no escape from his going back, he told Evelyn, and it was very possible he might be detained all summer in England. What was to be done ? Evelyn's first impulse was that she must wait for another escort. It seemed to her cruel. Just as she was about to be perfectly happy, fate had conspired against her. She inquired of Mr. Brock if there were not any people on board whom he knew who would take her under their charge. He shook his head. He said that he had looked over the passenger-list, and been to the ship in person, but that there was no one of his acquaintance among them all. Mr. Brock stood with his watch in his hand, for there was no time to be lost in coming to a decision, as both the steamship and his train would depart almost immediately. He did not proffer any ad- vice. It was very perplexing. Evelyn could not bear the thought of returning home, for she rea- soned that very likely her father would change his mind in such an event, and withdraw his permis- sion. She wondered what an American girl would do under similar circumstances. Sail alone, she FACE TO FACE. 2J could not help feeling. And why should not she? She was not afraid. She felt confident of being able to take care of herself. But what would her family think ? Would they not be scandalized at such a proceeding ? They certainly would ; but, after all, was there any real harm in it ? " Come, my dear, time's up. You must decide on something before I go back," said Mr. Brock. " I have made up my mind to start alone," said Evelyn. There was a twinkle in Mr. Brock's eyes. " What will Vic say ? " he asked. " I don't quite understand, sir." " Eh ? I mean are you sure the Queen won't be down on me for letting you go without a chaperon ? " " I've thought of what you mean, Mr. Brock. Answer me one question please ; would a young lady in your country give up going ? " " Dear heart, no. She'd have been on. board be- fore this," said the old man. Mr. Brock seemed quite elated at what he termed the pluckiness of her decision, and lost his train in order that he might see her comfortably off. She felt excited and buoyant ; but when at last the tender left the ship, and Mr. Brock's white hair fluttering in the breeze was no longer discernible, a sense of loneliness came upon her. What an ordi- nary-looking set the passengers were ! The glimpse she had taken of her state-room had not attracted her, and the smell of the machinery was oppressive. She reflected, however, that she had made her 28 FACE TO FACE. choice, and must face the occasion with all the for- titude she could muster. It was at least a consola- tion to feel that if she had been in the train instead, her emotions would have been a hundred-fold more despondent. As she leaned against the railing thus commun- ing with herself, the last tender from shore ap- proached the vessel. The hour was late, and the captain of the Britannic was inveighing against the tardiness of the smaller craft. When the gang- plank was put in place only some half-a-dozen in- dividuals came on board, conspicuous among whom, to the eyes of Evelyn at least, was a young man, who carried a hat-box and umbrella, and was closely followed by a couple of obsequious porters bearing the rest of his luggage. He was quickly lost in the interior of the ship, but the recollection of a striped ulster, yellow dog-skin gloves, and high stiff collar, remained with her as denoting a countryman of her own in the same class of life. She wondered who he was, and she was conscious with annoyance at her weakness of being a little disturbed at the idea of encountering anyone she knew or who knew her, for up to this point she had seen no one on board to cause her concern of this sort. It might be that this young man was a nobleman or some one \vho would recognize her from her likeness to her sis- ters. Under the influence of this feeling she went down to her state-room and put on a costume such as she imagined would give her the look of being trans- FACE TO FACE. 2Q atlantic. She had purchased it secretly in London, on the assurance that it had just been imported from New York, and she was inclined to be ex- ultant over the effect of the billycock hat and long, tight-fitting ulster, of which it was composed, as she surveyed herself in the mirror before going on deck. The vessel was now under full steam, and the land seemed already a gray bank on the horizon. With the inhalation of the sea-breeze her spirits had returned. She felt ready for adventure and new experience. Her pulses throbbed with the satisfaction of being free and her own mistress. The sight of the broad blue ocean, already breaking in white caps, suggested to her the liberty and strength of the nation toward whose shores she was being carried. Spellbound she stood, gazing out over the deep, unconscious of the admiration of some of her fellow-passengers struck by the expres- sive beauty of her face. Chancing to look around, she saw come out of the so-called " captain's state-room," much sought after by voyagers of means, the young man who had at- tracted her attention two hours before. He, also, had altered his toilet to the extent of substituting a shirt collar of blue cheviot for his white one, and donning as a head-gear a rough, knit Tarn o' Shan- ter, which he may have fancied gave him the air of a sea-dog, but which in complicity with his striped ulster hanging down to his heels, and an orange scarf about his neck, suggested rather a bandit in easy circumstances. 3O FACE TO FACE. He had an air of intense reserve, which confirmed Evelyn's impression that he was an Englishman of social standing. This was indeed so engrossing a characteristic that people not accustomed to it might readily have failed to note at first that he was good- looking, with eyes of a thoughtful, intelligent cast, when their gaze became fixed, as it did for an in- stant on Evelyn, as he walked by. His cold and somewhat supercilious scrutiny assured her that she was not recognized. She had seen dozens of men like him at home. In addition to the details described, he wore a closely cut pair of whiskers, the precision of which was typical of his whole ap- pearance. She fancied that he might be some future peer going out to investigate the new world. Some- how he seemed to her even more pronounced in his peculiarities than most of his class. He drew out a pipe, and began to walk up and down the deck with a hauteur likely to discountenance any disposition for colloquy on the part of others. Evelyn could not help wondering what the young man thought of her, and if he took her for Ameri- can or English. Just then the dinner hour struck, and presently she found herself opposite to him at table. He paid not the slightest attention to any- body but the steward, to whom he gave the most precise directions as to what to bring him to eat. A spirit of deviltry was rapidly getting the better of Evelyn. She had heard and read much of the original ways of American girls, and the idea oc- curred to her, of assuming the part of one by way FACE TO FACE. 3 1 of practice. Why should she not try her maiden effort on her countryman, who would be disquali- fied to pick flaws in the conception ? Acting on the impulse she leaned forward, and with expansive graciousness asked him for the but- ter. Before complying with her request, the stran- ger clapped a single glass, which dangled from his neck, into his eye, and gazed at her frigidly. As Evelyn took the dish from his hand she thanked him with an effusion that caused him to shrink into his skin like a sea-anemone, and almost immediately he left the table. It was twilight when Evelyn went on deck, and as she sauntered along she caught sight of her vic- tim standing near the man at the wheel. With an effontery that surprised herself she continued her stroll until she reached the same locality of comparative isolation. Her approach had failed to disturb him. He had his back turned to her, and was absorbed in the contemplation of the sunset, which was unusually fine. Leaning against the railing a few feet off, she followed his example. At length he turned a little, and as their eyes met the iciness of his stare was appalling. Again he put up his glass and moved away, this time to the retire- ment of the smoking-room or his own quarters, for though Evelyn stayed on deck watching the stars for some hours, she did not get another glimpse of him that evening. The next day when she awoke the sea was still calm as a mill-pond. They were off the Irish coast, 32 FACE TO FACE. just leaving Queenstown. As Evelyn lay in her berth enjoying the fresh air that was not yet forbidden her through the closing of the dead-eye, she heard her table companion's voice in the passage asking for a bath with praiseworthy iteration. To continue the part she had undertaken, she hastened to dress herself that she might breakfast in his society. But when she entered the saloon he had apparently not yet put in an appearance. She lingered at table longer than was necessary to no avail ; but as she rose to go she perceived him ensconced at the other side of the room, with the wherewithal for a hearty meal before him. She could scarcely restrain her laughter as it dawned upon her that he had changed his seat doubtless on her account. But mingled with her mirth was a tinge both of pique and of irritation. She had scarcely bargained for the uncomplimentary turn that matters were taking. She wondered if she were bungling her at- tempt to change her nationality. For who ever heard of an American girl, whose personal attrac- tions were so little open to criticism as hers failing to fascinate ? Whatever else censors might say re- garding the originality that distinguished her sex across the ocean, who could question its potency to affect the masculine imagination ? And was she deficient ? Had she striven in vain to imitate the delightful ease of manner necessary to success ? It was much more nattering to her self-esteem to assume, as an alternative, that Englishmen of the variety to which this young man belonged were FACE TO FACE. 33 even more provincial than she had supposed. He had seen fit, forsooth, to take offence because she had asked him to pass the butter with a little more suavity than the misses to whose society he was ac- customed would have ventured to display, because she had chanced to watch the sunset from the same quarter of the ship, and because her clothes were out of the common run of London patterns. He was not willing to be civil to his fellow-passengers for fear of committing himself. How narrow, and how in accord with the doctrine of forms and set phrases and inherited opinions from which she was every hour being borne further away ! Happily he would be soon taught a lesson. As soon as his feet touched the soil of freedom he would find that he was no better than anybody else. But she resolved that, since he was so easily shocked, she would continue the process, accepting for the nonce the supposition that she was ignorant of American usages. It might be she had been too mild in her methods, and that something was neces- sary to arouse his languid interest. She would make the attempt, and if, as she preferred to believe, his national prejudice in favor of ceremony was the cause of her ill success, how frantic a still further breach would drive him ! She could have the satisfaction, at least, of making his life miserable during the re- mainder of the voyage. As a consequence of this resolve she awaited with anticipation his reappearance. He came out at last, fortified with a chair and rugs, and directed the 3 34 FACE TO FACE. steward who carried them to a distant corner of the deck, as far as possible apparently from the vicinity of his enemy, whose whereabouts he had first ascer- tained by a cursory glance. He wrapped himself up and began to examine some illustrated papers. Although the sea was not rough, there were com- paratively few people above stairs, owing to the chilliness of the atmosphere. Evelyn, being herself well protected, was not displeased to see the other ladies disappear one by one below, until she was at last the only person of her sex remaining on deck. A feeling of skittishness as to what might take place made her prefer that the coast should be clear. What should she do ? How could she most effec- tively continue the experiment without doing any- thing incompatible with ladylike behavior? She desired to enter into conversation with her fellow- countryman, but she felt that it must be done natu- rally and without apparent deliberation, or she would be unjust to her models. They were getting fairly out to sea now and the freshening breeze acting on the furnace fires, caused the smoke to pour in thick, black columns from the funnels. Large soots and irritating cinders began to fall about her and to render a change of position necessary. She would be safe from this annoyance only to the forward of the smoke-stacks. She felt therefore no scruples in gathering up her belong- ings and moving to within a few yards of where her ungracious foe was sitting. He looked up and scowled appreciably. He even turned his head as FACE TO FACE. 35 if to ascertain whether there were not some equally sheltered spot to which to flee. But his present location under the lee of a life-boat was a more effectual protection from the wind than was obtain- able elsewhere. Besides, to move would involve a disarrangement of his comfortable system of wraps. At least Evelyn thus conjectured as to the thoughts passing through his mind, and as she did not wish to have him escape her, she deemed it more discreet to close her eyes with an air of composing herself for slumber. The device was successful. When she took a peep, five minutes later, he appeared engrossed in his illustrated newspapers. Several which he had already read lay on the deck, secured from blowing away by the weight of the leg of his sea-chair. Evelyn wondered how an American girl would manage under similar circumstances. Clearly ac- cording to her preconceived ideas no representa- tive of her sex from across the water would let slip an opportunity like this for beguiling the ted- ium of the voyage. She felt a little nonplussed, and disposed to bewail her self-consciousness as the dis- couraging factor in the case. She reflected (as she tried to screw up her courage to break the ice which kept them apart) that it was not so easy after all to acquire the art of fascination, and that to take a step naturally and from instinct, differs widely from an artificial accomplishment of the same. At last, by a happy inspiration she chanced to notice the pile of papers at his feet. She recog- 36 FACE TO FACE. nized the Illustrated London News and Graphic among them, so that there could be no reason why she should not ask to look at them. Accordingly, with a repetition of her engaging manner of the day be- fore, she said : " May I look at one of your newspapers, please ? " The young man jumped as if he had been shot, and scowled again stonily. But as there seemed no help for it, he roused himself with a more than nec- essary upheaval of his comfort, and dragging the whole collection of printed matter from under his chair, held it out at arm's length for Evelyn's recep- tion, with an air that implied, "Take everything, but leave me alone." Then he buried himself more completely than ever in his ulster, pulling up his collar as an additional safeguard from intrusion, and appearing utterly callous to the enthusiastic "Thank you very, very much ; I am afraid I have disturbed you dreadfully," with which his tormentor rewarded his bounty, save that a moment or two later, he gave his chair a hitch with the effect of turning her a cold shoulder. Now that she had taken the first step, Evelyn felt eager for a continuation of hostilities. She turned over the pages of the newspapers, scarcely heeding the illustrations, until her eye chanced to note the name " Ernest Clay " written in pencil on the mar- gin of a copy of Punch. That was probably his name, she reflected. Clay ? She could not recall any family of that name among the gilded youth of the United Kingdom. However, she was by no FACE TO FACE. 37 means well acquainted with that body, of which it certainly required no oracle to inform her that he was a member. She felt ripe for mischief. She argued that she might as well hang for a sheep as a lamb. There was no longer a doubt in her mind that her only chance of triumphing over her countryman was to do or say something really determinative, so as to convince him beyond question that she was an Amer- ican. For, despite the confidence she professed to herself to entertain that her characterization was without flaws, the agonizing suspicion that he saw through her disguise, notwithstanding her costume and forward ways, still haunted her. Language, expression, intonation, were after all the most con- vincing proofs of nationality. She must say some- thing typical, something that smacked distinctively of the new world. Why should he be expected to suppose, from the few indications she had already given him, that she was returning home rather than leaving it ? Very possibly he was slow of under- standing, and needed to have things put in black and white before he could grasp them. And then, to her horror it occurred to her that the expression "very, very," that she had just employed was a typically English form of speech. How could she have been so careless ? That alone was sufficient to betray her. She felt that the impression must be eradicated at once by some unequivocal phrases that no English girl would use. She ransacked her memory, and 38 FACE TO FACE. fortunately was able to conjure up certain words which were often on the lips of the party she had met in Switzerland, and which she had encountered again in the course of her extensive reading of American fiction. She remembered also her father's disgust, when he chanced one day to overhear the conversation of those people, manifested by a scorn- ful repetition of certain obnoxious phrases in the presence of the family circle. Another opportunity to address her neighbor was plainly afforded by the necessity to return the news- papers which she had borrowed. " It was right kind of you to lend me these," she said, and then, as he took them from her hand, "I guess this voyage is going to be real elegant, don't you ? " A sort of shiver ran through her victim and, mut- tering something that failed to reach her ears, he twisted round his chair a little further. " What say ? " she asked. This was too much. He raised himself in his chair and said, stiffly : " I didn't speak." Then, with a haughty disdain compressing his fea- tures, the young man got up and, gathering his ef- fects, started to change his seat. Just as he stooped to fold his chair, however, a violent gust blew over the deck, and lifting his Tarn O'Shanter from his head as if it had been a feather, transferred it to the lap of Evelyn, who clutched at and held it. But as if the very devil were in it, the same envious cyclone carried off her billycock hat as well. FACE TO FACE. 39 Convulsed at the unexpected' turn that fate had given to the affair, Evelyn approached her adver- sary, who, red with confusion, was standing helpless- ly holding his rugs and newspapers, and restored him his property. " Thanks awfully," he murmured, and thawed either by the extreme good humor of the laughing girl who was striving valiantly to protect her ex- posed hair from the vagaries of the after-currents, or by her beauty, which he realized now perhaps for the first time, a smile relaxed his features. " Don't mention it," she replied, blithely, and turn- ing on her heel, she tripped along the deck in pur- suit of her own precious head covering, which, after a brief respite, had just begun another expedition. It would have interested a student of human nat- ure to watch on Ernest Clay's face the struggle between pride and the instincts of gallantry that were contesting for the mastery as he followed Eve- lyn with his eyes. But the sight was too much for his gentlemanly feelings, and letting drop his shawls, he joined in the chase of the offending hat, which, buffeted by the breeze, was describing every sort of manoeuvre in its efforts to elude capture. Evelyn heard his steps behind her, and the con- sciousness of his approach added wings to her feet. She flew along the deck, and he, with the determin- ation of a man who hates to be frustrated in what he has undertaken, redoubled his speed. She reached the spot where the hat had come to a standstill and had stretched out her hand to pick it Up, when 40 FACE TO FACE. another fluke of wind bore it beyond her grasp and with some force against the bulwarks, from which it bounded into her pursuer's hands. "I guess we're quits," she said, with a merry laugh. Again a shade of annoyance crossed his face, as if a pin had pricked him, and he held the hat with a gingerly stiff pose, somewhat suggestive of one who transfers a dead cat by the tail from the pavement to an ash-barrel ; but he had evidently concluded that, having committed himself so far, he had better make the best of a distasteful situation, for, as they returned to where their chairs were, he looked up and said : " I fancy you're from the West." For an instant Evelyn felt her head swim, so great was her surprise ; then she replied, with pleased al- acrity : " How did you find out?" III. ALL is not gold that glitters. In spite of most deceptive appearances, which fully justified Miss Pimlico in taking the young man on whom she had tried her 'prentice hand to beafellow-coun- tryman of her own, the fact remains that Ernest Clay had been born and bred in New York City. Indeed, his ancestry was most distinctly American. On his paternal side, he could claim kinship with a Clay who lived in Puritan times, and from whom he was descended in a direct line through a farmer, a schoolmaster, two clergymen, a country doctor, and a banker. The last named was his grandfather, who left the family homestead in Worcester County, Mas- sachusetts, with the hope of making his fortune in the great money mart of the nation. This he succeeded in doing before middle life, and after various ex- periences he founded the banking house which bore his name for many years after his death, in 1850, and was a synonym for commercial honor and sagacity. He left one son, who had married before the old man's decease Grace, the youngest daughter of Peter Hackensack, the great-grandson of the famous patroon of the same name. Though putatively an alliance between blood and money, the banker's 42 FACE TO FACE. heir was dead in love with his Knickerbocker bride, who reciprocated his passion with all her heart. He succeeded to his father's positions as head of the firm, director in numerous corporations, and favorite trustee of charitable institutions ; and being by temperament a restless, enterprising fellow as well, his thousands soon became a cool million. His wife, a beautiful, spirited woman, who had been a belle before her marriage, became a society leader after the maternal interests, which the birth of Ernest inspired, became a trifle monotonous, and for many seasons it was the. fashion for men out of conceit for their own wives to send her flowers. Her ambition was to keep pace with, or rather a little in advance of, the rapid change in social tastes that was taking place in New York. Her father's carriage had been one of the first private equipages in the city, and she remembered to have often heard him say that the maintenance of it was regarded by many as ostentatious, and inconsistent with proper self-respect. But now dozens of coupes vied with each other on Fifth Avenue, which itself had sprung into existence as if by magic, stretching, ornate with splendid residences, further and further up-town. Midday dinners were beginning to be- long to the past, and it was a proud moment for her when she ceased, also, to dine early on Sundays on roast beef, with a dish of baked beans at the other end of the table, and an Indian pudding to follow, a custom dear to many generations of Clays. What was the use, as she forcibly put it to her bus- FACE TO FACE. 43 band, of having a magnificent new house, and a French cook, if they were to live primitively in other respects ? Doubtless she was prescient enough to foresee that the day would not be distant when the food of families which aspired to fashion would be phrased in a foreign lingo, and a footman in livery be indispensable to the happiness of young married couples. The attack on Fort Sumter greatly excited the prosperous banker. Though not an Abolitionist properly speaking, he had voted for Abraham Lin- coln, and watched the ominous clouds of political dissension with a growing sense of bitterness toward the South. The press of private affairs and the ob- jections of his friends prevented him from volunteer- ing in response to the President's first call for troops ; but when the news of the battle of Bull Run arrived, he recruited a regiment at his own expense, and hurried to the front. He was killed a year later at Antietam. His estate the portion of it at least which by the terms of his will was put in trust for his only son was so prudently managed by his executors, that Ernest on his twenty-first birthday came into not less than six millions of dollars, almost treble the original amount of his inheritance. This did not include the share bequeathed to the widow, who, plunged into terrible sorrow, found at last a new hold on vitality in the bringing up of her boy. Although she never left off black to the end of her days, her costumes, marvellous with passementerie, 44 FACE TO FACE. were in conformity with the sumptuousness of the home where this last hope of the Clays grew from childhood to adolescence, surrounded by every lux- ury that money could command. With all her fondness for high-living and bric-a- brac, and liveried servants, the Dowager Clay, as she was called by the obsequious, was by no means a foolish woman. Provided that her Ernest was fashionable, she had no objection to his being clever also. He was sent to Harvard, where his father had graduated thirty years before, and he rather distin- guished himself as a student. Among his classmates he was considered more than ordinarily intelligent, and consequently was kept at arm's length (in spite of his wealth) by the crack set, who regarded this attribute in his character as inconsistent with their conception of a " true sport." Shy, quiet, and a reader, he passed an uneventful four years and quitted Cambridge with the commendations of his Alma Ma- ter, which, however, were unable wholly to reconcile his own mother to his slight figure and lack of style. She felt it therefore incumbent upon her, though the sacrifice cost her many tears, to let him loose among the capitals of Europe, under the ostensible plea of learning the languages. She herself crossed the ocean two successive summers to observe his progress, and was agreeably surprised on the second occasion to find that fluency in French and German had spruced him up wonderfully, and made him more like other people. He was become a bit of a dandy, with a lurking distrust for the soundness of FACE TO FACE. 45 his country's institutions, which did not by any means displease his fond parent, who was beginning to fancy Paris as the Mecca of her declining years, seeing that she had no daughter to bring into so- ciety. However, she was anxious that Ernest should ap- pear in his new character upon his native heath, if for no other reason, than that he might choose a wife from among the young women with whose ante- cedents she was familiar. For, little as she would have objected to his living abroad, Mrs. Clay had a great belief in what she was pleased to call "blood." Accordingly, mother and son made their reappear- ance on the social horizon of their native city early the following autumn, presaging a series of splendid entertainments at the family residence during the winter. A murmur of anticipation pervaded society, and match-making mammas took care to be over- heard by their daughters estimating the figures of the Clay inheritance. For the first time in his life Ernest began to realize what an important person he was. His indifference hitherto to the circum- stance that he was enormously rich had always seemed strange to his mother, and caused her to shake her head at such philosophical observances of his, as that he was almost sorry not to have been born to face the necessity of earning his own living. But, whether owing to the excessive court paid him in social circles, or to the late dropping of the scales from his eyes, he altered very rapidly both as concerned his tastes and ideas. He became, almost 46 FACE TO FACE. with the despatch of the chrysalis, one of the im- maculate young exquisites who float from ball-room to ball-room on the saccharine atmosphere of femi- nine flattery. No entertainment was complete without his presence, and no maiden otherwise than envied whom he honored with his attention. An endless round of dances, and dinners, and other festivities consumed his nights and revolutionized his habits of early rising. Like his mother, he proved ambitious to be a little in advance of his generation. He went in for coaching among the very first, and the yacht he built was long after cited as a model of maritime luxury. He imported hounds from England with the hope of organizing a new national pastime in the teeth of a dearth of a natural scent. Tailors and florists, bootmakers and shirtmakers, glovers and hatters grew prosperous on his patronage, and for every customer whom his recommendations obtained them added an extra per- centage to his bills. So matters went on for two or three years, to his mother's infinite delight. Her only cause of griev- ance was that Ernest showed no signs of settling down, or, in other words, his so-called love affairs had all proved to be merely flirtations. She did not fail to talk to him seriously on the subject, holding up the many arguments in favor of matri- mony, and illustrating the misery of single life after forty. But the only consolation she could get out of him was that he still had fifteen years to spare. Presently, however, he evinced symptoms that FACE TO FACE. 47 were far from comforting to her as regarded this hobby. He pronounced parties to be a bore, and began to seek in club life an antidote for a weari- ness of spirit which was partly affected, but partly genuine. His horses and yacht palled upon him. When he was not playing cards he read French novels, and regularly as clock work he spent his summer across the water. One day he astounded his mother by announcing that he was going to practice civil engineering, a study that had always interested him. It was not difficult for him to obtain admission as assistant in a first-class office. For six months he worked like a beaver, but with the thermometer at ninety in the latter part of June the white cliffs of Dover rose before him so eloquently, that, to use his own language, "he cut the whole business." He went abroad, and on his return in September, started almost immediately on a trip around the world by way of San Francisco. It was at the end of this trip that he had fallen in with Miss Pimlico. Without lacking patriotism at heart, perhaps, Ernest Clay was certainly an Anglomaniac in his appearance and general tone. He habitually bought his entire wardrobe in London, and in conversation was fond of contrasting the servile civility of English tradespeople with the garrulity of barbers and the im- pertinences of hotel clerks at home. Then, although he had never lifted a finger to remedy democratic abuses, excepting to attend a caucus or two, he was never slow to quote the favorite aphorism of our leisure class that politics in the United States is not 48 FACE TO FACE. a fit calling for gentlemen ; from which it was an easy step to maintain the doctrine that all men are born free and equal to be a fallacy for practical pur- poses. At times also he cast rather a longing eye at the British system of class distinctions, taking it as granted that if he had happened to be born on the other side of the water, he would have been a lord ; for, with some inconsistency, considering his other views, he regarded his own family as in- ferior to few, if any, in the United Kingdom in point of breeding and aristocratic pretensions. Then, too, he thought of Englishmen as a fine-looking body with a strong taste for physical sports, and he was apt to maintain that it was everything to him to live where there were hansom cabs. But one of the strongest prejudices he entertained regarding his native country was on the subject of American girls, under which score of criticism he never included the young ladies of education, re- finement, and high social standing, who seemed in his eyes very much like girls everywhere, except, as he was patriotic enough to claim, that they dressed in better taste and were more agreeable compan- ions than those of societies where less freedom is allowed before marriage. Indeed he was rather a champion of the charms of a host of feminine friends whom he could think of in New York as specimens of one of the few national products that defied criti- cism. Those inveighed against by him were girls of the Daisy Miller variety, whom foreigners delighted to regard as the sole national type. He could dis- FACE TO FACE. 49 course eloquently on the subject. What a diatribe that impersonation was on the manners of society ! Such social eccentrics existed indeed, but who ever met them in polite circles ? And let the old world sneer as it might, polite circles no less elegant and fastidious than those of Mayfair and the Boulevard St. Germain held their courts in Fifth Avenue and Beacon Street. Here again he was a trifle patriotic. But he could not be too severe, it seemed to him, against the daughters of the masses, who, on the plea of emancipation, had played ducks and drakes with the repute of American womanhood, not only at home where such behavior, though reprobated, was not misunderstood but in city and hamlet, through valley and over mountain, from breadth to breadth of the Eastern continent, to the amazement of its peoples, who showed the palms of their hands and shrugged their shoulders by way of comment. How often he had lashed himself into a fury on the subject, as some bedizened beauty from the West sailed past him unattended in the streets of Paris, or like a mountain shepherdess, with crook in hand, looked archly at him at sunrise from the summit of a minor Alp ! He knew each variety well that is by sight and observation, for he had taken care to avoid personal acquaintance. There was the young heiress from the prairies, proud of her father's mil- lions, yet innocent as the wheat blades at their foun- dation, confiding, yearning for companionship, and ready to ride rough-shod over the prejudices of em- pires in pursuit of it ; and again the seeker after 4 50 FACE TO FACE. culture from the sea-board, resolute, in spite of pov- erty and by dint of purity, to penetrate alone, guide- book in hand, churches and galleries, booths and catacombs ; or simply the lightning excursionist, ambitious of compressing into a period rather less than sixty days, including the ocean passage to and fro, the sight-seeing of an ordinary lifetime. Clay had come on board ship at Liverpool, after having crossed the Channel at the same time with a personally conducted party from the neighbor- hood of Detroit, Mich., who rubbed the wrong way the sentiments of interest in his native country which had been gathering head during his tour around the world. He had been feeling pensive, wondering what he was to do when he got back. For, except in the first flush of his society career, he had never been able to shake off entirely the feeling that, if he had been born poor, he might have amounted to more than he did. But what was a man with his money to do except to amuse himself, unless he went into politics? And politics well, there was no field for anyone there who was not willing to truckle and trade. Why had he not stuck to his civil engineering? Now that the weather was cool, lie wished he had. His talents lay in that line, if in any. Mechanics always interested him, and at col- lege he had invented a number of labor-saving ap- paratus in connection with his own rooms that were the wonder of his chums. Seven years since he graduated ! And what had he accomplished ? To be sure, he had done better than some of the fel- FACE TO FACE. 5 1 lows. He had not drunk himself to death like Tom Fisher, or run through his property on the stock exchange like Bill Doty, or married a ballet girl in imitation of Harrison Murray. He had his health, a good six millions, and no family cares to harass him. Then, too, he had pleased his mother, excepting perhaps in the latter particular. But he had tried his best to fall in love. Indeed he wished he could. But, rather than marry anyone whom he did not care for with all his heart and soul, he would prefer to remain a bachelor to the end of his days. Of this he felt sure in spite of the opinion he often heard expressed (and he acknowledged as probably sound), that in highly evolved beings the faculty of criticism reduces the capacity for intense enthusiasm almost to a minimum. He felt in his own case that he would be likely to pick flaws in a goddess, should she appear on earth as a candidate to become his better half. The serenity of these reflections, coupled with which were the various questionings concerning di- vine laws and human civilizations likely to occupy at times the mind of a young man who, in spite of being a crack polo player and yachtsman, is an in- veterate reader, has travelled widely, and is familiar with three languages besides his own, was still clouded by the remembrance of his disagreeable journey from Calais, when, as he emerged from the deck stateroom secured for his occupation months in advance, his eye fell on Miss Pimlico. He saw nothing at first but the horror of a hat, the precise 52 FACE TO FACE. counterpart of one worn by the most exasperating of the tourists in question, which, as well as the tight-fitting garment swathing her figure, was totally unlike Belgravian fashions. But one glance was suf- ficient to convince him that this young person was a countrywoman of his own, and the sense of irritation, of which her presence on board made him conscious, congealed still further, as he 'paced the deck with his habitual reserve of manner. He reasoned that he might have expected to see some such extraordi- nary specimen on a steamship bound to the United States. But we are apt to congratulate ourselves that what is disagreeable will be averted, until it is close upon us. He had, from a previous cursory glance, got the impression that his fellow-passengers were an uninteresting set, and it seemed to him that this young woman capped the climax. He contented himself with dismissing her from his thoughts, and, had it not been for the articles of dress referred to, he would not have known that it was she who sat opposite to him at the dinner-table. But there was no doubt about the fact, nor was there any doubt in his mind as to her beauty, though he preferred to disregard that conscious- ness. He put the question to himself while wait- ing for his soup and doing his best to ignore her existence, why a girl not by any means ill look- ing, taking her apart from her wardrobe, wished to disfigure herself by a rig such as that which she had on? He was well aware that persons like her, if given an inch, will take an ell, and he had no inten- FACE TO FACE. 53 tion of letting her get up a flirtation with him. Con- found her impudence ! If she must have the butter, why make eyes at him in that fashion ? He had done nothing to justify it. Next she would be asking him about the weather or the ship's run. The best thing for him to do was to get back to the deck as soon as possible, and make the steward give him an- other seat for the rest of the voyage. Come to think of it, her voice had less twang than one might have expected. But there was no doubt as to her nation- ality, for to all appearances she was travelling alone. The sea was too calm to admit the probability that her mother was unable to be present at table. Be- sides, there was no vacant place beside her. He would examine the passenger list to-morrow and find out. Not that he cared, but to give her the benefit of the doubt. He wondered who she was. An artist, probably, or, worse still, an artist with literary proclivities, who would write up the voyage for the newspapers to eke out the expenses of her year among the galleries of Italy. She was something of the kind, he felt sure. He could tell by her restless eye. A pretty state of affairs, verily, to fancy one's self a genius and yet be unable to speak the English language with correctness, or to dress otherwise than like a guy ! For there was no reason to suppose that her gram- mar would be more unimpeachable than her milli- nery. Well, all he wanted was to keep out of her way. How fine the sky was ! Heigho ! he must pull himself together when he got home and see 54 FACE TO FACE. what could be done. He was tired of this idling existence. Keep out of her way ? The question was rather how to keep her out of his. What indelicacy to come prowling out to within a few feet of him ! As if, indeed, she cared a button for the sunset. Did she suppose he would jump at the bait and strike up an acquaintance ? A woman with any perception would have known that it was the most unlikely way possible to attract a man of his sort. What a shame that a girl with such fine eyes for they cer- tainly were all that should be so lacking in mod- esty. Talk to her ? Catch him. Not if he had to pretend he was deaf, which was the defence he had made use of on a slightly similar occasion. As he walked away, after she had disturbed his view of the sunset, a suspicion crossed Clay's mind which he instantly dismissed as out of the question, but not without reflecting that a foreigner would be justified in harboring it. She had begun opera- tions very soon, but there could be no doubt that she was perfectly respectable, so far as her moral character was concerned. He had seen dozens like her, though fortunately he had never before figured as the victim. He reflected that it was the way with the girls of the class to which she evidently be- longed, to consider everything as fish that came to their nets. He said to himself that some men would have taken the hint and found such a flirtation amus- ing. He was a different kind of man. He was sorry for her lack of perception. Not that he would be FACE TO FACE. 55 likely to speak to her in any event. But a voyage often drags, and there is no telling what a man may condescend to when bored. She had ruined her chances of making his acquaintance, if there were any, irreparably, however. He sat in the smoking-room, working himself up into a state of indignation. He reflected that mat- ters were getting to a pretty pass in his country, if a man who had not moved a muscle of his face was not secure from molestation by a young woman, no matter how good-looking. Positively, he did not dare to go on deck, for even if she were not brazen enough to speak to him, she would be sure to keep him constantly on tenter-hooks by her glances, drop- ping her handkerchief where he could not avoid picking it up, or trying some such dodge to scrape acquaintance. Taking one consideration with an- other, this seemed to him the most flagrant case he had ever known. It was so deliberate, so palpably cold-blooded. She would argue probably that she was lonely. Serve her right for travelling alone. Pshaw ! There could not be much satisfaction in conversing with a girl who was ignorant of the very first rules of propriety, even though she did know all about Dante and the Niebelungen Lied. He had the steward change his seat at table be- fore he went to bed, to one where he could see only her back hair, which he contemplated at breakfast with satisfaction. He felt that he had put a spoke in her wheel. He argued if she were not thick- skinned as a rattle-snake she would take the hint 56 FACE TO FACE. and let him alone. But he was determined that, come what might, he was not going to be deprived of the fresh air any longer on her account. It seemed to him that the probabilities were she would be more discreet by broad daylight, when there were plenty of her own sex about with nothing to do but watch her. He perceived, as she passed out of the saloon, that she had taken in the situation, and that it seemed to amuse her. She did not blush, nor show a sign of confusion. Very well, she would find him indifferent and hopeless to manipulate as a graven image. For some while after establishing himself on deck he felt elated at his cleverness in selecting a spot so far distant from where his enemy was sitting, that by approaching him she could not fail to attract notice. The sky, moreover, gave every indication of a blow before long, which he was malicious enough to trust would upset her for the rest of the voyage. He opened his newspapers. There were some late American ones among them, and he had the satisfaction of reading an item to the effect that a manufacturing stock of which he had bought heavily just before leaving home, because of the company's plant being in the vicinity of a handsome estate on the banks of the Hudson which was a part of his in- heritance, had risen largely in price. But he did not feel much like reading, in spite of his apparent ab- sorption. He would have liked, were it consistent with the total scorn he professed to entertain, to look behind and see what had become of his tor- FACE TO FACE. 57 mentor. The silence was ominous. He could ex- pect no such good fortune as that she would throw up the sponge so early in the contest. He hoped that she was chagrined by his having changed his seat, but he well knew that girls of her sort were fertile in expedients. For he recalled that on the occasion when he had pretended to be deaf, the young person had got the better of him in the end. He was on the way from Paris to Geneva, and was shut up, by the maladroitness of the conductor, in a compart- ment alone with her instead of having it alone to himself as had been the import of his tip. Not five minutes had elapsed before she told him she was from St. Louis, and had come abroad to learn the languages in order to fit herself to conduct a school. After the first few sentences he had signified his in- firmity. It sufficed to keep the peace for a while, but at last, in despair, she had made a trumpet of her hands and, in spite of his most earnest protesta- tions, shouted at him until he was able to release himself from her society at the next stopping-place. Engrossed in this reminiscence, Clay was not aware of Evelyn's approach until he heard the sound made by her chair in being set down within speaking dis- tance of his own. This act of hardihood was almost amusing from its effrontery, but he believed himself to be very indignant and cast about in the manner already mentioned for some alternative of escape other than beating a total retreat. Evelyn had been correct in assuming that he was very comfortable, and would shrink from disturbing himself as long as 58 FACE TO FACE. possible. Perhaps too, out of a sneaking curiosity to see what she would do, he was not at heart dis- pleased to find there was no equally sheltered spot at hand, though, after discovering this to be the case, he satisfied his own dignity by deciding that it was very foolish to pay any attention to her. He argued to himself that she would only feel flattered if he were to move. His newspapers ? An entering wedge. Why hadn't he had the sense to put them out of sight ? He could see no help for it, he must let her have them. But there he would draw the line. Ice it- self should not be more freezing than his demeanor. He said to himself that she did not really wish to look at the newspapers any more than she had really cared for the sunset. There was, however, a per- tinacity about her that would have done credit to a book agent, and her intonation was decidedly puz- zling. It was almost like an English girl's. In jus- tice he must own that, if he had heard her voice without seeing her in the flesh before him, he might have thought it pretty. But her abominable for- wardness was enough to counteract the few points in her favor. Decidedly it was a most impertinent performance, and, gruesome thought ! his name was on one of the newspapers. Ten chances to one she would address him by it, and ask if he were any re- lation to some Harry Clay or George Clay in the retail dry goods line at Kalamazoo. Whew ! The only safe way to cross the ocean was one's own yacht. FACE TO FACE. 59 Ah ! She was thanking him now for his news- papers, as though he wouldn't have been more than grateful to have her keep the whole lot of them and leave him in peace. " Guess," that was to be expected, and must be put up with like " fix ;" but " real elegant " was enough to make the flesh creep. Ugh ! The use of it ought to be made an offence punishable with fine or imprisonment. And she was waiting for an answer. Shades of Lindley Murray ! No, no, this was the limit. Not a sen- tence, not a syllable should she force from his lips. The situation was humiliating enough as it was without letting her have the satisfaction of a dia- logue. Good Heavens ! What did she mean ? He had not spoken. Not a word. He was sure of it. " What say ? " Quintessence of vulgar speech, acme of plebeian interrogation ! He could not bear this a moment longer. He would go below. Any- thing was better than that she should suppose he had spoken of his free-will. He would make it plain to her that he had not. There ! She must comprehend that if she had a vestige of pride left, and now she was welcome to the field. Confound it ! There went his hat. The very elements were on her side. And she had caught it, and was laughing. The same wind, too, had carried away hers, or like enough, she had let it go on pur- pose. Disgusting situation ! He would have to re- ceive his hat from her hands. If somebody would only strip off that ulster into the bargain she would not be a bad looking girl. Well, this was 60 FACE TO FACE. the depth of humiliation. He must be tolerably gracious. Excitement was becoming to her. There she went after her own hat ! Would it do for him to stand by and not lend a hand ? What a nuisance ! But it wouldn't do. He must help her, come of it what might. Quits, eh ? Scarcely. There was a very large balance on her side, and from the twinkle in her eyes she must be well aware of it. Well, now that he had picked up her hat, why didn't he make his bow and leave her ? Without attempting to solve this question, Clay glanced about the deck as though to ascertain if any- one was observing them. The coast was clear. He reflected, besides, that there wasn't a soul on board he had ever laid eyes on before. He thought it might be rather amusing, just for variety, to talk to her a little. She looked intelligent, as well as hand- some as a peach. Who would be the wiser if he did ? It occurred to him that it might be well to find out, once for all, what such a girl was like. It might be a long time before he had such another opportunity. She could not make him any more uncomfortable than she had already. Of course she was from the West. He would ask her if she were not, to begin with, as being a question entirely in her own style. IV. " TTOW did you find out ?" repeated Evelyn. 