OLIVE TRACY AMY LE FEUVRE S82JD cP O (6 OLIVE TRACY BY AMY LE FEUVRE Author of "Probable Sons," "Legend Led," etc. Copyright, 1900 by DODD, MEAD & COMPANY Contents CHAPTER I A "SPOILT" DAY . . . . i CHAPTER II " TRY TO FORGET ME ! " . .14 CHAPTER III " BORN WITHOUT A BACKBONE " .30 CHAPTER IV "A HUSBAND is PART OF ONE'S SOUL" . 44 CHAPTER V THE " ONLY CONTENTED ONE IN THE FAMILY " 55 CHAPTER VI SHAKEN .... 66 CHAPTER VII A CHANGE . . . . . 77 CHAPTER VIII STILL LIFE . . . . .88 CHAPTER IX WALKS AND TALKS . . . .99 v 28425 vi CONTENTS CHAPTER X THE VALLEY OF SHADOWS 112 CHAPTER XI CORA . . . . . .124 CHAPTER XII " RUIN AND RIBBONS " ... 135 CHAPTER XIII A LETTER ..... 147 CHAPTER XIV MYSTERIES . . . . .157 CHAPTER XV FAMILY JEWELS . . . .169 CHAPTER XVI "ON ACTIVE SERVICE" . . .182 CHAPTER XVII IN THE ORCHARD .... 195 CHAPTER XVIII "SEVERELY WOUNDED" . . . 206 CHAPTER XIX A FULLER SPHERE .... 217 CONTENTS CHAPTER XX PAGE NURSING 228 CHAPTER XXI " TELL ME You ARE GLAD TO SEE ME ! " . 238 CHAPTER XXII BAD NEWS ..... 248 CHAPTER XXIII A MISERABLE WOMAN . . . 265 FLIGHT ..... 275 CHAPTER XXV ELSIE'S CHOICE .... 285 CHAPTER XXVI A DISAPPOINTMENT .... 294 CHAPTER XXVII THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS . . . 306 CHAPTER XXVIII LINKED TOGETHER . . . .317 CHAPTER XXIX HOME FROM THE WAR . . . 329 OLIVE TRACY CHAPTER I A " SPOILT " DAY If it be my lot to crawl, I will crawl contentedly ; if to fly, I will fly with alacrity ; but as long as I can help it, I will never be unhappy. Sydney Smith. IT was a sunshiny morning in early April. Outside : a quaint, old-fashioned garden, with a great deal of green turf and bright spring flowers bordering evergreen shrub- beries ; inside : a low, long dining-room, with the break- fast table laid, and Olive Tracy standing at the open window, softly singing to herself, as she looked out on the dew-laden, sun-tipped lawn. She was a tall, slight girl, with dark brown hair and Irish-blue eyes, eyes that seemed always full of hidden laughter, and a mouth with mischievous curves. Yet the face was a powerful one ; there was determination in the firmly moulded chin, thoughtfulness in the clear brow. Clad in a fresh, cotton shirt and dark blue skirt, with a bunch of yellow daffodils in her belt, she was not an inapt personification of spring itself. Her attitude, as she now raised her head to watch the soaring of a lark outside, bespoke eager hope and glad- ness. Life seemed at the moment very fair; her young i OLIVE TRACY veins throbbed with life, and the fresh, sweet world out- side delighted her soul. " Up with me ! up with me into the clouds ! For thy song, lark, is strong ; Up with me ! up with me into the clouds ! Singing, singing. With all the heavens about thee ringing, Lift me, guide me till I find That spot which seems so to thy mind ! " She trilled the words out with careless joy, then started, as a bass voice near her echoed the last two lines. " Good-morning, Olive." " Oh, how you startled me ! Your Grace is not usually an early bird." She greeted the newcomer, who had crossed the lawn unseen, and now stood outside the open window, with a sunny smile, then invited him in. He swung himself over the low sash with the easy privilege of an old friend, and then standing with his back to the fireplace, he looked her up and down rather gravely. " You are the first down ? " "That is a most original observation." He smiled, and his smile transformed his dark and somewhat rugged features. Tall and broad shouldered, with clear, honest, grey eyes, before which wrong-doers invariably quailed, Marmaduke Crofton could hardly be called a handsome man. " He is such a man ! " was the highest praise ever offered him. And his mother was the only one who dared affirm that he had a " beautiful face.'' " I shall keep my news till the rest of the family make their appearance." A "SPOILT" DAY " Is it good news ? " He looked at the spotless white cloth, the steaming silver urn, and the dainty breakfast service, with bowls of golden daffodils in the centre, and remarked : "I think your breakfast is the nicest meal in the day." "Shall I tell you why you think so ? It is because you feel so virtuous when you arrive in time for it. They say that early risers are exasperatingly complacent and self-satisfied. But here is mother; we never wait for Elsie, so now for your news ! " A gentle, fragile old lady in widow's dress entered as her daughter spoke, and greeted the young man very warmly. " This is like old times, Duke. Do you remember when you and Mark would come running up the garden on your way to school, and beg for a slice of bread and honey or a hot scone, saying you were half-starved at home ? " " You were always too good to us," said Marmaduke Crofton, a kindly gleam coming into his grey eyes. " Well, Mrs. Tracy, I passed the doctor's yesterday, and am off to town to-day to see about rejoining." " Where is your battery now ? " " At Aldershot ; but I am joining the th at the Cape." Olive looked up quickly. " Is that your doing or that of the War Office ? " she asked. " Mine entirely. I am going to exchange with Perry, who wants to come home." " I wonder at your going abroad with your father so infirm," said Mrs. Tracy gently. " Does Lady Crofton approve " Yes, I think she does. The fact is, I shall be close OLIVE TRACY to Mark, and he has been at a low ebb lately, and the mother is anxious I should see him. We are only stationed twenty miles off from his diggings." " Always Mark," murmured Olive. There was a silence, which was broken by the en- trance of Elsie Tracy, a fair-haired girl, two years younger than Olive. She looked a little discomposed at seeing a visitor. "I do hate surprises in the morning," she said, as having wished good-morning, she took her seat at the foot of the table with a wrinkled brow. " Elsie takes a long time to recover full conscious- ness," said Olive, looking at her sister quizzically. " She wakes gradually, and takes till noon to do it. The process is trying to all ! " "You need not try to bring me into conversation," Elsie remarked indifferently. " My ears are always busier than my tongue. Is there any news ? " " Duke is going abroad," Mrs. Tracy remarked ; then turning to the young man, she said, " Are you sure you are quite well again ? It would be serious if you had a return of fever when you got out there." " I have never felt better In my life," was the hearty reply. " A change of air and scene will be good for me. I have never been to the Cape ; it will be a new experience." " And how long does the battery stay there ? " " It is quite uncertain. I believe there is trouble brewing out there." " You will be coming back with a Kaffir wife," said Olive, with a little laugh. Marmaduke made no reply, but met her mischievous A "SPOILT" DAY gaze with a grave and steady look ; a look which had the effect of making her hastily withdraw her eyes from his, and drop them in confusion upon her plate; she took hold of the cream jug, then dropped it with a crash, and the snowy cloth was deluged at once. Mrs. Tracy started and looked much annoyed. " My dear Olive, how careless ! Ring the bell for Fanny. I do so much dislike clumsiness. What were you doing ? You are not generally so awkward ! " u I am always glad when Olive is a delinquent," observed Elsie quietly. " A mistake on her part I hail with delight, she is so self-assured and correct." " I don't often make mistakes," Olive said cheerfully, "but when I do, I own it. I'm sorry mother, but the jug is not broken. What was I going to say ? Oh, I know you must go up to Diogenes, your Grace ! " " Of course I will. How is he ? Same as usual, I suppose." "Just the same." They chatted away on different subjects, then Marma- duke left the room saying : " I have only ten minutes to give the boy. Give me a call when they are up, Olive, will you ? " As he closed the door behind him, Olive said impetu- ously : "I cannot understand how Lady Crofton can do it. She thinks twice as much of Mark as of his Grace. The estate is being ruined by the mismanagement of that horrid agent they have, and there will be no one to keep a check upon him. His Grace could run down from Aldershot, but South Africa ! And his father slowly dying ! I call it positively heartless ! " OLIVE TRACY " I am afraid Mark has been giving them a great deal of trouble lately," said Mrs. Tracy. " Lady Crofton told me as much when I last saw her. He is wanting a great deal of money, and I expect she wishes Duke to find out his exact position out there, and look after his affairs." " Mark will always be Mark. I only hope he will not come home." " Eddie is out of his clutches now," said Elsie, rising from the table, and jumping lightly out of the low win- dow. " Do you want any flowers, Olive ? " " Yes some for the drawing-room. Mother, I have heard from Eddie this morning. He says he is going to ask for a couple of days' leave next week." "Is he coming home ? Why, Olive, you are a long time in giving us the news. Dear boy ! I haven't seen him for three months." The glad curves left Olive's eyes and lips. She stood confronting her mother almost sternly. " Mother, he ought not to come home. I am going to write and advise him not." Mrs. Tracy seated herself in a low chair by the win- dow, and held out her hand for the letter. " What nonsense, Olive ! You are always so severe with him what does he say ? Isn't his home the right place for him ? " " I can't think why he went into the army," Olive said, as she gave her mother the letter. " His one idea is to get away from his work." She stood again at the window, but there was a little pucker between her eyes ; then she looked at the clock, and leaving the room hastily, went out into a square dark hall. A "SPOILT" DAY " Time's up ! " she called out in a clear, ringing voice. Marmaduke Crofton came down the stair two steps at a time. " Come down to the bridge with me, will you ? " he said. Olive looked at him rather doubtfully. " I shall hinder you." " There is plenty of time." She picked up a garden hat, and led the way out of a glass door down the sunny garden. Elsie, picking jonquils on the lawn, nodded to them as they passed by. Past the green turf and a row of old elm at the bottom, through a small iron gate, a winding path, a stile, and out into a buttercup meadow, Olive talking rapidly the while and not very sensible. At last she looked up at her companion. " You are glum, your Grace. How can you be on such a morning ? It feels good to be alive on a day like this." Then he looked down at her, and his voice was earnest and strong. " Olive, six months ago I asked you a question, and you gave me an answer. You said this morning you seldom make mistakes. Is it a false hope of mine that you made one then ? " " Entirely false," said Olive, in a would-be cheerful tone, looking straight before her as she spoke. " We agreed then, if you remember, that we would still remain old friends. I have not broken that compact." Marmaduke bit his dark moustache somewhat nerv- ously. 