THE GRAND ASSIZE
The Grand Assize
As Reported by a Humble Clerk
BY
HUGH CARTON ^5
"No man shall cry if I can help him."
LIGHT OF ASIA
GARDEN CITY NEW YORK
DOUBLED AY, PAGE & COMPANY
1914
Copyright, 1914, by
DOTJBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
All rights reserved, including that of
translation into foreign languages,
including the Scandinavian
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE COURT 3
II. THE PLUTOCRAT 9
III. THE DERELICT 24
IV. LA GRANDE DAME 37
V. THE YELLOW PRESS 52
VI. THE PHILISTINE 65
VII. THE DAUGHTER OF JOY 79
VIII. THE AGITATOR 93
IX. THE ACTOR 107
X. CIRCE 120
XI. THE SENTIMENTALIST 134
XII. THE BOOKMAKER 147
XIII. THE PARASITE. 162
XIV. MEPHISTO 176
XV. THE DRUNKARD 188
XVI. MRS. GRUNDY 203
XVII. THE CLERIC 215
XVIII. THE PARTY POLITICIAN 231
XIX. LA CROUPIERE. ........ 246
XX. THE TRAITOR 1915 A.D 260
ENVOI 273
2134952
THE GRAND ASSIZE
The Grand Assize
CHAPTER I
THE COURT
THE arrangements of the Court were simplicity
itself, and the Royal Arms were deemed unneces-
sary in view of the character of the Judge. Out
of respect for each defendant, whose trial was half con-
versational and partook of the nature of a private inter-
view, there were neither ushers, police, nor any other
indication of force. This was to avoid the horror of
exposure, which is apt to defeat its object namely,
the essential truth. Still more striking was the wisdom
which frustrated public curiosity and helped to minimise
the self-consciousness of the men and women whose
interests were at stake.
The dilemmas of each were treated with becoming
respect, which created a confidence impossible before a
crowd. The Judge had never at any time been seen by
the accused, though between them there had been a
mystic relationship often unacknowledged and, in most
instances, stoutly denied. The lack of formalism did
much to banish hypocrisy and perjury from the Court,
each prisoner being his own accuser and being impelled
3
4 THE GRAND ASSIZE
to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. No
prosecutor painted his offence in lurid terms, but the
conscience of each was relied on to set forth his guilt.
Such thoughtfulness touched the oldest offenders, and
the coals of fire thus heaped on their heads burned them
into a purity so long trifled with that any save the
Judge would have regarded it as irrecoverable.
The absence of vindictiveness was a surprise to cul-
prits who had been accustomed to look on punishment as
an end in itself and had spent their lives in striving to
evade it. For years they had listened to truisms on the
subject, but, though they had often excused themselves
on the ground of inconsistency in those whose office it was
to rebuke them, they had as often resisted their own
conscience. They had found it a solace to remember
that, since all were in the same boat, the affair could not
be so desperate as alleged. The result was an admixture
of terror and flippancy, a poor preparation for their ulti-
mate trial, which completely differed from what they
had been led to expect. There was no suggestion of an
account to be settled, but the single aim of rectifying
things appeared to predominate, and none could help
subscribing to this or recognising its usefulness. The
fact was brought home to each that their summons
formed no portion of a cruel code, imposed by Omnipo-
tence on the helpless, but that it was part of their evo-
lution as designed by a beneficent Power.
The Judge's seat was on a level with that of the
prisoner, the intention being to put the latter at his ease,
though not for an instant could the most hardened have
THE COURT 5
taken any advantage. No witnesses were called on be-
half of the accused, the counsel for the defence sum-
marising all that could be said in his favour, as alone
cognisant of the road which had led to the result. The
emptiness of the room created an awe greater than any
assembly could have inspired, yet, in spite of the silence,
there was a sense of hope uplifting from the slough of
despond. In short, the Court resembled a home, but
the chances of truth were increased by the change, con-
veying an impressive lesson as to how the heart may be
reached and human beings not so much driven as en-
ticed towards honesty.
None of the prisoners need have appeared for actual
judgment, and it should be made clear that only
the self-satisfied found themselves in the dock. Oppor-
tunities of anticipating such a crisis by judging them-
selves had been constantly offered, and it was only after
persistent refusal to make use of them that they were
brought up at the Grand Assize. This may best be
described under a metaphor familiar to those acquainted
with ordinary criminal proceedings. The option is
granted to many prisoners of being dealt with by the
Magistrate rather than run the risk of the Sessions,
which is virtually a gamble between liberty and a longer
sentence, let alone the intervening comfort of postpone-
ment. In the case of those who abide by the decision
of the Magistrate fear of further reprisals ceases just so
long as his conditions are complied with. Each, how-
ever, is liable to be called up again by the same Magis-
trate as occasion arises. To all who loyally work out the
6 THE GRAND ASSIZE
penalty assigned comes a peace beyond the understand-
ing of its possessors, but unknown to those who decline
the volunteered discipline. Others perpetually elude the
summons, and still more skip their bail, preferring to
chance a future which means less and less to them in pro-
portion as they despise it, rather than be thwarted in the
smallest detail.
The advocate for the prisoner was both strong and
tender, being filled with compassion for the position of
his client, and incarnating the special angel supposed to
wait on every individual born into the world. All
eloquence, save that of genuine pathos, was banished
from the Court, and language was no longer used as a
vehicle for distorting truth. For this reason the effect
of speech was tenfold in its intensity, based as it was on a
love which had never failed, and which could always find
gold in the clay, though at tunes the particles were ex-
tremely small.
When the Judge took his seat there was no disturbance,
and his entrance was hardly noticed. It seemed as
though he was waiting on the convenience of the ac-
cused, and as if his object was to show greater honour to
the parts of the body politic most requiring it. There
was no sense of superiority, nor did he fail to display that
respect for which ignominy thirsts. Everything about
him was more positive than negative, like one who, ac-
customed to the light, looks on darkness as its absence,
and endeavours to expel it by letting in the sun. There
was no beauty in his face to make him desirable, and if
aught about him might be called extraordinary, it was
THE COURT 7
that he was ordinary. He might have been any age,
suggesting one who had grown old without ceasing to
be young, yet with lines in his face and a depth in his
eyes telling of an experience preventive of all surprise.
He had evidently himself been through the fire, and you
could be certain, before he spoke, that he was there not
to condemn but to cure.
The humility of this kind figure was apparent, and if
any had called him good, he would have been the first
to say that the attribute belonged to no one except God.
If credited with absolute knowledge, he would have con-
fessed ignorance as to the final arrangements of the Cre-
ator, but, if in this respect more was assigned to him
than he claimed, his love, at least, defied embellishment.
From time to time he expressed his sympathy by a smile,
nor was satire altogether absent, though it was employed
more in the cause of saving than of revenge. He was
at his best in his references to women and children, and
when the latter were mentioned his countenance was
irradiated with tenderness. His strongest desire was
the consolation of the unhappy, and the air of mercy
surrounding him was unspoiled by weakness. When he
spoke his voice was in itself a correction, but its music
brought comfort and hope, not only to the depressed but
to the disgraced.
You felt that he had drunk of the cup, though whether
on his own account or that of others none could guess.
So much indeed had he identified himself with man as
his brother that his talk was rather from the standpoint
of "we" than "I," nor did he give the idea of shunning
8 THE GRAND ASSIZE
the sinner, though his abhorrence of the sin was beyond
question. There was no trace of preaching in his methods,
nor did he once proclaim as news to the accused that it
was his own fault. He also made a point of not adding
to the agony, yet he achieved with infinite delicacy the
task of revealing each to himself. In his presence there
came an unexplained assurance that no skein but might
be unravelled, no tangle but might be straightened out,
no wrong but might be adjusted, no ruin but might be
restored, no vileness but might be purified, and no an-
guish but might be banished by this good Samaritan
who was strangely considerate to those who had fallen
by the way.
CHAPTER II
THE PLUTOCRAT
THE dethroned puppet felt his position deeply,
and suffered keenly from the contrast of his
surroundings with those he had just left. He
was in rude health, and looked about him insolently, as
one accustomed to have his own way and to brook no
contradiction. It was no small effort for him to accept
the place of an equal, let alone a suppliant, while he was
pitiably unconscious of the fact that, in the sight of the
Judge, he was naked as when he was born. The general
impression which he created was distasteful, there being
a forcefulness and an air of dictatorship about him telling
of habitual command. The poverty of the Plutocrat was
calculated to touch the stoniest heart, and a more lam-
entable instance of self-delusion it would have been
difficult to imagine. Added to this was his crass igno-
rance of the reversal of fortune and his inane conviction
that he could still buy up the universe, including the
Judge, whom he began by regarding as only another
pawn in the game.
That he was to be cruelly undeceived none could
doubt, but it was tragic to watch his arrogance and the
Napoleonic air with which he surveyed the scene, as
9
io THE GRAND ASSIZE
though he had merely to press a button to summon a
host of willing servitors. He failed to realise that he no
longer possessed a sou, and that, so far as externals
went, he was a pauper, dependent on his merits and on
the clemency of the man who was to pronounce his sen-
tence. To the Plutocrat, who had never been kept
waiting, each moment appeared a century, and a lifetime
passed before him, as happens to those suddenly brought
face to face with death. When the horror of his situa-
tion stole upon him, his greatest enemy would have ad-
mitted that he was no longer a subject for envy, but for
commiseration. The Judge was quick to see this and,
conquering any antipathy he may have felt, greeted his
unwilling visitor with quiet courtesy and a surprising
absence of irritation. Though this was not without its
effect, the accused struggled to withstand it and to re-
sume the overbearing attitude of his entrance, having
trained himself to resist inconvenient waves of emotion.
He was soon, as he would have mistakenly called it,
"himself " again, and assumed a confidence beyond be-
lief to those possessed of an iota of reverence. It was a
cause for thankfulness that there were no preliminaries
likely to increase the tension, or to invite friction between
two opposite forces at last brought face to face.
The Plutocrat rose, and, fighting to the end against
the admissions silently extorted, stated his case: "Con-
trary to my previous experience, I have come here to
accuse myself, not so much for my own relief, as by rea-
son of an irresistible drawing. Hitherto I believed no
power existed which could break me down, my aim hav-
THE PLUTOCRAT n
ing been to break others down, and powder them into dust
if they crossed my path. I here confess, still against my
will, that I became the proudest of men, and that I
seldom had any other thought than self-aggrandisement.
My passion was power, and I stopped at nothing pro-
vided I could reign in my own corner of the world. Con-
scious as I was of few mental gifts, save those of cunning
and lack of conscience, I understood that for me money
was the only way of attaining my ambition; therefore for
this I sold my soul rather than miss my mark or take a
lower place.
"Many a time I alleged that it was not the gold but
the gaining of it that interested me, and, after a while, I
asserted that I had more than I could do with. But
that this was not the case was conclusively proved if it
came to a matter of giving anonymously, when I found it
was an actual pain. I grew to regard the people as non-
existent except for my own ends, and became insensible
to the poverty, hunger, and wretchedness of millions, on
condition that I could add to my private store. As for
the rights of man, I trod them under foot, and gloried
in the fact that my digestion was not affected by the fate
of the masses. Avarice gripped me more tightly than
I was aware; nevertheless I studiously maintained the
appearance of a good heart, and became a proverb for
geniality, lavishness, and a suppressed licentiousness
which was treated with amazing lenience by the pro-
fessedly religious. To be candid, I squared the latter by
magnificent subscriptions. At times, jaded by finance,
I dabbled in religion, finding a zest in the contrast
12 THE GRAND ASSIZE
afforded by worship, and an actual solace in the message
of the Gospel, without the least intention of bringing it to
bear on the work of the week. The emotions of a poem
not over rife on 'Change filled me with vivid satisfaction,
but I was conscious that my presence brought a stain
upon and endangered the spirituality of the churches
which I supported.
"The Arts came in for my patronage. I rivalled Mae-
cenas in the splendour of my gifts to those in whom I
detected a genius which I saw could be put to good
account. I founded schools of learning that students
might revere me, but I also fostered knowledge because
it spelt strength, and because I desired that my nation
should head the world. I scoured all countries for
treasures through which my name should be glorified,
and should be mainly known as that of one who had
brought the chefs d'ceuvre of mankind within the reach of
the people. There was a method in my madness, this
exploiting of the aesthetic adding to my credit, and dis-
guising my ultimate design of adding to my personal
wealth.
"I was careful to place those of whom I had taken ad-
vantage under such heavy obligation to me that no
voice could be raised except in my favour. It amused me
that I could create dread wherever I pleased, and that,
when peace and war hung in the balance, statesmen
should resort to me for advice, and still more for assis-
tance. Socially I became a dominating force, though
aware that bullion formed my sole attraction, and, me-
diocre as was my origin, I frequently entertained royalty,
THE PLUTOCRAT 13
my respect for whom, I confess, was hardly enhanced by
their affecting my company. I cannot help adding, even
here, that these occasions stand out among the supreme
moments of my life, though for the existence of such
folly amid my general astuteness I can give no logical
explanation.
"For years my concentration on business was an
asceticism, but there came a time when desires hitherto
unknown, or starved by neglect, awoke with a force which
brought me shame. Till then, however much I had
sinned in the matter of money, I had been a sincere
champion of morals, possibly because it was a consider-
able asset towards commercial success. To escape
from this novel attack of carnality, I bought and bought
and bought, but was increasingly bored. The company
which I now cultivated, and the world to which I had
the key, demoralised the best part of my being, and,
having long considered myself safe as a financier, I found
myself to be only, and very much, a man. I am still
so far imbued with respect for my early training and for
my father's memory that, with your indulgence, I forbear
to describe the depths to which I descended, or my asso-
ciation with iniquities for the abolition of which I pub-
licly provided large sums, but not so large as to attract
notice.
"In the earlier stages of my career I was so preoccu-
pied with business that my affections were practically
in abeyance, though my home life was without a flaw,
and I cannot fix the moment when my happiness ceased
to consist in enriching the wife who had been the angel
i 4 THE GRAND ASSIZE
of my humbler days. Honestly I could never have con-
ceived myself unfaithful to one to whom I owe more
than I care to admit, but, driven in middle life from the
paradise of purity, I underwent a torture with which none
would credit me, and which, if once admitted, would have
shattered the pedestal on which I stood in the eyes of the
world. The nervous tension of this Jekyll-and-Hyde
existence proved too strong for me, and I became a prey
to a fantasy which undermined my obligations to my
family, whom I treated with a combination of Caesar
and Santa Claus.
"My whole career was built upon sand. Times with-
out number, had I not been phenomenally rich, I should
have occupied a prison cell, but I continued to pose as a
philanthropist, and left a name honoured by the race.
My egoism reached its zenith when, in my will, I made
it a condition not only that lands should be called after
that same name, but that my beneficiaries should adopt it,
if not already theirs, to the damage of their pride and to
the loss of their identity. I went so far as to insist that
they should change their religion for that which I had
professed, and sell their God as the price of my favours.
I made munificent bequests to charity, the number of
institutions founded to perpetuate my memory being
prodigious. Nor did I show any compassion for my
heirs, conferring on them, without compunction, a curse
which was bound to result in sloth or in the arrogance
that had blemished my own character. This is the burden
of guilt laid upon me to confess as I stand before the Court,
accept its decisions, and throw myself on its mercy."
THE PLUTOCRAT 15
There was a buoyancy in the advocate's mien and a
light in his eyes which augured well for the defence,
and made it clear that there were elements of genuine
goodness beneath the acknowledged wickedness of the
prisoner. "I rise, my Lord," he said, "to point out
that the accused, according to the rule of this Court, has
confined himself strictly to the worst side of his case. I
am thankful that my task is to present certain qualifica-
tions which are none the less based on truth. From his
infancy I have known him, and can recall how, as a child,
he was full of piety and often planned a life of service
and self-sacrifice on a magnificent scale. The career
painted by him in such dark colours was by no means
designed, but an unfortunate stroke of fortune awakened
a latent covetousness of which I have seldom failed to
find the counterpart, save in the elect. It may even
be argued that without this trait the world could not
continue, and that to it, in some shape, every external
advance is due. Whatever the line my client had
adopted, he would have been restless until he had
achieved the foremost place, and though this catas-
trophe of success, on his own showing, degraded him,
passages of undeniable merit occurred in his attainment
of it.
"He worked harder than most men of his day, until
he became a byword against indolence. In his own way
he benefited and beautified the world, inspiring hundreds
to develop their talents, and thus promoting the general
welfare. Constantly, though it was not for him to say
so, he used this money, however ill gotten, for drying
1 6 THE GRAND ASSIZE
tears, and tides of genuine pity swept over him, resulting
in actions of which none has ever heard. His piety,
hybrid as it may seem, was the deepest part of his being,
and he often found himself, when the sycophants had
withdrawn, communing with Heaven under the stars,
and wondering where he could find one friend. The
knowledge of his own want of mentality made him lavish
his fortune in dispelling ignorance, though this endeavour
may have been smirched by the megalomania and inter-
estedness of which he spoke.
"To no woman was he deliberately unkind, though he
loved many, condoning it on the specious pretext that he
had a greater heart than most. Only your Lordship
can guess how deeply this man suffered, and I have
watched him sobbing for very solitude at some revelry,
or in some great gathering to do him honour. I grant
that the will was as cowardly and tyrannical as can be
imagined, nor can my love for him refute the charges he
has preferred against himself in regard to humanity. I
make no reference to the bequests, knowing that it is
your rule to count them for nothing, which represents
their exact cost to the testator. But, seeing how satu-
rated all men and women are with greed, given the oppor-
tunity, and how easy it is to justify the means by the end,
I claim not merely your mercy, but an adjustment of the
scales possible only to yourself. This man had the
money-making instinct to an unwonted extent; he was
not constitutionally cruel. It is no euphemism to
describe his special talent as skill, though I grant that it
was associated with cunning, and we have it on record
THE PLUTOCRAT 17
that the greatest enemy of mankind was victimised by
love of power, though originally an angel. The mutabil-
ity of the accused and the hell through which he has
passed are well known to me. His present emptiness is
in itself an agony which instinct tells me your Lordship
will take into account when you pronounce your verdict
on one whose present misery goes far to pay the price of
previous wrong."
Then followed certain questions put by the Judge to the
prisoner, whom he addressed with the deference due to one
who would have regarded its absence as a studied insult.
The Plutocrat, when asked whether he looked on the
wealth which he had amassed as his own, or whether he
had been actually dishonest throughout his life, declared
that, had he not taken advantage of the ignorance of
others, and had he not adopted certain sharp measures, he
could not have laid the foundations of his subsequent
fortune. Once established, possession had meant for him
nine points of the law.
On the point of his humaneness, the Judge questioned
the accused as to how it was compatible with the meas-
ures he must have employed to acquire his means of ex-
pressing it. To this the prisoner replied that, in what
he called "business," he had made it a practice to best
his neighbour and, if he interfered with his projects, not
only to show him no mercy, but to raise himself on the
ruin of his friend. Having no use for failures, he had
felt no pity for the fool; not that he intended to fleece
him, but that, being keener on the game than the goal,
he had come to despise those whom he had defeated in
i8 THE GRAND ASSIZE
the struggle. Afterwards, when he was rich, he had been
moved to play the benefactor on the principle of a sop
to Cerberus, and to soothe his pangs of conscience by the
relief of those he had impoverished.
The Judge having alluded to the advocate's statement
as to his religious side, the Plutocrat showed signs of
regret, and declared that his only peaceful hours were
those spent in prayer. After such retirement he had
more than once determined to ask that his case might
be dealt with by the Magistrate, to show his books and
to start fair again at the bottom of the ladder, but the
price was too great, and the impulse had passed away.
Concerning his relations with women, he evinced a
softness few would have expected, but it appeared that,
so introspective had he grown in his search for gold, it
became a mania to discover some one who loved him for
himself. As a result, he had developed into the loneliest
of men, driven to excesses in pursuit of some new sensa-
tion or some consolation to render bearable the desert
in which he had condemned himself to live. He ad-
mitted having possessed the most loyal and devoted of
wives, who had brought him the only unalloyed joy he
had ever known, before his brain was virtually turned
and he had become his own gaoler in his quest for liberty.
No further allusion was made to his vicious proclivities,
as being a personal affair, sporadic and foreign to the
real man. They were also held to serve no good pur-
pose by the President of the Court, whose experience
led him to consider the very memory of them as more
than sufficient martyrdom to a sensitive nature.
THE PLUTOCRAT 19
The Judge, then, with uncommon gentleness, asked
him if he had been happy, to which the prisoner jauntily
responded that at any rate he had done his best to be so,
and, on the whole, he could not complain, but, in the
end, unable to endure it longer, he owned to his wretched-
ness. He confessed that he would give the world to
know the joy of honest labour and to earn his pay by
the sweat of his brow, rather -than continue in the
splendour and falsity which he loathed, but from which
he supposed he could never break free.
The Judge 's summing up displayed a breadth of view,
without laxity, rarely met with. He restrained an im-
pulse to dilate on the contrast between riches and pov-
erty, as though no end could be gained on that score
by further aggravation. So courteous was he that he
placed himself in the position of the prisoner, nor would
any have inferred that he had known what it was to have
no shelter and to ask for alms.
"I wish to thank you," he began, "for your confi-
dence, though it has been extracted from you. You
clearly show that this wealth of yours has by no means
brought you what you expected. If it was built on
even a questionable foundation, the entire fabric falls
to the ground, with the result that none of it truly be-
longed to you except your early earnings. You have
already been punished by the consequent satiety, and
you now realise the stupidity of your striving. Though
the public think you have got off lightly, you know this
to be untrue, for you have had to undergo a private
torment unguessed at by the stranger. I can corrobo-
20 THE GRAND ASSIZE
rate the evidence of your counsel, having taken note of
every sigh, every prayer, and every act of kindness which
you have often denied. Again and again have come to
me those who look to you as the saviour of their lives,
and I agree that, in a large measure, you have benefited
humanity, furnished an incentive to action, and played
your part in the evolution of mankind.
"I have gauged your isolation at home, where you
acted the tyrant, to the concealing of your true self.
I have heard the wail of your loneliness while you re-
pelled those who would have comforted you, because
suspiciousness made you like a sparrow on the housetop.
I have marked, too, the anger of the crowd, many of
whom had hardly bread enough to go round, while you
flaunted in their faces a luxury and display which proved
you thoughtless beyond words. This was not remedied
by your attitudinising as a patriot and promoter of
civilisation. Little did you dream of the epidemic of
covetousness and avoidance of work in favour of quick
returns created by the publication of your balance-
sheets. At your door may be laid the suicide of many
who, without your gifts, embarked on the same course, but,
failing, found despair. It adds to your guilt that, though
you piled up these millions, you were still able to say
your Pater Noster and to assume a discipleship involving,
if not poverty, at least moderation. You will see, with-
out further emphasis, that, if such anomalies occurred in
the natural world, starving dogs would soon make an
end of one who heaped his kennel with bones and called
them sacrosanct, under the name of property, because
THE PLUTOCRAT 21
the rest might have done the same had it been in their
power.
"The most harmful aspect of your life, though, is
your public mention of a Name which you should have
kept to yourself, whereby you have done much to seduce
a nation and to promote prattle on the subject of probity.
How many curse you in secret, whether they have the
right to do so or not, you will never know, and, though
you were acquainted with the adage of the camel and the
needle's eye, you did obeisance to the golden image and
fell down before it as your god. Forgive my righteous
indignation, but the whip is more than warranted when
Croesus enters the temple and claims companionship
with the Nazarene.
"You must learn that you were never so important
as others led you to believe, and that the world would
have gone on as well if you had not been born. Your
excuse as to the circulation of money is another instance
of your self-deception, your root mistake having been
that you, and you alone, were the alpha and omega of
existence. You falsely estimated what you could see
compared with the invisible, while you basely misused
gifts which might have been a channel for untold good.
You would probably be the first to acknowledge that, in
your case, success has resulted in failure, and though I
well understand your advocate's plea in view of your
evident pain, I should not love you unless I decreed that
you must continue to suffer until your entire outlook is
changed. As to the lapse into a libertinage which
caused you surprise, it is but natural that, having ac-
22 THE GRAND ASSIZE
quired all the kingdoms through falling down and wor-
shipping, you should have then become its easy victim.
Small wonder that a man should seek romance in flinging
himself from giddy heights, being sated with wealth
which, to his still greater hurt, provides a mattress for
the stones.
"Reparation to those you have injured is out of your
power, which must add to your anguish, but the law of
truth demands that you work out your salvation with
fear and trembling on the reverse of the lines which have
proved so disastrous. You will, therefore, leave this
Court condemned to a life of that labour which you
profess to desire, yet at the same time yearning to effect
the material good which will now be out of your reach.
You shall taste the pinch of poverty and, when your
health is gone, you, too, shall be forced to receive gifts
which will hurt your pride beyond endurance. You
shall also know the pain of seeing those you love sick,
without being able to give them comforts, and, tor-
tured by their stress, you shall be tempted to steal.
You, in your turn, shall watch from outside the luxury
and waste of those who make thousands cornering mar-
kets, gambling in shares, and achieving fortunes in an
hour.
"You will then realise that the world was not made
for a few individuals, but for all, who are equally dear in
the sight of their Father, and for whom He will never
keep silence until they are treated with similar respect.
You may be inclined to become an extremist in the oppo-
site direction, but you will find relief in diligence. You
THE PLUTOCRAT 23
will go the length of championing the cause of the crowd,
explaining that the removal of these offences and the
restoration of justice lies in their own power, if they
acquire the art of self-government and of co-operation
for the common good. By this means you shall dis-
cover your real standing, and, when the true brotherhood
has been revealed to you, you shall know by heart, and
not by rote, the "Our Father" which your mother
taught you long ago.
"You shall then be able to use this gift of yours, which
amounts to genius, and which will remain to you, for
the highest ends, but you shall express your generosity
through the medium of the State without the harm of a
single dole. To a man like yourself this restriction,
though a bitter medicine, is necessary, owing to your
innate vulgarity, lest personal giving of any kind should
once more prove a deadly danger both to the donor and
the recipient. As to 'being loved for yourself,' which
was your radical quest, the crown of a great devotion
shall be bestowed upon you by your country, since it
shall have been earned by your love and your own right
arm. Above all, you shall be able to indulge in religion
without hypocrisy when your craving to be cared for
shall have ceased to be, and you shall find your heaven,
not so much in showering gold to the applause of mul-
titudes, as in heart service. In this task your wife
shall join you, and you shall be happy."
CHAPTER III
THE DERELICT
HE WAS at home directly, and lolled on the chair
as if nothing mattered provided he had some
sort of seat on which to laze. The only thing
he missed was his baccy, but such a habit had chewing
become, that his mouth moved like that of a cow, and
he took about as much notice of what was going on round
him. His face showed little or no pain, and he was not
worrying so long as he had found shelter, though he
vaguely wondered what kind of move this meant. His
life, which had been one continuous waiting on events,
caused him to take the next thing as it turned up, his
rule being to turn up nothing on his own account. A
lengthened residence in the open air had bronzed his
unmanly countenance, and he was for all the world
like an animal, without the passion suggested by the
word. A better description of him was, a thing in hu-
mans, which made it exciting to watch whether the
Judge would be able to bring what was out of what was
not.
The Derelict, having condescended to take in his
surroundings, remained equally unmoved, as the aspect
of the Judge deceived him into thinking that he had
24
THE DERELICT 25
met another "softy" who would get him out of the
fix. On his hands were few, if any, blisters, though his
thumb and forefinger bore marks of which he had taken
no trouble to rid himself. His eyes were by no means
those of a drunkard, but they peered about as though
hoping to find something on the floor which had been
left by the last occupant. The most alarming thing
about the prisoner was that he did not mind being one,
and that between him and the ordinary embodiments of
justice had long been established an unhealthy intimacy.
This was the man whom the Judge had not only to
break down (which was an everyday affair with the
Derelict), but to build up, his task being to construct
out of this mass of nothingness a living soul.
Meanwhile hardly more could be said of the prisoner
than that he still missed his baccy, and was only too
content to allow the Judge to proceed at his leisure, as
at all events it passed the time. When he half stood up
to make his confession, he was in a poor plight, having
been a stranger for years to the notion of (as he would
have put it) "splitting on himself." The interest of the
case became manifest as he rambled on, till, before the
end, a gleam of light revealed itself in the murky dark-
ness.
"Why I am here," he said, "blow me if I can make out,
and it is the rummiest go I have as yet struck. Up till
now my job has been to make out I was right, but now
it seems to be to tell you all about it, which the beak
has generally told me. The idea of not making excuses
seems a bit queer, so you will pardon me if I don't
26 THE GRAND ASSIZE
take to it easily. I doubt if I have ever said I was
sorry, or, if so, I have forgotten it. The fact is, I have
always cared for my victuals more than for most else,
and when I was a lad I often shirked school, but I found
myself at home for meals. I never could abide book
learning, but I was as cute as they are made, and if the
master didn't know how I passed the Seventh Standard,
I did, and I got the Scripture Prize, and chance it. My
mother used to say it was the company I kept which
brought me where I got to, but that's a bit off, and if I
was always with a gang of idle boys, it was because I
liked it and was born to be their leader.
"I didn't keep any of my jobs, and never learned a
trade, but picked up what I could, and didn't care much
how. Now and again I was mighty busy at what passed
for work, if it was in the open and meant no study. I
got to love the excitement of uncertainty, and put in
some fine times, at least they seemed so to me. As I
grew older I used to travel a bit to see the country, living
on what I could get as I went along, and when I came
back I made my pals jealous by the yarns I pitched to
them of a larger world. When they asked me if I had
found work, I scorned the notion, and let them think it
was beneath me to soil my hands. I knew how to talk
about it, though, and how to swell the crowds round a
mob orator on the rights of the poor. I went on with
this sort of game till I began to think my grievances
were real, and by degrees I got the patter by heart.
"I spent several terms in prison, which, anyhow, I
preferred to the workhouse, where I couldn't abide the
THE DERELICT 27
company, for you did get your meals regular in quod,
you knew what you had to do, and, when you got settled
down, it was kind of homelike. When I was there I
became a bit of a hypocrite, and more than once spoofed
the chaplain, which I begin to feel was a lower-down act
than all the thieving outside. I was never found for
violence, for I hadn't the pluck, but I just wanted to
get along as best I could, granted I didn't have to
make no effort. It's a bit difficult to say what it all
comes to when you tot it up, but I had some good old
times lying about in the parks, watching the kids, and
reading the papers, of which I was terrible fond.
"If you ask me what happened to the others, it's
ever so long since I heard of them, but I wasn't good at
writing letters, except begging ones, which I was put
up to doing at the doss-house and which turned out no
end of a soft thing. I expect I felt pricks of remorse,
but I knew they meant work, and as I wasn't having
any, I choked them, though I liked hymns, and it was a
treat to have a good cry. I have often sobbed over
that chap who left his father and went it till the victuals
ran out, and he had to feed on the husks they gave the
pigs, but I do think it was a shame that no man gave
him nothing when he was hungry, and what I said was,
'Poor fellow, not to be able to get a square meal after
he had stood treat.' And I like the way the old governor
fell on his neck and kissed him, and soon made it all
right, but I was fair upset when he asked to be made
like one of the servants, and I knew I should never have
stopped, if it had meant turning to on the land after
28 THE GRAND ASSIZE
the bean-feast. So I used to try and forget it, though
I collapsed regular when I heard it again. But I didn't
alter, not a little bit, and if you was to ask me straight,
I still think it pretty hard on a chap to be put into this
world to earn his bread. There's no good saying I
am happy, for I'm not, and it's no good your giving
me time, for I've had all that. What I want is a new
sort of lay altogether, but even that's no good unless I
start right over again, and if you can make a man of me,
I'll thank you, but I ain't going to make no promises."
The advocate was more sad than angry, feeling that
there were few arguments in favour of the prisoner, yet
assured that the hopelessness of the story would appeal
to the Judge. He knew the Derelict well, and though the
latter had never acted on his advice, he had often asked
him to tramp alongside him on the road. He had had
long talks with him in his cell, and, however abortive
the results, he had always visited him again when sent
for, and each time thought that he was going to turn.
Somehow he had grown attached to this failure, who had
caused him sorrow rather than disgust at his absence of
heart. When he rose to defend the Derelict his language
was ultra human, though, conscious of the danger of
being maudlin, he did his best to adopt the sterner side,
and to remind himself of the law of sequence.
"I rise, my Lord," he said, "to plead for the prisoner,
and the word exactly expresses my feeling. Defence
I have none, but his very abjectness is a challenge to
your charity. His far-off country yielded him no joy,
nor can he be said to have indulged in riotous living,
THE DERELICT 29
since he had neither money to pay for it nor spirit to
revel in it. The time he put in was as dull and weird
as can be told. I maintain that he was not what is
called wicked so much as slothful, though both adjectives
were used in the case of one who hid his talent in a
napkin. He hardly, if ever, had the remotest suspicion
of harming any one, for with a disposition like his there
was no one whom he could injure. As for doing harm
to himself, he knew none but bodily discomfort. In
regard to sloth, he was virtually born diseased, and,
though he made it worse by not correcting it, the germs
of it were in him to a degree which should disarm those
who would too hastily condemn.
"No one can tell, save one who has been much in his
company, how he grew to loathe work, and to regard with
contempt and shrinking the first axiom of his salvation.
Though it may not influence his sentence, I would re-
mark that the genus loafer covers a wider area than
men pause to consider. Many there are, my Lord, who
never do an honest day's work, and who find it possible
to live upon a woman, though the judgment of them is
lenient provided the sum is large enough, and she wears
a ring. Far cleverer, far wickeder, and far more guilty
than the Derelict, they manage to pass a much pleasanter
existence, without being accused of having visited a
country farther off than that touched by the prisoner.
I am aware that a thousand blacks do not make a white,
and that my brief has to do with the case in hand, but
I contend that sloth on a magnificent scale is largely
responsible for the same vice on the lowest plane.
3 o THE GRAND ASSIZE
This man knew much of the emotional side of religion,
and though it was beyond him to grasp its connection
with ethics, he would never have found even a passing
consolation in the account of the prodigal unless he had
had within himself the elements of the wandering boy.
"I have often marvelled at his preference of the vilest
weather outside to the work of the casual ward, but I
have seen him more than once give up his seat to another
wreck, and share with a dog as hungry as himself food
bestowed on him by some kind soul. Once, on the stroke
of midnight, when he had actually earned sixpence by
holding a cab-horse, I watched him hand it over to a
poor chap who would otherwise also have been out; I
then knew for a certainty that my Derelict was not
altogether bad. As I look at your Lordship, my hopes
rise, not that I expect any petting, but because I rely
on your love of restoring. So I leave him in the hands
of the only person I know who, when he loves, loves to
the end."
The Judge treated the Derelict as a brother.
"Tell me about your home," he said.
"You couldn't have called it one."
"What did your father do?"
"We never could quite make out, but he came home of
a night."
"And your mother?"
" She was a hard-working woman, at least she was
always washing up, and when I think of it, she most
usual was standing outside with her sleeves tucked up,
talking to the woman next door."
THE DERELICT 31
"Where was she when not taking the air? "
"At the 'Spotted Dog.'"
"Was the home clean?"
"Well, there wasn't enough in it to make it hard to
keep tidy, for most of it was put away. My mother
never went herself, but there was a woman at the top
of the street who used to do that for the rest, at any
rate when they was young."
"Were your father and mother good friends?"
"They usedn't to see too much of each other, but they
didn't fall out any more than the others."
"How did you spend your evenings?"
"In the streets."
"Where did you spend your Sundays? "
"In the streets."
"What was your idea of Heaven? "
"The streets all paved with gold."
"As you grew older, did you pretend to work?"
"Yes, I pretended all right."
"Did you wear the clothes of a working-man?"
"Yes, I got up proper in corduroys."
"Had you any friends among the working-men?"
"No, I never took to them much, nor they to me."
"How soon did you become dishonest?"
"As long as I can remember."
"Were you angry with the rich? "
"Can't say I was so long as I could get anything out
of them."
"Were you touched by the sadness and misery you
often saw? "
32 THE GRAND ASSIZE
"Yes, I was that, but we were all in the same boat,
and it didn't seem no good making a fuss."
"Did you envy men as you saw them returning home,
happy after an honest day's toil? "
"Can't say as I did, though I knew they had the
best of it."
"Did no one ever give you a chance?"
" Scores of times, but the best of them would not give
me money, and I got tired of sermons."
"Did it strike you, as you sprawled in the parks,
or lay on the benches, that you were a public nuisance,
and that you were degrading not only yourself but your
country?"
"I have often heard that style of thing, but tall-
talk always turned me fair sick."
"Did you sometimes suffer because the children
whose games you watched might turn out like yourself? "
"My God! I did, and I had a catch in my throat when
I saw signs of it in some of them which made me feel
that their number was up."
"Did you not know in your heart that, unless you
turned to and by the sweat of your brow earned one
day's pay, you were hopelessly lost?"
"Yes, I did know it, but I could not have done it
for a pension."
"Couldn't or wouldn't?"
"Well, then, wouldn't, if you will have it, but such
as you cannot understand such as me."
"That isn't true. Tell me how you felt as you grew
older, and as begging became your second nature."
THE DERELICT 33
"I got not to feel at all."
"What would you have called your happiest times?"
"Now you fair puzzle me, but it wasn't bad when I
had done some cove a good turn, though it didn't run
to what you might call happiness. You see if I did give
anything, I'd most pinched it already, which makes all
the odds."
"Would you say that you had been embittered by
your life?"
"Not a bit of it. They were all very good to me,
they were, and I got fond even of them warder chaps,
who seemed to sort of know my weakness and let me
down proper."
"How would you describe the world from your point
of view?"
"It was a deal too kind to me, your Worship, or I
might have been a better man. But it seems to me
that we sort of chaps act as a kind of vent for the feel-
ings, so in a roundabout way it would be a poorer
place without us."
"Should you like to go back to it?"
"What do you take me for?"
"If you did, would you do much the same?"
"What I says is, I want a fresh start, and if you
could emigrate me to a different sort of place, that's
what I want. But you've got to change me first, your
Worship, and if I got to Heaven itself sudden, I shouldn't
fly, I should just lie down and snooze, while the others
took the message."
"Have you ever loved any one?"
34 THE GRAND ASSIZE
"Can't say as I have, if you mean that kind of feeling
which comes over a fellow and makes him look as if
he'd seen a light, and as if he could never disgrace him-
self again."
"Yes, I mean just that feeling."
"Well, it's never come my way; that's all I can say."
The heart of the Judge ached for the Derelict, and he
resembled one who wept over a city because its inhabi-
tants had refused to know the things belonging to their
peace. He felt keenly the need of reconstruction. He
knew that lecturing would be lost on the prisoner, who
had long used it up, and perceived that he was already
too religious. The poor fellow needed to realise that
there were several other people besides himself, and,
until some tiny seed of love was planted in his heart, all
other methods, if not useless, were premature. The
Judge was encouraged by the fact that there was less
blarney in his answers than he had looked for, and as he
knelt down to blow the smoking flax into a flame, he was
grateful to think that it was not wholly quenched.
"Your sentence," he said, " is bound to be a long one,
though you may rest assured that it shall not become the
routine which defeated the ends of your other punish-
ments. Before you can learn how to work you must
learn how to love, and for this reason you shall find
yourself in scenes of suffering where you, and only you,
can bring aid. In the early stages you may refuse, and
you may turn your back on the task involved, by reason
of ingrained habit. But the pity which, from time to
time, peeped out of you shall gradually become your
THE DERELICT 35
master. Among the sufferers shall be children, and,
when you carry them in your arms because they cannot
walk, into your face shall come a new expression. As
you gaze on these results of sloth in their parents, and
as you serve them without pay, your eyes shall lose
their furtive look and shall grow larger as the best
tears you have ever shed flow down your cheeks. You
shall become the servant of the aged and the outworn,
who are deserted of all, and you shall fetch and carry
for the imbeciles, till you find yourself singing the old
hymns, but in a different key. Burnt into your being
shall be the truth that you are part of a whole, and, when
your heart is broken by it, you shall acquire sorrow for
the waste of your manhood.
"Then will come a revelation which you could never
have guessed. You will witness your former self as a
curse to your country. You will be repelled by the
thought of the blight which you became, and you will pray
with your whole soul that you may repair the panic which
you caused among those who watched you and were
themselves on the verge of throwing up their hands.
You will hate such cowardice, and the angels you see in
your dreams will take on the form of the working-men
who whistled as they walked, and whom you pretended
to despise. You will at last see not only that men who
do not work are worse than the brute creation, but that
in work lies man's supreme chance of renovation. Your
incentive shall be to help the children and the old,
amongst whom you slaved, at first with pain, but, later,
because it became your prize. You shall go back to the
36 THE GRAND ASSIZE
beginning and you shall have a new pride which makes
it a crime to beg. You shall gain a distaste for deceit
of any kind, and you will refuse to impress religion into
the service of mendicancy.
"Whatever your resolve, the term is bound to be pro-
longed, and though my tenderness towards you is not
wanting, you need a stick more than a caress. Be cou-
rageous. Think of the children. Go back to the streets
which are still full of them. The time will come when,
through a discipline which will never let you go from
under its hand until its purpose is accomplished, you
shall respect yourself. Some day, when there is an
extra difficult job to be done, which no one will under-
take because it is too dull, too uphill, too tedious, and
because the only man who will do it is the man who cares
enough to consider hardship a trifle, a voice shall be
heard to say: 'Here am I, send me.' It shall come from
one who was once a Derelict."
