m
 
 THE GATELESS BARRIER
 
 By the same author 
 THE WAGES OF SIN 
 THE CARISSIMA 
 MRS. LORIMER 
 A COUNSEL OF PERFECTION 
 COLONEL ENDERBY'S WIFE 
 LITTLE PETER
 
 The 
 
 Gate less Barrier 
 
 By 
 LUCAS MALET 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 DODD, MEAD tf COMPANY 
 
 1900
 
 Copyright, /poo, by DODD, 
 MEAD AND COMPANY 
 
 UNIVERSITY PRESS JOHN WILSON 
 AND SON CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.
 
 Preface 
 
 " ^W 'W" THAT is the book?" 
 
 ^/%/ "According to the Japanese 
 pronunciation of the Chinese 
 characters of the title, we call it Mu-Mon-Kwan, 
 which means 'The Gateless Barrier.' It is one 
 of the books especially studied by the Zen 
 sect, or the sect of Dhyana. A peculiarity of 
 some of the Dhyana texts this (story) being 
 a good example is that they are not explana- 
 tory. They only suggest. Questions are put, 
 but the student must think out the answers 
 for himself. He must think them out but not 
 write them. You know that Dhyana repre- 
 sents human effort to reach, through medita- 
 tion, zones of thouglu^e^pji/i, fcjie range of
 
 vi Preface 
 
 verbal expression; and any thought narrowed 
 into utterance loses all Dhyana quality. . . . 
 Well, this story is supposed to be true ; but it 
 is used only for a Dhyana question. . . ." 
 
 LAFCADIO HEARN. 
 
 " Exotics and Retrospectives," 
 pages 83, 84.
 
 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 LAURENCE leaned his arms upon 
 the broad wooden hand-rail of the 
 bulwarks. The water hissed away 
 from the side. Immediately below 
 it was laced by shifting patterns of white 
 foam, and stained pale green, violet, and 
 amber, by the light shining out through the 
 rounds of the port-poles. Further away it 
 showed blue black, but for a glistening on the 
 hither side of the vast ridge and furrow. The 
 smoke from the funnels streamed afar, and 
 was upturned by a following wind. The 
 great ship swung in the trough, and then 
 lifted as a horse lifts at a fence while the 
 seas slid away from under her keel. As she 
 lifted, her masts raked the blue-black night 
 sky, and the stars danced in the rigging. 
 
 This was the first time since his marriage, 
 nearly two years before, that Laurence found 
 himself alone and altogether his own master. 
 His marriage was a notable success every
 
 2 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 one said so, and he himself had never doubted 
 the fact so far. Yet this solitary voyage, this 
 temporary return to bachelorhood, possessed 
 compensations. He reproached himself, as in 
 duty bound, for being sensible of those com- 
 pensations. He excused himself to himself. 
 He gave reasons. Doubtless his present 
 sense of freedom and content took its rise 
 not in his enforced absence from Virginia, 
 from her bright continuous talk, her innu- 
 merable and perfectly constructed dresses, her 
 perpetual and skilful activities ; but in his 
 escape from the highly artificial and material- 
 ised society in which she lived and moved 
 and had her being. Laurence had certainly 
 no ostensible cause of complaint against that 
 society. Its members had recited his verses, 
 given a charming performance of his little 
 comedy in the interests of a deserving 
 charity quoted his opinions on literature 
 and politics, and waxed enthusiastic over his 
 strokes at golf and his style at rackets and 
 polo. He had, in fact, been the spoilt child 
 of two New York winters and two Newport 
 summers. No Englishman, he was repeatedly 
 assured, had ever been so popular among the
 
 The Gateless Barrier 3 
 
 "smart set" of the great republic. It had 
 petted and feted him, and finally given him 
 one of its fairest daughters to wife. And for 
 all this Laurence Rivers was sincerely grate- 
 ful. His vanity was most agreeably flattered. 
 His natural love both of pleasing and of 
 pleasure was well satisfied. Yet such is the 
 perversity of human nature the very com- 
 pleteness of his success 'i'-nded to lessen the 
 worth of it. He even questioned, at mo- 
 ments, whether that success did not offer the 
 measure of surrounding immaturity of taste 
 and judgment, rather than of the greatness 
 of his personal talent and merit. He was 
 haunted by the conviction that he had never 
 yet given his best, the highest and strongest 
 of his nature, either in thought, or art, or 
 adventure, or even perhaps he feared 
 it in love. The demand had been for 
 a thoroughly presentable and immediately 
 marketable article ; and the Best is usually far-" 
 from marketable, often but doubtfully pre- 
 sentable either. It followed that Laurence 
 had, almost of necessity, kept the best of 
 himself to himself kept it to himself so 
 effectually that he had come uncommonly
 
 4 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 near forgetting its existence altogether, and 
 letting it perish for lack of air and exercise. 
 
 Now leaning his arms upon the hand-rail 
 of the bulwarks, while the stars danced in the 
 rigging, and the great ship ploughed her way 
 eastward across the mighty ridge and furrow 
 of the Atlantic, gratified vanity ceased to ob- 
 tain in him. His thoughts travelled back to 
 periods of his career at once more obscure 
 and more ambitious to the few vital rap- 
 tures, the few fine failures, the few illuminat- 
 ing aspirations which he had known. The 
 bottom dropped out of the social side of 
 things, so to speak. He looked below super- 
 ficial appearances into the heart of it all. Life 
 put off its cheap frippery of fancy dress, 
 Death its cunningly devised concealments 
 and evasions. Backed by the immensities of 
 sea and sky, both stood before him naked 
 and unashamed, in all their primitive and 
 eternal vigour, their uncompromising actual- 
 ity, their inviolable mystery ; while, with a 
 sudden and searching apprehension of the 
 profound import of the question, Rivers asked 
 himself 
 
 "What shall it profit a man what in
 
 'The Gateless Barrier 5 
 
 good truth if he gain the whole world and 
 lose his own soul ?" 
 
 He had been summoned to England by the 
 illness of an uncle whose estates and consider- 
 able wealth he would inherit. That illness 
 had been pronounced incurable ; but the ap- 
 proaching death of this near relation made 
 small demand upon his intimate feelings. A 
 decent seriousness of thought and speech, 
 concerning the impending event, were all that 
 could reasonably be required of him ; for the 
 elder Mr. Rivers was both morose and eccen- 
 tric, and had given his nephew a handsome 
 allowance on the express understanding that he 
 saw as little of him as possible. A declared 
 misogynist, he had received the announcement 
 of Laurence's proposed marriage with an exas- 
 perating mixture of contempt and approval. 
 
 " I am sincerely sorry for you," he had 
 written on this occasion. " The more so that 
 you appear to labour under the impression 
 that the step you have in contemplation is 
 calculated to secure your happiness. This, 
 you must pardon my remarking, is obviously 
 absurd. I grant that you are under a moral 
 obligation to perpetuate our family and secure
 
 6 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 the succession to our estates in the direct line. 
 I cannot, therefore, but be glad that you 
 should adopt the recognised means to attain 
 the above ends. I should, however, respect 
 both your motives and your intelligence more 
 highly had you done this in a rational and 
 scientific spirit, without indulgence in senti- 
 mental illusions which every sane student of 
 human history has long since perceived to be 
 as pernicious to the moral, as they are ener- 
 vating to the mental health. I could say 
 much worthy of your attention upon this 
 point ; but, in your present condition of 
 emotional inebriation, it would be a waste of 
 energy on my part, I might add, a throw- 
 ing of pearls before swine. Still, justice, my 
 dear Laurence, compels me to own that, even 
 so, I must ever consider myself in a measure 
 your debtor, since the fact of your existence, 
 your remarkably sound physical condition, 
 your normal and slightly unintelligent out- 
 look on life, have combined to relieve me of 
 the odious necessity of sacrificing my time and 
 my personal liberty to the interests of our 
 family, by entering into those domestic rela- 
 tions, which you appear to regard with as much
 
 The Gate/ess Barrier j 
 
 thoughtless complacency as I with reasoned 
 repulsion and distrust." 
 
 This being the attitude of the elder Mr. 
 Rivers's mind, it followed that when, by his 
 request, Mr. Wormald, the family solicitor, 
 summoned his nephew and heir to attend his 
 deathbed, the young man's wife was not in- 
 cluded in that gloomy invitation. And this 
 Laurence could not by any means honestly 
 regret. Virginia at a disadvantage was an 
 idea almost inconceivable. Yet so immediate 
 and concrete a being would not, he felt, shade 
 quite gracefully into the mortuary landscape. 
 She would not suit it, neither would it suit 
 her. For she was almost amazingly in 
 harmony with her modern, mundane en- 
 vironment ; and, save in the way of costly 
 mourning costumes, it seemed incredible that 
 death should have any dominion over her. 
 It struck him, moreover, that if he gauged 
 the position aright, Virginia, notwithstanding 
 her many charms and much cleverness, would 
 have to take a back seat in his eccentric 
 uncle's establishment. And Virginia in a 
 back seat was again an idea almost incon- 
 ceivable. So he said
 
 8 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 " It 's an awful nuisance to have to leave 
 you like this, but this is going to be a pretty 
 dismal bit of business anyhow. I'd much 
 better just worry through it alone. You '11 
 join me later when it's all over, and we are 
 free to take possession and knock the place in 
 shape. Stoke Rivers is really rather delight- 
 ful, though it is not very large. There used 
 to be some good pictures and books and 
 things in it I remember. I believe my uncle 
 is a virtuoso in his way, though he is such 
 a cross-grained old chap. You'll enjoy the 
 place, at all events for a few months every 
 year, I think, Virginia. And you can have 
 all your own people over in turn, you know ; 
 and show them how the savage English do it 
 in their savage little island. You '11 make the 
 neighbourhood sit up, I fancy. It '11 be 
 amusing." 
 
 But as Laurence leaned his arms upon the 
 broad hand-rail of the bulwarks, in the chill 
 of the March night, while the water hissed 
 away from the side, and the engines drummed 
 and pounded, and the bows of the great ship 
 lifted against the far, blue-black horizon, he 
 began to wonder whether he had not been
 
 Gateless Barrier 
 
 somewhat over hasty in proposing chronic 
 invasion of Stoke Rivers by all Virginia's 
 smart friends in turn. They -were well-bred, 
 hospitable, amusing, very much up-to-date. 
 He owed them thanks for a most uncom- 
 monly good time. But they seemed a trifle 
 thin, a trifle superficial and ephemeral just 
 now, in face of the immensities of ocean and 
 sky, and of the ancient mysteries of Life and 
 Death.
 
 II 
 
 NOT .until after dinner, on the even- 
 ing of his arrival, was Laurence 
 admitted to his uncle's presence. 
 The aspect of the room was rich 
 though sombre. Long in proportion to its 
 width, with a low, heavily-moulded ceiling, 
 the walls of it were panelled in black oak three 
 parts of their height. The space between the 
 top of the panelling and the cornice was 
 hung with dark blue silk-damask, narrow 
 diagonal lines of yellow crossing the back- 
 ground of the raised pattern. The short, full 
 curtains drawn over the wide window were of 
 the same handsome material. So were the 
 counterpane and hangings of the half-tester, 
 ebony bed. This last was elaborately carved. 
 Two couchant sphinxes, the polished surface 
 of whose cup-like breasts glowed in the fire- 
 light, supported the footboard, as did a 
 couple of caryatides naked to the loins 
 the canopy. Near the fireplace stood an oaken 
 table, on which lay a few well-bound books. 
 The further end of it was covered by a cloth 
 of gold and crimson embroidery evidently
 
 The Gateless Barrier n 
 
 fashioned from some priestly vestment upon 
 which rested a memento rnori, about four inches 
 in height, cut out of a solid block of rock 
 crystal, the olive crown which encircled the 
 brow being of pale, green jade. 
 
 In a deep-seated, high-backed arm-chair 
 placed between the table and the outstanding 
 pillars of the chimney piece propped up by 
 dark silken pillows, his spare frame wrapped 
 in a long, fur-lined, violet, cloth dressing- 
 gown, a violet, velvet skull-cap on his head, 
 sat Mr. Rivers. 
 
 Laurence, who had not seen his uncle for 
 the last five or six years, was conscious of 
 receiving an almost painfully vivid impression 
 at once of physical feebleness and intellectual 
 energy. The elder man's face and hands ap- 
 peared transparent as the crystal memento mori 
 on the table beside him. His long, straight 
 nose showed thin as a knife. His wide, lip- 
 less mouth seemed to shut with a spring, like 
 a trap. The bone of the face and hands was 
 salient, as of one suffering starvation. Yet 
 the blue-grey eyes, though sunk in their 
 cavernous sockets, were brilliant, alert, full 
 of an almost malevolent greed of observation.
 
 12 "The Gateless Barrier 
 
 Laurence noted that a spotless cleanliness and 
 order pervaded the room and the person of 
 its occupant. The angular and attenuated 
 face was shaven with scrupulous nicety. The 
 finger-nails were carefully polished and pointed. 
 An open collar and wristbands of fine lawn 
 showed exquisitely white against the purple 
 cloth and fur of the dressing-gown. It was 
 evident that Mr. Rivers, whatever the pecu- 
 liarities of his temper or of his opinions, 
 treated illness and approaching dissolution 
 with an admirable effect of stoicism and 
 personal dignity. 
 
 As Laurence himself conspicuously well- 
 groomed, in evening dress, no mark of his 
 long journey upon him, save in a complexion 
 tanned by sun and sea-wind, and by the di- 
 rectness of glance and vigour of movement 
 that remains, for a while, by every true sea- 
 lover after he comes ashore crossed the 
 space between the door and fireplace, the old 
 man raised himself a little in his chair. 
 
 " Believe me, I am very sensible of the 
 consideration you show in so immediately 
 gratifying my desire to see you, my dear 
 Laurence."
 
 The Gateless Barrier 13 
 
 <f I was very happy to come, sir," the 
 younger man answered. But he was not un- 
 conscious of a point of irony in the cold, 
 level tones of the voice, or in the persistent 
 scrutiny of the brilliant eyes. These appeared 
 to regard him as they might some row of 
 figures mentally casting up, subtracting, 
 dividing, intent on arriving, with all possible 
 despatch, at a conclusive and final result. 
 The effect was not precisely encouraging, nor 
 were the words which followed. 
 
 "That is well," Mr. Rivers said. " But it 
 is desirable you should understand from the 
 outset that which you have undertaken. You 
 may be detained here. The disease from 
 which I suffer is, as you have been informed, 
 incurable ; though it is, I am happy to say, 
 neither offensive or infectious. But though 
 the final result is assured, the moment of its 
 advent is uncertain. Neither I, nor the phy- 
 sicians who amiably expend their limited and 
 somewhat empirical skill upon me, can deter- 
 mine the date at which this disease will prove 
 fatal. I shall regret to cause you inconven- 
 ience, but the event is beyond my control. I 
 may keep you waiting."
 
 14 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 " The longer the better, sir," Laurence said, 
 smiling, and his smile was sincere and genial, 
 of the sort which inspires confidence. "That 
 is," he added, "if you do not suffer unduly." 
 
 " When the mind has realised the great-v 
 ness of its own powers, and trained itself to 
 their exercise, the will can almost invariably 
 reduce suffering to endurable proportions," 
 Mr. Rivers replied contemptuously, as deal- 
 ing with a matter obvious, and so beneath 
 discussion. He raised one transparent hand, 
 pointed towards a chair, and then let his wrist 
 drop again upon a supporting silken cushion. 
 As he did so the two heavy rings he wore 
 one an amethyst set in brilliants and engraved 
 with Arabic characters, the other a black 
 scarab on a hoop of rough gold slipped up 
 the long phalange of his second finger to the 
 knotted knuckle, and back again, with a dry 
 rattle and chink. 
 
 " Oblige me by sitting down, Laurence," he 
 said. " I wish you to labour under no mis- 
 apprehension as to my intentions in sending 
 for you. A certain amount of business may 
 need attention ; but all that you can discuss 
 -with my agent, Armstrong, a very worthy,
 
 The Gateless Barrier 15 
 
 though prejudiced person. My affairs are in 
 order. I am not called upon to waste any of 
 the time remaining to me upon them. Let 
 me explain myself. The disease for, to do 
 so, I must refer to it once again which is 
 in process of destroying certain organs, and 
 consequently paralysing certain functions of 
 my body, has in no degree affected my mind. 
 This retains the completeness of its lucidity. 
 Indeed, I am disposed to believe that my 
 enforced physical inactivity, and the small 
 number of objects presented to my sight I 
 never leave this room tend to exalt and 
 stimulate my intellectual powers. You recall 
 the legend of the ancient philosopher who 
 plucked out his eyes, that, undisturbed by the 
 vision of irrelevant objects, he might attain to 
 greater concentration of thought. Disease, 
 in limiting my activities, has gone far to con- 
 fer upon me the boon which the philosopher 
 in question strove, rather violently, to bestow 
 upon himself. I have ever been a student. 
 I propose to continue so to the last. My 
 interest is unabated. My passion for knowl- 
 edge the sole passion of my life remains 
 in full force."
 
 16 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 Laurence sat listening, nursing his knee. 
 The speaker's attitude was impressive, in a 
 way admirable. His detachment, his calm, 
 his acumen, commanded his hearer's respect. 
 
 " Yes, yes. I see that 's fine," Laurence 
 said under his breath. 
 
 A slightly ironical expression passed across 
 the elder man's attenuated face. 
 
 " I am, of course, glad that my sentiments 
 meet with your approval. But I fear that 
 approval may prove premature. I have not 
 yet fully explained myself." 
 
 Laurence smiled at him good-temperedly. 
 " All right, sir ; I 'm listening," he said. 
 
 " I must frankly admit I did not require 
 your presence with a view to having you 
 endorse my opinions. These are, I trust, 
 too much the outcome of close and lengthened 
 thought to stand in need of support from the 
 agreement of another mind. I have never 
 desired disciples, having the evidence of the 
 history of all great religious, political, and 
 scientific movements to prove conclusively 
 that it is the invariable habit of the disciple 
 to falsify his master's teaching, to attach him- 
 self to the weak rather than the strong places
 
 'The Gateless Barrier 17 
 
 of such teaching, to betray intellectually with 
 some emotional, some hysterical kiss. The 
 disciple resembles those parasitic plants of the 
 tropic forests, that strangle the tree upon 
 which they climb upward toward the air and 
 light." 
 
 He paused a moment, turned his head 
 against the pillows, with a movement of al- 
 most distressing weakness. Then, gathering 
 himself together by a perceptible exercise of 
 will, he looked searchingly at Laurence again, 
 and resumed his speech. 
 
 " Nor have I required your presence here 
 during these last days or weeks as the case 
 may be with a view to offering to you, or 
 receiving from you, that which is usually 
 termed affection. I am not aware of any de- 
 mand, or supply, in myself of that very much 
 overrated commodity. I deny the actuality, 
 indeed, of its existence. Subjected to analy- 
 sis, it can always be resolved into workings 
 of self-interest, or into the gratification, more 
 or less gross, of the animal passions. It is 
 the generator of all the practical folly and 
 intellectual sloth which go to retard the pro- 
 gress of science, and the rule of high philoso-
 
 i8 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 phy among men. As between ourselves, my 
 dear Laurence, any pretence of affection would 
 be transparently ridiculous. We are barely 
 acquainted. My departure will very clearly 
 be to your advantage. Moreover, our tastes 
 and characters are so divergent, that any real 
 community of interests, any real bond of 
 sympathy, is clearly out of the question." 
 
 During the course of this address the young 
 man's pleasant smile had broadened almost to 
 the point of laughter. 
 
 " I understand, I really do understand," he 
 said. " And now that we 've cleared the decks 
 for action in this very comprehensive manner, 
 I grow if I may mention it most un- 
 commonly curious to learn what you did send 
 for me here for." 
 
 " I sent for you because there is one 
 matter regarding which my information is 
 conspicuously defective, and because your 
 conversation, your habits, your very appear- 
 ance, and gestures may serve to enlighten me. 
 I have lived among books, and objects of art 
 of no mean value. I have enjoyed com- 
 munion, both by letter and in speech, with 
 many of the most distinguished minds of the
 
 'The Gateless Barrier 19 
 
 present century. But I never associated, I 
 have never cared to associate, with the aver- 
 age man of the world, of the clubs and the 
 racecourse, the man of intrigues, of, in short, 
 society. He appeared to me to weigh too 
 lightly in the scale to be a worthy object of 
 study. I ignored him, and in so doing 
 dropped an important link out of the chain 
 of being. For these persons breed, they per- 
 petuate tendencies, they influence and modify 
 the history of the race. Not to reckon with 
 such persons, is not to reckon with a per- 
 sistent and active factor in intellectual and . 
 moral evolution." 
 
 Laurence had risen to his feet. He stood 
 with his hands behind him and his back to 
 the fire. He was amused, but he was also 
 slightly nettled. 
 
 " Ah ! " he said, " exactly. And so you 
 sent for me. You took for granted I was 
 that sort. You wanted to see how we do it." 
 
 "Yes," Mr. Rivers answered, "it did ap- 
 pear to me that you were calculated to fulfil 
 the conditions. In any case you were the only 
 example of the type available. Our connec- 
 tion by blood, and the relation in which you
 
 20 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 stand to my property, gave me certain claims 
 upon your time and your consideration. I 
 wish very much to observe you. I wish to 
 study you from the psychological and other 
 points of view. You need not attempt to 
 assist me. Be yourself, please. Be passive. 
 I need no co-operation on the part of my sub- 
 ject. This will really give you very little 
 trouble, while it will afford me interesting 
 occupation during the period whether short 
 or protracted, I know not which must 
 elapse before disease has run its course and 
 procured dissolution." 
 
 Laurence listened in silence ; and while he 
 did so, he ceased to be nettled, he ceased even 
 to be inclined to treat these singular pro- 
 posals humorously. For there appeared to 
 him a certain pathos in the earnest desire of 
 this recluse and student now, at the eleventh 
 hour, to acquaint himself with just that which 
 he had so arrogantly despised, namely the 
 Commonplace. It was slightly wounding to 
 personal vanity to be thus selected, from 
 among the millions of mankind, as a fine, 
 thorough-paced example and exponent of 
 the Commonplace. But Laurence was kind-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 21 
 
 hearted. He also possessed a fund of practi- 
 cal philosophy. No decidedly the position 
 was not a flattering one ! Yet it was rather 
 /"original, and, moreover, how could one in 
 common charity refuse any little pleasure to 
 a dying man ? 
 
 " Very well, sir," he said. " I think I quite 
 grasp the necessities of the inquiry. I'm 
 quite willing to be operated on, and I promise 
 to play fair and not let the evidence be faked. 
 But I 'm afraid you '11 get bored first. I am 
 likely to be more illuminated than illuminat- 
 ing." 
 
 " I am obliged to you," Mr. Rivers said. 
 " To-night I will not further detain you. 
 Pray give any orders you please to Renshaw. 
 He is a well-trained and responsible servant. 
 There are horses in the stable. Good-night. 
 I repeat that I am obliged to you."
 
 Ill 
 
 FINDING it unlikely that his uncle 
 would ask for him before evening, 
 and that consequently he had plenty 
 of time at his disposal, Laurence 
 embarked after breakfast upon a survey of 
 the house. When a boy at school he had 
 occasionally passed a couple of nights at 
 Stoke Rivers. His recollections of these 
 visits were not gay. He had been glad 
 enough to go away again. It followed that 
 his impressions of the house itself were vague 
 and confused. He now found that it was 
 constructed in the shape of a capital L 
 reversed. The base of the letter, facing east 
 and west, contained kitchens, offices, and 
 servants' quarters. The main building at 
 right angles to it was two stones in height, 
 and consisted of suites of handsome rooms 
 opening on to a wide corridor. The windows 
 of the latter looked south, those of the rooms 
 north. The colouring and furnishings re- 
 sembled, in the main, those of Mr. Rivers' 
 bedroom. Dark panelled walls, rich, sombre 
 hangings of dark blue, crimson, or violet
 
 Gateless Barrier 23 
 
 obtained throughout. In the drawing-rooms 
 were some noble landscapes by Cuyp, Ruys- 
 dael, and other Dutch masters of note. 
 There was also an admirable collection of 
 Italian ivories, small figures of exquisite 
 workmanship ; and several glass cases con- 
 taining fine antique and renaissance gems. 
 The walls of the libraries were lined with 
 books a curious and varied collection, 
 ranging from ancient black-letter volumes 
 down to the latest German treatise, on 
 natural science or metaphysics, of the current 
 year. Laurence promised himself to make 
 nearer acquaintance with these rather weighty 
 joys at a more convenient season. Mean- 
 while, in contrast to the otherwise distinctly 
 old-fashioned character of the house, he re- 
 marked a very complete installation of electric 
 light, and an ingenious system of hot-air 
 ventilation, by means of which a temperature 
 of over seventy degrees was maintained 
 throughout the whole interior. This pro- 
 duced a heavy and enervating atmosphere of 
 which Laurence fresh from the strong clean 
 air of the Atlantic became increasingly and 
 disagreeably sensible. It made him at once
 
 24 The Gate/ess Barrier 
 
 restless and inert ; and as he wandered, rather 
 aimlessly from room to room, he was annoyed 
 by finding a slight nervousness gained on 
 him he, whose nerves were usually of 
 the steadiest, happily conspicuous by their ab- 
 sence, indeed, rather than by their presence ! 
 
 " Upon my word, this beats the American 
 abomination of steam heat," he said to him- 
 self. 
 
 His visit to the library, where the smell of 
 old leather bindings added to the deadness of 
 the air, nearly finished him. He went out 
 on to the corridor, and paced the length of 
 it, past the flying staircase of black oak lead- 
 ing to the upper corridor, and back again. 
 A broad strip of deep-pile, crimson carpet 
 was spread along the centre of the polished 
 floor. On one hand, between the doors of 
 the living-rooms, hung a collection of valuable 
 copperplate engravings, representing classic 
 ruins in Italy and Greece. While on the 
 other, in the spaces between the windows, 
 were ranged a series of busts Augustus, 
 Tiberias, Nero, the two Antonines, Caligula, 
 and Commodus set on tall columnar ped- 
 estals of dark green or yellow marble. The
 
 The Gateless Barrier 25 
 
 blind, sculptured faces deepened the general 
 sense of oppression by their rigidity, their 
 unalterable and somewhat scornful repose. 
 
 Out of doors the March morning was tu- 
 multuous with wind and wet, offering marked 
 contrast to the dry heat, the almost burden- 
 some order and stillness reigning within. 
 The air of the corridor was perhaps a degree 
 fresher than that of the library he had just 
 quitted. Laurence leaned his arms on a 
 stone window-sill, and glanced in a desultory 
 way at the day's Times, which he had picked 
 up off the hall table in passing. But Chinese 
 railway concessions, plague reports from Bom- 
 bay, even the last racing fixtures, or rumours 
 of fighting on the North-West Indian Fron- 
 tier, failed to arouse his interest. In his 
 present humour, these items of news from 
 the outside world seemed curiously unim- 
 portant and remote. He stared at the wide, 
 well-wooded, rain-blurred landscape. The 
 scene at which he had assisted last night, the 
 intimate drama moving forward relentlessly 
 even now to its close in that well-appointed 
 room upstairs and the extraordinary char- 
 acter of the chief actor in that drama his
 
 26 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 over-stimulated brain and atrophied affections, 
 his greed of experiment and of acquiring in- 
 formation, even yet, in the very article of 
 death depressed Laurence's imagination as 
 the close atmosphere depressed his body. It 
 was all so painfully narrow, barren, hungry, 
 joyless, somehow. And meanwhile, he, Lau- 
 rence, was required to play the fool not 
 for the provocation of laughter, which would 
 after all have had a semblance of cheerful 
 good-fellowship in it. But in cold blood, as 
 an object lesson in the manner and customs 
 of the average man ; a lesson the result of 
 which would be tabulated and pigeon-holed 
 by that unwearying intelligence, as might be 
 the habits of some species of obscure, un- 
 pleasant insect. The young man had devel- 
 oped slight intolerance of the exclusively 
 worldly side of things lately. It seemed by 
 no means improbable he might develop equal 
 intolerance of the exclusively intellectual side 
 before long, at this rate. 
 
 " I seem qualifying as a past-master in the 
 highly unprofitable act of quarrelling with my 
 bread and butter," he said to himself. " If 
 I chuck society, and proceed to chuck brains
 
 The Gateless Barrier 27 
 
 as well, for a man like myself, without genius 
 and without a profession, what the devil is 
 there left ? " 
 
 Meditating thus, he had left his station at 
 the window, and walked to the extreme end 
 of the corridor farthest away from the ser- 
 vants' wing of the house. It was closed by 
 a splendid tapestry curtain, whereon a crowd 
 of round-limbed cupids drove a naked and 
 reluctant woman, with gestures of naughty 
 haste, towards a satyr, seated beneath a shad- 
 owy grove of trees upon a little monticule, 
 who beckoned with one hand while with the 
 other he stopped the notes of his reed pipe. 
 The tapestry was of great beauty and indu- 
 bitable worth ; but the subject of it was 
 slightly displeasing to Laurence, a trifle gross 
 in suggestion, as had been the sphinxes and 
 caryatides of the carven ebony bed. 
 
 " Oh ! of course there 's that sort of thing 
 left," he said to himself, recurring to his re- 
 cent train of thought. " But, no thank you, 
 I flatter myself I can hardly find satisfaction 
 in those low latitudes at present." 
 
 Having, however, an appreciation of all 
 fine artistic work, he laid hold of the border
 
 28 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 of the curtain, wishing to feel its texture. To 
 his surprise, it was of very great weight, 
 padded and lined with leather, as are cur- 
 tains covering the doors of certain Roman 
 churches. 
 
 Laurence pulled the corner of it towards 
 him and passed behind it. The curtain fell 
 back into position with a muffled thud, leav- 
 ing him standing in a narrow, dark, cupboard- 
 like space, closed by a door, of which it took 
 him some stifling seconds to find the handle. 
 He fumbled blindly in the dark, an almost 
 childish sense of agitation upon him. He 
 felt as in dreams, when the place to be trav- 
 ersed grows more and more contracted, walls 
 closing down and in on every hand, while the 
 means of exit become more maddeningly im- 
 possible of discovery. To his surprise, he 
 turned faint and broke into a sweat. It was 
 not in the least an amusing experience. 
 
 At last the handle gave, with a click, and 
 the door opened, disclosing a large and lofty 
 room quite unlike any one which he had yet 
 visited. It was delicately fresh both in at- 
 mosphere and colouring. It wore a gracious 
 and friendly look, seeming to welcome the
 
 "The Gateless Barrier 29 
 
 intruder with a demure gladsomeness. A cer- 
 tain gaiety pervaded it even on this unpropi- 
 tious morning. The great bay-window, fac- 
 ing east, gave upon a stately Italian garden, 
 beyond the tall cypresses, white statues, and 
 fountains of which spread flat, high-lying 
 lawns of brilliantly green turf. These were 
 crossed by a broad walk ,of golden gravel 
 leading to an avenue of enormous lime- 
 trees, the domed heads of which were just 
 touched with the rose-pink buds of the open- 
 ing spring. 
 
 The furniture of the room was of satin- 
 wood, highly polished and painted with gar- 
 lands of roses, true-lovers' knots of blue 
 ribbon, dainty landscapes, ladies and lovers, 
 after the manner of Boucher. The chairs 
 and sofas were upholstered in brocade, the 
 predominating colours of which were white, 
 pale yellow, and pale pink. An old-fash- 
 ioned, square, semi-grand piano the case 
 of it in satinwood and painted like the rest 
 stood out into the room. On a spindle- 
 legged table beside it lay a quantity of music, 
 the printing very black, the pages brown with 
 age. Close against these was a violin case
 
 30 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 covered with faded, red velvet, on which were 
 stamped initials and a crest. 
 
 Laurence's eyes dwelt on these things. 
 And then surely there should be a harp in 
 the further left-hand corner, the strings of 
 it covered by a gilded, stamped leather hood ? 
 Yes, it was there right enough. And a tall 
 escritoire, with a miniature brass balustrade 
 running along the top of it, should stand at 
 right angles to the chimney-piece, upon which 
 last, doubled by the looking-glass behind, 
 should be tall azure and gold Sevres jars, an 
 Empire clock the golden face of it set in a 
 ring of precious garnets figures in Chelsea 
 china and branched, gold candlesticks. 
 
 Laurence looked for and found these 
 objects, a prey at once to surprise and to a 
 sense of happy familiarity. He was perfectly 
 acquainted with this room but why or how 
 he knew not. He was filled, too, by a sin- 
 gular sense of expectation. It was to him 
 as though some exquisite presence had but 
 lately quitted this apartment and might, at 
 any instant, return to it. He apprehended 
 something tenderly, delectably feminine. 
 The china ornaments, and many little fanciful
 
 The Gateless Barrier 31 
 
 silver toys, spoke of a woman's taste. So 
 did a tambour frame, and an ivory work-box, 
 the lid of it open, disclosing dainty property 
 of gold thimble, scissors, cottons, and what 
 not and a half-finished frill of cobweb-like 
 India muslin, a little, gold-eyed needle stick- 
 ing in the mimic hem. On the small table 
 beside the workbox lay a white vellum-bound 
 copy of the Vita Nuova of Dante, and the 
 Introduction to the Devout Life of St. Francis 
 de Sales. 
 
 Perplexed by his own sensations, possessed 
 too by a sudden, gentle reverence and longing 
 which he could not explain, Laurence touched 
 the pretty trifles in the work-box ; fitted the 
 thimble on the tip of his little finger ; turned 
 the pages of the Dante, and read how the poet 
 came near swooning at first sight of the 
 maiden of eight years old whom, though she 
 was never destined to be his mistress or wife, 
 he loved ever after, and made immortal in 
 immortal verse. He unlocked the worn red- 
 velvet violin case and drew the bow not 
 for the first time he could have sworn not 
 across the wailing strings. What did it 
 all mean ? Yes, what, indeed, in the name
 
 32 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 of common-sense, of New York and New- 
 port, of his golf and polo, and cotillions, 
 of crowded opera-house and shouting race- 
 course ? In the name, too, of those hard, 
 brilliant, dying eyes, and that cold, hungry 
 intellect upstairs, what did it mean ? He had 
 no recollection of having been into this room 
 on his former visits to Stoke Rivers in his 
 boyhood. And yet, of course, he must have 
 been here otherwise ? But then this over- 
 mastering sense of expectation, this appre- 
 hension of an exquisite feminine presence, 
 this 
 
 " Upon my word, I 'm playing the fool to 
 some purpose," he said, half aloud. 
 
 He crossed the room, threw wide the 
 French window and went onto the head of the 
 semicircular flight of stone steps without. 
 The wind buffeted him roughly. The rain 
 spattered in his face. On the left, the lawns 
 were divided from the downward slope of 
 rough park and woodland by a sunk fence. 
 Beyond was outspread an extensive tract of 
 rolling, wooded country red and white 
 hamlets half buried among trees, here and 
 there the spire of a village church, flat, green
 
 'The Gateless Barrier 33 
 
 pastures lying along the valleys, brown 
 patches of hop-garden and ploughland, and 
 uplifted against the grey, storm-drifted hori- 
 zon a windmill crowning some conspicuous 
 height. Suddenly the cry of hounds, run- 
 ning, saluted Laurence's ear. Then the 
 whole pack, breaking covert, crossed the 
 open park. The field followed, horses pull- 
 ing, riders leaning forward, squaring their 
 shoulders to the wind a flash of scarlet, 
 chesnut, black and bay, behind the dappled 
 joy of the racing pack. 
 
 For a moment the strange influences of this 
 strange day made even the merry hunt appear 
 to Laurence as the pageant of an uneasy 
 dream. But soon the honest outdoor life 
 claimed him again, forcing him back upon 
 unquestioned realities. He closed the French 
 window behind him, stood on the wet steps 
 spending some anxious moments in the 
 lighting of a cigar, and then strolled, hatless, 
 round to the stables to make inquiry as to 
 what his uncle might own in the matter of 
 horseflesh.
 
 IV 
 
 IN the afternoon Laurence drove over to 
 Bishop's Pudbury, some eight miles dis- 
 tant from Stoke Rivers. An English 
 soldier by name Bellingham whom 
 he had known in New York, and who had 
 married a Miss Van Renan, a cousin of Vir- 
 ginia had taken a house there for the hunt- 
 ing season. His wife had impressed upon 
 Laurence the duty of making an early call on 
 these connections he being the bearer of 
 certain gifts to a small daughter of the family, 
 Virginia's godchild. A revulsion in favour 
 of the ordinary ways of ordinary modern life, 
 in favour, indeed, of that very Commonplace 
 of which last evening he had supposed him- 
 self so unwilling an exponent, was upon him. 
 He wanted to get in with his accustomed 
 habits, his accustomed outlook, again. The 
 last twenty-four hours had been somewhat of 
 a strain, and Laurence was as lazy as are most 
 healthy Englishmen. He hated energising, 
 specially of the super-induced, involuntary 
 sort. And Mrs. Bellingham's society would 
 be helpful. She was an agreeable woman, of
 
 The Gateless Barrier 35 
 
 this world worldly. He could have a good, 
 square gossip with her. She was possessed, 
 moreover, of a cult for Virginia for her 
 beauty, her clothes, her social ability. And 
 in the back of his mind, somehow, Laurence 
 was conscious that it would be an excellent 
 thing for him to hear Virginia's praises 
 sounded loudly. Mrs. Bellingham would 
 count .his blessings to him. That recital 
 would be at once humbling and bracing al- 
 together salutary. But, unfortunately, neither 
 the lady nor her husband were at home ; so 
 he could but deposit Virginia's immaculate 
 parcels, tied with flaring bows of amber rib- 
 bon, and drive homeward through the rolling 
 Sussex country now engulfed in its deep, 
 narrow lanes, now climbing its breezy, wooded 
 hills, catching glimpses of the smooth, open 
 downs ranging away to Beachy Head, and of 
 the grey turmoil of the dirty Channel sea. 
 
 All this was not very exciting, it must be 
 owned, but it afforded him relief from the 
 singular sensations he had experienced during 
 the morning. He came into the house in 
 excellent spirits, bringing the clean chill of 
 the March evening along with him came
 
 36 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 in to meet the same dry, dead atmosphere, 
 the same dark, glossy walls, and rich, sombre 
 colours, the same at once unemotional yet 
 almost voluptuous suggestion from objects 
 of art. A lonely dinner followed, admirably 
 served by two silent, middle-aged men-ser- 
 vants. Their faces were sallow and without 
 expression, their manner was correct to the 
 point of absolute nullity of character, they 
 moved as automata. The dinner itself was a 
 little chef-d* tewure, and was served on remark- 
 ably handsome silver plate. As centre-piece, 
 three dancing female figures in silver-gilt 
 copied apparently from those on some Etrus- 
 can vase supported a cut-glass bowl, in 
 which floated fantastic orchids, some mot- 
 tled, dull, brown-green, toad-like, some in 
 long sprays of mauve, or tiger-colour, striped 
 with glossy black. These last gave off a thick 
 musky scent. 
 
 Towards the end of the meal Renshaw, the 
 butler, delivered a note to him, which Lau- 
 rence read not without kindly amusement. It 
 was from the curate -in-charge the Rector 
 of Stoke Rivers preferring to dwell amid the 
 social excitements of Cheltenham, and but
 
 'The Gateless Barrier 37 
 
 rarely, on the plea of bad health, visiting the 
 parish. Laurence judged the curate-in-charge 
 to be a very young man. His letter ran 
 thus : 
 
 " DEAR SIR, I trust I am not presuming upon 
 my official connection with this parish by hastening 
 to express to you the great relief which I feel in 
 learning that you have arrived at the Courthouse. 
 As representative of the incumbent of this parish, I 
 hold myself responsible for the spiritual welfare of all 
 persons resident in it, whether of exalted or humble 
 station. I have, therefore, suffered much anxiety 
 regarding your uncle's, Mr. Rivers, spiritual condi- 
 tion, in his present very serious state of health. I 
 know that his views are regrettably latitudinarian, and 
 that his attitude is far from conciliatory towards the 
 Church. These sad facts, however, far from re- 
 lieving me of responsibility, only increase it. I 
 would so gladly read and pray with him, and reason 
 with him of those things necessary to salvation. 
 The time permitted him may, I understand, be short. 
 It is my duty first to warn, and then to console. I 
 cannot reproach myself with negligence in calling at 
 the Courthouse. I do so regularly three times a 
 week. Unhappily, Mr. Rivers is persistent in his 
 refusal to receive me. This is not only very shock- 
 ing, as precluding the possibility of my offering either
 
 38 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 the warnings or consolations of religion to the in- 
 valid ; but it injuriously affects my position with 
 my parishioners, who, seeing me thus slighted by the 
 principal landowner in the parish, show a painful 
 disposition to treat my ministrations with levity, and 
 my person with disrespect. I trust to your sense of 
 justice to obtain my admittance to the sickroom, both 
 in the interests of your uncle's eternal welfare and 
 in those of the Church, of which I am a humble, but, 
 I trust, efficient minister. I have the honour to 
 remain, dear Sir, yours obediently, 
 
 " WALTER SAMUEL REAL." 
 
 Laurence finished his glass of claret and his 
 cigarette with a smile. He sat a minute or 
 two, gazing at the dancing, golden figures 
 and at the rather malign loveliness of the 
 orchids. 
 
 " Poor little Padre Sahib ! " he said to him- 
 self. " I '11 go and see him to-morrow and 
 do my best to quiet his worthy conscience. 
 Funny mixture of soul and of self in that 
 letter ! But he 's very much too mild a 
 Daniel to fling into the lion's den upstairs. 
 He little imagines what he 's asking. Well, 
 he won't get it anyhow, so that does n't much 
 matter. Pah ! how hot this room is ! "
 
 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 39 
 
 Laurence rose from the table, folded up the 
 letter, and put it in his pocket. 
 
 " Now for processes of vivisection. It 's 
 the most original fashion of paying succession 
 duty I ever heard of. My word, if I ever 
 do come into possession, won't I just open 
 the windows in this house!"
 
 1 
 
 conversation that evening did 
 not move very smoothly. Laurence 
 brought all the good temper and 
 practical philosophy at his command 
 into play. But the elder man was captious. 
 His blank scepticism, his keen, unsparing 
 statements jarred on his companion. An in- 
 clination towards revolt arose in Laurence. 
 
 " I am half afraid, sir," he permitted him- 
 self to say at last, while his eyes rested on the 
 gleaming breasts of the ebony sphinxes, 
 " that we have made a radical mistake and put 
 the cart before the horse. To understand 
 the average man, and his relation to things 
 in general, must not you begin with the study 
 of the average woman ? Is not cherchez la 
 femme, after all, the keynote of our inquiry ? " 
 Mr. Rivers raised his thin hand almost as 
 in warning, and the heavy finger-rings chinked 
 as he let it fall again on the arm of his 
 chair. 
 
 "The subject of sex in connection with 
 human beings is distasteful to me " he said. 
 
 D * 
 
 Laurence glanced at the speaker and then
 
 'The Gateless Barrier 41 
 
 back at the carven sphinx again. His eyes 
 were a little merry he could not help it. 
 
 " Oh ! no doubt," he said ; " there are 
 times when it is distasteful to many of us, 
 and most infernally inconvenient into the 
 bargain. Only you see, unluckily, it is the 
 pivot on which the whole history of the race 
 turns." 
 
 "A most objectionable pivot! An insult 
 to the intellect, a degradation." 
 
 " That may be so," Laurence answered. 
 "Still the thing is there always has been, 
 always will be, modern science notwithstand- 
 ing, unless humanity agrees to voluntary and 
 universal suicide, a consummation which does 
 not seem immediately probable in any case. 
 c Male and female created He them.' An 
 error perhaps of judgment, but one the 
 Creator has never shown much sign of wish- 
 ing to correct as yet. The most vener- 
 able religious systems recognise this. I need 
 not remind you that it lies at the heart of 
 their mysteries. Christianity too Catholic 
 Christianity the only form, that is, of 
 Christianity worth considering seriously 
 acknowledges the profound significance of it
 
 42 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 in the worship of the divine motherhood 
 and the perpetually renewed miracle of the 
 Incarnation." 
 
 " You interest me," Mr. Rivers said 
 slowly. 
 
 " I am glad of that," Laurence answered. 
 He had warmed up unexpectedly to his sub- 
 ject. " I am glad of that, for I can't help 
 seeing " 
 
 Mr. Rivers interrupted him. 
 
 " Pardon me," he said. " I would not 
 have you labour even temporarily under a 
 misapprehension. It is less your exposition 
 that interests me than yourself. I note indi- 
 cations of thought and feeling for which I 
 was not wholly prepared. Taking you as 
 a fair example of the type, I perceive that 
 the mind of the average member of society 
 is of an even lower order than I had sup- 
 posed. I had, in my ignorance, imagined 
 that, even in the class to which you belong, 
 modern, scientific ideas had taken sufficient 
 root to oust such effete superstitions as those 
 to which you have alluded. A more or less 
 stupid Agnosticism, an utter indifference, 
 would not have surprised me. From such
 
 The Gate/ess Barrier 43 
 
 a condition development is still possible, 
 But here I recognise traces of a return to 
 fetich worship, to savage standards this 
 indeed is hopeless, a degeneration from which 
 revival is impossible. I admit, of course, 
 the necessity of the existence of woman, since 
 the perpetuation of the race appears at present 
 desirable. It would be childish to argue the 
 matter. She must be kept and cared for by 
 qualified persons, as are the other higher, 
 domestic animals, but " 
 
 " But, but," Laurence said, laughing, " I 
 must protest. Perhaps his type of mind is 
 too low for yours to be able to stoop to it ; 
 but, upon my word, sir, even with so thor- 
 ough-paced a specimen as myself before you, 
 you have not grasped the characteristics of 
 the average man one bit. I don't say we are 
 conspicuously noble, or virtuous, or godly 
 creatures, and I don't say that the side of our 
 lives which has to do with our ambitions, 
 with public affairs, our profession, or our 
 art the side, in fact, in which woman counts 
 least may not give scope to that which is 
 best in us. I have no end of belief in the 
 life a man lives among men. I grant a good
 
 44 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 deal on your side of the question, you see. 
 Only I know it will be a precious bad day 
 when we keep our women merely for breed- 
 ing purposes. We shall have degeneration 
 in uncommonly full swing then. There is 
 an immense lot in the relation between man 
 and woman beside the physical one ; and 
 and I 'm not ashamed to thank whatever 
 gods there be for that." 
 
 "Your wife " began Mr. Rivers. Lau- 
 rence looked hard at him, while the good 
 temper, the geniality, died out of his face. 
 
 " My wife does not enter into our con- 
 tract, sir," he said shortly. 
 
 The coldly brilliant eyes fastened on him 
 with a certain voracity of observation. Then 
 the elder man bowed slightly, courteously, 
 contemptuously. 
 
 " You interest me extremely," he said. " I 
 am obliged to you. But I must not pre- 
 sume upon your complaisance. You have 
 supplied me with sufficient subjects of medi- 
 tation for to-night. I will not detain you 
 further. I thank you, my dear Laurence. 
 Good-night." 
 
