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 ALTIOEA PETO 
 
ALTIOKA PETO 
 
 BY 
 
 LAUEENCE OLIPHANT 
 
 AUTHOR OF 'PICCADILLY,' 'TRAITS AND TRAVESTIES,' ETC. 
 
 NEW EDITION 
 
 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON 
 
OPALS' 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I. altiora's first problem, 
 
 II. ALTIORA SOLVES THE PROBLEM, 
 
 III. THE CALIFORNIANS, 
 
 IV. THE FINANCIAL TRIUMVIRATE, . 
 V. SARK AND "THE CLYMER," 
 
 VI. ALTIORA CAPTURED BY THE CALIFORNIANS, 
 VIL MRS CLYMER MEANS MISCHIEF, . 
 VIIL RONALD MACALPINE's KELTIC ENTERTAINMENT, 
 
 IX. Stella's confidences, .... 
 
 X. MR MURKLE MAKES A DOUBLE PROPOSAL, 
 XI. A PASSAGE OF ARMS, .... 
 
 XII. FLIGHT AND PURSUIT, . . , , 
 
 XIIL THE DUCHESS OP BEAUCOURT, . 
 
 XIV. BEAUCOURT CASTLE, 
 
 XV. THE EARL OF SARK AT BAY, 
 XVL A LITTLE FASHIONABLE CONVERSATION, . 
 XVII. LADY ADELA DASHINGTON, 
 XVIII. SOME PROPOSALS AT A PICNIC, . 
 
 XIX. KEITH HETHERINGTON'S SOLUTION OF THE 
 PROBLEM 
 
 PAGE 
 1 
 
 14 
 
 34 
 
 50 
 
 61 
 
 72 
 
 84 
 
 98 
 
 112 
 
 123 
 
 136 
 
 152 
 
 165 
 
 175 
 
 189 
 
 204 
 
 216 
 
 225 
 
 235 
 
 467 
 
VI 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 XX. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 XXXVI. 
 XXXVII. 
 
 the baroness makes a disclosure, . . 249 
 
 stella comes to the rescue, .... 260 
 
 mattie in an inquiring mood, . . . 269 
 
 moral and chemical explosives, . . . 279 
 
 mr murkle pays a visit, .... 292 
 
 mrs clymer plots revenge, .... 301 
 
 Hannah's toilet, 312 
 
 hannah expounds to the curate, . . 322 
 the effects of an explosion, . . . 333 
 mrs clymer meets a man and a "brother," 343 
 nursing under difficulties, .... 353 
 hannah hears something to her advantage, 364 
 mr collings performs a delicate duty, . 374 
 the party at killboggin, .... 385 
 mr murkle feels that he is a victim, . 395 
 the baron and baroness succumb to cir- 
 cumstances, 407 
 
 a joint confession, 416 
 
 ALTIORA's last WORDS, 426 
 
ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 altiora's first problem. 
 
 Mamma wants to know what I am always scribbling, 
 — if she was a more sympathetic person I shouldn't 
 always scribble — I should pour my heart out into her 
 confiding bosom instead of upon blank sheets of paper; 
 but it is not possible to feel one's self bursting with 
 thoughts without giving them expression in words. If 
 they are not spoken ones, they must be written ones. 
 I have always had a strong impression that I should 
 have found a congenial nature in the late Mr Peto — 
 I mean papa — who died before I was born, and who 
 was a profound but eccentric philosopher, with a quaint 
 vein of humour, of which,- indeed, I am the victim ; for 
 his dying request to mamma was, that if I was a gui, 
 I should be called Altiora — thus making me the sub- 
 ject of a gentle pun, that will stick to me till I die, or 
 
2 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 marry. It was a sort of moral legacy which he left 
 me in default of anything more substantial — a per- 
 petual reminder that I was to soar ; and then he peace- 
 fully passed away, " from waste of nervous tissue," — 
 at least that was what mamma says the doctors called 
 it. They might as well have said protoplasmic decay, 
 or simpler still, " want of breath," as far as any real 
 apprehension of the matter on their part went. 
 
 I have a great many odd feelings about papa : one 
 is that I am morally convinced that the whole of my 
 character is affected by the fact of his having died 
 prior to my birth. Although I am not a spiritualist, I 
 have an indefinable consciousness that he has, in con- 
 sequence, been able to exercise an occult influence 
 over me from the first moment of my existence, which 
 would not have been possible had he remained in the 
 flesh. One of my earliest recollections is overhearing 
 mamma say "that I was the strangest child" — that 
 she couldn't make me out — that I was old-fashioned. 
 It made an impression upon me at the time. I must 
 have been about five then, and I have been thinking 
 over it ever since, until it has acquired the force of 
 a positive certainty — that in a sort of way, if I may 
 venture so to express myself, I am pervaded by his 
 essence, and that, both morally and intellectually, his 
 spiritual nature in some subtle manner is constantly 
 operative within me. I suppose that is why I have so 
 little sympathy with other girls. In the first place, 
 life does not seem to present them with any problems ; 
 
altiora's fiest problem. 3 
 
 they believe everything they are told, take everything 
 as it comes, see no contradictions anywhere, and do 
 not seem haunted by the standing obligation wliich 
 has been laid upon me to " seek higher things." They 
 grovel ; — I don't wish to seem uncharitable — but they 
 really do, and are content. To me life is a perpetual 
 enigma, to which no theological system offers a satis- 
 factory solution — against the reefs of which all philo- 
 sophies break into foam and empty bubbles. Though 
 I am scarcely nineteen yet, I could have hopelessly 
 puzzled either the Archbishop of Canterbury or Mr 
 Herbert Spencer when I was ten. It was at that 
 early age, when subjected to youthful struggles in re- 
 gard to the claims of what was called my " conscience," 
 that I first became alive to the perplexing questions 
 arising out of the nature and composition of what was 
 called my "will." And to this day I can give no satis- 
 factory definition of the word "freedom" in connec- 
 tion with it ; but then I am still very young. Perhaps 
 if I had arrived at some conclusion I should know 
 better what to do about Mr MacAlpine. We have 
 taken a cottage in the Highlands for the season, and 
 Eonald MacAlpine is the younger brother of Lord 
 MacAlpine, from whom we have rented it. We have 
 seen a great deal of each other during the last three 
 weeks ; and his constant presence suggests a problem 
 that other girls seem to have no difficulty about. I 
 have never experienced the sensation before, but I feel 
 no moral doubt that I am in love. To me love is a 
 
4 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 puzzle, to them it is a pleasure. I don't mean to say 
 that there is not a good deal of pleasure in it, but that 
 makes the puzzle all the more annoying. What is it ? 
 Where does it come from ? Did it first come from him 
 or from me ? I don't like going headlong into a thing 
 without knowing a little more about it. Shall I go 
 this afternoon and take a sketch on the beach, where 
 he will, in the most promiscuous and accidental man- 
 ner, certainly go for a stroll ? He has found out the 
 quiet corner where the rocks are so picturesque, but 
 he does not go there unless he sees me, because he says 
 they're nothing without a bit of colour in the fore- 
 ground. So I think I shall escape him by putting on 
 my black dress, because I really ought to finish my 
 sketch. 
 
 Let me analyse. First, there is no necessity to 
 finish the sketch. What was it in me that tried to 
 humbug me with a pretence of duty ? Second, I 
 should not avoid him by dressing in black, and I 
 knew it when I internally proposed it. Evidently 
 the same influence with the same malign intent. 
 Third, and still more subtle, when he came I could 
 pretend that, by not wearing colour, there would be 
 no attraction in the foreground, and that, therefore, 
 I wanted to avoid him, when I really did not, and 
 that I was surprised to see him when I really was 
 not; in other words, false assumption of maiden 
 modesty. I don't exactly know the definition of 
 coquetry, but I should say this was a near approach 
 
ALTIORAS FIRST PROBLEM. 5 
 
 to it, and must be resisted. It is evident there is a 
 strong impulse acting on my will to go and meet him. 
 I suppose it is the force of attraction. If so, what is 
 the nature of the force ? Is it magnetic ? And how 
 does it operate on my will in such a manner as ap- 
 parently to paralyse it ; and then what becomes of its 
 so-called freedom ? I suppose if I was to tell the 
 learned persons who talk about waste of nervous 
 tissue, that I found Mr MacAlpine a highly magnetic 
 individual, they would reply, " Pooh, pooh, my dear 
 young lady ! don't use unscientific terms — you're in 
 love," and consider that a scientific explanation. But 
 I suppose love is a force, just as, I am told, light and 
 heat are, and may be made of molecules, for all they 
 know to the contrary. I wonder why they cannot 
 subject it to scientific analysis. It has a very distinct 
 effect on the circulation of the blood, that is certain, or 
 my heart would not beat so when I see what I suppose 
 I must call " the object of my affections " in the dis- 
 tance. No doubt, when he perceives the bit of colour 
 he is looking for on the beach, the same thing happens 
 to him, and yet he has never uttered a word which 
 betrayed his feelings. Hitherto we have discussed 
 principally the beautiful nature by which we are sur- 
 rounded, from a philosophic and aesthetic point of 
 view. We have discoursed on the science of taste 
 and its possible refinements with our lips, while our 
 hearts seemed to be saying something quite different. 
 I don't know how, but they have. The worst of it is, 
 
6 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 that this silent language is quite irrepressible. Just 
 when my countenance is most impassive and my mind 
 most concentrated in its attempt to grasp the ideas of 
 my companion, that rebellious organ seems to bawl its 
 unspoken language the most loudly. Probably here, 
 again, it is the same with him. This arises, I presume, 
 from what are termed " the hidden laws of sympathy," 
 whatever they may be. 
 
 I have just come back from the beach. I went 
 there deliberately — or, in other words, because I could 
 not help it ; I was drawn. So I did not go through 
 the farce of pretending that I was either surprised or 
 annoyed when I saw Eonald appear. I call him 
 Eonald now — not, of course, to his face, but to myself. 
 He is tall, dark, and in his Highland dress looks the 
 heau-ideal of a Scottish chief. I am afraid, even if he 
 had not been so very clever and agreeable as he is, I 
 should still have liked him on account of his tout 
 ensemble. Why this mysterious sentiment, which I 
 am now experiencing for the first time, should depend 
 so much upon the accident of external appearance, is 
 another puzzle. Can it be possible that so deep a 
 passion can really have any connection with clothes 
 and colour, or that I should have felt differently 
 towards him in trousers ? 
 
 We were both slightly embarrassed wdien we met 
 thus " accidentally on purpose," as it were, to use a 
 somewhat slang expression; and yet I don't know 
 why we should have been, — there was nothing to be 
 
ALTIORA S FIRST PROBLEM. 7 
 
 ashamed of. I became internally indignant, and con- 
 scious of a strong instinct of maidenly reserve strug- 
 gling with a self-assertion which I take to be nearly 
 allied to woman's rights. Of course I don't know 
 what emotions were contending in him, but he looked 
 decidedly nervous, and I think I became uncomfortable 
 sympathetically 
 
 " How do you like the bit of colour in the fore- 
 ground ? " I said ; and I showed him his manly form 
 arrayed in a bright red kilt of his own tartan, which 
 I had just painted in. 
 
 "You do me too much honour. Miss Peto," he 
 replied, and his face for a moment reflected the tints 
 of his garment. " I should much preferred to have 
 seen you there : but the omission may easily be 
 remedied," he added timidly ; " there's room enough 
 on the beach for both of us, you know." 
 
 As this was an obvious truism, I proceeded to put 
 myself in at the opposite corner of the picture, with 
 my back to him. " All pure coquetry," I said to my- 
 self as I did so, " or else a degree of shyness amounting 
 to insincerity." Why should modesty make one dis- 
 honest ? I should have liked to paint us in the atti- 
 tude of Millais's picture — he holding my face between 
 his two hands, and looking lovingly down into my 
 eyes, while I looked tenderly up into his. 
 
 He was looking over me as I was thinking thus, 
 when he said, suddenly, " I know what your thoughts 
 are, Miss Peto." 
 
8 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 " Do you ? " I said calmly, again forcing myself to 
 lie horribly by the cool indifference of my face and 
 manner, for I was in an internal agony of agitation 
 and alarm lest the quickness of his sympathy should 
 have actually divined what was passing through my 
 mind. 
 
 "Yes," he said. "You think my remark imperti- 
 nent, and this is how you are rebuking it." 
 
 "On the contrary, I thought what you said very 
 natural. Why should we not both be on the beach in 
 the picture, since we are both upon it in fact ? " 
 
 " Yes ; but we seem to have quarrelled in the pic- 
 ture, and we have not in fact. Do you know how I 
 should like to be painted ? " and he gently but firmly 
 took my hand and pressed it to his lips. Of course I 
 should have liked to let him keep it, so I snatched it 
 away, and suddenly began to tremble very violently. 
 This shows how utterly incapable the will is under 
 certain circumstances to control the organism. The 
 hatred and contempt I felt for my own body at that 
 moment was indescribable. Why should it possess a 
 power of humiliating me at a time when all my femi- 
 nine instincts, which, I suppose, are my noblest, made 
 me wish to disguise my real feelings towards him? 
 On the other hand, what was there humiliating in 
 allowing him to perceive that I returned his affection ? 
 If I was angry with my body for humiliating me, I 
 felt equally angry with my soul, or whatever the 
 other part of me is, for feeling humiliated. I got so 
 
altiora's first problem. 9 
 
 absorbed in this physiological dilemma, that for a 
 moment I forgot all about him, and putting down 
 my paint-brush — it was my left hand he had kissed — 
 I clasped them both together and gazed vacantly out 
 to sea. 
 
 " Dear Altiora," he went on, " forgive me ; I spoke 
 too suddenly, but it was quite impossible for me to 
 restrain my feelings any longer. Ever since we first 
 met I have waited for this supreme moment. I know 
 that I am only a younger son, and have little to offer 
 you but a heartfelt love, and a nature all sympathy." 
 And so he went on, — I suppose very much the usual 
 thing, only it sounded rather as if it had been prepared 
 beforehand, still it was very pleasant to listen to at 
 the time. I forget a good deal of what he said, for I 
 had so many conflicting emotions to contend with that 
 I did not attend very closely. I think the predomi- 
 nant one was an all-pervading sense of content and 
 happiness, and for some reason my eyes filled with 
 tears. I wonder why one thought has the physical 
 result of producing water in the eye, while another 
 will make all the muscles round one's mouth contract 
 with laughter. Evidently the physical result is con- 
 ditioned on the moral attribute connected with the 
 emotion. In other words, these various emotions are 
 forces, and act dynamically on the organism according 
 to their moral composition, totally irrespective of the 
 will. When Ronald saw my unresisting eyes filled 
 with tears, and an in voluntary expression of deep joy 
 
10 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 flushing a countenance over which I had lost control, 
 he took me in his arms. I had already risen under 
 some undefinable impulse, and in another moment we 
 were in the attitude my mind had pictured, and which 
 had previously suggested itself to Millais. Then I laid 
 my hand on his shoulder and wept silently, and gently 
 disengaged myself, and felt I ought to say something. 
 I had not known what to say as yet — at least not out 
 loud. Of course my heart had been saying a good 
 deal, but I felt it was not to be trusted under the cir- 
 cumstances — and, in fact, that it was seriously disturb- 
 ing the normal action of the brain. So I said softly, 
 "Please go away, and let me sit down and think." 
 
 "I will let you sit down," he replied, "but don't 
 drive me away; and as for thinking, has not your 
 heart told you all ? what more do you want to know ? 
 It has told me, darling, that you love me." 
 
 " My heart does not think," I answered, " and I have 
 not told you anything yet. You've taken me so much 
 by surprise, I don't know what to say. Please don't 
 ask me to answer you now ; " and then, in despair, I 
 took refuge in the duty I ought to have thought of at 
 first, and rising to go away, said, " besides, I must ask 
 mamma." 
 
 " I will come here to-morrow at this hour to hear 
 her decision," he said, as he gave my hand a parting 
 squeeze which I continued to feel for some little time 
 afterwards. 
 
 I wondered as I walked home whether I had be- 
 
altiora's first problem, 11 
 
 haved as other girls would have done under the same 
 circumstances, and confessed to a sense of mortification 
 in the reflection that my conduct had not been by any 
 means so strikingly original as I should have predicted 
 it would have been whenever an event of so much 
 importance should occur to me. 
 
 I have already said that my mother and I never 
 understood each other, and I had a sort of presenti- 
 ment that this was a subject upon which we should be 
 more than ever mutually incomprehensible. For some 
 reason she never seemed to like Eonald MacAlpine, 
 and I thought had always behaved rather rudely to 
 him. As, however, she had been educated in France, 
 and, indeed, had lived most of her life in Paris before 
 her marriage, and could never quite get over her foreign 
 prejudices, I thought it might only be his bare knees 
 she objected to, and it would be ridiculous to allow 
 them to be an insuperable obstacle to our marriage, 
 particularly as we should probably live in England, 
 where he would have to abandon his native costume. 
 
 I may here incidentally observe that it has always 
 been a matter of astonishment to me how a mother 
 and daughter could be so unlike each other ; and after 
 reading Mr Galton's book on heredity, I quite regretted 
 that I had no brothers and sisters, as, I am sure, we 
 should have presented extreme varieties of type. As 
 it is, I suppose I take after my father. I am at least 
 six inches taller than my mother, who is a stout, 
 round, brisk, little woman, very practical and matter- 
 
12 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 of-fact, with a nez retrouss^, light hair, grey eyes, and 
 a temper to match ; whereas I am dark, tall, and by 
 no means rapid or impulsive in my movements, and if 
 I may venture to say so, equable in disposition, though 
 perhaps not as yielding as I ought to be. She was 
 knitting with unwonted rapidity when I went into her 
 room to tell her what had just occurred on the beach, 
 and I judged from the pace at which her fingers 
 were moving that her thoughts were of an agitated 
 character. 
 
 " Where have you been, child ? " she burst out ; " it 
 is past six, and the tea is quite cold. I told you the 
 other day that I disapproved of these afternoon dis- 
 appearances. You told me at lunch you were going 
 into your room to write." 
 
 "So I did, mamma," I replied; "and when I had 
 done writing, I went down to the beach to sketch." 
 
 It had become evident that I could not have chanced 
 upon a more unpropitious moment. 
 
 " Let me look at your sketch," she said suspiciously. 
 " Why, you seem to have put yourself into it. Who 
 is the man in the kilt?" 
 
 " The gentleman in the kilt," I returned with em- 
 phasis, for I felt stung by the sneer, " is Mr Eonald 
 MacAlpine, and it is about him I wish to speak to you. 
 He has just asked me to be his wife." 
 
 " His wife, indeed," said my mother with a sort of 
 snort. "What business has any man, much less a 
 bare-legged pauper, though he is the brother of a 
 
altiora's first problem. 13 
 
 ruined Scotch peer, to speak to you on such a subject ? 
 It is more than impertinent, it is positively indecent. 
 If he had any sense of propriety, he must have seen 
 that I did not encourage him ; and if you had had any 
 sense of propriety, you would have kept out of his 
 way, and not permitted yourself to be insulted. I feel 
 quite ashamed of you." 
 
 " I don't think there is anything to be ashamed of," 
 I retorted ; " I did not propose to him, though I am 
 not sure that I should have felt ashamed of myself if 
 I had. It has always struck me as an anomaly," I 
 continued, musingly, "which I have never been able 
 to explain satisfactorily to myself, why a woman should 
 not be allowed to choose her husband as freely as a 
 husband chooses his wife." 
 
 My recent experience had been a practical refuta- 
 tion of this theory, but my mother had roused my 
 spirit of contradiction, by her unreasonable opposition, 
 to a degree which made me overshoot the mark the 
 other way. I am constantly in the habit of doing this 
 in argument, and it often puts one at a terrible dis- 
 advantage. It did upon this occasion. Instead of 
 putting my mother in a rage, she laughed. 
 
 " I am glad you have spoken so frankly," she said 
 ''As you have taken the matter so completely into 
 your own hands, and as you are so fond of your pen, 
 you can write him a letter which I will dictate. And 
 for the future remember this, — you may propose to as 
 many men as you like, but the man you will marry 
 
14 A.LTIOEA PETO. 
 
 will be the man of my choice, not of yours ; and the 
 person to whom he will make the proposal will be me, 
 and not you. Now," continued my mother — who, as 
 I have remarked, was a woman of very prompt action 
 — "there is no time to be lost;" and she rose and 
 prepared the writing materials. "Here is a pen," — 
 and placing a pen in my hand, she threw herself back 
 on the couch, half closed her eyes to facilitate the task 
 of composition, and began — " Sir." 
 
 At this point I could struggle against my pent-up 
 feelings no longer. Throwing down the pen, I rushed 
 up to my room, locked the door, burst into an agony of 
 tears, — and there I am still. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ALTIOEA SOLVES THE PROBLEM. 
 
 I HAVE not seen anybody since yesterday, except the 
 maid, who brought me in some dinner. This does not 
 arise from temper, but from the absolute necessity 
 which I feel imposed upon me by my name to analyse 
 my emotions calmly, review the situation, and think 
 out deliberately what, from the highest point of view, 
 is the right thing for me to do. My brain was so 
 disturbed at first, that after I recovered from my fit of 
 
ALTIORA SOLVES THE PROBLEM. 15 
 
 weeping, I read an article of Mr Mallock's to soothe it 
 — then I reflected. First, there was my duty to my 
 mother ; then there was my duty to Eonald ; and last, 
 but not least, there was my duty to myself. Then I 
 thought of a higher duty than any of these — one 
 which comprised them all. The problem has, of course, 
 often been presented to young ladies before in some 
 form or other, but it is not until one has to deal with 
 it one's self that one discovers the extreme difficulty of 
 its solution. I had scarcely begun to reason it out 
 before I found that I was not in possession of all 
 the premisses. First, I was in total ignorance of the 
 nature of the sentiment in my own case with which 
 I had to deaL I had, it is true, a certain empirical 
 knowledge of it, but it had only fully and powerfully 
 developed itself in me within the last twenty -four 
 hours, and those had been so stormy that I had been 
 unable to analyse anything. Then if I could not define 
 exactly what I felt myself, how was it possible to know 
 what Eonald felt? And finally, as the whole affair 
 was purely subjective, and afiected only us two, what 
 in the world could mamma know about it ? It seemed 
 to me that the right course for her to have pursued 
 would have been, first, to give me all her own experi- 
 ence (for she had been married before she mamed 
 papa, besides, I believe, having been several times in 
 love in her youth) ; and then, when she had told me 
 all she knew about it, she ought to have advised me 
 not to give any definite answer to Eonald, or to act 
 
16 ALTIOKA PETO. 
 
 hastily, but to explain to him, that the question being 
 one upon which the happiness of our lives depended, 
 we must search ourselves thoroughly, so as to guard 
 against any mere superficial feeling, and put our- 
 selves through various tests and ordeals. My own 
 impression is — but of course I speak without the 
 smallest experience — that it is a matter upon which 
 it would be impossible to come to any safe and definite 
 decision within a year ; and if mamma had left it to 
 my judgment, that is what I should have told Eonald, 
 and no amount of supplication on his part would have 
 made me change my resolution. Instead of which, the 
 more I think of it, the more it seems to me that the 
 speech which she made me was utterly irrational and 
 absurd. It amounted, in fact, to this, that I was to 
 have no voice in the selection of my own husband. 
 The only argument in favour of this mode of proceed- 
 ing is, that I believe it is the one adopted by the 
 French. Perhaps as they are rather a logical people, 
 they may have a good reason for it ; but I shall cer- 
 tainly ask mamma to explain it to me. In the mean- 
 time, it is quite impossible for me to come to any 
 decision until I know why she objects to Eonald, 
 Clearly my course is, therefore, now that I have had a 
 night's rest and am calm, to discuss the subject with 
 her in all its bearings as fully as I can induce her to 
 do ; and then, before acting in any way, to come back 
 and think. I shall, at all events, have more data to go 
 upoD. 
 
ALTIORA SOLVES THE PROBLEM. 17 
 
 I had just come to this determination, when a smart 
 tap at the door warned me that the object of my medi- 
 tations was upon the other side of it. I was glad of 
 this. I have a theory that environment is not alto- 
 gether without a sort of moral value. As people are 
 made up of forces, by which they are reciprocally 
 affected, either positively or negatively, it is not un- 
 natural that these should be affected by the conditions 
 attaching to certain localities. Thus I should be more 
 positive to my mother in my own room, surrounded as 
 it were by my own moral atmosphere, than I should 
 be in hers, where, on the contrary, she would have a 
 corresponding advantage. Dogs, which I take to be 
 remarkably sensitive animals, magnetically furnish so 
 striking an illustration of this, that it has become 
 proverbial; and we constantly witness most abject 
 cowardice on the part of a dog, succeeded by defiant 
 confidence, by mere contact with his own doorstep. I 
 am always conscious of deriving, in some subtle man- 
 ner, a moral strength of some sort, conditioned on my 
 surroundings; and hence it was that I said, "Come 
 in," to my mother, with a feeling of some relief. She 
 was in a very amiable mood, suspiciously so, and came 
 up and kissed me — rather an unusual thing with her. 
 
 "My dear," she said, "you took me so much by 
 surprise yesterday, that I am afraid I spoke with more 
 warmth than I should have done, if I had been pre- 
 pared for the news you communicated so abruptly and 
 unexpectedly. Let us talk it over quietly now, and I 
 
18 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 think I shall be able to convince you that I am con- 
 sulting your own interests in refusing to consent to 
 your marriage with Mr MacAlpine." 
 
 " I have no doubt," I replied, " that you would not 
 have spoken so strongly without good reason, and I 
 was just coming down to ask you to tell me what it 
 was when you knocked." 
 
 " Well, dear," she went on, " from inquiries which I 
 have made, I find Mr MacAlpine's income amounts to 
 £300 a-year, which his brother allows him. It is true 
 that he has been called to the bar, but, so far as I am 
 aware, he has never held a brief ; and I should say, 
 from what I am informed of his habits of life in Lon- 
 don, if he had one, he would be extremely at a loss to 
 know what to do with it. Still, as he is the brother of 
 a peer, and has a certain social reputation of a flimsy 
 kind, as a dabbler in literature, music, and art — though 
 I am not aware that it adds very materially to his 
 resources — I don't know that I should have been so 
 decided in my opposition if the Baron and I had not 
 formed other plans for you ; and when you know what 
 these are, I feel sure that you will quite agree with us. 
 Last year we were obliged to go abroad, so the next 
 will be your first London season; and it would be 
 foolish of you to make up your mind in these barren 
 hills on a question which affects your whole future, 
 until you know what the world has to offer. Believe 
 me, my dear child, we shall spare neither pains nor 
 money to make you a success." 
 
ALTIORA SOLVES THE PROBLEM. 19 
 
 •* But, mamma," I said, " I don't want to be a suc- 
 cess. I don't think it likely that I shall find any one 
 in London I like better than Eonald ; and I shall re- 
 fuse every offer, if any are made, no matter how ad- 
 vantageous they may be, for his sake, if I find, on 
 further acquaintance, that we thoroughly suit each 
 other. You see I am not in the least impulsive or 
 romantic on the subject." 
 
 " Well, darling," she replied, " I don't wish to press 
 you ; I merely wish you to understand the necessity 
 of not committing yourself in that direction, because 
 neither your step-father nor I will ever consent to 
 your marrying Mr MacAlpine. You will very soon 
 get over the passing sentiment you entertain for him. 
 I know this love from experience. Before my marriage 
 with my first husband, the Baron's partner, I was 
 very much admired, and indeed was engaged once to 
 an Italian officer, to whom I was passionately attached, 
 but his parents would not hear of the match : he was 
 killed afterwards in a duel." And my mother touched 
 her eyes with a corner of her pocket-handkerchief. 
 "And Mr Crombie, my first husband, attended his 
 funeral; for poor Yittorio had remained my greatest 
 friend after my marriage. There are so many kinds 
 of love, dear, as you will find out when you have more 
 experience, and the one need not necessarily extinguish 
 the other." 
 
 Part of this speech took me so excessively by sur- 
 prise, and part of it was so enigmatical, that for some 
 
20 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 moments I felt bereft of the faculty of speech. The 
 idea of having several kinds of love — at least outside 
 of one's natural affections for one's relations — was so 
 entirely novel, that I felt I should have to think over 
 the whole matter alone in my room ; so I said, " Thank 
 you, dear mamma ; I am very much obliged for this 
 explanation, and I will think about it." 
 
 " But, dear, I want you to act upon it. You must 
 not allow Mr MacAlpine to remain any longer under 
 a delusion." 
 
 " I can only promise you," I replied firmly, " that I 
 will immediately give the matter my most earnest 
 consideration. Until I have done that, I abso- 
 lutely decline to commit myself to any course of 
 action." 
 
 " How the child takes after her father ! " said my 
 mother, rather snappishly, aloud to herself. Then 
 seeing I was perfectly fixed in my resolution, she came 
 and kissed me again, and said, as she left the room, 
 " Well, dear, now that you know what my wishes are, 
 I will rely upon your sense of duty to give effect to 
 them, without dictating to you the method in which 
 it is to be done." 
 
 My mother made a mistake when she made that 
 spiteful allusion to my father's firmness. She would 
 not have been guilty of the indiscretion in her own 
 room; but I have always felt that mine was per- 
 vaded by his influence, and it was forced out of her in 
 spite of herself, as she became instinctively conscious 
 
ALTIORA SOLVES THE PROBLEM. 21 
 
 that I was inspired with his fixed determination of will, 
 which imposed itself upon hers, and induced her to 
 refrain from pushing me any further. In all that she 
 had said, it was the one sentence that imparted a pro- 
 found comfort, and certainly decided me, as far as in 
 me lay, to avoid taking after my mother. 
 
 And this, again, led me to ponder upon that strange 
 fate which always presented itself to my mind under 
 a veil of mystery, which had snatched the author of 
 my being from this earth before I had appeared upon 
 it ; and I gazed upon the photograph, which was my 
 greatest treasure, with a never -flagging wonder and 
 curiosity. My mother was very reticent in regard to 
 my father, with whose pursuits she evidently had had 
 but little sympathy. She says the subject is too pain- 
 ful for her to recur to, and shrinks from all allusion 
 to it with so much feeling, that I have avoided all 
 reference to it for some years past. All that I know 
 of him is, that he was the only son of a superannuated 
 old general, from whom he inherited a large fortune, 
 which had been made in India, and that my grand- 
 mother, who had died some years before her husband, 
 was a daughter of the Earl of Sark. I am conse- 
 quently full second cousin of the present Earl — a fact 
 which my mother seems far more alive to than the 
 Earl, — though he is almost the only relation I have 
 got, at least that I know ; for my mother's belongings 
 all emigrated to Australia when she was young, and 
 from hints that she has let drop, I think she began life 
 
22 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 as a governess with an Italian family, and then she 
 married Mr Crombie, Baron Grandesella's partner. 
 They were merchants, or in business of some sort, I 
 never could quite make out what ; but after his death 
 she married papa, who died before I was born, and 
 then she married the Baron. 
 
 Ever since, in my early childhood, my attention was 
 called to a duckling which had been hatched by a hen, 
 I had seemed to occupy the same unnatural relation 
 to my mother. The Baron always made the impression 
 upon me of a turkey gobbler, in a perpetual state of 
 strut, and Mr Murkle, the Baron's partner, of a hawk, 
 who only refrained from pouncing upon the hen and 
 the gobbler because they were too big, but who never 
 took his carnivorous eye off me. I feel him perpetually 
 hovering above me. If ever there was a man whom 
 one word could describe, " Murkle " is the man, and 
 "pounce" is the word. This is the sort of domestic 
 barnyard in which I have been brought up. I have 
 roamed with the gobbler, the hen, and the hawk 
 through all the capitals of Europe. We took con- 
 tracts, we founded banks, we obtained concessions, we 
 started companies. The Baron swelled and strutted 
 through the financial political world of Europe, Mr 
 Murkle pounced upon it, and my mother made friends 
 with other hens, and scratched its surfaces, and pecked 
 away at what she found with great assiduity. We 
 have always lived with the extravagance of potentates, 
 — ^I don't mean German princes, but magnates of the 
 
ALTIORA SOLVES THE PEOBLEM. 23 
 
 highest order. That I was being carefully brought up 
 for something, 1 soon discovered; but nothing could 
 cure my unfortunate propensity to swim — in other 
 words, to study. I was unable to have a laboratory, 
 and go in for chemistry as I should have wished, 
 because of the regulations against travelling with ex- 
 plosive materials ; but I had a trunk full of books on 
 science and philosophy, which broke the backs of the 
 railway porters, and the heart of my mother, — at least 
 it injured, if not her heart, her temper. I steadily 
 objected to wasting my time on what are termed ac- 
 complishments. The Baron spared no expense to pro- 
 cure me the best masters, but in vain. Languages 
 came to me as naturally as any other kind of swim- 
 ming ; and I have a taste for art, which is the chief 
 consolation of my mother, who always tries to make 
 me display my erudition on the subject in society, 
 which I naturally decline to do ; in fact, if there is a 
 thing I detest, it is society. As for the purple and 
 fine linen in which both my mother and myself are 
 arrayed, the money spent upon it annually would 
 maintain hundreds of starving pauper families. The 
 Baron, who used to allow me an ample allowance of 
 pin-money, cut me down last year because mamma 
 discovered that I made what she called an improper 
 use of it in relieving distress ; but I have, nevertheless, 
 several pensioners in various parts of the world, whom 
 I maintain on the sale of the lace and embroidery 
 which I unpick from the flounces of my petticoats, 
 
24 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 and send them the money by post-office orders : John- 
 son, my maid, who enters enthusiastically into my 
 schemes, being pledged to secrecy. 
 
 The effect of being so entirely out of sympathy with 
 my belongings, and of finding myself forced into a life 
 so little congenial to me, has been to develop my in- 
 herited tendencies in a premature and irregular fash- 
 ion; and it therefore becomes all the more essential, 
 now that the important question of choosing a partner 
 for life is concerned, to be quite sure that we are 
 thoroughly in accord as to our hopes and aims. So far 
 I had not had any opportunity of discovering whether 
 Eonald, under his agreeable social exterior and varied 
 accomplishments, possessed those qualities and moral 
 aspirations which I longed to find in some one to 
 whom 1 could unburden my own feelings. These are 
 subjects one does not rush into lightly ; and so reticent 
 is my tendency in regard to them, that I did not won- 
 der at his silence on questions affecting the deeper 
 problems of life. It became, therefore, extremely neces- 
 sary to know what we had in common, and only right 
 that, before going any further, I should explain to him 
 the conclusions to which my reading and reflections so 
 far had led me, and my notion of what I considered to 
 be the end and object of my existence. I therefore 
 had some luncheon in my own room, and without 
 going through the farce of taking my sketch-book, 
 strolled down to the rocks, upon one of which I per- 
 ceived him seated, gazing pensively seaward. So ab- 
 
ALTIOEA SOLVES THE PROBLEM. 25 
 
 sorbed was he in meditation, that he was not aware of 
 my proximity till I spoke to him. 
 
 " My darling ! how you startled me ! " he exclaimed, 
 jumping off his perch with pleased surprise. " If I 
 had not been thinking about you so deeply I should 
 have heard you. What an agony of suspense I have 
 been in since yesterday! and now," he said, looking 
 at me eagerly, " the expression on your face tells me 
 nothing to inspire hope." 
 
 '•' I do not mean it should," I answered calmly, but 
 I felt such a strange tightening across the chest that 
 speech became an effort. " Mamma is absolutely and 
 firmly opposed to my entertaining any proposal from 
 you, and will listen to no argument on the subject, so 
 it is useless your recurring to it, either with her or me. 
 I am bound to obey her wishes in the matter; but 
 even if I were not, I should have other things to say 
 to you before I could arrive at a decision. I think 
 it right to tell you this, lest you should imagine from 
 what passed yesterday, that, putting me out of the 
 question, I had no difficulties in my own mind to 
 encounter." 
 
 The intensity of the effort which this speech caused 
 me, imparted a harshness to it that I could not have 
 avoided without bursting into tears ; and now, when I 
 saw what suffering it produced, the trial of nerve was 
 in no degi'ee lessened. My knees were trembling, and 
 my heart was beating so violently, that it suddenly 
 occurred to me to try and restore the moral balance by 
 
26 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 a little physical pain. Under this impulse I leant my 
 whole weight upon my hand, which rested upon an 
 edge of rock. The ragged point was so sharp that it 
 cut me deeply, and under other circumstances I should 
 have been unable to restrain an exclamation of pain. 
 As it was, it acted like a sedative. The effect of phy- 
 sical pain and moral suffering on each other is very 
 curious. First, I have a disagreeable duty to per- 
 form, and the moral effort gives me a physically pain- 
 ful constriction of the chest; then I hurt myself by 
 cutting my hand on a rock, and feel morally strength- 
 ened, and therefore physically relieved. I suppose 
 these are very crude reflections, and that it is perfectly 
 well known by science exactly what physical pain and 
 what moral suffering are, and where they originate. 
 Of course I did not make them at the moment ; but 
 the impulse under which I acted proved a sound one, 
 for Eonald was so taken up bandaging my hand, which 
 was bleeding freely, that we were both able to talk 
 more calmly afterwards. 
 
 " I can understand your mother's objection," he said; 
 " with her it is probably merely a matter of pounds, 
 shillings, and pence: but I don't understand why, if 
 she had consented, you would still have required time 
 for reflection." 
 
 "I should have required to know more of your 
 character, your aims in life, and your aspirations," I 
 answered ; " and I should also have needed some more 
 information than I now possess as to your views in 
 
ALTIORA SOLVES THE PROBLEM. 27 
 
 regard to those deep and mysterious pro-blems which 
 have ever agitated the bosom of humanity, as it is of 
 the utmost importance that two people who propose to 
 pass their lives together should be in entire sympathy 
 upon subjects so vital." 
 
 I thought it best to come to the point at once, 
 for I was quite prepared to assert my rights as 
 a girl who would soon be a woman, and in a posi- 
 tion to defy the maternal authority, if I found 
 him thoroughly satisfactory and sympathetic. An 
 amused smile passed over his countenance as I made 
 this innocent, and, as it seemed to me, very pertinent 
 observation. 
 
 "Have you solved the problems of which you 
 speak?" he said. 
 
 I had in my pocket notes for an essay which I was 
 engaged in writing on "The Anomalies of Civilised 
 Existence, as Tested by Intuitive Aspirations in Ideal 
 Life," but I was afraid of boring him by reading them 
 to him ; so I explained to him shortly, that though my 
 experience of life had been brief, I had lived long 
 enough to discover that the popular theology, so far as 
 its practical social working was concerned, failed to 
 satisfy my rehgious instinct, and that I had there- 
 fore determined to adopt a method of moral research 
 which, so far as my investigation went, had not been 
 attempted, even by the most eminent reformers of 
 ancient or modern times. Those who endeavoured to 
 inculcate a new religious idea, if it had any connection 
 
28 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 with another world or a future life, had always started 
 with the assumption of an inspiration which it was 
 impossible rationally to verify, and which contained 
 the new moral truths that they offered to the world for 
 its guidance and salvation; while, if it had no such 
 connection with the unknown, it became a cold system 
 of philosophy — as, for instance, those of Confucius and 
 Plato, or Comte — which had never been acceptable to 
 the masses, because they appealed so much more to 
 the intellect than the affections. In other words, the 
 attempt of reformers and philosophers hitherto had 
 been invariably to endeavour to construct the life out 
 of the religion, instead of the religion out of the life, 
 by either an act of faith or an effort of intellect out of 
 practical experiment. 
 
 " Then," said Eonald, delightedly, " we agree en- 
 tirely, and sympathise thoroughly. We neither of us 
 know anything, or believe anything — in other words, 
 we are both agnostics." 
 
 He had no sooner made this remark than I felt that 
 all was at an end between us. It was evident, that if 
 he could so little understand my principle of thought, 
 after the clear explanation I had offered him, as to 
 confound it with agnosticism, the very foundations of 
 mutual sympathy were wanting. I thought, however, 
 that it was only due to him to explain this; so I 
 observed that I was so very far from being an agnostic, 
 that I could only account for his supposing me to be 
 one on the hypothesis of a weakness of intellect on my 
 
ALTIOEA SOLVES THE PROBLEM. 29 
 
 part; and I left him to infer that, in my opinion, it 
 included one on his. 
 
 " On the contrary," he replied, " it is considered an 
 evidence of advanced and enlightened thought. How 
 can we know anything more of ourselves than that we 
 are phenomena ? And since we are nothing but phe- 
 nomena, how can there be anything else that isn't a 
 phenomenon ? Everything in the universe and outside 
 of it — if there is anything outside of it — must be all of 
 one piece." 
 
 " How," I said, " knowing nothing, and having no 
 means of knowing anything, do you know that you are 
 a phenomenon ? And what is a phenomenon ? If you 
 start on the assumption that you know nothing, argu- 
 ment becomes impossible ; if you assert that you know 
 anything, you are not an agnostic." 
 
 "Pardon me," he replied; "I know that both you 
 and I exist, but it is impossible for me to know any- 
 thing as to the cause or nature of our existence." 
 
 "That last assertion is assuming a good deal of 
 knowledge for one who knows nothing. Pray, do you 
 consider love a phenomenon in regard to the nature 
 and cause of which you know nothing ? " 
 
 " Ah, it is the most extraordinary and inexplicable 
 of all phenomena, darling, for you: I know that it 
 exists, so far as I am concerned, — why should I care 
 to know more ? " 
 
 " Because, without knowing more, it is evident that 
 we should both make a mess of it," replied I somewhat 
 
30 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 brusquely. " I for one believe that all phenomena, as 
 you call them, are governed by law. How do you 
 account for the world going round the sun ? " 
 
 " Just as I account for my coming to meet you to- 
 day — by the phenomena, not the law, of attraction." 
 
 " Well," I said — for a certain flippancy of presump- 
 tion in his manner of dealing with so momentous a 
 subject offended me — " it has produced in me the 
 sensation of repulsion, and I am the less distressed at 
 it because you know that it is impossible for you to 
 discover the cause of it. It is a simple phenomenon 
 which will not bear discussion; it exists, that is all 
 either of us knows ; further investigation is hopeless. 
 We met, we were both attracted, we exchanged a few 
 ideas; you remained attracted, while I was repelled. 
 Curiously enough, while I am attracting you, and you 
 are repelling me, we both suffer, and shall continue to 
 do so until a new series of phenomena occur. That, I 
 think, is the history of our little romance, looked at 
 from an agnostic point of view." I concluded bitterly, 
 and felt a suspicious desire to blow my nose, which a 
 false pride prevented my doing at the moment, while 
 my eyes were so full of tears that I scarcely dared to 
 wink them. As far as I could analyse my feelings at 
 the time, this emotion was not the result of any noble 
 or tender sentiment, but of sheer vexation and disap- 
 pointment. 
 
 At this critical moment a step on the shingle ar- 
 rested our attention, and turning round I saw a large 
 
ALTIOEA SOLVES THE PROBLEM. 31 
 
 and somewhat ungainly man, dressed in an exaggerated 
 tourist costume of checks and knickerbockers, whom I 
 at once divined to be no less a person than the Baron 
 himself. " Ah," thought I, " he has been telegraphed 
 for." Mamma evidently began to suspect something 
 some days ago. She must consider the matter serious. 
 I had no idea I was growing into such an important 
 personage. 
 
 As he approached he stretched out his arms as 
 though he expected me to rush into them, and his face 
 seemed to beam with affectionate eagerness. " Ah, my 
 little Ora ! " he called out, — he had adopted the last 
 syllable of my name as a pet appellation, preferring it 
 to Alty, which was the only other alternative; my 
 mother never condescended to abbreviate it, — " have I 
 found you at last, hidden away among the rocks like a 
 sea-gull, my picturesque beauty ? " and he folded me 
 slowly in his elephantine embrace. "And my good 
 friend MacAlpine, how well you are looking ! but who 
 would not, in that grand costume ? All, how I envy 
 you Highlanders ! what traditions, what poetry, what 
 romance ! " and after shaking hands with him, he drew 
 back to give him the full benefit of his admiring gaze. 
 He had only seen Mr MacAlpine once before, hut this 
 was too good an opportunity of plunging into familiar- 
 ity with the brother of a peer to be neglected. 
 
 " You are both surprised to see me, no doubt, but, as 
 the French say, there is nothing certain but the unex- 
 pected. Murkle telegraphs me from Paris that my 
 
32 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 presence is required there without delay on business 
 the most important. You have perhaps heard of 
 the nature and extent of our operations, MacAlpine. 
 Everything on these occasions depends upon prompti- 
 tude of action; but I cannot sever myself from my 
 domestic treasures. Wealth, life itself, is valueless, un- 
 less shared by those we love. Is it not so, ma cherie ? 
 What pleasures sacrifices become under such circum- 
 stances ! How delightful was my journey rendered by 
 the anticipation of meeting my wife and daughter ! — 
 though we have not been so long separated." 
 
 " When are we to start, Baron ? " I asked, anxious 
 to put an end to the torrent which I knew by experi- 
 ence would flow without interruption till we reached 
 the house. I never would call him " papa," though he 
 had repeatedly urged me to do so ; but I felt that the 
 sacred name must not be so profaned. 
 
 " I can only allow you one day for packing. Puss. 
 You know how expert your mother has become by 
 long practice in these sudden moves. And you, Mac- 
 Alpine — when shall you tear yourself away from your 
 native heath ? " 
 
 " I don't know," said Eonald, gloomily, who was a 
 good deal depressed by this second blow to all his 
 hopes. The difficulties I had created he evidently had 
 not thought serious, but the prospect of having to part 
 finally from me now rather overcame him. 
 
 " He is an agnostic, and does not know anything," 
 T added maliciously, for I was still smarting under a 
 
ALTIOEA SOLVES THE PROBLEM. 33 
 
 certain self-satisfied presumption he had shown in our 
 argument. 
 
 "FarUeu!" said the Baron. "An agnostic in a 
 kilt — what an odd combination ! Now if you had 
 said an aesthete, I could have understood. Is a kilt 
 aesthetic, Ora ? You understand art, and ought to 
 know. Why should we not seek to adapt the habits 
 and costumes of our ancestors to the thoughts and 
 tendencies of the day ? Why is an agnostic in a kilt 
 more incongruous than a financier in knickerbockers ? " 
 and he looked down complacently on his own. " What 
 knight-errant was it who, in the days of chivalry, used 
 to wear a sun-flower as his badge ? He may have 
 been an sesthete." 
 
 Here the Baron's breath was providentially checked 
 by the steepness of the cliff up which we had begun 
 to climb, and at the top of it we stopped to rest and 
 give Eonald an opportunity of bidding me a last fare- 
 well. I saw the Baron eyeing us narrowly as he did 
 so, so I gave him no clue to my feelings by my manner; 
 and we strolled on leisurely, he volubly expatiating on 
 his activity and devotion to his family and his affairs, 
 and I scarcely listening — ruthlessly scattering to the 
 winds the seeds of that affection which for the first 
 time in my life had just begun to sprout, for an object 
 that had proved unworthy. 
 
 So ends the history of my first delusion. I wonder 
 whether the experience of my life is to be that it is 
 made up of them — whether the satisfaction which most 
 
34 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 people seem to derive from existence, arises from the 
 fact that they live on the surface, and don't dig deep 
 enough to find that it is made up of illusions. That 
 the financial operations of the Baron and Mr Murkle 
 are, has long become clear to me; that the social 
 ambitions of my mother are, is no less evident. All 
 the three individuals with whom my life is most closely 
 associated are pursuing shadows, and they persist in 
 dragging me with them. Next year I am to be 
 launched upon the society of London, and no pains 
 are to be spared to make me a success — in other 
 words, to make me another illusion; that is what it 
 comes to. The only things that seem to me real are 
 poverty, sickness — suffering of all sorts. I am strongly 
 inclined to think that if you go deep enough, every- 
 thing else is sham. But perhaps that is only because 
 I am young, and my experience of life so far has had 
 a tendency to make me morbid. There must surely 
 be another side to the medal ; and on that hypothesis, 
 I solemnly dedicate my life to its discovery. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE CALIFORNIANS. 
 
 In the entresol of one of the most recent and spacious 
 constructions of Haussmann, near the Arc de Triomphe 
 
THE CALIFORNIANS. 35 
 
 in Paris, sat two young ladies of the type which has 
 ceased to produce the astonishment among Parisians 
 that greeted its first appearance, and has become of late 
 not only recognised, but rather the mode than otherwise. 
 They had evidently just arrived; for the room still 
 bore traces of the litter of unpacking, and an angular, 
 middle-aged woman, with severe lines about the corners 
 of her mouth, and a long thin nose with a bridge like 
 a razor, was performing the process usually known as 
 " tidying up." 
 
 " My sakes ! " she said, pausing for an instant in her 
 occupation to look out of the window. " Where air all 
 them carriages a-driving to ? If so many people want 
 to go along that road," she went on, looking contemp- 
 tuously down the Champs Elysees, " I wonder why 
 they don't have a car-track along it! On Sunday, 
 too ! Why, they can't be all a-going to church — can 
 they, my dear ? They are all a-going the same way," 
 and she sank her voice apologetically, as though fear- 
 ing she might have done the gay crowd which was 
 then streaming out to the Bois, a wrong. 
 
 " Oh you silly innocent old Hannah ! What fun it 
 will be completing your education and teaching your 
 antiquated idea how to shoot! Wliy, that is called 
 the heau monde, going out for a drive in the Bois." 
 
 " Oh, the bo mawnd, is it ? And what's the Bwa ? 
 They do seem in an awful hurry to get there. Now, 
 from the looks of them men " — and she gazed critically 
 at the occupants of the roof of a four-in-hand — "if 
 
36 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 that's what thej are on a Sunday, I guess there ain't 
 much to 'em on a week-day. You don't tell me that 
 you've come all the way from Californey to find hus- 
 bands among them chaps ? " 
 
 " Now, Hannah, you mustn't talk so disrespectfully 
 of the male sex because you happen to be an old maid. 
 And we haven't come across the Atlantic to find hus- 
 bands at all, but to amuse ourselves and inform our 
 minds; and we've brought you — you faithful old 
 thing ! — to take care of us, and see we don't get into 
 mischief. And you needn't think it necessary to go 
 about dusting every hole and corner any more, but 
 leave that to the French servants. And now you had 
 much better go and rest yourself, and leave us to our 
 own devices, — only don't forget that I am Stella and 
 Stella's me." At which somewhat enigmatical absur- 
 dity both the young ladies burst into a fit of hearty 
 laughter, and the old one smiled with a grim knowing- 
 ness as she left the room. 
 
 " Oh, Mattie, what a joke it will be, trifling with all 
 their budding, hlasi, or blighted affections, as the case 
 may be ! " And the two girls walked to the window 
 and looked out upon the victims they intended to 
 sacrifice with a calm confidence which, considering 
 they had only reached Paris early that morning for 
 the first time in their lives, proved they were not 
 novices in the description of warfare they proposed 
 to enter upon in the Old World. One of them was 
 tall, graceful, and strikingly handsome. It was not 
 
THE CALIFOKNIANS. 37 
 
 she who had made the last remark, however, betoken- 
 ing so much certainty of their power for mischief, but 
 her companion, who was a good deal shorter, and who 
 made up for her want of looks — for her features were 
 irregular and rather plain — by the extreme brilliancy 
 of her eyes, and the intelligence and mobility of ex- 
 pression. 
 
 " I wonder that Keith has not come to see us yet," 
 said the tall one. " I sent round the first thing to tell 
 him we'd arrived." 
 
 " What kind of a man is he, anyhow ? " asked her 
 friend. 
 
 " That's just what I want to know. I saw his photo- 
 graph once — dreamy blue eye, tawny moustache, plenty 
 of biceps, languid, drawling, aw-aw kind of person, I 
 should judge. The hero of the period, you know — pre- 
 tends to have brains, but to be too lazy to look for 
 them, which is a capital way of concealing their ab- 
 sence. I shall call him Keith right away, and if he's 
 got any sense he'll offer to kiss me. It would be only 
 natural, as his mother was my aunt. She married an 
 attdcM, or a secretary, or a consul, or something con- 
 nected with English diplomacy at Washington. Then 
 he had become a minister and an ambassador, or some- 
 thing of that sort, and my aunt became Lady Hether- 
 ington, and then they both died, leaving some sons and 
 daughters. I never saw any of them, of course, as I 
 was born in California ; and I never expected to, till 
 you asked me to come to Europe with you to see life 
 
38 ALTIOKA PETO. 
 
 and make acquaintance with my English cousins. 
 What a first-rate idea that was ! Oh, I quite forgot," 
 said the girl, suddenly interrupting herself. "My! 
 why, it's you he's got to kiss ! " 
 
 " Well, I don't think the tawny moustache will, much 
 mind making the mistake ; still, for the sake of appear- 
 ances, we ought to decide before he comes which is his 
 cousin. It would not do to give him a bad impression 
 of her at the outset. Now, shall we take him into our 
 confidence, or are we to change places and names at 
 once ? am I henceforth during our stay in Europe to 
 be Mattie Terrill, and are you to be Stella Walton ? 
 Because, if so, you must post me up thoroughly about 
 the late ambassador and your aunt and cousins." 
 
 " Oh, that don't matter," laughed her friend, whom 
 we must henceforth call Stella. " He'll put it all down 
 to Western ignorance. What are benighted beings on 
 the Pacific slope expected to know about their English 
 cousins ? You can be as ignorant as you like. Won't 
 it be a joke ? I do hope he'll turn out a nice fellow, 
 and that you'll fall in love with him, Mattie. We'd 
 all three stay in Europe and have splendid times. 
 Mind you begin by calling him Keith. The only 
 important thing you've got to recollect is that you're 
 a pauper. Left very badly off, poor thing, in conse- 
 quence of that terrible crash in mining-stocks, which 
 ruined your poor pa ; and I must never forget that I 
 am the heiress, the lovely Bonanza, the fairy princess 
 of nuggets, the celebrated Stella Walton." 
 
THE CALIFOENIANS. 39 
 
 " Wasn't it lucky," said her friend, " that the moment 
 I became an heiress I was said to be beautiful ; and 
 that Cedar Buttes was such an out-of-the-way place, 
 that it's a thousand to one if we meet any one we ever 
 saw before ? and if we do, we must swear them to 
 secrecy. I guess the celebrated Californian heiress and 
 her friend will play such a trick on old Europe as 
 will astonish its gilded youth and its match-making 
 mammas ; while it will save me from the dilemma of 
 never knowing whether the impecunious European 
 grandees whom I captivate want to marry me for 
 myself or my money. Oh, Stella, I shall so enjoy 
 seeing them all at your feet. Only remember, dear, 
 they'll all be making love to you for my money, so 
 don't go and lose your heart to any of them. There he 
 is," she exclaimed, as a ring at the bell announced 
 a visitor. 
 
 Excepting that he had a long fair moustache, and may 
 possibly have possessed biceps (for he was a well-made 
 man of six feet), the photograph had evidently con- 
 veyed an entirely wrong impression of her cousin to 
 Stella. His eye was anything but dreamy, and there 
 were depths in its dark blue which, so far from denot- 
 ing the absence of brains, suggested that they were 
 present in an unusual degree. Moreover, there was 
 nothing either languid in his manner or drawling in 
 his speech, and he approached the girls with a frank 
 cordiality which they were not slow to perceive and 
 reciprocate. 
 
40 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 " I am Mattie Terrill, cousin Keith," said the shorter 
 girl, with a charming air of innocence, " and this is my 
 bosom friend, Stella Walton, the great Californian 
 heiress, you know. How kind of you to answer my 
 letter so promptly ! I thought I might venture so far 
 on our relationship." 
 
 " I should never have forgiven you if you had been 
 a day in Paris without letting me know," said Keith. 
 " You must consider me while you are here as abso- 
 lutely devoted to your service. I suppose you are 
 not alone, Mattie. You don't mind my calling you 
 Mattie ? " 
 
 " Why, of course not. How do you mean about our 
 not being alone ? I guess we are old enough to take 
 care of ourselves. There's Hannah, to be sure, but she 
 hardly counts." 
 
 Mr Hetherington looked rather embarrassed and 
 turned to her companion, who, while this dialogue was 
 going on, had sat demurely silent. 
 
 " We're both orphans, you know, Mr Hetherington," 
 she now observed, " but are not the less able to protect 
 each other. Besides, if the men get very dangerous, 
 we can always take refuge in flight. I confess I rather 
 hoped that we might enlist you as our knight-errant." 
 And as she glanced at him confidingly, Hetherington 
 thought he had never seen such lovely long eyelashes. 
 
 " Oh, there is no real danger," he answered, laugh- 
 ingly ; " I was thinking of the proprieties. Paris, you 
 know, which is the least proper city in the world, is 
 
THE CALIFORNIANS. 41 
 
 the most particular about these, — perhaps that is the 
 reason. I wanted your whole party to come and dine 
 with me to-night at Bignon's, and I did not know how 
 many it consisted of ; and then, if you don't mind its 
 being Sunday, we could go to the theatre afterwards. 
 Would you kindly tell me," he added, somewhat shyly, 
 " who Hannah is ? Perhaps we might take her too." 
 
 " I am afraid Hannah would not understand French 
 notions of propriety ; for she would think it horribly 
 improper to go to the theatre on Sunday, and does not 
 think it at all improper our travelling alone," said 
 Mattie. " We brought Hannah with us as an antique, 
 to give us a sort of air of respectability and impose 
 upon foreigners, but not to participate in our amuse- 
 ments, which she would not enjoy, or to act as a 
 restraint upon us, except when we asked her to. We 
 thought she might be useful in case of sickness; and 
 as the dear old thing has no one to care for her at 
 home, and is very poor, and has known me ever since 
 I was a child, I told her to come along. She's the 
 daughter of a Methodist minister, and taught school, — 
 in the primaries, of course, because she only had a 
 third-grade certificate ; so her grammar is faulty. For 
 all that, she knows a good deal more than you or me ; 
 but I think she would be a sort of fifth wheel to the 
 coach to-night, even if she would come." 
 
 " Then it is agreed," said Hetherington. " I will call 
 for you with the fourth wheel, who is a friend I am liv- 
 ing with, this evening, and we shall make a partie 
 
42 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 carr4e. I am sure you will like Bob Alderney, 
 Mattie." 
 
 " If he is half as nice as you are, cousin Keith, I am 
 sure I shall," responded Mattie, with a frank laugh. 
 " I predict we are going to have a lovely time in Paris; 
 and then we'll all go to London for the season." 
 
 "Oh, Mattie," burst out Stella, when the door had 
 closed on Hetherington, " why, he is perfectly splendid! 
 Not a bit like what I expected. I am real jealous to 
 think that he imagines you his cousin all the time. 
 I was quite afraid he would give you a brotherly salute 
 when he went away. What voices these Englishmen 
 have ! — so melodious, ain't they ? And how nicely his 
 clothes do sit ! If his friend Bob Alderney is only up 
 to the same notch, what a pair of beaux we shall 
 have ! This," she said as she rose and struck a melo- 
 dramatic attitude in the middle of the room, " surpasses 
 my most sanguine expectations." 
 
 True to time Hetherington appeared with his friend, 
 who was about three inches shorter than himself, with 
 a black beard and an eyeglass, both in evening cos- 
 tume, — a fact evidently gratifying to the young ladies. 
 They each carried bouquets. 
 
 " I must tell you," said Hetherington, after introduc- 
 ing his friend, as he presented his bouquet to Stella, 
 " that it is not the custom in Paris for young men to 
 make presents of bouquets to young ladies as it is in 
 America ; but we thought you might have neglected to 
 provide yourselves with any. So far as we are con- 
 
THE CALIFORNIANS. 43 
 
 cerned, you may always rely upon us, — mayn't they 
 Bob ? only don't do so in the case of others." 
 
 Stella, who in her capacity of heiress, wore Mattie's 
 jewels, and was otherwise most becomingly attired, 
 looked so radiantly bewitching as her eyes sparkled 
 with the excitement of anticipation, that poor Bob was 
 almost too dazzled to reply with a promptitude befitting 
 the occasion. In fact, he was only recalled to duty by 
 Mattie saying, " Is that lovely bouquet really for me, 
 Mr Alderney?" upon which that gentleman rapidly 
 dropped his eyeglass and stammered an apology as he 
 handed it to her in such confusion that she laughed 
 and said, "Ah, I see, as Mr Hetherington says, it is 
 not the custom, but you'll soon get used to it. How 
 do you propose going, Mr Hetherington ? It's too far 
 to walk." 
 
 "Yes, but I have two coup4s at the door; if you 
 will get into one with Mr Alderney, I will take Miss 
 Walton with me." 
 
 Most of us are too familiar with Paris to realise the 
 first impression which its afternoon and evening life, 
 bubbling over into the boulevards from the cafts, is 
 calculated to produce ; but Hetherington and Alderney 
 had the full benefit of the original observations and 
 gushing spontaneity of their two companions, whose 
 experience of life thus far had been limited to San 
 Francisco and Virginia city, and to whom the novelty 
 and excitement of thus independently launching them- 
 selves upon the glittering surface of Parisian existence 
 
44 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 produced a brilliant gaiety, which seemed irresistibly 
 fascinating to the young men, accustomed to the more 
 reserved and languid beauties of their own society. 
 
 It was difficult to say which was the more sparkKng, 
 the Moselle or the conversation, at that never-to-be- 
 forgotten first dinner at Bignon's, at the end of which 
 Stella had decided that, as a distant cousin of hers had 
 married a distant cousin of Mattie's, they were all 
 cousins together, and it was ridiculous for her to call 
 Keith Mr Hetherington, especially as they were likely 
 to be so much together ; and that, if they began calling 
 each other by their Christian names at once, it would 
 be a protection to all, and be much less particular than 
 if they put it off until later. And Bob Alderney 
 looked so miserable at being left out in the cold, and 
 pleaded so hard to be considered somebody's cousin, 
 and have the same protection thrown over him, and 
 protested so eloquently that he was quite as much a 
 cousin to Keith as Stella was a cousin to Mattie, and 
 that distinctions of this sort were invidious and harm 
 might come of them, that it was decided that he should 
 be included, as no one need know that they had not 
 been intimate from their childhood. 
 
 The Gymnase did not contain a merrier party than 
 the four who comfortably filled the box which Hether- 
 ington had secured; and the attention of the girls 
 was equally divided between what was going on upon 
 the stage and the dresses of the ladies; while the 
 beauty of Stella Walton was creating an evident sen- 
 
THE CALIFOENIANS. 45 
 
 sation, and during the entr'acte a whole battery of 
 lorgnettes was opened upon her from the stalls, with- 
 out, however, in the smallest degree ruffling her self- 
 possession. 
 
 " That fellow ought to know Stella again when he 
 sees her," whispered Alderney to his friend, availing 
 himself of his newly acquired privilege. "He has 
 never taken his eyes, or rather his glasses, off her since 
 the curtain rose. See, he is waving his hand to you ; " 
 and Hetherington saw a tall, dark, handsome man, 
 with raven hair, a hooked nose, a curled moustache, 
 and a lithe figure, a flower in his button-hole, and a 
 large expanse of shirt-front under his white tie, nod- 
 ding to him familiarly. 
 
 *' It's Murkle, the great contractor and financier. I 
 met him several times in Florence, but I didn't know 
 I was so intimate with him as he seems to be with me. 
 I believe he has just got into Parliament. See, he's 
 making signs." 
 
 " He wants you to go and meet him in the foyer" 
 said Alderney. " Let's go ; if what the world says of 
 him is true, he has brass enough to come here, and 
 perhaps that would be awkward." 
 
 " The probability is," answered Hetherington, " that 
 his object in wanting me to meet him in t\iQ foyer is to 
 ask to be presented to the ladies, and it really is com- 
 promising. He is probably quite under a mistake as 
 to who our companions are. This comes of introduc- 
 ing American manners into Paris." 
 
46 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 "Perhaps the young ladies themselves will be the 
 best judges as to what ought to be done." 
 
 "What are you two whispering about instead of 
 amusing us ? " interrupted Stella at this moment. 
 "You don't mean to say that you have a secret into 
 which we are not to be admitted ? Who is that enor- 
 mously fat man, with a blue sash across his shirt-front 
 — and what's" that thing like a cheese-plate on his 
 chest ? — leaning over that equally fat white-powdered 
 woman with the bare shoulders, and the diamond neck- 
 lace, and the double chin ? There ! she's just rapped 
 him on the knuckles with her fan, and he seems to be 
 kissing the place to make it well. What a comical 
 old pair ! They can't be courting at their time of life, 
 and they can't be married. Yet it's for all the world 
 like some sort of love-making." 
 
 " It is love-making of a particular kind," said Hether- 
 ington. " He is a celebrated foreign ambassador, and 
 the star on his breast is a decoration; and she is 
 Madame la Comtesse Polischimoff, a female Eussian 
 diplomatist, and she is pretending to make love to him 
 in order to find out the secrets of his Government, and 
 he is pretending to make love to her to find out the 
 secrets of hers. The love part of it, like the purity of 
 her complexion, is all sham ; but I want to ask your 
 advice." And Hetherington went on to tell her of the 
 celebrated financier, who had by this time disappeared 
 from the stalls, and whose knock he was in momentary 
 dread of hearing at the door of the box. 
 
THE CALIFORNIANS. 47 
 
 " Oh, go and bring him in by all means," said Mattie. 
 " What fun ! — we'll make him put us into some good 
 things. If there is a thing I understand, it is finance. 
 Don't tell him yet that one of us is an heiress, — we 
 will let that sublime fact dawn upon his enterprising 
 mind by degrees. He'll be sure to want funds for 
 something that wants floating, and is sure to make all 
 our fortunes, and then we'll throw our gaudy fly, — 
 won't we, Stella ? Oh, he'll rise to you, never fear. 
 And mind, we are all cousins," she added, as Hether- 
 ington was leaving the box. He met Murkle before 
 he had taken many steps along the corridor, who 
 greeted him with easy familiarity. 
 
 " Ah, Hetherington, I was delighted to see you again, 
 especially in such good company, that upon my soul I 
 could not resist coming to ask if I might be permitted 
 to share it. I had no idea you went in for that sort of 
 thing. Kumour has it that you are above all such 
 weakness ; but human nature — human nature — we are 
 all mortal ; but I give you my word, between friends, 
 I am the soul of honour in these affairs." 
 
 " You are quite under a mistake," said Hetherington, 
 rather stiffly ; " the ladies I am with in the box are 
 cousins of mine, who have just arrived from America ; 
 and as the old lady of the party was unwell " — con- 
 found it! he thought, I wonder what old Hannah's 
 surname is, and whether we could not convert her into 
 an aunt — " I did not like to disappoint them, the more 
 especially as Mr Alderney, to whom I will introduce 
 
48 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 you presently, is — ahem — also a sort of connection. I 
 am sure they will be delighted to make your acquaint- 
 ance;" and he ushered Murkle into the box, whose 
 manner changed considerably at the frigid and stately 
 reception he met with. There was a calm hardihood 
 in the manner of both these young ladies when they 
 scented the least suspicion of danger, that did credit to 
 the early training of Cedar Buttes — a certain under- 
 lying contempt for the male sex as an inferior order of 
 creation, who might understand the use of pick-axes 
 for the extraction of ore, but was a poor defenceless 
 creature when it came to defending itself against the 
 poisoned arrows of their blow-pipes. Mr Murkle felt 
 instinctively that he was in the presence of a new 
 specimen, and that he had better tread warily, and 
 above all, politely ; so he made haste to lay aside the 
 fashionable swagger with which he had entered, and 
 twisted his opera hat apologetically, as he made his 
 best bow, and asked them when they had arrived in 
 Paris, and how they liked it. 
 
 " Pretty well, as far as we've got, to use the expres- 
 sive language of Artemus Ward," said Stella, glancing 
 slily at Hetherington and Alderney. "I confess I 
 don't care much for pleasure, for which this city is so 
 celebrated : I leave that to my cousin Mattie. I in- 
 terest myself chiefly in stocks, and the fluctuations of 
 the money market." 
 
 Mr Murkle was so utterly taken aback by this sud- 
 den revelation of the propensities of the lovely creature 
 
THE CALIFOKNIAITS. 49 
 
 he had been gazing at with so much admiration, that 
 he was unable to find an appropriate reply before the 
 curtain rose ; and for the rest of the evening the two 
 girls were so absorbed by the play that he failed to 
 extract anything from them but monosyllables. His 
 Curiosity had, however, been so highly excited, and his 
 interest so much aroused by the beauty of one, and the 
 obvious originality, in spite of their silence, of both, 
 that, as he was helping to put them into their shawls 
 when the play was over, he aslied, in a most deferential 
 manner, if he might be allowed to call. 
 
 "What is the number and name of our street, 
 Keith?" said Stella; "I never can remember." 
 
 " The street has had a great many names, and will 
 probably have a good many more," said Hetherington. 
 " At present it is called ' Eue du dix-huit Mars, dix- 
 huit cent soixante et onze,' in memory of the first day 
 of the Commune ; and the number is * Quatre-vingt 
 dix-huit.'" 
 
 " Goodness ! " said Mattie ; " who is ever to remem- 
 ber all these dix-huits ? It's worse than the numbers 
 along Fifth Avenue in New York." 
 
 " How very strange ! " exclaimed Murkle : " on what 
 floor, may I ask ? Some of my most intimate friends 
 have taken the premier in the same house, and arrive 
 to-morrow." 
 
 " Then I do hope they ain't noisy," said Mattie, " for 
 they are just above us ; we're on the entresol, I think 
 it is called. Now we really must hurry up, or old 
 
50 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 Hannah will think we're lost. Come, Keith, you and 
 I will go together this time for a change, and send Bob 
 and Stella in the other coup4. Good-night, Mr Murkle ; 
 we shall always be glad to see you." 
 
 CHAPTEE lY. 
 
 THE FINANCIAL TRIUMVIR AT K. 
 
 Grandesella and Murkle had " places of business " in 
 London, Paris, and Florence. These consisted of two 
 or three large rooms, furnished somewhat more ornate- 
 ly than is usual in such establishments, with a small 
 office, in which there were one or two clerks. It was 
 never certain where they were to be found. There 
 was a great convenience attending this difficulty of un- 
 earthing them when they did not wish to be invaded, 
 as the clerk was instructed to say they were abroad, 
 when, in point of fact, they might be in the next room ; 
 or Mr Murkle would say that the afiPair was one which 
 the Baron understood, but to which he had not directed 
 his attention, if it were inconvenient for him to commit 
 himself — and that the Baron was unfortunately in 
 Paris. And when the visitor was gone, the partners 
 would put their heads together and see what was to be 
 made out of the information which Mr Murkle had ex- 
 
THE FINANCIAL TKIUMVIRATE. 51 
 
 tracted. Or if a different impression was to be created, 
 Mr Murkle would lead the visitor with muc. solemnity 
 into the apartment where the Baron sat in great state 
 engaged in a voluminous correspondence. They had 
 one system for London, and another for Paris, and 
 another for Florence, adapted to the usage of the re- 
 spective countries ; but they had not yet succeeded in 
 establishing themselves socially in London society — 
 their undertakings, so far, having necessitated their 
 residence principally abroad ; and although not lacking 
 in boldness of conception or skill in execution, these 
 had not turned out so profitable as had been antici- 
 pated, and upon more than one occasion had involved 
 an amount of sharp practice to avert disaster, which 
 had left them with a reputation not altogether untar- 
 nished: still they had a reputation, such as it was. 
 They were beginning to be well known as enterprising 
 promoters and skilful operators, and they only needed 
 a great coup to have the financial world at their feet. 
 It was in connection with an undertaking which 
 seemed calculated to realise their most sanguine ex- 
 pectations, that Murkle had now telegraphed for the 
 Baron to join him in Paris ; and as the affair was not 
 one which could be concluded in a day, Grandesella 
 had decided upon taking his wife and daughter with 
 him, and had made up his mind to pass the winter 
 there. He was the more inclined to do this, as he had 
 heard from his wife the dangers which threatened to 
 disturb their domestic plans, by the growing intimacy 
 
52 ALTIOKA PETO. 
 
 of Eonald MacAlpine and Altiora, and which he deter- 
 mined to nip in the bud. Hence it was that, on the 
 day following the events recorded in the last chapter, 
 the asphalt of the Eue du dix-huit Mars, dix-huit 
 cent soixante et onze, resounded with the clatter of the 
 hoofs which notified the concierge of No. Quatre-vingt 
 dix-huit, that Baron Grandesella's family and luggage 
 were on the point of arrival, and brought that domestic 
 functionary to the entrance of the port-cocMre, cap in 
 hand, and with an air of obsequiousness appropriate to 
 the reception of a financial magnate. 
 
 "I don't think much of them port cochers," said 
 Hannah, who wanted to inspect the new arrivals, and 
 was darning, with the aid of a pair of magnifiers, an 
 open- worked stocking of Stella's near the window; 
 " they've been and driven right square into the yard. 
 Why, he's never a-goin' to set up a store in this house. 
 I guess he must have chartered a whole car to take all 
 that baggage." 
 
 For the next hour, to Hannah's great annoyance, 
 not unmingled with curiosity, there was such a clatter 
 of trunks and porters past the door of the eiitresol, that 
 at last she could stand it no longer, and walked boldly 
 forth on a voyage of discovery, which led her to the 
 landing above, which she passed as if bent on a mission 
 to the upper regions, and then slowly descended, just 
 in time to find Altiora and her maid struggling with a 
 key in the refractory lock of a trunk at the open door 
 of the antechamber. " Bless you, that ain't no good, 
 
THE FINANCIAL TEIUMVIEATE. 53 
 
 my dear young lady," she remarked calmly ; " it needs 
 being sat upon. Please allow me," and she perched 
 herself coolly on the resisting lid, which still refused 
 to yield to the pressure, and at this juncture Mr 
 Murkle appeared. 
 
 " Welcome to Paris, dear Altiora," said that gentle- 
 man with a display of affection, which was evidently 
 not reciprocated, as she coldly gave him her hand. 
 " Why, you've got a new maid," he added, turning to 
 inspect Hannah ; for Mr Murkle made it a point to be 
 well informed in regard to the details of the Baron's 
 establishment. But before she could reply, Hannah, 
 who, seated squarely on the box, with short petticoats, 
 and feet an inch from the ground, was giving a spas- 
 modic pressure, proceeding apparently from the base 
 of the spine, broke in — 
 
 " Just you come and sit down here alongside of me, 
 and don't talk," she said, making room for him. " I 
 ain't no new maid, and I wish I warn't an old one. 
 You don't expect to make that key turn by standing 
 staring at me, when just a mite more would do it. 
 One would think the man had never seen a woman 
 a-settin' on a trunk before." 
 
 " Who is this person, Altiora ? " said Murkle, angrily; 
 for Altiora's maid had become utterly unable either to 
 grapple with the lock, or to suppress the laughter with 
 which she was internally convulsed. 
 
 " I don't know," said Altiora, " except that she's a 
 very kind one." 
 
