afb
E. H. PIERCE,,
OLD BOOK SHOP,
THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
OF
A PHAETON
THE STRANGE ADVENTURls
OF
A PHAETON
BY
WILLIAM BLACK
NEW AND REVISED EDITION
NEW YORK: HARPER AND BROTHERS
1892
LONDON
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWKS AND SONS, LIMTTKI
STAMFORD STREET AND CHAEIVG OSOSS.
CONTENTS.
CHAP. 1'AGE
I. OUR BELL. ....... 1
II. A LUNCHEON IN HOLBORN ...... 8
III. " PRINZ EUGEN, DER EDLE RITTER " . . .21
IV. ARTHUR VANISHES ...... 32
V. QUEEN TITANIA AFLOAT . . . ... .46
VI. A GIFT OF TONGUES 60
VII. ATRA CURA 80
VIII. NEAR WOODSTOCK TOWN 98
IX. A MOONLIGHT NIGHT 109
X. THE AVENGER 123
XI. SOME WORCESTER SAUCE 133
XII. THE KIVALS 144
XIII. SAVED! 159
XIV. A SHREWSBURY PLAY 172
XV. LA PATRIE EN DANGER 185
XVI. OUR UHLAN OUT-MANOEUVRED .... 195
XVII. IN THE FAIRY GLEN 209
XVIIL THE COLLAPSE 218
XIX. THE WHITE OWLS OF GARSTANG . . . . 231
XX. CHLOE'S GARLAND ...... 249
XXI. ALL ABOUT WINDERMERE ..... 263
XXII. ON CAVIARE AND OTHER MATTERS . . . 275
XXIII. A NIGHT ON GRASMERE . . . . . 286
XXIV. ARTHUR'S SONG 296
XXV. ARMAGEDDON 306
XXVI. THE LAST OF GRASMERE 318
XXVII. ALONG THE GRETA 330
XXVIII." ADE!" 339
XXIX. OVER THE BORDER 346
XXX. TWEED SIDE 358
XXXI. OUR EPILOGUE . , 3G9
264012
THE STEANGE ADVENTUEES
OF A PHAETON.
CHAPTER I.
OUR BELL.
"Oh, the oak, an! the ash, and the bonny ivy-tree,
They grow so green in the North Countrea ! "
IT was all settled one evening in the deep winter time.
Outside, a sharp east wind was whistling round the solitudes
of Box Hill ; the Mole, at the foot of our garden, as it stole
stealthily through the darkness, crackled the flakes of ice
that lay along its level banks ; and away on Mickleham
Downs >and on the further uplands towards the sea the
cold stars were shining down on a thin coating of snow.
Indoors there was another story to tell ; for the mistress
of the house Queen Titania, as we call her a small person,
with a calm, handsome, pale face, an abundance of black
hair, big eyes that are occasionally somewhat critical in
look, and a certain magnificence of manner which makes
you fancy her rather a tall and stately woman has a trick
of so filling her drawing-room with dexterous traceries of
grass and ferns, with plentiful flowers of her own rearing,
and with a crowded glare of light, that, amid the general
warmth, the glow, and perfume, and variety of brilliant
colours, you would almost forget that the winter is chill
and desolate and dark.
Then Bell, our guest and companion for many a year,
lends herself to the deception ; for the wilful young person,
though there were a dozen inches of snoAV on the meadows,
would come down to dinner in a dress of blue, with touches
B
2 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
of white gossamer and fur about the tight wrists and neck
with a \vhit3 ioye and a bunch of forget-me-nots, as blue as
her eyes, twisted into the soft masses of her light-brown
hair, and with a certain gay and careless demeanour, meant
to let us know that she, having been born and bred in the
North Country, has a fine contempt for the mild rigours of
our southern winter.
But on this particular evening, Bell our Bell, our Bonny
Bell, our Lady Bell, as she is variously called when she
provokes people into giving her pet names had been sitting
for a long time with an open book on her knee ; and as this
volume was all about the English lakes, and gave pictures of
them, and placed here and there little tail-pieces of ferns
and blossoms, she may have been driven to contrast the
visions thus conjured up with the realities suggested by the
fierce gusts of wind that were blowing coldly through the
box-trees outside. All at once she placed the volume gently
on the white hearth-rug, and said, with a strange wistfulness
shining in the deeps of her blue eyes,
" Tita, cannot you make us talk about the summer, and
drown the noise of that dreadful wind ? Why don't we
conspire to cheat the winter and make believe it is summer
again ? Doesn't it seem to be years and years ago since we
had the long light evenings ; the walks between the hedge-
rows ; the waiting for the moon, up on the crest of the hill ;
and then the quiet stroll downward into the valley and
home again, with the wild roses, and the meadow-sweet, and
the evening campions filling the warm night air ? Come,
let us sit close together, and make it summer ! See, Tita I
it is a brilliant morning you can nearly catch a glimpse
of the Downs above Brighton and we are going to shut up
the house, and go away anywhere for a whole month. Bound
comes that dear old mail-phaeton, and my pair of bonny
bays are whinnying for a bit of sugar. Papa is sulky "
" As usual," remarks my Lady, without lifting her eyes
from the carpet.
" for though the imperial has been slung on, there
is scarcely enough room for the heaps of our luggage ; and,
like every man, he has a deadly hatred of bonnet-boxes.
Then you take your seat, my dear, looking like a small
empress in a grey travelling dress ; and Papa after pre-
OF A PHAETON. 3
tending to have inspected all the harness takes the reins ;
I pop in behind, for the hood, when it is turned down,
makes such a pleasant cushion for your arms, and you can
stick your sketch-book into it, and a row of apples and any-
thing else ; and Sandy touches his forelock, and Kate bobs
a curtsy ; and away and away we go ! How sweet and
fresh the air is, Tita ! and don't you smell the honeysuckle
in the hedge ? Why, here we are at Dorking ! Papa pulls
up to grumble about the last beer that was sent ; and then
Casfcor and Pollux toss up their heads again, and on we drive
to Guildford, and to Beading, and to Oxford. And all
through England we go, using sometimes the old coaching-
roads, and sometimes the by-roads, stopping at the curious
little inns, and chatting to the old country folks, and singing
ballads of an evening as we sit upon the hill-sides, and watch
the partridges dusting themselves below us in the road ; and
then on and on again. Is not that the sea, Tita ? look at
the long stretch of Morecambe Bay, and the yellow sands,
and the steamers on the horizon ! But all at once we dive
into the hilis again ; and we come to the old familiar places
by Applethwaite and Ambleside ; and then some evening
some evening, Tita we come in sight of Grasmere, and
then and then "
" Why, Bell ! what is the matter with you ? " cries the
other, and the next minute her arms are round the light-
brown head, crushing its white rose and its blue forget-me-
nots.
" If you two young creatures," it is remarked, " would
seriously settle where we are to go next summer, you would
be better employed than in rubbing your heads together like
a couple of baby calves."
" Settle ! " says Queen Tita, with a smile of gentle imper-
tinence on her face ; " we know who is allowed to settle
things in this house. If we were to settle anything, some
wonderful discovery would be made about the horses' feet ;
or the wheels of that valuable phaeton which was made, I
should fancy, about the time the owner of it was born "
" The wife who mocks at her husband's grey hairs," I
remark calmly, " knowing the share she has had in producing
them "
Here our Bonny Bell interfered, and a truce was con-
B 2
4 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
eluded. The armistice was devoted to consideration of Bell's
project, which at length it was resolved to adopt. Why,
after going year after year round the southern counties in
that big, old-fashioned phaeton which had become as a house
to us, should we not strike fairly northward ? These circles
round the south would resemble the swinging of a stone in
the sling before it is projected ; and, once we were started
on this straight path, who could tell how far we might
not go ?
" Then," said I for our thoughts at this time were often
directed to the great masses of men who were marching
through the wet valleys of France, or keeping guard amid cold
and fog in the trenches around Paris " suppose that by
July next the war may be over Count von Rosen says he
means to pay us a visit, and have a look at England. Why
should not he join our party, and become a companion for
Bell ? "
I had inadvertently probed a hornets' nest. The women
of our household were at that time bitter against the
Germans ; and but half an hour before Bell herself had
been eloquently denouncing the doings of the Prussians.
Had they not in secrecy been preparing to steal back Alsace
and Lorraine ; had they not taken advantage of the time
when the good and gentle France was averse from war to
provoke a quarrel ; had not the King openly insulted the
French Ambassador in the promenade at Ems ; and had
not their hordes of men swarmed into the quiet villages,
slaying and destroying, robbing the poor and aged, and
winning battles by mere force of numbers ? Besides, the
suggestion that this young lieutenant of cavalry might be
a companion for Bell appeared to be an intentional injury
done to a certain amiable young gentleman, of no particular
prospects, living in the Temple ; and so Bell forthwith
declared her dislike not only of the German officers, but of
all officers whatsoever.
" And as for Count von Rosen," she said, " I can re-
member him at Bonn only as a very rude and greedy boy,
who showed a great row of white teeth when he laughed,
and made bad jokes about my mistakes in German. And
now I dare say he is a tall fellow, with a stiff neck, a brown
face, perhaps a beard, a clanking sword, and the air of a
OF A PHAETON. 5
Bobadil, as he stalks into an inn and calls out, ' Kellnare !
eene Pulle Sect ! und sag en Sie mat, ivas hat en Siefur Zeit-
ungen die Alljemeene ? ' '
I ventured to point out to Bell that she might alter her
opinion when von Rosen actually came over with all the
glamour of a hero about him ; and that, indeed, she could
not do better than marry him.
Bell opened her eyes.
" Marry him, because he is a hero ! No ! I would not
marry a hero, after he had become a hero. It would be
something to marry a man who was afterwards to become
great, and be with him all the time of his poverty and his
struggles. That would be worth something to comfort
him when he was in despair, to be kind to him when he was
suffering ; and" then, when it was all over, and he had got
his head above these troubles, he would say to you, ' Oh,
Kate, or Nell,' as your name might be, ' how good you were
during the old time when we were poor and friendless ! '
But when he has become a hero, he thinks he will overawe
you with the shadow of his great reputation. He thinks he
has only to come, and hold out the tips of his fingers, and
say, * I am a great person. Everybody worships me. I
will allow you to share my brilliant fortune, and you will
dutifully kiss me.' Merci, monsieur ! but if any man were
to come to me like that, I would answer him as Canning's
knife-grinder was answered ' I give you kisses ? I will see
you ' "
" Bell ! " cried my Lady, peremptorily.
Bell stopped, and then blushed, and dropped her eyes.
" What is one to do," she asked, meekly, " when a quota-
tion comes in ? "
" You used toj>e a good girl," remarked Queen Tita, in her
severest manner, " but you are becoming worse and worse
every day. I hear you sing the refrains of horrid street
songs. Your love of sitting up at night is dreadful. The
very maid-servants are shocked by your wilful provin-
cialisms. And you treat me, for whom you ought to show
some respect, with a levity and familiarity without example.
I will send a report of your behaviour to
And here the look of mischief in Bell's eyes which had
been deepening just as you may see the pupil of a cat
6 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
widening before she makes a spring suddenly gave way to
a glance of urgent and meek entreaty, which was recognised in
the proper quarter. Tita named no names ; and the storm
blew over.
For the present, therefore, the project of adding this
young Uhlan to our party was dropped ; but the idea of our
northward trip remained, and gradually assumed definite
consistency. Indeed, as it developed itself during those
long winter evenings, it came to be a thing to dream about.
But all the same I could see that Tita sometimes returned
to the notion of providing a companion for Bell ; and,
whatever may have been her dislike of the Germans in
general, Lieutenant von Rosen was not forgotten. At odd
times, when
"In her hazel eyes her thoughts lay clear
As pebbles in a brook,"
it seemed to me that she was busy with those forecasts which
are dear to the hearts of women. One night we three were
sitting as quietly as usual, talking about something else,
when she suddenly remarked
" I suppose that Count von Eosen is as poor as Prussian
lieutenants generally are ? "
" On the contrary," said I, " he enjoys a very handsome
FamiUen-Stiftung , or family bequest, which gives him a
certain sum of money every six months, on condition that
during that time he has either travelled so much or gone
through such and such a course of study. I wish the legacies
left in our country had sometimes those provisions attached."
" He has some money, then," said my Lady, thoughtfully.
" My dear," said I, " you seem to be very anxious about
the future, like the man whose letter I read to you yester-
day.* Have you any further questions to ask ? "
* This is the letter :
" To the Editor of the Hampshire Ass.
" SIR, If the Republicans who are endeavouring to introduce a
.Republic into this great country should accomplish their disgusting
purpose, do you think they will repudiate the National Debt, and pay
no more interest on the Consols ?
" I am, Sir,
" Your obedient Servant,
" BOGMEOE, Jan. 18, 1871." " A LOVER OF MANKIND.
OF A PHAETON. 7
" I suppose he cares for nothing but eating and drinking
and smoking, like other officers ? He has not been troubled
by any very great sentimental crisis ? "
" On the contrary," I repeated, " he wrote me a despairing
letter, some fortnight before the war broke out, about
that same Fraulein Fallersleben whom we saw acting in the
theatre at Hanover. She had treated him very badly she
had "
" Oh, that is all nothing," said Tita hastily and here she
glanced rather nervously at Bell.
Bell, for her part, was unconcernedly fitting a pink collar
on a white cat, and talking to that pretty but unresponsive
animal.
" He left her," I remarked again, " in paroxysms of anger
and mutual reproach. He accused her of having "
"Well, well, that will do," says Queen Titania, in her
coldest manner ; and then, of course, everybody obeys the
small woman.
That was the last that was heard of von Rosen for many
a day ; and it was not until some time after the war was over
that he favoured us with a communication. He was still
in France. He hoped to get over to England at the end of
July ; and as that was the time we had fixed for our journey
from London to Edinburgh, along the old coach-roads, he
became insensibly mixed up with the project, until it was
finally resolved to ask him to join the party.
" I know you mean to marry those two," I said to the
person who rules over us all.
" How absurd you are," she replied, with a vast assump-
tion of dignity. "Bell is as good as engaged even if there
were any fear of a handsome young Englishwoman falling
in love with a Prussian lieutenant who is in despair about
an actress."
" You had better take a wedding-ring with you."
" A wedding-ring ! " said Tita, with a little curl of her
lips. " You fancy that a girl thinks of nothing but that.
Every wedding-ring that is worn represents a man's imper-
tinence and a woman's folly."
"Ask Bell," said I.
THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
CHAPTER II.
A LUNCHEON IN HOLBORN.
"From the bleak coast that hears
The German Ocean roar, deep-blooming, strong,
And yellow-haired, the blue-eyed Snxou came."
No more fitting point of departure could have been
chosen than the Old Bell Inn in Holborn, an ancient
hostelry which used in bygone times to send its relays of
stage-coaches to Oxford, Cheltenham, Enfield, Abingdon,
and a score of other places. Now, from the quaint little
yard, which is surrounded by frail and dilapidated galleries
of wood that tell of the grandeur of other days, there starts
but a solitary omnibus, which daily whisks a few country
people and their parcels down to Uxbridge, and Chalfont,
and Amersham, and "Wendover. The vehicle which Mr.
Thoroughgood has driven for many a year is no magnificent
blue and scarlet drag, with teams costing six hundred
guineas apiece, with silver harness, a post-boy blowing a
silver horn, and a lord handling the reins ; but a rough and
serviceable little coach which is worked for profit, and which
is of vast convenience to the folks living in quiet Buckingham-
shire villages apart from railways. From this old-fashioned
inn, now that the summer had come round, and our long-
looked-for journey to the North had come near, we had
resolved to start ; and Bell having gravely pointed out the
danger of letting our young Uhlan leave London hungry lest
habit should lead him to seize something by the way, and so
get us into trouble it was further proposed that we should
celebrate our setting-out with a luncheon of good roast beef
and ale, in the snug little parlour which abuts on the yard.
" And I hope," said Queen Titania, as we escaped from
the roar of Holborn into the archway of the inn, " that
the stupid fellow has got himself decently dressed. Other-
wise, we shall be mobbed."
The fact was that Count von Rosen, not being aware that
English officers rarely appear in uniform when off duty, had
come straight from St. Denis to Calais, and from Calais to
OF A PHAETON. 9
London, and from London to Leatherhead, without ever
dreaming that he ought not to go about in his regimentals.
He drew no distinction between Herr Graf von Eosen and
Seiner Majestat Lieutenant im ten Uhlanen-Eegimente ;
although he told us that when he issued from his hotel at
Charing Cross to get into a cab, he was surprised to see
a small crowd collect around the hansom, and no less
surprised to observe the absence of military costume in the
streets. Of course, the appearance of an Uhlan in the quiet
village of Leatherhead caused a profound commotion ; and
had not Castor and Pollux been able to distance the crowd
of little boys who flocked around him at the station, it is
probable he would have arrived at our house attended by
that concourse of admirers.
You should have seen the courteous and yet half-defiant
way in which the women received him, as if they were
resolved not to be overawed by the tall, browned, big-
bearded man ; and how, in about twenty minutes, they had
insensibly got quite familiar with him, apparently won over
by his careless laughter, by the honest stare of his light-blue
eyes, and by a very boyish blush that sometimes overspread
his handsome face when he stammered over an idiom, or was
asked some question about his own exploits. Bell remained
the most distant ; but I could see that our future companion
had produced a good impression on my Lady ; for she began
to take the management of him, and to give him counsel in
a minute and practical manner, which is a sure mark of her
favour. She told him he must put aside his uniform while
in England. She described to him the ordinary costume
worn by English gentlemen in travelling. And then she
hoped he would take a preparation of quinine with him,
considering that we should have to stay in a succession of
strange inns, and might be exposed to damp.
He went up to London that night, armed with a list of
articles which he was to buy for himself before starting
with us.
There was a long pause when we three found ourselves
together again. At length Bell said, with rather an im-
patient air
" He is only a schoolboy, after all. Why should he continue
to call you Madame, and me Mademoiselle, just as he did
io THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
when lie knew us first at Bonn, and gave us these names as
a joke ? Then he has the same irritating habit of laughing
that he used to have there. I hate a man who has his mouth
always open like a swallow in the air, trying to catch any-
thing that may come. And he is worse, I think, when he
closes his lips and tries to give himself an intellectual look,
like like "
" Like what, Bell ? "
" Like a calf posing itself, and trying to look like a red
deer," said Bell with a sort of contemptuous warmth.
" I wish, Bell," said my Lady, coldly and severely, " that
you would give up those rude metaphors. You talk just as
you did when you came fresh from Westmoreland you
have learnt nothing."
Bell's only answer was to walk, with rather a proud air, to
the piano, and there she sat down and played a few bars.
She would not speak ; but the familiar old air spoke for
her ; for it said, as plain as words could say
" A North Country maid up to London had strayed,
Although with her nature it did not agree ;
She wept, and she sighed, and she bitterly cried,
* I wish once again in the North I could be ! '"
" I think," continued Tita, in measured tones, " that he is
a very agreeable and trustworthy young man not very
polished, perhaps ; but then he is a German. I look
forward with great interest to see in what light our English
country life will strike him ; and I hope, Bell, that he will
not have to complain of the want of courtesy shown him by
Englishwomen."
This was getting serious ; so, being to some small and
undefined extent master in my own house, I commanded Bell
to sing the song she was petulantly strumming. That
" fetched " Tita. Whenever Bell began to sing one of those
old English ballads, which she did for the most part from
morning till night, there was a strange and tremulous thrill
in her voice that would have disarmed her bitterest enemy ;
and straightway my Lady would be seen to draw over to the
girl, and put her arm round her shoulder, and then reward
her, when the last chord of the accompaniment had been
struck, with a grateful kiss. In the present instance, the
OF A PHAETON. 11
charm worked as usual ; but no sooner had these two young-
people been reconciled than they turned on their common
benefactor. Indeed, an observant stranger might have
remarked in this household, that when anything remotely
bearing on a quarrel was made up between any two of its
members, the third, the peacemaker, was expected to pro-
pose a dinner at Greenwich. The custom would have been
more becoming had the cost been equally distributed ; but
there were three losers to one payer.
Well, when we got into the yard of the Old Bell, the
Buckinghamshire omnibus was being loaded ; and among the
first objects we saw was the stalwart figure of von Rosen,
who was talking to Mr. Thoroughgood as if he had known
him all his life, and examining with a curious and critical
eye the construction and accommodation of the venerable
old vehicle. We saw with some satisfaction that he was now
dressed in a suit of grey garments, with a wide-awake hat ;
and, indeed, there was little to distinguish him from an
Englishman but the curious blending of colour from the
tawny yellow of his moustache to the deep brown of his
cropped beard which is seldom absent from the hirsute
decoration of a Prussian face.
He came forward with a grave and ceremonious politeness
to Queen Titania, who received him in her dignified, quaint,
maternal fashion ; and he shook hands with Bell with an
obviously unconscious air of indifference. Then, not notic-
ing her silence, he talked to her, after we had gone inside, of
the old-fashioned air of homeliness and comfort noticeable
in the inn, of the ancient portraits, and the quaint fireplace,
and the small busts placed about. Bell seemed rather vexed
that he should address himself to her, and uttered scarcely
a word in reply.
But when our plain and homely meal was served, this
restraint gradually wore av\'ay ; and in the talk over our
coming adventures, Bell abandoned herself to all sorts of
wild anticipations. She forgot the presence of the German
lieutenant. Her eyes were fixed on the North Country ; and
on summer nights up amid the Westmoreland hills ; and on
bright mornings up by the side of the Scotch lochs ; and
while the young soldier looked gravely at her, and even
seemed a trifle surprised, she told us of all the dreams and
12 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
visions she had had of the journey, for weeks and months
back, and how the pictures of it had been with her night and
day until she was almost afraid the reality would not bear
them out. Then she described as if she were gifted with
second sight the various occupations we should have to
follow during the pleasant afternoons in the North ; how
she had brought her guitar that Queen Titania might sing
Spanish songs to it ; how we should listen to the corn-crake ;
and how she would make studies of all the favourite places
we came to ; and perhaps might even construct a picture of
our phaeton and Castor and Pollux with a background of
half-a-dozen counties for some exhibition ; and how,
some day in the far future, when the memory of our long
excursion had grown dim, Tita would walk into a room in
Pall Mall, and there, with the landscape before her, would
turn round with wonder in her eyes, as if it were a re-
velation.
" Because," said Bell, turning seriously to the young
Uhlan, and addressing him as though she had talked
familiarly to him for years, "you mustn't suppose that
our Tita is anything but a hypocrite. All her coldness and
affectation of grandeur are only a pretence ; and sometimes,
if you watch her eyes and she is not looking at you you
will see something come up to the surface of them as if it were
her real heart and soul there, looking out in wonder and soft-
ness at some beautiful thing just like a dabchick, you know,
when you are watching among bushes by a river, and are
quite still ; and then, if you make the least remark, if
you rustle your dress, snap ! down goes the dabchick, and
you s.ee nothing, and my Lady turns to you quite proudly
and coldly though there may be tears in her eyes and
dares you to think that she has shown any emotion."
" That is, when she is listening to you singing ? " said the
Lieutenant, gravely and politely ; and at this moment Bell
seemed to become conscious that we were all amused by her
vehemence, blushed prodigiously, and was barely civil to our
Uhlan for half an hour after.
Nevertheless, she had every reason to be in a good
humour ; for we had resolved to limit our travels that
day to Twickenham, where, in the evening, Tita was to
see her two boys who were at school there. And as the
OF A PHAETON. 13
young gentleman of the Temple, who has already been
briefly mentioned in this narrative, is a son of the school-
master with whom the boys were then living, and as he was
to be of the farewell party assembled in Twickenham at
night, Bell had no unpleasant prospect before her for that
day at least. And of one thing she was probably by that
time thoroughly assured ; no fires of jealousy were in danger
of being kindled in any sensitive breast by the manner of
Count von Rosen towards her. Of course he was very
courteous and obliging to a pretty young woman ; but
he talked almost exclusively to my Lady ; while, to state
the plain truth, he seemed to pay more attention to his
luncheon than to both of them together.
Behold, then, our phaeton ready to start ! The pair of
pretty bays are pawing the hard stones and pricking their
ears at the unaccustomed sounds of Holborn ; Sandy is at
their head, regarding them rather dolefully, as if he feared
to let them slip from his care to undertake so long and
perilous a journey ; Queen Titania has arranged that she
shall sit behind, to show the young Prussian all the remark-
able things on our route ; and Bell, as she gets up in front,
begs to have the reins given her so soon as we get away from
the crowded thoroughfares. There are still a few loiterers
on the pavement who had assembled to see the Wendover
omnibus leave ; and these regard with a languid sort of
curiosity the setting-out of the party in the big dark-
green phaeton.
A little tossing of heads and prancing, a little adjustment
of the reins, a final look round, and then we glide into
the wild and roaring stream of vehicles that mighty
current of rolling vans, and heavy waggons, and crowded
Bayswater omnibuses, of dexterous hansoms and indolent
four-wheelers, of brewers' drays and post-office carts and
costermongers' barrows. Over the great thoroughfare, with
its quaint and huddled houses and its innumerable shops,
dwell soft and still masses of cloud that seem oddly dis-
coloured. The sky, seen through a curious pall of mist and
smoke, is only grey ; and the clouds are distant and dusky
and yellow, like those of an old landscape that has lain for
years in a broker's shop. Yet there is a faint glow of sun-
light shining along the houses on the northern side of the
14 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
street ; and here and there the window of some lobster-shop
or tavern glints back the light. As we get westward, the
blue overhead becomes clearer ; and the character of the
thoroughfare alters. Here we are at the street leading up to
the British Museum a Mudie and a Moses on each hand
and it would almost seem as if the Museum had sent out rays
of influence to create around it a series of smaller collections.
In place of the humble fishmonger and the familiar hosier,
we have owners of large windows filled with curious treasures
of art old-fashioned jewellery, china, knick-knacks of
furniture, silver spoons and kettles, and stately portraits of
the time of Charles II., in which the women have all beaded
black eyes, yellow curls, and a false complexion, while the
men are fat, pompous, and wigged. Westward still, and we
approach the huge shops and warehouses of Oxford Street,
where the last waves of fashionable life, seeking millinery,
beat on the eastern barriers that shut out the rest of London.
Regent Street is busy on this quiet afternoon ; and Bell asks
in a whisper whether the countryman of Blticher, now sitting
behind us, does not betray in his eyes what he thinks of this
vast show of wealth. Listening for a moment, we hear that
Queen Titania, instead of talking to him about the shops, is
trying to tell him what London was in the last century ; and
how Colonel Jack and his associates, before that enterprising
youth started to walk from London to Edinburgh to avoid
the law, used to waylay travellers in the fields between
Gray's Inn and St. Pancras ; and how, having robbed a
coach between Hyde Park G-ate and Knightsbridge, they
"went over the fields to Chelsea." This display of erudition
on the part of my Lady has evidently been prepared before-
hand ; for she even goes the length of quoting dates and
furnishing a few statistics a thing which no woman does
inadvertently. However, when we get into Pall Mall, her
ignorance of the names of the clubs reveals the superficial
nature of her acquirements ; for even Bell is able to recog-
nize the Reform, assisted, doubtless, by the polished pillars
of the Carlton. The women are, of course, eager to know
which is the Prince of Wales's Club ; and afterwards look
with quite a peculiar interest on the brick wall of Marl-
borough House.
" Now," says our Bonny Bell, as we get into the quiet
OF A PHAETON. 15
of St. James's Park, where the trees in the Mall and the
shrubbery around the water look quite pleasant and
fresh even under the misty London sunlight ; " now you
must let me have the reins. I am wearying to get away
from the houses, and be really on the road to Scotland.
Indeed, I shall not feel that we have actually set out until
we leave Twickenham, and are fairly on the old coach-road
at Hounslow."
I looked at Bell. She did not blush ; but calmly waited
to take the reins. I had then to point out to the young
hypocrite that her wiles were of no avail. She was not
anxious to be beyond Twickenham ; she was chiefly anxious
to get down thither. Notwithstanding that she knew we
had chosen a capricious and roundabout road to reach this
first stage on our journey, merely to show von Eosen some-
thing of London and its suburban beauties, she was looking
with impatience to the long circuit by Clapham Common,
Wimbledon, and Richmond Park. Therefore she was not
in a condition to be entrusted with the safety of so valuable
a freight.
" I am not impatient," said Bell, with her colour a trifle
heightened : " I do not care whether we ever get to
Twickenham. I would as soon go on to Henley to-night, and
to-moiTow to Oxford. But it is just like a man to make a
great bother and go in prodigious circles to reach a trifling
distance. You go circling and circling like the minute-hand
of a clock ; but the small hand, that takes it easy, and
makes no clatter of ticking, finds at twelve o'clock that it
has got quite as far as its big companion."
" This, Bell," I remarked, " is impertinence."
" Will you give me the reins ? "
"No."
Bell turned half round, and leaned her arm on the lowered
hood.
" My dear," she said to Queen Titania who had been
telling the Count something about Buckingham Palace
" we have forgotten one thing. What are we to do when
our companions are disagreeable during the day ? In the
evening we can read, or sing, or walk about by ourselves.
But during the day, Tita ? When we are imprisoned, how
are we to escape ? "
16 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES t
" We shall put you in the imperial, if you are not a good
girl," said my Lady, with a gracious sweetness ; and then
she turned to the Count.
It would have been cruel to laugh at Bell. For a minute
or two after meeting with this rebuff, she turned rather
away from us, and stared with a fine assumption of proud
indifference down the Yauxhall Bridge Road. But presently
a lurking smile began to appear about the corners of her
mouth ; and at last she cried out
" Well, there is no use quarrelling with a married man ; for
he never pets you. He is familiar with the trick of it, I
suppose ; and looks on like an old juggler watching the
efforts of an amateur. See ! how lovely the river is up
there by Chelsea the long reach of rippling grey, the green
of the trees, and the curious silvery light that almost hides
the heights beyond. We shall see the Thames often, shall
we not ? and then the Severn, and then the Solway, and
then the great Frith of the Forth ? When I think of it, I
feel like a bird a lark fluttering up in happiness and
seeing farther and farther every minute. To see the Solway,
you know, you have to be up almost in the blue ; and then
all around you there lies the wide plain of England, with
fields, and woods, and streams. Fancy being able to see as
far as a vulture ; and to go swooping on for leagues and
leagues now up amid white peaks of snow or down
through some great valley or across the sea in the sunset.
And only fancy that some evening you might find the
spectral ship beginning to appear in pale fire in the mist of
the horizon coming on towards you without a sound do
you know, that is the most terrible legend ever thought
of ! "
" What has a vulture to do with the Flying Dutchman ? "
said Queen Tita suddenly ; and Bell turned with a start
to find her friend's head close to her own. "You are
becoming incoherent, Bell, and your eyes are as wild as if
you were really looking at the phantom ship. Why are you
not driving ? "
" Because I am not allowed," said Bell.
However, when we got into the Clapham Road, Bell had
her wish. She took her place with the air of a practised
whip ; and did not even betray any nervousness when a
OF A PHAETON. 17
sudden whistle behind us warned her that she was in the
way of a tram-car. Moreover, she managed to subdue so
successfully her impatience to get to Twickenham, that she
was able to take us in the gentlest manner possible up and
across Clapham Common, down through Wandsworth, and
up again towards Wimbledon. When, at length, we got to
the brow of the hill that overlooks the long and undulating
stretches of furze, the admiration of our Prussian friend,
which had been called forth by the various parks and open
spaces in and around London, almost rose to the pitch of
enthusiasm.
" Is it the sea down there, yes ? " he asked, looking
towards the distant tent-poles, which certainly resembled a
small forest of masts in the haze of the sunshine. " It is
not the sea ? I almost expect to reach the shore always in
England. Yet why have you so beautiful places like this
around London so much more beautiful than the sandy
country around our Berlin and no one to come to it ?
You have more than three millions of people here is a
playground -why do they not come ? And Clapham
Common top, it is not used for people to walk in, as we
should use it in Germany, and have a pleasant seat in a
garden, and the women sewing until their husbands and
friends come in the evening, and music to make it cheerful
afterwards. It is nothing a waste -a landscape very
beautiful but not used. You have children on donkeys,
and boys playing their games that is very good but it is
not enough. And here, this beautiful park, all thrown away
no one here at all. Why does not your Lord Mayor see
the the requirement of drawing away large numbers of
people from so big a town for fresh air ; and make here
some amusements ? "
" Consider the people who live all around," said my Lady,
" and what they would have to suffer."
" Suffer ! " said the young Prussian, with his eyes staring ;
" I do not understand you. For people to walk through
gardens, and smoke, and drink a glass or two of beer, or sit
under the trees and sew or read surely that is not offensive
to any person ? And here the houses are miles away you
cannot see them down beyond the windmill there."
" Did you ever hear of such things as manorial rights, and
i8 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
freeholders, and copyholders, and the Statute of Merton ? "
he is asked.
" All that is nothing a fiction," he retorted. " You have
a Government in this country representing the people ; why
not take all these commons and use them for the people ?
And if the Government has not courage to do that, why do
not your municipalities, which are rich, buy up the land, and
provide amusements, and draw the people into the open air ? "
Queen Tita could scarce believe her ears on hearing
a Prussian aristocrat talk thus coolly of confiscation, and ex-
hibit no more reverence for the traditional rights of property
than if he were a Parisian socialist. But then these boys of
twenty-five will dance over the world's edge in pursuit of a
heory.
Here, too, as Bell gently urged our horses forward
towards the crest of the slope leading down to Baveley
Bridge, von Rosen got his first introduction to an English
landscape. All around him lay the brown stretches of sand
and the blue-green clumps of furze of the common ; on each
side of the wide and well-made road, the tall banks were
laden with a tangled luxuriance of brushwood and bramble
and wild-flowers ; down in the hollow beneath us there were
red-tiled farm-buildings half hid in a green maze of elms
and poplars ; then the scattered and irregular fields and
meadows, scored with hedges and dotted with houses, led up
to a series of heights that were wooded with every variety of
forest tree ; while over all these undulations there lay that
faint presence of mist which only served to soften the glow
of the afternoon sunshine, and to show us the strong colours
of the picture through a veil of tender ethereal grey.
We go down the hill, and roll along the valley.
"This is the Robin Hood Gate," says Queen Tita.
" Have you heard of Robin Hood, Count von Rosen ? "
" Oh yes. He was one of those picturesque men that we
have many of in our German stories. We like huntsmen,
outlaws, and such people ; and the German boys, they do
know of Robin Hood as much as of William Tell."
" But then, you know," says Tita, gravely, " Robin Hood
was a real person."
" And was not William Tell ? "
" They say not."
OF A PHAETON. 19
The Lieutenant laughed.
" Madame," he said, " I did not know you were so learned.
But if there was no William Tell, are you sure thsre was any
Robin Hood ? "
" Oh, yes, I am quite sure," said my Lady, earnestly ;
which closed this chapter of profound historical criticism.
Richmond Park, in the stillness of a fine sunset, was
worth bringing a foreigner to see. The ruddy light from
the west was striking here and there among the glades under
the oaks ; across the bars of radiance and shadow the hand-
some little bucks and long-necked does were lightly passing
and repassing ; while there were rabbits in thousands
trotting in and about the brackens ; with an occasional covey
of young partridges alternately regarding us with up-
stretched necks and then running off a few yards further.
But after we had bowled along the smooth and level road,
up and through the avenues of stately oaks, past the small
lakes (one of them, beyond the shadow of a dark wood,
gleamed like a line of gold), and on to the summit of Rich-
mond Hill, Queen Titania had not a word to say further
in pointing out the beauties of the place. She had been
officiating as conductor ; and with something of the air of a
proprietress. Now, as we stopped the phaeton on the crest
of the hill, she was silent.
Far away behind us lay the cold green of the eastern sky ;
and under it the smoke of London lay red and brown ; while
in the extreme distance we could see dim traces of houses,
and down in the south a faint rosy mist. Some glittering
yellow rays showed us where the Crystal Palace, high over
the purple shadows of Sydenham, caught the sunlight ; and
up by Notting Hill, too, there were one or two less distinct
glimmerings of glass. But when we turned to the west, no
such range of vision was permitted to us. All over the bed
of the river there lay across the western sky a confusion
of pale gold : not a distinct sunset, with sharp lines of
orange and blood-red fire, but a bewildering haze that
blinded the eyes and was rather ominous for the morrow.
Along the horizon,
"where, enthroned in adamantine state,
Proud of her bards, imperial Windsor sits,"
r 9
20 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
there was no trace of the grey towers to be made out
rising from the dusky blue into that radiant glow.
Nearer at hand, the spacious and wooded landscape seemed
almost dark under the glare of the sky ; and the broad
windings of the Thames lay white and clear between the soft
green of the Twickenham shores and the leafy masses of
"umbrageous Ham."
" Doesn't it seem as though the strange light out there
in the west lay over some unknown country," said Bell,
with her eyes filled with the glamour of the sunset, " and
that to-morrow we were to begin our journey into a great
prairie, and leave houses and people for ever behind us ?
You can see no more villages ; but only miles and miles of
woods and plains ; until you come to a sort of silver mist,
and that might be the sea."
" And a certain young lady stands on the edge of this wild
and golden desert, and a melancholy look comes into her
eyes. For she is fond of houses and her fellow-creatures ;
and here, just close at hand down there, in Twickenham,
in fact there is a comfortable dining-room and some
pleasant friends, and one attentive person in particular,
who is perhaps a little sorry to bid her good-bye. Yet she
does not falter. To-morrow morning she will hold out her
hand a tender and wistful smile will only half convey her
sadness "
Here Bell rapidly but lightly touched Pollux with the
whip ; both the horses sprang forward with a jerk that had
nearly thrown the Lieutenant into the road (for he was
standing up and holding on by the hood) ; and then, without
another word, she rattled us down into Richmond. Getting
sharply round the corner, she pretty nearly had a wheel taken
off by the omnibus that was standing in front of the King's
Head ; and just escaped knocking down a youth in white
costume and boating shoes, who jumped back on the pave-
ment with an admirable dexterity. Nor would she stop to
give us a look at the Thames from the bridge we only
caught a glimpse of the broad bend of the water, the various
boats and their white-clad crews, the pleasant river-paths,
and the green and wooded heights all around. She swept
us on along the road leading into Twickenham ; past the
abodes of the Orleanist Princes ; and into the narrow streets
OF A PHAETON. li
of the village itself ; until, with a proud and defiant air, she
pulled the horses up in front of Dr. Ashburton's house.
There was a young man at the window. She pretended
not to see him.
When the servants had partly got our luggage out, the
young man made his appearance ; and came forward, in
rather a frightened way, as I thought, to pay his respects
to Queen Tita and Bell. Then he glanced at the Uhlan,
who was carefully examining the horses' fetlocks and hoofs.
Finally, as the Doctor had no stables, Master Arthur in-
formed us that he had made arrangements about putting
up the horses ; and while the rest of us went into the house,
he volunteered to take the phaeton round to the inn. He
and the Count went off together.
Then there was a wild commotion on the first landing, a
confused tumble and rush down stairs, and presently Bell
and Tita were catching up two boys, and hugging them,
and pulling out all sorts of mysterious presents.
" Heh ! how fens tee, Jeck ? gaily ? " cried Auntie Bell,
whose broad Cumberlandshire vastly delighted the young-
sters. " Why, Twom, thou's growin' a big lad, thou mud
as weel be a sodger as at schuil. Can tee dance a whorn-
pipe yet ? what, nowther o' ye ? Dost think I's gaun to
gie a siller watch to twa feckless fallows that canna dance a
whornpipe ? "
But here Bell's mouth was stopped by a multitude of
kisses ; and, having had to confess that the two silver
watches were really in her pocket, she was drawn into the
parlour by the two boys, and made to stand and deliver.
CHAPTER III.
EUGEN, DER EDLE BITTER."
"What can Tommy Onslow do?
He can drive a phaeton and two.
Can Tommy Onslow do no more?"
MEANWHILE, what had become of the Lieutenant, and
Arthur, and Castor and Pollux, to* say nothing of the
phaeton, which had now been transferred from its accus-
tomed home in Surrey to spend a night under a shed in
22 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
Twickenham ? The crooked by-ways and narrow streets of
that curious little village were getting rapidly darker under
the falling dusk, and here and there orange lamps were
beginning to shine in the blue-grey of the twilight, when I
set out to discover the stable to which our horses had been
confided. I had got but half-way to the public-house, when
I met Arthur. The ordinarily mild and gentle face of this
young man which would be quite feminine in character,
but for a soft, pale-yellow moustache looked rather
gloomy.
" Where is the Count ? " I asked of him.
" Do you mean that German fellow ? " he said.
The poor young man ! It was easy to detect the cause
of the half-angry contempt with which he spoke of our
Lieutenant. It was jealousy with its green eyes and dark
imaginings ; and the evening, I could see, promised us a
pretty spectacle of the farce of Bell and the Dragon. At
present I merely requested Master Arthur to answer my
question.
" Well," said he, with a fine expression of irony the un-
happy wretch ! as if it were not quite obvious that he was
more inclined to cry " if you want to keep him out of the
police-office, you'd better go down to the stables of the .
He has raised a pretty quarrel there, I can tell you kicked
the ostler half across the yard knocked heaps of things to
smithereens and is ordering everybody about, and fuming
and swearing in a dozen different inarticulate languages.
I wish you joy of your companion ! You will have plenty
of adventures by the way ; but what will you do with all the
clocks you gather ? "
" Go home, you stupid boy, and thank God you have not
the gift of sarcasm. Bell is waiting for you. You will
talk very sensibly to her, I daresay ; but don't make any
jokes not for some years to come."
Arthur went his way into the twilight, as wretched a
young man as there was that evening in Twickenham.
Now in front of the public-house, and adjoining the
entrance into the yard, a small and excited crowd had
collected of all the idlers and loungers who hang about the
doors of a tavern. In the middle of them as you could
see when the yellow light from the window streamed through
OF A PHAETON. 23
a chink in the cluster of human figures there was a small,
square-set, bandy-legged man, with a red waistcoat, a cropped
head, and a peaked cap, with the peak turned sideways.
He was addressing his companions in an odd mixture of
Buckinghamshire dialect and Middlesex pronunciation,
somewhat in this fashion :
" I baint afeard of 'rn, or any other darned furrener, the
-. An' I've looked arter awsses afore he wur born, and
I'd like to see the mahn as '11 tell me what I don't know
about 'm. I've kept my plaace for fifteen yur, and I'll bet
the coot on my bahck as my missis '11 say, there niver wur
a better in the plaace ; an' as fur thaht furrener in there,
the law '11 teach him summut, or I'm werry much mistaken.
Eh, Any ? Bain't I right ? "
This impassioned appeal from the excited small man was
followed by a general chorus of assent.
I made my way down the yard, between the shafts of
dog-carts and the poles of disabled omnibuses that loomed
from out the darkness of a long and low shed. At the
foot of this narrow and dusky channel a stable-door was
open ; and the faint yellow light occasionally caught the
figure of a man who was busy grooming a horse outside.
As I picked my way over the rough stones, I could hear that
he was occasionally interrupting the hissing noise peculiar to
the work with a snatch of a song, carelessly sung in a deep
and sufficiently powerful voice. What was it he sang ?
" Prim E-ugen, der edle Ritter hisssssss wolW clem
Kaiser wiedrum Jcriegen wo ! my beauty so ho !
Stadtund Festung Belgarad ! hold up, my lad ! wo ho ! "
" Hillo, Oswald, what are you about ? "
" Oh, only looking after the horses," said our young
Ublan, slowly raising himself up.
He was in a remarkable state of undress his coat, waist-
'coat, and collar having been thrown on the straw inside the
stable and he held in his hand a brush.
" The fellows at this inn they are very ignorant of horses,
or very careless."
" I hear you have been kicking 'em all about the place."
" Why not ? You go in to have a glass of beer and see
the people. You come back to the stables. The man says
he has fed the horses it is a lie. He says he has groomed
24 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
them it is a lie. Jott im Himmel ! can I not see ? Then
I drive him away I take out corn for myself, also some
beans he comes back he is insolent I fling him into the
yard he falls over the pail he lies and groans that is
very good for him ; it will teach him to mind his business,
not to tell lies, and to steal the price of the corn."
I pointed out to this cool young person that if he went
kicking insolent ostlers all over the country, he would get us
into trouble.
"Is it not a shame they do not know their work ? and
that they will ruin good horses to steal a sixpence from
you, yes ? "
" Besides," I said, "it is not prudent to quarrel with an
ostler, for you must leave your horses under his care : and
if he should be ill-natured, he may do them a mischief
during the night."
The Count laughed, as he untied the halter and led Pollox
into a loose box.
" Do not be alarmed. I never allow any man to lock up
my horses if I am among strangers. I do that myself. I
will lock up this place and take the key, and to-morrow at
six I will come round and see them fed. No ! you must not
object. It is a great pleasure of mine to look after horses,
and I shall become friends with these two in a very few days.
You must let me manage them always."
" And groom them twice a day ? "
" Nee, Jott lewahre ! When there is a man who can do
it, I will not ; but when there is no one it is a very good
thing to help yourself."
Lieutenant Oswald von Rosen had already learned how to
conjugate the verb requiriren during his sojourn in Bohemia
and in France. He made another raid on the corn and split
beans ; got up into the loft, and crammed down plenty of
hay ; and then bringing a heap of clean straw into the place,
tossed it plentifully about the loose box devoted to Pollux,
and about Castor's stall. Finally he put on his upper vest-
ments, brought away the candle, locked the door, and put
the key in his pocket, humming all the time something about
" die dreimal hunderttausend Mann."
When we had got to the gate of the yard, he stalked up
to the small crowd of idlers, and said -
OF A PHAETON. 25
" Which of you is the man who did tumble over the pail ?
Is it you, you little fellow ? Well, you deserve much more
than you got, yes ; but here is a half-crown for you to buy
sticking-plaster with."
The small ostler held back ; but his companions, who
perceived that the half-crown meant beer, urged him to
go forward and take it ; which he did, saying
" Well, I doan't bear no malice."
" And next time that you have gentlemen's horses put
into your stables, don't try to steal the price of their corn,"
said the Lieutenant ; and with that he turned and walked
away.
" Now tell me who it was did come with me," continued
my young friend, as we went back to the house ; " he is a
nice young man, but he does not know the difference between
hay and straw, and I begged him not to remain. And he
would not drink the beer of this public-house ; but that is
the way of all you Englishmen you are so particular about
things, and always thinking of your health, and always
thinking of living, instead of living and thinking nothing
about it. Ah, you do not know how fine a thing it is to
live until you have been in a campaign, my dear friend ;
and then you know how fine it is that you can eat with
great hunger, and how fine it is when you get a tumbler of
wine, and how fine it is to sleep. You are very glad, then,
to be able to walk firm on your legs, and find yourself alive
and strong. But always, I think, your countrymen do not.
enjoy being alive so much as mine ; they are always im-
patient for something, trying to do something, hoping for
something, instead of being satisfied of finding every day a
good new day, and plenty of satisfaction in it, with talking
to people, and seeing things, and a cigar now and again.
Just now, when I wake, I laugh to myself, and say, ' How
very good it is to sleep in a bed, and shut yourself out from
noise, and get up when you please ! ' Then you have a
good breakfast, and all the day begins afresh, and you have
no fear of being crippled and sent off to the hospital. Oh !
it is very good to have this freedom this carelessness this
seeing of new things and new people every day. And that
is a very pretty young lady become, your Miss Bell : I do
remember her only a shy little girl, who spoke German with
26 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
your strange English way of pronouncing the vowels, and
was very much bashful over it. Oh yes, she is very good-
looking indeed ; her hair looks as if there were streaks of
sunshine in the light brown of it, and her eyes are very
thoughtful, and she has a beautiful outline of the chin that
makes her neck and throat very pretty. And, you know, I
rather like the nose not hooked, like most of your English
young ladies ; when it is a little the other way, and fine,
and delicate it makes the face piquant and tender, not
haughty and cold, nicht wahr ? But she is very English-
looking ; I would take her as a as a a type, do you call
it ? of the pretty young Englishwoman, well-formed, open-
eyed, with good healthy colour in her face, and very frank
and gentle, and independent all at the same time. Oh, she
is a very good girl a very good girl, I can see that."
" Yes," I said ; " I think she will marry the young fellow
whom you saw to-night."
" And that will be very good for him," he replied, easily ;
" for she will look after him and give him some common
sense. He is not practical ; he has not seen much ; he is
moody, and nervous, and thinks greatly about trifles.
But I think he will be very amiable to her, and that
is much. You know, ah 1 the best women many stupid
men."
There was, however, no need for our going into that
dangerous subject ; for at this moment we arrived at Dr.
Ashburton's house. Yon Eosen rushed upstairs to his room,
to remove the traces of his recent employment ; and then,
as we both entered the drawing-room, we found Bell stand-
ing right under the central gaselier, which was pouring its
rays down on her wealth of golden-brown hair. Indeed, she
then deserved all that von Rosen had said about her being
a type of our handsomest young Englishwomen rather tall,
well-formed, showing a clear complexion, and healthy rosi-
ness in her cheeks, while there was something at once defiant
and gentle in her look. Comely enough she was to attract
the notice of any stranger ; but it was only those who had
spent years with her, and had observed all her winning ways,
her unselfishness, and the rare honour and honesty that
lay behind all her pretty affectations of petulance, who
could really tell what sort of young person our Bonny Bell
OF A PHAETON. 27
was. She was sufficiently handsome to draw eyes towards
her,
" But if ye saw that which no eyes can see,
The inward beauty of her lovely spirit,
Garnished with heavenly gifts of high degree,
Much more then would ye wonder at that sight.
* * * * *
There dwell sweet Love and constant Chastity,
Unspotted Faith, and comely Womanhood,
Kegard of Honour, and mild Modesty."
And it must be said that during this evening Bell's
conduct was beyond all praise. Arthur Ashburton was
rather cold and distant towards her, and was obviously in
a bad temper. He even hovered on the verge of rudeness
towards both herself and the Lieutenant. Now, nothing de-
lighted Bell more than to vary the even and pleasant tenor
of her life with a series of pretty quarrels which had very
little element of seriousness in them ; but on this evening,
when she was provoked into quarrelling in earnest, nothing
could exceed the good sense, and gentleness, and forbearance
she showed. At dinner she sat between the young barrister
and his father, a quiet, little white-haired man in spectacles,
with small black eyes that twinkled strangely when he made
his nervous little jokes and looked over to his wife the
very matter-of-fact and roseate woman who sat at the
opposite end of the table. The old Doctor was a much more
pleasant companion than his son ; but Bell, with wonderful
moderation, did her best to re-establish good relations
between the moody young barrister and herself. Of course,
no woman will prolong such overtures indefinitely ; and
at last the young gentleman managed to establish a
more serious breach than he had dreamed of. For the
common talk had drifted back to the then recent war ; and
our Lieutenant was telling us a story about three Uhlanen,
who had, out of mere bravado, ridden down the main street
of a French village, and out at the other end, without having
been touched by the shots fired at them, when young Ash-
burton added with a laugh -
" I suppose they were so padded with the watches and
jewellery they had gathered on their way, that the bullets
glanced off."
28 7 HE STRANGE ADVENTURES
Count von Rosen looked across the table at this young
man, with a sort of wonder in his eyes ; and then, .with
admirable self-control, he turned to Queen Tita, and
calmly continued the story.
But as for Bell, a blush of shame and exceeding mortifica-
tion overspread her features. No madness of jealousy could
excuse this open insult to a stranger and a guest. From
that moment, Bell addressed herself exclusively to the old
Doctor, and took no more notice of his son than if he had
been in the moon. She was deeply hurt ; but she managed
to conceal her disappointment ; and indeed, when the boys
came in after dinner, she had so far picked up her spirits as
to be able to talk to them in that wild way which they re-
garded with mingled awe and delight. For they could not
understand how Auntie Bell was allowed to use strange
words, and even talk Cumberlandshire to the Doctor's
own face.
Of course she plied the boys with all sorts of fruit and
sweetmeats, until Tita, coming suddenly back from the
campaign in France to the table before her, peremptorily
ordered her to cease. Then Bell gathered round her the
decanters ; the boys had their half -glass of wine ; and Bell
swept them away with her into the drawing-room, when the
women left.
" A very bright young lady hm ! a very bright and
pleasant young lady indeed," said the Doctor, stretching
out his short legs with an air of freedom, and beginning to
examine the decanters. " I don't wonder the young fellows
rave about her ; eh, Arthur, eh ? "
Master Arthur rose and left the room.
" Touched, eh ? " said the father, with his eyes twinkling
vehemently, and his small grey features twisted into a smile.
" Hit hard, eh ? Gad, I don't wonder at it ; if I were a
young fellow myself eh, eh ? Claret ? Yes. But the
young fellows now don't sing about their 'laughing Lalage,
or drink to Glycera, or make jokes with Lydia ; it is all
dreaming, and reading, and sighing, eh, eh ? That boy of
mine has gone mad heeds nothing is ill-tempered
" Very much so, Doctor."
" Eh ? Ill-tempered ? Why, his mother daren't talk to
him ; and we're glad to have him go up to his chambers
OF A PHAETON. 29
again. Our young friend here is of another sort ; there is
no care about a woman tempering the healthy brown of the
sun and the weather, eh ? is there, eh ? "
"Why, my dear Doctor," cried the Lieutenant, with a
prodigious laugh, " don't you think Lydia's lover Lydia,
die, you know he was very glad to be away from rough
sports ? He had other enjoyments. I am brown, not
because of my wish, but that I have been made to work
that. is all."
The Doctor was overjoyed, and, perhaps, a trifle surprised,
to find that this tall Uhlan, who had just been grooming two
horses, understood his references to Horace ; and he im-
mediately cried out
" No, no ; you must not lose your health, and your colour,
and your temper. Would you have your friends say of you,
who have just been through a campaign in France
'Cur neque militaris
Inter sequales equitat, Gallica nee lupatia
Ternperat ora frenis?'
Eh, eh ? "
" Tempemt ora frenis it is a good motto for our driving
excursion," said the Lieutenant ; " but was it your Miss
Bell who called your two fine horses by such stupid names
as Castor and Pollux ? "
" Nevertheless," said the Doctor, eagerly, " Castor was said
to have great skill in the management of horses, eh,
what ? "
" Certainly," said the Lieutenant. " And both together
they foretell good weather, which is a fine thing in driving."
"And they were the gods of boundaries," cried the
Doctor.
" And they got people out of trouble when everything
seemed all over," returned the Count ; " which may also
happen to our phaeton."
" And and and " here the Doctor's small face fairly
gleamed with a joke, and he broke into a thin, high chuckle
" they ran away with two ladies eh, eh, eh ? did they
not, did they not ? "
Presently we went into the drawing-room, and there the
women were found in a wild maze of maps, eagerly discuss-
ing the various routes to the North, and the comparative
30 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
attractions of different towns. The contents of Mr. Stan-
ford's shop seemed to have been scattered about the room ;
and Bell had armed herself with an opisometer, which gave
her quite an air of importance.
The Lieutenant was out of this matter ; so he flung him-
self down into an easy chair, and presently had both of the
boys on his knees, telling them stories and propounding
arithmetical conundrums alternately. When Queen Tita
came to release him, the young rebels refused to go ; and
one of them declared that the Count had promised to sing
the " Wacht am Rhein."
" Oh, please, don't," said Bell, suddenly turning round,
with a map of Cumberland half hiding her. " You don't
know that all the barrel-organs here have it. But if you
would be so very kind as to sing us a German song, I will
play the accompaniment for you, if I know it, and I know
a great many."
Of course, the women did not imagine that a man who
had been accustomed to a soldier's life, and who had just
betrayed a faculty for grooming horses, was likely to know
much more of music than a handy chorus ; but the Count,
lightly saying he would not trouble her, went over to the
piano, and sat down unnoticed amid the general hum of
conversation.
But the next moment there was sufficient silence. For
with a crash like thunder " Hei ! das klang wie Unge-
witter ! " the young Lieutenant struck the first chords of
" Prinz Eugen ; " and with a sort of upward toss of the head,
as if he were making room for himself, he began to sing
Freiligrath's picturesque soldier-song to the wild and war-
like and yet stately music which Dr. Lowe has written for
it. What a rare voice he had, too ! deep, strong, and
resonant that seemed to throw itself into the daring spirit
of the music with an absolute disregard of delicate graces or
sentimental effect ; a powerful, masculine, soldier-like voice,
that had little flute-like softness, but the strength and thrill
that told of a deep chest, and that interpenetrated or rose
above the loudest chords that his ten fingers struck. Queen
Tita's face was overspread with surprise ; Bell unconsciously
laid down the map, and stood as one amazed. The ballad,
you know, tells how, one calm night on the banks of the
OF A PHAETON. 31
Danube, just after the great storming of Belgrade, a young
trumpeter in the camp determines to leave aside cards for
a while, and make a right good song for the army to sing ;
how he sets to work to tell the story of the battle in ringing
verse ; and at last, when he has got the rhymes correct, he
makes the notes too, and his song is complete. " Ho, ye
white troops and ye red troops, come round and listen ! "
he cries ; and then he sings the record of the great deeds of
Prince Eugene ; and lo ! as he repeats the air for the third
time, there breaks forth, with a hoarse roar as of thunder,
the chorus " Prinz Eugen der edle Eitter ! " until the sound
of it is carried even into the Turkish camp. And then the
young trumpeter, not dissatisfied with his performance,
proudly twirls his moustache ; and finally sneaks away to
tell of his triumph to the pretty Marketenderin. When our
young Uhlan rose from the piano, he laughed in an apologetic
fashion ; but there was still in his face some of that glow and
fire which had made him forget himself during the singing
of the ballad, and which had lent to his voice that penetrat-
ing resonance that still seemed to linger about the room.
Bell said " Thank you " in rather a timid way ; but Queen
Tita did not speak at all, and seemed to have forgotten us.
We had more music that evening, and Bell produced her
guitar, which was expected to solace us much on our journey.
It was found that the Lieutenant could play that too in a
rough fashion ; and he executed at least a very pretty accom-
paniment when Bell sang "Der Tyroler und sein Kind."
But you should have seen the face of Master Arthur when
Bell volunteered to sing a German song. I believe she did
it to show that she was not altogether frightened by the
gloomy and mysterious silence which he preserved, as he sat
in a corner and stared at everybody.
So ended our first day : and to-morrow why, to-morrow
we pass away from big cities and their suburbs, from multi-
tudes of friends, late hours, and the whirl of amusements
and follies, into the still seclusion of English country life,
with its simple habits, and fresh pictures, and the quaint
humours of its inns.
[Note l>y Queen Titcmia. " The foregoing pages give a more or less
accurate account of our setting-out, but they are all wrong about Bell.
32 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
Men are far worse than women in imagining love-affairs, and supposing
that girls think about nothing else. Bell wishes to ~be let alone. If
gentlemen care to make themselves uncomfortable about her, she can-
not help it ; but it is rather unfair to drag her into any such com-
plications. I am positive that, though she has doubtless a little pity
for that young man who vexes himself and his friends because he is
not good enough for her, she would not be sorry to see him, and Count
von Rosen and some one else besides all start off on a cruise to
Australia. She is quite content to be as she is. Marriage \vill come
in good time ; and when it comes, she will get plenty of it, sure enough.
In the meantime, I hope she will not be suspected of encouraging
those idle flirtations and pretences of worship with which gentlemen
think they ought to approach every girl whose good fortune it is not to
be married. T."]
CHAPTER IV.
AETHUR VANISHES.
" Hampton me taught to wish her first fur mine ;
And Windsor, alas ! doth chase me from her sight."
" RAIN ! " cried Queen Titania, as she walked up to
the window of the breakfast-room, and stared reproachfully
out on cloudy skies, gloomy trees, and the wet thorough-
fares of Twickenham.
" Surely not ! " said Bell, in anxious tones ; and there-
with she too walked up to one of the panes, while an
expression of deep mortification settled down on her face.
She stood so for a second or two, irresolute and hurt ;
and then a revengeful look came into her eyes ; she walked
firmly over to my Lady, got close up to her ear, and
apparently uttered a single word. Tita almost jumped
back ; and then she looked at the girl.
" Bell, how dare you ! " she said, in her severest manner.
Bell turned and shyly glanced at the rest of us, probably
to make sure none of us had heard ; and then, all this
mysterious transaction being brought to a close, she
returned to the table and calmly took up a newspaper.
But presently she threw it aside, and glanced, with some
heightened colour in her face and some half-frightened
amusement in her eyes, towards Tita ; and lo ! that
majestic little woman was still regarding the girl, and there
was surprise as well as sternness in her look.
Presently the brisk step of Oswald von Rosen was
OF A PHAETON. 33
heard outside, and in a minute or two the tall young man
came into the room, with a fine colour in his face, and a
sprinkling of rain about his big brown beard.
" Ha ! Not late ? No ? That is very good ! "
" But it rains ! " said Tita to him, in an injured way,
as if anyone who had been out of doors was necessarily
responsible for the weather.
" Not much," he said. " It may go off ; but about six
it did rain very hard, and I got a little wet then, I think."
" And where were you at six ? " said Tita, with her pretty
brown eyes opened wide.
" At Isleworth," he said, carelessly ; and then he added :
" Oh, I have done much business this morning, and bought
something for your two boys, which will make them not
mind that you go away. It is hard, you know, they are
left behind
" But Bell has given them silver watches ! " said Mamma.
" Is not that enough ? "
" They will break them in a day. Now when I went to
the stables this morning to feed the horses, the old ostler
was there. We had a quarrel last night ; but no matter.
We became very good friends he told me much about
Buckinghamshire and himself he told me he did know
your two boys he told me he knew of a pony oh ! a very
nice little pony that was for sale from a gentleman in
Isleworth
" And you've bought them a pony ! " cried Bell, clap-
ping her hands.
" Bell," said Tita, with a severe look, " how foolish you
are ! How could you think of anything so absurd ? "
" But she is quite right, Madame," said the Lieutenant,
" and it will be here in an hour, and you must not tel]
them till it comes."
" And you mean to leave them with that animal ! Why
they will break their necks, both of them," cried my Lady.
" Oh no ! " said the Lieutenant ; " a tumble does not
hurt boys, not at all. And this is a very quiet, small pony
oh, I did pull him about to try, and he will not harm
anybody. And very rough and strong I think the old
man did call him a Scotland pony."
" A Shetland pony."
34 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
" Ah, very well," said our Uhlan ; and then he began to
turn wistful eyes to the breakfast table.
They sat down to breakfast, almost forgetting the rain.
They were very well pleased with the coming of the pony.
It would be a capital thing for the boys' health ; it would
be this and would be that ; but only one person there
reflected that this addition to the comforts of the young
rogues upstairs would certainly cost him sixteen shillings a
week all the year round.
Suddenly, in the midst of this talk, Bell looked up and
said
" But where is Arthur ? "
" Oh," said the mother of the young man, " he went up
to town this morning at eight. He took it for granted you
would not start to-day."
" He might have waited to see," said Bell, looking down.
" I suppose he is not so very much occupied in the Temple.
What if we have to go away before he comes back ? "
" But perhaps he won't come back," said Mrs. Ashburton,
gently.
Bell looked surprised ; and then, with a little firmness
about the mouth, held her peace for some time. It was
clear that Master Arthur's absence had some considerable
significance in it, which she was slowly determining in her
own mind.
When Bell next spoke, she proposed that we should sefc
out, rain or no rain.
" It will not take much time to drive down to Henley,"
she said. " And if we begin by paying too much attention
to slight showers, we shall never get on. Besides, Count
von Rosen ought to see how fine are our. English rain
landscapes what softened colours are brought out in the
trees and in the greys of the distance under a dark sky. It
is not nearly so dismal as a wet day abroad, in a level
country, with nothing but rows of poplars along the horizon.
Here," she said, .turning to the Lieutenant, who had
probably heard of her recent successes in water-colour,
" you have light mists hanging about the woods ; and there
is a rough surface on the rivers ; and all the hedges and
fields get dark and intense ; and a bit of scarlet say a
woman's cloak is very fine under the gloom of the sky.
OF A PHAETON. 35
I ain sure you are not afraid of wet ; and I know that the rest
of us never got into such good spirits during our Surrey
drives as when we were dashing through torrents and
slinking the rain from about our faces. Why, this is nothing
a mere passing shower and the country down by
Hounslow will look very well under dark clouds ; and we
cannot do better than start at once for Henley ! "
" What is the matter, Bell ? " said Tita, regarding the
girl with her clear, observant eyes. " One would think you
were vexed about our staying in Twickenham until to-
morrow, and yet nobody has proposed that yet."
" I don't wish to waste time," said Bell, looking down.
Here the Lieutenant laughed aloud.
" Forgive me, Mademoiselle," he said, " but what you
say is very much like the English people. They are always
much afraid of losing time, though it does not matter to
them. I think your commercial habits have become
national, and got amongst people who have nothing to do
with commerce. I find English ladies who have weeks and
months at their disposal travel all night by train, and make
themselves very wretched. Why ? To save a day, they tell
you. I find English people, with two months' holiday
before them, undertake all the uncomforts of a night-
passage from Dover to Calais. Why ? To save a day.
How does it matter to you, for example, that we start to-
day, or to-morrow, or next week ? Only that you feel you
must be doing something you must accomplish something
you must save time. It is all English. It is with your
amusements as with your making of money. You are never
satisfied. You are always looking forward wishing to do
or have certain things never content to stop, and rest, and
enjoy doing nothing."
Now what do you think our Bell did on being lectured
in this fashion ? Say something in reply, only kept from
being saucy by her sweet manner of saying it ? Or rise
and leave the room, and refuse to be coaxed into a good
humour for hours ? Why, no. She answered in the gentlest
way
" I think you are right, Count von Rosen. It really does
not matter to me whether we go to-day or to-morrow."
" But you shall go to-day, Bell," say I, " even though
D 2
36 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
it should rain Duke Georges. At four of the clock we
start."
" My dear," says Tita, " this is absurd."
" Probably ; but none the less Castor and Pollux shall
start at that hour."
" You are beginning to show your authority somewhat
early," says my Lady, with a suspicious sweetness in her
tone.
" What there is left of it," I remark, looking at Bell, who
descries a fight in the distance, and is all attention.
" Count von Eosen," says Tita, turning in her calmest
manner to the young man, " what do you think of this piece
of folly ? It may clear up long before that : it may be
raining heavily then. Why should w r e run the risk of
incurring serious illness by determining to start at a
particular hour ? It is monstrous. It is absurd. It is
it is-
" Well," said the Lieutenant, with an easy shrug and a
laugh, " it is not of much consequence you make the rule ;
for you will break it if it is not agreeable. For myself, I
have been accustomed to start at a particular hour, whatever
happens ; but for pleasure, w r hat is the use ? "
" Yes, what is the use ? " repeats Titania, turning to the
rest of us with a certain ill-concealed air of triumph.
" St. Augustine," I observed to this rebellious person,
" remarks that the obedience of a wife to her husband is no
virtue, so long as she does only that which is reasonable, just,
and pleasing to herself."
" I don't believe St. Augustine said anything of the
kind," replied she ; " and if he did, he hadn't a wife, and
didn't know what he was talking about. I will not allow
Bell to catch her death of cold. We shall not start at
four."
" Two o'clock, luncheon. Half -past two the moon enters
Capricorn. Three o'clock, madness rages. Four, colds
attack the human race. We start at four."
By this time breakfast was over, and all the reply that
Tita vouchsafed was to wear a pleased smile of defiance as
she left the room. The Count, too, went out ; and in a few
minutes we saw him in the road, leading the pony he had
bought. The boys had been kept upstairs, and were told
OF A PHAETON. 37
nothing of the surprise in store for them ; so that we were
promised a stirring scene in front of the Doctor's house.
Presently the Lieutenant arrived at the gate, and summoned
Bell from the window. She having gone to the door, and
spoken to him for a second or two, went into the house, and
reappeared with a bundle of coarse cloths. Was the foolish
young man going to groom the pony in front of the house,
merely out of bravado ? At all events, he roughly dried the
shaggy coat of the sturdy little animal, and then carefully
wiped the mud from its small legs and hoofs. Bell went
down and took the bridle ; the Lieutenant was behind, to
give a push if necessary.
" Come up, Dick ! " she said ; and after a few frightened
stumbles on the steps the pony stood in the Doctor's hall !
The clatter of the small hoofs on the waxcloth had brought
the boys out to the first landing, and they were looking down
with intense surprise on the appearance of a live horse in the
house. When Bell had called them and told them that the
Count had bought this pony for them, that it was a real pony,
and that they would have to feed it every day, they came
down the stairs with quite a frightened air. They regarded
the animal from a distance, and then at last Master Jack
ventured to go up and touch its neck.
"Why," he said, as if suddenly struck with the notion
that it was really alive, " I'll get it an apple ! "
He went upstairs, three steps at a bound ; and by the
time he came back Master Tom had got in the saddle, and
was for riding his steed into the breakfast-room. Then he
would ride him out into the garden. Jack insisted on
his having the apple first. The mother of both called out
from above that if they went into the garden in the rain she
would have the whole house whipped. But all the same,
Master Tom, led by the Lieutenant and followed by Bell
whose attentions in holding him on he regarded with great
dislike rode in state along the passage, and through the
kitchen, and out by a back door into the garden.
" Let me go, Auntie Bell ! " he said, shaking himself
free. " I can ride very well I have ridden often at
Leatherhead."
" Off you go, then," said the Lieutenant : " lean well
back don't kick him with your heels off you go ! "
38 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
The pony shook his rough little mane, and started upon a
very sedate and patient walk along the smooth path.
" Fist ! Hei ! Go ahead ! " cried Master Tom, and he
twitched at the bridle in quite a knowing way.
Thus admonished, the pony broke into a brisk trot, which
at first jogged Master Tom on to its neck, but he managed
to wriggle back into the saddle and get hold of the reins
again. His riding was not a masterly performance ; but at
all events he stuck on ; and when after having trotted thrice
round the garden, he slid off of his own will and brought
the pony up to us, his chubby round face was gleaming with
pride, and flushed colour, and rain. Then it was Jack's
turn ; but this young gentleman, having had less experience,
was attended by the Lieutenant, who walked round the
garden with him, and gave him his first lessons in the art of
horsemanship. It was a very pretty amusement for those
of us who remained under the archway ; but for those in the
garden it was beginning to prove a trifle damp. Neverthe-
less, Bell begged hard for the boys to be let alone, seeing
that they were transported with delight over their new toy ;
and it is probable that both they and their instructor would
have got soaked to the skin had not Queen Titania appeared,
with her face full of an awful wrath.
What occurred then it is difficult to relate ; for in the
midst of the storm Bell laughed ; and the boys, being
deprived of their senses by the gift of the pony, laughed
also at their own mother. Tita fell from her high estate
directly. The splendours of her anger faded away from her
face, and she ran out into the rain and cuffed the boys' ears,
and kissed them, and drove them into the house before her.
And she was so good as to thank the Count formally for his
present ; and with a kindly smile bade the boys be good
boys and attend to their lessons when they had so much
amusement provided for them ; and finally turned to Bell,
and said, that as we had to start at four o'clock, we might as
well have our things packed before luncheon.
Now such was the reward of this wifely obedience that at
four o'clock the rain had actually and definitely ceased ; and
the clouds, though they still hung low, were gathering them-
selves up into distinct forms. When the phaeton was
brought round, there was not even any necessity for putting
OF A PHAETON. 59
up the hood ; and Tita, having seen that everything was
placed in the vehicle, was graciously pleased to ask the
Lieutenant if he would drive, that she might sit beside him
and point out objects of interest.
Then she kissed the boys very affectionately, and bade
them take care not to tumble off the pony. The Doctor
and his wife wished us every good fortune. Bell threw a
wistful glance up and down the road, and then turned her
face a little aside. The Count shook the reins, and our
phaeton rolled slowly away from Twickenham.
"Why, Bell," I said, as we were crossing the railway
bridge, and my companion looked round to see if there were
a train at the station, " you have been crying."
" Not much," said Bell, frankly, but in a very low voice.
" But why ? " I ask.
" You know," she said.
"I know that Arthur has been very unreasonable, and
that he has gone up to London in a fit of temper ; and I
know what I think of the whole transaction, and what I
consider he deserves. But I didn't think you cared for him
so much, Bell, or were so vexed about it."
" Care for him ? " she said, with a glance at the people
before us, lest the low sound of her voice might not be
entirely drowned by the noise of the wheels in the muddy
road. " That may mean much or little. You know I like
Arthur very well ; and and I am afraid he is vexed with
me ; and it is not pleasant to part like that with one's
friends."
" He will write to you, Bell ; or he will drop down on
us suddenly some evening when we are at Oxford, or
Worcester, or Shrewsbury
" I hope he will not do that," said Bell, with some ex-
pression of alarm. " If he does, I know something dreadful
will happen."
" But Master Arthur, Bell, is not exactly the sort of
person to displace the geological strata."
" Oh, you don't know what a temper he has at times,"
she said ; and then, suddenly recovering herself, she added
hastily, " but he is exceedingly good and kind for all that ;
only he is vexed, you know, at not being able to get on ;
and perhaps he is a little jealous of people who are success-
40 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
ful, and in good circumstances, and independent ; and lie
is apt to think that that that
" His lady-love will be carried off by some wealthy
suitor before he has been able to amass a fortune ? "
" You mustn't talk as if I were engaged to Arthur
Ashburton," said Bell, rather proudly, " or even that I am
ever likely to be."
Our Bonny Bell soon recovered her spirits ; for she felt
that we had at last really set out on our journey to Scotland ;
and her keen liking for all out-of-door sights and sounds
was now heightened by a vague and glad anticipation. If
Arthur Ashburton, as I deemed highly probable, should
endeavour to overtake us, and effect a reconciliation or
final understanding with Bell, we were, for the present at
least, speeding rapidly away from him.
As we drove through the narrow lane running down by
Whitton Park and Whitton Dean, the warm, moist winds
were blowing a dozen odours about from the far, low-
stretching fields and gardens ; and the prevailing sweetness
of the air seemed to herald our departure from the last
suburban traces of London. Splash ! went the horses'
hoofs into the yellow pools of the roads ; and the rattle of
the wheels seemed to send an echo through the stillness of
the quiet country-side ; while overhead the dark and level
clouds became more fixed and grey, and we hoped they would
ultimately draw together and break, so as to give us a
glimpse of pallid sunshine. Then we drove up through
Ilounslow to the famous inn at the cross-roads which was
known to travellers in the highway-robbery days ; and here
our Bell complained that so many of these hostelries should
bear her name. Tita, we could hear, was telling her com-
panion of all the strange incidents connected with this inn
and its neighbourhood which she could recall from the pages
of those various old-fashioned fictions which are much more
interesting to some folks than the most accurate histories.
So we bowled along the Bath road, over Cranford Bridge,
past the Magpies, through Colnbrook, and on to Langley
Marsh, when the Count suddenly exclaimed
" But the Heath ? I have not seen Hounslow Heath,
where the highwaymen used to be ! "
Alas ! there was no more Heath to show him only the
OF A PHAETON. 41
level and wooded beauties of a cultivated English plain.
And yet these, as we saw them then, under the conditions
that Bell had described in the morning, were sufficiently
pleasant to see. All around us stretched a fertile landscape,
with the various greens of its trees and fields and hedges
grown dark and strong under the gloom of the sky. The
winding road ran through this country like the delicate grey
streak of a river ; there were distant farmhouses peeping
from the sombre foliage ; an occasional wayside inn standing
deserted amid its rude outhouses ; a passing tramp plodding
through the mire. Strange and sweet came the damp,
warm winds from over the fields of beans and of clover ; and
it seemed as if the wild-roses in the tall and straggling
hedges had increased in multitude so as to perfume the
whole land. And then, as we began to observe in the west,
with a great joy, some faint streaks of sunshine descend
like a shimmering comb upon the landscape, lo ! in the
south there arose before us a great and stately building,
whose tall grey towers and spacious walls, seen against the
dark clouds of the horizon, were distant, and pale, and
spectral.
" It looks like a phantom castle, does it not ? " said Bell,
speaking in quite a low voice. " Don't you think it has
sprung up in the heavens like the Fata Morgana, or the
spectral ship, and that it will fade away again and dis-
appear ? "
Indeed it looked like the ghost of one of the castles of
King Arthur's time that old, strange time when England
lay steeped in grey mists and fogs blown about by the
sea-winds, when there does not seem to have been any sun-
shine, but only a gloom of shifting vapours, half hiding the
voiceless knights and the shadowy queens, with all their faint
and mystical stories and pilgrimages and visions. The castle
down there looked as if it had never been touched by sharp,
clear, modern sunlight, that is cruel to ghosts and phantoms.
But here Bell's reveries were interrupted by Lieutenant
von Eosen, who, catching sight of the castle in the south
and all its hazy lines of forest, said
" Ah, what is that ? "
" That," said Bell, suddenly recovering from her trance
" is a hotel for German princes."
42 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
She had no sooner uttered the words, however, than she
looked thoroughly alarmed ; and with a prodigious shame
and mortification she begged the Count's pardon, who
merely laughed, and said he regretted he was not a prince.
" It is Windsor, is it not ? " he said.
" Yes," replied Bell humbly, while her face was still pained
and glowing. " I I hope you will forgive my rudeness : I
think I must have heard some one say that recently, and it
escaped me before I thought what it meant."
Of course, the Lieutenant passed the matter off lightly,
as a very harmless saying ; but all the same Bell seemed
determined for some time after to make him amends, and
quite took away my Lady's occupation by pointing out to
our young Uhlan, in a very respectful and submissive
manner, whatever she thought of note on the road.
Whether the Lieutenant perceived this intention or not, I
do not know ; but at all events he took enormous pains to
be interested in what she said, and paid far more attention
to her than to his own companion. Moreover he once or
twice, in looking back, pretty nearly ran us into a cart,
insomuch that Queen Tita had laughingly to recall him to
his duties.
In this wise we went down through the sweetly-smelling
country, with its lines of wood and hedge and its breadths
of field and meadow still suffering from the gloom of a
darkened sky. We cut through the village of Slough,
passed the famous Salthill, got over the Two Mill Brook at
Cuckfield Bridge, and were rapidly nearing Maidenhead,
where we proposed to rest an hour or two and dine. Bell
had pledged her word there would be a bright evening ; and
had thrown out vague hints about a boating excursion up
to the wooded heights of Cliefden. In the meantime the
sun had made little way in breaking through the clouds.
There were faint indications here and there of a luminous
greyish-yellow lying in the interstices of the heavy sky ;
but the pale and shimmering comb in the west had dis-
appeared.
" What has come over your fine weather, Bell ? " said my
Lady. " Do you remember how you used to dream of our
setting out, and what heaps of colour and sunshine you
lavished on your picture ? "
OF A PHAETON. 43
" My dear," said Bell, " you are unacquainted with the
art of a stage-manager. Do you think I would begin my
pantomime with a glare of light, and bright music, and a
splendid show of costume ? No ! First of all comes the
dungeon scene darkness and gloom thunder and solemn
music nothing but demons appearing through the smoke ;
then, when you have all got impressed and terrified and
attentive, you will hear in the distance a little sound of
melody ; there will be a flutter of wings, just as if the fairies
were preparing a surprise ; and then all at once into the
darkness leaps the queen herself, and a blaze of sunlight
dashes on to her silver wings, and you see her shining
costume, and the scarlet and gold of a thousand attendants
who are about as wonderful and radiant as herself."
" How long have we to wait, Mademoiselle ? " said the
Lieutenant, seriously.
" I have not quite settled that," replied Bell, with a fine
air of reflection, " but I will see about it while you are
having dinner."
Comforted by these promises which ought, however, to
have come from Queen Titania, if the fairies were supposed
to be invoked we drove underneath the railway-line and
past the station of Taplow, and so forward to the hotel by
the bridge. When, having with some exercise of patience
seen Castor and Pollux housed and fed, I went into the
parlour, I found dinner on the point of being served, and the
Count grown almost eloquent about the comforts of English
inns. Indeed, there was a considerable difference, as he
pointed out, between the hard, bright, cheery public-room of
a German inn, and this long, low-roofed apartment, with its
old-fashioned furniture, its carpets, and general air of gravity
and respectability. Then the series of pictures around the
walls venerable lithographs, glazed and yellow, representing
all manner of wild adventures in driving and hunting
amused him much.
" That is very like your English humour," he said, " of
the country, I mean. The joke is a man thrown into a
ditch, and many horses coming over on him ; or it is a
carriage upset in the road, and men crawling from under-
neath, and women trying to get through the window. It is
44 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
rough, strong, practical fun, at the expense of unfortunate
people, that you like."
" At least," one points out, " it is quite as good a sort of
public-house furniture as pictures of bleeding saints, or
lithographs of smooth-headed princes."
" Oh, I do not object to it," he said, " not in the least.
I do like your sporting pictures very much."
" And when you talk of German lithographs," struck in
Bell, quite warmly, " I suppose you know that it is to the
German printsellers our poorer classes owe all the possession
of art they can afford. They would never have a picture in
their house but for those cheap lithographs that come over
from Germany ; and, although they are very bad, and even
carelessly bad often, they are surely better than nothing for
cottages and country inns that would never otherwise have
anything to show but coarse patterns of wall-paper."
" My dear child," remarked Queen Tita, " we are none of
us accusing Germany of any crime whatsoever."
" But it is very good-natured of Mademoiselle to defend
my country, for all that," said the Lieutenant, with a smile.
" We are unpopular with you just now, I believe. That I
cannot help. It is a pity. But it is only a family quarrel,
you know, and it will go away. And just now, it requires
some courage to say a word for Germany, yes ? "
" Why, Bell has been your bitterest enemy all through
the war," said Tita, ashamed of the defection of her ancient
ally.
"I think you behaved very badly to the poor French
people," said Bell, looking down, and evidently wishing that
some good spirit or bad one would fly away with this
embarrassing topic.
The spirit appeared. There came to the open space in
front of the inn a young girl about fifteen or sixteen, with a
careworn and yet healthily-coloured face, and shrewd blue eyes.
She wore a man's jacket, and she had a shillelagh in her
hand, which she twirled about as she glanced at the windows
of the inn. Then, in a hard, cracked voice, she began to
sing a song. It was supposed to be rather a bold and
dashing ballad, in which this oddly-clad girl with the
shillelagh recounted her experiences of the opera, and told
OF A PHAETON. 45
us how she loved champagne, and croquet, and various other
fashionable diversions. There was something very curious
in the forced gaiety with which she entered into these
particulars, the shillelagh meanwhile being kept as still as
circumstances would permit. But presently she sang an
Irish song, describing herself as some free and easy Irish
lover and fighter ; and here the bit of wood came into play.
She thrust one of her hands, with an audacious air, into the
pocket of the jacket she wore, while she twirled the
shillelagh with the other ; and then, so soon as she had
finished, her face dropped into a plaintive and matter-of-fact
expression, and she came forward to receive pence.
" She is scarcely our Lorelei," said the Count, " who sits
over the Rhine in the evening. But she is a hard-working
girl, you can see that. She has not much pleasure in life.
If we give her a shilling, it will be much comfort to her."
And with that he went out. But what was Tita's surprise
to see him go up to the girl and begin to talk to her ! She,
looking up to the big, brown-bearded man with a sort of
awe, answered his questions with some appearance of shame-
faced embarrassment : and then, when he gave her a piece of
money, she performed something like a curtsey, and looked
after him as he returned whistling to the door of the inn.
Then we had dinner a plain, comfortable, wholesome
meal enough ; and it seemed somehow in this old-fashioned
parlour that we formed quite a family party. "VVe were cut
off at last from the world of friends and acquaintances, and
thrown upon each other's society in a very peculiar fashion.
In what manner should we sit down to our final repast, after
all this journey and its perils and accidents were over ?
Tita, I could see, was rather grave, and perhaps speculating
on the future ; while Bell and the young Lieutenant had
got to talk of some people they recollected as living at Bonn
some dozen years before. Nobody said a word about Arthur.
46 THE STRANGE- ADVENTURES
CHAPTER Y.
QUEEN TITANIA AFLOAT.
" Say, Father Thames, for thou hast seen
Full many a sprightly race,
Disporting on thy margent green,
The paths of pleasure trace,
Who foremost now delight to cleave
With pliant arm thy glassy wave ? "
AT length we hit upon one thing that Count von Rosen
could not do. When we had wandered down to the side of
the Thames, just by Maidenhead Bridge, and opposite the
fine old houses, and smooth lawns, and green banks that
stand on the other margin of the broad and shallow river,
we discovered that "the Lieutenant was of no use in a boat.
And so, as the young folks would have us go up under the
shadows of the leafy hills of Cliefden, there was nothing for
it but that Tita and I should resort to the habits of earlier
years, and show a later generation how to feather an oar
with skill and dexterity. As Queen Titania stood by the
boat-house, pulling off her gloves with economic forethought,
and looking rather pensively at the landing-place and the
boats and the water, she suddenly said
" Is not this like long ago ? "
" You talk like an old woman, Tita," observed one of the
party. " And yet your eyes are as pretty as they were a
dozen years ago, when you used to walk along the beach at
Eastbourne, and cry because you were afraid of becoming
the mistress of a house. And now the house has been too
much for you ; and you are full of confused facts, and
unintelligible figures, and petty anxieties ; until your re-
sponsibilities have hidden away the old tenderness of your
look, except at such -a moment as this, when you forget
yourself. Tita, do you remember who pricked her finger to
sign a document when she was only a schoolgirl, and who
produced it years afterwards with something of a shame-
faced pride ? "
" Stuff ! " she said, angrily, but blushing dreadfully all
the same ; and so, with a frown and an imperious manner,
she stepped down to the margin of the river.
OF A PHAETON. 47
Now mark this circumstance. In the old days of which
my Lady was then thinking, she used to be very well
content with pulling bow-oar when we two used to go out
in the evenings. Now, when the Lieutenant and Bell had
been comfortably placed in the stern, Tita daintily stepped
into the boat and sat down quite naturally to pull stroke.
She made no apology. She took the place as if it were hers
by right. Such are the changes which a few years of
married life produce.