 " I was a fool to let myself go, and a still
 
 The Gateless Barrier 45 
 
 bigger one to lose my temper," the young 
 man said to himself as he closed the door and 
 passed out on to the corridor. 
 
 Save for a ticking of clocks, silence pre- 
 vailed throughout the house. The electric 
 light, clear and steady, revealed every object 
 in its completeness. The temperature was 
 some degrees higher than during the day, and 
 airless in proportion to its increased warmth. 
 Half-way down the shining oak staircase, 
 Laurence was saluted by the musky odour 
 of the orchids. Clinging, enfolding, it seemed 
 to meet him more as a presence than a scent. 
 The dining-room door stood wide open. The 
 under-butler came forth and went noiselessly 
 towards the offices. There followed a muffled 
 sound of baize doors swinging to. Then 
 simultaneously, sharply, from all quarters, 
 clocks struck the half hour. 
 
 " Only half-past ten ! " Laurence exclaimed. 
 " How villainously early ! I wish to good- 
 ness I had not lost my temper though. It 
 was slightly imbecile. If the poor, old gentle- 
 man enjoys being offensive, why should n't 
 he be so ? He has none too many oppor- 
 tunities of amusement."
 
 46 The Gate/ess Barrier 
 
 He paused, looking down the bright, vacant, 
 silent corridor, past the open doors of all the 
 bright, vacant, silent rooms. 
 
 " If it comes to that, nor have I." he added, 
 " when I come to think of it. There 's a 
 notable paucity of excitement in this exist- 
 ence, and this beastly hot air makes one too 
 muzzy to read." He yawned. "What a 
 mercy Virginia did n't come ! She would 
 have been most extensively and articulately 
 bored." 
 
 He sauntered aimlessly along the passage, 
 past the fine, copper-plate engravings, and the 
 impassive, Roman emperors, and drew up 
 before the great, tapestry curtain. Again he 
 looked curiously at the figures worked so 
 skilfully upon it. The light took the silken 
 surface, bringing the warm flesh-tints into 
 high relief, against the dim, grey-green back- 
 ground of shadowy hill and grove. 
 
 " No wonder my uncle blasphemes if that 
 represents his only idea of the relation of the 
 sexes." 
 
 He sighed involuntarily. 
 
 " Yes, but, thank God, there is more in it 
 all than merely that," he said. Then he re-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 47 
 
 peated : "It is a mercy Virginia did not 
 come. It would not have suited her from 
 any point of view. She 'd have been hide- 
 ously bored, and she would have been 
 offended and a good deal shocked. It is 
 queer the way the Puritanic element survives 
 over there, notwithstanding their modernity." 
 
 Laurence smiled to himself, becoming aware 
 of the slight inconsistency of his own attitude 
 his late heated championship of the claims 
 of the Eternal Feminine, his self-congratula- 
 tion at the fact that his own particular in- 
 vestment in the matter of womanhood was, 
 at present, safely away on the other side of 
 the Atlantic. 
 
 Then, taken by a sudden impulse born 
 in part of a desire of escape from the suffo- 
 cating atmosphere around him he pulled the 
 edge of the heavy curtain outwards, passed 
 round it, letting it drop into place behind 
 him. He stood a moment in a contracted, 
 blind space. The place seemed possessed of 
 singular influences. Again he grew faint as 
 he groped for the door handle ; while a con- 
 viction grew upon him that he had stood just 
 here, and so groped an innumerable number
 
 48 "The Gateless Barrier 
 
 of times already, and that he should so stand 
 and grope either in fact or in imagination, 
 just as long, indeed, as consciousness remained 
 to him an innumerable number of times 
 again. 
 
 At last the handle was found and yielded. 
 Breathing rather quickly, Laurence entered 
 the lofty, fair-coloured room. It too was 
 bright with electric light, but the air of it 
 was sensibly purer than that of the corridor ; 
 while, standing before the painted satinwood 
 escritoire, at the further side of the fireplace, 
 was a slender woman. Her back was to- 
 wards him. She wore a high-waisted, cling- 
 ing, rose-pink, silken gown. Her dark hair 
 was gathered up in soft, yet elaborate, bows 
 and curls high on her small head, after the 
 fashion prevalent in the early years of the 
 century. A cape of transparent muslin and 
 lace veiled her bare shoulders.
 
 I 
 
 VI 
 
 young man's astonishment was 
 immense. Recovering from the first 
 shock of it, he was taken with repre- 
 hensible irreverence towards the sick 
 man upstairs. 
 
 " The old sinner, how he has lied ! " he 
 said to himself. " A pretty ass he has made 
 of me with this card up his iniquitous, old 
 sleeve all the while! " 
 
 He debated momentarily whether good 
 manners demanded his retirement before his 
 presence was perceived ; or whether he was 
 free to go forward and make acquaintance 
 with this unacknowledged member of his 
 uncle's household. Strong curiosity, coupled 
 with a spirit of mischief, provoked him to 
 adopt the latter course. He owed it to him- 
 self, surely, not to neglect so handsome an 
 opportunity of turning the tables upon old 
 Mr. Rivers. While, astonishment and levity, 
 notwithstanding, Laurence was aware of a 
 strong attraction drawing him towards the 
 slender, rose-clad figure. He began to ques- 
 tion, indeed, whether it, like the room and 
 
 4
 
 50 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 its furnishings, was not in a degree familiar 
 to him ? Whether it was not the embodi- 
 ment of just all that of which he had been so 
 singularly expectant when visiting the room 
 this same morning ? 
 
 Meanwhile the young lady's hands moved 
 over the rounded cover of the escritoire as 
 though endeavouring to open it. The lace 
 frills, edging her muslin cape, flew upwards, 
 showing her bare arms. These were thin, but 
 beautifully shaped ; while the movement of 
 her hands was singularly graceful and rapid. 
 She touched, yet seemed unable firmly to 
 grasp the gilded handles of the escritoire 
 again and again ; clasped her hands, as it 
 appeared to Laurence for her back was still 
 towards him with a baffled, despairing ges- 
 ture, and then moved away across the room. 
 She appeared to flit rather than walk, so light 
 and silent were her steps, bird-like in their 
 swift and dainty grace. Watching her, Lau- 
 rence was reminded of a certain Spanish 
 danseuse, who, during the previous winter, 
 had excited the wild enthusiasm and consid- 
 erably lightened the pockets of the jeunesse 
 doree of New York. But the charm of the
 
 The Gateless Barrier 51 
 
 dancer had, for him at least, been spoilt by 
 the somewhat unbridled pride of success per- 
 ceptible in her bearing. Whereas the flitting 
 figure now before him, notwithstanding the 
 beguiling loveliness of its motions, struck 
 him as penetrated with the sorrow of failure, 
 rather than the arrogance of success. 
 
 She wandered to and fro, regardless or 
 unconscious of his presence, searching 
 searching as it seemed ; passing her hands 
 over the work-table, sweeping them along 
 the surface of the chimney-piece between the 
 ornaments and china, fingering the music 
 upon the piano. He caught sight of a deli- 
 cate profile, a round and youthful cheek. 
 But her movements were so anxious and 
 rapid that he could get no definite view of 
 her face. Indeed, her action was so quick 
 that it was not without effort Laurence 
 followed it. 
 
 At first the young man's attitude had been 
 one of slightly irritated amusement at the 
 concealment practised on him by his host. 
 But as the rose-clad lady's search continued, 
 the sense of amusement was merged in one 
 of sympathy. She was so graceful a creature.
 
 52 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 She appeared so sadly baffled and perplexed. 
 A subtle anxiety laid hold of him an ap- 
 prehension that something momentous and 
 of far-reaching consequence to himself was 
 in act of accomplishment that he was him- 
 self deeply involved, and pledged by a long 
 train of antecedent circumstances to assist 
 those delicately framed and apparently so 
 helpless hands in their unceasing search. 
 
 "Pardon me, but what have you lost?" 
 he asked her at last, speaking gently as to a 
 timid and unhappy child. " Tell me, and 
 let me try to help you find it." 
 
 At the sound of his voice the flitting figure 
 paused, stood a moment listening, as though 
 striving to collect the purport of his address. 
 Then it turned to him. For the first time 
 Laurence saw his companion's face clearly, 
 and he shrank back, penetrated at once by a 
 great admiration and a vague dread of her. 
 For it was a very lovely face, but shy and 
 wild as no other human face he had ever 
 beheld. The sweet mouth drooped at the 
 corners, as with some haunting, but half-com- 
 prehended distress. The eyes were serious ; 
 blue-purple as are deep, high-lying, moun-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 53 
 
 tain tarns, set in a soft gloom of pine-trees 
 and of heather. A gentle distraction per- 
 vaded the young lady's aspect. And this was 
 the more arresting, that each bow and curl of 
 her pretty hair was in place ; every detail of 
 her dress fresh and finished, from the string 
 of pearls about her white throat, to the toes 
 of her rose-pink, satin slippers, sparkling 
 with an embroidery of brilliants, which 
 showed beneath the small flounce edging her 
 rose-pink skirt. 
 
 Laurence had lived at least as virtuously 
 as most men of his class ; yet it would be 
 idle to declare Virginia his first and only 
 flame. He had married her, which consti- 
 tuted the difference between her and all those 
 other flames and at times it occurred to him 
 what a prodigiously great difference that was ! 
 Since his marriage he had been guiltless of 
 looking to the right hand or to the left even 
 in thought. But, before that event, it must 
 be owned, he had had his due share of affairs 
 of the heart. He was thoroughly conversant 
 with the premonitory symptoms of that fasci- 
 nating disorder, commonly known as " falling 
 in love." And, to his dismay, as he looked
 
 54 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 on the sad and lovely person before him, he 
 was conscious that some of those premonitory 
 symptoms were not entirely absent. An 
 immense pity and tenderness took him ; a 
 deepening conviction, too, of recollection, as 
 one who after a long lapse of years hears 
 again some almost forgotten melody, or sees 
 again a once well-known and well-beloved 
 landscape. The sad face was new to him, 
 not in itself, but in its sadness only. The 
 corners of the sweet mouth should not droop, 
 but tip upward in soft, discreet laughter. 
 The serious eyes should dance, as the surface 
 of these same mountain tarns in sunlight 
 under a rippling breeze. The face, remem- 
 bered thus, had indeed never been wholly 
 forgotten he knew that. It formed part 
 of inherent prenatal impressions, of which, 
 all his life, he had been potentially if not 
 actively aware. 
 
 All this flashed through him in the space 
 of a few seconds ; while he repeated, some- 
 what staggered by the fulness of emotion 
 which the tones of his own voice implied 
 
 "Only tell me what you have lost tell 
 me ; and let me help you find it." Then
 
 The Gateless Barrier 55 
 
 he added more lightly, smiling at her with 
 his sincere and kindly smile : "Really, my 
 services are worth enlisting. I Ve always 
 been a rather famous hand at finding things, 
 you know." 
 
 She gazed at the young man for a minute 
 or more, a tremulous wonder in her expres- 
 sion, while she fingered the string of pearls 
 about her rounded throat. Her lips moved, 
 but no sound came from them. Her attitude 
 changed. She stood with her head raised, 
 apparently listening. Then reluctantly, as 
 in obedience to some unwelcome summons, 
 she moved swiftly across the room to the 
 outstanding, painted satinwood escritoire, 
 passed at the back of it, and the young man 
 found himself alone.
 
 VII 
 
 1 
 
 CHOUGH usually an excellent 
 sleeper, Laurence passed a restless 
 night. Like most sane persons, he 
 was disposed to resent that which 
 he could not account for ; and, with the best 
 will in the world to evolve ingenious hypo- 
 theses explanatory of her disappearance, the 
 manner of his sweet companion's going re- 
 mained a mystery. He had examined the 
 escritoire, and found it locked. He had also 
 examined the wall-space in its vicinity. This 
 was hung, from cornice to wainscot, with pale 
 yellow-and-white brocade, as was all the room. 
 But neither behind the brocade, nor in the 
 wainscot, was any door or sliding panel dis- 
 coverable. Indeed, when he came to think 
 of it, remembering the structure of the house 
 as he had seen it on his way along the south 
 front to the stables, that side of the room 
 consisted of a blank wall, doorless and win- 
 dowless. This fact, when he realised it, 
 caused Laurence something of a shock. It 
 was unpleasant to him. And so he took 
 refuge in scepticism. He laughed at himself,
 
 The Gateless Barrier 57 
 
 declaring that the unwholesome atmosphere 
 of the house, and the lonely, uneventful life 
 he was compelled to lead, were breeding mor- 
 bid fancies in him. All that talk about 
 woman and the relation of the sexes had 
 stamped itself upon his mind in an exag- 
 gerated way, thanks to his surroundings. 
 The musky scent of the orchids had a word 
 to say in the matter too, no doubt. So had 
 his revulsion from the gross suggestions of 
 the scene represented on the tapestry curtain. 
 Heavy sleep, amounting almost to torpor, 
 induced by the heavy atmosphere, had fallen 
 upon him directly after he had entered that 
 strangely engaging and familiar room. And, 
 in that sleep, imagination had created a 
 woman who should embody all that which 
 the room and its furnishings suggested an 
 ideal woman, far away alike from the brilliant 
 young leader of smart society whom he had 
 married but on this clause Laurence re- 
 fused to allow his thoughts to dwell and 
 from the mere human brood-mare, whom 
 his uncle pronounced to be the only admis- 
 sible exponent of the Eternal Feminine. He 
 had dreamed a poem one of those poems
 
 58 "The Gateless Barrier 
 
 he kept at the bottom of his despatch-box, 
 and had never felt any inclination to read 
 aloud to Virginia had dreamed instead of 
 writing it, that was all. 
 
 Laurence got out of bed and threw open 
 the window. Where the eastern angle of the 
 house stood out dark against the sky, he 
 could see the pallor of the dawn warming 
 into rose, while overhead the stars died out 
 one by one as the light broadened. 
 
 "Yes, the vision of a dream," he said to 
 himself. " Only another of those thousand 
 exquisite things which belong to the language 
 of symbol, and possess, alas ! no tally in 
 reality reality, that is, as most of us hide- 
 bound victims of conventionality are destined 
 to know it." He laughed a little grimly. 
 <c Reality, as we know it, being precisely 
 the biggest illusion of all ! " 
 
 He watched the fading stars, the deepening 
 rose and gold of day, above the woods and 
 lawns, the black cypresses and white statues 
 upon the northern boundary of the Italian 
 garden. Starlings chattered joyously from 
 the gutters under the eaves ; and then swept 
 down, with a rush of passing wings, on to the
 
 The Gateless Barrier 59 
 
 grass. A keeper, gun on shoulder, with a 
 busy, little, black cooking-spaniel, and a long- 
 limbed, red, Irish setter behind him, crossed 
 the rough downward slope of the park ; and 
 the wide, blue-grey landscape began to grow 
 definite, to assert itself right away up to the 
 horizon. The earth seemed to awake with 
 a quiet smile from the kindly sleep of night. 
 
 Laurence drank in his fill of the moist, 
 sharp air. 
 
 " Poor dear Virginia ! " he said suddenly. 
 And it was probably the very first time in 
 her whole life that this popular, admirably 
 finished, and much admired young lady had 
 ever excited pity. 
 
 After breakfast Laurence set forth to visit 
 his clerical correspondent, and strive to ease 
 the latter's conscience while refusing his re- 
 quest. The rectory, distant about three- 
 quarters of a mile, stood on the rising ground 
 across the valley, backed by a fringe of high- 
 lying woods. The church, a small but very 
 perfect example of Norman architecture, 
 closely adjoined the house. There were good 
 details of carving about the narrow, round- 
 headed windows of the chancel, and the low,
 
 60 The Gate/ess Barrier 
 
 heavy arch of the porch the floor of which 
 was sunk several steps below the level of 
 the churchyard. The tower, square and solid, 
 but little higher than the roof of the nave, 
 was surmounted by a squat, shingled spire. 
 It struck Laurence as a calm, self-contained, 
 little building, on which the centuries had 
 set but slight mark of decay. The church- 
 yard, too shadowed by a few ancient yew- 
 trees was singularly peaceful, full for the 
 most part of unnamed, grass-grown graves. 
 Death, seen thus, had nothing awful, nothing 
 repulsive, about it quiet "rest after toil," 
 it amounted to no more than that. 
 
 But then the charm of spring was in the 
 air, and the young man was pleasantly be- 
 guiled by it. He sat down on the broad 
 coping of the churchyard wall, lighted a ciga- 
 rette, and idly watched the rooks streaming 
 out from the rectory elms, and dropping on 
 the fragrant, fresh-turned earth of a plough- 
 field in the valley. He listened idly to the 
 nimble wind that blew up from the ten-mile- 
 distant sea, sang in the woodland above, and 
 whispered through the dark, plume-like 
 branches of the yews here in this sheltered
 
 'The Gateless Barrier 61 
 
 piece of ground. The sky was a thin, bright 
 blue, and across it wandered little clouds, like 
 flocks of white sheep, herded by that same 
 nimble wind up from the Channel. 
 
 It seemed to Laurence that here, indeed, 
 would be a pleasant enough place to lie when 
 life was over. But then that time had by no 
 means arrived for him yet. He felt again 
 as he had felt that night on board ship that 
 he had never done complete justice to his own 
 capacity. Whether the fault lay in himself 
 or in circumstance, he could not say ; but he 
 knew that neither body, nor mind, nor heart, 
 had worked up to their full strength yet. 
 Ambition of some notable and absorbing 
 undertaking stirred in him. He looked out 
 over the goodly land. Would this by no 
 means contemptible inheritance, on the thresh- 
 old of the possession of which he now stood, 
 afford him his great opportunity ? And then 
 his thought harked back to the lovely and 
 pathetic vision which had blessed his sleep 
 for, of course, he was asleep last night. 
 A man could find fulness of satisfaction in 
 a great passion for such a woman if so be 
 she actually existed, instead of being only the
 
 62. The Gateless Barrier 
 
 ideal vision of an ideal dream. Yes, a man 
 could go very far down that road if if 
 And there Laurence, being a decent fellow, 
 laid strong hands on his imagination. To 
 indulge it was just simply not right, since 
 whatever woman's existence might belong to 
 the land of fancy, his wife, Virginia's, belonged, 
 to the land of very positive fact. He got up, 
 shook himself, and walked away to the rectory 
 house, through the sunshine and shadow of 
 the peaceful, country graveyard.
 
 VIII 
 
 MR. REAL received his guest with 
 an agitation in which natural timid- 
 ity warred with professional pride. 
 He laboured under the conviction 
 that he was called upon at all times and in 
 all places to maintain the dignity of the 
 Anglican Church. He believed she was very 
 much in the midst of foes, Rome and Non- 
 conformity alike perpetually plotting her 
 downfall ; while Atheism cruised about in the 
 offing ever ready to seize any who escaped 
 the machinations of these more declared 
 enemies. And, unfortunately, the young 
 man, neither in appearance nor constitution, 
 was a born fighter, or even a born diploma- 
 tist. In appearance he was mild, with sandy, 
 down-like hair, a high narrow forehead and 
 freckled skin, pale, anxious eyes behind spec- 
 tacles, and a moist white hand. He opened 
 the front door to Laurence himself; and it 
 occurred to the latter that his clothes were 
 very black, and that he wore a great many 
 of them. 
 
 cc Mr. Laurence Rivers, I presume ? " he
 
 64 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 said, looking up nervously into his guest's 
 face. 
 
 "Yes; I thought it would be simplest to 
 answer your letter in person," the other re- 
 plied. He felt a certain kindly pity for the 
 young clergyman, whose existence he divined 
 to be of a somewhat limited and unproduc- 
 tive sort. " I should have given myself the 
 pleasure of calling on you in any case in a 
 day or two. But your letter seemed to re- 
 quire attention at once. I am sorry you are 
 having any bother about " 
 
 " Will you not come in ? " Mr. Real asked 
 hurriedly. " Our conversation might be over- 
 heard and commented upon. This way, please. 
 You will excuse the dining-room ? I always 
 occupy this room during the winter months. 
 It is both necessary and right that I should 
 practise economy, and to occupy this room 
 exclusively saves a fire." 
 
 In his nervousness Mr. Beal talked con- 
 tinuously. 
 
 " Pray take a seat," he said, pushing for- 
 ward an armchair, the leather cover and 
 springs of which were decidedly tired. " 1 
 at once begged you to come in here, because
 
 The Gateless Barrier 65 
 
 in speaking of personal and parochial matters 
 one cannot, I feel, be too careful. Mr. Win- 
 gate the rector of Stoke Rivers, you know 
 
 wished, I am sure, to treat me with gener- 
 
 3 ' D 
 
 osity when I undertook the duty here. He 
 not only placed the whole of this house at 
 my disposal, but he left two female servants 
 
 not on board wages an elderly woman 
 and a younger person as her assistant. The 
 intention was generous, I feel sure; but I 
 grieve to say they are not such staunch church- 
 women as I could desire, and this has led to 
 difficulties between us. I thought it my duty 
 to admonish them, separately, of course, suit- 
 ing my remonstrances to their respective ages 
 and dispositions. But they did not receive 
 my admonitions in a submissive spirit. Since 
 then I have found it necessary to exercise 
 great caution. There has been much gossip. 
 Remarks of mine have been repeated, and that 
 not in a manner calculated to improve my 
 position with the parishioners. My actions are 
 spied upon. There is a small, but bigoted, 
 dissenting element in the village, and " 
 
 " Ah ! yes, they 're a nuisance, I dare say," 
 Laurence put in, smiling. "Still, it's a 
 
 5
 
 66 T'he Gateless Barrier 
 
 charming place, all the same. I have just 
 been poking round the church. There are 
 some wonderfully quaint bits about it. And 
 I like the churchyard." 
 
 " I could wish to have the graves levelled, 
 and the head and foot stones placed neatly 
 in line on the confines of the enclosure." 
 
 "Oh! no, no; that would destroy the 
 character of the place. We can't carry any- 
 thing away with us granted when we go. 
 And so there 's a certain subjective comfort 
 in knowing we leave a little mound of earth 
 and turf behind to mark our resting-place. 
 That's hardly ostentatious, considering our 
 pretensions during life do you think so ? " 
 
 Mr. Beal shifted the position of his spec- 
 tacles. He braced himself. 
 
 " The churchyard has been levelled at 
 Bishop's Pudbury," he said. " I had the 
 privilege of being assistant priest there for 
 five years. The archdeacon is considered a 
 man of great taste." 
 
 " I should have thought the parishioners 
 would have objected now," Laurence re- 
 marked. 
 
 "So they did," Mr. Beal replied. "I
 
 The Gateless Barrier 67 
 
 grieve to say some persons displayed a most 
 illiberal spirit. They called meetings, and 
 behaved in a really seditious manner. Many 
 even became guilty of the sin of schism. 
 They ceased to attend the church services, 
 and frequented dissenting places of worship. 
 The archdeacon was pained ; but he felt a prin- 
 ciple was at stake. He has long contended 
 that the churchyard is legally the rector's free- 
 hold. He therefore felt it a duty to the 
 Church to be firm." 
 
 Laurence contemplated the young clergy- 
 man with a touch of good-natured amusement, 
 wondering if, with that anaemic physique, he 
 was capable of emulating the militant virtues 
 of the archdeacon-rector of Bishop's Pudbury. 
 
 " But about this letter of yours, Mr. Beal," 
 he said. " That 's what I came to talk to 
 you about." 
 
 " I am afraid my conversation has been a 
 little irrelevant. But but " the young 
 man sat opposite to Laurence, shifting his 
 spectacles, and washing his hands in an access 
 of nervousness. " I confess I am not quite 
 myself this morning, Mr. Rivers. I was 
 made an object of public ridicule last night."
 
 68 "The Gateless Barrier 
 
 " I am very sorry to hear it. How was 
 that ? " 
 
 " I think I am at liberty to tell you, 
 because the incident took its rise in your 
 uncle, the elder Mr. Rivers', refusal to re- 
 ceive me. You see it is known how often I 
 have been repulsed. Last night we had the 
 weekly choir practice at the school. While 
 it was in progress, I was called and informed 
 by the pupil-teacher whom I excuse of 
 participation in the unseemly jest that Mr. 
 Rivers had sent for me, and that his carriage 
 was waiting at the gate. This surprised me ; 
 but I supposed you might have received, and 
 immediately responded to, the request con- 
 tained in my note. I excused myself to the 
 organist and choir, and hastily put on my hat 
 and coat. I hurried out, but some ill-dis- 
 posed youths had placed strings across the 
 school door. I fell. The ground was ex- 
 ceedingly muddy. My reappearance was 
 greeted with hardly concealed derision. I 
 discovered the whole matter was a vulgar 
 hoax." 
 
 " Ah ! that 's very much too bad," 
 Laurence said kindly, though the picture
 
 The Gateless Barrier 69 
 
 suggested by the young clergyman's story 
 provoked him to internal mirth. " We must 
 straighten this out somehow. And yet I tell 
 you frankly your letter placed me in a diffi- 
 culty. Even when in good health my uncle 
 was not an easy person to approach, and now, 
 as you know, he is fatally ill " 
 
 " I would deal with him very gently," Mr. 
 Beal remarked, bracing himself. 
 
 " I am sure of that. But I am afraid he 
 might deal anything but gently with you." 
 
 " I think I believe I am prepared to 
 suffer for my faith." 
 
 " I am sure of that," Laurence repeated 
 consolingly. " But it appears to me this 
 would be both a superfluous and inglorious 
 martyrdom. My uncle is perfectly secure of 
 his own position and opinions. The latter 
 are peculiar, and he has a very trenchant way 
 of stating them." 
 
 " You would convey to me that I should be 
 worsted in argument ? " Mr. Beal inquired. 
 
 " Yes, I really am more than half afraid 
 you would. And so, you see, no end would 
 be gained. You would be pained, and 
 possibly humiliated ; while my uncle's victory
 
 yo The Gateless Barrier 
 
 would render him more stubborn in the 
 maintenance of his own views. He would 
 be irritated too, and that might accelerate the 
 action of the disease from which he suffers. 
 Remember, he 's both old and ill. I own 
 I think he must just go his own way. I 
 hesitate to coerce him." 
 
 During this address Walter Beal had washed 
 his moist hands in a very agony of agita- 
 tion. This handsome stranger impressed him 
 greatly. He was sympathetic, moreover, a 
 patient and kindly listener. The young 
 clergyman could have found it in his heart to 
 adore him with a humble and dog-like devo- 
 tion. But then his own professional dignity 
 must be asserted. So he whipped down his 
 natural and wholesome inclination to hero- 
 worship, and whipped up his rather spavined, 
 ecclesiastical valour ; and said, with all the 
 sternness his tremulous voice could com- 
 mand 
 
 " I fear you are not a true Christian, Mr. 
 Rivers, or you would find no room for 
 hesitation where the salvation of a soul is 
 involved." 
 
 Laurence turned his chair sideways to the
 
 The Gateless Barrier 71 
 
 dinner-table, crossed his legs, and rested his 
 elbow on the bare, white cloth. Some 
 crumbs remained on it, left over from 
 Walter Real's breakfast ; but happily they 
 were at the far corner. The young man 
 deserved a snub, but he was an innocent 
 creature, a great sincerity in his foolishness. 
 Laurence looked out of window, across to the 
 sunny peaceful churchyard. After all, why^ 
 be harsh? Why snub anybody? So he 
 smiled again genially enough upon the dis- 
 tracted Beal. 
 
 " Oh ! we must discuss the heights and 
 depths of my Christianity some other time," 
 he said. " The point is to stop this imper- 
 tinence of which you are the victim. Look 
 here, honestly I don't see my way to making 
 a meeting between you and my uncle at 
 present. But as you can't get the uncle, let 
 me beg you to put up with the nephew. 
 Let it be known that you and I are on excel- 
 lent terms. Come and see me. Let's see 
 to-morrow evening I shall be free till half-past 
 nine or ten. Come and dine with me." 
 
 But Mr. Beal shrunk back and raised his 
 moist, white hands in protest.
 
 72 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 "Oh, no!" he exclaimed. "That is, I 
 am sure your intentions are most kind, most 
 kind indeed, indeed, really, I am sure of 
 that. But except professionally, except at 
 the urgent call of duty and then grace 
 would be given me I felt that yesterday 
 when I received the summons during the 
 choir practice I prayed I was praying 
 when those strings intercepted my passage 
 and caused me to fall I knew I should be 
 supported but, except professionally, I 
 could not make up my mind to enter that 
 house Stoke Rivers. And after dark too! 
 I could not. It would be too dreadful." 
 
 Laurence stared at him blankly. " Why, 
 my good man," he said, laughing a little, 
 " what on earth is the matter with the 
 house ? " 
 
 " I understand that it contains pictures 
 and statues of an immoral character. It is 
 very frightful to think of a soul, the soul 
 of a scoffer, of one who speaks lightly of 
 holy things, going forth to meet its doom 
 from among such heathenish surroundings. 
 But it is not that so much which deters me. 
 I ought to cope with that, strong in faith.
 
 The Gateless Barrier 73 
 
 But from a child, I own it, I have suffered 
 from the fear of the supernatural." 
 
 Laurence's eyebrows drew together. " The 
 supernatural," he said. 
 
 " Yes yes the supernatural." 
 
 Laurence paused a moment, gazing down 
 at the worn drugget between his feet. 
 
 " Look here," he said, " either you are 
 talking great nonsense, or there is something 
 uncommonly serious at the bottom of all this, 
 of which I ought to be informed. Tell me 
 plainly, what are you afraid of? " 
 
 " There, there are lights all night." 
 
 " Certainly there are. The electric light 
 is left on. It is a fancy of my uncle's and 
 not an unreasonable one in time of illness. 
 If your fears take their rise in nothing worse 
 than that, why " Laurence shrugged his 
 shoulders. 
 
 "Oh! but but " Mr. Real's voice 
 sunk to a whisper, and his pale eyes looked 
 piteously upon his guest from behind his 
 spectacles. " It is commonly reported there 
 is a female in the house " 
 
 Laurence shook his head. " Oh, no, 
 pardon me," he said. " That is a mistake.
 
 74 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 There are only men-servants in the house. 
 That I know. No lady has stayed at Stoke 
 Rivers so my uncle informed me since 
 my mother stayed there with me when I was 
 quite a small boy." 
 
 " But but," poor Walter Beal almost 
 wailed, " I don't mean any lady visitor. The 
 
 the Scarlet Woman you know. I under- 
 stand the keepers have frequently seen her 
 at night at the windows downstairs. And 
 I believe I saw her once this winter 
 myself " 
 
 " Saw her yourself?" 
 
 " Yes ; I had been to call and inquire for 
 Mr. Rivers. It was dusk, and I was much 
 alarmed at going; but I would not permit 
 myself to neglect a duty. I was going back 
 up the avenue, when I saw a person in a red 
 dress coming out from the bow-window. I 
 
 I I I did not wait " 
 Laurence had risen. He stood for a 
 
 moment speechless. Then a sudden gladness 
 took him. The sun was bright outside there, 
 but the yew-trees waved their dusky arms 
 quaintly, making little shadows dance and 
 flit upon the churchyard grass.
 
 The Gateless Barrier 75 
 
 <f No I see. You ran away," he said. 
 " Well, Mr. Beal, perhaps that was the very 
 best thing under the circumstances that you 
 could have done. You can't make up your 
 mind to dine with me ? All right, I '11 come 
 and see you then. We'll let the parish know 
 you and I are on excellent terms anyhow. 
 I should be glad to have a talk with you 
 about the schools and charities. And, of 
 course, if Mr. Rivers should soften and ex- 
 press any willingness to receive your minis- 
 trations I '11 not fail to let you know." 
 
 On reaching the house, Laurence went 
 straight down the corridor, pulled aside the 
 tapestry curtain, and entered the room be- 
 yond. As yesterday, it was fresher in atmos- 
 phere than the rest of the interior. The 
 furniture, the knick-knacks, even the little 
 frill in the open workbox were stationary, 
 untouched, precisely in the same position as 
 last night. Again Laurence examined the 
 room carefully. Very certainly there was no 
 exit from it save the door or the bay-window, 
 and no human being in it save himself.
 
 I 
 
 IX 
 
 afternoon Captain Bellingham 
 called at Stoke Rivers. He was a 
 large, fair, fresh-coloured man of 
 about five-and-thirty extremely 
 well-groomed, addicted to field-sports, and an 
 arrant gossip. This last characteristic was 
 much in evidence during his visit. He 
 gossiped of London, of New York, of Sus- 
 sex, displaying a vast amount of knowledge 
 of other people's affairs. 
 
 "Well, my dear fellow, it's uncommonly 
 pleasant to forgather with you again. Those 
 presents your wife sent my small daughter 
 were princely. Sibyl will write to her. The 
 child has a regular Yankee eye for value 
 and, I tell you, she was impressed. My wife 
 was awfully disappointed at missing you yes- 
 terday. She 's frightfully gone on Mrs. 
 Rivers. I think she wants to have a look at 
 you to satisfy herself that you 're living up to 
 your high privileges in that quarter. Come over 
 to-morrow, can't you, and dine and sleep ? " 
 
 Laurence explained that his evenings were 
 bespoken.
 
 The Gateless Barrier 77 
 
 "Ah, really by the way, how is the old 
 gentleman ? Making headway towards 
 don't you know ? Rather depressing busi- 
 ness for you waiting on like this. Pity you 
 can't come and dine and sleep, it would make 
 a little break for you. I Ve never seen him, 
 you know, but I hear he is rather a formid- 
 able, old person. My wife intends asking 
 you a number of questions about him. Of 
 course, you must know there are a whole lot 
 of queer stories current." 
 
 " So I hear," Laurence said. 
 
 " Oh, it 's not for you to hear ; it 's for 
 you to tell," Jack Bellingham answered, his 
 eyes twinkling. " Why, my dear fellow, your 
 arrival is the excitement of the hour. The 
 whole neighbourhood is sitting on the edge 
 of its respective chairs just bursting for in- 
 formation about Stoke Rivers. You wait a 
 little. I warn you, you 're going to be handed 
 round like a plate of cake at an old maid's 
 tea-party ; and my wife, in right of her rela- 
 tionship to Mrs. Rivers, means to have the 
 first slice. She means to walk in, collar you, 
 and then skilfully and economically retail you 
 to her whole local acquaintance. To tell the
 
 78 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 truth, I Ve been rather worried about Louise 
 lately. She has an idea I Ve noticed noth- 
 ing to justify it myself that she has rather 
 missed fire down here. She 's taken that 
 awfully to heart, you know. And I think 
 she looks to you to give her her opportunity. 
 She thinks if she gets possession of you and 
 all these queer stories, she '11 make the run- 
 ning all the other women will be nowhere, 
 you know." 
 
 Laurence laughed. He felt slightly em- 
 barrassed. 
 
 " But what the dickens is it all about ? " 
 he said. 
 
 " That 's for you to tell us," Captain Bel- 
 lingham repeated. " Perhaps you '11 be rather 
 glad of an audience in a day or two. Any- 
 how, come over and see my wife as soon as 
 you can. She 's great on spook-hunting, psy- 
 chical research, all that sort of thing. So give 
 her the first chance. Let her have a post- 
 card in the morning. She '11 be broken- 
 hearted if she misses you again." 
 
 Laurence partook of another solitary din- 
 ner, admirably cooked and served, in com- 
 pany with the dancing, Etruscan figures, and
 
 'The Gateless Barrier 79 
 
 the musky-scented orchids. Again, when the 
 meal was finished, he went upstairs through 
 the steady light and close, dry atmosphere to 
 that stately and sombre sickroom. The last 
 twenty-four hours had been very full of dis- 
 quieting episodes and suggestions. 
 
 " I am inclined to reverse the order of pro- 
 ceedings to-night," he said to himself, " and 
 cross-question my uncle, instead of letting 
 him cross-question me. After all, that'll fit 
 in to his scheme of observation well enough. 
 My questions, no doubt, will be indicative 
 of the depths of my native ignorance and the 
 poverty of my powers. They'll enable him 
 to draw conclusions. Conclusions ! " he added, 
 smiling "a sufficiently fatuous occupation, 
 when one thinks of the limited amount of 
 evidence obtainable and the breadth of the 
 inquiry ? " 
 
 On the stairhead his uncle's valet, a thin, 
 wiry man, long-armed, grey of hair and of 
 skin, met him, and preceded him silently 
 along the corridor. Laurence's relations with 
 servants, and other persons in an inferior 
 position to his own, were usually of a kindly 
 and cordial sort. Such persons told him of
 
 8o The Gateless Barrier 
 
 their affairs ; they admired and trusted him. 
 But the servants in this house, though caring 
 for his comfort with scrupulous forethought 
 and punctuality, remained, so far, impossible 
 of approach. They seemed to him like so 
 many machines, incapable of hopes or fears, 
 affections, even of sins, inhuman in their 
 rigidity and silence. Now the valet an- 
 nounced him, and stood aside to let him 
 pass, with a perfection of drill and an ab- 
 sence of individuality so complete, that it 
 was to Laurence quite actively unpleasant. 
 Immediately after, he met the hungry glance 
 of those coldly brilliant eyes, looking out of 
 the face fixed in outline, transparent, as the 
 crystal skull lying on the table close by. 
 And this house, so full of beings but half 
 alive, of paralysed activities, defective or one- 
 sided development, seemed to the young 
 man, for the moment, terrible. The country 
 churchyard, in which the wind sang, and the 
 sunshine played among the graves with flit- 
 ting, beckoning shadows, was gay by com- 
 parison. No wonder the place had an evil 
 reputation, and that people invented weird 
 stories about it.
 
 The Gateless Barrier 81 
 
 A sensation of loneliness, such as he had 
 not known since early childhood, came over 
 Laurence. Almost involuntarily he made an 
 effort towards closer, more sympathetic, in- 
 tercourse with his host. 
 
 " How are you this evening, sir ? " he 
 asked. " Better, I hope. It has been a 
 wonderfully charming day." 
 
 " I am glad to learn you have found it so. 
 Weather has always appeared to me an acci- 
 dent, unworthy, save in its scientific aspects, 
 of attention. Yet I understand that it 
 exercises strong influence on certain tempera- 
 ments emotional temperaments, I appre- 
 hend, undisciplined by reason. That the 
 weather to-day has affected you agreeably is 
 matter for congratulation, since it will have 
 helped to mitigate the tedium of a small 
 portion of this period of waiting." 
 
 " Oh ! there 's not much tedium," Laurence 
 answered. He looked across at the elder 
 man smiling very pleasantly. " I 'm begin- 
 ning to find things here a little too dramatic, 
 if anything. You were good enough to tell 
 me that you found me interesting last night, 
 sir. I only wish I could be half as interesting
 
 82 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 to you, as you, and your house, and the whole 
 state of affairs here is to me." 
 
 " You find it distinctly interesting ? " Mr. 
 Rivers inquired, but whether in approval or 
 disapproval Laurence could not determine. 
 
 " Unquestionably," he answered. " The 
 house is cram full of treasures. And there 
 are unexpected influences in it, which get 
 hold of one's imagination. It stands alone 
 in my experience, unlike any place I have 
 ever known." 
 
 The elder man sunk further back against 
 the pillows, and, with one long, thin hand, 
 drew the violet, fur-lined dressing-gown 
 closer across his knees as though cold. 
 
 fc Indeed. Have I divorced myself and 
 my surroundings so completely from the 
 ordinary habits of my contemporaries ? " 
 
 " You Ve been strong enough to follow 
 your own tastes and lead your own life, and 
 that has produced something unique, some- 
 thing as finished as it is apart. Of course, this 
 provokes a lot of criticism. Other people, I 
 observe, recognise that it is unique too." 
 
 " Other people ? " Mr. Rivers said loftily. 
 <c I have never entertained."
 
 'The Gateless Barrier 83 
 
 <f Exactly," Laurence answered. " That *s 
 where part of the uniqueness comes in. We 
 mostly herd together like sheep in a pen, and 
 can't be easy unless we're rubbing sides." 
 He paused a moment. " Your refusal to 
 rub sides causes great searchings of heart, I 
 assure you. The poor, little parson here, 
 for instance, is tormented by the idea that it 
 is his duty to the Almighty, and to the 
 Church of England, and to his own abnor- 
 mally developed conscience, to raid you and 
 do a little spiritual gardening in the neglected 
 flower-beds of your soul." 
 
 " My soul is my own," Mr. Rivers ob- 
 served. "That is, if the term soul is, 
 strictly speaking, admissible. Conscious | 
 consciousness is all that I can predicate of 
 my other than physical existence." 
 
 " The little parson's point of view is quite 
 different. He is by no means backward in 
 predication. He is quite sure you have a 
 soul ; but whether it is your own, or whether 
 it does n't belong to him as curate-in-charge 
 of Stoke Rivers, he is not at all sure. He 
 has strong leanings to the latter belief, I 
 fancy."
 
 84 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 " These are puerilities." 
 
 " The average man is puerile," Lau- 
 rence asserted cheerfully. " We carted away 
 Woman last night, sir, you remember, in 
 deference to your slight prejudice against her 
 though I still maintain she is by no means 
 foreign to our inquiry. But I really can't 
 consent to the carting away of puerility too, 
 or you will never get hold of the average 
 man at all. Forbid his affections and his 
 ineptitudes both, and you don't leave the 
 poor wretch a leg to stand on. Meanwhile, 
 the little parson is not the only person a good 
 deal worked up by the unique character of 
 your habits and surroundings. These give 
 rise, indirectly, to surprising legends." 
 
 Indeed ! " 
 
 " Yes, indeed. I think they would amuse 
 you. And in connection with all this, sir, 
 there are one or two questions I should most 
 uncommonly like to ask you." 
 
 "You may do so," Mr. Rivers said. His 
 nephew's rapid speech and breezy manner 
 made him slightly breathless. He was un- 
 accustomed to be treated in this light and airy 
 fashion, He moved uneasily in his chair,
 
 The Gateless Barrier 85 
 
 as one who tries to avoid a draught. Laurence 
 observing this, repented of his purpose. 
 
 " I don't tire you, sir, do I ? " he asked 
 kindly. 
 
 " Exhaustion is a consequence of the fail- 
 ure of the will. My will is still obedient to 
 my mind, and my body to my will." 
 
 Laurence looked at him with a certain 
 admiration. He was true to his creed, such 
 as it was, and his pride had, consequently, 
 rather a superb quality. 
 
 "Well, then," he said, "since I may ask 
 you I have found from conversation with 
 several of our neighbours that this house, 
 which I took to be a sort of Temple of Rea- 
 son, is regarded with a good deal of vulgar 
 suspicion." 
 
 Though the room was warm, the atmos- 
 phere of it close as that of a thundering night 
 in the tropics, Laurence instinctively leaned 
 forward, spreading out his hands to the glow- 
 ing wood-fire on the hearth. 
 
 " I am not superstitious," he continued ; 
 " and you very certainly, I take it, are not 
 so. We shall agree in that. Still, I confess, 
 the whole subject of the occult and super-
 
 86 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 natural is rather fascinating to me. I can't 
 quite keep my hands off it. I find an idea 
 is prevalent that there are manifestations here, 
 queer things are seen, you know, which can- 
 not be put down to natural agency. I want 
 to know if you " 
 
 But Mr. Rivers interrupted him with 
 unaccustomed vehemence of speech and 
 manner. 
 
 "Stop!" he said, "stop if you please. 
 This subject is exceedingly distasteful to me." 
 
 " Then we won't pursue it," Laurence 
 answered quickly. Yet he wondered ; his 
 interest, already considerably aroused, being 
 sensibly increased by the violence displayed 
 by his companion. It was singular; and he 
 paused a little, thinking, before embarking 
 in further conversation. During that pause, 
 Mr. Rivers leaned sideways, slowly and with 
 difficulty raised the crystal skull from its 
 place on the table beside him. He held it 
 in front of him in both hands, and gazed, as 
 though performing some religious rite, into 
 the cavities of the empty eye-sockets. Then 
 stiffly, letting his hands sink, he rested it 
 upon his knees.
 
 The Gateless Barrier 87 
 
 " Pardon me," he said, looking full at 
 Laurence, while a shadow, rather than a flush, 
 seemed to pass over his attenuated face. " I 
 was tempted to act unworthily. I agreed to 
 answer such questions as you might put to 
 me. But perceiving those questions tended 
 to revive a matter which has caused me one 
 of the few humiliations and regrets I have 
 suffered during my life, I shrank. I was 
 tempted weakly to break faith with you and 
 retract my promise." 
 
 " Pray, sir, don't take it so seriously," 
 Laurence entreated. " Of course, I should 
 never have approached the subject had I 
 known it was disagreeable to you. It was 
 just the idle curiosity of an idle man. What 
 on earth does it matter ? " 
 
 "To you very little, presumably, since you 
 are, as you say, idle your days, that is, 
 filled with a round of amusements deadening 
 as I fear to the intellectual and moral 
 conscience. But with me the case is otherwise. 
 The judgment of no human being is of 
 moment to me. But my judgment of myself^ 
 is of infinite moment." 
 
 Mr. Rivers laid one transparent hand upon
 
 88 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 the dome of the crystal skull, as though for 
 support. His face had grown hard as steel. 
 " It is therefore incumbent upon me, not 
 in satisfaction of your curiosity, my dear 
 Laurence, but in satisfaction of my own sense 
 of rectitude, that I should accept this oppor- 
 tunity of stating the following facts. I 
 inherited this property as you will shortly 
 inherit it from an uncle, a man very much 
 my senior. I had prosecuted my studies 
 abroad, in the learned centres of Germany 
 and France, from an early age. My acquaint- 
 ance with my uncle was slight. I knew little 
 of his private life. But I had reason to 
 believe him a person of an undisciplined 
 mind, imbued with the extravagant socialistic 
 views current during the French Revolution, 
 unbridled alike in passions of love and of 
 hate. Questions of character have never in- 
 terested me; I therefore made no further 
 inquiry regarding my predecessor's private 
 life. My own tastes and habits were already 
 fixed. I settled myself here and continued 
 the studies in experimental physics, philology, 
 and metaphysics, in which I had already en- 
 gaged. I also added to the collection of
 
 The Gateless Barrier 89 
 
 pictures and objects of art that I found in 
 the house. My life has been blameless, 
 as most men count blame. I can assert, with- 
 out fear of contradiction, that my moral and 
 intellectual integrity have been complete. 
 Only in one connection have I been guilty, 
 have I failed failed, as I now confess, 
 miserably and grossly." 
 
 Mr. Rivers paused a moment. His fin- 
 gers twitched as they rested upon the crystal 
 skull. 
 
 " Miserably and grossly," he repeated. 
 cc The vulgar gossip which you have heard 
 rests upon a basis of truth. I cannot deny 
 the existence of supernatural manifestations, 
 so called, in one quarter of this house. 
 They are undeniable. I have witnessed them 
 myself." 
 
 Laurence felt a queer shiver of excitement 
 run through him. He sat very still. "Then 
 I was n't asleep after all," he said to himself, 
 "in that room last night." 
 
 " The said manifestations were not only dis- 
 turbing and distasteful to me ; but I per- 
 ceived that their existence threatened the 
 validity of some of my most carefully rea-
 
 90 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 soned hypotheses, of some of my most 
 ardently cherished beliefs. Of vulgar physi- 
 cal fear, I need hardly tell you, I was in- 
 capable ; but I trembled before a dislocation 
 of my thought. It followed that I became 
 guilty of an act of flagrant mental cowardice. 
 I refused to submit those manifestations to 
 scientific investigation. I never mentioned 
 them to my correspondents. I took elabo- 
 rate precautions against ever witnessing them 
 again myself. I made a determined effort to 
 erase the memory of them from my mind. 
 I almost succeeded in forgetting that I ever 
 had witnessed them. Thus I tricked my own 
 intelligence. I lied to my own experience. 
 I committed a crime against my own reason 
 a crime which I can never hope to expiate." 
 
 Moved by the passion of the elder man's 
 self-denunciation, Laurence had risen, and 
 stood close to him. 
 
 " Ah ! surely you take it too hard far 
 too hard, sir," he said. 
 
 But Mr. Rivers, looking up at him, an- 
 swered sternly 
 
 " A sin is heinous, not in itself, but in 
 relation to the level of virtue habitually main-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 91 
 
 tained by whoso commits it. And so, even 
 were I not disabled, were I still capable of 
 carrying out these investigations, the unspar- 
 ing prosecution of which could alone give 
 proof of the sincerity of my repentance, that 
 could not really wipe out the iniquity of the 
 past. In morals I cannot logically admit the 
 possibility of cancelling a wrong once done. 
 In the realm of physics we know that vibra- 
 tions, once generated, ring out everlastingly/^- 
 through space. To send forth a contrary set 
 of vibrations is not to limit, or cause the first 
 generated to cease. Their circles may inter- 
 sect, yet they are practically independent, and 
 cannot neutralise one another. In the realm 
 of morals it is the same. The act once com- 
 mitted passes into the region of persistent 
 and indubitable fact. Of sins, both passive 
 and active, this is equally true. And conse- 
 quently I am doomed so long as I retain 
 conscious individuality to remain hope- 
 lessly lowered in my self-esteem." 
 
 The sick man spoke with a fierceness of 
 conviction, his voice usually low and even 
 swelling into full sonorous tones ; his attenu- 
 ated frame vibrant with energy ; his face il-
 
 92. The Gateless Barrier 
 
 luminated, as though a lamp burned behind 
 that thin investiture of flesh and bone. Lau- 
 rence saw in him, for the moment, a great 
 
 * ' O 
 
 orator, more probably a great preacher, 
 wasted. And the thought of that waste of 
 force, waste of power, stung him out of in- 
 dolence, out of mere easy good nature. He, 
 at least, would shilly-shally no more with 
 life, but play the game whatever the game 
 presenting itself whole-heartedly. And again 
 that queer shiver of excitement ran through 
 him; while again he -reminded himself he had 
 now reliable testimony that he had met with 
 something far stranger, more incalculable and 
 mysterious, than any vision of a dream, in 
 that clear-coloured room downstairs last night. 
 He stood silent, thinking intently, feeling 
 keenly, his whole nature alert. But a small 
 rustling sound, as of a chill wind among dry 
 leaves in a winter hedge, recalled him to his 
 immediate surroundings. Mr. Rivers had 
 sunk back against the silken cushions, which 
 rustled under his weight. The light had died 
 out of his face, his hands clutched tremblingly 
 at the crystal memento mori resting on his 
 knees. For the first time Laurence realised
 
 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 93 
 
 how very near but for the indomitable 
 strength of will which supported him he 
 was to death. Laurence bent over him. 
 
 " This is heavy, sir," he said, touching the 
 crystal skull. "May I put it back on the 
 table?" 
 
 Mr. Rivers bowed his head in assent. 
 
 ' f We have talked too much. It would be 
 wise, I think, for me to leave you." 
 
 " It would be so." 
 
 " May I call your man before I go I 
 hardly like to leave you alone." 
 
 "Thank you; he will come at the accus- 
 tomed hour. I do not deviate from habits 
 once formed except under stress of necessity." 
 
 Laurence was pushed by the desire to say 
 something gentle, something expressive of 
 the honour in which he held his host's rec- 
 titude and sincerity. But Mr. Rivers lay 
 back motionless, his eyes closed. It was 
 difficult to find just the words he wished. 
 He turned away towards the door, when the 
 elder man's voice recalled him. 
 
 "Laurence," he said, "Laurence one 
 word before we part. If you should see fit 
 to undertake those investigations of which
 
 94 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 we have spoken, and in face of which I 
 showed myself unfaithful and a craven 
 remember I press nothing upon you, I leave 
 you free to undertake them or not as you 
 please I have one request to make of 
 you." 
 
 " Yes, sir," he answered. 
 
 "It is this that you will under no cir- 
 cumstances communicate the result of those 
 investigations to any person save myself, and 
 only to me should I definitely ask you to do 
 so. Will you give me your word ? " 
 
 " I give you my word, sir." 
 
 And with the feeling that he had bound 
 himself to an engagement of unlooked-for 
 solemnity, the young man went out into the 
 steady brightness of the corridor, while 
 as last night the odour of the orchids met 
 him, enfolding him in their thick, musky 
 sweetness, half-way down the dark, shining, 
 oaken- stairs.
 
 X 
 
 AS he pulled the edge of the heavy, 
 leather-lined curtain towards him, 
 Laurence laughed a little, in part at 
 his own eagerness, in part defiant of 
 scruples. Waking in the small hours, as a 
 baby-child, he had often imagined that, could he 
 climb the high rails of his cot and steal back un- 
 perceived to the day-nursery, he would find all 
 his toys alive and stirring, at play on their own 
 account. And this conception of the reversal 
 of the natural order of things, while it fright- 
 ened him, yet enchanted his fancy. Something 
 of that childish alarm and enchantment arose 
 in him now. He felt about to bid farewell to 
 common-sense, possibly to usual established 
 habits of thought, assuredly. He was about to 
 commit himself to an untried element ; offering 
 himself as sport to seas unsounded as yet, to 
 unknown forces which might prove malign and 
 merciless. While the promise, by which he had 
 so lately bound himself, introduced into the com- 
 ing experience an element of secrecy that made 
 as enforced secrecy so often does make for 
 a rather dangerous degree of personal liberty.
 
 96 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 So he turned the door-handle not without 
 expectation. And this time expectation suffered 
 no disappointment. In front of the tall, satin- 
 wood escritoire, her back towards him, her 
 delicate hands wandering anxiously over the 
 painted and polished surface, he beheld once 
 more the slender, rose-clad figure. 
 
 Laurence drew in his breath with a sigh of 
 satisfaction. He crossed the room boldly to- 
 night and stood beside her; and her pale, 
 ethereal loveliness entranced him as he spoke. 
 
 " Listen to me," he said. " We are strangers 
 
 * o 
 
 to one another so strangely strangers that I 
 half distrust the evidence of my senses, as, 
 only too conceivably, you distrust the evidence 
 of yours. I don't pretend to understand what 
 distance of time, or space, or conditions, sepa- 
 rates us. I only know that I see you, and 
 that you are unhappy, and that you search for 
 something you are unable to find. Look 
 here, look here listen to me and try to lay 
 hold of this idea that I am a friend, not an 
 enemy ; that I come to help, not to hinder 
 you. Try to enter into some sort of relation 
 with me. Try to cross the gulf which seems 
 to lie between us. Try to believe that you
 
 The Gate/ess Barrier 97 
 
 have found some one who will keep faith with 
 you, and do his best to serve you ; and be- 
 lieving that, put sorrow out of your face " 
 
 He stopped suddenly. When he began 
 speaking he might have been addressing a 
 sleep-walker or a person in a trance. There 
 was no speculation in her sweet eyes. They 
 were wild with a wondering distress, looking 
 on him as though not seeing him. But as he 
 continued to plead with her speaking slowly, 
 pausing at the close of each sentence in the 
 hope that the sense of his words might so 
 reach and arrest her a gradual change came 
 over her aspect, as of one awakening from pro- 
 longed and troubled slumber. There was a 
 dawning of intelligence in her expression, as in 
 that of a little child first struggling to appre- 
 hend and measure, not by means of its senses 
 merely, but in obedience to the conscious 
 effort of its mind. The drooping corners of 
 the mouth straightened, turned upward, the 
 lips breaking into a timid, questioning smile. 
 She stretched herself a little, clenched her fists 
 gently, rubbed her eyes with them in innocent, 
 baby fashion, stretched again, and then looked 
 full at Laurence a woman shy, diffident, but 
 
 7
 
 98 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 in possession of her faculties, expectant, and 
 alive. 
 
 " Yes yes there, that 's right. Now 
 you look as you used to, look as you should," 
 he exclaimed, his voice low, shaken with very 
 vital excitement. He felt as when once or 
 twice bringing a racing yacht in to the finish, 
 a fair spread of blue water between her stern 
 and her competitor's bows, he had felt her 
 pace quicken while the tiller throbbed and 
 danced under his hand. A buoyancy of heart, 
 a delicious conviction of successful attainment 
 was upon him. Sportsman and poet alike 
 rejoiced in Laurence just then, and the spiritual 
 side of his nature was touched as well. He 
 seemed to have witnessed a glad resurrection, 
 enforcing belief in the immortality of the 
 soul, as he gazed on this lovely face in which 
 reason, hope, even gaiety, were so visibly born 
 anew. 
 
 " Never mind about that which you have 
 lost," he said. " Let it be for the present. 
 We will arrive at it in time sure enough 
 leave all that to me. You want these drawers 
 opened, their locks picked ? Well, that shall 
 be done all in good time. But whatever treas-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 99 
 
 ures we find there will be but a trifle, it strikes 
 me, compared with that which we have already 
 found to-night. For I have found you 
 found you once more and you, thank God, 
 have found yourself." 
 
 Again his companion stretched, and passed 
 her hands across her eyes, while her lips parted 
 in a soundless sigh. Silence held her yet, but 
 that appeared to make singularly little differ- 
 ence in their intercourse. For he perceived 
 that she understood, that she sympathised, 
 that she too was penetrated with quick, inti- 
 mate joy, and an exquisite and innocent good- 
 fellowship, as plainly as though a very torrent 
 of eloquent explanation and asseveration had 
 issued from her mouth. Indeed, this word- 
 lessness had for him an extraordinary charm. 
 Far from a power being lacking, it was to him 
 as though a new power had been granted, and 
 that the most subtle and convincing to the 
 heart. 
 
 Laurence stood tall, upright, in the full 
 pride of his young manhood, of his virile 
 energy and strength, before this slender fairy- 
 lady, with her softly gleaming jewels, her 
 dainty frills and laces, her clinging rose-red,
 
 ioo The Gateless Barrier 
 
 old-world, silken gown, and held out his 
 hands to her. 
 
 " Come," he said, " the night is fair and 
 windless and full of stars. Shall we go out 
 into it and read the great poem of the sky 
 and the woodland while all men sleep, you 
 and I good comrades, old friends, though 
 as most mortals count meeting, we have met 
 each other, it would seem, but twice ? You 
 have known sad things. Well, forget them. 
 You have searched vainly for lost things. 
 Well, forget them too. The finest house at 
 best remains somewhat of a prison, and this 
 room is pervaded by melancholy memories. 
 Leave it. Let us give the past, give conven- 
 tion, give reason even, the slip for once 
 and go." 
 
 For a minute or more she hesitated, look- 
 ing at Laurence profoundly, as though trying 
 to read his inmost thought. Then she laid 
 her hand in his. It had neither weight nor 
 substance, but touched his palm as a light 
 summer wind might have touched his cheek, 
 or a butterfly's wings might have fluttered, 
 with a just perceptible pulsation, within the 
 hollow of his hands.
 
 The Gateless Barrier' 101 
 
 And so Laurence threw open the high 
 French window, and together they passed out 
 onto the grey, semicircular flight of steps. 
 Immediately below lay the Italian garden 
 its formal flower-borders, its faintly dripping 
 fountains, its black, spire-like cypresses, white 
 balustrades and statues, vague, mysterious, in 
 the starlight. The great lawns stretched away 
 beyond, crossed by the broad gravel walk, 
 which showed pale for some fifty yards, and 
 then was lost in the dusky shadow of the 
 grove of lime-trees. In the north was a wide, 
 white light travelling since the March 
 nights now grew short along the horizon, 
 through the quiet hours, from the last death- 
 flush of sunset to the first birth-flush of the 
 dawn. 
 
 Lawrence watched his companion anxiously 
 as her little feet in their diamond-powdered 
 slippers crossed the window-sill. With that 
 impalpable hand in his, that scarcely percepti- 
 ble flutter as of a captive butterfly against 
 his fingers, he could not but entertain fears 
 that the strong open air might work some 
 change in her ; that she might be drawn up 
 and absorbed by the sharp, glittering starlight ;
 
 102 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 that she might be resolved into nothingness 
 by the keen breath of the night, or that some 
 sturdy sea-breeze might arise and blow her 
 quite away. But such as she was woman, 
 or sprite, or visitant from beyond the gates of 
 the grave she remained by his side. And 
 together they passed down the garden alleys, 
 and lingered by the dripping fountains watch- 
 ing the sleepless fish that moved silent as 
 the dainty lady herself through the water 
 of the lichen-encrusted, stone basins. They 
 stood together beneath the dark cypresses 
 which, even on winter nights, smell dry and 
 warm of the south, and talk in husky, whis- 
 pering accents of classic lands of marble 
 columns mellow with age, and saffron-plastered 
 walls, over which great vines hang, and in the 
 hot cracks of which scorpions breed, and light- 
 footed lizards glance and scamper. And, still 
 together, they went on the unspoken sym- 
 pathy between them growing, deepening 
 down the second flight of steps and along 
 the broad, gravelled way. Here, in the open 
 space, the whole panorama of the heavens was 
 disclosed ; and then, almost in spite of him- 
 self, Laurence broke into utterance. He
 
 The Gateless Barrier 103 
 
 talked, as never, even in his most brilliant 
 moments, he had talked before. The scene 
 was so majestic, and moreover he had so per- 
 fect a listener, every movement of whose grace- 
 ful body, every glance of whose profound and 
 gentle eyes expressed comprehension, accord 
 as when the violin strings answer, in ex- 
 quisite melody, to the skilfully handled bow. 
 And so forgetting himself, ceasing to exer- 
 cise that reticence half-humorous, half-rev- 
 erent with which, as with a cloak, modern, 
 civilised man strives to hide the noblest and 
 purest of his thought, Laurence laid bare his 
 heart and soul to his sweet companion. He 
 told her tender, trivial incidents of his youth 
 and childhood in themselves of little mo- 
 ment, yet such as leave an indelible mark on 
 the imagination and character. He told her 
 of the splendid hopes of his opening manhood, 
 when, with the magnificent self-confidence of 
 inexperience, the whole world seemed his to 
 conquer if he pleased. He told her of those 
 plays and poems, so full of promise that, could 
 he have realised the fulness of his own con- 
 ceptions, they must have rendered his name 
 famous through all the coming years. He told
 
 104 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 her, too, of those brief, fugitive moments of 
 spiritual illumination, when he had felt himself 
 draw very near to the ultimate meaning and 
 purpose of things ; when he had apprehended 
 rGod as the Eternal Lover, the soul of man as 
 v the Eternal Bride, and how, in the light of that 
 blessed apprehension, all confusion had ceased, 
 all life, all death, becoming at once very simple 
 and very holy, guiltless alike of suffering and 
 of shame. 
 
 Then as they wandered yet further into 
 the thin shadow of the still leafless lime-trees, 
 and, sitting for a while upon the stone bench 
 beside the broad, dim walk, looked forth under 
 the down-sweeping branches, to the vast ex- 
 panse of the distant country he descended 
 from discourse of these high matters. He told 
 her of the joys of manly sports and pastimes, 
 and of the still greater joys of travel and ad- 
 venture, in far countries, among alien peoples, 
 by land and sea. 
 
 Thus did the hours pass in glad and fear- 
 less communion of heart with heart, and soul 
 with soul, while upon the horizon the white 
 light walked slowly, surely eastward. And 
 then, at last, it seemed as though some disturb-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 105 
 
 ing thought invaded his fairy-lady's mind, caus- 
 ing her attention to waver, her gentle gaiety to 
 wane. The purport of that thought Laurence 
 failed to read, and this troubled him with a 
 sensation of helplessness, as though a gulf was 
 once again opening between his state of being 
 and hers, which he was powerless to cross. She 
 rose from her place beside him and moved 
 restlessly to and fro. And when he pleaded 
 with and questioned her, she moved yet further 
 from him, and stood with one hand raised as 
 imploring silence. She appeared to listen for 
 some call, some summons, quite other than 
 welcome, for he could see the corners of her 
 dear mouth droop once more, while her eyes 
 grew shy and wild. Unwillingly as though 
 constrained by some force she did not love yet 
 must obey, she passed out on to the clear, 
 smooth spaces of the great lawns. The grass 
 blades were touched with a whiteness of frost ; 
 but Laurence observed that neither her foot- 
 steps, nor the little frills bordering her gown 
 as they swept it, left any track upon the 
 spangled turf. 
 
 Sheep bells sounded plaintively from some 
 far-off fold. Rabbits slipped out timorously
 
 io6 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 from the edge of the wood to take their morn- 
 ing feed, and, perceiving no threatening pres- 
 ence, waxed bold, skipping and gambolling 
 upon the frosty grass. Then with a sullen 
 roar, breaking up the gracious quiet of nature 
 with the hoarse voice of man's business, man's 
 necessity of labour, and unappeasable unrest, 
 a train thundered along the valley, leaving a 
 long trail of pale smoke hanging among the 
 grey-brown masses of the indistinguishable 
 trees. 
 
 The roar died out as it had come, sullen 
 and imperative to the last. There followed a 
 pause as though for a minute or two all nature, 
 all living creatures, held their breath. And 
 then from the near stables, and from distant 
 homestead and farm, cocks challenged one 
 another some in tones high and shrill, some 
 faint and low heralding the sunrise and tell- 
 ing all the world that day was once more born. 
 
 Immediately, to his consternation, Laurence 
 beheld his lovely companion and friend turn 
 away ; and, without farewell, without smallest 
 apparent recollection of his presence, flit as 
 some bird, or rather as some rose-red rose-leaf 
 driven by a storm wind across the lawns,
 
 The Gateless Barrier 107 
 
 past the dripping fountains and sighing 
 cypresses of the Italian garden, back, back, up 
 the grey steps and in at the open window of 
 the silent house. 
 
 He followed her rapidly. The sun-rays 
 shot up into the eastern sky as he crossed the 
 window-sill. Within, the glory of the sunrise 
 struggled with the unyielding glare of the 
 electric light. Every object, every corner and 
 recess, was clearly seen. But the room was 
 vacant. Once again his fairy-lady had van- 
 ished leaving no trace, her sweet presence was 
 removed and Laurence found himself alone.
 
 XI 
 
 SOMETHING drummed and drum- 
 med ; and, in obedience to that sound, 
 it appeared to Laurence that he returned 
 whence he knew not across the 
 most prodigious spaces ever traversed by the 
 spirit of man. Then the matter explained 
 itself. He was on board ship once again, 
 awakened to the familiar pounding of the 
 engines and drum of the screw. Opening his 
 eyes, they would rest on the white iron and 
 wooden walls of his state-room, and the alert 
 figure of his bedroom steward, announcing 
 "Fair morning, sir; bath ready, sir." And 
 this impression was so distinct that it took him 
 some seconds to focus his actual whereabouts 
 the stately and serious bed-chamber at 
 Stoke Rivers, and the portly person of 
 Watkins, the under-butler, standing at the 
 bedside, a silver tea-tray in his large, soft 
 hands. 
 
 " I beg your pardon, sir, but I have been up 
 twice already and received no answer," he said, 
 his manner correct and respectful as ever, but 
 his face wearing, for once, an expression of
 
 The Gateless Barrier 109 
 
 quite human solicitude or was it curiosity ? 
 " I spoke to Mr. Renshaw and Mr. Lowndes, 
 and they considered it advisable that I should 
 enter, sir. Mr. Renshaw and Mr. Lowndes 
 felt, with me, not quite comfortable, sir, know- 
 ing your habit of early rising." 
 
 Watkins set down the tray carefully, turning 
 out the corners of the fine napkin which cov- 
 ered it. 
 
 " Your tea, your letters, sir," he added, and 
 then paused. 
 
 Laurence tried to rouse himself. Shipboard 
 and the pounding engines were a delusion 
 clearly. But was the night of sweet converse, 
 and the flitting away of a rose-clad, slender 
 figure at the first flush of dawn, a delusion 
 likewise ? 
 
 " Oh yes, thanks, Watkins, I am all right," 
 he said absently. " I 've slept late, have I ? 
 What time is it ? " 
 
 " Between ten minutes and a quarter past 
 eleven when I passed through the hall," the 
 man answered. " Any orders for the stables, 
 sir?" 
 
 Laurence was tearing open his letters. One 
 was addressed in his wife's large and elaborate
 
 no The Gateless Barrier 
 
 hand. Laughing at her, one day before their 
 marriage, he had declared that did she possess 
 half the amount of character suggested by 
 these opulent hieroglyphics, there would posi- 
 tively be no getting to the end of it, so that 
 his work clearly was cut out for him for the 
 rest of his natural life. Now the sight of that 
 handwriting though he had possibly ceased 
 to regard it as a perfectly trustworthy index to 
 its writer's personality affected him with a 
 movement of vague self-reproach. For, as 
 sleep left him, Laurence entertained less and 
 less doubt of the actuality of the existence of 
 his rose-clad fairy-lady ; or of the fact that he 
 had spent hours with her hours, blameless it 
 is. true, yet beautiful beyond all remembered 
 hours of his experience. And though he had 
 done no wrong, yet the very beauty of those 
 hours since she had not shared it con- 
 stituted a certain subtle, subjective infidelity 
 towards his wife. This pricked his conscience 
 the more, that he perceived Virginia must 
 have written to him by the very next mail, but 
 three days after he had sailed. And that was 
 rather charming and thoughtful of her, for she 
 had innumerable engagements claiming her
 
 The Gateless Barrier in 
 
 time and attention, and was by no means 
 addicted to anxiety regarding the absent. 
 " Why should she worry," as she remarked at 
 parting, " everybody was always crossing now, 
 and you hardly ever heard of any one not 
 getting to the other side safely enough." 
 Therefore it seemed to Laurence it would be 
 a duty, perhaps also a little salve to his con- 
 science, to do something pleasing however 
 remotely to Virginia. He had an order 
 for the stables. He would ride over to lunch- 
 eon with her friend and admirer, Mrs. Belling- 
 ham, at Bishop's Pudbury. 
 
 Once on his feet, Laurence was somewhat 
 surprised at his own sensations. He found 
 himself singularly tired, as a man may be by 
 some prolonged concentration of brain or of 
 will. He felt as though he had made some 
 tremendous mental effort ; and, now that it 
 was over, depression held both his mind and 
 body. His spirits were not as buoyant as 
 usual, nor was his thought clear. He felt 
 dazed, and incapable of grappling with the 
 strange problems raised by the events of the 
 last twenty-four hours. The swing of possibil- 
 ity they suggested was too great. The average,
 
 ii2 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 the banal attracted him, as a narcotic attracts 
 one in pain. For the moment he suffered 
 something approaching repulsion towards his 
 recent exaltation and amazing, half-realised dis- 
 coveries. He wanted to get back on to the 
 ordinary lines of things be amused, be a trifle 
 stupid, laugh, gossip, forget. 
 
 The sun had long since burnt up that 
 sprinkling of frost upon the grass. The air 
 was fragrant and mild. Catkins fringed the 
 hazel twigs, while in the shelter of the deep 
 lanes leaves showed tenderly green. The sap 
 had risen in the trees, so that a broken branch 
 bled. Indications of fertility and growth were 
 everywhere, Nature sensibly putting forth 
 her strength after the sleep of winter. The 
 road which Laurence followed, after crossing 
 the park, turned upward under overhanging 
 trees, and skirted the low, stone wall of the 
 churchyard. And the contrast between this 
 last resting-place of human corpses and the 
 perpetual and so evident fecundity of Nature 
 struck home to him, yet not distressfully. He 
 was not wholly unwilling, in his present mood, 
 to welcome the thought of eventual rest. 
 
 He checked his horse, and waited, looking
 
 The Gateless Barrier 113 
 
 at the place again, at its dark, feathery yew- 
 trees, its narrow mounds, ranged decently in 
 line on the surface of which the spring grass 
 raised innumerable blades of vivid green at 
 its simple monuments, that showed not merely 
 a name and date of departure, but time-hon- 
 oured words of faith in the justice and mercy 
 of Almighty God. There was an unoccupied 
 space on the hither side of the enclosure, lying 
 pleasantly open to the sun. The grey wall of 
 the chancel, pierced by low, round-headed win- 
 dows, backed it. A bush of Pyrus Japonica 
 was trained around and between these windows ; 
 and the flowers, showing up against their 
 black stems, spread garlands of pure, hot 
 colour over the face of the rough stone. 
 Laurence, to whom the disposal of his body 
 after death had, heretofore, appeared a matter 
 of extreme unimportance, was overtaken by a 
 sudden eagerness to secure for himself rights 
 of burial in this serene and sun-visited spot. 
 
 " After all, it must come to me, sooner or 
 later, as to all the rest," he thought; "and 
 why should n't I provide for the event accord- 
 ing to my fancy ? I '11 talk to the poor little 
 parson about it. Perhaps he '11 be easier re-
 
 ii4 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 garding the state of my soul and my prospects 
 of salvation if I make provision for my latter 
 end by staking out a burial-plot. I wonder 
 what Virginia would say to that ? Probably 
 she 's a little transatlantic weakness for em- 
 balmers and mausoleums. Mother Earth's lap 
 is best, though, I think ! " 
 
 And then riding onward, all in the fair 
 spring weather, though he tried to put the 
 thought from him, his heart was somewhat 
 troubled by that flitting, rose-clad figure once 
 again by the lovely, speechless lips, to which 
 he had brought gentle gaiety, and the profound 
 and serious eyes, to which he had brought 
 human sympathy and trust. Silent or not, 
 woman or disembodied spirit, she was a little 
 too captivating for safety. Should he inquire 
 no further ? But, in renouncing all further in- 
 tercourse with her, would he perpetrate an act 
 of high moral courage, or merely commit one 
 of intellectual cowardice, such as that already 
 committed by his uncle? Here was a problem 
 not easy of solution. Laurence straightened 
 himself in the saddle, and pressed his horse 
 a little. Bishop's Pudbury would be a relief, 
 and should be reached with as small delay as
 
 The Gate less Barrier 115 
 
 possible. He would try to be amused, a little 
 stupid, to laugh, gossip, and forget for a 
 time at all events. 
 
 Mrs. Bellingham, certainly, offered an ex- 
 cellent contrast to the spirit of his present per- 
 turbations. She was a notable example of 
 modern civilisation, guiltless of all mysterious 
 or primitive suggestion. Her prettiness was 
 considerable, according to a neat and unaccen- 
 tuated type. Her manner was vivacious, her 
 attitudes many but sincere. She wore these 
 so to speak to bring out the value of her 
 conversation, as she wore her irreproachably 
 constructed clothes to bring out those of her 
 plump and carefully preserved figure. Her 
 light-brown hair was parted in the middle, 
 waved, and puffed out over the ears this in 
 imitation of the fashion lately patronised by 
 Virginia Rivers. The set of her purple, box- 
 cloth coat and skirt pleased Laurence's eye, as 
 did that of her white satin and lace blouse. 
 She was really admirably turned out accord- 
 ing to current standards of fashion. She 
 greeted her guest, moreover, with that happy 
 combination of self-consciousness and self- 
 assurance, which has in it at once a flavour of
 
 n6 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 compliment and promise of worthy entertain- 
 ment. Mrs. Jack Bellingham would never 
 do anything very great ; but she aspired and 
 succeeded in doing the small things of life 
 remarkably well. 
 
 "Why, Mr. Rivers, this is quite too charm- 
 ing for anything," she said. " But, unfortu- 
 nately, I am alone here with my children. I 
 devote a great deal of time now to my 
 children. My husband has gone up to town 
 for the day." 
 
 " So much the better," Laurence answered 
 cheerfully. " I did n't come to see Jack, dear 
 Mrs. Bellingham, but wholly and solely to see 
 you. Virginia charged me with innumerable 
 messages. And then there are a whole lot of 
 people we both know I want to talk to you 
 about a few multiplications, subtractions, and 
 divisions, you know, not without a humor- 
 ous side to them here and there. Will you 
 keep me to luncheon ? Oh ! that 's awfully 
 good of you." 
 
 The Pudbury manor-house had lately 
 undergone reconstruction, thereby gaining in 
 convenience what it lost in distinction. It was 
 now as well designed to meet modern require-
 
 The Gate/ess Barrier 117 
 
 ments, as finished, as generally presentable and 
 as little of an enigma, as its present hostess. 
 Laurence contemplated the elegant, if slightly 
 unhomelike, room with a movement of ironi- 
 cal satisfaction. Its contents were as agreeably 
 obvious and unrecondite as the style and plot 
 of a current magazine story. It made no de- 
 mand upon the intelligence or the emotions. 
 And Laurence had been in contact with quite 
 other literary subject-matter lately problems 
 of love, morals, metaphysics, not unworthy to 
 inspire the magnificent obscurities of Browning, 
 or the fine frenzies of Shelley's lyrics. There- 
 fore he hailed the emotional limitations of his 
 existing environment. The indolent side of 
 his nature was paramount. He settled down to 
 chatter genially about Tom, Dick, and Harry, 
 and the fair ladies interested in those worthies, 
 or in whom those worthies were interested. 
 He was amused and amusing, relished his 
 luncheon, his hostess's smart talk, and enjoyed 
 countless reminiscences of Newport and New 
 York. And, as the ease of this attitude of 
 mind began to grow on him, the question very 
 forcibly presented itself: why strain ? Why 
 not always drift thus pleasantly and com-
 
 n8 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 fortably down the smooth stream of worldly 
 prosperity ? Why try to plumb the depths 
 lying below that smiling surface ? For does 
 not this, in the majority of cases, involve an 
 expenditure of energy out of all proportion to 
 the worth of the result ? To be light-in-hand 
 and light-of-heart was not that after all the 
 truest philosophy ? To what a hopelessly 
 dreary pass had not the elder Mr. Rivers 
 brought himself by thinking otherwise ; and 
 taking his studies, his opinions, himself, in 
 short, so seriously ! 
 
 So, sipping his coffee in the drawing-room 
 after luncheon, while Mrs. Bellingham main- 
 tained the flow of conversation in penetrating 
 and emphatic tones, Laurence thought yes, 
 on the whole, he did think it would be 
 wiser and better, to retire upon the former 
 lines of his life, to eschew high ambitions 
 of sorts, and fall back upon the works and 
 ways of r homme moyen sensuel^ upon the 
 great, good-natured, uninspired Commonplace, 
 of which his uncle had accredited him with 
 being so oblivious and complete an exponent. 
 He thought notwithstanding the tightening 
 of some cord at his heart, perhaps moral, per-
 
 'The Gateless Barrier 119 
 
 haps merely physical yes, honestly he did 
 think he had better do that, and make his 
 decision here and now. Judging by past 
 experience, he was doomed in all departments 
 to be second, not to say third-rate. Well, 
 then, best accept that doom smiling. To do 
 so might hurt vanity a bit, yet undoubtedly 
 there would be consolations. Laurence set 
 down his coffee-cup with a little lift of the 
 eyebrows and shoulders, and an expression of 
 countenance somewhat cynical. He would 
 coquet no longer with fairy, rose-clad ladies 
 he would decline the so strangely offered 
 adventure. 
 
 " The truth is, I 'm not big enough for it," 
 he thought to himself ruefully. 
 
 "You know just how 1 feel about Virginia," 
 his hostess was saying. " She is a perfectly 
 lovely woman in every way, and her social 
 sense amounts to genius. The thought of 
 her being over makes it possible for me to 
 contemplate spending another winter here in 
 the country. I look forward to seeing Vir- 
 ginia lay hold of this neighbourhood and just 
 put it through. Her brightness, and verve, 
 and savoir faire will be a perfect revelation.
 
 120 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 She will positively electrify every person 
 within a fifteen mile radius. But " 
 
 And there the speaker paused. For along 
 the carriage-drive, all in the pleasant sunshine, 
 the children of the house, a trifle inebriated 
 by recent dinner of chicken aud rice pudding, 
 by freedom, and the open air, went forth with 
 shoutings and laughter for their afternoon 
 walk. First Sybil and her younger sister, 
 arrayed in straight, scarlet jackets, beneath 
 which showed a long length of tan boot and 
 tan stocking, encasing very active legs. Then 
 the portly coachman, leading a donkey, upon 
 which the three-year-old son and heir of 
 the Bellingham family, also scarlet-coated, 
 made a first essay in horsemanship. Finally, 
 two nurses clothed in white. The little girls 
 ran wildly, their gay figures backed by a bank 
 of shrubbery rusty red of berberis and glint- 
 ing green of laurels while the pink and 
 azure balloon-balls they carried were whisked 
 heavenward by the wind to the uttermost 
 length of each tethering string. Around the 
 procession, barking, circling, jumping high 
 in air after the floating balls, and even threat- 
 ening assault of the donkey's nose, skirmished
 
 "The Gateless Barrier 121 
 
 a couple of rough Irish terriers. The donkey 
 shied, the coachman admonished, a laughing 
 nurse ran forward and clutched the small 
 cavalier by the outstanding skirt of his coat 
 and by the seat of his nether garments. The 
 little girls shrieked and capered, and in such 
 hilarious fashion the company passed out of 
 sight. 
 
 Laurence Rivers's eyes rested rather wist- 
 fully upon the scene. It belonged to the 
 great, good-natured, uninspired Commonplace 
 upon which he was just agreeing with himself 
 to retire ; and it offered a comely and whole- 
 some enough example of the same. Mrs. 
 Bellingham also had turned towards the 
 window, and the expression of her neat face 
 had softened. The self-consciousness, the 
 worldliness therein usually displayed, were in 
 abeyance, while the beautiful content of 
 motherhood was regnant, visibly enthroned. 
 Laurence had never supposed she could look 
 so charming, and he could have found it in 
 his heart to envy his friend Jack Bellingham. 
 Very early in their connection Virginia had 
 pointed out to him, with consummate tact but 
 entire lucidity, that the modern husband, who
 
 122 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 marries a fascinating woman of society and 
 really appreciates her, will give proof of such 
 appreciation by relegating the matter of child- 
 bearing to a dim and distant future. It will 
 come all in good time no doubt, but it can 
 wait. For is not it really a little too much, 
 in these days of enlightened equality between 
 man and woman, to require the latter to forego 
 amusement, to endure serious discomfort, risk 
 her freshness and her figure, even come 
 within measurable distance in not infrequent 
 cases of the supremely foolish calamity of 
 death ? Political economy and the health 
 of the race notwithstanding, let the poor 
 breed ; let the obscure breed ; let that in- 
 numerable company of women, to whom life 
 offers so much of a trial and so little of a 
 pastime, that in the sum-total of their infelicity 
 one pain or peril the more cannot make any 
 appreciable difference let these breed. But 
 spare the fair Virginias, those fine flowers of 
 wealth and worldly circumstance, to whom 
 Fortune shows so radiant a face ! It is simple 
 justice and reason so to do at least such 
 had been Virginia's argument. 
 
 But as Laurence now reflected wiser by
 
 "The Gateless Barrier 123 
 
 some year and a half s experience of woman 
 and matrimony if life on the lines of the 
 Commonplace is to afford its legitimate com- 
 pensations, it must not be trained too fine, 
 or jockeyed too carefully. The man's ear 
 must not be too ready to hear specious 
 arguments, nor his imagination to entertain 
 too elaborate sympathies. He must compel 
 those said fine flowers to bow their heads to 
 the common yoke. All his life he Lau- 
 rence had been liable to stultify himself 
 by permitting his imagination to turn up in 
 the wrong place. What good luck to have 
 been born, like his friend cheery Jack Belling- 
 ham, devoid of that embarrassing faculty ! 
 Good luck for Jack himself, and for his wife 
 who just looked so delightfully pretty 
 and for those three nice, shouting, scarlet- 
 coated, small Bellinghams, otherwise only too 
 probably non-existent. 
 
 Laurence had ceased suddenly to be much 
 amused ; had ceased to relish discussion of 
 mutual friends, reminiscence or anecdote. He 
 rose with the intention of bidding his hostess 
 farewell ; but her self-consciousness, her man- 
 ner and manners, came back with a snap.
 
 124 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 "Why, Mr. Rivers, you do not propose 
 to leave yet," she protested. " I am not 
 half through with our conversation, I assure 
 you. We have not yet approached the sub- 
 ject upon which I am most keen for first- 
 hand information. I am perfectly wild to 
 hear on what terms you believe Virginia, 
 with her bright, fearless, highly-developed, 
 modern temperament, will be with your family 
 spectre."
 
 XII 
 
 LAURENCE drew himself up with 
 a sharp sensation of annoyance, geni- 
 ality and wistfulness alike departing 
 from his aspect. The matter had 
 never presented itself to him in this combi- 
 nation before, and it offended his taste, even, 
 in a degree, his sense of decency. He paused 
 a moment, and then took refuge in slight 
 insincerity. 
 
 "Always assuming, dear Mrs. Bellingham, 
 that there is a family spectre for Virginia, or 
 anybody else, to be on terms with?" 
 
 " Why, you do not really propose to call 
 that thrilling fact in question ? " the lady 
 answered, very brightly. " That would be 
 too mortifying. It would constitute the cli- 
 max of the ennui from which I have suffered 
 during the many months of this English 
 winter. I had promised myself at least one 
 vital sensation when you and I should meet, 
 and you should tell me the true, inward 
 history of that romantic, old house of yours, 
 Stoke Rivers." 
 
 She sat in an attitude, arranged the folds
 
 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 of her boxcloth shirt, patted the lace into 
 place about her neck. 
 
 " You make me feel very badly," she said. 
 
 Laurence objected to soiling his conscience 
 by lying at least as much as most men. But 
 surely, he argued, there are cases of justifiable 
 perjury, as of justifiable homicide. 
 
 " I am awfully sorry," he said, " to dash 
 your hopes of a sensation. But, you see, 
 neither the romantic, old house or its inward 
 history are my property as yet, so I can't 
 give either away however much I may desire 
 to do so." 
 
 " I know it. I do not ask you to commit 
 any indiscretion. I do not ask you to tell 
 me anything." 
 
 Laurence braced himself. 
 
 " How fortunate, since there 's nothing to 
 tell ! " he said. 
 
 His hostess looked hard at him for a 
 moment, and then at the floor. 
 
 " There was a time, before I lived among 
 them, when I believed the English to be 
 a simple and undiplomatic nation," she said. 
 " I know better now." 
 
 Laurence was half-amused, half-irritated.
 
 'The Gate less Barrier 127 
 
 " Oh, come ! " he retorted, " it 's too bad 
 to make it an international question." 
 
 <c I had promised myself such a fine time 
 in that house," she continued, still gazing 
 abstractedly at the floor. cc Virginia is, I 
 consider and I believe you know that 
 the most perfectly lovely woman of my ac- 
 quaintance. She represents the last word of 
 our American culture ; and I would advise 
 every young girl, who was ambitious of 
 social success, to study her as a model. She 
 catches right on to everything new at once, 
 and her power of repartee is great. My 
 admiration for Virginia is so overpowering, 
 that it would really be a wonderful encourage- 
 ment to my self-respect to get a step ahead 
 of her for once. Well, I concluded I could 
 do that in a perfectly legitimate manner. I 
 planned to ask you to let me go right around 
 that house from cellar to garret, and acquaint 
 myself with the whole interior. I wanted to 
 see it before Virginia had brought our 
 younger and more complex Western civilisa- 
 tion to bear upon it. I promised myself 
 great gratification from doing that." 
 
 As she finished speaking, Mrs. Bellingham
 
 128 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 raised her eyes. That she was in earnest, 
 keenly inquisitive, there could be no doubt. 
 
 " But, unhappily, in asking that you would 
 be asking me to commit the greatest possible 
 indiscretion," Laurence answered, laughing 
 a little. " You see, my uncle is alive as yet. 
 And while he lives I must obey orders." 
 
 " Orders ? " 
 
 " Yes ; and they are such preposterously 
 unchivalrous orders that I tremble to men- 
 tion them to you." 
 
 Mrs. Bellingham looked away. She grew 
 a trifle anxious, having the greatest fear of 
 hearing anything even remotely, morally or 
 socially, incorrect. But the young man's 
 manner tended to reassure her. He appeared 
 particularly engaging at that moment. 
 
 " Yes, it will shock you," he said, " shock 
 you outrageously, coming as you do from 
 a country where no member of your delight- 
 ful sex is ever requested to take a back seat. 
 My uncle is a brilliantly clever person, but 
 on some points he is a little mad. And 
 simply at Stoke Rivers I blush to men- 
 tion it no woman is admitted, no woman 
 is permitted to exist."
 
 "The Gateless Barrier 129 
 
 Mrs. Bellingham's eyes positively flashed, 
 her face went extremely pink. 
 
 " But this is the most unparalleled coun- 
 try ! " she exclaimed. " Mr. Rivers, do you 
 seriously intend me to believe that no lady 
 may enter that house ? Why, I ask you, how 
 is it possible to conduct a domestic establish- 
 ment under such circumstances ? " 
 
 " Ah ! that 's the worst of it," Laurence 
 said. He was beginning to be amused again. 
 <c I tell you, the condition of that house 
 suggests the most awful reflections." 
 
 " I am glad to hear it." 
 
 <c Yes, awful," he repeated. " For it is the 
 best mounted, the best served, the best kept 
 house I have ever stayed in. It is as clean 
 as a new pin. The whole thing moves on 
 wheels and yet never the trace of a petti- 
 coat ! It follows that one is assailed by the 
 unholy suspicion that woman may be, after 
 all, a quite superfluous luxury ; and that the 
 work of the world, even in its humble, 
 domestic aspects, can get along just as well 
 without her. My uncle entertains this opin- 
 ion anyhow, and gives the most convincing 
 practical exposition of it. He has supplied
 
 130 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 me with a large amount of information under 
 this head ; and, upon my word, I 'm afraid I am 
 beginning to see the force of his arguments. 
 After that, I 'd better go, had n't I ? " 
 
 " Well, I really believe perhaps you had," 
 she answered. For once she looked per- 
 plexed, almost flurried. Her face was still 
 decidedly pink. But she rallied herself, and 
 fired a parting shot. "Unless," she added, 
 "to make amends for having told me so 
 very plainly that my presence would not be 
 tolerated at Stoke Rivers, you relent and 
 give me the whole story of that family 
 spectre." 
 
 Laurence raised his head sharply, and once 
 more his sense of amusement evaporated. 
 The return to this theme jarred on him. The 
 lady's persistence appeared to him in singu- 
 larly bad taste. The reiteration of that word 
 angered him moreover. In hearing it he was 
 sensible of a turn in his blood, as though an 
 insult were being offered to one very dear to 
 him. 
 
 " Spectre ? " he said slowly. " Pardon me 
 I I don't quite follow you. What 
 spectre ? "
 
 The Gateless Barrier 131 
 
 His hostess was roused in her turn. 
 
 "Why, Mr. Rivers, what has happened to 
 you ? " she inquired. " What have I said to 
 disturb your equanimity ? I had not sup- 
 posed you to be so sensitive." 
 
 Whereupon the folly of his anger became 
 extremely apparent to Laurence ; the more 
 so that he had so recently concluded to 
 eschew ambitious adventures and decline 
 upon the large and unexciting levels of the 
 Commonplace. In those regions hasty re- 
 sentments, hot blood, the fine-gentleman- 
 duelling-spirit, in short, is clearly out of the 
 picture. And then, why quarrel with Mrs. 
 Bellingham of all people ? She was a very 
 charming, little person, specially when as 
 just now her glance dwelt fondly upon 
 her red-coated babies and their escort of 
 nurses, donkey, and dogs. If she had 
 trodden on his toes, it was unwittingly, and 
 without any intention of malice. So he pro- 
 ceeded to make amende honorable with proper 
 despatch. 
 
 " Forgive me," he said ; " I am an idiot. 
 But the legends to which my poor old uncle's 
 crankiness have given rise really begin to get
 
 "The Gateless Barrier 
 
 upon my brain. Wherever I go they crop 
 up. You can understand it becomes a little 
 exasperating. Good-bye. I have had a de- 
 lightful time. Love to Jack." 
 
 The lady smiled upon him, yet with an air 
 of criticism and slight reserve. 
 
 "Oh yes," she said, "certainly, Mr. 
 Rivers, love to Jack. But I am going to 
 write to Virginia and report on our interview. 
 I believe it is incumbent on me as a true friend 
 to do that. Yes, you may come again just 
 as soon as you like. Now, do I not display 
 a perfectly lovely spirit in inviting you here 
 after you have done just all you know to 
 explode my romance ? Mr. Rivers, this day 
 will leave a scar. I know it. I do regret 
 that spectre." 
 
 Laurence smiled back, looking down at 
 her. 
 
 "Yes, it's a pity, isn't it," he said, "ever 
 to explode a romance ? There are n't too 
 many of them about. Perhaps I too could 
 find it in my heart to regret that spectre." 
 
 And there, at least, the young man spoke 
 truth, for regrets pursued him on his home- 
 ward way. All this talk, moreover, was a
 
 The Gateless Barrier 133 
 
 nuisance, an intolerable nuisance. And, 
 though he did not stay to analyse the 
 probabilities of when and how, he appre- 
 hended up-croppings, developments, and 
 ramifications of the said nuisance in the future. 
 Mrs. Bellingham's question, as to the attitude 
 Virginia might adopt towards the occult ele- 
 ment in her husband's fine inheritance, was 
 more uncomfortably pertinent than the ques- 
 tioner could by any means have imagined. 
 It suggested most disturbing complications. 
 Thus Laurence rode onward heedlessly, har- 
 assed by vexatious and perplexing thoughts. 
 
 " What a confounded bother it all is ! " he 
 exclaimed impatiently. " I wish to goodness 
 the poor old man would live for ever out- 
 live me anyhow. That would be the sim- 
 plest solution of the situation." 
 
 He raised his head and looked about him, 
 then became aware that he must have taken 
 some wrong turn in the labyrinth of cross- 
 country roads between Bishop's Pudbury and 
 Stoke Rivers, that he must have struck too 
 far southward and so lost his way. The 
 mouth of the steep, rutted lane, shut in by 
 copse on either hand, which he had been
 
 134 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 following, now debouched on a high-lying 
 table-land. Small, rough fields bordered the 
 road, their crumbling, ill-kept banks bare of 
 trees. Some fifty yards ahead, where four 
 roads crossed, stood a lonely, one-story, turn- 
 pike house ; it was six-sided, white-washed, 
 and had a slated roof, rising extinguisher- 
 like to a single central chimney. Placed in 
 an angle of the intersecting roads, it was 
 without garden ground. The turnpike-gate 
 had long ago disappeared ; and the house, 
 a thing that had lost its use and become obso- 
 lete, was in a half-ruinous condition. An air 
 of cheap desolation pervaded it. Bundles 
 of rags bulged from the broken window- 
 panes. Long-legged, high-shouldered fowls 
 pecked and squatted in the dust before the 
 half-open door. Yet, seeing it, Laurence was 
 sensible that this unsightly building had a 
 tally somewhere in his memory, and claimed 
 recognition. And this impression received 
 unexpected reinforcement when suddenly its 
 squalid walls changed from dirty-white to 
 warm primrose, while the surviving glass in 
 its rickety windows gave off" dazzling splen- 
 dours of light.
 
 'The Gateless Barrier 135 
 
 Anxious to learn the cause of this trans- 
 formation, the young man drew up, and, 
 laying his right hand upon his horse's sleek 
 quarters, turned half round in the saddle, and 
 stayed thus, looking and listening. 
 
 The view was very noble. Southward the 
 fall of the ground was sufficiently abrupt to 
 exclude all middle distance, with the result 
 that the rough grasses, withered bents and 
 sorrel-stalks of the near pasture-field were 
 outlined against the immense sweep of the 
 flat coastline far below this last, mauve, 
 and russet, and dim green, was broken here 
 and there by a pallor of sandhills and the 
 shimmer of seaward-tending streams. Look- 
 ing west, the suave contours of the Downs 
 and Beachy Head rose, in indigo and purple, 
 against a great space of saffron-coloured sky. 
 Above them, but with a bar of strong light 
 between, heavy masses of purple-grey cloud 
 gathered, from out which the freshening wind 
 blew chill. The sea, steel-blue and dashed 
 with white-capped waves, lifted a hard, ser- 
 rated edge against the horizon. 
 
 All this Laurence saw. It made a rather 
 splendid picture, big with the drama of
 
 136 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 approaching storm. Yet he was persuaded 
 something was lacking. As three days ago 
 upon first entering the yellow drawing-room 
 at Stoke Rivers, he had, after the first mo- 
 ment of surprise, instinctively looked for 
 certain ornaments and pieces of furniture, and 
 derived a singular satisfaction from the con- 
 viction that they still occupied their accus- 
 tomed place so now and here, though to 
 his knowledge he had never before ridden 
 across this piece of exposed and but half- 
 reclaimed common-land, or seen the great 
 view under its existing aspect, he instinc- 
 tively gazed seaward in search of that which 
 should support his half-awakened memory, 
 and complete the scene to his satisfaction. 
 For surely yes, surely bowling up Chan- 
 nel, under crowded canvas, before the freshen- 
 ing breeze, he should behold a fleet of some 
 eight or ten square-rigged East Indiamen, their 
 carven poops standing high out of the water, 
 vessels of about a thousand tons' burden, 
 laden with tea and spices, bales of delicate 
 muslins and silks, flasks of utter, porcelain, 
 ivory fans, bright-hued parrots, and unseemly, 
 little apes.
 
 The Gateless Barrier 137 
 
 And as convoy of these rich cargoes, to 
 secure them, their merchant captains and 
 bronzed and sturdy crews, against the rapacity 
 of privateers sweeping out from St. Malo 
 and other ports of Northern France, he 
 should behold yes, surely he should 
 a couple of smart English frigates, square- 
 rigged too, whose clean scrubbed decks and 
 the black mouths of whose port holes dis- 
 played grim argument of cannon, ready for 
 action should occasion so demand. The 
 ships, hugging the land for greater safety from 
 alert and hungry foes, seemed while the 
 wind filled the bellying sails, straining their 
 tall masts, as they heeled upon that uneasy, 
 blue-grey sea like some flight of huge, 
 golden-plumage birds ; for all the saffron 
 glory now streaming from beneath the gath- 
 ering storm-clouds in the west must lie full 
 on them. 
 
 For such gallant sight Laurence watched, 
 singularly moved, and with a singular eager- 
 ness. And so clear was the vision to his 
 mind, so necessary to the completion of the 
 scene upon which his eyes rested, that for 
 some moments he failed to distinguish where
 
 138 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 actuality ended and hallucination began. He 
 contemplated the creation of his own brain 
 in absorbed interest ; then turned and looked 
 at the rough road and dilapidated turnpike 
 house, and then again out to sea. Only a 
 black-hulled, ocean-going tramp, her deck- 
 houses piled up amidships close against her 
 reeking funnel, laboured slowly down channel 
 in the teeth of the gusty breeze. This was 
 all; and then the young man understood, not 
 without amazement, that the gallant show 
 had been a thing of the imagination only, 
 at most a thing remembered, but how and 
 whence remembered he could not tell. For 
 how, upon any reasonable hypothesis, could 
 the memory of a man like himself of but just 
 over thirty, put back the clock by close upon 
 a century, and disport itself with incidents 
 belonging by rights to, at least, two genera- 
 tions ago ? It was all most exceedingly 
 strange. It amounted to being disquieting. 
 Really he did not half like it. Yet the 
 imagined spectacle had been very inspiring all 
 the same. It had made his blood tingle, and 
 had effectually (or disastrously) exorcised that 
 spirit of indolence and laisser aller which he
 
 'The Gateless Barrier 139 
 
 had solicited to take up its abode with him. 
 He sent his horse forward at a sharp trot, 
 while once again he proceeded to revise the 
 situation. 
 
 For the idea presented itself that perhaps 
 he had been over self-confident, arrogating to 
 himself a far greater freedom of will than he, 
 in point of fact, possessed. It was all very 
 fine to foreswear adventure, but what if 
 adventure refused to be foresworn ? He 
 might easily propose to decline upon modern- 
 ity, mediocrity, and the Commonplace ; but 
 what if these, as seemed just now highly 
 probable, asserted in unmistakable language 
 their determination to have none of him ? 
 He reflected that temperament may constitute 
 your genius or your fate, your opportunity 
 or your ruin, as you have the wit to deal 
 with it ; but that temperament is indestruc- 
 tible, and that escape from it, however 
 inconvenient and contrary to your desire 
 that temperament may be, is obviously and 
 inherently impossible. 
 
 As he meditated thus, the road he followed 
 dipped slightly, leaving the bare upland and 
 passing along the under side of a thick belt
 
 i4 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 of wood, which cut off the seaward view. 
 On the left, between the interspaces of the 
 hedgerow trees, the inland country now lay 
 disclosed for many miles. Clouds had 
 gathered so rapidly in the last ten minutes 
 that the sun was obscured, and all the wide 
 expanse was drowned in heavy violet and 
 indigo shadow. Only a ridge of hill, some 
 three-quarters of a mile distant, was caught 
 by long shafts of wild, rainbow light, so that 
 it floated as a narrow, fish-shaped island upon 
 the ocean of stormy colour. And upon that 
 island, uplifted, transmuted, etherealised, 
 rendered at once unreal yet insistent, vividly 
 defined by the unnatural and searching light, 
 Laurence beheld Stoke Rivers the long, 
 low house, and its double range of windows, 
 its avenues, and carriage-ways, the block of 
 stable buildings ; every detail of the Italian 
 garden, its cypress spires as of full-toned 
 amethyst, its white balustrades and statues 
 iridescent as though made of long-buried 
 Roman glass, its great lawns green as mala- 
 chite, the dome of its lime-grove touched by 
 a dim glow as of uncut rubies. In this 
 strange and unearthly radiance, Stoke Rivers
 
 'The Gateless Barrier 141 
 
 seemed to call upon Laurence, to challenge 
 his admiration, to assert its existence and its 
 claim upon his heart, with a singular power. 
 It was part of him, and he of it. It laid 
 hands on his past and his future alike. It 
 refused to be taken lightly. As a woman 
 wears her jewels to startle and enthral a 
 desired lover, so this dwelling-place of his 
 people arrayed itself in marvellous wise to 
 conquer his wavering allegiance and command 
 his thought. It would force him not to 
 disregard its secrets. It wooed him to inti- 
 macy, to discovery. It cried to him out, as 
 it seemed, of some unplumbed depth of ex- 
 perience in himself. 
 
 That night Mr. Rivers engaged his nephew 
 until past midnight. His manner was 
 gracious, his mind, apparently, unusually at 
 peace. His conversation was remarkably 
 brilliant, both in range of subject and readi- 
 ness of expression. First dealing with the 
 earliest known examples of art, and displaying 
 critical acquaintance with Chaldean cylinders 
 and stelae, he passed on to the persistent 
 influence of Eastern ideas upon Western 
 religious thought. He discoursed of Hindu
 
 142 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 sacred literature and the crowded pantheon 
 of Hindu gods, noting how certain practices 
 connected with their worship and certain 
 symbols pertaining to it have passed into the 
 common use of the Catholic .Church. He 
 discoursed of the Gnostic sects, and their 
 influence upon African and Syrian Christian- 
 ity. Then, invading the Spanish peninsular 
 in the train of the Moors, he delivered him- 
 self of a spirited disquisition upon Averrhoes, 
 the lawyer philosopher of Cordova, his doc- 
 trine of the Universal Reason and denial of 
 the immortality of the individual soul. 
 
 Laurence went forth onto the bright, hot 
 corridor, and paused at the stairhead. He 
 was honestly tired both in mind and body. 
 He needed, and would take, an honest night's 
 rest. But one thing was sure. Whether he 
 had decided or merely yielded, whether he 
 represented the positive or negative element, 
 he knew not ; but this he did know, that the 
 Commonplace, and all the ease of it, might 
 wait. He was not ready for that just yet.
 
 XIII 
 
 OF the first twelve keys, some slipped 
 round without effect, some stuck and 
 were withdrawn with difficulty. But 
 the wards of the thirteenth bit into 
 the lock, and the bolt gave with a click. Lay- 
 ing hold of the cylindrical front of the es- 
 critoire, Laurence pushed it up and back. 
 Within, a row of arcaded pigeon-holes was 
 disclosed ; and on either side these, a range of 
 little drawers, the pale, bright wood of which 
 retained its pristine polish, while the colours 
 of the painted medallions adorning them were 
 very fresh though frail. The cupids, the little 
 figures of lover and mistress, courtier and 
 prince, were instinct with vivacity and grace 
 the heedless vivacity, the artificial grace of 
 those over-ripe, luxurious periods which carry 
 in their womb the seeds of revolution and 
 social catastrophe. Laurence was moved, ob- 
 serving it all. Evidently the bolt had not 
 been shot, the rounded front run back, and 
 this mimic world of fine-fanciful elegance dis- 
 played for many years. And then this pretty 
 toy of a thing seemed so slight and incongru-
 
 144 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 ous a receptacle for the storage of momentous 
 secrets. Yet that the secrets it held were 
 momentous, dealing with problems of life and 
 death, subtle transformations of flesh and spirit, 
 the young man notwithstanding the sooth- 
 ing influences of a healthy night's rest, and the 
 pre-eminently unexciting ones of a grey, wet, 
 March afternoon felt no doubt. For he 
 had given in, as he believed, finally, to the ad- 
 venture ; and with that giving in, his faith in 
 the magnitude of it suffered, by natural re- 
 bound, serious increase. 
 
 So reverently, and as one who approaches 
 a long disused shrine containing promise of 
 strange and precious relics, he opened the 
 shallow drawers and examined their contents. 
 The first three were filled with packets of 
 letters, written on thin, discoloured paper, and 
 tied, some with pink, some with yellow, sar- 
 senet ribbon. Each packet was neatly dated, 
 the dates ranging, as Laurence gathered in a 
 first hasty survey, from the year 1802 to the 
 year 1805. The remaining drawers contained 
 a collection of objects, miscellaneous in char- 
 acter but united in the thought (as he divined) 
 of whoso placed them there, side by side, by
 
 The Gateless Barrier 145 
 
 some exquisitely tender sentiment. A man's 
 paste shoe-buckles, square and bowed, the 
 silver settings of them tarnished to blackness, 
 reposed beside a woman's striped, waist rib- 
 bon, cinnamon and white, embroidered in 
 buds and scattered full-blown roses. Here 
 were seals cut from envelopes, the cracked and 
 blistered wax of them impressed with the 
 Rivers's arms and crest ; and a store of semi- 
 transparent, delicately tinted shells, spoils of 
 some far-distant, southern coast. There were 
 trinkets, too, rings and bracelets of intricate 
 Indian workmanship ; and a cluster of coral 
 charms, of Neapolitan origin, with the tiny 
 golden hand, first and fourth fingers stiffly ex- 
 tended, which keeps off the Evil Eye. Next, 
 little posies, such as a lover might pluck and 
 his mistress might wear for an evening, 
 pinned, to please him, in the bosom of her 
 dress. These last were pressed and flattened, 
 the several hues of the once radiant blossoms 
 faded to an ashen uniformity of tint. They 
 were sadly brittle, too ; and though Laurence 
 raised them with careful fingers, crumbled to 
 nothingness under his touch. Then he lighted 
 on a man's watch, a great, gold warming-pan
 
 146 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 of a thing, with a guard of black lustre ribbon 
 and a bunch of heavy seals attached. The 
 back of the case bore the Rivers's crest a 
 bird of doubtful lineage, its wings extended for 
 flight, its talons holding something, which to 
 Laurence always appeared to bear humorous 
 relation to a fool's cap. The case was also 
 engraved with the initials L. R. in flowing and 
 ornate lettering. 
 
 And over these initials Laurence paused. 
 They piqued his curiosity. They also, some- 
 what to his own amusement, provoked in him 
 a feeling suspiciously akin to jealousy. They 
 were his own ; yet he could not but imagine 
 that they were also those of a person closely 
 connected with the sweet and mysterious com- 
 panion, who had walked the lawns and garden 
 alleys with him during the small hours, fled 
 and vanished at cock-crow, two nights back. 
 A very definite purpose of learning more 
 about this same person of whom, he divined, 
 this pathetic store of objects to be gifts or 
 memorials possessed Laurence. Had he 
 wronged the gentle lady in life, so causing her 
 after sorrow ? Or had some tragic happening 
 parted him from her, without fault of his?
 
 The Gateless Barrier 147 
 
 And what manner of man had he been, while 
 a dweller here, in ordinary fashion, upon earth ? 
 It became of great moment to Laurence to 
 answer these questions. Perhaps those packets 
 of discoloured letters would tell. Meanwhile, 
 there remained another shallow, painted drawer 
 to be searched. 
 
 It contained, wrapped face to face, in a lace 
 and lawn handkerchief, two very exquisite 
 miniatures by Cosway. And then, though he 
 courted surprises, agreeing with himself to 
 expect nothing save the unexpected, and to 
 accept all possible extravagance of improbabil- 
 ity that might arise with as little dislocation of 
 mind as one accepts the extravagancies of a 
 dream, Laurence stood for a moment speech- 
 less, absolutely confounded. 
 
 For one miniature represented his fairy-lady, 
 her lovely eyes and lips smiling with discreet 
 gladsomeness, her expression an enchanting 
 union of sprightliness and of content. An 
 azure ribbon was threaded through the soft 
 masses of her elaborately-dressed hair, little 
 curls of which strayed down on to her forehead. 
 The string of pearls was clasped around her 
 throat. She wore her transparent, white,
 
 H 8 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 frilled cape and rose-red, silken gown. Her 
 graceful head and slender figure to the waist 
 -were seen against a background of faint 
 dove-coloured cloud. The painter had painted 
 fondly as a friend, it would seem, as well as a 
 master of his craft. And the other miniature, 
 by the same hand, showing the same delight- 
 ful sympathy of artist with his subject, touched 
 by the same poetic insight and grace, was a 
 portrait of whom ? Well, of himself him- 
 self, Laurence Rivers, not as he was to-day, 
 but as he had been, ten years ago, at one-and- 
 twenty. With astonishment, bordering very 
 closely on alarm, he observed that colouring, 
 features, the square cutting of the nostrils, a 
 certain softness in the lines of the mouth, the 
 shape of the head, the straight set of the shoul- 
 ders, all these were perfectly exact. While the 
 countenance was instinct with that inimitable 
 charm of unsullied youth, that fearlessness and 
 happy self-confidence, the attractive power of 
 which he had only fully realised as they had 
 begun to fade out of his aspect in the course 
 of his passage from early to maturer manhood, 
 while the boundlessly generous aspirations of 
 inexperience were in course of being dis-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 149 
 
 credited by increasing knowledge of the stand- 
 ards and habits of this not altogether noble or 
 virtuous world. 
 
 Laurence took the miniature in his hand, 
 and considered it closely, with a twinge of self- 
 abasement. Endowed with so ingratiating a 
 personality, so admirable a physical equipment, 
 he ought surely to have made a definite name 
 and place for himself in contemporary history ! 
 And what of moment had he to show, after all, 
 for his thirty-one years of living ? Practically 
 nothing, he feared. And the young man of 
 the miniature made better play with his hand- 
 some person, and the qualities and talents 
 which might be expected to accompany it ? 
 He had been a sailor apparently, for he wore 
 the dark-blue, naval uniform of the early years 
 of the century, his brown hair being tied back 
 into a queue. But for these details the resem- 
 blance to himself was absolute. And then, sud- 
 denly, with a sense of faintness as though his 
 identity were slipping away from him, and his 
 hold on actuality loosening as he imagined it 
 might loosen in the moments immediately pre- 
 ceding death, Laurence remembered that he 
 had worn a precisely similar costume that
 
 150 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 of a naval lieutenant of the time of Nelson 
 at a fancy dress ball given in his honour, at the 
 country house of certain of his mother's rela- 
 tions, on the eve of his twenty-first birthday. 
 He had been mightily chaffed about his good 
 looks and air of assured conquest upon the 
 occasion in question ; and had laughingly re- 
 plied that he, too, intended to fight his battle 
 of Trafalgar and win it, only that he should 
 take jolly good care not to fall in the hour of 
 success, but to survive and thoroughly enjoy 
 the fruits of victory. 
 
 The miniatures were oval, each set in a plain 
 gold band. Laurence turned them over in 
 search of a possible inscription. Upon the 
 reverse of the one were engraved the words 
 "Agnes, a gift to her dear cousin," and the 
 date, "August 1803." Upon the other 
 " Laurence, a gift to his dear love," and the 
 same date. 
 
 Rain had followed on the stormy splendours 
 of the preceding evening; and as the young 
 man raised his eyes absently and stared out 
 of the great bay-window, he became sensible 
 that the outlook was comfortless enough. 
 The gardens and the distant view were blurred
 
 The Gateless Barrier 151 
 
 and blotted by driving mist ; while, in the 
 room itself, there reigned a singularly blear 
 and cheerless light. A damp, earthy odour, 
 moreover, pervaded the atmosphere, as though 
 the moisture prevailing out of doors had 
 gained access to the house. Carefully, rather 
 sadly, Laurence laid the two miniatures side 
 by side upon the filmy handkerchief. The 
 radiant, pictured faces, the two graceful, young 
 heads turned slightly towards each other as in 
 mutual tenderness and sympathy, offered, he 
 thought, pathetic contrast to the melancholy 
 of this tearful morning. That this young man 
 had in no way wronged the fair and gentle 
 woman, he now felt assured. But that assur- 
 ance, so perverse is human nature, did not 
 serve to elate him. Far from it. As he 
 looked first at the charming pair, and then at 
 the driving mist, a sense of great loneliness, 
 almost of desolation, came over him ; while 
 the word spectre which, when employed 
 yesterday by his lively hostess Mrs. Belling- 
 ham, had seemed of such meagre and even 
 vulgar significance now occurred to him 
 with a new and immediate meaning. Spec- 
 tral that this room was in the present dreary
 
 152 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 light. While, if the idea called for further 
 and concrete presentiment, he could looking 
 on the fearless and hopeful countenance of 
 that other Laurence Rivers offer it in his 
 own person. Involuntarily he shivered, since, 
 for the moment, his tenure of name, person 
 and individuality, seemed so questionable, a 
 matter of sufferance merely amounting to 
 no more, in fact, than a remote reversionary 
 interest in another man's goods. 
 
 At random he picked up a couple of packets 
 of letters off the top of the escritoire, where he 
 had laid them, and moved across to the win- 
 dow. It was not wholesome to look at those 
 happy faces one his own any longer. The 
 letters tied with a pink ribbon were in a 
 woman's hand, sloped and pointed, but with 
 a peculiar elegance of lettering and evenness 
 of line. Then for an instant he debated, 
 questioning whether he could without breach 
 of honour, and of the respect in which all 
 decent-minded persons hold the dead, open 
 and read these letters. The position was ex- 
 traordinary to the point of abrogating accus- 
 tomed rules of conduct ; yet he felt a certain 
 delicacy in reading a woman's letters and sur-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 153 
 
 prising the secrets of her heart. But as he 
 turned them over, glancing at the first page 
 of each, he perceived that in every case they 
 were addressed to himself; for at the top 
 corner of each was written " To Laurence 
 Rivers, Esq.," and below either " Dear cousin " 
 or " Dear love." Then the irony of the thing 
 taking him, he smiled to himself and said : 
 
 " Oh, well, come along, surely I have a 
 right to the smooth as well as the rough. If 
 I am such a very second-hand affair any way, 
 with not so much as a name or face of my 
 own to be proud of, I '11 at least have the 
 advantages of my disabilities. I will know 
 how my other, first-hand, self was made love 
 to and made love." 
 
 Yet no sooner had he begun to read, than 
 he became aware that he knew that already. 
 For as he perused the thin, deeply-creased 
 pages, he felt, with a certainty independent 
 of and passing all proof, that he had read 
 these sweet effusions, these innocent chronicles 
 of home life, of meetings and partings, pretty 
 pleasures and junketings, not once but many 
 times already. He remembered them. He 
 could almost tell what words would meet his
 
 154 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 eye as he straightened and turned the flutter- 
 ing sheets of paper. 
 
 " I am much concerned," wrote Agnes 
 Rivers, " that so many months must elapse 
 before I can again receive news of you. I 
 preach Patience to myself; but that virtue, 
 though a good servant, is but a sorrowful 
 master. I am pursued by fears on your 
 account, which often move me to tears when 
 I am alone, or have retired to my chamber 
 at night. You will reprove my feminine 
 weakness and bid me take courage. Yet I 
 defy you to maintain such fears are wholly 
 misplaced, in face of the wild scenes of tem- 
 pest and of battle which you may be called 
 upon to witness." 
 
 Again " It grieves me that I cannot write 
 to you of my affection with the freedom dic- 
 tated by my heart. But my means of com- 
 municating with you amid the convulsions of 
 the present terrible war are so uncertain, that 
 I constantly tremble lest my letters should fall 
 into other hands than yours. My good Mrs. 
 Lambert, who, as you will remember, is ever 
 solicitous for the maintenance of propriety, 
 impresses this danger upon me, and urges red-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 155 
 
 cence and circumspection. I therefore entreat 
 you, dear Laurence, not to measure the depth 
 of my regard by my present expression of it. 
 Recall, rather, all the happy and unclouded 
 hours we have enjoyed together, and let them 
 speak for me." 
 
 And again " Your brother Dudley, though, 
 I grieve to say, not less harsh and imperious 
 towards others, continues to treat me with all 
 brotherly consideration and courtesy. He is 
 very thoughtful of the improvement of my 
 mind, and we still follow our studies in the 
 Italian and Spanish languages. His great 
 knowledge and intelligence are of incalculable 
 advantage to me, and I trust that I prove a 
 docile, if not a very brilliant, pupil. I own 
 my thoughts at times wander, though I strive, 
 in gratitude to my kind preceptor, to keep 
 them fixed upon my tasks. Mrs. Lambert is, 
 unfortunately, as much alarmed by Dudley's 
 opinions and conversation as ever. I could 
 myself wish that he would express himself with 
 less violence on the subject of politics and of 
 religion. But his early travels in the unfortu- 
 nate country of France, and his intimate asso- 
 ciation with Mr. Robespierre and other leaders
 
 156 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 of her sanguinary revolution, have, I much fear, 
 permanently warped his mind and prejudiced 
 his judgment. Yesterday, at dinner, he en- 
 tered into a discussion with our new rector, 
 Mr. Burkinshaw a scholarly and estimable 
 person upon the Rights of Man, and the 
 nature and attributes of the Deity, asserting 
 subversive and atheistical views with so much 
 heat and intemperance of language, that Mrs. 
 Lambert fled from table in tears, while Mr. 
 Burkinshaw was, I could not but see, seriously 
 offended and hurt. 
 
 Once more " The weather recently has 
 been continuously wet and stormy. Dudley 
 reports great destruction of timber in the park. 
 I have been unable to leave the house, and 
 have spent many hours in the east parlour, 
 which your brother kindly bids me regard as 
 my exclusive property. I have read much, I 
 trust with profit. Nor have I neglected my 
 music, though the melancholy character of the 
 season and ever-present fears for your safety 
 have rendered me but a joyless performer. 
 For the songs you most admire, I cannot find 
 voice. Indeed, I struggle with my weakness, 
 and make every effort to present a serene ex-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 157 
 
 terior. But Memory is never, perhaps, a more 
 sorry companion than when she speaks of 
 happy scenes." 
 
 And finally " My own dear love, your 
 packet from Madalena has at last reached us. 
 What can I say to you save that my heart 
 dances with rapture ? I cannot sit still, but 
 must needs run from place to place for very 
 gladness. Mrs. Lambert reproves my lack of 
 occupation. But she is mistaken. I am fully 
 occupied in reading and re-reading your letter, 
 and in thanking our Merciful Creator for this 
 unhoped-for assurance of your safety. I have 
 retired to the stone bench beneath the lime- 
 trees. They are in blossom now, and their 
 agreeable fragrance fills the air. Here I write 
 to you, while the sun shines, and summer 
 winds play lightly with the leaves. Do you 
 remember our sitting here the evening you 
 stole the new black ribbon from my embroid- 
 ered bag with which to tie your hair ? Dear 
 love, now I am convinced that you will be 
 permitted to return to me, and that we shall 
 add yet other happy hours to those already 
 treasured in our hearts. All will be well. 
 Nay what am I writing ? all is well
 
 J5 8 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 already. But for my past anxiety and all my 
 cruel fears, I could not have known the 
 rapture of the present. My heart overflows. 
 I would not have one unhappy creature 
 breathe to-day. I have emptied my purse to 
 a beggar ; and have expended unpermitted 
 dainties upon my cage-birds, and Dudley's 
 horses and dogs. The servants smile upon 
 me, rejoicing in my joy. Ah ! my love, I am 
 half ashamed to wear so gay a face. Dudley 
 has withdrawn to the library. He is preoccu- 
 pied and silent. Mrs. Lambert, for all her 
 affection, regards me, I fear, with disapproval. 
 But how can I feign indifference ? You are 
 safe. You will return to me. In six months 
 I shall attain my majority, and then your 
 brother Dudley can no longer, as my guardian, 
 legally prohibit our marriage. Of that dear 
 union, the consummation of all our prayers and 
 hopes, I can scarcely dare trust myself to " 
 
 And here Laurence found himself forced to 
 cease reading. The page was blotted, the 
 writing obliterated, by rusty stains of the 
 nature of which he could be in no doubt. 
 The further record of Agnes Rivers's pure 
 passion was smothered in blood.
 
 The Gateless Barrier 159 
 
 He folded the letters together, tied them 
 up, put them back in the drawer, closed and 
 locked the escritoire. Well, it must have been 
 worth while to have been loved like that ! 
 Did women ever love so still, he wondered ? 
 He opened the tall French window, and once 
 again went out, hatless, into the driving wet.
 
 XIV 
 
 " T^ ^T^" ^ vers re g rets that he is un- 
 ^L /|| able to receive you to-night, 
 
 V [sir.' 
 
 Laurence looked round with 
 something approaching a start at Renshaw, 
 the butler, whose respectful, colourless voice 
 broke in thus upon his meditations. The 
 dining-room struck him as hotter and more 
 oppressive than ever by contrast probably 
 with the buffeting wind and driving mist in 
 which he had paced the lime-tree walk for 
 a good hour before the dressing-bell rang. 
 To-night the glass bowl, supported by the 
 wanton, dancing, Etruscan figures, was filled 
 with tuberoses and carmine-stained Japanese 
 lilies ; and the odour given off by these acted 
 on the young man's brain as opium or hashish 
 might have acted at least so it appeared to 
 him. The longer he meditated, the less could 
 he distinguish between real and unreal, fact 
 and phantasy. The best accredited articles 
 of his moral and scientific creed had passed 
 into the region of the open question. Specu- 
 lation ran riot, all the accustomed landmarks
 
 The Gateless Barrier 161 
 
 of his thought being for the time submerged ; 
 while the wildest and most extravagant ideas 
 presented themselves as within the range of 
 practical action. That last read letter of 
 Agnes Rivers, and his own resemblance to 
 her lover, had inflamed his imagination and 
 his heart. Even in their one night's inter- 
 course, he had seen intelligence, purpose, 
 gaiety, return to her. Now the daring 
 conception that such a process might be 
 continued, until his sweet and mysterious 
 companion recovered all the senses and attri- 
 butes of living womanhood, formed itself 
 in his mind. Was it not conceivable that 
 this appearance might be materialised, so that 
 the fair and gracious spirit should once again 
 inhabit a human body, and know all those 
 dear joys of love and motherhood which had 
 been by some evil fortune, some catas- 
 trophe, as he supposed denied to her? An 
 immense ambition to be the instrument of 
 this restoration, this recovery, grew within 
 him. He would work a miracle, he would 
 be as God, clothing the soul with flesh, 
 raising the dead. And this by no exercise 
 of charlatanism, by no dabbling in old-
 
 162 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 world superstitions, or dealings in folly of 
 White Magic or of Black ; but simply by 
 force of will, by the action of mind on mind, 
 by the incalculable power of a great love. It 
 was impious, perhaps. Morally it was doubt- 
 ful circumstanced as he, Laurence, was. But 
 it was the most magnificent experiment ever 
 offered either to man of science, or to poet. 
 Here was the opportunity he had desired, had 
 waited for. Here was his chance in life ! 
 
 Then the butler's voice cut in, bringing 
 him down to the everyday level. No wonder 
 he looked round a little dazed. 
 
 " Mr. Rivers regrets that he will be unable 
 to receive you to-night, sir," it said. 
 And Laurence asked in answer 
 " Is my uncle ill ? Is he worse ? " 
 " Mr. Lowndes has brought down word 
 that he is tired, sir. Mr. Armstrong, the 
 agent, arrived from Scotland this afternoon 
 while you were out. Mr. Rivers has had a 
 long interview with him too long an inter- 
 view in Mr. Lowndes's opinion." 
 
 " I am sorry," Laurence said absently. He 
 fell to caressing his wonderful idea again , but 
 the butler waited.
 
 The Gateless Barrier 163 
 
 " Mr. Armstrong requested me to add, sir, 
 that if convenient to you, as you will not be 
 engaged with Mr. Rivers, he would be obliged 
 if you would allow him to speak to you in the 
 course of the evening." 
 
 " Oh, by all means," the young man said, 
 rising. Then he added " Tell Mr. Arm- 
 strong I will see him at once. Later I may 
 be occupied. Where ? In the small library 
 yes." 
 
 Laurence betook himself to the library, 
 prepared to be bored with a good grace. But 
 he might have spared himself such prepara- 
 tion, for looking on the new-comer, he liked 
 him. The man, in age about sixty, was of 
 barely middle height, broad-shouldered and 
 lean about the flanks. He carried his head 
 forward, stooping slightly, in observant, med- 
 itative fashion. He was slow of movement, 
 calm, one capable of having his joke and 
 keeping it to himself. His face was shaped 
 like a kite, remarkable in the breadth of the 
 lower part of the forehead and the high cheek- 
 bones, narrowing down to a long, flat chin. 
 The upper lip was long too, a somewhat prag- 
 matical and self-righteous upper lip. While
 
 164 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 the eyes, set far apart under the wide brow, 
 showed a clear, kindly blue between the 
 narrow lids that ended in a fan-like system of 
 wrinkles at the outward corners. The nose 
 was thin and straight at the bridge, with wide- 
 winged, open nostrils. The hair, formerly 
 sandy, was now grey, smooth on the low 
 dome of the head, and thickly waved above 
 and behind the flat-set, long-lobed ears. In 
 all a shrewd, humorous, sober countenance, 
 ruddy, moreover, as a well-ripened, autumn 
 apple. 
 
 At first the agent's talk was professional, 
 dealing in matters of leases and rights-of-way ; 
 of draining operations and the breeding and 
 rearing of cattle ; of the iniquitous heaviness 
 of road rates, the culture of hops, and the cut- 
 ting of copses. But gradually it began to 
 take on a more personal and racial character, 
 since the Scotchman is yet to be born who can 
 go very long in conversation without blowing 
 be it never so discreetly the trumpet of 
 his own unrivalled nation. So he fell to dilat- 
 ing upon the superiority of the Scotch to the 
 English system of national education ; upon 
 the indolence and general incapacity of the
 
 The Gateless Barrier 165 
 
 south-country labourer; upon the glaring 
 futilities and imbecilities of district and parish 
 councils ; and upon the congenital incapacity 
 of the Anglican clergy every man-Jack of 
 them to deliver a sermon which would 
 satisfy the intelligence and theological acumen 
 of the most ordinary congregation north of 
 Tweed. 
 
 Laurence listened, amused by the exhibition 
 of the speaker's both conscious and unconscious 
 prejudices. The man was alive; he was self- 
 secure and dependable. Laurence saw he 
 would be a pleasant fellow to work with. And 
 the thought of that work began to occupy his 
 mind, opium dreams giving place before practi- 
 cal interests and activities. Laurence talked in 
 his turn, showing a keenness in business and 
 a knowledge of it, which Armstrong, with 
 pursed-up lips and slow noddings of the head, 
 evidently relished. 
 
 "Aweel," he remarked at last, after the 
 younger man had given a particularly lucid 
 description of certain labour-saving farm-im- 
 plements employed in the wheat-growing 
 states of Western America, "I trust it is no 
 disrespect to an old master, whom it pleases
 
 i66 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 the Almighty to withdraw to some other 
 sphere of usefulness or the contrary, for it 
 would be overbold to prophesy largely on that 
 subject of utility in the case of your uncle, Mr. 
 Rivers it is no disrespect, I say, I trust, for 
 a man who has served such an one for over 
 thirty years to the best of his ability, to feel 
 himself not indisposed to welcome the new 
 master. I am constrained to tell you, Mr. 
 Laurence Rivers, that I looked to find in you 
 some flighty, flimsy, modern run-about of a 
 creature. I acknowledge my error with thanks- 
 giving. The impression you make on my 
 mind is far from unfavourable." 
 
 " That 's right," Laurence said genially. " I 
 am new to all these landed property concerns 
 as yet ; but I expect I shall be able to get 
 round them pretty smartly when the time 
 comes." 
 
 " I think you will, I think you will." The 
 agent's blue eyes twinkled with a certain quiet 
 humour, upon the young man, from between 
 their narrow lids. "Your uncle, I must admit, 
 is but a feeble body in the practical domain. 
 His great understanding has, so to speak, not 
 infrequently got between his legs and thrown
 
 "The Gateless Barrier 167 
 
 him down. It is pitiful to see any person so 
 clever that he cannot condescend to take advan- 
 tage of the handsome position the Almighty 
 has allowed him. I own there have been times 
 when I have felt rebellious against the Lord's 
 too great generosity in the goods of this world 
 perishable, I know, yet deserving of con- 
 sideration to one constitutionally incapable 
 of drawing full profit out of them. Therefore 
 I perceive with thankfulness, Mr. Rivers, you 
 are of a different make." 
 
 Laurence leaned back in his chair, and 
 lighted another cigarette. It was early yet 
 and he liked the man. He would encourage 
 him to talk on for a while longer. 
 
 " Oh yes," he said, "you need n't be worried 
 under that head, Armstrong. I 've the reputa- 
 tion of by no means quarrelling with my bread 
 and butter, or despising the goodly fruits of 
 this admittedly naughty world, in whatever 
 form I find them." 
 
 " Temperance is a canny virtue ; and I would 
 recommend moderation in all things, after the 
 teaching of the Apostle Paul. Yet I am glad 
 to find, Mr. Rivers, you have your feet upon 
 the floor. It will be well for your estates, at
 
 i68 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 the preservation and improvement of which I 
 and my kin have laboured not unfaithfully 
 for three generations." 
 
 " So long as that ? " the young man ejacu- 
 lated. The statement indirectly suggested a 
 former strain of thought. 
 
 "Yes, for three generations and not 
 without trials. For I would have you under- 
 stand that a certain impracticability runs 
 in your family, Mr. Rivers a perversity, 
 not sinful altogether, but very wearing to 
 those that have your temporal interests at 
 heart." 
 
 Gently Laurence blew a little cloud out of 
 his nostrils, and watched it float upward across 
 the dark, warm-hued landscape by Nicholas 
 Poussin hanging over the chimney-piece. 
 Against the windows the rain beat, while the 
 heavy folds of the crimson, damask curtains, 
 covering them, swayed just perceptibly in the 
 draught. 
 
 " I can believe it," he said. " My people 
 have been afflicted with ideas ; and ideas play 
 the very mischief with business, don't they, 
 Armstrong? " 
 
 "In their degree, and subject to a thrifty
 
 The Gateless Barrier 169 
 
 discretion in their application, I would not 
 wholly condemn them," the agent replied. 
 His shrewd glance dwelt on the younger man 
 with undisguised pleasure. He was so hand- 
 some, well bred, well made, and apparently 
 so able a fellow. " But ideas are kittle 
 cattle, Mr. Rivers," he continued, " needing 
 strenuous supervision if you would not have 
 them break out of pasture and run mad, 
 sairly to the dislocation of all legitimate traffic. 
 And it has been the affliction of more than 
 one member of your family to let his ideas 
 run abroad to a length of pernicious extrava- 
 gance. For instance, my grandfather, a person 
 of capacity and circumspection beyond the 
 average, was factor to your great uncle, Mr. 
 Dudley Rivers, and " 
 
 Laurence kept his eyes fixed on the last 
 blue of the little smoke-cloud curling about 
 the intricate foliations of the upper corner 
 of the picture frame ; yet his voice had a 
 certain quickness and vibration in it as he 
 exclaimed 
 
 c Ah ! Dudley Rivers yes. Well, how 
 about him, Armstrong ? " 
 
 ' D 
 
 " Not much good, not much good. Like
 
 170 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 the foolish body recorded by the Psalmist, 
 he had ' said in his heart, There is no God.' 
 And having made that very impious and lying 
 observation, and so disposed of the Deity, he 
 proceeded to supersede the latter in his own 
 person, and attempt the reorganisation of 
 society according to his own hare-brained 
 fancies. Regarding his deliverance from dan- 
 gerous delusions my grandfather could do 
 but little, being himself a godly man, and 
 holding firmly by the doctrine of Election. 
 If the poor misguided creature would go to 
 the devil, Mr. Rivers, it was so my grand- 
 father held because to the devil he was 
 righteously foredoomed and predestined to 
 go. And so my grandfather, relieved of all 
 responsibility in that respect, felt free to 
 apply the whole of his abilities to saving the 
 poor, erring person's treasure on earth, since 
 it was manifestly not the intention of Provi- 
 dence that he should inherit any treasure in 
 heaven. He had long taken entire charge 
 of those estates in the county of Fife, which 
 belonged to Mr. Dudley's young cousin and 
 ward, Miss Agnes Rivers " 
 
 " Ah ! " Laurence ejaculated softly.
 
 The Gateless Barrier 171 
 
 " And many a time did my grandfather 
 undertake the tedious journey down here, from 
 the north, to lend a seasonable hand in re- 
 straining Mr. Dudley from committing some 
 ruinous foolishness in respect of Miss Agnes, 
 or of his own southern property. For Mr. 
 Dudley was just completely saturated with 
 pernicious opinions derived from the writings 
 of Rousseau, and Tom Paine, and other such 
 seditious persons ; and Satan entering into 
 him at intervals, and blinding his small sur- 
 viving modicum of reason, he proposed to 
 reduce them to practice poor, demented 
 body." 
 
 "Yes," Laurence said, "he had graduated 
 in a rather impossible school, no doubt. But 
 but Armstrong, what about his private 
 life his morals ? " 
 
 " Blameless blameless more 's the pity, 
 since his virtues could but come under the 
 head of works of supererogation so my 
 grandfather held profitless alike in this 
 world and in the next. Indeed, though a 
 strict man himself, I am constrained to believe 
 he would have experienced relief in seeing 
 Mr. Dudley enjoy the pleasures of sin
 
 "The Gateless Barrier 
 
 they are real, very real while they last, un- 
 fortunately for a season." 
 
 Laurence flung away the stump of his 
 cigarette, and turned sideways in his chair. 
 
 " Now, as we 're on the subject," he said, 
 " and as you seem to know all about these 
 people of mine, what sort of fellow was Dud- 
 ley's younger brother, my namesake, Lau- 
 rence Rivers ? " 
 
 " Weel, I have reason to believe he was a 
 very promising sprig a likely young gen- 
 tleman, high-spirited, clean-living, and not 
 without a show of capacity for affairs. My 
 grandparents, both of them, entertained a warm 
 affection for him." The man paused in his 
 slow sing-song talk, smiling. "I should sur- 
 mise him to have been much such a person as 
 yourself, Mr. Rivers, with a natural gift of 
 winning the hearts of those brought into con- 
 tact with him. But he fell at Trafalgar, shot 
 through the lungs, as no doubt you have 
 heard cut off before he had opportunity to 
 acquaint the world with the worth of the 
 talents that might reside in him. It was a 
 grievous misfortune, for his death took place 
 but three months before the day appointed
 
 The Gateless Barrier 173 
 
 for his and his cousin's marriage. And often, 
 as a soft-hearted bit of a laddie, I have cried 
 to hear my grandmother tell of the coming of 
 the awful news and the grief of the poor 
 young lady. She was a gracious, winsome 
 thing, as bright as a sunbeam on a running 
 brook ; very pious, too, and charitable, so 
 that no mortal soul could but wish her well 
 that looked on her. But she was shivered 
 by the stroke of her sorrow, as you might 
 shiver some fragile trifle of an ornament with 
 a careless blow. She would not eat or speak 
 for many days, and her sleep* departed from 
 her. And, indeed, during the few months of 
 life that remained to her she rarely uttered a 
 word. Her poor bits of wits seemed to drain 
 out of her with her tears, for all that she was 
 highly educated, and an accomplished musician 
 and sweet singer. 
 
 Laurence had risen to his feet. He stood 
 with his back to the fire, his hands behind 
 him, and his head bent. 
 
 " Poor child ! " he said softly. " Well, she 
 knew how to love, anyway." 
 
 " No woman better ; but I am thinking, 
 Mr. Rivers, she introduced into her affections
 
 174 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 a touch of that same extravagance which per- 
 tains to so many members of your family. 
 For my grandmother used to tell me that, 
 though altogether gentle and docile, she 
 studied nothing but to turn over her dead 
 love's letters, and play with the various gifts 
 he had bestowed upon her, as a little lass 
 plays with its puppets and toys. It was the 
 pitifulest spectacle under the dome of the 
 sky, that of her affliction ; and Mr. Dudley, 
 notwithstanding his reprehensible opinions and 
 infamous heresies, watched over her like a 
 father. His patience knew no bounds, poor 
 body. He would have laid himself down as 
 the ground for her to walk on, could that 
 have accelerated her recovery. He spared 
 no expense of doctors, both foreign and Eng- 
 lish, to prescribe for her ; and carried her 
 away to Bath, by their advice, to drink the 
 waters there. But all the medicinal waters that 
 ever welled up through the length and breadth 
 of God Almighty's curious earth are powerless 
 to ease the ache of a broken heart. She wanted 
 but one thing, and that no mortal soul could 
 give her. And so, poor, white lily of a thing, 
 she just sickened, and faded, and died."
 
 The Gafe/ess Barrier 175 
 
 Laurence stood very still, looking down at 
 the hearthrug between his feet, while the rain 
 beat against the windows. The agent watched 
 him for a little space, and then rose, a trifle 
 stiffly and carefully, from his chair. 
 
 " I am keeping you over long with my 
 family histories, Mr. Rivers," he said. " But 
 it comes to me that we are about to see great 
 changes in this place very speedily ; and our 
 conversation to-night has been a valediction to 
 the old dynasty and a recognition of the new. 
 There has been no lady at Stoke Rivers since 
 Miss Agnes died, and you, so I learn, are a 
 married man." 
 
 Laurence left his contemplation of the 
 hearthrug, and drew himself up rather 
 sharply. 
 
 "Yes," he said, " my wife is much interested 
 in the prospect of this English property." 
 
 He turned his back, and stared into the 
 fire. 
 
 " Look here, Armstrong," he said, " where 
 was she Agnes Rivers, I mean where 
 
 was she buried ? " 
 
 / 
 
 A singularly acute expression came over the 
 agent's countenance. He looked hard at the
 
 176 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 young man, but the latter did not move or 
 turn his head. The wind, increasing in force 
 broke, as in great waves, against the house 
 front and the curtains swayed sullenly in the 
 draught. Armstrong cleared his throat. 
 
 "I am thinking it's a calamitous night for 
 too many poor folks at sea," he remarked ; 
 and then added : " Buried ? Weel, pre- 
 sumably at Bath, where she died, Mr. Rivers. 
 A grand funeral took place there, to my 
 grandfather's knowledge, for he was called 
 upon to journey the whole long way from 
 Cupar to attend it, and the snow lay some 
 foot deep in the North. A grand funeral, 
 truly, in appearance, with black horses, and 
 plumes, and lumbering black coaches, and all 
 signs of respect and customary outward mani- 
 festations of woe." 
 
 Still Laurence did not move ; but the gusty 
 wind was so loud that it obliged him to raise 
 his voice in asking 
 
 "Well, well, if there was all this display 
 about the funeral, why presumably then ? " 
 
 " Because I am constrained to admit that a 
 certain mystery surrounded that transaction. 
 My grandparents would never speak directly
 
 The Gateless Barrier 177 
 
 of it, being prudent persons, and knowing, 
 conceivably, more than it was becoming for 
 them to tell. But there were tongues that 
 said, Mr. Rivers, that no sweet lassie's corpse 
 lay in that coffin ; but only books, and cast 
 clothes, and bricks, and rubbish, to make up 
 the weight." 
 
 Laurence turned round suddenly. His face 
 was keen, his eyes alight. 
 
 " But why ? " he asked. 
 
 " Partly, I surmise, on account of Mr. 
 Dudley's atheistical views, which caused him 
 to hate and scorn all decent Christian rites and 
 ceremonies. And partly because of the feel- 
 ings he entertained towards his cousin for it 
 
 o 
 
 was well known she was the only human crea- 
 ture that had ever moved him to love it was 
 apprehended he refused to part with her body 
 even in death. 
 
 For a few moments the two men looked 
 hard at each other. 
 
 " And what then ? " Laurence demanded. 
 Armstrong raised his hands, almost as in re- 
 pudiation of his own thought. 
 
 " The Lord only knows," he said. " As the 
 poet says, f There are more things in heaven 
 
 18
 
 178 The Gate/ess Barrier 
 
 and earth than are dreamed of in our philos- 
 ophy.' But I, being a practical man, do not 
 concern myself with such, Mr. Rivers. I 
 would not learn more of hidden matters than 
 is strictly necessary to salvation. If it is the 
 intention of the Deity that further revelation 
 of laws, either natural or spiritual, should be 
 granted us, such revelation will, without doubt, 
 come at the time appointed. And so I, per- 
 sonally, would not force the hand of Providence 
 or be over forward in pushing myself into its 
 secret counsels." 
 
 He paused, regarding the younger man with 
 much friendliness and some anxiety. But 
 Laurence did not speak. He merely smiled, 
 holding out his hand. 
 
 " Aweel, good night to you then, Mr. 
 Rivers," the agent said, taking the outstretched 
 hand and holding it awhile. "I must repeat, 
 I am glad to carry away so favourable an 
 impression of our first meeting. But, as a 
 word at parting having in mind the tendencies 
 of your family constitution, I would earnestly 
 commend to you those canny virtues, modera- 
 tion and temperance, in all your undertakings. 
 I will be resident here for the coming week,
 
 The Gate/ess Barrier 179 
 
 or longer should a more protracted stay be 
 incumbent on me, in the interests of your 
 affairs or your uncle's. My sons are good, 
 steady lads, and will mind our northern busi- 
 ness for me a business not unprosperous or 
 decreasing. And so you can notify me at any 
 time should you feel an inclination to acquaint 
 yourself further with the workings of this 
 estate, or other items of poor Mr. Rivers's by 
 no means inconsiderable property."
 
 XV 
 
 FOR some minutes Laurence remained 
 in the same position before the library 
 fireplace, while the rush and wail of the 
 storm without offered marked contrast 
 to the silence and close warmth reigning within. 
 He knew all the facts of the case now, as far 
 as they were attainable by tradition. They 
 proved to be very simple ; but, as he reflected, 
 the simplicity of the symbol by no means 
 invalidates the profound character of the 
 mystery of which it may be the outward and 
 visible sign. Nay, the very simplicity, the 
 tender, human pathos, of this story of love and 
 sorrow, only engaged his heart and provoked 
 his enterprise the more. Counsels of self- 
 saving moderation he waved aside with a 
 smile. Of danger, material, moral, or spiritual, 
 he was defiant. With the Veil of I sis there, 
 visibly confronting him and inviting in 
 gentlest, most confiding fashion his hand 
 to lift it, would it not be unpardonably poor- 
 spirited, callous, and unfaithful to draw back ? 
 But Virginia ? Laurence moved impatiently 
 from his place. He wished to goodness Arm-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 181 
 
 strong had not referred to Virginia, or rather 
 to that circumscription of his personal liberty 
 which Virginia presented to his marriage, in 
 short ! He was very fond of her. Of course, 
 he was very fond of her not for a mo- 
 ment did he doubt that. But must it be a 
 matter of primary duty and honour that he 
 should relinquish the part of hero in this piece 
 this noble and enthralling piece, which 
 made vibrant his whole being, and stirred the 
 finest of him into activity simply because 
 Virginia's name did not happen to be in the 
 bill ? Marriage came perilously near a dis- 
 aster if it clipped your wings as much as all 
 that ! And he would, indeed, be a bigoted 
 moralist who should maintain that no circum- 
 stances can be so extraordinary, no opportuni- 
 ties of knowledge or spiritual advancement so 
 rare, that they justify a neglect of conventional 
 rules of conduct, or permit the relegation of 
 ordinary obligations for a time at least to 
 the second place ! 
 
 Thus did the young man argue ambi- 
 tion, chivalry, and those hereditary tendencies 
 towards a rather violent reduction of theory to 
 practice against which Jie had so lately been
 
 i82 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 warned, all conspiring to one result. And so, 
 at last, his head erect, and though he knew 
 it not that air of assured conquest about 
 him which had sat so charmingly upon his 
 namesake perhaps his rival the Laurence 
 Rivers of the Cosway miniature, he swung 
 down the still, crimson-carpeted corridor, 
 pulled the stiff tapestry curtain forward, passed 
 behind it, and entered the room beyond. He 
 laughed a little to himself, he was all of a 
 white heat, he would be as the Gods, working 
 miracles, righting wrong, conquering death. 
 
 Sharp disappointment awaited him. The 
 yellow drawing-room was brilliantly lighted. 
 The atmosphere of it was fresh, almost to the 
 point of chill. The miniatures lay side by side 
 upon the escritoire, where he had placed them 
 some four or five hours earlier ; but his sweet 
 fairy-lady was not there to receive him. The 
 room was vacant of all human, all visible, pres- 
 ence save his own. 
 
 The hours which followed were among the 
 most poignant that Laurence had ever experi- 
 enced. He had made so certain that he 
 needed but to open that door to regain the 
 unreal world, yet world - as he believed of
 
 The Gateless Barrier 183 
 
 profoundest reality, which enchanted, while it 
 baffled and perplexed him. He found himself 
 compelled to admit, moreover, not without a 
 sense of humiliation, that his attitude was not 
 exclusively pathological or scientific. A good 
 deal of the natural man, and the natural man's 
 affections and vanities, entered into it. He 
 craved once again to see that slender, flitting 
 figure, to feel the vibration of that otherwise 
 impalpable hand, to read the trust and exquis- 
 ite sympathy of those lovely eyes ; he craved 
 again to be aware of the fervour of his own 
 eloquence, the rush and spring of his own 
 thought. Moreover, he felt jealous, absurdly 
 but increasingly jealous, of that other Laurence 
 Rivers, of whom, for all his vitality and im- 
 mediate consciousness of living energy and 
 active will, he seemed to be but a second 
 edition. The man had forestalled him in face 
 and semblance, forestalled him too in the 
 heart of the woman it would be it was, he 
 feared only too easy for him to love. 
 
 And so he wandered aimlessly, restlessly 
 about the bright, empty room, almost as his 
 sweet rose-clad lady had wandered on the night 
 he first met her, searching, searching for some
 
 184 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 lost good ; while, as time lengthened and his 
 nerves grew strained by impatient waiting and 
 want of sleep, fears that by his own action he 
 had procured this disappointment began to 
 assail him. He was always over-confident, 
 blundering from too great self-belief. For 
 might it not be that in opening her little 
 treasure-chest, in touching those objects so 
 dear to her dead fingers and dead eyes, in 
 reading her letters nay, in striving to ap- 
 proach her and establish relations with her at 
 all he had outraged her delicacy, had, in a 
 sense, assaulted her soul, had been guilty of 
 spiritual insult, as in grosser, material existence 
 a man might assault or insult a woman's 
 person ? Had he, unwittingly, transgressed 
 some law obtaining in the world of spirits, in 
 the state of being which lies outside and 
 beyond the Gates of Death, and of which 
 human beings, bound by the conditions of 
 their earthly environment, have as yet no 
 cognisance? Why should not the mind and 
 heart be sublimated to as exquisite a fineness 
 of texture, in her case, as the body had been ? 
 This idea of possible outrage, of unwitting 
 grossness towards her, was horrible to Lau-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 185 
 
 rence. It stabbed him with shame, and pro- 
 voked in him a passionate desire for absolution. 
 If she would only come only come, that he 
 might implore her pardon, gain forgiveness, or 
 still better receive comfortable assurance 
 that he had not sinned ! 
 
 His restless wanderings brought him at 
 length to the bay-window, and he looked out 
 into the night. The storm had not abated. 
 Dimly he could perceive, in the light stream- 
 ing outward from the window, the rain-washed 
 steps, the pale balustrades and statues of the 
 garden ; the near cypresses, too, bowed and 
 straining in the gale which shrieked across 
 the open lawns and bellowed hoarsely in the 
 woodland like some fierce beast let loose. 
 And Laurence, viewing this tumult and listen- 
 ing to it, suffered further humiliation. He 
 became but a small thing in his own estima- 
 tion, weak, futile, incapable. For to what, 
 after all, did his force of will and power of 
 compelling events amount ? He thought of 
 Armstrong, the level-headed and circumspect 
 Scotch agent ; of his uncle, dignified, and even 
 in mortal illness faithful to the clear purposes 
 of his long life. He thought of Virginia,
 
 i86 "The Gateless Barrier 
 
 strong in virtue of her very limitations, glitter- 
 ing as a well-cut jewel, concrete, complete. All 
 these persons occupied a definite place, served, 
 in their degree, a definite end. Whereas, for 
 himself, was he not the veriest sport of nature 
 and of circumstance, endowed with just suffi- 
 cient wit, sufficient talent, to court failure in 
 any and every direction ? His initiative, that 
 had lately showed god-like, now shrivelled to 
 microscopic proportions ; while a further un- 
 welcome question presented itself. For had 
 the gracious spectre he no longer quarrelled 
 with that definition lived, as he had fondly 
 supposed, through his life, regained reason 
 and glad, human sympathy through the influ- 
 ence of his will, or had the case, in very truth, 
 been precisely the reverse ? Had not she 
 been the active, he the merely passive principle ? 
 Had he not reached a higher development, and 
 gloried for a little space in conscious pos- 
 session of genius, had he not lived, in short, 
 through her and this not by exercise of direct 
 intention on her part, but merely in obedience to 
 the might of her love for another man a man 
 long dead, but whose name he chanced to bear, 
 and whose appearance he chanced to resemble ?
 
 'The Gateless Barrier 187 
 
 And thereupon a hideous persuasion of his 
 own nullity and emptiness took hold of Lau- 
 rence. Individuality fled away, disintegrated, 
 dissolved, and was not. The component 
 parts of his physical being returned to their 
 original elements flesh to earth, gases to air, 
 heat to fire, blood to water. While all the 
 qualities of his mind, his tastes and affections, 
 suffered like dispersal, being claimed and 
 absorbed by the members of those many 
 generations, whose earthly existence had con- 
 tributed to the eventual production of his 
 own. And the terror of this was augmented, 
 in that, although every atom of his being was 
 thus scattered and appropriated, every small- 
 est fraction of that which had gone to compose 
 his personality was dispersed, yet annihilation 
 of thought did not follow. He was reduced 
 to absolute nothingness ; but knowledge of 
 disintegration, knowledge of loss, knowledge 
 rebellious and despairing of that same 
 nothingness remained. 
 
 Appalled, with the instinct of flight upon 
 him as from some menacing and immeasur- 
 able danger, Laurence turned and groped his 
 way back as a blind man gropes into the
 
 i88 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 centre of the brightly lighted room. The 
 persuasion of his own nothingness seemed to 
 extend itself to his surroundings. All partook 
 of the nature of illusion, from which sense 
 of sight and touch alike seemed powerless to 
 redeem them. And this begot in the young 
 man an immense desolation and a correspond- 
 ing need of comfort and of quick human 
 sympathy. Involuntarily, in his extremity, 
 his thought fixed itself, stayed itself, upon 
 Agnes Rivers. Ah ! if she would but show 
 herself she, his well-beloved fairy-lady 
 he was convinced peace and clear-seeing would 
 follow in her train, that this terror of nothing- 
 ness would depart, and that sanely, calmly s 
 he should enter into possession of himself 
 once more ! 
 
 And then, presently, as he moved to and 
 fro in restless search for her, it appeared to 
 him that a rose-red gleam of silk, a just per- 
 ceptible whiteness of muslin and lace, the 
 faintest vision of a vision of her sweet and 
 lovely face, moved beside him as he moved. 
 It was as though an indefinable tenderness 
 yearned towards him from out some impassa- 
 ble distance, striving to declare itself, to make
 
 The Gateless Barrier 189 
 
 itself seen and felt, yet without force to master 
 some opposing influence and accomplish its 
 object. And this awoke in Laurence not 
 only an answering tenderness, but an answer- 
 ing struggle. He stood quite still, yet with 
 every nerve, every faculty strained to attain 
 and overcome. He felt braced by a sudden 
 exhilaration of battle. Silently, fiercely, he 
 fought with some awful, unseen enemy, 
 with dimly apprehended powers of time and 
 place, of death, of things spiritual and things 
 material, which intervened between him and 
 the love which sought to reach him. Never 
 had he desired anything as he desired this 
 love. His individuality was actual enough 
 now ; and his whole body ached with the 
 effort to penetrate that resistant medium, to 
 be face to face with that love, and look on it, 
 and so doing to read the riddle both of his 
 future and his past. 
 
 But when the warfare was at its height, and 
 the unseen enemy seemed to yield a little, 
 while the slender form of his rose-clad lady 
 grew more distinct to Laurence's eyes, un- 
 accustomed noise and confusion arose within 
 the dead-quiet house. Doors opened and
 
 190 "The Gateless Barrier 
 
 slammed, as with the hurry of panic. Men's 
 footsteps echoed imperatively down the corri- 
 dors and upon the stairs. Another moment 
 and he would overcome all resistance, and his 
 dear companion would stand before him, 
 smiling, gracious, full of consolation and of 
 help ; but just then voices were raised in quick 
 discussion without. Suddenly the door was 
 thrown open. Upon the threshold was Ren- 
 shaw the butler, bereft of his usual correctness 
 of demeanour, his eyes starting, his skin 
 mottled with purple stains. Behind him 
 stood Watkins holding back the leather-lined 
 curtain to the utmost of its length, thereby 
 disclosing a triangular vista of dark-panelled 
 passage and the proud heads and arrogant, 
 impassive faces of the rulers of Imperial 
 Rome. 
 
 Evidently both men dreaded to venture one 
 step further into the room. 
 
 " Will you please to come at once, sir," 
 Renshaw called hoarsely. " Excuse me, sir, 
 you are wanted. Mr. Rivers is very ill. He 
 has asked for you. Mr. Lowndes fears he is 
 dying."
 
 1 
 
 XVI 
 
 agitation pervading the house 
 was sinister. Laurence felt as though 
 witnessing the convulsions of some 
 human body, seen only heretofore 
 amid the restraints and graceful amenities of 
 society ; but now abandoned and indecently 
 torn in its last agony. If indeed Mr. Rivers 
 was dying, his soul was not merely quitting 
 its fragile, fleshly tabernacle ; but was also, 
 very sensibly, quitting this larger tabernacle of 
 house and household which it had informed 
 through a long course of years, and moulded 
 to express its tastes, flatter its idiosyncrasies, 
 and forestall its every wish. It was fitting, 
 therefore, though fearful, that this outer en- 
 velope of the owner's life should be shaken, 
 and lose its habitual immutability and imper- 
 vious calm ; while his well-drilled servants, 
 usually obedient as machines to the direction 
 of his hand, ran distracted, scared and helpless 
 as a flock of frightened sheep. 
 
 The men hurried aimlessly, spoke in 
 whispers. Members of the establishment 
 with whom Laurence was unacquainted invaded
 
 i9 2 The Gate/ess Barrier 
 
 the corridor from the direction of the offices. 
 At the foot of the staircase were grouped the 
 stout, French chef^ in spotless, linen cap and 
 jacket, his attendant scullions, and a couple of 
 men arrayed in long, green baize aprons and 
 black, calico blouses, the full sleeves of which 
 buttoned tight around the wrist. The coach- 
 man was there too, a stable helper, and the 
 groom who had accompanied Laurence on his 
 first visit to Bishop's Pudbury. All these 
 persons were well on in middle life, some old, 
 white-haired, and bent. All appeared deeply 
 moved, an inarticulate confusion in their looks, 
 as though finding themselves suddenly con- 
 fronted by dire calamity. Laurence had seen 
 men look thus in the breathless pause, between 
 recurrent earthquake shocks, among the 
 rocking buildings of a far-away, Spanish- 
 American city. As he passed them, coming 
 from that light, clear-coloured room, they 
 stared at him, and slunk aside as though a 
 fresh terror was added to those which already 
 so unmanned them. In their present state 
 of feeling the seemly decorum of respectful 
 service was relaxed ; and to Laurence, over- 
 wrought by his recent and strange experiences,
 
 'The Gateless Barrier 193 
 
 it appeared that they shrunk from him as 
 from one unclean and outcast. 
 
 He turned rather sternly upon Renshaw. 
 " What is the meaning of all this commotion ? 
 If I was wanted, why on earth was I not 
 called sooner ? " 
 
 The butler's large, smooth, egg-shaped face 
 turned from purple to something approaching 
 grey. 
 
 "We had looked for you everywhere, sir, 
 both myself and Mr. Watkins," he answered. 
 " But until Mr. Lowndes suggested it, in 
 consequence of some remark passed by Mr. 
 Rivers, it had never occurred to us that you 
 would be in the yellow drawing-room, sir." 
 Renshaw cleared his throat, recovering some 
 of his accustomed dignity of bearing. " The 
 electric light is switched on from the corridor 
 outside, you will observe, sir. It has always 
 been understood that no one neither the upper 
 or the under servants, sir are ever required 
 to go into the yellow drawing-room after dusk." 
 
 And with these words, and their implication 
 of commerce on his part with something un- 
 lawful and malign, sounding in his ears, Lau- 
 rence passed into his uncle's bed-chamber. 
 
 13
 
 194 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 As he did so, a blast of air, hot and dry as 
 from the mouth of a furnace, met him. The 
 fire upon the hearth was piled up into a 
 mountain of blazing coal and wood. The 
 light of it filled the room with a fitful, lurid 
 brilliance such as is produced by a great con- 
 flagration. In it, the breasts of the couchant 
 sphinxes glowed, seeming to rise and fall as 
 though they breathed. The caryatides sup- 
 porting the ebony canopy likewise appeared 
 indued with life. Their smooth arms and 
 bowed shoulders strained under the weight 
 resting upon them ; while the wreaths of fruit 
 and blossom, girding their naked loins, heaved 
 from the painfully sustained effort of nerve 
 and muscle. The snake-locks of the Medusa's 
 head, carved in high relief upon the circular, 
 central panel of the back of the bedstead, 
 writhed, twisted, interlaced and again slid 
 asunder, as in frustrated desire and ceaseless 
 suffering. 
 
 And along the middle of the great bed, 
 surrounded by these opulent forms, and, at 
 first sight, far less alive than they, lay Mr. 
 Rivers. His face was so blanched, so un- 
 substantial, that, but for the glittering eyes
 
 'The Gateless Barrier 195 
 
 still greedy of knowledge, it would have 
 hardly been distinguishable from the white 
 pillows supporting him. His shoulders and 
 chest were muffled in a costly, sable cape ; 
 from beneath the lower edge of which his 
 hands, thin as reeds, protruded, lying inert 
 upon the thickly-wadded, blue-and-gold, 
 damask coverlet. On the oak table 
 moved from its place by the armchair to the 
 bedside were the few handsomely bound 
 books, the crystal memento mori resting on its 
 strip of crimson embroidery, and a silver bell, 
 the handle of it shaped as a slender, winged 
 Mercury, elegantly poised for flight. 
 
 Behind the table stood Lowndes, the long- 
 armed, hard-featured valet. He apparently 
 remained untouched by the spirit of anarchy 
 let loose in the house. Laurence, drawing 
 near, looked at him, silently asking instruc- 
 tions. The man fetched a chair and placed it 
 close against the bedside. 
 
 " Be so good as to lean down, sir," he said. 
 cc Mr. Rivers wishes to converse with you ; 
 but he has had a seizure, which has slightly 
 
 * O J 
 
 affected both his speech and hearing. He 
 cannot raise his voice."
 
 196 "The Gateless Barrier 
 
 Laurence did as he was bidden. He leaned 
 towards the old man, resting his right hand 
 upon the haunches of the ebony sphinx, which 
 felt singularly warm to his touch. 
 
 "The term of your probation and of mine 
 alike draws to its close," Mr. Rivers said in 
 a small, thin voice ; and, for almost the first 
 time in their intercourse, Laurence saw him 
 smile. 
 
 " I hope this is only a passing attack, sir, 
 and that you may rally," he answered. He 
 looked up at Lowndes. " Has everything 
 been done that can be ? Have you tele- 
 graphed for the doctors ? " 
 
 " I have administered the prescribed restor- 
 atives. But Mr. Rivers ordered that no 
 further measures should be attempted until 
 after his interview with you, sir." 
 
 The sick man raised his hand feebly, yet 
 with an imperious gesture. 
 
 " I do not propose to ask further advice of 
 physicians," he said. " Their science is but a 
 mockery at this juncture ; at least, in the esti- 
 mation of a person of my habit of mind. 
 That by the employment of drugs and of 
 stimulants they might prolong a semblance of
 
 The Gateless Barrier 197 
 
 animation in this physical husk of me, I do 
 not deny. But what advantage can accrue 
 from that, when my mental activity is becom- 
 ing paralysed, and the action of my brain 
 grows sluggish and intermittent? When all 
 that differentiates a human being from the 
 brute beasts has perished, let the animal part 
 perish also. The sooner, the better; for, in 
 itself, it is far from precious." 
 
 His voice had become very faint, and he 
 waited, making a determined effort, as Laurence 
 perceived, to rally his ebbing powers. 
 
 " Tell Lowndes to go," he whispered. " I 
 wish to be alone with you." 
 
 Then as the man-servant noiselessly with- 
 drew, the thin, but barely audible accents 
 again stole out upon the fiercely heated air. 
 
 " The body, its necessities, its passions, its 
 perpetually impeding grossness throughout 
 life, is an insult to the mind. But the final 
 act of this long course of insult, namely, the 
 decay of this vile associate, is the culminating 
 insolence, the most unpardonable insult of all. 
 I have trained myself to ignore these thoughts, 
 to disregard them as a proud man disregards 
 some mutilation or personal disfigurement.
 
 198 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 But they crowd in upon me, refusing to be 
 disregarded, to-night. Here lies the sting of 
 the insult ! For as the strength of this vile, 
 animal part of me lessens, far from setting the 
 intellect free, it infects this last with its own 
 increasing degradation. The lower drags the 
 higher down along with it. They grovel 
 together. Contemptible doubts and fears 
 assail me. Discredited traditions press them- 
 selves upon my remembrance. And the bur- 
 den of it all is this, that I have laboured in 
 vain. As the body dies, so dies the mind. 
 All the garnered knowledge of years will 
 be lost, will drop infertile, into the void 
 the insatiable void which yawns alike for 
 high philosopher and for drivelling pothouse 
 sot." 
 
 His voice sank, in uttering the last few 
 words, into a whisper of concentrated bitter- 
 ness. His eyes closed, and for some minutes 
 the dying man lay motionless. 
 
 Laurence could not bring himself to speak. 
 The words to which he had just listened so 
 nearly reproduced and rendered articulate 
 those sensations he had himself so lately 
 endured. The vision of all-absorbing Nothing-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 199 
 
 ness again arose before him, as background to 
 those opulent forms, classic and pagan, upon 
 which his eyes immediately rested. An un- 
 holy and voluptuous life seemed to move in 
 those forms still. A smile curved the heavy 
 lips of the sphinxes. The rounded, glistening 
 arms of the caryatides appeared outstretched 
 less in support than in solicitation ; while the 
 snake-locks of Medusa writhed, pushing upon 
 each other amorously. The flesh, triumphant 
 
 in vigour and in carnal invitation, seemed, 
 
 o * 
 
 indeed, to flout the intellect; as though the 
 animal functions of mankind and the symbols 
 of these alone had power to survive from age 
 to age, were alone arbiters and architects of 
 human fate. And yet, yet, somewhere 
 could he but have reached it Laurence knew 
 there was a way of escape. That he had come 
 very near reaching it in the final moments of 
 that silent struggle downstairs, when the sweet 
 figure of his dear fairy-lady grew increasingly 
 clear to his sight, he could not doubt. And 
 once again, with a great desiring, he desired 
 her ; for his faith was strong that of all these 
 things she somehow how he could not say 
 as yet held the key.
 
 200 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 Just then Mr. Rivers raised his eyelids 
 slightly and turned his head upon the pillow. 
 
 "It is very horrible," he said slowly, speak- 
 ing to himself rather than to his companion. 
 "The quantity of matter is stable. It for ever 
 seeks its own, and finding it re-unites. The 
 destruction of one form is but the necessary 
 prelude to the development of others, and in 
 this process of perpetual redistribution not a 
 fraction of the sum total is lost. There is no 
 waste save in the higher aspects of man's con- 
 stitution " 
 
 But here Laurence roused himself to protest. 
 
 " Matter returns to matter, sir, granted," he 
 said. " Then why not spirit to spirit ? Are 
 you not assuming a waste which you cannot 
 prove ? And if spirit does return to spirit, 
 what better than that, after all, can we ask ? " 
 
 " Spirit ? " Mr. Rivers retorted, with a fine 
 inflection of irony, and momentary brightening 
 of those half-closed eyes. " You, my dear 
 Laurence, employ words glibly enough which 1 
 hesitate to pronounce ! Matter I know. It 
 is evident to the senses. Its actual existence 
 Berkeley, certain Oriental and other phi- 
 losophers notwithstanding is, within certain
 
 Gateless Barrier 201 
 
 limits, susceptible of proof. And intellect I 
 know. Its existence, though on other lines, is 
 equally susceptible of proof. Its action can 
 be registered and ratified. But spirit ? I 
 will thank you to inform me what is 
 spirit ? " 
 
 The young man bowed himself together, 
 resting his elbows on his knees. He smiled 
 with a half-humorous air of apology. 
 
 cc That I cannot tell you, sir," he said. 
 " I 'm better at conviction than at explanation, 
 I 'm afraid. I only know not with my 
 reason, but with my heart that spirit is, and 
 has been, and must be everlastingly." 
 
 " And its mode of expression, its mode of 
 self-revelation ? " the other inquired drily. 
 
 Laurence straightened himself up, laughing 
 a little. 
 
 " One way, the old why childish, per- 
 haps, yet really rather charming. In and by 
 love, sir only so, by love." 
 
 Tremulously Mr. Rivers drew the rich, 
 sable cape -closer about him, though the heat 
 of the room was intense. 
 
 " I become very abject," he said at last. " I 
 procrastinate and risk letting slip the oppor-
 
 202 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 tunity still permitted me. For in my abjec- 
 tion, I own I clutch at straws, miserably 
 anxious for support. I am ashamed that any 
 other human being should witness the mental 
 prostration to which physical illness has re- 
 duced me. But time presses, and compels me 
 to delay no longer in confessing my object in 
 calling you to me to-night. Tell me, Lau- 
 rence, have you investigated those abnormal 
 phenomena of which we spoke, and have your 
 investigations yielded any result ? " 
 
 The question took the listener somewhat by 
 surprise, and he hesitated before replying. 
 The whole matter had become of such vital 
 importance to him, personal, intimate, among 
 the dearest and most reverently-held secrets of 
 his heart. So he shrank, as before an act of 
 profanation, from submitting the history of his 
 fairy-lady and of his strange relation to her to 
 the criticism of this cold-blooded, sceptical in- 
 telligence. Yet he was bound by his promise 
 to report, if called on to do so bound, too, 
 in mere humanity towards one lying at the 
 point of death, and to whom that history 
 might, conceivably, bring solace and enlighten- 
 ment.
 
 The Gateless Barrier 203 
 
 " Yes, I have investigated the phenomena 
 in part," he answered. 
 
 "And the result?" 
 
 " Briefly, I think, that which I ventured to 
 state to you just now that love is the Ian- - 
 guage of the spirit, the only medium through 
 which spirit can declare itself and be appre- 
 hended, the one element of our poor human 
 constitution which promises to continue and 
 to preserve to us a measure of coherence and 
 individuality even after death." 
 
 The young man leaned forward again, and 
 laid his hand on the warm haunches of the ebony 
 sphinx with a movement of slight defiance. 
 
 " Listen," he said, cc please, sir, and I '11 do 
 my best to tell you exactly what has happened 
 since we spoke of this subject last." 
 
 He steadied himself to his task, trying to 
 keep his narrative circumstantial and restrained, 
 to offer nothing more than a bald statement of 
 fact. But the charm of it, once he had started, 
 was a little too much for him. His speech 
 grew lyrical against his will. And Mr. Rivers 
 listened, his eyes closed, his brow drawn into 
 hard lines by the effort of attention. Once he 
 held up his hand.
 
 204 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 " Did you question this appearance ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 " It was useless," Laurence answered, with a 
 queer break in his voice. " She never spoke 
 that is in words. She was dumb." 
 
 " That is unfortunate," Mr. Rivers said 
 coldly. " Well, pray, go on." 
 
 And Laurence obeyed ; recounting, with but 
 slight reservation, all, even to the events of the 
 last few hours, when he and his sweet com- 
 panion had vainly sought to reach each other 
 ii. defiance of some mighty, opposing force, and 
 ho\\ , at the crucial moment of the struggle, 
 Mr. .Rivers' s summons had come. 
 
 "There, sir," said he finally "now you 
 have it all as far as I can give it you. I don't 
 attempt to explain, though I may have my 
 own ideas on the subject. I Ve tried to put it 
 quite honestly before you, and must leave you 
 to thrash the meaning out of it for yourself." 
 
 For some little space the sick man remained 
 silent ; then he raised both hands and let them 
 sink back upon the coverlet with the gesture 
 of one who bids farewell to hope. 
 
 " Fables ! " he said bitterly ; " fables ! I ask 
 bread of you and you give me a stone. I offer
 
 The Gateless Barrier 205 
 
 you an unprecedented opportunity of psycho- 
 logical study, and you approach it in the spirit 
 of a ballad-monger or a mountebank ! I re- 
 quire from you close observation, scientific 
 acumen, an unrelenting pursuit of truth ; and 
 you put me off with some old wives' tale of 
 lost letters, the ravings of an hysterical girl, of 
 re-incarnation, multiple identity, and I know 
 not what farrago of sickly sentiment and out- 
 worn superstition ! You trouble me with rub- 
 bish, which it would be an impertinence to 
 offer as material for serious consideration to a 
 peasant's child, of ordinary mental capacity, in 
 a modern board-school. Nor can I, my dear 
 Laurence, acquit you of insincerity, since you 
 trick out this unworthy stuff in the extravagant 
 language of an erotic poem, while claiming for 
 yourself an attitude wholly platonic and supe- 
 rior to animal passion." 
 
 "You are harsh, sir," Laurence was per- 
 mitted to remark. 
 
 Mr. Rivers turned his head on the pillow. 
 His expression was distinctly malevolent. 
 
 " I begin to gauge the average man," he 
 replied calmly. " I begin to recognise that 
 he is a willing, probably wilful, self-deceiver
 
 206 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 that he is incapable of mental advance, 
 that he will never expunge the mythological 
 element from his religious outlook, or learn 
 to discriminate between emotion, the product 
 of the senses, and accurate knowledge, the 
 product of laborious enquiry and elevated 
 thought." 
 
 " Perhaps he is wiser so," Laurence said. 
 " Perhaps I speak subject to correction, 
 sir but perhaps he gets into touch, that 
 way, with things not altogether unimportant 
 in the long history of the human race." 
 
 " Here, within measurable distance of dis- 
 solution, I grow somewhat weary of perhaps. 
 Yet I deserve that you should answer me 
 this, since I have shown myself very weak. 
 I had not courage to embrace the remarkable 
 opportunity of investigating the phenomena 
 of which we have spoken when it was offered 
 me in my prime. Now, in my decadence, 
 surreptitiously and at second hand, I try to 
 acquire the knowledge I then repudiated. I 
 clutch at straws, and the straws sink with me. 
 It is just. For the second time I am untrue 
 to my principles. I accept the rebuke." 
 
 During the last half hour there had been
 
 The Gateless Barrier 207 
 
 a lull in the storm ; but now the wind, shift- 
 ing to a point north of west, hurled itself 
 against the house-front with renewed fury, 
 and screamed against the shuddering case- 
 ments as though determined to gain entrance. 
 The effect was that of personal violence in- 
 tended, and, with difficulty, repulsed. To 
 Laurence an inrush of the tempest would have 
 been hardly unwelcome, for the heat of the 
 atmosphere oppressed him to the point of 
 distress. Nor was this all. Once more he 
 became aware, so it seemed to him, of the 
 tremendous, unseen presence with which he 
 had struggled earlier this same evening in 
 the yellow drawing-room below. He was 
 aware that it stood on the far side of the 
 great, ebony bed, waiting, and the young 
 man's heart stood still. He saw Mr. Rivers 
 gather the sable cape more closely about him, 
 as he lay staring out into the austere yet 
 luxurious room ; and he recognised that for 
 all his mortal weakness there was a certain 
 magnificence in the dying man's aspect. 
 
 "And beyond the superb, and always unre- 
 deemed, promise of human life, a blank," Mr. 
 Rivers said at last, his voice hollow, and,
 
 2o8 "The Gateless Barrier 
 
 though so small, asserting itself strangely 
 against the tumult of the storm. " Reason, 
 learning, the senses, carry us thus far, only 
 to project us against a gateless barrier at the 
 last ! " 
 
 But Laurence's whole nature arose in fierce 
 revolt. Again he renewed that awful struggle, 
 but this time in articulate speech. 
 
 " No, no, sir," he cried sharply, authorita- 
 tively, " the barrier is not gateless that is, 
 to any one of us who has ever, even dimly 
 and passingly, known true-love, and that of 
 which true-love is the everlasting exponent and 
 blessed symbol, namely, Almighty God." 
 
 " And I have known neither," Mr. Rivers 
 answered. " Love I have never felt. God 
 I have never needed, either as an object of 
 worship, or as incentive to prayer. Therefore, 
 for me, on your own showing, the barrier 
 needs must remain gateless." 
 
 He bowed his head slightly, smiling upon 
 the young man with a fine, ironical courtesy. 
 
 " I will ask your pardon for any weariness 
 I may have caused you, Laurence," he added. 
 "And now I think we have nothing further 
 to say to one another. I have no quarrel
 
 The Gateless Barrier 209 
 
 with your fulfilment of your part of the con- 
 tract. It has been only possibly too 
 complete. So I will detain you no longer. 
 You can leave me. I bid you good-night." 
 
 The young man would have answered with 
 some kindly words of farewell ; but as the 
 other ceased speaking, he became aware that, 
 under the glistening, outstretched arms of the 
 caryatides, that tremendous unseen presence 
 bent downwards, extending itself sensibly over 
 the bed. Suddenly, and with a surprising 
 effect of strength, Mr. Rivers started into a 
 sitting position. 
 
 " Lowndes," he called imperatively, and 
 reached out for the handle of the silver bell. 
 
 But before Laurence could render him any 
 help he sunk down sideways as though 
 under the weight of a heavy blow the upper 
 part of his body hanging over the edge of the 
 bed, and his thin, reed-like hands, with their 
 ancient and mysterious rings, dragging upon 
 the carpet dead.
 
 1 
 
 XVII 
 
 afternoon was fair and mild, a 
 pensive charm upon it of misty sun- 
 shine and light fugitive shadows 
 one of those tender, silvery afternoons 
 very characteristic of an English spring. It 
 was as though nature, repentant of the violence 
 of the past night, would disarm resentment by 
 softness of mood, pretty invitations, and all 
 manner of insinuating caresses. Thrushes 
 piped among the high branches, and on the 
 house-roofs starlings whistled and chattered, 
 their crops filled with succulent comfort of 
 worms and slugs. Upon the wide lawns two 
 pairs of grey wag-tails scampered, with inter- 
 ludes of love-making and rapid upward flutter- 
 ings after young gnats and flies born out of 
 due time and paying speedy and final penalty 
 of too precocious an advent. The year had 
 fairly turned its back on winter at last, and a 
 promise of genial days, warm, lingering twi- 
 lights, and tranquil nights was in the air. 
 
 Yet the late storm had not departed alto- 
 gether without witness. For Laurence, pacing 
 the broad walk from the last steps of the
 
 The Gateless Barrier 211 
 
 Italian garden to the confines of the lime- 
 grove, could hear the hushing of birch-brooms 
 and the ring of an axe. One of the tall 
 cypresses had fallen right across the central 
 alley, and gardeners were still busy chopping it 
 up, carting away blocks of red wood and bar- 
 row-loads of scented branches, and obliterating 
 the traces of its downfall. 
 
 Laurence paced the walk in a state of 
 dreamy abstraction. The influences of the 
 hour and the place were soothing to him. 
 Their last interview and the final scene in his 
 uncle's bed-chamber had affected him deeply. 
 To-day had been full of detail. He had 
 spent great part of the morning at the little, 
 grey, Norman church, in company with Arm- 
 strong, Mr. Beal, and the estate mason, super- 
 intending the opening of the Rivers's vault, 
 and such alteration of the position of the 
 coffins it contained as to render possible the 
 addition of another to their number. Upon 
 the coffin-plates he read the names of many 
 members of his family of Dudley Rivers and 
 others; and that of his own father, Denbigh 
 Rivers, who had died on foreign service in 
 Malta, when he Laurence was a child,
 
 212 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 and whose body had been sent home, not 
 without cost and difficulty, to lie among his 
 kindred in this quiet place. Of Agnes Rivers's 
 coffin though he closely examined all such 
 as were still intact he discovered no trace. 
 
 " There won't be room for me or mine 
 down there, Armstrong," he said to the agent, 
 as the two stood in the sunny churchyard, 
 flicking the clinging cobwebs of the vault from 
 off their clothes. " Not that I 'm particu- 
 larly sorry for that. Look here, you see the 
 vacant space there by the chancel wall ? Just 
 try if you can arrange to have it staked out 
 and reserved, without encroaching on the rights 
 or hurting the feelings of any of the parishion- 
 ers. I rather fancy lying there unless I 'm 
 lucky enough to die at sea, and be dropped 
 over the ship's side into the clear, blue water, 
 with a shot at my feet." 
 
 " Every man to his humour, no doubt, Mr. 
 Rivers," the other answered, in his slow sing- 
 song. " Though I could find it in my heart 
 to wish you a less uneasy resting-place than 
 the swaying deeps of the ocean. Yet I sup- 
 pose it was just there, and in the manner you 
 have indicated, that your namesake and great-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 213 
 
 uncle, Laurence Rivers, found burial after the 
 glorious battle of Trafalgar." 
 
 Laurence had stopped beating the clinging 
 cobwebs from his sleeve, and turned to the 
 speaker with a look of quick intelligence. 
 
 " Why, of course it was," he said, presently 
 adding " Upon my word, I wonder 
 will history repeat itself in that particular 
 also ! " 
 
 Subsequently, there had been letters to 
 write, telegrams to despatch, the disorganised 
 household gently, but firmly, to lay hold 
 on. And now he paced the broad walk in an 
 interval of leisure, listening till the grinding of 
 carriage-wheels upon the gravel of the chestnut 
 avenue should advise him that Mr. Wormald, 
 his uncle's lawyer whom he had summoned 
 from town had arrived at Stoke Rivers 
 Road, and completed the transit from that 
 station. And as he thus paced, while the 
 silvery sunshine and shadow gently followed 
 one another across the face of the fair, wood- 
 land landscape, a little of the pride of posses- 
 sion awoke in the young man. He had hardly 
 had time to think of that before ; nor did it 
 seem quite fitting or seemly to do so when the
 
 214 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 breath had but so lately left the body lying in 
 that stately room upstairs. Yet it was indis- 
 putable, this was precisely the event which, 
 consciously or unconsciously, he had waited 
 for ever since his boyhood. The prospect of 
 one day succeeding to this property had handi- 
 capped him ; he felt that. It had placed him 
 in a position, socially, slightly beyond his 
 means. It had taken from him the incentive 
 and inclination to carve out an independent 
 career. So far it had been the reverse of an 
 advantage, from the more serious standpoint. 
 But now all that was changed. He had a very 
 definite " name and local habitation." He was 
 absolutely his own master no longer heir- 
 apparent, but recognised owner and ruler of a 
 by no means contemptible territory. This was 
 as the step from boyhood to manhood from 
 the last of a public school to the freedom and 
 personal responsibility of youth no longer sub- 
 ject to tutelage. Laurence smiled to himself. 
 It occurred to him he had really got to grow 
 up at last. Well he had been a precious 
 long time about it ! And then, somehow, it 
 occurred to him that this change in his fortunes 
 altered and modified his relation to Virginia.
 
 The Gateless Barrier 215 
 
 He had lived in Virginia's country, and among 
 her friends, almost exclusively, since his mar- 
 riage. He had, he was aware, ranked some- 
 what as Virginia's husband. Now the state 
 of affairs was reversed. He was in a position 
 to claim full masculine prerogatives those of 
 an old country, of a ripe and finished civilisa- 
 tion, well understood. In future Virginia 
 she was very charming, very, he 'd no quarrel 
 with her of course only, in future, Virginia 
 would have to rank as his wife. 
 
 And, thereupon, involuntarily his eyes 
 sought the bay-window of the yellow drawing- 
 room. At the foot of the semicircular stone 
 steps, on to which that window opened, the 
 gardeners still moved to and fro slow, brown- 
 clad figures collecting and wheeling away 
 the debris of the fallen cypress. Laurence 
 refused to formulate further the thoughts that 
 arose in his mind. Only one thing was clear 
 to him clear as the songs and whistlings of 
 the birds, clear as the tinkle and plash of the 
 fountains, the spray of which glittered so 
 brightly silver in the silvery light Virginia 
 could not come to Stoke Rivers just yet. It 
 was better better in every way that her
 
 216 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 coming should be postponed for a while till 
 the period of mourning for his uncle was over 
 
 till he, Laurence, had mastered all the busi- 
 ness, and organised the existent masculine 
 household upon a new basis till he had 
 thoroughly acquainted himself not only with 
 the working of this, but of the Scotch estate 
 
 till he and Virginia were free to keep open 
 house till till 
 
 At that moment, perhaps fortunately, the 
 dogcart emerged from the shelter of the great 
 chestnut- trees, and swung round the carriage 
 sweep to the front door. Laurence crossed the 
 lawns and the angle of the Italian garden 
 quickly. What a pity that cypress had fallen ! 
 It broke the line, destroying the symmetry of 
 the garden ; and it was almost the tallest and 
 finest grown of the lot. 
 
 In the hall Mr. Wormald discoursed affably 
 with the men-servants, while the latter divested 
 him of more than one overcoat. He was a 
 small, withered man, his back bowed and his 
 hands sadly crippled by rheumatic gout, by 
 much handling of pens, and leaning over 
 lengthy legal documents ; yet his movements 
 were noticeably alert. His clean-shaven, busy,
 
 The Gateless Barrier 217 
 
 little face was enlightened by nimble, red- 
 brown, squirrel-like eyes. 
 
 " Thank ye, Renshaw," he said. " Gently 
 ah, yes, you remember ! These damp, 
 spring days get into my joints, I promise 
 you. Ah ! there you are, Watkins. Yes, 
 sad affair this, and sudden. Great shock to 
 you all, no doubt. Quite so but I ob- 
 serve that so frequently is the case. A linger- 
 ing illness, the termination of which grows to 
 seem more and more remote, and then the end 
 with unlooked-for rapidity. Yes, very sad." 
 
 Disengaging himself from the sleeves of his 
 second coat, he perceived Laurence's arrival, 
 and his squirrel-like eyes scampered, so to 
 speak, over the young man from head to foot. 
 Like the agent, he appeared to receive an 
 agreeable impression, for he gave a subdued 
 squeak evidently indicative of satisfaction. 
 
 " Ah ! Mr. Rivers," he exclaimed, " you 
 will not remember me. It is many years 
 since we met. You were a little shaver in 
 an Eton-jacket and round collar. And your 
 poor uncle passed away quite suddenly 
 at last ? Not a matter for regret, I ven- 
 ture to think. Few men would have been
 
 218 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 more fretted by a consciousness of failing 
 powers. Remarkable intellect " Mr. Wor- 
 mald keckled softly, as he passed with the 
 young man into the library "quite beyond 
 me, out of my humble range altogether, you 
 know, Mr. Rivers. I admired his conversa- 
 tion ; yet I cannot venture to pretend I at- 
 tached any intelligible meaning to one-half of 
 what your uncle said. But our business rela- 
 tions were very simple. He disliked business 
 too much to wish to prolong the discussion of 
 it. You will find all legal arrangements very 
 direct. The death duties will be heavy ; but, 
 otherwise there are no deductions, I believe, 
 save one or two small legacies to the servants. 
 Dinner, yes, Mr. Rivers, the earlier the 
 better for me. I should be glad to put in a 
 long evening with Armstrong; then we will 
 have everything ready for you in the morn- 
 ing. I have an appointment with a client 
 at five to-morrow afternoon, so I will ask 
 you to let me go up by the two o'clock. I 
 shall not need to encroach on your time 
 to-night." 
 
 Therefore it happened, that, comparatively 
 early Laurence found himself free to go down
 
 The Gateless Barrier 219 
 
 the red-carpeted corridor, pull back the heavy, 
 leather-lined curtain, and enter the room of 
 strange and delectable meetings once again. 
 What fortune, good or bad, awaited him, he 
 could not even surmise. He had learned 
 one thing at least, that, in this connection, 
 nothing was certain save the unforeseen. 
 Nevertheless, he was sensible of slight sur- 
 prise on rinding the room shrouded in vague 
 gloom. By some oversight the electric light 
 had not been turned on. But the March 
 evenings were long, and he had come to the 
 trysting-place before the accustomed hour. 
 The day was not wholly dead yet, and twi- 
 light lingered in the neighbourhood of the 
 bay-window. After his first movement of 
 surprise, Laurence found a restful charm in 
 the soft obscurity surrounding him. Once 
 again the room had resumed its effect of 
 friendliness ; and if his fairy-lady was not 
 there as yet, no more were malign and oppos- 
 ing powers. The place was kindly and peace- 
 ful. It, like the weather, had settled back 
 into a mild and engaging mood. 
 
 The young man felt his way across to the 
 window, and sat down in one of the gilt-
 
 220 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 framed, brocade-covered armchairs on the 
 right of the bay. There he waited, looking 
 out now at the garden, growing mysterious 
 and shadowy in the deepening dusk ; now at 
 the tall, satin-wood escritoire, the highly 
 polished surfaces of which, reflecting the ex- 
 piring light, glistened so that the shape of 
 it remained visible after surrounding objects 
 had faded from sight. 
 
 How long he waited Laurence did not 
 know, nor did he greatly care. He had been 
 very actively employed for the better part of 
 the last six-and-thirty hours, and both as to 
 mind and body he was in an unusually quies- 
 cent state. His energies were in pleasant 
 suspension. The dimly seen room swam be- 
 fore his eyes. He made no effort of resist- 
 ance. A mist clouded his vision, clouded all 
 his faculties, and he slept. 
 
 When he awoke it was high noon. He lay 
 on the stone bench beneath the lime-trees, 
 the innumerable leaves of which rustled and 
 danced in the warm, summer wind. He 
 awoke laughing from a wholly delicious dream 
 a young man's dream of very lovely love, 
 which after long denial and delay had found
 
 The Gateless Barrier 221 
 
 perfect fulfilment. He felt very light and 
 content. Life was sweet, this smiling, sum- 
 mer world infinitely hopeful and sympathetic. 
 Then he stretched himself, smoothed the 
 revers of his flowered, silk waistcoat, and 
 straightened his lawn cravat, which had been 
 somewhat displaced during the pleasant re- 
 laxation of slumber. He rubbed a trifle of 
 dust, too, from the knee of his plumb-coloured 
 breeches with his handkerchief. Then he 
 stood up still laughing, yet with a growing 
 hunger in his heart, since he began to realise 
 that those delights were his, as yet, only 
 within the gates of sleep and of dreams. He 
 stretched again, a sigh mingling with his 
 laughter ; and then discovered that through 
 the shifting, dappled sunlight and shadow 
 Agnes Rivers approached him with her pretty, 
 flitting, bird-like grace. To-day she wore a 
 pale, lemon-yellow, India-muslin dress, spotted 
 with cinnamon-coloured sprigs, and a white 
 and cinnamon coloured waist ribbon em- 
 broidered in blown roses and tiny buds. A 
 black, velvet work-bag, with long yellow and 
 black strings to it, hung upon her arm ; while 
 her charming head and neck showed up in
 
 222 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 high relief against the open blue-grey sun- 
 shade she carried tilted over her right shoulder. 
 Laurence went forward to meet her, all aglow 
 from his recent sleep and from the fond im- 
 aginations of that delicious dream. Half play- 
 fully, half in sharp desire of mastery, he took 
 away her sunshade and work-bag, and threw 
 them down upon the turf. Then grasping both 
 her hands in his, he kissed and kissed them, 
 holding them high and bending his head so 
 that his eyes were on a level with hers. And 
 there must have been something in his eyes fear- 
 ful, though enchanting, to her perfect maidenli- 
 ness, for she flushed and tried to withdraw 
 her hands, moving back a step from him with 
 an air of questioning and innocent dignity. 
 
 " Laurence, Laurence," she said chidingly, 
 " what does this mean ? What has taken 
 you ? " 
 
 " Only happiness," he answered, cc of which, 
 having seen the dear vision, I very badly need 
 the still dearer reality." 
 
 " Ah ! " she said, " and yet you will go 
 away how soon we do not know to this 
 most unhappy war, and leave me desolate." 
 
 " Yes, and it is best so, sweetheart," he re-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 223 
 
 plied ; serious, though still smiling she was 
 so pure, so trustful, and so very fair. Her 
 gentle beauty racked him "Best so," he re- 
 peated " best pass the time honourably, 
 fighting for king and country, until your 
 twenty-first birthday is past, and Dudley can 
 no longer forbid our marriage, and I can 
 claim you, make and keep you mine forever 
 and a day " 
 
 And thereupon he stopped abruptly, for his 
 elder brother had come upon them unper- 
 ceived Dudley, thin and tall, clothed in 
 sad-coloured, brown-grey coat and vest, the 
 locks of his long, pale hair stirred by the 
 summer wind, in his hand a bundle of papers 
 Dudley, whose high, narrow head, refined 
 features, and deep-set, fanatical eyes reminded 
 Laurence strangely of his uncle, Montagu 
 Rivers, lying upstairs in the carven, ebony 
 bed, with the crystal memento mori and the 
 silver bell of the elegantly poised Mercury 
 handle on the table beside him. But how 
 was that? How could it be? He confused 
 two generations. Dudley Rivers's coffin 
 he had seen, in the vault of the little, 
 Norman church, only this morning. The
 
 224 The Gate/ess Barrier 
 
 dust lay thick on it. For more than half a 
 century it had reposed there undisturbed ; 
 whereas his uncle, Montagu Rivers, died but 
 last night ! 
 
 Yet even while he thus reasoned, the scene 
 suffered change. All around him was the 
 roar of cannon ; and beneath him the scream- 
 ing of two ships, grinding into one another, 
 side to side, upon the lift and fall of the 
 Atlantic, where the sea grows short towards 
 Gibraltar and the Straits. They screamed, 
 those ships, as fighting stallions scream a 
 fierce and terrible sound. And all their decks 
 were slippery with blood, through which half- 
 naked men ran red-footed, or falling, wallowed, 
 while the yell of battle went up hoarse from 
 many hundred throats. The white sails, torn 
 and streaming, were dyed wild, lurid colours 
 by the flash of musketry and up-rolling 
 volumes of smoke from the heavy guns. It 
 was as hell let loose. Yet discipline pre- 
 vailed, as did a desperate and persistent 
 purpose, through all the tumult and slaughter. 
 Laurence himself felt cool, light-hearted even, 
 as he shouted orders and rallied his men in no 
 mild language. His courage was high and
 
 The Gateless Barrier 225 
 
 his life strong in him. He laughed, notwith- 
 standing the murderous noise, the sickening 
 and brutal sights. But, to his fury, just in 
 the turn of the engagement, when victory 
 seemed assured at last, he felt a shattering 
 blow at the top of his chest, and the blood 
 welled up from his pierced lungs, and all the 
 world about him grew black. He staggered 
 back against the splintered bulwarks, putting 
 his left hand upon the thin packet of letters 
 buttoned inside his uniform against his heart, 
 and called aloud " Agnes, Agnes." 
 
 And out of the blackness a sweet voice, 
 speaking as from some far distance, answered, 
 crying " Laurence, Laurence " in accents 
 of tremulous but very exquisite joy. Then 
 within his palm he felt once more that just 
 perceptible pulsation, as of the fluttering wings 
 of a captive butterfly ; while, in the ghostly 
 twilight still glimmering in through the great 
 bay-window, he beheld the slender form and 
 rose-red, silken dress of his sweet fairy-lady, 
 there, close at his side.
 
 XVIII 
 
 FOR some moments the young man 
 dared not move. The anguish of his 
 shattered ribs, the choking up-rush of 
 blood from his lungs, was so present 
 to him, that he turned deadly faint. By 
 degrees he realised that all these sensations 
 were illusory ; or rather memory of that which 
 had, long ago, befallen him. Then he asked 
 himself was the cry which had just now 
 answered his cry illusory, a matter of memory, 
 likewise ? This he must ascertain. He be- 
 gan speaking slowly and softly ; and the 
 conviction of his identity with that other 
 Laurence Rivers, his namesake, was so com- 
 plete, that in speaking as he did he had no 
 sense of practising any deceit upon his hearer. 
 
 " Agnes," he said, " do you remember the 
 summer morning when, like a lazy fellow, I 
 fell asleep under the lime-trees, and how you 
 came to me just as I woke up, and how we 
 spoke to one another, and how my brother 
 Dudley interrupted our conversation." 
 
 A pause followed, during which he listened 
 with almost feverish anxiety, looking up into
 
 The Gateless Barrier 227 
 
 the sweet, dimly-seen face. Was it possible 
 that she had already gained in physical attri- 
 butes and powers to the point of audible 
 speech ? He almost prayed it might be so ; 
 and yet what tremendous issues such devel- 
 opment opened up ! 
 
 At last the low, far-away voice began to 
 answer him. The words came lispingly, at 
 first, with a pathetic effort and hesitancy. It 
 was as the utterance of a baby child but just 
 learning to articulate. 
 
 " How could I fail to remember that morn- 
 ing, since the joy of it proved the prelude to 
 the sorrow of your departure ? " 
 
 Laurence could barely control his excite- 
 ment; but he just managed to remain very 
 still and to continue speaking slowly and 
 softly. 
 
 "Was that so?" he said. "I had for- 
 gotten." 
 
 " Surely it was so," she answered. " For 
 Dudley brought you the orders, which had 
 just been delivered by a despatch-rider, re- 
 quiring your immediate return to your ship." 
 
 " Yes, yes of course. I begin to recol- 
 lect," he rejoined. " Lord Nelson had news
 
 228 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 of the whereabouts of the French fleet, and we 
 put to sea at a few hours' notice. Recollect, 
 dear me, I should rather think I did ! It was 
 an awful rush to get one's kit together, and get 
 through, and there was no end of a bother 
 about post-horses/' 
 
 Laurence rose to his feet. It was impossible 
 to him to sit still any longer. This strange 
 awakening of memory, and the miracle of his 
 sweet, phantom companion's recovered speech, 
 moved him too deeply. He went across to 
 the escritoire. 
 
 " Come here, Agnes," he said. " I want to 
 look at you. I must see you clearly. And I 
 I want you to look at me. Come." 
 
 While speaking he struck a match, and 
 lighted, first the tall wax candles standing upon 
 the escritoire, and then those in the candela- 
 bra upon the chimney-piece. Beheld in their 
 mellow light, the room assumed a more than 
 ever familiar and friendly aspect. Laurence 
 felt that he was at home at home, con- 
 sciously, and with a security and content upon 
 him such as he had never experienced before. 
 It was singularly pleasant to feel thus. Mov- 
 ing back he stood in front of the slender, rose-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 229 
 
 clad figure. His manner was serious, though 
 very gentle, and his voice somewhat broken 
 by the emotion under which he laboured. 
 
 " See, I have opened your little treasure- 
 chest for you," he said. " And I have read 
 your dear letters that constituted no breach 
 of faith, or act of presumption, considering how 
 often I have read them already. I have put 
 everything carefully back in its place, save our 
 two miniatures, which lie here side by side. I 
 tell you honestly, I am perplexed. I can't fit 
 in the bits of the puzzle, or piece out the story 
 as yet ; but that, to my mind, does n't matter 
 very much. For we are here together, once 
 again, you and I." 
 
 He shifted the position of the candles so 
 that their full light should fall upon her. 
 
 " Now let me look at you," he said. 
 
 And as he looked his eyes grew somewhat 
 moist, for he perceived that which he had 
 blindly desired, blindly sought all his days, 
 that which had been as an ache at his heart 
 even in his gayest hours, because he needed it 
 and had it not though he had had no knowl- 
 edge of what indeed it was he needed now 
 stood visibly before him. Sweet phantom,
 
 230 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 old-time love, exquisite companion having 
 found her, how could he ever again let her go ? 
 Listening to her pretty, halting speech the 
 flattering belief had once more grown strong in 
 him that he had the power had he also the 
 will to restore her to complete and living 
 womanhood. The ambition of so doing pos- 
 sessed him with redoubled force ; and the love 
 of her, rooted so deeply in that mysterious 
 former life and former personality of his, pos- 
 sessed him too. Considerations of right and 
 wrong, of duty, even of honour, he brushed 
 aside. The peace and content of the present, 
 the daring effort, the triumph and delight of 
 the future should that effort succeed, rendered 
 him callous to all things beside. Then a 
 touch of self-distrust took him. Did he pl&ase, 
 as he was pleased ? He wondered. 
 
 "Agnes," he asked her almost wistfully, 
 " tell me, have I changed very much ? " 
 
 Her eyes, which had grown somewhat shy 
 beneath his searching scrutiny, regained their 
 serenity. She replied more readily, and in 
 more assured accents, while a gentle playful- 
 ness was perceptible in her bearing. 
 
 " You appear older," she said ; but I will
 
 The Gateless Barrier 231 
 
 not reproach you with that, since I think you 
 have matured in character rather than greatly 
 increased in years. I could fancy you taller, 
 were not such a supposition absurd. The 
 fashion of your clothes is much altered you 
 affect very sober colours now." 
 
 But suddenly her expression changed. A 
 wide-eyed, haunting sadness came back into 
 her lovely face, and she spread abroad her 
 hands in mingled apology and appeal. 
 
 "Ah! indeed," she cried, "I fear a long, 
 long period has elapsed during my illness and 
 alienation of mind. You have had time and 
 to spare in which to grow older, to acquire 
 new habits of thought, perchance but that 
 idea I cannot tolerate to form fresh ties. I 
 bitterly deplore my weakness, but they assured 
 me of your death. Their purpose was not 
 cruel, I am sure ; but when I refused to 
 believe their statements, your brother Dudley 
 and Mrs. Lambart sent for our rector, Mr. 
 Burkinshaw, to talk with me and preach resig- 
 nation. He preached to deaf ears, poor man ! 
 How could I be resigned to see all the joy of 
 my life cut down as grass under the sweep of 
 a scythe ? I did not believe them, yet their
 
 232 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 reiterated assertions so worked on me that 
 they killed hope in me, and, in so doing, killed 
 reason likewise. Yet in my heart of hearts, 
 Laurence, I have always known that you 
 would come again." 
 
 She clasped her hands high on her bosom 
 and smiled upon him. 
 
 "And you have come, oh! my love," she 
 said ; " you have come ! " 
 
 " Yes, in good truth," he answered, while a 
 sense of fear took him "I have come." 
 
 For he was filled with pity and with wonder 
 concerning the end of this adventure ; while 
 her innocent passion softened his whole nature 
 to a great tenderness, as the sun softens the 
 frozen earth in spring. Then he held out his 
 hand to her in invitation, and led her across to 
 the brocade-covered sofa, set corner-wise be- 
 tween the piano and the fireplace, and for a 
 while they both remained silent, sitting there 
 side by side. And as the minutes slid away, 
 the young man's fears departed, and content 
 returned to him. It was so natural to sit with 
 her thus ! Yet his content had an underlying 
 pathos in it, since their situation his and hers 
 though immediately happy was so very strange.
 
 The Gateless Barrier 233 
 
 At last he asked her : " Did you know 
 me from the first? " 
 
 And she replied with an air of gracious 
 diffidence infinitely engaging : " I can hardly 
 tell you. For so long confusion has reigned 
 in my poor mind that all had become to me 
 vague and undetermined. I was so very tired 
 that even that which I most craved, I, in a 
 measure, shrank from. I seemed to wander 
 everlastingly in blank and desolate places. I 
 seemed to move in an interspace between the 
 confines of two worlds, to neither of which 
 could I gain admittance. I could not go for- 
 ward, neither could I go back. Everything 
 baffled me ; everything was so difficult to 
 understand." 
 
 " But now you have left those blank and 
 desolate places ? Now you understand ? " 
 Laurence asked, keenly interested in, yet a 
 little dreading her answer. 
 
 " I think so. Still joy has been too long a 
 stranger, for me wholly to trust it even yet. 
 And I fear there are still lapses and deficien- 
 cies in my intelligence. I could fancy but 
 doubtless these are but silly fancies, born of 
 illness that I am not as I used to be, and
 
 234 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 that I feel the miss of much I once had and 
 now have not." 
 
 She looked up at him, her eyes troubled 
 o/i ce more to their very depths. 
 
 " In what am I lacking, Laurence ? " she 
 inquired piteously. " I feel that I am lacking, 
 and I tremble lest I should disappoint you. 
 Indeed, I will strive to remedy my fault, what- 
 ever it may be, if you will but be patient with 
 me and tell me plainly of it, and give me 
 opportunity to effect a cure." 
 
 But he answered her soothingly, stung by 
 the humility and innocence of her attitude. 
 
 " You are wanting in nothing that time will 
 not set right. But we must make haste slowly, 
 sweetheart. So put all these sick fancies out 
 of your head. We will worry neither about 
 past or future ; but, like true economists, will 
 enjoy the present. Now let us talk of the 
 time before I left you to rejoin my ship. Of 
 that other melancholy time, after I left you 
 and before I came back, and of the changes it 
 has brought along with it, we will talk some 
 other day I trust there are many days for 
 us ahead." 
 
 And so they remained speaking of the inci-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 235 
 
 dents of that mysterious former life, of which 
 Laurence's recollection became momentarily 
 more circumstantial and coherent speaking 
 of little things, merry and tender, such as 
 lovers love until, more than once, gusts 
 of gentle laughter' swept through the yellow 
 drawing-room, which, for such a length of 
 years, had been empty of all sound of human 
 mirth. And not until the rose-red fingers 
 of the dawn in colour matching his fairy- 
 lady's rose-red gown first touched the 
 eastern sky above the dome of the lime grove 
 and the broken outline of the woods, did 
 Laurence and Agnes Rivers cease to talk. 
 Then she got up from her place in pretty 
 haste. 
 
 "Ah!" she said, smiling, "I must go. 
 Good Mrs. Lambart will reprove my indis- 
 cretion in having remained here so late." 
 
 But Laurence was bound to ask her one 
 question, which had been in his mind during 
 the whole course of their interview, yet had 
 not so far dared put to her. 
 
 " Tell me," he said, " I waited for you 
 why did you not meet me here last night ? " 
 
 " Ah ! " she replied, " do not let us closely
 
 236 The Gate/ess Barrier 
 
 inquire into that. Something terrible was 
 abroad in the house. I think it was the 
 Shadow of Death. It stood between us 
 or I dreamed it did so. But we fought 
 against it. We conquered it at least I 
 dreamed that we did. And it is gone. But 
 now, dear love, indeed I too must go. Good- 
 night, or rather good-morrow. Carry happy 
 thoughts away with you, even as I do, to 
 sweeten rest." 
 
 And, without more ado, she flitted across 
 the room, as though her little feet in their 
 diamond-powdered slippers could not go 
 soberly, but must dance for very joy, and, 
 passing behind the tall escritoire, Laurence 
 once again was aware that she had disappeared 
 and left no trace.
 
 1 
 
 XIX 
 
 disposition of Montagu Rivers's 
 property proved as Mr. Wormald 
 had already advised Laurence it 
 would prove of a simple and 
 straightforward description. All the servants 
 connected with the house and stables would 
 receive a couple of years' wages. Lowndes, 
 the valet, would in addition draw a substantial 
 pension. Outside these provisions, Laurence 
 inherited wholly and solely. A single clause 
 in the brief will revealed somewhat of the 
 eccentric character of its maker. Mr. Rivers 
 directed that within forty-eight hours of his 
 reported death a London surgeon of acknowl- 
 edged eminence should use means to ascertain, 
 beyond all possibility of doubt, that death 
 had veritably and indeed taken place. He 
 further directed that Armstrong, the agent, 
 and a local practitioner who had attended him 
 at intervals during his illness, should be 
 present at this rather ghastly demonstration. 
 It was added that the corpse should receive 
 Christian burial not less than twenty-four 
 hours after the autopsy had been carried out.
 
 238 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 The clause concluded with the following 
 words : 
 
 " I desire these measures to be taken 
 childish and superstitious though they may 
 appear as a precaution against that hap- 
 pening, in my own case, which would appear 
 to have happened in the case of a former 
 inhabitant of Stoke Rivers." 
 
 The eminent surgeon in question, hastily 
 summoned from amid a press of work, could 
 spare but one evening for his visit. He 
 proved to be a courtly and agreeable person, 
 an amateur of the fine arts, with a turn for 
 copper-plate engravings, a weakness for Italian 
 ivories, and an enthusiasm for antique and 
 renaissance gems. His work in the death- 
 chamber accomplished, he readily turned his 
 attention to more pleasing investigations ; and 
 during the hour after dinner, before the 
 coming of the carriage to take him to catch 
 the up-express at Stoke Rivers Road, he 
 examined the contents of certain glass cases 
 in the library, and looked at the engravings 
 hanging in the lower corridor. 
 
 " I little imagined, when I left town this 
 afternoon," he said, addressing Laurence with
 
 The Gateless Barrier 239 
 
 a peculiarly charming smile, " that such delec- 
 table entertainment was in store for me. I am 
 proud of my profession no man more so ; 
 but I am not sorry to put it aside for a time 
 and forget injury and disease, and even suc- 
 cessful dealing with them, in favour of art. 
 This collection of your uncle's, though not 
 large, is remarkable. It reflects great credit 
 upon his judgment and taste. It contains 
 absolutely no rubbish, hardly, indeed, a single 
 object which it would be just to qualify as 
 second-rate. Ah ! here is another admirable 
 thing, though less in my line than those 
 delightful gems. 
 
 The two men had reached the end of the 
 corridor, and the doctor paused in front of 
 the tapestry curtain. 
 
 " This is a very fine example," he continued, 
 "though I could not, offhand, be sure of the 
 date. How broad and yet how harmonious 
 in colouring ! Just a trifle broad in subject, 
 too, perhaps ; but our forefathers were blessed 
 or cursed I am often at a loss to decide 
 which with a more robust taste in sentiment 
 than ourselves. A witty modern writer has 
 spoken of c the saving grace of coarseness.'
 
 240 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 There have been times when I have been 
 tempted to endorse his phrase." 
 
 As he spoke, he laid hold of the edge of 
 the curtain. 
 
 " Dear me, how singularly weighty ! " He 
 looked at his host quickly, inquiringly, and 
 with heightened interest. " Singularly weighty," 
 he repeated. " This house enjoys a reputation 
 for a certain originality, I understand. Would 
 it be indiscreet to inquire to what this splen- 
 did portiere either gives, or denies, access ? " 
 
 Just for a moment Laurence hesitated, star- 
 ing his guest very full in the face. So far 
 this new acquaintance had interested him 
 greatly. His conversation had been refresh- 
 ingly varied ; moreover, Laurence, in listening 
 to it, had become increasingly and pleasingly 
 impressed with the value and distinction of 
 his lately acquired possessions. He recognised 
 a steadiness and sanity in the great surgeon's 
 outlook ; an appreciation of things rare and 
 beautiful, combined with a wisdom born of 
 wide practical experience ; a large compassion, 
 too, for the foibles, and sufferings, and sins 
 of poor human nature, unembittered by any 
 flavour of contempt. And so it happened
 
 The Gateless Barrier 241 
 
 that, during that moment of hesitation, Lau- 
 rence was sorely disposed to lay bare to this 
 man whom he would in all probability 
 never meet again the abnormal situation in 
 which he, at the present time, found himself. 
 If any one could grasp that situation, and 
 deal with it at once justly and sympathetically, 
 he thought this man could do so ; since he 
 appeared to have passed the limits of denial 
 and scepticism, and reached that composure 
 and poise of mind wherein revolt ceases and 
 the capacity of acceptance and belief becomes 
 almost unlimited. But perhaps unfortu- 
 nately Laurence put the inclination towards 
 free speech from him as a temptation. Was 
 he not bound by his promise to the dead ? 
 He was bound still more, perhaps, by personal 
 pride. It appeared to him free speech would 
 be a yielding, a weakness ; so he answered 
 suavely, yet with a sufficient loftiness to leave 
 no room for further question 
 
 "Behind the curtain is that which, in- 
 directly, has procured me the great pleasure 
 of receiving you here to-day." 
 
 As he spoke he turned, and led the way in 
 the direction of the hall again. 
 
 10
 
 "The Gateless Barrier 
 
 " I 'm uncommonly glad," he added, " that 
 you have such a high opinion of my uncle's 
 little collection. Perhaps it may induce you 
 to come down here again sometime, from 
 Saturday to Monday, and overhaul the con- 
 tents of these cases at your leisure. I am 
 afraid I 'm a bit of a barbarian, and don't 
 reckon with them as reverently as I ought. 
 I am a good deal better up in the points of 
 polo ponies than in those of Popes' rings, I 
 know." 
 
 "That is no matter for regret," the doctor 
 replied, in his most courtly manner. " My 
 esteem for the barbarian increases rather than 
 diminishes as I grow older. And I never 
 forget that these delicacies of art are, after all, 
 the refuge of those who have outlived or 
 injured their digestion of, and appetite for, 
 simpler and more wholesome diet. Such 
 dyspeptics are to be commiserated rather than 
 commended. As long as the romance of 
 sport and travel holds you, as long as you 
 still Move the bright eyes of danger,' you can 
 very well afford to leave the consolations 
 offered by gems, and ivories, and such like 
 sweepings from the ruins of departed civilisa-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 243 
 
 tions, to the physically and emotionally 
 decrepit." 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 "Ah, youth," he said, "immortal youth, 
 and the rather savage joys of it ! I con- 
 gratulate you far more profoundly upon 
 the possession of these, and upon the mag- 
 nificent health which I cannot but perceive 
 to be yours, than upon your extremely in- 
 teresting house and both its seen " he 
 paused, looking rather hard at Laurence and 
 smiling "and unseen treasures. A cigar? 
 Yes, thanks, I think I will permit myself that 
 indulgence on my way down to the station. 
 But to return to my contention. Remember 
 we only take to sweet-sop when our teeth are 
 no longer sound enough for ship's biscuit. 
 . Eat ship's biscuit and relish it just as long 
 as a merciful Providence permits you to do 
 so, my dear young gentleman. The days of 
 sweet-sop, of the armchair, of what we arc 
 pleased to call * the judicial attitude of mind,' 
 but which is really nothing save the natural 
 consequence of a sluggish and defective circu- 
 lation, will come all too soon in any case. 
 Adieu to you "
 
 244 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 A flash of carriage lamps at the open hall 
 door, the two men-servants restored to 
 their habitual correctness of bearing armed 
 with rugs, greatcoat, and narrow leather bag 
 of slightly sinister aspect the snort of a 
 horse in the night air, fresh from the comfort- 
 able warmth of the stable and, after further 
 farewells, Laurence went back into the hot, 
 bright, silent house. 
 
 " No one need sit up, Renshaw," he said 
 to the waiting butler. " I shall watch in 
 Mr. Rivers's room alone to-night." 
 
 For this was to be a night of abstinence, 
 so the young man had decided, from the dear 
 sight of his fairy-lady and the delight of her 
 miraculously recovered speech. He had a 
 duty to perform to the dead man, lying soli- 
 tary upstairs though hardly more solitary 
 now, than during the long years past in which 
 he had repudiated all solace of human affec- 
 tion. To Laurence himself life had become 
 almost terribly well worth living since he had 
 set foot in Stoke Rivers little more than a 
 week ago; and it was to this man, of cold 
 and narrow nature, that, after all, he owed this 
 notable enlargement of interests and oppor-
 
 'The Gateless Barrier 245 
 
 tunity not to mention those material advan- 
 tages of houses, lands, and costly furnishings 
 which had come to him. Gratitude was very 
 much in place ; and it seemed to him that 
 a silent vigil in that stately bed-chamber 
 would be only fitting, both as an act of piety, 
 and as testimony to the gratitude now no 
 longer permitted expression either in spoken 
 word or kindly act. Nor could Laurence 
 help hoping that during those solemn hours 
 he might arrive at a clear determination re- 
 garding the future ceasing merely to drift 
 passive and acquiescent to the push of cir- 
 cumstance, as a rudderless boat to the push 
 of the tide. He would direct his own course, 
 be master of his own action, prepared to take 
 for good or ill all the consequences that 
 action might involve. For, all the while 
 and it was worse than useless to shirk remem- 
 brance of that all the while, across the 
 Atlantic, under the bright American skies, 
 bright as they, immediate and modern as the 
 civilisation on which they look down, was 
 the vivacious, young, society beauty, whom 
 he had believed he loved, whom he very 
 certainly had married, and to whom in the
 
 246 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 opinion of both her world and his own his 
 honour anff his whole future stood pledged. 
 The question of Virginia for the whole 
 situation resolved itself fundamentally into 
 that the question of Virginia must be reck- 
 oned with, and the results of such reckoning 
 accepted once and for all. 
 
 He had not visited that upstairs room since 
 the night of his uncle's death. The impres- 
 sion then received of the furnace-like fire, 
 and the apparent life and motion of those 
 figures of enslaved and half-bestial woman- 
 hood supporting the bed, were still present 
 to his recollection. But now, as he passed 
 into the room, he found the change worked 
 there very arresting. All trace of that which 
 had gone forward, earlier in the evening, 
 under the hands of the eminent surgeon, had 
 been obliterated. The room was orderly, 
 stately as ever ; but it was very cold. The 
 hearth was swept and empty. One casement 
 stood wide open, and by it entered a continu- 
 ous breathing of bleak wind. A single electric 
 burner was turned on, and, in the low steady 
 light shed by it, the carven figures of the 
 ebony bed offered no illusion of life or
 
 The Gateless Barrier 247 
 
 motion ; they showed rigid as the long, narrow 
 body they guarded, the angular outline of 
 which was perceptible beneath the fine linen 
 sheet upon the surface of which sprigs of 
 rosemary and box lay scattered. 
 
 Laurence moved across, intending to turn 
 back the upper part of the sheet and look on 
 the face of the dead ; but as he did so a bent 
 form rose silently from the armchair, set at 
 right angles to the fireless hearth, and took up 
 its position on the far side of the bed opposite 
 to him. Though by no means addicted to 
 nervous alarms, Laurence felt a chill run 
 through him, right up to the roots of his hair. 
 Was it conceivable that he beheld the Umbra 
 or Corporeal Soul, of which Ovid speaks, and 
 that this phantom would keep watch with him 
 over its own unburied corpse during the com- 
 ing hours ? His sweet fairy-lady was one 
 thing, and this quite another, in the line of dis- 
 embodied spirits. Stoke Rivers, apparently, 
 was not a comfortable place to die in. Lau- 
 rence registered a hasty vow that he, for one, 
 would take precious good care to arrange to 
 die somewhere else ! But as he gazed, some- 
 what fearfully, at the intruder, it declared itself
 
 248 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 pathetically and pitifully human nothing 
 more recondite, indeed, than Lowndes, the 
 wiry, long-armed, grey-faced valet. 
 
 " I thought it proper to wait till you should 
 come, sir," he said, under his breath. " Though 
 Mr. Rivers has no need of my services now, 
 I have attended on him too constantly to feel 
 it fitting I should be out of call." His voice 
 quavered, and he cleared his throat. "He 
 was a gentleman that rarely praised, sir. Some 
 might have thought him harsh ; but that was 
 because his mind was so engaged with study. 
 In all the forty years I waited on him, he never -- 
 gave me an uncivil word ; and it is not many 
 gentlemen of whom you can say that." 
 
 He lent across, carefully removed some 
 sprigs of box lying high on the sheet, then 
 folded it down quickly and skilfully across 
 the chest. Laurence was aware of a jealous 
 devotion in his attitude. No hands save his 
 own should again touch his dead master. But 
 the sheet once arranged to his satisfaction, he 
 stepped back, a pace or two, into the shadow 
 of the damask curtains. 
 
 Then the young man looked long and 
 silently upon the dead. Notwithstanding its
 
 The Gateless Barrier 249 
 
 extreme emaciation, the face was gentler than 
 in life. This was not merely owing to the 
 closing of the brilliant eyes. An immense calm 
 rested on it. The hunger of the intellect was 
 stayed at last; and the face was majestic in its 
 composure the face of one who has passed, 
 for ever, beyond the tyranny of desire. Look- 
 ing on it, Laurence bowed himself reverently 
 in spirit, while the conviction rooted itself in 
 him, that of all virtues the most fertile, the 
 most admirable, is courage. For the weak, 
 the dismayed, for skulkers, liars, and dastards, 
 in whatever department of action or of thought, 
 there is small hope so he told himself 
 either here or hereafter. The battle is to the 
 strong; and, therefore, to be strong is the one, 
 and only thing which really signifies. 
 
 And then it came to him, with a sense of 
 sudden satisfaction, that this most desirable 
 thing, strength, was altogether part of his own 
 inheritance, did he choose to claim it. For 
 the first time he appreciated the value of that 
 strain of fanaticism resident in his blood. He 
 had feared it a little, and apologised to himself 
 for its existence heretofore. He had made a 
 prodigious mistake ; for now that strain of
 
 250 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 fanaticism revealed itself as among the most 
 excellent things of his birthright. He re- 
 mained motionless, gazing, no longer at the 
 carven bed and its rigid burden, but away to 
 the open casement in at which came the 
 breathing of the bleak night-wind his head 
 held high, and a singular compression about 
 the corners of his mouth. Virginia? Just 
 now Virginia, and all and any obligation he 
 might have contracted towards her, went for 
 very little. He stood apart, complete in him- 
 self, regardless of custom, regardless even of 
 so-called morality, should these interfere be- 
 tween him and his purpose. His sense of hu- 
 mour in regard to himself humour, eternal 
 enemy of all exaggerations and fixed ideas 
 was in abeyance. He knew that, knew it was 
 dangerous. But then, as the courtly surgeon 
 had so lately reminded him, what so adorable, 
 after all, as those same " bright eyes of dan- 
 ger " let danger come, how and when it may ? 
 Conventionalities ? He bade them pack, all 
 the sort of them. Their day was over. The 
 day of scruples was over likewise. His posi- 
 tion was unexampled. He took the risks, along 
 with the joys, of it. As his forefathers had
 
 The Gateless Barrier 251 
 
 been, so would he be. He felt an extraordi- 
 nary exaltation and freedom of spirit. And 
 feeling this he laughed a little, just as he had 
 laughed when rallying his men amid the roar 
 
 O J O 
 
 of cannon and scream of the grinding ships, in 
 the famous sea-fight off the southern Spanish 
 coast at Trafalgar. 
 
 But the old valet, hearing that most unex- 
 pected, and to him unseemly, sound, emerged 
 from the discreet shadow of the damask cur- 
 tains and stretched his long arms to draw the 
 sheet again up over the face of the corpse. 
 
 " You have done, sir ? " he asked in accents 
 of severity. 
 
 " No," Laurence answered, the excitement 
 of his thoughts still strong upon him "I 
 have only just begun ; but, thank God, or 
 devil, or what you will, I have begun at last."
 
 1 
 
 XX 
 
 funeral was over. Those few 
 gentlemen of the neighbourhood who 
 had felt it incumbent upon them to 
 appear in person, had departed. So 
 had the empty broughams of their more 
 numerous neighbours, who proposed to offer a 
 maximum of respect to the dead with a mini- 
 mum of trouble to themselves. The Arch- 
 deacon also had started on his homeward 
 journey to Bishop's Pudbury. At Mr. Beal's 
 earnest entreaty he had been invited by Lau- 
 rence Rivers to take part in the function. The 
 young clergyman had been sadly exercised by 
 scruples regarding the propriety of consigning 
 the mortal remains of an admitted sceptic and 
 scoffer to the grave, with words of Christian 
 hope and blessing. What was left for believers 
 if unbelievers thus benefited ? The conscience 
 of his superior officer was happily of less flabby 
 texture. 
 
 " Charity before all things, my dear Walter," 
 the latter had said, in his full, sonorous voice, 
 when the ingenuous young man had unfolded 
 his difficulties. " It is not for you, or even
 
 'The Gateless Barrier 253 
 
 for me, to judge and condemn a fellow-creature. 
 If not an active churchman, remember Mr. 
 Rivers displayed no leanings towards Rome or 
 any other schismatic body. For this we must 
 be very thankful. There are occasions, more- 
 over, as you will learn in time, when the 
 purely ecclesiastical attitude may fitly be modi- 
 fied by the knowledge of the man of the 
 world. We yield no point, mark you ; but we 
 abstain from pressing a wrong point at a wrong 
 time. Judgment, statesmanship therein lies 
 the practical application of the sacred injunc- 
 tion, ' Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as 
 doves.' To raise objections in the present case 
 would be to increase rather than mitigate the 
 possibility of scandal probably, moreover, 
 it would be to alienate the sympathies of 
 young Mr. Rivers. We must learn never to 
 sacrifice the future to the present, my dear 
 Walter. To do so is to fall into errors of mis- 
 placed zeal a very dangerous thing. Much, 
 I cannot but think, may be done with young 
 Mr. Rivers. Wisely handled, he should prove 
 of considerable local service to the Church." 
 
 So the good young man's soul received 
 comfort.
 
 254 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 " What a privilege it is to talk with you, 
 sir ! " he said. " I always learn so much." 
 
 Last to go, as he had been first to 
 arrive at Stoke Rivers, was Captain Bel- 
 lingham. 
 
 " Poor old chap, I tell you, I 've had him 
 very much on my mind, Louise, these last 
 few days," he had said to his wife, that morn- 
 ing, at breakfast. " It 's only decent charity 
 to see him through. I hear he 's looking 
 uncommonly hipped. You thought him 
 rather queer, you know, the day he had lunch- 
 eon here. Mercy for him the old gentleman 
 died as soon as he did perfectly mad, too, I 
 hear, and an infernal temper. It 's enough to 
 make any one jumpy to be dancing attendance 
 on such a deathbed as that day after day ; and 
 in that gloomy, ghostly house too. I could n't 
 have done it, I know, without getting most 
 frightfully broken up. We must try to get 
 him over here for a day or two. Write him 
 a nice note, will you, Louise ; it would be 
 awfully good of you, and I will do my best to 
 bring him back with me to-night. Ought to 
 be quiet to-morrow, I suppose, for the sake of 
 appearances ; but the day after let 's have Gen-
 
 T'he Gateless Barrier 255 
 
 eral Powys and the Westons to dinner. I 
 want to rattle him up a bit." 
 
 But neither Mrs. Bellingham's neatly- 
 worded note, nor her husband's hospitable 
 entreaties, moved Laurence Rivers. He had 
 quite other fish to fry. All he asked for 
 was solitude and sunset ; and his courtesy was 
 slightly perfunctory and formal in consequence 
 so much so, indeed, that on his return Jack 
 Bellingham remarked to his wife : 
 
 " Rivers always was such a good-hearted, 
 sensible sort of fellow, that it 's hardly likely 
 coming into this property would turn his head. 
 He's above any vulgarity of that kind. All 
 the same, he really was curiously stand-offish 
 to everybody to-day. The Archdeacon meant 
 to make an afternoon of it, and was a little bit 
 huffed, I think. Rivers was perfectly civil, 
 only he gave us pretty clearly to understand 
 there was no call for any of us to dawdle. I 
 don't know, but somehow I tell you, Louise, 
 I don't quite like his look. We shall see. 
 It would be an awful pity if he followed in 
 the footsteps of the late lamented and turned 
 out a crank." 
 
 " I know it," Mrs. Bellingham replied
 
 256 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 calmly. " But you omit Virginia. I have 
 never seen a woman less likely to tolerate 
 a crank as her husband than Virginia." 
 
 And so at length the accustomed quiet 
 settled down on Stoke Rivers. Dinner was 
 over, and the unwelcome daylight fairly flown. 
 Abstinence had gone to sharpen the edge of 
 hunger, and Laurence made his way down the 
 corridor, pulled the curtain towards him, and 
 entered the room of mysterious meetings in a 
 humour to venture much. At the escritoire 
 stood his fairy-lady, and at the sound of the 
 closing door she turned and extended her arms, 
 a world of delicate welcome in her gesture and 
 her face. Then, as he came towards her, she 
 drew back a little, as though penitent of the 
 fervour of her greeting. Her lips moved, 
 but no sound issued from them ; and a quick 
 fear went through the young man that, through 
 the action of some malign influence, she had 
 declined upon her former condition and once 
 again become dumb. This raised the spirit 
 of battle in him, and reinforced his resolution 
 to effect her emancipation from the control 
 of whatever opposing power physical or 
 spiritual might hold her in its grasp. The
 
 The Gateless Barrier 257 
 
 more so that, for all her gladness, there was 
 a hint of trouble, a little cloud of distress upon 
 her face, which provoked him to indignation. 
 He hated that be it what it might which 
 held her sweet being in thrall. 
 
 " Agnes, why is this ? Why don't you 
 speak to me ? " he demanded. 
 
 Whereat she smiled, as one who loves yet 
 deprecates another's unreasoning heat. 
 
 " How can I speak," she asked, "until you 
 have first spoken to me ? " 
 
 " But why not ? I don't understand," he 
 said. 
 
 " Nor I," she answered ; " only I know that 
 so it is. I cannot explain the why and where- 
 fore of this, or of much besides, to myself. I 
 am to myself at once real and unreal as an 
 echo, a shadow, the reflection in a mirror, is at 
 once real and unreal." 
 
 She looked at him seriously, wonderingly, 
 as though trying to take counsel with him 
 against herself. 
 
 " I see with your eyes, I speak with your 
 voice, I comprehend with your mind when 
 you are present. When you are absent, I 
 become as the echo unevoked by any sound, 
 
 17
 
 258 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 as the shadow when neither sun or moon look 
 forth to cast it, as the reflection in the mirror 
 when that of which it was the image has moved 
 away. Only my heart remains to me ; and it, 
 when you are absent, longs and searches, jour- 
 neying from place to place, formless, wordless, 
 and blind, sensible only of its own infelicity, 
 while seeking that which alone can bring it 
 ease and light." 
 
 " My poor love ! " Laurence said gently, 
 greatly moved; "my poor love!" 
 
 For a space he was silent, pondering upon 
 her words, almost staggered by the intensity 
 of her innocent passion. He was not worthy 
 to inspire such devotion. Had that other 
 Laurence Rivers, his predecessor and name- 
 sake, been more worthy, he wondered. Shame 
 covered him in face of the deception he was 
 in process of practising upon her. But he 
 put the thought of that from him fiercely. 
 For was he not prepared to take all the risks ? 
 Surely his action was justified was it not a 
 work of mercy to rescue and restore this gentle 
 and homeless ghost ? And then, since the air 
 was mild and the young moon lent an added 
 charm to the formal alleys of the Italian gar-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 259 
 
 den, Laurence, hoping thereby both to allay 
 his own perturbation of spirit and dissipate the 
 melancholy which still sat in the clear depths 
 of Agnes Rivers's lovely eyes, engaged her to 
 come out, once more, and walk. But though 
 the charm of the garden was great, he almost 
 regretted that he had invited her to leave the 
 shelter of the house, she appeared so anxiously 
 elusive and fragile a creature. Watching her, 
 though his courage was stubborn and his will 
 fiercely set, the task he had undertaken ap- 
 peared hopeless of accomplishment. But if 
 the task was hopeless, all the more must it 
 be fulfilled that had been the way of his 
 people, and henceforth it was to be his way. 
 And so he talked to her with a certain light- 
 ness, looking at her and smiling. 
 
 " Are you happy, Agnes ? " he asked her at 
 last. 
 
 And she answered with a return to her dain- 
 tily demure and old-world manner 
 
 " I should, indeed, be ungrateful were I not 
 so, dear Laurence. Yet, since you question 
 me, I must own a distrust of the future works 
 a black thread through all the glad pattern of 
 the present."
 
 260 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 She paused, glancing back somewhat timidly 
 at the house. Every window of it was lighted, 
 save those of Mr. Rivers's bed-chamber. These 
 last were dark and blank, producing an arrest- 
 ing effect, and recalling to Laurence the empty 
 eye-sockets of the crystal memento mori. 
 
 " You are here with me," she continued, 
 " and again I taste happiness. Yet I am op- 
 pressed by the persuasion that, as before, in 
 some hour of peculiar promise and security you 
 will be called from my side. And that this 
 time ah ! I fear you may justly reproach my 
 weakness and deride my far-fetched alarms 
 this time, going, you will not return ; or re- 
 turning, you will no longer find me here to 
 greet you." 
 
 " Then very certainly I will never go that 
 is unless you yourself send me," Laurence said. 
 He walked on a few paces, and then added, 
 speaking almost sullenly, answering his own 
 thoughts rather than her words "Thank 
 Heaven, I am my own master at last. No one 
 can compel me. I can do as I think fit; and 
 since I think fit to stay, stay I most assuredly 
 will, here among my own people, and in my 
 own house."
 
 The Gateless Barrier 261 
 
 He looked at his companion, instinctively 
 desiring to read approval in her eyes ; but her 
 expression was one of startled inquiry. 
 
 " Forgive me," she said, " either Mrs. Lam- 
 bart has omitted to tell me, fearing to shock 
 me, or in my heedlessness I have forgotten. 
 Are you indeed master here, dear Laurence ? 
 How is that ? Can it be that your brother 
 Dudley is dead ? " 
 
 " Yes," he answered, " the old order has 
 changed and yet not changed perhaps so 
 very much after all, for it appears the owners 
 of Stoke Rivers, ancient and modern, are very 
 much of one blood. But, in truth, Dudley is 
 gone, and others have gone God rest both 
 him and them and I reign in their stead." 
 
 " Yes, God rest his soul," she said ; and then 
 repeated softly " Poor Dudley 1 poor un- 
 happy Dudley ! " 
 
 But Laurence, noting her pensive bearing, 
 and hearing the gently regretful tones of her 
 voice, was pricked pretty sharply by a point of 
 jealousy from out the long past. 
 
 " Is it a matter of so very much grief to you, 
 Agnes," he asked, " to hear the news of your 
 cousin Dudley's death ? "
 
 262 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 Whereupon she turned on him eyes very 
 reassuringly full of love ; while after a little 
 space her lips curved into a delicious and 
 almost saucy smile. 
 
 " Ah ! I feared you had grown old and wise," 
 she exclaimed. " I was foolish to vex myself. 
 I see you are indubitably the same Laurence as 
 ever." 
 
 She laughed very sweetly, sweeping him a 
 delicate curtsey. 
 
 " The very same Laurence as ever," she re- 
 peated exultingly. 
 
 Then she flitted away as though, child- 
 like, joy of heart must needs find relief in 
 movement down the long alley across the 
 oblique shadows cast by the sentinel cypresses, 
 until she reached the great, stone basin of the 
 terminal fountain. Here she paused, gazing 
 down at the smooth, slow movements of the 
 sleepless fish. 
 
 The borders on either side the walk were set 
 out with bulbs and early flowering plants. As 
 yet the majority of these showed but bud, or 
 upstanding sheaths of leaf. The gilly-stocks 
 only were fully in blossom. The clean, homely 
 fragrance of them hung in the still air ; but the
 
 The Gateless Barrier 263 
 
 moonlight had bleached their honest orange 
 and russet faces, making them, like all else of 
 the scene, but varying degrees of light and dark. 
 Alone in this colourless world, frail though it 
 was and ethereal, had the sweet figure of Agnes 
 Rivers retained its actual hues. The brown of 
 her hair, the warm pallor of her skin, the blue 
 of her profound and now laughing eyes, the soft 
 rose-red of her silken gown, defied the chill of 
 the moonlight. And this, as Laurence moved 
 towards her, deepened alike the charm and the 
 mystery of her appearance. It captivated his 
 imagination. It stimulated his ambition. It 
 challenged the deep places of his love. The 
 hopeless task must indeed be accomplished. 
 The impossible must come to pass. Daring 
 that which no other man had dared, he would 
 earn a reward such as no other man had 
 dreamed. But he must be cautious, and dis- 
 creet, and very gentle. The diplomatist, for a 
 long while to come, must hold the lover in 
 check if the end was to be gained. 
 
 And just then Agnes Rivers's voice broke 
 into a little song, hardly articulate, but clear 
 and instinct with delight, even as the songs of 
 birds, very early in spring, when pairing time
 
 264 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 has but just begun. Yet enchanting as the 
 tones were, there was in them something remote 
 and beyond the compass of human thought, 
 piercing the young man to the very heart, so 
 that he cried to her 
 
 " Ah ! my dear, come down, come near. 
 Leave your singing, it is too sweet. It has too 
 much to do with spirit and too little with flesh. 
 It cuts like a knife. There there I am 
 not blaming you, God forbid. Only, you have 
 lived so long on the borderland between those 
 two worlds, of which you once spoke, that you 
 have a little lost touch with ordinary mortals 
 such as I. Come down, come near. Don't 
 you see what I mean ? Don't you know what 
 I want?" 
 
 And after gentle converse, when that morn- 
 ing the dawn broke and with words of tender 
 farewell, his fairy-lady crossed the yellow draw- 
 ing-room and passed at the back of the out- 
 standing satinwood escritoire, as her habit 
 was, it appeared to Laurence that, for the 
 first time, a faint shadow followed her little 
 feet. And this filled him with great and far- 
 reaching hope as the first dim greyness 
 of land along the horizon fills the sailor after
 
 The Gateless Barrier 265 
 
 long voyaging upon the open 'sea. Never- 
 theless, she vanished as before, leaving him 
 solitary, while of the manner of her going 
 there remained no sign.
 
 XXI 
 
 DAYS multiplied into weeks, March 
 passed into April, April into May, 
 June came with all its roses, the 
 lime-trees flowered once again, and 
 the scent of them was wafted across the broad 
 lawns and in at the open windows, yet Laurence 
 stayed on at Stoke Rivers. He had ceased 
 to apologise for, or seek to justify his action. 
 The fanatical, extravagant element of his char- 
 acter was fully in the ascendant, and it was 
 conveniently contemptuous of criticism. He 
 had become a law unto himself. He stayed 
 because he intended to stay there was the 
 beginning and end of the matter. Meanwhile, 
 he made discovery of pleasures subtle and 
 subjective, hitherto unimagined. Living the 
 life of the recluse, t he enjoyed that sense of 
 inward harmony and freedom of spirit known 
 only to those who dare divorce themselves from 
 society, with its many tyrannies, and from 
 familiar commerce with their fellowmen. He 
 experienced the sensible increase of will-power, 
 and the mental elation, that are born of solitude, 
 silence, and whole-hearted devotion to a single
 
 The Gateless Barrier 267 
 
 idea. The values shifted, and many worldly 
 matters, many amusements, which had formerly 
 appeared to him of vital importance, now began 
 to appear slightly absurd. He ate and drank 
 sparingly, since meat and liquor tend to render 
 the action of the brain sluggish, and the imagi- 
 nation somewhat gross. His dear fairy-lady 
 should regain the completeness of her hu- 
 manity ; but he would fit himself to meet her 
 half way on her mysterious return journey from 
 the regions of the dead, by purging himself of 
 all superfluous animality. 
 
 And his environment lent itself to these 
 practices and experiments. The household 
 had settled back into its accustomed decorum 
 and regularity. It asked no questions, it 
 obeyed in respectful silence. And, if certain 
 tremors shook it at times in face of its new 
 master's supposed dealings with things occult 
 and supernatural, it accepted them as a neces- 
 sary part of its service. Indeed, it may be 
 questioned whether Lowndes, the grey-faced, 
 long-armed valet, Renshaw, and Watkins, 
 irreproachably correct of demeanour, would not 
 have suffered far greater inconvenience and 
 perturbation had they been called upon to
 
 268 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 adapt themseles to the ordinary ways of the 
 ordinary, English country-gentleman. Their 
 pride would have suffered likewise, since eccen- 
 tricity had been so long enthroned in their 
 midst, that its absence would have seemed a 
 loss of -prestige^ a regrettable coming down in 
 the social scale. They displayed much solici- 
 tude for Laurence's comfort, and much grim 
 alacrity in turning guests from his door. 
 Captain Bellingham's fears that his friend 
 might develop into a crank appeared to be 
 in very fair road to fulfilment ; but the house- 
 hold rejoiced silently and grimly thereat. 
 
 So did not Armstrong, the shrewd and 
 kindly Scotch agent. 
 
 " Whether the place induces a whimsicality 
 in the family, or the family in the place, I 
 would not presume to declare," he lamented 
 one day, when having a crack with a trusted 
 friend and fellow-countryman. " It is like the 
 matter of priority between the owl and the egg, 
 a hidden thing, transcending human wit. But 
 a certain impracticability is assuredly bred in 
 their bones, poor bodies, which needs must 
 eventually come out in the flesh of every one 
 of them. They 're over proud of the intelli-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 269 
 
 gence of which it has pleased the Almighty to 
 bestow on them so handsome a portion as 
 the intelligence of Saxons and Southerners go, 
 you understand. And being puffed up with 
 conceit of themselves they proceed to apply 
 their bit of unusual reason in wild and impolitic 
 speculations, to the endangering of their own 
 and other persons' peace and security. A sair 
 pity, a sair pity ! Not that I would deny 
 degrees in the natural wrong-headedness of the 
 poor, misguided creatures. The present repre- 
 sentative of the family is a young man of excel- 
 lent parts and practical ability ; and though 
 I fear he is going astray in some particulars, 
 I find in him a praiseworthy application to 
 business, by times." 
 
 For in good truth, notwithstanding the 
 dominion of his fixed idea, Laurence was deter- 
 mined on the improvement of his somewhat 
 neglected estate. Every afternoon saw him 
 ride forth to visit farm or distant hamlet, to 
 superintend operations of fencing, draining, or 
 building, to mark wood and copse-land for 
 future cutting. Specially was he interested in 
 the construction of a light railway from Stoke 
 Rivers Road to some gypsum quarries at
 
 270 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 Hazledown, about three miles distant, the 
 worth of which would be doubled by direct 
 and permanent means of transport. Silent and 
 self-absorbed for the most part, he rode about 
 the charming Sussex country while the gay, 
 spring weather matured into the glow and heat 
 of summer. And all the while against his 
 heart lay the poignant delight of a great 
 romance, and in his eyes sat the light of a 
 great adventure. He was very happy, so 
 happy that, while he longed for the attainment 
 of his purpose and strained every nerve to 
 accomplish it, he almost dreaded that accom- 
 plishment since it must rob him of the sweet 
 and gracious present. 
 
 And that such accomplishment drew on as 
 the summer went forward he could not doubt. 
 For his fairy-lady had grown less timid than 
 of old, braving now the earlier dusk, now the 
 later dawn, as the fancy took her ; while a ver- 
 itable shadow clung unquestionably to her 
 little feet, and lengthened behind or beside her. 
 Though no less slender and graceful than 
 before, her person was less ethereal. It ap- 
 peared to gain a certain substance, a greater 
 opacity ; while her movements were more meas-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 271 
 
 ured. Once or twice Laurence had fancied he 
 saw her pale face flush under sudden emotion, 
 as though blood once more began to course 
 beneath the clear, smooth skin. Her talk, 
 moreover, was less of the past than of the 
 present. At times she would ask questions, 
 not wholly easy for him to answer without 
 revealing those things regarding which he had 
 agreed with himself to keep silence. But on 
 many matters he had come to speak to her 
 freely, telling her of his daily occupations and 
 affairs, of the books he read, even of passing 
 events of public interest. And to all his talk 
 she listened now thoughtfully, now with pretty 
 mirth, offering not only sympathy, but dis- 
 creet counsel, while sometimes a touch of far- 
 reaching and singularly mature wisdom gave a 
 significant value to her speech. There were 
 moments, indeed, when Laurence gazed at her 
 in wonder, for she betrayed a depth and daring 
 of thought impossible to a young girl, however 
 good her training and notable her natural 
 talents thought only possible to one who 
 had discounted the many subterfuges and illu- 
 sions of life, as most mortals see and live it, by 
 apprehension of things supramundane, eternal,
 
 272 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 and so of infinite moment to the conscience 
 and the heart. 
 
 She grew in womanhood, and she grew in 
 the charm of distinction and of a fine equality. 
 Yet the mystery surrounding her was to Lau- 
 rence in no wise lessened. For he began to 
 perceive that, if he held back somewhat from 
 her knowledge concerning himself, she, notwith- 
 standing her transparent sincerity and the per- 
 fection of her love, held back somewhat from 
 him. She played with him, she eluded him ; 
 and he perceived that her lovely soul did he 
 dwell with her for a thousand years would 
 still have its surprises for him, and its secret 
 places, adorably difficult of access. Then, too, 
 for all her increasing humanity, the way of her 
 coming at sundown, and going at sunrise re- 
 mained unexplained as ever. 
 
 One morning in late June, standing in the 
 bay-window, with the fragrance of the blossom- 
 ing garden and the songs of awakening birds 
 saluting them, he questioned her on this 
 matter. Her hand rested in his no longer 
 perceptible as a mere pulsation, such as might 
 be caused by the fluttering wings of a captive 
 butterfly. It had substance now, actual,
 
 The Gateless Barrier 273 
 
 though very delicate, weight. And feeling 
 this, amazement and ecstasy invaded Laurence. 
 His eyes were alight and his blood hot. 
 
 " You are going ? " he asked. " But why 
 should you go ? Stay and see the day in its 
 beauty." 
 
 But she smiled on him, a serious and enig- 
 matic smile, though very full of tenderness. 
 
 " The day does not belong to me yet," she 
 answered. " I cannot take that which is not 
 mine." 
 
 " Everything is ours if we dare take it," 
 Laurence said. " Possession is in the act, not 
 in the fact. You create law by believing in 
 and submitting to it. Cease to believe, 
 cease to submit, the prohibition, the obliga- 
 tion, vanishes into fine air. The day is yours, 
 dear love, and all the vigorous life and joy of 
 it, if you will but venture. Have just a little 
 courage. Try " 
 
 But she shook her pretty head, still smiling, 
 though, as it seemed to Laurence, rather 
 mournfully. 
 
 " Then tell me where you go," he said. 
 " Tell me where you pass all the hours when 
 you are not here? See, I have been very 
 
 18
 
 274 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 patient, I have asked you no questions. And 
 yet, loving you as I do, I have a right to 
 hear." 
 
 " Ah ! " she answered playfully, though with 
 a touch of sadness " what an importunate 
 being you have suddenly become ! Yet why ? 
 Half your life is hidden from me, dear Lau- 
 rence, and I do not ask to have it otherwise. 
 Why, then, should not half of mine be hidden 
 from you ? Indeed, it is always so between 
 man and woman, I think, whether they know 
 it as we do or know it not." 
 
 But Laurence was not in the humour to 
 have his inquiry put aside thus lightly. 
 
 " Still tell me tell me/' he insisted. 
 " Lodk here, really I am not unreasonable." 
 He laughed a little, looking at her very 
 charmingly in mingled eagerness and com- 
 mand, "For your exits and entrances are 
 not as those of other women, Agnes, so tell 
 me. Or let me go with you wheresoever you 
 go. Or just it is very simple don't go 
 stay right here, and brave the glory of the 
 sunrise. Stay ! " 
 
 As he spoke, long shafts of pale, golden 
 light shot through the openings between the
 
 The Gateless Barrier 275 
 
 high-standing trees of the eastern woodland, 
 and lay in misty radiance along the dewy 
 lawns, touching the heads of the cypresses, and 
 flashing upon the upspringing waters of the 
 fountains. 
 
 " Ah, have patience but a little trifle of 
 patience yet, dearest love," Agnes Rivers 
 pleaded. " Only wait, and that which is to be 
 will surely declare itself. I would so gladly 
 stay or gladly take you with me, going ; but 
 I can do neither, though why, I do not at 
 present fully comprehend." 
 
 She turned, and for a moment stood facing 
 the sunlight, bright in its royal brightness, 
 looking out on the fair, summer landscape, an 
 infinite hope and yearning in her lovely face. 
 Then she folded her hands high upon her 
 bosom slightly ruffling the smooth surface 
 of her dainty, muslin cape bowed her head 
 meekly as in worship, and moved away. As 
 she passed, Laurence standing a little be- 
 hind her for the first time heard the soft 
 sound of her rapid footfall, and the whisper of 
 her silken gown. 
 
 The young man, too, worshipped the rising 
 sun after his manner a manner, it must be
 
 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 admitted, by no means of the meekest. The 
 room was empty, but he did not greatly care, 
 for his great purpose seemed so close upon 
 consummation. The crisis was very near now. 
 Before that splendid, June sun rose to-morrow 
 so he told himself his work would be 
 complete. She was so nearly human, his dear 
 fairy-lady ; her pure spirit so strangely, yet 
 sensibly, in process of clothing itself with 
 sweet, living flesh. He would set bread and 
 wine before her, in the small hours when this 
 bright day was dead. She should eat and 
 drink of a sacramental feast, designed to 
 secure, not eternal life to the soul, in this 
 case, but mortal life to the beautiful, young 
 body which he so desired and loved. 
 
 Thus did Laurence Rivers hail the sunrise, 
 filled with an immense pride of his own action, 
 his own will, and the powers of his race, deem- 
 ing himself a worker of miracles and equal of 
 the immortal gods.
 
 XXII 
 
 LAURENCE swung himself down 
 from the high, two-wheeled dog-cart 
 at the front door. The sky was low- 
 ering, the evening sultry after a burn- 
 ing day. Down in the south-east a storm was 
 brewing, with low mutterings of thunder. The 
 air was curiously still, yet now and again, 
 among the thick foliage of the limes and chest- 
 nuts, a few leaves would flutter tumultuously 
 as though stricken with panic, and then be- 
 come motionless as suddenly and causelessly as 
 they had become agitated. Laurence was late 
 and had driven home rapidly, not sparing his 
 horse a young, thorough-bred brown, which 
 he had bought about a fortnight before, and 
 which was new as yet to harness. It was all 
 of a lather and sweat, and stood with out- 
 stretched neck and open, heavily-breathing 
 nostrils. He looked at it with a slight sense 
 of compunction, and gave some orders to the 
 groom. It was a little hard to have pressed 
 the poor beast; but he had been out all the 
 afternoon, mapping out the projected course of 
 the light railway to the Hazledown quarries,
 
 27 8 "The Gateless Barrier 
 
 with Armstrong and an engineering expert, 
 and he had been kept later than he anticipated. 
 As it was, he had barely time for a bath, and 
 to dress, before dinner at a quarter-past eight. 
 His mind still ran upon questions of gradients 
 and detail of expenditure. He had thrown 
 himself energetically into practical work. It 
 was best to do so, with the climax of his great 
 adventure looming so large just ahead. All 
 day he had been conscious of a quiet, sustained 
 excitement engendered by the double life he 
 was leading. It stimulated the action of his 
 brain. The engineer had warmly approved 
 some of his suggestions and adopted them. 
 This pleased Laurence. It was not a little 
 satisfactory to find himself thus capable and 
 " on the spot," while interests of so very dif- 
 ferent a character formed the under-current of 
 his thought. It fed self-confidence, and justi- 
 fied his determination of daring action. 
 
 After a look, first at the sweating horse and 
 then at the lowering sky, he hurried into the 
 hall. The storm, if it came up at all, would 
 not break yet. Probably it would travel along 
 the northern horizon following the line of the 
 Downs. How hot it was, though ! The
 
 The Gateless Barrier 279 
 
 house felt cool by comparison with the atmos- 
 phere outside. Then, just inside the door, the 
 two men-servants met him, Renshaw with a 
 salver in his hand. 
 
 " A telegram for you, sir," he said adding 
 
 " do you wish dinner put off for a quarter- 
 of-an-hour or so, sir ? " 
 
 " No no," Laurence answered absently, 
 " I shall be down in plenty of time." 
 
 As he spoke he tore open the ugly, orange- 
 coloured envelope. The sheet of dirty-pink 
 paper within contained but a few words. 
 
 " Wanted here immediately. Return next 
 steamer. Virginia." 
 
 Laurence bathed, dressed, dined, while at 
 intervals the thunder muttered far away in the 
 east, and the dark came swiftly as with great 
 strides. In the centre of the table the cut- 
 glass bowl, upheld by the dancing, golden 
 figures, again to-night, as on the second night 
 of Laurence's visit to Stoke Rivers which 
 now seemed such an incredibly long time ago 
 
 held fantastic, single flowers and sprays of 
 orchids, some mottled, warty, toad-like, some 
 tiger-coloured striped with black. These last 
 gave off a heavy, musky scent. The oppres-
 
 280 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 sive heat, too, was suggestive of that earlier 
 evening, though the windows now stood 
 wide open. But then, whatever the discom- 
 fort of his physical sensations, Laurence had 
 been light-hearted enough. His life, if not 
 particularly full of purpose, had at least been 
 free of entanglement. He had neither climbed 
 heights nor sounded depths. His honour was 
 untarnished, by so much as a questionable 
 thought. Now the splendour of life had got 
 him, he was in the full swing of his great 
 opportunity ; but his conscience was not clear 
 as at that former period, and that which 
 seemed not a little ironical though he had 
 lived more austerely than of old, abjuring all 
 frivolity and denying himself all bodily in- 
 dulgence. 
 
 Laurence juggled neither with himself or 
 with the facts of the case. He did not whim- 
 per or grumble. In accepting the risks of his 
 own action, he had of necessity accepted this 
 one. It was just the fortune of war not an 
 altogether pretty fortune for a man who plumed 
 himself on a nice taste in matters of honour, 
 perhaps, but that was hardly to the point. 
 The present position was an inevitable conse-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 281 
 
 quence of all which had preceded it, and was 
 bound to present itself sooner or later. Re- 
 morse and anger were alike futile and out of 
 place. The question resolved itself into this 
 what to do next ? 
 
 Laurence dropped the stump of his cigarette 
 into his finger-bowl, and sat resting his elbows 
 on the table and his forehead in his hands, 
 thinking. For Virginia meant what she said. 
 Of course she did. Virginia always meant 
 what she said, sometimes a little more cer- 
 tainly never less. And her reasons for saying 
 that which she said were always perfectly con- 
 vincing to herself. Virginia was never impul- 
 sive ; her action was always the outcome of 
 intention. Therefore it was useless to tem- 
 porise or ask explanations by means of that 
 far-flashing cable. In her letters Virginia had 
 lately commented upon the length of his 
 absence quite good-temperedly. Virginia 
 was always good-tempered ; partly, perhaps, 
 because she had never had occasion to learn 
 what opposition meant. This telegram was 
 her ultimatum ; but whether delivered of her 
 own free will and initiative, or in deference to 
 some unusual circumstance, illness, accident,
 
 282 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 or sudden financial crisis, he could not, of 
 course, divine. Yet even so, the position re- 
 mained very simple. There were but two 
 paths. One or other he must choose. Either 
 he must obey her, and that unquestioningly 
 and directly this was Thursday, the next 
 American mail left Liverpool at the end of 
 the week or he must refuse ; and that, he 
 believed, meant a break with Virginia. 
 
 Laurence remained very still for a time. A 
 break with Virginia ? Yes ; the storm was 
 working round by the north as he had antici- 
 pated. He had no complaint to make against 
 Virginia, Heaven forbid ! She was just pre- 
 cisely that which she had always been in 
 her own sphere and connection, from the 
 modern and mundane point of view, an emi- 
 nently and admirably clever person. He 
 agreed with her disciple, Mrs. Bellingham, 
 that in social affairs she possessed a savoirfaire 
 and intelligence amounting to positive genius. 
 She was absolutely self-reliant. She had never 
 been surprised or nonplussed in all her life, 
 and and 
 
 Laurence rose to his feet, crossed the room 
 and rang the bell. His face had grown singu-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 283 
 
 larly hard. It bore but slight resemblance to 
 that of his namesake, the gallant and debonair 
 young Laurence Rivers of the Cosway minia- 
 ture. Indeed, his eyes were coldly brilliant, 
 his lips almost as thin as those of Montagu 
 Rivers, his uncle, but lately dead. Well, he 
 proposed to enlarge Virginia's experience. He 
 proposed to surprise, to nonplus her. It was 
 a blackguardly thing to do, and she, of all 
 women, would be the last to forgive it. So 
 much the better, he did not want her to forgive 
 it. He proposed to repudiate Virginia, he 
 proposed to desert her and then, fortu- 
 nately, the American divorce laws are easy. 
 When Renshaw answered the bell he said 
 " Leave the fruit and wine on the table, and 
 bring an uncut loaf of new, white bread. 
 Don't sit up. I shall be late, and I wish to 
 have the house to myself to-night."
 
 XXIII 
 
 4 
 
 PULLING out the heavy curtain, 
 Laurence paused, for an unwonted 
 sound saluted his ears, to which, at 
 first, they refused credence. He 
 opened the door quietly. The sound con- 
 tinued. The keys of the piano were struck 
 so softly that they gave forth little more than 
 the echo of a melody. His fairy-lady sat 
 at the instrument ; and, so absorbed was she 
 in the making of this dainty music, that the 
 young man had crossed the room and leaned 
 his elbows on the edge of the flat piano-case 
 opposite to her before she looked up at him. 
 Nor, meeting his eyes, did she leave playing, 
 but let her fingers still draw forth that proces- 
 sion of slender phrases from the discoloured, 
 ivory notes phrases not only exquisitely 
 refined, but with a tremulous coquetterie in 
 them, the music of some polite and graceful 
 minuet, in which Boucher's fine fanciful, little 
 figures of lover and mistress, courtier and 
 prince, painted upon the satin-wood escritoire, 
 might have moved and postured, with a 
 hundred pretty arts and invitations at the
 
 'The Gate/ess Barrier 285 
 
 court of Louis the Fifteenth, over a century 
 ago. 
 
 The fine-drawn, little melody, and all its 
 suggestions of past intrigues, heart-burnings, 
 elegant if questionable joys, and luxurious 
 living, knocked at the door of the listener's 
 heart with rather perilous pathos, notwith- 
 standing his stern humour. Agnes Rivers's 
 eyes too, as she looked steadily at him, were 
 at once grave with thought and beseeching as 
 those of a child, covetous of a possible pleas- 
 ure, yet ready to swallow its poor tears should 
 that pleasure be denied. Her lips were 
 parted, but she did not speak. She only 
 gazed and gazed at him while still calling 
 forth those frail and courteous harmonies 
 as though she sought to penetrate the most 
 hidden recesses of his nature. 
 
 And all this worked strongly upon Lau- 
 rence, stirring in him memories of just such 
 hot evenings, when, with windows set wide 
 upon the fragrant garden, and the wild bright- 
 ness of the summer lightning pulsing as 
 now upon the far horizon, they had sat 
 together making music, she and he, nearly a 
 hundred years back. That first love of theirs
 
 286 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 had been shattered by cruel calamity of 
 wounds and death. It had never found its 
 consummation ; and now the ache of its frus- 
 tration was added to the ache of the present 
 of his passion so strongly held in check 
 during the last many weeks ; of his long- 
 sustained effort, now touching on attainment ; 
 of his so recently made resolution to let 
 honour go by the wall rather than again be 
 defrauded of his love. 
 
 At length he could no longer endure the 
 playful, yet in a way tragical, music, nor the 
 sustained scrutiny of those grave yet wistful 
 eyes. 
 
 "That's enough, Agnes; that's enough," 
 he cried, and, leaning across the case of the 
 piano, laid hold on her hands and raised them 
 off the keyboard. And as he did so the blood 
 leapt in his veins, for the fact was no longer 
 open to question those hands were firm and 
 softly warm as a living woman's hand should 
 be, and the clasp of them met and clung in his. 
 He drew her up, making the sweet musician 
 stand opposite to him, while, bending down, 
 he kissed and kissed those dear, warm hands, 
 looking at her, his face on a level with hers.
 
 The Gateless Barrier 287 
 
 And as he did so her cheeks lost their waxen 
 pallor and became beautifully flushed with 
 clear colour, while so it seemed to him 
 he could hear the beating of her heart. And 
 thus for a space they stood speechless, con- 
 sumed by a very ecstasy of love. 
 
 Laurence was the first to break that en- 
 chanted silence. For he was feverish to 
 complete the working of the miracle to 
 establish her in this earthly life upon which 
 she was re-entering, to chain her spirit to this 
 recovered human body by some corporeal act. 
 He was feverish to set a seal upon her new 
 condition, which it should not be possible for 
 her to evade or to break. 
 
 " The perfect hour has come," he said, with 
 fierce exultation. " Do you understand 
 what has happened ? You asked me once 
 what was lacking. Well, that which was 
 lacking has been restored to you. But it 
 won't do to rest here. We must go on, go 
 forward, so as to make security doubly 
 secure." 
 
 Yet she sighed, turning her face away and 
 gently releasing her hands from his grasp. 
 
 "Ah! the perfect hour has come yes,"
 
 288 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 she said. " But, dear Laurence, it came once 
 before, and, remember, along with it came the 
 call for you to depart. Sorrow trod hard on 
 the heels of joy ; and I fear how can I do 
 otherwise? -- lest it should do so again 
 to-night." 
 
 Laurence felt his throat go dry and his lips 
 stiffen, so that speech did not come quite 
 readily, 
 
 "It lies with you to prevent that catas- 
 trophe," he answered. " Only be brave. 
 Do as 1 ask you, and we can put all fear 
 behind us for ever and a day. All the world 
 may call me ; I shall not go. It may howl 
 at me, even, using foul names; but what does 
 that matter ? I have chosen. I abide by 
 my choice." 
 
 As he spoke she moved a little further 
 from him, while the thunder growled and 
 muttered in the north, and the lightning 
 showed fitfully, as with the glare of a burning 
 town, low down in the night sky. 
 
 "What has taken you, Laurence?" she 
 asked. "You are strange in manner and in 
 voice. I hardly know you thus. Yet indeed 
 I would do anything you ask, however diffi-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 289 
 
 cult, if that which you would have me do is 
 not in itself sinful or wrong." 
 
 " And this is right," he declared ; " incon- 
 testably, everlastingly right. Indeed, it is 
 little more than bare justice the restitution 
 of that which was once ours, the paying of 
 a long-owed debt. In past years happiness 
 was snatched from us by jealous fate. Fate 
 has repented though late and gives us 
 back our happiness. We should be fools not 
 to take it." 
 
 He stood by her holding out his hand, his 
 eyes alight as with a dull flame, the determina- 
 tion of conquest very forceful in him. 
 
 " See," he said hoarsely, " I have loved 
 you back into life again, Agnes ; and so your 
 life belongs to me as no woman's life has ever 
 belonged to a man before. That which I 
 ask, you must do ; for, believe me, I com- 
 prehend this matter and all the issues of it 
 best." 
 
 He led her towards the door and she 
 came meekly, yet with a certain wonder and 
 reserve in her bearing, as one who ponders 
 and questions silently even while they obey. 
 He threw the door wide open revealing the
 
 290 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 back of the leather-lined curtain. But on 
 the threshold she hesitated and drew back. 
 
 " I have never crossed this," she said with 
 gentle decision. " I cannot cross it." 
 
 " But you must cross it," he answered, " or 
 all is lost." 
 
 A strong shuddering ran through her. The 
 corners of her sweet mouth turned down and 
 quivered, while her hand grew very cold. 
 
 " Ah, me ! ah, me ! my love," she cried, 
 " then I fear indeed all must needs be lost. 
 For to cross this threshold is to force some 
 barrier which I have neither the strength or 
 the right to force. I do not know its name, 
 but it is ancient and venerable, and forbids 
 my passage with authority." 
 
 " All the more shall you force it then," 
 Laurence replied. " Just now, sweetheart, I 
 tell you I admit no authority but my own. 
 And barriers are made to be forced, that 's 
 the use of them. The more apparently an- 
 cient and venerable, the more must they go ; 
 so that the new may supersede the decrepit 
 and old, truth may supersede superstition, 
 hope fear, and the living the dead." 
 
 He laughed a little, partly in defiance of
 
 The Gateless Barrier 291 
 
 that more sane and modest self of his, with 
 whom for the time being he had parted com- 
 pany, partly to rally his dear companion's 
 courage, and compel her faltering steps. 
 
 " Come," he said ; " don't I love you better 
 than my own soul ? Would I, of all men, 
 do you any injury, do you think ? Surely 
 you can trust me come." 
 
 But still that strong shuddering ran through 
 her and she hung back. Then Laurence lost 
 patience. 
 
 " You foolish child," he said, ct you are 
 very much a woman. Your words are so 
 wise ; yet you prove so weak in action and 
 scare yourself with self-invented terrors." 
 
 He set his back against the heavy curtain, 
 pushing it outward. Then he took her deli- 
 cate body in his arms, lifted her over the 
 threshold, and set her feet on the crimson 
 carpet of the sombre and stately corridor 
 without. The curtain swept back into its 
 place across the door with a dull thud, 
 which mingled ominously with the muttering 
 thunder. Against the panes of the long range 
 of windows the lightning peeped and flickered, 
 as in malicious curiosity of that going forward
 
 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 within, while the Roman emperors looked 
 on, supercilious, impassive, with sightless, 
 marble eyes. His fairy-lady's delicate body 
 had been light as a feather, so light that, lift- 
 ing it, Laurence had trembled lest it should 
 slip out of his encircling arms, as the little 
 summer winds might slip should one strive 
 to embrace them ; and yet that same lifting 
 of her had taxed every muscle in his frame, 
 and set his heart thumping like a steam 
 hammer. It was the very oddest sensation, 
 suggesting that there was something very 
 much more than a narrow piece of polished, 
 oak flooring and deep, pile carpet to lift her 
 across. He stood now, breathless, singularly 
 shaken by the effort, notwithstanding his 
 natural vigour and physical strength shaken, 
 yet triumphant. 
 
 "There, my beloved," he cried, "there! 
 It 's not such a very dangerous experiment 
 after all, you see, to go out at an open door ! 
 And now you are redeemed from slavery, 
 free to range the pleasant earth at will and 
 accept all the glad chances of it." 
 
 But she shrunk against him, trembling, all 
 her pretty pride humbled, like that of a little
 
 The Gateless Barrier 293 
 
 child detected in a fault. Her countenance 
 had become shy and wild, moreover, and clear 
 reason had ceased to sit enthroned in her 
 serious and lovely eyes. She looked now, as 
 she had looked on the night he first found her 
 flitting to and fro in the yellow parlour, search- 
 ing, searching, vainly and hopelessly, for the 
 lost key of the satin-wood escritoire. And 
 Laurence, seeing her thus, was smitten with 
 self-reproach and alarm. Was it possible that, 
 along with the restoration of her body, had 
 returned that alienation of mind from which 
 as he had learned from her own testimony, and 
 from the well-authenticated tradition of Arm- 
 strong, the agent she had formerly and so 
 pitifully suffered ? As more than once before, 
 an immense compassion filled the young man ; 
 so that, coaxing her, and using tender and 
 endearing names such as even the wisest of 
 lovers weakly decline upon at times he half- 
 led, half-carried her past the doorways of all 
 those brightly-lighted, silent rooms, through 
 the square hall its flying staircase gleaming 
 upward step above step until finally the 
 dining-room was reached. 
 
 Here the musky odour of the tiger-coloured
 
 294 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 orchids met them, with the effect, as it seemed, 
 of a presence rather than a scent. It was full 
 of subtle suggestions, that seeming presence, 
 wooing them with insidious provocations of 
 sense to partake of the mysterious, sacramental 
 feast set out before them a feast designed 
 to wed, irrevocably, the sweet spirit to its so 
 lately recovered body, and rivet upon it once 
 again not only the natural joys, but the inevi- 
 table cares and pains, all the grievous burdens 
 of mortal life. 
 
 The cloth had been withdrawn and upon the 
 dark surface of the bare table, doubled by ver- 
 tical reflections, a service of costly china, antique 
 silver, and fine glass, was spread. Rare wines 
 filled the long-necked bottles and quaint high- 
 shouldered decanters ; while the painted and 
 gilded dishes held velvet-skinned, hot-house 
 peaches, red-gold nectarines, little black Italian 
 figs, and pyramids of fragrant strawberries set 
 in a fringe of fresh and lustrous leaves. The 
 loaf of white bread was there also, a simple and 
 humble item offering something of contrast to 
 its ornate surroundings. 
 
 Laurence placed his fairy-lady in the carven 
 arm-chair at the head of the table. Seated
 
 The Gateless Barrier 295 
 
 there, her slight figure, in its high-waisted, rose- 
 red, silken gown and transparent lace and 
 muslin cape, looked singularly youthful and 
 fragile. Her graceful head and white throat 
 showed up against the dark panelling of the 
 wall. Her hands rested languidly upon the 
 arms of her chair. The corners of her mouth 
 still quivered, and her eyes were wide with 
 inarticulate distress. And all the while, oppo- 
 site to her, in at the windows at the far end of 
 the room, the lightning, away there in the 
 north, peeped evilly and flickered, and some- 
 times glared, a broad sheet of pale flame, 
 behind the blackness of the distant woods 
 crowning the rounded hills. 
 
 Laurence stood close beside her. He filled 
 her glass with wine and placed fruit upon her 
 plate, speaking to her very gently; possessed, 
 meanwhile, by an adoration of her extreme and 
 pensive beauty, a great resolution to complete 
 his work in respect of her, and a distrust lest 
 that work was going sorely amiss. But though 
 he did his best to secure her attention, for 
 many minutes she neither moved nor uttered 
 any sound. 
 
 " See, dear love," the young man pleaded
 
 296 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 " see, I have made you a dainty supper. 
 Remember, this is the first time I ask you to 
 eat a meal in my house. You were Dudley's 
 guest often enough in old days, and did not 
 refuse what was set before you. Surely it is 
 pleasanter to you to be my guest than his ? 
 So do not wander off, even for a little while, to 
 walk those dim and dreary interspaces between 
 two worlds. All that is over. Don't become 
 intangible and remote, or yield yourself to 
 malign influences which would enthrall you 
 and draw you away. Lay hold of your woman- 
 hood, sweetheart ; and let human love wrap 
 you about, and keep you safe and warm. 
 There is nothing, nothing in all this to fear, 
 if you will but believe me. Eat, my beloved, 
 you have fasted long. You have come from 
 very far how far heaven only knows ! You 
 are faint and weary with the length of the way. 
 Therefore eat, drink let your body be 
 refreshed and let your heart grow glad. 
 
 And presently, while he thus encouraged 
 her, slowly, as one who shakes off the torpor 
 of exhaustion, she stretched, sitting very up- 
 right in the great, high-backed chair. The 
 distress and desolation of her expression began
 
 The Gateless Barrier 297 
 
 to give place to a gentle curiosity. She looked 
 at the costly furnishings of the table, the danc- 
 ing, golden figures in their flowing robes, the 
 fantastic flowers, the delicious fruits ; fingered 
 a silver spoon, and seeing her own reflection 
 in the bowl of it, quaintly distorted, smiled. 
 Then suddenly putting up both hands and 
 covering her face she gave a quick, little sneeze 
 sign in the East of Life, but in the West 
 precursor of Death. Of whichever the sign 
 in the present case, incontestible it was, that, 
 with this same little sneeze a change was per- 
 ceptible in her, which her lover noting, hailed 
 as indicative of success. So he urged her yet 
 more. 
 
 " Yes, my beloved, you are tired," he said ; 
 " and it is so long since you have sat at table 
 in this room, that very simple things appear 
 perplexing to you. But that's a small matter. 
 The old habits will soon re-assert themselves, 
 and all be natural and obvious enough. For 
 in the coming days I intend we shall very con- 
 stantly sit here together, you and I ; and per- 
 haps others will sit here with us as time goes 
 on " Laurence paused, his voice shook a 
 little " our children, fair girls and hand-
 
 298 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 some lads, whom we shall greatly love, and in 
 whose youth our own youth will live again. 
 But to secure all that, Agnes, you must eat 
 and drink now in plain, honest fashion, sleep 
 sound of nights, wake in the kindly sunshine, 
 put morbid fears and fancies far from you and 
 grow strong. You are compounded of too 
 tenuous and sublimated stuff for motherhood 
 as yet. Therefore eat, dear love. Delay no 
 longer. The hours run on towards the morn- 
 ing and this matter must be assured before the 
 morning comes. Do not be wayward. In 
 the name of your love for me, and of all your 
 sorrows, I entreat you, eat and be strong ! " 
 
 Once again she covered her face with her 
 hand and gave a quick, little sneeze. Then 
 looking full at him, she smiled, though some- 
 what sadly. 
 
 " Let it be even as you wish," she said very 
 meekly. " Give me bread." 
 
 Laurence, mightily rejoicing, cut the loaf, 
 and placed the bread upon her plate. Trem- 
 blingly, as though putting a great force upon 
 herself, she broke it into little pieces, carried one 
 to her lips, then laid it back beside the others 
 on her plate ; next stretched out her hand for
 
 The Gateless Barrier 299 
 
 the glass of wine her lover held towards her, 
 but shook her head, and set it down untasted. 
 While he, eager to the point of desperation, 
 yet dreading in any way to affright her and so 
 defeat his own ends, fell to coaxing her once 
 more, with a certain playful seriousness. 
 
 " See here," he said, " learn by experience. 
 The threshold which you declared impassable 
 was very easily crossed. And this affair of 
 your little supper is exactly parallel. You are 
 the victim of your own imagination. What 
 after all holds you back ? " 
 
 Once more she essayed valiantly to obey 
 him ; but once more laid the morsel of bread 
 down on her plate. The thunder rolled from 
 east to west along the northern heights, and 
 the lightning flickered ; but both had grown 
 faint and very distant, while a soft, cool air 
 wandered in at the open window, dispelling the 
 clinging and insidious odour of the orchids, 
 purifying the heavy atmosphere of the room, 
 and lightly stirring the little lace frills of Agnes 
 Rivers' s muslin cape. 
 
 " What after all holds you back ? " he de- 
 manded, with some agitation. For that cool 
 draw of air, though pleasant, affected him un-
 
 300 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 expectedly. It appeared to blow across the 
 valley from Stoke Rivers churchyard, where, 
 in the spring morning three months before, he 
 had watched the little shadows cast by the 
 feathery branches of the age-old yew-trees 
 dance and beckon among the grass-grown 
 graves. 
 
 But his fairy-lady pushed her plate aside. 
 All her gentle dignity had returned to her, and 
 a wisdom born of knowledge more profound 
 than that granted to most human creatures sat 
 once again enthroned in her eyes. There was 
 an effulgence in her loveliness which almost 
 awed him, yet she did that which during all 
 their intercourse she had never done before. 
 Calmly, fearlessly, and as of right, she put up 
 her sweet lips and kissed him. 
 
 " This holds me back," she said, " that at 
 last all the confusion which oppressed my mind 
 is gone, and that I understand who and what I 
 am. I have striven, and ah ! how gladly would 
 I have proved victorious in that strife, for all 
 my heart goes forth in natural desire, not only 
 to obey your dear wishes, but to secure to my- 
 self those things which your wishes would bring. 
 I perceive that to eat is to live, not the shadowy,
 
 The Gateless Barrier 301 
 
 unrelated life of a disembodied spirit, divorced 
 from the activities of earth, yet by some 
 inherent wilfulness still so wedded to earth 
 that it cannot enter the peaceful regions of the 
 Faithful Departed. To eat is to live, as you 
 live and rightly in the shock and tumult 
 of the world ; to love as you love needs 
 must, dear heart with all the passions of the 
 unstable flesh, as well as the pure and immu- 
 table passion of the soul. I have dallied too 
 long with temptation, and in my weakness 
 brought sorrow on you perhaps worse than 
 sorrow, disgrace. But the temptation was so 
 potent, the promise of it so enchanting, that, 
 until to-night, I had not grasped its full signifi- 
 cance and scope. As to our first mother Eve, 
 ages back, in the mystic garden, so to me to- 
 night to eat, O my love, is sin ! " 
 
 Laurence straightened himself up, and all the 
 fierceness, the relentlessness of his race, stiff- 
 ened itself within him ; yet he kept himself in 
 hand because love still was paramount to all 
 other emotions. 
 
 " And if it be sin, it is too late to vex our- 
 selves about that. You have forced the barrier 
 after all. The curtain, which closes the entrance
 
 302 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 to your not very cheerful Eden, has swung 
 back into place. I have you, and I keep you. 
 I have fought for you, won you, not wholly 
 without personal loss. So you are to me as 
 the spoils of battle, which a man having taken, 
 is very certainly in no humour hurriedly to 
 give up. And even were this so, had I not 
 these claims on your obedience, to eat, my dear, 
 could n't be sin. On the contrary, it is bare 
 common-sense just the next move, logically 
 necessary, in the particularly delicious game 
 which you and I, for cause unknown, are or- 
 dained to play together. With logic and com- 
 mon-sense as backers, how can sin have a word 
 to say in the matter ? " 
 
 "Thus," she answered "because now as 
 once before, when the perfect hour had come, 
 and things showed so fair that to better them 
 appeared almost impossible, the call has come 
 for you to leave me, and leave me you surely 
 must." 
 
 " You are mistaken," Laurence answered 
 hoarsely. " You confuse both the events and 
 obligations of the past with those of the pres- 
 ent. The call has not come." 
 
 Then Agnes Rivers rose up, pushing the
 
 The Gateless Barrier 303 
 
 carven chair away from her, and standing with 
 a certain graceful independence before the 
 sumptuously spread table, in the centre of the 
 highly-lighted room, between the open window 
 and the open door. Her person, thus seen, 
 suggested some clear jewel of infinite value in 
 a dark and heavy though splendid setting ; or 
 some tender, solitary flower amid the lifeless 
 magnificence of a desert city, rich with the 
 tombs of long-dead kings. A gentle daring, a 
 self-assertion strong as steel yet soft as a silken 
 thread, seemed to animate her whole being. 
 
 " Rather is it you that are mistaken," she 
 answered ; " but whether with your consent or 
 against it, I cannot tell. It is you that dream 
 just now, my love, and suffer, perhaps subscribe 
 to, delusion strong man though you are 
 and I that wake. For the call has come to 
 you ; and though you should employ all the 
 eloquence of all the sages to convince me it is 
 otherwise, I could not be convinced." 
 
 " You are very stubborn," he said. 
 
 " And yet, I spare you," she replied, in a 
 tone of half mirthful, half tender, reproach ; 
 " for I only assert the fact. The exact nature 
 of the call I do not know, and I do not ask
 
 304 The Gate/ess Barrier 
 
 you to tell it me. I am sufficiently human 
 you have brought me so far on the backward 
 road, which my naughty feet were only too 
 willing to tread to greatly long to know the 
 exact nature of that call. Yet, did I know it, I 
 fear it might provoke a wicked spirit of jealousy 
 in me, and of envy towards one who has, in the 
 natural sequence of things, that which I have 
 not, yet fain would have. Therefore do not 
 try me too far, lest my courage fail and I de- 
 cline from right, and break the perfect circle of 
 our dealings with one another, so painting both 
 past and future with the ugly colours of re- 
 morseful regret. You told me you would never 
 leave me again unless I bade you do so. Well, 
 now, the time has come. Redeem your word." 
 
 Laurence would have spoken ; but, still 
 with that air of almost heavenly mirth, she 
 laid her hand upon his mouth. There was 
 hardly perceptible substance or weight in it ; 
 and once again now with despair, though 
 the sensation was in itself delicious he felt 
 that fluttering, as of the wings of a captive 
 butterfly, against his lips. 
 
 " No, no," she protested, " do not speak, 
 for I am woman enough to be resolved to have
 
 The Gateless Barrier 305 
 
 the last word. Put away delusion and all ex- 
 travagance. Think, after all, what do you 
 leave? Not much, believe me. For I am 
 but a ghost. I have no right to any earthly 
 dwelling-place, no right to lie in the arms of 
 living man. It would be monstrous, a thing 
 abhorrent to nature, an insult to the awful and 
 unbroken order of cause and effect that has 
 operated from the beginning of being and of 
 time, that I should force the barrier completely, 
 and project myself, at once unburied and un- 
 born, for a second time into the arena of 
 earthly life. It would be an act of rebellion, 
 of self-seeking, beside which that of Lucifer 
 grows pale for he at least was an archangel, 
 which might give reasonable cause of pride 
 whereas I ? No, God in His infinite mercy 
 has granted me fulness of understanding just 
 in time ; and I have no fear but that, since I 
 voluntarily resign myself, curb my imperious 
 will and forego the desire of my heart, He will 
 further grant me access to that place of refresh- 
 ment, light, and peace, in which souls wait 
 until their final beatitude. In God's hands are / 
 all things, and I now see that behind the loves 
 of earth, just in proportion as those loves are
 
 306 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 noble and have in them a seed of permanence, 
 stands for ever the love of God Himself, sure 
 and faithful, full of a satisfaction that can never 
 lessen or pass away. I have been blind and 
 very wilful, loving Him too little, loving you 
 too much. But He who made all men and 
 sees how beautiful they are, so that in loving 
 them they being made in His image we 
 unconsciously all the while but love His image 
 evident in them He will surely understand 
 me and forgive." 
 
 There Laurence broke in madly " Ah, 
 stop talking, stop talking ! What are words 
 at such a time as this ? You are mine by right 
 of conquest, as I have already told you. For 
 God and the eternities I care not, just now, 
 one little bit. You belong to me. I have 
 bought you at a great price, I love you and 
 will enter into possession of my own." 
 
 And he essayed to lay hold of her, his blood 
 on fire, for the moment, with frustrated pride, 
 the agony of relinquishment, and passion 
 baulked. 
 
 " And I love you too," she answered fear- 
 lessly, " so greatly, so absorbingly, that I have 
 broken all bonds of time and space, and defied
 
 The Gateless Barrier 307 
 
 all laws of life and death, to find you, and 
 behold you, and speak with you again " 
 
 Yet even as she made this declaration, she 
 slipped away from his urgent embrace, even as 
 a rosy snow-wreath slips from the cliff edge, 
 when the sun climbs high in heaven, drawing 
 back to itself, by the power of its strength and 
 heat, snow and vapours, dews and fair, dissolv- 
 ing mists, such as cling at dawn along the 
 water-courses and haunt the quiet underspaces 
 of the woods. There were tears in her sweet 
 eyes, and that airy frame of hers was shaken 
 by sobs ; yet her face very brave and of a mar- 
 vellous brightness. 
 
 " Go back to the world, dear love," she said, 
 " and play your part in the great game finely 
 to the close. Let no shame touch you, or 
 breath of dishonour smirch any page of your 
 record. I will go back too yet rather go 
 forward reaching a fairer world than yours, 
 a world which in my folly I disdained, being 
 blinded by the things of sense. There I shall 
 await your coming; and we shall be one at 
 last, being one with Almighty and Eternal 
 God." 
 
 She passed from the room ; but, though
 
 308 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 Laurence followed her swiftly, he found the 
 corridor empty. The yellow drawing-room, 
 when he entered it, was vacant too, though 
 retaining its gracious and friendly aspect. A 
 cool wind blew through it, laden with the 
 scent of the rose borders of the Italian garden. 
 The storm was over, and the night sky was 
 clear and very full of stars.
 
 XXIV 
 
 OUITE a number of people had 
 come to luncheon. Quite a num- 
 ber still remained, though it was past 
 four o'clock, upon the great, deep- 
 eaved verandah, in attendance on Virginia. 
 There was a babel of clear, penetrating voices, 
 occasionally an outbreak of laughter, though, 
 in point of fact, notwithstanding its ready 
 verbal wit, the New World is less addicted to 
 laughter than the Old. Laurence had listened, 
 had put in a lazy sentence here and there ; but 
 now the entertainment began to pall on him 
 slightly. It was too continuous. They were 
 all so young, so emphatic, so tireless in the 
 business of pleasure, these bright, clear-cut, 
 young people. He remembered it was mail 
 day. The English letters and newspapers 
 should have arrived by now. He got up and 
 sauntered, cigarette in mouth, into the great, 
 pale living-room. The Venetian shutters were 
 closed, and the room, with its spare though 
 elegant furniture, and butter-coloured, parquet 
 floor, was full of a clear, green light, quiet, 
 and excellently cool. Sure enough, on one of
 
 3io 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 the tables lay, in goodly array, lately arrived 
 letters and papers. Laurence began opening 
 these in desultory fashion. The glass doors, 
 standing wide on to the verandah, framed 
 Virginia's perfectly finished person lying back 
 in a rocking-chair. Her profile was outlined 
 against a soft, sea-green cushion. She was 
 talking, others were listening, as was usually 
 the case in respect of Virginia. Beyond the 
 hand-rail and uprights of the verandah, could 
 be seen a long sweep of rather coarse grass, and 
 the waters of the river, white in the brilliant, 
 afternoon light, whereon lay some trim rowing- 
 boats and smart pleasure-yachts at anchor. 
 The water was absolutely still, even and gleam- 
 ing as the surface of a silver mirror; yet it 
 lapped with a just audible gurgle and suck 
 against the indentations of the low, green 
 banks. And this cool, liquid sound formed 
 an agreeable undertone to those clear, pene- 
 trating voices, the ceaseless chirrup of crickets 
 and strident fiddlings of countless grass- 
 hoppers. 
 
 Behind the ample, wide-ranging, wooden 
 house spotless in its purity of white paint, 
 dignified by its ranges of dark-green, slatted
 
 "The Gateless Barrier 311 
 
 shutters, its grey-brown, shingled roofs, and 
 many gables a certain puritan simplicity per- 
 vading it, somewhat quaintly at variance with 
 its highly-developed appliances of modern 
 comfort, and the almost surprisingly civilised 
 examples of modern humanity now domiciled 
 within it behind it the ground trended up- 
 ward, through pleasant orchards of apple, pear, 
 and peach trees, past commodious wooden 
 barns and stables, long, grey snake-fences, and 
 corn patches, where the pumpkins began to grow 
 golden beneath the wide, glistening leaves, the 
 giant cobs and silken tassels of the maize. 
 Down to meet this spacious foreground unen- 
 cumbered by superfluous detail, wandered the 
 sparse, untamed, ubiquitous woodland of the 
 New England States. Everywhere slender, 
 long-limbed trees, endless scrub, festooning 
 vines, heavy with bunches of little fox-grapes, 
 and below outcroppings of grey rock. Some 
 two months hence, the edge of the woodland 
 would be fringed by spires of golden-rod and 
 processions of purple asters, while the maples 
 set forth an amazement of verdigris green, 
 lemon-colour, and all manner of radiant pinks 
 and scarlets, and sumach dyed the hollows
 
 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 blood-red ; but as yet the woods retained their 
 summer tints. There was a slight want of 
 atmosphere no doubt. The landscape was 
 oddly lacking in values of distance ; while the 
 sky was blue to the point of crudity, and the 
 sun blazed, had blazed, would blaze, with a 
 youthful and tireless energy not unsugges-, 
 tive of the conversation of Virginia and all 
 those friends of hers throughout the un- 
 shadowed and unmitigated day. 
 
 To right and left were other hospitable 
 mansions, the limits of their private grounds 
 unmarked by jealous wall or paling. A wide- 
 ranging spirit of good-nature and confidence 
 appeared to reign ; yet, in point of fact, the 
 inhabitants of these agreeable country houses 
 formed a distinctly close corporation. The 
 Van Reenan property had been broken up into 
 building lots on the death of its first owner, 
 old Erasmus Van Reenan, merchant and finan- 
 cier of New York, nearly seventy years ago. 
 But the said lots had been acquired by mem- 
 bers of his numerous family ; and still Van 
 Reenans, direct and collateral, their children 
 and their children's children, found relaxation 
 at times in this amiable, American Capua.
 
 The Gateless Barrier 313 
 
 But woe to any intruder from the outer world, 
 unless furnished with irreproachable passport 
 and the very highest of high-class references, 
 who should venture to set sacrilegious foot on 
 this 1 thrice sacred ground ! For, as Laurence 
 had frequently reflected not without a meas- 
 ure of amusement nothing is so essentially 
 aristocratic as a democratic country, nothing so 
 socially exclusive as an immature civilisation. 
 It was the first time since her marriage 
 that Virginia had honoured the Van Reenan 
 property with her presence ; but being de- 
 barred, by the fact of her mourning for her 
 husband's uncle, from participation in the gay 
 life of those summer resorts where the elite of 
 the smart world do mostly congregate, she had 
 elected to retire upon one of these many- 
 gabled, ancestral mansions. She was explain- 
 ing all this and really it appeared to require 
 a surprising amount of explanation to Mr. 
 Horace Greener, a young man of distin- 
 guished, social pretensions, the constant fre- 
 quenter of her entertainments both in Newport 
 and New York, who, finding himself obliged to 
 visit the city on business, had sought at once 
 physical refreshment and satisfaction of the
 
 314 "The Gateless Barrier 
 
 emotion of friendship by running out by train, 
 to-day, to visit her. 
 
 Virginia's clear intonations rose superior to 
 the chorus of feminine voices around her, 
 their singular vivacity and singular composure 
 alike offering an unconscious challenge to 
 Laurence's mental attitude as he lazily tore 
 open his English letters and newspapers. He 
 had left Stoke Rivers just three weeks, and all 
 that time he had been a prey to vacuity, to a 
 sort of gnawing emptiness. At moments a 
 blind rage took him, but only at moments. 
 In the main his attitude was cynical. Disap- 
 pointment had embittered him. Nothing 
 mattered much, nothing ever would matter 
 much again. He had had his great chance 
 and lost it, muddled it somehow. A bigger 
 man would have over-ridden the difficulties 
 of the affair. But he was a bungler, a poor 
 creature. He was profoundly contemptuous 
 of himself, and not a little contemptuous also 
 of men and things. 
 
 But here was a thick packet from Arm- 
 strong, and that awoke an unexpected interest 
 in him. It would be quite pleasant to have 
 news of the light railway, and the gypsum
 
 The Gateless Barrier 315 
 
 quarries. Nice fellow, that young engineer, 
 and not at all conceited. Most experts have 
 such a confoundedly good opinion of them- 
 selves ! Laurence fell to whistling softly, 
 and involuntarily he recalled the slender, 
 courtly music of a certain eighteenth century 
 minuet. Then he stopped suddenly, an im- 
 mense nostalgia taking him for a very differ- 
 ent scene and place, and well, a general 
 outlook less secure and circumscribed, and, 
 he had almost said, trivial. He didn't want 
 to be censorious who was he, after all, 
 in good truth, to be that? but Horace 
 Greener's trim, light-clad person, leaning 
 against a pillar of the verandah close to Vir- 
 ginia's rocking-chair, caught his eye. The 
 young man was excellently got up, he was 
 well-bred, agreeable, would pass muster in 
 any society ; yet Laurence wearied mightily 
 of him just then of his neatly handsome 
 features, which would photograph so well and 
 paint so poorly, and of his alert and civil 
 manner. 
 
 " No, I imagined you would be surprised 
 to find me so at home in this idyllic and 
 patriarchal milieu, Mr. Greener," Virginia was
 
 316 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 saying. " I rather counted upon that. You 
 did not accredit me with so much adaptability. 
 Some other of my friends have observed upon 
 that also. And I assure you I am rewarded ; 
 for 1 find it the most recuperative process a 
 woman can go through to retire upon herself 
 and upon nature in this way. My parents 
 had been anxious to come out here all summer 
 this year, and when I concluded to join them 
 we worked out a regular scheme. I assure 
 you it has called forth a quite affecting display 
 of family affection. There are nine houses 
 on the place. They are all full. We all 
 meet daily. Even my cousin, Mrs. Belling- 
 ham, has come over with her children from 
 Europe. Yes, I am very glad you should 
 have met Louise again, Mr. Greener. The 
 English life does not altogether suit her. 
 I observed she was wanting at first in ani- 
 mation. It does her good to see old friends. 
 I apprehend she feels rather exiled. I won- 
 der if I shall feel rather exiled ? But I don't 
 propose to take it that way. I propose every 
 one there shall feel exiled because they have 
 not had the inestimable advantage of being 
 born on this side. Do you not think that
 
 The Gateless Barrier 317 
 
 is the true patriotic platform, now, Mr. 
 Greener ? " 
 
 There was another letter. Laurence knew 
 the handwriting, but he could couple no name 
 with it. Yet certainly he knew it, and the 
 sight of it conveyed to him an impression 
 vaguely amusing. He laid aside the agent's 
 voluminous packet and opened the envelope. 
 
 " Why, the poor little Padre Sahib, to be 
 sure," he exclaimed, half aloud. " Have they 
 been tripping him up with strings again across 
 the school door ? " 
 
 But as he read, amusement gave place to 
 quite other sentiments. His eyebrows drew 
 together, and his face, for all its healthy sun- 
 burn, blanched to the indistinct, dusty grey 
 of his well-cut flannels. 
 
 " This very shocking discovery has, as you 
 will, I feel sure, readily conceive, quite un- 
 nerved me," wrote Walter Samuel Beal. 
 " But for the support and invaluable advice 
 of the Archdeacon I should have sunk under 
 the burden of responsibility thrown upon me. 
 A case so extraordinary has rarely, if ever, 
 arisen, I should suppose, during the whole 
 history of the Christian ministry. I should
 
 318 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 add that the oak coffin was so charred at one 
 corner as to reveal a second coffin, composed 
 of lead, within. As the inscription upon the 
 coffin plate was quite legible, and as Mr. 
 Armstrong was in possession of information 
 bearing upon this very painful matter, I 
 abstained from further investigation myself 
 and entreated others also to do so." 
 
 " Thank God for that," Laurence muttered. 
 
 There was a drawing back of chairs upon 
 the verandah, an outbreak of rapid question 
 and answer, of laughter, reiterated and exten- 
 sive farewells. Virginia's clear voice still rose 
 dominant. She was marshalling her forces, 
 arranging future meetings, making appoint- 
 ments, ordering her plan of campaign and 
 outside, all the while, the sun blazed on the 
 surface of the white waters of the river, the 
 ripple lapped against the green, indented 
 banks, the crickets and grasshoppers kept up 
 their strident serenade. 
 
 " I felt that neither my courage nor my 
 judgment was equal to the ordeal," wrote the 
 worthy young clergyman. " I dreaded to 
 entangle myself in legal questions of which I 
 virtually know nothing. I can never express
 
 The Gate/ess Barrier 319 
 
 the gratitude I owe to the Archdeacon. He 
 advised that the coffin should be placed pro- 
 visionally in the plot of ground reserved by 
 you in our parish churchyard. He even came 
 over the considerable distance from Bishop's 
 Pudbury, and himself read the shortened form 
 which he had selected from the burial service. 
 For this I was deeply thankful, as agitation 
 might, I fear, have prevented my performing 
 the last solemn rites in a suitably impressive 
 manner " 
 
 " Why, certainly, Mr. Greener, I will go 
 and put on my golfing suit," this vivaciously 
 from Virginia. " It will be cooler in an hour. 
 We shall have the wind off the river. 
 Willie Van Reenan's theatricals ? Yes, I 
 know it, Louise ; I am coming to that directly. 
 Now, Mr. Greener, if you will walk over to 
 her house with Mrs. Bellingham, I will drive 
 around and take you on to the links. I will 
 arrange to have Laurence meet us at the club 
 pavilion. And, Louise, when you see Willie 
 tell him he can come right on here after din- 
 ner, and I will cast the play with him. We 
 can count on you for Lord Follington, Mr. 
 Greener ? Yes you really are very kind."
 
 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 Laurence still stood by the table littered with 
 envelopes and papers. He was reading the 
 agent's missive, or rather trying to do so, for 
 the words were not wholly easy to focus. His 
 eyes had a mist before them, and a singular 
 sensation gained upon him that of the 
 inherent duality of his being. For some time 
 now he had only been conscious of the exist- 
 ence of the modern Laurence Rivers, wholly 
 and solely the modern Laurence Rivers, and 
 he, baffled and discomfited, by no means at 
 his best. Now that earlier life, the strong 
 emotions and steady purposes of it, crowded 
 in on him calling to and claiming him, until 
 his actual circumstances and surroundings be- 
 came singularly incredible. The heels of 
 Virginia's very pretty shoes tapped lightly 
 upon the butter-coloured boards of the veran- 
 dah. She straightened a chair or two, replaced 
 some magazines which slipped from a basket- 
 work lounge on to the floor. Her move- 
 ments were direct and deliberate ; and all the 
 while her trailing skirts made a dragging sound 
 like the wheels of a little cart. In a moment 
 more she would come into the house. The 
 young man tried to pull himself together; but
 
 "The Gateless Barrier 321 
 
 it was so unbelievable to him, just now, this 
 whole matter of Virginia. 
 
 He looked across at her, as he might have 
 looked at the merest acquaintance, and found 
 her extremely effective as she came through the 
 cool, green light of the great living-room, her 
 tall, slight, yet rounded figure backed by the 
 untempered brightness of sky and water. Her 
 transparent, black muslin dress was thick with 
 beautiful hand-embroidery upon the tight-fit- 
 ting sleeves and the shoulders of the bodice. 
 It was girt with a soft, black, chiffon girdle, 
 knotted low down, emphasising the length of 
 the waist, and the spring of the hips around 
 which her dress fitted very closely. Below 
 the knees her skirts stood away fanwise, over a 
 bewildering arrangement of white, silk kiltings 
 and flounces, which hid her feet and gave a 
 slightly Japanese effect to her costume. Her 
 fair, brown hair was loosely waved and puffed 
 out over the ears. Her eyes, a light hazel, 
 harmonized charmingly with the even tint of 
 her rather sallow skin. Her neck was notice- 
 ably long, and her face in shape, colouring, 
 and feature bore an arresting resemblance to 
 that of certain of Botticelli's Madonnas. This,
 
 322 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 taken in connection with her extremely fashion- 
 able attire and her otherwise declared and com- 
 plete modernity, had in it great piquancy, an 
 element trenching on actual, though uncon- 
 scious profanity. m 
 
 To Laurence, looking at her through the 
 eyes of that elder personality of his, these 
 details and these suggestions were conspicuous. 
 She presented a perfect example of an im- 
 mensely effective type. He recognised that ; 
 yet he stared at it in almost desperate wonder, 
 and something approaching hopelessness. 
 
 " Why, you are there ! " she exclaimed. " I 
 am glad. I wanted you." 
 
 " Your people have all cleared out, have n't 
 they?" 
 
 " Yes, they have gone. They had a grand 
 time, I believe. I really think it was very 
 well your uncle's death put me into mourning. 
 It has afforded me the opportunity of giving 
 my family a lovely summer. It might have 
 been a catastrophe ; I have made it into an 
 occasion. They appreciate that." 
 
 Virginia made these statements with evident 
 self-complacency. 
 
 " Of course," Laurence said. He still
 
 The Gateless Barrier 323 
 
 stared at her. She placed her hands on her 
 hips, smoothing down her close-fitting skirt. 
 Her hands were very small. Much art had 
 been expended upon the finger nails. 
 
 " I think it was perfectly sweet of Horace 
 Greener to come right on and see me," she 
 continued. "It was like a breath of air from 
 the outside. And I was glad he should know 
 how finely everything was going. I think 
 they all thought I might feel a little left over. 
 He knows now it is they who are left over. 
 Laurence, you must hurry. I arranged you 
 should be at the club pavilion in an hour. I 
 have to change my dress ; but if it should still 
 be very hot I will not play. I will have you 
 take my place." 
 
 " Horace Greener is a charming fellow," he 
 answered, " all the same I 'm afraid I can't 
 play golf with him this afternoon." 
 
 " But I told him you would do so," Virginia 
 rejoined, with absolute assurance. "It is set- 
 tled. I never go back on an engagement." 
 
 " Ah ! but I 'm afraid I do," Laurence 
 said. "Specially in the case of engagements 
 about the making of which I have not been 
 consulted."
 
 324 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 So far the young lady had been occupied 
 with her own conversation and her own person 
 to the exclusion of any particular observation 
 of her companion. Now she deigned to regard 
 him more closely. 
 
 " Dear me ! " she exclaimed, "you appear to 
 me to be looking pretty wretched." 
 
 "Upon my word I believe I am pretty 
 wretched," Laurence answered, smiling. " My 
 home letters have brought me some news I 
 don't in the very least like. It entails a 
 journey to England. And instead of playing 
 golf with Horace Greener, I must take the 
 seven o'clock train to New York, and see if 
 there is a decent state-room vacant on any of 
 the outward-bound liners." 
 
 It was, in a way, characteristic of Virginia that 
 her face, notwithstanding her natural vivacity, 
 possessed no great mobility or range of expres- 
 sion. There were such a number of emotions 
 she had never been called upon to entertain. 
 And now no movement of appeal or regret 
 crossed it. It merely hardened a little, becom- 
 ing as serenely obstinate as heretofore it had 
 been serenely complacent. She spoke with 
 exactly the same conviction and assurance.
 
 'The Gateless Barrier 325 
 
 " But you cannot do that," she said. 
 
 " Oh, yes, but indeed I can," Laurence re- 
 plied quite good-temperedly. He felt so sin- 
 gularly unrelated to her, that assertion was 
 sufficient. It did not enter his head to protest 
 or argue. 
 
 " You misunderstand," she said ; " it is that 
 I do not intend to have you do it." 
 
 He paused a moment, making an honest 
 effort to range himself in line with her 
 thought. 
 
 " Oh, come along," he began. But the 
 young lady interrupted him with the same 
 unwavering composure 
 
 " You place me in an objectionable position," 
 she declared, " by forcing me to explain. That 
 is not considerate. You should meet me half- 
 way ; you should be beforehand so as to secure 
 me against the annoyance of referring to all 
 that. I had determined to sink it. But you 
 make that impossible. It is derogatory to me 
 to explain." 
 
 Laurence sat down on the arm of the nearest 
 chair. He felt curiously helpless, and yet all 
 the while he was getting the bit between his 
 teeth. If obstinacy was about, well, he had
 
 326 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 his share of it. Across the Atlantic matters 
 of such profound moment were awaiting him. 
 It was difficult to reckon seriously and court- 
 eously with this unlooked-for opposition, and 
 not to brush it impatiently aside. It seemed 
 little short of ridiculous. 
 
 " I give you my word, Virginia, I don't 
 know what you are talking about," he said. 
 " I have the most cogent reasons for going 
 over you have n't given me an opportunity 
 of stating them yet, but that does n't alter the 
 fact. It is necessary I should go ; and after 
 all, you know, I am not such a conceited ass 
 as to imagine you can't do without me for three 
 weeks or so." 
 
 " I am not thinking of myself, I am think- 
 ing of others," she remarked, with a certain 
 naivete. 
 
 Laurence smiled. 
 
 " Oh, in that case I can book my passage 
 with a clear conscience," he said. 
 
 But the young lady continued : 
 
 "It is extraordinary to me how little regard 
 you have for appearances. Comments were 
 made upon the length of your former absence. 
 Thev came round to me. That was not to be
 
 The Gateless Barrier 327 
 
 endured in the case of my husband. I put a 
 stop to all that by cabling for you." 
 
 " Ah ! yes, I see," Laurence said slowly. 
 " When I arrived there certainly seemed no 
 very obvious reason for the sending of that 
 cable. That was unlike you. When I 
 thought of it I confess I was puzzled." 
 
 " If you leave again after so short a stay, it 
 will give colour to those comments." Virginia 
 
 D O 
 
 spoke with emphasis, almost with solemnity. 
 " I do not propose to submit to that. So you 
 must choose, Laurence. Either you must 
 give up going, or you must wait till it is con- 
 venient to me to go with you. I do not care 
 for a summer voyage ; it is dull. Between 
 the seasons nobody one ever heard of is cross- 
 ing. One may meet the wrong people. My 
 leaving would cause great disappointment here. 
 It would break up their summer. Still I 
 would risk that to avoid the other. It would 
 be a scramble too, and nothing is more annoy- 
 ing than a scramble, but I dare say I could 
 arrange to be ready in two weeks from now." 
 
 " That 's very good of you," Laurence re- 
 plied. " But unfortunately I must go at once, 
 and, pardon my saying so, it will be better for
 
 328 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 me to go alone. Everything is at sixes and 
 sevens. Confusion reigns at Stoke Rivers. 
 I would not take you there under existing 
 circumstances. You 'd receive a quite wrong 
 impression. Oh, it would be utterly dis- 
 astrous ! " he exclaimed. 
 
 For the first time he beheld Virginia depart 
 from her faultless self-complacency, lose her- 
 self a little and display signs of anger. Her 
 chin went up with a quick jerk, her eyes 
 flashed, her features seemed for the moment 
 swollen. This shocked him, it was so wholly 
 unprecedented. He felt very sorry, as though 
 he had been careless and clumsy, as though he 
 had broken something hitherto flawless, and 
 therefore charming, if not of supreme intrinsic 
 value. 
 
 "I begin to believe," she cried, "you have 
 an intention I shall never see Stoke Rivers at 
 all." 
 
 " No, no, my dear," he answered rapidly, 
 rising as he spoke. " Nothing of the kind. 
 You are very distinctly mistaken. I have 
 never been more ready that you should see 
 Stoke Rivers than within the last hour that 
 is, when Stoke Rivers is fit to be seen. The
 
 The Gateless Barrier 329 
 
 poor, old house seems to have been in jeop- 
 ardy of final disappearance about a week ago. 
 There 's where my bad news comes in. They 
 write me word of a nasty fire there. Nobody's 
 fault an electric light wire heated, and not 
 being properly cased charred some of the 
 panelling which finally caught alight. The 
 house has been kept at such a high tempera- 
 ture for years, that the woodwork is like so 
 much tinder." 
 
 Virginia's chin was still in the air, but she 
 had in great measure recovered her self- 
 control. Her manner was rather elaborately 
 cold. 
 
 " That is a pity," she said calmly. " But, of 
 course, the house and its contents are insured." 
 
 " Oh, yes, the loss is more a matter of 
 sentiment than of money. Only one room 
 is burnt out, as far as I can gather; and it 
 did n't contain any very valuable pictures, or 
 any part of my uncle's collection." 
 
 " Probably it is as well this fire occurred, 
 then," Virginia observed. " I have always 
 supposed Stoke Rivers would need some 
 reconstruction before it came up to the level 
 of modern requirements."
 
 33 The Gate/ess Barrier 
 
 " Possibly " he spoke rather drily. " Only, 
 you see, I happened to entertain a peculiar 
 fondness for this particular room, and I am 
 sorry to part with the outward and visible 
 signs of certain memories." 
 
 The young lady did not answer imme- 
 diately, but examined the dial-plate of the 
 little watch, set in diamonds, upon her wrist. 
 
 " The carriage will be here," she said. " I 
 have not time to change my dress. I cannot 
 play golf with Horace Greener. It is very 
 embarrassing. I have no valid excuse to offer 
 him." 
 
 " Oh, the heat, my dear, the heat," Lau- 
 rence said, smiling. " Any excuse is valid 
 if you make it with sufficient conviction." 
 
 Virginia looked hard at him. "I wonder 
 just what you mean by that," she retorted. 
 She put up her hand, puffing her hair out 
 a little more over her ears. " That fire was 
 not very serious on your own admission," 
 she continued, " I cannot see that it necessi- 
 tates your hurrying over with this frantic 
 haste. And if I am to live in it it would 
 be desirable I should overlook the recon- 
 struction of the house myself."
 
 'The Gateless Barrier 331 
 
 Her tone was meditative. Her statements 
 were concise. Laurence felt his back against 
 the wall. He must take the consequences 
 of his own action however distasteful and dis- 
 agreeable. His course would have been very 
 obvious had his record been quite clean in 
 regard to Virginia ; but, he was an honest 
 man. Something of exquisite, of incalculable 
 value had tempted him ; and the peculiari- 
 ties of his temperament had heightened that 
 temptation. He had been saved from falling, 
 not by his own virtue, but by the virtue and 
 self-sacrifice of one adorably his superior. He 
 could not plume himself upon the achieve- 
 ment. He acknowledged that his conscience 
 was not clear in respect of Virginia ; and this 
 necessitated the payment of a heavy penalty 
 in connection with his own self-esteem. His 
 pride rebelled against " giving himself away," 
 against further self-revelation ; only, the logic 
 of the situation prevailed. It cut him to the 
 quick, yet it had to be done. 
 
 "You're quite right," he said. "The 
 matter of the fire could have waited a little, 
 I dare say, though it is n't exactly satisfactory 
 to know part of one's house is roofless under
 
 33 2 The Gate/ess Barrier 
 
 a wet, English, July sky ; but I had other 
 bad news to-day." He paused a moment. 
 " I heard of the funeral of a very dear con- 
 nection of mine." 
 
 Virginia moved slightly, sweeping those 
 fanwise-cut flounces to one side. 
 
 "Funeral?" she said quickly. "Really 
 you have the very oddest manner of state- 
 ment. Had you not already heard of his 
 death, then ? " 
 
 The young man moved too. He turned 
 away, and a poignant sensation tore and 
 hacked at him, so to speak. It hurt him 
 physically. He gazed out over the dazzling 
 whiteness of the smooth river seeing nothing, 
 his whole being tense with the effort to resist 
 the showing of that pain. 
 
 " Yes, yes, I have heard of her death, but 
 I refused to believe it," he answered. 
 
 There was a moment of ominous silence, 
 save for the shrilling of the insects, and lap- 
 ping of the stream. 
 
 " Oh, a woman ! " she said, with an almost 
 alarming calm. " Have I ever heard of 
 her ? " 
 
 tf I think not," Laurence answered.
 
 The Gateless Barrier 333 
 
 "Then Louise had grounds for her asser- 
 tions," she said, still with that deadly calm. 
 " I thought it unworthy to listen. I forbade 
 her to write or speak to me upon the subject. 
 I " 
 
 Laurence wheeled round. His eyes were 
 dangerous. All the fanaticism of his race, 
 and something finer than that, looked out 
 of them. 
 
 " Think what you please of me," he cried ; 
 " but of her, think no evil. Never dare to 
 think any evil. She was one of the saints 
 of God ; and you, of all women, have no 
 cause to misjudge her. She saved me from 
 committing a great sin." 
 
 A singular expression crossed the young 
 lady's face, an imperious desire to ask, to search 
 out the ultimate of the matter. But it was 
 momentary. Spoilt child of fortune, she was 
 too unaccustomed to vital drama to know how 
 to deal with it. It staggered, it also slightly 
 disgusted her. She could not rise to it. So 
 conventionality proved stronger than even this 
 very legitimate curiosity. Virginia remained 
 true to her somewhat artificial traditions, to 
 her own canons of good taste and self-respect,
 
 334 "The Gateless Barrier 
 
 to that singular clause of the social creed which 
 declares the thing unsaid also non-existent. 
 Virginia appeared, in a way, admirable just 
 then, yet she gave the measure of her nature. 
 It was not great. She turned aside, with a 
 movement of well-defined and lofty superiority. 
 
 " Are you aware that you become very in- 
 delicate ? " she asked. 
 
 " Most men are indelicate at times, unfor- 
 tunately." 
 
 " But not over here," she said. " American 
 women do not permit that. You must remem- 
 ber whom you have married." She waited a 
 little. " The English standards are different, I 
 presume," she added, not without a touch of 
 sarcasm. 
 
 " I begin to think they are," Laurence 
 answered. He was paying, paying abomina- 
 bly; yet there was a sensible relief in so doing. 
 " They are based on the logic of fact," he 
 continued. " And fact is more often indelicate 
 than not. It has never yet, you see, learned to 
 be a respecter of persons." 
 
 There was a pause, in which once again the 
 fiddlings of the grasshoppers and soothing lap 
 of the water became audible.
 
 The Gateless Barrier 335 
 
 " Do you still propose to go to England ? " 
 
 Laurence nodded. "Yes," he said. 
 
 " Then " began Virginia ; but the young 
 
 man held up his hand, partly in warning, partly 
 
 demanding a cessation of hostilities. His 
 
 thought had taken a new departure in regard 
 
 to his wife. Somehow she had destroyed her 
 
 own legend. She was more slight and shallow 
 
 o o 
 
 a creature than he had supposed, and he would 
 never really stand in awe of her again. His 
 smile was sad yet wholly friendly. 
 
 " Then in a couple of weeks or so I 
 shall come back and fetch you," he declared. 
 " And then, like wise and politic human 
 beings, we will eschew controversy, each giving 
 the other as much room as possible. I fancy 
 you '11 find we shall shake down pretty easily, 
 and rub along like most other married people. 
 Meanwhile what 's becoming of poor, neg- 
 lected Horace Greener ? Go and amuse both 
 yourself and him, my dear. If you 're not 
 in before I start well for the moment, 
 addio."
 
 XXV 
 
 IT was all very much in keeping with his 
 mood the reposeful landscape, heavy 
 with the solid green of the August foliage, 
 the sweep of the low, grey sky, the warm, 
 still rain which drew forth an indefinable fra- 
 grance from the pastures and hedgerows, the 
 wayside flowers, and the underwood. Already 
 the evenings had begun to shorten. The 
 rambling village-street and its inevitable com- 
 motion of boys and dogs left behind, Laurence 
 looked away, with a stirring of the heart, over 
 this goodly land of which he was owner, as the 
 brown thorough-bred breasted the hilly road 
 leading up from the station to Stoke Rivers 
 house. The prospect at once soothed and 
 stimulated him. Emotion had been conspic- 
 uous principally by its absence lately ; it was 
 pleasant to feel again. 
 
 At the hall-door the two men-servants met 
 him; and Renshaw's large, egg-shaped counte- 
 nance bore an expression almost paternal. 
 
 " Excuse me, sir," he said, his complexion 
 ripening to mulberry with the effort of speech 
 "I do not wish to put myself forward, or
 
 The Gateless Barrier 337 
 
 go beyond my place, but I must express the 
 pleasure we take in welcoming you home, sir. 
 I speak not only for myself, but for Mr. 
 Lowndes and Mr. Watkins, and all the other 
 servants both upper and under, sir." 
 
 Lowndes, the grey-haired, long-armed valet, 
 subsequently gave vent to even more cordial 
 sentiments. 
 
 " Excepting for the fire, we have been very 
 dull during your absence, sir," he said, as he 
 laid out the young man's dress clothes, with 
 a critical eye to their packing which did not 
 evidently quite commend itself to his taste. 
 " Living in this house has been like living 
 inside a run-down clock. I hope you have 
 returned to make some stay, sir. We want a 
 head ; we have forgotten how to take a holi- 
 day and amuse ourselves. Our habits have 
 been so very regular for so many years, you 
 see, sir, we feel lost without our accustomed 
 duties." 
 
 This too was pleasant. To be precious in 
 the sight of those who serve you lends a singu- 
 lar graciousness to the conduct of daily life. 
 Laurence felt at harmony with himself and his 
 surroundings, and with that sense of harmony 
 
 22
 
 33 8 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 arose certain stirrings of hope. During the 
 days and nights of the past week, while the 
 great ship ploughed her way eastward across 
 the mighty ridge and furrow of the Atlantic, he 
 had not been wholly unconscious of that hope 
 the hope that even now all might not be 
 over, and that he might once again be blessed 
 by the vision, for however brief a space, of his 
 dear fairy-lady. Yet he had kept that hope 
 under with a stern hand. It was present, but 
 at the postern gate, so to speak, of the castle 
 of his reason and his will. He kept it there, 
 doing his heart much violence by refusing it 
 admittance and entertainment, since he knew 
 that, once admitted, it would have proved so 
 dangerously absorbing and alluring a guest. 
 He tried to deny it admittance still ; yet he 
 shuffled a little with his own conscience, per- 
 mitting himself a renewing of the routine 
 which had marked his former sojourn at Stoke 
 Rivers. He dressed, dined, and waited until 
 the twilight had very sensibly closed in before 
 visiting that which might remain of the room 
 of mysterious and enchanted meetings. 
 
 The near end of the corridor offered no 
 noticeable signs of disturbance or injury. Still
 
 The Gate/ess Barrier 339 
 
 it appeared to Laurence that, as on a former 
 occasion, a spirit of disorder, the winnowing 
 wings of a profound and elemental fear, had but 
 lately swept through it. He could have imag- 
 ined the sightless, marble faces of the Roman 
 emperors less impassive, less wholly scornful, 
 their heads carried with something less of arro- 
 gant and invincible pride. An acrid odour of 
 burned stuffs, burned woodwork, pervaded the 
 place. He had cabled instructions that nothing 
 might be removed, nothing renovated before 
 his arrival. The tapestry curtain still hung in 
 its accustomed position ; but it was blackened 
 and shrivelled to the obliteration of the figures 
 wrought upon it. The satyr no longer leered, 
 from his monticule, upon the naked and re- 
 luctant woman hurried towards him by the 
 company of naughty loves. Tongues of fire 
 had licked away that pictured wantonness and 
 purged its offence. 
 
 Behind the wreck of the portiere, the door 
 its panels split and tormented by flame 
 stood wide open, as on the night when, strain- 
 ing every muscle to carry that apparently so 
 light and fragile burden, Laurence had lifted 
 Agnes Rivers across the threshold. Once
 
 34 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 within the yellow drawing-room the desolation of 
 that heretofore gracious and friendly apartment 
 touched hard on tragedy, seen, as now, in the 
 furtive, evening light. The rain had ceased, and 
 through the remaining sheets of glass, in the 
 partially boarded and barricaded bay-window, 
 the flower-beds of the Italian garden showed 
 in rich variety of leaf and blossom. The 
 statues gleamed calm and graceful from their 
 white pedestals. The spires of the cypresses 
 rose with a certain velvet softness of density 
 towards the pensive and slowly clearing sky. 
 But the room itself was ruined in most un- 
 sightly fashion, stained by smoke, rendered 
 clammy and dank in places by water. Wreck- 
 age of the pretty, costly furniture lay scattered 
 in formless heaps upon the blackened floor 
 with here and there a shred of fine porcelain, 
 the gilt handle of a drawer, the pages of a 
 book reduced to tinder, or the unlovely rem- 
 nant of carpet or hanging. It was as a place 
 that has suffered siege, and which relentless 
 foemen have sacked and trodden underfoot. 
 So that it came to Laurence, very surely, that 
 not here would he find his sweet fairy-lady, 
 were he indeed destined, in this life, ever to
 
 T'he Gateless Barrier 341 
 
 find' her again. Her gentle spirit could never 
 be subjected to the indignity of dwelling amid 
 this scene of destruction. Some incongruities 
 are inadmissible to the imagination. They are 
 too violent, too gross. Therefore the days 
 of his beloved companion's pilgrimage were 
 ended it could not be otherwise in re- 
 spect of this once so comely place. 
 
 But though convinced that here it was use- 
 less to await her presence, there remained 
 somewhat for Laurence in all tenderness and 
 reverence to see. Since the electric light was 
 now unavailable, he had ordered candles to be 
 placed upon the chimney-piece, which, though 
 yellow and disfigured, still remained practically 
 intact. He moved across from the neighbour- 
 hood of the doorway sad, little clouds of 
 corpse-coloured ashes arising about his feet as 
 he stepped and put a match to the candles. 
 Then, as the light of them strengthened and 
 steadied, he looked, shading his eyes with his 
 hand, towards that portion of the wall at right 
 angles to which the painted, satin-wood escri- 
 toire, with all its pathetic store of cherished 
 love-tokens, had formerly stood. The high 
 wainscot and brocade-covered panels masking
 
 34 2 T'he Gateless Barrier 
 
 this space had been entirely burned away, dis- 
 closing a low, vaulted chamber hollowed out 
 of the thickness of the outer wall. This 
 chamber had been roughly and somewhat 
 clumsily ceiled. The whole construction 
 showed unmistakeable traces of hasty and un- 
 skilled labour. 
 
 Yet Laurence looked at this rough-hewn 
 place of sepulture with an infinite tenderness, 
 a chastened reverence, while a very vital emo- 
 tion clutched at his throat, and far-reaching 
 questions of life past, life future, and the 
 august purposes of being through the abysm 
 of the ages and on to the ultimate goal of 
 things, held and sifted his intelligence and his 
 heart. For it was here, upon the morning 
 following the fire, that Agnes Rivers's coffin 
 had been found. And it was from here, from 
 this hard and narrow bed by what alchemy 
 and agency he knew not it transcended his 
 powers to conceive that her sweet ghost had 
 come forth nightly, through all those long and 
 dreary years of which it sickened him to think, 
 flitting impalpable, in vain endeavour to find 
 the key to her little treasure chest, that was 
 also the key to the love she had so patheti-
 
 The Gateless Barrier 343 
 
 cally lost. And it was here also, to this same 
 hard and narrow bed, that she had returned 
 with quick and innocently gladsome farewells 
 in the first flush of returning day, when that 
 love, by unprecedented circumstance circum- 
 stance trenching on actual miracle had been 
 restored to her. 
 
 Viewing that harsh and meagre resting-place 
 which for the better part of a century had held 
 all that remained of her dear body, Laurence 
 felt himself strangely reconciled to actual hap- 
 penings. For it was better, ten thousand times 
 better, that all now subsisting of her mortal 
 investiture should rest in Mother Earth's lap 
 blessed and set apart by the faith and piety 
 of ages as was that pleasant plot of sun-visited 
 grass, where the little shadows danced and 
 beckoned, in the age-old quiet of Stoke Rivers's 
 churchyard. There he would go and watch 
 for her possible coming, and pay her the 
 homage of his devotion, when the small hours 
 drew on towards to-morrow's dawn. 
 
 Meanwhile there was time to be passed, and 
 he did not care to leave this spot, though its 
 present desolation tore at his very vitals, with 
 memories of incalculable promise, and of un-
 
 344 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 consummated delight. As, awakening from 
 his dream of satisfied love long ago, during 
 that strange former existence, in the summer 
 noon under the light, sibilant shelter of the 
 lime grove, so now he hungered for complete- 
 ness of possession, for the crowning of desire. 
 Yet he kept himself in hand, even as he had 
 kept the young, brown, thorough-bred horse 
 in hand, when, finding the level, would have 
 broken its pace and run riot more than once 
 on the road up from the station. He moved 
 away and sat down on the defaced and ragged 
 sill of the bay-window. The moon had risen, 
 but its mild light was often obscured by softly- 
 moving floats of thin, opalescent vapour. 
 These crossed its face in apparently endless 
 procession, herded up from southward and the 
 narrow Channel sea. Laurence watched them, 
 at first almost unconsciously, his mind occu- 
 pied with other, and, to himself, more immedi- 
 ate and vital interests. But at length their 
 slow and stately progress began to work upon 
 his imagination, and insinuate itself into the 
 very substance and foundation of his thought. 
 He began to see in them a procession of the 
 souls of all those generations of men and
 
 The Gateless Barrier 345 
 
 women, whose efforts and emotions, power of 
 intellect, fiercely pursued ambitions, passionate 
 devotions, passionate revolts, had gone to gen- 
 erate his own constitution, mental and physical, 
 and determine his ultimate fate. And so he 
 came to regard them with a sustained and 
 deepening attention, since their aspect seemed 
 pregnant with suggestion of admonition, of 
 encouragement, of warning, or restraint. Once 
 again he decided to keep vigil in this house, to 
 watch with the unnumbered and unrecorded 
 dead whose offspring and inheritor he was. 
 Not until all of them should have passed 
 by, and the moon ride solitary in the heavens, 
 would he go across the valley himself now 
 somewhat bitterly solitary and visit Agnes 
 Rivers's grave. 
 
 But that procession of low-floating vapours 
 proved long in passing. More than once a 
 break came in it, making the young man sup- 
 pose that the whole of them was gone by. 
 And then again, out of the south, now one 
 alone, now in close ranged companies, strangely 
 shaped, as though draped in dragging shrouds, 
 that interminable procession crossed the vault 
 of the sky. A terror of" incalculable number,
 
 34 6 'The Gateless Barrier 
 
 of unthinkable multitude, began to lay hold 
 on him, as still they came, and came. Was it 
 conceivable that each human life had this al- 
 most appalling vista of human lives behind it, 
 of which it was the outcome and result, and in 
 which it had, consciously or unconsciously, 
 taken part? There was a certain splendour 
 in the thought, though it left but little room 
 for personal vanity. Yet even while watching, 
 and pondering of all this, the personal note 
 remained for he pondered also, not without 
 profound discouragement, of his great adven- 
 ture which just now appeared so signally to 
 have failed. At the half hours and hours the 
 striking clocks warned him that the night was 
 far spent, but still that endless and mystic pro- 
 cession passed before his watching eyes. As 
 once before, in this same room, his indi- 
 viduality seemed to sink away from him, 
 while a horrible sense of his own nullity and 
 nothingness prevailed. But at last, at last, 
 when the first chill grey of the dawn began 
 just perceptibly to lighten the horizon behind 
 the lime grove, the last of these trailing va- 
 pours arose, passed over and disappeared. 
 The moon declined towards her setting, yet,
 
 The Gateless Barrier 347 
 
 though she hung low, the whole field of 
 heaven was at length her own. 
 
 Then Laurence rose, and went away across 
 the quiet park and up the deep, tree-shadowed 
 lane to the churchyard, on the hillside across 
 the valley, sheltered by the bank of high-lying 
 woods. The grass was long, starred with tall- 
 growing buttercups, blue speedwell, and ox-eye 
 daisies, heavy and hanging with wet. Only 
 the plot beneath the grey wall of the little 
 chancel was neatly mown, while, on the near 
 side of it, conspicuous from the smooth surface 
 of the turf rising immediately surrounding it, 
 was a new-made grave. The sods covering it 
 were kept in place by a cage of osier rods. 
 Some one and Laurence found it in his 
 heart to bless that unknown ministrant had 
 laid a spray of pink wild-rose upon the head 
 of the grave, twisted into a little crown, at 
 once of blossom and of thorns. 
 
 Laurence stood at the foot of the long, 
 narrow mound, and again he kept vigil 
 hearing the breathing of the moist earth, the 
 quick sounds of the woodland, and that 
 strange, indeterminate, stirring of awakening 
 life beast, bird, insect, herb, and tree
 
 34 8 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 which immediately precedes the birth of day. 
 More than once his heart thumped against his 
 ribs, and the love-light sprang into his eyes, 
 for, deceived by the growing colour of the 
 east, he fancied for an instant he again be- 
 held the dear rose-red of his fairy-lady's 
 clinging, old-world, silken gown. But that 
 fond delusion was soon dissipated. Wherever 
 her light footsteps might now tread, they 
 would never, in visible fashion, tend earth- 
 wards again. 
 
 Then on a sudden, from the stables up at 
 the house, came the crowing of a cock, an- 
 swered in gallant challenge from cottage and 
 from farmyard growing faint in the far dis- 
 tance, ringing out again close at hand, lusty 
 and vigorous, full of the joy of living. Stung 
 by the merry sound, Laurence straightened 
 himself up, looked away from the osier-bound, 
 rose-crowned grave, over the fertile, peaceful 
 landscape. The hops hung heavy upon the 
 poles. The corn warmed to ruddy yellow. 
 The grass and hedgerows, as the sun's rays 
 touched them, glittered with a thousand dia- 
 mond points, even as his lost love's little, 
 embroidered slippers had glittered when he
 
 The Gateless Barrier 349 
 
 first led her forth along the alleys of the 
 Italian garden. A glad wind swept up land- 
 ward, from that great thoroughfare of the 
 nations, that highway of stately ships, the 
 narrow Channel sea. It raced through the 
 woodland, swayed the sombre, plume-like 
 branches of the ancient yew-trees, and passed, 
 exultant, to fulfil its cleanly, life-giving mission 
 elsewhere. Laurence took a long breath, fill- 
 ing his lungs with it. It was good to taste, 
 sane and wholesome. And then, somehow, 
 those divine words came to him, spoken in 
 the far Syrian country nearly two thousand 
 years ago. " The wind bloweth where it 
 listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, 
 but canst not tell whence it cometh, and- 
 whither it goeth : so is every one that is/ 
 born of the Spirit." 
 
 Laurence stood erect and very still, his 
 head held high, his' face keen, his lips parted 
 in silent laughter, his whole being vibrant 
 with the surprise of a great conviction, a great 
 discovery. For at length he too saw and 
 understood. He perceived that his love far 
 from being lost was his, close and intimately, 
 as she had never been before, in either this
 
 35 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 life, or that other half-remembered life, in 
 both of which he had loved her so well. He 
 perceived that his amazing and desperate 
 experiment, far from being a failure, was on a 
 high-road to a success hitherto undreamed of. 
 He perceived that his splendid adventure, far 
 from being ended, had but just begun ; and 
 that, could he but keep faith with his present 
 seeing, it would not end until he too had 
 pushed back the heavy curtain, and finally 
 crossed the threshold of so-called death. Nor 
 would it end even then, were light lived in 
 the light of this his present seeing. The 
 future was illimitable, since the goal of it was 
 nothing less than union with the Divine Prin- 
 ciple itself. However innumerable the com- 
 pany of human lives that had gone to produce 
 his own, his individuality was secure hence- 
 forth, since he had recognised and embraced 
 the life which alone eternally exists and sub- 
 sists the life in, and of, God. 
 
 Five months ago, crossing the Atlantic, in 
 the chill of the March night, while the big 
 ship steamed eastward and the stars danced 
 in the rigging as she sunk and swung in the 
 trough and then rose as a horse at a fence
 
 The Gateless Barrier 351 
 
 at the coming wave, he had asked himself 
 the question as to the profit of gaining the 
 whole world, if in so doing a man should lose 
 his own soul. All his experience since then 
 had been a setting of that vital question at rest 
 for ever. For he had found his soul. The 
 matter was simply to the point of laughter, 
 when once apprehended. In bidding him 
 farewell, his sweet companion had promised 
 him that she and he would at last be made 
 one, being one with Almighty God. He had 
 heard that as he might mere rhetoric, idle 
 though pretty words, placing it in some un 
 imaginable future, his mind still in bondage to 
 human conception of time and space. Now 
 he beheld this consummation as already 
 accomplished, immediately present, constant, 
 here, now, permanent. All that it needed was 
 just an attitude and habit of mind, and then 
 work. Work, not so much for any great 
 benefit derivable by others from that work 
 (though the desire of the welfare of others 
 must be a fundamental element in that work) ; 
 but for the maintenance of the said all-impor- 
 tant attitude and habit of mind in himself. 
 Almost any work would do. There was his
 
 35 2 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 property ; and, happily, sufficient of the feudal 
 idea still remains in England to make the 
 possession of a great landed-estate fruitful in 
 humane relations between class and class. 
 There was the dear earth, too, to till and sow, 
 and render more fertile, and more useful to 
 man. There were politics and public affairs. 
 In the light of his present illumination he dare 
 approach these things, strong to carve out a 
 career for himself, yet for ever keeping his 
 secret against his heart. Salvation is for theix- 
 individual, each individual must find it for him' 
 or herself. Souls cannot be saved in batches. ~? 
 But to each and all it may, and will, come, if 
 ' they have courage, and fortitude, and the 
 single eye which refuses illusion. 
 
 "And so farewell, yet never farewell, my 
 first, and last, and only love," he said, looking 
 at the osier-bound grave, while the shadows of 
 the feathery yew-trees danced and beckoned 
 upon the churchyard grass. " There have 
 been partings before, cruel to be born ; there 
 may be partings again, but they will be transi- 
 tory. I am not afraid that I shall ever lose 
 you, or you me. I am secure in that. 
 Meanwhile for your sake, O dear soul of me
 
 The Gateless Barrier 353 
 
 for so indeed you are I will make the 
 best use of the years I may still have to live 
 here on earth. And since you once were 
 woman, no woman shall ever suffer at my/-- 
 hands all womanhood being sacred thence- 
 forth since you once were woman. Now the 
 work of the world calls, and, God helping me, 
 I will help to do it. After all, dear love, we 
 go forth together, amen." 
 
 There are things Virginia does not quite 
 comprehend in her husband. She tells the 
 Van Reenan family, that "the English char- 
 acter is very obscure." But she has had no 
 more dramatic moments in respect of that 
 character. She pays a long visit yearly to 
 " the other side," and is as popular as ever. 
 On this side too she has had her social 
 triumphs. The yellow drawing-room at Stoke 
 Rivers has been rebuilt, but Laurence keeps 
 it for his own use. He has moved the books 
 into it from the libraries, thus giving Virginia 
 a large suite of rooms for social entertainments. 
 Lately, when the red flame of war threatened 
 the integrity of the British Empire, Laurence 
 went south ; and for a time lived that larger 
 
 23
 
 354 The Gateless Barrier 
 
 life in which woman takes her place, per- 
 haps her safest one, as a hope or a memory 
 merely the life a man lives among men. 
 Jack Bellingham volunteered also. He thinks 
 Laurence a better fellow than ever ; yet is 
 perplexed at moments as to whether he has, 
 or has not, developed like so many of his 
 family into a thorough-paced crank. 
 
 THE END
 
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