8 OLIVE TRACY " I am going away for a long time," he said, " or I would not plead again so soon." They had reached an old stone bridge across the river. On the other side lay the high road, and Olive came to a standstill with determination imprinted on her features. " I must go back," she said, with an unsteady laugh. u I have to do my housekeeping and order dinner. Good-bye. I have nothing different to say than what I said when last we touched upon this subject ; and am sorry that you have chosen to refer to it again." Marmaduke came to a halt, and squared his shoulders as if to brace himself afresh. Taking both her hands in his, he forced her to look at him, and resenting the action, she raised a very defiant and mocking little face." "Olive, I do not believe you know your own heart." " Thank you," she replied, dropping him a little curtsey. " I suppose it does seem wonderful that I should not appreciate such an offer. I am deeply grate- ful for the honour, but " She got no further, for Marmaduke dropped her hands with a catch in his breath, raised his hat, and walked straight away from her without another word. She stood and watched his figure disappear, with mingled feelings of dismay and relief. " Stupid fellow," she murmured to herself. " Why can't he take a ' no ' as he ought ? He has spoilt our last days together now, and has made me feel I have spoken brutally. Still he was distinctly aggravating to begin the old story again ! " She leant her arms on the old bridge, and gazed into the clear water below. A "SPOILT" DAY " He is such a pleasant friend and such an unpleasant lover. Oh, dear ! oh, dear ! I wish we could be boys and girls forever ! " She sighed, then retraced her steps through the meadow. There was a sweet smell of spring in the air, birds were carolling their hymns of jubilation and of love ; in the meadow beyond, tiny white lambs frisked by the side of their solid imperturbable mothers, and a gentle breeze was encouraging the timid buds of green to unfold the young life within them, and blossom out in their sunny surroundings. Yet somehow or other the joy and gladness of the spring morning seemed already gone to Olive. It was not till she reached the garden and was approaching the house that she gave herself a little impatient shake, and ran in with her usual laughing face. For the next half- hour she was busy in the kitchen and at her store cup- board. Then peeping into the morning-room, she saw her mother seated in her low chair reading the news- paper and Elsie at her davenport writing letters. With light feet she sped upstairs, and pushed open a door at the end of a long passage. It had been the schoolroom of the family, and still bore that name. Not a luxuri- ously furnished room, and yet a very cheery and com- fortable one. A round table with a red cloth was in the centre and a cage with bullfinches upon it. Red curtains and a faded red carpet gave perhaps the appearance of warmth that seemed to pervade the room. Pictures of all sorts, sizes and shapes adorned the walls. A couple of glass bookcases in two recesses, an old piano, and a couch near the window these were the principal articles of furniture ; but on the couch, reclining against io OLIVE TRACY cushions, lay a young lad, and it was to this couch that Olive made her way. " Well, Diogenes, old boy, you have had an early visitor ? " The boy turned his head with a bright smile of wel- come. His face was a remarkably sweet one : pale and oval, with close-cut brown hair and large hazel eyes, and a mouth that knew how to smile through suffering. Humour there was in every line of it ; but something deeper and sweeter bore its impress on Osmond Tracy's features. " Come along, Oily. Sit down ; you are never busy, you know." " Oh, never," said Olive, smiling and touching his brown head lightly with her hand. " Now, I will give you half an hour, and then I have to write an important letter." " That is to Eddie, I bet," Osmond said quickly ; u has the young beggar been worrying you again ? " " A nice way for a nephew to speak of his respected uncle ! " Olive drew up an old wicker chair to the couch as she spoke, and sank into its depths with a satisfied sigh. Osmond changed the subject. 41 1 ought to feel low," he said reflectively ; " it was like a bomb-shell when his Grace told me he was off to Africa next week. I don't believe he half likes it." " Doesn't he ? " " Now, my dear girl, don't round your lips in that fashion. What has happened between you ? Something has, I know, so out with it." A "SPOILT" DAY n Olive shook her head with a little smile, and there was silence for a moment or two. Then Osmond spoke. " He has come to close quarters again ? " " Hush ! It is no good talking about it. He has an- noyed me extremely." The boy looked at her sympathetically, then gazed out of the window beyond the garden, and his eyes rested on the old stone bridge in the distance. " I saw you together, Oily, and I knew." " He has spoilt my day," said Olive, brushing her hand quickly across her eyes, as tears were almost on the surface. "I came down this morning, Diogenes, de- lighted with myself and everybody. I felt I hadn't a care in the world, and then comes Eddie's letter. He must come home next week, he says, and it means that he must have money, and that I am determined he shall not have if I can help it. It is his ruination. Well I would not let it depress me I was singing away to keep my spirits up, and had just got myself back to my starting-point, when his Grace appeared with his bit of news. I could have borne that with equanimity, though of course we shall miss him you most of all ; but when he began again with his tragic tone and big eyes and masterful way, it really seemed the last straw. I was nasty to him, of course ; and he walked off in high dudgeon, leaving me with the feeling that I have been to blame, and must try and patch up a truce when next we meet." " I wish you cared for him," Osmond said gravely. " He is a good friend, but will never be anything more to me." 12 OLIVE TRACY " He is good all round," the boy said warmly ; " a good son and a good brother would be certain to make a good husband." " Too good for me. The only time I really like him is when he gets into a temper. He is human then." " He never strikes me as being anything but human." " He is getting l goody/ Diogenes. I have had my suspicions for some time, and I believe you have been at him. I have a horror of religious officers. The clergy of course have a right to be so, but soldiers get so red hot over everything." " You prefer one of Eddie's sort." " Poor Eddie ! But how irresistible he is ! And how irresponsible ! " She laughed a little, then knitted her brows. " No, Eddie is not radically bad. It was that villain Mark who gave him these extravagant tastes and taught him to care for horse racing and the like. I always feel that Eddie is a gentleman by nature, and will not do any- thing to disgrace us ; which is more than can be said of Mark." " Debt is not very " " Honourable ? Don't be afraid of speaking out. No, I know it is not, but men in cavalry regiments are pretty much alike in that way I believe, unless they are really wealthy. Of course, the mistake was in sending Eddie into the cavalry ; and he treats the whole thing at pres- ent as a joke ! His one idea is to get as much amuse- ment out of the service as he can ! " Another silence, and then Osmond said brightly : " Pitch into him when he comes, he always says that you do him good." A "SPOILT' DAY 13 " Oh, yes, but what is the use of it ? He makes me laugh, and then away goes all my wrath. I am really anxious about him. I told you that mother is continu- ally selling out her capital. It doesn't make much dif- ference to us now, but it will in the future, and Eddie has no right to take the money. He has a handsome al- lowance, and ought to find it sufficient." Olive rose from her seat and paced the room. " Well," she said presently, with a clear brow, "lam not going to bother about it any more to-day. I shall write to him and beg him not to apply for more leave just yet. Colonel Holmes wrote very strongly to mother about him only last week, and if he were not away on leave himself, I know he would not grant it. Have you a fresh number of Punch^ Diogenes ? Let me have a look at it. We must laugh or else we die ! " CHAPTER II " TRY TO FORGET ME " Of all affliction taught a lover yet "Tis sure the hardest science to forget. Pop TWENTY years before, Mrs. Tracy's husband had been Dean of Blackenbury. She had lived in the same quiet town ever since, and had brought up her family of five in an old-fashioned gabled cottage, just outside the town. Her eldest son and daughter had both married when very young. The son had gone into the Church ; was offered a curacy in the north of England, and mar- ried his rector's daughter within a year. The young couple were having a holiday tour the year after, when the most tragic incident occurred. They were upset on a coach trip, the curate killed instantaneously, and the young wife only lived for twenty-four hours, to give birth to a son, hopelessly delicate and crippled. Mrs. Tracy took the little creature into her family at once. With care and attention the boy's health wonder- fully improved ; but he was condemned to a couch for life, and only on rare occasions could he be lifted into a wheel chair and taken out of doors. He was blessed with undaunted courage and humour, and in spite of his isolation from the outside world, had learned to have wonderful sympathy and consideration for all with whom he came in contact. He was a receptacle for confidences of all kinds, and never abused his trust. His quaint, old- "TRY TO FORGET ME" fashioned sayings, his philosophical way of viewing life, had earned for him the sobriquet of " Diogenes," and though he was now only eighteen, his advice was gener- ally followed by his young aunts, who were both devoted to him. Mrs. Tracy's eldest daughter Lavinia, or Vinny as she was generally called, married a wealthy barrister when she was barely seventeen. The marriage had not turned out a happy one. She had no children to com- fort her, and the caprices of an eccentric and fidgety husband, many years her senior, soured and embittered a naturally placid temper. Vinny's only pleasure was in coming home; but very seldom could this be arranged, and her husband disliked any of her relations visiting her. Olive was the mainstay at home, the life of the house, and the support of her gentle, and perhaps rather weak-minded mother. She and Elsie were very different in temperament : Olive all fire and impatience, quick tempered, and tender hearted, yet hiding her depth and tenderness of feeling beneath a careless exterior ; Elsie a sleepy, dreamy girl, slow in thought and movement, living her life alone, and spending much of her time in reading and in attending the cathedral services. She was more of a companion to her mother than Olive was. Mrs. Tracy leaned upon Olive for advice and guid- ance, but went to Elsie with all her little confidences, feeling that Elsie had more sympathy and consideration for her weaknesses. For Mrs. Tracy had two hobbies in her life, which made some people slightly impatient with her. One of these