64 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 " Why, it's no kindness at all, Miss — only a common 
 neighbourly act, sich as I would expect you to do for 
 me. I think it is for me to ask, who is this man as 
 can leave a lady a-settin' on a trunk, and all but 
 getting it open, and refuses to come and help her? 
 If that's your grand Paris politeness as they make 
 such a talk about, I say give me 'Murikan manners," 
 — and she gave a sudden bump of indignation on the 
 lid, which was exactly the " mite " it needed, for the 
 key turned, and she slipped off, and turning to Altiora, 
 before Murkle had time to give vent to his indignation, 
 said " Good day, Miss ; my young ladies and me live 
 down on the ' entersoul,' I think they call it, and you'll 
 always be welcome ; " and she stumped actively off, not 
 a little pleased to think she had made an acquaintance 
 for her young ladies of so promising an appearance. 
 
 " Oh," said Murkle grimly, as he watched her prim 
 upright figure rapidly disappearing, and remembered 
 Hetherington's explanations of the night before, — " so 
 that's the old lady of the party ! I don't wonder the 
 young ones dispense with such a chaperon, when they 
 go to the theatre alone with young men. You have 
 some neighbours below, Altiora, whom I know slightly, 
 and I think it will be as well for you to let me find 
 out something more about them before you accept 
 this singular female's invitation to make their ac- 
 quaintance." 
 
 " I should prefer to leave that responsibihty to my 
 mother," said Altiora significantly, as she ushered 
 
THE FINANCIAL TEIUMVIRATE. 55 
 
 Murkle into the salon, and instantly vanished upon 
 the pretext of telling Madame Grandesella that he had 
 arrived. As she opened the door, the deep bass voice 
 of the Baron gushed through it, singing Figaro qui, 
 Figaro la, and he promptly followed it into the room, 
 extending both hands towards Murkle, with his usual 
 manner of excessive cordiality. 
 
 "Well, I'm glad it's 'Figaro qui' at last; you've 
 been running things pretty fine," said the latter, 
 "leaving me here all alone to answer inquiries, give 
 explanations " 
 
 "And invent lies," interrupted the Baron. " Par- 
 hleu ! my dear Dick, how could I pay you a higher 
 compliment? What earthly assistance would mine 
 have been to your own brilliant imagination ? Be- 
 sides, I have not been idle. Tell him, Lalla mia;' he 
 went on, addressing the Baroness who just then entered 
 the room, " how skilfully I baited the hook with our 
 heiress, who is dying to see her noble cousin, and 
 whose beauty and talents are only equal to her wealth, 
 — ouf!" and the Baron gave a grunt as if still fatigued 
 with the labour of the task. 
 
 " Lord Sark, it seems, was very suspicious," said the 
 Baroness, coming to her husband's relief. " He is, as 
 you know, Altiora's second cousin, but we have never 
 been able to do more than make him admit the rela- 
 tionship. If we had been a band of Italian brigands, 
 who wanted to capture him and carry him off to our 
 mountains, to hold him for a ransom, he could not have 
 
56 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 been more wary during all these years. It is fortunate 
 that British brigands exist who can play the same trick 
 by the simple device of making a distinguished noble- 
 man the director of a joint-stock company, limited. 
 Philippo found him in great trouble, dreading liquida- 
 tion, exposure, and I don't know what more besides, 
 unless he could find some great capitalists to come to 
 the rescue." 
 
 "And Grandesella and Murkle, with their great 
 financial connection, are going to assume the liability 
 of the company, and save his lordship from disgrace, 
 I suppose," said Murkle, cynically; "and pray, what 
 are we to get in return ? " 
 
 "What a gloomy view of things you always take, 
 mon cher, before you thoroughly understand them ! " 
 said the Baron. " In the first place, I have gone care- 
 fully into all the patents possessed by the Universal 
 Scintillator Company ; and by becoming its possessors, 
 and making a contract disposing of it to the Dark 
 Continent Electric Illumination Company, of which 
 you and I, my dear Dick, are the promoters, we can 
 retrieve the ruined fortunes of the one, and float the 
 other, with the Earl of Sark as a sort of aristocratic 
 trait d'union. "We will entangle him, mon ami, in the 
 meshes of our financial net until he is our slave, when 
 we will marry him to Altiora ; and with rank at the 
 helm and beauty at the prow, to borrow the image of 
 the poet, the bark of Grandesella and Murkle will 
 breast the social waves until it is safely moored in the 
 
THE FINANCIAL TEIUMVIRATE. 57 
 
 haven, let us say, of royalty, — after that, titles, honours, 
 decorations, political life, and fame. What say you, 
 Sir Eichard Murkle, Bart., M.P., G.C.M.G. ? " 
 
 " I say," said Murkle, " that it won't work, for the 
 very simple reason that I intend to marry Altiora 
 myself; and you know very well, Laura," he added, 
 turning with a fierce emphasis on the Baroness, " that 
 neither you nor Philippo here, nor Altiora herself, can 
 prevent me. You don't suppose I became a partner in 
 that little arrangement which we entered into eighteen 
 years ago, when I resigned Laura to you, Philippo, to 
 be dictated to now ! " 
 
 " Eesigned me ! " and a glance of very evil meaning 
 shot from the Baroness's cold grey eye like a poisoned 
 dart, as she turned upon Murkle ; " yes, you resigned 
 me, because I refused you then, as I refuse my daugh- 
 ter to you now. She is not adapted for the rdle of a 
 professional beauty, if that is how you mean to advance 
 your fortunes in London," she went on, with a sneer ; 
 " and even you could not force her to assume it." 
 
 " I think," replied Murkle, rising, and speaking in a 
 voice of suppressed passion, " the person best able to 
 judge of that matter will be Altiora herself. There is 
 that little mystery so familiar to us all, but of which 
 she has been kept in ignorance, which, when I reveal 
 it to her, as I propose to do at once, will put the matter 
 beyond a doubt." 
 
 " Ta, ta, ta," interrupted the Baron, drumming his 
 fingers on the table, " don't be so impetuous, Dick ; and 
 
58 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 you, Lalla mia, don't aggravate our old friend. If you 
 two can't be bound by the chords of affection and long 
 association, at least remember that we may all be ruined 
 if you quarrel. Unity is force ; for my part, I love you 
 both : I never forget that we all hang by the same rope." 
 
 " Not yet," said Murkle, and his lip curled with a 
 sinister smile. " I think we had better not discuss 
 how many ropes we may hang by. The subject is not 
 a pleasant one, but I did not start it. I am glad you 
 recognise, Philippo, that you cannot make any plans 
 with regard to Altiora without consulting me first. If 
 you always bear that in mind, there need be no ques- 
 tion of hanging." 
 
 " Sapristi! what a knack you have of raking up 
 unpleasant topics ! How was I to know that you 
 had placed your battered affections upon the girl 
 you've known ever since she was born ? Let me 
 see : as you say, that's more than eighteen years ago 
 now, and the house of Grandesella was an obscure 
 commission agency in an obscure Italian town, and 
 Eichard Murkle was an obscure clerk in it then." 
 
 " And Laura was an obscure and disconsolate widow, 
 whom I resigned in favour of my obscure employer, 
 upon condition of being made a partner in the firm," 
 interrupted Murkle. 
 
 "And who made both your fortunes by the money 
 she brought with her," added the Baroness, tartly. 
 
 " Basta I " said the Baron, " let us have no more of 
 this. We none of us could have got on without the 
 
THE FINANCIAL TRIUMVIRATE. 59 
 
 other ; if we fall out, some honest man, if there is such 
 a thing, will get his rights ; you know the old proverb. 
 Let us leave. the marriage question and get back to 
 business. I have told Lord Sark that he must come 
 over here and satisfy himself in regard to the terms 
 of the concession, by which he becomes a co-proprietor 
 with us of the extensive privileges we have obtained, 
 if he can persuade the board of which he is the chair- 
 man, to hand over the company to us at our own terms, 
 which, considering the difficulties they are in, can, I 
 think, be satisfactorily arranged. Of the merits of my 
 project financially, there can be no question, Dick, as 
 you will see when we go into it together; if you 
 don't agree to its advantages matrimonially, we will try 
 another combination. In the meantime, Ora has been 
 most useful as a decoy. She's a young lady with a 
 will of her own, and if you can force her inclinations 
 neither Lalla nor I will interfere;" and he cast a covert 
 glance at his wife, who seemed on the look-out for it, 
 and who snapped it up so dexterously, that it was 
 undetected by the sharp eyes of Murkle. 
 
 " Dear Altiora," she remarked ; " I am afraid she 
 has thrown away her heart upon Mr MacAlpine, 
 and that both Kichard and Lord Sark will have some 
 trouble with her." 
 
 Murkle turned an uneasy look of mistrust at the 
 Baroness at this observation. " I won't trouble you to 
 inform me who Mr MacAlpine is," he said, " of whom 
 I now hear for the first time, or what the state of 
 
60 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 Altiora's affections may be, as I have the girl lierself 
 to apply to, and can rely upon her veracity," and he 
 emphasised the last two words. "Now, Philippo, I 
 am ready to attend to the expos6 of your project." 
 
 The Baroness, who was accustomed to assist at these 
 deliberations, took up her knitting, and followed the 
 two men as they plunged into the intricacies of those 
 financial combinations — that were afterwards to ap- 
 pear in a very different form in an attractive pro- 
 spectus — with a subtle apprehension of their mysteries, 
 which could only have been acquired by long practice, 
 from time to time interposing observations, to which 
 both men listened with a respect rarely accorded to the 
 fair sex where such matters are concerned. The trium- 
 virate protracted the stance until even Murkle was 
 convinced that the Earl of Sark and his " company " 
 might be turned to a most profitable account to them- 
 selves, if not to his lordship ; and under the soothing 
 influence of the delightful prospect thus opened, and 
 the persuasive accents of the Baron, who was an adept 
 in the art of peacemaking, when it suited his purpose, 
 mutual confidence was to all appearance restored, and 
 a tacit understanding arrived at, that nothing was to 
 be gained by anticipating the complications likely to 
 arise when the force of circumstances should compel 
 decided action to be taken with regard to the destiny 
 of the girl, round whom so many interests, both of 
 heart and pocket, seemed likely to centre. 
 
SAKK AND "THE CLYMER." 61 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 The Earl of Sark was one of the best known and 
 most popular men in London. When, at the age of 
 three-and-twenty, he had a few years before seconded 
 the Address in the House of Lords, he captivated in 
 his first sentence a whole file of peers' daughters, who 
 had obtained seats in the gallery on that occasion. In 
 his second, their mammas began critically to examine 
 him through their eyeglasses, and devise schemes for 
 his capture in the matrimonial net. With the third, 
 he made his first point, and the leader of the Opposi- 
 tion pricked his ears, and felt that a young gladiator 
 had entered the arena, who was likely to give trouble, 
 and prove an inconvenient reinforcement to the enemy. 
 And when he had concluded his fourth, the whole 
 of his own side burst forth in a well-modulated and 
 guardedly enthusiastic " Hear, hear," which so excited 
 Sark's intimate friend, young St Olave, that that un- 
 petuous young nobleman, who had taken his seat 
 for the first time, in an unguarded moment actually 
 clapped his hands, thus, though he instantly checked 
 himself, producing a shiver of dismay throughout the 
 august assembly, from which it did not recover for 
 some moments, and from the effects of which the 
 noble lord on the woolsack suffered until dinner-time. 
 
62 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 By the time Sark had concluded his brilliant oration, 
 his best friends began to regret bitterly that he should 
 have been thrown away upon the Lords. It was 
 evident that he had the right stuff in hini, and he was 
 just the sort of man the party needed sadly in the 
 Lower House. That evening all London, by which I 
 mean all the people who crowded to the three drums 
 between which they oscillated, talked of nothing but 
 Sark's speech ; and that nobleman was quite tired of 
 looking modest, and receiving and deprecating compli- 
 ments, until he staggered off to bed under the weight 
 of his honours, the happiest and most triumphant man 
 in England. It was generally admitted that he was 
 the most eligible parti of the season. Fairly rich, an 
 earl of ancient lineage, and with an undoubted talent, 
 which should place him in the first rank of the states- 
 men of his day, he had all the necessary matrimonial 
 requirements, — add to this the secondary considera- 
 tions, that he was extremely good-looking, of a frank, 
 generous nature, and reported by his contemporaries 
 to have good principles, and we cannot wonder that 
 young ladies, when they saw him approaching in a 
 ball-room, fluttered their fans with a slightly enhanced 
 vigour, arising from nervous agitation, while their 
 cheeks sometimes flushed faintly, and their eyelids 
 drooped timidly — in the case of cUhutantes, aware that 
 the maternal eye was upon them at these trying mo- 
 ments. The more seasoned ones took another line, 
 and carried him off to corners, in mortal dread of his 
 
SAPvK AND "THE CLYMEE." 63 
 
 falling a prey to some unprincipled young married 
 woman, who, having made her own game, continued to 
 poach unrestrainedly on the preserves of her younger 
 sisters on promotion. Such, in fact, in spite of all 
 their precautions, actually occurred; and just as the 
 Duchess of Pentonville had flattered herself that her 
 eldest girl. Lady Adeliza, had finally landed him at her 
 feet, mother and daughter saw him, to their dismay, 
 fairly and apparently irrevocably hooked by "that 
 horrid Mrs Clymer." Mrs Clymer was never called 
 anything else by a certain class of mothers but " that 
 horrid Mrs Clymer/' Sometimes the epithet was " dis- 
 gusting;" but that was only when some tale was 
 narrated, "quite between ourselves, you know, my 
 dear," As a general rule the epithet was thought too 
 strong, as there was no circle, however exalted, in 
 which Mrs Clymer had not achieved success. There 
 had always been a halo of mystery about her, which 
 added immensely to her prestige. You had only to 
 look at her to feel that her life had been a romance. 
 If you were sentimental yourself, she could put on an 
 air which at once touched you — for you felt that she 
 was a woman that had suffered. If you were an artist, 
 you saw by the exquisite taste of her dress that she 
 had a soul which could soar above that baser region 
 of modern aestheticism, into the purer region of a still 
 more sublime conception of what constitutes pure art. 
 If you were horsey, she would give you a lead across 
 country ; and if you asked her where she learnt to be 
 
64 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 at once so daring and so graceful in the hunting-field, 
 she would fling back her wind-tossed locks recklessly, 
 and tell you " in the Pampas of South America." If 
 you were musical, she had the voice of a siren — and 
 notes which, with a running accompaniment of glances, 
 and " variations " on the feelings, vibrated to your very 
 soul. Her lithe supple figure moved gracefully, with- 
 out affectation. Her soft white hand possessed a power 
 of thrilling when you clasped it which was simply 
 marvellous — she would have said magnetic. Her little 
 foot, with its high-arched instep, had been immortal- 
 ised by a sculptor at Eome, and may be seen any day 
 in its nude perfection on the mantelpiece of her per- 
 fectly furnished little house in Mayfair — where there 
 is a sanctum to which only intimates are admitted, 
 containing many curious articles of vertu and interest- 
 ing relics, which she keeps as reminiscences of her 
 former life; for Mrs Clymer has lived much and 
 widely. She had only been a season or two in London 
 when she captured Lord Sark, and was then not much 
 over thirty; but she looked a mere girl, and took 
 society by storm by the force of her accomplishments, 
 — her ready wit, her ingenious audacity, her extreme 
 loveliness, and air of ineffable innocence. For two or 
 three seasons before that she had frequented the water- 
 ing-places in Europe which are the most affected by 
 the British aristocracy ; and they admitted her freely, 
 because she said she was American. And so she was, 
 so far as nationality was concerned, but Americans 
 
SARK AND "THE CLYMER." 65 
 
 denied all knowledge of her in their own country. 
 This she explained by the fact that her father, though 
 a citizen of the United States, had been an officer in 
 the army of some South American republic, where she 
 was born, and that he had subsequently, on the death 
 of his first wife, entered into speculations connected 
 with torpedoes in the Mediterranean, where he had 
 married a Levantine; and thus she had acquired the 
 knowledge of most European languages, in which she 
 was a proficient, and the fortune which he left her at 
 his death, after having separated from his second wife. 
 But all these details are hazy and obscure, and subject 
 to modification, as they are a sort of patchwork result 
 from scraps of information, extracted at various times 
 by different people. There was another history, quite 
 different, which begins in the Levant, with a good deal 
 of Italy thrown in, and ends with South America. 
 Probably, if anybody had ever seen Mr Clymer, that 
 gentleman could have thrown some important light on 
 the whole matter : Mr Clymer was the individual with 
 whom so much mysterious suffering was connected. 
 He seemed to have behaved badly on some occasion in 
 Asia Minor ; but the subject was evidently so painful, 
 that no one was heartless enough to press for informa- 
 tion. He had married her for her fortune, of which, 
 however, she seemed to have saved a good deal, and 
 then ill-treated her, or deserted her, or deceived her. 
 He, too, was said to be an American, and was supposed 
 to be living, if he was living at all, in California ; but 
 
 E 
 
66 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 Mrs Clymer so plainly gave it to be understood that 
 any reference to this mythical individual was painful 
 to her, that society readily conceded it was nobody's 
 business but Mrs Clymer's. There was nothing Amer- 
 ican about her, at all events. She was thoroughly 
 cosmopolitan — indeed, so much, that she and the 
 American Minister have never been good friends since 
 the celebrated occasion when he made a difficulty 
 about her presentation at Court. Mrs Clymer was not 
 a woman to be baffled, and eventually carried the day, 
 and has taken her revenge ever since by holding up 
 her own countrymen and countrywomen to ridicule 
 upon every possible occasion. What gives Mrs Clymer 
 her great hold on London society is the hypothetical 
 existence of Mr Clymer ; she is just enough married 
 to be a safe person to fall in love with. There can be 
 no possible danger of having to marry her, " because 
 of Clymer, you know." Matchmaking mammas be- 
 came anxious to verify the fact of Clymer's non-exist- 
 ence ; because, if Mrs Clymer was either a widow, or 
 had never been married — and conjecture, in regard to 
 her, stuck at nothing — then if they could marry her to 
 some weak-minded nobleman, and be done with her, it 
 would be a great riddance of a matrimonial obstacle. 
 Moreover, the more widespread and well founded the 
 suspicion of Clymer's non-existence became, the more , 
 likely were lovers to become demoralised for fear of 
 possible consequences. When Sark fell a victim, 
 society at large uttered a general groan of dismay. 
 
SAKK AND "THE CLYMER." 67 
 
 The mothers were enraged, the daughters dejected, the 
 politicians nervous and disappointed. "That woman 
 Clymer will be the ruin of Sark," said Lord Basinghall; 
 " he has utterly given up all interest in ' The Foot-and- 
 Mouth Disease Bill * ever since she got hold of him. 
 They say that story of her having a fortune of her own 
 is a pure invention ; that she is in debt for the rent 
 of her house, and for everything there is in it ; that it 
 has all been lent her on speculation by some enter- 
 prising usurer, and now that Sark is paying all her 
 debts with interest. His infatuation is something 
 incredible. Not but that she is as handsome as a 
 Peri, and as innocent-looking." 
 
 " They say he was offered oJBBice the other day, and 
 refused it — couldn't spare the time. Talks of taking 
 Mrs Clymer a cruise round the world in his yacht, with 
 Hurst and Lady Dolly to do proper. I never knew a 
 woman go to the bad so fast as Lady Dolly has, since 
 she has become the amie intime of the Clymer," added 
 Lysper, a young Guardsman, who had been making 
 furious love to Mrs Clymer until Sark's appearance on 
 the scene had rendered any further pursuit hopeless. 
 
 " I have been trying to persuade Sark to give up that 
 idea," said Lord St Olave mournfully, " and I think I 
 have succeeded. He says he must do something to 
 economise. I hear he lost a lot on the Ascot Cup day. 
 I never knew him bet before ; but it seems that woman 
 made it a test of his affection to back some horse she 
 has an interest in. I believe she is a professional 
 
68 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 gambler, and goes in for a lot of speculations on the 
 sly, in spite of all her demure ways." 
 
 " I know she dabbles in city things," said Lysper. 
 " I used constantly to meet a stockbroking cad at her 
 house, who used to worship at that shrine when I was 
 amusing myself there ; and there was always a myste- 
 rious whisper before he took his departure, which I am 
 sure meant business of some sort." 
 
 " Say rather mischief," said Basinghall. " Poor Sark ! 
 It is really heartbreaking to think what a loss he is to 
 the party. It is like the measles, and must run its 
 course ; it's impossible to do anything to save him now, 
 he's too far gone." 
 
 So it happened that Lord Sark's finances, becoming 
 embarrassed under the influence of the fair adventuress, 
 he plunged into City speculations, with the aid of the 
 young stockbroker above mentioned, to retrieve them, 
 having much faith in that gentleman's experience and 
 Mrs Clymer's sagacity — a confidence which turned out 
 to be quite misplaced ; and he was just in the agonies 
 of the financial dilemma alluded to by Baron Grande- 
 sella when that astute financier proposed to rescue him 
 if he would pay a visit to Paris to be enlightened as to 
 certain combinations by which he was to become part 
 proprietor of the concessions obtained by the promoters 
 of the Dark Continent Electric Illumination Company, 
 and derive immense profits as chairman of that com- 
 pany, when it had been successfully floated upon a 
 confiding public. Sark felt rather nervous when he 
 
SAEK AND "THE CLYMER." 69 
 
 had decided upon this step without first consulting 
 Mrs Clymer, and broke it to that lady with a degree of 
 trepidation which turned out to have been unnecessary. 
 She was just in the humour for a trip to Paris, she 
 said. The London season was still in the distance, and 
 the idea of new financial combinations charmed her 
 almost as much as the prospect of renewing her toilet 
 at Sark's expense, and her intimacy with her old friend 
 Worth, who, it was said, or rather she said, had from 
 time to time been indebted to her for some of his 
 best ideas; and she assured Sark he allowed her a 
 heavy discount in consequence. They did not, how- 
 ever, come over by the same train, or even go to the 
 same hotel — for though their relations were tolerably 
 notorious, they still respected the external proprieties ; 
 indeed Mrs Clymer had discovered that her intimacy 
 with so distinguished a nobleman, so far from injuring 
 her position in London society, had distinctly the effect 
 of consolidating it. Many country houses were now 
 open to her, because Sark was almost certain to refuse 
 unless " that horrid Mrs Clymer " was asked — he was 
 such a charming social addition ; so, for the matter of 
 that, was she. And as they both made a point of 
 exerting themselves to the utmost under these circum- 
 stances, it cannot be denied that their presence con- 
 tributed largely to the success of these rural aristo- 
 cratic gatherings. Moreover, there was a certain relief 
 in finding that Mrs Clymer was provided for, even at 
 so great a sacrifice ; and she no longer was pronounced 
 
70 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 SO " horrid/' now that she had given up " flirting all over 
 the place/' as Lysper elegantly expressed it. Though 
 neither the Grandesellas nor Murkle had ever seen her, 
 they were familiar with her photograph in the shop- 
 windows, and with her reputation in the social week- 
 lies ; and were too conversant with the weaknesses of 
 human nature to suppose for a moment that she would 
 allow Lord Sark to come to Paris alone. Though her 
 name had not been mentioned in the discussion which 
 had taken place about Altiora, it had been present in 
 the minds of all three ; and they all saw in her a pos- 
 sible ally, whose merits they were too divided in senti- 
 ment at that moment to discuss. The Baron thought 
 that when it came to the point she could be bought off 
 — ^he had an unbounded belief in the power of money ; 
 the Baroness saw in her a trump-card, which might be 
 played with advantage when she took her hand in the 
 social rubber of her first London season ; and Murkle 
 saw a dangerous rival to Altiora in Sark's affections, 
 whose jealousy he would not be slow to excite if neces- 
 sary. It was to this hornet's nest that the unconscious 
 Sark glided at the rate of thirty miles an hour in the 
 train which conveyed him from Boulogne to Paris. 
 
 It would be instructive but tedious, as most instruc- 
 tive things are, if I were to attempt to describe the 
 intricacies of the financial net in which the Paris 
 triumvirate entangled Sark, by means of a dexterous 
 combination of the two companies in whose fortunes 
 he was destined to become so deeply involved. The 
 
SARK AND "THE CLYMER. 71 
 
 process was rapid and skilfully managed. For the first 
 two or three days Grandesella and Murkle saw him 
 alone ; then, when he was sufficiently muddled by the 
 jargon of financial detail, and dazzled by prospective 
 results, they descended to the topics and necessities of 
 everyday life, of which eating is one of the most essen- 
 tial, and Sark was in due time committed to a dinner 
 with the Baroness and Altiora, which he returned by 
 another at the Cafe Anglais, at which the whole party 
 met Mrs Clymer, who said she always came to Paris at 
 this season, and was so delighted to find that she had 
 accidentally so timed her visit as to meet Lord Sark, 
 and expressed her eternal gratitude to the Baron and 
 Baroness for having been the means of bringing him 
 over so opportunely. She seemed instinctively to find 
 in Murkle a kindred spirit, and her voice sank to such 
 a sympathetic cadence, her large eyes beamed upon 
 him so languidly and so confidingly, and her cheek 
 flushed so slightly as they exchanged glances for the 
 third time, that Sark, who happened to look up at the 
 moment, felt a twinge of jealousy, and took another 
 survey of Murkle from quite a new point of view. 
 " So my astute financial friend aspires to be a lady- 
 killer," he thought, and then laughed away his suspi- 
 cion as he felt the Clymer's gaze burning into his soul. 
 He was so accustomed to the sensation that he did not 
 need to look up to know that she was waiting to re- 
 assure him by an unuttered language, of which he had 
 learnt to read every secret. So this dinner, which was 
 
72 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 only the prelude to many succeeding ones, passed off 
 very well. The only discordant note in the party was 
 Altiora; but as this history could never have been 
 written were it not for the access which I happen to 
 have had to that young lady's own journal, her experi- 
 ences can best be narrated in her own words. 
 
 CHAPTEK VI. 
 
 ALTIOEA CAPTURED BY THE CALIFORNIANS. 
 
 At last the Baron and mamma have achieved the 
 great object of their ambition, and have captured Lord 
 Sark. " Altiora," said mamma, when he called, " let 
 me introduce you to your cousin Lord Sark." I 
 thought his lordship winced slightly, but that may 
 have been imagination — he was too well-bred to show 
 anything but cordiality ; but we had no mutual rela- 
 tions to talk about, which made it awkward. 
 
 " I have another cousin in Paris," he said at last, 
 with a smile, " whom I must look up. He is quite an 
 oriental pundit, and buries himself in the ancient 
 literature of the Zoroastrians, or some other extinct 
 species. Have you ever met Bob Alderney ? " 
 
 As I had never even heard of him, I was obliged to 
 confess my ignorance, and tried to engage Lord Sark 
 
ALTIORA CAPTURED BY THE CALIFORNIANS. 73 
 
 in a discussion in regard to the pursuits of this other 
 new-found relative, with whom I may possibly find 
 some interests in common ; but I soon became instinc- 
 tively conscious that I was boring him, or rather that 
 he was boring himself. Neither mamma nor I could 
 discuss London society, nor politics, nor sport; we 
 tried art, but he seemed to know nothing about it. 
 There was left finance, about which I knew mamma 
 was dying to talk to him, but felt that it would not be 
 discreet; and when he alluded to Mr Murkle, I felt 
 sympathetically towards him as a fellow-victim who 
 was to be pounced upon. I shall warn him about this 
 the first time I have an opportunity. It certainly is 
 an anomalous position morally for a girl to find herself 
 in, but I feel that I owe it to the late Mr Peto to be a 
 traitor in the family camp. Dear papa ! I am certain he 
 must have been the soul of honour, from the overpower- 
 ing inclination which possesses me to unearth villany 
 and expose hypocrisy wherever I meet it. I am sure 
 there is a serious side to Sark. He told me always to call 
 him Sark, in an undertone which mamma did not hear. 
 I suppose it is the fashion between second cousins in 
 the aristocracy. At all events he is worth saving, 
 merely as a human being. He is certainly honest, and 
 has a heart ; but I suppose he has what mamma calls 
 "the vices common to young men," whatever these 
 may be. How much I have of life yet to learn before 
 I can make myself of any practical use to others ! It 
 is ridiculous to suppose that because I am a girl, I 
 
74 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 cannot do good honest service to young men. Pure 
 conventionalism, which I am determined to break 
 through. 
 
 "We have just come home from dining with Sark. He 
 invited an American lady, Mrs Clymer, to meet us. 
 As soon as I touched her hand, I felt a slight shiver 
 and a painful constriction of the chest. The only 
 other person who sometimes affects me in the same 
 way is Eichard Murkle, but then the pain is generally 
 in the temples. I wonder how doctors account for 
 this. I suppose they would tell me it is imagination, 
 and did not exist at all ; but not only do I know, as a 
 positive fact, that it exists, but I know vaguely what 
 it means. There is something radically wrong about 
 that woman, and she feels that I know it. I was puz- 
 zling over the various phenomena she presented to me, 
 when I suddenly looked up and caught her eye fully 
 before she had time to lower it. For a second all the 
 blood left her face, and then came back with a rush. 
 I suppose blushing and faintness are imagination too, 
 and don't exist at all. If the look of one person at 
 another can produce a flush or a pallor, why may the 
 emotion not be intensified until it is felt as a pain ? 
 And if a look can do it, why should not a touch do it 
 still more effectually ? What passes from eye to eye 
 to produce this effect may surely pass from hand to 
 hand. It must be a moral force of some kind, " act- 
 ing " on what the doctors call the nerves. That word 
 
ALTIORA CAPTUEED BY THE CALIFOKNIANS. 75 
 
 " acting " is very convenient. It entirely dispenses with 
 any explanation of how the acting is done, so it is a 
 good deal used by scientific men. It is quite evident, 
 at any rate, that I was " acting " on Mrs Clymer, and 
 Mrs Clymer was " reacting " on me. We did not re- 
 quire to say anything to each other to do this. She 
 was doing a good deal of acting all round. She was 
 acting on Murkle, who is too swarthy to blush, but 
 there is an almost imperceptible twitch in the muscle 
 of his upper lip on these occasions; and she was 
 acting on Sark, who sighed. Neither the Baron nor 
 mamma seemed to feel her influence in the slightest 
 degree. When we parted, and Mrs Clymer took both 
 my hands in hers and looked lovingly into my eyes 
 with a face of radiant innocence and gushing affection, 
 and said, " Dear Miss Peto, I am so glad to have had 
 this opportunity of making your acquaintance. We 
 have all been so merry to-night, that I have not had a 
 chance of really talking to you, but I feel sure we shall 
 be great friends. You must let me see a great deal of 
 you ; " — when she said all this with much effusion, I 
 felt that she was making a deliberate declaration of 
 war to the knife ; and she knew I felt it by the warmth 
 with which I returned her pressure, and which seemed 
 quite to please Lord Sark, who said, "Good-bye, 
 Altiora," to my mother's great delight. 
 
 Going down -stairs yesterday, I met my elderly 
 friend, who had so much scandalised Mr Murkle by 
 asking him to sit with her on the lid of my trunk. 
 
76 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 She was standing at the open door of the entresol, talk- 
 ing to a beautiful girl who had evidently just come in 
 from a walk. " Why, here's the very young lady her- 
 self," she said, holding out her hand to me with the 
 greatest cordiality. " I was just a-sayin' to Mattie — 
 Stella, I mean," she corrected herself, "as bein' all 
 strangers together in a strange land, and such near 
 neighbours, it was only becoming as we should go and 
 see whether you wasn't feelin' kinder lonely like, with 
 your parpa and marma out so much." She laid the 
 emphasis on the first syllable of the words papa and 
 mamma, as if I was a lisping infant. 
 
 The lady she called Mattie and then Stella blushed 
 slightly as she bowed, and said, " I must apologise for 
 so informal an introduction ; but I was just explaining 
 to my friend here that our being strangers and neigh- 
 bours scarcely warranted our taking the liberty she 
 suggests, though I am very glad " — and she looked at 
 me with such frank, truthful eyes, that my heart 
 warmed to her at once — " of any accident which may 
 give me the pleasure of making your acquaintance." 
 
 " Well, there ain't no use standing talking out here 
 in the cold, anyway," broke in her companion ; " so 
 come in and have a cup of tea. This is Miss Walton 
 — my, now if I didn't as near as anything say Miss 
 Terrill — and Miss Terrill is indoors." 
 
 There must have been a good deal of what the 
 Americans call " personal magnetism " in the old lady, 
 for I yielded unresistingly to her will, explaining to 
 
ALTIORA CAPTURED BY THE CALIFORNIANS. 77 
 
 Miss Walton, as I did so, that ever since my first meet- 
 ing with her friend I had cherished a hope that we 
 might become acquainted. 
 
 A girl was sitting reading as we entered the salon, 
 and my first friend, who seemed inclined to take all the 
 responsibility of my introduction upon herself, said, 
 "Here, Mattie — laws, now, if I warn't jist a-goin' to 
 say Stella ! — here's Miss — I didn't rightly catch your 
 name — come to see you." 
 
 " Altiora Peto," I said, laughing. 
 
 "Now you mustn't apologise," interrupted Miss 
 Walton, seeing I was going to excuse my abrupt 
 entrance. " This is Mattie Terrill, and this is Hannah 
 Coffin, one of the old New Hampshire Coffins ; though 
 she has been a long time away from New England, she 
 has a good deal of the old Puritan ring to her still — 
 haven't you, Hannah ? " 
 
 But Hannah had no time to reply, for Miss Terrill 
 was expressing her welcome ; and in half an hour we 
 were sitting over our tea like old friends. 
 
 I confess I was very nervous as to how I should 
 break the fact of my new acquaintances to my mother, 
 who would be sure to treat them with the utmost 
 rudeness if, as was most probable, she did not approve 
 of the whole proceeding; and I was haunted by the 
 vision of an abrupt termination of an intercourse which, 
 from its originality, I was beginning to enjoy im- 
 mensely. I thought it best to prepare the minds of my 
 new acquaintances for this eventuality, and yet it was 
 
78 aLTIORA peto. 
 
 a most difficult matter to approach. As I was medi- 
 tating upon it, Miss Terrill said — 
 
 "I think we know a friend of yours — Mr Murkle. 
 He promised to make us acquainted before your 
 arrival." 
 
 This rather astonished me, and led to a whole history 
 of theu' first visit to the theatre, under the guidance 
 of Miss Terrill's cousin, Mr Hetherington, and Mr 
 Alderney, who turns out to be none other than my 
 own unseen cousin Bob, first brought to my conscious- 
 ness by Lord Sark. 
 
 " Why, you don't say ! " laughed Miss Terrill, as she 
 clapped her hands, after listening to my explanation, — 
 " then he's your cousin too, and we're all cousins ! 
 Well, now, ain't this perfectly lovely ! This is a new 
 version of ' Our American Cousin,' and we'll call Lord 
 Sark Lord Dundreary." 
 
 We had just arrived at this satisfactory conclusion 
 when the timhre sounded, and in walked Mr Hether- 
 ington and Mr Alderney. 
 
 " Mr Alderney," said Miss Walton, her eyes dancing 
 with mischief, " let me introduce to you your cousin. 
 Miss Altiora Peto." 
 
 Mr Alderney, who was evidently a shy man, was 
 overcome with embarrassment at being thus unex- 
 pectedly brought face to face with an unknown rela- 
 tive, and apparently had a strong suspicion that he was 
 being made the subject of chaff; but he had too much 
 politeness under the circumstances to give vent to it, 
 
ALTIOEA CAPTURED BY THE CALIFORNIANS. 79 
 
 SO he only bowed and murmured something about 
 being too delighted. 
 
 " Lady Mary Alderney, who married General Peto, 
 was my grandmother," I said, by way of explanation. 
 " I suppose you know that Lord Sark is in Paris ? " 
 
 Mr Alderney said that they had exchanged notes 
 but had not met, — and then the conversation became 
 general. I was surprised to find that they all seemed 
 more or less distantly connected, and called each other 
 by their Christian names, and were evidently on terms 
 of the greatest intimacy, which was the more remark- 
 able, as neither Mr Hetherington nor Mr Alderney had 
 been in America, and this was the first visit of the 
 young ladies to Europe. It was a decided relief to my 
 mind when I discovered that Miss Walton was a great 
 heiress. This would quite reconcile my mother to the 
 irregularity of the circumstances under which I had 
 made their acquaintance, and to the fact that they 
 were travelling without any other chaperon than Miss 
 Coffin, who seemed to live with them on terms of per- 
 fect equality, though evidently a person who had not 
 enjoyed the same advantages of education and social 
 training as her friends. 
 
 There was something so refreshing in the origmality 
 and spontaneity of the whole party — in the utter 
 absence of conventionality, and in the genuine warmth 
 of natures not yet chilled by contact with what is 
 called polite society — that I felt myself expanding 
 and reviving under its influence, like a tropical plant 
 
80 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 rescued from the frost and put into a hothouse. I 
 was just allowing myself the full luxury of the sen- 
 sation, when I detected a suppressed sigh, and a whis- 
 pered " Poor darling ! " unheard by the others, who 
 were all talking together, and found Miss Coffin's 
 black eyes, which combined a singular benevolence 
 of expression with a very piercing quality, fixed 
 upon me. 
 
 "Guess I've got to kiss you: I don't know what 
 come to me that I did not think of it sooner. You 
 need to be loved, my dearie — that's what's the matter 
 with you," she murmured, as she put her arms round 
 me. " You go on talking, and don't mind us," she 
 said sharply, turning to the others, whose conversation 
 had been suspended by the movement. " Time enough 
 to stare like that," she added, turning to Mr Alderney, 
 who had put his glass in his eye the better to observe 
 her proceedings, " when it comes to your turn." Upon 
 which he dropped it with a blush, and both the girls 
 laughed heartily, and I resigned myself to her minis- 
 trations with a sensation of calm content which was 
 entirely new to me ; and yet all she did was to sit by 
 my side and hold my hand without speaking, with a 
 fixed dreamy look into my face. "You're a-goin' to 
 have trouble," she said, after a pause; "and if I'm 
 anywhere about when it comes, you come to old 
 Hannah. I've never been a mother," she added with 
 a sigh, "and I ain't comfortable and fleshy to lean 
 upon; but I've got a mother's heart, my dear, and 
 
ALTIORA CAPTURED BY THE CALIFORNIANS. 81 
 
 when I feel a-drawin' to any one like I do to you, it's 
 because I've got a use to 'em somehow. Now it don't 
 seem to me, so far as I can feel, as you ever rightly 
 knew what a mother's love was. Well, well, I've 
 known mother-love kill a mother, same as I've known 
 the want of it to kill a daughter. It all happened in 
 my own family. I had two sisters, my dear, and one 
 of 'em married a man as wasn't of much account, 
 against our mother's will, and mother would never 
 see her again ; and she took it to heart so, she died. 
 And the other sister married, and had a daughter as 
 married a mighty rich man; but he was downright 
 bad, and she left him, and she was that proud she 
 never let it be known where she had gone to; and 
 her mother — that's my sister — never could hear of 
 her again ; and so she took it to heart, and pined for 
 that daughter till she died. It comes of feelings not 
 being properly divided, my dear. Why on airth do 
 heartless mothers have lovin' daughters, and heartless 
 daughters have lovin' mothers ? Well, well, it's all 
 a puzzle." 
 
 " I feel that sensitive, my dear," she continued after 
 a pause, " to people as I feel a-drawin' to, that I know 
 when they are bein' starved for love by a chill as 
 catches me all about the heart. It gets to feel cold 
 and withered up like — just as though a lump of ice 
 was in my chest, that was a-meltin' away and leaving 
 nothing. The way I know who it is as is suffering 
 is because of the sudden love I feel for them, that 
 
 F 
 
82 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 seems to rush into that cold empty place. That tells 
 me I can do 'em good, and I can feel it sorter comin' 
 back to me from the person. E"ow, dearie, you just 
 keep on a-lovin' me all you have a mind to. Why, 
 old and thin as I am, I've got a life in me as will 
 build you right square up." Then she stopped 
 abruptly, and after a moment added in a sharp tone, 
 which contrasted strangely with the wonderful tender- 
 ness of her voice hitherto, " Come into the corner — 
 we're too near them chattering folks here now ; " and 
 she added when we could talk more freely, " I want 
 you to tell me all about your mother." 
 
 Even if I had desired, which I did not, it would 
 have been impossible for me to have resisted the im- 
 pulse which I felt to take this stranger into the con- 
 fidences of my heart. There was such a completeness 
 of comprehension in her sympathy; she seemed to 
 divine my meaning so far beyond what it was possible 
 for me to express in words; her faculty of intuitive 
 perception was so infinitely more acute than anything 
 I had ever met with in any individual before, and so 
 much at variance with the external impression pro- 
 duced by her apparent lack of education and refine- 
 ment, — that I felt more and more surprised at the 
 union of such exquisite tenderness and sensibility with 
 so much that was strange and uncouth. When, after 
 describing the influences by which I was surrounded, 
 I went on to give her some idea of my own views and 
 aspirations, she listened as one to whom such thoughts 
 
ALTIORA CAPTURED BY THE CALIFORNIANS. 83 
 
 were familiar — who had fathomed depths upon the 
 edge of which I was timidly venturing, and attempted 
 flights, the possibility of which I was only dimly con- 
 templating. Time slipped by so rapidly that I felt I 
 was only beginning to unburden myself, when I was 
 recalled to a recollection of its flight by Mr Hethering- 
 ton and Mr Alderney getting up to take their leave. 
 
 " I shall see Lord Sark to-morrow, and ask him to 
 introduce me to Baron and Baroness Grandesella," 
 said the latter, " when I hope often to have the 
 pleasure of seeing you." 
 
 "My, how stiff you English are!" said Mattie. 
 "She's your own cousin; why don't you just run 
 up-stairs and call at once? We can find out from 
 the concierge whether the Baroness has come in." 
 
 "No, no," he replied smiling; "it is as well to be 
 on the safe side. First I'll call with Sark, and he'll 
 introduce me ; then I'll call with Keith, and introduce 
 him ; then we'll bring Sark here and introduce him to 
 you ; then we'll expatiate on your merits to the Grande- 
 sellas and bring Sark's influence to bear, and they'll 
 come and call on you; then you return their visit; 
 then we'll all set sail together and go down before the 
 wind." 
 
 "And Mr Murkle, and Mrs Clymer," I mentally 
 ejaculated as I listened to this programme, "they'll 
 want to go down before the wind too. I fear me it 
 will be an ill wind, but I trust it may blow ' somebody 
 good.'" 
 
84 ALTIOKA PETO. 
 
 "Good-bye, and God bless you, my dearie," said 
 Hannah — I can't call her Miss Coffin any more — 
 giving me a last embrace. "That's right," she said, 
 turning to Mattie and Stella as they too kissed me; 
 "you make much of her — she's worth it." 
 
 " You bet," said Stella, laughing. " Now you gentle- 
 men mustn't be shocked if I occasionally indulge in 
 slang — I'll only do it when we're quite alone; but 
 there are moments — such, for instance, as a parting 
 like this — when it's a relief to one's feelings. One 
 must say something, and I was brought up with a 
 prejudice against swearing." 
 
 CHAPTER YIL 
 
 MRS CLYMER MEANS MISCHIEF. 
 
 The more Mr Murkle saw of Mrs Clymer, the more 
 he felt convinced, not only that she was a person 
 whom it would be more desirable to have as a friend 
 than as an enemy, but that she might, under the cir- 
 cumstances, be especially valuable to him in the former 
 capacity. He therefore determined to cultivate her 
 acquaintance; and when he asked her what was her 
 usual hour for receiving, she quite understood, and 
 so did he, that one which Lord Sark was not likely 
 
MRS CLYMER MEANS MISCHIEF. 85 
 
 to choose was the one which would suit them both 
 best. Eor she, too, felt instinctively that in Murkle 
 she would find a natural and congenial ally. If he 
 was afraid of Lord Sark's attractions as a possible 
 husband for Altiora, she no less dreaded the fas- 
 cination which Altiora might possess for Lord Sark. 
 While she saw in him a financier whom she might 
 turn to profitable account for herself, he saw in her 
 a confederate through whom he might hold the Baron 
 and Baroness in check, if he had reason to suspect 
 they were playing him false. Moreover, there were 
 two or three weak points in the financial combination 
 to which Lord Sark had become a party, which it was 
 not impossible that she might detect ; and he felt that 
 it was desirable, therefore, that they should discuss 
 the matter fully, and arrange the nature of the parti- 
 cipation in it of Mrs Clymer herself. It was a great 
 relief to Murkle to find, after thoroughly explaining 
 the whole subject to that lady, that though undoubt- 
 edly an unusually clever woman, her business capacity 
 was decidedly inferior to that of the Baroness, who had 
 been trained principally by Murkle himself; and he 
 was easily able to satisfy her that Sark was in good 
 hands, so far as his pecuniary prospects were con- 
 cerned, and to obtain from her a promise of cordial 
 co-operation on terms which he could easily afford 
 to offer. It is wonderful how a conversation, con- 
 ducted upon purely business principles between two 
 people of opposite sexes, who are neither of them 
 
86 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 overburdened with scruples of conscience, creates a 
 rapid intimacy. Each feels a relief as each recognises 
 in the other a breadth of view, where moral questions 
 are concerned, which curiously enough, instead of in- 
 spiring mistrust, produces rather a sense of admira- 
 tion. They each conjecture that there must be a 
 point to which it would not be safe to go without 
 shocking the other, and they may possibly each won- 
 der if the other suspects how remote that point is; 
 but so long as the necessity does not arise, there is 
 evidently no use in going to it. In this confidential 
 intercourse both feel the same scorn of hypocrisy, 
 both the same impulse to a sort of frankness which 
 engenders a certain sympathy ; and Mr Murkle and 
 Mrs Clymer could not have felt more intimately ac- 
 quainted if they had known each other for years, 
 than at the end of their first two hours' chat over the 
 way in which the public were expected to contribute 
 to the pecuniary resources of the contractors and pro- 
 moters of the Dark Continent Electric Illumination 
 Company. Indeed it is probable that the result of 
 a long acquaintanceship would have left them very 
 much less friendly than they were now. 
 
 " Is it true that Miss Peto will have a large fortune 
 of her own, or is she dependent on Baron Grande- 
 sella ? " asked Mrs Clymer. 
 
 " The Baroness brought a large fortune to the Baron 
 on her marriage," replied Murkle. " The late Mr Peto, 
 who died suddenly, left the whole of his property un- 
 
MRS CLYMER MEANS MISCHIEF. 87 
 
 reservedly to his widow ; and as, on her marriage, she 
 refused to have it placed in trust, contrary to my 
 strong representations, it remains with her and her 
 husband to make any settlement on their daughter 
 that they choose." 
 
 "Are they in a position to make a large marriage 
 settlement on her now, and would they do it if they 
 were ? " 
 
 " No doubt they could settle a large sum of money 
 on her, but its amount would depend upon whom she 
 married. If she were to marry her cousin, Lord Sark, 
 for instance, I believe they would make a very con- 
 siderable sacrifice." 
 
 " Should you like to see her married to Lord Sark, 
 Mr Murkle ? " and as Murkle hesitated for a moment, 
 Mrs Clymer extended her hand to him with an air of 
 the most engaging sympathy. He put his into it, and 
 to cover his embarrassment — for this woman, having 
 got off finance, was now on her own ground — he put it 
 to his lips. "Tell me frankly," she went on. "We 
 have not known each other long ; but we women, you 
 know, are quick where affairs of the heart are con- 
 cerned, and I have not seen you together without 
 forming my own conclusions. And she, does she re- 
 ciprocate ? " 
 
 "You seem to know so much," said Murkle, "that 
 you need scarcely have asked me that." 
 
 " I see," said the lady, pensively drawing her hand 
 from Murkle's, and putting her finger to her fore- 
 
88 ALTIOKA PETO. 
 
 head. "First, we have to prevent Miss Peto from 
 being married to Lord Sark; secondly, we have to 
 marry Miss Peto to Mr Murkle ; thirdly, we have to 
 make the Baron give Miss Peto as much money when 
 she marries Mr Murkle as he would have given her if 
 she had married Lord Sark. Excuse my being so 
 blunt, but there's nothing like bringing down affairs of 
 the affections to a business basis." 
 
 " But whom are we to marry Lord Sark to ? " said 
 Murkle, who did not quite relish Mrs Clymer's offhand 
 way of arranging such delicate matters, considering 
 that she was as deeply concerned in them as he was. 
 " I made the acquaintance of a lovely American heiress 
 a few nights ago, who, I think, would just be the per- 
 son to help the Dark Continent Electric Illumination 
 Company to retrieve his lordship's shattered fortunes." 
 
 " Mr Murkle, I imagined you a person of more sense 
 and better taste than to allude to me of Lord Sark's 
 marriage; it is neither sensible nor delicate to force 
 me to talk on a subject which I should not be ashamed 
 to discuss with you if there were any necessity for it, 
 but which I gave you credit for sufficient penetration 
 to understand without expecting me to explain it to 
 you. If you don't understand it, I have entirely over- 
 rated your intelligence; if you do, you should never 
 have alluded to it, even by implication. How long 
 had you known the Baroness before her marriage?" 
 she asked abruptly, without giving him time to apolo- 
 gise or to recover from the blow thus roughly dealt. 
 
MKS CLYMER MEANS MISCHIEF. 89 
 
 The effect upon Murkle of her whole speech was very 
 much that which is produced by the sudden hiss fol- 
 lowed by the pat of a cat ; and though not a person 
 easily rebuked or abashed, he winced involuntarily at 
 the last significant allusion. The movement was not 
 lost upon the sharp eyes of his questioner ; and with- 
 out waiting for an answer, she added — "She must have 
 been an attractive woman twenty years ago, and her 
 fortune must have made her doubly so. I wonder you 
 allowed the Baron to carry her off. The Baroness tells 
 me he was not a Baron then ; " and Mrs Clymer rose, 
 and in her most silvery tone and tenderest accents, 
 continued — "I am so sorry, dear Mr Murkle, that I 
 must send you away now; I have an appointment 
 with Lord Sark, and must go and get ready to go out. 
 I have so enjoyed your visit, which I hope will only 
 prove the first of a series, now that we find we have so 
 many interests in common ; " and she touched the bell, 
 and Murkle found a servant waiting in the ante-room 
 to show him out, before he had clearly realised that 
 his visit had terminated. 
 
 He left the house with a disagreeable sensation 
 of defeat, and a consciousness that Mrs Clymer had 
 already discussed him with the Baroness, and was not 
 the woman to make new acquaintances without in- 
 vestigating their antecedents. 
 
 It is only due to Murkle to say that he had left a 
 feeling of discomfort in the breast of Mrs Clymer, by 
 his allusion to a beautiful American heiress, very much 
 
90 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 analogous to that which she had produced in him. 
 Mrs Clymer had good reason to know that Lord Sark 
 was susceptible to the fascinations of the sex. She 
 was not without experience of the powers of her own 
 countrywomen, and she dreaded the influence which 
 Murkle was evidently rapidly acquiring over her lover, 
 and the uses to which, if it suited his purpose, he 
 might put it. Two lovely girls, with fortunes, in the 
 field as rivals, were enough to make any woman feel 
 uncomfortable ; but Mrs Clymer was not one to shrink 
 from a contest of this sort, when it was forced upon 
 her, and lacked neither promptitude nor audacity upon 
 such occasions. Within an hour after Murkle had 
 left her, she was sitting alone with the Baroness, and 
 cross-examined that astute personage with a dexterity 
 worthy of a detective. 
 
 " I am on my way, my dear Baroness," she said, " to 
 call upon your neighbours, the great American heiress 
 and her friend, — two of my splurging young country- 
 women, who come over to Europe, and give yOu all 
 such a false impression of American society. Not that 
 I can tolerate it, at its best, but my curiosity has been 
 excited by Mr Murkle about these latest specimens. 
 Do tell me what you think of them, dear Baroness, you 
 who have seen so much of the world ? " 
 
 "Now, Mrs Clymer, you really are too hard upon 
 your fair compatriotes. I think them quite charming 
 — so original, with a cachet quite their own," replied 
 the Baroness, who had her own reasons for wishing to 
 
MRS CLYMER MEANS MISCHIEF. 91 
 
 cement an intimacy with the beautiful heiress. " I am 
 so glad dear Altiora has found such companions ; she 
 is down-stairs with them now, dear child, so I am sure 
 you will find them at home." 
 
 " I think Mr Murkle is already rather 4pris in that 
 direction," pursued Mrs Clymer, slily. 
 
 But the Baroness, who saw the drift of this observa- 
 tion, turned the point of it neatly by saying that she 
 did not think this could be the case, as she had heard 
 Mr Murkle remark what a good match Miss Walton 
 would be for Lord Sark. So Mrs Clymer, after some 
 more futile attempts, determined to lose no more time, 
 and a few moments later found herself standing at the 
 door of the entresol. When it was opened to her, the 
 notes of a rich contralto voice flooded the ante-chamber, 
 which only ceased when her card was taken in, and a 
 pause, probably of wonder as to who she was, was fol- 
 lowed by a summons to enter. A shyer person than 
 Mrs Clymer might possibly have been taken aback by 
 the large group of strangers upon whom she was thus 
 forcing an entry. Standing near the piano was a tall 
 girl whom she devoutly hoped might not be the heiress, 
 for Sark was passionately devoted to music, and her 
 extreme beauty was undeniable : accompanying her 
 was a gentleman, who was probably her singing- 
 master. At the corner of the room was another girl 
 absorbed in oil-painting, also apparently under the 
 direction of, a master ; while near her was standing a 
 gentleman with a glass in his eye, critically watching 
 
92 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 her performance. At one of the windows was seated 
 Altiora and an elderly lady darning a stocking, to 
 whom a handsome fair-haired man was talking so 
 earnestly that he scarcely seemed to perceive the entry 
 of the visitor. Evidently the tall girl was the heiress, 
 for she advanced to meet her. 
 
 " I must introduce myself as a countrywoman," said 
 Mrs Clymer. " I have only just heard of your arrival 
 from our mutual friends, Mr Murkle and the Grande- 
 sellas, whom I have been calling upon up-stairs ; 
 though, of course, I know you well, Miss Walton, by 
 reputation, and saw in the American papers that you 
 had left the States for a trip to Europe." This was an 
 effort of imagination, but Mrs Clymer felt that it was 
 a safe one. " I could not resist coming to tell you at 
 once how glad I shall be to do anything to make your 
 stay in Paris agreeable. I am only a visitor myself, as 
 I usually live in London, but I have lived so often 
 here that I almost feel a Parisian ; and if you want to 
 do any shopping, can tell you all the best places to go 
 to." Mrs Clymer rattled on with this long speech, as 
 there's nothing like talking to relieve embarrassment, 
 and Miss Walton introduced her to Miss Terrill, who 
 was the lady painting ; Mr Alderney, who was the 
 gentleman superintending ; Miss Coffin, who was the 
 lady darning ; and Mr Hetherington, who was the gen- 
 tleman talking to her ; and to the drawing and singing 
 masters — for she was too republican to ignore their 
 presence. Altiora she greeted effusively. 
 
MKS CLYMEK MEANS MISCHIEF. 93 
 
 " You find lis in the middle of our studies, Mrs 
 Clymer," said Miss Walton. " My friend and I make 
 it a rule to work six hours a-day ; but we have just 
 finished our day's labours, so you don't interrupt us, 
 and we are delighted to see you. What with what 
 we've got to learn and see, the days don't seem long 
 enough. Lord Sark is coming to take us to the Louvre. 
 I hope you will stay and go with us. Perhaps you 
 know him? What o'clock did you say your cousin 
 was coming. Bob ? " she added, turning to Alderney. 
 
 Mrs Clymer felt a cold shiver run down her back, 
 and for a moment her heart seemed to stop beating. 
 Here was the heiress already on such intimate terms 
 with Lord Sark's cousin as to call him Bob, and that 
 nobleman himself might be expected at any moment. 
 How long had this intimacy existed ? How was it 
 that Lord Sark had concealed it from her ? It seemed 
 incredible that, in the few days which had elapsed 
 since their arrival in Paris, the heiress could have 
 made so much progress. The fact was, that though 
 Alderney had only introduced his cousin a few days 
 before, Sark had been captivated by the delightful air 
 of freedom which reigned in the heiress's establish- 
 inent, and had fallen in love with the whole party. 
 Miss Coffin included. He was indeed at that moment 
 on his way to them in his coiipd^ looking forward with 
 the utmost delight to the effect which a series of 
 slightly draped Kubens's would produce upon that 
 spinster's unsophisticated mind. There was, in fact, a 
 
94 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 sort of healthy breezy rush pervading the moral atmo- 
 sphere in which Mrs Clymer now found herself, which 
 a good deal disturbed her equanimity. She had often 
 stormed a London afternoon tea when she thought 
 Lord Sark might be in danger, and borne him ofip 
 triumphantly from the midst of beauties and heiresses ; 
 but this was as little like pursuing him in a London 
 conventional kettle-drum, as deer- driving in Windsor 
 Park is from chamois-hunting in the Alps. There was 
 a social lawlessness about the whole performance just 
 calculated by its freshness to captivate the somewhat 
 hldsS temperament of his lordship. The reckless way 
 in which girls took their singing and drawing lessons, 
 and received young men and young lady visitors, who 
 were supposed not to be in the way, and to be capable 
 of amusing themselves ; and the absence of any arrUre- 
 pensSe of flirtation going on anywhere, — so confused the 
 intelligence of this sharp-witted lady, that she had 
 scarcely had time to decide upon her own line of action 
 when the door opened and Lord Sark was announced. 
 Though not easily disconcerted, he flushed, barely per- 
 ceptibly, on seeing Mrs Clymer — an indication of guilty 
 consciousness not lost upon that lady, who greeted him 
 with the easy intimacy of a proprietor ; for this was a 
 moment when she could not afford to be embarrassed 
 by scruples of delicacy. As she did so, she turned to 
 the window where Altiora was talking to Hethering- 
 ton, irresistibly impelled by the desire to see what 
 impression the whole episode was making upon the 
 
MRS CLYMER MEANS MISCHIEF. 95 
 
 former, when her glance was intercepted by one from 
 Miss Coffin, whose individuality she had till now 
 scarcely noticed, but the flash of whose eye was like 
 that of a sword drawn without provocation upon an 
 unarmed antagonist. 
 
 " Why, what a large party of American cousins we 
 shall make," said Lord Sark, cheerily. "We're all 
 going to the Louvre, Mrs Clymer. I hope, even though 
 you are not a cousin, you will come with us." 
 
 " Who knows that she ain't ? " said Hannah. " Now 
 it's my opinion, Mrs Clymer, you and me'll turn out to 
 be someways related. You never kin tell in a country 
 like Amurika, where marriages and divorces runs so 
 easy-like, where relations mayn't turn up, even when 
 you least expect them, and least want 'em." 
 
 Mrs Clymer had lived long enough in London 
 fashionable society to know how to avail herself of the 
 weapon commonly called " a well-bred stare," and she 
 applied it remorselessly to Hannah on hearing this 
 unpleasant suggestion ; but it was entirely lost upon 
 that good woman, whose eyes had assumed a dreamy 
 and almost glassy look, as if she were peering into the 
 records of the past for some clue of the lost relation- 
 ship. Suddenly she said, " I have it now," and relapsed 
 instantly into silence. 
 
 " Oh, do tell us how Mrs Clymer's related to you, 
 Hannah, you dear old thing ! I didn't know you had 
 had a relation left in the world," said Mattie. 
 
 " I am afraid her utter destitution of them has given 
 
96 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 a stimulus to her imagination/' said Mrs Clymer, some- 
 what scornfully. 
 
 "Come," said Lord Sark, who saw the suppressed 
 passion with which she resented what she feared might 
 seem her humiliation in his eyes, " if we want to see 
 the pictures before the Louvre closes, we must be 
 starting ; " and in a few minutes the party was en route, 
 without the delicate subject being again alluded to. 
 Here they unexpectedly stumbled upon Eonald Mac- 
 Alpine, who had been unable to resist following his 
 magnet to Paris, but had not yet summoned up courage 
 to call upon her : and it was Altiora's turn to show a 
 slight embarrassment as she introduced him to the rest 
 of the party — observing which, Mrs Clymer and Han- 
 nah, in their different ways, became contemplative, and 
 an acute observer might also have perceived a shade 
 of uneasy interest passing over the handsome counte- 
 nance of Hetherington ; but the two girls and Alderney 
 were too much absorbed with their devotion to art to 
 notice anything ; and Lord Sark's attention was so dis- 
 tracted by his admiration for the heiress, and his desire 
 to conceal it from Mrs Clymer, that he, too, hardly 
 noticed the new addition to their party. 
 
 " Do tell me," said the heiress to Lord Sark, pointing 
 to a large and fashionable party of English, " why your 
 countrywomen, especially the young ones, all stick 
 their elbows out, particularly when they are shaking 
 hands." 
 
 " I am afraid," answered his lordship, " it is a habit 
 
MES CLYMEE MEANS MISCHIEF. 97 
 
 they have picked up from their brothers. I can't say 
 it is a very graceful one in either sex." 
 
 " Laws ! " said Hannah, who had been watching these 
 British feminine greetings with great interest, "that 
 ain't the reason. It's because they laces so tight. You 
 just try and buckle yourself across the waist and chest 
 like them gells, and then see how it eases your breath- 
 ing to stick out your elbows. Why, you might as 
 well try and take long steps in a tie-back, as take a 
 long breath when you're laced like that, without open- 
 ing out your elbows ; ain't that so, Mrs Clymer ? you 
 must know," — and she gave a comical look at that 
 lady's waist and elbows, which was evidently en re- 
 vanche for the well-bred stare to which she had been 
 subjected, and which her opponent was unable to 
 venture upon again. So she took another line : as she 
 could not knock her down with her fan, she patted her 
 playfully on the shoulder with it, saying as she did so, 
 "You naughty, quizzical old thing." She hoped that 
 to be called an "old thing," by an entire stranger, 
 might sting ; but it didn't, for Hannah only gave a sort 
 of chuckle, and said, "Wal, now, you're gettin' real 
 friendly, like relations should be." 
 
 "Still, you know, that won't account for the men 
 doing it," said Mattie, anxious to get back to the safer 
 topic of the elbows. 
 
 " Laws ! yes it does ; they jest foUer the gells. It's 
 the gells that sets the fashion." 
 
 " Not in England, I assure you," said Lord Sark, 
 u 
 
98 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 much amused. " In America, I understand, the women 
 take the lead in most things ; but in England, we flat- 
 ter ourselves that the male sex holds its own." 
 
 "Bless you, they flatter themselves just the same 
 with us ! the question is — do they ? Now there ain't 
 no one here as knows as much about the men of both 
 countries as Mrs Clymer. I'll jest ask her what she 
 says : which men have you found most difficult to get 
 along with, my dear ? " 
 
 But Mrs Clymer, who had by this time become con- 
 vinced that she was too heavily handicapped to be a 
 match for Hannah, affected not to hear this question, 
 but to be absorbed in admiration of a recumbent Venus 
 of Titian, at which Hannah, following the direction of 
 her eyes, could only gasp " My sakes ! " and then turn- 
 ing abruptly round, walked off, for once fairly beaten 
 from the field. 
 
 CHAPTEK Vin. 
 
 RONALD MACALPINE'S KELTIC ENTERTAINMENT. 
 
 During the few weeks that followed this episode, the 
 intimacy of the party with whom the reader has now 
 made acquaintance, increased with the rapidity which 
 so often results from a chance meeting of a group of 
 strangers in a foreign country, who^, for lack of other 
 
macalpine's keltic entertainment. 99 
 
 friends, find themselves constantly thrown into each 
 other's society. It is true that Hetherington, Alder- 
 ney, Murkle, the Grandesellas, Lord Sark, and Mrs 
 Clymer were not without their Paris acquaintances, 
 but for various reasons the Californian girls formed 
 the nucleus round which the party chiefly gathered, 
 and Eonald MacAlpine was soon drawn into the vor- 
 tex, and became, perhaps because it was an easy way 
 of meeting Altiora, one of their most devoted atten- 
 dants. Altiora's existence, prior to that episode in her 
 affections which she confided to the reader in her own 
 words in the first pages of this history, had been so 
 comparatively removed from contact with society, that 
 she failed in her appreciation of her lover to convey 
 any true impression of that gentleman's real character 
 or tendencies — of which, indeed, she was totally igno- 
 rant. Though nominally a member of a learned 
 profession, MacAlpine had early arrived at the con- 
 clusion that he had a nobler mission in life than that 
 of defending clients, and that by developing what he 
 was pleased to term his genius, he might aspire to the 
 position of a social apostle in the age in which he 
 lived. He was just clever enough to be the victim of 
 a vanity which could feed upon a variety of superficial 
 tastes, which the more amiable of his friends called 
 talents, and which therefore secured him a certain 
 amount of admiration and even homage. He dabbled 
 in philosophy, and had read enough of Herbert Spencer 
 to talk with a profound authority about the " unknow- 
 
100 ALTIOKA PETO. 
 
 able/' and patter his thin agnosticism to progressive 
 young ladies at London dinner-parties. He had writ- 
 ten two or three novels, profusely decorated with 
 stanzas of erotic poetry, which he had subsequently 
 culled from them, and published in a volume apart, 
 and called ' Lyrics to Leda.' He had, moreover, a turn 
 for musical composition, and from this little volume 
 he had made a second selection, which he entitled 
 ' The Swan's Last Notes,' and forced them for a third 
 time in that form upon an admiring public. Then, as 
 he had a tolerable tenor voice, expressive eyes, and 
 slender fingers, he used to sing to his own accompani- 
 ment at the piano, when his stock of philosophical 
 small-talk was exhausted : added to which, he was an 
 authority upon all matters connected with art, from a 
 cathedral to a garter ; and his rooms in Mayf air were 
 more like Abou Anticha's back -shop in Damascus, 
 than a bachelor's quarters in London. 
 
 There was something very suggestive of the progress 
 of the age to find this descendant of an old line of 
 Scottish chiefs, whose ancestor had been an aide-de- 
 camp of Charles Edward in the '45, and whose family 
 traditions were of the rudest and most barbaric type, 
 thus developing by the process of social evolution into 
 a philosophical litt4raire, a musical aesthete, dabbling 
 in every evanescent hobby which a sated society could 
 invent, and devising new forms of eccentricity, which 
 might increase at once his notoriety and his hold upon 
 the world of fashion in which he lived. By dint of 
 
MAC ALPINE'S KELTIC ENTEETAINMENT. 101 
 
 great industry at his little pursuits, a persevering in- 
 genuity in concentrating attention upon himself, and a 
 shrewd appreciation of the weaknesses of his fellow- 
 men, or rather women — for it was among the latter 
 that Eonald was a special success — he had conquered 
 for himself the position of being, if not a lion, at least 
 a promising whelp ; and during the season the looking- 
 glass over his mantelpiece was abundantly wedged all 
 round with cards of invitation ; while his services were 
 required as a sort of entrde, to lighten the more solid 
 fare of fashion at numerous country houses. His great- 
 grandfather, if he spoke English at all, probably did so 
 after the fashion of those Hebridean characters with 
 which Mr Black's novels have made us so familiar; 
 but Eonald had a style scarcely less widely removed 
 from the ordinary English vernacular of twenty years 
 ago. There was an unctuous deliberation in his method 
 of drawling out his criticisms in a somewhat high key, 
 with a peculiar distinctness, which, in order to make 
 them the more impressive, was frequently interrupted 
 by an affected hesitation, partly deprecatory, partly 
 insinuating, and by a love of giving advice with an 
 apologetic manner, implying at the same time a con- 
 scious authority, especially to the fairer portion of his 
 congregation. On these occasions his utterances and 
 gestures resembled those of a lady-like bishop. To 
 appropriate a novel and startling theory from some 
 author or speaker cleverer than himself, and to give it 
 vent, with a carefully prepared delicacy of diction, to a 
 
102 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 group of female adorers, and expatiate upon it to them 
 as a profound and original thesis of his own, was an 
 art which Eonald MacAlpine had cultivated to a high 
 pitch of perfection ; and when he called upon our Cali- 
 fornian friends the day after he had heen introduced 
 to them at the Louvre, he promised himself an exqui- 
 site satisfaction in initiating their Western minds into 
 the finer subtleties of that delicate thought, upon mat- 
 ters philosophic and artistic, upon which he fancied 
 himself so eminently qualified to discourse. 
 
 " I scarcely recognised you," said Altiora, one day 
 when she happened to meet him paying a visit in 
 the entresol, "the first day I saw you at the Louvre, 
 — you look so different in the kilt, to which I am 
 accustomed." 
 
 "I wear my national costume," said Eonald, "when 
 I am where it does not occasion too much remark, 
 because it possesses a deeper meaning than was ever 
 suspected by the rude barbarians from whom I have 
 inherited the right to do so. Will you allow me," he 
 went on, turning to the two American girls, — -"nay, 
 are you sure it will not weary you, if I permit myself 
 to explain the true significance of — er — the Keltic 
 raiment ? " 
 
 "Oh, pray do," said Stella; "but I am afraid, as 
 I have never seen it, that I shall not be able to 
 understand it unless I saw it on. Don't you think 
 you could just run off to your hotel now and put 
 it on ? " 
 
MAC Alpine's keltic entertainment. 103 
 
 " I am delighted that you show so much interest, 
 Miss Walton. I always keep it with me in illustration 
 of my theory ; and if you will do me the honour to 
 take tea in my rooms some afternoon, I shall then be 
 able to enlarge upon my present remarks. You are 
 aware, doubtless, that at the time of the invasion of 
 Scotland by the Eomans, the inhabitants of the south- 
 ern portion of that country were costumed after the 
 fashion of their ancestors, while the Kelts of the north 
 confined themselves principally to skins, either their 
 own, or — er — those of other animals. I think I may 
 venture to assert, with some confidence, that the Kelts, 
 struck by the picturesque beauty of the uniform of the 
 Koman soldiers, with whom they had thus been brought 
 into sanguinary conflict, arranged their skins in imita- 
 tion of it ; and so we have a rude resemblance, con- 
 tinuing to the present day, of a costume which, as a 
 pure matter of artistic effect, would, if it were restored 
 to the original Eoman ideal, be far more consonant 
 with the loftiest conceptions of raiment than the fan- 
 tastic clothing at present in vogue. I am therefore 
 now engaged in modifying and adapting the Keltic 
 dress, and should much wish to consult you in regard 
 to several points — which, perhaps, you will be better 
 able to judge of when you see it on. The hose, as now 
 worn, represents no article of Eoman attire; I am 
 therefore doubtful whether to draw them over the 
 knee and attach them with a — er — garter, or to reduce 
 them by about two inches, to the length of an ordinary 
 
104 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 sock, which would make them correspond with the 
 height of the Eoman buskin." 
 
 " What ! leaving so much more of the limb bare ? " 
 Stella had still retained too much of the prejudices of 
 her countrywomen to say leg. "Oh, that would be 
 what I think you gentlemen would call quite too 
 exquisitely precious ! " 
 
 " Pardon me," said Eonald. " To prevent the cause 
 of art suffering injury from the vulgar ridicule which 
 has been cast upon it by silly cartoons in a — er — 
 weekly periodical, and in dramatic travesties, I refrain 
 from using art language in so early a stage of evolu- 
 tion. The jacket, which was evidently an imitation 
 of the corselet, must be abandoned; and the kilt, 
 instead of being fastened round the waist, must de- 
 pend from the shoulders." 
 
 "Oh, how delightful! Mind you put it on that 
 way when we come to tea with you," said Stella. 
 
 "I am alluding to its modified condition — as I 
 propose it should be worn. Miss "Walton ; in its pres- 
 ent form it would be — er — rather too short. Thus 
 elongated, it becomes a chiton or tunic, over which 
 will flow the plaid scarf, which thus becomes the toga, 
 of which it is a manifest relic." 
 
 " It would require as much modification as the kilt," 
 said Altiora, " to resemble the flowing robe which we 
 see on Eoman statues." 
 
 "Naturally, in order to adapt its folds, it would 
 have to be cut out of a circular piece. I am merely 
 
macalpine's keltic entertainment. 105 
 
 giving you the outlines of the idea. When I have 
 elaborated it, I propose lecturing on the subject before 
 the Costume Eeform Society, and entertain hopes that 
 a movement may be inaugurated by which those art 
 principles which we have hitherto applied chiefly to 
 house decoration may be introduced into modern attire, 
 and effect a revolution in accordance with the — er — 
 aesthetic spirit of the age. At present, I regret to say 
 that art progress in dress is confined almost entirely 
 to women; though," and he cast a reproving glance 
 upon his fair audience, "if you will allow me to 
 venture a criticism, I perceive a sad lack of any 
 of the loftier taste conceptions in the costumes be- 
 fore me." 
 
 " Wal, now," said Hannah, who resented this reflec- 
 tion upon American millinery, " I think we're all fixed 
 up to the last notch. I guess, before you git any of 
 us to go about in your Kiltie dress, as you call it, we 
 shall have to see what it's like." 
 
 A loud burst of laughter from the three girls fol- 
 lowed this sally of Hannah's, under cover of which 
 Eonald got up to take his departure, not, however, 
 without a final arrangement being made for the next 
 meeting at his afternoon tea. 
 
 When, a few days after, the engagement was kept, 
 their host, appropriately attired in his Highland dress, 
 received them in the apartment which he had already 
 contrived to decorate with various articles of hric-a- 
 hrac and solitary flowers — while a piano, which he 
 
106 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 had hired for the occasion, was suggestive of the 
 Lyrics of Leda and the Last Notes of the Swan. The 
 Baron had been tempted by the prospect of expanding 
 his chest, in bass accompaniment. Mrs Clymer had 
 come, because she felt sure that her voice had a more 
 powerful compass than Stella's, and she was haunted 
 by the fear of that young lady's fascinations over Lord 
 Sark; his lordship had come, because the feminine 
 attractions generally were irresistible ; Murkle had 
 come, because he designed seriously to lay siege to 
 the heiress; and the Baroness was there, of course, 
 with Altiora. Hetherington and Alderney, in their 
 capacity of cousins and permanent escorts, could not 
 be omitted from such a gathering ; while Hannah had 
 come, impelled by an overpowering desire to see the 
 Keltic dress, which, in accordance with the progressive 
 art spirit of the age, she fancied she might be required 
 to adopt. The little scream which she gave at the 
 sight of Eonald's bare knees indicated more plainly 
 than any words could have done the shock which her 
 maidenly innocence had received, and she scarcely 
 listened with patience to the plaintive wail of the 
 Swan as he accompanied himself on the piano. It 
 was in the midst of a quartet by the Baron, Eonald.. 
 Mrs Clymer, and Altiora, who had a considerable 
 musical talent, that Mr Murkle enticed Stella into a 
 small room adjoining, under the pretence of examining 
 a newly purchased picture, and opened his campaign. 
 He had been leading up to it for some days past, and 
 
macalpine's keltic entertainment. 107 
 
 the reputed heiress knew too much of the opposite 
 sex not to be perfectly aware of his intentions. She 
 seemed rather disposed to encourage them than other- 
 wise, and to his delight said, " What a charming little 
 room for a quiet chat, Mr Murkle ! It is quite refresh- 
 ing occasionally to have a talk with a practical business 
 man when one is among people who are so much given 
 to pleasure or the more trifling pursuits of life." 
 