1 1 But Clay's delay in answering her question was not because he needed further humoring. A sudden idea had occurred to him which justified completely, to his own thinking, the loss of dignity involved in entering into conversation with this ex- traordinary young person. Why not give her a lesson in manners, and point out to her, kindly but unmistakably, how she had sinned against pro- priety and maidenly reserve in her endeavors to at- tract his attention ? For, now that he had cooled down, pity was his uppermost feeling pity that a girl with such marked natural advantages should be so ignorant. He reflected that her shortcomings were after all simply the result of knowing no better. It was quite wonderful, on the contrary, how much she had picked up in the way of etiquette. Her figure was good. She had tripped after her hat as gracefully as if she had been used to a drawing-room all her life. Cavil as one would, these daughters of the soil were certainly very adaptive. He felt that it would take only a few lessons to transform this hoyden into a charming creation ; and that, whatever she might feel at that 62 FACE TO FACE. moment, she would unquestionably be grateful to him hereafter for having opened her eyes to the truth. His aesthetic instincts thrilled at the thought, and he turned toward Evelyn good-humoredly, waiting for her to readjust her wraps and settle down be- fore he spoke. He would break it to her gently. " It required neither magic nor genius, you know, to tell that," he said. " I should say, from your general air, that you were either from Kansas or In- diana. Possibly from Illinois. You are travelling alone, aren't you ? " " Yes." " I thought so. Been abroad studying ? " " I have been studying in England." " Humph ! Charming country, England." " I don't like it as well as the United States. Were you ever there ? " " In the States? Rather." " This isn't your first visit, then ?" Clay stared at her with surprise. " Scarcely." "I was beginning to think so, for you seem to have a little more knowledge about them than most Englishmen." "I?" "Yes. You said just now that it was easy to tell I was from the West, but no one could doubt a moment that you were born in London." Clay was silent a moment, and his face flushed. Then he gave a short laugh. " Oh ! " " I can't make out whether you're a lord or not," FACE TO FACE. 63 continued Evelyn. " I felt sure you were until you spoke of Kansas, but there isn't one lord in twenty, I guess, who knows where Kansas is." "" I see." " But I'm inclined to think you are, you look so conscious. Which are you, an earl or a baronet ? " "Aw aw neither exactly," he stammered. Confound this girl, was she guying him? No, she looked too serious for that. She evidently really took him for an Englishman. What a joke ! It was owing to the cut of his clothes, probably. Very likely she had never met an American of his class. A lord, too ! Not altogether unnatural, poor child. He would be one if he lived on the other side. " Well, it doesn't matter," said Evelyn. " We don't think much of titles in America." " So I have heard. The Americans have a great many strange ideas, you know, and especially American girls." " Do you know many American girls ? " she asked. " I should say so." " Have you ever met any jusl like me ? " " I can't say that I have. That is, I have never had the honor of an acquaintance with one. I've seen them at a distance, though." " And avoided them. That's what you wanted to say, isn't it ? " " Have I avoided you ? " " Ah, but you couldn't help yourself. My hat blew off." " So it did. Humph ! And if you will allow me 64 FACE TO FACE. to say so, you look much better with it off than on," Clay added. "Why, what objections have you to my poor hat ? " " To say the least it is very American, you know." " I should hope so. You surely wouldn't have me wear one that wasn't ? Aren't your clothes Eng- lish?" Clay gave another confused laugh. "Yes, they are. But don't you carry your patriotism rather far ? " "You wouldn't say so if you were I. I should think anyone would be proud of being an American." Clay felt one of his chopped whiskers thought- fully. The situation was a trifle embarrassing. He felt that he couldn't very well undeceive her at this point as to his nationality, without laying himself open to ridicule. Nor did he find it so easy as he had expected to begin to point out her shortcomings. " Yes," he answered, " America is going to be a fine country." " Going to be ? Don't you think it is already ?" " From an English point of view, I should say the government of the United States was still an experi- ment." "That is because you do not understand us," she answered, with a flash in her eyes. " Englishmen come to America on purpose to pick flaws in it. You have no sympathy with the purity and simplic- ity of its institutions, and with the ideas of the great- souled men and noble women who compose its popu- FACE TO FACE. 65 lation. Over here everything tends to oppression and self-aggrandizement, but under the banner of freedom there is happiness for all. Even the beasts are free to roam in peace over the boundless prairies." " You seem, you know, to have a good many buf- faloes left in Kansas," said Clay. Was the girl crazy ? In the genuineness of his astonishment he forgot to stick his glass in his eye as he stared at her. Here was spread-eagleism with a vengeance ! He had heard of these wild enthusi- asts, but this was a touch beyond his expectation. And it was clear she really believed what she said. " It is not a question of this thing or of that, but of the spirit which animates the whole," said Evelyn. " What the Old World chiefly cares for is money, and fashion, and ceremony, and outward form. Across the water they are seeking truth," she said. In spite of the smile upon his lips, Clay could not help admiring her enthusiasm, which lent an addi- tional charm of color to her cheeks and of light to her eyes. " A strange association of talent and ig- norance ! " he thought to himself ; then he replied : 11 If that is the case, all I can say is they have curious ways of showing it. Why, my dear young lady, are you aware that, next to London, New York is the great money market of the world ? There is probably no spot to-day on the civilized globe where the race after wealth is more fierce and absorbing than there. And as for fashion and outward show, it is notorious that the private houses in course of 5 66 FACE TO FACE. erection by those who have accumulated colossal fortunes, surpass in point of luxury and extrava- gance the so-called palaces of kings." " I have never stayed in New York," said Evelyn, quietly. His words did not shake one jot her faith in her own opinions, but she had no facts with which to refute him. She felt sure that he was prejudiced and would represent everything in the most unfav- orable light. " And yet that is your most important city, you know," he said. " One of them, certainly," she answered. " Humph ! Interested as you are in culture, per- haps you have visited in Boston, then ? " Evelyn shook her head. This catechizing was getting to be embarrassing to her in turn. " Not even there ! Well, how about Washington or Chicago ? " " Before leaving home, I had travelled scarcely at all outside my native place," she replied. " I don't see, then, but that your personal knowl- edge of your own country is confined chiefly to the prairies and a few fourth-rate towns," Clay ob- served. " It seems strange, doesn't it, that although Englishmen are so very ignorant of the United States, I should have been in all those cities ? I am thoroughly at home in them too, and, what's more, can assure you that there is very little difference be- tween their manners and customs and those of Lon- don and Paris and Vienna. There used to be more than there is now, and it is growing less every year. FACE TO FACE. 6/ The people of Boston and New York are very nearly as cultivated as those of London. I dare say this surprises you very much, you know," he added, glancing with a triumphant smile at Evelyn. "You will have an opportunity when we arrive to judge of the truth of my statements, if you don't pass through the city in the night, as you appear to have done at the time you sailed. And if you will allow me to say so, I think you will find the women of your own age somewhat unlike the conception you have evid- ently formed of them. Possibly the total dearth of buffaloes in the vicinity of Manhattan explains why it is no longer considered good form for a young lady to speak to a man who has not been introduced to her." Clay flattered himself that he had conveyed this reproof neatly. He paused a moment to see how she would take it, and looked at her with a good- naturedly patronizing expression. She sat reclining in her chair with her arms folded, looking straight before her over the sea, but Clay thought he could detect a faint flush of shame on her cheek. He was not half done yet, however. Now that he had made a beginning he would hold up the mirror to her and let her see herself as she really was. He stroked his chin in a meditative fashion, and clasping his hands behind his head with the manner of one about to air a theory, said : " That sort of thing, fortunately, is passing away in all the civilized portions of the United States. There was some- thing a bit refreshing, you know, in the originality 68 FACE TO FACE. and independence of American girls as at first mani- fested, but it was speedily run into the ground. It was all very well for them to insist on having the privilege of choosing their own husbands, instead of being knocked down to the highest bidder, as was the custom in French domestic circles. No girl, of course, should go straight from the nursery to the altar. But there's a wide difference between such a license and the lawless notions that have been de- duced from it. A little while ago it was quite the custom, you know, for young girls in the United States to take the bit between their teeth and go roaming wherever fancy beckoned them. On the plea of seeking for culture they penetrated into Eu- rope, and made the whole continent ring with their peculiar theories of propriety. They trampled on the precedents of ages with an indifference that caused the eyes of the well-bred foreigner almost to burst out of their sockets. It was their theory, I believe, that ceremony, and courtliness, and maid- enly reserve were so many clogs upon the soaring spirit, and might be dispensed with ; and yet, while they sighed ferventlv for the unattainable, and prat- tled about simplicity, and freedom, and naturalness, it was noticed by their critics that their voices were pitched in a rasping key, and that their speech fairly bristled with inelegant phrases. The cause of all this was not far to seek. Their parents having made money very rapidly, were totally unfamiliar with the conditions of the walk of life into which they found themselves suddenly raised, and became FACE TO FACE. 69 mere wax in the hands of their daughters. But all lovers of good taste are rejoicing that this phase of affairs is rapidly on the wane under the influence of the increased luxury and conservatism of the well-to-do classes in America, and only the lately and less thickly settled portions of the country longer produce such anomalous and misguided, though often beautiful, specimens of the gentler sex. Daisy Miller is becoming a type of the past, except in a very secondary sense." Evelyn had listened to his recital in perfect silence, but as he paused, apparently in conclusion, she turned to him and said, simply : " Have you finished ? " "Well aw yes. I don't think of anything else, except I hope I haven't said anything out of the way, you know." She gave a little laugh. " If you mean whether I am offended, I am not in the least. We expect to be criticised by you English. You don't understand us at all. I am doubly confident of it after having heard what you have said. You want to try to per- suade me that we are getting to be just like all the rest of the world. I dare say now, you would go so far as to claim that some of the model young ladies you have spoken of are in the habit of title-hunting hunting after your title, for instance as they are in London." "You would not believe me if I did." " Exactly as much as I believe the other things you have said." 7O FACE TO FACE. "Including, I suppose, my remark regarding the custom of young ladies speaking to persons who have not been introduced to them ? " said Clay. Evelyn gave another little laugh and was silent a moment. " I understood you perfectly well the first time you said that I guess I was trying to shock you a little." " Well, to be perfectly frank, you succeeded." " You were sure to disapprove of me at any rate, so I thought it was just as well you should have some cause. I judged from your appearance that you probably had never met an American girl," she said. "You admit, then " " I admit nothing." " That was the reason, was it, why you followed me out to the end of the ship, where I had gone to look at the sunset ? " "I wanted to look at the sunset too." " Pshaw ! " " I may have a rasping voice," exclaimed Evelyn, "but please give me credit for appreciating the beau- ties of nature. Besides, she is always in good taste ; I might be able to learn from her." " There is something in that," he said, with a laugh. " I fancy you think I have been rather im- pertinent. Perhaps I have. But then you would give me no rest until you had scraped acquaintance with me." " Is this an acquaintance ? It seems to me, your lordship, that it is all on.one side, then. I know your FACE TO FACE. 7 1 name at least, but I assure you that you know noth- ing whatever about me, less even than you do about most American girls." " Are there sphinxes in Kansas as well as buf- faloes ? " asked Clay, derisively. " So it seems. There is one thing on my con- science, however ; your lordship changed his seat at table on my account." " Is this a ruse to win me back ?" " By no means, unless you promise not to stare at me through that funny little glass," said Evelyn. " Did you ever chance to stare at yourself in the mirror ? No ? Well, you certainly never should un- less you wish to be chilled to the bone. I assure you, a polar bear would be nothing to it for frigidity. But let that pass. It's a very poor return for all the hints you have given me. I shall try to profit by them. Only, as I said before, you must not be too confident of having fathomed the character of the American girl, or that she has become a mere ser- vile imitator of her sex elsewhere. That is what you would like her to become, I know. Provided she could be brought to regard petty convention- alities and forms as the guiding principle of her being, you would condescend perhaps to admire her. You would do her the favor to permit her to choose her own husband, but you would sink her will and in- dependence of thought in his, giving her fashion as a petty tinsel makeshift upon which to expend her surplus energy. You would have her fall down and worship the golden calf of Mammon, preferring /2 FACE TO FACE. flattery and pride of place, and greed of great ac- cumulations, to hatred of falsehood and the unmask- ing of error. The world has got beyond the stage when hungry souls will be satisfied with such un- substantial fare as this, and it is in America that the revolt has its leading supporters among women as well as men. But adherents to the fusty de- lusions of a decaying past cry out because those whose eyes are fixed on the mountain-tops disre- gard the decorum of the valley. You laugh at our shrill voices, our startling costumes, our lack of maidenly reserve. You are welcome to do that, only, on the other hand, do not wrong such of us as have ceased to excite your derision in this respect, by supposing our souls to have lost the yearning after truth which was the very fountain of our faith. Is it possible," she added, raising herself in her chair in the vehemence of her interest, " possible you be- lieve that the great Republic of free men and women over there is to become nothing but a gorgeous re- flection of the virtues and vices of an outworn hem- isphere ? You seem to forget the world has opened its eyes at last to the fact that the rights and suffer- ings of common humanity have a greater claim on its consideration than the prerogatives of kings. How shall I and my brother man live more happily, more wisely, more truly, is the heart whisper of millions to-day who never saw the ' peerage ' and have no ideas of precedence. To this end all ear- nest men and women are devoting the energies of life. And yet you would persuade me that this is FACE TO FACE. 73 but a phase soon to be, if not already, lulled to sleep by the twin narcotics, luxury and conservatism." She paused, and for some moments neither spoke, then Clay responded, "You don't know how hand- some you looked when you said that. Humph ! If there were more American girls who thought as you do, there is no telling what might happen." "Ah, but you do not know them, you don't un- derstand them," said Evelyn. He gazed in genuine admiration at her. Posi- tively, her enthusiasm was infectious. " Perhaps I don't," he said, quietly. The luncheon bell put an end to their conversa- tion, and in the afternoon Evelyn did not appear on deck. Nor was she in her seat when the dinner hour arrived, as Clay was quick to ascertain upon entering the saloon. Now that the ice was- broken, he felt lonely for lack of her society, and he had more keenly than ever realized, while pacing the deck in anticipation of her return, what an uninter- esting set were the rest of his fellow voyagers. But his eyes were not gladdened with a glimpse of her even when the day had faded into evening and the stars shone bright above the strong north wind, which sweeping every cloud from the sky, was already a gale. Clay drew up his ulster about his ears and restlessly promenaded the deck for hours, varying the monotony of his vigil with a pipe, every now and then, under the lee of the smoke-stack. There was something in the night that harmonized with his own mood, and as the reeling masts described 74 FACE TO FACE. wider and wider courses with the increased tension of each succeeding pitch of the huge vessel, he fol- lowed them with the straining eyes of one whose soul frets in its prison house. Soon he was left quite alone. The shrouds creaked and groaned. Brighter shone the stars, and a late moon set its waning imprint on the heavens. Big waves slapped the bow or scattered above it in salt spray. At last, as the bells struck midnight and the voice of the watch answered that all was well, Clay sighed once or twice, and knocking the ashes out of his pipe, went below. Far otherwise was it with Evelyn. The idea of being a poor sailor had never occurred to her, which made her misery all the greater as she began to real- ize, soon after lunch, that the motion of the ship was making her feel very queer. By dinner time she was completely wretched, and during the next three or four days she could not lift her head from her pillow without discomfort. Gale succeeded gale, and though the stewardess assured her that there was not the slightest danger, she felt sorry to hear it. The prospect of going to the bottom seemed blissful compared with that of further suffering. Thought wearied her, and the voyage was nearly at an end before she took sufficient interest in exist- ence to recall the episode of the first day out. But one morning, as she lay in her berth a little less wretched than hitherto, it all came back to her, and she began wondering how Clay was getting on. What he had said regarding the United States was FACE TO FACE. 75 distinct in her mind, but so certain did she feel as to the accuracy of her own conception, that she was unwilling to countenance his statements for a mo- ment. Still, he had evidently been in the country, and he seemed to have travelled widely. As she thought their conversation over, she was conscious of surprise that one of her countrymen should have unbent himself sufficiently to take her to task for her shortcomings. The idea amused her. It had been a completely unexpected form of attack. She had looked forward to a very up-hill dialogue, if in- deed her victim would condescend to talk at all. But his fluency and audacity had disconcerted her at first and then excited her interest. What a joke it was to be really mistaken for an American girl ! For there was no doubt that he believed she was born in Kansas. She wondered that she had not betrayed herself when, under the influence of her excitement, she had forgotten during the latter por- tion of their interview to use typical expressions. But she was confident that he had never suspected her. As so often happens to all of us when we are thinking of a person, she suddenly heard Clay's voice in the passage outside. He was giving directions to one of the stewards to have his breakfast ready in half an hour. He was evidently on the way to his bath. Her own stewardess happened to be pass- ing at the moment with some tea and toast, and Evelyn heard her bid Clay an obsequious good morning. " It requires old mariners like you and me, Mrs. 76 FACE TO FACE. Johnson, to be able to keep our sea-legs this trip," he said, as the ship gave a lurch which caused all the crockery on board to rattle. " Indeed it does, Mr. Clay, sir," she paused to an- swer. A few minutes later Evelyn, feeling peaceful after some hot tea, and rather inclined toward conversa- tion, said abruptly to Mrs. Johnson, who had re- mained to tidy the stateroom a little. "Who was that you were speaking to just now, who was boasting about his sea-legs ? " " That was Mr. Clay, miss. He's an American gentleman who crosses every summer with us. He says he wouldn't go by any other ship." Feeble as she was, Evelyn sat bolt upright in bed. " An American gentleman ? " "Yes, miss, and the most perfect gentleman I ever see. It's my husband who waits on him, and from most passengers he gets ten shillings, but Mr. Clay always makes it a sovereign." " But you're sure he's an American ? " " Oh, yes. He lives in New York, and I've heard say he is very wealthy. Perhaps, now, you're an American yourself, miss, if I'm not too bold ? " " Yes that is no. I'm going there for a visit. My home is in England." " Thank you, miss. I couldn't quite make out, seeing that you were travelling alone ; but I said to myself, 'she's English spoken or I'm very much mis- taken.' Some of them American ladies think noth- ing of going about all by themselves, but though FACE TO FACE. 77 they do mostly talk through their noses, miss, they're liberal with their money, and don't give much trouble, whatever folks say about their strange doings on deck, which ain't for the like of me to give an opinion on, seeing that it's much as ever if I get a chance to breathe the fresh air from one end of a voyage to another. But I ain't complaining, miss. Is there anything more I can do to make you com- fortable before I go ? " " Nothing, thank you," said Evelyn. She had fallen back on her pillow, bewildered and aghast at what her garrulous attendant had told her. So there had been deceit on both sides ! He had been cajoling her as well as she him. He was an American, after all. But to think of his having depreciated his own country ! She felt sure that no English- man, however stiff and narrow-minded, could have been capable of such a thing. There could be no question that it was he to whom the stewardess re- ferred, for Mrs. Johnson had mentioned his name, and she herself was sure of the voice. Could it be, then, that the pictures he had drawn were true ? If he was a sample of the men of the new world, surely her imagination had led her very far astray. Eng- lish clothes, too ! He had admitted it to her, she re- membered, and indeed his whole appearance, now that she knew the truth, betrayed the desire to mimic the dress and manners of London. What a senseless, contemptible ambition ! She felt as if she could fairly cry. If this was the style in which her long-cherished dreams were to be realized, would 78 FACE TO FACE, that she had stayed at home ! No, no, it was not possible. This unpatriotic youth must be some anomaly, some monstrosity whom she had come across by chance. This seemed to her really more likely than that the young men of what she had fondly believed to be the greatest country on earth should be anxious to conceal their nationality. As she debated with herself the various aspects of the question, she tried to find consolation in this theory, but she burned with impatience to set foot on shore and discover the real truth. Resolved as she was, however, not to harbor a doubt to imperil her confidence in her preconceived ideas, the remain- ing days of the voyage were tedious and irritating. The sea continued rough and her wretched physical sensations were rampant. In fact, it was not until land was in sight that she was able to leave her berth. The thought passed through her mind, as she was dressing to go on shore, that it might be more pru- dent, in consideration of Mr. Clay's remarks, to wear some other costume in which to appear for the first time before her relatives ; but she dismissed it with wrath. She said to herself that she would not let the innuendoes of that foppish apostate, who was willing to be mistaken for a lord, influence her in the slightest degree. What a pity, though, he was such a gqose, for he had amused her before she knew of his affectations, and she had been disposed to think him clever. Now she felt as if she never wished to set eyes on him again. Meanwhile the subject of these unflattering senti- FACE TO FACE. 79 ments had found the remainder of the voyage dull and uneventful. But although he was still con- scious of having recently passed through an unusual experience, he had ceased to concern himself about it. Such is the force of time and habit to reduce to an everyday level an exalted state of mind when the animating cause is no longer present. Little by little, the somewhat earnest and speculative expres- sion that his face had worn for twenty-four hours after Evelyn's disappearance, faded away and the previ- ous air of haughty reserve settled upon his features, even as a mountain peak looks rosy and winning while the light of the sun which has just sunk below the horizon continues to rest upon it, and then grows cold and distant. He still walked the deck, how- ever, far into the night, and he made no new ac- quaintances. Although Evelyn, with some premeditation, re- emerged from her stateroom several hours before the time when they were expected to arrive, she saw no trace of her former adversary either in the saloon or up-stairs. As is the wont just previous to the close of a voyage, almost all the passengers were on deck, dressed with a view to being on shore again, and were counting the minutes still to elapse before they could hope to land. A change of garb had on the whole rather improved the appearance of the passengers, and as Evelyn glanced around her, she could not help feeling sorry that she had not been able to form the acquaintance of some of them. She was sure that there must be many Americans 80 FACE TO FACE. among the number who would have confirmed her own impressions regarding their native country, in- stead of harassing her with disagreeable doubts as to whether the boasted superiority of democratic in- stitutions might not after all be a delusion. But it was too late for anything of the sort now. Every one was self-absorbed. Indeed, a constant witness of the intercourse during the voyage of those on board would have been struck by the suddenness with which the most ardent intimacies had cooled at sight of land. The seemingly bosom friends of yesterday had become almost strangers again. Little by little the coast took definite shape, and before long Evelyn found herself gliding past large settlements and protecting fortresses, and all man- ner of crafts. So swiftly were these left behind that she felt dazed and preferred to make no effort to adjust them to her theory, knowing that she must soon learn the truth. She heard some one say that the murky cloud still far away was New York, and with feverish impatience she watched it give place to a vast metropolis stretching beyond the sight, while on her right hand rose the heights of another city which the passengers near her spoke of as Brooklyn. The spectacle was picturesque and ab- sorbing at least, and she reflected that, whatever surprises might be in store for her, great progress had been made, either for good or for evil, in this new land of liberty. The huge warehouses, the army of masts in the docks, the river bustling with tugs and harbor steamers all shrieking at the same mo- FACE TO FACE. 8 1 ment, and the tops of imposing buildings towering above the common roofs, stirred her senses and ex- cited her. How slowly the vessel was moving now ! Were they never to land ? So absorbed was she in her surroundings outside the ship, she had quite forgotten for the time Mr. Clay's existence, when, happening to glance to one side, she became aware that he was standing some fifty yards off with his profile turned in her direc- tion. He wore a tall hat, carried a silk-lined over- coat across his arm, and had in one hand a neatly- strapped bundle of umbrellas and canes, the heads of which were of various quaint designs. He was speaking to nobody, and seemed to take little inter- est in the outlook, shifting every now and then his weight from one foot to the other as though it were all a very old story. While Evelyn was still looking at him he altered his pose slightly, and their eyes met. She felt the blood mounting to her cheeks, for though he bent his gaze on her for a moment, he showed no sign of recognition. His stare was as frostily scrutinizing as on the day when he had seen her first. Her own expression, which had been con- ciliatory, perhaps, in spite of what she knew regard- ing him, might have betrayed her annoyance had he not looked away almost immediately. She gave a gulp and swallowed her resentment, but she was conscious instinctively of being a little humiliated, for she understood that he was afraid of continuing his acquaintance with her on shore. It was evident he considered her as compromising. 6 82 FACE TO FACE. She felt angry at her weakness. Why should she care what he thought of her, or concern herself about the effect of her costume because he had seen fit to criticise it ? Had she not independence enough to be indifferent to the opinions of a man who was evidently hostile to the very ideas and principles she was eager to espouse ? And yet she hated to believe that he was an American. Could it really be true ? It was late in the afternoon before the steamer reached the pier. After some little suspense Eve- lyn caught a glimpse of her cousin among the crowd, and fifteen minutes later she was being rat- tled over the city pavements. She had lost sight of her disagreeable censor in the general commotion of landing. V. TT HLLOUGHBY PIMLICO explained forthwith VV to his cousin, that his town house was closed, and that they were about to take the Fall River boat to Newport, where he and his wife were pass- ing the summer. They had only to drive a short distance. But the street was so crowded with bust- ling teams that there was only a minute to spare when they reached the other steamer. He asked Evelyn a few questions about her family, and then began to point out to her the objects of interest in the city, along the water front of which their course lay until nearly dark. He told her the names of the buildings, whose proportions had struck her eye earlier in the day, distinguished the spires of the churches and the groups of charitable institutions past which they presently sailed, and described to her the whereabouts and character of the various popular resorts in the neighborhood, indicated by the variety of densely packed harbor steamers and barges on the river. He repeated to her statistics of population, and dwelt on the number of emi- grants that were weekly arriving. After this he took out an evening paper and began to read. Evelyn had asked few questions. She had been 84 FACE TO FACE. content to listen. She was resolved to take things as they were and suspend her judgment for the present. But, different as her first impressions were from what she had anticipated, she found that some- how this practical side of life appealed to her in a way it had never done before, and seemed to blend itself satisfactorily with her theories and visions. The energy and enterprise observable in every di- rection, which were reflected in the faces of the peo- ple about her, stirred her as never elsewhere. She could perceive that she had taken too little into account in her preconceptions of the material aspect of affairs, but she felt that there was nothing really inconsistent with her imaginings in the restless civilization of which she was now a witness. In- deed, her faith was reassured, and she was happier than she had been since leaving England. The coast grew dim again, and the twilight closed in about them, and Willoughby Pimlico laid aside his paper at the sound of a gong, which he informed his charge was the signal for dinner. She was so comfortable where she was, and the soft, half moist atmosphere was so restful, that she would have pre- ferred not to eat ; but she gathered from the look of her cousin's eye that he was hungry. Conse- quently she satisfied, instead, her curiosity regard- ing a point which had occurred to her as she sat gazing over the calm surface, so different from the ocean as she had lately experienced it. " Shall we see the prairies to-night ? " she inquired. Willoughby laughed loud and long. " Why, my FACE TO FACE. 85 dear child, the nearest prairie is more than a thou- sand miles from here. Did you think I was a back- woodsman or the proprietor of a cattle ranch ? " He seemed to think it an excellent joke, and rallied her on it through dinner. He ordered a bot- tle of champagne, just as Mr. Brock had done, and gave Evelyn a thrilling account of his experiences with grizzly bears and other big game in the Far West just after he first came to America. He went on to tell her that he had established a farm about twenty miles from New York, where he bred horses and fox terriers, and that he had personally driven a coach, " for the fun of the thing," to and from one of the favorite suburbs during several seasons. "And so Margaret is to be married? "he said, after a pause, when he had come to the end of his sporting record. " It is your turn next. We must try and find some young fellow rich and charming enough to induce you to remain here indefinitely. Your cousin Clara is very impatient to see you. She has an idea that you may find Newport dull, and is planning all sorts of gaiety on your account, as though there wasn't enough as it is." Evelyn felt her heart sink within her at this in- formation. One of her reasons for leaving home was that she might avoid the frivolities of a London season, and apparently she had not bettered her condition. Still it was rather a relief to know that she had the necessary dresses with her. Only at the last moment her mother had insisted on her bringing party gowns, observing that the chances 86 FACE TO FACE. were twenty to one she would never use them, but it was more prudent to be on the safe side. She went to her stateroom after dinner, at her cousin's suggestion, and did not awake until their arrival at Newport. It was a glorious night, and the full moon made the harnesses of the handsome equipage waiting for them at the wharf shine gor- geously. At first they ascended the steep, crooked and narrow street of what seemed to her a fishing village. Then the road became wider and straighter, and she caught a glimpse in passing of one or two hotels and of tasteful villas, many of the latter set back from the street and peeping out from behind the seclusion of foliage. The air was soft, and the smell of the sea-breeze laden with the perfume of flowers and shrubs came in at the carriage window. At last the horses turned sharply, and after a short course over a gravel driveway, stopped before the door of a large, newly-built cottage, from which a smooth,* broad lawn ran down to high cliffs above the ocean. "Welcome to Littlecourt, Evelyn," said Wil- loughby ; "and this is your cousin Clara," he con- tinued, as a tall, graceful woman in full ball dress came out into the hall to meet them. " I am so glad you have come," said Mrs. Pimlico as she kissed her relative with cordiality. " Wasn't it fortunate you were in time for the boat," she added, turning to her husband ; " for otherwise Evelyn would have missed the Deckers' ? " They went immediately to the dining-room, where FACE TO FACE. 8/ a choice hot supper was served under French des- ignations. " I had hoped to have some Blue Points for you, knowing that they would be a treat," said Mrs. Willoughby, " but they are wholesome only during the months which contain an r. And how are all your sisters ?" " Very well, cousin Clara. They sent you their loves." " You must return mine when you write. The lady at whose house I have been this evening, Mrs. Clay, who has lived very much abroad since her husband's death a charming entertainment, by the way, and one that I am sorry to have had you miss tells me that she saw your sister, the Countess of Harleth, at a drawing-room last year. You look like the photograph I have of her. It must be de- lightful to attend the court balls. I am wild to have Willoughby take me over and present me. You have been presented, of course ?" "No," said Evelyn. " I never have. I have only just graduated from Girton." " Oh," she said, a little doubtfully. " That is a female college, dear, something like our Vassar," said Willoughby, who had a sense of humor. " Really ? " For an instant an alarmed expres- sion came over Mrs. Pimlico's face, and she stole another glance at her guest, whose hat and ulster had struck her eye at once. But it had never oc- curred to her to doubt their conformity to the 88 FACE TO FACE. reigning fashion of St. James's. Indeed, she had made a mental resolve to send by the next mail for their counterparts. But now a dreadful suspicion haunted her. Yet only for a moment. She had such implicit faith in the Pimlicos as a race, that she would have said it were easier for her to doubt the authenticity of the Tower of London, than to call in question the strict conventionality of any of them. " Is Vassar near here ? " asked Evelyn. She had come across it often in her reading, and heard it spoken of at her own college. " Only a few hundred miles off," laughed her cousin Willoughby. "If you believe it, my dear, Evelyn thought we lived on the prairies, and ex- pected to sup on real buffalo steak before she went to bed." " We are not quite so bad as that," said his wife, with a deprecatory smile, " though I fear, Evelyn, you will find things here different from what you are accustomed to. We are still, of course, very unformed and rough, and people are only just be- ginning to have an idea of what I call social per- spective. But I hope we may be able to make the time pass pleasantly for you. There is really a good deal going on just now. The Deckers' grand ball to-morrow ought to be worth seeing, I think. Then there is the Plimsoll reception on Wednesday, the Arundel Murray dinner on Thursday, and Mrs. J. Astley Coale's musical party the same evening. Mrs. Clay the lady who has seen your sister was FACE TO FACE. 89 kind enough to say she intends to issue invitations to meet you at dinner on Friday of next week, and really, Willoughby, her rooms are exquisite. That new architect from Boston has certainly shown great taste. I understand she gave him carte blanche. By the way, Mrs. Clay expects Ernest home within the next fortnight. She thinks he may be here in time for the dinner, but she made him promise not to cable when he was to sail. Telegrams, you know, always upset her. Poor thing, she has never quite got over the shock of her husband's death. The son is a charming fellow who's just returning from a journey round the world," she added, turning to Evelyn. " If you find these ordinary amusements dull, we'll do our best to get up a bison hunt or introduce a few cow-boys for your benefit," said Mr. Pimlico. " Don't be absurd, Willoughby. You mustn't mind him, Evelyn. He's a great tease. But there is always polo, you know, if you like sports, though I dare say you have seen it much better played in England ; and Pussy Bryson has promised to come and take you to her tennis club to-morrow morning, and introduce you to some of the girls. Then next week we are promised a treat, for Mr. Bouton, the master of the hounds, has obtained several real foxes and he's certain they will be sufficiently wild to hunt by that time. I fancy you will leave us all behind ; but Mr. Bouton, who has followed the Belvoir pack in the old country, says that Marian Bydoon and Isabel Slatterly would give the best go FACE TO FACE. horsewoman in Europe all she could do to keep up with them. I dare say he exaggerates a little, but they really do ride extremely well. Of course, you brought your habit ? " " I didn't, cousin Clara. I have never hunted at home." Mrs. Willoughby gave another stare. " How odd ! I thought everybody hunted in England." "Gwendolen and Emily went in for it a little be- fore they were married, but the rest of us never have. We used to ride sometimes in Hyde Park, though." " Well, I'm sorry. But very likely you will take to it. Willoughby has a nice, quiet hack that you can practise on at first, and I dare say we can manage about the habit." " Do any of the girls row here ? " asked Evelyn. " You know our house is directly on the Thames, and I am constantly in my wherry." " A wherry ? Do you mean one of those long, thin things which look as if they would tip over if you stirred-your little finger ? I never heard of any but men rowing in them did you, Willoughby ? Occasionally one sees girls on tricycles, but no one whom one knows. I like to go bluefishing about once a summer, if somebody stays by me all the time to pull in the fish after they are hooked." " I think, Clara, that as Evelyn has had such a long day of it, the sooner we send her off to bed the better," said Mr. Pimlico. " Bless me, it's half-past three." FACE TO FACE. pi " Well, my dear, if you want anything, you must ask for it," said Mrs. Willoughby. " To-morrow, as I told you, Miss Bryson is coming, about half-past ten, to take you to the tennis. After lunch we will go to one of Mr. Warne's readings on the minor poets, at Miss Flagg's. She has a lovely cottage. In the evening there is the Deckers'. I should like to ar- range for you to be at home for an hour or two, as a good many of the girls will be sure to call. How- ever, we can talk that over in the morning. Pleas- ant dreams." " And if you hear any strange noises in the night," cried the master of the house after her, " you needn't feel frightened, for the Indians about here are all friendly." " Thank you kindly, cousin Willoughby, I shall bear it in mind," Evelyn answered. It passed through her thoughts, as she went up- stairs, that he was probably little aware of how closely his banter hit the truth. She had not expected bison hunts or wild Indians, indeed, but would they not have been nearer to her anticipations than the real- ity ? She glanced around her bedroom. It was far more sumptuous than the one she was accustomed to at home. A vase of exquisite roses stood on her dressing-table, and by them lay a pile of notes ad- dressed to her. She opened the upper one and read that Mr. and Mrs. Arundel Murray requested the pleasure of Miss Pimlico's company at dinner on Thursday next. At the top of the paper was an elaborate monogram in lavender and old gold, and 92 FACE TO FACE. she perceived a faint scent of violets. The rest were to a similar effect, including balls, receptions, lunch parties, and a coaching picnic. She tossed them aside and began to make her pre- parations for the night. She wondered if she could be dreaming, and whether this were really America. How attractive her cousin Clara was ! So easy and cordial and natural, but how wrapped up apparently in social gaiety ! She was going to have an opportu- nity, it was very evident, of experiencing what society was like in spite of herself. For, so far as she could see, there was very little difference in the style of living between the customs of home and those she was about to find here ; and while she was to a cer- tain extent free to choose her occupations so long as she was under her father's roof, there could be no escape from graciously accepting the courtesies of her cousins' friends. It was too early yet, perhaps, to complain. Had she not made a resolution to sus- pend her judgment ? Nevertheless, she could not help feeling disappointed. As she extinguished the light, the moon came pouring into the room. She went to the lattice and looked out. There was not a cloud in the sky. A perfect stillness reigned, save for the regular swash of the tide against the rocks below. Her chamber was in the back of the house and commanded a su- perb view of the ocean, which lay lapped in a calm