was " anniversaries." OLIVE TRACY Every death that had occurred in her family was remembered and mourned for on its anniversary ; and each day, as it came round, was set apart for a day of grief. When her daughters first came home fresh from their boarding-school, they tried in vain to turn their mother's thoughts into other channels. "You make yourself and every one in the house miserable, mother," they protested. " Why need you do it ? There can be no comfort in it." But Mrs. Tracy would not be persuaded. She came down in the morning with tears near the surface. She spent most of the day in looking over packets of letters and papers belonging to the departed one. She attended the cathedral in the afternoon, and wept throughout the service, and by the time the day was over she was com- pletely exhausted by her emotions. The following day she would be unable to rise, and her faithful maid, Margot, who had been with her for over thirty years, would have hard work in bringing back her spirits to their normal state. Mrs. Tracy's other hobby was a more healthy and natural one. This was an intense desire to keep every- thing in the house spotlessly clean. No consideration was ever shown a maid who brought any silver or glass to table that was not shining as brightly as when first bought. A stain or spot on carpet or tablecloth was a real trouble to Mrs. Tracy. She spent much of her time in wandering over the house with a soft, silk duster in hand, which would be furtively brought to bear upon any article that seemed to have lost its gloss. Not a particle of dust ever escaped her keen blue "TRY TO FORGET ME" 17 eyes. And though the result throughout the house was an extremely dainty freshness, it was obtained through the changing of many maids, and a loss of several good ones. " Mistress was born an old maid," they would say to each other. " No one can stand her fidgety ways ! " Olive had hard work sometimes to preserve the peace, and Margot, a privileged servant of old standing, did not always help her. Margot considered the world was indeed waxing very evil, and domestic service not what it was in her day. She had no toleration for the young, and her continual fault-finding in the kitchen was deeply resented. She had no very high opinion of Olive's housekeeping, and the only one of her mistress's children that she really cared for was Edmund, his mother's pride and darling. He could do no wrong in Margot's eyes. " Master Osmond is a dear, good, young gentleman, but a cripple. Mr. Edmund is as handsome and bold as his father, and is a true gentleman that will carry everything before him." Poor Eddie possessed his father's good looks and bearing, his mother's weakness and vacillation of char- acter. Olive was quite right when she said he ought not to be in a cavalry regiment. The Tracys had many friends, and amongst them one family with whom they were more than usually intimate. Sir Marmaduke Crofton was a lifelong friend of the Dean's, and it was partly through his influence that the deanery of Blackenbury was offered to Canon Tracy. The young Croftons, Marmaduke and Mark, had been brought up from childhood in close companionship with the little Tracys; they had played together, had learned 1 8 OLIVE TRACY together, and when they were girls and boys no longer, the old, familiar footing was still the same. No two brothers could have had more widely differ- ent tastes. When quite a boy, Mark had longed for a seafaring life, and later on his parents bitterly regretted that they had so opposed his wishes. He grew up a restless, excitable youth, would not settle to any profes- sion, and spent most of his time amongst grooms and jockeys. He was a good horseman, and that seemed his only accomplishment. From always being in the society of those beneath him in station, he adopted a swaggering, bullying tone that proved most offensive to his parents' friends. In an unfortunate hour Eddie, who had just left school and was studying at an army cram- mer's, was thrown across his path, and Mark had soon the most extraordinary influence over him. Eddie learned to race, bet and gamble, and having imbibed these and other vicious tastes he barely escaped plucking in his last exam, for Woolwich, and was now a con- stant source of anxiety to his family. At last Mark got into serious trouble in a low gaming- house in the town, and his father in despair sent him off to the Cape, there to farm up country under the super- intendence of a distant cousin. For some time he seemed to stick to his work, then came complaints from his cousin, and finally the news that Mark had left him, and started ostrich farming on his own account with two young fellows who did not bear the best of characters : since which time his only letters home had been to beg for money. Sir Marmaduke helped him to the best of his ability, but a sudden stroke of paralysis so enfeebled him in mind and body that all business arrangements "TRY TO FORGET ME" 19 had to be conducted by his wife. And Lady Crofton found it hard to refuse Mark anything. He was her favourite son, though she would not allow it; and when at length she began to feel it impossible to continue to comply with his requests, she took Marmaduke into her confidence and together they arranged that he should go out to his battery there. Marmaduke had been at home some time on sick leave, for he had contracted a fever whilst on a trip abroad with a brother officer, and was long in shaking off the ill effects of it. Consequently, finding the time hang heavily on his hands and not having much to interest him at home, he had been a constant visitor at the Tracys. Osmond had benefited much by his society. Marmaduke discovered that the boy was suffering from an interrupted and desultory education, bemoaning his lack of knowledge and yet hardly knowing how to remedy it. In spite of being a keen soldier, Marmaduke had scholarly tastes, and he commenced a course of reading with Osmond that was much enjoyed by both of them. The girls laughed at the " book worms," as they called them, but Olive, who had often deplored the scanty teaching that Osmond had received, encouraged the idea, and would often make a third in their literary conversations. She had always looked upon Marmaduke as a brother, and was very much perturbed when she first became aware that his feelings were widely different to hers. But hardly understanding the depths of those feelings after the first awakening, she had forbidden him ever to men- tion the subject again to her, and they had mutually agreed to go back to the old boy and girl friendship that had always existed between them. 20 OLIVE TRACY It was a wet afternoon, and Osmond Tracy and the two girls were enjoying a merry chat over their tea in the schoolroom. Afternoon tea was generally brought there, and Osmond enjoyed the gathering as much as any one. Mrs. Tracy was resting in her room after a drive, and Margot had taken her a cup of tea there. Olive was giving Osmond a laughable account of some visits she had been paying with her mother, and she was telling him in an injured tone of a conversation she had overheard unintentionally. " I cannot get on with the eldest Miss Tracy," Norah Berry said plaintively ; " she always looks as if she is laughing at you. I do dislike people that see hidden jokes in everything." " Yes, she cannot talk sensibly ; but, my dear, it only shows how vapid and shallow her mind is. It is the youngest Miss Tracy that has most in her. Don't you like her ? " " Ye s, when she talks at all, but that is so seldom." So then I turned round, and they looked awfully foolish. " What did you say ? " asked Elsie. " Oh, I laughed and walked away ; it is good to hear opinions of oneself sometimes. You must live up to your reputation, Elsie. Your silence is worth its weight in gold." Elsie was kneeling in the wicker-chair ; her elbows upon the window ledge, and her gaze upon the dripping trees in the garden. " I do hate social calls," she said dreamily ; " and here every one knows your own business better than you do yourself. If I go out with mother she does all the talking. She always knows the right thing to say to everybody. Oh, how I loathe a country town ! It is mere existence stagnation I am heartily sick of it." "TRY TO FORGET ME" 21 She turned round with vehemence at the end of her speech. Osmond looked at her critically. " Wasting your sweetness on the desert air. Never mind, Elsie, you'll end by marrying some old city money- grubber, and he will give you a house in Belgravia. Why don't you ask Vinny to have you up for a visit and introduce you to some one who hates the country as much as you do ? " " Poor Vinny ! Her one desire is to bury herself in the heart of the country, away from every sight and sound. It is a pity you can't change places; but people seldom find their circumstances suit them." Olive spoke in a philosophical tone. She was seated at a low table drawn up to Osmond's couch, and was dispensing tea and hot buttered toast, with her usual cheerfulness. 44 Life is a puzzle," said Osmond thoughtfully. " Every one with different needs, and those needs often stifled by force of circumstances." 44 The doctors say, ' Life is according to the liver ! ' said Olive flippantly. " Oh, you can take life easily," said Elsie, a little im- patiently ; " you have no unfulfilled longings. I don't believe you have any longings at all." 44 Perhaps I have not," said Olive, sipping her tea meditatively ; " I take things as I find them, and if I don't like them, try to better them. I think that is my role in life, but I am not sure." 44 1 wish I could content myself with such an exist- ence." There was quiet scorn in Elsie's tone. The sisters 22 OLIVE TRACY seldom agreed on any point, but it did not mar their affection for each other ; which affection, though never demonstrative, was nevertheless very real and deep. " Oily will have the happiest life," remarked Osmond. " Why, Diogenes ? " " Because it isn't such a self-centred one as yours." " Thank you," said Elsie lazily ; " but I doubt that statement. Olive will wake up one day to find there are other things in life besides ordering dinners and mend- ing table linen, and keeping a household in good order. Then she will wonder at her contentment in such a narrow sphere. It is only irresponsible, careless crea- tures like children and animals who have a happy life." " Which heading do I come under ? " asked Osmond, pulling a comical face of dismay. " Oh, you ! You needn't pretend that you are happy." " No, I won't pretend." " My dear Elsie," said Olive, in her most grandmoth- erly tone, "you are crude and immature in your state- ments. You are discontented and view things crook- edly. Wait till real trouble comes upon you, then you will look back to these days and wonder you were so foolish ! " " What do you think makes a person happy ? " asked Osmond. " I've told you what I think already," said Olive de- cidedly. " My view is the doctors' : Good health and good digestion." " Being conscious that you are on the road to satisfac- tion," said Elsie. " Well, now, I'll tell you my view, as I see it. Hav- ing a sure foundation J " "TRY TO FORGET ME" 23 "I don't see how that applies." " Well, look here, Elsie is a creature of circum- stances, isn't she ? And she always will be till she gets something in her life that will make her independent of them. Winds of adversity, storms of seething trouble will make shipwreck of any life, if it has not some- thing to steady it beneath the wind and waves." " Oh, you are getting into a preach, Diogenes," said Olive with a shake of her head. " Now, look at me. I am very happy without any foundation." " Exactly," said Elsie. " You acknowledge that you are living a mere animal life. I wonder that you are not ashamed of yourself. Don't preach to me about be- ing crude and immature." Osmond lay back among his cushions with a wistful look on his fair young face. " I wish a little breeze would have warned that fellow who had an insecure foundation to his house. It seems so awful not to wake up to your position till the final crash. And yet I suppose there isn't a living soul on earth that has not been warned again and again." There was a little silence. Osmond went on in a low voice. " It is so grand to feel that storms may come and storms may go, but nothing can wrench you from your anchor. No uncertainty, no upheaval ; deep down, al- ways the same, sure, certain rest." " I'm not in want of rest at present," said Olive with her merry laugh; "I'm not tired enough." " Nor I," said Elsie ; " but not because of my pres- ent lot. It is too much rest. I want to move, to wake, to live ! " 24 OLIVE TRACY "Well, why don't you do it?" said Olive sharply. " I suppose you think it impossible to do anything but sleep at present. Now, here am I in the same circum- stances and very wide awake awake to my finger tips." "You both want a shake," said Osmond smiling. ' 4 Not I," responded Olive with a toss of her head. " Yes, you especially ; for you are on the sand, and you are building away happily and mechanically, without a thought for the future. You are choosing your mate- rials well ; your bricks and stones and mortar are almost without reproach ; your mortar crumbles away occasion- ally, and a stone or two comes down, but those are accidents. You remedy them and go cheerfully on." " You are sounding rather priggish," said Olive, put- ting down her cup of tea with a little clatter. " And what am I doing ? " asked Elsie, smiling at her sister's evident discomfiture. " Oh, you are grumbling at your materials and look- ing at every one's site but your own : and waiting for a suitable site and a suitable day, and better bricks and bigger stones. You haven't begun to build at all yet." " Thank you. And your tower of course is above the clouds already ? " "I'm afraid I haven't got beyond my foundation stone. Sometimes I hope I have, but I am a slow and faulty workman." " Sum total," said Elsie, counting off on her fingers, " Diogenes has a foundation without a building, Olive a building without a foundation, and I have neither the one nor the other. As usual, I come off" the worst in such statistics." "TRY TO FORGET ME" 25 " May I come in ? " asked a voice at the door. " Why, it is his Grace ! " exclaimed Osmond cheerily. u Come in, old chap. We did not hear you were back from town." Marmaduke stepped in, nodded to the boy and shook hands with the girls, then sat on the end of Osmond's couch, and gave a little sigh of content as he did so. He was never so much at home anywhere as in this old schoolroom, and everything in it was dear to his eyes. It was already getting dusk ; a small fire was flickering in the grate and softly touching Olive's hair with a ruddy glow. She was leaning back in her chair, with clasped hands behind her head, when he entered ; but now she was rather nervously rattling the cups aud saucers on the tea-tray and talking very hard as she did so. " We began our tea in an easy-going, chatty style ; we finished it in gloomy forebodings of the future, and a general feeling of insecurity all around. So we are re- lieved to see a fresh comer. Diogenes is in his most solemn mood at present." Then turning to Osmond she added with sparkling eyes : " Now talk to his Grace, and tell us about his building. Has he begun ? What kind of materials is he using ? Is he in want of a good storm to bring him with a crash to the ground ? That is my fate, and I hope some else will share it, or perhaps he and Elsie are in the same position. They are so par- ticular in what and how they build, that they will never begin at all ! " " We were giving each other our definition of a happy life," said Osmond. " Let us have his Grace's idea on the subject." Marmaduke looked out from his dark corner upon the 26 OLIVE TRACY fresh faces before him. He was tired in body and spirit, and now again in Olive's presence he felt it would have been better had he kept away. She seemed indifferent and unconscious of his feelings, but he was hungrily storing up in his mind every detail of her neat little fig- ure and dress, every tone and laugh, the mischievous sparkle in her eyes, and the wilful curves to her lips, all to be brought out before his vision when the broad ocean rolled between them and he was thousands of miles away. She still wore a bunch of daffodils in her belt; it was her favourite spring flower, and every now and then she fingered them lovingly. He glanced from her sunny brown head to Elsie's smooth fair one. Elsie was more strictly beautiful than her sister, her features were more regular, but she lacked the animation that was Olive's chief charm, and her face in repose was somewhat cold. Osmond had once said to Marmaduke of the girls " Olive's soul is more transparent than Elsie's, she is thinner skinned." And he felt now that it was true, only he wished that Olive's soul would show some feeling for his departure, some of the wistful gravity that occasionally appeared when something or some one had excited her pity and sympathy. " A happy life ! " he repeated slowly. " It is a big subject. I should say it is when the inner life is adjusted so satisfactorily, that it gives one no trouble, and there is time and opportunity to spend the outer one for others." u Oh," groaned Elsie, " worse and worse ! You and Diogenes are a pair ! " u It is easy to compose a grand and noble definition," "TRY TO FORGET ME" 27 said Olive, u the dictionary will do that. I am thankful that I shall never be able to speak in such a superior bookish way. Let us change the subject. When do you sail, your Grace ? " " The day after to-morrow. I have only come home to say good-bye." " We shall miss you awfully," Osmond said. There was a little silence ; then Elsie began to ask questions about the Cape, and Olive took advantage to slip quietly out of the room. Half an hour later, she was waylaid in the hall by Marmaduke. She was bending over a lamp, and turning the wick up to give a brighter light, when she heard his voice close to her. " Olive, I was ashamed of myself the other day. I had no right to worry you again. Will you assure me of your forgiveness before I go away ? " " What about ? " said Olive in a careless tone. " Oh, I remember ! You need not apologise, it is all right. Shall we see you again before you go ? " "No." The word was abruptly spoken. Olive had a soft duster in her hand, and she dusted her lamp, as if it had never been dusted before. He stood in silence watching her ; a man with twice the power and character of the young girl before him, yet feeling in her presence the greatest sense of inferior- ity and diffidence. She turned at last, and there was a little defiance in her tone. " You mustn't let us keep you longer ; your mother will want every bit of your time that she can have." 28 OLIVE TRACY " You will go and see her when I am gone, will you not ? She is always so glad to see you, and she was saying you had not been lately." " Lady Crofton and I are very good friends," said Olive, tucking her duster into a table drawer, with averted face. Then with a little effort she faced him, and held her head rather proudly as she put out her hand. " Good-bye, and all good wishes for your voyage." He took her hand and held it with a quickly caught breath. " Give me one kind word, Olive, before we part ? " In a flash Olive seemed to see that this was no time for pretentious pride or reticence. Her whole face softened, the sweet wistful gravity that Marmaduke saw so seldom and loved so much, stole into her eyes, and the real true woman for one moment showed herself. "You must try to forget me, Duke." She rarely addressed him by his Christian name, always using the nickname he had received from her in early childhood. It thrilled him now, through and through. He raised her hand to his lips passionately and kissed it. Then pulling himself together with an effort, he said huskily : " God bless and keep you, darling, and bring us together again one day. Auf wieder sehn ! " And then he went without another word, and Olive stood in the hall, dazed and bewildered at the sudden rush of feeling that swept into her heart and soul. She crept up to her room, and opening the window watched him make his way down the garden and across "TRY TO FORGET ME" 29 the meadows the shortest cut to Crofton Court. Then the full realisation of what she had done came across her, and throwing herself down on her knees by her bed, she buried her face in her hands and burst into passionate weeping. For Olive knew her own heart at last when too late, and she sobbed out in despair, " I do believe I love him after all ! " CHAPTER III " BORN WITHOUT A BACKBONE " And all men loved him for his modest grace And comeliness of figure and face. Longfellvw. " WELL, mater, here is your scapegrace son ! What ! didn't you expect me ? I wrote last week." "Yes, but I thought after what Olive said in her letter to you, that you might not come. I am very glad to see you, dear boy ; you need not wish me to assure you of that ! " Eddie had marched in unexpectedly one afternoon when both his sisters were out. His mother welcomed him very warmly, but rather nervously. Only that morning Olive and she had been examining her banking account, and found that she had already overdrawn for the quarter. Mrs. Tracy had never been able to live within her means, and had lately been finding it more difficult than ever. Money had a way of slipping through her fingers in a most unaccountable fashion, but it never distressed her for long. It was only when she was forced to deny herself or her children anything, that it affected her usual placid demeanour. As Eddie threw himself full length on the couch in the morning room, and turned his fair handsome face towards his mother, her heart smote her that she could not shower upon him all that he desired. Was there ever such a generous, affectionate boy r A boy who, in 3 "BORN WITHOUT A BACKBONE" 31 spite of his great popularity in his regiment and in garri- son society, was never so happy as when at home. His winning, confiding tones, his merry laugh, his careless indifference when in his home to anything outside it, his genial kindness to all below him in station ; all these traits endeared him to those who knew him, and to his mother in particular. At last came the usual question from Mrs. Tracy : " How are you getting on in your regiment, Eddie ? " The boy laughed, and began tossing his signet ring into the air. u Best not ask, mater. I'm an awfully unlucky fel- low. I'm sure there isn't a soul on earth that means better, and and does worse ! Old Holmes follows up his advantage of being a friend of the family by coming down on me like a sledge hammer on the slightest pre- text. By the way, I must tell you a good story. I changed my servant about a couple of months ago, and I have a chap who worships the ground I tread on. I happened to get an act of injustice righted, of which he was the victim, and he'd go to the very d beg pardon er well he'd cut off his hand if I asked for it that sort, you know. The other day old Holmes sent a summons for me ; there were two or three of us having a game of whist together, and I was riled, so I turned on Giles my servant, you know 4 Tell the colonel his last dose was too strong, and I can't take another on top of it just yet.' ' Yessir,' says Giles, and away he bolted. i He'll repeat that in dead earnest,' said one of the fellows, and I laughed, for I didn't think he was quite a fool. Sure enough, the chap goes straight into the ante-room of the mess, where he finds the colonel. 32 OLIVE TRACY Bobby Cray was there, and he told me Giles' mind mis- gave him when he met the colonel's eagle eye. l A mes- sage from Mr. Tracy, sir.' 4 Yes?' says old Holmes, looking as if he could eat him. Giles looks hot and perturbed. * Please, sir, the physic you sent him didn't agree with him, sir, and he can't drink no more, sir, please at present, sir ! ' " Mrs. Tracy looked quite scandalised, and her son chuckled. " My dear Eddie, your colonel ! " " Well, was it my fault, mater ? I walked into Giles well when I found him out, but, I can tell you, it's the latest joke in barracks, and my 4 physic ' has been down all the fellows' throats. Old Holmes had the gumption to let it pass. Don't you let on if I tell you, but he is dead nuts on Olive, and her brother gets some of her reflected glory, otherwise there might have been no end of a row." " I think Olive rather likes him," said Mrs. Tracy meditatively. " And perhaps, if it did come to anything, it might be a good thing for you." " It might, and it mightn't. I think I would rather the old fellow was kept in a bit of uncertainty and sus- pense. It makes him monstrous civil to me." " I am glad," Mrs. Tracy said hesitatingly, " that you are getting on well. I was afraid from your letter " Eddie made a comical grimace at her, then thrust his hand in his pocket and drew out a sheaf of bills. " Just look at these ! I thought I'd bring them to you in case you might be able to help me through any of them. The beggars won't wait, and threaten to ap- "BORN WITHOUT A BACKBONE" 33 peal to old Holmes. It is scandalous the way they re- fuse to trust the word of a gentleman ! " Mrs. Tracy put on her glasses, and in an agitated manner took up some of the bills to look at them. " My dear Eddie," she said, " these are dated two years ago, when first you joined your regiment. I thought we had settled all those ; there must be some mistake." Eddie shrugged his shoulders. " I can't say. Who can possibly remember that time off? If they haven't the gumption to get their money at the time they ought to, I can't help it." " It is no use my looking at them," said Mrs. Tracy, with a little sigh, " for I have no money in hand. I can do nothing more this quarter." Eddie's face fell, then it brightened. " Look here, mater. This is the tip. You write a note to one or two of the nastiest of them and tell them you will be responsible, and will send them what is due within the next week or two. That will quiet them, I fancy." Mrs. Tracy looked dubious ; she knew better than her son that she was already behindhand with her own quar- ter's bills, but she had not the strength of mind to say so. " You can leave them with me," she said at length, " and I will see what I can do." Then she added nervously : " You need not mention the matter to Olive." Eddie laughed. " Olive keeps the purse, does she ? She ought to be the head of the family. Ah ! talk of her, and here she comes ! " 34 OLIVE TRACY Olive came in, her hands full of primroses, and her face radiant. " Oh, Eddie, you naughty boy ! And I told you to stay away. How long have you been here ? " A little later and they were gathered in the school- room for tea, Mrs. Tracy in the most comfortable chair, her eyes glistening with pleasure as they rested on her son, and she listened to his light-hearted badinage. And then in the midst of much chatter the door opened, and "Lady Muriel" was announced. A sweet-faced girl with pale golden hair and delicate complexion presented herself, and was seized upon at once by Olive. "Why, Dot ! home again ? When did you come ? " " Last night, and I'm so tired of being a tourist. What is Eddie doing here ? " " It isn't desertion," he responded, drawing up a chair with great deference to the newcomer, and seating him- self as near her as he conveniently could. " His colonel is away or he wouldn't have had leave," said Olive quietly. Lady Muriel laughed. " We are both in the same box. My father hurried back to some committee dinner in town, so I came off here at once. Mrs. Tracy, will you keep me to dinner ? I am so dull at home." " My dear Dot, you know we shall be delighted." " And I will see you home," said Eddie, trying to re- strain the eagerness in his tone. " Thank you, but I told them to send the carriage if I did not turn up in time for dinner." Eddie's face fell, and Elsie remarked in her slow way : "BORN WITHOUT A BACKBONE" 35 " Eddie thinks his society would fully compensate for a muddy walk of three miles through pitch dark lanes." " Eddie is very good company," said Lady Muriel smiling. " Yes, I really think I am," he replied modestly. " I would be ashamed of myself if I could not lead a lady's thoughts away from any outward inconveniences, and make her forget all but " " My presence and personality," put in Osmond, a little drily. Lady Muriel laughed, showing two bewitching dimples as she did so ; but she turned the conversation, and Eddie, leaning back in his chair, never took his eyes off her. It was an old story now. Lady Muriel had come to the neighbourhood when she was a fair, delicate child of thirteen, and Eddie, a schoolboy home for the holidays, two years her senior, had fallen desperately in love at first sight. Lord Bannister was a traveller and scholar. He lost his wife when his little daughter was nine years old, and he persisted in undertaking her education him- self, for he would not let her out of his sight. " Father," said the child one day as she sat sur- rounded by books in the library, and was being instructed in Egyptian history, " I read of these places, and I see them on paper maps ; but I shall never remember any- thing you tell me about them till I have been to them myself, and touched them with my feet and hands." Lord Bannister told an old friend of his that that was the happiest moment in his existence. " I knew then that we should be companions for life, and I said to her : 1 Dot, we will start for Egypt to-morrow.' " 36 OLIVE TRACY So Muriel's education was a joy instead of a torture, and being an intelligent child with keen observation and retentive memory, she proved, as her father anticipated, a delightful companion in all his travels. She learned the beauties of art in Italy, music took her to Germany, Paris gave her the true Parisian accent, and perhaps the grace and beauty in dress and manners that many a so- ciety woman envied. Yet, like her father, her heart was in the ancient past, and wandering through Palestine, Egypt and amongst all the ruined cities of Assyria and Babylon, gave her the keenest delight and satisfied her soul. When she was nineteen her mother's relations inter- fered, and by dint of much exhortation and persuasion were the means of establishing the girl and her father at Blackenbury Manor. For a time Lord Bannister's restless wanderings were stayed. He entertained and began to take interest in his county and in its sport. But it was not long before he carried off his daughter on a tour through the Rocky Mountains, and they had only just returned to the Manor. Eddie only saw his divinity at rare intervals, and perhaps the rarity of these added zest to his boyish devotion. Muriel herself laughed at him, but was a de- voted admirer of Olive's, and the motherless girl never felt so truly at home as when she was under Mrs. Tracy's wing. She made few friends, but the friendships she made she kept, and the Tracys occupied a large place in her affections. She stayed to dinner, and Eddie was the hero of the hour. Never had he shown such brilliancy in conversa- tion, such aptitude in smart repartee and racy anecdotes. "BORN WITHOUT A BACKBONE" 37 When they adjourned to the drawing-room afterwards, he brought out an old banjo, and, having given them several regimental ditties, insisted upon every one con- tributing their share to the music. Olive sang, Elsie played the violin, and then Muriel was persuaded to sit down at the piano. Her playing was like herself, deli- cate, pure and sparkling, with fitful gleams of light and shade. She played on dreamily, and a hush seemed to fall upon the little group. When the last notes had died away, Eddie gave a sigh, then stood with his back to the fireplace and said thoughtfully : "I feel quite wistful after good things now. Or, like some one I know, 4 1 have a yearning after the impos- sible, a vision of the mighty might be's ! ' " I wish your wistful yearnings would bear fruit," said Olive. " I don't think it is his nature to yearn after any- thing," Elsie said in her calm matter of fact fashion. " Say a kind word for me, Dot." " Indeed, I will, for you have paid my poor playing a great compliment. To incite longings after something good is grand. Now you must do the something grander." "Yes?" " Reach the goal you aim at." " But I'm afraid I have no aim." "If you have discovered that, it is more than many have." " And the summing up of Dot's sermon is : " 1st. Find out that you are aiming at nothing. " ad. Aim at something. " 3d. Never rest short of success." 38 OLIVE TRACY It was Elsie who spoke, and with a comical shrug of his shoulders Eddie said : " Do you know, Dot, I am sure I have the makings of a great man in my composition. Marks of genius are stamped upon my brow. Otherwise, why should every mortal creature I come across seize upon me as a good subject for their persuasions, their remonstrances, their lectures, their sermons ! I am convinced they must say l here is a youth who has the makings of a very bad man, or a very good one. There is nothing little or small in his nature. Intensity is impressed on every line of his features. To me it may be given to be the turning point in his existence, the pivot on which a world of unknown possibilities may revolve.' And then of course their zest is fired, and they set to work. It is hard lines on the poor subject though ! " " The l subject ' is getting too egotistical," said Olive, and then the carriage came for Muriel, and she took her departure, Eddie accompanying her to the hall door with every attention. Half an hour later Olive had retired to her bedroom. She was sitting on her low window seat gazing absently out into the still and darkened garden, when Eddie ap- peared at the door asking admittance. Olive drew her- self together and made room for him at the window. She knew too well what this visit portended. " Come," she said laughing, as she met his rather hesi- tating gaze; "you and I never beat about the bush, Eddie, so make a clean breast of it. What is it you want ? " Eddie shook his head despondently as he sank into a cushioned wicker chair opposite her, and plunged his hands into his pockets. "BORN WITHOUT A BACKBONE" 39 " I'm certain I was born under an unlucky star. On my honour, Olive, I do my little best to get on like most of the other fellows, but I'm always down in my luck. I want a couple of hundred more per annum, and that's a fact." " Well, I have heard all this before, come to the point. Is it your quarter's bills ? " " No, those are a small item ; it is a a debt of honour." " Oh ! " and Olive's tone was dry. " You have been gambling again. How much ? " " It would be a mere bagatelle to the other fellows," said Eddie a little nervously ; " but I can't scrape it together. Only fifty pounds." " Have you told mother ? " "No, I never worry her with this kind of thing; my small bills are bad enough." Then Olive got up from her seat and paced the room with knitted brow. Eddie took out a cigarette, lit it, and put it into his mouth murmuring, " You don't object to smoke. It will sustain me, for I see I am in for a bad quarter of an hour." At last Olive turned upon him with flashing eyes. She stood over him in her simple white evening dress, the row of pearls round her white throat rising and fall- ing with the quick beating of her heart. She looked like a beautiful angel of judgment and wrath, and Eddie, though a little awed, audaciously muttered, " If Holmes could see you now, he'd give me a week's leave on the spot ! " "When is it going to stop?" she demanded. "Do you ever sit down and calmly face the future ? Do you 40 OLIVE TRACY realise that we are suffering now, and shall suffer still more by-and-by, for your extravagance and folly ? Mother will give you her last penny, and you know it. Does it never shame you, that you, her only son, who should be her support and mainstay, are gradually re- ducing her, and all belonging to her, to poverty and des- titution ? You have an affection for your home^ and yet you haven't the pluck and grit to economise, and relieve us of this perpetual strain and anxiety ! " " Nothing like hitting a poor beggar when he is down," said Eddie a little shamefacedly. " But you are not down," said Olive impetuously ; "I wish I could see you so. You take it all as a matter of course. You get into debt, and come running home to squeeze the money out of us, and carry all before you as carelessly and indifferently as if we were millionaires. You are a little bit ashamed of yourself now ; but you will go back to barracks to-morrow with your fifty pounds in your pocket, and begin your gambling with fresh zeal. I dread to look forward to your future. You are a mere boy now. What will you be like ten or twenty years hence ? Debt may lead you into worse crimes, and you will end by breaking mother's heart, and bringing ruin to yourself and the whole lot of us ! " Eddie rose from his seat impatiently. " Oh, cut your preach short ! " he said, " you know nothing of a soldier's life, or you wouldn't talk so ! I own I am a bit of a fool, but I am not a criminal, and no worse than fifty other chaps. It was a crying shame to put me into the cavalry with such a mean allowance." "Then be a man, pay up your debts, and come out of it. Go into the line." "BORN WITHOUT A BACKBONE" 41 " The line ! " Eddie's face was a picture of disgust. Then he said, with that winning frankness that his sister found so irre- sistible : " Come, old girl, I'll admit I'm to blame. I don't know how it is, upon my honour, I don't, for I am sure my life is a constant struggle to keep my head above water. I think I was born without a backbone. You have told me so before, I believe; I wish you would give me an artificial one ! There are times when I actually envy Osmond, poor chap, and think it would be a good thing if I broke my back out steeple-chasing. At all events, in that case if I were to become an encum- brance, I shouldn't be what you consider me now. Do you remember the Assyrian coming down like * a wolf on the fold ' ? A picture of the hopeful son and heir, isn't it ? You're a good hand at condemning, but you never point out a remedy. You fling my * nature ' in my teeth. Have you no stronger force that you can recom- mend to overcome it ? " " You have a will of your own," said Olive more gently. "Why don't you exercise it, and stamp out these expensive tastes before they get complete mastery over you ? " " I don't think I have a will of my own," said Eddie, the twinkle coming into his blue eyes. " I'm such a good-natured fellow that I give it away gratis to the first one who combats for it. I want to live at peace with every one." " You have no speck of moral courage in your com- position." " What is that article ? Define it." 42 OLIVE TRACY " I won't be drawn into an argument. You know what I mean." " Well," said Eddie, with a heavy yawn, " I can only say, in the old style, that I'll make a fresh start and do the best with the little that has been given me. A fel- low with no pluck, no grit, no backbone, no moral courage and no money is heavily handicapped, I con- sider. Now, where is the fifty to come from ? And then I'm off to bed." There was a hopeless despondency in Eddie's tone that touched his sister's warm heart. She put her hand on his shoulder. " I don't mean half I say, Eddie, so cheer up ! I be- lieve in your truth and honour, only you are so young that I can't bear to see you drift on without any effort to save yourself." "I'm a swimmer in a strong current," said Eddie; " it has got the better of me, and all you can do is to stand on the bank and tell me to make an effort. You don't fling me a rope or give me anything to catch hold of." Olive looked at her brother in a puzzled way. He sometimes said things that were beyond her comprehen- sion, and made her feel her helplessness in dealing with him. He laughed lightly as he caught her look. " Never mind, old girl, I haven't gone under yet. I'll make another effort. The question is, Can you help me ? If not, there is the money-lender." Olive dreaded this suggestion above all others. " I can help you this time," she said hastily, " but it will have to be the last. I have just fifty left from that hundred that came from my godmother. But Eddie, I "BORN WITHOUT A BACKBONE" 43 really mean it. You will ruin us all if you go on in this way. As it is, mother is selling out her capital, and what shall we do when it is gone ? " " Get married," said Eddie with an uncomfortable laugh. Olive turned upon him scornfully, but he stopped her speech by a kiss. "You're a trump, Olive. Now I am going to bed with the past in oblivion, and the future full of good resolutions." He disappeared, and Olive sank down on her window seat again with a heavy sigh. CHAPTER IV A HUSBAND IS PART OF ONE'S SOUL But I remained, whose hopes were dim, Whose life, whose thoughts were little worth, To wander on a darken'd earth, Where all things round me breathed of him. In Memoriam. IT was no new thing for Olive to spend some of the early night hours on her window seat in thought. With a laugh on her lips and a joyous ring in her voice she met all her difficulties and cares in the daytime, putting them resolutely aside till she had silence and leisure to dispose of them when the rest of the household was wrapped in sleep. Hers was not a morbid nature. She had described her mode of life very aptly, when she said that she took things as she found them ; and if she did not like them she tried to better them. But it was this " trying to better them " that robbed her of her early sleep and brought fine wrinkles to her brow. As Eddie closed the door behind him, she mused somewhat in this style : " Well, he is settled now till next time, and I shall not trouble about him any more. It is lucky I have the money to give him, poor boy ! But it will be the last I can do. He is a strange mixture of fun and seriousness. I don't believe he is so irresponsible as he seems. What did he mean by a rope ? What is it he is needing that I cannot give him ? He made me feel almost helpless 44 A PART OF ONE'S SOUL 45 when he talked so, for talk as I will, I can see no remedy for him ! He lacks the grit to pull himself together ; how can I give it to him ? I suppose Diogenes would say religion would do it, but a boy's na- ture can't be altered, and I don't think religion has much effect on such characters as his. It is all right for Diogenes, but then his circumstances are so different. Religion is a good thing when you've nothing else, when all that one naturally cares for is swept away. And of course it is a splendid thing for him ! " She moved restlessly up and down the room ; then opened the window, and her thoughts left Eddie and went to the one who was now on the sea. She went over in thought every detail of his last visit, and a sentence of his that had haunted her, now flashed in full force across her mind. " A happy life : I should say When the inner life is adjusted so satisfactorily that it gives one no trouble, and there is time and opportunity to spend the outer one for others." "I wonder," she said to herself, as she leant her arms on the window sill and gazed out into the still moonlit garden; " I wonder what he meant by the ' inner life ' ? What is mine ? I think I have plenty of time and opportunity to spend the outer one for others. That is my life at present, and I would not have it otherwise. I cannot imagine a life apart from mother and all her little worries ; the servants; Eddie; keeping Elsie con- tent ; and managing all round. It keeps me busy and happy. I could not be without outside interests. Yet, if it should all be. swept away from me, where should I be ? My individual life, my ego what is it like ? Ah, I daren't think of it ! It is a blank, except one name 46 OLIVE TRACY woven into my heart strings : I will not, must not, think of him. I have made a mistake which will be the mistake of my life if it is not righted. And can I hope it will be ? Oh, Duke, Duke, why did I send you away so ! " A quick, dry sob, and then resolutely the girl closed the window, and wished she could close her thoughts as easily. In bed she buried her hot cheeks in her pillows. " I love him, I love him ; and I can never tell him so now." Sleep came to her, and with it the boon of forgetful- ness. Eddie went back to barracks ; his mother, aided by Olive, scraped and saved to satisfy some of his most urgent creditors, and life went on smoothly again. Yet Olive began to feel her little home worries chafe her spirit in a way that they never had before. She came into the schoolroom one morning at twelve o'clock with hot cheeks and a ruffled air. " Diogenes, I am struggling with circumstances this morning. Everything has gone wrong. So I am going to sit in your presence for ten whole minutes, at the end of which time I expect to find myself perfectly cured." " There is nothing like talking one's troubles over," said Osmond, closing a book which he was reading, and looking up with his usual bright smile. " To begin with, to-day is the twelfth, the anniversary of father's death." Osmond gave a low whistle of comprehension. " Of course, mother came down this morning in the deepest woe. She hasn't been very well the last few A PART OF ONE'S SOUL 47 days, and she looks a veritable ghost to-day. I tried to keep the breakfast table cheerful, but Elsie was like a lump of lead. Then mother stated her intention of driving to the cemetery this afternoon in our trap. I told her it was madness in this showery weather. There was a regular hailstorm an hour ago, and I urged her to have a close fly. She said she was sure it was because I did not want to drive her ; that she must economise ; and that she could not afford to hire a carriage for such a distance ; she said we had no feeling, etc., and ended by leaving the table in tears, having hardly touched her breakfast. I went down to the kitchen ; Fanny met me on the way and gave warning. She says she cannot stand M argot's interference any longer, and cook told me that Fanny was crying half the night, because she 4 liked the family and wished to stay, but couldn't give satisfaction.' Mother scolded her yesterday for not keeping her brasses better, and Margot followed up the occasion, as she always does. I talked to Fanny and made her promise not to be so silly ; then the butcher leaves a note with ' immediate' written on it. I couldn't disturb mother, so I opened it, and found it was for an immediate settlement of his account, as he was in money difficulties. I am sure his difficulties are nothing to ours, and it has been running on so long, that I know we owe him a pretty heavy amount." " What have you done ? " asked Osmond. " Oh, I sent him a very polite reply, saying that mother was not very well, but I would refer the matter to her as soon as I could. I know there isn't a chance of our paying it for another month, if then ! " " I can't think," said Osmond gravely, " why we can- 48 OLIVE TRACY not economise a little. There is nothing more wearing than perpetually living beyond one's income. Couldn't we take a smaller house, do with fewer servants, and cut off the pony and trap ! Oh, if only I were not such an encumbrance ! " " Now, Diogenes, don't be so stupid ! You know your 80 a year makes you anything but an encum- brance. If I had that income of my own, I should revel in my independence. No, try as much as I can, we cannot economise. Mother will not, so there is an end to it. And if it were not for Eddie we should have no need to do anything of the sort. We have wandered from the point. Where was I ? Oh, I know ! Well, I sent my note to the butcher; then came a message from Lady Crofton, who wishes me to go to see her this afternoon. I can't do it if I drive with mother, and Elsie won't go to the cemetery ; she says she cannot stand it." " Couldn't you go to Lady Crofton on the way back ? " " I'm afraid not, and I hate to disappoint her. It is the more tiresome because I'm convinced mother will get a thorough chill, and lay herself up this stormy weather." " Well ? " " I think that is the end of my woes at present. They're not very great, are they ? " Olive was laughing now, and she turned to greet Elsie, who was entering the room with a scared face, rather mischievously : " Come in, Mother Mumps," as Eddie would say, " What is the matter ? " A PART OF ONE'S SOUL 49 " Mother has had a telegram." " Well ? " " I don't know what it is. Margot and she are shut up together." "You needn't think at once that it must be something dreadful. If it was, we should have been sent for. Ah, here is Margot ; now we shall hear ! " " Mrs. Stanton is coming to stay fora bit," said Mar- got imperturbably. " Vinny ! " exclaimed Elsie, brightening up at once. " Oh, I am glad ! When ? " "This afternoon. She hopes to arrive by the six train. The mistress says she cannot see her to-day, Miss Olive, so you must explain, and excuse her pres- ence at the dinner table." Margot disappeared, closing the door after her as sud- denly and quietly as she had opened it. " Margot gets grander in her speech every day," re- marked Olive. " Well, I am glad the telegram is no worse. I always think of Eddie when one comes. Now I must be off to see to the spare room. Elsie, will you meet her ? I shall hardly manage it. I do wish she hadn't chosen to-day to come." Olive slipped out of the room, and Elsie seated herself on the low window seat by Osmond's couch. A pink colour had come into her cheeks ; she leant out of the window, and picked a spray of jasmine and tucked it in her belt, humming a little air as she did so. " I wonder," said Osmond meditatively, " why Vinny is coming so suddenly ? When last we heard from her she said she was going abroad, and would not see us till the middle of summer." 50 OLIVE TRACY " Perhaps Randolph is going off alone. He is so eccentric that one never knows what his plans may be. Oh, if I were Vinny, how differently I would use my chances ! " Elsie's tone was fierce with passion. Turning to Osmond she exclaimed : " How I hate my life ! nar- row, stilted, cramped, and she comes down here be- wailing hers ! " " Well, what would you do if you were in her shoes ? " " I would fill my empty soul. I would begin to live." It was not often that Elsie's sleepy exterior showed the passion that dwelt within. Osmond wisely showed no surprise, but drew her on. " What would you fill your soul with ? " "With everything that Vinny scorns music, art, society, literature. I would, as the Americans say, l do ' London, but I would not skim the surface. I would mix among all classes ; I would be a unit in every clique. I would inhale and drink to intoxication of all that I could get. I would make friends with those I only hear of through the newspapers. I would listen and listen until I was able to take part in it all, and I would never rest till I was in the centre of an ever-moving, living, growing life." " It sounds full," said Osmond quietly, " but it isn't full enough for an immortal soul." u Oh, don't preach Diogenes ! I know it would satisfy me. You say I haven't begun to ' build,' as you call it, yet. What can I build in this sleepy, little, cathedral town ? It may sound conceited to say it, but I feel I have powers in me that are wasting. I cannot be content with these everlasting afternoon teas and A PART OF ONE'S SOUL 51 musical evenings, where every one says the same thing, and hasn't an idea outside their own little cathedral sphere. I sometimes almost wish to be a Dissenter to shock them." "You talk of building. It is the old tale of being without straw, and yet told to make bricks. Now, you're looking very wise, so out with it." " I was thinking that if circumstances may hinder building, no circumstances, however adverse they may be, can hinder the foundation stone being laid. That is ready made and complete in itself." " Then what has to be done to it ? " " It needs to be put in its place." " Diogenes, you go too far beneath the surface. I don't understand such things." Elsie's eager, animated look died away ; her emotions were spent, and perhaps ashamed of having given vent to them, she sank back into her usual impassive lethargy. Osmond wisely turned the subject, and if he had been shown a little glimpse of Elsie's inner life that morning, with the troubled depths below the surface, neither by word or sign did he reveal it to any one. At two o'clock that afternoon Olive started with her mother in the pony trap for the cemetery. As Mrs. Tracy took her seat, Margot put into her lap an open basket with an exquisite wreath of lilies and maidenhair fern. Olive's quick eyes noted that it had been made by the most expensive florist in the town, and she sighed as she thought how impossible it seemed to economise. Yet, with her usual philosophical way of taking things, she chatted cheerily to her mother as they drove along, and would not allow that sad silence that Mrs. Tracy usually 52 OLIVE TRACY adopted on such occasions. The sky above still looked dark and threatening ; yet, as they gradually left the town and drove through sweet hawthorn-scented lanes, the air seemed to clear, and when they reached the cemetery gates the heavy clouds had rolled away and the sun was shining brightly. Leaving the trap in the charge of the porter at the lodge, Olive assisted her mother along the gravelled paths, passing rows of white tomb- stones and grassy mounds lying still and silent amongst the fresh, budding green around them. Olive was silent now. She was always peculiarly susceptible to the soothing influences of nature. She had no sad associa- tions with her present surroundings. Her recollections of her father were vague and shadowy, for he had died when she was quite a tiny child. She noted the daisies springing up on the well-kept turf; the sweet, spring flowers planted by loving, sorrowing friends ; and through the young, green foliage of the larches, laburnums and acacias, she caught a distant view of the winding river, with the wooded heights on the farther side. Her thoughts left her mother and fled to South Africa. Had he landed yet ? Did Lady Crofton want to show her his first letter home ? Would he come back with the same desire that he took away with him ? Would he give her one more chance ? If so, what would her answer be ? The girl's soul thrilled within her as she tried to picture that scene. And then with a start she heard a low sob from her mother, and found that they had reached her father's grave, and Mrs. Tracy, having placed her wreath lovingly and reverently below the marble cross, was now looking at it with a tense, heart- breaking gaze. A PART OF ONE'S SOUL 53 Olive drew back a step or two ; she almost felt as if she were an intruder, but she need not have feared, for Mrs. Tracy was perfectly oblivious of her presence. She stood there, a gentle, fragile, little woman in widow's weeds, her hands tremblingly resting on the iron rail that enclosed the grave ; the sun threw a soft, golden radiance on her grey hair and sweet, tear-dimmed eyes, and she murmured over to herself the words under- neath the cross : Until the day break and the shadows flee away. As Olive looked at her a sudden wave of sympathy and pity swept over her. " Mother," she said gently, " I never knew him, I wish I had." Mrs. Tracy looked at her daughter, standing there in the spring of her glad youth and beauty, and then she laid her hand on her arm. " Olive," she said in calm, hushed tones, " it is not only himself that lies here, but the best part of me." Olive was silent. The experience of her own heart was teaching her to understand her mother better now than she had ever done before. Mrs. Tracy's voice trembled with suppressed feeling as she went on : "Not one of my children remember him, most of his contemporaries have passed away, and the few who are left have forgotten his existence. I only live on daughters may be a comfort, sons a support, but a hus- band is part of one's soul. My life and his were one, and are one still forever. Only part of me has lived since he left me, but it will not always be so." 54 OLIVE TRACY She raised her eyes to the blue sky above her, and added under her breath, as a light seemed to break over her face " In sure and certain hope of the Resurrec- tion to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ." And then silently they came away. CHAPTER V THE " ONLY CONTENTED ONE IN THE FAMILY " Discontent is the want of self-reliance ; it is infirmity of will. Emerson. MRS. TRACY went to her room upon her return and had a cup of tea; then Olive saw to her dismay that she was bent on going to the cathedral service at five. She tried in vain to dissuade her, but finding that quite im- possible, she asked Margot to go with her; and came in to see Osmond, saying desperately : " I really believe mother does her best to kill herself on such days as these ! It isn't fair on us, but she won't hear a word." " Are you coming to stay ? " said Osmond with a wistful look in his eyes, that Olive did not see. " I haven't seen any of you since the morning. Elsie is quite excited at Vinny's arrival, so she has made herself scarce." Olive looked at her watch. " I am thinking that I will just run over, and see Lady Crofton. I shall have time if I go at once. Vinny will not be here till half past six." " Cut along, then, and find out all you can about his Grace. He has never written to me yet ! " Osmond's voice was cheery, but when Olive had dis- appeared, he gave a little sigh. He had been having one of his bad days, when his pain was severe; and a head- ache in addition prevented him from forgetting his lone- liness in reading. 55 56 OLIVE TRACY Never complaining, the girls did not realise how much their society was appreciated by him ; and though there were few days that did not see one of them in the school- room, there were many long, lonely hours to be got through by the invalid. He lay now watching Olive running down the garden, and through the meadows to the old stone bridge. And as he watched her, he said to himself with a little smile : " She is never too tired or too busy to go to the Croftons." Olive slackened her pace when she reached the high road ; five minutes walk brought her to the heavy iron gates, and the long beech avenue that led up to Crofton Court. She knew every inch of the way, and when she came to the old Tudor mansion, she walked in at the front entrance through the open glass doors that were never locked, as if she were one of the family. At the further end of the hall she met the butler. " Is Lady Crofton in the drawing-room, Triggs ? " "Yes, miss, she was hoping to see you to tea." Olive sped up a low flight of broad stairs, and pushed open a door directly opposite her. The air as she entered, seemed full of the scent of hot-house flowers. Two large tubs of pink and white azalias stood in a deep bay window : genistas, ferns, and arum lilies were grouped together in another recess, and flowers of all varieties and hue were scattered over the room. Lady Crofton, a tall, thin, and rather stately woman, sat in an easy chair by her afternoon tea table, and now looked up with a smile of welcome at Olive. u My dear, I had almost given you up." Olive bent down her face to be kissed. THE ONLY CONTENTED ONE 57 " Yes," she said brightly ; " and I almost sent a note to say I couldn't come. I have been to the cemetery with mother this afternoon, and Vinny is coming to us to-day; so there has been a lot to do." " One of your mother's anniversaries ? " "Yes, my father's." Lady Crofton checked the slight smile that had come to her lips. " Ah, my dear Olive ; there never was such a devoted couple as your parents ! I used to wonder whether one could ever survive the other. Now sit down, I thought you would like my news from the Cape." " Yes, indeed, I should," said Olive frankly, though a faint blush rose to her cheeks, which Lady Crofton's keen eyes detected at once with some amusement. " It is good news. Duke has met Mark, and he says he is steadying down again. It is such a relief to my mind. There seems to be rather a nice English family living near Mark, and Duke is quite taken with them. He says they are such a boon to Mark. They come from Northumberland. Corderoy is the name, but I hardly think they are a county family. Still, I have such a horror at colonials that I feel thankful Mark has such neighbours. I always think a family life so good for a young man. And Duke says the girls are well educated and perfect ladies. I always consider that Duke has fastidious tastes, so I am quite satisfied if he is. I will read you his letter. Dear me, it is getting quite dusk already. Will you read it for me ? " Olive gladly assented. She took herself to task afterwards for the foolish pleasure she felt in han- dling the thin foreign sheet of paper with the clear open 58 OLIVE TRACY handwriting that was so familiar to her. It was a pleas- ant, chatty letter, and towards the end he wrote : X I am full of work. The country seems in a most unsettled state, and people wonder out here if England has at all grasped the true state of things. I should not be a bit surprised if we have war before the year is out. Optimists have great hopes of the coming conference at Bloemfontein, but wiseacres here shake their heads and say Kruger means war. This is the first letter I have written since we landed. If you see any of the Tracys, you might let Osmond hear of my whereabouts. I shall write to him by the next mail. " Osmond occupies a large place in his affections," said Lady Crofton smiling ; " whenever he was long away from us it was always Osmond I found had been the attraction ! " " He was very good to him," said Olive handing back the letter, and trying to speak indifferently. " I am sure Osmond misses him dreadfully since he has gone." " And no one else ? " Olive's head was held up proudly. " 1 think we all miss him, Lady Crofton, but Os- mond, of course, most of all." Lady Crofton looked at the girl with a little shake of the head. Then she said, meditatively : " I don't want them both to marry out at the Cape. Duke seems so Unusually taken with the Misses Corderoys' attrac- tions that I wonder whether it is as much on his own account as on Mark's that he is so pleased to have them as neighbours. I should like Mark to marry, it will steady him ; but there is plenty of time for Duke. I should like him to choose a wife nearer home." " How is Sir Marmaduke ? " asked Olive. THE ONLY CONTENTED ONE 59 " A little better to-day. You must see him before you go. The doctor told me this morning that he may live on for years. And I really think his speech is improv- ing. I can understand every word he says." They chatted on, and once off rather critical ground, Olive recovered her spirits. She taught Lady Crofton a new stitch in knitting, read her an article from The Times^ and then went into an adjoining room to see Sir Marma- duke. He looked very feeble in his wheel-chair, but gave Olive a warm welcome and made her sit down and read his son's letter again to him. He had a keen sense of humour, and was not unlike his eldest son in appear- ance. He still preserved his uprightness of carriage, and it was only when he spoke that people recognised that he had had a stroke of paralysis. " So we have sent the eldest son after the prodigal," he said with twinkling eyes. " It is a new version of the old story, but I would rather Mark's brother did the clothing and feeding out there, than that the father should have to do it at home." " I don't think Mark has come to that," said Olive. " He is a thorough bad lot, that is my experience of him, and I know him rather intimately." " I expect he will do better now that Duke is within reach of him." The old man shook his head. " He will never do well. It was born in him. How is your young scapegrace ? " " Oh, Eddie is very well," said Olive, who always tried to hide her brother's delinquencies from all their friends. " An idle young dog, Holmes calls him. Holmes was 60 OLIVE TRACY here dining last week. He walks into your brother sometimes, I fancy." Olive deftly changed the subject ; and soon after took her leave. She hastened home, and had not been in five minutes before Vinny arrived. Mrs. Tracy had re- turned from the evening service and gone straight to bed. Margot informed Olive that she was " com- pletely exhausted by the violence of her emotions." And Olive explained this as well as she could to her eldest sister, who looked rather blank at the absence of her mother. They gathered round the drawing-room fire before dinner was announced, feeling a little forlorn ; but Olive did her best to dispel this feeling, and Vinny said with a smile and sigh : "You never grow a day older, Olive; just the same old rattle-pate ! " Vinny herself was the beauty of the family. Tall and graceful, with a proud poise of her head, and a low, sweet voice, she would have attracted attention in any crowd. Her hair was a soft golden brown, which rippled off her broad white brow and clustered in tiny ringlets wherever it could get a chance. A clear, fair complexion, Grecian nose, and delicately cut features belonged to Vinny, also a pair of the softest, saddest brown eyes that were ever owned by a human being. Her manner was always gracious, but very slightly bored ; and she looked as if life to her was a thing to put up with, and not in any instance to be enjoyed. Elsie looked up to Vinny with a mixture of admiration and impatience. She was talkative now, and her tones were eager. THE ONLY CONTENTED ONE 61 " Now, Vinny, tell us the latest. We see a Londoner so seldom." " The latest in what ? " " In fashions, in new songs, new books, new crazes, new stars in society oh, everything that is going on while we sleep away our lives down here." " I wish I knew of anything really new," said Vinny, with a curl of her lips. " I have reached Solomon's experience, that ' there is nothing new under the sun.' " " Oh, that is because you have been surfeited on the fat of the land. I only wish I could share a little of it." Vinny looked at her young sister rather wistfully. " I only wish you could Elsie, but it is of no use my asking Randolph. I told him the other day it is a farce to have a spare room ; he has such an objection to guests." " And why are you not abroad ? " asked Elsie sud- denly. " It is put off for three weeks. Randolph has gone into the country on some business, so I thought I would come home and get a whiff of sweet spring air and sun- shine. The parks in town always make me homesick in spring." Elsie gave a short little laugh. " I'm the only contented one in the family," said Olive, with a virtuous air ; " Elsie lives in the country and pines to be in town ; Vinny lives in town and pines for the country."