CHAPTER IV
LA GRANDE DAME
THE lady found it difficult to adjust herself to the
plainness of her environment, but was careful
to preserve the proper languor and remoteness.
She was disturbed to find that there was no gallery, and
her evident trouble at the thought of the comedy which
she had so long taken seriously was touching. Her whole
air was superficial, and she was ignorant of the first prin-
ciples of simplicity. Hardly a sadder situation could be
conceived, caste and class having ceased to count, and
the falsities of society being finished with. As she strove
with excellent taste to accommodate herself to the change,
her courage recalled scenes gracefully enacted under the
Terror. The directness of the affair, the absence of the
ornamental, and the fact that no chance was afforded
of producing any effect hurt her severely. The con-
trast of the Court with that to which she had been habitu-
ated was painfully oppressive, so that, when she looked
round in vain for the spurious supports conceded to
prestige, chivalry was aroused for one suddenly stripped
of the adventitious.
She was on the verge of tears, but her dignity came
to her rescue, helping her to retain an unnatural calm.
37
38 THE GRAND ASSIZE
Her de haul en has expression would have been grotesque
if it had not been pathetic, or if it had not been patent
that the ground was rapidly being taken from under
her feet. To the bulk of sane men and women the pre-
sentment of this superior being would have bordered
on the ludicrous, the more so since she was oblivious that
she was as much a back number as the Lama of Thibet.
The prisoner still regarded herself as an important per-
son, and the narrowness of her outlook augured badly
for her contact with the Catholicism of her Judge.
Nevertheless no one could deny that she possessed an
attractiveness traceable to the best pride and to a
gentleness which told of years of training in self-sup-
pression. It remained to be seen whether this was
only veneer or whether it could stand contradiction,
but, whatever the verdict, there was no fear that she
would not accept it without flinching, or, to use her own
vernacular, "in accordance with the traditions of her
house."
"I am here against my will," she said, "though I
acknowledge that it is a comfort to accuse myself of a
past so unreal that I now fail to see how it ever allured
me. It is stranger still how it held me so long, for it
was insufferably dull. I have read much modern
literature on the role of our set, which was sadly dis-
respectful, and evidently written by those who had not
the private entree, but I am compelled to own that there
was more truth in those witticisms than I have hitherto
allowed myself to admit. We were careful, as a rule,
to avoid anything which might be termed comic, hav-
LA GRANDE DAME 39
ing practised the pronunciation of prunes and prisms
which makes me grateful for even this relief.
''The virus of the system entered into us from our
christening, and even in the nursery we learned to strut,
so that years before we made our bow to the world of
fashion we had become little marionettes. Marriage
was held up to us as the end-all of existence, and we
were continually watched lest we should be natural or
do anything that was not well-bred. Etiquette was a
cult among us, though, from my present standpoint,
we became inane as the result of our worship. Our
parents, who were abnormally rich, took it for granted
that their daughters would make suitable alliances.
The question of love was seldom discussed, and I re-
member an elderly relation pronouncing it to be plebeian.
For my own part (though whether the tendency was
innate or acquired is beyond me to determine) had I
been asked what appealed to me most, I should un-
hesitatingly have answered a coronet, with strawberry
leaves for preference. Looking back, I marvel less at
my parents' ignorance than at my own crass folly, nor
have I a shadow of excuse to offer for sentiments which
I now regard as vulgar and despicable. I should of
course have spurned the accusation, having been taught
at least to pretend that such considerations were be-
neath my notice.
"All the girls in the family, strange to say, were
equally correct, and, to use the language of our world,
they did as they ought, which means that they did
extremely well. To speak for myself, I knew, without
40 THE GRAND ASSIZE
question, that I was doing despite to the instincts of
nature and of conscience. The blame was the greater
since I was gifted with a good brain, nor was it as if I
had fallen into a trap, or been sold without my con-
nivance. I had made up my mind that I was intended of
heaven to adorn a great position, and, however much I
may have been moved before my chance came, I care-
fully bided my time, regardless of any qualms I might
have caused in others. These harmless sensations,
indeed, served to ruffle the even surface of my days,
and there was but little or no ache in the place where
my heart should have been. The plan of my future
menage was deliberately thought out, nor can I deny
that I was content with my bargain.
"The joy of existence spelt, in my case, an ambition
for which I willingly sacrificed not only the claims of
affection, but (a surrender I paid for still more heavily
later) of knowledge, which, from the time of my choice,
receded farther into the background. Not that our
library was not one of the best, or that we neglected to
have a supply of the latest books and reviews on the
table, but many of the latter remained uncut, while
the former was gradually deserted. When my prize
came along I secured him without much difficulty,
hampered as he was by an establishment demanding
an heiress, and the arrangement was soon concluded.
It would be untrue to suggest that I was deeply moved
by fears for the future or regrets for the past. The
prospect of my new grandeur filled my horizon, and I
was too well schooled to make a display of feeling which
LA GRANDE DAME 41
did not exist. The Church blessed the union with
pomp and solemnity, but without questioning my
motives or the state of my heart. As I see it by the
light of to-day, I can imagine no instance of greater
blasphemy or conspiracy to defraud than that won-
derful wedding, which afforded talk for days, encour-
aged trade, and inspired many present to aim at the
same goal.
"As for my duty to my new position, I doubt whether
at first I gave a thought to the obligations involved,
though eventually they formed the only part of it which
made it bearable. Privilege up to the hilt was what I
desired and what I meant to have, nor at the time did
I care for much else except to become a great lady. As
regards my marriage, I paid a price sufficient to satisfy
my worst enemy, but I prefer to accept the fact and be
silent. At least I never deceived myself in the choice
of my life's partner, and I cannot understand those who
place on the shoulders of another the burden of a fault
which at any rate ought to be shared. That my heart
woke and had its revenge is not surprising, and each day
I found myself striving, within the limitations I had
invoked, to invent some new outlet for the emotions
that I had denied. It is difficult to picture anything
more tedious than the routine of my existence, but I
consoled myself by every fashionable device for appearing
busy and expending my energies, while remaining in-
variably correct.
"I found the poor my chief refuge, and in visiting
them learned, almost to my awakening, what I had lost.
42
I grew to envy them, though they envied me, and many
a time I wept in my boudoir when I recalled a mother
crooning over her child. I even read by stealth a Book
which I found in every cottage, and would have given
the world to appropriate, but which remained to me
Chinese, while to them it spoke in their native language.
There were moments when I almost yielded, but, having
learned some logic when I was a girl, I persuaded my-
self that, had I done so, I would have had either to retire
from a place I had gained at the expense of my soul, or
become a hopeless stumbling-block by my new pro-
fession in such a milieu. Little did the people know
what had come to me through them, but the dilemma
was too great for me to face, and, having made my own
bed, I elected to lie on it.
"I reverted to the conventional when I returned to
the world, and checked myself in the matter of religion,
which I found incompatible, beyond a certain point,
with the drawing-room and the Court. Thus my life
was spent in display or entertainment or pleasure, all
of the most approved description, though I found time
for good works, and longed, as a peri outside paradise, to
enter the kingdom of pain. At last I begin to see my
senseless stupidity in having left no legacy behind me
save that of an insipid and colourless story. Unac-
customed to sue for favours, I come here to state my
case, and to pray you of your goodness so to judge me,
that, by some means, however difficult, the soul which
I bartered may be quickened, and that, escaping from
these chimaeras, I may find the Christ."
LA GRANDE DAME 43
The advocate was strongly moved by the recital of
the prisoner's history, but, on rising, felt that he had by
no means a hopeless task. "My Lord," he said, "I
beg leave to assure you that the lady has not done herself
justice, being still a slave to that good form of which
she has freely accused herself. I know of few tenderer
hearts, and of none more capable of natural love or
girlish gaiety. Times without number that heart has
gone near to breaking, without one complaint against
those who so brought her up that the great mistake of
her life was inevitable, but always holding that the false
step was hers alone. Again and again, might she have
had her way, she would have exchanged the ceremony
and the glitter for a cottage on the mountain side (at
least she thought so), but she played the game better
than she has alleged, and, whatever her shortcomings,
she never quailed.
"Her religious side was stronger than she has outlined,
and, though the world in her withered her piety, she
was more a woman of prayer than was ever guessed.
Though she spoke of herself as outside the kingdom of
pain, she suffered intensely in secret, and more than
once would have thrown herself on the mercy of the
Magistrate had she not been holden by pride. The
passion of her heart was the welfare of the masses the
last thing of which she would have been accused; but
the contrast appealed, and she yearned to do them a
kindness without conferring an obligation. Her own
awkwardness in this connection was a grief to her, but,
try as she might, she could not escape from being
44 THE GRAND ASSIZE
artificial. She hated the distance which her own sel-
fishness had placed between them and her, but whether
she would have diminished it the better to express her
caring is known only to your Lordship. I put it to you
that the gradual congealing of a generous nature, almost
strangled by convention at its birth, was largely attrib-
utable to the sphere in which she moved. She might
have become human save for her parents and for the
crowd of satellites who spoiled her, and I wish to em-
phasise the point that, however else she failed, she was a
rigid enemy of laxity of morals.
"I would ask you, then, to deal leniently with her
perverted judgment, which was causative of what fol-
lowed, but which can be readily understood, consider-
ing the bait dangled before her eyes from childhood.
Since she had persuaded herself that there were few
higher functions than service to the Throne, royalty
became for her a talisman, but she did not grasp its
mystic lesson or the largeness of its application. She
considered to be on duty actually sacred, nor was it sur-
prising that, through dwelling on ceremonials, she came to
imagine that she belonged to another order of beings.
This was not her chronic condition, and so contrary was
it to the age hi which she lived, that at other times she
wondered how long the farce would continue. The
pathos of her inward conflict would unman me were I
pleading to any other than your Lordship, but, though
much of her story is contemptible, I would argue that
its ground colour partakes largely of the humorous.
Knowing her as I do, I can testify that she was more
LA GRANDE DAME 45
victimised than harmful, and I cannot but feel that her
heart is destined, by a process of expansion such as you
alone can advise, to fulfil itself on a scale worthy of her
silent longings."
The Judge's tone was sanguine, though his eyes quiv-
ered as he spoke with the accused, reserving his sen-
tence. When he questioned her as to her girlhood, she
answered that it was spoilt by lack of surprise, and that
her enjoyment was cloyed by excessive indulgence.
Asked as to her education, she owned to having had
the best teachers that money could command, but the
result was a smattering intended more for show than for
excellence in any special subject.
When the Judge tried to discover the best moments in
her early years, she replied the days when she was taken
to a children's hospital, or when, dressed in the simplest
clothes, she was allowed to scamper on her pony to her
heart's delight.
At the enquiry if she loved her suitor, even at first,
a sadness came over her, and she began to dream of
things which might have been.
W T hen the Judge referred to her attitude towards the
society into which she had entered at her marriage, her
frankness was striking as she said that, on this count,
she felt guilty of theft, since she had not given her heart
for what she had gained, and had therefore given nothing.
The mention of her children revealed the mother up
to a point, but when the Judge desired to know whether
she would prefer them to be brought up in simplicity,
she winced and candidly owned that, though she knew
46 THE GRAND ASSIZE
her answer to be illogical, she still wished them to pos-
sess the honours which had been responsible for her own
failure.
On being examined as to her remoteness and her pre-
tensions, which betrayed a grievous lack of ordinary
courtesy, she confessed that the habit had grown upon
her imperceptibly, but that, in such a presence, she
could only feel it to be a gross impertinence.
When the Judge alluded to the people, especially to
the suffering women in whom she was interested, her
tears began to flow, and the real person was disclosed.
Even then she confessed that she could not see her way
to forego the ridiculous dignity of her state, but that she
would willingly supply funds to those who would act
as almoners on her behalf.
Asked whether she did not deem it an inconceivable
waste of time to spend the few years allotted to her in
constant ceremony and unlimited attention to the dress-
maker, the Grande Dame admitted that, from her new
point of view, the folly, apart from the extravagance,
amounted to a sin.
When the Judge sought to discover her relations to-
wards the women of her day who strove to raise their
sisters by every means in their power, and, often enough,
at the expense of all they held dear, her answer was
that she had frequently condemned such people as
common, though inwardly conscious that their ideals
were true, but, if realised, would sweep away, the priv-
ileges which she enjoyed.
As to her connection with hospitals, bazaars, and the
47
general role of Lady Bountiful, the prisoner naively stated
that, for the most part, she was intensely bored. Never-
theless she felt that, unless she went through them, her
position was in danger, and she regarded them as delicate
sops to what she called " the lower classes."
Here the Judge, with the faintest suspicion of annoy-
ance, asked how she dared to indulge in such language, to
which she responded that she supposed it would take a
long time to get it into her brain that she was of the
same flesh and blood as common folk.
When in conclusion he enquired if she had ever felt
intense since she had given herself over to formality, she
allowed that she had had visions of the heroic now and
again, but that she had shut them out lest they should
flood her world with light and show up its gruesome hol-
lowness.
The Judge was disappointed at the hold which custom
had gained over this poor lady who so soon contradicted
many of the softer spots of her confession, and found him-
self mainly thrown back on the pleading of her advocate.
But, mercifully for her, he saw beneath appearances and,
in pronouncing his sentence, displayed a wisdom and
knowledge of the world with which few would have
credited him.
"It is not for me," he said, "to increase your distress,
and I will only remark at the outset that I cannot imagine
anything more fatuous and unwise than the planning of
your life. The harm which you and those answerable
for it have done is greater than you can measure, or ever
intended, and little can you guess the thousands degraded
48 THE GRAND ASSIZE
by your desecration of the name Love. With your real
need of affection I know that you have been more than
punished in expelling the best, and in mistaking paste for
jewels. I wish to bring it home to you that countless
women through you have wrecked their lives and be-
come infected with the same vulgarity. Here there is
no question of titles, which some might be disposed to
uphold on the pretext of having something to live up to,
though reason would suggest that that is applicable to
all; but unless a marriage is undertaken for love, and love
alone, the person concerned has sold her body and done
despite to her honour.
"Your subsequent faults are a natural result of, or at
least allied to, your initial error. At the back of your
failings is the lack of that very refinement of which
you bought the letter, and, in the purchase, sold the
spirit. You may take comfort in the certainty that the
truest part of your nature is that side which loved the
children's hospital and the freedom of the outdoor life,
with its absence of self-consciousness or of the world.
"You and your exclusive circle need to learn that,
though in numbers you are a negligible quantity, the evil
of accentuating and developing snobbery cannot be
overrated. Avoiding as you do personal touch with the
crowd, whom you look down on as belonging to another
creation, you are apt to forget the wrath at such an insult
which may overwhelm them, and the red ruin which may
follow in its train. In a sense you make it more difficult
to believe in the Gospel than does the courtesan, and
when you speak of desiring to find the Christ, you forget
LA GRANDE DAME 49
that He is acclaimed such because He was the Friend
of publicans and sinners. You seldom pause to con-
sider how human nature battens on the tale of a glamour
which you affect to despise, but which you have no inten-
tion of foregoing. It would seem to have escaped your
notice that the hungry hate you while they fawn on you,
and feast their eyes on tiaras, which you will concede are
out of keeping with the vein of sympathy permeating
your admissions.
"It is still more trenchant that this is no corollary to
your condition. There are those of your class who have
been reckoned among the sweetest women of their day, and
who, accepting privilege at its proper worth, have helped
to gladden and humanise the world. Such exceptions
have made the Gospel lovable, and, being too refined to
think over much of circumstance, have left the impres-
sion that their main concern was the sisterhood. This
obtained, however, in spite of their surroundings, and
cost them an isolation in the world of fashion as the un-
varying price of their consistency. No one understands
this better than yourself, and, in brief, its lesson is that,
if you desire to expiate your mistakes, you must first
realise that you are extremely small, that you have
been persistently self-indulgent, and that only through
a course of self-violence can you truly become a Grande
Dame.
"Your sentence, therefore, is that, however long it
may take you (and you have only yourself to please) , you
shall have no rest, and you shall know no peace till you
have discovered the secret of tenderness and the courage
50 THE GRAND ASSIZE
of sincerity. You shall find yourself in the same position
which your ancestors occupied before their fortunes came
to them through means which cannot bear too close
inspection. Though this may surprise you, therein lies
much of the accumulated insolence with which both your
families were impregnated, and which expressed itself
in your career, picturesque, elegant, and, to a certain
extent, pious as it may have been. You shall, for the
future, be unimpeded in the development of your being,
and the best in you will have a chance of flourishing
under the primitive conditions for which you profess to
pine. You shall live in the midst of trouble and pain
which only sympathy can alleviate, and it will be a hard
and a toilsome road, since you will carry with you the
recollection of the past.
"Your children must fight their own battles under
the disadvantages which you have brought upon them,
and which you would not alter if you could, but their
mother shall experience a joy which the world can never
give, and which she alone can bestow upon herself. You
shall be known as one who saw to it that none should
ever accuse her of timidity, or even prudence, hi a great
cause. You shall rejoice in an ecstasy from which you
have hitherto been debarred, and you shall at last know
the thrill of being yourself, without fearing to forfeit
your dignity in the excess of your devotion. Let me
console you by saying that, with your disposition, the
time will not be long, but that, in the words of your ad-
vocate, you are meant to accomplish an infinity of good.
A radical change is involved, but I know you too well to
LA GRANDE DAME 51
think you would wish it otherwise, and your staying
power will serve you till you achieve, not the false, but
the true nobility. You will have found the key to the
Book which was open to the peasant, and which speaks
of a crown, but one of thorns."
CHAPTER V
THE YELLOW PRESS
A MORE than ordinary collision between good
and evil was in the air. Though the presence
of the Judge expelled despair, the face of the ac-
cused brought it perilously near. It was difficult to sup-
press a desire that the trial might be concluded with no
delay, and that this Augean stable might be cleansed at
the hands of one stronger than Hercules, but whose love
surpassed that of women. The puzzle was to discover
anything worthy in the prisoner, and faith in the divine
spark latent in all was severely tested.
Again and again the effort had to be made to think of
him as part of a vast machine, powerless in himself, and
carried away by a stream no human strength could stem.
What could be his private life? Had he children? Did he
know aught of those endearments which go far to soften
the cruellest characters? To such questions there was
no answer, and it was hard to evoke an atom of pity for
one who appeared as adamant. The influence of his
personality was inimical, breathing the atmosphere not
so much of the criminal as of the cynic. As for the
veriest gleam of repentance, he had none, and, even at
such a crisis, was more on the lookout for "copy" than
THE YELLOW PRESS 53
occupied with the thought of the Judge, whom he al-
together failed to appreciate. The absence of business
or movement evidently tried him, and he chafed at the
waste of time. He missed the cables, the telephones,
tape machines, and host of reporters which had become
his daily food. After managing the affairs of the world,
it struck him as monstrous that a moment should have
arrived which was concerned with the management of
himself. But he took it all with perfect sang froid, and
adopted the usual bluff of one accustomed to tight places,
doubtless expecting to convert the incident, as of old,
into another gigantic and stupendous scoop: "GOD
AND THE YELLOW NEWS, EXCLUSIVE INTER-
VIEW!" immediately suggested itself.
He was constrained by the same irresistible force which
affected all arraigned, and his action was that of a para-
lysed man, whose limbs moved in a direction contrary
to his will. His initiative was palpably diminished when
he found himself reduced to the condition of crystal.
Without the slightest deference or shame as to his situa-
tion, he rose and, in a metallic voice by no means in his
favour, addressed the Judge :
"I find myself here, apart from any desire of my own,
for a searching audit, so would express a hope that you
will restrict the business to reasonable limits, as I rebel
against this detention. Kindly note that the confusion
due to my absence will cause much inconvenience else-
where." (The accused was still under the impression
that the end of the world would come if he were removed
from it.) "The terse description of my dossier is that I
54 THE GRAND ASSIZE
set myself to exploit the earth and, by hook or by crook,
to use the same for my own purposes, playing it, as one
would a fish, with every variety of fly which might at-
tract.
"Where or how I acquired the art, or, as many might
prefer to call it, the knack, is not important, but I con-
gratulate myself on being very much up to date. My
early enterprises were comparatively modest, as I realised
that the public had to be gently educated and accustomed
to the garbage which by degrees became their necessary
pabulum. I knew they had been previously reared on
healthier food, but I set myself to spoil their palate, in-
sisting that my sole desire was to satisfy their natural
appetite. Though the confession savours of brutality,
I flatter myself that I made them want it. When the
mischief was done, I emulated Pilate in the washing of
my hands, and regretted that I was forced to supply
their needs.
"There was not a sensation in human nature to which
I did not pander, and I made it a point that my count-
less readers should be liberated from the trouble of
thinking. Covetousness I roused without any qualms, di-
lating on the glory of gold, supplying stories suggestive
of Aladdin's lamp, and pointing out how every one could
find it by reading my journals. I stirred up discord
between Capital and Labour, master and man, feeding
the strike-fire with the fuel of dissension and hatred.
By being ultra patriotic I lashed the people into a
paroxysm of fury with their neighbours across our fron-
tiers, and constantly did my best to plunge nations into
THE YELLOW PRESS 55
war. The thought of the wreckage bound to follow in
its train, which could never have happened save for
the deliberate misrepresentation of the foreigner by
myself and those of my kidney in the opposite camp,
failed to touch me compared to the prospect of an enor-
mous increase in our circulation.
"To foster the lower instincts was a prominent part
of my programme, and on such subjects as murders,
horrors, accidents, fighting, crime, and brutal contests,
under the heading of sport, we outvied all other publica-
tions in the pungency of our descriptions. Finding that
divorce news was acceptable, our numbers could never
be accused of lack of intrigue, innuendo, or tasty refer-
ence, over which the prurient might gloat and become
eager for the next issue. The enjoyment found in this
exposure of the skeletons of other people was self-evident,
and was accompanied by a cheerful carelessness for the
sorrow and shame caused by such publicity to those
concerned. As for the real interests of the world or the
religious side of life, we took care, now and again, to
notice the melodramatic, so as to impress the masses
with the idea that we were deeply affected by higher
things, but in this connection our space was curtailed.
"I confess that there is something about your pres-
ence that makes me shudder at the possible result of
my ventures, and I am coming to the conclusion that
few have been so callous in poisoning their generation.
At the time, however, it was a joy to me that I accumu-
lated my thousands out of the coppers of the people, to
say nothing of such side issues as our connection with
56 THE GRAND ASSIZE
company promoters or with social enterprises on the
part of those not as yet arrived. We did a good trade
blackmailing many who were hopelessly in our toils and
were ready to pay any sum for our silence. Yet I trace
our main success to the murder of thought, to a combina-
tion of levity and lewdness, and to a careful admixture
of the sentimental with the sensual, whereby we obtained
a satanic empire of our own, until we prided ourselves
that the world could not do without our wares. In a
word," said the prisoner, who was on the verge of a col-
lapse, but who, with a supreme effort of will, managed to
regain his self-control, "I own without remorse that I
have sinned successfully, that the whole scheme origi-
nated with myself, and that I now await your decision
as to the future."
The advocate's position was an unenviable one as
he stood up to make his speech. The astonishing thing
was the perseverance of his love for the accused, and
there was a look of pain suggesting wonder lest he had
failed at times, through a natural shrinking, to fulfil
his office of protector and guide. He was comforted by
an upward glance at the Judge, as he called to mind the
quickening by Love of one who for four days had been
an object of revulsion.
"Conscious that I have but little to say, I make a
special appeal to your Lordship's mercy in a case where
the powers of darkness have made a peculiarly terrific
attack on a weak mortal. It is not for me to argue as
to the inequality of the onslaught, knowing as I do that,
had his eyes been opened, he would have seen that the
THE YELLOW PRESS 57
hosts on his side were greater than those by which he
was threatened. Your charity will take it into consider-
ation that he may be classed among those who were born
blind. I find it hard to explain or apologise for one
item of his cold conceding, though it is my duty to point
out that, even in his professional work, he found space
for the children and the unfortunate, being overcome
by attacks of generosity and kindness. Your obstinate
hopefulness, my Lord, alone prevents me throwing up my
brief. For the rest, I believe silence to be my best
course."
The face of the Judge was set like a flint, but with his
evident condemnation was blended compassion for the
unhappy man on whom he was about to pronounce
judgment. He, too, had plainly not forgotten the in-
cidents which had flashed across the mind of the advo-
cate, and at such a time it was consoling to feel that his
nature was proof against embitterment. Restraining
himself with a visible effort, he treated the prisoner with
special courtesy, as a man is apt to doff his hat in the
presence of a ruin. To a person like the Judge the
story to which he had listened brought nothing less than
anguish, not so much because of the sordid love of
gold which it breathed as of the ruthlessness manifested
throughout. He was thinking of a type which had best
be relegated to the sea with a millstone round its neck,
but none knew better than he that thousands would be
only too ready to step into the shoes of the offender.
The cowardice of the transaction was repellent to this
most guileless of men. Its treachery recalled the figure
58 THE GRAND ASSIZE
of a serpent, under which the arch enemy of mankind has
been known since the world began. In nearly every
instance brought before him there was at least a certain
risk to the agent, but the man with whom he was now
dealing had done his deadly work in the background, and
had shot his arrows from behind battlements. This
wounded him to the quick, but between him and too
hasty censure rose up the master mystery of election and
the truth that "a man was a man for a' that."
"I have been wondering as you spoke," said the Judge,
"how such a diabolical idea as that which gradually
took possession of you came into your head at the outset."
" So far as I can remember I had cruel tendencies as
a child, and was brought up in a home where each had to
fend for himself, so I suppose it made us all more or less
smart, and careless of the others."
"What was the actual condition of your parents?"
"I would rather not say, but I remember being filled
with the desire to alter my mother's position, to add to
her comforts, and make her a lady. My success came
too late, and this was the fly in my ointment."
"And your father?"
"I think we will let that question alone, please, as
we were never great friends."
"How did you get on with your brothers?"
"I don't know that I cared much about them at the
time, though since then I have done them plenty of good
turns, much as the Corsican added to his glory by making
several kings in his family."
"Had you any sisters to soften your life?"
THE YELLOW PRESS 59
"No, and I daresay it might have made a difference,
but our youth was a pretty hard one, and affection was
a minus quantity."
"And your schoolfellows?"
"We had to put up with a cheap school, as our father
had brought us down, and we rebelled against it. When
I was still a lad this filled me with spleen, and I swore
that I would have my revenge when I grew up."
"Would you say that this explained much of your
subsequent brutality, which is the only word I can find
to describe your methods? "
"I fancy it must. I can recall gnashing my teeth
when a four-in-hand passed and I knew that my invalid
mother had to go short."
"Has the scope of the wrong you have done, and the
demoralisation of your country by your actions since,
come home to you?"
"It stands to reason that I cannot see this in a mo-
ment, and if it had been apparent, bad as I am, I should
have shrunk from such a consequence. I begin to realise
the magnitude of my offence, though heaven knows I
never took it in before."
"Can you suggest any excuse for this murder of
thought which formed so great a part of your schemes?"
"When I was quite young I began to look on humanity
as merely a means of making my pile and leaving the
world one of its richest and, if possible, one of its best-
known men."
"Did you never quail at the thought of the boys and
girls who were thus rendered unable to face the tedium
60 THE GRAND ASSIZE
of home or to lead anything like a regular existence >
becoming dependent on the false excitement with which
you continually fed them?"
"Again I doubt if I ever considered the matter. All
I knew was that, judging from myself, the trick was to
make it appear like a show and to avoid such dry sub-
jects as virtue and duty, both of which I hated on my
own account, and credited others with the same in-
stincts."
"Did it not appear to you nothing less than devilish
to make capital out of others' shame and to expose
what, in your own case, you would wish to be buried
in the depths of the sea?"
"By the time I arrived at this point my heart must
have been more or less dried up, and, so long as our
sales went up, I cared not a fig who went down."
"Were you socially ambitious?"
"In a way, yes, but, whatever honours came to me,
I was out of my element in refined company."
"How do you think you will go down to history, an
expression suited to your pretensions?"
"There will be a blank page."
"What would your mother have said, if she had lived
longer?"
"Here at last you have done me. Thank God she
went early, so that she did not witness my triumph,
which she would have regarded as a defeat compared
to remaining in my own class, doing honourable work,
and being able to look the world in the face."
"Are you sorry?"
THE YELLOW PRESS 61
"What is the good of being sorry now, just because I
have no chance of doing the same again? But you have
made me want some sort of sentence which shall bring
back my self-respect and, however crushing it may be,
shall cause my heart to live, since, brute as I have be-
come, I would rather have one kiss from that mother
than all the thousands gotten at the expense of my
public."
The wisdom of the Judge, which, by kindness instead
of abuse, had brought the prisoner to the point that he
desired, was little short of miraculous.
"I am rilled," he said, "with deep sorrow for your
case, as much on account of the ruin you have caused
as on your own. That evil abounds and that it plays
havoc amongst men none can deny, nor can I explain
it myself; but of one thing I am convinced, namely,
that never has there been a human being but must have
heard a whisper warning him at the start that he was
wrong. Else I should not have occupied this seat, nor
undergone the training necessary to sympathise with
the most tragic instances that might come before me.
"You will forgive me if I lay stress upon the nefarious-
ness of your trade which allowed you, from masked bat-
teries, to achieve the destruction of your fellowmen.
It baffles me to understand the villainy which became
your delight. The more I ponder over what is perpe-
trated by you and your tribe, the more it is laid upon
me to intercede that such baseness may have an end.
Not that I believe you considered too nicely the injury
you were doing to others, so long as you benefited your-
62 THE GRAND ASSIZE
self, and no one between whom and his mother there
was the relationship of which you have spoken could
have been wholly bad.
" Though I have extracted more than one concession
from you, I doubt whether you have as yet taken in the
extent of the evil. Little do you know how you have
soiled your generation and have introduced into the
world a new set of temptations which hardly existed
before you were born. The retrospect of having lowered
the standpoint of millions must be ghastly to contem-
plate, and perhaps the most scathing sentiment I can
express is that you have added to the difficulties of
piety, and rendered prayer a subject for scorn. You
have been the enemy of the young, though you assumed
the role of their friend, but when, through being brought
up on your productions, they have acquired habits
which landed them in hell, it is people like you who ought
to pay the bill.
"You have asked for a sentence which shall restore to
you the childhood you have forfeited, and shall in some
degree atone for the egregious wrong you have committed.
In this you shall be gratified. You need a period of
passiveness, since all activity must for a while be both
fatal to yourself and injurious to your neighbour. Noth-
ing short of this can so chasten your personality as to
make it usable without harm to the community, and
you must yourself cry out: ' Give me milk,' like a sick girl,
before it will be safe for you again to dispense food for
the brain. An intense desire shall come to you to raise
the world in proportion as you have degraded it. You
THE YELLOW PRESS 63
shall find yourself filled with a craving for souls whom
you shall daily witness under the dominion of the forces
you have called into being. You shall watch the mark
of crime on the faces of first offenders, due to the stuff
which you have purveyed. You shall be called to con-
sole many bowed down through shame at the disclosure
of some family disgrace, and your heart shall be broken
in your struggle against the same cruelty which stamped
your own career. You shall guess at the hell which you
have contributed to fill, and you shall find yourself
powerless in proportion as you have become a stranger
to gentleness or love the only weapons of any value
in this campaign.
"There is for you no other way, though you have made
it a steep and stony one. Until you have ceased from
avarice and until you have tasted some of the desolation
caused by the abuse of your talents, you cannot know
even the commencement of content. It is no pleasure
to me to inflict on you such pain, but, foreseeing the
result, it is my part to show you that only by godly re-
venge can you regain your virtue or achieve your goal.
That you will arrive there I have not a vestige of doubt,
and in its pursuit you will discover the true value of
your creativeness and your exceptional power, which I
pledge you shall have their full fruition. Nothing shall
daunt you in your new venture, and you shall thank
Heaven for the roughness of the path which it will have
become your joy to travel. No pardon can in itself
confer a habit or alter a nature, but from the place where
each left the right road he must start afresh and negoti-
64 THE GRAND ASSIZE
ate what remains. Be happier, then, than you have
been since you were a boy, guided by that star of your
love for your mother which will serve you in the darkest
and the longest night. Nor need you have the smallest
fear but that, by the discipline which I have outlined,
you shall become an advertisement of God's goodness.
Though the world may have had cause to hate you,
you shall win her smile."
CHAPTER VI
THE PHILISTINE
A WELL-GROOMED, thoroughly healthy, and
uninteresting person took his seat, and some
mistake was suggested by his presence in such a
scene. Not that he would not have been called a good
fellow, a white man, a sportsman, and similar terms,
but his future was the more alarming since there was
nothing to go on. He left a sense of weariness, though
an importance was added to the figure by reason of the
multitudes who resembled him. Given a body, a tailor,
and a certain background, little more was needed for his
construction, and he set the onlooker searching for that
lerlium quid which differentiates the human from the
most attractive members of the animal world. The whole
thing was appallingly meaningless, and the Judge him-
self was likely to be hard put to it to save the situation
from bathos.
The attendance of this well-favoured, rather vacuous,
but withal nice individual at a trial fraught with eternal
issues would have been grotesque, had it not been sig-
nificant. A certain annoyance was caused by his good
looks, which implied nothing, and the entire lack of sor-
row in the Philistine was calculated to increase the
65
66 THE GRAND ASSIZE
sentiment. Of all this the accused was blissfully uncon-
scious, and his aimless glance failed to take in its true
import. The Philistine was mainly concerned with the
fit of his coat, the colour of his socks, and his general get-
up, which made his world. It was hard to think of
him except in batches. One recalled crowds like him
in the Park, or on a morning when the scent was good, or
gazing out of some club window with the same imper-
turbable smile. All said and done, it was a miserable
spectacle, more especially in view of the false romance
woven round him and his ilk, only to result in a fateful
fatigue, and often followed by desperate deeds due to
sickening disappointment.
"I should like to remark," he began, in the pleasantest
way, "how good it is of you to receive me so charmingly,
as I have often heard of you, and they tell me you are
a topper in your own line. Please don't think I mean
anything disrespectful, but that is a form of compliment
where I used to live, don't you know, with all the other
fellows. I fancy I am here to sort of reveal myself, but
the fact is I am a reserved kind of chap, and have been
taught to keep all that style of thing to myself, don't
you know." (Here the Judge asked him if he would
kindly not use the last phrase more often than was
necessary.) "Oh, certainly, I beg your pardon, I am
sure. You see I am not much of a speaker, but, since
I knew my turn was coming on, I have been trying to
collect materials, and have cudgelled my brains to find
out what sort of thing I ought to say.
"I feel sure you won't be over hard on a fellow who has
THE PHILISTINE 67
spent his time mostly in the open and whose reading has
hardly been what you might call deep. My life on the
whole has been decent and comparatively clean, for I
was brought up awfully well, and could never get rid of
some instinct implanted by my mother. There was
no call for me to do anything particular, you see, but for
the most part I steered fairly straight, believed tre-
mendously in exercise, and, in a rough and ready way,
aimed at being a 'white man.' I can't say I allowed
this to interfere with a bit of pleasure now and then, or
that, if it meant a biggish effort, I took it too seriously,
but it became a part of my vocabulary and I constantly
trotted it out, especially to the admiration of my women
friends, who didn't understand it, but thought it very
fine.
"I saw most of the globe, or, rather, the surface of it,
and there were uncommonly few tricks I passed, but I
made it a rule never to neglect my health, as I believed
we were sent into the world in order to keep fit. I
fancy I must have done some good turns, if they came
my way; anyhow, I cannot call to mind any bad ones.
What I liked about the business was that I had an un-
limited number of friends, who were also awfully fit, so
there was no strain or high-f alutin' nonsense, which might
have made me ill. I also took great pains about my
food, holding that this item was exceedingly impor-
tant, and that a gentleman should always know how to
order a good dinner. Later in life I settled down, and
am glad to say that my wife, also, was uncommonly
fit. In a way we were awfully happy at first, but that
68 THE GRAND ASSIZE
kind of thing palls after a time, and I don't think I was
ever built for staying too much at home.
"I liked the people on my place more than I knew
till I had to say good-bye, for there was any amount of
good sorts among them, so that we became real pals.
The delightful part of it was that there was scarcely
any bother, as there was always enough to go round.
We all had a turn for the same kind of things, so there
grew up a good fellowship which was about all we wanted,
and made the time go like lightning. I need not dwell
on the temptations which come to a man with any go
in him; I managed them pretty carefully. As the
Missus knew nothing about them, and I still kept in
with the neighbouring clergy, who were capital fellows,
though not as fit as they might be, I expect you will agree
with me that it is absurd to pull a long face over trifles.
"I don't suppose I was ever dishonest in my life, but
I can't say what would have happened if I had been in
a tight place. I hope I should have played the game
and not forgotten the class to which I belonged. I was
a strong advocate of patriotism, and could not bear the
type of person who stirred up trouble, or allowed that
my country had any faults, or went so far as to suggest
an apology, even if we had made a bit of a mistake. I
always said the great thing was not to take it lying down,
to keep the wheels well oiled and, if you had a few ex-
tras, to share them, though everybody's first duty was
to look after number one.
"If I were to begin describing the sort of time I put
in, it might sound pretty uneventful, but I shouldn't
THE PHILISTINE 69
mind having it over again. The thought of growing
old was my only bugbear, principally because it would
interfere with sport, and I should not be able to keep
up with the others as I used to. I don't think I have
much more to say, as I did not care greatly for politics,
except, of course, that I was on the gentlemanly side
and, if I had to choose where to go, it would be to much
the same old spot, which you'd find it hard to beat.
Meanwhile, I am real sorry if my story lacks colour,
but I never was clever, and thank God for it, though
if you could manage to let me join some of my pals, I
should be more than obliged, as I simply can't stand
being alone."
When the advocate was called upon to plead for the
Philistine he was much affected by his cheerfulness, and
found some difficulty in investing the occasion with
befitting solemnity. Yet as he proceeded no one who
heard the case but must have wept over the waste to
which it pointed.
"I rise, my Lord," he said, "to claim your indulgence
on behalf of the accused, who has within him finer possi-
bilities than he is aware of. I am conscious that the
host of the Philistines is legion and that, if reduced to
facts, they amount to hardly more than lizards in the
sun. I would lay the blame largely on his up-bringing,
and on the custom which prevails of allowing drones
to exist in the human hive. I believe the prisoner to
be ignorant of having offended in any one respect, and
that, if it had appeared wrong to him, he would not
have led such an apology for a life.
70 THE GRAND ASSIZE
"The idea of leaving things undone which ought to
have been done did not enter his world, for he was a
member of that numerous class whose ethics are con-
fined to the negative commandments, notably that of
not being found out. It is true that even these he
lightly disregarded, when they proved inconvenient, but
from my knowledge of him I fail to see how he could
have become serious or have remained so for long.
Suffering as he did from good health, he was heavily
handicapped, and I hold that for him to be 'decently
straight and invariably pleasant ' was a bigger achieve-
ment than he suggests. I could mention countless
instances in which his care for animals afforded an ex-
ample to the intensely religious which they might well
lay to heart. In dealing with his fellows he may have
confined himself to such colloquialisms as 'poor old chap/
but they were often accompanied by more practical
proofs of charity than many a meaningless 'God bless
you.' It is not easy for me to defend his attitude to-
wards the world at large, but he began by tackling his
local responsibilities with all the zeal of which he was
capable, though he handed over the major part of them to
those whom he could pay and who would see him through.
"When death threatened he was always to the fore,
and I am moved to tears when I think of him trying to
express himself at some dying bed or on the scene of
some accident. I own, my Lord, that the Philistine
was selfishness incarnate, and that, so long as he was
fairly comfortable, an earthquake might take place else-
where and his appetite would not be affected. But
THE PHILISTINE 71
my memory goes back to a time when I see him risking
his life for his country and undergoing every conceiv-
able hardship, while he swore like a trooper that the
whole thing was a nuisance. It is these contrasts in the
man which touch me, and I cannot but wonder what
might have happened if he had broken his leg, or if he
had become enamoured of a good woman. (I leave it
for your Lordship to decide on the justice of such an
arrangement for the lady.) I am all too conscious of
the anti-climax presented by the case, but I beg you
in sentencing the prisoner to pass a judgment which
shall open a door of hope that his best qualities, up till
now nullified by comfort, may be brought into being.
I plead that none of the strength or charm or manners,
or, best of all, the brave brightness, may be lost, but
that, by some method known to yourself, they may effect
their purpose."
After the speech of the advocate, the man in the Judge
seemed to be struggling with the office, and it was fortu-
nate for the accused that he had come before such an un-
derstanding power. If looks could translate thoughts, an
open verdict was the most likely one, though philoso-
phy pointed to a long education before there could be
any satisfying result. The conversation preceding the
judgment threw a considerable light on the sentiments
both of questioner and questioned. The former, as
was his wont, touched on many matters which might
have been called irrelevant, but which plainly showed
that nothing short of getting at the root of the business
would content him.