glory, seeming to be a brighter continuation of the cropped, spacious lawn. To right and left there were other cottages of elaborate architecture, in the midst FACE TO FACE. 93 of equally well cared for grounds, telling of fastidi* ous and exclusive ownership. Beds of flowers in fantastic patterns, which appeared ashen under the moonlight, were the favorite form of embellishment. There were occasional terraces, and at the foot of the premises ran a continuous narrow path along the cliffs. Resting her arms on the window-sill, Evelyn sat musing. It was all so beautiful, and yet she wished it had been different, though she did not know in what respect. Surely she need not be dissatisfied at finding a paradise instead of a wilderness. There was the same moon, and the same sea, and the same finish of lawn and hedgerow as she had been used to gaze upon at home. She asked herself if the hearts and passions of men were likewise every- where the same. The thought came to her, that perhaps she had expected too much, and had let her imagination run away with her reason. Could she be right, and two continents wrong ? She remem- bered how the roar of traffic had thrilled her, but a few hours ago, as it had never done before. Yet, was it unlike that to which she had listened all her life ? Might she not, in like manner, sympathize with human splendor and repose ? Why was it that she wished to make herself different from the rest of the world ? But, on the other hand, progress was no vain word. It could not be that this new world, with its vast ex- panse of territory and its millions of souls, was merely a repetition of the old. Fancy had misled 94 FACE TO FACE. her perhaps, but should she therefore renounce her faith ? She would be true to herself, and yet try to accept life as it was, if, indeed, it were nowhere what she had imagined it to be. At least there must be some difference, unless the watchword freedom were an empty sound. Presently, as she thought further, she almost laughed aloud. The coincidence of Mr. Clay's re- appearance on the scene had filled her with amuse- ment. For everything pointed to his being identi- cal with the son of the lady her cousin Clara had spoken of. The prospect of taking him by surprise, and opening his eyes to the egregiousness of his blunder, made her feel some regret that she was so scantily provided for in the way of dresses. Her woman's eye, indifferent as she professed to be to the vanities of the wardrobe, had taken note of the elegance of Mrs. Willoughby's attire, and the con- sciousness that her own was commonplace in com- parison rather oppressed her. She would have liked, since it was probable that the laws of soci- ety were to be the same as at home, to be able to dazzle Mr. Clay with the brilliancy of her toilet, and the rigorous propriety of her conduct, by way of contrast to her former interview with him. So strongly did this desire engross her thoughts, that she fell asleep while endeavoring to plan how the least objectionable of her dresses could be made to look bewitching. The chance of causing Mr. Clay to repent of his superciliousness had already led her to regard the balls and dinner parties which she FACE TO FACE. 95 would be obliged to attend as not altogether un- mitigated evils, especially since she had derived the impression that there was a disposition to make a good deal of her, on account of her nationality. Meanwhile, her host and hostess had not unnatur- ally been exchanging opinions regarding their guest. " Well, Willoughby, what do you think of her ? " asked Mrs. Pimlico. She was brushing out her hair as she spoke, and had been gazing intently in the glass, as though in abstruse thought, before speaking. " She seems a good-natured, unaffected sort of girl, very much like her sisters," answered her hus- band. " She's handsomer than any of them, unless possibly Gladys. She ought to make a sensation, decidedly." " She's lovely, of course," said Mrs. Pimlico. " I don't think she was very much pleased at your plaguing her about the prairies and all that." " Pooh, dear ! She isn't so thin-skinned, you may take my word for it." "Willoughby?" "Well?" " You're sure she'll do, aren't you ? " "Do?" " Oh, you know what I mean. There's no doubt that she'll be admired on account of her looks, but looks are not everything, after all. I do hope she isn't queer." " Queer ? Nonsense ! Why should she be queer ? " he asked. " J sav I hooe shfl isn't." 96 FACE TO FACE. " What are you driving at, Clara ? " " Well, for one thing, I think it was strange her going to that college." " Girton ?" " That's what you called it, I believe," said Mrs. Pimlico. " No girl one knows ever goes to college here." " I was rather surprised when she told me, I admit. She is perfectly quiet and ladylike, however." " She seems so. Did you happen to notice her coat and hat ? " " I can't say I did," he answered. " Then it was because you're a man, for anyone else would have seen that they were intensely dif- ferent from anything any of us wear here. Now, I dare say you'll laugh at me, but I would give a good deal to know if they're really the new style in Lon- don or not. If they are, of course I want to order some just like them as soon as possible ; but do you know, Willoughby, the idea struck me while I was looking at Evelyn at supper and I regret to say the more I have thought it over, the more it has grown on me that they're some dreadful invention of the evil one. We women have a sort of instinct in these matters, and I feel it in my bones, that this is so." "Come now, Clara, that isn't quite fair on the poor girl. Her mother would be likely to see that she was suitably clad, at any rate." " She didn't bring any riding habit," said his wife. " Mrs. Clay will know at once if they're real or not," she added, as though to herself. " The wisest course FACE TO FACE. 97 will be to see that she doesn't wear them, and so avoid all risk." " It's merely that English women don't under- stand the art of dressing themselves as well as you Americans," he said. "It isn't that, Willoughby. We expect that and take it into account. Besides, it isn't entirely true any longer, for women in London who care how they look get their things in Paris now. No, that hat and coat are either intensely fashionable or in- tensely vulgar, and I can't quite decide which." " It's a small matter, it seems to me, to make such a fuss about." " Not if her other clothes are all in the same style. I dare say you're entirely right about it, dear. It's my anxiety that she should be a complete success makes me nervous. Of course she is certain to be, but if by any chance she should happen to be eccentric, it would be very mortifying. One can never be sure about things. I don't suppose the idea would have entered my head if it hadn't been for that dreadful account we heard yesterday in re- gard to the Honorable Clayton Beresford. Only think of his turning out an impostor after all the attention he received. Last summer he stayed six weeks, if you remember, at the Arundel Murrays, and nothing was thought too good for him. He had letters Mrs. Clay told me she had read them from some of the nicest people in England." " That's a good one, Clara. You think she's an impostor do you ? " 7 98 FACE TO PACK. " Don't be silly, Willoughby. You know I think nothing of the sort. I don't believe there's anyone who is prouder of your family, as a family, than I am. But when English people are so much in de- mand, one naturally likes to feel that one's particu- lar attraction is the best ; and as in every large household, like your cousin Mortimer's, there is al- most certain to be some one child who is not quite so presentable as the others, I want to feel sure that they haven't sent Evelyn over here to get rid of her. For, although I know that the Prince of Wales is fond of being very civil to American girls when he takes a fancy to them, there is no doubt, Willoughby, that most English people still regard us as little bet- ter than barbarians. I shouldn't be in the least sur- prised if Evelyn really had an idea that we were all cow-boys, and lived on buffalo and Boston baked beans. Only think how ignorant you were when you came over here." "You are giving yourself a great deal of unneces- sary concern, my dear, you may rest assured," said her husband. " I've no doubt I am. But I'm disappointed she doesn't hunt. I told Isabel Slatterly only to-night that she was going to have a formidable competitor. How odd, too, about her rowing ! " " It has done her good, at any rate. She has a superb physique. But I'm sleepy." " Well, good-night. You ought to hear Mrs. Clay talk about Ernest. She's just crazy to have him married. I hope he'll get here in time for FACE TO FACE. 99 our dinner next week. I want him to sit by Eve- lyn." For a few moments there was silence, and then Mrs. Pimlico said : " Did Evelyn say how she liked Mr. Brock ? " " Mr. Brock wasn't there." " Wasn't there ? " " On board, of course. Do let me go to sleep." " Not on board ! Do you realize what you are saying, Willoughby ? " " What is the matter, Clara ? I asked her where Mr. Brock was, and she said he had been detained by business at the last moment. That's all I know about it." " Under whose charge was she, then ? " asked his wife. " I can't tell you. I did not see anyone with her." "And she came without him ? " " Isn't she here ? " Mrs. Pimlico gave a gasp and sat up in bed. " Do you mean to say that Evelyn had no chaperon ? What a perfectly dreadful thing ! Who else were on board ? " " I didn't get there until most of the passengers had gone." " Tsch ! It will be all over town to-morrow." " I don't see the use in becoming so excited, Clara, and keeping everybody awake. I suppose it would have been more prudent if she had waited until she could get an escort, but the danger's over now. She's safe in the house." 100 FACE TO FACE. " Oh, you don't understand, Willoughby. She might as well go home to-morrow, if anyone we know was on board." " What sheer nonsense ! " Mrs. Pimlico made no reply, but for an hour after she twisted and turned from side to side. At the end of which time she murmured under her breath, " I'm sure of it now. That hat and coat are ordi- nary as can be." VI. WHEN Evelyn awoke the next morning she felt decidedly that it would be wiser to discon- tinue her impersonation of an American girl, at least for the time being, so far as her attire was concerned. She was a little annoyed with herself at the care with which she picked out a suitable morning gown ; not because she was disinclined to look as well as possible, but from a consciousness that she ought to take to heart more sorely the ap- parent disappointment of all her ideas relating to transatlantic usages. She realized that she was about to participate, with a tolerable degree of cheerfulness, in a mode of life against which her instincts at home had seriously rebelled, and the perception of this inconsistency was nettling. Yet she was so far servile as to adorn her person with one of the choicest of the roses on her dressing- table before going down to breakfast. As she entered the room, Evelyn perceived, by the expression of Mrs. Willoughby's face, that her cousin Clara was not otherwise than content with her appearance. It was easy to ask herself why she should care ; but the fact remained that she felt gratified at escaping criticism. She found her host' IO2 FACE TO FACE. ess very gracious and charming, though of course she did not realize that the occasion of Mrs. Wil- loughby's even more than customary urbanity was relief that her guest did not look like a guy. A glance about the rooms and a peep out doors, con- firmed her opinion of the night before, as to the lux- ury and elegance of her surroundings. However, as she had reasoned then, there was no alternative but to make the best of the situation. Yet she kept wondering why she did not feel more unhappy. Miss Bryson was punctual and carried her away in a pretty phaeton, in the rumble of which was perched a groom not a whit less small and no less liveried than those of the Row. Her companion was a vivacious girl of about her own age, who put her quite at her ease by the easy style in which she conversed, and who took her back to the crooked little lower town to buy some tennis shoes. The principal avenue was already alive with a variety of equipages, alike of the picturesque and plutocratic type, the occupants of which impressed her by their stylish demeanor. Miss Bryson at length drove in at the gateway of one of the most extensive of the many beautiful estates on either side of the way, where a party of about a dozen girls were engaged in playing tennis. Evelyn was familiar with the game, and she did not experience much difficulty in beating the most expert of them, for which they evi- dently had been prepared. When they were tired luncheon was announced, and they sat down to an elaborate collation at which all sorts of delicacies FACE TO FACE. 103 were served, amid a babel of feminine voices. Evelyn sat at the right of her hostess and was treated with marked politeness by everyone. The universal cordiality and friendliness attracted her, and she was much entertained by the liveliness of the talk. There was a tendency to chaff certain of the company in regard to what she judged to be af- fairs of the heart, and two or three of the girls were bubbling over with marvellous bits of gossip which were received with shrieks of laughter. Those who sat near her displayed in their questions a knowl- edge of the social life of England that made her blush at her own ignorance. Apart from this topic, they seemed interested in talking about the differ- ent entertainments that were to be given, in com- paring notes as to those which had taken place, describing the dresses of girls not present, discuss- ing the last new novel, guessing at an engagement, and wondering whether so and so's attentions to so and so were serious all the while eating heartily. Toward the close of the repast, four or five of the choicest spirits formed a group and picked to pieces the young men of their acquaintance. Scraps of the dialogue reached Evelyn's ears, and among other names that of Mr. Clay was mentioned, but she could not distinguish what was said regarding him. Miss Bryson drove her home. There she came upon a number of callers whose places were contin- ually supplied by others for nearly an hour. Most of these were fluent talkers and very well dressed. IO4 FACE TO FACE. When at last there was a momentary lull, Mrs. Will- oughby forbade the fleckless servant to let in any- one else, and hurried Evelyn up-stairs to get ready for Mr. Warne's reading. The hall table was strewn with cards. Evelyn sighed at the thought of being obliged to repay all these visits. How deeply she was plunging into the mire ! But there was no time for consideration. Besides, she felt excited and amused. A few minutes later she was being whirled again along Bellevue Avenue, and after a short drive she followed her guide into another exquisite parlor, where a young man was reading poetry to a bevy of ladies, with here and there a listener of the sterner sex. The elocutionist was neither shaggy, brawny, nor grandiloquent. He was rather dapper and strictly conventional, and he read his selections with a dainty propriety that would have befitted equally well a London drawing-room, it seemed to Evelyn. The selections were largely from English writers. Those by native authors were trifling hu- morous sketches, or fiddling society verses with one exception, a melodramatic bit from mining life out West, of which an abandoned woman was the hero- ine. Many of the company were so much affected by the last-mentioned piece as to require salts at the close, but a facetious dialogue introducing severally an Irishman, Frenchman, and German battling with the English language, quickly restored the general serenity. This was the final selection, and everybody then FACE TO FACE. 10$ tore away to join the concourse of equipages on the avenue, which to the wondering eyes of Evelyn fairly rivalled Hyde Park. Mrs. Willoughby told her who the people were in the intervals of bowing. After completing the circuit they returned home, just in time for dinner, at which asparagus soup ap- peared 2iSpotage d'asperges on the little bills of fare which circulated round the table. By the time the coffee was served it was necessary to dress for the Deckers'. Evelyn's state of mind was further exhilarated by finding, on coming down from her chamber in ball costume, two superb bouquets, one from her cousin Willoughby, the other from Mrs. Clay, who had called during the morning. Mrs. Clay's attention seemed to her ludicrous. She wondered what the son would say if he knew. Of course, the flowers had been sent out of friendship to the Pimlicos, but the fact remained that she the unsophisticated young woman from Kansas was the recipient. The incident amused her greatly. She wondered if she would see Mr. Clay at the party. Had he arrived ? Mrs. Willoughby had said nothing further about him, so she dared not ask. She knew that she ought to wish never to set eyes on him again, but she asked herself whether this curiosity on his ac- count was any more heinous than the rest of her backslidings during the past twenty-four hours. She had dressed herself with special care, spend- ing fifteen minutes in making up her mind which gown to wear ; and when she had arrived at a deci- 106 FACE TO FACE. sion, the process of completing her toilette had been lengthy and scrupulous. Again she was rewarded with the complacent smile of her chaperone, and this time the satisfaction found vent in words. " You look charmingly, Evelyn." And her vanity was fur- ther flattered by her cousin Willoughby's kneeling down before her with his hands upon his heart, in mock heroic fashion, when she appeared. Decidedly it was pleasant to be approved of. The Deckers' ball was a festal scene, and seemed to Evelyn like fairy land. The entertainment was both within and outside the house. The ample moon and balmy weather allowed marquees, and a band on the lawn ; while a network of illumination enlivened the piazzas. There were hundreds of guests, but the rooms were so numerous and large that at no time did the crush impede the dancing or render circulation difficult. Evelyn found that she had fallen into good hands, for Mrs. Willoughby seemed one of the most popular of the many beauti- ful and graceful women present. Very shortly, her own lot might well have been envied by those of her sex who regard attention in society as indispensable to happiness. To Evelyn's mind it seemed highly unimportant, but nevertheless her cheeks flushed with excitement and her eyes sparkled as the youths who flocked about her chair became more numerous. She had become the centre of attraction from the moment she entered the room, though so little aware of it. The heart of Mrs. Willoughby beat high with satisfaction as one after another of the most fashion- FACE TO FACE. IO/ able and fastidious beaus of the day whirled her charge over the flawless floor in the delirium of the waltz, or sought to monopolize her charms amid the maze of Chinese lanterns out of doors. Her dancing was a little halting at first, but improved as the even- ing advanced, and as for other points of criticism there were none to be made regarding her person, manners, or dress. The latter was plain compared with the elegance of attire by which she was sur- rounded, but, as Mrs. Willoughby reflected, she was all the more distinguished looking on that account. Positively, she had the air of a princess, and, what was more important to her chaperone, she was an assured success. Mrs. Willoughby had even begun to doubt her own instincts in the matter of that hat and ulster. Although Evelyn was too dazed and translated by the admiration she received to make reflections, she was conscious of the absence of stiffness and of the abundant vivacity which carried the enter- tainment along. The young men, for the most part, resembled exaggerated Englishmen in their style of dress and mode of speaking, but they seemed to her tolerably in earnest in their desire to ob- tain her for a partner. She found them easy to talk to and disposed toward humor. It was evident to her that, as regards a greater spontaneity between young people, her preconceptions of America had not been entirely mistaken. An equality, a compan- ionship existed here not elsewhere conceded to her sex. Form and ceremony were, perhaps, striving to 108 FACE TO FACE. choke the growth of the principle, but it was recog- nizable, not as prominently as she had expected, yet unmistakably. The vague consciousness of this en- couraged her to be frank and spirited with her ad- mirers. She delighted in the waltzing. The music, the crowd, the omnipresent scent of flowers, and the glitter and glare stirred her pulses. She held her head erect with the mettle of a race-horse, and entertained five men at once. What she said she scarcely knew, except that it was mostly nonsense. But it seemed to please. She was greatly in demand, and after supper, when the cotillion began a novelty at last (although she was assured by several that it was dying out), her head grew giddy with the incessant waltzing to which her popularity subjected her. So-called fa- vors, often bracelets and other trinkets of appreci- able value, were showered on her, and during the flower figures her partner was obliged to get an extra chair on which to pile the bouquets with which she was presented. She kept no account of time, and when Mrs. Willoughby deemed that it was advisable to go home, the hour was half-past three. Six young men attended them to the carriage door. Breathless and bewildered, Evelyn lay back against the cushions and shut her eyes. She felt sure that Mrs. Willoughby was delighted, and what was much less inspiriting she knew that she was delighted herself. Ernest Clay had not been at the ball, and she had almost forgotten his existence. But she had met his mother, a very gracious and FACE TO FACE. IOQ somewhat elaborate lady, who told her she looked very much like her sister, the Countess of Harleth, and asked if it would be agreeable to her to dine at her house on Friday of the next week. " Do you think you would like to go to the meet to-morrow ? I have a habit that will fit you," said Mrs. Willoughby, as they sat sipping beef-tea before going to bed.. "I am in your hands, cousin Clara," she an- swered. They slept far into the forenoon, and then, accom- panied by Willoughby, set off for the hunting-field on two jaunty-looking horses. Evelyn declined the hack ; she said she was not afraid to ride a hunter. She was in capital spirits and radiant with excite- ment. She found the hunting-field with T carts, til- burys, stanhopes, dog-carts, tandems, drags, and coaches, the occupants of which were interested in the movements of a handful of pink-coated youths and half a dozen well-poised young ladies, who, in common with a sleek pack of beagles, were prepar- ing to follow an aniseed scent ; the master of the hounds being of opinion that the foxes in his pos- session were still too tame to be hunted. Several of Evelyn's admirers of the previous evening were among the riders. They urged her to join them ; they assured her that she would find herself equal to the fences, and said that, if not, she could cut round by the road as some of the other ladies were going to do. Her cousin Clara, who was herself an enthusias- IIO FACE TO FACE. tic horsewoman, interposed no objection, and whis- pered in Evelyn's ear that Mr. Bouton had just de- clared she had a capital seat. Willoughby declared that the animal she was riding was perfectly gentle, but Evelyn scarcely heeded his sanction ; so eager had she become to join the hunt she would have felt ready to mount a veritable brute rather than stay behind. When the signal was given she fol- lowed the rest in a dash across the open fields, and took her first leap a stiffish wall without a quiver. Henceforward it was easy work, or rather, she was in such high feather that nothing seemed alarm- ing. Her horse was fast, and after the first mile she left Mrs. Willoughby in the rear and kept her eyes fixed on the two champions of the hunt, Miss Bydoon and Miss Slatterly, dashing-looking girls who rode close to the master, and ahead of most of the sportsmen. Once in a while somebody's mount would balk or lose footing, and gradually the num- ber of those who were able to maintain the rapid pace grew small enough to be counted on one's fingers. At the so-called death, Miss Slatterly was the first lady in ; but Evelyn was at her very heels, having ridden neck and neck with Miss Bydoon and beaten her at the last fence. Her cousin Willough- by, who was one of the few pink coats ahead of her, called her a trump, and the victor insisted on waiv- ing claim to the brush in her favor. That evening the Plimsolls had a reception which was a repetition of the Deckers', as regards the ad- miration lavished upon Evelyn. The morning FA CE TO FA CE. Ill after was the occasion of a picnic to the suburbs, which was very gay and fashionable, followed by a dinner at the Arundel Murrays, where Evelyn sat between two young men who conjointly repre- sented five million dollars, according to Mrs. Wil- loughby. From there they adjourned to Mrs. J. Astley Coale's musical party. Thus it was really the fourth day before Evelyn found a breathing spell ; and only then because a sailing party fell through owing to the sudden decease of the chaperone's uncle, too late to obtain anyone else to act as ma- tron. There was no escape from passing the morn- ing quietly on the piazza, whither after breakfast Mrs. Willoughby led the way. This was practically the first opportunity that she and Evelyn had had of talking together. There had been so much going on that their intercourse had been confined to bid- ding each other good-morning and good-night. Evelyn stretched herself out in a comfortable straw chair, glad of the respite, and feeling a little ashamed of herself withal. But the murmurs of flat- tery still lingered in her ears, and, despite her qualms, she was glad to be conscious that the lull was only momentary. At certain ages one's perspective changes with astonishing rapidity, and we find our- selves tolerating, and then delighting in, things that struck us but yesterday as insipid and shallow. It seemed to Evelyn months already since she had landed, so varied and bewildering had been her ex- periences. To be aware in a general way that one is a handsome girl, is far different from reading the 112 FACE TO FACE. confirmation of the fact in the admiring eyes of others. They sat reclining on either side of a little table covered with magazines, the latest novels, and a box of bonbons. A red and white awning sheltered them from the glare of the sun. Mrs. Willoughby was still lamenting that Mrs. Gerald Brown domestic affliction should have occurred so inopportunely. " If it were not my day to be at home," she said, " I should have been glad to matronize you myself ; but I told several people last night that they would be certain to find me. It is very difficult to get anyone at the last moment so, and of course she is right to give the party up. I am sorry, though, on your account, as a pleasant set was going." " I had an idea that chaperones were not consid- ered necessary over here," said Evelyn, presently. "Where could you have got such a notion as that? A chaperone not necessary ! We are rough enough in all conscience sake, but do give us credit for some slight conceptions of propriety. Fancy, Wil- loughby," she said to her husband, who was stand- ing on the sill of the door, " Mrs. Brown's uncle is dead, so her party is given up, and Evelyn wants to know why they can't go without a matron. Did you ever hear of such a thing ? " "What are you to look for, my dear, from a young lady who thought the prairies within easy walking distance from New York ?" " Of course we can't be expected to come up to English standards yet," continued Mrs. Willoughby, FACE TO FACE. 113 " though I do think we are improving every year ; but it fairly takes one's breath away to feel that our society is no better understood on the other side. So many foreigners seem to assume that we are all Daisy Millers which is the more odd, seeing that the Prince of Wales is said to think everything of American women. There was one girl, I believe, who did go so far as to put ice down his back, which was a pity, of course ; though his royal high- ness was amiable enough to pardon the impertinence because of her good looks." "Then do girls have no more freedom here than abroad ?" asked Evelyn. " Not the girls who have the same position in life as those you have met. The trouble is we are a new country, and fortunes are made so fast that there is nothing to prevent a man from suddenly growing enormously rich and going to Europe with his fam- ily. It's just exactly as if one of your tradespeople were to cut a splurge on the Continent ; only he would always be considered a tradesman on account of your class distinctions, and nobody would dream of citing his daughter's manners as typical of your whole society. But with us everyone is just as good theoretically as anyone else, and therefore we are all set down as ignorant of the simplest laws of good breeding and ladylike behavior." "I see. I wish, cousin Clara," Evelyn continued, presently, "you would tell me something about America. I feel very ignorant on the subject. Is most of it like Newport ? " 8 114 FACE TO FACE. " Oh, dear, no. There is no other place precisely like Newport. Lenox is the nearest approach to it, but.it isn't really fashionable there until after the middle of August. Then there are the White Moun- tains and Bar Harbor, which have great natural beauties. Nice people go to both of them, and the life is rather more unconventional than it is here, es- pecially at Bar Harbor, where they go in for flannel shirts and that sort of thing a good deal. I dare say you would find Bar Harbor a little rowdy, and I must say I shouldn't blame you if you did ; but some of our best people return year after year, and think there is nothing like it. Narragansett Pier is somewhat in the same style, only the set who go there are not so refined. The girls bathe with the young men in very peculiar-looking costumes, and are too free and easy for my taste. If one wants to be amused, and is content to be a spectator merely, it is worth while running down to Saratogaor Long Branch for a week. The hotels are huge caravansaries and the dressing is marvellous, though I believe it isn't so much the cus- tom as it used to be for women to come down to break- fast in ball costume. All the people who have no position, and who have made money, flock there and take their wives. I fancy that chaperones are con- sidered quite unnecessary at these latter places. The distinction between them and Newport is as marked as the distinction between bad and good taste." " But those are only the summer places. I judge, from what cousin Willoughby said, that there are a great many cities," said Evelyn. FACE TO FACE. 115 " Oh, yes. There is New York to begin with, where you landed from the steamer, and where we pass our winters. That is the largest city in 'the Union and the richest. Some persons think it will soon rival London as the money metropolis of the world. Its society is very shifting and mixed, be- cause of the rapid way in which fortunes are made, but there is a number of old families left ; and, be- sides, it certainly is amazing how presentable the children of people who started as shopkeepers, or worse, often are. They are very quick to learn, particularly the girls. I suppose our climate is the explanation of it. You know the doctors refer al- most everything to climate now-a-days. I dare say you would like Boston better, which is more like an English city in the way it is built. Boston people are very nice, too, and anyone who is properly in- troduced has a good time there. It is very near to Harvard College, and for a great many years has been regarded as the literary centre of the country. But I heard some one saying the other day that it was ceasing to be so, that most of the men who gave it a reputation are dead, and, what with the big pub- lishers and magazines in New York, that all the best literary talent is going there also. Still, I am always afraid of Boston girls. They are supposed to be very cultivated. That reminds me what was the name of the college you said you went to ? " "Girton." " Is it a regular college ? " "Yes." Il6 FACE TO FACE. "Not mixed, surely?" asked Mrs. Willoughby, faintly. " Only for women." Mrs. Willoughby was silent a moment. "What made your mother send you there ?" " Neither she nor papa wished me to go. I wanted to get a thorough education." Mrs. Willoughby paused again. " Really ? How odd! If you hadn't have gone, I suppose you would have been in society during the last two years." " I suppose so. Don't girls over here go to col- lege?" " No girls whom we know, dear. There is a place called Vassar, which is rather dreadful, I believe, where girls are treated just like men, and at Cor- nell the two sexes are taught together. Further West there are other colleges of the same sort." "I should like to see some of them," said Evelyn, with animation. Her cousin opened her eyes. "I don't think you would. As I said just now, none of our acquain- tance ever go to them. You would be sure to find the ways there very different from those of Girton ; though I must say I am astonished to hear that girls in your sphere of life in England attend col- lege. Have any of your sisters been to college ? " " No. I am the only one." Mrs. Willoughby felt fairly puzzled again. What manner of person was this young relative ? Her instincts told her that there was something amiss, FACE TO FACE. 1 1/ but in point of outward behavior there was nothing to complain of. Indeed, she must own that she had every reason to congratulate herself. Evelyn's voice aroused her from reverie. " Won't you tell me something more ? I am interested in hearing about the country." " Let me see. We were speaking of Boston last. Then there's Philadelphia and Baltimore, too, where you get terrapin and canvas-back ducks. The ter- rapin is a sort of turtle. People let them run loose in their cellars. That's before you get to Washing- ton. Washington is our capital, you know, where the President lives and Congress meets. The soci- ety there is mixed, but quite delightful and more cosmopolitan than in any other of our cities. You see all the foreign ambassadors and attaches there." "What sort of a man is the President ? " inquired Evelyn. " He is very respectable, I believe, but, as you probably know, our President is quite a different person from your Queen or the Prince of Wales. For instance, he scarcely ever belongs to society. Of course, it is the highest office in the gift of the nation and every one takes pains to be polite and considerate to him ; but, apart from his position for the time being, one wouldn't be apt to ask him to the house. I dare say that sounds strange to you." "Very strange, indeed." "You see, even if he is an honest man himself," continued Mrs. Willoughby, "he is almost certain to be in the hands of the politicians, who use him Il8 PACK TO FACE. for their purposes. We have two branches of Con- gress, the Senate and the House of Representatives, which correspond to your House of Lords and Commons ; but while your members are chiefly the foremost men in the country, both as regards social standing and ability, a great proportion of our Con- gressmen cannot even speak the English language correctly. Everyone agrees that it's no use for a gentleman to try to go into politics. He is sure to get smirched or he isn't re-elected." " What a dreadful state of affairs ! Is it just the same in the West ? " " It's a great deal worse. Here in the East, in those places I spoke to you about, New York, and Boston, and Philadelphia, there isn't such a very great difference after all between the style of living and that of people in London and Paris. Besides, we are constantly improving. But after you get two hundred miles from the coast it's terribly un- civilized. I don't mean that there are not handsome cities, for there are. I believe that San Francisco, which is away out in California, where the gold comes from, has the biggest hotel in the country. The private residences of the bonanza kings are said to be more splendid than anything we have in New York. Then there is Chicago, which is a great deal larger than it was before the fire, though a person, to keep clean there, has- to be continually washing, on account of the soot, which is horrible much worse than in London. Most of the pigs come from Cincinnati, and the people are very rich in conse- FACE TO FACE. 119 quence. Of course, everyone has heard of the Rocky Mountains, and the Mississippi River. The prairies lie in that direction, and the Mormons, and the ranches, and the Union Pacific Railway. It's quite the fashion now for young men in New York to go out to seek their fortunes on a ranch. They gener- ally come back for a month or so in the winter, and their adventures are most thrilling. But, as I was saying, the manners and customs throughout the West are very astonishing. You ought to see the wives of some of the Western Senators and Con- gressmen who come to Washington. Of course, as I observed just now, our people are very quick to learn, and it's marvellous what strides some of those cities are making. Still it must take a great many years before the West can catch up with the East." Evelyn sat for some moments lost in reflection after Mrs. Willoughby had finished. " It isn't at all what I supposed," she said, rather mournfully. " I was afraid you would be disappointed," an- swered Mrs. Willoughby. "And if you find us in- elegant here, I wonder what you would say to St. Louis or Denver." " It's the other way. The trouble is everything is too elegant. I might just as well be at home." " At home ?" "Yes. Your houses and your carriages and your parties are every bit as handsome as those in Lon- don, and you lead very much the same mode of life as people do there." " Really ? Do you think so ? " I2O FACE TO FACE. " I am sure of it," said Evelyn. " Bellevue Avenue is a second Hyde Park." " We do our best, of course. But I can't help feeling you exaggerate. I suppose there is no doubt we that is the women dress better than you. We always have. In general ways, though, we are still a long way behind. I know Willoughby is of that opinion. He says there is very little for a man of leisure to do here compared with London. We are provincial. We lack tone." "Why is it that you are so anxious to be like other nations ? " asked Evelyn. Mrs. Willoughby stared curiously at her. " Nat- urally, we don't wish to be behind the rest of the world." " I thought this country was a new departure, and that Americans were original and independent." " So we are, I think, dear. We believe in liberty and all that sort of thing, and that a man should be permitted to marry his deceased wife's sister." " But you seem to imitate us, nevertheless, in your manners and customs." " Surely you wouldn't have us eat with our fin- gers or live in log cabins in order to be different ? " said Mrs. Willoughby. " I don't understand what you mean, Evelyn. What did you expect to find us ? " " I don't know exactly. Different was all I said. I wasn't prepared for so many beautiful things for so much luxury and wealth. I suppose in New York they are more noticeable still, and that you live in much the same way." FACE TO FACE. 121 " Oh yes. Everything is on a handsomer scale there. It is a city life, you know. If you mean books," continued Mrs. Willoughby, after a reflec- tive pause, "no one thinks of working in summer, but when we go back to New York you will find that our nicest girls are well up on most subjects. There are classes in history, art, philosophy, and all those things. I don't know what your studies at Girton may have been, but the instructors who make a specialty of young ladies' classes here are careful to keep abreast of the times. Some people think that education is overdone, and that we all read and study too much. The daughters of the masses are very often taught to play on the piano and to talk French when they had much better, in my opinion, be learning housework. Some of our own girls carry it too far, and injure their health. Isabel Slatterly's younger sister, Dora, won't be able to go anywhere next winter because she studied too hard at school. There's no lack of education, if that's what you complain of." " I am not complaining of anything, cousin Clara." "I suppose you mean to imply that we're frivo- lous and worldly," continued Mrs. Willoughby, as though she felt it necessary to defend herself, and not heeding her guest's remark. " But there is a great deal of good done in New York in the way of helping the poor and improving the condition of tenement-houses, and of getting up excursions for children in the hot weather. People are very lib- 122 FACE TO FACE. eral with their money, I'm sure. One can't be giv- ing all the time. Besides, the idea now is that it does poor people more good not to give, but to teach them to support themselves. It seems to me I hear of nothing else during Lent but of girls who visit a certain number of poor families a week to see that their drains are kept in order, and that they get proper ventilation. 