So Bell pulled the white tiller-ropes over her shoulder, and
we glided out and up the glassy stream, into that world . of
greenness and soft sounds and sweet odours that lay all
around. Already something of Bell's prophecy was likely to
come true ; for the clouds were perceptibly growing thinner
overhead, and a diffused yellow light falling from no par-
ticular place seemed to dwell over the hanging woods of
Cliefden. It gave a new look, too, to the smooth river, to
the rounded elms and tall poplars on the banks, and to the
long aits beyond the bridge, where the swans were sailing
close in by the reeds.
" Look out ! " cried the Lieutenant, suddenly ; and at the
same moment our coxswain, without a word of warning, shot
us into a half-submerged forest that seemed to hide from us
a lake on the other side. Tita had so little time to ship her
oar that no protest was possible ; and then von Rosen,
catching hold of the branches, pulled us through the narrow
channel, and lo ! we were in a still piece of water, with a
smooth curve of the river-bank on one side and a long island
on the other, and with a pretty little house looking quietly
down at us over this inland sea. We were no doubt still
in the Thames ; but this house seemed so entirely to have
become owner of the charming landscape around and its
stretch of water in front, that Bell asked in a hurry how
we could get away. Tita, being still a little indignant,
answered not, but put her oar into the outrigger again, and
commenced pulling. And then our coxswain, who was not
so familiar with the tricks of the Thames at Maidenhead
as some of us, discovered a north-west passage by which
it was possible to return into the main channel of the
stream, and we continued our voyage.
When, at length, we had got by the picturesque old mill,
48 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
and reached the cataract of white water that came rush-
ing down from the weir, it seemed as though the sky had
entered into a compact with Bell to fulfil her predictions.
For as we lay and rocked in the surge watching the long
level line of foam come tumbling over in massive spouts
and jets, listening to the roar of the fall, and regarding
the swirling circles of bells that swept away downward
on the stream there appeared in the west, just over the
line of the weir, a parallel line of dark blood-red. It was
but a streak as yet ; but presently it widened and grew
more intense ; a great glow of crimson colour came shining
forth ; and it seemed as if all the western heavens, just over
that line of white foam, were becoming a mass of fire. Bell's
transformation-scene was positively blinding ; and the
bewilderment of the splendid colours was not lessened by the
roar of the rushing river, that seemed strangely wild in the
stillness of the evening.
But when we turned to drop quietly down again, the
scene around us was so perfect that Queen Titania had no
heart to pull away from it. For now the hanging woods of
beech and birch and oak had caught a glow of the sunset
along their masses of yellow and green ; the broad stream
had the purple of its glassy sweeps dashed here and there
with red ; while in the far east a reflected tinge of pink
mingled with the cold green, and lay soft and pure and
clear over the low woods, and the river, and the bridge. As
if by magic the world had grown suddenly light, ethereal, and
full of beautiful colours ; and the clouds that still remained
overhead had parted into long cirrhous lines, with pearly
edges, and a touch of scarlet and gold along their western side.
" What a drive we shall have this evening ! " cried Boll.
" It will be a clear night when we get to Henley ; and there
will be stars over the river ; and perhaps a moon who
knows ? "
"I thought you would have provided a moon, Made-
moiselle," said the Lieutenant, gravely. " You have done
very well for us this evening oh ! very well indeed. I
have not seen any such beautiful picture for many years.
You did very well to keep a dark day all day, and make us
tired of cold colours and green trees ; and then you surprise
us by this picture of magic oh ! it is very well done,"
OF A PHAETON. j$
" All that it wants," said Bell, with a critical eye, " is a
little woman in a scarlet shawl under the trees there one
of those nice fat little women who always wear bright shawls
just to please landscape-painters making a little blob of
strong colour, you know, like a ladybird among green moss.
Eeally, I am quite grateful to a pleasant little countrywoman
when she dresses herself ridiculously in order to make a land-
scape look fine ; and how can you laugh at her when she
comes near ? I sometimes think that she wears those colours,
especially those in her bonnet, out of mere modesty. She
does nofc know what will please you she puts in a little
of everything to give you a choice. She holds up to you
a whole bouquet of flowers, and says, ' Please, Miss, do you
like blue ? for here is corn-cockle ; or red ? for here are
poppies ; or yellow ? for here are rock-roses.' She is like
Perdita, you know, going about with an armful of blossoms,
and giving to everyone what she thinks will please them."
" My dear," said Queen Tita, " you are too generous. I
am afraid that the woman wears those things out of vanity.
She does not know what colour suits her complexion best,
and so wears a variety, quite sure that one of them must be
the right one. And there ara plenty of women in town, as
well as in the country, who do that too."
" I hope you don't mean me," said Bell, contritely, as she
leaned her arm over the side of the boat, and dipped the
tips of her fingers into the glassy stream.
But if we were to get to Henley to-night, there was no
time for lingering longer about that bend by the river, with
its islands and mills and woods. The great burst of colour
in the west had been the expiring effort of the sun ; and
when we got back to the inn, there was nothing left in the
sky but the last golden and crimson traces of his going
down. The river was becoming grey; and the Cliefden
woods were preparing for the night by drawing over them-
selves a thin veil of mist, which rendered them distant and
shadowy, under the still lambent heavens.
The phaeton was at the door ; our bill paid ; an extra
shawl got out of the imperial although, in that operation,
the Lieutenant nearly succeeded in smashing Bell's
guitar.
" It will be dark before we get to Henley," says Tita. -
E
50 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
" Yes," I answer obediently.
" And we are going now by cross-roads," she remarks.
" The road is a very good one," I venture to reply.
" But still it is a cross-road," she says.
" Very well, then, my dear," I say, wondering what the
little woman is after.
" You must drive," she continues, " for none of us know
the way."
" Yes, m'm, please m'm : any more orders ? "
" Oh, Bell," says my Lady, with a gracious air (she can
change the expression of her face in a second), " would you
mind taking Count von Eosen under your charge until we
get to Henley ? I am afraid it will take both of us to find
the road in the dark."
"No, I will take you under my charge, Mademoiselle,"
said the Lieutenant, frankly ; and therewith he helped Bell
into the phaeton, and followed himself.
The consequence of this little arrangement was, that while
Tita and I were in front, the young folks were behind : and
no sooner had we started from the inn, got across the
bridge, and were going down the road towards the village
of Maidenhead proper, than Titania observed, in a very low
voice
" Do you know, my dear, our pulling together in that boat
quite brought back old times ; and and and I wanted to
be sitting up here beside you for a while, just to recall the
old, old drives we used to have, you know, about here,
and Henley, and Eeading. How long ago is it, do you
think ? "
That wife of mine is a wonderful creature. You would
have thought she was as innocent as a lamb when she
uttered these words, looking up with a world of sincerity and
pathos in the big, clear, earnest, brown eyes. And the
courage of the small creature, too, who thought she could
deceive her husband by this open, transparent, audacious
piece of hypocrisy !
" Madam," one answers her, with some care that the young
folks should not overhear, " your tenderness overwhelms me."
" What do you mean ? " she says, suddenly becoming as
cold and as rigid as Lot's wife after the accident happened.
" Perhaps," I venture to suggest, " you would like to
OF A PHAETON. 51
have the hood up, and so leave them quite alone ? Our
presence must be very embarrassing."
" You are insulting Bell in saying such things," she says
warmly ; " or perhaps it is that you would rather have her
for a companion than your own wife."
" Well, to tell you the truth, I would."
" She shall not sit by the Lieutenant again."
" I hope you don't mean to strangle her. We should
arrive in Edinburgh in a sort of unicorn-fashion."
Tita relapsed into a dignified silence that is always the
way with her when she has been found out ; but she was
probably satisfied by hearing the Count and Bell chatting
very briskly together, thus testifying to the success of her
petty stratagem.
It was a pleasant drive, on that quiet evening, from
Maidenhead across the lonely country that lies within the
great curve of the Thames. Instead of turning off at the
corner of Stubbing's Heath, and so getting into the road
that runs by Hurley Bottom, we held straight on towards
Wargrave, so as to have the last part of the journey lead us
up by the side of the river. So still it was ! The road
led through undulating stretches of common and past the
edges of silent woods, while the sky was becoming pale and
beautiful overhead, and the heights on the northern horizon
between Cookham and Hurley were growing more and
more visionary in the dusk. Sometimes, but rarely, we met
a solitary wanderer coming along through the twilight, and
a gruff " good-night " greeted us ; but for the most part
there seemed no life in this lonely part of the country,
where rabbits ran across the road in front of us, and the
last rooks that flew by in the dusk seemed hastening on to
the neighbourhood of some distant village. It was a mild,
fresh evening, with the air still damp and odorous after the
rain ; but overhead the sky still remained clear ; and here
and there, in the partings of the thin cloud, a pale star or
planet had became faintly visible.
As last we got down into the village of Wargrave, and
then it was nearly dark. There were a few people, mostly
women, standing at the doors of the cottages ; and here and
there a ray of yellow light gleamed out from a small window.
As we struck into the road that runs parallel with the
E 2
52 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
Thames, there were men coming home from their work ;
and their talk was heard at a great distance in the stillness
of the night.
" How far are we from Henley ? " said Bell.
" Are you anxious to get there ? " replied Queen Titania,
smiling quite benignly.
" No," said Bell, " this is so pleasant that I should like to
go driving on until midnight, and we could see the moon
coming through the trees."
" You have to consider the horses," said the Lieutenant,
bluntly. " If you do tire them too much on the first days,
they will not go so long a journey. But yet we are some
way off, I suppose ; and if Mademoiselle will sing something
for us, I will get out the guitar."
" You'd better get down and light the lamps, rather," I
remark to those indolent young people ; whereupon the
Count was instantly in the road, striking wax matches, and
making use of curious expressions that seemed chiefly to
consist of #'s and r's.
So, with the lamps flaring into the darkness, we rolled
along the highway that here skirts the side of a series of
heights looking down into the Thames. Sometimes we could
see a grey glimmer of the river beneath us through the
trees ; at other times the road took us down close to
the side of the water, and Castor got an opportunity of
making a playful little shy or two ; but for the most part
we drove through dense woods, that completely shut off the
starlight overhead.
More than once, indeed, we came to a steep descent that
was buried in such total gloom that the Lieutenant
jumped down and took the horses' heads, lest some unlucky
step or stumble should throw us into the river. So far as
we could make out, however, there was a sufficient wall on
the side of the highway next the stream a rough old wall
covered with plants and moss, that ran along the high
and wooded bank.
Suddenly Bell uttered a cry of delight. We had come to
a cleft in the glade which showed us the Thames running by
some sixty feet beneath us ; and on the surface of the water
the young crescent of the moon was clearly mirrored.
There was not enough moonlight to pierce the trees, or
OF A PHAETON. 53
even to drown the pale radiance of the stars ; but the sharp
disc of silver, as it glimmered on the stream, was sufficiently
beautiful, and contained in itself the promise of many a
wonderful night.
" It has begun the journey with us," said Bell. " It is a
young moon ; it will go with us all the month ; and we
shall see it on the Severn, and on Windennere, and on the
Solway, and on the Tweed. Didn't I promise you all a
moon, sooner or later ? And there it is ! "
" It does not do us much good, Bell," observed the driver,
ruefully, the very horses seeming afraid to plunge into the
gulfs of darkness that were spectrally peered into by the
light of the lamps.
" The moon is not for use," said Bell, " it is for magic ;
and once we have got to Henley, and put the horses up,
and gone out again to the river, you shall all stand back
and watch in a corner, and let Queen Titania go forward
to summon the fairies. And as you listen in the dark, you
will hear a little crackling and rustling along the opposite
shore ; and you will see small blue lights come out from the
banks ; and small boats, with a glowworm at their prow,
come out into the stream. And then from the boats, and
from all the fields near where the mist of the river lies at
night you will see wonderful small men and women of
radiant blue flame come forward ; and there will be a strange
sound like music in the trees ; and the river itself will begin
to say, in a kind of laugh, i Titania, Titania ! you have been
so long away years and years looking after servants, and
the schooling of loys, and the temper of a fractious
husband ' "
" Bell, you are impertinent."
" There are true words spoken in jest, sometimes," re-
marked Queen Tita, with a dainty malice.
" Your bearing rein in England is a cruelty to the horse
you must take it away to-morrow," said the Lieutenant ;
and this continuation of a practical subject recalled these
scapegraces from their jibes.
Here the road took us down by a gradual dip to the Thames
again ; and for the last mile before reaching our destination
we had a pleasant and rapid run along the side of the
stream. Then the lights of Henley were seen to glimmer
54 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
l>efore us ; we crossed over the bridge ; and swerving round
to the right, drove into the archway of the Bell Inn.
" No, sir," remarked Dr. Johnson to Mr. Boswell, " there
is nothing which has yet been contrived bv man, by which
so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn."
He then repeated, with great emotion, we are told,
Shenstone's lines
" Whoe'er has travelled life's dull round,
Where'er his stages may have been,
May sigh to think he still has found
The wannest welcome at an inn."
And Mr. Boswell goes on to say : " "We happened to lie this
night at the inn at Henley, where Shenstone wrote these
lines." Now, surely, if ever belated travellers had reason
to expect a cordial welcome, it was we four as we drove into
the famous hostelry which had awakened enthusiasm in the
poets and lexicographers of bygone days. But as Castor
and Pollux stood under the archway, looking into the great
dark yard before them, and as we gazed round in vain for
the appearance of any waiter or other official, it occurred to
Tita that the Bell Inn must have changed hands since
Shenstone's time. Where was our comfortable welcome ?
A bewildered maid-servant came to stare at our phaeton
with some alarm. Plaintive howls for the ostler produced
a lad from the darkness of the stables, who told us that the
ostler was away somewhere. Another maid-servant came
out, and also looked alarmed. The present writer, fearing
that Tony Lumpkin, transformed into an invisible spirit,
had played him a trick, humbly begged this young woman
to say whether he had driven by mistake into a private
house. The young person looked afraid.
" My good girl," said Tita, with a gracious condescension,
" will you tell us if this is the Bell Inn ? "
" Yes, 'm ; of course, 'm."
" And can we stay here to-night ? "
" I'll bring the waiter, ma'am, directly."
Meanwhile the Lieutenant had got down, and was fuming
about the yard to rout out the ostler's assistants, or some
people who could put up the horses. He managed to
unearth no fewer than three men, whom he brought in a
OF A PHAETON. 55
gang. He was evidently determined not to form his
grooming of the horses at Twickenham into a precedent.
At last there came a waiter, looking rather sleepy and a
trifle helpless ; whereupon my Lady and Bell departed into
the inn, and left the luggage to be sent after them. There
appeared to be no one inside the house. The gases were
eventually lit in the coffee-room ; some rugs and bags were
brought in and placed upon the table ; and then Tita and
her companion, not daring to remove their bonnets, sat
down in arm-chairs and stared at each other.
" I fly from pomp, I fly from plate ;
I fly from falsehood's specious grin;
But risk a ten times worser fate
In choosing lodgings at an inn,"
this was what Bell repeated, in a gentle voice, on the very
spot that is sacred to the memory of Shenstone's satisfac-
tion.
I requested the young man in the white tie to assign some
reason for this state of affairs ; and Ms answer was
immediately forthcoming. There had been a regatta a few
days before. The excitement in the small town, and more
especially in the " Bell," had been dreadful. Now a reaction
had set in ; Henley and the " Bell " were alike deserted ;
and we were the victims of a collapse. I complimented the
waiter on his philosophical acumen, and went out to see
what had befallen Count von Rosen and the horses.
I found him standing in a stable that was dimly lighted
by a solitary candle stuck against the wall, superintending
the somewhat amateurish operations of the man who had
undertaken to supply the ostler's place. The Lieutenant had
evidently not been hectoring his companions ; on the
contrary, he was on rather good terms with them, and was
making inquiries about the familiar English names for
chopped hay and other luxuries of the stable. He was
examining the corn, too, and pronouncing opinion on the
split beans which he had ordered. On the whole, he was
satisfied with the place ; although he expressed his surprise
that the ostler of so big an inn should be absent.
When, at length, we had seen each of the horses supplied
with an ample feed, fresh straw, and plenty of hay, the men
$6 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
were turned out and the stable-door locked. He allowed
them on this occasion to keep the key. As we crossed the
yard, a rotund, frank, cheery-looking man appeared, who
was presumably the ostler. He made a remark or two ; but
the night-air was chill.
"Now," said von Rosen, when we got into the big
parlour, "we have to make ourselves pleasant and comfort-
able. I do think we must all drink whisky. For
myself, I do not like the taste very much ; but it looks
very comfortable to see the steaming glasses. And I have
brought out Mademoiselle's guitar, and she will sing us
some songs, yes ? "
" But you must also," answered Bell, looking down.
" Oh, a hundred ! a thousand ! as many as you like ! " he
said ; and then, with a sort of sigh, he took his cigar-case
out of his pocket and laid it pathetically on the mantelpiece.
There was an air of renunciation on his face. Forthwith he
rang the bell ; and the waiter was asked to bring us certain
liquors which, although not exclusively whisky, could be
drunk in those steaming tumblers which the Lieutenant loved
to see.
" 0, come you from Newcastle ? "
this was what Bell sang, with the blue ribbon of her guitar
slung round her neck :
" O, come you from Newcastle ?
Come you not there away?
And did you meet my true love,
Riding on a bonny bay?"
And as she sang, with her eyes cast down, the Lieutenant
seemed to be regarding her face with a peculiar interest. He
forgot to lift the hot tumbler that was opposite him on the
table he had even forgotten Tita's gracious permission that
he might have a cigar he was listening and gazing merely,
in a blank silence. And when she had finished, he eagerly
begged her to sing another of the old English songs. And
she sang
" O mistress mine, where are you roaming ?
O mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O stay and hear, your true love's coming,
That can sing both high and low."
OF A PHAETON. 57
And when she had finished, he once more eagerly begged her
to sing another of those old songs ; and then, all of a sudden,
catching sight of a smile on my Lady's face, he stopped, and
apologized, and blushed rather, and said it was too bad
that he had forgotten, and would himself try something on
the guitar.
When, ab length, the women had gone upstairs, he fetched
down his cigar from the mantelpiece, lit it, stretched out his
long legs, and said
" How very English she is ! "
" She ! who ? "
" Why, your Miss Bell. I do like to hear her talk of
England as if she had a pride in it ; and mention the names
of towns as if she loved them because they were English ; and
speak of the fairies and stories as if she was familiar with
them because they belong to her own country. You can see
how she is fond of everything that is like old times an old
house, an old milestone, an old bridge everything that is
peculiar and old and English. And then she sings, oh ! so
very well so very well indeed ; and these old songs, about
English places and English customs of village-life, they seem
to suit her very well, and you think she herself is the heroine
of them. But as for that young man in Twickenham, he is
a very pitiful fellow."
" How have you suddenly come to that conclusion ? " I
inquire of our Lieutenant, who is lazily letting the cigar-
smoke curl about his moustache and beard as he lies back
and fixes his light blue eyes contemplatively on the ceiling.
" How do I know ? I do not know : I think so. He
ought to be very well satisfied of knowing a young lady like
that and very proud of going to marry her instead of
annoying her with bad tempers."
" That is true. A young man under such circumstances
cannot be too grateful or too amiable. They are not always
so, however. You yourself, for example, when you parted
from Fraulein Fallersleben
Here the Lieutenant jumped up in his chair, and said
with unnecessary vehemence
" Donnerwetter ! look at the provocation I had ! It was
not my ill-temper ; I am not more ill-tempered than other
men : but when you know you mean very well, and that you
58 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
treat a woman as perhaps not all men would be inclined to
do in the same case, and she is a hypocrite, and she pretends
much, and at the same time she is writing to you, she is
pfui ! I cannot speak of it ! "
" You were very fond of her."
"Worse luck.""
" And you had a great fight, and used hard words to each
other, and parted so that you would rather meet Beelzebub
than her." '
" Why, yes, it is so : I would rather meet twenty
Beelzebubs than her."
" That is the way of you boys. You don't know that in
after years, when all these things have got smooth and misty
and distant, you will come to like her again ; and what will
you think then of your hard words and your quarrels ? If
you children could only understand how very short youth is,
how very long middle age is, and how very dull old age is,
if you could only understand how the chief occupation of
the longer half of your life is looking back on the first
short half of it you would know the value of storing up
only pleasant recollections of all your old friends. If you find
that your sweetheart is a woman compelled by her nature to
fall in love with the man nearest her, and forget him who is
out of the way, why devote her to the infernal gods ? In
after years, you will be grateful to her for the pleasant days
and weeks you spent with her, when you were both happy
together ; and you will look back on the old times very
tenderly ; and then, on those occasions when you German
folks drink to the health of your absent dear ones, won't you
be glad that you can include her who was dear enough to you
in your youth ? "
" That is very good ; it is quite true," said the Lieutenant,
in almost an injured tone as if Fraulein Fallersleben were
responsible.
" Look for a moment," I say to my pensive pupil, " at
the pull a man has who has spent his youth in pleasant
scenery. When he gets old, and can do nothing better than
look back, he has only to shut his eyes, and his brain is
full of fresh and bright pictures of the old times in the
country ; and the commonest landscape of his youth he
will remember then as if it were steeped in sunlight."
OF A PHAETON. 59
" That is quite true," said von Rosen, thoughtfully ; but
the next moment he uttered an angry exclamation, started up
from his chair, and began walking up and down the room.
"It is all very well," he said, with an impatient
vehemence, " to be amiable and forgiving when you are old
because you don't care about it, that is the reason. When
you are young, you expect fair play. Do you think if I
should be seventy I will care one brass farthing whether
Pauline that is, Fraulein Fallersleben was honest or no ?
I will laugh at the whole affair then. But now, when you
are ashamed of the deceit of a woman, is it not right you
tell her ? Is it not right she knows what honest men and
women think of her, yes ? "What will she think of you if
you say to her, ' Farewell, Fraulein. You have behaved not
very tvell ; hut I am amiable ; I will forgive you? "
" There, again : you parted with her in wrath, because
you did not like to appear weak and complaisant in her
eyes."
" At all events, I said what I felt," said the Lieutenant,
warmly. " I do think it is only hypocrisy and selfishness to
say, ' / hate this woman, hut I ivill he kind to her, because
when I grow, old I will look hack and consider myself to have
been very good? "
" You have been deeply hit, my poor lad ; you are quite
fevered about it now. You cannot even see how a man's
own self-respect will make him courteous to a woman whom
he despises ; and is he likely to be sorry for that courtesy,
when he looks at it in cold blood, and recognizes the
stupendous fact that the man who complains of the incon-
stancy of a woman utters a reflection against Providence ? "
" But you don't know you don't know," said the Count,
pitching the end of his cigar into the grate, " what a woman
this one showed herself to be. After ah 1 , it does not matter.
But when I look at such a woman as your Miss Bell
here "
" Yes : when you look at her ? "
" Why, I see the difference," said the Lieutenant,
gloomily ; and therewith he pulled out another cigar.
I stopped this, however, and rang for candles. As he lit
his in rather a melancholy fashion, he said
" It is a very good thing to see a woman like that young-
60 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
hearted, frank, honest in her eyes, and full of pleasantness,
too, and good spirits oh ! it is very fine indeed, merely to
look at her ; for you do believe that she is a very good girl,
and you think there are good women in the world. But as
for that young man at Twickenham "
"Well, what of him?"
The Lieutenant looked up from the candle ; but saw
nothing to awaken his suspicions.
" Oh," he said carelessly, as we left the room, " I do think
him a most pitiful fellow."
CHAPTER VI.
A GIFT OF TONGUES.
" My lady is an archer rare,
And in the greenwood joyeth she ;
There never was a marksman yet who could compare
In skill with my ladie."
EARLY morning in Henley ! From over the wooded hills
in the east there comes a great flood of sunshine that lies
warmly on the ruddy side of the old inn, on its evergreens,
and on the slopes of sweet-scented mignonette, and sweet-
briar, and various blossoms that adorn the bank of the river.
The river itself, lying apparently motionless between level
meadows, has its blue surface marred here and there by a
white ripple of wind ; the poplars that stand on its banks
are rustling in the breeze ; there are swallows dipping and
skimming about the old bridge ; and ducks paddling along
among the rushes and weeds ; and cattle browsing in the
deep green ; and further on, some high-lying stretches of
rye-grass struck into long and silvery w r aves by the succes-
sive gusts.
All the stir and motion of the new day have come upon
us ; and Henley, clean, white, and red, with its town- hall
shining brightly down its chief street, and all its high
clusters of old-fashioned houses backed by a fringe of dark-
wooded hill, shows as much life and briskness as are usually
seen in a quaint, small, old-fashioned English town. But
where the silence and the stillness of the morning dwell is
OF A PHAETON. 61
away up the reach of the river. Standing on the bridge,
you see the dark blue stream, reflecting a thousand bright
colours underneath the town, gradually become paler in hue
until it gets out amid the meadows and woods ; and then,
with a bold white curve, that gleams as if it were some silver
scythe, it sweeps under the line of low, soft hills which
have grown pearly and grey in the tender morning mist.
Bell is standing on the bridge, too. The Lieutenant has
brought out her sketch-book, and she has placed it on the
stone parapet before her. But somehow she seems dis-
inclined to begin work thus early on our journey ; and,
instead, her eyes are looking blankly and wistfully at the
rich meadows, and the red cows, and the long white reach
of the river shining palely beneath the faint green heights
in the north.
" Is Henley the prettiest town in the world, I wonder ? "
she said.
" Yes, if you think so, Mademoiselle," replied von Rosen,
gently.
She lifted her eyes towards him, as though she had been
unaware of his presence. Then she turned to the Thames.
" I suppose, if one were to live always among those bright
colours, one would get not to see them, and would forget
how fine is this old bridge, with the pretty town, and the
meadows, and the stream. Seeing it only once, I shall
never forget Henley, or the brightness of this morning."
With that, she closed her sketch-book, and looked round
for Tita. That small person was engaged in making herself
extremely wretched about her boys and the pony ; and was
becoming vastly indignant because she could get no one to
sympathise with her wild imaginings of diverse perils and
dangers.
" Why, to hear you talk," she was saying at this moment,
" one would think you had never experienced the feelings of
a parent that you did not know you were the father of
those two poor boys."
" But for the sake of argument, if you wish to argue, we
will grant the assumption."
" Very pretty very ! " she said with a contemptuous
smile. " And I will say this that if you had had to buy
the pony, the boys would have had to wait long enough
62 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
before they were exposed to the dangers you think so little
about now."
" Madam," I observe, sternly, " you are the victim of
what . theologians call invincible ignorance. I might have
bought that pony and all its belongings for a 20?. note ;
whereas I shall have to pay 40/. a year for its keep."
" Oh, I know," says my Lady, with great sweetness, " how
men exaggerate those things. It is convenient. They
complain of the cost of the horses, of the heaviness of the
taxes, and other things ; when the real fact is that they are
trying to hide what they spend out of their income on cigars,
and in their clubs when they go to town. I counted up our
taxes the other day, and I don't believe that they have been
over 121. for the whole of the last six months. Now you
know you said they were nearly 55?. a year."
" And you counted in those that are due next week, I
presume ? "
" Did you leave money to pay for them ? " she asks,
mildly.
" And you based your calculations on some solitary
instalment for armorial bearings ? which you brought into
the family, you know."
" Yes," she replies, with an engaging smile. " That was
one thing you did not require before I am sorry to have
caused you so much expense. But you need not avoid the
subject. Mrs. Quinet told me last week that she knows her
husband pays every year 65/. for club-subscriptions, alone,
and nearly SOL for cigars."
" Then Mrs. Quinet must have looked into your eyes, my
dear, and seen what an innocent little thing you are ; for
your knowledge of housekeeping and other expenses, I will
say, is as slight as need be ; and Mrs. Quinet has been simply
making a fool of you. The Major belongs to two clubs,
and in the one he pays eight guineas and in the other ten
guineas a year. And he smokes Manillas at 25s. a hundred,
which is equivalent, my dear though you will scarcely
credit it to threepence apiece."
" The money must go somehow," says Tita, defiantly.
" That is a customary saying among women ; but it
generally refers to their own little arrangements."
" You avoid the question very skilfully."
OF A PHAETON. 63
" I should have thought you would have preferred that."
" "Why ? " she says, looking up.
" Because you accused me of stinginess in not buying a
pony for the boys ; and I showed you that I should have to
pay 40/. a year for the brute."
" Yes, showed me ! I suppose by that pleasing fiction
you will gain another 20?. a year to spend on Partagas, and
Murias, and trumpery stuff that the tobacconists tell you
comes from abroad."
" My dear," I say, " your insolence is astounding."
" If you call speaking the plain truth insolence, I cannot
help it. Bell, breakfast must be ready."
" Yes, my Lady," says Bell, coming forward demurely.
" But I wasn't doing anything."
So they go off ; and the Count and I follow.
" What is the matter ? " says he.
" Do you know what a ' relish ' is at breakfast ? "
" No."
" Then don't marry, or you will find out."
The tall young man with the brown beard and the light
eyes shrugged his shoulders, and only said, as we walked to
the inn
" That is a very pleasant comedy, when it means nothing.
If it was earnest, you would not find so much enjoyment in
it no, not at all you would not amuse yourselves, like two
children, instead of the parents of a family. But, my dear
friend, it is a dangerous thing ; for some day you will meet
with a stupid person, who will not understand how Madame
and yourself do make-believe in that way ; and that person
will be astonished, and will talk of it, and you will both
have a very bad reputation among your friends."
However, there was one amiable creature at the breakfast-
table, and that was our pretty Bell.
" Bell," I said, " I am going to sit by you. You never
provoke useless quarrels about nothing ; you are never
impertinent ; you never argue ; and you can look after a
breakfast-table better than people twice your age."
Bell prudently pretended not to hear ; indeed, she was
very busy helping everybody and making herself very useful
and pleasant all round. She seemed to have forgotten her
independent ways ; and was so good-naturedly anxious to
64 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
see that the Lieutenant's coffee was all right, that he was
apparently quite touched by her friendliness. And then she
was very cheerful, too ; and was bent on brightening up the
spirits of the whole party but in a dexterous, submissive,
pliant fashion that the audacious young lady did not always
affect.
" Did you hear the cocks crowing this morning ? " she
said, turning to von Rosen with her frank eyes. " I thought
it was so pleasant to be woke up that way instead of listening
to the milkman coming along a dismal London square, and
calling up the maidservants with his ' El-cho ! ' ' El-cho ! '
But did you notice that one of the cocks cried quite plainly,
' Oh, go away I ' * Oh, go awa-a-ay ! ' which was a stupid
animal to have near an inn ; and another fine fellow, who
always started with a famous flourish, had got a cold, and at
the highest note he went off at a tangent into something
like a plaintive squeak. The intention of that crow, so far
as it went, was far better than the feeble ' Oh, go aivay ! ' of
the other ; and I was quite sorry for the poor animal. Do
have some more toast, Count. He reminded me of poor
Major Quinet, Tita, who begins a sentence very well ; but
all at once it jerks up into the air goes off like a squib,
you know, just below his nose ; and he looks amazed and
ashamed, like a boy that has let a bird escape out of a
bag."
" You need not amuse yourself with the personal defects
of your neighbours, Bell," said Tita, who did not expect to
have Major Quinet brought forward again. " Major Quinet
is a very well-informed and gentlemanly man, and looks
after his family and his estate with the greatest care."
" I must say, Tita," retorted Bell (and I trembled for the
girl), " that you have an odd trick of furnishing people with
a sort of certificate of character, whenever you hear their
names mentioned. Yery likely the Major can manage his
affairs in spite of his cracked voice ; but you know you told
me yourself, Tita, that he had been unfortunate in money
matters, and was rather perplexed just now. Of course, I
wouldn't say such a thing of one of your friends ; but I
have heard of bankrupts ; and I have heard of a poor little
man being so burdened with debt, that he lookedjilike a
mouse drawing a brougham, and then, of course, he had to
OF A PHAETON. 65
go into the Court to 'ask them to unharness him. Do have
some more coffee, Count ; I am sure that is quite cold."
" You ought to be a little careful, Bell," says my Lady.
" You know absolutely nothing of Major Quinet ; and yet
you hint that he is insolvent."
" I didn't did I ? " says Bell, turning to her companion.
" No," replies the Count boldly.
At this Tita looked astonished for a second ; but presently
she deigned to smile, and say something about the wicked-
ness of young people. Indeed, my Lady seemed rather
pleased by Bell's audacity in appealing to the Lieutenant ;
and she was in a better humour when, some time after, we
went out to the river and got a boat.
Once more upon the Thames, we pulled up the river, that
lies here between wooded hills on the one side, and level
meadows on the other. The broad blue stream was almost
deserted ; and as we got near the green islands, we could see
an occasional young moorhen paddle out from among the
rushes, and then go quickly in again, with its white tail
bobbing in unison with its small head and beak. We rowed
into the sluice of the mill that lies under Park Place ; and
there, having floated down a bit under some willows, we fixed
the boat to a stump of a tree, landed, and managed to get
into the road along which we had driven the previous night.
As we ascended this pleasant path, which is cut through
the grounds of various mansions, and looks down upon
the green level of Wargrave Marsh and the shining meadows
beyond the other bank of the river, the ascents and descents
of the road seemed less precipitous than they had appeared
the night before. "What we had taken, further, for wild
masses of rock, and fearful chasms, and dangerous bridges,
were found to be part of the ornamentation of a park the
bridge spanning a hollow having been built of sham rock-
work, which, in the daylight, clearly revealed its origin.
Nevertheless, this road leading through the river-side woods
is a sufficiently picturesque and pleasant one ; and in
sauntering along for a mile or two and back we consumed
a goodly portion of the morning. Then there was a
brisk pull back to Henley ; and the phaeton was summoned
to aear.
the horses were put to, and the phaeton brought
F
66 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
along, I found that von Rosen had quietly abstracted the
bearing-reins from the harness, some time during the
morning. However, no one could grudge the animals this
relief, for the journey they had to make to-day, though not
over twenty-three miles, was considerably hilly.
Now Queen Tita had come early out, and had evidently
planned a nice little arrangement. She got in behind.
Then she bade Bell get up in front. The Lieutenant had
lingered for a moment in search of a cigar-case ; and my
Lady had clearly determined to ask him to drive so soon as
he appeared. But, as she had not expressed any contrition
for her conduct of that morning, some punishment was
required ; and so, just as von Eosen came out, I took the
reins, stepped up beside Bell, and he, of course, was left to
join the furious little lady behind.
" I thought the Count was going to drive," says Tita,
with a certain cold air. " Surely the road to Oxford is easy
to find."
" It is," I say to her. " For you know all roads lead to
Eome, and they say that Oxford is half-way to Kome
argal "
But knowing what effect this reference to her theological
sympathies was likely to have on Tita, I thought it prudent
to send the horses on ; and as they sprang forward and
rattled up the main street of Henley, her retort, if any, was
lost in the noise. There was a laugh in Bell's eyes ; but she
seemed rather frightened all the same, and said nothing for
some time.
The drive from Henley to Oxford is one of the finest in
England, the road leading gradually up through pleasant
pastures and forest land until it brings you on to a common
the highest ground south of the Trent from which you
see an immeasurable wooded plain stretching away into the
western horizon. First of all, as we left Henley on that
bright morning, the sweet air blowing coolly among the
trees, and bringing us odours from wild flowers and fields
of new-mown hay, we leisurely rolled along what i&
appropriately called the Fair Mile, a broad smooth highway
running between Lambridge Wood and No Man's Hill, and
having a space of grassy common on each side of it. This
brought us to Assenton Cross, and here, the ascent getting
OF A PHAETON. 67
much more stiff, Bell took the reins, and the Count and I
walked up the hill until we reached Bix Turnpike.
" What a curious name ! " said Bell, as she pulled the
horses up for a moment.
" Most likely," said the Lieutenant, who was looking at
an ancient edition of Gary's Itinerary, " it is from the old
Saxon lece, the beech-tree, which is plentiful here. But in
this book I find it is Bixgibwen, which is not in the modern
books. Now what is gibwen ? "
" St. Caedwyn, of course," said Bell, merrily.
" You laugh, but perhaps it is true," replied the Lieutenant,
with the gravity befitting a student : " why not St. Caedwyn's
beeches ? You do call many places about here by the trees.
There is Assenton ; that is the place of ash-trees. We shall
soon be at Nettlebed ; and then comes Nuffield, which is
Nut-field, how do you call your wildnut-tree in England ? "
" The hazel," said Bell, as we went on again. " But that
is common-place ; I like the discovery about St. Caedwyn's
beeches better : and here, sure enough, they are."
The road at this point something less than a mile past
Bix turnpike plunges into a spacious forest of beeches,
which stretches along the summit of the hill almost on to
Nettlebed. And this road is bordered by a strip of common
which again leads into a tangled maze of bracken and briar ;
and then you have the innumerable stems of the beeches,
showing long vistas into the green heart of the wood. The
sunlight was shimmering down on this wilderness, lying
warmly on the road and its green margin, and piercing here
and there with golden arrows the dense canopy of leaves
beyond. High as we were the light breeze was shut off by
the beeches ; and in the long broad cleft in which the road
lay the air was filled with resinous odours, that of the
tall and abundant brackens prevailing. An occasional jay
fled screaming down between the smooth grey branches,
giving us a glimpse of white and blue as it vanished ; but
otherwise there seemed to be no birds about ; and the wild
underwood and long alleys lay still and silent in the green
twilight of the leaves.
" It is very like the Black Forest, I think," said the
Lieutenant.
" Oh, it is much lighter in colour," cried Bell. " Look at
F 2
68 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
all those silver-greys of the stems and the lichens, and the
clear green overhead, and the light browns and reds beneath,
where the sunlight shines down through a veil. It is lighter,
prettier, more cheerful than your miles of solemn pines, with
the great roads cut through them for the carts, and the
gloom and stillness underneath where there is no growth of
underwood, but only level beds of green moss, dotted with
dropped cones."
" You have a very accurate eye for colours, Mademoiselle ;
no wonder you paint so well," was all that the Lieutenant
said. But Tita warmly remonstrated with Bell.
"You know, Bell," she said, "that all the Black Forest
is not like that ; there is every variety of forest-scenery
there. And pray, Miss Criticism, where were the gloomy
pines and the solemn avenues in a certain picture which was
sold at the Dudley last year for twenty-five solid English
sovereigns ? "
" You needn't tell Count von Rosen what my income is,"
said Bell. " I took two months to paint that picture."
" That is a very good income," said the Lieutenant, with
a smile.
"I do not like people with large incomes," said Bell,
dexterously avoiding that part of the subject. " I think
they must have qualms sometimes, or else be callous. Now
I would have everybody provided with a certain income, say
200?. a year ; but I would not like to prevent all competi-
tion ; and so I would fix an income at which all people must
stop. They might strive and strive if they liked, just like
bells of air in a champagne glass, you know ; but they should
only be able to reach a certain level in the end. I would
have nobody with more than a 1,000?. a year ; that would
be my maximum."
" A thousand a year ! " exclaimed Tita. " Isn't a thou-
sind ten hundred ? "
" Yes," said Bell, after a second's calculation.
" And suppose you have one hundred to pay for two
boys at school, and three hundred for rent, and another
hundred for the keep of two horses, and a hundred and
fifty for servants' wages "
" Perhaps, Tita," I suggested in the meekest possible way,
" you might as well tell Count von Rosen what you pay for
OF A PHAETON. 69
a leg of mutton, so that when he next comes to dine with us
he may feel himself all the more at home."
It is well that the lightning which is said to dart from
women's eyes is a harmless sort of thing a flash in the pan,
as it were, which is very pretty, but sends no deadly lead
out. However, as Queen Tita had really behaved herself
very well since we set out from Henley, I begged Bell to
stop and let us in, and then I asked the Lieutenant if he
would drive.
By this time we had walked the horses nearly to the end
of the pleasant stretch of beechwood, which is about a mile
and a half long ; and before us was a bit of breezy common
and the village of Nettlebed. Von Eosen took the reins and
sent the animals forward. *
" Why did you not continue to drive ? " said Tita, rather
timidly, when I had taken my seat beside her.
" Because we shall presently have to go down steep hills :
and as the Count took off the bearing-reins this morning, we
may as well hold him responsible for not letting the horses
down."
" I thought perhaps you wanted to sit beside me," she
said, in a low voice.
" Well, now you mention it, my dear, that was the
reason."
"It would have been a sufficient reason a good many
years ago," she said, with a fine affectation of tenderness ;
" but that is all over now. You have been very rude to
me."
" Then don't say anything more about it : receive my
forgiveness, Tita." "
" That was not the way you used to speak to me when we
were at Eastbourne," she said ; and with that she looked
very much as if she were going to cry. Of course she was
not going to cry. She has liad the trick of looking like that
from her youth upward ; but as it is really about as pretty
and pathetic as the real thing, it invariably answers the
same purpose. It is understood to be a signal of surrender,
a sort of appeal for compassion ; and so the rest of this
conversation, being of a quite private nature, need not be
made public.
The Count was taking us at a brisk pace across the bit of
70 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
common ; and then we rattled into the little clump of red-
brick houses which forms the picturesque village of Nettle-
bed. Now if he had been struck with some recollection of
the Black Forest on seeing Nettlebed Wood, imagine his
surprise on finding the little inn in the village surmounted
by a picture of a white deer with a royal crown on its head,
a fair resemblance to the legendary creature that appeared
to St. Hubertus, and that figures in so many of the Schwarz-
wald stories and pictures. However, we were out of Nettle-
bed before he could properly express his astonishment ; and
in the vast picture that was now opening out before us there
was little that was German.
"We stopped on the summit of Nuffield Heath, and found
below, as far as the eye could reach, the great and fertile
plain of Berkshire, with a long and irregular line of hill
shutting it in on the south. In this plain of Fields as they
are called Wallingford Field, Didcot Field, Long Whitten-
ham Field, and so on small villages peeped out from among
the green woods and pastures, where a faint blue smoke rose
up into the sunshine. Here, as Bell began to expound for
she had been reading " The Scouring of the White Horse "
and various other books to which that romantic monograph
had directed her some notable things had happened in the
olden time. Along that smooth line of hill in the south
now lying pale in the haze of the light the Romans had
cut a road which is still called the Ridgeway or Iccleton
Street ; and in the scattered villages, from Pangbourne
in the south-east to Shellingford in the north-west, traces of
the Roman occupation have been frequently found. Then,
underneath that blue ridge of hill and down lay Wantage,
in which King Alfred was born ; and further on the ridge
itself becomes Dragon's Hill, where St. George slew the
beast that ravaged this fair land ; and there, as all men
know, is the figure of the White Horse cut on the slope to
commemorate the great battle of Ashdown.
" And Ashdown, is that there also ? " asked the Lieu-
tenant.
" Well, no," said Bell, trying to remember what she had
been told ; " I think there is some doubt about it. King
Alfred, you know, fell back from Reading, when he was
beaten, but he stopped somewhere on the hills near
OF A PHAETON. 71
" Why not the hill we have just come up ? " said the
Lieutenant, with a laugh. " It is near Reading, is it not ?
and there you have Assenton, which is Ashenton, which is
Ashendown, which is Ashdown."
" Precisely," responded Tita, with a gracious smile. " All
you have to do is to change John into Julius, and Smith
into Caesar, and there you are."
" But that is not fair, Tita," said Bell, turning round,
and pleading quite seriously. "Assenton is the same as
Ashendon ; and that is the name of the place where the battle
was fought. I think Count von Rosen is quite right."
" Well, if you think so, Bell, that settles it," said my Lady,
looking rather pleased than otherwise.
And so we began to descend into this plain of many
memories by a steep road that is appropriately called
Gangsdown Hill. From thence a succession of undulations
carried us into the green breadths of Crowmarsh Field ;
until, finally, we drove into the village of Bensington, and
pulled up at the " Crown " there, where we proposed to have
some luncheon.
" This is a village of the dead," said Tita, looking down
the main thoroughfare, where not a living soul was to be
seen.
But at all events a human being appeared in the yard
not a withered and silent ostler, but a stout, hale, cheerful
person, whose white shirt-sleeves and gold chain proclaimed
him landlord. With the aid of a small boy, he undertook
to put the horses up for an hour or two ; and then we went
into the inn. Here we found that, as the man in the yard
was at once landlord and ostler, his wife inside was landlady,
cook, and waitress ; and in a short space of time she had
brought us some excellent chops. Not much time was spent
over the meal ; for the parlour in which we sat albeit it was
a sort of museum of wonderful curiosities, and was, more-
over, enlivened by the presence of a crack-voiced cockatoo
was rather small and dark. Accordingly, while the horses
were having their rest, we sauntered out to have a look at
Bensington.
It is probably not the dullest little village in England,
but it would be hard to find a duller. There was an old
shepherd with a crook in his hand and a well-worn smock
72 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
frock on his back, who was leaning over the wooden palings
in front of a house, and playfully talking to a small boy who
stood at an open door. With many old country people it is
considered the height of raillery to alarm a boy with stories
of the punishment he is about to receive for something, and
to visit him with an intimation that all his sins have been
found out. This old shepherd, with his withered pippin face,
and his humorous grin, and his lazy arms folded on the top
of the palings, was evidently enjoying himself vastly.
" A wur a-watchin' o' thee, a wur, and thy vather, he
knaws, too, and he'll gie thee thy vairin wi' a good tharn
stick when he comes hwom. A zah thee this marnin', iny
lad thou'lt think nah one wur thear, eh ? "
We left this good-natured old gentleman frightening the
boy, and went round to the outskirts of the village. Here,
at last, we found one explanation of the inordinate silence of
Bensington the children were all at their lessons. The
door of the plain little building, which had BRITISH SCHOOL
inscribed over the entrance, was open, and from within there
issued a low, confused murmur. The Prussian, anxious to
see something of the interior of an English school, walked
up to the place ; but he had just managed to cast a glance
round on the rows of children when the door was politely
shut in his face, and he returned, saying
" I am not an inspector ; why need they fear ? "
But when, after wandering about the suburban gardens
and by-ways for a time, we returned to Bensington, we
found that important village in a state of profound excite-
ment. In the main thoroughfare a concourse of five people
had assembled three women and two children ; and from
the doors of the houses on both sides of the street innumer-
able faces, certainly not less than a dozen, were gazing
forth. It is true that the people did not themselves come
out they seemed rather to shrink from courting publicity ;
but they were keenly alive to what was going on, and
Bensington had become excited.
For there had appeared in the main street a little, dry, odd
old man, who was leading a small donkey-cart, and who was
evidently rather the worse for liquor. He was a seller of peas.
He had summoned the inhabitants to come out and buy the
peas, and he was offering them on what we were told were
OF A PHAETON. 73
very reasonable terms. But just as the old man was
beginning to enjoy the receipt of custom, there drove into
the place a sharp, brisk, middle-aged man, with a shiny face,
a fine presence, and a ringing voice. This man had a neat
cart, a handsome pony, and his name was printed in large
letters, so that all could read. He was also a seller of peas.
Now, although this rude and ostentatious owner of the pony
was selling his produce at fourpence, while the humble
proprietor of the donkey sold his at threepence, the women
recalled their children and bade them go to the dearer
market. There was something in the appearance of the
man, in the neatness of his cart, and in the ringing
cheerfulness of his voice, which told you he sold good peas.
This was the cause of the great perturbation in Bensington ;
for no sooner did the half-tipsy old man see that his rival
was carrying the day before him than he leaned his arms
over his donkey's head, and began to make ironical com-
ments on his enemy and on the people of Bensington.
He was apparently in the best of spirits. You would have
thought it delighted him to see the small girls come timidly
forward to him, and then be warned away by a cry from
their mothers that they were to go to the other cart. Nay,
he went the length of advertising his neighbour's wares. He
addressed the assembled multitudes by this time there were
nearly fifteen people visible in Bensington and told them
he wouldn't sell his peas if he was to get a fortune for them.
" Pay your foppence," he said to them, in accents which
showed he was not of Bensington born ; " there are yer right
good peas. It's all along o' my donkey as you'll not take
mine, though they're only thrippence. I wouldn't sell. I
won't sell this day. Take back yer money. I won't sell my
peas at a crown apiece darned if I do I "
And with that he left his donkey and went over to the
proprietor of the pony. He was not in a fighting mood
not he. He challenged his rival to run the pony against
the donkey, and offered to bet the donkey would be in
London a week before the other. The man in the cart took
no notice of these sallies. In a brisk, practical, methodical
fashion, he was measuring out his peas, and handing them
down to the uplifted bowls that surrounded him. Sometimes
he grinned in a good-natured way at the facetious remarks
74 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
of his unfortunate antagonist ; but all the same he stuck to
his business and drove a thriving trade. How there came
to be on that afternoon so many people in Bensington who
wished to buy peas must remain a mystery.
" And now," said Bell, as we once more got into the
phaeton, " we shall be in Oxford in two hours. Bo you think
the post-office will be open ? "
" Very likely," said Tita, with some surprise ; " but do
you expect letters already, Bell ? "
" You cannot tell," said the young lady, with just a shade
of embarrassment, " how soon Kate may send letters after
us. And she knows we are to stop a day at Oxford. It
will not be too dark to go hunting for the post-office, will
it?"
" But you shall not go," said the Lieutenant, giving a
shake to the reins, as if in obedience to Bell's wish. " When
you have got to the hotel, I will go and get your letters for
you."
" Oh no, thank you," said Bell, in rather a hurried and
anxious way. " I should prefer much to go for them myself,
thank you.*"
That was all that was said on the subject ; and Bell, we
noticed, was rather silent for the first few miles of our after-
noon drive. The Lieutenant did his best to amuse her, and
carried on a lively conversation chiefly by himself. That
mention of letters seemed to have left Bell rather serious ;
and she was obviously not over-delighted at the prospect of
reaching Oxford.
The road from Bensington thither is pleasant enough, but
not particularly interesting. For the most part it descends
by a series of undulations into the level plain watered by the
Isis, the Cherwell, and the Thames. But the mere notion of
approaching that famous city, which is consecrated with
memories of England's greatest men statesmen and divines,
melancholy philosophers and ill-starred poets is in itself
impressive, and lends to the rather common-place landscape
an air of romance. While as yet the old town lies unseen
amid the woods that crowd up to the very edge of the sky,
one fancies the bells of the colleges are to be heard as Pope
heard them when he rode, a solitary horseman, over these
very hills, and down into the plain, and up to Magdalen
OF A PHAETON. 75
Bridge.* We cared little to look at the villages, strung like
beads on the winding thread of the highway Shelling! ord,
Dorchester, Nuneham Courtenay, and Sandford ; nor did we
even turn aside to go down to Iffley and the Thames.
It was seven when we drew near Oxford. There were people
sauntering out from the town to have their evening walk.
When, at last, we stopped to pay toll in front of the old
lichen-covered bridge across the Cherwell, the tower of
Magdalen College and the magnificent elms on the other side
of the way, had caught a tinge of red from the lurid sunset,
and there was a faint reflection of crimson down on the still
waters that lay among the rank green meadows. Then we
drove on into the High Street, and here, in the gathering
dusk, the yellow lamps were beginning to glimmer. Should
we pull up at the Angel that famous hostelry of ancient
times, whose name used to be inscribed on so many notable
coaches ? " We put up at the Angel Inn," writes Mr. Boswell,
" and passed the evening by ourselves in easy and familiar
conversation." Alas ! the Angel is now no more. Or
shall we follow the hero of the Splendid Shilling, who,
" When nightly mists arise,
To Juniper's Magpie or Town Hall repairs ? "
They, too, are gone. But as Castor and Pollux, during these
moments of doubt and useless reminiscence, are still taking us
over the rough stones of the " High," some decision must be
come to ; and so, at a sudden instigation, Count von Rosen
* " Nothing could have more of that melancholy which once used
to please me, than my last day's journey ; for after having passed
through my favourite woods in the forest, with a thousand reveries of
past pleasures, I rid over hanging hills, whose tops were edged with
groves, and whose feet watered with winding rivers, listening to the
falls of cataracts below, and the murmuring of the winds above ; the
gloomy verdure of Stonor succeeded to these, and then the shades of
evening overtook me. The moon rose in the clearest sky I ever saw,
by whose solemn light I paced on slowly, without company, or any
interruption to the range of my thoughts. About a mile before I
reached Oxford, all the bells tolled in different notes ; the clocks of
every college answered one another and sounded forth (some in
deeper, some in a softer tone) that it was eleven at night. All this
was no ill preparation to the life I have led since among those old
walls, venerable galleries, stone porticoes, studious walks, and solitary
scenes of the University." Pope to Mrs. Martha Blount. [Stonor
Park lies about two miles to the right of Bix turnpike.]
76 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
pulls up in front of the Mitre, which is an appropriate sign
for the High Street of Oxford, and betokens age and
respectability.
The stables of the Mitre are clean, well-ventilated, and
well-managed indeed, no better stables could have been
found for putting up the horses for their next day's rest.
"When we had seen to their comfort, we returned to the inn,
and found that my Lady and Bell had not only had all the
luggage conveyed to our respective rooms, but had ordered
dinner, changed their attire, and were waiting for us in the
square, old-fashioned, low-roof ed coffee-room which looks out
into the High Street. A tall waiter was laying the cloth
for us ; the lights were lit around the wall ; our only
companions were two elderly gentlemen who sat in a remote
corner, and gave themselves up to politics ; and Bell, having
resolved to postpone her inquiry about letters until next
morning in obedience to the very urgent entreaties of
the Lieutenant seemed all the more cheerful for that
resolution.
But if our two friends by the fire-place could not over-
hear our talk, we could overhear theirs ; and all the time we
sat at dinner, we were receiving a vast amount of enlighten-
ment about the condition of the country. The chief
spokesman was a short, stout person, with a fresh, healthy,
energetic face, keen grey eyes, bushy grey whiskers, a bald
head, and a black satin waistcoat ; his companion a taller
and thinner man, with straight black hair, sallow cheeks,
and melancholy dark eyes ; and the former, in a somewhat
pompous manner, was demonstrating the blindness of
ordinary politicians to the wrath that was to come. Lord
Palmerston saw it, he said. There was no statesman ever
like Lord Palmerston there would never be his like again.
For was not the North bound to fight the South in every
country ? And what should we do if the men of the great
manufacturing towns were to come down on us ? There
were two Englands in this island and the Westminster
Houses knew nothing of the rival camps that were being
formed. And did not the North always beat the South ?
Did not Koine beat Carthage ? and the Huns the Romans ?
and the Northern States the Southern States ? and Prussia
Austria ? and Germany France ? And when the big-limbed
OF A PHAETON. 77
and determined men of Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester,
Preston, Newcastle, and such towns, rose to sweep aside the
last feudal institutions of this country, of what avail would
he a protest on the part of the feeble and self-indulgent
South ?
" This kingdom, Sir," said the gentleman with the satin
waistcoat and gold seals, in such lofty tones that Count von
Eosen scarcely minded his dinner <k this kingdom, Sir, is
more divided at this moment than it was during the Wars
of the Roses. It is split into hostile factions ; and which
is the more patriotic ? Neither. There is no patriotism
left only the selfishness of class. We care no more for the
country as a country. We are cosmopolitan. The scepticism
of the first French Revolution has poisoned our big towns.
We tolerate a monarchy as a harmless toy. We tolerate an
endowed priesthood, because we think they cannot make
our peasantry more ignorant than they are. We allow
pauperism to increase and eat into the heart of the State,
because we think it no business of ours to interfere. We
see our lowest classes growing up to starve or steal, in
ignorance and dirt ; our middle classes scrambling for
wealth to get out of the state they were born in ; our upper
classes given over to luxury and debauchery patriotism
gone continental nations laughing at us our army a mere
handful of men with incompetent officers our navy made
the subject of destructive experiments by interested cliques
our Government ready to seize on the most revolutionary
schemes to get together a majority and remain in power
selfishness, incompetence, indifference become paramount
it is horrible, Sir, it is Orrible."
In his anxiety to be emphatic, he left out that one " h " ;
it was his only slip. Our Lieutenant turned to Tita, and
said :
" I have met many English people in Germany who have
spoken to me like that. They do seem to have a pride in
criticising themselves and their country. Is it because they
feel they are so strong, and so rich, and so good, that they
can afford to dispraise themselves ? Is it because they feel
themselves so very safe in this island that they think little
of patriotism, yes ? But I have observed this thing that
when it is a foreigner who begins to say such things of
78 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
England, your countryman he instantly changes his tone.
He may say himself bad things of his country ; but he will
not allow anyone else. That is very good very right. But
I would rather have a Frenchman who is very vain of his
country, and says so at every moment, than an Englishman
who is very vain and pretends to disparage it. The French-
man is more honest."
"But there are many Englishmen who think England
wants great improvements," said Tita.
" Improvements ! Yes. But it is another thing you
hear so many Englishmen say, that their country is all
wrong ' going to the dogs' is what you say for that. Well,
they do not believe it true it is impossible to be true ; and
they do not look well with us foreigners when they say so.
For myself, I like to see a man proud of his country,
whatever country it is ; and if my country were England,
do not you think I should be proud of her great history,
and her great men, and her powers of filling the world with
colonies, and what I think most of all her courage in
making the country free to every man, and protecting
opinions that she herself does not believe, because it is right ?
When my countrymen hear Englishmen talk like that, they
cannot understand."
You should have seen our Bell's face the pride and the
gratitude that were in her eyes, while she did not speak.
" You would not have us go about praising ourselves for
doing right ? " said Tita.
" No, he said, " but you ought not to go about profess-
ing yourselves to be less satisfied with your country than
you are."
Before breaking up for the night, we came to a reckoning
about our progress, and probable line of route. Fifty-eight
miles that was the exact distance, by straight road, we had
got on our way to Scotland at the end of the third day.
" And to-morrow," said Tita, as she finished giving the
Lieutenant his first lesson in bezique, " counts for nothing,
as we remain here. Fifty-eight miles in three days looks
rather small, does it not ? But I suppose we shall get there
in course of time."
" Yes," said Bell, gently, as she put the markers straight,
" in Pollux' course of time."
OF A PHAETON. 79
My Lady rose, and in her severest tones ordered the girl
to bed.
[Note by Queen Titania. " If these jottings of our journey come to
be published, I beg to say that, so far as I appear in them, they are a
little unfair. I hope I am not so very terrible a person as ail that
comes to. I have noticed in some other families that a man of
obstinate will and of uncertain temper likes nothing so much as to
pretend to his friends that he suffers dreadfully from the tyranny of
his wife. It is merely self-complacency. He knows no one dares to
thwart him ; and so he thinks it rather humorous to give himself the
air of being much injured, and of being very good-natured. I dare
say, however, most people who look at these memoranda will be able
to decide whether the trifling misunderstandings which have been
much exaggerated and made to look serious were owing to me. But
as for Bell, I do not think it right to joke about her position at all.
She does her best to keep up her spirits and she is a brave, good
girl, who likes to be cheerful if only for the sake of those around her ;
but this affair of Arthur Ashburton is causing her deep anxiety and a
good deal of vexation. Why she should have some vague impression
that she has treated him badly, I cannot see ; for the very reverse is
the case. But .surely it is unfair to make this lovers' quarrel the
pretext for dragging Bell into a wild romance, which the writer of
the foregoing pages seems bent on doing. Indeed, with regard to this
subject, I cannot do better than repeat a conversation which, with
characteristic ingenuity, he has entirely omitted. He said to me, while
we were wandering about Bensington and Bell had strolled on with
Count von Rosen
" ' After all, our phaeton is not a microcosm. We have not the
complete elements for a romance. We have no villain with us.'
" ' You flatter yourself,' I remarked ; which did not seem to please
him, but he pretended not to hear.
" ' There will be no dark background to our adventures no crime,
secrecy, plotting, or malicious thwarting of Bell's happiness. It will
be like a magic-lantern slide with all the figures painted in rose-
colour.'
** ' What do you mean by Bell's happiness ? ' I asked.
" ' Her marriage with the Lieutenant ; and there is no villain to
oppose it. Even if we had a villain, there is no room for him : the
phaeton only holds four comfortably.'
"Really this was too much. I could scarcely control my im-
patience with such folly. I have said before that the girl does not
wish to marry anyone ; but if there were any thought of marriage in
her mind, surely her anxiety about that letter points in a very different
^lay. Of course I was immediately taunted with scheming to throw
Bell and Count von Rosen together during our drive. I admit that I
did so, and mean to do so. We ought not to expect young folks to
be always delighted with the society of their elders. It is only
natural that these two young people should become companions ; but
what of that ? And as to the speech about a villain, who ever saw
one ? Out of a novel or a play, I never saw a villain ; and I don't
8o THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
know anybody who ever did. It seems to me there is a good deal of
self-satisfaction in the notion that we four are all so angelic that it
wants some disagreeable person to throw us into relief. Are we all
painted in rose-colour? Looking back over these pages, I do not
think so ; but I am not surprised considering who had the wielding
of the brush. And yet I think we have so far enjoyed ourselves very
well, considering that I am supposed to be very hard to please, and
very quarrelsome. Perhaps none of us are so amiable as we ought
to be ; and yet we manage to put up with one another somehow. In
the meantime, I am grieved to see Bell, without the intervention of
any villain whatever, undergoing great anxiety; and I wish the
girl had sufficient courage to sit down at once and write to Arthur
Ashburton and absolutely forbid him to do anything so foolish as
seek an interview with her. If he should do so, it is impossible to
say what may come of it ; for our Bell has a good deal of pride with
all her gentleness. T."]
CHAPTER VII.
ATRA CURA.
" O gentle wind that bloweth south,
To where my love repaireth,
Convey a kiss to his dear mouth,
And tell me how he fareth ! "
"MY dear, you are unphilosophical. Why should you
rebuke Bell for occasionally using one of those quaint
American phrases which have wandered into this country ?
I can remember a young person who had a great trick of
quoting Italian especially in moments of tenderness but
that was a long time ago and perhaps she has forgotten
)?
" It is shameful of you," says Queen Titania, hastily, " to
encourage Bell in that way. She would never do anything
of the kind but for you. And you know very well that
quoting a foreign language is quite a different thing from
using those stupid Americanisms which are only fit for
negro-concerts."
" My dear, you are unphilosophical. When America
started in business on her own account, she forgot to furnish
herself with an independent language ; but ever since she
has been working hard to supply the want. By and by you
will find an American language sharp, concise, expressive
built on the diffuse and heavy foundations of our own English.
OF A PHAETON. 81
Why should not Bell use those tentative phrases which
convey so much in so few syllables ? Why call it slang ?
What is slang but an effort at conciseness ? "
Tita looked puzzled, vexed, and desperate ; and inadver-
tently turned to Count von Rosen, who was handing the
sugar-basin to Bell. He seemed to understand the appeal,
for he immediately said
" Oh, but you do know, that is not the objection. I do
not think Mademoiselle talks in that way, or should be
criticised about it by anyone ; but the wrong that is done
by introducing the slang words is, that it destroys the his-
tory of a language. It perverts the true meaning of roots
it takes away the poetry of ^derivations it confuses the
student."
" And who thought of students when the various objects
in life were named ? And whence came the roots ? And
is not language always an experiment, producing fresh
results as people find it convenient, and leaving students to
frame laws as they like ? And why are we to give up suc-
cinct words or phrases because the dictionaries of the last
generation consecrated them to a particular use ? My dear
children, the process of inventing language goes on from
year to year, changing, modifying, supplying, and building
up new islands out of the common sand and the sea. What
to-day is slang, to-morrow is language, if one may be per-
mitted to parody Feuerbach. And I say that Bell, having
an accurate ear for fit sounds, shall use such words as she
likes ; and if she can invent epithets of her own
" But, please, I don't wish to do anything of the kind,"
said Bell, looking quite shamefaced.
That is just the way of those women : interfere to help
them in a difficulty, and they straightway fly over to the
common enemy, especially if he happens to represent a social
majority.
I began to perceive about this stage of our journey that
a large number of small articles over which Bell had charge
were now never missing. Whenever she wanted a map, or
a guide-book, or any one of the things which had been
specially entrusted to her, it was forthcoming directly. Nay,
she never had, like Tita, to look for a hat, or a shawl, or a
scarf, or a packet of bezique-cards. I also began to notice
G
$2 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
that when she missed one of those things, she quite naturally
turned to our Lieutenant, who was sure to know where it
was, and to hand it to her on the instant. The con-
sequence on this morning was, that when we all came down
prepared to go out for an exploration of Oxford, we found
Bell at the window of the coffee-room, looking placidly
into the High Street, where the sunlight was shining down
on the top of the old-fashioned houses opposite, and on
the brand-new bank, which, as a compliment to the pre-
vailing style of the city, has been built in very distinguished
Gothic.
It was proposed that we should first go along and have a
look at Christ Church.
" And that will just take us past the post-office," said Bell.
" Why, how do you know that ? Have you been out ? "
asked Titania.
" No," replied Bell, simply. " But Count von Rosen told
me where it was."
" Oh, I have been all over the town this morning," said
the Lieutenant, carelessly. "It is the finest town that I
have yet seen a sort of Gothic Munich, but old, very old
not new and white like Munich, where the streets are asking
you to look at their fine buildings. And I have been down
to the river that is very fine, too ; even the appearance of
the old colleges and buildings from the meadows that is
wonderful."
" Have you made any other discoveries this morning ? "
said Queen Tita, with a gracious smile.
" Yes," said the young man, lightly. " I have discovered
that the handsome young waiter who gave us our breakfast
that he has been a rider in a circus, which I did suspect
myself, from his manner and attitudes and also an actor,
He is a very fine man, but not much spirit. I was asking
him this morning why he is not a soldier. He despises
that, because you pay a shilling a day. That is a pity your
soldiers are not what shall I say ? respectable ; that
your best young men do not like to go with them, and
become under-officers. But I do not know he is very
good stuff for a soldier he smiles too much, and makes
himself pleasant. Perhaps that is only because he is a
waiter."
OF A PHAETON. 83
" Have you made any other acquaintances this morning ? "
said Tita, with a friendly amusement in her eyes.
" No, no one except the old gentleman who did talk
politics last night. He is gone away by the train to
Birmingham."
" Pray when do you get up in the morning ? "
" I did not look that ; but there was no one in the streets
when I went out, as there would be in a German town ; and
even now there is a great dulness. I have inquired about
the students they are all gone home it is a vacation.
And a young lady in a bookshop told me that there is no
life in the town when the students are gone that all places
close early that even the milliners' shops are closed just
now at half -past seven, w T hile they are open till nine when
the students are here."
" And what," demanded my Lady, with a look of innocent
wonder, " what have the students to do with milliners' shops
that such places should be kept open on their account ? "
No one could offer a sufficient solution of this problem ;
and so we left the coffee-room and plunged into the glare of
the High Street.
It would be useless to attempt here any detailed account
of that day's long and pleasant rambling through Oxford.
To anyone who knows the appearance and the associations of
the grand old city who is familiar with the various mass
of crumbling colleges, and quiet cloisters, and grassy
quadrangles who has wandered along the quaint clean
streets that look strangely staid and orthodox, and are as
old as the splendid elms that break in continually on the
lines and curves of the prevailing architecture to one who
has even seen the city at a distance, with its many spires
and turrets set amid fair green meadows, and girt about with
the silver windings of streams- any such brief recapitulation
would be wholly bald and useless ; while he to whom Oxford
is unknown can learn nothing of its beauties and impressions
without going there. Our party absolutely refused to go
sight-seeing, and were quite content to accept the antiqua-
rian researches of the guide-books on credit. It was enough
for us to ramble leisurely through the old courts and squares
and alleys, where the shadows lay cool under the gloomy
walls, or under avenues of magnificent elms.
G 2
84 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
But first of all we paid a more formal visit to Christ
Church, and on our way thither the Lieutenant stopped
Bell at the post-office. She begged leave to ask for letters
herself ; and presently reappeared with two in her hand.
" These are from the boys," she said to my Lady : " there
is one for you, and one for Papa."
" You have had no letter ? " said Tita.
" Xo," answered Bell, somewhat gravely as I fancied ;
and for some time after she seemed rather thoughtful and
anxious.
As we paused underneath the archway in front of the
sunlit quadrangle of Christ Church, the letters from the
boys were read aloud. This is the first one, which shows
the pains a boy will take to write properly to his mother,
especially when he can lay his hands on some convenient
guide-book to correspondence :
" COWLEY HOUSE, TWICKENHAM.
" MY DEAR MAMMA, I take up my pen to let you know
that I am quite well, and hope that this will find you in
the engoyment of good health. My studdies are advancing
favably, and I hope I shall continue to please my teacher
and my dear parents, who have been so kind to me, and are
anxious for my wellfare. I look foward with much delight
to the aproarching hollidays, and I am, my dear Mamma,
" Your affectionate Son,
" JACK.
" P.S. He does gallop so ; and he eats beans."
Master Tom, on the other hand, showed that the fear
of his mother was not on him when he sat down to write.
Both of them had evidently just been impressed with the
pony's gallopping ; for the second letter was as follows :
" COWLEY HOUSE, TWICKENHAM.
"MY DEAR PAPA, He does gallop so, you can't think
[this phrase, as improper, was hastily scored through] and I
took him down to the river and the boys were very Imperti-
nent and I rode him down to the river and they had to run
away from their clothes and he went into the river a good
bit and was not afraid but you know he cannot swim yet at
OF A PHAETON. 85
he is very young Harry French says and Doctor Ashburton
went with us yesterday my dear papa to the ferry and Dick
was taken over in the ferry and we all went threw the trees
by Ham House and up to Ham Common and back by
Richmond Bridge and Dick was not a bit Tired. But
what do you think my dear papa Doctor Ashburton says all
our own money won't pay for his hay and corn and he will
starve if you do not send some please my dear papa to send
some at once because if he starvves once he will not get right
again and the Ostler says he is very greedy but he his a very
good pony and very intelgent dear papa Doctor Ashburton
has bawt us each a riding-whip but I never hit him over
the ears which the Ostler says is dangerus and you must
tell the German gentleman that Jack and I are very
much obled [scored out] obledg [also scored out] obbliged
to him, and send our love to him and to dear Auntie
Bell and to dear Mamma and I am my dear papa your
affexnate son. " TOM."
" It is really disgraceful," said the mother of the scamps,
"the shocking way those boys spell. Really Doctor Ash-
burton must be written to. At their age, and with such
letters as these it is shameful."
" I think they are very clever boys," said Bell, " and I
hope you won't impose extra lessons on them just as they
have got a pony."
" They ought not to have had the pony until they had
given a better account of themselves at school," said my
Lady, severely ; to which Bell only replied by saying, in a
pensive manner, that she wished she was a boy of nine years
of age, just become possessed of a pony, and living in the
country.
We spent a long time in Christ Church, more especially
in the magnificent Hall, where the historical portraits greatly
interested Bell. She entered into surmises as to the
sensations which must have been felt by the poets and
courtiers of Queen Elizabeth's time when they had to pay
compliments to the thin-faced, red-haired woman who is
here represented in her royal satins and pearls ; and won-
dered whether, when they had celebrated her as the Queen
of Beauty, they afterwards reconciled these flatteries to
86 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
their conscience by looking on them as sarcasm. But
whereas Bell's criticism of the picture was quite gentle and
unprejudiced, there was a good deal more of acerbity in the
tone in which Queen Tita drew near to speak of Holbein's
Henry VIII. My firm belief is, that the mother of those
'two boys at Twickenham, if she only had the courage of her
opinions and dared to reveal those secret sentiments which
now find expression in decorating our bedrooms with missal-
like texts, and in the use of Ritualistic phrases to describe
ordinary portions of the service and ordinary days of the
year would really be discovered to be but let that pass.
What harm Henry VIII. had done her, I could not make
out. Anyone may perceive that that monarch has not the
look of an ascetic ; that the contour of his face and the
setting of his eyes are not particularly pleasing ; that he
could not easily be mistaken for Ignatius Loyola. But why
any woman of this present day, who subscribes to Mudie's,
watches the costumes of the Princess of Wales, and thinks
that Dr. Pusey has been ungenerously treated, should regard
a portrait of Henry VIII. as though he had done her an
injury only the week before last, it is not easy to discover.
Bell, on the other hand, was discoursing to the Lieutenant
about the various workmanship of the pictures, and giving
him a vast amount of information about technical matters,
in which he appeared to take a deep interest.
"But did you ever paint upon panel yourself, Made-
moiselle ? " he asked.
" Oh yes," said Bell, " I was at one time very fond of it.
But I never made it so useful as a countryman of mine once
suggested it might be. He was a Cumberland 'farmer who
had come down to our house at Ambleside ; and when he
saw me painting on a piece of wood, he looked at it with
great curiosity.
" ' Heh, lass,' he said, i thou's pent in a fine pictur there,
and on wood, too. Is't for the yell-house ? '
" ' No,' I said, explaining that I was painting for my own
pleasure, and that it was not a public-house sign.
" ' To please thysel, heh ? And when thou's dune wi' the
pictur, thou canst plane it off the wood, and begin another
that's thy meanin', is't ? '
" I was very angry with him, for I was only about fifteen
OF A PHAETON. 87
then, and I wanted to send my picture to a London ex-
hibition."
" Why, I did see it down at Leatherhead ! " said von
Eosen. "Was not that the picture, on panel, near the
window of the dining-room ? "
" Come, come ! " said Titania to the girl, who could not
quite conceal the pleasure she felt on hearing that the Count
had noticed this juvenile effort of hers ; " come along, and
let us see the library before we go into the open air again."
In the library, too, were more portraits and pictures, in
which these young people were much interested. We found
it impossible to drag them along. They would loiter in
some corner or other, and then, when we forsook our civil
attendant and went back for them, we found them deeply
engrossed in some obscure portrait or buried in a huge
parchment-bound folio which the Lieutenant had taken out
and opened. Bell was a fairly well-informed young woman,
as times go, and knew quite as much of French literature as
was good for her ; but it certainly puzzled Tita and myself
to discover what possible interest she could have in gazing
upon the large pages of the Encyclopedia, while the Lieu-
tenant talked to her about D'Alembert. Nor could it be
possible that a young lady of her years and pursuits had
imbibed so much reverence for original editions as to stand
entranced before this or that well-known author whose
earliest offspring had been laid hold of by her companion.
They both seemed unwilling to leave this library ; but von
Rosen explained the matter when he came out saying that
he had never felt so keenly the proverbial impulses of an
Uhlan as when he found himself with these valuable old
books in his hand, and only one attendant near. I con-
gratulated the authorities of Christ Church on what they
had escaped.
Of course we went down to the river some little time after
lunch ; and had a look from Folly Bridge on the various
oddjv-assorted crews that had invaded the sacred waters of
the jfeis in the absence of the University men. When the
Lieutenant proposed that we, too, should get a boat and
make^, voyage down between the green meadows, it almost
seemed as if we were venturing into a man's house in the
absence of the owner ; but then Bell very prettily and
88 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
urgently added her supplications ; and Tita professed herself
not unwilling to give the young folks an airing on the
stream. There were plenty of signs that it was vacation-
time besides the appearance of the nondescript oarsmen.
A great show of painting and scraping and gilding was
visible among that long line of mighty barges that lay under
the shadow of the elms, moored to tall white poles that sent
a line of silver down into the glassy and troubled water
beneath. Barges in blue, and barges in cream and gold,
barges with splendid prows and Gorgon figure-heads, barges
with steam-paddles and light awnings over the upper deck,
barges with that deck supported by pointed arches, as if a
bit of an old cloister had been carried down to decorate a
pleasure-boat all these resounded to the blows of hammers,
and were being made bright with many colours. The Uni-
versity barge itself had been dragged out of the water, and
was also undergoing the same process ; although the cynical
person who had put the cushions in our boat had just re-
marked, with something of a shrug
" I hope that the mahn as has got the job '11 get paid for
it, for the 'Varsity Crew are up to their necks in debt, that's
what they are ! "
When once we had got away from Christ Church meadows,
there were fewer obstructions in our course ; but whether it
was that the currents of the river defied the skill of our
coxswain, or whether it was that the Lieutenant and Bell,
sitting together in the stern, were too much occupied in
pointing out to each other the beauties of the scenery, we
found ourselves with a fatal frequency running into the
bank, with the prow of the boat hissing through the rushes
and flags. Nevertheless we managed to get to Iffley ; and
there, having moored the boat, we proceeded to land and
walk up to the old church on the brow of the hill.
"It's what they calls eerly English," said the old lady
who showed us over the ancient building. She was not
a talkative person ; she was accustomed to get over the
necessary information rapidly, and then spend the interval
in looking curiously at the tall Lieutenant and his brown
beard. She did not betray any emotion when a small
gratuity was given her. She had not even said " Thank
you " when von Rosen, on calling for the keys of the church,
OF A PHAETON. 89
had found the gate of her garden unhinged, and had laboured
fully ten minutes in hammering a rusty piece of iron into
the wooden post. Perhaps she thought it was Bell who had
driven down the gate ; but at all events she expressed no
sense of gratitude for its restoration.
Near an old yew-tree there was a small grave new-made
and green with grass on which some careful hand had
placed a cross composed exclusively of red and white roses.
This new grave, with these fresh evidences of love and kindly
remembrance on it, looked strange in the rude old church-
yard, where stones of unknown age and obliterated names
lay tumbled about or stood awry among the grass and weeds.
Yet this very disorder and decay, as Tita said gently, seemed
to her so much more pleasant than the cold and sharp pre-
cision of the iron crosses in French and German grave-yards,
with their grim, fantastic decorations and wreaths of im-
mortelles. She stood looking at this small grave and its
pretty cross of roses, and at the green and weather-worn
stones, and at the black old yew-tree, for some little time ;
until Bell who knows of something that happened when
Tita was but a girl, and her brother scarcely more than a
child drew her gently aw T ay from us, towards the gate of
the churchyard.
" Yes," said the Lieutenant, not noticing, but turning to
the only listener remaining ; " that is true. I think your
English churchyards in the country are very beautiful very
picturesque very pathetic indeed. But what you have not
in this country are the beautiful songs about death that we
have not religious hymns, or anything like that but small,
little poems that the country-people know and repeat to their
children. Do you know that one that says
Hier schlummert das Herz,
Bei'reit von betaubenden Sorgen
Es weckt uns kein Morgen
Zu grosserem Sehrnerz.
And it ends this way
Was weinest denn du?
Ich trage nun muthig mein Leiden,
Und rufe mit Freuden,
Ira Grabe 1st Rub.' !
90 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
There was one of my comrades in the war he was from my
native place, but not in my regiment he was a very good
fellow and when he Avas in the camp before Metz, his
companion was killed. "Well, he buried him separate from
the others, and went about till he got somewhere a grave-
stone, and he began to cut out, just with the end of a
bayonet, these two verses on the stone. It took him many
weeks to do that ; and I did hear from one of my friends in
the regiment that two days after he had put up the stone,
he was himself killed. Oh, it is very hard to have your
companion killed beside you, and he is away from his friends,
and when you go back home without him they look at you
as if you had no right to be alive and their son dead. That
is very hard I knew it in Sixty-six, when I went back to
Berlin, and had to go to see old Madame von Hebel. I do
hope never to have that again."
Is there a prettier bit of quiet river-scenery in the world
than that around Iffley Mill ? Or was it merely the glamour
of the white day that rendered the place so lovely, and made
us linger in the open stream to look at the mill and its
surroundings ? As I write, there lies before me a pencil
sketch of our Bell's, lightly dashed here and there with
water-colour, and the whole scene is recalled. There is the
dilapidated old stone building, with its red tiles, its crum-
bling plaster, its wooden projections, and small windows,
half -hidden amid foliage. Further down the river there
are clumps of rounded elms visible ; but here around the
mill the trees are chiefly poplars, of magnificent height, that
stretch up lightly and gracefully into a quiet yellow sky, and
throw gigantic lines of reflection down into the still water.
Then out from the mill a small island runs into the stream ;
the woodwork of the sluice-gates bridges the interval ; there
is a red cow amid the green leafage of the island ; and here
again are some splendid poplars, rising singly up from the
banks. Beyond is another house ; then a wooden bridge,
and a low line of trees ; finally the river, in a sharp curve,
glimmers in the light and loses itself behind low-lying
meadows and a marginal growth of willow and flag.
For very shame's sake, the big Lieutenant was forced to
offer to take Tita's oar, as we once more proceeded on our
voyage ; but she definitely refused to endanger our lives by
OP A PHAETON. 91
any sucli experiment. A similar offer on the part of Bell
met with a similar fate. Indeed, when this little woman
has once made up her mind to do a certain thing, the
reserve of physical and intellectual vigour that lies within
the slight frame and behind a smooth and gentle face,
shows itself to be extraordinary. Place before her some
arithmetical conundrum that she must solve in order to
question the boys, or give her an oar and engage her to pull
for a certain number of miles, and the amount of patient
perseverance and unobtrusive energy she will reveal will
astonish most people. In the meantime, her task was easy.
"We were going with the stream. And so we glided on
between the green banks, under the railway-bridge, past the
village of Kennington, past Eose Isle, with its bowers, and
tables, and beer-glasses, and lounging young fellows in
white trousers and blue jackets, and so on until we got
to Sandford Lock. Here, also, we fastened the boat to the
bank, close by the mill, and went ashore for half an hour's
stroll. But while Tita made direct, as she generally does on
entering a new village, for the church, the Lieutenant went
off in quest of beer ; and when we came back to the boat, he
had a wonderful story to tell us. He had made friends
with some innkeeper or other ; and had imbibed from him
a legend which was a curious mixture of fact and in-
ference and blunder. Von Rosen had doubtless mistaken
much of the Oxfordshire patois ; for how could any man
make a reasonable narrative out of the following ?
" And he told me it was a farmer's house in the village
the village of Sandford, I suppose and while they took it
down to repair it, they were lifting up the floors, and many
strange things were there. And he said, among the non-
sense and useless rubbish they were finding there, was a hat ;
and the man brought the hat down to him ; and he saw it
was a chevalier's hat "
" A cavalier's hat," suggested Bell ; and the Lieutenant
assented.
" Then the farmer went up to the house, and he found
some hidden letters, and one was to Ettrick to some
soldier who was then on a campaign at the river Ettrick in
the north. And they found that it was in this very house
that King Charles the First did cut off his beard and
92 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
moustache I suppose when he was flying from the
Parliamentary army ; but I am forgetting all about that
history now, and the innkeeper was not sure about the
battle. Well, then, the news was sent to London ; and a
gentleman came down who is the only surviving descender
descendant of King Charles, and he took away the hat to
London, and you will find it in the British Museum. It is
a very curious story, and I would have come after you, and
showed you the house ; but I suppose it is a new house now,
and nothing to look at. But do you know when the king-
was in this neighbourhood in escaping ? "
Here was a poser for the women.
" I don't remember," said Tita, looking very profound,
" to have seen anything about Oxford in Lord Clarendon's
narrative of the King's escape after the Battle of Wor-
cester."
" Mamma ! " said Bell, in accents of reproach, " that was
Charles the Second."
" To be sure it was," returned Tita, with a gesture of
impatience ; " and he couldn't have come this way, for he
went to Bristol. But Charles the First was continually
at Oxford he summoned the Parliament to meet him
here "
" And shaved off his beard to curry favour with them,"
it was suggested.
" You needn't laugh. Of course, when he was finally
defeated he fled from Oxford, and very probably disguised
himself."
" And when did he fly, and whither ? "
" To Scotland," said Bell triumphantly, " and after the
battle of Naseby."
" Good girl. And where is Naseby ? "
" Well, if he fled north-east from the Parliamentary army,
Naseby must be in the south-west ; and so I suppose it is
somewhere down about Gloucester."
" Herr Professor Oswald, where is Naseby ? "
" I do not know," said the Lieutenant ; " but I think it is
more in the north, and not far from the country of your great
man Harnpden. But he was killed before then, I think."
"And pray," said Queen Tita, taking her seat, and
putting her oar into the rowlock, " will you please tell me
OF A PHAETON. 93
what you think of those men of Cromwell and Hampden and
those and what your historians say of them in Germany ? "
"Why, they say all kinds of things about them," said
the Lieutenant, lightly not knowing that he was being
questioned as a representative of the feudal aristocracy of a
country in which the divine right of kings is supposed to
flourish " just as your historians do here. But we know
very well that England has got much of her liberty through
that fight with the king, and yet you have been able to keep a
balance, and not let the lowest classes run riot and destroy
your freedom. They were ambitious ? Yes. If a man is
in politics, does not he fight hard to make his side win ? If
he is a soldier, does not he like to be victorious ? And if I
could be King of England, do you not think I should like
that very well, and try hard for it ? But if these men had
their own ambitions, and wanted to get fame and honour,
I am sure they had much of righteousness and belief, and
would not have fought in that way and overturned the king
if they believed that was an injury to their country or to
their religion. And besides what could this man or that
man have done except he had a great enthusiasm of the
nation behind him if he did not represent a principle ?
But I have no right to speak of such things as if I were
telling you of our German historians. That is only my
guess, and I have read not much about it. But you must
not suppose that because we in Germany have not the same
political system that you have, that we cannot tell the value
of yours, and the good it has done to the character of your
people. Our German historians are many of them professors
in universities, and they spend their lives in finding out the
truth of such things ; and do you think they care what may
be the opinion of their own government about it ? Oh, no.
They are very independent in the universities much too
independent, I think. It is very pleasant when you are a
very young man, to get into a university, and think yourself
very wise, and go to extremes about politics, and say hard
things of your own country ; but when you come out into
the world, and see how you have to keep your country from
enemies that are not separated by the sea from you (as you
are here in England), you see how bad are these principles
among young men, who do not like to be obedient, and always
94 "THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
want to hurry on new systems of government before such
things are possible. But you do not see much of those wild
opinions when a war comes, and the young men are marched
together to save their country. Then they forget all the
democratic notions of this kind ; it is their heart that speaks
and it is on fire ; and not one is ashamed to be patriotic,
though he may have laughed at it a week before."
" It must be very hard," said Bell, looking away at the
river, " to leave your home and go into a foreign country, and
know that you may never return."
