The Way of the Wbrld 
 and Other Ways <& *t 
 
 A Story of 
 
 Our Set. * 
 
 Katharine E.Conway
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 -
 
 
 
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 re 
 
 X 
 
 
 C: 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 
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 THE WAY OF THE 
 WORLD AND 
 
 OTHER 
 
 A STORY OF OUR SET 
 
 BY 
 
 KATHERINE E. CONWAY 
 
 BOSTON 
 THE PILOT PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 MDCCCC
 
 Copyright, IQOO. 
 By KATHBKINB E. CONWAY. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 Books by (Catherine E. Conway 
 
 The Way ol the World and Other Ways 
 
 A Story of Our Set. Ji.oo. 
 
 New Footsteps in Well-Trodden Ways 
 Sketches of Travel. Second edition. #1.25. 
 
 A Dream of Lilies 
 
 Poems. Third edition. $1.00. 
 
 Watchwords from John Boyle O'Reilly 
 
 Edited and with Estimate. Fifth edition. 
 75 cents. 
 
 Family Sitting-Room Series 
 
 A Lady and Her Letters 
 
 Fourth edition. 50 cents. 
 
 Making Friends and Keeping Them 
 
 Fourth edition. 50 cents. 
 
 Questions of Honor in the Christian Life 
 
 Third edition. 50 cents. 
 
 Bettering Ourselves 
 
 50 cents. 
 
 Printed by 
 
 FISH PRINTING COMPANY, 
 208 Summer Street, Boston.
 
 ps 
 
 A?// 
 
 Nay, the world, the world. 
 All ear and eye, with such a stupid heart 
 To interpret ear and eye, and such a tongue 
 To blare its own interpretation. 
 
 TENNYSON.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. ARTIST AND WOMAN .... 
 
 II. BUT MOST A WOMAN .... 
 
 III. THE SUCCEEDING OP SUCCESS 
 
 IV. OUR WHIST CLUB KEEPS LENT . . 
 V. THE LADIES AND THE LION . 
 
 VI. ANOTHER DAT ..... 
 
 VII. BERTRAND COLEMAN'S SISTER 
 
 VIII. ONE AUGUST IN THE MOUNTAINS . 
 
 IX. THE PRODIGAL BROTHER 
 
 X. A FRIEND IN NEED .... 
 
 XI. THE FATEFUL PORTRAIT 
 
 XII. A MAN IN HOPE AND A WOMAN IN LOVE 
 
 XIII. THE CLOUD IN THE EAST 
 
 XIV. BERTRAND COLEMAN'S MISGIVING . . 
 XV. DANGEROUS DELAYS .... 
 
 XVI. THE TALK OF THE TOWN 
 
 XVII. BLAMELESS KING ARTHUR 
 
 XVIII. JANE AND THE MAJOR .... 
 
 XIX. UNWELCOMED HOME .... 
 
 XX. A WOMAN FORSAKEN .... 
 
 XXI. IN THE HANDS OF HER FRIENDS . 
 
 XXII. ESTHER'S PUZZLE EXPLAINED 
 
 XXIII. THE WEDDING RECEPTION . . 
 
 XXIV. A HARVEST OF THORNY ROSES 
 XXV. ESTHER BREAKS SILENCE 
 
 XXVI. THE TURN OF THE TIDE 
 
 XXVII. SUNRISE IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW 
 
 PAGE 
 1 
 9 
 23 
 29 
 35 
 49 
 60 
 68 
 79 
 89
 
 THE WHY OF THE WORLD AND OTHER WHYS. 
 
 A STORY OF OUR SET. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 ARTIST AND WOMAN. 
 
 IT would be hard to say who had the most 
 responsibility in the matter. 
 
 No one had started out with the idea of doing 
 anything blameworthy, or even unkind; for that 
 unpleasant experience with Mrs. Josiah Mint had 
 made all our ladies more careful. 
 
 Then why should one ? She was such a gentle, 
 harmless little woman; so preoccupied with her 
 own work that she had no time to mind other 
 people's business ; and of too sensitive a conscience 
 to be a meddler, even if she had had abundant 
 leisure. 
 
 Her name did not come up in the earlier history 
 of our set ; for she was not a member of the Whist 
 Club indeed, she loathed whist and she had no 
 social axes to grind through her connection with 
 the Daughters of St. Paula. 
 
 It is evident that of our discussion of Mrs. 
 Mint's affairs, nothing reached her ears except
 
 2 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 that lady's supposed heavy losses ; and believing 
 the rumor, she did what made her a friend for 
 life. 
 
 That was just before Mrs. Mint bought Castle 
 Montgomery ; when the mystery of her ways for a 
 few months gave rise to all those strange stories, 
 which deceived many of us. 
 
 But if Esther Ward had heard the world's wonder 
 of gossip, she would have contributed nothing to it. 
 
 " Though she's a chatty little body, she never tells 
 you anything," said Mrs. Eobert Ray. 
 
 Some of the less intellectual of the Daughters of 
 St. Paula thought she was unobservant, and a little 
 stupid, on matters outside her profession. 
 
 But Mrs. Peter Jones said that she was merely 
 cute. 
 
 And Mrs. Tom Brown, the worried mother of 
 three unmarried sons, said that if there was any one 
 thing which every one of her sons hated more than 
 another, it was a diplomatic woman. 
 
 On the subjects in question, however, Esther Ward 
 was neither unobservant nor diplomatic. She was 
 merely indifferent. So many things which preoccu 
 pied the attention of our friends already mentioned, 
 seemed to her not worth while. 
 
 Of the rivalries between Mrs. Jones and Mrs. 
 Bernard Willow for the exploiting of Lions, for 
 example, she would have said to her own soul 
 that they were not worthy of reasonable beings.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. o 
 
 She wouldn't have submitted to the boredom 
 to put it on no higher ground of talking this 
 opinion over with anyone else. 
 
 Whence you will perceive that Esther Ward's 
 charity of speech and silence were in certain 
 aspects rather negative qualities. You need not, 
 therefore, give her too much credit for them. 
 
 It seems, also, that she had more or less pride 
 of intellect. 
 
 I don't hold a brief for Esther I would not, even 
 if women were more generally admitted to the Bar, 
 and successful in legal practice. 
 
 This for the simple reason that she would not 
 have accepted my services, even had they been ten 
 dered gratis. 
 
 She would have retained a man. 
 
 Her best friend could not deny that she enjoyed 
 the society of men. Indeed, she did not deny it her 
 self ; only she said " clever men." 
 
 Whence, also, you will perceive that she had not 
 a proper appreciation of the judicial or mental or 
 social qualities of her own sex. 
 
 Therefore, feeling that my bigoted championship 
 of her cause might not have been esteemed at its 
 proper value, I may as well tell you that I think 
 her actions in several cases were extremely impru 
 dent ; and that her failure to foresee their certain 
 misconstruction was due to a bad case of moral 
 invincible ignorance.
 
 4 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 I don't mean that she did anything morally 
 wrong oh, dear no! Even Mrs. Jones in her 
 bitterest moods would not have suggested that. 
 
 But Esther should have known that you cannot 
 persistently keep your affairs to yourself, and even 
 decline the friendliest overtures to enable you to 
 make confidence, without giving some worthy people 
 reason to think that you have a motive. 
 
 And to have a motive for every little thing cer 
 tainly shows a nature deficient in openness. 
 
 I think myself that it would have been better 
 that she had not painted Bertrand Coleman's por 
 trait. 
 
 Indeed, his own sister said so long after, though 
 she it was who had most vehemently urged the 
 making of that self-same portrait. She forgot that, 
 however, in the day of the inevitable consequences. 
 
 And she was really fond of Esther, and claimed 
 to be her best friend. But Mrs. Willow and Mrs. 
 Eay made the same claim in her regard, and also 
 the same criticism. 
 
 Perhaps you have noticed, my gentle reader, that 
 it is often our best friends who know just what we 
 should have done, after all is over, but who, curi 
 ously enough, applauded the condemned course at 
 the time. 
 
 Yet if Esther Ward had not painted Bertrand 
 Coleman's picture she might still be 
 
 Ah, well! it is better, perhaps, as it is for all
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 5 
 
 parties. Had she heeded her presentiment and 
 refused, I should not have this story to tell. 
 
 Let me begin, however, at the beginning. 
 
 When Esther Ward came to our city a few years 
 ago, she brought with her as the achievement of her 
 ten or twelve working years a very creditable repu 
 tation in artistic circles. 
 
 She had spent several years abroad under excel 
 lent masters. 
 
 Mrs. Willow rather insisted on this, by way of 
 explaining and justifying her knowledge of one who 
 had not yet been recognized by our set. 
 
 This was after a meeting of the Daughters of 
 St. Paula. Whereupon Nannie Oldfield, one of the 
 younger Daughters, to her friend, Minnie Gray, of 
 course in an aside : 
 
 " What of three or four measly years in Europe. 
 My Aunt Isabel has been to Europe seven times, 
 and all around the world twice." 
 
 It was admitted by competent judges who had 
 seen Esther Ward's pictures at the Exhibition, that 
 she had spent her few years at Kensington and in 
 various Italian art centers, to great advantage. 
 
 Indeed she had a talent, of which one critic 
 and he the greatest had said with his wonted 
 caution, that it was touched with genius. 
 
 She painted portraits with exceeding fidelity and 
 grace.
 
 6 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 Like Hawthorne's Hilda, however, she would 
 rather have spent her days copying from the Old 
 Masters. In this she was very successful, and had 
 had a number of orders for her copies of Eoselli's 
 "Last Supper"; also for that little group of three 
 angels from " La Disputa," which she loved so much 
 and reproduced so well. 
 
 She had, however, yielded to the counsel of her 
 master and certain friends among art critics, and 
 painted a few of her own conceptions of sacred sub 
 jects, as, for example : " Christ Resting at Bethany," 
 " Gethsemane," and "The Forsaken Christ." This 
 last was based on that word of Scripture : " Then 
 all these, leaving him, fled away," and was a very 
 strong and pathetic presentation of Christ's going 
 out from Gethsemane in the hands of his captors. 
 
 You will agree with me, I am sure, that she 
 should have kept to the work of painting altar- 
 pieces for convent chapels and small churches, and 
 not bothered about portraits. 
 
 But unfortunately for our conception of Esther's 
 duty, while " The Forsaken Christ " was mentioned 
 with distinction, it was her "Moss Rosebud," the 
 portrait of a beautiful little girl of seven, with a 
 cluster of half-opened white rosebuds in her hands, 
 which took a prize at a certain art exhibition in 
 New York. 
 
 After that she had three orders for portraits to
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 7 
 
 one for an altarpiece ; and as she was dependent 
 on her labor for her living, she had to take what 
 she could get. 
 
 This fact that she had to work raised a nice 
 question in our set. That was in the beginning, 
 before we knew of her reputation in art circles. 
 
 Mrs. Eay did not really care to know people who 
 worked for their living, but after a little talk with 
 her husband, she told the ladies of the Whist Club 
 that in her opinion neither painting pictures nor 
 writing books was work. 
 
 Indeed, she never could get used to seeing school 
 teachers received on equal terms socially, and had 
 wished very much for a by-law excluding them 
 definitely from the Daughters of St. Paula. 
 
 This, dear reader, was a high-class religious literary 
 society. The Daughters met every Thursday at three 
 o'clock in the afternoon, because they were ladies of 
 leisure, and most of them wished in all things to 
 distinguish themselves from the members of another 
 larger and better-known literary association which 
 met in the evening, and had many wage-earners on 
 its register. 
 
 A few, like Mrs. Frederick Ormond, and one or 
 two exceedingly studious and earnest New England 
 maiden ladies, converts to the Faith, held member 
 ship in both; but these were considered eccentric 
 by the rest of the Daughters. 
 
 All of our friends of the Whist Club had sought
 
 8 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 admission into the Daughters of St. Paula, because 
 of its reputation as a very exclusive society. To be 
 sure the membership fee of ten dollars a year for 
 associate members, that is, those who were excused 
 from writing essays, was rather in the nature of a 
 prohibitory tariff, but the ladies of the Whist Club 
 all could afford it, and all were voted in.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 
 
 CHAPTEK II. 
 
 BUT MOST A WOMAN. 
 
 MRS. RAY was especially concerned as to new 
 people, on the matter of family. 
 
 Hence she consulted with Mrs. Willow, who 
 alone had antecedent knowledge of Miss Ward, 
 before committing herself to any advance to the 
 latter lady. 
 
 Mrs. Willow's information was, in the main, reas 
 suring. 
 
 Yes ; she had known Miss Ward off and on for 
 a good many years ; long before she ever dreamed 
 they would be both in this city together. 
 
 Respectable family? Oh, yes, and rich at one 
 time. Father and mother really quite presentable 
 people. All the girls went to school at Brentwood ; 
 the oldest in Mrs. Willow's own time, Esther eight 
 or ten years later. 
 
 Why, Mrs. Ray must have known Esther herself ! 
 
 Come to think of it, Mrs. Ray did remember a girl 
 named Ward, who used to have a master from the 
 city for painting, who was bright in most of her 
 studies, and took nearly all the prizes. 
 
 But Mother Margaret Mary and Sister Josephine
 
 10 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 would remember what wasn't clear in Mrs. Eay's 
 mind. 
 
 What became of the rest of the family ? Died 
 off, mostly. There had been reverses. Esther gave 
 lessons until she had got money enough to go abroad 
 to study; or, perhaps, there was a little saved from 
 the wreck. Mrs. Willow wasn't sure. 
 
 She believed there were two brothers left, one 
 older and one younger than Esther. She had heard 
 that one of them was dissipated. 
 
 " But then, my dear," she added, " lots of men 
 are." 
 
 "Yes," assented Mrs. Eay, "and if they drink 
 their own money I don't know that it's anyone's 
 business." 
 
 " We must be charitable," said Mrs. Willow, virtu 
 ously. " Of course you'll never mention it. The 
 poor girl has enough to contend with in making her 
 way in this cold place." 
 
 Parenthetically, Mrs. Ray never did mention it 
 except to her husband and her favorite sister-in-law, 
 and Mrs. Martin and Mrs. Macduff, all of whom she 
 charged to keep it to themselves. 
 
 " But Esther Ward is all right herself," continued 
 Mrs. Willow, " and her pictures are perfectly lovely, 
 and she earns enough of money by them to get 
 along with. Her studio is in a nice part of the city, 
 and I've been to see her twice, and had her over to 
 the house last Sunday."
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 11 
 
 It must be said for Mrs. Willow that she was 
 kind-hearted, and had a good deal of feeling for 
 " Auld Lang Syne." 
 
 Mrs. Kay, after further reassurance from Mother 
 Margaret Mary, and having ascertained that the 
 Fathers at St. Loyola's knew favorably of Miss 
 Ward and her work, expressed a willingness that 
 she should be presented to her one day when they 
 met at the convent. 
 
 Miss Ward was introduced to Mrs. Jones on the 
 same occasion. 
 
 The latter essayed at once the part of a patroness. 
 Who could tell but that Miss Ward might yet 
 amount to something ? 
 
 "You know I am going to have a few friends 
 next Thursday evening," said Mrs. Jones to Mrs. 
 Eay as they started for home, " and I'm thinking I'll 
 ask Miss Ward. She can stay all night with us. 
 She's alone in the world, and it will be a charity 
 to show her a little attention. I suppose she lives 
 miserably, all cluttered up in her studio, and hardly 
 ever has a comfortable meal. That's the way with 
 lots of those artist-folks." 
 
 Mrs. Jones was, however, destined to a great sur 
 prise ; for Esther politely declined her invitation, on 
 the plea of a previous engagement. Later, the elder 
 lady with persistent intent at lofty patronage visited 
 her studio to arrange for a portrait of her niece. 
 
 " Of course I wouldn't expect to pay much to an
 
 12 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 amateur like you, Miss Ward, but I like your work ; 
 I think there's a good deal in you, and I'd like to 
 help you along." 
 
 " But, dear madame," said Miss Ward pleasantly, 
 " I've really more orders on hand than I can fill for 
 many months." 
 
 The artist never dreamed that Mrs. Jones meant 
 to patronize her. She saw in the pompous, over 
 dressed woman before her merely a purse-proud, 
 underbred person, for whose deficiencies she felt 
 compassion, tempered with a little amusement. 
 
 " Do you think I believed her ? " said Mrs. Jones 
 later, in the privacy of her own sitting-room. " Not 
 I ! Oh, she's a haughty minx, she is ! But pride 
 goes before a fall, especially empty pride like that 
 one's, without a dollar behind it ! " 
 
 Thenceforward Mrs. Jones was the sternest critic 
 of the artist and the woman ; while Esther, most 
 happy in that she 
 
 " Lived with visions for her company, 
 Instead of men and women," 
 
 recked not she had given umbrage to Mrs. Jones, 
 nor that a question could be raised as to her fitness 
 for the best socially that the new city of her home 
 could give her. 
 
 For was she not always in the best society ? 
 familiar with the mind and soul of Michael Angelo 
 and Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci, of Giotto, 
 Murillo, Era Angelico, of Pinturicchio and Perugino ;
 
 AND OTHEK WAYS. 13 
 
 of Tintoretto, Titian, Vandyke, Kubens, and all the 
 splendid galaxy, who have strengthened earthly 
 eyes, be it ever so little, for the glories which will 
 flash upon them in the anterooms of heaven ? 
 
 Could she not have told you the loves and losses, 
 the labors and triumphs of all their lives ? 
 
 She was well versed in the literature of art, and 
 in the poetry, old and new, which is food for art. 
 
 And in this glorious company, in every one of 
 whom after the trial of time only what is high- 
 minded and heavenly of virtue, honor, and good 
 report survives, her mind enlarged, her heart grew 
 deep and tender, and she had thoughts that she 
 expressed only in her pictures, or whispered to a 
 certain little portrait which was curtained all day 
 long, and unveiled only when she was absolutely 
 Gecure from further interruption and ready to light 
 her blessed candles for her night prayers. 
 
 From all of which you will note again, dear 
 reader, that pride of intellect on which I must 
 insist once -more, as a fault of Esther Ward's ; also a 
 secretiveness that can hardly be commended ; and 
 an obtuseness to the condescension of her social 
 superiors in a circle where rank was very largely 
 determined by money. 
 
 But Esther, reverent-minded, hero-worshipping, 
 and unworldly though she was, never in her life 
 had the consciousness of a social superior. 
 
 However, with it all, and despite Mrs. Jones' dis-
 
 14 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 approval, our artist had her great successes at the 
 New York Exhibition and our own. 
 
 In several of the society journals soon following, 
 her name was seen among such a galaxy of notables 
 at Mrs. Jameson-Tyndall's " at home," that the most 
 carping hi our set were completely satisfied as to 
 her fitness for recognition ; and thenceforward Miss 
 Ward had more friendly calls, more cards for after 
 noon teas, more invitations to dinner parties and 
 dances, than two of her could have managed with 
 exclusive devotion to the social side of life. 
 
 Even with the most delicate diplomacy for 
 she appreciated all these evidences of friendly 
 interest Esther found it hard to save her working 
 hours, and not seem churlish. 
 
 After all, the success in her art was the supreme 
 thing ; she had served too long and laboriously for it 
 to imperil it for a lesser good. Still it was sweet to 
 be sought, to be made much of, to be compelled 
 to realize that the artist had not absorbed all of the 
 woman, and that she was still capable of a fresh 
 and frank enjoyment of the pleasures which she 
 had had to forego in the season for which they had 
 been fittest. 
 
 Esther was in some respects the most womanly 
 of women. Though her girlhood was past she had 
 still the youth of bright eyes, unwrinkled skin, 
 abundant tresses, and the physical and mental 
 elasticity which is a woman's best strength. She
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 15 
 
 walked with a girlish quickness and spring; and 
 worked with energy and delight, moving to a climax 
 ardent, breathless and decisive ; and " subsiding," as 
 she would put it, at the twilight hour in a delicious 
 languor, fairer visions than she ever hoped to em 
 body, glowing against the dusk before her tired eyes. 
 In that dusk hour, too, she opened the deep 
 locket which hung by a slender gold chain about 
 her neck, and thought happily of the day when that 
 which it enshrined would glow in its place, beheld 
 and understood by new friends and old. 
 
 These were, on the whole, bright days for Esther 
 Ward. Comparatively young, interesting, if not 
 fair to look upon, with a simple, sincere good-will 
 to others, and the ability to please without fawning 
 or cringing, successful in the work of her choice, she 
 found herself, after but a brief sojourn in her new 
 abode, encompassed by the love and honor and 
 troops of friends which are usually the portion of 
 those to the manor born, or won by a much longer 
 career of fortune and service than had been hers. 
 
 Then over it all was the foregleam of the dearer 
 and sweeter joy expected. 
 
 Of course there were shadows, anxieties, a strong 
 compelling motive for hard work and good money 
 returns but these things had been for many 
 years, and now the difficulties that could not be 
 denied were at least more easily dealt with.
 
 16 THE WAT OF THE WOULD 
 
 Yes, life was fair in these days ; it was good to 
 see the sun, and the bread of honest toil had a sweet 
 savor. 
 
 For one with such past experiences as had heen 
 crowded into Esther's still short life, fortune seemed 
 almost too kind. 
 
 She said so one day to an artist friend with whom 
 she was on those comradely terms into which Mrs. 
 Jones thought she drifted too readily with persons 
 of the opposite sex. But they had been fellow-stu 
 dents in Eome, and were now fellow-workers in the 
 American home of culture and learning. 
 
 "Don't worry, my gentle gazelle. At this very 
 moment, when apparently you are on the crest of 
 the wave of success in your art and popularity in 
 ' sassiety,' some one up in an attic or down in a cel 
 lar is saying : ' Oh, if these people knew what I know 
 about Esther Ward ! ' " 
 
 Esther laughed lightly. She was used to her 
 old comrade's badinage. 
 
 But almost instantly a faint shudder passed over 
 her. 
 
 " Why, Esther, you don't mind ? " he said, notic 
 ing her sudden pallor under his laughing eyes. 
 
 " Oh, no, indeed," she answered, recovering her 
 self; "I felt a slight chill am I in a draft? I 
 hardly ever know when I am," and she moved a few 
 steps, and turned her face a little from her friend's 
 searching but kindly gaze.
 
 AND OTHEK WAYS. 17 
 
 "Don't you know the old superstition ? Tennyson 
 speaks of it in ' Guinevere ' : 
 
 ' I shudder : some one steps across my grave ! ' 
 
 " Esther Ward ! if you weren't the strongest, most 
 level-headed woman I know, I should say you were 
 getting morbid. ... By the way, this is a tremen 
 dous picture of yours he was standing now before 
 ' The Forsaken Christ,' which he had turned so that 
 a splendid light fell upon it. To think that it 
 should meet so much less favor than that pretty 
 triviality, ' The Moss Eose Bud ! ' " 
 
 Esther was silent, scrutinizing her own work, as 
 was her wont, with rigorous eyes. 
 
 " It is the truth of its awful sadness and deso 
 lation that's against it. I suppose," resumed her 
 friend, " people want you to make them feel good to 
 themselves, whether you are a painter of pictures, 
 or a singer of songs, or a teller of stories. They 
 know that sorrow is dogging their steps. They want 
 you so to charm them through their eyes or ears 
 that they won't hear its footfalls. They know that 
 there is a Gethsemane and a flight of summer friends 
 in every adult life ; that your Christ " 
 
 " Your Christ ! Oh, you miserable Unitarian ! " 
 cried Esther. " Where were you this moment but 
 for Him ? " 
 
 " Softly, softly ! I didn't mean to rouse the slum 
 bering Katherine of Alexandria ! "
 
 18 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 " Yes, she was a martyr for Christ's divinity ; I'm 
 glad you know that," said Esther, with a new light 
 in her eyes. 
 
 " Oh, I know many a thing that I don't get the 
 credit of," he answered lightly ; " but I know this 
 also: that I never look at that steadfast face and 
 those bound hands without thinking of Browning's 
 
 lines : 
 
 ' I go in the rain, and more than needs 
 A rope cut both my wrists behind ; 
 And I think by the feel, my forehead bleeds 
 For they fling, whoever has a mind, 
 Stones at me ' 
 
 " There you are again, as if our Lord were a sort 
 of a glorified national leader, instead of the Saviour 
 of the world as if politics " 
 
 "Politics were in the minds of his persecutors," 
 said the man gravely ; " but dear little woman, 
 essence of orthodoxy, don't let us quarrel. I'd give 
 ten years of the life that probably remains for me, 
 to have your faith ; and if I can't yet accept Christ 
 as you do, is it nothing that I bow down before 
 Him as I can accept him ? that I can take in some 
 sort the message of the picture which your faith 
 has enabled you to make? I wonder of all who 
 will see it, in time to come, if any will feel more 
 than I, that it was painted for a soul bereft ! " 
 
 And with a long, reverent look at the sad, stead 
 fast face of the pictured Christ, he turned abruptly 
 to leave the studio.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 19 
 
 " Won't you say ' good-by,' Jack ? " 
 
 " Good-by, Esther," he said, clasping for an instant 
 the firm little fingers. 
 
 She remained where he had left her, before the 
 picture ; but she was thinking of herself, not of Jack 
 Holmwood. 
 
 " Oh, what if I have painted it for myself ! " she 
 said, with a longer and colder shudder. 
 
 Just then Mrs. Mint came in. 
 
 Mrs. Mint was not of a cultivated mind, but she 
 respected Esther as a woman making her way in 
 the world by her honest labor. 
 
 Had she not done so herself in by-gone days, 
 albeit on a lower line of effort? So a fellow- 
 feeling made her kind. 
 
 Then she gratefully remembered Esther's fidelity 
 in the day of seeming adverse fortune. 
 
 Moreover, it delighted her soul to see Esther's 
 obliviousness to Mrs. Jones' attempts at patronage, 
 and to the social lines drawn in our set. 
 
 Mrs. Mint had ordered replicas of " Christ Eesting 
 in Bethany " for the chapels of two charitable insti 
 tutions of which she was a generous patroness, and 
 paid for them to Esther a price at which the latter 
 protested. 
 
 " It's all right. I know a good thing when I see 
 it," said the elder woman, with brusque good nature. 
 But she would not look twice at "The Forsaken 
 Christ."
 
 20 THE WAY OF THE WOELD 
 
 " It gives me cold chills ! " she said to her faithful 
 Martha. 
 
 "It's the best thing she's ever done, ma'am," 
 responded the latter. 
 
 "I wish that little woman hadn't fallen in with 
 those Whist Club people," said Mrs. Mint irrele 
 vantly. " Esther Ward is no more fit to deal with 
 the women of that crowd than a child of five would 
 be. She sees things straight, to begin with, what 
 none of them do; and she tells them straight, if she 
 speaks at all, what none of them can. Then she's 
 living in Heaven, or in Greece, or Eome, or some 
 outlandish place, most of the time, and she doesn't 
 know what people on earth are thinking or planning 
 about. And the worst of it is, she believes every 
 one is as good as herself about minding her own 
 business. I can't imagine how a woman can come 
 to her time of life with so little worldly sense." 
 "Quite so, ma'am; but poets and artists aren't 
 folks." 
 
 " I suppose not, Martha. Think of that girl want 
 ing to share all she possessed with me, when everyone 
 else had turned away. Oh, of course I don't forget 
 the Ormonds, who asked me to make their house 
 my home as long as I might need to. But Esther 
 risked more even than they." 
 
 " Quite so, ma'am," assented Martha. 
 
 Mrs. Mint was no fool. Indeed, her hard busi 
 ness sense is said to have been the cornerstone of
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 21 
 
 the edifice of the late Mr. Mint's colossal fortune. 
 Sometimes with her intimates she was not averse 
 to displaying herself and her late liege lord as a 
 self-made couple, reasonably proud of their job. 
 
 She had a grim humor of her own which she 
 sometimes indulged in her confidential chats with 
 Martha Cutts, the humble but helpful companion 
 of the years of her rising fortunes. Mrs. Cutts was 
 a widow of mixed Irish and English ancestry, who 
 had seen better days, but had the good judgment 
 not to obtrude them unduly on those who had seen 
 worse. 
 
 She knew by a modest personal experience the 
 way of life among gentle folk in the Old World, and 
 she was young enough and shrewd enough on her 
 coming to America to grasp the social conditions 
 here, and find her advantage, without falling into 
 the mistake common to some well-born Old World 
 people, of disparaging us Americans for our social 
 deflections from their ideal. 
 
 She had been invaluable to Mrs. Mint, as Mrs. 
 Mint had been invaluable to her ; and the two were 
 on terms of unclouded good comradeship, although 
 Mrs. Cutts attended her employer's social functions 
 simply as an adjunct of the dressing-room. But 
 fortunate, indeed, is a hostess like Mrs. Mint, with 
 her other self in that place of pre-eminent advantage 
 for character study.
 
 22 THE WAY 01? THE WORLD 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE SUCCEEDING OF SUCCESS. 
 
 MKS. MINT estimated our artist fairly. Esther 
 was a poor judge of character. 
 
 It was not that she lacked the prompt instincts 
 for or against people which most women have for 
 their protection. 
 
 But she had a reasonable mind and a delicate 
 conscience, and she feared that forbidding instincts 
 might be rash judgments. In any event, she felt 
 obliged to verify them by giving the person against 
 whom they pointed a warning finger, the benefit of 
 the doubt. 
 
 Why should she not think as well of this one or 
 that, who came to her with fair words or kindly 
 overtures, as she would have them think of her, 
 were the case reversed ? 
 
 To be sure, a woman who worked from necessity 
 could not be intimate nor even friendly with every 
 one, however agreeable, who sought her. 
 
 To be sure, the question of congeniality must 
 regulate even the offered associations that were most 
 insistent. But how kind of these people to seek a 
 comparative stranger with such unwearying evidence 
 of good will J
 
 AND OTHEK WAYS. 23 
 
 Even Mrs. Jones meant well. It was a pity her 
 early education had been neglected ; otherwise she 
 had not so underrated the things of the mind, nor 
 set such extravagant value on the crudest external 
 evidences of wealth, thought Esther. 
 
 Mrs. Jones and she had no interests in common 
 to bridge the difference in their years, nor had the 
 former pressed her advances after the first attempts 
 at patronage, which Esther, differently understand 
 ing, had declined, but not resented. 
 
 Thus was the younger woman free from all need 
 of regulating an intercourse which had been little 
 to her taste, at best. 
 
 Their casual meetings, however, at the Daughters 
 of St. Paula, or at the houses of the acquaintances 
 whom they soon possessed in common, invariably 
 had a depressing influence on Esther. 
 
 " What has that woman against me ? " she often 
 asked herself, innocent as she was of offense. And 
 then, " Why should she have aught against me ? 
 Esther Ward, you are making too much of yourself. 
 She doesn't think of you at all." 
 
 So when circumstances brought them together, 
 however disagreeable the elder woman's bearing, 
 Esther's manner was invariably marked with the 
 gentle deference to riper years, and the ready yield 
 ing of opinion on indifferent matters, which she 
 manifested to Mrs. Mint, or, for that matter, to poor 
 old Madame Vargous, a lady of distinguished mem-
 
 24 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 ories but fallen fortunes, whom Mrs. Jones had 
 dubbed " The Great Has Been." 
 
 On other basis, however, was the artist's inter 
 course with Mrs. Willow. 
 
 Mrs. Willow, indeed, since Esther's work had 
 been so widely praised, and since Esther herself 
 had become a person of interest to the editors of 
 art notes and the sketchers of celebrities, would 
 have had her at all her functions in the role of 
 rising star. 
 
 She was proud of having made of Esther before 
 the latter's notable success ; and, in her absence, 
 sometimes boasted of having discovered her. 
 
 In her presence, however, she attempted no 
 patronage. There was something about Esther of 
 reserve and native independence, even in her gay 
 est and friendliest hour, which slightly overawed 
 Mrs. Willow. 
 
 Then it was useless to try to interest the artist in 
 society news. She never could supplement a dainty 
 bit of gossip with additional details despite all 
 the people she knew and the things she must hear, 
 if she paid the least attention. 
 
 Eeflecting whereon, Mrs. Willow came to the con 
 clusion that those Daughters of St. Paula who 
 thought Esther a little stupid, outside of her art, 
 were perfectly right. 
 
 Indeed, she herself had often marvelled at the 
 things which went on at the very meetings of the
 
 AND OTHEE WAYS. 25 
 
 Daughters, right under Esther's eyes, and which 
 she never noticed. 
 
 Doubtless it was a good fault. Esther at least 
 was a safe, if not a responsive, confidante ; she never 
 seemed to remember a bit of news over night. 
 
 There was another nice thing about Esther, too. 
 She was blankly indifferent to Mrs. Willow's 
 widower brother. This might not seem to the 
 world in general so remarkable as it seemed to Mrs. 
 Willow. Even Mrs. Jones had never intimated 
 that Esther's occasional appearance at Mrs. Wil 
 low's Sunday afternoons or evenings was even re 
 motely affected by the probable presence of Henry 
 Graham. 
 
 For this considerateness Mrs. Willow meant to 
 reward Esther in due time, by promoting her 
 acquaintance with some well-to-do man who could 
 give her a good home. She had her doubts, of 
 course, as to whether women like Esther Ward 
 or Miss Ruth May would make desirable wives ; 
 for artists and literary people are so very peculiar. 
 Still, women had to take some risks in marriage. 
 Why shouldn't the men take some ? 
 
 So the fact remained that Esther, if a little dull 
 in social matters, was not a designing woman ; that 
 she was no enemy of the prospects of Mr. Graham's 
 affectionate nieces and nephews ; that she was a 
 drawing card in Mrs. Willow's salon, inasmuch as 
 she was both a good talker and a good listener, and was
 
 26 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 becoming more and more of a personage whom people 
 liked to meet, and whom it was well to be in with. 
 
 Then Mrs. Walter Wise didn't in the least resent 
 her. Of course Esther never could be to Mrs. 
 Willow just what Mrs. Wise was, and Mrs. Wise 
 knew it. 
 
 Finally Mrs. Willow and Mrs. Wise both really 
 liked Esther; and though in private they and Mrs. 
 Ray sometimes laughed a little over this or that 
 evidence of her slowness " to 'catch on to things," 
 as they phrased it, still Esther might have heard 
 their discussions with no feeling save a mild wonder 
 at the interest of three adult women with homes, 
 husbands and children to take care of, in matters so 
 remote from their own business and bosoms. 
 
 Once the ice of whose chilly vicinage Esther 
 had been unconscious had been broken between 
 herself and Mrs. Ray, they found some common 
 ground. 
 
 It had been proved by the testimony of Mother 
 Margaret Mary and Sister Josephine that they had 
 been contemporary convent girls, though not class 
 mates, at Brentwood ; and this alone, as all convent- 
 bred women know, is a powerful help to friendship. 
 
 To be sure Mrs. Ray because Esther was rather 
 indistinct in her own retrospect, and also because 
 she was anxious to be reckoned for as long as pos 
 sible among the youngest of the matrons in our set 
 would have it that our artist must have been a pos-
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 27 
 
 tulant, or at least a parlor boarder, with intention of 
 entering the novitiate. 
 
 But when this notion, which was fast assuming 
 the character of a fixed idea in Mrs. Eay's mind and 
 on her tongue, reached Sister Josephine, that good 
 lady, who had an uncomfortably long and infallible 
 memory, and who had kept the school-register, 
 assured Mrs. Kay, in presence of several other old 
 alumnse, that Esther was exactly four years younger 
 than herself, although in schooldays in more ad 
 vanced classes. 
 
 On this Mrs. Eay abandoned the trail of a possi 
 ble religious novitiate, in her casual explorations of 
 Esther's past, with a celerity beautiful to witness. 
 
 She did not avenge this annoying incident on 
 Esther, however, as some less devout woman might 
 have done. 
 
 Mrs. Ray, though slower than several of our set 
 to yield to Esther's undeniable attraction, and less 
 impressed by the verdict of what some of them 
 called " Protestant society," had finally come to like 
 our artist for herself. 
 
 Mrs. Ray was as willing as Mrs. Jones to play 
 the part of patroness, and as anxious to do it with 
 little or no financial expenditure. But she was 
 more modern and better tempered than Mrs. Jones, 
 and her patronage, therefore, was in a less offensive 
 spirit, though it threatened at one time embarrass 
 ing possibilities for Esther.
 
 28 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 For example, in the beginning of their friendship 
 Mrs. Eay had matured a plan for soliciting orders 
 in the convents and among the clergy for Esther, on 
 the plea of helping " a struggling artist," (for to Mrs. 
 Eay equally with Mrs. Jones everyone who earned 
 her living, especially in the fine arts, was necessarily 
 poor and struggling,) but Esther discovered the plan 
 in time, and showed such unfeigned dismay and 
 such a list of waiting commissions, that Mrs. Eay 
 abandoned for the time her attempt at vicarious 
 benevolence to aspiring genius. 
 
 " But her intentions were good," said Esther, ad 
 dressing the mysterious portrait, now unveiled for the 
 delight of her solitude, " and if I had been in need 
 of work, I've no doubt her good word would have 
 helped me greatly. She was yes really a little 
 officious ; but how could she know ? Perhaps she is 
 right in chiding me for being too quiet about my 
 commissions ; but it seems to me in the worst of 
 taste to force affairs of this kind on my friends' 
 notice. What do you think, dear ? I'm sure you 
 would not wish me to do differently." 
 
 The pictured eyes seemed to look a bright ap 
 proval ; and Esther, satisfied on that score, but fear 
 ing she had failed in appreciation of Mrs. Eay's kind 
 intent, wrote a very friendly note promising to come 
 in at her next Day, sent it out for the midnight 
 mail, and fell asleep at peace with herself and all 
 the world.
 
 AND OTHEE WAYS. 29 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OUR WHIST CLUB KEEPS LENT. 
 
 " I DON'T feel quite right about having our Whist 
 Club meet in Lent." It was Mrs. Kay who spoke, 
 and she was the president for the year. 
 
 " I'd like to know why not ; it isn't a sin to play 
 whist in Lent," retorted Mrs. Jones. 
 
 " I know that," rejoined Mrs. Ray, puckering her 
 large white forehead in perplexity ; " but it doesn't 
 seem just the thing. There's the company, after the 
 games, and the refreshments, and " 
 
 " Well, nobody made an evening affair of it and 
 asked the gentlemen, except you and Mrs. Willow," 
 put in Mrs. Macduff. 
 
 " Mrs. Mint used to," said Mrs. Wise wistfully. 
 
 A slight shadow fell on the little company. There 
 was a general painful consciousness of a multitude 
 of good times forfeited by sheer stupidity ; but there 
 was also a tacit agreement to divide the blame and 
 ignore it. 
 