'Slumming' it's called. I think we borrowed the word from you. Really, Evelyn, I don't know what you would have us do. There are plenty of queer people, too, who go in for cre- mation and woman's rights, and things of that sort. Perhaps you have them in mind. Nobody knows them, but you can read about their meetings in the newspapers. I am quite crazy to know a medium and go to a seance, but Willoughby says they are usually not respectable. What is it you mean dear ? " " I don't think I know. Very likely I am all wrong and foolish," answered Evelyn. " But you must have meant something." " I only said that I was reminded of home." " Yes. But that is the same as saying we are not patriotic," said Mrs. Willoughby. "You wouldn't think so if you had been here at the time of the Civil War. I can remember it perfectly. The streets were crowded with soldiers, and everybody was eager to save the Union. I was only a little girl at the time. There were a great many people one knows killed. Mrs. Clay lost her husband, and she has never left off black since." FACE TO FACE. 123 " What sort of a person was her husband ? " " Of course I was too young to know him person- ally. But I've always heard that he behaved splen- didly in the war. He recruited a regiment at his own expense. He was a banker, and he left his widow and Ernest extremely well provided for. Ernest is to-day one of the richest young men in society. Willoughby says his property is enormous, and prudently invested. Besides, he is remarkably clever and well informed, and has travelled every- where. I do hope he will arrive before my dinner, for I want him to sit next to you. I consider him charming." "What does he do ? " inquired Evelyn. " Do ? He is very good to his mother for one thing." " 1 mean what is his occupation ?" " If you mean business, he hasn't any. Of course he has all the money he can possibly need." " How does he spend his time, then ? " Mrs. Willoughby stared again curiously. " He travels a good deal ; he takes care of his property ; he has a yacht and plenty of horses, and his clubs. He is a great reader, too. You are a strange girl, Evelyn." " Why so, cousift Clara ?" " You have such an odd way of looking at things." "Have I ?" " One would imagine from your manner of speak- ing that you thought Mr. Clay ought to go into business and run the risk of losing everything he 124 FACE TO FACE. has, merely for the sake of being able to say he has a visible means of occupation. I'm sure I think he is very sensible to live as he does. Do young men of his means and position in England live any dif- ferently ? " "That's just the trouble," laughed Evelyn. " The trouble ? " "Yes. I didn't think I should find young men in America the same." Mrs. Willoughby shook her head despairingly. "I don't understand what you mean. You certainly have very strange ideas. In what way would you have them different, pray?" " I am not prepared to say yet," Evelyn said, with another laugh. " Perhaps I may change my mind." Mrs. Willoughby sat musing for some moments, tapping her foot on the piazza.. " I forgot to ask you, my dear, what became of Mr. Brock." Evelyn colored slightly. " Mr. Brock ? " she an- swered. "Yes. Did you leave him in New York ? " " He didn't come with me." " Didn't come with you ? " "No, business called him back to London just as we were about to sail." " Whose charge were you under, then ? " "Nobody's. I came by myself." "Alone?" " Yes. I didn't think there was any harm in it." " If you mean by ' harm ' anything happening to you," said Mrs. Willoughby " I don't suppose there FACE TO FACE. 12$ was. But you must surely realize what a very pecu- liar thing it was to do. Alone ! I am perfectly as- tonished." "I shouldn't have done so if I had been going anywhere except to this country. But I said to my- self, ' That's just what an American girl would do.' " " Never, Evelyn. That is, none but very ordi- nary people. A girl from Vassar might." "I'm beginning to appreciate I made a mistake." " I should think so ! How could you do if ? I wonder that Mr. Brock permitted it." "Mr. Brock seemed rather pleased than other- wise at my decision," said Evelyn. "I ought not to have trusted him. Mr. Brock is a clever man, and a very rich man, but he is self- made, and between you and me, a little vulgar. Still, I am completely astonished. I trust sincerely that no one we know was on board." " I was sick in my state-room, after the first two days." "Thank heaven for that." Evelyn gave a low laugh. " It is no subject for mirth," continued Mrs. Wil- loughby. " I am dreadfully sorry, cousin Clara. I can see I was quite in the wrong. I will never do it again." " But how came you to do it at all ? I don't see where you got such ideas from." " I can't tell you. They are of a piece with the rest. But I haven't done anything peculiar since I came to Newport, have I ? " 126 FACE TO FACE. " That's the odd part of it. But please don't try any experiments here," said her cousin. " I am very anxious to see the passenger-list of the Britan- nic," she added musingly. " I asked Willoughby to buy me a copy of the New York paper in which it would have been, and he forgot to." "I will promise to be very good," answered Evelyn. " I do hope you are having a pleasant time, dear." ''Delightful." " You have been very much admired, and I should be extremely sorry to have the good impression you have created altered in any respect. Do be care- ful." " All the care in the world won't be of any use if any of your friends were on board the steamer, cousin Clara," said Evelyn, with another laugh. "Ugh ! It makes me creep whenever I think of it." " Still, they couldn't dispute the fact that one of my sisters is a countess, and another the wife of a knight. That is one of my strongest recommenda- tions, and no misbehavior on my part could alter it. Nearly everyone alludes to it." Mrs. Willoughby looked at her doubtfully. " You are a strange girl, as I said before," she said ; " I can't quite make you out. Ah ! There comes your cousin to take you to drive. I must tell him to be sure to get me the Herald" As Evelyn went into the house for a sacque, she happened to notice her billycock hat and ulster FACE TO FACE. I2/ hanging in the hall, where she had left them on the evening of her arrival. Such was her frame of mind that she reached out her hand, took them down from the peg, and put them on. Then she presented herself before her cousins with an arch smile. Mrs. Willoughby gave a little cough. " It is warm to-day, Evelyn. You will scarcely need so heavy a wrap. Let me send up to your room for that thin jacket." " Oh no, this will do very well, cousin Clara." "You will roast. Besides you look a great deal prettier in that hat with the feather." " Beauty is skin deep." " Yes, but why not look as well as you can ? Come, do put on the others, as a favor to me. You know you promised to be good," she said, and she rang the bell. " Why, is there anything out of the way about my hat and ulster ? " Evelyn asked, scarcely able to control her features at Mrs. Willoughby's anxiety. " I dont say that, dear ; but I might as well tell you frankly, no one here ever wears anything of the sort. Patterson," Mrs. Willoughby said to the ser- vant, " ask Dowler to go to Miss Pimlico's room and bring down her hat with the gull's feather, and her brown sacque." " I thought," said Evelyn tantalizingly " that everything English was admired here." Mrs. Willoughby coughed again. Could they really be English ? She said to herself that she 128 FACE TO FACE. would consult Mrs. Clay without delay. " I have no doubt, of course, dear, that they are in every re- spect suitable, but the others happen to be more becoming to you personally, that's all." " A great fuss to make about a very little matter." said Willoughby, who had silently enjoyed the scene. " She was very well as she was." "You men don't understand such things," an- swered his wife. " There, you can't tell how much better you look, Evelyn, whatever he may say." "Cousin Willoughby, what sort of a place is Kansas?" asked Evelyn, as she stood buttoning her sacque. " Kansas, child ? How came you to think of such a place as that ? " exclaimed his wife. "Kansas is a State one of those western settlements I have just been telling you about or is it a territory, Wil- loughby ? I never am quite sure." "A State, love. Are you thinking of settling there, Evelyn ? " " Not at present, cousin Willoughby." " It would suit you exactly," he continued. " There are prairies and buffaloes and Indians with- out limit, or there used to be the last time I was out there. Come, jump in." After they were gone Mrs. Willoughby composed herself again in her chair ; but though a book lay on her lap she did not read. She fell into a brown study. VII. ABOUT fifteen minutes later, a stylish dog-cart entered the Pimlico grounds, and a young man ran up the steps and shook hands cordially with Mrs. Willoughby. " Why, Mr. Clay ! This is a surprise. When did you arrive ?" " I got here last night." " How well you are looking ! Do sit down. Let me see it's fully a year since you went away." "Just thirteen months." "And you've really been round the world?" " I have." "And how do you find Newport ?" "It looks natural." " You ought to say we have improved." " I haven't had time to criticise yet," he answered. "Time has been merciful to you, at least." " Please don't remind me of my age. I am pain- fully aware of the fact that I am growing old. I have a young lady stopping with me, who ought to satisfy you, however." " Indeed ! " " An English girl." " So I have heard." I3O FACE TO FACE. " Your mother has told you, then ? " " She has, and also given me your kind invitation to dinner for to-morrow, which I have the honor to accept." " I am so glad. I want you to sit next to her. She is very handsome. She is a cousin of my hus- band's, and sister to the Countess of Harleth, whom your mother met in London. Another sister mar- ried Caithness Corrie, who is in Parliament and very highly thought of by Mr. Disraeli." " Humph ! " " She is a great success. Everybody is talking about her." " I congratulate you." " Pshaw ! You are as bad as ever. One would imagine I were speaking of a graven image instead of a lovely young woman. Why don't you show a little enthusiasm ? " " I haven't seen her yet." " Unhappily she is at the moment out driving with Willoughby. But take my word for it, she would look charmingly at the head of your table." " Don't. My mother has been lecturing me on the evils of bachelorhood all the morning." " Your mother is miserably unhappy on the sub- ject. It is high time you were married." " I agree with you. I should be only too glad to marry, provided I could fall in love." "You expect too much. Fix your choice on some attractive girl, and what you desire will follow after you are man and wife." FACE TO FACE. 131 " Thanks. With due respect, that argument is threadbare." " An old bachelor is one of the most unhappy of God's creatures." " A single man can get along swimmingly until he is forty-five. After that suicide, at least, is al- ways open to him." " How foolishly you talk ! " " I don't know that there is much moral distinc- tion between cutting one's throat and marrying a girl one doesn't care for. The latter is a lingering death, to say nothing of the circumstance that two people are made miserable." " Travel has made you sophistical." " I am merely defending myself from a conspir- acy. You and my mother are in league, I see. Well, I defy you both." "But you mustn't make up your mind in advance to dislike her. Promise me that." " I am not a misogynist on principle, only by force of circumstances." Clay was silent a moment and gave one of his short laughs. " It's strange," he said, "how one's susceptibilities are not always in accord with one's instincts. You know what a pre- judice I have against unconventional manners ? Well, the nearest approach to a palpitation that I have experienced for years was on the passage over, at the hands of a young woman from Kansas." " Kansas ? " echoed Mrs. Willoughby. " So I understood. She had been studying abroad and was on her way home. She was entirely alone, 132 FACE TO FACE. and finding time heavy on her hands, I suppose, she scraped acquaintance with me." " What do you mean ? Scraped acquaintance ? " " Yes. That's nothing uncommon no\v-a-days among our countrywomen of a certain class. I mean she entered into conversation with me. She was remarkably handsome, too. She made a dead set at me, borrowed my newspapers the second day out, and made herself generally obnoxious. But I found myself thinking about her afterward, which rarely happens with me, you know." " What a very peculiar individual ! " " She had ideas." " I should say so. What became of her ? " " I am sorry to say," answered Clay, " that she vanished after our first interview, and I never saw her again until just before we landed, and then I judged it more prudent to part as strangers. I couldn't help thinking, though, at the time, that the method in which all the girls of our acquaintance are brought up tends to squeeze the originality out of them. It may be a question which is the lesser evil, no manners or no independence." " But I remember your saying to me once that what you especially admired in our best American girls, was their ability to unite intelligence and cul- tivation with perfect refinement." " It is one thing to be cultivated, another to use one's mind," answered Clay, sententiously. " You are as bad as my cousin, who has been hauling us all over the coals because we are too civil- FACE TO FACE. 133 ized. She expected to find us eating buffalo steak, as Willoughby says, and is disappointed. She de- clares there is very little difference between Bellevue Avenue and Hyde Park. I wonder what she will say to you, for you are more English than ever. You ought to consider that a great compliment," added Mrs. Willoughby, "for Englishmen of a cer- tain class are the best looking and the best dressed set of men in the world." " The young person I was just speaking of took me for an Englishman. If you will believe it, she wished to know if I were an earl or a baronet. Wasn't it a joke ? Probably she had never met a well-dressed American before in her life." " It was amusing. But it only shows how little difference there is between our best and their best. Did you tell her who you were ? " "No," answered Clay ; "what was the use ? Be- sides, my not doing so gave her an opportunity to wrap herself in the American flag. You should have heard her talk about this country. All the spread- eagleism I have ever listened to before was nothing to it. Everything was perfect, and the men and women to a unit were great-souled. When I came to question her, however, I found that, with the ex- ception of her trip abroad, she had never travelled, never been to New York, or Boston, or Washington, or even Chicago. Of course here was my opportu- nity, for she had extremely ideal views of all these cities, notwithstanding. I fancy she won't forget in a hurry the ideas I gave her, whatever she may have. 134 FACE TO FACE. felt at the time. I told her that New York young ladies were not in the habit of addressing men who had not been introduced to them." " How delightful ! What did she say to that ? " " She declared that Englishmen were prejudiced and unable to appreciate Americans. She said that we that is the English wished to make them bow down again to forms and ceremonies, and she rhap- sodized a good deal about hungry souls, and not being satisfied with the golden calf of Mammon." " I fail to see what you found so very attractive about her." " She was unusually good-looking, to begin with." " You men always make so much of that. But there are plenty of pretty girls at home." " Her beauty was only one half, I admit. Her enthusiasm fascinated me. She seemed so thor- oughly in earnest even when she talked the veriest nonsense. And then, too, there is some truth in what she said about forms and ceremonies. I could not help envying her her emancipation from the petty and machine-like conventionalities to which we are subjected. So few of us dare call our souls our own, even if we are ready to admit that we have any. We are slaves to the critical faculties of our contemporaries. We are afraid to stray beyond certain limits, lest we be thought peculiar." " Positively, you are eloquent. We shall hear of you next in Kansas," said Mrs. Willoughby. " Ah, no. I am simply giving voice to my feeble wail and protest before falling into line again. FACE TO FACE. 135 Why is it that breeding and luxury, and generations of ancestors tend to make us all mere machines conservative is the euphemistic term and vice versa, why should those whose fingers grip the window- sills of heaven as it were, be so frightfully uncon- ventional ? If, as you insinuate, I were to marry that young person, her ' what say ? ' and her ' real elegant' would suffice to make me wretched for the rest of my life ; and yet I know within my secret soul that she is worth six of me in the genuine nobility of her character. You needn't look so alarmed, for there is no danger of my doing any- thing ridiculous. I haven't the moral courage, and I don't feel at all sure that I wish I had. When I think of the hat and ulster she was attired in, I see nothing else, and if her own eyes were to be opened to their significance, I suppose she would become just like the rest of us. It is only a question of time when they all do. Our great grandmothers were practically what the people of the West are to-day. The buffalo and Daisy Miller must both become ex- tinct, a reflection not altogether consoling to ideal- ists." " I assure you, Mr. Clay, my great-grandmother was nothing of the sort. You may say she was an ape, or a Puritan, or any other of the disagreeable creatures we are told we are descended from, but, emphatically, she was not a Daisy Miller. How queer you are this morning ! That young person has given you a severe shock." " No, she has merely set me wondering, a little 136 FACE TO FACE. more seriously than before, what I am going to do with myself now that I have got home. The dis- ease is an old one, as you know." "You live too much alone," said Mrs. Willoughby. "Your mind needs diversion to prevent it from preying on itself. I will provide you with an occu- pation. Make yourself agreeable to my cousin." " It is well to be off with the old love you are familiar with the adage." "You admit then that you are touched?" she asked. " I admit nothing, as my fair adversary said when I taxed her with an .avowal of unladylike behavior. Seriously, though, I did pace the deck of the Brit- annic for hours after the single interview I had with her, my soul in the seventh heaven. Midnight caught me peering at the stars with but what is the matter ?" "Nothing. A pin must have pricked me. How interesting ! But I didn't know you came by the Britannic." " I wouldn't come by any other steamer," said Clay. A deep flush had crimsoned Mrs. Willoughby's cheek. "Did she tell you her name?" she in- quired. " The young person ? No, and I forgot to look at the passenger list." "And you say she spoke to you without your being introduced to her ? " " Yes, and followed me all over the ship like a FACE TO FACE. 137 tame dog before that. I don't wonder you are shocked. I was myself." Mrs. Willoughby abruptly changed the subject and began to rattle off a quantity of society gossip. She declared that Newport was more than usually gay, and she enumerated a list of the events for the coming fortnight ; but though very voluble, she talked nervously, and answered her visitor's ques- tions as if she were distrait. This was scarcely sur- prising under the circumstances, for of a sudden the awful suspicion had occurred to her that this extra- ordinary individual whom her visitor had been de- scribing might be Evelyn. It seemed too dreadful to believe, but the similarity between certain facts relating to both was striking. Each had been with- out a chaperone, each had been taken sick after the second day out, and most cruel testimony of all, which, seemingly harmless when it was uttered, had grown more portentous every moment since each had worn a peculiar hat and ulster. But no, such a theory was preposterous. She argued that Eve- lyn could not have been so misguided, so void of all regard for propriety. Then, too, her cousin was English, not an American, and was it within the bounds of possibility that she could have been mis- taken for an American ? Nevertheless, Mrs. Wil- loughby could not help recalling Evelyn's strange allusion to Kansas, and her own questionings. She said to herself that it could not be true that Evelyn was identical with Mr. Clay's fellow-passenger, and yet she felt that she would sacrifice a great deal to 138 FACE TO FACE. be sure that the coincidence was false. They had crossed the ocean on the same ship. Of this there could be no doubt. She appreciated that, if her suspicions were correct, she must renounce her dreams of bringing them together, and renounce the half-realized hopes which she had cherished of making her cousin the sensation of the coming winter. Or rather, her cousin would cause a sensa- tion, but of a very different character from what had been anticipated. While Mrs. Willoughby thus cast the probabili- ties as to the correctness of her unhappy conject- ure, prattling away meantime, a sudden inspiration seized her. "Excuse me one moment," she said to Mr. Clay, who had just risen with the intention of taking his leave. " I want to ask youropinion aboutsomething." She went into the house, and instantly reappeared in the garments which she had induced Evelyn to discard. " You are a man of taste, and fresh from London, as well as an old friend," she said. " My dressmaker eh that is, I have just received these from the other side. Tell me, are they really the fashion ? Are they much worn ? " Clay gazed at her in manifest astonishment. "From London," he faltered. He was too politic a man, however, not to recover instantly his self-possession. " I did not stop in London on my return," he said ; " but why have you any doubts ? " FACE TO FACE. 139 " Merely, I did not care for them much," she an- swered, with apparent indifference. A moment later he was gone, and she was sitting aghast, and with every disposition to burst into tears. She felt that there was scarcely room for question, now, that it was Evelyn of whom he had been speaking. Evidently the hat and ulster were a spurious fashion. What was she to do ? As soon as Mr. Clay's eyes were opened to the truth, the story would spread like wild fire. And if her cousin had been capable of the mad conduct described, how was it possible to^feel any assurance as to what she might do in future. However, Mrs. Willoughby was not a woman to give way to despair. She had set her heart on Evelyn being a success. She soon appreciated, therefore, that she must make the best of the situa- tion, however distressing. She reflected that, after all, a girl might be more or less peculiar with im- punity, provided she were fashionable ; and that, though she had expected her cousin to be especially elegant and conservative, there was undoubtedly a certain novelty in the idea of the sister of an Eng- lish countess figuring as a hoyden, that might com- mend itself to many minds. But far more comfort- ing was the remembrance that Mr. Clay had spoken of the fascination Evelyn had exerted over him. It might be that this premature meeting had stirred his imagination in a way that no formal introduc- tion would have done. It was evident Evelyn had interested him, and the question was as to how this I4O FACE TO FACE. fancy would be affected by a disclosure of the truth. Well as she knew Ernest Clay, Mrs. Willoughby had always been a little puzzled by him. At times he was very odd, and talked to her in a strain not unlike that which he had adopted the present morn- ing. She felt that there was no telling but that these eccentricities of Evelyn's might be the very traits to captivate him. He had complained that the "young person" lacked the social graces. But when he should learn that Evelyn could assume them when she chose, and that she did not belong in Kansas, was there not a reasonable probability of his becoming still further attracted ? Clutched at as a straw by a drowning man, this idea became, the more she dwelt on it, an abiding hope. The sight of Evelyn, however, was sufficient to reanimate her indignation, and centre her thoughts again on the cruel upheaval of all the plans which she had carefully arranged for the entertainment of her guest, and the satisfaction of her own pride. If there was one thing Mrs. Willoughby plumed herself on, it was avoidance in her manner of living of all that could be considered sensational or ultra. Her establishments were models of exquisite com- fort and good taste, and her intimate friends were people one of whose chief objects in life was to keep out of the newspapers. Hence, although able to appreciate that her cousin's eccentricity might be regarded in some households as desirable, it was a bitter humiliation to Mrs. Willoughby to feel that one whom she had introduced was likely to attract FACE TO FACE. 141 attention by other than very aristocratic and con- servative ways. It seemed almost wiser to send her home than to let her succeed on such a basis. But still there was Mr. Clay to be considered. She followed Evelyn up-stairs, and tapped on the door of her room. She meant to be composed, but explicit. " Why didn't you tell me that Mr. Clay was on board the Britannic, my dear ? " she asked, after a few moments. " There was a Mr. Clay, but I did not know that he was your Mr. Clay," Evelyn answered, with a flush. " Then it is true ? " " I am afraid so, Cousin Clara, though I'm not quite sure what you refer to." " Your behavior your asking for his newspapers, and eh following him about like a tame dog." "Was that what he said ?" exclaimed Evelyn, with. a laugh. "I cannot, unfortunately, contradict him." " Oh, Evelyn ! How could you have done such a thing ? What was your motive, your purpose ? Surely it is not your habit to address gentlemen who are strangers to you ? " " No, Cousin Clara, I never did such a thing be- fore. Let me relieve your mind at once on that score I do know better." " I should hope so. What was the matter ? Were you out of your senses?" asked Mrs. Willoughby. " I don't wonder it seems so to you now. No, I did it deliberately enough, and with my eyes open. 142 FACE TO FACE. I took him for an Englishman, and was trying to behave as I thought an American girl would behave in the hope of shocking him. How much has he told you ? " "Very little, except in a general way. I cannot see where you have got such ideas of this country. An American girl ? As I have told you already, no girl who wished to be thought a lady could possibly act so. Come, tell me the whole story, and let me hear the worst." " Does he know that it was I ? " " Not yet, though he may have been put on his guard by seeing your hat and ulster, which I showed him in order to make sure that it was you to whom he referred. Where did you get those things, Eve- lyn?" " I bought them just before I sailed. The shop- man assured me they were the latest American style." Mrs. Willoughby groaned. " I felt sure there was something wrong about them the first moment I set eyes on you. Well, how did it all begin ?" Evelyn was silent a moment. "You see, Cousin Clara, as I said to you this morning, I have always had an idea that the customs in the United States were very different from those at home. I had formed my opinion of what an American girl would be like, and as the dream of my life for years has been to pay a visit to this country, I carried my en- thusiasm so far as to try to illustrate my theory. FACE TO FACE. 143 That was why I didn't turn back when Mr. Brock was delayed, and why I behaved as I did in regard to Mr. Clay. I took him for a countryman of my own, and thought it would be amusing to make him open his eyes. I succeeded only too well, for he changed his seat at table because I asked him to pass the butter, and chose the same quarter of the ship from which to watch the sunset. The next morning, while, we were sitting near each other on deck, I borrowed his newspapers, which seemed to annoy him so much that he was on the point of changing his seat again, when a gust of wind blew both our hats off. That broke the ice. We had a lengthy discussion. He ran this country down and I praised it. He took it 'for granted that I came from Kan- sas " "That is just the way a Kansas girl would be- have," interjected Mrs. Willoughby. " So Mr. Clay informed me. He gave me a great deal of good advice as to mending my manners. Unfortunately, I was taken sick, and never saw him again until just before we landed, when he concluded not to recognize me. But in the meanwhile the stewardess had told me who he was. I have never been more surprised at anything in my life than when I heard he was an American." " Is that the whole ? ' asked Mrs. Willoughby. " All I can remember. Has he made any other accusations ? " " He didn't go into particulars. It's dreadful, Evelyn, and I don't see how it could be much worse. 144 FACE TO FACE. What a blessing you were taken sick ! The curious part of it is, that he was fascinated by you in spite of himself," Mrs. Willoughby added reflectively. "That was how I found out about the matter. He happened to say that you had haunted him ever since. He isn't a man who is apt to think twice of any girl. It's more than you deserve, but there is no doubt you excited his curiosity. Of course, it was the contrast between what you really are and what you were pretending to be that interested him, and the question is as to how he will feel when he discovers that you are just like everybody else." " Do you think I am like everybody else ? " Mrs. Willoughby looked up anxiously. " You can be if you choose. Didn't you promise me this morning to be good ? Once for all, Evelyn, do put an end to this nonsense. If you will only behave here as your sisters would at home, you are sure to be admired. Everybody does admire you already ; which makes this performance with Mr. Clay all the more unfortunate. If he chooses to talk about it, we can't help ourselves, but I have hopes he will hold his tongue. You see, after all, it would seem ridiculous to most people that he could have taken you for an American, and our best course, in case he does, is to pretend that the whole thing was a joke and so turn the laugh on him. But I feel confident, the more I think it over, that he won't say anything about it, especially if, as he tells me, you attracted him notwithstanding your strange con- duct." FACE TO FACE. 145 " He had a strange way of showing it," said Eve- lyn. " I must say frankly, Cousin Clara, I am not prepossessed in Mr. Clay's favor." " Why, my dear, you couldn't expect him to show his best side under the circumstances. He was completely shocked, and I think he acted extremely well. He seems to have talked to you for some time." " Yes, and he cut me dead when he saw me next. Do you call that good manners ? " " You are hardly the one to criticise on the score of manners, I think," said Mrs. Pimlico, a little dryly. " Mr. Clay is considered one of our leading young men. You would be very foolish to become prejudiced against him on account of any such trifle. Stranger things have happened than that he should take a serious fancy to you." " I trust he will not, for I am confident I shall not like him," Evelyn answered, bluntly. " Six million dollars are not to be despised." " No, Cousin Clara, I am beginning to appreciate that they are not in this country as well as at home. People here marry for money, then ? " " How abrupt you are ! Of course not. But one must have money in order to be married. There is no sense in refusing a man simply because he is well off. Love in a cottage is all very well, pro- vided the cottage is built in the Queen Anne style. You should look at the world as it is, my dear, and not as you imagine it to be. We are neither savages nor are we swains and milkmaids. If you are wise, 10 146 FACE TO FACE. you will make the most of Mr. Clay's attentions, and not trouble yourself about what answer you will give him until he asks you." Evelyn flushed and laughed. " I wasn't thinking of myself when I spoke. There is not the least danger of my being placed in such a disagreeable position." " One can never tell. He says, dear, you have ideas. You certainly have, and a great many of them are very queer. However, I wouldn't try to be too proper all at once. Let him get accustomed to the transformation by degrees. You will promise me not to indulge in any more freaks on your own responsibility ? I am sure you mean well, but really you don't know anything about us yet." " I will try. You mustn't be disappointed, though, Cousin Clara, if Mr. Clay and I don't get on." " I, child ? It makes no difference to me. If you prefer to go home and marry some poor curate, it is your own lookout," Mrs. Willoughby said, as she passed out of the room. After she was gone Evelyn sat for some while pensive. Life had grown very complex to her. VIII. CLAY got no inkling of the real truth from Mrs. Willoughby's behavior, although he recognized the hat and ulster as identical in pattern with those worn by the peculiar young person he had encoun- tered on the voyage home. He was merely con- scious that he had done the latter wrong in presum- ing her garments to be of domestic manufacture, a small enough matter when the rest of her conduct was taken into account. He was rather surprised at his mistake, being accustomed to consider his judgment infallible as to questions of toilet, but he made the reflection that the taste of the English was apt to be erratic, and he had had no opportunity to observe the current style in London. Then he dismissed the matter from his thoughts. He was much more interested in the confession he had made to Mrs. Willoughby, not by reason of any effect it might have on her, but as disclosing his own state of mind. Whenever he was in doubt as to what he did believe regarding any subject, Clay had a way of finding someone who would lis- ten to him talk, with the result that at the close of the interview he had generally cleared up his diffi- culty. In other words, he preferred to do his think- 148 FACE TO FACE. ing aloud, which is an unnatural process where there is no audience. Mrs. Willoughby was one of the women whom he was most apt to seek on such occa- sions, and consequently they were cordial friends. Her elegance of manner and appearance were ex- actly in keeping with his standard. He found her, as well, a charming companion, with an excellent appreciation of how to seem to know all about a given topic by dint of having read a paragraph re- lating to it in the newspaper. This semblance of intellectuality ingratiated without deceiving him. He knew she was shallow, but what he required was sympathy, not depth. She read all the book re- views, even if she did not read the books, and could talk ologies and osophies with him by the hour. Moreover, her instinct in social matters was indis- putable. Hence, he was always polite and attentive to her in society, and punctilious about dropping in at her five o'clock tea. In return for his psychological confidences she invited him to her pleasantest din- ners, and manifested a sort of motherly interest in getting him a wife ; for, although but just thirty- three, she posed as a ruin. She was quite aware, however, that there was no sentimentality between them. Indeed, anything of the sort would have been quite inconsistent with the thorough satisfac- toriness of their relations. Clay's delay in coming to Newport since his ar- rival had been occasioned by business affairs. It was necessary to reinvest the surplus of his income FACE TO FACE. 149 which had been accumulating during his absence, and it had chanced to come to his ears on the day after landing that a controlling interest in the stock of the manufacturing company whose works were situated in the neighborhood of his father's old country-seat on the Hudson was in the market. The Mr. Brock to whom reference has been made already had there established, some years before, two companies side by side, the Clyme Valley Mills, in which Clay was a holder, and the Wisabet. Each had prospered exceedingly ; 'but Mr. Brock being about to engage in new enterprises, was de- sirous to dispose of his own interest in the first- named, retaining control of the Wisabet. At the instigation of his financial advisers, Clay accordingly had come to terms with Mr. Brock's brokers. Although quite aware that he had but to show himself in order to become a social lion by virtue of his long absence, the thought of taking up again the familiar round of fashionable Newport life had rather bored Clay when he found himself, after hav- ing kissed his mother that morning, confronted with the problem of what he should do. Mrs. Clay had begun almost immediately to twit him on his single condition, and to string off a list of the desir- able young women who had come to the front while he had been away. It was the consciousness that he was tired of being a bachelor which made her solicitude all the more goading ; but somehow the idea of choosing a wife of the type his mother had in mind seemed less acceptable than ever. 150 FACE TO FACE. Not even the glowing account she gave him of Mrs. Willoughby's cousin was sufficient to rouse his curiosity. He listened with an indifferent ear to the description of the charming stranger's great beauty, and of how she had ridden neck and neck with Marian Bydoon and beaten her at the last fence, although she had never before in her life fol- lowed the hounds. He guessed pretty well what sort of a girl she would be. However, Mrs. Wil- loughby would expect him to call on her guest, he reflected, and as her dinner invitation had to be an- swered, he concluded that he would save himself the trouble of writing a note and kill the forenoon at the same time by going up to Little Court. He had hardly decided when he set out from his own house whether he would dine with her or betake himself to New York again on the plea of business and im- mure himself in his club. His acceptance was the natural result of his neu- tral frame of mind, flattered into complaisance by Mrs. Willoughby's evident gratification at seeing him. He had rather enjoyed airing his incubations, and it had not disturbed him in the least that she had seemed unable to understand his meaning and somewhat inclined to be suspicious of it. There- fore, although he said to himself on the following morning that it would be civil to try again to find Miss Pimlico at home, inasmuch as he was to dine there later in the day, he might not have regarded this act of politeness as necessary had he not felt the desire to sift his reflections a little further. FACE TO FACE. 151 Being an intimate of the family, he felt quite at liberty, while the servant had gone to announce his visit, to stroll around the corner in search of the fresh breeze which he knew he would find there. Suddenly he stopped short, being brought face to face with a young lady reclining in a hammock reading, who started up at his intrusion and sprang to her feet. " I beg your pardon," Clay ejaculated. " Is Mrs. Pimlico at home ? " The young lady's face was familiar, but it took a moment for him to realize the full significance of the truth, which dawned on him at last in an awful flash. His mental confusion was swift and over- whelming. But Evelyn had recognized him in- stantly, and after the first start, had schooled her- self so far as to assume an air of extreme dignity. " I will tell Mrs. Pimlico," she said, and she turned to pass in through the open window. " Eh The servant has gone to announce me," he replied, as if to detain her. Evelyn looked back at him, and bending her head without the slightest recognition, said : " If you will take a seat, she will be down presently, I think." Whereupon she stepped inside the house. Clay stood for an instant irresolute, his cheeks the color of scarlet. Then he followed her into the room just in time to prevent her from going up-stairs. " Miss Pimlico," he said, abruptly, " I have made a terrible mistake. I have been very rude I " He stopped short, apparently feeling that an apology 152 FACE TO FACE. was likely only to make matters worse. " I am eli I am Mr. Clay. We made a passage together, you remember." "Oh, yes," she said. "Won't you sit down, Mr. Clay ? " He took a chair, still more abashed by the for- mality of her manner. She looked for all the world like a duchess. Still, there was no use, he reflected, in losing his head. What was done, was done, and he must make the best of the situation. There was, after all, a humorous side to the predicament, and not much was to be gained by looking at the affair too seriously. Since she preferred to ignore their former acquaintance, he might as well be oblivious also. He felt, however, as if he would be glad to know whether she were really angry. She had seated her- self and having picked up some embroidery work from the table was calmly plying her needle as though she appreciated the superiority of her posi- tion and that she held him at her mercy. " Beautiful weather we are having, Mr. Clay," she observed, with an air of wishing to be polite. He took his cue. " Charming." "And there seems to be a great deal going on this summer." "So I am given to understand." "Newport is a lovely place." " It is looking unusually well." " There was plenty of rain early in the season, I believe, so that the foliage is not wilted." FACE TO FACE. 153 "Yes, I believe so." There was a pause, and then Mrs. Willoughby glided into the room. " Delighted to see you," she said to Clay. She glanced quickly from the one to the other. "You two have met before, I believe, and need no introduction," she observed, with a laugh. " If you will excuse me, Mr. Clay, for a few moments, I should like to answer a note I have just received." She disappeared, and they were left facing each other as before. The room was so still Clay could hear the clock ticking. He would have liked to be jocose and to treat the whole matter as a jest, al- though still in the dark as to its precise explanation ; but Evelyn's dignity appalled him. Could this exces- sively proper young lady be identical with the hoy- den he had encountered on board ship ? There was no room for doubt, for the features were the same. Could he have dreamt that she tracked him about the ship, and borrowed his newspapers, and said she came from Kansas ? For here she was an inmate of one of the most fashionable houses in Newport, and as insipid in her style of conversation as a wall- flower. There was a mystery somewhere which he was resolved to solve before Mrs. Willoughby's re- turn. There was no explaining away the fact of her extraordinary conduct during the passage on any other supposition than that he was out of his senses at the time. Was it not rather for her to apolo- gize than for him ? The idea seemed plausible for a moment ; but when he thought of the complacent 154 FACE TO FACE. advice he had given her as to her style of behavior, and how he had stared her in the face on the morn- ing the vessel reached port, he realized that he was in a bad fix, and must eat crow, if he would hope to be forgiven. The worst of it was, she was so beau- tiful that she could afford to insist on his deep humiliation. These thoughts passed rapidly through his mind during the few moments that elapsed before he found his tongue. Then he said : " I am com- pletely in the dark, Miss Pimlico, as to how I made such a blunder as I appear to have done. An apol- ogy seems useless, out of the question, until I see my way a little clearer. Tell me one thing : you are the same young lady with whom I crossed on the Britannic a fortnight ago ?" "The very same," answered Evelyn, quietly. "And also a cousin of Mrs. Pimlico's." "Yes." "Then your home is in England ?" " It is. I have lived there all my life." " Humph ! This beats the Dutch. I am com- pletely befogged. If only you didn't look so terri- bly austere, Miss Pimlico, I should burst out laugh- ing at myself, of course. But surely you gave me to understand you were born in Kansas ? " " Excuse me, I think you took it for granted that I was. I have never been in Kansas." " Oh no, I seevit all now. I have behaved like an idiot, and allowed myself to be thoroughly gulled," he exclaimed. " Well, I give you permission to FACE TO FACE. 155 laugh at me. It was capitally done. Then it was all make-believe on your part ? " " Mistaking you for a lord, do you mean ? " " I suppose I have no right to complain ; you are only having your revenge," he answered, somewhat sheepishly. " A lord ! There is no use in denying it, however. I did suppose you in earnest." " So I was. I thought you were a baronet at the very least." " What do you mean ? " " What I have said. I had no idea you were an American." "Really?" Clay looked at her doubtfully. He could not determine if she were making sport of him or not. " I had no idea you were am American, and what is more, I imagined that all girls in the United States were a good deal like what I appeared to be," she replied ; " but I have found out my error, thanks first to you, and then to my own observation. Please accept my gratitude." Clay felt decidedly confused. He would have preferred almost to see her angry, than so quietly sarcastic as she appeared. Besides she was as great an enigma as ever. " Then you have changed your views regarding us over here ? " he asked, for the sake of saying something. " Completely. What I said on board ship must have sounded to you like great nonsense. You were quite right ; the people over here are very 156 FACE TO FACE. much the same as those of London, or Paris, or Vienna, and are becoming more so every day. I haven't been West yet, but I understand it is merely a question of time when it becomes Europeanized also. At present, though, it is very primitive and raw, is it not ?" "Well, more so than Newport, of course," he said, with a nervous laugh. " It was very natural that you should have been shocked at my behavior," she continued, " and wished to avoid me. As you well said, that sort of thing, fortunately, is passing away in the civilized portions of the United States. After trying to at- tract your attention, and borrowing your newspapers what reason had I to expect that you would recog- nize me when we next met, although we had spent the greater part of one morning together ? I admit that I was rather surprised at the time, but I can see now that you were quite right ; for you would have compromised yourself in the eyes of any of your friends who happened to perceive you conversing with me." Clay bit his lip. Her calm, almost judicial man- ner of rehearsing his opinions made him feel fool- ish. What was she driving at, any way ? " I am very sorry to have hurt your feelings," he said bluntly. She looked up from her fancy work. " My feel- ings ? You have done nothing of the sort, I assure you, Mr. Clay. On the contrary, I fear that it was I who wounded your sensibilities by behaving as I FACE TO FACE. IS/ did. Only think, if you were to repeat here, in New- port, how I conducted myself, you could ruin my reputation altogether. But you wouldn't, I'm sure, be cruel enough to blast my chances of being a suc- cess. I suppose you've heard that one of my sisters is a countess, and that another is married to Sir Edgar Bradish, C.B. ?" " So Mrs. Pimlico informed me," he answered. " I'm afraid, though, that even they wouldn't save me if people were to learn the truth. Consider, please, that I am your pupil and am doing my best to bear in mind all you taught me. No one, I think, would suspect me now of coming from Kansas." Her tone was still perfectly serious ; but Clay, to make a diversion, exclaimed jauntily, "Why, certain- ly not. It was all a joke, of course. My wonder is that I didn't see through the disguise. I shall only be too glad not to let the cat out of the bag. But really, Miss Pimlico, you mustn't treat me so cruelly. You forget that ridicule is much more humiliating than rank abuse." " Ridicule, Mr. Clay ! Is there no way in which I can persuade you that I am quite in earnest ? It was no joke at all. Before I left home, and met you, I had all sorts of strange notions. But I am rapidly coming to my senses, and shall be just like every- body else before long, if I am not already. I am not laughing at you, I am agreeing with you. If you haven't confidence in me, ask Mrs. Pimlico. Here she comes." "What is it that I am to decide ?" inquired that lady. 1 58 FACE TO FACE. " You have arrived just in time to save me from being completely put out of countenance by Miss Pimlico's satire." " Well, if there ever was a man who deserved to be made sport of, it's you. You have ruined your reputation as a judge of character, mon ami" " And made an enemy for life. She won't permit me to apologize, and she has made me a target for the most cruel raillery." " What have you to say to this, Evelyn ? " said Mrs. Willoughby. " I have been endeavoring to explain to Mr. Clay that I have turned over a new leaf since I arrived, and he won't believe me." " He is afraid, I suppose, that you are trying to play another practical joke on him." " Precisely," said Clay. " But there hasn't been any joke. It was all sheer earnest, and he persists in regarding it as otherwise," exclaimed Evelyn. "You see how obdurate she' is, Mrs. Pimlico. She has been bringing up all the absurd speeches I made during the voyage, and quoting them to me as choice bits of wisdom. If there is anything that will confuse a man, it is to hear his own words in another person's mouth." " You must give her time. You can't expect to be forgiven all at once," said Mrs. Willoughby, who could not quite make out the drift of the argument. But she was anxious that Clay should regard the episode as reflecting ludicrously on himself rather FACE TO FACE. 159 than as a lack of dignity on her cousin's part. " I will put you next to one another to-night," she said, as he rose to go, "and you can fight it out." Evelyn courtesied with profoundness but formal- ity, and after a word of badinage between the visitor and his hostess in regard to an indifferent matter, Clay took his leave. When the noise of his dog-cart on the gravel path had died away, Mrs. "Willoughby glanced at Evelyn, who was still tranquilly busy with her embroidery, and said : " Well, dear, what do you think of him ? Is he so dreadful after all ? " " He is very much as I thought he would be," she answered. " I call him extremely good-looking. He has im- proved in his appearance greatly during the last few years." "There is very little in common between us," said Evelyn, after a pause. " We are very different." " It isn't necessary for two people to be like as peas in order to be friends. Don't scientists say that it is better to marry one's opposite ? Take Willoughby and me, for instance. We are very dis- similar in many ways. He likes cold weather, and I'm never so comfortable as when I'm hot, and he idolizes lobster, while I can't abide it." " I'm sure I don't see why you are so anxious to bring Mr. Clay and me together, Cousin Clara," said Evelyn, with a laugh. " In the first place, dear, he is, as I have told you l6o FACE TO FACE. before, one of our pleasantest young men, and then your meeting on the steamer, and all, were decided- ly unusual a little romantic, in fact. You don't deserve to have such a piece of good luck happen to you, for in my opinion Mr. Clay is just the one whose imagination is likely to be influenced by such an adventure. A great many men would have been disposed to fight shy of you ; but the more I think of it, now that he has taken all the ridicule on him- self, the whole affair has become highly interesting. It is always desirable to have something to start from." " Do you mean to say that you call Mr. Clay a person of imagination ? " " Most assuredly I do. Why, that is one trouble with him, to my mind," answered Mrs. Willoughby. "He has too much imagination. Consequently he is sometimes very queer. As you know, he and I are quite intimate, and he is apt to talk to me about what is uppermost in his thoughts. I make rather a point to keep up with what people are interested in, and to read all the new books ; but there are days when his ideas are positively Utopian, and I can't follow him in the least. If it hadn't been for his theories he would have married and settled down long before this. I'm sure he would be a great deal happier if he were more like other people." Evelyn smiled as though she were amused. " I don't see how he could be much more like other people." " That's because you don't know him, then. Er- FACE TO FACE. l6l nest Clay is an unusually clever fellow mentally. He used to invent things when he was in college, and was considered quite a mechanical genius. He is up in all sorts of out-of-the-way subjects, and has travelled everywhere. If you had heard him talk yesterday in regard to your adventure, you couldn't have accused him of lack of imagination. With a little encouragement he wotild have set out that afternoon for Kansas. He seemed to think that the girls in this part of the country had been educated on the wrong principle. I don't know what your view of all this may be," added Mrs. Willoughby, with a laugh, " but in my opinion it looks very sus- picious." "Suspicious as to what?" asked Evelyn, dog- gedly. " Oh, you are an innocent love," she said, pro- nouncing it wove. " Come, luncheon is ready. You are merely prejudiced, and none are so blind as those who will not see." Meanwhile the subject of their conversation had gone away in a decidedly puzzled condition. He felt very much in the dark as to the character of the hyper-dignified young woman whose society he had just quitted. On the spur of the moment, when the extent of his blunder first became apparent, he had been disposed to regard her behavior on board ship in the light of a lark. He had known, in the course of his experience of the other sex, girls of this sort, who, reserved and proper in general society, were capable of acting like the Old Harry, 1 62 FACE TO FACE. so to speak, when they found themselves alone with a man under favorable circumstances. This was the view of the affair he had taken to begin with, although rather surprised at such a manifestation of deviltry in an English girl of Evelyn's position. He was not fond of hoydens, and notwithstanding her superb beauty, which appeared to even more ad- vantage than on the occasion of their former inter- view, he had felt a pang of disappointment at this reflection. But her resolute denial that she had in- tended to play any joke upon him, coupled with the pertinacity of her reserve, which, had she been one of the class he suspected, would, in his judgment, have been more prompt to disappear, had shaken his conviction. While accusing her of an intention to satirize him by her repetition of his opinions, he had been conscious that the tone in which she ac- knowledged him to be in the right, though sugges- tive of mockery from its very composure, had yet an undercurrent of mournfulness inconsistent