" Oh, no ; not much," said the Lieutenant : " for all your
friends go with you. And you are not always in danger
you have much entertainment at times, especially when some
fight is over, and all your friends meet again to have a
supper in the tent, and some one has got a bottle of cognac,
and some one else has got a letter from home, full of gossip
about people you know very well. And there is much fun,
too, in riding over the country, and trying to find food and
quarters for yourself and your horse. We had many good
parties in the deserted farmhouses ; and sometimes we caught
a hen or a duck that the people had neglected to take ; and
then we kindled a big fire, and killed him, and fixed him on
a lauce, and roasted him well, feathers and all. Then we were
very lucky to have a fire, and good meat, and a roof to
keep off the rain. But it was more dangerous in a house ;
for it was difficult to keep from sleeping after you had got
warm and had eaten and drunk perhaps a Little too much
wine ; and there were many people about ready to fire at you.
But these are not heroic stories of a campaign, are they,
Mademoiselle ? "
Nevertheless, Mademoiselle seemed sufficiently interested ;
and as Tita and I pulled evenly back to Iffley and Oxford,
she continually brought the Lieutenant round to this subject
by a series of questions. This modern maiden was as
anxious to hear of the amusements of patrols, and the hair-
breadth escapes of dare-devil sub-lieutenants, as was
Desdemona to listen to her lover's stories of battles, sieges,
fortunes, and moving accidents by flood and field.
That was a pleasant pull back to Oxford, in the quiet of
the summer afternoon, with the yellow light lying warmly
over the level meadows and the woods. There were more
OF A PHAETOtf. 95
people now along the banks of the river come out for the
most part in couples to wander along the pathway between
the stream and the fields. Many of them had a good look
at our Bonny Bell ; and the Radley boys, as they sent their
long boats spinning down the river towards Sandford, were
apparently much struck. Bell, unconscious of the innocent
admiration of those poor boys, was attending much more to
the talk of our Uhlan than to her tiller-ropes. As for him
but what man would not have looked contented under
these conditions to be strong, healthy, handsome, and only
twenty-five ; to have comfortable means and an assured
future ; to have come out of a long and dangerous campaign
with honour and sound limbs ; to be off on a careless holi-
day through the most beautiful country, take it for all in all,
in the world ; and to be lying lazily in a boat on a summer's
evening, on a pretty English river, with a pretty English
girl showing her friendly interest and attention in every
glance of her blue eyes ?
You should have seen how naturally those two fell behind
us, and formed a couple by themselves, when we had left the
boat and were returning to our inn. But as we walked up
to Carfax, Bell separated herself from us for a moment and
went into the post-office. She was a considerable time there.
When she came out, she was folding up a letter which she
had been reading.
" You have got your letter at last," said Tita.
" Yes," said Bell, gravely, but showing no particular glad-
ness or disappointment.
At dinner she was rather reserved ; and so, curiously
enough, was the Lieutenant. After dinner, when we were
allowed half an hour by ourselves for a cigar, he suddenly
said
"Why do you not interfere with that stupid young
fellow ? "
" Who ? " I asked, in blank amazement.
"Why, that young fellow at Twickenham it is quite
monstrous, his impertinence. If I were the guardian of
such a girl, I would kick him I would throw him into the
river and cool him there."
" What in all the world do you mean ? "
" Why, you must know. The letter that Miss Bell did ask
96 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
for more than once, ifc is from him ; and now when it comes,
it is angry, it is impertinent she is nearly crying all the
time at dinner . Sacforment I It is for some one to interfere,
and save her from this insult this persecution "
" Don't bite your cigar to pieces, but tell me, if you please,
how you happen to know what was in the letter."
" She told me," said the Lieutenant, sullenly.
" When ? "
" Just before you came down to dinner. It is no business
of mine no ; but when I saw her vexed and disturbed, I
asked her to teh 1 me why ; and then she said she had got
this letter, which was a very cruel one to send. Oh, there is
no mystery none. I suppose he has a right to marry her
very well ; but he is not married yet ; and he must not be
allowed to do this."
" Bell at least might have told me of it, or have confided
in Tita
" Oh, she is telling her now, I dare say. And she will tell
you too, when there are not all of us present. It is no
secret, or she would not have told me. Indeed, I think she
was very sorry about that ; but she was very much vexed,
and I asked her so plain, that she answered me. And that
is much better to have confidence between people, instead of
keeping all such vexations to yourself. Then I ask her why
he is angry ? and she says only because she has gone away.
Pfui ! I have never heard such nonsense ! "
" My dear Oswald," I say to him, " don't you interfere
between two young people who have fallen out, or you will
suffer. Unless indeed "
" Unless what ? "
" Unless they happen to be angels."
" Do you know this that he is coining to see her ? "
" Well the phaeton can hold five at a pinch. Why should
not we have an addition to our party ? "
" Yery good. I do not care. But if he is rude to her, he
will not be very long in the phaeton."
" Why, you stupid boy, you take these lovers' quarrels au
serieux. Do you think he has been positively rude to
her ? Nothing of the kind. He has been too well brought
up for that, although he has a peevish temper. He might
be with us all through the journey "
Of A PHAETON. 97
u Jott iewahre! " exclaimed the Count, with a kick at a
cork that was lying on the carpet.
" And these two might be at daggers drawn and you
would see nothing of it. Indeed, young people never get
extremely courteous to each other until they quarrel and
stand on their dignity. Now, if you had seen that letter,
you would have found it respectful and formal in the highest
degree perhaps a trifle sarcastic here and there, for the lad
unhappily thinks he has a gift that way but you would
find no rhetorical indignation or invective."
The Count threw his cigar into the grate.
" They will be waiting for us," he said ; " let us go."
We found Tita with the bezique-cards spread out before
her. Bell looked up with rather a frightened air, apparently
conscious that the Lieutenant was likely to have spoken
about what she had confided to him at the impulse of a
momentary vexation. However, we sat down.
The game was an open and palpable burlesque. Was
Ferdinand very intent on giving checkmate when he played
chess with Miranda in the cave ; or was he not much more
bent upon placing his king in extreme danger and offering
his queen so that she had to be taken ? The audacious
manner in which this young Lieutenant played his cards so
as to suit Bell was apparent to everyone, though no one dared
speak of it, and Bell only blushed sometimes. When she
timidly put forth a ten, he was sure to throw away another
ten, although he had any amount of aces in his hand. He
spoiled his best combinations rather than take tricks when
it was clear she wanted to lead. Nay, as he sat next to her,
he undertook the duty of marking her various scores ; and
the manner in which the small brass hand went circling
round the card was singular, until Tita suddenly exclaimed
" Why, that is only a common marriage ! "
" And do you not count forty for a common marriage ? "
he said, with a fine assumption of wonder.
Such was the ending of our first day's rest ; and then,
just before candles were lit, a Cabinet Council was held to
decide whether on the morrow we should choose as our
halting-place Moreton-in-the-Marsh or Bourton-on-the-Hill.
The more elevated site won the day.
THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
CHAPTER VIII.
NEAR WOODSTOCK TOWN.
"In olde dayes of the king Arthoiir,
Of which that Britons speake great honour,
All was this land full filled of faerie ;
The Elf-queen, with her jolly company,
Danced full oft in many a green mead.
This was the old opinion, as I read ;
I speak of many a hundred years ago ;
But now can no man see no elves mo'."
THE phaeton stood in the High Street of Oxford. Castor
and Pollux, a trifle impatient after the indolence of the day
before, were pawing the hard stones, their silken coats
shining in the morning sunlight ; Queen Titania had the
reins in her hands ; the tall waiter who had been a circus-
rider was ready to smile us an adieu ; and we were all
waiting for the Lieutenant, who had gone off in search of a
map that Bell had forgotten.
If there is one thing more than another likely to ruffle
the superhuman sweetness of my Lady's temper, it is to be
kept waiting in a public thoroughfare with a pair of rather
restive horses under her charge. I began to fear for that
young man. Tita turned once or twice to the entrance of
the hotel ; and at last she said, with an ominous politeness
in her tone
" It does seem to me singular that Count von Rosen
should be expected to look after such things. He is our
guest. It is no compliment to give him the duty of
attending to our luggage."
" My dear," said Bell, leaning over and speaking in very
penitent tones, " it is entirely my fault. I am very sorry."
" I think he is much too good-natured," says Tita, coldly.
At this Bell rather recedes, and says, with almost equal
coldness
" I am sorry to have given him so much trouble. In
future I shall try to do without his help."
But when the Count did appear wnen he took his seat
beside Tita, and we rattled up the High Street and round
OF A PHAETON. 99
by the Corn Market, and past Magdalen Church, and so
out by St. Giles's Road, the remembrance of this little
preliminary skirmish speedily passed away. For once more
we appeared to have left towns and streets behind us ; and
even while yet there were small villas and gardens by the
side of the road, the air that blew about on this bright
morning seemed to have a new sweetness in it, and the
freshness and pleasant odours of innumerable woods and
fields. There was quite a cheerful light, too, in Bell's face.
She had come downstairs with an obvious determination to
cast aside the remembrance of that letter. There was some-
thing even defiant in the manner in which she said in
strict confidence, be it observed that if Arthur Ashburton
did intend to come and meet us in some town or other,
there was no use in being vexed about it in the meantime.
"We were now getting into the open country, where pursuit
would be in vain. If he overtook us, it would be through
the mechanism of railways. His only chance of obtaining
an interview with Bell was to lie in wait for us in one of
the big towns through which we must pass.
" But why," said the person to whom Bell revealed these
matters, " why should you be afraid to meet Arthur ? You
have not quarrelled with him."
" No," said Bell, looking down.
" You have done nothing he can object to."
"He has no right to object, whatever I may do," she
said with a gentle firmness. " But, you know, he is
annoyed ; and you cannot reason with him ; and I am sorry
for him and and and what is the name of this little
village on the left ? "
Bell seemed to shake off this subject from her, as too
vexatious on such a fine morning.
" That is Woolvercot ; and there is the road that leads
down to Godstow, and the ruins of Godstow Nunnery, in
which Rosamond Clifford lived and died."
" And I suppose she rode along this very highway," said
Bell, " with people wondering at her beauty and her jewels,
when she used to live at Woodstock. Yet it is a very
ordinary-looking road."
Then she touched Tita on the shoulder.
" Are we going to stop at Blenheim ? " she asked,
H 2
loo THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
" I suppose so," said our driver.
" I think we ought not," said Bell ; " we shall be greatly
disappointed, if we do. For who cares about the Duke of
Maiiborough, or Sir John Yanbrugh's architecture ? You
know you will be looking about the trees for the old knight
with the white beard, and for Alice Lee, and for pretty
Phoebe Mayflower, and for Wildrake and the soldiers.
Wouldn't it be better to go past the walls, Tita, and fancy
that all these old friends of ours are still walking about
in their picturesque costume ? If we go inside, we shall
only find an empty park and a big house, and all those
people gone away, just like the fairies who used to be in the
woods."
" But what are the people you are speaking of ? " said the
Count. " Is it from history, or from a romance ? "
" I am not quite sure," said Bell, " how much is history,
and how much is romance ; but I am sure we know the
people very well ; and very strange things happened inside
the park that we shall pass by and by. There was a pretty
young lady living there, and a very sober and staid colonel
was her lover. The brother of this young lady was much
attached to the fortunes of the Stewarts ; and he brought the
young Prince Charles in disguise to the house ; and all the
gratitude shown by the Prince was that he began to amuse
himself by making love to the sister of the man who had
risked his life to save him. And of course the grave colonel
discovered it ; and he even drew his sword upon Prince
Charles
" I beg your pardon, Mademoiselle," said the Lieutenant,
" but do not trouble to tell me the story, for I know it very
well. I did read it in Germany years ago ; and I think if
Colonel Esmond had thrashed the Prince
" Oh no, you are mistaken," said Bell, with some winder ;
" it is Colonel Markham, not Colonel Esmond ; and the
brother of the young lady succeeded in getting the Prince
away just before Cromwell had time to seize him."
" Cromwell ? " said our Lieutenant, thoughtfully. " Ah,
then, it is another story. But I agree with you, Made-
moiselle : if you believe in these people very much, do not
go into the park, or you will be disappointed."
"As you please," said Tita, with a smile. I began to
OF A PHAETON 1 . 101
observe that when these two young folks agreed about any-
thing, my Lady became nothing more than an echo to their
wishes.
At length we came to the walls that surrounded the great
park. Should we leave all its mysteries unexplored ? If
one were to clamber up, and peep over, might not strange
figures be seen, in buff coats and red, with bandoleers and
helmets ; and an aged knight with a laced cloak, slashed
boots, and long sword ; countrywomen in white hoods and
black gowns ; divines with tall Presbyterian hats and solemn
visage ; a braggart and drunken soldier of the king, and a
colonel the servant of Cromwell ? Or might not Queen
Elizabeth be descried, looking out as a prisoner on the fair
domains around her ? Or might not Chaucer be found
loitering under those great trees that he loved and celebrated
in his verse ? Or, behind that splendid wall of chestnuts
and elms, was it not possible that Fair Rosamond herself
might be walking all alone, passing like a gleam of light
through the green shadows of the trees, or sitting by the
well that still bears her name, or reading in the heart of that
bower that was surrounded by cunning ways ? Was it
along this road that Eleanor came ? Or did Rosamond,
surviving all her sin and her splendour, sometimes walk this
way with her sister-nuns from Godstow, and think of the
time when she was mistress of a royal palace and this
spacious park ?
We drove into the town of Woodstock. The handful of
houses thrown into the circular hollow that is cut in two by
the river Glym was as silent as death. In the broad street
that plunged down into the valley, scarcely a soul was to be
seen ; and even about the old town-hall there were only
some children visible. Had the play been played out, and
the actors gone for ever ? When King Henry was fighting
in France or in Ireland, doubtless Rosamond, left all by
herself, ventured out from the park, and walked into the
small town, and revealed to the simple folks the wonders
of her face, and talked to them. No mortal woman could
have remained in a bower month after month without seeing
anyone but her attendants. Doubtless, too, the people in
this quaint little place were very loyal towards her ; and
would have espoused her cause against a dozen Eleanors.
102 TfiE STRANGE ADVENTURES
And so ifc happened, possibly, that when the romance came
to an end, and Rosamond went to hide her shame and
her penitence in the nunnery of Godstow, all the light and
colour went out of Woodstock, and left it dull, and grey,
and silent as it is to this day.
The main street of Woodstock, that dips sharply to the
banks of the Grlym, rises as abruptly on the other side ; and,
once past the turnpike, the highway runs along an elevated
ridge, which on the one side is bounded by a continuation
of Blenheim Park, and, on the other, slopes down to a broad
extent of level meadows. When we had got up to this
higher ground, and found before us an illimitable stretch of
country, with ourselves as the only visible inhabitants, the
Lieutenant managed to introduce a remote hint about a
song which he had heard Bell humming in the morning.
" I think it was about Woodstock," he said ; " and if you
will please to sing it now, as we go along, I shall get out for
you the guitar."
" If you will be so kind," said Bell, quite submissively.
What had become of the girl's independence ? Asked to
sing a song at great trouble to herself for who cares to
play a guitar in the back-seat of a phaeton, and with two
pairs of wheels rumbling an accompaniment ? she meekly
thanks him for suggesting it ! Nay, it was becoming
evident that the girl was schooling herself into docility.
She had almost dropped entirely the wild phrases and start-
ling metaphors that so deeply shocked Queen Tita. Some-
times they dropped out inadvertently ; and sometimes, too,
she gave way to those impulsive imaginative flights that led
her unthinkingly into an excitement of talk which Tita used
to regard with a sort of amused wonder. But of late all these
things were gradually disappearing. She was less abrupt,
independent, wayward in her manner. She waited more
patiently to receive suggestions from others. She was be-
coming a good listener ; and she received meekly criticisms
that would, but a short time before, have driven her into a
proud and defiant silence, or provoked some rejoinder a
good deal more apt than gentle. It was very odd to mark
this amiable self-discipline struggling with her ordinary frank
impetuosity ; although sometimes, it is true, the latter had
the best of it,
OF A PHAETON. 103
On this occasion, when the Lieutenant had jumped down
and got out the guitar for her, she took it very obediently ;
and then Tita rested the horses for a little while under the
shadow of some overhanging trees. Of course you know
the ballad that Bell naturally turned to, seeing where she
was at the moment, and the sort of music she was most
familiar with.
"Near Woodstock town I chanced to stray,
When birds did sing and fields were gay,
And by a glassy river's side
A weeping damsel I espied."
This was what she sang, telling the story of the forlorn
maiden who was found weeping for her faithless lover, who
only wished that he might come and visit her grave, and
think of her as " one who loved, but could not hate." Per-
haps this old-fashioned ballad is not a masterly composition ;
but the music of it is expressive enough ; and we who were
familiar with Bell's ballads had got into a habit of not
caring much what she sang, as long as she only continued
singing.
"You could make your fortune by your songs," said
Tita, as Bell finished, and the horses were sent forward.
" Perhaps," said the girl, " if all my audience were like
you. But I think you must have been lent out as an infant
to an old woman with an organ, and so, by merely sitting
on the vibrating wood, you have become so sensitive to
music that anything at all pleases you."
" No, Mademoiselle," said the Lieutenant, " you do your-
self an injustice. I never heard a voice like yours, that has
the tremble of a zither in it, and is much softer than a
zither."
Bell blushed deeply ; but to conceal her embarrassment,
she said lightly to Tita
" And how am I to make my fortune ? Oh, I know,
by coming in after public dinners, to sing grace, and follow
the toasts with a glee. I am in white silk, with a blue
ribbon round my neck, white gloves, bracelets, and a sheet
of music. There is an elderly lady in black velvet and
pearls, who smiles in a pleasant manner she sings, and
is much admired by the long rows of gentlemen they
104 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
have just dined, you know, and are very nice and amiable.
Then there is the tenor fair and smooth, with diamond
rings, a lofty expression, and a cool and critical eye, that
shows he is quite accustomed to all this. Then there is the
stout, red-bearded man who sings bass, and plays the piano
for the four of us, and is very tierce in the way he thumps
out his enthusiasm about the Queen, and the Navy, and the
Army, and the Volunteers. What a happy way of living
that must be ! They will give us a nice dinner beforehand
in a room by ourselves, perhaps ; and all we have to do is to
return thanks for it in an emotional way, so that all the
waiters shall stand round in a reverential manner. But
w r hen that is over, then we introduce a few songs sprightly,
coquettish songs, and the gentlemen are vastly amused and
you think "
" Well, what do you think ? " said I, seeing that Bell
rather hesitated.
" I think," said Tita, with a smile, " that you are very
ungenerous, Bell, in remembering so much of what you saw
the other night from the gallery of the Freemasons' Tavern.
Is it fair to recall, in open daylight, in the cool morning,
the imbecile good-nature and exuberant loyalty of a lot of
gentlemen who have just dined ? I wonder how many of
the husbands there told their wives what sums they signed
away under the influence of the wine ? "
"I dare say," says one of the party, "that the wives
would be sorry to see so much money go in charity which
might otherwise have been squandered in millinery and
extravagances."
"Don't be ill-tempered, my dear," says Queen Tita,
graciously. " Women are quite as charitable as men ; and
they don't need a guinea dinner to make them think of other
people. That is a sort of charity that begins at home. Pray
how much did you put down ? "
"Nothing."'
" I thought so. Go to a charity dinner, enjoy yourself,
and come away without giving a farthing. You would not
find women doing that."
" Only because they have not the courage."
" They have plenty of courage in other directions in
getting rnarried, for example, when they know what men are."
OF A PHAETON. 105
" Knowing that, is it not a pity they choose to make
martyrs of themselves ? Indeed, their anxiety to become
martyrs is astonishing. But what if I say that in the next
published list of subscriptions you will find my name down
for about as much as your last millinery bill came to ? "
" I think that a great deal more likely ; for I know the
state of philanthropy into which men get at a public
dinner fathers of families, who ought to remember their
own responsibilities, and who are impatient enough if any
extra bit of comfort or kindness is wanted for their own
kith and kin."
" Some such trifling matter as a fur cloak, for instance,
that is bought out of a Brighton shop-window for sixty-five
guineas, and is only worn twice or thrice, because some
other woman has the neighbour of it."
" That is not true. You know the weather changed."
" The weather ! What weather ? "Were you at Brighton
at the time ? "
Titania did not reply for a considerable space. Perhaps
she was thinking of some crushing epigram ; but at all
events Bell endeavoured to draw her away from the subject
by pointing out another river, and asking whether this or
the Glym at Woodstock was the stream associated with the
" Oxfordshire Tragedy " she had just been singing. We
discovered, however, that this brook was also the Glym,
which here winds round and through the marshy country
that Thomas Wharton described.* Bell came to the
conclusion that the banks by the river at this part were
not sufficiently picturesque for the scene of the song, where
the love-lorn heroine sits and weeps by a glassy stream, and
complains that her lover is now wooing another maid.
* "Within some whispering osier isle,
Where Glym's low banks neglected smile :
And each trim meadow still retains
The wintry torrent's oozy stains;
Beneath a willow, long forsook,
The fisher seeks his custom'd nook;
And bursting through the crackling sedge,
That crowns the current's caverned edge,
He startles from the bordering wood
The bashful wild-duck's early brood."
Ode to tlie First of April.
106 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
Meanwhile, my Lady had given expression to the rebellious
thoughts passing through her mind, by admonishing Castor
and Pollux slightly ; and these accordingly were going
forward at a rattling pace. We rushed through Enstone.
We dashed along the level highway that lies on the high
ground between the Charlford Farms and Heythrop Park.
We sent the dust flying behind us in clouds as we scudded
down to Chipping Norton ; and there, with a fine sweep,
we cantered up the incline of the open square, clattered
over the stones in front of the White Hart Inn, and pulled
up with a noise that considerably astonished the quiet
village.
This large open space gives to Chipping Norton a light
and agreeable appearance ; and on entering the big tall inn
that looks down over the square, we found everything very
cleanly, bright, and comfortable. The very maid-servant
who served us with lunch was a model of maid-servants ; and
was a very handsome young woman besides, with shining
light-blue eyes and yellow hair. The Lieutenant at once
entered into a polite conversation with her ; and she informed
him, in answer to his respectful inquiries, that she had just
come from Folkestone.
" From Folkestone ! That is a seaport a busy place a
large town, is it not ? "
" Yes, there was some business doing there," said the
maid, with an inflection of voice which rather cast discredit
on Chipping Norton.
" Don't you find this place dull ? " he asked.
" Well, I can't say the people seem to worry themselves
much," she replied, with a slight curl of the lip.
" That is very good for the health," said the Count
gravely. " Now I do think you have a very nice and even
temper, that does not irritate you "
But here my Lady and her companion came into the room,
and the conversation ceased ; for the Lieutenant had at once
to spring up and take charge of the books, maps, and scarves
that Bell had brought in with her. And then, when we
sat down to lunch, he was entirely engrossed in attending
to her wants, insomuch that he was barely civil to the more
elderly lady who had from the first been his champion. As
for Bell, what had become of her dislike to officers, her
OF A PHAETON. 107
antipathy to the German race, her horror of Uhlans ? That
very morning I had heard on good authority that Bell had
been asking in confidence whether England did not owe a
great debt to Germany for the gift of Protestantism which
that country had sent us. " And were not the Prussians
mostly Protestant ? " asked Bell. What answer was returned
I do not know ; for Queen Titania is strong on the point
that the word " Protestant " is not scriptural.
" But I have quite forgotten to tell you," remarked the
Lieutenant, " that this morning, when I was walking about
in Oxford, I came into the theatre. I saw some bills up ;
I went along a strange passage ; I found an iron gate, and
much lime and stone, and things like that. A man came
I asked him if I could see the theatre, and he took me into
the place, which they are repairing now. Oh, it is a very
dingy place small, tawdry, with ridiculous scenes, and the
decorations of the galleries very amusing and dirty. "Why,
in an old city, with plenty of rich and intelligent people, you
have such a pitiful little theatre ? it is only fit for a country
green and wandering actors. In a great university town,
you should have the theatre supported by the colleges and
the bequests, and hire good actors, and play all the best
dramas of your great writers. That would be a good
education that would be a good compliment to pay to your
great dramatists. But here, in a city where you have much
learning, much money, much of your young men of good
families being educated, you have only a dingy, small show,
and I suppose it is farces they play, and wretched dramas,
for the townspeople and the farmers. That is not much
respect shown to your best authors by your learned
institutions."
"No wonder students find the milliners' shops more
attractive," said Queen Tita, with a smile.
" But I think there is always much interest in an empty
theatre," continued the Lieutenant. "I did go all over
that poor little building, and saw how it imitated the
deceptions of fine theatres in a coarse manner. I saw the
rude scenes, the bad traps, the curious arrangements, which
I do not think can differ much from the theatre which
Shakespeare himself described, where a man was made to
represent a city, if I am right,"
loS THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
" You are familiar with the arrangements of a theatre, I
suppose ? " I asked of the Lieutenant.
" Pray tell me if you saw anything else in Oxford this
morning," said Queen Tita, hastily.
" I suppose you could produce a pantomime yourself ? " I
observed to the young man.
" Did you visit any more of the colleges ? " said Tita,
at the same moment.
" Or get up a ballet ? "
" Or go down to the Isis again ? "
Von Rosen was rather bewildered ; but at last he
stammered out
" No, Madame, I did not go down to the river this morn-
ing. I walked from the theatre to the hotel ; for I remained
much too long in the theatre. Yes, I know something
about the interior of theatres. I have been great friends
with the managers and actors, and took great interest in it.
I used to be much behind the stage every night at some
times ; and that is very curious to a young man who likes
to know more than other people, and thinks himself wise not
to believe in delusions. I think it is Goethe who has made
many of our young men like to know stage-managers, and
help to arrange pieces. But I find that they always end by
being very much in love with one of the young ladies, and
then they get not to like the theatres, for they do not wish
everybody to admire her and be allowed to look at her.
This is very good for the theatre, however ; for they take
many boxes, and ask their friends to accompany them, and
that pays better than to let out the seats by the year to
families. Some of the young men make light of this ;
others are more melancholy ; but afterwards they have much
interest in all theatres merely for the sake of the old
associations."
"Oh, Bell," exclaimed Tita, turning anxiously to our
companion, " did you see that your guitar was properly put
away, or has it been left lying open in the phaeton ? "
" I did put it away, Madame," said the Lieutenant.
"Oh, thank you," said Tita. "I am sure if some of
those ostlers were to have their curiosity aroused, we should
have no more music all the journey."
And thus, having got the Lieutenant away from rambling
OF A PHAETON. 109
reminiscences of theatres, the little woman took very good
care he should not return to them ; and so we finished
luncheon without any catastrophe having happened. Bell
had been sitting very quietly during these revelations,
scarcely lifting her eyes from the table, and maintaining an
appearance of studied indifference. Why should she care
about the mention of any actress, or any dozen of actresses ?
My Lady's anxiety was obviously unnecessary.
CHAPTER IX.
A MOONLIGHT NIGHT.
" Till the live-long daylight fail :
Then to the spicy nut-brown ale,
With stories told of many a feat,
How faery Mab the junkets eat."
CHIPPING NORTON is supplied with all the comforts of
life. Before leaving for the more inhospitable regions in
which we are to pass the night, we take a leisurely walk
through the curious little town, that is loosely scattered over
the side of a steep slope. Here civilization has crowded all
its results together ; and Queen Tita is asked whether she
could not forsake the busy haunts of men, and exchange
that hovering between Leatherhead and London, which
constitutes her existence, for a plain life in this small
country place.
" Chemists' shops abound. There is a subscription
reading-room. There are co-operative stores. A theatre
invites you to amusement. You may have Lloyd's News,
various sorts of sewing machines, and the finest sherry from
the wood "
" Along with a Wesleyan chapel," she says, with a
supercilious glance at the respectable, if somewhat dull-look-
ing little building that fronts the main street.
There is no reply possible to this ungracious sneer ; for
who can reason, as one of us hints to her, with a woman
who would spend a fortune, if only she had it, in incense,
and who would rejoice to run riot in tall candles ?
Bell takes us away from Chipping Norton, the Lieu-
tenant sitting beside her to moderate the vehemence of her
no THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
pace in the event of her getting into a difficulty. First the
road dips down by a precipitous street ; then it crosses a
hollow, in which there are some buildings of a manufactory,
a tiny river, and a strip of common or meadow ; and then
it ascends to the high country beyond by a steep hill. On
the summit of this hill we give the horses a rest for a few
seconds, and turn to look at the small town that lies under-
neath us in the valley. There is a faint haze of blue smoke
rising from the slates and tiles. The deadened tolling of
a bell marks the conclusion of another day's labour ; for
already the afternoon is wearing on apace ; and so we turn
westward again, and set out upon the lofty highway that winds
onward towards the setting sun. Small hamlets fringe the
road at considerable intervals, while elsewhere we drive
between stretches of heath and long fields. And still our
route ascends, until we reach the verge of a great slope ;
and, behold ! there lies before us a vast landscape, half in
gloom, half in the dusky yellow light of the evening.
And over there, partly shutting out the dark lines of
hills in the west, a thin veil of rain stretches from the
sky to the earth, and through it the sun is shining as
through ground glass. But so far away is this pale sheet of
yellow mist,' that we seem to be above it, and over the flat
and dark landscape on which it descends ; and, indeed,
where this veil ceases, the sunlight sends forth long shafts of
radiance that light up level tracts of the distant and wooded
country. What fate is to befall us when we get down into
the plain, and go forward in search of the unknown hostelry
at which we are to pass the night ?
" I hope the rain will not spread," says Bell, who had
been telling us of all the wonders we should find at Bourton-
on-the-Hill ; " but even if it does rain to-night, we shall be
as well off on a hill as in a swamp."
" But at Moreton-in-the-Marsh," says Tita, " there is sure
to be a comfortable inn, for it is a big place ; whereas
Bourton-on-the-Hill appears to be only a small village, and
we may find there only a public-house."
" But suppose it should clear ? " says Bell. " The moon
will be larger to-night, and then we can look down on all
this level country from the top of the hill. "We have not
had a night-walk for a long time ; and it will be so
Of A PIfAETON. in
much more pleasant than being down in the mists of a
marsh."
" And you are prepared to sleep on a couple of chairs in
the smoking-room of a public-house ? " I asked of Miss Bell.
" I dare say we shall get accommodation of some kind,"
she replied, meekly.
" Oh, I am quite sure Mademoiselle is right ; there is so
much more adventure in going to this small place on the
top of a hill," cried the Lieutenant.
Of course Mademoiselle was right. Mademoiselle was
always right now. And when that was understood, Queen
Titania never even attempted to offer an objection ; so that
in all affairs pertaining to our trip the rude force of numbers
triumphed over the protests of an oppressed and long-
suffering minority.
But only change the relative positions, and then what a
difference there was ! When the Lieutenant hinted in the
remotest way that Bell might do so and so with the horses,
she was all attention. For the first time in her career she
allowed the interests of justice to moderate her partiality for
Pollux. That animal, otherwise the best of horses, was a
trifle older than his companion, and had profited by his
years so far as to learn a little cunning. He had got into a
trick accordingly of allowing Castor the latter being
younger and a good deal "freer" to take more than his
share of the work. Pollux had acquired the art of looking
as if he were perpetually straining at the collar, while all the
time he was letting his neighbour exercise to the full that
willingness which was his chief merit. Now Bell had never
interfered to alter this unequal division of labour. Queen
Tita knew well, how to make the older horse do his fair
share ; but Bell encouraged him in his idleness, and
permitted his companion to work out of all reason. Now,
however, when the Lieutenant pointed out the different
action of the horses, and said she should moderate the
efforts of the one, while waking up the other to a sense of
his duties, she was quite obedient. When the whip was
used at all which was seldom enough, for both horses were
sufficiently free it was Pollux that felt the silk. The
Lieutenant fancied he was giving Bell lessons in driving,
whereas he was only teaching her submissiveness.
1 1 2 THE STRANGE AD VENTURES
That golden sheet of rain had disappeared in the west,
and the yellow light had sunk further and further down
behind far bands of dark cloud. A grey dusk was falling
over the green landscape, and the birds were growing mute
in the woods and the hedges. In the pervading silence we
heard only the patter of the horses' feet and the light rolling
of the phaeton, as we sped onward down the long slopes and
along the plain. We passed Four-shire-Stone, the adjacent
shires being Worcester, Warwick, Gloucester, and Oxford ;
and then, getting on by a piece of common, we rattled into
a long and straggling village, with one or two large and
open thoroughfares.
Moreton-in-the-Marsh was asleep ; and we left it asleep.
There were still a few men lounging about the corner public-
house ; but the women and children had all retired into their
cottages from the chill night air. In some of the windows
the light of a candle was visible. The dark elms behind the
houses were growing darker.
Between Moreton and Bourton you plunge still deeper
into this great and damp valley ; and the way lies through a
rich vegetation which seems to have thriven well in this low
situation. The hedges along the roadside are luxuriant ;
the elms behind them constitute a magnificent avenue
extending for nearly a couple of miles ; all around are dense
woods. As we drove rapidly through this country, it almost
seemed as though we could see the white mists around us,
although the presence of the vapour was only known to us
by the chilling touch of the air. On this July night we
grew cold. Tita hoped there would be a fire at the hostelry
on the top of the mountain ; and she besought Bell to muffle
up her throat, so that we should not be deprived of our
ballads by the way.
At last we find the hill before us.
" It is not very like the Niessen," says Queen Tita.
" But I have no doubt there is a very good inn at the
top," remarks the Lieutenant ; "for after this hill the people
would naturally stop to rest their horses."
" And we shall get up to see the sun rise, as we did on the
Niessen ? " asks Bell, with a fine innocence ; for she knows
the opinions of some of us on the subject of early rising.
" Do you remember the fat little woman who had walked up
OF A PHAETON. 113
all by herself in the morning, and appealed to us all to tell
her the names of the mountains, that she might write them
down ? "
" And how oddly she turned up again at nearly every
railway station we stopped at, with all her luggage around
her ! " says Tita.
"I believe," says Bell, "she is still sailing all through
Europe on a shoal of bandboxes and portmanteaus. I wish
I could draw the fat little woman balancing herself in that
circle of luggage, you know, and floating about comfortably
and placidly like a bottle bobbing about in the sea. She
may have drifted up to St. Petersburg by this time."
" I think we have," says the Lieutenant, who is leading
the horses up the steep hill, and who rubs his chilled hands
from time to time.
We reach the centre of the straggling line of houses which
must be Bourton, and, behold ! there is no inn. In the
dusk we can descry the tower of a small church ; and here
the cottages thicken into the position which ought to be
dominated by an inn ; but there is no sign of any such thing.
Have we climbed this precipitous steep, and have Castor and
Pollux laboriously dragged our phaeton and luggage up, all
for nothing ? The Count asks a startled villager, who
points to a wayside house standing at the higher extremity
of the row. Where is the familiar signboard, or the glowing
bar, or the entrance to the stables ? Yon Rosen surrenders
his charge of the horses, and walks into the plain-looking
house. It is an inn. We begin to perceive in the dark
that a small board over the doorway bears the name of
" SETH DYDE." We find, however, instead of a landlord, a
landlady a willing, anxious, energetic woman, who forth-
with sets to work to take our party into this odd little place.
For dinner or supper, just as we choose to call it, she will
give us ham and eggs, with either tea or beer. She will get
two bedrooms for us ; and perhaps the single gentleman will
accept a shake-down in the parlour. In that room a fire is
lit in a trice ; a lamp is brought in ; and presently the
cheerful blaze in the huge fire-place illuminates the curious
old-fashioned chamber, with its carpets, and red table-cloth,
and gloomy furniture. A large tray appears an ornamental
teapot is produced. Sounds are heard of attendants whipping
114 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
through the place so anxious and so dexterous is this good
woman. And Queen Tita, who is merciless in one respect,
examines the cups, saucers, forks, and knives, and deigns to
express her sense of the creditable cleanliness and order of
the solitary inn.
Meanwhile, the horses.
" Oh," says the Lieutenant, coming in out of the dark,
" I have found a famous fellow the first man I have seen
in England who does his work well with grooming a horse.
He is an excellent fellow I have seen nothing like it. The
horses are well off this night, I can assure you ; you will see
how good they look to-morrow morning."
" It is strange so good an ostler should be found here,"
remarks Queen Tita.
" But he is not an ostler," replies the Lieutenant, rubbing
his hands at the fire ; " he is a groom to some gentleman
near. The ostler is away. He does his work as a favour ;
and he does it so that I think the gentleman must keep some
racing horses."
" How do you manage to find out all these things about
the people you meet ? " asks my Lady, with a gracious smile.
" Find out ! " replies the tall young man, with his blue
eyes staring. " I do not think I find out any more than
others. It is people talk to you. And it is better to know
a little of a man you give your horses to and there is some
time to talk when you are seeing after the horses and so
that is perhaps why they tell me."
" But you have not to see about your horses when you are
in a bookseller's shop at nine in the morning, and the young
lady there tells you about the milliners' shops and the
students," she says.
" Oh, she was a very nice girl," observes the Lieutenant,
as if that were sufficient explanation.
" But you talk to everyone, whether they are young ladies,
or innkeepers, or grooms : is it to perfect your pronunciation
of English ? "
" Yes, that is it," said the young man, probably glad to
arrive at any solution of the problem.
" Then you ought not to speak to ostlers," she continues.
" But there is no ostler who talks so very bad as I do I
know it is very, very bad "
OF A PHAETON. 115
" I am sure you are mistaken," interposes Bell, quite
warmly, but looking down ; " I think you speak very good
English and it is a most difficult language to pronounce
and I am sure there are few Germans who can speak it as
freely as you can."
" All that is a very good compliment, Mademoiselle," he
says, with a laugh that causes Bell to look rather embarrassed.
" I am very glad if I could think that, but it is impossible.
And as for freedom of speaking oh, yes, you can speak
freely, comfortably, if you are going about the country, and
meeting strangers, and talking to anyone, and not caring
whether you mistake or not ; but it is different when you are
in a room with very polite English ladies who are strangers
to you and you are introduced and you do not know how
to say those little sentences that are proper to the time.
That is very difficult very annoying. But it is very
surprising the number of your English ladies who have
learned G-erman at school ; while the French ladies, they
know nothing of that, or of anything that is outside Paris.
I do think them the most useless of women very nice to
look at, and very charming in their ways, perhaps but not
sensible, honest, frank like the English women, and not
familiar with the seriousness of the world, and not ready to
see the troubles of other people. But your Englishwoman
who is very frank to be amused, and can enjoy herself when
there is a time for that who is generous in time of trouble,
and is not afraid, and can be firm and active and yet very
gentle, and who does not think always of herself, but is ready
to help other people, and can look after a house, and manage
affairs that is a better kind of woman, I think more to be
trusted more of a companion oh, there is no comparison ! "
All this time the Lieutenant was busy stirring up the fire,
and placing huge lumps of coal on the top ; and he had
obviously forgotten that he was saying these things to two
Englishwomen. Tita seemed rather amused, and kept
looking at Bell ; Bell said nothing, but pretended to be
arranging the things on the table. When the Lieutenant
came back from the fire, he had apparently forgotten his
complimentary speech ; and was regarding with some
curiosity the mighty dish of ham and eggs that had come in
for our supper.
I 2
n6 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
That was a very comfortable and enjoyable repast. When
the chill of driving through the fogs of the plain had worn
off, we found that it was not so very cold up here on the hill.
A very liberal and honest appetite seemed to prevail ; and
there was a tolerable attack made on the ample display of
ham and eggs. As for the beer that our Lieutenant drank,
it is not fair to tell stories. He said it was good beer, to
begin with. Then he thought it was excellent beer. At
length he said he had not tasted better since he left
London.
Women get accustomed to many things during the course
of a rambling journey like this. You should have seen how
naturally Queen Tita brought forth the be'zique-cards
directly after supper, and how unthinkingly Bell fetched
some matches from the mantelpiece and placed them on the
table. My Lady had wholly forgotten her ancient horror
of cigar smoke in any case, as she pointed out, it was other
people's houses we were poisoning with the odour. As for
Bell, she openly declared that she enjoyed the scent of cigars ;
and that in the open air, on a summer evening, it was as
pleasant to her as the perfume of the wild roses or the
campions.
However, there was no bezique. We fell to talking. It
became a question as to which could find the freshest phrases
and the strongest adjectives to describe his or her belief that
this was the only enjoyable fashion of travelling. The
abuse that was poured upon trains, stations, railway porters,
and the hurry of cabs in the morning, was excessive. Time-
tables of all sorts were spoken of with an animosity which
was wonderful to observe when it came along with the soft
and pleasant undertones of our Bonny Bell's voice. Tita
said she should never go abroad any more. The Lieutenant
vowed that England was the most delightful country in the
world to drive through. The present writer remarked that
the Count had much to see yet ; whereupon the foolish
young man declared he could seek for no pleasanter days
than those he had just spent, and wished, with some unneces-
sary emphasis, that they might go on for ever. At this
moment Bell rose and went to the window.
Then we heard an exclamation. Looking round, we found
the shutters open, and lo ! through the window we could see
OF A PHAETON, 117
the white glare of moonlight falling into the empty thorough-
fare, and striking on the wall on the other side of the way.
" It cannot be very cold outside," Bell remarks.
" Bell ! " cries Queen Tita, " you don't mean to go out at
this time of night ! "
" Why not, Madame ? " says the Lieutenant. " Was it
not agreed before we came up the hill ? And when could
you get a more beautiful night ? I am sure it will be more
beautiful than the sunrise from the top of the Niessen."
" Oh, if you think so," says my Lady, with a gentle
courtesy, " by all means let us go out for a little walk."
That is the way affairs began to be ordered about to suit
the fancies of those young nincompoops. What little vestige
of authority remained with the eldest of the group was
exerted to secure a provision of shawls and rugs. Bell was
not loth. She had a very pretty grey shawl. She had also
a smart little grey hat, which suited it ; and as the hat was
trimmed with blue, the grey shawl could not have had a
prettier decoration than the blue ribbon of the guitar.
Who proposed it I cannot say ; but Bell had her guitar
with her when we went out into the cold wonder of the
moonlight.
Bourton-on-the-Hill was now a mass of glittering silver
and sharp, black shadows. Below us we could see the dark
tower of the church, gleaming grey on the one side ; then
a cluster of houses, with a dull radiance shining from
their tiles and slates ; then the steep road down the hill,
and on one side of it a big wall, with its flints sparkling.
But when we got quite to the summit, and clambered on to
a small piece of common where were some felled trees, what
words can describe the extraordinary view that lay around
us ? The village and its small church seemed to be now
half-way down the slope ; whereas the great plain of the
landscape appeared to have risen high up on the eastern
horizon, where the almost invisible stars met the sombre
woods of Oxfordshire. Over this imposing breadth of forest
and valley and meadow with its dark lines of trees, its
glimmerings of farmhouses, and winding streams the
flood of moonlight lay so softly that the world itself
seemed to have grown clear from underneath. There
were none of the wild glares of white surfaces and the
iiS THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
ebony blackness of shadows which threw everything around
us into sharp outline ; but a far-reaching and mellow
glamour that showed us the mists lying along the river-
tracks, and only revealed to us the blended outlines and
configurations of the land. If there had been a ruddy light
in Moreton-in-the-Marsh, we should have seen it ; but the
distant village seemed dead ; and it, as well as all the
great tract of wooded country around it, was touched
and softened by this calm, mysterious splendour that lay
somehow between the dark blue vault overhead and the
vast plain beneath. It was but a young moon, but the
exceeding rarity of the air lent strength to its radiance.
"Does not moonlight give you the impression that you
can hear far ? " said Bell in a rather low voice, as if the
silence and the stars had overawed her. " It is like frost.
You fancy you could hear bells ringing a hundred miles
across the clear air."
" Mademoiselle, you will let us hear your singing in this
stillness ? " said the Lieutenant.
" No, I cannot sing now," she said ; and the very gentle-
ness of her voice forbade him to ask again.
"We passed along the road. The night air was sweet with
the odour of flowers. Out in the west, where the moonlight
was less strong, the stars were faintly twinkling. Not a
breath of wind stirred ; and yet it seemed to us that if a
sound had been uttered anywhere in the world, it must have
been carried to us on this height. "We were as gods up
here in the cold sky and the moonlight ; and far away over
the earth, sleep had sealed the lips and the eyes of those
poor creatures who had forgotten their sorrows for a time.
Should we send them dreams to sweeten their lives by some
glimpses of a world different from their own, and cause
them to awaken in the morning with some reminiscence of
the trance in their softened memories ? Or would it not be
better to drown them in the fast and hard sleep of fatigue,
so that the dawn might bring them a firmer heart and no
vanity of wishes ? Gods as we were, we had no care for
ourselves. It was enough to be. Could not the night last
for ever, and keep us up here near the stars, and give us
content and an absolute want of anxiety for the morrow ?
Queen Titania wandered on as if she were in an enchanted
OF A PHAETON. 119
land, followed by a black shadow on the white highway ;
and her face, with all its gentleness and delicacy, seemed
to have gained something of a pale and wistful tenderness
in the mystic radiance that shone down over the dark
woods and crossed our path. As for Bell but who can
describe the grace of the figure that walked before us the
light touching the grey shawl, and the fine masses of brown
hair that hung all around the shapely neck and shoulders ?
We four were in England, sure enough ; but it seemed to us
then that we were very much alone, and about as near to
the starry world as to the definite landscape lying far away
on the plain.
We turned, however, when it was found that the road did
not lead to any view of the western country. It seemed to
run along a high level, cutting through between sand-pits,
farms, and woods ; and so we made our way back to the
bit of common overlooking Bourton ; and there we had a
few minutes' rest before getting into the small inn, whose
windows were gleaming red into the white moonlight.
"Now you must sing to us something, Mademoiselle,"
said the Lieutenant ; " and here is a fine big tree cut down,
that we can all sit on ; and you shall appear as Apollo in
disguise, charming the natives of this landscape with your
song."
"But I do not know anything that Apollo sang," said
Bell sitting down, nevertheless, and taking the guitar from
her companion.
" That is no matter. You must think yourself some one
else why not Zerlina, in this strange place, and you see
Fra Diavolo sitting alone on the rock, and you sing of him,
yes ? This is a very good place for highwaymen. I have
no doubt they have sat here, and watched the gentleman's
carriage come up the road beneath ; and then, hey ! with a
rush and a flourish of pistols, and a seizing of the horses,
and Madame shrieks in the carriage, and her husband,
trembling, but talking very brave, gives up his money, and
drives on, with much swearing, but very contented to have
no hurt."
" You are very familiar with the ways of highway robbers,"
said Bell, with a smile.
" Mademoiselle, I am an Uhlan," he replied gravely.
120 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
Two at least of the party startled the midnight air with
their laughter over this unintentional rebuke ; but Bell,
conscious of past backslidings, seemed rather discomfited,
and hastened to say that she would, if he pleased, sing the
song in which Zerlina describes the bandit.
She sang it, too, very charmingly, in that strange silence.
Knowing that we would not stare at her, she lent herself
somewhat to the character ; and we could hear the terror
of Zerlina thrilling through her experiences of the dreaded
Diavolo. " Diavolo ! Diavolo ! " the very woods around us
seemed to say. " Diavolo ! Diavolo ! " throbbed the bass
strings of the guitar ; and the girl's voice trembled in its
low tones as she pronounced the name. If any lonely
stranger had been passing along the highway at this hour,
what would he have thought of this marvellous thing, a
beautiful girl seated overhead, amid the stars, apparently,
with the moonlight striking on her exquisite face and her
masses of hair, while she sang in a low and impassioned
voice, and struck chords from some strange instrument ?
Would she not appear as some wild vision of the Lorelei ?
Or, considering that certain companions were visible, and
some talking and jesting occasionally heard, might not this
be a company of strolling play-actors, such as all honest
persons were aforetime conjured to discountenance and
suppress ? *
You know that when Zerlina has sung the first verses of
her dramatic song, Diavolo, disguised as a marquis, suddenly
rises and sings the concluding verse himself. Bell accord-
ingly handed the guitar to Count von Rosen, with a pretty
smile. But would a young man, on such a night, sing a
ballad about a mere bandit ? No ! The Lieutenant was
not averse to act the character of Diavolo, so far as his
minstrelsy went ; but he adopted one of his gentler moods.
Lightly running his fingers over the strings, he began to
* " All persons concerned are hereby desired to take notice of and
suppress all mountebanks, rope-dancers, ballad-singers, &c., that have
not a licence from the Master of his Majesty's Revels (which for the
present year are all printed with black letters, and the king's arms in
red) . . . and all those that have licences with red and black letters,
are to come to the office to change them for licences as they are now
altered. April 17, 1684."
OF A PHAETON. 121
sing of Agnese la Zitella ; and how had he learned to soften
his voice so ? The pretty Agnes was told that she was as
sweet as the Spring ; and then she is made to call forth her
lover because the night is so fair so much fairer than the
day and so silent. 'Tis a pleasant barcarolle, and conveys a
message as well as another. But lest he should be thought
too bold, probably, our Uhlan rose abruptly when he had
finished the song, and said lightly, with a laugh
" There ! was not that touching enough for Diavolo ?
He was a very accomplished person, to have all the rough
delights of a brigand, and then go about dressed as a
marquis, and amuse himself with adventures. I think
they treated him badly in the end, if I do remember
right."
Bell did not answer. She had got back the guitar.
Apparently she was looking far down over the moonlit plain
her eyes grown distant and thoughtful ; and as her fingers
wandered over the strings, we heard, almost as in a dream,
the various careless notes shape themselves into a melody
a wild, sad melody, that seemed to breathe the tenderness
and the loneliness of this still night. " Silent, Moyle,
be the sound of thy waters " perhaps that was the air ; or
perhaps it was the heart-breaking " Coolin " one could
scarcely say ; but when at last we heard no more of it,
Tita rose and said we must go indoors. There was some-
thing quite regretful in her tone. It seemed as if she
were bidding good-bye to a scene not soon to be met with
again.
The Lieutenant gave his hand to Bell, and assisted her
down the steep bank into the road ; and we passed on until
we reached the red-windowed inn. We cast a brief glance
around. Bourton lay beneath us, asleep. The great land-
scape beyond remained dark and still under the luminous
whiteness of the air. The silence seemed too sacred to be
broken.
" Good night," said Tita to the Lieutenant ; " I hope you
have spent at least one pleasant evening with us on this
journey."
" I have spent many, Madame," he said earnestly, " and
many very pleasant mornings and days, and I hope we shall
have a great many more. I do think we four ought to turn
122 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
vagrants gipsies, you call them and go away altogether,
and never go back any more to a large town."
" What do you say, Bell ? " asked Tita, with a kindly, if
half -mischievous, look.
" I suppose we get to Worcester to-morrow," said Bell,
with not much appearance of joy in her face ; and then she
bade good-night to us all, and left with my Lady.
"There it is," said the Lieutenant, with an impatient
flinging down of his cap on the table. " That is what
interferes with all our pleasure. You go away on the most
delightful excursion in the world you have the most
beautiful scenes, and pleasant companions, and freedom
everything you can wish ; and then the young lady who
ought to be more happy than anyone who is at the time of
life to have no care but to enjoy her prettiness and her good
temper, and all that who is the pleasant ornament of the
excursion, and is a great delight to all of us then she is
vexed and frightened because that this this this con-
temptible fellow threatens to meet her in one of those big
towns. Sacker-rrrr-ment ! I do hope he will come and
have it over but if he is annoying if he troubles her any
more "
Thus do we poor mortals fret and vex ourselves in the
midst of our happiest circumstances. But at last there
comes a time for sleep. And soon this solitary inn on the
height was as quiet and peaceful as the great world outside,
where the moonlight seemed to have hushed the very winds
to rest, and where the far woods and the streams and the
low hills along the edge of the land lay still and dark under
the cold majesty of the stars.
{Note l>y Queen Titania, written at Worcester on the evening of the
following day. " Any comment of mine on the foregoing is at the
moment unnecessary ; we have other matters to engage our attention.
Arthur has come. I can find no words to express the deep and serious
annoyance which this escapade is likely to cause. All our plans may
be upset ; for he can scarcely explain his present wild proceedings
without provoking some sort of final agreement with Bell. And sup-
pose she should consent to be engaged to him, how are \ve to continue
our journey ? Of course he will not allow her : if he had not disliked
it, he would not be here now. Certainly, I think Bell has acted im-
prudently ; for I told her that if she did not answer his letter, he would
be sure to imagine all manner of things, and come and confront
OF A PHAETON. 123
her. The consequence is that she is, I fear, in a great dilemma ; for
I do not see how she can avoid either refusing him altogether, or
consenting to everything that he asks. And as we can't continue our
journey till Monday, he will have a whole day to persecute her into
giving him an answer of some kind ; and then she is so foolishly good-
hearted that, if he is only pathetic enough, she will say ' yes ' to every-
thing. It is most provoking. If we could only get this one day over,
and Mm bade to London I "]
CHAPTER X.
THE AVENGEE.
"Love had ordained that it was Abra's turn
To mix the sweets, and minister the urn."
SUEELY nine o'clock was early enough for breakfast at
fchis remote little inn on the top of the hill ; and indeed,
when we parted the night before, after our moonlight
improvisation of Fra Diavolo, that was the hour agreed
upon. Nine o'clock ! Going down at a quarter past eight,
with some notion that the Lieutenant might have sat up half
the night consuming his wrath in the smoking of many
cigars, and might now be still in bed, I heard voices.
Sometimes there was a laugh and no one who had once
heard Bell's musical laugh could ever mistake it. When I
went into the parlour which had been the Lieutenant's bed-
room, I found that all traces of his occupation were gone :
a fire was burning brightly in the grate ; the breakfast tray
was laid ; and Bell sat at the open window, talking to von
Rosen himself, who was standing out on the pavement in
the full blaze of the morning sunshine that now filled the
main thoroughfare of Bourton-on-the-Hill.
Bell looked round with a startled air.
" My dear," I observed to her, " travelling is doing you a
world of good. Early rising is an excellent thing for young
people."
"I did not know when you might want to start," she
answered, gently, and rather averting her eyes for which
there was no reason whatever.
At this moment Queen Titania came down, looking brisk
and cheerful, as she always does in the morning. She
glanced at the fire, at the clean table, at Bell sitting by the
124 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
open window, and at the blaze of sunlight on the wall on the
other side of the street. Apparently, this pleasant picture
put her into an admirable humour, and she said to the
Lieutenant, with one of her brightest looks
" Well, have you been making discoveries this morning ?
Have you made the acquaintance of many people ? Has
Bourton-on-the-Hill anything peculiar about it ?
" Oh yes, Madame," said the Lieutenant seriously.
" Something very singular, which you will not like to hear.
This is an English village, in the middle of the country ; and
yet they never have any milk here never. They cannot
get any. The farmers prefer to make butter ; and they will
not sell milk on any inducement."
" Why," said Tita, " that is the reason of our having no
milk with our tea last evening ! But is there no one the
landlady can beg a little milk from ? "
The Lieutenant looked at Bell ; and that young lady
endeavoured to conceal a smile. They had evidently been
speculating on Tita's dismay before we came down.
" The great farmer in the neighbourhood," continued the
Lieutenant, gravely, " is a Mrs. Phillips. I think she owns
all the cattle all the milk. I did send to her a polite
message an hour ago, to ask if she would present us with a
little of it but no ; there is no answer. At the moment
that Mademoiselle came down, I was going up to Mrs.
Phillips's farm, to get the milk for you ; but Mademoiselle
was too proud for that, and would not allow me to go, and
said she would not take it now since the woman had
refused it."
" And how did you propose to overcome Mrs. Phillips's
obstinacy ? " asked Tita, who seemed possessed by a fear
that sooner or later the predatory instincts of this Uhlan
would get us into trouble.
" Oh, I do not know, but I should have got it some way,"
said the Lieutenant ; and with that he held out a small
book he had in his hand. " See ! I have made more
discoveries this morning. Here is a note-book I have found,
of a young lady at school, who has been staying, perhaps, at
this house ; and it has given me much amusement oh,
very much amusement, and instruction also. It is just the
same as if I had been in the school with -her, and she has
OF A PHAETON. 125
told me all about her teachers, and the other girls, and all
that. Shall I read some to you ? "
" Now, is it fair," said Bell, " to peep into a young lady's
secrets like that ? "
" But I have done so already," replied von Rosen, coolly.
" I have read it all and now I will tell you some of it.
First, there are addresses of friends that is nothing. Then
there are stitches of knitting that is nothing ; only the
young lady seems correct and methodist no, methodical, I
should say. Then there are notes of lectures ; and very much
good information in them, oh, very good indeed I am not
surprised your English young ladies know very much. Let
me see : ' Epic poetry we like, because they treat of great men
and great actions. " Paradise Lost " admired for its noble
language. Milton a Puritan. England receives solidity of
character from the Puritans. Dryden and Byron are not
read, although very great. Byron hated his own race is not
a good poet to read.' This is very good instruction ; but she
hastens now to put down something about two other girls,
who were perhaps at the lecture. She says : ' Shocking,
impertinent, ill-bred creatures ; my spirit recoils from them*
Then there is a question addressed to her neighbour : ' Do
you see how Miss Williams has got her hair done ? ' '
Here Queen Titania protested against these revelations,
and would have held out her hand for the book ; but the
Lieutenant only stepped back a few inches from the window,
and said, seriously
"There is much better information to come. Here she
puts down in order the phrases which one of the masters has
used to her class : polite phrases, she says, to use to ladies.
1. You degrade yourselves. 2. How much more kitchen-
maidism ? 3. Simply offensive. 4. It shows how you have
been brought up. 5. / will put a stop to this impertinence.
6. Silence, ladies ! 7. Pretty conduct ! I am afraid he has
had an unruly class. Then the young lady has a little
piece of composition which I think is the beginning of a
novel. She says : ' The summit of Camberwell Grove, which
forms part of the lordly elevation Jcnotvn as Denmark Hill, is
one of the most charming and secluded retreats around the
great metropolis. Here, in the spring-time, groves of lindens
put forth their joyous leaves, and birds of various colours flit
126 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
through the branches, singing hymns of praise. On the one
side, the dreary city dwells behind an enchanted veil of trees ;
on the other, you pass into emerald fields, which stretch onwards
to the Arabian magnificence of the Crystal Palace. In this
lofty and picturesque spot, Lord Arthur Beauregard was
accustomed to pace, musing on the mystery and gloom which
had enveloped him since he left the cradle? There is no more
of this very good story ; but on the next page there is a
curious thing, there are three lines all surrounded by a scroll,
and do you know what is written ? i A Woman can do ANY-
THING with a man by not contradicting him ;' and under-
neath the scroll is written, ' Don't I wish this was true ?
Helen M .' None of the rest is written so clearly as
this "
" Count von Eosen, I will not listen to any more ! " cried
Queen Tita. " It is most unfair of you to have been read-
ing this young lady's confessions "
" I get them in a public inn : I have the right, have I
not ? " remonstrated the Lieutenant. " It is not for pleasure
it is for my instruction that I read. Oh, there are very
strange things in this book."
" Pray give it to me," said Bell, quite gently.
He had refused to surrender it to my Lady ; but the
moment that Bell asked for it, he came forward and
handed it in through the window. Then he came in to
breakfast.
Little time was spent at breakfast ; the sun was shining too
brightly outside. We called for our bill, which was brought
in. It was entitled "Bill of Fare." Our dinner of the
previous evening was called tea, and charged at the rate of
one shilling a head. Our breakfasts were one shilling each.
Our bedrooms were one shilling each. Any traveller, there-
fore, who proposes to stay at Bourton-on-the-Hill, cannot
do better than put up at the inn of W. Seth Dyde, especially
as there is no other ; and I heartily wish that he may enjoy
something of the pleasant companionship, the moonlight,
and the morning freshness that graced our sojourn on the
top of this Worcestershire hill.
Then into the phaeton again, and away we go through the
white sunlight and the fresh morning breeze that is blowing
about these lofty woods ! There is a resinous odour in the
OF A PHAETON. 127
air, coming from the furze and the ferns. The road glares
in the sunlight. Overhead the still azure is scarcely flecked
by a cloud ; but all the same there is a prevailing coolness
that makes the driving through the morning air delicious.
It is a lonely country this stretch of forest and field on the
high level between Bourton and Broadway. We pass Bour-
ton Clump, and leave Bourton Wood on the right. We
skirt Upton Wold, and get on by Furze Heath. Then, all
at once, the land in front of us seems to drop down ; we
come in sight of an immense stretch of blue plain, from
which the thin mists of the morning have not wholly risen.
We are on the top of the famous Broadway Hill.
By the side of the road there is a strange, old-fashioned
little building, which is apparently a wayside chapel. Count
von Eosen jumps down to have a look at this odd relic of
our former Catholicism, which has remained on the summit
of this hih 1 for several centuries. He can discover nothing
but a sign which tells that this sacred edifice now contains
wines, spirits, and beer ; so he comes back, and goes up to
the corner of a field opposite, where a middle-aged man,
surrounded by some young folks, is making hay. In the
utter stillness of the place, we can hear ah 1 the questions and
answers. The small building is not so very old ; it never
was a church. The stones there mark the boundary
between Gloucester and Worcester. The view from this
place is considered unrivalled for extent ; you can see the
Black Sandy Mountains on a very clear day.
" Indeed ! " says the Count. " Where are they, the
mountains you speak of ? "
" I don' knaw, sir I've heered tell on 'em I never wur
theear."
Going down this steep hill Tita looks anxious. A bad
stumble, and we should go rolling over the little wall into
the ravine beneath. One has a far-off reminiscence of
Switzerland in watching the horses hanging back from the
pole in this fashion, while every bend of the road seems
more precipitous than its predecessor. Then we get down to
the plain, rattle through the level and straggling village of
Broadway, and drive into the fields again, where the sun is
lying warmer than it was up over the top of the hill.
There is a small boy in a smockfrock sitting underneath
128 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
the hedge, whittling a stick, while a shepherd's dog lies on
the grass beside him.
" Evesham ? " calls out the Count, as we pass, merely
because there has been a little doubt about the road.
" Naw, zir," was the answer, uttered with a fine com-
posure.
Of course we pull up directly.
" Isn't this the way to Evesham ? " I ask.
"Yaas, zir," says the boy, coolly looking up from his.
stick, but sitting still.
i This is the way to Evesham ? "
' Yaas, zir."
' Do you know where it is ? "
' Naw, zir."
* He is a very cautious boy," says the Lieutenant, as we
dr ve on ; "a very cautious boy indeed."
" If he had been asked properly at first," says BeU, with
great gravity, " he would have given a proper answer. But
when you say, ' Evesham ? ' of course the boy tells you this
is not Evesham."
Evesham, when we did get to it, was found to be a very
bright, clean, and lively little town, with the river Avon,
slowly gliding through flat meadows, forming a sort of loop
around it. In the quaint streets a good amount of business
seemed to be going on ; and as we put up at the Crown, and
went off for a brief ramble through the place, we found
quite an air of fashion in the costume of the young ladies
and the young gentlemen whom we met. But the latter,
although they had copied very accurately the Prince of
Wales's dress of the previous year, and had very stiff collars
and prominent canes, had an odd look of robust health in
their cheeks, which showed they were not familiar with
Piccadilly and the Park ; while the former, although they
were very pretty and very neatly attired, ought not to have
turned and pretended to look into the shop-windows in order
to have a scrutiny of Bell's pretty grey dress and hat, and
of Queen Titania's more severe but no less graceful costume.
But Evesham does not often entertain two angels unawares ;
and some little curiosity on the part of its inhabitants may
be forgiven.
The people of Evesham are not much given to boating on
OF A PHAETON. 129
the Avon ; and so postponing our usual river excursion
until we should reach the Severn Bell besought us to go
into a photographer's establishment, and make experiments
with our appearance. The artist in question lived in a
wooden house on wheels ; and there were specimens of his
handiwork nailed up outside. Our entrance apparently
surprised the photographer, who seemed a little nervous, and
perhaps was a trifle afraid that we should smile at his efforts
in art. But surely nothing could be more kindly than Bell's
suggestions to him and her conversation with him ; for she,
as a " professional " herself, conducted the negotiations and
arranged the groups. The artist, charmed to see that she
knew all about his occult processes, and that she was withal
a very courteous and kindly visitor, became almost too con-
fidential with her, and began to talk to her of us three as if
we were but blocks of wood and of stone to be played with
as these two savants chose. Of the result of the various
combinations into which we were thus forced, little need be
said. Queen Titania came out very well ; her pale, dark,
clear-cut face telling in every picture, and even making us
forget the tawdry bit of brass and the purple velvet of the
frame. As for the rest of us, a journey is not a good time
to have one's portrait taken. The flush of healthy colour
produced by the wind, and by much burning of the sun,
may look well on the natural face, but is apt to produce
a different effect on glass.
The Lieutenant, for example, roared with laughter when
he saw himself transfigured into a ferocious bandit, with a
great black beard, a dark face, and two white holes where
his eyes should have been. But the moment he had
laughed out, he caught sight of Bell. The young lady
looked very much vexed, and her eyes were cast down.
Instantly the young man said, loud enough for the photo-
grapher to hear
" I do seem to myself very ridiculous in this English
costume. When you are used to uniforms for a very long-
time, and all at once get into this common dress, you think
yourself some other person, and you cannot help laughing at
the appearance yourself makes."
Bell's eyes said ; " Thank you " as plainly as eyes could
speak ; and then she paid a very grave and gentle compliment
130 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
to the artist, whom we left beaming over with pride and
gratitude towards the young lady.
" To go flirting with a travelling photographer ! " says
Queen Tita, as we go in to luncheon. " For shame, Bell ! "
" No, it was only Mademoiselle's good nature to the poor
man," replies the Lieutenant, with an unnecessary tone of
earnest protest. " I do think he is the very happiest person
in Evesham that he has not been so happy for many and
many a day."
" I think the portraits are very good," says Bell, bravely,
" if you consider how he has to work."
"Now you know you can't excuse yourself, Bell," says
my Lady. " You paid him compliments that would have
turned any man's head ; and as for the truth of them or
rather the unblushing perversion of truth in them
But at this moment Tita happened to be passing Bell's
chair, and she put her hand very gently on the young lady's
head and patted her cheek a little caressing action which
said more than a thousand protestations of endearment.
Our setting out for Worcester was rather a dismal busi-
ness. Were we school-children who had been playing
truant, that we should regard with apprehension a return to
town ? Or were Bell's vague fears contagious ? In vain
the Lieutenant sought to cheer her. She knew, and we all
of us knew, that if Arthur Ashburton chose to come and ask
to see her, nothing could be easier than for him to discover
our whereabouts. He was aware of our route, and had been
told the names of the principal places at which we should
stop. A party of four arriving from London in a phaeton
is not a customary occurrence ; and a brief inquiry at the
chief hotels in any town would be likely to give him all the
information he required.
Then, as we afterwards discovered, Bell had returned no
answer to the letter he had sent to Oxford. She had been
too much hurt, and had forborne to reply in kind. Who
does not know the distracting doubts and fears that an un-
answered letter when one is at a certain age in life may
conjure up, and the terrible suspense that may prompt to
the wildest action ? We seemed to share in Bell's dismay.
The Lieutenant, however, was light-hearted enough ; and, as
he relinquished his attempts to break the silence, he sent the
OF A PHAETON. 131
horses on at a good pace, and hummed to himself broken
snatches of a ballad, and talked caressingly to Castor and
Pollux.
When we were a few miles from Evesham, without having
seen anywhere a glimpse of the obelisk that stands on the
famous Evesham plain, it occurred to us that we might as
well ask if we were on the proper road. There seemed a
curious quietness and picturesqueness about the wooded
lanes through which we were driving in the calm of the
twilight. At length we reached a turnpike at the corner of
several unfrequented paths ; and here an old lady was con-
tentedly sewing, while her assistant, a pretty little girl of
thirteen, collected the sixpences. Well, we had only come
about five miles out of our route. Instead of going by
Pershore, we had struck away northward, and were now in a
labyrinth of country lanes, by any one of which we might
make our way along through the still landscape to Worcester.
Indeed, we had no cause to regret this error. The out-of-
the-way road that runs by Flyford Flavell and Broughton
Hackett proved to be one of the pleasantest we had traversed.
In the clear twilight we found ourselves driving through a
silent and picturesque district, the only life visible in which
was the abundant game. The partridges that were dusting
themselves in the highway before us did not get up and
disappear with a strong, low flight towards some distant
field, but walked sedately into the grass by the roadside, and
then passed through the hedge. We saw several pheasants
calmly standing at the outskirts of the woods. The plump
little rabbits ran about like mice around the fences. The
sound of the phaeton wheels was the only noise heard in this
peaceful solitude ; and as we drove on, the dusk grew apace ;
and the movements of bird and beast were no longer visible.
Then a new twilight arose a faint clear light shining up
from below the horizon, and we knew that the moon would
speedily be glimmering through the black branches of the
trees. The hamlets we passed showed streaks of red within
their windows. There were glowworms in the road points
of blue fire in the vague darkness. Then we drove into the
gloom of the avenues of Spetchley Park ; and finally, with
still another glare appearing in the heavens this time a
ruddy hue like the reflection of a Great fire we got nearer
K 2
I 3 2 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
and nearer to the busy town, and at last heard the horses'
hoofs clattering on a stone street.
The thoroughfares of Worcester were busy on this Satur-
day night; but at length we managed to make 'our way
through the people and vehicles up to the Star Hotel. "We
drove into the spacious archway, and passed into the hall,
while the people were bringing in our luggage. The Lieu-
tenant was, as usual, busy in giving orders about everything,
when the head waiter came up and begged to know my
name. Then he presented a card.
" The gentleman is staying at the ' Crown.' Shall I send
him a message, sir ? "
" No," says Tita, interposing ; " I will write a note, and
ask him to come round to dinner or supper, whichever it
ought to be called."
" Oh, has Arthur come ? " says Bell, quite calmly.
" So it appears, my dear," answers Queen Titania ; and
as she utters the words, she finds that von Rosen has come
up and has heard.
" All right," he says, cheerfully. " It will be a pleasure
to have a visitor at dinner, Madame, will it not ? It is a
pity we cannot take him further with us when we start on
Monday ; but I suppose he has come on business to Wor-
cester ? "
The Lieutenant took the matter very coolly. He con-
ducted Bell and Tita upstairs to look after the disposal of
their effects ; and then came into the dining-room to see
what arrangements had been made about dinner.
" If he behaves himself, that is very well and good. You
must treat him civilly. But if not if he is foolish and
disagreeable, why
The Lieutenant did not say what would happen then. He
bethought himself of the horses ; and strode away down into
the darkness of the yard, humming lightly, " Miidele, ruck,
ruck, ruck, an meine grime Seite ! " He was evidently in
no warlike mood.
OF A PHAETON. 133
CHAPTER XI.
SOME WORCESTER SAUCE.
" Faire Emmeline scant had ridden a mile,
A mile forth of the towne,
When she was aware of her father's men
Come galloping over the downe :
" And foremost came the carlish knight,
Sir John of the north countraye;
'Nowe stop, nowe stop, thou false traitoure, '"]
Nor carrye that ladye awaye ! ' "
" MY dear," I say to Queen Titania, as she is fastening
a rose in her hair before going down to dinner, "pray
remember that Arthur Ashburton is 'also a vertebrate
animal.' He has done nothing monstrous or inhuman in
paying you a visit."
u Paying me a visit ? " says Tita, impatiently. " If he
had come to see me, I should not care. But you know that
he has come to pick a quarrel with Bell ; and that she is
likely to grant him everything he asks ; and, if she does
not, there will be infinite trouble and vexation. I consider
it most provoking, and most thoughtless and inconsiderate
on his part, to thrust himself upon us in this way."
" And yet, after all," I say, as she fastens on a bracelet
which was given her a. long time ago, "is there anything
more natural ? A young man is in love with a young
woman "
" It is his own fault," she interposes.
" Perhaps. So much the worse. He ought all the more
to have your compassion, instead of your indignant scorn.
"Well, she leaves his charming society to go off on a wild
rampage through the country. A possible rival accompanies
her. The young man is torn asunder with doubts and fears.
He writes to her. She does not answer. His anxiety
becomes a madness ; and forthwith he sets off in pursuit
of her. Is there anything in all this to brand him as an
outcast from humanity ? "
" Why, look at the folly of it ! If the girl had proper
spirit, would it not drive her into refusing him alto-
gether ? "
i 3 4 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
" Foolish, my dear, yes ! but not criminal. Now the
whole of you seem to look on Arthur as a monster of
wickedness, because he is anxious to marry the girl he is
fond of."
My Lady alters the disposition of the thin tracery of
silver cord which runs through the dark masses of her hair,
and as she thus manages to shelve the subject, she says
" I suppose we shall have a pleasant time at dinner.
Arthur will be fiercely amusing. Plenty of sarcasm going
about. Deadly looks of hatred. Jokes as heavy as that
one Bell talks of that was carried to the window by four
men, and killed a policeman when it tumbled over."
My Lady is gently reminded that this story was told of a
German, before the date of Bell's conversion ; whereupon
she answers coolly
" Oh, I do not suppose that Count von Rosen is like all
Germans. I think he is quite an exception a very
creditable exception. I know I have never met anyone the
least like him before."
"But heroas were not common in your county, were
they ? "
" They were in yours," says Tita, putting her arm within
mine, and speaking with the most gracious sweetness ; " and
that was why people took no notice of you."
We go downstairs. At the head of the large dining-room,
in front of the fireplace, a young man is standing. He has
a time-table in his hand, which he is pretending to read,
and his hat is on his head. He hastily removes that most
important part of an Englishman's attire, when my Lady
enters the room, and then he comes forward with a certain
apprehension and embarrassed look on his face. If he had
been growing nervous about his reception, there was nothing,
at all events, to be feared from Queen Titania, who would
have welcomed the * * * himself with an effusive courtesy,
if only she had regarded it as her duty.
" Oh, Arthur," she says, her whole face lighting up with
a gladness which amazed even one who was accustomed to
watch her ways, " I am really delighted to see you. How
good of you to come and spend the evening with us on so
short a notice. I hope we have not taken you away from
any other engagement ? "
OF A PHAETON. 135
" No," says the young man, apparently very much
touched by her kindness, " and and it is I who ought to
apologise for breaking in on you like this."
" Then you will spend to-morrow with us also ? " says
my Lady, quite pleasantly. Indeed, there is nothing like
facing the inevitable with a good grace.
" Yes," says Arthur, rather humbly, " if you think I'm
not intruding."
" Why, your coming will be quite a relief ! I should
never have forgiven you if you had been in our neighbour-
hood without coming to see us."
You might think that this little speech was of the nature
of a fib. But it was not, just at that moment. When
people are absent, Tita is about as cool, and accurate, and
severe in her judgment of them as any woman can be ; and
she is not disinclined to state her opinion. But once they
come near her and especially if she has to play the part of
hostess, and entertain them the natural and excessive
kindness of the woman drives her into the most curious
freaks of unconscious hypocrisy. Half an hour before she
had been talking of Arthur in a way that would have
considerably astonished that young man, if he had known ;
and had been looking forward with dismay and vexation to
all the embarrassments of his visit. Now, however, that he
was here thrown on her mercy as it were she showed
him a quite inordinate kindness, and that in the most honest
way in the world. A couple of minutes sufficed to convince
Arthur that he had at least one firm friend in our house-
hold.
He began to look anxiously towards the door. Presently,
a voice he knew pretty well was heard outside ; and then
ominous conjunction ! the Lieutenant and Bell entered
together. Yon Rosen had held the door open for his
companion, so that. Bell advanced first towards our visitor.
Her face was quite calm and a trifle reserved ; and yet every
one could see that as she shook hands with the young man,
there was a timid, half-concealed look of pleasure and
welcome in her eyes. He, on his part, was gloomily
ceremonious. He scarcely took any notice of the greeting
which the Lieutenant carelessly addressed to him. He
accompanied us over to the table, and took a seat on the
136 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
right hand of Tita, with a silence that portended evil. We
were likely to have a pleasant evening.
Had he possessed a little more worldly prudence or savoir
faire, he would now have made some light excuse for his
being present. He ought, for form's sake, to have given us
to understand that, as he was obliged to be in Oxford, he
had come on by rail to pay us a visit. But as it was, no
explanation was forthcoming. Our Apemantus had appa-
rently dropped from the skies. He looked very uncomfort-
able ; and replied in monosyllables to the various and
continuous remarks that Tita addressed to him. He had
never spoken to Bell, who sat next him, and who was
herself silent. Indeed, the constraint and embarrassment
from which she was suffering began to vex the Lieutenant,
who strove in vain to conquer it by every means in his
power.
The barometer steadily fell. The atmosphere grew more
and more gloomy, until a storm of some sort was inevitable.
The anxious efforts of Queen Tita to introduce some cheer-
fulness were touching to see ; and as for Bell, she joined
in the talk about our journey, and what we had seen, in a
series of disconnected observations that were uttered in a
low and timid tone, as if she were afraid to draw down
lightning from the thunder-clouds. Lieutenant von Rosen
had at first addressed a word or two to our guest ; but
finding the labour not productive, he had dropped him
entirely out of the conversation. Meanwhile Arthur had
drunk a glass or two of sherry. He was evidently nettled
at finding the Lieutenant almost monopolizing attention ;
for Tita herself had given up in despair, and was con-
tent to listen. Yon Rosen was speaking as usual of the
differences between English and German ways, and social
aims, and what not, until at last he drifted into some men-
tion of the Republican phenomena that had recently been
manifested in this country.
Now what conceivable connection is there between the
irritation of an anxious lover and Republicanism ? Master
Arthur had never alarmed any of us by professing wild
opinions on that subject or on any other. We never knew
that the young man had any political views, beyond a sort of
nebulous faith in the Crown and the Constitution. Con-
OF A PHAETON. 137
sider, therefore, our amazement when, at this moment, he
boldly and somewhat scornfully announced himself a Demo-
crat, and informed us that the time was come for dismissing
old superstitions and destroying the last monopolies of
feudalism. There would be a heavy account to settle with
the aristocracy that had for generations made laws to secure
its own interests, and tied up the land of the country so
that an idle population had to drift into the big towns and
become paupers. All this was over. New times were at
hand. England was ripe for a great revolution ; and woe
to them that tried to stem the tide !
The explanation of which outburst was merely this that
Arthur was so angry and impatient with the state of things
immediately around him, that he was possessed with a wild
desire to upset and destroy something. And there is nothing
so easy to upset and destroy, in rhetoric, as the existing
political basis of the country.
Well, we looked at the lad. His face w T as still aglow ;
and there was something of triumph as well as of fierceness
in it. The hero of the old Silesian song, when his sweet-
heart has forgotten the vows she made, and the ring she
gave him is broken in two, would like to rush away into
battle, and sleep by camp-fires, under the still night. But
nothing half so ordinary would do for our fire-eater, who,
because he could not very well kill a Prussian lieutenant,
must needs attack the British Crown. Was there any one
of us four inclined to resent this burst of sham heroics ?
Was there not in it something of the desperation of wretched-
ness that was far more entitled to awaken compassion ? Had
Arthur been less in love, he would have been more prudent.
Had he controlled his emotions in that admirable fashion
with which most of our young gentlemen now-a-days seem
to set about the business of choosing a wife, he would not
have made himself absurd. There was something almost
pitiable in this wild, incoherent, ridiculous effort of a young
man to do or say something striking and picturesque before
the eyes of a girl whose affections he feared w r ere drifting
away from him.
The Lieutenant, to whom this outbreak was particularly
addressed, took the affair very good-naturedly. He said,
with a smile
138 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
" Do you know who will be the most disappointed, if you
should have a Republic in England ? Why, the Republicans
that are very anxious for it just now. Perhaps some of them
are very respectable men yes, I believe that ; but if I am
not wrong, the men who make the great fuss about it in
your nation are not like that. Agitators is not that what
you call them ? And, if you have England a Republic, do
you think the government of the country will be given to
those noisy persons of the present ? No that is not
possible, I think. When the Republic comes, if it does
come at all and I do not know how much force is in this
demonstration all your great men, your well-educated men,
your men of good position and good breeding and good
feeling they will all come forward, as they do now, to see
that the country is properly governed. And what will
become of the present Republicans, who are angry because
they cannot get into Parliament, and who wish for a change
that they may become great persons ? When you take away
the Crown, they will not all be kings, I think : there is too
much of good sense in this country, and of public spirit,
that makes your best men give up their own comfort to look
after the government and so it will be then."
" I hope there will be no violent change in our time, at
least," said Queen Tita.
" Madame is anxious about the Church, I know," re-
marked the Lieutenant, with great gravity ; but he looked
at Bell, and Bell could not altogether conceal a smile.
Arthur, watching them both, noticed that little bit of
private understanding ; and the gloom on his face visibly
deepened.
This must be said, however, that when an embarrassing
evening is unavoidable, a dinner is the best method of tiding
it over. The various small incidents of the feast supply any
ominous gaps in the conversation ; and there is, besides, a
thawing influence in good meat and drink which the fiercest
of tempers finds it hard to withstand. After the ebullition
about Republicanism, Arthur had quieted somewhat. By
the time we had got down to the sweets, and perhaps with
the aid of a little champagne the lad never drank much at
any time, I ought to say his anger had become modified
into a morose and sentimental melancholy ; and when he
OF A PHAETON. 139
did manage to speak to Bell, he addressed her iu a wistful
and pathetic manner, as if she were some one on board a
vessel and he saw her gradually going away from him, her
friends, and her native land. One little revelation, never-
theless, comforted him greatly ; and lovers apt to magnify
their misfortunes will note that he might have enjoyed this
solace long before if only he had exercised the most ordinary
frankness.
" You got a letter I sent you to Oxford, I suppose ? " he
said, with a studied carelessness.
" Yes," said Bell, with a little conscious colour in her
face, as she bent down her eyes.
" I am glad I had the chance of seeing you to-night," he
continued, with the same effort at self-possession, " because
I I fancied you might be unwell or some accident hap-
pened since you did not send the telegram I begged of
you."
Here an awful moment of silence intervened. Everybody
trembled for Bell's reply, which might provoke the cata-
strophe we had been seeking to postpone.
" It was only yesterday morning I got your letter," Bell
said, apparently feeling the silence uncomfortable ; " and
and I meant to have answered it to-night "
" Oh, you were going to answer it ? " he asked, with his
face suddenly getting bright.
"Yes," she answered, looking up with some surprise.
" You did not suppose I wouldn't answer it ? "
In fact, that was just what he had supposed, considering
that she had been grievously offended by the tone of his
letter.
" I meant to have let you know how we all were, and
how far we had got," she said, conveying an intimation
that this sort of letter might be sent by anybody to any-
body.
Nevertheless, Arthur greatly recovered himself after this
assurance. She had not broken off with him, after all.
He explained that the letter must have been delayed on the
way, or she would have got it the day before. He drank
another glass of champagne, and said, with a laugh, that he
had meditated surprising us, but that the design had failed,
for everyone seemed to have expected him.
i4o TJfJS STRANGE ADVENTURES
" I only came down this afternoon ; and I suppose I
must go back on Monday," he remarked, ruefully.
This looked so very like a request for an invitation that
I was bound to offer him a seat in the phaeton, if he did
not mind a little discomfort. You should have seen the
look of amazement and indignation which my Lady darted
across the table at this moment. Fortunately, Arthur did
not notice it. He said he was very much obliged he
feared he would have to return if he went with us for a
day or two, he would inconvenience us sadly but he would
consider it before Monday morning.
After dinner, von Rosen got up and proposed that he and
I should go down to the billiard-room which is in the end
of the building abutting on the stable-yard and smoke
a cigar. Surely generosity could go no further. Arthur
looked surprised ; and wore quite a pleasant smile on his
face when we rose and left.
But perhaps it was merely selfishness that caused our
Uhlan to leave the field ; for as we two went down the
passage, and made our way up to the spacious room he
said
" I am rather sorry for Mademoiselle. She does not seem
to be very glad to meet her old friend perhaps because he
is not in a good temper. That is why I did say we should
go and play billiards there will be a chance of an explana-
tion and to-morrow he will be all right. It is foolish of
him to be disagreeable. All this time of dinner, I w r as
thinking to myself how well he might make himself
agreeable if he only wished with knowing all the polite
phrases with ease, and being able to talk without thinking.
For me, that is different, you know. I am bound in by
stupid limits ; and when I think to say something nice to
anyone then I stop because I know nothing of the words
just like at a wall."
He sent the red ball up and down the table in rather a
peevish manner ; he felt that Arthur had an advantage,
perhaps.
" But you talk English remarkably well."
" But I have remarked that you English always say that to
a foreigner, and will not tell him when he is wrong. I know
I am often wrong and always about your past tenses your
OF A PHAETON. 141
* was loving ' and '-did love? and ' loved ' and like that ; and
I believe I am very wrong with always saying ' do ' and
* did? for I studied to give myself free speaking English
many years ago, and the book I studied was ' Pepys' Diary,'
because it is all written in the first person, and by a man of
good station. Now I find you do not say ' I did think?
but ' / thought? only it is very hard to remember. And as
for pronunciation, I know I am very wrong."
Well, he had certainly marked forms of pronunciation,
which I have considered it unnecessary to reproduce in
recording his talk. He said '/ hef for '/ have? and 'a
goot shawt 'for ' a good shot. 1 He also made occasional
blunders in accent, through adopting the accent of the Latin
word from which the English word is derived. But what
were such trifles to the main fact that he could make
himself well understood ?
" But this is very strange," he said ; " how much more
clearly Mademoiselle speaks than any English lady, or any
English person I have known yet. It is very remarkable to
me, how I have great difficulty to follow people who talk
like as if they had several tongues rolling in their mouth
and others speak very fast and others let the ends of the
words slide away ; but Miss Bell, she is always clear, distinct,
and very pleasant to hear ; and then she never speaks very
loud, as most of your people do to a foreigner."
" Perhaps," I observed, " there is a reason for Bell's
clearness of speech." .
" Why ? "
" Perhaps she takes pains to be very distinct in talking to
you, while she manages not to shoAV it. Perhaps other
people can notice that she speaks with a little more
deliberation to you than to anyone else."
Yon Eosen was obviously much struck.
" Is that possible ? " he said, with his eyes full of wonder.
" I have not noticed that she did talk slow to me."