 "I don't think any of us are bound to fast," 
 ventured Mrs. Martin. 
 
 " But we ought to do something," said Mrs, Ray, 
 who was really a well-intentioned woman, and
 
 30 THE WAY OF THE WOELD 
 
 devout in her way. " Father Drane's sermon last 
 Sunday scared me. Perhaps some of us could 
 fast if we tried." 
 
 "Yes, I suppose we ought to do something," 
 echoed Mrs. Willow. 
 
 "I'm going to the Daughters of St. Paula every 
 week," announced Mrs. Eay in a tone of determina 
 tion, which proved that she was not to be turned 
 from at least one penitential practice befitting the 
 season. 
 
 Mrs. Wise, who had a keen sense of humor which 
 it sometimes sorely taxed her diplomacy to keep in 
 check, bit her lip hard. 
 
 " I'll go, too," declared Mrs. Willow. " Won't you, 
 Sister Wise ? " 
 
 " Why, certainly," said the lady appealed to ; 
 "though I must confess I rather enjoy the meet 
 ings." 
 
 This with delicate deference, as if she were 
 acknowledging some morbid fancy in food. 
 
 "Well, I don't," frankly admitted Mrs. Eay; 
 "though of course it's [the thing to belong to the 
 Daughters of St. Paula. 
 
 " Nor I, either," said Mrs. Macduff. " And," wax- 
 nig bolder, " I'm almost afraid of Miss May. What 
 is it we're on now, anyhow ? " 
 
 "The Ten Persecutions of the Early Christians," 
 answered Mrs. Martin, promptly.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 31 
 
 " Oh, yes ! well, at the last meeting she was 
 talking about St. Peter oh, was it St. Paul ? 
 Well, it's much the same thing ; they're always 
 talked about together. Well, as I was saying, she 
 was talking about St. Peter and St. Paul, and I was 
 away back, sitting next to Mrs. Forde. We hadn't 
 seen each other for ever so long, and she was telling 
 me about her sister, Mrs. Allison, and the last 
 baby oh, you never heard of such a case ! and 
 we really neither of us noticed that Miss May had got 
 started. Well, she paused, and then I noticed, and 
 thought she'd forgotten something. But we didn't 
 think it had anything to do with us. Then in 
 another minute she came to a dead standstill and 
 looked straight ahead that aggravating way she 
 has ; till half a dozen of the members looked over 
 in our direction. We'd been talking very low, and 
 bothering nobody. I think she's perfectly horrid. 
 Don't you ? " to Mrs. Wise. 
 
 Now Mrs. Wise thought the lady in question was 
 perfectly right, and would love to have said so ; but 
 Mrs. Macduff was one of her patronesses and Miss 
 May was not. Then the absent are always wrong, 
 as the French have it. But she compromised. 
 
 " Miss May is, well, a little peculiar. All the old 
 New England families are." 
 
 " Well, it's horrid to be peculiar," said Mrs. Eay ; 
 "but I suppose it would be good for us all to learn 
 something about the martyrs. It's going to be my
 
 32 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 practice for this Lent, anyway. But about having 
 our whist during Lent." 
 
 "We might put it to a vote," suggested Mrs. 
 Martin. 
 
 " Yes ; let us. Oh, I heard that Mrs. Mint has 
 paid off the mortgage on St. Mary's Orphanage. Of 
 course, though, she can well afford to." 
 
 " She's not bashful about telling she did it," 
 snapped Mrs. Jones. 
 
 " Mrs. Ormond told me," said Mrs. Wise. 
 
 " Mrs. Ormond is just like Esther Ward ; she 
 thinks it's awful to go to the theatre or to parties 
 in Lent," said Mrs. Martin. 
 
 " The airs of that woman ! " exclaimed Mrs. Jones. 
 
 " Just because her husband wrote a book ! " said 
 Mrs. Martin, sympathetically. 
 
 "He's written four books," corrected Mrs. Eay, 
 who felt a possible patroness's obligation to uphold 
 her especial literary man. 
 
 " Well, what of it ? " asked Mrs. Jones impatiently. 
 " Anyone might write a book, if they'd put in the 
 stuff that some folks do. Now there's Miss May's 
 book" 
 
 " Sh h ! " said Mrs. Wise, for Miss May was 
 the president and bright particular star of the 
 Daughters of St. Paula, and some of her satellites 
 were within hearing. 
 
 Mrs. Wise had never been guilty of kicking any 
 one who was up.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 33 
 
 " But Mr. Ormond's books are good my hus 
 band says so. I never have read any of them 
 myself, but my sister has told me the plot of them 
 all, and they're awfully ' cute.' Just like what 
 happens." 
 
 " But she does not write books ! " persisted Mrs. 
 Jones, bitterly. " Who i<* she, anyhow ? She used 
 to live out in Groveland, and they say she taught 
 in a country school." 
 
 "But she's a Daughter of St. Paula," said Mrs. 
 Macduff, feebly. 
 
 " I wonder how she ever manages the dues. Those 
 literary people are poorer than church mice," said 
 Mrs. Jones. 
 
 " My husband says Mr. Ormond is bound to 
 rise, and some of them really do make a living. 
 There's Mr. Howells, you know," said Mrs. Eay, "and 
 Mr. Crawford. Then she's a great scholar " 
 
 " "Well, what does she know except what was 
 already in books, for anyone to learn before she 
 learned it ? " persisted Mrs. Jones. " Now if she had 
 found out something that no one ever knew 
 isn't that so?" 
 
 No one was quite ready for this view of the 
 case. 
 
 "The old New England families are so queer," 
 said Mrs. Wise, vaguely. "Lots of Miss May's 
 folks are High Church Episcopalians, and they're 
 awfully strict about Lent."
 
 34 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 " It wouldn't be right for us to be easier than 
 they are," said Mrs. Eay. " Weren't we going to 
 vote about it?" 
 
 The vote was taken, and stood eight to four for 
 dropping whist during Lent ; and Mrs. Eay attended 
 six consecutive meetings of the Daughters of St. 
 Paula without flinching.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 35 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 THE LADIES AND THE LION. 
 
 Miss MAY had secured a real Lion for the Easter 
 entertainment of the Daughters of St. Paula. He 
 was great ; he was high-priced ; he was hard to get 
 at any price ; still more important, he was fashion 
 able. His name was known the minute it was 
 spoken, not only in the most fashionable circles in 
 the city of Miss May's home, but in vastly more 
 fashionable circles in every city of the land, and in 
 many lands. 
 
 How did Miss May get him ? Nobody knew. 
 Miss May had no confidantes. Perhaps that was 
 why she had always heretofore got for herself or 
 her good works, anything she had set her heart on. 
 
 At the special meeting called early in Lent for 
 the making of the necessary arrangements, the 
 Daughters were in a flutter of pleasurable excite 
 ment. 
 
 " We shall have the entertainment in the evening, 
 in Loyola Hall," announced Miss May. 
 
 Mrs. "Willow was up like a flash. 
 
 " Oh, Miss May, do you really think that is best ? 
 Wouldn't it be better to charge a little more, and
 
 36 
 
 have it in the Diamond Drawing-rooms ? They're 
 so pretty." 
 
 " Yes, indeed, Miss May, we would all be willing 
 to dispose of tickets at five dollars apiece, to have it 
 there," added Mrs. Jones. 
 
 "If it is in Loyola Hall everybody can come," 
 objected Mrs. Eay. 
 
 " I want everybody to come," said the president 
 of the Daughters of St. Paula, calmly. 
 
 " I know some lovely people who would pay high 
 for tickets if everybody wasn't to be admitted," 
 urged Mrs. Eay. 
 
 " With ' everybody ' there the loveliest will be 
 included," rejoined this aggravating president. 
 
 " But I thought anything we were to have was 
 to be kept just among ourselves," complained Mrs. 
 Martin. 
 
 " So it is," responded Miss May, benignly. " Just 
 among us Catholics ; that is," with dancing eyes, 
 "unless some of our Protestant friends, drawn by 
 the shining of our Star, should entreat the privilege 
 of tickets." 
 
 " Entreat the privilege Protestants ! " 
 gasped little Mrs. Martin, who regarded our sepa 
 rated brethren, socially speaking, as superior beings." 
 
 " Miss May is so peculiar," sighed Mrs. Eay. 
 
 "If she goes on like this, one might as well 
 belong to the Aubrey de Vere Eeading Circle," 
 whispered Mrs. Wise ; and she was about to relate
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 37 
 
 some enormity of democracy committed by this 
 association, when Miss May tapped for order. 
 
 " The lecture will take place on the evening of 
 Thursday in Easter week, in Loyola Hall, at popular 
 prices, fifty cents a ticket. The secretary and the 
 treasurer will distribute to each her share ; money 
 to be given in therefor two weeks before the lecture." 
 
 Miss May was a bit of a czar. She believed she 
 had to be. 
 
 Mrs. Willow had a hospitable heart. She also 
 had her Day. 
 
 In this she was not unusual. Every member of 
 the Whist Club, most of the married and a few 
 of the unmarried, Daughters of St. Paula had their 
 Days. 
 
 The latest matron in the set to take a Day, had 
 severely reprimanded her oldest lad for saying with 
 levity : 
 
 " Why, there ain't enough Days to go 'round ! " 
 
 But Mrs. Willow had chosen her Day wisely. She 
 was " at home " from four o'clock Sunday afternoon. 
 
 It was well known to the intimates of her house 
 that a delightful high tea was served at half-past six, 
 and there were dainty refreshments again at half- 
 past ten. 
 
 Mrs. Willow had a clever husband, and, as we 
 have seen, a widower brother who resided with them, 
 and was reputed to be rich. 
 
 With such attractions, it is not strange that her 
 Day was a success.
 
 38 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 The men could come, and did come, as they came 
 to no other Day; and while these were relaxing 
 their minds she got many a choice bit of news, to 
 say nothing of the very cream of current events 
 from the ladies. 
 
 Well stored thus early in the week, she made it 
 a conscientious duty to look in on all the Days of 
 all her friends ; nor was she niggard in dispensing 
 her early-hived treasures of information. 
 
 Now it was her dear delight to have as many 
 celebrities as possible at her Days. 
 
 When, therefore, she heard of this phenomenal 
 Lion secured by Miss May, and certain to be in 
 town (as he had distinguished relatives) over 
 Sunday, she bent all her mind to the achievement 
 of him for her guest. 
 
 To Mrs. Wise alone did she confide her ambition. 
 She knew she was perfectly safe in so doing, as that 
 lady always assisted her on Sundays, and would 
 thus come in for a much larger share of reflected 
 glory than she could get in any other way. 
 
 " Fortunately, I'm on the Eeception Committee," 
 murmured Mrs. Wise. 
 
 " How will that help ? " queried her friend. 
 
 " Don't you see ? We're going to have an infor 
 mal reception after the lecture, and you can trust 
 me to see that you are presented one of the very 
 first ahead of Mrs. Jones, anyhow." 
 
 " So you can. Now do it like an angel, and I'll 
 never forget it to you."
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 39 
 
 " Mrs. Jones is quite counting on him. Says she 
 used to know him ; had luncheon with him once in 
 Rome." 
 
 " Do you believe her ? " 
 
 " Well, you never can tell," answered Mrs. Wise, 
 cautiously. " Anyhow, trust me to see that she 
 doesn't get the best of us at the reception. Oh, 
 you're going to Benediction ! Well, I'll go right 
 along, too. Dear me r it's good the Whist and so 
 many other things are off for Lent. One really 
 should do something for one's poor little soul." 
 
 The eventful evening of the Lion's appearance 
 under the patronage of the Daughters of St. Paula 
 had come. And everybody had come. The hall 
 was packed to discomfort. Extra rows of chairs 
 had to be put in, until there was scarcely a hand's 
 breadth between the stage and the nearest auditors. 
 
 The popular prices had not dismayed " the lovely 
 people " of Mrs. Ray's desire ; and Mrs. Martin, 
 surveying the hall anxiously from the wings, was 
 reassured by discerning a number of her Protestant 
 acquaintances, and four Protestant clergymen, the 
 latter in the front row. 
 
 The Reception Committee, all in pretty demi- 
 toilette, awaited the Lion in the little reception-room 
 to the rear of the great hall. 
 
 " You might have knocked me over with a 
 feather," whispered Mrs. Wise to Mrs. Willow,
 
 40 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 getting a firm grip of her the moment the lecturer 
 descended from the stage, for the little reception. 
 
 " Who should walk in with him and Miss May, 
 but Mr. and Mrs. Ormond. It appears they all 
 dined together at Miss May's." 
 
 But Mrs. Willow and everyone else had seen the 
 entrance of the party, for they had to be admitted 
 into the hall by the private door near the stage, 
 and all the Daughters of St. Paula, at least, knew 
 the significance of their association. 
 
 Miss May and the presiding officer had taken up 
 their station beside the lecturer, and the Auxiliary 
 Bishop, the Vicar-General, the President of Loyola 
 College, the Protestant clergymen, the professors 
 of the Seminary, and the senior class of Madame 
 Grandin's finishing school, were being conceded the 
 right of way, to offer their congratulations to the 
 Lion. 
 
 Mrs. Wise, who was slender and agile, had towed 
 her friend into a good position right behind Madame 
 Grandin's seven seniors. But behind themselves 
 pressed a serried mass of people, extending straight 
 to the entrance, and getting steady reinforcements 
 from the galleries. 
 
 " Just look at that, will you ! Mr. and Mrs. 
 Ormond are receiving with them ! " exclaimed Mrs. 
 Willow. 
 
 "Yes, and he's calling Mr. Ormond 'Fred.' 
 You never can tell anything about these literary
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 41 
 
 and artistic people," rejoined Mrs. Wise. " Look at 
 Esther Ward now ! And by the way, I see her 
 ahead of us, with Mrs. Mint." 
 
 They did not know that Mrs. Jones was close 
 behind them with her husband. Mr. Willow always 
 fled the receptions, and was now having a cigar 
 with his like-minded brother-in-law in the lower 
 hall. 
 
 Presently Mrs. Wise, descrying a break in the 
 ecclesiastical group, literally pulled in her friend 
 and presented her. 
 
 " And now, dear Mr. Stoneford," laying a detain 
 ing hand on the Lion's coat-sleeve (for she had had 
 quite a chat with him in the parlor, and the emer 
 gency excused a little unconventionality), " Mrs. 
 Willow wants a word with you." 
 
 " Very happy, indeed," murmured the Lion. 
 
 " Won't you come for half an hour to us on 
 Sunday afternoon, my Day, you know ? Mr. Willow 
 will be so charmed." 
 
 " Quite too kind, Mrs. Willow. I'm to have lun 
 cheon on Sunday with my old friends, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Ormond. I have no engagement in the late after 
 noon, but" 
 
 " Oh, no buts, Mr. Stoneford," urged Mrs. Willow 
 and Mrs. Wise together. " Do say you will come. 
 We are on East Avenue, just next " 
 
 There were unmistakable signs of impatience in 
 the people right behind, and Miss May looked nerv 
 ous.
 
 42 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 The Lion surrendered at discretion. 
 
 " I'll come in about four o'clock, Mrs. Willow." 
 
 " Sure ! " 
 
 " On my word." 
 
 " Oh, thank you so much ! " 
 
 " Thank you, Mrs. Willow," said the gallant Lion. 
 
 Mrs. Jones had heard it all, and grasped the little 
 plot. But she gave no sign. She and her liege lord 
 were the next presented, and she took advantage of 
 the opportunity only to say quite loud : 
 
 " How splendidly you look. Ah ! how many 
 things have happened since our delightful little 
 luncheon at Albano, three years ago ! " 
 
 " Quite so," said the Lion, kindly but vaguely, 
 endeavoring to recall the circumstance. 
 
 Mrs. Jones was fairly dragged out of the throng 
 by her impatient husband, and the real work of the 
 evening began. 
 
 The line was thenceforth blocked every minute 
 and a half by some one endeavoring to make an 
 engagement with- the Lion, or asking him to eluci 
 date mysteries remaining in his lastest novel ; or 
 if they were going to be explained in the sequel ; 
 or how he first thought of becoming a Catholic ; or 
 whether he would prefer to live in Boston or New 
 York ; or what were his very lowest terms for a 
 great charity ; or if " Serena " were founded on fact ; 
 or whether it was really true that he had a little 
 Irish blood in his veins, etc., etc., etc.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 43 
 
 He was a very amiable Lion ; and he made, I 
 fear, some reckless promises and extraordinary 
 explanations that night, for which he has suffered, 
 and I hope, been forgiven. 
 
 It was the " lovely people " who pushed for con 
 versation, and laid detaining hands upon him. 
 
 The Hon. Paul Eollins, late United States Consul- 
 General to Paris, who presided, was thinking things 
 behind his long blonde moustache that were not 
 benedictions. 
 
 Miss May had all the lace ripped right off her 
 silk skirt. 
 
 Mrs. Ormond was several times violently jammed 
 against the platform ; and in the rear of the hall it 
 took all the tact of seven of the sweetest-tempered 
 Daughters of St. Paula, reinforced by the good- 
 natured officers of the Aubrey de Vere Circle, who 
 were better used to crowds, to prevent several hun 
 dred people from " going away mad." 
 
 Meantime Mrs. Willow and Mrs. Wise, their 
 object accomplished, had rejoined their waiting hus 
 bands, and were soon driving home in great peace 
 and content as to their own achievement, though 
 in much wonder about the Ormonds. 
 
 " So he's to dine with them Sunday, and they 
 keep only one maid ! " exclaimed Mrs. Willow. 
 
 " I guess it's true that Mr. Ormond is beginning 
 to amount to something, though," said Mrs. Wise. 
 
 " Don't you think I'd better invite the Ormonds 
 specially for Sunday ? "
 
 44 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 " Oh, yes, indeed. I don't see how you can help it." 
 
 The Ormonds and their old friend, the Lion, had 
 just finished luncheon and adjourned to their little 
 drawing-room, whose windows commanded a view 
 of the street. 
 
 Mrs. Ormond's eyes grew round with astonish 
 ment as Mrs. Jones' carriage drove up and stopped 
 at her door. Mrs. Jones presently descended, and 
 duly announced, entered the modest apartment, 
 greeting the Ormonds with effusion, as if she were 
 a household intimate, and not a mere acquaintance, 
 crossing their threshold for the first time. 
 
 " And dear Mr. Stoneford ! What a success the 
 other night ! All the world's agog over it." 
 
 Presently, " I suppose you are all going over to 
 Mrs. Willow's this afternoon." 
 
 " We cannot go," said Mrs. Ormond, quietly, " but 
 Mr. Stoneford, I believe " 
 
 " How unfortunate ! But again, what a happy 
 thought that I called just this day ; for now I can 
 drive our friend over, as I am due there myself this 
 afternoon." 
 
 " Quite too kind, Mrs. Jones," said the lion, ner 
 vously, " but " 
 
 " Oh no, indeed, no trouble at all, such a pleasure ; 
 and I have so much to ask you about our friends in 
 Home." 
 
 Mrs. Ormond knew that Mrs. Jones had come
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 45 
 
 far out of her way, and that the Willows lived 
 on the other side of the city, at least five miles 
 from the suburb of her own residence. But she 
 was the hostess, and her experience of life had 
 taught her the futility of opposing the will of a 
 woman of Mrs. Jones' type. 
 
 Indeed in a very few moments the Lion, reluc 
 tantly torn from the cosy fireside of his friends, was 
 whirling along in Mrs. Jones' carriage, which stopped 
 before long at her own door. 
 
 " We must get Mr. Jones," she explained sweetly, 
 and then "better come in, Mr. Stoneford; he 
 won't be quite ready, I fear, and I couldn't think 
 of your waiting in the carriage even a moment, 
 this chilly day." 
 
 So our Lion found himself in Mrs. Jones' gor 
 geous drawing-room, and thence, in a moment, in 
 her equally gorgeous dining-room, where there was 
 no escape from a glass of champagne and a cigar 
 with Mr. Jones. 
 
 Mrs. Willow's Day had never drawn so many 
 guests before. Between ourselves, she had written 
 to everyone who was on visiting terms with her, to 
 be sure and come. 
 
 So it befell that all the members of the Whist 
 Club, and many of the Daughters of St. Paula, with 
 their complaisant husbands, brothers, and even, in a 
 few cases, sons, were gathered together.
 
 46 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 As we have said, Mrs. Willow was fortunate in 
 her Day, as her own men were at home for the Day 
 of Rest, and other men, even of a less social type, 
 could plead fewer excuses against such informal 
 sociability as prevailed at her house. 
 
 The hostess, attended by Mrs. Wise, was stationed 
 near the drawing-room door, as the steady stream 
 of arrivals demanded. But the Lion came not. It 
 was after five o'clock. What could have happened ? 
 
 " Ah, dear Mrs. Willow ! So pleased to see you ! 
 I have brought you Mr. Stoneford ; we've just come 
 from the house. He and Mr. Jones have been renew 
 ing old times together, for a few moments ! " 
 
 It was indeed Mrs. Jones, convoying the captured 
 Lion, and posing before the whole gathering as his 
 old and intimate friend, to whom Mrs. Willow was 
 doubtless indebted for the honor of his presence at 
 this moment. 
 
 The Lion himself was bewildered. Unprofession- 
 ally, he was as little up to the ways of women as 
 any other masculine creature, but he vaguely felt a 
 discomfort in the air, and threw an extra cordial 
 ity into his greeting to the Willows and Mrs. Wise. 
 There was no chance to explain, amid the group 
 that promptly surrounded him, nor would he have 
 known just what to explain, in any event. 
 
 Mrs. Jones relinquished him for a while, to dis 
 port herself with unwonted suavity among the other 
 guests, narrating various little Ion-mots of the Lion.
 
 AND OTHEE WAYS. 47 
 
 She never took her eyes off him, however, and when 
 he showed signs of making his farewells, she and Mr. 
 Jones were beside him, and finally carried him off 
 in triumph before everybody's eyes, to the residence 
 of the cousins with whom he was to pass the night. 
 
 " Did you ever see anything like the effrontery of 
 that woman ? " demanded Mrs. Wise of Mrs. Willow, 
 when all the guests had departed except a couple 
 of old familiars who were in the library with the 
 head of the house. 
 
 " But you promised me she wouldn't get the best 
 of me, standing by that mantelpiece," said Mrs. 
 Willow, reproachfully. 
 
 " What more could I do ? How could I know she 
 was going to serve us such a trick ? Where in the 
 world did she pick up with him ? He was to be 
 at Mrs. Ormond's to luncheon, and she doesn't visit 
 there." 
 
 " So he was at the Ormond's." 
 
 " Then how in the world did Mrs. Jones get hold 
 of him to have him at her house ? The bold thing ! 
 I'd give" 
 
 " But you promised me, standing by that mantel 
 piece " 
 
 Mrs. Wise did not go home till she had soothed 
 the fretfulness out of her disappointed friend. Both 
 ladies united in denouncing Mrs. Jones, and made 
 vague plans for taking her down a peg or two on
 
 48 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 some future occasion ; but both of them knew in 
 their hearts that they would have to swallow their 
 grievance meekly. Among them and Mrs. Jones 
 existed, as a consequence of past intimacy, that 
 armed neutrality which keeps the peace among 
 women who have ceased to be fond of one another, 
 but who have the acute consciousness of being in 
 one another's power through imprudent revelations 
 of their own or other people's business.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 49 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 ANOTHEK DAY. 
 
 LAST but not least of the factors in forming a 
 friendship between Esther and Mrs. Kay were the 
 children. Esther loved children, and was a prime 
 favorite with the Ray boys. 
 
 She drew wonderful animals for Gregory on the 
 fly-leaves of his private 'randum books, as he called 
 them, and was full of compassion for the trials and 
 tribulations of the stormy school life of a normal, 
 freckled boy. 
 
 She delighted the gentle and rather pious Clement 
 with stories of Old World castles and sacred shrines, 
 and sweet legends of saints and martyrs. 
 
 Even the shy baby, Athanasius, shrinking under 
 the shadow of his great name, would go to Esther 
 when he wouldn't go to his own aunts. 
 
 " You had lots of children in your family ? " said 
 Mrs. Ray once, tentatively. 
 
 " Only one brother younger than myself, but too 
 near my age for me to remember him a baby," re 
 sponded Esther, turning her clear, direct gaze on her 
 hostess. 
 
 On this especial Wednesday, Gregory, having come
 
 50 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 home from school, and duly refreshed the inner 
 boy downstairs, reconnoitred about the door of the 
 rear drawing-room until he spied Esther on a divan 
 in a corner with Madame Vargous. The latter was 
 unfolding to her amiable, if not enthralled, listener 
 the glories of society in Washington in the days 
 when Mrs. Harriet Lane Johnston was the acknowl 
 edged leader. 
 
 The advance of a kindly old French Father from 
 St. Loyola's, to whose good works Madame Vargous 
 had been a generous benefactor in her golden prime, 
 and who showed her the consideration so dear to 
 her heart, in her failing days, whenever occasion 
 offered, left Esther free to respond to the nods 
 and becks truth forces me to substitute frantic 
 grimaces for the poet's wreathed smiles of the 
 ingenuous Gregory. 
 
 They stole unnoticed past the open doors of the 
 front drawing-room, up the broad staircase and 
 through the wide corridors, to the sunny, spacious 
 nursery at the rear of the second floor. 
 
 "Say, Miss Esther," said Gregory, "wasn't you 
 glad to get out ? Oh, I wouldn't be found dead in 
 anybody's Day." 
 
 " Hush ! " whispered Esther, knocking softly at 
 the nursery door; " perhaps the baby is asleep." 
 
 But the baby was broad awake, and with his thin 
 little arms at once outstretched to this welcome 
 guest, that he might nestle in that coign of vantage,
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 51 
 
 whence he might pull her locket and her loose front 
 hair, and otherwise disport himself, as do all well- 
 regulated babies of inquiring minds, when at ease 
 with their friends. 
 
 Athanasius, named like his brothers for the saint 
 of his birthday, was " Nate " to the boys in the 
 presence of their father, but " the Kid " on all occa 
 sions of less formality. 
 
 He thrived but slowly, in comparison with his 
 predecessors in the cradle, but made up for his small 
 and delicate proportions by marvelous feats of agility, 
 which made Gregory proudly declare him a "hull 
 team," and " most as good as a circus." 
 
 Even the studious Clement, who questioned if a 
 very obvious interest in the antics of a baby were 
 not beneath the dignity of his twelve years, could 
 not resist the preparations for displaying the Kid in 
 the great act of catching his ball with his feet. 
 
 But meantime Gregory was pouring forth his joys 
 and sorrows into the sympathetic ears of Esther. 
 
 " Oh, say, Miss Esther, call me Greg, same as the 
 fellows do : 
 
 ' Greg, Greg, with the wooden leg, 
 Let us take him down a peg. ' 
 
 That's what they call out after me when we're going 
 home," with proud consciousness of having thus 
 early in life lent inspiration to the gentle art of 
 rhyme. 
 
 " It's because the man comes after us with the
 
 52 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 carriage, Miss Esther, and I s'pose it's nothing but 
 jealousy," said Clement, who was, I grieve to say, a 
 bit of a snob, as nice, quiet boys sometimes are. 
 
 " Then you must disarm them, Clement, by being 
 more friendly at recess and luncheon." 
 
 " Oh, but so few of them are of our " 
 
 At this point the nurse had opened the big Morris 
 chair in the center of the room, dropped Athanasius 
 into it, and handing Esther his red-white-and-blue 
 ball on its long ribbon, effectually diverted the con 
 versation from the social distinctions among the boys 
 at Professor Drummond's Preparatory School. 
 
 The baby, with alert eyes and tightly compressed 
 lips, watched the dangling ball, and stretched hands 
 or feet indifferently for it, as it veered now in the 
 direction of these or those equally tenacious members. 
 
 When he caught it, as he did twice out of three 
 times with his feet which had not yet been tram 
 meled by shoes and held it up firmly clasped 
 between the soles thereof for a moment, the boys 
 fairly howled their applause, and the young acrobat 
 himself, relaxing the dignity of his countenance a 
 little, displayed his four new teeth in a condescend 
 ing smile, and beat a tattoo with his heels on the 
 leather cushions. 
 
 Tired of the ball game, he obligingly put his toes 
 in his mouth, and eventually each of his tough little 
 heels in turn. 
 
 The boys suggested to Esther that it would be
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 53 
 
 fine to have his picture taken with his heel in his 
 mouth. 
 
 The artist saw aesthetic objections to this especial 
 pose, however, which she endeavored to simplify to 
 the boys. 
 
 It was a lovely late afternoon in May. The even 
 ing breeze was swaying the long muslin curtains at 
 the half-open windows, through which stole the fra 
 grance of the pear and cherry blossoms in the back 
 garden. 
 
 " He could pick up your watch-chain with his 
 toes," suggested Gregory, reluctant to give up the 
 thought of perpetuating the Kid in art as a pre 
 cocious athlete. 
 
 Here the interesting infant, rinding conversation 
 about him, however flattering, no adequate substitute 
 for direct personal homage, spoke his mind vigorously 
 in his own language. 
 
 Esther seized him and swung him to her shoulder; 
 Gregory whistled his favorite melody, " A Hot Time 
 in the Old Town Tonight," and with his nimble toes 
 elevating Esther's gold chain, and one hand twined 
 in her thick brown hair, and Clement singing to his 
 brother's whistle, the baby was having the best of 
 good times when the door opened and the merry 
 little group found themselves confronted with Mrs. 
 Eay and her guests, Bertrand Coleman and his sister 
 and Mrs. Jones. 
 
 " We knew where to find you," said Mrs. Eay.
 
 54 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 There was laughter all round; the nurse came 
 forward promptly to relieve Esther,^ Imt the baby 
 screamed and clung to his favorite, ana, was disen 
 gaged with difficulty. 
 
 Esther with flushed cheeks and towsled hair and 
 dancing eyes mustered what gravity she could (with 
 Gregory's scowl at the interruption in sight) for Mr. 
 Coleman's presentation to her ; and retreated as 
 speedily as possible to make herself tidy for the 
 informal dinner, for which they were all hospitably 
 bidden. 
 
 She already had a slight acquaintance with Miss 
 Coleman, but this was her first meetntg wi|h the 
 brother; and she laughed a little as si 
 her hair, at the rather absurd predicament^ 
 she had been caught. 
 
 The color was not all gone from her c] 
 the laughter from her eyes when she 
 company in the dining-room ; and Bertrand 'C6*lei 
 who liked bright new faces, was glad to 
 for his vis-a-vis. | 
 
 The conversation never languished where kg 
 a guest, as he was up in all the events of the day, 
 and had an inexhaustible store of incident and 
 anecdote ; and he noted with approval that Esther 
 listened intently and intelligently. 
 
 He was used to having women listen to him, but 
 they often missed the point, and asked incredibly 
 stupid explanations.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 55 
 
 And even : beauty could not atone to Mr. Coleman 
 for stupidity. 
 
 Moreover, there was a something in the eyes 
 which mgt his so straightforwardly when he ad 
 dressed $ rehiark to their owner, which attracted 
 him ple|Sanjy, but not sentimentally. 
 
 It wajs n$t the woman's homage to the man 
 (much s he-was sought after by women, he had the 
 good s&nse -to see this), it was the artist's appre 
 ciation? of a subject ; for Bertrand Coleman was a 
 splenold and distinguished type of manhood. 
 
 Faiily tall, well-built, of erect, soldierly bearing, 
 free 91" superfluous flesh, clear-cut in feature, swarthy 
 as a Spaniard, with deep-set, dark gray eyes " the 
 kind?4hat must shine in the dark," as the Eay boys 
 sai(L abundant, soft black hair, without a tinge of 
 gray, foil all of his forty-five years, he was a man 
 thit the* most unobservant would have to look at 
 twice, and that artists would long to paint, some for 
 aLanpelot, others for a Godfrey de Bouillon. 
 
 t ' 
 
 [e's nice, isn't he ? " asked Mrs. Eay of Esther, 
 
 as ^ne took her by-and-by to her own room, to put 
 on her hat and gloves. 
 
 " Nice ! " exclaimed Esther. " He's magnificent. 
 He's about the height and build of my older brother, 
 and dark like him, but, oh, incomparably better- 
 looking. He's quite the handsomest brunette man 
 I ever saw, and clever, too. I hope I shall meet 
 him again."
 
 56 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 " Do you ? " asked Mrs. Ray slowly, while her eyes 
 snapped and her ears quivered ; " and you'll always 
 remember that you met him first here, won't you ? " 
 
 But Esther was so absorbed in an artistic adjust 
 ment of the breast-knot of violets which little 
 Gregory had plucked for her, that Mrs. Ray's words 
 passed unheard. 
 
 Bertrand Coleman and his sister walked home 
 with Esther across the park that evening. 
 
 Mrs. Jones remarked when she got home, to Mr. 
 and Mrs. Wise, whom she found visiting with her 
 husband, that Miss Ward was the greatest poser she 
 had ever known ; and that for her part, she thought 
 it in questionable taste for unmarried women to make 
 such a fuss over babies, anyhow. 
 
 I said, a little earlier in these chronicles of our 
 set, that I wished Esther Ward had never painted 
 Bertrand Coleman's portrait. 
 
 But really, she might have painted him ten times, 
 and exhibited his picture as her masterpiece at 
 Bellini & Leverett's, or anywhere else, if only a few 
 people of ordinary communicativeness had known 
 about that other portrait, so jealously veiled and 
 guarded. 
 
 Look at her now for a moment in the quiet of 
 her studio, sketching her reminiscences of the even 
 ing on a bit of Bristol board. 
 
 She has outlined Bertrand Coleman as a mediaeval 
 knight in armor, but with equal interest she has
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 57 
 
 sketched Baby Nate, with his eyes uplifted and his 
 legs and arms in air, only she has curved and 
 dimpled these attenuated members beyond recogni 
 tion. Gregory's honest face is there in a full round, 
 and Clement's delicate profile ; nor does she lay her 
 pencil down till Mrs. Eay, who is of a chubby, 
 flaxen-haired, wax-doll-faced prettiness, contributes 
 to the group another round face, whose eyes and 
 mouth are notes of interrogation. 
 
 I wish Esther had had a confidante other than her 
 brush or pen. She might have trusted Mrs. Ormond 
 or Euth May, with whom she was drifting into a 
 very congenial acquaintanceship. She might as 
 safely and more easily have dropped a few words 
 to Jack Holmwood, whom she had known for ten 
 years. 
 
 You would think that a woman who had so much 
 to say of her thoughts and feelings on impersonal 
 matters, would some day or other reveal a little of 
 her own life, her heart's hopes, fears and desires ; 
 but just as soon as she lowered her voice, and said, 
 "this is between ourselves for the present," your 
 attention was rewarded by the highly important 
 information that she was going to put a stained-glass 
 window in her little dining-room, the outlook being 
 so ugly, or some other triviality that you would have 
 seen for yourself in a day or two. 
 
 For Esther was a home-loving creature, and 
 " played house " in the little suite behind her studio,
 
 58 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 with a middle-aged widow to minister to her 
 modest wants. 
 
 If this widow had been as communicative as she 
 was observant, she could have turned the course of 
 events by improving the shining hour when Mrs. 
 Willow's maid came, as she often did, with notes 
 for Miss Ward, in that lady's absence. 
 
 Even Father Herman had said more than once to 
 Esther : " My child, you are attempting a role for 
 which few men and no women are fitted: to live 
 without sympathy." 
 
 But Esther only smiled to herself, thinking of the 
 day when she could tell him that she was quite as 
 much of a human being as any of the multitude 
 who sought comfort and counsel from his fatherly 
 heart and varied experience. 
 
 "Why should I waste his precious time in dis 
 cussing what I would like to do, when I know what 
 I've got to do ? " was her eminently practical-sound 
 ing reflection ; though I am free to say that Esther's 
 code as to duty and obligation, badly needed re 
 vision. 
 
 Then Esther had been all her life the confidante 
 of less self-sufficing women. She was responsive in 
 sympathy which had a large artistic element 
 in it if not in confidence ; and the result of her 
 vicarious tears, blushes and shudders, was to inten 
 sify her personal reserve. 
 
 " Why, oh why, should a woman feel obliged to
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 59 
 
 carry a dead or an estranged lover in her pocket 
 to justify her single state or her unhappy marriage 
 in the eyes of people who are not losing sleep about 
 either?" was a conundrum for Esther which she 
 never had been able to solve.
 
 60 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 BERTRAND COLEMAN'S SISTER. 
 
 "THAT'S a thoroughly sensible woman," said 
 Bertrand Coleman to his sister, as they reverted 
 next day at luncheon to the incidents of the pre 
 vious evening. 
 
 Miss Coleman was cutting him a generous portion 
 of his favorite strawberry shortcake. Her move 
 ments were prim, gentle and deliberate, like her 
 voice. 
 
 " She seems to be," she said, looking up brightly, 
 not as if possessed by a sinister doubt, but merely as 
 if the case awaited her prepossessed investigation. 
 It was this blending of amiability and caution in 
 his sister's expressed opinions on people, which 
 made Bertrand Coleman think so highly of her 
 judgment. 
 
 " You ought to have her over to luncheon some 
 day," he continued. 
 
 " I should love to after she has returned my 
 call," responded Miss Coleman, sweetly. 
 
 It was twelve years since Bertrand Coleman had 
 laid in the grave the beautiful girl with whom he 
 had had nearly two years of a happiness which 
 seldom falls to the lot of mortals.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 61 
 
 When the coffin closed on her and their baby 
 boy, he prayed only that he might follow them 
 speedily. 
 
 Though, as is the world's wont, many eligible 
 matches were made for him while as yet his wife's 
 fair body lay in flower-girt, taper-lit splendor be 
 neath his roof, by the kind friends who had come to 
 tender him their sympathy ; and a maximum of two 
 years was allowed him for decent mourning, ere 
 taking another mate, he had surprised and puzzled 
 his friends and annoyed the prophets by remaining 
 thus far not only unwed, but apparently heart-whole 
 and fancy-free. 
 
 It was felt (and rather resented to her) that his 
 sister was largely responsible for this state of 
 affairs. 
 
 In the first place, she ordered his house to the 
 point of perfection. Then she made much of his 
 friends. He was exceedingly hospitable, and as 
 thoughtless as the majority of his sex ; but whether 
 he brought home one or seven, she was always in a 
 state of preparedness as to the larder, and of imper 
 turbable good humor, personally. 
 
 Creature comforts, convenience, accustomedness 
 are more to a man as he draws near to the harvest 
 moon of life, and if, as now and then happened, 
 Bertrand Coleman began to feel a little interest in 
 one or other of the pretty widows or maidens whom 
 he met in such numbers, he found himself specu-
 
 62 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 lating as to how her housekeeping would compare 
 with Jane's. 
 