with a flippant frame of mind, which now puzzled him still further. He found himself, as he drove along, recalling with a freshened interest the sentiments she had expressed during their conversation on the steamer, and before reaching home he had made up his mind that what she had said to him this morn- ing was literally true, and that she had left Eng- land with the expectation of finding the United States totally different from what it really was. As soon as this idea occurred to him, he felt that it must be the true explanation of the mystery, and he FACE TO FACE. 163 was quick to appreciate that she had been equally sincere, moreover, in her declaration of having mis- taken him for an Englishman. He realized, too, that his own strictures must have been the first step in opening her eyes to the truth, which was now, of course, palpable to her. This was what she had meant by describing herself as his pupil. The more he thought over this view of the case the more probable did it seem to Clay that he had found the clew to Miss Pimlico's behavior. His feeling of disappointment gave place to a sense of deepened curiosity. He asked himself how she could have come by such extravagant notions in regard to America she, a girl brought up among conservative influences, and closely allied to the aristocracy of the United Kingdom. What was the origin of the almost visionary enthusiasm that still bewitched his recollection of her ? At least here was somebody who was a little new and out of the ordinary run, whatever she might declare to the contrary. He reflected that behind her as- sumption of conformity to the requirements of her present surroundings, there lurked undoubtedly a spirit of revolt, which for a moment stunned and discouraged was none the less real. Perhaps on further investigation he might be disappointed ; but at least she was not commonplace ; and, apart from her opinions, why should he steel his fancy against the majesty of her presence and the eloquence of her eyes ? While under the influence of this frame of mind 1 64 FACE TO FACE. he went up to get ready for dinner with a degree of anticipation more nearly akin to excitement than he had known for many a month in regard to meeting one of the opposite sex. Evelyn spared no pains indeed she never did now to make her toilette impervious to criticism, and Clay was quick to perceive, on entering the room, that he would have no opportunity to mo- nopolize her society in the gay world. She looked even more lovely than when he had seen her ear- lier in the day, and she wore the dress in which she had first appeared on the occasion of the Deckers' ball. Her greeting to him was a trifle less reserved than it had been in the morning, but savored even more pronouncedly of the grand lady. During the few moments previous to the announce- ment of dinner he had to be content to be one of three dancing attendance on her, and was conscious that she directed her vivacious sallies at the others, rather than himself, giving him a sensation of being left out in the cold. But at last he obtained posses- sion of her, and led her away captive, as it almost seemed, for her fingers rested so lightly on the very hem of his coat-sleeve, as to suggest that she would have been better pleased not to have them there at all. He found himself a moment later spearing his oysters with gravity, and reflecting how thoroughly conventional and elegant she had appeared in the drawing-room. Evidently she had the art of chit- chat and badinage and airy nothings at her tongue's FACE TO FACE. 165 end. She seemed spirited but volatile. At least this was the criticism prompted by the pique which had suddenly taken possession of him. He was not accustomed to wait in the background, which was what he was doing now, as the young man on Miss Pimlico's other side was completely absorbing her attention. But Clay was too well acquainted with his own nature not to know at heart that he was jealous, and that the few sentences he had ex- changed with her before dinner had only deepened his predilection wellnigh into a passion. The instant he appreciated this he felt the im- pulse to dispute with his rival the mastery of the situation. It happened that Mrs. Willoughby's per- ception divined his annoyance from his solemnity. Immediately she turned the current of conversation, so that the offending admirer was obliged to quit his attentions to Evelyn in order to save the lady at his other side from being left to her own reflec- tions. Otherwise Clay might have experienced more difficulty in getting control of the field. But now, as though she recognized there was no escape, Miss Pimlico turned in his direction and began to talk. Her opening remark was a question relating to the social tittle-tattle of the hour which required an answer, a style of conversation which she kept up in a steady flow, without heeding the effort that he made now and again to broach some less stereo- typed topic. Clay's answers grew palpably shorter and his countenance more gloomy, as a result of her babbling, and of the manifest interest which she 1 66 FACE TO FACE. seemed to take in the petty small-talk that he had listened to with a constantly increasing sense of boredom for years. When a pause ensued, she intro- duced a number of anagrams and enigmas, some French, and some English, no one of which he had not seen at least a dozen times before. He had not come this was his biting reflection to talk about whether he was invited to this party, or who was going to that, or to bandy conundrums like a youth of twenty-one with a doll just out of the nursery. She borrowed his pencil-case, and he was obliged perforce to try to seem interested in the puzzles, old as the hills, which she drew on her dinner-card for his delectation, with a feeling all the while that he was being kept out of Eden, as it were, from sheer contrariety. What had he done that she should put a seal on her real thoughts, and offer so stale a substitute as these platitudes and wearisome jests? Could it be that, despite all, he was deceived, and she was merely the silly miss she appeared ? He chose to believe that he really thought so, and when the current of the table-talk again changed, he turned himself with a show of devotion to the young .lady at his right hand, whom he had seen fit to neglect hitherto, and made himself so voluble as to daze her with the mental fireworks a strange medley of philosophy and cynicism which he shot off un- interruptedly until the grapes were passed round. After a moody cigar he returned to the drawing- room to find any design he may have had of renew- ing his tcte-a-tete with Evelyn quite out of the ques- FACE TO FACE. l6/ tion, for she was easily the most courted girl in the room, which meant a great deal, as Mrs. Willoughby had made every effort to assemble the cream of the fashionable young people of the place. It was evi- dent to him as he watched her that she was much more original in the style of her conversation with others than when talking to him, to judge from the frequent laughter of her admirers and the anima- tion of her own face. He stood by the mantel- piece ostensibly carrying on a dialogue with an old acquaintance, whose mental processes he was suffi- ciently familiar with to be able to make appropri- ate answers while his thoughts were elsewhere. Once he caught Evelyn's glance turned in his di- rection as if with deliberation. Their eyes met, and hers were coldly withdrawn. There was some circulation, and presently he was free to wander about. Mrs. Willoughby smiled at him across the room, and he went over and sat down beside her. " Well," she said, " how did you get on ? " " We didn't," he answered. " It was your own fault, then. She is a girl after your own heart." " Because she has a stock of French charades ? " he asked, a little bitterly. " She is fond of books, and has all sorts of theo- ries. She is awfully well educated." " What do you call education." " She passed several years at Girton, for one thing." Mrs. Willoughby had made up her mind, 1 68 FACE TO FACE. after due reflection, that so long as Evelyn was in no danger of playing any more antics, the most likely way of making her acceptable to Mr. Clay was to appeal to his quixotic side. She had a feel- ing, which she had already communicated to her cousin, that too much propriety at first might be disappointing. "Not a mixed college you know, but a college," she added. " Indeed." " It isn't usual, of course, but it doesn't seem to have done her any harm, and I presume that merely in an intellectual way it is rather a good experience. You were complaining, you know, yesterday, that all our girls are brought up after the same pattern, and don't dare call their souls their own." " Why do you repeat to me my own observations ? As I told you recently, I hate to be confronted with opinions which were intended to be forgotten as soon as uttered." Mrs. Willoughby laughed. " You are as supremely cautious as ever, I see. Now, that you have dis- covered that she did not originate in Kansas, you are afraid of running any risk of putting your head in a noose. ' Midnight caught me peering at the stars ' have you ceased to remember so soon ? But don't be too certain, my friend, that she would have you, even if your Royal Highness were to go down on your knees. I apprehend that, like yourself, she has ideals, and loves to contemplate the mountain- tops." " Of what nature are her ideals ? " he asked. FACE TO FACE. 169 " I am not her confidant. I am merely general- izing my estimate of her character. Of course the things she said on board ship were largely nonsense, as the whole thing was a joke ; but what I mean is, I don't believe there is the man living who could get her to say ' ves ' unless she loved him, which is something not altogether common in this mercenary age." " Not altogether. I have no doubt that she will have plenty of opportunities to scrutinize her own feelings in that respect," he said, glancing at the group before Miss Pimlico. " She is very much admired, undoubtedly," an- swered Mrs. Willoughby, " but in a matter of that sort she would be very fastidious. I speak of it merely as an evidence of the kind of girl she is. She looks at everything purely from her own standpoint, which is, after all, rather refreshing, when it does not go too far. Her behavior during the voyage alarmed me at first, because I did not understand it. How thoroughly you were taken in ! It showed a great deal of spirit and imagination on her part, I think, to be able to carry out the impersonation so cleverly. As to your not getting on, you can hardly expect a young woman whom you have picked to pieces to her face in cold blood to be ready to throw herself on your neck the next time you meet." Their conversation was interrupted at this point by the rising of some of the guests, and the signal for departure having thus been given, the party broke up. Clay, as an intimate of the family, lin- I7O FACE TO FACE. gered to the last, and was slow to take his leave. After having sat next to Miss Pimlico at dinner, he thought it becoming to speak to her for a moment or two before going home. He believed himself still merely curious to discover her real character, and that, on the whole, he would be better pleased to find the game not worth the candle. He felt con- vinced that if he could get her alone by herself he would be able to solve his doubts speedily ; there- fore he varied the current of platitudes that, owing to the stiffness under which he was laboring, es- caped from his lips, by inquiring if she would walk with him on the cliffs the following afternoon. Evelyn looked at him a moment doubtfully. She even flushed a little ; but then she smiled and said, " Is it allowable for young ladies in this country to go out walking with gentlemen ? " Clay was in so touchy a frame of mind that he would very possibly have accepted her response as a refusal, had not Mrs. Willoughby, who overheard the dialogue, exclaimed at once : " Oh yes, my dear, it is quite allowable on Sun- days, I assure you. Everybody walks on the cliffs. The shore is charming, and you have not yet seen it to advantage." This settled the question, and accordingly Clay made his appearance at the appointed hour. Go- ing down from the house, they followed the continu- ous path which divides the domain of hushed ele- gance from the precipitous descent seawards. A great many couples were sauntering along in the FACE TO FACE. I/I same manner, stopping to exchange salutations at the several turn-stiles designed to mark the bounda- ries of estates. Evelyn already knew almost every- body ; but Clay, who was even more familiar with the social celebrities, satisfied by abundant anecdote the interest she manifested to find out further details regarding them. This girl, he said, had been engaged four times, and that young man was a dripping-pan for the money of four wealthy maiden aunts and a bachelor uncle ; and the woman with the white, proud face, exquisitely dressed and accompanied by a pretty boy, with long, waving curls, was said to be dying of a broken heart because of her husband's attentions to some one else. Later they caught a glimpse of the husband and the lady's rival, flirting among the rocks. Clay recognized them by the feather of her bonnet, which rose above the ledge where they had ensconced themselves. It was not far from this point that he led the way down the bank, and helped Evelyn to clamber over the stones until they reached a spot just where the waves could not wet them, and seemingly out of the world. It was a beautiful prospect. The sea was begin- ning to be radiant with the glow of approaching twilight, and a stillness was settling on the waters that augured ill for the prospect of a couple of yachts which were drifting, with all their wings spread, a league from shore, getting to an anchorage before dark. "How beautiful!" exclaimed Evelyn, and for a moment her eyes seemed as if straining to catch a 1/2 FACE TO FACE. glimpse of infinity through the glory of the sun- clouds. " It is almost like being at sea again." " Not quite, Miss Pimlico," Clay answered, tossing a pebble into the water "at least for me. Then you told me what you thought and believed, but now, like an anemone, you shrink into your skin and hide your real self from me." IX. SHE paused an instant before replying. " My real self ? What do you call my real self ? " she said. " I mean that you were very different on board ship than you have been since." " That is because I was different, Mr. Clay. As I told you yesterday, I have changed, or rather my ideas have." " Yet you really believed what you said to me then ? " " Oh, yes, most thoroughly. But after discovering one's self to be the victim of a delusion, it's sense- less not to alter one's opinions." " Of course you are very much disappointed," he said. " I do not require sympathy, I assure you. I am having an extremely pleasant visit." " In spite of finding us so much like the rest of the world." " I am aware," she answered, " that I'm open to the charge of taking my humiliation too little to heart. But what, pray, could I do ? There would be no use in refusing to be civil to you all because you are not what I expected. Besides, I'm getting 1/4 FACE TO FACE. resigned so rapidly, I am by no means sure I would have you different if I could. The air is infectious, and I find myself almost wondering how I ever could have held the views I did." "Then you really think we are noticeably Euro- peanized ? " " Most certainly, Mr. Clay. Your mind may rest quite easy on that score. In a few unimportant de- tails you are still not wholly perfect, but even the counterfeit is admirable, and it can scarcely be long before the best judges will be perplexed to catalogue you." " I was afraid so." " Afraid, Mr. Clay ? I had supposed that you, of all men, would be gratified at such a statement." " Remember you've made one error in regard to me already, Miss Pimlico. It may be that you've mistaken my character as well as my nationality." " Excuse me, I am judging simply by your own words. It was you who first opened my eyes to the truth of what I've just asserted." " You took mv words in a different sense from what I intended by them. I didn't mean to imply a desire on the part of our people to imitate anybody. I merely wished to make it clear that we are not so outlandish as some of the portrayers of American manners would have the world believe. To tell the truth, I had never considered the matter exactly in the light in which you put it, and I may say I was very much interested by your question, and have thought about it ever since." FACE TO FACE. 1/5 " What question ?" " You asked me if it were possible that this re- public of free men and women could be nothing but a gorgeous reflection of the virtues and vices of older countries." " I remember." " As I've said, it set me thinking, and though, despite your presumable opinion to the contrary, I'm patriotic enough to believe that we're not go- ing to lose our originality altogether, I must confess the outlook is not especially encouraging. It is undoubtedly true," he continued, " that the vigorous but raw manifestations of independence which made my forefathers world-famous, and were regarded as most palpably and distinctively national, are being relegated further and further west everyday, and in a few years, as you justly observed yesterday, will have disappeared before the march of so-called civ- ilization. I for one though very likely we shall disagree on this point do not deplore the change of temper that prefers the polished gentleman to the rail-splitter ;. but the consideration that your in- quiry makes pertinent is, whether, in the course of becoming more complex in our notions as a people, the peculiar spirit which animated the Puritan fathers and their first descendants is not threatening to languish and expire under our altered conditions. What, in short, is taking the place of the prim New England Sunday of the last century, and the too- spontaneous, but, on the whole, equitable Derringer that was the administrator of justice in some portions 1/6 FACE TO FACE. of the Republic during the earlier decades of this ? That, I presume, is the real enigma confronting us to-day, Miss Pimlico, for there can be no question as to the complete change in customs and opinions which has been inaugurated during the twenty years that have elapsed since you and I were born." The conversation had taken so different a turn from what Evelyn had expected that she recalled Mrs. Willoughby's remarks in Mr. Clay's behalf with a sense of feeling almost provoked that he was appearing a little less worthy of disdain than her first impressions had inclined her to believe. Could it be that he was sincere in what he was saying ? At least it was interesting, and decidedly a step in ad- vance of the reflections which had elicited her own query. She had spoken under the firm but errone- ous conviction that the rail-splitter was still ubiqui- tous in the new world, and here was her adversary on that occasion not content with showing her how greatly she was mistaken, but suggesting, moreover, the possibility of something better than primitive heroics. She was so quick to catch his idea that she replied at once : "You have improved upon my idea vastly, Mr. Clay. Indeed I've no right to speak of it as mine. But you mustn't think me so unintelligent as to pre- fer a rude society, however noble in purpose, to the same society ameliorated by such beauty and luxury as we are surrounded by, provided, as you say, the lofty aspirations have not been smothered during the transition. You claimed just now that I had FACE TO FACE. 177 made another mistake in your own case. It wouldn't be very strange, considering that I- have been on this side of the water barely a week, if I had formed my conclusions too hastily. I shall be only too glad to be re-enlightened, I assure you." " The trouble is I don't quite know whether your conclusions were unjust or not," he said. "We certainly started with aspirations that is, by 'we ' I mean the pioneers who explored the country and laid the foundations of our existence as a people. They were filled with a true manhood whose evident ambition was to make a nation greater and better than had ever existed before. That was the incen- tive of the spirit which successively subdued the wilderness, threw off the shackles of despotism, and made this confederation of States a home for all who fancied themselves oppressed. In the course of evolution from a mere band of settlers to the stupendous factor we are in the world's affairs to- day, there has been the belief, deep-set in the minds of all classes, that we were in advance of other na- tions, and were setting them an example of noble living. When the ' effete dynasties of Europe ' sneered at the loose-jointedness of our institutions and ridiculed our manners, our forefathers said, ' Wait a hundred years and see where we are then ; give the experiment time;' and went on planting and maufacturingand legislating, undaunted, in the belief that both morally and politically they were far in the van. They were hard-working, thrifty men, but poor in this world's goods, and so intent 178 FACE TO FACE. were they in cutting down the forests and laying railroads and developing the resources of the country, that they had no leisure to do more than imagine, in a general way, what they expected of their great-grandchildren. Yet so certain were they of the sacredness of their mission, that their money- getting was not like other money-getting. They gathered in their harvests and sold their merchan- dise with a conviction that God was on their side and that they were on God's side. That was in the days, Miss Pimlico, when everybody in this country had to do something in order to live. But those days are over. We are beginning to have a leisure class. The descendants of many of the men who cut down the forests and built the railroads are roll- ing in wealth, and are free to do nothing from one year's end to the other, if they choose. The ques- tion is whether that leisure class is seeking to make good the expectations of those who sleep in the churchyard, or is to be no better than the leisure class of the older civilizations to which we Ameri- cans have been taught to regard ourselves as supe- rior." " And you think it is seeking to make them good?" said Evelyn, eagerlv. " Tt is almost too soon to tell. Do you know, it sometimes seems to me as though there were a law of nature, against which man struggles in vain, that the soul should stagnate and die when the means of existing without labor is supplied. Do you remem- ber the fable of Midas ? I have often thought of it FACE TO FACE. 1/9 in this connection. The hard, cold gold numbs our senses until we starve with plenty. You are a graduate of Girton College, so your cousin tells me," he added. "Yes. Does it shock you?" she still could not resist asking. " Shock me ? Why should it ? I see you're de- termined to think the worst of me. No, my reason for referring to it was because I thought that as a student the idea might have occurred to you that the so-called leisure class in the world really have the power to affect civilization more significantly than any other. The great masses of people have to struggle for their daily bread, and the moments which they are able to give to improving the con- dition of society without regard to pecuniary con- siderations are curtailed, even in the case of the rela- tively prosperous, by the extravagant demands of our modern system of living. But there are some indeed, they are getting to be numerous on this side of the water as well as abroad who have such ample means that if they were disposed to devote themselves to improve the welfare of mankind, in- stead of spending their days in comfortable idleness or in the pursuit of mere pleasure, might influence incalculably the progress of humanity. It seems a trifle pitiful in the face of all the noble aspirations of the race sung by poets principally in needy cir- cumstances to be haunted by the suspicion that moral enthusiasm diminishes when the craving for the means of living luxuriously is satisfied. That 180 FACE TO FACE. is the scientific basis of the theory with which some of us satisfy conscience that after a man has grown rich his obligation to society ceases and he's at lib- erty to live as he pleases, provided he breaks no laws. What have been the so-called nobilities of the most civilized nations of the world but idlers in the main ? How large a portion of their lives is to-day made up of vapid ceremonies and frivolous pleasures ! " "I know," said Evelyn. "One of my chief rea- sons for wishing to come to America was because I believed I should escape all that. You have no hereditary titles, at least no arbitrary distinctions of rank." " Not yet. But you were quick to perceive that the circumstance of having a countess for a sister gave you a heightened importance here in many eyes. I am not prepared to maintain that it did not in mine. And if you will allow me to be ego- tistical, Miss Pimlico, I may say that because I am myself a fairly good illustration of the leisure class of this Country and am tolerably familiar with its bent, I feel justified in being apprehensive as to the future. I presume," he said, "you have not been kept in ignorance that I am a very rich man." " Even the stewardess on board ship was aware of the fact, Mr. Clay. It was she also who informed me that you were an American ; but that I did not believe." " Humph ! Yes, I am worth six millions of dol- lars in my own right. I have never known since I was born what it was to want anything I couldn't FACE 7'0 FACE. l8l have. I was given the best education this country can afford, and I've travelled abroad to my heart's content. I speak three languages besides my own. I have perfect health, and more than the ordinary run of intelligence. But what do I amount to ? Nothing ; and no one is more conscious of it than I myself. I don't even take care of my property, but hire a beggar to do it for me. I go to the club and into society ; I drive a coach, and I follow the hounds ; I have a fast yacht ; I am a capital fencer and whist-player, and I pass every summer in Eu- rope. I read all the new books, and have read most of the old ones, and know a good dramatic performance when I see it. That is my life." He paused a moment, then as his companion made no comment, said, in continuation : " I suppose there seems in your mind a very sim- ple answer to all this. Very likely you have it on the tip of your tongue to ask, Why don't you do something ?" " I should prefer to have you tell me without my asking the question." " I don't feel at all sure, Miss Pimlico," he said, reflectively, " that I haven't led the conversation up to this point in order to defend myself in order to show what almost insuperable obstacles beset the individual in my position who would fain become more than a flanetir. The problem is by no means so easy of solution as you may imagine. Men go into business to make money. I've more than I can spend already. The professions are full to 1 82 FACE TO FACE. overflowing, and I'm not wanted there. I have no talent for public life. As to considerations of be- nevolence, I give away a large slice of my income as it is ; for I should have added to the description of myself that, so far as externals go, I am eminently respectable. I'm neither a rake nor a niggard. And yet I am not content with myself, though I try to take comfort from the reflection that my unrest is merely the vestige of the too-sensitive conscience of my Puritan ancestors. You know hens still con- tinue to run about the farm-yard after their heads are cut off. I shall die and be gathered to my fathers, and maybe my sons (if I have any) will be able to live in idle comfort without being con- scious of the qualms that pester me ; unless they chance to be taught by the rough hands of the masses, who fancy, poor devils, that they would suc- ceed better were they in our shoes that no man is free to be born rich and do nothing to benefit his fellow-creatures. It's merely a question of time when that doctrine is inculcated. But I am digress- ing. It is not a question of my sons. I was en- deavoring to explain to you, Miss Pimlico, why / am idle. Perhaps you have no clearer perception yet ? " " I am listening," she said. " Please go on." " What the world should demand of men circum- stanced as I am is that they should take a new departure attempt something which others cannot do. But did you ever reflect how much moral cour- age that requires ? It is so much more easy to lie FACE TO FACE. 183 upon the lounge reading Turgenieff and Balzac, or to thrill with the melody of Raff, and fancy the days melting into one long bliss, than to make up one's mind to be an eccentric, for, as I have said, what is wanted are not lawyers and merchants, but souls not afraid to run amuck with society as it exists, with the hope of changing its current. I am the representative of a long line of toiling ancestors, who, with faith in God and untiring zeal, little by little amassed the fortune which I have inherited. But there was no choice given to them they had to work their ambition to accumulate was not sat- isfied. Mine is, and with the gratification comes the sense of realizing how money tends to make the soul torpid, just as ceasing from physical labor re- laxes the muscles of the body. And what follows ? If we do not devote ourselves to mere vanities, we cultivate our minds until they're like razors and can cleave hairs. We grow agnostic and self- analytical, and suppress enthusiasm. Beauty and luxury become indispensable to our surround- ings. We are serious and ardent one day even as I may fancy myself now but next morning the sloth that numbs those who have great possessions makes us faint-hearted and cynical again. It is so easy to argue to one's self, What is the use ? and so much more comfortable to be like everybody else ; and being too intelligent for superstitions, we are ready to take our chances with the herd as to what may come hereafter. It is now my turn to shock you, I fear. Your life, I imagine, has been a differ- 1 84 FACE TO FACE, ent one from mine, although you come from a coun- try where the leisure class has been held up to the minds of American youth, since our first Fourth of July, as undesirable of imitation." " I have had no life as yet," said Evelyn. " I am only just beginning to live. Up to this time I have been a mere student and looker-on." She sat lean- ing back against the wall of rock with folded arms. " But I think I understand you. At least," she con- tinued, " I appreciate much more accurately than I used the seductions of wealth and social position. As I told you, I think, yesterday, I am different from what I was, and where I supposed that I was sure of myself well," she said, with a smile, " I am no longer sure. It once seemed so easy and natural to despise everything of the sort, but I am beginning to realize that it's not so easy after all and perhaps not sensible. So you see, Mr. Clay, I'm hardly the person to criticise anyone else's views when I am far from certain as to my own. You were speaking just now of new ideas. What you said as to the very rich being able to affect the world so greatly was a new suggestion to me, and and I think I'm glad I'm not very rich, for one would have to do something uncommon, I can see, in order not to be troubled by qualms; and yet one might not be strong enough when the time came." She was silent a moment, and then exclaimed : " How I have altered in the last ten days ! You must possess some sort of influence over me," she continued ; " for here I am unburdening myself to you again." FACE TO FACE. 185 " It is very little that you have told me. I began our conversation with the object of getting at your ideas, and I have been prating all this time about my own." " You have been teaching me to look at the world as it really is. You can hardly expect me," she said, with a shake of her head, " to be very grateful, I think, Mr. Clay. It is not altogether inspiriting to watch one's most cherished illusions vanish into smoke." " But may be they are not illusions. Have I not told you already that one of them has interested me deeply ?" " And for the last ten minutes you've been doing your best to prove to me how untenable it is. No, Mr. Clay, I am merely passing through the experi- ence which most young people have to undergo in discovering life to be quite different from what they have imagined it. I was amply warned, too, but, as is apt to be the case, I was confident that I knew best." " Then you went to Girton contrary to the pref- erences of your family, I presume ?" " They felt dreadfully about it. It was totally at variance with all their traditions and established notions as to propriety. I have been a thorn in their flesh ever since I was born. I've always wanted to strike out for myself, and have never had the same interests as they. My sisters accepted as a matter of course what was set before them, made brilliant matches, and satisfied the pride of papa and 1 86 FACE TO FACE. mamma. I'm considered queer and incomprehensi- ble, because I have thought and studied on my own account and disdained what seems to them vital to happiness." "How did you come to be so different?" Clay asked. " I was born so. It was natural to me to be in- dependent. And since I began to think for myself I have supposed that in following out my own bent I was imitating the example of girls over here. But now that I've found out my mistake I shall go back at the close of my visit, and doubtless marry some noble lord, and settle down to be as conven- tional as the rest." " Humph ! What did you have in mind to do, before leaving home ? " " I hadn't got so far as that, Mr. Clay. As I have told you, I was a mere dreamer. I indulged in theories and speculations that don't stand the tests of the work-a-day world. My father sent me to the United States to cure me, he said. I'm cured, I , think ; but scarcely from the causes that he had in mind. If you'll believe it, he regards you as a race of Utopians, who defy law, and decorum, and every- thing that savors of established order, and his hope was that I should get my fill of radicalism and be- come disgusted with it. But why am I talking to you in this fashion ? Though you must be accus- tomed to such confidences, unless that is a fiction, like everything else." " I do not understand you exactly. Is what a fiction ? " FACE TO FACE. l8/ "Ah, it is, then. One hears so much of the inti- macies between men and women in this country. I was reluctant to' believe that they exist only in the imagination." " You need not come to that conclusion," he said, with a smile. "I fancy your imagination may even be short of the truth so far as they are concerned. It is certainly the custom here for men and women to interchange thoughts and opinions to a greater extent than anywhere else in the world. They make companions of each other. As you suggest, I've been on terms of more or less intimacy with a number of your sex, but I may say that I have never listened to a confidence that interested me more than the one you have just made." " It will require a great many compliments to in- demnify my pride for the shock it suffered on board ship," she said, laughingly. " However, it is pleas- ant to be regarded as an equal. You know, in Eng- land we are ordinarily considered by men as slightly their inferiors." " It isn't so on this side of the water. Men seek women for advice as well as sympathy. An intelli- gent as well as good woman has immense possibili- ties for influence, if she only sees fit to exert it in the right way." "You speak as if you thought they were not apt to, Mr. Clay." "They are at least equally to blame with men, if what we were saying just now as to the degeneracy of the leisure class in America be true. If they 1 88 FACE TO FACE. would but set the standard of living high, there might be more hope, but I often think that they are worse than we in their devotion to mere vanities. I can recall half a dozen girls quite as rich as I am in their individual rights who are living equally in- sipid lives." "There is some comfort for us English girls in the reflection that we are not expected to set stan- dards, only to be thoroughly good, and if we are just a little stupid, it is rather a point in our favor." " It can scarcely be much comfort to you, Miss Pimlico, for on your own showing anyone would imagine you'd been born here." " Ah, but I'm quite cured, as I've told you already, and am going home to cast off all responsibilities. When I'm the duchess of something or other, and mistress of a grand estate, I'll invite you to stay with me, to see how completely I've reformed. But, per- haps you'll have become too much of a radical by that time, and have fulfilled your theories about the necessity of doing something uncommon." "Not much danger, I fear," he answered. " Laugh away I have laid myself open to ridicule, I admit. I shall wake up to-morrow the same listless spirit as ever. But at this moment it really does seem to me mortifying," he said, wistfully, " to think that just as the old world are beginning to acknowledge us to be right, we should be striving to imitate them." " I have no wish to laugh," Evelyn said ; " I de- plore the situation thoroughly. But you have dem- onstrated to me very clearly how irrational it FACE TO FACE. 189 would be to look for anything different. We must take the world as we find it, after all. It is getting late, Mr. Clay," she said, rising to her feet. " We should be going home, and by way of suiting our conversation to the sensible deduction we have ar- rived at, do tell me something about Lenox, for my cousin means to take me there early in September." X. AS Clay puffed his cigar that evening he knew he was in love. For the first time in his life he felt that he had met a woman for whose sake he would be ready to commit extravagances. He had waited ten years in the hope that this hour would arrive, and here it was. At last he had found her her, the perfection of womanhood, beau- tiful of feature and limb and mind and soul. There was nothing lacking. Even his hypercritical ken could pick no flaw in her. He felt that with her by his side he would be able to meet the glances of the most fastidious, and never flinch. How often, after passing newly wedded friends in the street, he had asked himself, with wondering pity, what they had seen to admire in their wives ? But no one would be at a loss to understand his infatuation. Was it not enough to look in her face, in order to perceive that she was noble ? But no matter what others might think, he was sure himself. Hers was no petty, lukewarm nature, circumscribed by the narrow limitations of a time- serving idea of living. Enthusiasm shone from her eyes, and courage nerved her lips. She had charmed him from the first, even in spite of atrocious incon- FACE TO FACE. IQI gruities ; and now that these had been explained away, what was there to prevent his falling down and worshipping her ? He would marry her. Thank heaven he was one of the first in the field, and was master of his own time. If she would not have him, he would follow her to the ends of the earth until she did. She was prejudiced against him by the unfortunate blunder he had committed during the voyage, but unremitting devotion should testify to the sincerity of his repentance. As he thus gave the rein to his fancy he could not help recalling how he had been wont to smile de- risively when he heard other men rave in the delirium of love. It had been rather a theory of his that to be desperately smitten, as they appeared to be, was inconsistent with nice powers of discrimination and a highly evolved nature ; in other words, that blind love was a passion which yielded to the progress" of civilization. This was the explanation he had been accustoming himself to give for his own inability to lose his heart this and a certain hypercritical ten- dency of which he was conscious, and the responsi- bility for which he liked to throw on his Puritan ancestors. But now he felt inclined to be almost grateful to those worthies in that they had trans- mitted to him a nature such as only the most ex- alted type of woman could arouse to enthusiasm. He had waited steadfastly, despite doubts and dis- couragement, to be rewarded at last. His love was blind and yet was not blind ; blind because so in- tense that nothing would be able to impair it, and, IQ2 FACE TO FACE. on the other hand, intelligent, because he could un- derstand and account for it. Convert as he was in this respect, he was, to his own thinking, distinct from most lovers, who magnified the charms of their mis- tresses beyond recognition. He was quite prepared to admit that his was merely human, and that she doubtless had faults like all her sex. But whatever they might be, she did at least possess an individu- ality of her own which distinguished her from the mass of girls. It was this that had done his busi- ness. To seek out the why and the wherefore was in keep- ing with his inclination toward analysis ; but when in pursuance of the same line of reflection he remem- bered that she had let him do almost all the talk- ing that afternoon, his ardor suffered no abatement. He felt that it had been her inspiration which caused him to talk and expose the honest truth concerning himself. Her power of attraction for him lay in the superiority of her mental tone and the promise of what she would become in the future, rather than in anything she had already accomplished or opin- ions she was prepared to express. Indeed her opin- ions must change, were, in fact, changing already. It was the earnestness of her soul that aroused the best instincts of his own nature, and made it seem possible for him to shake off the garment of sloth which was threatening to settle down upon him ir- remediably. Such were his reflections that evening, but with the morning light the more practical question of FACE TO FACE. 1 93 how he was to win his ladylove became uppermost in his thoughts. At least he need not be hampered, like so many men, by pecuniary considerations. He could afford to satisfy his wife's every wish ; and though he would not for an instant suppose Evelyn capable of being influenced by his money, it was something to be in a position to offer an am- bitious girl a splendid establishment. It was a theory of his, which he had sought to express in the course of his conversation with Evelyn the day before, that the possession of wealth was a necessary condition to the development of human society, and he remembered that she had listened to his words with attention. In any event he would be able to manifest his devotion by sending her the choicest flowers in the market, and by making her the recipi- ent of the various courtesies which only a rich man can be prodigal of. Acting on this impulse he de- spatched his servant to inquire if Miss Pimlico would do him the honor of driving with him that afternoon. But Miss Pimlico proved to have an engagement, and before another twenty-four hours had elapsed Clay realized keenly that it was no pastime he had cut out for himself. If he expected to have a shadow of a chance of success, there was not a mo- ment to be lost, for all the gilded youth of Newport were at her feet. He who desired to see anything of her must follow her from house to house and be grateful for tcte-a-ttes of five minutes' duration. Accordingly he reappeared in the gay world and 13 194 FACE TO FACE. submitted to the lionizing wiles of wide-awake mammas, in order that he might be near the woman he adored, clasp her hand for a few seconds in the whirl of the waltz, and exchange with her an idle sentence or two ; for that was the limit of her in- tercourse with anybody, so great a favorite had she become. It was something to stand in an angle of the room and watch her beautiful face, radiant with the enjoyment of unalloyed triumph ; but there was suffering for him as well in this proceeding, since he could not but reflect that he counted for nothing in her happiness. It did not take people long, however, to perceive that he was very attentive to her, and he reaped presently, as a fruit of this discovery, numerous invitations to dinner-parties, and the smaller en- tertainments where there was more opportunity to talk uninterruptedly. Being so great a catch in the financial sense, his manifest prepossession in favor of the attractive stranger caused a decided flutter among his acquaintances, who had never seen him take such an apparent interest in any young woman before. He seemed to have rejuvenated, so said the younger men, who were, mayhap, jealous. On the other hand, there was among the shrewder beaus an impression that, having brought home as a result of his foreign travels a more engaging manner, he was merely amusing himself. But it was immaterial to him what other people thought. His concern was with Evelyn's own state of mind ; and his impression of this caused him FACE TO FACE. 1 95 small comfort. During the three weeks that elapsed before she went away to Lenox, there were only two or three occasions when he had her to himself unreservedly, as on that Saturday afternoon. Their conversation on these occasions was not disappoint- ing to him, for though the theme discussed so ear- nestly at the prior meeting was not touched upon directly, he found himself growing eloquent on the various questions vitalized by the poets, philosophers, and scientists of the day, apparently to her deep in- terest. Her literary tastes were not unlike his own, and as she herself told him, the interchange of thought and opinion at such times was the only feature of American life which had not been wholly different from her expectations. It was something she had looked forward to as distinctive of the relations of young people in this country. But even when, a week later, he was riding with her frequently through the beautiful Berkshire woods, the thought was forced upon him with pain- ful distinctness that it was the study of herself that absorbed her, not partiality for him, and that she en- joyed listening to his theories and formalizing her own in the process of learning to know the world as it really was. He felt that she regarded him if she ever took the trouble to analyze her sentiments in respect to him as one whose opinions supplied her with food for reflection, thereby satisfying her conscience for the time being, and causing her to imagine that in correlating ideas about social phil- osophy she was fulfilling her aspirations. 