" No she conceals it admirably ; but all the same such
is the fact. It is not so much slowness as a sort of careful
precision of pronunciation that she affects and you ought
to be very grateful for such consideration."
" Oh, I think it is very good of her very good indeed
and I would thank her for it "
H2 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
"No ; don't do that, or you will have no more of it.
And at present my Lady is catching up a trick of talking
in the same way."
" It is very kind," said the Lieutenant, turning to the
table with rather a thoughtful manner. " You would not
have expected a young girl like that to be so reflective of
other people."
Then he broke the balls ; and by fair strength of arm
screwed the white into the corner pocket. Nobody was
more astonished than himself, except the marker. It was,
indeed, the first losing hazard he had ever made, he never
having played before on a table with pockets. His next
stroke was not so successful ; and so he consoled himself
with lighting a Partagas about eight inches in length.
" At all events," he continued, " your language has not
the difference of ' Sie ' and ' duj which is a great advantage.
Oh, it is a very perplexing thing sometimes. Suppose you
do know a young lady very well, and you have agreed with
her in private you shall always call each other ' du ; ' and
then before other people you call her ' Sie ' it is very hard
not to call her ' duj by mistake, and then everyone jumps
up, and stares at you, and all the secret is known. That is
a very terrible thing."
" And please what is the interesting ceremony with which
you drink briiderschaft with a young lady ? The same as
usual ? a large jug of beer your arms intertwined "
" No no no ! " he cried. "It is all a mystery. You
shall not know anything of that. But it is very good it
is a very pleasant thing to have ~brudersclwft with a young
lady although you drink no beer, and have no ceremonies
about it."
" And what did Fraulein Fallersleben's mamma say when
you called her daughter ' du ' by mistake ? "
The large empty room resounded with the Lieutenant's
laughter.
" That is a good guess oh ! a very good guess but not
just good enough. For it was she who did call me ' du ; '
and all the people were surprised and then some did laugh
but she herself oh ! she was very angry with herself, and
with me too, and for some time she called me ' Sie ' even
when we were together, until it was likely to be a quarrel.
OF A PHAETON. 143
But one more quarrel," added the Lieutenant, with in-
difference, "was not much matter. It was usually one
every day and then writing of sorrowful letters at the
night and next morning some reconciliation SacJcerment I
what is the use of talking of all that nonsense ? "
And then once more the ball flew about the table ; finally
lodging in a pocket, and scoring three for a miss. Indeed,
our Uhlan was not at home with our big English tables,
their small balls, pointed cues, and perpetual pockets. Even
when he got a good chance of a cannon, the smallness of
the balls caused him to fail entirely. But he had a very
excellent cigar. It was something to be away from the
embarrassment that had prevailed at dinner. Perhaps, too,
he enjoyed a certain sense of austere self-satisfaction in
having left to Arthur full possession of the field. On the
whole he enjoyed himself very well ; and then, our cigars
being finished, we had a final look at the horses, and
eventually returned to the coffee-room.
" I am afraid," said von Kosen, with some alarm, " we
have been negligent of our duties."
Master Arthur had left some half-hour before. The
ladies had retired. Only one or two of the heaviest topers
were left in the bar-parlour ; the waiters looked as if they
considered their week's work fairly over.
" Tell me," said my Prussian friend, as he got his candle,
" is that young gentleman corning round here to-morrow ? "
" Probably he is."
" Do you not think, then, it would be good to hire a
vehicle and go away somewhere for a drive all the day
before he comes ? "
" To-morrow is Sunday."
"Well?"
" Do you fancy you would get either Bell or my Lady to
go driving on Sunday ? Don't you propose such a thing,
if you are wise ! There is a Cathedral in this town ; and
the best thing you can do is to study its history and associa-
tions early in the morning. You will have plenty of time
to think over them to-morrow, inside the building itself."
" Oh, I do not object to that," he remarked, coolly, as he
went upstairs ; " and I do not care to have too much driving
it is only to prevent Mademoiselle being annoyed, as I
144 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
think she was at dinner this evening that is all. I suppose
we may go for a walk to-morrow after the church-time ?
And he will come ? Very well, he will not harm me, I am
sure ; but but it is a pity that is all."
And with this somewhat mysterious conclusion, the
Lieutenant disappeared towards his own room.
CHAPTER XII.
THE BIVALS.
" When on the gentle Severn's sedgy bank,
In single opposition, hand to hand,
He did confound the best part of an hour
In changing hardiment with great Glendower."
" IP we could only get over this one day " that was the
burden of Queen Tita's sorrow the next morning. Arthur
had been invited to breakfast, and had declined ; but he
was coming round to go with us to the Cathedral. There-
after, everything to Tita's mind was chaos. She dared
hardly think of what the day might bring forth. In vain
I pointed out to her that this day was but as another day ;
and that if any deeds of wrath or vengeance were hidden
away in the vague intentions of our young friend from
Twickenham, there was no particular safety gained in
tiding over a single Sunday.
" At all events," says my Lady, firmly, " you cannot do
anything so imprudent as press him to accompany us further
on our journey."
" Cannot the phaeton hold five ? "
" You knoAV it cannot, comfortably. But that is not
the question. For my own part, I don't choose to have a
holiday spoilt by provoking a series of painful scenes, which
I know will occur. We may manage to humour him to-
day, and get him to leave us in an amiable mood ; but it
would be impossible to do it two days running. And I am
not sure even about this one day."
"But what prevents his dropping down on us at any
time say at Shrewsbury or Chester or Carlisle just as
he has done here at Worcester ? "
"I will."
OP A PHAETON. 145
That was enough. Having some regard for the young-
man, I hoped he would submit quietly. But lovers are
headstrong ; and jealousy, when it is thoroughly aroused,
leaves no place in the mind for fear.
It was a bright morning. We could see, through the
wire screens of the windows, the Worcester folks walking
along the pavements with the sunlight shining on their
Sunday finery.
The Lieutenant, as we hurriedly despatched breakfast
for we were rather late gave us his usual report.
" A very fine town," he said, addressing himself chiefly
to Tita, who was always much interested in his morning
rambles, " with old religious buildings, and houses with ivy,
and high walls to keep back the river. There is a large
race-course, too, by the river ; and on the other side a fine
suburb, built on a high bank, among trees. There are
many pleasant walks by the Severn, when you get further
down ; but I will show you all the place when we go out
of the Cathedral. This is a great day at the Cathedral,
they say a Chief Sheriff of the county, I think they call
him, is living at this hotel, and he is going ; and you see
those people ? they are loitering about to see him drive
away."
Even as he spoke, two resplendent creatures in grey and
gold, resembling beef-eaters toned down in colour and
gilded, advanced to the archway of the hotel, with long
trumpets in their hands. These they suddenly lifted, and
then down the quiet street sounded a loud fanfare, which
was very much like those announcements that tell us, in an
historical play, that the King approaches. Then a vehicle
drove away from the door ; the High Sheriff had gone to
the Cathedral ; while our breakfast was not even yet
finished.
" He does not have the trumpets sounded every time he
leaves the hotel ? " said the Lieutenant, returning from the
window. " Then why when he goes to church ? Is it
exceptional for a High Sheriff to go to church, that he calls
attention to it with trumpets ? "
At this moment, Arthur entered the room. He glanced
at us all rather nervously. There was less complaisance,
too, in his manner, than when we last saw him ; the sooth-
L
146 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
ing influences of dinner had departed. He sainted us all in
a somewhat cool way, and then addressed himself exclusively
to my Lady. For Bell he had scarcely a word.
It is hard to say how Queen Tita managed, as we left the
hotel, to attach Bell and herself to Master Arthur ; but
such was the result of her dexterous manoeuvres ; and in
this fashion we hurriedly walked along to the Cathedral.
There was a great commotion visible around the majestic
building. A considerable crowd had collected to see the
High Sheriff ; and policemen were keeping a lane for those
who wished to enter. Seeing that we were late, and that
the High Sheriff was sure to draw many after him, we
scarcely expected to get inside ; but that, at least, was
vouchsafed us ; and presently we found ourselves stepping
quietly over the stone flooring. All the seats in the body
of the Cathedral being occupied, we took up a position by
one of the great pillars, and there were confronted by a
scene sufficiently impressive to those of us who had been
accustomed to the ministrations of a small parish church.
Far away before us rose the tall and graceful lines of the
architecture, until, in the distance, they were lost in a haze
of sunlight streaming in from the south a glow of golden
mist that struck upon the northern pillars, throwing up a
vague reflection that showed us something of the airy region
in which the lines of the great arches met. We could catch
a glimpse, too, of the white-dressed choir, beyond the sombre
mass of the people that filled the nave. And when the
hushed, deep tones of the organ prelude had ceased to
sound along the lofty aisles, there rose the distant and
plaintive chanting of the boys ; then the richer tones of the
bass came in ; and then again burst forth that clear, sweet,
triumphant treble, that seemed to be but a single voice
ringing softly and distantly through the vast building. I
knew what would occur then. Somehow Tita managed to
slip away from us, and get into the shadow of the pillar,
with her head bent down, and her hand clasped in Bell's ;
and the girl stood so that no one should see her friend's
face, for there were tears running fast down it. It is a sad
story, that has been already briefly mentioned in these
memoranda. Many years ago she lost a young brother, to
whom she was deeply attached. He used to sing in the
OF A PHAETON. 14?
choir of the village church. Now, whenever she listens to
a choir singing that she cannot see, nothing will convince
her that she does not hear the voice of her brother in the
clear, distant music ; and more than once it has happened
that the uncontrollable emotions caused by this wild
superstition have thoroughly unnerved her. For days after,
she has been haunted by the sound of that voice, as if it
had brought her a message from the other world as if she
had been nearly vouchsafed a vision that had been somehow
snatched away from her, leaving behind an inexplicable
longing and unrest. Partly on that account, and partly by
reason of the weariness produced by constant standing, we
were not sorry to steal out of the Cathedral when the first
portion of the service was over ; and so we found ourselves
once more in the sweet air and the sunlight.
There was an awkward pause. Tita rather fell behind,
and endeavoured to keep herself out of sight ; while the
other members of the party seemed uncertain as to how they
should attach themselves. Fortunately, our first movement
was to go round and inspect the curious remains of the old
Cathedral, which are yet visible ; and as these were close
at hand, we started off in a promiscuous manner, and got
round and under King Edgar's tower without any open
rupture.
How still and quiet lay the neighbourhood of the great
church on this beautiful Sunday morning ! It seemed as if
all the life of the place were gathered within that noble
building ; while out here the winds from over the meadows,
and the sunlight, and the fleecy clouds overhead, were left
to play about the strange old passages, and sunken arches,
and massive gateways, and other relics of former centuries.
The bright light that lay warm on the fresh grass, and on the
ivied walls about, lit up the flaky red surface of the ancient
tower, and showed us the bruised effigy of King Edgar in
sharp outline ; while through the gloom of the archway we
could see beyond the shimmering green of a mass of elms,
with their leaves moving in the sun. From thence we
passed down to the river wall, where the Lieutenant read
aloud the following legend inscribed near the gate : " On
the 18th of November, 1770, the Flood rose to the lower
edge of this Brass Plate, being ten inches higher than the
L 2
148 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
Flood which happen'd on December 23, 1672." And then
we went through the arch, and found ourselves on the banks
of the Severn, with its bridges, and boats, and locks, and
fair green meadows, all as bright and as cheerful as sunlight
could make them.
Tita and myself, I know, would at this moment have
given a good deal to get away from these young folks and
their affairs. What business of ours was it that there
should be a " third wheel to the cart," as the Germans say ?
Arthur was sadly out of place ; but how could we help it ?
My Lady having fallen rather behind as we started on our
leisurely stroll along the river, Bell, the Lieutenant, and
Arthur were forced to precede us. The poor girl was
almost silent between them. Yon Kosen was pointing out
the various objects along the stream ; Arthur, in no amiable
mood, throwing in an occasional sarcastic comment. Then
more silence. Arthur breaks away from them, and honours
us with his company. Sometimes he listens to what my
Lady says to him ; but more often he does not, and only
scowls at the two young folks in front. He makes irrelevant
replies. There is a fierceness in his look. I think at this
moment he would have been glad to have embraced Mor-
monism, or avowed his belief in Strauss, or done anything
else desperate and wicked.
Why, it was natural to ask, should this gentle little woman
by my side be vexed by these evil humours and perversities
her vexation taking the form of a profound compassion, and
a desire that she could secure the happiness of everybody ?
The morning was a miracle of freshness. The banks of the
Severn, once you leave Worcester, are singularly beautiful.
Before us were islands, set amid tall river weeds, and covered
with thick growths of bushes. A grey shimmering of
willows came in as a line between the bold blue of the
stream and the paler blue and white of the sky. Some lofty
poplars stood sharp and black against the light green of the
meadows behind ; and far away these level and sunlit
meadows stretched over to Malvern Chase and to the thin
line of azure hill along the horizon. Then the various
boats a group of richly-coloured cattle in the fields a few
boys bathing under the shadow of a great bank of yellow
sand all went to make up as bright and pretty a river-
OF A PHAETON. 149
picture as one could wish for. And here we were almost
afraid to speak, lest an incautious word should summon up
thunder-clouds and provoke an explosion.
" Have you any idea when you will reach Scotland ? "
says Arthur, still glaring at the Lieutenant and his
companion.
" No," replies Tita ; " we are in no hurry."
" Won't you get tired of this driving ? "
" I don't think so at all. But if we do, we can stop."
" You will go through the Lake country, of course ? "
" Yes."
" It is sure to be w T et there," observes the young man.
"You don't give us much encouragement," says my Lady,
gently.
" Oh," he replies, " if people break away from the
ordinary methods of enjoying a holiday, of course they must
take their chance. In Scotland you are sure to have bad
weather. It always rains there."
Arthur was determined that we should look upon the
future stages of our journey with the most agreeable
anticipations.
" Then," he says, " suppose your horses break down ? "
"They won't," says Tita, with a smile. "They know
they are going to the land of oats. They will be in
excellent spirits all the way."
Master Arthur went on to add
" I have always found that the worst of driving about
with people was that it threw you so completely on the
society of certain persons ; and you are bound to quarrel
with them."
" That has not been our experience," answered my Lady,
with that gracious manner of hers which means much.
Of course she would not admit that her playful skirmishes
with the person whom, above all others, she ought to
respect, could be regarded as real quarrels. But at this
point the Lieutenant lingered for a moment to ask my Lady
a question ; and as Bell also stopped and turned, Tita said
to him, with an air of infinite amusement
" We have not quarrelled yet, Count von Rosen ? "
" I hope not, Madame," replied our Uhlan, respectfully.
" Because," she continued, with a little laugh, " Arthur
i$o THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
thinks we are sure to disagree, merely on account of our
being thrown so much into each other's company."
"I think quite the opposite will be the result of our
society," said the Lieutenant, promptly.
" Of course I did not refer particularly to you," said
Arthur, coldly. " There are some men so happily con-
stituted that it is of no consequence to them how they are
regarded by their companions. Of course they are always
well satisfied."
" And it is a very good thing to be well satisfied," answered
the Lieutenant, cheerfully enough, " and much better than
to be ill satisfied and of much trouble to your friends. I
think, sir, when you are as old as I, and have been over the
world as much, you will think more of the men who are
well satisfied."
" I hope my experience of the world," said Arthur, with a
certain determination in his tone, " will not be gained by
receiving pay to be sent to invade a foreign country
" Oh, Count von Eosen," says Bell, to call his attention.
" Mademoiselle ! " he says, turning instantly towards her,
although he had heard every word of Arthur's speech.
" Can you tell me the German name of that tall pink
flower down by the edge of the water ?"
And so they walked on once more ; and we got further
away from the city with its mass of slates and spires
getting faint in the haze of the sunlight and into the still
greenness of the country, where the path by the river-side
lay through deep meadows.
It was hard, after all. He had come from London to get
speech of his sweetheart, and he found her walking through
green meadows with somebody else. No mortal man and
least of all a young fellow not confident of his own position,
and inclined to be rather nervous and anxious could suffer
this with equanimity ; but then it was a question how far
it was his own fault.
" Why don't you go and talk to Bell ? " said my Lady to
him, in a low voice.
" Oh, I don't care to thrust my society on anyone," he
said aloud, with an assumption of indifference. " There are
people who do not know the difference between an old
and a new acquaintance I do not seek to
OF A PHAETON. 151
interfere with their tastes. But of course there is a meaning
in everything. What are those lines of Pope's
say, what stranger cause, yet unexplored,
Could make a gentle belle reject a lord ? '
I should not attempt to cure a woman of her instinctive
liking for a title."
Tita placed her hand on his arm. After all, this excited
young man was an old friend of hers ; and it seemed a pity
to see him thus determined to ruin his own cause. But the
light talking we heard in front seemed to say that the
" gentle Belle " had not overheard that pretty speech and its
interesting quotation.
At length, coming to a sudden bend in the river, the
Lieutenant and his companion proposed that we should rest
a while ; and accordingly we chose out comfortable seats
on the steep green bank, covered by bushes and trees, which
here slopes down to the stream. The picture that lay before
and around us was sufficient to have calmed the various
moods and passions of these young folks, if they had but had
eyes for anything but their own affairs. Bell was the only
one who paid attention to the world of bright colours that
lay around. The Lieutenant imperturbable, easy in manner,
and very attentive to her was nevertheless obviously on
the watch, and certain to resent any remark that might by
chance miss him and glance by towards her. Certainly, these
were not comfortable conditions for a pleasant walk. Tita
afterwards declared that she was calculating with satisfac-
tion that she had already got through several hours of that
terrible day.
The sun was shining far away on the blue Malvern hills.
Along the level meadows the lines of pollard willows were
grey and silvery in the breezy light. Nearer at hand the rich
masses of green were broken by the red sandstone bank
opposite ; while the tall trees above sent straggling
duplicates of themselves coloured in deep chocolate-brown
down into the lazy current that flowed beneath us. And
as we sat there and listened for the first ominous observation
of one or another of these young folks, lo ! there glided into
the clear white and blue channel of the river a gaily-bedizened
barge that gleamed and glittered in the sunlight and sent
152 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
quivering lines of colour on to the water. The horse came
slowly along the road. The long rope rustled over the
brushwood on the bank, and splashed on the surface of the
stream. The orange and scarlet bands of the barge stole
away up and through the world of soft greenness that lay
under the shadow of the opposite bank ; and then the horse,
and rope, and driver turned the corner of a field, and we saw
them no more.
The appearance of the barge had provoked attention, and
secured silence. When it was gone the Lieutenant turned
carelessly to Arthur, and said
" Do you go back to London to-morrow ? "
" I don't know," said the young man, gloomily.
" It is such a pity you can't come with us, Arthur," said
Bell, very gently, as if begging for a civil reply.
" I have no doubt you will enjoy yourselves very well," he
replied, with a certain coldness in his tone.
" We have hitherto," she said, looking down. " The
weather has been so good and and the scenery so delight-
ful and and
It was Arthur himself, singularly enough, who came to the
rescue, little knowing that he was affording her such relief.
" I don't think you have chosen the right road," he
remarked. " The real reminiscences of the old stage-coach
days you will find on the York and Berwick road to
Scotland. I never heard of anyone going to Scotland this
way."
" Why," said one of the party, with a laugh that seemed
to startle the stillness around, "that is the very reason we
chose it ! "
" I have been thinking for some time," he observed coldly,
"of getting a dog-cart and driving up the old route to
Scotland."
The heavens did not fall on him. Queen Tita looked at
the tips of her gloves, and said nothing ; but Bell having
less of scepticism about her, immediately cried out
" Oh, Arthur, don't do that ; it will be dreadfully wretched
for you going away on such an excursion by yourself."
But the young man saw that his proposal I will swear it
had never entered his brain before that very minute had
produced an effect ; and treated it as a definite resolve.
OF A PHAETON. 153
" At least, if you are going, you might as well come with
us, or meet us further on, where the roads join," suggested
Bell.
" No, I am not so mad as to go your way," he replied,
with an air of disdain. " I shall keep out of the rainy
districts, and I mean to go where one can find traces of the
old times still hanging about."
" And pray," I ventured to ask him, " are all the old inns
confined to one part of this unfortunate country ? And
were there no ways of getting to Scotland but by York and
Berwick ? Why, over the whole country there is a network
of routes along which stage-coaches used to run. And if you
should be tired of driving alone, you can do no better than
strike across country from York by the old coach-road that
comes on to Penrith, and so go up with us through Carlisle
and Moffat to Edinburgh."
" I am not so sure that I shall go alone," he said, quite
fiercely.
What did the boy mean ? Was he going to drive a white
elephant about the country ?
" Do you know much of the management of horses ? "
asked the Lieutenant, meaning no harm whatever.
" Arthur is in the volunteer artillery, the field artillery,
do they call it ? and of course he has to manage horses,"
explained my Lady.
" Oh, you are a volunteer ? " said the Lieutenant with
quite an accession of interest. " Now that is a very good
thing. I think all the young men of this country would
do much good to their health and their knowledge by being
volunteers and serving a time of military service."
" We don't like compulsion here," observed Arthur,
bluntly.
" That," retorted the Lieutenant, with a laugh, " is why
you are at present a very ill-educated country."
"At all events," said Arthur, rather hotly, "we are
educated well enough to have thrown aside the old supersti-
tions of feudalism and divine right ; and we are too well
educated to suffer a despotic government and a privileged
aristocracy to have it all their own way."
" Oh, you do talk of Prussia, yes ? " said the Count.
"Well, we are not perfect in Prussia, We have many
154 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
things to learn and to do, that we might have done if we had
been preserved round about by the sea, like you. But I
think we have done very well for all that : and if we have
a despotic government, which I do not think, it is perhaps
because what is good for England is not always good for
every other country ; and if we have an aristocracy, they
work for the country just like the sons of the peasants, when
they go into the army and get small pay, instead of going
abroad like your aristocracy, and gambling away their
fortunes to the Jews and the horse-dealers, and getting into
debt and making very much fools of themselves."
" When we of this country," says Arthur, proudly, " see
the necessity of military preparations, we join the ranks of a
body that accepts no pay, but is none the less qualified to
fight when that is wanted."
" Oh, I do say nothing against your volunteers. No, on
the contrary, I think it is an excellent thing for the young
men. And it would be better if the service was continuous
for one, two, or three years and they go away into barrack
life and have much drill and exercise in the open air, and
make the young men of the cities hardy and strong. That
would be a very good army then, I think ; for when the men
are intelligent and educated, they have less chance of panic
which is the worst that can happen in a battle and they
will not skulk away, or lose their courage, because they have
so much self-respect. But I do not know whether this is
safer to have the more ignorant men of the peasantry and
country people, who will take their drill like machines and
go through it all, and continue firing in great danger,
because they are like machines. Now, if you had your towns
fighting against the country, and if you had your town
volunteers and your country regiments with the same amount
of instruction, I think the country troops would win,
although each man might not have as much patriotism and
education and self-respect as in the town soldiers. Because
the country troops would march long distances and would
not be hurt much by rain or the sleeping out at night and
they would go through their duties like machines when the
fight commenced. But your city volunteers they have not
yet got anything like the training of your regular troops
that come from the country villages and towns."
OF A PHAETON. 155
" I know this, n says Arthur, " that if there was to be an
invasion of this country by Prussia, a regiment of our city
volunteers would not be afraid to meet a regiment of your
professional soldiers, however countrified and mechanical
they may be "
" Ah, but that is a great mistake you make," says the
Lieutenant, taking no notice of the challenge ; " our soldiers
are not of any single class they are from all classes, from all
towns, and villages, and cities alike much more like your
volunteers than your regular soldiers, only that they ihave
some more drill and experience than your volunteers. And
what do you say of an invasion ? I have heard some people
talk of that nonsense but only in England. Is it that
you are afraid of invasion that you imagine these foolish
things, and talk so much of it ? "
" No, we are not afraid of it " says Arthur, evidently
casting about for some biting epigram.
" Yet not one in all Europe speaks or thinks of such a
thing but a few of your people here, who give great amuse-
ment to us at home."
" There would be amusement of another sort going <"
says Arthur, getting a little red.
And just at this instant, before he has time to finish the
sentence, Tita utters a little scream. A stone has splashed
into the stream beneath us. The author of the menace is
unknown being probably one of a gang of young rascals
hidden behind the bushes on the other side of the river
but it is certainly not anger that dwells in my Lady's bosom
with regard to that concealed enemy. He has afforded her
relief at a most critical moment ; and now she prevents
Arthur returning to the subject by proposing that we should
walk back to Worcester ; her suggestion being fully under-
stood to be a command.
"We set out. The Lieutenant wilfully separates himself
from Bell. He joins us elderly folks on the pretence of
being much interested in this question of Volunteer service
and Bell and Arthur are perforce thrown together. They
walk on in front of us, in rather an embarrassed way. Bell's
looks are cast down ; Arthur speaks in a loud voice, to let us
know that he is only talking about the most common-place
affairs, But at the first stile we go through, they manage
156 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
to fall behind ; and when, at intervals, we turn to see how
the river and the meadows and the groves of trees look in
the sunshine, we find the distance between us and the young
couple gradually increasing, until they are but two almost
midistinguishable figures pacing along the banks of the
broad stream.
" "Well, we have got so far over the day ! " said my Lady,
with a sigh. " But I suppose we must ask him to dine with
us this evening."
" Is it necessary, Madame ? " responded the Lieutenant.
" But perhaps you might ask him to bring better manners
with him."
. " I am afraid he has been very rude to you," said Tita,
with some show of compunction.
" To me ? No. That is not of any consequence what-
ever ; but I did think that all this pleasant walk has been
spoiled to Mademoiselle and yourself by by what shall I
say ? not rudeness, but a fear of rudeness. And yet, what
reason is there for it ? "
" I don't know," was the reply, uttered in rather a low
voice. " But I hope Bell is not being annoyed by him now."
You see, that was the way in which they had got to regard
this unfortunate youth as a sort of necessary evil, which
was to be accepted with such equanimity as Heaven had
vouchsafed to the various sufferers. It never occurred to
them to look at the matter from Arthur's point of view, or
to reflect that there was probably no more wretched creature
in the whole of England than he was during this memorable
Sunday.
Consider how he spent the day. It was the one day on
which he would have the chance of seeing Bell for an
unknown period. He comes round in the morning to find
her sitting at breakfast with his rival. He accompanies
them on a walk into the country ; finds himself " the third
wheel to the cart," and falls behind to enjoy the spectacle
of seeing her walk by the side of this other man, talking to
him, and sharing with him the beautiful sights and sounds
around. Ye who have been transfixed by the red-hot skewers
of jealousy, think of the torture which this wretched young-
man suffered on this quiet Sunday morning. Then as he
walks home with her, he finds her, as we afterwards learn,
OF A PHAETON. 157
annoyed about certain remarks of his. He explains in a
somewhat saucy manner, and makes matters worse. Then he
takes to reproaches, and bids her reflect on what people will
say ; and here again he goes from one blunder to another
in talking in such a fashion to a proud and high-spirited
girl, who cannot suffer herself to be suspected. In his
blindness of anger and jealousy, he endeavours to asperse the
character of the Lieutenant he is like other officers every
one knows what the Prussian officers, in general, are what
is the meaning of this thing, and the dark suspicion sug-
gested by that. To all of these representations Bell replies
with some little natural warmth. He is driven wild by her
defence of his rival. He declares that he knows something
about the Lieutenant's reputation and then she, probably
with a little paleness in her face, stands still, and asks him
calmly to say what it is. He will not. He is not going to
carry tales. Only, when an English lady has so little care of
what people may say as to accept this foreign adventurer as
her companion during a long journey
That was all that Bell subsequently told Tita. The boy
was obviously mad and reckless ; but none the less he had
wrought such mischief as he little dreamed of in uttering
these wild complaints and suspicions. When we got back
to the hotel, he and Bell had overtaken us, and they had the
appearance of not being on the best of terms. In fact, they had
maintained silence for the last quarter of an hour of the walk.
My Lady asked Arthur to dine with us at seven ; so that
during the interval he was practically dismissed. Seven
came, and Arthur appeared. He was in evening dress ;
conveying a rebuke to uncouth people like ourselves, who
were in our ordinary travelling costume. But Bell's seat was
vacant. After we had waited a few minutes, Queen Tita
went to inquire for her, and in a few minutes returned.
" Bell is very sorry, but she has a headache, and would
rather not come down to dinner."
Arthur looked up with an alarmed face ; the Lieutenant
scowled ; and Tita, taking her seat, said she was afraid we
had walked too far in the morning. Strange. If you had
seen our Bell going lightly up to the top of Box-hill and
running down again just by way of amusement before
lunch you would not have expected that a short walk of a
158 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
mile or two along a level river-course would have had such
an effect. Bat so it was ; and we had dinner before us.
It was not an enlivening meal ; and the less said about it
the better. Arthur talked much of his driving to Scotland
in a dog-cart ; and magnified the advantages of the York
route over that we were now following. It is quite certain
that he had never thought of such a thing before the
morning ; but the attention that had been drawn to it, and
the manner in which he had been led to boast of it, promised
actually to commit him to this piece of folly. The mere
suggestion of it had occurred at the impulse of a momentary
vexation ; but the more he talked of it, the more he pledged
himself to carry out his preposterous scheme. Tita heard
and wondered, scarcely believing ; but I could see plainly
that the young man was determined to fulfil his promise if
only by way of triumphant bravado, to show his independence
of us, and perhaps inspire Bell with envy and regret.
When he left that night, something was said about his
coming to see us away on the following morning. Tita had
shown her usual consideration in not referring at all to our
drive of the next day, which she understood was to be
through the most charming scenery. And when, that same
night, she expressed a vague wish that we could slip away
on the next morning before Arthur had come, it was with
no actual thought of carrying such a plan into execution.
Perhaps she thought with some pity of the young man who,
after seeing us drive away again into the country, and the
sweet air, and the sunlight, would return disconsolately to
his dingy rooms in the Temple, there to think of his absent
sweetheart, or else to meditate that wild journey along a
parallel line which was to show her that he, too, had his
enjoyments.
[Note. I find that the remarks which Queen Titania appended to
the foregoing pages when they were written, have since been torn
off ; and I can guess the reason. A few days ago I received a letter,
sent under cover to the publishers, which bore the address of that
portion of the country familiarly known as " the Dukeries." It was
written in a feminine hand, and signed with a family name which
has some historical pretensions. Now these were the observations
which this silly person in high places had to communicate : " Sir, I
hope you will forgive my intruding myself upon you in this way; but I
am anxious to Imow ivhether you really do think living with such a
OF A PHAETON. 159
woman as your wife is represented to be, is really a matter for raillery
and amusement. My object in writing to you is to say that, if you can
treat tightly the fact of a wife being waspish at every turn, cuffing her
boys' ears, and talking o/ whipping, it would have been better not to have
made your extraordinary complaisance public ; for what is to prevent
the most ill-tempered woman pointing to these pages, and saying that
that is liow a reasonable husband would deal icith her ? If it is your
misfortune to have an ill-tempered wife, you ought not to try to persuade
people that you are rather proud of it. Pray forgive my writing thus
franldy to you ; and I am, Sir, your obedient servant. ." By
a great mischance I left this letter lying open on the breakfast-table ;
and Tita, coming in, and being attracted by the crest in gold and
colours on the paper, took it up. With some dismay, I watched her
read it. She put it down stood irresolute for a moment, with her
lips getting rather tremulous then she suddenly fled into the haven
she had often sought before in her troubles, and looking up with the
clear brown eyes showing themselves frightened and pained, like those
of some dumb creature struck to the heart, she said, " Is it true ? Am I
really ill-tempered ? Do I really vex you very much? " You may be
sure that elderly lady up in Nottinghamshire had an evil quarter of
an hour of it when we proceeded to discuss the question, and when
Queen Tita had been pacified and reassured. " But we ought to have
known," she said. " Count von Eosen warned us that stupid persons
would make the mistake. And to say that I cuffed my boys' ears !
Why, you know that even in the Magazine it says that I cuffed the
boys and kissed them at the same time of course, in fun and I
threatened to whip the whole house of course, in fun, you know,
when everybody was in good spirits about going away and now that
wicked old woman would make me out an unnatural mother, and a
bad wife, and I don't know what ! I I I will get Bell to draw a
portrait of her, and put it in an exhibition that would serve her
right." And forthwith she sat down and wrote to the two boys at
Twickenham, promising them I know not what luxuries and ex-
travagances when they came home for the Easter holidays. But she
is offended with the public, all through that gabbling old lady in
Notts ; and will have no more communication with it, at least for the
present.]
CHAPTER XIII.
SAVED !
" Unto the great Twin Brethren
We keep this solemn feast.
Swift, swift the great Twin Brethren
Came spurring from the east ! "
CASTOK and Pollux did us notable service that morning at
Worcester. Arthur was coming round to see Bell before we
started. Queen Tita was oppressed -by anxious fears ; and
160 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
declared that now the great crisis had come, and that the
young man from Twickenham would demand some pledge
from Bell as he bade her good-bye. The dread of this
danger drove the kindly little woman into such exaggerations
of his misconduct of yesterday that I began to wonder if this
Arthur were really the same lad she used to pet and think
so much of when he came down to Leatherhead and dawdled
with my Lady and Bell along the Surrey lanes of an evening.
What had changed him since then ?
" You are pleased to be profound," says Tita, abruptly.
Well, I was only pointing out to her that one of the chief
accomplishments of life is consideration for the sick ; and
that whereas nearly all women seem to have an inherited
instinct that way, men only acquire the habit as the result
of experience and reflection. Indeed, with most women,
the certain passport to their interest and kindliness is to be
unwell and to exact a great deal of patient service from them.
Now I was saying to Tita, when she uttered that un-
necessary rebuke why don't women show the same con-
sideration to those who are mentally ailing ? to the
unfortunate persons whose vexed and irritated brain renders
them peevish and ill-tempered ? Once get a patient down
with fever, and all his fractious complainings are soothed
and all his querulous whims are humoured. But when the
same man is rendered a little insane by meeting with a
disappointment or if he is unable to stand being crossed in
argument, so that the mildest statement about some such
contested subject as the American War, Governor Eyre, or
the Annexation of Alsace, sends a flash of flame through his
head why should not the like allowance be made for his
infirmities ? Why should the man who is ill-tempered
because of a fever be humoured, caressed, and coaxed ; and
the man who is ill-tempered because his reason is liable to
attacks of passion, be regarded as an ill-conditioned boor,
not fit for the society of well-bred ladies and gentlemen ?
"I think," says Tita, with a little warmth, "you do
nothing now but try to invent excuses for Arthur. And it
is not fair. I am very sorry for him if he is so vexed that
he loses his temper ; but that does not excuse his being
absolutely rude."
" But his rudeness is part of his ailment," I venture to
OF A PHAETON. 161
say. " Ordinarily, he is the mildest and gentlest of young
men, who would shrink from a charge of rudeness as the
worst thing you could urge against him. At present he is
off his head. He does not know what he says or rather,
he is incapable of controlling his utterances. He is really
sick with a fever though it isn't one of those, apparently,
that secure the commiseration of even the most angelic of
women."
I regarded that last expression as rather effective ; but
no. My Lady remarked that she was not accustomed to the
treatment of the insane ; and that another day such as that
she had just passed would soon make her as ill as himself.
Our Bonny Bell did not seem so disturbed as might have
been expected. When we went down to the coffee-room we
found the Lieutenant and her sitting at opposite sides of a
small table, deeply engaged over a sheet of paper. On our
entrance the document was hastily folded up and smuggled
away.
" It is a secret," said the Lieutenant, anticipating inquiry.
" You shall not know until we are away on our journey
again. It is a packet to be opened in a quiet place no
houses near, no persons to listen ; and then and then "
" Perhaps it will remain a secret ? Bien I Life is not
long enough to let one meddle with secrets ; they take up
so much time in explanation ; and then they never contain
anything."
" But this is a very wonderful thing," said the Lieutenant ;
" and you must hurry to get away from Worcester that you
shall hear of it."
We were, however, to have another sealed packet that
morning. Master Arthur, knowing full well that he would
have but little chance of speaking privately with Bell, had
entrusted Ms thoughts to a piece of paper and an envelope ;
and just as we were in the hurry of departure, the young
man appeared. The truth was, the Lieutenant had ordered
the horses to be put to some quarter of an hour before the
time we had said we should start ; and my Lady showed so
much anxiety to set forth at once that I saw she hoped to
leave before Arthur came.
The phaeton stood in the archway of the hotel, and
here also were all our rugs and books.
M
i62 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
" My dear," says Tita, rather anxiously, to Bell, " do get
in ! The horses seem rather fresh, and and "
" Won't you wait to bid good-bye to Arthur ? " says Bell.
" It is impossible to say when he will come he will
understand I will leave a message for him," says Queen
Titania, all in a breath ; and with that the Lieutenant
assists Bell to get up in front.
I have the reins in my hand, awaiting orders. The last
rugs are thrown up, books stowed away, everything in
readiness ; Tita takes her seat behind, and the Lieutenant
is on the point of getting up.
At this moment Arthur comes round the corner, is amazed
for a moment to see us ready to start, and then suddenly
brings out a letter.
" Bell," he says, " I I have there is something here I
want you to see only a moment, and you can give me an
answer now yes or no "
The unfortunate young man was obviously greatly
excited ; his face quite pale, and his speech rapid and
broken. He handed up the letter : the crisis that Tita had
endeavoured to avoid had come. But in this our darkest
hour as I have already hinted Castor and Pollux came
to the rescue. It was the battle of the Lake Regillus acted
once again in the gateway of the Worcester Star Hotel.
For Pollux, casting his head about and longing to start,
managed to fix his bit on the end of the pole ; and, of
course, a wild scene ensued. Despite the efforts of the
ostler, the horse threw himself back on his haunches ; the
phaeton described a curve, and was driven against the wall
with a loud crash ; the people about fled in every direction ;
and the Lieutenant jumped out and sprang to the horses'
heads. Pollux was still making violent efforts to extricate
himself, and Castor, having become excited, was plunging
about ; so that for a moment it seemed as though the
vehicle would be shattered in pieces against the wall of the
court. The women were quite still, except that Tita uttered
a little suppressed cry as she saw the Lieutenant hanging on
to the rearing horses. He stuck manfully to their heads,
and, with the assistance of the ostler, at last managed to get
the bit off. Then both horses sprang forward. It would
have been impossible to have confined them longer in this
OF A PHAETON. 163
narrow place. The Lieutenant leaped in behind ; and the
next moment the phaeton was out in the main street of
"Worcester, both horses plunging and pulling so as to turn
all eyes towards us. Certainly, it was a good thing the
thoroughfare was pretty clear. The great Twin Brethren,
not knowing what diabolical occurrence had marked their
setting out, were speeding away from the place with might
and main ; and with scarcely a look at Worcester we found
ourselves once more out in the country, amid quiet and
wooded lanes, with all the sweet influences of a bright
summer morning around us.
" I hope you are not hurt," said my Lady to the
Lieutenant, who was looking about to see whether the
smash had taken some of the paint off, or done other
damage.
" Oh, not in the least, Madame," he said, " but I -find
that one of my boots is cut, so that I think the shoe of the
horse must have done it. And has he caught on the pole
before ? "
" Only once," she says.
" Then I would have the bit made with bars across, so
that it will be more difficult ; for suppose this did happen
in the road, and there was a ditch, and he backed you "
" I suppose we should go over," remarked Queen Tita
philosophically. " But it is strange how often accidents in
driving might occur, and how seldom they do occur. But
we must really have the bit altered."
" Well," I asked of my gentle companion, " what message
did you leave with Arthur ? "
" I could not leave any," said Bell, " for of course when
the horses went back, he had to get out of their way. Bat
he will understand that I will write to him."
" Have you read the letter ? "
" No." '
" Do, like a good girl, and have it over. That is always
the best way. You must not go into this beautiful country
that lies ahead with a sort of cloud over you."
So Bell took out the letter, and furtively opened it. She
read it carefully over, without uttering a word ; then she
continued looking at it for a long time.
" I am very glad that accident occurred," she remarked,
M 2
1 64 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
in a low voice. " He said I was to answer ' yes ' or ' no.'
I could not do that to such a letter as this ; and if I had
refused, he would have been very much hurt. I will \vrite
to him from whatever place we stop at to-night."
This resolution seemed greatly to comfort her. If any
explanation were needed, it was postponed until the evening ;
and in the meantime we had fine weather, fresh air, and all
the beautiful tones of an English landscape around us. Bell
rapidly resumed her ordinary good spirits. She begged to
have the reins ; and when these had been handed over to
her, with various cautions, the excitement of driving a
pair of horses that yet showed considerable signs of fresh-
ness brought a new colour into her cheeks. The route
which we now followed was one of the prettiest we had yet
met with. Instead of following the old stage-coach route
by Droitwich, we struck almost due north by a line of
small and picturesque villages lying buried in the heart
of this deeply-wooded country. The first of these was
Ombersley a curious little clump of cottages, nearly all of
which were white, with black bars of woodwork crossed and
re-crossed ; and they had odd gables, and lattices, and
decorations, so that they looked almost like toy-cottages.
Wearing white and black in this prominent way, our Uhlan
immediately claimed them as Prussian property ; but beyond
the fact of their showing the Prussian colours, there was
little else foreign-looking about those old-fashioned English
houses lying along this level lane, and half hidden amid
elms. As we got up into the higher ground above Ombersley
we found around us a very pleasant landscape ; and it
seemed to strike my gentle-eyed companion that the names
of the villages around had been chosen to accord with the
tender and syjvan beauties of this charming piece of country.
One of the sign-posts we passed had inscribed on it, " To
Doverdale and Hampton Lovett." Then in the neighbour-
hood are Elmley Lovett, Elmbridge, Crossway Green, and
Gardeners' Grove ; while down between these runs Dover-
dale Brook, skirting Westmoor Park, the large house of
which we could see as a faint blue mound amid the general
leafage. The country, which is flat about Ombersley, gets
more undulating about Hartlebury and on towards Kidder-
minster. The roads wind up and down gentle hills, with
OF A PHAETON. 165
tall and ruddy banks of sand on each side, which are
hanging with every variety of wild flower and wayside
weed. On both hands dense woods come down to these
tall and picturesque banks ; and you drive through an
atmosphere laden with moist and resinous scents.
It was fortunate for us, indeed, that before starting we
had lived for a time in town ; for all the various perfumes
of the hedges and fields came upon us with a surprise.
Every now and again, on these cool and breezy mornings,
we would drive past a hay-field, with the fresh and sweet
odours blowing all around. Or perhaps it was a great
clump of wild-rose bushes that filled the air with delicate
scent. Then the lime-trees were in flower ; and who does
not know the delight of passing under the boughs laden
with blossom, when the bees are busy overhead ? More
rarely, but still frequently enough in this favoured country,
a whiff of honeysuckle was borne to us as we passed. And
if these things sweetened the winds that blew about us,
consider what stars of colour refreshed the eye as we drove
gently past the tall hedgerows and borders of woods the
golden rock-roses, purple patches of wild thyme, the white
glimmering of stitchwort and campion, the yellow spires of
the snapdragon, and a thousand others. And then, when
we ceased to speak, there was no blank of silence. Away
over the hayfield the lark floated in the blue, making the
air quiver with his singing ; the robin, perched on a fence,
looked at us saucily, and piped a few notes by way of
remark ; the blackbird was heard, flute -throated, down in
the hollow recesses of the woods ; and the thrush, in a
holly-tree by the wayside, sang out his sweet, clear song,
that seemed to rise in strength as the wind awoke a sudden
rustling through the groves of birch and oak.
" Well, touching that sealed packet ? " says my Lady,
aloud.
"Oh no, Madame," replies the Lieutenant. "This is
not the time for it. If I must tell you the truth, it is only a
drinking-song I have been trying to remember of a young
Englishman who was at Bonn with me ; and Mademoiselle
was so good this morning as to alter some of the words.
But now ? a drinking-song in this fine, quiet country ?
No. After we have got to Kidderminster, and when we
166 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
drive away after lunch, then Mademoiselle will play for you
the air I did show to her, and I will sing you the song.
And what is needed is that you drink some Ehine wine at
Kidderminster to make you like the song."
" Kidderminster Rhine wine ! " exclaims one of the party,
with a groan. He knows that whatever is suggested now
by the Lieutenant finds favour with a clear majority of the
party.
"That was a very good young fellow," continues the
Lieutenant, as we drive over a high slope, and come in
view of a mass of manufactories. " Very big and strong he
was ; we did call him der grosse Engldnder always ; and one
time, in the winter, when there was much snow, we had a
supper-party at his room. We had many duels then, for we
were only boys ; but the Englishman was not supposed to be
challenged, for he knew nothing of our swords ; but he was
always ready to fight with his fists for all that. And this
evening, I am afraid we did drink too much beer ; and young
Schweitzer of Magdeburg he died at Koniggratz, the un-
fortunate, in '66 he was very angry with the Englander
for laughing at his sweetheart, who was but a young lady in
a school there. And he challenged the Englishman, and
went up to him, and said he would not go away until there
was a fight ; and do you know what your countryman did ?
He lifted Schweitzer up in his arms, like a baby, and carried
him down the stairs, and opened the door, and put him in
the snow outside, very gently. There was so much laughing
over that, that we all said it was very good ; and Schweitzer
was grown sober by the cool of the snow ; and he laughed
too ; and I think they swore bruderschaft about it afterwards.
Oh, he was a very clever fellow, your countryman, and had
more delight in our songs than any German I ever knew.
But do you know how that is ? "
Madame said it was no wonder anyone should be in love
with the German songs ; but the Lieutenant shook his head.
" That is not it at all : no. This is it that when you
know only a little of a language, you do not know what is
commonplace in it. The simple phrase which is common-
place to others, that is all full of meaning to you. So I find
it with your English. You would laugh if I told you that
I find much meaning in poetry that you think only good
OF A PHAETON. 167
for children, and in old-fashioned writing, which looks
affected now. Because, Madame, is it not true that all
commonplace phrases meant some new thing at one time ?
It is only my ignorance that I do not know they have
grown old and worth little. Now the evening at Twicken-
ham I did hear you go over the names of old-fashioned
English songs, and much fun was made of the poetry. But
to me, that was very good a great deal of it because
nothing in English is to me commonplace as yet."
" How fortunate you must be ! " says one of us, with a sigh.
" You laugh when you say, ' Flow on, thou shining river ! '
Why ? The river flows : and it shines. I see a clear
picture out of the words like the man who wrote them ; I
am not accustomed to them so as to think them stupid.
Then I saw you laugh when some one said, * / dreamt that I
dwelt in marUe halls.'' I did read that song ; and although it
is stupid that the man thinks he will live in marble halls, I
found much tenderness in it. So with this young English-
man. He knew nothing of what was commonplace in our
language. If you gave him children's rhymes, he looked at
the meaning ; and judged it all by that. And when we
showed him stiff, artificial verses of old times, he seemed to
go back to the time when they were written, and believe
much in them, and like them. That is a very good thing
in ignorance, I think when you know not much of a lan-
guage, and every word has much meaning in it, and there is
no commonplace anywhere."
This lecture of the Lieutenant took us into Kidder-
minster. What married man is not familiar with the
name held up to him as an awful threat in reply to his
grumblings about the price of Turkey and Brussels carpets ?
As we drove into the busy town, signs of the prevailing
manufacture were everywhere apparent in the large red-
brick factories. We put up at the " Lion," and while von
Rosen went off to buy himself a new pair of boots, we went
for a stroll up to the interesting old church, the fine brasses
and marble monuments of which have drawn many a stranger
to the spot. Then we climbed to the top of the tower, and
from the zinc roof thereof had a spacious view over the level
and wooded country, which was deeply streaked by bands of
purple, where the clouds threw their shadows. Far below us
168 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
lay the red, busy, smoky town set amid green fields ; while
the small river ran through it like a black snake, for the bed
had been drained, and in the dark mud a multitude of boys
could be seen wading, scooping about for eels. When we
descended, von Rosen had got his boots, and was prowling
about the churchyard, reading the curious inscriptions there.
One of them informed the world of the person laid beneath
that, " added to the character of a Gentleman, his actions
were coeval with his Integrity, Hospitality, and Benevo-
lence." But our amiable guide, who had pointed out to us
all the wonderful features of Kidderminster and its neigh-
bourhood, evidently looked on one particular grave-stone
as the chief curiosity of the place ; for this, he informed
us, was placed over a man who had prepared the vault and
the inscription ten years before his death. Here is the
legend :
"To the Memory of
JOHN ORTON,
A MAN FROM LEICESTERSHIRE,
And when he is dead he must lie under HERE."
The man from ' Leicestershire was not " alone among
mortals " in anticipating his end in this fashion ; but no
matter. A man may well be allowed to humour himself in
the way of a tombstone ; it is the last favour he can ask
from the world.
" Now," said the Lieutenant, as we drove away from this
manufacturing town into the fresh country again, " shall I
sing you the song which the young Englishman used to sing
for us ; or shall we wait until the evening ? "
" Now, by all means," said Bell ; " and if you will be so
good as to give me out the guitar, I will try to play you an
accompaniment."
" A guitar accompaniment to a drinking-song ! " says
Titania.
" Oh, but this is not a drinking-song, exactly, Madame
it is a very moral song ; and we shall discuss each verse as
it goes along, and you will make alterations of it."
So he got out the guitar. We were now far away from
any houses all around us great woods, that lay dark and
green under a clouded afternoon sky. The road was very
hilly ; and sometimes, from the summit of a great height,
OF A PHAETON. 169
we caught a glimpse of a long western stretch of country,
lying blue and misty under the grey sky. Behind us
Kidderminster looked like a dusty red splatch in a verdant
plain ; and all around it the meadows and fields were low
and intense in colour. But then in the west we could see
an occasional glimpse of yellow in the pall of cloud ; and we
hoped the sunset would break through the veil.
" Ladies and gentlemen," said the Lieutenant, " the song
I am about to sing to you "
Here Bell began to play a light prelude ; and without
further introduction our Uhlan startled the silence of the
woods and fields by singing, in a profound and melancholy
voice, the first two verses of the ballad composed by the
young Englishman at Bonn, which ran somewhat as
follows :
Oh, Burgundy isn't a good thing to drink;
Young man, I beseech you, consider and think;
Or else in your nose, and likewise in your toes,
You'll discover the colour of Burgundy rose :
Burgundy rose, Burgundy rose,
A dangerous symptom is Burgundy rose.
'Tis a very nice wine, and as mellow as milk ;
'Tis a very nice colour, in satin or silk;
But you'll change your opinion as soon as it shows
In a halo around the extreme of your nose :
Burgundy rose, Burgundy rose,
Is a very bad thing at the tip of your toes.
" Well, Madame, how do you like it so far as we have
got ? " says the Lieutenant, as Bell is extemporising a
somewhat wild variation of the air.
" I think your young English friend gave you very good
advice ; and I have no doubt the students needed it very
much."
" But you shall hear what he says ; he was not a
teetotaller at all."
And therewith the Lieutenant continues :
If tipple you must, in beer, spirits, or wine,
There are wholesome vintages hail from the Khine;
And, take the advice of a fellow who knows,
Hochheimer's as gentle as any that goes:
Burgundy rose, Burgundy rose,
Doth never appear from the wine I propose.
i;o THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
Oh, Burgundy isn't a good thing to drink;
Young man, I beseech you, consider and think ;
Or else in your nose, and likewise in your toes,
You'll discover the colour of Burgundy rose:
Burgundy rose, Burgundy rose,
A fatal affliction is Burgundy rose !
" Oh, you two scapegraces ! " cried Queen Titania. " I
know now why you were laying your heads together this
morning, and poring over that sheet of paper ; you were
engaged in perverting an honest and well-intentioned song
into a recommendation of German wines. I am sure that
third verse is not in the original. I am certain the young
English student never wrote it. It was written in
Worcester this very morning ; and I call on you to produce
the original, so that we may cut out this very bad moral
that has been introduced."
" The original, Madame ? " said the Lieutenant, gravely.
"There is no original. I have repeated it mostly from
memory as he used to sing it at Bonn and I put it down
on paper only that Mademoiselle might correct me about the
words. No I have put in no moral. You think your
countryman did not like the Ehine wines ? Pfui ! you
should have seen him drink them, then, if he did not like
them ! And the very dear ones, too, for he had plenty of
money ; and we poor devils of the Germans used to be
astonished at his extravagance, and sometimes he was called
' milord ' for a joke. When we did go to his room to the
supper-parties, we could not believe that any young man not
come of age should have so much money given to him by
his parents. But it did not spoil him one bit ; he was as
good, frank, careless as any man, and when he did get to
know the language better he worked hard, and had such
notes of the lectures as not anyone, I think, in the whole
University had."
A strange thing now occurred. We were driving along
level and wooded lanes, running parallel with the Severn.
The small hamlets we passed, merely two or three houses
smothered in elms, are appropriately named greens Fen
Green, Dodd's Green, Bard's Green, and the like ; and on
either side of us were lush meadows, with the cattle standing
deep in the grass. Now all at once that long bar of
OF A PHAETON. 171
glimmering yellow across the western clouds burst asunder ;
and at the same moment a glare of light shone along the
southern sky, where there was evidently abundant rain.
We had no sooner turned to look at this flood of golden
mist, than all around us there was a stir in the hedges and
the tall elms by the roadside ; we were enveloped in
sunshine ; with it came a quick pattering on the leaves ;
and then we found the air glittering with white drops and
slanting streaks. In the wild glare of the sunlight the
shower shone and sparkled around us ; and the heavier it
fell until the sound of it was like the hissing of the sea on
a pebbly beach the more magical grew the effects of the
mingled light and wet. Nor was it a passing shower
merely. The air was still rilled with the gleaming lines of
the rain ; the sunlight still shone mistily through it and lit
up the green meadows and the trees with a wonderful
radiance ; as we wrapped cloaks round our companions and
drove leisurely on. It was impossible to think that this
luminous rain could wet us like ordinary rain. But by and
by it drew itself off ; and then Bell, with a sudden little cry,
besought the Lieutenant to pull up the horses.
Had we driven under a cloud, and escaped at the other
edge ? Close behind us there was still mingled rain and
sunlight ; but beyond that again the sky was heaped up
with immense dark blue masses. A rainbow shone in front
of this black background. A puff of white cloud ran across
the darkness, telling of contrary winds. And then when we
turned from this gleaming and glowing picture to continue
our course, lo ! all the west had cleared, and a great dim
smoke of yellow lay over the land, where the sky came
down.
" It is like the sea, is it not ? " said Bell, rising up in the
phaeton and steadying herself to look into this distant world
of gold. " Don't you expect to find the masts of ships, and
sea-birds flying about out there ?"
And then, in the cool and fresh evening, with the dusk
coming on, we drove up the valley of the Severn, by Quat
and Quatford, towards our resting-place for the night. As
we passed by Quatford Castle, the river, lying amid the dark
meadows, had caught a touch of crimson fire from the last
reflection of the sunset. A blue mist lay about the sides of
172 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
the abrupt hill on which the town of Bridgenorth is pitched ;
but as we wound round the hill to gain the easiest ascent,
we came again into the clear, metallic splendour of the west.
It was a hard pull on the horses, just at the end of their
day's work, was this steep and circuitous ascent ; but at
length we entered the rough streets of the old town ; and
in the fading twilight sought out the yellow and comfortable
glow of the Crown Hotel.
"We had got in passing a vague glimpse of a wide space
around an old town-house, with a small crowd of people
collecting. They had come to hear the playing of a
Volunteer band. Therefore, as we sat down to dinner, we
had some very good music being played to us from without ;
and when at last it was gone, and the quaint old town on
the top of the hill left to its ordinary silence, we found it
was time to light our cigars and open the bezique-box.
Probably no one noticed it ; but it is a curious circum-
stance that Bell had apparently forgotten all about her
determination to write to Arthur. There was no shadow of
a cloud on her face ; and she enjoyed the winning of various
games assisted thereto by the obvious ministrations of the
Lieutenant with as much delight and careless amusement
as though there was not anywhere in the world a young
man sitting in his solitary chamber and wishing that he had
never been born. But it was certainly not hard-heartedness
that gave to Bell the enjoyment of that one evening.
CHAPTER XIV.
A SHREWSBURY PLAY.
" But (trust me, gentles !) never yet
Was dight a masquing half so neat,
Or half so rich before ;
The country lent the sweet perfumes,
The sea the pearl, the sky the plumes,
The town its silken store."
THE Lieutenant was pensive. He and I had gone out
for a turn before breakfast, and wandered along to the high
promenade which, skirting one portion of the lofty town,
looks down on the valley of the Severn, on the huddled houses
underneath the rocky height, and the bridge spanning the
OF A PHAETON. 173
stream. It was a bright and cool morning \ and the
landscape that lay around was shining in the sun.
"England," he said, leaning his arms on the stone
parapet of the walk, " is a very pleasant country to live in,
I think."
I thanked him for the compliment.
" You are very free in your actions here : you do what
you please. Only consider how you are at this moment."
But I had to protest against our young Prussian friend
continually regarding this excursion as the normal condition
of our existence. I showed him that we were not always
enjoying life in this fashion ; that a good deal of hard
work filled the long interval of the winter months ; and
that even Bell whom he had grown to regard as a sort of
feature of English scenery a wild bird for ever on the
wing through sunlight and green leaves w r orked as hard as
any of us.
" It is pleasant to be able to play dexterously on the piano,
or the guitar, or what not ; but that accomplishment means
imprisonment with hard labour stretching over years. It is
very nice to be able to put on a sheet of paper, with a few
rapid touches, the outlines of a scene which delights you ;
and to find yourself able to reproduce that afterwards in
water or oil, and have it publicly exhibited and sold ; but do
you know how much work it involves ? Bell is a most
untiring young woman, I promise you, and not likely to fall
asleep in counting her fingers."
" Oh, I am sure of that," he said, absently. " She has too
much spirit, too much life, to be indolent. But I was
thinking I was thinking whether, if a man was to change
his country, he would choose England out of all other countries
to live in. Here it is. Your people in England who only
enjoy themselves must be very rich, must they not ? Is it a
good country, I wonder, for a man who would have about
800Z. a year ? "
" Not without some occupation. But why do you ask ? "
He only stared at the bushes down on the rocks, and at
the river far below them.
" What would you say," he asked, suddenly, " if I were to
come and live in England, and become naturalized, and
never go back to my native country again ? "
174 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
" And give up your profession, with all its interest and
excitement ? "
He was silent for a minute or two ; and then he said
" I have done more than the service that is expected from
every man in Prussia ; and I do not think my country goes
to war for many years to come. About the excitement of a
campaign and the going into battle well, there is much
mistake about that. You are not always in enthusiasm ;
the long marches, the wet days, the waiting for months in
one place there is nothing heroic in that. And when you
do come to the battle itself, come, my dear friend, I will
tell you something about it."
He seemed to wake up then. He rose from his recumbent
position, and took a look round the shining country that lay
along the valley of the Severn.
"All the morning before the battle," said the Lieutenant,
" you have great gloom ; and it seems as if the day is dark
overhead. But this is strange that you think you can see
very far, and you can see all your friends in Germany, and
think you could almost speak to them. You expect to go
forward to meet the enemy ; and you hate him that he is
waiting for you on some of the hills or behind his entrench-
ments. Then the hurry comes of getting on horseback ; and
you are very friendly to all your companions and they are all
very pleasant and laughing at this time, except one or two,
who are thinking of their home. Your regiment is ordered
forward : you do not know what to think : perhaps you wish
the enemy would run away ; or that your regiment is not
needed ; and sometimes you have great wish of anger towards
him ; but all this is shifting, gloomy, uncertain, that you do
not think two things one moment. Then you hear the sound
of the firing ; and your heart beats fast for a little while ;
and you think of all your friends in Germany ; and this is
the time that is the worst. You are angry with all the men
who provoke wars in their courts and parliaments ; and you
think it is a shame you should be there to fight for them ;
and you look at the pleasant things you are leaving all
behind in your own home, just as if you were never to see
them any more. That is a very wretched and miserable
time ; but it does not last very long if you are ordered to
advance ; and then, my dear friend, I can assure you that
OF A PHAETON. 175
you do not care one farthing for your own life that you
forget your home altogether, and you think no more of your
friends ; you do not even hate the enemy in front any more
it is all a stir, and life, and eagerness ; and a warm, glad
feeling runs all through your veins ; and when the great
* hurrah ' comes, and you ride forward, you think no more
of yourself ; you say to yourself, * Here is for my good
Fatherland ! ' and then "
A sort of sob stuck in the throat of the big Lieutenant.
" Bah," said he, with a frown, as if the bright morning
and the fresh air had done him an injury, " what is the use
of waiting out here, and killing ourselves with hunger ? "
Bell was writing when we went into the hotel. As we
entered she hastily shut up her small portfolio.
" Why not finish your letter, Mademoiselle ? ", he said,
gently. "It will be a little time before breakfast comes
in."
" I can finish it afterwards," said the girl, looking rather
embarrassed.
Of course, when the Lieutenant perceived that the atten-
tion thus drawn to the letter had caused her some confusion,
he immediately rushed into another subject, and said to
Queen Titania, with a fine affectation of carelessness
"You will laugh, Madame, at our having yet another
adventure in a stationer's shop."
" I think," said my Lady, gravely, " that I must put a
stop to these wanderings about in the early morning. I
cannot quite make out why you should always get up hours
before anybody else ; but I find that generally some story is
revealed afterwards of a young lady."
" But there is no young lady this time," said the Lieu-
tenant, " but a very worthy man whom we found in the
stationer's shop. And he has been at Sedan ; and he has
brought back the breech of a mitrailleuse and showed it all
to us ; and he has written a small book about his being in
France, and did present us with a copy of it, and would not
take any payment for it. Oh, he is a very remarkable and
intelligent man to be found in a stationer's shop up in this
curious old town on the top of a hill ; but then I discovered
he is a Scotchman ; and do you not say here that a Scotchman
is a great traveller, and is to be found everywhere ? And I
176 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
have looked into the little book, and I 'think it very
sensible and good, and a true account of what he has
seen."
" Then I presume he extols your countrymen ? " says my
Lady, with a smile.
" Madame," replies the Lieutenant, " I may assure you of
this, that a man who has been in a campaign and seen both
the armies, does not think either army an army of angels
and the other an army of demons. To believe one nation to
have all the good, and another nation to have all the bad,
that can only be believed by people who have seen none of
them. I think my friend the stationer has written so much
of what he saw, that he had no time for stupid imaginations
about the character of two whole countries."
At this moment the introduction of breakfast broke our
talk in this direction. After breakfast Bell finished her
letter. She asked the Lieutenant to get it stamped and
posted for her, and handed it openly to him. But, without
looking at it, he must have known that it was addressed to
" Arthur Ashburton, Esq., Essex Court, Temple."
"Well," said Bell, coming downstairs with her hat on,
" let us go out now, and see the town. It must be a very
pleasant old place. And the day is so fine ; don't you
think we have had quite exceptional weather hitherto,
Count von Rosen ? "
Of course he said the weather had been admirable ; but how
was it that Bell was so sure beforehand that she would be
pleased with Bridgenorth ? The delight was already in her
face, and beaming in her eyes. She knew the weather must
be fine. She was certain we should have a delicious drive
during the day ; and was positive the country through which
we had to pass would be charming. The observant reader
will remark that a certain letter had been posted.
Really, Bridgenorth was pleasant enough on this bright
morning, albeit the streets on the river-side part of the town
were distinctly narrow, dirty, and smoky. First of all,
however, we visited the crumbling walls of Robert de Belesme's
mighty tower. Then we took the women round the high
promenade over the valley. Then we went down through a
curious and precipitous passage hewn out of the sandstone
hill to the lower part of the town, and visited the old
OF A PHAETON. 177
building in which Bishop Percy was born, the inscription*
on which, by the way, is a standing testimony to the playful
manner in which this nation has from time immemorial
dealt with its aspirates. Then we clambered up the steep
streets again until we reached the great central square, with
its quaint town-house and old-fashioned shops. A few
minutes thereafter we were in the phaeton, and Castor and
Pollux taking us into the open country again.
" Mademoiselle," said the Lieutenant the young man
was like a mavis, with this desire of his to sing or hear
singing just after his morning meal " you have not sung
to us anything for a long while now."
" But I will this morning, with great pleasure," said Bell.
" Then," said von Rosen, " here is your guitar. When I
saw you come down to go out this morning, I said to myself,
* Mademoiselle is sure to sing to-day.' So I kept out the
guitar-case."
The horses pricked up their ears. The strings of the
guitar twanged out a few notes. The fresh breeze blew by
from the fields ; and as we drove through the stillness of
one or two straggling woods, Bell sang
" If enemies oppose us,
And England is at war
With any foreign nation,
We fear not wound nor scar !
To humble them, come on, lads !
Their flags we'll soon lay low ;
Clear the way, for the fray :
Though the stormy winds do blow ! "
" Mademoiselle," cried the Lieutenant, " it is a challenge."
Bell laughed, and suddenly altered the key.
"Fair Hebe I left with a cautious design"
this was what she sang now
" To escape from her charms and to drown love in wine ;
I tried it, but found, when I came to depart,
The wine in my head, but still love in my heart."
* The inscription inside the door of this old-fashioned building,
which is ornamented by bars of black and white, and peaked gables,
is as follows :
" Except the Lord BVILD THE OWSE
The Labourers thereof evail nothing
Erected by R For * 1580."
N
i;8 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
" Well," said Tita, with an air of astonishment, " that is
a pretty song for a young lady to sing ! "
Bell laid down the guitar.
" And what," I demanded of Queen Titania, " are the
sentiments of which alone a young lady may sing ? Not
patriotism ? Not love ? Not despair ? Goodness gracious !
Don't you remember what old Joe Blatchers said when he
brought us word that some woman in his neighbourhood
had committed suicide ? "
" What did he say ? " asked the Lieutenant with a great
curiosity.
" The wretched woman had drowned herself because her
husband had died ; and old Joe brought us the story with
the serious remark, * The ladies 'as their feelins, 'asnt they,
sir, arter all ? ' Mayn't a young lady sing of anything but
the joy of decorating a church on Christmas Eve ? "
" I have never been taught to perceive the humour of
profanity," says my Lady, with a serene impassiveness.
" Curious, if true. Perhaps you were never taught that a
white elephant isn't the same as a rainbow or a pack of
cards ? "
" My dear," says Tita, turning to Bell, " what is that
French song that you brought over with you from
Dieppe ? "
Thus appealed to, Bell took up her guitar, and sang for
us a very pretty song. It was not exactly French, to be
sure. It began
" 'Twas frost and thro' leet, wid a greyming o' snaw,
When I went to see Biddy, the flow'r o' them aw ;
To meet was agreed on at Seymy' deyke milk,
"Where I sauntered wi' mony a seegh and lang luik."
But good honest Cumbrian is quite as foreign to most of us
as French ; and no exception could be taken to the senti-
ment of Bell's ballad, for none of us could understand six
consecutive words of it.
Much-Wenlock is a quiet town. It is about as quiet as the
spacious and grassy enclosure in which the magnificent
ruins of its old monastery stand grey and black in the sun-
shine. There are many strange passages and courts in these
noble ruins ; and as you wander through broken arches, and
OF A PHAETON.
179
over courtyards half hid in the long green grass, it is but
natural that a preference for solitude should betray itself in
one or other of the members of a noisy little party. We lost
sight of Bell and the Lieutenant. There was a peacock
strutting through the grass, and making his resplendent tail
gleam in the sunshine ; and they followed him, I think.
When we came upon them again, Bell was seated on a bit of
tumbled pillar, pulling daisies out of the sward and plaiting
them ; and the Lieutenant was standing by her side, talking
to her in a low voice. It was no business of ours to
interfere with this pastoral occupation. Doubtless he spoke
in these low tones because of the great silence of the place.
We left them there, and had another saunter before we
returned. We were almost sorry to disturb them ; for
they made a pretty group, these two young folks, talking
leisurely to each other under the solemn magnificence of the
grey ruins ; while the sunlight that lit up the ivy on the
walls, and threw black shadows under the arches of the
crumbling windows, and lay warm on the long grass around
them, touched Bell's cheek too, and glimmered down one
side of the loose and splendid masses of her hair.
Castor and Pollux were not allowed much time for lunch ;
for, as the young people had determined to go to the theatre
on reaching Shrewsbury, their elders, warned by a long
experience, knew that the best preparation for going to a
country theatre is to dine before setting out. My Lady did
not anticipate much enjoyment ; but Bell was positive we
should be surprised.
" We have been out in the country so much seeing so
much of the sunlight and the green trees, and living at those
little inns that we ought to have a country theatre as well.
Who knows but that we may have left all our London ideas
of a play in London ; and find ourselves quite delighted
with the simple folk who are always uttering good senti-
ments, and quite enraged with the bad man who is wishing
them ill. I think Count von Rosen was quite right "
Of course Count von Rosen was quite right !
" about commonplace things only having become
commonplace through our familiarity with them," continued
Miss Bell ; " perhaps we may find ourselves going back a
bit, and being as much impressed by a country drama as any
N 2
I So THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
of the farmer-folk who do not see half-a-dozen plays in their
life. And then, you know, what a big background we shall
have ! not the walls of the little theatre, but all the great
landscape we have been coming through. Eound about us
we shall see the Severn, and the long woods, and Broadway
Hill "
"And not forgetting Bourton Hill," interposed the
Lieutenant. "If only they do give us a good moonlight
scene like that, we shall be satisfied."
" Oh no ! " said Bell gravely she was evidently launch-
ing into one of her unconscious flights, for her eyes took no
more notice of us, but were looking wistfully at the spacious
country around us "that is asking far too much. It is
easier for you to make the moonlight scene than for the
manager. You have only to imagine it is there : shut your
eyes a little bit, and fancy you hear the people on the stage
talking in a real scene, with the real country around, and the
real moonlight in the air. And then you grow to believe in
the people ; and you forget that they are only actors and
actresses working for their salaries ; and you think it is a
true story, like the stories they tell up in Westmoreland of
things that have happened in the villages years ago. That
is one of the great pleasures of driving, is it not ? that it
gives you a sense of wide space. There is a great deal of
air and sky about it ; and you have a pleasant and easy way
of getting through it, as if you were really sailing ; whereas
the railway whisks you through the long intervals, and
makes your journey a succession of dots. That is an
unnatural way of travelling, that staccato method of-
Here Mademoiselle caught sight of Queen Tita gravely
smiling, and immediately paused to find out what she had
been saying.
" Well ? " she said, expecting to be corrected or reproved,
and calmly resolved to bear the worst.
But how could Tita explain ? She had been amused by
the manner in which the young lady had unconsciously
caught up a trick of the Lieutenant's in the construction
of his sentences the use of " that " as the introductory
nominative, the noun coming in afterwards. For the
moment the subject dropped, in the excitement of our
getting once more back to the Severn ; and when Bell
OF A PHAETON. tSi
spoke next, it was to ask the Lieutenant whether the
Wrekin a solitary, abrupt, and conical hill on our right,
which was densely wooded to the top did not in a milder
form reproduce the odd masses of rock that stud the great
plain west of the Lake of Constance.
A pleasant drive through a fine stretch of open country
took us into Shrewsbury ; and here, having got over the
bridge and up the steep thoroughfares to our hotel, dinner
was immediately ordered. When at length we made our
way round to the theatre it was about half -past seven, and
the performance was to commence at twenty minutes to
eight.
" Oh, Bell ! " says my Lady, as we enter the building.
She looks blankly round. From the front of the dress circle
we are peering into a great hollow place, dimly lighted by
ten lamps, each of one burner, that throw a sepulchral light
on long rows of wooden benches, on a sad-coloured curtain,
and an empty ; orchestra. How is all the force of Bell's
imagination to drive off these walls and this depressing
array of carpentry, and substitute for them a stage of green-
sward and walls composed of the illimitable sky ? There is
an odour of escaped gas, and of oranges ; but when did any
people ever muster up enough of gaiety to eat an orange in
this gloomy hall ?
7.30, by Shrewsbury clock. An old gentleman and a
boy appear in the orchestra. The former is possessed of a
bass-viol ; the latter proceeds to tune up a violin.
7.40 which is the time for commencing the play three
ladies come into the pit. The first is a farmer's wife, fat,
ostentatious, happy in a black silk that rustles ; the two
others are apparently friends of hers in the town, who follow
her meekly, and take their seats with a frightened air. She
sits down with a proud, gesture ; and this causes a thin
crackle of laughter and a rude remark far up in the semi-
darkness overhead, so that we gather that there are probably
two persons in the upper gallery.
7.45. Two young ladies perhaps shop-girls, but their
extreme blushing gives them a countrified look come into
the pit, talk in excited whispers to each other, and sit
down with an uncomfortable air of constraint. At this
moment the orchestra startles us by dashing into a waltz
182 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
from " Faust." There are now five men and a boy in this
tuneful choir. One of them starts vigorously on the cornet ;
but invariably fails to get beyond the first few notes, so that
the flute beats him hollow. Again and again the cornet
strikes in at the easy parts ; but directly he subsides again,
and the flute has it all his own way. The music ceases.
The curtain is drawn up. The play has begun.
The first act is introductory. There is a farmer, whose
chief business it is to announce that " his will is law ; " and
he has a son addressed throughout as Weelyam, whom he
wishes to marry a particular girl. The son, of course, has
married another. The villain appears, and takes us into his
confidence ; giving us to understand that a worse villain
never trod the earth. He has an interview with the farmer ;
but this is suddenly broken off a whistle in some part of
the theatre is heard, and we are conveyed to an Italian lake,
all shining with yellow villas and blue skies.
" That is the problem stated," said the Lieutenant ; " now
we shall have the solution. But do you find the walls going
away yet, Mademoiselle ? "
" I think it is very amusing," said Bell, with a bright
look on her face. Indeed, if she had not brought in with
her sufficient influence from the country to resolve the
theatre into thin air, she had imbibed a vast quantity of
good health and spirits, so that she was prepared to enjoy
anything.
The plot thickens. The woman-villain appears a lady
dressed in deep black, who tells us in an awful voice that
she was the mistress of Weelyam in France that being the
country naturally associated in the mind of the dramatist
with crimes of this character. She is in a pretty state when
she learns that "Weelyam is married ; and events are plainly
marching on to a crisis. It comes. The marriage is
revealed to the farmer, who delivers a telling curse, which
is apparently launched at the upper gallery, but which
is really meant to confound "Weelyam ; then the old man
falls there is a tableau the curtain comes down, and the
band, by some odd stroke of luck, plays " Home, sweet
home," as an air descriptive of "Weelyam's banishment.
We become objects of curiosity, now that the adventures
of the farmer's son are removed. There are twenty-one
OF A PHAETON. 183
people in the pit representing conjointly a solid guinea
transferred to the treasury. One or two gay young men
with canes, and jwith their hats much on the side of their
heads, have entered the dress-circle, stared for a minute or
two at the stage, and retired.
They are probably familiar with rustic drama, and hold it
in contempt. A good ballet, now, would be more in their
way, performed by a troupe of young ladies whose names are
curiously like English names, with imposing French and
Italian terminations. A gentleman comes into the pit along
with a friend, nods familiarly to the attendant, deposits his
friend, utters a few facetious remarks, and leaves : can it be
that he is a reporter of a local newspaper, dowered with the
privilege of free admission for " himself and one " ? There
must at least be three persons in the upper gallery ; for a new
voice is [heard, calling out the graceful but not unfamiliar
name of " Polly." One of the two rose-red maidens in front
of us timidly looks up, and is greeted with a shout of recog--
nition and laughter. She drops into her old position in a
second, and hangs down her head ; while her companion
protests in an indignant way in order to comfort her. The
curtain rises.
The amount of villainy in this Shrewsbury drama is really
getting beyond a joke. We are gradually rising in the scale
of dark deeds, until the third villain, who now appears,
causes the other two to be regarded as innocent lambs.
This new performer of crime is a highwayman ; and his
very first act is to shoot "Weelyam's father and rob him of
his money. But lo ! the French adventuress drops from the
clouds ; the highwayman is her husband ; she tells him of
her awful deeds, among them of her having murdered " her
mistress the Archduchess ; " and then, as she vows she will
go and destroy Weelyam, a tremendous conflict of everybody
ensues, and a new scene being run on, we are suddenly
whirled up to Balmoral Castle.
'"I am beginning to be very anxious about the good
people," remarked Tita. " I am afraid William will be
killed."
"Unless he has as many lives as Plutarch, he can't
escape," said Bell.
" As for the old farmer," observed the Lieutenant " he,
184 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
survives apoplectic fits and pistol-shots very well oh, very
well indeed. He is a very good man in a play. He is sure
to last to the end."
Well, we were near the end ; and author, carpenter, and
scene-painter had done their dead best to render the final
scene impressive. It was in a cavern. Cimmerian darkness
prevailed. The awful lady in black haunts the gloomy
byways of the rocks, communing with herself, and twisting
her arms so that the greatest agony is made visible. But
what is this hooded and trembling figure that approaches ?
Once in the cavern, the hood is thrown off, and the palpi-
tating heroine comes forward for a second to the low foot-
lights, merely that there shall be no mistake about her
identity. The gloom deepens. The young and innocent wife
encounters the French adventuress ; the woman who did not
scruple to murder her mistress the Archduchess seizes the
girl by her hands shrieks are heard the two figures twist
round one another then a mocking shout of laughter, and
Weelyam's wife is precipitated into the hideous waters of
the lake ! But lo ! the tread of innumerable feet ; from all
quarters of the habitable globe stray wanderers arrive ; with
a shout Weelyam leaps into the lake ; and when it is dis-
covered that he has saved his wife, behold ! everybody in
the play is found to be around him ; with weeping and
with laughter all the story is told ; and the drama ends in
the most triumphant and comfortable manner, in the middle
of the night, in a cavern, a hundred miles from anywhere.
" No," said Queen Titania, distinctly, " I will not stay to
see La Champagne Ballet or the Pas de Fascination"
So there was nothing for it but to take the ungrateful
creature back to the hotel, and give her tea and a novel.
As for the billiard-room in that hotel, it is one of the best
between Holborn and the Canongate. The Lieutenant
begs to add, that he can recommend the beer.
OF A PHAETON. 185
CHAPTER XV.
LA PATRIE EN DANGER.
" Sometimes on lonely mountain-meres,
I find a magic bark;
I leap on board : no helmsman steers
I float till all is dark."
I SIT down to write this chapter with a determination to
be generous, calm, and modest in the last degree. The
man who would triumph over the wife of his bosom merely
to have the pleasure of saying " I told you so," does not
deserve to have his path through life sweetened by any such
tender companionship. Far be it from me to recall the
earnest protestations which my Lady affixed to the first
portion of this narrative. Not for worlds would I inquire
into her motives for being so anxious to see Arthur go.
The ways of a woman ought to be intricate, occult, perplex-
ing, if only to preserve something of the mystery of life
around her, and to serve her, also, as a refuge from the
coarse and rude logic of the actual world. The foolish
person who, to prove himself right, would drive his wife
into a corner, and demonstrate to her that she was wrong
that she had been guilty of small prevarications, of trifling
bits of hypocrisy, and of the use of various arts to conceal
her real belief and definite purpose the man who would
thus wound the gentle spirit by his side to secure the petty
gratification of proving himself to have been something of a
twopenny-halfpenny prophet But these remarks are pre-
mature at the present moment, and I go on to narrate the
events which happened on the day of our leaving Shrews-
bury, and getting into the solitary region of the meres.
" I have received a telegram from Arthur," says Bell,
calmly : and the pink sheet is lying on the breakfast-table
before her.
" How did you get it ? " says my Lady, with some surprise.
" At the post-office."
" Then you have been out ! "
" Yes, we went for a short walk, after having waited for
you," says Bell, looking down.
" Oh, Madame," says the Lieutenant, coming forward
1 86 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
from the fireplace, " you must not go away from the town
without seeing it well. It is handsome, and the tall poplars
down by the side of the river, they are worth going to see
by themselves."
" It was very pretty this morning," continues Bell,
" when the wind was blowing about the light blue smoke,
and the sun was shining down on the slates and the clumps
of trees. We went to a height on the other side of the
river, and I have made a sketch of it "
" Pray," says my Lady, regarding our ward severely,
" when did you go out this morning ? "
" Perhaps about an hour and a half ago," replies Bell
carelessly ; " I don't exactly know."
" More than that, I think," says the Lieutenant, " for I
did smoke two cigars before we came back. It is much to
our credit to get up so early, and not anything to be blamed
of."
" I am glad Bell is improving in that respect," retorts my
Lady, with a wicked smile ; and then she adds, " "Well ? "
" He has started," is the reply to that question.
" And is going by another route ? "
" Yes : in a dog-cart by himself. Don't you think it is
very foolish of him, Tita ? You know what accidents
occur with those dog-carts."
"Mademoiselle, do not alarm yourself," says the Lieu-
tenant, folding up his newspaper. " It is quite true what
Madame said yesterday, that there are so many accidents in
driving, and so very seldom anyone hurt. You ask your
friends yes, they have all had accidents in their riding and
driving ; they have all been in great danger, but what have
they suffered ? Nothing ! Sometimes a man is killed
yes, one out of several millions in the year. And if he
tumbles over which is likely if he does not know much of
horses and driving what then ? No, there is no fear ; we
shall see him some day very well, and go on all together ! "
" Oh, shall we ? " says my Lady, evidently regarding this
as a new idea.
" Certainly. Do you think he goes that way always ?
Impossible. He will tire of it. He will study the roads
across to meet us. He will overtake us with his light
little dog-cart ; we shall have his company along the road."
OF A PHAETON. 187
Tita did not at all look so well satisfied with this prospect
of meeting an old friend as she might have done.
" And when are you to hear from him next ? " I inquire
of Mademoiselle.
" He will either write or telegraph to each of the big
towns along our route, on the chance of the message inter-
cepting us somewhere ; and so we shall know where he is."
" And he has really started ? "
Bell placed the telegram in my hands. It was as
follows :
" Have set out by Hatfteld, Huntingdon, and York, for
Edinburgh. Shall follow the real old coach-road to Scotland ;
and am certain to find much entertainment"
" For man and beast," struck in the Lieutenant. " And
I know of a friend of mine travelling in your country who
went into one of these small inns, and put up his horse,
and when they brought him in his luncheon to the parlour,
he only looked at it and said, ' Very good, ivaiter this is
very nice ; hut ivhere is the entertainment for the man ? ' '
I continued to read the telegram aloud
"Shall probably ~be in Edinburgh before you; but will,
telegraph or write to each big town along your route, that you
may let me Jcnoiv tvhere you are"
" It is very obliging," says the Lieutenant, with a shrug
of his shoulders.
" It is quite certain," observes my Lady, with decision,
" that he must not accompany us in his dog-cart ; for we
shall arrive at plenty of inns where they could not possibly
put up three horses and so many people."
" It would have been so," said the Lieutenant, " at the
place on the top of the hill Bourton was it called, yes ? "
The mere notion of Arthur coming in to spoil the enjoy-
ment of that rare evening was so distressing that we all
took refuge in breakfast ; after which we went for a long
and leisurely stroll through Shrewsbury ; and then had
Castor and Pollux put into the phaeton. It seemed now to
us to matter little at what town we stayed. We had almost
begun to forget the various points of the journey. It was
enough that some hospitable place whether it were city,
town, or hamlet afforded us shelter for the night, that on
the next morning we could issue forth again into the sweet-
i88 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
smelling country air, and have all the fair green world to
ourselves. We looked with a lenient eye upon the great
habitations of men. What if a trifle of coal-smoke hung
about the house-tops, and if the streets were not quite so
clean as they might be ? We suffered little from these
inconveniences. They only made us rejoice the more to get
out into the leafy lanes, where the air was fresh with the
scent of the bean-fields and the half -dried hay. And when
a town happened to be picturesque and it was our good
fortune to find a considerable number of interesting cities
along our line of route combining with its steep streets,
its old-fashioned houses, and its winding river and banks,
a fair proportion of elms and poplars scattered about in
clumps to mar the monotony of the grey fronts and the
blue slates, we paid such a tribute of admiration as could
only be obtained from people who knew they would soon be
emancipated from the din and clamour, the odour and the
squalor, of thoroughfares and pavements.
Bell, sitting very erect, and holding the whip and reins
in the most accurate and scientific fashion, was driving
us leisurely up the level and pleasant road leading from
Shrewsbury to Ellesmere. The country was now more open
and less hilly than that through which we had recently come.
Occasionally, as in the neighbourhood of Harmer Hill, we
drove by long woods ; but for the most part our route lay
between spacious meadows, fields, and farms, with the
horizon around lying blue and dark under the distant sky.
The morning had gradually become overcast, and the various
greens of the landscape were deepened by the placid grey
overhead. There was little wind ; but we were conscious of
a prevailing coolness that seemed to have something of
premonitory moisture in it.
Yet how the birds sang under the silence of that cold
grey sky ! We seemed to hear all the sounds within a great
compass ; and these were exclusively the innumerable notes
of various warblers in the hedges, and in the road-side
trees, far away in woods, or hidden up in the level greyness
of the clouds : Tewi, teivi, trrrr-weet! droom, droom,
pliloee tuck, tuck, tuck, tuck, feer ! that was the silvery
chorus from thousands of throats ; and, under the darkness
of the clouded sky, the leaves of the trees and the woods
OF A PHAETON. 189
seemed to hang motionless in order to listen. Now and then
Bell picked out the call of a thrush or a blackbird from the
almost indistinguishable mass of melody ; but it seemed to us
that all the fields and hedges had but one voice ; and that it
was clear, and sweet, and piercing, in the strange silence
reigning over the land.
So we rolled along the unfrequented road, occasionally
passing a wayside tavern, a farmhouse, or a cluster of
cottages, until about noon we caught a glimpse of a stretch
of grey water. On this lonely mere no boat was to be seen,
nor any house on its banks, merely a bit of leaden-coloured
water placed amid the soft and low-lying woods. Then
we caught the glimmer of another sheet of cold grey ; and by
and by, driving under and through an avenue of trees, we
came full in sight of Ellesmere.
The small lake looked rather dismal just then. There
was a slight stirring of wind on its surface, which destroyed
the reflection of the woods along its shores, so that the water
was pretty much the counterpart of the gloomy sky above.