 Then Jane had no quarrel with any of his men 
 friends ; and he had known sundry old bachelors and 
 widowers whose chums had been promptly inter 
 dicted the house in the sixth month of the reign of 
 the new queen. 
 
 Furthermore, Jane was nice to his women friends. 
 Indeed, she had a legion of women friends of her 
 own. They rarely sat down to luncheon without 
 some fair lady between them ; nor went to the 
 theatre nor on a few days' vacation trip without an 
 equally pleasant companion, into whose home, also, 
 they might adventure once or twice. Yet strangely 
 enough, hardly had Bertrand Coleman begun to 
 feel an interest in the aforesaid fair lady than she 
 faded away, so to speak, before the coming of a fairer 
 or a cleverer, till he was fain to think that his 
 sister's women friends were like the Sultan's forty 
 wives: each more beautiful than the other. 
 
 Sometimes, indeed, his sister rewarded his ex 
 pressed preference for the society of some woman 
 friend by such an abundance of it that he was 
 fain to wish the latter never had been born. 
 
 His devotion to his wife's memory was very true 
 and tender; though, as the years went by, she 
 naturally became etherealized to him, like the 
 sainted maiden Beatrice of the poet's dream of 
 Heaven; only that the babe in her arms suggested 
 rather a meek and lowly sister of the Madonna.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 63 
 
 Jane shared his devotion to his wife's memory to 
 a degree which touched him greatly, but puzzled him 
 as well. For in Marcella's lifetime, as he remem 
 bered, they had not seemed to get on together. It 
 was doubtless his sister's desire to make generous 
 reparation, which kept her so observant of their 
 anniversaries, and led her to make Marcella the 
 standard for all possible aspirants to her vacant 
 place. 
 
 He kept a fairly high ideal of women withal, 
 only he marveled that out of all this bright array, 
 that were so delightful as friends or acquaintances, 
 there should be so few whom a prudent man would 
 seek in marriage. 
 
 He felt he had grown very wise as to feminine 
 foibles, family disadvantages, etc. Not that his 
 sister was ever unkindly critical of friends or guests. 
 Some things, to be sure, she noted, but rather in 
 sorrow than in anger; and twice, at least, when cer 
 tain mercenary families were endeavoring to entrap 
 him, she had saved his happiness from shipwreck. 
 
 Do not think for a moment, dear reader, that 
 Miss Coleman did not wish her brother to marry. 
 The trouble was, as she often said, that she couldn't 
 get him off her hands. 
 
 She did indeed wish him to have a wife who 
 should be worthy of him and of his position. Miss 
 Coleman must not be blamed if she felt it would 
 not be easy to find such a woman. She would have 
 been less than a true sister if she had felt differently.
 
 64 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 Bertrand Coleman's wife should be a woman of 
 irreproachable family, of perfect health, of suitable 
 age, of grace and style rather than beauty for was 
 he not handsome enough for both ? of ripe cul 
 ture, social experience and travel; of a beautiful dis 
 position, a devout Catholic, a New England American, 
 and last but not least, a perfect housekeeper. 
 
 To such a woman there were a few such, she 
 knew she would cheerfully resign her brother. 
 Meantime she would do her part to keep him for 
 that " not impossible she," though the best years of 
 her life were sacrificed to her sisterly devotion. 
 
 Indeed, she was not beyond marrying herself some 
 day, when her duty to her brother should have been 
 fulfilled. 
 
 She had some means of her own. She was trim, 
 neat-featured and tidy. It is less than her due to 
 say that she was marvelously intelligent and tactful. 
 She managed her brother's house, and her brother ; 
 she could have managed an army. Major Me Alpine 
 would have surrendered at discretion to this very 
 capable woman who looked on him with much favor 
 but for an awful fear that she would manage 
 him. 
 
 Whether since he could not strengthen his will 
 to avoid her charms, he eventually did not fall a 
 victim to them, I may be obliged at a later point in 
 this narrative to declare. 
 
 At its present stage, however, I can safely say
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 65 
 
 that a proposal from the Major would have materi 
 ally altered Jane Coleman's view of her duty to her 
 brother. As things were, however, it was still her 
 manifest destiny to protect the latter from design 
 ing women ; and she had need of Esther, of whom, 
 moreover, she felt no fear. 
 
 The Colemans always closed their house the last 
 week in June, nor reopened it till the last week in 
 September. 
 
 Sometimes the head of the house took his sum 
 mer holiday in Europe. Oftener, he divided the 
 summer between some quiet New England beach 
 and the mountains ; seldom going two summers in 
 succession to the same spot. 
 
 Wherever he went, Jane went with him. She 
 was so unobtrusive and unexacting that she nowise 
 interrupted his solitude ; and so useful that he 
 would have felt lost if she were not within call. 
 
 In this way she had seen, within the decade 
 before our story opens, a good deal of this interest 
 ing and aggravating world ; and she made it her 
 business to observe and remember the things which 
 her brother was morally certain to overlook or for 
 get. Yet, as Jane was a relatively mature woman, 
 with her mind made up on most subjects when 
 she came to her brother, travel did not materially 
 modify her views, especially on things social. 
 
 For example, she took the social lines of Mrs. 
 Eay, Mrs. Willow, and even Mrs. Jones, rather
 
 66 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 seriously ; whereas her brother was wont to regard 
 them with gentle cynicism ; and Esther Ward was 
 notable in her sight less for her artistic achievement 
 than for our set's recognition of her. 
 
 Jane, however, was not especially fluent of speech ; 
 seldom expressed an opinion, except on demand, 
 and even then, so balanced and qualified it, that 
 you really were never quite sure what she thought 
 on any matter. 
 
 On one subject, however, her conviction was 
 profound and unchangeable. She believed, as the 
 average woman always does about the man or men 
 of her family, that her brother was far more easily 
 imposed upon, far less able to protect his own 
 interests, than any other man who walks the earth. 
 
 Wise, however, beyond the most of women, she 
 never betrayed this conviction to the subject of it, 
 but contented herself with invisibly and inaudi- 
 bly closing up now this by-path and opening 
 that; removing, anon, a possible stumbling-block or 
 erecting a necessary barrier, much as a fond mother 
 might in dealing with a child on whom reasoning 
 would have been wasted. 
 
 Esther returned her over-due call on Miss Cole- 
 man the week before the house was closed for the 
 summer. Mr. Coleman, recognizing the former's 
 voice, strolled into the drawing-room. It was a com 
 paratively leisure day for him, and he was not 
 averse to linger.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 67 
 
 Esther had been telling Miss Coleman that she 
 could not get away till well on in July, but would 
 have the whole month of August in the Adiron- 
 dacks. She knew the region well Lake Placid, 
 Saranac, Lake Champlain, etc. The Eays and the 
 Willows would be there through August and Sep 
 tember ; the Ormonds, too, but at another hotel. 
 
 No; she wouldn't be at the Chouteau House. 
 That was quite beyond her. There was a nice little 
 cottage not far from it, where she had lodged on 
 previous vacations. She was enthusiastic on the 
 sunrises and sunsets, the walk, the drives, the row 
 ing, the history and the legends of the region. 
 
 " Jane, why shouldn't we go up for the month of 
 August ? We'll be tired of New London by that 
 time," said Bertrand Coleman, with his ready kin 
 dling of interest. 
 
 " Of course, Bertrand, if you wish it," responded 
 Jane, in her early strawberry voice, wherein sweet 
 ness was tempered by a wholesome acidity ; " but, as 
 we were there last year " 
 
 " Yes, but we stayed only a fortnight." 
 
 Jane said no more ; and it being her brother's 
 way to do quickly whatever he did at all, she was 
 not surprised to see him at his desk directly after 
 Esther's departure, engaging rooms at the Chouteau 
 for the month of August.
 
 68 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ONE AUGUST IN THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 WHAT a delightful August that was ! Cool dur 
 ing the protracted hot wave, when the rest of the 
 country was sweltering at one hundred degrees in 
 the shade ; with woodland walks for noontide, and 
 easy ascents to high places, whence you could see 
 Lake Champlain, a sheet of molten gold, under the 
 westering sun, with opalescent mists about the re 
 motest mountains the place of their sojourn was 
 a veritable Eden. 
 
 Jane was glad to see so many familiar faces at 
 the Chouteau, and her brother was glad to see these 
 diversified by interesting people from the South and 
 West, and the English and Irish tourists who now 
 begin to return our summer visiting in Europe 
 with summer tours in our Northern States and 
 Canada. 
 
 Esther was being constantly lured from her cot 
 tage by one or other of her friends from home ; but 
 as none so sedulously included her in all their plans 
 as the Colemans, it fell out that day by day a larger 
 portion of her time was spent in their society. 
 
 This fact naturally could not escape the notice
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 69 
 
 and comment of the ladies at the Chouteau; our 
 set, through the recent arrival of the Joneses, Mar 
 tins and Macduffs Mrs. Mint stayed at the Hotel 
 Champlain that summer having now what might 
 be called a quorum, and unlimited time for settling 
 the destinies of the unsettled, which in their vocabu 
 lary meant the unwedded. 
 
 Mr. and Miss Coleman and Miss Ward, starting 
 off for a long drive together, or together on the 
 morning train or boat for an all-day excursion, or 
 pacing for an hour at a time on the pebbly beach, 
 were now a familiar sight. Almost equally common 
 was it to see Mr. Coleman and Miss Ward tete-a-tete 
 in some quiet corner of the hotel veranda or the 
 latter's cottage porch, deeply engrossed in conversa 
 tion ; while Jane, in sight, but the width of the house 
 distant, learned a new crochet stitch from some 
 chance acquaintance, or talked home gossip with 
 Mrs. Eay or Mrs. Willow. 
 
 What did it mean ? What could two adults of 
 opposite sexes possibly find to talk about for hours 
 together, if it were true that there was nothing in 
 it, as Miss Coleman asseverated ? 
 
 If you had told any of the ladies of our set that 
 these two faces brightened or clouded over such 
 extraneous matters as the latest work on socialism, 
 or the respective merits of Whittier and Lowell, or 
 a comparison of impressions of bygone visits to the 
 Vatican Museum or the art galleries of Florence
 
 70 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 and Venice, they would have asked you indignantly : 
 What did you take them for ? 
 
 The fast-growing friendship between Esther and 
 the Colemans was much resented by the Ray boys, 
 particularly by Gregory. He spoke his mind in his 
 mother's presence. 
 
 " Miss Esther has other fish to fry these days," 
 said that lady. 
 
 Whereupon Gregory sought his favorite eagerly, 
 and asked her if she liked fishing. 
 
 " It's all right, mother," he said later, " Esther is 
 going fishing with me and Clement all day tomorrow. 
 I don't think she cares so very much about those 
 Colemans. It's them that's after her confound 
 'em." 
 
 " Why, Gregory ! you mustn't say such things. 
 Eun off now, and play with your brother. What is 
 the boy driving at ? " she said, half to herself and 
 half to the ladies who were bearing her company on 
 the veranda. 
 
 " If Gregory were a man, Miss Ward would have 
 at least one lover," said Mrs. Willow, laughing. 
 
 Mrs. Eay stiffened a little. 
 
 "I hope my sons will all marry in their own 
 condition of life. Of course Miss Ward is not like 
 other women who earn their living, but still " 
 
 The ladies' attention was diverted for a moment 
 by Gregory, who, standing on one leg, and with eyes 
 upturned to a third-story window at which he could
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 71 
 
 descry the chubby but mournful countenance of 
 Stephen, Mrs. Willow's youngest hope, in durance 
 vile for some boyish transgression, was chanting on 
 high G this recitative : 
 
 "Stevie, Stevie Stout! 
 Stuck in the mud and couldn't get out, 
 One leg in and one leg out, 
 Ki-yi! Stevie Stout !" 
 
 With another ear-piercing " Ki-yi ! " Gregory was 
 off and out of sight like a flash ; for he felt his 
 mother's eyes on him, and wished to be able to say 
 truly that he had not heard her call him in. 
 
 " I wish dear Miss Ward were really and truly 
 one of us," sighed Mrs. Wise, presently. She was 
 up for a fortnight as Mrs. Willow's guest. Mr. 
 Wise was taking his annual vacation with his 
 relatives in New Hampshire. 
 
 " It looks a little as if she might be, by-and-by," 
 said Mrs. Willow, nodding towards the broad path 
 along which Esther and Bertrand Coleman were 
 sauntering. 
 
 " Nonsense ! " snapped Mrs. Jones. 
 
 " Well, I don't know," rejoined Mrs. Willow, 
 answering to Mrs. Jones' thought rather than her 
 speech. " There wouldn't be anything out of the 
 way about it. My brother says she could make her 
 self at home in any position, even in a royal court." 
 
 " I think he likes her," conceded Mrs. Eay. 
 
 " The shoe is on the other foot ! " retorted Mrs. 
 Jones.
 
 72 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 " Well, I do think she's the most interested," 
 said Mrs. Kay confidentially. " You remember what 
 I told you about that first evening at my house." 
 
 But by this time the people under discussion were 
 coming up the steps, to be effusively greeted by 
 three of the ladies. 
 
 Esther asked Mrs. Eay if she might go up to the 
 children for a while ; and Mr. Coleman went in to 
 get his mail, and was seen no more until dinner. 
 
 " We are of no interest," said Mrs. Willow, smiling. 
 
 "He'll marry a real society woman," murmured 
 Mrs. Eay, adding devoutly : " I only hope she won't 
 be a Protestant." 
 
 " He's held out pretty long," said Mrs. Wise. 
 
 " Oh, well, he'll be landed in the end, when the 
 woman comes along who knows how to do it." 
 
 " How do you know she hasn't come ? " persisted 
 Mrs. Willow. 
 
 " His sister says she believes he will marry, but 
 that he hasn't yet seen his future bride," put in Mrs. 
 Wise. 
 
 " Much his sister knows about it ! " said Mrs. 
 Jones. " He may be engaged, for all she knows to 
 the contrary." 
 
 " Oh, no ; he's not that kind of a man ! " ex 
 claimed Mrs. Wise ; " but I wonder how his sister 
 will like it, if he ever is !" 
 
 " What consequence ! " exclaimed Mrs. Jones, who 
 was known to be on very bad terms with her hus 
 band's family.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 73 
 
 " I only hope Miss Ward isn't setting her heart 
 on him," sighed Mrs. Kay ; then with a sudden 
 brightening up : " Let me tell you the queerest 
 thing, but you must promise me, every one of you, 
 that you'll never mention it. I wouldn't be given 
 down for gossip for anything in the world, but you 
 really ought to know this." 
 
 She paused so long that her auditors gave the 
 required promise, lest they should miss the news. 
 
 " Well, you know how crowded we were in this 
 house the night Mrs. Wise and the Hill girls and 
 Fanny Brown came up. All the girls had to go over 
 for the first night to the cottage; and even then 
 there wouldn't have been room if Miss Ward hadn't 
 taken Fanny Brown in. And what do you suppose ? 
 Fanny has found out what is in that locket. It 
 happened this way: She woke very early. Miss 
 Ward was sound asleep, and the chain seemed to be 
 some way twisted round her neck, and Fanny 
 thought it might liurt her. Well, I suppose 
 Fanny oughtn't to have done it, and she'd kill me if 
 she knew I told ; but anyhow, she just reached over, 
 loosened the chain, and opened the locket, and there 
 was the loveliest pearl ring you ever saw, fastened 
 in some way so that Fanny couldn't see if there was 
 a date or initials inside. What do you suppose it 
 means ? " 
 
 " Can it be possible that she is engaged to another 
 man ?" queried Mrs. Willow, unable to break the chain 
 of ideas she had already constructed about Esther.
 
 74 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 Mrs. Eay thought not. " Who'd keep an engage 
 ment ring out of sight ? " 
 
 " Who, indeed ? " echoed Mrs. Jones. 
 
 "But he might have died," said Mrs. Eay, after 
 further reflection. 
 
 "I don't believe the woman was ever engaged," 
 said Mrs. Jones. "It's probably a family relic." 
 
 " Oh, but Fanny Brown said it was the most beau 
 tiful pearl ring she ever saw," said Mrs. Eay. 
 
 "Well, the Wards had everything heart could 
 wish when Esther was a girl," said Mrs. Willow. 
 
 " Pearls are for tears ! " exclaimed Mrs. Eay, senti 
 mentally; and the ladies all went in to dress for 
 dinner. 
 
 Mrs. Willow was no longer a girl when she made 
 what proved to be a singularly happy marriage. 
 
 " I've never had a regret," she always said, when 
 states of life were under discussion. Her own happy 
 experience was the justification for her well-meant, 
 but frequently inept and futile efforts to tug her un 
 married friends into the harbor of holy matrimony. 
 
 Mrs. Eay had married rather early, and from a 
 prematurely developed sense of duty. She would 
 have endorsed the definition of the small boy in the 
 catechism class : " Matrimony is not so necessary 
 but that one may be saved without it; yet when 
 a favorable opportunity presents itself, it would be 
 wrong to neglect so great a help to salvation."
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 75 
 
 Mrs. Ray's " favorable opportunity " was her first. 
 
 Like Mrs. Willow, she had no regrets, and though 
 never passionately in love with her tall, gray, taci 
 turn husband, she was very proud of him, and a 
 little afraid of him as well. 
 
 She was as anxious as Mrs. Willow to smooth the 
 way for other women into wedlock, but no happier 
 in her attempts at matchmaking. 
 
 Mrs. Jones had married late in life, and not with 
 out difficulty. Consequently she had a profound 
 contempt for unmarried women of a certain age, 
 and said cutting things about them at every op 
 portunity. 
 
 Taking the unwedded in bulk, she firmly believed 
 that any man could marry any woman. 
 
 Mrs. Willow and Mrs. Eay said "almost any 
 woman." 
 
 The " almost " represented their self-respect. 
 
 The three ladies had, however, a common form of 
 expression : " Do you think he'd marry her ? " 
 
 What " she " would do, was always taken for 
 granted. 
 
 Once, in the history of our set, it became known 
 for a certainty no matter how that a girl had 
 refused an offer of marriage. 
 
 " Can it be possible ? " exclaimed Mesdames Wil 
 low and Eay in one breath. 
 
 But Mrs. Jones, even with the strongest proof 
 before her, refused her credence.
 
 76 THE WAY OF THE WOULD 
 
 It was hard for unmarried women of any age to 
 please Mrs. Jones in their bearing towards men. 
 
 If they were frank and cordial, they were forward, 
 bold, or shameless in their pursuit of husbands. If 
 they were modest and retiring, they were deceitful 
 plotters and schemers, trying in underhand ways to 
 lure the men on. 
 
 Mrs. Willow, being still very much in love with 
 her husband, regarded all association of free men 
 and maids with a kind sentimentality. She would 
 have been perfectly happy to see all eligible human 
 kind going up to church properly paired, " as Noah's 
 animals went into the Ark," to quote a bright, but 
 flippant girl's comment. 
 
 Mrs. Willow could not imagine any girl's entering 
 a convent unless her lover had died or forsaken her. 
 
 Mrs. Eay took larger views of the religious voca 
 tion and more businesslike views of marriage ; and 
 inclined somewhat to Mrs. Jones' opinion as to the 
 greater zeal of women in the pursuit of their settle 
 ment in life. 
 
 It is easy, therefore, to imagine how variously 
 these matrons interpreted the openly cordial relation 
 existing between Esther Ward and Bertrand Cole- 
 man. 
 
 Mrs. Willow would have heartily rejoiced that 
 something serious should come of it; and did her 
 best to help on this consummation by praising each 
 to each, whenever she got a chance.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 77 
 
 Mrs. Kay thought Mr. Coleman might be amus 
 ing himself. It would be a come-down for him if 
 he should marry Esther, who, after all, earned her 
 own living; but if he should, why, she would do 
 the right thing, including a handsome present. 
 
 Mrs. Jones would have sincerely deplored the 
 prospect of a marriage ; would have put some 
 stumbling-block in the way, if she could ; and if, 
 nevertheless, the marriage came off, would have 
 pitied " that poor man," and declared that he had 
 been hypnotized into it. 
 
 The problem of the pearl ring had been satis 
 factorily solved by the three ladies above named. 
 It had belonged to Esther's older sister, who had 
 died soon after her engagement Mrs. Willow was 
 pretty sure she had been engaged to a gentleman 
 from Philadelphia ; and Esther wore the ring in her 
 locket rather than on her finger, said Mrs. Ray and 
 Mrs. Jones, so that possible admirers would not think 
 she was " mortgaged." 
 
 Mrs. Wise alone held a different opinion ; and 
 truly estimated the friendship between Bertrand 
 Coleman and Esther. She liked Esther, as we have 
 seen, but not enough to maintain an unpopular 
 thesis for her sake. 
 
 Meantime the two people whose affairs were pre 
 occupying so much of others' thought, were respec 
 tively preoccupied, but with plans, hopes and fears 
 far other than those accredited to them.
 
 78 THE WAY OF THE WOELD 
 
 Bertrand Coleman showed unmistakable signs of 
 restlessness and anxiety as the month of August 
 drew towards its end ; and was vigilant for the mail 
 and for the hotel register. Jane, who was getting 
 restless, too, but had her feelings under better con 
 trol, was always just a little in advance of her 
 brother for both. 
 
 It was not for the coming of Major Me Alpine 
 that Mr. Coleman or even Jane looked so constantly 
 and nervously. No doubt if he had come, however, 
 Jane would have reflected less on her brother's per 
 turbation, and shown less evident relief, when the 
 search of the mail and the register was unrewarded 
 up to and including the day of their departure from 
 the Chouteau. 
 
 Jane noticed incidentally that Esther received 
 many foreign letters.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 79 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE PRODIGAL BROTHER. 
 
 As Esther re-entered her little apartment after a 
 round of errands one chilly evening of the October 
 following, her housekeeper met her with the an 
 nouncement that her brother was awaiting her in 
 the studio. 
 
 This was a sufficiently ordinary event, except as 
 to the hour of his coming ; but if you had lived 
 under the roof with Esther you would soon have 
 noticed how quickly she paled at the slightest devi 
 ation from the ordinary. An unusual postmark on 
 a letter, a strange handwriting, or the appearance of 
 her brother, as now, at an unusual time, invariably 
 gave her the hunted, apprehensive look of one who 
 lives in almost unbroken fear of unwelcome or even 
 disastrous tidings. 
 
 This time there was no reassurance in her 
 brother's grave and anxious face. 
 
 With only a distant and passing look at Joseph 
 Ward you might have mistaken him for Bertrand 
 Coleman the same height and build, soldierly 
 bearing, and rich, dark coloring. But near, and in 
 full light, you would have noticed that Joseph Ward
 
 80 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 was not nearly so handsome, though he had an intel 
 ligent, open countenance, nor at all comparable for 
 a certain quiet and fastidious elegance of toilet. 
 
 It was the difference between a successful profes 
 sional man and a man who has fallen into a routine 
 in the higher mechanical pursuits. 
 
 " You have heard from Ned ? " asked Esther, nerv 
 ously. 
 
 Her brother nodded. He was a man of few words. 
 
 "He'll be here tomorrow," he said, after a long 
 pause. 
 
 "And, as usual, without money or work," said 
 Esther. 
 
 Joseph nodded again. 
 
 "And, as usual, I am to find both ? " 
 
 " Well, what can I do, Esther ? As things are at 
 present, it's all I can do to hold on to my own place. 
 And even if it were different, I daren't take him 
 among our crowd." 
 
 " But he can stay with you, at your house," ven 
 tured Esther, " until I can do a little planning and 
 thinking ? " 
 
 " Of course, Esther, if it depended on me alone, 
 I'd take him for a month gladly ; but Mollie has 
 simply put her foot down. She won't have him; 
 and then " hesitatingly " you know she isn't 
 quite well at present, and must not be excited." 
 
 " I suppose I must fix for him here, then," she 
 said ; " but I'll look for work for him elsewhere."
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 81 
 
 "Well, I can't blame you; but you are pretty 
 nice here," he said, looking appreciatively at the 
 rugs and draperies, and the solid, but not too 
 abundant furniture. 
 
 " Haven't I worked hard for it ? " asked the 
 woman, with the faintest touch of resentment in 
 her voice. 
 
 "I know you have, Esther," said her brother, 
 " and you've been good and kind to all of us, besides. 
 What would we have done last year, when the two 
 little chaps were sick so long, if it hadn't been for 
 you ? I'm sure they think everything in the world 
 of their Aunt Esther." 
 
 "I hope they're all right now," she said, with 
 softening eyes. 
 
 " Oh, yes ; you should see them box ! I suppose 
 it's hard that so much is thrown on you but what 
 can I do ? " 
 
 "He's had six hundred dollars from me since 
 June ; and I'd try to spare him enough to keep him 
 decently wherever he would choose to stay. Any 
 thing but to have him here at this time." 
 
 " Does he know ? " asked Joseph, nodding in the 
 direction of the veiled portrait. 
 
 "No!" cried Esther, "and for God's sake don't 
 tell him. Why, he'd borrow money of him. Worse 
 still, he'd write and say that I was sick and needed 
 money. You know what he has done where mere 
 friends were concerned, before I came here at all 
 when I was just getting on my feet."
 
 82 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 " Esther, you have had hard lines, I know ; but I 
 think the worst is over," said her brother hopefully. 
 " Just read his letter ; I'm sure he has turned over a 
 new leaf." 
 
 " He has turned over a whole book full of new 
 leaves within the past ten years," said Esther. 
 " But of course, Joe, I shall not let him want for 
 anything, nor show any sign of doubt that he's in 
 earnest this time. 
 
 " I know you won't, Esther ; you never did. Poor 
 mother used to say nothing could be more lovely 
 and delicate than your treatment of him. Perhaps 
 if you had been harder " 
 
 "Joe, I can't fight my own." 
 
 "Then I think poor Ned isn't quite responsible. 
 Of course that hasn't made the consequences any 
 easier for you, Esther," he added. 
 
 "So he comes tomorrow," she mused. 
 
 "Yes. He was ashamed to write to you himself." 
 
 " Well," sighed Esther, " I'll do what I can ; but 
 somehow I have an awful presentiment of evil to 
 come of this experiment." 
 
 " Oh, no, Esther; that's just because you are tired. 
 Somehow you always make things come out right," 
 he added, admiringly. 
 
 Esther sighed again. " Will you stay and dine 
 with me, Joe ? " 
 
 "Well, Mollie said she wouldn't mind if I did," 
 he answered, with a boyish laugh. " I always enjoy 
 a bit with you, and I can stay till the 9.30 train."
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 83 
 
 From all of which it may be seen that Mr. Joseph 
 Ward was very much married. 
 
 Ned came not, however, on the morrow, nor for 
 .six weeks of morrows thereafter. Meanwhile Esther 
 and Joe were in a state of mind which, beginning 
 with a sort of indignant suspense, and running 
 through various stages of fear of irretrievable calam 
 ity to this poor black sheep, who was, after all, of 
 their own flock, ended in a conviction that they both 
 had been to blame somehow or other, and that once 
 more they would do anything in the world for him 
 if only he would reappear. 
 
 This was exactly the state of affairs which Mr. 
 Edwin Ward had intended to bring about, for he was 
 quite aware that he had tried the long-suffering love 
 and patience of his sister to the breaking point. 
 
 Meantime there were many anxious consultations 
 in the late evening hours in Esther's studio between 
 herself and Joe. Mollie " took no stock," as she 
 expressed it, in either the despairs or the threats 
 still less in the penitent promises of her interesting 
 brother-in-law, and put up her nerves between her 
 self and his very name. 
 
 Meantime, also, Esther worked as seldom before, 
 even in her always busy life ; for of one thing, amid 
 other uncertainties, she could have infallible certi 
 tude. Money, and still more money, would be 
 needed. 
 
 It chanced, therefore, that she was not often seen 
 among us during that anxious autumn.
 
 84 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 Esther's irregular attendance at the meetings of 
 the Daughters of St. Paula, and her less frequent 
 and very brief appearances at Mrs. Willow's Sundays 
 and Mrs. Ray's Wednesdays, attracted less attention 
 than would have been given them at a less preoccu 
 pied time ; for had we not also on our minds the 
 engagement of Minnie Gray, and the elopement of 
 Nannie Oldfield with an insignificant young fellow 
 from Pittsburg, whom she met at Narragansett Pier 
 only three months before, and to whom her father 
 had forbidden the house ? 
 
 But Esther's movements were not altogether 
 unnoted. 
 
 The Colemans managed to see her oftener than 
 any of us, as they studied her convenience better. 
 
 " That little woman is working too hard," said 
 Bertrand Coleman to his sister, soon after they had 
 returned from their protracted summering. 
 
 Jane agreed that she was looking rather hollow- 
 eyed, and suggested that it would be a kindly 
 attention to take her with them to the theatre, now 
 and then. 
 
 Mr. Coleman, too, if her name happened to be 
 spoken in his presence, kindled into a ready enthu 
 siasm over her pictures, and declared she was a 
 woman for our people to be proud of ; but that we 
 never half appreciated our own, anyhow. 
 
 He wanted one of her pictures, and would have had, 
 of his own choice at a sale at Bellini & Leverett's,
 
 AND OTHER WATS. 85 
 
 " The Forsaken Christ," which appealed profoundly 
 to him man of the world as he was but Jane 
 agreed with Mrs. Mint it gave her a chill, she 
 said ; and she would have " The Moss Eose Bud " or 
 nothing. In matters of this kind, Jane always had 
 her way with her brother. 
 
 When some one spoke of Esther's comparative 
 seclusion, and immediately mentioned having seen 
 her with the ColemaDS at the theatre the previous 
 evening, Mrs. Ray, who rather lacked variety of 
 expression, repeated : 
 
 " Miss "Ward has other fish to fry. We don't 
 count for much now-a-days." 
 
 Mrs. Willow, forgiving Esther's daily preoccu 
 pations, fervently and publicly hoped that Esther 
 would soon be beyond the necessity of toiling like 
 a slave. 
 
 Mrs. Macduff averred that this going to the 
 theatre as a trio was a mere blind ; for Mr. Coleman 
 had " been seen " going to and coming from Miss 
 Ward's alone in the evening quite often. 
 
 The younger Daughters of St. Paula, with whom 
 Esther was quite a favorite, helped to spread the 
 report that it looked as if there was " something in 
 it " ; and Mrs. Wise was so moved by all these 
 things that despite Mrs. Ray's reminder of how far 
 a man may go and mean nothing serious she?, 
 always intent to be on the winning side in such 
 matters sent the surprised Esther a pretty gift 
 the following Christmas.
 
 86 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 But I am anticipating a little. Ned, in default of 
 his father's, caine home to his sister's house, and the 
 fatted calf and fine and much-needed new raiment, 
 a fortnight before Christmas. 
 
 Well-dressed and sober, as he was this morning, 
 sitting opposite to Esther at her neat little break 
 fast-table, he was a young man of singularly refined 
 and attractive presence. 
 
 Not swarthy, serious and slow of speech, like Joe, 
 he would at first sight make ten favorable impres 
 sions to his brother's one. But experienced people 
 would have been repelled by a something of femi 
 nine delicacy in the hands, too slim and white for a 
 man ; in the feminine fastidiousness of his toilet ; 
 and still more, by a certain indecisiveness and insin 
 cerity in the large, lustrous brown eyes. 
 
 Ned was never more engaging than in his peni 
 tence ; and though it was the oldest of old stories, 
 Esther found herself yielding to its spell once more. 
 
 " Esther," he was saying, " when I look about me, 
 and think of all your past sacrifices, and all you 
 have achieved in art and in social life, despite the 
 drag upon you, I believe you the most wonderful 
 woman in the world, and feel unworthy to breathe 
 the same air with you." 
 
 Ned always felt good-natured when he was having 
 his own way, and he had a ready stock of flattery 
 which had stood him in good stead in many a hard 
 place.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 87 
 
 Esther waved away these brotherly praises, though 
 not without a secret pleasure in them. 
 
 " Ned, you are younger than I, and in many ways 
 cleverer than any of us ; and you could build up a 
 place for yourself if only you would keep to one 
 thing, and " 
 
 " Let wine and cards alone " he was too fastidi 
 ous to say whiskey and poker "don't spare me, 
 sister, I don't deserve it. But if I could be here, 
 and have the comfort of your sympathy and 
 advice " 
 
 Esther winced ; but it was what she had expected 
 all along. 
 
 " I don't wonder you fear to have me," he said, 
 humbly. " But if I were not alone in the world 
 I'd be a better man. If only my darling Agnes had 
 lived!" 
 
 Ned carried a departed lady-love in his vest- 
 pocket against just such emergencies as this. Pri 
 vately, Esther regarded the fair Agnes as a figment 
 of her brother's lively imagination ; but at least his 
 moistened eyes were very real, and the discussion 
 ended like all similar ones, by her promise of help 
 ing him to something right in the city. 
 
 Meantime Ned fairly basked in the brightness 
 and beauty of Esther's studio, and the little home 
 generally. It must be said, however, that the veiled 
 portrait had not remained to excite Ned's curiosity, 
 of which he possessed more than is accounted seemly 
 in a man.
 
 88 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 Through Jack Holmwood's good offices a place 
 was found for him at the opening of the year in 
 the publishing house of the Messrs. Frost & North. 
 He made a good impression, took hold of his duties 
 capably, and for fully two months Esther believed 
 that at last the long-prayed-for reformation was 
 surely achieved. 
 
 Then she was roughly awakened from her dream 
 of peace.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 89 
 
 CHAPTEK X. 
 
 A FKIEND IN NEED. 
 
 left his sister one morning with no more 
 than a dress-suit case could carry, on a two days' 
 business trip " for the house," as he explained. 
 
 She had no misgiving, and was singing softly to 
 herself as she mixed her paints the following morn 
 ing, intent on getting for her work all the good of a 
 clear, sunshiny March day. 
 
 Her housekeeper entered with the morning mail. 
 
 On the letter which topped the pile she recog 
 nized Ned's too familiar hand. 
 
 " He was to be home tonight," she mused, leisurely 
 slitting the envelope. " Something must have hap 
 pened to detain him." 
 
 This was what she read : 
 
 EN EOUTE, B. & 0. E.K., 
 March 1, 19 
 
 DEAREST ESTHER : Forgive me yet again, and 
 think not too severely of one whose presence shall 
 never afflict you more. I accommodated myself 
 with some of the money of the house $650 
 for I believed I saw a way to double it. Alas ! I 
 was mistaken. I was cheated out of that and more, 
 too. I cannot replace it, and I cannot face the
 
 90 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 manager or you. For your own sake, if not for 
 mine, I know you will make the deficiency good and 
 get the matter hushed up. You can do anything, 
 Esther, and some of these days I will make your 
 loss good, and win back the respect and love which 
 I know I have at last wholly forfeited. Your un 
 fortunate but always loving NED. 
 
 Esther dropped into a chair by the window, and 
 tried to adjust her thoughts to this new calamity. 
 
 It was the culmination of many similar experi 
 ences. But here, where at last she seemed to be 
 established in honor ! How to face Jack Holm- 
 wood ! How to meet the defrauded employers and 
 set things straight ! 
 
 The letter was so characteristic. The blindness 
 to inevitable consequence which she knew so well 
 the willingness to blame some one else "I was 
 cheated " which had marked him from his nursery 
 days ! 
 
 But hard circumstances had made of the dreamer 
 a woman prompt in action as well as fertile in re 
 sources. " For your own sake, if not for mine ! " 
 
 Ned had struck a master-chord here; for as I 
 have told you, dear reader, Esther had a pride in 
 her honorable place and name, though for the 
 moment she felt little but cold contempt and dis 
 gust for him who had so cruelly involved both. 
 
 She looked at her bank-book, which by some mis 
 chance had been accessible to interested eyes just 
 to her credit.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. . 91 
 
 " He calculated pretty closely," she said, bitterly. 
 
 A shadow fell across the curtain. She looked up. 
 Mr. Coleman waved his hand to her, and passed on 
 to ring her bell. 
 
 " I came on Jane's behalf and my own to ask you 
 over to luncheon," he said. " We expect but, 
 Miss Ward," stopping short, for Esther had not had 
 time to recover her wonted color and composure: 
 " are you not well ? " 
 
 He looked down kindly at the white, drawn face. 
 
 " You are overworking. I have been saying so 
 to Jane. Come over early and rest. You will 
 enjoy Signer Battaglia an artist, like yourself. I 
 wouldn't hurry, but I have an appointment with 
 Frost & North I am their counsel, you know 
 before court." 
 
 Esther grew whiter " Frost & North," she mur 
 mured. " My brother " 
 
 Bertrand Coleman's professional discernment was 
 keen. 
 
 Esther had done her best to keep Ned and the 
 Colemans apart, but vainly ; and the older man had 
 read the younger correctly. 
 
 "Sit down, Miss Ward," he said, briskly but 
 kindly, " and tell me in five minutes what trouble 
 your brother has got you into. He has been with 
 Frost & North ? " 
 
 " Yes ; and he has the money to make the deficit 
 good," she answered. " It is in my possession. I
 
 92 THE WAY OF THE WOULD 
 
 shall have it for you in ten minutes. Can you spare 
 me that time before you go to Frost & North ? " 
 
 He smiled faintly at the woman's pitiful little 
 falsehood, and pretended not to see her slip her 
 bank-book into the magazine in her hand. 
 
 " I'll wait for you," he said ; " it is only twenty 
 minutes past nine." 
 
 She was back in less than the time specified, and 
 laid the money in his hands. 
 
 "Now, Miss "Ward," he said firmly, "you will 
 make it easier for me to save your brother's reputa 
 tion if you will tell me the whole truth." 
 
 " Is there no other way ? " 
 
 " It is the only way," he said gravely. " You are 
 speaking to me in professional confidence." 
 
 She grew still whiter. 
 
 " Well, then, I have deceived you." And she laid 
 Ned's letter in Bertrand Coleman's hands. 
 
 " Poor child," he murmured, pressing her cold 
 fingers in his warm ones. " Meet me at my office 
 at quarter past twelve." 
 
 Just before Esther started to keep the appoint 
 ment, another and briefer letter came from Ned : 
 
 "DEAE E. : It is $1,000, not $650 but some 
 friend will lend you the difference." 
 
 She tore the note in shreds and put a match to 
 the fragments on the hearthstone. She had barely 
 time- to reach Mr. Coleman's office, riding. 
 
 Well, she would have $125 for the picture now
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 93 
 
 in hand, and it was nearly finished ; and there were 
 other orders waiting. 
 
 Joe ? But Joe couldn't get much ahead, with his 
 moderate salary and delicate wife and fast-increasing 
 family. 
 
 She had some jewelry and bric-a-brac on which 
 she could realize. 
 