196 FACE TO FACE. How well he knew the difference between theo- ries and action, and what a hollow substitute one was for the other ! But in his present frame of mind he felt that if she would but seem to care even a little for him for himself, he would be content to ride forever by her side without a thought as to the world and its development. For, though cer- tain qualities had distinguished her in his mind from other girls, but for the existence of which he might never have fallen in love with her, now that he did love her, what difference did it really make to him whether they existed or not ? She herself stood there before him in all the exquisiteness of her reality that was sufficient. His soul was at fever-heat with a passion which would recognize no let or hindrance. Such was the answer with which he met the doubts that sometimes occurred to him when real- izing how completely futile all his efforts to excite her fancy seemed to be, he tried to persuade him- self that he had been deceived, and that she was inane and frivolous as the rest of the coterie in whose amusements she was participating with such gusto. It was a vain endeavor, which caused him a touch of additional bitterness, moreover, from the secret consciousness that were her smiles bent on him he might be weak enough to be not altogether discontented at her social expansion. For how superbly beautiful she looked as she walked across the ball-room floor, faultless in pose and attire ! He could not help thinking what an ornament she would FACE TO FACE. 1 97 be to his home. He pictured her at the head of his table or on the box-seat of his coach, and with the conception came the thought that, if she were his, perhaps after all he should prefer to see her thus conventionally elegant. Would he like to have his wife peculiar and different from everyone else? At any rate he pursued the conventional method of wooing her. The flowers that he sent her were the most exquisite the horticulturists could supply. He gave a ball in her honor, in New York, shortly after the season began, which was declared to have outdone all former entertainments of bachelors. He was continually getting up coaching parties and theatre parties and various other small festivities which he thought she might enjoy. He danced the German far into the morning for her sake with the regularity of a youth of twenty-one, and never stayed away from any house where he would have the opportunity of meeting her. But all in vain, it seemed to him. She was sweet and gracious as possible. She accepted his bouquets and perpetual homage smilingly and without demur, just as she did those of everybody else. So far, at least, there was comfort, that she treated all alike. She made no distinctions apparently in any one's favor. But from day to day it was growing more and more evi- dent to him that it was herself alone who interested her. As she had declared, her eyes had been opened to the appreciation of much in life that hitherto had seemed meaningless to her, and it was not dif- IQo FACE TO FACE. ficult to perceive that a realization of her own powers and of the enhancement of personal triumph were included in her discoveries. He was conscious from the outset of the thorough sympathy of two others at least his mother and Mrs. Willoughby Pimlico. There was something almost pathetic even to him in the elation which his mother took no pains to conceal at his evident infatuation. Mrs. Clay \vas discreet enough to ask no questions, but so far as lay in her power she aided and abetted his endeavors to pass as much time as was possible in the society of his Dulcinea. She felt apparently that there was a probability of her hopes being realized, and that whatever her original pre- disposition might have been in favor of a native daughter-in-law, she was ready to welcome her son's choice with open arms. It seemed never to enter the good lady's head that Miss Pimlico would not jump at the chance of changing her name to Mrs. Ernest Clay, thereby securing a princely fortune in addition to one of the best and cleverest hus- bands in the world. Her only anxiety was lest some one else might be beforehand in proposing to so charming a young person, and as time went on and no further developments rewarded her dis- creet silence, she broke her resolution to the ex- tent of dropping a few hints as to the wisdom of bringing matters to a crisis, and the ominous frown with which these overtures were received were the first intimations she obtained that the courtship might not be running entirely smoothly. What FACE TO FACE, 199 could be the matter, she wondered. It would be too disheartening if, after all, Ernest was going to with- draw at the eleventh hour. In her perplexity she tried to get a little light on the subject by making a few adroit insinuations in the presence of Mrs. Willoughby, but with small success. She found her reticent and rather grave, although ap- parently not altogether satisfied with the condition of affairs, which indeed was the case. But it so hap- pened that the very next day it was early in Feb- ruary Clay resolved to make a clean breast of his passion and his doubts in this same quarter. Ever since the evening he had dined at Mrs. Willoughby's house at Newport, he had abstained from referring to Evelyn in her presence. He had perceived al- most at once that she had guessed the truth, and he was willing that she should know it. But desperate as was his devotion perhaps because he was so completely in earnest he had shrunk from confi- ding his secret in words. And she had respected his reserve, however much she longed to have him entrust his hopes and fears to her keeping. He had felt, however, sure that she was on his side. He had read in her expression encouragement and sym- pathy. Moreover she had given him every facility at her disposal for carrying on his suit. At length in his despair for his despondency was fast approaching that pitch it occurred to him that two heads might be better than one. It was possible that Mrs. Willoughby would be able to relieve his embarrassment, if only by telling him 1 2OO FACE TO FACE. that his passion was vain. She would at least know whether his chances were hopeless, and give him some idea of how he stood in the graces of her cou- sin. He had no doubt that she would be glad to have him win her. Was it not she who had im- pressed upon him what a charming wife Miss Pim- lico would make ? Accordingly one afternoon when he happened to find Mrs. Willoughby alone beside her tea-urn he looked up at her suddenly and said : " I want to ask your advice about something." "Well," she answered presently, as he did not go on, " what is it ? " Mrs. Willoughby swung the tassel of the sofa cushion at her elbow gently to and fro. She was on pins and needles, trusting from the serious tone of his voice that he meant to confide in her, and feeling that if the matter proved to be other than the one she had at heart, she would run the risk of offending him and introduce the subject herself. For it was terribly on her mind. " I am in love," he said. " I don't suppose you require to be told with whom," he continued after a pause. " With my cousin ? " she said gently. " Yes, I adore her." " I told you she was charming." " She is the sweetest girl in the world. I took i.t for granted that you understood I was serious." "You were right. A man of your type is not apt to sit up into the small hours dancing, and send a FACE TO FACE. 2OI young lady flowers once or twice a week merely to amuse himself." " I expect to be laughed at. I have scoffed all my life at the tender passion, or rather maintained that the woman did not live who could make me miserable." " I have no intention of laughing, Mr. Clay. But you'll bear witness that I've always declared your hour would come. Believe me, I'm very much in- terested." "Yes, my hour has come," he answered, quietly. " Puritan ancestors to the contrary, notwithstanding, I could rave with the most ardent, if that proof were needed to show that I am in earnest. I think, how- ever, it is enough to tell you that I wish to marry Miss Pirnlico, and that my future happiness is de- pendent on it." " With all my heart, so far as my consent goes. But you can scarcely be in doubt as to that ? " " No, you've been very kind. I have appreciated that you were well disposed toward me. That's one reason why I have ventured to speak of the matter. Tell me this, have I a shadow of a chance, is she still free ? " " If you mean whether Evelyn is engaged or likely to become engaged to anyone, Mr. Clay, I think you need give yourself no anxiety." " Thank heaven for that, at least." " Answer me a question in turn, if you will ; have you made her an offer ? " " Not yet." 7 2O2 FACE TO FACE. "So I presumed." " But she does not care a snap of her finger for me," he said, as if to explain his delay. " What makes you think so ? " " Because she treats me just like everyone else." " I see," said Mrs. Willoughby, and she frowned slightly. " She can have no question as to what my feel- ings toward her must be," continued Clay. " It seems to me I must have made them tolerably plain." Mrs. Willoughby bent her brows reflectively. " I can't see any reason why you should despair." " But you don't deny that she doesn't care for me at present." "To tell the truth, Mr. Clay, I don't know how to answer you. We are such old friends, and I should be so pleased to see what you desire brought to pass, that I will confess to you frankly I am fairly per- plexed in regard to my cousin. I don't know what to think of her exactly. To begin with I am not at all sure that she realizes anyone is in love with her." " What, then, does she suppose my attentions mean ?" " If my theory is correct, I presume she has never stopped to inquire. She has gone on from day to day enjoying herself, and accepting what was offered her, without considering whether the flowers and the invitations to dance the German, and the perpetual homage lavished on her, had any special significa- FACE TO FACE. 203 tion or not. It seems incredible, I admit, seeing that there are half a dozen other men quite as des- perate as yourself who would marry her to-morrow, if they thought she would have them. But the only other supposition is she's a tremendous flirt. Now of course she has been an immense success, and the way she carries on is, entre nous, simply amazing, when one reflects how she appeared just after she arrived here. Why, Mr. Clay, if anyone had prophesied then that before six months had past Evelyn would become what she is to-day, I should have ridiculed the idea as preposterous. Really, sometimes she takes my breath away, for she never seems to tire of amus- ing herself. As you know, she is always one of the last to leave a party and wouldn't go then if I weren't at hand to drag her off by main force. I have rather prided myself on the liberality of my notions on such matters, yet there is moderation in all things. I've heard it said that English girls are very hard to rouse, but that once started, it is next to impossible to stop them, and I fancy it must be so. Still, as I was saying, I have come to the con- clusion after watching her carefully, that she takes all the attentions showered on her simply as a mat- ter of course, and that her heart is untouched." " Humph ! Not a very encouraging outlook for me." " And yet I've a feeling, Mr. Clay, that when she comes to scrutinize her sentiments, she'll find that she likes you better than anyone else." " What grounds have you for thinking so ? " 2O4 FACE TO FACE. " We women judge by little signs. In the first place, whatever else may be said of your adventure on board ship, it was decidedly romantic. Girls, don't forget that sort of thing at least a girl like Evelyn. Then, too, you're the only one of her pres- ent admirers who has appealed to her intellectually, so to speak, and although I admit that her recent behavior has somewhat shaken my judgment in re- gard to her, I can't forget my first impressions. You know first impressions are supposed to be the best ; and I remember saying to myself how fortunate it would be if you two should take a fancy to one an- other, inasmuch as you both had more or less the same tastes. I took it for granted that, considering she had been to college and seemed inclined to be a little eccentric in her ideas, she wouldn't be con- tent unless her husband was the kind of man to en- joy keeping up with the new books, and the new theories, and so forth. It struck me that you were the very person of all others to suit her, for, if I may say so, you're apt yourself to be a wee bit visionary at times, you know, and I felt almost cer- tain that you would interest her. And I believe you did interest her, and that this irrepressibility is merely a passing phase which will wear off after a while. For there must have been some foundation for her previous behavior. It couldn't very well have been entirely put on. Why, I had the greatest diffi- culty at first in convincing'her that we shouldn't all be a great deal better off out on the prairies. Still, if it were necessary to choose between her being really FACE TO FACE. 205 peculiar and being merely a trifle fast, she would be much preferable as she is ; but what I am look- ing forward to, is a happy mean. Some day she will wake up and come to the conclusion that she wants to settle down, and then will be your oppor- tunity, if you don't lose heart in the interim. I won't conceal from you, Mr. Clay, that I have been apprehensive lest you should be driven off by her apparent lack of seriousness, which is why I want to impress on you that in my opinion she has lost her head merely for the moment, and that before long you will see a decided change." "I don't know that I care to see any change. I adore her as she is." " You are bound to say so, of course, and yet nat- urally you would prefer to have your wife not quite so pronounced as Evelyn is disposed to be at pres- ent. She is so unusually handsome that she can afford to be a little reserved, and while I wouldn't limit her in her amusements, there is always a limit which the most elegant and fastidious people avoid overstepping. Don't misunderstand me, I beg. I wouldn't say this to anyone else. But I am trying to put myself in your place ; and I can appreciate that you would be disappointed if she were to turn out a flibbertigibbet instead of the charming imper- sonation of grace and cleverness you had imagined. Wait, I say again. Bide your time. I can remem- ber the flush of her cheeks, and how her eyes used to sparkle after the rides on horse-back you took together at Lenox." 206 FACE TO FACE. " It was with herself she was engrossed, not with me," he said, recalling his cogitations. " Perhaps. But a girl does not remain interested in herself forever." "Yet you think she would refuse me if I were-to make her an offer to-morrow ?" " There would be danger of it. I see no harm in telling you that I've sounded her on the subject of all her admirers, but either she's very deep or, as you and I have agreed, she doesn't appreciate the situation in the least. It is time she did, however." " It may be that the first man who informs her of his love in unmistakable terms will win her. You forget that I have rivals." " No I don't." Mrs. Willoughby colored and hesi- tated a moment. "If I tell you something, you must promise on your word of honor never to divulge it. I suppose it's rather dreadful of me, but, under the circumstances, I feel that I'm almost justified. She has had three offers already." " Humph ! " " You needn't be alarmed. So far as I could see, not one of them produced the slightest impression on her. She didn't appear to realize what an offer meant, and they were by no means offers to be re- fused without reflection. Besides, no matter how little a girl may care for a man, it is natural to show some feeling ; but all she did was to laugh and seem amused." " I am willing to wait if you think it best ; but how long is her visit to last ? " FACE TO FACE, 2O/ " Indefinitely, so far as Willoughby and I are con- cerned ; but of course there's a liability at any time of her being ordered home ; though with such a large family of girls I fancy her father and mother would be .only too thankful to let her remain, if there were any chance of her being advantageously married. Still it's high time I took some steps to make her understand how foolishly she is behaving, and since you have spoken, Mr. Clay (and I assure you I ap- preciate the friendliness of your confidence in me), I will do so at once." " Then I'm to go on as usual until I hear from you again ? " "Yes. Let me see I'm not sure but that you would be wise to go away for. a week or so. She will miss you, and that may work in your favor." " I've been wanting for some time to see how my place on the Hudson is getting on," said Clay. " I'll run up there for a few days. You know I'm reno- vating my father's old house ?" " So I have heard. The view from it is charming, I believe. Very well ; and if anything turns up, I will send you word." After he had gone, Mrs. Willoughby sat lost in re- flection until it was necessary to dress for dinner. She felt delighted at having discovered Clay's real sentiments, for though she had long appreciated that he was in love with Evelyn, she had tortured herself with frequent questionings as to what ef- fect her cousin's unexpected frivolity was having upon his predisposition. But now she was corifi- 208 FACE TO FACE. dent that his passion for the time being was far too ardent to be influenced by any such considera- tions. It seemed to her, however, more than ever desirable that Evelyn should be brought to realize how matters stood. It was imperative to strike while the iron was hot. She dreaded the delibera- tive tendency of Clay's mind, which delay, by les- sening the fervor of his infatuation, might bring into play. For then he might begin to inquire why his lady love was so unlike her former self. As Evelyn went out to dinner that evening, Mrs. Willoughby had abundant opportunity to decide upon a course of action before her cousin's return, which was about eleven o'clock, and just after Will- oughby Pimlico had been induced to go to bed, in order that the coast might be clear for an explana- tion. " Who do you suppose was there, Cousin Clara ? " exclaimed the young beauty as she entered the room, throwing aside her wraps and falling into an easy chair. " Mr. Brock ! " " You don't mean so. I saw he had returned." " He knew me at once, and he talked to me for some time after dinner. He wants me or rather us to pay him a visit next week at his place on the Hudson. He has promised to invite a party, and that we shall have skating and tobogganing to our hearts' content. Wouldn't it be fun ? " " Whereabouts is it ? " " Clyme Valley is the name of the village, I be- lieve. It's a manufacturing town which has been FACE TO FACE. 2OQ in existence only a few years. But his place is more than a mile away from the factories and very beau- tifully situated. Isabel Statterly says Mr. Clay owns the adjoining estate." " Oh." " A letter for me ! " exclaimed Evelyn, as her eye chanced to fall on the table. " From mamma." " Willoughby forgot to give it to you. He had it in his pocket all the evening. But it will keep until you go up-stairs, dear. Who else was there ? " Evelyn enumerated some of the company. " I had a lovely time," she said. " What a queer girl you are ! " said Mrs. Will- oughby, presently. " You used to say that often, Cousin Clara, but I flattered myself I had got over being so," she replied, with a laugh. " Well, I admit you're queer in a very different sort of way. I was only thinking that you seemed to act as if you expected to go on forever as you are now." "Do you mean that you're getting tired of me, and want me to go home ? " " No, dear. What I mean," continued Mrs. Will- oughby with an air of some asperity, "is that I think you owe it to yourself to be a little more circum- spect. Why do you suppose girls go into society ? " " I'm afraid I might find it difficult to think of any good reason for my doing so. I had always intended not to. But I went, and I must confess to having enjoyed myself thoroughly," answered Eve- 14 210 FACE TO FACE. lyn, who was sitting with her hands clasped before her gazing wistfully into the fire. " You would have been an ingrate, indeed, if you hadn't enjoyed yourself, for no girl of your age in New York in my recollection has received more at- tention, both general and particular, in the same space of time." " I hope at any rate you will feel that I appre- ciate thoroughly that my lot would have been very different if I had not had you to chaperone me, Cousin Clara." "To be sure you had relations here who were able to put you in the way of meeting the right sort of people," said Mrs. Willoughby, " but we could have been of very little service to you, if you hadn't hap- pened to take. Unquestionably you have been im- mensely admired, and it seems to me natural that it should sometimes occur to you to profit by the fact." "What is it you want me to do that I'm not doing?" "What do you suppose was your father's idea in letting you come over here ? " " To get rid of me," Evelyn answered, gleefully. " No, I won't say that. I fancy he thought the ex- perience would improve me. And it has. How delighted he would be to see me as I am ! " " That was one reason, undoubtedly. There are six girls, I believe, besides yourself ? " " Yes." " And three besides yourself unmarried ? " " Frances is engaged, you know." "Three, counting yourself, then. Did it never FACE TO FACE. 211 enter your head that one of your father's objects in sending you to America might be that you would succeed in making a desirable match ? " " You ought to hear him talk about America and you would quickly change your mind," said Evelyn. "It would be the last straw, if I were to commit such a misalliance as that. They would cast me off altogether." "Nonsense." " It's nonsense to suppose he had any such pur- pose in allowing me to come." " It may not have been a deliberate purpose cut and dried in his mind," answered Mrs. Willoughby ; " but do you mean to tell me that he wouldn't be gratified if you were to become engaged to some young man of good family and handsome fortune ? Of course he would be delighted. He might be anxious at first until it was explained to him who and what the young man was, since so many Eng- lishmen seem to think we are all savages, but when he learned the truth he would be only too thankful to feel that one of his daughters was so well pro- vided for. Your father is by no means rich, Evelyn, and the expense of bringing forward all you girls must be a serious tax on him." " If that is the case I do not intend to be a tax on him any longer." " You must be, until you marry." " Not necessarily." " What do you propose to do ? Go into service ? " " I shall do something." 212 FACE TO FACE. " Don't be absurd. A girl with your exceptional attractions is sure to marry sooner or later." " That does not follow." " There is no law to compel you to marry, of course. But what reason have you for wishing to remain single ? " " None. I would rather be married, I suppose, some day." " Well then ? " " Well, what, Cousin Clara ? " "For one so intelligent in many ways you cer- tainly have very little knowledge of the world, Evelyn. A woman doesn't remain young and beautiful forever. It may be highly entertaining to refuse two or three good offers, but on that theory the day is likely to come when you will realize that you've made- a mistake. Then it may be too late. You are now looking as well, probably, as you ever will look in your life. You have already had several chances to marry, such as most girls would have jumped at. I'm not blaming you for not taking advantage of them, as you said the young men didn't happen to please you. Well and good. But, my dear, it is time you gave the question some little thought. Eligible husbands are not to be had for the asking, every day, even by young women so prepossessing as yourself. Your whole future happiness may be affected by ignoring at this period the true perspective of things." " But surely you don't want me to marry a man I don't love ? " FACE TO FACE. 21$ 11 Certainly not. But I will say at once, that I think a great many girls in this age of the world blast their prospects for life by refusing men in every way adapt- ed to make them excellent husbands, and whom they have nothing to urge against, because they have hug- ged a delusive ideal as to the degree of infatuation it is necessary to be conscious of, before they are entitled to consider themselves in love. There are undoubt- edly now and then among people of our condition, instances of couples completely carried away by the intensity of their mutual feelings ; but they are comparatively rare, and I am not at all sure but that the happiest marriages are those, the contracting parties to which are not blinded to each other's limitations. You must bear in mind, Evelyn, that as we grow in intelligence and cultivation, our criti- cal faculties are apt to become correspondently de- veloped, and we find it much less easy to go into ecstasies over anybody. It is a pity, of course, and it makes one inclined sometimes almost to envy the more inflammable tendencies of the masses who are able to clothe their Darbys and Joans with all the qualities of perfection. The many considerations which have to be taken into account before marry- ing in our sphere of life at the present day, make it seem, however, on the whole, a wise dispensation of Providence that our young people shouldn't lose their heads too easily. The \vorld is a practical one, after all, and good common-sense considerations should be allowed to have their influence in determining so vital a step especially to a girl as matrimony." 214 FACE TO FACE. " Then it was only a dream, like the rest ? " Evelyn said, soliloquizingly, and with her gaze bent on the fire. "Though I might have known that it was so." " What was all a dream ? " "Nothing. I was merely thinking aloud. I sup- pose I must have had too exaggerated notions as to such things." Mrs. Willoughby was silent a moment ; then she said. " I am the last person to make light of sentiment or to applaud marriages induced by material mo- tives. Girls must marry, however, and men being but human cannot come up to the ideal which every woman is apt to form regarding the individual she will choose for a husband. And in analogy to what I was saying a few moments ago, the more cul- tivated we grow the more exalted is the conception likely to be. It doesn't do, therefore, to forget that a practical reason for a woman's marrying is to ob- tain a home. In other words, a good match signifies plenty of coal and wood, and groceries, and car- riages, and dresses, and the ability to give one's chil- dren an education and the power of going abroad. The larger the means of the person you marry, the better able will you be to have and do all these things. I grant you they count for very little compared with having a husband who is worthy of esteem, but they are undoubtedly among the chief blessings of life, and when they are offered by a man whose character is in every respect above reproach, a girl who lets FACE TO FACE. 21 5 them escape her wrongs herself seriously, it seems to me. She gives up what the mass of humani- ty are struggling after because of a mere whim, without bearing in mind that love is almost cer- tain to follow marriage, provided you respect the person who asks you to become his wife. There is more involved than a mere question of per- sonal preference. One is bound not to neglect opportunities for happiness without an adequate cause." " And you think I have been neglecting mine ? " "You have had some very 'excellent offers." "From men worthy of esteem ?" " I should say so, decidedly. Every one of them would have made you a good husband. What is there to be said against them ? " " Nothing that I know of. Merely I haven't felt the slightest desire to marry anybody at present." " Precisely. That's why I have ventured to call your attention to the fact that it may be a duty you owe your family to give the subject a little more heed." " I see." " Mind you," continued her cousin, " I'm not re- gretting that you didn't see fit to take one of those young men. In fact, I think that you may be able to do even better. But I wished to open your eyes, so to speak, to the practical side of the ques- tion. There is a man devoted to you at present whom I think any girl should feel flattered to have attentive to her." . 2l6 FACE TO FACE. " To whom do you refer ? " " Ernest Clay." " Mr. Clay has been very kind," Evelyn answered, after an instant. " Kind ! What an extraordinary expression to use in regard to a man who, if he could have his own way, would never let you out of his sight! Kind ! Why, it's as plain as the nose on your face that he's desperately in love with you ! " " Is he ? " said Evelyn, plucking a leaf from one of the roses in her bouquet. " What makes you think so ? " " Do you suppose a man of his years and tastes would be likely to follow you about everywhere, sending you flowers and sitting up into the small hours dancing the german with you merely to amuse himself ? " " I'm sure I don't know. I have never considered whether he would or not. I enjoy his attentions and the roses he sends are exquisite. I haven't thought beyond that." " If you don't look out, Evelyn, you will get the reputation of a flirt. Coquetry is all very well as a means, but no girl ever gains anything by heartless- ness." " I heartless, Cousin Clara ? Perhaps I am. That has never occurred to me." " I have wondered occasionally if it might not be so. But no, I hit it at first. The trouble is, you have gone on enjoying yourself from day to day without realizing that anything more was ex- FACE TO FACE. 2I/ pected of you than that you should have a good time." " I have had that certainly." " And in return don't you think it might be advisable for you to settle down and marry Mr. Clay ? " " As you once said in speaking of this subject before, I had better wait until he asks me." " Then he never has ? " inquired Mrs. Willoughby, diplomatically. " Never." " But how can you expect a man to propose to you, Evelyn, unless you give him some little en- couragement ?" " I'm not expecting anything. It's you that are expecting." " Well, I can only say the woman whom he mar- ries will be extremely fortunate, and that you never will be likely to get a better offer." They were both silent for a little. " And supposing that I did marry, what should I do ?" asked Evelyn. " Do ? I don't understand exactly. If you mar- ried Ernest Clay, you could do pretty much what you chose, I imagine. He is enormously rich, as you know, and so far as expense is concerned, you could have half a dozen establishments, a steam-yacht large enough to go round the world in in fact, anything that happened to take your fancy. I dare say you would divide your time be- tween the two countries, spending the season in 2l8 FACE TO FACE. London, and coming to us for the winter. Why, what should you want to do ?" " I can't tell. Then the effect of marrying would be that I should go on as I am now ?" "Yes, in a certain measure," answered Mrs. Wil- loughby, with a puzzled air. " But I should sup- pose, Evelyn, that you would wish to be a little less frivolous, if I may use the word ; dining out, of course, and going to parties freely, but at the same time holding yourself in reserve, so to speak, rather more. That would naturally follow, how- ever. And there is no reason why two people with refined tastes, such as you and Mr. Clay, shouldn't have the most exclusive house in town. You would harmonize so well, for you are both inclined to be literary and clever. At least, you gave me the im- pression at first that you were alarmingly intellect- ual, but I must say I don't altogether know what to make of your recent giddiness. No one would ever imagine, to look at you now, that you were a gradu- ate of a college. Needless to say I'm rejoiced that you don't appear strong-minded, only, if I were you, I would take into consideration the fact that a man like Mr. Clay may very possibly have been attracted by your more serious side. You had some interesting discussions during the passage, you told me, and afterward at Lenox you used to ride on horseback together, and talk about books a good deal, I fancy." " And since then I have scarcely opened a book." " I think it is a good rule to try and reserve a FACE TO FACE. 2IQ certain day in the week for serious reading. Other- wise one never keeps up with tire times. I make it a point to read the Nation every Friday morning." " And that enables you to keep up with the times ? " " Oh, yes, I think so. One finds out in that way if anything dreadful has been done at Washington, and then there is apt to be an English letter, and reviews of the new books." " I see." " And now, perhaps, we had better go to bed. When you think over what I have said, you may begin to feel that I am right." " I shall certainly think it over, Cousin Clara," whereupon they kissed each other affectionately and went up-stairs. XL EVELYN, on reaching her room, sat pensive for several minutes before opening her letter from home. The letter proved to contain disagreeable news. Some American securities held by her father had gone down in price, in consequence of which he had met with a heavy loss. Her mother wrote that they probably would not be able to take a house in town the coming season, and that Florence and Muriel would have to be very quiet. She urged Evelyn to be as economical as possible, and after some other information of an unimportant charac- ter, this postscript followed : " Both your father and I are of the opinion that you would do well not to discourage any young man who may happen to take a fancy to you merely because he is an American." The uppermost thought in Evelyn's mind upon finishing the letter was what an annoyance and mortification the loss must be to her parents. She knew that almost anything would have been more easy for them to bear. It was impossible to tell, from her mother's account, the extent of the mis- fortune, but it must necessarily be serious or she would never have mentioned it. FACE TO FACE. 221 When she got so far as to think of the effect on her personally, she re-read the postscript. How strange that the letter should have come just in time to corroborate her cousin's statement. Whether or not her father had sent her to the United States with the expectation that she would make a brill- iant match, it was now clear that the family would be pleased to hear of her engagement. Was it, then, her duty to sacrifice herself for their relief ? Either that, she argued, or to cease to be a tax on them. But how succeed in ceasing to be a tax on them ? She reflected that it would be time enough to think of ways when it became necessary to adopt that alternative. She must try first to reconcile herself to marrying somebody. She felt that the scales had fallen from her eyes in a single moment, as it were. It seemed to her as though she had been living the past few months in a delicious dream marred only by the half-dread of waking. And now she had come to herself and was face to face with the real world once more the practical world, as her cousin Clara called it, which was the same everywhere. Is marriage, then, she asked of herself, a conven- tion, merely the means of supplying one's self with a home, and the comforts of life ? Her cousin had told her that love is likely to come after marriage, provided one's husband is a man worthy of esteem, and that in this civilized age it was very difficult to become enthusiastic about anybody. How opposed to this view was her own theory had not so many of Jr 222 FACE TO FACE. her theories hitherto been refuted ? that a woman should not marry without feeling herself in love ! But what was love ? She had dreamed of a happi- ness inspired by the nobility of her lover's soul, and dreamed that she should find it here. But even here she was told that men were but human, and to beware of expecting too much, lest in seeking after the ideal she miss substantial benefits. Was her theory, then, a Utopian delusion, to be dismissed like the rest ? Her cousin wished her to marry Mr. Clay, and had declared that he was deeply in love with her. Yes- terday the wedding-symbol had seemed no nearer to her finger than a ring round the moon. She had never thought of marrying. She was on a visit, and was enjoying herself, and if doubts had assailed her at moments as to the wisdom or outcome of her delightful experience, she had met them with the reflection that it would soon come to an end, and that she need not trouble herself about the future until her passage was engaged. She had been flat- tered by the offers she received, but the idea of accepting any one of them had not once entered her mind. Mr. Clay in love with her ! She had known this, perhaps at any rate, been vaguely con- scious of it. She had enjoyed his attentions. He had been very kind ; and her cousin said he wished to make her his wife, and was only waiting for a lit- tle encouragement to ask her. He was very rich, and there was everything to be said in his favor. If she let this chance go she might never have so FACE TO FACE. 223 good a one again. Mr. Clay ! What a strange freak it was that had first brought them together ! More than six months had passed since they met on the steamer. She had almost forgotten the epi- sode. At least, they never spoke of it now-a-days. They had become friends oh, yes, excellent friends. She always found it pleasant to talk with him. They had many tastes in common. How agreeable it had been to compare notes with him about Dar- win and Ruskin, and Browning and Huxley, during the horseback rides at Lenox ! She had never been so intimate with any man before. She had grown accustomed to having him beside her, anticipating her every wish. But she did not love him. Was that being heartless ? She had not asked him to devote himself to her. Yet again it might be that she would never care for anyone else more than she did for him, if it were indeed true that women in her class were apt to create ideals which no man could satisfy. Men were not archangels, and women must be content with less than perfection. And supposing she should marry Mr. Clay, what would be her life ? She would have numerous estab- lishments, a steam-yacht in which to sail round the world, and would be able to divide her time between New York and London and Paris. She would be more dignified than at present in her manner of amusing herself, not quite so demonstrative and headlong, giving an hour or two each week to the reading of the Nation so as to keep up Avith the times, cultivating her taste for what was literary 224 FACE TO FACE. and clever by belonging to a metaphysical club, per- haps, and going down into the slums on philan- thropic errands in the intervals of calling and shop- ping and lunching. How well she knew the part she would have to play ! That was her elegant and fastidious cousin's life, and would it not be hers ? A little less frivolous ! The thought made her laugh. She had shocked her cousin by the intensity of her enjoyment during the past months. She, who had begun by disdaining all frivolities ! But that was in keeping with her nature. Whatever she did she must do with her whole soul. It would be impos- sible for her to submit to the fiddling usages of su- perfine society, tasting gingerly of this and that, placid and self-contained. She glanced at herself in the mirror. Men called her beautiful. Even in her short experience she had realized the bewildering intoxication of per- sonal success. She could almost sympathize with those whom the same men would call heartless coquettes. There must at least be excitement and absorption in such an existence. To know half the world to be sighing at one's feet, and yet be able to sweep on with a proud smile, would be actual and real while it lasted. To flit aimlessly from drawing-room to drawing-room, simpering inanities, a slave to conventionalities and forms, would be a mere pulse- less form of living. She must have air and space. And if she were to rebel after marriage against the narrow limitations which hemmed her in, what out- let would she find save some such mad career as she FACE TO FACE. 22$ had just imagined ? What indeed, for had not the man who wished her to become his wife shown her how vain was the hope of trying to be other than like everybody else ? Could she expect to be stronger than the rest of her sex ? Once, perhaps, she would not have feared to attempt to prove her- self so, but now, though wiser, was she still so cou- rageous ? She remembered, too, that it was he who had pointed out to her the power of wealth at the time when he had spoken to her despairingly of its re- sponsibilities. She could appreciate now, even bet- ter than then, what he had meant by saying that to obtain the means of living was the end and object of all human striving. She realized that the posses- sion of wealth was necessary in order to be able to have much that in a short space of time had seem- ingly become indispensable to her. Money insured not only a comfortable home, and horses and car- riages, but leisure for cultivation, for reading and reflection. The whole social fabric rested on the hypothesis of an ample income. To be without it, was to be relegated to the ranks of the strugglers, which, whatever might be said as to the nobility of labor, was a step retrograde. While battling for a livelihood, one necessarily had but little time in which to prune one's ragged edges. Refinement, elegance, and grace went hand in hand with ex- emption from toil. The world became beautiful through the making and transmitting of fortunes. There could be no doubt that to acquire and lay IS 226 FACE TO FACE. up riches was one of the first of human duties, and that on their accumulation the progress of civiliza- tion was largely dependent. Formerly she would have cared little to know that she was poor, but now she was conscious that it would make a great difference to her. She had grown fond of comfort and luxury. To give them up would be harassing to her. Why need she give them up ? Why not marry Mr. Clay and seek to turn his millions to a noble use ? Ah ! but had she not already doubted her own strength ? If she loved him, that might be. Could she hope to in- fluence, did she wish to influence, a man whom she did not love ? The money was not hers, it was his. She at least was free from responsibility in being poor. Humanity was striving and toiling for the means of living : should she accept immunity from the common lot as a gift from one who was merely a friend ? She was a woman ; but could not a woman provide for herself ? She was strong and vigorous. She had received a good education. Why should she not work instead of marry ? Her father had lost his money. Was that any reason why she should become the wife of Mr. Clay ? True, she liked him better than anyone else. She had in her bureau-drawer trifles which he had given her, and she had thrown away other men's trifles. What of that? She did not love him. She was sure she did not love him, and whatever the rest of the world might say there was such a thing as love. No, she would not marry to save herself from need. FACE TO FACE. 22? How little she knew of Mr. Clay after all ! She had even despised him at first. Would he ever be likely to be different from what he was now, notwithstand- ing all his fondness for her, if indeed it were genu- ine ? Here at least she would draw the line in her submission to taking a practical view of life. In having to support herself, she would not be ham- pered by qualms that might disturb her if she were rich. It would simply be her duty to try in some honorable way to make enough to live on. Perhaps was it out of the range of possibilities ? she might make a fortune herself. That could be her ambition. And if ever she should succeed in doing so and were able to command the luxuries which she now enjoyed, what might she not do with her money ? But it would be time enough to think of that when the time came. This idea of entering upon a career of her own now took complete possession of her thoughts. But the longer she reflected the more resolute she grew in her determination. She did not wish to be under obligation to anybody. She was resolved to leave her cousin's house at once and to engage a lodging. She had money enough to get along with for a few weeks, if she were economical, and she felt that by that time she would surely have found occupation of some sort. At the worst she would be able to get employment in a store, though she would prefer to obtain pupils. She believed that after a little brushing up of her knowledge she would be well qualified to undertake the instruction of a class of 228 FACE TO FACE. young ladies. That would be a beginning, and she would seek to add to this income by writing for the magazines and newspapers. She had known at home several women who made a considerable sum every year in this way. How glad she was now that she had insisted on going to college ! In what a plight she would have been had she been content with the smattering of an education her sisters had received ! She went down to the breakfast-room the next morning having her mind thoroughly made up. As soon as they were alone she handed her cousin Clara without comment her mother's letter. " How very unfortunate ! " murmured Mrs. Wil- loughby when she had finished it. " American securities, too ! I believe our railroads are dread- fully watered, and that it's dangerous to have any- thing to do with them. It's a great pity." " Papa and mamma will take it terribly to heart, I'm sure." "Yes, I fancy it will oblige them to alter their style of living for the present. I notice your mother speaks of not expecting to hire a house in London for the season. That will be a deprivation to the girls. But the loss may not prove to be so bad as she thinks. Stocks often go up as fast as they go down." " There can't be much doubt that it is serious, I'm afraid. It's far from pleasant news." " No, it's never pleasant to lose money. Still, it is well that it didn't happen two or three years earlier, before the others were married." FACE TO FACE. 229 They were silent for a few moments, and then Mrs. Willoughby said: "You see, Evelyn, I was not altogether wrong in regard to what we spoke about last night. It's curious that your mother's message should have been in your hands at the very time we were discussing the question." "Yes." " It's very evident what that postscript means. No one wishes you to marry the first man with money who presents himself. Your father and mother merely express the opinion that if some really desirable young fellow should take a fancy to you, it would be for your interest to accept him. Of course it would. Under these additional cir- cumstances, my dear, it would be rank folly for you not to smile on Ernest Clay." " I promised that I would think over what you said, and I have," answered Evelyn, after a pause. " I have tried to look at it as you do, but I can't. As for my father and mother, you know I told you before learning of their trouble that I had no inten- tion of being a burden to them for the future." She spoke with a quiet decision that alarmed Mrs. Willoughby, who looked up and said : " Burden is too severe a word. You would never be that in any event. Only you must see that if you were to marry, there would be one less to provide for." " Certainly I do ; and it is wholly reasonable that if I see fit to refuse such good offers as have been made me, I should provide for myself. I feel quite capable of doing so." 23O FACE TO FACE. " In what way, dear ? " " I haven't entirely decided. What I should like to begin with would be to get a class of girls to in- struct, but it may be too late in the season." Mrs. Willoughby gazed at her for a moment in mute astonishment, then burst into a fit of laughter. " Are you crazy, Evelyn ? " " No, Cousin Clara, in sober earnest." " You wish to be a nursery governess ? " " I should prefer a different position, but I would rather be that than nothing." " What do you mean ? " " Merely what I've already told you. I have no income of my own, and I'm going to support myself in the best way I can." " I've always had a feeling that you might end by going on the stage." " I hadn't thought of the stage, but if I discover that I possess talent the stage might be better than anything else." " Are you serious ?" " Perfectly, and you must not think me ungrateful if I tell you that I can't stay at your house any lon- ger. I dare say you wouldn't want me to, but at any rate it wouldn't be suitable. I shall engage lodgings somewhere." " This is preposterous. You must know that your cousin and I are only too delighted to have you with us whatever happens. I was thinking, a few minutes ago, after reading your mother's letter, that it would be an excellent plan to adopt you, so FACE TO FACE. 2$l to speak, and keep you with us indefinitely. I was only waiting to consult Willoughby before mention- ing it to you. Engage lodgings ! This is the wild- est idea I ever heard of." " I was afraid you wouldn't like it." "Like it? What do you think your family would say ? " " I imagine they would be opposed to it, just as you are ; but they might not be surprised, because I have always been different from the rest. Besides, it won't matter so much if I remain over here." " Then you realize the madness of the scheme ? " " I realize that some girls would in all probability act differently." " Differently ! " Mrs. Willoughby leaned back on the sofa with a face of despair. " My head is all in a buzz. It's the most peculiar notion I ever heard of. People will say you've lost your mind. What do you mean, Evelyn ? You can't surely wish to make a laughing-stock of yourself and put us all to shame. It will be said that we turned you out of doors. No one will believe that you would act so of your own accord." " I will take care that