72 THE GRAND ASSIZE
"Would you kindly inform me whether, in your early
youth, the inward meaning of things was brought before
you, or whether religion, as you understood it, was ob-
served in your home?"
"To the first query my answer is not at all, as things
went very smoothly, and I can recall no trouble worth
mentioning. As to the observance of religion, we car-
ried it on somehow, on the principle of good form, but all
emotion on the subject was absent and it was supposed
to be managed by the parson, or included in the school
fees."
"Did your parents never appear sad, or did they never
speak to you of prayer or details of that kind? "
"Heavens, no! I don't fancy they saw too much of
each other, as my father was generally out and my
mother was extremely reserved, so she might have gone
through a good deal without our knowing it."
"And your education? "
"I went to the best school, all right, and had a ripping
time, but of course I never got to the Sixth, or that sort
of thing."
"Did the masters show much interest in your de-
velopment?"
"They would not have taken such liberties or been
so familiar. They were good old sorts, though, and
played up well when a fellow got into a hat. At all
events, they brought us up never to tell a lie, and always
to play with a straight bat."
"Did you often get into what you call 'hats' at school?"
"Any amount, besides those which ought to have
THE PHILISTINE 73
been worn by some of the other boys, but then they
were not particularly strong and would easily have gone
under."
"What did you learn?"
"Well, we didn't exactly go there to learn, but when
it came to the exams, we put on a spurt and now and
then one did rather well at a pinch."
"Have you remembered anything?"
"I doubt if I have, but all I can say is I'm awfully
grateful for the place, to which I owe a bigger debt than
I could put on paper, and I should be glad if you would
not say a word against what I look back to with tre-
mendous respect. I was rather a coward just now not
to own that the Head treated me with a tenderness I
shall never forget, and that he has been my secret hero
ever since."
"Were you deeply affected by the love affairs which
came to you in due course, and might more than once
have proved an awakening?"
"I can't say I was. I don't suppose either of us
wanted much, and the girls I cared for were of the same
sort as myself, while the others did not count."
"Did none of them leave any mark on your char-
acter?"
"I don't think they did. You see, we never took that
sort of thing seriously. We cared much more for hunt-
ing, and we were not a bit sentimental, though, of course,
flirting had its place in our amusements."
"And how did they get on afterwards?"
"Much the same, I fancy . They settled down all
74 THE GRAND ASSIZE
right when they happened on a fellow with money, or,
if they didn't, no one heard much about them."
"And when it came to marriage?"
"I took it in the natural course of things, though it
was a bit trying to say good-bye to my bachelor friends,
but they told me I should soon get over it."
"Did you love one another?"
"I should think that was too strong a term, but we
were first-class pals, and both of us read the same style of
books, which always ended in a capital show, with no
end of bridesmaids and the whole thing awfully well
done, so I suppose we knew it would have to come."
"As you grew older, what about the public duties to
which you were called by your position?"
"The fact is I rather let them slide, as they soon be-
came a bore; then I dropped them altogether, persuading
myself that this side could best be managed by the of-
ficials."
"Did it strike you that your body was getting the
upper hand, that there was something beyond, and that
a time was coming when you would have to face the
mystery which for you is just setting in?"
"Not in the least, really, but now I think of it, I did
make rather a point of comfort as to baths and clothes
and food, and I was awfully particular as to associating
with anybody sort of halfway. As to death, I expected
when it came along I should take my gruel all right
and stand the shot, but otherwise I cannot say it weighed
much with me."
"Were you never heartily ashamed as you looked at
THE PHILISTINE 75
the pictures of your ancestors and wondered whether
you would be worthy of where they had come?"
"Hardly ever, though possibly I used to dream things
like that in a comfortable sort of way, after two or three
nightcaps, or when I was a trifle hipped, but I was all
right next morning."
"And as for this country, this world of yours, this
mass of men and women under the harrow in big cities,
or the cruelty and lust you must have witnessed in
your journeys abroad did these things never cause
your heart to ache?"
"I can't say they did. Don't you see if I had allowed
what you call sympathy to come into my life, on a large
scale, I should have had to become quite another sort
of chap. All my arrangements would have been up-
set, and, worst of all, I should have been considered
half a lunatic or a ranter, which is too dreadful to con-
template. Besides, to be candid, all this went like
water off a duck's back, though, politically, I realised,
now and again, that things were getting a little warm,
but, so long as they lasted out my time, I couldn't see
how it mattered."
The Judge looked almost hopeless, yet he regarded
the accused with wistful affection, for he had had great
possessions. " I wish, if I can, to point out to you what
I know you entirely appreciate, in spite of anything
you may say to the contrary. I willingly overlook
the clothes, the baths, the dinners, the eternal round
of self-pleasing, but your insensibility in regard to the
universal pain angers me by its shallowness and its
76 THE GRAND ASSIZE
hardness of heart. Who knows better than myself how
richly endowed you were when you came into the world?
Who understands better the responsibility of birth, tra-
dition, and all that goes to make good breeding, with
hardly any trouble on the part of the recipient? Who
could hold in higher esteem the delightful absence of
caste and class which distinguished you, and which is
the hall-mark of the gentle? Who can better estimate
the advantage of good health, and still more, of good
spirits, which if rightly used might have acted like magic
among the sick, the tired, the unfortunate, and the lonely?
"To my thinking you have missed immense oppor-
tunities, and the pity of it is that you could not see it,
though, if you had, you would have been the first to
volunteer for the forlorn hope which was calling out
for your qualities. Man was never intended to be
satisfied with a purely carnal life, however perfect the
setting! It has to be borne in on you that strength is a
loan, that easy circumstances may soon prove the ruin
of a man's best, and that that brain of yours, which is
not half so poor a one as you allege, was meant to tackle
problems in the solving of which each citizen should
take his share. The truth, in brief, which you must
absorb, is that the object of your creation was not to
bask, but to bless through that unused heart given you
in order to warm the world.
"You will therefore leave this place judged by your-
self and no one else, and though the vision will come to
you sooner than to most, you must learn through tribu-
lation what it is to love. Some day, when you have
THE PHILISTINE 77
come to care, it will grow clear to you that your kingdom
consists of more than eating and drinking or satisfying
your inclinations, with a certain amount of kindness
thrown in. Otherwise you would become a fossil. You
will then discover that the sin of having accomplished
nothing may be worse than active evil commingled
with good, and you will look back with contempt on
a period of self-pleasing which cannot be condoned
by mannerisms or fine phrases. You will understand by
degrees that your talk of patriotism was vitiated
by your indolence, and that devotion to your country
carries with it a great deal more than willingness to
share in a scrap. For this and sundry other exhibitions
you have already been rewarded by medals and deified
by sentimental women.
"You must go back to those high ideals implanted in
you by your mother, whose aloneness was due to the
same sort of character in your father as you have de-
scribed in yourself. If you had only known it, she often
prayed for you in her silence, and longed for you to
develop into something worth while. True enough that
the masters at your school seldom, if ever, in a place re-
served for the so-called fortunate, touched on such themes,
but when you know what it is to bend your back to
honest work, and when you have discovered that noth-
ing was ever accomplished without pains, you will envy
the labourers who furnish an example of days spent
in toil followed by well-earned repose. You need to
get hold of the injury done to the young, which appar-
ently has never entered into your mind. You can have
78 THE GRAND ASSIZE
no conception of the boys or of the young men who were
copying you throughout your career, a habit which
obtains in proportion to lack of brains or of necessity.
Your very tailor was a temptation, and your casualness
repeated itself in hundreds who are now worshipping
the same style and emulating the same ease afforded
by your example. Doubtless your own failure was
modelled on a similar type, but when the pattern is
both wrong and attractive, no one can compute the
misfits which follow. You are too generous not to be
cut to the quick by such reflections, and you would be the
first, if the opportunity offered, to correct such an error.
"You have no reason, in spite of a revelation which
opens up to you a novel view of existence, to fall into
the other extreme of despondency. You possess more
than ordinarily good material, and I am sanguine that
you will, to use your own expression, ' take your gruel, '
nor rest until, in place of a materialist, you become
even a spiritual force which, without a vestige of 'rant-
ing, ' shall help instead of hindering the ' other fellows, '
to your common good. Go, then, and make your own
arrangements, as befits your manliness, and act out
those dreams in which you indulged when you were
rather hipped, or tricked by alcohol into seeing visions
of what you might become. The prayers of that mis-
understood, taken-for-granted, and neglected mother shall
be answered in the fulness of time, and with the 'Head'
she will rejoice over her boy on his return from the far-
off country. No one will do better work or take it out
of himself more when he gets back to the old farm."
CHAPTER VII
THE DAUGHTER OF JOY
SHE looked dog tired and glad to have found at
last any sort of place where there was peace,
though it was one of punishment. The only
thing she appeared to want was to be done with it all and
to get it over, being best described as a bird which had
spoilt its plumage by beating against the bars and now
lay exhausted at the bottom of the cage. Her face,
badly marred, had once been beautiful, and her previous
charm was apparent as she impulsively stood up and
jerked out her words with nervous hesitation combined
with a half defiance, betokening the final struggle be-
fore she yielded. The tricks of her trade revealed them-
selves in the smallest action, telling of a type which, from
Aspasia to the street-walker, has a cachet common to all.
Her origin had always been more or less of a mystery,
and so accustomed had she become to romancing about
it, to suit the occasion, that any trustworthy evidence
had long been lost in a mist of lies. By turns she had
been the daughter of a clergyman, of an honest farmer,
or of a peer conspicuous for gallantry, and more than
once she had scored by claiming the protection granted
to an innocent but illegitimate girl. Probably the truth
79
8o THE GRAND ASSIZE
was that she belonged to a large class which combines
a certain amount of money with still more vulgarity,
but there was a streak of refinement in her of which
she was conscious, due to previous irregularities. On
this point she was not pressed by the Judge, who
made it a rule to admit no reference to the detriment
of an absentee, having no use for the third party. Her
attitude was that of a woman for whom nothing mat-
tered, being less pugnacious than beaten, and it was dif-
ficult, having once seen it, to forget the melancholy and
glazed look in her eyes. It was a relief to find herself
alone, where there were no chivying, no bestial language,
and none of that confusion to which she had of late been
accustomed.
Yet the very silence was a torture to her, as though
she loathed the solitude for which she craved, and any-
thing more pitiable than the moral wreck she presented
it would be hard to imagine. The word desolation con-
veyed the most vivid picture of her expression, the soul
having fled away, without the solace of annihilation.
Never was there such a satire on her name. Any halo
there might have been had long disappeared, and the
process which must have led up to such a climax became
disgusting and repulsive. What the blurting out of the
unvarnished truth meant to the Daughter of Joy only
she could tell, but the working of her features plainly
showed the effect of this interview with herself. Dog-
gedness and obstinacy were conspicuous. She displayed
the unfeeling tyranny which had encrusted her heart
through trading on human weakness and taking a brutal
THE DAUGHTER OF JOY 81
advantage of situations. Gradually a comparative soft-
ness, which brought hope of tears, set in as she looked at
the Judge, though as yet not a word had been spoken.
"I should like," she said, in her restless way, as one
who is always in a hurry because she has nothing definite
to do, "to say that I have no excuse, and that the blame
belongs to no one else. I was never drugged or de-
coyed, and then found myself unable to get back, or
any fairy tales of that kind. From the beginning I
realised what I was doing and deliberately chose the
vilest, cruellest, and most selfish life under the sun.
Naturally, at the start, I merely pleased myself, without
stopping to consider the wickedness involved, which,
when I was old enough to understand it, had not the least
effect on me. From the time I knew anything, my in-
stinct was to get as much feeling and zest into my days
as possible. I can justify myself on no plea except
that home was dull, goodness still duller, and work
most repellent of all. By keeping my eyes open, it came
to me that any girl, if she pleased, might ruin men and
live upon them, provided the bird of prey was suf-
ficiently attractive. I watched thousands of others who
avoided all restraint and who seemed, at any rate,
to be having a rosy time, which was all I cared about.
Before I was out of my teens this idea got hold of me, and
my motto was self first, and the devil take the hinder-
most. He has taken them, too.
"I can see now that I broke my mother's heart,
brought shame on all belonging to me, and began my
career by laughing in the face of God. The books which
82 THE GRAND ASSIZE
say that this happens through a girl being betrayed and
then taking her revenge may be partially correct but
are much overdrawn, and in my case it was not the true
story. It may be so in countless instances, but my firm
conviction is that the person who wrote the story of the
Garden of Eden was not far out. Certainly, for the most
part, women do the tempting, at least in man's first down-
fall, though, thank Heaven, this applies to the Eves and not
to the Maries of the world. It doesn't always hold good,
though, for there are lots of men who are women, and
women who are men, which may sound strange, but they
got into the wrong bodies. The taint was in my blood,
nor did I pause to think whether it was impure or other-
wise. That side never struck me; I was out for my own
pleasure, which, to an extent, I got at the price of
some one else's pain. Conceit, vanity, and sloth had
been my chief make-up so long as I could remember.
"I cannot recall taking up anything seriously, except
with a view to producing an effect on the rest of the
family, but I was an actress from the time I began to
talk. I detested effort, especially any form of educa-
tion, and, if conscience stirred in its sleep, I silenced it
with bad company, worse plays, and still more degraded
literature, though as yet I had not crossed the border-
line. One thing stands out, namely, that I never could
abide staying at home or being by myself, and long
before I had lost my innocence, I was mentally a prey
to movement, fine clothes, and excitement. When I
was at school, I used to get the other girls under my
thumb and deceive the mistress by pretending to depths
THE DAUGHTER OF JOY 83
which none but she could sound. When I flirted with
boys, I was never touched, but I liked to make them
miss me and send me messages which I might bring
up against them.
"After the first step, I set myself, by every art I pos-
sessed, to drag men down, and found a special fillip in
the case of the good though erotic, making them fancy
that love could be bought and that my endearments
were genuine. They proved a simple affair, the temp-
tation to them being tenfold stronger than to the aban-
doned woman, and what for them constituted a terrific
brain storm was for me a matter of routine. There
were hundreds who began by sincerely desiring to save
me, and whom I deliberately seduced in their attempt,
which brings up some of my most painful memories,
but I am bound to add that the nicest men are awfully
weak towards our class, being kind to us out of all pro-
portion. It is this weakness which is our chief stock
in trade. In reality, save in these cases, I was unmoved,
nor did I care a fig so long as I provoked passions and
secured my reward. How I could have done what I
did fairly puzzles me, but it is impossible here to deny
facts, or to pretend that I was not one of the worst
enemies of mankind.
"I spoiled the legitimate happiness of good women
whom at the same moment I hated and envied, lower-
ing my sex in their eyes until they were ashamed of
belonging to it. The thought of my mother, especially
after her death, stung me into a remorse that drove me
well-nigh mad, I was haunted by the faces of young
84 THE GRAND ASSIZE
men, hardly more than boys, who, through my devilish
treachery, had forfeited their honour and their health
so that they could not look into the eyes of their sis-
ters, or of their intended brides. This sounds too horri-
ble, even for a confession, but the game goes on, and
thousands upon thousands of men, as well as women,
are being ruined every night, to the tune of the gayest
music and the scent of the sweetest flowers.
"Well do I remember the jewels heaped upon me by
these worse than fools so long as my beauty lasted,
though, as it waned, I fell lower and lower. Yet my
instincts remained the same, and were even intensified,
namely, to secure the maximum of sensation with the
minimum of effort, at the expense of any one who was
willing to foot the bill. When I had lost my looks and
was hungry I learned the cruel side of men, for they
treated me as dirt, or recommended the workhouse,
because I could no longer please. As to physical fear,
it had ceased to affect me, since I had got to look on
life much as a hardened gambler does on the tables,
where all have equal chances, where the risks add to
the charm, and where the bank is bound to win in the
long run. Anything aboveboard or lawful became in-
sipid, and I accuse myself of having done my best to
help forward the kingdom of evil and prevent that of
good.
"In one respect, at all events, I got full payment: I
lost the power of loving, forfeited the joy of giving one
honest kiss, though I received many, and banished for-
ever the vision of home and motherhood. I stand
THE DAUGHTER OF JOY 85
here, ruined, degraded, and the wretchedest of women,
had I not become so numbed that I hardly feel at all.
The sense of shame is setting in, and with it the taste of
a hell to which I would not consign my worst enemy. I
only ask to be dealt with quickly so that I may live
again in working out the punishment I crave for, which
I have brought upon myself."
The prisoner's advocate was deeply moved, and with
unconcealed emotion addressed the Judge. He felt the
far-reaching character of the tale that had been told,
and the truth that, as woman can rise to higher heights,
she can fall to lower depths than man. The awful fact
of the liberty of free will was forcibly brought home to
him. In this special connection he understood how
powerless was any appeal in face of the cruelty of pros-
titution practised on business principles and in defiance
of conscience. Yet he held his head high, like a man
engaged in a crusade on behalf of weakness, and of a
type regarding whom, being a person of refinement,
he found it difficult to decide whether it had most sinned
or been sinned against in the transaction. He did not
disguise from himself the gravity of the sex question,
or that he was getting into close grips with undoubtedly
the strongest of the forces, which, at a certain period,
move humanity.
"In spite of the prisoner's confession, and of the untold
harm which I cannot conceal from myself that she has
done, I rise, my Lord, to claim your pity. It will not
surprise you to hear that there is another side which she
has either forgotten or taken for granted, but which,
86 THE GRAND ASSIZE
none the less, qualifies her degradation. I can tell you of
acts of kindness, and even tenderness, on the part of
the accused rarely found among the virtuous. Times
without number I have witnessed the sharing of her last
meal with a still poorer sister, and I can think of her
sitting up ten nights without intermission with a dying
man whom all neglected and who was an entire stranger
to her. A rich man with whom she lived offered her
marriage three times, but she refused because she would
not spoil his chances and because she said it was not
cricket. Some redeeming features there must have been
when he implored her to be his wife, though twice, in a
fit of drunkenness, she had nearly brought about his
death, and more than once had treated him with every
indignity.
"Again, my Lord, I can see her risking her life, during
an epidemic, and nursing children so covered with con-
fluent smallpox that ninety-nine out of a hundred would
have fled, and kissing them, too, with an abandonment
well-nigh divine. I have heard her offer to defend her
mother's name with her life, if it was disparaged in the
smallest particular. I could recount how, again and
again, the prisoner, in fits of reaction, haunted churches,
knelt before altars, made resolves, and was on the verge
of becoming penitent, but the seven devils took posses-
sion of her once more and she became as desperate as
ever. It is not for me to suggest how different her story
might have been if her instincts had been earlier com-
bated, and if, in her youth, she had known honourable
love.
THE DAUGHTER OF JOY 87
"Your Lordship is aware how poor a brief I hold, but,
though I cannot prove it, I still assert that the heart of
this woman had particles of good and that she was cap-
able of exceptional heroism in any work of rescue. Noth-
ing can help her short of a great trust born of a great
charity, which, through the darkest night, can discern
the coming of a brighter day for her and her sorrowful
sisterhood. Such a sympathy is impossible to any save
yourself, for it demands a holiness of which few are capa-
ble, and which, in itself, among ordinary men, precludes
the experience requisite to measure the difficulties of the
prisoner. I can at least urge that she has given no hint
that she was virtually driven from home, where she
might have had every comfort, but where she felt she
was not wanted, which was the prime cause of the deba-
cle that followed. Then it was that the demon entered
into her and, tortured by a treadmill to her unendur-
able, she became a temptress and a pest to society,
sooner than find no vent for an individuality which
would not be denied. The grief she has endured, which
she accepts without a murmur, pleads for her more
eloquently than any words of mine.
"In view of the consummate folly of her choice, and
her persistent refusal of appeal after appeal to her own
interests, I can only regard her as morally insane, and
ask you to treat her as one bereft of reason. That she
was bad as well as mad, and that she became cruel as the
grave, no one can gainsay, but I entreat your pity for her
because I am more conscious even than she of her dualism,
and that, if this torrent of recklessness could be diverted,
88 THE GRAND ASSIZE
it might be used as power to light those who sit in dark-
ness and in a similar shadow of death. More I cannot
add, lest I should appear to palliate this worst of wrongs,
or by a single syllable furnish an excuse for such a career.
I am confident that, taking into account the handicap
afforded by her distorted nature, in the sentence to be
pronounced mercy and truth will meet together."
The Judge was troubled beyond measure and, as was
his custom, conversed with the prisoner for a while be-
fore arriving at his decision, treating her as he would
have done any other lady. When he asked her the cause
of her leaving home, she still refused to say one word
against her mother, but maintained that it was just a
whim of her own, because she wanted to see the world
and drain the cup of life to the dregs.
When the Judge enquired if she considered her trade
a necessity, quoting the opinion of several writers of re-
pute that it was the oldest in the world and could not be
stamped out, she answered that she had never studied the
subject. In her own case and, she believed, in that of
every woman in her country, whatever the conscience
elsewhere, each wilfully violated what she knew to be
the highest law of her being, nor did she wish to escape
by the back door of such a pretext.
On his referring to the economic conditions which were
by many held responsible, seeing that fear of starvation
is calculated to drive its victim to any lengths, the
Daughter of Joy owned that in many instances it might
be so, and that it was a crying shame. She herself
would rather have starved than have yielded, save for
THE DAUGHTER OF JOY 89
an inborn tendency to evil and to adventure, which she
could not attribute to necessity.
To the suggestion made, with singular respect, by the
Judge, that, having once gone under, she was irretriev-
ably ruined, the prisoner retorted that again and again
she might have pulled up if she had wished, that hun-
dreds of hands were outstretched to save her, and that
harbours of refuge abounded on every side. She went
so far as to say that, after the worst collapses, she had
heard most clearly the voices of the angels and had
caught the rustle of their wings.
The Judge desired to know how she reconciled her
fiendish cruelty towards men, more especially to the
young, with her care for the sick, her sympathy with
the starving, and her recklessness in risking her life, to
which her only reply was that she took a devilish pleas-
ure in the former, while (illogically) she supposed that
no woman could have done other than she did in the
latter case, and that there was nothing in it.
When, lastly, he asked the prisoner if she ever re-
gretted the loss of her innocence, the miss of a child,
the pleasure of a garden, the sparkle of the sea, or the
shining of the stars, she broke down. Over her face
came a look from the past which showed that she loved
all these things in common with the best and that,
through the recalling of them, a faint desire was born
to return and be good.
The Judge summed up in terms which betrayed his
commiseration :
"Neither do I condemn you," he said, "seeing that
90 THE GRAND ASSIZE
no one who has ever been a man can cast a stone. You
need no reminding how much you have suffered or how
much you have lost. I respect you, also, for not pos-
ing as a martyr, while your silence concerning others
points to the regaining of qualities you have done your
best to destroy. The misery caused by the desecration
of your womanhood must ever remain and, tenderly
as my heart goes out to your need, no sentence of mine
can absolve you from that process of cleansing for which,
despite your protestations, I know that you yearn. To
have used outpourings of love, written in good faith,
to the stabbing of another, is an act which the best,
even in your profession, would utterly despise. Sudden,
sustained goodness after such sinning can never be, how-
ever much pity may be inclined to point out an easier
way. It might be alleged that you have already had
your hell and have paid the penalty for the injury you
have done, but the evil lies deeper, and this Court is
not concerned with rewards or punishments, as is often
misstated by those who claim to know its secrets.
"You never can and never will be happy until you
have regained your sex, but, to this end, you must
learn that your brain and your soul are vastly more
important than your flesh. This is the root of the error
which has ruined your character, apart from the special
department of evil in which you have been employed.
According to your own confession, you have consistently
avoided the slightest suspicion of work, therefore you
will be taught its true value and for you a harder
task you will be compelled to think. It will prove a
THE DAUGHTER OF JOY 91
severer struggle than the nursing, the sharing, and the
risk, which are but the better side of passion itself.
The labour that lies before you is your development into
an intelligent being; it will follow that you become a self-
respecting one. You will hate it beyond imagining;
your old emotions, not yet under complete control, will
drive you to rebel against restraint, and the path of
penance will seem too narrow for your wayward feet.
Sights and sounds of former days will return to you in
your dreams. You will crave for the God you have
insulted, and thirst for the vision of chastity as for water
in the desert.
"I could not, if I wished, save you from the haunt-
ings of memory, but, in proportion as you persevere,
they will fade away and your indeterminate sentence
be shortened. You will remain in a prison of my selec-
tion until you have been purified, and have fitted your-
self to atone not so much for your vileness as for your
lack of love. No consolation on my part can lessen
the agony of at last knowing yourself in your true colours,
but even this shall have an end, and the scarlet shall
become white as snow. Of one thing be certain, that
the best in you, however hidden, shall emerge, and that
the flashes of good which illuminated the blackness of
your sky shall become a permanent glow.
"Therefore, be comforted and leave this Court for
your retreat, confident, as I am, that those seven devils
shall be duly exorcised. To rule and to dare is too
much part of your identity to disappear, and you shall
become the slave of a new unrest to save the tempted
92 THE GRAND ASSIZE
at the risk of a character now restored. You shall use
your wiles to catch others by guile, but no longer for
your own delectation, and you shall dominate, not by
fascination, but by humility. Your changed atmosphere
shall declare that the wisdom from above is first pure,
and if asked your reason, your face shall be sufficient
argument. When you see, as you shall, the cup of
so-called life being drained to the dregs, your mere look
will cause many to hesitate, though by others you shall
be hooted for the thing you were. The value of your
recklessness shall be shown, and you shall mind nothing
so long as the stolen evidence of passionate but genuine
devotion may be burnt in a fire of your own kindling.
Courage, my child, and when your hour is come, seven
angels shall take the place of those seven devils and
waft you to the abode of Perfect Love, where your
transformed passions shall be expressed, not in sin, but
in submission. The Daughter of Joy shall yet sing as
in the days of her youth, and shall be known as one
who lives not to blight but to bestow it."
CHAPTER VIII
THE AGITATOR
HIS appearance was the reverse of prepossessing,
but he aroused a keen interest in view of the
vastness of the mischief for which he stood, as
also of the wrong he would have claimed it was his role
to rectify. The most striking features about the Agi-
tator were his conceit and his masterfulness, which were
not surprising as he could never have attained his posi-
tion without them. The absence of the pathos which
might have been looked for and his gaiety under the
circumstances created unalloyed disgust. He was moved
more by pride than by pity, and in this separator of
friends was a faint picture of the force which works for
the division of mankind. The worst of it was there was
so much to go on, but none the less did his trade, for it
was a trade, appear abhorrent while he sat there as though
the world belonged to him, and he had but to say the
word to affect the destinies of thousands.
That he could be put on his trial at all was for him
an absurdity, and the curl of his lip told of unmitigated
scorn. Gradually be became influenced by his sur-
roundings, and began to show a hesitation and an un-
certainty in himself which were the prelude to novel
93
94 THE GRAND ASSIZE
concessions. His undeniable fearlessness called forth
something akin to admiration as he began his confession
with the air of one who meant to have it out fair and
square, Judge or no Judge, so long as he might express
his overweening impudence.
"Had I been consulted," he said, "I should not have
come here, for it is my rule never to climb down, lest
I should cease to gain the confidence of the crowds who
hang on my lips. There is, however, something about
this place that threatens to bring me off my perch,
which would be impossible if any one else were present.
My contention is that I have tried to do my duty by
those whose cause I represented, and to undo some of
the evils arising from inequalities and thraldoms which
are a curse among human beings, and which I cannot
believe you yourself approve. Originally I was a worker
and suffered with the rest, though the iron had already
entered into my soul. When I was a kid I had seen
my mother go without bread, and the little ones at home
fall sick, without any comfort or extra nourishment.
A great hatred took possession of me, and I made a
vow that, should I live to become a man, it would not
be my fault if I did not have my revenge.
"Having more than my share of brains, I studied
hard in my leisure moments, practised speaking on
every possible occasion, and took a delight in listening
to the orators who came among us and inflamed us
with their words. I learned my trade so as to be able
to talk from my book, and never lost sight of my object,
nor was it long before I laid down my tools to become
THE AGITATOR 95
a leader of my fellows against their oppressors. Not
that I was lazy or that, in the early stages, I was affected
by money, but as my sphere grew larger, I suppose I
was lured by the very thing I was combating, and talked
so much and so often of having been a working-man
that I forgot I had ceased to be one. The whole affair
became a business to me, and I defy any one to be able
to move the masses without being more or less drunk
with domination, the only liquor strong enough for
those who have once tasted it. In my rough way I
believed in God, but He was more political than paternal,
and so insistent was I on the word Justice that it eclipsed
the word Love. I quoted the Gospel galore, or rather
those bits that suited me, for my education had been
a prejudiced one, and I should have been a failure had
I owned to the reverse of the shield. The fact is that
party spirit was as strong with us as in Parliament,
and a leader who was honest enough to argue all round
would have found himself between two stools, and have
been distrusted by both sides.
"This was not my game. After having for years
advocated the cause of the poor and of the worker, I
ceased to believe such a thing existed as that of the
wealthy, or that there was any possible plea for leisure.
I own with regret that the influence of this attitude on
myself was to the bad, and that I ended a much less
kind man, for, though I was death on drink and wor-
shipped virtue, strange to say I was nearer Heaven when
I was more natural. I began to loathe the mention
of peace and, if the chances of a strike were in the air,
96 THE GRAND ASSIZE
my colleagues (I had given up using the word mates)
and I met together to devise how we might stir up strife,
so that there should be more wigs on the green, and
lest we should lose our pay.
"As for my country, it might go to hell unless possessed
by the working classes, for I was too much soaked with
every story bearing on revolution to care a curse so long
as the red flag was triumphant. I associated only with
those who had a grievance, till it became a positive
pleasure to fan it into a flame, though who should put
out the fire, or what damage might ensue, never oc-
curred to me. Governments didn't count, kings didn't
count, women didn't count, children didn't count if only
I loomed large in the canvas, and I remember how I
gloated over the speeches made at gigantic assemblies,
but I read only my own.
"There is my story and I am angry still, but my wrath
was less personal than professional, or rather it was so
confused with my own advancement that it is difficult
to decide whether it was real or fictitious. A vein of
bluntness in me, apart from compulsion, prompts me
to speak out and, struck by the kindness of your face,
I am bold to believe that you will not condemn me whole-
sale. Wherein I know that I have erred is that my
motives were not unmixed, but, whatever the suffering
involved, I cannot take back a word in regard to the
horrors to which I have referred. If you would help
me back to the sanity of my boyhood, and if the ex-
ample of my punishment would restrain those who follow
me from forsaking their early inspiration to do battle,
THE AGITATOR 97
within legal limits, for their hearths and homes, any
price which I might have to pay would be cheap. I
should even esteem it a clear gain and should not utter
a single complaint."
The advocate, who was more or less inspired by the
Agitator's tone, displayed no feelings of abhorrence,
but, on the other hand, not a vestige of sentimentality.
"I cannot conceal from myself," he said, "the untold
harm of which the accused appears to be guilty, but I
use the term appears, seeing that the fault is mainly
due to an upheaval over which he had less control than
he imagined, and which is by no means the worst feature
in the world's evolution. No one will be readier than
your Lordship to concede that the chronic pain existing
among the many through the iniquitous selfishness of the
few calls for channels whereby the crowd may express its
collective opinion and demand common justice. This man
was one of such spokesmen, and I speak with more inti-
mate knowledge of him than many of my brother advo-
cates have had of prisoners who were better placed.
"He saw, and with good reason, that the salvation of
the poor rested chiefly with themselves, and that, if they
were united for a single end, they could do much to bring
about, not a millennium, but at least a division of goods
more becoming amongst the children of a common
Father. Like many others, he became angered that a
huge proportion of the race should labour in sweat and
grime for a minority who lived in luxury and revelled in
self-pleasing from one year's end to another. Your
Lordship will therefore discount the prisoner's lack of
98 THE GRAND ASSIZE
logic in that he failed to perceive that work brings its
peculiar reward, and self-indulgence its own scourge. It
is not to be wondered at that he saw only the outside, and
could not grasp the fact that poverty with contentment is
great gain. When I said that I knew him well, I meant
that I have often met with him at his Chapel, and at
times when he was so distressed by the issues at stake
that he became for me more lovable than many a holier
man who had never done a round turn for the oppressed.
This man was no debauchee, having his passions under
strong control, nor did he do this, as he alleged, only to
keep his place, but there was a fund of religion in him and
his mother went far to keep him pure. This was how he
began, and then, in his very effort to keep his nature
under restraint, he became impervious to the groaning
and travailing which is the lot of all creation, and which
continues up till now. To him it appeared otherwise;
this groaning and travailing was sectional and, seeing
it mainly in his mother and the 'kids' (his father had
been fatally injured in an accident when drunk), he lost all
sense of proportion and ran the risk of becoming a brute.
"You will, I am certain, make allowances for the con-
sequent deterioration which was fostered by the lurid
creed of his childhood, with plenty of flames and sulphur
thrown in, to which the local preacher relegated those
who fed on the fat of the land. This man, my Lord,
would have been altogether different if he had had a
sweetheart, but he denied himself in order to see his
mother through and to bring up the rest of the family.
I hold that, granted such an intention, he deserves ample
THE AGITATOR 99
consideration, and that the same dangerous fanaticism
will always exist so long as those who have been nurtured
in the gentler ways of the Gospel keep themselves to
themselves and meet fine enthusiasm with ill-disguised
contempt. The prisoner became an agitator only by
degrees, nor would he have deserved the title in the earlier
chapters of the book. Later his very face altered and,
when the temptation of power assailed his ignorance, he
degenerated beyond recognition. His mother's death
put the seal to his undoing, until her son, who started as
the saviour of his house, ended as what I frankly own
might be called the enemy of his country. There came
a stage when he was irresponsible, an instrument in the
hands of evil, though he had begun by earnest prayer
that he might bring a blessing. As for his judgment, I
leave it to your Lordship, being unable even to guess at
its direction. I plead for the real man beneath its dis-
figurement, thankful that at the last each has to do with
a mercy which is not only sound, but which has for its
aim the re-instatement of every human being."
The Judge's attention had not wavered during the
advocate's speech, and, if it were possible to charge him
with variation of interest in the cases, that of the
Agitator would not have ranked lowest in the scale.
You felt instinctively that he was on the side of the ma-
jority, nor could you help calling to mind the story of
One Who was born in a stable, of a mother who could
afford no proofs of her marriage. He regarded the pris-
oner with great sorrow, but with deep respect, for there
was an absence of trifling or indecision about him that
ioo THE GRAND ASSIZE
made the case worth while. His preliminary questions
were marked by extreme delicacy and forbearance with
one who, try as he might, could only see men as trees
walking, and even they were limited to a single kind.
"Tell me," he began, "about your father. Did he
suffer much after the accident, or did he pass without
any great pain?"
The Agitator was taken aback, and suddenly seemed to
be once more in the miner's cottage. "Yes, he lingered
a bit," he answered, in a choked voice, "long enough,
thank God, to return to the kind of man he was before he
took to the drink, and to trust in the Old Story, but how
could you think of such a question?"
"What was the Old Story your father reverted to?"
"The kindness of the Saviour who died for all and was
Himself a Socialist."
"I think we will stop at the first part of the sentence,
which is more than enough and makes all equally pre-
cious."
(Reluctantly) "I suppose it does."
"Where did you pick up your education? on which I
congratulate you, since knowledge is always valuable and
it is fine to accomplish good work with poor tools."
"First in the Night School, then at the Public Li-
braries, where I could select the books I wanted, as there
was no great run on them."
"Would you say that these libraries were entirely
to the good?"
"Not as you put it, with that tone in your voice, but
at the time I thought so."
THE AGITATOR 101
"It seems a pity that you did not read some of the
other books, of which there were plenty."
"You don't mean novels, do you?"
"No, I don't mean only novels, though many of
them would have done you good. Were most of your
fellow workmen happy?"
"Quite a number, but then they were not ambitious
chaps and they seemed content with the village."
"Should you say they were wrong?"
"Not so wrong from my present standpoint as I
should have said then."
"Were they a religious type?"
"Nearly all without exception, which made them too
soft for my thinking and too prone to accept things as
they were."
"I can more than understand your feelings in this
respect. Were you a happier man when working or
when speaking? "
"I should say infinitely more when at my job, and I
wish to God I could go back to it."
"Had you any personal animus against the classes
which helped to make you the firebrand you became?"
"I cannot say that I had, but I had read about their
victimising the people, ruining their daughters, and liv-
ing on sweated labour, out of which they got carriages,
motor cars, yachts, and every other abomination."
"Why abomination, and why abuse the results of hu-
man invention?"
"Well, it was the use they put them to, which was
for themselves and for no one else on God's earth."
102 THE GRAND ASSIZE
"That is better, and therein you appear to have reason
for complaint. Were none of them ever kind to you? "
"Yes, several, and more would have been if I had
allowed it; but when you came to know them as in-
dividuals you changed your opinions, so I kept apart
and persuaded myself that they were only buying me
for their own purposes."
"Did you never think that they also might suffer?"
"I cannot say I thought of them at all."
"That is just where you were wrong. How would
you have liked to have nothing to do, to wonder how
you could put in the time, to be dragged about at the
whim of some selfish, over-dressed, lazy woman, to spoil
your digestion by over-eating and over-drinking, to be
eternally employed in the labour of pleasure till you
were nauseated, and would have given your whole soul
for a pick and shovel?"
"God forbid!"
"How would you like to have been so immersed in
stocks and shares that a garden became meaningless and
the grandest view a boredom compared to a scrip or the
jingle of a coin?"
"God forbid!"
"How would you like to have had so many diseases
that all the faculty were called in when there was noth-
ing the matter with you, and when you died, how would
you like your relations to swoop down like birds of prey
for what you might leave behind? "
"God forbid!"
The only remark the Judge made was, "Just so."
THE AGITATOR 103
"Did you happen," he continued, "to study the laws
of capital and labour, or to realise how mutually inter-
dependent they were?"
"I knew the Socialist side well, but cannot say I was
well up in the other."
"Did you not think it hideously wicked to pour oil
on the flames of human anger, to increase covetousness,
and to breed dissension between those who were meant
to be brethren?"
"The fault lay with the rich and with the capital-
ists."
"I was not talking of the rich or of the capitalists.
Rest assured that they will have to settle their own
bill, but you forget my question."
"I'll own I knew it was wicked, but after sufficient
repetition it became a habit, until I forgot the blue of
the sky and saw only red."
"I think I can understand, but I am deeply grieved."
"Why should you be grieved for a man like me?"
"Because I love you, that's all."
"Good God!"
"Excellent words which I advise you to cherish, but
the full meaning of which it will take you some tune
to learn. One other question. How far did love of
country come in, or how far did you become willing to
sell it to the foreigner, provided you could lower your
special enemies in the dust, who, by the by, spoke your
own language and were part and parcel of the same
nation?"
"Yes, I got as low as that, but I daresay if there
104 THE GRAND ASSIZE
had been trouble, blood would have proved thicker than
water."
"What would you do now if you had the same
chances?"
"I don't want them, and if they came to me I know
that I should queer the pitch again, for the good reason
that in no other way could I come to the top."
The lines on the Judge's face were more deeply marked
at the end of his words than at the beginning, and he
quickly pronounced his sentence, with a seriousness be-
fitting the struggle through which the Agitator had evi-
dently passed.
"I wish to thank you for the courtesy with which
you have replied to my questions, nor do I disguise from
myself that we have much in common. On the other
hand, I would make it clear to you, though it may now
be hardly necessary, that often enough the man who
sets out with the intention of doing most good ends
by doing most harm. The memory of the martyrdom
which you have imposed on others, without bearing
it yourself, will prove to you a worse hell than that which
was so fluidly preached in your local Bethels. You will
have to carry with you for years the thought of children
done to death that you might taste the zest of living.
So intense was your egoism that you thought to effect in
your own person work belonging to a higher power, and
even then dependent on the acceptance of its influence.
You forgot that there is a larger proportion of happiness
among the masses than among the classes, and that the
kingdom of heaven is to be found in simplicity. Little
THE AGITATOR 105
did you seem to grasp the fact that under silks and satins
there is often an aching heart. Such a slave had you
become to your own gospel that you overlooked the chief
good, namely, work honestly done, accompanied by per-
sonal diffidence and universal sympathy.
"Ambition in itself is laudable, but in yours I discover
neither religion nor patriotism, save in the beginning. If
your mother had lived, she would hardly have known
her boy and, had you been able to provide her with a
carriage, you would have ruined that patient soul. What
you did for your family is praiseworthy and your virtue
has had its due reward. It is not for me to enter into
economics, with which I have little to do, but it is for me,
though it may wound you to the quick, to repeat that
men like yourself are bound to arrive at the time when
they recognise their folly. Perhaps the hardest thing
I can say is that your country needs precisely such men
as you if it is to be saved. Had you only remained gen-
tle, loving, and, above all, large-hearted, instead of being
obsessed by your own point of view, to the exclusion of
every other interest, you might have left behind you an
undying name as liberator, peace-maker, and, possibly,
martyr.
"Your punishment, as you can imagine, is merely to
take up your tools, to do your duty, to go back to those
libraries and read those other books, and to undo by
your example the effects of that hell-fire and political
religion which obtained in your locality. When you
have mastered your lesson, you shall be enabled to ad-
vocate the cause of justice without sinning against com-
io6 THE GRAND ASSIZE
mon sense and without losing one atom of your native
fire. The day shall come when it is by no means un-
likely that you will see red, but it will be the colour of
your own blood. Your world will be a wider one, and
it shall consist of rich and poor, one with another."
CHAPTER IX
THE ACTOR
THE prisoner, for whom the word was of course
only a courtesy title, glanced about him with a
vague expression of surprise and disappointment,
as though there had been a mistake in the seats allotted
to him and to the Judge. He missed his audience badly,
nor was he consoled by the prospect of being analysed.
For a considerable time he was so dazed that he could
not take in the absence of the theatrical, and his aloneness
amounted to a tragedy. His artistic sense, however,
came to the rescue. In spite of himself he looked for-
ward to a drama without scenery. After the glare of the
footlights the whiteness of his face, without his make-up,
was ghastly. To appear without his company was dis-
concerting, and he shrank, as few, from this final judg-
ment which was opposed to the histrionic. Yet, with
courage bordering on effrontery, the Actor rose to the
occasion and with feigned, if not natural humility, took
his place to play the most earnest part for which he had
been cast.
It was impossible to criticise him as other men, seeing
that his whole career had been dramatic, and it would
have been asking too much that he should altogether
107
io8 THE GRAND ASSIZE
divest himself of the spurious. The absorbing question
was how far the man had become merged in the profes-
sion, though it is the fashion to assert that the two may
exist entirely apart. No one would deny that such a
crisis must have been far harder for him than for the
ordinary prisoner. Such confusion may possibly be ex-
aggerated by the onlooker who has not been admitted
to private intimacy with the great, but the Actor bore
traces of a long connection with the stage, which had
gradually encroached on his day and entered into his
being. It was this which called for special considera-
tion, the more so since the almost inevitable loss of gen-
uineness had been the gain of others. Once more the
cosmic law became apparent, that no man lives to him-
self, or even affords amusement save at the risk of his
own undoing. So swift was the accused to harmonise
with the mise-en-scene, that he adopted the quick change
to a private individual with hardly an effort. As the
case proceeded and he found that it was confined mainly
to his public attitude, he felt more at home, and reverted
to the language of the theatre rather than to his mother
tongue, which he had almost forgotten.
"I rise," he said, "with all diffidence, to accuse myself
of many things, perceiving that I am in the presence of
my master, a sensation to which for some years I have
been a stranger. Were I asked whether I am genuinely
sorry, I should answer that part of me is, recognising
as I do that this is the moment to shed a tear. But, be-
ing forced to honesty in spite of myself, I desire to ex-
press my inmost feelings so far as any remain. I wish
THE ACTOR 109
to acknowledge a self-satisfaction which, under present
circumstances, ranks with insanity, and, what is still
more fatal, is not in the picture. Indeed I realise that
not only did I overrate myself but was seldom off the
boards except in my sleep, when, by the bye, my dreams
were naturally about my Mistress, to whom I am ever
faithful. Here I might possibly recite one of my odes
to art, a mere trifle, but on second thoughts I will cut
it out. To be serious, I became a poseur of the worst
description and, though I was too busy to detect its ap-
proach, there crept over me a blindness to facts and a
lack of proportion for which I should have given it as
my opinion that any one else ought to be 'certified.'
"I would further confess that this same clouding of
my sense rendered it difficult to be a true friend, to
answer letters, to keep engagements, or to hold by hon-
our in my private relationships, unless they suited my
whims or served the purpose of a poster. By nature I
was not devoid of affection, being abnormally developed
in that direction, which increases my offence, seeing
that by a turn of the finger I could make any one my
slave without giving them aught in return. It is sur-
prising how I survived what to most men would have
been tragedies, and would turn up for rehearsal without
a cloud on my horizon. At this point I would like to
remark that mesmerism as a science is much neglected,
and no good work can be done without it. But where are
we? Thus I became the willing victim of praise, and un-
less I received it, whether deserved or not, I grew tired and
found myself bored even by my oldest acquaintances.
no THE GRAND ASSIZE
"My solace was the looking-glass, and to it I constantly
resorted, till a moment came when it could no longer
satisfy me and I was plunged into corresponding despair.
Then I sent for my friends, whom I found as attached
as ever, but the sense of my fascination for them (a
talent which in some instances may amount to a mis-
fortune), though it acted as a cocktail, failed to do me
any lasting good. On the contrary, it intensified my
conceit to think that there were quite a good many who
would have been only too pleased to lay down their
lives for me if I waved my wand, without any effort on
my part to retain their devotion. What it was that
attracted them I cannot say, but even now, in this un-
comfortably solemn place, I am chuckling inside over
a problem of which I was the centre.
"As for the Art to which my life was dedicated, I here
admit, and with less confusion, since in the main I was
true to it, that the temptations of my surroundings
proved at times too strong for me. I have no desire
to excuse myself at the expense of others, but having
ever been careful to avoid scandal, I realise that I have
not been severely tested. I prefer to own that the
strain of remaining at my best and the price of preserv-
ing my early ideals became too expensive, particularly
if it meant the loss of popularity and conflicted with
the love of money, or rather spending power, which
had grown upon me. With those about me, who possi-
bly helped towards this end, it may not have been a
sin, but for myself who had had the vision, these be-
trayals filled me with infinite sorrow. I knew full well
THE ACTOR in
that I was born with a mission to inspire my fellows,
and to turn this beastly wilderness of a world into some
sort of garden. From the fulfilment of that high call-
ing I frequently fell and, having fallen, would now ask
a sentence which, however hard, shall help me to re-
cover loyalty to the voices which I heard more clearly
when I was a boy.
"I confess, above all, that I deliberately refused to
teach the lessons laid upon me because, in my heart of
hearts, I privately hated, while as an artist I adored,
the principle of sacrifice. I had no intention of losing
my life, though I often found it convenient to play the
part in order to appeal to the emotions of the pit and
to soothe the conscience of the stalls. I stand here
to-day abashed, but happier than I can recall; and if I
might beg one favour, it would be that the mischief I
did may not be perpetuated, and that the Art which
has been for me, and still is to multitudes their chief
inspiration, may not have suffered irretrievably at my
hands."
The advocate rose with sternness but with confidence,
conscious that he had to defend an exceptional character,
but one who was more fool than knave, and without
vice though he hugged his vices. He felt that he was
engaged in a case of the first importance, more on ac-
count of the prevailing infatuation for the sham than
on that of the accused. He had so often tried to get
an interview with him, but had been put off to a more
convenient season, or they had been interrupted, or else
after two minutes the Actor had got back to himself,
ii2 THE GRAND ASSIZE
that his counsel had nearly lost interest in his charge.
The presence of the Judge not only revived it, but ren-
dered the occasion far more suggestive.
He could not disguise from himself that what was
taboo to hundreds of the most pious was to thousands
not only one of their chief pleasures, but a strong factor
in their mental development. It was not for him to
weigh the pros and cons, but he was distressed at the
chasm which divided the disputants, and was at pains to
discover a media via by which they might at any rate
become less opposed. It was apparent that without
some dramatic talent the pulpit would be powerless,
and that, if the actor should be a preacher, the preacher
must also be an actor. What he longed to witness was
not so much the abolition of the theatrical instinct as
its purging from the flagrant abuses and hateful bias
towards fantasy by which it was threatened. On the
other hand, seeing that the difference between plays
might be as great as between light and darkness, he
feared a too hasty and sweeping condemnation. As the
advocate, discarding personalities, surveyed this debat-
able ground of right and wrong, typified by the de-
bonair figure leaning over the dock, he spoke with a
pathos proportionate to its absence in the Actor.
"I rise, my Lord," he said, "to put before you the
intimate side of the accused, which it has become such
a habit with him to deny that I was myself tempted to
forget its existence. I am aware that at times his want
of depth and his sense of humour did not allow him to
take in the gravity of the proceedings. At others, such
THE ACTOR 113
was the obsession of the scenic that he even failed to
recognise your Lordship without the trappings inciden-
tal to your office. Having known him from his earliest
days, I would inform you that his was one of the kindest
natures conceivable. On occasions, in private life, he
often proved himself to be as gentle as a woman, it
hardly being so much his fault as that of the atmosphere
of his calling that publicity showed him at his worst.
He could never have harmed a human being, but rather
was lavish in his pity when brought into contact with
suffering, which I have to own he did his best to avoid.
If the affair was sufficiently striking, it was, next to
appearing on the boards, his greatest luxury; and, if he
happened to decide on the moment, I have seldom known
his equal in graceful charity. He was intensely catholic,
though credited with being exclusive, but so practised
was he in fancying himself others that he was at home
with the common heart. I doubt whether the normal
man could have done an unkind thing and, when he was
cruel, he was unconscious of it, nearly all his mistakes
arising from the egoism to which he has alluded, and
which was more grotesque than criminal.
"He held a high place among those who spared no
pains in the service of the Art to which they were de-
voted, his self-accusing on that score being as exag-
gerated as all else about him. None but myself knew
how he worked and strove and suffered for this ideal,
as I can testify when he was alone after the play was
done. His world, which was a comprehensive one, owed
him no small debt, nor would he have acquired the
n 4 THE GRAND ASSIZE
worship of his entourage unless he had proved himself
the best of masters to all, from the leading lady to the
call boy. Many are the ways which point upwards, and
mankind is moved by countless forces towards its better-
ment. Such a spur the prisoner undoubtedly was, and
in the public esteem, which is seldom wrong, he stood
for a gay courage and for work excellently done, amount-
ing, sometimes, to a passionate inspiration. He went
far to save the city from gloom, but the price he paid
was more than once a darkness which tempted him to
toy with a pistol.
"He translated many of the best thoughts given to
the world, and thus, though piety was not his object,
was on the side of the angels. You will, I am sure, be
lenient towards the vanity which was as much a part
of the man as his fun, and will divide the responsibility
between him and an ignorant society which treated him
with a flunkeyism and curiosity on a par with that paid
to exalted personages. His lapses through the temp-
tation of the Box Office were intelligible, his profession
tending to extravagance, as also to a crowd of flatterers,
which made it difficult for him to confine himself to the
best work, or to sustain ideals conducing to comparative
poverty.
"I would ask your Lordship, then, to deal with him
largely, as befits the size of his attainments and the
breadth of his treatment, both of which, though gifts,
were also dangers. My contention is that his popularity
was immensely due to painstaking, that he never quailed
where the majority would have given in, and that, in
THE ACTOR 115
spite of his shortcomings, he left the world brighter than
he found it. In conclusion, I would plead that he nobly
played his part in helping men and women over many a
dark and tedious moment, causing them to laugh through
their grief , enlarging their horizon, and often helping them
towards heroism."
A smile played over the features of the Judge, as though
even he found it difficult to treat the prisoner severely.
Yet this was only for a moment, and his questions were
full of an earnestness to which the Actor immediately
responded. When the Judge asked him of his home life
and early intuitions, his eyes moistened and, with the
frankness of a child, he confessed to having been so
touched in his imagination by the story of the Gospels
that he had nearly determined to be a priest, but the
following day had forgotten all about it.
As to his vanity, he entirely agreed, but was mainly
amused. He stated that he had never felt its heinous-
ness, having so long considered himself unique that even
now he justified it, and was inclined to argue the point.
The meekness of the Judge began at last to disabuse bis
mind, and he ended by owning himself to be on this count
a fool.
When the Judge questioned him as to morality, the
Actor displayed a blend of idealism and inconsistency,
as if his sentiments of right and wrong were altogether
blurred. He showed little sensitiveness as to the effect
of his personal example, which he persisted had nothing
to do with such abstract terms as purity, chivalry, or
saintliness, by which he had never ceased to be moved.
n6 THE GRAND ASSIZE
Any type more receptive of what had reference to beauty,
or even to the Deity Himself, than the accused, it would
be difficult to conceive, but this tender counsellor dis-
covered him to be singularly dense when it came to what
annoyed him in any particular. He was not, however,
nearly such a dullard as he seemed, but as it was an
invariable rule with him to gratify his inclinations, he
found it convenient to ignore all relations between theory
and practice.
When the Judge spoke of the matter of money, he
treated it as not over-important, nor did he screen him-
self on the ground of necessary luxuries, which he took
for granted. He frankly admitted that the Box Office
was a means to an end, that he did not care for gold,
being a Bohemian at heart, but that he hated incon-
venience, loved display, and desired to do things royally
on his own plane. He could not resist adding that his
extravagance was also in the nature of an advertisement.
As the Judge touched on the more public aspect of his
career, the Actor became more intent, having till then
with difficulty sustained his attention, and a look of sad-
ness came over him when he realised how much of his
best work had failed. It was evident that here he was
hit the hardest, and that he was regretting a personality
which had spoilt some of his best productions. Doubt-
less he recalled how his keenest pleasure had been found
in his noblest characters, contrasting with them a life
which, in others, would have earned his strongest con-
demnation. He was stung by the paradox of having
said beautiful things, followed by ugly deeds, and in the
THE ACTOR 117
twitchi'ig of his face you could see the gradual resto-
ration of the child. This was achieved with consummate
skill and patience by the Judge, who, passing by what it
was useless to refer to, gently brought the Actor back to
the man, and proved himself in so doing to be the truest
artist of all.
When, in conclusion, the Judge, with pitiless insistence,
touched on the point of the influence he had exercised
on the drama as a whole, the prisoner winced and, with
a new-born agony at the thought of any whom he had
misled, burst into tears and begged him to say no more,
because this at least he could not bear, and this at least
he would give his soul to undo.
In his summing up the Judge remarked, "Yours is a
case which has interested me profoundly, and during the
recital of which I have been moved by varied feelings.
As to your egoism, you were a monomaniac, which for-
tunately closes that subject. I recognise the largeness
of your heart, the charm of your disposition, and the
brilliancy of your gifts, but all these things, being totally
unmerited, have only laid you under a heavier obligation.
You require no words of mine to remind you that, to a
great extent, they proved your bane and tended towards
your demoralisation, but to a temperament like yours,
your own disappointment on this score is no light pun-
ishment.
"Wherein you have failed most and wherein you are
bound to suffer most is that you have trifled with and
even degraded opportunities vouchsafed to few. Called
to occupy a position you might have still more adorned,
n8 THE GRAND ASSIZE
and endowed with versatility and mirth for the benefit
of your fellows, you often fell short of your highest and
did incalculable damage. I need not tell you how many
have been led astray in following your footsteps; you
are already so haunted by the thought that I will not
add to your pain. Yet, believe me, though I more than
make allowance in my decision, I shall best prove my love
by laying on you such a task as shall help you to realise
the ideals which you have missed, and to attain those
peaks with which alone your aspirations can be satisfied.
"When you leave this Court you shall employ your
talents on the same stage as heretofore, but with a dif-
ferent setting. For years you shall occupy a lower place
and be entirely unknown. You shall undergo the dis-
cipline of being despised and, though strong, you shaU
become far stronger through suffering. Gradually, and
by painful steps, you shall approach the distinction of
former days, but even then you shall be baffled and
eclipsed by the meanness of others, until you learn to
loathe the vanity which vitiated your genius.
" Then, when your soul is born, your imagination will
gain a force it never knew and, when your heart is
broken, the pathos of your utterance shall melt all who
hear it. When you have become nothing in your own
esteem, you shall be re-entrusted with the mission for
which you secretly long, and you shall present only what
your awakened conscience approves. It shall be your
care that none about you shall be injured. Having
taken your own measurement, you shall wax deadly
earnest and accomplish that for which you were des-
THE ACTOR 119
tined. You will avoid, instead of courting the mock halo
still needed by your colleagues, and you will dare to be
real because you have no further use for unearned
laurels. You will give to your calling a higher and
healthier tone, without denying its legitimate outlet
both to laughter and to the heart. All this will cost you
much, but the result will be more than worth the price,
and you will be able to look into that same glass for
professional purposes without self-contempt or hypoc-
risy. Then, and not till then, when you shall have
learned the secret of gaining the heart of the people by
the lavish giving of your own, will you be a great actor."
CHAPTER X
CIRCE
SHE belonged very much to society. It would
have been difficult to discover the smallest defect
in her bearing. The most prominent feature was
the feeling of comfort she brought with her, and she
might have been described as just a womanly woman.
Everything about her breathed kindness. Whatever her
faults, it was impossible not to call to mind one who was
much forgiven because she loved much. Not for a
moment did Circe suggest carnality pure and simple, but
rather an intense craving to bestow affection where it
might be needed. She happened to have been well
placed in the world, but, good manners being her forte,
she would have been at home anywhere and have given
the sense of it to all her surroundings. Her dualism was
apparent and, though she was undoubtedly voluptuous,
there was an unmistakable hint of the angel.
She was full of brain, had plainly thought out problems,
and had made her plans without being influenced by
public opinion or accepted standards. Her attitude at
the moment was in exact keeping with the position in
which she found herself, as she possessed that delightful
quality of becoming part of the picture without the least
CIRCE 121
effort. Being well bred, she was hardly affected by in-
convenience, and behaved as if it was perfectly natural
that she should be brought up for judgment. Her pres-
ence set the onlooker thinking how many must be occu-
pied with the thought of her, and it was hard not to
arrive at the wrong conclusion that the fates had been kind
to a woman endowed with such power of pleasing. The
anomaly about this most selfish being was that she was
more concerned with the affairs of others than with her
own, though how to explain such a paradox passes compre-
hension. Her first thought was for the Judge who was
being detained on her account, nor was this fanciful, for
she was so peculiarly sympathetic that the other person's
standpoint immediately struck her and she found herself
intent on being what she would have called "extra nice."
"I should like," she said, "to thank you sincerely for
having brought me here, by no means against my will,
as for years I have longed to arrive at a solution of the
riddle how to be good without ceasing to be gay. I fear
that what I have to say is very commonplace and cannot
appeal to one so far removed from my own level, but at
any rate I never deceived myself in what I did, nor ever
pretended that it had my entire approval. I was mar-
ried under the best possible conditions and, when the
wedding bells rang, no girl drank more deeply of joy.
My husband was for me a demi-god for quite a little
time; but, without any fault on his part, save that he was
not brilliant, there came over me a lifelessness and a
craving for something vivid, coloured, and dangerous,
though I had everything mortal could desire.
122 THE GRAND ASSIZE
"Yet there it was, and I was attracted to the illicit for
no definite reason, but because the licit was too con-
tracted and too tame. I cannot accuse myself of being
carnally inclined beyond the rest, but I felt an over-
whelming thirst for new experiences and, in the process,
to give myself away. My husband, who was 'awfully
fond of me,' could not imagine why I could be aught but
content, nor, had he asked me directly, could I myself
have explained it. Yet my brain went on working and
working, and my life seemed to be stopping and stopping,
until I came across what promised to fulfil my desire
and brought me a sensation which I euphemised by the
name of harmony. We arranged matters without any
disturbance to my home. The man whose name I bore
was busied with his own concerns, and I doubt if he
bothered much about anything so long as I came down
in the morning looking fresh, and during the day per-
formed my duties of chatelaine.
"I am conscious that I was the reverse of true, but
the pity is that I cannot say it caused me the smallest
regret. Wrong came to be right after I had taken the
first step, and one side of my character was unquestion-
ably improved through an action for which I neither could
nor wished to find an excuse. I was sweeter, kinder,
and more charitable than I had been before, and though
I had to give up praying I deceived myself into thinking
the angels nearer, and that existence had taken on a new
glory. I no longer despised the courtesan, though I did
not stop to wonder why, and the peasant woman became
my sister, but society began to lose its charm, while I
CIRCE 123
developed into a rebel against convention. If I were
asked to compare my lover with my husband, the odd
thing is that I would never have married the former.
Yet, when I think over the wildness of it all, the stolen
interviews, the living on the edge, the mysterious blend-
ing of my worst with my best, I still cannot pretend to
remorse, and believe I should do the same over again."
(Here the Judge gently remarked that the last senti-
ment was probably premature.)
"Then my friend died and life became shrouded in
gloom. I invested him with a halo and kept the romance
locked away in a secret drawer, with my most sacred
treasures. The mother in me was troubled, I must
admit, and I caught myself envying the ' one-man' type
of woman whose single love had ever been for her as her
religion. Time brought its own cure, or rather a return
of the same disease. The old yearning had again and
yet again to be satisfied, till I came to the point when,
without a 'friend,' the days would have been insupport-
able. I grew less and less difficult to please, though, for
my husband's sake, I never neglected appearances, nor
gave him cause to imagine that anything was wrong.
The ghastly part of it was that I cared for them all in
varying degrees; but I suppose I must have been like
an eastern book in a western cover, and even now I can-
not in the least understand.
"This it was which kept me tender and soft, while
it vivified my brain and, loving knowledge almost as
keenly as I did touch, I was for ever striving to learn and
to forward my evolution. I wrote, too, and they tell
124 THE GRAND ASSIZE
me that I helped thousands, but here I was a puzzle to
myself, for I contradicted my own conduct and pleaded
for purity as though I had been a nun. That is my story ;
and, when my call came to leave, never was there a more
tender farewell than my husband gave me, which I knew
was undeserved, but I kept my secret even then. Now
I am glad to have arrived where, for the first time, I can
tell it all and, without one atom of reserve, reveal this
melange, which was unspeakably despicable, but the mem-
ory of which is inexplicably sweet."
The advocate addressed himself to his task with no
hesitation, appearing to know his client intimately, and
to be confident of her eventual ascent, though he had
often marked with sorrow the downward grade on
which she had been travelling. As a rule the advocate
manifested feelings either of attraction or repulsion, but
in this case, when her counsel interceded for Circe, it was
clear that he both sympathised with and hated her
character.
"I rise, my Lord," he began, "not only to ask for
leniency, but to appeal to the love which is your speciality
and of which the accused is by no means ignorant. In-
credible as it may appear, she always welcomed our
private interviews, regarding me as her dear friend.
She had a leaning towards holy things, and the singularity
of her make-up is shown by her delight in worship. It
is difficult to speak with certainty of what the result
might have been if, at her marriage, her soul had met
its mental mate, there being that in her blood which
is abnormal to her sex, else the world would stand a poor
CIRCE 125
chance of being saved. Your Lordship alone can decide
whether, if she had been gifted with a companion on
the intellectual side, the subsequent disaster would have
taken place. This woman was instinct with generosity,
nor was she happy except in the expression of it. For
some psychological reason her emotions refused to be
limited to a single safety valve; and I contend that,
when this obtains, the patient (which I believe is a fit-
ting term) verges on the incurable, calling not only for
medical skill but for ample allowance.
"She refused the former, not desiring freedom, and
it was not her good fortune to meet with the latter.
Her looseness of conduct, betraying itself more than
she was aware in her face and general appearance, pre-
vented the approach of the pious, whom at that time
she would have repelled, so that she was left much alone.
Not alone, indeed, on the part of those who helped her
undoing, though she found herself, when in their com-
pany, craving for a holiness which attracted her and,
for lack of which, none of her friends could hold her for
long. It is beyond my power to describe her agonised
attempts to break away from her lower self. Had
she been asked, at such moments, what she wished for
more than all else, her reply would have been hatred of
sin. I doubt if she ever came near it because, though
one side of her loathed itself in dust and ashes, so strong
was her innate animalism that, as she declared in her
statement, wantonness never became for her quite
wrong. Her piety was epileptic, and she had fits of it;
but she rapidly recovered and, throwing up her hands,
126 THE GRAND ASSIZE
after a while let herself float down the stream. The
complaisance of her husband, who possibly guessed more
than he knew, but whose hatred of the disagreeable was
proverbial, was not in her favour. Could she have
gone into a convent at the magical moment, she would
have lost her restlessness and become an excellent abbess.
"I regret that I cannot be more lucid in presenting
to you this bundle of contradictions, but there is the
truth, and its seriousness is the greater since it shows
the non-moral standpoint of a vaster number of women
in civilised countries than I dare to contemplate. I
pray you not to forget that, in her own way, she loved
her husband and her children, but that the flood of feel-
ing was too strong for her, swamping her good resolves,
and landing her in a morass too pitiable for words.
From that quagmire she pleads to you, being too chival-
rous to complain lest she should bring one atom of
blame on others, but lilies may be even whiter and more
luxuriant for the blackness of the soil in which they
were nurtured."
The effect on the Judge was to render him speechless.
The movement of his lips showed that he was praying
for power to deal wisely with a dilemma appalling both
in its frequency and its faithlessness. Calm returned
to him without overmuch delay, but it was long enough
to portray the penalty of a priesthood that descends
into the abyss from which it strives to rescue the perish-
ing. He then spoke gently with the accused:
"Tell me of your childhood and how it was passed."
"I call to mind the loveliest home, where everything
CIRCE 127
conduced to make for good. There was an old chapel
close to the Hall which was my favourite haunt, and I
loved the hills, the country, the lake in the park, the
running water, and the animals, especially my pets. I
used to wander for hours telling stories to myself about
the saints, and there was always a knight or two thrown
in."
"Did any one help or advise you when you were
young?"
"Yes, indeed, and though I forgot his teaching, he
remained my best friend, whatever happened, crediting
me with the highest aims."
"To what do you attribute your disloyalty to the
teaching of your early guide?"
"I cannot say; it just came. I was for ever and for
ever wanting something, though I could not have told
what, but I gave no thought to the unhappy who were
calling out for my service."
"How was it that you did not hear their sighing and
their groaning as you knelt by the Altar?"
"I wish I knew, but the religion of my childhood was
hardly more than a day-dream of which I was the cen-
tral figure. The Gospel was all too wonderful and too
beautifully old. I had the dearest little books at my
bed-head, but the language in which they spoke was of
so long ago that they had no bearing on my days. I
could not imagine that the thorns were meant for me
who loved the flowers."
"Would you say that your upbringing was responsible
for your later declension?"
128 THE GRAND ASSIZE
"It seems like one book, and the early chapters
breathed the same fantasy which ran throughout the
volume."
"Were you prone to melancholy during your girl-
hood?"
"I had fits of sadness after any great elation or after
reading the mediaeval love stories which I found in the
library."
"When you were a woman, did you suffer from no
satiety after your indulgence?"
"I hardly think I did, for then it was tangible and
terribly real. Sometimes I would weep, but I made up
some fairy tale as to how at last I had found the blue
rose and things would be better, if not the best, this
time."
"As you grew older, did you feel sick to think how
you had spoiled the story and sullied your soul?"
"No, it would have been cowardly, and we were
brought up not to go back, even on the devil, if we had
played into his hands. I took it all as it came, though
I was conscious of the shreds and patches, but I would not
own it, and I did have happy moments which it would
be ungrateful to deny."
"Did you never realise the vileness of your hypocrisy
and that you were worse than the courtesan, in that
your actions were on a level with hers while you still
posed as being a wife and retained your position in the
world?"
"Sometimes it came over me, but I solaced myself
by thinking that we were different, and that, at any rate,
CIRCE 129
no trading came in and my own sinning was veiled in
much beauty."
"Did not the thought of your children come to your
aid, and how could you find it possible to look them in
the face again?"
"Why such confusion did not send me mad I cannot
say, for I loved them passionately and often prayed that
they might not have the same nature as mine."
"Did it not strike you that a mother's influence lies
not so much in what she says or does as in what she
is?"
"I felt that, and knew that I must be a pollution to
them, so I handed them over more and more to gover-
nesses, in whose selection I was extremely careful, and
who could talk to them of things of which I was un-
worthy to speak."
"How was it they did not serve to bring you back? "
"More than once they almost did, when I kissed them
as they slept and vowed with blinding tears that, for
their sakes, I would be clean."
"Did they love you in return?"
"More than many good women are loved, but it
proved a temptation and cheated me into thinking that,
after all, my private yielding did them no harm."
"And their father, whom you profess to have loved
throughout? "
"He remained to me the dearest man in the world,
and there was nothing that I would not have done for
him, except to give up a sensation which had become
for me as my daily food."
i 3 o THE GRAND ASSIZE
"Did you ever think of his honour when you endan-
gered your own? "
"For his own sake I often asked him to take me away
where I thought I would be a better wife, and where I
resolved to think of nothing but his interests."
"How could you go on caring for him while you were
fouling his nest and doing him the greatest injury that
one can do another?"
"Here I am at a loss for an answer, but I can swear
that I cared and that I have never known another man
with whom I would have lived."
"Does the thought of him hurt you now? "
"More than any other, except a vague one that I have
offended hopelessly against God, as I can see by the sor-
row on your face."
("Not hopelessly," the Judge remarked, and tears fell
from his eyes, though they seemed to be more of joy than
of pain.)
"Did you not realise that, in your descent, you were
dragging down your friends?"
"I deluded myself that I would not have hurt a hair
of their heads, but so distorted was my view that I did not
resent it when they called me the saviour of their lives."
"Can you recall one who ultimately became bettered
by these unhappy ventures?"
"None."
"Did you realise that you were undermining the basis
of society, or that you had taken a solemn vow to forsake
all other?"
"I see now what I did not see then, but if you put
CIRCE 131
it to me so bluntly I shall despair and lose sight of the
lining which silvered my darkest clouds."
"If you had the chance, would you give up all that
side and become one of the godly matrons to whose ranks
you pledged yourself at your marriage?"
"I am afraid I should not unless I was quite old and,
brutal as it may seem, I fear I should still dream of the
past and wish it might return."
The Judge, in finally addressing the prisoner, contin-
ued to adopt the tone of his talk, so unwilling did he
seem to put her in the pillory, yet from his lips came
sterner words than were his wont.
"I wish to explain to you," he said, "that your life
has done graver harm than a more openly wicked one,
though, strangely enough, not so much to yourself as
to the sisterhood to which you belong. Your own sen-
sitiveness in sinning against your ideal has brought with
it sufficient punishment. I grant that you were com-
plex above the average, to an extent never intended by
nature, but it is well to remember the natural law that
the indulgence of parents may reappear in the immoral-
ity of their offspring. I would warn you not to ex-
cuse yourself by that worst of subterfuges, 'non-moral.'
You must admit that you sinned against the first prin-
ciples of integrity, and dishonoured the names of wife
and mother, though no one can accuse you of falling
short of the tenderness implied by both. When I think
that you publicly denounced divorce to save your own face,
I should be tempted to speak with unalloyed disgust, if it
were not for the thorn with which you were buffeted.
i 3 2 THE GRAND ASSIZE
"I, too, have heard your prayers, every one of
which was genuine when it was uttered, but the springs
of self-pleasing must be looked for nearer the source.
The foundations of your character were sapped by the
charm of your home, and by those long walks when you
pictured the nuns and the knights in mystic fellowship.
The romance of the chapel and the snare of its dim re-
ligious light prepared you for the fallacies which followed.
When your teacher, for whom you preserved a laudable
reverence, failed to bring you up soberly on the Word,
he sowed the seeds of irreparable harm. When he
omitted to point out that broken bread and outpoured
wine conveyed the prospect of unselfishness and sacrifice,
he little knew that he was helping to form habits which
resulted in sacrilege. Here it was that the venom began its
deadly work, rendering subsequent self-control well-nigh
impossible, nor is it surprising that, when you thought you
were devout, you often woke to find you were sensual.
"Your greatest guilt lies in having endangered the
virtue of other women, not by your words, of which you
were uniformly careful, but by your atmosphere, which
suggested a poisonous perfume. You were false to the
fundamental truth that woman was made to be a
help meet for the difficulties of man, and not a hindrance
meet for his emasculation. Unwittingly you retarded
the liberation of your sex by your license, and your
conduct fostered the delusion that friendship can be
blessed without the preservation of holiness. Where
the calibre of both calls forth sincere devotion, the emo-
tion is too intense to admit of any medium. Herein
CIRCE 133
your charm added to the curse; but, knowing that you
feel this in your heart, I cannot add to your anguish.
Anything sadder, anything more contrary to the divine
intention it is impossible to imagine, but from the mo-
ment its meaning is mastered, no living force becomes
half so effective in bringing about the new heaven and
the new earth which are destined to arrive.
"As for your penalty, I have nought to say except to
leave you to think it out after you have heard the un-
disguised truth. You are too religious in yourself to
need indirect guidance, and without a word you know
precisely the path you are called upon to tread. Little
is required in a character like yours but the foregoing of
your own will. As birds fly, your trend will then, but
not till then, be upward. To your aid in this emprise
will come your almost boundless affection, your entire
liberty from prejudice, and your rare freedom from social
distinctions. When your perverted passions are once
impressed into this new endeavour, you will, ere long,
return to the best lessons in the ruined chapel, and to
the help which might have come to you from your hills.
Though you cannot obviate the injuries of which you
have been guilty, you will find yourself asking, if not
for their removal, that they may issue in the same re-
pentance which has come to yourself. Above all, you
shall find that the fairy stories were true, namely, that
men and women, dedicated to God, were created for
His glory and to love without ceasing to be pure. Your
old teacher shall see of the travail of his soul."
CHAPTER XI
THE SENTIMENTALIST
IT WAS evident that so poor a creature would have
a bad time before such a Judge. His manner was
annoying and his meaningless expression contrasted
unfavourably with the force, however deplorable, to be
seen in those more criminally inclined. The difficulty
was to put one's ringer on any special flaw in the Senti-
mentalist, who was faultlessly attired and had the face
of an insipid angel. 'He looked supremely pleased with
himself, nor had he any intention of being disturbed.
The accused had lost every vestige of the solid in his
mawkish and unhealthy mode of existence. Doubtless
he had been the subject of unlimited homage, which
had tended to prevent self-knowledge, and which had
by no means been rebuked as it deserved. His hair was
too long, his blue eyes lacked depth, and his profile was,
in his peculiar language, that of a Greek god. His name
had been in the mouth of thousands who had hung on
his words, never dreaming how they had undermined
their lives, but quoting them as wonderful, heavenly,
intense, suggestive of moonlight, or other epithets which
were current coin among his admirers.
Meanwhile, the recipient of this adulation remained
134
THE SENTIMENTALIST 135
unmoved, and there was no line on his face hinting at
pain or any other inconvenience. His smile, which had
been styled seraphic, soon palled, and it became apparent
that the case had to do with one of the worst enemies
of manliness. He was so occupied with his own affairs
that for a time he did not notice the Judge, but suddenly
glancing up, he was disconcerted by the directness of
his gaze and the quiet rebuke conveyed. Though he
had touched the high-water mark of conceit, even he
felt that play-acting was done with; and, giving way to
enforced candour, he rose from his seat with an elaborate
bow.
"I feel that I must ask a thousand pardons for any
trouble I may be causing, but I am suffering, for the
first time, from an attack of sincerity, for which I would
respectfully apologise. Though I cannot grasp how my
concerns can interest you, I would inform you that for
many years I have led a distinguished career in delud-
ing the world, and in stirring up emotions which I have
always suppressed in myself lest they should endanger
my exceptional beauty.
"I can hardly recall an element of romance which I
have not used for all it was worth. Soon after my ar-
rival at puberty (you will find this expression in one of
my novels), I was struck by the Bible as full of excellent
passages for the poet, and the central Figure of the Gos-
pels presented to me a union of pathos and power in
which I detected the making of first-class material. Some
of the women in the Book, too, took my fancy, and I made
a note of them as the groundwork of my future heroines,
136 THE GRAND ASSIZE
nor did I consider it unbecoming to weave a love story
between one of them and the Saviour of mankind.
Having thus carefully baited my trap for the suburbs, I
rapidly proceeded to warmer fiction. Not that I ever
guessed for what triumphs I was destined, but I wrote
when the afflatus came over me, though after having
accomplished titanic tasks I was not in the least fatigued,
but, in the words of my intimates, as fresh as a daisy.
"My books achieved an unheard-of sale, under a
nom de plume which was in itself a caress. Ere long I
was idolised both in my own and other countries as a
constant delight, and as a magician whose pen was 'a
feather dropped from an angel's wing' (a description in
one of the journals which I cannot forbear repeating).
The common people read me gladly, but I was also much
patronised by the middle class; and society enjoyed my
publications, though they affected to be strangers to
them. My pet aversion was seriousness, and I regarded
the Puritans as showing execrable taste. I loved wars,
or rather stories culled from the battlefield, scenes of
carnage, and dying farewells from a young man, generally
in the Guards. I was a perfect king at sunsets, or the
depiction of countries where the blood ran riot, where
monks were tempted and where nuns were suddenly
aware of impulses which made them blush as they con-
templated their vows.
"My stories were, for the most part, Byron-and- water,
but I was careful to introduce a large vein of religion, sat-
isfying the conscience of the reader and enabling daugh-
ters to assure their mothers that the book was not only
THE SENTIMENTALIST 137
entrancing but all right. I did my best to soften the
world, and am glad to think that I never overtaxed the
intelligence, but acted as a hammock in which my wor-
shippers could swing to and fro, as they lazily drank
in the honey of my flowing words. The curate served
me well, and once I felt moved to subscribe to a fund for
his better support, having found him a certain draw as I
pictured the neophyte, gifted with unrivalled eloquence,
seldom having time for his food, and well-nigh dying of
consumption. He is saved, in the nick of time, by the
daughter of a millionaire, who, having found that he has
pawned his penultimate suit, whisks him off to the
Riviera and is later united to him at St. George's, Han-
over Square.
"The hospitals, too, brought me no small gain, and
some of my nurses are considered immortal. In spotless
uniforms, they hung over the patient and moistened his
lips, preparatory to his convalescence, when most of
them felt that their hearts ached with an unutterable
void. This was my style, though from time to time I
assumed profound learning, until I was called 'awfully
deep,' without neglecting the ingredient of wonder as to
what it all meant, or how it would end in the last chapter.
I regarded work as vulgar, and nearly all my subjects had
white hands, while I was strong on suicides, elopements,
big game shooting, and a few other distractions which
made an hour pass like a minute, cheated the slow train,
and beguiled the week-end. Were I asked what I did,
I should find it difficult to answer, having been no advo-
cate of doing, but rather of dreaming and of transform-
138 THE GRAND ASSIZE
ing boresome business into a dolcefar niente, spent in a
blossomed bower.
"All this secured for me large profits, to which I preten-
ded complete indifference, being far removed, in the eyes
of my readers, from anything so banal as a bank balance.
Yet this it was which regulated my plans and about which I
was mainly occupied as my pen flew over the paper, in-
spired by a vision of wealth and indulgence in my special
foibles. It was meat and drink to me to hear myself
talked about, and if I chanced upon a place where my
books were not the vogue, I immediately found it dull
and changed my quarters for a more appreciative climate.
Even my powers fail to describe my self-centredness, and
there was a fascination in my prolific productiveness
which defies words.
"Were I questioned as to whether I had a shadow of
regret, my answer would be in the negative, so inebriated
was I with the thought of those countless volumes which
my habit was to turn out quarterly, and which, after a
judicious reclame, attained such popularity that a per-
son was reckoned a fool if he had not perused their pages.
At this moment, instead of an avowal, which I believe
was the primary object of my coming here, I should pre-
fer to fead to your Lordship some of my most moving
and exquisite fancies, dashed off when the muse inspired
me, which I feel sure would deeply touch even a serious
person like yourself. I am afraid I have forgotten such
details as my own people, for I made a point of burying
all humble associations, however virtuous, desiring to be
known under a name which I refrain from mentioning,
THE SENTIMENTALIST 139
as some power prevents further deception. There is my
confession, if it deserves to be so called; and I trust that
my effusion has been in the best taste, without causing
you the smallest displeasure, but, on the other hand,
contributing a graceful diversion."
The advocate was hard put to it to defend this darling
of the lending libraries. Though his single thought
since his client's birth had been the evolution of his soul,
he felt that he had miserably failed. He had indeed
done his best, but he had discovered that the gods them-
selves depend upon reciprocity. Constantly, when he
had knocked at the door of the Sentimentalist's heart, he
had found him out, until he came to the conclusion that
there was nothing to be at home. He had waited, times
without number, till he should be on his back, or, better
still, fail in one of his productions, but he was always re-
markably well, never formed the centre-piece of a tragedy,
and became, increasingly, a proverb for endless edi-
tions. The prisoner's friend was, however, equal to
the occasion because of the love in his heart, and nerved
himself to plead with extra vigour by reminding himself
that his subject was an immortal soul.
"I rise, my Lord, to crave your mercy, though not to
interfere with your justice, seeing that the accused is to
be pitied for having become impervious to truth. I, who
have never ceased to care for him, find it hard to offer
any excuse for the methods of his life, but I fearlessly
maintain that, with his temperament, the result was
inevitable, and that the public taste in demanding what
he supplied was largely to blame. My contention is
140 THE GRAND ASSIZE
that no one was compelled to read him, and that the slope
which led to this present descent was made dangerously
easy by all associated with the transaction. He had his
better moments, and I have known him cry over some of
his own books, though I am bound to own that it never
impaired his health.
"The most lenient view of his conduct is that, in the
process, he became impregnated with the hatefulness of
pain, the tedium of virtue, and the discomfort of disci-
pline, forces not only helpful but necessary to the forma-
tion of character. My client never intended to do
positive harm; in fact, from what I know of him, he
cannot be accused of having had any intentions at all.
Eaten up by a sense of self which became a monomania, he
wrote not so much to amuse, not so much to cause a thrill,
as to be in the public eye, and your Lordship will concede
that, when this obsession arrives at a certain point, its
victim is incurable.