 "I have long felt, Miss Walton," said Murkle, "that 
 you and I have very little sympathy with the tastes 
 which absorb some of our friends here," and he cast 
 a somewhat contemptuous glance round the carefully 
 decorated little room. 
 
 " It is so common to suppose," she responded, " that 
 sympathy needs feeding by sentiment, and that senti- 
 ment needs to be stimulated by music, or poetry, or 
 flowers, or moonlight nights. For my part, I can feel 
 quite as sentimental over a share-list as over the most 
 lovely view in nature ; and what profounder sympathy 
 can exist than that which binds in a common interest 
 a pair of bulls or a couple of bears on the Stock Ex- 
 change?" Stella heaved a sigh charged with such 
 deep feeling as she made this remark, and gazed into 
 the depths of Mr Murkle's eyes with so much tender 
 meaning, that that gentleman, who at first suspected 
 she might be laughing at ^him, changed his mind 
 under an impulse of gratified vanity, and gave his 
 chair a little hitch which put it three inches nearer 
 to hers. Stella, with a most delightful air of uncon- 
 
108 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 sciousness, reciprocated, as if quite accidentally, by a 
 corresponding hitch, and reduced the distance three 
 inches more. 
 
 Murkle, whose position and avocation in life had not 
 afforded him many opportunities of cultivating the fair 
 sex, excepting under very questionable conditions, now 
 unexpectedly found youth, beauty, and wealth smiling 
 on him with a degree of encouragement which sur- 
 passed his most sanguine hopes. For him the whole 
 atmosphere seemed suddenly charged with a subtle 
 and exquisite aroma, under the influence of which his 
 head began to swim, and his heart to beat with a vio- 
 lence which he had never experienced before, except on 
 one occasion when he had found himself compelled to 
 offer his body as a target at twenty paces to an angry 
 opponent in Italy, who had first accused him of cheat- 
 ing at cards, and then added insult to injury by calling 
 him out ; but he was conscious that the pulsation from 
 a thrill of pleasure produced a very different sensation 
 from the pulsation with a thrill of alarm — a physiologi- 
 cal problem which Altiora might have sought to solve, 
 but which he was too much engaged otherwise to dwell 
 upon. His eye roved from the slender arched foot to 
 the white taper fingers of his charmer, playing with a 
 tassel almost touching his hand, to the tempting, ex- 
 quisitely moulded parted lips, and then stealing more 
 timidly upwards to the half-raised lids fringed with 
 their long silky lashes ; and as they suddenly opened 
 and caught his conscious gaze with their full, soft, pene- 
 
macalpine's keltic entertainment. 109 
 
 trating glow, he morally sank a captive at the feet of 
 his enslaver, — an emotion entirely new to him seemed 
 to deprive him of the power of utterance. 
 
 " Miss Walton," he said at last, in a changed voice, 
 " you exercise an influence over me such as no woman 
 has ever done before. I meant in bringing you here 
 for a moment's conversation to tell you all I felt, but 
 that has become impossible, for my whole nature seems 
 to have undergone a revolution." 
 
 " But you can always try," said Stella, sympatheti- 
 cally. " First tell me what you felt first, and then tell 
 me what you feel now. You will find me a most in- 
 terested listener." 
 
 " Well," said Murkle, thus encouraged, " what I felt 
 was that I recognised in you a person whose talents, 
 wealth, and beauty, eminently qualified you to adorn 
 any society ; and I was going to propose to you, upon 
 a purely business basis — all sentiment apart, because I 
 supposed that we were both people incapable of being 
 influenced by it — an alliance by which certain advan- 
 tages which I may venture to say I possess, might 
 supplement yours. In other words, Miss Walton, I 
 imagined that I could calmly ask you to be my wife 
 upon a practical estimate of the benefits we might both 
 derive from such a union. I am now conscious that it 
 is impossible for me to make you such a proposal on 
 the grounds I originall}^ intended. I feel that they 
 were unworthy of you; but I none the less lay my 
 heart at your feet." 
 
110 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 " On what grounds now ? " asked Stella, calmly. 
 
 " On those of a passionate devotion to the woman I 
 love. Stella!" 
 
 But Stella interrupted him. 
 
 " I prefer the other ones. Do you know you are 
 sinking rapidly in my estimation, Mr Murkle? I 
 gave you credit for sound practical common-sense, in- 
 stead of which you are talking the usual sentimental 
 nonsense, which I am tired of hearing. Please let us 
 get back to business. Before I can entertain your 
 original idea, you would have to make out a schedule 
 of your assets and liabilities. I should naturally re- 
 quire some references as to the commercial standing of 
 the firm, and I should have to look carefully into the 
 nature of the contracts and other enterprises in which 
 it may be engaged. The character of the securities 
 you might have to offer for any contributions I might 
 make would have to be considered ; and if, after going 
 into the whole thing thoroughly, I should find every- 
 thing satisfactory, I am not prepared to say that a 
 partnership — even of the character you at first con- 
 templated — might not be possible. Besides business 
 references, I should require social ones ; or, stay — there 
 is one which will quite satisfy me. If Miss Peto, who 
 has known you all her life, endorses you with her 
 approbation, I shall be satisfied, so far as your personal 
 character is concerned. There will remain only the 
 financial considerations. When these are all settled, I 
 will lay before you a balance-sheet of my own assets, 
 
macalpine's keltic entertainment. Ill 
 
 and we can decide upon the extent of my contribu- 
 tions. But you will understand that in saying this 
 I commit myself to nothing. Until the final contract 
 is signed, the parties to it must not be considered 
 bound in any way; and we must fix a time limit — 
 say two months from now — at the expiration of which 
 term this preliminary arrangement is at an end." 
 
 Murkle looked up at the end of this speech with very 
 much the expression of an angry man who has been 
 held under a douche against his will. Naturally of a 
 violent temperament, when his will was thwarted, he 
 found himself in a position which, while it humiliated 
 him, rendered him absolutely powerless. Miss Walton 
 had, after all, merely made him the proposition which 
 he had intended to make her; and he now became aware, 
 when the tables were turned upon himself, of the insult 
 which it implied, and which he had confessed he had 
 intended to offer the woman for whom at that moment 
 he felt a devouring passion. " If you are only to be 
 won by schedules, and balance-sheets, and assets. Miss 
 Walton," he said bitterly, " I will win you that way." 
 
 "There," she replied, "you can't think how much 
 better I like you like that, — when you are nice and 
 natural and practical and business-like, than when 
 you make yourself ridiculous by talking sentiment. 
 Now we quite understand each other. The first move 
 in the game which you talk of winning — mind, in two 
 months — is the approval of Miss Peto to the whole 
 transaction." 
 
112 ALTIOKA PETO. 
 
 And as the quartet had reached the crescendo which 
 indicated the final flourish, Miss Walton got up lan- 
 guidly and strolled into the next room, followed by 
 Murkle, in a more suppressed condition than was usual 
 with that gentleman. 
 
 Although Mrs Clymer had particularly distinguished 
 herself in the quartet, the disappearance of Stella and 
 Murkle had not been lost upon her, and she gazed 
 keenly into their countenances when they returned. 
 Stella's face was a blank page, but much was to be 
 read by so astute an observer in Murkle's countenance ; 
 and Mrs Clymer determined to devote herself to con- 
 soling him, as she called it to herself, for the rest of 
 the afternoon. But indications of discomfort on the 
 part of Murkle suggested that the process was any- 
 thing but consolatory to that gentleman, who was the 
 first to make his escape, in a very bad humour, from 
 Konald MacAlpine's Keltic entertainment. 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 Stella's confidences. 
 
 If, the night after the occurrences just related, some 
 of the gentlemen most interested could possibly have 
 peeped into a certain bedroom on the entresol of No. 
 
Stella's confidences. 113 
 
 Quatre-vingt dix-huit, Rue du dix-huit Mars, dix-huit 
 cent soixante et onze, it is probable that they would 
 have found some difficulty in withdrawing their indis- 
 creet and admiring gaze, while it is certain that they 
 would have heard a good deal that was not intended 
 for their eager ears. For here, wrapped in flowing 
 'peignoirs, with their luxuriant hair rippling down 
 their backs, and their daintily slippered little feet 
 resting on the fender, languidly reposing in a couple 
 of easy-chairs, sat Stella Walton and Mattie Terrill, 
 regardless of the fact that it was one o'clock in the 
 morning, — as the opera from which they had just 
 returned was over at an unusually late hour, — one 
 looking like a queen en deshabille, and the other like 
 a gipsy in full dress, but both in their way with a 
 charm peculiarly their own — evidently very wide 
 awake, and fully determined to take advantage of 
 that witching small hour of the morning when girls 
 most love to unburden their fluttering little hearts 
 to each other, and exchange delicious confidences. 
 And here I must remind my reader, in order to pre- 
 vent confusion, that the girls had changed names, 
 and, lest they should unguardedly betray themselves 
 before the world, had determined to keep up the 
 delusion when alone. It had become a sort of idSe 
 fixe with Mattie Terrill — whose real name was Stella 
 "Walton — that she was unusually plain (which was 
 by no means the case), and that she was more likely 
 to be married for her money than for love — which, 
 
 e 
 
114 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 considering her colossal fortune, was no doubt true; 
 and hence she had persuaded her friend, before leav- 
 ing America, to become a party to her little riosej 
 and adopt the role which that young lady willingly 
 undertook, inspired thereto by the innate love of 
 mischief which was a prominent feature in her char- 
 acter. Even Miss Coffin entered into the joke with 
 a certain grim enjoyment, as, according to her, " men 
 were mainly made to be fooled;" but she had made 
 so many mistakes in attempting to address the girls 
 by their changed names in public, that it had come 
 to be an understood thing that when she wanted to 
 attract the ear of the false heiress, she always began 
 her remark with " Say ! " and when she wanted to 
 talk to the real heiress, who had been her pet from 
 babyhood, she addressed her as " Honey ! " By rigidly 
 confining herself to this rule, and never venturing to 
 introduce them to strangers, she had so far avoided 
 any serious or compromising mistakes. 
 
 " Mattie, dear," said the lovely Stella, suddenly dis- 
 closing a small packet, which she had kept concealed 
 in her lap, and drawing from it a cigarette, " I am 
 going to have a smoke : they say it is calming to the 
 brain, and I feel like wanting to be calmed ; " and she 
 lit her cigarette at the candle, and gave a puff which 
 was half a sigh, — an untoward combination, which 
 brought on an immediate fit of coughing. 
 
 "Bob says it does not really calm you unless you 
 inhale," said Mattie. " I tried it the other day, but the 
 
STELLA'S CONFIDENCES. 115 
 
 only effect was to choke me to a most exciting extent. 
 Fortunately, as I told him, I did not want calming; 
 whereupon he took such a deep inspiration of smoke, 
 that I quite trembled lest it should never reappear: 
 it did, after some time, through his nose. He said he 
 found it necessary, when he was with me, to smother 
 his feelings. I said I would not give much for feelings 
 that could be smothered by a whiff of tobacco-smoke. 
 Then he said that I did not know what it was to be pen- 
 niless. I did not see the connection of this remark, but 
 I suppose he meant, poor fellow, that he was so poor 
 that he could not buy himself enough cigarettes ; so I 
 said, rather heartlessly, that the best thing to do, if 
 you had a bad and expensive habit which you could 
 not afford, was to give it up. Then he said it was not 
 smoking, it was something else he was trying to give 
 up. I asked him ' What ? ' on which he bluntly re- 
 plied, 'An idiotic attachment.' I said I was very 
 happy to hear that he thought that being in love with 
 improper or married women was idiotic, as to my mind 
 this custom, so prevalent in Paris, quite accounted for 
 the idiocy of the French youth generally ; and I was 
 very glad that he had come to take a sensible and 
 moral view of the matter. You see I thought it best 
 for his good to speak frankly, and not to pretend to be 
 so innocent or prudish as not to dare to call things by 
 their right names. 
 
 " * Good heavens, Mattie ! ' he burst out, ' you 
 don't suspect me of anything so shocking? The 
 
116 ALTIOKA PETO. 
 
 person I love is one of the purest and best of 
 her sex.' 
 
 "'Then I don't see anything in the least idiotic 
 about it/ I said. 
 
 " ' But how can I marry without anything to marry 
 upon ? ' he went on. ' Do you know what my income 
 is, Mattie ? exactly one pound a-day ; and I have al- 
 ways been so glad it wasn't more, because it would 
 have confused my accounts. Now a pound a-day is a 
 nice easy sum to remember ; and I like my studies so 
 much better than any profession or appointment that 
 could be offered me, that I have refused everything, 
 and been quite happy with it, till now I find that all my 
 happiness in life is blasted by the smallness of the 
 amount.' 
 
 "'But,' I said, 'if the "person" as you call her, is 
 worth anything, and cares for you, she will gladly share 
 a pound a-day with you. Why shouldn't you go and 
 live in some cheap place and study together ? ' 
 
 " ' Do you really mean it, Mattie ? ' he said, blushing 
 very much, and looking at me very earnestly : and then 
 seeing, apparently, that I did mean it, he took my hand, 
 and said, ' Oh, my darling, how happy you have made 
 me ! ' and so on. It's no use saying all he said. It all 
 happened this morning when you were out riding with 
 Mr Murkle, and I was alone with him here studying 
 the Zend-Avesta. You know he is making translations 
 of the Ya^na and Yispered, and aU the other writings 
 on Mazdeism, and I am learning the character so as to 
 
Stella's confidences. 117 
 
 try and help him ; he has just finished a translation of 
 the Vidae Yadata, or the law against demons. You can't 
 think how interesting it is ! Imagine what fun it will 
 be, Stella, when he finds out that, instead of five doUars 
 a-day to live on, we shall have nearly five thousand ! " 
 
 '* My dear Mattie," exclaimed Stella, whose large eyes 
 had been getting rounder and rounder during this re- 
 cital, " you take my breath away ! Why, how slily you 
 have managed matters ! even I am taken by surprise 
 Do you mean to say that you have engaged yourself to 
 Bob Alderney?" 
 
 " WeU, not irrevocably. In the first place, while he 
 is studying Mazdeism with me, I am going to study 
 him with Mazdeism. I asked him if he was prepared, 
 should I require him to do so, to give up his beloved 
 orientalisms, and become a stockbroker in New York. 
 You should have seen the wry face he made at the 
 prospect of being a possible millionaire. I don't know 
 which he hated most — the pill or the gilding; how- 
 ever, he swallowed it, and I let him give me one kiss, 
 poor fellow, to take the taste out of his mouth, and 
 said, ' Then that is settled.' I shall let him remain in 
 this delusion for a month or more, — it will have an 
 excellent moral effect upon him. He said ruefully, ' I 
 thought you began by agreeing that we were to live on 
 a pound a-day and study.' 
 
 " ' Oh,' I said, ' I constantly change my mind.' I'm 
 going to make myself as disagreeable to him as I can 
 all the time we are engaged, just to see what kind of 
 
118 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 a temper he has got ; and then, if he stands the ordeal, 
 when he discovers at last, that besides my fortune he 
 possesses a wife with an angelic disposition, the moral 
 surprise will be more delightful than the material. 
 Oh, Stella, what a splendid thing it is to find a man 
 who hates money so much that he won't object to my 
 giving most of it away, if I have a- mind to, and who 
 will marry me on five dollars a-day, regardless of con- 
 sequences ! " 
 
 " I call it simply reckless," said Stella. " How does 
 he know how many little consequences you may not 
 have?" and then she jumped up and put her arms 
 round her friend's neck, which she moistened with 
 a few tears of honest congratulation, which, when 
 Mattie felt, she said, "Why, Stella, darling, what's 
 the matter?" 
 
 " Oh, I am so happy," said the beauty. 
 
 " Yes ; but that's not all," said Mattie. " You're a 
 little sad, too; tell me what it is about — confidence 
 for confidence, you know. It seems to me, though we 
 have scarcely been a month in Paris, that the romance 
 of our lives is overtaking us pretty quickly; and I 
 have been so absorbed with my own affairs, I have 
 not been watching yours." 
 
 *' Ah, mine are much more complicated," said Stella, 
 smiling through the large pearl-drops that stood in her 
 eyes. " At present there are three men making love 
 to me in various degrees, and animated by various 
 sentiments ; and I am making violent love to the one 
 
STELLA'S CONFIDENCES. 119 
 
 I hate, and turning a cold shoulder on the one I like, 
 and coquetting with the one to whom I am absolutely- 
 indifferent." 
 
 It was now Mattie's turn to display wonderment, 
 while Stella went on with a calm analysis of the 
 situation. 
 
 " And that is only the least of it. It is like the house 
 that Jack built. This is the man that Stella hates. 
 This is Stella who makes love to the man that she 
 hates. This is the man in love with Stella, who makes 
 love to the man that she hates. This is the woman in 
 love with the man in love with Stella, who makes love 
 to the man that she hates. This is the girl who 
 despises the woman in love with the man in love with 
 Stella, who makes love to the man that she hates. 
 This is the man in love with the girl who despises the 
 woman in love with the man in love with Stella, who 
 makes love to the man that she hates. This is the 
 fool who is jealous of the man in love with the girl 
 who despises the woman in love with the man in love 
 with Stella, who makes love to the man that she hates. 
 From which brilliant illustration you obtain a dramatis 
 'personce of four men and three women all inextricably 
 entangled in the web of their affections." 
 
 " My dear Stella, how silly you are ! How on earth 
 do you expect me to make head or tail of such a 
 jumble as that? Do put names on them," said 
 Mattie. 
 
 " The man, then, whom I hate, but to whom I make 
 
120 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 love, is Mr Murkle. The man making love to me, and 
 whom I love — there is no use mincing matters by call- 
 ing it ' like ' — is Lord Sark ; the woman in love with 
 Lord Sark, is Mrs Clymer ; the girl who despises her, 
 is Altiora Peto ; the man in love with Altiora is Keith 
 Hetherington ; the fool who is jealous of Keith Hether- 
 ington, because he was once himself, and may be still, 
 in love with Altiora, though he is now coquetting with 
 me, is Eonald MacAlpine. IsTow, in order to enlighten 
 your mind, which, my dear Mattie, has been a good 
 deal bewildered by your studies of the Zend-Avesta, 
 I will enter fully into detail. Know, then, that it is 
 the fixed determination of Mr Murkle to marry either 
 Altiora or me. He really prefers me, partly because 
 I have taken the trouble to captivate him, and partly 
 because he supposes I have so much the largest for- 
 tune ; but then, I am not Lord Sark's cousin, or con- 
 nected with the aristocracy, so he fluctuates in his 
 feelings, and when he is alone with Altiora he tries 
 to make love to her, but does not succeed, because she 
 can't bear him; and when he is alone with me, he 
 tries to make love to me, and does succeed, curiously 
 enough, because I can't bear him either. Should he 
 find out that I am not an heiress, nothing could save 
 Altiora from Murkle, for he seems to have some hold 
 over the Grandesellas which would compel Altiora 
 to sacrifice herself. I intend, therefore, to hook him, 
 land him, and when Altiora is otherwise safely pro- 
 vided for, sell him. I am convinced he is a scoundrel 
 
STELLA'S CONFIDENCES. 121 
 
 and deserves no better fate. Now I believe Lord Sark 
 to be honestly and sincerely in love with me and not 
 with my supposed wealth, and to be no less honestly 
 and sincerely desirous of escaping from the clutches of 
 the Clymer ; but I am also convinced that dear Altiora, 
 though she does all she can to conceal it, is no less 
 honestly and sincerely in love with Lord Sark, and the 
 only way of saving her from Murkle is by her marriage 
 with him, which the Grandesellas are most anxious for. 
 Hence I disguise my feelings and behave brutally to 
 him, — Mtic illce lacrimce, as Bob would say," and she 
 laughed through them. " I could not do a better turn 
 to the man I love than save him from the Clymer and 
 marry him to Altiora ; unfortunately Keith Hethering- 
 ton is in love with Altiora, and he would be worthy of 
 her, but he must be sacrificed, as she does not seem to 
 care for him, and the Grandesellas would not hear of 
 it, as he is only a second son. As for Eonald Mac- 
 Alpine, with his scraps of poetry, and his literary dab- 
 blings, and his musical compositions, and his aesthetic 
 jargon and smattering of philosophy, I merely amuse 
 myself with him because he seems to be a typical 
 specimen of the age in which we live, and to keep 
 him from bothering other people. There now," she 
 concluded, — " with all this on my brain, do you wonder 
 at my trying to calm it with a cigarette ? " 
 
 " Why, Stella," said Mattie, as she jumped up with 
 undisguised admiration, " you're a perfect heroine, you 
 gi-and, self-sacrificing creature ; but I won't let you do 
 
122 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 it, — jou shan't throw your happiness away, to say 
 nothing of the worldly advantages, which I don't think 
 so much of myself, in this way. I shall jfind out what 
 Altiora's real sentiments in the matter are, and I shall 
 tell Lord Sark. Poor man ! are his feelings not to be 
 taken into consideration ? if, as you say, he really 
 loves you, are you both to be sacrificed to this excess 
 of chivalry ? " 
 
 " And you would have me stand by and see a noble 
 nature like Altiora's trampled upon by a wretch like 
 Murkle ? " interrupted Stella. " Whatever happens, I 
 will not provide for my own happiness while that con- 
 tingency remains open. If I have obtained a certain 
 power over the man, I mean to use it — if not for his 
 own good, as that seems impossible, at all events to 
 prevent his doing harm to others. l!^o, Mattie, don't 
 interfere in this matter. I am responsible for the in- 
 fluence your fortune gives me while it is supposed to 
 be mine, and I am going to see what good I can do 
 with it. I made a mental resolution to that effect 
 when you asked us to change characters, or I would 
 never have consented to play the part of heiress. You 
 must let me play it my own way till the time comes 
 for handing it over to Bob. And till that time comes 
 our secret must be jealously preserved." 
 
 " Trust me for that," said Mattie. " If Bob had the 
 slightest suspicion that I was the heiress, he would 
 disappear into the deserts of Arabia, and write me 
 love-letters in cimeiform, explaining the matrimonial 
 
MR MURKLE MAKES A DOUBLE PROPOSAL. 123 
 
 disabilities of a pauper. He must not know anything 
 about it till the last moment. But though I am not 
 the heiress now, I still have the responsibilities attach- 
 ing to my prospects, and in the meantime I am not 
 going to let all the self-sacrifice be on one side," — 
 which enigmatical remark Mattie rounded off with a 
 portentous yawn, to indicate that even the most in- 
 teresting love-conversation must have an end. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 MR MURKLE MAKES A DOUBLE PROPOSAL. 
 
 I WISH I understood the law of crises. I suppose it 
 has an intimate connection with that other mysterious 
 problem, the law of chances. If one comes to that, all 
 laws are problems, and the most incomprehensible of 
 all are the laws of the land. This arises from the fact 
 that judges and juries always treat unfortunate mortals 
 as if they could control circumstances, and circum- 
 stances never controlled them. In other words, the 
 anomalies of our jurisprudence, not to say its cruelty 
 and injustice, arise from an imperfect appreciation of 
 the laws of free-will and responsibility ; for this reason 
 I have not the slightest respect for the laws of the 
 land. If I obey them, I do so for the same reason that 
 
124 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 I obey mamma, for whom also I have not any respect 
 — because it would be most inconvenient not to do so. 
 If I thought that human laws had the remotest resem- 
 blance to those which are divine, I should either not 
 only obey but respect them, or else, perhaps, not 
 respect those which were divine. I merely mention 
 this in the solitude of my chamber, to the privacy of 
 my journal, which, I am sure, no human eye will ever 
 see ; because, since it has become a question of marry- 
 ing me to some one, whether I like it or not, I have 
 been reading up the subject in some law books which 
 Bob Alderney borrowed for me, and the distinction 
 they make between /emmes soles and /emmes couvertes is 
 perfectly monstrous — utterly opposed to reason and 
 common-sense. I have constructed half-a-dozen cases, 
 where to be their victim would involve an outrage and 
 violation of the holiest instincts of a woman's nature. 
 That is why I began by saying I wish I understood the 
 law of crises, because, should I ever be forced to obey 
 those instincts which I believe to be divine rather than 
 the human law, there would come a crisis. JS'ow I 
 have always had a theory that from time to time our 
 lives culminate to crises. Then the crisis bursts, and 
 we begin again, and slowly or rapidly, as the case may 
 be, culminate to another crisis. I am very young, but I 
 have already seen enough to know that these critical 
 periods are inevitable incidents in the system of the 
 universe. They occur with individuals, they occur with 
 nations, they occur even in nature. The history of the 
 
MR MUEKLE MAKES A DOUBLE PROPOSAL. 125 
 
 world and of humanity attests the truth of this state- 
 ment ; but what is the law by which they are governed ? 
 It is evident that they depend upon combinations, 
 which seem fortuitous, of individual influences, and 
 this connects them with the law of chances. For in- 
 stance, I am taking a walk. I come to a fork in the 
 road. I doubt whether I will go to the right or the 
 left. Without any apparent motive I go to the right. 
 I accidentally meet some one. That chance meeting 
 turns out the pivot upon which my whole future life 
 hinges. It changes my destiny. Had I gone to the 
 left, it would not have taken place, and the fate of 
 hundreds, which were subsequently to be influenced by 
 mine, would have been different, as well as my own. 
 In our blindness our fates cross and recross, and our 
 destinies become bound together by those chains of 
 circumstances, the links of which are surely forged in 
 the invisible world. I feel a sort of iron web being 
 woven about me even now. I instinctively sense 
 the organisms whose destinies are linked with mine, 
 whether for good or evil, irrespective of my will, with 
 which, since I have been in Paris, I have come into 
 contact ; they are — Mr Murkle, Hannah, Lord Sark, 
 Mrs Clymer, SteUa Walton, and Mr Hetherington ; as 
 to Mattie Terrill, Bob Alderney, and Mr MacAlpine, 
 their fates may indirectly affect mine, but only re- 
 motely. The Baron and mamma I have had to count 
 with from the first. Our three threads formed the 
 skein to begin with, to which Mr Murkle's was almost 
 
126 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 immediately added. Oh, if I could only peep into the 
 other world, and watch the " Fates," as they were 
 called by the ignorant old heathen, weaving the other 
 five into them ! The reason I feel so sure of this is, 
 that during the past month I have had private con- 
 versations with several of the above-mentioned indi- 
 viduals, and each pregnant with fate. I will narrate 
 them, beginning with Mr Murkle. "We were riding 
 together in the Bois de Boulogne when it took place. 
 
 " Altiora," he began, " you are now a woman, and a 
 sensible woman, and the time has come for me to 
 speak to you frankly upon a subject of the utmost 
 importance to us both. Ever since you were twelve 
 years old, I determined to win you for my wife. 
 You need fear no opposition on the part of the Baron 
 or your mother, should you decide to take me for 
 your husband. You have known me from infancy, 
 while I have never lost an opportunity of manifest- 
 ing the admiration which I sincerely felt for your 
 character as I watched it develop. The time has now 
 come for me to tell you this, and to ask you for your 
 answer." 
 
 "Mr Murkle," I replied quietly, "it is because I 
 have known you from my childhood, and have had 
 every opportunity of studying your character, that I 
 feel convinced we are totally unsuited for each other. 
 While I am very sensible of your kindness and the 
 compliment it implies, I am sure you will not attempt 
 to force my inclinations in this matter." 
 
MR MUEKLE MAKES A DOUBLE PROPOSAL. 127 
 
 The peculiar dark predatory look, with which I am 
 so familiar, clouded his face as he answered — 
 
 " I was prepared for this refusal. ISTow that I have 
 had the advantage of seeing as well as of hearing of 
 Mr MacAlpine, it is accounted for ; but no rival should 
 stand in the way, had I not had occasion to modify my 
 determination as to the line of conduct I had chalked 
 out for myself. I am not, as you know, Altiora, a 
 sentimental man, nor am I a harsh one, except when 
 I am driven to harshness to accomplish my ends. It 
 is not necessary for me, therefore, unless I am forced 
 to it, to tell you why it would not be in your power to 
 resist my will in this matter if I chose to exercise it. 
 You may think this an empty threat, but were it ex- 
 pedient, I could prove to you at this moment that it 
 is not. I hope it never may be necessary for me to 
 allude to it again. I can offer you an escape from the 
 fate you seem so much to dread," he added sardonic- 
 ally, "if you will help to provide me with another. 
 It may seem strange for me in one breath to ask you 
 to become my wife, and in the next to assist in ad- 
 vancing my suit with some one else, but I have never 
 regarded marriage from a sentimental point of view. 
 In Miss Walton, I find nearly all the advantages which 
 you so eminently possess. She is clever, beautiful, and 
 wealthy; and if she is not so well connected as you 
 are, her nationality dispenses with considerations which 
 would be important were she an Englishwoman. 1 
 have therefore decided upon placing my hand at her 
 
128 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 disposal. By entering Parliament, I have laid the 
 foundations of a social position which she is calculated 
 at once to grace and to improve. You will see that it 
 is essentially in your interest to use the great influence 
 which you possess with her and her two friends, especi- 
 ally the old one," he pursued with a sneer, " to induce 
 her to regard my suit favourably. Having known me 
 all your life, your testimony to my worth of character, 
 amiability of disposition, and matrimonial temperament 
 generally, cannot fail to have weight. I know, dear 
 Altiora, that, under the circumstances, I can rely upon 
 you," and he held out his hand as though to conclude 
 the bargain. I took it in silence. On the one hand, 
 I was not going to commit myself in words to this 
 unholy alliance; on the other, I wished to lull his 
 suspicions as to what I really intended to do in the 
 matter. For coute que coUte, whatever might be the 
 value of this threat, that if he failed to win Stella, he 
 would fall back upon me, I was determined never to 
 let that dear noble girl fall a victim to so unscrupulous 
 an adventurer; and now that he had shown me his 
 cards, I was fully decided to avail myself of my know- 
 ledge to frustrate his designs. I therefore even went 
 so far as to respond to his enclosing palm with a gentle 
 pressure, which he might construe as he liked, and 
 merely said — 
 
 " I now quite understand you. You will agree with 
 me that the subject is too delicate for us to discuss 
 further ; " and in the same breath, in order to change 
 
ME MUEKLE MAKES A DOUBLE PEOPOSAL. 129 
 
 it, pointed out Lord Sark driving in a victoria with 
 Mrs Clymer. 
 
 "Ah," he said, "there goes my rival! but I know 
 how to put a spoke most effectually into his wheel. 
 With the Clymer for an ally, and the company for a 
 trap, or the company for an ally and Mrs Clymer for 
 a trap, — it does not matter much which way you put 
 it, — Lord Sark is not a dangerous antagonist. By the 
 way," he added, as though a sudden thought flashed 
 upon him, "if I succeed with Stella Walton, what 
 nobler mission could you desire than to save Lord 
 Sark from the Clymer ? You would make the Baron 
 and your mother eternally grateful by marrying your 
 cousin." 
 
 " Yes," I said ; " but I should have to hold my affec- 
 tions in suspense until you had terminated your cam- 
 paign successfully with Stella, and that might not be 
 possible. Don't you think you are risking a great deal 
 in suggesting such an idea? Suppose Stella refused 
 you, would you expect Sark and me to change our 
 minds ? " 
 
 " Oh, she won't refuse me if you will only say a good 
 word for me. At any rate, of one thing I feel certain, 
 and that is, that she will never accept him. She 
 makes the most marked difference in her manner to- 
 wards his lordship and myself. However, far be it 
 from me to suggest that you should involve your affec- 
 tions in any direction, — all I want is your support 
 with Stella." 
 
 X 
 
130 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 An idea here rapidly flashed across me, and I gave a 
 sigh which caused him to look up hurriedly. 
 
 "You were ridiculously mistaken in thinking," I 
 said, — and I am conscious I blushed while speaking, 
 at the delicate ground I was treading on, — " that I was 
 in love with Mr MacAlpine. It is as well that you 
 should know, what I should have told you had you 
 pressed me further, that my affections are already 
 engaged, but not to him. Of course I do not know the 
 nature of the threat you hold in terrorem over me. I 
 hope, as you say, that there will never be any necessity 
 for you to enforce it ; but I can conceive of no pres- 
 sure which it would ever be in your power to bring to 
 bear which could compel me to marry against my 
 inclinations, the more especially since they have be- 
 come already involved in another quarter." 
 
 Mr Murkle, who was by no means a polite person 
 when he was off his guard, gave vent to a long, low 
 whistle; and at that moment Lord Sark and Mrs 
 Clymer, seeing us, drove up. Her presence alone with 
 him at such an hour, and her audacity in coming up 
 to speak to us, caused me to colour violently ; and I 
 felt that the conviction suddenly forced itself upon Mr 
 Murl^le's mind, as he observed it, that he had not to 
 look further for the object of my attachment, the more 
 especially as Mrs Clymer could not resist shooting at 
 me one of those jealous glances which so acute an 
 observer as my riding companion could not fail to 
 intercept. 
 
MR MURKLE MAKES A DOUBLE PROPOSAL. 131 
 
 " Whose fate were you discussing with such earnest- 
 ness ? " she remarked, with a meaning laugh. " My 
 lord here has been bowing in vain to Miss Peto, but 
 she seemed to have no eyes nor ears except for you, 
 Mr Murkle." 
 
 " We were just then talking about you, Mrs Clymer," 
 he answered with the greatest coolness. "You know 
 the proverb, ' Talk of the — angel,' and so forth." 
 
 " Lord Sark and I were much less scandalous," she 
 remarked, " for we were discussing the prospect of 
 the Dark Continent Electric Illumination Company. 
 Apropos, come and see me to-morrow at two ; I have 
 something of importance to talk over with you." 
 
 " I shall be at home at two. Lord Sark," I said, and I 
 saw Mrs Clymer's face flush with anger as we passed 
 on without allowing time for a reply. Mr Murkle for 
 the rest of our ride was absorbed in a brown study, 
 and I was only too glad to leave him in it. 
 
 It was therefore about the hour on the following day 
 that Mr Murkle was having his interview with Mrs 
 Clymer that I had the conversation with Lord Sark, 
 which I also believe to have been "critical." I had 
 long been thinking how to open his eyes to the dangers 
 by which he was surrounded, and to release him from 
 the bondage in which he. was held, when the oppor- 
 tunity seemed thus providentially furnished, for I 
 knew my mother was going to a concert ; and at two 
 o'clock, accordingly. Lord Sark made his appearance. 
 
 " You may think it strange of me," I said, " to ask 
 
132 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 you to call at an hour when I knew my mother would 
 be out; but I have had to act so much for myself 
 through life, that perhaps I am less conventional than 
 most girls, and this must also be my excuse for what 
 I am going to say." I then explained to him, as 
 shortly as I could, my theory about the crisis in our 
 lives — about free-wiU and moral responsibility — about 
 organic influences and the necessity of evolving the 
 highest ideal conception of daily life, and then of try- 
 ing to live up to it, — and justified my making a per- 
 sonal application of these theories to both of us by the 
 strong conscientious conviction which I felt that it was 
 my duty to do so, because I believed that every human 
 being — even an unprotected and ignorant girl — might 
 possess an influence which she might exercise for good. 
 His mind had been so little trained to considerations of 
 this nature, that he evidently followed me with diffi- 
 culty ; but he admitted that every individual exercised 
 an influence of some sort or other; that it must be 
 either for good or evil ; and that they were responsible 
 for it. So then I asked him what kind of influence 
 Mrs Clymer was likely to exercise upon three pure 
 girls, and whether he could justify having been the 
 means of bringing her into contact with Stella "Walton, 
 Mattie Terrill, and myself. . " So strongly do I feel on 
 this subject. Lord Sark," I went on, " that either she 
 must go away, or we must. How it is to be managed, 
 I don't clearly see ; and this was my reason for asking 
 you to come and discuss the matter with me." 
 
ME MURKLE MAKES A DOUBLE PROPOSAL. 133 
 
 "But, my dear Altiora," he said, looking stupefied 
 with amazement, "Mrs Clymer is the most intimate 
 friend of half the girls in London ; their mothers make 
 no objection to their intimacy with her. Society has 
 accepted her without question; and I scarcely think 
 you have a right to set yourself up against it. You 
 have no proof that Mrs Clymer is not as virtuous as 
 any other woman in London. In fact, her conduct is 
 irreproachable. She is nothing more than a great 
 friend of mine ; and most pretty women who have lost 
 their husbands, or are unhappily married, or whose 
 husbands don't object, have great friends of the other 
 sex. Life would be intolerable to them otherwise, 
 poor things ! but the intimacy need not necessarily be 
 improper." 
 
 " I have nothing to do with London society, or its 
 customs, or its standard of morality," I replied ; " this 
 is a special case. Stella Walton is my great friend. 
 I have seen enough of you to feel the highest regard 
 for you. I see what your feeling for her is. It is 
 neither doing justice to you nor to her that this woman 
 should remain here. You cannot be her great friend 
 without doing yourself an injury which must pass 
 through you to others. You are under her spell, and 
 as a spell-bound person you affect others hurtfuUy. 
 You are charged, if I may so express myself, with a 
 poisonous magnetism which you disseminate." 
 
 " That may aU be true — it is somewhat beyond me," 
 said Sark ; " but granting it to be so, how is it to be 
 
•134 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 remedied ? I can't go, because I am attracted like a 
 moth to a candle by Stella, with whom, as you have 
 rightly divined, I have fallen deeply and passionately 
 in love. Mrs Clymer will not go away, because she is 
 determined, if possible, to prevent the match; and I 
 can't make her, because, as you say, she has got me 
 under some spell, which I can only resist in one point. 
 She has been urging me to leave Paris, but here I am 
 able to stand my ground." 
 
 " In other words, you're like one of those toy geese 
 that follow magnets," I said, " only in this case there 
 are two, and they pull with equal force in opposite 
 directions. The result is that you are paralysed — that 
 is why I say Mrs Clymer must go away, and you 
 would instantly gravitate in the right direction." 
 
 "I am sure Stella does not try to attract me," he 
 gloomily replied, " for she is coldness itself ; she seems 
 entirely taken up with that fellow Murkle. I wonder 
 what sort of magnetism his is ? " 
 
 "As bad as Mrs Clymer's, only of another kind," 
 I answered ; " but you are mistaken if you think that 
 Stella cares for him, though I confess her apparent 
 encouragement of him is a mystery which I have in 
 vain endeavoured to solve. But I am sure of this, if 
 Mrs Clymer went away, her whole manner to you 
 would change. It would not advance matters much if 
 you went away with her, even if you could tear your- 
 self from Stella. What I want to see is your emanci- 
 pation from the whole connection. I can give you the 
 
MR MURKLE MAKES A DOUBLE PROPOSAL. 135 
 
 best idea of your position by Mr Murkle's own descrip- 
 tion of it, — 'with Mrs Clymer for an ally and the 
 company for a trap, or Mrs Clymer for a trap and the 
 company for an ally — it does not much matter which 
 way you put it — I do not fear Lord Sark as a rival ; ' 
 that was his way of expressing it, and I think it is one 
 which deserves your serious consideration." 
 
 Sark bit his lip and tapped the floor with his foot. 
 "Believe me," I added, seeing that I was making an 
 impression, " you are in as much danger materially as 
 you are morally, and it is for your own sake as well as 
 for ours that I want the atmosphere purified. With- 
 draw from the whole of this financial combination. I 
 am sure that Stella cares for you ; and though I don't 
 want you to marry her for her fortune, the fact that 
 she has one will relieve you from all further pecuniary 
 anxieties." 
 
 "Dear Altiora," he said, "I feel the soundness of 
 your advice ; the unfortunate thing is that it is impos- 
 sible for me to follow it. I am irrevocably committed 
 to the financial scheme, to which I am both legally and 
 honourably pledged. It is useless for me to attempt to 
 drive Mrs Clymer away ; and if I went away myself, 
 she would simply have gained her point and follow me, 
 and I should lose Stella, and fall back into the old 
 bondage. There is a confession of weakness, but it is 
 the truth. Believe me," he said, taking my hand, " I 
 am none the less deeply grateful to you and ashamed 
 of myself." 
 
136 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 I had barely time to release my hand when the 
 door opened and Mrs Clymer herself entered the 
 room. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 A PASSAGE OF ARMS. 
 
 Saek neither coloured nor started as Mrs Clymer, with 
 a rapid and penetrating glance at both of us, advanced 
 to greet me. I was conscious of doing both, and yet 
 she read an expression of guilt on his honest counte- 
 nance, while I am sure mine expressed nothing but 
 indignation at her unceremonious entry. We must 
 have presented an interesting study to an experienced 
 physiognomist. I remember, although the moment was 
 a critical one, trying to think by what feature the con- 
 fusion which his face exhibited was chiefly betrayed. 
 He did not lower his eyes as they met hers, the lines 
 of the mouth did not move perceptibly as he rose 
 slowly to follow up my greeting with his own, and yet 
 there was a distinct admission in his face of a con- 
 sciousness that he was caught. I ask the inquiring 
 mind, Where was it? By what mysterious agency 
 does the countenance mirror the emotions, when the 
 will holds every feature in an apparently normal calm ? 
 And how is it that the mirror is often a distorted one, 
 
A PASSAGE OF ARMS. 137 
 
 and conveys an erroneous impression? Now I am 
 certain it did in my own case. I was conscious of 
 having done nothing to be ashamed ol I was angry, 
 but not dismayed, at Mrs Clymer's sudden entrance, 
 and yet I am sure that that lady utterly mistook the 
 signs of my emotion, and attributed them to a senti- 
 ment which she supposed to be common to both Sark 
 and myself. In fact, she was convinced that she had 
 interrupted us at a moment when, as she imagined, 
 some tender passages were being interchanged ; and a 
 certain triumphant and vindictive flash of her eye, as 
 she squeezed my hand effusively, and then turned with 
 easy and affectionate intimacy to her " dear Sark," 
 warned me that the passages now in prospect were 
 likely to prove anything but tender. 
 
 "I did not let the servant announce me, my dear 
 Altiora," she said, knowing how it jarred upon me to 
 be addressed by her by my Christian name, " because I 
 knew your mother was out, and heard you tell Sark 
 yesterday that you were to be at home. That unpunc- 
 tual Murkle came half an hour before his time because 
 he had some meeting to attend, and so I was released 
 sooner than I expected. I hope I have not indis- 
 creetly interrupted an interesting Ute-it-Ute" 
 
 " Not at all," I calmly replied. " Your arrival would 
 have been inconvenient a few moments ago ; as it is, 
 I have said everything to Lord Sark that I wished." 
 And seeing that she was vainly attempting to suppress 
 a nervous anxiety on the subject, I maliciously added 
 
138 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 — " He is quite satisfied, — are you not ? " and I turned 
 to him with a glance which I purposely intended 
 should mislead my adversary, so full was it of a tender 
 meaning. 
 
 The embarrassment into which it threw poor Sark, 
 who was so taken aback that he could only stammer 
 that he "never could be sufficiently grateful to me," 
 evidently confirmed her worst suspicions. She lost 
 her presence of mind under the pressure of her excite- 
 ment, and said sharply, " Do you mean to tell me that 
 you are engaged ? " 
 
 I looked at her with an indignant glance of outraged 
 propriety, and said, " I am not aware, Mrs Clymer, of 
 any circumstance which gives you the right to ask 
 that question." 
 
 She apparently considered that the crisis warranted 
 her in disregarding all social conventionality, or per- 
 haps she felt her social position so strong that she 
 could dare anything without danger from me, for she 
 replied with the most unblushing effrontery, " Lord 
 Sark is in a position to explain to you what the cir- 
 cumstance is which at all events gives me the right to 
 ask him that question." 
 
 " I think," said Sark, overwhelmed with confusion, 
 " that the subject is one which we had better not dis- 
 cuss further just now." 
 
 " On the contrary," she replied, " there could not be 
 a more convenient or appropriate occasion. If Miss 
 Peto intends to marry you, it is only right that she 
 
A PASSAGE OF ARMS. 139 
 
 should be informed of the precise relations we occupy 
 towards each other." 
 
 I confess I was staggered by the shamelessness of 
 this remark. I had seen so little of society, that I did 
 not know that such things could be possible. I rose 
 quietly and touched the bell. " Mrs Clymer," I said, 
 " if you do not leave the room instantly, I will have 
 you turned out by the servants." 
 
 Sark sprang to his feet. 
 
 " I implore you, Altiora," he said, " do not let us 
 have a scandal. I shall never forgive myself for 
 having been indirectly the cause of bringing this an- 
 noyance upon you ; " and then turning to Mrs Clymer, 
 he added, " You are labouring under a complete mis- 
 apprehension. I am not engaged to be married to 
 Miss Peto or to any one. Let us go now. I am sure 
 that a moment's calm reflection will lead you to regret 
 the hasty conclusion you have arrived at, and the 
 expression to which it gaA^e rise." 
 
 "Miss Peto brought it upon herself," said Mrs 
 Clymer, rising as the servant entered ; and bowing 
 with an air of outraged majesty, she left the room, 
 followed by Sark, who had just time to press my hand 
 and whisper, " Once more forgive me, and don't despise 
 me utterly." 
 
 A quarter of an hour after this, and while I was still 
 brooding over the outrage to which I had been sub- 
 jected, mamma and the Baron came home. I imme- 
 diately told them what had occurred, and said it 
 
140 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 was impossible for me ever to meet Mrs Clymer 
 again. 
 
 " My dear Altiora," said mamma, " when you come 
 to know a little more of life, you will see how ridi- 
 culous such scruples are. I look upon Mrs Clymer's 
 intimacy with your cousin as quite providential. I 
 have been assiduously cultivating her friendship, be- 
 cause it will ensure us access into the very best society 
 in London. Why, half the smart people bombard her 
 with invitations, and the other half with requests to get 
 them for them." 
 
 " But after what she has admitted to me, surely we 
 could render that impossible," I said. 
 
 " In the first place, it would not be convenient to 
 listen to you. In the second place, if we could expose 
 her, which people in our position would utterly fail to 
 do, you would, to use a vulgar expression, be simply 
 cutting off your nose to spite your face. My dear, she 
 may prove a most valuable and useful acquaintance 
 and chaperon. Indeed I have already made arrange- 
 ments for her to take you to a ball next Sunday week, 
 to which she is going with Lord Sark, to be given 
 by the celebrated author and play -writer, Monsieur 
 Housseyn Arsaye, where you will see a little of Par- 
 isian life in its most brilliant and characteristic aspect. 
 I am sure your American friends would like to go, and 
 they could scarcely do so under better auspices. I 
 shall insist, Altiora, upon your not giving yourself airs 
 of propriety in these matters. As your mother, I am 
 
A PASSAGE OF ARMS. 141 
 
 responsible for your conduct, and I shall be quite 
 satisfied to place you under Mrs Clymer's guidance. 
 So you will have the goodness to immediately apolo- 
 gise for your rudeness. She may do us the greatest 
 possible injury if we offend her. The idea of a chit 
 like you flying in the face of a recognised beauty like 
 Mrs Clymer, on the score of morality, — the thing is 
 monstrous. Is it not. Baron ? " she added, appealing 
 to her husband. 
 
 " Ma foi, my little Ora, we must take things as we 
 find them," he said, turning to me ; " you and I can't 
 afford to run atilt at social follies. We have been 
 most fortunate in securing Lord Sark and Mrs Clymer 
 as intimates, and no one would thank us except a few 
 crabbed old ladies who want him for their daughters, 
 for making a scandal ; besides, dirt always sticks. 
 You are the only authority on the subject; and a 
 young lady who makes her d61)'iit by attempting to 
 expose a beautiful and popular woman, because she 
 is too intimate with her own cousin, would certainly 
 not come out under happy auspices. No, Ora mia, as 
 your mother says, we must patch up this little differ- 
 ence, and be all the better friends for it. If you can 
 win Sark from her, no one will be better pleased than 
 I shaU be ; but you have gone the wrong way to work, 
 ma petite," 
 
 " I don't want to win Sark from her for myself, but 
 for his own good," said I, indignantly ; and I had 
 much difficulty in preventing my feelings from finding 
 
142 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 vent in a flood of tears. " And," I added, rising to 
 leave the room, while my voice trembled with excite- 
 ment, " nothing shall induce me even to speak to Mrs 
 Clymer again. You need not, therefore, expect me to 
 apologise to her, much less to make my entry into 
 London society under her auspices." 
 
 Thinking the matter over in my own room, I found 
 that I had placed myself in a very difficult position. I 
 knew the Baron and mamma well enough to feel cer- 
 tain that they would spare no pains to conciliate Mrs 
 Clymer, and I knew that lady well enough to be 
 equally sure that she would not lose the triumph of 
 being conciliated, and of coming to the house hardened 
 in her insolence by her success. My reserve would 
 only make me look ridiculous, and she would not spare 
 me. In my dilemma, I determined to go down and 
 take counsel of my friends in the entresol ; and thither 
 I accordingly repaired, just in time to find the two 
 girls alone with Hannah at their afternoon tea. 
 
 " Well, that beats all," said Hannah, when I had 
 concluded my story without interruption. " I felt all 
 through my bones that Clymer was a hard case the 
 first time I sot eyes on her, but I didn't jest know it 
 went that length: but to think of your mama a-knowin' 
 it all, and wanting to git along in what she calls ' so- 
 ciety ' by sacrificing your innocence to her vice, — why, 
 it's enough to make a body's hair stand on end." 
 
 " The question now is," I said, " what am I to do ? 
 How am I to escape the humiliation of her presence 
 
A PASSAGE OF ARMS. 143 
 
 and of her triumph ? And how, in the face of a com- 
 mand from my parents to the contrary, am I to pre- 
 serve my own self-respect ? I heard Mr MacAlpiue 
 and Mr Hetherington talking the other night about 
 the ball she wishes me to go to, and nothing will in- 
 duce me to go, particularly under the escort of Sark 
 and Mrs Clymer." 
 
 "You must jest run away from 'em, my dearie," 
 said Hannah, with the greatest coolness imaginable. 
 "There is times when your dooty to your God is 
 greater than your dooty to your parents, 'specially 
 when one of 'em is only a Eitalian, and a step-father 
 at that." 
 
 This proposition was so unexpected that it quite 
 took my breath away, but it was received by the two 
 girls with rapturous approbation. 
 
 "Why, that's splendid, you dear old Hannah; she 
 shall run away to us. We'll all ' vamose the camp,' as 
 the boys say out West, in the night, and not leave a 
 sign for them to follow us by," said Stella, clapping 
 her hands. 
 
 " Yes," said Mattie, " we'll just leave a line behind 
 to say that we are very sorry, but we had to do it 
 because we found our Californian morals were getting 
 contaminated by the best society we tumbled into on 
 our arrival in the Old World, and we took the liberty 
 of carrying off a little innocent that hadn't been cor- 
 rupted, with us." 
 
 "Now, then, the question is," said Stella, with a 
 
144 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 promptitude worthy of a great general, " to decide up- 
 on the plan of operations. When do you think Mrs 
 Clymer will be sufficiently reconciled to make an 
 appearance again?" 
 
 "Oh, certainly not before to-morrow afternoon," I 
 said. 
 
 " Well, then, well both go up-stairs. You go into 
 your own room, which you may be supposed never to 
 have left. I will go and see the Baroness, and tell her 
 we are going to spend three or four days visiting Ver- 
 sailles and St Germains, and I'll ask her to let you 
 come with us. This she is likely to do, as she will 
 imagine it will give you time to get over your anger 
 with Mrs Clymer, and give her time to conciliate that 
 lady. Then I will ask to see you, and you will come 
 down, innocent of the whole affair, and accept my 
 invitation ; then you'll pack up enough things to last — 
 not for a week, but for a year if necessary ; besides, we 
 can always buy more. We will make all the prepara- 
 tions to-night, and all start for Versailles the first thing 
 in the morning, and then decide where to fly to next." 
 
 " And Bob ? " said Mattie ; " do you suppose I can 
 tear myself away from my Zend-Avesta in this unpre- 
 meditated manner ? No ; Bob must be in the secret. 
 We must consult Bob at once. I will telegraph for 
 him to come here instantly." 
 
 "But won't Keith Hetherington suspect?" I re- 
 marked. " Don't you think we had better consult him 
 too?" 
 
A PASSAGE OF ARMS. 145 
 
 "We'll telegraph for both," said Stella, "to come 
 here and dine ; and you can dine too, Altiora. I will 
 ask you up-stairs. Now there is no time to be lost ; 
 but first," said the girl, stopping in her enthusiasm, 
 and turning to Hannah, " tell us if you approve ; well 
 none of us move a step without your approval." 
 
 " If I didn't approve, I'd a said so," remarked the 
 old lady. " When it comes to running away in such 
 a good cause as this, you'U find old Hannah making 
 tracks with the youngest of ye ; but I ain't a-going to 
 let that Clymer drop — do you know it ? If I don't 
 make her run too before I've done with her, I ain't 
 one of the New Hampshire Coffins. She has got to be 
 put down, and she's got to stay put. It's old Hannah 
 says so, and you'd better believe it." 
 
 The first part of the programme was carried out 
 without a hitch. And the same evening, while Mattie 
 was initiating Bob into his duties, I was having a 
 serious conversation with Keith Hetherington on the 
 subject. 
 
 In spite of the intimacy which had sprung up be- 
 tween us during the past month, I had not been able 
 to assume the cousinly privilege which my American 
 friends had so rapidly availed themselves of, of calling 
 Mr Hetherington by his Christian name ; but the more 
 I saw of him, the more I was struck by the breadth 
 and originality of his views upon the subjects in which 
 I was especially interested, but in regard to which, 
 upon ordinary occasions, he manifested the utmost 
 
 E 
 
146 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 silence and reserve, feeling either that he was liable 
 to be misunderstood, or that they were of too serious 
 a character to be treated lightly. Indeed he often 
 seemed to have two different lives — an outer and an 
 inner one ; one which he lived for his friends and for 
 society, and one which he lived for himself. No one 
 who judged of him by his ordinary conversation could 
 form an accurate estimate of the earnestness of his 
 character, and of the wide range of those faculties with 
 which he was endowed, and which, aided by extensive 
 research, travel, keen powers of observation, and study 
 of his fellow-men and the phenomena of nature, had 
 enabled him to arrive at certain results which he was 
 reluctant to impart to others, because, while convinced 
 of their truth, he had not arrived at the point where 
 they could be verified by evidence which should be 
 satisfactory to the world at large. Hence he guarded 
 them jealously under the mask of a very commonplace 
 exterior. Notwithstanding this, there was an inde- 
 scribable something about him which had from the 
 first piqued my curiosity, and the interest which I 
 manifested in a certain class of inquiry had finally 
 induced him, so far as I was concerned, in a great 
 measure to break through his reserve. It was the 
 sympathy of thought and feeling which had thus be- 
 come engendered, that seemed to make it impossible 
 for me to take so serious a step as the one I was now 
 contemplating, without first consulting him, and yet it 
 involved an explanation that could not fail to be more 
 
A PASSAGE OF AEMS. 147 
 
 or less embarrassing. I was aware tliat the somewhat 
 bold and unusual measure I had resorted to in arrang- 
 ing a private interview with Sark, in order to detach 
 him from Mrs Clymer, was liable to misconstruction, 
 and that, the position in which I was now placed by 
 that lady implied that I was a rival with her in my 
 cousin's affections; while the plan of flying from her 
 and from my parents and natural guardians was one 
 which, from a conventional point of view, it would be 
 very difficult, if not impossible, to justify; moreover, 
 to take into my confidence a young unmarried man, 
 whom I had not known above a month, even though 
 he was twelve or fourteen years older than myself, and 
 make a sort of father-confessor of him, which I felt 
 strongly impelled to do, was to place us in an entirely 
 new position relatively to each other, and to establish 
 an intimacy on such peculiar grounds, as nothing but 
 the utmost confidence in the justness of his apprecia- 
 tion of my motives and the rectitude of his character 
 would have warranted. In spite of the affectionate 
 sympathy of my impulsive American friends, I felt 
 forlorn and desolate. I wanted a matured masculine 
 judgment to lean upon in this emergency, and whom 
 had I to turn to but him ? Still it was not without 
 a sense of the greatest embarrassment and hesitation 
 that I described to him my interview with Sark, the 
 motives by which it was prompted, its interruption 
 by Mrs Clymer, and the outrage to which I had been 
 subjected by her, and my mother's intentions with 
 
148 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 regard to her chaperonage of me in London ; and with- 
 out telling him the plan I had decided upon, I asked 
 him what course he would advise me to pursue under 
 the circumstances. "Excuse me, Mr Hetherington," 
 I said in conclusion, " for taking you so deeply into 
 my confidence, and placing you in a position of so 
 much responsibility, what I really need is not social or 
 worldly but spiritual advice. I suppose a clergyman 
 would be considered the right person to go to, but I 
 don't know one ; besides, I heard Mrs Clymer, who is 
 a very regular attendant at church, say the other day 
 that she found them such a comfort. She said there 
 was one she always went to in her difficulties. They 
 differ, it seems to me, just as much as other men, and 
 they might think themselves bound by some text like 
 ' honour thy father and thy mother,' which I am sure 
 would not apply in a case like this." 
 
 " You must have been in difficulties before," he re- 
 plied, " though not so serious ; what do you generally 
 do?" 
 
 " Oh, I always try and think what papa, who, when 
 he gave me my name, gave me the motto of my life, is 
 at this moment wishing me to do under the circum- 
 stances. I try and imagine the highest conception of 
 duty, and earnestly seek for his influence to descend 
 and point it out to me ; and indeed a good influence 
 does seem to descend, and I seem to feel it encompass- 
 ing me, but unfortunately it does not appear to be 
 governed by any social considerations, and sometimes 
 
A PASSAGE OF ARMS. 149 
 
 suggests the most impossible courses of action from the 
 worldly point of view. That is one reason why I have 
 shrunk from going to clergymen — they appear to try 
 and adapt their religion to the social requirements of 
 the conditions by which they are surrounded, instead 
 of going for the right and highest thing coute que coMe. 
 It is all a matter of compromise, and I hate compromise 
 where it involves the slightest sacrifice of the highest 
 ideal conception of duty." 
 
 " But there may be one high ideal conception of 
 duty to God and to humanity, and another to one's self, 
 or to one's country, or family, or society ; it all depends 
 whom the duty is towards, whether it is likely to in- 
 volve compromise or not. Now the ideal conception 
 of duty towards one's country is a very high one." 
 
 " Yes ; but surely not so high as towards humanity 
 at large," I replied. 
 
 " That was just the reason I refused a seat in Parlia- 
 ment when it was offered to me," he answered, with a 
 smile. " I found that the popular conception of one's 
 duty to one's country involved a compromise which I 
 could not make with that which I felt I owed to 
 humanity. If you feel the same with regard to your 
 family, or to society, you have only one course to 
 pursue." 
 
 "But I am not a Eomanist, and I can't become a 
 nun. I can't leave them, for I have nowhere to 
 go to." 
 
 " And if you could, you would not advance matters. 
 
150 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 You would do no good to the world by leaving it. 
 This is the great mistake of ascetics — who are, in 
 fact, more occupied with their own spiritual welfare 
 than with that of their fellow-men — not perceiving the 
 fatal egotism that underlies all efforts after personal 
 salvation." 
 
 " But I am not thinking about my personal salvation 
 now," I said ; " I am thinking simply of somehow ful- 
 filling the conception of my duty to God, which you 
 tell me admits of no compromise with the conventional 
 idea of my duty to my family." 
 
 "One greater than I said that," Mr Hetherington 
 interrupted, in a tone of deep solemnity, "when He 
 described how His cross should be borne." 
 
 " But how is a girl under age like me to leave father 
 and mother and house ?" said I, knowing to what he 
 alluded. " In the Christian society in which we live I 
 should be answerable to the law," I added bitterly, 
 " and if I persisted in my rebellion, should be put into 
 Chancery or some such thing, because I was trying to 
 fulfil a divine command." 
 
 A long pause ensued, during which Mr Hetherington 
 put his elbows on the table, and his face between his 
 hands, remaining in that attitude for some moments. 
 
 " My child," he said at last, " there is a way which 
 sets every pulse in my being throbbing when I think 
 of it — for it is one which, "if you consented to it, would 
 bring inexpressible happiness and consolation to a spirit 
 that has suffered for many years the misery of utter 
 
A PASSAGE OF ARMS. 151 
 
 isolation and desolation — but it is not open to us yet. 
 I cannot ask you to become my wife merely because it 
 would make my life a joy, and enable you to escape 
 from a dilemma. N"ot because I fear the law, or 
 would shrink from carrying you away from its clutches, 
 but because in this matter we must be a law unto our- 
 selves, and because marriage is too sacred a state to be 
 entered upon either from motives of natural selfishness 
 or expediency. Not only is it true in a deeper sense 
 than the world wots of that marriages are made in 
 heaven, but the time when they should be consum- 
 mated here is registered there, and for us that time 
 may never come. I know of only one person who can 
 assist us in this difficulty, and she is not far off," he 
 said, glancing from the corner in which we were sit- 
 ting to Hannah, who was engaged at the other end of 
 the room in the unusual task for her of writing a 
 letter. 
 
 " Oh," I said, clasping my hands, not a little relieved 
 from the emotion into which this singular speech had 
 thrown me, "I am so glad you have arrived at that 
 conclusion at last ! I only felt that this conversation 
 was necessary in order to prepare you for what I have 
 arranged with Hannah, only I somehow felt I wanted 
 your sanction to it." And then I told him our plans, 
 and as I saw that Hannah was by this time directing 
 the envelope, I called her. She came to us with the 
 letter in her hand ; as she laid it upon the table my 
 eye fell upon the address. 
 
152 A.LTIORA PETO. 
 
 "Why, Hannah," I said, thunderstruck, for I could 
 scarcely believe my eyes, " who have you been writing 
 to?" 
 
 " Mr Clymer," she replied calmly. 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 FLIGHT AND PURSUIT. 
 
 On the following morning the three girls and Hannah? 
 attended by Hetherington and Alderney as escort, 
 started for Versailles, and the same afternoon, the 
 Baroness called on Mrs Clymer, to pacify the outraged 
 sensibilities of that lady. She found Lord Sark with 
 her, which rendered the explanation somewhat em- 
 barrassing. 
 
 " You can't think, my dear Mrs Clymer," she said, 
 " how distressed I was on hearing from Altiora of her 
 foolish conduct yesterday. I could not lose a moment 
 in coming to ask you to forgive her for her presump- 
 tion. I can't think where the child has picked up all 
 her ridiculous ideas. I hope, dear Lord Sark, you will 
 make allowances for what must have seemed to you 
 most unmaidenly and indelicate behaviour on her 
 part, and that it will not affect our pleasant rela- 
 tions together. I have sent the child away with her 
 
FLIGHT AND PURSUIT. 153 
 
 American friends to spend a few days at Versailles 
 and St Germains, and by the time she comes back 
 I shall take care to put matters on such a footing, 
 that any recurrence of such conduct shall be im- 
 possible." 
 
 Lord Sark was about to speak, but Mrs Clymer was 
 too well aware of the danger of allowing any depreca- 
 tory utterances on his part to give him time. At the 
 same time, she perceived that her only chance of keep- 
 ing him quiet was to adopt an attitude very different 
 from that which she would probably have assumed 
 had she been alone with the Baroness, and in a posi- 
 tion to ride her high horse unchecked. So to Sark's 
 astonishment she replied — 
 
 " I am so sorry you have taken the trouble to call, 
 dear. I assure you the apologies, if there are any 
 due, should rather come from Sark, who has a way 
 of talking to girls as if they were women of the 
 world, which is quite shocking. Poor dear girl! no 
 wonder she was startled. At her age I should have 
 acted just in the same way. I tried to disabuse her 
 mind of some erroneous impressions, which, I am 
 afraid, she has received now in reference to our old 
 friendship," and she extended her hand with the most 
 engaging frankness to Sark, who evidently took it 
 with reluctance; "but you, dear Baroness, who know 
 the world so well, and know what sad injustices we 
 married women with wicked husbands have to endure, 
 understand how harmless such intimacies are, and how 
 
154 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 desolate life would be if Plato had not invented at- 
 tachments of that sweet and sympathetic character 
 by which we are bound." 
 
 Mrs Clymer was, in fact, not sorry for this oppor- 
 tunity of letting the Baroness comprehend that she 
 had no intention of giving up Lord Sark to Altiora, 
 and that, if she expected her help in London, it must 
 be upon those terms. So she went on : "A month of 
 the London season under my chaperonage will be 
 quite enough to enlighten your daughter upon mat- 
 ters of which she is so utterly ignorant, as she proved 
 herself to be yesterday. Her beauty, talent, and re- 
 lationship to Sark, added to my humble efforts and 
 the Baron's great financial position, will, I am sure, 
 secure her a brilliant social triumph." 
 
 Lord Sark's face was a study during this speech. 
 The notion of the girl, of whose pure and disinterested 
 nature he had received such striking evidence, being 
 introduced into London society by the woman whose 
 reputation in it he had himself done more than any 
 one to compromise, and whose real character, now that 
 she presented it to him in the light of his innocent 
 cousin's chaperon, began to assume a totally new aspect, 
 filled him with a mingled sentiment of remorse and 
 dismay. In the degree in which the grandeur and 
 purity of Altiora's mind had made their influences 
 felt, and disturbed the latent sensibilities of his con- 
 science, had he become more keenly alive to the 
 contrast which was presented to it by the perverted 
 
FLIGHT AND PURSUIT. 155 
 
 nature of the woman to whose fascinations he had 
 fallen a victim. And the more that this counter- 
 influence seemed to invade his organism, did he shrink 
 from the chains which he had hugged, and begin within 
 himself to devise schemes for releasing himself, and 
 for thwarting those plans of his late charmer, to which 
 the unworthy mother was listening with so much com- 
 placency. 
 
 In pursuance of the resolution slowly forming within 
 him, he asked the Baroness if she knew whether the 
 party were to be found at that moment at Versailles 
 or St Germains ; but Madame Grandesella said, as 
 she expected them back in three or four days at the 
 most, she had not made any special inquiries as to 
 their plans; and Mrs Clymer suggested, with a sus- 
 picion of a sneer, that the surest way to find them 
 would be to go to both. So his lordship, to that lady's 
 surprise and disgust, then and there took his leave, 
 glad to escape at a moment when the Baroness's pres- 
 ence would make any opposition difficult. 
 
 By the time Lord Sark reached the Hotel des 
 E^servoirs at Versailles, it was already evening, and 
 his inquiries turning out fruitless, he resolved to drive 
 on to St Germains after a hasty meal; but to his 
 surprise and consternation he could find no trace of 
 them there; and as it had now become too late to 
 return to Paris, here he was forced to remain until 
 early the following morning, when he went back to 
 Paris to ask the coTwierge whether the young ladies 
 
156 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 had left any address. Here he heard that on the 
 previous afternoon his cousin, Bob Alderney, had ap- 
 peared with Miss Coffin, had made arrangements for 
 giving up the apartments altogether, had paid off the 
 servants, had packed up everything that belonged to 
 them, and the concierge had heard the direction given 
 — " Gare du Chemin de fer du Nord ; " on which — 
 without making inquiries of the Grandesellas, which 
 he felt would be useless, or giving them the alarm, 
 which he began to suspect would be treacherous — ^he 
 drove off to the apartment occupied by Hetherington 
 and Alderney. The former had just gone out; the 
 latter had not been at home since the previous even- 
 ing, nor did the servant know anything of his move- 
 ments, beyond the fact that he had taken a small 
 portmanteau with him. The chase upon which Sark 
 had been engaged for nearly twenty-four hours, now 
 began to pique his curiosity, and to interest him 
 intensely, — the more especially, as he strongly sus- 
 pected that before long he would be the pursued as 
 well as the pursuer. In the midst of his eagerness 
 and anxiety, he could not help smiling as the tableau 
 presented itself to his mind — of his hunting Stella and 
 Altiora, of Mrs Clymer hunting him, and of the Gran- 
 desellas hunting the whole party. He rushed to his 
 hotel to pack a few necessaries, wondering as he did 
 so at the positive delight that he felt at the oppor- 
 tunity which seemed thus providentially offered of 
 making his escape ; at the utter absence of any senti- 
 
FLIGHT AND PUKSUIT. 157 
 
 ment for Mrs Clymer strong enough to hold him ; at 
 the constant presence of Stella in his mind, fluttering 
 like an ignis fatuus from his gaze, at the very moment 
 that existence seemed impossible without her ; at the 
 deep brotherly affection which had grown up within 
 him for Altiora — a sentiment which, for force of purity, 
 he had not given his nature credit for entertaining. A 
 whirl of pleasurable emotions seemed to have taken 
 possession of him, as he rapidly sped up the Eue La- 
 fayette in his coup6. He pictured to himself a retreat 
 in which he would find the girls hidden away, with 
 Altiora to plead for him, and no Murkle to balk him 
 in his suit; and he conjured up to himself the spec- 
 tacle, with a satisfaction which he felt was heartless, 
 of Mrs Clymer s fury at finding that he had flown, no 
 one knew whither ; he had left word with his servant 
 that he would probably not be away long, and to wait 
 till he returned, which would still further embarrass 
 his fair friend, who would probably make the fruit- 
 less journey that he had done to Versailles and St 
 Germains. 
 
 The only unpleasant reflection which arose to mar 
 the full enjoyment of the situation, was the uncer- 
 tainty that attended his own pursuit. The inquiries 
 which he made at the station, left no doubt that he 
 was on the right track. The previous evening, three 
 young ladies and an old one, attended by a young Eng- 
 lishman, had gone by the express to London ; and he 
 found himself just in time to take the tidal, so that he 
 
158 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 would be in that city within a littie more than twelve 
 hours after them — and he felt no doubt that Bob, not 
 expecting such a rapid pursuit, might be heard of at 
 his club. Such, in fact, proved the case. There, a 
 little before midnight, he came suddenly upon his un- 
 suspecting cousin, deeply immersed in the study of 
 Bradshaw. 
 
 Bob, though he endeavoured to assume an air of un- 
 conscious innocence, was evidently not a little discon- 
 certed at Sark's appearance on the scene. 
 
 " Oh, lucky champion of distressed damsels, are you 
 hunting up the train which will most speedily convey 
 them to the retreat you have selected for them ? " said 
 his lordship, who was so delighted with his good for- 
 tune, that he vented his sense of it in chaff. " To such 
 a knight-errant, Bradshaw becomes an idyl more sweet 
 than the lay of any troubadour, and Pall Mall a scene 
 of adventure which the Knight of La Mancha himself 
 might have envied. But you must take me as your 
 Sancho Panza, Bob. I am not going to be denied in 
 this matter. I will follow you as a devoted squire to 
 the ends of the earth in the defence of the pure and 
 the unprotected from the perils of nineteenth-century 
 civilisation. Only tell me that our interests do not 
 clash, and that the fair Hannah is not the Dulcinea of 
 your affections." 
 
 " Before I answer a question," replied Bob, sturdily, 
 " answer me one — ^Where is the Clymer ? " 
 
 " At this moment, I should say she was walking up 
 
FLIGHT AND PUESUIT. 159 
 
 and down her bedroom in Paris in a dressing-gown, 
 half blind with fury, having just discovered my flight, 
 and that she will start by the first train to-morrow 
 morning to Versailles and St Germains to look for me. 
 I purposely put her off the scent in order to give us 
 time. Is this proof sufficient of my fidelity ? " 
 
 " It is impossible for me to reveal their whereabouts 
 to you before I consult the girls themselves," said Bob. 
 " Let us see," and he turned to Bradshaw — " we ought 
 to be off by the 1.40 at latest ; meet me here to-morrow 
 at 11, and I will tell you their decision. There is not 
 another man in the world, except Hetherington, whom 
 I would treat in this matter as I do you, old fellow ; 
 but then I have my suspicions of your real motives, 
 and I am glad to have them. I know you would not 
 have acted as you have done, except as a true friend." 
 
 "Why, certainly, yes, indeed," said Mattie Terrill, 
 enthusiastically, when Bob asked her on the following 
 morning whether the girls would receive a visit from 
 his cousin. " Just think of our having already made a 
 distinguished member of the British peerage hunt us 
 all the way from Paris — and then you talk about your 
 aristocracy being quite too awfully aw-aw-kind of 
 fellows. Why, I guess no old trajDper would have 
 followed our trail more cunningly. Bring him by all 
 means. In the multitude of counsellors there is wis- 
 dom, and he has won the right of being admitted into 
 our confidence by the trouble he has taken to prove it. 
 
160 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 Don't you think so ? " she said, turning to Altiora and 
 Stella — neither of whom, however, responded with the 
 enthusiasm which she expected, though it was evident 
 that the Earl's eagerness to find them was a source of 
 quiet gratification to both. As Hannah gave her cor- 
 dial adhesion, the matter was settled ; and two hours 
 afterwards Lord Sark was in the house, in a quiet 
 Tyburnian region, where Bob had secured them lodgings. 
 " The problem has been solved more rapidly than we 
 either of us expected when we last met," said Altiora, 
 meeting him cordially, while Stella advanced with a 
 slight hesitation, and a perceptible heightening of 
 colour, very foreign to her usual reckless manner, or 
 the frigid reserve with which she had hitherto treated 
 him. Lord Sark felt a delightful and exhilarating 
 complacency stealing over him as he thus found him- 
 self accepted without question as an ally against the 
 machinations of the Clymer, which, considering his 
 relations with her, surprised himself. He contrasted 
 the agitating condition under which his former passion 
 had been stimulated, with the more wholesome influ- 
 ences under which he was now acting, and mentally 
 resolved to preserve the liberty that he had thus won, 
 almost in spite of himself. A veil seemed to be lift- 
 ing from an inner sanctuary, and revealing to him un- 
 known and unsuspected possibilities of emotion; and 
 as it did so, the contrast that this presented to those of 
 which he had been the victim, struck him with its full 
 force. He perceived that in the passion which he had 
 
FLIGHT AND PURSUIT. 161 
 
 felt for the siren who had enthralled him, love, as he 
 now began to understand its nature, had no place, and 
 in the reaction of the discovery he was conscious of a 
 sensation very nearly approaching to disgust. 
 