you are not held respon- sible. I'm sorry to distress you, Cousin Clara, after all your kindness to me, but I feel that I shall only be doing right." "Right? What is there that's right about it?" Mrs. Willoughby exclaimed passionately. " Do you appreciate what earning your own living means ? In six months you will be coming to us sick and 232 FACE TO FACE. discouraged, to tell us you have made a mistake. Then it will be too late. Young men are not fond of marrying women with bees in their bonnets. Let alone the folly of the plan, you cannot associate with and be brought in contact with the outside world without running great risks. A girl of your unusual personal appearance would at once chal- lenge the attention of designing persons. You have not been brought up to take part in the rough-and- tumble of life. There is a fitness in all things. You have refined sensibilities and elegant tastes." " I am quite aware," Evelyn answered, "that I am in a certain sense taking a step backward in life. I should much prefer, so far as mere choice goes, to be able to continue to have the luxuries I have enjoyed hitherto, or rather which I have learned to enjoy since I came over here. But I am not in love with any of the men who wish to marry me, and until I fall in love I do not wish to marry, so what am I to do ? You pointed out to me plainly enough last night that it was my duty not to be an incum- brance to my family." "You misunderstood me, Evelyn." " Not at all. Your object in speaking as you did was to lead me to see the practical reasons for mar- rying, but the logical outcome of your argument is that if I prefer to remain single, I should do as I am proposing to do. If my father were rich, it would be a different matter. I am young and strong. Why shouldn't I work ? Nine women in every ten have to work. Naturally I shall endeavor to do FACE TO FACE. 233 something that will injure as little as possible my social position. If I can make my living by literary work, for' instance, I shall keep to that. But sooner than be dependent on other people any longer, I -would be content to be a shop-girl. I have learned to recognize that money is one of the things which we are bound to have in this world, and without it one cannot expect to have social position." "A shop-girl," groaned Mrs. Willoughby. "That is the last straw." She took out her handkerchief and wiped her eyes. For some moments she cried steadily. She knew enough of Evelyn to be certain that her cousin was in earnest at the present moment, and that it would be useless to argue with her further. She had not said half what might be said against the folly of such a step. To her perception it seemed incomprehensi- ble. She felt fairly dazed. She could scarcely have been more astonished and horrified if Evelyn had proposed wearing a bloomer costume. But, as has previously been indicated, Mrs. Wil- loughby never renounced without a struggle any project in the carrying out of which she was in- terested. She wept in a certain measure after the first outburst of anger and despair in order to gain time for reflection. It was evident to her that Evelyn's eccentric decision was due principally to the ill tidings from abroad, and she said to herself that if subsequent particulars should show the loss to be exaggerated, that decision might be altered. She was resolved not to admit for an instant the 234 FACE TO FACE. possibility of such a humiliating and wild pro- gramme being carried out. It seemed to her that one would be almost justified in shutting iip a girl in an asylum to prevent it. She felt sure that when Evelyn should think the matter over the child could not fail to perceive the impracticability of such a scheme. Her cousin was under the influ- ence of excitement now, and hardly responsible ; was disturbed, naturally, at the loss of the money, and shrank from being a burden to her parents any longer. But when it came to an actual choice be- tween the course proposed and marrying a man like Ernest Clay, who could make her, and her family as well, comfortable for the rest of their days, and who would be in every other respect a thorough- ly admirable husband, it could not be that Evelyn would be so misguided as to persevere in her ab- surdity. Therefore, when Mrs. Willoughby found her voice at last, she spoke with the design of temporizing. "You will write, Evelyn (sob), to your family first and tell them what you propose (sob) to do ? " "It wouldn't be any use. I know in advance what they would think of it. No, I had better look about me at once and see what I can find in the way of employment. I have a little money which will pay for my board during the first few weeks. I'm sorry, Cousin Clara, but I've made up my mind." Mrs. Willoughby wrung her hands. " You've promised Mr. Brock to stay with him. FACE TO FACE. 235 You can wait, at least, until you return from there before you come to any conclusion." " I have come to a conclusion already." " But you have accepted his invitation." " I have no intention of being unreasonable," said Evelyn, after a pause. " A few days sooner or later will make no difference, of course." "Then you will go to Mr. Brock's?" asked Mrs. Willoughby, eagerly. "Yes." " And take no further steps toward what you have mentioned while you are there ? " "Very well." Here was a respite at least, it seemed to Mrs. Willoughby, and the most must be made of it. As has been indicated, Mr. Brock's estate was de- lightfully situated on the banks of the Hudson. But he was comparatively a new-comer at Clyme Valley, which, however, had been known as Clyme Valley only since the establishment of his successful manufacturing companies had transformed the sprinkling of cottages at the base of the hills into a busy town of several thousand inhabitants. His fancy having been taken by the scenery of the neighborhood during a chance pleasure-trip some ten years before, he had bought a large tract of land there and built a handsome house at which it was one of his chief pleasures to entertain (with lavish hospitality) parties of friends from the city during the summer and early autumn. Mr. Brock was a self-made man, so called, in that he had acquired his 236 FACE TO FACE. large fortune through his own personal astuteness and industry, but although of obscure origin he had married a New York lady of aristocratic associations, and having been left a widower and childless not long after, he had nevertheless, by dint of his unfail- ing good nature and a bluff force of character which made him rather interesting because of its oddity to people of fashion, ingratiated himself into very ex- clusive circles. This is how he came to be on terms of easy friend- ship with the Pimlicos. Mrs. Willoughby had always been a favorite of his. Pretty girls had an especial attraction for him, and he was fond of send- ing them flowers and trinkets and giving little din- ners for them when they first went into society. The loss of a niece to whom he was much attached, his sole surviving relative, had saddened him greatly. The establishment of the Clyme Valley and Wisabet Companies had really been undertaken by him as a means of diverting his mind from preying upon it- self, and as one step leads to another, he had be- come interested in a variety of new enterprises at the time when he was petitioned to act as Evelyn's escort across the ocean. Accordingly, " Highlands," as he styled his place, had been shut up of late. Side by side with his thirty acres lay " Seven Oaks," the property of the Clays, which had been in possession of their family for many years previous to the date when Mr. Brock made his purchase. Ernest's grandfather, and his father also, had been fond of it as a cool retreat. There had been a period FACE TO FACE. 2^J when the residence and grounds charmed the eyes of visitors by their elegance and taste, but since the death of her husband the Dowager Clay had ceased to go there. The estate had been allowed to fall more or less into decay. The old-fashioned house was in need of repair, and the grass grew in the paths faster than the aged gardener, who with his wife alone held watch and ward, could keep it in abeyance. But ever since he could remember, Ernest had enjoyed passing an occasional week there. At first attracted by the duck-shooting, which was fairly good at times, he had come to feel the place restful, and an admirable resort for study and reflection. When he wished to be alone, he went to " Seven Oaks." The long, silent avenues of overgrown trees afforded him an ample pacing- ground where he could rhapsodize with only the spirits of his forefathers to bear him company. Here he wrote poetry and indulged in aspiration, and as years went on his liking became a sentiment. During his -various visits he had observed with inter- est the development of the town at his gates, and the information that a controlling share in one of the mills to the prosperity, of which the settlement owed its existence, was for sale, found him a ready pur- chaser. It had likewise occurred to him to repair and remodel the old homestead, and during the autumn months a landscape gardener of celebrity had visited " Seven Oaks " and set an army of men at work upheaving everything. Notwithstanding this work of demolition, Clay had 238 FACE TO FACE. preserved a wing of the house for his own occupancy. He did not like to feel that he was entirely cut off from passing a night under his ancestral roof if the humor seized him to do so. Accordingly he had given the workmen orders to delay as long as was possible their invasion of his especial quarters. But up to the time of his confession to Mrs. Pimlico he had not made use of them since the early autumn. Now, although the snow was on the ground and it was bitterly cold, he managed, with the help of the aged gardener, to instal himself with some degree of comfort, so far as concerned his physical welfare. His state of mind, however, was restless in the ex- treme, and it seemed to him as if he must return to New York by the next train, so desolately did the first twenty-four hours of his exile pass. He sought relief in exercise, taking long rides in the saddle, that he might fall asleep with weariness after dinner. Every morning he went to the post-office in the hope of finding a letter. On the fourth day after his arrival, as he was wan- dering through his neighbor's domain, supposing his neighbor to be in town, he was surprised to see signs of life. The shutters of " Highlands " had been taken down and the windows were open, many of the sills being ornamented with blankets, that sure sign of approaching occupancy. While he was on the point of going up to the house to inquire if Mr. Brock were expected, a sleigh came tearing up the avenue, from which that gentleman leaped out. FACE TO FACE. 239 " Holloa, Clay, what the dickens are you doing here at this season of the year ? " " I was just going to ask you the same ques- tion." "Well, you're the very man I want. I've some people coming up to stay with me. Friends of yours, too. Mrs. Willoughby Pimlico and her English cousin, Miss Marian Bydoon, Miss Isabel Slatterly and half a dozen others. What more could a young fellow wish ? Dine with me to-morrow at seven. Or for the matter of that move your traps over to my house and stay altogether. It can't be very com- fortable where you are, with the bricks and mortar falling about your ears. Is it a bargain ? " Clay stared stupidly a moment, then said he would be glad to dine with him, but declined the rest of the invitation on the plea of being obliged constantly to give directions to the workmen. He felt puzzled and bewildered. What did it all mean, he wondered. At this Inoment a messenger approached and handed Mr. Brock a letter, who exclaimed, after reading it : " Here's a pretty mess. The superintendent of my mill writes that the operatives have refused to work until their wages are raised." "They quit work this morning at the Wisabet, and the Clyme Valley won't be running at noontime," said the messenger excitedly. "That's the first I've heard of it," said Clay. " But I haven't had a chance to look into matters 24O FACE TO FACE. since I bought my stock. I have left everything to the manager." " There's been some grumbling of late," said Mr. Brock. " There's an idea in the town that our profits have been enormous. But they'll find that striking is the wrong way to deal with me," he added. " I don't believe in knocking under to such fellows. It's a wrong principle. . I propose to back up Storrs, if we have to shut the mill down for six months." " I shall do whatever you do," answered Clay, a little helplessly. " I know nothing of the merits of the case. We can stand out longer than they can." " Come, jump in," said Mr. Brock, pointing to his sleigh. " We'll go down and see what the trouble is. I suppose they've seized the opportunity when you and I were here to make a fuss." They found the malcontents grouped about the town and at the entrance to the factories of the Clyme Valley Manufacturing Company, the em- ployees of which had just joined the strike. There was no disorder, but a low murmur arose as the sleigh containing the two capitalists drew up before the Wisabet mill. A lengthy conference followed. Clay found both the superintendents to be shrewd, vigorous business men, who declared that there was no ground for the disaffection, and urged resistance to the demands of the operatives. A deputation of the strikers was in- vited to present their grievances. Its representa- FACE TO FACE. 241 tive, a handsome, powerful-looking man with dark eyes and hair, was the ringleader, Storrs whispered, and but for him there would never have been a strike. " The fellow has a mind of his own. He speaks well," said Mr. Brock, in a tone of admiration. " One of our very best hands until he got this kink," continued Storrs. " Quite a knack as an inventor, too. His mother lives here in the town with him. Her name's De Vito. He calls himself Andrew De Vito. I guess his father was an Amer- ican." Clay looked at the orator more closely. It was a strong face, full of fire and intelligence, but disdain- ful and embittered. His features were large and prominent. His thick, matted hair drooped in a wave low on his forehead. His manner was impassioned as he proceeded in his harangue, but he spoke with force and logic, and evidently had well thought out his theme. He alluded with bitterness to the vast profits of the two corporations, and claimed that the working men were entitled to participate in them. This was the burden of his argument, though he drew a graphic picture of the contrast between the condition of the proprietors and of the employed. Clay listened with a sense of realization as to its truth. How often he had himself made similar re- flections ! But, as he had told Mr. Brock, he had left to his superintendent the practical management of his mill, and he felt unfitted to face this emer- gency. To accede to the demands of the strikers 16 242 FACE TO FACE. might mean financial ruin to the corporations, and he well knew that there was no more danger- ous foe to the progress of civilization than unprac- tical philanthropy. But was it true, as the super- intendent declared, that to continue the course they were pursuing was the only alternative between prosperity and disaster ? The whole great question of the relations between labor and capital rose be- fore him, as it frequently was wont to do, but seemed nearer and more exacting. At least the obligation to share in somewise in its solution presented itself to him with a distinctness that resisted his inclina- tion to brush it away like a cobweb. He would fain have done so, for in truth he was scarcely in the frame of mind to contemplate such a matter. Was not his heart tremulous as to the result of the court- ship of her whose refusal to become his wife would decide the question of his future happiness ? But as he sat and listened he was conscious that if all went well with him in that affair he would perhaps be brave enough to free himself from his old asso- ciations and strike out in this direction. When De Vito had finished, the deputation was dismissed with instructions to return in the morn- ing for an answer to its demands. Although Mr. Brock had been fascinated by the picturesqueness and force of its champion he joined the two super- intendents in maintaining that the idea of allowing the men an interest in the business was wildly Utopian, and not to be considered for a moment. They held that the only question to be decided was FACE TO FACE. 243 whether it would be for the present and future ad- vantage of the property to raise the scale of wages slightly, or to fight the matter out, shutting down the mills for the time being in case the Labor Unions of other places were to aid and abet the malcontents. It was argued that so far as concerned the condition of the hands, there was but slender cause for com- plaint apart from the circumstances in which they had been born. They were poor, and comparatively ignorant, and must expect to work for small returns while human beings of greater abilities and abun- dant means lived in luxury. But much had been done for their comfort and improvement. There were free schools for their children, and a public library which Mr. Brock had presented to the town, and other facilities in the line of hygiene and recre- ation, which had done much to keep them cheerful and contented. Had it not been for De Vito there would never have been trouble. He was the supe- rior in talent of his mates, and had become envious of the condition of the wealthy, feeling that he was doomed to grovel while they were in clover. He had made a great mistake, for his superiority had been appreciated. He had been advanced several times already ; and if only he had been content to wait, he might have made himself of the greatest service to his employers and risen to a position of independence, and possibly of wealth ; for he had marked deftness in the way of adapting machinery and devising new processes for the shortening of labor. But he had seen fit to let ill-will get the 244 FACE TO FACE. better of his common sense, and had conspired with a handful of lazy, shiftless fellows, such as haunt every manufacturing town, to create disorder. Would it be wise to yield in any degree to his exactions ? A counter-offer of an increase in wages, while ap- peasing him perhaps for the moment, would only be to put off the evil day. He had theories, and was certain to advocate them. Was not the best way to dismiss him and stand out against the rest, who without a leader would be likely presently to come to terms ? So reasoned the business men, and Clay, who re- alized his helplessness more and more, said nothing. He was prepared to do whatever the others advised. Mr. Brock sat stroking his chin. He wished to be just, but he was not a character to be bullied, and he felt that he had done a great deal for the opera- tives already. He accused them of ingratitude. Business was business, he said, and one could not afford to run factories on a charitable basis merely. He added that he was inclined to agree with his advisers, but would send word before morning, as he wished to think the matter over still further, and was obliged to hurry home to welcome his guests, who were nearly due. Clay presented himself at " Highlands " at the stipulated hour, and found a company of ten merry over the prospect of abundant winter sports on the morrow. He had no opportunity to speak apart with Mrs. Willoughby before dinner, but her glance seemed to indicate to him that his affair had taken FACE TO FACE. 245 a new aspect. Just after they sat down to table the host exclaimed : " Well, ladies, you have come in time to be pres- ent at a strike." 'A strike! How dreadful!" cried several voices. " Yes, the operatives down at the mills have struck for higher pay. Mr. Clay and I have been spend- ing the morning in listening to a statement of their grievances," continued Mr. Brock. " Are they violent ? " asked one of the young men. " No, but they have ceased work in a body, and if we decide not to grant their demands and I have pretty well made up my mind not to yield a point we may have to stop manufacturing for the present. It's a bad business," he said, shaking his head. Evelyn, who was on his left, looked at him ear- nestly. A few months ago she would have been likely to observe, " I thought you never had strikes on this side of the water." But she no longer made remarks of that sort. " There ought to be laws against such things," said Mrs. Willoughby. " The laws are made by the working men now-a- days," observed sententiously the young man who had spoken before. Mrs. Willoughby shrugged her shoulders. " Heav- en knows what we are coming to in this country," she said. " One would suppose, now that everybody can vote, that the working man had been considered enough. Positively, when I read in the newspapers the doings and threats of the Socialists and other 246 FACE TO FACE. people of that sort, I feel as if our throats might be cut any night while we are asleep, merely because we happen to have been born a little bit better off than the majority of mankind." There was a general shudder and murmur of sympathy. " I never read the newspapers," said one young lady, decidedly. " I hate to hear about disagreeable things." " All the strikes in the world, though, needn't affect us up here," broke in Mr. Brock, presently. " The coasting and skating will be just as good ha! ha!" Clay was rather silent during dinner. His seat was not near either Mrs. Pimlico or Evelyn. Later there were games, and it was not until the company were about to separate for the night that he had an opportunity to converse alone with his mentor. The weather had moderated, and some- one suggested, as it was clear and still, that it would be fun to take a peep out-doors. Accordingly, wraps were sent for, and they went out on the piazza. The prospect was beautiful. The lawn lay spark- ling beneath the moon like a sea of crystal. All was quiet in the town, and there was every promise of a glorious winter day. Plans were earnestly dis- cussed. Some were eager to coast, and others to skate, while Marian Bydoon, as usual, was bent on riding across country, having induced one of her admirers to be her escort. It would have suited Clay admirably if Evelyn would have consented to ride also ; but he realized that the sight of so much FACE TO FACE. 247 snow was a novelty to her, and that she was bent on being taken down the steepest hill in the neigh- borhood on a double-runner, which Mr. Brock had already christened after her. Mrs. Willoughby strolled with Clay to the other end of the piazza from that where the others were gathered. "Were you surprised at our coming?" she in- quired. "Completely. Do you wish me to run away?" " By no means, mon ami. The time has come." "To ask her?" " I think so. It is now or never." "What do you mean? Will she have me ?" he inquired eagerly. " I don't know. Ask her." " Why have you changed your mind ? " " Don't catechise me." Mrs. Willoughby was silent a moment. " You mustn't build your hopes too high ; but ask her." " I will to-morrow," he said bluntly. They were called back at this moment to com- plete the details for the morning. Before Clay left the house Mr. Brock took him by the button and led him aside. "I don't believe in knocking under to those fel- lows. What do you say ? " " I shall adopt whatever course you think best." Clay answered. "Very well, I'll write Storrs to-night, and tell him not to budge an inch." XII. NEXT morning it was agreed to defer the coast- ing party until after luncheon. Mr. Brock and Clay were obliged to go to the mill to observe the demeanor of the strikers, who had been informed of the determination of the proprietors to resist their demands. Accordingly the guests each followed his or her own bent. Miss Bydoon started off in the saddle with her escort. There were two or three who seemed content to loll over the roaring wood-fire in the attractive library. The larger por- tion went to skate, under the inspection of Mrs. Willoughby. With this last detachment Evelyn allied herself. She had never seen any good skating. All the others were experts at the sport, including her cousin Clara. She had no skates of her own, and after the enthusiasm with which she watched from the bank the graceful curves cut by her friends had been a little chilled by the atmosphere, the fancy seized her to explore the surrounding country. The pond was fringed about by a thin wood through which a path wound. Following this the same by which they had come until she drew within sight of the house, Evelyn pursued it again, FACE TO FACE. 249 parallel to the highway, for a considerable distance. The land sloped gradually upward until the road lay some sixty feet beneath. The trees grew more sparse in number as she ascended. They had been thinned out by fires, and here and there gaunt gnarled pines shot up into the air, with no vestige of branches save occasional jagged spurs. But the air was clear and invigorating, and there was no cloud in the sky to mar the beauty of the winter day. The path was distinctly enough defined, and the frost had hardened the snow into crusted ice, so that the walking was not difficult. Evelyn was not sorry to be alone. The novelty of the promised out-door sports had exhilarated her and caused her to forget momentarily, in her capac- ity for enjoyment, the step she was about to take. But it was uppermost in her thoughts. She had seen no cause to change her mind, and was bent on fulfilling the plan which she had laid before her cousin. Nothing further had passed between them on the subject. She had consented to this truce, but on her return to New York it was her intention to leave the Pimlicos' house. She was conscious of being about to give up a great deal that she would gladly have retained, and athwart the current of her resolution the thought of Ernest Clay rose to her mind with a frequency not quite intelligible to her. Now that the change in her circumstances had relaxed the tension of her triumphant career, she realized that his was one of the few figures which stood out distinctly to recall 250 FACE TO FACE. her experiences. Their chance meeting on ship- board and subsequent relations had not faded away like other influences that for the moment had seemed almost as potent to arouse her interest. There had been, indeed, as her cousin said, some- thing romantic in her first encounter with Clay. Besides, she liked him on the whole. There was no denying that she found his society agreeable. And she supposed that it was true that he loved her. Why was it she did not love him ? That was all which stood in the way of her satisfying her family and continuing to occupy the position she now held. Did she not love him ? Slowly she shook her head. Not unless dreams were a delusion and poetry a sham. What did he stand for, what did he repre- sent ? He had revealed to her the fascination of the doctrine of slothful elegance, against which even now her soul was battling. And yet she could not wholly drive him from her thoughts. She reached at last the summit of the slope where the ground for a short space was level and then de- clined gradually in the direction of the town. It occurred to her to vary her walk by a glimpse of the settlement, returning home by the road instead of retracing her steps. As she descended, the wood grew somewhat thicker and there was a profusion of evergreen and underbrush which tended to shut out the sunlight. A curious noise, repeated at regular intervals, struck her ear, which she soon correctly judged to proceed from the blows of an axe. In another moment she caught sight of a man in the FACE TO FACE. 2$l act of felling a tall pine. Then followed a whirring sound, and the tree came crashing down across the path, some fifty feet in front of her. Evelyn stopped short. The trunk lay directly in her way and opposed a formidable barrier to further progress. She glanced at the chopper, a tall, impe- rious-looking fellow with dark hair falling over his forehead. He was in his shirt sleeves and had flung his cap aside, but his work of demolition had no ap- parent purpose unless it were mere wantonness, for the locality was not convenient for one in search of fire-wood. He stood leaning on his axe, returning the young girl's gaze with a glance of morose pride as though he enjoyed her discomfiture. His impres- sive but startling appearance prompted her to turn to go back, seeing that the underbrush rendered a passage other than by the path extremely difficult. She was arrested by his voice. " Stop a minute, lady." Evelyn looked around, and saw him step toward the prostrate tree and ply his axe vigorously, so that the chips flew high and wide. Recognizing his de- sign to clear a way for her she waited tranquilly, watching his handsome, almost foreign profile, and wondering who he might be. It did not occur to her to be afraid. When at last the path was sufficiently unobstructed to permit her to go by, the man looked up half sheepishly, half sullenly. As he beheld Evelyn's features, where the bloom of youth and splendid beauty were heightened by the glow of exercise, he 252 FACE TO FACE. seemed spell-bound for an instant. Then a mali- cious sparkle shone from his eyes. Evelyn did not heed this. She was wondering whether she ought not to offer to remunerate him. She would not have hesitated to do so had she been in her own country, but she suspected that Ameri- can labor might be more sensitive. Nevertheless, as he stood, without moving, directly in front of her, she said : " Thank you kindly. May I not pay you for your trouble ? " It seemed as if the question must have harmonized with the man's thoughts, for again his eyes gleamed and he answered, "Yes." Evelyn started to put her hand into her pocket for her purse. " I don't want any of your money," he continued. She glanced at him again, and an instinctive dread seized her for the first time ; for his gaze was bent on her mockingly, and yet with an evident admira- tion against which he seemed to be struggling as though its entertainment might interfere with what he had in mind to say or do. " I want a kiss," he exclaimed boldly. Evelyn shrank back thoroughly alarmed. For an instant she was possessed with the idea of flight. Then it came over her how futile that would be if he chose to pursue her. "A kiss?" she faltered. "Yes, my beauty, that's my price." FACE TO FACE. 253 They stood scanning one another from either side of the fallen tree. Evelyn realized that she was in his power, and that to scream might provoke him to violence. She felt in looking at his face that self- possession was her only hope. "You are one of the dainty dames from "High- lands, I take it ; " he said bitterly ; " one of the rich folks whom Henry Brock has invited up here to teach his mill hands to know their proper places." " I am one of Mr. Brock's guests," she answered, scarcely knowing why. "And you, I take it, are one of the men who have struck for higher wages down at the factory ? " He stared with some astonishment at her cool- ness. " Yes, my lady, I'm one of the strikers, at your service ; I bow to you, my lady. You belong to the quality. But before you leave this wood I mean to have a kiss from those red lips of yours." She could feel herself trembling, but she folded her arms. " Very well, you may kiss me if you wish to," she answered. He chuckled softly, with his eyes fixed on her face. " You are a bold one," he said. " But it's no use. Think how pleased my mates will be to hear of my luck. It doesn't happen every day that a fine lady of your sort is so generous to a chap like me. You're free enough, may be, with your subscription- lists, and your broken victuals, and your patronizing airs, but when it comes to associating with us and letting us imagine that we are anything better than 254 FACE TO FACE. the dirt beneath your feet, our chance is mighty poor." He spoke with an intense bitterness. For a mo- ment there was silence between them. He seemed nervous under the steady gaze of his victim, and trifled with the handle of his axe, on which he still was leaning. " Why don't you kiss me ? " said Evelyn. She could perceive in his countenance the strug- gle of conflicting passions. "And what if I should ?" he said shortly. " I should think you a coward," she replied, with courage. " Why should I care what you think ? " he said. She trembled again, and their eyes met. " You will let me pass ? " she asked, with a touch of plaintiveness. He hesitated. He made a step forward as though to execute his threat, then paused. " Curse you ! " he said, in a tone of baffled anger, and he stood aside. " Pass, then." Evelyn did so. Insolent as were the man's words there was a ring of despair in his voice that bade her pause. She turned and looked at him, and an impulse seized her. " I arn perfectly willing that you should kiss me now," she said. A bewildered expression replaced the fellow's frown, and a flush rose to his cheek. Just then some rays of sunlight piercing through the shade caused perhaps the gems in one of her FACE TO FACE. 255 rings to sparkle, for with a sudden movement he grasped her hand, and falling on one knee kissed it eagerly. Then he sprang to his feet and plunged into the thicket. When Evelyn found herself alone and that all danger was past, her fortitude so far relaxed that she ran at full speed along the path, which sloped toward the town, impatient to gain the main road. But almost immediately she came upon Mr. Brock and Ernest Clay, who had chosen this way of return- ing home, and into whose arms she all but precip- itated herself. Her flushed cheeks and excited manner betrayed that something unusual had taken place. In response to their inquiries she told them the truth. Half laughing, half crying she described the close of her encounter. The gentlemen listened with breath- less interest and concern. " Bravo ! " exclaimed Mr. Brock, as she finished ; "the rascal had a touch of gallantry about him after all. I'll bet my life " he stopped short "you say he was tall and foreign-looking ? " "Yes," answered Evelyn, "and had wavy black hair that hung down over his forehead." " De Vito," cried the men together. " We'll have him in jail before night," said Mr. Brock. " It's bad enough to set the village by the ears, without insulting defenceless women. Clay," he added, looking at his watch, "you keep on with Miss Pimlico, and I'll go back to town and put a couple of officers on his track." 2$6 FACE TO FACE. 11 A good thrashing would be the best punishment for the fellow," answered Ernest. " He must be in the wood somewhere near here. I'd like to try my hand on him," he said, with a burst of indignation. " Hallo-o-a," he cried aloud. " Pshaw ! He'll take precious good care to keep out of the way," exclaimed Mr. Brock. " I'd much rather you didn't do anything," said Evelyn, turning to the young man. " I don't think he meant to harm me. He looked miserable and unhappy. Probably he felt sore about the strike, and thought he would frighten me for revenge." " The brute ! " interjected Mr. Brock. " He'll find that sort of business will not benefit his cause. But how was it, Miss Pimlico, you offered to let him kiss you after he had allowed you to pass ? " he asked. " I don't know exactly," she said softly. " He had said something a few moments before as to there being such a gulf between people like us and him. I suppose I pitied him. If he felt he would rather have a kiss than a dollar, it wasn't so very much to give after all." " And the gulf would be narrowed between you, eh ? " " Perhaps so, Mr. Brock." He glanced curiously and kindly at her. "You are a brave girl. I fancy," he added after a mo- ment, " that you young folks who are growing up have work cut out for you in that direction. There's trouble ahead, for neither side is altogether right. FACE TO FACE. 2$? But it isn't likely to come in my time. I'm an old man and must stick to the old methods." Clay and Evelyn instinctively looked at one another. The lover's gaze was so ardent and so full of admiration that she let fall her eyes in some con- fusion. She had felt grateful to him for his evident eagerness to administer punishment to her adversary, and in view of their former discussion Mr. Brock's words seemed to her to have a strange pertinency. During their conversation they had been walk- ing along, and they now came to the scene of the adventure. The two gentlemen beat the bushes on either side of the path, but failed to discover any signs of the presence of the marauder. The tree which he had cut down was one of the finest in the neighborhood, and apparently he had felled it out of spite, or as a vent for his pent-up feelings. The account of Evelyn's experience naturally caused a commotion at the luncheon-table. The ladies shivered in their shoes, and there was a gen- eral disposition on the part of the masculine portion of the company to organize a pursuit, with the idea of taking the law into their own hands. But on Mr. Brock's representation that Evelyn was op- posed to anything of the sort, the excitement took the form of catechism. Evelyn was asked every variety of question, both regarding her own feelings and the appearance and demeanor of her assailant. The fact that she had neither screamed nor fainted seemed incredible to several, and after the first in- tensity of the horror subsided everyone agreed that 17 258 FACE TO FACE. her acquiescence in De Vito's for from the descrip- tion there was no longer a doubt that the marauder had been he demand had saved her from all sorts of horrors. No one of her own sex, however, could understand her having ha'd the courage or felt the impulse to proffer De Vito a kiss after he permitted her to pass, despite the romantic conclusion of the episode. They argued that her natural inclination must surely have been to run at the top of her speed the moment she was safe from the miscreant's clutches. Of course the sequel had been almost pathetic. She had made, unwittingly, a conquest, which, manifested by the poor wretch's clumsy obeisance, might be, for all anyone could tell, an awakening influence that would result in regenera- tion. " The scoundrel ought to feel flattered during the rest of his life," exclaimed Mr. Brock. " To obtain permission to kiss those lovely lips is the ambition of many a young fellow who is wearing his heart out in sighing, I'll be bound." He smiled at Evelyn over the wine-glass, which he raised to his lips in her honor. As is often the case where the news of a horrifying incident has momentarily checked the current of gayety, and it has been duly demonstrated that the victim has escaped injury after all, the spirits of the company soon rose. Everyone was in the mood to try the new coast, and the double-runner, " Miss Pimlico," seemed named most appropriately. The tidings from the town were not disturbing. The op- FACE TO FACE. 2 59 eratives had received their rebuff without noisy dem- onstrations, and though refusing to return to work had showed no tendency to resist the action of the corporations by other than lawful means. Mr. Brock's wrath against De Vito, already mollified by Evelyn's desire that no notice should be taken of her assailant's conduct, evaporated rapidly under the influence of the invigorating sport. The whole party returned to the house at dinner-time in a most merry frame of mind. The host gave orders to have the choicest wine in his cellar unbottled without stint. The huge wood-fires roared up the chimneys as though in sympathy with the general light-heart- edness. The conversation flowed vivaciously, and Evelyn's health was drunk amid loud acclamations in testimony to her fearlessness. After the dessert was served Mr. Brock got up from his seat, and going to a safe fitted into the side- board, where he kept his valuables, produced a russia- leather case, which proved to contain a magnificent necklace of pearls. He approached Evelyn and fastened it about her neck. "This belonged to my niece; her I told you about," he said. " I should like you to have it." A murmur of mingled applause and envious ex- clamation for the gift was of exceptional value ran round the table. Evelyn, too surprised and moved to speak, put out her hand to her donor, who took it in both of his own, and, dropping on one knee, touched his lips to it 26O FACE TO FACE. " It is my price," he said, with a merry laugh that was echoed on all sides. Evelyn smiled sweetly, but as she raised her eyes she gave a start and pointed toward the window which she was facing. " Look ! " she cried. " What is it ? " exclaimed half a dozen voices. " It was he the same one," she ejaculated. Two or three of the young men, with a quick ap- preciation of her meaning, rushed into the hall and out of doors, while others threw up the window. But no one was visible. Not a sound was to be heard. The pursuers plunged in among the fir-trees, which at this point were only a few rods distant from the house, but failed to find traces of anybody. Mr. Brock gave orders that lanterns should be brought and the dogs in the stable let loose. Meanwhile, in response to numerous questions, Evelyn declared that she was certain she had seen the face of Andrew De Vito pressed against the win- dow-pane, and that his eyes were fixed upon her. His look was wild and strange she said, and the mo- ment after she perceived him he had vanished. The ladies shivered again, and someone suggested that he had probably caught sight of the necklace of pearls. "We might have been murdered in our beds," murmured Mrs. Willoughby. Mr. Brock was in a state of the utmost indignation. He and the young men, with the aid of lights and the dogs, ransacked the grounds for nearly an hour, FACE TO FACE. 26 1 but to no avail. Then he ordered a vehicle, and driving down to the police station in the town, had a warrant issued against De Vito. On his return, he found his guests seated about the fire in a more or less tremulous condition. Some youth had taken advantage of the scare to tell a series of ghastly ghost stories, which had begotten a variety of specu- lations and anecdotes as to the credibility of so- called supernatural incidents. The reappearance of the host was a relief, and gave a greater sense of security. Indeed, Mrs. Wil- loughby presently suggested that it was possible that Evelyn had been misled by an hallucination. The idea was eagerly welcomed, and the terrible strain she had undergone that morning adduced in sup- port of it. But Evelyn shook her head. She felt certain that she had not been deceived. XIII. CLAY lay awake long that night. When he arose the sun was streaming into his room. He found that he had overslept himself. On the break- fast-table was a letter from the manager of his mill, which informed him that De Vito could not be found, but that he was reported to have been seen getting on the early morning train from Clyme Valley, a short distance from the town. All was quiet at the factories, and there was every reason to hope that the strikers would soon give in, especially if it should prove true that their leader had deserted them. It was eleven o'clock before Clay went over to Highlands. He feared that everyone had gone out, but to his surprise and delight he discovered Evelyn alone in the library, for which he shrewdly suspected that he was indebted to Mrs. Willoughby's clever management. At all events, the rest of the company had scattered in pursuit of amusement. " And how are you feeling this morning ? " he in- quired, taking a seat beside her. " I am none the worse for my fright, I think," she answered. " The fellow seems to have got off," said Clay. FACE TO FACE. 263 " At least he is said to have been seen boarding the train just after daylight." " I hope he won't be caught," she exclaimed. 11 1 don't care what becomes of him, provided he leaves Clyme Valley. He is a dangerous character. What right had he to be mousing round the house after dark ? " u It is not easy to see what he wanted, I admit." " He wanted to steal." Evelyn shook her head. " I can't believe that, Mr. Clay. There was too much that was fine and manly in his expression, in spite of his impertinent behavior." " It was a mercy he did not kill you. Put an axe into the hands of one of those devils, and there is no telling what he will take it into his head to do. I saw the fellow at the factory, as I told you yester- day. He is handsome and striking-looking, but I shouldn't care to meet him face to face in a dark wood," answered Clay. " He looked wretchedly unhappy," said Evelyn. " It's his own fault, if he is unhappy. He has been considered in every way. If he hadn't been restless and insubordinate, he would have held a first-rate position long before this." " I know Mr. Brock told me the same thing," an- swered Evelyn. " Of course, I don't pretend to be any judge of such characters. But I pitied him. It seemed to me, in thinking of his face afterward, as though he must have been kept down and crushed." 