At this moment, too, the moisture in the air began to touch
our faces, and everything portended a shower. Bell drove
us past the mere and on to the small village, where Castor
and Pollux were safely lodged in the stables of the
" Bridgewater Arms."
"We had got into shelter just in time. Down came the
rain with a will ; but we were unconcernedly having
luncheon in a long apartment which the landlord had
recently added on to his premises. Then we darted across
the yard to the billiard-room, where Bell and my Lady
having taken up lofty positions in order to overlook the
tournament, we proceeded to knock the balls about until the
shower should cease.
The rain, however, showed no symptoms of leaving off, so
we resolved to remain at Ellesmere that night ; and the rest
of the afternoon was spent in getting up arrears of corre-
spondence and similar work. It was not until after dinner
that it was found the rain-clouds had finally gathered
themselves together ; and then, when, we went out for a stroll,
in obedience to Bell's earnest prayer, the evening had drawn
on apace.
The darkening waters of the lake were now surrounded by
190 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
low clouds of white mist, that hung about the still and wet
woods. From the surface of the mere, too, a faint vapour
seemed to rise, so that the shores on the other side had
grown dim and vague. The trees were still dropping large
drops into the plashing road ; runnels of water showed how
heavy the rain had been ; and it seemed as if the grey and
ghostly plain of the lake were still stirred by the commotion
of the showers. The reflection of a small yacht out from, the
shore was blurred and indistinct ; and underneath the wooded
island beyond there only reigned a deeper gloom on the
mere.
Of course, no reasonable person could have thought of
going out for a row on this damp evening ; but Bell having
expressed some wish of the kind, the Lieutenant forthwith
declared we should soon have a boat, however late the hour.
He dragged us through a wet garden to a house set amid
trees by the side of the lake. He summoned a worthy
woman, and overcame her wonder and objections and
remonstrances in about a couple of minutes. In a very short
space of time we found ourselves in a massive and unwieldy
punt, out in the middle of this grey sheet of water, with the
chill darkness of night rapidly descending.
" "We shall all have neuralgia, and rheumatism, and colds
to-morrow," said my Lady, contentedly. " And simply
because of this mad girl, who thinks she can see ghosts
wherever there is a little mist. Bell, do you remember
Tita stopped suddenly, and grasped my arm. A white
something had suddenly borne down upon us ; and not for
a second or two did we recognize the fact that it was
merely a swan, bent on a mission of curiosity. Far away
beyond the solitary animal there now became visible a faint
line of white, and we knew that there the members of his
tribe were awaiting his report.
The two long oars plashed in the silence ; we glided
onwards through the cold mists ; and the woods of the
opposite shore were now coming near. How long we
floated thus, through the gloomy vapours of the lake, I
cannot tell. We were bent on no particular errand ; and
somehow the extreme silence was grateful to us. But what
was this new light that was seen to be stealing up behind the
trees, a faint glow that began to tell upon the sky, and reveal
OF A PHAETON. 191
to us the conformation of the clouds ? The mists of the
lake deepened ; but the sky lightened ; and we could see
breaks in ifc, long stripes of a soft and pale yellow. The
faint suffusion of golden light seemed to lend a little
warmth to the damp and chill atmosphere. Bell had not
uttered a word. She had been watching this faint splendour
with patient eyes, only turning at times to see how the
island was becoming more distinct in the darkness. And
then more and more rapidly the radiance spread up and
over the south-east ; the clouds got thinner and thinner ;
until all at once we saw the white glimmer of the disc of
the moon leap into a long crevice in the dark sky. And
1 o ! all the scene around us was changed ; the mists were
gradually dispersed and driven to the shores ; the trees on
the island became sharp, black bars against a flood of light ;
and on the dark bosom of the water lay a long lane of
silver, intertwisting itself with millions of gleaming lines,
and flashing on the ripples that went quivering back from
the hull of our boat. We were floating on an enchanted
lake, set far away amid these solitary woods.
" Every day, I think," said Bell, " we come to some-
thing more beautiful in this journey."
" Mademoiselle," said the Lieutenant, suddenly, " your
country it has been too much for me ; I have resolved to
come to live here always, and in five years, if I choose it, I
shall be able to be naturalized, and consider England as my
own country."
The moonlight was touching softly at this moment the
outlines of Bell's face, but the rest of the face was in
shadow, and we could not see what evidence of surprise was
written there.
" You are not serious ? " she said,
" I am."
"And you mean to give up your country because you
like the scenery of another country ? "
That, plainly put, was what the proposal of the Count
amounted to, as he had expressed it ; but even he seemed
somewhat taken aback by its apparent absurdity.
" No," he said, " you must not put it all down to one
reason ; there are many reasons, some of them important ;
but at all events it is sure that if I come to live in England,
192 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
I shall not be disappointed of having much pleasure in
travelling."
" With you it may be different," said Bell, almost repeat-
ing what I had said the day before to the young man. " I
wish we could always be travelling and meeting with such
delightful scenes as this. But this holiday is a very
exceptional thing."
" So much the worse," said the Lieutenant, with the air
of a man who thinks he is being hardly used by destiny.
" But tell me," broke in Queen Tita, as the boat lay in
the path of the moonlight, almost motionless, "have you
calculated the consequences of your becoming an exile ? "
" An exile ! There are many thousands of my country-
men in England ; they do not seem to suffer much of regret
because they are exiles ? "
" Suppose we were to go to war with Germany ? "
" Madame," observed the Lieutenant, seriously, " if you
regard one possibility, why not another ? Should I not
hesitate of living in England for fear of a comet striking
your country rather than Germany ? No : I do not think
there is any chance of either ; but if there is a war, then I
consider whether I am more bound to Germany or to
England. And that is a question of the ties you may form,
which may be more strong than merely that you chance to
have been born in a particular place."
" These are not patriotic sentiments," remarked my Lady,
in a voice which showed she was pleased as well as amused
by the announcement of them.
" Patriotism ! " he said. " That is very good but you
need not make it a fetish. Perhaps I have more right to
be patriotic in a country that I choose for my own, than in
a country where I am born without any choice of my own.
But I do not find my countrymen when they come to
England much troubled by such things ; and I do not
think your countrymen, when they go to America, consult
the philosophers, and say what they would do in a war. If
you will allow me to differ from you, Madame, I do not
think that is a great objection to my living in England."
An objection coming from her ! The fimefet Lieutenant
meant no sarcasm ; but if a blush remained in my Lady's
system which is pretty well trained, I admit, to repress
OF A PHAETON. 193
Such symptoms of consciousness surely it ought to have
been visible on this clear moonlight night.
At length we had to make for the shore. It seemed as
though we were leaving out there on the water all the
white wonder of the moon ; but when we had run the
boat into the boat-house and got up among the trees, there
too was the strong light, gleaming on grey branches, and
throwing bars of black shadow across the pale road. We
started on our way back to the village, by the margin of
the mere. The mists seemed colder here than out on the
water ; and now we could see the moonlight struggling with
a faint haze that lay over all the surface of the lake. My
Lady and Bell walked on in front ; the Lieutenant was
apparently desirous to linger somewhat behind.
" You know," he said, in a low voice, and with a little
embarrassment, " why I have resolved to live in England."
" I can guess."
" I mean to ask Mademoiselle to-morrow if I have the
chance if she will become my wife."
" You will be a fool for your pains."
" What is that phrase ? I do not comprehend it," he
said.
" You will make a mistake if you do. She will refuse
you."
"And well?" he said. "Does not every man run the
chance of that ? I will not blame her no ; but it is better
I should ask her, and be assured of this one way or the
other."
" You do not understand. Apart from all other con-
siderations, Bell would almost certainly object to entertain-
ing such a proposal after a few days' acquaintanceship "
" A few days ! " he exclaimed. " Du Himmel ! I have
known her years and years ago very well we were
acquainted "
" But the acquaintanceship of a boy is nothing. You are
almost a stranger to her now."
" See here," he urged. "We do know more of each other
in this week or two than if I had met her for many seasons
of your London society. We have seen each other at all
times under all ways not mere talking in a dance, or so
forth."
194 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
" But you know she has not definitely broken off with
Arthur yet."
" Then the sooner the better," said the Lieutenant,
bluntly. " How is it you do all fear him, and the annoy-
ance of his coming ? Is a young lady likely to have much
sympathy for him, when he is very disagreeable, and rude,
and angry ? Now, this is what I think about him. I am
afraid Mademoiselle is very sorry to tell him to go away.
They are old friends. But she would like him to go away ;
for he is very jealous, and angry, and rude ; and so I go to
her, and say no, I will not tell you what my argument is ;
but I hope I will show Mademoiselle it will be better if she
will promise to be my wife, and then this pitiful fellow he
will be told not to distress her any more. If she says no
it is a misfortune for me, but none to her. If she says yes,
then I will look out that she is not any more annoyed that
is quite certain."
" I hope you don't wish to marry merely to rescue a
distressed damsel."
" Bah," he said, " you know it is not that. But you
English people, you always make your jokes about these
things not very good jokes either and do not talk frankly
about it. "When Madame comes to hear of this and if
Mademoiselle is good enough not to cast me away it will
be a hard time for us, I know, from morning until night.
But have I not told you what I have considered this young
lady so very generous in her nature, and not thinking
of herself so very frank and good-humoured to all people
around her and of a light heart, that shows she can enjoy
the world, and is of a happy disposition, and will be a very
noble companion for the man who marries her ? I would
tell you much more, but I cannot in your language."
At all events, he had picked up a good many flattering
adjectives. Mademoiselle's dowry in that respect was likely
to be considerable.
Here we got back to the inn. Glasses were brought in,
and we had a final game of bezique before retiring for the
night ; but the Lieutenant's manner towards Bell was
singularly constrained and almost distant ; and he re-
garded her occasionally in a somewhat timid and anxious
way.
OF A PHAETON. 195
[Note by Queen Titania. "It is perhaps unnecessary for me to
explain that I am not responsible for the strange notions that may
enter the heads of two light-hearted young people when they are
away for a holiday. But I must protest against the insinuation
conveyed in a manner which I will not describe that I was throughout
scheming against Arthur's suit with our Bell. That poor boy is the
son of two of my oldest friends ; and for himself we have always had
the greatest esteem and liking. If he caused us a little annoyance at
this time, he had perhaps a sort of excuse for it which is more than
some people can say, when they have long ago got over the jealousies
of courtship, and yet do not cease to persecute their wives with far
from good-natured jests and it is, I think, a little unfair to represent
me as being blind to his peculiar situation, or unmerciful towards
himself. On the contrary, I am sure I -did everything I could to
smooth over the unpleasant incidents of his visit ; but I did not find
it incumbent on me to become a partisan, and spend hours in getting
up philosophical philosophical ! excuses for a rudeness which was
really unpardonable. What I chiefly wish for, I know, is to see all
those young folks happy and contented ; but it would puzzle wiser
lieads than mine to find a means of reconciling them. As for Count
von Kosen, if he made up his mind to ask Bell to be his wife, because
Ellesmere looked pretty when the moon came out, I cannot help it.
It is some years since I gave up the idea of attempting to account for
the odd freaks and impulses that get into the heads of what I suppose
we must call the superior sea."]
CHAPTER XVI.
OUK UHLAN OUT-MANCEUVEED.
"Come down, come down, my bonnie bird,
And eat bread aif my hand ;
Your cage shall be of wiry goud,
Whar now it's but the wand."
" You are the most provoking husband I ever met with,"
says Queen Titania.
We are climbing up the steep ascent which leads from the
village of Ellesmere to the site of an ancient castle. The
morning is full of a breezy sunshine, and the cool north-
wester stirs here and there a grey ripple on the blue waters
of the lake below.
"1 hope you have not had much experience in that
direction," I observe.
"Yery pretty. That is very nice indeed. We are
improving, are we not ? " she says, turning to Bell.
Bell, who has a fine colour in her face from the light
2
196 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
breeze and the brisk walking, puts her hand affectionately
within her friend's arm, and says, in gentle accents
"It is a shame to tease you so, you poor innocent little
thing. But we will have our revenge. We will ask some-
body else to protect you, my pet lamb ! "
" Lamb hm ! Not much of the lamb visible, but a good
deal of the vinegar sauce," says one of us, mindful of past
favours.
It was a deadly quarrel. I think it had arisen out of
Tita's inability to discover which way the wind was blowing ;
but the origin of our sham-fights had seldom much to do
with their subsequent rise and progress.
" I wish I had married you, Count von Rosen," observed
my Lady, turning proudly and graciously to her companion
on the right.
" Don't alarm the poor man," I remonstrated : and indeed
the Lieutenant looked quite aghast.
" Madame," he replied gravely, when he had recovered
himself, "it is very kind of you to say so ; and if you had
made me the offer sooner, I should have accepted it with
great pleasure. But would there have been any difference ?
No, I think not perhaps it would be worse. It is merely
that you are married ; and you make believe to chafe
against the bonds. Now, I think you two would be very
agreeable to each other if you were not married."
"Ah, well," said Tita, with an excellently constructed
sigh ; " I suppose we must look on marriage as a trial, and
bear it with meekness and patience. We shall have our
reward elsewhere."
Bell laughed, in a demure manner. That calm assumption
of the virtues of meekness and patience was a little too
much ; but what was the use of further fighting on a
morning like this ? We got the key of a small gate. We
climbed up a winding path through trees that were glancing
in the sunlight. We emerged upon a beautiful green lawn
a bowling-green, in fact, girt in by a low hedge, and over-
looked by a fancy little building. But the great charm of
this elevated site was the panorama around and beyond.
Windy clouds of white and grey kept rolling up out of the
west, throwing splashes of purple gloom on the shining land-
scape. The foliage waved and rustled in the cool breeze ; the
OF A PHAETON. 197
sunlight kept chasing the shadows across the far meadows.
And then down below us lay the waters of Ellesmere lake
here and there a deep, dark blue, under the warm green of
the woods ; and here and there stirred into a shimmer of
silver by the wind that was sweeping across the sky.
" And to-day we shall be in Chester, and to-morrow in
"Wales ! " cried Bell, looking away to the north, where the
sky was pretty well heaped up with the flying masses of
cloud. She looked so bright and joyous then, that one
could almost have expected her to take flight herself, and
disappear like a wild bird amid the shifting lights and
glooms of this windy day. The Lieutenant, indeed, seemed
continually regarding her in rather an anxious and em-
barrassed fashion. Was he afraid she might escape ? Or
was he merely longing to get an opportunity of plunging
into that serious business he had spoken of the night before ?
Bell was all unconscious. She put her hand within Tita's
arm, and walked away over the lawn, which was warm
in the sunshine. We heard them talking of a picnic on.
this lofty and lonely spot sketching out tents, archery-
grounds, and what not, and assigning a place to the band.
Then there were rumours of the " Haymakers " of " Roger
de Coveiiey," of the " Gruaracha," and I know not what
other nonsense, coming towards us as the north-wester blew
back to us fragments of their talk ; until even the Lieu-
tenant remarked that an old-fashioned country-dance would
look very pretty up here, on such a fine piece of green, and
with all the blue and breezy extent of a great English land-
scape forming the environment of this magnificent ball-
room.
A proposal is an uncomfortable thing to carry about with
one. Its weight is unconscionable, and on the merriest of
days it will make a man down-hearted. To ask a woman to
marry is about the most serious duty which a man has to
perform in life, even as some would say that it is the most
unnecessary : and those who settled the relations of the
sexes, before or after the Flood, should receive the gratitude
of all womankind for the ingenuity with which they
shifted on to male shoulders this heavy and grievous
burden.
The Lieutenant walked down with us from the hill and
198 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
through the little village to the inn as one distraught. He
scarcely even spoke and never to Bell. He regarded the
getting oat of the phaeton with a listless air. Castor and
Pollux whose affections he had stolen away from us
through a whole series of sneaking kindnesses whinnied to
him in vain. When my Lady, who now assumed the
responsibility of apportioning to us our seats, asked him to
drive on, he obeyed mechanically.
Now our Bonny Bell, as I have said, was unconscious of
the awful possibilities that hung over our adventures of that
day ; and was in as merry a mood as you could desire to see.
She sat beside the Lieutenant ; and scarcely had we gone
gently along the narrow village street and out into the
broader country road that leads northward, than she began
to tell her companion of the manner in which Tita tyrannizes
over our parish.
" You would not think it, would you ? " she asked.
" No," said the Lieutenant, " I should not think she was
a very ferocious lady."
" Then you don't know her," murmurs a voice from behind ;
and Tita says, " Don't begin again," in an injured way, as if
we were doing some sort of harm to the fine morning.
" I can assure you," said Bell, seriously, " that she rules the
parish with a rod of iron. She knows every farthing that
every labourer makes in the week ; and he catches it if he
does not bring home a fair proportion to his wife. ' Well,
Jackson,' she says, ' I hear your master is going to give you
fourteen shillings a week now.' ' Thank ye, ma'am,' he
says, for he knows quite well who secured him the additional
shilling to his wages. ' But I want you to give me three-
pence out of it for the savings bank ; and your wife will
gather up sixpence a week until she gets enough for another
pair of blankets for you, now the winter is coming on,
you know.' Well, the poor man dares not object. He gives
up three-fourths of the shilling he had been secretly expect-
ing to spend on beer, and does not say a word. The
husbands in our parish have a bad time of it "
" One of them has, at least," says that voice from behind.
" And you should see how our Tita will confront a huge
fellow who is half bemused with beer, and order him to be
silent in her presence. ' How dare you speak to your wife
OF A PHAETON. 199
like that before me ! ' and he is as quiet as a lamb. And
sometimes the wives have a turn of it too not reproof, you
know, but a look of surprise if they have not finished the
sewing of the children's frocks which Tita and I have cut out
for them ; or if they have gone into the alehouse with their
husbands late on the Saturday night ; or if they have missed
being at church next morning. Then you should see the
farmers' boys playing pitch-and-toss in the road on the
Sundays how they scurry away like rabbits when they
see her coming up from church they fly behind stacks, or
plunge through hedges anything to get out of her way."
" And I am not assisted, Count von Rosen, in any of these
things," says my Lady, " by a young lady who was once
known to catch a small boy and shake him by the shoulders
because he threw a stone at the clergyman as he passed."
" Then you do assist, Mademoiselle," inquires the Lieu-
tenant, " in this overseeing of the parish ? "
" Oh, I merely keep the books," replies Bell. " I am the
treasurer of the savings bank ; and I call a fortnightly meet-
ing to announce the purchase of the various kinds of cotton
and woollen stuffs, at wholesale prices, and to hear from the
subscribers what they most need. Then we have the
materials cut into patterns ; we pay so much to the women
for sewing ; and then we sell the things when they are made ;
so that the people pay for everything they get, and yet get it
far cheaper than they would at a shop, while we are not out
of pocket by it."
Here a deep groan is heard from the hind seat of the
phaeton. That beautiful fiction about the ways and means
of our local charities has existed in our household for many
a day. The scheme is admirable. There is no pauperization
of the peasantry around. The theory is that Queen Tita
and Bell merely come in to save the cost of distribution ;
and that nothing is given away gratis except their charitable
labour. It is a pretty theory. The folks round about us
find it answers admirably. But somehow or other whether
from an error in Bell's book-keeping, or whether from a
sudden rise in the price of flannel, or some other recondite
and esoteric cause all I know is that the system demands an
annual subvention from the head of the house. Of course
my Lady can explain all that away. There is some
temporary defect in the working-out of the scheme ; the
200 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
self-supporting character of it remains easy of demonstration.
It may be so. But a good deal of bread in the shape of
cheques has been thrown upon the waters in a certain
district in England ; while the true author of the charity
the real dispenser of these good things is not considered in
the matter, and is privately regarded as a sort of grudging
person, who does not understand the larger claims of
humanity.
At length we have our first glimpse of Wales. From
Ellesmere to Overton the road gradually ascends, until, just
before you come to Overton, it skirts the edge of a high
plateau, and all at once you are confronted by the sight of
a great valley, through which a stream, brown as a Welsh
rivulet ought to be, is slowly stealing. That narrow thread
that twists through spacious w T oods and green meadows is
the river Dee ; far away beyond the valley that it waters,
rise the blue masses of Cyrn-y-Brain and Cefn-y-Fedn ;
while to the south of the latter range lies the gap by which
you enter the magic vale of Llangollen. On this breezy
morning there were white clouds blowing across the dusky
peaks of the mountains ; while ever and anon, from a blue
rift overhead, a shimmering line of silver would strike down,
and cause the side of some distant hill to shine in pale grey
and gold.
" That is a very strange sight to me," said the Lieutenant,
as the horses stood in the road ; " all these great mountains,
with, I think, no houses on them. That is the wild country
into which the first inhabitants of this country fled when
the German tribes swarmed over here all that we have been
taught at school ; but only think of the difficulty the
Berlin boy living with nothing but miles of flat sand
around him has to imagine a wild region like this, which
gave shelter because no one could follow into its forest and
rocks. And how are we to go ? We cannot drive into
these mountains."
" Oh, but there are very fine roads in Wales," said Bell ;
" broad, smooth, well-made roads ; and you can drive
through the most beautiful scenery, if you wish."
However, it was arranged we should not attempt anything
of the kind, which would take us too far out of our route to
Scotland. It was resolved to let the horses have a rest in
Chester the next day ; while we should take a run down by
OF A PHAETON. 201
rail to Llanrwst and Bettws-y-Coed, merely to give our
Uhlan a notion of the difficulties he would have to encounter
in subduing this country, when the time came for that little
expedition.
So we bowled through the small village of Over ton, and
down the winding road which plunges into the beautiful
valley we had been regarding from the height. We had not
yet struck the Dee ; but it seemed as though the ordinary
highway in this plain was a private path through a mag-
nificent estate. As far as we could see, a splendid avenue
of elms stretched on in front of us ; and while we drove
through the cool shade, on either side lay a spacious extent
of park, studded with grand old oaks. At length we came
upon the stream, flowing brown and clear, through pictur-
esque and wooded banks ; and then we got into open country
again, and ran pleasantly up to Wrexham.
Perhaps the Lieutenant would have liked to bait the
horses in some tiny village near to this beautiful stream.
We should all have gone out for a saunter along the banks ;
and, in the pulling of wild flowers, or the taking of sketches,
or some such idyllic employment, the party would in all
likelihood have got divided. It would have been a pleasant
opportunity for him to ask this gentle English girl to be his
wife with the sweet influences of the holiday-time disposing
her to consent, and with the quiet of this wooded valley
ready to catch her smallest admission. Besides, who could
tell what might happen after Bell had reached Chester ?
That was the next of the large towns which Arthur had
agreed to make points of communication. I think the
Lieutenant began at this time to look upon large towns as
an abomination, to curse telegraphs, and hate the penny post
with a malignant hatred.
But in place of any such quiet resting-place, we had to
put up Castor and Pollux in the brisk little town of Wrex-
ham, which was even more than usually busy with its
market-day. The Wynnstay Arms was full of farmers, seed-
agents, implement makers, and what not, all roaring and
talking to the last limit of their lungs bustling about the
place and calling for glasses of ale, or attacking huge joints
of cold roast beef with an appetite which had evidently not
been educated on nothing. The streets were filled with the
vendors of various wares ; the wives and daughters of the
202 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
farmers, having come in from the country in the dog-cart or
waggonette, were promenading along the pavement in the
most gorgeous hues known to silken and muslin fabrics ;
cattle were being driven through narrow thoroughfares ; and
the sellers of fruit and of fish in the market-place were
alarming the air with their calls. The only quiet corner,
indeed, was the churchyard and the church, through which
we wandered for a little while ; but young folks are not so
foolish as to tell secrets in a building that has an echo.
Was there no chance for our unfortunate Uhlan ?
" Hurry hurry on to Chester ! " cried Bell, as we drove
away from Wrexham along the level northern road.
A gloomy silence had overtaken the Lieutenant. He was
now sitting behind with Queen Tita ; and she was doing her
best to entertain him (there never was a woman who could
make herself more agreeable to persons not of her own
household) -while he sat almost mute, listening respectfully,
and half suffering himself to be interested.
Our pretty Bell, on the other hand, was all delight at the
prospect of reaching the quaint old city that evening ; and
was busy with wild visions of our plunge into Wales on the
morrow, while ever [and anon she hummed snatches of the
Lieutenant's Burgundy song.*
* Count von Eosen, fearing that his English is not first-rate, begs
me to say that his very excellent friend Mr. Charles Oberthur, with
whose name the public is pretty well familiar, has been good enough
to set this song to music. He thinks Mr. Oberthiir's music better
than that which the young Englishman used to sing at Bonn, and
Bell thinks so too : but then her opinion always coincides. However,
I am permitted, by the joint kindness of Mr. Oberthur and the
Lieutenant, to give the music here :
BURGUNDY ROSE.
Allegro moderate. Music ^ CH ^LES OBERTHIJR.
d ^-=rl=3 ^~
e-~ 0i
w A)h, Bur - gun -d
ifem =
_l j j_j | w . j ^__
7 is - n't a good thing to
1
drink, Young
1 P 1
m/ ^
-^- ^3*
-&
s _
^ "^ -^
-=j^ J
OF A PHAETON.
203
" Please may I make a confession ? " she asked, at length,
in a low voice.
SIZ^K
IE
-t b*
man, I be - seech you, con - si - der and think.
N
Or else in your nose, and like - wise in your
toes, You'll dis - cov - er the co -lour of Bur-gun-dy rose, You'll dis -
m
cres.
poco . /
molto ritard.
- cov - er the co - lour of Bur - gun - dy rose.
- ->
204
THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
" Why, yes."
I hoped, however, she was not going to follow the example
of the Lieutenant, and confide to me that she meditated
making a proposal. Although men dislike this duty, they
have a prejudice against seeing it undertaken by women.
" All our journey has wanted but one thing," said Bell.
" We have had everything that could be wished bright
weather, a comfortable way of travelling, much amusement,
plenty of fights indeed, there was nothing wanting but
one thing ; and that was the sea. Now did you ever try to
look for it ? Were you never anxious to find only a long
TENOBI.
BASSI.
Bur - gun - dy rose,
Bur - gun - dy rose, A
N I I i
/ A tempo.
~r 1* T ^ P
molto ritard.
J-r-J fc__|.
Verses 1,2,3.* Verse 4.
/T\ I /T\
4-
dan - ger - ous symp-tom is Bur - gun - dy rose.
Solo.
m
Jit -g-
coKa parte.
* For the last three verses see pp. 169, 170,
OF A PHAETON. 205
thread of grey near the sky, and be quite sure that out there
the'woodfl stopped on the edge of a line of sand ? I dared
not tell Tita for she would have thought me very ungrate-
ful ; but I may tell you, for you don't seem to care about
anybody's opinions ; but I used to get a little vexed with
the constant meadows, rivers, farms, hills, woods, and all
that over and over again, and the sea not coming any
nearer. Of course one had no right to complain, as I
suppose it's put down in the map, and can't be altered ; but
we seem to have been a long time coming across the country
to reach the coast."
" Why, you wild sea-gull, do you think that was our only
object ? A long time reaching the coast ! Don't imagine
your anxiety was concealed. I.saw you perpetually scanning
the horizon, as if one level line were better than any other
level line at such a distance. You began it on Richmond
Hill ; and would have us believe the waves of the Irish
Channel were breaking somewhere about Windsor."
" No no ! " pleaded Bell ; " don't think me ungrateful.
I think we have been most fortunate in coming as we did ;
and Count von Rosen must have seen every sort of English
landscape first the river-pictures about Richmond ; then
the wooded hills about Oxfordshire ; then the plains of
Berkshire ; then the mere-country about Ellesmere ; and
now he is going into the mountains of Wales. But all the
same we shall reach the sea to-morrow."
" What are you two fighting about ? " says Queen Titania,
interposing.
" We are not fighting," says Bell, in the meekest possible
way ; " we are not husband and wife."
" I wish you were," says the other, coolly.
" Madame," I observe at this point, " that is rather a
dangerous jest to play with. It is now the second time you
have made use of it this morning."
" And if I do repeat old jokes," says Tita, with a certain
calm audacity, " it must be through the force of a continual
example."
" And such jests sometimes fix themselves in the
mind until they develop and grow into a serious purpose."
" Does that mean that you would like to marry Bell ? If
it can be done legally and properly, I should not be sorry, I
206 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
know. Can it be done, Count von Eosen ? Shall we four
go back to London with different partners ? An exchange
of husbands "
Merciful powers ! what was the woman saying ? She
suddenly stopped, and an awful consternation fell on the
whole four of us. That poor little mite of a creature had
been taking no thought of her words, in her pursuit of this
harmless jest ; and somehow it had wandered into her brain
that Bell and the Lieutenant were on the same footing as
herself and I. A more embarrassing slip of the tongue
could not be conceived ; and for several dreadful seconds no
one had the courage to speak, until Bell, wildly and inco-
herently with her face and forehead glowing like a rose
asked whether there was a theatre in Chester.
" No," cried my Lady, eagerly ; " don't ask us to go to
the theatre to-night, Bell ; let us go for a walk rather."
She positively did not know what she was saying. It was
a wonder she did not propose we should go to the gardens of
Cremorne, or up in a balloon. Her heart was filled with
anguish and dismay over the horrible blunder she had made ;
and she began talking about Chester, in a series of discon-
nected sentences, in which the heartrending effort to appear
calm and unconstrained was painfully obvious. Much as I
have had to bear at the hands of that gentle little woman,
I felt sorry for her then. I wondered what she and Bell
would say to each other when they went off for a private
confabulation at night.
By the time we drew near Chester, however, this unfor-
tunate incident was pretty well forgotten ; and we were
sufficiently tranquil to regard with interest the old city,
which was now marked out in the twilight by the yellow
rays of the gas-lamps. People had come forth for their
evening stroll round the great wall which encircles the
town. Down in the level meadows by the side of the Dee,
lads were still playing cricket. The twilight, indeed, was
singularly clear ; and when we had driven into the town,
and put up the phaeton at an enormous Gothic hotel which
seemed to overawe the small old-fashioned houses in its
neighbourhood, we too set out for a leisurely walk round
the ancient ramparts.
But here again the Lieutenant was disappointed. How
OF A PHAETON. 207
could he talk privately to Bell on this public promenade ?
Lovers there were here, but all in solitary pairs. If Tita
had only known that she and I were interfering with the
happiness of our young folks, she would have thrown herself
headlong into the moat rather than continue this unwilling
persecution. As it was, she went peacefully along, watching
the dusk of the evening fall over the great landscape
around the city. The ruddy glow in the windows became
more and more pronounced. There were voices of boys still
heard down in the racecourse ; but there was no more
cricketing possible. In the still evening, a hush seemed to
fall over the town ; - and when we got round to the weir on
the river, the vague white masses of water that we could
scarcely see, sent the sound of their roaring and tumbling,
as it were, into a hollow chamber. Then we plunged once
more into the streets. The shops were lit. The quaint
galleries along the first floor of the houses, which are the
special architectural glory of Chester, were visible in the dull
glow of the lamps. Finally we found ourselves in the great
dining-room of the Gothic hotel, and sat ourselves down for
a comfortable evening.
"Well," I say to the Lieutenant, as we go into the
smoking-room, when the women have retired for the night,
" have you asked Bell yet ? "
" No," he answers, morosely.
" Then you have escaped another day ? "
" It was not my intention. I will ask her whenever I
get the chance that I am resolved upon ; and if she says
' No,' why, it is my misfortune, that is all."
" I have told you she is certain to say ' No.' "
" Very well."
" But I have a proposal to make."
" So have I," says the Lieutenant, with a gloomy smile.
" To-morrow you are going down to see a bit of Wales.
Why spoil the day prematurely ? Put it off until the
evening, and then take your refusal like a man. Don't do
Wales a,n injustice."
" Why," says the Lieutenant, peevishly, " you think
nothing is important but looking at a fine country and
enjoying life out of doors. I do not care what happens to
a lot of mountains and rivers when this thing is for me
2oS THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
far more important. When I can speak to Mademoiselle, I
will do so ; and I do not care if all Wales is put under
water to-morrow "
" After your refusal, the deluge. Well, it is a good thing
to be prepared. But you need not talk in an injured tone,
which reminds one oddly of Arthur."
You should have seen the stare on von Rosen's face.
" It is true. All you boys are alike when you fall in love
all unreasonable, discontented, perverse, and generally
objectionable. It was very well for you to call attention
to that unhappy young man's conduct when you were in
your proper senses ; but now, if you go on as you are going,
it will be the same story over again."
" Then you think I will persecute Mademoiselle and be
insolent to her and her friends ? "
"All in good time. Bell refuses you to-morrow. You
are gloomy for a day. You ask yourself why she has done
so. Then you come to us and beg for our interference. We
tell you it is none of our business. You say we are
prejudiced against you, and accuse us of forwarding Arthur's
suit. Then you begin to look on him as your successful
rival. You grow so furiously jealous
Here the Uhlan broke into a tremendous laugh.
" My good friend, I have discovered a great secret," he
cried. " Do you know who is jealous ? It is you ! You
will oppose anyone who tries to take Mademoiselle away
from you. And I I will try and I ivill do it."
From the deepest despondency he had leaped to a sort of
wild and crazy hope of success. He smiled to himself, walked
about the room, and talked in the most buoyant and
friendly manner about the prospects of the morrow. He
sent clouds of cigar-smoke about as if he were Neptune
getting to the surface of the sea, and blowing back the
foam from about his face. And then, all at once, he sat
down we were the only occupants of the room and said,
in a hesitating way
" Look here do you think Madame could speak a word
to her if she does say ' No ' ? "
" I thought it would come to that."
" You are what do you call it ? very unsympathetic."
" Unsympathetic ! No ; I have a great interest in both
OF A PHAETON. 209
of you. But the whole story is so old, one has got familiar
with its manifestations."
" It is a very old and common thing to be born, but it is
a very important thing, and it only happens to you once."
"And falling in love only happens to you once, I
suppose ? "
" Oh no, many times. I have very often been in love
with this girl or the other girl, but never until this time
serious. I never before asked anyone to marry me ; and
surely this is serious that I offer for her sake to give up
my country, and my friends, and my profession everything.
Surely that is serious enough ? "
And so it was. And I knew that if ever he got Bell to
listen favourably to him, he would have little difficulty in
convincing her that he had never cared for anyone before ;
while she would easily assure him that she had always
regarded Arthur only as a friend. For there are no lies so
massive, audacious, and unblushing as those told by two
young folks when they recount to each other the history of
their previous love affairs.
CHAPTER XVII.
IN THE FAIRY GLEN.
* O Queen, thou knowest I pray not for this :
Oh set us down together in some place
Where not a voice can break our heaven of bliss,
Where nought but rocks and I can see her face
Softening beneath the marvel of thy grace,
Where not a foot our vanished steps can track,
The golden age, the golden age come back ! "
LITTLE did our Bonny Bell reck of the plot that had been
laid against her peace of mind. She was as joyous as a wild
sea-bird when we drew near the sea. All the morning she
had hurried us on ; and we were at the station some twenty
minutes before the train started. Then she must needs sit
on the northern side of the carriage, close in by the window ;
and all at once, when there flashed before us a long and
level stretch of grey-green, she uttered a quick low cry of
p.
210 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
gladness, as though the last wish of her life had been
realized.
Yet there was not much in this glimpse of the sea that we
got as we ran slowly along the coast-line towards Conway.
It was a quiet grey day, with here and there a patch of blue
overhead. The sea was stirred only by a ripple. Here and
there it darkened into a breezy green ; but for the most
part it reflected the wan sky overhead. The shores were flat.
The tide was up, and not a rock to be seen. One or two
small boats were visible ; but no great full-rigged ship, with
all her white sails swelling before the wind, swept onwards
to the low horizon. But it was the sea that was enough
for this mad girl of ours. She had the window put down,
and a cold odour of sea-weed flew through the carriage. If
there was not much blue outside, there was plenty in the
deep and lambent colour of her eyes, where pure joy and
delight fought strangely with the half -saddening influences
produced by this first unexpected meeting with the sea.
Turning abruptly away from the coast-line with the
lofty walls of Conway Castle overlooking the long sweep of
the estuary we plunged down into the mountains. The
dark masses of firs up among the rocks w^ere deepening in
gloom. .There was an unearthly calm on the surface of the
river, as lif the reflection of the boulders, and the birch-
bushes, and the occasional cottages, lay waiting for the first
stirring of a shower. Then, far away up' the cleft of the
valley, a nebulous mist came floating over the hills ; it melted
whole mountains into a soft dull grey ; it blotted out dark
green forests and mighty masses of rock ; until a pattering
against the carriage windows told us that the rain had
begun.
" It is always so in Wales," said my Lady, with a sigh.
But when we ^got out at Bettws-y-Coed, you would not
have fancied om.* Spirits were grievously oppressed. Indeed,
I often remarked that we never enjoyed our wanderings so
much, whether in the phaeton or out of it, as when there was
abundant rain about, the desperation of the circumstances
driving us into being recklessly merry. So we would not
take the omnibus that was carrying up to the Swallow Falls
some half-dozen of those horrid creatures, the tourists. The
deadly dislike we bore to these unoffending people was
OF A PHAETON. 211
remarkable. "What right had they to be invading this
wonderful valley ? What right had they to leave Bayswater
and occupy seats at the tables d'hote, of hotels ? We saw
them drive away with a secret pleasure. We hoped they
would get wet, and swear never to return to Wales. We
called them tourists, in short, which has become a term
of opprobrium among Englishmen ; but we would have
perished rather than admit for a moment that we too were
tourists.
It did not rain very much. There was a strong resinous
odour in the air, from the spruce, the larch, the pines, and
the breckans, as we got through the wood, and ventured
down the slippery paths which brought us in front of the
Swallow Falls. There had been plenty of rain ; and the
foaming jets of water were darting among the rocks very
much like the white glimmer of the martin as he cuts about
the eaves of a house in the twilight. The roar of the river
filled the air, and joined in chorus the rustling of the trees.
We could scarcely hear ourselves speak. It was not a time
for confidences. We returned to Bettws.
But the Lieutenant, driven wild by the impossibility of
placing all his sorrows before Bell, eagerly assented to the
proposal that we should go and see the Fairy Glen a much
more retired spot after luncheon. The dexterity he
displayed in hurrying over that meal was remarkable. It
was rather a scramble for a number of visitors were in the
place ; and the long table was pretty well filled up ; but
with a fine audacity our Uhlan constituted himself waiter
for our party, and simply harried the hotel. If my Lady's
eyes only happened to wander towards a particular dish, it
was before her in a twinkling. The Lieutenant alarmed
many a young lady there by first begging her pardon and
then reaching over her shoulder to carry off some huge
plate ; although he presently atoned for these misdemeanours
by carving a couple of fowls for the use of the whole
company. He also made the acquaintance of a governess
who was in charge of two tender little women of twelve and
fourteen. He sat down by the governess ; discovered that she
had been at Bettws for some weeks ; received from her some
appalling statistics of the rain that had fallen ; then for
the maids were rather remiss went and got her a bottle of
p 2
212 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
ale, which he drew for her, and poured out, and graciously
handed to her. Bell was covertly laughing all the time : my
Lady was amazed.
" Now," he said, turning in quite a matter-of-fact way to
us, " when do we start for this Fairy Glen ? "
" Pray don't let us take you away from such charming
companionship," observed my Lady, with a smile.
" Oh, she is a very intelligent person," says the Lieuten-
ant ; " really a very intelligent person. But she makes a
great mistake in preferring Schiller's plays to Lessing's for
her pupils. I tried to convince her of that. She is going
to the Ehine with those young ladies, later on in the year
to Konigswinter. Would it not be a very nice thing for
us all, when we leave the phaeton at your home, to go for
a few weeks to Konigswinter ? "
"We cannot all flirt with a pretty governess," says
Tita.
" Now that is too bad of you English ladies," retorts the
Lieutenant. " You must always think, when a man talks to
a girl, he wants to be in love with her. No it is absurd.
She is intelligent a good talker she knows very many
things and she is a stranger like myself in an hotel. Why
should I not talk to her ? "
" You are quite right, Count von Eosen," says Bell.
Of course he was quite right. He was always quite right !
But wait a bit.
We set off for the Fairy Glen. The rain had ceased ; but
the broad and smooth roads were yellow with water ; large
drops still fell from the trees ; and the air was humid and
warm. The Lieutenant lit a cigar about as big as a
wooden leg ; and Bell insisted on us two falling rather
behind, because that she liked the scent of a cigar in the
open air.
We crossed the well-known Waterloo Bridge built in the
same year as that which chronicled the great battle and we
heard the Lieutenant relating to Tita how several of his
relatives had been in the army which came up to help us on
that day.
" You know we had won before you came up," said my
Lady, stoutly.
The Lieutenant laughed.
OF A PHAETON. 213
" I am nob sure about that," he said ; " but you did
what we could not have done you held the whole French
army by yourselves, and crippled it so that our mere appear-
ance on the battle-field was enough."
" I think it was very mean of both of you," interposed
Bell, " to win a battle by mere force of numbers. If you
had given Napoleon a chance
" Mademoiselle," said von Eosen, "the object of a
campaign is to win battles anyhow. You throw away the
heroic elements of the old single combats when it is with
armies that you fight ; and you take all advantages you can
get. But who was the braver then your small English
army, or the big French one that lost the whole day without
overwhelming their enemy, and waited until we came down
to drive them back ? That is a very good word a very
strong word our zurucTcgeiuorfen. It is a very good thing
to see that word at the end of a sentence that talks of your
enemies."
At length we got to the neighbourhood of the Fairy
Glen, and found ourselves in among the wet trees, with the
roar of the stream reverberating through the woods. There
are a great many paths in this pretty ravine. You can go
close down to the water, and find still pools reflecting the
silver-lichened rocks ; or you can clamber along the high
banks through the birch and hazel and elm, and look on
the white waterfalls beneath you that sprinkle the ferns and
bushes about with their spray. Four people need not stay
together. Perhaps it was because of an extraordinary
change in the aspect of the day that Tita and I lost sight of
the young folks. Indeed, we had sat down upon a great
smooth boulder, and were pensively enjoying the sweet scents
around and the plashing of the stream, when this strange
thing occurred, so that we never remembered that our
companions had gone. Suddenly into the gloomy grey day
there leaped a wild glow of yellow fire ; and far up the
narrowing vista of the glen where the rocks came closer
together the sunlight smote down on the gleaming green
of the underwood, until it shone radiant over the smooth
pools. The light came nearer. There was still a sort
of mist of dampness in the atmosphere hanging about
the woods, and dulling the rich colours of the glen ; but a
214 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
the sunlight came straggling down the rocky ravine, a dash
of blue gleamed out overhead, and a rush of wind through
the dripping branches seemed to say that the mists were
being swept off the mountains and towards the sea. The
Fairy Glen was now a blaze of transparent green and fine
gold, with white diamonds of raindrops glittering on the
ferns and moss and bushes. It grew warm, too, down in
the hollow ; and the sweet odours of the forest above
woodruff, and campion, and wild mint, and some decayed
leaves of the great St. John's wort all stole out into the
moist air.
" Where have they gone ? " says Tita, almost sharply.
" My dear," I say to her, " you were young yourself once.
It's a good time ago but still - "
" Bell never asked for letters this morning," remarks my
Lady, showing the direction her thoughts are taking.
" No matter, Arthur will be meeting us directly^ He is
sure to come over to our route in his dog-cart."
" We must find them, and get back to Bettws-y-Coed," is
the only reply which is vouchsafed.
They were not far to seek. When we had clambered up
the steep bank to the path overhead, Bell and the Lieutenant
were standing in the road, silent. As soon as they saw us,
they came slowly walking down. Neither spoke a word.
Somehow, Bell managed to attach herself to Tita ; and
these two went on ahead.
" You were right," said the Lieutenant, in a low voice,
very different from his ordinary light and careless fashion.
" You have asked her, then ? "
" And she refused ? "
"Yes."
" I thought she would."
" Now," he said, " I suppose I ought to go back to
London.*
" Why ? "
" It will not be pleasant for her my being here. It will
be very embarrassing to both of us."
" Nonsense. She will regard it as a joke."
I am afraid our Uhlan looked rather savage at this
moment.
Ofi A PHAETON. 215
" Don't you see," I observed to him seriously, " that if you
go away in this manner you will give the affair a tremendous
importance, and make all sorts of explanations necessary ?
Why not school yourself to meeting her on ordinary terms ;
and take it that your question was a sort of preliminary
sounding, as it were, without prejudice to either ? "
" Then you think I should ask her again, at some future
time ? " he said eagerly.
" I don't think anything of the kind."
" Then why should I remain here ? "
" I hope you did not come with us merely for the purpose
of proposing to Bell."
" No ; that is true enough but our relations are now all
altered. I do not know what to do."
" Don't do anything : meet her as if nothing of the kind
had occurred. A sensible girl like her will think more
highly of you in doing that than in doing some wild and
mad thing, which will only have the effect of annoying her
and yourself. Did she give you any reason ? "
" I do not know," said von Rosen, disconsolately. " I am
not sure what I said. Perhaps I did not explain enough.
Perhaps she thought me blunt, rude, coarse, in asking her
so suddenly. It was all a sort of fire for a minute or two
and then the cold water came and that lasts."
The two women were now far ahead surely they were
walking fast that Bell might have an opportunity of
confiding all her perplexities to her friend.
i*. " I suppose," said von Rosen, " that I suffer for my own
folly. I might have known. But for this day or two back,
it has seemed so great a chance to me of getting her to
promise at least to think of it and the prospect of having
such a wife as that it was all too much. Perhaps I have
done the worst for myself by the hurry ; but was it not
excusable in a man to be in a hurry to ask such a girl to be
his wife ? And there is no harm in knowing soon that all
that was impossible."
Doubtless it was comforting to him to go on talking. I
wondered what Bell was saying at this moment ; and
whether a comparison of their respective views would
throw some light on the subject. As for the Lieutenant,
he seemed to regard Bell's decision as final. If he had
216 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
been a little older, he might not ; but having just been
plunged from the pinnacle of hope into an abyss of
despair, he was too stunned to think of clambering up again
by degrees.
. But even at this time all his thoughts were directed to
the best means of making his presence as little of an em-
barrassment to Bell as possible.
" This evening will pass away very well," he said, " for
everybody will be talking at dinner, and we need not to
address each other ; but to-morrow if you think this better
that I remain with you then you will drive the phaeton,
and you will give Mademoiselle the front seat for the whole
day ? Is it agreed, yes ? "
" Certainly. You must not think of leaving us at present.
You see, if you went away we should have to send for
Arthur."
A sort of flame blazed up into the face of the Lieutenant ;
and he said, in a rapid and vehement way
" This thing I will say to you if Mademoiselle will not
marry me good. It is the right of every girl to have her
choice. But if you allow her to marry that pitiful fellow, it
will be a shame and you will not forgive yourself, either
Madame or you, in the years afterwards that I am quite
sure of ! "
"But what have we to do with Bell's choice of a
husband ? "
" You talked just now of sending for him to join your
r hy, Bell isn't bound to marry everyone who comes for
a drive with us. Your own case is one in point."
" But this is quite different. This wretched fellow thinks
he has a claim upon her, as being an old friend, and all
that stupid nonsense ; and I know that she has a strange
idea that she owes to him
The Lieutenant suddenly stopped.
" No," he said, " I will not repeat to you what she did
tell to me this afternoon. But I think you know it all ;
and it will be very bad of you to make a sacrifice of her by
bringing him here "
" If you remain in the phaeton, we can't."
" Then I will remain."
OF A PHAETON. 217
" Thank you. As Tita and I have to consider ourselves
just a little bit amid all this whirl of love-making and
reckless generosity I must say we prefer your society to
that of Master Arthur."
" That is a very good compliment ! " says von Eosen,
with an ungracious sneer for who ever heard of a
young man of twenty-six being just to a young man of
twenty-two when both wanted to marry the same young
lady ?
We overtook our companions. Bell and I walked on
together to the hotel, and subsequently down to the
station. An air of gloom seemed to hang over the heavy
forests far up amid the grey rocks. The river had a
mournful sound as it came rushing down between the
mighty boulders. Bell scarcely uttered a word as we got
into the carriage and slowly steamed away from the
platform.
Whither had gone the joy of her face ? She was once
more approaching the sea. Under ordinary circumstances
you would have seen an anticipatory light in her blue eyes,
as if she already heard the long plash of the waves, and
smelt the sea-weed. Now she sat in a corner of the
carriage ; and when at last we came in view of the most
beautiful sight that we had yet met with on our journey,
she sat and gazed at it with the eyes of one distraught.
That was a rare and striking picture we saw when we
got back to the coast. The heavy rain-clouds had sunk
down until they formed a low dense wall of purple all
along the line of the west, between the sea and the sky.
That heavy bar of cloud was almost black ; but just above
it there was a calm fair stretch of lambent green, with
here and there a torn shred of crimson and one or two
lines of sharp gold, lying parallel with the horizon. Then
away over in the east again were some windy masses of
cloud that had caught a blush of red ; and these had sent a
pale reflection down on the sea a sort of salmon-colour
that seemed the complement of the still gold-green over-
head.
The sunset touched faintly the low mountains about the
mouth of the Dee. A rose-red glimmer struck the glass of
the window at which Bell sat ; and then, as the train made
218 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
a slight curve in the line running by the shore, the warm
light entered and lit up her face with a rich and beautiful
glow. The Lieutenant, hidden in the dusk of the opposite
corner, was regarding her with wistful eyes. Perhaps he
thought that now, more than ever, she looked like some
celestial being far out of his reach, whom he had dared to
hope would forsake her strange altitudes and share his life
with him. Tita, saying nothing, was also gazing out of
the window, and probably pondering on the unhappy climax
that seemed to put an end to her friendly hopes.
Darkness fell over land and sea. The great plain of
water seemed to fade away into the gloom of the. horizon ;
but here, close at hand, the pools on the shore occasionally
caught the last reflection of the sky, and flashed out a gleam
of yellow fire. The wild intensity of the colours was almost
painful to the eyes the dark blue-green of the shore-plants
and the sea-grass ; the gathering purple of the sea ; the
black rocks on the sand ; and then that sudden bewildering
flash of gold from some solitary pool. The mountains
in the south had now disappeared ; and were doubtless
away in that mysterious darkness wreathing themselves
in the cold * night-mists that were slowly rising from the
woods and the valleys and the streams. Such was our one
and only glimpse of Wales ; and the day that Bell had
looked forward to with such eager delight had closed in
silence and despair.
When we got back to the hotel, a letter from Arthur was
lying on the table.
CHAPTEE XVIII.
THE COLLAPSE.
"Thy crowded ports,
Where rising rnasts an endless prospect yield,
With labour burn, and echo to the shouts
Of hurried sailor, as he hearty waves
His last adieu, and, loosening every sheet,
Kesigns the spreading vessel to the wind."
THE following correspondence has been handed to us for
publication :
OF A PHAETON. 219
"COWLEY HOUSE, TWICKENHAM,
July , 1871.
" Mon cher Mamma, Doctor Ashburton dire me que je
ecris a vous dans Fransais je sais Fransais un pettit et ici
est un letter a vpus dans Fransais mon cher Mamma le Pony
est trai bien et je sui mon cher Mamma.
" Yoter aime fils,
" TOM."
" COWLEY HOUSE, TWICKENHAM,
July 1871.
"My dear Papa, Tom as written Mamma a letter in
French and Doctor Ashburton says I must Begin to learn
French too but Tom says it is very difficult and it takes a
long time to write a Letter with the dixonary and he says
my dear Papa that we must learn German Too but please
may I learn German first and you will give my love to the
German gentleman who gave us the poney he is very well
my dear Papa and very fat and round and hard in the sides
Harry French says if he goes on eeting like that he will
burst but me and Tom only laughed at him and we rode
him down to Stanes and back which is a long way and I
only tumbled off twice but once into the ditch for he
wanted to eat the Grass and I Pooled at him and slipt over
is head but I was not much "Wet and I went to bed until
Jane dryed all my close and no one new of it but her Pleese
my dear papa how is Auntie Bell, and we send our love to
her, and to my dear mamma and I am your affexnate son,
" JACK."
" P.S. All the monney you sent as gone away for oats
and beans and hay. Pleese my dear papa to send a good
lot more."
" INN, OAKHAM, Friday Afternoon.
" . . . . You will see I have slightly departed from the
route I described in a telegram to Bell. Indeed, I find
myself so untrammelled in driving this light dog-cart, with
a powerful little animal that never seems fatigued, that I
can go anywhere without fearing there will not be accom-
modation for a pair of horses and a large party. I am sure
you must often have been put to straits in securing rooms
220 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
for so many at a small country inn. Probably you know the
horse I have got it is the cob that Major Quinet bought
from Heathcote. I saw the Major by the merest accident
when I returned from Worcester to London ; told him what
I meant to do ; he offered me the cob with the greatest
good-nature ; and as I knew I should be safer with it than
anything I could hire, I accepted. You will see I have
come a good pace. I started on the Tuesday morning after
I saw you at Worcester, and here I am at Oakham, rather
over ninety miles. To-morrow I hope to be in Nottingham,
about other thirty. Perhaps, if you will allow me, I may
strike across country, by Huddersfield and Skipton, and pay
you a visit at Kendal. I hope Bell is well, and that you
are not having much rain. I have had the most delightful
weather.
" Yours sincerely,
" ARTHUR ASHBURTON."
"It is a race," said the Lieutenant, "who shall be at
Carlisle first."
" Arthur will beat," remarked Bell, looking to my Lady ;
and although nothing could have been more innocent than
that observation, it seemed rather to take von Eosen down
a bit. He turned to the window and looked out.
" I think it was very foolish of Major Quinet to lend him
that beautiful little bay cob to go on such an expedition as
that," said Tita. " He will ruin it entirely. Fancy going
thirty miles a day without giving the poor animal a day's
rest ! Why should he be so anxious to overtake us ? If
we had particularly wanted him to accompany us, we
should have asked him to do so."
" He does not propose to accompany you," I observe.
" He is only coming to pay you a visit."
" I know what that means," says my Lady, with a tiny
shrug ; " something like the arrival of a mother-in-law, with
a carriageful of luggage."
" My dear," I reply to her, " why should you speak scorn-
fully of the amiable and excellent lady who is responsible for
your bringing up ? "
" I was not speaking of my mamma," says Tita, " but of
the abstract mother-in-law."
OF A PHAETON. 221
"A man never objects to an abstract mother-in-law.
Now, your mamma although she is not to be considered as
a mother-in-law "
" My mamma never visits me but at my own request,"
says my Lady, with something of loftiness in her manner ;
" and I am sorry she makes her visits so short, for when she
is in the house, I am treated with some show of attention
and respect."
" Well," I say to her, " if a mother-in-law can do no
better than encourage hypocrisy But I bear no malice.
I will take some sugar, if you please."
"And as for Arthur," continues Tita, turning to Bell,
" what must I say to him ? "
" Only that we shall be pleased to see him, I suppose," is
the answer.
The Lieutenant stares out into the streets of Chester, as
though he did not hear.
" We cannot ask him to go with us it would look too
absurd a dog-cart trotting after us all the way."
" He might be_in front," says Bell, " if the cob is so good
a little animal as he says."
" I wonder how Major Quinet could have been so stupid ! "
says Tita, with a sort of suppressed vexation.
The reader may remember that a few days ago Major
Quinet was a white-souled angel of a man, to whom my
Lady had given one of those formal specifications of
character which she has always at hand when anyone is
attacked. Well, one of the party humbly recalls that
circumstance. He asks in what way Major Quinet has
changed within the past two days. Tita looks up, with
that sort of quick, triumphant glance which tells that she
has a reply ready, and says
" If Major Quinet has committed a fault, it is one of
generosity. That is an error not common among men
especially men who have horses, and who would rather see
their own wives walk through the mud to the station than
let their horses get wet."
" Bell, what is good for you, when you're jumped upon ? "
" Patience," says Bell : and then we go out into the old
and grey streets of Chester.
It was curious to notice now the demeanour of our
222 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
hapless Lieutenant towards Bell. He had had a whole
night to think over his position ; and in the morning he
seemed to have for the first time fully realized the hope-
lessness of his case. He spoke of it before the women
came down in a grave, matter-of-fact way, not making
any protestation of suffering, but calmly accepting it as a
matter for regret. One could easily see, however, that a
good deal of genuine feeling lay behind these brief words.
Then, when Bell came down he showed her a vast
amount of studied respect ; but spoke to her of one or two
ordinary matters in a careless tone, as if to assure everybody
that nothing particular had happened. The girl herself
was not equal to any such effort of amiable hypocrisy. She
was very timid. She agreed with him in a hurried way
whenever he made the most insignificant statement ; and
showed herself obtrusively anxious to take his side when
Queen Tita, for example, doubted the efficacy of carbolic
soap. The Lieutenant had no great interest in carbolic
soap had never seen it, indeed, until that morning ; but
Bell was so anxious to. be kind to him that she defended
the compound as if she had been the inventor and patentee
of it.
" It is very awkward for me," said the Lieutenant, as we
were strolling through the quaint thoroughfares Bell and
my Lady leading the way along the piazzas formed on the
first floor of the houses ; " it is very awkward for me to be
always meeting her, and more especially in a room. And
she seems to think that she has done me some wrong. That
is not so. That is quite a mistake. It is a misfortune
that is all ; and the fault is mine that I did not understand
sooner. Yet I wish we were again in the phaeton. Then
there is great life motion something to do and think
about. I cannot bear this doing of nothing."
Well, if the Lieutenant's restlessness was to be appeased by
hard work, he was likely to have enough of it that day ;
for we were shortly to take the horses and phaeton across
the estuary of the Mersey, by one of the Birkenhead
ferries ; and anyone who has engaged in that pleasing
operation knows the excitement of it. Von Rosen chafed
against the placid monotony of the Chester streets. The
passages under the porticoes are found to be rather narrow
OF A PHAETON. 223
of a morning, when a crowd of women and girls have come
out to look at the shops, and when the only alternative to
waiting one's turn and getting along is to descend
ignominiously into the thoroughfare below. Now, no
stranger who comes to Chester would think of walking
along an ordinary pavement, so long as he can pace through
those quaint old galleries that are built on the roofs of the
ground-row of shops and cellars. The Lieutenant hung
aimlessly about just as you may see a husband lounging
and staring in Eegent-street while his wife is examining
with a deadly interest the milliners' and jewellers' windows.
Bell bought presents for the boys. My Lady purchased
photographs. In fact, we conducted ourselves like the
honest Briton abroad, who buys a lot of useless articles in
every town he comes to, chiefly because he has nothing else
to do, and may as well seize that opportunity of talking to
the natives.
Then our bonny bays were put into the phaeton, and,
with a great sense of freedom shining on the face of our
Uhlan, we started once more for the north. Bell was
sitting beside me. That had been part of the arrangement.
But why was she so pensive ? Why this profession of
tenderness, and an extreme interest and kindness ? I had
done her no injury.
" Bell," I said to her, " have you left all your wildness
behind you buried down at the foot of Box Hill, or calmly
interred under a block of stone up on Mickleham Downs ?
Where be your gibes now ? your gambols ? your songs ?
your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set my Lady
frowning at you as if you were an incorrigible Tom-boy ?
Come, now, touching that ballad of the Bailiff's Daughter
the guitar has not been out for a long time
A small gloved hand was gently and furtively laid on my
arm. There was to be no singing.
" I think," said Bell, aloud, " that this is a very pretty
piece of country to lie between two such big towns as
Chester and Liverpool."
The remark was not very profound, but it was accurate ;
and it served its purpose of pushing away finally that
suggestion about the guitar. We were now driving up the
long neck of land lying between the parallel estuaries of the
224 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
Dee and the Mersey. About Backford, and on by Great
Button and Childer Thornton to Eastham, the drive was
pleasant enough the windy day and passing clouds giving
movement and variety to the undulating pasture-land and
the level fields of the farms. But as we drove carelessly
through the green landscape, all of a sudden we saw before
us a great forest of masts grey streaks in the midst of the
horizon and behind them a cloud of smoke arising from
an immense stretch of houses. We discovered, too, the line
of the Mersey ; and by and by we could see its banks
widening, until the boats in the bed of the stream could be
vaguely made out in the distance.
" Shall we remain in Liverpool this evening ? " Bell
inquired.
" As you please."
Bell had been more eager than any of us to hurry on our
passage to the north, that we should have abundant leisure
in the Lake country. But a young lady who finds herself
in an embarrassing position may imagine that the best refuge
she can have in the evening is the theatre.
" Pray don't," said Tita. " We shall be at Liverpool
presently, and it would be a great pity to throw away a day,
when we shall want all the spare time we can get when we
reach Kendal."
Kendal ! It was the town at which Arthur was to meet
us. But of course my Lady had her way. Since von Rosen
chose to sit mute, the decision rested with her ; and so the
driver, being of an equable disposition, and valuing the
peace of mind of the party far above the respect that ought
to have been shown to Liverpool, meekly took his orders,
and sent the horses on.
But it was a long way to Liverpool, despite Queen Tita's
assurances. The appearances of the landscape were
deceitful. The smoke on the other side of the river seemed
to indicate that the city was close at hand; but we
continued to roll along the level road without apparently
coming one whit nearer Birkenhead. We crossed Brom-
borough Pool. We went by Primrose Hill. We drove
past the grounds apparently surrounding some mansion,
only to find the level road still stretching on before us
Then there were a few cottages. Houses of an unmis-
OF A PHAETON. 225
takably civic look began to appear. Suburban villas with
gardens walled in with brick studded the roadside. Factories
glimmered grey in the distance. An odour of coal-smoke
was perceptible in the air ; and finally, with a doleful
satisfaction, we had the wheels of the phaeton rattling over
a grimy street, and we knew we were in Birkenhead.
There was some excuse for the Lieutenant losing his
temper even if he had not been in rather a gloomy mood,
to begin with. The arrangements for the transference of
carriage horses across the Mersey are of a nebulous
description. When we drove down the narrow passage to
Tranmere Ferry, the only official we could secure was a
hulking lout of a fellow of decidedly hang-dog aspect. Yon
Rosen asked him, civilly enough, if there was anyone about
who could take the horses out, and superintend the placing
of them and the phaeton in the ferry. There was no such
person. Our friend in moleskin hinted in a surly fashion
that the Lieutenant might do it for himself. But he would
help, he said ; and therewith he growled something about
being paid for his trouble. I began to fear for the safety
of that man. The river is deep just close by.
Bell and Tita had to be got out, and tickets taken for
the party and for the horses and phaeton. When I
returned, the Lieutenant, with rather a firm-set mouth, was
himself taking the horses out, while the loafer in moleskin
stood at some little distance, scowling and muttering
scornful observations at the same time.
" Ha ! have you got the tickets ? " said our Uhlan.
" That is very good. We shall do by ourselves. Can you
get out the nosebags, that we shall pacify them on going
across ? I have told this fellow if he comes near to the
horses if he speaks one more word to me he will be in
the river the next moment ; and that is quite sure as I
am alive."
But there was no one who could keep the horses quiet
like Bell. When they were taken down the little pier,
she walked by their heads, and spoke to them, and
stroked their noses : and then she swiftly got on board
to receive them. The Lieutenant took hold of Pollux.
The animal had been quiet enough, even with the steamer
blowing and puffing in front of him, but when he found
Q
226 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
his hoofs striking on the planks between the pier and the
steamer, he threw up his head, and strove to back. The
Lieutenant held on by both hands. The horse went back
another step. It was a perilous moment ; for there is no
railing to the board which forms the gangway to those
ferry-steamers, and if the animal had gone to one side or
the other, he and von Rosen would have been in the water
together. But with a " Hi ! hoop ! " and a little touch of
the whip from behind, the horse sprang forward, and was
in the boat before he knew. And there was Bell at his
head, talking in an endearing fashion to him as the
Lieutenant pulled the strap of the nosebag up ; and one
horse was safe.
There was less to do with Castor ; that prudent animal,
with his eyes staring wildly around, felt his way gingerly on
the sounding board, but did not pause all the same. Then
he too had his nosebag to comfort him ; and when the
steamer uttered a yell of a whistle through its steam-pipe,
the two horses only started and knocked their hoofs about
on the deck for they were very well employed, and Bell
was standing in front of their heads, talking to them and
pacifying them.
Then we steamed slowly out into the broad estuary. A
strong wind was blowing up channel ; and the yellow-brown
waves were splashing about with here and there a bold dash
of blue on them from, the gusty sky overhead. Far away
down the Mersey the shipping seemed to be like a cloud
along the two shores ; and out on the wide surface of the
river were large vessels being tugged about, and mighty
steamers coming up to the Liverpool piers. When one of
these bore down upon us so closely that she seemed to
overlook our little boat, the two horses forgot their corn
and flung their heads about a bit ; but the Lieutenant had
a firm grip of them, and they were eventually quieted.
He had by this time recovered from his fit of wrath.
Indeed, he laughed heartily over the matter, and said
" I am afraid I did give that lounging fellow a great
fright. He does not understand German, I suppose ; but
the sound of what I said to him had great effect upon him
I can assure you of that. He retreated from me hastily.
It was some time before he could make out what had
OF A PHAETON. 227
happened to him ; and then he did not return to the
phaeton."
The horses bore the landing on the other side very well ;
and, with but an occasional tremulous start, permitted them-
selves to be put-to on the quay, amid the roar and confusion
of arriving and departing steamers. "We were greatly helped
in this matter by an amiable policeman, who will some day,
I hope, become Colonel and Superintendent of the Metro-
politan Force.
Werther, amid all this turmoil, was beginning to forget
his sorrows. We had a busy time of it. He and Bell had
been so occupied with the horses in getting them over that
they had talked almost frankly to each other ; and now
there occurred some continuation of the excitement in the
difficulties that beset us. For, after we had driven into the
crowded streets, we found that the large hotels in Liverpool
have no mews attached to them ; and in our endeavours to
secure in one place entertainment for both man and beast,
some considerable portion of our time was consumed. At
length we found stabling in Hatton Garden ; and then we
were thrown on the wide world of Liverpool to look after
our own sustenance.
" Mademoiselle," said the Lieutenant rather avoiding
the direct look of her eyes, however " if you would prefer
to wait, and go to a theatre to-night " '
" Oh no, thank you," said Bell, quite hurriedly as if she
were anxious not to have her own wishes consulted ; " I
would much rather go on as far as we can to-day."
The Lieutenant said nothing how could he ? He was
but six-and-twenty, or thereabouts, and had not yet
discovered a key to the Rosamond's maze of a woman's
wishes.
So we went to a restaurant fronting a dull square, and
dined. "We were the only guests. Perhaps it was luncheon ;
perhaps it was dinner we had pretty well forgotten the
difference by this time, and were satisfied if we could get
something to eat, anywhere, thrice a day.
But it was only too apparent that the pleasant relations
with which we had started had been seriously altered. There
was a distressing politeness prevailing throughout this repast,
and Bell had so far forgotten her ancient ways as to become
Q 2
228 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
quite timid and nervously formal in her talk. As for my
Lady, she forgot to say sharp things. Indeed, she never
does care for a good brisk quarrel, unless there are people
present ready to enjoy the spectacle. Fighting for the mere
sake of fighting is a blunder ; but fighting in the presence
of a circle of noble dames and knights becomes a courtly
tournament. All our old amusements were departing ; we
were like four people met in a London drawing-room ; and,
of course, we had not bargained for this sort of thing on
setting out. It had all arisen from Bell's excessive tender-
ness of heart. She had possessed herself with some wild
idea that she had cruelly wronged our Lieutenant. She
strove to make up for this imaginary injury by a show of
courtesy and kindness that was embarrassing to the whole of
us. The fact is, the girl had never been trained in the
accomplishments of city life. She regarded a proposal of
marriage as something of importance. There was a defect,
too, about her pulsation : her heart that ought to have
gone regularly through the multiplication table in the course
of its beating, and never changed from twice one to twelve
times twelve made frantic plunges here and there, and
slurred over whole columns of figures in order to send an
anxious and tender flush up to her forehead and face. A
girl who was so little mistress of herself that on a winter's
evening, when AVC happened to talk of the summer-time and
of half -forgotten walks near Ambleside and Coniston tears
might suddenly be seen to well up in her blue eyes, was
scarcely fit to take her place in a modern drawing-room. At
this present moment her anxiety, and a sort of odd self-
accusation, were really spoiling our holiday : but we did not
bear our Bell much malice.
It was on this evening that we were destined to make our
first acquaintance with the alarming method of making roads
which prevails between Liverpool and Preston. It is hard
to say by what process of fiendish ingenuity these petrified
sweetbreads have been placed so as to occasion the greatest
possible trouble to horses' hoofs, wheels, and human ears ;
and it is just as hard to say why such roads although they
may wear long in the neighbourhood of a city inviting
constant traffic should be continued out into country dis-
tricts where a cart is met with about once in every five
OF A PHAETON. 229
miles. These roads do not conduce to talking. One thinks
of the unfortunate horses, and of the effect on springs and
wheels. Especially in the quiet of a summer's evening, the
frightful rumbling over the wedged-in stones seems strangely
discordant. And yet, when one gets clear of the suburban
slums and the smoke of Liverpool, a very respectable ap-
pearance of real country-life becomes visible. When you get
out to Walton Nurseries and on towards Aintree Station and
Maghull, the landscape looks fairly green, and the grass is
of a nature to support animal life. There is nothing very
striking in the scenery, it is true. Even the consciousness
that away beyond the flats on the left the sea is washing
over the great sandbanks on to the level shores, does not
help much ; for who can pretend to hear the whispering of
the far-off tide amid the monotonous rattling over these
abominable Lancashire stones ? We kept our teeth well
shut, and went on. We crossed the small river of Alt.
We whisked through Maghull village. The twilight was
gathering fast as we got on to Aughton ; and in the dusk
lit up by the yellow stars of the street lamps we drove
into Ormskirk. The sun had gone down red in the west :
we were again assured as to the morrow.
But what would be the good of another bright morning to
this melancholy Uhlan ? Misfortune seemed to have marked
us for its own. We drove into the yard of what was appar-
ently the biggest inn in the place ; and while the women
were sent into the inn, the Lieutenant and I happened to
remain a little while to look after the horses. Imagine our
astonishment, therefore (after the animals had been taken
out and our luggage uncarted), to find that there was no
accommodation for us inside the building.
" Confounded house ! " growled the Lieutenant, in Ger-
man ; " thou hast betrayed me ! "
So there was nothing for it but to leave the phaeton where
it was, and issue forth in quest of a shelter in which to hide
our heads. It was an odd place when we found it. A
group of women regarded us with a frightened stare. In
vain we invited them to speak. At length another woman
little less alarmed than the others, apparently made her
appearance, and signified that we might, if we chose, go into
a small parlour smelling consumedly of gin and coarse
230 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
tobacco. After all, we found the place was not so bad as it
looked. Another chamber was prepared for us. Our luggage
was brought round. Ham and beer were provided for our
final meal, with some tea in a shaky teapot. There was
nothing romantic in this dingy hostelry, or in this dingy
little town ; but were we not about to reach a more favoured
country the beautiful and enchanted land of which Bell
had been dreaming so long ?
"Kennst du es wohl? Daliin, dahin,
Mocht' ich mit dir, O mem Geliebter, ziehn!"
[Note "by Queen Titania. " I confess that I cannot understand these
young people. On our way from the Fairy Glen back to Bettws-y-
Coed, Bell told me something of what had occurred; but I really
could not get from her any proper reason for her having acted so.
She was much distressed, of course. I forbore to press her, lest we
should have a scene, and I would not hurt the girl's feelings for the
world, for she is as dear to me as one of my own children. But she
could give no explanation. If she had said that Count von Kosen had
been too precipitate, I could have understood it. She said she had
known him a very short time; and that she could not judge of a
proposition coming so unexpectedly ; and that she could not consent
to his leaving his country and his profession for her sake. These are
only such objections as every girl uses when she really means that she
does not wish to marry. I asked her why. She had no objections to
urge against Lieutenant von Kosen personally as how could she ?
for he is a most gentlemanly young man, with abilities and accomplish-
ments considerably above the average. Perhaps, living down in the
country for the greater part of the year, I am not competent to judge ;
but I think at least he compares very favourably with the gentlemen
whom I am in the habit of meeting. I asked her if she meant to marry
Arthur. She would not answer. She said something about his being
an old friend as if that had anything in the world to do with it. At
first I thought that she had merely said No for the pleasure of
accepting afterwards ; and I knew that in that case the Lieutenant,
who is a shrewd young man, and has plenty of courage, would soon
make another trial. But I was amazed to find so much of seriousness
in her decision ; and yet she will not say that she means to marry
Arthur. Perhaps she is waiting to have an explanation with him first.
In that case, I fear Count von Rosen's chances are but very small
indeed ; for I know how Arthur has wantonly traded on Bell's great
generosity before. Perhaps I may be mistaken; but she would not
admit that her decision could be altered. I must say it is most
unfortunate. Just as we were getting on so nicely, and enjoying our
drive so much and just as we were getting near to the Lake country
that Bell so much delights in everything is spoiled by this unhappy
event, for which Bell can give no adequate reason whatever. It is a
OF A PHAETON. 231
great pity that one who shall be nameless but who looks pretty fairly
after his own comfort did not absolutely forbid Arthur to come vexing
us in this way. If Dr. Ashburton had had any proper control over the
boy, he would have kept him to his studies in the Temple, instead of
allowing him to risk the breaking of his neck by driving wildly about
the country in a dog-cart."]
CHAPTER XIX,
THE WHITE OWLS OF GARSTANG.
"As she fled fast through sun and shade,
The happy winds upon her played,
Blowing the ringlet from the braid:
She looked so lovely, as she swayed
The rein with dainty finger-tips,
A man had given all other bliss,
And all his worldly wealth for this,
To waste his whole heart in one kiss
Upon her perfect lips."
THIS state of affairs could not last.
" Look here," I say to Queen Titania, " we must cut the
Lieutenant adrift."
" As you please," she remarks, with a sudden coldness
coming over her manner.
" Why should we be embarrassed by the freaks of these
two young people ? All the sunshine has gone out of
the party since Bell has begun to sit mute and constrained
her only wish apparently being to show a superhuman
courtesy to this perplexing young Prussian."
" You very quickly throw over anyone who interferes with
your own comfort," says my Lady, calmly.
" I miss my morning ballad. When one reaches a certain
age, one expects to be studied and tended except by one's
wife."
" Well," says Tita, driven to desperation by this picture
of von Rosen's departure, " I warned you at our setting-out
that these two would fall in love with each other and cause
us a great deal of trouble."
Who can say that this little woman is wanting in courage ?
The audacity with which she made this statement was
marvellous. She never flinched ; and the brown, clear, true
232 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
eyes looked as bravely unconscious as if she had been
announcing her faith in the multiplication table. There was
no use in arguing the point. How could you seek to thwart
or influence the firm belief that shone clearly and steadily
under the soft eyelashes ?
" Come," I say to her, " is von Eosen to go ; or is he to
hang on in hope of altering Bell's decision ? I fancy the
young man would himself prefer to leave us I don't think
he is in a comfortable position."
My Lady appeared a trifle embarrassed was there some
dark secret between these two women ?
" A young man," she says, with a little hesitation, " is the
best judge of his own chances. I have asked Bell ; and I
really can't quite make her out. Still you know a girl
sometimes is in a manner frightened into saying ' No,' the
first time she is asked and there might be
She stopped.
" You think the Lieutenant should ask her again ? "
" No, / don't," says Tita, hastily ; " but it is impossible
to say she had nothing to urge against Count von Eosen
only that Arthur would consider himself unjustly
treated
" So ho ! Is that the reason ? "
" No, no, no ! " cries the small woman, in an agony of
fright. " Don't you go and put any wrong notions into the
young man's head "
" Madam," I say to her, " recollect yourself. So far from
wishing to interfere in the affairs of these two young folks,
I should like to bundle them both back to London, that we
might continue our journey in peace. As for the Lieuten-
ant's again proposing to marry Bell, I consider that a man
who twice asks a woman to become his wife, forgets the
dignity of his sex."
Tita looks up with the most beautifully innocent smile
in her eyes and says sweetly
" You did yourself."
" That was different."
" Yes, I daresay."
" I knew your heart would have broken if I hadn't."
" Oh ! " she says, with her eyes grown appalled.
" In fact, it was my native generosity that prompted me
OF A PHAETON. 233
to ask you a second time ; for I perceived that you were
about to ask me."
" How many more ? " she asks ; but I cannot make out
what mysterious things she is secretly counting up.
" No matter. There is little use in recalling these bygone
mistakes. Justice is satisfied when a fool repents him of
his folly."
At this moment Bell enters the room. She goes up to
Tita, and takes both her hands.
" You are laughing, in a perplexed way. You must have
been quarrelling. What shall we do to him ? "
" The falling out of faithful friends is generally made up
with a kiss, Bell," it is remarked.
" But I am not in the quarrel," says Miss Bell, retreat-
ing to the window ; and here there is a rumble of wheels
outside, and the phaeton stands at the door.
" You two must get up in front," says Tita, as we go out
into the white glare of Ormskirk. " I can watch you
better there."
By this dexterous manoeuvre Bell and the Lieutenant
were again separated. The young lady was never loth to
sit in front under whatever surveillance it placed her ; for
she liked driving. On this cool morning that promised a
warmer day, after the wind had carried away the white
fleece of cloud that stretched across the sky she pulled on
her gloves with great alacrity ; and, having got into her seat,
assumed the management of the reins as a matter of course.
" Gently ! " I say to her, as Castor and Pollux make a
plunge forward into the narrow thoroughfare. A hand-
barrow is jutting out from the pavement. She gives a
jerk to the left rein, but it is too late ; one of our wheels
just touches the end of the barrow, and over it goes not
with any great crash, however.
" Go on," says the Lieutenant, from behind, with ad-
mirable coolness. " There is no harm done and there is
no one in charge of that thing. When he comes, he will
pick it up."
" Very pretty conduct," remarks my Lady, as we get out
among the green fields and meadows again, " injuring some
poor man's property, and quietly driving away without even
offering compensation,"
234 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
"It was Bell who did it," I say.
"As usual. The old story repeated from the days of
Eden downward. The woman thou gavest me of course,
it is she who must bear the blame."
"Madam," I reply, "your knowledge of Scripture is
astounding. Who was the first Attorney-General in the
Bible ? "
" Find out," says Tita ; and the Lieutenant bursts into
a roar of laughter, as if that were a pretty repartee.
" And where do we stop to-night ? " says our North-
country Maid, looking away along the green valley which
is watered by the pretty Eller Brook.
" Garstang, on the river of Wyre."
" And to-morrow we shall really be in "Westmoreland ? "
" To-morrow we shall really be in Westmoreland. Wo-
ho ! my beauties ! Why, Bell, if you try to leap across
Lancashire at a bound like that, you'll have us in a canal,
or transfixed on a telegraph-post."
" I did not intend it," says Bell, " but they are as anxious
as I am to get north, and they break into a gallop on no
provocation whatever."
Indeed, the whole nature of this mad girl seemed to have
a sort of resemblance to a magnetic needle it was continu-
ously turning to the North Pole, and that in a tremulous,
undecided fashion, as if, with all her longing, she did not
quite like to let people know. But at this moment she
forgot that we were listening. It was really herself
she was delighting with her talk about deep valleys, and
brown streams, and the scent of peat-smoke in the air of an
evening. All the time she was looking away up to the
horizon to see whether she could not make out some lines of
blue mountains, until Tita suddenly said
" My dear ! "
" Meaning me, ma f am ? "
"No, I mean Bell. Pray keep a firmer hand on the
horses : if a train were to come sharply by at present and
you see the road runs parallel with the railway-line for an
immense distance "
" And so should we," says Bell lightly. " There is no
danger. The poor animals wouldn't do anything wicked at
such a time, just when they are getting near to a long rest."
OF A PHAETON. 235
Under Bell's guidance we do not lose much time. And
presently the road leaves the neighbourhood of the railway.
We drive past the great park of Rufford Hall. The wind
blows across to us from the Irish Sea ; and at the small
village of Much Hoole, where the Lieutenant insists on
giving the horses a little meal and water as a sort of
soothing draught, we come in sight of the long red line of the
Kibble, widening out into a sandy channel as it nears the
ocean. Bell catches a glimpse of the smoke of a steamer ;
and the vague knowledge that the plain of salt water is not
far away seems to refresh us all, as we plunge once more
into the green and wooded country, by Longton, Hutton,
and Howick.
" What is the greatest wish of your life, Bell ? " I ask,
knowing that she is dreaming of living somewhere along
the coast of these islands.
" To see Mamma pleased," says Bell, quite prettily, just
as if she were before a schoolmistress.
"You ask for the impossible. Tita's dream of earthly
bliss is to have the cross in our little church turned to a
crucifix ; and it will never be realized. I think she would
rather have that than be made a Duchess."
" I do miss that dear little church," says Tita, taking no
heed of the charge preferred against her. " There is no
feeling of homeliness about the churches we go into up
here. You know that you are a stranger, and all the
people are strangers, and you are not accustomed to the
clergyman's voice."
"The fact is," I tell her, "you lose the sense of
proprietorship which pleases you at home. There, the
church is your own. You set out on a quiet Sunday
morning ; you know all the people coming through the
fields and along the roads ; and you jiave an eye on them,
to mark the absentees. There is a family gathering in the
churchyard, and a universal shaking of hands ; you are
pleased that all the people are coming to your church.
You go in ; the evergreens everywhere about you put there
yourself. The tall white lilies on the altar you presented
to the Vicar ; though I paid for them. Bell sits down to
the organ probably thinking that her new boots may slip
on one of the pedals and produce a discord in the bass ; and
236 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
you know that your family is providing the music too.
The Yicar and his wife dined with you the night before :
you are in secret league with them. You know all the
people ; Lord 's butler, who is the most venerable per-
son in the place ; that squint-eyed publican, who thrashes
his wife on the Saturday so that she can't come on the
Sunday ; all the other various pensioners you have, who
you vainly think are being taught to be independent and
economical ; a lot of small boys in knickerbockers and
shiny heads of hair, and pretty young ladies with sailors'
hats, blue ribbons, white jackets, and big wistful eyes.
You are the presiding genius of the place ; and when Bell
begins the music and the sunlight comes through the small
and yellow windows in the southern aisle and when you
see the light shining on the mural tablets, with the coloured
coats-of-arms above you ask yourself what other place
could produce this feeling of homely satisfaction, and what
fashionable London church, with all its money, could
manufacture these ancient blocks of marble until you
think you could spend all your own money, and all your
husband's too, in making the small" building a sort of
ecclesiastical museum."
" I hope," says Tita, with great severity, " I do not go
into church with any such thoughts. It is an auctioneer's
view of a morning service."
"It is the business of an auctioneer, my dear creature,
to estimate the actual value of articles. But I forgot one
thing. After you have contemplated the church with pro-
found satisfaction just as if those old knights and baronets
had died in order to adorn the walls for you your eye
wanders up to the altar. It is a pretty altar-cloth good-
ness knows how much time you and Bell spent over it.
The flowers on the altar are also beautiful or ought to be,
considering the price that Benson charges for them. But
that plain gilt cross, with the three jewels in it that is
rather a blot, is it not ? "
" Why don't you go to the zinc chapel ? " says Tita, with
some contempt.
" I would if I dared."
" Who prevents you ? I am sure it is not I. I would
much rather you went there, than come to church, merely
OF A PHAETON. 237
to calculate the cost of every bit of fern or yew that is
placed on the walls, and to complain of the introduction
into the sermon of doctrines which you can't understand."
" May I go to chapel, please ? "
" Certainly. But you are a good deal fonder of going up
to Mickleham Downs than to either church or chapel."
" Will you come to chapel, Bell ? "
" I am not going to interfere," says Bell, with philo-
sophical indifference, and paying much more attention to
her horses.
" I should be sorry to go," I observe, calmly, " for I had
half resolved to ask Mr. Lestrange to let me put in yellow
glass in those two windows that are at present white."
" Oh, will you really ? " cries Queen Tita, in a piteously
eager tone, and quite forgetting all her war of words.
Well, I promise, somewhat sadly. It is not the cost of
it that is the matter. But on those Sunday mornings
when the sunlight is flooding the church with a solemn
glow, it is something to turn to the two white windows,
and there, through the diamond panes, you can see the
sunlight shimmering on the breezy branches of an ash-tree.
This little glimpse of the bright and glowing world out-
side when our Vicar, who, it must be confessed, is not
always in a happy mood, happens to be rather drowsy and
even depressing in the monotony of his cominonplaceness
but perhaps it will be better to say nothing more on this
point.
Why the people of the flourishing town of Preston do not
bridge the Kibble in a line running parallel with their chief
thoroughfare and the road leading up from Harwich, is
inexplicable. A pleasure party need not mind,' for the
drive is' cheerful enough ; but business . folks might be
tempted to use bad . language over . such an unnecessary
injury. The road makes a long double along the two banks
of the river, the most westerly bridge forming the end of
the loop. First you drive down the left bank of the stream,
over [fine 'green meadows, then ; you cross the bridge, and
drive back along the right bank, between avenues of young
trees. Perhaps the notion is to give you^as much as possible
of the green and pleasant surroundings of Preston, before
letting you plunge into the streets of the town.
238 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
Now, I do not know how it. was that from the moment of
our entering Preston a vague feeling of satisfaction and
hope seemed to get possession of our small party. We had
started in the morning under somewhat embarrassing and
awkward conditions, not likely to provoke high spirits ; but
now we seemed to have a nebulous impression that the end
of our troubles had come. Was it because we had reached
the last of the large manufacturing towns on our journey,
and that we should meet with no more of them ? Or was
it because of that promise of Queen Titania ? for the
kindly little woman, when she is pleased, has a wonderful
power of conveying her gladness to others, and has been
known to sweeten a heavy dinner-party as a bunch of wood-
ruff will sweeten a lumber-room. Or was it that we knew,
in approaching Kendal, we should probably come to a final
settlement of all our difficulties, and have thereafter peace ?
As we were walking, after luncheon, through the spacious
public gardens that overlook the Kibble, the Lieutenant drew
me aside, and said
" My good friend, here is a favour I will ask of you. We
come to-night to Garstang, yes ? "
" Yes, we shall reach Garstang to-night."