 " I guess, lord," said Hannah, whose eye he caught 
 while thus reflecting, " that you feel a deal better inside 
 of ye than when I saw you last." Hannah always 
 called Lord Sark simply "lord," having apparently a 
 conscientious scruple against calling him "my lord." 
 Nevertheless, in his absence, she always talked of him 
 as "the lord," — being a person who never wasted 
 words where abbreviation was possible, she had at an 
 early period dispensed with " Sark." Indeed she had 
 a nomenclature peculiar to herself, both for her friends 
 and her enemies. Murkle was always spoken of by 
 her as " that Murkle," with a world of contempt thrown 
 into that; and when she addressed him to his face, 
 which was as rarely as possible, it was generally as 
 "Mister;" but she had never forgiven his conduct 
 about the trunk, and often simply attracted his atten- 
 tion, by saying " Hyar ; " and once in offering him a 
 cup of tea at a moment when he was making osten- 
 tatious love to Stella, to her intense indignation, she 
 called out to him, " Hi, you there ! " as if she was hail- 
 ing a cab. Mrs Clymer, for some reason known only 
 to herself, and which she would never divulge, she 
 never talked of except as that " Valparaiso baggage," 
 and addressed her to her face as " Missus." She had 
 never been heard to add the word Clymer. Hether- 
 
 L 
 
162 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 ington had soon been adopted as Keith, and then as 
 Keithy ; and Bob had so much advanced in her affec- 
 tions since he had aided in their flight, that he too was 
 now promoted, to his great delight, to being Bobby. 
 There was this remarkable thing about Hannah, that 
 she managed to convey in the tones of her voice, and 
 in the manner of her address, a most exact reflection 
 of her inmost sentiments in regard to the person to 
 whom she was speaking at the moment ; and Sark, who 
 knew her peculiarities, felt an underlying tenderness 
 in the uncouth remark, which described so exactly 
 what he was feeling, that it called out a burst of effu- 
 siveness, which astonished the whole party. He could 
 not give vent to the emotions that were welling up 
 within him by embracing Stella, Altiora, and Mattie, 
 one after the other, which would have been a natural 
 outlet to his feelings — so he jumped up, and crossing 
 to Hannah, took both her hands, as the only reply he 
 could make to her speech, and shook them violently. 
 "Well, well, lordy," she remarked, gazing at him be- 
 nignly, " you've got the right stuff in you ; guess you 
 ain't got far to go before you'll come all right." And 
 ever after this Lord Sark was distinguished by the 
 terminal y, which was a certain evidence that he had 
 become a favourite. 
 
 " We must not lose any time, if we are to tell Sark 
 our plans," said Bob. 
 
 He then explained that a retreat had been secured 
 by his efforts in a quiet, remote village, to which he 
 
FLIGHT AND PURSUIT. 163 
 
 fondly anticipated that it would be difficult to track 
 them ; that Hetherington was in the secret, and had 
 been left in Paris to keep them informed of the move- 
 ments of the Grandesellas and Mrs Clymer ; and that 
 the girls were quite reconciled to the experience in 
 store for them of a quiet rural life in a secluded and 
 beautiful part of England. Lord Sark suggested that 
 this might not prove necessary, unless the girls 
 absolutely wished it, and that he could get them all 
 invited to Beaucourt Castle, the seat of his uncle by 
 his mother's side, the Duke of Beaucourt ; and he main- 
 tained that Altiora would be as safe from intrusion or 
 molestation there as in her undiscovered seclusion, as 
 the Grandesellas would be too much overawed by the 
 grandeur of her retreat to attempt either to pursue 
 her or to extract her from it. Altiora, however, 
 shrank from the possible notoriety which might thus 
 attach to her escapade, from the explanations which 
 might be involved, and from the sudden plunge which 
 it would necessitate into the midst of an unknown 
 world of aristocratic fashion. The Californian girls 
 had no such hesitation, and any reluctance they mani- 
 fested to accept Lord Sark's offer arose solely from 
 their disinclination to abandon the refugee who had 
 fled to them for protection ; but this point was 
 decided by Hannah, who could under no circum- 
 stances be induced, so far as she was concerned, to 
 entertain the Beaucourt Castle project; and it was 
 therefore finally settled that they should all go to 
 
164 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 Copleydale together, under Bob's guidance, and wait 
 there in secrecy, until Sark had obtained the invita- 
 tion from his aunt for the two American girls. As 
 Hetherington had declared his intention of coming 
 over to England as soon as the Grandesellas and Mrs 
 Clymer started in pursuit, Bob suggested that he 
 should be directed to mount guard over Hannah and 
 Altiora — a function he felt sure he would readily 
 undertake — and proposed himself to sue for an invi- 
 tation to Beaucourt; and as he threw out this hint, 
 he looked for approval from Mattie Terrill. But 
 that young lady seemed in a perverse mood, and 
 declared that she wanted to flirt with English lords, 
 and he would interfere with her and idle away his 
 time, which he had much better spend in taking the 
 steps necessary for his initiation into his new career 
 as a stockbroker — an announcement which struck 
 Lord Sark with astonishment ; but there was no time 
 to ask any explanation of it then, and an hour after- 
 wards he was standing on the platform at the Pad- 
 dington terminus, waving his adieux to two lovely 
 creatures kissing their hands to him out of the win- 
 dows of the carriage of a vanishing express train, 
 much to the envy of the surrounding spectators. 
 The same afternoon he wrote to the Duchess of 
 Beaucourt, asking if she had room for him at the 
 Castle. 
 
THE DUCHESS OF BEAUCOURT. 165 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 THE DUCHESS OF BEAUCOURT. 
 
 " Sapristi, ce n'est toujours pas le mari qu'on cherche 
 comme 9a/' said the waiter of the Hotel Henri Quatre 
 at St Germains, after he handed Mrs Clymer into a 
 fiacre and was watching its retreating wheels — a senti- 
 ment suggested to his experience in such matters by 
 the ill - suppressed evidences of anger and anxiety- 
 exhibited by that lady, after she had drawn the 
 coverts of Versailles and St Germains in search of 
 the missing party in vain. She had time enough, 
 however, to compose her feelings and her rdU before 
 she arrived at the apartments of the Grandesellas 
 with the tidings. She affected to be intensely amused 
 by the whole performance. It was " so like dear Sark 
 to enter into the spirit of a joke concocted by two 
 wild Californian girls, utterly ignorant of all the con- 
 venances of civilised life, and capable of outraging 
 all rules of propriety. They had no social reputation 
 to lose; but her real concern was for dear Altiora, 
 whose innocence had been betrayed, and whose charac- 
 ter had been compromised, poor girl, by her reckless 
 friends: it was very sad." And she composed her 
 features to a becoming condition of gravity and 
 sympathy, and turned appealingly to Murkle, who 
 happened to be present, and invited him to suggest 
 
166 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 what course should be adopted in so unexpected an 
 emergency. 
 
 " We had better find out from the concierge" said 
 that worthy, " when he expects them back again : they 
 may have changed their minds and gone to Fontaine- 
 bleau." And he left the room, while the Baroness 
 protested that Altiora would never dream of prolong- 
 ing her absence beyond the time originally specified. 
 But Murkle came back with the appalling intelligence 
 that the party in the entresol had paid off their ser- 
 vants and given up the apartment, and left a letter, 
 which was to be given to the Baroness at the expir- 
 ation of three days; but "as monsieur had made 
 inquiries, he would give it to him at once." And as 
 it was addressed to the Baroness, Murkle handed it to 
 her, and she read as follows : — 
 
 " Dear Baroness, — We find that we are altogether 
 too unsophisticated, without further preparation, to 
 stand the wear and tear of Parisian existence under 
 the conditions presented to us. That native innocence 
 which is so marked a characteristic of the girlhood of 
 the Pacific slope cannot bear the moral strain. We 
 feel we want toughening all over, and we have decided 
 to go into seclusion in England to toughen. We have 
 taken dear Altiora with us, for she has as pure a nature 
 as if she had been born at Cedar Buttes, and we can- 
 not bear to see it spoiled. She tried hard, dear girl, to 
 write you a line for me to enclose in this, but her feel- 
 
THE DUCHESS OF BEAUCOURT. 167 
 
 ings were too much for her. — With kind regards to the 
 Baron and Mr Murkle, amicably your friend, 
 
 "Stella Walton. 
 
 " FA — ^You will see from this that it will be quite 
 impossible for any of us to go with Lord Sark and Mrs 
 Clymer to the ball on Sunday." 
 
 " If the girlhood of the Pacific slope are half as inno- 
 cent as they are insolent," said the Baroness, with a 
 snort of indignation, " they must be truly exceptional 
 in that respect. ' Amicably your friend,' indeed ! " 
 
 " Sark had a most important meeting to attend to- 
 day. He has guaranteed the transfer of the property 
 of the company of which he was chairman, and the 
 final papers were to have been signed. He is so far 
 compromised, that if he attempts to back out now, we 
 can ruin him morally and financially," said Murkle, 
 who was filled with rage at the prospect of losing the 
 heiress to the man whose rank he had intended to turn 
 to his own pecuniary and social advantage, while there 
 was a still further possibility of Altiora escaping from 
 his clutches. 
 
 " Bah, caro inio ! " said the Baron ; " there is nothing 
 to make a fuss about. They are a pack of children 
 whom we can soon bring to their senses. Fortunately 
 the whole matter is arranged so far as our French col- 
 leagues are concerned. We have nothing for it but to 
 follow the fugitives to England, and change the base of 
 
168 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 our operations. We shall soon find out where they 
 are; they are too distinguished a party to be lost. 
 Allons, Lalla mia ! Pack up ; we must be off by to- 
 night's train. Will you allow us to offer you our 
 escort ? " he added, turning to Mrs Clymer. 
 
 That lady, who had assumed an air of great indiffer- 
 ence, at first refused, on the ground that she hated 
 these sudden moves, but allowed herself to be finally 
 persuaded by Murkle to join the party ; and the same 
 night they were all en route for London. 
 
 The following day was not far advanced before Sark 
 received a missive from Mrs Clymer, informing him of 
 her arrival in town, and requesting him to caU upon 
 her immediately. " If anybody calls, tell the servant 
 to say I am out of town, and leave orders that all let- 
 ters are to be kept to await my return ; and put up 
 things enough for a week as quickly as possible," said 
 his lordship to his valet, as he tossed the Clymer's 
 letter into the fire, evidently with no intention of 
 answering it. He was, in fact, expected at Beaucourt 
 Castle that afternoon. As the Duchess was a woman 
 of large sympathies, possessed a generous nature, had 
 been devotedly attached to her nephew from his boy- 
 hood, and had been sincerely pained by the infatuation 
 which had for the last few years taken possession of 
 him, to the exclusion of those public interests to which 
 she had expected him to devote his talents, she was 
 only too delighted to co-operate in any schemes that 
 might wean him back to the life she longed to see him 
 
THE DUCHESS OF BEAUCOURT. 169 
 
 lead. She made rather a wry face when she found he 
 had substituted a Californian heiress for the cosmo- 
 politan adventuress, and plaintively objected that he 
 would have done better to look among the country- 
 women of his own class, instead of running the risk of 
 transferring his affections from one American to an- 
 other. However, she consented to invite the two girls, 
 and to chwp&ron them herself — if, on inspection, she 
 found they were presentable; if not, she stipulated 
 beforehand that Sark was somehow or other to get rid 
 of them in twenty-four hours. "It is amazing," she 
 said, "the way in which society is being taken by 
 storm by our transatlantic cousins. It is enough if 
 they have pretty faces and fortunes, and are Ameri- 
 cans, to ensure them the entrh into houses from which 
 Englishwomen, just as rich, just as pretty, and far 
 better born, are jealously excluded." 
 
 "If I were a middle-class Englishman, a railway 
 contractor, or a cable company promoter, or a cotton- 
 spinner, or a chap of that sort, you know, who had 
 made some money, and wanted to get my wife and 
 family into society, do you know what I would do ? " 
 said Lord Grandchamp, the Duke's eldest son. "I 
 should take my wife and girls to America, and live 
 there long enough to enable me to become an American 
 citizen, and my girls to pick up New York manners, — 
 they are much better than those of our middle-class — 
 a sort of French chic about them, you know, with a 
 free-and-easy originality added, — and then I'd send 
 
170 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 them over by themselves, without letting them tell 
 anybody who they were, except that they were the 
 daughters of a wealthy American, who had millions of 
 dollars, you know ; and then, when they had both mar- 
 ried fellows like Sark here, I'd turn up myself, and 
 he'd find to his astonishment that he had a regular 
 vulgar Britisher for his father-in-law, and a mother- 
 in-law with a great red shawl, and big feet, and no A's. 
 What a sell it would be ! — and richly he'd deserve it. 
 How do you know," he added, turning to Sark, " that 
 this girl Stella Walton is not the daughter of old 
 Welton, our head -gardener, who emigrated twenty 
 years ago to America and made a fortune there ? It 
 only needs the change of a letter." 
 
 " Well, we ought to be grateful to a country whose 
 institutions give us a chance of meeting upon equal 
 terms with our gardeners' daughters, when they have 
 developed a refinement and qualities of their own 
 which make them ^desirable additions to our Uas4 
 society. It acts upon my moral epidermis very much 
 as effervescing salts put into my bathing water do 
 upon my skin. I feel internally refreshed and in- 
 vigorated." 
 
 "Well, Sark," said the Duchess, laughing, "it's a 
 pity you should monopolise the enjoyment of these 
 sensations, so I will take your American friends on 
 trust, and see what effect they produce upon my other 
 visitors — so that matter is settled. Now tell me where 
 I am to direct to them." 
 
THE DUCHESS OF BEAUCOUET. 171 
 
 " Oh, that does not matter," he said ; " give the letter 
 to me and I will send it to them. But perhaps I had 
 better tell you the whole story — only mind, Grand- 
 champ, it is in the strictest confidence, so don't go 
 retailing it all over the clubs." And Sark gave the 
 Duchess an account of the Grandesellas, and of his 
 newly found cousin Altiora, which interested her so 
 much that her heart warmed to the friendless girl, and 
 she proposed to include her in the invitation. The 
 fact that Sark had already made this suggestion to 
 Altiora, and that she had shrunk from entering the 
 world, even under the ducal auspices, only raised 
 Altiora in the Duchess's good opinion, and she made a 
 mental resolution to befriend her should opportunity 
 offer. 
 
 In the middle of their conversation the post arrived 
 with a note from Bob Alderney, also proposing a visit. 
 
 " Why," asked the Duchess, " what can induce the 
 dear boy to tear himself from his beloved oriental 
 studies and his bosom friend in Paris, to offer a visit 
 here ? I am sure I shall only be too delighted to see 
 him. I ask him regularly every season, and he as 
 regularly refuses. He writes from some place in 
 Devonshire." 
 
 " Perhaps he is after the other Californian girl," said 
 Grandchamp, acutely. 
 
 "I shouldn't wonder," said Sark, with a smile. 
 " However, aunt, you'll grant his request, I hope, and 
 then you'll have an opportunity of judging for yourself." 
 
172 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 That evening the post carried two letters, both ad- 
 dressed to Copleydale — one from the Duchess to Bob 
 Alderney, and the other from Sark to Stella, enclosing 
 an invitation for herself and Mattie to Beaucourt. 
 
 " That will do capitally," said Sark to himself. " Bob 
 can escort them here, and I will wait to receive them. 
 It is lucky that the Duchess is going to have a house- 
 ful of people ; it will give them some idea of life in an 
 English country house." 
 
 The Duchess of Beaucourt was a good-natured easy- 
 going woman of the world, by no means disposed 
 to take a strait-laced view of its shortcomings, and 
 always ready to make allowances for those irregu- 
 larities which, to her mind, gave a decided piquancy 
 to society. She had regretted Sark's devotion to the 
 Clymer, not so much because it was wrong in itself, 
 as because it interfered with his worldly prospects. 
 She had been a beautiful and dashing woman in her 
 youth ; and more than once, had she been Mrs Smith 
 instead of a duchess, her social position would have 
 been seriously compromised by sundry affaires de coeur, 
 for which, however, allowances were made, partly be- 
 cause the Duke, who was as popular among women as 
 she was among men, utterly ignored any consciousness 
 of his wife's flirtations, and the cordial understanding 
 which seemed to exist between them was never dis- 
 turbed by their intimacy with members of the opposite 
 sexes — and partly because people said she dispensed 
 her favours out of sheer amiability and good-nature. 
 
THE DUCHESS OF BEAUOOURT. 173 
 
 and that it was rather under the influence of a lavish 
 generosity of character than of any essentially im- 
 proper tendencies that she allowed enterprising ad- 
 mirers to compromise her by their attentions. Besides, 
 people made allowances for a pardonable vanity in a 
 woman of such great personal attractions. It is doubt- 
 ful, however, whether they would have been so lenient 
 had she not been a duchess, with a charming place in 
 the country, one of the principal attractions of which 
 consisted in the fact that she understood exactly how 
 to select her guests, which she divided into appropriate 
 categories. Thus she generally opened her autumn 
 parties with groups of distinguished politicians. As 
 the Duke had never taken an active part in politics, 
 and as both he and the Duchess were people of wide 
 sympathies. Cabinet ministers and leading politicians 
 of all shades met here on a sort of neutral ground; 
 then, as talent was to be encouraged, and clever men 
 were more or less lions, and agreeable additions to the 
 aristocracy, these gatherings were pleasurably flavoured 
 with artists, philosophers, authors, with a celebrated 
 traveller or distinguished foreigner thrown in. Thus 
 science, politics, art, and literature were skilfully 
 mingled ; and for people who were not very dependent 
 for their amusement on a brilliant display of feminine 
 wit and beauty, went off successfully. For the wives 
 of the statesmen and politicians were generally elderly 
 and more or less dull, their daughters too correct in 
 their behaviour to be amusing, and the philosophers, 
 
174 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 artists, and authors were generally either bachelors, or, 
 if they had wives, left them at home. Then there were 
 one or two parties of county people, with perhaps a 
 bishop, and sundry London people the reverse of smart, 
 who, for some reason or other, had claims upon the 
 ducal hospitality. When these had all been disposed 
 of, and the time came for the shooting-parties, the fun 
 of the festivities might be said to begin. Then came 
 the turn of the beauties, more or less fast and profes- 
 sional, and of the girls whose mammas were too anxious 
 to get them well married to care whom they met, par- 
 ticularly when the meeting-place was Beaucourt Castle; 
 and of the smart young men about town, some of whom 
 were most desirable eldest sons ; and of old rovAs who 
 had known the Duchess in her youth, and whom she 
 now invited out of sheer good-nature, because she knew 
 that it warmed up their battered old hearts to be sur- 
 rounded by a lot of pretty women, whose flirtations 
 they superintended in a fatherly sort of way, which 
 carried with it its own privileges ; besides which, there 
 was always an old dowager or two of questionable 
 notoriety and great social distinction, whose early ex- 
 periences had not been altogether unmixed with those 
 of the old Touds, and with whom, therefore, a certain 
 tenderness of relation still existed as they reverted 
 sentimentally to those episodes of years gone by, and 
 morally festooned their immortelles over the sacred 
 season of their youth. 
 
 It was to meet a houseful thus selected that Sark 
 
BEAUCOURT CASTLE. 175 
 
 despatched the invitation to the two girls at Copley- 
 dale, with no little inward enjoyment of the treat in 
 store for them; for he was too much accustomed to 
 such society to think it anything but delightful, though 
 he could not but own, as he looked through the list of 
 guests furnished him by his aunt, that it was just as 
 well that Altiora was not to be of the party. 
 
 CHAPTEK XIV. 
 
 BEAUCOURT CASTLE. 
 
 Mrs Clymer, unable to restrain her impatience, when, 
 after she had allowed a sufficient interval to elapse, 
 Sark did not make his appearance, drove off herself to 
 Grosvenor Square, to make personal inquiries, and 
 arrived there a few moments after he had taken his 
 departure ; but the servants were too discreet to hazard 
 any conjecture as to the direction his lordship had 
 taken. This uncertainty, however, in the case of so 
 prominent a member of the aristocracy, could not last 
 long, when such experienced sleuth-hounds as Baron 
 Grandesella and Mr Murkle were on the scent; and 
 on the following morning the latter arrived at Mrs 
 Clymer's " bijou residence," with the intelligence that 
 his lordship was staying at Beaucourt, but that, al- 
 
176 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 though they were on the track of Alderney, they had 
 not yet been able to discover his whereabouts or that 
 of the girls. It had been decided by the Grandesellas 
 that the whole episode might be turned to valuable 
 social account, if a proper interest was excited in it, 
 which should not take the form of a scandal, but rather 
 of a mystery, in some way connected with a tender 
 attachment between Altiora and her cousin Sark ; and 
 that, in fact, if dexterously managed, it might be the 
 means of acquiring for the Baron and Baroness a not 
 unenviable fashionable notoriety. With a lovely and 
 beautiful heiress for a daughter, with an earl for her 
 cousin — who was consoling himself by a visit to his 
 uncle the duke, during the romantic and mysterious 
 disappearance under the most uncompromising circum- 
 stances of the cousin of his love — the Italian adven- 
 turer and his wife were supplied with aristocratic 
 materials enough, if they were only cleverly employed, 
 to compensate for any temporary inconvenience to 
 which they had been subjected by Altiora's conduct ; 
 and they rather began to enjoy the complication to 
 which it had given rise than otherwise. 
 
 Mr Murkle and Mrs Clymer, however, took a very 
 different view of matters, and put their heads together, 
 and plotted vengeance, and concocted schemes of dis- 
 covery, from which the Baron and Baroness were 
 excluded, in which interesting occupation they were 
 suddenly provided with a valuable and most unex- 
 pected ally. This was none other than Eonald Mac- 
 
BEAUCOURT CASTLE. 177 
 
 Alpine, who, finding his occupation gone when the 
 whole party had vanished so mysteriously from Paris, 
 followed them to London, and now heard the whole of 
 the singular history from the lips of Mr Murlde and 
 Mrs Clymer, upon which lady he had made it a point 
 to call immediately on his arrival in town. 
 
 " I came across in the same train with Hethering- 
 ton," he said, " but I failed to extract any of the facts 
 as you give them. All he seemed to know or was 
 willing to tell was, that all our party except ourselves 
 had left Paris. I thought it — er — most extremely 
 singular of none of you to say a word of your inten- 
 tions beforehand. I have no doubt Hetherington 
 knows where Miss Peto is, and has gone straight to 
 her. You have perceived, doubtless, how deeply his 
 affections are engaged in that quarter." 
 
 " All we know at present is," said Mrs Clymer, " that 
 Sark is at Beaucourt, and that he knows where the 
 fugitives are hiding. The Grandesellas are evidently 
 satisfied to let matters take their own course at pre- 
 sent; but both Mr Murkle and I have reasons for 
 wishing to bring this absurd escapade to an end." 
 
 " The best plan will be," said Eonald, " for me to 
 propose to go myself to Beaucourt. The Duchess in- 
 vited me just before I went to Paris, and I asked her 
 to allow me to postpone my visit. I shall easily be 
 able to find out something from Sark, — at any rate I 
 can keep you informed of his movements." 
 
 " I think," said Murkle, " that I am justified in tell- 
 
 M 
 
178 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 ing you under the circumstances, what of course you 
 will consider absolutely confidential so far as the 
 general public is concerned, that I am engaged to be 
 married to Miss Walton. Mrs Clymer, to whom I 
 communicated this fact, agrees with me in thinking 
 that Lord Sark ought at once to be warned against 
 indulging in hopes which can only end in disappoint- 
 ment. Should you go to Beaucourt, you may have an 
 opportunity of saying something on the subject, but it 
 must be left to your own discretion to make a judicious 
 use of this information." 
 
 Murkle and Mrs Clymer had indeed already decided 
 that, although the facts did not altogether warrant this 
 assertion, it was one which, for the purpose of influenc- 
 ing Sark, it was quite lawful to make ; and the former 
 was not sorry to impart it as a piece of intelligence to 
 MacAlpine, whose own attentions to the heiress had of 
 late been inconveniently assiduous. 
 
 "I am sure," said Mrs Clymer, by way of fur- 
 nishing Eonald with another hint for his guidance, 
 "if Sark only knew how devotedly attached his 
 cousin Altiora was to him, he would not wound her 
 feelings by flirting ostentatiously with that vulgar 
 Californian." 
 
 " You quite surprise me," said Eonald, who thus saw 
 his hopes vanishing in every direction. " Murkle en- 
 gaged to be married to Miss Walton i Pray accept — 
 er — my congratulations," and he bowed with a forced 
 smile to that gentleman : " and Miss Peto attached to 
 
BEAUCOURT CASTLE. 179 
 
 Lord Sark. Pray, Mrs Clymer, what authority have 
 you for this statement?" 
 
 " The authority of my own observation, which is the 
 best, and the admission of the girl's own mother." 
 
 " And," added Murkle, " her own acknowledgment of 
 the fact to me as one of her oldest friends ; but this is, 
 of course, again in confidence." 
 
 " I think," remarked Mrs Clymer, after MacAlpine 
 had taken his departure, " that if he uses this informa- 
 tion with which we have supplied him, with tact and 
 discretion, and if we supplement it with a little private 
 correspondence of our own to the parties chiefly inter- 
 ested, we ought to complicate matters sufficiently to 
 prevent any serious mischief arising out of the present 
 situation, which is too strained to last very long." 
 
 Three days after, she received the following letter 
 from MacAlpine, dated Beaucourt : — 
 
 " Dear Mes Clymer, — ^Whom should I meet on the 
 platform of the station for Beaucourt, but Miss Terrill, 
 Miss Walton, and Alderney, who had accompanied 
 them from their undiscovered seclusion, while Sark 
 was waiting to receive them. They were somewhat 
 disconcerted on my making my appearance, and Lord 
 Sark muttered something about an unexpected plea- 
 sure, as he had not observed my name in his aunt's 
 list of guests. 
 
 " Miss Peto, with the elderly person named Hannah, 
 is, it appears, hiding in some remote village, the name 
 
180 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 of which I have not yet been able to discover ; but I 
 have lost no time in letting you know this much, as 
 you will at once perceive what a favourable oppor- 
 tunity is afforded me for making use of the informa- 
 tion with which you and Murkle were so good as to 
 furnish me. — Yours sincerely, 
 
 "EONALD MacAlPINE." 
 
 Two days later the Beaucourt post-bag contained the 
 following letter from Mattie Terrill to her friends at 
 Copleydale : — 
 
 " My darling old Hannah, — Stella wrote a line to 
 Altiora to tell you of our safe arrival, and how we met 
 Mr MacAlpine and Lord Sark at the station, and how 
 we were received at Beaucourt by four men with white- 
 washed heads, red plush breeches and waistcoats, and 
 silk stockings and buff- coloured coats, with cords 
 dangling over their shoulders — and how a gentleman- 
 like personage in evening dress, who was called the 
 groom of the chambers, and we thought at first was 
 one of the family, and therefore a relative perhaps of 
 Altiora, showed us to our bedrooms ; but she had not 
 time to tell you more to save the mail, so I will go on. 
 We had not seen anybody then, because it was past 
 seven, and they were all dressing for dinner. "Well, 
 we fixed ourselves fit to kill, you bet. We had not 
 been six weeks in Paris for nothing; and Stella in- 
 sisted upon not keeping all my jewels to herself, but 
 
BEAUCOUKT CASTLE. 181 
 
 making me wear some. I don't think I ever did see 
 anything handsomer than Stella looked in that mother- 
 of-pearl embroidery and pink ostrich-feather dress, with 
 the long brocade train that we got at Worth's. 
 
 " Well, just as we were ready, and were wondering 
 what to do next, we heard a knock at the door, and in 
 came a handsome old lady with a magnificent tiara of 
 diamonds, and a most benevolent eye and sweet smile 
 and winning manner, and shook us both warmly by the 
 hand, and told us she was the Duchess, and would 
 show us the way to the drawing-room; and on the 
 stairs, quite accidentally of course, we met Bob, and 
 at the drawing-room door, also quite accidentally. Lord 
 Sark, so we made our entrde well protected. The 
 Duchess said she thought, as we were alone, we might 
 feel a little timid among so many strangers. I guess 
 if she had seen a little more of life she would not have> 
 made that mistake. We found the room full of people. 
 Some of the ladies looked at us as if we were wild 
 beasts : I think they expected us to draw revolvers 
 and shoot freely. Others took no notice of us ; but 
 the men took a warm and sympathetic interest in us, 
 which only made the women madder. Some of these 
 Englishmen are perfectly splendid, and I had just been 
 introduced to one of them when dinner was announced, 
 and Bob came and offered me his arm. Luckily he has 
 not got much rank, so he fell quite naturally to me ; 
 but Lord Sark had to take in the old Countess of 
 Broadmere — she is what they call a dowager, because 
 
182 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 her husband is dead. We should call her a widow. 
 I counted twenty -six at dinner, and Bob told me all 
 their names and something about each. There was 
 the Marquis and Marchioness of Swansdowne and 
 their two daughters, Lady Florence and Lady Blanche 
 FeatherpoU : I'll tell you about them later. And 
 Lord and Lady Grandchamp, the Duke's eldest son 
 and his wife. And old Lord Cracldehurst, with deep 
 lines all over his face, and an eye-glass and a hooked 
 nose. He kept staring at Stella all dinner-time ; and 
 Bob said he was very popular with young women, and 
 respected by young men still, because he was celebrated 
 as having been the wickedest young man of his day. 
 And old Lady Broadmere, who. Bob declared, was 
 wicked still ; in fact I had no idea Bob had such a 
 bitter tongue. And the Hon. Mrs Haseleyne, who 
 was separated from her husband ; but the fault. Bob 
 said, was all on his side, ' of course.' And the Eussian 
 Princess Chemiseoff, who chattered broken English 
 with the most charming vivacity, and was ever so 
 bright, and seemed quite young. Bob said her hus- 
 band was in Bokhara, a governor-general or something ; 
 and nobody knew exactly why she came and lived so 
 much in England, but that made people all the more 
 civil to her. And there was Mr and Madame Lauriola. 
 Bob said he was a great man in the City, and she was 
 the last new professional beauty ; he was a naturalised 
 foreigner, but nobody knew anything definite as to his 
 origin, but she insisted upon being called Madame, 
 
BEAUCOUKT CASTLE. 183 
 
 because it gave her a sort of prestige. They had only 
 risen above the social horizon two seasons before, but 
 now they went everywhere, because Sir George Dash- 
 ington, the Duke's nephew and Sark's brother-in-law, 
 had taken her up, and got the Duchess, who was too 
 good-natured, and his wife, who was too 'timid,' to 
 refuse, to take her about ; and Lauriola had put Sir 
 George into no end of good City things, and he had 
 made pots of money. And the Lauriolas had given 
 the best entertainments of the year last season, and 
 everybody had gone to them. And she had become 
 quite the rage, because she said such impertinent 
 things to the women, and allowed the men to say 
 such impertinent things to her without taking offence. 
 There was nothing you couldn't say to her, said Bob, 
 if you only knew how to put it. Her conversation 
 was more risqu4 than that of any woman in London ; 
 and with that, and a pretty face and lots of money, she 
 was sure to get on. Altiora will tell you what risqvA 
 means. I had to ask Bob. And then there was Miss 
 Gazewell, Lady Broadmere's niece, who tries to get a 
 husband by imitating Madame Lauriola ; but Bob says 
 she won't succeed, because men don't like that sort of 
 thing so much iu their own wives as in those of their 
 friends. Then there was Lord St Olave, who. Bob says, 
 is rather nice, and a great friend of Sark's, and is in 
 love with Lady Adela Dashington, Sark's sister, be- 
 cause her husband, Sir George, insists that she is too 
 proper, and does not make herself sufficiently admired 
 
184 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 by the men; so she allows St Olave to worship, be- 
 cause he is a safe man, with a certain sense of honour. 
 It seems she does not go in for flirtations, except to 
 please Sir George, who feels more at liberty then. 
 And there was the Hon. Frank Basinghall, who is 
 Mrs Haseleyne's ' man.' Bob said that was what he 
 was always called about town, and that was all he 
 knew about him. He did not go in much for those 
 kind of men himself. Besides these, there was Colonel 
 Lysper of the Guards, who flirted with Madame Lau- 
 riola, in order to curry favour with the City magnate, 
 and be put into good things ; and Mr MacAlpine ; and 
 last of all, the old Duke himself, who flirted in the 
 most paternal way with all indiscriminately, and seems 
 as much the essence of good-nature as his wife does. 
 There now, Hannah, you won't be able to understand 
 most of this, because it is such a high state of civilisa- 
 tion ; and if Altiora can't explain it, you must ask Mr 
 Hetherington, and if he can't, or won't, you had better 
 not know it — it might hurt your dear old morals. 
 Luckily for Stella and me, ours are cast-iron ; but we 
 tremble when we think what the consequences might 
 have been had we brought you with us. We stayed a 
 little longer than, I believe, is usual after dinner, be- 
 cause the Princess Chemiseoff and Madame Lauriola 
 both like to smoke their cigarettes over their coffee 
 with the men — and I expected to see Stella prove her 
 efficiency in the newly acquired art ; but when she 
 was offered one, she declined, saying that she only 
 
BEAUCOURT CASTLE. 185 
 
 smoked strong perique in Manzanita - wood pipes. 
 There happened to be a pause when she said it in 
 the most quiet commonplace tones imaginable. The 
 ladies all looked at her with silent horror, though, if 
 it was true, I don't see why perique is so much more 
 dreadful than Turkish tobacco, or Manzanita wood 
 than cigarette paper. In fact nobody knew what 
 either one or the other was, so she had to invent 
 a description of perique, which she does not know 
 anything about either, and Mr Lauriola undertook to 
 correct her, because he said he had been a good deal in 
 early life in New Orleans. So she asked him, quite 
 innocently, if he was any relation to the Lauriola who 
 keeps a tobacconist's store in Carondelet Street. If a 
 shell had burst in the middle of the table, it could not 
 have produced a greater effect than this very natural 
 remark ; but Stella told me afterwards she did it on 
 purpose, to pay Madame Lauriola off for some imper- 
 tinent remarks she overheard her make to Colonel 
 Lysper about us in quite a loud tone. She said as 
 she was using her faculty of invention about perique, 
 she thought she might as well invent Lauriola the 
 tobacconist. I am sure neither of them will ever for- 
 give her, but I could see some of the gentlemen highly 
 appreciated the joke. Indeed old Lord Cracklehurst 
 gave a sort of approving Haw, haw ! — which sounded 
 like Hear, hear ! which. Bob says, is all he has ever said 
 in the House of Lords, — and they all began to talk 
 very loud, apparently in the hope of forgetting as soon 
 
186 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 as possible that, for all they knew, they might actually 
 be sitting at the same table with a man whose brother 
 was a tobacconist ; and in the middle of the noise the 
 ladies escaped, and Lady Broadmere came running up 
 to Stella, as soon as we got to the drawing-room, 
 and said, ' Tell me, dear, is it true that Mr Lauriola's 
 brother is a tobacconist ? ' And Mrs Haseleyne came 
 up to me and said, ' What a clever, satirical, beautiful 
 creature your friend is ! I assure you, I am quite 
 afraid of her. She kept Sir George Dashington, who 
 sat between us, in fits of laughter all dinner-time, 
 and made herself so agreeable, I could not get a word 
 in. Are you both coming to London this season? 
 She'll make quite a furore — and with her fortune, 
 too!' 
 
 "Lady Swansdowne and her daughters, Madame 
 Lauriola and Miss Gazewell, formed a sort of coterie 
 apart, and treated us with silent contempt; and the 
 Eussian princess gazed at us with a sort of amiable 
 amazement, first whispering to the Duchess, and then 
 staring at us through her gold eye-glasses, so that we 
 should have no doubt who she was talking about, and 
 apparently wishing us to understand that she was in- 
 terested in us as new specimens. But the only really 
 nice woman was the Duke's niece. Lady Adela Dash- 
 ington, who came and talked to me, while Stella, after 
 answering Lady Broadmere's questions, was posting 
 herself upon social subjects from that experienced 
 dowager, so, as she told me afterwards, she might know 
 
BEAUCOURT CASTLE. 187 
 
 the ropes generally. When the men came in there was 
 a general shuffle, and a little game of some sort going 
 on all round. I could see that Madame Lauriola was 
 quite mad with her 'man/ Sir George Dashington, 
 because Stella had fascinated him at dinner, and he 
 wanted to get back to her now, but Madame would 
 not let him ; and Mrs Haseleyne's man was angry, be- 
 cause Colonel Lysper had monopolised the only vacant 
 chair near her, and prowled about like a discontented 
 wild cat ; and old Cracklehurst began a sort of fossil 
 flirtation in a loud tone with Lady Broadmere; and 
 Sark and MacAlpine both made a dead point at Stella, 
 and finally sat down, one on each side of her; and 
 Miss Gazewell was furious because no one would flirt 
 with her ; and Lady Swansdowne was furious because 
 Lord Grandchamp was keeping the young men away 
 from her pretty daughter. Lady Florence ; and she and 
 Lady Grandchamp consoled each other and gazed at 
 him ; and Lord St Olave went into a corner with Lady 
 Adela Dashington; and Lauriola fastened himself on 
 to the Duke, because he was a duke, and talked poli- 
 tics ; and Bob came to me ; and the Eussian princess 
 seemed to have a great deal to say to the Duchess, and 
 kept watchful eyes upon everybody through her eye- 
 glasses. Then there was another general shuffle, when 
 we had some rather bad music; and Stella and I at 
 last were asked if we played or sang. You know^ what 
 a voice she has, and you know that I was considered 
 Hartman's best pupil at San Francisco. So when she 
 
188 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 sang and I played, she exploded shell number two. 
 Madame Lauriola tried to go on talking, but her voice 
 died away in the stillness of the general hush of admir- 
 ation; and the dear girl surpassed herself in those 
 chest-notes of hers, so that there was a burst of ap- 
 plause when she had finished that carried dismay into 
 many feminine bosoms. And I overheard Lord Grand- 
 champ say to Sark, ' Why, my dear Sark, the Clymer 
 is not a patch upon her,' or some such thing, which I 
 suppose is an Anglicism. 
 
 "We went off to bed, consequently, in a blaze of 
 triumph, and found that breakfast next morning was a 
 sort of movable meal, which began about ten, and went 
 on for an hour and a half — ^people coming down 
 when they liked, and sitting about at separate tables 
 like a restaurant. The dandily dressed men of the 
 night before all seemed to me suddenly transformed 
 into teamsters ; they wore enormous hob-nailed boots, 
 and gaiters or long stockings, and breeches or knicker- 
 bockers, and coarse, rough shooting jackets and vests, 
 and ate large breakfasts, everybody going to the side- 
 tables and helping themselves. I don't know where 
 all the servants with the whitewashed heads were, but 
 they left us to ourselves — even the Duke went and cut 
 his own ham ; and then they all started off to shoot, 
 and left us to ourselves. Even Bob said he couldn't 
 get off going. I felt quite ashamed of his legs when I 
 compared them with some of the others, and he seemed 
 quite out of his element ; but he said the alternative 
 
THE EAEL OF SARK AT BAY. 189 
 
 was to face thirteen women and MacAlpine, whom he 
 put in as one extra, and that was more than he could 
 stand, even though I was one of them. So we were 
 left to stew in our own juice, and I thought I could 
 not employ my time better than in writing you these 
 first impressions of the British aristocracy, while they 
 are, no doubt, exchanging their first impressions about 
 me. — Lovingly, Mattie." 
 
 CHAPTEK XV. 
 
 THE EARL OF SARK AT BAY. 
 
 If Mattie could have gone into the smoking-room 
 with the gentlemen instead of going to bed with her 
 friend on the night before she wrote her letter, fehe 
 might have overheard a conversation between Sark 
 and MacAlpine in a quiet corner of that midnight 
 resort, which would have seriously increased its bulk. 
 
 " I am so glad to have a quiet moment with you,*' 
 said MacAlpine, " to ask if you can give me any infor- 
 mation about that most mysterious — er — I think our 
 American friends would call it — stampede, which you 
 made with them and Miss Peto from Paris." 
 
 " I did not make any stampede with them," returned 
 Sark, shortly ; " I came over from Paris to London by 
 myself." 
 
190 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 " Oh — er — then perhaps you can tell me why they 
 went off so extremely suddenly by themselves, and 
 where Miss Peto is now ? " 
 
 " I am not aware that, even supposing I know, I 
 owe you any confidence on the subject," Sark answered 
 still more brusquely. 
 
 " I assure you I -am the last person to interfere in 
 matters which don't concern me, or to allow any mere 
 curiosity to influence me ; but this is a subject in 
 which I have some sort of indirect interest. I don't 
 mind telling you now that not long since I proposed 
 to Miss Peto, and had some reason to believe that 
 any mere prejudice she might entertain in regard 
 to certain — er — philosophical opinions which I hold, 
 might be overcome, when I found a most unexpected 
 — er — obstacle in Paris, and this I have good reason 
 for saying is none other than yourself." 
 
 " Myself ! " ejaculated Lord Sark, amazed. 
 
 " So Murkle has assured me on a confidential occa- 
 sion, the details of which it is not necessary to men- 
 tion. Miss Peto seems to have given him to understand 
 that she had placed her affections irrevocably upon 
 your lordship. You know Murkle has known her from 
 her childhood." 
 
 " Impossible ! " said Sark. " I have equally good 
 reason for knowing the contrary." 
 
 " You will pardon me for saying that you have been 
 misled. I can quite imagine that Miss Peto carefully 
 concealed from you the nature of her feelings ; indeed 
 
THE EAEL OF SARK AT BAY. 191 
 
 she has good reason for doing so, and I don't see 
 how, considering your undisguised admiration for Miss 
 "Walton, and your no less notorious — er — pardon me — 
 intimacy with Mrs Clymer, she could do otherwise ; 
 but you may depend upon it, the facts are as she stated 
 them to Murkle. It may render you less sceptical, if 
 1 add that he was at the time informing her of his 
 engagement to Miss Walton." 
 
 " You mean render me more sceptical ! " exclaimed 
 Sark, still more overcome with astonishment. " Do 
 you mean to tell me that Miss Walton has engaged 
 herself to Murkle ? " 
 
 " I think you will find that to be the case ; but I 
 don't think, from what he said, that she wishes it 
 known until she has enjoyed a little more unmarried 
 freedom in England. These sort of — er — provisional 
 arrangements are an American custom, you know." 
 
 " I don't know anything about American customs," 
 said Sark, who now began to feel as thoroughly un- 
 comfortable at the idea of Altiora, on his account, 
 having become the victim of an unrequited attach- 
 ment, as of the heiress being engaged to Murkle. 
 
 " Well, now that you know the facts of the case, I 
 hope you consider that I was justified in making the 
 inquiries I did about Miss Peto. I was actuated 
 merely by — er — a sentiment of interest towards her ; 
 and I know no man who can extract her from the 
 — er — false position in which she has placed herself 
 so well as yourself." 
 
192 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 Sark threw away the stump of his cigar with an 
 indignant jerk, took up his bedroom candle, and with 
 an abrupt "good-night," turned on his heel, without 
 vouchsafing any reply to this piece of advice. The 
 result of his deliberations was a conversation with 
 Stella, when the ladies came out in a train of car- 
 riages to lunch with the gentlemen at a shooting 
 cottage, and inspect the result of the morning's sport. 
 It was no easy work to disentangle that young lady 
 from a group of admirers ; but he was ably seconded 
 by Konald, who had silently watched the effect of 
 the dose he had administered on the previous evening, 
 and drew her off to where some boulders of rock 
 afforded a seat and a shelter. 
 
 Stella's manner to Lord Sark had changed a good 
 deal since he had proved his devotion by following 
 her from Paris, and getting her invited to Beaucourt, 
 but was still cold and distant. She seemed to him 
 now especially unapproachable and on her guard. 
 
 " Miss Walton," he said, " I have forborne from 
 troubling you with an admiration which seems to 
 annoy you, as my only desire, while you are staying 
 here, is that you should thoroughly enjoy yourself; 
 but I have heard something in regard to which, as 
 it affects the happiness of another in whom we are 
 both interested, I cannot keep silence. You know 
 my cousin Altiora so well, that I am sure you will 
 answer my question, though I feel it is an extremely 
 embarrassing one to put." 
 
THE EARL OF SARK AT BAY. 193 
 
 "Gladly and truly, if I can," said Stella, much 
 relieved to find that it had no reference to herself. 
 
 " Did my cousin, Altiora, ever give you reason to 
 suppose that she cared for me ? " 
 
 Now Stella, as we have seen, had convinced herself, 
 by many signs known to sensitive young ladies, too 
 generous to be jealous, but not the less alive to a 
 certain kind of suspicion where their affections are 
 concerned, that Altiora was in love with her cousin, 
 and had only concealed it because she had perceived 
 that Sark had only slipped from the thraldom of the 
 Clymer, whom she despised, to succumb to the fascin- 
 ations of her friend ; and she partly attributed the 
 desire Altiora had shown, — first, to break the tie which 
 existed between her cousin and Mrs Clymer; and 
 secondly, to escape herself from the influence of that 
 woman, — ^to this cause. If she had any further doubt 
 upon the subject, it was removed by the positive assu- 
 rances of Murkle, which he had not failed to com- 
 municate to her after the conversation in which he 
 imagined that Altiora had admitted it ; and these had 
 been supplemented by many slight innuendoes on the 
 part of the Baroness. She therefore hesitated and 
 flushed when Sark put his question so abruptly, in a 
 manner which left no doubt in his mind that his worst 
 suspicions were confirmed, and which almost rendered 
 unnecessary her reply. 
 
 " She has never mentioned the subject to me," she 
 said ; " but I confess that her studious avoidance of it, 
 
 N 
 
194 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 and what I have observed and heard from her mother, 
 has led me to believe that such was the case." 
 
 " And now, may I ask you another question. Miss 
 Walton?" 
 
 " I am not so sure about this one," she replied with 
 instinctive apprehension. " You must be careful." 
 
 " But it is closely connected with the last — indeed 
 its answer will determine my course of conduct with 
 regard to Altiora." 
 
 " Go on then," she replied shortly. 
 
 " Are you engaged to be married to Mr Murkle ? " 
 
 It was a supreme moment for the penniless Cali- 
 fornian girl. She had only to tell the truth, and say 
 No, to. secure a countess's coronet ; for she knew that 
 Sark only asked the question to clear the way for that 
 other on which her own future happiness depended, 
 and she felt that if she admitted she had listened to 
 Murkle, she would lose his good opinion, and that he 
 would be drawn to Altiora by her love for him. But 
 what made it hardest was, not that she would have to 
 give up the coronet, for which, to do her justice, she 
 cared very little — but the man, for whom she had 
 learnt to care a great deal ; and he looked so handsome 
 and so pleading at that moment, lying at her feet as 
 she sat on the rock, that her heart seemed to go out to 
 him, and to quiver with the effort of making her de- 
 cision, without allowing the momentary doubt and 
 hesitation to become apparent in her features. Her 
 lips, nevertheless, trembled slightly as she replied — 
 
THE EARL OF SARK AT BAY. 195 
 
 " Mr Murkle and I have some business matters to 
 arrange, and one of them has reference to a matri- 
 monial contract, in regard to the details of which I am 
 not at liberty to enter. I must ask you to be satisfied 
 with this answer, and not to press me further." 
 
 "A provisional contract, such as I understand is 
 made sometimes across the Atlantic ? " said Sark, bit- 
 terly, — for the notion of her having consented to stand 
 in any such relation to Murkle was more than he 
 could bear. 
 
 " A provisional contract," she repeated coldly, as she 
 rose and walked off to join a group in the distance, 
 leaving Sark chewing the cud of his disappointment, 
 and his toothpick. 
 
 A letter which Mrs Clymer received the day follow- 
 ing this episode, from MacAlpine, contained a very 
 accurate report of his conversation with Sark, and of 
 the conclusions at which he had arrived in regard to 
 the effect that it had produced ; and he further alluded 
 incidentally to the success which had been achieved 
 by the American girls, and the jealousy which had 
 been excited by them in the breast especially of 
 Madame Lauriola. Now it so happened that this pas- 
 sage Mrs Clymer read to the Baroness Grandesella, 
 and that the Grandesellas and Lauriolas had been on 
 tolerably intimate terms before the latter had attained 
 the summit of that social ambition towards which the 
 former were still laboriously toiling ; for they had been 
 in many contracts together, had jointly promoted com- 
 
196 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 panies, and had been copartners of concessions. In 
 fact, at this moment Lauriola was not altogether unin- 
 terested in the amalgamation of the Universal Scin- 
 tillator with the Dark Continent Illumination Com- 
 pany, which was taking place under the auspices of 
 Grandesella and Murkle, ostensibly for the pecuniary 
 benefit of Sark. When, therefore, the respectable firm 
 who controlled the destinies of Altiora discovered that 
 the Lauriolas were at Beaucourt, after smothering the 
 first pangs of envy, they determined to turn this for- 
 tunate circumstance to account according to their 
 several instincts. Madame Grandesella decided to 
 write to her dear Madame Lauriola, giving her a de- 
 tailed history of the flight of Altiora with the young 
 ladies who were now guests at Beaucourt, and of the 
 concealment of her daughter under their auspices, and 
 of the part Mrs Clymer had played in the whole trans- 
 action, which, as Madame Lauriola and the Clymer 
 were bitter enemies and social rivals, was a weapon in 
 the hand of the former that she would not be slow to 
 avail herself of. And Grandesella wrote to Lauriola, 
 telling him he had good reason to think that Sark was 
 likely to try and back out of the Electric Scintillating 
 Companies' amalgamation arrangement, and to extri- 
 cate himself from his pecuniary difficulties by marrying 
 the Californian heiress, which should, at all hazards, be 
 prevented. The consequence was, that the whole 
 fashionable world was soon ringing with varied versions 
 of the extraordinary event in high life, the interest of 
 
THE EARL OF SAEK AT BAY. 197 
 
 which centred at Beaucourt, and which propelled the 
 Grandesellas into that fashionable notoriety they 
 courted, at a single bound. Mrs Haseleyne, who was 
 one of the fashionable contributors to a social weekly 
 of those paragraphs that form the chronique scandalevse 
 of the aristocracy and that delight the middle class, 
 wrote as follows: — 
 
 "The Duke aud Duchess of Beaucourt are enter- 
 taining a distinguished party at Beaucourt Castle, in- 
 cluding ' the Marquis and Marchioness of Swansdowne, 
 and the Ladies Featherpoll, the Countess of Broadmere, 
 and Miss Gazewell, the Earl of Cracklehurst, the Earl 
 of Sark, Lord St Clave, the Princess Chemiseofif,' " and 
 so on with the whole list, ending with Colonel Lysper ; 
 and then, in another paragraph : — 
 
 " Great interest is attached to the celebrated Califor- 
 nian heiress and her friend, who are staying at the 
 Castle, not merely on account of the extreme beauty 
 and fabulous wealtli of the former, which will render 
 her one of the most prominent ddhutantes of the next 
 London season, but in consequence of the share she 
 has taken in an event which cannot fail to signalise 
 her advent into the world of fashion. A week has 
 scarcely elapsed since the lovely, accomplished Miss 
 Peto, a cousin of the Earl of Sark and step-daughter of 
 the eminent financier Baron de Grandesella, fled from 
 her home in Paris with Miss Walton and Miss Terrill, 
 escorted, it is said, by Mr Eobert Alderney and an 
 American duenna, with whom she is still in some place 
 
198 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 of concealment. It is understood that, as Miss Walton 
 and Miss Terrill and Mr Alderney refuse to give any 
 information in regard to the whereabouts of Miss Peto, 
 Baron Grandesella, who is her legal guardian, contem- 
 plates taking legal proceedings against them." 
 
 Then another : — 
 
 " It is whispered that the sudden disappearance of 
 Lord Sark's beautiful cousin is not altogether uncon- 
 nected with another luminary of fashion, who burst 
 upon us not long since from the other side of the 
 Atlantic, and whom to allude to as the greatest social 
 success of her first season is to name." 
 
 Then another : — 
 
 " If our American visitors are going to bring social 
 storms with them, I really recommend the * New York 
 Herald ' to supplement its weather predictions with a 
 social storm-register, thus : ' A dangerous female com- 
 bination has just left the shores of the Eastern States. 
 May be expected off the west coast of Ireland about 
 the22dor23d.'" 
 
 Then another : — 
 
 " I should advise investors to beware of amalgama- 
 tion schemes of Electric Light with Universal Scintil- 
 lating Companies. I know nothing of Grandesella 
 personally, but I do know Lauriola, and I am not 
 totally unacquainted with the antecedents of Murkle. 
 Perhaps the directors of the Company, of which that 
 very estimable nobleman, Lord Sark, is chairman, may 
 also, by this time, know something of these gentlemen." 
 
THE EAKL OF SARK AT BAY. 199 
 
 When these dexterously connected paragraphs were 
 read by Baron Grandesella and his wife, they threw 
 them into a transport of delight until they came to the 
 last, when they suffered a temporary depression of 
 spirits. Still all publicity, even when it was not com- 
 plimentary, suited the Baron better than the silence of 
 obscurity. And after all, was he not called an eminent 
 financier, and his step - daughter alluded to as the 
 cousin of an earl ? When Murkle read them, he 
 ground his teeth, and cursed the financial spy system 
 of a libellous press. When Mrs Clymer read them, 
 she smiled, conscious that the mysterious allusion to 
 her would only have the effect of enhancing the interest 
 she always excited. When Mrs Haseleyne read them, 
 she was the first to point them out to the Duchess, 
 with the remark, " Isn't it too bad, dear Duchess, that 
 these family episodes should get out, and be given in 
 such a garbled form to an inquisitive public ? I often 
 do wonder how the editors of these social weeklies get 
 their information." For Mrs Haseleyne lived in mortal 
 dread of being discovered as the fashionable contributor 
 to the one in question, and had managed to post her 
 letter to the editor herself, rather than trust it to the 
 Beaucourt post-bag, and the editor had added the last 
 paragraph to those she had sent him. And when 
 Lord Sark read them, he took them with bitterness in 
 his soul to Stella, upon whom, with lover-like incon- 
 sistency, he now heaped the responsibility of all the 
 discomfort of the situation generally. But Stella per- 
 
200 ALTIOKA PETO. 
 
 used them, to his great annoyance, with much equan- 
 imity and apparent interest. 
 
 "Why, this is becoming positively exciting!" she 
 remarked. " Fancy beginning my experiences in Eng- 
 land by a lawsuit to retain possession of a persecuted 
 young lady ! I declare it's perfectly splendid ; I must 
 go and consult Bob and Mattie." 
 
 The fact was, that she and Bob and Mattie had all 
 three become pretty well hardened by this time, — to 
 such a storm of curious inquiry had they been sub- 
 jected from the moment that Madame Lauriola had 
 imparted the contents of Baroness Grandesella's letter 
 to a select feminine group, of which, as we have seen, 
 Mrs Haseleyne proved a not inattentive listener. 
 
 "Who are these Grandesellas, my dear?" asked 
 Lady Broadmere of Madame Lauriola. "I never 
 heard of them." 
 
 "Upstarts, who are trying to push their way into 
 society," replied that lady. "I only know Madame 
 Grandesella slightly. My husband, I believe, has 
 had some business matters to arrange with him." 
 
 "But I don't quite understand," said Lady Swans- 
 do wne, "what Mrs Clymer had to do with it. Why 
 on earth did the girl run away from Mrs Clymer ? I 
 should have thought her a most advantageous acquaint- 
 ance for a girl in her position." 
 
 " Oh, as for her running away from Mrs Clymer," re- 
 sponded Madame Lauriola spitefully, " I don't wonder at 
 that ; but they evidently quarrelled over Sark, at whose 
 
THE EAKL OF SARK AT BAY. 201 
 
 head probably the Baroness wanted to fling her daughter. 
 To get at the rights of the story you would have to 
 ask Sark." And Mrs Haseleyne made a mental mem- 
 orandum that she would see how much she could ex- 
 tract from his unsuspicious lordship, in her quality of 
 secret reporter for the press. 
 
 " Zat is one of ze most strange histoires I ever did 
 hear," remarked the Princess Chemiseoff. " Ze girl is 
 hiding from her parents, and zere are tree or four 
 persons in zis house who knows vere she is, and you 
 cannot find her. What is ze police about ? " 
 
 "Oh, it is not a matter for the police," said Lady 
 Adela Dashington. " Poor Sark, how annoyed he will 
 be at having his name dragged into it all ! I wonder 
 who will break it to the Duchess." But as we have 
 seen, the Duchess had been prepared for it all, in the 
 first instance, by Sark himself, though she never ex- 
 pected it to become a matter of public notoriety. And 
 with her usual thoughtful kindness, she no sooner 
 heard of the letter Madame Lauriola had received, 
 than she went off to prepare her American guests for 
 the severe fire of cross-examination they were likely 
 to encounter; but the coolness they displayed under 
 that fire, and the skill they exhibited in baffling 
 their adversaries, did credit to their Cedar Buttes 
 education. 
 
 "I have had no intimation from the Baron and 
 Baroness Grandesella," said Stella, " that their daugh- 
 ter is staying with my friend in the country against 
 
202 ' ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 her will; they have never communicated with me on 
 the subject. Of course I don't know anything about 
 your English ways, and supposed a girl did not always 
 require to ask leave of her parents before going to pay 
 a visit to her friends. Indeed I wrote myself to the 
 Baroness, to tell her she was coming with us, and I 
 supposed that was enough; but you English are so 
 absurdly particular." 
 
 " Particular ! Mon Bieu" said the Princess, " zey 
 are not half so particular as ze Eussians!" and she 
 looked across the lawn at Miss Gazewell going out 
 for a tSte-d-tSte ride with Colonel Lysper. 
 
 " Do tell us what Mrs Clymer had to do with it ? " 
 asked Lady Florence FeatherpoU. " She is one of my 
 dearest friends. I think her quite too deliciously en- 
 chanting. I am just writing to ask her all about it." 
 
 "Then wait for her answer, my dear," said Stella, 
 who had learned to imitate Lady Broadmere's patron- 
 ising " my dear," with a nicety that made Lady Flor- 
 ence flush with indignation, and everybody else titter. 
 Bob rose so much in Mattie's estimation by a trick he 
 had, when asked compromising questions, of sticking 
 his glass in his eye, and staring blankly through it at 
 his questioner, as if he was gradually sinking into a 
 state of mental imbecility, and then asking him silly 
 questions, that, in a moment of enthusiasm, after he 
 had particularly distinguished himself, she murmured 
 affectionately, "Why, you splendid Bob, I take back 
 all I said about making you go on to the Stock Ex- 
 
THE EARL OF SARK AT BAY. 203 
 
 change. You are too clever for it. Just you hang on 
 to the Zend-Avesta." 
 
 There were two men^ however, one of whom was 
 made thoroughly happy, and the other equally miser- 
 able, by the whole episode. The first was MacAlpine, 
 and the other was Sark. The former just knew enough 
 to be able to give little dissertations to all inquirers, 
 and air his elegant diction and authoritative utterance 
 with the bland consciousness of superior information, 
 which, moreover, enabled him to assume an air of 
 mystery, as though there was much that he knew 
 that he did not tell; whereas, in point of fact, he 
 told a good deal more than he knew. Sark, on the 
 other hand, was utterly unapproachable, even by the 
 boldest, on the subject. There was that about him 
 which, when he was roused from the apathy that had 
 enabled the Clymer to rivet her chains upon him, 
 made men and women careful how they ventured 
 too rashly on a familiarity which he did not invite. 
 So he had no difficulty in avoiding cross-examination ; 
 but his position in the affair was all the more can- 
 vassed, especially when the paragraphs in the social 
 weekly appeared, and his connection with a ques- 
 tionable financial arrangement was appended to the 
 domestic scandal. 
 
 " I see," said Lauriola to Sark, as they sat together 
 watching Lysper and Basinghall playing billiards, " that 
 infernal scoundrel, who makes it his business to attack 
 me in all my business operations, has taken the liberty 
 
204 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 of connecting your lordship's name with mine, with 
 reference to that amalgamation scheme in which we 
 are both interested. I have a letter from Murkle on 
 the subject of that last transfer which your lordship 
 has undertaken to complete." 
 
 "I think we had better not drag business affairs 
 into our life here," replied Sark. "As for the para- 
 graph, I deliberately rushed upon my fate when I 
 went into the City, and I don't complain. I should 
 say you had made enough, Lauriola, not to mind a 
 little dirt being thrown at you. A dab or two more 
 or less won't make much difference." And his lord- 
 ship turned on his heel, leaving the financier to 
 pour out his feelings to MacAlpine, who came and 
 took the vacant seat. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 •A LITTLE FASHIONABLE CONVERSATION. 
 
 Albert Lauriola was morally and physically a coarse- 
 fibred, stumpy little man, with a very slight foreign 
 accent, whose vulgarity would have fatally handi- 
 capped any other woman than his lovely and talented 
 wife in the social scratch race. He was therefore all 
 the more proud of the success which he had achieved, 
 
A LITTLE FASHIONABLE CONVEESATION. 205 
 
 and his inordinate vanity led him constantly to ex- 
 patiate upon it. 
 
 " This affair may turn out a lucky coup socially for 
 Grandesella," he said, turning to MacAlpine after Sark 
 had left. " It just gives him the kind of notoriety he 
 wants. It has been a curious race all through life 
 between us. I bet him an even hundred I'd get made 
 a Baron before he did, and he won. Then I bet 
 Murkle I would get into Parliament before he did, and 
 I lost again. Then Grandesella bet me that he would 
 win the blue ribbon of society before I did, and I won; 
 but I knew with my wife I was safe. Bless you, she's 
 a woman in a thousand ! nothing could stand against 
 her. Now that step-daughter of Grandesella's ought 
 to carry him anywhere. His wife is against him — 
 she's downright vulgar, you know; but they tell me 
 the girl is as handsome as a Peri — one of your regular 
 blue-blooded ones ; and so she ought to be seeing she's 
 Sark's cousin. It's a great chance for Grandesella, to 
 be sure." 
 
 " Tell us how you went to work to make your own 
 running, old man," said Basinghall, who had finished 
 his game and overheard Lauriola's last few remarks, 
 and who perceived that he was under the influence of 
 sundry sodas-and-brandies, and therefore in a com- 
 municative mood, and not likely easily to take offence. 
 Basinghall, as " Mrs Haseleyne's man," used to make 
 himself useful in picking up interesting scraps of in- 
 formation — likely in this case to be especially welcome, 
 
206 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 as she had a grudge against Madame Lauriola. " To 
 tell you the truth, I never could undei stand how you 
 and your wife managed to achieve your brilliant social 
 success so rapidly." 
 
 Lauriola, who was as vain as he was vulgar, flattered 
 by the marked attention which his three listeners — 
 for Lysper had joined the other two — seemed inclined 
 to accord to a recital of his great social achievements, 
 was probably more expansive than he would have been 
 under other circumstances — certainly much more so 
 than if Madame had been present. 
 
 " Why, you see, my little woman is ambitious, and 
 clever as she is — though I say it that shouldn't — 
 beautiful. 
 
 " ' Albert,' she said to me one day, ' how is it you 
 never bring any peers or noblemen to see me ? ' 
 
 " That was just after I had completed my contracts 
 for the Submarine Telephonic Company, which brought 
 me in pretty near half a million. 
 
 " ' I was looking through the names of the directors 
 of some of the boards you are on,' she said. ' There's 
 the Earl of Creedmore, and Lord Pytchley, and Sir 
 George Dashington.' 
 
 " ' I only know them officially,' I said. ' I couldn't 
 venture to ask them to come ; and they wouldn't come 
 if I did.' 
 
 " ' Come out and drive with me in the Park to-mor- 
 row, and we'll look for some of them,' says she. 
 
 " The first man we saw riding next day was Dash- 
 
A LITTLE FASHIONABLE CONVERSATION. 207 
 
 ington ; and when he nodded to me, he looked pretty 
 hard at her ; and next board-meeting she came to call 
 at the Company's offices in the brougham, and sent 
 me up a note to say she was waiting. It had been 
 arranged before, that I was accidentally to come down 
 with Dashington; and when he saw her pretty face 
 looking out, and smiling and nodding to me, ' Intro- 
 duce me to your wife,' he whispers; so I introduced 
 him, and went back to the board-room to sign some 
 papers I had forgotten, and left him talking to Ma- 
 dame through the carriage-window. And when I 
 came back, — 
 
 "*Just think, Albert,' she said; 'Sir George has 
 promised to dine with us to-night if we are quite 
 alone, and will let him go to the House immediately 
 after dinner.' " 
 
 " And did Dashington go to the House immediately 
 .after dinner?" asked Lysper, with an air of assumed 
 innocence. 
 
 , " I don't know, for I had to meet a man at the club 
 early in the evening, and left him with my wife ; but 
 that little dinner was the beginning of our good for- 
 tune. Dashington would dine with us two or three 
 times a- week ; and there was nothing he would not do 
 for Madame, he took such a fancy to her — so much 
 deep sympathy between them, and all that sort of 
 thing, you know. But I was not going to have 
 scandals set on foot, when I knew there was no 
 ground for them, so I insisted he must bring Lady 
 
208 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 Adela to call; and in order to make it still more 
 proper, Lady Adela and Madame were always driving 
 out together. Then we began to give little dinner- 
 parties, and Dashington asked our Duchess here to 
 invite us to her parties ; and we worked the press and 
 the photographers. First, there were mysterious para- 
 graphs in the social weeklies about the new beauty — 
 we always had some writers at dinner — and I got my 
 life written, — ^how I look at home, and all that sort of 
 thing." 
 
 " Yes, I remember," said Basinghall ; " that was the 
 first time I ever heard of you. Well, what did you do 
 next?" 
 
 "Why, we spared no expense to get professional 
 musicians, and had only a select eight or ten for them 
 to play to: and Dashington gave dinners especially 
 arranged for us — poor aristocrats with pretty wives. 
 I put the noblemen into good things, and they brought 
 their pretty wives to dine with us out of gratitude; 
 and the men of fashion who happened to be in love 
 with the pretty wives were only too glad to be asked." 
 
 "Yes, I remember," drawled Lysper; "you asked 
 me to meet the Clymer before Sark took her up, and 
 that was the first time I ever heard of you." 
 
 "Well, that was how we extended the list of our 
 acquaintances in the highest circles; and what with 
 notices in the papers, and photographs in the shops, 
 and financial plums for the poor aristocrats, and pretty 
 women for the rich ones, we got to where we could 
 
A LITTLE FASHIONABLE CONVERSATION. 209 
 
 give entertainments on a large scale, and ask some 
 social lions." 
 
 " And you invited me," interrupted MacAlpine, " and 
 that was the first time I ever heard of you." 
 
 "Well, we began to push our way then," pursued 
 Lauriola, not observing the impertinence of these in- 
 terruptions. " My little woman has got the hide of a 
 rhinoceros and the sting of a wasp; bless you, she 
 never takes offence, but she never forgets. She be- 
 lieves in money, perseverance, good looks, and auda- 
 city, as the forces that govern the world. I used to 
 laugh at her, and call it impudence, but she said you 
 might as well call the audace of the first Napoleon 
 impudence. If people didn't return her cards, she 
 would keep on leaving hers till they did, and then 
 say that at last she had made them ashamed of them- 
 selves." 
 
 " And she was right," said Basinghall ; " they should 
 have been ashamed of themselves." 
 
 " She had a way of regularly wringing invitations out 
 of people, leaving them astonished at their own help- 
 lessness. 'It is better,' she would say, 'to have the 
 whole aristocracy abusing you than that they should 
 be ignorant of your existence.' " 
 
 " No, no, " said Lysper, encouraged by his obtuseness, 
 "there she was wrong: where ignorance was bliss, 
 'twas folly to be wise." 
 
 " One of her tricks," pursued the unconscious Lauri- 
 ola, " for frightening an invitation out of a man's wife, 
 
 
 
210 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 by pretending to make love to her husband, I never 
 knew fail. Of course I knew it was only pretence, but 
 neither the poor man nor his wife did. Then, when 
 she had got the invitation, she would throw over the 
 man, and lavish her affections on the wife, who was 
 too glad to purchase her peace of mind so easily. 
 Still," added Lauriola, musingly, " it is not so hard to 
 get people to invite you to go to their parties as to get 
 them to come to yours ; there's where the talent lies. 
 Madame was not one to be satisfied so long as there 
 was a single member of the highest circles, the dite of 
 the aristocracy, you know, the very crSme, that held 
 out. That proud Duchess of Flamborough was the last 
 to give in — but she actually came to dinner." 
 
 " What was your secret ? " asked Basinghall ; " or 
 was it Madame's secret ? " 
 
 " Just so ; that's why I can't tell it to you," replied 
 the parvenu, who seemed to feel a glimmer of con- 
 sciousness that there must be a limit to his indis- 
 cretion, and he slowly closed one eye and swallowed 
 the remaining contents of his tumbler with an air of 
 profound cunning. " I must draw the line somewhere, 
 and I draw it at " 
 
 " At your little woman — eh ? " said Lysper. " Well, 
 I think it's a pity other people didn't draw it there 
 too ; but I warmly congratulate you, my dear fellow, 
 on having such a treasure," he added hurriedly, afraid 
 that he had gone too far, and giving Lauriola a friendly 
 slap on the back by way of a final nocturnal salute. 
 
A LITTLE FASHIONABLE CONVERSATION. 211 
 
 " What an ineffable little cad it is ! " said Basingliall, 
 with a sigh of relief, as he watched Lauriola's retiring 
 and somewhat unsteady figure. "There must be a 
 hidden charm in Madame to make Dashington tolerate 
 him as he does. Did you hear how Sark snubbed 
 him ? By the way, what a mysterious young woman 
 that undiscovered cousin of his seems to be! Why 
 shouldn't we go into the knight-errant line of business, 
 Lysper, — discover the retreat of this interesting and 
 persecuted female, and go and protect her, or run away 
 with her, as the case may be ? " 
 
 " If I could only find out where it was, I should be 
 game. We have all of us tried to get it out of Sark, 
 but one might as well try to draw a hedgehog. I must 
 say, MacAlpine, considering that you formed one of 
 the party in Paris, you might have got it out either of 
 the American girls or Bob Alderney before now." 
 
 " I have not made the attempt," said MacAlpine, 
 primly, " as I have felt bound to respect what I under- 
 stood to be Miss Peto's own wishes in the matter ; and 
 I doubt whether your services would be particularly 
 — er — acceptable to her in the capacity you suggest." 
 
 "Bob Alderney tells me," said Basinghall, "that 
 Grandesella is a large edition of Lauriola, — another of 
 those financiers who want to use their wealth and 
 their womankind as pulleys to hoist them into society ; 
 and, as far as I can understand, the daughter has run 
 away because she refuses to be sold to the Clymer for 
 the purpose. T was talking about her to Lady Adela 
 
212 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 to-day, who had no idea that she had such a cousin in 
 existence till this affair happened, and she tells me she 
 is going to consult Sark about it. By the way, I see 
 you've given up Fanny Gazewell, and have been mak- 
 ing tremendous running with the Californian heiress 
 for the last day or two." 
 
 " The fair Fanny's methods of attack are too aggres- 
 sive," Lysper simpered. " It is such a bore having to 
 be constantly on your guard. It is all very well with 
 married women, where no harm can come of it, and you 
 can back out when you like, as it seems Sark has from 
 the Clymer; but the way that girl and her aunt lay 
 traps for the unwary, is positively scandalous. Be- 
 sides, I must marry money if I marry at all." 
 
 " You have got rather a serious rival with the Cali- 
 fornian in Sark," said MacAlpine. 
 
 " It seems to me you are not altogether disinterested 
 in that quarter yourself," retorted the other ; " you 
 seemed to be having a most confidential conversation 
 in the library this morning." 
 
 " A little triolet of my own composition that I was 
 reading her ; what conceptions of the pure she has for 
 — er — a Californian ! " 
 
 " Then I'm afraid we have none of us much chance," 
 laughed Basinghall. " However, it's a cup I don't 
 mean to enter for, though there's a style about the girl 
 which, with her money, ought to give her the command 
 of the matrimonial market next season ; so if you mean 
 to do anything, Lysper, you have no time to lose. I 
 
A LITTLE FASHIONABLE CONVERSATION. 213 
 
 wonder what made Bob Alderney go in for the friend, 
 who has neither looks nor nuggets. My own impres- 
 sion is that there's a plant somewhere, and that Miss 
 Peto is at the bottom of it." 
 
 From all which it appeared that "the general situa- 
 tion was one which exercised the imaginations of these 
 smart gentlemen to an unusual degree; nor was it 
 altogether without reason — for in point of fact, both 
 Sark and his sister were at that moment, unconsciously 
 to each other, arranging in their own minds a meeting 
 on the subject, which took place on the following day. 
 
 " Adela," said Sark, as he walked her off to the con- 
 servatory, " you are one of the best and purest women 
 I know, and the only one to whom I can unburden 
 myself freely about this new cousin of ours, who, 
 curiously enough, has first revealed her existence to 
 you by hiding away from the world — and not about 
 her alone, but about two other women with whom my 
 fate seems to have become linked in an incomprehen- 
 sible manner." 
 
 " You need not name them," said Lady Adela, smil- 
 ing. " I have not been nearly a week in the house 
 with you and Miss Walton without knowing that she 
 is one, nor have I lived in London for the last two 
 years without knowing that Mrs Clymer is the other." 
 
 " Exactly. You have had abundant opportunity of 
 judging of them both, of estimating the value of their 
 respective powers of fascination, possibly of under- 
 standing why, in the one case, the attraction which 
 
214 ALTIOEA FETO. 
 
 has held me for so long has lost its charm, and why 
 the other has seemed to me so irresistible. You have 
 observed enough of them both to see how totally unlike 
 they are to the ordinary type, and may have perceived 
 that I yielded, first in the one case and then in the 
 other, to an influence which derived its strength in a 
 large measure from the rarity of its nature. But you 
 have never seen or known the third, perhaps the most 
 remarkable and uncommon character of the three, and 
 as totally unlike the other two as they are to each 
 other ; and yet, strange to say, the one whose influence, 
 even more powerful than that of the other two, has 
 never affected me in the same way." 
 
 " You mean," said his sister, " that you did not fall 
 in love with her. Perhaps, considering there were two 
 already, it was an emharras de richesses" 
 
 " If that was all, the difficulty might be more easily 
 solved," and Sark went on to describe his refusal by 
 Stella, and the reasons he had for believing that his 
 cousin would be sacrificed to gratify the social ambi- 
 tions of her parents by a forced marriage, or a no less 
 forced intimacy with the woman whom he had himself 
 been the means of introducing to them ; and what still 
 more complicated the situation — the hints which he had 
 received, that he had himself won her heart, and there- 
 fore had it in his power to save her from the fate which 
 she was now hiding to avoid, at the same time that he 
 secured her happiness for life. In fact, he had, since 
 Stella's rejection of his suit, made up his mind that the 
 
A LITTLE FASHIONABLE CONVEKSATION. 215 
 
 easiest way to escape from the Clymer, to console him- 
 self for his disappointment, to secure the happiness of 
 a woman he respected, and to put an end to what 
 threatened to become a domestic scandal of a most 
 disagreeable kind, was to propose to marry her himself 
 — " a fate," he added, " considering her great personal 
 and mental attractions and nobility of character, any 
 man might envy." 
 
 " Do you come," asked Lady Adela, " to ask me for 
 my advice, or to tell me your intentions ? " 
 
 " Like most people who ask advice," he replied, " I 
 come to see whether your advice agrees with my inten- 
 tions. It is fair to tell you, my mind is pretty well 
 made up on the matter." . 
 
 " Then, from what you have told me of Miss Peto, 1 
 think you have made it up wisely," said Lady Adela, 
 who held Mrs Clymer in such horror that she was 
 delighted at Sark's resolution. 
 