264 FACE TO FACE. "He has to work for his living like every other laboring man," answered Clay. " As to being crushed, Mr. Brock has done his best to make the operatives in the town comfortable and happy." " Mr. Brock is as kind as can be to everyone," said Evelyn. " Tell me what he has done." " He has endowed them with a public library for one thing, containing several thousand volumes, and on each Saturday evening, during the winter, some lecturer, magician, or concert-troupe is en- gaged by him to provide them with a free enter- tainment." Evelyn was silent a moment. " Their pay is very small, I suppose," said she. " Yes, I suppose it is." " And the profits of the mills have been enor- mous, haven't they ? " " The companies are doing very well." " It must be terribly hard," continued Evelyn, " to work day in and day out for a mere pittance, and to see others grow rich on the fruit of one's labor. Just think of the difference between the lives of people of that sort and yours and mine. As I said to you yesterday, there was something in that wretched creature's look which made me feel that his insolence sprang from despair. It was the im- pulse to let him realize that, despite the disparity of our circumstances, I recognized his brotherhood as a human being, which prompted me, against all the other instincts of my nature, to offer to permit him to kiss me," FACE TO FACE. 26$ " Men cannot be equal, even in the United States, Miss Pimlico, however much we may theorize on the subject," said Clay. " One man is born rich and another poor, just as one is born strong and another crippled, or one able and another shiftless. There must always be poor and rich." " But need the difference be so great ? " she asked with earnestness. "I do not know," he answered bluntly. "And yet I am a mill-owner." Evelyn flushed a little. " I don't, of course, un- derstand such matters," she said. " It is imperti- nent perhaps of me to speak about them." Clay had risen and was pacing the room. " You need not apologize on my account," he said. " It is to my shame and discredit that I cannot answer your question. I draw my dividends, too, regularly enough, and have plenty of leisure time." " It seems to me," said Evelyn reflectively, after a pause, " that if I were one of the working masses I should very likely be a striker too. Think what a bitter sight the luxury and extravagance of the rich must be to a man with barely means enough to save his children from hunger. How our splendid houses and brilliant equipages and beautiful dresses must confuse his sense of justice ! We spend a thousand dollars in giving a ball, and may be within a stone's throw of where it is held a dozen families, shivering from cold, are huddled in some fetid tenement. And yet we go to church and kneel on soft cushions to pray for the needy and suffering. What right has I 266 FACE TO FACE. one-half of the world to be so wasteful when the other half is starving ? " " Their ignorance is our salvation," said Clay sen- tentiously. " Like the brute beasts, the masses are ignorant of their own strength." " That man, De Vito, said we were free enough with our subscription lists and broken victuals," Evelyn continued. "I saw what he meant. We give money liberally. We subscribe large sums to hos- pitals and other charitable institutions. But the gulf still remains. On the one hand is the courtly, luxurious millionaire, with his palace of a home, on the other the ignorant, rough laborer, with his quar- tern loaf. There must be some way of lessening this discrepancy." "You would make a capital socialist," Clay said admiringly. Her eyes were bright with an intens- ity which recalled to him their first meeting on ship. " No," she answered, " I am no better than the rest. I live on from day to day without thinking of such matters. It is only because the truth was forced upon me yesterday that I have said so much. How terrible 7 one realizes one's helplessness to bring about a change ! What a tremendous power money is ! " she added. " It was you who first pointed that out to me, I remember, Mr. Clay. I didn't under- stand you then as I do now. I can see that it is the great force of the world. The possession of it in- sures comfort and leisure and refinement. The lack of it makes men miserable and ignorant and brutish. FACE TO FACE.] 267 No wonder we all strive so hard to accumulate it. But God help those who are without it." " There is no other power but one in the world to be compared with it," said Clay in a low voice. He had seated himself again beside her. "And that?" asked Evelyn, earnestly. " And that is love," he said. She looked up quickly, then let fall her eyes, for he was gazing at her with ardor. Her own affairs had been out of her thoughts, but now she .under- stood that the moment was at hand which was to affect momentously her future. " Love is the only medium which makes a man forget himself," Clay continued, "and which teaches him his own littleness. You told me once, I re- member, that we on this side of the ocean are dif- ferent from what you expected to find us. You said that we seemed too much like people everywhere. You were right. We are in danger of imitating others. That is our chief peril to-day. And by ' our ' I mean the class to which I belong, the rich, so- called leisure class. Our forefathers did their work and we are haggling over ours, erecting flimsy bar- riers of doubt and speculation between us and duty. But you, Miss Pimlico, by your nobility of soul, which is reflected in every line of your beautiful face, have inspired one man, at least, with a sense of his responsibility. It is you who are the American. The seed sown by, my ancestors has been blown across the ocean and has taken root on foreign soil ; and now you appear as its representative to teach 268 FACE 7Y? FACE. me what I ought to be. I have come this morning to ask you to be my wife. Dearest Evelyn," he ex- claimed, bending toward her, "say that you will make me happy forever. Say that you will teach me to share your enthusiasm. What might we not accomplish together ? I am rich, as you know. Help me to use my money wisely. I am not equal to the responsibility alone." Evelyn sat listening to his recital with bowed head and her hands clasped on her lap. "When I have heard other men talk and rave about love," he went on, " I have laughed to myself and almost doubted if there were such a passion as I had dreamed of, so hopeless had I become of its being revealed to me. But after I learned to know you, I understood the reason for my want of sus- ceptibility. I had formed an ideal. Most men do, and satisfy themselves with less. But I have waited thank Heaven, I have waited. You are the only woman I have ever seen who fulfils my ideal of what a woman ought to be. Unworthy as I am of your love, I cannot live without it. Dearest, tell me that I need not ask in vain." He sought to take her hand, but Evelyn, who had been in a daze, as it were, drew it away and mur- mured, while the tears filled her eyes in response to his impetuous words: "No, Mr. Clay, it cannot be. I am not what you believe. I am not, indeed. You have deceived yourself." " Am not what I believe ? You are everything FACE TO FACE. 269 that is pure and true and inspiring. Do I not know that your life is wholly earnest, that your soul is filled with a high purpose which makes a mockery of the paltry trivial interests which absorb mine ?" " You must not talk like that," she cried. " Would to heaven that one-half what you say of me were true. But you are mistaken, Mr. Clay. I am not fitted to teach or help anyone." " Let me be the judge of that," he exclaimed, pas- sionately. " You have taught and helped me already. Since I met you first I have been a changed being. Your influence has been an inspiration to me." " It is not right of me to allow you to go on," she said with decision, lifting her eyes to his, " for I can- not consent to become your wife. I have been taught to believe that a woman should love with her whole heart the man she consents to marry. I like you, Mr. Clay I have learned to respect you ; but you must not ask me to be more than your friend." " I shall die, then," he exclaimed, with an out- burst of despair. "You do not realize what I mean when I say that I love you. This is no boyish in- fatuation of mine. Do you not see, do you not un- derstand, that my whole future is dependent on your answer ? Before I knew you, I was cold and cyni- cal and doubting. Without you I shall be un- happy forever." Evelyn felt herself trembling at his intensity. She knew that she had made up her mind, but yet she was conscious that these burning words were sweet to her to hear. She had listened to other avowals 2/O FACE TO FACE. of love almost with unconcern. But she was very sorry for Mr. Clay, and her sense of pride was even stronger than her pity. She wondered if it were wrong to feel so elated when she was resolved to dis- miss him. " Let us look at this matter sensibly and calmly, Mr. Clay," she said, gently. " Surely you would not wish me to marry you unless I loved you. A love such as yours would not be content with mere respect and esteem." "Calmly?" he exclaimed. "I have looked at things calmly all my life. I have starved from lack of enthusiasm. Sensibly ? I am looking at the matter sensibly, for, without you, life will be worth nothing to me. I have waited for years to meet you, and now that I have found you, you ask me to be calm and sensible." Evelyn was silent a moment. " Mr. Clay," she said, " if I were to accept your offer, it would be simply because of your money." He flushed slightly. " Very well," he cried, " marry me for my money. Anything would be better than losing you alto- gether." " Because I want you to disabuse yourself of the extravagant conception you have formed of my character," she continued, " I will tell you that I am tempted by your proposal. You have spoken of my nobility of soul and lofty purpose : these are scarcely consistent with the thoughts that have been passing through my mind during the last fifteen minutes. FACE TO FACE. 2/1 Six months ago I was, it may be, innocent and un- sophisticated and enthusiastic. Since then I have learned many things, and chief among them, as I have already said to you, is an appreciation of the power of wealth. I know what it means to be rich, and how eagerly everyone strives to become rich. I know the delights of luxury and that the posses- sion of plenty of money affords leisure for culture and refinement. If I were to marry you it would be in order to be able to enjoy all the gratifications which wealth affords. I should be marrying not you, but your money. You have to congratulate yourself that I am still sufficiently courageous to refrain from doing you such a wrong as you would have me commit." " It was through you," said Clay, " that I have learned to wish to use my wealth worthily. If you were my wife, think what we might accomplish to- gether." Evelyn shook her head. " Ah, yes, if I loved you, Mr. Clay. It might be very different then. As you said just now, love is the only power that can com- pete with money. It was also you who told me once that the progress of humanity must depend largely on the efforts of people free from the stress of money-getting. But I can appreciate now how difficult it is for the rich, to make those efforts. Wealth soothes and deadens and lulls to sleep." " Yes, but it should not lull us to sleep, Evelyn. Side by side we should be able to throw off sloth forever." 2/2 FACE TO FACE. " I can readily understand," answered Evelyn, " that to you, feeling as you do, it might seem easy and simple to brave the world and escape from the common rut, and were I able to return your affec- tion I believe that love would give me strength to do the same. But if without loving you I should become your wife, I feel that I could not count upon myself. You said just now that you have waited for love. Perhaps I also am waiting in the hope that it may some day be kindled in my heart. For without it I am sure no woman is safe from the weaknesses of her own nature. I should not dare to marry you, Mr. Clay. I care too much for the things that I ought to despise. They interest and absorb me. I am vain and frivolous. Forget me, Mr. Clay. There are other women who will make you far happier than I could ever do." " There is no one like you in the world," he ex- claimed. " I will never give you up." " It is useless to talk so," she murmured. " I hate to cause you pain, but I cannot make a different an- swer. Do you not remember telling me," she con- tinued, " that only the few can hope to be rich, and that to labor and struggle must be the lot of all but a small proportion of mankind ? Riches are a re- ward, a prize representing industry or talent on the part of the possessor, or of his or her ancestors. What right have I to reap the highest reward of life when I have never taken part in the struggle ? Would it be consistent with pride to accept from a man I do not love the means of exemption from FACE TO FACE. 2?$ self-support ? I put the question to you because I have already put it to myself. There is but one an- swer to it." " I do not understand you," he said. " You will when I tell you that during the past week I have received the distressing news from home that my father has lost money. In consequence of this I shall be obliged to leave my cousin's house and earn my own living." Clay started and gazed at her with astonishment scarcely less than Mrs. Willoughby had displayed. " What do you mean ? " he asked. " Precisely what I have said," Evelyn answered. " I feel that I've no right to be a burden on my family. I have received a good education. Why should I not make some practical use of it ?" " What is it you propose to do ? " " I hope to teach eventually. But to begin with, I shall do anything that seems to offer me a chance for a livelihood." " This is sheer madness. You cannot be in ear- nest," he exclaimed. " Reflect " " I have reflected," she interposed. " I have con- sidered the matter most carefully." "Does Mrs. Pimlico know of your determina- tion ? " Clay inquired. " She does, and disapproves." "Humph!" He resumed pacing the room. "Your father in trouble and you obliged to support your- self ? Surely his losses cannot be so severe as to necessitate that ? " 18 274 FACE TO FACE. " I do not know exactly. I only know that he has lost a great deal of money. He has several unmar- ried daughters, and the expenses of the household are large. I wish to save him from any further re- sponsibility on my account." " Oh, Evelyn, why won't you let me help you ? " exclaimed the young man. " I have money enough for you all." " It is a temptation, as I told you," she answered. "You can see that now. But I am too much your friend, Mr. Clay, to do you so great an injury." " My friend ! " he ejaculated. " You little realize how cruelly that word sounds. It is hard to have to feel that you prefer such a step to becoming my wife." Evelyn was silent a moment. "There is no alter- native open to me," she said. "A woman is ex- pected to marry. It is natural for her to do so. I have had other offers, which, as well as yours, would have supplied me with a home. Since I have pre- ferred to remain single, I feel that I ought to pro- vide for myself," she said with simplicity. " Why do you wish to remain single ? " he asked. " I have no such wish. I trust that I may marry some day." " Is there anyone else ? " he asked, stopping in front of her, "You say you have had other offers." " There is no one," she answered. He walked impatiently up and down the room with his hands clasped behind his back. " I will not give you up," he blurted out. " Shall you remain over here ? " he inquired presently. FACE TO FACE. 275 " Yes, I have fewer acquaintances on this side of the water, and I suppose my friends at home would be shocked even more than those here." "Evelyn, Evelyn," cried Clay, with a new access of pain. " All this makes it so much the harder for me to lose you." He sat down again beside her. "You are noble and brave and pure and good," he continued. " What right have I to aspire to you ? What right have I to dream that you could love me. My nature is small and narrow and petty. There is good reason for your decision. But I find it very hard to bear." He covered his face with his hands. Evelyn made no response for a little while. " In- deed you wrong yourself, Mr. Clay," she said. "Any woman should be proud of a love so genuine and disinterested as yours. Besides, I value dearly your friendship if you will not forbid the word. I have learned a great deal from you. Before I met you I was ignorant and foolish. You have helped me to correct many erroneous ideas and to see life as it is. It is true I do not love you," she added, gently. " I cannot say why. Perhaps it is my own fault, my lack of the capacity to feel deeply. It is said, you know, that in this critical age of ours, the power to fall in love is frozen out of many. That may be the case with me. I am not sure that it is not." "No, no," he cried, " the fault is in my unworthi- ness. A nature as enthusiastic and earnest as yours is adapted to love. You are courageous and strong, and not afraid to act. I am a mere dreamer. No 2/6 FACE TO FACE. wonder you do not care for me. What have I ever done to prove my manhood ?" " We have both been dreamers," she answered. " Our work lies before us. Our paths must divide for the present," she added. "Yes, for the present," he responded eagerly. " But let me carry away with me the hope that if I prove faithful to my trust our paths may reunite." " Hope ? " she echoed. " It was you who inspired me, and you leave me to fight the battle alone." " You will win without me," she said. "And if I do, tell me that you will love me." Evelyn looked at him with troubled eyes. "I can- not tell, Mr. Clay. I do not know what love is, ex- cept from dreams. Hark ! the others are coming," she cried, as the jingle of sleigh-bells resounded from the avenue. " I shall take those words with me as a token of encouragement," he said, rising. "Good by. Heaven bless and keep you," he exclaimed, and bending low he seized and kissed her hand. A moment later he was gone, and Evelyn, with her eyes full of tears, was standing motionless, staring after him. The laughter of her friends in the hall brought her to herself. They came in bubbling over with gayety. They had met Clay at the door, and they hastened to surround Evelyn to twit her jocosely on the time- liness of her headache. One by one they left the room to take off their furs, until only Mrs. Willoughby, who had been FACE TO FACE. 2?/ musing over the fire, remained. When all had gone she turned to Evelyn with a tentative "Well, dear?" "Cousin Clara," was the response, "Mr. Clay has just asked me to become his wife, and I have refused him." There was a death-like silence. " I am bound to tell you, of course," continued Evelyn, " and I heartily wish, for your sake, I could have given him a different answer." Mrs. Willoughby sat speechless, twirling her muff. Her vocabulary seemed to her perhaps un- equal to the occasion. At length she rose and gathered up her wraps. Just before she opened the door she turned her head and remarked : " All I can say is, that you have committed social suicide, Evelyn. You will look at it some day as I do." Then Mrs. Willoughby left the room. Evelyn endeavored to be natural and sprightly at dinner, but she found it difficult, and very early in the evening she pleaded fatigue and went to her chamber. She desired to be alone, that she might collect her thoughts. Her nerves felt strained and excited. She knew that in refusing Mr. Clay she had taken a decisive step. But she was not con- scious of regrets. She said to herself, that if the decision were to be made again she would act in no respect differently. For the first time in her life, however, the thought that she was loved ardently for herself alone was 278 FACE TO FACE, pleasant to her. She felt grateful to Mr. Clay, and it grieved her to have occasioned him suffering. When former suitors had woed, she had been prone to laugh at their expressions of devotion, but she had listened to him in a different spirit. She won- dered if the reason were not 'that she was lonely and in need of friends. As she had told Mr. Clay, her acquaintance with him had influenced her greatly and opened her eyes to the inaccuracy of her own. theories. She thought of his words, " It was you who inspired me," and their remembrance caused her a thrill of satisfaction, for she could not help recalling at the same time the details of their first meeting. She had then offended his fine sense of propriety ajid shocked his dearest prejudices. How contemptible, too, he had appeared to her ! Their natures had seemed as irreconcilable as the antipodes. That was six months ago, and now he was eager to make her his wife, and miserable at her inability to return his love. There was no doubt that each had worked a change in the other. Was it not largely owing to Mr. Clay that she was no longer an unpractical enthusiast ? Ah ! if only it were true that she were what he thought her ! He believed her strong in purpose, and had said that her nobility of character had spurred him to overcome the morbid tendencies of his disposition. How delightful it must be to be filled with a pas- sion so strong and disinterested as his ! She would have declared, a few months ago, that he was in- capable of so absorbing a feeling. She wondered, . FACE TO FACE. 2? 9 again, if she might not be without a heart, as her cousin Clara had insinuated. And yet Mr. Clay had assured her of the contrary. He had said that her earnestness and enthusiasm fitted her for loving. Yet she did not love him, if indeed true love were akin to what she had believed it to be. But so it must be, for had not he waited also, and when at last the fire had entered his soul, found therein a happiness which made him impatient with unworthy living ? She thought of the lines of Wordsworth : " Learned by a mortal yearning to ascend Seeking a higher object. Love was given, Encouraged, sanctioned chiefly for that end ; For this the passion to excess was driven That self might be annulled." Self ! The secret of life was to forget one's self ; to lose in engrossment in another's welfare solicitude for one's own. This was the lesson of spirit to matter, and through this unity of wedded souls a love was born warm enough to include humanity in its compass. Self ! Would that she could escape from her own self ! But there it was, staring her in the face, a po- tential reality, a despotism ever craving recognition. Whatever her heart might despise, was not her nat- ure perpetually at hand her nature frivolous and volatile, shrinking from duty and susceptible to vanity ? And the god of self was wealth money the stand- ard of success, the glittering prize for which men 280 FACE TO FACE. fought and struggled as for nothing else. Money was indeed the . power of the material world. Through its possession mankind lived and pros- pered, and through the lack of it suffered and died in misery. To accumulate it was one of the chief of human duties. Money was the most precious gift of matter, and love the noblest representative of spirit. In the union of these two mighty forces was the hope of civilization, the promise of the progress of the race. She recalled her experiences of the past twenty- four hours ; the luxury of Mr. Brock's home, the picturesqueness of the winter scene, the strike of the operatives, her strange encounter in the wood with their ringleader, the episode of the necklace, and lastly the ardent proposal of Ernest Clay. What a variety of circumstances, and what an illustration of the contrasts between the lives of the affluent and the destitute ! She thought of De Vito's handsome, sullen face, as she had seen it when he bent to kiss her hand, and as she had again beheld it when her eyes met his fixed on her from behind the dining- room window. She could not believe that he had come to the house the evening before merely to steal, as Mr. Clay declared. But for what purpose had he come if not for that ? Her glance happened to fall on the mirror, in which she could perceive her countenance reflected. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes were glistening. She was in evening dress, and around her neck lay the gift of pearls which her host had given her. FACE TO FACE. 28 1 She realized that she was very beautiful. She gazed and smiled, and as she gazed the social triumphs of the past months came into her mind. She brushed her hand across her eyes. Life seemed to her a strange mystery. Thank heaven ! her duty lay before her, simple and distinct. She had to earn her own living. All her energies must be devoted to that end. This was her sole respon- sibility for the present, and in fulfilling it she would be free from the temptations and questionings which had assailed her hitherto. She was to return to New York in a day or two, and she would then be- stir herself to find occupation. She looked at her watch. It was after midnight. She felt thirsty and exhausted. Opening her door she peered over the banisters. The hall below was dark. It was evident that everyone had gone to bed. Evelyn knew that she would find water and cake in the dining-room. Accordingly she lighted a candle and crept down the stairs, stepping softly as possible lest she should arouse any of the house- hold, for she reflected that it would be embarrassing to be caught prowling about at that hour of the night. Fortunately, owing to the out-door exercise, it seemed probable that all would sleep soundly. She opened the dining-room door, and was step- ping forward when a noise arrested her attention. In front of the safe from which Mr. Brock had taken the necklace was the crouching figure of a man, who was fumbling with the lock. He turned round at her entrance, and perceiving that he was 282 FACE TO FACE. detected sprang to his feet. Evelyn started back. Shaken as were her nerves she was able to scream, " Robbers robbers help help." She ran toward the staircase. Just then a gust of air from a window in the library, which the in- vader had evidently left open, blew out her candle. Alarmed by her outcry the fellow started to es- cape by way of the library, being obliged to cross the hall in order to do so. With an oath he rushed at Evelyn. Terrified as she was an instinct to pre- vent his flight took possession of her, and renewing her screams she attempted to throw her arms about the man's neck. It was too dark to distinguish a feature of his face. For a moment she stopped his headway by bear- ing heavily upon him. He grasped at her throat, and catching his fingers in her necklace ripped it so that the pearls flew in all directions. Then she felt herself whirled about with a frightful violence and hurled aside. She knew no more until she found herself on the library sofa surrounded by her anxious friends. XIV. ar PO think, Willoughby," exclaimed Mrs. Pim- -L lico, one morning just after breakfast, some two months later, "to think that the grand jury should refuse to bring in a true bill, as you call it, against De Vito ! I can't understand it." " The evidence against him was very slight," an- swered her husband, from behind his newspaper. " Slight ? It seems to me it was overwhelming. Didn't he attack Evelyn in the wood, and wasn't he detected peering in through the window on the night before the house was broken into ? I don't see what better evidence one could want." " I have an idea that legally it wouldn't have much weight. At any rate, dear, he has been dis- charged." " I presume because Evelyn wasn't killed the jury didn't think the matter worth troubling their heads about," continued Mrs. Pimlico. " It was a mere accident she wasn't killed. We might per- fectly well have all been murdered. In that case they wouldn't have dared to let him off." " I fancy it wouldn't have made any difference," said Willoughby. "The law is the law, you know." After this oracular utterance they were both si- 284 FACE TO FACE. lent until Willoughby made an ejaculation and let the paper drop on his lap. " Why, Clara, this is very sudden. Mr. Brock is dead." " Dead ? Mr. Brock ? " " That's what is printed here. ' At his residence, on Tuesday the i4th inst., Wilbur Pierce Brock, aged sixty-nine years.' " " How shocking ! It must have been terribly sud- den. Had you heard that he was ill ?" "Not a word. I saw him at the club a few days ago." " Evelyn will feel dreadfully," said Mrs. Pimlico. " She was very fond of Mr. Brock. Sixty-nine. I didn't think he was so old." " He will be a great loss. He was an able and a kind-hearted man," said her husband. After they had discussed the sad news a little fur- ther Mrs. Pimlico said: " I suppose Mr. Brock must leave a great deal of money, Willoughby ? " " Undoubtedly. He was reputed very rich." " I wonder whom it will go to. He has no near relatives. You remember his niece died only a year or two ago. She was the last of his family, he has told me." " Probably he has distant cousins. I fancy, if what you say is correct, he is likely to have made some large charitable bequests." "Yes." Mrs. Willoughby was silent a moment. " I shouldn't be very much surprised," she con- tinued, " if he had left Evelyn something." FACE TO FACE. 285 Her husband laughed. " What a curious woman you are, Clara. Perhaps he has left us all some- thing." " He had a strong liking for Evelyn," Mrs. Wil- loughby answered, reflectively. " He gave her that beautiful necklace, which was worth a mint of money, and he was forever talking about her before that. Only think how devoted he has been to her since her accident. Hardly a day has passed without his coming to see her, or sending her flowers and every sort of delicacy. Of course," she added, " it isn't very nice to speculate so soon after his death as to what the poor man has done with his money, but the more I think of it, the more probable it seems to me that he has left her something. I trust fer- vently that he has, for then she would have no ex- cuse for persevering in her mad scheme of support- ing herself." " She still insists on that, does she ? " asked Wil- loughby. " Oh yes," answered his wife, with a sigh. " Only yesterday she told me that as soon as the doctor would say she was strong enough she intended to look out for lodgings. I do wish she would let us adopt her. I've done my best to persuade her to consent to be reasonable, but it's no use. Ever since she learned that her father's failure was worse even than she at first supposed, she has absolutely declined to listen to argument." "She is a very peculiar girl," said Willoughby. " The only way is to give her her head, I fancy. 286 FACE TO FACE. From remarks she has let drop from time to time I rather think she was a handful at home." " They sent her over here to get rid of her, that's the long and short of it," said Mrs. Willoughby, in- dignantly. " However, I've become exceedingly at- tached to Evelyn," she continued, " and I should like to have her stay with us indefinitely, if only we could be sure she wouldn't commit some dreadful impro- priety that Avould drag us into the newspapers. As it is, if she leaves us, people will say we have turned her out of house and home. Not that I care what people say, but after taking so much pains as I have taken about Evelyn, it does seem rather hard to have her threatening to give music lessons. It is natural, of course, to wish not to be burdensome to her family at this time, and it was creditable to her good feel- ings that the idea of contributing to her own sup- port should have come into her mind. But that she should think of it seriously, after our invitation to make her home with us, is utterly incomprehensible to me. I can't believe now that she is really in earnest There's no use in talking about it. It drives me frantic. I wont believe it until she leaves the house." "There's no accounting for girls any more than there is for horses, I suppose," observed Willoughby. " But it's surprising, to say the least, that Evelyn should have such notions. If it were one of your own country women now ! " "Not a bit of it," interrupted his w r ife. "You wouldn't find a girl of our acquaintance who would FACE TO FACE. 287 act so. We may be unformed and lacking in social perspective, but we know how to educate our daughters better than that. Of course I'm speak- ing of nice people. As for the creatures one reads of in American novels, they exist, I believe, but who ever meets them ? My own belief is that Evelyn has got into her head that, in order to be like an American, it is necessary to be peculiar. Don't you remember what strange ideas she had regarding us all when she first arrived ? She really expected that the prairies were within a stone's throw of New York. And then, too, there is no question that she behaved very singularly during the voyage out, though I have never quite got to the bottom of that performance. Her conduct is one of the conse- quences of our writers of fiction giving foreigners to understand that all our girls are like the heroines of their stories." "I sympathize with you, Clara, entirely," said Willoughby. " It's highly annoying. But what can we do about it, if she chooses to be so mis- guided ? We have no authority over her. We can only reason with her, and, if argument fails, leave her to her own devices and trust for the best. At any rate it is preferable that she should sow her wild oats here rather than at home." "Why so, pray ? " demanded his wife fiercely. Willoughby hemmed and hawed a little. "With- out wishing to be disrespectful to your native land, my love, I should scarcely put the two countries on a par yet," he said. " One still meets very odd peo- 288 FACE TO FACE. pie, both male and female, on this side of the water." " Not in society, Willoughby ; and Evelyn has not met a soul outside of society. She brought with her whatever peculiarities she has." "We might send her home," he said. " She won't go home. I have suggested that. But she thinks the 'field for employment,' as she calls it, is larger over here. Oh, Willoughby, isn't it excruciating ? " she cried, in a tone of despair. "Only think how differently we should feel if Eve- lyn had accepted Ernest Clay. She would have everything that money can command. Well, I did all I could. I have nothing to reproach myself for." " Yes, it was a great pity. Clay was a good fellow. Where is he now ? " " I don't know. In Paris, I presume." Mrs. Wil- loughby gave a squirm expressive of further dissat- isfaction. "Why did he want to go abroad ? His only chance was to remain at home. But no, he would have it he was going abroad to study. When I ask'ed him how long a stay he expected to make, he put on a tragedy face and said, ' It may be for years, and it may be forever.' His mother is really broken-hearted. She was bent on the match. Oh, Willoughby," she added after a pause, " do say you think there is a chance." " A chance of what ? " "That Mr. Brock has left Evelyn something. Now don't look so severe," she said, putting her FACF TO FACE. 289 arms around his neck. " I don't mean any disre- spect. I am dreadfully sorry that he has died. But since he is dead I don't see any harm in won- dering what is to become of his property. Some- body must get it." " I am no wiser than you, Clara. But I should say that my cousin's chance is exceedingly small." Mrs. Pimlico shook her head with an air of wis- dom. " How long will it be before we know ? " she inquired presently. " It is not usual to open the will until after the funeral." She looked a little grave, as though this allusion to the last rites of the dead had made her feel guilty. " Of course we shall go to the funeral," she said, quietly. The conversation was interrupted at this point by the entrance of Evelyn, which caused surprise, inas- much as by the doctor's order the invalid was not accustomed to get up before noon. But she had been convalescing rapidly during the last few days. Although she had received no bodily harm except a slight contusion on the head from her midnight encounter, her nervous system had suffered so severe a shock that she had been greatly debili- tated. Evelyn was still completely in the dark as to the identity of her assailant. She had been unable to distinguish the man's face at the time. Although the rest of the party had been strongly of the opin- ion that De Vito was concerned in the affair, if not 19 290 FACE TO FACE. the actual miscreant with whom she had grappled, she refused to believe him guilty ; though when asked her reasons for presuming him innocent she was forced to admit that they were not substantial. De Vito had been captured the next day on the outskirts of the town. On being charged with the crime he suffered himself in sullen silence to be carried off to prison. Subsequently he refused to account for himself on the night of the attempted robbery or to make any statement beyond disclaim- ing all knowledge of the affair. It appeared by in- vestigation that he had, as reported, taken the train from Clyme Valley on the morning after he was de- tected looking through the window at Highlands, but was seen to get off a few miles further along. There was no other evidence against him, and though at the instance of Mr. Brock the accusation had been pressed, he was not indicted by the grand jury. The intelligence of Mr. Brock's death caused Evelyn great pain. His attentions since her unfor- tunate experience at his house had been unremit- ting. He had called to see her as often as her doc- tor would permit, and had kept her supplied with books and flowers and fruit. She had become ex- tremely fond of him ; so much so that knowing his practical qualities she had been several times on the point of informing him of her determination to sup- port herself. But the consciousness of his wealth had deterred her. She feared lest he might regard her confidence as a covert appeal for pecuniary aid. FACE TO FACE, 2QI In the course of one of these interviews with Mr. Brock during her convalescence she had asked him some questions regarding the relations between capital and labor. She had found him greatly in- terested in the subject, but, rather to her surprise, without clearly defined views as to how the working classes should be treated. He seemed almost bitter at the behavior of his own operatives, instancing what he had done to render them comfortable and happy. At the close of the conversation, however, he had said slowly, as though he were making an admission which went against his grain : " If I had my life to live over again, I suppose I should act differently. I ought to have done more than I did. But you must remember," he added after a moment, " that I had my own way in the world to make. I had very little education, and I was over fifty years old before I had the leisure to consider such questions. Besides, at that age it is hard to adopt new ideas. But with you, my dear, it is different." He had spoken these last words with a kindly look at Evelyn. They recalled the remark which he had made in the wood to her and Clay. Some- thing had turned the conversation at the time, but they had remained in her mind. Only a day or two after this talk with Mr. Brock Ernest Clay had sent her a note to announce that he was going to Europe. He had called frequently at the door to inquire if she were better, but he had never asked to see her. The note contained noth- 292 FACE TO FACE. ing more than a bare statement of the fact that he was to sail in a few hours, and the hope that she might be very happy. Evelyn had been found by Mrs. Willoughby, half an hour later, with tears in her eyes. The note was lying in her lap. She handed it to her Cousin Clara without a word. The latter read it, and after a scrutinizing glance at Evelyn's face, had exclaimed suddenly : " I believe you love that man. Let me send him a line and tell him not to go." " I do not love him," Evelyn had answered steadily. "Then why are you crying?" Mrs. Willoughby inquired, with a cruel persistence. " I am crying because life is so perplexing. You know, Cousin Clara, the doctor says my nerves are not strong." Mrs. Willoughby had made another insinuation to the same effect about an hour later, but Evelyn checked her in so stern a fashion as almost to frighten her fair cousin, who retaliated by observ- ing, " Well, Evelyn, you grow more and more un- intelligible to me every day." This dialogue had taken place about three weeks before Mr. Brock's death. On the afternoon fol- lowing the day of the funeral Willoughby Pimlico entered his wife's drawing-room, and dropping into a chair said : "Well, Clara, I shall never doubt you again." " Then it is true that he has left her something?" Mrs. Willoughby exclaimed, excitedly. FACE TO FACE. 293 " I have several interesting pieces of news," was the answer. " Do be quick, Willoughby." " In the first place, it seems, after all, that it was not De Vito who broke into the house that night. A fellow who was shot a few days ago, while at- tempting to rob a bank, has confessed to having been the man." " Really ? But no matter as to that now, dear. I want to hear about the will." "Presumably," continued Willoughby, "the ras- cal took advantage of the fact that there was a strike in order to divert suspicion from himself." " Yes yes." " Mr. Brock's property is estimated to be even larger than was supposed. The story is that he has left fifteen millions." " How provoking you are ! " she cried, wringing her hands in her impatience. " Why don't you tell me ? There must be something very extraordinary to tell, or you wouldn't aot so." " Clara, prepare yourself for a surprise," he said, rising and standing before her. " With the excep- tion of a few bequests to charity, Mr. Brock has left his entire fortune to Evelyn," "Willoughby, you are joking." " It is true as the gospel." " What ! his entire fortune ? " " Every cent, apart from about half a million which goes to various benevolent institutions. What do you think of that ? " 294 FACE TO FACE. " I'm dazed," she said. " What did I tell you, Willoughby ? I knew he would leave her some- thing. An old bachelor for his wife has been dead so long he was practically that isn't apt to take such a fancy to a young girl as Mr. Brock took to Evelyn without remembering her in his will. My only fear was that his death was so sudden that he mightn't have had time to make the necessary alteration. But it never entered my head that it would be anything like this." "The will is dated a little more than a fortnight ago," said Willoughby. "Only think! Wasn't it providential?" she ex- claimed, with a gasp of satisfaction. " Fifteen mill- ions! It sounds like a novel. Why, Willoughby, she'll be a great deal richer than we are." " Precisely." " It's simply amazing. Evelyn doesn't deserve such a piece of good luck after refusing Ernest Clay. But, thank goodness, she won't be able now to make a goose of herself in the manner she pro- posed. She has money enough and to spare. She can set up her father and the whole family. I'm just crazy to tell her. And you say De Vito turns out not to have been guilty ? Evelyn will be pleased at that too. She always insisted that he was innocent, though I could never see why." " I wonder what she will do with her money," observed Willoughby presently, as he stood strok- ing his beard with his back to the fire. " Do with it ? " FACE TO FACE. 295 " Yes, it isn't reasonable to suppose that she will be content to live quietly as we do. I'm very curi- ous to see what effect it will have upon her." His wife looked at him uneasily. " She interests me," he continued, reflectively. " Of course I didn't approve of her scheme of self- support any more than you did ; but I like her in- dependence. To borrow a bit of your native slang, my love, ' She doesn't care whether school keeps or not.' The mystery is how my Cousin Mortimer came to have such a daughter. He is a pattern of conventionality, you know." " Now, Willoughby, don't put any outlandish notions into Evelyn's head, I beg. She is queer enough already, in all conscience' sake, without your aiding and abetting her." " You needn't be anxious, Clara," he answered. " I'm much too lazy to impart notions to anyone, even if I had any. Ha ! ha ! " The good-natured Englishman laughed gleefully over this jest at his own expense. When Evelyn learned the news that she had be- come one of the richest women in the world, she was speechless with amazement. But Mrs. Wil- loughby, who was radiant, prattled enough for two. The excitement which the sudden windfall caused in the household was so intense that neither of Eve- lyn's cousins remembered to mention to her the fact of De Vito's innocence until late in the evening. Evelyn seemed more aroused by that intelligence than by her good luck, recurring to it again and 296 FACE TO FACE. again, rather to Mrs. Willoughby's perplexity, who had already begun to build all sorts of castles in the air for the benefit of the fortune legatee. The two women sat by the hearth until long after midnight, the one pensive and silent, the other bubbling over with insinuating little speeches. For unswerving as Mrs. Willoughby ordinarily was in coming to the point where she was interested, she felt so far awed by Evelyn's reticence as to refrain from attempting to satisfy her curiosity regarding the future by di- rect interrogation. " It must be a satisfaction to you, Evelyn, that you put on mourning of your own accord, before you heard what he had done for you," she mur- mured, as they rose to separate for the night. " I presume, dear," Mrs. Willoughby added, "you can scarcely be sorry that it will be impossible now for you to carry out your idea of leaving us." Evelyn looked grave. " Of course I ought to be very grateful," she said, " and I am. But so much money is a fearful responsibility, Cousin Clara. What can I do with it ? " There was something almost beseeching in the girl's expression, but this escaped Mrs. Willoughby, who answered cheerily : " You will find it goes a great deal faster than you imagine. There's no such thing in this world as having too large an income. Good-night dear." Evelyn's time was largely occupied during the next few weeks with, the business necessary to the settlement of the estate. Mr. Brock's property had FACE TO FACE. 2Q/ consisted, however, largely of stocks and bonds, which were easily reduced into possession. Law- yers were called in, of course, but Evelyn insisted on understanding every step which was taken. In- terpreters were not necessary to acquaint her with the extent of her good fortune. She realized well from the first that she had become one of the fa- vored few of the earth. But the congratulations of her friends and the personal contact with the world of affairs which she was obliged to undergo stirred and elated her. She felt the joy of almost unlimited power. Under its influence she grew stronger daily, and before long she had recovered all her former vivacity and vigor. Her first act naturally was to relieve the embar- rassments of her father, and in so doing she was scarcely to blame for feeling a trifle triumphant that she the only one of his daughters with whose conduct hitherto he had shown dissatisfaction should be the medium of restoring him to prosper- ity. She had a liberal sum transferred to his ac- count the day after she gained complete control of the property. She was equally decided, after consulting with her Cousin Willoughby, whose slow and perhaps slug- gish judgment she found serviceable at this time, that it would be absurd for her to assume the per- sonal management of her estate. That was what she proposed to do at first, but reflection had showed her that in such an event she would have leisure for nothing else, and would become practically a slave 298 FACE TO FACE. to her investment account. Accordingly she told her Cousin Willoughby one morning that she wished him to find some trustworthy person to take this responsibility off her hands. "That will be very easily arranged," he answered. " I can think of half a dozen good lawyers, any one of whom could be entirely relied upon for the pur- pose." " How long before this could be settled ? " asked Evelyn. " Within a week or two I should suppose." Evelyn was silent a moment. " I have been thinking matters over during the last few days," she said, " and I have concluded to retain myself the entire control of the property at Clyme Valley the Wisabet Mills you know. I suppose there would be no objection to that ? " " Certainly not. You are your own mistress." Willoughby wondered why she wished to make this reservation, but he made no comment and asked no questions. Experience had taught him that his young relative had her own convictions and was not to be gainsaid. " There are a few shares of the Wisabet Company that I do not own," Evelyn continued. "I should like to have them bought for me. I understand, of course, that I shall have to pay more than the mar- ket price, but I am ready to do that." " Very well," answered Willoughby stoically. " I received this morning," she said, " a letter from the superintendent, telling me that everything FACE TO FACE. 299 is quiet and running smoothly at the mill. Most of the strikers have returned to work at the old wages, and the places of the others have been filled." " How came the superintendent to write to you ? " Willoughby ventured to inquire. " I wrote to him first." " I see." Willoughby filled and lit his pipe, humming softly. Decidedly this cousin was amusing. She seemed to him to bid fair to out-American the Americans. " Cousin Willoughby," she asked presently, "how should I be most likely to find Andrew De Vito ? By advertising ? " "Whom?" " De Vito, the striker, who has just been dis- charged from prison you know." Willoughby felt an almost irresistible impulse to ask what possible desire she could have to meet such a character, but he swallowed down his curi- osity and answered. " The authorities at the prison might know." "I've already consulted them, but they have lost sight of him. I've written to his mother also," Evelyn continued, "but she evidently regards my letter as a trap, for she disclaims all knowledge of his whereabouts." "Are you thinking of making him an offer of marriage, my dear ? " he asked, with a humorous smile. "Now don't spoil the good impression you have produced on me, Cousin Willoughby," she answered. 300 FACE TO FACE. " You've let me have my own way so far and haven't bothered me in the least." " I beg your pardon," he said, taking a puff at his pipe. " Marry him by all means if you wish. I wouldn't forfeit your favorable opinion for the world." They both laughed gleefully. " I know I'm dreadfully trying," Evelyn said, " but I can't help it. It seems to be my nature to be so, Cousin Willoughby. You don't know what to make of me," she added, " but you put up with me. On the other hand, I'm a thorn in the flesh to Cousin Clara." "Your Cousin Clara is a very sensible woman," answered Willoughby, recalling perhaps his wife's injunctions as to aiding and abetting. " Of course she is, and that makes it all the harder for her to understand why I'm not impatient to set up a gorgeous establishment and all that sort of thing. She spent last evening in explaining to me the possibilities open to a person with my advan- tages. But I mustn't tell tales out of school. Be- sides there's a great deal to be said on her side of the question." " Here comes the lady in person," exclaimed Wil- loughby, hearing his wife's voice in the hall. Mrs. Willoughby entered with wide-open eyes. "Evelyn," she said, "who do you suppose wants to see you ? You would never guess. It's that dread- ful creature De Vito. I was just coming down the stairs as he was let in. Patterson said to me that a FACE TO FACE. 3