"It is also true that he was by no means proof against
the money which poured in, being able to surround him-
self with every comfort, to adopt aesthetic tastes, and to
pose as one of the immortals. I rejoice, for his sake, that
he has come up for judgment, since there remains in him
much which might become great if transformed by the
alchemy of hardship. His imagination suggests a Catholi-
cism and knowledge of the heart which your Lordship
will not throw away, and I pray that you may consider
him in the light of his age, so that, in his re-making, your
judgment may not incline to the side of harshness. My
longing is that this man, whom I love in proportion
THE SENTIMENTALIST 141
to his need, may rise as a phoenix from his ashes to a
nobler purpose and to a cleaner virility."
The Judge looked stern but sorrowful, and in his ques-
tions to the accused betrayed surprise at the arrest of
mental development in a race thus easily gulled.
"I would like to ask whether you considered the effect
of your rubbish on your readers."
"I must respectfully demur at the word 'rubbish,' and
as I was a slave to the artistic temperament, it goes with-
out saying that I considered no one else."
"Were you conscious of the insincerity of what you
called your 'work'?"
"To be frank, I was unconscious of anything except
la gloire, and the pay."
"Were you never aware of the untruth with which
you clothed everything you touched, producing a glam-
our entirely non-existent, and paralysing the energies of
your patrons?"
"I regarded reality as dull and bourgeois, while the
term working-man jarred on my nerves."
"You have never regretted enervating youth and thus
helping it to fall an easy prey to the temptations which
it was bound to meet? "
"No, indeed. One of my favourite proverbs was that
the man who loves not wine, woman, and song remains a
fool his whole life long."
"Did you know anything of the high life and even
royalty which you so often described? "
"I found that there were more ways than one of getting
accurate information on the subject, and that at no great
i 4 2 THE GRAND ASSIZE
cost. It is interesting to note that what is said in the
chamber can be published on the housetop for a con-
sideration."
"Were you never staggered at the waste of time for
which you were answerable, or at the hours spent over
the worthless folly of your feuilletons? "
"I have already said that this was nothing to me, and
it was not my affair how people lived or how people
died."
"I suppose it did not come home to you that you
ruined the peace of many a home and perceptibly added
to the senselessness of your generation? "
"So long as I scored heavily, I refused to contemplate
such horrors, which I failed to connect in the remotest
degree with my efforts."
"Did you ever genuinely love? Did your heart ever
ache, and were you ever carried away, to the loss of your-
self, in favour of another? "
"I have always objected to intensity, and when I took
to myself a wife, it was with cool deliberation, being
careful that she should have both title and income. I
was not in the least ashamed to live for a while upon her
ladyship, which I looked on as paying her a compli-
ment."
"Your prayers and your inner life?"
"I preferred a religion full of superstitions and legends,
and of a historic past associated with mysteries and pic-
turesque worship, with the least possible allusion to
ethics. It pleased me, and I missed it whenever I found
myself deprived of its melodrama and warmth."
THE SENTIMENTALIST 143
"You appear to have been unconscious that touching
the ark might bring about your death."
" A charming story that, but I cannot see its bearing
on the present day."
"And you did not think of what might happen to your
country if it was in danger, or that it might one day need
all the grit and all the go which you did your best ruth-
lessly to destroy?"
"I confess that more than once I drew such a picture,
but I was careful so to fill it in with pomp and love that
fear or unrest was soon forgotten."
"I presume you would have discarded the notion of
hell, or after consequences of any kind as following a life
bereft of high purpose and careless of ruin in its train? "
"With all respect, hell is a word which is erased from
polite society; and, as for after consequences, my ideas
of deity amounted to a floating essence in which lovers
could be united to eternal music, wafted from ethereal
spheres."
At last the Judge .showed manifest signs of distress
at being thus defeated in his attempt to extract from
the Sentimentalist one shade of pathos.
"I have vainly tried," he said, "in my questions, to
furnish the gentlest hint of the damage you may have
done in your passage through the world. I would now
point out to you that they who are at the back of actions
are often more guilty than they who commit them. The
responsibility attaching to authorship cannot be over-
stated, and that pen, which in other hands has proved
one of the greatest blessings the world has ever known,
144 THE GRAND ASSIZE
has in yours been the reverse. I am aware of the piety
with which your books were interlarded, I know of the
references to the loftiest and purest sentiments with
which you gilded the pill before it was taken. I grant
you had a touch of genius, or rather a rumble wit, and
that your books have served to chase away many a dull
hour, but your sin lies in not caring what you wrote
compared to what you got. Once let this be the standard
of a writer, there is no limit to the curse he may bring.
"Your crime was that you enervated instead of brac-
ing, that you tempted instead of inspiring, and that
you supplied a series of mirages which misrepresented
facts to the peril of your pupils. You made men glory
in sin rather than loathe it, and you treated women as
channels of their indulgence rather than ideals by which
they might be assisted towards better and higher things.
You little know what you did when you tampered with
the young, whom you should have stiffened for their
campaign, but whom you did your utmost to render
unfit for the battle before them. You cheapened sorrow
and reduced love to a sickening sentiment the mother
of sloth and sensual desire.
"You were as a serpent in the garden of the world,
enticing it to eat of the tree in its midst and, without a
single tear, watching men and women as they were driven
from Paradise. You dared to make capital out of the
most sacred professions and, under the excuse of popular
treatment, you brought the highest places into disrepute.
In a word, you made sin exceeding easy, and virtue ex-
ceeding hard, while the trivial round and the common
THE SENTIMENTALIST 145
task became impossible to those drugged by your ro-
mances. Believe me, there are thousands living to-day
who are worse because you sapped their energies, roused
their passions, and rendered them indifferent to the calls
of country.
"The result of such influences as yours is that climbing
of every kind is at a discount, and that the education of
women, in the face of the finest efforts, is frustrated.
What is still more mischievous, the horror of it will be-
come less and less recognised so long as people like your-
self write as if man's chief interest in the other sex
centred round the harlot or the heiress. You have to
learn that you and your fellow scribblers do much to
prevent progress, to throttle civic aspirations, and to
reproduce the spirit of the harem in a Teutonic people.
Herein lies the deadliness of your output, and it is hard
to use words too strong in insisting on the call for a
tonic if the Empire about which you ranted is to be
saved. You must accept it from me that your life has
been anything but a kind one. nor can I imagine a more
terrible punishment than one day awakening to the fact
that, like the prophet of old, you have for love of gold
betrayed your nation by rendering it a prey to its pas-
sions and, as a consequence, to its enemies.
"It may take you some time to arrive at it, but you
must be taught that sweet poison is more fatal than a
revolver shot, and that no man has the right, by a single
word, to add to the temptations of his fellows, who have
too many without his aid. You will have to undergo
a course of hard labour till you discover that sentimen-
146 THE GRAND ASSIZE
talism no longer comes in. Nothing short of this will
get into you the fear of God or of anything else. You
will be reduced to the necessity for action, when you
will shudder at the poetic as unable to see you through
the hour of stress. That stress must last till you have
ceased to employ as a scapegoat the odious excuse of
your artistic temperament. The very term shall be-
come an abomination to you when you have discovered
that it is viler than straightforward yieldings to nature.
In its stead you shall, in your cell, make acquaintance
with true romance, and with the vastness of the field
which is calling for imagination, tempered by trial, to
engage in the highest service. You shall find that you
were not born in vain, and that no novel half so enthusing
has ever been written as the volume, unsoiled by amo-
rous suggestion, which you shall yet produce.
"There will steal into your heart by degrees a new
patriotism which will cause you to long for your coun-
try's good. You shall learn through sorrow that she
needs men strong, clean, vigorous, pious, and women
chaste, tender, useful, devout, if the honour of her homes
is to be preserved. You may fall many times, but in
the long run you shall win. When you have achieved
manliness and modesty, into your hands shall once more
be put your pen, with which you shall strive to cancel
your previous trifling. You shall make it a rule with-
out exception to write only such stories as go to the
breeding of heroes and heroines. You will find your-
self outworn by each effort, however small, and the
writer shall be anonymous, but his work shall be strong."
CHAPTER XII
THE BOOKMAKER
THERE was nothing about him to betray his call-
ing, and he might have been taken for a most re-
spectable gentleman who regularly attended his
chapel and was a pattern of benevolence. Closer in-
spection revealed a sinister look which created suspicion,
making it difficult to imagine how he could elicit sym-
pathy on the part of him who was to conduct the trial.
Here again, as in other instances, the impression grew
that, so long as people were chiefly their own enemies,
they were subjects for boundless compassion, but that
the worst were those who, from the vantage ground of
safety, tempted others to their destruction. Compared
with this offence weakness became insignificant, and the
chasm between sin and wickedness was self-evident.
The absurdity of portraying Satan as an object of ab-
horrence speaks for itself, nor would his victims be so
numerous if they could discern his approach. The
present instance was a case in point, and it was not sur-
prising that many should fall into the toils of this bland
but pestilential individual.
The Bookmaker was suavity itself, and unmoved by
the smallest qualms of a conscience which had long been
147
i 4 8 THE GRAND ASSIZE
seared. The thought of judgment was foreign to his
nature, the sense of right and wrong having been done
to death by a combination of good-fellowship and craft,
preventing penitence. All efforts failed to detect the
weak point in his harness through which an arrow from
the Judge might find its way. One was more than usually
thrown back on infinite Love as alone able to change the
hard rock into flowing water.
The entrance of the Judge being delayed, possibly by
design, the accused began, in spite of himself, to turn
things over in his mind, thus illustrating the value of
solitary confinement for a certain type of prisoner. The
isolation evidently told on the Bookmaker, and the
stillness presented an unendurable contrast to the shout-
ing of the odds amid the flare of the race-course. All
his self-confidence gone through the process of thought,
alarm took possession of him. By the time the Judge
came in terror was written on his face, and he wore the
look of a man who had staked his all on the wrong horse
and lost, with nothing but black ruin before him. The
Judge was gracious as ever, though no one could have
mistaken the difference when he had to deal with cases
calculated to evoke his sterner side. Not that he was
not kindness itself as he set himself to the task of break-
ing a heart which he intended to heal, but only the in-
itiated could foresee the line he was likely to take.
"I rise," the Bookmaker said without any prelimi-
naries, "to state my case, from no desire to make an elab-
orate confession, but solely because I find myself in a
Court of Justice from which I cannot escape. Till now
THE BOOKMAKER 149
it has never meant for me more than the payment of a
trifling fine; and, if you expect me to express sorrow for
what I have done, I fail to see where regret comes in.
What I say is that there is nothing like sport, that horse-
racing is an honourable institution, and that the man
who does not patronise it or liquor is no patriot. To my
thinking the country would soon be ruined without it,
and I am glad to know that among my clients I not only
numbered the nobility and gentry but could go higher
still if I cared to show my books. I don't suppose that
even you would say there was any harm in having ' a bit
on/ and the whole fun lies in the uncertainty. Again,
what I say is that it is a grand sight to see thousands en-
joying themselves in the open air, watching a struggle
between as noble creatures as God ever made, but still
more taking their pleasure in making bets, with good
cheer and fair women thrown in. I don't see how a man
could improve on it, and it would be a crime and a shame
if betting were put down.
"Not that I used to bet myself; I was a family man
and had my own to look after. When I stood under my
umbrella, you may take my word I was as sober as a
judge, though I liked to hear the corks popping and to
feel that things were fairly humming. Naturally this
made for trade, and when I returned of an evening, con-
tent with the net result (though I had my bad days like
other people), I slept like a child and looked forward to
the next meeting. I took a real pride in my home, and
congratulate myself on having added largely to it since
I got on, but at first it was a poor game, and I had to do
150 THE GRAND ASSIZE
many things which I would not have stooped to later.
Once on your feet, it is wonderful how you can keep your-
self respectable, and even do a bit of good by the way, so
that again I say that horse-racing is a noble sport and,
if every one has to live somehow, this is about as good a
way as I can imagine. Why, I knew our minister well,
and his wife and mine were the best of friends, since of
course I shut off my public life when the day was done,
and, if anything was needed in the parish, I was not the
last to subscribe. I was always strong about keeping
Sunday, which I looked on as part of the Tory consti-
tution, so I closed my accounts on Saturday night and
didn't believe in making it a day of business.
"I know this sounds a contradiction, but there it is,
and you must take me as I am. I could never have be-
come the success I proved to be if I had not been a care-
ful man, and if I had myself been a prey to the excitement
through which I steadily built up my fortune. I don't
mind owning, that when I talk in this strain I begin to feel
more uncomfortable than I ever have before, but you
see it is all new to me, and so long as I can remember I
have had no time to think, or, if I had, I tried to square
my conscience by religious observances and by kidding
myself that I did no injury to any one. Do to others as
you would be done by, say I, which is a better sermon
than you hear preached by most parsons. The odd thing
is that none of my youngsters have ever been on a race-
course, nor ever shall, though how I reconcile that fact
with all I said about sport I cannot explain. The world
is a queer place, and I expect, if the truth were known,
THE BOOKMAKER 151
most of us are a bit of a mixture. If I could once have
seen the wrong of it, I believe I should have been the first
to give it up, but where would have been the good of
making such a promise after the interest on my capital
gave me enough to live on? If I had my way, though,
I should stop betting among the poorer classes, but for
those who have the money to throw away, I cannot as
yet understand why it is bad, and if you can make this
clear to me I shall esteem it a favour.
"The fact is that my life was more of a routine than
outsiders would believe, until I became so artful, without
exactly deceiving, that I could reckon on my earnings
each year within a few hundreds. Excuse my remarking
that, though you have not said a word, you, as it were,
put me out of countenance, and I hardly like to own to
the real motive which prompted me and which your
silence seems to invite. You see my great desire was to
build up a family, and I had what is called the hoarding
instinct. I cannot quite say where I got it from, except
that I had the Jew in my blood, but we have been Chris-
tians for some time and, though my father did happen to
keep a public house, he was a staunch teetotaler. I
never had much book-learning, which I hated, but I saw
that I could do better on the turf, so I began by degrees,
needless to say under another name. It came to me
naturally, and I liked the company into which it brought
me, for it gratified me to rub shoulders with the noblest
in the land. As for the young ones who plunged rather
heavily and were not able to pay, I made it a rule not to
be too lenient with them, as I had been taught to be a
152 THE GRAND ASSIZE
great believer in honesty, and it was bad for them to be
let off too easily. Besides, you always found that there
was something they could raise money on to save their
good name, and, if they were reduced to it, they could
pick up an heiress and recover that way. If you look
into it, it is not exactly fine, and it gets worse every mo-
ment as it grows plainer. Sometimes, on settling day,
my heart would nearly break at the stories I had to listen
to, but it was a comfort to see my bank balance growing
and to feel that I could send my boys to one of the best
public schools where they would be able to hold their
own and, in after years, to hobnob with the aristocracy.
"My girls, also, were extra pretty, and I knew toe
much of life to doubt that it would be difficult to get
them well placed; this made me the Bookmaker I was, till
I became a proverb for a good heart coupled with per-
fect integrity. Still, I had to be careful, which is why I
kept humble and remained a Dissenter, but my children
seemed terribly struck with the Church and it was
grand to hear them talking of its traditions, though I
fancy my own forebears could have quoted longer ones.
This is by the way, but if I have not filled up the spaces
it is because I prefer limiting myself to the outline, and
the shading is dark enough. But you will allow that it
is something to found a name, to leave the world further
on than your parents, and to think of your descendants
as one day in the enclosure without knowing, as I trust
they never may, that their ancestor shouted, 'Two to
one, bar one.' (Here the Bookmaker evidently for-
got, in favour of social success, his diatribe against racing
THE BOOKMAKER 153
for his own.) This is my position, and how can I com-
plain when I have done so well, and when there is not a
corner in my life which I have not so arranged that no one
may be able to throw a stone, except, of course, a few
who never would, as it would mean exposing themselves?
"Your face asks me how I can bear the thought of
what I have left behind, but, to be frank, the only thing
that occurs to me is the amount of money I have saved.
Much as I should like to feel that blessed pity which I
hold shows man at his best, it is useless to say I do, else
I should have to give the whole lot back, and then where
would my children be? The boys at the board school
and the girls going out to service! Don't be too hard
on me, then, for God's sake, don't be too hard, for I have
had a fairly bad time already, and there was hell enough
on the turf, though to men like me it became our only
heaven. Yet before I sit down let me admit that I
would rather be one person than any favour you could
grant me, and that one person respected, straightforward,
with a pile of money to give away. What I long for
most of all is to be able to express my love with my real
name attached (which I have written on a slip of paper) ,
and that it should be done under the auspices of the
religion which I have denied, and the denial of which
is my worst shame."
The advocate felt that he was dealing with a gigantic
evil, the more fatal because officially sanctioned and
effectively disguised. He recognised, no man better,
the opposite poles in the character of the prisoner, who
had often admitted him to his company, though he had
iS4 THE GRAND ASSIZE
seldom taken his advice. He was moved by the impera-
tive need of humanity to get outside of itself, and by the
sardonic fact that the most successful traders on this
score were those who took special care not to give way
to it. Had the Bookmaker been a drunkard, or immoral,
or a gambler, his task would have been a simpler one.
He was oppressed by the knowledge that the heads of
this profession represented a phlegmatic considered sys-
tem which, with a hellish aspect of harmlessness, cast
an organised network over the whole community. He
mentally saw one of the loveliest spots in Europe defiled
by the same cunning, followed by a vision of the votaries
of fashion caught in the same web, down to the lowest
gambling den in every capital. He was thinking of the
touts in the streets, the factory girls tempted to risk
their pence, and the innumerable idiots who, without
knowing the end of a horse, hoped to make a coup with-
out work, emptied the till, cheated their masters, broke
a wife's heart, ended behind the bars, or made a hole in
the river through remorse. He then glanced at this
model of correctness in the dock, whom he classed with
the charming croupier in his immaculate dress suit. Yet
he did not forget the other side of the picture and much
in the Bookmaker which afforded a plea in his defence.
He realised, as only they who love can, that this man
had not intended a tithe of the evil he had caused.
He took into consideration that he was extraordinarily
ignorant, however cute, and that his middle-class nature,
without any actual villainy, laid him open to wiles which
it was beyond him to perceive.
THE BOOKMAKER 155
"I am moved, my Lord," said the advocate, "to
plead for the prisoner by a strong sense of duty and of
sorrow for the obtuseness which made it possible for
such a character to adopt such a career. I have long
been on terms of intimacy with him, but, try as I would,
could never bring him to face the anomaly of his heart
and conduct. Sociability, which was his special feature,
conduced to his popularity among those who allowed
him to fleece them. What impresses me most, and it
must mean still more to your Lordship, is the impulse
the accused has given to a tendency inherent in some
of the most gifted of the race. I refer to the distortion
of that quality of abandonment without which few great
things have been achieved, and apart from which most
high endeavour would be unknown.
"The history of the prisoner is fraught with sadness,
and he has related it with an ingenuousness which an-
ticipates much I might have said on his behalf. With
Semitic tendencies strong in him, his nature would
appear to have been warped by previous treachery to
that grandest of creeds, so that he seems to have re-
tained many of the worst characteristics of his nation,
while discarding the rules and the reverence prominent
in its best exponents. He was therefore a religious man
without being religious, and the root of the evil lay in
his continuing the cowardice which influenced those be-
fore him to profess belief in the Crucified because He
had become the fashion of the day. To please all men
became his object and, in the end, his snare, for he soon
slipped into ingratiating himself for his own purposes.
156 THE GRAND ASSIZE
He had a natural leaning towards bedizenment, though
he made a rule of avoiding diamonds, but the Shylock
in him was unable to resist the passion for speculation.
"He did not for one instant regard betting as a crime;
his great idea was to build up a fortune, which he looked
on as a sign of the Divine favour, in the same way as
the patriarchs treated an increase in their flocks or
herds. For his actions I have no extenuating words,
being aghast at the self-deception of which men may
become capable, but, since my office is to call attention
to the best in my client, I boldly assert that there has
seldom been a better husband or a better father than
the prisoner. His devotion to the memory of his par-
ents was admirable, and so generously inclined was he,
that no wonder the minister found him to be a good
man and more charitable than many in his congregation
otherwise employed. Reason tells me that the accused
will have to undergo a heavy sentence, but I would ask
you to accommodate it to his moral vision. I feel con-
vinced that your Lordship's object is to restore the true
man which flourished at his hearth, but was withered by
his contact with the world."
The Judge listened to both prisoner and advocate
with rapt attention, it being evident that the subtlety of
the situation had not escaped him. You could not but
feel that he would willingly have risked his life not only
for his friends but for the many, though he would have
stamped as selfish a similar venture made for sheer
sensation. He addressed the Bookmaker with a respect
increased by his advocate's statement of the case, though
THE BOOKMAKER 157
it made his comments the more cutting in dealing with
the occupation to which the accused had been devoted.
"Considering your kindness of heart," he said, "did
you never picture to yourself the havoc you caused in
countless homes, whilst so attached to your own?"
"I can't say I did; it all came under the heading of
business."
"Were you not struck by the lowness of the surround-
ings of a race-course, which would never obtain save for
speculation in some form or other?"
"I disliked it extremely and, as I became better known,
I kept more aloof from it. But I argue that human na-
ture is human nature, and things are working themselves
out somehow."
"Did you feel any remorse over those mere boys whom
you deliberately sent to perdition, while you flattered
them with an obsequiousness beyond words, until you
got them into your clutches?"
"Now and then, before I had been long at it, but cus-
tom deadens, and soon I never gave it a thought."
"How far do you reckon that the patronage of the
great had a share in making you the public curse which
you became?"
"It went a good way and helped to banish any sense
of sin, provided it could be conducted so pleasantly."
"Did it never strike you that their women-kind were
imbibing the same spirit and were insensibly becoming
harder and more brutal in proportion as they were defy-
ing their gentler nature?"
"Yes, it did come over me, and that is the part that
158 THE GRAND ASSIZE
revolted me, but it became evident that, save for their
presence, our best meetings would have been almost
empty."
"Do you mean to tell me that you were not stung
when you saw some young girl make her first bet and
knew without the shadow of a doubt that she was on
the slant downwards, till one day no true womanhood
would be left?"
"I did feel all that, especially in the case of a beautiful
face and a real lady; but if you ask me such pointed ques-
tions, I shall begin to think myself akin to a murderer,
which is the last thing I contemplated."
"Did you realise that betting has a lurid side, that it
is the enemy of the sport which it affects, that from the
highest it percolates to the lowest, that the press is
poisoned by it, that women congregate together to gloat
over the turn of a card, that men are frenzied by the
wine of it till they care for no living soul on earth, that
the boys who play pitch and toss in the streets are
qualifying for criminals, and that, once this thing has
become a habit, honour disappears and the fall only de-
pends on the strength of the trial?"
"Now that you say so I know that every word is true,
but the fear of the Lord would have prevented me from
doing such things myself, and God knows I never asso-
ciated my calling with this general disaster."
"Do you know so little of life as not to understand
that the gambler and the devotee have a common long-
ing for infinity which lands its victims in heaven or hell? "
"You are getting too deep for me, and in my old re-
THE BOOKMAKER 159
ligion this was hardly known. I have heard it spoken
of about the best Jew who ever lived, but surely you
paint matters a bit too black, and there is a lighter aspect
which helps to pass the time and gives a flip to things
otherwise shockingly monotonous."
"I notice this is the excuse you all use, but it is not
in the least true and is never quoted by the sufferers
themselves, at least before their convalescence. Tell
me whether, if you had the chance of returning whence
you came, you would continue as you were before?"
" I doubt whether I should feel the harm of it for long,
and I should be drawn back into the vortex, whatever
resolves I might make."
"How so, after hearing all that is involved?"
"Your presence and your charm have changed my
point of view for the moment, but it would not last if I
were alone for any length of time. My only chance is
to keep entirely quit of it, seeing that it would be a
much more deadly thing to revert after my eyes have
been opened."
"Does not your heart ache now, or even if you are
still a prey to this inclining, would you not do all in your
power to minimise it? "
"Indeed I would, but I must become altered myself,
and I leave it to you, in whom I feel some of the grandeur
of the ancient teachings against which I have rebelled,
but which I secretly admire, to solve the problem of
my reforming."
"You are too conscious," said the Judge, "of the
discrepancy between your religion and the ruin which
160 THE GRAND ASSIZE
you have effected to need any words of rebuke from me.
After your own exposure, the speech of your advocate,
and your replies to my questions, it is unnecessary for
me to point out either the extent or the horror of the
gambling spirit, whatever form it may take. The crime
of your calling consists in the fostering of one of the
worst instincts in men, resultant in a callous selfishness
deserving of the strongest reproof. Those who take
advantage of this tendency are bound to endure much
tribulation before they find their soul. Whether they
themselves are remote from the scene or not makes
little difference, and just so far as they evade the obloquy
of direct methods, must their penalty be increased. The
man who tempts another to this thing is doing a deadly-
injury, which becomes worse when a woman is the sub-
ject of his scheming. That laws should be passed to
make it more difficult is obvious, but it has always been
held in this Court that no change takes place until voli-
tion is affected. Sin cannot be eradicated by compul-
sion, and until individuals learn the true object of
adventure, they will never become free of this impulse,
which is alone possible through its consecration.
"For yourself, I understand your lack of understand-
ing; and the true part of you, which is the domestic side,
shall by degrees permeate your being. The vulgarity
of your design is tempered by love for your offspring,
who were its object; and, when I consider the example of
those among whom your lot was cast and who ought to
have known better, my decision is disarmed of vindic-
tiveness. Your sympathy has made you suffer already
THE BOOKMAKER 161
on this count, but this is nothing to the tortures you
will have to endure. You must painfully grope your
way back to the religion which you secretly love and
which ideally insists that each should have a trade and
that none should give their money on usury or take
reward against the innocent. When this truth has be-
come your own, you will regret the course you took
through your blindness, and you will value no gold save
that which you have acquired through the sweat of
your brow, though you will glory in sharing it with the
hungry, never turning your face from any poor man.
Till then you must needs be unhappy, but I cannot re-
lieve you of your burden, nor would I if I could, since
such a purgatory affords the only source of subsequent
peace.
"When you have learned this you will become a
champion of your own creed, but you will find that all,
except a minority, will refuse to listen to you and will, as
now, insult the faith which you shall adopt in its original
intention. I dismiss you, full of love on your behalf, and
assured that I am outlining for you the only course
which can ever bring you rest. The result shall be a
single person. You shall never again tempt another, but
shall gamble away your best in following the footsteps of
the Noblest of your race, who staked Himself to win
the world. When you deserve it, you shall be known by
your old name as a restorer instead of destroyer of
ancient landmarks among the chosen people."
CHAPTER XIII
THE PARASITE
A I INSIPID and restless person came into the
Court. It would have been difficult to tell her
age, which evidently had been the same for a
long time, and she brought with her a monotony that
was abroad before she opened her lips. She was passa-
bly well dressed, and among her ornaments might be
noticed a cross dangling harmlessly on a chain. She had
attended so many meetings that the present one hardly
affected her, though she anticipated something out of
the common, as hitherto she had evaded anything in the
nature of a collision with truth. Not that she was not
pleasant and more than ordinarily refined, but she gave
the impression of being faded and of having sampled
all the sensations without having dared to feel one of
them.
She was in a hurry to get to the next meeting, though
where it was she did not exactly know, but she was sure
it was somewhere, and that among the speakers were one
or two who were bound to be original. This very busy
woman was nothing if not eccentric, as she lived in a
society dependent on drugs labelled "delightful and not in
the least dangerous." She played with what she called
162
THE PARASITE 163
her reticule, then gazed round to see if any one was look-
ing, and wondered when the others would arrive. But
when she found she had come to a stock-taking alto-
gether different from the sales she haunted, she didn't
like it a bit, and would have had an attack of hysteria,
but there was no one to carry her out. She took refuge
in studying snippets, of which she seemed to have an in-
exhaustible supply, and a smile passed over her face as
she came across one more than usually chic or unortho-
dox.
The affair was rapidly growing uncanny, till she made up
her mind that she was going to assist at a seance, and that
some of "those dear spooks" would soon appear. The
most exacting critic would have been moved by a con-
dition so defenceless, so prevalent, and so eloquent of
uselessness. At last she looked up and, when she saw
the Judge, was terrified, for his face suggested to her
One of Whom she had chattered for years, but Whom
she knew less than did His enemies. If she had had
time, she would have got an introduction from some of
her innumerable friends who were intimate with him, but
the horror of the situation was that she was totally on
her own, and was being driven to some decision, which was
truly dreadful. Added to this, she was impelled to take
the initiative, a most indelicate proceeding, as previously
she had never got further than making one of an audi-
ence and writing countless letters about what had oc-
curred.
"I feel so shy," she began, "and I didn't at all like
coming here alone, but my maid was not ready, so I had
164 THE GRAND ASSIZE
to take the plunge, and here I am. Not that I am actu-
ally shy, for I can cackle to my heart's content if there
is any scandal going on, or about things that do not really
count, but I am beginning to be most uncomfortable, and
if it goes on much longer like this, I know that I shall
famt. I can't precisely make out what I have to tell
you, but if you will kindly correct me when I am wrong, I
will try to recite a sort of diary of my life, that is to say,
if it won't worry you. I should be so much happier if
I were talking to our Vicar, who is also my director. He
thoroughly understands me, and for the last twenty
years I have discussed all manner of interesting ques-
tions with him during a whole hour once a week, but I
never kept him longer than that, because he was such a
busy man.
"He had to do with dreadful things and used to tell me
stories sometimes that made my flesh creep, which was
delightful. I wonder whether you have ever been to
his church, but I cannot recall your face there. You
would like it immensely. I never missed a chance
when he was present, though I invariably slipped out
when he wasn't preaching. I felt so anxious when he
had a bad cold, and at the end of Lent he was so white
and drawn that he looked like a piece of paper with an
aureole round it, but he said the most beautiful things,
though I am afraid I can't remember any.
"Some of the curates were charming, and I cannot
think what I should have done without my church, which
filled up nearly all my time, though, as I grew wiser, I
took it more broadly and did not allow it to interfere
THE PARASITE 165
with my plans. The dear Vicar often professed to be a
little shocked, but I playfully called it my evolution and,
as I was a generous supporter, he suffered me gladly -
not that I was by any means a fool. The clergy were
rather fond of me, and I had hoped that one day but
I won't go into that, as it did not come off, and there is a
blank here in my diary, marked by tears shed in secret,
but at the moment telling of real distress.
"As for the remainder of my time which I could spare
from my beloved church, I found all sorts of interests to
occupy it. I delighted in the newspapers, through which
I got to know nearly every one, without knowing any-
thing whatever about them. Of course the shops made
a considerable demand, and, being strictly economical,
though comfortably rich, I spent hours in buying trifles
which I often returned to be changed, as they didn't suit.
Then, oh, then, I lived in a delicious turmoil of modern
unbelief, patronised by striking people of a type you meet
nowhere else, who could not possibly have told you
their creed, though we all of us loved adventures, pro-
vided the seats were not more than a shilling. I wonder
if you have heard about these new movements and about
what is going to happen, and every kind of sensation,
which made me feel quite giddy and left me with a sense
that the world was such an interesting place, with barely
a moment to turn round; though I think the Vicar would
hardly have liked it if I had told him all the places I
went to.
"The theatres, too, were charming, and I scarcely ever
missed a piece which was in the least doubtful; it made
i66 THE GRAND ASSIZE
me so very sorry for those poor dears who must often be
tempted beyond endurance. I can't make out why no
one tempts me, and I find I can walk about alone in per-
fect safety, but the Vicar says this is because I was so well
brought up. I remember how wonderful he was one day
about the panoply of innocence, which I put down in my
special book where I kept my titbits, but of course it was
carefully locked up, as it would have been extremely
awkward if it had ever been discovered. In fact, I
arranged in my will that it should be cremated with me,
since such outpourings of my inmost being were too
sacred even for the Vicar to read.
"As for my family, and my people, I saw very little
of them, but, then, I was too busy. I made a rule of
remembering them at Christmas and I met then at funer-
als and weddings, so that I was by no means a stranger
to them, while it is impossible to keep up with those who
are not equally clever or intent on hearing all the novel-
ties. And now I think I have said everything, though
I should like to add that the Vicar " (Here the Judge
interposed that he thought the Vicar might look after
himself, but the lady cheerily continued.) "I was only
about to say that it all seems very beautiful, though I do
wish he was not quite so narrow, but, you see, he is not
psychical; yet, as I once told him, the only thing worth
living for is one's affinity. If you could tell me where to
find him, I should be so much obliged, after which I
hope to go on chasing several more throughout eternity,
so that it grows more and more interesting, though I am
not quite certain where I have got to now."
THE PARASITE 167
At last the Judge, with a courtesy that never failed
him, even under pressure of this kind, informed the ac-
cused that she had best allow her advocate to continue
her cause, which she was not improving by her garrulity.
The advocate made a great effort to look serious, as he
found no little difficulty in realising the issues involved,
but he faced the folly of it and, without further delay,
addressed the Judge.
"I am here, my Lord, not only as counsel for the Par-
asite, but as an intimate friend. I had almost said too
intimate for my liking, since I could rarely impress her
with the reality of anything. This fault, however, fur-
nishes a plea for mercy, as I have gradually become con-
vinced that her brain must be at fault and that she has
suffered from many disadvantages. The very piety to
which she has alluded soon became a disease, nor had
she the smallest notion that she was using the sanctuary
itself for a nursery in which she played with every toy
she could lay her hands on. The fact is she never ceased
to be childish, though she was never childlike.
"I would not insist on this aspect of the subject did
I not largely trace it to the teaching which she received,
and to the unfortunate patience of those in whom at first
she placed implicit confidence. It is regrettable that
they were content to allow her to remain in the realm
of theory rather than risk the loss of her presence and
patronage by the slightest challenge to action. I feel
deeply moved by the thought of masses in a similar con-
dition, and beg respectfully to express my opinion that
better these sacred places should be empty than that they
168 THE GRAND ASSIZE
should supply a harbour of refuge for a self-indulgent
crowd, which becomes a glaring stumbling-block to the
strong and to the sincere. Your Lordship will agree that
they are probably more productive of agnosticism, or, at
least, absence from public worship than more serious
difficulties.
"Nevertheless, it is my duty to point out that much
good was mingled with her sloth and stupidity, though
I often did my best to warn her privately against a sen-
sationalism which became a necessity. It was impossi-
ble but that, incidentally, the spirit of goodness should
filter into her character; although I am willing to allow
that it was of a watery nature, I contend that otherwise
she might not have advanced even to the point she has
now reached. I am deeply sorry, my Lord, to make
these admissions, but I stand aghast at the twofold power
of convention and superstition when they make a com-
bined attack on the same soul. You will not be too
severe in your judgment towards these victims who are
so constituted that, if their idol for the time being as-
serted that black was white, they would heartily agree,
and regard the speaker in the light of an oracle.
"As to the remaining aspect of the case, I own that I
have a bad one, but I would lay stress on the avoidance
of effort characteristic of her age, the more so in the
case of the rather rich who can afford to be continually
on the move. It must be difficult for a real person like
yourself to measure such futility, or the advantage taken
of unemployed brains on almost every plane. Myriads
like this poor lady, who, had they been favoured by ad-
THE PARASITE 169
versity, would have left a different record, are blind to
the fact that they are being slowly reduced to a state of
hopeless imbecility with which you must find it hard
to deal.
"Of one thing I would assure you namely, that the
Parasite was entirely ignorant of the burden she became.
She would have been startled to be told, whether in the
case of the clergy, or the shop assistants, or the various
purveyors of mild excitement whose company she
frequented, that she was regarded as an unmitigated
nuisance, whereas she honestly thought she was pain-
fully climbing a ladder which eventually reached the
skies. I have nothing to add save that I am grateful
that the issue no longer remains doubtful, nor have I
any fears but that, out of this utter lack of purpose,
your Lordship will point the way towards true stead-
fastness."
The Judge was disconcerted, and the impotence of
Heaven to cope with folly forced itself on his mind. Yet
he still evinced that optimism which is the infallible sign
of a true passion for souls, and of faith in their ultimate
triumph.
"I would like to ask you," he said, addressing the
accused with a gravity beyond her deserts, "was this
religion of yours at any time very much to you? Did
it count for a great deal, or did it merely serve as a pas-
time?"
"It was far more than the last, though I can't say
it was exactly the first, but, to tell the truth, I don't
know if I thought much about it."
170 THE GRAND ASSIZE
"What was it then which caused you so continually
to frequent your church, and how could you listen to
this plethora of sermons without being influenced by
them?"
"I suppose it became a habit, as good as any other
and better than many, but I expect that I went on most
days because I had been the day before."
"What account would you give of your library of de-
votion and the complicated system of rules to which you
were such a slave?"
"They didn't bother me much, but I was rather un-
occupied, and they served a purpose in feeding my vora-
cious appetite for mystery."
"Was it long before you wearied of it?"
"Not very, but I actually stayed on several years
after that."
"From what motive?"
"Partly from custom and partly from a sense of
loyalty, as though I owed it to the place, but, quite in
the early days, it ceased to inspire me and became more
or less of a drudgery."
"Did it strike you that you might make it difficult for
your teachers, or bring contempt, so far as a single in-
dividual can, on what should be the most inspiring in-
stitution in any country? "
"I was brought up to regard the priesthood as im-
maculate, and designed to supply an opportunity of
romance with rectitude, which was my pet weakness."
"Did it not appear to you unfair to set them on a
pinnacle which they had no desire to occupy, and from
THE PARASITE 171
which, if they fell, they became a subject for unmeasured
scorn? "
"They were the only people who were thoroughly
safe, and I could not live without sentiment of some kind,
or I should have had nothing to dream about when I
was alone."
Here a cloud passed over the Judge's face, telling of
his sympathy with men specially dear to him whose
task, if it was to prove worthy of itself, was nothing less
than superhuman. He sighed as he thought of the stu-
pidity that caused the best of them a severer trial than
a martyr's death, which they would have met without
flinching. He concluded that it was wiser to make no
further reference to a subject beyond the Parasite's
appreciation.
''Were you interested in great names, in the needs of
the sisterhood, or in the calls to sacrifice and service
which you must often have heard?"
"You see I was a great thinker; I loved reading,
and saw things from so many sides that I could never
have committed myself to any specific course of con-
duct."
"Were you never troubled by the nightmare of idle-
ness, or by fears lest you should have played with these
various movements to the ruin of your soul?"
"I had a wonderful gift of balance which I always
preserved, and I was trained to consider nothing such
bad form as to let yourself go. I can't tell you, though,
how greatly I admired the explorers who opened up
new ground, which usually ended in a series of cuts de
172 THE GRAND ASSIZE
sac where they completely lost themselves, but I thor-
oughly enjoyed watching them make the attempt."
"And your heart? Did you really love, really feel,
really give, really weep, really pray, really risk, really
work, really anything?"
"I was perfectly calm, and careful to observe the con-
venances of society. Besides, I made it a rule to allow
nothing to interfere with my night's repose."
"Did it come home to you that the Church was uni-
versal, that the women in the shops were your sisters,
that the people at the theatres were immortal, and that
you owed a debt to them all which remained unpaid?"
"I hardly know what you mean, for I was never in
debt in my life, and was particular about my investments
to the last penny."
"Were you frightened about dying? Did you won-
der what would happen afterwards, and whether, in some
strange way, your present was making your future?"
"I thought it would be horrid to die and hoped I
might go off in my sleep, but was not over-anxious so
long as I could send for the clergy in time, though I
hated pain and am thankful to say I hardly ever had
even headaches."
The Judge was almost despondent, but here he seemed
to touch the highest point of chivalry and, in his sum-
ming up, by showing exceptional dignity, transferred
it to one ignorant of its first elements. He was pain-
fully conscious that the Parasite represented a prolific
type among the leisured women of any country, and he
groaned within himself as he approached a cemetery
THE PARASITE 173
containing, from his point of view, numberless moribund,
if not already dead. He was thinking of a multitude
made up of those for whom there was no place either
in heaven or hell, and throughout his judgment he
showed divine forbearance, as dealing with the worst of
disasters.
''Having listened to the outline of your days," he
said, in tones which even the accused could not mistake,
"I feel it my duty to set before you, in no measured
terms, the awfulness of sin, or of missing the mark.
I should find it easier to offer you consolation if you had
had the courage to commit literally the wrong in the
spirit of which you revelled. I wish you to understand
that, in contributing to the general ignorance, and still
more in treating the most serious issues with levity,
you have helped to sap the foundations of a faith whose
strength will always be regulated by the reality of its
adherents.
"It would be well to remember that the absence of
aim by which you have excused your vagaries obtains
for the majority of mortals, outside the class who earn
their daily bread, while it points to opportunities on
the part of the former towards the latter which, to your
great loss, you neglected. Your refusal to be implicated
in any of the vital questions affecting your sisters, in
which your money, at any rate, might have proved use-
ful, displays a selfishness more culpable, in my judgment,
than many of the scandals by which you professed to
be shocked, though the recounting of them was your
chief delight. If they who are striving to raise woman
174 . THE GRAND ASSIZE
to a higher state of efficiency and to a realisation of her
vocation, as well as of her rights, find difficulty in their
task, you and those who follow in your train increase
it a thousandfold. It is through the example of such
as yourself that men, who adore the memory of their
mother, deal out an unwarranted contempt to her sex,
which the best of them invariably respect till it proves
unworthy.
"You appear to have forgotten that the Church,
which was so often on your lips, includes the girl behind
the counter, the tired sempstress, and the object from
whom you drew your skirts, but which happens to have
been made in the Divine image. The mental nipping,
which was your besetment, proves the ruin of thousands,
nor is the habit palliated by the greater guilt of those
who make their livelihood on false pretences. The role
of woman, if it is to be an ideal one, must be lived up
to, and involves, equally with that of man, the dignity
of work, in whatever department. Some day it will
strike you that the sex question is not enough to occupy
the soul, let alone the thoughts, of one whose eyes have
been opened to the world's pain, and to complicated
problems which only a woman's wit and consummate
patience can solve. The hurt which you have effected
is that you have treated tragedies as trifles, but, merci-
fully, it is a phase which will pass. When you have
been sufficiently tried in the fire, and when it shall have
done its work in cleansing the filth of your spiritual
things, you shall approach those qualities and ideals
which have never failed to excite your admiration.
THE PARASITE 175
"Your destiny must for the future depend on your
own concurrence, but, at least, your environment shall
be such as to prevent your lapsing by reason of its
ease. With all the sorrow I feel at the chances which
are gone by, I can do little or nothing for you. When
instead of talking about religion without acting you
act it without talking, your pious custom shall stand
you in good stead, and you shall grasp the meaning of
those visions which were your snare. Later, you shall
arrive at the solution of love itself, which is more than
dalliance, but which carries with it the cross you so
lightly wear. From now you need have no fears. Your
true life is just beginning, and, though it may mean
much chastisement ere you come to its perfecting, you
shall some day discover for yourself Him Who, in spite
of all appearances to the contrary, you care for best of
all. You shall then find your affinity."
CHAPTER XIV
MEPHISTO
THIS prisoner was the reverse of attractive. No
one could deny that he was well-looking, but his
whole bearing was for some reason repellent.
He overdid the art of pleasing, strongly reminding one
of the type which is "ready to supply the next article."
Though his name was on many lips, the sight of an
ordinary and vulgar man was disappointing. Yet this
was a person who had acquired celebrity as a middle-
class Don Juan and whose conquests were a matter of
common talk. He was evidently outside the meaning
of the Court and a stranger to judgment in any shape.
He was too bovine for the barest suspicion of sorrow, and,
having run his business with none to say him nay, he
took his seat with an assurance beyond belief. His
unconsciousness of wrong was a trait which it was
difficult to grasp, and the conviction came that God's
harshest treatment of a man is to let him alone. With
a dramatic gesture suggestive of the profession itself,
the accused, who symbolised a tyrannous power in the
world of entertainment, thus addressed the Judge:
"It is hard to understand to what I owe the honour
of this interview, and, had I not felt mesmerised into
176
MEPHISTO 177
coming, I should have avoided such a dreary spectacle.
The fact is that all my habits have tended towards
gaiety, until I can stand nothing without a swing, or
to the music of which you are not forced to trip it as
you go. Upon my word, I cannot see what all this
points to, since I am a perfectly harmless individual who
has given any number of people a good time. I have
supplied an easy means of oblivion, have done my best
to destroy the pangs of conscience, and have expelled
the smallest fear of future punishment. I look upon
it as altogether to the good to have banished hell, and
supplied to the theatre a lighter side much needed in
the country where I lived.
"I can hardly say that acting, in the serious sense of
the word, came in at all; what I aimed at was laughter,
without any awkward restrictions of decency or manners.
They tell me, though I have ceased to notice it, that what
mainly filled the house and my own purse was a combi-
nation of lust and vitality so entrancing that the time
passed before you knew where you were, without any
tax on your intellect. The after consequences were not
my affair, but the drug which I provided effectually
dulled remorse; there was a sort of 'let us eat and drink,
for to-morrow we die,' about it which acted as an anodyne
and made the same people come again and again, as
though they could never have enough. It was all in the
way of pleasure, and I flatter myself that I raised the art
of turning heads with no brains in them to a new science.
I found myself patronised not only by the middle classes,
but by the highest in the land, so far as names go, until
178 THE GRAND ASSIZE
I became the resort of any who wanted to forget their
worries to tunes and dances unsurpassed in their seduc-
tiveness. The truth is I drew the line nowhere, save of
course at the limitation of the censor, and even that I
learned to evade by skilled innuendo.
"As to the performers, I had no difficulty in securing
them, seeing that my requirements were chiefly con-
fined to beauty of form, of which there was a large supply
in the market. I confess it never dawned on me that
they had souls, or that they might look back with regret
to having sacrificed their youth, and, in many instances,
their innocence, to the success of my schemes. However,
the business part of my programme was so strong that
my pupils soon became adepts at decoying their own
prey, more by promises than by performance, until it was
secured beyond escape. Their engagement was pre-
ceded by private interviews with myself which I would
prefer not to describe too accurately, but, at any rate,
they knew fairly well the character of their contract, and
the majority subscribed willingly to the conditions of
their employment. Now and again those who looked
upon the drama as of national importance appeared to
be vexed at my operations, but by degrees I became ac-
cepted, and even taken up by some of the leaders, lest
they should seem to be behind the growing trend of pub-
lic opinion in a downward direction.
"I doubt whether I have any excuse to offer, nor do I
feel the need of one. Having a keen eye to business,
which was my main characteristic, I saw that there
was a large fortune in the delights of the flesh, if properly
MEPHISTO 179
graduated, as also in playing down to the dislike of
study and hatred of thought which were features of my
age. Anyway I am told that I have countless friends
and not a single enemy, which leaves me in an excellent
humour, and hopeful that you will treat this little matter
without prejudice, and as a man of the world."
The advocate was fairly nonplussed, and seemed likely
to retire from the case. In fact he hardly knew the ac-
cused, who had generally given him the slip, being in-
clined to shirk the least approach to self-examination.
Even here were present that gleam of kindness and at-
tempt to make the best of things which often ennoble
the counsel for the defence in any Court. He also
recognised that though the prisoner had soiled, by
diverting to his own purposes, the whole area of comedy,
love-making, music, and the dance, there was no intrinsic
harm in any of these things. Being himself pure, they
took on for him his own guilelessness, nor did he need
any one to tell him that youth was youth, that the laws
of attraction might and ought to be without sin, and
that children dance to an organ as by nature born. It
was the defilement of these instincts that wounded him,
and, as he contemplated this perverter of possible good,
he wondered how it was that such forces had been
yielded up with scarcely a struggle on the part of true
lovers of humanity.
"I fear," he said, "that the arguments which I have
to put before your Lordship are too vague to help the
prisoner's case, but I would point out that the particular
course he adopted was fostered, if not brought about, by
i8o THE GRAND ASSIZE
the deadly dulness which prevailed where he resided.
Goodness wore an aspect which, to say the least, was
trying, and afforded him no small opportunity. Aware
as I am of the strong point which you make of personal
responsibility, I cannot forbear the suggestion that in
countries where the climate runs to gloom nations are
more easily tempted to license than where the sky is blue
and there is a sparkle in the air. It is possible, my Lord,
for virtue to become a weight; and, when the intelligence
is of a poor quality, combined with the melancholy
which treads hard on vacuousness of mind, no wonder if,
with a little arrangement, pockets are emptied in order
to satisfy the lower inclinations.
"Even I, who am conducting this case, am unable to
trace any good in the prisoner's occupation, except that
it may have served for a harmless distraction to a large
and eminently respectable class who possessed neither wit
nor imagination enough to be much affected either way.
I would go so far as to say that many of this type were
even benefited, since without similar relief they would
have become morose and unbearable in their uninterest-
ing homes. I trust, then, that your Lordship will be
lenient to the accused, at least as regards that portion of
the house which was condemned to a drab and colourless
existence. That my client is bound to undergo some
drastic treatment I cannot disguise from myself, but I
hope the day may arrive when he will have acquired a
truer knowledge of that bonhomie for which there is a
place in the scheme of salvation."
The Judge was plainly troubled, and there was a dis-
MEPHISTO 181
tance between himself and the accused which happily
was not the rule. The story was woefully sordid, yet,
withal, explicable to one who understood the weight of
life and the heaviness with which it pressed upon the
children of men. His mind was travelling beyond the
prisoner, who failed to interest him compared with the
crowds whom that prisoner had tempted, and the causes
which rendered them so susceptible to his lures. His
sympathy called up a picture of the ignorant rich, and
from his heart he pitied the young men whose prime
necessity was to be amused. He felt the tragedy of their
stupidity and bewailed the snares hidden for them under
exotics and every enticement.
As he measured the extent of the mischief, there
passed before him a vision of future mothers ruined by
suggestion and rendered unable to accomplish their
self-development. It appeared to him more pernicious
than actual vice, involving as it did less dread, and prom-
ising a slumber from which the sleeper woke to find
his or her true dignity for ever done away. He saw the
ruin of the most hopeful, and the result of hybrid unions
which transmitted the poison to succeeding generations.
On that kindest of faces came a look of compassion for
the world, but with regard to the accused himself, his
pity made him the more pitiless. The following conver-
sation passed between him and the prisoner:
"I wish to know if you thought of these traps which
you laid for your audience as affecting your own sister
or daughter, or if the memory of your mother once
crossed your mind? "
182 THE GRAND ASSIZE
"I have always regarded women as more or less fair
game and, with the exception of my mother, looked on
them as inferior to man and put into the world for his
passing satisfaction."
"Did you not feel any misgivings as to your personal
treatment of your performers, being aware of the straits
to which they were reduced, when you promised them
extravagant gains at the expense of their honour?"
"I soon lost any previous pity, though where my fan-
cies were touched I kept them to myself, until I had no
further use for them; but I paid them well, and their own
people did not seem to mind."
"Were you not inclined to shed a tear over the young
men whose mothers' hearts you broke and whose sisters
you shamed, knowing, as you must have known, that you
were to them as the spider to the fly, and that, if you got
them into your web, there was little or no chance for
them?"
"I can own to nothing but pleasure in the transaction,
as it brought me into a society which flattered my ambi-
tion. Though I had a leaning for the gilded youth, there
was a radical side to my nature which rather enjoyed
than otherwise bringing them to my own level; besides,
while the fascination lasted, it was roses, roses all the
way."
"Did it not hurt you that you were injuring the drama
itself , and, under a name with fine traditions, were placing
before the public productions instinct with picturesque
sin?"
" I knew this and I hated it, but I did it all the same."
MEPHISTO 183
"Did you consider the reach of your influence, the
host of imitators, the popularity of your dances, and the
deadly taint which through you affected the entire realm
of amusement? "
" I took every care as to my royalties, so that I could
not regret a tendency which, the more it increased, the
more it strengthened the desire to patronise my show."
"Were you never appealed to by the illness of the
girls whom you employed, and whom you turned off
at a moment's notice when, physically, they ceased to
draw?"
"If I had not done so, I should soon have been ruined
by paying attention to sentimental fancies."
"Surely it cannot be a fact that in several instances
girls were offered engagements on the understanding
that they must first forego their virtue, or you had no
opening for them?"
"I fancy this sort of thing did take place sometimes,
but it was all. in the commission, as we say; of course
they had the right to decline if they preferred poverty,
while it would doubtless have happened to them in some
other way, and less to their advantage."
"You cannot mean to tell me that you felt no qualms
when you held before them as a bait marriages with a
class altogether removed from their own, to be com-
passed by stealth, without the knowledge of the man's
parents, and to the inevitable unhappiness of the young
people concerned? "
"This was one of my chief allurements and, when the
idea came to me, I felt that I had hit on no end of a good
184 THE GRAND ASSIZE
thing, though as to what followed, it was a matter oi
complete indifference."
"Is it the case that more than once you almost re-
pented and wished you had turned your attention to the
bona fide money market, instead of to such a shameless
traffic?"
"I frequently thought I would turn it up, though I
have never acknowledged it till now, and once, when the
doctors warned me, I remember a long procession of
faces which haunted me for days."
"Are you beginning to realise what it all meant, and is
there no vestige of sorrow in your heart, as you commence
to see that it is possible to commit murder without using
a weapon?"
"For mercy's sake, come to your sentence, and let me
go! Yes, I begin to see it more clearly, and the same
procession of faces, much longer now than then, is com-
ing before me; but at the time, so help me God, I never
thought it out. If I had met some one like yourself, I
believe I should have chucked it and turned out a better
man."
The sternness on the Judge's countenance relaxed for
an instant, and the skill of a man who, without ceasing
to be cold, put such pathos into his tone that this vul-
garian nearly wept, excelled any eloquence. He knew
the value of words, however, and, swinging round to
severity out of very love, elected to help him by the re-
moteness which he assumed.
"Your proceedings," he said, "were too considered
to call for much pity. I fully understand your advo-
MEPHISTO 185
cate's reference to the tedium and dulness of the daily
round, but I fail to see how this qualifies your conduct.
I am aware that you have often dispelled clouds and
lifted burdens, but the impression you give me is that
of a man who looked on the ruin of an immortal soul
as a trifle compared to enriching his wretched self and
to revelling in the exploitation of the senses. It is
evident that offences must come, but it is a sorry busi-
ness for him through whom they come, nor is there any
doubt that through you they have been seriously mul-
tiplied.
"It is neither my pleasure nor my duty to dwell
longer on a point to which you are at present nearly
insensible, though I am grateful for the gleam of good-
ness which you have just shown. Your chief penalty
consists, as it always must, in what you have become, nor
can even this touch its maximum till you recognise what
you might have been. I am acquainted with your
charities, your spasmodic generosity, and your sentimen-
tal tears, but these things count little with me, amount-
ing as they did to no more than emotionalism and vanity.
"However distasteful the lesson, you must learn the
horror of the spirit of murder without the courage or
the excuses often accompanying the act. You will
have to endure a hideous remorse before your heart
lives, when you shall begin to guess at the tragedy of your
pleasant days. Your discipline shall be to undergo a long
period in the wilderness, where you shall be compelled
to face yourself and where there shall be no glitter, no
seductions, no display. Alone, under the stars, you
i86 THE GRAND ASSIZE
shall be driven to contemplate your true home, from
which you have not only wandered, but the entrance
of which you have barred to thousands. You shall
wake to a sadness of which no one can relieve you, as
you dwell on the young lives which you destroyed at an
age when they should have been defended by every
good influence. You shall drink the cup of bitterness to
the dregs, as your mind travels over the gins which
you set to catch the birds before you plucked them for
your profit. Worst of all, you shall realise, in the silence
of your solitude, the deadly wrong of cheapening sin,
and of investing carnality with a halo which is the tri-
umph of a Mephistopheles. Though the knife must
probe to the roots of the evil, I would bid you hope,
seeing that one day your wilderness shall blossom like a
rose.
"Later, you shall return as an apostle of your new-
born idealism and shall witness a wantonness which
obtains on a larger scale, and in the invention of which
you once gloried. You shall reach a state of yearning
to retrieve through which you will be redeemed, in
proportion as you daringly assert that the body has a
sanctity of its own, that home is a divine institution,
and that innocence claims our protection. Such a sen-
tence is the heaviest I can pronounce, but in after days
you will bless me for it, and, when your lesson is learned,
you shall arrive at a gaiety which is all good.
"Your powers of arranging for sane frolic shall not
be lost. Your gifts of management, which were unique,
shall still have a sphere. This influence of yours, which
MEPHISTO 187
proved such a bane, shall be consecrated to other ends,
and you shall not lose your power through your new
preference for purity. Hereafter you shall detest the
thought of supplying danger, but without forfeiting
the swing and go that are much needed in the realm of
good. Your paternity shall reassert itself, and, to quote
from your own Psalms, your aim shall be that the daugh-
ters of the city become polished corners of the Temple.
Not for an instant would I diminish the dash or damp
the joy which you know so well how to impart, but the
lesson the wilderness shall have taught you is that God
and gladness must go hand in hand, if the last is not to
die."
CHAPTER XV
THE DRUNKARD
THE Drunkard shuffled into Court, as he shuffled
everywhere, with a stupid leer telling of an addled
brain and of finer feelings lost long ago. His
hectic flush betokened a shame and a sensitiveness
which spoke of better days. He had evidently once
been careful of his appearance, and the habits of a gen-
tleman were discernible, spite of the slackness and seedi-
ness of his whole bearing. No satire was likely to be
called forth by this wreck of a former man who was his
own enemy, and who might be described as a gradual
suicide. He hated sitting down; the word rest was un-
known to him; his hands, on which were no marks of
work, clutched at his collar, smoothed his hair, stroked
his cheeks, sought his pockets, and then began it all
over again.
A nameless sorrow enveloped him, arousing rage in
an onlooker against the purveyors of what had ruined
millions like him, whilst they had been enriched and
even ennobled thereby. The cause of the curse lay
with the poor drunkard himself, it being clear that, if
his own liability had been nil, he would not have been
cited for judgment. When he looked up into the Judge's
188
THE DRUNKARD 189
face a new peace possessed his soul, and the swiftness of
the change, unless witnessed, would have been incredible.
Those hands of his ceased trembling, and he became
restful under a glance which disregarded his externals.
All hurt to his pride had gone, since he knew that he
would be treated for what he was and not for what he
seemed to be. To be honoured could alone satisfy his
thirst for respect, much as the salute of a sentry might
save from despair an officer who had been cashiered.
Instinct suggested that the Drunkard, having been
ruined by his emotions, could best be cured on the same
plane, and a contest was obviously impending between
natural loathing and supernatural love.
It was hardly to be believed that a human being
could have come to this extremity, unless he had long
ago bartered away the birthright of free will. A large
element of the child still remained in the accused, and,
as throughout his career he had been conspicuous for
weakness, so now he was equally susceptible to the
influence of goodness, which comforted him not a little.
Seldom was the Judge so wonderful. He had not yet
opened his lips, but one began to understand how there
are presences which can expel demons without a word.
If silence is golden at certain moments, only the very
wise know when to refrain; but during this interval
a communion was established between the Judge and
the sufferer unintelligible save to those who have loved
enough to make a similar effort. The man could tell
his story now; and, though there was no alteration in his
clothes, so great a one was there in his face, that only
ico THE GRAND ASSIZE
his mother would have known him. Such a trans-
formation may be deemed beyond belief, but it is the
one feature in the restoration of the inebriate which
prevents hopelessness and expresses the paradox of two
people merged in one, till separated anew by sympathy
into their constituent parts.
"I have come," he said, "not merely to confess, but.
for the first time in my life, to accuse myself. I have
always sworn that I never drank to excess, that every
one else lied, and that, from start to finish, I was grossly
misunderstood. Simply to be with you has somehow
made me happy, and, being happy, it becomes easier
to own up. How I could have made such a hash of
my life, reducing myself to a state worse than that of an
animal, I fail to understand. When I came here I had
meant to pitch the same old yarn, and to accuse every-
body on God's earth except myself. At last I see my
damnable selfishness, but I pray that the name on which
I brought disgrace may never come to light.
"The satire of it is that I started well, was even bril-
liant, and more than once had the world, so to speak,
at my feet. What caused others long application came
to me by inspiration, and, unfortunately, I gained hon-
ours by scarcely more than guesswork. The same ease
dogged my footsteps in the years that followed, and I
hardly noticed that this cleverness was landing me in a
mire which I should then have regarded as outside the
range of probability. Love of good fellowship, the ar-
tistic temperament, and impatience of restraint drove me
to drink as a duck takes to water, more especially as I
THE DRUNKARD 191
was master of the revels, loved entertaining, and shone
beyond the rest when the wine flowed. Not that I
neglected my work, I was a demon at that, too, but I
did not recognise that both work and wine spelt for me
oblivion of myself and popularity among my inferiors.
The only person who saw this was my mother, for my
pals and a crowd of hangers-on liked what it meant for
them too well to drop a hint for my benefit. My mother
believed that a good woman would save me, but again
this pernicious facility proved my bane, since I won her
without any effort or any test of sacrifice. She naturally
thought she would cure me, and for a time the bliss of
our content promised a permanent remedy. I worked
harder than ever, being fired by a new ambition, until
I attained a place in regard to which I would prefer to
be silent.
"But, whether it was the wife, or whether it was the
place, there was more getting than giving in both. Soon
enough I came up against the old trouble, which meant
that everything on earth had for me a brick wall only
to be scaled by getting drunk. By degrees recklessness
set in. The wife whom I adored, or, rather, idolised as
a reflection of myself, palled on me. Even the children
became a nuisance, for I lost interest in anything save
that thrill of being outside my body which was enchain-
ing me more tightly every day. I became less particular
not only as to myself but as to the liquor, provided it
was wet and provided it was strong. Unfortunately,
I had money without limit, which made the descent
more rapid, until ruin stared me in the face. With my
i 9 2 THE GRAND ASSIZE
self-respect my honour went; I developed into a liar of
the worst description, cute as they are made, and capable
of any subterfuge in order to indulge in my darling sin.
Countless hands were held out to save me, but I would
have none of it. Now that it is too late I know that,
had I meant business, or acted loyally by the advice I
received, I could have recovered and been as good a man
as ever.
"My mother's love was angelic, but my wife left me,
nor do I blame her when I think of the children. I
doubt if she would have deserted one of them in a similar
plight. Then I grew not to care, and even I find it
beneath me to reveal the vileness of the last few years.
To the end I continued to dream of goodness, and lazily
made resolves which I had no intention of carrying out.
My constitution refused to be broken, and my strength
increased my weakness. Could I have had a long ill-
ness, there might have been a pause, but, getting over
my bouts with no serious damage to my health, I fled
once more from the voice of conscience to taste what
was both my delight and my destruction.
"Language fails me to describe the ceaseless worry I
caused, the tyranny I exercised, the people I wore out,
and the gloom I created by my false gaiety. I stand
here not so much with a desire to become sober, as with
a passion for punishment which is the only antidote
strong enough for my disease, affording as it does the
pleasure of pain, mercifully a closed book to nearly all
save the drunkard."
The advocate was great on this occasion, and without
THE DRUNKARD 193
hesitation he began his speech, his difficulty being to
compress it. "I rejoice, my Lord," he said, "to plead
not only for the man but for my friend. I have never
ceased to love him, nor he me, and at the risk of its
sounding like a fairy story, I am bold to describe him as
a poet imprisoned within a beast, with which he became
blended, but to which he by no means belonged. He
was by nature one of the sweetest, gentlest characters I
have ever known. As a child, his chief delight was in
prayer and in vague wonder as to the infinitude of God
and the mystery of the Universe. When a small boy
he was always doing kind things, and I can see him now
as he put his arms round the dogs and kissed them,
while his favourite cob seemed to him to have a soul.
There was no sign of coming doom in this universal fa-
vourite as after dinner his father treated him to cham-
pagne, showed him off to his guests, and prophesied of
his future.
"He has told his story almost too well, but your
Lordship needs no warning from me that these intervals
of ingenuousness are often a prelude to still greater
deception. As for his final ruin, he was heavily handi-
capped by his early victories, and he doubtless found it
true that, when to drink is added wealth, it needs a
mighty miracle to enter the Kingdom. His life afforded
few restraints and he would have had to make them for
himself, which is just what he was unable to do. The
error of supposing that the end of existence was to be
happy, instead of to make happy, was the initial cause
of his collapse. That a man should kill the thing he
i 9 4 THE GRAND ASSIZE
loves, torture his special treasure, crucify the object
of his worship, and hold up to derision the country to
which he longs to add fresh laurels by his achievements,
astounds his advocate and makes him dumb.
"When I picture this potential leader of men slink-
ing into the lowest haunts, trading on his best friends,
raising their hopes only to dash them to the ground, and
ending in a mass of egoism which was the pest of those
who most pitied him, I ask your mercy not alone for
the drunkard, but for those who found it possible to
supply the instruments of his martyrdom. I should
have been glad to think that of these the accused has
not said one word, if his leniency had not been due to
the fact that, even now, he does not hate what landed
him in Hades. His hospitality knew no bounds, though
it was spoilt by the vanity that accompanied it, but he
never turned his back on a convict, which should claim
your consideration now that he himself is one. I have
nothing more to add, and prefer to leave the solution of
this tragedy to your Lordship, having marked the dan-
ger of human inclinings where, in face of every cause
for revulsion, the devil takes on some irresistible charm."
The face of the Judge indicated a grief equal to that
of the prisoner. Throughout the confession and the
speech which followed he was intensely moved by the
thought of the snare to which many of the brightest
and brainiest were subject. He was bewailing in secret
these flowers of promise that had opened with excep-
tional glory, but had faded long ere they arrived at
maturity. With a compassion known in perfection only
THE DRUNKARD 195
by a man of sorrows, he cordially pitied those of the race
who were capable of worse than killing their brothers for
coin of the realm. It was no excuse in his sight that
they might bring forward the plea of fair dealing, or
argue that others would have done it if they had not, or,
deadliest of all, that their intention was to use a pro-
portion of their receipts for patriotic (!) ends. Brushing
this aside, as he gazed on the bankrupt before him, tears
flowed down his cheeks. It was so unnecessary, so
disappointing, so wasteful, so wicked, though he did not
delude himself that alcohol was the solitary channel of
this traffic in man's proneness to err. Nevertheless the
hardheartedness of the transaction shocked him, and the
crime of thus mutilating for money the Divine image
in those who could not resist, staggered him more than
the tale of woe to which he had just listened. When
this dastardly deed became incorporated with good and
when those implicated, whether directly or indirectly,
went so far as to pray for the victims of their cupidity,
the Judge shuddered at the awakening which must come
to any capable of such self-delusion. He turned to this
one with surprising gentleness and paid him extra hon-
our to cover the loss of his own.
"Tell me," he said "how it was that in your youth
you became familiar with the cause of your future down-
fall."
"My father was a hospitable man and prided himself
on the best of cellars."
"Was your trouble hereditary?"
"I did not dare to let myself think so, though I had
196 THE GRAND ASSIZE
heard of wild enough stories in the family, but we re-
garded them as rather heroic, and not a word was said
to make us feel ashamed."
"And your mother's attitude?"
"My mother was a saint."
"Did you feel no remorse, while you were still young,
when you became aware that this was growing on you?"
"Not a bit, which puzzles me. At the time my com-
panions called it pluck, said I was a sportsman, egged
me on, but took care not to follow so far."
"Did you love your work?"
"Passionately, but it was exhausting, until to do the
best I had to resort to stimulants in increasing quanti-
ties."
"With what result?"
"That I felt like a demi-god and that there was noth-
ing I could not perform if put to it."
"Your brain?"
"I had visions of every kind of delight, fairies visited
me, but live women became insipid, and nothing satisfied
me short of communing with the unreal."
"Did you escape tedium and was monotony banished? "
"Yes, and this was best of all, for I lived in a world
of fantasy, above ordinary concerns, though at intervals
I came down with a run and found myself common
clay."
"How do you explain that, knowing what you were
doing, you continued to do it?"
"I can't, but I did both."
"What of your manliness?"
THE DRUNKARD 197
"I never boasted of it more than when it was in dan-
ger."
"What of your affections?"
"I specially wept about them when I was as hard as
a stone."
"What about truth?"
"I swore by all the gods when I was planning the
worst treachery."
"Your fame, what of that?"
" I disregarded it compared to the glories I could con-
jure up by a dram."
"And your country, of which at one time you were
such an ornament?"
"Never was I so patriotic as in my cups, and no one
could wave a flag better than I when I tarnished it most."
"Did you have many reactions?"
"Yes, indeed, and many of them were quite long ones."
"Could you work between whiles?"
"Not well, and each time I had less zest and grew
more quickly tired."
"Did money play a part in the business?"
"Yes, but not for myself. I cared for it only that
I might add to the national prestige, though God knows
how such a combination could be effected."
"Did you get it honestly?"
"At first, yes; later, no. The more callous I became,
and the less scrupulous, the more I won, till everything
I touched turned to gold, while all the time I was privately
a villain."
"How could you manage this without detection?"
198 THE GRAND ASSIZE
"A drunkard can manage anything till the final catas-
trophe."
"How did this come?"
"I would rather not say. I just disappeared."
"Is your name cursed? "
"On the contrary, I am quoted as a benefactor by the
public, though a few, here and there, are in the secret."
"And your inner being? "
"Must I say?"
"Every word spoken here is voluntary."
"Well, then, my true being was entirely another one,
and throughout the piece I was longing, longing, longing
for the best, and admired it, too. If at any moment I
had been wakened up and asked my dearest wish, it
would have been to see God. When alone, I devoured
every book bearing on heroism and self-sacrifice, and
when I was not lost in drink, I would lose myself in
stories of the saints. In my darkest times I used to
kiss my crucifix and talk to the hanging Figure. Again
and again I pledged myself, bar rot, to walk in His
footsteps if only I could do so in some forcible fashion;
so I prayed and I drank, and I drank and I prayed,
till I became a horrid jumble, though retaining a method
in my madness and keeping an eye to the main chance."
"What of the company you kept and the dens of
iniquity you visited?"
"No one knew me there."
"Did you pity the poor?"
"Yes, by heaven! I did, for I knew their trials and,
whatever I may have to bear, I ask you, whose kindness
THE DRUNKARD 199
has disarmed me, to show them still more, seeing that
it is only natural so many of them should go under."
"And if you returned, what would you do?"
"I know myself too well to think I should do other-
wise, but at the moment I don't wish to go back, and,
if, in some way beyond my power to divine, you can
make me only decent and help me to paint out the past,
I will undergo my bit and bless you."
The conversation had been painful to both speakers
alike and, as the Judge prepared to give his decision,
the fact that a good man may be made sin, yet know-
ing it not, rendered Gethsemane intelligible. "I have
listened to your words with deep concern, but I am well
aware that you cannot change your own spots and that
the picture you have drawn has been replete with your-
self. That you have suffered as few mortals are called
on to do I readily admit, but I would gravely remind you
of the cruelty you have shown, which, in the case of the
drunkard, as of the harlot, is allowed to pass far too
easily. To an extent I admire your absence of complain-
ing, but I would impress on you that, outside your
physical weakness which has become a disease, vanity
coupled with sensation was the true cause of your dis-
aster. From a child you were spoilt, which is the root
of the matter. That you could have been anything
you liked you need no telling, and your religious zeal,
which amounted to a frenzy, was a spurious scaling of
the stars.
"Get it ingrained into your mind that drink, even
with you, was comparatively incidental, and that at the
200 THE GRAND ASSIZE
back of it was this playing to the gallery which found
its expression in your magnificent schemes, your gran-
diloquent talk, and later in the tap-room ! This was the
impetus which was driving you to the streets, making
you an alien to your own, and causing you to affect the
lowest company, provided you could king it among
minnows. Self was your master, and liquor was the
whip with which it lashed you, till you cringed before
the tyrant and obeyed his lightest behests. This was
what made people shun your presence and almost pray
for your death. But you continued, until you ended by
not caring a jot if you could indulge in the zest of domin-
ion for ten minutes.
"No metaphor can better account for your present
condition than that of one who, in the early stages, was
fascinated by flying so long as the aerodrome was filled
with crowds. The sensation of the flight was at first
secondary to the plaudits of the throng, and unconscious
how enslaved he was becoming, he woke to find that
no day counted unless he went up. So strong became
its hold, that he was eternally whirled through space,
nor could he descend for a rest but he must mount again
and be driven through the clouds. The only comfort
remaining was that he never wholly lost the clapping
hands of those who tempted him to further trials, but
jeered him when he fell. They even dared him to greater
rashness, offering him rewards in order to share the
thrill as they held their breath, and waited for the thud
upon the ground. You have lived at the top of your
bent, and your penalty must be equivalent. You must
THE DRUNKARD 201
acquire the counter secret of sobriety and self-extinction;
in a word, you must give up flying and you must walk
for many a long day.
"The penance which I inflict on you is that you shall
count for nothing and, when you open your mouth, you
shall have no hearing. You shall know the anguish of
an impotent enthusiast, and you shall painfully learn
that the only way to better the world is to bleed for it.
You shall discover by daily contact with inebriates the
trial which you proved to those about you. You shall
have to listen to their endless talk concerning themselves,
and you shall be shut up with those who in their own
eyes are the hub of the universe. Sickened by the
sight of it in others, self shall gradually die, and it shall
be revealed to you what you have lost in your contempt
of woman's love, when, being unable to forget your
own image, caring was impossible. You shall discover,
through the ordinary medium of home life, the value of
decency and sobriety. You shall find it unnecessary to
indulge in talk about the infinite as you patiently strive
to bring happiness to your own circle. You shall cease
to pose when you have learned the meaning of altruism.
This will no longer consist of fits and starts, or brilliant
endeavours to do great things which shall be spoken of,
but in the trivial round, which will give you ample op-
portunity of denying yourself and finding God. You
will be chary of revelling in religion, which you can now
see counted for hardly more than another, and the most
vivid sensation.
"All in good time the degradation of the drunkard will
202 THE GRAND ASSIZE
disappear, and in his place shall be a modest, unassum-
ing man, who shall seldom speak, even of his repentance,
but shall be more than satisfied if he does his job. When
you have been long enough in your village, you shall
be used for the high purposes for which you were des-
tined by your gifts before you allowed them to become
bizarre. You shall find in the cross which you have to
bear a joy you never fancied in your wildest flights.
You shall live to bless your own experience, if by the
plain relation of it, to your confusion, you liberate a
single brother from the prison of which your knowledge
shall have furnished the key. When you save your
first soul, you shall be happy. No longer shall it be
necessary for you to deal in heroics and to rant about
heaven. You shall be there already."
CHAPTER XVI
MRS. GRUNDY
A COMBINATION of the most correct and poi-
sonous types made her entrance, without the
smallest perturbation at a situation which eluded
her. The first impression she produced was that she
could not hurt a fly, the second that she could strangle
a child without its affecting her precision or her smile,
arranged on a recognised pattern. The absence of the
emblems of justice surprised her, causing her to despise
the "person," as she would have called him, who sat be-
low the place where they ought to have been. Her dress,
though severe, was a la mode, her chief effort being to
offer no temptation to the other sex, an attempt in which
she was singularly successful. A comparison between
her and the Judge was full of interest, and no one but
would have preferred to fall into the hands of the latter,
rather than into those of the pitiless lady who had at
last come up to receive as good as she had meted out,
not so much to the guilty, as to the discovered.
There was an element of tragedy in this struggle be-
tween formality and frankness, but it escaped the female
Pharisee, whose self-possession was superb. Fortunately
for her, she did not suffer from nerves, and her anxiety
203
204 . THE GRAND ASSIZE
was not as to her position, which she regarded as un-
assailable, but merely to do the right thing whatever
happened. Even she had perforce to be honest, and,
though confession was impossible to her, she commenced
in a hard and unfeeling voice to make a statement of
facts without prejudice, and without the faintest hint
that she could have been worthy of blame.
"I cannot imagine why I have been summoned to
this place, or, if so, why I have not been invited to sit
on the bench where a seat is reserved for me in causes
celebres next to the President, whom I often prompt
when he is in difficulty as to his decision. From my
infancy I have been brought up to keep the world in
order, to prevent the disaster of being natural, to crown
success with laurels, to tread the fallen under foot, and
to have no pity on deviations from virtue, save in the
case of the very great, or in phases of society where,
being good style, they become a cause for praise. On
matters of dress or of etiquette I am the ultimate court
of appeal, nor am I influenced by the outrageousness
of fashion if appearances are observed. What happens
behind closed doors is not my affair, but in polite circles,
so far as externals go, I reign supreme. I have no use
for the open moor, the blue sky, or the caravan, though
of late I have been studying how to invade even these
and spoil them by my presence. Whether I shall suc-
ceed I cannot say, but I expect that, all in good time,
the world will be under my sway, except the Arctic
regions, which are already so cold that they hardly
need my freezing touch.
MRS. GRUNDY 205
"I have been a great traveller in my day, and have
found myself equally at home at Court and in the sub-
urbs, where I have often met with a warm reception, but
in the slums they have treated me with a grave lack of
courtesy and have even pelted me with ancient eggs and
other missiles, obliging me to beat a hasty retreat. The
East, the cradle of truth, is no favourite haunt of mine,
for I regard basking in the sun as incompatible with an
approved demeanour. I have always advocated mar-
riages on a fiscal basis, and have opened offices in most
large cities, where I have done a smart business; but in
the villages I was expelled by a dangerous woman called
Dame Nature, with whom I have nothing in common.
I wish to state that I am extremely religious, while be-
lieving in nothing, but there are few churches and chap-
els which I do not frequent, regulating my attendance
by the popularity of the preacher, the gorgeousness
of the vestments, or the spiciness of the teaching.
I am by no means in favour of domestic effusiveness,
though I was great on family prayers when they were
the vogue, but, at the present moment, I am doubtful
on the latter point, as they would seem to be on the
decline.
"The young for some reason rather dislike me and
even call me prim, but I can afford to be patient, as I feel
confident that, sooner or later, they will change their
tone towards me through the bribes which I keep in
store for them, but which they cannot appreciate in
their early years. I had a better chance in girls' schools,
but regret to say that these are now revolting, so that
2 o6 THE GRAND ASSIZE
it would seem prudent to make my escape before I am
turned out. On the whole, I am distinctly depressed,
owing to a new doctrine of joy which is setting in, and
that dreadful woman whom I mentioned is trespassing
on my preserves, which terrifies me. Still I am glad to
think that I have withered many smiles, spoilt many ro-
mances, brought about much despair, and broken on the
wheel many an apostle of liberty.
"I know how to keep my place; and, if I am to be
dreaded by ordinary people, I fawn before those in high
places, allowing them privileges and sensations which I
repudiate in the case of the common herd. I have im-
mense reverence for blue blood, though, having no chemi-
cal science, I cannot say precisely when the colour begins
to change. Public opinion is my only god, and I cannot
remember having said a prayer, yet I never omit to
kneel when occasion requires. I glory in having been
uniformly unkind, and one of my great annoyances was
an organ-grinder for whom the children dared to dance
and went so far as to be merry. On the other hand, I
affect minuets, stately music, and literature of the dullest
character, but when a questionable novel has been
boomed by being banned, I have later found in it
passages tending to edification. I cannot pretend to
regret my conduct, but, as there is no one present, these
proceedings seem to me to lack importance, and I shall be
glad when they are concluded, if only to give me a chance
of attending several functions where, without my pres-
ence, I fear that they may degenerate into errors of
taste, and even of happiness."
MRS. GRUNDY 207
The advocate was not specially downcast, though his
relations with the prisoner had been out of the common.
He spoke as one who had been attached to her royal
person officially, so that anything approaching intimacy
had been undesired, and consequently impossible. His
manner was strictly legal, and he confined himself to deal-
ing technically with his brief rather than with the merits
or the reverse of the accused.
"I must emphasise the fact," he said, "that although
the prisoner has made an affidavit which is repulsive,
yet she has accomplished much good. I contend that
the lady to whom she has referred as 'a woman' requires
a corrective, and that, if she were not checked by the
incursions of my client, the world would fall into grave
trouble. Not that I think all would be lost if what is
called society were to go to pieces, but I would put it
to your Lordship that masses have been made moral
through fear of bad form, and that, during the process,
they have acquired habits of self-denial which have stood
them in good stead when assailed by their emotions.
I believe that many have lived to bless their term of
slavery to the accused, though, for the most part, her
devotees lack imagination and are mainly suited for
dressing shop- windows. This class, though large, may
be dismissed as unimportant, but it is only just to say
that they were as responsible for making the lady as
bees for creating their queen. When they had outgrown
her, they also treated her in much the same way as
obtains among those whimsical insects. Meanwhile,
human nature requires a moral policeman, and it has
2o8 THE GRAND ASSIZE
been held by more than one that law without love is
better than love without law.
"Had it not been for Mrs. Grundy, a great number of
people would have gone straight to perdition, but whether
that would have been worse, or whether life in Hades is
preferable to inanition elsewhere, is an open question.
Though the prisoner shows signs of bad health, she has
by no means arrived at her end, but has, I am told, re-
markable powers of recuperation. I would argue that
she has not been guilty of bad feeling, for she has no
feelings at all, being but the expression of self-defence
on the part of the successful and the stupid. True, her
ethical judgments are inconsistent, but beyond a doubt
she has been an important asset in the maintenance of
home life, in the restraint of libertinage and, given suffi-
cient spectators, in producing courage.
"No one can deny that the accused has influenced
laws in the direction of good, and, though the enemy of
evolution, has retarded the wheels of anarchy. Bo-
hemia is her bete noire, but, save for her presence, Bo-
hemia would have gone perilously near to becoming a
cesspool and its inhabitants a rabble. There have been
times, my Lord, when I have been grateful to the
prisoner, and few have attained to chivalry or good
manners but have served their apprenticeship in her
school. I trust that I have tersely placed before you
the worthiest side of my case, and, when I contemplate
the dangers of self-abandonment and the misuse of
freedom by the majority, I venture to hope that your
judgment will not be averse to the prisoner. I would go
MRS. GRUNDY 209
the length of saying that a capital sentence would be a
misfortune, and that a petition for a reprieve would be
signed, not only by an immense number of parents and
professors, but by the specially tempted and by those
who know that she is probably their sole chance of being
decent. I take it that you will pay no attention to those
who represent merely her automatic devotees; and now I
leave the affair in your hands, as alone deft enough to un-
ravel a skein so tangled as to baffle human ingenuity."
The Judge's face was that of a philosopher pondering
over the intricacies of a problem rather than of one em-
ployed in deciding the fate of a human being. In the
prisoner he saw a principle which forms an integral part
of civilisation, and he accepted the fact that the more
complex it becomes, the more that principle is bound to
exist. Never was there a figure more antipathetic to
his outlook, but his charm lay in his being equally, if not
more occupied with what was outside his range, but
none the less absorbing in his eyes. Indeed, he seemed
to curtail his sympathies where he was most intrigued,
lest any sediment of self should colour his decisions or en-
danger his courtesy.
In this instance he could give full vent to his interest,
and, as he looked at the accused, he pitied her for the
r61e she had to play, realising that she was necessary in
so far as the race had ceased to be simple. He was con-
scious that she was confined to no age or circumstance,
and that she had the key to many a fair garden, though
the open country knew her not. He was accustomed to
her numerous disguises and the various aliases she had
210 THE GRAND ASSIZE
adopted, not being shortsighted enough to regard her
present title as more than the outcome of a smug and
respectable moment. In other countries and at other
periods she had been more picturesque, but the spirit
of the world had always followed on the plucking of the
fruit and had commissioned her to be its champion.
When he addressed her he maintained an impersonal
attitude, and there was something great in the way this
mystic raised the drabbest details because of their bear-
ing on the welfare of humanity.
"I wonder whether you have at any time regretted
the work in which you were employed, or the lifelessness
which you produced in everything that was paralysed
by your presence."
"For the most part originality is non-existent among
my followers, but it sometimes seemed, even to me, vil-
lainous to lead captive those who had the germs of
glee."
"Why do you parade under the guise of a woman, who
presumably suggests tenderness, or, at least, is supposed
to shed tears for those whom she has injured?"
"Because her cruelty can be greater than that of men,
and she can sustain her vindictiveness longer, in spite
of the cries of her victims."
"Though your statement was defiant, would you
gravely assert that, having owned yourself to be the
kill-joy of your day, you have effected good? "
"Since I take no actual pleasure in frolics or vice, I
am, to a large extent, on the side of the angels, provided
that, in their flight, they are careful of their drapery."
MRS. GRUNDY 211
"What is your position when laxity prevails and when
virtue is regarded as a mark of want of breeding?"
"I then adopt another dress and join the revels."
"And when puritanism is to the fore?"
"None is soberer or more unctuous than myself."
"How would you briefly define your scheme?"
"As I have already outlined it, my scheme has been
to make mortals arrange their affairs by the creature
rather than by the Creator, and care for nothing save
the approval of their fellows, lest they should win the
reward of Him who seeth in secret."
"Do you mean that each should love his neighbour?"
"On the contrary, that he should fear him, though
he should lose no opportunity of getting the better of
him when possible, and of scandalising him in his ab-
sence."
"Have you any apprehensions as to the verdict which
I may pronounce? "
"None, for, though you may express your opinion, it
has no value for those for whom you do not exist."
"What would you say if I condemned you to death?"
"The condemnation would never take effect, as an-
other Mrs. Grundy would immediately appear, and a
reaction in my favour would follow such drastic meas-
ures."
The Judge then summed up: "I find myself in agree-
ment with much that you have stated in your evidence,
and understand how you represent a guild of the super-
ficial and less adventurous, which acquits you of per-
sonal responsibility. Having had much intercourse with
2i2 THE GRAND ASSIZE
your friends the Scribes and Pharisees, I feel to a certain
extent at home in your company, but I have always pre-
ferred that of publicans and sinners. It would not be fair,
however, to disregard the righteousness of the former,
which has been rebuked before now, not because of its
existence, but because of its shortcomings. I have no
prejudice against manners, provided they are not over-
done, and am in favour, at times, of the stately and the
dignified, if not adopted for effect. The reason I have
an unalloyed contempt for you, which would not obtain
in the case of a real personality, is that no form should
be called good if it is only form. Your harmfulness lies
in having made men look, not so much down, as on a
level with themselves, which is the more fatal to their
ever looking upward, so that between you and myself
there is bound to be an unwritten antagonism.
"How it is that your disciples have been willing to
barter the Kingdom of God for such as you I have never
been able to comprehend. On your own showing, you
have supplied them with funereal dulness, but they still
worship you as a goddess, and willingly allow you to
tread on them with your high-heeled shoes, or, as at
the present moment, with your largish boots. I can
only assume that the mutual admiration society of the
unintelligent means more to them than the contempla-
tion of the stars, the glory of a gallop, entrancing music,
or the sting of a storm at sea. Your advocate has rightly
pointed out the advantage of yourself as a set-off to the
Quartier Latin, and certain authors might do well not
to forget you, while I commend to your attention the
MRS. GRUNDY 213
Press, which needs a portion of you as an antidote.
There are traits in your character which I am not above
admiring, but I implore you to keep off the children,
to avoid schools, and to leave the Senate House severely
alone, lest there should be a general revolt against you,
when the ruin would bring you no pleasure, and the spoils
would fall to your mortal enemy.
"It is with that enemy I would advise you to live, if
you are both to exist at once, and I can imagine that,
if you and Dame Nature were to see a little more of
each other, it might bring about considerable good.
What I would seek to effect is your combination, though
I can fancy that at first you would find yourselves by no
means congenial companions. You would serve to check
her wildness,and she might learn from you improvements
in her dress which would prove some consolation to you,
though I should be sorry if she took you altogether as a
pattern. You could not dwell with her long without
being better, and, if her children clambered round your
neck, you would one day break into a laugh. You must
know her to discover that, in spite of her rough exterior,
she can smile as no other woman; and, if you dare to
stay with her, she can kiss away tears where the ten-
derest mother fails. Without a doubt she will often
curse you, and you, on your part, will hate her for her
contempt of money, diamonds, pearls, and similar trifles,
but if you want warmth and glow and, above all, com-
plete understanding, you will find her the most sympa-
thetic and forgiving of friends. She may not pray much,
at least formally, and she may frighten you by her
214 THE GRAND ASSIZE
tirades against the ceremonies which are the breath of
life to you, but when it comes to a pinch and when you
are thirsty, she will give you water from a rippling brook
and milk in a lordly dish. It is beyond my power to
make people love one another, and to insist on it has
often had the reverse effect, but there is one argument
which seldom fails to a person of your type namely,
that she needs your help. Without you she will de-
generate, but with you in moderate doses she will vastly
improve, and I close with looking forward to the time
when two of the world's greatest enemies, if separated,
shall together prove a valuable friend."
CHAPTER XVII
THE CLERIC
THERE was a strong atmosphere of piety about
him, as he faced the situation with a calm and
dignity all in his favour. A closer scrutiny
suggested less strength, while the thinness of his lips
gave no good impression. His obstinacy was evident,
and it was clear that he would not be easily dislodged
from his position. He recalled hundreds like himself,
and introduced a separate caste which was alien to the
directness of the Court. It would be difficult to explain
the sense of stiffness which he brought with him, com-
bined with an unmistakable goodness that permeated
his whole being. His assurance, in spite of an exagger-
ated humility, gave rise to irritation, and as he took his
seat with exemplary deference, he seemed unconscious
of the reason why he had been summoned.
He had prepared no defence, deeming it unnecessary
for one of his integrity, and no one could have denied
him an admirable courage and willingness to suffer.
The importance of the proceedings was magnified by
the influence which he had obviously wielded, while his
meeting with the Judge, whom he resembled, yet from
whom he was strangely dissimilar, created profound in-
215
216 THE GRAND ASSIZE
terest. The fact that he had been out to save his gen-
eration was beyond question, but the success or failure
of his mission remained to be proved. The longer you
watched him, the more you loved and were repelled
by him, nor could you avoid the conclusion that he was
hardly so much an individual as the holder of an office
that had been handed down without a change for cen-
turies. To what country he belonged, it did not even
occur to the observer to ask, as all else was merged in
his portrayal of religion, which was common to every age,
and to the most varied forms of faith. The Judge's posi-
tion was rendered the more difficult since the Cleric
seemed to regard any punishment as almost a luxury.
Penitence having been a constant habit, he rose to make
his confession as to the manner born, though the notion
of being taken at his own valuation would to him have
appeared preposterous.
"I would begin by owning," he said, "that I am a
grievous sinner, and that I am conscious of having left
undone much which ought to have been done and done
much which had best been omitted. In view of the
sanctity of my calling, my dedication to the noblest
ends and my separation from ordinary folk, I cannot
but feel that I have fallen short in many particulars.
More than once it has struck me that, though I never
shrank from the most menial tasks, I felt superior in
doing them, and looked down on those towards whom I
assumed an abject attitude, but who were virtually in
my hands. From my youth I was brought up to look
upon myself as a medium between God and man, and
THE CLERIC 217
though I preferred to remain poor, the better to illus-
trate the ministry, I have always held that the power of
the State was nothing to that of the priesthood, nor am
I one of those who believe in over intimacy with the
uninitiated. I hope that I have spared no effort to save
a soul, but my chief anxiety was the correctness of his
creed. By correctness I mean that it should tally with
my own, having been instructed that the secret of uni-
versal Truth had by some miracle of Grace been placed
in our hands. The misfortune of the pagan and the
fact of his being in an overwhelming majority used to
distress me, but, as I became more subservient to the
Divine Will, I ceased to trouble about these matters as
beyond me, and as interfering with the even tenour of my
days. In this I may have been remiss, but I rejoice to
think that missionary zeal is on the increase, though I
have little or no use for the vague enthusiasm which is
sadly callous as to rites and ceremonies dearer to me
than the questionable benefits of civilisation.
"Not that I do not believe in Universalism, though I
prefer the Greek word, and would, I trust, willingly offer
my frail body at the stake in its defence; but a dangerous
conception of its meaning now obtains, and I wish to
make it plain that the term is applicable only to those
who strictly adhere to the limitations of our special body.
How it is so, I cannot say, but this is another of the mys-
teries which I would rather leave and which have never
ruffled my equanimity. My dear brothers outside the
pale call me a bigot on certain points, but, as I have re-
peatedly stated in our Magazine, I cannot for an instant
218 THE GRAND ASSIZE
surrender the keystone of our edifice, without which it
would crumble to the ground. If a single concession is
made to our beloved enemies in this respect, I would
answer by an argument which I hold to be invincible,
and which takes the form of a question namely, Where
should we be? Concerning the fate of the millions of
infants who have never been subjected to baptism, with-
out consulting them, I can only refer to certain passages
of the Holy Fathers, and cheerfully add this to the mys-
teries to which I have alluded.
"I would confess that I may perhaps have failed in
technical obedience to my superiors, but here I would
dwell on the fact that I did not agree with them, and,
though this may suggest personal inspiration, I would
take refuge in the special privileges of my office. I
hope that I have never been found wanting in rudeness
when it was my duty, but I lived in troublous times,
when the laity threatened to encroach on our sacred
precincts, and when it was necessary to keep them in
their place. On the present occasion I am surprised
and even hurt at being arraigned before one in whom
I am unable to see the emblems of an authority com-
petent to deal with such as myself. I should have
thought that I had the right to be tried by one of my
peers, but I wish to accept my disappointment with a
good grace, and to listen with becoming respect to your
admonitions."
The advocate braced himself for a great effort, not
forgetting that the issues of the soul were far greater
than those connected with the material side of life. It
THE CLERIC 219
was strange that his friendship with the accused was
not more intimate, and, though he undertook his task
with a certain sympathy, it lacked the personal touch
apparent in some of the more human and, on paper,
more criminal cases.
"I have never known the prisoner well," he said,
"though I have seldom been absent from him, and he
has made it a constant rule to quote me as his inward
monitor and guide. Possibly I may be prejudiced, but,
having taken genuine pleasure in our early companion-
ship, as the years went on I regret to say that I lost
heart, and felt comparatively frozen out as his humane-
ness decreased. Nevertheless I am bound to be a wit-
ness to his virtues, and to an unselfishness bordering
on self-immolation. From morning to night he was
engaged in good works, which rendered him impregnable
on the part of those who felt the fallacy of his position;
but the meekness of his bearing and his willingness to
receive rebuke disarmed his opponents, and rendered him
a subject for adulation among the devout.
"I would not imply that this involved compliance
with what was not allowed by the trade union to which
he belonged, but the semblance of great lowliness was
mistaken for the genuine article. That he had the es-
sence of these attributes at the outset I have not a shadow
of doubt, nor was he aware that by degrees they became
an advertisement, to the disgust of many who were striv-
ing to rid themselves of their own egoism without making
any fuss. I myself have often been enthused by the un-
worldliness and severity to self exhibited by the prisoner,
220 THE GRAND ASSIZE
until the fateful kink of clericalism displayed itself and
drove me into obscurity. I could tell of deeds of devo-
tion which put his critics to shame, and, so far as morals
were concerned, of a blameless life which was a protest
against the slackness of his age. His disposition had an
extremely sweet side when he forgot his office, while
his tenderness to the sick or dying was phenomenal. He
spared himself no pains where there was any sign of
trouble, and, although it is true that he was domineering
and never lost the manner of a schoolmaster, he thought
nothing of sharing his meals, sitting up at night, and
wearing himself out on behalf of others. He reproached
himself for the slightest dereliction of duty, and would
have looked on a 'comfortable living,' or the least per-
sonal indulgence as a fall from grace.
"His mere presence cleansed the streets in his imme-
diate neighbourhood, and the purity of his face inspired
many to aim at holiness. Legends of charity and kind-
ness gathered round him, till he was credited with mir-
aculous powers by those who esteemed him as something
more than man. He preferred to live in a class beneath
his own, feeling that, like a Brahmin, he could afford
to disregard social distinctions. His knowledge of the
world was nil, which may account for his contractions.
So fascinated was he with mediaevalism that he chose to
wear blinkers, and to persuade himself that progress was
an invention of the devil. He really believed that he
and his ilk had the key of knowledge, though an in-
spection of his library showed that his reading was lim-
ited to theological works. Allowance must be made for
THE CLERIC 221
his combative instinct, which caused him to rejoice in a
discussion as a soldier longs for a scrap. His hatred of
heresy approached a mania, though it would be difficult
to define what heresy meant for him. His master passion
was the salvation of the world, but if that world refused
to be saved according to his methods, he consigned it to
hell without a qualm, and his lack of hesitation prompted
many to adore one who was certain of the unknowable.
"If my remarks have been caustic and my praise
problematical, it is because there is such virtue in the
accused, and I am so disturbed by the net result of his
influence on any country, that I can only leave the ad-
justment to your Lordship, whose charity covers a mul-
titude of faults which were never intended, taking into
account every effort, however misguided, to bring about
the Kingdom of Heaven among men."
The demeanour of the Judge recalled that of a parent
to a child who had not understood. He felt no anger,
since the heart of the accused was in tune with his own,
and in his talk he took it for granted that the mistakes
of this would-be martyr were traceable more to ignorance
and the tyranny of tradition than to himself.
"I should be glad if you could explain to me how your
conception of life corresponded to facts as you found
them, and how you proposed to deal with the tragedies
of existence by your teaching."
"I carefully abstained from facing the former, and,
as to the latter, I was brought up to consider that my
duty began and ended with insistence on my particular
faith."
222 THE GRAND ASSIZE
"When you say brought up, did you always occupy
this position?"
"By no means, having been much the same as others
and enjoying the world to the full, until I was mercifully
instructed in a training which employed the interval
between the University and my ordination."
"Was it then that you left your manhood behind you
and learned to adopt a casuistry foreign to your nature
and to the instincts of your country?"
"My sole answer is that we were carefully and rigidly
educated in doctrines that had been handed down from
time immemorial."
"Did you compare the longevity of other creeds with
that of your own? "
"I can't say it occurred to me, but I looked on
the world as immersed in darkness until our Light
came."
"What was your attitude, for instance, towards the
Jews?"
"I pitied them and always felt a personal aversion to
them, though I supported missions designed to assist
them to a knowledge of the truth."
"How would you have known your special truth unless
it had come to you through them?"
"That is an awkward question, and I must confess that
their Psalms have been one of my greatest helps."
"Did not the law of evolution come home to you, and
did it not appear possible that the relation of your creed
to theirs (from your point of view) might be as the full-
blown rose to the bud?"
THE CLERIC 223
"An interesting metaphor, though a trifle humbling
to those of us who have had the special revelation."
"What would you say of Buddha, Mahomet, and other
well-known names in trie development of religious
thought?"
"I am afraid that they were sadly misled, and have al-
ways looked on them as outside the fold."
"Have you ever read the Koran?"
"Most certainly not, though I have heard that it con-
tains passages unfit for publication."
"Are you interested in other religions which affect
millions of your fellow-beings?"
"I think it dangerous to dabble in such literature, and
have rigorously avoided what might tempt me to doubt."
"Would you say there were many religions? "
"Unfortunately, yes."
"How many gods would you say there were? "
"Only one."
"Then how can there be more than one religion? "
"You are getting too abstruse, and I should be more at
home if we were talking about our own, when I could sup-
ply you with all the parochial details you might require."
"How did you stand towards science, and the difficul-
ties which assailed the rising generation in believing what
you insisted on as not only proven, but incapable of
expansion?"
"I never ceased to warn the young against any growth
in knowledge which might shake them in the faith of their
forefathers."
"Were you much given to the study of your own Sa-
224 THE GRAND ASSIZE
cred Books, bound together in a Volume which you must
have held exceeding dear?"
"I confess that I preferred a compilation of prayers
made by the authorities centuries ago, though it en-
tailed regular reading of portions of the Volume referred
to at stated hours."
"I understand; but, to put it plainly, was it this Book
which coloured your life and was at the back of all your
actions, or was it the Church to which you belonged, and
which made you regard that Book as secondary to its
commands?"
"I would assert that it was the latter rather than the
former by which I regulated my days, being opposed to the
theory that these Sacred Books should be in the hands of
the ignorant unless interpreted by the clergy."
"Did your mother bring you up like that?"
"I cannot say she did."
"What was the result of her living on the Book? "
"The most beautiful life I can imagine, and one which,
I regret to say, I rarely see nowadays."
"Did you positively believe that the majority of each
generation would be doomed to eternal flames?"
"I am afraid I did, but now you put it so baldly, I
expect it was no more than a pious opinion, though I still
hold that, if there be a God, there must also be a Hell."
"In that I agree with you, and all who forget the
former find themselves in the latter, though its nature
and duration for them may be otherwise than your
dogmas implied. It would be interesting to know what
you thought of the various forms of your own creed
THE CLERIC 225
which were aiming at the same goal, but through other
methods."
"I fear they were anathema to me and, at times, even
worse namely, vulgar."
"What would you say was the strongest influence in
your official life, apart from the devotional side, on which
I have no wish to cast any discredit? "
"We had an excellent newspaper, which effected our
union and sustained our zeal in an admirable manner."
"Was it conducive to the spirit of charity?"
"On the contrary, or its sales would have gone down
and we should have run the risk of hopelessly agreeing
with one another."
"How can you associate such an enterprise with the
Founder of your Creed, whose object was to bring men
together and make them love each other, as the sole mark
of His discipleship? "
"The journal alluded to often spoke of such union, on
condition that its readers adhered to its own plan. But,
if there had been no controversy, our lives would have
been dreary in the extreme, and, save for its weekly pub-
lication, we might have forgotten that we were continu-
ally at war."
"At war with whom?"
"With our fellow disciples who would not accept our
shibboleths."
"Would you not call that a sinister influence of the
worst kind?"
"It was patronised by the holiest among us, and con-
ducted on strictly business principles."
226 THE GRAND ASSIZE
"Did it often refer to the Book which I mentioned? "
"I thought I had explained that, if once this Book were
read and believed in by all, such a paper could not have
existed, and, from a party point of view, we should have
become disorganized."
"Did it never occur to you that such narrowness was
fatal to bringing about this communion? "
"I was of opinion that this was alone obtainable by
the observance of one set of rules, drawn up by holy men
of old and insisted on without exception, however large
the majority of those who refused, to their own destruc-
tion, to accept them."
"Was your mind made up on the subject of marriage,
or did you consider the multitudes who suffered through
terrible mistakes and were chained together to their mut-
ual damnation? "
"I was glad to think that when the magic words had
been spoken by us, who thus acquired dominion over
the home, no change was possible, and any reconsidera-
tion of the question was out of the power of those con-
cerned."
And so on and so on ad infinitum.
The Judge saw that to convince the accused was hope-
less, but in giving his judgment he preserved the same
sense of pity for his utter lack of imagination, and for the
gross conceit which characterised him.
"I am more grieved than I can say at the attitude
which you still maintain, but you are not so much to be
condemned as those who twisted your nature, when
you were hardly more than a boy, and turned you into
THE CLERIC 227
a machine for their own ends. That men are prone to
idolatry goes without saying, and there is little difference
between those who worship the letter of a book and
those who adore a piece of bread which they affect to be
able to change into the Creator Himself. Both may have
a considerable element of truth, but it is incumbent on
all to realise that the letter killeth but the spirit giveth
life. It is pitiable that you should not have been more
intent on walking in the footsteps of Him whom you
call Master. He was crucified not by the bad, but by
the religious of His day, because He pointed out all that
was involved in what they professed to believe, though
for them it had become hardly more than formalism.
"True, the power of your uniform among the masses,
especially in the villages, is enormous, but it is on the
wane. The reason is that you over-magnify your office,
that you are not so simple or so humble as you appear,
and that, when it comes to plain loving, you act it out
rather less than the average man. This wretched in-
ternecine warfare is ruining your cause, as also your
exaggerated interest in questions which have no refer-
ence to life. When it is a matter of genuine trouble,
such as abounds on every side, thoughtful men have no
use for those who are concerned with points that have
no more bearing on actualities than the distinctions
between Tweedledum and Tweedledee.
"You are too few to afford to fall out, and, if you would
inspire men, you should preserve a united front against
the world, the flesh, and the devil, which are your only
real enemies. Your heart should be as big as the uni-
228 THE GRAND ASSIZE
verse, and you should remember that all souls, whatever
their belief, are equally dear in the sight of Him who
brought them into being. You have no right to domi-
nate your fellows, or to insist that their arrangements
should be subject in every detail to your behests. Surely,
since you took what you call 'Orders/ your duty is to
take them from those set over you, and it is nothing less
than wicked to aid and abet the superstitious tendencies
of men by claiming supernatural powers which you have
never possessed.
"If it is true that confession is necessary, it should be
mutual. It is iniquitous that you should spoil the har-
mony of households, or get under your thumb young
people at an impressionable age, making it well-nigh
impossible for them ever to regain that glorious heritage
of liberty for which they were intended. You will dis-
cover that, unless you allow men to do their own think-
ing, you will soon enough disappear, and, if I might
advise you, it would be to read the Book of which you
have spoken almost with contempt, though, if you really
knew it, and if its spirit had entered into your being,
it would do more to bring about genuine religion than
any other factor.
"Do not think that I underrate your special difficulties,
or the excellence of the personal life which you led, but
I deprecate this introduction of a caste system on which
you pride yourself, and which has proved a pest wherever
it has prevailed. I regard such journals as you have
spoken of with supreme sadness, and it would be a wise
rule to refuse to read them, lest bitterness should be culti-
THE CLERIC 229
vated to the hurt of the common cause. If reduced to
facts, it amounts to making money by doing the devil's
work of dividing the religiously inclined, than which it
is difficult to conceive a more blame-worthy proceeding.
"As for the other religions, which are more ancient
and whose adherents are more numerous than your own,
I can only pray that you may treat them with profound
respect, remembering that this one God, whom you
concede knows best, has elected to speak to the con-
science of each in language he can understand. If
your Master means anything, He means universal, all-
embracing Love, which longs to bring men to the Divine
Heart, by whatever paths; and it is only by a life modelled
on such an ideal that you will win the world. You will
never do it by dragooning or lecturing or scolding, but
only by unvaried service and by allowing to each their
personal freedom, though always holding up the highest
standards, for which you are exceptionally equipped.
You will do more harm than you can guess by permitting
people to worship you, whereas, if you wish permanently
to help your generation, you will step down from your
platform and, on a level with your fellows, from whom
you also have much to learn, gently persuade them to-
wards loving God, which more are desirous of doing than
you have any notion.
"I have no penance to impose, except that you go
back to the world as a wealthy squire with a wife and a
large family. Your passion will still be the good of the
people on your estate, and though a layman, you shall
take on you to preach the Gospel and in every possible
230 THE GRAND ASSIZE
way to bring them to the only source of true happiness.
In this you will be thwarted by the parson (your own
nominee), who shall act the local pope and shall
denounce you as far more guilty than if you were the
conventionally wicked man. He himself being ignorant
of the meaning of salvation, and limited to providing
husks for his children, as he shall call your tenants, will
declare it to be outrageous that you should presume to
offer them living bread hi words which they can under-
stand. As time goes on you will be driven to the con-
clusion that only a converted clergy have the right or
the power to preach the Gospel, and if they are such,
they not only allow the direct action of the Spirit on
the hearts of all who have been born again, but are deeply
grateful for the fact. Your money will be thrown in
your face, and, however much you may suffer within,
your martyrdom will be unrecognised, and you will be
credited with trespassing on the preserves of the priest-
hood, till the whole business nauseates you and you
almost despair of making the brotherhood understand.
Under such circumstances your discipline will be, with-
out sacrificing one iota of the best that is in you, to carry
out in all simplicity the essence of the doctrines you have
always taught. This will be for you the severest pun-
ishment, and it will take you all your time to put those
lessons into practice."
CHAPTER XVIII
THE PARTY POLITICIAN
HIS bearing was that of a man perfectly at his ease
and convinced that he was dealing with the
affairs of the universe. He represented the
union of a perpetual smile and studied solemnity result-
ing from long practice, and his wealth of manner made
it difficult to believe that he could ever be simple.
Withal, there was a coolness of demeanour and lack of
candour which told of repression, and of his having be-
come more of a machine than a man. Not that he did
not show every token of courtesy and readiness to please,
but, if you had wanted a favour, the Partisan was the
last person to whom you would have gone unless with
the offer of votes in exchange. He had a sangfroid which
bid fair not to be easily upset, and, if peace and war
hung in the balance, he would have remained unmoved.
The effect was both alluring and displeasing, while
you would have been hard put to it where to place him
socially. The result was a masterpiece of unreality,
yet you could not fail to detect lines denoting power,
and a flash in the eyes telling of enthusiasm without
inspiration. In any case unwonted interest was aroused
as to the causes productive of such a type, whose very
231
232 THE GRAND ASSIZE
presence chilled the air and dealt a death-blow to schemes
for the country's good. Many other characters would
doubtless have been classed as more wicked than this
astute spinner of plates, but for few was it harder to
feel any love. He observed, as was his habit, the eti-
quette of the moment, suggesting that, so far as he was
concerned, everything was in order. He had served
on so many committees that his soul had been reduced
to a vanishing point, and he bowed with a stereotyped
pleasantness to the Judge, whose expression startled him
into becoming almost sincere.
The probing of the heart was a new experience to this
propounder of platitudes, who had grown to regard all
emotions as detrimental to the dignity of a great assem-
bly. The idea of such a person as himself being sub-
jected to the test of truth was a novel situation, the
more painful as the verdict rested not with his constitu-
ents, whom he had learned to manage, but with one
concerned with the conscience of those brought before
him. All this slowly unfolded itself to the prisoner, who
hated scenes of any kind, but who at last took in the
gravity of a position which no official urbanity could
affect.
"I am here in a Court of Law," he began, "to which
I am not unaccustomed, to make a statement of my
career, but I trust that, though plain speaking is highly
unpleasant and has for years been foreign to my nature.
it may prove satisfactory. I regret to say that, when I
took up politics as a trade, personal ambition was my
prime motive. I was attracted not only by the publicity
THE PARTY POLITICIAN 233
which it promised, but by its honours and rewards. In
my younger days patriotism was for me a strong
ideal, but I soon found it too expensive, as it in-
volved the martyrdom of ' the mean, ' for which I was
not prepared.
"Coming from a stock which required to raise itself,
and being devoid of the gambling spirit, I put this at-
tractive picture from me, though I satisfied my scruples
by the subterfuge that when I had made a great name
I might use it for the general weal. I inwardly scouted
the theory of sacrifice, and could never adopt literally
the legend of One who, after being condemned for a
criminal, occupied a throne. The dreams of my youth
were those of glory without previous shame. The Gos-
pel, though the pathos of the book never failed to touch
me, would have altered all my schemes if I had gone
further than admiring the Hero. Politically He inter-
ested me, but, though I saw how easily His Name might
be used on a platform, the more I read of Him, the more
I became convinced that He could not be claimed by
either side. This is why I laid the volume down, as it
would have been an awkward companion in the journey
which I intended to make.
" Fortunately for me I had a ready tongue, what is
called an excellent address, a heart thoroughly in order,
and a minimum of conscience, so I started well. I saw
plainly that I could only make headway by adopting
certain shibboleths, and I soon found that honesty would
have landed me on a cross bench, since I discovered
myself to be in agreement on many points with both
234 THE GRAND ASSIZE
sides. To such ridiculous suggestions I gave the quietus,
but this did not prevent my indulging in fine sentiments
about every consideration being merged in the salvation
of the Empire. Before I knew it the Vox Populi be-
came for me the Vox Dei, experts on the subject hav-
ing taught me that the truest skill lay in detecting the
same, while professing to lead it.
"In the meantime I avoided contact with anything
which might prove an annoyance, for health became in-
creasingly important, and I had to keep myself in perfect
preservation. Party system prevented any attack of
nerves. The more automatic I became, the easier it
was to consort privately with my opponents, each of us
being equally callous, yet hugely philosophical over our
good cheer. We became adepts at simulated enthusiasm,
and virtually entered into a bargain as to which side
should be in or out, almost on the half-time principle in a
match. The item of country retired into comparative
insignificance, except now and again when we blazed out
into pretended fury, to the admiration of the masses, who
enjoyed the farce, backing us as supporters are apt to do
their favourites in the ring. We had not the remotest
intention of hurting one another, and, when the contest
was over, we discussed the matter with perfect amity
and pocketed our fees.
"However despicable this may appear, any other
method was impossible. Had we been out for genuine
service, we should have found it difficult to keep the ball
rolling, since we should have arrived at our conclusions
and have had to get to solid work sooner than was agree-
THE PARTY POLITICIAN 235
able. I admit also having thwarted movements for
which I had deep respect from the moment that I found
they interfered with party plans, allowing others to
suffer for principles which I secretly admired, while I
openly denounced those who held them as offenders
against law and order. I feel unable to confess, even
here, to the tricks of which I, in common with many of
my companions, was guilty, but I think I touched my
lowest when I mercilessly trod on the defenceless and,
while so doing, was hailed as a saviour of my country.
"No one need tell me of the heroes in the same House
who were bearing the burden and heat of the day and
who were never mentioned. When it served my purpose
to deride them I did so, with an assumed warmth which
procured for me the gratitude of the public. I feel
ashamed to recall conversations I had with my wife
after these exhibitions, when she strove to allay my mis-
givings with the thought of the honours which she
might eventually share as the price of my un worthiness.
Possibly if I had been alone in the world, I should have
thrown in my lot with the real men to whom my honour
inclined me, but, though I was officially opposed to fe-
male domination, I am by no means sure that my poli-
tics were not somewhat coloured by home influence. If
I were asked whether I repent, I should say that, having
become insensible to the spur of noble impulse, I cannot
weep unless the word has been passed round from my
leaders. I realise as a politician that I misused one of
the greatest trusts which can be put into a man's hands,
and from my heart I wish some chance of redemption
236 THE GRAND ASSIZE
might be afforded me, though, if I were to repent pub-
licly, I should not be heard of again.
"With a wave of sincerity which takes me off my feet,
I accuse myself of having been an eloquent charlatan,
and nothing more. Unintentionally I have been ruined
by my gifts, while the world looms larger for me than
ever it used to do. The seductions of good living, the
snares of notoriety, and the fascination of the limelight
have caused me to forget the zeal in which I once in-
dulged. When I recall how easily I was affected by
pain and how I burned to become the champion of every
noble cause, I hang down my head with shame to think
to what I have reduced myself in the pursuit of power.
Witnessing as I did that main principles were at a dis-
count, and that everything fell flat unless rivalry was
imported into it, I saw that there was no place for meek-
ness in one who desired to get to the top of the ladder.
This is why I sounded the battle-cry of Party and did
my best to make my voice ring throughout the land,
though I was not half so earnest nor half so keen as when
I knelt in our simple home and pleaded that I might one
day become a patriot. It is clear to me what might
have been accomplished had I not been moved by ego-
ism, and I trust that, after hearing my tardy admissions,
you will indicate a way in which I may be allowed to
prove my devotion to the land of my birth, which still
holds the highest place in my affections."
The advocate in his address betrayed more emotion
than had been shown by his client, except at the last, and,
in defending the Partisan, said: "I would preface my
THE PARTY POLITICIAN 237
remarks by stating that I have always been the accused's
best friend, though it is hard to recognise in the speaker
the boy who was so lovable. He has become hardened
almost out of knowledge, but the feelings which he de-
nies, though dormant, are more powerful than he imag-
ines. I remember how he dreamed of laying down his
life to expiate the wrongs which reason told him demand
a substitute in every age. In those days he was an im-
mature Curtius, asking for a gulf into which to fling
himself, and so clear-sighted was he that he detected
precisely where it yawned. It was not till later that to
his distorted vision this gulf appeared to have closed to-
gether and to be carpeted with flowers, some of which he
always wore as a token that all was well.
"I would ask your Lordship's indulgence in dealing
with his public life, with its starving and gradual numb-
ing of moral sensibility. I would call attention to the
great danger of its rewards, and to the weight of its re-
sponsibilities, which, if seriously entered upon, have often
proved too great for human endurance. The inconsis-
tencies confessed by the Partisan are intelligible when it
is taken into consideration how rarely any, short of a
genius, can afford to be himself if he desires ultimately
to succeed. The question of country receded all too
easily in favour of party when what had been originally
his vocation degenerated into a profession. I would
argue that he has been punished severely for this in hav-
ing lost a joy for which nothing could atone, and having
forfeited a rapture which is the perquisite of the disin-
terested. This calls for compassion, and I know that
238 THE GRAND ASSIZE
you will not be misled by a surface success which,
for a man whose eyes have been opened, brings its own
doom.
"The natural impulses of the accused were higher
than those he has deplored, but, so ruthless is the effect
of party and such is the price of exploiting the name of
Fatherland for private gain, that its victims cease to be
ashamed of its betrayal, provided this may add to their
distinction. I have seen the Partisan, on his way home
after a division, despising himself as he was cheered by
the crowd whom he had been willing to spoil by his or-
atory in order to gain their suffrages, but conscious in his
own heart that, if he had told them the truth, they would
have become his enemies. At least he would have felt
a man. I intercede for one whose real self is good, on the
ground that, had he lived in other times, when money
counted for less and ideas for more, he would have be-
come apostolic. Had there been call for pluck, in which
he was never deficient, to defend hearth and home, with-
out distinction of party and without room for hypocrisy,
he would have been among the first to shed his blood on
the battlefield."
The Judge regarded the accused with respect for the
brilliant promise of his early life, but with sadness at the
clouds by which it had been eclipsed. He looked on the
Partisan with infinite sorrow when he thought how the
affairs of the city might become a game for personal ends.
He figured millions whose welfare largely depended on the
motives of legislators, and it came to him that, unless
there was something more than oratory or ability at the
THE PARTY POLITICIAN 239
back of their words, these would die on the passing
breeze. He recalled exceptions who had been as con-
spicuous for piety as for eloquence, nor was it surprising
that they had swayed the hearts of the people as wind
the standing corn. Whatever their keenness as poli-
ticians while they lived, so eminently in touch with
Heaven had they been that their party spirit had long
been forgotten, but their names were world- wide and im-
perishable. This simple man, with no honours attach-
ing, but with an unbounded love for mankind, was deeply
moved as he strove to bring back the prisoner to the
visions of his early days. His desire was to reproduce in
him his secret longing to become a public benefactor,
which he had endangered from the moment he had first
spoken of it.
The following conversation passed between them :
"Was it ambition which led you to enter public life,
or was there an admixture of impulses, such as the desire
to raise your family, and to win the praise of those whom
you most respected?"
"I was mainly influenced by the former, though my
temptation is to plead the latter, which doubtless played
a certain part, and possibly the strongest, after I had
won my spurs."
"How far were you affected by money in taking up
politics?"
"Not originally, but later it became a great incentive,
until I was willing to sell my soul for office, seeing that
otherwise I could not keep up the position I had
reached."
240 THE GRAND ASSIZE
"How would you account for your change of views,
which, at the time, was tantamount to a scandal?"
"I regret to say that I should never have crossed the
House unless I had been assured that my chances would
be improved by so doing. The fact is that I soon looked
at every question, not from the point of view of what I
felt, but of what I persuaded myself the country wanted.
Given such an attitude, it became almost immaterial to
me on which side I was, though I hate myself now more
than I can say for leaving my party when it was in
low water. I worked, however, immensely hard for the
Opposition, having detected the turn of the tide which
was sweeping it into power."
"Did you grow to be convinced of its sincerity and
become genuinely converted? "
"I can hardly say that I did. By that time I had
ceased to be much interested in aught save party tri-
umph. If I was fully satisfied that our measures were
for the public good, I was still more influenced by the
fact that it was we who had initiated them."
"Were you hurt by the woes of the poor, the disad-
vantages of women, the discrepancies between private
convictions and public statements, and much that, to a
sensitive person, would have come perilously near to
falsehood?"
"Possibly, to a certain degree, but I was a public man,
and what my party decided, that I accepted, without
going into sophistries which would render politics intol-
erable."
"Did you love your country, through talking about
THE PARTY POLITICIAN 241
which you made your fortune and achieved a standing
out of all proportion to your merits?"
"Yes, in a vague sort of way; at least I was always
ready to abuse the foreigner, if it was in the air, unless
there was some Entente on hand, when it would have
been absurd to look too closely into the morale of the
proceedings."
"Did you pose at all as a religionist?"
"Now and again. If I remember rightly, I was more
than once quoted as a champion of the orthodox Church,
while at another time I was hailed as a liberator of the
oppressed from the chains which she had forged through
ages of superstition and fraud. Needless to say I was
on different sides on these occasions."
"Did you never feel rebuked as you witnessed the self-
sacrifice of others for the truths you had once adored? "
"Certainly. What I do not seem able to explain
to myself is that I daily became less susceptible of a loy-
alty which would have landed me in a minority of one,
if I had been true to the inward voices."
"How did you reconcile your conscience to the subter-
fuge of pretending to lead public opinion while being led
by it, as appears in your confession?"
"When I heard such a doctrine for the first time from
a prominent statesman, I spurned it for what it was
worth, yet I not only grew accustomed to it but soon
became one of its foremost exponents."
"Were you not ashamed to regulate your sentiments
by your audiences, while you knew that you were deny-
ing your private revelations?"
242 THE GRAND ASSIZE
"I confess that I thought only of my victories, and
so intoxicated was I with applause that I should have
thrust aside everything that threatened my place as an
idol of the people."
"Would you say that, after this brief examination,
you are reduced to anything like repentance? "
"Such an expression would, I think, be premature, but
1 begin to see the unwisdom of my plan, not so much
from personal sorrow, as from the fact that my influence
was superficial, and that my name is bound to be for-
gotten."
"And why should it be forgotten? "
"Because the foundation was wrong, and because in
my inmost heart I am conscious that, if I had had the
courage of my convictions, my country would have stood
first and I should have been content to be unknown."
" What is it you care for most at the present moment? "
"The welfare of the poor, which I have exploited for
my own purposes, and the justice which I denied because
I held it would not pay."
"Would you be glad to return and, in the same place,
stand up for those same convictions, though they landed
you on the cross?"
"Forgive my answer, but I have had more than
enough of public life, preferring, if you can so arrange it,
that, without further risk to my vanity, I may serve that
same country without mention of my name."
The Judge regarded the Partisan with respect for his
early intentions. There was little anger in his words,
knowing as he did that the accused had been morally
THE PARTY POLITICIAN 243
mad for a series of years, and he measured to a nicety
the anguish of a public person in being shorn of his self-
esteem. He did not lose sight of the cost of his con-
fession to the prisoner, therefore he looked on it as almost
a sufficient sentence that he should have been in the
dock. Such consideration on the part of the Judge was
enhanced by the fact that he himself had tasted fleeting
praise, and had the unique gift of being made all things
to all men. For the moment the Partisan was to him as
Dagon fallen from his pedestal. This is why he was un-
usually tender, as also because he knew that the heart
of the man before him was in the right place, and that the
best democracy was the ground colour of his being. So
careful had he been in this regard that he had long felt
the need of being alone, and, after any days of special
achievement, he would consecrate the nights to commun-
ing with Heaven that he might retain a sense of his own
dependence.
"Further rebuke," he said, "would only serve to re-
vive the combative in your nature, and to render you
more aggressive. The thunders of Sinai could never
meet your case, but coals of fire are needed to burn away
the alloy which accrued from your contact with the
crowd. Into that crowd you stepped from the shelter
of your home to do battle with wrong in the cause of the
oppressed, but the very gratitude which acclaimed you
as deliverer proved your temptation and changed you
beyond recognition. In face of success it is impossible
to retain integrity without humility, and your fault lies
in your utter forgetfulness of the only power calculated
244 THE GRAND ASSIZE
to keep you lowly in spite of your triumphs. The real-
isation of your present outlook, compared to the stand-
ard with which you started, must bring with it a remorse
to which I have no desire to add, but, with ah 1 respect, I
would convey to you what you have lost in your so-
called gain.
"When I think of the weak you have abandoned, of
the words with which you have juggled, of the promises
which you never fulfilled, and of the needs which you
have used as steps whereby to mount to heights of your
own devising, I tremble that the public conscience should
be subject to the inconsistencies of its heroes. Not that
you do not love your nation, or ever loved it half so much
as now, when the possibility of proving it has been re-
moved from you. No one knows better than yourself
that what you require is withdrawal from the public
gaze. You must be unknown if your self-consciousness
is to be eradicated. The ills which have furnished you
with a subject for eloquence must be transferred from
the realm of theory to that of fact. You must sample
them on your own account, and for a while confine your-
self to dealing with the unit, if you are to become less glib
in the description of them and less airy in your pledges
as to their removal. To speak, even, of the public good
is a danger to you, but you must privately pay the price
of a sacrifice far more expensive than the verbiage in
which you have been too prolific. You must know ex-
perimentally what you knew only on paper, if you are to
approach the same high task without preaching to others
and yourself being cast away.
THE PARTY POLITICIAN 245
"You need not despair, for you have been gifted with
rare material, and if there is no waste in nature, still less
is there any in the remodelling of character. You were
intended to lead and lead you shall, but it will be in
other directions than those into which you have been
diverted by the will o' the wisp of self, under the aspect
of glory. When you have been sufficiently trained, you
will resume your position at the head of your troops, but
amongst them there will be neither uniforms nor medals.
They will be mainly composed of the helpless, the dis-
enfranchised, and the downtrodden, so that you will be
jeered at for the rabble behind you. You shall become
enamoured of forlorn hopes, though you will cease to
use the word when engaged on the thing itself.
"Tired you may be, worn out, and in all probability
despised; but the only honours you then shall covet
will be the lines on your face and the scars which you
shall undoubtedly receive. Once more you shall be
thrilled at the story of a disappearance by which Rome
was saved from her enemies, and you shall gain some-
thing more than admiration for a Man Who knew no
party compared to His country, which for Him em-
braced the world. Few characters shall touch such a
height of joy when the Cross is no longer amongst your
'properties' but has become your own property."
CHAPTER XIX
LA CROUPIERE
A MODERN type appeared in the dock. She was
preternaturally calm, and it was a question
whether she was alive or not, being in perfect
health. Never had there been such an instance of suc-
cessful unreality, but her effect was glacial, and the at-
traction she exercised recalled the legend of Medusa.
The cruelty of the lady was effectually disguised, and
there was nothing to prevent a stranger from regarding
her with unfeigned admiration. She represented the
last word in egoism, being uninterested in aught which
did not begin and end with herself. She created at first
the reverse impression, as if she were spoiling for a chance
of service. Though she might have been reckoned un-
usually passionate, truth to tell she was devoid of heart.
Her costume was perfect, no pains having been spared
to turn out a masterpiece of simplicity and seductiveness.
Her passive features showed no trace of anything so
underbred as emotion, though she could instantly put
into her eyes untold depths of feeling and tenderness.
She was a model of technical chastity, and led one to
believe oneself to be in the presence of a remarkably
clever woman, whom one would later have discovered
246
LA CROUPIERE 247
to be extremely shallow. So little did she give herself
away that she might have been taken for an ingenue;
calculation, which was her forte, did not reveal itself.
It was hard to realise that she stood for one of the strong-
est, subtlest, and most dangerous products of dollarism,
and, though her species had no doubt existed since the
world began, it would seem to have been perfected by
the science of self-preservation.
"I rise," she said, with perfect aplomb, "to make not
so much a confession as a declaration, though I might
have felt an impulse towards the former, did I not re-
gard life as an affair in which each is bound never to
lose a point by admission of wrong. Frankly, I envy
the penitent and can imagine the relief experienced, but
from the time I started on my own I have posed for a
Virgin Mary, and the pleasure of evil has prospered in my
hands. To explain my mental condition is beyond me,
nor is there any object in discussing it. Unaided and
unprompted by any, I sat down as to a game of cards,
watching my chance until I had annexed most of the
tricks; I also saw that to succeed the player must inva-
riably keep cool, and that everything came to those who
waited.
"My origin may to a certain extent explain the spirit
which animated me. I belonged to a poor and large
family, and was born with the instinct of spending money,
which I set myself to acquire, being careless of any ob-
stacle that might stand in my way. Clearly the item
of a heart, being the chief hindrance to my design, had
to be dispensed with. I was consumed with jealousy as
248 THE GRAND ASSIZE
regards things objective, while the mere thought of
justice in a world which permitted such differences in for-
tune had always appeared to me a gross satire. I stud-
ied charm as one would study music, practising several
hours daily, until I became well known for my pro-
ficiency, but I bided my time and did nothing in a
hurry.
"I married enormous wealth, without caring a jot for
my husband, and went through the form of telling him
so, conscious that this would only irritate him into a de-
termination to compel me to care. Also my coldness
made him the keener, while I was fully aware that his
character was despicable, and that my living with him
would soon become a formality. Events justified the
plans I had laid, and I found myself in a position where
none could say me nay, but where I was not once tripped
up by the temptations which my detractors had prophe-
sied would be my ruin. Naturally I divorced my hus-
band, and, being rich and the innocent party, became
a subject for widespread sympathy. The standard I
adopted was a severe one, and I was looked up to as a
model of outraged virtue. I married again in due
course, informing my new choice, in nearly the same
terms I had used before, that love was impossible to me,
but that, having selected him for his probity and stand-
ing, I would consider the change of my name and the
adorning of his house with my presence, on condition
that no further liberties were allowed. He thought this
an immense honour and went to any lengths in his wor-
ship, until I yielded and became mistress not only of a
LA CROUPIRE 249
social, but of an exclusive and intellectual world pre-
cisely to my taste.
"The wheels were perfectly oiled, and there was no
question of love, while I had obtained two fortunes
without having felt one spark of the divine passion.
My secret was to give nothing, but I headed charity
lists, and arranged my religion on highly organised busi-
ness lines. I surrounded myself with men and women
on the score of their notoriety, thus gaining the reputa-
tion of a collector of successes, each of whom believed
that his or her speciality was the only subject which
appealed to me. Undeniably such a career supplied
enchantment for an epicure, yet I was careful to avoid
any hint of excessive display, save on rare occasions,
when the brilliance of the scene warranted a contrast to
my normal Quakerism. I knew enough philosophy to
avoid over-indulgence in any direction, but prolonged
the sensation of my delights by moderation. Thus I
left the impression of a pietist who was also a patroness
of the arts, and whose mystery was increased by the in-
terest she took in all new movements in the field of spec-
ulation.
"It did not occur to me that I was sinning, in fact
the word never bothered me, and among my friends I
numbered many who adored me, while my servants
looked on me as a being from another world. I was great
at the use of superlatives, but could become frigid
instanter, knowing exactly when not to answer a letter
and when to express myself in redundant language.
I am conscious that men have suffered through my fas-
250 THE GRAND ASSIZE
cination, nor did I care how long the train of victims
became, but I admit, without subterfuge, that unless I
could call forth homage it was a dies non for me. I bat-
tened on adulation, which had become my prime necessity.
"There is not much more to tell, for it would all be in
the same strain, but it may interest you to know that I
was personally pure as snow, and that in my inner circle
were those conspicuous for eloquence or holiness, their
claim on me consisting in the fact that they were con-
spicuous. If you ask whether, in the process, I grew
fond of any, my answer is, No more than of my lap-dog,
which I would have replaced at a moment's notice. This
recital is doubtless by no means pleasant hearing, but it
would be wrong to conclude that I have not done my
part in making the world passable. True that I took
money from a beast, and from another who received no
return, but I spent it better than they would have done,
and my principle was to buy off the disagreeable and
order fresh flowers every day. I cannot recall losing
my temper, for I always had my own way, and it would
be hard to bring a single witness to testify that I had
given them anything but pleasure not that I claim
it as a virtue, for I detested ugliness with all the force
of my being. Having developed the genius of pretend-
ing, I smoothed away the roughness not only in my own
path but in that of hundreds, so that I can imagine no
better scheme on which to pass a pilgrimage which,
otherwise, would have been for me unbearable, and, with
due deference to the supposed Arbiter of our destiny,
one big mistake."
LA CROUPlfiRE 251
It was not easy to associate the thought of an advo-
cate with the prisoner, but he was less disturbed than
at first seemed probable. He, too, differed from his
confreres, and gave the same sense of a new world, out-
side the struggles of conscience or the dilemmas of
honour. In sensibility there are as many varieties as in
climate, so it was not surprising if his arguments were
unusually incisive and frigid for a member of his pro-
fession.
"One holding your Lordship's office, and with an at-
mosphere all your own, must find it difficult," he said,
"to enter into the position of the accused. Her view-
point is radically different from yours, so that she stands
at a disadvantage. Her absence of contrition has its
good side, for, at any rate, there is nothing sentimental
about her strict adherence to facts, and she has accu-
rately described the situation. She can hardly be called
a hypocrite, because she has shown her hand, and the
supreme puzzle presented by her case is that she never
conveyed the notion of badness, or tempted any to
actual wrong. That she was refined, eminently spir-
ituelle, scrupulously clean, and always ornamental, no
one can gainsay; yet it is impossible to deny that her
selfishness was sublime.
"I confess to having constantly been enthralled by her,
and seldom left her without a grave doubt whether she
did not possess the qualities of a saint. Everything
about her contributed to idealism, and she was an enemy
of Satan in so far as she hated dirt and all that was re-
pugnant. Whatever the motives at the back of her
252 THE GRAND ASSIZE
philanthropy, I contend that she did it finely and that
the worship accorded her might have found a worse vent.
To be interesting is a benefaction, and to remain so a
triumph sometimes lacking among the pious. She al-
ways cheered, she always charmed, and she always
chased away hideous facts, which were forgotten in her
presence. She served as an incentive to nobler deeds
than she performed, and more than one sang better,
painted better, worked harder, and even climbed higher
because she sent them away enthused in the direction of
some great achievement. She was a living rebuke to
weakness, to hung-down heads or feeble knees, and what
she undertook she did so well that mere contact with her
made all wish to be first in their own line.
"As I look at your Lordship's face, I am aware that I
seem over-bold, but it is to the good that the accused
made the loafer heartily ashamed and determined to
become something of a lion, if only to get an entree into
her society. However she may have gained her sceptre,
she wielded it with dignity and acquired more power
within her limits than the average queen, who seldom
receives more than formal subservience. If she had a
passion, it was to 'make good,' and, if the epidemic
proved catching, the race is surely indebted to the germ
carrier. Were I asked whether her phases of piety were
genuine or aesthetic, I should say that, given the attain-
ment of her heart's desire, she preferred indulgence in
abstract religion to any other. Mental gymnastics were
for her caviare, and her strongest friendships were pla-
tonic, in which art I have never known her equal. It is
LA CROUPIERE 253
not so much mercy that I crave for the accused as an ex-
planation for which I ask on her behalf, feeling assured
that, though you and she are poles asunder, the love
which dominates your decisions will come to the con-
clusion that the tragedy of her life lay in her conception
of it rather than in its execution."
The following colloquy took place between the Judge
and the prisoner:
"How did you, as a woman, find it possible to receive
money from men whom you did not respect, let alone
love?"
"I doubt if I was a 'woman,' which makes all the
difference."
"Were you troubled as to the way in which the money
was made, which you probably knew perfectly well?"
" I was more affected by the size than the source of the
fortune."
"Would you yourself have made it by the same means,
if it had been in your power? "
"Certainly not, as my good taste would have pre-
vented me, though I did not mind receiving it as a tribute
to my talents."
"Did you ever compare its value with that of honest
love, which you must have recognised as the foundation
of true happiness?"
"I did not hesitate as to the relative value of the two,
but regarded the latter as an illusion and an overrated
article."
"Then it was actually money for which you sold your
soul?"
254 THE GRAND ASSIZE
"I look on it as begging the question to assume that I
had a soul to sell. What I needed and what I meant at
any cost to obtain was supremacy."
"I presume you realised that money in itself could
confer none? "
"That went without saying, but, given the capital to
exploit my charms, I knew that I possessed the attrac-
tions necessary to achieve the rest."
"How low would you have stooped in your enter-
prise?"
"I drew the line at lowliness and love-making, which
I considered to be among the vulgarities."
"How would you explain your interest in good when
you had gained what constituted your throne? "
"I found pleasure in the patronage which it afforded."
"What was your attitude towards God?"
"It served for the nearest thing to sensation of which
I was capable, so long as it was philosophic, but for some
reason the Gospels scared me, and I avoided reading them
as opposed to my plan of living."
"Wherein was the discrepancy most striking?"
"They were too tender for me, while I knew that if
any one with a brain were to fall under the spell of their
Hero, the only outcome would be to love and, loving,
to lose instead of finding one's life."
"Then, in spirit, you deliberately crucified Him
again?"
"It was a case of crucifying either Him or myself,
and I chose the former."
"And this caused you no remorse?"
LA CROUPIERE 255
"On the contrary, this decision brought me all my
glory."
"What was the chief allurement which made it easy
for you to commit this moral murder?"
"I desired to be worshipped. If He or any one else
came in my way, they had to go to the wall, but I must
be worshipped."
"Was this longing always with you?"
"The appetite grew by eating, until the heavens
might have fallen, but I should have been undisturbed
so long as men, and women, too, for the matter of that,
knelt at my feet."
"Were you particular as to their quality?"
"I waxed more so as I became more artistic."
"Was your apparent concern with the affairs of others
fictitious or real? "
"More often the first, but the second in the case of
those who had won through to the top."
" Did you help many in their projects? "
"Only if I thought they were worth while, and if I was
sure of a quid pro quo in my association with them."
"What reason can you give, then, for your own fas-
tidiousness and for your shrinking from the bestial, which
made you a recognised censor of morals? "
"No other than that it pleased me, that I had no
desire to be confused with the common herd, and that I
hated nastiness of every description."
"And when you felt physical pain? "
"I made it as poetical as possible under the circum-
stances."
256 THE GRAND ASSIZE
"Was the pain less existent on that account?"
"If not, no one knew it; it was part of our cult to pre-
tend bravely, and at least it sounded superior."
"What effect on you had the misery of life and the un-
happiness which you must have constantly witnessed?"
"I rebelled against them and did my best to minimise
them."
"Do you consider that your projects succeeded?"
"Better than most, and on the whole I have nothing
to complain of."
"Would you return to the same existence if you had
the option? "
"Unquestionably yes, though with my present knowl-
edge I should arrange my affairs on a larger scale and
probably effect much more."
The Judge stopped the conversation abruptly, as
useless in face of such complacency. His expression
conveyed less anger than despair, for he looked on the
accused as one for whom punishment was meaningless,
because beyond the reach of feeling. He also understood
that any kindness on his part would but feed the vanity
of the subject, and the coldness of the Croupiere com-
municated itself to him, giving to his final remarks a
practical tone which was the only one she could under-
stand.
"Your case," he said, "presents unusual difficulties,
and I find my sense of judgment partially paralysed.
Your name exactly describes the deadliness of your deal-
ing with others, while you remained uncompromised
except by your earlier coups. I listened with close at-
LA CROUPlfiRE 257
tention to your advocate's plea, but cannot endorse his
remarks. The achievements of your subsequent life
and the admiration you have called forth on account of
your cleanness and your charity are of no value to me,
since I am more interested in the why of actions than in
the actions themselves. I regret to tell you that your
underlying purpose has cancelled your high talking, and
that your standing is that of an astute thief. Your vir-
tue, which passed for chastity, was by no means due to
your morals, but to your lack of generosity. It would
have been less immoral to fulfil a bargain than to counter-
feit contempt of the natural, which none knew better
than yourself was involved in the signing of the contract.
For this reason Circe and the courtesan are models
compared to you, though in the social world, which is
blinded by gold dust, you preserved to the last a repu-
tation that avails you nothing in this place.
"Your conduct was as selfish, hard-hearted, and re-,
pellent as can be imagined, nor should I use such words
if it had not been deliberate from first to last. You were
guilty of a capital crime in the slaying of love, who is the
only king, not because your nature made you a rebel,
but because you had either to commit the crime or to
share the sufferings which made him royal. This was
bad enough, but, having killed him, you stripped him of
his garments and wore them for your own, parading
before a public all too ready to use you as an excuse for
mild imitation conducted on less wicked lines.
"If you can enter into anything outside yourself, you
will see that nothing more pernicious can happen to a
258 THE GRAND ASSIZE
woman than to elect to trample on the heart, coupled
with the use of feminine attractions which only excess of
heart can palliate. The sphere of your influence had
hardly any limit, and has done much, even in the re-
ligious world, to evolve a type which expatiates on its
promises but regards its penalties as a myth. It has
been instrumental in establishing what is known as ' the
marriage market,' and in producing among the young
those who excite to the point of surrender, without
losing their heads for an instant, until they have secured
a ring and its attendant advantages.
"The semblance of good which was the chief weapon
in your armoury is now being commonly adopted by the
lowest and most vulgar, who thereby entrap the un-
wary, and, what is worse, the devotional, into thinking
that they have found an object for their chivalrous
abandonment. This is the more painful because when a
woman begins to know the value of gold, she begins to lose
her sex, and if she continues in such a course her punish-
ment is that she becomes petrified. Without failing to
note the value of your refinement and your indifference
to pain, I would impress on you that you can no more
know the first without the second than alloy can be got
rid of without fire. Hence I have denounced what to my
thinking is more virulent atheism than that of many who
are driven to deny God through an impotent sympathy
with their fellow men. Yours creates an abomination
of desolation that spoils your age and results in a cyni-
cism calling for pitiless retribution.
"Nothing remains for you except that you be driven
LA CROUPlfiRE 259
from among men, that you have the heart of a beast
given you for a while, which, though regrettable, is
better than that of a stone; that you be deposed from
your state, that your glory be taken from you, and that
you be avoided by all as belonging to a lower creation,
until the time comes when you lift up your eyes to heaven,
when your understanding returns to you, and you dis-
cover that you are nothing. Then, but not till then,
you will commence to be something, and you shall be
found weeping bitterly, but the tears shall bring about
your salvation in making of you a woman.
" Gradually your heart shall be reborn, and you shall
eventuate the opposite of your present. Without any
unnecessary relapse into the lower side, you shall bow
your head to the only way, which God knew best when
He made the world. You shall find that, whatever the
direction of your days, which shall be arranged by your
temperament, your chief characteristic shall be that of
giving and then of retirement. Be content. After the
transformation which I have sketched out, you will be
enabled to help your family for the first time namely,
by the silence of your sacrifice."
CHAPTER XX
THE TRAITOR 1915 A. D.
HIS face was ashen pale, but its pallor increased as
the Judge recalled some one he had seen before.
The hopelessness of his expression outvied that
of all who had preceded him, so that none, compared
to him, deserved the term desperate. He was as one
who could not be comforted, to whom pity would be
the extreme of torment. Whatever evil he had been
guilty of had been before Heaven, and his agony was
that of the soul. This rendered it the more poignant,
and it was intensified by the figure before him, whom he
feared by reason of his mercy. He was the most earnest
person who had stood in the dock, and he more than ap-
preciated the crisis; for some time, in fact, he had been
rehearsing it. Nothing counted for him save one face,
so that the Court was reduced to a dialogue. The
loneliness of the man was horrible, suggestive of the
second death, which alone could describe his misery.
The impression which he gave was that of a saint in
purgatory. He gazed neither to the right nor to the left,
but through the face before him into space; and as yet
no consolation came to him from the void.
The exhibition of a man judging himself before his own
260
THE TRAITOR 1915 A. D. 261
verdict was the more painful as none seemed able to
prevent or alleviate it, and the tension produced was
similar to that which occurs before the black cap is as-
sumed. The self-accused became great through its very
realism, but, after a while, there stole into those haunted
eyes a look of gladness to think that the time of atoning
had come. He rose to make his confession with the air
of one who had heard several made to himself, and spoke
with a reverence and humility to which he had long been
accustomed. No one would have doubted but that
religion was the atmosphere of his being, and the stings
of remorse were felt, rather than expressed, in his words.
"I rise," he said, "not so much to explain, seeing that
you know my heart, as to condemn myself. I should
merely plead guilty, if I did not hope that, by making
acknowledgment of my offence, I might save others from
coming to the same place. What I have done is to sell
my best friend, nor did I arrive at the bargain save by
degrees. The circumstances of my birth were all in my
favour, and the teaching which I received was perfect.
If there was any fault to find, it was that I professed
too early what I had later to learn for myself. I had
breathed goodness ever since I can remember, so that I
thought it was my own by right, and became an adept
in the use of phrases implying experiences as yet un-
known.
"Mercifully, as it proved, I fell away for a time and
had to discover on my own account the power of sin,
from which I had persuaded myself I was immune. I had
an ideal whose life spelt communion with God, so much
262 THE GRAND ASSIZE
so that, being unable to credit her with struggles, I
thought to start where she had arrived, being ignorant of
the pain at the back of her piety. She passed, and the
penalty of my backsliding was proportioned to my mem-
ory of her. Little did I realise how between heavenly
and human love there was but the breadth of a hair.
The stream, when it began to flow, became a torrent,
having been dammed for years, and I found myself in
the slough of despond.
"It was then I met the friend of my ideal and that he
became my own. There are few enough who know the
meaning of Love, but my friend personified it. None so
well as he was fitted to heal one who was at the same
time both holy and its converse, but as his arms were al-
ways outstretched, the breadth of it allowed for both,
till the last should die away. Not one word of rebuke
escaped him, not even the hint of patronage, but, taking
the good for granted and the evil as non-existent, he
drew me to his heart, stayed in my house, and asked
me to his board. For keeping such company he was
upbraided, and reports arose that he connived at my
transgressions, but he was so occupied with the music
of the angels that he did not hear these jarring notes.
The wonder of his kindness was in its continuance,
and, though the paradox in me was persistent, his con-
duct never changed.
"The power of human priesthoods is apt to wane and
finally to disappear, but that of my friend, who held no
office, remained, being exercised in one prolonged bene-
diction. Gradually I grew to be fond of him, so fond
THE TRAITOR 1915 A. D. 263
that, apart from him, I had no identity of my own. He
soaked me with himself, and, whatever virtue or pity
or zeal for salvage appeared in me, I knew it was not I,
but my friend within me. The happiness of those days
was indescribable, and, however dark the present gloom,
nothing can rob me of their brightness. He had many
others to whom he meant the same, being everything to
each and regulating his favours as their faults made them
need him. What he was or who he was does not matter,
but I knew what he was and who he was to me. The joy
of it again became my snare, as had happened to me in
the case of my ideal, who was for me his under-study. I
forgot to watch, and I ceased to pray, being content with
his company.
"Then there came to me an angel of light by whom I
was taken unawares, till he had instilled the poison of his
words into my inmost soul. With the subtlety of a
master in the science, he pointed out to me that my
friend was too simple to succeed in saving the world, also
that he was too far remote from touch to affect aught but
a few among mortals. He insinuated that my friend
led to building castles in Spain and to schemes which were
bound to fail; that there was not sufficient discipline
in his methods, and that he forgave too easily; that, in
spite of his kindness, he would never exercise power un-
less he occupied an earthly throne and appealed to the
imagination by evidence of authority other than that of
washing feet. He went far to prove the beauty of a
domination, with the appanage of a court, without neg-
lecting the spirit of my friend's example, in spite of its
264 THE GRAND ASSIZE
grandeur. The angel of light was careful to explain to
me that, though my friend had discovered a patent, it
remained for others to turn it to commercial ends, which
was necessary if it was not to lapse. When this system
had been perfected, using the name of the patentee, the
whole world, in place of a remnant, would be supplied
with salvation without undue inconvenience. The cli-
max would be reached with my friend's coronation and
the adoration of mankind.
"The notion appeared to me sublime, and to one who
had failed before the temptation of touch this appeal to
objectivism proved irresistible. I may add that, in-
cluded in the proposition was my own promotion, not so
much in externals as in popular esteem, to be used, from
first to last, in the cause of my friend. He promised me
perceptibly less risk for my morals and a perfect machine
for the exercise of my good works. By such means I
should gain the ear of the high ones of the earth, until
I occupied a place hardly second to them, remaining
humble in private through the teaching of my friend.
I saw the business in it and I succumbed. Before
me floated a vision of the world swayed by a force
which should be genuinely catholic, till I began to
wonder how my friend could have gloried in being a
fool.
"When the tempter saw I was in his toils, he naively
added that to bring this about a small price had to be
paid, and that price was merely to sell my friend. When
I demurred, he said that my friend had a penchant for
pain, and that the base of his philosophy was the shed-
THE TRAITOR 1915 A. D. 265
ding of his blood. Deftly weaving his snares, this devil
drew me on by persuasion that history was not recurrent,
that no harm could accrue to my friend, and that the
transaction between me and himself with closed doors
was but a formality. The scales were turned when he
touched on my increased power for good in the new
regime, and, before I knew it, the bond was sealed. I
had sold my friend, just as literally as did my prototype
from Kerioth centuries ago.
"Then came a moment of reaction such as only the
gods can solve. My friend, from whom nothing was hid,
gave me one last chance. He collected us together, and
his sadness told me that he felt the future, as well as
grappled with the present. He even showed me special
deference, but, when I left the room, he pleaded with
the least tinge of satire for no delay, though so courteous
was he to the last that he allowed it to be mistaken for
my share in his affairs. The rest easily followed after
I had dared to break bread with my friend, though I
knew him conscious of my design. To betray him was
not difficult, for I knew his habits, and also that, though
he might invoke countless hosts on his behalf, so meek
was he that he would prove a ready victim. Soon
enough, as aforetime, he was crowned, though it was
holden from me that he was never more a king than
when he bowed his head. My friend was killed, and to
me was given the price, with the curt remark that, so
far as my feelings were concerned, that was my affair.
It was I who murdered him, and it was I who loved
him. Do with me what you will."
2 66 THE GRAND ASSIZE
The advocate was silent.
"Tell me," said the Judge, "to what do you attribute
your treachery?"
"To a force wholly beyond me."
"Did your friend ever warn you that this force was
abroad?"
"He often warned me."
"What made you join the band of which he was the
chief?"
"Nothing short of it could satisfy me after having
known him through my ideal, and then for myself."
"Did you do him good service during that halcyon
time?"
"Yes, but it was a dangerous one, being concerned
more with things than with souls."
"What was your special charge?"
"We had to collect enough to live on, until our daily
needs obsessed me, and it seemed that we should have
to break up unless our organisation was perfect."
"How did the company which gathered round your
friend get on together?"
"When he was present, well; but when he was absent
the passion for precedence set in."
"How was this possible in face of his teaching?"
"We did not apply it."
"How was it that his words produced their effect?"
"He spoke like no other man."
"What sort of following did he gain?"
"The common people heard him gladly."
"For whom did he care most?"
THE TRAITOR 1915 A. D. 267
"For the riffraff."
"Was he ever angry?"
"Very seldom."
"How did he deal with the fallen?"
"He raised them."
"How with the blind?"
"He opened their eyes."
"How with the dumb?"
"He caused them to speak."
"How with the lepers?"
"He cleansed them."
"How with an adulteress?"
"He honoured her."
"How with the rich?"
"He pitied them."
"How with the Pharisees?"
"He flayed them."
"How with his accusers?"
"He was silent."
"Where is your friend now?"
"Everywhere."
"Have you been to others to get relief since the night
when it was dark?"
"To more than one."
"What was their treatment?"
"Some advised that I should be handed over to Satan
for the destruction of the flesh, that my spirit might
eventually be saved."
"Who first said that?"
"One who called himself the chief of sinners."
268 THE GRAND ASSIZE
"Surely he must have forgotten the clothes which were
cast at his feet."
"I have since thought so, and that is why they could
not help me."
"Did you go to others?"
"They hinted at over-sensitiveness, and that I might
still make it up to my friend by publishing his name."
"And others?"
"They were so occupied with preparing stained-glass
windows to perpetuate my friend's memory that they
paid me no attention."
"And others?"
"Their whole time was taken up with reconstructing
the form which my friend came to abolish."
"And others?"
"They were quarrelling among themselves as to what
my friend meant, so they did not hear my cry."
"How was it that for the most part none could con-
sole you?"
"Few were as bad as I, with my knowledge, had been,
so they could not understand."
"Why did you not work out your own sorrow?"
"It was not godly sorrow."
"Did the world forgive you?"
"They greeted me as a recruit, but I could not forgive
myself."
"Did you not know that your friend would have
forgiven you?"
"That was the agony of it, but I had to hear it from
his own lips."
THE TRAITOR 1915 A. D. 269
"And your sorrow now?"
"I know nothing save that I have sold my friend."
"What have you done with the reward of your treach-
ery?"
"It became as Dead Sea fruit to my taste."
"Would you serve your friend again if you had an-
other chance?"
"I am not worthy."
"Do you believe now in the vision which was brought
before your eyes?"
"I know that it was a mirage."
"What force, in your opinion, can alone save the
world?"
"My friend."
"But if he was killed?"
"He can never die."
"But in hell, which he came to destroy?"
"He is felt there more vividly than anywhere else."
"Would you say that you were there now?"
"I am, and I am not."
"Are you content to go back there?"
"I am indifferent, so long as I can see my friend."
"Have you anything more to say on your own be-
half?"
"Nothing."
The face of the Judge was drawn but radiant, and he
was glad to see once more features which were familiar.
Down his cheeks coursed tears as the truth became
patent that each act of simplicity invites one of subtlety,
and that Judas is a shadow cast by the light of Jesus.
270 THE GRAND ASSIZE
Every thought was lost in that of winning back the
Traitor to what he used to be, and what he really was.
He caught at even the act of his friend in entrusting
the accused with the source of sustenance as at a straw,
and resolved to save this man from the depths of the
sea.
"Before I pronounce your sentence, I wish to wel-
come you home again, and to thank you for the work you
did before you sold your friend, that I find placed to your
credit. I cannot say whether I rightly understand the
meanderings of your mind through which all this came
about, but I know that I love you. Also I know that,
though at the last every ray was obscured, the sunset
is not the day. It is not for me to adopt the role of the
inquisitor or to keep you on the rack; only men do that.
My province is rather to forgive all from the moment
they love again, whether it take a day or a thousand
years. It is sufficient for the purposes of this Court
that the best be awakened, after which the prisoners
pass beyond the jurisdiction of the Judge, whose office
is to bind them back to God.
"I know, without your telling me, that your fear of
those who love your friend is greater than that which
you feel as regards your friend himself. All in good
time they will learn that no man has a right to judge,
and that, though you did a deadly wrong, they also
caused him no small grief. They, too, were ashamed
of him; when it came to his trial they could not afford
to know him and, without exception, forsook him and
fled. Any hurt which was done in loyalty of zeal was
THE TRAITOR 1915 A. D. 271
healed by your friend himself, so they may be comforted
at the thought of a mercy which is everlasting. Some
day to these companions you shall be reunited, when
they shall have foregone all precedence and have be-
come like the little children whom your friend used to
take up in his arms and bless.
"They shall find in your friend's new kingdom many
another band, as yet unknown to them, whom he loves
though they call him by another name. It will be as
though there was one flock and your friend will be the
shepherd of them all. Many of those who professed
devotion to your friend, but nothing more, will also be
there, when they, too, shall have got to know him, but
at the time they knew not what they did. There shall
be no need of food there, for they shall feed on your
friend and be satisfied. The light shall cast no shadow
there, for it shall be in mid-heaven, and its brightness
will come from your friend's face. The danger of ob-
jectivism shall be unknown there, where the spirit shall
be supreme, and the need of organisation shall cease
to exist where Love impels all. It shall there be found
that the saints were those who made a covenant with
God with sacrifice, whether at the eleventh hour, or at
the dawning of their day. All the other prisoners who
were broken on the wheel shall be there, and each shall
be employed as best suits the being given to them at
their birth, and mended by their martyrdom before their
arrival.
"The tempter's lie was a half truth, which is the worst
of all, when he said that your friend was destined to
272 THE GRAND ASSIZE
reign. Of the area or fabric of his dominion either he
had no conception, or he so feared it that he suborned
the servants of your friend to proclaim it as natural and
denned. You said your friend was everywhere, but
there will come a time when he, too, will retire in favour
of God Himself, who is all in all, but whose Love is such
that for a little while He became your friend, the better
to make His glory bearable, and to prepare you for
eternity in His presence.
"You may think I have forgotten your sentence, but
you have served most of it in the hell through which
you have already passed. In that new kingdom that
you did your best to frustrate, you shall no longer keep
the bag, but, till you learn to prefer the lowest place,
you shall keep the door. The penalty of seeing your
ideal but afar off, and of being debarred from the active
business of the King, will meet the case of him who sold
his saviour. When patience shall have had her perfect
work, and when you shall want nothing, you shall be
summoned by your friend. Full opportunity shall be
given you of repaying the thirty pieces of silver with
more than compound interest. It still remains for
you to undergo a greater punishment than has yet been
meted out to any. Come hither and receive it."
The prisoner, by this time livid but triumphant, ap-
proached the chair and knelt down. The Judge kissed
the Traitor.
ENVOI
IT IS a relief when the Court has risen and the work
of the day is done. The kindest Magistrate must
be glad to forget the sadness and dilemmas with
which he has been dealing, but the best of them arrive at
the conclusion that they have had to do rather with
invalids than with the designedly bad. To many, doubt-
less, it must partake of a routine, or the strain would
be unbearable; but their faces tell of a sympathy they
cannot disguise, and their whole being becomes suffused
with a pitifulness unknown to ordinary men. It is a trib-
ute to our advance in humaneness that this type should
have become so taken for granted that the reverse is
exceptional, and it is refreshing to find that the poor
resort to them for advice in practical affairs as much as
if not more than to the parson. The parable speaks
for itself, to the effect that any one who looks into his
own nature must feel his brotherhood with all who have
been found out. The sense of contempt, or even of
distance between the discovered and the undiscovered,
is disappearing, and, in its place, there is a general ad-
mission that the germ of the same tendencies exists in
all. Certainly public opinion is vastly more considerate
than it used to be, and, however gloomy the view taken
by pessimists, every thinking person must be convinced
273
274 THE GRAND ASSIZE
that the fellowship of man is being better understood.
On the other hand, with this advance in charity and
in the recognition of the oneness of life, there is an un-
deniable danger to the laws of logic. Some would go
so far as to say that the loss of hell fire has grave dis-
advantages, and it is a question if, in ceasing to be
frightened of God, the race is not inclined to doubt His
existence. As usual, the truth will be found midway,
and it were wise, while abandoning doctrines at the
thought of which we shudder, to keep a firm hold on
the need of chastening, for which we learn to bless God
more than for His favours. No greater fallacy can ob-
tain than that judgment is avoidable, and the philosophy
to which we are coming aims at a combination of Love
and Truth. Some day we shall find that they are the
same word, while, in the scenes depicted, we have wit-
nessed them to perfection in the Judge. He, at least,
is not subject to the claims either of fatigue or formality,
and it is good to know that we have to do with a power
which has been translated for mortals in the person of a
Brother. The whole affair is deprived of melancholy,
for, without burking facts, the impression left is one of
limitless hope and of thankfulness at the methods por-
trayed.
The habit of slurring over what offends the taste is
akin to that of hiding a coffin under flowers, and the
brave man will prefer to have it out, not only with him-
self, but with the evils of his day. If the good are the
salt of the earth, it becomes their vocation to be sprinkled
among the weeds, and a protest may be allowed at the
ENVOI 275
prevailing inclination to "cellars, " which may adorn the
table and improve the food of a few. The excuse may
be alleged that the salt is apt to lose its pungency and
to become fitter for the dunghill unless the atoms are
constantly collected to regain their savour, but no one
can deny that the accepted theory of virtue is too often
associated with cowardice. The contention of the author
is that the officially religious are almost entirely uncon-
cerned with the issues of daily existence, and that, until the
godlike of the race dare to live in the world without being
of it, no reformation on a large scale can be expected.
Let it be conceded that there is as much risk in the
rescue of a soul as in that of a drowning man, and the
majority will at once own that few of them have ever
jumped overboard. To do so without being an ex-
pert swimmer would be the act of a lunatic, and, even
when in the water, their prowess would often fail them
unless they carried with them a life-buoy. It goes
without saying that the heroes who descend into a mine
to save their comrades not only hold their lives in their
hands, but, when they are brought up in the cage, bear
traces of their venture underground. No result would
have been achieved, however, if they had remained on
the top and preserved their appearance at the expense
of the dead.
The foregoing attempt to bring scenes which are going
on every day at our very doors, before the best and the
most sympathetic, is a challenge to those who, either
through ignorance or timidity, affect indifference. The
Judge was by no means exclusive, and, if he had lived in
276 THE GRAND ASSIZE
a glass case, would never have been the prisoners' friend.
That it may involve being called names and that stones
may easily be thrown is natural, but the crown of our
Faith is that it culminates in One who was not only holy
but fraternal.
Let there be no misunderstanding as to the separation
necessary for those who would not degenerate, but the
entire notion of being set apart for the highest purposes
is defeated by the idealist who forgets that the value of
such carefulness is his better equipment to help his gen-
eration. That generation is made up of millions to
whom the thought of inspiration is a dead letter which
it is his business to quicken. The patience and reck-
lessness requisite speak for themselves ; and, though it is
eminently necessary for him to be armed, cui bono if he
does not enter the conflict?
The object of this book is to leave the reader impressed
with the duty which he owes to his brother man, without
for one moment underrating the dangers which threaten
association with the world. It will have done some-
thing if it serves to break down the barriers of prejudice,
and to dissipate the gloom which, at times, hangs over
goodness like a pall. It is not advisable that the un-
initiated should have their eyes opened without con-
summate care, or undertake burdens until they are
ready to bear them, but no character can be rightly
called "religious" until he has grasped the root meaning
of the term, which is the rejoining of all and every to
the Source of their being. To accomplish this he must
cease to talk of flowers, or, at least, he must remember
ENVOI 277
that thornless roses are freaks in horticulture. In a
word, there is no lack of anguish or of sin, but the art
of life is to take a leaf from the Judge's book, to face
the same and woo its victims back to their best, instead
of dragooning them into despair, or leaving them to
perish by the way.
The interest of the trials is chiefly to be found in their
outcome, and the gist of the proceedings lies in the reme-
dies suggested by the Judge. Naturally the metaphors
cannot be too closely analysed, and full play must be
allowed for a poet's fancies, but it is sufficient if the
truth be brought home that every reader has his chance,
here and now, of repairing the past. The whole scheme
would fail if such a hope were merely a pious opinion,
but the writer holds it to be profoundly true that every
human quality contains the elements of its opposite.
Godly revenge is denied to none, and no greatness has
ever been achieved save through some correction.
Again and again we require to be broken up if we are
to be mended, but before the process can take place, the
glass must be held up to us and we must see ourselves.
After that, given such a friend as presided over the
Court, no one on earth need fail, but until each does
battle with his besetment, nothing has happened, just
as if one suffering from cancer were to hide the fact,
but to take every means as regards his health in all
other particulars. Happy beyond words must the pris-
oner be who, after exposing his shame, or having had
it exposed, finds in the Judge both surgeon and physician,
who never lost a patient and never took a fee.
278 THE GRAND ASSIZE
The humour which obtains, even in the dock, is no
mere effort to adopt a lighter side from an artistic stand-
point, since, fortunately, laughter plays its part in our
passage through the world. Without humour madness
would be the rule and not the exception, and there are
plenty of people, hardly to be ranked among the pious,
to whom great gratitude is due for having added to the
general gladness. Bad times we may and ought to
have, but there is a vast amount of happiness, and some-
thing is wrong if fun is not to the fore. Our friend with
the cancer has a better chance of surviving if, what-
ever he may have to endure, he maintains his cheerful-
ness. When oil and wine were poured into the wounds
of the poor fellow in the ditch, the first no doubt was
intended to soothe, and the second to make him smile.
There is a deal of human nature in everybody; and, if
the choice arose between a good doctor with bad spirits
and a bad doctor with good spirits, many would select
the latter, and would quite likely prove to be wise.
The sequence preserved in the cases recorded is not
accidental. When the Great Teacher reduced the mys-
tery of conversion to being born again, He implied that
the most accurate term would have been reversion to
that from which each started. The effort of the Judge
was, in nearly every instance, to recall the magic of
earlier years, for which reason he was insistent in his
references to home. It would appear that to become
healed is a simpler process than is often taught, and that,
without losing ourselves in the intricacies of theology,
we should humbly strive once more to occupy the
ENVOI 279
nursery. There is little difference between the prisoners,
though their settings vary, but the prevalence of ego,
whatever direction it took, accounts for their leaving
the high road. That the temptations of each are so
different that what is poison to one may be meat to
another is shown on every page, but the conclusion from
which no one can escape is that the lips of each must,
sooner or later, formulate the word " Peccavi," after
which, and only after which, the Judge closes the affair
with the answer, "Pax lecum."
THE END
THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS
GARDEN CITY, N. Y.
A 000037150 o