 " I am glad," said her brother, " to hear you say so ; 
 it does not remove my doubts, for they no longer exist, 
 but it confirms my judgment. It is evident that every 
 day is precious, for I gather that the GrandeseUas and 
 Mrs Clymer are on her scent, and her retreat cannot 
 much longer be concealed." 
 
 " We go home on Saturday," said Lady Adela ; " and 
 remember, should she need it, she always has a home 
 with us. I am sure George wiU make no objection." 
 
 " Then I shall start by to-night's train — called away 
 by sudden business ; the only person to whom you may 
 
216 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 privately tell its nature is Miss Walton. She will be 
 leaving herself the day after to-morrow, but by that 
 time the whole matter will be settled." And, much to 
 the astonishment of the rest of the party, Sark disap- 
 peared the same afternoon, while the ladies were out 
 driving, without saying good-bye to them, having ac- 
 counted for his absence to the Duchess in a manner 
 which easily satisfied that good-natured woman, but 
 with which she by no means succeeded in so easily sat- 
 isfying the more suspicious curiosity of her guests. 
 
 CHAPTEE XVII. 
 
 LADY ADELA DASHINGTON. 
 
 "Can you make an effort to get up an hour earlier 
 than usual to-morrow morning, and let us have a walk 
 in the garden?" said Lady Adela, in an undertone, 
 to Stella that evening as they parted for the night. 
 " There are several matters which I think it might be 
 useful for us to discuss together." Lady Adela had 
 from the first taken a fancy to the heiress, and had 
 learned with pain her brother's disappointment. She 
 not only wished to discover the girl's real motive for 
 refusing an offer which, from a worldly point of view, 
 was so eligible, but for accepting the proposal of so 
 
LADY ADELA DASHINGTON. 217 
 
 undesirable a person as Murkle, on conditions so little 
 creditable to herself. There was a mystery in the 
 whole affair which she was determined to unravel, on 
 Sark's account; for the episode seemed altogether in- 
 consistent with the estimate her observation had led 
 her to form of Miss Walton's real character. 
 
 To Stella, Lady Adela's conduct had often been no 
 less enigmatical. She had wondered at her intimacy 
 with Lord St Olave, and at a certain lightness and 
 flippancy of manner which was often contradicted by 
 her depth and earnestness of sentiment on the few 
 occasions when the opportunity was afforded of a little 
 longer conversation than usual in a house full of 
 people; and she had no difficulty in divining the 
 motive which had suggested the present meeting. 
 Indeed her curiosity was to some extent roused by 
 her anxiety to discover the cause of Sark's abrupt 
 departure; and by a tacit understanding, they no 
 sooner met than they plunged at once into the topic 
 which was uppermost in both their minds. 
 
 "Were you surprised at my brother's sudden dis- 
 appearance yesterday ? " asked Lady Adela. 
 
 "Not altogether. He doubtless told you what 
 happened the day before." 
 
 " Yes ; and that is just why I asked you to meet 
 me alone, for his account of what transpired was so 
 utterly unlike what I expected, and your reasons for 
 refusing him were so different from any I could have 
 conceived possible, that I thought he must have mis- 
 
218 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 understood you, and I wanted to hear the rights of 
 the matter from your own lips." 
 
 " First tell me, Lady Adela, whether Lord Sark has 
 gone to see his cousin, and with what intention ? You 
 will see why it is necessary I should know this before 
 entering upon any explanation, when you have heard 
 what that explanation is." 
 
 "Yes," replied Lady Adela; "he has made up his 
 mind, for reasons which you can perhaps understand, 
 to ask Miss Peto to accept him as her husband." 
 
 For a moment the colour left Stella's face, and she 
 made a desperate and successful effort to conceal all 
 traces of emotion. 
 
 " I am glad of it," she said calmly, after a moment's 
 pause ; " they are worthy of each other. Believe me. 
 Lady Adela, you will never regret the choice your 
 brother has made, and he will live to be eternally 
 grateful to me for refusing him. He will marry one 
 who brings him not only the treasures of her heart, 
 but what is more priceless, a moral nature and in- 
 tellectual gifts of the highest order." 
 
 "And now," said Lady Adela, smiling, "the ex- 
 planation you promised. You will not think me very 
 curious, but I want to know it, for your own sake. I 
 can understand your refusing Sark, on the ground of 
 not caring for him, but I cannot understand it on the 
 grounds upon which you put it to him." 
 
 " You mean what he called my provisional contract 
 with Mr Murkle ? My dear Lady Adela, it is so pro- 
 
LADY ADELA DASHINGTON. 219 
 
 visional, that there is not the slightest chance of any- 
 thing ever coming of it. Mr Murkle, knowing I was 
 an heiress, asked me to be his wife as a matter of 
 business ; and I, knowing he was a contractor, replied 
 to him as a matter of business. No business contract 
 is an impossibility in the abstract ; it simply becomes 
 an impossibility by virtue of the conditions imposed. 
 I placed upon Mr Murkle conditions which I knew to 
 be perfectly impossible for him to comply with ; and 
 on those conditions, which it is not necessary for me 
 to specify, I agreed to -perform my part of the con- 
 tract. I also took care to give him a time limit, and 
 in another month it will expire ; but nothing would 
 ever induce me to marry him. I only thought, as he 
 evidently wanted to make use of me, that I would 
 make use of him. As an heiress, you know, it might 
 be often convenient to say that you were engaged, 
 even when you had no intention of marrying the 
 man you pretended to be engaged to. There is no- 
 thing so very wrong in that, is there ? And," she 
 added, looking at Lady Adela with a humorous 
 twinkle in her eye, "I am so young and inex- 
 perienced, you must make allowances for an untutored 
 savage from the wilds of California." 
 
 " Oh, nonsense ! " said Lady Adela, laughing. " I 
 could wish some of the young savages in my own 
 country were half as well tutored as you. But as 
 you never meant to marry Mr Murkle, I am all the 
 more puzzled to know why you refused Sark. He is 
 
220 ALTIOKA PETO. 
 
 a man that women have not found it difficnlt to love, 
 and he was passionately devoted to you — all the 
 more so, because he became aware of the vast differ- 
 ence which existed in his sentiments for you from 
 those which he felt for the woman from whose bond- 
 age you have been the means of releasing him." 
 
 " That indeed will be matter of lasting consolation 
 to me," said Stella, with such unexpected earnestness 
 that Lady Adela looked up ; and she added hastily, to 
 cover her confusion, " because, you know, I am so 
 fond of Altiora, and I shall ever be glad that I have 
 been the means of securing her happiness. And 
 that, indeed, was my reason for refusing your brother. 
 I thought if I did, and told him how much Altiora 
 loved him, his own generous nature would leave him 
 no escape from the honourable alternative of propos- 
 ing to her, — and, you see, my wily tactics have suc- 
 ceeded. That's what comes of passing one's youth 
 among Eed Indians." 
 
 "And you did not care for him yourself?" asked 
 Lady Adela, in rather a disappointed tone ; for she was 
 proud of her brother, and felt a little piqued at this 
 apparent lack of appreciation on the part of one whom 
 she supposed had not had many opportunities of seeing 
 others like him. 
 
 " Oh, I think him most delightful — a man any wo- 
 man might be proud of," said Stella, warmly. " But I 
 have peculiar ideas as to the sentiments one ought to 
 entertain towards the man one marries," she added, 
 
LADY ADELA DASHINGTON. 221 
 
 evading the question. " Perhaps some day I will tell 
 you about them. However, all's well that ends well. 
 From what I have seen of English marriages, they 
 don't seem to me very successful." 
 
 Lady Adela sighed. " Perhaps if we had what you 
 call your peculiar ideas, they would be happier," she 
 said. 
 
 " Dear Lady Adela," Stella went on, " we have known 
 each other so little, that perhaps my curiosity may 
 seem impertinent, but indeed it is not ; and this con- 
 versation seems to have brought us so much nearer 
 together, that I feel emboldened by it. You asked me 
 for an explanation, so that you should not do me an 
 injustice; I should like to ask you for one for the 
 same reason — ^may I ? " 
 
 " Certainly. If I can I will give it, and I hope it will 
 be as satisfactory as yours." 
 
 " Then," said Stella, frankly, " I want to know why 
 you allow Lord St Olave to pay you so much attention I 
 Are you not afraid of misconstruction ? " 
 
 "Misconstruction of conduct which a husband ap- 
 proves, does not hurt a wife socially. If I accept Lord 
 St Olave's attentions, it is because they protect me 
 from those of others, and because he understands my 
 motives, and is too honourable to take advantage of 
 them. In a society where flirtation forms the princi- 
 pal accomplishment of married life on the part of both 
 partners, it would be ridiculous for a poor weak woman 
 like me to attempt to stem the current, or to set up a 
 
222 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 standard of my own. In cases where the husbands are 
 especially addicted to this pursuit, their wives are all 
 the less able to stand alone, partly because they lack 
 the legitimate protection ; often because they are ex- 
 pected by their own husbands to make their houses 
 attractive to the other sex by accepting their homage ; 
 nearly always because men like to see their wives ad- 
 mired, and they themselves gain certain social advan- 
 tages from their popularity. In addition to this, it 
 allows them greater freedom to flirt themselves if they 
 have wives who flirt ; and the wives of men who flirt are 
 much more made up to by the men, because they are 
 less afraid of the husbands, and fancy the wives need 
 consolation. In addition to all these reasons why it is 
 almost necessary for a young married woman to flirt 
 nowadays — the most powerful of all is, that it is the 
 fashion. Therefore, my dear Stella — ^you don't mind 
 my calling you Stella? — you see that, as we are all 
 doing the same thing, there is no fear of misconstruc- 
 tion, for there is nobody to misconstrue us. If every- 
 body is in the same boat, nobody will tip it over." 
 
 " But," said Stella, " surely tliere are exceptions to 
 this general rule of flirtation ? " 
 
 " Of course there are exceptions, and very numerous 
 exceptions. There are all the people who are happily 
 married, and therefore don't flirt; and there are the 
 husbands who are too busy, and the wives who are too 
 prim, or too stupid, or too ugly for anybody to want to 
 flirt with them. But they are a scattered company, 
 
LADY ADELA DASHINGTON. 223 
 
 without cohesion, and don't make society. They are 
 powerless to affect its conduct. Society is a tolerably 
 compact body, with its own standard of propriety, or 
 rather impropriety ; and it's no use, whether you are in 
 it or outside of it, to kick against the pricks. If you 
 are good-looking, and your husband exposes you to it 
 for his own purposes, flirt you must. There is scarcely 
 a young man who would not feel he was wanting in 
 the first duty in life, if he saw you were neglected and 
 did not instantly make love to you ; and, in fact, the 
 women would be very much surprised if they did not, 
 and very often have to jog their memories and their 
 manners, and commence operations. Now, as I live in 
 the thick of this society, and as I don't want to be 
 eternally either on the aggressive or defensive, St 
 Olave — who has been a good deal tried by some of the 
 beauties, he is so handsome, you know, but really has 
 no taste for flirtation — and I have agreed that we will 
 do just what is required in the mutual adoration line 
 to satisfy society and protect ourselves, and it really 
 succeeds admirably : we have got to be quite fond of 
 each other." 
 
 " You don't tell me 1 " exclaimed Stella, with such a 
 comical expression of assumed surprise that Lady 
 Adela felt inclined to be offended ; seeing which, she 
 hastily added, "There, now, you are angry with me 
 because of my Americanisms; I really must try to 
 break myself of them. How kind of you. Lady Adela, 
 to explain all this to me so clearly ! I never should 
 
224 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 have understood it otherwise. I quite see now, how, 
 in my ignorance of the manners of the best society, I 
 might have misjudged you. What a bad time the girls 
 must have, with all the young married women going on 
 like that ? Don't they do a little flirting too ? I have 
 managed a little already ; but then, you know, I am a 
 stranger." 
 
 " They do all they know, as my husband would say ; 
 but they have not much chance, as Lady Florence and 
 Lady Edith FeatherpoU, and Fanny Gazewell will tell 
 you. The men are afraid of getting caught, unless in 
 the case of great heiresses like you ; but they are few 
 and far between." 
 
 " Then," said Stella, demurely, " if my taste happens 
 to run in that direction, I may be able to gratify it." 
 
 "Oh, you'll be hunted to death! I should advise 
 you to extend the term of your provisional contract 
 with Murkle; you will constantly have to fall back 
 upon it. And now let us go in to breakfast ; but, first, 
 I want you and your friend to come and pay us a visit 
 at Copley Grange after you leave this." 
 
 " Copley Grange ! Is that anywhere near the village 
 of Copleydale ? " said Stella, surprised. 
 
 " Only two miles from it. Why, what do you know 
 of Copleydale ? " asked Lady Adela, equally astonished. 
 
 " Simply — but this. Lady Adela, is in the most pro- 
 found confidence — that it is the place where your 
 brother is probably to be found at this moment." 
 
SOME PROPOSALS AT A PICNIC. 225 
 
 CHAPTEE XYIII. 
 
 SOME PROPOSALS AT A PICNIC. 
 
 Stella found Lady Adela's prediction verified more 
 speedily than she expected. A picnic had been ar- 
 ranged for the same afternoon at some ruins in the 
 neighbourhood, and Lysper, who had suddenly devel- 
 oped great archaeological proclivities, had asked the 
 heiress to explore their more hidden recesses, when he 
 thought a favourable moment had arrived for carrying 
 out a design that had germinated in his bosom ever 
 since Basinghall had the night before warned him that 
 now was his chance, and that if he waited for the Lon- 
 don season, it would be gone. Moreover, he was much 
 relieved by the. absence of Sark ; and as the party at 
 the Castle was to break up on the following day, he 
 not only felt that he must act at once, but that a way 
 of escape was prepared for him in case of refusal — for 
 it is always embarrassing, even to a Guardsman, to 
 continue to live in the same house with a girl who has 
 refused you. Lysper had not been at Tel-el-Kebir, but 
 his imagination had been much inflamed by the magni- 
 ficent manner in which that strong position had been 
 stormed. It is sudden and unexpected dash that does it, 
 he reflected within himself. She may throw down her 
 arms like Arabi's fellaheen, if I storm her unawares; 
 and he did it this wise. " This is a steep little pull, 
 
 P 
 
226 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 Miss Walton, but it is worth it — jou get such a magni- 
 ficent view of the ruin from the top. Won't you take 
 my arm ? " 
 
 Stella, who was quite as competent to scale a hill- 
 side as he was, looked at him askance. She was in a 
 defiant, reckless mood, for she had been stifling her 
 regrets all day, and her envy of Altiora, and felt ready 
 for any deed of daring likely to kill care. With a 
 sigh which might have meant shortness of breath, or a 
 tenderer feeling, she slipped her arm in his, and he 
 pressed it gently in proportion as the ascent became 
 steeper, until, at the top, no doubt remained as to its 
 character. " She does not seem to mind," he thought, 
 " and doing it by squeezing saves such a lot of words ; " 
 so with still greater daring he quietly grasped the 
 slender hand on his arm with his other hand. Then, 
 to his delight, he thought he felt a response, which 
 sent a thrill through him. 
 
 " Confound it," he said to himself, " how much more 
 difficult it is to think what to say when you mean 
 business, than when you are merely spooning ! " Uni- 
 versal experience testifies to the truth of this reflection, 
 and it occurred to Lysper that if he blurted out her 
 Christian name, it would break the ice effectually. Now 
 we all know what an effort it is, and how unnatural it 
 sounds, to say Mary or Jane for the first time to Miss 
 Smith or Miss Thompson. With the daughters of earls 
 and upwards, it is easier — for then you have only to 
 drop the lady ; but the privilege of proposing to these 
 
SOME PROPOSALS AT A PICNIC. 227 
 
 distinguished personages is confined to few. Lysper 
 had overheard Stella called Mattie by her friend, in 
 a moment of forgetfulness — for it will be remembered 
 that the two girls had changed names — and on the in- 
 formation so acquired, he boldly proceeded. 
 
 " Oh, Mattie ! " he exclaimed, with a deep sigh, and 
 an impressive squeeze on the imprisoned hand. 
 
 "Yes," said Stella, with an intensely sentimental 
 gaze into his face, but not a little astonished at his 
 calling her by her right name. "What — oh, what 
 about Mattie?" 
 
 " I love her," said Lysper, thinking she was timidly 
 speaking of herself in the third person; and what a 
 capital way she had hit upon to make him feel more 
 at his ease. " Would she marry me if she knew that 
 my heart was wholly hers ? " 
 
 " Oh," replied Stella, turning her head to hide her 
 laughter, as the ludicrousness of his mistake struck 
 her, " how can I tell you without knowing more ? Do 
 you really love her very, very much ? " 
 
 "I can't describe the nature of my feelings," said 
 Lysper, again at loss for words. 
 
 "Try, dear Colonel Lysper," said Stella, encour- 
 agingly. "I should so like to hear you say exactly 
 how much you loved her. Can't you analyse the 
 sentiment ? " 
 
 " Well," said poor Lysper, " the thing is too deep for 
 words, but I'll try and put it into them. Just sit 
 down on that stone for a minute. I will place myself 
 
228 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 at your feet. N"ow, let me look into your eyes for 
 inspiration." 
 
 Stella bent upon him those glowing orbs, charged 
 with the most overpowering expression of tenderness 
 they were capable of conveying, and said softly, with 
 a blush — 
 
 "What am I to call you?" 
 
 " Augustus," said the enraptured Lysper, fast feeling 
 that words were coming to him. 
 
 " Go on, Augustus — I am listening." 
 
 " Well, I've loved a lot of women, but there is some- 
 thing about Mattie " — and he looked up with infinite 
 meaning — "that beats them all. Her touch sets all 
 my pulses throbbing ; the glance of her eye," and he 
 caught hers, " seems to go all through me with a sort 
 of something between a quiver and a shiver that I can't 
 describe. I feel as if I could kiss the very ground she 
 treads on; in fact, hang me if I can stand it any longer!" 
 
 " Nor I either," said Stella, jumping up, as Lysper 
 seemed about to proceed to more affectionate demon- 
 stration ; " see, there she comes," — and Mattie, accom- 
 panied by Bob Alderney, suddenly turned a corner of 
 the ruin. " Mattie, dear. Colonel Lysper has just been 
 telling me that he has something he wishes particularly 
 to say to you," and she ran to meet her friend, and 
 carrying off the astonished Bob, whispered Mattie to 
 go to the discomfited colonel. 
 
 " What is it," said Mattie, approaching him, " that 
 you wish to say to me ? " 
 
SOME PEOPOSALS AT A PICNIC. 229 
 
 " Oh, nothing," said Lysper, overwhelmed with con- 
 fusion; " at least — ^yes, there is something, if you won't 
 think me very rude, — may I ask you what your name 
 is?" 
 
 As Lysper seemed temporarily to have taken leave 
 of his senses, Mattie thought it best to humour him, 
 and replied, " Mattie Terrill : why do you ask ? " 
 
 " Oh, nothing, only I wanted to know, thank you so 
 much. Pray tell your friend that it's all a mistake ; 
 thank you so much. Pray forgive me for having 
 seemed so rude as to want to know your name. Shall 
 we join the others ? " said Lysper, anxious to lose him- 
 self in a crowd, and hide his diminished head anywhere. 
 
 " Mattie," said Stella to her friend the same evening, 
 " your fortune is becoming a burden greater than I can 
 bear. What do you think happened to-day after I had 
 handed that ludicrous creature, Lysper, over to you ? " 
 
 " I suppose somebody else proposed to you, as Sark 
 was no longer there to frighten the men away." 
 
 " Exactly. I next fell a prey to Eonald MacAlpine, 
 who, it seems, has been assured by Murkle that I am 
 engaged to be married to him. As that is a piece of 
 intelligence I wish no one to impart but myself, I of 
 course denied it flatly." 
 
 "And what did he say ? " 
 
 " Oh, he said I was his supremest conception, his 
 transcendentalest vision, his perfectest dream, his pre- 
 ciousest ideal, — I never heard such a lot of superlatives 
 tacked on to words they don't belong to." 
 
230 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 " And what did you say ? " 
 
 " What could I say ? I was in a humour to say 
 anything, I felt so mad, just after I had heard it all 
 from Lysper too. It began to get monotonous, so I 
 said, just to shock his exquisitely refined sensibilities, 
 ' All right, old chap — shove ahead.' " 
 
 " Oh, Stella, you never said such a thing ! " 
 
 "I did indeed. I was obliged to use the English 
 vernacular ; I was afraid he might not understand the 
 more forcible language of my native state." 
 
 " And then what happened ? " 
 
 "Why, he flushed up rather offended, and a good 
 deal put out, and said, ' Miss Walton, you are trifling 
 with my most sacred affections.' 
 
 " ' Not a bit,' I said ; ' I never was more serious in 
 my life. I have the greatest esteem and regard for 
 your affections: what do you want me to do with 
 them ? ' 
 
 " ' Eeturn them,' he replied. 
 
 "'Oh, certainly. I won't keep them, if you would 
 rather I gave them back.' 
 
 " ' Stella,' he went on, ' you know what I mean ; I 
 ask for yours in return for mine. My heart, my — er — 
 hand, everything I have is at your disposition.' 
 
 " ' Mr MacAlpine,' I replied, * I won't affect to mis- 
 understand you any longer ; you want me in return to 
 place my heart and hand and everything I have at 
 yours. Now, as you are a man of honour, I will tell 
 you in the strictest confidence what it all amounts to, 
 
SOME PEOPOSALS AT A PICNIC. 231 
 
 and then you can tell me whether you continue to 
 want it ; but you must pledge me your word as a gen- 
 tleman never to reveal what I am going to disclose to 
 you to a living soul.' 
 
 " ' I solemnly swear/ he said. 
 
 " * Very well, then, I am not Stella Walton at all, 
 but Mattie Terrill. My friend, who is the heiress, 
 and I have changed places, and my total fortune 
 amounts to 750 dollars a-year, which in your currency 
 is £150. Now don't allow any false modesty to pre- 
 vent you from frankly taking back your proposal, 
 which was made under a misconception. I shall 
 esteem you more highly if you own up that you meant 
 to marry me for my money, than if you pretend you 
 didn't; and to make it more easy for you, you may 
 consider yourself refused, anyhow.' 
 
 " ' Oh how magnanimously generous ! ' he said, ac- 
 cepting the situation without a murmur of apparent 
 shame or regret. * What a subject for a ballad ! You 
 may rest assured that your confidence will be most 
 religiously observed. See yonder spray of fern, how 
 gracefully it droops over that white pebble ! ' he went 
 on, dexterously changing the subject; and until we 
 jomed the others he discoursed to me on the value of 
 ferns in art." 
 
 " That makes four proposals you have had in the 
 first two months — Sark, Murkle, Lysper, and Mac- 
 Alpine; and during the season, I suppose they will 
 come much more quickly," said Mattie. I am so glad 
 
232 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 you will have an opportunity then of snubbing all 
 these spoilt men. The sort of way the girls run after 
 them, and make up to them, instead of keeping them 
 under their heels, where they properly belong, makes 
 me trample upon Bob, just because I have to give vent 
 to my feelings on some young man, and he is the only 
 one around who takes any notice of me. Do you see 
 how that ridiculous Edith Featherpoll — the ugly one, 
 you know — has been languishing after MacAlpine, 
 with her flowers, and her sonnets, and her water- 
 colours, and her fantastic style of dress, which she 
 always goes to him to approve ; and what a dead set 
 Lady Florence has made all the time we have been 
 here at Lord St Olave ; and how Fanny Gazewell 
 enticed Colonel Lysper the other day to get up a tree 
 after her, I suppose in order that she might make him 
 propose among the branches ? But what made me 
 real mad was an attempt of Mrs Haseleyne to get hold 
 of Bob. She has got her own man, — what did she 
 want mine for ? " 
 
 "That's what Fanny Gazewell complains about," 
 said Stella. " She told me that she no sooner thinks 
 she has got hold of a man, than some pretty young 
 married woman comes along and snaps him up, and 
 carries him off — like a big dog taking a bone out of 
 a little dog's mouth. She says the reason she wants to 
 marry some one is, because she is tired of being a little 
 dog, and wants to have some of the fun of being a big 
 one." 
 
SOME PKOPOSALS AT A PICNIC. 233 
 
 " Pleasant for the husband," said Mattie. 
 
 " Oh, they don't mind, — at least not in the best 
 society. Lady Adela was telling me all about it." 
 
 " Well," returned Mattie, " Bob is in the best society, 
 and he ain't that kind, though I had to cut him for a 
 whole day when I saw him staring back through his 
 eye-glass at Mrs Haseleyne. 'What are you to do,' 
 he said, * when a pretty woman ogles you or squeezes 
 your hand ? It isn't polite not to ogle or squeeze hers 
 back again. And then she draws you on, and you 
 can't be a brute, even if you don't like it ; but,' said 
 Bob, frankly, ' I must say it's rather pleasant ; it is not 
 the sort of thing that any man can actively dislike, you 
 know. Besides, if he doesn't respond, then she gets 
 furious, and abuses him everywhere, and the men think 
 him an absolute fool. He wouldn't be asked any- 
 where, because he would not be considered of any use. 
 Flirtation is the sauce of society,' Bob went on senten- 
 tiously, when he was excusing his abominable conduct. 
 'Just try, for instance, and fancy all the married 
 women obliged to cover their faces with thick yask- 
 maks, and imagination fails in the effort to depict the 
 consequences. For nine young men and women out 
 of ten the spice of life would be gone.' * The flirtations 
 of the unmarried ones, which are legitimate, would 
 give it quite flavour enough,' I said ; ' and if you want 
 any more ' — then all of a sudden my eyes filled with 
 tears, and I jumped up from the bench where we were 
 sitting under the trees — ' you may go to your Hasel- 
 
234 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 eynes, and stay there ; ' and I ran off, but Bob over- 
 took me almost immediately, and we had a most 
 delicious making up. Stella, do you know, I don't 
 think I like this English society very much. I began 
 to hate it from the first day, when Bob whispered that 
 we must not call each other by our Christian names in 
 public, as it wouldn't be understood, — that it was the 
 privilege which the married women reserved to them- 
 selves ; and I am sure I overheard Mrs Haseleyne call 
 him Bob." 
 
 " "Well, dear," said Stella, " we won't stay a day 
 longer than you like ; but I think we ought to pay our 
 visit to Copley Grange first. Did Lady Adela tell you 
 of her invitation to us ? " 
 
 "Yes," said Mattie; "wasn't it odd that Altiora 
 should be staying so near ? Bob told me he thought 
 of the place from having once stayed at the Grange, 
 and having been struck by the quiet seclusion of the 
 village. How nice it is to think that we shall be back 
 there to-morrow ! and what an age it seems since we 
 left, though it's only a week ! I wonder how Altiora, 
 and Hannah, and Keith Hetherington have been 
 amusing themselves ? " And as the reader is probably 
 by this time beginning to wonder the same thing, and 
 nobody is able to describe the somewhat complicated 
 workings of Altiora's mind better than that young lady 
 herself, she shall be allowed to do it in her own words. 
 
HETHERINGTON'S SOLUTION OF THE PEOBLEM. 235 
 
 CHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 KEITH HETHERINGTON'S SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM. 
 
 I WONDER whether moral growth corresponds in any 
 way to one's natural conceptions of time ; or whether, 
 while one's physical frame may he slowly undergoing 
 the changes incidental to the lapse of what we call 
 years, our moral natures may not advance by bounds 
 not to be defined by any periods of which our external 
 faculties can take cognisance ? I have only been here 
 a week, but my mind, or whatever the part of me is 
 that is not my external physical frame, seems to 
 have undergone a complete revolution. Scientific men 
 should have some name for that part of the body that 
 they admit they know nothing about. "The Small 
 Unknowable" would do. They get as far as proto- 
 plasm, and then they stop abruptly; but when you 
 want to talk about the thinking, and the perceiving, 
 and the loving, and the suffering, and the willing part 
 of you, they take refuge in vague terms like " mind," 
 and "imagination," and "volition," and leave other 
 vague terms, like " soul " and " spirit," for the clergy 
 to use with a sort of contempt, as if one set of terms 
 conveyed any more definite idea than the other. I 
 was talking to Mr Hetherington, who seems himself 
 to be a person of a very great toleration for ecclesi- 
 astical or scientific bigotry, and he said the confusion 
 
236 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 arose from the old-fashioned ideas attaching to the 
 words "matter" and "spirit." He said he had great 
 sympathy with the indignation of the theologians when 
 they were told that everything was matter, and there 
 was no spirit. " Just think," he said, " how angry the 
 scientific men would be if you insisted that they were 
 all living in a delusion, and there was no such thing 
 as matter, and everything was spirit. And yet one 
 statement is quite as true as the other — ^they are both 
 right, and they are both wrong. They have got hold 
 of two words which mean nothing, because they define 
 nothing. The man of science has no right to say, when 
 he exhausts the power of his microscope, that he has 
 got to the end of matter. He brings an electric light 
 to bear upon what he called a vacuum, because there 
 was what he called 'nothing' in it; and, lo and be- 
 hold! he finds something which can reflect rays of 
 light: that each of those particles, so small as to 
 exist m vacuo, does not seem to him as big as a 
 mountain, is simply the result of the focus of his 
 eye. What is there to prevent the empty spaces, 
 in which every atom composing every molecule of the 
 human organism is held in suspense, from being full 
 of still minuter particles, measured by the standard of 
 our senses, which would therefore correspond exactly 
 to an invisible human frame, and which might con- 
 tinue to exist after the appreciable particles had under- 
 gone the chemical change called ' decomposition ' ? The 
 body then existing, composed of those particles which 
 
hetherington's solution of the problem. 237 
 
 hadn't changed, becomes what the theologian calls 
 'spirit'; but why he should shrink from this hy- 
 pothesis for fear of becoming a materialist, as much 
 as the scientific man does from it for fear of becom- 
 ing a spiritist, passes my comprehension. Both must 
 admit the existence of force, but the notion of that 
 force existing, irrespective of a transmitting medium, 
 appears absurd. It would be as well, however, for 
 the purpose of soothing susceptibilities, not to call 
 that * something' through which it must act, either 
 matter or spirit, but to find another name for it. You 
 would then find a common ground upon which both 
 classes might meet and experiment ; but it is evident 
 that, inasmuch as these forces are positive dynamic 
 agencies, the nature of whose action upon the human 
 organism is conditioned upon various emotions, these 
 experiments must partake of a moral character. Thus 
 the emotion of fear would operate in one way upon 
 these forces and the particles which contain them, the 
 emotion of love in another, the emotion of anger in 
 another, and so forth; and it is further evident that 
 the possible result of such experiments might be to 
 indicate a method by which they might be modified, 
 and their existing conditions might be changed for the 
 better. An evolutionary period would thus be inau- 
 gurated in the inner man — that essential man who is 
 formed of the particles not appreciable by scientific 
 investigation with existing appliances, but which are 
 held in suspense in the spaces in his organism, which 
 
238 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 are scientifically appreciable — which might revolution- 
 ise his whole moral nature, and make him a far more 
 fit inhabitant of the world than he is at present. This," 
 said Keith, "is my idea of how the survival of the 
 fittest is to be brought about ; for who can say, when 
 once we begin to evolve the real man, instead of 
 tinkering away at his gross outer covering, as we do 
 at present, that we may not effect a fundamental 
 change in his vital conditions — for we shall be deal- 
 ing directly with his vital forces — whereas we now 
 cut him in half, and give the theologians what they 
 call his soul to doctor, and to the doctors what they 
 call his body to physic? It's a wonder, poor fel- 
 low, considering how violently his organism is thus 
 wrenched in twain, that he lives as long as he some- 
 times does." 
 
 " But how would you set to work to make your ex- 
 periments ? " I asked, " in this hypothetical region of 
 the human organism which you assume to exist ? " 
 
 " All scientific experiments," he replied, " are based 
 upon hypothetical assumptions. The simplest mathe- 
 matical problem depends upon the assumption of a 
 straight line, which does not exist. Every skipper, 
 when he takes an observation and uses his table of 
 logarithms, is working with materials which go beyond 
 anything that the strongest imagination can realise. 
 It is an old scientific axiom that nature abhors a 
 vacuum — abhors it so much that, as we have seen, 
 men of science so far have been unable to create one. 
 
hetherington's solution of the peoblem. 239 
 
 In granting the hypothesis that the spaces which 
 science has discovered in our organism are not vacua, 
 we are not asking men of science to make an admis- 
 sion for which they would not be prepared. Their 
 difficulty would be, as you suggest, how to experi- 
 ment upon a region which escapes positive scientific 
 analysis. For this purpose they would have to go a 
 step further, and assume not only that these spaces 
 contained forces, but that those forces must be moral 
 as well as physical. But in assuming this, for the 
 sake of basing an experiment upon it, they would 
 be merely following the recognised practice. It has 
 been on the foundation of unproved assumptions that 
 some of the greatest scientific discoveries have been 
 built." 
 
 " Granting, then," I said, " for the sake of argument, 
 that these spaces in the organism are the source from 
 which emotional and will forces radiate, the problem 
 still remains — How do you propose to experiment upon 
 them?" 
 
 " Obviously, when once it is granted that they may 
 be moral forces, they must be experimented upon 
 morally; but this is as foreign to the habits and 
 methods of the man of science as of the theologian. 
 Here the human victim, whom they have hitherto 
 divided between them, falls to the ground. The 
 theologian, who has a plan of salvation provided for 
 him by his interpretation of his religion, quite other 
 than the moral purification by a man's own efforts, 
 
240 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 of tKe impure forces occupying the spaces in his 
 organism, will shrink with horror from experimenting 
 in such a direction ; while the man of science, scarcely 
 less scandalised at being asked to step out of the 
 region of what he calls ' pure ' science, into the quag- 
 mire of impure moral force, will shudder at the thought 
 of attempting an experiment in which his microscope 
 will be of no avail." 
 
 " But I don't see," said I, " how, even if the theo- 
 logian, and the scientist as Stella would call him, were 
 not held back by their prejudices, they could set about 
 the experiments you talk of." 
 
 "The way to begin is, first, to select the special 
 moral force which, for the sake of experiment, the 
 investigator desires to develop into new conditions; 
 he would naturally, for this purpose, take what he 
 feels to be the purest and most refined in his nature. 
 We will assume that he is a man of elevated moral 
 temperament, and that he is conscious of what is 
 commonly known as 'an enthusiasm for humanity,' 
 and that he perceives intellectually that this love for 
 the human race must transcend every other affection 
 in its essential quality." 
 
 " I should have supposed," said I, " that the love for 
 the Deity was an equally high and pure emotion." 
 
 " That would be the moral force probably selected 
 by the theologian, and rightly so selected. I had in 
 my mind the scientist or philosopher who knows 
 nothing about the Deity, and must therefore begin 
 
hetherington's solution of the problem. 241 
 
 with the highest emotion of which he is capable — the 
 love of his neighbour. It will be found that both 
 classes of investigators will arrive at the same re- 
 sults. Indeed it does not matter where you start 
 from, provided you take what you believe to be the 
 best moral force in you. Some investigators may 
 not be truly conscious of a pure and genuine love, 
 either for God or humanity, though most persons pro- 
 fess both. In that case, they must take the next 
 highest moral emotion they have, and work from 
 that; but these experiments involve such terrible 
 ordeals, and imply such crushing sacrifices, that it 
 requires a tolerably high motive to carry you through. 
 We will assume that our investigator starts with the 
 view of developing a new and hitherto undiscovered 
 potency — ^his love for humanity. His first discovery 
 is that all the conditions by which he is surrounded, 
 and all the other affectional instincts of his nature, 
 interfere with his freedom of experiment. Then begin 
 his ordeals and his sacrifices. For instance, the senti- 
 ment called Patriotism, being perhaps the highest to 
 which some can attain, and therefore a good one for 
 them to work from, is an obstacle to the experimenter 
 on the love of humanity ; he finds that he must de- 
 nationalise himself in feeling, if not in act. He feels 
 that he belongs to no country, but the universe. So 
 he next becomes conscious that all family ties conflict 
 with the due development of the force he is attempting 
 to evolve. All the men and women in the world 
 
242 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 become his brothers and sisters. The love of wife, 
 children, and so forth, though it is a moral force to 
 be duly developed, under an entirely new set of con- 
 ditions, is too much tainted with the grosser natural 
 instincts to be allowed to coexist in the same medium 
 of transmission with the love of humanity, which, in 
 fact, it antagonises as embodying certain opposite or 
 egotistical forces. It is the elimination of these ego- 
 tistical forces from the organism which is so painful. 
 Of course it follows that if love of country and love 
 of family are to be set aside, in order for the evolution 
 into new and higher potencies of the love either of God 
 or humanity, or both, all the minor egotistical emotions, 
 such as love of rule, love of fame, love of money, love 
 of ease, — all forms, in fact, of ambition, all cupidities, 
 every sensual gratification which interferes with an 
 absolute concentration of the will on the evolution of 
 the force under experiment, — must be discarded." 
 
 "But," I interrupted, "ascetics have gone through 
 processes with their affections in all ages such as you 
 describe." 
 
 " Never in search of truth, or for an unmixed love of 
 humanity. Of course, in experiments of this kind, the 
 nature of the motive, which is the active agent with 
 which the experiment is made, is everything. If a 
 man starts, not to find truth, but with a credulous 
 assumption that he has found it, based on no such 
 evidence as I suggest, and his object in isolating 
 himself is to save what he calls his soul — instead of 
 
hetherington's solution of the problem. 243 
 
 raising, by his efforts, existing humanity to a higher 
 level, his efforts are vitiated at their source. He is not 
 evolving into higher conditions ; besides, I said nothing 
 about the man engaged in experimenting on the forces 
 contained in his internal spaces becoming an ascetic. 
 It is true that, at certain stages of his experiments, he 
 must live apart, as he will become conscious of such 
 powerful antagonistic invading forces from the organ- 
 isms of his fellow-men, that until he has developed 
 powers in himself to a point where he can resist them 
 effectually, he is likely to be brought into greater suf- 
 fering, thus produced, than he can endure; but this 
 stage is only temporary — his work lies among his 
 fellow-men, as he can only develop his love for 
 humanity by living with it and for it. He will not 
 remain long investigating and experimenting in soli- 
 tude, before he will arrive at certain striking and en- 
 couraging results, which, however, I cannot allude to 
 now, as they are not susceptible of proof to those who 
 have not experienced them. When, leaving his soli- 
 tude, he comes out into the world for whose benefit he 
 is struggling, he will enter upon a new and not less 
 striking series of experiences, the nature of which will 
 reveal to him no less startling secrets of his organism, 
 and open up new and altogether unexpected possi- 
 bilities, and he will then find himself able to dominate 
 certain forces in his fellow-men, to attract some, to 
 repel others, and more or less to sense the quality of 
 all. He then becomes conscious of the differences 
 
244 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 which exist in the organic conditions of the persons 
 who surround him, and more especially to perceive 
 the character of the phenomena developed in those 
 who are said, in popular jargon, to be 'of nervous 
 temperament.' He begins to understand the nature 
 of the forces operating in them, by virtue of the 
 discoveries he has made in the nature of those in 
 his own organism, and to induce others to enter upon 
 the same experimental processes. He will find that in 
 each case new phenomena are developed, conditioned 
 on the varied character of the moral forces, which are 
 in no two cases alike ; and as this occult region opens 
 to his instructed vision, and man becomes a book, the 
 hitherto dark pages of which he has thus learnt to 
 study, he perceives that it contains the solution of 
 those world-problems which have perplexed the ages, 
 and which in these early days of evolution are being 
 revealed to those who are prepared to dedicate their 
 lives to the service of humanity." 
 
 " I guess," said Hannah, who had entered unobserved 
 during this speech, "that there's them as has been 
 makin' this experiment, as you call it, these many 
 years, as ain't either philosophers, nor scientists, nor 
 theologians, and never heerd tell of the enUiusiasm of 
 humanity, much less of the spaces round the molly- 
 cools. Well, they had to make it — they was born so. 
 Why, I allers was that sensitive to forces — I didn't 
 know what they were — as I could seem to feel what 
 other people was feeling, 'specially some more than 
 
hetherington's solution of the peoblem. 245 
 
 others. I had to study on it my own way to protect 
 myself. Why, there's times when I go into a sick- 
 room, and the life seems to flow right clear out me. 
 Many and many's the time I've cured aches and pains 
 by rubbing them all out of a body ; and anybody else 
 but me rubbin' would seem to rub 'em into the same 
 body, and the same pain will come right into me, just 
 as like as not. Why, I begun to find I had a power in 
 me for helpin' people, both in their bodies and sperits, 
 that was like a sacred gift ; and all my life I have 
 prayed that I might use that gift right, and never to 
 serve myself. Well, the more I used it, the more it 
 come ; and if I do anything agin a feelin' I have when 
 it comes, and hold back out of a natural feelin' when I 
 feel a body is a-drawin' the love out of me, it kinder 
 curdles in me like milk gettin' sour. If I want to keep 
 in sound speritual health myself, I am bound to let it 
 flow out, just as it has a mind to. It's the Lord as 
 knows his own ; and them as he wants drawed He 
 draws. That's how I come to help you in your trouble, 
 my dearie," she said, turning to me, " and that's how it 
 is you come to take such a comfort out of me ; and that's 
 how we come to feel so drawed together, him and me," 
 she added, pointing to Mr Hetherington. " Bless you ! 
 it's because it ain't ourselves we're a-workin' for. Only 
 it comes to him from experimentin', and it comes to 
 me nat'ral like, because I was born so ; and you 
 wouldn't feel his words a-burnin' into you like fire, and 
 mine a-soothing of you like mother love, if what he 
 
246 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 calls the spaces in your moUycools wasn't already pre- 
 pared. Bless you it ain't no good sayin' a word to 
 them as isn't prepared ; but them as is, they're bound 
 to hoe in the same row. There's no mistake, you're 
 just one of us, as your father was before you, only he 
 died before he come through ; but it's him as has been 
 working in you. I could tell you things as I've heerd 
 and seen as none of them philosophers' patent double- 
 glass magnifiers couldn't show 'em ; and that's so. 
 It ain't no good talking to me about imagination and 
 hallucination, and expect me to believe they ain't true. 
 They seem to think, if only they can find a word that's 
 long enough and they don't understand themselves, it's 
 an explanation. Poor critturs ! it's the explanation of 
 the explanation as puzzles 'em. It ain't no more good 
 a-scratching on the outside of natur than it is to 
 scratch on the outside of the Bible, like the parsons do. 
 It's the inside as has got the life and the nourishment. 
 Dogmas is to religion what theory is to science. They 
 tell me the Eoman Catholics think, when they take 
 the Sacrament, they're eatin' flesh and drinkin' blood ; 
 and that the philosophers say we've come out of 
 oysters. Well, now, them things seem to me more 
 like imagination than some things I could tell as I've 
 felt and seen, and knows to be true by experience. 
 Now there ain't no experience in their dogmas or their 
 theories." 
 
 " But, Hannah, suppose they were to ask you in 
 your turn to give an explanation of experience ? " 
 
 "Well, dearie, I should say what I think some 
 
1IETHEEINGT0N*S SOLUTION OF THE PEOBLEM. 247 
 
 American has said afore : Experience is the experience 
 which experience has experienced. They'll know what 
 it is if they make the trial, as Keithy here has proposed 
 to 'em ; but, laws ! they won't — don't you believe it. 
 It costs too much — givin' up country, and wife and 
 child, and houses and lands, and all the rest of it, to 
 make an experiment for humanity, without knowing 
 but what it may fail in the end. Not if they know it, 
 my dearie — leastways not many of 'em. Here and 
 there may be one, but they ain't that kind of men. 
 Generally speaking, them spaces in the moUycools has 
 got to be prepared by a deal of suffering. It's suffering 
 as does it. Well, there's a deal of suffering comin' to 
 the world. Keithy knows aU about it. It ain't pos- 
 sible to go deep into these things without knowing 
 about it. It's when the ship goes to pieces, and the 
 passengers is a-drownin', that they look out for the 
 plank of safety — not when she's a-sailing in smooth 
 water; and it's a lifeboat that them that studies the 
 laws of life is now preparing." 
 
 " Hannah," said I, moved by an uncontrollable im- 
 pulse, and throwing my arms round her neck, " I am 
 going to work at that lifeboat. I am going to give my 
 own life to help to build it, cost what it may." 
 
 " Of course you are, my dearie. You didn'ter need 
 to teU me that ; I felt it from the first day I saw you, 
 and so did he : that's why we three was brought here. 
 Things don't come like this by chance. There's them 
 we don't see as arranges meetin's like these. You had 
 to come where you could be protected from them oppo- 
 
248 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 site forces he was a-talking of, and our forces could 
 combine freely with yours to strengthen you before 
 you have to go back into the world." 
 
 But I scarcely seemed to hear what Hannah was 
 saying — could not tell why I was sobbing so convul- 
 sively. It certainly was from a feeling of joy and 
 relief rather than of sorrow; but the foundations of 
 my moral nature seemed to have been stirred, barriers 
 to have been broken down, chasms bridged, darkness 
 illuminated; a revolution of some sort had been 
 effected, which took the form of tears, because the ex- 
 pression of all human emotion seems limited to tears 
 or laughter, but the former may express any number 
 of variations of that emotion. In fact I can best define 
 those tears to the faculty by saying they were the 
 exact opposite of "hysterical"; and as every doctor 
 knows precisely what he means by that word, he must 
 know what its exact opposite must be. I felt that the 
 crisis of my life had arrived ; that the vague question- 
 ings of my girlhood were at last to be answered ; that 
 the yearning aspirations and unsatisfied longings which 
 isolated me from sympathy with my surroundings 
 were to be gratified; that the burden of passionate 
 pity for the misery of the crushed and suffering portion 
 of my fellow-creatures, which had seemed more than I 
 could bear, was to be lifted; and that I could enter 
 upon a life-long effort, sustained by the hope that I 
 might yet do service in the world, and in that effort 
 solve the problems which till now had vexed my soul. 
 
THE BARONESS MAKES A DISCLOSURE. 249 
 
 CHAPTEK XX. 
 
 THE BARONESS MAKES A DISCLOSURE. 
 
 EoBERT Alderney was certainly inspired by some 
 good genius when he discovered this wonderful retreat, 
 in which Hannah and I have so successfully buried 
 ourselves. Our cottage is an ideal seclusion, hidden in 
 the recesses of a wooded glen, at the entrance to which, 
 scarce half a mile distant, is the little village of Copley- 
 dale. It has been the home for many years of the 
 poor widow of a retired naval officer, who was too glad 
 to let it to us, as it stood, by the week, while she paid 
 a visit to a neighbour. I have been wandering amid 
 the narrow winding lanes for a week past, with no 
 fear of discovery, either alone, or with Hannah or Mr 
 Hetherington, who has taken up his abode in the vil- 
 lage inn ; and went out by myself alone this morning 
 to stroll towards the village, in a more unsuspicious 
 mood than usual, when, on turning a corner, I sud- 
 denly found myself face to face with Sark. The meet- 
 ing was so unexpected that my heart began to beat 
 violently, and a general vague presentiment of coming 
 trouble seemed to take possession of me. I suppose 
 he read my perturbation in my manner, as with an 
 effort of cordiality I advanced to greet him; for he 
 said kindly, but with a certain embarrassment, " I am 
 afraid, Altiora, that my unexpected appearance is not 
 
260 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 altogether an agreeable surprise." " Indeed I am very 
 glad to see you, though of course I am surprised," I 
 replied. Then Sark turned and walked by my side, as 
 he gave me an account of the commotion which had 
 been produced in society by my disappearance, and of 
 the paragraphs which had appeared in the newspapers, 
 which had suddenly given me the notoriety I so earn- 
 estly sought to avoid, and of the legal proceedings for 
 my recovery threatened by the Baron, and finally 
 urged upon me the necessity of preventing any public 
 scandal, and of putting an end to a situation which 
 was calculated to produce it. He told me, to my great 
 satisfaction, that he felt that he had completely eman- 
 cipated himself from the bondage of Mrs Clymer ; ex- 
 pressed his deep regret that he should have been the 
 cause, in the first instance, by having introduced her to 
 me, of having forced me into a false position ; and, to 
 my unbounded astonishment, ended by hoping that I 
 would allow him to make the only reparation in his 
 power, by accepting him in marriage. "This, dear 
 Altiora," he concluded, "is a simple solution of the 
 whole difficulty. You will confer a lasting obligation 
 upon me ; you will escape the ordeal which you dread, 
 of being forced upon London society, under auspices 
 which are so painful to you ; you will be released from 
 all fear of persecution from unworthy or interested 
 suitors, or being sacrificed to the ambition of your 
 parents, who, I feel sure, will at once give their con- 
 sent, if I can only win yours." He spoke with such 
 
THE BAEONESS MAKES A DISCLOSURE. 251 
 
 delicacy, and at the same time with so much tender- 
 ness, that for the moment I was too much overcome 
 by the unexpected proposition, and by the cogency of 
 the reasons in favour of it, to make any answer. I 
 hung down my head, much agitated by what I felt to 
 be his generosity ; for had he not confessed to me his 
 strong attachment for Stella ? and I think he mistook 
 my silence for consent, for he took my hand, and began 
 a sentence with " My darling," which I felt bound to 
 stop; for a new and indefinable impression suddenly 
 seemed to overpower me that I no longer belonged 
 absolutely to myself, and that no worldly considera- 
 tions of expediency, or even of regard for Sark, should 
 for an instant be allowed to invade the sanctity of 
 those affections which I had solemnly dedicated only 
 the day before to the highest of aU services : and yet it 
 seemed impossible to explain this to him in any way 
 which he could understand. Fortunately the nature 
 of his confidences to me in Paris furnished me with 
 the escape from the dilemma I sought. 
 
 " I feel all the more grateful for the generosity of 
 your offer. Lord Sark," I said, " because I do not forget 
 that in making it you are sacrificing your own affec- 
 tions." 
 
 "You give me too much credit," he replied. "I 
 should perhaps have told you before what I con- 
 cealed — believe me, from no unworthy motive — ^that 
 Miss Walton has no reason to fear that she will ever 
 be annoyed by my admiration again." 
 
252 ALTIOKA PETO. 
 
 There was a tone of pique not altogether unmingled 
 with what appeared to me contempt, which surprised 
 me, and I felt inclined to ask for an explanation, 
 and enter upon my friend's defence, when I remem- 
 bered that I should see her in a day or two, and 
 hear all I wanted from her own lips. So I said, " I 
 cannot now explain to you, Sark, why it will be im- 
 possible for me ever to entertain the thought of such 
 a relationship as you suggest." He was just going 
 to make some reply when I heard the sound of wheels, 
 and presently saw the lumbering one-horse fly, which 
 was the only vehicle that the village could boast, and 
 from the window of which, evidently scanning the 
 surroundings, protruded the well-known head of my 
 mother. She stopped the fly as it overtook us, and 
 with well-assumed affectionate gaiety, laughingly ex- 
 claimed, "Ah, naughty truant, have I found you?" 
 and making Sark open the door, I found myself in 
 the maternal embrace. We walked up to the cottage 
 together, where Hannah, standing at the door, was 
 overwhelmed at the sight of my companions. She 
 received my mother with an aggressive sniff of con- 
 descension, and Sark with unaffected cordiality; and 
 I took my mother to my bedroom to take off her 
 things. She said she would stay there for the present, 
 as she did not wish to lose time in explaining to me 
 at once the view which she and the Baron had deter- 
 mined to take of my conduct. 
 
 " I will not recur now, Altiora," she said, " to the 
 
THE BARONESS MAKES A DISCLOSUEE. 253 
 
 impropriety of your conduct in leaving your home ; 
 nor am I even prepared to insist on your making 
 full reparation to Mrs Clymer, and accepting her 
 intimacy as a friend, which would have been your 
 proper punishment. Eichard Murkle has most kindly 
 offered to extricate us from the dilemma by again 
 expressing his readiness to take you as his wife." 
 
 "But, mamma, I thought Mr Murkle was in love 
 with Stella Walton," I said. 
 
 " I do not pretend to know what may have passed 
 between him and Miss Walton, but he has authorised 
 me to say, that as you have never fulfilled some pro- 
 mise you made him about some commission in regard 
 to Miss Walton, with which he charged you, he now 
 insists upon your reverting to your old relations." 
 
 " I am not aware of any old relations existing be- 
 tween us," I replied, " nor of his right to insist upon 
 anything. At all events, I have told you before, 
 nothing shall ever induce me to marry him." 
 
 " What was Sark saying to you when I arrived ? " 
 said my mother, abruptly changing the subject. 
 
 "He had just proposed to me, and I had just re- 
 fused him." 
 
 "You refused him!" she almost screamed. "Silly 
 girl; now you have deprived yourself of your only 
 chance of escape. Your fate is sealed, Altiora." 
 
 " I don't understand you, mamma." 
 
 " God knows that I never intended that you should," 
 replied my mother, bitterly. "The story of how 
 
254 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 Eichard Murkle has got us all in his clutch is one 
 which you alone have the power to wring from me, 
 and it rests with you to decide whether you will now use 
 that power, to the shame and disgrace of your family, 
 or save me a confession which can do no good, and 
 which you of all persons will have the most reason 
 amply to regret." 
 
 I was at a loss how to reply to a speech so enigma- 
 tical and mysterious. " Whatever your secret may be," 
 I said, " I never can regret its disclosure so much as 
 I should the necessity of becoming Mr Murkle's wife." 
 
 "It is impossible for you to judge of that while 
 you remain in ignorance of it, — the result of compel- 
 ling me to make a full disclosure of all the circum- 
 stances now known to Murkle alone, will simply be 
 to oblige you to marry him, with an additional pang 
 which I would fain spare you." 
 
 I cannot help now feeling that it would have been 
 better had I taken my mother's advice, and allowed 
 events to shape my fate, leaving the mystery unsolved ; 
 but the alternative of marrying a man who exercised 
 this occult influence over my destiny, and used his 
 power with such cruelty, was so revolting to me that I 
 determined to know the worst — the more especially as 
 my imagination failed altogether in conjecture upon 
 the subject, and my curiosity had become excited and 
 alarmed. So I said, " If I am to marry Eichard Murkle, 
 I would rather do so knowing the secret which has 
 thus given him the command of my fate, however 
 
THE BAEONESS MAKES A DISCLOSUEE. 255 
 
 painful it may be, than allow him the satisfaction of 
 feeling he still possesses a power which he would prob- 
 ably use to coerce me at some later period." 
 
 "Then listen," said my mother, with a glow of 
 malignant satisfaction stealing over her countenance — 
 as if she secretly rejoiced in the pain she was about to 
 inflict. " Listen, child, to a history of fraud and decep- 
 tion, practised on an unsuspecting woman by the man 
 whose memory you so dearly revere and cherish." 
 
 " Stop ! " I almost shrieked, so utterly unexpected 
 was the quarter from which the blow was coming. 
 "Do you mean my father?" 
 
 " Who else should I mean ? " she replied boldly. 
 " Now, do you want me to go on, and describe the story 
 of a false marriage, of a betrayed woman, of a daughter 
 who has no legal rights, of crime, of revenge, and of 
 accomplices who, as husband and husband's partner, 
 have her and her daughter in their power? Do you 
 want the details of this twenty-year-old history ? be- 
 cause time has not dimmed my memory — they are in- 
 cidents in a woman's life which she is not apt to forget, 
 even if they are not those which she is apt to confide 
 to a daughter. But then, you know," my mother went 
 on, with increased bitterness and sarcasm in her tone, 
 " our relations have been very peculiar, — we have never 
 understood each other. As you are so much given to 
 philosophical speculation, when you have all the par- 
 ticulars you will be able to construct a metaphysical 
 theory as to the reason why." 
 
256 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 I scarcely heard the last part of my mother's speech. 
 A numbness seemed creeping over me which threatened 
 to paralyse all power of thought or feeling. I felt a 
 vague consciousness that I was endeavouring by a men- 
 tal and moral effort to realise that my father was a vil- 
 lain, but that my faculties gave way in the strain of 
 this attempt to violate the most cherished instinct of 
 my nature. They refused to be coerced into a belief 
 so monstrous. Speech had become impossible — but I 
 stared at my mother with a dumb incredulity which had 
 a more powerful effect upon her than anything I could 
 have said ; for the colour rushed to her face as I mechani- 
 cally held my eyes firmly fixed on hers, and then ebbed 
 away again, leaving her lips white and trembling. 
 
 " Don't stare at me like that, child," she exclaimed 
 petulantly ; "one would suppose you were going out of 
 your mind." 
 
 At this moment the expression of her face changed 
 to one of alarm, and she gazed so fixedly at the door 
 behind me that I involuntarily turned round, and as I 
 did so, heard a gentle tap. 
 
 " Who can that be ? " she said, and she shivered with 
 a spasm of emotion which I was quite at a loss to 
 account for ; but I was conscious at the same time of 
 a rush of vitality into my own system which seemed 
 completely to restore me to myself. 
 
 " May I come in, my dearie ? " said a voice outside, 
 and the door was gently pushed open, and old Hannah 
 glided in without waiting for further permission. 
 
THE BARONESS MAKES A DISCLOSURE. 257 
 
 " Seemed as though you was a- wanting me so bad, I 
 couldn't stay away from you any longer. 'Lordy/ I 
 says, ' my darling is in some kind of trouble ; I feel her 
 a-calling of me from her innards,' I says, and I just 
 come right away;" and Hannah brought a chair to 
 my side, and took my band, and tenderly stroked my 
 head, exactly as if my mother was not in existence. 
 Indeed the Baroness had received a shock of some kind, 
 which had apparently quelled for the time her proud 
 spirit, for she remained silent even when Hannah, put- 
 ting her arm round my waist, whispered in my ear, 
 " You've got to come along with me, my dearie," and 
 led me from the room. "Now you lie down quiet 
 on my bed for a little," she added; "I've just got a 
 word to say to your mama," and she laid an emphasis 
 of indescribable scorn on the last word, and kissing 
 my forehead, moved swiftly away. 
 
 Curiously enough my mind did not revert to its 
 agony, — I dropped off to sleep before I had time to 
 recall the incidents of the scene which had just termi- 
 nated. When I awoke, I found Hannah sitting by my 
 bedside. 
 
 " There, now, my dearie," she said, " your mama and 
 me has been fixing things. They ain't near so bad as 
 you think — only have a little patience, and it'll come 
 all right. What we want is time, and I've got it." 
 
 " Oh, Hannah," I said, the memory of all my mother's 
 revelations now rushing over me like a flood, " what 
 has my mother told you ? Do you know the frightful 
 
 E 
 
258 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 position in which I am placed, and the circumstances 
 that have led to it ? " 
 
 "Never you mind what I know, my dearie, — ^the 
 time ain't come for me to tell you that yet. Things is 
 mighty onsartin' in this world ; 'tain't what I hear that 
 I believes in, it's what I feels. The outwards is very 
 little account — I goes by the innards. When oust the 
 innards is got right — and it's terrible hard to get 'em 
 right so as they can be trusted, — ^you ain't got no call 
 to try and work yourself out of a tight place by making 
 calkilations in your head. It's people that loves them- 
 selves goes by their heads ; but people as loves their 
 God and their neighbours better than themselves, they 
 goes by their hearts. They just go it blind, the way 
 that love leads 'em ; maybe it looks like as though it 
 was agin all reason and common-sense — and or'nary 
 folks thinks them insane; but laws, my dearie! that 
 don't matter. People as goes by reason and common- 
 sense don't know anything about the happiness that 
 people have as goes by the love that drives them afore 
 it. Now you know what you was a-settlin' the other 
 day with Keithy and me, when he was explaining to 
 you about the mollycools. You just hang on to what 
 you decided to do then, and leave your mama and that 
 Murkle and the rest of 'em to the Higher Powers. 
 And don't you go to believin' anything agin the 
 memory of your sainted papa. You wait till things 
 clears themselves." 
 
 "But, Hannah, Mr Murkle threatens the most 
 
THE BARONESS MAKES A DISCLOSURE. 259 
 
 fearful exposure if I do not give him an immediate 
 answer." 
 
 " Let him threaten, my dear ; it don't cost much to 
 threaten, but to carry out the threat may cost a great 
 deal. He thought your mama had only to come here 
 with that story to break you down. But don't you 
 break, — just seem to bend a Kttle, maybe so as to gsrin 
 time. Meanwhile I am a-goin' to keep your mama 
 here a few days." 
 
 " Keep mamma here ! " I exclaimed. 
 
 " Well, I explained to her why I thought it would 
 be best for her to wait till to-morrow, when Stella and 
 Mattie come, and perhaps when they see her they'll 
 explain why it is best for her to go on stayin'," said 
 Hannah, with a sly twinkle in her eye. " In the mean- 
 time," she added, " your mama has promised that she 
 will not allude to the subject again till they come. So 
 don't you think about it any more. You've got a work 
 to do in this world, child, and you ain't a-goin' to be 
 sacrificed to that Murkle, anyhow they can fix it. It's 
 old Hannah says so, and you'd better believe it." 
 
 I was so inexpressibly consoled%and comforted by 
 this conversation, tha,t it seemed as though I had risen 
 from some horrid nightmare. Hannah had asked Sark 
 and Keith Hetherington to stay to dinner, and assumed 
 the character of mistress of the house with a quiet 
 dignity and power which more and more impressed 
 me with the remarkable qualities of her character. 
 Her strong originality seemed to have an inspiring 
 
260 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 effect upon the gentlemen, who were both gifted with 
 singular powers of conversation, which, I observed, 
 was never suffered by Hannah to drop to my mother's 
 level. Indeed I had never seen the Baroness so cowed 
 and subdued by surrounding influences as on the even- 
 ing of the day when she had swept down upon my 
 rekeat, flushed with the premature consciousness of 
 an easy victory. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 STELLA COMES TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 On the day following the incident narrated by Altiora 
 in the last chapter, the party at Beaucourt broke up. 
 Sir George and Lady Adela Dashington went to Copley 
 Grange, where they found Sark, who had used his 
 sister's house for his base of operations when he made 
 his descent upon Copleydale ; and the two Californian 
 girls and Bob Ald^rney returned to the secluded re- 
 treat, where Hannah and Altiora were anxiously await- 
 ing their arrival. 
 
 " It ain't no use," said the old lady to the latter in 
 anticipation of this event, " telling the gells any parti- 
 culars ; it's enough for them to know that your mama 
 wants to force you to marry that Murkle, and that she 
 dustn't resist him on account of some secret hold as he 
 
STELLA COMES TO THE KESCUE. 261 
 
 has got over her, and threatens all manner of ruin and 
 disgrace if he can't get his way. That's enough for 
 Stella and Mattie. Trust 'em for seein' a way out of 
 it. Give me Stella for gettin' a body out of a tight 
 place when it comes to a pinch. I used to think New 
 England gells pretty spry, but, my sakes ! Californy 
 knocks the spots out of 'em." 
 
 The Baroness had discreetly retired when the fly 
 drove up with the two young ladies and their escort, 
 and there was, therefore, nothing to check the sponta- 
 neous effusiveness of the embraces which they lavished 
 upon Hannah and Altiora, much to the envy of Bob, 
 who plaintively remarked, after Mattie had nearly 
 squeezed the breath out of Miss Coffin — 
 
 " Oh, Mattie, how I do wish I was Hannah ! " 
 
 "I don't, you silly," replied the young lady in a 
 whisper which seemed quite to console him. " There, 
 ask Altiora if she'll allow you a cousin's privilege — I 
 don't like to see you left out in the cold on this joyful 
 occasion — and then go and amuse yourself with Keith 
 Hetherington ; we want to go and talk secrets — don't 
 we, SteUa?" 
 
 And they forthwith trooped to Hannah's bedroom to 
 exchange confidences. 
 
 " Oh, Stella," said Altiora, " I have so much to tell 
 you ! Mamma is here." 
 
 " Here ! " exclaimed both the girls at once, — " not in 
 this house?" 
 
 " Yes ; we kept her here on purpose till you arrived, 
 
262 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 because Hannah said you would be sure to see a way 
 out of the terrible dilemma in which I am placed." 
 
 " My dear," said Stella gravely, when she had heard 
 Altiora's story, " I have long known that some possi- 
 bility existed of such a demand being made by Mr 
 Murkle, but I supposed that the escape from the diffi- 
 culty had already presented itself. Has not Lord Sark 
 been here ? " she asked, colouring slightly. 
 
 " Yes," said Altiora, and her face seemed to reflect 
 the hue of her friend's. " Oh, Stella, what have you 
 done to offend him ? He said that you need never fear 
 again being troubled with his admiration." 
 
 " Didn't he say anything else ? " And Stella smiled 
 slily, but an almost imperceptible quiver of her lip 
 betrayed the effort of self-control which she was 
 exercising. 
 
 "He asked me to marry him," said Altiora in an 
 undertone. "I wouldn't betray his confidence, but 
 everything is so complicated, and I know how true you 
 all are — we must talk openly. He once told me that 
 he loved you, Stella — and I am sure he does still, — and 
 that you have refused him. Can you wonder at the 
 answer that I gave him, even though he professed to 
 care for you no longer ? Besides, I have decided never 
 to marry." 
 
 " Wal," interrupted Hannah, " it don't quite amount 
 to that ; the fact is, me and Keithy and Altiora was a- 
 talking over matters generally, and we all decided we 
 wouldn't marry just yet. Teared to us we'd got some- 
 
STELLA COMES TO THE EESCUE. 263 
 
 thing more important to do first. Didn't see our way 
 clearly to adoptin' the bonds of matrimony. That's 
 how it is. Don't you press my darlin' to think of her 
 cousin agin her inner feelin's. He ain't no kind of a 
 husband for her. It's old Hannah as says it — and 
 you'd better believe it." 
 
 Stella looked quickly up at her old friend, and a 
 conflict of emotions seemed struggling in the lovely 
 countenance, which owed its principal charm to the 
 variety of expression of which it was capable, and 
 which, without losing its sweetness, changed in char- 
 acter like some fair landscape under the influence of 
 the lights and shades of a tropical sunset. " But yet 
 you love him, Altiora ? " she asked, slowly. 
 
 " As a cousin, yes ; but indeed I don't want to marry 
 him or any one. Oh, Stella, all I want is to escape 
 from being forced by the threats of some terrible rev- 
 elation, which will disgrace my mother, from marrying 
 Richard Murkle." 
 
 " What you want in the first instance," said Mattie, 
 " it appears to me, is time — to enable us to find out 
 what this secret is, and what it's worth. From what I 
 have seen of Mr Murkle, he seems to me a gentleman 
 capable of playing a game of brag for very large stakes. 
 Now, as they say at poker, suppose we ' Go him one 
 better' before we 'see' him." 
 
 "That's so," said Hannah, with a most approving 
 chuckle. " You don't waste your time in talkin' honey, 
 but what you do say goes straight to the mark. T 
 
264 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 expect Master Bobby has found that out. What we 
 need is time — to find things out." 
 
 "If that's all," said Stella, with a sigh of intense 
 relief, " I can ensure you that. You three can gossip 
 while I write a letter. I suppose we had better not 
 lose a post." 
 
 " ISTow, silence," said that young lady, coming back 
 to the group after a few minutes, "and listen to 
 this : — 
 
 "'To Richard Murkle, Esq. 
 
 " * Deae Sir, — In pursuance of the verbal agreement 
 arrived at between us in Paris on the 1st day of No- 
 vember last, by virtue of which we entered into a pro- 
 visional contract mutually to bind ourselves to draw 
 up schedules of our several assets, both of real and per- 
 sonal property, together with a full statement of our 
 liabilities and indebtedness, with a view to an ultimate 
 matrimonial alHance, I beg to state that I have pre- 
 pared the above schedule and list of effects, which I 
 shall be ready to submit to you as soon as the legal 
 formalities shall have been completed ; and I have to 
 request that you will inform me, at your earliest con- 
 venience, whether you have complied with your obli- 
 gations in this matter, and are prepared to carry out 
 the terms of the understanding. 
 
 "*I may add that I have made inquiries of Miss 
 Peto in regard to certain points affecting your private 
 
STELLA COMES TO THE EESCUE. 265 
 
 character about which I was in doubt, and that her 
 report is entirely satisfactory. — I beg to remain, dear 
 sir, yours respectfully, Stella Walton.' " 
 
 "There," said Stella, turning to Mattie; "how do 
 you like having your name made use of in that way ? 
 If ever there was a forgery, that is one. I wonder 
 what the penal consequences will be when I reveal to 
 him that I am not Stella Walton at all, but the almost 
 penniless Mattie Terrill ? " 
 
 " Not Stella Walton at all ! " exclaimed Altiora, in 
 amazement. 
 
 " Oh, I forgot that, though you have been with us 
 so long, you have never been let into the secret. Well, 
 you must keep it, dear. ' My face is my fortune, sir,' 
 she said, — as whoever marries me will find out some 
 day." 
 
 " I am quite bewildered," said poor Altiora ; " your 
 letter is as utterly incomprehensible as this change in 
 your personality is startling. Do you mean to say 
 that you once agreed to marry Mr Murkle ? " 
 
 " Just so ; provisionally, you know. I had a sort of 
 instinct it might turn out useful. One never can have 
 too many strings to one's bow, and now you see how 
 fortunate it was. I suppose that as he has never 
 heard from me since, he is offended, and come to the 
 conclusion that I was making a fool of him, and so has 
 returned to his first love." 
 
 " But you don't really mean to marry him ? " said 
 
266 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 Altiora, who was too matter-of-fact to follow the 
 pseudo-heiress in the reckless extravagances of her 
 action. " Supposing he is so much in love with you 
 that he holds you to the bargain, even if you are 
 penniless, then what will you do?" 
 
 " Oh, borrow from Mattie, and swell my liabilities to 
 an alarming amount. His love will never be so limit- 
 less but what I can surpass it by my indebtedness, 
 with such a bank as Mattie to draw upon. Don't be 
 alarmed, my dear ; there is no danger of my ever be- 
 coming Mrs Murkle, and I am quite determined that 
 you never shall." 
 
 " I think that letter will do," said Mattie. " Stella, 
 you're a great soul, — you combine dash with judgment 
 in a degree which should qualify you to become one of 
 the great financial magnates of the age." 
 
 "I should require Murkle's conscience; but let us 
 consider him disposed of for the moment. What are 
 we to do with the Baroness ? " 
 
 " I have been considering that point," said Mattie. 
 " We must take her with us to the Dashingtons. Lady 
 Adela will understand that the best way to put an 
 end to the family scandal is to have the mother and 
 daughter as her guests ; and the Baroness will be so 
 flattered, that we can mould her conveniently to our 
 purposes in that aristocratic atmosphere." 
 
 " Lady Adela is very anxious to make the acquaint- 
 ance of her new-found cousin, after all we have told 
 her of you, dear," added Stella, " and is coming to pay 
 
STELLA COMES TO THE RESCUE. 267 
 
 you a visit to-morrow, when the whole matter can 
 be satisfactorily arranged. Where are you going, 
 Mattie?" 
 
 "To have a little private conversation with Bob," 
 replied that young lady, with the utmost frankness. 
 And this was what she said to Mr Alderney, when she 
 found him strolling with Hetherington among the 
 gooseberry bushes of the primitive garden, smoking a 
 cigar, and had called him away from his companion. 
 
 "Bob, dear, things are getting a good deal mixed. 
 You must go off at once to Copley Grange and help to 
 straighten them. Your cousin Adela is coming over 
 here to-morrow, at any rate, to invite Altiora to spend 
 next week at the Grange. You must tell her that the 
 Baroness is here — that there are reasons, which we 
 will explain, and which nearly concern Altiora's happi- 
 ness, why the Baroness should be invited too. Fortun- 
 ately the Baron has been suddenly called away to the 
 Continent ; and you must see Sark, who, I hope, you 
 will still find there, and implore him not to leave till 
 we come. Now I know that he'll say it is no fun 
 staying to meet two girls, both of whom have refused 
 him." 
 
 " No more it is," said Bob. " I don't see how I'm 
 to get over that." 
 
 " It is he who has to get over it — not you, stupid. 
 Your turn will come when you're refused. Don't put 
 ridiculous ideas of that sort into my head, or I may 
 act upon them." 
 
268 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 "Well, but if they did refuse him, how am I to 
 persuade him to meet them again ? " 
 
 " Oh, say that they didn't, — that he was mistaken, — 
 that girls never know their own minds ; in fact, invent 
 any libel on the sex you like, only persuade him to try 
 again, or we shall be having hearts broken, and Mrs 
 Clymer triumphant, and Sark once more a slave to 
 that woman. Just think. Bob, if you had a Mrs 
 Clymer somewhere, and by some stupid mistake I 
 drove you oJBP to her ! " And the bare idea so moved 
 poor Mattie, that her eyes filled with tears, which gave 
 Bob the best opportunity of consoling her that he had 
 enjoyed for a long time ; and he started on his mission 
 much refreshed in spirit, and determined to exert his 
 diplomatic talents to the utmost in the cause of youth 
 and beauty. 
 
 Meantime Mattie thought the opportunity a good 
 one to have a little private conversation with Hether- 
 ington, who had discreetly retired during the foregoing 
 conversation, as she strongly suspected that he was 
 neither an ignorant nor totally disinterested observer 
 of the events which had been transpiring. And she 
 was anxious to ascertain the view he took of them, and 
 the state of his feelings generally. 
 
MATTIE IN AN INQUIRING MOOD. 269 
 
 CHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 MATTIE IN AN INQUIRING MOOD. 
 
 "You have had two unexpected visitors here during 
 the last day or two," Mattie said, when she joined 
 Hetherington, " and they seemed to have thrown our 
 poor Altiora into a sad state of perplexity." 
 
 " I have avoided speaking to her on the subject," he 
 replied ; " her own instinct of right is too powerful to 
 let her go very far astray, however severe the pressure 
 may be. She has made up her mind to take her own 
 view of her duties in life irrespective of public opinion, 
 and suffering is sure to come sooner or later to whom- 
 soever ventures on such a course." 
 
 " Why, what a gloomy view you take of life, Keith ! 
 Do you mean to say that the attempt to do right is 
 sure to bring suffering?" 
 
 "Not the attempt — the doing it; and that only 
 depends upon the standard aimed at. The doing 
 right according to the popular standard, as a rule, so 
 far from bringing suffering, brings popularity ; but the 
 popular standard is a very low one, and framed to meet 
 the demands of society. Just think what a mess people 
 would get into if there were no standard of right at 
 all ! But it is as dangerous to pitch your standard too 
 high as too low. He who practised the highest morality 
 the world ever had presented to it, was crucified be- 
 
270 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 tween two men who practised the lowest; and His 
 fate seemed to have served as a warning to those who 
 call themselves by His name, if we may judge by the 
 difference which exists between His preaching and their 
 practice." 
 
 " But, Keith, I think your judgment is rather harsh. 
 I am sure there are plenty of good people in society 
 who sincerely try to follow the teaching of Christ, and 
 who are all the more respected for it." 
 