 By this time she was in the elevator, and in 
 another instant knocking at the door of Mr. Cole- 
 man's private office. 
 
 "Give a well-ordered speech in my mouth, 
 Lord," she was praying like her namesake of old, 
 "that my words may be pleasing" 
 
 Mr. Coleman himself opened the door, and drew 
 her into a chair beside his desk. 
 
 The beating of her heart sounded louder in her 
 ears than her voice, as she murmured : 
 
 " It was a thousand dollars." 
 
 " Yes," he said soothingly, " I know all about it 
 now. It is all settled. See ! " and he handed her 
 a receipt made out in due form to Esther Ward. 
 " For your sake, you brave little woman, there will 
 be no more about it." 
 
 " But I owe you $350," she said , "I think I can 
 have it all for you within a week. But you can 
 never know how grateful I am. The money returned 
 will not pay the debt." 
 
 " Nonsense," he said smiling. " I am glad to have 
 relieved your anxiety. Don't hesitate to count on 
 my friendship whenever I can be of service to you."
 
 94 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 " If it had been anything but this," she faltered. 
 
 " My dear child, we all have brothers and sisters 
 and cousins and aunts," he answered ; "and none of 
 us know what trouble we may get ourselves into 
 before we die. There now " as he saw she could 
 not control the trembling of her lips " drop your 
 veil down ; I'll put you in a cab and send you 
 home. You are not up to the luncheon today. 
 But " stopping for a moment, to make out a note 
 with great ceremony " sign this ; and mind, if you 
 offer me that money before the end of the year, I 
 shall be very seriously offended with you." 
 
 He meant to order a replica of " The Forsaken 
 Christ," after a while, and take it in payment.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 95 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE FATEFUL POKTRAIT. 
 
 A MONTH later Jane, who of course knew nothing 
 of the matters above narrated, except that Ned was 
 a rover, expressed her sorrow that there was no 
 good picture of her brother Bertrand extant. 
 
 "If you would paint him as you painted Mr. 
 Willow," sighed the fond sister, "I'd be happy. 
 Bertrand is a much finer subject, too." 
 
 " Why, I'd be delighted to paint his portrait for 
 a gift to you for your birthday, if he could spare 
 the time for the sittings," said Esther impulsively. 
 
 She flushed a little at the knowing gleam in Jane's 
 eyes, as the latter laughingly but most promptly 
 accepted her offer ; but it was made, and could not 
 be withdrawn. 
 
 "Yet I owe him that and more," she said to her 
 self, to quiet the uncomfortable feeling that crept 
 over her whenever she recalled Jane's expression. 
 
 " It's the only thing I can do. He will not mis 
 understand. I believe I am not fair to Jane, either. 
 Why, she wouldn't be such a friend of mine if she 
 thought oh, if I could tell her the truth ! She 
 shall be the first to hear it when I am free to speak."
 
 96 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 So Esther reasoned herself into an easier state of 
 mind, and went out -and spent the afternoon with 
 Mrs. Ormond, by way of rest before her new under 
 taking. 
 
 For she wished it to be a worthy expression of 
 her gratitude. 
 
 Now, dear reader, you know what none of our set 
 knows even yet : why Esther Ward painted Bertrand 
 Coleman's portrait. 
 
 Jane was over betimes, next morning, to urge 
 Esther to a speedy beginning of the portrait. 
 
 " Bertrand will be delighted to sit for you," she 
 said. " He can give you from three o'clock to five 
 almost any afternoon, beginning tomorrow. The 
 light is splendid at that time now." 
 
 "Yes, the light is all right," responded Esther, 
 but there was unwonted irresolution in her voice 
 and eyes. 
 
 Jane looked at her sharply. 
 
 "The truth is, Jane," continued the artist, "I 
 spoke impulsively yesterday, and I have been 
 troubled about it ever since. In all probability your 
 brother may have a different choice. There is Signor 
 Battaglia, for example." 
 
 "Oh, if that's all you are troubled about, be at 
 ease. He says Battaglia is a botch at portraits 
 beside you. Why, my brother would rather have 
 you do it than anyone else in the world, and I'm 
 sure I would."
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 97 
 
 Esther looked relieved. 
 
 " But, Jane, somehow or other I felt after I had 
 spoken yesterday, as if I'd been a little forthputting, 
 so to speak." 
 
 " Esther Ward, you are the most foolishly sensi 
 tive woman I ever knew. You said just what I 
 was hoping you would say." 
 
 " You and your brother have been very kind to 
 me," said Esther, with her face a little in shadow, as 
 she restored a volume to its place on the book-shelves. 
 
 " Oh, nonsense ; do you suppose we'd have asked 
 you to places if we didn't enjoy having you ? " 
 
 It was, perhaps, a blunt way of putting things, 
 but it reassured Esther better than a smoother 
 speech would have done. 
 
 So the picture was begun, and Bertrand Coleman 
 was very faithful to the appointed sittings, Jane 
 often bearing him company ; and the gossip which 
 otherwise would have died out received a fresh 
 and mighty impulse. 
 
 There were two parties presently: that of Mrs. 
 Willow, who, as Esther's " best friend," saw " some 
 thing in it," and to which, of course, Mrs. Wise 
 adhered, with many of the Daughters of St. Paula, 
 among whom under solemn secrecy to each, Fanny 
 Brown had divulged her discovery of the pearl ring ; 
 and that of Mrs. Kay, equally professing herself the 
 " best friend " of the woman under discussion, who 
 furtively exchanged regrets that Miss Ward should
 
 98 
 
 aim so palpably too high, and made large advance 
 payments of pity for her inevitable coming to grief. 
 
 Jane unintentionally played into the hands of this 
 latter party. 
 
 " So Miss Ward is painting your brother's picture," 
 said Mrs. Eay, when she had chance to speak with 
 Miss Coleman at one of her Wednesdays. 
 
 " Yes, he's sitting now ; I'm going to call for him 
 on my way home," responded Jane, advancing to the 
 door. 
 
 " It was nice of him to give her an order," con 
 tinued Mrs. Eay. 
 
 " It isn't an order, it's a gift," explained Jane. 
 
 "0 h ! " cried her hostess. She would have 
 whistled, if she had not deemed that vocal exercise 
 an unladylike vent for emotion. 
 
 " She offered to do it for a gift for my birthday," 
 finished [the departing guest, who meant no mischief 
 to her friend by this too condensed statement of the 
 case. 
 
 However, it mattered little at the time, as Mrs. 
 Willow's folio whig were in the majority. 
 
 Mrs. Jones had quieted down somewhat since 
 her unhappy premature judgments on Mrs. Mint's 
 affairs, and the tide of popular good-will had set 
 toward Esther. 
 
 She, meanwhile, had had so much work on hand 
 and so many grave preoccupations, family and per 
 sonal, that she had gotten out of touch with the life
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 99 
 
 of our set ; and, as not seldom happens, was the last 
 to hear of the gossip which concerned her most. 
 
 Eastertide, blossom-time, the season of joy and 
 hope pre-eminent ! Yet, once the first youth of any 
 of us has passed, the long, bright days are not all 
 unshadowed. The birds come back, but something 
 passed away last autumn that returns not with the 
 birds. The willows feather out pale green beside a 
 thousand singing streams ; and it is good to hear the 
 sweet, shrill voices of the children, as they hunt for 
 Mayflowers under the thin-leaved trees of New Eng 
 land woods, and to feel the fragrance of the pear 
 and apple blossoms in our house-gardens ; but the 
 flowers bloom on beloved graves as well, and we go 
 no more a-Maying with the untroubled heart of 
 childhood. 
 
 Esther had always loved the springtime, and, for 
 all of the hard lines of her life, had kept more of 
 the child-heart to give it meet welcome than most 
 women bring into their maturity. 
 
 She could not understand why this spring, earlier 
 and lovelier than any she had known, should seem 
 to have so long a shadow cast from before, on its 
 blue skies and brilliant sunshine. 
 
 "Only six months more," she whispered; but 
 the words had not their expected magic, although 
 they stood out from the page in the clear, heavy 
 hand the dearest hand in the world ! which
 
 100 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 had become so familiar to the carrier on the route 
 that he often smiled broadly as he slipped the thick, 
 almost daily letter that bore it into Miss Ward's 
 letter-box. 
 
 " Only six months more," she read for the twenti 
 eth time that afternoon, "till I put on your dear 
 little finger my ring, which I have given you to wear 
 meantime over your heart. Only six months more 
 till all the world may know what only you and I 
 and our faithful Joseph know now. I would wrong 
 you, dearest Esther, by saying, ' be patient.' It is I 
 who have need of patience, my proud, shy sweet 
 heart, who held my love off so long, and are so 
 sparing of your love's confession, even yet." 
 
 There was much more in the closely written eight 
 pages, but you of course have had your love-letters, 
 dear reader, and your imagination of the rest will 
 be fairly faithful to fact. 
 
 So much might happen in six months ! She 
 trembled now before the near fruition of her hopes, 
 and mindful of a saying that had impressed her 
 youth, " Misfortunes never come from the quarter 
 they are looked for," forecast every possible seeming 
 evil chance, by way of insuring immunity from it ! 
 
 " God forgive me ! " she cried, realizing the gloomy 
 reverie into which she had unwittingly lapsed ; " this 
 is to be as superstitious as an oldtime Pagan or an 
 up-to-date Bostonian ! " 
 
 She began to make ready for Bertrand Coleman's 
 sitting, noting, meanwhile, in her own despite, that
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 101 
 
 this long-lasting presentiment of sorrow synchro 
 nized with her beginning of his picture. 
 
 Not that she in any way connected him or his 
 with her foreboding. She enjoyed his sittings, 
 especially when he was in his communicative mood ; 
 and none the less when Jane was with him, to bring 
 them both back from the abstract questions which 
 they loved to discuss, to the pleasant events or the 
 droll mischances of the world about them. 
 
 " A woman couldn't have a better or kinder 
 friend," she mused, with a grateful glow at her 
 heart, recalling his effective intervention in her 
 brother's affair. She fell to wishing that he was 
 of her nearest blood kindred ; and realized that if 
 she could have the confidant that reticent as she 
 was, she had at length begun to long for, Bertrand 
 Coleman would be her choice.
 
 102 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 A MAN IN HOPE AND A WOMAN IN LOVE. 
 
 HER subject came in on the thought, cheery and 
 talkative, to her great satisfaction ; for he was a man 
 of many moods, and had given her his last sitting in 
 a grave preoccupation, from which he roused himself 
 with effort to make sundry inappropriate comments 
 on the weather. 
 
 Today he came alone, and as he chatted with her, 
 or often soliloquized aloud, the artist had at least no 
 cause to complain of her subject's lack of animation. 
 
 " But it isn't quite what I want," she said, laying 
 down her brush and gazing at him intently with a 
 critical, dissatisfied expression. 
 
 " When you look at me like that, I feel as if I 
 were one of Mrs. Jarley's wax figures," he protested, 
 laughing. 
 
 "I want to send you down the ages with your 
 most splendid expression," she rejoined. " Today 
 your face shows only the surface of your soul ; and 
 personally, as well as professionally, I don't like you 
 nearly so well in your bantering moods as in your 
 serious ones. Now, don't do that " as he knotted 
 his brows, and looked as if he were cross-questioning
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 103 
 
 a difficult witness ; " nor that " as he struck an 
 oratorical attitude. 
 
 " Mr. Coleman, we are wasting valuable light, to 
 say nothing of time. Be, serious, but not aggressive, 
 nor defiant, nor preoccupied, nor self-conscious, nor 
 sad " 
 
 " Upon my word," he interrupted. 
 
 " Hush. Sit at your ease in yonder big chair, and 
 look as you once looked at the mountains as if 
 you wanted the best thing in the world, and had 
 made up your mind to have it." 
 
 His face changed marvelously as she looked. 
 
 " Miss Ward ! " he exclaimed impulsively, " I be 
 lieve I can tell you though it isn't as yet so much 
 a question of will as of hope. It may never be more 
 than that " a slight shadow rippled over his mobile 
 face " but she is the dearest, the cleverest, little 
 woman " 
 
 " I congratulate you with all my heart, Mr. Cole 
 man," said Esther, moving toward him with out 
 stretched hand, and a reflection of his own mood in 
 the gladness of her eyes and the faint flush on her 
 round cheeks, " and I believe that your hope will be 
 fulfilled." 
 
 He held her hand for half a minute in silence. 
 " I knew you would be glad for me," he said simply. 
 
 Then there was a longer silence, not of constraint, 
 but sympathy, as Esther painted with steady hand, 
 and Bertrand Coleman mused on his heart's desire.
 
 104 THE WAY OF THE WOELD 
 
 Esther at last laid down her brush, and standing 
 off from the picture studied it critically for some 
 moments. 
 
 " Come. Stand here and judge for yourself," she 
 said to her subject. 
 
 He rose and stood beside her. Then, turning 
 quickly to her, his face aglow with surprise and 
 pleasure "Miss Ward, you have done me more 
 than justice." 
 
 " No, I have merely been lucky enough to get you 
 in your best mood," she answered. " The picture 
 needs many finishing touches yet ; but I have 
 achieved the heart of it today. I am well satisfied." 
 
 She spoke with cause. It was indeed the speak 
 ing likeness of the singularly handsome man beside 
 her. 
 
 Taken in a less fortunate mood, the darkness of 
 the coloring and the strength of the features would 
 have made the face in repose a thought too stern or 
 sad. As it was, the large, lustrous, deep-set gray 
 eyes, full of reverent tenderness, softened the com 
 manding brow, and the gentleness of the lips about 
 to smile at some happy fancy modified the promi 
 nent, strong-willed chin. 
 
 He turned away presently, laughing at himself 
 for his undisguised satisfaction. 
 
 " At least it is due to you, the artist, to say that 
 you are making a splendid picture." 
 
 " And to you that you have given me a splendid 
 subject"
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 105 
 
 Whereat both laughed like a pair of happy chil 
 dren ; and though Esther showed no disposition 
 to resume work, Bertrand Coleman showed none to 
 depart. 
 
 He laughed again, though with a slight, almost 
 boyish constraint, as if wanting to return to a more 
 intimate topic, and half ashamed to do so. 
 
 " Isn't it your friend, Jack Holm wood, who says 
 that a man in love is nothing but a gibbering idiot ? " 
 
 Esther smiled. 
 
 " Poor Jack ! his confessed experience of fair 
 ladies has made him rather cynical. But if I had 
 seen the slightest expression of fatuity on the part 
 of my subject, I should at once have discontinued 
 the sitting." 
 
 " Well, I am not prepared to say that I am in 
 love in hope would be a better word," he rejoined. 
 " Nothing is settled it may be that nothing ever 
 will be settled between us two. There are difficul 
 ties, obstacles, on which I cannot touch at present " 
 he hesitated Esther was listening intently, 
 gravely, kindly. 
 
 " But you know how you want it settled ? " she 
 ventured, as he came to a full pause. 
 
 " Perhaps we want what would be eventual sor 
 row for us both," he rejoined. " She is only in her 
 early twenties, many, many years younger than I. 
 Of course," he added, brightening, " she is very 
 mature for her years."
 
 106 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 " And you are young for yours, Mr. Coleman." 
 
 " Oh, you think so ? " 
 
 " You are a stalwart, hearty man, with your repu 
 tation made while you are able to get the good 
 of it ; with a strong probability of twenty years of 
 pleasure in your work, in your home in travel." 
 
 " Yes," he said, " I have never had so much as a 
 headache in all my life, unless " with a slight 
 gleam of mischief in his eyes " when it was my 
 own fault." 
 
 "You look as strong as an oak-tree, as Boyle 
 O'Eeilly would say," responded Esther. Then, 
 " Jane knows, of course." 
 
 " Well, broadly speaking," he answered, " Jane 
 knows everything. But she is rather cold to my 
 friend." 
 
 Esther pulled out some pencil sketches from a 
 portfolio near her. 
 
 " My rough drafts," she said, " of a picture I want 
 to make of the story of the martyr, St. Dorothea. 
 She sent her Pagan lover flowers from Paradise, to 
 convince him of the immortality of the soul and 
 the reality of the heaven for which she had given 
 up earthly happiness. That is the climax of the 
 legend, and will be the central idea of my picture, 
 with an attempt to show the saint in glory. I 
 will show her trial and her martyrdom in far per 
 spective, smaller scenes in the upper corners of the 
 picture, after the manner of Eoselli's Last Supper. 
 You remember it in the Sistine Chapel?
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 107 
 
 " But pardon this digression I am telling you 
 about my picture, when I only set out to say that 
 if St. Dorothea lived again, and condescended to 
 your suit, your devoted sister would have felt that 
 St. Agnes or St. Cecilia had been worthier of your 
 aspiration. We women are all like that. No one 
 can please us in our brothers' wives." 
 
 " You would have been different, Miss Ward. 
 You are so sensible." 
 
 " Not a bit of it ! " she exclaimed. " In Joe's case, 
 to be sure, I hardly knew of his acquaintance with 
 his future wife till they were engaged. I was 
 in Europe when it all happened. So there was 
 nothing to do but bring her a wedding gift from 
 Paris, and make the best of it." 
 
 " You would have done that, anyhow. You would 
 surely have done the kindly thing by your brother," 
 he persisted earnestly. 
 
 Esther flushed faintly ; but her subject was 
 looking beyond her at his own fine counterfeit pre 
 sentment. 
 
 " We first met her at the Mountains, nearly two 
 summers ago," he continued, meditatively. "Cir 
 cumstances brought us into very close association. 
 Her mother, who was with her, met with a serious 
 accident. I was able to be serviceable. Jane 
 she is a host in herself in such emergencies was 
 very kind. You know how acquaintanceship grows 
 into friendship in a week or two under such con-
 
 108 THE "WAY OF THE WOKLD 
 
 ditions. She seemed so young and helpless there 
 among strangers. She clung so to Jane yes, and 
 depended so much on me, too. 
 
 " Well, we parted ; of course making her promise 
 to let us know how her mother's case progressed. 
 That brought some correspondence. She wrote us 
 both ; but oftener to Jane, in the beginning. Now," 
 he smiled happily, " things have changed, and it is 
 quite the other way. One of my hopes in going to 
 the Mountains last summer was that she and her 
 mother would come again. They expected to, but 
 something happened." 
 
 Esther was suddenly conscious of a strong light 
 on past happenings, which at the time had puzzled 
 her; notably Mr. Coleman's extreme restlessness 
 and palpable anxiety during that last week at the 
 Chouteau the previous summer ; as well as certain 
 remarks of Jane's on accidents which were " on pur 
 pose," the disadvantage of mothers-in-law, etc. 
 
 She gave no sign, however, to her companion, who, 
 rallying from his momentary abstraction, continued : 
 
 "Jane would like me to marry a brilliant society 
 woman. My little friend is too young, she thinks, 
 too unsophisticated. She fears that her heart is less 
 interested in me than her ambition, and believes 
 that her mother is urging the girl into making what 
 she considers an advantageous settlement. Just as 
 if the poor child would not have many sacrifices 
 to make in binding her life with a life like mine.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 109 
 
 I think Jane is mistaken in her estimate of the 
 mother." 
 
 He looked inquiringly at Esther, evidently want 
 ing a word of reassurance. 
 
 " Jane is a very devoted sister, Mr. Coleman, and 
 her advice ought not to he dismissed lightly." 
 
 " Jane is the best sister a man ever had," he 
 answered warmly. "I would be an ungrateful 
 wretch if I didn't consider her. I have seen my 
 friend and her mother once in their own home 
 since last fall. As I have intimated, there are dif 
 ficulties. Till these are bridged, if they can be 
 bridged, there can be no pledge between us. But I 
 wish you had met my friend yourself. That was one 
 reason why I was so anxious for her coming be 
 cause you were with us. I am sure you would have 
 judged her as I do. She is so clever, so well-read, 
 so womanly, as I have told you ; beautiful, too, and 
 so kindly and simple and devout. Then she is so 
 sensible. Why, I can talk to her just as I talk to 
 you!" 
 
 Esther did not lift her eyes, lest Mr. Coleman 
 should see the slight gleam of amusement in them. 
 She was thinking of Jack Holmwood's cynicism 
 " How good, how intellectual, how beautiful our best 
 girl always is ! " 
 
 " I know you will like her," continued the man 
 who was not in love, but in hope. "I hope you 
 and she will be friends by-and-by ; that is, if this 
 matter comes to anything."
 
 110 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 " It will come to something, and I will surely be 
 her friend, if she will have me for a friend," said 
 Esther, demurely. 
 
 " Of course she will ! Who wouldn't ? " cried 
 Bertrand Coleman warmly. 
 
 Esther was looking at him with a strange light in 
 her eyes. 
 
 " Mr. Coleman," she said, timidly, " did you ever 
 know Mr. Arthur Esmond ? " 
 
 The question struck him at the moment as sin 
 gularly irrelevant. " I can't remember any one of 
 the name," he said absently. 
 
 Then recovering his interest, as he reverted to the 
 subject nearest his heart : " I am going to Cleveland 
 in June. My little friend lives there. But upon 
 my word it is quarter past six, and Major Me Alpine 
 coming to dine with us ! I shall have something to 
 do to make my peace with Jane." 
 
 "Perhaps Major McAlpine will help you," sug 
 gested Esther. 
 
 " That's so," said the stupid man in hope, " they 
 do get on very well together ; and I wonder at it, for 
 Jane is a bit of a Puritan. Now, if it were Tom 
 Wallace" 
 
 "'The man without a redeeming weakness,' as 
 Jack Holmwood says," laughed Esther. And they 
 both laughed at the vision of Priscilla and Parson 
 Steadfast, which the words called up. 
 
 Mr. Coleman turned back from the hallway.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. Ill 
 
 "I have never spoken of this matter to anyone 
 except my sister and yourself." 
 
 " It stays right here with me, Mr. Coleman," said 
 Esther, gently. 
 
 " I am sure of that," he responded, taking her 
 hand again into his strong, warm grasp. " Good-by 
 till Friday, unless you should need me sooner." 
 
 As he walked across the park with his long, 
 quick stride, he thought with a curious kindness 
 permitted, of course, to a man who was still only 
 "in hope" of his late confidante and her brave 
 struggle, single-handed, against adverse fortune ; of 
 her sympathy with him, her loyalty to Jane, her 
 success with his portrait. But he thought no more 
 of her irrelevant question that evening, nor for many 
 evenings thereafter. 
 
 Jane's pretty pale blue gown was just three 
 shades lighter than her pretty bright blue eyes, and 
 suited admirably her delicate complexion and her 
 curly hair of childish softness and fineness. 
 
 But when her brother told her all this, in his 
 blandest accents, her smile was fainter than usual. 
 
 " You are very late, Bertrand ; Miss Ward should 
 not have kept you so long." 
 
 " Please ma'am, I stayed," said the amiable 
 brother, penitently. " Miss Ward gave me leave to 
 come home an hour ago." 
 
 Jane said nothing ; but there was polite incredu 
 lity in the slight elevation of her prettily arched 
 eyebrows.
 
 112 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 Major Me Alpine was late, also. It was a way he 
 had. 
 
 "You'll be late for your own wedding, Major," 
 said Mr. Jones to him one day. 
 
 " Please God, I won't be there at all," responded 
 the Major. 
 
 But he came at last to Mr. Coleman's, profuse of 
 apologies, as was also his way ; and made himself 
 so agreeable to his host, and so charming to his 
 hostess, by his evident enjoyment of her excellent 
 dinner and his well-timed personal compliments, 
 that her slight annoyance was for the time for 
 gotten. 
 
 " Major McAlpine, I abhor flattery ; " she felt 
 this much of a protest her duty. 
 
 " So do I, my dear Miss Coleman. I have too 
 much respect for you to offer you anything but the 
 truth. Gold bricks or counterfeit coin for you ! 
 You would detect them with your eyes shut." 
 
 Her brother followed the Major's lead, till between 
 the two the prim little maiden's cheeks were of the 
 exact shade of pink that went well with her gown. 
 
 Nevertheless, she went to sleep that night with 
 a faint misgiving that Esther, for all her intellect, 
 wasn't a bit more to be trusted with a marriageable 
 man than several other dressy and frivolous widows 
 and maidens whom it might be invidious to name.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 113 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE CLOUD IN THE EAST. 
 
 MEANTIME Esther having dined in solitary state 
 and written one of those long tri-weekly letters, re 
 tired to the privacy of her chamber, slipped into a 
 white negligee, lit two gas-jets, sat down before the 
 mirror, and releasing her hair from restraining combs 
 and pins, shook it out in all its length and abun 
 dance. 
 
 Thick and soft, it was utterly innocent of curl or 
 wave, and framed in its dense, dark abundance, her 
 face tonight looked very pale. 
 
 She gazed at herself long, critically, dispassion 
 ately. 
 
 " And I am so sensible ! " she said half-aloud. " I 
 wonder if he ever tells the Signorina Ignota how 
 sensible she is! I wonder if Arthur will tell me 
 how sensible I am, when we meet again. He has 
 not complimented me on that especial quality since 
 he has known me. Perhaps I've improved. One 
 changes a good deal for better or worse in three 
 years. I've changed in one way certainly, and not 
 for the better" with a still severer scrutiny of 
 her reflection in the mirror.
 
 114 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 She forgot, I suppose, that the EXPRESSION of 
 rigorous scrutiny does not improve even the softest 
 and loveliest of faces. 
 
 Hers was a face that nature had meant to be 
 round, rather than long ; for consistency with her 
 scarcely medium height, and small but compact 
 and well-rounded figure. 
 
 But she was getting thin and worn now, and her 
 face was losing its softness. The large hazel eyes 
 had the feverish brightness of insomnia, and looked 
 hollow, deep-shadowed and fateful. The mouth and 
 chin though not large were always, when in repose, 
 just a little too firm for a woman's face ; but more 
 and more of late had they taken on the repressed 
 look of one who has sad secrets to keep. 
 
 A smile, with the flash of the small, even, white 
 teeth, changed her face wonderfully ; but Esther 
 seldom smiled of late, when she was alone with her 
 own thoughts. 
 
 " Esther Ward," she said again, looking steadfastly 
 into those sad and somber eyes, "you should be pic 
 tured for some creature predestined to sorrowful 
 fate, and in some sort, conscious of it. 
 
 " ' With steadfast eyes and unprotesting lips 
 Drifting to an inevitable doom.' 
 
 " If I were a man, I couldn't love a woman with 
 eyes like yours. I wouldn't want your shadow to 
 cross my life. 
 
 " Will Arthur notice the change ? When first he
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 115 
 
 spoke your name ' Esther ! ' he said, ' it doesn't 
 quite fit you. It should have been Ruth. You 
 have the sweet and gentle and trustful look that 
 goes with it. Ruth would have been all love, but 
 Esther had room in her heart for justice, too.' 
 
 " What name would he find to fit you now ? 
 
 " A woman is hard to love who has lost her little 
 womanly fears, who never cries any more, who can 
 live and work with all the safety-valves of her heart 
 shut. 
 
 " Was I right to tell him so little about Ned ? No 
 word from him since March. Any day Arthur may 
 see some horror about him in the papers. Mr. Cole- 
 man made so little of poor Ned's doings. ' We all 
 have brothers,' he said. I think Mr. Coleman has 
 learned mercy by his own blunders. Would Arthur 
 have taken it that way ? He cares so much about 
 respectability. He never did a wrong thing in his 
 life. If we had been engaged before he went away, 
 I might have said more. But to write all those 
 dreadful things ! Up to this last affair I had some 
 little hope of Ned. Poor, poor Ned ! God knows 
 in what shame or sorrow he is tonight!" 
 
 She opened her locket and looked longingly at 
 the ring it enshrined. 
 
 " I wish he had bade me wear it, after all," she 
 sighed. 
 
 It had never until today occurred to her to doubt 
 the wisdom of her lover on this point. Half the
 
 116 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 width of the world had been between them since 
 their engagement. Both were of reticent nature. 
 Both had passed their first youth, and realized how 
 life's uncertainties are multiplied by distance and 
 long separation. 
 
 Even had the thought come to her earlier, she 
 would hardly have told it to Arthur Esmond. 
 Women there are who, once serious things have 
 been spoken, as to love and marriage, can urge their 
 convenience, their pride or hope or fear on the man 
 whom they love. Esther was not of these. 
 
 " After all," she mused, " the time is very short 
 now. I shall be away for the most of it. Whom 
 should my engagement concern, anyhow ? It isn't 
 like me to want to tell any one my personal affairs ; 
 yet, if Mr. Coleman had given me any encourage 
 ment, I would have told him. Is the giving of con 
 fidence infectious ? After all, perhaps, it is better 
 that I said nothing. I have told Arthur that Mr. 
 Coleman has been a true friend to me and mine. 
 When he returns I can tell him in what way. How 
 surprised my friends here will be to know of my 
 engagement ! Mrs. Willow will be enchanted. Dear 
 little woman! She has been so happy herself, it 
 never occurs to her that there are any misfits in 
 holy matrimony. She devoutly believes that all 
 the marriages of Catholics are minutely planned out 
 by the angels. 
 
 " And Jane Coleman but it will be hard for
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 117 
 
 me to make it right with her for not telling her 
 sooner. 
 
 " By that time, however, if all signs don't fail, she 
 will have her brother's marriage on her hands. 
 
 " I hope the fair unknown is really as nice as he 
 believes her to be. I should grieve to have him 
 disappointed. 
 
 " But a girl in her early twenties ! Arthur is a 
 little younger than Mr. Coleman, and only seven 
 years older than I. 
 
 " Perhaps I won't look so sad and worn-out after 
 my vacation. Perhaps I shall sleep after I get away 
 from here. 
 
 " There's nothing very bridelike about me now. 
 And yet I shall be Arthur Esmond's wife with the 
 New Year. 
 
 " A fig for your presentiments, Esther Ward ! 
 What if they have always come true ? They won't 
 this time. God will give you a little taste of hap 
 piness. No, He won't let the cup be dashed from 
 your lips just as it touches them. 
 
 "What are you afraid of? Haven't you just 
 been told that you are a sensible woman ? Are 
 not 'reasonable,' ' clear-headed,' ' well-balanced,' your 
 descriptive terms among your men friends, anyhow ? 
 
 "Have you not been told that all your passion 
 and imagination have gone into the artist ? 
 
 " And here you are worrying about your looks, 
 indulging in nerves, and yes I really believe it, 
 wanting to have a good cry.
 
 118 THE WAY OF THE WOULD 
 
 " Well, you shan't have it, for then you would go 
 to pieces, and you have too much work ahead for 
 tomorrow for any such nonsense. 
 
 " There ! say your prayers and go to bed." 
 But Esther's prayers were wofully distracted that 
 night, and she kept a long vigil. Towards morning 
 she went off into a light sleep. She dreamed she 
 stood in a luxuriant forest, with flowers on every 
 side, the genial sunshine sifting through the boughs, 
 and a soft breeze fluttering them. Suddenly the sky 
 darkened, a cold wind blew from the north, every 
 leaf dropped to the earth, and every flower died, 
 as if a blight had touched it. 
 
 " Miss Ward, I hope you haven't got your death 
 of cold," said Ellen the housekeeper, as she entered 
 her room to open the shutters. " Here are both 
 windows wide open. It has turned cold again, and 
 it's raining heavily now ; and Miss Ward, you forgot 
 and left both your blessed candles burning last 
 night in your study."
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 119 
 
 CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 BEKTEAND COLEMAN'S MISGIVING. 
 
 BEKTKAND COLEMAN had three more sittings before 
 his portrait was completed ; but Jack Holm wood 
 came in the capacity of critic, and at Esther's re 
 quest, for the first of these ; and Jane brought Mrs. 
 Kay and Mrs. Willow to the second, and accom 
 panied her brother herself to the final one, so that 
 the prospect of a resumption of the late confidential 
 conversation between the artist and her subject 
 before the former's departure, seemed slight. 
 
 Jane, however, excused herself soon after she saw 
 Esther fairly at work, for an engagement with her 
 dressmaker, who had outrageously delayed her on 
 the new summer silk which she was getting for the 
 reception with which the Daughters of St. Paula 
 always closed their season's work. 
 
 Jane would rather have stayed, if for no other 
 reason than that the afternoon was warm and the 
 studio was delightfully cool ; but she had always 
 appeared in a new gown at the function above- 
 named ; and this year, of all years, she would not 
 be justified in a departure from precedent. 
 
 She said she would come right back to the studio,
 
 120 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 to be home with her brother to dinner ; and she 
 invited Esther to join them, in honor of the comple 
 tion of the portrait. 
 
 But when the friends were alone they seemed in 
 no haste to avail themselves of the opportunity 
 which both had been desiring. 
 
 It was Esther's way to let her friends take the 
 initiative, in conversation on their own affairs. 
 That was what made her a favorite confidante of 
 all sorts and conditions of men and women. She 
 always apparently forgot what you had told her, 
 until you gave her leave to remember it, by resum 
 ing the subject yourself. 
 
 And Bertrand Coleman had been diverted even 
 from his dominant thought, by the sudden conscious 
 ness of a great change in Esther. 
 
 It was a change indefinable, too ; not consisting 
 altogether in the dwindling of her heretofore trim 
 womanliness of figure to childlike smallness ; nor in 
 her loss of color ; for both of these had been gradual. 
 
 It was rather the change in her manner, from the 
 old-time ease and cheerful directness and alertness, 
 to a curious timidity and depression, from which she 
 rallied herself with manifest effort. 
 
 He often had said of Esther that she was devoid 
 of self-consciousness beyond any woman of his 
 acquaintance ; that her manners had the ease and 
 simplicity of the best breeding ; that she had not a 
 trace of artistic eccentricity or vanity.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 121 
 
 What was it ? Even as he looked at her, forget 
 ting himself for a moment in the concentration of 
 painful interest, her face, which was half turned 
 from him as she touched the picture here and there, 
 flushed uneasily under his eyes, and when presently 
 he spoke she started as if she had been struck. 
 
 " I think you need a long rest," he said, kindly. 
 
 " I shall have it," she answered. " I sail for 
 Europe on the thirtieth, to be gone till the last of 
 September." 
 
 " Good ! " he exclaimed cheerfully. " You have 
 just got to that degree of nervous fatigue that you 
 would probably break down a little unless you had 
 a decided change." 
 
 " Oh, no, indeed ! I am never ill ; but I suppose 
 I am pretty tired. I ought to tell you, Mr. Cole- 
 man," she continued, "that this is not a pleasure 
 trip. Under present circumstances that could not 
 be. I am going with Mrs. Mint, to render her some 
 services." 
 
 " Why should you not take a pleasure trip ? " he 
 exclaimed. " I hope you are not letting that 
 wretched little business matter weigh on your mind, 
 or imagining that I ever think of it. By the way, 
 have you had any news of your brother ? You will 
 understand, my dear Miss Ward, that it is not for 
 lack of interest in your affairs that I haven't made 
 this inquiry sooner." 
 
 " I have understood, Mr. Coleman, and appreciated
 
 122 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 your delicate consideration," she answered. " I have 
 had no news of Ned since that day you remember." 
 
 She was facing him now, the right hand, still 
 holding the brush, upraised slightly, and he noticed 
 sadly what a very white, thin little hand it was. 
 
 " Mr. Coleman," she spoke diffidently and as with 
 effort, " if you were me, would you feel honorably 
 bound to tell any one about Ned ? " 
 
 Now Mr. Coleman was never more in his element, 
 even outside of his profession, than in giving advice. 
 The role of guide and counsellor was second nature 
 to him. 
 
 So, though he felt a slight surprise at the question, 
 as coming from a woman so reserved as Esther, he 
 answered without hesitation : 
 
 " My dear Miss Ward, there isn't the slightest 
 reason why any one here should know of your 
 brother's weaknesses, in addition to those who al 
 ready know them : yourself and your brother Joseph, 
 and I as a friend who was glad to be of service to 
 you. I can't imagine how they should concern any 
 one else." 
 
 " Not any one ? " she persisted. 
 
 " Indeed, no, my dear friend ; the fewer people who 
 know anything of our family affairs, the better," he 
 answered soothingly, seeing her manifest agitation ; 
 but he was puzzled, and rather unpleasantly. 
 
 He liked Esther too well, however, and he was too 
 kindly and honorable a man to entertain a suspicion
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 123 
 
 of any friend without the strongest evidence. That 
 Esther's anxiety should be founded in a love affair 
 was hardly to be thought of. He had heretofore 
 believed her wedded to her art. 
 
 He had said to Jane more than once that it was 
 almost a pity it should be so, but Jane had said it 
 was all right. Everybody couldn't get married ; and 
 how could an artist or any of these queer profes 
 sional women manage a home and a husband, any 
 how ? 
 
 But what meant this strange nervousness under 
 his friendly eyes ? No, it was impossible. There 
 must be some business complications. 
 
 " Kemember, Miss Ward," he said, " that if there 
 is any way, personal or professional, in which I can 
 serve you, I am at your command. You need have 
 no hesitancy in telling me even more than I already 
 know about your brother. Nothing of that sort 
 could impair my regard for you, nor for that matter, 
 could make me feel very hard to him, poor fellow." 
 
 Her troubled face cleared a little. 
 
 " But others might not judge so kindly," she mur 
 mured ; " and if anything more were to happen " 
 
 " No friend worth having could be influenced in 
 your regard by any misdeed or misfortune of your 
 brother's, except to a greater admiration for your 
 loyalty and devotion. 
 
 She lifted her hand in protest, but he went on 
 earnestly.
 
 124 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 " Believe me, dear Miss Ward, you are taking 
 your own case as if it were unique, instead of fairly 
 common. Women who themselves have not been 
 tried and refined by sorrow, may make a nine-days' 
 wonder of a man's discovered weakness or wicked 
 ness ; but we men of the world, especially in my line 
 of life, only wonder what has kept ourselves from 
 falling in the same way. ' But for the grace of 
 God, there goes Francis de Sales,' don't you remem 
 ber?" 
 
 She smiled sadly. 
 
 "For one thing, I wanted to make it easy for 
 him to start fresh," she continued. " A man gets 
 discouraged when he knows, that his faults have not 
 been covered, and that his own are parading him as 
 the returned Prodigal." 
 
 "You are perfectly right, Miss Ward," he said, 
 heartily, " and I am glad you feel like that. Good 
 women often pull down by their want of patience 
 and reticence what they have built up by their 
 prayers. For my part, I wouldn't be in the least 
 surprised if your brother made a man of himself 
 yet. He's young " 
 
 " Hardly thirty-two," said Esther. 
 