" A town or a village ? "
" I don't know. Probably a village."
" I did hope it was not a town. Well, this is what I ask.
You will endeavour to take away Madame for a few mo-
ments if we are out walking, you know and you will let
me say a few words to Mademoiselle by herself."
" I thought all your anxiety was to avoid her."
" There is something I must say to her."
" All right ; I will do what you ask, on condition you do
not persecute her. When she wishes to rejoin us, you must
not prevent her."
" Persecute her ? Then you do think I will quarrel with
her and make her very miserable merely because she will
not marry me ? You think it will be as it was at Worcester
when that stupid boy from Twickenham did go along the
river ? Well, all I ask you is to look -at these two days.
Has there been any quarrel between us ? No, it is quite
the opposite."
"Then let it remain that way, my dear fellow. One
OF A PHAETON. 239
Arthur is bad enough for a girl to manage ; but two would
probably send her into a convent for life?"
And the truth was as the Lieutenant had described it.
They had been during these two days more than polite to
each other. Somehow, Bell was never done in paying him
furtive little attentions, although she spoke to him rarely.
That morning she had somewhere got a few wild-flowers ;
and three tiny bouquets were placed on the breakfast-table.
The Lieutenant dared not think that one of them was for
him. He apologized to Mademoiselle for taking her seat.
Bell said he had not the bouquet was for him if he cared to
have it, she added with a little diffidence. The Lieutenant
positively blushed said nothing and altogether neglected
his own breakfast in offering her things she did not want.
The bouquets given to Tita and her husband were pinned
into prominent positions ; but no human eye saw anything
more of the wild blossoms that Bell had given to von Rosen.
Betting on a certainty is considered dishonourable ; and so
I will not say what odds I would give that these precious
flowers were transferred to a book, and that at this moment
they could be produced if a certain young man were only
willing to reveal their whereabouts.
Everything seemed to favour us on this fine afternoon as
we drove away northward again. The road grew excellent ;
and we knew that we had finally left behind us that deafen-
ing causeway that had dinned our ears for days past. Then
the cool breeze of the morning and mid-day ; had died down ;
and a still, warm sunset began to break over the western
country, between us and the sea. We could not, of course,
get any glimpse of the great plain of water beyond the land ;
but we knew that this great fire of crimson and yellow was
shining down on it too, and on the long curves of the
coast.
The western sands could not be much more level than the
road that runs up by Broughton and Brockbridge, but it
takes one through a sufficiently pleasant country, which is
watered by a multitude of brooks and small rivers. It is a
rich and well-cultivated country, too ; and the far-stretching
meadows and copses and fields seemed to grow darker in
their green under that smoke of dusky crimson that had
filled the sky. It is true, we were yet in Lancashire ; and
240 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
there was still present to us a double line of communication
with the manufacturing towns we had now left behind. At
certain places the road would run by the side of a railway-
line ; and then again we would find a canal winding itself
like a snake through the grassy meadows. But a sunset is
a wonderful smoother-down of these artificial features in a
landscape ; and when the earth-banks of the railway -line
burned crimson under the darkening sky, or when an arm of
the canal caught a flush of flame on its glassy surface, the
picture was rather helped than otherwise, and we bore the
engineers of this favoured land no deadly grudge.
A sunset, by the way, was always favourable to Bell's
appearance. It lent to those fine and wavy masses of hair a
sort of glory ; and the splendid aureole was about all of his
sweetheart that the Lieutenant could see, as he sat in the
hind seat of the phaeton. Bell wears her hair rather loose
when she is out in the country, and greatly likes, indeed, to
toss it about as if she were a young lion ; so that- you may
fancy how the warm light of the sunset glowed here and
there on those light and silken heaps of golden-brown" as we
drove along in the quiet evening. Sometimes, indeed, he
may have caught the outline of her face as she turned to
look over the far landscape ; and then, I know, the delicate
oval was tinted by the generous colour of the western skies,
so that not alone in the miracle of her hair did she look like
some transfigured saint.
Her talk on this evening, however, was far from saintly.
It was as worldly as it well could be ; for she was confessing
to the agony she used to suffer after going home from
dinner-parties, balls, and other godless diversions of a like
nature.
" I used to dread going up to my room," she said, " for I
could get no rest until I had sat down and gone over
everything that I had said during the evening. And then
all the consequences of my imprudence came rushing down
on me until I felt I was scarcely fit to live. What you had
been led into saying as a mere piece of merriment now
looked terribly like impertinence. Many a time I wrote
down on a piece of paper certain things that I resolved to
go the next day and make an apology for to the old ladies
whom I am sure I had offended. But the next morning.
OF A PHAETON. 241
things began to look a little better. A little reassurance
came with, the general briskness ; and I used to convince
myself that nobody would remember the heedless sayings
that had been provoked by the light talk and merriment.
I absolved myself for that day ; and promised, and vowed,
and made the most desperate resolutions never, never to be
thoughtless in the future, but always to watch every word
I had to utter."
" And in the evening," continued my Lady, " you went
out to another dance, and enjoyed yourself the same, and
said as many wild things as usual, and went home again
to do penance. It is quite natural, Bell. Most girls go
through that terrible half -hour of reaction, until they grow
to be women "
" And then," it is remarked, " they have never anything
to be sorry about ; for they are always circumspect, self-
possessed, and sure about what they mean. They never
have to spend a dreadful half-hour in trying to recollect
mistakes and follies."
" As for gentlemen," observed Titania sweetly, " I have
heard that their evil half-hour is during the process of
dressing, when they endeavour to recall the speech they
made at the public dinner of the night before, and wonder
how they could have been so stupid as to order a lot of
champagne to oblige a friend just gone into that business,
and are not very sure how many people they invited to dinner
on the following Friday. Count von Eosen "
" Yes, Madame."
" When you observe a husband whistling while his wife
is talking, what do you think ? "
" That she is saying something he would rather not hear,"
replies the Lieutenant, gravely.
"And is not that a confession that what she says is
true ? "
" Yes, Madame," says the Lieutenant, boldly.
" My dear," I say to her, " your brain has been turned by
the last sporting novel you have read. You are a victim of
cerebral inflammation. When you pride yourself on your
researches into the ways and habits of the sex which you
affect to despise, don't take that sort of farthing-candle to
guide you. As for myself, our young friend from Prussia
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242 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
would scarcely credit the time I spend in helping you to nail
up brackens and larch and ivy in that wretched little church ;
and if he knew the trouble I have to keep Bell's accounts
straight when she is reckoning up what the process of
producing paupers in our neighbourhood costs us why, he
would look upon you as an unprincipled calumniator."
" Mamma herself is scarcely so big as those two words put
together," says Bell ; but Mamma is laughing all this time,
quite pleased to see that she has raised a storm in a tea-cup
by her ungracious and unwarranted assault.
In the last red rays of the sun we have got on to a small
elevation. Before us, the road dips down and crosses the
canal ; then it makes a twist again and crosses the Wyre ;
and up in that corner are the scattered gables of Garstang.
As we pass over the river, it is running cold and dark
between its green banks ; and the sunset is finally drawing
down to the west as we drive into the silent village, and up
to the doorstep of the Eoyal Oak.
'Tis a quaint and ancient hostelry. For aught we know,
the Earl of Derby's soldiers may have walked over hither for
a draught of beer when they were garrisoning Greenhalgh
Castle out there ; and when the brave Countess, away down
at Latham, was herself fixing up the royal standard on the
tower of the castle as Mr. Leslie's picture shows us and
bidding defiance to the Parliamentary troops. When you
tell that story to Queen Titania, you can see her gentle face
grow pale with pride and admiration ; for did not the
gallant Countess send out word to Fairfax that she would
defend the place until she lost her honour or her life, seeing
she had not forgotten what she owed to the Church of
England, to her prince, and to her lord ? My Lady looks
as if she, too, could have sent that message ; only that she
would have stopped at the Church of England and gone no
further.
When we come out again, the sunset has gone ; and a
wonderful pale green twilight lies over the land. We go
forth from the old-fashioned streets ; and find ourselves by
the banks of the clear running river. A wan metallic light
shines along its surface ; and as we walk along between the
meadows and the picturesque banks where there is an
abundance of the mighty burdock-leaves that are beloved of
OF A PHAETON. 243
artists an occasional splash is heard, whether of a rat
or a trout no one can say. Somehow the Lieutenant has
drawn Bell away from us. In the clear twilight we can see
their figures sharp and black on the dark green slope beside
the stream. Queen Tita looks rather wistfully at them ;
and is, perhaps, thinking of days long gone by when she,
too, knew the value of silence on a beautiful evening, by
the side of a river.
" I hope it is not wrong," says my Lady, in a low voice,
" but I confess I should like to see the Lieutenant marry
our Bell."
" Wrong ? No. It is only the absent who are in the
wrong Arthur, for example, who is perhaps at Kendal, at
this moment, waiting for us."
" We cannot all be satisfied in this world," remarks Tita,
profoundly ; " and as one of these two alone can marry
Bell, I do hope it may be the Lieutenant, in spite of what
she says. I think it would be very pleasant for all of us.
What nice neighbours they would be for us ; for I know
Bell would prefer to live down near us in Surrey, and the
Lieutenant can have no particular preference for any place
in England."
" A nice holiday -time we should have of it, with these
two idle creatures living close by and making continual
proposals to go away somewhere."
" Bell would not be idle."
" She must give up her painting if she marries."
" She won't give it up altogether, I hope ; and then
there is her music, even if she had no household duties to
occupy her time : and I know she will make an active
and thrifty housewife. Indeed, the only idler will be the
Lieutenant, and he can become a Captain of Volunteers."
And yet she says she never lays plans ! that she has no
wish to interfere between Arthur and von Rosen ! that
she would rather see Bell relieved from the persecutions of
both of them ! She had already mapped out the whole
affair ; and her content was so great that a beautiful glad-
ness and softness lay in her eyes ; and she began to prattle
about the two boys at school, and all she meant to take
back for them ; and, indeed, if she had been at home, she
would have gone to the piano ajid sung to herself some low
R 2
244 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
and gentle melody, as soft and as musical as the crooning
of a wood-pigeon hid away among trees.
Then she said, " How odd that Bell should have begun to
talk about those unfortunate slips of the tongue that haunt
you afterwards. All these two days I haven't been able to
get rid of the remembrance of that terrible mistake I made
in speaking of Count von Rosen and Bell as already married.
But who knows ? there may be a Providence in such
things."
" The Providence that lies in blunders of speech must be
rather erratic ; but it is no wonder you spoke by mischance
of Bell's marrying the Lieutenant, for you think of nothing
else."
" But don't you think it would be a very good thing ? "
"What I think of it is a different matter. What will
Arthur think of it ? "
"The whole world can't be expected to move round
merely to please Arthur," says my Lady, with some asperity.
" The fact is, those young men are so foolish that they
never reflect that a girl can't marry two of them. They
are always falling in love with a girl who has a suitor
already ; and then she is put to the annoyance of refusing
one of them, and that one considers her a monster."
" Well, if anyone is open to that charge in the present
case, it certainly is not Arthur."
My Lady did not answer. She was regarding with a
tender glance those two young folks strolling through the
meadows before us. What were they saying to each other ?
Would Bell relent ? The time was propitious in the quiet
of this pale, clear evening, with a star or two beginning to
twinkle, and the moon about to creep up from behind the
eastern woods. It was a time for lovers to make confes-
sions, and give tender pledges. None of us seemed to think
of that wretched youth who was blindly driving through
England in a dog-cart, and torturing himself in the horrible
solitude of inns. Unhappy Arthur !
For mere courtesy's sake, those two drew near to us again.
We looked at them. Bell turned her face away, and stooped
to pick up the white blossom of a campion that lay like a
great glow-worm among the dark herbage. The Lieutenant
seemed a little more confident, and he was anxious to be
OF A PHAETON. 245
very courteous and friendly towards Tita. That lady was
quite demure, and suggested that we might return to the
village.
"We clambered up a steep place that led from the hollow
of the river to a higher plain ; and here we found ourselves
by the side of the canal. It looked like another river.
There were grassy borders to it, and by the side of the path
a deep wood descending to the fields beyond. The moon
had now arisen ; and, on the clear, still water, there were
some ripples of gold. Far away, on the other side, the
barns and haystacks of a farm-house were visible in the pale
glow of the sky.
" What is that ? " said Tita, hurriedly, as a large white
object sailed silently through the faint moonlight and swept
into the wood.
Only an owl. But the sound of her voice had disturbed
several of the great birds in the trees ; and across the space
between the wood and the distant farm-house they fled
noiselessly, with a brief reflection of their broad wings
falling on the still waters as they passed. We remained
there an unconscionable time leaning on the stone parapet
of the bridge, and watching the pallid line of the canal, the
ripples of the moonlight, the dark wood, and the great and
dusky birds that floated about like ghosts in the perfect
stillness. When we returned to Garstang, the broad square
in the centre of the place was glimmering grey in the moon-
light, and black shadows had fallen along one side of the
street.
" My dear friend," said von Rosen, in an excited and
urgent way, as soon as our two companions had gone
upstairs to prepare for supper, " I have great news to tell
you."
" Bell has accepted you, I suppose," said I the boy
talking as if that were a remarkable phenomenon in the
world's history.
" Oh no, nothing so good as that nothing not near so
good as that but something very good indeed. It is not
all finally disposed of there is at least a little chance one
must wait but is not this a very great hope ? "
"And is that all you obtained by your hour's per-
suasion ? "
246 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
" Pfui ! You do talk as if it did not matter to a young
girl whether she marries one man or marries another."
" I don't think it much matters really."
" Then this is what I tell you "
But here some light footsteps were heard on the stairs ;
and the Lieutenant suddenly ceased, and rushed to open the
door.
Bell was as rosy as a rose set amid green leaves when she
entered, followed by Tita.
" We are very late," said the girl, as if she were rather
afraid to hazard that startling and profound observation.
" Madame," said the Lieutenant, " I give you my word
this is the best ale we have drunk since we started ; it is
clear, bright, very bitter, brisk ; it is worth a long journey
to drink such ale ; and I hope your husband, when he writes
of our journey, will give our landlady great credit for this
very good beer."
I do so willingly ; but lest any ingenuous traveller should
find the ale of the Royal Oak not quite fulfil the expectations
raised by this panegyric, I must remind him that it was
pronounced after the Lieutenant had been walking for an
hour along the banks of the Wyre, on a beautiful evening,
in the company of a very pretty young lady.
We had abolished bezique by this time. It had become
too much of a farce. Playing four-handed bezique with
partners is a clumsy contrivance ; and when we had en-
deavoured to play it independently, the audacity of the
Lieutenant in sacrificing the game to Bell's interests had
got beyond a joke. So we had fallen back on whist ; and
as we made those two ardent young noodles partners, they
did their best. It wasn't very good, to tell the truth. The
Lieutenant was as bad a whist-player as ever perplexed a
partner ; but Bell could play a weak suit as well as another.
My Lady was rather pleased to find that the Lieutenant was
not a skilful card-player. She was deeply interested in the
qualities of the young man whom she regarded in a premature
fashion as Bell's future husband. In fact, if she had only
dared, she would have examined the young fellows who
came about the house Bell has had a pretty fair show of
suitors in her time as to the condition of the inner side of
their right thumb. It is a bad sign when that portion of
OF A PHAETON. 247
the hand gets rather horny. A man might as well go about
with a piece of chalk, marked " Thurston and Co.," in his
waistcoat pocket. But the Lieutenant scarcely knew the
difference between a cue and a pump-handle.
We played late. The people of the inn, yielding to our
entreaties, had long ago gone to bed. When, at length,
Queen Tita and Bell also retired, the Lieutenant rose from
the table, stretched himself up to his full length, and said -
" My good friend, I have much of a favour to ask from
you. I will repay you for it many times again I will sit
up with you and smoke all night as often as you please,
which I think is your great notion of enjoyment. But now,
I have a great many things to tell you and the room is
close let us go away for a walk."
It was only the strong nervous excitement of the young
man that was longing for this outburst into the freedom of
the cool air. He would have liked, then, to have started off
at a rate of five miles an hour, and walked himself dead with
fatigue. He was so anxious about it that at last we took a
candle to the front door, got the bolts undone, and then,
leaving the candle and the matches where we knew we should
find them, we went out into the night.
By this time the moon had got well down into the south-
west ; but there was still sufficient light to show us the
cottages, the roads, and the trees. The night air was fresh
and cool. As we started off on our vague ramble, a cock
crew, and the sound seemed to startle the deep sleep of the
landscape. We crossed over the canal-bridge, and plunged
boldly out into the still country, whither we knew not.
Then he told me all the story ; beginning with the half-
forgotten legend of Fraulein Fallersleben. I had had no
idea that this practical and hard-headed young Uhlan had
been so deeply struck on either occasion ; but now at times
there seemed to be a wild cry of ignorance in his confessions,
as if he knew not what had happened to him, and what
great mystery of life he was battling with. He described
it as resembling somehow the unutterable sadness caused by
the sudden coming of the Spring when, amid all the glory
and wonder and delight of this new thing, a vague unrest
and longing takes possession of the heart and will not be
satisfied. All his life had been changed since his coming to
248 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
England turned in another direction, and made to depend
for any value that might be left in it on a single chance.
"When he spoke of Bell perhaps marrying him, all the wild
and beautiful possibilities of the future seemed to stretch
out before him, until he was fairly at a loss for words.
When he spoke of her finally going away from him, it was
as of something he could not quite understand. It would
alter all his life how, he did not know ; and the new and
wonderful consciousness that by such a circumstance the
world would grow all different to him seemed to him
a mystery beyond explication. He only knew that this
strange thing had occurred ; that it had brought home to
him once more the old puzzles about life that had made him
wonder as a boy ; that he was drifting on to an irrevocable
fate, now that the final decision was near.
He talked rapidly, earnestly, heeding little the blunders
and repetitions into which he constantly fell : and not all
the vesuvians in the world could have kept his cigar alight.
He did not walk very fast ; but he cut at the weeds and at
the hedges with his stick ; and doubtless startled with his
blows many a sparrow and wren sleeping peacefully among
the leaves. I cannot tell you a tithe of what he said. The
story seemed as inexhaustible as the nebulous mystery that
he was obviously trying to resolve while it hung around him
in impalpable folds. When he came to the actual question
whether Bell had given him to understand that she might
reconsider her decision, he was more reticent. He would
not reveal what she had said. But there was no pride or
self -looking in the anxiety about the result which he frankly
expressed ; and it is probable that if Bell had heard him
then, she would have learned more of his nature and senti-
ments than during any hour's stroll under the supervision of
her guardians.
When at length we turned, a shock of wonder struck upon
our eyes. The day had begun to break ; and a cold wind
was stirring. As yet, there was only a faint light in the
dark heavens ; but by and by a strange, clear whiteness rose
up from behind the still landscape ; and then a mysterious
cold, yellow radiance, against which the tall poplars looked
intensely black, overspread the far regions of the east. Wan
and unearthly seemed that metallic glare, even when a pale
OF A PHAETON. 249
glimmer of red ran up and through it ; and, as yet, it looked
like the sunrise of some other world ; for neither man nor
beast was awake to greet it ; and all the woods were as silent
as the grave. When we got back to Garstang, the wind
came chill along the grey stones ; the birds were singing ; and
the glow of the sunrise was stealing over the chimneys and
slates of the sleeping houses. We left this wonderful light
outside ; plunged into the warm and gloomy passage of the
inn ; and presently tumbled, tired and shivering, into bed.
CHAPTER XX.
CHLOE'S GARLAND.
"The pride of every grove I chose,
The violet sweet and lily fair,
The dappled pink and blushing rose,
To deck my charming Chloe's hair.
"At morn the nymph vouchsafed to place
Upon her brow the various wreath ;
The flowers less blooming than her face,
The scent less fragrant than her breath.
"The flowers she wore along the day,
And every nymph and shepherd said,
That in her hair they looked more gay
Than glowing in their native bed."
Is there any blue half so pure, and deep, and tender as
that of the large crane's-bill, the Geranium pratense of the
botanists ? When Bell saw the beautiful, rich-coloured
blossoms in the tall hedge-rows she declared we were already
in the North Country, and must needs descend from the phae-
ton to gather some of the wild-flowers ; and lo ! all around
there was such a profusion that she stood bewildered before
them. Everywhere about were the white stars of the stitch-
wort glimmering among the green of the goose-grass. The
clear red blossoms of the campion shone here and there ;
and the viscid petals of the Ragged Robin glimmered a
bright crimson as they straggled through the thorny
branches of the hawthorn. Here, too, was the beautiful
harebell the real " bluebell of Scotland " with its slender
stem and its pellucid colour ; and here was its bigger and
250 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
bolder relative, the great hedge campanula, with its massive
bells of azure, and its succulent stalk. There were yellow
masses of snapdragon ; an abundance of white and pink
roses sweetening the air ; and all the thousand wonders of a
luxuriant vegetation. The Lieutenant immediately jumped
down. He harried the hedges as if they had been a province
of the enemy's country, and he in quest of forage and food.
The delight of Bell :in these wild-flowers was extravagant ;
and when he had gathered for her every variety of hue that
he could see, she chose a few of the blossoms and twisted
them, with a laugh of light pleasure, into the breezy masses of
her hair. Could a greater compliment have been paid him ?
If it was not really the North Country which Bell so
longed to enter, it was on the confines of it ; and already
many premonitory signs were visible. These tall hedge-
rows, with their profusion of wild-flowers, were a wonder.
We crossed dark-brown streams, the picturesque banks of
which were smothered in every sort of bush and herb and
plant. At last, a breath of the morning air brings us a
strange, new scent, that is far more grateful than that of any
wreath of flowers, and at the same moment both Bell and
Tita call out
" Oh, there is the peat-smoke at last ! "
Peat-smoke it is ; and presently we come upon the cottages
which are sending abroad this fragrance into the air. They
are hidden down in a dell by the side of a small river ; and
they are surrounded by low and thick elder-trees. Bell is
driving. She will not even stop to look at this picturesque
little nook ; it is but an outpost, and the promised land is
nigh.
The day, meanwhile, is grey and showery ; but sometimes
a sudden burst of sunshine springs down on the far, flat
landscape, and causes it to shine in the distance. "We pass
by many a stately Hall and noble Park Bell, with the wild-
flowers in her hair, still driving until we reach the top of
a certain height, and find a great prospect lying before us.
The windy day has cleared away the light clouds in the
west ; and there, under a belt of blue sky, lies a glimmer
of the sea. The plain of the landscape leading down to it is
divided by the estuary of the Lime ; and as you trace the
course of the river, up through the country that lies under
OF A PHAETON. 251
the over- clouded portion of the heavens, some tall buildings
are seen in the distance, and a fortress upon a height
resembling some lesser Edinburgh Castle. We drive on
through the gusty day the tail of a shower sometimes over-
taking us from the south and causing a hurried clamour for
waterproofs, which have immediately to be set aside as the
sun bursts forth again ; and then we plunge into a clean,
bright, picturesque town, and find ourselves in front of the
King's Arms at Lancaster.
Bell has taken the flowers from her hair, in nearing the
abodes of men ; but she has placed them tenderly by the
side of the bouquet that the Lieutenant gathered for her ;
and now she gently asks a waiter for a tumbler of water, into
which the blossoms are put. The Lieutenant watches her
every movement as anxiously as ever a Roman watched the
skimmings and dippings of the bird whose flight was to
predict ruin or fortune to him. He had no opportunities to
lose. Time was pressing on. This night we were to reach
Kendal ; and there the enemy was lying in wait.
Bell, at least, did not seem much to fear that meeting
with Arthur. When she spoke of him to Tita, she was grave
and thoughtful ; but when she spoke of Westmoreland, there
was no qualification of her unbounded hope and delight.
She would scarce look at Lancaster ; although, when we went
up to the castle, and had a walk round to admire the
magnificent view from the walls, an unwonted stir in front
of the great gate told us that something unusual had
happened. The Lieutenant went down and mixed with the
crowd. We saw him a head and shoulders taller than the
assemblage of men and women speaking now to one and
now to another ; and then at length he came back.
" Madame," he says, " there is something wonderful to be
seen in the castle. All these people are pressing to get in."
" Is it some soup plate of Henry the Eighth that has
been disinterred ? " she asks, with a slight show of scorn.
Indeed, she seldom loses an opportunity of sticking another
needle into her mental image of that poor monarch.
" Oh no, it is something much more interesting. It is a
murderer."
" A murderer ! "
"Yes, Madame, but you need not feel alarmed. He is
252 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
caged he will not bite. All these good people are going in
to look at him."
" I would not look at the horrid creature for worlds."
" He is not a monster of iniquity," I tell her. " On the
contrary, he is a harmless creature, and deserves your pity.
All he did was to kill his wife."
" And I suppose they will punish him with three months'
imprisonment," says Queen Tita ; " whereas they would give
him seven years if he had stolen a purse with half-a-crown
in it."
"Naturally. I consider three months a great deal too
much, however. Doubtless she contradicted him."
" But it is not true, Tita," says Bell. " None of us knew
that the murderer was in the castle until this moment. How
can you believe that he killed his wife ? "
" There may be a secret sympathy between these two,"
says my Lady, with a demure laugh in her eyes, " which
establishes a communication between them which we don't
understand. You know the theory of brain-waves. But it
is hard that the one should be within the prison and the
other without."
" Yes, it's very hard for the one without. The one inside
the prison has got rid of his torment and escaped into
comparative quiet."
She is a dutiful wife. She never retorts when she hasn't
a retort ready. She takes my arm just as if nothing had
happened, and we descend from the castle square into the
town. And behold ! as we enter the grey thoroughfare, a
wonderful sight comes into view. Down the far white
street, where occasional glimpses of sunlight are blown
across by the wind, a gorgeous procession is seen to advance,
glittering in silver, and coloured plumes, and all the pomp
and circumstance of a tournament. There is a cry of
amazement throughout Lancaster ; and from all points of
the compass people hurry up. It is just two ; and men from
the factories, flocking out for their dinner, stand amazed on
the pavement. The procession comes along through the
shadow and the sunlight like some gleaming and gigantic
serpent with scales of silver and gold. There are noble
knights, dressed in complete armour, and seated on splendid
chargers. They bring with them spears, and banners, and
OF A PHAETON. 253
other accessories of war ; and their horses are shining with
the magnificence of their trappings. There are ladies
wearing the historical costumes which are familiar to us
in picture galleries ; and they are seated on cream-white
palfreys, with flowing manes, and tails that sweep the
ground. Then a resplendent palanquin appears in view,
drawn by six yellow horses, and waving and trembling with
plumes of pink and white. Inside this great and gilded
carriage, the Queen of Beauty sits enthroned, attended by
ladies whose trains of silk and satin shimmer like the neck
of a dove. And the while our eyes are still dazzled with the
glory of this slowly passing pageant, the end of it appears in
the shape of a smart and natty little trap, driven by the
proprietor of the circus in plain clothes. The anti-climax is
too much. The crowd regard this wretched fellow with
disdain. When a historical play is produced, and we are
introduced to the majesty of war, and even shown the king's
tent on the battle-field, the common sutler is hidden out
of sight. This miserable man's obtrusion of himself was
properly resented ; for the spectacle of the brilliant pro-
cession coming along the grey and white thoroughfares,
with a breezy sky overshadowing or lighting it up, was
sufficiently imposing ; and ought not to have been destroyed
by the vanity of a person in plain clothes who wanted to let
us know that he was the owner of all this splendour, and
who thought he ought to follow last, as Noah did on going
into the Ark.
" Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds ! " that was the
wish I knew lay deep down in Bell's heart as we went away
from Lancaster. If Castor and Pollux did their work
gallantly, we should sleep to-night in Kendal, and thereafter
there would be abundant rest. This last day's journey con-
sisted of thirty-three miles considerably above our average
day's distance and we had accordingly cut it up into three
portions. From Garstang to Lancaster is eleven miles ;
from Lancaster to Burton is eleven miles ; from Burton to
Kendal is eleven miles. Now Burton is in Westmoreland ;
and, once within her own. county, Bell knew she was at home.
'Twas a perilous sort of day in which to approach the
region of the Northern Lakes. In the very best of weather,
the great mountains that stand on the margin of the sea,
254 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
ready to condense any moist vapours that may float in from
the west and south, are apt to play sudden tricks and drown
the holiday-makers whom the sun has drawn out of the
cottages, houses, and hotels up in the deep valleys. But
now there were abundant clouds racing and chasing each
other like the folk who sped across Cannobie Lea to over-
take the bride of young Lochinvar ; and ever and again
the wind would drive down on us the flying fringes of one
of these masses of vapour, producing a temporary fear. Bell
cared least for these premonitions. She would not even
cover herself with a cloak. Many a time we could see tiny
drops glimmering in her brown hair and dripping from the
flowers that she had again twisted in the folds ; but she sat
erect and glad, with a fine colour in her face that the wet
breeze only heightened. When we got up to Slyne and
Bolton-le-Sands, and came in sight of the long sweep of
Morecambe Bay, she paid no attention to the fact that all
along the far horizon the clouds had melted into a white
belt of rain. It was enough for her that the sun was out
there too ; sometimes striking with a pale silvery light on
the plain of the sea, sometimes throwing a stronger colour
on the long curve of level sand. A wetter or windier sight
never met the view of an apprehensive traveller than that
great stretch of ocean and sky. The glimmer of the sun
only made the moisture in the air more apparent as the grey
clouds were sent flying up from the south-west. We could
not tell whether the sea was breaking white or not ; but the
fierce blowing of the wind was apparent in the hurrying
trails of cloud and in the rapidly shifting shafts of sunlight
that now and again shot down on the sands.
"Bell," said Tita, with a little anxiety, "you used to
pride yourself on being able to forecast the weather, when you
lived up among the hills. Don't you think we shall have a
wet afternoon ? and we have nearly twenty miles to go yet."
The girl laughed.
" Mademoiselle acknowledges we shall have a little rain,"
said the Lieutenant, with a grim smile. If Bell was good
at studying the appearances of the sky, he had acquired
some skill in reading the language of her eloquent face.
" Why," says one of the party, " a deaf man down in a
coal-pit could tell what sort of afternoon we shall have,
OF A PHAETON. 255
The wind is driving the clouds up. The hills are stoppin
them on the way. When we enter Westmoreland we shal
find the whole forces of the rain-fiends drawn out in arms
against us. But that is nothing to Bell, so long as we enter
Westmoreland."
" Ah, you shall see," remarks Bell. " We may have a little
rain this evening."
" Yes, that is very likely," observes the Lieutenant, who
seems greatly tickled by this frank admission.
" But to-morrow, if this strong wind keeps up all night,
would you be astonished to find Kendal with its stone houses
all shining white in the sun ? "
" Yes, I should be astonished."
" You must not provoke the prophetess," says my Lady,
who is rather nervous about rainy weather, " or she will turn
round on you, and predict all sorts of evil."
We could not exactly tell when we crossed the border line
of Westmoreland, or doubtless Bell would have jumped down
from the phaeton to kneel and kiss her native soil ; but at
all events when we reached the curious little village of
Burton we knew we were then in Westmoreland, and Bell
ushered us into the ancient hostelry of the Royal Oak as if
she had been the proprietress of that and all the surrounding
country. In former days Burton was doubtless a place of
importance, when the stage-coaches stopped here before
plunging into the wild mountain-country ; and in the inn,
which remains pretty much what it was in the last genera-
tion, were abundant relics of the past. When the Lieu-
tenant and I returned from the stables to the old-fashioned
little parlour and museum of the place, we found Bell
endeavouring to get some quivering, trembling, jangling
notes out of the piano, that was doubtless a fine piece of
furniture at one time. A piece of yellow ivory informed the
beholder that this venerable instrument had been made by
" Thomas Tomkison, Dean Street, Soho, Manufacturer to
his Eoyal Highness the Prince Regent." And what was
this that Bell was hammering out ?
" The standard on the braes o' Mai-
ls up and streaming rarely !
The gathering pipe on Lochnagar
Is sounding lang and clearly !
256 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
The Highlandmen, from hill and glen,
In martial hue, wi* bonnets blue,
Wi' belted plaids and burnished blades,
Are coming late and early."
How the faded old instrument groaned and quivered as if it
were struggling to get up some martial sentiment of its half-
forgotten youth ! It did its best to pant after that rapid
and stirring air, and laboured and jangled in a pathetic
fashion through the chords. It seemed like some poor old
pensioner, decrepit and feeble-eyed, who sees a regiment
passing with their band playing, and who tries to straighten
himself up as he hears the tread of the men, and would fain
step out to the sound of the music, but that his thin legs
tremble beneath him. The wretched old piano struggled
hard to keep up with the Gathering of the Clans as they
hastened on to the braes o' Mar :
" Wha wouldna join our noble chief,
The Drummond and Glengarry;
Macgregor, Murray, Hollo, Keith,
Pannmre and gallant Harry !
Macdonald's men,
Clan Kanald's men,
M'Kenzie's men,
MacGilvray's men,
Strathallan's men,
The Lowland men
Of Callander and Airlie!"
until my Lady put her hand gently on Bell's shoulder, and
said
" My dear, this is worse than eating green apples."
Bell shut down the lid.
"It is time for this old thing to be quiet," she said.
"The people who sang with it when it was in its prime,
they cannot sing any more now, and it has earned its rest."
Bell uttered these melancholy words as she turned to look
out of the window. It was rather a gloomy afternoon.
There was less wind visible in the motion of the clouds ; but
in place of the flying and hurrying masses of vapour, an
ominous pall of grey was visible ; and the main thoroughfare
of Burton-in-Kendal was gradually growing moister under a
slow rain. Suddenly the girl said
OF A PHAETON. 257
" Is it possible for Arthur to have reached Kendal ? "
The Lieutenant looked up, with something of a frown on
his face.
"Yes," I answered her, "if he keeps up the pace with
which he started. Thirty miles a day in a light dog-cart
will not seriously damage the Major's cob, if only he gets a
day's rest now and again."
" Then perhaps Arthur may be coming along this road
just now ? "
" He may ; but it is hardly likely. He would come over
by Kirkby Lonsdale."
" I think we should be none the worse for his company,
if he were to arrive," said Tita, with a little apprehension ;
" for it will be dark long before we get to Kendal and on
such a night, too, as we are likely to have."
" Then let us start at once, Madame," said the Lieutenant.
" The horses will be ready to be put in harness now, I think ;
and they must have as much time for the rest of the journey
as we can give them. Then the waterproofs I will have
them all taken out, and the rugs. We shall want much
more than we have, I can assure you of that. And the
lamps we shall want them too."
The Lieutenant walked off to the stables with these
weighty affairs of state possessing his mind. He was as
anxious to preserve the two women from suffering a
shower of rain as if he thought they were made of bride's-
cake. Out in the yard we found him planning the disposal
of the rugs with the eye of a practised campaigner, and
taking every boy and man in the place into his confidence.
Whatever embarrassment his imperfect English might cause
him in a drawing-room, there was no need to guard his
speech in a stable-yard. But sometimes our Uhlan was
puzzled. What could he make, for example, of the following
sentence, addressed to him by a worthy ostler at G-arstang :
" Yaas, an ah gied'n a aff ~boolcet 0' chilled waiter after attd
weshen 'n ? " Of the relations of the Lieutenant with the
people whom he thus casually encountered, it may be said
generally that he was "hail, fellow, well met," with any
man who seemed of a frank and communicable disposition.
With a good-natured landlord or groom, he would stand for
any length of time talking about horses, their food, their
s
258 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
ways, and the best methods of doctoring them. But when
he encountered a sulky ostler, the unfortunate man had
an evil time of it. His temper was not likely to be improved
by the presence of this lounging young soldier, who stood
whistling at the door of the stable and watching that every
bit of the grooming was performed to a nicety, who examined
the quality of the oats, and was not content with the hay, and
who calmly stood by with his cigar in his mouth until he
had seen the animals eat every grain of corn that had been
put in the manger. The bad temper, by the way, was not
always on the side of the ostler.
A vague proposition that we should remain at Burton for
that night was unanimously rejected. Come what might,
we should start in Kendal with a clear day before us ; and
what mattered this running through our final stage in rain ?
A more feasible proposition, that both the women should sit
in front so as to get the benefit of the hood, was rejected
because neither of them would assume the responsibility of
driving in the dark. But here a new and strange difficulty
occurred. Of late, Bell and the Lieutenant had never sat
together in the phaeton. Now, the Lieutenant declared it
was much more safe that the horses should be driven by
their lawful owner, who was accustomed to them. Accord-
ingly, my post was in front. Thereupon, Bell, with many
protestations of endearment, insisted on Queen Tita having
the shelter of the hood. Bell, in fact, would not get up
until she had seen my Lady safely ensconced there and
swathed up like a mummy ; it followed, accordingly, that
Bell and her companion were hidden from us by the hood ;
and the last of our setting-out arrangements was simply this
that the Lieutenant absolutely and firmly refused to wear
his waterproof, because, as he said, it would only have the
effect of making the rain run in streams on to Bell's tartan
plaid. The girl put forward all manner of entreaties in
vain. The foolish young man he was on the headstrong
side of thirty would not hear of it.
So we turned the horses' heads to the north. Alas ! over
the mountainous country before us there lay an ominous
darkness of sky. As we skirted Curwen Woods and drove
by within sight of Clawthorpe Fell, the road became more
hilly and more lonely ; and it seemed as if we were to plunge
OF A PHAETON. 259
into an unknown region inhabited only by mountains and
hanging clouds. Nevertheless we could hear Bell laughing
and chatting to the Lieutenant, and talking about what we
should have to endure before we got to Kendal. As the
wind rose slightly and blew the light waves of her laughter
about, Tita called through to her, and asked her to sing
again that Gathering of the Clans on the breezy braes o'
Mar. But what would the wild mountain-spirits have done
to us had they heard the twanging of a guitar up in thfe
dismal region, to say nothing of the rain that would have
destroyed the precious instrument for ever ? For it was
now pattering considerably on the top of the hood ; and the
wind had once more begun to blow. The darkness grew
apace. The dim grey thread of the road took us up hill
and down dale, twisting through a variegated country, of
which we could see little but the tall hedges on each side
of us. The rain increased. The wind tossed it about, and
moaned through the trees, and made a sound in the tele-
graph-wires overhead. These lofty poles were destined
to be an excellent guide to us. As the gloom gathered
around, we grew accustomed to the monotonous rising
and falling of the pale highway, while here and there we
encountered a great pool of water, which made the younger of
the horses swerve from time to time. By and by we knew
it would be impossible to make out any finger-post ; so that
the murmuring of the telegraph-wires promised to tell us if
we were still keeping the correct route to Kendal.
So we plunged on in the deepening twilight, splashing into
the shallow pools, and listening to the whistling of the wind
and the hissing of the rain. Bell had made no attempt to
call out the clans on this wild night ; and both of the young
folks had for the most part relapsed into silence, unless when
they called to us some consolatory message or assurance that
on the whole they rather enjoyed getting wet. But at last
the Lieutenant proposed that he should get down and light
the lamps ; and, indeed, it was high time.
He got down. He came round to the front. Why the
strange delay of his movements ? He went round again to
his seat, kept searching about for what seemed an uncon-
scionable time, and then, coming back, said rather indiffer-
ently
26o THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
" Do you happen to have a match with you ? "
" No," said I ; and at the same moment Tita broke into
a mocking laugh.
She knew the shame and mortification that were now on
the face of the Lieutenant, if only there had been more light
to see him as he stood there. To have an old campaigner
tricked in this way ! He remained irresolute for a second
or two ; and then he said in accents of profound vexa-
tion
" It is such stupidity as I never saw. I did leave my case
in the inn. Madame, you must pardon me this ridiculous
thing ; and we must drive on until we come to a house."
A house ! The darkness had now descended so rapidly
that twenty houses would scarcely have been visible, unless
with yellow lights burning in their windows. There was
nothing for it but to urge on our wild career as best we
might ; while we watched the telegraph-posts to tell us how
the road went ; and Castor and Pollux, with the wet stream-
ing down them, whirled the four wheels through the water
and mud.
Tita had been making merry over our mishap, but this
jocularity died away in view of the fact that at every
moment there was a chance of our driving headlong into
a ditch. She forgot to laugh in her efforts to make out
the road before us ; and at last, when we drove into an
avenue of trees under which there was pitch blackness,
and as we felt that the horses were going down a hill, she
called out to stop, so that one of us should descend and
explore the way.
A blacker night has not occurred since the separating of
light and darkness at the Creation ; and when the Lieuten-
ant had got to the horses' heads, it was with the greatest
difficulty he could induce them to go forward and down the
hill. He had himself to feel his way in a very cautious
fashion ; and, indeed, his managing to keep the phaeton
somewhere about the middle of the road until we had got
from under this black avenue must be regarded as a feat.
He had scarcely got back into his seat, when the rain, which
had been coming down pretty heavily, no\v fell in torrents.
We could hear it hissing in the pools of the highway, and all
around us on the trees and hedges ; while the phaeton seemeci
OF A PHAETON, 261
to be struggling through a waterfall. No plaids, rugs,
mackintoshes, or other device of man, could keep this deluge
out ; and Tita, with an air of calm resignation, made the
remark that one of her shoes had come off and floated
away. To crown all, we suddenly discovered that the
telegraph-posts had abandoned us, and gone off along
another road.
I stopped the horses. To miss one's way in the wilds of
Westmoreland on such a night was no joke.
" Now, Bell, what has become of your knowledge of this
district ? Must we go back, and follow the telegraph-wires ?
Or shall we push on on chance ? "
" I can neither see nor speak for the rain," cries Bell out
of the darkness. "But I think we ought to follow the
telegraph-wires. They are sure to lead to Kendal."
"With your permission, Mademoiselle," observes the
Lieutenant, who is once more down in the road, " I think
it would be a pity to go back. If we drive on, we must
come to a village somewhere."
" They don't happen so often in Westmoreland as you
might expect," says Bell, despondently.
" If you will wait here, then, I will go forward, and see if
I can find a house," says the Lieutenant, at which Queen
Tita laughs again, and says we should all be washed away
before he returned.
The Lieutenant struggles into his seat. We push on
blindly. The rain is still thundering down on us ; and we
wonder whether we are fated to find ourselves in the early
dawn somewhere about Wast Water or Coniston.
About two hours before midnight, Columbus, standing on
the forecastle, observed a light at a distance, and privately
pointed it out to Queen Titania.
" 'Tis a turnpike, as I am a living navigator ! " exclaimed
the adventurous man.
A gun would have been fired from the deck of the Pinta
to announce these joyful tidings, only that the rain had
washed away our powder. But now that we were cheered
with the sight of land, we pushed ahead gallantly ; the light
grew in size and intensity ; there could be no doubt this
wild region was inhabited by human beings ; and at last a
native appeared, who addressed us in a tongue which we
262 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
managed with some difficulty to understand, and, having
exacted from us a small tribute, he allowed us to proceed.
Once more we plunge into darkness and wet, but we know
that Kendal is near. Just as we are approaching the foot
of the hill, however, on which the town stands, a wild shriek
from Titania startles the air. The black shadow of a dog-
cart is seen to swerve across in front of the horses' heads,
and just skims by our wheels. The wrath that dwelt in my
Lady's heart with regard to the two men in this phantom
vehicle need not be expressed ; for what with the darkness
of the trees, the roaring of the wind and rain, and the
fact of these two travellers coming at a fine pace along the
wrong side of the road, we just escaped a catastrophe.
But we survived that danger, too, as we survived the
strife of the elements. We drove up into the town. We
wheeled round by the archway of still another King's Arms ;
and presently a half-drowned party of people with their
eyes, long grown accustomed to the gloom, now wholly
bewildered with the light were standing in the warm and
yellow glare of the hotel. There was a fluttering of dripping
waterproofs, a pulling asunder of soaked plaids, and a drying
of wet and gleaming cheeks that were red with the rain.
The commotion raised by our entrance was alarming. You
would have thought we had taken possession of this big,
warm, comfortable, old-fashioned inn. A thousand servants
seemed to be scampering about the house to assist us ; and
by and by, when all those moist garments had been taken
away, and other and warmer clothing put on, and a steam-
ing and fragrant banquet placed on the table, you should
have seen the satisfaction that dwelt on every face.
Arthur had not come at least, no one had been making
inquiries for us.
So there was nothing now but to attack the savoury feast,
and relate with laughter and with gladness all the adventures
of the day, until you might have suspected that the grave
mother of those two boys at Twickenham had grown merry
with the champagne, whereas she had not yet tasted the
wine that was frothing and creaming in her glass.
OF A PHAETON. 263
CHAPTER XXL
ALL ABOUT WINDEEMERE.
"O meekest dove
Of Heaven I O Cynthia, ten-times bright and fair 1
From thy blue throne, now filling all the air,]
Glance but one little beam of tempered light
Into my bosom, that the dreadful might
And tyranny of love be somewhat scared."
IT is a pleasant thing, especially in holiday-time, when
one happens to have gone to bed with the depressing
consciousness that outside the house the night is wild and
stormy rain pouring ceaselessly down and the fine weather
sped away to the south to catch a sudden glimmer, just as
one opens one's eyes in the morning, of glowing green,
where the sunlight is quivering on the waving branches
of the trees. The new day is a miracle of freshness. The
rain has washed the leaves ; and the wind is shaking and
rustling them in the warm radiance. You throw open the
window, and the breeze that comes blowing in is sweet with
the smell of wet roses. It is a new, bright, joyous day ;
and the rain and the black night have fled together. '
Bell's audacity in daring to hope we might have a fine
morning after that wild evening had almost destroyed our
belief in her weather foresight ; but sure enough, when we
got up on the following day, the stone houses of Kendal
were shining in the sun ; and there was a fine colour in
the faces of the country people who had come into the
town on early business. And what was this we heard ? a
simple and familiar air that carried Tita back to the small
church in Surrey over which she presides sung carelessly
and lightly by a young lady who certainly did not know
that she could be overheard
" Hark, hark, my soul, angelic songs are swelling
O'er earth's green fields and ocean's wave-beat shore."
Bell was at her orisons ; but as the hymn only came to
us in fitful and uncertain snatches, we concluded that the
intervals were filled up by that light-hearted young woman
twisting up the splendid folds of her hair. There was no
264 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
great religious fervour in her singing, to be sure. Some-
times the careless songstress forgot to add the words, and
let us have fragments of the pretty air, of which she was
particularly fond. But there was no reason at all why this
pious hymn should be suddenly forsaken for the " rataplan,
rataplan, rataplan rataplan, plan, plan, plan, plan" of the
" Daughter of the Eegiment."
When we went down stairs, Bell was gravely perusing the
morning papers. At this time the Government were hurry-
ing their Ballot Bill through the House ; and the daily
journals were full of clauses, amendments, and divisions.
Bell wore rather a puzzled look ; but she was so deeply
interested whether with the Parliamentary Summary or
the Fashionable Intelligence, can only be guessed that she
did not observe our entering the room. My Lady went
gently forward to her, and said
"Hark, hark, my soul, angelic songs are swelling
O'er earth's green fields "
The girl looked up with a start, and with a little look of
alarm.
" Young ladies," observed Tita, " who have a habit of
humming airs during their toilet, ought to be sure that
there is something more than a very thin partition between
their room and the next one."
" If it was only you, I don't care."
" It mightn't have been only me."
" There is no great harm in a hymn," says Bell.
" But when one mixes up a hymn with that wicked song
which Maria and the Sergeant sing together ? Bell, we
will forgive you everything this morning. You are quite
a witch with the weather, and you shall have a kiss for
bringing us such a beautiful day."
The morning salutation is performed.
" Isn't there enough of that to go round ? " says the
third person of the group. " Bell used to kiss me dutifully
every morning. But a French writer has described a young
lady as a creature that ceases to kiss gentlemen at twelve
and begins again at twenty."
" A French writer ! " says Tita. " No French writer
ever said anything so impertinent and so stupid. The
OF A PHAETON. 265
French are a cultivated nation, and their wit never takes
the form of rudeness."
A nation or a man it is all the same : attack either,
and my Lady is ready with a sort of formal warranty of
character.
" But why, Tita," says Bell, with just a trifle of protest
in her voice, " why do you always praise the French nation ?
Other nations are as good as they are."
The laughter that shook the coffee-room of the King's
Arms in Kendal, when this startling announcement was
made to us cannot be conveyed in words. There was
something so boldly ingenuous in Bell's protest that even
Tita laughed till the tears stood in her eyes, and then she
kissed Bell, and asked her pardon, and remarked that she
was ready to acknowledge at any moment that the German
nation was as good as the French nation.
" I did not mean anything of the kind," said Bell, looking
rather shamefaced. "What does it matter to me what
anyone thinks of the German nation ? "
That was a true observation, at least. It did not matter
to her, nor to anybody. The anthropomorphic abstractions
which we call nations are very good pegs to hang prejudices
on ; but they do not suffer or gain much by any opinion
we may form of their " characteristics."
" Where is Count von Eosen ? " asked Queen Tita.
" I do not know," answered Bell, with an excellent
assumption of indifference. "I have not seen him this
morning. Probably he will come in and tell us that he has
been to Windermere."
" No, Mademoiselle," said the Lieutenant, entering the
room at the same moment, " I have not been to Windermere,
but I am very, anxious to go, for the morning is very fresh
and good, and is it possible to say that it will remain fine
all the day ? We should start directly after breakfast. I
have looked at the horses ; they are all very well, and have
suffered nothing from the rain ; they are looking contented
and comfortable after the bran-mash of last night ; and to-
morrow they will start again very well."
" And you have heard nothing of Arthur ? " continued
my Lady.
" No."
266 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
Was the Lieutenant likely to have been scouring the
country in search of that young man ?
" It is very strange. If he found himself unable to get
here by the time he expected to meet us, it is a wonder he
did not send on a message. I hope he has met with no
accident."
" No, there is no fear, Madame," said the Lieutenant ;
" he will overtake us soon. He may arrive to-night, or to-
morrow before we go he cannot make a mistake about
finding us. But you do not propose to wait anywhere for
him ? "
" No," I say, decisively, " we don't. Or if we do wait
for him, it will not be in Kendal."
The Lieutenant seemed to think that Arthur would over-
take us soon enough ; and need not further concern us.
But my Lady appeared to be a little anxious about the safety
of the young man until it was shown us that, after all,
Arthur might have been moved to give the Major's cob a
day's rest somewhere, in which case he could not. possibly
have reached Kendal by this time.
We go out into the sunlit and breezy street. We can
almost believe Bell that there is a peculiar sweetness in the
Westmoreland air. We lounge about the quaint old town,
which, perched on the steep slope of a hill, has sometimes
those curious juxtapositions of door-step and chimney-pot
which are familiar to the successive terraces of Dartmouth.
We go down to the green banks of the river ; and the
Lieutenant is bidden to observe how rapid and clear the
brown stream is, even after coming through the dyeing and
bleaching works. He is walking on in front with Bell.
He does not strive to avoid her now ; on the contrary, they
are inseparable companions ; but my Lady puzzles herself
in vain to discover what are their actual relations towards
each other at this time. They do not seem anxious or
dissatisfied. They appear to have drifted back into those
ordinary friendly terms of intercourse which had marked
their setting out ; but how is this possible after what
occurred in Whales ? As neither has said anything to us
about these things, nothing is known ; these confidences
have been invariably voluntary ; and Queen Tita is quite
well pleased that Bell should manage her own affairs.
OF A PHAETON. 267
Certainly, if Bell was at this time being pressed to
decide between von Rosen and Arthur, that hapless lad
from Twickenham was suffering grievously from an evil
fortune. Consider what advantages the Lieutenant had in
accompanying the girl into this dreamland of her youth,
when her heart was opening out to all sorts of tender
recollections, and when, to confer a great gratification upon
her, you had only to say that you were pleased with
Westmoreland, and its sunlight, and its people, and scenery.
What adjectives that perfervid Uhlan may have been using
and he was rather a good hand at expressing his satisfac-
tion with anything we did not try to hear ; but Bell wore
her brightest and happiest looks. Doubtless the Lieutenant
was telling her there was no water in the world that could
turn out such brilliant colours as those we saw bleaching on
the meadows that no river in the world ran half as fast
as the Kent and that no light could compare with the
light of a Westmoreland sky in beautifying and clarifying the
varied hues of the landscape that lay around. He was
greatly surprised with the old-fashioned streets when we had
clambered up to the town again. He paid particular
attention to the railway station. When a porter caught a
boy back from the edge of the platform and angrily said to
him, " Wut's thee doin' theear, an' the traain a coomin' oop ? "
he made as though he understood the man. This was Bell's
country ; and everything in it was profoundly interesting.
"However, when the train had once got away from the
station, and we found ourselves being carried through the
fresh and pleasant landscape with a cool wind blowing
in at the window, and all the foliage outside bending and
rustling in the breeze it was not merely out of compliment
to Bell that he praised the brightness of the day and the
beauty of the country around.
" And it is so comforting to think of the horses enjoying
a day's thorough rest," said Tita ; " for when we start
again to-morrow, they will have to attack some hard work."
" Only at first," said Bell, who was proud of her local
knowledge. " The first mile or so is hilly ; but after that
the road goes down to Windermere and runs along by
the lake to Ambleside. It is a beautiful drive through
the trees ; and if we get a day like this "
268 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
No wonder she turned to look out with pride and delight
on the glowing picture that lay around us the background
of which had glimpses of blue mountains lying pale and
misty under light masses of cloud. The small stations we
passed were smothered in green foliage. Here and there we
caught sight of a brown rivulet, or a long avenue of trees
arching over a white road. And then, in an incredibly
short space of time, we found ourselves outside the
Windermere station, standing in the open glare of the day.
For an instant, a look of bewilderment, and even of
disappointment, appeared on the girl's face. Evidently,
she did not know the way. The houses that had sprung
up of late years were strangers to her strangers that
seemed to have no business there. But whereas the new
buildings, and the cutting of terraces, and alterations of
gardens, were novel and perplexing phenomena, the general
features of the neighbourhood remained the same ; and
after a momentary hesitation she hit upon the right path
up to Elleray ; and thereafter was quite at home.
Now there rests in Bell's mind a strange superstition
that she can remember, as a child, having sat upon
Christopher North's knee. The story is wholly impossible
and absurd ; for Wilson died in the year in which Bell was
born ; but she nevertheless preserves the fixed impression of
having seen the kingly old man, and wondered at his long
hair and great collar, and listened jSjp his talking to her.
Out of what circumstance in her childhood this curious
belief may have arisen is a psychological conundrum which
Tita and I have long ago given up ; and Bell herself
cannot even suggest any other celebrated person of the
neighbourhood who may, in her infancy, have produced a
profound impression on her imagination and caused her to
construct a confused picture into which the noble figure of
the old Professor had somehow and subsequently been
introduced ; but none the less she asks us how it is that she
can remember exactly the expression of his face and eyes as
he looked down on her, and how even to this day she can
recall the sense of awe with which she regarded him, even
as he was trying to amuse her.
The Lieutenant knew all about this story ; and it was
with a great interest that he went up to Elleray Cottage,
OF A PHAETON. 269
and saw the famous chestnut which Christopher North has
talked of to the world. It was as if some relative of Bell's
had lived in this place some foster-father or grand-uncle
who had watched her youth ; and who does not know the
strange curiosity with which a lover listens to stories of the
childhood of his sweetheart, or meets anyone who knew her
in those old and half -forgotten years ? It seems a wonder-
ful thing to him that he should not have known her then
that all the world at that time, so far as he knew, was
unconscious of her magical presence ; and he seeks to make
himself familiar with her earliest years, to nurse the
delusion that he has known her always, and that ever since
her entrance into the world she has belonged to him. In
like manner, let two lovers, who have known each other for
a number of years, begin to reveal to each other when the
first notion of love entered their mind ; they will insensibly
shift the date further and further back ; as if they would
blot out the pallid and colourless time in which they were
stupid enough not to have found out their great affection
for each other. The Lieutenant was quite vexed that he
knew little of Professor Wilson's works. He said he would
get them all the moment that he went back to London ;
and when Bell, as we lingered about the grounds of Elleray,
told him how that there was a great deal of Scotch in the
books ; and how the old man whom she vaguely recollected
had written about Scotland ; and how that she had about as
great a longing when she was buried aw r ay down south in
the commonplaceness of London and Surrey to smell the
heather and see the lonely glens and the far-reaching sea-
lochs of the Highlands, as to reach her own. and native
Westmoreland, the Lieutenant began to nurture a secret
and profound affection for Scotland, all because of that
mysterious sympathy.
I cannot describe in minute detail our day's ramble
about Windermere. It was like a dream to us. Many years
had come and gone since those of us who were familiar
with the place had been there ; and somehow, half
unconsciously to ourselves, we kept trying to get away
from the sight of new people and new houses, and to
discover the old familiar features of the neighbourhood that
we had loved, Once or twice there was in Tita's eyes a
270 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
moisture she could scarce conceal ; and the light of gladness
on Bell's bright face was preserved there chiefly through her
efforts to instruct the Lieutenant, which made her forget
old memories. She was happy, too, in hitting on the old
paths. When we went down from Elleray through the
private grounds that lie along the side of the hill, she
found no difficulty whatever in showing us how we were to
get to the lake. She took us through a close and sweet-
smelling wood, where the sunlight only struggled at
intervals between the innumerable stems and leaves, and
lit up the brackens, and other ferns, and underwood. There
was a stream running close by, that plashed and gurgled
along its stony channel. As we got further down the slope,
the darkness of the avenue increased ; and then all at once,
at the end of the trees, we came in sight of a blinding glare
of white the level waters of the lake.
Then, when we left the wood and stood on the shore,
all the fair plain of Windermere lay before us wind-swept
and troubled, with great dashes of blue along its surface,
and a breezy sky moving overhead. Near at hand, there
were low-lying hills, shining in the sun ; and, further
off, long and narrow promontories, piercing out into the
water, with their dark line of trees growing almost black
against the silver sheen of the lake. But then again the
hurrying wind would blow away the shadow of the cloud ; a
beam of sunlight would run along the trees, making them
glow green above the blue of the water ; and from this
moving and shifting and shining picture we turned to the
far and ethereal masses of the Langdale Pikes and the
mountains above Ambleside, which changed as the changing
clouds were swept over from the west.
We got a boat and went out into the wilderness of water
and wind and sky. Now we saw the reedy shores behind
us, and the clear and shallow water at the brink of which
we had been standing, receiving the troubled reflection of
the woods. Out here the beautiful islands of Lady Holm,
Thompson's Holm, and Belle Isle were shimmering in
green. Far up there in the north the slopes and gullies of
the great mountains were showing a thousand hues of soft
velvet-like greys and blues, and even warming up into a
pale saffron-yellow, where a ray of the sunlight struck the
OF A PHAETON. 271
lower slopes. Over by Furness Fells the clouds lay in
heavier masses, and moved more slowly ; but elsewhere
there was a brisk motion across the lake, that changed its
beauties even as one looked at them.
" Mademoiselle," observed the Lieutenant, as if a new
revelation had broken upon him, " all that you have said
about your native county is true ; and now I understand
why that you did weary in London, and think very much
of your own home."
Perhaps he thought, too, that there was but one county
in England, or in the world, that could have produced this
handsome, courageous, generous, and true-hearted English
girl for such are the exaggerations that lovers cherish.
We put into Bowness, and went up to the Crown Hotel
there. In an instant as rapidly as Alloway Kirk became
dark when Tarn o' Shanter called out the whole romance
of the day went clean out and was extinguished. How any
of God's creatures could have come to dress themselves in
such fashion, amid such scenery, our young Uhlan professed
himself unable to tell ; but here were men apparently in
their proper senses wearing such extravagances of jackets
and resplendent knickerbockers as would have made a
harlequin blush, with young ladies tarred and feathered, as
it were, with staring stripes, and alarming petticoats, and
sailors' hats of straw. Why should the borders of a lake
be provocative of these mad eccentricities ? Who that has
wandered about the neighbourhoods of Zurich, Lucerne,
and Thun, does not know the wild freaks which English-
men (far more than Englishwomen) will permit to them-
selves in dress ? We should have fancied those gentlemen
with the variegated knickerbockers had just come down
from the Righi (by rail) if they had had Alpenstocks and
snow-spectacles with them ; and, indeed, it was a matter
for surprise that these familiar appurtenances were absent
from the shores of Windermere.
Queen Tita looked at the strange people rather askance.
" My dear," says Bell, in an undertone, " do not be
afraid : they are quite harmless."
We had luncheon in a corner of the great room.
Dinner was already laid ; and our simple meal seemed to
borrow a certain richness from that long array of coloured
272 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
wine-glasses. Bell considered it rather pretty ; but my
Lady began to wonder how much crystal the servants
would have broken by the time we got back to Surrey.
Then we went down to the lake again, stepped into a small
steamer, and stood out to sea.
It was now well on in the afternoon ; and the masses of
cloud that came rolling over from the west and south-west,
when they clung to the summits of the mountains, threw a
deeper shadow on the landscape beneath. Here and there,
too, as the evening wore on and we had steamed up within
sight of the small island that is called Seamew Crag, we
occasionally saw one of the great heaps of vapour get melted
down into a grey mist that for a few minutes blotted out
the side of a mountain. Meanwhile the sun had also got
well up to the north-west ; and as the clouds came over
and swept about the peaks of Langdale, a succession of the
wildest atmospheric effects became visible. Sometimes a
sombre gloom would overspread the whole landscape, and
we began to anticipate a night of rain ; then a curious
saffron glow would appear behind the clouds ; then a great
smoke of grey would be seen to creep along ; and finally
the sunlight would break through, shining on the retreating
vapour and on the wet sides of the hills. Once or twice a
light trail passed across the lake and threw a slight
shower of rain over us ; but when we got to Ainbleside, the
clouds had been for the most part driven by ; and the clear
heavens irradiated by a beautiful twilight tempted us to
walk back to Windermere village by the road.
You may suppose that that was a pleasant walk for those
two young folks. Everything had conspired to please Bell
during the day, and she was in a dangerously amiable
mood. As the dusk fell, and the white water gleamed
through the trees by the margin of the lake, we strolled
along the winding road without meeting a solitary creature ;
and Queen Titania gently let our young friends get on
ahead, so that we could only see the two figures pass under-
neath the dark avenues of trees.
" Did you ever see a girl more happy ? " she says.
" Yes, once at Eastbourne."
Tita laughs, in a low, pleased fashion ; for she is never
averse to recalling these old days,
OF A PHAETON. 273
" I Was very stupid then," she says.
That is a matter upon which she, of course, ought to be
able to speak. It would be unbecoming to interfere with
the right of private judgment.
" Besides," she remarks, audaciously, " I did not mean
half what I said. Don't you imagine I meant half what I
said. It was all making fun, you know, wasn't it ? "
" It has been deadly earnest since."
" Poor thing ! " she says, in the most sympathetic
manner ; and there is no saying what fatal thunderbolt she
might have launched, had not her attention been called away
just then.
For as we went along in the twilight it seemed to us
that the old moss-covered wall was beginning to throw a
slight shadow, and that the pale road was growing warmer
in hue. Moved by the same impulse, we turned suddenly
to the lake, and lo ! out there beyond the trees a tremulous
yellow glory was lying on the bosom of "Windermere ; and
we guessed that somewhere hidden by the dark branches
the low moon had come into the clear violet sky. We
walked on until we came to a clearance in the trees ; and
there was the golden crescent shining serene in the heavens,
the purple of which was suffused by the soft glow. It was
a wonderful twilight. The ripples that broke in among the
reeds down at the shore quivered in lines of gold ; and a
little bit further out a small boat lay black as night in the
path of the moonlight. The shadow cast by the wall grew
stronger ; and now the trees, too, threw black bars on to
the yellow road. The two lovers paid no heed to these
things for a long time they wandered on, engrossed in
talk. But at length we saw them stop and turn towards
the lake ; while Bell looked back towards us, with her figure
getting a faint touch of the radiance coming over from the
south.
All the jesting had gone out of Bell's face. She was as
grave, and gentle, and thoughtful when we reached the
two of them as Undine was on the day after her marriage ;
and insensibly she drew near to Tita, and took her away
from us, and left the Lieutenant and myself to follow.
That young gentleman was as solemn as though he had
swallowed the Longer Catechism and the Westminster
T
274 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
Confession of Faith. He admitted that it was a beautiful
evening. He made a remark about the scenery of the
district which would have served admirably as a motto for
one of those views that stationers put at the head of their
note-paper. And then, with some abruptness, he asked
what we should do if Arthur did not arrive in Kendal that
night or next day.
" If Arthur does not come to-night, we shall probably
have some dinner at the King's Arms. If he does not
come in the morning, we may be permitted to take some
breakfast. And then, if his staying away does not alter the
position of Windermere, we shall most likely drive along
this very road to-morrow forenoon. But why this solemn
importance conferred on Arthur all of a sudden ? "
" Oh, I cannot tell you."
" Nobody asked you."
" But I will give you a very good cigar, my dear friend."
" That is a great deal better only let it be old and dry."
And so we got back to Windermere station and took
train to Kendal. By the time we were walking up through
the streets of the old town the moon had grown clearer,
and its light, now pale and silvery, was shining along the
fronts of the houses.
We go into the inn. No message from Arthur. A
little flutter of dismay disturbs the women, until the folly
of imagining all manner of accidents merely because an
erratic young man takes a day longer to drive to Kendal
than they anticipated is pointed out to them. Then
dinner ; and Bell appears in her prettiest dress, so that even
Tita, when she conies into the room, kisses her, as if the
girl had performed a specially virtuous action in merely
choosing out of a milliner's shop a suitable colour.
[Note l>y Queen Titania. " I hope I am revealing no secrets ; but it
would be a great pity if anyone thought that Bell was heartless, or
indifferent, a mistake that might occur when she is written about by
one who makes a jest about the most serious moments in one's life.
Now it was quite pitiable to see how the poor girl was troubled as we
walked home that night by the side of Windermere. She as good as
confessed to me not in words, you know, for between women tho
least hint is quite sufficient, and saves a great deal of embarrassment
that she very much liked the Lieutenant, and admired his character ;
and that she was extremely vexed and sorry that she had been
OF A PHAETON. 275
compelled to refuse him when he proposed to her. She told me, too,
that he had pressed her not to make that decision final ; and that she
had admitted to him that it was really against her own wish that she
had done so. But then she put it to me, as she had put it to him,
what she would think of herself if she went and betrayed Arthur in
this way. Eeally, I could not see any betrayal in the matter ; and I
asked her whether it would be fair to Arthur to marry him while she
secretly would have preferred to marry another. She said she would
try all in her power not to marry Arthur, if only he would be reconciled
to her breaking with him ; but then she immediately added, with an
earnestness that I thought very pathetic, that if she treated Arthur
badly, any other man might fairly expect her to treat him badly too ;
and if she could not satisfy herself that she had acted rightly through-
out, she would not marry at all. It is a great pity I cannot show the
readers of these few lines our pretty Bell's photograph, or they would
see the downright absurdity of such a resolve as that. To think of a
girl like her not marrying is simply out of the question; but the
danger at this moment was that, in one of these foolish fits of deter-
mination, she would send the Lieutenant away altogether. Then I
think there might be a chance of her not marrying at all ; for I am
greatly mistaken if she does not care a good deal more for him than
she will acknowledge. I advised her to tell Arthur frankly how
matters stand ; but she seems afraid. Under any circumstances, he
will be sure to discover the truth ; and then it will be far worse for
him than if she made a full confession just now, and got rid of all
these perplexities and entanglements, which ought not to be throwing
a cloud over a young face."]
CHAPTER XXII.
ON CAVIARE AND OTHER MATTERS.
u At the inn where we stopped he was exceedingly dissatisfied with
some roast mutton which he had for dinner. The ladies, I saw,
wondered to see the great philosopher, whose wisdom and wit
they had been admiring all the way, get into ill-humour from
such a cause."
" THERE is no Paradise without its Serpent," said Queen
Tita, with a sigh, as we were about to leave the white
streets of Kendal for the green heart of the Lake district.
A more cruel speech was never made. Arthur, for
aught we knew, might be lying smashed up in a Yorkshire
ditch. He had not overtaken us even on the morning
after our arrival in Kendal. No message had come from
him. "Was this a time to liken him to the Father of Lies,
when perhaps the Major's cob had taken him down a
railway cutting or thrown him into a disused coalpit ?
T 2
276 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
What, for example, if his corpse had been brought into the
King's Arms in which the above words were uttered ?
Would the Lieutenant have spoken of him contemptuously
as " a pitiful fellow oh, a very pitiful fellow ! " "Would
Bell have borne his presence with a meek and embarrassed
resignation ; or would Queen Tita have regarded the young
man who used to be a great friend of hers as one intend-
ing to do her a deadly injury ?
" Poor Arthur ! " I say. " Whither have all thy friends
departed ? "
" At least, he does not want for an apologist," says Tita,
with a little unnecessary fierceness.
" Perhaps thou art lying under two wheels in a peaceful
glade. Perhaps thou art floating out to the ocean on the
bosom of a friendly stream with all the companions of thy
youth unheeding "
" Stuff ! " says Queen Titania ; and when I observe that
I will address no further appeal to her for that a lady
who lends herself to match-making abandons all natural
instincts and is insensible to a cry for pity she turns
impatiently and asks what I have done with her eau-de-
cologne, as if the fate of Arthur were of less importance to
her than that trumpery flask.
Wherever the young man was, we could gain no tidings
of him ; and so we went forth once more on our journey.
But as the certainty was that he had not passed us, how
was it that Queen Tita feared the presence of this evil
thing in the beautiful land before us ?
"For," said the Lieutenant, pretending he was quite
anxious about the safety of his rival, and, on the whole,
desirous of seeing him, "he may have gone to Carlisle,
as he at first proposed, to meet us there."
" Oh, do you think so ? " said Bell, eagerly. Was she
glad, then, to think that during our wanderings in her
native county we should not be accompanied by that
unhappy youth ?
But the emotions which perplexed my Lady's heart at
this time were of the most curious sort. It was only by
bits and snatches that the odd contradictions and intricacies
of them were revealed. To begin with, she had a sneaking
fondness for Arthur, begotten of old associations. She was
OF A PHAETON. 277
vexed with him because he was likely to ruin her plan for
the marriage of Bell and the Lieutenant ; and when Tita
thought of this delightful prospect being destroyed by the
interference of Arthur, she grew angry, and regarded him
as an unreasonable and officious young man, who ought to
be sent about his business. Then again, when she recalled
our old evenings in Surrey, and the pleasant time the boy
had in sweethearting with our Bonny Bell during the long
and lazy afternoon walks, she was visited with remorse, and
wished she could do something for him. But a claimant of
this sort who represents an injury is certain, sooner or later,
to be regarded with dislike. He is continually reminding
us that we have injured him, and disturbing our peace of
mind. Sometimes Tita resented this claim (which was
entirely of her own imagining) so strongly as to look upon
Arthur as a perverse and wicked intermeddler with the
happiness of two young lovers. So the world wags. The
person who is inconvenient to us does us a wrong. At the
very basis of our theatrical drama lies the principle that
non-success in a love-affair is criminal. Two young men
shall woo a young maid ; the one shall be taken, and the
other made a villain of because he paid the girl the
compliment of wanting to marry her ; and justice shall not
be satisfied until everybody has hounded and hunted the
poor villain through all the phases of the play, until all the
good people meet to witness his discomfiture, and he is
bidden to go away and be a rejected suitor no more.
It was only in one of these varying moods that Tita had
shown a partial indifference to Arthur's fate. She was
really concerned about his absence. When she took her
seat in the phaeton, she looked back and down the main
thoroughfare of Kendal, half expecting to see the Major's
cob and a small dog-cart come driving along. The
suggestion that he might have gone on to Penrith or
Carlisle comforted her greatly. The only inexplicable cir-
cumstance was that Arthur had not written or telegraphed
to Kendal, at which town he knew we were to stop.
About five minutes after our leaving Kendal, Arthur was
as completely forgotten as though no such hapless creature
was in existence. We were all on foot except Tita, who
remained in the phaeton to hold the reins in a formal
278 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES '
fashion. For about a mile and a half the road gradually
rises, giving a long spell of collar-work to horses with
weight to drag behind them. Tita, who weighs about a
feather and a half, was commissioned to the charge of the
phaeton while the rest of us dawdled along the road, giving
Castor and Pollux plenty of time. It was a pleasant walk.
The Lieutenant with an amount of hypocrisy of which I
had not suspected him guilty seemed to prefer to go by
the side of the phaeton, and talk to the small lady sitting
enthroned there ; but Bell, once on foot and in her native
air, could not so moderate her pace. We set off up the hill.
There was a scent of peat-reek in the air. A cool west
wind was blowing through the tall hedges and the trees ;
and sudden shafts and gleams of sunlight fell from the
uncertain sky and lit up the tangled masses of weeds and
flowers by the roadside. Bell pulled a white dog-rose, and
kissed it as though a Westmoreland rose was an old friend
she had come to see. She found good jests in the idlest talk,
and laughed ; and all her face was aglow with delight as
she looked at the beautiful country, and the breezy sky, and
the blue peaks of the mountains that seemed to grow
higher and higher the further we ascended the hill.
" You silly girl," I say to her, when she is eager to point
out cottages built of stone, and stone walls separating small
orchards from the undulating meadows, " do you think there
are no stone cottages anywhere but in Westmoreland ? "
" I didn't say there wasn't," she answers, regardless of
grammar.
Yes, we were certainly in Westmoreland. She had
scarcely uttered the words when a rapid pattering was
heard among the trees, and presently a brisk shower was
raining down upon us. Would she return to the phaeton
for a shawl ? No. She knew the ways of Westmoreland
showers on such a day this indeed, she had predicted that
some of the heavy clouds being blown over from the other
side of Windermere would visit us in passing. In a few
minutes the shower lightened ; the wind that shook the
heavy drops from the trees seemed to bring dryness with it ;
and presently a warm glow of sunshine sprang down upon
the road, and the air grew sweet with resinous and fragrant
smells.
OF A PHAETON. 279
" It was merely to lay the dust," said Bell, as though she
had ordered the shower.
After you pass Rather Heath, you go down into the
valley of the Gowan. The road is more of a lane than a
highway ; and the bright and showery day added to the
picturesqueness of the tall hedges and the wooded country
on both sides by sending across alternate splashes of gloom
and bursts of sunlight. More than once, too, the tail-end
of a shower caught us ; but we cared little for rain that
had wind and sunlight on the other side of it ; and Bell,
indeed, rather rejoiced in the pictorial effects produced by
changing clouds, when the sunshine caused the heavier
masses to grow black and ominous, or shone mistily through
the frail sheet produced by the thinner fleeces melting into
rain.
Tita is a pretty safe driver in Surrey, where she knows
every inch of the roads and lanes, and has nothing to dis-
tract her attention ; but here, among these hilly and stony
"Westmoreland roads, her enjoyment of the bright panorama
around her considerably drew her attention away from the
horses' feet. Then she was sorely troubled by news that
had reached us that morning from home. An evil-doer,
whom she had hitherto kept in order by alternate bribes
and threats, had broken out again, and given his wife a
desperate thrashing. Now this occurrence seldom happened
except when both husband and wife were intoxicated ; and
for some time back my Lady had succeeded in stopping their
periodical bouts. With these evil tidings came the report
that a horrible old creature of sixty as arrant a rogue as
ever went on crutches, although Tita would have taken
the life of anyone who dared to say so of one of her pets
had deliberately gone to Guildford and pawned certain
pieces of flannel which had been given her to sew. In
short, as Bell proceeded to point out, the whole neighbour-
hood was in revolt. The chief administrator of justice and
Queen's Almoner of the district was up here skylarking in
a phaeton, while her subjects down in the south had broken
out into flagrant rebellion. History tells of a Scotch parish
that suddenly rose and hanged the minister, drowned the
precentor, and raffled the church bell : who was now to
answer for the safety of our most cherished parochial
280 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
institutions when the guardian of law and order had with-
drawn herself into the remote regions of the hills ?
"That revolt," it is observed, "is the natural conse-
quence of tyranny. For years you have crushed down and
domineered over that unhappy parish ; and the unenfran-
chised millions, who had no more liberty than is vouchsafed
to a stabled horse or a chained dog, have risen at last.
Mort aux tyrans ! Will they chase us, do you think,
Bell ? "
" I am quite convinced," remarked my Lady, deliberately
and calmly, " that the poor old woman has done nothing
of the kind. She could not do it. Why should she seek
to gain a few shillings at the expense of forfeiting all the
assistance she had to expect from me ? "
" An independent peasantry is not to be bought over by
pitiful bribes. Tis a free country ; and the three balls
ought to be placed among the insignia of Royalty, instead
of that meaningless sphere. Can any student of history
now present explain the original purpose of that instru-
ment ? "
" I suppose," says Bell, " that Queen Elizabeth, who
always has it in her hand, used to chastise her maid-
servants with it."
"Wrong. With that weapon Henry the Eighth was
wont to strike down and murder the good priests who
interfered with his unholy wishes."
" Henry the Eighth " says my Lady ; but just at
this moment Castor caught a stone slightly with his foot,
and the brief stumble caused my Lady to mind her driving ;
so that Henry the Eighth, wherever he is, may be con-
gratulated on the fact that she did not finish her sentence.
Then we ran pleasantly along the valley until we came in
sight, once more, of Windermere. We drove round the
foot of the green slopes of Elleray. We plunged into the
wood, and there was all around us a moist odour of toad-
stools and fern. We went by St. Catherine's, and over
Troutbeck Bridge, and so down to the lake-side by Ecclerigg
House and Lowood. It was along this road that Bell and
her companion had walked the night before, when the
crescent moon was throwing a tremulous light over Winder-
mere. The Lieutenant had said not a word about the
OF A PHAETON. 281
results of that long interview ; but they had clearly not
been unfavourable to him ; for he had been in excellent
good spirits during the rest of the evening ; and now he
was chatting to Bell as if nothing had occurred to break
the even tenor of their acquaintanceship. They had quite
resumed their old relations, which was a blessing to the
two remaining members of the party. Indeed, there was no
bar now placed upon Bell's singing except her own talking ;
and when a young lady undertakes to instruct her elders
in the history, traditions, manners, customs, and peculiarities
of Westmoreland, she has not much time for strumming on
the guitar. Bell acted the part of valet de place to perfec-
tion ; and preached at us just as if we were all as great
strangers as the Lieutenant was. It is true our guide was
not infallible. Sometimes we could see that she was in deep
distress over the names of the peaks up in the neighbour-
hood of the Langdale Pikes ; but what did it matter to us
which was Scawfell, and which was Bowfell, or which was
Great Gable and which Great End ? We had come to
enjoy our driving, not to correct the Ordnance Survey Maps.
" I am afraid," said my Lady, when some proposal to
stop at Ambleside and climb Wansfell Pike had been
unanimously rejected, "that we have been throughout
this journey disgracefully remiss. We have gone to see
nothing that we ought to have seen. We have never paid
any attention to ancient ruins, or galleries of pictures, or
celebrated monuments. We have not climbed a single
mountain. We went past Woodstock without looking in
at the gates we did not even go to see the obelisk on
Evesham Plain "
" That was because some of you drove the horses the
wrong way," it is remarked.
" Indeed, we have done nothing that we ought to have
done."
" Perhaps, Madame," said the Lieutenant, " that is why
the voyage has been so pleasant to us. One cannot always
be instructing oneself, like a tourist."
If you wish to vex Queen Tita, call her a tourist. This
subtle compliment of the Lieutenant pleased her immensely :
but I confess myself unable to see in what respects we were
not tourists, except that we were a little more ignorant, and
282 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
indifferent to our ignorance, than holiday travellers generally
are. What tourist, for example, would have done such a
barbaric thing as go through Ambleside without stopping a
day there ?
That was all along of Bell, however, who insisted on our
spending the treasure of our leisure time upon Grasmere ;
and who was strengthened in her demands by my Lady,
when she came in view of a considerable number of tourists
lounging about the former town. The poor men were for
the most part dressed as mountaineers otherwise they were
quite harmless. They were loitering about the main
thoroughfare of Ambleside, with their hands in the
pockets of their knickerbockers, gazing in at a stationer's
window, or regarding a brace of setters that a keeper stand-
ing in front of an hotel had in leash. They did not even
look narrowly at the knees of our horses an ordinary piece
of polite impertinence. They were well-meaning and well-
conducted persons ; and the worst that could be said of
them, that they were tourists, has been said about many
good and respectable people. A man may have climbed
Loughrigg Fell, and yet be an attentive husband and an
affectionate father ; while knickerbockers in themselves are
not an indictable offence. My Lady made no answer to
these humble representations ; but asked for how long the
horses would have to be put up before we started again.
Bell's enthusiasm of the morning had given way to some-
thing of disappointment, which she tried hard to conceal.
Ambleside, one of the places she had been dreaming about
for years, looked painfully modern now. In thinking about
it, down in our southern home, she had shut out of the
picture, hotels, shops, and fashionably- dressed people ; and
had dwelt only on the wild and picturesque features of a
neighbourhood that had at one time been as familiar to her
as her mother's face. But now, Ambleside seemed to have
grown big, and new, and strange ; and she lost the sense of
proprietorship which she had been exhibiting in our drive
through the scenery of the morning. Then Loughrigg Fell
did us an evil turn gathering up all the clouds that the
wind had driven over, and sending them gently and per-
sistently down into the valley of the Rothay, so that a
steady rain had set in. The Lieutenant did not care much
OF A PHAETON. 283
how the sky might be clouded over, so long as Bell's face
remained bright and happy ; but it was quite evident she was
disappointed ; and he in vain attempted to reassure her by
declaring that these two days had convinced him that the
Lake country was the most beautiful in the world. She
could not foresee then that this very gloom, which seemed to
mean nothing but constant wet, would procure for us later
on by far the most impressive sight that we encountered
during the whole of our long summer ramble.
Our discontent with Loughrigg Fell took an odd turn
when it discharged itself upon the Duke of Wellington. We
had grown accustomed to that foolish picture of the Water-
loo Heroes, in which the Duke, in a pair of white pantaloons,
stands in the attitude of a dancing-master, with an idiotic
simper on his face. All along the road, in public-houses,
inns, and hotels, we had met this desperate piece of decora-
tion on the walls, and had only smiled a melancholy smile
when we came upon another copy. But this particular
print seemed to be quite offensively ridiculous. If Henry
the Eighth had been inside these long white pantaloons and
that tight coat, my Lady could not have regarded the figure
with a severer contempt. We picked out enemies among
the attendant generals, just as one goes over an album of
photographs and has a curious pleasure in recording mental
likes and dislikes produced by unknown faces. Somehow,
all the Waterloo Heroes on this evening looked stupid and
commonplace. It seemed a mercy that Napoleon was
beaten ; but how he had been beaten by such a series of
gabies and nincompoops none of us could make out.
Then the Lieutenant must needs grumble at the luncheon
served up to us. It was a good enough luncheon, as hotels
go ; and even my Lady was moved to express her surprise
that a young man who professed himself able to enjoy any-
thing in the way of food, and who had told us amusing
stories of his foraging adventures in campaigning time,
should care whether there were or were not lemon and
bread-crumbs with a mutton cutlet.
" Madame," said the Lieutenant, " that is very well in a
campaign, when you are glad of anything ; but there is no
merit in eating badly-cooked food none at all."
" A soldier should not mind such trifles," she said ; but
284 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
she smiled as though to imply that she agreed with him all
the same.
" Well, I think," said the young man, doggedly, " it is
no shame that anyone should know what is good to eat, and
when it is properly prepared. It is not any more contemptible
than dressing yourself in good taste, which is a duty you
owe to other people. You should see our old generals who
are very glad of some coarse bread, and a piece of sausage,
and a tumbler of sour wine, when they are riding across a
country in the war how they study delicate things, and
scientific cookery, and all that, in Berlin."
"And do you follow their example when you are at
home ? "
" Not always ; I have not enough time. But when you
come to my house in Berlin, Madame, you will see what
luncheon you shall have."
" Can't you tell us about it now ? " says Tita.
" Pray do," echoes Bell, after casting another reproachful
glance at the rain out of doors.
The Lieutenant laughed ; but seeing that the women were
quite serious, he proceeded in a grave and solemn manner to
instruct them in the art of preparing luncheon.
"First," said he, "you must have Russian black bread
and French white bread cut into thin slices but you do not
use the black bread yet a while ; and you must have some
good Rhine wine, a little warmed if it is in the winter ;
some Bordeaux, a bottle of green Chartreuse, and some
champagne, if there are ladies. Now, for the first, you take
a slice of white bread ; you put a little butter on it, very thin ;
and then you open a pot of Russian caviare, and you put
that on the slice of bread three-quarters of an inch thick,
not less than that. You must not taste it by little and
little, as all English ladies do ; but eat it boldly, and you
will be grateful. Then half a glass of soft Rhine wine if
it is a good Marcobrunner, that is excellent. Then you eat
one slice of the black bread, with butter on it, more thick
than on the white bread. Then you have two, perhaps
three, Norwegian anchovies "
" Would you mind my writing these things down ? " says
my Lady.
The Lieutenant of course assents ; she produces a small
Of A PHAETON. 285
bunch of ivory tablets ; and I know the horrible purpose that
fills her mind as she proceeds to compose this programme*
" You must have the caviare and the anchovies of real
quality, or everything is spoiled. With the anchovies you
may eat the black bread, or the white, but I think without
butter. Then half a glass of Rhine wine "
" Those half -glasses of Rhine wine are coming in rather
often," remarks Bell.
" No, Mademoiselle, that is the last of the Rhine wine.
Next is a thin slice of white bread, very thin butter, and a
very thin slice of Bologna sausage. This is optional "
" My dear," I say to Tita, " be sure you put down * This
is optional I ' "
"With it you have a glass of good and soft Bordeaux
wine. Then, Madame, we come to the reindeer's tongue.
This is the piece de resistance ; and your guests must eat of it
just as they have their hour for dinner in the evening.