 " Oh, the world allows them to try, provided they 
 don't succeed ; it feels rather consoled by their failures. 
 If the best people try and fail, they say it is because 
 the standard is too high to be practicable — evidently 
 an ideal one, and impossible in literal fact; so the 
 ordinary mortal gives up the superhuman effort, and 
 accepts things as they are with a conscience all the 
 moje at ease. And, in one sense, they are right. It 
 is an impossible standard, except with a reconstructed 
 society ; and in order to reconstruct society, you must 
 revolutionise it. Hence any attempt at radical reform 
 necessarily brings you into collision with it. So long 
 as the churches are content to form part of a social 
 system, based on a compromise between the altruistic 
 morality of Christ and the selfish morality of the world, 
 the reformer must expect persecution from the quarter 
 on which he should rely for support." 
 
 "But if it is hopeless, why do you wish to enlist 
 Altiora in so futile an enterprise ? " 
 
 " I don't say it is hopeless, except for the isolated 
 
MATTIE IN AN INQUIRING MOOD. 271 
 
 individual. On the contrary, the religious inconsisten- 
 cies of Christendom are pressing themselves so forcibly 
 on the more enlightened minds and quickened con- 
 sciences of the present day, that we see ourselves in- 
 volved in a reaction against the popular theology, 
 which, unfortunately, finds its expression in material- 
 ism, agnosticism, positivism, and other philosophical 
 attempts at the solution of the social and moral problem, 
 — predestined to failure so far as the heart-needs of 
 humanity are concerned, but all evidencing a progress 
 in the moral consciousness of that same humanity, 
 which demands satisfaction." 
 
 " Then you wish me to understand, Keith, that the 
 demand of humanity for a higher moral standard of 
 life — which Christianity, materialism, agnosticism, pos- 
 itivism, and all the other ' isms ' fail to satisfy — ^may 
 be met by some system of ethics which you propose to 
 inaugurate ? " 
 
 " Pardon me ; I say that humanity demands a mor- 
 ality which is impossible without social reconstruction. 
 I deny that the popular theology and true Christianity 
 are synonymous, so far as their essential morality in 
 their application to daily life is concerned; and I 
 maintain that, in order to substitute the Christian 
 standard of morals for the popular one, you must 
 reconstruct society. In the degree in which this con- 
 viction forces itself upon many minds will a combined 
 attempt become possible : without a combined attempt, 
 any practical result is hopeless." 
 
272 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 " Well, them," said Mattie, " it resolves itself into the 
 one question, How do you mean to reconstruct society?" 
 
 "That is exactly the question into which it does 
 resolve itself, and which I am fully prepared to discuss 
 with those who are willing to admit that enlightened 
 selfishness is not the basis upon which society should 
 be constituted, and who are ready to substitute for it 
 that principle of unflinching altruism which is the 
 foundation of pure Christianity." 
 
 "Then you would only co-operate with Christians?" 
 
 " On the contrary. Nearly all the best Christians I 
 know do not call themselves by that name. I only use 
 the term as applying to the ethical system of Christ — 
 as the one theoretically the most familiar to the whole 
 civilised world. I would co-operate with all who were 
 prepared to live for the highest moral ideal, at any 
 sacrifice of wealth, fame, ties of family or of country, 
 and who would form a social nucleus where such an 
 attempt would be possible." 
 
 " Irrespective of their belief in a God ? Supposing, 
 for instance, that an agnostic were to wish to join you, 
 would you admit him ? " 
 
 "Most certainly; for how could an agnostic know 
 till he tried a higher life than is possible to him in his 
 present surroundings, what new faculties might not 
 develop within him ? The theologian who, embedded 
 in a selfish social system, says, ' I know with my limited 
 faculties that there is a God,' may be as wrong in his 
 appreciation of the nature of that Being as the agnostic 
 
MATTIE IN AN INQUIRING MOOD. 273 
 
 who says, ' I know that you have no faculties, and never 
 can have any faculties for knowing whether there be 
 one.' The one believes in a Deity of his own imagin- 
 ing, and conditioned on his theological and social en- 
 vironment ; and the other believes in none at all. Who 
 can say that, placed under totally new moral conditions, 
 higher than any which have hitherto been attempted 
 in actual realisation, new and higher spiritual faculties 
 misht not be evoked, which should reveal to both a 
 new and unsuspected Deity ? The theologian has no 
 more right to say that the faculties of man have at- 
 tained to their fullest capacity for apprehending the 
 Deity, than the scientist has to say that there is a 
 physical limit to his observation of matter, and that 
 he has reached it. Why these men who attribute our 
 existing faculties to a process of evolution should be 
 the first to limit that process to the past, and deny 
 that we are capable of morally and materially con- 
 tinuing to evolve, has always been a mystery to me. 
 But the law of the evolution which they themselves 
 evoke will be their salvation; and in the degree in 
 which they prosecute their search after truth from 
 the purest and the loftiest motives, must they evolve 
 towards their God." 
 
 " And so," said Mattie, with a smile, " Altiora has 
 fairly entered upon the new evolutionary process." 
 
 " She has unconsciously been struggling in the right 
 direction from her childhood, like your own good old 
 Hannah, Mattie ; and I think you must yourself admit 
 
 s 
 
274 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 that her intuitive faculties are developed to a very 
 remarkable degree." 
 
 " So, then, the sum and substance of it all is, that 
 society is to be reconstructed, on an altruistic basis, 
 by persons undergoing an evolutionary process, through 
 efforts of self-sacrifice ; and that you and Hannah and 
 Altiora are to inaugurate this great work." 
 
 " Not quite so. I am happy to say there are some 
 hundreds consciously preparing themselves for this 
 work ; but it is evident that the process is a slow one. 
 The united effort must depend upon the progress made 
 by each individual; and it is only when a sufficient 
 number have passed through experiences and attained 
 a sufficient development for the ultimation of new 
 results, that the work can be said to have fairly com- 
 menced." 
 
 ■ " What is the nature of these experiences, and of the 
 results ? " asked Mattie. 
 
 "There you ask a question to which I am not at 
 liberty to reply. I hope you will not think me rude, 
 but I could no more describe to you the experiments 
 or the results, than I could discourse to a New Zea- 
 lander on the laws of electricity, or attempt to make 
 him understand the nature of their action. If, when 
 Watt saw the lid of the kettle tremble under the power 
 of the compressed steam, he had predicted the mechani- 
 cal and social revolution which would result from his 
 new-found force, he would have talked to deaf ears, 
 and been counted a lunatic. • If we have begun to find 
 
MATTIE IN AN INQUIRING MOOD. 275 
 
 that our organisms can be made to tremble beneath the 
 action of forces far more pregnant with moral possi- 
 bilities than steam and electricity have been with mate- 
 rial results, it is not while we are learning the laws by 
 which they are governed that we can discourse upon 
 them to the ignorant and inquisitive. There's an old 
 Scotch proverb that ' fules and. bairns shouldna see 
 half-dune wark.' The world has been preached to 
 long enough ; it wants new moral phenomena, not new 
 theological dogmas, or philosophical speculations. But 
 it is not while these phenomena are in process of de- 
 velopment that we can undertake to explain them; 
 they must be tested, like all great discoveries, by their 
 results. Meantime, we are contented to work on in 
 silence and obscurity in our laboratory of moral experi- 
 ment, craving only the one boon, which of all others 
 the world is the least disposed to grant, — that it will 
 mind its own business, and leave us in peace to follow 
 what we believe to be ours." 
 
 " Yes ; but if, as you say, in order to carry out your 
 moral experiments, you are compelled to place your- 
 selves in an antagonistic attitude to society, you cannot 
 be surprised if it considers that a corresponding atti- 
 tude of hostility is its business. Supposing a man 
 knew that in the retirement of a chemical laboratory 
 you were constructing an explosive machine with which 
 to blow up his house, he might find it difficult to be- 
 lieve that you were only actuated by motives of phil- 
 anthropy, and very naturally wish to interfere with you." 
 
276 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 " Society in Jerusalem no doubt laboured under the 
 same misapprehension when, moved by an instinct of 
 self-preservation, it murdered Christ nineteen hun- 
 dred years ago," retorted Hetherington. " It remains 
 to be seen whether the same spiritual forces which 
 were concentrated in a single individual, and which 
 were so powerful then as to produce a moral convul- 
 sion, are destined a second time to succumb to the 
 social collision, when they are applied under new and 
 more powerful conditions. Whatever view may be 
 taken of the personality of Christ, it is impossible to 
 deny that, as a moral phenomenon. He was unsur- 
 passed in the religious history of the world; impos- 
 sible also to deny, judging by analogy in nature, the 
 probability of a recurrence of a similar manifestation 
 of concentrated spiritual power, though it may take a 
 different and more commanding expression." 
 
 " Why, I do believe," exclaimed Mattie, " that if I 
 were to twist all you have said into orthodox language, 
 I could make you out to be an ordinary Christian, 
 expressing your belief in the Second Coming!" 
 
 " I would rather that you let any such attempt 
 alone, Mattie. And now to come back to the subject 
 of our communication. You see why I do not interfere 
 with Altiora ; there are reasons why it is best for me, at 
 all events, to let her work her way through her worldly 
 dilemmas without my assistance. That is no reason, 
 however, why you and our good friends here should 
 not give her all the aid and comfort in your power." 
 
MATTIE IN AN INQUIRING MOOD. 277 
 
 "Well, Lady Adela Dashington is coming over to 
 invite her, and, I hope, the Baroness, to the Grange 
 to-morrow ; and, I think, perhaps Sark will come 
 too." 
 
 " You need not expect Sark," returned Keith, " for 
 I met him at the station this morning as I was walk- 
 ing out here from the village. He told me he had 
 received a telegram from the secretary of some com- 
 pany, requiring his presence in London immediately 
 on business of importance. You ladies have all been 
 so busy with your private affairs that I have not had 
 an opportunity of delivering the message of farewell 
 with which he charged me. He told me to tell Altiora, 
 however, that he would write his adieux." 
 
 " Oh, Keith, don't you see that it's all a plot of that 
 horrid Clymer to get him back again into her clutches, 
 and that Mr Murkle is her accomplice ? And yet you 
 can stand there with your hands in your pockets, and 
 let things go their own way, and get more complicated 
 than ever," — and impulsive little Mattie wrung her 
 hands in despair. 
 
 " I don't see what I could possibly do even by get- 
 ting excited." 
 
 " There is ever so much to be done ; but you men 
 are so unsatisfactory, and get so easily huffed, and 
 twist everybody's affections up into such a snarl, there 
 is no unwinding them. Look straight into my eyes," 
 she added, after a perplexed pause, " and answer me 
 truly. I would not ask such a question except under 
 
278 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 the pressure of necessity. Now, Keith Hetherington, 
 I solemnly ask you, under the seal of the strictest con- 
 fidence, are you in love with anybody ? " 
 
 " Loving and being in love mean the same thing, I 
 suppose ? " 
 
 " Of course they are." 
 
 " Well, then, I love humanity as a whole ; and, of 
 course, I am in love with all the several units that go 
 to make it up." 
 
 "That means that you can't honestly say no, but 
 don't choose to say yes." 
 
 " It means that I am outside of the complications 
 which perplex you, Mattie ; but I none the less sympa- 
 thise in your desire to help your friends. Perhaps the 
 best way I can prove it is by following Sark to town." 
 
 " Oh, I wish you would ! " she exclaimed. " He'll 
 certainly get into mischief in his present frame of 
 mind, unless somebody goes to look after him, and try 
 and bring him back. Keith, I would send Bob, only 
 — hem — ^he's so useful here ; but just come in first and 
 deliver your message, and then say you are also obliged 
 to run up to London for a day or two, but you need 
 not tell them why you are going." 
 
 " Dear me," mused Mattie, as she followed Hether- 
 ington into the house, " I wonder why people can't 
 manage their love-affairs as simply as Bob and I do ! 
 But I don't suppose mine would have been so simple if 
 I had remained the heiress." 
 
MORAL AND CHEMICAL EXPLOSIVES. 279 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 MORAL AND CHEMICAL EXPLOSIVES. 
 
 Mattie was not far wrong in her divination of the 
 origin of the telegram which Sark had received. Nor 
 was Mrs Clymer altogether such a novice in finance as 
 Mr Murkle took her for on the occasion when he first 
 unfolded to her in Paris the process by which Sark and 
 his co-directors were to be extricated from the equivo- 
 cal position in which they had become involved, through 
 sundry irregularities in the management of the com- 
 pany, which it is not necessary to enter into here. She 
 was, moreover, a woman to whom revenge was sweeter 
 than riches, and it therefore naturally occurred to her 
 that it would be more soothing to her feelings materi- 
 ally to ruin and morally to disgrace the man she loved, 
 even at the sacrifice of her own pocket, than allow him 
 to escape from her thraldom and bestow his affections 
 upon a rival. It was sometimes said of Mrs Clymer, 
 by those who had the advantage of knowing that lady 
 the most intimately, that whatever her faults might 
 be, — in spite of her frivolity, her social audacity, her 
 flirtations, and her cunning, she " had a heart," — that 
 she was a woman capable of a grande passion ; and 
 her reputation in this regard getting noised abroad, 
 rendered her doubly attractive to men who are, as a 
 rule, almost as much repelled by feminine volcanoes in 
 
280 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 a perpetual state of active eruption, as by volcanoes 
 which are extinct, in which the fires, such as they 
 were, are dead. But a slumbering volcano, concealing 
 under a tranquil surface untold potencies of suppressed 
 explosion and flame, which can only be evoked under 
 a special influence, is an incentive which rarely fails to 
 excite the vanity of the male sex, and often becomes a 
 force all-powerful to hold them when once captured. 
 Mrs Clymer loved admiration too much not to flirt, 
 but she was conscious that she possessed passions, the 
 violence of which almost alarmed her, and which she 
 was, therefore, at the greatest possible pains to conceal 
 and control. No art can, however, prevent the subtle 
 force — call it magnetism or what you will — from exer- 
 cising its power of attraction ; and hence Mrs Clymer 
 was always surrounded by admirers instinctively sen- 
 sitive to the dormant fire, which all their skill failed to 
 kindle into flame. It was not until Sark had been 
 drawn into the magic circle that the necessary fuel 
 was supplied, and that the slumbering embers could no 
 longer be quenched; and she became a prey to emo- 
 tions, for the violence and consequences of which she 
 held Sark responsible. She was mortified with herself 
 for having, as she expressed it, "lost her heart" to 
 Sark, and still more angry with him for having won it. 
 The only consolation she derived for being no longer 
 free herself to play havoc with the affections of others, 
 was in the feeling that she had an absolute right over 
 the freedom of her lover. He, at all events, must be 
 
MORAL AND CHEMICAL EXPLOSIVES. 281 
 
 made to pay the penalty of her weakness. She had 
 never wanted to fall in love with him. She had 
 merely intended that he should fall in love with her, 
 and dangle in the chain of her adorers — in fact, be 
 another trophy added to the collection already upon 
 her chatelaine. So she had a grievance against her 
 lover in that she loved him, and became morbid in her 
 jealousy, and exacting in his allegiance. It was not 
 until a purer and higher sentiment than Mrs Clymer 
 was capable of inspiring, had begun to steal into Sark's 
 breast, that the yoke became intolerable to him ; and 
 just in proportion as he had worn it submissively, was 
 he now in a mood to resent its pressure. Mrs Clymer, 
 however, still brooding over the humiliation of having 
 ever loved, followed by the mortification of having lost, 
 devoted her energies to devising plans of revenge ; for 
 it is the pecuharity of an egoistic passion of this de- 
 scription, which those who feel it call " love," that it 
 mingles with and finally merges altogether into hate. 
 Having in its origin been an absolutely selfish instinct, 
 and in its essence the exact opposite of what pure love 
 should be, it requires but the necessary pressure to 
 reveal its true character — and yet, curiously enough, 
 Mrs Clymer, all the while she was plotting his ruin, 
 imagined that she loved Sark more than ever — and 
 this led her to perceive that she would never regain 
 his affection by ruining him, unless she could conceal 
 her handiwork ; but to disgrace him, to render him 
 desperate, and then to hold out sheltering and consol- 
 
282 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 ing arms, and affectionately to rivet the yoke upon 
 his neck again more tightly than before, this would 1)6 
 at once her revenge and her triumph. It was under 
 the influence of these motives that she determined to 
 defeat the combination to which Murkle had made her 
 a party in Paris, and which was to save the Board, of 
 which Sark was chairman, from exposure. 
 
 Mrs Clymer bent on business was a very different- 
 looking woman in her external appearance from Mrs 
 Clymer bent on pleasure, and a chance acquaintance 
 might be excused for not recognising at a glance the 
 demure little woman dressed in black who was taking 
 a" ticket for the City by the underground railway, as 
 the brilliant apparition which dazzled all beholders 
 at the last fashionable garden-party, and secured her 
 costume a description in the journals which devote 
 themselves to the chiffons of professional beauties. 
 There happened to be a passenger, however, by the 
 same train, who had never beheld her on those occa- 
 sions of social triumph, and who, seated alone in the 
 carriage into which she stepped, apparently found no 
 difficulty in her identification. 
 
 "Why, Polly," exclaimed this individual, "can I 
 believe my eyes ! E'ow this is what I call a rare piece 
 of luck." 
 
 Mrs Clymer started, flushed, threw up her veil, and 
 exclaimed — 
 
 " Terence Dunleavy ! " 
 
 Then recovering her self-possession, she held out 
 
MOKAL AND CHEMICAL EXPLOSIVES. 283 
 
 her hand, and added, with a most engaging frank- 
 ness — 
 
 " Why, I had no idea you were on this side of the 
 Atlantic ; when did you arrive ? " 
 
 " Only yesterday ; and to think that the first person 
 I meet should be you! I take it as a good omen, 
 Polly. Why, it is a matter of five years since I saw 
 you last, and you are looking younger than ever." 
 
 The speaker was a good-looking man of about five- 
 and-forty, with his whiskers and moustaches shaved, 
 leaving only what the Americans call a "goatee," of 
 considerable dimensions. His eyes were blue, clear, 
 and penetrating; his nose slightly hooked; and were 
 it not for a somewhat sinister expression about the 
 corners of his mouth, his general appearance would 
 have been prepossessing. He wore a travelling suit 
 and a wide-awake hat ; and there was an air of self- 
 confidence almost amounting to recklessness, which 
 was too aggressive to be the manner of a gentleman. 
 It was rather the defiant attitude of a man who felt 
 that what he might lack in social breeding he would 
 make good by force of will, audacity, and mother- 
 wit. 
 
 " What a mark you've been making in the fashion- 
 able world, Polly ! I was talking to Ned about it not 
 three months ago. He's doin' well, is Ned, I tell you." 
 
 " Still at the old trade ? " asked Mrs Clymer. 
 
 " Well, it's not a trade to leave as things are going. 
 His business is increasing every day, and is bound tc 
 
284 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 increase. I am a sort of agent for him over here — and 
 for others/' he added significantly, after a pause. " Do 
 you remember," he went on, "how we used to talk 
 over politics in old days, and what a little revolutionist 
 you were ? You and I used always to side together in 
 those arguments we had against Ned. The worst of 
 ITed is he lacks principle. He'd as soon sell a torpedo 
 to an emperor as he would a dynamite clock to — you 
 know who. If it wasn't for Ned's powers of invention 
 we'd have nothing more to do with him. That was 
 why we split the partnership. I said, ' Ned,' says I, 
 ' it goes against my conscience to invent all kinds of 
 weapons to be used in regular warfare, maybe against 
 the down-trodden classes of the world. The market is 
 getting big enough to sell to the regular societies, and 
 make a good thing too.' ' Terry,' he said, ' I don't hold 
 by politics. I'm in the explosive business, generally, 
 but it ain't no concern of mine who gets blown up. 
 I've got no particular sympathies. I look for the 
 demand, and I try to meet it in the fair way of trade.' 
 So we dissolved partnership, and I went in with an- 
 other chap, to work on some kind of a principle, but 
 Ned was all the time cutting under us by bringing out 
 some new contrivance — he's great on electricity, Ned 
 is. So we — the S. F., that is — agreed that he was to 
 work for us, and I would be his agent for the societies. 
 Then he's got another agent that goes round to all the 
 Governments ; but he has a deal of trouble with them 
 on account of their havini? all kinds of rules about 
 
MORAL AND CHEMICAL EXPLOSIVES. 285 
 
 what's fair in war, which we haven't got. He's worked 
 out a system of land torpedoes, to be fired by elec- 
 tricity, so that you can blow up whole regiments at a 
 time without any regular mining ; but he says he don't 
 think he can get it accepted a bit more than his explo- 
 sive bullets. Well, I don't see the logic of it myself. 
 Provided your ball is as big as your head, you may 
 burst it ; but if it's only as big as a marble you mayn't. 
 Provided you want to blow up a ship, with five hun- 
 dred men on board, you may ; but if you want to blow 
 up a regiment on shore, you mayn't, except according 
 to rule ; but it is all so much the better for us when 
 we come to fight them. We go in for killing our 
 enemies anyhow, not according to any particular rules. 
 When once you admit that it's a legitimate act of war 
 to kill your enemy, I want to know where you are to 
 look for the rules as to how you are to kill them — not 
 in the Bible, I guess." 
 
 " No, indeed," assented Mrs Clymer ; " it's a dreadful 
 alternative. But my sympathies are all with those 
 who bring wars to the speediest conclusion by the 
 most rapid slaughter, especially if it is to result in the 
 relief of the oppressed." 
 
 " That's so," said her companion. " Well it's a great 
 business, this explosive material and infernal machine 
 business, — and only, you may say, in it's infancy. 
 There's no saying what a future may not be before 
 it; and Ned's got the inside track of it — he'll make 
 his fortune sure. I've got a packet of envelopes in 
 
286 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 that valise, as a sample ; every one of em's bound to 
 blow up the face of the man that opens them." 
 
 " Dear me ! " said Mrs Clymer, looking with no little 
 alarm at the rack overhead; "and what else are you 
 doing besides dealing in explosives ? " 
 
 "Just as inquisitive as ever, — eh, Polly? but you 
 were always true to your pals. You don't suppose 
 I can stand by and see what's going on in my own 
 country without lending a helping hand. Why, I've 
 been in the Fenian business pretty near fifteen years." 
 
 "Well, but T thought your own country was 
 America." 
 
 "So it is, but my parents were born in Ireland. 
 And what's the use of bein' an American citizen, and 
 having American protection, except to do the work the 
 Irish don't dare to do for themselves, and couldn't do 
 if they did dare? Why, not only Ireland, but the 
 whole of Europe, is like a great powder-magazine, — 
 and it's boys like me that carry the sparks that are to 
 blow it up; but we must have a place to fire from, 
 and run to in time of danger. God bless the Stars 
 and Stripes, — ^they're a great institution." 
 
 "Well, Terence," said Mrs Clymer, — for by this 
 time they had reached their destination, — " you must 
 come and see me. Here is my address ; and send me 
 a line first, telling me when to expect you, so that I 
 may be sure to be at home." 
 
 " And able to teU everybody else you're out, eh ? " 
 Dunleavy added, with a laugh. "Well, I am not 
 
MORAL AND CHEMICAL EXPLOSIVES. 287 
 
 proud. I don't want to meet any of your grand 
 acquaintances, at least not that way. Good-bye ; I'll 
 write and tell Ned that I've seen you." 
 
 " I think I shall have to write myself," ruminated 
 Mrs Clymer, as she wended her way to the neighbour- 
 hood of Austin Friars and Tokenhouse Yard. " I must 
 certainly prevent Ned from coming over here without 
 giving me warning. I wonder what his address is. I 
 must find out from Terence. I wish Ned would blow 
 himself up with his own materials," she added spite- 
 fully, as she scanned the names on the door-frames for 
 that of the young stockbroker of whom Lysper has 
 already made mention, and whose worship of her 
 charms rendered him a fitting instrument for the ser- 
 vice she was about to require of him. 
 
 Young Casseroll, who was distantly connected with 
 the aristocracy, and enjoyed a certain social position at 
 the West End, was transported with delight when the 
 bright apparition burst upon his dingy chamber, and 
 being an intelligent young man, and well versed in the 
 Joint-Stock Companies Acts, he apprehended at a glance 
 the position in which the directors of the Universal 
 Scintillator Company had placed themselves, and the na- 
 ture of the transfer in process of completion, with the 
 combination represented by Grandesella & Murkle, and 
 perceived how easy it would be to excite such alarm and 
 suspicion among discontented shareholders as should 
 precipitate a crisis in the affairs of the Company — an 
 operation facile of accomplishment, as there are always 
 
288 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 rebellious spirits to be found, anxious to acquire notor- 
 iety and become directors themselves, who are ready to 
 start a movement of this sort, and by the circulation 
 of pamphlets among the shareholders, and letters in the 
 City articles of the newspapers, to head an opposition 
 which becomes the terror and the torment of the un- 
 happy Board. 
 
 " Dear Mr CasseroU," said Mrs Clymer, in her most 
 winning tones, " I am telling you all this in the strict- 
 est confidence. I would not for the world, as you will 
 readily understand, do anything to injure Lord Sark, 
 but you know how ignorant he is of business; and 
 when I found he had placed himself unreservedly in 
 the hands of such able, and I suppose I may say, be- 
 tween ourselves, such unscrupulous financiers as Baron 
 Grandesella and Mr Murkle, I thought it time to take 
 the advice of an experienced friend. I should so much 
 rather that Lord Sark was ruined in purse than dis- 
 graced in reputation. Of course, as a woman, I know 
 nothing of these matters, but I do think some steps 
 should be taken to prevent these negotiations going 
 any further." 
 
 " So far as I understand the position of affairs," ob- 
 served CasseroU, "the Board, of which Lord Sark is 
 chairman, is in this dilemma. The transaction which 
 is in contemplation with the new company, represented 
 by Grandesella, is in itself a questionable one ; but if 
 it turns out financially a success, it will probably never 
 be inquired into, and the Board may ultimately not 
 
MORAL AND CHEMICAL EXPLOSIVES. 289 
 
 only escape from their present difficulty, but gain in 
 reputation. If, unfortunately, it should not turn out a 
 success, or if some inquisitive shareholder insists upon 
 an inquiry, — and I agree with you that Grandesella & 
 Murkle are most unsafe men to act with, and do not 
 enjoy the highest possible reputation, — then the results 
 might be more disastrous than if the transfer had never 
 taken place. On the other hand, if it does not take 
 place, the very next general meeting of the Company 
 may disclose a state of affairs which cannot fail to re- 
 flect the greatest discredit on all concerned, and may 
 possibly lead to the liquidation of the Company. It is 
 too late now for Lord Sark to retire from the Board. 
 His only course is to carry through his negotiations to 
 the end ; or if that — owing to a rebellion among the 
 shareholders — becomes impossible, by the sacrifice of 
 his own private property, if he has any, to supply such 
 funds as shall make a balance-sheet that may satisfy 
 the auditors." 
 
 "Oh," said Mrs Clymer, "surely that will be the 
 honourable course ; the thing of all others to save Lord 
 Sark's own reputation is evidently, at all hazards, even 
 by exciting the shareholders to a danger of their posi- 
 tion if necessary, to put a stop to his negotiations with 
 GrandeseUa." 
 
 " Poor Sark has clearly not been to blame, except in 
 trusting the manager and secretary, and probably one 
 of his own colleagues, who, from what I hear, has been 
 the inspiring genius of the Company; but I doubt 
 
 T 
 
290 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 whether, if he was sold up to-morrow, he could meet 
 the necessities of the case. However," added CasseroU, 
 playing with a paper-cutter, "I think we shall best 
 serve the cause of financial morality by forcing things 
 to a head, and I happen to know just the man among 
 the shareholders who will lead the movement. I quite 
 appreciate the motives by which you have been actu- 
 ated, Mrs Clymer ; and if you leave the matter in my 
 hands, and say nothing about it, I will see what can be 
 done." 
 
 CasseroU had been evolving a scheme of his own 
 during this conversation, by which he saw his way 
 to turning the troubles of the Board, of which Lord 
 Sark had been the victim, to his own profitable ac- 
 count, and shrewdly suspected that his fair visitor 
 was not altogether so disinterested as she wished to 
 appear, — ^in fact, he thought the occasion not unfavour- 
 able for urging his own suit, and the beauty was too 
 anxious to propitiate him not to offer him some en- 
 couragement. 
 
 " Au revoir, dear Mr CasseroU," she said, after some 
 tender passages had occurred which are not important 
 to our narrative ; " mind you come and see me soon, to 
 report progress, as they say in the House of Commons." 
 
 The results of Mr CasseroU's energy made themselves 
 apparent in a few days, and the enterprising manager 
 became so alarmed at the turn affairs were taking, that 
 he consulted the most active director as to the necessity 
 of summoning an extraordinary meetiug of the Board ; 
 
MOEAL AND CHEMICAL EXPLOSIVES. 291 
 
 and an urgent telegram was sent to Lord Sark at Beau- 
 court, which only reached the Castle after he had left. 
 Lady Adela, however, being in the secret of his where- 
 abouts, undertook to forward it to him ; and he found 
 it waiting for him at Copley Grange on his return from 
 dinner on the evening of the eventful day when he had 
 placed his heart and coronet at the disposal of Altiora. 
 As may be imagined, he regarded it as a welcome excuse 
 for disappearing from a scene where his efforts had 
 proved unavailing to make his cousin the only repara- 
 tion in his power, and where a meeting with Stella in 
 her company could only lead to embarrassment ; and he 
 therefore wrote Altiora a note to say that he had sud- 
 denly been called to London on important business, and 
 intrusted Hetherington on the morning of his depar- 
 ture with a similar message. If, however, Mattie had 
 known how resolutely Lord Sark, on his way to town, 
 was steeling himself against the machinations and the 
 charms of the Clymer, she needed not have undergone 
 the paroxysm of alarm which she displayed when she 
 heard the news. He had reacted, rather, let us say, 
 from his weakness, than from his passion, for his en- 
 slaver. He was able now to look back with wonder at 
 his own infatuation ; and he felt that the only thing he 
 had to guard against was lest his compassion — for he 
 gave her credit for a real sentiment of affection for him 
 — should lead him to compromise, where firmness was 
 his only safety. At all events, he saw no reason why he 
 should let her know of his arrival in town ; and when 
 
292 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 he attended the meeting of the Board on the following 
 day, he little suspected that the result of their deliber- 
 ations was known to Mrs Clymer a few hours after- 
 wards ; for the wily CasseroU had secured an accom- 
 plice to his schemes among the directors, and the 
 opposition was through his agency kept duly informed 
 of the decision arrived at by the Board, which Casse- 
 roU, only too glad to have a legitimate excuse for 
 calling at the hijou residence, where Mrs Clymer re- 
 ceived him in a most bewitching deshabille and in a 
 dim religious light, duly reported to that lady. She 
 had no sooner heard what he had to say, and im- 
 patiently listened to the expression of his eternal 
 devotion, than she despatched by a commissionaire a 
 note to Sark, couched in that language of peremptory 
 complaint which the sex is so skilled in adopting 
 under certain circumstances. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIY. 
 
 MR MURKLE PAYS A VISIT. 
 
 Mr Murkle was sitting in his office pondering. There 
 was an open letter on his desk, and an open penknife 
 in his hand, and his attention seemed divided between 
 the former and his nails. Occasionally a particular 
 
MR MURKLE PAYS A VISIT. 293 
 
 nail apparently irritated his nerves, and he pared 
 viciously. Then it suddenly ceased to interest him ; 
 his hand dropped languidly, the lines in his face 
 softened, his eyes turned from his fingers to the open 
 page before him, from thence to the ceiling, and he 
 sighed. It was not often that sentiment invaded the 
 business sanctuary of Grandesella & Murkle, and even 
 now the emotions which agitated the breast of the 
 junior partner were not altogether free from a com- 
 mercial taint ; but he felt, nevertheless, that his moral 
 equilibrium was, so to speak, upset. The document 
 before him could scarcely be called a love-letter, and 
 yet it was not one which came within the ordinary 
 routine of commercial transactions, excepting in the 
 sense that it might fairly be considered an " esteemed 
 favour." Mr Murkle felt, that while in practice it 
 was perfectly legitimate to mix up affairs of the heart 
 and the pocket — and that, in fact, social life would be 
 impossible upon any other basis — yet that the crude- 
 ness with which Stella Walton had associated finance 
 with love savoured somewhat of indelicacy on the 
 part of that young lady. In fact, at the moments 
 when he cut his nails viciously, he was a prey to the 
 horrible suspicion that he was being " chaffed," and 
 that the beautiful American heiress was trifling with 
 his affections, to see how much he would stand. But 
 then his vanity would come to the rescue. "After 
 all," thought Mr Murkle, "she is an American; it 
 may be the way that marriages are contracted in the 
 
294 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 wilds of Nevada ; it certainly is not our way of doing 
 things, but her immense fortune has probably suggested 
 to her a line of her own. She may be in earnest," — 
 and he recalled the tender glances, and I may even 
 without a breach of confidence add, gentle pressures, 
 with which the supposed heiress had favoured him 
 when she was in a particularly mischievous mood, 
 and in especial that never-to-be-forgotten evening at 
 MacAlpine's, when, carried away by the violence of 
 his emotion, he had given full vent to his pent-up 
 feelings ; and at this point he cast his eyes upwards 
 and sighed. He had expected to hear from her since 
 then; and when accounts reached him through 
 MacAlpine and his friend Lauriola of Sark's atten- 
 tions to her at Beaucourt, and rumours of an ap- 
 proaching alliance between the Californian girl and 
 the English nobleman had actually gone the round of 
 the society papers, he had reacted into a mood of 
 indignation, and had despatched the Baroness on her 
 mission to Copleydale, in the hope that it might bring 
 matters to a head one way or the other. And so far 
 he had apparently been successful ; it was evident 
 from Stella's letter, that Altiora, to avoid the fate 
 with which he threatened her, had satisfied all Stella's 
 doubts as to his domestic virtues, and that the latter 
 young lady, true to her engagement, had now written 
 to inform him, in her own' peculiar phraseology, that 
 she was prepared to fulfil her obligations. Still Mr 
 Murkle had a morbid dread of being made a fool of. 
 
ME MURKLE PAYS A VISIT. 295 
 
 and every time he re-read Stella's letter, an uncom- 
 fortable sensation haunted him that, if he took it 
 au s6rieux, he might find himself in that much-dreaded 
 position ; while if he did not, he might not only lose 
 the girl he loved, but her fortune to boot. It of course 
 never entered his head that the heiress was playing 
 with him, merely to save her friend from his designs ; 
 and he was at a loss, therefore, to conceive why she 
 should want to make a fool of him. But his per- 
 plexities redoubled when he set himself to answer this 
 singular production. Should he begin it "Madam" 
 or " My beloved one " ? — and as between these two 
 extremes there was a large choice, Mr Murkle tried 
 them all, and was satisfied with none. He could write 
 either as the lover or the junior partner, but when it 
 came to combining the two in equal proportions, his 
 ingenuity failed him. 
 
 Now it is not to be supposed that the little plot 
 of Mrs Clymer and CasseroU should have altogether 
 escaped the cognisance of a person of Mr Murkle's 
 extreme perspicacity and experience in City intrigues. 
 No sooner had the agitation among the hitherto 
 quiescent shareholders of the Universal Scintillator 
 Company commenced, than he suspected an exciting 
 cause ; and this, by a patient process of induction and 
 inquiry, he finally traced to CasseroU. He had the 
 proceedings of that enterprising young stockbroker 
 watched, and became thereby aware, not only of his 
 visits to Mrs Clymer, but of Sark's arrival in town, 
 
296 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 and attendance at the Board meeting. Being once 
 upon the track, he further discovered that the details 
 of his negotiation with Sark had become known, 
 which could only have been divulged by Mrs Clymer, 
 or by that nobleman himself ; and as it was evidently 
 the interest of the latter that they should remain 
 secret, the treachery of Mrs Clymer became apparent. 
 And this confirmed him in his fear that matters might 
 be so serious between Stella and Sark as to have 
 excited her jealousy, in which case the heiress's letter 
 to him became all the more inexplicable. Under these 
 circumstances, he decided that, before taking any 
 definite step, or troubling himself any further about 
 framing a reply to the letter he had received, he 
 would take the bull by the horns, — in other words, 
 boldly go and call upon Sark, when he would have an 
 opportunity of finding out, first, what the intentions 
 of that nobleman might be with regard to completing 
 the negotiations affecting the Company of which he 
 was chairman, and carrying out the engagement into 
 which he had entered ; and secondly, what position he 
 occupied in the affections of Stella Walton. "Eor," 
 said Murkle viciously to himself, as he stepped into a 
 hansom cab, "if he adds insult to injury, first, by 
 marrying the heiress, and then by throwing over his 
 engagement with me, I will have my revenge." 
 
 Now it so happened that at the very time when Mr 
 Murkle was engaged in the perplexed cogitations 
 which I have been describing. Lord Sark was very 
 
ME MUEKLE PAYS A VISIT. 297 
 
 similarly employed in his comfortable library in 
 Grosvenor Square. He also was painfully discussing 
 in his own mind whether he should answer a Kttle 
 tinted note, with a resplendent monogram, in which 
 the letters M.C. were inextricably and most illegibly 
 intertwined in the shape of a heart, and which exhaled 
 a subtle and delicate perfume which too forcibly 
 reminded him of a moral atmosphere from which he 
 had determined to escape for ever. " Pah ! " said 
 Sark, as he rose impatiently from his chair and paced 
 the room to and fro, " the horrid thing makes me feel 
 quite sick. It's very odd that an odour should have 
 such an effect upon one's nerves, and yet there was a 
 time that I decidedly liked it. That's one of those 
 problems Altiora is always trying to get to the bottom 
 of. I wonder why no scientific man has ever written 
 a treatise on the physical effects of a smell, as deter- 
 mined by association. I've made a fine mess of my 
 affairs," he went on, with a sudden transition of idea ; 
 "the old proverb, 'Mayieureux au jeu heureux en 
 amour,' does not hold good in my case, for my specu- 
 lations in finance have been as unlucky as my heart- 
 ventures. I am now engaged in the interesting 
 experience of finding out which is the easier, — to 
 appease a parcel of enraged shareholders or an in- 
 furiated woman. I wonder whether it will be best 
 to write to her or to see her ! " At this moment he 
 was interrupted by the door opening, and the servant 
 entering with Murkle's card. 
 
298 ALTIOKA PETO. 
 
 "Show him in," said his lordship, with an angry 
 frown, flinging himself back into his chair, and cover- 
 ing Mrs Clymer's letter with a sheet of blotting-paper. 
 
 " So sorry to disturb you," said Murkle, in his most 
 silvery voice. "I know how worried and busy you 
 must be, for of course one cannot be in the thick of 
 things in the City, as I am, without knowing what is 
 going on ; but the fact is, Grandesella is over in Paris 
 trying to pacify the consortium there, who are getting 
 most impatient about the conclusion of our arrange- 
 ments, you know, and I have just received a telegram 
 from the Baron urging me to see you without delay, 
 and get something definite. There are some documents 
 which still need signing, you remember." 
 
 " If," replied Sark, " you are so well informed as to 
 what is going on, you must be aware of the difficulties 
 which have unexpectedly arisen, and which make it 
 very doubtful whether the proposed arrangements can 
 be carried out. There has been some treachery at 
 work," he went on, with a keen glance at Murkle; 
 " in a few more days we should have secured a majority 
 for any arrangement we liked to propose, but these 
 premature disclosures have utterly upset my calcula- 
 tions. I have been racking my brains in vain to dis- 
 cover who the traitor could have been." 
 
 " OJierchez la femme" said Murkle, with oracular 
 irony. 
 
 "What do you mean by that, sir?" returned Sark, 
 sharply. 
 
MR MUEKLE PAYS A VISIT. 299 
 
 " I mean that the traitress is not far to find. I am 
 in possession of proof that Mrs Clymer has been the 
 Dea ex machind." 
 
 Lord Sark kept his gaze sternly fixed on his visitor, 
 but said nothing. 
 
 " You'll excuse me, Lord Sark, for speaking so freely," 
 Murkle went on, feeling rather uneasy under it, " but 
 the circumstances are such as may justify my frank- 
 ness. If there is any truth in the rumour which we 
 have all heard of an approaching event, which may 
 materially affect your lordship's financial position, you 
 may possibly be able to see your way to making ar- 
 rangements which will be satisfactory to us all, and 
 nip the conspiracy in the bud which has been set 
 on foot by Mrs Clymer and a stockbroker named 
 Casseroll, by acquiring a controlling interest in the 
 Company." 
 
 Murkle threw in this delicate allusion to the rumour, 
 which was uppermost in his mind, — first, as a hint to 
 Lord Sark that it might have had something to do 
 with Mrs Clymer's energetic interference in his affairs ; 
 and secondly, because it would force him to a declara- 
 tion on the subject which would set his own mind at 
 rest. 
 
 " I am not aware of any approaching event which 
 can in any way affect my present financial position 
 except the Irish Land Bill, and you have my authority 
 for contradicting all rumours of the kind to which you 
 allude. Indeed I should have imagined that you were 
 
300 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 the last person to give credence to them, for no one 
 has such good reason to know that they are un- 
 founded." 
 
 This admission caused what Mr Murkle called his 
 heart to thump against his waistcoat. Could anything 
 be clearer than that Lord Sark had tried his luck with 
 the heiress and failed, and that she had told him of 
 her previous engagement to himself? He was con- 
 scious of an embarrassment very foreign to his ordinary 
 sensations, and of a rush of blood to his ears. Murkle 
 was incapable of blushing, or it would have gone into 
 his cheeks. He was, moreover, unable, in the con- 
 fusion of the moment, to decide how much to admit 
 or deny ; so he took refuge in his pocket-handkerchief 
 and the weather, and remarked that he had caught a 
 violent cold. 
 
 "I am sorry to hear it," said Sark, upon whom 
 Murkle's embarrassment had not been lost, and who, 
 with her ignoble-looking lover before him, felt more 
 profoundly indignant with Stella than ever. " I hope 
 you will excuse me if I terminate our interview. I 
 am sorry that I do not see my way to giving you any 
 message at present to send to Paris ; and I must 
 honestly tell you that I doubt very much whether 
 our proposed arrangement can be carried out. I may 
 now find it necessary, in order to save my own credit, 
 to take measures which may involve me in pecuniary 
 ruin, but not, I hope, with the loss of my reputation. 
 Meanwhile, should another alternative present itself 
 
MES CLYMER PLOTS REVENGE. SOI 
 
 by whicli I can avoid making this sacrifice, I will 
 let yon know." 
 
 There was a cool dignity about Sark which made, it 
 difficult for a man of Murkle's calibre to venture either 
 upon menace or familiarity ; moreover, he was in too 
 amiable a mood to be easily offended, and too anxious 
 to be alone with his bliss and his love-letter, which 
 he had already decided to answer at once, to wish to 
 prolong his stay ; so he graciously bowed himself out, 
 and left his lordship to chew the bitter cud of his 
 fancies, which his visit had certainly not helped to 
 sweeten. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXV. 
 
 MRS CLYMER PLOTS REVENGE. 
 
 Murkle's visit to Sark had the effect of dispelling 
 in the mind of the latter any doubt he might have 
 felt as to the next course to be pursued with regard 
 to the invitation contained in Mrs Clymer's note. 
 Whatever feeling of compassion he had entertained 
 towards that lady, or lingering fear of too roughly 
 wounding her affections, had now vanished ; and half 
 an hour later he was ushered into the well-known 
 sanctum of the fair adventuress, and was threading 
 his way in the pink gloom, through the maze of low 
 
302 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 easy-chairs and tiny tables, loaded with, ohjets de vertu, 
 the gifts of numerous admirers, with which it was 
 studded. Mrs Clymer, who had denied herself to all 
 other visitors on the chance of his coming, had care- 
 fully prepared the effects of costume and surroundings 
 which her long experience told her would be most 
 taking, and was languidly reclining on a lounge, a 
 prey to sorrow and despair. She was too depressed 
 even to rise and greet him, and could only murmur, 
 as he seated himself by her side, while she extended 
 her soft little white hand, glittering with jewels, " At 
 last, dear friend ! " 
 
 Sark took the hand, but did not return its pressure, 
 as he remarked coldly, " I came because you sent for 
 me. Are you ill ? " 
 
 "At heart very, and at head too," she replied, 
 passing her hand wearily over her eyes. "No one 
 knows what I have suffered these last weeks. Oh, 
 Sark, why did you desert me so cruelly in Paris? 
 What have I ever done to offend you that you 
 should break off a friendship which I prized more 
 than my life ? Since you so cunningly stole from 
 me the heart I had sworn to hold safely in my own 
 keeping, I have felt new and higher hopes and as- 
 pirations rising within me — our friendship was so 
 elevating and purifying in its character ; your in- 
 fluence over me was so wholesome; my whole inner 
 life was changing under it so completely, that you 
 have done me a moral wrong, by withdrawing the 
 
MKS CLYMEE PLOTS REVENGE. 303 
 
 strong arm which was supporting me, which you can 
 never repair. I feel like a rudderless ship, abandoned 
 to the mercy of the winds and waves of this cruel, 
 heartless world, — oh, so desolate and forlorn!" and 
 Mrs Clymer pressed a piece of lace to her eyes which 
 did duty for a handkerchief, and had a mopping capa- 
 city for about two tears, and went off into an agony 
 of sobs. 
 
 Now this is a sort of appeal that makes any man 
 with a particle of sentiment feel like a brute, no 
 matter how false he may suspect it to be, and his 
 first instinct is invariably to offer some sort of con- 
 solation. 
 
 Sark was conscious of an uncomfortable sensation 
 of being rapidly disarmed, as he said, "Come, don't 
 cry, Marion; I want to talk to you like a sensible 
 woman. You know how I hate tears." 
 
 It was just because she knew it that they seemed to 
 flow more freely. " I can bear anything — sob — which 
 will make you — sob — happy. When is the — sob — 
 marriage to take place ? " 
 
 " What marriage ? " 
 
 " With that Cal — sob — ifornian girl." 
 
 "I am not going to be married to her; and I do 
 not see the remotest probability of my ever being 
 married to anybody." 
 
 There was a long pause, broken only by the gently 
 subsiding sobs of the Clymer, as they recurred at rarer 
 intervals and with less violence — for she was prepar- 
 
304 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 ing for her great coup, and required time. At last slie 
 said softly, turning her large brimming eyes on Sark, 
 " And you never knew that I was a free woman ? " 
 
 If she had fired a bullet into him she could not have 
 produced a more painful impression upon his organism. 
 "Good heavens, Marion! why did you never tell me 
 this before ? " he ejaculated. 
 
 " I thought you knew it. I told you once Mr Cly- 
 mer had married again — which, of course, he could 
 not have done had I remained his wife. What could 
 I say more ? " 
 
 Sark vainly tried to remember the occasion on which 
 this piece of information had been imparted to him, 
 and felt that it rendered it still more important that 
 he should define his own position for the future def- 
 initely. " It is strange," he said coldly, " that I should 
 have forgotten the circumstance, and that you should 
 have allowed the world to remain under a false im- 
 pression on a subject so important to yourself ; but it 
 is too late for me to alter my views in regard to my 
 future now, however I might have been affected by 
 what you tell me at a former period. I have quite 
 made up my mind never to marry ; indeed my financial 
 position is such that I could not if I would : and it is 
 with reference to that I wished especially to speak to 
 you. Why was it necessary to consult Casseroll about 
 my affairs without my knowledge ? " 
 
 It was now Mrs Clymer's turn to receive a shock ; 
 and the question was so sudden and unexpected, and 
 
MKS CLYMER PLOTS EEVENGE. 305 
 
 involved the possibility of so much acquaintance with 
 her proceedings on the part of Sark, that her whole 
 calculations were thrown out. She had hoped he 
 would confide his many troubles to her, when she 
 would have sympathised with him, instead of which 
 lie was evidently going to make her responsible for 
 them. 
 
 " Oh, Sark," she said, " I hope I did not do wrong ; 
 but I heard such horrible rumours about the state of 
 your Company, and became so uneasy on your account, 
 as you were absent, that I went to consult Mr Cas- 
 seroll on the subject, and he told me what an agitation 
 had been produced among the shareholders by some 
 things that have leaked out about your negotiations 
 with Grandesella & Murkle in Paris. I am sure I 
 can't imagine how so much could have become known," 
 said the Clymer, innocently. 
 
 Her explanation did not satisfy him, but Sark was 
 too much of a gentleman to press the matter further. 
 His eyes were now thoroughly opened to the char- 
 acter of the woman he had loved. And as we always 
 seem to think that wasted affections are to be re- 
 gretted, he rose with a sigh, and gave her his hand in 
 parting. 
 
 "When am I to see you again ?" she said. 
 
 " I don't know. I am very much occupied now." 
 
 " What are you going to do about your arrangement 
 with Murkle ? " 
 
 Mrs Clymer had risen from the couch, and was 
 u 
 
306 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 standing np. She felt that she must change her 
 tactics, and, to use the language of the period, was 
 "pulling herself together." 
 
 " I have decided to break off all further negotiations 
 for transferring the Company's property." 
 
 " Then how do you intend to face your shareholders 
 at the next meeting ? " she asked. " If I understood 
 Mr CasseroU rightly, there has been gross mismanage- 
 ment and irregularity in its affairs." 
 
 " I think by the sacrifice of all my Irish property — 
 though Irish property is not very valuable just now 
 — I may save the situation; and I am prepared to 
 ruin myself in the attempt, though I have in no way 
 been a party to, or benefited by, the irregularities Mr 
 CasseroU alludes to." 
 
 "And when you are a ruined man, what do you 
 intend to do? Penniless peers are not, as a rule, 
 easily provided for." 
 
 " That depends on whether your party is in power. 
 I think the present Government would take com- 
 passion upon me." 
 
 " Will you come and see me to-morrow ? " she asked, 
 with the pertinacity common to the sex under these 
 circumstances. 
 
 " No ; I must go over to Ireland and see my agent 
 about finding some one insane enough to pay for the 
 privilege of becoming an Irish landlord." 
 
 " Would you mind my taking a trip to Ireland about 
 the same time ? " 
 
MES CLYMER PLOTS REVENGE. 307 
 
 " If you took it with any hope of meeting me, I am 
 afraid you would be disappointed." 
 
 " Am I to understand " — and Mrs Clymer's lips got 
 very white — " that you no longer care for me ? " 
 
 " I shall always feel a friendly interest in you ; but 
 I have made up my mind to regain my complete 
 independence. It is very painful for me to have to 
 say this, but it is better that you should know that 
 my whole nature has undergone a revolution since we 
 last met ; and it would be folly to pretend a sentiment 
 I do not feel." 
 
 At this moment Mrs Clymer felt a strong inclina- 
 tion to throw herself on the ground at his feet. Had 
 she for a moment thought an act of this kind, however 
 humiliating to herself, would have been successful, she 
 would not have shrunk from it. She now struggled 
 as fiercely against a violent outbreak of hysterical 
 sobbing, as she had striven to bring on an imitation of 
 it at the commencement of the interview. She knew 
 with unerring instinct that she had irrecoverably lost 
 Sark, and lost him in the way most galling to a woman, 
 because he had met some one who had stolen his affec- 
 tion from her. At that moment her hatred was pretty 
 evenly divided between her lover and her rival ; and 
 with it there surged in upon her an overwhelming 
 desire for revenge. It was true he had said that there 
 was no chance of his marrying, but she none the less 
 felt that the temple of her affections had been burglari- 
 ously entered, and robbed of its treasure. It was at 
 
308 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 this moment that the servant entered with a note. 
 She opened it, and saw — "Deae Polly, — Expect me 
 this evening at 9. — ^Yours, Terence." A compromising 
 epistle, she thought, with a bitter smile ; and she looked 
 up at Sark, standing before her coldly, and, as she felt, 
 heartlessly, waiting to bid her a last adieu. She fancied 
 she read in his glance — perhaps it was the effect of a 
 morbid imagination — a concealed loathing, which stung 
 her to madness. 
 
 "Go," she said, and sinking back on the couch, 
 buried her face in the cushion; then she heard the 
 door close behind him, and gave way to the violence 
 of her emotion. It was not till her passion had ex- 
 hausted itself that she rose, and calmly went to her 
 writing-desk. "Now," she murmured, "for revenge." 
 Her note was only an excuse for a dinner engagement 
 for the same evening, on the plea of ill health, for her 
 anxiety had now become feverishly concentrated on 
 the visit of Terence Dunleavy. True to time that 
 champion of the down-trodden classes made his ap- 
 pearance; and Mrs Clymer, who had removed all 
 traces of the storm through which she had passed, 
 received him with affectionate cordiality. 
 
 " My dear Terence," she exclaimed, as she held out 
 her hand, " how good of you to come so soon ! I 
 thought such a busy man as you would have forgotten 
 all about me." 
 
 "Why, the fact is," he replied, "I have to go to 
 Ireland to-morrow on a rather important affair, and I 
 
MRS CLYMER PLOTS EEVENGE. 309 
 
 wanted to know, first, whether you were inclined to do 
 an old friend and a noble cause a good turn ? " 
 
 " I would do anything I could for both in reason," 
 she replied. 
 
 "Well, then, look here, Polly; it is not necessary 
 for me to tell you exactly what I'm going over about, 
 but it's a matter of life and death. Now I may want 
 information which only some one placed like you, you 
 understand, that knows all the ropes in society, could 
 give me. I shall let you know how to write to me, so 
 that there is no chance of its ever being traced to you. 
 You're all safe enough, only I must be able to rely 
 upon you acting true." 
 
 " I suppose you won't tell me now, what it is you 
 are likely to want to know ? " 
 
 " ITo," he said ; " I would rather not, because I may 
 never want to know it. If you would rather not pro- 
 mise, tell me now, only don't betray me if you do 
 promise." 
 
 "There's no fear of that. Let me think a minute 
 — ^it does not do to decide such things in a hurry, — 
 you will have a distinguished fellow-passenger to- 
 night." 
 
 "Who's that?" 
 
 "LordSark." 
 
 "Lord Sark! Why, he's got a large property in 
 County Kintrary somewhere." 
 
 " I daresay he does not know where it is himself. I 
 shouldn't wonder if he'd never been there." 
 
310 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 " Taken pretty good care to draw liis rent though, 
 I'll be bound." 
 
 " Oh yes ; I believe he is going over to put the screw 
 on now. He told me his agent had become so demor- 
 alised since he got a ball through the leg the other 
 day, that he is going over himself to collect his rents 
 and enforce some evictions. I must say for Lord Sark, 
 if he is a tyrant, he does not know what fear is." 
 
 " Is he a friend of yours, Polly ? " 
 
 " A friend of mine — I hate the man ! " and at the 
 moment she spoke the truth. " He has done me the 
 greatest wrong a man can do a woman. He is a type 
 of the class that keep the poor and the oppressed from 
 getting their rights. Merciless by nature, he deserves 
 no mercy ; and those who show it to him will rue it 
 some day, — that's my opinion of Lord Sark. If you 
 are going to make war against the aristocracy, as 
 countries make war against their enemies, and cut 
 them off in detail, now's your chance." 
 
 " Why, Polly, what a little spitfire you have become ! 
 One would think you wanted the man murdered be- 
 cause you want to be revenged ; that would make it 
 assassination, you know, and we are opposed to assas- 
 sination. When we have to remove individuals, it is 
 done as an act of war, and that renders it holy." 
 
 " Well it is as an act of war I am talking of it. If 
 you want to demoralise a class, you must begin with 
 the most prominent and popular members of it. You 
 might shoot several small Irish noblemen without 
 
MRS CLYMEE PLOTS REVENGE. 311 
 
 producing the same effect that you woul. if you shot 
 the Earl of Sark. However, please yourself ; and in 
 regard to a correspondent, I would advise you to look 
 for some one else." 
 
 " Come now, Polly," said Dunleavy, — who saw that 
 it needed very little to enable him to get Mrs Clymer 
 completely into his power, and that she would be all 
 the more trustworthy as an ally if he did, — " I see you 
 are one of the right sort. I am not sure but what 
 there's a deal of sense in what you say. Let's act 
 together in this matter all through. I'll give you a 
 secret code, and enrol you as one of the sisterhood ; it's 
 a grand cause, and, let me tell you, the women are 
 mighty useful in it, and have a deal of power." 
 
 " Well," said Mrs Clymer, " I think we understand 
 one another. Now perhaps you will answer the ques- 
 tion I asked you first, and tell me what you are going 
 over about." But as these are matters of too confi- 
 dential a character to be divulged, I must leave the 
 worthy pair to discuss the salvation of society by 
 means of dynamite, and return to the party that we 
 left at the cottage at Copleydale. 
 
312 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 HANNAH'S TOILET. 
 
 Copley Grange was one of those old English country 
 houses which are the especial delight of our American 
 cousins. It had a moat and the remains of an old 
 drawbridge, with a venerable archway, and a groove 
 in it, which, in ancient times, was fitted with a port- 
 cullis, and which was ornamented with the armorial 
 bearings of the Dashington family, with the year 1460 
 carved beneath them. It had turrets and winding 
 stone stairs, and walls four feet thick, and haunted 
 chambers, and secret passages — in fact, every archi- 
 tectural device which the rude luxury of the period in 
 which it was built could suggest, or its wealth procure ; 
 and it had been added to recently in accordance with 
 more modern requirements, — for the Dashingtons had 
 been one of the great county families from old time, 
 and had ever been celebrated for their princely hospi- 
 tality, the traditions of which had been cherished by 
 each successive baronet, so that it had become the 
 fashion to increase the size of the mansion just in pro- 
 portion as the acreage of the property was diminished 
 through a too lavish expenditure. When the present 
 baronet came into the property, he found it burdened 
 not only with a house and park very much too large 
 for it, but with sundry mortgages, which would have 
 
HANNAH'S TOILET. 313 
 
 suggested to a prudent man that the time had come 
 when the traditions of the family might advantage- 
 ously be departed from, and its too generous hospi- 
 tality curtailed. Sir George, who was at Oxford when 
 his father died, no sooner succeeded than he showed 
 his readiness to depart from the traditions of the 
 family, but not in the sense of limiting its hospitality. 
 On the contrary, he was quite as extravagant as any 
 of his ancestors, but he conceived that he possessed a 
 talent for finance which had been denied to them, and 
 he determined, therefore, to restore the fallen fortunes 
 of his house by methods which they would probably 
 have shrunk from. As the director of ten joint-stock 
 companies, the aristocratic tool of Lauriola, and the 
 cavalidre servente of the wife of that great speculator, 
 his reputation was not exactly one which his ancestor, 
 the famous Sir Grey, who had been a cavalier of quite 
 another type, in the days of Cromwell, would have 
 envied. Still he was not an unamiable man, or unkind 
 to his wife, provided she flirted enough to keep up the 
 character of the establishment. She might invite as 
 many friends of her own to Copley Grange as she 
 pleased, so long as they did not clash with his ; and 
 he was always ready to make himself a charming and 
 affable host. So when Lady Adela, on her return 
 from the visit to the cottage, announced that she had 
 asked the whole party there to spend a week at the 
 Grange, he had offered no objection ; on the contrary, 
 he was rather pleased with the idea. He had taken a 
 
314 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 fancy to the two Americans. He was curious to see 
 Altiora after the notoriety she had acquired; and 
 Baron Grandesella was of so much importance in the 
 financial world, that the Baroness was a welcome 
 visitor, — ^it would put the Baron under an obligation 
 which might be made available some day ; moreover, 
 all the credit of thus putting an end to the scandal so 
 nearly affecting his wife's family would devolve upon 
 him. 
 
 " I shall telegraph for the Lauriolas," he said. " I 
 know they are not engaged elsewhere — they will just 
 suit the Baroness Grandesella; and you can send for 
 St Olave, you know, and one or two other young men." 
 
 " St Olave has already promised to come," she re- 
 plied, slightly flushing ; " and there will be Mr Hether- 
 ington and Bob Alderney. I am so sorry Sark had to 
 go away so suddenly, — we want more men." 
 
 "AskBasinghaU." 
 
 "I am afraid he would not care to come without 
 Mrs Haseleyne." 
 
 "Well, ask her too." 
 
 " Very well, George ; but I'm nearly sure they are 
 both engaged. I know they were discussing the 
 merits of two or three invitations when we were at 
 Beaucourt." 
 
 "Well, there's Casseroll, he'll do well with the 
 Lauriolas and the Baroness — he is a sharp young 
 fellow ; and I hear she has quite a head for business. 
 We might knock up some new combination. Then if 
 
HANNAH'S TOILET. 315 
 
 you want another odd man, there's always the curate. 
 I think a very slight infusion of ecclesiasticism gives 
 a delicate flavour to a mixed party. It's like a sus- 
 picion of garlic in a salad. He will be too much 
 swamped by the others to be offensive. By the way, 
 there's MacAlpine, only he is such an ass ; but he can 
 supply a whiff of scepticism to correct the odour of 
 sanctity if it becomes overpowering." 
 
 Meantime the Baroness, in a flutter of delight at so 
 unexpected a development, had written, announcing 
 the turn affairs had taken, to Murkle, urging the ex- 
 pediency of delay, in so far as Altiora was concerned, 
 as it was evident that her social position would be so 
 much improved by it, and refraining from any allusion 
 to the determination expressed by the young lady her- 
 self to resist, at all hazards, the proposed marriage. She 
 had scarcely despatched her letter, when, to her sur- 
 prise, she received one from that gentleman, saying 
 that, on consideration, he had decided for the present 
 not to urge his suit on Altiora, and that, so far as his 
 immediate interests were concerned, the Baroness might 
 consider her mission terminated, but that he declined 
 to give any assurances that he would not renew the 
 subject. Murkle had indeed never clearly realised the 
 somewhat anomalous position in which he had placed 
 himself, so absorbed had he been by the receipt of 
 Stella's letter, until he began to answer it. It then 
 occurred to him that the Baroness might, at that mo- 
 ment, most inconveniently have secured him the hand 
 
316 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 —he never hoped for the heart — of Altiora ; but as he 
 Imew that the latter would only be too glad to be re- 
 leased from the engagement, even if her consent had 
 been obtained to it, he had no scruple in writing to the 
 Baroness in the above sense, prudently keeping, how- 
 ever, the sword of Damocles suspended in case of neces- 
 sity. His letter to Stella, which began, " Dearest Miss 
 Walton," contained an effusive expansion of his grati- 
 tude, with his promise that in a few days the necessary 
 documents should be prepared, and the expression of 
 the hope that he might be allowed to bring them down 
 to Copleydale himself. 
 
 "And the men say that we are vain," said Stella, 
 when she read the letter. " What but the most inor- 
 dinate vanity could have induced him to gorge such a 
 coarse bait? I shall be quite sorry when the farce 
 terminates ; it's such fun making a fool of a man who 
 thinks himself so smart. Now, Hannah, I've pretty 
 nigh fixed this lace on. I'm going to present you at 
 Copley Grange as a harmony in slate. Now you will 
 see that the dress I had such trouble to have made for 
 you in Paris will come in most usefully." 
 
 "You just hold steady," said Hannah, placing her 
 hand on Stella's shoulder ; " afore I put them duds on, 
 I've got to learn the trick of my legs in 'em. There 
 now, supposin' I want to turn round of a suddent, I've 
 got to give a sort of a sweeping kick sideways to clear 
 the train, as I understand — so." 
 
 " Not so violently, Hannah, or you would lose your 
 
HANNAH'S TOILET. 317 
 
 balance ; besides, you must show grace in your move- 
 ments," said Stella, laughing. " More like this, but I 
 ought to have a train on to show you ; it looks ridicu- 
 lous to be kicking at nothing, however gracefully you 
 do it. Then there's another thing, Hannah, you must 
 be very careful about sitting down with dresses made 
 like this; don't go and plump down suddenly and 
 throw yourself back, without remembering to take 
 hold of your train and throw it over your feet." 
 
 "I know," said Hannah. "I've often seen that 
 Clymer do it, and wondered why she did not do it 
 sooner — shameless hussy ; then she'd look for all the 
 world like a cat with her tail twisted over her toes — 
 same as you sometimes see 'em a settin'. Well, there's 
 no need to tell me to be keerful in my movements 
 when I'm carryin' them fixin's about. Why, I sup- 
 pose that dress, now, cost a matter of a hundred 
 doUars?" 
 
 " Two hundred. Only don't let Mattie know I told 
 you. She would have got you one that cost twice as 
 much, only she was afraid you would be angry, and 
 wouldn't wear it. She says there's no dress that was 
 ever made that is good enough for you ; but then, you 
 know, Mattie's a little fool, and we, none of us pay any 
 attention to what she says." And Stella put her arms 
 round the old lady's neck, and made her pant for breath 
 under the violence of her embrace. " Now it's all ready 
 for you to try on — let us make haste, and then I'll go 
 and call Mattie and Altiora." 
 
318 ALTIOKA PETO. 
 
 " Don't appear to me," said Hannah, while she was 
 undergoing the attiring process, "as them colours go 
 well together, — ^they're too much alike, and ain't no 
 particular colour at that." 
 
 " They are called teints d6grad6s, and harmonise with 
 your general style and complexion." 
 
 " Well, I suppose it's better to have 'em muddy- 
 lookin', so as not to show the dirt. My, now, if I ain't 
 real uncomfortable about the legs ! Don't seem to me 
 as I could walk without bustin' something, or toppling 
 over myself. What was that went crack ? " 
 
 " Only a string. You mustn't move about so ener- 
 getically, Hannah. Do stand still. Draw in your 
 breath a little, so that I can make this meet — there. 
 Now walk on slowly. Why, that's perfectly splendid ; 
 you look something between a medieval saint and 
 a dowager empress. I must complete the resem- 
 blance by putting a diamond star on your forehead 
 on a black band over the parting where your hair 
 is so thin, then the lace-cap covers all the rest. ISTow 
 you're finished," and putting her head through the 
 door into the next room, where the girls were im- 
 patiently waiting the summons, she called, " Altiora ! 
 Mattie! the full-dress rehearsal is about to begin. 
 Advance, Hannah, and shake hands with Altiora and 
 Mattie as if they were Sir George and Lady Adela, 
 Don't step back so suddenly or you'll tumble over 
 your tail. Always give a kick immediately after 
 shaking hands as you retire." 
 
HANNAH'S TOILET. 319 
 
 " Shall I stick my elbow out so when I shake 
 hands ? " asked Hannah. 
 
 " No : that's going out. Now, imagine that you are 
 being introduced to the Duchess of Beaucourt ; — don't 
 walk stiffly up and put your hand out and say, 
 ' Duchess of Beaucourt, I'm pleased to know you, ma- 
 dam,' but make a curtsey — so; perhaps she won't want 
 to shake hands — these British aristocrats often think 
 bowing quite enough, and you needn't say anything." 
 
 "Guess I can't make that curtsey," said Hannah; 
 " don't see how on airth you do it sweepin' down like 
 that." 
 
 " Well, a bow will be enough. I don't know my- 
 self exactly how it's done, as I never was taught in 
 America; now gracefully retire to the couch and sit 
 down, and see that you handle your train properly— 
 smartly now, as they say in the navy." 
 
 "The plaguy thing seems like as if it was caught 
 somewhere," murmured Hannah with her head down, 
 as, seated on the couch, she tugged at her skirts. 
 Finally, extricating them from a footstool, she flung 
 them triumphantly across her feet. 
 
 "There; that was capital. You only want a little 
 more practice," said Mattie, laughing heartily. " Now 
 Altiora has got some news to tell you." 
 
 "Mamma has just been to tell me that she has 
 heard from Mr Murkle, who writes to say that if the 
 proposal she had to make on his behalf to me seems 
 disagreeable, she is not to press it." 
 
320 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 "Ah," said Stella, laughing, "he is beginning to 
 find out that it requires some dexterity to manage 
 two strings to one bow, for fear of getting them en- 
 tangled." 
 
 " My sakes ! " exclaimed Hannah, jumping up from 
 her seat, having previously dexterously kicked aside 
 her train, "I guess I can sympathise with him, — if 
 there doesn't go the second string to mine ; what's the 
 use of it, anyway, stuck on in front like a soup-plate ? 
 I guess it don't hold up anything." 
 
 "Why, Stella," laughed Mattie, "Hannah is quite 
 right ; she has profited by her lessons from Mr Mac- 
 Alpine. Don't you know that it's against the first 
 principles of aesthetics to add anything for the sake of 
 ornament to a work of art for which there is no con- 
 structive necessity ? " 
 
 "Well, but Mattie, the bow is a work of art in 
 itself." 
 
 " Ah, but the supremest art, according to our kilted 
 prophet, consisted in making the whole person a single 
 artistic conception, and not a conglomeration of separ- 
 ate artistic ideas. " 
 
 "Yes. I suppose," retorted Stella, "that was why 
 he wanted to pull his kilt up to his neck, and turn it 
 into a Eoman toga. Which would you rather be, 
 Hannah — a single artistic conception, or a conglom- 
 eration of separate artistic ideas ? " 
 
 " I suppose paint and false hair and patches, and 
 all them things that Clymer wears, are separate 
 
HANNAH'S TOILET. 321 
 
 artistic ideas," said Hannah. "Well, I guess; I was 
 a single artistic conception from the time I was born, 
 and you can't improve upon me much. Why, here's 
 Bobby comin' in at the gate. What a start he did 
 give me ! " 
 
 "I have just received a telegram from Hethering- 
 ton," said that gentleman on entering, "and he says 
 that he has seen Sark safely off for Ireland, and hopes 
 to meet us all at the Grange to-morrow. Oh, Hannah, 
 I beg your pardon." 
 
 " 'Tain't your fault, Bobby. How the men's ever to 
 keep off my tail, I'm sure I don't know ; it's one o' 
 them gathers gone, Stella." 
 
 " You really must learn to be more careful, Hannah, 
 how you approach the opposite sex. Trains were in- 
 vented to teach that lesson, I suppose, but they don't 
 seem to have been much use. I wonder why Lord 
 Sark has gone to Ireland ! " 
 
 "Perhaps for safety," suggested Altiora, whose 
 thoughts reverted to Mrs Clymer. 
 
 "He didn't ought to have gone," said Hannah. 
 " Laws ! that was why I gave that start when I seen 
 Bobby; there's no safety for him there. It's old 
 Hannah says so, and you'd better believe it." 
 
 Z 
 
322 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 CHAP TEE XXVII. 
 
 HANNAH EXPOUNDS TO THE CURATE. 
 
 " Mr Chalfont, will you take Miss Coffin ? *' said Lady 
 Adela Dashington to the curate of Copley, as she was 
 marshalling the guests for dinner on the evening of 
 their arrival at the Grange ; and the clergyman, bowing 
 gracefully, offered his arm to Hannah, who, sitting bolt- 
 upright on the edge of a chair, was severely scanning 
 the assembled company very much with the air of a 
 general on a field-day waiting for the troops to march 
 past. Miss Coffin was too utterly devoid of self-con- 
 sciousness ever to be in the slightest degree shy, 
 flurried, or embarrassed; but being of a philosophic 
 and reflective turn of mind, she was studying human 
 nature, in the phase under which it was now being 
 presented to her for the first time, with an earnest 
 desire to enlighten her mind, and add to her stock of 
 general information. 
 
 "I didn't rightly catch your name," said Hannah, 
 "but I suppose you're the minister." 
 
 "My name is Chalfont — Sidney Chalfont; and, as 
 you rightly observe, I am in holy orders." 
 
 " Holy orders is mighty difficult to obey ; don't you 
 find 'em ? " she remarked, rising and taking his arm. 
 
 " The present state of the law in this country renders 
 it impossible, very often," replied Mr Chalfont, who 
 
HANNAH EXPOUNDS TO THE CURATE. 323 
 
 had long made up liis mind on the first convenient 
 occasion to become an ecclesiastical martyr. 
 
 " Do tell ! " exclaimed Hannah. 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Miss Coffin." 
 
 " Oh, I ain't noways offended, but it does beat all." 
 
 *' What beats all?" 
 
 " Well, I don't know as I understood you, but you 
 seemed to say that you couldn't keep the laws of 
 God because of the laws of man — and you a minister, 
 too; and I say that beats all — and what's more, I 
 stick to it." 
 
 " Dear me," thought the Keverend Sidney Chalfont, 
 "this American is a very plain-spoken woman." "My 
 dear madam, I don't wonder that you are astonished. 
 I am well aware that the Anglican priesthood of 
 America are not subject to the same tyranny that we 
 are in this country." 
 
 " Then why do you stand it ? " 
 
 " We don't stand it, — we go to prison for it." 
 
 " Seems to me, if they put you in prison for it, as it 
 is them as won't stand it. Did you know, before you 
 became a minister, that you would either have to obey 
 the laws of man, or else go to prison for not obey- 
 ing 'em?" 
 
 " That consideration was not sufficient to deter me 
 from following a vocation to which I felt internally 
 called, and from being a witness for the truth and 
 a martyr for conscience' sake." 
 
 " And you feel sure that them laws you won't obey 
 
324 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 was made to uphold untruth, and you was made to 
 uphold the truth?" 
 
 "I can only act according to my conscience, and 
 what I believe to be truth." 
 
 "And them as puts you in prison acts the same, 
 maybe." 
 
 " I give them credit for being sincere." 
 
 " Well, now," pursued the old lady, " I've been in 
 search of the highest truth since I was a gell — that's 
 a matter of a half a century; always on the search. 
 How old might you ha' bin when you determined to 
 obey the holy orders ? " 
 
 " About two-and-twenty," said Chalfont. 
 
 "And you was so sure then that you'd got the 
 truth, that you decided to go where you could break 
 the laws of a country as calls itself Christian, to testify 
 to it?" 
 
 " Well, I don't think that's altogether a fair way of 
 putting it," said Chalfont, laughing ; " but the subject 
 is a large one, and involves the whole question of the 
 government of the Church by the Church instead of 
 by the State. May I ask what was the result of your 
 fifty years' search after truth ? " 
 
 " Well, I guess I'm on the track at last." 
 
 " What ! only on it now ? " 
 
 "It's difficult saying when I first got on — a body 
 can't jest always give dates in them things. I dessay 
 I was on all the time, but if I didn't know it, there 
 was no peace. It's only with the knowledge as peace 
 
HANNAH EXPOUNDS TO THE CURATE. 325 
 
 comes. It's not by readin', nor by study, nor by spek- 
 ilatin', that you find Divine truth — it's by loving what 
 is good, and a-doin' of it." 
 
 " I should have said that Divine revelation and the 
 teaching of the Church were the guides to truth," said 
 Chalfont. 
 
 " If one set of people as is guided by 'em puts an- 
 other set of people as is guided by 'em into prison 
 because they can't agree which way they pint, seems 
 to me they're mighty onsartin' guides." 
 
 "It has been so from aU time," replied Chalfont, 
 mournfully. " The history of Christendom is a history 
 of religious strife : till man is regenerate it cannot be 
 otherwise." 
 
 " Well, then, it's o' no use for a man as isn't regener- 
 ate darin' to say he knows what Divine truth is, — it's 
 a-puttin' the cart before the horse, young man; he 
 hasn't got the materials in him to find it out with. 
 There's no bishop nor yet a judge in the land as has a 
 right to speak on such things — leastways till he has 
 conquered his own evils, and that's a mighty hard job. 
 It's the heart as finds out truth, and not the head. 
 When a man has given up houses, and lands, and wife, 
 and children to serve his fellow-critturs, then he is 
 beginning to get his heart into trainin' for findin' the 
 truth. It's only by lovin' his kind more than himself, 
 and sacrificing everything for 'em, that a man who 
 starts not knowin' whether there is a God at all, can 
 find Him out, and then He leads him into all truth ; 
 
326 ALTIOKA PETO. 
 
 but if you begin as soon as you can toddle to be sartin' 
 that what your mama told you mu&t be true, I don't 
 wonder at your gettin* put into prison for stickin' to it 
 afterwards, by them whose mamas told 'em different." 
 
 " But my present views were not obtained from my 
 mamma," said Chalfont, much amused. 
 
 " Well, you set your muddled young brains against 
 the muddled old brains of the others — both of you 
 tryin' to work out God's truth as if it was a prob- 
 lem in mathematicks. Things as can't be proved are 
 things as must be felt, and things as are felt mostly 
 can't be proved. How can a truth as is based on pure 
 love be proved ? When people feel the same love, 
 never fear but they'll feel the same truth. What T 
 hold to is lovin' what's good." 
 
 "Then try some of those truffles, madam," said 
 Lauriola, who was sitting on the other side of her, as 
 the servant handed her those dainties wrapped in a 
 napkin, and who only caught the last sentence. "I 
 quite agree with you about loving what's good — take 
 plenty of butter." 
 
 Hannah, who had never seen those unprepossessing- 
 looking tubers before, in her thirst for knowledge 
 boldly imitated the example of her neighbours. " My 
 sakes ! " she said, turning again to Chalfont, and speak- 
 ing with her mouth full — " it's like trying to eat a 
 chunk of tamarack-root, same as you see in swamps. 
 If you call that nice, it's a truth I can't swaller," and 
 she elegantly suited the action to the word. " It may 
 
HANNAH EXPOUNDS TO THE CUKATE. 327 
 
 be true to you because you love it, it ain't true to me 
 because I don't. Who can prove who is right? I 
 only hope it's a truth as'll agree with you after you've 
 swallered it." 
 
 "But that goes to show," replied Chalfont, "that 
 people differ in their ideas of what is good, and that 
 the first step in the search for truth is the finding out 
 what the good thing is that you are to love." 
 
 " That's so— now you're gettin' to the root of things. 
 There is just two kinds of love. Some folks think the 
 best and highest love is the love of themselves — and 
 others that it is the love of their f ellow-critturs ; and 
 what seems true to the first set, will always seem false 
 to the others. People who really love their kind live 
 for 'em ; and it's through givin' up everything for 'em 
 and livin' for 'em that you find out things — not by 
 studyin' on old doctrines, maybe true, but that nobody 
 can't prove' the truth of. Belie vin' as they call it, in 
 doctrines, don't seem to do much good to people's 
 lives," pursued Hannah, looking round the table. 
 
 " I assure you," said CasseroU, at this moment speak- 
 ing across to Lauriola, of the Company of which Sark 
 was chairman, " that in spite of the high character of 
 some of the directors, there will be a terrible exposure 
 — the thing will turn out to have been a complete 
 swindle." 
 
 " One of the members of the Board fills, if I am not 
 mistaken," said MacAlpine, with a sneer, " a prominent 
 position in the Society for the Protection of the Inter- 
 
328 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 ests of the Church. You must surely know about hiin, 
 MrChalfont?" 
 
 "I know that there are a great many people who 
 make use of religion as a cloak to cover their iniquity," 
 responded the curate, coldly, "just as there are many 
 who use a smattering of science to conceal their ignor- 
 ance, or indulge in philosophical platitudes in order to 
 impose upon the ignorance of others. There are the 
 Pharisees and hypocrites of scepticism as well as of 
 religion." 
 
 "Mr MacAlpine," said Hannah, breaking solemnly 
 in upon the pause which followed this speech, and 
 looking round the table for a general assent, "that's 
 so, and you'd better believe it." 
 
 This produced a general laugh at MacAlpine's ex- 
 pense. 
 
 " That old woman is perfectly delicious," Sir George 
 Dashington remarked to Madame Lauriola. 
 
 " The Baroness there ought to be eternally grateful 
 to her," observed that lady. 
 
 " How so ? " 
 
 " Why, it was she, I believe, who put up Altiora Peto 
 to running away from her parents in Paris, thereby 
 giving them a start in society which they would never 
 have got in any other way, — witness her presence under 
 your roof now." 
 
 " Come, come, ma mie, you mustn't be jealous ; the 
 Baron and Baroness have just as good a right to be in 
 society as many others who are there — better, in fact, 
 
HANNAH EXPOUNDS TO THE CURATE. 329 
 
 considering Altiora's relationship to my wife ; and I'll 
 turn the Baron to account before I've done with him. 
 There's Lady Adela giving the signal for a move ; take 
 my advice, and make the Baroness an ally and not a 
 rival." 
 
 "Keithy," said Hannah to Hetherington a day or 
 two afterwards, when they found themselves alone in 
 the corner of the library, " I've been talkin' a good bit 
 to that young minister, and ha' got him on my mind. 
 It's amazin' how I seem to know more what's in a body 
 by what he don't say than what he does. He's got a 
 heart of gold has that young man, if he could only be 
 got on the right track. It's the martyr-spirit as he's 
 got. He's just a-bustin' with love for God and his fel- 
 low-critturs, and it runs into all kinds of fancies as he 
 wants to be put in prison for, — suthin' about some kind 
 of clothes he wants to wear when he's a-preachin', I 
 disremember the name of 'em, and the Courts won't let 
 him — seems there's a judge as says it's agin the laws of 
 God to wear 'em, also to mix wine with water, and 
 light candles and sech things in Church. * Well,' says 
 I, * as the judge can't know what the will of the 
 Almighty is a bit more nor you can in the matter, and 
 it ain't no account any way, why don't you give in ? ' 
 Says he, ' If I did, I should be a traitor to my God and 
 my Church ; there's a great principle a-lyin' under it,' 
 says he, * and I should be false to the highest love of 
 my soul if I didn't hold to it.' Jest the same as you 
 sometimes see a young man in love with a gell, and 
 
330 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 he'll try and break his neck over a precipice to get a 
 flower for her which she don't want, and which ain't 
 no good after he's got it, jest because he seems driv' to 
 it by his love, and he don't know no better. I tell you 
 it makes my heart feel sad, — it's like a fine water- 
 power all goin' to waste in a new-settled country, with 
 plenty of lumber all round, and people starving for 
 shelter, and no mill on it as can do anything but turn 
 chair-legs and sechlike." 
 
 "What surprises me is," said Hetherington, "that 
 people should not feel more universally the necessity 
 of a fresh moral departure of some sort ; that the in- 
 adequacy of the theological systems of the day to cope 
 with the evils of the age should not force itself more 
 powerfully upon men's minds ; that with the increase 
 of knowledge and civilisation, we should have an al- 
 most corresponding increase of armaments and of im- 
 provements in the methods of human destruction ; that 
 crimes should be more rampant, moral abuses more re- 
 fined ; that all the great social problems should remain 
 unsolved, and that the effort to solve them should be 
 left to men of science and philosophers, while the 
 Churches remain passive, and apparently satisfied with 
 the condition of things as they are; that men like 
 Chalfont should not perceive that their zeal and devo- 
 tion are running in the same narrow channel as those 
 of the best men for the last two thousand years, and 
 leaving the moral problems as far from solution as 
 
HANNAH EXPOUNDS TO THE CUIIATE. 331 
 
 " It 'pears to me," rejoined Hannah, " that Christians 
 have given up the idea of being Christ-like — gave it up 
 pretty soon, I guess— and with it gave up the whole 
 social idea contained in the religion which applied 
 it to daily life, — turned it into a passport system for 
 savin' souls, with dogmas, and ceremonies, and sech- 
 like, about which people have been quarrelling ever 
 since." 
 
 "It can only be through a combined effort on the 
 part of those penetrated with the absolute need of a 
 new departure being attempted, which shall grapple 
 with the moral problems of our present life, rather 
 than with the hypothetical considerations involved in 
 a future one, that a new force can be evolved which 
 shall be sufficiently powerful to display itself in what 
 may be termed new natural moral phenomena. The 
 elements are pregnant with them, and their manifesta- 
 tion cannot much longer be delayed. When that time 
 comes, men like Chalfont will be attracted to the move- 
 ment as certainly as the needle to the magnet; till 
 then, his sufferings and his unrest are the preparations 
 necessary for the discipline and the purification of his 
 nature." 
 
 At this point Hetherington was interrupted by the 
 entry of Sir George Dashington with the morning 
 paper in his hand. 
 
 " Do you know where Bob Alderney is ? " he asked 
 in an excited manner. 
 
 " I saw him walking in the garden with Miss Terrill 
 
332 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 a few moments ago/' replied Hetherington ; "is any- 
 thing the matter?" 
 
 " Eead that ; but for God's sake say nothing about 
 it till we have decided what is to be done. Poor 
 Adela ! I don't know how it is to be broken to her." 
 
 " Eead it out, Keithy," said Hannah. 
 
 Hetherington took the paper and read the following 
 telegraphic despatch: "The Earl of Sark was blown 
 up last night on his estate in Ireland when retiring 
 to rest. It seems that some explosive material had 
 been placed in the bed-clothes. But faint hopes are 
 entertained of the unfortunate nobleman's recovery." 
 
 " Somebody will have to tell Adela," said Sir George, 
 who disliked all untoward occurrences, and the trouble 
 they involved. "She will be sure to want to go off 
 at once — and as I have all sorts of important business 
 to attend to, Bob Alderney had better take her. 'Pon 
 my life, it's one of the worst pieces of news I have 
 ever received; but what else could you expect from 
 the policy of the Government? Ah, here's a tele- 
 gram," he added, as the servant entered with a de- 
 spatch; "just wait a moment, Hetherington, till I 
 see what is in it. Perhaps Miss Coffin would kindly 
 go and look for Miss Terrill and Alderney;" but 
 Hannah had already disappeared. 
 
THE EFFECTS OF AN EXPLOSION, 333 
 
 CHAPTEE XXVIII. 
 
 THE EFFECTS OF AN EXPLOSION. 
 
 " Bobby," said Hannah, as she overtook that gentleman 
 walking with Mattie in a sheltered avenue, " where is 
 LadyAdela?" 
 
 "I saw her this moment go out driving with the 
 Baroness, Madame Lauriola, and St Olave," replied 
 Alderney. 
 
 " Stella and Altiora have gone out riding with Mr 
 Lauriola and Mr CasseroU; Mr MacAlpine is in the 
 throes of musical composition somewhere; Mr Chal- 
 f ont has gone to look after his parishioners ; Sir George 
 is engaged in what is supposed to be financial corre- 
 spondence; I thought Keith Hetherington was with 
 you, — and having thus accounted satisfactorily for the 
 whole party, we had no fear of interruption," added 
 Mattie, significantly. 
 
 " When does the first train start for Ireland ? " asked 
 Hannah. 
 
 " Well, no train goes there direct," said Bob, laugh- 
 ing. " I should have to consult Bradshaw as to the 
 quickest route from here. Why ? Are you thinking 
 about making the trip?" 
 
 " I ain't thinking about it ; I've done all that. I am 
 a-goin' to start at oust, and you're a-comin' with me. 
 Listen to this" — and Hannah repeated the words of 
 
334 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 the telegram which Hetherington had read. "That's 
 the kind of news that don't bear delay, nor waitin' for 
 folks to come home from ridin' to consult what's to be 
 done." 
 
 They met Sir George and Hetherington as they 
 returned hurriedly to the house, and in a few moments 
 it was discovered that the boat from Holyhead might 
 be caught by going by the next train. 
 
 " You have only ten minutes to get ready in, Hannah. 
 Order the dogcart at once, George, while I put a few 
 things together. We may just do it," said Bob. 
 
 " There ! I only want a brush and a comb and a 
 night-gown in my hand- valise, Mattie," said Hannah, 
 while she was putting on her bonnet. "You and 
 Stella can follow with the rest of the things. Tell 
 the Lady" — Hannah generally spoke of Lady Adela 
 thus — " I had to take Bobby to show me the way, and 
 there was no time to wait. Didn't I say, Mattie, there 
 was danger for Lordy in Ireland when first I heard he 
 was a-goin' over? If her husband won't bring the 
 Lady over, I suppose Keithy will, and you can come 
 along with them. We shall have to let Altiora go 
 back with her mama; but there ain't no danger for 
 her just now. Tell Stella she's bound to come at oust ; 
 maybe she holds his life in her hands. It's old Han- 
 nah as says it," she added, after a pause, " and she'd 
 better believe it. Now hurry up, child, with them 
 things. I hear the buggy a-comin' round" — and 
 snatching the bag from Mattie's hand, she gave her a 
 
THE EFFECTS OF AN EXPLOSION. 335 
 
 parting embrace, ran down-stairs with the alacrity of 
 a girl of eighteen, and two minutes later was seated by 
 Alderney's side in the dogcart. " I've told Mattie 
 what you'd best all do," she called out to Hethering- 
 ton, as she waved her hand to him, without taking the 
 slightest notice of Sir George, who never seemed to 
 have realised her intentions until he saw her form 
 rapidly retreating on his dogcart down the approach. 
 
 It is needless to describe the consternation and 
 distress of the riding and driving parties when they 
 returned to the Grange, to be met with the terrible 
 intelligence which had been so promptly acted upon 
 by Hannah and Bob Alderney. The Lauriolas, the Bar- 
 oness, and Altiora, with MacAlpine and CasseroU, at 
 once made preparations for their immediate departure. 
 
 "You had better go to London with the Baroness 
 and Altiora," said Stella to Hetherington. " It seems 
 that Lord St Olave is going to take charge of Lady 
 Adela, as Sir George is too busy to go to Ireland." 
 
 " And what are you and Mattie going to do ? 
 Hannah said that she expected you to foUow her to 
 Ireland." 
 
 "I must go in the first instance to the Cottage; 
 after that our movements are uncertain. There are 
 reasons why I am particularly anxious that they 
 should remain so. Now, good-bye; I am going to 
 confide them to Altiora, and shall then be the first to 
 leave this house of mourning." 
 
 " Dear Altiora," said Stella, taking that young lady 
 
336 ALTIOPtA PETO. 
 
 into a corner of her bedroom while her maid was 
 packing, " Mattie and I have come to bid you good- 
 bye. We are going to the Cottage first, and shall then 
 meet Lady Adela at the station, and go with her to 
 Ireland; but I don't wish any of our party here to 
 know it. I was afraid, dear, that you might be 
 bothered with that horrid Murkle, so I have just had 
 time to write him this hurried note. Listen — 
 
 (( ( 
 
 Deae Mr Murkle, — I shall be delighted to see 
 you at Copleydale, if you will come here and bring 
 the necessary documents with you. — Your friend, 
 
 " ' Stella Walton.' " 
 
 " But," said Altiora, " you won't be at the Cottage if 
 you are going to Ireland." 
 
 "Oh, I shall leave a note behind, begging him to 
 follow me. There are many reasons why it wiU be 
 much better for all of us to keep him travelling about 
 on a wild-goose chase, than brewing mischief in Lon- 
 don. I went out riding with Mr CasseroU to-day on 
 purpose to pick the substance which he calls his 
 brains; and from what I have been able to gather, 
 there is a sort of conspiracy on foot in London to ruin 
 poor Lord Sark in money and reputation : and now 
 that he is no longer able to protect either, such men 
 as Murkle are too dangerous to be left to their own 
 devices. I only wish the Clymer could be as easily 
 disposed of." 
 
THE EFFECTS OF AN EXPLOSION. 337 
 
 "Why," said Altiora, "what has she got to do 
 with it?" 
 
 " Find out from your mother, my dear, if you can ; 
 she has been most confidentially engaged with Casseroll 
 ever since he has been here, and, I think, has dis- 
 covered more than I have. We are not going to let 
 your cousin die, darling," she added, with a quivering 
 lip, and an emphasis on the last word as if it might 
 have another application. " And if you keep your 
 eyes and ears open when you get to town, you may be 
 of use to him. Keith will help you. The people to 
 be watched are Mr Casseroll and Mrs Clymer. Lady 
 Adela will tell you where to write to me, and you 
 shall hear from us the moment we arrive." 
 
 And the two girls hurried off, escaping the formality 
 of special adieux under cover of the general pressure 
 of events. 
 
 The fate of Lord Sark affected Messrs Lauriola and 
 Casseroll only in the degree in which it might influence 
 their financial arrangements and damage their pockets. 
 And they had much to say to each other on their way 
 to town. Lauriola, who had an interest in the Gran- 
 desella and Murkle combination, being in the difficult 
 position of having to make up his mind whether to 
 throw over his friends and join the Casseroll move- 
 ment, or trust to Sark's recovery and final escape from 
 his present difficulties by fulfilling the arrangement to 
 which he was honourably pledged. The Baroness and 
 Madame Lauriola, each inwardly speculating whether 
 
 Y 
 
338 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 it would pay best to fight their way in society as 
 friends or rivals, were cementing the forms of a hollow 
 intimacy by sympathetic remarks on the recent lamen- 
 table occurrence, which Madame Lauriola had heard 
 of, not altogether without a secret satisfaction; for 
 she felt that the fascinations of her youth and beauty 
 could scarcely compensate for the aristocratic connec- 
 tion, however distant, which the Baroness enjoyed, and 
 which Sark's death would tend so materially to weaken. 
 There was one subject, however, upon which they could 
 exchange views with a delightful freedom and sense of 
 luxury, if not with actual unanimity. To both, Mrs 
 Clymer was an object of interest and curiosity: to 
 Madame Lauriola she was, in addition, one of aver- 
 sion; while the Baroness professed a guarded friend- 
 ship in a certain deprecatory tone, defending Mrs 
 Clymer just sufi&ciently to call forth the severe criti- 
 cisms on her friend's general conduct and morality 
 which it did her feminine heart good to hear. 
 
 " Depend upon it. Baroness," said Madame Lauriola, 
 "a woman like Mrs Clymer does not easily forgive 
 such treatment as she seems to have received from 
 Lord Sark. In one way or other she will be avenged. 
 She has too much the instinct of an adventuress — I 
 might almost say of the demi-mond&— to treat him with 
 the dignity of a woman of the world." 
 
 "Indeed I think you are mistaken in supposing 
 Mrs Clymer to be a vindictive woman," returned the 
 Baroness, who had good reason for knowing the con- 
 
THE EFFECTS OF AN EXPLOSION. 339 
 
 trary, from the admissions she had extorted from 
 CasseroU; "and I am sure I should never have 
 allowed her intimacy with my daughter had I " not 
 assured myself that her friendship for Lord Sark arose 
 merely from a sympathy of taste, and was of a purely 
 Platonic character. Poor thing ! I am sure, in spite of 
 the little coldness which seems to have arisen between 
 them, that she will be dreadfully distressed to hear the 
 news. I shall go and call upon her the first thing 
 to-morrow." 
 
 But the Baroness had another visit to pay first ; for 
 she was alarmed at the turn affairs had taken finan- 
 cially, and at the threatened collapse of the negotiations, 
 with the details of which, as we have seen, she had 
 become familiar in Paris, and the pecuniary advantages 
 of which she was not disposed to allow to slip from 
 her without a struggle — for she was a woman who 
 entertained a strong belief in the power of money, and 
 in the necessity of making as much of it as possible. 
 She was therefore exceedingly anxious to hear from 
 Murkle the real state of the case, and drove to the 
 office on the following morning with an unpleasant 
 suspicion that, for some reason or other, he had not 
 watched the interests of the firm, in the absence of its 
 senior partner, with his ordinary vigilance. Eichard 
 Murkle had not long before arrived at his office, and was 
 indulging in a sentimental day-dream, and wondering 
 why he had not heard from Stella, when he was some- 
 what rudely disturbed by the entrance of the Baroness. 
 
340 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 " I only arrived last night from Copley Grange," she 
 said, " and have come straight here, — I wanted to see 
 you at once about this dreadful business. First, I 
 want to know, if Sark dies, whether there is any one 
 else who can carry out his engagements ; secondly, if 
 he lives, whether there is anybody that can act for 
 him ; thirdly, in either case, whether there is anything 
 seriously to be apprehended from this counter-agitation 
 among the shareholders, the particulars of which I 
 have obtained from young CasseroU — but of course 
 I could not rely upon them; and fourthly, whether, 
 if there is any real danger, what steps you have taken 
 to meet it." 
 
 "If you expect me to answer all those questions 
 with the fluency with which you have put them, I'm 
 afraid you'll be disappointed, Laura," said Murkle, 
 yawning. " I saw Sark before he left on his unfortu- 
 nate journey for Ireland, and telegraphed your husband 
 the results of our interview." 
 
 " And what were they ? " 
 
 "He wanted time, and he seems likely to get 
 eternity," he returned, with a smile of grim satisfac- 
 tion at his joke. 
 
 "And what becomes of the transfer of the Company?" 
 
 "Oh, I'm afraid the Company will get blown up, 
 like its chairman, before all its rights, privileges, and 
 concessions can be transferred." 
 
 " And you can talk of a fatal accident to Lord Sark, 
 which is likely to be attended with serious pecuniary 
 
THE EFFECTS OF AN EXPLOSION. 341 
 
 loss to US, as if it was all a capital joke ! I confess I 
 don't understand your conduct during the last week, 
 Eichard. You overwhelm me with threats and men- 
 aces ; insist upon my going into the country to force 
 Altiora to accept you as a husband, then write and tell 
 me you have changed your mind ; allow Sark to slip 
 through your hands, and go to Ireland without forcing 
 him to fulfil his engagements ; stand idly by and see 
 a conspiracy formed to ruin him, when it is most 
 important to us he should not be ruined; keep the 
 Baron in ignorance of everything that is going on, and 
 sit here twiddling a paper-knife and staring at the 
 ceiling like an idiot, and then try to explain your con- 
 duct by profane and heartless jokes. Are you in love, 
 or is your brain softening? If you think you are 
 likely to win Stella Walton for a wife, let me tell 
 you that you are uncommonly mistaken," added the 
 Baroness, spitefully. 
 
 " Are you aware that Sark proposed to her, and that 
 she refused him ? " he said. 
 
 " No ; and I don't believe it." 
 
 " Possibly Altiora could give you some information 
 on the subject which would lead you to change your 
 mind. Meantime, perhaps you will allow me to be 
 the best judge of my own affairs." 
 
 " But they are my affairs as well as yours. I shall 
 telegraph to the Baron to come over at once ; " and the 
 Baroness flounced out of the room and drove straight 
 to Mrs Clymer's. 
 
342 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 " Mrs Clymer's gone out of town, my lady," said the 
 servant. 
 
 The Baroness was particular about being always 
 called "my lady" by servants. 
 
 " What address did she leave ? " 
 
 " She didn't leave no address, my lady." 
 
 " Then you don't know where she has gone ? Try 
 and think ; " and the Baroness, who was standing in 
 the hall, significantly handled her purse. 
 
 "Well, I think she's gone to Ireland, my lady — 
 leastwise I know the tickets was took for Holy- 
 head." 
 
 As she turned from the door she met Mr CasseroU. 
 
 " It's no use, — the bird has flown, Mr CasseroU. 
 Don't you think, now, that you had better suspend 
 operations with reference to this unfortunate Company 
 of Lord Sark's until we hear something more definite 
 from Ireland ? Come and see me to-morrow, Mr Cas- 
 seroU," she added, insinuatingly: "the Baron wUl be 
 back from Paris, and I really think we could arrive at 
 a compromise which might be profitable to aU of us." 
 
 CasseroU, who had already had flies thrown to him 
 in the same direction by Lauriola, and began to per- 
 ceive that he might play an important part as an 
 intermediary between these great financiers and the 
 leaders of the opposition which he had been the means 
 of creating, readily consented. 
 
 "Let me see," pursued the Baroness; "the Baron 
 wiU come over by the night train. Come and break- 
 
MRS CLYMER MEETS A MAN AND A "BROTHER." 343 
 
 fast with US, and if you don't mind, if you are going 
 back to the city, look in upon Murkle and ask him to 
 come too. I will write a note to Lauriola, and we will 
 have a comfortable talk over the whole matter; by 
 that time we shall have heard more definite news of 
 Lord Sark." 
 
 The same night the Baroness received the following 
 note from the young stockbroker : — 
 
 " Dear Baroness, — I thought it best not to wait till 
 we should meet at breakfast to-morrow to tell you 
 that, on calling at Mr Murkle's office in the city this 
 afternoon, I found that he was absent, and had left 
 word that he had gone to the country, and would not 
 be back for some days. — Yours truly, 
 
 "T. Casseroll." 
 
 CHAPTEK XXIX. 
 
 MRS CLYMER MEETS A MAN AND A "BROTHER." 
 
 A woman's vengeance is rarely logical. No sooner did 
 Mrs Clymer begin to realise that the suggestions which 
 she had made in a moment of passion to Dunleavy 
 might result fatally to Sark, than the fear that his life 
 might be in danger took possession of her. A strong 
 reaction set in. She reproached herself with having 
 
344 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 been too precipitate — with having yielded too quickly 
 to an impulse of rage and despair, when, after all, with 
 time and perseverance, there might be no reason why 
 she should not regain his affections. He had admitted 
 that no rival stood in her way. If now, she reflected, 
 she could prove her devotion by being the means of 
 saving his life, he need never know that her inspira- 
 tion had endangered it ; and the very peril which she 
 had contrived, might thus lead to the full realisation 
 of her desires, provided always that she was not too 
 late to avert it. Under the conflicting emotions en- 
 gendered by these hopes and fears, the hijou residence 
 became unendurable, and within twenty-four hours of 
 Sark's departure from London she was hurrying after 
 him to Ireland. 
 
 It was dark, with a light drizzling rain, when she 
 reached Holyhead, and she was alighting from the 
 train with her hands full, and somewhat embarrassed 
 by the slipperiness of the steps, when a gentleman 
 passing politely offered his hand. The light of a lamp 
 feU fuU on his face as he did so; and Mrs Clymer, 
 with a little scream, made an effort to shrink back, 
 lost her footing, and would have fallen heavily, had 
 she not been received by a stalwart pair of arms, and 
 placed lightly on her feet. 
 
 " There, ma'am, you're none the worse. By thunder, 
 why, it's Polly ! " ejaculated the owner of the arms, 
 still keeping one of them round her fair form. " Give 
 us a kiss, old girl, just to show there's no ill feeling." 
 
MES CLYMER MEETS A MAN AND A "BROTHER." 345 
 
 And without waiting for a reply, this unceremonious 
 individual proceeded to take it from the unresisting 
 lips of the Clymer. 
 
 " Oh, Ned," she sighed, " how you startled me ! 
 Terence Dunleavy told me you were in America." 
 
 " Well, you see I am here — good luck to me, I may 
 say, since it has brought us so lovingly together ; and 
 it's just that same Terence I'm after at this minute. 
 I got to Liverpool yesterday, and found a message 
 telling me to meet him in Dublin, for I had wired him 
 that I was called over to England unexpectedly. Where 
 are you bound for ? You're not the sort of one that 
 used to like travelling alone." 
 
 " Give me time to collect my thoughts, Ned, and I'll 
 tell you all about it; but it has flurried me a Httle 
 meeting you so unexpectedly. Terence tells me you 
 are doing a large business in dynamite — blowing up 
 people, and that kind of thing." 
 
 "Here, let me stow you away in a comfortable 
 corner," said her companion, without answering this 
 remark. " You used not to be sea-sick ; we can have 
 a quiet talk crossing over — it'll make the time pass." 
 
 And the speaker began to make a dexterous ar- 
 rangement of shawls and rugs, that showed he was no 
 novice at travelling. He was a smooth-shaved, straight- 
 nosed, bright-eyed man, with thin lips, a pointed chin, 
 and somewhat sallow cheeks, but a remarkably fine 
 head and brow, betokening considerable intellectual 
 powers. He was quick in his movements, but de- 
 
346 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 liberate of speech — e\ddently a man not easily dis- 
 composed, and of strong nerves. 
 
 " There, little girl ! Wliy, it reminds me of old times 
 to be sitting alongside of you so cosy-like." 
 
 " How long is it since we parted, Ned ? " 
 
 " A matter of five years ; and it wasn't my fault if 
 we didn't stay hitched till now." 
 
 "We won't go back on that," said Mrs Clymer. 
 " But perhaps I ought to remind you, now that we are 
 nearing the coast of Ireland, that I bear your name, 
 Ned, and am your lawful wife." 
 
 " Well, now, I don't know how that matter stands," 
 he replied deliberately, moving his mouth like a man 
 who has once had a habit of chewing tobacco, but has 
 now given it up. " You know I married again, Polly." 
 
 " And have placed yourself completely in my power 
 by so doing. There is a very heavy penalty attached 
 to such irregularities on this side of the Atlantic, how- 
 ever common they may be on the other." 
 
 " Well, whenever you have a month to spare, come 
 across, and we'll have it all put legally square. I can 
 get a divorce in Illinois, where I live, any time in an 
 hour. What's making you so anxious about it, after 
 letting five years go and saying nothing? Do you 
 want to marry again, Polly ? " 
 
 "Possibly; and as I don't want any inconvenient 
 questions asked until I am legally freed from you, 
 perhaps, Ned, you'll be good enough, while we are 
 likely to meet, to change your name." 
 
MRS CLYMER MEETS A MAN AND A "BROTHER." 347 
 
 "Well, that will be difficult," he rejoined. "I've 
 come especially over to see some one that has known 
 me since I was a boy ; besides, there's Terence and the 
 others that I'm doing business with." 
 
 "I should have thought your business was just a 
 kind that made a change of names very convenient 
 sometimes. At any rate, if we are to be friends and 
 not enemies, you must agree to this ; and I want to be 
 friends, Ned — it would be so disagreeable for me to 
 have you put in prison." 
 
 " It would take two of you, clever as you are, Polly," 
 replied Mr Clymer, contemptuously. " I thought you 
 knew me well enough not to try threats, little girl. 
 Take that back, or the tirst thing I do when I get to 
 London is to call on the American Minister as Edward 
 Clymer." 
 
 " Very well, Ned, I take it back." 
 
 "That's good. Now, Polly, what name would you 
 like me to take ? " 
 
 " Oh, please yourself." 
 
 " WeU, seeing my baggage is marked E. C, you 
 may call me Mr Collings. Now, is there any- 
 thing more I can do for you, PoUy ? I'm pretty 
 flush of cash; a thousand dollars or so, for the 
 sake of old times, wouldn't make much difference 
 to me." 
 
 " Oh, thank you, Ned, you were always generous." 
 
 " So were you," he retorted, drily. 
 
 " There is one thing I want you to do," she went on; 
 
348 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 " I want to introduce you to a great friend of mine, 
 the Earl of Sark." 
 
 " Stop," he interrupted. " Sark — Sark, — where 
 under heaven have I heard that name before ? " And 
 he continued to repeat the name as she pursued — 
 
 " He is now in Ireland ; and I want you to tell him 
 that you are my brother, and that you know that I am 
 a free woman, and that there is no legal impediment 
 to my marrying again — because there won't be, Ned, 
 if I run across and have our affair arranged ; and you 
 can tell him that I have come into some property in 
 America, and must go and see about it; and then I 
 will go over and get the thousand dollars you are so 
 kind as to offer me. Couldn't you make it two, Ned ? 
 It would seem more worth going over for." 
 
 "Polly, if you marry this Lord Sark I'll make it 
 five. Maybe we shall be able to do some business 
 through him with the British Government. Anyhow, 
 if you will work for a connection for me, you can have 
 the money. You may be able, as my Lady Sark, to 
 help me in my line of business with foreign Govern- 
 ments.' There's a deal of money in it, Polly. You 
 find out what's going on, at the same time, among the 
 Socialist chaps. I can't always trust Terence. And 
 these Irishmen, they're always quarrelling among them- 
 selves, and giving orders and countermanding them, 
 and ordering things and not paying for 'em, and accus- 
 ing each other of stealing the money. I'm right glad 
 I met you, Polly. We can do a great business to- 
 
MRS CLYMER MEETS A MAN AND A "BROTHER." 349 
 
 gether if you can bring this marriage off; and you may 
 count on me to help you. Meantime, we'll pass as 
 brother and sister." 
 
 " Do you know Terence's address in Dublin ? " she 
 asked; "because we must see him at once. I am 
 afraid he may have misunderstood what I said to him 
 about Lord Sark, and that something may happen to 
 him." 
 
 « To which of them ? Terence ? " 
 
 " No ; Lord Sark. He has gone over to his property 
 on business, and I'm so afraid he may be shot. It's 
 terrible how they are shooting landlords now." 
 
 " Yes," replied Clymer ; " it's a clumsy way of doing 
 things. I've got a new invention for getting rid of 
 them ; that's one of the things I've come ever about, — 
 not but what I would much rather take orders from 
 the landlords to blow up the peasantry. Don't you 
 think, through this lord of yours, that you could man- 
 age to do anything for me in that line, Polly ? Seems 
 to me these Irish landlords are a poor-spirited lot, — 
 got no grit in 'em. Now I could supply 'em with 
 processes of eviction that would make it impossible 
 for the tenants that were evicted ever to hold back 
 their rents again in this world ; and I defy any one to 
 find out the landlord that served 'em, or the way they 
 were served. I tell you, Polly, I would much sooner 
 blow up the tenants than the landlords, because, you 
 see, I should be sure of my pay ; but trade don't take 
 that channel, — more's the pity." 
 
350 - ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 " Well, Ned, you must make the best of things as 
 they are," said Polly, philosophically ; " and if I marry 
 Sark, I will do what I can to help you. You had 
 better send to Terence as soon as we arrive, to tell him 
 to come and see us; and just watch my lead, and 
 follow it, when I explain matters to him." 
 
 Mrs Clymer said this as they were driving to the 
 hotel, and was about to send a message to Dunleavy, 
 requesting an immediate interview, when she was 
 startled by an ejaculation from Mr Clymer, who had 
 just purchased a morning paper, which contained in 
 staring capitals a notice of the tragic occurrence of the 
 night before. 
 
 " Holloa, Polly ! " he exclaimed, " I am afraid you'll 
 be behind time with that marriage of yours. Listen 
 to this ; " and he read the paragraph. " Great Caesar 1 
 what a mess they must have made of it! If they 
 had known how to handle that stuff properly, there 
 shouldn't be a square inch of him left ; and they say 
 he is only mortally wounded. Why, little girl, what's 
 the matter?" 
 
 This query was called forth by the fact that Mrs 
 Clymer had suddenly subsided on the floor in a dead 
 faint. 
 
 " No shamming about it," pursued Mr Clymer mus- 
 ingly, and turning in his mouth his imaginary quid. 
 " First time I ever saw her do such a thing. I didn't 
 believe she had it in her to care about anybody but 
 herself to that amount. Guess the best way of bring- 
 
MRS CLYMER MEETS A MAN AND A "BROTHER." 351 
 
 ing a woman out of a fainting fit is to let her come to 
 of herself. What queer critturs women are ! Now I 
 might have blown myself higher than a kite at the 
 time she was pretending to love me most, but she 
 never would have done that for me. Perhaps it was 
 because he was a lord. Maybe some water would do 
 her a little good, with a nip of whisky in it. Here, 
 Polly, look up, little girl. He's only mortally wounded, 
 so he ain't dead ! and where there's life there's hope." 
 
 Mrs Clymer opened her eyes, took a sip of whisky- 
 and-water, and murmured, " Send for Terence at once." 
 
 "I'll go myself for him. Don't you go fainting 
 away again while I'm away. What fools, to go wound- 
 ing a poor man like that ! Astonishing to think that 
 Polly could love any one so much," he muttered ; and 
 until he reached Dunleavy's door, Mr Clymer seemed 
 equally perplexed to account for the stupidity of men 
 in not being able to blow up a fellow-man more skil- 
 fully, and for the capacity of women unexpectedly to 
 develop such strong emotions of affection. ITobody 
 had ever heard of Terence Dunleavy at the address 
 which that gentleman had furnished Mr Clymer by 
 wire. 
 
 " Sorra a Terence Dunleavy did I ivir hear tell of," 
 said the shock-headed porter of the obscure second- 
 class hotel, in answer to Mr Clymer's inquiries. That 
 gentleman refrained instantly from making further 
 comment, and turned on his heel with a low whistle. 
 
 " Got too hot for him already, and he only arrived 
 
352 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 yesterday morning. He must be mixed up in this 
 affair of Polly's lord," he mused, as he retraced his 
 steps. "If they hadn't been in such a hurry, they 
 might have done it better, maybe. I wonder what 
 Polly will do now." 
 
 But he was not left long in doubt. " Ned," she said, 
 when she received his report, "we must not lose a 
 moment. Find out when the next train goes to Kill- 
 boggin, county Kintrary." 
 
 " Am I to come with you ? " asked Clymer, divided 
 between a desire to find out why the explosion had not 
 been more successful, and a certain shrinking from 
 approaching too closely the scene of a crime for which 
 he had furnished the materials. 
 
 " Certainly ; I need you now especially," she replied. 
 " Oh, if I could but be the means of saving his life ! " 
 
 " All right, Polly ; I am always ready to sacrifice 
 myself in the cause of humanity and beauty," he added, 
 politely. And five hours afterwards they descended 
 at the station of Killboggin, where they were narrowly 
 inspected by a strong force of police drawn up on the 
 platform, and where they found many of the county 
 and Government ofiicials already assembled. 
 
NUESING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 353 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 NURSING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 Mrs Clymer was not a woman to be denied access to 
 Lord Sark's bedside — though, under the circumstances, 
 she had to employ all her diplomacy to get there. 
 Fortunately she was a sufficiently public character — 
 thanks to her position in the world of fashion, and the 
 notoriety she enjoyed in the society papers as a beauty 
 — to be known by name to some of the gentlemen 
 present ; and her brother, Mr CoUings, played a most 
 useful part in affording her that fraternal protection 
 of which a lone lady, rushing to the bedside of a 
 wounded nobleman, stood in need. And indeed her 
 promptitude stood her in good stead. The trained 
 nurse that had been telegraphed for had, through some 
 mistake, not yet arrived ; and the doctor, to whom she 
 offered her services, was only too glad of an assistant 
 who promised to be so capable and intelligent. What 
 she chiefly feared was the effect upon Lord Sark's 
 nerves which her unexpected presence might produce. 
 "What is the exact condition of your patient, doctor?" 
 she asked. 
 
 " Well, my dear madam," he answered, " the shock 
 was so great that I feared he might have succumbed 
 to its first effects ; but every hour brings hope with it. 
 He is perfectly conscious, but, alas ! perfectly blind. 
 
 z 
 
354 , ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 Whether he will remain so, it is impossible yet to tell. 
 His left arm and side are severely injured, but I trust 
 that amputation will not be necessary. The wound in 
 the side is the most dangerous. The face has been 
 damaged, but not so seriously as to remain permanently 
 disfigured, with careful treatment. In the meantime, 
 utterance is painful and difficult. I must warn you, 
 as an old friend of Lord Sark's, that you must prepare 
 yourself for a painful spectacle." 
 
 " It is just because I am an old friend of his," she 
 said, with a sad smile which awoke a profound sym- 
 pathy on the part of the susceptible little doctor, " that 
 I have a special request to make, and this is, that 
 Lord Sark should be kept in utter ignorance of my 
 presence here. Let me be called nurse, and treated 
 as one." 
 
 "We have a professional nurse coming; and have 
 just received a telegram from Lady Adela Dashington 
 to say that she expects to arrive here to-morrow 
 night." And seeing that Mrs Clymer's brows slightly 
 clouded at this intelligence, he murmured to himself, 
 "Evidently a little family romance. My sympathies 
 are all with the first comer," and he politely led the 
 way up-stairs. 
 
 " I shall probably only stay till the arrival of some 
 of the family," she remarked; "and perhaps my 
 brother, Mr CoUings, may be put up in the castle 
 somewhere." 
 
 " It is scarcely worth while mentioning the matter 
 
NURSING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 355 
 
 to my colleague, who has just arrived. I will take all 
 the responsibility, my dear lady," said the doctor, who, 
 in his professional capacity, looked forward to a de- 
 lightful familiarity of intercourse with the beautiful 
 and interesting nurse ; " and I am sure that Lady 
 Adela, when she arrives, will only be too glad to 
 retain your services. Meantime, if you will allow 
 me, I will go and inform my patient that the nurse 
 has come." 
 
 If compassion is akin to love, love certainly is a 
 wonderful stimulant to compassion. And when Mrs 
 Clymer looked upon the victim of her vengeance, lying 
 wrecked upon his bed in the prime of his strength and 
 manly beauty, it was only by an effort of most power- 
 ful self-control that she prevented herself from falling 
 on her knees at his bedside, bursting into an agony of 
 tears, and pouring out her soul in a mixed torrent of 
 remorse and devotion, of self-reproach and passionate 
 protestations of her love. But although the room 
 was darkened, she felt the doctor's eye gleaming 
 through the gloom upon her with sympathetic curi- 
 osity; and she hoped he did not see the trembling 
 of her limbs and the pallor of her countenance. It 
 seemed to her providential that she was not called 
 upon to speak, for she could not have trusted herself 
 to break the silence, disturbed only by the heavy 
 breathing, sometimes prolonged into a moan, of the 
 suffering patient. His face and eyes were bandaged, 
 and his left arm and side swathed in the wrappages 
 
366 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 which it would be her duty to attend to. She sat 
 down silently by the head of the bed, and placed her 
 handkerchief to her eyes. This, she felt, was a femi- 
 nine weakness which the doctor would understand 
 and think legitimate under the circumstances. After 
 a few moments, during which Mrs Clymer was pass-, 
 ing through some internal experiences which were 
 new to her, and which may not impossibly exercise 
 a favourable influence upon her character in time to 
 come, the doctor beckoned to her. 
 
 "I must now, my dear lady — my dear nurse, I 
 should say — ^give you some directions in regard to 
 our patient. You will first, please, assist me, as it is 
 time to change the bandages and dress the wounds 
 again." 
 
 For four hours did Mrs Clymer keep her watch 
 with an assiduity and tenderness which quite justified 
 the doctor's acceptance of her services — her bosom 
 a prey to the conflicting emotions excited by the 
 sufferings of her patient and by her own. As it 
 was, above all things, essential to Lord Sark's safety 
 that he should be spared any mental shock or agita- 
 tion, she could devise no way by which she could 
 maintain her position by his bedside after the arrival 
 of the first members of his family, now that it was 
 impossible to obtain from him the expression of his 
 desire that she should do so. She foresaw that the 
 meeting, even with gentle Lady Adela, would be a 
 stormy one, as she was well aware of the existence 
 
NUESING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 357 
 
 of her antipathy, which her ladyship had taken no 
 pains to conceal. Moreover, what right could she 
 claim, in the presence of Lord Sark's own sister, to 
 be his nurse? She wondered whether Sir George 
 would accompany his wife, and whether she might 
 not be successful with him. Then her mind reverted 
 to the fact that Sark's cousin, Bob Alderney, might 
 not improbably form one of the party ; and this sug- 
 gested a whole train of reflections, connected with 
 the two Californian girls and Altiora, which were by 
 no means calculated to restore her equanimity. If 
 only she could, in some way, make her ground secure 
 while the field was clear ! She determined to repose 
 a partial confidence in the doctor, and see whether 
 he could not suggest a method of sounding the patient 
 on the subject without producing an undue agitation. 
 
 " I expect the Dublin nurse in half an hour," whis- 
 pered the doctor, "and then you must really allow 
 her to relieve you : you will be quite unfit for further 
 attendance on his lordship if you exhaust yourself in 
 this way immediately on your arrival." 
 
 " Alas ! my dear doctor," she replied, in her most 
 winning tones, " it is just because I fear that my ser- 
 vices will so soon be dispensed with, that I am anxious 
 not to spare myself while I am allowed to be here. 
 I feel convinced that unless Lord Sark himself ex- 
 presses a wish that I should continue to nurse him, 
 Lady Adela will insist upon taking entiie charge of 
 him." 
 
358 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 " Are you not on good terms with her ladyship ? " 
 he asked, bluntly. 
 
 "Well, frankly, no. Lord Sark and I have been 
 great friends for some time, and she has been jealous 
 of what she imagines to be my influence over him — 
 though, I am sure, I have never tried to use it except 
 for his good." 
 
 " Hum ! " mused the doctor, with a quizzical glance ; 
 "I am afraid my word would go for very little, my 
 dear nurse. In what way do you think could I assist 
 you?" 
 
 " Could you not sound Lord Sark as to whether he 
 would not like me to attend him ? Say that you have 
 received a telegram from me from Dublin, offering to 
 come at once if he wishes it. Unfortunately, the last 
 time we met we had a little quarrel; but with his 
 life trembling in the balance, he would not, I am 
 sure, continue to harbour any bitter feeling towards 
 me." 
 
 "Listen," said the doctor — "he is moaning; he is 
 beginning to recover from the effects of the anodyne 
 I gave him to lull the pain, and probably wants some- 
 thing. Go into the next room for a moment, and I 
 will see what can be done." 
 
 This conversation had been carried on in a whisper 
 in a corner of the large bedroom, and Mrs Clymer 
 slipped silently out of it as the doctor approached 
 his patient. 
 
 " How do we feel now ? " he asked — " a little easier ? " 
 
NUESING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 359 
 
 But an inarticulate murmur was the only reply. " Your 
 sister, Lady Adela Dashington, will be here to-morrow," 
 he went on. " Meantime we need another nurse badly. 
 A friend is often much better under these circumstances 
 than a professional," he continued, after a pause, gently 
 placing his finger on Lord Sark's pulse to feel how the 
 suggestion he was about to make might affect him. 
 " Though professionals are in some respects most valu- 
 able, what we need is a judicious combination of the 
 experience of the one and the devotion of the other. 
 You follow me?" 
 
 Lord Sark slightly moved his head in sign of assent. 
 
 " I have received a telegram from a lady in Dublin 
 who seems to be an old friend of yours, and who has 
 kindly offered her services ; but before accepting them, 
 I should like to know whether it would be agreeable 
 to you that I should do so." ("That's a thumper," 
 said the doctor to himself, " but it's justified by pro- 
 fessional necessity.") " Now," he said, placing his left 
 hand in Sark's while he kept the right on his pulse, 
 " you need not make an effort to speak ; but if, when 
 I mention the name, you approve, press my hand — 
 and if you don't, draw it away. The lady's name is 
 Mrs Clymer." 
 
 "No!" ejaculated Sark, with a groan that almost 
 amounted to a shout, as he drew his hand quickly 
 away, and the doctor felt the pulse bounding under 
 his touch. 
 
 " Soho ! gently. Why, our strength is coming back I 
 
360 ALTIORA. PETO. 
 
 I was quite glad to hear that energetic * No/ my lord. 
 Don't be the least alarmed ; there is not the slightest 
 danger of the lady's coming here if you don't wish it. 
 I will telegraph at once to decline her offer with 
 thanks." (" God help me, how I am lying ! " he 
 muttered.) "Here, take a little of this. You are 
 decidedly improving. We shall have a consultation 
 as soon as Dr Crooks arrives. Meantime my col- 
 league, who came this morning, takes a decidedly 
 hopeful view of the case. Now try and rest a little ; " 
 and the doctor withdrew silently to make his report 
 to Mrs Clymer. 
 
 " I am sorry that I can't bring you very favourable 
 news," he said. "Lord Sark seems to entertain a 
 strong objection to your presence. I put it bluntly, 
 my dear " — the doctor forgot to add " nurse " this time, 
 in his anxiety to spare Mrs Clymer's feelings — "but 
 it must be kept a profound secret from him that you 
 are here. I am afraid you must disappear before Lady 
 Adela's arrrival, or you will get me into a terrible 
 scrape, as I was obliged to pledge my word that I 
 would telegraph to Dublin to you not to come; so 
 you see my position. It would really relieve my 
 mind very much, Mrs Clymer, if you would not stay 
 after the nurse arrives: if by any chance Lord Sark 
 were to discover that you were here, the consequences 
 might be terrible. You cannot think how it pains me 
 to urge this point ; " and he took her hand and pressed 
 it in a fatherly way — for to do the doctor justice, he 
 
NUESING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 361 
 
 would much rather that she could have stayed, and 
 felt that they were both making a sacrifice. 
 
 " I accept my fate without a murmur," she replied ; 
 " but I shall be too tired to start at once. It is now 
 getting late. You must let me force myself upon 
 Lord Sark's hospitality for the night. I will not enter 
 his room again without your permission ; but there is 
 no danger of Lady Adela coming before I can make 
 my escape in the morning. In the meantime, so much 
 may happen, I want to know the result of your con- 
 sultation ; and perhaps to-morrow, before I leave, you 
 will be able to judge more definitely as to his state. 
 It would save me so much suspense, dear doctor, to 
 let me stay;" and this time Mrs Clymer put her 
 hand in his. "Do you know," she said, sweetly, 
 "that I have not eaten anything for nearly ten 
 hours?" 
 
 " Bless my soul ! what have I been thinking about ? 
 Dinner has been ordered for your brother and yourself, 
 and should be ready in half an hour. You will find 
 him in the drawing-room. There's the carriage with 
 the nurse and the doctor. Let me show you the way ; " 
 and the doctor ushered Mrs Clymer into a sitting- 
 room, where, seated in an arm-chair, with his feet 
 on the fender, before a cheerful blaze, Mr Clymer, 
 alias CoUings, had buried himself in the sporting ex- 
 periences of Mr Soapey Sponge. 
 
 " Well, Polly," he remarked, looking up, as the doc- 
 tor left the room, " come at last. How goes it with the 
 
362 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 exploded aristocrat ? Is there any prospect of hash in 
 this old castle ? " 
 
 "Oh, Ned, don't be so heartless! I hope he will 
 live. Yes, we shall have some dinner immediately. 
 Then we shall sleep here, and go back to Dublin the 
 first thing in the morning." 
 
 " Oh that's it, is it ? And what about my telling him 
 you are free to marry him, and your late husband is 
 married again, and all that story ? " 
 
 " Well, we must put that off. He is not in a con- 
 dition to hear anything — scarcely conscious, in fact. 
 And some of the family are coming to-morrow, and it 
 might make a micss if I stayed on and met them. But 
 there will be other people I shall want you to tell that 
 story to, Ned, who can tell him afterwards. It has be- 
 come important that my social position should be more 
 clearly defined. I see I made a mistake in neglecting 
 to straighten matters before. But English society is so 
 easy ; they don't ask questions, especially if you are an 
 American and can amuse them, and have good looks, 
 and understand how to rise from aesthetics into flirta- 
 tion. High art, pluck, beauty, and a foreign extraction, 
 cover a multitude of sins." 
 
 "What puzzles me, Polly," said her companion, 
 whose mind was apparently running in a different 
 channel, "is, how the darned thing missed fire and 
 didn't blow his head off. Did you find out?" 
 
 "No, Ned; I never thought of inquiring. The 
 doctor said it must have been something very 
 
NUESING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 363 
 
 small, as thej could find no traces of it left in 
 the bed." 
 
 " Yes, it covers its own tracks, that's the beauty of 
 it. But it was just like those blundering Irishmen, — • 
 they put it under the clothes, I suppose, instead of un- 
 der the pillow, where the even pressure, when you put 
 your head down, makes it go off, and carry away pillow, 
 head, and all. Of course, if you go putting it down 
 among the bedclothes, you can't calculate on what it 
 will do lying about loose, — depends, then, on how it 
 happens to be struck. But, bless you, Ireland's no 
 market in comparison to Eussia! — they don't bungle 
 things there. I'm sending a consignment over there 
 now, that will wake up old Europe when they get them 
 fairly to going. That's one of the things I came over 
 about. Did you ever think about cause and effect, 
 Polly? Because here I am, a mighty insignificant- 
 looking cause, sitting with my feet cocked up over 
 your lord's fire; but I tell you, when you come to 
 read in the newspapers about the effects I've pro- 
 duced, you won't be astonished at its giving a man a 
 sort of feeling of power he don't like to part with. 
 I suppose Bismarck's the biggest man in Europe; 
 but I've got tricks in my pocket that would play him 
 out, when it comes to creating a general sensation. 
 It takes very small men to pull the biggest wires now- 
 adays, thanks to the progress of invention and the 
 arts of civilisation ; but what beats me, Polly, is, who 
 is it that pulls the small men ? That's what I wonder 
 
364 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 when these inventions come into my head, and I sell 
 them to those that calculate to overturn empires with 
 them. How do they get into my head, and why are 
 they allowed to get there when they're bound to do 
 such a lot of mischief? Well, it's no affair of mine. 
 I'm not responsible for inventing things; I've got to 
 make a living. Live and dorit let live, — that's my 
 motto." 
 
 " Ned," said Mrs Clymer, " shut up ! I've got puzzles 
 in life enough of my own to solve; I don't want to 
 hear yours. The way you talk makes me feel quite 
 uncomfortable, particularly when I think of my poor 
 friend up-stairs. Here's dinner. You can behave like 
 a gentleman when you choose: act your best now, 
 because we shall meet some of the doctors; and for 
 your own sake, keep off the topic of explosives and 
 the tragedy here. I am very tired, so I shall go to 
 bed immediately after dinner, and we'll take the first 
 train to Dublin in the morning." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 HANNAH HEARS SOMETHING TO HER ADVANTAGE. 
 
 It was' past midnight. Mrs Clymer had long for- 
 gotten her troubles and anxieties in a sound and 
 dreamless sleep, the doctor having been especially 
 
HANNAH HEAKS SOMETHING ADVANTAGEOUS. 365 
 
 careful to see that the necessary directions had been 
 given for her early waking and departure on the 
 following morning. The dining-room had long been 
 deserted; but Mr CoUings, to call him by his as- 
 sumed name, had been initiated into the mysteries 
 of a comfortable smoking-room, where the doctors, 
 who were amused by the originality of his conver- 
 sation and his knowledge of certain branches of 
 science, from time to time came to smoke a cigar 
 and keep him company. It was the habit of this 
 ingenious gentleman, on such occasions, to pass as 
 a professional electrician ; and having great fluency 
 of speech, and a very considerable knowledge of the 
 subject, he seldom failed, especially when under the 
 influence of strong liquors, of which there was an 
 abundant supply in the smoking-room, to entertain 
 his hearers. He was, moreover, a person who was 
 in the habit of indulging in what he called "dog 
 snoozes," — in other words, of sleeping either by day 
 or night, whenever the fancy took him; and the 
 advantages of the smoking-room seeming greater than 
 those of bed, he sat up without manifesting any dis- 
 position to retire until it approached the small hours 
 of the morning. He was holding forth to one of the 
 doctors on the merits of a self-steering torpedo, when 
 their attention was arrested by the sound of wheels 
 on the gravel. Shortly after there was the noise of 
 an arrival in the hall, and the doctor went out to 
 see who had come. 
 
366 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 I^ed being a person who usually lived with his 
 eyes and ears open, was more decided than ever to 
 devote himself to whisky-and-water and cigars, and 
 waited to hear who the new-comers might be; but 
 no doctor returning to report, and his curiosity in- 
 creasing with the delay, he determined to set forth 
 on a voyage of discovery, which he could always ex- 
 plain by pretending to be in search of his bedroom. 
 He had crossed the hall and was proceeding along 
 a passage towards the sound of voices, when he saw 
 advancing towards him a tall female figure carrying 
 a candle. "One of the new arrivals, I suppose," 
 said ISTed to himself. "I wonder whether this can 
 be the lord's sister come before her time. Polly 
 will be in a fix, I guess, if it is. Great Caesar ! " 
 he exclaimed, as they met ; " why, it's Aunt Hannah 
 herself!" 
 
 " So, Ned Clymer," said Miss Coffin, without show- 
 ing a particle of surprise or emotion, " you have come 
 over at last, — in consequence of my letter, I suppose ; 
 but what are you a-doin' in this house ? I mistrust 
 you're here for no good. Curious," she said, musing 
 to herself; "seemed all the time as if it wasn't for 
 Lordy I felt bound to hurry so. I suppose it was 
 you I had to meet here. You know what I wanted 
 you over for ? " 
 
 " How should I ? " he replied. " Your letter was like 
 a message from a Delphic oracle. You said I ran great 
 risks if I delayed on the other side, and could make 
 
HANNAH HEAllS SOMETHING ADVANTAGEOUS. 367 
 
 great profits if I came to this one ; and as I only once 
 before in my life received a letter from you, just of 
 the same kind, and it all came true as gospel, I did 
 not dare to disobey this one, especially as mine is 
 the kind of business that is made up of great risks 
 and great profits: besides, I had other reasons for 
 coming over." 
 
 " Well, a man with two wives, both alive, and his 
 pockets full of dynamite, has more risk than profit, 
 seems to me," said Hannah. " But it's cold standing 
 here ; and I have a little to say to you, and you have 
 a great deal to say to me. There's a little parlour 
 with a fire in it — a ' boodwar ' they call it — off my 
 bedroom, where we can talk. Here, Bobby," she 
 called out to that gentleman, who was standing at the 
 other end of the passage, wondering at her delay — 
 " come here. This is my nephew by marriage, come 
 to meet me by special appointment, and we have a 
 deal to say to each other that has to be said to-night. 
 You go and help watch in Lordy's room, and call me 
 if I'm wanted, otherwise I won't disturb him to-night ; 
 and you had best not tell him I am here. I ain't 
 a-goin' to bed anyway. Now, Ned " — and Miss Coffin 
 led the way to the apartment in question. 
 
 " Sit down," she said. " I suppose you know that 
 your wife Polly, as left you five years ago, is a-keepin' 
 up a grand style in London as a fashionable beauty ? " 
 
 " I know that she is sleeping under this very roof 
 to-night," he answered. 
 
368 ALTIOKA PETO. 
 
 " My sakes, but she's a smart one ! When did she 
 hear the news ? " 
 
 "We were in Dublin when we heard it. I met 
 her accidentally coming across from Holyhead. The 
 intelligence seemed to upset her so that she went off 
 into an honest faint, and insisted on coming down here 
 at once. She seems to want to marry this lord, as she 
 asked me to pass as her brother, and tell him, when I 
 saw him, that she had been legally divorced. Then 
 she was to go over with me to America later to get 
 it properly fixed ; so just now I go by the name of 
 CoUings, if you'd kindly remember. I should like to 
 see poor Polly well married, and told her I'd help her 
 all I could," he added, in his own justification. " How 
 do you come to get mixed up with her and her con- 
 cerns ? " he asked. " She ain't one of your sort." 
 
 " That don't matter," said Hannah : " she never 
 guessed who I was ; but I made her out the first day 
 I set eyes on her." 
 
 " There was no reason she should," he answered. 
 " I never spoke about poor Clara to her, nor yet about 
 Clara's relations. There was no way for her to know 
 that my first wife was a niece of yours. It was a 
 matter of ten years after Clara died before I married 
 her ; and after three years we couldn't agree, and she 
 left me. We lived in Europe all the time travelling 
 about. I picked her up in Chili, where, I believe, she 
 was born. Her father was in the Chilian army or 
 navy, I forget which." 
 
HANNAH HEAES SOMETHING ADVANTAGEOUS. 369 
 
 Miss Coffin listened to his recital with an unmoved 
 countenance, but with her eyes fixed on him as he 
 rattled on with the utmost unreserve, as a man reck- 
 less by nature, and too confident in himself and his 
 resources to love mystery when it was not needed. 
 Indeed it seemed a relief and satisfaction to meet 
 some one to whom, from early association, he could 
 talk freely of the events of his own life. She knew 
 that he merely needed the cue to be given to him to 
 ramble on. 
 
 " It's many years since we met, Ned, and we parted 
 angrily then. I thought I never could forgive you for 
 your conduct to Clara ; but time brings forgiveness — 
 and, poor darlin', I know she would be the first to say 
 ' Forgive him, aunty — he was young, and didn't know 
 no better.' " 
 
 " That's so," he replied, huskily. " She was the 
 only woman I ever loved — more shame to me. You 
 may forgive me, but I can never forgive myself." 
 
 There was a long pause, during which she watched 
 him narrowly; and he turned uneasily in his chair, 
 apparently in doubt. 
 
 " Aunty," he said at last, " there's many a time 
 during these twenty years I've been wanting to come 
 and see you, and tell you something that was on my 
 mind ; but, either from pride or shame, I wouldn't be 
 the first to make the offer, and I blame myself. It's 
 about poor Clara's aunt Fanny, your youngest sister." 
 
 " What ! " exclaimed Hannah, in a voice of the 
 2 a 
 
370 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 most painful surprise, and for the first time her face 
 worked with an emotion which she vainly endeavoured 
 to control. She drew her chair to his, and clasped his 
 hand. " Oh, Ned, E"ed ! to keep back that from me, 
 and you knowing how I loved her, and never ceased 
 grievin' and wonderin' ! Quick ! tell me." 
 
 " I'm sorry, aunty — I am indeed. It's a curious 
 story. It was about six months after poor Clara died 
 that I went for the first time to Europe; that's a 
 matter of eighteen or nineteen years ago. I was five- 
 and-twenty then, and went over to travel for a firm 
 that manufactured the newest rifles of that day. One 
 day, as I was crossing through Italy, the train I was 
 in broke down in a wild part of the country, and I 
 found myself with nothing to do at a small wayside 
 station. Seeing there was an old castle near by, 
 standing in the middle of gardens and vineyards, I 
 made inquiries if it was worth seeing, and was told 
 that it was lived in by an English lady, whose husband 
 had died only a short time before. So I strolled along 
 the road to get a better look at the gardens, and saw a 
 lady in black coming along with a nurse and a baby ; 
 and when I came up to her, who should it be but 
 Aunt Eanny herself. It was five years since I had 
 seen her, and she looked so thin and changed, I scarce 
 knew lier ; but she was always a beauty. She gave a 
 little scream when she saw me, and I thought she 
 would have fainted. Then I told her how I came to 
 be there, that it was only by accident ; and she made 
 
HANNAH HEAES SOMETHING ADVANTAGEOUS. 371 
 
 me fetch my valise, and stay over the night. She told 
 me her husband had died only six months before, and 
 that she had a baby, a little girl, that was only four 
 months old." 
 
 " Do you remember whether she told you how she 
 named the child ? " interrupted Hannah, breathlessly. 
 
 " I remember distinctly, because it seemed such a 
 curious name. I wrote it down in full, and I have 
 kept it ever since ; and one of the reasons that deter- 
 mined me to come over when I got your letter, was to 
 give it to you and tell you all about it," and he took 
 from his pocket-book the memorandum, which he 
 handed to Hannah, and as he did so a little scrap 
 of paper fluttered to the ground unperceived. Scarce- 
 ly able to see through her blinding tears, she read 
 " Altiora Peto." " Peto," he continued — " that was 
 the name of the English gentleman she married ; and 
 he said, before he died, that if the child was a girl, 
 she was to be called Altiora. It was the last word he 
 ever spoke. Then she went back on the old family 
 quarrel, and her own headstrong temper, that made 
 her marry Cartwright against all your wishes; and 
 how they disagreed ; and how she ran away with the 
 child so that he should not get him, and hid away in 
 Europe ; and how, when she heard of his death, she was 
 coming back with her little boy, when he took ill, and 
 it was in his illness that Mr Peto was so kind to her, 
 and comforted her when her child's death nearly drove 
 her to despair. So she married him, and still kept it 
 
372 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 secret, although meaning, when she could persuade her 
 husband to come, to bring him to America ; but they 
 were so happy in their castle, that the time slipped by. 
 He was a great student and a clever man, with a large 
 fortune, which was all to go to his daughter ; but he 
 loved solitude and the climate of Italy, and she was 
 happy with him for a year, and then he died. Some 
 time before his death they had a lady staying as a sort 
 of companion, the widow of an English merchant and 
 banker who was Mr Peto's man of business, and she 
 was there when he died, and I suppose remained with 
 Aunt Fanny afterwards, only I did not see her, as she 
 happened to be ill that day. She said Mr Peto had no 
 near relations alive ; and now I remember why Lord 
 Sark's name seemed known to me when Polly men- 
 tioned it. Aunt Fanny told me that Altiora was 
 related through her grandmother to the noble family 
 of Sark. 'Next morning I went away, promising to 
 keep her secret. 'As soon as I am well enough, I 
 shall start for America with baby,' she said ; but she 
 was hardly able to come down and wish me good-bye, 
 she felt so poorly, and she said she was going back to 
 her bed. I have often wondered since," he added, 
 " whether she ever got up from it, and what became 
 of the baby." 
 
 " Do you remember the name of the English lady 
 who was living with her as a companion ? " asked 
 Hannah. 
 
 "I don't think she told it to me; but we had so 
 
HANNAH HEAKS SOMETHING ADVANTAGEOUS. 373 
 
 much to say, I have forgotten it if she did. She had 
 not heard of Clara's death, and of course wanted news 
 of you all. And I had to tell her some things about 
 myself that were not true, God help me ! " 
 
 Mr Clymer's narrative was followed by a long pause, 
 which Hannah broke abruptly. 
 
 " Give me a kiss, Ned," she said. " Now go and lie 
 down on that couch and go to sleep while I think. 
 I don't want to let you out of my sight till this Polly 
 business is settled." 
 
 " What has Polly got to do with it, aunty ? Don't 
 be too hard upon her." 
 
 " Just look square at me," said the old lady, whose 
 eyes were now as bright and glittering as ever, and 
 from whose countenance all traces of emotion had 
 disappeared. " Am I likely to take advice from such 
 as you, even though she is your wife ? You do what 
 I bid you, right straight through this business, as you 
 don't understand anything about, or you'll get into 
 serious trouble. It's old Hannah says so, and you'd 
 better believe it. Now go to sleep." 
 
 And Ned, who apparently held his late wife's aunt 
 in considerable awe, probably from some old associa- 
 tion, meekly obeyed the injunction, which a man of 
 more sensitive nerves would have resisted in spite of 
 himself, and in five minutes was fast asleep. 
 
S74 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXII. 
 
 MR COLLINGS PERFORMS A DELICATE DUTY. 
 
 For more than an hour did Hannah sit musing over 
 the unexpected intelligence she had just received, and 
 over the new and tender light that it had thrown upon 
 her existence. Her thoughts reverted to those early- 
 days when the warm affections of her strong nature 
 were concentrated on the little sister, fifteen years 
 younger than herself, who was the life and joy of the 
 family, and upon whom, as she grew up to be the belie 
 of the village, her old father had lavished his devotion, 
 sparing no expense to complete that education which 
 in Hannah had been so wofuUy neglected, until, 
 naturally highly gifted, the renown of her beauty and 
 accomplishments spread far and wide, and attracted, 
 among other suitors, George Cartwright, the brilliant 
 but unprincipled politician, who wooed and won her, 
 in spite of the tears and entreaties of both her sisters ; 
 and how, too proud afterwards to acknowledge her 
 mistake, she had been compelled to side with her 
 husband in the quarrel which had led to her j&nal 
 breach with her family, and more especially with that 
 eldest sister, whose daughter had made a no less un- 
 fortunate choice in her union with Edward Clymer. 
 But made of sterner fibre than her niece, instead of 
 pining to death under neglect and ill treatment, Mrs 
 
MR COLLINGS PEEFORMS A DELICATE T)UTY. 375 
 
 Cartwright, who had inherited a litfcle monej, took 
 the decided step of flying from the country with her 
 child, and, eluding all pursuit, had remained perdue, 
 so far as her family were concerned, until Ned had 
 now so suddenly revealed her history, and brought to 
 Hannah's beating heart the consciousness that in Al- 
 tiora she had found a niece on whom the affections 
 which had been so long smothered might be lavished 
 anew. "No wonder I felt drawed to her," she mur- 
 mured, "and seemed to feel at times as if it was 
 Fanny's voice I was a-listening to, and Fanny's step 
 I heard, and Fanny's lips on mine, when the dear 
 child was a-kissin' me." So absorbed was she by 
 this conflict of sad reminiscences of the past with 
 pleasurable anticipations for the future, that it was 
 some time before she reacted into a passionate out- 
 burst of indignation against the Baroness for the 
 fraud which had threatened to sacrifice the girl's ex- 
 istence to her selfish ends, and by which she had so 
 successfully concealed her own identity and adopted 
 that of the lost sister. She saw it all now, — the 
 cleverly devised conspiracy, by means of which a 
 group of adventurers in an obscure Italian town had 
 been enabled to appropriate the large fortune which 
 of right belonged to Altiora, and to take advan- 
 tage of the mystery in which her mother's fate had 
 become involved, to conceal her death and pass off her 
 lady companion, familiar with all the circumstances of 
 her life and private marriage, as the widow of the de- 
 
376 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 ceased Mr Peto. " Their turn will come," she muttered 
 — and I am afraid for a moment her natural instincts 
 got the better of her, and the prospect of being re- 
 venged on the wicked triumvirate aifforded her a fleet- 
 ing satisfaction ; but if such were the case, she speedily- 
 checked it, for she went on, — " God help me for think- 
 ing of such things, or feelin' anything but love for 'em 
 poor infested critturs — it's the devils in 'em as does it. 
 There's Ned, now, makes his livin' by explodin' people, 
 and calls himself a sane man. The proper place for 
 him is a 'sylum. He's a dangerous lunatic, he is." As 
 she spoke, she glanced at him, and then her eye rested on 
 the scrap of paper on the floor which had fallen from 
 his pocket-book when he had given her Altiora's name. 
 She stooped and picked it up. "Terence Dunleavy, 
 Eaggitt's Hotel, Dublin," was all that was written 
 upon it. Mechanically she twisted it up, unable to 
 bring her thoughts back from the one absorbing topic, 
 till she started suddenly with a smothered exclamation, 
 " My sakes, how I go on a-dreaming and wastin' time ! 
 It's nigh four o'clock in the morning, and I ain't begun 
 to think about that Polly business yet." 
 
 Just then a low tap at the door aroused her atten- 
 tion; she got up and went to it. "It is only me, 
 Hannah," said Bob Alderney. "I thought I should 
 find you here, as you said you would sit up in case 
 you were wanted. Holloa ! " he exclaimed, startled at 
 seeing the unknown visitor peacefully slumbering on 
 the couch, " your nephew seems to be making himself 
 
MR COLLINGS PERFORMS A DELICATE DUTY. 377 
 
 at home. How in the world did he know that he 
 should meet you here?" 
 
 "Never mind, Bobby — you'll know in good time; 
 only trust old Hannah. How's Lordy ? " 
 
 " The doctors say that he is going to pull through 
 after all, unless he gets some unexpected relapse ; but 
 it seems to have been a near thing, and the danger is 
 not past yet. The police appear to have got a clue to 
 the perpetrators of the crime. I have just had a long 
 talk with the chief detective, and he tells me they are 
 on the track of an American Irishman, who seems to 
 have been mixed up with it in some way." 
 
 " Did he tell you his name, Bobby ? " 
 
 " No ; I didn't ask, for I knew he wouldn't tell me." 
 
 " Go and find it out at onst. Tell 'em there's reasons 
 you can't explain now, why maybe, if you know the 
 name, you may be able to help 'em. Don't you fail 
 now, Bobby — there's a deal hangs on it ; and come 
 back as quick as you can." 
 
 "Deary, deary," she went on to herself, when Al- 
 derney had taken his departure, " where is this thing 
 a-goin' to lead to ? To think that it may fall to me 
 to be the accuser of poor Clara's husband ! Oh, ISTed, 
 Ned, what trouble you've brought with you, and what 
 joy ! " she added, after a pause ; and she slowly opened 
 the paper she had never ceased twisting between her 
 fingers, and read the name and address again care- 
 fully. 
 
 " Well, Bobby, did they tell you ? " she asked as he 
 
378 . ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 re-entered. " Softly, speak very low — I don't want 
 him woke ; did ttiey tell it to you ? " 
 
 "Yes, Hannah. I had some trouble to get it out 
 of him, — it's Terence Dunleavy." 
 
 "Well, don't you tell anybody else," said Hannah, 
 without showing any sign of surprise or recognition 
 of the name, " but just go back to Lordy's room and 
 stay there ; or maybe you had better go to bed, I 
 don't want you any more." 
 
 Alderney cast a suspicious and lingering glance at 
 Ned. " Does anybody besides you know he is here ? " 
 he asked. " They ought to know, you know." 
 
 " Well, I will tell 'em ; but you'll spoil everything 
 if you meddle. Just keep your head shut till I give 
 you the word to open it. Now, good night, or rather 
 good morning. Trot off." 
 
 No sooner was she left alone than she laid her hand 
 on the sleeper's shoulder and shook him lightly. 
 
 " It's gettin' on for five, Ned ; I can't let you sleep 
 longer, with the work that we have afore us. Do you 
 know the room Polly is a-sleepin' in ? " 
 
 " Not I, aunty ; but that doctor that was here when 
 we came could tell you, if he isn't in bed. He seemed 
 to have the general charge of things, and no doubt 
 some of the servants are up that know." 
 
 " Are you flush of money ? Have you made much 
 out this of killin' business ? " she inquired. 
 
 " Pretty tidy. I was telling Polly, that if she 
 married this lord, I'd give her five thousand dollars. 
 
MR COLLINGS PERFORMS A DELICATE DUTY. 379 
 
 I'm not a stingy man, nor one that bears malice, 
 aunty." 
 
 " Good for you. If you were, what a lot more people 
 you'd blow up than you do! It's a dangerous busi- 
 ness, Ned — mighty risky. There's a man by the name 
 of Terence Dunleavy is in it with you, — ain't there ? " 
 
 " How in Well, I won't swear, aunty, seeing 
 
 it's you ; but how came you to know that ? " 
 
 " Polly knows him, don't she ? " asked Hannah, 
 whose suspicions had been roused when she first heard 
 of Mrs Clymer's presence in Dublin, before the news 
 of the accident had reached England. 
 
 " What has that to do with it ? " he answered, 
 Bulkily. 
 
 "Don't you see, Ned, that I'm a-puttin' things 
 together, and that I know enough to do it, whether you 
 choose to help me or no ? But there's this difference 
 between your doin' it with me, or leavin' me to do 
 it without you: in the first case, I do it with the 
 police ; in the other case, we do it together, and keep 
 the police out of it. That's why I want you to help 
 me. You see, I like that plan best — so much less 
 risky for you, you know. And it ain't much I ask 
 in return." 
 
 "What is it, aunty?" he replied; for Mr Clymer 
 was a man easily open to conviction, and with no 
 prejudices. 
 
 " Well, you've got to ship Polly off to America by 
 the very first steamer as sails from Queenstown. There 
 
380 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 must be no goin' up to London first, nor making ex- 
 planations to folks. She's just got to get up and 
 get, and that's all about it." 
 
 " But suppose she won't ? " 
 
 " That's just why I want you to come with me 
 straight to her bedroom now. She's got to, — there ain't 
 no suppose about it. You see, Ned, if she says she 
 won't, I should have to have both you and she taken 
 up by the police on suspicion of bein' intimate friends 
 of Terence Dunleavy's ; and they are on his track 
 now, — they have his name and his address — Eaggitt's 
 Hotel, if I don't disremember." 
 
 Ned made an uneasy attempt to laugh scornfully as 
 he said, " They are not likely to find him there." 
 
 " Maybe not ; but I doubt whether Polly would care 
 to be questioned about when she saw Dunleavy last, 
 and what business you and she did together, and when 
 she was married, and when you were married again. 
 They punish bigamy by transportation in- this country," 
 said Hannah, whose notions of the law of domicile 
 were hazy; and even Ned felt vaguely alarmed. " Bless 
 you, you don't, neither of you, want all the past and 
 present of your lives raked up, as it's bound to be 
 oust them police gets hold of you ! Then, to make 
 it easier, you could promise her a few of them dollars 
 if she would go over quietly without any fuss. I can 
 make it up to you another way, Ned; but you 
 must let me boss you through this business, if you 
 want to come out at the right end at last." 
 
MR COLLINGS PEEFOEMS A DELICATE DUTY. 381 
 
 " Go ahead, aunty ! You're an all-fire smart woman, 
 — I'll follow your lead." 
 
 " Then here we go," said Hannah, and she touched 
 the bell. 
 
 They were quickly shown to Mrs Clymer's bedroom, 
 and Hannah entered it, leaving Ned to cool his heels 
 in the passage for the sake of propriety, but keeping 
 him as a reserve force, to be used in case of need and 
 when the coast was clear. 
 
 " Polly," said Hannah, throwing the light of the 
 candle full upon the eyes of the sleeping beauty, and 
 shaking her roughly, " come, wake up." 
 
 Mrs Clymer started, rubbed her eyes, sat up, and 
 stared in a bewildered manner at the tall, ghostly- 
 looking apparition before her. 
 
 " The police are after Terence Dunleavy, and if you 
 don't want to be took up, you must make tracks at 
 onst. To think," pursued Hannah, with a confidence 
 of assurance that seemed to paralyse Mrs Clymer's 
 half-awakened wits, "after all that you have done to 
 the lord, of your havin' the audacity to come and sleep 
 under his very roof ! Why, it beats all. Hurry up 
 if you want to escape; you ain't got no time to 
 lose." 
 
 It is probable that even in her coolest and most self- 
 possessed moments such an address would have stag- 
 gered the adventuress; but taken unawares, scarcely 
 able to distinguish between Hannah's real presence 
 and a horrid nightmare of her, Mrs Clymer was thrown 
 
382 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 into a state of absolute terror. Conscious of having 
 been the instigator of the crime, the most appalling 
 consequences presented themselves to her excited 
 imagination ; and Miss Coffin's aspect as she glared at 
 her, like an avenging angel advanced in years, was not 
 calculated to allay her fears. 
 
 " Where am I ? " she exclaimed wildly, looking 
 round. 
 
 "Where you didn't ought to be, my dear. Come, 
 hurry up, and get your duds on ; Ned's outside waiting 
 for you. You did not know that your husband, that 
 helps people to blow up their enemies, married my 
 niece before he married his other wives, or you wouldn't 
 ha' been so offish when we first met over in Paris. 
 He's agreed to do what he can to help you to escape. 
 My ! there's steps ! I wonder if them's the police 1 " — 
 and Hannah went to the door and looked out. Seeing 
 all clear, she beckoned to Ned. "Now's your time," 
 she said, " I've skeared her 'most out of her wits ; she 
 thinks the police are after her — and mind, Ned, a word 
 from me and they will be. I leave her to you now. 
 When she's dressed, bring her to my room. It's all 
 safe yet, Polly," she said, turning back to Mrs Clymer, 
 " but it won't be long. Ned will wait outside, and 
 when you're dressed, he'll bring you to my room to say 
 good-bye. I shall have a last word to say to you ; " 
 and Hannah disappeared, leaving Mrs Clymer in a 
 turmoil of indignation, apprehension, and confusion, 
 which had deprived her of the power of expressing her 
 
MR COLLINGS PERFOEMS A DELICATE DUTY. 383 
 
 sentiments of Miss Coffin's conduct generally. In a 
 few moments she opened the door. 
 
 " Ned," she said, " you can come in now. Is what 
 that horrid woman said true ? " 
 
 " True as gospel, PoUy. I'm safe enough if you can 
 be got away before you're arrested. You are what 
 naturalists call the missing link between me and Dun- 
 leavy, — that's why I've got to ship you off, little girl ; 
 but I will give you something to grease the machinery 
 of life with after you get to the other side. I don't 
 wonder now that you fainted when you heard your lord 
 had been blown up, considering the hand you seem to 
 have had in it." 
 
 Whatever doubts the Clymer may have entertained 
 as to immediate compliance with Hannah's directions 
 were dissipated by this speech. Her conscience exag- 
 gerated the dangers of the situation, which had been 
 painted by both Hannah and her husband in suffi- 
 ciently appalling colours. She dressed in nervous haste, 
 and appeared in Hannah's little room with a prompti- 
 tude which seemed to please the old lady. 
 
 " I've told 'em to get some coffee ready for you — 
 leastways the doctor has. He's quite a high-toned, 
 nice kind of a man, Polly, and seems so anxious to get 
 you off, that he must kinder know what danger you're 
 in. He says he was a-goin' to send you off, anyways, 
 by this train. We've been a-lookin' at the papers, and 
 there's a steamer as leaves Queenstown this afternoon. 
 Ked will take your passage and see you off comfortable. 
 
384 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 And you'd better stay in America till I write and tell 
 you that it's safe for you to come back again. Now 
 don't you come back afore," she continued, casting a 
 withering glance upon her, "or it will be the worse 
 for you. It's old Hannah says it, and you'd better 
 beheve it." 
 
 "Miss Coffin," said Mrs Clymer, whom this last 
 remark stung into a retort, "if I have been silent 
 under your insults or accusations, it is not because the 
 first were deserved or the latter well founded, but 
 entirely owing to the false position in which I find 
 myself placed by the unexpected appearance of my 
 husband in Ireland. Out of regard for him, as well as 
 for my own character, I had already decided, after 
 assuring myself of the condition of Lord Sark, to pro- 
 ceed to America at once. My departure has therefore 
 no reference to your threats or unjust accusations ; nor 
 shall I be guided in my movements by anything you 
 may see fit to write, but shall return to England when- 
 ever it suits me. In the meantime, I trust that your 
 combined schemes for entrapping an English nobleman 
 as a husband for your Californian heiress may meet 
 with the success which they deserve. I can only regret 
 that she will have to wait so long for whatever may be 
 left of him." 
 
 " I expect her here with Lady Adela this afternoon 
 to nurse him," said Hannah, who had the satisfaction 
 of seeing Mrs Clymer wince under the information. 
 " Take her away, Ned, and give her her breakfast, and 
 
THE PAETY AT KILLBOGGIN. 385 
 
 never let me set eyes on her in this country again; 
 and when you've shipped her off, just you come 
 straight back here to me without losing an hour." 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXIII. 
 
 THE PARTY AT KILLBOGGIN. 
 
 It was not until Miss Coffin had assured herself that 
 Mr and Mrs Clymer were safely off, that she made her 
 presence in the castle known to Lord Sark. She had 
 indeed been on her way to that nobleman's room when 
 she met her nephew, but his sudden appearance 
 changed her intention ; and she felt that she could do 
 her host a greater service by sending the siren who 
 had pursued him out of the country than by any 
 amount of personal attendance. Indeed, so cleverly 
 had she managed the matter, that even Bob Alderney 
 was ignorant that Mrs Clymer had spent the night in 
 the castle. She now, under that gentleman's guidance, 
 went to his cousin's bedside. " Lordy, my dear," she 
 whispered soothingly in his ear, as she sat down by 
 him and took his hand in hers, " it's old Hannah, come 
 to nurse you till your sister comes." 
 
 He moved restlessly, and murmured "Thank you;" 
 but she knew instinctively the questions which he had 
 
 2B 
 
386 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 not strength to ask, and the cares which were agitating 
 his mind. "There ain't no cause for frettin'; there's 
 many changes has been taking place this last twenty- 
 four hours that you haven't got strength to listen to 
 now. Perhaps when Stella comes — she'll be here with 
 your sister this afternoon — she'll explain 'em to you 
 better than I can, — many things as you mistook, 
 through not understandin' the natur of gells ; but there 
 ain't a nobler gell breathing than Stella, no matter 
 how she may cut up sometimes. Now it's old Hannah 
 says so, my dear, who has known her for years, and 
 you'd better believe it. And as for them other things 
 as is a-pressin' on your mind, I never seed the money 
 trouble yet as there wasn't a way out of, leastways in 
 Amurrika ; and I guess it's pretty much the same here. 
 Bless you, they ain't o' no account ! what you need is 
 an easy mind, and a belief in the unexpected. Provi- 
 dence can always make things turn up in a way nobody 
 could ever ha' foreseen. Now there's that Clymer 
 packed off in a steamer for New York this afternoon, 
 and it was old Hannah done it. That woman did a 
 deal o' mischief, but she won't trouble you any more, 
 Lordy : it was the devils in her, poor thing." It was 
 difficult to say what effect this curious speech had 
 upon Lord Sark's mind, as his eyes were hidden by the 
 bandages, and his whole face swathed in a manner 
 which concealed its expression ; but after a moment 
 his hand opened eagerly, and when she placed hers in 
 it, he raised it to his lips, which seemed to be all the 
 
THE PARTY AT KILLBOGGIN. 387 
 
 response the old lady required, for her eyes glistened 
 with tears as she returned the pressure. " There was 
 a man did that to me onst before," she murmured, 
 looking with an analytical expression at the spot on 
 her hand which Sark's lips had touched. " It must be 
 a matter of fifty years ago now. If anybody had told 
 me then that I would have let that place be kissed 
 again by a man, and an English lord at that, and have 
 liked it, I should have said, ' My dear, you don't know 
 the natur of Hannah Coffin.' Lord forgive us! it's 
 little we any of us know of ourselves or of each other, 
 and of His wonderful dealings who can make things 
 happen in a way as no imagination could ha' pictured," 
 — and as her mind again reverted to her newly found 
 niece, she sank into a reverie, from which she was only 
 aroused by the entry of the nurse. 
 
 In the evening Lady Adela, Stella, and Mattie, in 
 charge of Lord St Olave, arrived, and were cheered by 
 the doctor's report that the patient had made remark- 
 able progress during the afternoon. Whether this was 
 due to Hannah's moral treatment, or to their own 
 medicaments, will never be known ; but the news of 
 their arrival still further contributed to relieve the 
 mental suffering under which Lord Sark was labouring 
 almost as much as from his wounds. 
 
 " Stella," said Mattie that evening when they were 
 both sitting with Hannah in the little boudoir, which 
 had been appropriated to the latter, " what was the last 
 address you gave Mr Murkle ? " 
 
388 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 " I left a letter for him at Dublin, requesting him to 
 go to Londonderry and wait there till he received a 
 telegram, which I would address to him at the post- 
 office, telling him the day of our arrival, when I pro- 
 posed that he should accompany us on a trip to the 
 Giant's Causeway. It's rather a cold expedition for 
 the depth of the winter, but to the American tourist or 
 the Cockney lover nothing is impossible." 
 
 " Oh, Stella, what a ridiculous journey to send the 
 poor man upon, when, we haven't the slightest inten- 
 tion of going near the Giant's Causeway ! " 
 
 " Telegraph him to come here at oust, Stella," said 
 Hannah. 
 
 " To come here, Hannah ! What on earth should we 
 do with him here ? " 
 
 "That's just what I want to show you when he 
 comes," rejoined Miss Coffin. "Just you bring him 
 here, and then leave him to me; and don't lose a 
 moment," said the old lady, rubbing her hands in 
 anticipation of that event. "There'll be no call for 
 you to see him if you don't want to." 
 
 It was so very unlike Miss Coffin to give a decided 
 direction of this sort without a very good reason for 
 it, that Stella did not venture on any further remon- 
 strance. 
 
 " How shall I word it, Hannah ? " said that young 
 lady, taking a form — without a supply of which she 
 never travelled — from her travelling-bag. 
 
 " Put it very strong, my dearie, — like a gell would 
 
THE PARTY AT KILLBOGGIN. 389 
 
 to her lover, so as it may be quite sure to fetch 
 him." 
 
 "Will this do?— 
 
 " Your presence here without delay essential. Our 
 joint happiness at stake. Eeply. — Stella." 
 
 " And that's true/' said Hannah. " We'd best send 
 Bobby with it to the telegraph -office. Mattie, you 
 take charge of all that." 
 
 When that young lady returned from her mission, 
 she had a letter in her hand. "From Altiora," she 
 said, and eagerly opened it. "Why, Stella, Altiora 
 says that when the Baroness went to call on Mrs 
 Clymer in London, she found that she had left town 
 for Ireland. I wonder where she is, and what mischief 
 she is contriving ? " 
 
 "I wonder!" remarked Hannah, drily. Her tone 
 of voice arrested the attention of both girls, who looked 
 up quickly at her. 
 
 " Oh, Hannah, you know something, and you won't 
 tell us ! How mysterious you have become, with your 
 telegrams to Murkle, and your wonderings about the 
 Clymer!" 
 
 " It ain't time to tell you yet all I know, my dears. 
 I suppose you'll be answering that letter to-morrow, 
 Mattie : just tell the darling that she ain't a-goin' to be 
 left alone in London with that mother of hers many 
 days longer, but I am a-comin' to her right away, as 
 soon as I've settled with this Murkle ; but you needn't 
 say anything about him. And say! just leave me 
 
390 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 some paper; 1 want to write to Keitliy. And now 
 I am too tired to have you a-settin' here any longer. 
 Good night, my dearies." And the two girls, knowing 
 from experience that when Hannah was in an impene- 
 trable mood it was useless to attempt to read her 
 riddles, took their departure, full of speculation as to 
 the cause of the mystery which had suddenly envel- 
 oped her conduct. 
 
 Mr Murkle, when he received Stella's telegram at 
 Derry, was by no means in an amiable frame of mind. 
 He had flown from London on the wings of love, with 
 his pocket full of documents setting forth his pecuniary 
 value, and his heart full of hope, but to find, on arriving 
 at Copleydale, that the nest was empty, and that, as 
 his only consolation, Stella had left a rather coldly 
 worded note, saying that she and her sister and Miss 
 Coffin had suddenly decided on making a tour in Ire- 
 land, and that she hoped he would meet her in Dublin ; 
 and she enclosed the name of the hotel. This eccentric 
 conduct roused his suspicions, and he was half inclined 
 to return to London ; but he felt that due allowances 
 should be made for the caprices of an heiress and a 
 beauty. He reflected that the prize was a large one, 
 and worth a little trouble ; and he registered a mental 
 resolution to pay Stella back for all the anxiety and 
 inconvenience to which he was now subjected, by a 
 pretty severe exercise of marital authority when he 
 once secured her as his wife. At Dublin he was infu- 
 riated by having a letter put into his hand, in which 
 
THE PAETY AT KILLBOGGIN. 391 
 
 Stella, with a clever frankness, admitted that she and 
 her sister had been persuaded by Lady Adela Dash- 
 ington to accompany her to her wounded brother's 
 estate, but that the visit would probably only last a 
 couple of days, when they intended to go on a trip 
 to the north of Ireland, and hoped for his company on 
 the occasion. This letter, as it made a great demand 
 upon his credulity, was affectionately worded; and 
 when once he had cooled off from the anger caused by 
 his first disappointment, he felt consoled by the evi- 
 dence it seemed to afford of Miss Walton's sincerity in 
 wishing to carry out her engagement with him, in spite 
 of the difficulties which an accidental combination of 
 circumstances had opposed to their meeting. That she 
 should actually propose to leave the house of his rival 
 to travel in his company was, moreover, doubly flatter- 
 ing to his vanity. So he hastened to Derry, internally 
 anathematising the love of sight-seeing which could 
 have prompted the journey at such a time of year. 
 He had no sooner arrived at his journey's end than he 
 found waiting for him the telegram which we have 
 seen despatched, and which did not improve his already 
 ruffled temper. A journey more or less, however, now 
 made but little difference ; he was rather glad of the 
 excuse of paying the castle in which its owner was 
 lying wounded a visit at such a time, and of course 
 could place no other construction upon the words of 
 the message than that he might consider the matter 
 arranged, and his bride — and, what was more im- 
 
392 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 portant, her fortune — secured. His journey from 
 Derry to Killboggin was therefore made in a more 
 sanguine and self-satisfied frame of mind even than 
 that from London to Copleydale. 
 
 "Mr Murkle will arrive this afternoon," said Stella 
 to Hannah, coming into her room the following morn- 
 ing with a telegram in her hand. "Now that he is 
 coming in obedience to your wishes, and not mine, you 
 must tell me what you wish me to say to him." 
 
 " I think that as your love affair seems to be kinder 
 conducted on business principles, whatever passes 
 should be in the presence of two witnesses," replied 
 Hannah, with a chuckle. 
 
 " That means, I suppose, that you wish nae to tell 
 him the real state of the case as regards Mattie and 
 myself in the presence of you and her ; but I am 
 afraid that will only have the effect of making him 
 mad, and driving him straight off to Altiora, and 
 persecuting the poor girl, by his threats of disclosing 
 some horrible secret, into marrying him." 
 
 " You ain't got no call to be feared about Altiora, 
 my dear. As soon as you've done with this Murkle, 
 I'm a-goin' to take him up to London myself," said 
 Hannah, talking of him as if he were a brown-paper 
 parcel or a poodle. 
 
 "What! go up with that creature alone!" ex- 
 claimed Stella. 
 
 " Why not, my dearie ? You've got Lordy to look 
 after, and Mattie has got Bobby, and I've got this 
 
THE PAETY AT KILLBOGGIN. 393 
 
 Murkle to 'tend to. We've each got our duty to do in 
 that state of life — I disremember exactly how it goes 
 on, being in the Episcopal Catechism, that I haven't 
 looked at since I was a gell. Besides, I shan't be 
 alone with him." 
 
 " Why, who will go with you, Hannah ? " 
 
 " Well, I'm expectin' a gentleman from Cork in an 
 hour or two. He's a-sorter related to me. Don't you 
 ask no more questions now, dearie ; let me play this 
 game out o' my own hand. You'll understand a good 
 deal more when you hear what I have to say to this 
 Murkle." 
 
 " But have you told Lady Adela that two gentlemen 
 are to arrive here to-day — one to see me, and the 
 other to see you — and who those gentlemen are ? We 
 must remember we are in England, Hannah ; and we 
 cannot be having our friends or our enemies come to 
 see us in a wounded nobleman's castle, without telling 
 people what we're al30ut. It's a funny thing us three 
 Americans being here, anyway." 
 
 " Well, I never was in a wounded nobleman's castle 
 before, and I don't know rightly what their manners 
 and customs is. You go and explain it to the Lady. 
 You ain't seen Lordy yet, have you ? " 
 
 "No; Lady Adela seemed to think it would be 
 better for me to wait a little. I suppose she does not 
 think it quite proper ; but I'm sure there's no nurse 
 could do him so much good, if you come to that," 
 added Stella, with a pout. " I think it would be far 
 
394 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 more proper than for her and Lord St Olave to nurse 
 him between them, as they do now." 
 
 " Well, my dearie, you must just have patience ; 
 them's all part of the manners and customs in 
 wounded noblemen's castles. Now you just go and 
 tell her about Murkle and the other." 
 
 " What's the name of the other ? " 
 
 " Well, you may call him CoUings ; 'tain't his real 
 name, but it's the name the doctor knows him by. 
 He was here before ; and you may say he is related to 
 me, and it's very important I should see him and 
 Murkle together. Tell her I won't keep 'em long 
 here, and then we calculate on goin' up to London 
 together." 
 
 Lady Adela was too good-natured to offer any 
 objection, and too absorbed by her cares to allow her 
 curiosity to be excited by Stella's request. Two or 
 three hours after, as Bob and Mattie and Stella were 
 discussing the problem which Hannah's conduct 
 suggested, and Bob was narrating his previous ex- 
 perience of the gentleman she had introduced to him 
 as her niece's husband, and whom he had seen peace- 
 fully slumbering in her sitting-room, a jaunting-car 
 appeared in the avenue containing two gentlemen, 
 who, on their nearer approach, were recognised to be 
 none other than Mr Murkle and Mr Ceilings. 
 
 " Curious their arriving together," said Bob ; " tliey 
 must have met at the junction, and come on by the 
 same train. I wish Hannah would let me assist at 
 
Mli MUEKLE FEELS THAT HE IS A VICTIM. 395 
 
 the scene as a third, witness. Let him down easy, 
 Stella." 
 
 "Bob," said Mattie, "mark my words — the day 
 that Stella lets down Mr Murkle easily will find you 
 hoisted up far more violently than you can possibly 
 imagine," — with which singular remark, and a saucy 
 toss of her head, the young lady and her friend took 
 their departure. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXIV. 
 
 MR MURKLE FEELS THAT HE IS A VICTIM. 
 
 Stella and Mattie met a servant in the hall with Mr 
 Murkle's card. 
 
 " Show him into the library," Stella said. " !N"ow, 
 Mattie, let us first go to Hannah's room, and see what 
 this relative of hers is like." 
 
 " This is Mr CoUings, my dears ; you'll know his 
 real name in a few minutes, maybe," said Hannah. 
 " Edward, these two young ladies and me have some 
 particular business with that gentleman as you come 
 along with from the station. If you'll just kindly wait 
 here, I'll send for you when I want you. I'll leave 
 him to you to begin with, Stella, and pick him up 
 where you drop him," she added, as they left the room. 
 
 Murkle had been pacing the library in the frame of 
 
396 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 inind characteristic of the impatient lover who has at 
 last succeeded in surmounting all intervening obstacles, 
 and needs only the impress of the first chaste salute to 
 seal the long-anticipated bliss. His doubts were at an 
 end. That allusion in the telegram to their "joint 
 happiness " warranted him in taking the fair creature 
 to his arms the moment he saw her, and pressing 
 her to his heart. Every sound he heard set that organ 
 beating violently ; and his excitement was augmented 
 by the calculations which seemed to intertwine them- 
 selves with his tenderer sentiments when he attempted 
 to estimate in imagination her possible pecuniary value. 
 Ever since he left London he had been a prey to the 
 emotions of love and of speculation alternating, as it 
 were, within his breast. At the moment when Stella's 
 coldness and caprice would damp the ardour of his 
 flame, the thought of the fortune which he might lose 
 by yielding to the influence of pique arose to check his 
 resentment. " If it wasn't for her money," he muttered 
 each time he took a new departure in his pursuit, " I 
 would not follow the baggage another yard." But now 
 that he had run to earth the money and its fair pos- 
 sessor in the very stronghold of his rival, his sense of 
 triumph was complete, and his arrogance grew in pro- 
 portion as he felt that the victory was won, since it 
 only depended upon his presence here to secure the 
 happiness which was otherwise at stake. It puzzled 
 him occasionally to think how it could have become 
 imperilled ; but he was too self-confident to feel much 
 
MR MUEKLE FEELS THAT HE IS A VICTIM. 397 
 
 anxiety on the subject. " If worse comes to the worst, 
 I can always run away with her," he said to himself ; 
 and just as he arrived at this decision the door opened, 
 and Stella, followed by Hannah and Mattie, appeared. 
 
 " Dear Mr Murkle ! " said the young lady, running 
 forward with a little joyous exclamation, and both 
 hands extended, " how good of you to come ! What 
 devotion you have shown in careering all over Ire- 
 land after me! You know I was bound to test it. 
 You are not angry with me ? " By this time he was 
 holding both her unresisting hands, and she was look- 
 ing appealingly in his face. 
 
 " Hang those other two women ! " he thought, as he 
 gently drew her towards him ; " I think I'll risk a kiss 
 in spite of them." 
 
 " 1^0, no," she said laughing, and gently disengaging 
 herself as she detected his intention — " not yet. I am 
 not a prude," she added, looking frankly straight into 
 his eyes, " and I like being kissed by the right person, 
 and at the right time and place, as well as anybody ; 
 but we have met here on business, and you remember 
 the old proverb, ' Business first, and pleasure after- 
 wards.* It was for the business part I brought my 
 two witnesses ; when that is finished, I will send them 
 away." 
 
 " As you please," said Murkle. " I am your obedient 
 slave, as you must have perceived from the way I have 
 been following you all over the country at your behest. 
 May I ask what is the danger which threatens our joint 
 
398 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 happiness, and which induced you to summon me here 
 so urgently ? " 
 
 " Miss Coffin will tell you that as soon as our busi- 
 ness matters are settled," she replied with a happy 
 inspiration, looking towards that lady, who nodded 
 emphatically, her lips tightly compressed. " Have you 
 brought the papers ? " 
 
 " Yes, here they are ; " and Murkle pulled a roll 
 from his pocket, and attempted to smile amiably, 
 though he felt a good deal irritated. 
 
 " I was so glad to learn from dear Altiora," remarked 
 Stella, who detected his suppressed impatience, " what 
 a sweet and equable temper you had ! Nothing ever 
 puts you out, does it ? " and she slipped off the elastic 
 band, and glanced her eye over the lines of figures and 
 their total amounts. " You mean me to keep these, of 
 course ; they seem quite satisfactory, but I should like 
 to look through them at my leisure." 
 
 "They are most strictly private — confidential," he 
 observed, somewhat alarmed. 
 
 " I quite understand, and I will not show them to 
 my lawyer without first telling you. Now, Mr Murkle, 
 if you will kindly exchange documents, — here is the 
 list of all the property I possess in the world." 
 
 " I assure you it is quite unnecessary ; I could not 
 think of looking at it," he replied, anxious to show his 
 indifference to money considerations, though he was 
 longing to know the amount of the total. " I beg you, 
 my dear Miss Walton, to keep the paper till after our 
 
ME MURKLE FEELS THAT HE IS A VICTIM. 399 
 
 marriage — it will be quite time enough. You have 
 only to specify the amount you wish settled on your- 
 self," he added, in a fit of generosity. 
 
 " That is easily stated," she replied, laughing. " If 
 you will only glance at that paper, you will see that 
 I cannot ask for a larger settlement out of my own 
 money than ten thousand dollars." 
 
 Murkle, whose curiosity was excited as much as his 
 mind was relieved by this piece of information, took 
 the paper, and read: — 
 
 "Total amount of the personal property of Mattie 
 Terrill,— 
 
 New York Central Eailway stock, . $5,000 
 
 Toledo and Wabash Eailway stock, . 6,000 
 
 Total, $10,000 
 Eeal estate, . , nil." 
 
 " This is a statement of Miss Terrill's property," he 
 said, turning to Mattie; "you have handed me the 
 wrong paper by mistake." 
 
 " No, Mr Murkle," said Mattie ; " I feel sure it will 
 make no difference in your sentiments as regards my 
 friend, if I tell you that I am the real heiress, and that 
 my name is Stella Walton. We changed names when 
 we came to Europe, because I have always had a great 
 horror of being married for my fortune and not for 
 myself. My friend, with her beauty and her talent, 
 is a prize in herself, which I am not," she continued, 
 
400 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 modestly ; " and she would doubtless have revealed her 
 identity to you sooner, had she felt that there was the 
 slightest danger of your being influenced by mercenary 
 considerations. It was her confidence in your disin- 
 terestedness which has induced her to give you this 
 opportunity of proving it." 
 
 It was some moments before Mr Murkle, who was 
 too stunned and bewildered to find words to express 
 the tumult of his feelings, could reply. His first clear 
 perception of the situation was, that he had designedly 
 been made a fool of by the false heiress — whom, to 
 save confusion, I shall continue to call Stella — from 
 the beginning ; and his wounded vanity, adding fire as 
 it were to the keenness of his disappointment, threw 
 him into a paroxysm of rage. 
 
 " Miss Walton or Terrill, or whatever other alias it 
 may please you to assume," he said, rising and address- 
 ing Stella, his lips white with passion, " in withdraw- 
 ing from the position I have hitherto occupied towards 
 you, I wish you to understand that I do so not because 
 you are a pauper, — had I known you to have been one 
 from the beginning, I might have still sought your 
 hand, — but because you are a cheat — because you 
 have heartlessly trifled with affections which have 
 been pure and disinterested, whatever you may think 
 to the contrary — because you have deliberately chosen 
 me as a subject of sport, and have turned into ridicule 
 the most sacred emotions of my nature. But I am not 
 one upon whom practical jokes of this kind can be 
 
MR MUEKLE FEELS THAT HE IS A VICTIM. 401 
 
 played with impunity ; nor does the law of this coun- 
 try, as you will find to your cost, permit people to 
 assume false names, forge cheques, and otherwise im- 
 pose upon society, without risk." 
 
 "Now that's just the pint you know more about 
 than most people, maybe, is that matter about takin' 
 up false names, and imposin' on society under 'em," 
 interrupted Hannah. " Mattie, just ask the gentleman 
 in my room to be so good as step this way. You didn't 
 happen to be acquainted with the late Mrs Peto, did 
 you ? — Altiora's real mother, I mean, not that Baroness 
 as imposes upon society as her mother. Take time 
 and don't get flurried; you ain't bound to criminate 
 yourself, as the lawyers say. "We can get at it all 
 another way ; only you might save yourself, don't you 
 see, by bein' the first to tell your own story. Maybe 
 you was a victim of a designin' woman — same as you 
 are now, you know. You seem a poor kind of a crittur, 
 anyway," she concluded, as she looked at his white 
 cheeks and trembling hands and lips, contemptuously. 
 
 " I don't know anything " began Murkle. 
 
 " There, there, 'tain't no use a-lyin'. You was with 
 Grandesella in Italy at the time the Baroness was 
 a-livin' with Mrs Peto as her companion, when Altiora 
 was born after her husband's death, because you told 
 me once you'd known Altiora ever since she was a 
 baby, and know'd her father ; so it ain't no good a- 
 tryin' to wriggle out of it. You know that the Baroness 
 ain't Altiora's mother just as well as she does herself, 
 
 20 
 
402 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 or you wouldn't always be a-lioldin' threats of secrets 
 you can tell, over her. Now this gentleman, he saw 
 Mrs Peto and Altiora in Italy when the Baroness 
 was a-livin' with Mrs Peto as a friend, and there ain't 
 no difficulty about provin' the child's birth nor the 
 mother's death ; and there wouldn't be none in showin' 
 what hand you had in helpin' to deceive the executors 
 and bankers, and suchlike, by keepin' Mrs Peto's death 
 a secret, and passin' off the Baroness for her. We've 
 only got to set to work to examine into it all ; but you 
 might save us all that trouble, don't you see, and no 
 one need know what you've bin and done, if you give 
 a clear story of what the Baron and the Baroness did, so 
 as I can get a holt of 'em. Look here you, Murkle," said 
 the old lady, suddenly starting up and advancing to- 
 wards him with such menacing vehemence that he 
 shrank back till his chair nearly tipped over, "that 
 dead woman, murdered maybe, was my sister ; and the 
 gell's my niece, and I'm a-goin' to get her back to 
 where she belongs, if there's necks got to wring for 
 it. Now, it's old Hannah says so, and you'd better 
 believe it." 
 
 Murkle, during this energetic tirade, had been 
 rapidly turning over in his mind the dangers of the 
 position in which he now found himself involved. He 
 saw before him a determined and enterprising group of 
 women, who, he knew from experience, were not to be 
 trifled with in matters where intelligence and resolu- 
 tion were concerned, who possessed almost boundless 
 
MR MURKLE FEELS THAT HE IS A VICTIM. 403 
 
 financial resources, who were in possession of a most 
 dangerous witness, and who had only to make inquiries 
 on the spot to expose the whole fraud which the 
 adventurers had so boldly perpetrated nearly twenty 
 years before. They had calculated, and not without 
 reason, that, provided they could satisfy the repre- 
 sentatives of Mr Peto that the Baroness was his widow, 
 the secret of the real widow's death could easily be 
 preserved, so far as the obscure Italian village in which 
 she was buried was concerned. The familiarity of the 
 Baroness — then Mrs Crombie — with the private corre- 
 spondence of Mrs Peto, for whom she used to act as 
 secretary, rendered it easy for her to continue writing 
 as Mrs Peto, after the death of that lady, to her man 
 of business, and thus, with the assistance and co-opera- 
 tion of the Baron and Murkle, to retain possession of 
 Mr Peto's fortune, which had been left unreservedly to 
 his widow. No sooner did it become clear to Murkle 
 that the game was up — to use his own expression — 
 than he perceived the advantages of the course sug- 
 gested by Hannah of providing for his own safety with 
 that lady on the best terms he could make with her, 
 regardless of any fate which might befall his partners 
 and accomplices. 
 
 " It's quite true," he said, after a pause ; " the Baron- 
 ess is not Altiora's mother. I was only a clerk in the 
 house at the time that the Baron and Mrs Crombie, as 
 she was then, conceived the scheme of acquiring Mr 
 Peto's fortune. I made the great mistake of my life in 
 
404 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 not at once resigning my position and retiring from the 
 firm when I discovered their designs. They made me 
 a partner to keep me silent; and I admit my com- 
 plicity only to this extent, that, knowing that a great 
 wrong had been done to Altiora, I did not expose it." 
 
 "Instead of trying to force her to marry you for 
 the purpose of getting her money, should you fail in 
 obtaining what you thought was mine," said Stella. 
 " And you dare to talk of my having trifled with what 
 you are pleased to term your affections ! " 
 
 " Let the poor crittur be," said Hannah ; " he ain't 
 got no sting left in him worth a cent. Mr Murkle, 
 this is Mr Clymer, Mrs Clymer's husband — that is, he 
 was. He passed by the name of CoUings to save his 
 wife's character so long as she was in the country ; but 
 now she's gone to the States, it don't much matter what 
 you call him. Him and you has got to come with me 
 to London. I guess we'd better start to-night. Ned, 
 you take charge of him while I go and see how Lordy 
 is, and tell the Lady that I'm a-goin' away for a spell." 
 
 After a consultation with Lady Adela, to whom 
 Hannah confided what had just transpired, it was 
 decided that the news was likely to prove so agreeable 
 to Lord Sark that she was to tell him of it ; and it was 
 arranged that Altiora was to accompany Hannah on 
 her return to Killboggin. The fact that Grandesella 
 and Murkle were for the future rendered powerless, so 
 far as any interference in his financial affairs was con- 
 cerned, was evidently no less a relief to Lord Sark than 
 
ME MURKLE FEELS THAT HE IS A VICTIM. 405 
 
 the intelligence that Altiora was in no way related to 
 the Baron and his wife, and that she would probably 
 shortly be placed in possession of her own fortune. 
 " I have Keithy in London a-waitin' to help me," she 
 said ; " and, Lordy, don't you be anyways anxious about 
 your cousin, — it's my opinion that she couldn't have a 
 friend more able nor willing to help her than Keithy, 
 and none as she would sooner be helped by. What is 
 it you say ? " — and she leant down to catch his whisper 
 — " Bring 'em both back with me ? Yes, that I will, 
 sure. Now you keep up a good heart. I tell you that 
 the way that Stella has played that Murkle for the 
 last two months, to save Altiora from him, and then 
 made him run all over Ireland after her, and then got 
 him snarled up here at last, with Ned Clymer a-keepin' 
 watch over him, shows that she's as clever with her 
 head as she is lovin' with her heart ; and " — bending 
 down very low, she added in a whisper — "I know 
 who it is that's got her heart," — with which comfort- 
 able assurance Hannah gave his lordship's sound hand 
 a squeeze, and was gone. 
 
 That night, after Hannah and Murkle and Ned 
 Clymer had started for London, Stella went into Mat- 
 tie's room, and found that young lady softly sobbing. 
 
 " Why, Mattie darling, what's the matter ? " 
 
 " Bo — ob," she sighed, with a gulp. 
 
 "Well, what about Bob?" 
 
 " How am I ever to break it to him, Stella ? 
 
 " Break what to him ? " 
 
406 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 " Why, that I've got nearly five millions of dod — dod 
 — dollars," with a long series of catching sobs. 
 
 " Then let me break it to him." 
 
 " No, no ; I am sure he will run away when he hears 
 it, and I shall never see him again. He's set his heart 
 on our both living on a pound a-day." 
 
 " Well, so you can, dear. You needn't spend more 
 than you like." 
 
 " No ; but I know that he will talk about his honour, 
 and say it is impossible, and — and — that I've deceived 
 him. It was only the other day he was saying how 
 lucky it was that you were the heiress and not me, as 
 he never would have proposed to me if I had been 
 richer than he was. And I said it was awfully lucky. 
 Oh, Stella, what a lie we've both been living! It 
 seems as if I never had been Stella, and as if you had 
 never been Mattie." 
 
 " Well, dear, don't let us confuse our heads or our 
 hearts any more just now with our own identity. Bob 
 will like you just as much by either name, I'm sure ; 
 but there's no occasion to let him into the secret just 
 yet. Let's wait till Hannah and Altiora come, at any 
 rate, and then we'll have a regular good time. Ee- 
 member how much better off you are than I am. You 
 can see Bob at any time ; but I am shut off from my 
 poor darling, who thinks I have behaved so cruelly to 
 him. Besides, who knows, when I have to break to 
 him that you are the heiress and not me, whether I 
 may not be in as bad a fix as you ? Do you think it 
 
THE BARON AND BARONESS SUCCUMB. 407 
 
 possible, Mattie," said Stella, in a sudden paroxysm of 
 alarm, "that we may both lose our loves through 
 having changed places ? What a dreadful punishment 
 it would be ! " 
 
 «0h, don't, Stella!" 
 
 "Don't what?" 
 
 "Suggest such horrid things," said Mattie, illogi- 
 cally. "I've a good mind really to change, and give 
 you all my fortune. I never thought of that, — we can 
 make it quite safe that way." 
 
 "We'll try the other first, dear," responded Stella, 
 drily. "Meantime I have been too full of Hannah's 
 happiness in this wonderful discovery of her newly 
 found niece to conjure up imaginary sorrows. Kow 
 kiss me good night." 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXV. 
 
 THE BARON AND BARONESS SUCCUMB TO 
 CIRCUMSTANCES. 
 
 " Say, Murkle," said Hannah, who had ceased to think 
 that gentleman worth the compliment of adding Mr 
 to his name, as they were gliding into the London 
 terminus, "what's the best time to catch them two 
 conspirators together?" 
 
408 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 "The probability is, that we shall find them this 
 evening, if we go there as soon as we have had some- 
 thing to eat," he replied. 
 
 " Well, you know what you're a-goin' to say. You've 
 been a poor deluded victim all through, as wants to 
 clear your conscience by turnin' States' evidence, or 
 whatever they call it here; and your conscience is 
 a-troubling you so much you can't a-bear it any longer 
 — knowing that if you did, I've other witnesses as 
 could send you to prison. Just you stick to that, and 
 whatever I say, you agree to, or it will be the worse 
 for you." 
 
 The Baron and Baroness had been dining at home, 
 and he was just starting for his club when the cab 
 containing Miss Coffin, Mr Murkle, and Ned Clymer 
 drove up to his door. 
 
 "Ah, Dick, mio caro!" he exclaimed, as Murkle 
 jumped out and handed out Miss Coffin, " whom have 
 we here ? What a delightful surprise ! " he added, 
 turning with effusion to Hannah. 
 
 " Guess you're a-goin' to find it so," she murmured ; 
 but the Baron did not hear her, and went on — 
 
 "And the two lovely young ladies — I hope they 
 have returned to London ? What a pleasure for my 
 Altiora, who has been longing to see them again! 
 Present me, pray ; " for by this time Mr Clymer was 
 standing on the Baron's doorstep with the rest of the 
 party. 
 
 " This is Mr Clymer, my nephew by his first mar- 
 
THE BAKON AND BARONESS SUCCUMB. 409 
 
 riage, as come over to send his present wife, the Bar- 
 oness's great friend, you know, back to America." 
 
 "Dear me, how interesting! How charmed the 
 Baroness will be to make his acquaintance ! Pray let 
 me show you the way up-stairs ; " and the Baron led 
 the party — whose mixed composition considerably 
 puzzled him, and caused him a vague feeling of un- 
 easiness, which he was at a loss to account for — to- 
 wards the drawing-room, " Where have you all sprung 
 from ? " he pursued, hoping to solve the mystery. 
 
 "Lord Sark's castle — I disremember the name of it 
 — was where we all started from yesterday, if you 
 mean that," replied Hannah ; and the Baron was more 
 profoundly perplexed than ever as he ushered them 
 into the presence of his wife and step-daughter. 
 Altiora, seeing so unexpected an apparition, jumped 
 up, and, with an exclamation of delighted surprise, 
 flung herself into Hannah's arms. 
 
 "There, my darling!" whispered the latter, as she 
 returned her embrace with equal ardour; "you slip 
 out, I've got something very particular to say to the 
 Baron and Baroness as you'll hear about later. This 
 is Mr Clymer," she added, after bowing stiffly to the 
 Baroness, " as has come to tell you that he has packed 
 his wife, your friend, off to the States, and he's got 
 some other business to talk over besides;" and she 
 nodded to Altiora, who left the room. 
 
 The Baron felt much relieved ; it was evident that 
 the visit related entirely to Mrs Clymer's affairs. His 
 
410 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 wife received Mr Clymer with great cordiality, and 
 said she would be so interested to hear the last news 
 of her dear friend. 
 
 " You can tell the Baroness that afterwards, Ned ; 
 let us get to business first," interposed Hannah. " Be- 
 fore you was the Baroness, you was Mrs Crombie, 
 wasn't you ? " 
 
 " I was," said tlie Baroness, coldly ; " but I do not 
 know by what right you have come here to ask me 
 these questions." 
 
 " Oh, you needn't answer any of 'em you don't like ; 
 it's out of nothing but wantin' to save you havin' a 
 rough time as I've come. When you was Mrs 
 Crombie, you lived at an old castle in Italy with Mr 
 and Mrs Peto as Mrs Peto's companion, didn't you ? " 
 
 " Go on," said the Baroness, showing symptoms of 
 nervousness, which she concealed beneath a haughty 
 sneer. 
 
 " Oh, don't be in a hurry ; I am a-goin' faster nor 
 you'll like, maybe. When Mrs Peto, who was my 
 niece, died, or you poisoned her — I've got to find that 
 out yet — you stole her name, and her daughter, and 
 her fortune, with the help of the Baron there and this 
 Murkle, and you've kept 'em ever since ? Ain't that 
 so ? You've no call to answer if you ain't a mind to." 
 
 The brutal directness of this charge, every word of 
 which issued from Hannah's pinched lips like pellets 
 from a pop-gun, caused the blood to ebb from the 
 heart of the Baroness, and for a second she seemed to 
 
THE BAKON AND BAKONESS SUCCUMB, 411 
 
 lose consciousness. It was only by tlie most powerful 
 effort of will that she prevented herself from fainting. 
 The Baron felt his courage oozing from his pores and 
 standing on his forehead in beads. 
 
 " It's a false, vile, atrocious calumny ! " the Baroness 
 almost shrieked at last. It seemed to her that it was 
 only by raising her voice to a scream that she could 
 use it at all. 
 
 " Well, there's Ned here ; he saw his wife's aunt — 
 that is, my sister Fanny — when Altiora was about four 
 months old, and she told him it was her baby as she 
 was a-goin' to bring to America when she got a little 
 better, and how you was her companion, and wasn't 
 well the night he slept at the castle ; and there's this 
 Murkle, he's ready to swear in a court of justice 
 exactly how you and the Baron and he did it all, — 
 imposed upon the lawyers and bankers, and forged my 
 poor Fanny's name, and all that. 'Tain't no use a- 
 screeching like that. I've come to talk business. This 
 game's played out, — there ain't no two ways about it. 
 Now it's old Hannah says so, and you'd better believe 
 it. Ain't that so, Murkle ? " 
 
 " Well," said the gentleman thus appealed to, " I am 
 bound to say, my dear friends, that I have come to the 
 conclusion, if you force Miss Coffin to carry this matter 
 to a court of justice, to turn Queen's evidence. I have 
 assured her that her suspicions in regard to the circum- 
 stances of her niece's death are entirely unfounded — 
 the poor lady died from natural causes. Still, though 
 
412 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 it would be impossible to prove the reverse, it would 
 be disagreeable to have a charge of murder added to 
 the fraud, forgery, and false personation which certainly 
 can be proved, whether I give evidence or no. I there- 
 fore strongly recommend you both, for all our sakes, to 
 see whether it would not be possible to compromise 
 this unfortunate affair. I am in a position to say that 
 Miss Coffin is prepared to offer certain conditions, on 
 the acceptance of which she will not press the matter 
 criminally." 
 
 " That's so. You put that well, Murkle," remarked 
 Hannah, approvingly. 
 
 During all this time the Baron remained perfectly 
 silent, softly drumming with his fingers on the table, 
 and occasionally wiping his forehead with his handker- 
 chief. The Baroness was breathing quick and hard, as 
 though in imminent danger of going into a fit ; though 
 her lips moved as if in an attempt to speak, no sound 
 issued from them. 
 
 " I ain't a-goin' back," pursued Hannah, " on your 
 treatment of that darling you call your daughter, nor 
 the lies you and this Murkle made up against the 
 character of her poor dear dead father, because I am 
 a-goin' to take her away with me in the cab that's 
 waitin' at the door — and once she's with me, she'll soon 
 forget you and what she suffered with you ; but I must 
 have every cent of my girl's money, — and you and this 
 Murkle have made enough out of it to pay it all back 
 to her, and more too, — and after that, maybe you'U find 
 
THE BAKON AND BARONESS SUCCUMB. 413 
 
 it best to leave the country and live abroad : because 
 if you stay here it will have to be known that you 
 never was her mother, and the thing can't be kept 
 quiet ; but if you stay away in other countries, people 
 will forget all about you, and neither me nor Altiora 
 will talk about our family affairs. When would you 
 propose to start ? " she asked, after a pause, turning 
 suddenly upon the Baron. 
 
 " Keally, my dear lady, the whole thing is so sudden, 
 you must allow me a little time to think it over." 
 
 "Well, I'll leave you alone to put your heads to- 
 gether, while I go and get my darling ready to come 
 along with me. Say, you ! " she said, turning to the 
 Baroness, " just come and show me the room." 
 
 The Baroness perceiving that her husband had de- 
 cided not to attempt resistance to the overpowering 
 force of circumstances, complied without a word. On 
 her return, the triumvirate retired to a corner to con- 
 sider the situation, and Clymer became absorbed in the 
 evening paper. Meantime Hannah had delighted 
 Altiora's heart by telling her that she was to leave the 
 house with her at once. 
 
 " There ain't no occasion for you to do more than 
 throw a few things together now, honey, and we'll 
 send for everything else that belongs to you to-mor- 
 row ; for you're never a-goin' back to that woman, that 
 isn't your mother, again, but you're a-goin' to live with 
 old Hannah just as long as ever you've a mind to. 
 'Tain't time to explain it to you all now, but you need 
 
414 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 never be afraid of having to marry that Murkle, nor 
 bein' handed over to the Clymer, who's gone back to 
 the States. Day after to-morrow, if all's settled, you'll 
 come along with me to Lordy's castle in Ireland, where 
 Mattie and Stella are." 
 
 Altiora listened to this somewhat disconnected 
 account of the new aspect her affairs were assuming 
 with an amazement which almost amounted to stupe- 
 faction, and mechanically made her preparations foi 
 accompanying Hannah. 
 
 "I expect Keithy will be waitin' for us when we 
 get back to the hotel," she went on ; "he's got to se'itle 
 all the business part of this matter. Now I'm a-goin' 
 down-stairs again. You can put on your bonnet and 
 follow me to the sittin'-room as soon as you're ready." 
 
 The Baron advanced as she entered. "My dear 
 lady," said that worthy, "the Baroness and I appre- 
 ciate your generosity. Perhaps, had the prime insti- 
 gator of this unfortunate transaction not shown such 
 willingness to betray the victims who were tempted 
 by him to commit this irregularity, the Baroness and 
 myself might have assumed another attitude in this 
 unhappy business. However, we recognise the strength 
 of your position, and are prepared frankly to accept 
 your terms, on condition that the whole subject be 
 buried in the most profound secrecy. The Baroness 
 and I will take up our residence in Paris or Eome. 
 The fortune left to Altiora by Mr Peto shall be re- 
 stored to her in full, and with its payment all further 
 
THE BAKON AND BAEONESS SUCCUMB. 415 
 
 connection between myself and the man by whom we 
 have been so grossly betrayed ceases," and he looked 
 savagely at Murkle. "As soon as ever the business 
 part of this matter is settled, we shall take oiir depar- 
 ture. I need not say that I shall take leave of my 
 dearest Altiora, towards whom I ever felt the affec- 
 tion of a parent, with the most profound emotion." 
 
 " I'll send Mr Hetherington here the first thing in 
 the morning to go into the whole matter ; guess he's 
 smart enough to see you don't act noways crooked." 
 
 "Ah, here comes my little Ora! Good-bye, caris- 
 sima mia, for the last time ! " exclaimed the Baron, and 
 opened his arms with effusion. 
 
 "Good-bye, mamma," said Altiora, after receiving 
 the Baron's salute. 
 
 "Altiora," broke in Hannah, sternly, "never you 
 go to use that word to that woman again; and don't 
 go wasting your feelings upon her, honey — she ain't 
 wuth it." 
 
 For Altiora, overcome by the suddenness of the 
 changes that were in process around her, and of which 
 she imderstood so little, had been unable to restrain 
 her tears at the thought of an indefinite separation, 
 apparently attended with disgrace to those whom she 
 had regarded as parents, and with whom she had spent 
 her life, even though they had made it a suffering one. 
 
 " It has not been possible for me to understand what 
 has happened," she whispered to the Baroness, " but I 
 shall see you again in spite of everybody." 
 
416 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 " I doubt it, when you know all," replied that lady, 
 sadly; "but perhaps you may, for you have a noble 
 heart, Altiora, and are not to be judged like other 
 people. Good-bye, my dear;" and Altiora followed 
 Hannah down -stairs, the Baron accompanying the 
 party with the utmost suavity to the cab. 
 
 " Perhaps," he said to Hannah, as he politely offered 
 her his arm across the pavement, " there would be no 
 objection, provided we both undertake to reside abroad, 
 to my coming across to London alone for a few days on 
 business ? " 
 
 "On condition that your wife never, under any 
 circumstances, accompanies you, I don't see no harm 
 in it. But look ye here, you've got to act square right 
 straight through this matter," — and she fixed him with 
 her eye under the gas-lamp, — " old Hannah ain't one 
 to be trifled with." 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXYI. 
 
 A JOINT CONFESSION. 
 
 The soothing words of Hannah's last interview with 
 Lord Sark acted like balm to that nobleman's wounded 
 spirits. Though incapable of unimpeded utterance, 
 owing to the injuries he had received, his intellect, 
 after the first few hours, had become perfectly clear ; 
 
A JOINT CONFESSION. 417 
 
 and the conviction which now began to force itself 
 upon his mind, that Stella had loved him always, and 
 had been trifling with Murkle merely to save his cousin 
 from persecution by that individual, rendered it diffi- 
 cult for him to remain at ease, with the consciousness 
 that he was separated from her loved presence only by 
 a few walls and doors. During the long hours of the 
 night, when he was unable to sleep from pain, he was 
 harassed by the conflicting considerations which pre- 
 sented themselves. Could he venture to press for an 
 interview with a girl who had never given him reason 
 to suppose that she returned his affection, under such 
 peculiar circumstances ? Would her sense of pro- 
 priety be shocked, and would he place her in a posi- 
 tion from which her natural delicacy would shrink ? 
 If he overrated her feelings towards him, would it not 
 be subjecting them to too severe a strain to ask her 
 to visit an object, blinded, disfigured, and almost incap- 
 able of speech ? And might not the effect be to de- 
 stroy the tender shoots of a sentiment which might be 
 growing for him ? On the other hand, Hannah spoke 
 with the conviction of positive assurance; and if she 
 was really longing to be with him, and only restrained 
 from a sense of maidenly modesty, what a solace and 
 consolation was he not losing ! The result of a night 
 passed in restless questionings with his own mind was 
 a slight increase of feverish disturbance, which the 
 doctors were at a loss to account for, regard being had 
 to the condition of the wounds. 
 
 2 D 
 
418 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 " Is there anything troubling you, dear ?" asked his 
 sister — "you seem so restless ; is the pain worse ?" 
 
 " Better," he replied. 
 
 " Then what is it ? " 
 
 He gave a little moan. Then he felt that it would 
 be better for him to know the worst — even that she 
 refused to come — than this suspense, so he murmured, 
 "Stella." 
 
 Lady Adela reported this symptom to the doctor. 
 
 " Excuse me, my dear lady," replied the little man, 
 " is he in love with her ? " 
 
 " I think so," said Lady Adela, colouring slightly. 
 
 " Then she is the very best remedy we can possibly 
 administer — that is, if she returns his affection. We 
 shall know that when we tell her that his lordship 
 desires to see her. Will you kindly communicate his 
 lordship's wishes at once ? " 
 
 Lady Adela found the girls with Bob Alderney in 
 the library, listening to a letter which that gentleman 
 had just received. " Oh, Adela," he said, when she 
 returned, "I have just heard from Hetherington. I 
 told him, you know, to see that fellow CasseroU, and 
 do something about postponing that meeting of Sark's 
 Company, which seems to have been the cause of this 
 unfortunate journey. It seems the whole tragedy has 
 created such a sensation, as well it might, that it has 
 been decided to postpone all action for the present. 
 So that's good news. It will relieve poor Sark's mind 
 awfully, I'm sure." 
 
A JOINT CONFESSION. 419 
 
 •* Would you like to be the bearer of such good 
 news ? " said Adela, turning to Stella. " Sark has ex- 
 pressed a wish to see you ; and the doctor urges it 
 so strongly, that I don't think there can be any impro- 
 priety in it, as it may do him so much good, poor 
 fellow ! But don't go, Stella," she added, " unless you 
 can tell him what will make him happy." 
 
 The colour rushed into Stella's face, as the desire to 
 go to him, which had been growing almost uncontrol- 
 lable, was at last about to be realised. 
 
 "I'll do what I can to " but the sentence re- 
 mained unfinished in consequence of the violence of 
 the embrace which the impulsive Mattie felt at this 
 moment constrained to give her. 
 
 " Be very nice to him, darling," she whispered, " and 
 take care you don't give him too sudden a shock when 
 you break it to him you're not me ; and remember, 
 that just at the same time I shall be breaking it to 
 Bob that I'm not you. Oh my, I do feel so frightened ! 
 I was only giving her a little wholesome advice," she 
 said to Lady Adela, as an apology for the whisper. 
 "Now run off, Stella, and behave yourself properly;" 
 and Lady Adela, followed by Stella, left the room. 
 
 "Bob, dear," Mattie said, when they were alone, 
 "just feel my hand; isn't it cold?" 
 
 " It is indeed, my darling ; what makes it so ? Let 
 me warm it," and he carried it to his lips. 
 
 "Sheer fright — nothing but fright; just feel my 
 heart, how it is beating!" 
 
420 ALTIOKA PETO. 
 
 Bob obeyed. "Why, so it is, little fluttering 
 thing," and his arm unconsciously glided round her 
 waist. 
 
 " Oh, Bob, forgive me — don't squeeze quite so much 
 — I have deceived you, and done very wrong. I have 
 got a terrible confession to make." At this Bob's arm 
 gently withdrew, and Mattie gave a sob. " Oh, I feel 
 as if I was going to faint. Hold me. Bob, or I shall 
 never have the courage to tell you ; but promise first 
 that you'll love me just the same." 
 
 "Don't frighten a fellow out of his life, Mattie," 
 said Bob, somewhat sternly. " Of course I will love 
 you just the same, if you have not done anything to be 
 ashamed of." 
 
 " But I am ashamed of it, — that's just the trouble, 
 Bob," she said, and she gazed at him through brimming 
 eyes. " I'm a fraud. I'm a living lie." 
 
 " Good heavens ! " he ejaculated. 
 
 " So is Stella," she added, solemnly. 
 
 " Mattie, you'll drive me mad with your self-accusa- 
 tions. Out with it, and let me know the worst." 
 
 "Well, I'm Stella, and Stella's me." 
 
 Bob got seriously alarmed. " She is certainly going 
 out of her mind," he thought. 
 
 "Mattie, darling, am I going to lose you?" he 
 murmured, as the vision of an asylum presented itself. 
 
 " Not if I know it, dear. Of course you don't change 
 to Stella, because Stella's me. You stick to me all the 
 same. Oh, Bob, how stupid you are ! " 
 
A JOINT CONFESSION. 421 
 
 " Well, dear, I confess I feel a little confused ; try 
 and clear your head a little." 
 
 "Clear your head, you mean. Don't you see, if I 
 am Stella Walton, that I'm the great heiress, worth 
 five millions of dollars, — and that Stella is Mattie 
 Terrill, not worth more than ten thousand ? " 
 
 " When did you become Stella Walton ? " he asked, 
 still doubtful about her sanity. 
 
 " When we first arrived in Paris we changed names, 
 because I was so afraid some one might want to marry 
 me for my money ; and now I am afraid, because I've 
 got it, that you won't want to marry me." 
 
 " I shall always want to marry you, Mattie, — Stella, 
 I mean. Good heavens ! what am I to call you ? But 
 this alters our relative circumstances so materially that 
 I hardly know what to think. You have done very 
 wrong, Mattie, to practise such a wicked deception and 
 place me in such a false position." 
 
 "I know it. Bob, dear," she sobbed, penitently. 
 "Just think how bad it must be for Stella. She's 
 telling Sark now that she's herself — no — that she's 
 me ; I mean that she's Mattie, and not Stella at all. 
 Do you think he'll mind. Bob, dear ? " 
 
 " Well, I don't suppose he'll mind half as much as I 
 do. I should begin to feel a fraud myself if I got all 
 that money, — as if I had robbed Sark. Oh, St — attie, 
 M — ella I mean, what a muddle and a mess you've got 
 us all into ! " 
 
 " Oh," said Mattie, and she clapped her hands, " I 
 
422 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 know how to make it all straight. You go right away 
 up to London and find out all about Sark's money 
 troubles, and I'll give you as much as ever you want 
 to buy up the whole of that Company. We'll buy 
 every share, Bob; and then we'll have a meeting of 
 contented shareholders — that will be you and me, with 
 Stella for the Board and Sark for chairman ; then we'll 
 scintillate the universe with electricity, declare divi- 
 dends, and live happy ever afterwards." 
 
 "Well, Mattie, if you really want to divide your 
 fortune between Sark and me, I suppose I must let 
 you do it," said Bob ; " that certainly is a way out of 
 it. I never could keep such a sum all to myself ; and 
 I can't lose you because you happen unfortunately to 
 be a millionaire." 
 
 " If you've quite forgiven me, Bob, don't you think 
 we ought to make it up ? " pleaded Mattie. So they 
 made it up, and, after a pause, she added — " Oh, how 
 glad I am it's over ! Poor Stella ! I wonder how she 
 broke it to Sark!" 
 
 It was indeed with no small internal trepidation 
 that the apparently calm and stately SteUa had fol- 
 lowed Lady Adela to her brother's bedside. 
 
 " Here's Stella come to see you, dear," she said to 
 Sark. "I have got some matters to attend to, so I 
 shall leave her to take care of you for a little." 
 
 He held out his hand, and Stella, trembling with the 
 wave of tenderness and pity that seemed to flood her 
 whole being, placed hers in it. 
 
A JOINT CONFESSION. 423 
 
 " How kind ! " he murmured. 
 
 "I wanted to come before, but they would not let 
 me. I have been so miserable, thinking how unhappy 
 I made you ; but indeed I did it for the best. I trusted 
 to being able to explain matters later. You understand 
 it all now, don't you ? " 
 
 He pressed her hand. 
 
 " And you quite forgive me ? " 
 
 As he raised it to his lips, he felt that she was 
 trembling violently. 
 
 " You don't know all yet. You have still something 
 to forgive. Mattie and I have been very foolish. She 
 persuaded me, before we left America, to change names ; 
 and of course in doing so we changed fortunes. It was 
 a girlish freak. She was afraid of being persecuted for 
 her money, and I rather enjoyed the idea of baffling 
 the fortune-hunters; but I am really Mattie Terrill, 
 with only £2000 in the world." 
 
 He gave a groan. Poor Stella's heart stood still. 
 " So, then," she thought bitterly, " he's like the rest, — 
 he only wanted me for the money." She would have 
 withdrawn her hand, but he held it firmly. " I was 
 wrong," she thought, bitterly, "not to have waited till 
 he got stronger, and could have borne the shock better." 
 Then he spoke. " Darling ! " was all he said ; but it 
 is amazing what a wealth of meaning may be com- 
 pressed into a single word — what riddles it may solve, 
 what suspense it may remove, what misunderstandings 
 it may clear up — and when one's faculty of speech is 
 
424 ALTIOEA PETO. 
 
 limited, how clever one becomes at finding the right 
 one ! 
 
 " Why do you groan, dear ? " she whispered, as she 
 bent over him ; " are you in pain ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 " You don't doubt my love ? " 
 
 A still tighter pressure was the response. 
 
 "Don't try to tell me now, my own," she cooed 
 softly over him ; " and whatever happens, I am yours, 
 if you will have me — it will give me the right to watch 
 over you and nurse you ; and you must try and get 
 well for my sake. Lady Adela," she said, as that lady 
 entered the room, " Mattie and I have a little secret to 
 tell you presently, which I have already revealed to 
 your brother. He has given me the right to be his 
 nurse now, because I am to be his wife when he gets 
 well ; and he is quite decided to do that for my sake. 
 Oh, I know what is troubling your mind," she ex- 
 claimed, suddenly; "just think of my forgetting it till 
 now! but then the other matter was so much more 
 important, I am sure it was no wonder. Bob has just 
 got a letter from Keith Hetherington, and he says that 
 Mr CasseroU tells him that the meeting of the share- 
 holders of your Company is to be put off for the pre- 
 sent. In the meantime," added Stella, drawing upon 
 her imagination, " in consequence of some developments 
 which you are too weak to attend to now, it is probable 
 that the whole affair will be easily and satisfactorily 
 arranged. I am sure I don't know what they are," 
 
A JOINT CONFESSION. 425 
 
 she said to herself ; " but I think, under the circum- 
 stances, that was a little moral tonic which I was 
 justified in administering." 
 
 When she rejoined Bob and Mattie, she found that 
 at the very moment the idea had occurred to her these 
 new developments were actually in progress, for the 
 first thing that Mattie said was — 
 
 " Oh, Stella, Bob and I have hit upon such a delight- 
 ful way of solving all Sark's pecuniary difficulties. We 
 are going to arrange it all with Keith Hetherington 
 when he comes with Hannah and Altiora. It is a 
 profound secret, and I can't even tell it to you, but 
 you can tell Sark that he need give himself no more 
 concern about that Company: it will hasten his re- 
 covery, I am sure. I had such trouble breaking it — 
 you know what I mean — to Bob. We almost quar- 
 relled. Did Sark take it easily, dear ? " 
 
 " Why, Mattie, you talk of 'it' as if it was a pill ; 
 and, after all, you are not far wrong, for it was me he 
 had to swallow, with the gilt rubbed off. Yes, dear, 
 he gulped 'W down like a man." 
 
 " I'm sorry I can't say the same for Bob. He seems 
 to like his pills best without the gilt. But so long as 
 they take them, dear, what does it matter what sort of 
 faces they make over them, or what names they call 
 us by ? They'll soon get used to our middle initials. 
 Mine is F., sir, remember, and stands for Fay. Hence- 
 forth, Bob, you must call me Fay." 
 
 " And what's Stella's ? " asked Bob. 
 
426 ALTIOKA PETO. 
 
 "J., which stands for Jones," replied that young 
 lady, laughing ; " but Sark is going to invent a much 
 prettier one, which I will give you leave to call me by 
 when we are married." 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXVII. 
 
 altiora's last words. 
 
 I HAVE been trying to understand the relations which 
 our natural ideas of time bear to the changes, both 
 external and internal, through which we pass ; and I 
 find that it is absolutely impossible to establish any 
 correspondence between them. I believe that Time 
 hatches or evolves catastrophes, both moral and mate- 
 rial, out of long periods of incubation. This epoch is 
 naturally characterised by monotony. The storm which 
 is to burst upon us from without, brews we know not 
 where. It gathers its forces together silently ; and the 
 lull which precedes it is so universally recognised, that 
 it has become a proverb. So the revolution which is 
 being prepared within is unmarked by any conscious 
 moral disturbance that can at all account for the com- 
 pleteness of the change when it comes. The elements 
 at work are as subtle in their operation as those of 
 external nature, and the sudden burst of spring upon 
 
altiora's last words. 427 
 
 a scene which has been locked in the embraces of a 
 Canadian winter but faintly portrays the aspect of the 
 soul when it awakes to the touch which is to evoke its 
 latent harmonies. More than six months have now 
 elapsed since I described an episode which I foolishly 
 imagined for a day had caused some responsive chord 
 in my inmost nature to vibrate, and which led me to 
 listen sympathetically to the silly rhapsodies of Eonald 
 MacAlpine. The whole of my life prior to this last six 
 months seems to have been the long winter of my dis- 
 content, unmarked by change, and concealing beneath 
 its cold monotony the unsuspected elements of that 
 revolution in the outward circumstances of my exist- 
 ence, no less than in its hidden moral recesses, which 
 has since overtaken me. A transformation has taken 
 place in the external relations of my life, and in my 
 most sacred affections, under the influence of which 
 I seem to have blossomed into a new being. If I 
 try to trace the periods of my development into these 
 new conditions, I find the first marked change to have 
 taken place under the influence of Keith Hetherington 
 during the first week of my seclusion at Copleydale. 
 I did not then know or suspect the nature of that 
 influence as I know it now; but the soil had been 
 prepared, and the seed which the sower went forth 
 to sow fell upon good ground. I am perfectly certain, 
 after a careful internal analysis, that the same seed, 
 sown a year before, would have withered. Some day, 
 perhaps, I shall write something on the laws governing 
 
428 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 moral receptivity. They are absolutely ignored by the 
 majority of seed-sowers : the consequence is, that the 
 amount of seed wasted is something frightful to con- 
 template. I was explaining this point the other day 
 to Mr Sidney Chalfont, in whom I take a great inter- 
 est, as I observe signs of preparation in him. He said 
 he had never considered the subject from this point 
 of view, and thought that it was his duty to scatter 
 the seed broadcast, and let it take its chance where 
 it fell — a manifest error, arising out of his ignorance 
 of the laws of receptivity. 
 
 The next great evolutionary epoch, so far as regards 
 the structure of my own internal organism, was when 
 Aunt Hannah revealed to me the secret of my birth 
 and parentage, so far as my mother was concerned, 
 and her own relationship to me. The rupture of the 
 tie which had bound me filially to the Baroness set 
 loose within me an entirely new set of forces, the very 
 existence of which had been so suppressed by the sup- 
 posed relationship between us, that they were unsus- 
 pected by me. This has given rise to a very interesting 
 series of considerations, as bearing upon congenital 
 affinities. The circumstance that I believed that the 
 blood of the Baroness coursed in my veins, and that 
 I was in actual fact her own daughter, produced such 
 an effect upon that part of my interior structure igno- 
 rantly called " imagination," that certain abnormal and 
 disorderly forces were called into operation, to the 
 entire suppression of others properly destined to exer- 
 
altioka's last wokds. 429 
 
 cise a most potent influence over my character. The 
 extinction of these false forces opened the door to the 
 evolution and free play of those that had been latent ; 
 and that part of the organic interior structure in which 
 they reside is consequently taking a new development. 
 It is only within the last few days that I have entered 
 upon the third period of protoplasmic change, — a term 
 which I venture to use, not because it means anything 
 very definite to those familiar with the finer constitu- 
 ent elements of the interior organic structure, but 
 because scientific men would not understand any 
 other. They will probably be ready to admit that 
 the conditions of protoplasm must be modified by 
 the emotions, and that the most powerful of all 
 emotions is the affectional instinct. Hence, when, 
 under the influence of Keith Hetherington's teach- 
 ing, I developed a new love of my species and their 
 Maker, and determined to devote my life to their 
 service, a protoplasmic modification took place, which 
 was still more accentuated when I was relieved from 
 the violent emotional effort to which I had been sub- 
 jected all my life, of attempting to love a woman who 
 was not my mother, and when I found a near relative 
 in the person of my Aunt Hannah, upon whom my 
 distorted or suppressed affections could be freely and 
 legitimately lavished. And now, once more, the affec- 
 tional instinct has been violently roused, and I am 
 conscious of an internal change into new conditions 
 being operated within me. It was only three days 
 
430 ALTIOKA PETO. 
 
 ago, — Sark had been wheeled out upon the terrace 
 to inhale the balmy spring air; it was the first day 
 that his eyesight was so far recovered that he could 
 bear the light. Stella was walking by his side, her 
 hand in his. As soon as he is well enough — the 
 doctors hope in three months from now — they are to 
 be married. Bob Alderney was pushing his chair, 
 and Mattie was pretending to help him. They were 
 married a month ago. Mattie — whom we now call 
 Fay — wanted to wait till she could be married on the 
 same day as Stella and Sark, but Bob was too im- 
 patient. Aunt Hannah and I were walking some 
 distance behind. All this at Copley Grange, which 
 the Dashingtons, who had gone abroad to economise, 
 have let to the Alderneys for a year, — I should not 
 wonder if they were ultimately to buy it, — when I 
 saw Keith Hetherington coming towards us. Keith 
 and Bob had been much occupied, during the first 
 weeks of Sark's illness, buying up all the shares of 
 the Universal Scintillator Company with Mattie's 
 money, and succeeded in winding up its affairs in 
 the most complete manner, without Sark's knowing 
 anything about it until it was done. I then charged 
 him to negotiate for me the purchase of Copleydale 
 Cottage ; and here Hannah and I have now arranged 
 to take up our abode when we are not staying at the 
 Grange. Meantime it has been repaired, added to, 
 and furnished anew, under Keith's superintendence. 
 " I have just come over from the Cottage," he said : 
 
altiora's last woeds. 431 
 
 "the last van-load of furniture has arrived; it only 
 needs the presence of the mistress of the house to 
 come and set it in order." 
 
 "I am afraid my unassisted efforts," I replied, 
 " would shock the sesthetic tastes of Mr MacAlpine." 
 
 " So far you will fail utterly to make it resemble an 
 old curiosity shop. There is a striking absence of 
 bric-a-hrac ; and you will be able to move about freely 
 without fear of knocking over tables knee-high." 
 
 " Let us all drive over to-morrow," said Eay Alder- 
 ney, who had fallen back to join us, "and help you to 
 consider the weighty question of the disposition of the 
 tables and chairs ; besides, I want to see that Hannah 
 is properly cradled in the lap of luxury." 
 
 " Altiora and Keithy and me ain't a-goin' to cradle 
 ourselves in no kind of a lap," said my aunt ; " we've 
 got some work to do. I don't calkilate on livin' here 
 reg'lar. Why, 'twas only the other day Altiora was 
 a-sayin' all she counted on was havin' what she called 
 a Peter tare." 
 
 " It was to be a pied-d-terre for me, not you, aunt ; 
 it is to be your home." 
 
 My aunt looked at me in a very peculiar way when 
 I made this remark. "Keithy," she said, "take her 
 away and talk to her — the time's come. There's Lordy 
 a-beckonin' to us, Fay Alderney ; " and Hannah rolled 
 her darling's new name out with great unction. Keith 
 took me down the path through the shrubbery that 
 follows the river-bank. 
 
432 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 " You know what your aunt wants me to say to you, 
 Altiora ? " he said, as we sat down on a rustic bench, 
 with the stream eddying and gurgling at our feet. 
 
 " Yes," I said, " I think I can guess ; " and I felt my 
 heart beating and my cheeks flushing. 
 
 "It doesn't require any telling, does it? You've 
 known it all along, haven't you ? " 
 
 " I think so," I again said, in an undertone; "and yet," 
 I added, in a trembling voice, " I didn't feel quite sure." 
 
 "You didn't feel quite sure!" he exclaimed, in a 
 surprised voice. 
 
 " I mean I didn't exactly know what kind it was ; 
 and," after a pause, " I don't quite know now." 
 
 " You mean that you have known that I have loved 
 you almost ever since we first met, but that you didn't 
 quite know the nature of my love ; is that what you 
 mean to say, Altiora?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " I've never asked you whether you have loved me, 
 have I?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 " But you do, don*t you ? " 
 
 Here, foolishly enough, I began to tremble violently, 
 and found it quite unpossible to use either of the 
 monosyllables to which I seemed to be confining my 
 conversation. 
 
 " Do you know why you can't answer ? because you 
 don't exactly know the nature of your own love for 
 me. Our love for each other is not a common love. 
 
altioka's last words. 433 
 
 That is a phrase in ordinary usage among lovers who 
 wish to express by it the uncommon intensity of their 
 devotion ; but that is not what I mean — it is, that the 
 nature of our devotion to each other is not of a com- 
 mon kind. Do you know why ? " 
 
 "No," I said, at last recovering my voice to that 
 amount. 
 
 "Because it is not based on an exclusive love for 
 each other, which in its essence is a purely selfish love, 
 but on the love of a common service, to which we are 
 both dedicated : the love-current does not flow direct 
 from one of us to the other, but it flows from God 
 through us to humanity. Take away our love and our 
 service for them, and our love for each other perishes. 
 It is in that greater love that our lesser love is held 
 and comprised until absorbed by it. It partakes of its 
 magnitude, and acquires a force and intensity unknown 
 to those who are wrapped up in each other to the 
 exclusion of every interest which does not centre in 
 themselves. Theirs is a love as certain to decay with 
 time, on one side or the other, possibly on both sides, 
 as ours is to grow and expand in the degree in which we 
 lose ourselves in that highest love common to us both." 
 
 "Where will our work lie ?" I asked. 
 
 " Chiefly in the hearts of men ; but it will not lie in 
 speech but in deeds, and they may take us anywhere. 
 Nor would it be necessary, except for what the world 
 might say, that we should marry, since our love is of 
 a kind that the world knows nothing of, and depends 
 
 2 E 
 
434 ALTIORA PETO. 
 
 on something far more internal, and therefore solid, 
 than that which unites ordinary mortals. You feel 
 that, don't you, Altiora ? " 
 
 " Yes," I answered ; and it seemed as though, with 
 the surrender of my life to his, our very souls had 
 melted into each other. " I did not know such happi- 
 ness could be felt by human beings," I murmured, and 
 placed my trembling hand in his. We sat for some 
 moments in silence ; but the veil which curtained the 
 inner sanctuary in each seemed to have been lifted, so 
 that we could hold communion without speech, and 
 feel the divine thrills of a higher inspiration uplifting 
 us in a common supplication, and a common dedication 
 of our beings to mankind, and therefore to each other. 
 
 " That w^as beyond the power of Church or priest," 
 he said at last, and he pressed his lips to mine. " N'ow, 
 if you like, we will go to Sark and Stella, and tell them 
 that we will add our ceremony to theirs." 
 
 Thus it was that my life culminated to its crisis ; 
 and I felt another and unseen presence by my side as, 
 with my arm in Keith's, we strolled slowly back — and 
 I knew it was my father. " The time has come for 
 you to change your name," he seemed to say, " for you 
 have sought and found." 
 
 THE END. 
 
 PRINTED BV WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS. 
 
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