 " There's a generous and rather reckless streak in 
 him, too," said Bertrand Coleman, musingly. " He 
 is just the sort of man who redeems a foolish life 
 with a heroic death, and sets the virtuous plod 
 ders who scorned him, to blushing for their own
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 125 
 
 cowardice. Indeed, Miss Ward, you will never 
 have cause to regret your prudence in this matter. 
 For one thing that is hurt by silence, ten thousand 
 are destroyed by speech. Perhaps I have learned 
 forbearance by my own experience," he continued, 
 gravely. " There was a time when my nearest and 
 dearest, all but one, lost faith in me, and with cause. 
 If that one, who is a saint in heaven today, had not 
 hoped against hope, and run the most generous risk 
 a woman can for the man she loves, I should be 
 now in a dishonored grave." 
 
 Esther had never heard him mention his dead 
 wife before. He spoke with unmistakable fervor 
 and feeling. She realized, however, that he dimly 
 apprehended her own difficulty. 
 
 It was not easy to suggest a possible similarity 
 between the case of a woman on earth and a saint 
 in heaven. 
 
 " But if a woman were handicapped by some 
 family disadvantage ? " 
 
 " Bless my soul ! A man marries the woman, not 
 her family; but," laughing a little, "Jane holds a 
 contrary opinion ; you cannot but notice that moth 
 ers-in-law, for example, are very much on her mind 
 these days." 
 
 Esther smiled faintly. She felt that her case 
 was adjourned in this especial court, without a 
 day. 
 
 "My friend and her mother will be at Man-
 
 126 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 chester-by-the-Sea for July, August and September. 
 I cannot say that our prospect is more favorable, 
 but at least I shall see her often this summer. 
 Perhaps it is best for both, if things fall out con 
 trary to my hope. At least I shall try to see it so," 
 he said. 
 
 Then after a moment's hesitation he told Esther 
 the obstacle; and she marvelled no longer that 
 these two were still unpledged. 
 
 " There has been no talk of our affairs here, fortu 
 nately," he concluded. " Nothing is more painful 
 nor often more mischievous than gossip about an 
 unsettled matter of this kind." 
 
 " It must be awful for the woman," said 
 Esther, with a little shudder. 
 
 " What, all done now but the varnishing ! Well, 
 here is Jane, and we'll all go home to dinner to 
 gether." 
 
 They met no more till Esther stood on the deck 
 of the " New Amsterdam," the centre of the gay lit 
 tle crowd who had come to wish her a happy voyage. 
 Her stateroom was filled with flowers and dainties 
 of various kinds. A sheaf of letters were handed 
 her from friends who could not come to see her off ; 
 and she received as many more by the tug, just 
 before they steamed out of the harbor. Mrs. Mint 
 was proud of her. 
 
 Mrs. Jones encountered the returning procession,
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 127 
 
 with Bertrand Coleman and his sister in the lead. 
 She " had not bowed down," as she phrased it. 
 
 " Why, you'd think it was the Governor's wife," 
 said she bitterly to Mrs. Wise, who had also been 
 intent on reconciliation with Mrs. Mint. 
 
 " Who can tell ? " said that little lady. " We all 
 want the favor of the future Mrs. So-and-so, any 
 how ! " 
 
 " It's just as well not to give it a name," responded 
 Mrs. Jones, grimly.
 
 128 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 DANGEROUS DELAYS. 
 
 IT was a delightful voyage, under cloudless skies 
 nearly all the way, and in cheerful company ; and 
 by the time it was half done, Esther was sufficiently 
 tranquillized not to turn white when she encoun 
 tered the little bugle-boy, as if he were a telegraph 
 messenger pursuing her with tidings of disaster. 
 
 It was harder, however, to fight off the recurrence 
 of nervous apprehension in the strenuous atmosphere 
 of London, but she was a strong-willed woman ; she 
 had, moreover, a definite purpose in her trip, and her 
 best thought and consideration were due, for the 
 time being, to Mrs. Mint's interests. 
 
 That lady had given her faithful Martha a furlough, 
 so to speak. Martha had a horror of the sea, and, 
 moreover, a longing of many years to visit her only 
 brother, resident in Chicago. 
 
 With Esther to help choose her pictures, and, as 
 a much younger and more active womaa, and a more 
 experienced European traveler, to manage the details 
 of the trip ; and a maid for her personal service, 
 Mrs. Mint felt that she could endure a few months' 
 separation from her other self.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 129 
 
 I have already told you that Mrs. Mint had a real 
 respect and liking for Esther, as for a young woman 
 who had made her way by her own honest effort. 
 The reserve, which some of us disliked in the artist, 
 was to the oldtime business woman just decency 
 and common prudence. She had never patronized 
 Esther personally, though she had greatly encouraged 
 and served her by generous patronage of her work. 
 
 Esther, like Mrs. Ormond, always drew to the 
 surface the best that was in Mrs. Mint ; so that 
 while the rich woman was undoubtedly overbearing 
 and rough, rather than blunt, with many of the 
 ladies of our set, to these two she was merely a 
 plain, honest, kindly woman, abrupt at times, but 
 never haughty nor uncivil ; interesting, by reason of 
 many out-of-the-way experiences, which she narrated 
 with energy and shrewd humor; helpful and far- 
 seeing, too, but not ostentatious of her powers of 
 observation, nor her skill in character-reading. 
 
 The travelers spent six weeks in England, chiefly 
 in London ; and then went over to Paris, where 
 Mrs. Mint's purchases, even outside of pictures, 
 would have filled the hearts of nearly all the maids 
 and matrons of our set with a despairing delight 
 
 Esther bought her own modest trousseau during 
 Mrs. Mint's occasional " laying-up for repairs," as she 
 called those days when her flesh and breathlessness 
 came against her, an 1 she had to go under the hands 
 of the masseuse. Our artist had wished chiefly to
 
 130 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 evade Mrs. Mint's extravagant generosity; though 
 unsuccessfully, if she had but known how that lady 
 utilized the first day on which she had laughingly 
 expressed a desire not to see her young friend from 
 dawn till dark. 
 
 Now that her pleasant task was done she realized 
 that Mrs. Mint was equal to hut little exertion, and 
 often dull and heavy-headed amid the liveliest 
 scenes and on the most agreeably tempered summer 
 days. 
 
 But Mrs. Mint made light of her indisposition, 
 and protested when Esther would bear her company 
 for long hours indoors. 
 
 They sat thus together one lovely afternoon in 
 mid-September. 
 
 Mrs. Mint was undemonstrative as a rule, but 
 today she reached out and drew Esther's thin little 
 hand into both her own fat and heavily ringed ones. 
 
 " You shouldn't worry about me, Miss Ward. 
 Indeed, 'twas I that was fretted about your looks 
 before we came away. At least you haven't failed 
 any on my hands," and she looked at her with a 
 wistful kindliness that went to Esther's heart. 
 
 " Indeed, dear Mrs. Mint, I was not ill at all. I 
 never was ill in my life. I've had rather a hard 
 year, some little anxieties of my own, some cause 
 for uneasiness, indeed ; but, thank God, nothing that 
 I feared has happened so far, and I think all will be 
 well when we get home again."
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 131 
 
 " I hope soon to see you a happier woman than 
 you are now, my dear," said the elder woman 
 gently. 
 
 A mist came over Esther's eyes. For a moment 
 she felt as if she could tell much of her past and the 
 dearest of her prospects to this woman, with whom 
 she had ordinarily so little in common, but who had 
 proved so sincere and kindly a friend. But the 
 moment of grace passed for poor Esther. 
 
 " Thank you, dear Mrs. Mint," she said softly. " I 
 will have something to tell you soon after we get 
 home." 
 
 " Kiss me," said her friend, rising a little on her 
 couch ; " and then, like a good girl, go over to the 
 church and say your beads for me." 
 
 "So it's true!" exclaimed Mrs. Mint decisively, 
 when she was alone. She had heard, of course, the 
 common rumor, but was too delicate withal to put 
 a word to Esther about it. Now she believed she 
 had confirmation strong as proof of Holy Writ. 
 What else in the world could have made the dear 
 girl flush so deeply and look so misty about the 
 eyes ! 
 
 " I hope she will be happy. No one, nothing, 
 is too good for her," she mused ; " the only trouble is 
 that a woman of her kind seldom finds a man who 
 can appreciate her, and if she were unhappy in her 
 marriage good heavens, how unhappy she would 
 be!"
 
 132 THE WAY OF THE WOELD 
 
 She rang for her maid, and presently was exam 
 ining with a pleased smile the sparkling contents of 
 a rich case. 
 
 " I suppose he'll load her with jewelry, but he 
 will never think of this." 
 
 It was a necklace of fire-opals, and they gleamed 
 and glowed and shimmered flame-color and palest 
 green and gold, as she lifted it up on her chubby 
 hand. 
 
 The nearest church was the Madeleine, which 
 Esther loved the least except for the bronze sculp 
 tures on its great entrance doors of any of the 
 churches she knew in Paris. 
 
 But what mattered artistic preferences today, 
 when her soul longed for an hour before the altar, 
 whose lamp proclaimed the Sacred Presence ? 
 
 The brief conversation just recorded had agitated 
 her strangely. Only a month more ! She would be 
 home the first week in October, Arthur Esmond a 
 fortnight later. His letters had followed her on 
 her journeying ; more numerous, more tender and 
 devoted as their long separation drew to its end. 
 
 Only another month ! None of her forebodings 
 had been realized. Joe's letters, the latest received 
 that morning, were cheerful. No news of Ned, to 
 be sure ; but in this case no news might be good 
 news. 
 
 Oh, if it were God's will that poor Ned, contrite 
 and shriven, were at rest in some quiet God's Acre,
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 133 
 
 with the pleading Cross above him ! Then she 
 chided herself for the thought, and remembered 
 that Bertrand Coleman had said that Ned might 
 make a man of himself yet. 
 
 Was there a shadow from the future, apart from 
 Ned? 
 
 She loosened her locket before the altar, opened 
 it, and kissed her ring. 
 
 " What is it," she murmured, " that always tells 
 me I shall never see it on my finger ? What do I 
 fear ? No misfortune nor crime of my poor brother 
 could ever come between us. Mr. Coleman says 
 truly that only silly women make a nine-days' won 
 der of these things. What, then, can part us but his 
 death or mine ? " 
 
 She prayed with all her soul against the strange 
 foreboding which never gave her respite in her 
 solitary waking hours, and transformed itself into 
 dismal dreams when she slept. 
 
 In the vestibule she turned back and lit a candle 
 to the Blessed Virgin at the marriage altar, smiling 
 timidly as she did it. 
 
 " But we call thee the Mother of Fair Love and 
 of Holy Hope," she whispered, and then hurried on 
 her way to Mrs. Mint with a lightened heart. 
 
 The maid met her half-way in the corridor. 
 
 " Oh, Miss Ward something awful has hap 
 pened to Mrs. Mint ! I think it's a stroke.
 
 134 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 Though Mrs. Mint's illness was not of so grave a 
 character as had been proclaimed by the inexperienced 
 woman who had almost stumbled over her mistress' 
 prostrate and unconscious form, it was, however, 
 serious enough to delay the travelers considerably 
 on their homeward journey. They were to have 
 sailed the 6th of October. 
 
 " She may be able to sail on the 25th," said the 
 physicians when, after ten days the worst was over ; 
 and Esther wrote accordingly to Martha, and among 
 her own friends, after her betrothed and her brother, 
 to Jane Coleman and Mrs. Willow. 
 
 Except for the sake of the sufferer, who was more 
 than eager for home, Esther was little troubled by 
 this delay; for sailing on the date specified, she 
 would still be in time to greet the arrival of her 
 lover. 
 
 But as the days wore on, despite the best care 
 that money could procure in Paris, it was evident 
 that Mrs. Mint was still unfit for the journey. 
 There was another postponement and yet another, 
 nor were the travelers on their homebound steamer 
 till mid-November. 
 
 By this time naturally, Esther herself was in a 
 fever of impatience concealed with difficulty. Since 
 the letters timed to reach them just before their 
 expected sailing in October, there had been no 
 home letters, as their return was looked for by 
 every successive steamer.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 155 
 
 All was well with Arthur Esmond, however, up 
 to the last moment possible for news, for a cable 
 was brought her on board the " New Amsterdam," 
 announcing his arrival in the city of her home, 
 which was henceforward to be the home of both, 
 and wishing her a happy voyage. 
 
 While abroad she had had two letters from 
 Bertrand Coleman, both full of the praises of his 
 " friend," as he still called her ; the second stating 
 that although the way to the fruition of his hopes 
 was not yet clear, it was clearing, and that if not at 
 once on her return, at least soon after, he expected 
 to ask her congratulations. 
 
 She would have had a third one of a more definite 
 tenor had her own movements been less uncertain ; 
 for when a progress towards a desired end sets in, it 
 often makes up for lost time by the rapidity of its 
 movement. On the first of November the engage 
 ment of Annette Tremaine and Bertrand Coleman 
 was announced. 
 
 Esther, however, re-read the letters she had after 
 she had settled herself for the return voyage, and 
 smiled over them. 
 
 " I wonder if he will be surprised when I present 
 him to another recipient of congratulations. Jane 
 will, at all events. Why, there was one day when 
 I think she thought " and Esther flushed a little 
 yet, half with amusement and half with an inexpli 
 cable annoyance, as she recalled the circumstances
 
 136 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 that led up to her painting of Bertrand Coleman's 
 portrait. 
 
 And then the dim presentiment of evil, which 
 she had shaken off effectually during the last few 
 days before sailing, returned, still formless and 
 vague, but more disquieting than ever.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 137 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE TALK OF THE TOWN. 
 
 WHEN Arthur Esmond knew that the return of 
 his betrothed would be delayed several weeks be 
 yond her first calculations, he remained in San 
 Francisco to adjust matters finally as to certain 
 interests which he had represented in Hawaii ; nor 
 arrived at his ultimate destination until the day 
 before Esther's sailing. 
 
 His first thought after cabling her, as he was a 
 most courteous gentleman, was of her brother 
 Joseph, whom he knew, to be sure, only through the 
 letters of his betrothed, but to whom he felt drawn 
 as to her best beloved of kindred. 
 
 He would write at once to Joseph, and invite him 
 to dine. But as he proceeded to carry out this 
 hospitable thought, it dawned upon him that he 
 knew neither Joseph's residence nor place of busi 
 ness, nor ever had known them. 
 
 He knew, indeed, that Joseph had to do with 
 public works of some sort, and that he lived in one 
 of the towns well outside the city's corporate limits. 
 The City Directory gave him no light on his quest. 
 
 "Well, he will see my name among the hotel
 
 138 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 arrivals tomorrow," he said, reluctantly postponing 
 his manifestation of good-will ; for to talk of Esther 
 with the one who knew their relation was the one 
 thing which would make bearable the week yet to 
 pass before her return. 
 
 As he turned from the Directory he became 
 conscious that some one was regarding him with a 
 fixed and friendly scrutiny ; also that the gazer was 
 of a familiar aspect. 
 
 In ten years many of one's landmarks are obliter 
 ated, even in the most conservative of all our 
 American cities, and a man's contemporaries are 
 wont to gain in girth, or lose in hair ; but with this 
 man time had stood still. 
 
 It was it could be nobody but Peter Jones, 
 who having been an old young man at forty-five, 
 remained an old young man at fifty-five ; straight 
 and spare as ever, though perhaps a little stiff, 
 now, as well, but with a kindly gleam in his 
 honest blue eyes, and real heartiness in his hand 
 clasp. 
 
 For the recognition was mutual by this time. 
 
 " But you have changed," said Mr. Jones, stand 
 ing off a little and surveying Arthur Esmond. 
 
 " Yes ; I have filled out somewhat, and then 
 I have dropped the side-whiskers. My exile has 
 made a fierce Yankee of me." 
 
 The men spoke for a few minutes of Hawaii and 
 electrical engineering.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 139 
 
 "Say, old man, come home to dinner with me. 
 We are but two blocks from here." 
 
 Esmond demurred for a moment ; but the pros 
 pect of a lonely evening he could not spend it 
 in a letter to Esther was not comfortable. Mr. 
 Jones, moreover, was urgent, and it was an excel 
 lent opportunity for picking up the threads of old 
 associations again. 
 
 " Quite en famille, you know," said Mr. Jones 
 reassuringly, as they passed out of the splendid 
 corridors of the new Tremontaine, into the cool 
 November twilight. 
 
 Mr. Jones had forgotten for the moment that Mr. 
 and Mrs. Ray were to dine at his house that even 
 ing. Then Mrs. Willow and Mrs. Wise had dropped 
 in for five-o'clock tea ; and the ladies had so much 
 to talk about, and the time sped by so fast, that they 
 needed no urging to remain for dinner, especially as 
 both their liege lords were out of town. Then there 
 was Mrs. Jones' nephew ; but he was only a college 
 youth, and simply served on the present occasion to 
 keep the balance of the sexes. 
 
 Mr. Esmond was distinctly disconcerted, not to 
 say disappointed, thus to miss the tete-a-tete with his 
 old acquaintance, on which he had counted. All 
 the little company were strangers to him, and prom 
 ised no increased interest on acquaintance. 
 
 But as a gentleman and a man of the world must, 
 he made the best of what promised to be unrelieved
 
 140 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 tedium, including his hostess' effort to exploit him, 
 on the strength of his three years' sojourn in Hawaii, 
 as a distinguished foreigner. 
 
 The company was small enough for conversation 
 to be general ; but the ladies evidently had a strong 
 interest in common, and seemed to resent the irrele 
 vance of the gentlemen's discussion of annexation, 
 imperialism and the like ; only Mrs. Wise having the 
 presence of mind to smile, when a certain document 
 of the National Executive was referred to as " a tal 
 low candle without the wick." 
 
 Mrs. Jones seldom served wine, and neither Mr. 
 Jones nor his nephew smoked, so the gentlemen lin 
 gered but briefly in the dining-room after the ladies 
 had gone up to the drawing-room. 
 
 They found the ladies crowded together on one 
 small sofa and an easy-chair, and still absorbed in 
 conversation. They were all matrons, and even the 
 stranger was not of sufficient interest at the time to 
 distract them for more than a moment from their 
 present momentous topic. 
 
 The gentlemen grouped about the center-table and 
 resumed their chat. 
 
 " As you remarked, Kay," said the host, " if Cleve 
 land had been President " 
 
 But above the bassos and baritones the shrill 
 sopranos of the ladies in the corner often prevailed, 
 and the stranger inevitably caught such exclama 
 tions as this :
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 141 
 
 "Weren't you surprised?" . . . "But what will 
 she say ?"..." How do you suppose she will take 
 it ? " (This from three ladies at once.) 
 
 " How unfortunate that she was made so con 
 spicuous ! " (Mrs. Wise.) 
 
 " You mean that she made herself so conspicu 
 ous ! " (Mrs. Jones.) 
 
 " No, no ; I don't agree with you ! She's a mod 
 est; woman." (Mrs. Willow.) 
 
 " It was a case of love at first sight on her part. 
 Wasn't I there ? Didn't I have the misfortune to 
 introduce them? Even my husband and Mrs. Or- 
 mond can't say a word but ' I'm sorry ! ' " (This 
 from Mrs. Ray.) 
 
 "Well, she's town's talk now, anyway." (Mrs. 
 Jones again.) 
 
 The women's voices gained on the men's. 
 
 " They're talking of Coleman's engagement," said 
 his host, to Arthur Esmond. " Bertrand Coleman 
 you must have known him. No? Well, he was 
 just coming into prominence here when you went 
 away. Let women get talking on weddings" 
 
 Just then there was a stir on the sofa. Mrs. Wil 
 low and Mrs. Wise were taking their farewells. 
 
 Oh, no ! they wouldn't allow it. Mr. Jones must 
 not leave his guests. It was only a step to the car, 
 and Mrs. Willow was to spend the night with Mrs. 
 Wise. 
 
 So "good-night," and "good-night," and "thank
 
 142 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 you for a perfectly lovely evening," from the depart 
 ing ladies all the way to the door and down the 
 steps. 
 
 Once safely around the corner Mrs. Willow said 
 to Mrs. Wise : 
 
 " Well, I suppose that old cat will tear her limb 
 from limb, now that I'm gone. I'd have stayed to 
 stand up for her if any one was there to whom it 
 would make any difference." 
 
 Meantime the group of four in the drawing-room 
 drew together. 
 
 " We were discussing Mr. Coleman's engagement," 
 explained Mrs. Jones ; " all the town's agog over it, 
 Mr. Esmond. You see it's a case of two women and 
 one man." 
 
 Mr. Esmond had been, meantime, trying to verify 
 some association in his mind with the name of Cole- 
 man. Ah! yes. Esther had several times men 
 tioned in her letters a Mr. Coleman, who had been 
 very kind to her in business matters. 
 
 But his hostess went on : 
 
 " There's a scarcity of eligibles in our set, and 
 women have been throwing themselves at this man's 
 head for the past twelve years. He had good looks, 
 money, position " 
 
 " And was a pretty decent fellow as men go," put 
 in Mr. Jones. 
 
 "Well, I trust he will be happy," said Arthur
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 143 
 
 Esmond, suppressing a yawn. Mr. Coleman's love 
 affairs were of no interest to him. 
 
 " Oh, he'll be happy enough," said Mrs. Ray. 
 " Mrs. Wise says that he's perfectly radiant ever since 
 the announcement. I suppose you've heard that the 
 wedding is set for Thanksgiving Day that's to 
 have it before Advent, you know. He starts for 
 Cleveland Monday." 
 
 " Then he won't be here when " 
 " No ; I suppose Jane will break the news " 
 " Don't you suppose she knows anything at all ? " 
 " Some think she doesn't ; but for my part," said 
 the hostess, " I think Jane must have given her a 
 hint, and that's why she's staying away till all is 
 over." 
 
 " Don't you believe about the old lady's illness ? " 
 " Not a word of it ! She's a 'cute one ; I always 
 told you that. She's letting herself down easy." 
 
 " Miss Coleman says they'll have a grand recep- 
 tibn on the evening of January the ninth." 
 
 " It will be great fun to see if mademoiselle goes," 
 continued the amiable hostess ; " but of course she 
 will. I'd like to see her greet the bride, and I will, 
 please heaven." 
 
 " Oh, the poor thing," said Mrs. Eay. " I pity her 
 with all my heart ; and I don't see that she did any 
 thing out of the way, except about the picture." 
 
 "Of course that was inexplicable," granted Mr. 
 Eay.
 
 144 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 The stranger's evident effort at polite interest in 
 an abstract topic changed to a puzzled look. 
 
 The host was trying to get in a word edgeways. 
 
 " But as I have said often to you already, Han 
 nah ! " he exclaimed testily, " that picture might have 
 been an order ! " 
 
 "It was an offer. I guess his sister ought to 
 know. Am I not right ? " to Mrs. Kay. 
 
 The latter nodded ; but said at once : 
 
 " You know Mrs. Willow takes her part. She 
 won't hear a word against her. She explains it this 
 way " 
 
 " Mrs. Willow's heart was set on the match, and 
 she's as innocent as a child, anyhow I beg your 
 pardon, Mr. Esmond ; of course they're all nothing 
 but names to you. The prize-winner in this matri 
 monial contest is Miss Tremaine of Cleveland, we 
 none of us know anything about her, except that 
 she's only a little while out of school, and young 
 enough to be her future husband's daughter. He'd 
 better have married her mother, who, I hear, is a 
 good-looking widow of forty-five. The discarded 
 one" 
 
 " Now, really, Mrs. Jones " interposed Mrs. 
 Ray 
 
 " You know you yourself told me that you believed 
 he was amusing himself with her," said Mrs. Jones 
 with a dangerous smile. " I never professed to be 
 her friend I saw through her from the start.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 145 
 
 Well, as I was telling you, Mr. Esmond, the dis 
 carded one is Miss Esther Ward, our noted artist. 
 ' Notorious ' would be a rather better word now." 
 
 " Hannah ! " remonstrated her husband. 
 
 "Well, have you seen Social Events of this 
 week ? " she asked, with another of those danger 
 ous smiles. 
 
 Social Events was a journal against which every 
 one protested, but which nearly every one feared 
 and bought. 
 
 " I must bid you good-night Mrs. Jones and Mrs. 
 Kay," said Arthur Esmond, who had risen with a 
 face as stern as flint at the mention of Esther's 
 name. 
 
 His host accompanied him to the door. 
 
 " I'll see you tomorrow, Esmond." 
 
 " I fear not. I shall be leaving town imme 
 diately," answered the departing guest. 
 
 " Confound your gossip ! " said Mr. Jones angrily, 
 when at last he was alone with his wife. 
 
 " What did that serious man care for all your 
 picking at those people whom he never saw nor 
 heard of ? You spoiled his evening. And Hannah, 
 what in the world has Esther Ward ever done to 
 you, that you've been at her ever since you have 
 known her ? She seems to be a modest, inoffensive 
 little creature, with a good word for every one. 
 Supposing she has had a disappointment? Can't
 
 146 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 you women have some mercy ? Suppose it was 
 your own case ! " 
 
 Mrs. Jones tossed her head, and told him to mind 
 his own affairs. He wasn't the keeper of her con 
 science.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. H7 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 BLAMELESS KING ARTHUR. 
 
 ARTHUR ESMOND was reckoned by his friends 
 among that tiny fraction of humanity who never 
 make mistakes. He was punctilious in his morals, 
 in his honor, in his manners ; fastidious in his tastes. 
 He demanded of other men and women that they 
 should be even as he. 
 
 Yet he was no Pharisee nor hypocrite. He was 
 simply a man in whom one passion had thus far 
 ruled so masterfully that the rest had hardly had a 
 chance to make themselves heard. 
 
 His intention, his profession, his practice, pro 
 claimed him a good Catholic. If his foes (whom he 
 accounted rather the foes of rectitude and honor) 
 found that he had an infallible memory, so also 
 did his friends. He was as generous as a prince ; 
 regarding parsimony less as a moral fault than as 
 an evidence of vulgar lineage, and even a noticeable 
 thrift as bad form. 
 
 His own blameless record, his unspotted family 
 honor, were his idols, to which he was ready, though 
 he knew it not, to sacrifice his own or others' happi 
 ness.
 
 148 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 The woman who should bear this name, make a 
 part of this record, must be above criticism. In 
 deed, except in the expression of petty envy in the 
 matter of looks or toilettes, it was a principle of his 
 that a woman could scarcely excite criticism unless 
 in some way she invited it. 
 
 A great part of Esther Ward's charm for him, in 
 the days while their acquaintance was progressing 
 to intimacy, was her conformity to the type of old- 
 fashioned gentlewoman that was his ideal for 
 womanhood. 
 
 Ordinarily, the very phrase " professional woman " 
 had set his teeth on edge. But here was a success 
 ful young artist, alone in a great city, who had 
 made her way without losing in the least degree the 
 delicate grace and freshness of the daughter of a 
 sheltered and refined home; broadly cultured in 
 mind, frank and cordial with her fellow artists, 
 though conservative in personal and social matters ; 
 charitable and humble, as a good Christian woman 
 should be ; yet as fastidiously averse to " bachelor- 
 maids," and Bohemian suppers, and women who 
 boasted of their perils by flood and field in quest of 
 "scoops" or subjects, or who clamored for new 
 spheres of influence, or the reform of the universe, 
 as Lady Clara Vere de Vere had been. 
 
 He had loved her for these things and for many 
 others ; he had loved her because she had been 
 hard to win. Even after he was sure as he had
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 149 
 
 fondly believed of her whole heart's affection, 
 how delicate and shy she was in the expression 
 of it! 
 
 What awful transformation was this ! Esther, 
 the reserved, fine, fastidious ; Esther, the loyal and 
 loving ; his Esther, dealing so deceitfully with him ; 
 forgetting her womanly dignity in the pursuit of 
 another man's favor ; the amusement of his idle 
 hours ; the subject of the sneering pity of empty- 
 headed gossips ; the talk of the town ! 
 
 Social Events lay open on the table before him. 
 
 He picked it up as gingerly as if it were a fetid 
 rag, and again the horrible paragraph stood out 
 before him as in scarlet letters. 
 
 No names were mentioned, to be sure, but the 
 identification of all the persons was complete with 
 out them : " The distinguished jurist whose recent 
 victory in the celebrated Gray vs. Belden case has 
 added fresh laurels to his reputation and a princely 
 sum to his fortune . . . the charming ingenu bride 
 . . . the romantic circumstances of their meet 
 ing . . . the surprise, nevertheless, in social circles, 
 as it was confidently asserted that the bride-to-be 
 was none other than a certain gifted artist, whose 
 fame has been steadily growing since the success of 
 her child-portrait, ' Moss Kose Bud,' two years ago. 
 A greater success, artistically, was the portrait of 
 her supposed admirer, the last work from her hand 
 before her very sudden departure for Europe last
 
 150 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 June. . . . Dame Eumor is a lying jade, of course, 
 but there is a piquant flavor of mystery in the 
 whole case. . . . The prolonged absence of the lady 
 in question," etc. 
 
 He flung the sheet from him into the open grate 
 with a gesture of supreme disgust, and tried to read 
 just his thoughts to a new vision of life, with all 
 that made it worth living gone out of it. 
 
 Was there no voice to plead for Esther ? Indeed, 
 she came before him during that long vigil in every 
 aspect in which he had ever seen her. Indeed, the 
 sound of her voice was in his ears all night. Those 
 large, beautiful, gentle gray eyes looked at him so 
 wistfully. Those soft tones stilled for a moment 
 the jealous tumult in his heart. A wave of tender 
 ness arose only to break on the rock of the sinister 
 conviction which had arisen in his heart, and recoil 
 upon itself baffled. 
 
 He went over the words of the little group he 
 had so lately quitted. Who had attempted to soften 
 the case for Esther? Jones had shown a manly 
 desire to find a justification for her inexplicable 
 action, but in vain. 
 
 At least none knew the worst feature of the 
 whole wretched matter, in the fact that she was his 
 betrothed. 
 
 Was there no word for Esther? They quoted 
 Mrs. Ormond. She had been " so sorry," or " she 
 wouldn't hear a word against her " which was it ? 
 There had been such a chatter.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 151 
 
 He had known Mrs. Ormond in her maiden days 
 during his previous sojourn in this city. He re 
 membered her as a woman prudent in speech, kind- 
 hearted, good, through and through. 
 
 He had been a guest at her wedding ; but in the 
 stress and strain of this past eventful decade she 
 had gone out of his mind except as the wife of her 
 now famous husband, until Esther's occasional refer 
 ences to her within the past year, had brought old 
 times back. 
 
 The Ormonds had been first among the people 
 with whom he had intended to renew old acquaint 
 ance. 
 
 As in the case of Esther's brother, he had counted 
 on them to help him beguile these last days of 
 Esther's absence, by speaking and hearing her 
 praises. 
 
 He smiled grimly, recalling the invitation he had 
 planned to Joseph Ward. Then a new suspicion 
 obtruded itself : Why had Esther never been more 
 definite as to this nearest and dearest brother ? 
 
 There was another brother, a wild fellow, she had 
 admitted. " Wild ? " how little or how much that 
 might mean ! 
 
 Never mind. There was now question of Esther, 
 not of her family ; and Mrs. Ormond had an opinion, 
 evidently favorable, and Mrs. Ormond's opinion was 
 worth knowing at first hand. 
 
 But Esther would be here to speak for herself in 
 a week.
 
 152 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 Could he wish to meet her, as he felt now, if he 
 knew she were within twenty paces of him ? 
 
 He would call on the Ormonds on the morrow, 
 and the result would determine many things. 
 
 It could not explain away everything : for exam 
 ple, the paragraph in Social Events. 
 
 But " an enemy hath done this." The words 
 flashed through his mind like a message from Heaven. 
 Had this man, Bertrand Coleman, who was evidently 
 large in the public eye, some relentless and unscrupu 
 lous foe, bent on troubling his peace, and catching 
 at some singular, yet perfectly explicable happening, 
 with this intent ? Painting his picture ! An order 
 or an offer? Something had been said about Mr. 
 Coleman's sister. He would see Mrs. Ormond, any 
 way. 
 
 Twenty-four hours ago Arthur Esmond would 
 have been appalled at the suggestion that he could 
 stoop to such indiscretion for any end. But the 
 speediest disintegrator of character in this wicked 
 world is jealousy, and the sophistries with which its 
 victim can justify the unworthiest courses are beyond 
 belief. 
 
 He looked at his watch. It was three o'clock. 
 A few hours' sleep, and he could put his project into 
 effect. 
 
 Mrs. Ormond had aged scarcely a year in the 
 decade, for all of three little Ormonds, who were
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 153 
 
 audible, though not visible, while she was greeting 
 her guest. 
 
 " We were so delighted with your interview in the 
 Wayfarer this morning," she was saying. " Mr. 
 Ormond was to call on you at the Tremontaine 
 before his return, but now you are here, of course 
 you will stay for luncheon. Such an excellent inter 
 view ! Now that is legitimate journalism. We 
 are all so interested in Hawaii, especially those of 
 us who have read ' South Sea Idyls.' " 
 
 " You know the book and the author ? Not the 
 author ? Ah, but you will : a great friend of Mr. 
 Ormond's." 
 
 Mrs. Ormond paused for a moment to answer a 
 tap at the door. 
 
 " Yes, we'll have the little ones in by-and-by. 
 Three little boys," with motherly pride; "but I'm 
 afraid they're a noisy little crowd ; they're so strong 
 and well." 
 
 The guest murmured his congratulations. He 
 was anxious to get the conversation back to legiti 
 mate journalism. His hostess talked a little of the 
 memories which they had in common; then as a 
 woman's way is, jumped back to the interview. 
 
 "The Wayfarer always does these things so well. 
 But take my advice, and don't give a word to anyone 
 from Social Events." 
 
 Her guest lifted interrogating eyebrows. Alas for 
 the straightforwardness of a jealous man !
 
 154 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 " Well, they deal in personalities," she explained, 
 " and would perform a surgical operation on your 
 brain or heart in quest of news. We are all so an 
 noyed that is, we who are her friends at a 
 wretched thing in this current issue. Miss Ward 
 isn't named, of course, but everybody knows who 
 painted ' The Moss Eose Bud ' and then, to drag 
 in the names of all the sacred subjects, as if the 
 identification were not close enough without that." 
 
 " The lady in question is your friend ? " 
 
 " I think of her as a friend, though we don't know 
 each other very long. We were drifting into a 
 pleasant friendship when she went abroad, a little 
 unexpectedly, last June. She wasn't here in your 
 time. Indeed, she is a comparatively newcomer. 
 But you may know her at least by reputation." 
 
 Her guest bowed his assent. 
 
 " Of course," continued his hostess, " the move 
 ments of a woman whose work is public attract 
 attention where those of us homebodies wouldn't be 
 noticed. For rny part, however, I am sure that 
 whatever Miss Ward did was justified by the 
 relation between herself and the gentleman in ques 
 tion. Something may have happened since last 
 summer to break it off. I know nothing, except 
 that there seemed to be a very strong friendship ; 
 the general opinion was, something more. I'm 
 sorry, more sorry than I can say, at the turn affairs 
 have taken, and the very undesirable publicity given
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 155 
 
 to this poor little woman. But let us talk of some 
 thing nicer than yellow journalism Ah, here are 
 my little boys John, Thomas and Edward 
 shake hands, dears, with Mr. Esmond." 
 
 That gentleman coerced himself into a show of 
 interest in the three white-haired, brown-eyed and 
 shy little Ormonds, but in ten minutes he rose to 
 make his adieus, and expressed his regret that his 
 necessity for taking the one o'clock train for Wash 
 ington made it impossible that he should stay to 
 meet Mr. Ormond. 
 
 With his last hope shattered by Esther's true 
 friend and wellwisher, Arthur Esmond speeded on 
 his way South, while Esther drew a day nearer to 
 her sorrow.
 
 156 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 
 JANE AND THE MAJOR. 
 
 JANE COLEMAN was in very low spirits ; so blue, 
 she said herself that indigo would have made a 
 white streak on her. 
 
 There were conditions, as we have already inti 
 mated, under which she might have been reconciled 
 to her brother's marriage, whoever the bride-elect 
 might be; but these had not come to pass, and 
 although she had prudently kept her mind to her 
 self on the subject, the actual chosen one was very 
 distasteful to her. 
 
 In the first place, Jane was impatient of anything 
 which he who runs may not read. The various 
 little difficulties in this course of true love had 
 seemed to her mysterious in a wholly unnecessary 
 degree. 
 
 Then there was a mother, and unmistakable evi 
 dence of clever management on her part, as well as 
 of straitened circumstances. Why wasn't there also 
 a whole brood of younger brothers and sisters to 
 profit by Annette's good match, and help to waste 
 Bertrand Coleman's hard-earned substance ? What 
 more natural ? Mrs. Tremaine wasn't the woman 
 to tell the whole story to any one.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 157 
 
 Indeed, Jane wept at the picture which her sad 
 fancy conjured up on this especial evening, of the 
 second Mrs. Coleman recklessly using the best china 
 every day, and the young Tremaines infesting the 
 heretofore beautifully kept house, to the manifest 
 detriment of carpets and bric-and-brac. 
 
 For the bride-elect was indeed very young and 
 inexperienced ; little more than a schoolgirl, and a 
 puppet in the hands of her astute mamma. 
 
 Then Jane saw her own importance reduced to 
 the vanishing point by the change. To do her 
 justice, her sisterly solicitude for her brother was 
 her uppermost thought ; and her bitterest pang, the 
 realization that she was no longer necessary to his 
 happiness or comfort. 
 
 But she would not have been human had she not 
 thought of her own altered position as well. 
 
 As mistress of her brother's beautiful home she 
 had been the friend of his friends ; as having his 
 ear at all seasons, she had been courted and flat 
 tered by the host of people who seek the coun 
 tenance of men in high places. 
 
 All this was over now. She was conscious of the 
 change, indeed, from the hour that her brother's 
 engagement became known. 
 
 Many of those who had erst sought her changed 
 their manner at once to a sort of lofty patronage, 
 and were vociferous in commendation of her broth 
 er's choice, without even waiting to see what man 
 ner of woman this was.
 
 158 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 Whom could she count on of all to whom she 
 had shown hospitality, whose cause she had pleaded 
 with her brother, whose way she had smoothed by 
 her ready sympathy and service ? 
 
 Jane knew the world. Mrs. "Willow was kind- 
 hearted, and would probably keep up something of 
 the old-time intercourse. And Mrs. Wise would 
 follow Mrs. Willow's example. But both would 
 weary her soul with the praises of the bride, who 
 would have for Mrs. Willow, at least, the interest of 
 a new playfellow. 
 
 On Mrs. Eay Jane could not reckon, and she 
 knew that Mrs. Jones would promptly forget her 
 very existence. 
 