Also, if they are ladies, they may prefer a sparkling wine to
the Bordeaux, though the Bordeaux is much better. And
this is the reason : After the reindeer's tongue is taken
away, and you may eat an olive or two, then a pate defoie
gras real from Strasburg "
" Stop ! " cries one of the party. " If I have any
authority left, I forbid the addition to that disastrous
catalogue of another single item ! I will not suffer their
introduction into the house ! Away with them ! "
" But, my dear friend," says the Lieutenant, " it is a good
thing to accustom yourself to eat the meats of all countries
you know not where you may find yourself."
"Yes," says Bell gently, "one ought to learn to like
caviare, lest one should be thrown on a desert island."
" And why not ? " says the persistent young man. " You
are thrown on a desert island you catch a sturgeon you
take the roe, and you know how to make very good
caviare "
" But how about the half -glass of Rhine wine ? " says my
Lady.
" You cannot have everything in a desert island ; but in
a town, where you have time to study such things "
" And where you can order coffins for half -past three," it
is suggested.
286 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
" A good luncheon is a good thing."
" Ladies and gentlemen," said Bell, " the rain has ceased. 1 '
And so it had. While we had been contemplating that
imaginary feast, and paying no attention to the changes out
of doors, the clouds had gradually withdrawn themselves up
the mountains, and the humid air showed no more slanting
lines of rain. But still overhead there hung a heavy gloom ;
and along the wet woods, and on the troubled bosom of the
lake, and up the slopes of the hills, there seemed to lie an
ominous darkness. Should we reach Grasmere in safety ?
The Lieutenant had the horses put to with all speed ; and
presently Bell was taking us at a rapid pace into the wooded
gorge that lies between Nab Scar and Loughrigg Fell,
where the gathering twilight seemed to deepen with pre-
monitions of a storm.
CHAPTER XXIII.
AT NIGHT ON GRASMERE.
" Ye who have yearned
With too much passion, will here stay and pity,
For the mere sake of truth ; as 'tis a ditty
Not of these days, but long ago 'twas told
By a cavern wind unto a forest old ;
And then the forest told it in a dream
To a sleeping lake."
WE drove into the solitude of this deep valley without
uttering a word. How could we tell what the strange gloom
and silence might portend ? Far away up the misty and
rounded slopes of Loughrigg the clouds lay heavy and thick ;
and over the masses of Rydal Fell, on the other side of the
gorge, an ominous darkness brooded. Down here in the
chasm the trees hung cold and limp in the humid air,
crushed by the long rain. There was no sign of life abroad,
only that we heard the rushing of the river Rothay along
its narrow channel. There was not even any movement in
that wild and sombre sky, that looked all the more singular
because of the motionless storm-clouds.
But as we drove on, it seemed to become less likely that
the rain would set in again. The clouds had got banked up
in great billows of vapour ; and underneath them we could
OF A PHAETON. 287
see, even in the twilight, the forms of the mountains with
a strange distinctness. The green of the distant slopes up
there grew more and more intense, strengthened as it was by
long splashes of a deep purple where the slate was visible ;
then the heavy grey of the sky, weighing upon the summits
of the hills.
But all this was as nothing to the wild and gloomy scene
that met our view when we came in sight of Eydal Water.
We scarcely knew the lake we had loved of old, in bright
days, and in sunshine, and blowing rain. Here, hidden
away among reeds, lay a long stretch of dark slate-blue, with
no streak of white along the shores, no ripple under the crags,
to show that it was water. So perfect was the mirror-like
surface, that it was impossible to say in the gathering dusk
where the lake ended and the land began. The islands, the
trees, the fields, and the green spaces of the hills, were as
distinct below as above ; and where the purple-blue of the lake
ran in among the reeds, no one could make out the line of
the shore. It was a strange and impressive spectacle, this
silent mere lying at the foot of the hills, and so calm and
death-like that the motionless clouds of the sky were reflected
without a tremor on the sheet of glass. This was not the
Eydal Water we had been hoping to see, but a solitary and
enchanted lake, struck silent and still by the awful calmness
of the twilight and the presence of the lowering heavens.
We got down from the phaeton. The horses were allowed
to walk quietly on, with Tita in charge, while we sauntered
along the winding road, by the side of this sombre sheet
of water. We had no more fear of rain. There was a
firmness about the outlines of the clouds that became more
marked as the dusk fell. But although the darkness was
coming on apace, we did not hasten our steps much. When
should we ever again behold such a picture as this, the like
of which Bell, familiar with the sights and sounds of the
district from her childhood, had never seen before ?
What I have written above conveys nothing of the
impressive solemnity and majesty of this strange sight as we
saw it ; and indeed I had resolved, before entering the Lake
district, to leave out of the jottings of a mere holiday
traveller any mention of scenes which have become familiar
to the world through the imperishable and unapproachable
288 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
descriptions of the great masters who lived and wrote in
these regions. But such jottings must be taken for what
they are worth the hasty record of hasty impressions ; and
how could our little party have such a vision vouchsafed to
them without at least noting it down as an incident of their
journey ?
"We walked on in the darkness. The slopes of Nab Scar
had become visible. Here and there a white cottage
glimmered out from the roadside ; and Bell knew the name
of every one of them, and of the people who used to occupy
them.
" How surprised some of our friends would be," she said
to Tita, "if we were to call on them to-night, and walk in
without saying a word."
" They would take you for a banshee," said my Lady,
" on such an evening as this. Get up, Bell, and let us drive
on. I am beginning to shiver whether with fright or with
cold, I don't know."
So we got into the phaeton again, and sent the horses
forward. We drove along the broad road which skirts the
reedy and shallow end of Eydal Water, and entered the
valley of the stream which comes flowing through the trees
from Grasmere. It was now almost dark ; and the only
sound we could hear was that of the river plashing
along its rocky bed. By and by, a glimmer of yellow
light was observed in front ; and Bell having announced
that this was the Prince of Wales Hotel, we were soon
within its comfortable precincts. In passing we had got
a glimpse of a dark steel grey lake lying amid grey mists
and under sombre hills that was all we knew as yet of
Grasmere.
But about an hour afterwards, when we had dined, the
Lieutenant came back from the window at which he had
been standing for a minute or two, and said
" Mademoiselle, I have a communication for you."
Mademoiselle looked up.
" If you will go 'to the window "
Bell rose and went directly.
"I know," said my Lady, with a well-affected sigh,
" The night has cleared up there is starlight or moonlight,
or something ; and I suppose we shall have to go out in a
OF A PHAETON. 289
boat to please these foolish young people. But I think you
will be disappointed this time, Count von Rosen."
"Why, Madame?"
" This is a respectable hotel. Do you think they would
give you a boat ? Now, if there was some old lady to be
cajoled, I daresay you would succeed "
" Oh, you do think we cannot get a boat, yes ? I do not
suppose there is any trouble about that, if only Mademoiselle
cares about going out. Perhaps she does not but you
must see how beautiful this lake is at present."
The idea of Bell not wishing to go out on Grasmere at
any hour of the night so long as there was a yellow moon
rising over the dusky heights of Silver Home ! The girl
was all in a flutter of eagerness when she returned from the
window anxious that we should all see Grasmere under
these fine conditions, just as if Grasmere belonged to her.
And the Lieutenant, having gone outside for a few minutes,
returned with the information that a boat was waiting for
us. There was no triumph in his face no exultation ; and
it never occurred to anyone to ask whether this young
Uhlan had secured the boat by throwing the owner of it
into the water. The women were quite satisfied to accept all
the pleasant things he brought them ; and never stopped to
inquire by what tyrannical or disgraceful means the young
Prussian had succeeded in his fell endeavours. But at all
events he managed to keep out of the police-office.
As a matter of fact, the boat was not only waiting when
Tita and Bell, having dressed for the purpose, came down-
stairs, but was supplied with all manner of nice cushions,
plaids, rugs, and a guitar-case. The women showed a good
deal of trepidation in stepping into the frail craft, which
lay under the shadow of a small jetty ; but once out in the
open lake, we found sufficient light around us ; and Bell,
pulling her grey and woollen shawl more tightly around her,
turned to look at the wonders of Grasmere, which she had
not seen for many years.
It was a pleasant night. All the hills and woods on the
other side of the lake seemed for the most part in black
shadow ; but out here the moonlight dwelt calmly on the
water, and lit up the wooded island further down, and
shone along the level shores. As we went- out into the silent
U
2c>o THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
plain, the windows of the hotel grew smaller and smaller,
until in the distance we could see them but as minute
points of orange fire that glittered down on the liquid
surface below. Then, in the perfect stillness of the night
as the measured sound of the rowlocks told of our progress,
and the moonlight touched the gleaming blades of the oars
we were all at once startled by a loud and hissing noise,
that caused Tita to utter a slight cry of alarm.
We had run into a great bed of reeds, that was all
a tangled mass of water-lily leaves, with millions of
straight horsetails rising from the shallow lake. "We pushed
on. The horsetails went down before the prow of the boat ;
but all around us the miniature forest remained erect.
The moonlight sparkled on the horizontal ripples that we sent
circling out through those perpendicular lines. And then
the Lieutenant called a note of warning ; and Bell plunged
her oars in the water just in time, for we had nearly run
down two swans that were fast asleep in among the tall
reeds.
We forsook this shallower end of the lake, and, with some
more hissing of horsetails, pushed out and into the world of
moonlight and still water ; and then, as Tita took the oars,
and just dipped them now and again to give us a sense of
motion, Bell rested her guitar on her knee, and began to
sing to us. What should she sing under the solitude of the
hills, when all our laughter of dinner-time was over, and
we were as silent as the lake itself ? There was not even a
breath of wind stirring ; and it was in a very low voice,
with something of a tremor in it, that Bell began to accom-
pany the faint touching of the guitar.
"I've heard the lilting at our ewe-milking,"
she sang, and her voice was so low and tremulous that
Tita forgot to dip the oars that she might listen to the
girl
" Lasses a lilting before the break o' day ;
r But now they are moaning on ilka green loaning
The Flowers o' the Forest are a' wecle away."
Had Grasmere ever listened to a more pathetic ballad, or
to a tenderer voice ? It was as well, perhaps, that the
OF A PHAETON. 291
Lieutenant could not see Bell's face ; for as she sang the
last verse
" We hear nae mair lilting at our ewe-milking ;
Women and bairns are heartless and wae ;
Sighing and moaning on ilka green loaning
The Flowers o' the Forest are a' wede away,"
there was a sort of indistinctness in her voice ; and when
the Lieutenant said that it was the finest English song that
he had yet heard, and that the air was so very different
from most of the old English tunes, she could not answer
him for a minute or two.
But when she did answer him, fancy our astonishment !
" It isn't English," she said, with just a trace of contempt
in her tone. " When did you find the English able to write
a song or an air like that ? "
" Grant me patience ! " cries my Lady, with a fine
theatrical appeal to the still heavens overhead. " This girl,
because she was born in Westmoreland, claims the possession
of everything north of the Trent."
" Are not you also English, Mademoiselle ? " says the
Lieutenant.
" I belong to the North Country," says Bell proudly ;
" and we are all the same race up here."
Now you should have seen how this cue was seized by
the Lieutenant. The boy had about as much knowledge of
the colonization of this country as most youths pick up at
school; but the manner in which he twisted it about to
suit the wild and audacious statement that Bell had uttered
was truly alarming. Before we knew where we were, we
were plunged into the history of Strathclyde ; and invited to
consider the consistency of character that must have prevailed
in the great Welsh kingdom that stretched from Dumbarton
to Chester. We had also some pleasant little excursions
into Bernicia and Deira ; with abundance of proof that the
Lowland Scotch speak the best English now going a piece
of information which we accepted with meekness. We
were treated to a recapitulation of the settlements of the
Angles, together with a learned disquisition on the aims
of Ida. This was all very well. It passed the time. Bell
thought she was firmly established in her position. Her
u 2
292 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
traditional reverence for the "North Country" and all
its belongings had, it turned out, some definite historical
justification. She had a right to claim the songs of the
Lowland Scotch ; was she not herself of that favoured race ?
At length Queen Tita burst into a merry fit of laughter !
"I don't know what you mean to prove, Count von
Rosen," she said ; " you prove so much. At one time you
insist that Bell is Scotch ; at another time you show us that
she must be Welsh, if all the people in Strathclyde were
Welsh. But look at her, and what becomes of your
theories ? There is no more English girl in all England
than our Bell."
" That is no harm said of her," replied the Lieutenant,
abandoning his arguments at once.
" I suppose I am English," said Bell, obstinately, " but I
am North-country English."
Nobody could dispute that ; and doubtless the Lieutenant
considered that Bell's division of this realm into districts
mapped out in her imagination was of much more import-
ance than the idle inquiries of historians into the German
occupation of England. Then we pulled away over to the
island, and round underneath the shadows of its firs, and
back through the clear moonlight to the small jetty of the
hotel. We entered the warm and comfortable building.
The folks who had been dining had all gone into the
drawing-room ; but neither my Lady nor Bell seemed inclined
to venture in among the strangers ; and so we procured a
private sitting-room, in which, by good luck, there was a
piano.
The Lieutenant sat down.
" Madame," he said, " what shall I play to you ? It is
not since that I was at Twickenham I have touched a
piano oh, that is very bad English, I know, but I cannot
help it."
"Sing the rataplan song that Bell was humming the
other day," said Tita. " You two shaU sing it you shall
be the old sergeant, and BeU the daughter of the regiment."
" Yes, I can sing it," he said ; " but to play it that I
cannot do. It is too fine for my thick fingers."
And so he gave way to Bell, who played the accompani-
ment dexterously enough, and sang with a will. You
OF A PHAETON. 293
would have fancied that the camp was really her birthplace,
and that she was determined to march with the foremost,
as the good song says. The Lieutenant had not half the
martial ardour of this girl, who was singing of fire and
destruction, of battle and sudden death, as though she had
been the eldest daughter of one of the kings of her native
Strathclyde. And then, when she had finished that
performance, it needed only the least suggestion of the
Lieutenant to get her to sing Maria's next song, " Ciascwi
lo dice" so that you would have thought she had the spirit
of the whole regiment within her. It is not a proper song.
The brave Eleventh was doubtless a very gallant regiment ;
but why should they have taught their daughter to glorify
their frightening of landlords, their flirtations, their fierce
flying hither and thither, like the famous Jiiger that
followed Hoik ? This is the regiment, Maria tells you, that
fears nothing, but whom all men fear. This is the regiment
beloved of women ; for is not each soldier sure to become a
Field-Marshal ? The Lieutenant laughed at the warlike
glow of her singing, but he was mightily pleased, for all
that. She was fit to be a soldier's wife this girl with the
mantling colour in her cheek, and the brave voice and
gallant mien. With colours in her cap, and a drum slung
round her neck with all the fathers of the regiment
petting her, and proud of her, and ready to drive the soul
out of the man who spoke a rude word to her with her
arch ways, and her frank bearing, and her loyal and loving
regard for the brave Eleventh why, Bell, for the moment,
was really Maria, and as bright and as fearless as any Maria
that ever sang " rataplan I " Queen Tita was pleased too,
but she was bound to play the part of the stately
Marchioness. With an affectionate pat on the shoulder,
she told Bell she mustn't sing any more of these soldier-
songs ; they were not improving songs. With which just
as if she had been ordered by the Marchioness to leave the
brave Eleventh Bell began to sing the plaintive and
touching ".Convien partir" Perhaps we may have heard it
better sung at Drury Lane. The song is known in Covent
Garden. But if you had heard Bell sing it this night
with her lover sitting quite silent and embarrassed through
shamefaced pleasure, and with a glimmer of moonlight on
294 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
G-rasmere visible at the open window you might have
forgiven the girl for her mistakes.
A notion may have crossed my Lady's mind that it was
very hard on Arthur that Bell should in his absence have
been singing these soldier-songs with so much' obvious
enjoyment. Was it fair that this young Uhlan should
flutter his martial scarlet and blue and gold before the girl's
eyes, and dazzle her with romantic pictures of a soldier's
life ? What chance had the poor law-student, coming out
from his dingy chambers in the Temple, with bewildered
eyes, and pale face, and the funereal costume of the ordinary
English youth ? We know how girls are attracted by show,
how their hearts are stirred by the passing of a regiment
with music playing and colours flying. The padded
uniform may enclose a nutshell sort of heart, and the
gleaming helmet or the imposing busby may surmount the
feeblest sort of brain that could with decency have been put
within a human skull ; but what of that ? Each featherbed
warrior who rides from Knightsbridge to Whitehall, and
from Whitehall to Knightsbridge, is gifted with the glorious
traditions of great armies and innumerable campaigns ; and
in a ball-room the ass in scarlet is a far more attractive
spectacle than the wise man in black. Perhaps Arthur was
not the most striking example that might have been got to
add point to the contrast ; but if any such thoughts were
running through Queen Tita's mind, you may be sure that
her sympathies were awakened for a young man whose
chances of marrying Bell were becoming more and more
nebulous. '
And then my Lady sat down to the piano, and
condescended to play for us a few pieces, with a precision
and a delicacy of fingering which were far removed from
Bell's performances in that way. I suppose you young
fellows who read this would have regarded with indifference
the dark-eyed little matron who sat there and unravelled
the intricacies of the most difficult music. You would
have kept all your attention for the girl who stood beside
her ; and you would have preferred the wilder and less
finished playing of Bell, simply because she had fine eyes,
pretty hair, a wholesome English pleasantness and frank-
ness, and a proud and gracious demeanour. But a few
OF A PHAETON. 295
years hence you rnay coine to know better. You may get
to understand the value of the quiet and unobtrusive ways
of a woman who can look after a household, and busy
herself with manifold charities, and bring up her children
well and scrupulously, and yet have a tender smile for the
vagaries of young folks like yourselves. And then, if it is
your excellent fortune to have with you so gentle and
fearless and honest a companion if your own life seems to
be but the half of the broader and fuller existence that
abides beneath your roof you may do worse than go down
on your knees and thank God who has blessed your home
with the presence of a good wife and a good mother.
Tales shall not be told out of school. We may have sat
a little late that night. We were harming no one by so
doing, except ourselves ; and if our health suffered by such
late hours, we were prepared to let it suffer. For the fact
was, we drifted into talk about our Surrey belongings ; and
now these seemed so far away and it seemed so long since
we had been there that the most ordinary details of our
bygone life in the south had grown picturesque. And from
that Tita began to recall the names of the people she had
known in the Lake district, in the old time, when Bell was
but a girl, running about the valleys and hill-sides like a
young goat. That, too, carried us back a long way, until
it seemed as if we had drifted into a new generation of
things that knew nothing of the good old times that were.
There was a trifle of regret imported into this con-
versation why, no one could tell ; but when we broke up
for the night, Tita's face was rather saddened ; and she did
not follow Bell when the girl called to her to look at the
beautiful night outside, where the rapidly-sinking moon
had given place to a host of stars that twinkled over the
black gulf of Grasmere.
It is no wonder that lovers love the starlight, and the
infinite variety and beauty and silence of the strange
darkness. But folks who have got beyond that period do
not care so much to meet the mystery and the solemnity of
the night. They may have experiences they would rather
not recall. Who can tell what bitterness and grievous
heart-wringing are associated with the wonderful peace and
majesty of the throbbing midnight sky ? The strong man,
296 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
with all his strength fled from him, has gone out in his
utter misery, and cried, " Oh, God, save my wife to me ! "
And the young mother, with her heart breaking, has looked
up into the great abyss, and cried, " Oh, God, give me back
my baby ! " and all the answer they have had .was the
silence of the winds and the faint and distant glimmer of
the stars. They do not care any more to meet the gaze of
those sad, and calm, and impenetrable eyes.
CHAPTER XXIV.
ARTHUR'S SONG.
" Along the grass sweet airs are blown
Our way this day in Spring.
Of all the songs that we have known,
Now which one shall we sing?
Not that, my love, ah no !
Not this, my love? why, so!
Yet both were ours, but hours will come and go.
" The branches cross above our eyes,
The skies are in a net:
And what's the thing beneath the skies
We two would most forget?
Not birth, my love, no no
Not death, my love, no no.
The love once ours, but ours long hours ago."
WE stood at the open window, my Lady, Bell, and I,
with the calm lake lying before us as darkly blue as the
heart of a sapphire, and with the hills on the other side
grown grey, and green, and hazy in the morning sunlight.
Bell had brought us thither. The Lieutenant was outside,
and we could hear him talking to some one, although he
had no idea of our presence. Was it fair to steal a march
on the young fellow, and seek to learn something of the
methods by which he became familiarly acquainted with
every man, woman, and child we met on our journey ? In
such matters I look to Queen Tita for guidance. If she says
a certain thing is proper, it is proper. And at this moment
she was standing just inside the curtains, listening, with a
great amusement on her face, to the sounds which reached
us from below.
OF A PHAETON. 297
" Ay, ah. wur born in eighteen r underd that's a long
time ago a long time ago," said a quavering old voice,
that was sometimes interrupted by a fit of asthmatic
coughing ; " and you don't remember the great comet the
comet of eighteen underd an' eleven ! No ! See that
now ! And ah wur a boy at that time ; but I can
remember the great comet of eighteen underd an' eleven
I remember it well now and ah wur born in eighteen
underd. How long ago is that now ? "
" Why, that's easily counted," said the Lieutenant ;
" that's seventy-one years ago. But you look as hale and
as fresh as a man of forty."
" Seventy-one ay, that it is and you don't remember
the comet of eighteen underd an' eleven ? "
" No, I don't. But how have you kept your health and
your colour all this time ? That is the air of the mountains
gives you this good health, I suppose."
" Lor bless ye, ah don't belong to these parts. No. Ah
wur born in the New Forest, in eighteen underd
Bingwood, that's the place that's in the New Forest, a
long way from eear. Do you know Ring wood ? "
"No."
" Nor Poole ? "
"No."
" Lor bless ye ! Never been to Poole ! Do ye know
Southampton ? "
" No."
" Bless my soul ! Never been to Poole ? There now !
And you don't know Southampton, where all the ships
are ? ay, a famous sight o' ships, I can tell ye. And
you've never been to Southampton Lor bless ye, you ain't
much of a traveller ! But there now, ain't you a French-
man ? "
" No."
" Go along with ye 1 Not a Frenchman ? An' you
don't know Poole ? It's a big place, Poole, and ah reckon
it's grown bigger now, for it's many a year ago since ah
wur there. When ah wur a boy that's many a year ago
for ah remember well the great comet, in eighteen underd
an' eleven you don't remember that ? No ! God bless
my soul, you're only a boy yet and ah wur born seventy
298 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
year ago and when ah went up to Lunnon, ah wur such a
simple chap ! "
We could hear the old man laughing and chuckling,
until a fit of coughing seized him, and then he pro-
ceeded :
"Ah wur taking a bridle down to my mahster, and
what's the bridge you go over? Dear me, dear me! my
memory isn't as good as it once was
And at this point the old man stopped, and puzzled, and
hesitated about the name of the bridge, until the
Lieutenant besought him never to mind that, but to go on
with his story. But no. He would find out the name of
the bridge ; and after having repeated twenty times that he
was born in 1800, and could remember the comet of 1811,
he hit upon the name of Blackfriars.
" An' there wur a chap standin' there, as come up to me
and asked me if I would buy a silk handkerchief from him.
He had two of 'em Lor bless ye, you don't know what
rare good handkerchiefs we had then white, you know, wi'
blue spots on 'em they're all gone out now, for it's many a
year ago. And that chap he thought ah'd bin sellin' a oss ;
and he made up to me, and he took me into a small public-
'ouse, close by, and says he, ' Ah'll be sworn a smart young
fellow like you'll 'ave a tidy bit o' money in your pocket.'
An' ah wur a smart young fellow then, as he said, but, God
bless ye, that's many a year a^go ; an' now, would you
believe it, that chap got five shiliins out o' me for two of
his handkerchiefs he did indeed, as sure as I'm alive.
Wasn't it a shame to take in a poor country chap as wur up
doing a job for his mahster ? "
"Five shillings for two silk handkerchiefs with blue
spots ? " said the Lieutenant. " Why, it was you who did
swindle that poor man ! It is you that should be ashamed.
And you took away the bridle safe ? "
" Ay, ah wur goin' down to Winchester. Do ye know
Winchester ? "
" No."
" Ha, ha, ha ! Ah thought not ! No, nor Poole ?
Have you ever been to Bristol there now ! "
" My dear friend, there are few men so great travellers as
you have been. You should not boast of it."
OF A PHAETON. 299
" But, Lor bless ye, don't ye know the ships at Poole ?
And Winchester that's a fine town, too, is Winchester.
Ah'd a month at Winchester when ah wur a young man."
" A month ! What do you mean by that ? "
" Yes, that ah did. Lor, they were far stricter then than
they are now."
" But what was this month you are speaking about ? "
" Don't ye know what a month in jail is for ketchin a
rabbit ? "
" Oh, it was a rabbit, was it ? "
The wicked old man laughed and chuckled again.
" Ay," said he, " ah got one month for ketchin one
rabbit, but if they'd 'ave gi'en me a month for every rabbit
and hare as ah've ketched, Lor ibless ye ! you young
fellows now-a-days know nothin' ! You're simple chaps,
that's what it is ! Have you ever heard of the great comet
of eighteen underd an' eleven ? There now ! And the
crowds as come out to see it stretchin' out long jest as
it might be the long gown as mothers put on young things
when they're carried about and that wur in eighteen
underd an' eleven. But I'm gettin' old now, and stiff
and them rheumatics they do trouble one so when they
come on bad in the night-time. I'm not what I was at
your age you'll be thirty now, or forty mayhap ? "
"Not thirty yet."
" Ah never 'ad so much hair as you it wur never the
fashion to wear hair on the face at that time."
" And you followed the fashion, of course, when you were
a young fellow, and went courting the girls. Yes ? "
The hint seemed to wake up the old man into a high
state of glee ; and as he began to tell of his exploits in this
line, he introduced so many unnecessary ejaculations
into his talk that my Lady somewhat hastily withdrew,
dragging Bell with her. The old rogue outside might have
been with our army in Flanders, to judge by the force of
his conversation ; and the stories that he told of his wild
adventures in such distant regions as Poole and Southampton
showed that his memory treasured other recollections than
that of the 1811 comet. How the interview ended I
do not know ; but by and by von Rosen came in to
breakfast.
300 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
It is a shame for two women to have a secret under-
standing between them, and look as if they could scarcely
keep from smiling, and puzzle a bashful young man by
enigmatical questions.
" Madame," said the Lieutenant, at last, "I am very
stupid. I cannot make out what you mean."
" And neither can she," interposed one who hates to see
a worthy young man bothered by two artful women. " Her
joke is like the conundrum that was so good that the man
who made it, after trying for two years and a half to find
out jwhat it meant, gave it up and cut his throat. Don't
you heed them. Fetch the salad, like a good fellow, and let
Bell put in the oil, and the vinegar, and what not. Now,
if that girl would only take out a patent for her salad-
dressing, we should all be rolling in wealth directly."
" I should call it the Nebuchadnezzar," said Bell.
My Lady pretended not to hear that remark, but she was
very angry ; and all desire of teasing the Lieutenant had
departed from her face, which was serious and reserved.
Young people must not play pranks with Scripture names,
in however innocent a fashion.
" It is a very good thing to have salad at breakfast," said
the Lieutenant ; " although it is not customary in your
country. It is very fresh, very pleasant, very wholesome in
the morning. Now, if one were to eat plenty of salad,
and live in this good mountain air, one might live a long
time "
" One might live to remember the comet of eighteen
underd an' eleven," observed Bell, with her eyes cast
down.
The Lieutenant stared for a moment ; and then he burst
into a roar of laughter.
" I have discovered the joke," he cried. " It is that you
did listen to that old man talking to me. Oh, he was a
very wicked old person "
And here, all at once, von Rosen stopped. A great flush
of red sprung to the young fellow's face he was evidently
contemplating with dismay the possibility of my Lady
having overheard all the dragoon-language of the old
man.
" We heard only up to a certain point," says Madame,
OF A PHAETON. 301
sedately. " When he began to be excited, Bell and I with-
drew."
The Lieutenant was greatly relieved. The septuagenarian
was not a nice person for ladies to listen to. Indeed, in
one direction he was amply qualified to have written a
" Dialogue between a Man and a Cat : being a discussion as
to tvhich would like to use the most bad language when the
tail of the latter is trodden upon" Such an essay would be
instructive in results, but objectionable in tone.
All this while we had heard nothing of Arthur. That
morning when Tita sent down to inquire if there were any
letters for us at the post-office and found there were none,
she must needs send an urgent telegram to Twickenham, to
see if the young man's parents knew anything of his where-
abouts. Of course they could not possibly know. Doubt-
less he was on his way to Carlisle. Perhaps we should have
the pleasure of meeting him in Edinburgh.
But this indefinite postponement of the coming of Arthur
was a grievous irritation to the Lieutenant. It was no
relief to him that his rival was disposed to remain absent.
The very odd position in which he was now placed made
him long for any result that would put an end to his sus-
pense ; and 1 think he was as anxious about seeing Arthur
as any of us that is to say, presuming Arthur to be certain
to come sooner or later. If it should happen that the dog-
cart had been upset but there is no use in speculating on
the horrible selfishness that enters into the hearts of young
men who are in love and jealous.
All these things and many more the young Prussian
revealed to the sympathetic silence of Grasmere and the fair
green mountains around, as he and I set out for a long walk.
The women had gone to pay visits in the village and its
neighbourhood. It seemed a pity to waste so beautiful a
day in going into a series of houses ; but my Lady was
inexorable whenever she established to her own satisfaction
that she owed a certain duty.
The Lieutenant bade Bell good-bye with a certain sadness
in his tone. He watched them go down the white road, in
the glare of the sunshine ; and then he turned with a listless
air to set out on his pilgrimage into the hills. Of what
avail was it that the lake out there shone a deep and calm
302 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
azure under the clear sky ; that the reflection of the wooded
island was perfect on the perfect mirror ; and that the far
hills had drawn around them a thin tremulous veil of silver
gauze under the strong heat of the sun ? The freshness of
the morning when a light breeze blew over from the west,
and stirred the reeds of the lake, and awoke a white ripple
in by the shore had no effect in brightening up his face.
He was so busy talking of Bell, and of Arthur, and of my
Lady, that it was with a serene unconsciousness he allowed
himself to be led away from the lake into the lonely regions
of the hills.
Even a hardy young Uhlan finds his breath precious when
he is climbing a steep green slope, scrambling up shelves of
loose earth and slate, and clinging on to bushes to help him
in his ascent. There were interruptions in this flow of
lovers' complainings. After nearly an hour's climbing, von
Eosen had walked and talked Bell out of his head ; and as
he threw himself on a slope of Rydal Fell, and pulled out a
flask of sherry and his cigar-case, he laughed aloud, and
said
" No, I had no notion we were so high. Hee ! that is a
view one does not see that often in my country all houses
and men swept away you are alone in the world and all
around is nothing but mountains and lakes."
Indeed, there was away towards the south a network of
hill and water that no one but Bell could have picked to
pieces for us thin threads of silver lying in long valleys,
and mounds upon mounds rising up into the clear blue sky
that sloped down to the white line of the sea. Coniston we
could make out ; and Windermere we knew. Esthwaite we
guessed at ; but of what avail was guessing, when we came
to that wild and beautiful panorama beyond ?
The Lieutenant's eyes went back to Grasmere.
" How long is it you think Madame will pay her visits ? "
" Till the afternoon, probably. They will lunch with
some of their friends."
" And we do we climb any more mountains ? "
" This is not a mountain it is a hill. We shall climb or
go down again, just as you please."
" There is nothing else to do but to wait if we go
down ? "
OF A PHAETON. 303
" I -suppose you mean waiting for the ladies to return no ;
our going down won't bring them back a minute the sooner."
" Then let us go on, anywhere."
We had a long, aimless, and devious wandering that day
among the grassy slopes and peaks of Rydal Fell, until we
at length came down by the gorge through which Eydal
Beck plunges foaming into the valley below. Wherever we
went, the Lieutenant seemed chiefly to be concerned in
making out the chief places of beauty which we should
bring the women to see on the morrow as if Bell did not
know Rydal Beck and all its falls as well as she knew Walton
Heath. And then we got down the winding road by Rydal
Mount, and walked leisurely back by Rydal Water to Grasmere.
What was this that confronted us as we went into the
hotel, and went forward to the large windows ? The sun
was shining on the hills, and on the lake, and on the garden
in front of us ; and on the lawn which was a blaze of
bright colour three figures stood, throwing jet-black
shadows .on the green. Yon Rosen stared, as well he
might stare. For there were Bell and Tita, engaged in
earnest and interesting talk with a young man ; and the
young man was Arthur.
For a second or two the Lieutenant did not utter a word ;
but presently he remarked, with a fine affectation of care-
lessness
" Have they had lunch, do you think ? "
" Let us go and see," I answered him ; whereupon our
Uhlan stalked gloomily out into the garden.
Our appearance seemed to cause great embarrassment to
the party on the lawn. Arthur, with a flush on his face,
greeted us stiffly ; and then he suddenly turned to Queen
Tita, and continued his talk with her in an ostentatiously
impressive manner, as though he would give us to under-
stand that he would take no more notice of us. Bell,
apparently, had been rather left out in the cold. Perhaps
she was a little vexed for even the most amiable of girls
have their notions of pride ; and so what must she do but
immediately turn to the Lieutenant and ask him with much
friendliness all about his morning's ramble.
If thankfulness, and kindliness, and all the modest and
grateful respect of love were ever written on a young man's
304 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
face, they dwelt in the eyes of our Uhlan as he was almost
struck dumb by this signal mark of Bell's condescension.
He took no great advantage of the permission accorded to
him. He did not seek to draw her away. In fact, after
telling Mademoiselle, with averted glance, that he hoped
she would come next day to see all that we had seen, he
placed the burden of explanation on me, who would rather
have sat in the back benches and looked from a distance at
this perplexing comedy.
But the effect upon Arthur of this harmless conduct of
Bell's was what might have been expected. When we turned
to go into the hotel for luncheon, he was talking in rather a
loud way, with a fine assumption of cynicism. He had not
much to tell of his adventures ; for the reason of his being
delayed was merely that the cob had gone a little lame,
and had been brought with some care to Kendal, where it
was to have a couple of days' rest ; but his conversation took
far wider sweeps than that. The climax of it came when
we were sitting at table. All this time the lad had not
addressed a word to Bell ; but now he suddenly observed
" You remember that song of Lover's you used to sing,
about the white sails flowing ? "
" Yes," said Bell she had often sung it to him at his
own request.
" It -is a pretty song," said he, with rather a ghastly
smile ; " but I heard a version of it the other night that I
thought was a good deal truer. Shall I try to repeat the
verses ? "
" Yes, do," said Queen Titania, with no great cordiality
in her tone. She half anticipated what was coming.
" This is the first verse," said the young man, glancing
rather nervously at Bell, and then instantly withdrawing
his eyes :
" What will you do, love, when I am going,
"With white sails flowing, the seas beyond?
What will you do, love, when waves divide us,
And friends may chide us, for being fond?"
" When waves divide us, and friends are chiding,
Afar abiding, I'll think anew ;
And I'll take another devoted lover,
And I'll kiss him as I kissed you."
OF A PHAETON, 305
A frightful silence prevailed. We all of us knew that
the reckless young man was rushing on self-destruction.
Could he have devised a more ingenious method of insulting
Bell ? He proceeded \
" What will you do, love, if distant tidings
Thy fond confidings should undermine ?
And I abiding 'neath sultry skies
;*" Should think other eyes were as bright as thine?
" Ah, joyful chance ! If guilt or shame
Were round thy name, could I be true ?
For I'd take the occasion, without much persuasion,
To have another flirtation that's what I'd do."
If there are angels who watch over the fortunes of
unhappy lovers, surely they must have wept at this moment.
These foolish verses and another one which fear of my
Lady prevents my publishing here were the actual out-
come of all the rebellious thoughts that had been rankling
in his mind like poison during these last few days. Along
the lonely highway, this was the devil's dirge he had been
crooning to himself. He had fed on its unholy bitterness
as he sat in remote inns, and pictured to himself, with a
fierce satisfaction, the scene in which he would recite the
lines to Bell, before the whole of us.
And now the deed was done. He remained silent
for a moment ; and we also were silent. A waiter said,
" Sherry, sir ? " behind his ear, and he started. And then
Queen Tita turned to von Rosen, and asked him if he had
seen Rydal Mount.
It was a pitiable thing. In public life a man may force
himself into the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, or some
such office, by departing into a Cave of Adullam and
marshalling the discontented around him ; but in love
affairs, how is a man to profit by an exhibition of angry
passion and recklessness ? Force is of no avail ; threatening
is as idle as the wind. And there was something even more
cruel than threatening in this recitation of the young
man's, as only those who were familiar with our life in
Surrey could understand. What might come of it no one
could tell.
[Note by Queen Titania."! am no judge of what ought to be
placed before the public I leave that to those whose sense of good
X
3o6 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
taste and proper feeling is probably better than mine. But if these
most impertinent verses are to be published, I have to say that the
implication contained in the first verse is cruelly false. To hint that
Bell could have thought of kissing either Arthur or the Lieutenant or
would have done so if they were Princes of the Blood is most unjust
and insulting to a girl whose pride and self-respect no one has ever
dared to impeach. It is all very well for a stupid young man to say
such things in a fit of ungovernable rage ; but what I know is that
Bell cried very much about it, when she spoke to me about it after-
wards. And both my husband and Count von Eosen sat still, and
never said a word. If I had been a man, I think I should have told
Arthur very plainly what I thought of his very pretty conduct. But I
suppose they considered it a jest ; for I have frequently found that
the notions of gentlemen about what is humorous are a little
peculiar."]
CHAPTER XXV.
ARMAGEDDON.
" Let us go hence, my songs ; she will not hear.
Let us go hence together without fear;
Keep silence now, for singing-time is over,
And over all old things and all things dear.
She loves not you nor me as all we love hor.
Yea, though we sang as angels in her car,
She would not hear."
BLOW, wind, and shriek, tempests ! Let all the gases be
lowered, and thunder roll through the gloom ! Tremble,
ye forests of canvas, where twisted oaks and shattered elms
bear witness to the agony of the scene ; and let the low
music of the violoncello and the throbbing of muffled drums
announce that dreadful deeds are brewing ! Alas ! we had
no such thrilling accompaniments to the tragedy being
enacted before our eyes on the fair shores of Grasmere.
The lake lay as blue and as calm as though no perplexed
and suffering human souls were by its side ; and instead of
the appropriate darkness of a theatre, we had the far hills
trembling under the pale haze of the mid-day heat. Yet
my Lady saw none of these things. Her heart was rent
asunder by the troubles of the young folks under her
charge ; until I seemed to read in her speechless eyes a sort
of despairing wish that she had never been born.
" And yet," I say to her, " you don't see the worst of it.
Of A PHAETON. 307
If Arthur is driven away by Bell, a far more terrible thing
will befall him."
"What?" says Queen Titania, with the clear, brown
eyes grown solemn.
" He will marry somebody else."
" Bah ! " she says peevishly. " Is this a time to be
thinking of jests ? "
" Indeed, I know one who never discovered the joke of
it. But don't you think that he will ? "
" I wish he would."
" There's little Katty Tatham, now, would give her ears
to marry him."
" You always fancy girls are very anxious to marry."
' I never asked but one, and I found her ready enough."
' I refused you."
* You made a pretence of doing so."
1 1 wish I had kept to my first resolution."
' I wish you had, since you say so. But that's of no
consequence. I saved you from committing suicide, as I
have frequently told you."
The small creature looks up, and with an excellent
calmness and self -composure, says
" I suppose you never heard of a young man I thought
him very silly at the time, myself who walked about all
night, one night at Eastbourne ; and in the morning long
before my mamma was up aroused the servants, and sent
in a letter a sort of ultimatum it was with all sorts of
vows of vengeance and despair. That young man wasn't
Arthur Ashburton ; but when you complain of Arthur's
mad follies "
"Madam," I say to her, "your sex protects you. Go
and live. But when you say that / complain of Arthur,
and in the next breath accuse me of always bringing
forward excuses for him "
But what is the use of continuing the argument ? My
Lady smiles with a fine air of triumph, confident that her
ingenious logic has carried the day, as, in fact, it generally
does. The man who endeavours to follow, seize, and
confront the airy statements made by a lady in a difficulty
resembles nothing so much as a railway-train trying to
catch a butterfly ; and who would not back the butterfly ?
x 2
3o8 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
We were now placed in an uncommonly awkward fix.
The arrival of Arthur at Grasmere had produced a
complication such as we had not dreamt of ; for now it
appeared as if the situation were to be permanent. We had
somehow fancied that, as soon as he overtook us, some
definite arrangement would be come to, settling at once and
for ever those rival pretensions which were interfering with
our holiday in a serious manner. At last, my Lady had
considered, the great problem was to be finally solved ; and,
of course, the solution lay in Bell's hands. But, now
Arthur had come, who was to move in the matter ? It was
not for Bell, at all events, to step forward and say to one
of the young men " Go ! " and to the other " Stay ! "
Neither of them, on the other hand, seemed disposed to do
anything bold and heroic in order to rid us of this grievous
embarrassment ; and so the first afternoon passed away
with some more walking, visiting, and boating in a
stolidly and hopelessly reserved and dreary fashion.
But every one of us knew that a mine lay close by, and
that at any moment a match might be flung into it. Every
word that was uttered was weighed beforehand. As for
Tita, the poor little woman was growing quite pale and
fatigued with her constant and nervous anxiety ; until one
of the party privately told her that if no one else asked Bell
to marry, he would himself, and so end our troubles.
" I don't know what to do," she said, sitting down and
folding her hands on her knees, while there was quite a
pitiable expression on her face. " I am afraid to leave
them for a moment. Perhaps now they may be fighting
but that does not much matter, for Bell can't have gone
downstairs to dinner yet. Don't you think you could get
Arthur to go away ? "
" Of what use would that be ? He went away before ;
and then we had our steps dogged, and letters and telegrams
in every town. No ; let us have it out here."
" I wish you and he would have it out between you.
That poor girl is being frightened to death."
" Say but one brief word, my dear, and Arthur will be
feeding the fishes among the reeds of Grasmere before the
morning. But would you really like Bell to send Arthur
off ? Is he really to be told that she won't marry him ?
OF A PHAETON. 309
They used to be pets of yours. I have seen you regard
them, as they walked before us along the lanes, with an
amiable and maternal smile. Is it all over ? Would you
like him to go away and never see us any more ? "
" Oh, I don't know," cries Tita, with the anxiety and
pity and tenderness in her eyes almost grown into tears.
That was a nice .little project of hers with which we had
started from the old tavern in Holborn. It had been
tolerably successful. If Bell were not in love with the
Lieutenant, there could be no doubt, at least, that the
Lieutenant was hopelessly and over head and ears in love
with Bell. It was a pretty comedy for a time ; and my
Lady had derived an infinite pleasure and amusement from
watching the small and scarcely perceptible degrees by
which the young folks got drawn towards each other.
What would have been the beautiful pictures of English
scenery we had driven through without two young lovers
in the foreground, trying to read their fate in each other's
eyes, and affording us elderly folks all manner of kindly and
comic reminiscences ?
It had all turned out very well ; until, suddenly, came
the revelation that the greatest happiness of the greatest
number had exacted a human victim ; and here he was
before us, with gory locks and beseeching eyes, demanding
justice. Never before had my Lady fully realized what was
meant in the final sending away of Arthur ; and now that
she saw before her all the consequences of her schemes, she
was struck to the heart, and dared scarcely ask for some
re-assurance as to what she had done.
" Oh," she says, " I hope I have done right."
" You ! Why should you assume any responsibility ?
Let the young folks arrange their own affairs as they like
best. Do you think, if Bell had been willing to break with
Arthur, that your packing off the Lieutenant to Germany
would prevent her making the acquaintance of some other
man ? And she has not broken off with Arthur. If she
does so, she does so, and there's an end of it ; but why
should you vex yourself about it ? "
She was not to be comforted. She shook her head, and
continued to sit there with her eyes full of anxious concern.
When at length she went off to dress hastily for dinner, it
310 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
was with a determination that from this moment she would
endeavour to help Arthur in every way she could. That
was the form her repentance took.
If the young man had only known that he had secured
such a valuable ally ! But just at this time amid all our
perplexity as to who should first precipitate matters what
should the reckless fellow do but startle us all with a
declaration which wholly altered the aspect of affairs !
"We were seated at dinner. It was in the private room
we had engaged ; and the evening light, reflected from the
lake outside, was shining upon Tita's gentle face as she sat
at the head of the table. Bell was partly in shadow. The
two young men, by some fatal mischance, sat next each
other ; probably because neither wished to take the unfair
advantage offered by the empty seat next to Bell.
Well, something had occurred to stir up the smouldering
fires of Arthur's wrath. He had been treated with great
and even elaborate courtesy by everybody but more
particularly by Bell during our afternoon rambles ; but
something had evidently gone wrong. There was a scowl
on the fair and handsome face, that was naturally pleasant,
boyish, and agreeable in appearance. He maintained a
strict silence for some little time after dinner was served,
although my Lady strove to entice him into the general
talk. But presently he looked up, and, addressing her, said
in a forcibly merry way
" Should you like to be startled ? "
" Yes, please" Tita would probably have said so anxious
is she to humour everybody ; but just then he added, in the
same reckless and defiant tone
" What if I tell you I am going to get married ? "
An awful consternation fell upon us.
" Oh," said my Lady, in a hurried fashion, " you are
joking, Arthur." '
" No, I am not. And when I present the young lady to
you, you will recognise an old friend of yours, whom you
haven't seen for years."
To put these words down on paper can give no idea what-
ver of the ghastly appearance of jocularity which accom-
panied them, nor of the perfectly stunning effect they
produced. The women were appalled into silence. Yon
OF A PHAETON. 311
Eosen stared, and indifferently played with the stem of his
wine-glass. For mere charity's sake, I was driven into
filling up this horrible vacuum of silence ; and so I asked
with what show of appropriateness married people may
judge -whether he had formed any plans for the buying of
furniture.
Furniture ! 'Tis an excellent topic. Everybody can say
something about it. Queen Titania, with a flash of gratitude
in her inmost soul, seized upon the cue, and said
" Oh, Arthur, have you seen our sideboard ? "
Now, when a young man tells you he is about to get
married, it is rather an odd thing to answer " Oh, Arthur
or Tom, or Dick, or Harry, as the case may be have you
seen our sideboard ? " But all that my Lady wanted was
to speak ; for Arthur, having accomplished his intention of
startling us, had relapsed into silence.
" Of course he has seen the sideboard," I say for him.
"He was familiar with the whole of that fatal transac-
tion."
" Why fatal ? " says the Lieutenant.
You see, we were getting on.
" Bell will tell you the history. No ? Then I will for
the benefit of all folks who may have to furnish a house ;
and I hope Arthur after the very gratifying announcement
he has just made will take heed."
"Oh, yes," says Arthur, gaily, "let us have all your
experience about house matters. It is never too soon to
learn."
" Very well. There was once a sideboard which lived in
Dorking "
Here the Lieutenant begged to know what piece of
furniture a sideboard was ; and when that was explained to
him, the legend was continued.
" It was a very grand old sideboard of carved oak, which
had regarded the dinner-parties of several generations from
its recess. At last it had to be sold at public auction. A
certain agreeable and amiable lady, who lives on the banks
of the river Mole, saw this sideboard, and was told she
might have it for a trifle of ninety-five guineas. She is
an impressionable person. The sideboard occupied her
thoughts day and night ; until at last (her husband who is
312 7HE STRANGE ADVENTURES
the most obliging person in the world, and has no other
desire in life than to obey her wishes "
Here there were some interruptions at the further end of
the table. Silence having been restored, the speaker went
on to say that the sideboard was bought.
" It was the beginning of the troubles of that wretched
man. When you have an old oak sideboard that farmers'
wives will drive twenty miles to look at, you must have old
oak chairs. When you have old oak chairs, a micro-
cephalous idiot would know that you must have an old oak
table. By slow degrees, the home of this unhappy man
underwent transformation. Rooms that had been familiar
to him, and homely, became gloomy halls from which ghosts
of a cheerful temperament would have fled in despair.
People came to dinner, and sat in the high-backed chairs
with an expression of resigned melancholy on their faces ;
and now and again an unlucky lady of weight and
dimensions would, on trying to rise from the table, tilt up
the chair and save herself from falling by clinging to
the arm of the man next her. For, of course, you can't
have castors on old oak chairs ; and when the stumps of
wood have got well settled into the thick Turkey carpet,
how is the chair to be sent back ? "
" That is quite absurd," says a voice. " Everyone says
our dining-room chairs are exceedingly comfortable."
" Yours are ; but that is another matter. Now the lady
of the house did not stop at oak furniture and solemn
carpets and severe curtains. She began to dress herself and
her children to match her surroundings. She cut the hair of
her own babes to suit that sideboard. There was nothing
heard of but broad lace collars, and black velvet garments,
and what not ; so that the boys might correspond with the
dado, and not be wholly out of keeping with the chairs.
She made a dress for her own mother, which that estimable
lady contemplated with profound indignation, and asked
how she could be expected to appear in decent society in a
costume only fit for a fancy ball."
" It was a most beautiful dress, wasn't it, Bell ? " says a
voice.
" But far worse was to come. She began to acquire a
taste for everything that was old and marvellous, She
OF A PHAETON. 313
kept her husband for hours stifling in the clammy atmo-
sphere of Soho, while she ransacked dirty shops for scraps
of crockery that were dear in proportion to their ugliness.
During these hours of waiting he thought of many things
suicide among the number. But what he chiefly
ruminated on was the pleasing and ingenious theory that in
decoration everything that is old is genuine, and every-
thing that is new is meretricious. He was not a person
of profound accomplishments "
" Hear, hear ! " says a voice.
" And so he could not understand why he should
respect the intentions of artists who a couple of centuries
ago painted fans, and painted them badly, and why he
should treat with scorn the intentions of artists who at this
moment paint fans and paint them well. He could not
acquire any contempt for a French vase in gold and white
and rose-colour, even when it was put beside a vase some
three hundred years of age which was chiefly conspicuous
by its defective curves and bad colour. As for Italian
mirrors and blue and white china, he received without
emotion the statement that all the world of London was
wildly running after these things. He bore meekly the
contemptuous pity bestowed on him when he expressed the
belief that modern Venetian glass was, on the whole, a
good deal more beautiful than any he had seen of the old,
and when he proposed to buy some of it as being more
within the means of an ordinary person. But when at last
after having waited a mortal hour in a dingy hole in a
dingy thoroughfare near Leicester Square he was goaded
into rebellion, and declared that he did not care a brass
farthing, nor even the half of that sum, when an object of
art was made, how it was made, where it was made, or by
whom it was made, so long as it fulfilled its first duty of
being good in design and workmanship and agreeable to
the eye it seemed to him that the end of his conjugal
happiness was reached. Nothing short of a legal separation
could satisfy the injured feelings of his wife. That she
should have to live with this Goth and outer barbarian
seemed to her monstrous. But at this time it occurred to her
that she might find some use for even such a creature, con-
sidering that he was still possessed of a little money ."
3H THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
" You seldom omifc to bring that forward," says the
voice.
" And that there was a drawing-room to be trans-
formed. Then he beheld strange things. Phantom
curtains of black and gold began to steal into the house.
Hidden mysteries dwelt in the black, yellow, and red of the
carpet ; and visitors paused upon the threshold for a
moment to collect their wits, after the first stun of looking
in. Then, all the oil of Greenland was unable to light up
this gloomy chamber in the evening ; and so there came
down from London mighty sheets of mirrors to be let into
the walls. ' Now,' said this reckless woman to her husband,
'we must have a whole series of dinner-parties, to ask
everybody to come and see what the house looks like.' "
" Oh, what a story ! " cries that voice again. " Bell, did
you ever hear the like of that ? I wonder he does not say
we put the prices on the furniture and invited the people
to look at the cost. You don't believe it, do you, Count
von Rosen ? "
" No, Madame," said the Lieutenant ; " I do not believe
any lady exists such as that one which he describes."
" But he means me," says Tita.
" Then what shall I say ? " continues the young man.
" May I say that I have never seen not in England, not
in Germany any rooms so beautifully arranged in the
colours as yours ? And it was all your own design ?
Ha ! I know he is calling attention to that for the
purpose of complimenting you that is it."
Of course, the mean-spirited young man took every
opportunity of flattering and cajoling Bell's chief adviser ;
but what if he had known at this moment that she had
gone over to the enemy, and mentally vowed to help
Arthur by every means in her power ?
She could not do much for him that evening. After
dinner we had a little music, but there was not much life
or soul in it. Arthur could sing an ordinary drawing-room
song as well as another, and we half expected him to
reveal his sorrows in that way, but he coldly refused. The
Lieutenant, at my Lady's urgent request, sat down to the
piano and sang the song that tells of the maiden who lived
" im "Winkel am Thore ; " but there was an absence of that
OF A PHAETON. 315
spontaneity which generally characterized his rough and
ready efforts in music, and after missing two of the verses,
he got over his task with an air of relief. It was very hard
that the duty of dispelling the gloom should have been
thrown on Bell ; but when once she sat down and struck
one or two of those minor chords which presaged one of
the old ballads, we found a great refuge from our em-
barrassment. We were in another world then with Chloe
plaiting flowers in her hair ; and Robin hunting in the
greenwood with his fair lady, who was such a skilful archer ;
and all the lasses and lads kissing each other round the
May-pole. With what a fine innocence Bell sang of these
merry goings-on ! I daresay a good many well-conducted
young persons would have stopped with the stopping of the
dancing, and never told what happened after the fiddler
had played " Packington's Pound " and " Bellinger's
Round." But our Bell, with no thought of harm, went
merrily on
"Then, after an hour,
They went to a bower,
And played for ale and cakes,
And kisses too
Until they were due
The lasses held the stakes.
The girls did then begin
To quarrel with the men,
And bid them take their kisses back
And give them their own again ! "
In fact, there was a very bright smile of amusement on her
face, and you could have fancied that her singing was on
the point of breaking into laughter ; for how could the
girl know that my Lady was looking rather reserved at the
mention of that peculiar sort of betting ? But then the
concluding verse comes back to the realms of propriety ;
and Bell sang it quite gently and tenderly, as though she,
too, were bidding good-bye to her companions in a
frolic
" ' Good night,' says Harry ;
'Good night,' says Mary;
'Good night,' says Dolly to John;
'Good night,' says Sue
To her sweetheart Hugh;
'Good night,' says every one.
316 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
"Some walked, and some did run,
Some loitered on the way,
And bound themselves by kisses twelve
To meet next holiday
And bound themselves by kisses twelve
To meet next holiday ! "
" Mademoiselle," said von Rosen, coming forward to her
with quite a paternal air, " you must not sing any more to-
night. You are always too ready to sing for us and you
do not reflect of the fatigue." And as Bell stood rather
embarrassed by this exhibition of thoughtfulness, and as
Arthur glowered gloomily from his corner, the Lieutenant
made some excuse for himself and me, and presently we
found ourselves out by the shores of the lake, smoking a
contemplative cigar under the clear starlight.
" Now, my good friend," he said, suddenly, " tell me is
it a lie ? Yes ? "
" Is what a lie ? "
" The foolish story that he will be married."
" Oh, you mean Arthur. I had almost forgotten what
he said at dinner. Well, perhaps it is a lie young men in
love are always telling lies about something or other."
" Heh ! " says the Lieutenant, peevishly ; " you do know
it is not true. How can it be true; ? "
" Of course you want me to say that I think it true you
boys are so unreasonable. I don't know anything about it.
I don't care. If he wants to marry some girl or other, I
hope he may. The wish is perhaps not very amiable "
" Now look at this ! " says the Lieutenant, quite fiercely,
and in a voice so loud that I was afraid it might reach the
windows of the hotel, that were now sending a yellow light
over the lawn ; " if he means to marry some other young
lady, why is he here ? He has no business here ! Why
does he come here, to annoy everyone and make himself
miserable ? He ought to go away ; and it is you that
should send him away."
" Bless me ! Surely a man may come and stop at an
hotel at Grasmere without asking my permission. I have
no right to forbid Arthur remaining in Westmoreland, or
any other county. He does not ask me to pay his bills."
" This that Madame says it is quite true, then," retorts the
OF A PHAETON. 317
Lieutenant, angrily, " that you care only for your own
comfort ! "
" "When Madame says such things, my good friend, she
retains the copyright. Don't let her hear you repeating
them, if you are wise, or you'll get into trouble. As for
myself, this cigar is excellent, and you may let your vexation
take any shape that is handy. I foresaw that we should
soon have two Arthurs in the field,"
The tall young soldier walked up and down for a minute
or two, evidently in great distress, and at last he stopped,
and said, in a very humble voice
" My dear friend, I beg your pardon. I do not know
what I say, when I see this pitiful fellow causing so much
pain to your wife and to Mademoiselle. Now, when you
look at them not at me at all will not you endeavour to
do something ? "
He was no great hand at diplomacy, this perplexed and
stammering Uhlan, who seemed bent on inflicting his
anger on his cigar. To introduce the spectacle of two
suffering women so as to secure the banishment of his rival
was a very transparent device, and might have provoked
laughter, but that Grasmere is deep, and a young man in
love exceedingly irritable.
" He says he is going to marry some other girl : what
more would you like ? You don't want to carry off all his
sweethearts from the unfortunate youth ? "
" But it is not true."
" Very well."
"And you talk of carrying off his sweetheart. Made-
moiselle was never his sweetheart, I can assure you of that ;
and, besides, I have not carried her off, nor am likely to do
that, so long as this wretched fellow hangs about and
troubles her much with his complainings. Now, if she will
only say to me that I may send him away, I will give you
my word he is not in this part of the country, no, not one
day longer."
" Take care. You can't commit muuder in this country
with impunity, except in one direction. You may dispose
of your wife as you please ; but if you murder any reason-
able being, you will suffer."
Indeed, the Lieutenant, pacing up and down the narrow
318 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
path by the lake, looked really as if he would have liked
to catch Arthur up and dash him against Mercator's
Projection, or some other natural phenomenon ; and the
more he contemplated his own helplessness in the matter,
the more he chafed and fumed. In this placid world of
moonlight and still water, he alone was out of consonance,
nursing this volcano of wrath in his breast. But, suddenly,
as he looked up, he saw the blind of one of the hotel-
windows thrust aside, and he knew that Bell was there,
contemplating the wonderful beauties of the sky. He
ceased his growlings. A more humane expression came over
his face ; and then he proposed that we should go in, lest
the ladies should want to say good night.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE LAST OF GKASMERE.
" Muss aus dem Thai jetzt scliciden,
Wo alles Lust und Klaug;
Das 1st mein herbstes Leiden,
Mein letzter Gang!
Dich, mein stilles Thai,
Griiss' ich tausend Mai !
Das ist mein herbstes Leiden,
Mein letzter Gang ! "
A STILL greater surprise was in store for us next
morning. My Lady had taken leave to discredit altogether
the story of Arthur's approaching marriage. She regarded
it as merely the wild and reckless utterance of vexation.
For the young man's sake, she hoped that no one would
make any allusion to this topic, and that he himself would
allow it to fall into the rapidly running waters of oblivion.
Now, he had on the previous day despatched a message
to Kendal to the effect that the dog-cart should be at once
sent to him, if the cob had quite recovered. He proposed
to accompany us as far as Penrith or Carlisle ; further
than that, he said he did not care to go. But as the trap
was likely to arrive that forenoon, and as he had to see
the man who would bring it, he begged us to start for
our morning's walk by ourselves a proposal which was
OF A PHAETON. 319
accepted with equanimity by the whole of our party. The
young man was quite complaisant. My Lady was very
attentive to him ; and we thought we should start for our
ramble with the consciousness that we had left behind us
no wretched creature eating away his heart with thoughts
of revenge.
Somehow this mood passed rapidly away from him.
The spectacle of Bell and the Lieutenant planning, with a
great joy, the outline of our morning excursion seemed to
bring back all the bitterness of his spirit. He was silent
for a long time until, indeed, we were ready to leave the
hotel ; and then, as he accompanied us to the door, he
produced a letter, and said, with an affectation of careless-
ness
" By the way, I have a message for you. It was lucky I
thought of going round to the post-office this morning, or I
should have probably missed this. Katty Tatham desires
to be remembered to you all, and hopes you will bring her
back a piece of Scotch heather to show that you went all
the way. Ta-ta ! "
He waved his hand to us, and went in. Queen Tita
looked at me solemnly ; and said nothing for a moment ;
until Bell had passed along the road a little bit, with the
Lieutenant.
" Is that another story, do you think ? Do you believe
that Katty Tatham is actually in correspondence with
him ? "
" He did not say so."
" He meant that we should infer it, at all events ; and
that, after what he said last night "
Tita was dreadfully puzzled. She could understand how
vexation of spirit might drive a foolish young man into
making a statement not wholly in accordance with fact ;
but that he should repeat this legend in another way, and
bring the name of a lady into it no, Tita could scarcely
believe that all this was untrue.
She hurried up to Bell, and placed her hand within the
young lady's arm.
"Is it not strange that Katty Tatham should be writing
to Arthur if that was what he meant ? "
" Oh, no ; not at all. They are very old friends ; and,
320 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
besides, she does all the letter-writing for her papa, who is
almost blind, poor old man. And what a nice girl she is,
isn't she, Tita ? "
Of course, we were all anxious to persuade each other
that Katty Tathana was the very nicest girl in all England,
although none of us, except Bell, had seen her for two or
three years ; and it was wonderful how this sort of talk
brightened up the spirits of our party. The Lieutenant
grew quite interested in Katty Tatham. He was nearly
praising her himself, although he had never heard her
name until that moment. In short, the four of us were
ready to swear that this poor little Katty was just as
pleasant and honest and pretty and charming a girl as was
to be found anywhere in the world, or out of it ; and that
it was most singular she had never married. Tita declared
she herself knew that Katty had had ever so many offers ;
and that it was not alone the frailties of her father that
kept her from marrying.
" She must *have been waiting for someone," said the
small woman rather slyly.
What a morning it was ! As we walked along the white
road, in the stillness of the heat, the blue waters of
Grasmere glimmered through the trees. Never had we
seen the colours of Bell's Fairyland so intense. The hills
in the distance had a silvery haze thrown over their pale
purples ; but here around us the sharp, clear hues blazed
in the sunshine the deep azure of Grasmere, the yellow-
white of the road, and the various rich greens and browns
of the trees and the shore. And then, by and by, AVC came
in sight of Rydal Water. How different it was from the
weird and gloomy lake we had found two evenings before
lying buried between the hills. Now it seemed shallow
and fair and light, with a grey shimmer of wind across its
surface, breaking here and there the perfect mirror of the
mountain-slopes and woods. In the absolute silence
around us we could hear the water-hens calling to each
other ; and out there among the reeds we could see them
paddling about, dipping their heads into the lake, and
fluttering their wings. We walked on to Rydal bridge,
and had a look at the clear brown rivulet rushing down its
narrow channel between the thick underwood and the trees.
OF A PHAETON. 321
We took the Lieutenant up to Rydal Mount the small
house with its tree-fuchsias standing bright and warm
in the sun and from the plateau in front beheld the
great fair landscape around the silver-white lake of
Windermere. We went up to the falls of Rydal Beck ; and,
in short, followed the round of the ordinary tourist all
for the sake of our Prussian friend, we persuaded ourselves.
Bell was his guide ; and he looked as though he would have
liked to be led for ever. Perhaps he took away with him
but a confused recollection of all the interesting things she
told him ; but surely, if the young man has a memory, he
cannot even now have forgotten that bright, clear, warm
day that was spent about Rydal, with a certain figure in
the foreground that would have lent a strange and gracious
charm to a far less beautiful picture.
" Is it not an odd thing," I say to Queen Titania, who
has been pulling and plaiting wild-flowers in order to let
the young folks' get ahead of us, " how you associate
certain groups of unheeding trees and streams and hills
with various events in your life, and can never get over the
impression that they wear such and such a look ? "
" I daresay it's quite true, but I don't understand," she
says, with the calm impertinence which distinguishes her.
" If you will cease for a moment to destroy your gloves
by pulling these weeds, I will tell you a story which will
convey my meaning to your small intellect."
" Oh, a story," she says, with a beautiful sigh of
resignation.
" There was a young lady once upon a time who was
about to leave England and go with her mamma to live in
the south-west of France. They did not expect to come
back for a good number of years, if ever they came back.
And so a young man of their acquaintance got up a farewell
banquet at Richmond, and several friends came down to
the hotel. They sat in a room overlooking the windings of
the river, and the soft masses of foliage, and the far
landscape stretching on to Windsor. The young man had,
a little time before, asked the young lady to marry him ;
and she refused ; but he bore her no malice "
" He has taken care to have his rev r enge since," says
Tita.
322 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
" You interrupt the story. They sat down to dinner on
this summer evening. Everyone was delighted with the
view ; but to this wretched youth it seemed as though the
landscape were drowned in sadness, and the river a river of
unutterable grief. All the trees seemed to be saying good-
bye ; and when the sun went down, it was as though it
would never awaken any other morning with the light of
bygone days. The mist came over the trees. The evening
fell, slow, and sad, and grey. Down by the stream a single
window was lit up ; and that made the melancholy of the
picture even more painful ; until the young man, who had
eaten nothing and drank nothing, and talked to people as
though he were in a dream, felt as if all the world had
grown desolate, and was no more worth having
" If I had only known," says Tita, in a voice so low and
gentle that you could scarcely have heard it.
" And then, presently, the carriages came round ; and.
he saw her, with the others, come downstairs prepared to
leave. He bade good-night to the mamma, who got into
the carriage. He bade good-night to her ; and she was
about to get in too ; when she suddenly remembered that
she had left some flowers in the dining-room, and ran back
to fetch them. Before he could overtake her she had got
the flowers and was coming back through the passage into
the hall. * It isn't good-night, it is good-bye, we must
say'- I think he said something like that and she held
out her hand and somehow there was a very strange look
in her eyes, just as if she were going to cry -. But, you
know, there's no use in your crying just now about it."
Tita is pretending to smile ; but a certain tremor of the
lips is visible ; and so the narrator hurries on
" Now look here. During the next three months for
the soft-hearted creature had hurriedly whispered that she
might return to England then that young man haunted
Eichmond. He pretty nearly ruined his prospects in life,
and his digestion as well, by continual and solitary dining
at the Star and Garter. He could have kissed the stone
steps of that hotel ; and never entered its vestibule without
blessing the white pillars and blank walls. He spent hours
in writing letters there
" So that the Biarritz boatmen wondered why so many
OF A PHAETON. 323
envelopes should have the Richmond postmark," says Tita
though how she could have learnt anything about it
goodness only knows.
"and haled out every complaisant friend he could
lay hands on to moon about the neighbourhood. But the
strange thing is this that while he was in love with the
vestibule of the hotel, he never saw the twilight fall over
the Richmond woods without feeling a cold hand laid on
his heart ; and when he thinks of the place now with the
mists coming over the trees and the river getting dark
he thinks that the view from Richmond-hill is the most
melancholy in all the world."
" And what does he think of Eastbourne ? "
" That is a very different thing. He and she got into
the quarrelling stage there
"In which they have successfully remained to the
present time."
"But when she was young and innocent, she would
always admit that she had begun the quarrel."
"On the contrary, she told stories in order to please
him."
" That motive does not much control her actions now-a-
days, at all events."
Here Tita would probably have delivered a crushing
reply, but that Bell came up and said
" What ! you two children fighting again ! What is it
all about ? Let me be umpire."
" He says that there is more red in the Scotch daisies
than in the English daisies," observed Tita, calmly. It was
well done. Yet you should hear her lecture her two boys
on the enormity of telling a fib.
How sad Bell was to leave the beautiful valley in which
we had spent this happy time ! Arthur had got his dog-
cart ; and when the phaeton was brought round, the
Major's cob was also put-to, and both vehicles stood at the
door. We took a last look at Grasmere. " Dich, mem
stilles Thai ! " said Bell, with a smile ; and the Lieutenant
looked quite shamefaced with pleasure to hear her quote his
favourite song. Arthur did not so well like the introduc-
tion of those few words. He said, with a certain aii' of
indifference
Y 2
324 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
" Can I give anybody a seat in the dog-cart ? It would
be a change."
" Oh, thank you : I should like so much to go with you,
Arthur," said Tita, with promptitude.
Did you ever see the like of it ! The woman has no
more notion of considering her own comfort than if she
had the hide of an alligator, instead of being, as she is,
about the most sensitive creature in the world. However,
it is well for her if she will permit me to say so that she
has people around her who are not quite so impulsively
generous ; and on this occasion it was obviously necessary
to save her from being tortured by the fractious com-
plainings of this young man, whom she would have
sympathized with and consoled if the effort had cost her
her life.
" No," I say. " That won't do. We have got some
stiff hills to climb presently, and someone must remain in
the phaeton while the others walk. Now, who looks best
in the front of the phaeton ? "
" Mamma, of course," said Bell, as if she had discovered
a conundrum ; and so the matter was settled in a
twinkling.
I think it would have been more courteous for Arthur to
have given the phaeton precedence, considering who was
driving it ; but he was so anxious to show off the paces of
Major Quinet's cob, that on starting he gave the animal a
touch of the whip that made the light and high vehicle
spring forward in a surprising manner.
" Young man, reflect that you are driving the father of
a family," I remarked to him.
Nevertheless, he went through the village of Grasmere at
a considerable rate of speed ; and when we got well up
the road which goes by the side of the Eothay into the
region of the hills, we found that we had left Tita and
her company far behind. Then he began to walk the cob.
" Look here ! " he said, quite fiercely ; " is Bell going to
marry that German fellow ? "
" How do I know ? " I answered, astonished by the young
man's impudence.
" You ought to know. You are her guardian. You are
responsible for her "
OF A PHAETON. 325
" To you ? "
" No, not to me ; but to your own conscience ; and I
think the way in which you have entrapped her into
making the acquaintance of this man, of whom she knows
nothing, doesn't look very well. I may as well say it
when I think it. You ought to have known that a girl at
her age is ready to be pleased with any novelty ; and to
draw her away from her old friends I suppose you can
explain it all to your own satisfaction but I confess that
to me "
I let the young man rave. He went on in this fashion
for some little time, getting momentarily more reckless and
vehement and absurd in his statements. If Tita had only
known what she had escaped !
" But after all," I observed to him, when the waters of
this deluge of rhetoric had abated, " what does it matter to
you ? We have allowed Bell to do just as she pleased ;
and perhaps, for all we know, she may regard Count von
Rosen with favour, although she has never intimated such
a thing. But what does it matter to you ? You say you
are going to get married."
" So I shall ! " he said, with an unnecessary amount of
emphasis.
" Katty Tatham is a very nice girl."
" I should think so ! There's no coquetry about her, or
that sort of vanity that is anxious to receive flattery from
every sort of stranger that is seen in the street
" You don't mean to say that that is the impression you
have formed of Bell ? "
And here all his violence and determination broke down.
In a tone of absolute despair he confessed that he was
beside himself, and did not know what to do. What should
he do ? Ought he to implore Bell to promise to marry
him ? Or should he leave her to her own ways, and go and
seek a solution of his difficulties in marrying this pretty
little girl down in Sussex, who would make him a good
wife and teach him to forget all the sufferings he had gone
through ? The wretched young fellow was really in a bad
way ; and there were actually tears in his eyes when he
said that several times of late he had wished he had the
courage to drown himself.
326 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
To tell a young man in this state that there is no woman
in the world worth making such a fuss about, is useless.
He rejects with scorn the cruel counsels offered by middle
age ; and sees in them only taunts and insults. Moreover,
he accuses middle age of not believing in its own maxims
of worldly prudence ; and sometimes that is the case.
" At all events," I say to him, " you are unjust to Bell in
going on in this wild way. She is not a coquette, nor vain,
nor heartless ; and if you have anything to complain of, or
anything to ask from her, why not go direct to herself,
instead of indulging in frantic suspicions and accusa-
tions ? "
" But but I cannot," he answers. " It drives me mad
to see her talking to that man. If I were to begin to speak
to her of all this, I am afraid matters would be made
worse."
" Well, take your own course. Neither my wife nor
myself have anything to do with it. Arrange iu among
yourselves ; only, for goodness' sake, leave the women a
little peace."
" Do you think / mean to trouble them ? " he says,
firing up. " You shall see."
What deep significance lay in these words was not
inquired into, for we had now to descend from the dog-
cart. Far behind us we saw that Bell and Count von
Rosen were already walking by the side of the phaeton, and
Tita talking to them from her lofty seat. We waited for
them until they came up ; and then we proceeded to climb
the steep road that leads along the slopes of the mighty
Helvellyn.
" Mademoiselle," said the Lieutenant, " who is it will say
that there is much rain in your native country ? Or did
you alarm us so as to make this surprise all the better,
yes ? "
Indeed, there was scarcely a flake of white in all the
blue overhead ; and, on the other side of the great valley,
the masses of the Wythburn and Borrodaile Fells showed
their various hues and tints so that you could almost
have fancied them transparent clouds. Then the road
descended ; and we got down to the solitary shores of
Thirlmere, the most Scotch-looking, perhaps, of the English
OF A PHAETON. 327
lakes. Here the slopes of the hills are more abrupt ; houses
are few and far between ; there is an aspect of remoteness
and a perfect silence reigning over the still water ; and the
peaks of the mountains that you see beyond are more jagged
and blue than the rounded hills about Windermere. From
the shores of Thirlmere the road again rises ; until, when
you come to the crest of the height, you find the leaden-
coloured lake lying sheer below you, and only a little stone
wall guarding the edge of the precipitous slope. "We rested
the horses here. Bell began to pull them handfuls of
Dutch clover and grass. The Lieutenant talked to my
Lady about the wonders of mountainous countries as they
appeared to people who had been bred in the plains.
Arthur looked over the stone wall down into the great
valley ; and was he thinking, I wonder, whether the safest
refuge from all his troubles might not be that low-lying
and silent gulf of water that seemed to be miles beneath
him?
When we were about to start again, the Lieutenant said
in a casual kind of way to Arthur
" If you are tired of driving the dog-cart, you might
come into the phaeton, and I will drive your horse on to
Keswick."
Who prompted him to make such an offer ? Not
himself, surely. I had formed a tolerable opinion of his
good-nature ; but the impatient and fretful manner in
which he had of late been talking about Arthur rendered
it highly improbable that this suggestion was his own.
"What did Bell's downcast look mean ?
" Thank you, I prefer the dog-cart," said Arthur coldly.
" Oh, Arthur," said Bell, " you've no idea how steep the
hill is, going down to Keswick, and in a dog-cart too
" I suppose," retorted the young man, " that I can drive
a dog-cart down a hill as well as anybody else."
" At all events," said the Lieutenant, with something of
a frown, " you need not address Mademoiselle as if that she
did you harm in trying to prevent your breaking your
neck."
This was getting serious ; so that there was nothing for
it but to bundle the boy into his dog-cart and order the
Lieutenant to change places with my Lady. As for the
328 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
writer of these pages the emotions he experienced while a
mad young fellow was driving him in a light and high
dog-cart down the unconscionable hill that lies above
Keswick, he will not attempt to describe. There are
occurrences in life which it is better to forget ; but if ever
he was tempted to invoke maledictions on the hotheaded-
ness, and bad temper, and general insanity of boys in
love Enough ! We got down to Keswick in safety.
Now we had come among the tourists, and no mistake.
The hotel was all alive with elderly ladies, who betrayed an
astonishing acquaintance with the names of the mountains,
and apportioned them off for successive (days as if they
were dishes for luncheon and dinner. The landlord
undertook to get us beds somewhere, if only we would come
into his coffee-room, which was also a drawing-room, and
had a piano in it. He was a portly and communicative
person, with a certain magnificence of manner which was
impressive. He betrayed quite a paternal interest in Tita,
and calmly and loftily soothed her anxious fears. Indeed,
his assurances pleased us much ; and we began rather to
like him ; although the Lieutenant privately remarked that
Clicquot is a French word, and ought not, under any
circumstances whatever, to be pronounced " Clickot."
Then we walked down to Derwentwater. It was a warm
and clear twilight. Between the dark green lines of the
hedges we met maidens in white, with scarlet opera-cloaks,
coming home through the narrow lane. Then we reached
the open ; and found the shores of the silver lake ; and got
into a boat ; and sailed out upon the still waters, so that we
could face the wonders of the evening skies.
But all that glow of red and yellow in the north-west
was as nothing to the strange gradations of colour that
appeared along the splendid range of mountain-peaks
beyond the lake. From the remote north round to the
south-east these stretched like a mighty wall ; and whereas
near the gold and crimson of the sunset they were of a
warm, roseate, and half-transparent purple, as they came
along into the darker regions of the twilight they grew
more and more cold in hue and harsh in outline. Up there
in the north they had caught the magic colours so that
they themselves seemed but light clouds of beautiful
OF A PHAETON. 329
vapour ; but as the eye followed the line of twisted and
mighty shapes, the crimson deepened into purple ; the
purple grew darker and more dark ; and greens and blues
began to appear over the wooded islands and shores of
Derwentwater. Finally, away down there in the south
there was a lowering sky, into which rose wild masses of
slate-coloured mountains ; and in the threatening and yet
clear darkness that reigned among these solitudes we could
see but one small tuft of white cloud that clung coldly to
the gloomy summit of Glaramara.
That strange darkness in the south boded rain ; and, as
if in anticipation of the wet, the fires of the sunset went
down, and a grey twilight fell over the land. As we
walked home between the tall hedges there was a chill
dampness in the air ; and we seemed to know that we had
at last bade good-bye to the beautiful weather that had lit
up for us the blue water and green shores of Grasmere.
[Note ly Queen Titania. "I begin to think the old lady in
Nottinghamshire had some excuse for what she said, although she
need not have expressed herself so rudely. Of course it is impossible
to put down all that we spoke about on those happy days of our
journey ; but when all the ordinary talk is carefully excluded, and
everything spiteful retained, I cannot wonder that a stranger should
think that my husband and myself do not lead a very pleasant life.
It looks very serious when it is put in type ; whereas we have been
driven into all this nonsense of quarrelling merely to temper the
excessive sentimentality of those young folks, which is quite amusing in
its way. Indeed, I am afraid that Bell, although she has never said
a word to that effect to me, is, far more deeply pledged than one who
thinks he has a great insight into such affairs has any notion of. I
am sure it was none of my doing. If Bell had told me she was
engaged to Arthur, nothing could have given me greater pleasure.
In the meantime, I hope no one will read too literally the foregoing
pages, and think that in our house we are continually treading on
lucifer matches and frightening everybody by small explosions. I
suppose it is literary art that compels such a perversion of the truth !
And as for Chapter Twenty-six which has a great deal of nonsense
in it about Richmond I should think that a very good motto for it
would be two lines I once saw quoted somewhere. I don't know who
is the author ; but they said
' The legend is as true, I undertake,
As Tristram is, or Lancelot of the Lalce.' "J
330 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
CHAPTEE XXVII.
ALONG THE GRETA.
" You stood before me like a thought,
A dream remembered in a dream.
But when those meek eyes first did seem
To tell me, Love within you wrought
O Greta, dear domestic stream!
Has not, since then, Love's prompture deep,
Has not Love's whisper evermore,
Been ceaseless as thy gentle roar ?
Sole voice, when other voices sleep,
Dear under-song in Clamor's hour."
" Now, Bell," says Tita, " I am going to ask you a serious
question."
" Yes, Mamma," answers the girl, dutifully.
" Where is the North Country ? "
Good gracious ! This was a pretty topic to start as we
sat idly by the shores of Derwentwater, and watched the great
white clouds move lazily over the mountain peaks beyond.
For, did it not involve some haphazard remark of Bell's,
which would instantly plunge the Lieutenant into the
history of Strathclyde, so as to prove, in defiance of the first
principles of logic and the Ten Commandments, that the
girl was altogether right ? Bell solved the difficulty in a
novel fashion. She merely repeated, in a low and careless
voice, some lines from the chief favourite of all her songs
" While sadly I roam, I regret my dear home,
Where lads and young lasses are making the hay ;
The merry bells ring, and the birds sweetly sing,
And maidens and meadows are pleasant and gay:
Oh ! the oak and the ash, and the bonny ivy-tree,
They grow so green in the North Countree ! "
" But where is it ? " says Tita. " You are always looking
to the North and never getting there. Down in Oxford, you
were all anxiety to get up to Wales. Once in Wales, you
hurried us on to Westmoreland. Now you are in Westmore-
land, you are still hankering after the North, and I want to
know where you mean to stop. At Carlisle ? Or Edinburgh ?
Or John o' Groat's ? "
OF A PHAETON. 331
The little woman was becoming quite eloquent in her quiet
and playful fashion, as she sat there with Bell's hand in hers.
The girl looked rather embarrassed ; and so, of course, the
Lieutenant, always on the look-out for such a chance, must
needs whip up his heavy artillery and open fire on Bell's
opponent.
" No, Madame." he says ; " why should you fix down that
beautiful country to any place ? Is it not better to have the
dream always before you ? You are too practical "
Too practical ! This from an impertinent young Uhlan
to a gentle lady whose eyes are full of wistful visions and
fancies from morning till night !
" It is better that you have it like the El Dorado that
the old travellers went to seek always in front of them, but
never just in sight. Mademoiselle is quite right not to put
down her beautiful country in the map."
" Count von Eosen," says my Lady, with some show of
petulance, " you are always proving Bell to be in the right.
You never help me ; and you know I never get any assistance
from the quarter whence it ought to come. Now, if I were
to say that I belonged to the North Country, you would
never think of bringing all sorts of historical arguments to
prove that I did."
" Madame," says the young man, with great modesty, " the
reason is that you never need any such arguments, for you
are always in the right at first."
Here Bell laughs in a very malicious manner ; for was not
the retort provoked ? My Lady asks the girl to watch the
creeping of a shadow over the summit of Glaramara, as if
that had anything to do with the history of Deira.
Well, the women owed us some explanation ; for between
them they had resolved upon our setting out for Penrith that
afternoon. All the excursions we had planned in this
beautiful neighbourhood had to be abandoned, and for no
ostensible reason whatever. That there must be some occult
motive, however, behind this odd resolve was quite certain ;
and the Lieutenant and myself were left to fit such keys to
the mystery as we might think proper.
Was it really, then, this fantastic longing of Bell's to get
northward, or was it not rather a secret consciousness that
Arthur would cease to accompany us at Carlisle ? The
332 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
gmng man had remained behind at the hotel that morning,
e had important letters to write, he said. A telegram had
arrived for him while we were at breakfast ; and he had
remarked, in a careless way, that it was from Mr. Tatham,
Katty's father. Perhaps it was. There is no saying what
a reckless young fellow may not goad an elderly gentleman
into doing ; but if this message, as we were given to under-
stand, had really something to do with Arthur's relations
towards Katty, it was certainly an odd matter to arrange
by telegraph.
As for the Lieutenant, he appeared to treat the whole
affair with a cool indifference which was probably assumed.
In private conversation he informed me that what Arthur
might do in the way of marrying Miss Tatham or anybody
else was of no consequence whatever to him.
" Mademoiselle will tell me my fate that is enough," he
said. " You think that I am careless yes ? It is not so,
except I am convinced your friend from Twickenham has
nothing to do with it. No, he will not marry Mademoiselle
that is so clear that anyone may see it but he may
induce her, frighten her, complain of her, so that she will
not marry me. Good. If it is so, I will know who has
served me that way."
" You needn't look as if you meant to eat up the whole
family," I observed to him.
" And more," he continued, with even greater fierceness,
" it has come to be too much, this. He shall not go beyond
Carlisle with us. I will not allow Mademoiselle to be per-
secuted. You will say I have no right that it is no
business of mine "
" That is precisely what I do say. Leave the girl to
manage her own affairs. If she wishes Arthur to go, she
can do it with a word. Do you think there is no other way
of giving a young man his conge than by breaking his neck ? "
" Oh, you think, then, that Mademoiselle wishes him to
remain near her ? "
A sudden and cold reserve had fallen over the young
fellow's manner. He stood there for a moment as if he
calmly expected to hear the worst, and was ready to pack up
his traps and betake himself to the south.
" I tell you again," I say, " that I think nothing about
OF A PHAETON. 333
it, and know nothing about it. But as for the decree of
Providence which ordained that young people in love should
become the pest and torture of their friends, of all the
inscrutable, unjust, perplexing, and monstrous facts of life,
this is about the worst. I will take a cigar from you, if you
please."
" That is all you care for yes a cigar," says the young
man, peevishly. "If the phaeton were to be smashed to
pieces this afternoon a cigar. If Mademoiselle were to go
and marry this wretched fellow again, a cigar. I do not
think that you care more for anything around you than the
seal which comes up and shakes hands with his keeper in
the Zoological Gardens."
" Got a light ? "
" And yet I think it is possible you will have a surprise
very soon. Yes ! and will not be so indifferent. After
Carlisle "
" After Carlisle you come to Gretna Green. But if you
propose to run away with Bell, don't take my horses they
are not used to hard work."
" Eun away ! You do talk as if Mademoiselle were willing
to run away with anybody. No, it is quite another thing."
And here the Lieutenant, getting into the morose state
which always follows the fierceness of a lover begins to pull
about the shawls and pack them up.
Nevertheless, the eighteen miles between Keswick and
Penrith proved one of the pleasantest portions of our jour-
ney. There was not much driving, it is true. We started
at mid-day ; and, having something like five or six hours in
which to get over this stretch of mountain and moorland
road, we spent most of the time in walking, even Tita de-
scending from her usual post to wander along the hedgerows
and look down into the valley of the Greta. As the white
road rose gradually from the plain of the lakes, taking us
along the slopes of the mighty Saddleback, the view of the
beautiful country behind us grew more and more extended.
The clear silver day showed us the vast array of moun-
tains in the palest of hues ; and as white clouds floated
over the hills and the gleaming surface of Derwentwater,
even the shadows seemed tender and luminous. There was no
mist, but a bewildering glare of light, that seemed at once
334 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
to transform and blend the clouds, the sky, the hills, and
the lake. There was plenty of motion in the picture, too ;
for there was a south wind blowing through all that
silver whiteness ; but there was no lowering mass of vapour
lying up at the horizon, and all our evil anticipations of
the previous day remained unfulfilled.