 Really, there was only Esther Ward of whom she 
 could be comfortably sure. Esther would never vex 
 her by idle questions or inopportune comparisons. 
 Esther was not moved by mere money or novelty. 
 
 Yet she was more vexed at Esther than at any 
 one, perhaps, except the bride-elect. 
 
 Why had Esther gone off in that sudden and un 
 foreseen way, just when she might have been of 
 some service? 
 
 Jane would not have felt any better had Esther 
 been in the place of Annette Tremaine. On the 
 whole, by a curious feminine perversity, Jane felt 
 that she would rather lose her brother to a perfect 
 stranger than to the best and dearest of her friends. 
 
 But if Esther had remained, perhaps the evil day
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 159 
 
 might have been staved off a little longer, and at 
 any rate Jane would have had a safe and kindly 
 confidante. 
 
 Esther had no worldly sense after all. She did 
 the most unaccountable things. 
 
 What would Major McAlpine think of Bertrand's 
 engagement ? 
 
 It was queer, but once things began to go wrong 
 in a woman's life, they all went wrong together. 
 
 The Major had not called for a month, and Mrs. 
 Jones had hinted very broadly that he had spent 
 an evening at their house, and taken her niece to 
 a concert. 
 
 " Horrid old gad-about and gossip ! " thought 
 Jane. 
 
 She was sitting in the back drawing-room, with 
 the lights turned low. Social Events was crumpled 
 in her hand. 
 
 Her brother called it a serpent, and despised it ; 
 but Jane had always a little feminine curiosity to 
 know "who's catching it now," and always took 
 possession of it when it came. 
 
 She thought, this evening, how dreadfully the 
 paragraph which we have seen would annoy her 
 brother. He was off for a farewell dinner at his 
 club. Why should he have all the roses and she all 
 the thorns ? She was minded to leave it where 
 he couldn't help seeing it, on his return. 
 
 She was too absorbed in her own sorrows to think 
 of the mischief to Esther Ward.
 
 160 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 But at the thought of her brother all personal 
 bitterness was merged in genuine grief and loneli 
 ness. A sob rose in her throat and her eyes over 
 flowed. 
 
 The bell rang ; it was a familiar ring, and she had 
 hardly time to dry her eyes when Major Me Alpine, 
 disregarding formalities, like the privileged friend 
 he was, strode across the unlighted front drawing- 
 room, and was beside her with hand outstretched. 
 
 " And your brother ? " he asked after a moment. 
 " I've been slow with my congratulations, but I sup 
 pose he hasn't had chance to miss them he must 
 be overwhelmed " 
 
 Something checked the Major's rapid speech. 
 Was it that he noticed a slight but unwonted pink- 
 ness about Jane's pretty blue eyes, as he stooped in 
 greeting her? or did he draw his own conclusion 
 from her demur when the maid came in to make an 
 other light ? 
 
 There was an awkward silence. Jane had not 
 quite recovered self-control, and the Major did not 
 quite know how to begin his chat. 
 
 He was no diplomat, however. 
 
 " Hang it, Miss Jane ! " he said at last, " I hope 
 this change isn't going to be for the worse for 
 you." 
 
 Alas for Jane's bravery ! The tears that she had 
 been trying to swallow, ran over, in plain sight of 
 the sympathetic Major.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 161 
 
 " Don't, don't, Miss Jane ! " he cried, in real dis 
 tress. " Confound it, what put this notion into your 
 brother's head, anyhow ? " 
 
 " I wouldn't care," sobbed Jane, " but it's hard to 
 lose one's home, after all these years." 
 
 " What do you mean ? Aren't you going to stay 
 here ? I understand the bride is quite a girl. Why, 
 your brother can't do without you ! " 
 
 " She's got a mother," sighed Jane, " and a whole 
 lot of brothers and sisters, I know ; there will be no 
 place here for me ; and there wouldn't be, anyhow, 
 once he was married." 
 
 The simplicity and forlornity of her utterance 
 went to the Major's heart. 
 
 " Well, he'll live to rue it. At his time of life, 
 and after the home you made for him." 
 
 " Oh, don't say that ! " cried Jane, still tearful, 
 though cheered a little by this honest sympathy. 
 "What good would it be to me that my brother 
 should be unhappy ? " 
 
 " Generous little soul ! " said the Major, heartily. 
 " But what are your plans ? " 
 
 Another tearful silence. 
 
 The Major walked the length of the drawing- 
 room, and coughed and blinked in sympathy. 
 
 " D it ! didn't he have his good home and 
 
 his freedom to boot ? " he muttered. 
 
 He walked the length of both rooms twice again. 
 By this time Jane had restrained her tears, and
 
 162 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 even ceased jabbing at the tops of her cheeks with 
 her handkerchief. 
 
 " Miss Jane," he said firmly, coming to a full 
 stop before her, " you are out of a home, and I never 
 had one. Suppose we set to work and see if we 
 can't set one up together? You know my worst 
 failing I've been free enough here for you to 
 guess it; but 'pon my word, if I had the care you've 
 given your brother, I'd be a different man." 
 
 " I don't think you are very bad just as you 
 are," said Jane softly, with a faint little smile, like a 
 rainbow in the moolight. 
 
 " Jane, I'm too blunt for soft speeches, but there 
 isn't a woman on earth I'd rather have at the head 
 of my house than you." 
 
 " And I care more for you than for any man living 
 except Bertrand." 
 
 " Oh, hang Bertrand ! I beg your pardon but 
 you don't like him as well as you do me now 
 honest ! " 
 
 His hand was on her shoulder and his face closer 
 to hers than it had ever been before. 
 
 She turned so as to put her lips to his ear, and 
 what she whispered must have been very reassuring, 
 or the gallant Major would hardly have had the cour 
 age to be so demonstrative as he became forthwith. 
 
 It was midnight when Mr. Coleman returned 
 home, with a little sinking at his heart, for his sis 
 ter's evident distress had been grievous to him.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 163 
 
 He noticed the light in the back drawing-room. 
 
 Major McAlpine advanced to meet him. 
 
 " I bring my congratulations and ask yours." 
 
 One glance at his sister's bright face explained 
 everything to Bertrand Coleman. 
 
 After her brother's hearty kiss Jane's instinct of 
 hospitality asserted itself, and presently they were 
 all enjoying a dainty little collation together. 
 
 " I heard of you through Mrs. Jones last week," 
 said Jane, as she was bidding her lover farewell in 
 the hall. 
 
 " Yes ; I went in there at his appointment to see 
 Jones about a bit of land I have in the market, and 
 she asked me to take her niece over to the hall 
 where her brother and sister were awaiting her, as 
 it was on my way." 
 
 " Then you didn't invite her niece to go to a con 
 cert with you ? " 
 
 " I'd look well ! Did she tell you I did ? The 
 old mischief-maker ! I suppose you know she's 
 fairly eating the flesh off Miss Ward's bones." 
 
 " Sh ! " said Jane, glancing up the stairs. " Now 
 that everything has come out so happily, I don't 
 want Bertrand worried before he goes away. Don't, 
 for your life, tell him about Social Events." 
 
 " Well, I've done it ! " cried the Major, as he lit 
 the gas in his dusty bachelor apartments. "I've 
 done it, and I'm not sorry. She'll make you walk a
 
 164 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 crack, old boy; but if you don't walk a crack for 
 her, you'll walk a plank for Old Nick. Best little 
 woman in town, bless her heart ! " 
 
 And the Major said his brief but too-often-for 
 gotten prayers, took a smaller " night-cap " than 
 usual, and was soon in the land of dreams. 
 
 At the same hour Bertrand Coleman turned to his 
 rest with a lightened heart ; and Jane, having made 
 a big promise to St. Joseph, to be fulfilled on her 
 wedding day, burned Social Events before she went 
 to bed. 
 
 And the high wind in the rear of the "New 
 Amsterdam," which was gathering for the worst 
 storm of many decades, hastened that good ship into 
 harbor a whole day ahead of her time.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 165 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 UNWELCOMED HOME. 
 
 A HUNDKED times during the last days of the 
 voyage, Esther had forecast her arrival and her 
 meeting with the lover from whom she had been so 
 long separated. 
 
 Pacing the deck as the wintry day was slowly 
 breaking over the bleak gray sea, she tried to picture 
 him coming towards her with that restrained eager 
 ness which she knew so well, and the weight lifted 
 from her heart for a while, and her spirits rose in a 
 timid, tender delight that was like the fluttering of 
 a gentle bird in a familiar hand, whose warmth it 
 loves, yet fears a little. 
 
 Pacing the deck at night, while the stars, shining 
 through the masts and rigging, outlined the semblance 
 of an altar illumined for the Sacrifice, she dreamed 
 again of that first moment of reunion, but hope 
 failed and fainted. 
 
 " The joy of love's fruition is not for you," warned 
 the waves, as they ran high that last night of all, 
 under the speeding gale. 
 
 The "New Amsterdam" had been scheduled to 
 arrive Sunday morning. It was ten o'clock Saturday 
 morning when she came in at Chestertown wharf.
 
 166 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 There had been but a handful of cabin passengers, 
 and they for the most part had taken their friends 
 unaware. 
 
 Was there not one at least, of all for whom the 
 incoming of the " New Amsterdam " had a meaning, 
 who would have known when she was sighted, who 
 would have been at the telephone since daybreak, 
 and at Chestertown wharf for the last hour? 
 
 Esther drew her breath hard, and felt a mist 
 between her and the familiar scene as the vessel 
 swung into her berth ; but when it cleared there was 
 no one in sight but Martha Cutts. While Esther 
 was straining her eyes as if to compel another image 
 on their retina, Martha had boarded the steamer, and 
 there was nothing for Esther but to take her to the 
 sheltered spot on deck where Mrs. Mint and her 
 maid were sitting in the midst of trunks and bags 
 and steamer chairs and strapped rugs and umbrellas. 
 
 In the joy of greeting her faithful Martha, Mrs. 
 Mint forgot Esther for the moment. 
 
 Directly she noticed her pallid face and startled 
 eyes, however, she had but one explanation for them ; 
 but she dared not express what she felt, except in 
 an increased kindliness of manner. 
 
 "Oh, Miss Ward!" cried Mrs. Cutts, "I was 
 almost forgetting, but your Ellen was out at our 
 house at daybreak to see if we had a later word of 
 you, and she is all ready for you ! " 
 
 "No matter," said Mrs. Mint heartily; "Miss 
 Ward is coming right home with us."
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 167 
 
 " Thank you, Mrs. Mint," said Esther faintly, " but 
 if you will be good enough to drive me home after 
 we have passed the customs, it will be better for 
 me. My brother will, of course, expect to find me 
 there." 
 
 Mrs. Mint forbore to press her invitation. She 
 understood, or thought she understood, Esther's 
 motive. But her own heart sank as she saw all 
 the light go out of her friend's eyes when the 
 expected one came not, for all her anxious glances ; 
 and it was a forlorn and travel-weary woman who 
 entered the apartments made fresh and fair for her 
 home-coming, but empty of kindred or lover's greeting. 
 
 Mrs. Mint's forebodings were confirmed as she and 
 Martha rode the rest of the way together, and the 
 latter unfolded to her the gossip in which poor 
 Esther's name had become so painfully prominent. 
 
 Esther found a huge accumulation of letters 
 and newspapers, mostly unimportant, but not a 
 line to explain Arthur Esmond's absence at this 
 supreme moment. 
 
 That there was no word from her intimate friends 
 in the city was easily explained. Jane Coleman and 
 Mrs. Willow had undoubtedly planned to meet her. 
 Her brother had not been able to learn over night, of 
 the unexpected early arrival of the " New Amster 
 dam," but probably was aware of it by this time, and 
 would be with her within an hour. 
 
 This was indeed the case. She had hardly finished
 
 168 THE WAY OF THE WOULD 
 
 the letter awaiting her from Bertrand Coleman, in 
 which he detailed to her the happy solution of all 
 his difficulties, and his approaching marriage the 
 letter was a week old, and she was too preoccupied 
 with her own anxieties to give it the complete and 
 friendly attention it would otherwise have had from 
 her when her brother entered. 
 
 Her effort at a cheerful greeting was a sad failure. 
 Joe held her off in his strong arms for a moment. 
 He dimly divined her trouble, but he had her own 
 reserved nature. 
 
 "Why, Esther!" was all he could say, as he 
 smoothed the thick, soft hair off her temples. 
 
 If Esther had cried, as Mollie always did, when 
 things went wrong, Joe would have found some com 
 forting word. But what could anyone say before 
 this pale, hollow-eyed, tearless grief ? 
 
 She slipped from his hands down on the little 
 sofa in the corner of the studio, and he sat silently 
 beside her. 
 
 At last she spoke, in a frightened whisper : " What 
 has happened ? Don't fear to tell me. I can bear 
 anything better than this awful suspense." 
 
 " Esther, I don't know how to explain it. He was 
 here at the Tremontaine a week ago Wednesday " 
 
 " Yes," she interrupted, " I had a cablegram from 
 him on the steamer at Liverpool "Thursday morn 
 ing." 
 
 " I called Thursday," continued Joe, " only to find
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 169 
 
 that he had left for Washington very unexpectedly. 
 I learned that he would be at the Normandie, and 
 wrote him from home that evening, expressing my 
 great regret at not seeing him, and asking him to 
 write me when he expected to return. I have heard 
 nothing since." 
 
 Esther thought of Arthur Esmond's minute and 
 punctilious courtesy, and her heart died within her. 
 His going to Washington was easily explained. He 
 should have gone there at some time within the 
 month, in any event, and she could understand that 
 he might have had a sudden summons thither. But 
 that he should not have returned to meet her ; that 
 neither letter nor telegram should await her; that 
 Joe's letter should remain unanswered what ex 
 planation for these inconceivable things ! 
 
 " And Ned ? " she asked. 
 
 " Not a word from him or of him," answered Joe. 
 
 There was another long, sorrowful silence. 
 
 " Why don't you telegraph Mr. Esmond at the 
 Normandie ? " suggested Joe, diffidently. 
 
 Esther caught at the idea. Why not ? Was she 
 not Arthur Esmond's promised wife ? She was well 
 within her right, for surely nothing but some dread 
 calamity which left him powerless, had kept him 
 from her now. 
 
 Joe gladly noted her returning color, and con 
 tinued : 
 
 "Write your telegram now, and I'll send it at
 
 170 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 once, and you can follow it with a letter this after 
 noon." 
 
 Esther complied, and when Joe returned for lunch 
 eon with her, she had recovered something of her 
 wonted self-control. 
 
 But she made only a show of eating to keep her 
 brother in countenance, and her efforts at conversa 
 tion on the incidents of her trip were so pitiful 
 that her silence would have been easier to her kind- 
 hearted companion. 
 
 He felt, however, that his presence was a comfort 
 to her, and he made himself at home in her studio 
 with a novel, while she retired to write her letter. 
 
 As the dusk came on, the big, fast-falling snow- 
 flakes and the high wind warned him to hasten to 
 his home, half an hour distant by the railroad. 
 
 " You know our little baby girl is quite delicate," 
 explained Joe. 
 
 Esther's heart smote her, for all of her own trouble. 
 She had quite forgotten the new baby. 
 
 " I'm sure she's a dear little thing, Joe. Whom 
 does she look like, and what is her name ? " 
 
 Joe looked embarrassed. 
 
 "Well, I think she looks like you, Esther; but 
 seeing she was our first little girl, I left the choice 
 of name to her mother. She is Gladys Cecilia." 
 
 Esther divined the cause of her brother's embar 
 rassment, but smiled at the baby's name in spite of 
 herself.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 171 
 
 " I'm glad there's not another Esther Ward," she 
 said ; but Joe felt a lump in his throat as she said it. 
 
 The storm came on that night, and for two days 
 it had its will on land and sea. 
 
 Esther was in an isolation as complete as if she 
 were stranded on a desert island. 
 
 On the third day came in the news of ships gone 
 down at sea or wrecked on shore ; of wayfarers lost 
 in snowdrifts ; and of the minor evils of travel and 
 traffic interrupted. 
 
 Some local letters reached Esther. Mrs. Willow, 
 Mrs. Wise and Jane Coleman sent notes of congratu 
 lation on her safe arrival, and promises of calls on 
 the first possible day. 
 
 Mrs. Mint sent Martha in to see for herself how 
 Esther had fared during the storm, and to entreat 
 her to return with her for a few days to " the Castle." 
 But no letter came from Arthur Esmond, and Martha 
 returned to Mrs. Mint alone.
 
 172 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 CHAPTEE XX. 
 
 A WOMAN FORSAKEN. 
 
 ARTHUR ESMOND was still in Washington ; for the 
 morning papers reproduced a portion of another 
 interview on Hawaiian affairs, appearing in the 
 Washington Post the day previous. 
 
 Esther felt, when she glanced at it, as if an im 
 passable wall had suddenly risen on her path of life. 
 She could not go forward ; she could not turn back. 
 A succession of sleepless nights had left her with 
 nerves unstrung, and the non-arrival of the letter 
 for which she had hoped against hope seemed the 
 last straw. 
 
 She sat down at her desk, faint and shuddering. 
 What could it mean ? The only imaginable expla 
 nation was, that in some way or another her lover 
 had learned something of poor Ned's unpleasant his 
 tory, and was displeased with her for having kept it 
 from him. 
 
 Yet this was so far-fetched, so utterly unlikely. 
 Was she not dishonoring her lover by entertaining 
 the thought for a moment ? 
 
 If, indeed, Ned's whole career were laid bare before 
 him, and he remembered Esther's reticence about it,
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 173 
 
 would he not, as a man with his own family ties, 
 rather have honored a sister's desire to hide her 
 brother's weakness? Would he not, as a man of 
 the world, have thought of the commonness of such 
 black sheep ? Would he not, as a lover, have had 
 his love tenfolded by pity, and desire to stand 
 between the woman of his choice and the sorrow 
 and shame which might come of her kinship? 
 
 Bertrand Coleman would have done it. He had 
 said, in effect, that any man would do it. But then 
 he was a man who had proved human weakness by 
 his own experience, as Arthur never had. 
 
 At once she bethought herself that, absorbed in 
 her own perplexity and distress, she had been un 
 mindful of this good friend in his happiness. 
 
 In her hope of a happy outcome of his affair, 
 she had brought home a little gift for the bride. 
 This she would send over to the house to await their 
 return; but a note of congratulation must go to 
 them at once at Asheville, where they were spend 
 ing their honeymoon. 
 
 These duties of friendship accomplished, Esther 
 returned to her sorrowful musing. 
 
 Again the barely imaginable explanation presented 
 itself in an altered form. Her lover knew all about 
 Ned, and was not holding this fairly common mis 
 fortune against her, but only her want of confidence 
 in him. 
 
 He was a blameless man, but proud, perhaps ; yes,
 
 174 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 and rather exacting she would not for worlds 
 have said " jealous." 
 
 Well, perhaps she had been wrong. And if in 
 the least she had grieved the heart that was hers, 
 surely she owed reparation. Ah, ine ! the ingenu 
 ity of a woman's love in devising excuses for the 
 beloved. 
 
 She spread a sheet of paper before her and wrote 
 the date. Then she dropped her pen, while the 
 blood surged over her pale face. 
 
 Was she forcing herself on a man who wished to 
 have done with her ? 
 
 But instantly a myriad passionate words of his 
 love and longing, a myriad proofs of his devotion, 
 clamored against this new temptation. 
 
 "It is I who have been proud and hard," mur 
 mured the woman ; and she wrote : 
 
 " Oh, Arthur ! what has happened ? If I have 
 been reticent on family matters, it was only that 
 one near and dear to me, for all his folly, might 
 meet you unembarrassed, and keep his self-respect 
 for a fresh start in life. Believe me, my dearest, 
 there is explanation for my silence, if you will but 
 come and hear it. ESTHER." 
 
 I think if the madness of wrath against one be 
 loved had not been working in Arthur Esmond's 
 brain, this poor little letter had brought him to 
 Esther as fast as the lightning express could carry 
 him.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 175 
 
 But at breakfast that morning he had sat next 
 table to Madame Vargous, who always went to 
 Washington for the winter, and as she was rather 
 deaf and her companion had to speak above the 
 ordinary conversational tone for her comfort, he 
 could not avoid hearing them. Their talk was all 
 about Bertrand Coleman's wedding and " poor Miss 
 Ward." 
 
 " Indeed, my dear," Madame Vargous said, as they 
 were about to rise from the table, " her best friends 
 say that she'll never recover from the blow. I'm so 
 sorry, for she was a dear little woman, and always 
 so sweet to me. But the moral of it is that a 
 woman should never let go of her heart in advance 
 of her absolute certainty of a man's intentions. We 
 women who know the world, realize how far a man 
 may go without meaning anything. But evidently 
 poor Miss Ward " 
 
 Arthur Esmond could endure no more. 
 
 As he reached his room and unfolded and read 
 again the note he had been crumpling in his hand, 
 his face grew dark and hard. 
 
 Seizing his pen he wrote half a dozen lines, read 
 them carefully from force of business habit, addressed, 
 sealed and stamped the envelope deliberately, and 
 mailed the letter himself, too wroth to know or 
 care that he might better have dropped live coals 
 into the tender hands that soon would open to 
 receive it.
 
 176 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 This was what Esther read the following morn 
 ing : 
 
 " Esther Ward, how can you ask the cause of my 
 absence and silence ? Who knows it as you know 
 it ? Why do you try to mislead me, with the weak 
 evasion of your last letter ? How can you offer to 
 explain what is beyond all justification ? " 
 
 So her presentiment was realized; the worst of 
 her dreams was but a faint foreshowing of sadder 
 reality ; the message of the sad sea-waves was not an 
 idle fear. The happiness of love fulfilled was not for 
 her. The ring of her betrothal would never shine 
 upon her hand. 
 
 She was accused of she knew not what, and con 
 demned without a hearing by the man to whom she 
 had given the love of her heart. 
 
 The calmness of despair settled over her. There 
 was no more to be said. She opened her locket 
 and withdrew the ring, packed it up in a tiny box, 
 addressed it to Arthur Esmond, and sent it, duly 
 registered, from the near-by station. 
 
 Then coming back to her studio she confronted 
 the dreary future. 
 
 " My God ! my God ! how can I go on ? How can 
 I ever face the world again ? " 
 
 She murmured the words with dry lips as her 
 tearless eyes turned to her " Forsaken Christ."
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 177 
 
 CHAPTEE XXI. 
 
 IN THE HANDS OF HER FEIENDS. 
 
 THAT afternoon her welcome-home calls began. 
 They were not numerous after this first day, but 
 she was too sad to notice or to care. Mrs. Willow 
 and Mrs. Wise came first. 
 
 " I wouldn't dare to go alone. I feel too bad for 
 her ! " exclaimed Mrs. Willow, entreating her friend's 
 company. 
 
 Esther rallied her forces and tried to meet the 
 ladies blithely ; but her cheerfulness was overdone, 
 and she could not conceal the change which this 
 direful week had made in her appearance. Frail as 
 she had looked at her departure, she was frailer 
 now, and there was a look in her eyes which no one 
 had seen in them before. 
 
 The manner of her visitors disturbed her, too. It 
 was as if they had come on a call of condolence 
 instead of congratulation, she said to herself, after 
 they had taken their leave. 
 
 But she chided herself. " It is my heartsick 
 fancy. They know nothing. How could they ? 
 Thank God at least that I was able to keep my 
 own counsel. I shall be spared the eyes of the
 
 178 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 curious, and the sympathy that would be harder to 
 bear than insult." 
 
 Meantime Mrs. Willow was saying to Mrs. Wise : 
 "Oh, my dear, doesn't she look like death? And 
 did you notice how nervous and distrait she was ? 
 Oh, / am afraid it's true ! I wouldn't have believed 
 it, if I hadn't seen the change in her." 
 
 " And did you notice," put in Mrs. Wise eagerly, 
 " that she never named the Colemans ? I was just 
 dying to say something about them not to be 
 unkind, you know, but just because of the doubt on 
 my mind but I didn't dare to." 
 
 " Oh, I couldn't have stood it a minute if you had. 
 There's no use in running a penknife in a person, to 
 see if there's blood in their body. I know all I 
 want to know now. That poor girl won't live a 
 month." 
 
 "Well, Mrs. Eay won't be so bashful," rejoined 
 Mrs. Wise. " She's too polite to ask leading ques 
 tions, of course, but you know her way of bringing 
 up a delicate subject and harping on it, till she sees 
 how the person interested takes it." 
 
 Both ladies laughed a little ; but Mrs. Eay did 
 exactly what Mrs. Wise said she would do, at 
 her call on Esther, which followed close on their 
 call. 
 
 She talked of Mr. Coleman's surprising secrecy ; 
 she dwelt on the youth and beauty of the bride ; 
 and she took from Esther's brief and reserved an-
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 179 
 
 swers, as well as from her altered looks, any con 
 firmation that might possibly be lacking to the 
 gossip of our set. 
 
 " Yes," she said at home an hour later, " it 
 undoubtedly was a terrible shock to her. But, 
 really, if I were in her place, I'd try to keep up 
 appearances by being a little more offhand and 
 hearty in talking about them. Anyone can see 
 that it is death to her to hear what a young and 
 lovely woman he has married." 
 
 Jane Coleman came last of all, intent on giving 
 the first confidence on her own happiness to Esther, 
 whom she really loved and trusted beyond all the 
 women of her acquaintance. 
 
 But she, too, was shocked at the ashen face and 
 hollow eyes of her friend. It was impossible not to 
 perceive that Esther was forcing herself to enter into 
 her friend's joy. 
 
 Then the faint suspicion that had once or twice 
 obtruded itself into Jane's mind, as to Esther's pos 
 sible feeling to Bertrand, came back strengthened. 
 
 Jane had heard a little of the current gossip, but 
 not so far in a way which obliged her to speak a 
 word for herself. Indeed, her thought till she had 
 seen Esther, had been to smile at it as mere foolish 
 speculation. She remembered it now, and it joined 
 itself to her revived suspicions. 
 
 After all, what more natural than that any woman 
 should fall in love with Bertrand ? And Esther had
 
 180 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 seen him in his most attractive aspect, and had no 
 suspicion of the state of affairs between him and 
 Miss Tremaine. 
 
 A few days more went by, and a consideration 
 far more serious than her visibly diminished social 
 importance forced itself upon Esther. 
 
 She was receiving no orders, and she had but 
 little money ahead, in excess of the three hundred 
 and fifty dollars which she was holding against her 
 note to Mr. Coleman, which fell due in March. 
 
 Meantime the gossip gained in volume and 
 variety. Miss Ward had heard the news suddenly 
 in Paris, and had been found in a dead faint with 
 Miss Coleman's letter in her hand. It was Miss 
 Ward's illness, and not Mrs. Mint's, which had kept 
 the travelers away two months beyond their expected 
 time. 
 
 This was Mrs. Jones' inference, promptly accepted 
 as a fact by many, and gaining much credit withal 
 from Miss Ward's extreme delicacy of appearance. 
 
 Miss Ward was going to live in Eome and devote 
 herself entirely to art, being too heartbroken to take 
 up life again in the old familiar scenes. She had 
 come home merely to adjust her affairs, and would 
 sail for Italy right after the new year. 
 
 Miss Ward had been so mortified at her own fool 
 ishness in making her feelings so conspicuous in the 
 matter of Bertrand Coleman's portrait, that she had 
 abjured art forever, and was about to enter a convent
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 181 
 
 of contemplative nuns in New York City. This was 
 slightly varied in another report. She was to enter 
 an order devoted to works of mercy, in the city of 
 her birth. 
 
 These reports being given out as with authority 
 by several ladies who were well acquainted with 
 her, and who claimed to be her best friends, caused 
 Miss Ward to lose a number of orders, which admir 
 ers of her work had been holding against her return. 
 
 What was especially insisted upon by several who 
 concerned themselves most deeply in Miss Ward's 
 affairs, was the way that the Colemans had kept her 
 in the dark. 
 
 That Mr. Coleman should have been reticent with 
 her was not perhaps so strange ; but that Jane, her 
 intimate friend, should have allowed Miss Ward to 
 go on and really compromise her reputation for deli 
 cacy and good sense, was very singular, indeed. 
 
 Mrs. Willow, it is true, had stoutly protested 
 against this view of the case at first. She was sure 
 Miss Ward had not done anything unsuitable. In 
 deed, she wouldn't have been surprised if she had 
 refused an offer in that quarter. Everyone knew 
 that she was devoted to her art a statement 
 which of course was received with derision by Mrs. 
 Jones and a number of other matrons and maids. 
 
 " That's what all professional women say who 
 have failed to get a husband," said Mrs. Jones. 
 
 But even Mrs. Willow could not reiterate this
 
 182 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 defence after she had seen Esther, and noted her 
 avoidance of conversation about the Colemans, and 
 her continued excuses from participation in her 
 friend's Sunday evening festivities. 
 
 Other people who had courted Esther not so much 
 as a successful artist, but as the prospective choice of 
 one of the leading men of the place, and a future 
 social magnate, wasted no further time on the pale, 
 listless woman on whom Fortune had turned her 
 back ; and repeated the gossip about her, not from 
 malice, but just to make conversation. 
 
 Mrs. Eay and others spent much time in discuss 
 ing what Esther ought to have done or left undone ; 
 and especially censured her painting of Bertrand 
 Coleman's portrait. 
 
 Then, from no one knew just where, an uglier 
 rumor arose. 
 
 Bertrand Coleman had been very much taken with 
 Miss Ward, and something might have come of it; 
 but he had heard something. There was a very 
 peculiar family history. All was not quite as it 
 seemed with Miss Ward herself. She was a woman 
 with a past. Who knew it? After all, she was 
 here but a few years. Where had she come from ? 
 What had she been doing ? 
 
 Wasn't it well that this good man had found out 
 things before it was too late ? Dear me ! how care 
 ful one should be about strangers ! Marriage is such 
 a serious thing, and it would be so dreadful to get
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 183 
 
 anything off-color into one's family, whether it was 
 a vice or only a misfortune. 
 
 Oh ! those designing women ! And men are so 
 simple. If only they are flattered enough they'll let 
 any one pull the wool over their eyes. 
 
 It is just to say that Mrs. Willow indignantly re 
 pudiated these insinuations, and dwelt earnestly on 
 her long knowledge of the Ward family, their old- 
 time position and means, etc. To be sure, she ad 
 mitted that there was a wild streak in the men of 
 the Ward family, and that she never could account 
 for the way they went through their money ; and 
 these admissions were tortured into an acquiescence 
 with much of the worst gossip, in a manner which 
 would never have entered into Mrs. Willow's kind 
 little heart. 
 
 It may seem strange that Jane Coleman put in no 
 defence of her friend ; but then comparatively little 
 of the gossip reached her ears at this especial time. 
 She was rather avoiding the society of her women 
 friends, having a great desire to surprise them with 
 the announcement of her engagement on the evening 
 of the wedding reception of her brother and his wife. 
 She had her hands full, moreover, in making her 
 brother's house ready for its new mistress, and with 
 preparations for her own marriage, which was to fol 
 low within a few weeks after their return. 
 
 There was still another reason why but little 
 talk had reached this interested person ; the happy
 
 184 THE WAY OF THE WOELD 
 
 solution of her own future being as yet a secret, her 
 friends believed that she would be very sensitive on 
 the matter of leaving her brother. Moreover, Jane 
 was not backward in repelling in short, sharp meas 
 ure anything like impertinent curiosity about her 
 family or personal matters ; and the boldest gossip 
 does not like to invite a snubbing. 
 
 She had no confidante save Esther ; but confiding 
 in Esther now was not the dear delight which she 
 had anticipated. 
 
 What had wrought such a change in this erst 
 while bright, sympathetic, and eminently practical 
 woman ? Jane was almost sorry now that she had 
 asked Esther to be her bridesmaid. Those sad eyes 
 would spoil the prettiest wedding in the world. 
 
 But she had asked her, and Esther had promised, 
 and there was nothing for it but to go through with 
 it ; praying, meanwhile, that the latter might change 
 her mind before it was too late to get an effective 
 substitute. 
 
 The more Jane thought of it, the more her con 
 viction grew, that there must be something in the 
 rumors that connected the sad change in Esther 
 with her brother's marriage. 
 
 Jane was too loyal alike to her friend and her 
 brother to talk over her suspicions with any one ; but 
 she was not above making an effort now and then 
 to " satisfy her mind " on the subject with Esther 
 herself.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 185 
 
 To this end she often spoke of the bride, praising 
 her youth, her graces and charms of every kind and 
 variety. 
 
 "You feel better, then, about her than in the 
 beginning," ventured Esther, feeling obliged to say 
 something. But Jane had forgotten that she ever 
 held her brother's choice in anything but sisterly 
 affection ; and Esther remembered with sympathy 
 the man who had complained to her once that he 
 never could understand women. 
 
 Jane described to Esther the wedding gifts that 
 had come in so numerously, and though she was 
 proud to say that most of them had come from her 
 brother's friends, still she would not allow it to be 
 thought that the bride had not also friends of high 
 station to remember her. 
 
 When she described the casket of jewels which 
 was the bridegroom's gift, Jane thought that Esther 
 winced. So she did, but not for the reason that 
 Jane suspected. 
 
 However, as the latter was not cruel, she con 
 cluded that her mind was satisfied ; and dropped the 
 subject of her brother and his bride for one, after 
 all, more congenial her own happiness and her 
 plans for her wedding, the wedding journey, and 
 her future home. 
 
 She would be married very quietly from her 
 brother's house on the seventh of February. They 
 would sail immediately for Naples ; remain in Italy
 
 186 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 till May, come back by way of Paris and London, 
 and make a little trip through Ireland. 
 
 She supposed she wouldn't fear the voyage so 
 much as usual this time; the Major had such a 
 way of keeping up one's courage, and making one 
 forget one's self. Then, Mother Margaret Mary had 
 promised that the nuns would say special prayers, 
 and sing the " Ave Maris Stella " right through for 
 them every day of their outgoing and returning 
 voyage; and three priests, friends of theirs, were 
 crossing with them. 
 
 So Jane prattled on by the hour to Esther, and 
 felt a little annoyed sometimes that the latter was 
 not more responsive. 
 
 Esther in her now numerous hours of solitude 
 tried to finish her St. Dorothea, but her interest in 
 the picture was gone. The conception of the sub 
 ject which had seemed to her in the spring original 
 and beautiful, seemed now flat and spiritless. 
 
 Mrs. Mint, who was always practical in her dem 
 onstration of friendship, thought that nothing could 
 better divert Esther's mind from her own disappoint 
 ment than plenty of hard work, and was shocked 
 when she discovered that her young friend had no 
 work to do. 
 
 It showed the fine nature under the somewhat 
 rough exterior, that Mrs. Mint waited a few days 
 before approaching this important subject. 
 
 Then she bustled in as if there were no time to 
 be lost.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 187 
 
 " Esther, I want a copy of your ' Forsaken Christ ' 
 just as fast as you can do it well for me. It is 
 the order of a friend. You know it would never 
 be my choice." Then, carelessly : " The money has 
 been put in my hands for it, and you may as well 
 relieve me of it, as I hate to carry other folk's cash 
 about me." 
 
 " Oh, Mrs. Mint ! " cried Esther, blushing scarlet 
 at this generous subterfuge. 
 
 Mrs. Mint turned on her in such well-feigned 
 indignation at having her word doubted, that Esther 
 finally was convinced that she had made a mistake, 
 and was undertaking a genuine order. 
 
 " She saw right through me, the little tinker ! " 
 said Mrs. Mint afterwards to Martha, " but I stood 
 by my guns like a soldier. There's where I think 
 it's right to lie. Of course I know Father Herman 
 wouldn't agree with me, but one has to follow one's 
 conscience." 
 
 " Quite so, ma'am," said Martha, with some in 
 terior amusement at Mrs. Mint's theology. 
 
 Even as a copyist Esther's hand seemed to have 
 lost its cunning, and as the replica grew slowly 
 under her brush, she wondered, with a chill, sick 
 fear, if she would indeed be able to finish it. 
 
 Esther Ward was a reasonable woman ; so she 
 took herself severely to task for the thought that 
 people looked curiously at her as she entered or left 
 St. Mary's Church on Sundays.
 
 188 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 " Indeed, I must be ill when I am so foolish as to 
 imagine that anyone is noticing me," she said but 
 the thought came again and again, despite her best 
 efforts. 
 
 She certainly was not well. The strain of watch 
 ing and waiting; the pain of hope deferred; the 
 anguish of the destruction of her house of love, had 
 preyed upon her strength. 
 
 While she knew that Arthur Esmond was in 
 reach of letter or telegram, hope, which dies so hard 
 in us, would fitfully reassert itself. Surely he would 
 discover his mistake ; surely he would unsay those 
 hard words that so cruelly wronged her loyal and 
 patient love. 
 
 But when she saw that he had refused a position 
 in the city of her home they had both known the 
 offer was coming, and had built upon it in favor 
 of one in far-away Japan, then, indeed, she felt that 
 hope was vain, and justice unlikely till she had 
 ceased to care for earthly things. 
 
 If I were inventing a little story whose prime 
 purpose was edification, I would tell my readers 
 here of Esther's prayerful resignation to the calamity 
 which had befallen her. But to be true to life I 
 must tell, rather, that for all the days that the 
 shadow of coming sorrow was lengthening over her, 
 for all the days that a spark of hope survived in 
 her heart, her prayer was : " 0, my Father, let this 
 chalice pass from me ! "
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 189 
 
 And when it did not pass, but was pressed mo 
 mently to her shrinking lips, her word to Heaven, 
 from dawn to dark and through the night-watches, 
 was : " Why, my God, why ? " 
 
 She told herself that for her sins she deserved any 
 suffering that could possibly come upon her ; but her 
 reason answered that this was true of all poor sin 
 ners. This sorrow was not the logical outcome of a 
 sin. It could not then, she reasoned, be God's will. 
 Why was it His permission ? 
 
 It was a test for heroic faith. 
 
 So you see that Esther was not at all like the 
 devout heroines of certain Sunday-school books, who 
 are saints from the start ; but a poor little nat 
 ural woman, thirsting for a full draught of that 
 earthly happiness of which she had barely tasted ; 
 and overvaluing it, as the child overvalues the long- 
 coveted toy that is snatched from him just as he 
 has grasped it, and broken in his sight. 
 
 Yet Esther was an earnest Catholic, too deeply 
 thoughtful and analytic of her own mental proc 
 esses to dare to take upon her lips a prayer which 
 found as yet no echo in her heart ; and though she 
 abased her soul before her Maker, all lowly as the 
 clay before the potter, she was too honest with her 
 self to utter aught but what she felt, before the All- 
 Knowing, who is 
 
 " Closer to us than breathing, 
 And nearer than hands or feet."
 
 190 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 It was the liturgy of Bethlehem in the Church, 
 but of G-ethsemane in her heart, and she could not 
 say : " Thy will be done." 
 
 "I guess the folks don't know you're home yet, 
 Miss Ward," said her housekeeper, as she came in 
 with Esther from their Communion Mass on Christ 
 mas morning, and the latter glanced at the poor 
 little array of gifts on the table in her studio. 
 
 A year ago, her faithful attendant had complained 
 to one of her cronies that she had been " most run 
 off her feet with waitin' on the door to take in bas 
 kets and boxes and bundles of everything you could 
 think of, that folks were sendin' to Miss Ward." 
 
 Indeed, her little home had been beautiful with 
 all manner of Christmas thoughtfulness, and gay 
 with flowers that day and for many days thereafter. 
 But few and far between, out of all who had remem 
 bered her a year ago, were those who had kept her 
 hi mind today. 
 
 Esther thought of the long and loving letter, the 
 cablegram, and the splendid gift that had greeted her 
 from Arthur Esmond on Christmas morning a year 
 ago; and she saw not what she did, as she cut the 
 strings of the few little boxes or slit the card enve 
 lopes before her. 
 
 After all, what mattered it any more who remem 
 bered or who forgot ? 
 
 Jane Coleman wrote her, with a little silver stamp-
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 191 
 
 case, that she had been making her the prettiest 
 centerpiece for her dining-room table ; but with the 
 turn affairs had taken, it had to be laid aside till 
 after her wedding journey ; for now her hands and 
 her heart were so full. 
 
 Mrs. Willow sent her a pair of slippers, writing 
 that she felt just now her dear friend would like 
 something personal; and Mrs. Kay sent the chil 
 dren's photographs, writing that " under present cir 
 cumstances " she felt dear Miss Ward would like 
 them for their associations, and also because they 
 were portable. 
 
 Esther read these last two notes with mild sur 
 prise. Why should " personal " or " portable " ob 
 jects be more to her now than at any past time ? 
 
 But as a gift was dear to Esther only as rep 
 resenting the loving thought of the giver, she 
 concluded that the unwonted explanations meant 
 nothing in particular ; and setting the little Rays' 
 pictures upon her desk, prepared for the ordeal of 
 Christmas dinner and the children's Christmas-tree 
 at her brother's house. 
 
 She had begged him to devise some excuse to 
 Mollie who knew nothing of her sad experi 
 ence and allow her to spend the day in retire 
 ment ; but partly under the mistaken notion that 
 the household festivities would divert Esther's mind, 
 and partly because his little boys had set their 
 hearts on having her, Joe would not further her 
 plan.
 
 192 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 " Esther, you have borne up under so many hard 
 things," he said, "bear up under this now. It is 
 worst of all for you to be [alone with your own 
 thoughts." 
 
 So Esther went, and frolicked with the baby, and 
 praised Mollie's Christmas dinner, and helped unload 
 the Christmas tree, and told Christmas stories till 
 she was hoarse, to her insatiable little nephews, and 
 thanked Heaven when another day dawned and she 
 could get back to her city solitude. 
 
 Yet perhaps her brother was right, she mused, as 
 she vainly tried to apply to her copy of the promised 
 picture. She must overcome this disposition to mor 
 bid thought. She must work while life was left, 
 though certainly her power of concentration on any 
 subject but her sorrow was greatly weakened. 
 
 Why should she shrink like this from meeting 
 her fellow-creatures her friends ? 
 
 There would be reason in it if she had been so 
 foolish as to have confided her engagement to any 
 of them ; but as it was, there was nothing to be 
 explained. 
 
 It was purely a morbid notion on her part that of 
 those who had come to see her, only Mrs. Ormond 
 had behaved naturally. 
 
 Her friends had not fallen away from her. It 
 was she who, by her severe seclusion since her return 
 from Europe, had fallen away from them. 
 
 No doubt Ellen was right. Half her friends were 
 not aware of her return.
 
 AND OTHEK WAYS. 193 
 
 Going mechanically over her mail, she came on 
 the card announcing the usual holiday entertainment 
 of the Daughters of St. Paula on the thirtieth. 
 
 Yes. Here was the point for a new departure. 
 She would go. Why not ? 
 
 It was a crisp, bright winter afternoon ; and her 
 brisk walk to the assembly rooms brought a slight 
 color to her cheeks. She had taken a little more 
 than ordinary pains with her toilet; and looked very 
 sweet, refined and frail, thought Mrs. Ormond, as she 
 came in alone to the parlors, gay with evergreen and 
 holly, and already filled with a merry, talkative crowd 
 of stylish women and girls. 
 
 The " call to order " had not yet been given, but 
 as Esther was seen approaching a group of the 
 Daughters, a hush fell upon them with a sudden 
 ness and completeness which had never been achieved 
 by Miss May's olivewood and silver gavel. 
 
 It was so marked that Esther, for once thrown off 
 her guard, stood for a second irresolute and aston 
 ished. Then as she turned to the group just across 
 the aisle, the same thing befell. 
 
 Mrs. Ormond, who had been watching her with 
 anxious eyes, while striving to detach herself from a 
 clinging young person at the head of the hall, now 
 moved toward Esther with cordial greeting, and 
 hurried her up to a seat in the front between her 
 self and Mrs. Mint. The same palpable silence, the 
 same curious gaze followed them.
 
 194 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 Esther's brain whirled ; but she was hardly seated 
 when Miss May advanced to her place, gave the sig 
 nal, and the little programme of essays and Christ 
 mas poems, interspersed with Christmas carols, 
 began. 
 
 " Take me home, for Heaven's sake, just as soon 
 as this is over," whispered Esther to Mrs. Mint, as 
 the programme drew to its last number; and with 
 a hurried greeting to Miss May they crossed to the 
 dressing-room, and made their way out by the pri 
 vate entrance. 
 
 " You are not well ; can't we come in and do some 
 thing for you ? " entreated Mrs. Ormond, as the car 
 riage stopped at Esther's door ; but she assured them 
 it was but a trifle, and begged not to detain them 
 from their dinner engagement. 
 
 So scrupulous were these two otherwise strangely 
 mated friends of Esther, in regard to her feelings, 
 that they refrained from discussing the occurrence. 
 
 Esther never closed her eyes that night. What 
 did it all mean ? Evidently something of her affairs 
 was known ; but what ? and how ? 
 
 Her flesh tingled as she went over and over again 
 her experience at the Christmas festival of the 
 Daughters of St. Paula, and saw above it all, in its 
 frame of smilax, in letters of light, the season's greet 
 ing : " PEACE ON EAKTH, AND GOOD-WILL TO MEN."
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 195 
 
 CHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 ESTHEK'S PUZZLE EXPLAINED. 
 
 AT last was it by hypnotic suggestion ? a 
 new thought came to Esther. 
 
 Why linger here, where it was clear that her for 
 tunes had fallen ; and where, with the depressing 
 memory of happier things, she could not rally her 
 forces to reconstruct them ? 
 
 She thought of the peaceful convent, where a 
 dozen years ago she had been an instructor. The 
 nuns would welcome her back; and for a season 
 she could give special classes in their own normal 
 school; and in the holy and restful atmosphere 
 regain something of her lost power and energy. 
 
 She thanked God for the thought, and in the 
 strength of it rose, made her toilet, took her coffee, 
 and addressed herself to the completion of her order. 
 
 The day was yet young when Jack Holmwood 
 dropped in, and began offering her suggestions for 
 new pictures impracticable, as all his suggestions 
 were wont to be, but kindly meant ; for he loved 
 Esther like a brother, and the sight of her white face 
 and sunken eyes cut him to the heart. 
 
 " It's no use, Jack," she said at last, " I can
 
 196 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 attempt no original work now. I must let my mind 
 lie fallow for a while. I am going away for six 
 months or a year to teach at Bethany Convent " 
 
 " And play into the hands of all those creatures 
 who are gossiping about you ! " cried Jack, rising in 
 his indignant surprise. 
 
 " Gossiping about me Jack ! " she cried 
 faintly. 
 
 " Why, Esther, don't you know they are ? Don't 
 you know what they are saying about you and Ber- 
 trand Coleman ? " 
 
 " About me and Bertrand Coleman ! " she re 
 peated with a stupefied stare. 
 
 " What do they say ? who says it ? " 
 
 " Why, that his marriage has broken your heart 
 that it is the cause of your failed health and seclu 
 sion that you can't face the world again that 
 you are going to enter a coavent." 
 
 " Oh, Jack, who says these things ? " she moaned. 
 
 " Why, who says them ? Nearly all the women 
 you know are saying them. Your story is told at 
 everyone's Day confound them and their Days ! 
 at their Whist Clubs, their Sewing Societies, every 
 place your name is mentioned where even two or 
 three of them have got together. Brace up, Esther. 
 You can't afford to throw away your life like this." 
 
 Esther stood facing him now, with the pitiless 
 light of the sunshiny winter morning on her worn 
 face.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 197 
 
 She stood silent, and Jack shifted uneasily at the 
 look of dismay and anguish with which she regarded 
 him. 
 
 " Esther," he said, when he could bear it no 
 longer, " perhaps I have done wrong to tell all this 
 stuff to you ; but I thought you must know it. I 
 thought it was the cause of your shutting yourself 
 up alone here. I wanted to rouse your courage. 
 Dear friend," he cried desperately, taking both her 
 hands in his, " tell me that I have not hurt you where 
 I meant to help ! " 
 
 " Jack, do you believe these things about me ? " 
 she asked. 
 
 " Well, Esther, remembering your intimacy with 
 the Colemans, I did think there was something in 
 them ; but now, before Heaven, I'll take your word 
 against all the circumstantial evidence in the world." 
 
 " Jack, there is no foundation for them ; but 
 I can't do anything to help myself against them. 
 You say they tell my story. They don't know it ; 
 and matters might be worse than they are if they 
 did. That is all I can say, Jack." 
 
 " But Esther, you won't go to Bethany Convent ? " 
 
 " No, Jack ; I will stay here now, no matter what 
 comes." 
 
 So all were now explained: the funereal calls, 
 the furtive, curious glances, the falling away of 
 friends, the dwindling of her means of subsistence.
 
 198 THE WAY OF THE WOELD 
 
 She was now in the eyes of the little coterie who 
 had heretofore been so lavish of their praise and 
 attentions, simply that most commonplace and con 
 temptible of failures the ambitious working woman 
 baffled in her determined quest of a rich husband and 
 an easy life; the woman who had been too open in 
 her preference, too ready with her time and conver 
 sation for a man who had enjoyed her as a tempo 
 rary diversion, until the hour had come for the queen 
 of his house and heart; or, at best, that pitiable 
 weak thing the woman who had given her heart 
 unasked. 
 
 Now Esther knew why Mrs. Willow so ostenta 
 tiously avoided all mention of the Colemans ; and 
 why Mrs. Eay so industriously rang the changes on 
 them; why Mrs. Macduff had prodded her with 
 questions as to whether she had been home in time 
 to see Mr. Coleman before he went to Cleveland ; and 
 when, and how, and where she had received the 
 news of the engagement; why Fanny Brown had 
 been so profuse in her regrets that dear Miss Ward 
 should have come home just at this time, when she 
 was looking so delicate, and was so unable to endure 
 trying things ! 
 
 Esther, lying on the little sofa in her studio, as the 
 short winter day drew to its close, felt the blood in 
 her veins now fire, now ice, as she realized her terri 
 ble position, and writhed at her helplessness to 
 change it.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 199 
 
 For what would it serve her to proclaim the fact 
 that she was not the woman forsaken of the man 
 with whose name hers had been coupled, since she 
 was the forsaken of another whose name had never 
 been heard among them ? 
 
 She went forlornly over every incident in her 
 nearly two years' acquaintance with the Colemans. 
 Her conscience acquitted her before heaven and 
 earth of thought or word or act disloyal in a woman 
 betrothed, or unseemly in any woman. 
 
 Her friendship with Bertrand Coleman had been 
 absolutely open and above board. She had never 
 written a line or spoken a word to him that might 
 not have been published in the newspapers. 
 
 Indeed, she had never had a private conversation 
 with him, except when he came to the rescue in the 
 case of Ned's defalcation, and when he freely and 
 most unexpectedly gave her his confidence on his 
 own love affair. 
 
 She had lived too large a life both in her profes 
 sion and in society, to attach importance to the little 
 attentions which kindly and courteous men offer 
 without a thought of possible misconstruction to any 
 agreeable woman, or to the friends of their women 
 kindred. 
 
 His effective intervention in behalf of her brother 
 was, of course, the proof of a more than ordinary 
 good will ; and Esther's gratitude was none the less 
 for her conviction that he might have done as much 
 for any one of ten friends, in the same strait.
 
 200 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 Then no one, not even Jane, knew of this passage 
 in their friendship, nor how gratitude had warmed 
 her heart and brought enthusiastic words to her lips 
 when Mr. Coleman was spoken of in her presence. 
 
 What, then, had gossip had to build itself upon ? 
 
 True, she had eagerly embraced the opportunity 
 to show her gratitude to the man who had saved 
 her brother, and incidentally herself, from deep dis 
 grace, by acceding to Jane's wish for a portrait from 
 her hand. 
 
 But what of that ? Who knew that she was not 
 filling an order ? Had she not painted the portraits 
 of a dozen men of every age and condition ? To her 
 they were simply subjects ; to them she felt herself 
 merely the artist. 
 
 Long before she had thought of the graceful 
 compliment of Bertrand Coleman's portrait for his 
 sister, Esther had made memory sketches of him, 
 slightly idealized, for Theophilus in the picture of St. 
 Dorothea, on which she was already brooding. She 
 recalled her glow of artistic enthusiasm at her first 
 sight of this splendid man at Mrs. Eay's ; but she 
 knew that her enthusiasm would have been as 
 ardent and outspoken for a beautiful woman or 
 child. 
 
 Ah, well! she would be honest with herself. 
 There was one portrait from her hand in which it 
 had been nerved by something more than artistic 
 enthusiasm. She had looked into her own heart for 
 the model. But it was not Bertrand Coleman's.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 201 
 
 " Oh, Arthur ! Arthur ! " she moaned ; " and you 
 have left me to this shame and desolation." 
 
 She rose, made the light, and unveiling with the 
 rod of her torch the picture hung in the alcove just 
 a little higher than her hand could reach, gazed at 
 it long and sadly. 
 
 A handsome face it was, too, though in strong 
 contrast to Bertrand Coleman's dark beauty. A fair- 
 complexioned man with hair 
 
 " That made his forehead like a rising sun," 
 as Tennyson wrote of his blameless king. In life 
 the blue eyes were often cold and the mouth stern ; 
 but he had never showed this face to Esther ; and 
 her memory gave to the canvas what it held, 
 glorified. 
 
 It was characteristic of the woman that now, 
 since all was over between her and Arthur Esmond, 
 she felt she had no right to this picture ; yet she 
 shrank from destroying it almost as she would have 
 shrunk from taking life. Had she not breathed the 
 life of her heart into it ? 
 
 Oh, if he had but come to her, albeit in anger, one 
 sight of this picture must have cleared his mind of 
 every doubt ! 
 
 But why did he doubt her ? There was not one 
 chance in ten thousand that any of this miserable 
 gossip had reached his ears. 
 
 He was but twenty-four hours in the city of her 
 home, and it was thence he had cabled her on board 
 the " New Amsterdam."
 
 202 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 He had many acquaintances but few friends in 
 this city. She had been his only correspondent. 
 There was no time for visiting or receiving visits 
 during his short stay ; and as no one knew of their 
 engagement, who would dream of mentioning her 
 name to him in any event? 
 
 So poor Esther reasoned on the sometimes most 
 misleading basis of the strongest probability; but 
 only to find herself striking once more against the 
 viewless but most real barrier that had so strangely 
 arisen between her and Arthur Esmond. 
 
 Then her womanly pride rose up, desperate at the 
 current misrepresentation of her position a mis 
 representation in which she was now forced to 
 concur. 
 
 Oh, if even one wise and tactful friend had known 
 of her engagement, the tide of mischievous gossip 
 might have been stemmed! 
 
 She recalled the day when, pleased and proud at 
 Bertrand Coleman's confidence, she had been moved 
 from her own wonted reticence, and on the point of 
 revealing her happy secret to him. Would to God 
 she had obeyed this prompting of her Guardian 
 Angel ! 
 
 True, the man had been so full of his own heart's 
 desire that he missed the meaning of her timid 
 beginning ; but she could have written, and what a 
 friend this chivalrous man had been in her present 
 trouble !
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 203 
 
 Then with a sudden sickening accession of hor 
 ror came this thought: Had the gossip reached 
 him ? If it had not before his marriage, it would 
 certainly meet him and his bride on their return ; 
 for her own experience and Jack Holm wood's revela 
 tions proved to her that it was still at high tide. 
 
 Jack had confessed that he himself had thought 
 there was "something in it." So evidently thought 
 even those of her friends who were not among those 
 " best friends " industriously circulating the gossip. 
 
 What would Bertrand Coleman think ? Of what 
 disposition was his bride ? 
 
 As this vista of new and humiliating probabilities 
 opened before her Esther hid her face in the cush 
 ions, and all the billows and seas of pain and 
 shame swept over her.
 
 204 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIII. 
 
 THE WEDDING KECEPTION. 
 
 WHEN Esther had promised to vindicate herself 
 by facing her real bereavement and the current gos 
 sip and misconstruction as if they were not, she had 
 overestimated not her will, but her physical strength. 
 
 Heretofore she had always been able to find in 
 her work a tonic and in her trust in God a comfort, 
 till the day of strain and cloud had passed. But 
 now her hand had lost its skill, and Heaven was 
 shut to her prayer. 
 
 Her moments of feverish activity in mixing her 
 colors and arranging the lights and shades were 
 barren of further result. 
 
 Her plans for her honorable extrication from the 
 web which circumstances had woven about her, were 
 equally futile. 
 
 She remembered her half-contemptuous pity for 
 the women who were constantly dilating on their 
 past matrimonial chances ; or reciting the story of 
 their dead lovers ; or confiding to whomsoever would 
 listen, some " secret " which had been solemnly con 
 fided to them. 
 
 Today she, for saving her brother's honor and her
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 205 
 
 friend's confidence, and maintaining what she believed 
 to be a self-respectful reticence about her purely 
 personal affairs, was in a worse plight in the eyes of 
 her little world than the weakest self-revealer or 
 the meanest betrayer of trust. 
 
 " Why, my God, why ? " she prayed with heavier 
 heart than ever, marveling the while that so much 
 sorrow and shame should come of her best loyalty 
 and honor. 
 
 She would now, in this sore extremity, have 
 opened her heart to Father Herman, were it but in 
 the hope that Heaven would grant to his prayers 
 the answer denied to hers ; but though she carefully 
 chose the hour, his confessional was already sur 
 rounded, for it was the eve of the Epiphany and 
 of the First Friday, besides. So she was fain to be 
 satisfied with her ordinary confession ; and though 
 the fatherly heart of the good old priest ached for 
 his spiritual child, he knew her reticent nature so 
 well that he feared but to increase her sorrow by 
 any word unsuggested by her own initiative. 
 
 On the Monday evening following was the wed 
 ding reception of Mr. and Mrs. Coleman. 
 
 Esther would go with the Ormonds. Mrs. Mint 
 was down with one of her bad bronchial attacks ; 
 and the victim of her "best friends'" misdirected 
 interest was too honest to play the hypocrite with 
 any of them. 
 
 " Indeed, she just froze me out when I went over
 
 206 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 and asked her to come to the reception with me," 
 complained Mrs. Kay. 
 
 " She declined my invitation to take her, too," 
 said Mrs. Willow ; " and it's quite a different kind 
 of a note from any I ever got from her before. Now 
 you know, Sister Wise, that I held out the very 
 longest against believing things, and I don't believe 
 some things even yet. Now if I had been like Mrs. 
 Jones " 
 
 " Mrs. Jones was always prejudiced against her," 
 said Mrs. Wise. 
 
 " I should think she'd be glad to have women of 
 our position make of her just as if nothing had 
 happened," went on Mrs. Eay, a little querulously; 
 " but she was always as high-strung and sensitive 
 as if she were a princess." 
 
 " Perhaps she's not going, after all," ventured Mrs. 
 Wise. 
 
 " Oh, she'll go if it killed her," rejoined Mrs. 
 Eay. " Mrs. Jones is going to stand right up by the 
 bride and groom till after Miss Ward has offered 
 her congratulations." 
 
 "Now that's downright cruel," commented Mrs. 
 Willow ; " though of course we'd all like to see how 
 nicely she does it." 
 
 "I hope she won't go, poor thing," sighed Mrs. 
 Wise, with real feeling. 
 
 Indeed Mrs: Ormond, with all her kindness and 
 tact, did her best to dissuade Esther from attending 
 the reception.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 207 
 
 " Of course, dear, it's natural you would like to 
 be with your friends that evening, but you really 
 don't look well enough ; and there's sure to be a 
 crush." 
 
 But Esther had been spared nothing. A number 
 of other friends considered it their duty to tell her 
 the most humiliating and cruel of the stories in cir 
 culation about her, which, of course, lost nothing in 
 the telling ; and she had received through the mail, 
 addressed in a disguised hand, a marked copy of 
 Social Events. 
 
 Noting the date of it, she saw that it was of the 
 week of Arthur Esmond's brief stay in the city. 
 
 " But he wouldn't touch a paper like this with a 
 ten-foot pole," thought the loyal woman. 
 
 " Yes, Mrs. Ormond, I will surely go," she said 
 quickly ; " unless, indeed, you have some personal 
 reason for not wishing to take me." 
 
 For all answer her friend's arms were about her. 
 
 " We'll drive over and get you at eight o'clock," 
 she said. 
 
 The Coleman residence was ablaze with light 
 from attic to basement. The florists' deft hands, 
 directed by Jane's exquisite taste, had achieved 
 decorative effects never before equalled at any 
 festive occasion in our set. 
 
 In the spacious front hall and dining-room were 
 the evergreen, holly and ivy of the Northern
 
 208 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 Christmas, harmonized with the palms and foliage 
 plants of the tropics. 
 
 In the double drawing-room above there were 
 only palms, myrtles and roses. 
 
 It was roses, roses everywhere; great Jacque 
 minots just opened or budding into bloom, and fill 
 ing the warm air with their delicious fragrance. 
 
 The music floated up through the house, never too 
 gay nor overpowering, but dreamy and sweet, and 
 with the joy that is almost pain breathing through 
 its cadences. It was music's golden tongue, flatter 
 ing to tears, like that which Madeline heard ere she 
 lay down to dream on St. Agnes' eve ; and for a little 
 space it soothed Esther's sad soul tenderly. 
 
 Mrs. Ormond had planned to come and go early, 
 for Esther's sake. As they rejoined Mr. Ormond 
 at the drawing-room door, however, she saw that a 
 goodly array of guests were already gathered. 
 
 They moved slowly up to the farther end, where 
 Mr. and Mrs. Coleman were stationed, Jane and 
 Major McAlpine the news of whose engagement 
 had somehow filtered out without a formal an 
 nouncement receiving with them. 
 
 Esther knew that many a curious and not too 
 kindly gaze would be upon her ; and she who had 
 not heretofore known the meaning of self-conscious 
 ness, had planned poor heart ! with what calm 
 dignity she would bear it, and just what her words 
 of greeting would be to the bride and groom.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 209 
 
 She had never reckoned on the battery of eyes 
 that bore down upon her as she lifted her own at 
 the announcement of her name, and extended her 
 hand in greeting to the bride. 
 
 Mrs. Jones had been as good as her word. She 
 was standing almost in line with the bridal party ; 
 and perhaps a dozen more of the best-known ma 
 trons and maids of our set were grouped at each 
 side of it. 
 
 Esther flushed, paled and trembled, and her greet 
 ing was inaudible. The bride's finger-tips touched 
 her palm, but Bertrand Coleman took her hand into 
 his strong grasp, and beaming with pleasure said to 
 his wife : 
 
 "Miss Ward is one of our dearest friends, 
 Annette." 
 
 Whereupon the bride flashed forth her sunniest 
 smile, and put out her hand again with real cor 
 diality. But from Esther's pale lips no audible 
 word came, for the eyes pierced her to the bone, 
 and she was conscious of a faint titter in Mrs. 
 Jones' neighborhood. 
 
 Bertrand Coleman had noticed her momentary 
 embarrassment, but not its cause, and had certainly 
 done his best to cover it. So had the bride, but 
 with that slight impatience which a young and 
 beautiful woman would naturally feel at the thought 
 of such a shy, ghostlike creature as the woman who 
 had just passed before her ever having loved or 
 been loved.
 
 210 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 The Ormonds and Esther made way for Mr. and 
 Mrs. Brown and their daughter Fanny, the last- 
 named of whom had devoured the meeting over Mr. 
 Ormond's shoulder with greedy eyes. 
 
 " What roses, Mrs. Ormond ! did you ever see the 
 like ? " 
 
 " The bride is a perfect June rose herself. Don't 
 you think so, Miss Ward ? " 
 
 It was Mrs. Jones who spoke, and Esther had 
 quite recovered her composure. 
 
 " I think she is a very lovely girl," she answered 
 quietly. 
 
 "Aren't they just made for each other?" cried 
 Mrs. Wise, with enthusiasm. " I always said he was 
 a king among men, and now he has found a queen 
 among women. Don't you think so, Miss Ward ? " 
 
 Queenly, however, was hardly the descriptive term 
 for the dainty blonde, scarcely five feet two, who 
 was to her stalwart husband like a statue of Parian 
 marble beside a majestic bronze. 
 
 Very beautiful were the rose-tints of her delicate 
 skin, her soft, curling hair of childish gold, her great 
 blue eyes, and the smile that made such enchanting 
 dimples in her cheeks and prettily rounded chin; 
 but there was slight suggestion of strength of mind 
 or character. 
 
 Esther answered again : " She is a very lovely girl, 
 and they are most happily contrasted." 
 
 Mrs. Bay caught Mrs. Jones' eye on the words.
 
 AND OTHEK WAYS. 211 
 
 " You notice," whispered the latter, " that it just 
 chokes her to say a good word of the bride." 
 
 Mrs. Willow was in the group which had nearly 
 closed around Esther, detaching her somewhat from 
 the Ormonds ; but she said nothing ; and once she 
 had caught Esther's reproachful eyes upon her, 
 heartily wished that her curiosity had not got the 
 best of her good feeling earlier in the evening. 
 
 She attempted a diversion now. 
 
 "If you haven't seen the presents you ought to 
 go down now to the library, while the crowd is up 
 here." 
 
 " I am going with Mrs. Ormond directly," an 
 swered Esther coldly, as her friend finally succeeded 
 in wedging herself back to her between the portly 
 forms of Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Eay. 
 
 The ladies were silent till the retreating figures 
 were beyond earshot. 
 
 " She would have made a bad break but for Mr. 
 Coleman," said Mrs. Jones, with a dry chuckle. 
 
 " He certainly is a perfect gentleman ; but I sup 
 pose he felt sorry for her," suggested Mrs. Macduff. 
 
 " Don't you think it was so many people staring 
 at her that embarrassed her ? " put in Mrs. Willow. 
 " I felt rather mean myself when she looked up that 
 time, so kind of startled and pitiful." 
 
 " Oh, pshaw ! Mrs. Willow, you are much too 
 sentimental," said Mrs. Jones, moving off to another 
 group, where, it may be added, she was far less
 
 212 THE WAY OF THE WOELD 
 
 ardent in her praises of the bride and groom, and 
 even confided to one of the matrons that she had 
 always thought Bertrand Coleman a man of sense 
 until this ; that the evident disparity in their years 
 was something shocking ; that Jane had done well 
 to take this chance, as it was of a certainty her last ; 
 and that she had thought better of the Colemans 
 than the meanness of a wedding reception without 
 wine, but she supposed they had to have it so, for fear 
 that the Major would make a show of himself.
 
 AND OTHEK WAYS. 213 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 A HARVEST OF THORNY ROSES. 
 
 THE guests had gone, and Bertrand Coleman had 
 betaken himself to the library, where, with the 
 lights lowered he was enjoying a quiet cigar, while 
 his wife and sister lingered in the drawing-room for 
 a desultory discussion of the events of the evening. 
 
 From above floated the music of the Major's 
 really fine tenor, as he sang the last stanza of Boyle 
 O'Reilly's " Jacqueminots." 
 
 My roses tell her, pleading, all the fondness and the sighing, 
 All the longing of a heart that reaches thirsting for its 
 
 bliss ; 
 And tell her, tell her, roses, that my lips and eyes are 
 
 dying 
 For the melting of her love-look and the rapture of her kiss. 
 
 But evidently some disagreeable reminiscence in 
 truded itself into the pleasant musings of this happy 
 bridegroom, whose heart had been so gratified by his 
 friends' praises of his Rose of the World. 
 
 He recalled the evident embarrassment of Esther 
 Ward that evening, with the same unpleasant per 
 plexity that he remembered experiencing for a few 
 moments, at his last sitting in her studio the preced 
 ing June.
 
 214 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 Could there be some truth, after all, in these 
 strange reports about her? 
 
 For the gossip had been inescapable since his 
 return with his bride. When it invaded his house 
 through some of its familiars, he scouted it as a gen 
 tleman should, especially when it took the form of 
 solicitude for the life or the mind of "the woman 
 forsaken." 
 
 Yet certainly it was but the wraith of the oldtime 
 Esther Ward that he had beheld tonight. He re 
 membered that he had been struck with the change 
 in her appearance before she went to Europe with 
 Mrs. Mint, but had laid it all to overwork and her 
 anxiety about her brother. But this further change 
 was something appalling. 
 
 Had this poor woman really grown to care for 
 him without realizing it ? to build, perhaps, a little 
 on the grave uncertainties which he had confided to 
 her ; and to dream that in the event of a disappoint 
 ment his heart might come to her in its rebound ? 
 
 Now Bertrand Coleman was not a vain man, but 
 he was only a man; and though he would not for 
 worlds have put these thoughts into speech, yet his 
 unpleasant perplexity began now to be modified by 
 something very like complacence, that so good and 
 clever a woman as Esther Ward should be pining 
 away for his sake. 
 
 He pulled himself up in a moment. 
 
 " Oh, you infernal cad ! " he muttered, flinging
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 215 
 
 away his cigar-stump, and holding out his arms to 
 his wife, who was just trailing her dainty draperies 
 across the threshold. 
 
 But she stood off from him coyly. 
 
 " What bad name were you calling somebody just 
 now ? " she demanded. 
 
 " I must have been thinking of my own vanity, 
 Midget," he said, smiling lazily. 
 
 " Thinking about Miss Esther Ward, maybe," she 
 ventured, with a spice of mischief. " The idea of a 
 woman who looks like that imagining that anyone 
 could possibly be in love with her. She ought to 
 be ' making her soul,' as our old nurse used to say." 
 
 " She didn't always look like that, my pet," said 
 the husband softly. 
 
 " Oh, she didn't ! Well," with a malicious gleam 
 in her eyes, " it's a pity you didn't realize her beauty 
 in time, and do something to save it." 
 
 "She was never beautiful, Annette, though she 
 was a pleasing and gracious woman ; but her beauty, 
 if she had been as lovely as yourself would not 
 have been my concern," he rejoined gravely. 
 
 The little bride tossed her head and pouted her 
 full red lips, looking at him meanwhile from under 
 her cloud of golden curls like a vexed child. 
 
 " How could she ever suppose that a man like 
 you could care for her ? " she said at last. 
 
 " She never supposed it, my dearest." 
 
 " Well, everybody says she was just wild about 
 you."
 
 216 THE WAY OF THE WOULD 
 
 " ' Everybody ' is a great crowd, child." 
 
 " You know very well what I mean ; all the peo 
 ple I've met since I came here." 
 
 "They are all wrong, Annette. She never gave 
 me a thought, except as a friend." 
 
 " Well, what made her so nervous this evening ? 
 And why did you single her out beyond any one else 
 as one of your dearest friends ? " 
 
 " I said ' our,' my darling," said Bertrand Cole- 
 mon patiently, evading the question he could not 
 answer. 
 
 " I don't like her, and I won't have her for my 
 friend so there ! " 
 
 The man kept silence, and the spoiled child still 
 stood frowning and pouting at him. Then 
 
 " Bertrand ! How do you know she wouldn't 
 have had you ? Did you ever ask her ? " 
 
 " My dear little girl, no word of anything approach 
 ing to love or marriage ever passed between this 
 good and sensible friend and myself." 
 
 " Well, why did she paint your picture ? Jane 
 says she did it of her own accord." 
 
 Bertrand Coleman wished for a moment that his 
 sister was young enough to have her ears boxed. 
 
 " Miss Ward believed herself to be under some 
 little obligations to us," he said finally, "and this 
 was her graceful way of acknowledging them." 
 
 " I'd like to know what they were ! " exclaimed the 
 little beauty haughtily. " You take her part so, I
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 217 
 
 can't help thinking you had some secret between 
 you." / 
 
 " Annette ! " His voice was reproachful and al 
 most stern. 
 
 She still looked at him from under her curls, but 
 her frown had passed. She drew a little nearer, 
 but he gave no sign. She laid one little hand on 
 the arm of his chair, and with the finger-tips of the 
 other touched his fingers. 
 
 " Bertrand ! " There were tears in the uplifted 
 eyes and her voice trembled. " Kiss me ! I'm good 
 now," and she put up her lips like a little child. 
 
 " But I can't help it, dear. You had so many 
 friends before I came into your life and and 
 I'm tempted to hate them all." 
 
 The man gathered her up in his arms, and was 
 happy again in reassuring her impassioned and ex 
 acting love. 
 
 " Listen, Annette," he said, " Miss Ward and I had 
 one secret between us. I told her of my love for 
 you long before I dared to hope for our present 
 happiness. Is my little wife and baby girl satisfied 
 with this confession ? " 
 
 " Oh, Bertrand, forgive me ! I will never doubt 
 you again." 
 
 And he knew she would keep her word for 
 twenty-four hours, perhaps.
 
 218 THE WAY OE THE WORLD 
 
 CHAPTEE XXV. 
 
 ESTHEK BREAKS SILENCE. 
 
 THE slight strength that had carried Esther but 
 indifferently through the hard ordeal she had set 
 for herself, was all gone now, and she lay languidly 
 back in the carriage beside Mrs. Ormond, taking no 
 part in the conversation which this good friend and 
 her husband considerately kept up for her sake. 
 
 She was conscious only of grieved wonder at the 
 behavior of the women who had so lately been pro 
 claiming themselves her friends, and to whom her 
 heart had gone out in real tenderness. But she was 
 too weak and tired for resentment. 
 
 How insincere their smiles, and how cruel their 
 small, white, even teeth looked. And she shud 
 dered as she thought how often in past times every 
 one of them had kissed her. 
 
 Of course she was unjust, as people under griev 
 ous misconstruction sometimes are, to all these 
 ladies. None of them had the remotest intention 
 of cruelty, nor supposed at all that their especial 
 share in the gossip had got back to Esther. 
 
 They merely had exercised what they considered 
 their right to talk when others were talking, and
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 219 
 
 their natural and permissible curiosity to see how 
 Esther would bear herself in a trying situation. 
 
 Even Mrs. Jones, though she had never liked 
 Esther, had not meant to be cruel to her at this 
 particular time. She had merely judged the woman 
 by herself, and behaved to her as if she were of 
 equally coarse fibre. 
 
 The incident at the reception had for them all the 
 fascination of a scene in a play or a passage in a 
 new novel. 
 
 To be sure, Mrs. Willow was not entirely at ease, 
 but even she was carried away finally by the crowd, 
 and went home trying to silence her conscience by 
 getting up a grievance against Esther, who, she 
 declared to Mrs. Wise, had positively snubbed her 
 before everybody ! 
 
 Esther made no protest when she heard the car 
 riage drive off with Mr. Ormond, and heard Mrs. 
 Onnond telling Ellen that she meant to spend the 
 night, and the latter's relieved utterance : " Oh, I'm 
 so glad, for the life and soul is worried out of me 
 about her, poor dear ! " 
 
 Nothing mattered any more to Esther. She was 
 passive under Mrs. Ormond's kind hands as the 
 latter removed her wraps. 
 
 " And now, dear, I'll light up in your bedroom, 
 and get you into your wrapper, and take out all 
 those hairpins " 
 
 Something falling with a crash arrested her
 
 220 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 speech. Turning in the direction of the sound, 
 Mrs. Ormond saw that the covered picture hanging 
 in the alcove had fallen, carrying a bit of the mold 
 ing with it, and loosening its veil. 
 
 She hastened to lift it. 
 
 " Why, Arthur Esmond ! " she cried in amaze 
 ment. " Esther, do you know Arthur Esmond ? " 
 
 The woman looked up listlessly. 
 
 " Yes, I know Arthur Esmond. I was engaged 
 to him, and this was to have been our wedding 
 day." 
 
 Mrs. Ormond sat down on the sofa beside her 
 friend, with a whiter face than hers. But Esther 
 saw it not, nor noted the excitement in Mrs. 
 Ormond's eyes and manner. 
 
 " Esther, tell me what all this means. I must 
 know it." 
 
 " I hardly know myself," she answered in a low, 
 tired voice. " I was engaged for nearly three years 
 to Arthur Esmond. He thought it best to have no 
 announcement till he came on here from Hawaii this 
 Fall. You know how I was delayed abroad through 
 Mrs. Mint's illness. He cabled me of his arrival 
 here the day we sailed from Liverpool. I have 
 never seen him since, nor heard from him, except in 
 two short notes from Washington in answer to my 
 own letters, charging me with something, some dis 
 loyalty to him I know not what." 
 
 Her voice broke with a dry sob; and Mrs. Or 
 mond's face was full of trouble.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 221 
 
 Esther spoke again. " There was something, a 
 family matter, on which, perhaps, I owed him a fuller 
 confidence than I gave him. It was hard to write 
 it ; I was waiting till we met." 
 
 " Yes," said Mrs. Ormond anxiously ; for Esther 
 had relapsed once more into a strange, lethargic 
 silence. 
 
 " Perhaps the thing I should have told him came 
 to him some other way. . . . What else could it 
 have been ? He was not here long enough less 
 than twenty-four hours for any of that dreadful 
 gossip to have reached him. . . . You know. . . . 
 about Mr. Coleman." 
 
 Mrs. Ormond's heart fairly bounded, and a faint, 
 sickening sensation came over her. She was begin 
 ning to understand. 
 
 " He knows so few people here," Esther went on, 
 " except in a business way. He wrote me last sum 
 mer that he had known you before your marriage, 
 but of course he had no time for calls in one day." 
 
 Mrs. Ormond kept silence. What use were ex 
 planations now? 
 
 " How did it start . . . that talk about me ... 
 you know ? " she asked, after a little. 
 
 " So there was never anything but friendship 
 between you and Bertrand Coleman ? " 
 
 Esther roused to a quick, indignant flash. 
 
 " How could there be ? Haven't I told you I was 
 engaged to Arthur Esmond ? Mr. Coleman was very
 
 222 THE WAY OF THE WOULD 
 
 kind to me once ... in that matter . . . that I 
 should perhaps have explained to Arthur. ... It 
 was last March, when I was in a sudden and great 
 trouble, and he came. ... I am under the greatest 
 obligations to Mr. Coleman." 
 
 Last March ! Mrs. Ormond was a woman of 
 good memory and keen insight. She thought of Ned, 
 of whose brief term with Frost & North she knew 
 more than Esther dreamed. Last March ! Why, 
 that was the time of Ned's abrupt disappearance. 
 The tangle was unravelling. 
 
 She smoothed her friend's thin, feverish hand. 
 
 "It was one day soon after, that Jane said she 
 would like her brother's portrait from my hands. I 
 impulsively offered to do it for her. ... I was under 
 great obligations," she repeated wearily. 
 
 " There was no mystery about it. No one knew 
 that it wasn't an order. Ever so many people 
 dropped in during the last sittings." 
 
 " One word, Esther," interrupted Mrs. Ormond. 
 " Did you know that Bertrand Coleman was going 
 to be married ? " 
 
 "Why, yes. He told me of his hopes while 
 matters were still very uncertain I may say that 
 much, now that all is happily settled and wrote 
 me twice about the progress of his affair while I was 
 abroad. Jane had told me of it, too, in all its stages. 
 But she was unhappy about it at first, and there 
 were even graver reasons for silence and I had 
 given my word."
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 223 
 
 " You poor child ! " murmured Mrs. Ormond. 
 
 " What had they to make a story of ? " she asked, 
 with piteous eyes. "I never talked of my affairs 
 with any of them. I never betrayed the trusts they 
 put in me, and some of them used to say they were 
 my friends. I believed them. But do friends de 
 stroy your life ? People stand away from "me now, 
 as if I had done some wrong. ... I don't get any 
 more orders . . . just that since I came back. . . . 
 It isn't finished," she said with a wan smile, indicat 
 ing the replica of " The Forsaken Christ," " but after 
 I have had one good sleep I will give it the last 
 touches. What am I going to do ? When I prom 
 ised Jack Holmwood I would stay, I didn't dream 
 how hard it would be. Did you notice those women 
 tonight ? I can see their eyes yet, wherever I look. 
 I never did them any wrong . . . they used to be 
 my friends." . . . 
 
 The brief animation had died down. 
 
 " Come, dear, I am going to put you to bed," said 
 Mrs. Ormond. 
 
 Esther rose languidly. " Wait, I must say a little 
 prayer first. Why has God let me be broken on the 
 wheel like this defaced and degraded in sight 
 of the world : for my silence ? People used to say 
 I was proud. Think of me telling all this ... I 
 never said so much as this before about myself to 
 anyone. But all is over now between Arthur and 
 me, and nothing matters any more."
 
 224 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 Mrs. Ormond sat for an hour beside the bed bath 
 ing Esther's hot forehead. Finally her patient 
 feigned sleep, and she lay down half-dressed on the 
 sofa near her, leaving only a carefully shaded lamp 
 burning on the little altar. 
 
 Esther lay long with wide open eyes, staring at the 
 shadows. She was no longer restless, but soothed 
 and quiet. She felt no shame that Mrs. Ormond 
 knew the whole sad truth. The curious eyes that 
 had burned her very flesh a few hours ago faded 
 out. She felt no more wonder nor pain. 
 
 How still the night was ! The faint gleam from 
 the lamp was suddenly swallowed up in billows of 
 soft red-brown, on which she seemed to rise and 
 drift away, away into rest. 
 
 From far off a strange, sweet Voice besought her : 
 " / have called fhee as a woman forsaken and grieved 
 in spirit" 
 
 Fainter and sweeter the Voice : " I have called thee 
 as a woman forsaken " 
 
 Then Esther rose up all fearless on a great dark 
 red billow, and a mightier one towered and broke 
 over her, blotting out consciousness. 
 
 Meantime Mrs. Ormond lay on her narrow couch, 
 almost fearing to breathe lest she disturb the sup 
 posed sleeper, her own heart full of pain and self- 
 reproach. 
 
 Now she knew all. She had heard Mrs. Jones
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 225 
 
 discussing at the Daughters of St. Paula the dinner 
 at which Arthur Esmond had been her guest ; for 
 she never kept silence on anything which she be 
 lieved would add to her social importance. 
 
 Arthur Esmond had sought his old acquaintance 
 for some word of reassurance about Esther, and she, 
 Esther's friend, had destroyed the last prospect of an 
 understanding. 
 
 What though she had not the faintest knowledge 
 of their relations ? 
 
 Mrs. Ormond was stern in her judgment of her 
 self, and could find no excuse in her heart for what 
 she now condemned as her uncalled-for reference to 
 the Social Events' paragraph and Esther Ward. 
 
 To be sure, she was indignant at Arthur Esmond, 
 and marvelled, as perhaps you marvel, dear reader, 
 that a woman like Esther could love this Puritani 
 cal and jealous man. 
 
 " But I've often wondered at the sort of men 
 good women love," she mused ; " there is only one 
 Frederick Ormond in the world." 
 
 She wasted little time, though, in abstract re 
 flections. Since Esther had loved, and still loved, 
 this man, something must be done to set her right 
 before him. 
 
 " If there's any good left in him, he'll just be 
 scorched with shame when he knows the truth," 
 she reflected ; and she fully intended to assist the 
 scorching process herself.
 
 226 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 She knew he was going to Japan ; but had he 
 really sailed ? Might he not still be in San Fran 
 cisco ? Her husband might be able to ascertain 
 that. 
 
 Then, to stop the gossips' tongues. She knew 
 better than poor Esther the length and breadth of 
 the mischief they had wrought. 
 
 "And to think that I had a part in it," she 
 whispered in an agony of self-contempt. " I, who 
 held myself so far above them ! " 
 
 Was any reparation possible ? She would try for 
 it; and with Mrs. Ormond that meant it would go 
 hard with her, or she would achieve it. 
 
 The late wintry dawn stole in through the closed 
 shutters. She looked at her patient. 
 
 " Telephone for Doctor Allen at once ! " she cried, 
 rushing out to Ellen, who was preparing the break 
 fast. 
 
 Within an hour Ellen had subordinated all other 
 duties to the nursing of her " dear lady," as she 
 loved to call Esther ; for the experienced eyes of the 
 physician saw danger ; and Mrs. Ormond went home 
 to begin her mission of reparation.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 227 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE TUKN OF THE TIDE. 
 
 IT was the miduionth meeting of the Daughters 
 of St. Paula, and although the weather was dis 
 agreeable slush underfoot, clouds overhead, and 
 the unseasonable warmth in the air that comes with 
 the January thaw there was a good attendance. 
 
 Miss May was relieving the severity of the regular 
 course on the "Ten Persecutions of the Primitive 
 Christians" by devoting this one meeting every 
 month to a discussion of the Lyrics of Shakespeare. 
 
 The President of the Aubrey de Vere Reading 
 Circle gave its midmonth meeting to current fiction. 
 Miss May, although she was much too kind and 
 courteous to criticise a rival organization, considered, 
 away down in her heart, that there was a frivolous 
 streak in the rival president, and it was enough for 
 her to know that Miss Eleanor Corey had decided 
 on one course of action, for her to take the opposite 
 course. 
 
 Miss May was a splendid Shakespearian scholar, 
 and sometimes so lost herself in a dissertation on 
 the play assigned for study that the programme of 
 regular work had to be crowded or put over.
 
 228 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 It promised to be so today, when " Much Ado 
 About Nothing " was under consideration. In vain 
 the long-threatening rain descended in torrents, 
 blurring the window-panes ; in vain the phenomena 
 of thunder and lightning in midwinter. Miss May 
 placidly pursued her theme to the end, explaining 
 the motive, plot, dramatis personce, and noting the 
 passages of the play which have passed into our 
 familiar speech. 
 
 Presently, however, the door near the platform 
 opened, and Mrs. Ormond, appearing on the thresh 
 old, looked anxiously at the president, and, having 
 arrested her attention, beckoned her out 
 
 Miss May, suavely summoning the vice-president 
 to take her place for she was a good parlia 
 mentarian, unlike the easy-going executive of the 
 Aubrey de Veres disappeared for a few minutes. 
 Certain of the Daughters promptly improved the 
 occasion as nobody stood in awe of the vice-presi 
 dent to interchange whispers about their calls on 
 the bride, some earnestly maintaining that she was 
 " a real sweet little thing," but more declaring her 
 " nothing but a little French doll." 
 
 Miss May returned presently, and Mrs. Mint and 
 Mrs. Ormond following her, took vacant places in 
 the second row. 
 
 Miss May stood in front of the platform. Her 
 serious and sorrowful face silenced in an instant the 
 most persistent whisperer.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 229 
 
 "I have the saddest tidings ever given you in 
 this place," she said at last, with unsteady voice. 
 " Our dear friend and associate, Esther Ward, is 
 at the point of death. Our Holy Father has sent 
 her the Apostolic Benediction. . . . Our friend bore 
 herself so modestly among us that few of us real 
 ized we had in her one of the famous women of 
 our time. But better than her work was her worth 
 as a sincere, gentle and charitable woman. Who 
 among us has not some personal reason to remember 
 her kindly nature ? Who among us ever heard from 
 her lips a falsehood, a harsh judgment or a mischiev 
 ous rumor ? " . . . 
 
 Miss May paused again. " The circumstances pre 
 luding this sudden, and I fear fatal, illness, are 
 extremely, I may say incredibly, sad. I beg of you 
 all to pray for her." 
 
 Mrs. Jones nudged Mrs. Willow as Miss May 
 resumed the chair. 
 
 " There ! wasn't I right ? " she whispered. " You 
 see the affair has killed her. It was foolhardy of 
 her to go to the wedding reception." 
 
 But Mrs. Willow gave no sign. She was crying 
 softly, as were several of the younger Daughters. 
 
 " We shall conclude the meeting with the read 
 ing of the Lyrics, already assigned to Miss Fanny 
 Brown," announced Miss May. 
 
 " Miss Brown ! " Fanny came forward nervously ; 
 dropped her pages, picked them up again, stumbled
 
 230 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 over her introduction, but finally recovered herself, 
 and went on bravely to the final lyric : 
 
 "Done to death by slanderous tongues," 
 she read, then came to an awful pause. 
 
 The stormy winter afternoon was darkening pre 
 maturely, and a spectral lightning flash zigzagged 
 over Fanny's page. The secretary rose and turned 
 on the electric lights. 
 
 "Done to death by slanderous tongues," 
 read Fanny again, and then broke down ingloriously, 
 and retreated to her place sobbing. 
 
 There were answering sobs from various parts of 
 the assembly room. The meeting was thoroughly 
 demoralized. 
 
 Miss May looked sadder and more troubled. 
 
 She tapped with her little gavel : 
 
 " Will some one kindly move adjournment ? " 
 
 " I move that we adjourn," said Mrs. Jones, rising. 
 She, at least, was tearless. 
 
 Several smothered voices seconded the motion. 
 
 Miss May tapped again for the prayer, asking all 
 to join her in a Memorare for Esther Ward. 
 
 Then the Daughters rose, and resolved themselves 
 into groups about the various windows. Few of 
 them were prepared to face the storm ; and most 
 of them expected to be called for. 
 
 Mrs. Ormond ^lingered at the desk with Miss 
 May. 
 
 Mrs. Mint stood moodily apart, having a window
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 231 
 
 all to herself, whence to watch for her carriage, 
 which she had ordered for five o'clock. 
 
 Near her was a group of sympathetic Daughters, 
 gathered about Fanny Brown, who still wept and 
 wept, and would not be comforted. 
 
 " Why is Fanny Brown making such a scene ? " 
 queried Mrs. Jones petulantly, standing at the edge 
 of the group. 
 
 " Why, don't you know ? " retorted Nannie Old- 
 field, now restored to paternal and social favor as 
 Mrs. James Dillon. " Don't you know, Mrs. Jones ? " 
 with wicked emphasis. 
 
 "Minnie, dear," to her old-time chum, "get me 
 the book off Miss May's desk, if you dare, and I'll 
 read the rest of the Lyric, till you see how it fits." 
 
 Nannie had some grievances of her own to redress, 
 which helped to direct her sympathies. 
 
 Mrs. Jones moved further in, uneasily. 
 
 " I wonder what Miss May meant by the ' incredi 
 bly sad circumstances ' ? " Mrs. Macduff was saying. 
 
 " I don't know why you should wonder about 
 that," said Mrs. Jones, taking up the conversation. 
 " Haven't we all heard, and a good many of us seen 
 for ourselves ? " 
 
 " No, that wasn't it," dissented Mrs. Macduff with 
 conviction. " Miss May would never touch on any 
 thing of that sort." 
 
 " That's my opinion, too," said Mrs. Willow, who 
 was almost as tearful as Fanny Brown. " Oh, what
 
 232 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 if we had got everything wrong from the start ? Of 
 course I was Esther Ward's best friend, and I was 
 always careful what I said in this business, but " 
 
 " Well, I was mistaken in one thing," faltered Mrs. 
 Macduff. " It seems the gentleman who used to be 
 going back and forth so much to her studio evenings 
 was her brother. He was pointed out to me the 
 other day, and I saw where I had blundered. But 
 he does look awfully like Mr. Coleman." 
 
 " Well, of course it's barely possible I was wrong," 
 put in Mrs. Kay ; " but if ever there was anything 
 that looked like a case of love at first sight . . . 
 Haven't I often told you, in this very place" 
 
 "Standing by this very window," sighed Mrs. 
 Willow. 
 
 " How they met in my house, and what she said. 
 And I'd have believed till my dying day that she 
 never knew a thing about Bertrand Coleman's engage 
 ment, only Mrs. Coleman herself told me last week 
 that her husband had made a confidante of Miss 
 Ward. And Jane confided in her, too." 
 
 Mrs. Mint had drawn near the group. 
 
 " And you talked those tales over with Mrs. Cole 
 man ! " she exclaimed indignantly. 
 
 " Well, I guess I wasn't the first," said Mrs. Eay, 
 bridling a little in the midst of her penitence. 
 
 " But how could anyone know they had trusted 
 her, when she never gave the least hint of things, 
 even to her best friends ? " questioned Mrs. Willow, 
 helplessly.
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 233 
 
 " I s'pose you'd have had her prove she was 
 trusted by betraying her trust," snapped Mrs. Mint, 
 though she was a little mollified by Mrs. Willow's 
 evident grief. 
 
 " Well," said Mrs. Jones in her loftiest manner, " I 
 think this old straw has been sufficiently thrashed. 
 Of course it's all very pathetic and tragical and all 
 that ; and we're all very sorry that Miss Ward is a 
 victim of unrequited affection ; but it's better that 
 we should do something for her, rather than talk 
 about her. There may be something she needs I 
 don't imagine she's got anything saved, the way she 
 dressed and lived. For my part, I intend going over 
 tonight, and " 
 
 Mrs. Mint was staring full at her on these last 
 words, with such a stern and searching gaze that the 
 woman finally quailed under it. 
 
 " You I " exclaimed Mrs. Mint (by this time all eyes 
 were riveted on Mrs. Jones) "you oh you BUG!" 
 
 A genuine insect of the most offensive variety, 
 dropped into that group of refined-looking and 
 smooth-spoken women, could hardly have created 
 more consternation. 
 
 Fanny Brown snickered hysterically through her 
 tears. 
 
 The others exchanged dismayed and apprehensive 
 glances. 
 
 Mrs. Jones attempted to extricate herself from the 
 group, but Mrs. Mint effectually blocked her exit.
 
 234 
 
 " You go to Esther Ward on her bed of death ! 
 Don't you dare, unless you go to beg her pardon for 
 all the wrong you've done her ! You've been down 
 on that poor girl these last two years, because she 
 wouldn't grovel to you and paint your niece's picture 
 for nothing " 
 
 " That's so ! " ejaculated Mrs. Macduff under her 
 breath. 
 
 "Who started the falsehood that it was Esther 
 Ward's illness, and not mine, that kept us so long 
 over in Paris ? Who gave all that stuff to the 
 Social Events ? " 
 
 " I didn't know she was a reporter," faltered Mrs. 
 Jones. 
 
 " Didn't know it was loaded, eh ? That's a pretty 
 stale excuse for a woman at your time of life. I 
 suppose you knew where you were at, though, when 
 you entertained a man you never saw before, with 
 all your imaginations and inventions, the first time 
 he ever set foot in your house." 
 
 "Mr. Esmond!" whispered Mrs. Eay to Mrs. 
 Willow " but what could he oh ! " as Mrs. Wise 
 gave her a glance of preternatural intelligence ; and 
 both ladies squeezed each others' hands until they 
 hurt. 
 
 "I suppose you knew where you were at when 
 you wrote those letters to Baychester, to get the 
 history of the Ward family raked up for you. Oh, 
 but we should have clean houses ourselves, before 
 we go in to regulate our neighbors' ! "
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 235 
 
 Mrs. Jones' face was livid. Everyone in the 
 assembly room was looking and listening now ; for 
 Mrs. Mint's voice was neither low nor sweet. 
 
 " Didn't you try the same game on me, when you 
 thought I'd lost my money going about with your 
 vile hints and insinuations ! Oh, if I'd known as 
 much about your talk then, as I know now, I'd have 
 had the law of you." 
 
 Mrs. Mint paused, panting. 
 
 " Mrs. Mint's carriage ! " announced the janitor. 
 
 " As for the rest of you," she concluded, with a 
 glance that took in the whole group, " haven't you 
 husbands and homes and children to look after? 
 Couldn't you, if you tried very hard, find a little 
 business of your own to mind ? Daughters of St. 
 Paula, indeed ! Your mother must be proud of 
 you ! " 
 
 " She's a low, vulgar creature, and ought to be 
 publicly expelled from our society ! " exclaimed Mrs. 
 Jones, when the door had shut on her redoubtable 
 antagonist. 
 
 No one responded. The group had moved off 
 from her, and only Mrs. Macduff said " Good-night," 
 when presently the Jones carriage was announced, 
 and its owner departed. 
 
 The tide had turned. 
 
 Maids came with waterproofs and umbrellas ; a 
 carriage or two more were called; but still Mrs. 
 Ormond talked in low and earnest tones with Miss
 
 236 THE WAY OF THE WOULD 
 
 May, at the desk; and still Mrs. Wise and Mrs. 
 Willow held their own private consultation at the 
 window. 
 
 At last Mrs. Wise approached the desk : 
 
 " Mrs. Ormond, you have proved yourself Miss 
 Ward's friend, and we meant to be her friends, even 
 if we were misled by foolish talk. I'm not saying 
 but what we should have held our tongues ; but 
 now, if there's anything in God's world we can do, 
 give us the chance to do it. Mrs. Willow feels 
 awfully. She wants to know if it isn't possible for 
 her to see Miss Ward, if only for a second." 
 
 Miss May looked coldly at her. Mrs. Ormond, 
 however, reflected. 
 
 " Miss Ward was not conscious when I left her 
 two hours ago," she said gently. " But I'll see what 
 can be done. Meantime there is a way for both of 
 you to help. Is Mrs. Willow's carriage here ? " 
 
 " Yes ; it has been waiting half an hour." 
 
 " Perhaps she will take us all over to Miss 
 Ward's" 
 
 " We can leave you at home we go right by " 
 to Miss May's objection that Mr. Holmwood was 
 awaiting her by appointment. 
 
 " You know, perhaps," explained Mrs. Ormond to 
 the others, "that Jack Holmwood has just been 
 received into the Church. He is Miss Ward's con 
 vert." 
 
 Mrs. Willow's tears fell afresh for she was
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 237 
 
 a loyal Catholic to think that she had ever had a 
 coldness with this dear friend, who was dying with 
 the Apostolic Benediction upon her, and who had 
 brought into the Church this hard-headed Uni 
 tarian. 
 
 The ladies started. There were lights in the 
 studio, and Mrs. Wise perceived through the half- 
 drawn curtains a lady and two gentlemen in close 
 conversation. 
 
 Mrs. Ormond alighted first. 
 
 " Look ! " whispered Mrs. Wise to her friend 
 excitedly, holding her back an instant on the 
 threshold. "As I live, there's Bertrand Coleman 
 himself, and Jane, \ and" 
 
 " Come in quickly," said Mrs. Ormond. 
 
 Had Mrs. Ormond's searchlight accomplished its 
 purpose ? 
 
 " It may be as well not to tell too much," she 
 said, an hour later, bidding Mrs. Willow and Mrs. 
 Wise goodnight ; " but I leave it all to your friend 
 ship and discretion." 
 
 I fear Mrs. Ormond also was a diplomat. 
 
 The following day, at a most unfashionable hour, 
 Mrs. Willow's carriage was in requisition, and she 
 and Mrs. Wise, with full card-cases, began the 
 longest and most interesting series of calls they 
 had ever made in their lives.
 
 238 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 SUNRISE IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW. 
 
 ABOUT the time that Mrs. Willow and Mrs. Wise 
 were holding the amazed attention of a very large 
 group at Mrs. Ray's Day, Esther Ward opened con 
 scious eyes again. 
 
 Father Herman, Mrs. Ormond, Mrs. Mint and her 
 brother Joseph were standing by her bed. 
 
 Joseph first caught the gleam of recognition in 
 those large, bright eyes, and bending, kissed his 
 sister's forehead. He could not trust himself to a 
 word. 
 
 Esther smiled faintly at him, and then looked 
 earnestly at Father Herman. 
 
 The priest placed a Crucifix in her hands. 
 
 " Has it come to this, Father ? " 
 
 " I think it has, my child," he answered. 
 
 "Thank God !" said Esther. 
 
 Father Herman slipped on his stole, and 
 motioned to the others to withdraw. 
 
 " Esther," he said, half an hour later, " offer your 
 will to God for life or death, as it pleases Him." 
 
 " Oh, not for life ! " she whispered with a shudder. 
 "Father, ask God not to send me back to that."
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 239 
 
 "Christ shrank from the Cross in Gethsemane," 
 the priest murmured, " but He prayed to His Father, 
 ' Not My will, but Thine be done.' Esther, be gen 
 erous, though I doubt that you have twenty-four 
 hours to live." 
 
 The woman bent her head and kissed the Crucifix. 
 
 " And now, my child, I go to bring the Holy Viati 
 cum. Attend, meantime, to any necessary worldly 
 affair." 
 
 There was a sound of smothered weeping at the 
 door, and as the priest passed out, Gregory Eay, 
 with tumbled hair and swollen eyes, rushed in and 
 throwing his arms about Esther's neck, pressed his 
 wet, freckled cheek to hers. 
 
 She stroked her favorite's hair with her wan little 
 hand. 
 
 Father Herman turned back. 
 
 " Come, come, Gregory. If you cry like this you 
 cannot come back with me to make the responses 
 when I bring Miss Esther Holy Communion." 
 
 Joe, who had just telegraphed for his wife, came 
 in as the priest and the boy departed. He had a 
 letter in his hand. 
 
 " Esther," he said, sitting down beside her, and 
 taking her hand in his. " We have heard from Ned 
 at last. He writes from San Francisco. He is well 
 and in good employment, and sends you this check 
 for five hundred dollars half of what you spent 
 to save him last March."
 
 240 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 Esther smiled happily. " It is as Bertrand Cole- 
 man promised," she said softly. " Joe, let me endorse 
 the check, and do you cash it without delay. It will 
 cover what must be done when I am gone. My 
 will is in the top drawer of my desk. I have saved 
 Mr. Coleman's money. And tell Ned that I forgive 
 the rest of his debt, and send him my loving good- 
 by." 
 
 Ellen came to arrange the bed and give her patient 
 a strengthening drink. Esther slipped Ned's letter 
 under her pillow. 
 
 Mrs. Ormond stood in the place which Joe had 
 left. 
 
 " Esther, by-and-by you may know the enemy and 
 the friend for whom I ask forgiveness, and the wrong 
 done to you, for which we both ask it " 
 
 " As I have been forgiven," she answered. 
 
 Her strength was failing, but she reached up both 
 hands and drew Mrs. Ormond nearer : " And if you 
 ever see Arthur Esmond again, tell him that I 
 passed away loving him, trusting him, praying for 
 him." 
 
 Mrs. Ormond hid her face for a moment on the 
 dying woman's pillow ; then gently disengaging her 
 self, stole out, and Esther turned away from earthly 
 things 'to rest her broken heart on the promises of 
 Him Who was drawing near to be her strength in 
 the supreme hour. 
 
 How strange it was ! how different from all she
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 241 
 
 had ever forecast for dying, this solemn yet peaceful 
 sadness ! She felt a sinking of the heart, and con 
 nected thought was becoming an effort. No words 
 of prayer came to her, but some lines of a hymn of 
 Father Faber's, which they used to sing long ago on 
 Communion days in the convent, when she was a 
 child : 
 
 " Had I but Mary's sinless heart 
 To love Thee with, my dearest King." 
 
 Yet now this seemed the prayer of prayers, and 
 she said it over and over, with all her heart. 
 
 Was it a moment or an hour till Mrs. Ormond 
 came in again, noiselessly, to light the candles on 
 the little altar prepared for the Last Sacraments ? 
 Taking another lighted candle, she went forth to 
 meet at the doorway of the studio the bearer of the 
 Divine Guest, and Esther descried, as in a glass, 
 darkly, familiar figures from the life she had done 
 with, among the kneeling women. 
 
 Her brother and poor little Gregory attended the 
 priest. 
 
 It was all over soon the wayfarer was strength 
 ened for her long journey with the Bread prefigured 
 of old to the fiery prophet by that food in whose 
 strength he fared on his weary way unto the mount 
 of God. With the sacred Unction anointed, with 
 the blessing of Christ's Vicar signed, they left her 
 again to prayer and silence. 
 
 " Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, I
 
 242 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 am become in Thy Presence as one finding peace" 
 
 Esther had feared she would not die, because 
 death was touching her so gently. Only faces of 
 peace looked at her out of the dimness. Only lov 
 ing voices hailed her in the Borderland whereon her 
 spirit traveled. 
 
 Then this befell, in that strange land no dream, 
 she knew, but veriest sight. 
 
 She walked across a sweet mown meadow, in the 
 summer twilight, and she was not alone. But 
 whosoever bore her company, she saw not, for her 
 eyes were held. 
 
 The sun had gone down, leaving in the west a 
 dull red afterglow, and above it rested a vast bar of 
 deep violet. 
 
 High in the east the moon shone, companioned 
 by a single star, and both were veiled with a little 
 filmy cloud. 
 
 But, lo ! as she looked upward the cloud blushed 
 on the edges a rosy red, and Esther knew that the 
 moon never gave forth this warm radiance. 
 
 And behold ! the summer meadow and the moon 
 vanished, and she was standing on the shore of a 
 mighty sea, and the tide was coming in, and the sun 
 was rising in glory. Kose-red was the sky to the 
 zenith, rose-red were the waves to their depths, rose- 
 red was the very earth, with a pulsing, palpitating 
 radiance. 
 " Like the Blood of the Redeemer shown on earth and sky."
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 243 
 
 And a withered bush which grew close to the 
 water's edge, sprang suddenly into life and flower, 
 and glowed verily like another Burning Bush in the 
 sunrise. . . . 
 
 Then Esther knew that she would surely die ; 
 and that the unseen presence which walked beside 
 her was none other than her Guardian Angel, 
 miraging for her comfort ere they two went down 
 together into the Valley of the Shadow, a glimpse 
 of the glory of the City of God. 
 
 Life ebbed away slowly, slowly, and the past 
 began to live again before those failing eyes. 
 
 She was a little child again, and her mother with 
 deft fingers tied back her bushy brown hair with a 
 pretty pink ribbon, and bowed her broad sash, and 
 sent her to play with her brother under the big 
 plum-tree in the back garden of the old home far 
 away. Then it was a rainy day, and she sat by the 
 attic windows drawing crude pencil pictures of her 
 little memories or fancies on the fly-leaves of dis 
 carded school-books. 
 
 Anon she was an ambitious schoolgirl, praying 
 at Benediction in the convent chapel for success in 
 some premium contest, while the tapers burned 
 softly, and the incense rose in fragrant clouds, and 
 her artist soul felt the homesick note when the 
 choir sang : 
 
 Nobis donet in patria.
 
 244 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 " God, be merciful to me ; for I am dying ! " 
 prayed Esther, as she drifted back again to the 
 familiar room, with the lamp burning before Christ 
 of the Pierced Heart on the altar at the foot of her 
 bed. 
 
 But still she lived ; for it was as if the receding 
 tide were held at the fifth hour, and bidden neither 
 to ebb nor flow. 
 
 And again her spirit wandered down the path 
 ways of the past, and she was a girl with the 
 glamour of romance upon her, and she walked in the 
 moonlight under the trees of a broad village street 
 with other maidens and youths, and they sang songs 
 of love and tender longing. 
 
 Nor seemed it strange at all that these youths and 
 maidens had the faces of the men and women among 
 whom her later life was cast, and who had made 
 the tragedy of it ; that Arthur Esmond besought her 
 love with the voice of one who was in his grave for 
 many a summer ; nor that Bertrand Coleman and his 
 sister were of the companions of her girlhood. 
 
 Then saw she the blighted home again, and 
 watched by untimely dying-beds. . . . Anon, pale 
 flowers sprang once more in the desolated field of 
 life, for life was young ; and the soul of art began 
 to yearn for expression, and would not be denied. 
 And this was in Italy. 
 
 " Oh, God be merciful to me, for I am surely dying," 
 she prayed again, for some movement of the nurse
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 245 
 
 who kept vigil beside her brought Esther back to her 
 little white bed, and the sense of parched lips and 
 helplessness. 
 
 The watcher saw no change as she ministered to 
 the wants of her patient. She was still semi-con 
 scious, one little thin hand aimlessly fingering the 
 counterpane, while the other clasped the Crucifix. 
 
 But a great change was wrought before Esther's 
 eyes, for now the dearest dead of all her years were 
 with her. Her mother's large, dark eyes looked 
 wistfully at her, and her father, standing a little 
 further off, whispered: "We are waiting for you." 
 
 She saw the little sisters, who had passed away 
 before she knew their faces ; and the forgotten long- 
 dead playmates of her childhood. 
 
 And stranger still, she saw Arthur Esmond. 
 Could it be that he also had died, and now, knowing 
 all truly, as the dead who die in Christ know it, had 
 come back with the rest to comfort her in the Valley 
 of the Shadow ? 
 
 Somebody spoke, and the words came clearly to 
 her : 
 
 " Yes, let him stay ; it will neither hurt nor help. 
 She is too far gone for that. Nothing matters any 
 more." 
 
 She smiled to herself at these last words, remem 
 bering how often she had spoken them from a heart 
 full of anguish. 
 
 How far she had drifted from those days of storm
 
 246 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 and stress, and how sweet was this waiting in hum 
 ble peace and hope, with Arthur Esmond's eyes upon 
 her, as her mother's just had been, and more than 
 the old love in them ! 
 
 But would a spirit weep those burning tears over 
 her face, and enfold her as with a strong man's arms ? 
 What strange things happened on the very edge of 
 death ! 
 
 She lay passive, gazing wistfully, wonderingly ; 
 and as she gazed, the well-remembered objects in her 
 room wavered back, and steadied themselves before 
 her eyes ; and she knew the glimmer of the street 
 lamp through the closed shutters of her windows. 
 
 Her gaze concentrated on the face so near her 
 own. She lifted her hand, and hesitating, like a 
 little timid child, touched the cheek. Her dream 
 was broken. 
 
 " Oh, Arthur ! and you are not dead ? " 
 
 Her voice was so faint that he had to lean closer 
 to her to hear it ; but her soul was in the eyes she 
 fixed on him. 
 
 " Esther, Esther, forgive me and stay with me ! " 
 he pleaded brokenly. " I came to myself at last, out 
 of my jealous madness, and gave up my commission, 
 and traveled back from San Francisco to tell you 
 that I would take your word against the world, and 
 I found you unconscious, and at the point of death. 
 . . . But you shall not die Heaven has been 
 stormed for your life."
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 247 
 
 With her last remnant of strength she tried to 
 draw out of the arms which would hold her back 
 from welcome death. 
 
 " Oh, Arthur, let me go. My fear of death is past. 
 ... I have no other wish for earth now I have 
 seen you . . . and heard your voice ... in love 
 . . . And you know . . . everything." 
 
 " Yes, from your friends, Mrs. Ormond and Mr. 
 Coleman ; but before they had spoken, I knew that 
 you were the truest and bravest of women, and that 
 I, in my wicked suspicion, was viler than the mud 
 upon the road." 
 
 She ceased for the moment her effort to be free 
 of his encircling arms. " You shall not defame the 
 man I love," she whispered. 
 
 He knew her gracious ways of old. 
 
 " My generous Esther ! " he murmured. " You 
 will not leave me, now that God has let us meet at 
 all, after all these years and all your sorrow ? " 
 
 " Oh, Arthur, if you love me, let me go," she 
 murmured, drawing back as far as she could from 
 those beseeching eyes and lips. 
 
 " I have come to see God's hand in our separation 
 ... in all the pain and shame. ... It has been all 
 for the best ... for you ... for me ... I could 
 not have filled the place you planned for me ... it 
 is clear to me now . . . Go, my dearest ; you can 
 help me better in my last hour ... if you stay 
 where I cannot see your face."
 
 248 THE WAY OF THE WOKLD 
 
 There was a long silence between them. He 
 relaxed his embrace ; but he still knelt beside her, 
 one arm above her head upon the pillow, where his 
 hand touched her thick brown braids. Even in the 
 dim light, from the little lamp at the shrine, he 
 could see how small and shadowy were Esther's 
 form and face, but her forehead was dry, and she 
 breathed without effort. 
 
 " Esther," he said again, " if God willed you to 
 come back to life" 
 
 Her eyes clouded. " Oh, no, my dearest. God 
 does not will it. I am surely going to die." 
 
 "And you are glad to go?" 
 
 " So glad ! " she murmured. 
 
 " Even from me, my dearest ? " 
 
 " For your sake. I can be more to you when, 
 through God's mercy, I get to Heaven." 
 
 " Esther, before you leave me you will give me 
 the one perfect, satisfying proof of your forgive 
 ness ? " 
 
 " Surely I will," she answered, lifting his hand 
 with a supreme effort and pressing it to her cheek 
 and lips. 
 
 "Every one knows now," he went on, "what 
 parted us. Every one knows now how cruelly I 
 misjudged you. Through my fault you are on your 
 dying bed " 
 
 " Oh, no, no," she murmured. 
 
 " But I will live the rest of my lonely life know-
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 249 
 
 ing that I have killed you, and everyone will know 
 it. Are you resigned to leave me to such a fate ? " 
 
 The peacefulness went out of Esther's eyes. 
 There was a long silence, and she prayed in her 
 heart. 
 
 " Arthur, God knows that I would gladly bear all 
 your sorrow for you. . . . But, oh, my dearest . . . 
 can't you see that I am . . . where there is no turn 
 ing back ? " 
 
 " At least let my reparation be as clear and as 
 long to be remembered," he pleaded, " as the wrong 
 I did you. You will not refuse my last request ! " 
 
 " You could not ask me what I should refuse," she 
 answered, " and you have my promise." 
 
 " Then, Esther, be my wife, though you live but 
 an hour to bear my name, and take my ring into 
 the grave with you." 
 
 " I would not cast my shadow on your life," she 
 sighed. 
 
 " The memory of you as my own will light my 
 way to Heaven," he murmured ; and then : " I have 
 your word." 
 
 He left her for a moment, and presently returned 
 with Father Herman. Her brother, Jane Coleman 
 and Mrs. Ormond followed, and they left the door 
 wide open. 
 
 Esther's eyes sought Father Herman's. 
 
 " You will not grudge him this comfort, my child," 
 said the priest.
 
 250 THE WAY OF THE WORLD 
 
 The brief marriage service was over, and Mrs. 
 Willow had seen and heard it all, smiling cheerfully 
 through her tears, for a wedding is a wedding, even 
 if the shadow of death is on it. 
 
 The ring turned loosely on the bride's small finger. 
 Arthur Esmond took another ring out of the little 
 case in his hand. It was the pearl ring of her be 
 trothal. 
 
 " Perhaps this will hold it it seems a little 
 smaller," he said diffidently. 
 
 But Esther shrank from it. " Give it to Father 
 Herman for his chalice," she said softly. 
 
 The priest hastened away, for it was nearly mid 
 night now, promising to come in after his Mass next 
 morning. 
 
 He met Doctor Allen at the entrance, and told 
 him briefly what had happened ; but the doctor only 
 repeated his words of two hours previous : " Nothing 
 matters now. She is too far gone for that." 
 
 He drew near his patient's bedside. She was 
 very tired and spoke with effort. He looked closely 
 at her, and then a significant look passed between 
 him and the nurse. 
 
 "I believe I'll stay," he said, turning quickly to 
 Joe. " Can't you fix me up a place where I can 
 sleep for a few hours ? Call me," to Ellen, " if 
 there is a change ; and meantime, keep her quiet. 
 Out with you, every one," to the group about the 
 bed; "and don't look at her again till I give you 
 leave."
 
 AND OTHER WAYS. 251 
 
 At six o'clock Doctor Allen woke of himself, and 
 went back to his patient. 
 
 Meantime Arthur Esmond, Joe and his wife, Mrs. 
 Ormond and Jane Coleman, who had watched and 
 prayed through the night, met again in the studio. 
 Mrs. Willow and Mrs. Wise had heard Father Her 
 man's Mass on their way back, and presently joined 
 them. 
 
 Father Herman soon followed, and went into 
 Esther's room, carefully closing the door. The 
 watchers held their breath. It seemed hours until 
 it was softly opened again, and the priest beckoned 
 in the husband and the brother. 
 
 Another interval of suspense ; and just as the sun 
 rise revealed itself through the closed shutters in 
 long shafts of crimson light, Father Herman came 
 out, shutting the door noiselessly. 
 
 His face was paler than its wont, and hard to 
 read. 
 
 " Oh, no ! Father don't say it, don't ! " cried Mrs. 
 Willow. 
 
 The priest lifted his hand. 
 
 " Wait, my child," to Mrs. Willow ; then to us all : 
 
 "Let us thank God, Esther will live." 
 
 THE END.
 
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