What a picturesque glen is that over which the great mass
of Saddleback towers ! We could hear the Greta rushing
down the chasm through a world of light-green foliage ;
and sometimes we got a glimpse of the stream itself a rich
brown, with dashes of white foam. Then you cross the
river where it is joined by St. John's Beck ; and as you
slowly climb the sides of Saddleback, the Greta becomes the
Glenderamackin ; and by and by you lose it altogether as it
strikes off to the north. But there are plenty of streams
about. Each gorge and valley has its beck ; and you can
hear the splashing of the water where there is nothing-
visible but masses of young trees lying warm and green in
the sunshine.
And as for the wild-flowers that grow here in a wonder-
ful luxuriance of form and colour, who can describe them ?
The Lieutenant was growing quite learned in English wild
blossoms. He could tell the difference between Herb
Eobert and Ragged Robin ; was not to be deceived into
believing the rock-rose a buttercup ; and had become pro-
found in the study of the various speedwells. But he was a
late scholar. Arthur had been under Bell's tuition years
before. He knew all the flowers she liked best ; he could
pick them out at a distance without going through the
trouble of laboriously comparing them, as our poor Lieu-
tenant had to do. You should have seen these two young
men with black rage in their hearts engaged in the idyllic
pastime of culling pretty nosegays for a fair maiden. Bell
treated them both with a simple indifference that was be-
gotten chiefly by the very definite interest she had in their
pursuit. She was really thinking a good deal more of her
tangled and picturesque bouquet than of the intentions of
the young men in bringing the flowers to her. She was
speedily to be recalled from her dream.
At a certain portion of the way we came upon a lot of
forget-me-nots, that were growing amid the roadside grass,
OF A PHAETON. 335
meaning no harm. The pale turquoise blue of the flowers
was looking up to the silver- white fleece of the sky, just as
if there were some communion between the two that rude
human hands had no right to break. Arthur made a plunge
at them. He pulled up at once some half-dozen stalks and
came back with them to Bell.
" Here," he said, with a strange sort of smile, " are some
forget-me-nots for you. They are supposed to be typical of
woman's constancy, are they not ? for they keep fresh
about half-a-dozen hours."
Bell received the flowers without a trace of surprise or
vexation in her manner ; and then, with the most admirable
self-possession, she turned to the Lieutenant, separated one
of the flowers from the lot, and said, with a great gentleness
and calmness
" Count von Rosen, do you care to have one of these ?
You have very pretty songs about the forget-me-not in
Germany."
I believe that young fellow did not know whether he was
dead or alive at the moment when the girl addressed him
thus. For a single second a flash of surprise and bewilder-
ment appeared in his eyes ; and then he accepted the flower
from her and said, looking down as if he did not wish any
of us to see his face
" Mademoiselle, thank you."
But almost directly afterwards he had recovered himself.
With an air as if nothing had happened, he pulled out his
pocket-book, most carefully and tenderly put the forget-
me-not in it, and closed it again. Arthur, with his face as
hot as fire, had begun to talk to Tita about Threlkeld Hall.
It was a pretty little scene to be enacted on this bright
morning, on a grassy wayside in Cumberland, with all the
lakes and mountains of Westmoreland for a blue and silvery
background. But after all, of what importance was it ? A
girl may hand her companion of the moment a flower with-
out any deadly intent ? How was anyone to tell, indeed,
that she had so turned to the Lieutenant as a retort to
Arthur's not very courteous remark ? There was no ap-
pearance of vexation in her manner. On the contrary, she
had given von Rosen this paltry little forget-me-not,
and made a remark about German songs, just as she might
336 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
have done at home in Surrey to any of the young fellows
who come dawdling about the house, wondering why such a
pretty girl should not betray a preference for somebody.
Even as a punishment for Arthur's piece of impudence, it
might not have any but the most transitory meaning.
Bell is quick to feel any remark of the kind ; and it is just
possible that at the moment she may have been stung into
executing this pretty and pastoral deed of vengeance.
But the Lieutenant, at all events, was persuaded that
something of mighty import had just occurred on the pic-
turesque banks of this Cumberland stream. He hung about
Bell for some time, but seemed afraid to address her, and
had ceased to offer her flowers. He was permitted to bring
her a sunshade, however, and that pleased him greatly.
And thereafter he went up to the horses, and walked by
their heads, and addressed them in very kindly and soothing
language, just as if they had done him some great service.
Arthur came back to us.
" It looks rather ridiculous," he said, abruptly, " to see
the procession of this horse and dog-cart following your
phaeton. Hadn't I better drive on to Penrith ? "
" The look of it does not matter here, surely," answered
Bell. " We have only met two persons since we started,
and we shan't find many people up in this moorland we are
coming to."
" Oh, as you please," said the young man, a trifle molli-
fied. " If you don't mind, of course I don't."
Presently he said, with something of an effort
" How long is your journey to last altogether ? "
" I don't know," one says to him. " We shall be in
Edinburgh in two or three days, and our project of driving
thither accomplished. But we may spend a week or two in
Scotland after that."
" Count von Eosen is very anxious to see something of
Scotland," says Bell, with the air of a person conveying
information.
I knew why Count von Eosen was so anxious to see some-
thing of Scotland he would have welcomed a journey to
the North Pole if only he was sure that Bell was going there
too. But Arthur said, somewhat sharply
" I am glad I shah 1 escape the duty of dancing attendance
OF A PHAETON. 337
on a stranger. I suppose you mean to take him to the
Tower and to Madame Tussaud's when you return to
London ? "
" But won't you come on with us to Edinburgh, Arthur ? "
says Bell, quite amiably.
" No, thank you," he says ; and then, turning to me :
" How much does it cost to send a horse and trap from
Carlisle to London ? "
" From Edinburgh it costs 101. 5s., so you may calculate."
" I suppose I can get a late train to-morrow night for
myself ? "
" There is one after midnight."
He spoke in a gloomy way, that had nevertheless some
affectation of carelessness in it. Bell again expressed her
regret that he could not accompany us to Edinburgh ; but
he did not answer.
We were now about to get into our respective vehicles ;
for before us lay a long stretch of high moorland road ; and
we had been merely idling the time away during the last
mile or two.
" Won't you get into the dog-cart for a bit, Bell ? " says
Arthur.
" Oh yes, if you like," says Bell, good-naturedly.
The Lieutenant, knowing nothing of this proposal, was
rather astonished when, after we had called to him to stop
the horses, he perceived that Bell was being assisted into the
dog-cart, Arthur following and taking the reins. The rest
of us got into the phaeton ; but, of course, Arthur had got
the start of us, and went on in front.
" How far is it to G-retna Green ? " asks my Lady in a
low voice.
The Lieutenant scowled, and regarded the two figures in
front of us in anything but an amiable mood.
" You do not care much for her safety to entrust her to
that stupid boy," he remarks.
" Do you think he will really run away with her ? " asks
Tita.
" Run away ! " repeats the Lieutenant, with some scorn,
** If he were to try that, or any other foolish thing, do you
know what you would see ? You would see Mademoiselle
take the reins from him, and go where she pleased in spite.
338 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
of him. Do you think that she is controlled by that pitiful
fellow ? "
Whatever control Bell possessed, there was no doubt at all
that Arthur was taking her away from us at a considerable
pace. After that stretch of moorland the road got very
hilly ; and no man who is driving his own horses likes to
run them up steep ascents for the mere pleasure of catching
a runaway boy and his sweetheart. In the ups and downs
of this route we sometimes lost sight of Bell and Arthur
altogether. The Lieutenant was so wroth that he dared not
speak. Tita grew a trifle anxious, and at last she said
" Won't you drive on and overtake these young people ?
I am sure Arthur is forgetting how hilly the road is."
" I don't. Arthur is driving somebody else's horse, but I
can't aiford to ill-treat my own in order to stop him."
" I am sure your horses have not been overworked," says
the Lieutenant ; and at this moment, as we get to the crest
of a hill, we find that the two fugitives are on the top of the
next incline.
"fftik! Hie! Heh!"
Two faces turn round. A series of pantomimic gestures
now conveys my Lady's wishes ; we see Arthur jump down
to the ground and assist Bell to alight ; and then she
begins to pull some grass for the horse.
When we, also, get to the top of this hill, lo ! the
wonderful sight that spreads out before us ! Along the
northern horizon stands a pale line of mountains ; and as we
look down into the vast plain that lies between, the yellow
light of the sunset touches a strange sort of mist, so that
you would think there lay a broad estuary or a great arm of
the sea. We ourselves are in shadow ; but all the wide
landscape before us is bathed in golden fire and smoke ; and
up there, ranged along the sky, are the wan hills that stand
like phantoms rising out of another world.
Bell comes into the phaeton. We set out again along the
hilly road, getting comforted presently by the landlord of a
wayside inn, who says, "Ay, the road goes pretty mooch
doon bank a' t' waay to Penrith, after ye get a mile forrit."
Bell cannot tell us whether this is pure Cumbrian, or
Cumbrian mixed with Scotch ; but the Lieutenant insists that
it does not much matter, for " fomt " is very good Frisian.
OF A PHAETON. 339
The chances are that we should have suffered another
sermon on the German origin of our language, but that
signs of a town became visible. "We drove in from the
country highways in the gathering twilight. There were
lights in the streets of Penrith ; but the place itself seemed
to have shut up and gone to bed. It was but half -past
eight ; yet nearly every shop was closed ; and the inn into
which we drove had clearly got over its day's labour. If we
had asked for dinner at this hour, the simple folks would
probably have laughed at us ; so we called it supper, and a
very excellent supper it proved to be.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
" ADE ! "
" Edwin, if right I read my song,
With slighted passion paced along,
All in the moony light;
'Twas near an old enchanted court,
Where sportive fairies made resort
To revel out the night."
" I AM so sorry you can't come further with us than
Carlisle," says Queen Titania to Arthur, with a great kind-
liness for the lad shining in her brown eyes.
" Duty calls me back and pleasure, too," he says, with
rather a melancholy smile. " You will receive a message
from me, I expect, shortly after I return. Where will letters
find you in Scotland ? "
This was rather a difficult question to answer ; but it took
us away from the dangerous subject of Arthur's intentions,
about which the less said at that moment the better. The
Lieutenant professed a great desire to spend two or three
weeks in Scotland ; and Bell began to sketch out phantom
tours, whisking about from Loch Lubnaig to Loch Long,
cutting round the Mull of Cantire, and coming back from
Stornoway to the Crinan in a surprising manner.
" And, Mademoiselle," says he, " perhaps to-morrow, when
you get into Scotland, you will begin to tell me something of
the Scotch songs, if it does not trouble you. I have read
some yes of Burns's songs, mostly through Freiligrath's
z 2
340 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
translations, but I have not heard any sung, and I know
that you know them all. Oh yes, I liked them very much
they are good, hearty songs, not at all melancholy ;
and an excellent fellow of that countiy I met in the war
he was a correspondent for some newspaper, and he was at
Metz, but he was as much of a soldier as any man of us he
told me there is not any such music as the music of the
Scotch songs. That is a very bold thing to say, you know,
Mademoiselle ; but if you will sing some of them, I will
give you my frank opinion."
"Yery well," says Mademoiselle, with a gracious smile,
"but I think I ought to begin to-day, for there is a. great
deal of ground to be got over."
" So much the better," says he.
" But if you young people," says Queen Tita, " who are
all bent on your own pleasure, would let me make a sugges-
tion, I think I can put your musical abilities to a better use.
I am going to give a concert as soon as I get home, for the
benefit of our Clothing Club ; and I want you to undertake,
Count von Eosen, to sing for us two or three German songs
Korner's war-songs, for example."
"Oh, with ^ great pleasure, Madame, if you will not all
laugh at my singing."
Unhappy wretch another victim ! But it was a mercy
she asked him only for a few songs, instead of hinting about
a more tangible contribution. That was probably to come.
" Bell," says my Lady, " do you think we ought to charge
twopence this time ? "
On this tremendous financial question Bell declines to
express an opinion, beyond suggesting that the people, if
they could only be induced to come, would value the concert
all the more. A much more practical proposal, however, is
placed before this committee now assembled in Penrith.
At each of these charity-concerts in our schoolroom, a
chamber is set apart for the display of various viands
und wines and aerated waters, devoted to the use of
the performers, their friends, and a few special guests. It
is suggested that the expense of this entertainment should
not always fall upon one person ; there being several house-
holders in the neighbourhood whq are much more able to
afford such promiscuous banquets,
OF A PHAETON. 341
" I am sure," says my Lady, with some emphasis, " that I
know several gentlemen who would only be too eager to come
forward and send those refreshments, if they only knew you
were making such a fuss about it."
" My dear," I answer humbly, " I wish you would speak
to them on this subject."
" I wouldn't demean myself so far," says Tita, " as to ask
for wine and biscuits from my neighbours."
" I wish these neighbours wouldn't drink so much of my
champagne."
" But it is a charity ; why should you grumble ? " says
the Lieutenant.
" Why ? These abandoned ruffians and their wives give
five shillings to the charity, and come and eat and drink ten
shillings' worth of my food and wine. That is why."
" Never mind," says Bell, with her gentle voice ; " when
Count von Eosen comes to sing we shall have a great
audience; and there will be a lot of money taken at the
door ; and we shall be able to clear all expenses and pay you,
too, for the champagne."
" At sevenpence-halfpenny a bottle, I suppose ? "
" I did not think you got it so cheap," says Tita, with a
pleasing look of innocence ; and therewith the young folks
begin to laugh, as they generally do when she says anything
specially impertinent.
Just before starting for Carlisle, we happened to be in
the old churchyard of Penrith, looking at the pillars which
are supposed to mark the grave of a giant of old, and trying
to persuade ourselves that we saw something like Runic
carvings on the stones. There came forward to us a strange-
looking person, who said suddenly
" God bless you ! "
There was no harm in that, at all events ; but presently he
began to attach himself to Arthur, and insisted on talking
to him ; while, whenever the young man seemed inclined
to resent this intrusion, the mysterious stranger put in
another " God bless you ! " so as to disarm criticism. We
speedily discovered that this person was a sort of whiskified
Old Mortality, who claimed to have cut all manner of tomb-
stones standing around ; and to Arthur, whom he specially
affected, he continually appealed with " Will that do, eh ?
342 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
I did that will that do, eh ? " The young man was not
in a communicative mood, to begin with ; but the persecu-
tion he now suffered was like to have driven him wild. In
vain he moved away ; the other followed him. In vain he
pretended not to listen ; the other did not care. He would
probably have expressed his feelings warmly, but for the
pious ejaculation which continually came in ; and when a
man says " God bless you," you can't with decency wish him
the reverse. At length, out of pure compassion, the Lieu-
tenant went over to the man, and said
" Well, you are a very wicked old gentleman, to have been
drinking at this time in the morning."
" God bless you ! "
" Thank you. You have given to us your blessing all
round : now will you kindly go away ? "
" Wouldn't you like to see a bit of my cutting, now, eh ? "
" No, I wouldn't ; I would like to see you go home and
get a sleep, and get up sober."
" God bless you ! "
" The same to you. Good-bye " and behold ! Arthur
was delivered, and returned, blushing like a girl, to the
women, who, being rather afraid of this half -tipsy or half-
silly person, had remained at a distance.
You may be sure that when we were about to start from
Penrith, the Lieutenant did not forget to leave out Bell's
guitar-case. And so soon as we were well] away from the
town, and bowling along the level road that leads up to Car-
lisle, the girl put the blue ribbon round her shoulder and
began to cast about for a song. Arthur was driving close
behind us occasionally sending on the cob so as to exchange
a remark or two with my Lady. The wheels made no great
noise, however ; and in the silence lying over the shining
landscape around us, we heard the clear, full, sweet tones of
Bell's voice as well as if she had been singing in a room,
"Behind yon Mils where Lugar flows "
That was the first song that she sang ; and it was well the
Lieutenant was not a Scotchman, and had never heard the
air as it is daily played on the Clyde steamers by wandering
fiddlers.
" I don't mean to sing all the songs," says Bell, presently ;
OF A PHAETON. 343
" I shall only give you a verse or so of each of those I know,
so that you may judge of them. Now this is a fighting
song ; " and with that she sang with fine courage
"Here's Kenmure's health in wine, Willie!
Here's Kenmure's health in wine !
There ne'er was a coward o' Kenmure's blood,
Nor yet o' Gordon's line !
Oh, Kenmure's lads are men, Willie!
Oh, Kenmure's lads are men !
Their hearts and swords are metal true,
And that their foes shall ken ! "
How was it that she always sang these wild, rebellious,
Jacobite songs with so great an accession of spirit ? Never
in our southern home had she seemed to care anything
about them. There, the only Scotch songs she used to sing
for us were the plaintive laments of unhappy lovers, and
such-like things ; whereas now she was all for blood and
slaughter, for the gathering of the clans, and the general
destruction of law and order. I don't believe she knew who
Kenmure was. As for the Braes o' Mar, and Callander and
Airlie, she had never seen one of these places. And what
was this " kane " of which she sang so proudly ?
"Hark the horn!
Up i* the morn ;
Bonnie lad, come to the march to-morrow !
Down the Glen,
Grant and his men,
They shall pay kane to the King the morn !
Down by Knockhaspie,
Down by Gillespie,
Many a red runt nods the horn;
Waken not Callum,
Kouky, nor Allan
They shall pay kane to the King the morn ! "
" Why, what a warlike creature you have become, Bell ! "
says Queen Titania. " Ever since you sang those songs of
Maria, with Count von Rosen as the old sergeant, you seem
to have forgotten all the pleasant old ballads of melancholy
and regret, and taken to nothing but fire and sword. Now,
if you were to sing about Logan Braes, or Lucy's Flitting,
or Annie's Tryst "
" I am coming to them," says Bell, meekly.
" No, Mademoiselle," interposes the Lieutenant, " please
344 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
do not sing any more just now. You will sing again, in
the afternoon, yes ? But at present you will harm your
voice to sing too much."
Now she had only sung snatches of three songs. What
business had he to interfere, and become her guardian ?
Yet you should have seen how quietly and naturally she laid
aside the guitar as soon as he had spoken, and how she
handed it to him to put in the case : my Lady meanwhile
looking hard at her gloves, which she always does when
she is inwardly laughing and determined that no smile
shall appear in her eyes.
It was rather hard upon Arthur that he should be banished
into that solitary trap ; but he rejoined us when we stopped
at High Hesket to bait the horses, and have a snack of
something for lunch. What a picture of desolation is the
White Ox of this village ! Once upon a time this broad road
formed part of the great highway leading towards the north ;
and here the coaches stopped for the last time before driving
into Carlisle. It is a large hostelry ; but it had such an
appearance of loneliness and desertion about it, that we
stopped at the front door (which was shut) to ask whether
they could put the horses up. An old lady, dressed in black,
and with a worn and sad face, appeared. We could put the
horses up, yes. As for luncheon, we could have ham and
eggs. The butcher only came to the place twice a week ;
and as no traveller stopped here now, no butcher's meat was
kept on the premises. We went into the great stables ; and
found an ostler who regarded us with a wonderful astonish-
ment shining in his light-blue eyes. Looking at the empty
stalls, he said he could remember when forty horses were
put up there every day. It was the railway that had done it.
We had our ham and eggs in a large and melancholy
parlour, rilled with old-fashioned pictures and ornaments.
The elderly servant-woman who waited on us told us that a
gentleman had stopped at the inn on the Monday night be-
fore ; but it turned out that he was walking to Carlisle,
that he had got afraid of two navvies on the road, and that
he therefore had taken a bed here. Before him, no one
had stopped at the inn since Whitsuntide. It was all
along of them railways.
We hastened away from this doleful and deserted inn, as
OF A PHAETON. 345
soon as the horses were rested. They had easy work of it
for the remainder of the day's journey. The old coach-road
is here remarkably broad, level, and well-made ; and we
bowled along the solitary highway as many a vehicle had
done in bygone years. As we drove into " merry Carlisle,"
the lamps were lit in the twilight, and numbers of people
were in the streets. For the convenience of Arthur, we put
up at an hotel abutting on the railway station ; and then
went off to stable the horses elsewhere.
It was rather a melancholy dinner we had in a corner of
the great room. The gloom that overspread Arthur's face
was too obvious. In vain the Lieutenant talked profoundly
to us of the apple legend of Tell in its various appearances
(he had just been cribbing his knowledge from Professor
.Buchheim's excellent essay) ; and said he would go with my
Lady next morning to see the market-place where William
of Cloudeslee, who afterwards shot the apple from off his son's
head, was rescued from justice by two of his fellow outlaws.
Tita'was far more desirous of seeing Arthur in somewhat
better spirits on this the last night of his being with us.
On our sitting down to dinner, she had said to him, with a
pretty smile
"King Arthur lives in merry Carlisle,
And seemly is to see ;
And there with him Queen Guenever,
That bride so bright of blee."
But was it not an unfortunate quotation, however kindly
meant ? Queen Gruenever sat there as frank, and gracious,
and beautiful as a queen or a bride might be but not with
him. That affair of the little blue flower on the banks of
the Greta was still rankling in his mind.
He bore himself bravely, however. He would not have
the women remain up to see him away by the 12.45 train.
He bade good-bye to both of them without wincing ; and
looked after Bell for a moment as she left ; and then he
went away into a large and dull smoking-room, and sat
down there in silence. The Lieutenant and I went with
him. He was not inclined to speak ; and at length von
Rosen, apparently to break the horrible spell of the place,
said
346 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
" Will they give the horse any corn or water on the
journey ? "
" I don't think so," said the lad, absently;; " but I have
telegraphed for a man to be at the station and take the cob
to the nearest stables."
And with that he forced himself to talk of some of his
adventures by the way, while as yet he was driving by him-
self ; though we could see he was thinking of something
very different. At last the train from the North came in.
He shook hands with us with a fine indifference ; and we
saw him bundle himself up in a corner of the carriage, with
a cigar in his mouth. There was nothing tragic in his
going away ; yet there was not in all England a more
wretched creature than the young man who thus started on
his lonely night- journey ; and I afterwards heard that, up
in the railway-hotel at this moment, one tender heart was
still beating a little more quickly at the thought of his
going, and two wakeful eyes were full of unconscious tears.
CHAPTER XXIX.
OVER THE BORDER.
"And here awhile the Muse,
High hovering o'er the broad cerulean scene,
Sees Caledonia in romantic view :
Her airy mountains, from the waving main,
Invested with a keen, diffusive sky,
Breathing the soul acute; her forests huge
Incult, robust, and tall, by Nature's hand
Planted of old ; her azure lakes between
Poured out expansive, and of watery wealth
Full; winding, deep, and green, her fertile vales
With many a cool translucent brimming flood
Washed lovely from the Tweed (pure parent stream
Whose pastoral banks first heard my Doric reed,
With sylvan Gled, thy tributary brook)."
THAT next morning in Carlisle as we walked about the
red old city that is set amid beautiful green meadows
interlaced with streams there was something about Queen
Titania's manner that I could not understand. She
arrogated to herself a certain importance. She treated
ordinary topics of talk with disdain. She had evidently
OF A PHAETON. 347
become possessed of a great secret. Now, everyone knows
that the best way to discover a secret is to let the owner of
it alone ; if it is of great importance, she is sure to tell it
you ; and if it is of no importance, your ignorance of it
won't hurt you.
We were up in that fine old castle, leaning on the
parapets of red sandstone and gazing away towards the
north, where the Scotch hills were visible along the horizon.
That is a pretty landscape that lies around Carlisle Castle
the cheerful and grassy meadows through which the Eden
winds ; the woods and heights of the country beyond ; the
far stretches of sand at the mouth of the Solway ; and the
blue line of hills telling of the wilder regions of Scotland.
In the courtyard below us we can see the Lieutenant
instructing Bell in the art of fortification. My Lady looks
at them for a moment, and says
" Bell is near her North Country at last."
There is at all events nothing very startling in that
disclosure. She pauses for a moment or two, and is
apparently regarding with wistful eyes the brilliant land-
scape around, across which spaces of shadow are slowly
moving from the west. Then she adds
" I suppose you are rather puzzled to account for
Arthur's coming up to see us this last time ? "
" I never try to account for the insane actions of young
people in love."
" That is your own experience, I suppose ? " she says,
daintily.
" Precisely so of you. But what is this about Arthur ? "
" Don't you really think it looks absurd his having
come to join us a second time for no apparent purpose
whatever ? "
" Proceed."
" Oh," she says, with some little hauteur, " I am not
anxious to tell you anything."
" But I am dying to hear. Have you not marked my
impatience ever since we set out this morning ? "
" No, I haven't. But I will tell you all the same, if you
promise to say not a word of it to the Count."
" I ? Say anything to the Lieutenant ? The man who
would betray the confidences of his wife except when, it
348 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
suited his own purpose But what have you got to say
about Arthur ? "
" Only this that his coming to see us was not so aimless
as it might appear. Yesterday he asked Bell definitely if
she would marry him."
She smiles with an air of pride. She knows she has
produced a sensation.
" Would you like to know where ? In an old inn at High
Hesket where they seem to have been left alone for a
minute or two. And Bell told him frankly that she could
not marry him."
Think of it ! In that deserted old inn, with its forsaken
chambers, its empty stalls, and occasional visits from a
wandering butcher, a tragedy had been enacted so quietly
that none of us had known. If folks were always to
transact the most important business of their lives in this
secretive, undramatic,' unobserved way, whence would come
all the material for our pictures, and plays, and books ?
These young people, so far as we knew, had never struck
an attitude, nor uttered an exclamation ; for, now that
one had time to remember, on our entering the parlour
where Bell and Arthur had been left, she was calmly
looking out of the window, and he came forward to ask how
many miles it was to Carlisle. They got into the vehicles
outside as if nothing had happened. Nay, at dinner, how
did those young hypocrites manage to make believe that
they were on something almost like their old footing, so as
to deceive us all ?
" My dear," I say to her, " we have been robbed of a
scene."
" I am glad there was no scene. There is more likely to
be a scene when Arthur goes back and tells Dr. Ashburton
that he means to marry Katty Tatham. He is sure to do
that ; and you know the Doctor was very much in favour
of Arthur's marrying Bell."
" Well, now, I suppose, all that is wanted for the
completion of your diabolical project is that Bell should
marry that young Prussian down there who will be
arrested in a minute or two if he does not drop his inquiries."
Tita looked up with a stare of well-affected surprise.
" That is quite another matter, I assure you. You may
OF A PHAETON. 349
be quite certain that Bell did not refuse Count von Rosen
before without some very good reason ; and the mere fact
of Arthur's going away does not pledge her a bit. No
quite the contrary. He would be very foolish if he asked
her at this moment to become his wife. She is very sorry
about Arthur ; and so am I ; but I confess that when I
learned his case was hopeless, and that I could do nothing
to help him, I was greatly relieved. Now don't breathe a
word of what I have told you to Count von Eosen Bell
would never forgive me if it were to reach his ears. But
oh ! " says Queen Tita, almost clasping her hands, while a
bright light beams over her face, "I should like to see
those two married ! I am sure they are so fond of each
other. Can you doubt it, if you look at them for a
moment or two "
They had disappeared from the courtyard below.
Almost at the same moment that she uttered these words,
she instinctively turned, and lo ! there were Bell and her
companion advancing to join us. The poor little woman
blushed dreadfully in spite of all her assumption of gracious
self-possession ; but it was apparent that the young folks
had not overheard, and no harm was done.
At length we started for Gretna. There might have
been a little jest or two going upon this subject, had not
some recollection of Arthur interfered. Was it because of
his departure, also, that the Lieutenant forbore to press
Bell for the Scotch songs that she had promised him ? Or
was it not rather that the brightness and freshness of this
rare morning were in themselves sufficient exhilaration ?
We drove down by the green meadows, and over the Eden
bridge. We clambered up the hill opposite, and drove past
the suburban villas there. We had got so much accustomed
to sweet perfumes floating to us from the hedgerows and
the fields, that we at first did not perceive that certain
specially pleasant odours were the product of some large
nurseries close by. Then we got out to that " shedding " of
the roads, which marks the junction of the highways
coming down from Glasgow and Edinburgh ; and here we
chose the former, which would take us through Gretna and
Moffat, leaving us to strike eastwar4 towards Edinburgh
later on.
350 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
The old mail-coach road to the North is quite deserted
now ; but it is a pleasant road for all that, well-made and
smooth, with tracts of grass along each side, and with tall
and profuse hedges that only partially hide from view the
undulating landscape with its blue line of hills beyond.
Mile after mile, however, we did not meet a single creature
on this deserted highway ; and when at length we reached
a solitary turnpike, the woman in charge thereof regarded
us with a look of surprise, as if we were a party of
runaways who had blundered into the notion that Gretna-
green marriages were still possible.
The Lieutenant, who had pulled up, got talking with the
woman about these marriages, and the incidents that must
have occurred at this very turnpike, and of the stories in the
neighbourhood about that picturesque and gay old time.
She with her eyes still looking towards our Bell, as if she
suspected that the young man had quite an exceptional
interest in speaking of marriages told us some of her own
reminiscences with a great deal of good humour ; but it is
sad to think that these anecdotes were chiefly of quarrels
and separations some of them occurring before the happy
pair had crossed the first bridge on their homeward route.
Whether these tales were not edifying, or whether a great
bank of clouds, coming up from the north against the
wind, looked ominous, Bell besought her companion to drive
on ; and so on he went.
It was a lonely place in which to be caught by a thunder-
storm. We came to the river Esk, and found its shallow
waters flowing down a broad and shingly channel, leaving
long islands of sand between. There was not a house in
sight only the marshy meadows, the river-beds, and the
low flats of sand stretching out to the Sol way Frith. Scot-
land was evidently bent on giving us a wet welcome. From
the hills in the north those black masses of vapour came
crowding up, and a strange silence fell over the land.
Then a faint glimmer of red appeared somewhere ; and a
low noise was heard. Presently a long narrow streak of
forked lightning went parting across the black background ;
there was a smart roll of thunder ; and then all around us
the first pattering of heavy rain was heard among the
leaves. We had the hood put up hastily. Bell and Tita
OF A PHAETON. 351
were speedily swathed in shawls and water-proofs : and the
Lieutenant sent the horses forward at a good pace, hoping
to reach Gretna Green before we should be washed into the
Solway. Then began the wild- play of the elements. On
all sides of us the bewildering glare of steel-blue seemed to
flash about ; and the horses, terrified by the crackling peals
of thunder, went plunging on through the torrents of rain.
" Mademoiselle," cried the Lieutenant, with the water
streaming over his face and down his great beard, " your
Westmoreland rain it was nothing to this."
Bell sat mute and patient, with her face down to escape
the blinding torrents. Perhaps had we crossed the Border
in beautiful weather, she would have descended from the
phaeton, and pulled some pretty flower to take away with
her as a memento ; but now we could see nothing, hear
nothing, think of nothing, but the crashes of the thunder, the
persistent waterfall, and those sudden glares that from
time to time robbed us of our eyesight for several seconds.
Some little time before reaching the river Sark, which is
here the boundary-line between the two countries, we passed
a small wayside inn ; but we did not think of stopping
there, when Gretna promised to afford us more certain
shelter. We drove on and over the Sark. We pulled up
for a moment at the famous toll-house.
" We are over the Border ! " cried Bell, as we rattled on
again ; but what of Scotland could she see in this wild
whirlwind of wet ?
Surely no runaway lover was ever more glad to see that
small church perched up on a hillock among trees than we
were when we came in sight of Gretna. But where was
the inn ? There were a few cottages by the wayside ; and
there was one woman who kindly came out to look at us.
Then no sooner had the Lieutenant heard that there was
no inn in the place, than, without a word but with an awful
look of determination on his face he turned the horses
clean round and set them off at a gallop down the road to
the Sark.
" Perhaps they can't take us in at that small place," said
my Lady.
" They must take us in," said he, between his teeth ; and
with that we found ourselves in England again.
352 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
He drove us up to the front of the small square building.
"With his whip-hand he dashed away the rain from his eyes,
and-called aloud. Lo ! what strange vision was that which
appeared to us, in this lonely place, in the middle of the
tempest ? Through the mist of the rain we beheld the
doorway of the inn suddenly become the frame of a beauti-
ful -picture ; and the picture was that of a fair-haired and
graceful young creature of eighteen, in a costume of pearly
grey touched here and there with lines of blue, who
regarded us with a winning expression of wonder and pity
in her large and innocent eyes. Her appearance there
seemed like a glimmer of sunlight shining through the
wet ; and a second or two elapsed before the Lieutenant
could collect himself so far as to ask whether this angel of
deliverance could not shelter us from the rude violence of
the storm.
" We^have no ostler," says the young lady, in a timid way.
" Have you any stables ? " says the young man.
" Yes, we have stables shall I show them to you ? "
" No no ! " he cries, quite vehemently. " Don't you
come out into the rain not at all ! I will find them out
very well myself ; but you must take in the ladies here, and
get them dry."
And when we had consigned Bell and Tita to the care of
the young lady, who received them with a look of much
friendliness and concern in her pretty face, we went off and
sought out the stables.
" Now, look here, my good friend," says von Eosen ;
" we are both wet. The horses have to be groomed that
is very good work to dry one person ; and so you go into
the house, and change your clothes, and I will see after the
horses, yes ? "
" My young friend, it is no use your being very com-
plaisant to me," I observe to him. "I don't mean to
intercede with Bell for you."
" Would you intercede with that beautiful young lady of
the inn for me ? Well, now, that is a devil of a language,
yours. How am I to address a girl who is a stranger to
me, and to whom I wish to be respectful ? I cannot call
]ier Mademoiselle, which is only an old nickname that
Mademoiselle used to have in Bonn, as you know. You
OF A PHAETON. 353
tell me I cannot address a young lady as ' Miss,' without
mentioning her other name, and I do not know it. Yet I
cannot address her with nothing, as if she were a servant.
Tell me now what does an English gentleman say to a
young lady whom he may assist at a railway station abroad,
and does not know her name ? And what, if he does not
catch her name, when he is introduced in a house ? He
cannot say Mademoiselle. He cannot say Fraulein. He
cannot say Miss."
" He says nothing at all."
" But that is rudeness it is awkward to you not to be
able to address her."
" Why are you so anxious to know how to talk to this
young lady ? "
" Because I mean to ask her if it is impossible that she
can get a little corn for the horses."
It was tiresome work that getting the animals out of the
wet harness, and grooming them without the implements of
grooming. Moreover, we could find nothing but a handful
of hay ; and it was fortunate that the nosebags we had with
us still contained a small allowance of oats and beans.
But what a comfortable little family-party we subse-
quently made up in the large kitchen ! Tita had struck up
a fine friendship with the gentle and pretty daughter of the
house ; the old lady, her mother, was busy in having our wraps
and rugs hung up to dry before the capacious fireplace ;
and the servant-maid had begun to cook some chops for us.
Bell, too who might have figured as the elder sister of
this flaxen-haired and frank-eyed creature, who had appeared
to us in the storm was greatly interested in her ; and was
much pleased to hear her distinctly and proudly claim to be
Scotch, although it was her misfortune to live a short dis-
tance on the wrong side of the Border. With that the
two girls fell to talking about Scotch and Cumbrian words ;
but here Bell had a tremendous advantage ; and pushed it
to such an extreme that her opponent, with a pretty blush
and a laugh, said she did not know that the English young
ladies knew so much of Scotch. And when Bell protested
that she would not be called English, the girl only stared.
You see, she had never had the benefit of hearing the
Lieutenant discourse on the history of Strathclyde.
2 A
354 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
Well, we had our chops and what not in the parlour of
the inn ; but it was remarkable how soon the Lieutenant
proposed that we should return to the kitchen. He pre-
tended that he was anxious to learn Scotch ; and affected a
profound surprise that the young lady of the house should
not know the meaning of the word " spurtle." When we
went into the kitchen, however, it was to the mamma that
he addressed himself chiefly ; and behold ! she speedily
revealed to the young soldier that she was the widow of one
of the Gretna priests. More than that I don't mean to say.
Some of you young fellows who may read this might perhaps
like to know the name and the precise whereabouts of the
fair wild-flower that we found blooming up in these remote
solitudes ; but neither shall be revealed. If there was any
one of us who fell in love with the sweet and gentle face, it was
Queen Tita ; and I know not what compacts about photo-
graphs may not have been made between the two women.
Meanwhile the Lieutenant had established himself as a
great favourite with the elderly lady ; and by and by she
left the kitchen, and came back with a sheet of paper in
her hand, which she presented to him. It turned out to be
one of the forms of the marriage-certificates used by her
husband in other days ; and for curiosity's sake I append
it below, suppressing the name of the priest for obvious
reasons.
KINGDOM OF SCOTLAND.
COUNTY OF DUMFKIES.
Jjarisjy of feinu.
WtytZt WCt to (JTertifg to all whom these presents shall come, that * * *
from the parish of * * * in the County of * * * and * * * from the
parish of * * * in the County of * * * "being now here present, and
having declared themselves single persons, were this day Married after
the manner of the Laws of the Church of England, and agreeable to the
Laws of Scotland ; as Witness our hands, Allison's Bank Toll-house, this
* * * day of * * * 18 .
Before * *
OTitncssrs,
OF A PHAETON. 355
" That is a dangerous paper to carry about wi' ye," said
the old woman, with a smile.
" Why so ? " inquired the Lieutenant.
" Because ye might be tempted to ask a young lecldy
to sign her name there ; " and what should prevent that
innocent-eyed girl turning just at this moment to look with
a pleased smile at our Bell ? The Lieutenant laughed, in
an embarrassed way, and said the rugs might as well be
taken from before the lire, as they were quite dry now.
I think none of us would have been sorry to have stayed
the night in this homely and comfortable little inn ; but we
wished to get on to Lockerbie, so as to reach Edinburgh
in other two days. Moreover, the clouds had broken ; and
there was a pale glimmer of sunshine appearing over the
dark green woods and meadows. We had the horses put
into the phaeton again ; and with many a friendly word of
thanks to the good people who had been so kind to us, we
started once more to cross the Border.
" And what do you think of the first Scotch family you
have seen ? " says Queen Tita to the Lieutenant, as we go
over the bridge again.
" Madame," he says, quite earnestly, " I did dream for a
moment I was in Germany again everything so friendly
and homely ; and the young lady not too proud to wait on
you, and help the servant in the cooking ; and then, when
that is over, to talk to you with good education and
intelligence, and great simpleness and frankness. Oh, that
is very good whether it is Scotch, or German, or any other
country -the simple ways, and the friendliness, and the
absence of all the fashions and the hypocrisy."
"That young lady was very fashionably dressed, Count
von Rosen," says Tita, with a smile.
" That is nothing, Madame. Did she not bring into us
our dinner, just as the daughter of the house in a German
country inn would do, as a compliment to you, and not to
let the servant come in ? Is it debasement, do you think ?
No. You do respect her for it ; and you yourself, Madame,
you did speak to her as if she were a friend of yours
and why not, when you find people like that, honest and
good-willing towards you ? "
What demon of mischief was it that prompted Bell to
2 A 2
35"6 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
sing that song as we drove through the darkening woods
in the damp twilight ? The Lieutenant had just got out
her guitar for her when he was led into those fierce
statements quoted above. And Bell, with a great gravity,
" Farewell to Glenshalloch, a farewell for ever,
Farewell to my wee cot that stands by the river ;
The fall is loud-sounding in voices that vary,
And the echoes surrounding lament with my Mary."
This much may be said, that the name of the young lady
of whom they had been speaking was also Mary; and the
Lieutenant, divining some profound sarcasm in the song,
began to laugh and protest that it was not because the girl
was pretty and gentle that he had discovered so much
excellence in the customs of Scotch households. Then Bell
sang once more as the sun went down behind the woods,
and we heard the streams murmuring in deep valleys by the
side of the road
"Hame, hame, hame, O hame fain would I be,
Harne, hame, hame, to my ain countree ;
There's an eye that ever weeps, and a fair face will be fain,
As I pass through Annan water, wi' my bonny bands again ! "
We drove into the long village of Ecclefechan, and paused
for a moment or two in front of the Bush Inn, to let
the horses have a draught of water and oatmeal. The
Lieutenant, who had descended to look after this pre-
scription, now came out from the inn bearing a small tray
with some tumblers on it.
" Madame," he said, " here is Scotch whisky you must
all drink it, for the good of the country."
" And of ourselves," added one of us, calling attention to
the chill dampness of the night air.
My Lady pleaded for a bit of sugar, but that was not
allowed ; and when she had been induced to take about a
third of the Lieutenant's preparation, she put down the
glass with an air of having done her duty. As for Bell, she
drank pretty nearly half the quantity ; and the chances
are, that if the Lieutenant had handed her prussic acid,
she would have felt herself bound, as a compliment, tg
accept it.
OF A PHAETON. 357
Darker and darker grew the landscape as we drove through
the thick woods ; and when at last we got into Lockerbie,
there was scarcely enough light of any sort to show us that
the town, like most Scotch country towns and villages, was
whitewashed. In the inn at which we put up, appropriately
named the Blue Bell, the Lieutenant once more remarked
on the exceeding homeliness and friendliness of the Scotch.
The landlord simply adopted us, and gave us advice in a
grave, paternal fashion, about what we should have for
supper. The waiter who attended us took quite an amiable
interest in our trip ; and said he would himself go and see
that the horses which had accomplished such a feat were
being properly looked after. Bell was immensely proud
that she could understand one or two phrases that were
rather obscure to the rest of the party ; and the Lieutenant
still further delighted her by declaring that he wished we
could travel for months through this friendly land, which
reminded him of his own country. Perhaps the inquisitive
reader, having learned that we drank Scotch whisky at the
Bush Inn of Ecclefechan, would like to know what we
drank at the Blue Bell of Lockerbie. He may address a
letter to Queen Titania on that subject, and he will doubt-
less receive a perfectly frank answer.
[Note ~by Queen Titania. " I do not see why our pretty Bell should
be made the chief subject of all the foregoing revelations. I will say
this, that she and myself were convinced that we never saw two men
more jealous of each other than those two were in that inn near the
Border. The old lady was quite amused by it; but I do not think the
girl herself noticed it ; for she is a very innocent and gentle young
thing, and has probably had no experience of such absurdities. But I
would like to ask who first mentioned that subject of photographs ;
and who proposed to send her a whole series of engravings ; and who
offered to present her with a volume of German songs. If Arthur had
been there, we should have had the laugh all on our side ; but now I
suppose they will deny that anything of the kind took place with
the ordinary candour of gentlemen who are found out."']
358 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
CHAPTER XXX.
TWEED SIDE.
" Ah, happy Lycius ! for she was a maid
More beautiful than ever twisted braid,
Or sighed, or blushed, or on spring-flowered lea
Spread a green kirtle to the minstrelsy;
A virgin purest-lipped, yet in the lore
Of love deep learned to the red heart's core."
THE very first object that we saw, on this the first
morning of our waking in Scotland, was a small boy of
seven or eight, brown-faced, yellow-haired, bare-footed, who
was marching along in the sunlight with a bag of school-
books on his back about as big as himself.
" Oh, the brave little fellow ! " cries Tita, regarding him
from the door of the inn with a great softness in her
brown eyes. " Don't you think he will be Lord Chancellor
some day ? "
The future Lord Chancellor went steadily on, his small
brown feet taking no heed of the stones in the white road.
"I think," says Tita, suddenly plunging her hand into
her pocket, " I think I should like to give him a shilling.".
" No, Madame," says one of us to her, sternly ; " you shall
not bring into this free land the corrupting influences of
the south. It is enough that you have debased the district
around your own home. If you offered that young patriot
a shilling, he would turn again and rend you. But if you
offered him a halfpenny, now, to buy bools
At this moment, somehow or other, Bell and our
Lieutenant appear together ; and before we know where
we are, the girl has darted across the street in pursuit of
that small urchin.
" What are bools ? " asks the Lieutenant gravely.
" Objects of interest to the youthful student."
Then we see, in the white glare of the sun, a wistful, small,
fair-complexioned face turned towards that young lady
with the voluminous light brown hair. She is apparently
talking to him, but in a different tongue from his own, and
he looks frightened. Then the sunlight glitters on two
white coins, and Bell pats him kindly on the shoulder ; and
OF A PHAETON. 359
doubtless the little fellow proceeds on his way to school
in a sort of wild and wonderful dream, having an awful
sense that he has been spoken to by a marvellous and
gracious princess.
" As I live," says my Lady, with a great surprise, " she
has given him two half-crowns ! "
Queen Titania looks at me. There is a meaning in her
look partly interrogation, partly conviction, yet wholly
kind and pleasant. It has dawned upon her that girls who
are not blessed with abundant pocket-money do not give
away five shillings to a passing schoolboy without some
profound emotional cause. Bell comes across the road,
looking vastly pleased and proud, but somehow avoiding
our eyes. She would have gone into the inn, but that
my Lady's majestic presence (you could have fanned her
out of the way with a butterfly's wing !) barred the
entrance.
" Have you been for a walk this morning, Bell ? " she
asked, with a fine air of indifference.
"Yes, Madame," replied our Uhlan as if he had any
business to answer for our Bell.
" Where did you go ? "
" Oh," said the girl, with some confusion, " we went
we went away from the town a little way I don't
exactly know "
And with that she escaped into the inn.
" Madame," says the Lieutenant, with a great apparent
effort, while he kept his eyes looking towards the pave-
ment, and there was a brief touch of extra colour in his
brown face, " Madame I I am asked indeed. Made-
moiselle, she was good enough she is to be my wife and
she did ask me if I would tell you "
And somehow he put out his hand just as a German
boy shakes hands with you, in a timid fashion, after you
have tipped him at school and took Tita's hand in his, as
if to thank her for a great gift. And the little womanjwas
so touched, and so mightily pleased, that I thought "she
would have kissed him before my very face, in the open
streets of Lockerbie. All this scene, you must remember,
took place on the doorstep of an odd little inn in a small
Scotch country town. There were few spectators. The
360 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
sun was shining down on the white fronts of the cottages,
and blinking on the windows. A cart of hay stood
opposite to us, with the horse slowly munching inside
his nosebag. We ourselves were engaged in peacefully
waiting for breakfast when the astounding news burst
upon us.
"Oh, I am very, very glad, Count von Rosen," says
Tita ; and, sure enough, there was gladness written all over
her face and in her eyes. And then in a minute she had
sneaked away from us ; and I knew she had gone to seek
out Bell, and stroke her hair, and put her arms round
her neck, and say, "Oh, my dear," with a little sob of
delight.
Well, I turn to the Lieutenant. Young men, when they
have been accepted, wear a most annoying air of self-
satisfaction.
I*- "Touching those settlements," I say to him ; "have you
any remark to make ? "
The young man begins to laugh.
"It is no laughing matter. I am Bell's guardian. You
have not got my consent yet."
"We can do without it it is not an opera," he says,
with some more of that insolent coolness. " But you
would be pleased to prevent the marriage, yes ? For I
have seen it often that you are more jealous about
Mademoiselle than about anyone and it is a wonder to me
that you did not interfere before. But as for Madame, now
yes, she is my very good friend, and has helped me very
much."
Such is the gratitude of those conceited young fellows,
and their penetration, too ! If he had but known that only
a few days before Tita had taken a solemn vow to help
Arthur by every means in her power, so as to atone for any
injustice she might have done him ! But all at once he
says, with quite a burst of eloquence (for him)
" My dear friend, how am I to thank you for all this ? I
did not know when I proposed to come to England that this
holiday tour would bring me so much happiness. It does
appear to me I am grown very rich so rich I should like
to give something to everybody this morning and make
everyone happy as myself "
OF A PHAETON. 361
" Just as Bell gave the boy five shillings. All right.
When you get to Edinburgh you can buy Tita a Scotch
collie she is determined to have a collie, because Mrs.
Quinet got a prize for one at the Crystal Palace. Come in
to breakfast."
Bell was sitting there with her face in shadow ; and Tita,
laughing in a most affectionate way, was standing beside her
with her hands on the girl's shoulder. Bell did not look
up ; nothing was said. A very friendly waiter put breakfast
on the table. The landlord dropped in to bid us good
morning, and see that we were comfortable. Even the
ostler, the Lieutenant told us afterwards, of this Scotch inn
had conversed with him in a shrewd, straightforward, and
sensible fashion, treating him as a young man who would
naturally like to have the advice of his elders.
The young people were vastly delighted with the homely
ways of this Scotch inn ; and began to indulge in vague
theories about parochial education, independence of char-
acter, and the hardihood of northern races all tending to
the honour and glory of Scotland. You would have
thought, to hear them go on in this fashion, that all the
good of the world, and all its beauty and kindliness, were
concentrated in the Scotch town of Lockerbie ; and that in
Lockerbie no place was so much the pet of fortune as the
Blue Bell Inn.
" And to think," says Bell, with a gentle regret, " that
to-morrow is the last day of our driving."
" But not the last of our holiday, Mademoiselle," says
the Lieutenant. " Is it necessary that any of us should go
back to England for a week or two, or a month, or two
months ? "
Of course the pair of them would have liked very well to
start off on another month's excursion, just as this one was
finished. But parents and guardians have their duties.
Very soon they would be in a position to control their own
actions ; and then they were welcome to start for Kams-
chatka or the North Pole.
All that could be said in praise of Scotland had been said
in the inn ; and now, as Castor and Pollux took us away
from Lockerbie into the hillier regions of Dumfries-shire,
our young people were wholly at a loss for words to describe
362 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
their delight. It was a glorious day, to begin with : a
pleasant breeze tempering the hot sun, and blowing about
the perfume of sweet-briar from the fronts of the stone
cottages, and bringing us warm and resinous odours from
the woods of larch and spruce. We crossed deep glens,
along the bottom of which ran clear brown streams over
beds of pebbles. The warm light fell on the sides of those
rocky clefts and lit up the masses of young rowan-trees and
the luxuriant ferns along the moist banks. There was a
richly cultivated and undulating country lying all around ;
but few houses, and those chiefly farms. Far beyond, the
rounded hills of Moffat rose soft and blue into the white
sky. Then, in the stillness of the bright day, we came
upon a wayside school ; and as it happened to be dinner-
time we stopped to watch the stream of little ones come out.
It was a pretty sight, under the shadow of the trees, to see
that troop of children come into the country road most of
them girls, in extremely white pinafores, and nearly all of
them, boys and girls, being yellow-haired, clear-eyed, healthy-
looking children, who kept very silent and stared shyly at
the horses and the phaeton. All the younger ones had bare
feet, stained with the sun ; and their yellow hair which
seemed almost white by the side of their berry-brown
cheeks was free from cap or bonnet. They did not say,
" Chuck us a 'apenny." They did not raise a cheer as we
drove off. They stood by the side of the road, close by the
hawthorn hedge, looking timidly after us ; and the last that
we saw of them was that they had got into the middle of
the path and were slowly I going off home a small, bright,
and various-coloured group under the soft green twilight of
an avenue of trees.
As we drove on through the clear, warm day, careless and
content, the two women had all the talking to themselves ;
and a strange use they made of their opportunities. If the
guardian angels of those two creatures happen to have any
sense of humour, they must have laughed as they looked
down and overheard. You may remember that when it was
first proposed to take this Prussian Lieutenant with us on
our summer tour, both Bell and Queen Tita professed the
most deadly hatred of the German nation, and were nearly
weeping tears over the desolate condition of France. That
OF A PHAETON. 363
was about six months before. Now, thirty millions of
people, either in the south or north of Europe, cannot change
their collective character if such a thing exists within
the space of six months ; but on this bright morning you
would have fancied that the women were vying with each
other to prove that all the domestic virtues, and all the
science and learning of civilization, and all the arts that
beautify life, were the exclusive property of the Teutons.
My Lady was a later convert had she not made merry
only the other day over Bell's nai've confession that she
thought the German nation as good as the French nation ?
but now that she had gone over to the enemy, she altogether
distanced Bell in the production of theories, facts, quota-
tions, and downright personal opinion. She had lived a
little longer, you see, and knew more ; and perhaps she
had a trifle more audacity in suppressing awkward facts.
At all events the Lieutenant was partly abashed and partly
amused by her warm advocacy of German character,
literature, music, and a thousand other things ; and by her
endeavours to prove out of the historical lessons she had
taught her two boys that there had always prevailed in this
country a strong antipathy to the French and all their ways.
" Their language too," I remark, to keep the ball rolling.
"Observe the difference between the polished, fluent, and
delicate German, and the barbaric dissonance and jumble of
the French ! How elegant the one, how harsh the other !
If you were to take Bossuet, now "
"It is not fair," says Bell. "We were talking quite
seriously, and you come in to make a jest of it."
"I don't. Are you aware that, at a lecture Coleridge
gave in the Royal Institution in 1808, he solemnly thanked
his Maker that he did not know a word of that frightful
jargon, the French language ? "
The women were much impressed. They would not have
dared, themselves, to say a word against the French
language ; nevertheless, Coleridge was a person of autho-
rity. Bell looked as if she would like to have some further
opinions of this sort ; but Mr. Freeman had not at that
time uttered his epigram about the general resemblance of
a Norman farmer to " a man of Yorkshire or Lincolnshire
who has somehow picked up a bad habit of talking French,"
364 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
nor that other about a Dane who, " in his sojourn in Gaul,
had put on a slight French varnish, and who came into
England to be washed clean again."
" Now," I say to Bell, " if you had only civilly asked me
to join in the argument, I could have given you all sorts of
testimony to the worth of the Germans and the despicable
nature of the French."
" Yes, to make the whole thing absurd," says Bell,
somewhat hurt. " I don't think you believe anything
seriously."
" Not in national characteristics even ? If not in them,
what are we to believe ? But I will help you all the same,
Bell. Now, did you ever hear of a sonnet in which
Wordsworth, after recalling some of the great names of the
Commonwealth time, goes on to say
'France, 'tis strange,
Hath brought forth no such souls as we had then.
Perpetual emptiness ! unceasing change !
No single volume paramount, no code,
No master spirit, no determined road;
But equally a want of books and men ! '
Does that please you ? "
" Yes," says Bell, contentedly.
" Well, did you ever read a poem called ' Hands all
Round ? ' "
" No."
"You never heard of a writer in the Examiner called
' Merlin,' whom people to this day maintain was the Poet
Laureate of England ? "
No."
" Well, listen :
'What health to France, if France be she
Whom martial progress only charms ?
Yet tell her better to be free
Than vanquish all the world in arms.
Her frantic city's flashing heats
But fire, to blast, the hopes of men.
Why change the titles of your streets ?
You fools, you'll want them all again.
Hands all round !
God the tyrant's cause confound!
To France, the wiser France, we drink, my friends,
And the great name of England, round and round ! '
OF A PHAETON. 365
At that time, Miss Bell, thousands of people in this country
were disquieted about the possible projects of the new
French Government ; and as it was considered that the
Second Napoleon would seek to establish his power by the
fame of foreign conquest "
" This is quite a historical lecture," says Queen Tita, in
an undertone.
and as the Napoleonic legend included the humilia-
tion of England, many thoughtful men began to cast about
for a possible ally with whom we could take the field. To
which country did they turn, do you think ? "
" To Germany, of course," says Bell, in the most natural
way in the world.
" Listen again :
* Gigantic daughter of the West,
We drink to thee across the flood,
We know thee, and we love thee best,
For art thou not of British blood?
Should war's mad blast again be blown,
Permit not thou the tyrant powers
To fight thy mother here alone,
But let thy broadsides roar with ours.
Hands all round !
God the tyrant's cause confound !
To our dear kinsmen of the West, my friends,
And the great name of England, round and round ! ' "
Bell seemed a little disappointed that America and not
Germany had been singled out by the poet ; but of course
nations don't choose allies merely to please a girl who
happens to have engaged herself to marry a Prussian
officer.
" Now," I say to her, " you see what aid I might have
given you, if you only had asked me prettily. But suppose
we give Germany a turn now suppose we search about for
all the unpleasant things
" Oh no, please don't," says Bell, submissively.
This piece of unfairness was so obvious and extreme that
von Rosen himself was at last goaded into taking up the
cause of France ; and even went the length of suggesting
that peradventure ten righteous men might be found
within the city of Paris. 'Twas a notable concession. I
had begun to despair of France, But no sooner had the
366 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
Lieutenant turned the tide in her favour than my Lady
and Bell seemed graciously disposed to be generous.
Chateaubriand was not Goethe, but he was a pleasing
writer. Alfred de Musset was not Heine, but he had the
merit of resembling him. If Auber did not exactly reach
the position of a Beethoven or a Mozart, one had listened
to worse operas than the " Crown Diamonds." The women
did not know much about philosophy ; but while they were
sure that all the learning and wisdom of the world had
come from Grermany, they allowed that France had pro-
duced a few epigrams. In this amiable frame of mind we
drove along the white road on this summer day ; and after
having passed the great gap in the Moffat Hills which leads
through to St. Mary's Loch and all the wonders of the
Ettrick and the Yarrow, we drove into Moffat itself, and
found ourselves in a large hotel fronting a great sunlit and
empty square.
Our young people had really conducted themselves very
discreetly. All that morning you would scarcely have
imagined that they had just made a solemn promise to
marry each other ; but then they had been pretty much
occupied with ancient and modern history. Now, as we
entered a room in the hotel, the Lieutenant espied a number
of flowers in a big glass vase ; and without any pretence of
concealment whatever, he walked up to it, selected a white
rose, and brought it back to Bell.
" Mademoiselle," he said, in a low voice but who could
help hearing him ? " you did give to me, the other day, a
forget-me-not ; will you take this rose ? "
Mademoiselle looked rather shy for a moment ; but she
took the rose, and with an affectation of unconcern which
did not conceal an extra touch of colour in her pretty face
she said, " Oh, thank you very much," and proceeded to
put it into the bosom of her dress.
" Madame," said the Lieutenant, just as if nothing had
occurred, " I suppose Moffat is a sort of Scotch Baden-
Baden ? "
Madame, in turn, smiled sedately, looked out of the
window, and said that she thought it was.
When we went out for a lounge after luncheon, we dis-
covered that if Moffat is to be likened to Baden-Baden, it
OF A PHAETON. 367
forms an exceedingly Scotch and respectable Baden-Baden.
The building in which the mineral waters are drunk * looks
somewhat like an educational institution, painted white, and
with prim white iron railings. Inside, instead of that
splendid saloon of the Conversationshaus in which, in the
olden days, various characters, doubtful and otherwise, used
to~walk up and down and chat while their friends were losing
five-franc pieces and napoleons in the adjoining chambers,
we found a long and sober-looking reading-room. Moffat
itself is a white, clean, wide-streeted place ; and the hills
around it are smooth and green ; but it is very far removed
from Baden-Baden. It is a good deal more proper ; and a
great deal more dull. Perhaps we did not visit it in the
height of the season, if it has got a season ; but we were at
all events not very sorry to get away from it again, and out
into the hilly country beyond.
That was a pretty drive up through Annandale. As you
leave Moffat the road gradually ascends into the region of
the hills ; and down below you lies a great valley, with the
river Annan running through it, and the town of Moffat
itself getting smaller in the distance. You catch a glimmer
of the blue peaks of Westmoreland lying far away in the
south, half hid amid silver haze. The hills around you
increase in size ; and yet you would not recognize the bulk
of the great round slopes but for those minute dots that
you can make out to be sheep, and for an occasional wasp-
like creature that you suppose to be a horse. The evening
draws on. The yellow light on the slopes of green becomes
warmer. You arrive at a great circular chasm which is
called by the country-folks the Devil's Beef -tub a mighty
hollow, the western sides of which are steeped in a soft
purple shadow, while the eastern slopes are golden in the
sunlight. Far away down in that misty purple you can see
tints of j grey ; and these are massespf slate uncovered by
*"Bien entendu, d'ailleurs, que'le'but du voyage
Est de prendre les eaux; c'est im compte regie.
D'eaux, je n'en ai point vu lorsque j'y suis alle;
Mais qu'on ou puisse voir, je n'en mets rien en gage ;
Je crois memo, en honneur, que 1'eau de voisinage
A, quand on 1'examine, un petit gout sale."
A. DE MUSSET.
368 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
grass. The descent seems too abrupt for cattle, and yet
there are faint specks which may be sheep. There is no
house, not even a farm-house, near ; and all traces of Moffat
and its neighbourhood have long been left out of sight.
But what is the solitude of this place to that of the wild
and lofty region you enter when you reach the summits of
the hills ? Far away on every side of you stretch miles of
lonely moorland, with the shoulders of still more distant
hills reaching down in endless succession into the western
sky. There is no sign of life. The stony road along
which you drive was once a mail-coach road : now it is
overgrown with grass. A few old stakes, rotten and tum-
bling, show where it was necessary at one time to place a
protection against the sudden descents on the side of the
highway ; but now the highway itself seems lapsing back
into moorland. It is up in this wilderness of heather and
wet moss that the Tweed takes its rise ; but we could hear
no trickling of any stream to break the profound and
melancholy stillness. There was not even a shepherd's hut
visible ; and we drove on in silence, scarcely daring to break
the charm of the utter loneliness of the place.
The road twists round to the right. Before us a long
valley is seen ; and we guess that it receives the waters of
the Tweed. Almost immediately afterwards we come upon
a tiny rivulet some two feet in width either the young
Tweed itself or one of its various sources ; and as we drive
on in the gathering twilight towards the valley it seems as
though we were accompanied by innumerable streamlets
trickling down to the river. The lire of the sunset goes
out in the west ; but over there in the clear green of the
east a range of hills still glows with a strange roseate
purple. We hear the low murmuring of the Tweed in the
universal silence. We get further and further down ; and
now hills ; and the neighbourhood of the river seems to have
drawn to it thousands of wild creatures. There are plover
calling and whirling over the marshy levels. There are
black cock and grey hen dusting themselves in the road
before us, and waiting until we are quite near to them
before they wing their straight flight up to the heaths
above. Far over us, in the clear green of the sky, a brace
of wild duck go swiftly past. A weasel glides out and over
OF A PHAETON. 369
the grey stones by the roadside ; and further along the
bank there are young rabbits watching, and trotting, and
watching again, as the phaeton gets nearer to them. And
then, as the deep rose purple of the eastern hills slowly
disappears, and all the dark green valley of the Tweed lies
under the cold silver-grey of the twilight, we reach a small
and solitary inn, and are almost surprised to hear once more
the sound of a human voice.
CHAPTER XXXI.
OUR EPILOGUE.
"Nor much it grieves
To die, wlien summer dies on the cold sward.
Why, I have been a butterfly, a lord
Of flowers, garlands, love-knots, silly posies,
Groves, meadows, melodies, and arbour-roses :
My kingdom's at its death."
WHEN you have dined on ham and eggs and whisky the
evening before, to breakfast on ham and eggs and tea is a
great relief the morning after. We gathered round the
table in this remote little inn with much thankfulness of
heart. We were to have a glorious day for the close of our
journey. All round the Crook Inn there was a glare of
sunshine on the rowan-trees. The soft greys and greens of
the hills on the other side of the river rose into a pale-blue
sky where there was not a single cloud. And then, to
complete the picture of the moorland hostelry, appeared a
keeper who had just set free from their kennel a lot of
handsome setters, and the dogs were flying hither and
thither along the white road and over the grass and weeds
by the tall hedges.
" Do you know," said Bell, " that this used to be a post-
ing-house that had thirty horses in its own stables ; and
now it is only used by a few sportsmen who come here for
the fishing and later on for the shooting ? "
So she, too, had taken to getting up in the; morning and
acquiring information.
" Yes," she said, " but it has been taken by a [new land-
lord, who hopes to have gentlemen come and lodge here by
the month in the autumn."
2 B
370 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
She was beginning to show a great interest in the affairs of
strangers : hitherto she had cared for none of these things,
except where one of our Surrey pensioners was concerned.
" And the ostler is such an intelligent and independent
old man, who lets you know that he understands horses a
great deal better than you."
I could see that my Lady was mentally tracking out
Bell's wanderings of the morning. Under whose tuition
had she discovered all this about the landlord ? Under
whose guidance had she found herself talking to an ostler
in the neighbourhood of the stables ? But she had not
devoted the whole morning to such inquiries. We remarked
that the Lieutenant wore in his button-hole a small bouquet
of tiny wild-flowers, the faint colours of which were most
skilfully combined and shown up by a bit of fern placed be-
hind them. You may be sure it was not the clumsy fingers
of the young Uhlan that had achieved that work of art.
" And now, my dear children," I observe, from the head
of the table, " we have arrived at the last stage of our
travels. We have done nothing that we ought to have
done ; we have done everything that we ought not to have
done. As one of you has already pointed out, we have
never visited a museum, or explored a ruin, or sought out a
historical scene. Our very course has been inconsistent,
abnormal, unreasonable indeed, if one were to imagine a
sheet of lightning getting tipsy and wandering over the
country in a helpless fashion for several days, that might
describe our route. We have had no adventures that could
be called adventures ; no experiences to turn our hair grey
in a dozen hours ; only a general sense of light, and fresh
air, and motion, and laughter. We have seen green fields,
and blue skies, and silver lakes ; we have seen bright morn-
ings, and breezy days ; and spent comfortable evenings in
comfortable inns. Shall we not look back upon this month in
our lives, and call it the month of sunshine and green leaves ? "
Here a tapping all round the table greeted the orator, and
somewhat disconcerted him ; but presently he proceeded :
" If, at times, one member of our party, in the reckless
exercise of a gift of repartee which heaven, for some
inscrutable reason, has granted her, has put a needle or two
into our couch of eider-down"
OF A PHAETON. 371
" I pronounce this meeting dissolved," said Bell quickly,
and with a resolute air.
" Yes, Mademoiselle," put in the Lieutenant. " It is
dissolved. But as it breaks up it is a solemn occasion
might we not drink one glass of champagne "
Here a shout of laughter overwhelmed the young man.
Champagne up in these wild moorlands of Peebles, where
the youthful Tweed and its tributaries wander through an
absolute solitude ! The motion was negatived without a
division ; and then we went out to look after Castor and
Pollux.
All that morning we were chased by a cloud as we drove
down the valley of the Tweed. Around us there was
abundant sunlight falling on the grey bed of the river, on
the brown water, and on the green banks and hills beyond ;
but in the south-west was a great mass of cloud, which
came slowly advancing with its gloom. Here we were still
in the brightness of the yellow glare ; with a cool breeze
stirring the rowan-trees and the tall weeds by the side of
the river. Then, as we got further down the valley, the
bed of the stream grew broader. There were wide banks
of grey pebbles visible, and the brown water running in
shallow channels between, where the stones fretted its
surface, and caused a murmur that seemed to fill the silence
of the surrounding hills. Now and again we beheld a
solitary fisherman, standing in the river and persistently
whipping the stream with his supple fly-rod. A few
cottages began to appear at considerable intervals. But we
came to no village ; and as for an inn, we never expected
to see one. "We drove leisurely along the now level road,
through a country rich with waving fields of grain, and
dotted here and there with comfortable-looking farm-
houses.
Then Bell sang to us :
"Upon a time I chanced
To walk along the green,
Where pretty lasses danced
In strife, to choose a queen;
Some homely dressed, some handsome,
Some pretty and some gay,
But who excelled in dancing
Must be the Queen of May."
2 B 2
372 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
But when she had sung the last verse
I "Then all the rest in sorrow,
And she in sweet content,
Gave over till the morrow,
And homewards straight they went.
But she, of all the rest,
Was hindered by the way,
For every youth that met her
Must kiss the Queen of May,"
my Lady said it was very pretty, only why did Bell sing an
English song after she had been trying to persuade us that
she held the English and their music in contempt ?
" Now did I ever say anything like that ? " said Bell,
turning in an injured way to the Lieutenant.
" No," answered he, boldly. If she had asked him to swear
that two and two were seven, he would have said that the
man was a paralyzed imbecile who did not know it already.
" But I will sing you a Scotch song, if you please," said
Bell, shrewdly suspecting that that was the object of Tita's
protest.
" Will ye gang to the Hielands, Leezie Lindsay ? "
this was what our Bonny Bell sang now :
"Will ye gang to the Hielands wi' me?
Will ye gang to the Hielands, Leezie Lindsay,
My pride and my darling to be?"
" To gang to the Hielands wi' you, sir,
I dinna ken how that may be;
For I ken nae the land that you live in,
Nor ken I the lad I'm gaun wi'."
And so forth to the end, where the young lady " kilts up
her coats o' green satin," and is off with Lord Ronald
Macdonald. Probably the Lieutenant meant only to show
that he knew the meaning of the word " Hielands ;" but
when he said
" And we do go to the Highlands, yes ? " the girl was
greatly taken aback. It seemed as though he were coolly
placing himself and her in the position of the hero and
heroine of the song ; and my Lady smiled ; and Bell got
confused ; and the Lieutenant, not knowing what was the
matter, stared, and then turned to me to repeat the
OF A PHAETON. 373
question. By this time Bell had recovered herself, and she
answered hastily
" Oh yes, we shall go to the Highlands, shall we
not ? to the Trossachs, and Ben Nevis, and Auchna-
sheen "
" And the Orkneys too, Bell ? Do you know the wild
proposal you are making in laying out plans for another
month's holiday ? "
" And why not ? " says the Lieutenant. " It is only a
pretence, this talk of much work. You shall send the
horses and phaeton back by the rail from Edinburgh ; then
you are free to go away anywhere for another month. Is
it not so, Madame ? "
Madame is silent. She knows that she has only to say
" yes " to have the thing settled ; but thoughts of home and
the cares of that pauperised parish crowd in upon her mind.
" I suppose we shall get letters from the boys to-night,
when we reach Edinburgh. There will be news from
home, too, saying whether everything is right down there.
There may be no reason for going back at once."
She was evidently yielding. Was it that she wanted to
give those young people the chance of a summer ramble
which they would remember for the rest of their life ?
The prospect lent a kindly look to her face ; and, indeed,
the whole of them looked so exceedingly happy, and so
dangerously forgetful of the graver aspects of life, that it
was thought desirable to ask them whether there might not
be* a message from Arthur among the batch of letters
awaiting us in Edinburgh.
'Twas a random stroke, but it struck home. The
conscience of these careless people was touched. They
knew in their inmost hearts that they had wholly forgotten
that unhappy young man whom they had sent back to
Twickenham with all his faith in human nature destroyed
for ever. But was it pity for him that now filled their
faces ; or a vague dread that Arthur might, in the last
extremity of his madness, have gone up to Edinburgh by
rail to meet us there ?
" He promised us an important communication," observed
my Lady.
She would not say that it was understood to refer to his
374 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
marriage ; but that was the impression he had left. Very
probably, too, she was haunted by speculations as to how
such a marriage, if it took place, would turn out; and
whether little Katty Tatham would be able to reconcile
Arthur to his lot, and convince him that he was very
fortunate in not having married that faithless Bell.
"Madame," said the Lieutenant, suddenly he did not
care to have that pitiful fellow Arthur receive so much
consideration " this is a very sober country. Shall we
never come to an inn ? The champagne I spoke of, that
has gone away as a dream ; but on this warm day a little
lemonade and a little whisky that would do to drink the
health of our last drive, yes ? But there is no inn
nothing but those fields of corn and farm-houses."
At last, however, we came to a village. The Lieutenant
proposed to pull up and give Castor and Pollux a mouthful
of water and oatmeal it was always Castor and Pollux
that were supposed to be thirsty. But what was his
amazement to find that in the village there was no inn of
any kind !
" I wish there were some villages of this sort down in our
part of the country," said Queen Tita, with a sigh. " With
us, they build the public-house first, and that draws other
settlers."
And with that Bell began to relate to the Lieutenant
how my Lady was once vexed beyond measure to find
just as she was coming out of an obscure public-house on
a Sunday morning, after having compelled the tipsy and
quarrelling landlord thereof to beg forgiveness of his wife
a whole group of visitors at the Squire's house coming
along the road from church, and staring at her as if she
had gone into the tavern for refreshment. It was a vastly
interesting story, perhaps ; but the young man paid
little heed to it. He wore an injured look. He kept
looking far ahead along the rQad ; and, although it was a
very pretty road, he did not seem satisfied. At length he
pulled the horses up, and hailed a farmer who, in his white
shirt-sleeves, was working in a field close by, along with a
domestic group of fellow-labourers.
" I say," called out the Lieutenant, " isn't there an inn
on this road ? "
OF A PHAETON. 375
" Ay, that there is," answered the man, with a grim smile,
as he rose up and drew his sleeve across his forehead.
" How far yet ? "
" Twa miles. It's a temperance hoose ! "
" A temperance hoose," said the Lieutenant to Bell ;
" what is a temperance hoose ? "
" They don't sell any spirits there, or "beer, or wine."
" And is that what is called temperance ? " said the
Lieutenant, in a peevish way ; and then he called out again,
" Look here, my good friend, when do we come to a proper
kind of inn ? "
" There is an inn at Ledburn that's eight miles on."
" Eight miles ! And where was the last one we passed ? "
" "Well, that maun be about seven miles back."
" Thank you. It is healthy for you, perhaps ; but how
you can live in a place where there is no public-house not
for fifteen miles well, it is a wonder. Good day to you ! "
" Gude day, sir ! " said the farmer, with a broad, good-
humoured laugh on his face : the Lieutenant was obviously
not the first thirsty soul who had complained of the scarcity
of inns in these parts.
"These poor horses," growled the Lieutenant, as we
drove on. " It is the hottest day we have had. The clouds
have gone away, and we have beaten in the race. And
other eight miles in this heat "
He would probably have gone on compassionating the
horses, but that he caught a glimpse of Bell demurely
smiling, and then he said
" Ha, you think I speak for myself, Mademoiselle ?
That also, for when you give your horses water, you should
drink yourself always, for the good of the inn. But now
that we can get nothing, Madame, shall we imagine it,
yes ? "What we shall drink at the Ledburn inn ? Have
you tried, on a hot day, this one glass of hock poured
into a tumbler, then a bottle of seltzer water, then three
drops of Angostura bitters, and a lump of ice ? That is
very good ; and this too you put a glass of pale sherry
in the tumbler, then a little lemon juice "
" Please, Count von Eosen, may I write it down in my
note-book ? " says Tita, hurriedly. " You know I have
your recipe for a luncheon. "Wouldn't these do for it ? "
376 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
"Yes, and for you!" says a third voice. "What
madness has seized you, to talk of ice and hock in connec-
tion with Ledburn ? If you get decent Scotch whisky and
ham and eggs for luncheon, you may consider yourselves
well off."
" 1 am a little tired of that sort of banquet," says my
Lady, with a gentle look of resignation. "Couldn't we
drive on to Edinburgh ? "
But for the sake of the horses, we should all have been
glad to do that ; for the appearance of this Ledburn inn,
when we got to it, impressed us with awe and terror. 'Tis
a cutthroat-looking place. The dingy dilapidated building
stands at the parting of two roads ; the doors were shut as
we drove up to it ; there was no one about of whom we
could ask a question. It looked the sort of place for
travellers to reach at dead of night, and become the subject
of one or other of the sombre adventures which are
associated with remote and gloomy inns in the annals of
romance. And when we did get hold of the landlord, his
appearance was not prepossessing. He was a taciturn and
surly person. There was apparently no ostler ; and he
helped von Rosen to take the horses out of the phaeton ;
but he did so in a fashion which awoke the ire of the
Lieutenant to a serious degree ; and some sharp words were
being bandied about when I drove the women into the inn.
" That is a dreadful person," said my Lady.
" Why ? He has become morose in this solitary inn,
that is all. If you were shut up here for a few years, what
would you become ? "
We had ham and eggs and whisky in a dingy little
chamber upstairs. The women would touch nothing
notwithstanding that the Lieutenant came in to announce
that the shoe of one of the horses had got loose, and
that a smith would have to be sent for from some distance
away. Moreover, when the smith did come, it was found
that our ingenious landlord had not informed him what
was required of him, and consequently he had brought no
tools. Should we send the horse back with him, or would
he despatch a boy for his tools ?
" How many miles is it to Edinburgh ? " says my Lady.
" About a dozen, I should think."
OF A PHAETON. 377
" We couldn't walk that, do you think ? " she says to
Bell, with a doubtful air.
Bell could walk it very well, I know ; but she regards
her companion for a moment, and says
" We must not try."
Looking at this fix, and at the annoyance the women
experienced in being detained at this inhospitable hostelry,
our young Prussian got dreadfully enraged. He was all the
more wroth that there was no one on whom he could reason-
ably vent his anger ; and, in fact, it was a most fortunate
thing for our host that he had at last condescended to be a
little more civil. The Lieutenant came up into the room,
and proposed that we should play at bezique. Impossible.
Or would Mademoiselle care to have the guitar taken out ?
Mademoiselle would prefer to have it remain where it was.
And at length we went outside and sat in the yard, or
prowled along the uninteresting road, until the smith
arrived, and then we had the horses put to and set out
upon the last stage of our journey.
We drove on in the deepening sunset. The ranges of
the Pentland Hills on our left were growing darker ; and
the wild moorland country around was getting to be of a
deeper and deeper purple. Sometimes, from the higher
portions of the road, we caught a glimpse of Arthur's Seat,
and in the whiter sky of the north-east it lay there like a
pale-blue cloud. We passed through Pennycuick, pictur-
esquely placed along the wooded banks of the North Esk.
But we were driving leisurely enough along the level road ;
for the horses had done a good day's work, and there still
remained a few miles before they had earned their rest.
Was it because we were drawing near a great city that
von Eosen somewhat abruptly asked my Lady what was
the best part of London to live in ? The question was an
odd one for a young man. Bell pretended not to hear
she was busy with the reins. Whereupon Tita began to
converse with her companion about the troubles of taking a
house, and how your friends would inevitably wonder how
you could have chosen such a neighbourhood instead of
their neighbourhood, and would assure you, with much com-
passion, that you had paid far too much.
"And as for Pimlico," I say to him, "you can't live
378 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
there ; the sight of its stucco would kill you in a month.
And as for Brompton, you can't live there ; it lies a
hundred feet below the level of the Thames. And as for
South Kensington, you can't live there ; it is a huddled
mass of mews. And as for Belgravia or Mayfair, you can't
live there ; for you could not pay the rent of a good house,
and the bad houses are in slums. Paddington ? a
thousand miles from a theatre. Hampstead ? good-bye
to your friends. Bloomsbury ? the dulness of it will
send you to an early grave. Islington ? you will acquire
a Scotch accent in a fortnight. Clapham ? you will
become a Dissenter. Denmark Hill ? they will exclude
you from all the fashionable directories. Brixton ? the
* endless meal of brick ' will drive you mad. But then it is
true that Pimlico is the best-drained part of London. And
Brompton has the most beautiful old gardens. And South
Kensington brings you close to all sorts of artistic treasures.
And Hampstead has a healthy situation. And Mayfair is
close to the Park. And Clapham is close to several
commons, and offers you excellent drives. And Denmark
Hill is buried in trees, and you descend from it into
meadows and country lanes. And Islington is celebrated
for possessing the prettiest girls in the world. And
Brixton has a gravelly soil so that you see, looking at all
these considerations, you will have no difficulty whatever in
deciding where you ought to live."
" I think," says the young man, gravely, " that the easiest
way of choosing a house in London is to take one in the
country."
" Oh, do live in the country ! " exclaims Tita, with much
anxiety. " You can go so easily up to London and take
rooms about Bond Street or in Half-moon Street, if you
wish to see pictures or theatres. And what part of the
country near London could you get prettier than down by
Leatherhead ? "
Bell is not appealed to. She will not hear. She pretends
to be desperately concerned about the horses. And so the
discussion is postponed, sine die, until the evening ; and in
the gathering darkness we approach Edinburgh.
How long the way seemed on this the last night of our
driving ! The clear twilight slowly faded ; and the over-
OF A PHAETON. 379
arching heavens began to show faint throbbings of the stars.
A pale yellow glow on the horizon told us where the lights of
Edinburgh were afire. The road grew almost indistinguish-
able ; but overhead the great worlds became more visible
in the deep vault of blue. In a perfect silence we drove
along the still highway, between the sombre hedges ; and
clearer and more clear grew these white constellations,
in the placid skies. What was my Lady thinking of of
Arthur, or her boys at Twickenham, or of long-forgotten
days at Eastbourne as she looked up at all the wonders of
the night ! There lay King Charles's Wain as we had
often regarded it from a boat at sea, as we floated idly on the
lapping waves. The jewels on Cassiopeia's chair glimmered
faint and pale ; and all the brilliant stars of the Dragon's
hide trembled in the dark. The one bright star of the
Swan recalled many an evening in the olden times ;
here, nearer at hand, Capella shone ; and yonder Cepheus
looked over to the pole-star as from the distance of another
universe. Somehow it seemed to us that under the vast
and throbbing vault the sea ought to be lying around its
cliffs ; but those were other masses we saw before us, where
the crags of Arthur's Seat rose sharp and black into the
sky. We ran in almost under the shadow of that silent
bulk of hill. We drew nearer to the town ; and then we
saw before us long and waving lines of flame the gas-
lamps of a mighty street. We left the majesty of the night
outside, and were soon in the heart of the great city. Our
journey was at an end.
But when the horses had been consigned to their stables,
and all arrangements made for their transference next day
to London, we sat down at the window of a Princes Street
Hotel. The tables behind were inviting enough. Our
evening meal had been ordered ; and at length the
Lieutenant had the wish of his heart in procuring the
Schaumwein with which to drink to the good health of our
good horses that had brought us so far. But what in all
the journey was there to equal the magic sight that lay
before us as we turned to these big panes ? Beyond a gulf
of blackness the old town of Edinburgh rose with a thousand
points of fire into the clear sky of a summer night. The
tall houses, with their eight or nine stories, had their
380 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
innumerable windows ablaze ; and the points of- orange
light shone in the still blue shadow until they seemed to
form part of some splendid and enchanted palace built on
the slopes of a lofty hill. And then beyond that again we
could see the great crags of the Castle looming dark ; and
we knew, rather than saw, that there were walls and
turrets up there, cold and distant, looking down on the
yellow glare of the city beneath. What was Cologne with
the coloured lamps of its steamers as you see them cross
the smooth waters of the Rhine when a full moon shines
over the houses of Deutz or what was Prague with its
countless spires piercing the starlight and its great bridge
crossing over to the wooded heights of the Hradschin
compared to this magnificent spectacle in the noblest city of
the world ? The lights of the distant houses went out one
by one. The streets became silent. Even the constellations
grew paler ; but why was that ? A faint radiance, golden
and soft, began to steal along the Castle-hill ; and the
strange splendour touched the sharp slopes, the trees, and
the great grey walls above, which were under the stars.
" Oh, my dear," says Tita, quite gently, to Bell, " we
have seen nothing like that, not even in your own country
of the Lakes ! "
[Note by Queen Titania. "It seems they have put upon me the
responsibility of saying the last word, which is not quite fair. In the
old comedies it was always the heroine of the piece who came forward
to the footlights, and in her prettiest way spoke the epilogue ; and of
course the heroine was always young and nice-looking. If Bell
would only do that, now, I am sure you would be pleased ; but she is
afraid to appear in public. As for myself, I don't know what to say.
Count von Rosen suggests that I should copy some of the ancient
authors and merely say ' Farewell, and clap your hands ; ' but very
likely that is a joke for who can tell when gentlemen intend to be
amusing ? and perhaps they never said anything so foolish. But, as
you are not to be addressed by the heroine of the piece, perhaps,
considering my age which I am seldom allowed to forget perhaps a
word of advice may be permitted. And that is to the ladies and
gentlemen who always go abroad and spend a great deal of time and
money in hiring carriages to drive them in foreign parts. Of course
everyone ought to go abroad ; but why every year ? I am sure I am
not prejudiced, and I never enjoyed any tour abroad so much as this one
through England. I do consider England (and of course you must
include Scotland and Ireland) the most beautiful country in the world.
I have never been to America ; but that does not matter. It cannot be
OF A PHAETON. 381
more beautiful than England. If it is, so much the better ; but I for
one am quite satisfied with England ; and as for the old-fashioned
and quaint places you meet on a driving tour such as this, I am sure
the American ladies and gentlemen whom I have met have always
admitted to me that they were delightful. Well, that is all. I shall
say nothing about our young friends, for I think sufficient revelations
have been made in the foregoing pages. Arthur has only been to see
us once since our return ; and of course we could not ask him the reason
of his getting married so unexpectedly, for Katty was with him, and
very pleased and happy she looked. Arthur was very civil to our
Bell ; which shows that his marriage has improved him in one respect ;
but he was a little cold and distant at the same time. The poor girl
was dreadfully frightened; but she made herself very friendly to
him, and kissed little Katty in the most affectionate manner when
they were going away. Luckily, perhaps, Lieutenant von Kosen was
up in London ; but when he came down next day, Bell had a great
deal to tell him in private ; and the result of the conversation of
which we elderly folks, of course, are not permitted to know anything
seemed to be very pleasing to them both. Then there was a talk
between my husband and him in the evening about a loose-box in
certain stables. Bell came and put her arm round my waist, and
besought me very prettily to tell her what were the nicest colours for
a drawing-room. It seems there is some house, about a couple of
miles from here, which they have visited ; but I am not going to tell
you any more. As our Bell is too shy to come forward, I suppose I
must say good-bye for her, and thank you very much indeed for
coming with us so far on such a long and roundabout journey. T."]
THE END.
LONDON t
PKINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
STAMFOBD STBEET AND CHASING CBOSS.
The following is a complete list of the new Half-Crown Edition
of Mr. BLACK'S Novels, and the probable order of their
monthlij issue beginning January 1892.
A Daughter of Heth.
The Strange Adventures of a
Phaeton.
A Princess of Thule.
In Silk Attire.
Kilmeny.
Madcap Violet.
Three Feathers.
The Maid of Killeeaa.
Green Pastures and Piccadilly.
Macleod of Dare.
Lady Silverdale's Sweetheart.
White Wings.
Sunrise.
The Beautiful Wretch.
Shan don Bells.
Adventures in Thule.
Yolande.
Judith Shakespeare.
The Wise Women of Inverness.
White Heather.
Sabina Zembra.
The Strange Adventures of a
House Boat.
In Far Lochaber.
The Penance of John Logan.
Prince Fortunatus.
NEW YORK: HARPEE AND BROTHERS.
" T VERSTTV OF
I IJ /
264012
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY