THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 THE GRASSHOPPERS
 
 AT ALL THE LI BRARI ES. 
 
 A JAPANESE MARRIAGE. DOUGLAS SLADEN. 
 
 HAUNTED BY POSTERITY. W. EARL HODGSON. 
 
 JOHN DARKER. AUBREY LEE. 
 
 POSTE RESTANTE. C. Y. HARGREAVES. 
 
 ROMANCE OF DIJON. M. BETHAM-EDWARDS. 
 
 MY INDIAN SUMMER. PRINCESS ALTIERI.
 
 THE 
 
 GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS. ANDREW DEAN 
 
 (MRS. ALFRED SIDGWICK) 
 
 AUTHOR OF ' ISAAC ELLEk's MONEY,' ' A SPLENDID COUSIN,' 
 'MRS. FINCII-BKASSEV," ' I.ESSEK'S DAUGHTER,' HTC. 
 
 ' La cigale, ayant chant6 
 
 Tout 1'ete, 
 
 Se trouva fort depourvue 
 Quanrl la bise fut venue' 
 
 LONDON 
 
 ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK 
 1895
 
 Published March 1895. Reprinted June 1895.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 1. MOTHER AND DAUGHTERS . i 
 
 2. SHOPPING ...... 9 
 
 3. HERR HANSEN ... .20 
 
 4. MRS. THEODORE AT HOME . .37 
 
 5. HERR HANSEN'S COATS ... 48 
 
 6. BEFORE THE DANCE ..... 66 
 
 7. A FOOLISH VIRGIN ..... 80 
 
 8. DICK'S FOLLY . . . . . .100 
 
 9. BAD NEWS . ... 109 
 
 10. REALITIES . . . . . .125 
 
 11. RATS . . . .144 
 
 12. FIRST IMPRESSIONS ... . 159 
 
 13. AN AFTERNOON CALL . . . . .180 
 
 14. A FAMILY PARTY ..... 199 
 
 15. ON THE ALSTER ... . 219 
 
 16. NEWS FROM ENGLAND . . . 242 
 
 17. CHRISTMAS WITH AUNT BERTHA . . . 267 
 
 18. NEW YEAR'S EVE ..... 284 
 
 19. POLTERABEND . . . . . 3O5 
 
 1 54578?
 
 VI THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 CHAP. 1'AGE 
 
 20. THE WEDDING DAY ... . 331 
 
 21. FORTUNE'S FREAKS UNKIND .... 346 
 
 22. LEBEWOHL ...... 358 
 
 23. LIFE IN A GARRET ..... 368 
 
 24. A VISITOR . ... 384 
 
 25. IN WHICH OLD FRIENDS MEET . . . 400 
 
 26. AN ARRIVAL, A DEPARTURE, A SURPRISE . . 416 
 
 27. WHAT EVERY WISE MAN'S SON DOTH KNOW . 429
 
 ; 
 
 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 MOTHER AND DAUGHTERS 
 
 WHEN Hilary Frere first expressed a wish to go 
 to College her mother wept. Mrs. Frere had not 
 trained up her daughter to walk in such a path 
 as this. She had never seen any of the Women's 
 Colleges, nor had she ever known a person who 
 lived in one, nor was she in the habit of reading 
 anything more about them than the chance 
 paragraphs that appear in the daily papers and 
 the fashion books. Nevertheless, like many others 
 of her generation, she cherished a lively dislike of 
 these institutions. The very name of one still 
 sends an unpleasing thrill through the frames 
 of many respectable and otherwise intelligent 
 persons. It conjures up a vision of womanhood 
 with the graces left out. It suggests an aggressive 
 creature, brimful of the knowledge to be gathered 
 from text-books, and lacking the modesty that 
 recognises a yet wider, deeper knowledge in other 
 people.
 
 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 Moreover, Mrs. Frere feared that a collegiate 
 life would have the same effect on a girl as a vow 
 of celibacy. It would lead her to dress in a 
 disagreeably conspicuous fashion. She would cut 
 her hair short, take to spectacles, and burn her 
 modish gowns ; and it would fill her with the 
 distrust of men and marriage that is fashionable 
 amongst the glorified spinsters of to-day. 
 
 ' The others will say they despise men, and 
 then marry the first one who proposes,' wailed Mrs. 
 Frere ; ' but if Hilary says so, she will act on it ; 
 and Hilary would make such a pretty bride.' 
 
 Mrs. Frere, like many a mother, lived in the 
 hope of seeing her two girls married ; and the 
 wish in her kind heart proceeded from her sincere 
 belief in the advantages of married life. She 
 was not by any means without a little common 
 worldly ambition. She would far rather have 
 seen her children married to rich men than to 
 poor ones ; but she would confess without much 
 pressure, and without any shame, that in her 
 opinion almost any existence as a married woman 
 was preferable to a state of single blessedness. 
 She was, in short, a person of antiquated views, 
 who would probably have told you that marriage 
 and motherhood ought to be the end and aim of 
 a woman's life. Her beliefs were behind the times, 
 but they were complimentary to her husband. 
 
 Mrs. Frere was a German. Twenty-five years 
 ago she had arrived in England with no fortune 
 but her good looks, her foreign tongue, and a 
 pretty touch on the piano. She spent a couple 
 of years in imparting all she could of these
 
 MOTHER AND DAUGHTERS 
 
 advantages to the daughters of Mr. Theodore, a 
 wealthy merchant, and then she accepted an offer 
 of marriage from Richard Frere, a junior partner in 
 her employer's firm. 
 
 Mr. Frere married for love, and he got what 
 he wanted. He and his wife clung to each other 
 with an affection that the passing years seemed 
 to foster and strengthen, as time fosters and 
 strengthens other healthy natural growths. Money 
 the years did not bring him, and for this his 
 beloved wife was in part responsible. But even 
 the anxieties of his position, and Mrs. Frere's 
 failure to appreciate them, could not do much to 
 trouble his affection for her. About most items 
 of their expenditure husband and wife disagreed ; 
 and it is a pleasing fact that this constant dis- 
 agreement had only a superficial influence on 
 their regard for each other. Such are the 
 advantages of inconsistency. 
 
 There was, however, one form of expenditure 
 in which both of them delighted. They were 
 equally determined to deny their children noth- 
 ing. Mrs. Frere's indulgence spent itself chiefly 
 on amusements, clothes, and toys. Mr. Frere 
 made a point of paying as much as possible for 
 his daughters' education. It was his way of pro- 
 viding for their future. Mrs. Frere's way was 
 still more simple. The girls would marry young, 
 and marry well, she said, and there would be an 
 end of all perplexity. The next few years would 
 bring this about, and if more money than usual 
 was spent on dress and hospitality Mr. Frere 
 must not grumble. She besought him to keep
 
 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 an easy mind and a light heart until the rice had 
 been thrown after Nell and her bridegroom. Then 
 the two old people could settle down as quietly 
 as Mr. Frere liked and enjoy the sunset of life 
 side by side. Her husband used to smile at his 
 wife's pictures of their children's triumphs and 
 of the silver honeymoon they two would pass 
 together. But his anxieties were too real to be 
 dispelled by pleasant prophecy. He was pitifully 
 eager to give his children anything he could in 
 the shape of a hold on the world. 
 
 Nell's endeavours to improve herself were 
 never unpleasing to her mother. She had a 
 fancy for modern languages ; she danced well ; 
 and, aided by expensive masters, she made the 
 most of a pretty little voice. Even her rivals 
 called her a clever girl. When the banjo came 
 into fashion she learned to play it at once, 
 and she could dance in an accordion - pleated 
 skirt as soon as that was the proper thing to do. 
 She had quite a genius (her friends said) for 
 painting flowers on any background in vogue. 
 Sometimes it was the panels of a door ; once 
 it was the ceiling, and that made her mother 
 nervous. Lately it had been drain-pipes. In a 
 country town she would have been the prop 
 of the bazaars. 
 
 Hilary was very unlike her sister, and she was 
 at once the pride and the despair of her mother's 
 heart. At school she worked hard and did well, 
 and this greatly gratified Mrs. Frere, who never 
 realised that her child's proficiency in English was 
 not as strange and commendable as it would have
 
 MOTHER AND DAUGHTERS 
 
 been in herself. But when Hilary left school her 
 mother did not see why she should trouble any 
 further about the pursuit of knowledge. A few 
 singing lessons, a fancy for water-colours, the trans- 
 lation of / Promessi Sposi, or even a course or 
 two of scientific lectures such last touches to 
 a girl's education Mrs. Frere could understand ; 
 but it vexed her to see the child light up over a 
 volume of Ruskin, and yawn in the dressmaker's 
 parlour. And why should she work at Greek 
 and mathematics ? In these days, when eligible 
 husbands are few and far between, it behoves a 
 girl to be careful lest she should frighten one 
 away. Moreover, the Greek characters might 
 injure her eyes ; and if she spent her mornings 
 indoors 'doing mathematics' she would certainly 
 lose her complexion. These recondite studies 
 were unpraiseworthy, but even they were not 
 as inconvenient as a fit of ' slumming ' that made 
 Hilary late for meals, and eventually gave her 
 the measles. Mrs. Frere said she could not 
 allow it to go on. It endangerqd their lives, 
 upset the house, and put the servants out of 
 temper. If Hilary wanted to be charitable she 
 might give away some of her pocket-money. 
 
 None, however, of Hilary's most tiresome 
 vagaries had been as displeasing to her mother 
 as the last one. In the dawn of her youth and 
 beauty she wished to renounce the world and 
 shut herself up in a Woman's College. Mrs. 
 Frere implored her child to stay at home and 
 gather rosebuds while she might. She reminded 
 Hilary that her eighteenth birthday had come
 
 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 and gone, and that time was flying. But 
 Hilary kissed her mother, and coaxed her father, 
 and as usual got her own way. After over- 
 coming just enough resistance to enhance her 
 self-respect, she departed, full of curiosity and 
 hope, to try a new manner of life at St. 
 Cyprian's. 
 
 After her first term Hilary came home full 
 of new tastes and opinions that in one sense gave 
 Mrs. Frere much satisfaction. They enabled her 
 to say to her husband, ' I told you so ' a form of 
 revenge that all men tell us is exceedingly dear 
 to the feminine heart Hilary had not burnt her 
 fashionable gowns, but she said that they were 
 vulgar. She had not cut off her beautiful hair, 
 but she wore it brushed away from her face and 
 twisted into a rough shapeless lump at the back. 
 She bought shoes and gloves that were too large 
 and too thick, and with the most incapable of 
 fingers she trimmed her own hats. On all the 
 great questions of the day her opinions were 
 feverishly decided. It must be owned that even 
 Nell easy-going, good-tempered Nell found her 
 sister a trying companion at this critical period 
 of her growth. There was never any telling what 
 Hilary would swear at or swear by next. Of 
 course Nell's smart clothes came under the ban. 
 So did most of her friends and all her occupations. 
 And Nell, who was not without perception, 
 noticed that Hilary rather made a point now of 
 being bored by most company, and of discovering 
 that nearly every one she met was ridiculous. 
 To Nell it seemed that this habit was not a sign
 
 MOTHER AND DAUGHTERS 
 
 of either a great heart or a great wit, and that 
 the sooner Hilary cast it off the better. 
 
 On the whole, this little crop of affectations 
 was the most visible fruit to her own people of 
 Hilary's first term at College. But they soon 
 discovered that at the end of each term the crop 
 had changed a little, and generally for the better. 
 In the course of three terms she had seen the 
 vanity of several ' isms ' and cast them aside. At 
 Christmas she had come home with Walden in 
 her trunk and contempt in her soul for material 
 comforts. In her soul the contempt flourished 
 finely for a fortnight, but the weather turned cold 
 and her body inconveniently rebelled. She had 
 refused a fire in her own room, and had lived on 
 bread and potatoes for a week. So she fell ill, 
 and was ordered sweet -breads and champagne. 
 She had brought a friend with her who was as 
 rude to Mrs. Frere and Nell as Mr. Stiggins was 
 to Mr. Weller. She showed them very plainly 
 that in her opinion they were vessels of wrath. 
 At Easter Hilary arrived with a Norwegian dic- 
 tionary and another friend, who said Ibsen had 
 knocked Shakespeare into a cocked hat. The 
 two young ladies spent the vacation discussing 
 the marriage laws and a pamphlet that should 
 bring about their amendment. But the pamphlet 
 never got written, because one day a young man 
 called on Hilary's friend and proposed to her. 
 She came upstairs in a state of happy excitement 
 from her interview with him, and said she must 
 go to the Army and Navy Stores that very after- 
 noon and order her trousseau as ' he ' had to sail
 
 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 for India in no time and wished to take her with 
 him. Mrs. Frere liked that girl, and gave her a 
 handsome wedding present. 
 
 After this Hilary did not bring many of her 
 College acquaintances home with her. She was 
 somehow often most attracted by the poor ones 
 who dressed shabbily and looked forward to 
 making their own living. Her father's friends 
 were flourishing business people, luxurious in 
 their habits, extravagant in their expenditure. 
 They considered her a girl of eccentric tastes, 
 and she considered some of them dull, common- 
 place, and respectably corrupt. Her work at 
 College led to nothing much. At the end of her 
 third term she had made very little of the text- 
 books ; but she had gained some experience of 
 a society that does not attach quite as much 
 value to money as the one in which she lived. 
 She had seen people deeply interested in other pur- 
 suits and problems than the race for gold and 
 the display of it. She had made friends with 
 women who spent less in a year on clothes than 
 Mrs. Theodore did on a single gown, and were 
 nevertheless content and highly honoured. New 
 ideas fermented in her, some extravagant and 
 foolish, some wholesome, to be discarded or 
 developed as she grew older. When she packed 
 her trunks at the end of the May term she came 
 across her notes for the pamphlet on the marriage 
 laws. She thought it would be a pleasant holiday 
 task to expand them. On the subject of men and 
 marriage her opinions were still fully formed. On 
 the subject of clothes her taste had changed again.
 
 II 
 
 SHOPPING 
 
 MRS. FRERE and Nell had been shopping all the 
 morning. They had left home directly after 
 breakfast, for they had seen at an early hour that 
 the day would be fine, and that it would be 
 pleasant to spend it out of doors. The inside of 
 a London shop will not seem to every one an 
 attractive place in which to pass any part of a 
 bright June morning. But these ladies were town 
 born and bred. To them summer brought few 
 country memories, and no wish for other sights 
 and sounds than those of the London streets. 
 Of course they liked a fine summer. It was dry 
 under foot and fair over head. In such weather 
 they could linger near the shop windows or in 
 one of the parks. If they felt hot they sought 
 the shade ; if they were thirsty they ate an ice. 
 
 Nell thought she had never seen the shops so 
 tempting. Her mother and she had spent a good 
 deal of money already, and they still had purchases 
 to make. Nell wanted a hat and Mrs. Frere a 
 bonnet. It was difficult to choose amongst so 
 many, and it ended in Nell taking two and 
 spending twice as much as Mrs. Frere said she
 
 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 could afford. But the black one was necessary, 
 and Nell looked so bewitching in the big brown one 
 that her mother could not bear to leave it behind. 
 Besides the hats there were shoes and gloves to 
 get, and a bit of real lace for Nell's new dinner- 
 gown. Mrs. Frere never liked her children to 
 follow the fashion of wearing imitation lace. She 
 thought it as undesirable as electro-plate instead 
 of silver, or cotton instead of linen. But real 
 Alengon is costly, especially when you choose the 
 most expensive pattern. Nell persuaded her 
 mother to take it by reminding her that it is 
 always economical to buy the best. Mrs. Frere 
 prided herself on her economy. 
 
 The ladies lunched at the Autolycus. Just a 
 roast fowl and half a bottle of claret, and a 
 meringue for Nell : a frugal little meal that never- 
 theless cost about a sovereign. Mrs. Frere did 
 not drink cheap wine, and she ordered asparagus 
 without noticing that their price on the bill of fare 
 was very high. Somehow, though she was not a 
 young woman, she was liable to these surprises. 
 After lunch they drove to Marshall and Snell- 
 grove's. They had an account there, a plan that 
 reduces the anxiety of shopping to a minimum. 
 It is, in fact, all centred in that unpleasant 
 moment once in six months when the bill comes 
 in. Instead of painfully considering the price of 
 each separate article, and sometimes choosing a 
 cheaper one, or even doing without it, Mrs. Frere 
 and Nell spent all their time and trouble on 
 finding what best pleased them. They were 
 occupied with the realisation, not with the cost of
 
 SHOPPING n 
 
 their desires. In this way, as I have said already, 
 Mrs. Frere frequently prepared surprises for her- 
 self. The half-yearly bills were full of them. 
 Still she complacently maintained that she was 
 an economical woman. She declared with truth 
 that she only bought what she wanted, and when 
 her husband accused her of spending more than 
 he could afford, she begged him to point out 
 exactly which article he considered superfluous. 
 I need hardly say that in such arguments it was 
 the lord and master who retired worsted. 
 
 ' If we are to have a dance,' said Mrs. Frere to 
 Nell, ' we had better buy something for Hilary to 
 wear.' 
 
 ' Oh yes ! mother,' said Nell anxiously. ' Re- 
 member what she looked like at Mrs. Theodore's 
 dance in those bath towels.' 
 
 Hilary's present style of dress was a sore trial 
 to her mother and sister. She had come up for a 
 day last month in order to be present at one of 
 Mrs. Frere's afternoon receptions, and she had 
 appeared on this occasion in a bright brown vel- 
 veteen, villainously cut and made. In a room full 
 of well-dressed people she looked conspicuous and 
 absurd, and Mrs. Frere very naturally felt vexed. 
 She thought that Hilary showed a want of sense, 
 and even of refinement, in attracting public 
 attention by her eccentric clothes. But many of 
 Mrs. Frere's opinions were so antiquated that one 
 hardly likes to repeat them. 
 
 ' You must ask for yellow, mother,' prompted 
 Nell as they walked towards the department they 
 required. ' Hilary is sure to want yellow.'
 
 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 'It is such an ugly colour,' complained Mrs. 
 Frere. 
 
 ' Oh no ! mother. Look at this.' 
 
 The man serving them had brought forward a 
 soft silky material shot in all shades of yellow 
 from cream to crocus. He set it up in folds, 
 gave it a little pat, and mentioned that it was new 
 and inexpensive. 
 
 ' I want something inexpensive,' said Mrs. 
 Frere. 
 
 He told her the price. It was three times as 
 much as she wished to give. The man saw her 
 hesitate, and pushed aside some inferior goods 
 as unworthy of her notice. Mrs. Frere felt quite 
 flattered and ordered a generous length to be sent 
 to her French dressmaker that afternoon. 
 
 This business accomplished, the mother and 
 daughter made some trifling purchases and then 
 drove home. They were tired, but well satisfied 
 with their day's work. Nell was particularly 
 pleased with a fan that she had seen just as she 
 left the shop, and which had only cost a guinea. 
 
 'I asked the price this time, mother,' she said. 
 ' Don't you remember how vexed father was at 
 Christmas about the feather fan that I took 
 without knowing it cost five guineas. He will 
 not mind one guinea, will he ? ' 
 
 ' I don't know, my dear,' sighed Mrs. Frere. 
 ' He seems to mind everything. I am sure I am 
 as saving as I can be, but he expects me to keep 
 house and dress myself and you on nothing.' 
 
 Nell made no reply. Ever since she could 
 remember, money had been a sore subject between
 
 SHOPPING 13 
 
 her father and mother. It was the one cause of 
 dissension in their affectionate household, and the 
 disputes about it were unpleasant and well worn. 
 The young people avoided a topic sure to come 
 in one way or the other to a miserable end. 
 
 It was nearly six o'clock when they reached 
 St. John's Wood, and as they pulled up at their 
 own door they saw Mr. Frere letting himself in 
 with his latch-key. He was a gray-haired, elderly 
 man, rather under the average height, sparely 
 built, and thin. His features were refined, and 
 though, on the whole, you would have called his 
 face a plain one, you would have said that his 
 eyes were likeable. You could not imagine them 
 looking unkindly on any one ; and they were 
 intelligent eyes. But there was a troubled look 
 in his face, and the deep lines on it were lines of 
 anxiety. This afternoon when he had taken off 
 his coat and hat he walked slowly upstairs to the 
 morning-room on the first floor. His wife and 
 daughter had hurried there before him because as 
 the front door opened they saw Hilary's big trunk 
 in the hall. So they knew she had arrived from 
 St. Cyprian's, and they hastened to welcome her, 
 and to note without any loss of time the latest 
 changes in her costume and her opinions. They 
 could reckon on changes, but not on the direction 
 of them. 
 
 Strangers who saw the sisters together usually 
 said that they were very much alike ; and in 
 some respects there was, no doubt, an obvious 
 resemblance. Both girls were slenderly built, of 
 average height, fair-haired, blue-eyed, and pale.
 
 14 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 They both had small feet and pretty, useless- 
 looking white hands ; their dimples matched, and 
 so did their voices. There were tricks of manner 
 common to both, and now and again a striking 
 likeness of expression would bear witness to their 
 sisterhood. But as acquaintance with them grew 
 the resemblance, at first so striking, gradually 
 faded. Nell's good-humour was irresistible. It 
 was proof against the dullest company. Youth 
 itself seemed to enter the room with her youth 
 in the best of spirits, well satisfied and easily 
 entertained. Hilary, on the contrary, was often 
 out of spirits, because, like many people of her 
 years, she felt sure that the world was in a 
 parlous state, and that it behoved her to better 
 it. As a preliminary, she tried to better herself, 
 which shows, at any rate, that she was ahead of 
 some more accredited reformers. 
 
 This afternoon her mother and sister stared 
 at her in surprise. Since their last meeting 
 Hilary's appearance had undergone a startling 
 alteration. The obnoxious velveteen had vanished, 
 so had the home-made hat and the clumsy boots. 
 
 ' Hilary ! ' exclaimed her sister, ' how trim you 
 look. What have you done to yourself? ' 
 
 ' Tell me, Nell,' said Hilary in a solemn voice, 
 ' are these sleeves right ? ' and she gave them 
 a pull at the shoulder to show what she meant. 
 
 ' Where is that velveteen ? ' asked Nell, and she 
 in her turn completed her question with a brief 
 dumb show that described the sloppy, slovenly 
 garment after which she inquired. Hilary looked 
 rather annoyed.
 
 SHOPPING 15 
 
 ' I gave it away,' she said. ' But do answer, 
 Nell. I see no clothes at College. Are these 
 sleeves right ? and this skirt ? Is it narrow 
 enough ? I am so afraid it is not. Why have 
 you done your hair so low on your neck? Is 
 mine too high ? I hope you like my hat.' 
 
 She walked slowly to a mirror over the fire- 
 place, looked at her reflection there, and then 
 turned round to greet her father as he came 
 into the room. 
 
 'You look very well, my dear,' he said 
 affectionately. 
 
 Mrs. Frere and Nell had taken off their out- 
 door things and thrown them down anywhere. 
 The centre table and some of the chairs were 
 littered with parcels. When the maid came in 
 with tea she hardly knew where to put the tray. 
 But the room in spite of its present disorder 
 looked pleasant and comfortable. It was large, 
 light, plainly furnished, fragrant with spring 
 flowers. The windows opened on a roomy 
 verandah that overlooked neighbouring gardens 
 as well as the one belonging to the house. On 
 this warm June evening the birds were singing 
 in a rapture. The din of London sounded far 
 away. The air came in lilac-laden from the trees 
 in full flower below. 
 
 ' But why have you given away the velveteen ? ' 
 said Mrs. Frere, who felt bewildered by her 
 daughter's sudden, amazing interest in the shape 
 of a sleeve. 
 
 ' It was badly made,' said Hilary. 
 
 ' Then why did you wear it at my At Home?'
 
 1 6 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 Hilary did not answer her mother's question. 
 She looked a little bit guilty, got up and helped 
 herself to cake, and said as she sat down again, 
 ' It is so important to dress well. Not really, 
 you know, but because people are so silly. They 
 will not listen to us if we look dowdy.' 
 
 ' Listen ! ' said Mr. Frere. ' You are not 
 going to talk from the housetops I hope, my dear. 
 I don't approve of women speaking in public.' 
 
 1 Why not ? ' 
 
 ' Oh ! I don't know, my dear. I like domestic 
 women and all that. Besides, what can you want 
 to say ? ' 
 
 Hilary's eyes, which were usually rather solemn, 
 twinkled for a moment with amusement. She 
 sipped her tea, let the subject drop, and then after 
 a sufficient pause started a new one. 
 
 ' So we are going to have a dance ? ' she asked. 
 She addressed her father, who looked as much 
 startled as if she had struck him. From behind 
 his chair Nell made reproachful grimaces at her 
 sister, and Mrs. Frere said : 
 
 ' Nothing is decided, my dear. Father has 
 not given his consent yet. In fact, I had not 
 mentioned it, had I, Henry ? ' 
 
 ' Certainly not,' said Mr. Frere. ' And I wish 
 you would not now.' 
 
 ' We must give one, you know,' said Mrs. Frere 
 in her placid, comfortable voice. There were no 
 lines of anxiety on her face. She always said 
 that if only people would take things easily, as 
 she did, they would get on in life, as she had 
 hitherto done.
 
 SHOPPING 17 
 
 ' A dance at home is such fun,' said Nell, 
 perching on her father's chair, and putting her arm 
 round his neck. 
 
 ' It needn't cost much,' hazarded Mrs. Frere. 
 ' We make our own jellies.' 
 
 ' It always does cost a great deal,' said Mr. 
 Frere. 
 
 ' Well, father dear,' said Nell, stroking her 
 father's hair, ' you know you like spending your 
 money on Hilary and me. You always say we 
 are to have everything we want, and I am sure we 
 want a dance.' 
 
 ' Besides, we must do as other people do,' said 
 Mrs. Frere. 
 
 ' Other people do not spend more than they 
 can afford.' 
 
 ' Really, my dear,' said Mrs. Frere in an ag- 
 grieved voice, ' if you can suggest any possible 
 retrenchment I shall be very glad. We must 
 have food and clothes, and that is about all we 
 do have. We keep no carriage, we have no men 
 servants. I never ask you for jewellery. The 
 truth is, you lose a thousand pounds in the City, 
 and then complain because I spend twenty in the 
 house.' 
 
 ' What can I do if I haven't got the money ? ' 
 said Mr. Frere, who was rapidly losing his temper. 
 
 ' Oh ! you have a good business. The girls 
 will soon be married, and then we shan't want 
 much.' 
 
 Hilary got up. Her face showed plainly 
 enough that her mother's last remark offended her. 
 
 ' I think I will go and unpack,' she said.
 
 1 8 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' Hilary does not like your prophecies, my 
 dear,' said Mr. Frere. ' She means to stay at 
 home.' 
 
 His wife sighed, and when the girls had left 
 the room together she exclaimed, ' How I wish 
 that Hilary had never gone to College ! ' 
 
 ' I don't,' said her husband. ' If ever she wants 
 to earn her living ' 
 
 ' Really, Henry, you are as bad as she is. 
 Earn her living, indeed ! I hope my girls will 
 never think of such a thing. Such pretty girls 
 as they are they are sure to marry well. Of 
 course, if we are always croaking and looking at 
 the dark side of things we shall have no luck. 
 But that is not my way. Let the future take 
 care of itself. I call it downright wicked to be 
 always spoiling the children's pleasure, and making 
 them uncomfortable, just when their look-out is so 
 brilliant too.' 
 
 Mr. Frere stared at his wife in astonishment, 
 but she nodded and blinked at him in a manner 
 full of meaning. 
 
 ' My girls are great favourites,' she said. 
 
 ' Oh ! is that all ? ' said her husband, picking 
 up the day's paper and unfolding it. 
 
 ' How very provoking you can be, Henry,' 
 complained Mrs. Frere. 'What more do you 
 want? Nell is as good as engaged to Arthur 
 Preston, and Herr Hansen took the greatest 
 interest in Hilary's photograph. Since I showed 
 it to him he always asks after her.' 
 
 ' I would far rather hear Dick Lorimer ask 
 after her.'
 
 SHOPPING 19 
 
 ' You don't aim high enough for your daughter, 
 Henry. I always notice that. Dick Lorimer is 
 very well, but Herr Hansen is a rich man.' 
 
 ' Settle it your own way, my dear, if you 
 can,' said Mr. Frere. 
 
 He never much enjoyed these discussions of 
 his daughters' admirers. He thought to himself, 
 as many another man has before him, that the 
 ways of women are beyond the masculine under- 
 standing. Why should such a simple - minded 
 woman as his wife prefer Herr Hansen to Dick 
 Lorimer simply because he had more money ?
 
 Ill 
 
 HERR HANSEN 
 
 MRS. FRERE said that she did not give dinner- 
 parties, and in one sense this was true. She 
 hardly ever put extra leaves into her table. But 
 it is quite as expensive to prepare a dainty repast 
 two or three times a week for a couple of young 
 men as to entertain a dozen old fogies once in a 
 way. The Freres kept open house, and an inn 
 where no bills are presented costs its supporters 
 money. Mrs. Frere was loyal to her traditions, 
 and considered the palates of her guests in a 
 degree undreamt of nowadays by an English- 
 woman. And some of her pets were very uppish 
 about their food. Hamburg people stew their 
 hams in champagne, baste their venison with cream 
 and butter, and stuff their poultry with truffles. 
 
 ' Such a misfortune ! ' she exclaimed as she 
 burst into the morning-room one afternoon, about 
 a week after Hilary's return from College. 
 
 Hilary looked up from her books inquiringly. 
 
 c The crayfish have come,' panted Mrs. Frere. 
 
 1 Oh ! ' said Hilary. 
 
 ' They are bad. What shall I do ? ' 
 
 ' Throw them away.'
 
 HERR HANSEN 
 
 ' My dear child ! I have promised Herr 
 Hansen to have bisque for dinner. The servants 
 are all so busy. Would you mind going round to 
 the nearest fishmonger and telling him to send 
 a big lobster at once ? I suppose you would rather 
 not bring it with you ? Of course, lobster is not 
 crayfish. I know Herr Hansen will find it out 
 It is a real misfortune.' 
 
 ' Is he so greedy, then ? ' asked Hilary, who 
 had not seen her mother's new phcenix yet ; but 
 Mrs. Frere did not hear the question. She had 
 seen a speck of dust on a photograph frame, and 
 was hunting in the writing-table drawer for a 
 duster with which to remove it. She kept an 
 embroidered one handy for emergencies, but Nell 
 borrowed it sometimes and forgot to put it back 
 again. 
 
 Hilary took her books upstairs, and got ready 
 to go out. She found it almost impossible to 
 accomplish any steady reading at home. Nell's 
 constant strumming disturbed her a good deal, 
 and Mrs. Frere's domestic confidences still more. 
 She reckoned that she might have translated a 
 whole act of the Hecuba while she listened to 
 her mother's reasons for thinking the cook wasted 
 butter. It did not take long to go round to 
 the fishmonger, and when she came back she sat 
 down to her books again. This time she re- 
 mained in her own bedroom ; but she had hardly 
 read ten lines when Nell came in from a happy 
 day at Shoolbred's, her hands full of little parcels. 
 
 ' I am so tired,' she said, sinking into an easy- 
 chair. ' I have told them to bring me some tea up
 
 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 here. What are you going to wear to-night, 
 Hilary?' 
 
 ' I don't know,' said Hilary, debating with 
 herself as to whether she should ask Nell to drink 
 her tea elsewhere ; but before she had made up 
 her mind a maid came in with a little tray that 
 she placed at Nell's side. Hilary looked ruefully 
 at her Liddell and Scott and shut it. 
 
 ' Your pale green suits you best,' said Nell. 
 
 Hilary got up and surveyed herself in the 
 wardrobe glass. Then she opened a drawer and 
 took out the gown. 
 
 ' After all,' she said undecidedly, ' what does it 
 matter to-night ? ' 
 
 ' You can never tell,' said Nell. 
 
 Hilary did not like the implication underlying 
 this remark, but she made no comment on it ; 
 and when she dressed for dinner she put on the 
 green gown. It was pale and transparent, and 
 cunningly made. It seemed to hang in straight 
 folds from her throat, and yet it did not hide the 
 lovely lines of her figure, nor did it quite cover 
 her neck and arms. Herr Hansen, who had come 
 early, stared at her in amazement as Mrs. Frere pre- 
 sented him. Except for the colour of her gown, and 
 for her neatly shod feet, the girl might have stepped 
 straight from The Golden Stairs ; and whether 
 or not you think Burne Jones paints beautiful 
 women, he certainly shows you a type uncommon 
 in German mercantile society. Herr Hansen's first 
 idea was that he did not admire it. He liked a 
 stout rosy-cheeked maid with a full bust, a tight 
 waistband, and an engaging giggle ; and he had
 
 HERR HANSEN 23 
 
 been brought up to think that a woman who did 
 not copy her dress from the fashion plates must be 
 either an actress or a lunatic. He reminded himself, 
 however, that he was in England. Germans talk 
 of a crazy Englishman as we talk of a canny 
 Scot. 
 
 ' So you are the learned young lady,' he said, 
 sitting down heavily beside her. 
 
 ' Am I ? ' said Hilary, wondering how her 
 mother could admire his appearance or describe 
 him as a fine-looking man. There was certainly 
 a great deal of him, and with many people 
 quantity seems to count. Hilary, like most 
 women, thought that men should by rights be 
 tall, but she required something more than mere 
 height and size. Herr Hansen's figure was 
 shocking to English prejudices. He was corpu- 
 lent. He had rather fine blue eyes, an unre- 
 markable nose, a high colour, and a great deal too 
 much dark hair. His locks, his beard, and his 
 whiskers would all have been the better for pruning. 
 He wore a frock coat that was too tight for him, 
 a crimson tie, and trousers of a pronounced fancy 
 pattern, probably recommended by his tailor as 
 genuinely English. 
 
 ' In Germany young ladies do not go to the 
 University,' he continued, evidently under the 
 impression that he was communicating a fact 
 unknown in England. 
 
 ' Not yet,' said Hilary. 
 
 ' Never,' said Herr Hansen, ' I assure you. 
 Never.' 
 
 ' Oh ! ' said Hilary civilly, but she could not
 
 24 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 continue the discussion because Dick Lorimer 
 came in just then, and after shaking hands with 
 Mr. and Mrs. Frere, caught sight of her. They 
 had not seen each other for five years, and until 
 dinner was announced they were both fully occupied 
 in observing the outward changes made by time. 
 
 ' You had short frocks,' said Dick, looking at 
 Hilary's train. 
 
 ' Yes,' said Hilary, with her eyes fixed on 
 Dick's moustache. When he went away it had 
 not been slightly grizzled. 
 
 ' You wore your hair down your back.' 
 
 ' I did.' Hilary glanced at Dick's forehead as 
 she spoke. In five years his hair had receded, 
 and at the top it was thin. 
 
 ' You are much taller.' 
 
 ' Yes, and you are not. I am up to your 
 shoulder now.' 
 
 ' Hardly.' 
 
 Memory on memory crowded into their 
 minds as their speech stumbled into a more 
 familiar key. In spite of the difference of age 
 between them they were old friends. Dick's 
 father had represented the firm of Theodore and 
 Frere in Bombay. His liver killed him a year 
 after the senior partner's death, and three months 
 before he was entitled to a share in the business 
 and a pension for his widow. Mr. Theodore 
 junior said that this was the fortune of war. 
 The widow and her son must abide by it. Mr. 
 Lorimer had died at a very inconvenient moment 
 for the business ; in fact, his demise, occurring 
 when it did, probably cost the firm some thou-
 
 HERR HANSEN 25 
 
 sands of pounds. Further expense on his behalf 
 Mr. Theodore, who had lately married, would not 
 incur. The widow and her son must help them- 
 selves and look heavenwards rather than to Theo- 
 dore and Frere for additional assistance. The 
 widow drooped and soon died, after which Dick 
 had an income of seventy pounds all to himself. 
 At this period of his life he was fond of rowing. 
 He played billiards well, and possessed a bull 
 pup. Mr. Theodore said that such tastes were 
 incompatible with a mercantile career, and when 
 Dick asked his advice he waved him politely 
 out of the private office. He had been greatly 
 annoyed by Dick's refusal to accept a clerkship 
 with a Jewish firm in Sierra Leone. To have 
 your benefits forgotten is not so provoking as to 
 have them refused with contumely. Moreover, 
 Dick seemed to think his income a small one ; 
 and he said that he could not do a day's work 
 on an empty stomach, even after hearing that Mr. 
 Theodore's father had never afforded himself any 
 lunch until he was earning a thousand a year. 
 Finally, Mr. Theodore said outright that he would 
 have nothing to do with Dick in business, though 
 he would always be pleased to meet him in 
 society. 
 
 Dick soon saw that it would be very difficult 
 to make a start in London. The only business 
 men he knew were known still better to Mr. 
 Theodore, and went to him for the young man's 
 character. Rowing . . . billiards . . . bull pups. 
 ... A gentleman with such tastes may be asked 
 into your drawing-room, but not into your office.
 
 26 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 But Dick had qualities that carry a man 
 through many difficulties, and in Mr. Frere he 
 found a steady friend. It was he who advised the 
 young man to go to America, and who gave him 
 some valuable introductions there. Dick did well 
 from the beginning, and had come back at the 
 age of thirty with a small capital, the best 
 of reputations, and every prospect of making his 
 way in the world. He now said that he would 
 always be pleased to do business with Mr. 
 Theodore, but that he preferred not to meet him 
 in society. 
 
 Dick's circumstances were not exactly easy yet. 
 Mr. Frere, who knew his affairs, understood that 
 be would have uncommonly little to spend for 
 some time to come. Nevertheless, nothing would 
 have pleased him better than to see Hilary and 
 Dick engaged. He was not as ambitious for his 
 children as his wife was. Mere happiness would 
 have contented him. She had set her heart on 
 wealth and position. But then, as Hilary would 
 have said, a woman plants her standard high. 
 
 At dinner Hilary sat between Herr Hansen 
 and Dick. She had never been out of England, 
 and had hardly ever eaten a meal in the society 
 of a foreigner. Like all true Britons, she felt 
 genuine contempt for those graceless persons 
 whose habits differed from her own ; and Herr 
 Hansen's table manners gave her a succession 
 of little shocks. The first thing he did was to 
 tuck his napkin comfortably into his waistcoat. 
 Hilary watched him as if she expected that he 
 would proceed to tuck up his sleeves. He did
 
 HERR HANSEN 27 
 
 not do that, but his neighbours could hear him 
 lap his soup. He helped himself to extraordinary 
 quantities of any dish that was handed round, he 
 paid her mother compliments on every one that 
 pleased him, and when his portion required a 
 knife and fork, he cut the whole of it into good- 
 sized pieces before he began to eat. 
 
 ' This mayonnaise is very good,' he said to 
 Hilary. ' Did you make it ? ' 
 
 ' No,' said Hilary, without expressing the sur- 
 prise she felt. 
 
 ' Could you make it ? ' 
 
 'No.' 
 
 ' Ah ! that is a pity.' 
 
 Hilary smiled faintly and drank a little 
 champagne. Then she turned to Dick Lorimer, 
 but he was discussing the boom in the South 
 African market with her father. Arthur Preston 
 and Nell were absorbed in each other, and now 
 Mrs. Frere, observing Herr Hansen's silence, drew 
 him into a prolonged discussion of the Hamburg 
 cuisine. Hilary wished herself back at St. 
 Cyprian's, where every one dined in less than 
 twenty minutes, and neither knew nor cared very 
 much what they had for dinner. 
 
 The talk did not become general until a 
 savoury arrived that stirred Herr Hansen to 
 comment on its excellence, and at the same time 
 express his low opinion of English cooking. 
 From the solemnity with which he spoke he 
 might have been condemning our national morals. 
 He said that he always went down in weight 
 during his annual visit to this country. Arthur
 
 28 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 Preston, who spoke of himself as ' up to date,' 
 glanced at Herr Hansen's figure and asked him if 
 he did not find a course of semi-starvation whole- 
 some. The good-natured German smiled and 
 blinked and said that it might be wholesome, but 
 he did not enjoy it. He put it to his hostess : 
 could any one with a palate acquire a taste for 
 mint sauce or, worse still, for rhubarb ? He told 
 a long story that turned on his repugnance to 
 rabbit, and his disgust when he found that he had 
 eaten some unawares in a stew. Then Mr. Frerc 
 and Dick took up the cudgels on behalf of beef- 
 steak, porter, and a roast duck stuffed with sage 
 and onions. Foreign messes made them ill, they 
 said. There was some sense in mint sauce and 
 rhubarb, but who out of a nightmare wanted to 
 eat raw herrings, raw ham, and vinegar with 
 green peas. Herr Hansen said that Dick could 
 not know Hamburg. Civilisation and nature had 
 combined to make that chosen town a centre for 
 epicures. The best goulash he had ever tasted 
 had been dished up to him in a Hamburg hotel. 
 
 ' Do you know Hamburg ? ' he said, turning to 
 Hilary. ' You should come there this summer.' 
 
 ' I think we are going to Switzerland,' said 
 Hilary. 
 
 ' Switzerland is nothing. What can you do 
 there ? They make meringues the Swiss cooks 
 and then they have finished. I know. I have 
 been there.' 
 
 Hilary sent her mother an imploring glance, to 
 which Mrs. Frere replied by getting up from table. 
 
 ' Herr Hansen talks a good deal about food,'
 
 HERR HANSEN 29 
 
 said Mrs. Frere apologetically. ' People do in 
 Germany, you know.' 
 
 ' It seems such a pity he wasn't born a pig,' 
 said Hilary, going to the piano. ' He would have 
 been far happier.' 
 
 Mrs. Frere looked distressed, but her reply 
 was inaudible to Hilary, who had begun to play. 
 Nell went out on the verandah, and before she 
 had been there very long Arthur Preston joined 
 her. He was a good-looking young fellow, and 
 the only son of moderately well-to-do people. 
 His sentiment for Nell was plain to every one, 
 especially plain to his mother, who desired her 
 son to make a wealthy match. It was a light 
 and butterfly courtship, begun to a waltz tune, 
 and growing more ardent as the summer days 
 grew longer. They met at dances, at dinners, at 
 the play. Of late he had come in two or three 
 times a week for a game of tennis after his day 
 on the Stock Exchange, and whenever Mrs. Frere 
 asked him to stay and dine he managed to be 
 disengaged. She could not understand why he 
 had not long since settled matters ; he was mak- 
 ing a respectable little income she had heard. 
 She did not know that he spent every penny of 
 it, and could not think of marriage with a dower- 
 less wife. In fact, he did not think of marriage 
 at all just yet. He wanted to enjoy his bachelor 
 life to the dregs. This summer his flirtation with 
 Nell gave it an agreeable zest. He assured him- 
 self that he was immensely in love with her, and 
 he tried his best to convince her of it too. Every 
 one who knew them said they expected a speedy
 
 30 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 invitation to the wedding; but those who knew 
 Arthur best did not mean what they said. 
 
 This evening the two young people sat 
 together on the verandah for a few minutes, and 
 then they descended to the garden, where for the 
 next half -hour they appeared and disappeared 
 like Faust and Margaret amongst the trees. 
 
 When the other men came away from the 
 dining-room they found Mrs. Frere fast asleep 
 in an easy-chair, and Hilary by herself on the 
 verandah wrapped in a fluffy white shawl. Dick 
 Lorimer managed to reach her first and sit down 
 by her side. Herr Hansen stood within the 
 window and talked to his host in German. 
 Presently they too descended to the garden and 
 walked slowly up and down the lawn, lighting 
 fresh cigars and talking of business matters in high 
 voices that sometimes fell to a significant whisper. 
 
 Hilary had always liked Dick Lorimer. She 
 thought she might like him better than ever now 
 that through her advance in years they could 
 meet on equal terms. It was a little bit dis- 
 appointing to find as she talked to him that he 
 had not stood still, that he was even yet ahead 
 of her. Half a decade, that to her had brought 
 such great and weighty changes, seemed also to 
 have done a good deal for him. He had arrived 
 with strides at manhood. Hilary envied him the 
 lines in his face. They had been graven there by 
 experiences that help to crystallise and to mature. 
 His eyes were as keen and good-humoured as 
 ever, and his manner was more assured. 
 
 What did they talk of as they sat together
 
 HERR HANS EN 31 
 
 and watched the moon rise high above the tall 
 elms at the bottom of the garden ? Certainly 
 most of the pleasant talk in which we share, to 
 which we listen, would not bear writing down. 
 Besides, consider how small a part spoken words 
 play in any conversation. You pick up the 
 threads of an old friendship with the aid of your 
 manners, your voices, your eyes, your smiles and 
 frowns ? Who stops to give more than its due 
 to a tongue ? Dick and Hilary told each other 
 where they had spent the years, and, in a bare, 
 colourless way, what they had been doing the 
 while. Hilary mentioned St. Cyprian's, spoke of 
 her school-days, talked of her best girl friend ; 
 and all this Dick had clean forgotten by the 
 following morning. What he remembered was that 
 she had grown tall and slim and lovely, and that 
 her eyes were like stars, and that her voice was 
 sweet and sometimes quaintly solemn, and that 
 she still looked rather childlike. Her eyes had 
 not lost their direct and candid gaze. He 
 observed that she dressed outlandishly, but that 
 it somehow became her, and he thought she had 
 not lost her old trick of talking nonsense. For 
 instance, she asked him whether he saw any good 
 reason why every one should not be equally well 
 off and at leisure, and she expounded a scheme 
 for the accomplishment of this most desirable end 
 that was very pretty and left out difficulties as 
 naively as a dream or a fairy tale. Dick said 
 something about the reform of the universe being 
 a big job, and she got quite angry with him, 
 because she said he implied that it was too big
 
 32 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 for her, and that he only said so because she was 
 a girl. If a boy had proposed to undertake it 
 he would have at any rate listened with respect. 
 Dick denied this last impeachment, and they had 
 a lively quarrel, talked up and down the questions 
 of the hour, and found themselves after a time 
 almost on their former level of intimate friendship. 
 For once Hilary's dilettante socialism had really 
 done her a useful turn. They had skirted round 
 a variety of subjects, and Hilary had just listened 
 with an expression of horror to Dick's admission 
 that he liked a day's shooting, when Mrs. Frere 
 came out to them and said that it was time to 
 have a little music. Would Dick tell Mr. Frere 
 that the grass looked damp, and that every one 
 wished to hear Herr Hansen play ? 
 
 Dick told both these lies like a man, and 
 whether they came willingly or not, every one soon 
 reassembled in the drawing-room. Hilary had 
 not heard Herr Hansen play, and as her mother's 
 manner pointed to something unusual, she com- 
 posed herself to listen with enjoyment The 
 very way his hands poised for a moment above 
 the keys was full of promise, and directly they 
 struck a few preliminary chords Hilary understood 
 that the man was a musician. He began with a 
 little gigue of Bach's that he played with brilliance 
 and precision. He went on to Beethoven, and 
 then, at Mrs. Frere's request, he played Chopin's 
 great Polonaise in A flat major. The stir of it 
 danced in Hilary's eyes as she thanked him. 
 She forgot that he had talked about food all 
 through dinner. The crash of the great chords
 
 HERR HANSEN 33 
 
 rang in her ears and sent the blood with 
 a lilt through her veins. Every one looked 
 brighter. 
 
 ' You like music ? ' said Herr Hansen, with a 
 pleased face, to Hilary. He was panting a little, 
 and as he sat down near her he mopped his 
 forehead with his handkerchief. ' In England 
 there is no music, is there ? ' 
 
 ' Oh ! ' cried Hilary and Nell together. ' No 
 music in London ! ' 
 
 ' You mean concerts. You must put on a 
 black coat and a white shirt and drive three 
 miles. I do not call that music. You hear 
 Joachim, you say, and Paderewski. Yes. That 
 is very fine, of course ; but in Hamburg my 
 friends come two or three times every week. 
 We drink beer, we smoke, we take off our coats, 
 and we play trios, quartettes, quintettes, what you 
 will, for several hours. That is what I call music 
 what one makes at home in one's own rooms 
 with a few good friends. So you find the great 
 masters your good friends ... in time.' 
 
 Hilary began to like Herr Hansen in spite of 
 his clumsy ways. One of those discussions arose 
 between them that are often started by people of 
 different nationalities, and gradually every one 
 present joined in it. Whether the English are 
 musical or not is a question that will at any 
 moment excite contradictory replies. Herr Hansen 
 made no bones about his negative. 
 
 ' I dined with some people yesterday,' he 
 said, ' and after dinner they asked me if I liked 
 music. I said " Yes." What else could I say ? 
 
 3
 
 34 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 There were seven daughters, and they all sang 
 to me.' . . . 
 
 Herr Hansen paused, overcome by his memories. 
 
 ' The piano was out of tune. They did not 
 mind that at all. They were all out of tune too. 
 And the songs ! Mein lieber Gott ! Who makes 
 these songs that your English young ladies sing ? ' 
 
 Hilary and Nell still maintained that you 
 could hear as much good music in London as 
 anywhere else ; and Dick Lorimer, who did 
 not know one note from another, upheld them. 
 Mrs. Frere assured Herr Hansen that her 
 daughters talked without book. They did not 
 know Germany. Some day they would go there 
 and discover how superior it is in every respect 
 to the land of their birth. Much to the amuse- 
 ment of her family, Mrs. Frere talked in this 
 way now and then. She had lived contentedly 
 in England for more than half her life, and she 
 had reared her children to be English in habits, 
 opinions, and prejudices ; yet she would now and 
 then speak as if her adopted country was still 
 strange and hateful in her sight. It 'did not 
 mean much. 
 
 Nell said that she felt quite afraid to sing in 
 Herr Hansen's presence ; but at Arthur Preston's 
 request she went to the piano. While she was 
 turning over her music, Herr Hansen said to 
 Hilary in a confidential undertone : 
 
 ' There is a good German opera at Covent 
 Garden just now. Will you come with me ? 
 On Saturday they give Lohengrin. I will call for 
 you, if you will permit it'
 
 HERR HANSEN 35 
 
 ' Do you take your friends' daughters in that 
 way when you are in Hamburg?' said Hilary 
 after some hesitation. He looked so unconscious 
 of having suggested anything impossible that she 
 did not like to refuse point blank. 
 
 ' In Hamburg ? No. A girl may not stir 
 from her mother's side there. But in England 
 and America it is different. And you ... a 
 so learned young lady. You will come ? In 
 New York I took Miss Van Riesling three times ; 
 and now she has married a Member of Congress. 
 So, you see, what she did you may do.' 
 
 ' I'm afraid not,' said Hilary. ' We are quite 
 behindhand here, you know. We are only remote 
 islanders.' 
 
 Herr Hansen looked dreadfully disappointed, 
 until a new idea occurred to him and cheered him 
 up. 
 
 ' I will get a box,' he said, ' then you will all 
 come.' 
 
 The plan did not commend itself to Hilary, 
 who, along with her advanced ideas, cherished 
 some prejudices that many of her contemporaries 
 would have condemned as prim and puritan. 
 She was not fond of accepting pleasures from 
 any one but her father, and she knew that 
 Mr. Frere shared her point of view. So she 
 sent Herr Hansen to consult with him, well 
 knowing that in this way the project would fall 
 to the ground. 
 
 Directly Dick Lorimer saw his chance, he 
 strolled up to Hilary, and took the seat that Herr 
 Hansen had just vacated.
 
 36 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' Shall we have a walk on Sunday ? ' he said. 
 ' In the old style.' 
 
 'Yes . . . yes,' said Hilary delightedly, 'in 
 the old style.' 
 
 ' All right I'll come round quite early.' 
 
 'You have arranged with the others, I 
 suppose ? ' 
 
 ' Nell doesn't seem to care about it,' said 
 Dick, looking at his boots. ' She says Preston is 
 coming to play tennis.' 
 
 ' And papa ? ' 
 
 ' Well ... if his rheumatism is better. But 
 you and I might go anyhow, Hilary . . . such 
 old friends as we are.' 
 
 ' Old enemies you mean.' 
 
 ' It comes to the same thing,' said Dick.
 
 IV 
 
 MRS. THEODORE AT HOME 
 
 MR. Frere's present partner was a good deal 
 younger than himself. He was an elder brother of 
 the little girls who had once upon a time learned 
 German and music from Mrs. Frere. His father, 
 Mr. Lazarus Theodor, a German Jew, had clung 
 with strong attachment to the ways of his youth. 
 The son was over-anxious to forget them. His 
 father had left him a thriving business, which he 
 carried on successfully, and a handsome fortune, 
 which he soon doubled by clever speculation. At 
 the age of thirty-three he married an English girl, 
 whose acquaintance he made at a hydropathic 
 hotel in Derbyshire. Mr. Theodore thought that 
 the youngest daughter of a half-pay major would 
 be economical in her habits ; but he soon found 
 that his wife spent money as if life was hardly long 
 enough to compensate her for the privations of 
 her early years. Luckily, even she could not keep 
 pace with her husband's knack of raking money 
 into his own till. They were a very flourishing 
 couple. Mrs. Theodore staunchly upheld her 
 husband in his resolve to forget his foreign origin. 
 They spelt and spoke their name as if it had been
 
 38 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 an English one, and they avoided those old 
 acquaintances who would not remember to utter 
 the initial consonants softly, and to affix a final e. 
 Mrs. Frere gave constant offence by her persistent 
 use of the ancient spelling and pronunciation. 
 It was one of many trifles that helped to widen a 
 breach. The two men did not pull well together ; 
 but their wives fell out whenever they met, and 
 often when they only corresponded. For this 
 unfortunate state of things Mrs. Frere was chiefly 
 responsible. She took no pains to hide her small 
 opinion of Mrs. Theodore ; she treated her pre- 
 tensions with disrespectful levity ; and, ignoring 
 the cue set by the younger lady, she sometimes 
 chose to be plain-spoken instead of politely silent. 
 After this admission, of course, no one will 
 sympathise with Mrs. Frere. Plain-spoken folks 
 are always a cross to their fellows ; and one" who is 
 intimately acquainted with your family history is 
 tolerably certain to make you uncomfortable some- 
 times. Mrs. Frere knew that Mr. Theodore's grand- 
 father had kept a small shop in Hamburg ; and she 
 unkindly wondered what the old man would havesaid 
 to Mrs. Stanley Theodore's court train. She did not 
 ask the question aloud ; but Mrs. Theodore saw 
 it in her smile when she came to the train tea. 
 Women do most of their hard hitting with smiles. 
 Hilary found on her return from College that 
 Mrs. Theodore had invited them all to an At 
 Home for the following Saturday and that Mrs. 
 Frere alternately bemoaned the necessity of going, 
 and besought her daughters to make a creditable 
 appearance there.
 
 MRS. THEODORE AT HOME 39 
 
 ' Be sure and go to bed early the night before, 
 dears, and take a little walk in the morning. It 
 makes such a difference to the complexion. And 
 don't use powder, Nell. Wash your face in cold 
 water, and polish it with a chamois leather. I 
 know Mr. Theodore wants his sister Sophia to 
 marry Arthur Preston.' 
 
 ' Oh ! well, mamma, don't worry. There are 
 two to every bargain,' said Nell cheerfully. 
 
 ' That only shows how little you know of the 
 world, my dear. Besides, there are three in this 
 case : Mr. and Mrs. Theodore and Sophia. You 
 don't suppose Arthur's consent is necessary.' 
 
 ' How old is Sophia Theodore ? ' 
 
 ' Twenty-five. The other day Mrs. Theodore 
 tried to make out that Sophia and Hilary were 
 the same age, but I soon set her right. I said, 
 My dear Mrs. Theodore, I was at her christening 
 four years before my own marriage, and sixteen 
 years before you and your good husband met each 
 other. She did not like it at all.' 
 
 ' Then why did you say it, mamma ? ' inquired 
 Hilary. 
 
 Of course, the Theodores lived in a very 
 different style from the Freres. They inhabited 
 one of those large new houses on the north side 
 of Kensington Gardens that make such a good 
 show for the money. Some of the most expensive 
 houses in London are quiet and dull-looking ; 
 but the Theodore mansion was a big, white, shining 
 witness to the owner's inexhaustible purse. As 
 the Freres drove to the door, Hilary looked up at 
 the front, which had just been redecorated. All
 
 40 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 the windows were gay with peacock-blue Minton 
 tiles and pink geraniums. There was an awn- 
 ing over the first floor balcony, and another from 
 the front door to the edge of the pavement. A 
 string of carriages blocked the way. Inside the 
 house the crush was considerable already. Above 
 the hum of voices Hilary heard a Hungarian band 
 playing in a conservatory half-way upstairs, and 
 scraps of conversation reached her with absurd in- 
 completeness. She did not see any one she knew. 
 
 Mrs. Theodore stood just inside the drawing- 
 room door and received her guests. As the Freres 
 went upstairs to present themselves to their hostess 
 Mrs. Frere nudged her eldest daughter: 
 
 ' Another new gown,' she whispered. ' It 
 doesn't suit her a bit' 
 
 Hilary raised her eyes, and was not at all 
 astonished to see Mrs. Theodore most becomingly 
 attired. She knew her mother's way of denying 
 the little triumphs she felt inclined to grudge. 
 Their hostess looked the very figure of fashion. 
 Her shape, her features, and her inexpressive smile 
 all lent themselves to the attainment of this great 
 end. She was tall and angular, with a back as 
 flat as a pastry-board, and a waist nearly as small 
 as her neck. She had fair hair, elaborately curled 
 and coiled, good features, and rather hard blue 
 eyes. She stood bolt upright, moved very little, 
 and talked with a slight Yorkshire accent in a low 
 contralto voice. As she talked her eyes wandered, 
 so that the people who replied to her remarks 
 usually felt uncertain whether their own were 
 heard. She received Mrs. Frere without enthusi-
 
 MKS. THEODORE AT HOME 41 
 
 asm ; the girls, who were prettily dressed, she 
 greeted amiably enough. Mrs. Frere's gowns, it 
 is true, had an air of being made two years ago. 
 The cleverness with which she chose becoming 
 raiment for her daughters never seemed to last 
 out for herself. 
 
 ' How full the room is ! ' she said as she shook 
 hands. 
 
 ' The usual crowd,' said Mrs. Theodore. 
 
 ' Don't you find it tiring?' 
 
 ' Very. But what can one do ? I have nearly 
 a thousand names on my visiting list. I have 
 stood here since four o'clock. I can understand 
 what the poor Princess feels like at the end of a 
 Drawing- Room.' 
 
 ' Only you are not obliged to do it,' said Mrs. 
 Frere. 
 
 This was an indisputable fact, and yet it annoyed 
 Mrs. Theodore to hear it brought forward by Mrs. 
 Frere. The actual words did not vex her so much 
 as the belittling of her social dignity that she heard 
 behind them. With an air of dislike she turned 
 away from the Freres and gave her attention to 
 some new arrivals, one of whom proved to be 
 Herr Hansen. 
 
 ' Look, Hilary,' whispered Mrs. Frere. ' She 
 means him to marry Sophia. I'm sure of it. He 
 is very rich, you know.' 
 
 ' I don't see Sophia here,' said Hilary, looking 
 round the room. 
 
 ' I do/ said Nell, who was standing further in. 
 ' She is talking to Arthur Preston.' 
 
 ' I told you so,' sighed Mrs. Frere.
 
 42 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 Sophia Theodore was an exceedingly plain 
 young woman who, in spite of her thirty thousand 
 pounds, had reached the age of twenty-five without 
 being married. Proposals of marriage had, of 
 course, been made to her and her comfortable 
 little fortune, but not from eligible quarters. She 
 was so very plain, poor girl. Formerly she had 
 dressed badly, and displayed a clumsy figure, but 
 of late her clever sister-in-law had taken her in 
 hand. This afternoon, for instance, in an exquisite 
 and becoming Parisian gown, she looked quite pass- 
 able. In some miraculous fashion the dressmakers 
 had turned her out almost slender. Nevertheless, 
 you would not have expected to find that Sophia 
 was a lion in Mrs. Frere's path. Of course, thirty 
 thousand pounds deserve consideration. Every 
 sensible man will admit that. But you must 
 remember that most of the young men known to 
 the Freres were neither idle nor poor. They were 
 men of rather substantial fortunes, who by their 
 own exertions made more than enough for their 
 needs every year. A thriving merchant or stock- 
 broker is not so much driven to run after a wife 
 with a little money as a man whose income is 
 limited and unlikely to increase. The daily 
 pursuit of gold has, no doubt, its compensa- 
 tions. Your successful jobber can afford to 
 marry for love, while the captain and the curate, 
 when they tire of bachelor life, generally have to 
 choose between love and money. It is a lucky 
 man to whom one maid brings both. Mrs. Frere 
 would gladly have seen Sophia marry a captain 
 or a curate. She did not covet alliances for
 
 MRS. THEODORE AT HOME 43 
 
 her daughters in the impecunious professions. 
 Mothers have their fancies in these matters, accord- 
 ing to their station in life and their personal 
 characteristics. Some hanker after the black 
 cloth, and others after the scarlet This woman 
 expects a title with her son-in-law, that woman 
 would like him to ply his own coster's cart 
 They are both women, and both ambitious at 
 opposite ends of the scale. Mrs. Frere had set 
 her heart on well-to-do business men, and when- 
 ever an eligible one made his appearance, she 
 feared lest Mrs. Theodore should snap him up 
 and throw him to Sophia. 
 
 By steadily moving on a step or two whenever 
 the crowd broke a little, the three ladies managed, 
 in the course of half an hour, to get across the 
 room. After a time, some people who were ' going 
 on ' took their departure, and left two vacant chairs, 
 of which Mrs. Frere and Hilary gladly availed 
 themselves. Before this happened, Arthur Preston 
 had forsaken the redoubtable Sophia and invited 
 Nell to come and eat ices downstairs. Hilary 
 wished a friend would invite her to do likewise. 
 The heat made her thirsty. Presently a little 
 hubbub, and then a sudden hush, warned her that 
 some one was about to entertain the company with 
 a song or a recitation ; and Mr. Theodore, who 
 had just arrived, proclaimed in a loud voice that 
 Miss Miranda Marshmallow would recite ' Maud 
 Miiller.' The audience pushed back a little, and 
 a homely young woman came forward. For a 
 moment she glared fixedly at nothing in particular, 
 and then with a sudden swoop she swept her hands
 
 44 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 along the floor, as if she had dropped her gloves 
 and was too short-sighted to see them. With this 
 dramatic gesture she prepared people to hear that 
 Maud Miiller, on a summer's day, raked the 
 meadow sweet with hay. 
 
 Inconsiderate people are fond of throwing 
 ridicule on the pathetic reciter, but, after all, he 
 has his uses. Most of us know what it is to walk 
 away from the dentist with the bad quarter of 
 an hour behind us. Some trials are almost worth 
 enduring for the sake of the joy that enters the 
 soul when they cease. After angels, represented 
 by Miss Marshmallow, had ' rolled the stone from 
 its grave away,' every one looked relieved and 
 began to talk. A wave of extra cheerfulness 
 succeeded the enforced silence of the last ten 
 minutes, and the hostess had the pleasure of 
 seeing all her guests in good spirits. She felt 
 sincerely grateful to Miss Marshmallow. 
 
 ' I do not understand,' complained Herr 
 Hansen, who had planted himself behind Hilary's 
 chair some moments before the recitation began. 
 ' Why do all these people come here this after- 
 noon ? They do not dance. They do not make 
 music. They do not dine or sup.' 
 
 ' They come to see Mrs. Theodore/ said Hilary. 
 ' They are her friends.' 
 
 ' She has many friends,' said Herr Hansen 
 reflectively. ' Ah ! I suppose these young ladies 
 will sing a trio ? ' 
 
 There was a little flutter of excitement in the 
 room just then, because three sisters, known to 
 their cronies as Nipper, Dick, and Tommy, came
 
 MRS. THEODORE AT HOME 45 
 
 forward and took their positions for a skirt dance. 
 They were presently succeeded by a young lady, 
 who had blackened her face and dressed in stripes 
 to pipe a nigger melody to the banjo ; and when 
 she retired Mrs. Theodore's eldest son sang a 
 coster song, with a chorus, in which numbers of 
 his mother's guests were pleased to join. 
 
 ' It is strange,' said Herr Hansen. ' In one corner 
 of my invitation card there is printed Music.' 
 
 ' Yes,' said Hilary, ' this is it.' 
 
 After the coster song, which was rapturously 
 applauded, a good many people went away, and 
 Mrs. Frere listened to Hilary's suggestion that 
 they, too, had been there long enough. But before 
 they could start, Nell must, of course, be found. 
 
 ' She is sure to be near the ices,' said Hilary. 
 ' I will fetch her.' 
 
 As she walked away Herr Hansen dropped 
 ponderously into the empty chair. 
 
 ' Do you know that your daughter is a beauty? ' 
 he said to Mrs. Frere. 
 
 She was not offended, or even surprised. 
 Praise from a man of his fortunes was praise 
 indeed ; and although Mrs. Frere had left her 
 native country at an early age, she remembered 
 how to converse engagingly with one of her 
 countrymen. 
 
 ' Hilary is not only beautiful,' she said. ' She 
 is clever and good. When she is away from 
 home we miss her dreadfully. And she trims her 
 own hats.' 
 
 ' It is a pity she is learned. Why did you 
 permit it ? '
 
 46 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 1 1 don't think her learning amounts to much/ 
 said Mrs. Frere, who was very far from knowing 
 how truthfully she spoke. ' Girls will have their 
 fads and fancies. Before I married I devoted 
 myself to music ; but I soon found that my 
 housekeeping books occupied more of my time 
 than Beethoven's Sonatas.' 
 
 If Mr. Frere could have heard his wife make this 
 statement, he would probably have felt surprised ; 
 but Herr Hansen listened to it with attention. 
 
 ' Is it really so ? ' he inquired. 
 
 ' Yes,' said Mrs. Frere eagerly ; ' and Hilary is 
 so economical, you know. She inherits that from 
 me. She goes about amongst poor people, and 
 teaches them how to save pennies, and eat cheap 
 food, and buy plain clothes. At least, she did 
 till some of them gave her the measles, and I 
 stopped it.' 
 
 Herr Hansen looked at Hilary with increased 
 admiration when she returned to the room ac- 
 companied by her sister ; and when Mrs. Frere 
 asked him whether he could drive back with them 
 and dine, he accepted the invitation at once. 
 This arrangement seemed to give Hilary the 
 most lively satisfaction, and she reminded Herr 
 Hansen that he had promised to play Schumann's 
 Faschingsschwank next time he came. As she 
 crossed the room, Mrs. Frere heard him protest 
 that he would play anything and everything Hilary 
 wished to hear. A few steps ahead she saw 
 Arthur Preston hanging about in evident hopes 
 of an informal invitation. She managed to take 
 both men back in her brougham, and she felt
 
 J\fRS. THEODORE AT HOME 47 
 
 that, on the whole, the afternoon had not been 
 thrown away. The sight of Mr. Theodore had, 
 as usual, left a bad taste. He was a thin, light- 
 haired man, with a curiously pale face, a flat, large 
 forehead, and a contemptuous smile. Mrs. Frere 
 complained that he sneered, and perhaps he did. 
 He had a poor opinion of his partner's wife, and 
 no reason whatever for concealing it. This after- 
 noon, for instance, he had not troubled to speak 
 to her, or even to shake hands, until she passed 
 him on her way downstairs. Then he inquired 
 why her husband had not come, and smiled when 
 Mrs. Frere explained that he was too busy. 
 
 ' He ought to take a holiday sometimes,' said 
 Mr. Theodore. 
 
 ' I wish he would. He works much too hard,' 
 said Mrs. Frere with a sigh. 
 
 'You should persuade him to retire,' said Mr. 
 Theodore with a smile that Hilary thought un- 
 pleasant. But his voice did not invite retort. It 
 was languid, soft, and slow, and as he spoke 
 he turned on his heel to speed some other part- 
 ing guests. Mrs. Frere, with her two eligible 
 bachelors for companions, enjoyed the homeward 
 drive, and did not brood over Mr. Theodore's 
 words until the following day. Then she worried 
 over them as persistently as if they had been 
 poetry, and she a commentator, finding in them 
 applications, hints, and prophecies they would 
 scarcely bear, and trying to interpret them with 
 the help of all she knew about Mr. and Mrs. 
 Theodore, their ancestors, their contemporaries, 
 and their probable descendants.
 
 HERR HANSEN'S COATS 
 
 MRS. FRERE received a slight shock on Sunday 
 morning when Hilary came down ready dressed 
 for her walk with Dick. 
 
 ' 1 wonder what Mrs. Theodore would say if 
 Sophia met a young man at a railway station 
 and spent a day in the country with him ? ' she 
 inquired. 
 
 ' I've no doubt she would be horrified,' said 
 Hilary. 
 
 ' Then why do you do it ? ' 
 
 ' I am not Sophia, and Dick is not a young 
 man. He is Dick.' 
 
 ' That certainly makes a difference,' admitted 
 Mrs. Frere. 'Still ' 
 
 And she saw her child depart with a pang. 
 No one will deny that it is exceedingly trying to 
 have your fondest hopes raised one day, and 
 dashed to the ground the next. Only the night 
 before Mrs. Frere had gone to bed in the best of 
 spirits, after assuring her husband that six weeks 
 or so hence she would probably require about a 
 thousand pounds for two trousseaux and a double 
 wedding.
 
 HERR HANSEWS COATS 49 
 
 ' I intend to buy all the house linen for both 
 the girls,' she said, as she placidly brushed her 
 thick blonde hair.' ' Herr Hansen will expect it, 
 as he is a German ; and although it is not the 
 English custom, I daresay Arthur will be glad to 
 have it given.' 
 
 Some men on hearing this would have asked 
 whether their daughters were actually engaged. 
 Mr. Frere only said that he would be glad to turn 
 out the gas. 
 
 ' I should think that Mr. Preston would furnish 
 a house for his son,' continued Mrs. Frere. ' They 
 would not want a large one to begin with. Have 
 you noticed those new red brick ones near 
 Kensington High Street. I wish Arthur would 
 be quick and speak.' 
 
 In his own mind Mr. Frere did not much 
 expect that Arthur would ever speak, and it 
 annoyed him to see the young man always about 
 the house. The intimacy had grown rapidly, and, 
 as far as the head of the family was concerned, 
 almost unawares. 
 
 ' I think Arthur comes here too often,' he said 
 tentatively. 
 
 ' My dear Henry ! How is that possible ? ' 
 
 ' People will begin to talk.' 
 
 ' Begin ! They have talked all the winter. 
 Are you blind and deaf? Every one considers 
 Arthur and Nell as good as engaged.' 
 
 ' Well, if that's what you like 
 
 ' Of course, I like it. Coming events cast their 
 shadow before.' 
 
 ' Your events are all shadow, I'm afraid.
 
 So THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 However, / don't want to get rid of the girls, 
 but I should like to go to sleep now.' 
 
 ' I am not a bit sleepy. My ears are full of 
 the Appassionata. You must have noticed, 
 Henry, that when Herr Hansen played the last 
 
 movement Oh ! very well. I won't say another 
 
 word if you'll just tell me this : does his town 
 house face the Alster ? ' 
 
 Mrs. Frere had not been in Hamburg for 
 years, and at the date of her last visit she did 
 not know Herr Hansen ; but she had always 
 known the name of the firm in which he was 
 now senior partner. Hansen, Bopp, and Rossler. 
 The very syllables had magic in them beclouding 
 to the judgment. 
 
 When young people fall in love they are 
 sometimes kept awake by pleasure, grief, or 
 excitement ; but Mrs. Frere lost part of her 
 night's rest for the sake of her child. While 
 Hilary slept like a top, her mother tossed from 
 side to side and recalled the incidents of the last 
 twelve hours. Herr Hansen had come straight 
 up to them after making his bow to Mrs. 
 Theodore. He had stayed in their neighbour- 
 hood all the afternoon. He had spoken un- 
 reservedly of Hilary's beauty, and listened with 
 the greatest interest to an account of her other 
 perfections. It is true he had eaten an excellent 
 dinner. Mrs. Frere sighed as she remembered 
 that he had taken a pigeon bone in his fingers 
 to pick it with complete finish, and that as he 
 did so Hilary turned rather red. But when a 
 man has passed forty you do not expect anything
 
 HERR HANSEN'S COATS 51 
 
 but liver to destroy his appetite ; and Hansen, 
 Bopp, and Rossler were above manners, just as 
 the son of a duke may be, if he likes, in England. 
 In Mrs. Frere's mind, Herr Hansen represented 
 the great firm, even when he sat at her table 
 eating vol-au-vent of pigeons. 
 
 That green gown certainly suited Hilary, but 
 Mrs. Frere would never have foreseen its effect on 
 Herr Hansen. If she had been consulted, she 
 would have said, ' On no account, my darling. 
 Wear a square-cut black silk, have a neat head 
 of hair, and lace as tightly as you can.' But, of 
 course, men as much sought after as Herr Hansen 
 do grow capricious. They shilly-shally until 
 middle age, and then they suddenly throw the 
 handkerchief to some one unlike the ideal you 
 feel sure they have hitherto set up. Hilary's 
 behaviour was even more surprising. Mrs. Frere 
 would never have expected her child to make 
 so little objection to Herr Hansen's figure and 
 foreign ways. She could not plead blindness to 
 his intentions, because, to prevent mistakes, Mrs. 
 Frere had pointed them out quite plainly to 
 both girls. It is true that Hilary had looked 
 annoyed, and dropped some nonsensical remark 
 about friendship being possible without an alloy 
 of sentiment. Voung ladies do say that kind 
 of thing before a man declares himself. It 
 means no more than the protestations of your 
 enamoured bachelor who vows he will not 
 marry. 
 
 On the whole, Mrs. Frere had been deeply 
 gratified by the events of the day, and it vexed
 
 52 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 her to find next morning that Hilary meant to 
 take herself off for a walk with Dick Lorimer. 
 She said something about the impropriety of it to 
 her husband, but he refused to interfere, although 
 he agreed that it would be awkward if Herr 
 Hansen called this morning in a dress coat and 
 white gloves, and with a bunch of flowers in his 
 hand. Herr Hansen might not know that in 
 England a man may make his offer of marriage 
 in any coat he pleases, nor that it is the topsy- 
 turvy custom of the country to woo the child first 
 and then the parents. It would really be very 
 embarrassing for Mr. and Mrs. Frere if they had to 
 hear proposals they would joyfully accept, and then 
 see themselves forced to admit that their daughter 
 was scampering over the country with another young 
 man. In such a contingency what did Mr. Frere 
 intend to say? Influenza? Really, Mr. Frere 
 did not deserve to have wealthy sons-in-law if he 
 would not make the smallest effort to receive them 
 suitably. It was no use telling Mrs. Frere to use 
 her own authority. He might as well tell her to 
 use her wings. 
 
 Meanwhile, Hilary sent for a hansom, and 
 started. She had promised to be at Victoria by 
 ten o'clock, and it was all she could do to get there 
 in time. She rather enjoyed shocking Mrs. Grundy 
 as long as it could be done with inward comfort to 
 herself ; and she certainly was not going to shy at 
 a Sunday walk with Dick just because they were 
 no longer boy and girl. How many Sunday 
 walks had they taken together five years ago? 
 And Dick never talked sentimental nonsense.
 
 HERR HANSEWS COATS 53 
 
 The juxtaposition, even in thought, of Dick and 
 sentiment made Hilary smile. 
 
 He came forward as her hansom drew up at 
 the station and hurried her to the train. Some- 
 how he had secured an empty carriage. They 
 were only just in time. 
 
 ' Where are we going, then ? ' asked Hilary. 
 That Dick should plan the walk was quite in 
 accordance with the ancient custom. 
 
 ' I have taken single tickets to Dorking.' 
 
 ' Through the woods to Coldharbour, and on 
 by Jacob's Walk and Friday Street to Abinger 
 Hatch ? ' 
 
 ' If you can walk as well as ever.' 
 
 ' Do you call that a walk ? I plant my 
 banner on snow and ice nowadays. We ought to 
 meet in Switzerland, Dick.' 
 
 ' Do she-undergraduates eat sweets ? ' 
 
 ' Well, sometimes. Oh ! I wondered what 
 that package was. Those French ones you used 
 to bring ! You have a very agreeable memory.' 
 
 He watched her take off her gloves and untie 
 the golden thread that bound the package. She 
 looked up as she offered the sweets to him. 
 
 ' Have you altered much ? ' she asked. 
 
 ' My tailor says I have.' 
 
 ' Nonsense ! I mean in important ways.' 
 
 ' I've given up Bass and taken to Lager.' 
 
 ' Ah ! you are just the same,' she said regret- 
 fully, ' never serious.' 
 
 Dick felt inclined to retort that he was not a 
 woman of leisure, with ample time for the con- 
 sideration of those vast questions that seemed to
 
 54 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 occupy Hilary's mind. His life had been a 
 hard uphill tussle. A man whose days are spent 
 in eager buying and selling is apt to find his 
 work tax enough on his faculties. In his leisure 
 hours he is glad to rest. But face to face daily 
 with the primitive interests and passions of 
 human nature, Dick had learned, at any rate, how 
 to bear himself bravely ; how to use the weapons 
 he needed ; how to wring some measure of success 
 from life. And yet this child who had trodden on 
 rose-leaves complained that he was not sufficiently 
 serious. She meant it too. 
 
 ' All right/ said Dick cheerfully, ' go ahead. 
 What shall we talk about ? ' 
 
 ' Oh ! we can't talk like that,' said Hilary, 
 rather annoyed. ' At least I can't. It must come 
 naturally.' 
 
 ' What must ? ' 
 
 ' Subjects.' 
 
 Not if he could help it, Dick assured himself. 
 But aloud he said, ' I wonder whether the old 
 woman in Leith Hill Tower sells ginger beer on 
 Sundays.' 
 
 Hilary laughed with a contented sound and con- 
 tinued to eat her sweets. Dick's remark, taken as 
 an answer to her own, was certainly abrupt, and 
 perhaps not calculated to excite discussion. This 
 she recognised, and in some degree deplored. At 
 the same time she felt persuaded that if she got 
 thirsty and asked for ginger beer, Dick by hook 
 or by crook would get it ; also that if they met 
 a mad bull he would cause it to go away ; also 
 that he knew about roads and trains, and would
 
 HERR HANSEWS COATS 55 
 
 lead her comfortably home again, and that how- 
 ever willing she was to overtire herself and suffer 
 silently he would not let her do anything of the 
 kind. In Switzerland, last year, she had on one 
 occasion been so dead beat that she lagged 
 behind the others for the last few miles, and her 
 self- constituted companion, a young professor 
 of literature, staying in the same hotel, had chosen 
 that opportunity to state his views on Ruskin as 
 an interpreter of scenery. He had talked with- 
 out stopping all the way home, and had never seen 
 that she could hardly keep on her feet, and that 
 his arm would have been more acceptable just 
 then than his views. Hilary was, of course, 
 immensely interested in Ruskin, but somehow 
 that afternoon in Switzerland her thoughts flew to 
 Dick. She wished he was there instead of the young 
 professor. He would have known nothing about 
 the modern date of our passion for mountains, 
 but the mountains would have kept him silent, 
 which is, after all, what they are apt to do for greater 
 folk than either Dick or the professor. Hilary, 
 who had begun by sitting at the feet of her new 
 friend, told Nell that he had ' chattered,' and next 
 day, as they descended to Lauterbrunnen from the 
 Little Scheideck, she refused to marry him. So 
 he went on to Mlirren in a huff. 
 
 This episode, which in her uneventful life stood 
 out importantly, came uppermost to-day. She 
 remembered the forlornness with which she had 
 stumbled along through heavy snow, and after- 
 wards under drenching rain. 
 
 ' Suppose we were on a mountain together, Dick,'
 
 56 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 she said suddenly, ' and we had tramped through 
 miles of snow, and then it began to rain, and I 
 was so tired I could hardly get on. What would 
 you do ? ' 
 
 ' Is that a subject ? ' said Dick, shying at once. 
 
 By this time they had left Dorking well behind 
 them and were in the shade of Redlands Wood. 
 They had hardly spoken since they left the train. 
 Dick had repeated his question about the old 
 woman in Leith Hill Tower and Hilary had not 
 replied. At that moment she was mentally 
 plunging through snow accompanied by the young 
 professor. 
 
 ' Answer, Dick/ she said impatiently. 
 
 He looked at her, and considered before he spoke. 
 
 ' I couldn't carry you far, you know,' he said. 
 ' Girls are so tall nowadays.' 
 
 ' Oh ! Dick, do answer seriously. It is not a 
 frivolous question.' 
 
 ' It sounds like one, then. How can I tell 
 what I should do? Give you some brandy, if 
 I had any, I suppose. Hi ! stop, Hilary. Don't 
 tear on like that. It's one o'clock, and this is 
 where we are going to have lunch. What have 
 you brought ? ' 
 
 Dick unloaded his satchel and Hilary a string 
 bag. They never entered an inn on these 
 expeditions, even when Mr. Frere accompanied 
 them, and when they were defying Mrs. Grundy 
 it was manifestly impossible. Mrs. Grundy's 
 views are always changing, and are never con- 
 sistent, so it is perhaps hardly worth while to 
 quote them ; but it seems that while she objects
 
 HERR HANSEWS COATS 57 
 
 to a long country walk, she simply will not stand 
 an inn. Dear old lady ! We could not do with- 
 out her, and she often shows herself most sensible 
 and prudent ; but her rules are very difficult to 
 comprehend sometimes. 
 
 Dick and Hilary did not in the least regret 
 an inn. The pine wood was good enough for 
 them. It had rained the day before, and now 
 the hot sun distilled fragrance from every branch 
 and trunk of the great trees. There were shade 
 and coolness beneath their branches, and sunlight 
 to look at wherever the rays fell. The under- 
 growth of heather, bilberry, and bracken was still 
 young, the heather tipped with delicate green, 
 the bilberry hung with bells of dainty coral, the 
 bracken only just unfurled ; and from where 
 they sat, beneath an immense oak at the edge of 
 the wood, they saw the heavenly blue of wild 
 hyacinths growing in thousands, and sending their 
 scent abroad with every little puff of air. 
 
 ' I wish we lived in the country,' said Hilary, 
 taking off her gloves and untying the neat pack- 
 ages she had brought from home. 'What horrid 
 sandwiches yours look, Dick ! I am sure you cut 
 them yourself. Have some of mine. I think 
 father ought to get a cottage just for Sundays and 
 part of the summer. Don't you think it would 
 be a good plan ? You could come on Saturdays 
 and stay with us.' 
 
 ' Yes,' said Dick with hesitation. 
 
 ' Where are the objections ? I can hear in 
 your voice that some occur to you.' 
 
 ' Well, the additional expense for one.'
 
 58 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' Oh ! ' said Hilary, lifting her eyebrows, ' is 
 that all ? Father always has the money for any- 
 thing we want.' 
 
 Dick unscrewed his flask and offered Hilary 
 some claret, but she refused it. She did not 
 like any wine but champagne. 
 
 ' I disapprove of worrying much about money,' 
 she continued. ' It is not a subject that ought 
 to fill one's thoughts at all.' 
 
 ' It fills them pretty full when you happen to 
 have none,' said Dick. 
 
 ' But that never happens. People like our- 
 selves have what is necessary somehow.' 
 
 ' Have you ever asked how ? ' 
 
 ' No,' said Hilary, more intent on an orange 
 that she was carefully peeling than on Dick's 
 surprising gravity of tone. ' I don't care about 
 money. I never give a thought to it. Why 
 should one?' 
 
 ' That's all right for you,' said Dick. ' Your 
 father works for you now, and when you're married 
 your husband will. But a man has to earn his 
 living unless he inherits one, of course.' 
 
 ' I don't recognise your distinction,' said 
 Hilary ; ' you talk as if every woman had a man 
 to work for her. Whether she ought to have is 
 a matter of opinion, but that many have not is 
 a matter of fact.' 
 
 * Unfortunately it is,' said Dick. 
 
 ' I should not object to earn my own living.' 
 
 ' How would you set about it ? ' 
 
 ' Well ! it's a secret, but I don't mind telling 
 you, Dick.'
 
 HERR HANSEWS COATS 59 
 
 She stopped for a moment, disturbed by the 
 rustle of a rabbit scampering through the bracken a 
 little way off, and then she said in an impressive 
 undertone : 
 
 ' I'm translating a Greek play into English 
 verse, and I am going to write a pamphlet about 
 the marriage laws.' 
 
 ' It's very clever of you/ said Dick, ' but I 
 daresay I shall make more by a consignment of 
 tussores that I expect from Calcutta to-morrow.' 
 
 ' You have a sordid mind, Dick. I can't think 
 why nice people should worry about pounds, 
 shillings, and pence. Father does, you know. It 
 is just like children playing at cards ; they are 
 more interested in the counters than in the game. 
 You are always heaping up your counters, and 
 forget that life slips away hour by hour.' 
 
 ' But I don't see how you're to play the game 
 without the counters,' said Dick. 
 
 Hilary waved away the clouds of smoke blow- 
 ing towards her from Dick's newly-lighted pipe, 
 and presently she got up and gathered a few wild 
 hyacinths. When the pipe was finished they went 
 on. 
 
 Meanwhile, Mrs. Frere's prophecies were half 
 fulfilled, which is perhaps as much as a nineteenth- 
 century prophet can expect. Herr Hansen did 
 call. He came late in the afternoon, and excused 
 himself by explaining that time had slipped away 
 faster than he thought at the Zoo. He had been 
 interviewing some of the monkeys. Mrs. Frere 
 assured him that in her house he would find a 
 welcome any day and any hour. Of course, he
 
 60 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 would dine. Herr Hansen said he would, with 
 pleasure, as it was only in the bosom of an 
 amiable and accomplished family that a poor 
 foreigner could shake off the depressing influences 
 of an English Sunday. Could Mrs. Frere tell him 
 why drunkenness was the only Sabbath recreation 
 officially encouraged in this country? Mrs. Frere 
 shook her head, which was not used to trouble 
 about such matters. At the present moment the 
 question of a savoury for dinner seemed of greater 
 interest, and directly an opportunity occurred she 
 slipped out of the room to confer with the cook. 
 She had not reckoned on an important guest 
 to-night, and her menu, as she reflected on it 
 while chatting to Herr Hansen, suddenly looked 
 meagre. But her cook was a treasure, and her 
 storeroom well supplied. If all deficiencies could 
 be as easily made good. . . . Luckily, Herr Hansen 
 did not wear a dress coat. Then he had not come 
 on purpose to propose to Hilary, and for half an 
 hour Nell might entertain him ; but Nell would 
 have something else to do if Arthur kept his 
 promise and arrived. Mrs. Frere hurried into the 
 'library,' a ground-floor room, comfortably furnished 
 with everything proper to a library except book- 
 shelves and books. Here she found Mr. Frere half- 
 asleep on the sofa. He had shown a want of 
 energy of late, a constant inclination to rest and 
 doze that puzzled his wife when she thought of 
 it. It struck her now as she opened the door that 
 he looked heavy and colourless, but the impression 
 faded from her mind at once. What she came to 
 say possessed her.
 
 HERR HANSEWS COATS 61 
 
 ' My dear, Herr Hansen has come. I told 
 you he would. But he has on a frock coat. He 
 has been to see the monkeys at the Zoo. Can 
 you look after him now for an hour ? ' 
 
 ' Where are the girls ? ' 
 
 ' Oh ! Henry, how can you ask, when you 
 know how much I was against it ? Don't say so 
 before Herr Hansen. He is not used to your free- 
 and-easy English ways.' 
 
 1 He asked Hilary to go to the opera with him,' 
 growled Mr. Frere. 
 
 ' He didn't ask her to go for a walk with Dick 
 Lorimer, though.' 
 
 ' Where is Nell ? ' 
 
 ' In the drawing-room, but Arthur is coming 
 directly for tennis. His people don't allow it on 
 Sundays, so the poor boy is driven here.' 
 
 ' Will they both dine ? and Dick too ? because 
 I want to know which one of the three I am to 
 entertain. I'm willing to do my duty, but I like 
 it clearly pointed out The other night you said 
 I monopolised Hansen.' 
 
 ' An ounce of tact is worth a ton of duty in 
 such cases, Henry. Use your wits, as I do. By 
 the way, I think I'll stay here and watch for Hilary 
 and Dick. I do not want them to burst into the 
 drawing-room covered with dust. You go and 
 talk to Herr Hansen. You know you like him.' 
 
 ' Oh ! he's all right. Not exactly romantic 
 looking, perhaps ' 
 
 ' Romantic looking ? ' 
 
 ' From Hilary's point of view, I mean. You 
 take her consent for granted '
 
 62 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' Hilary is so sensible. Now, Henry, don't look 
 at me like that when I say a word in favour of 
 our own child. I am not calling her a beauty or 
 a genius.' 
 
 ' Well, well,' said Mr. Frere as he went out of 
 the room, 'you can call her what you like, but 
 I'll eat my hat if ever you call her Frau Hansen.' 
 
 Mrs. Frere sat at the window, and when Hilary 
 and Dick arrived she attracted their attention by 
 saying in a loud whisper : 
 
 ' Come in here first.' 
 
 ' What is it, mother ? ' said Hilary as she 
 entered the room. ' Any bores about ? How is 
 it you are not with them ? ' 
 
 ( Herr Hansen has come,' said Mrs. Frere. 
 
 ' Again ! His visits are not few and far 
 between, are they? But why are you standing 
 sentry here ? ' 
 
 ' Well, my dear, I thought you would probably 
 look very dusty ; and you do.' 
 
 'We've had a ripping walk,' said Dick, who 
 had stopped for a moment in the hall to unstrap 
 his satchel and mackintosh. 
 
 ' I am glad you have enjoyed yourselves,' said 
 Mrs. Frere. She hesitated a little, and then said 
 to Hilary : 
 
 ' Herr Hansen does not know you have been 
 out Perhaps you had better dress before you go 
 into the drawing-room.' 
 
 Dick rather opened his eyes at this, but he 
 did not say anything until Hilary had taken her 
 departure. Even then he only spoke in answer to 
 Mrs. Frere's next remark.
 
 HERR HANSEN'S COATS 63 
 
 ' Herr Hansen has such a high opinion of 
 Hilary,' she said. ' I do not wish it disturbed.' 
 
 ' He seems a good-natured old fellow,' said 
 Dick, with that apparent irrelevance and real 
 point of which even rather simple-minded men 
 are sometimes capable. Dick, of course, made his 
 point with his second adjective. 
 
 ' He is only forty,' said Mrs. Frere. 
 
 ' He looks more,' said Dick, his eyes fixed with 
 interest on the dusty toe of his boot. 
 
 ' In Germany,' continued Mrs. Frere, ' young 
 girls do not go for walks with young men. It is 
 not considered proper.' 
 
 ' I have never had the least wish to live in 
 Germany,' said Dick. 
 
 ' That is why I did not tell Herr Hansen that 
 you and Hilary had gone out together.' 
 
 Dick was silent. 
 
 ' I wish you would not do it again,' continued 
 Mrs. Frere plaintively. ' I am sure it is not the 
 right thing now that you are both grown up. 
 Hilary is nearly twenty. You forget that, Dick.' 
 
 ' Oh no ! I don't,' said Dick, getting up. ' I'll 
 just run round to my rooms and dress now. 
 Dinner at eight, isn't it ? ' 
 
 ' You need not dress,' said Mrs. Frere. Herr 
 Hansen has on a frock coat.' 
 
 But Dick confounded Herr Hansen and his 
 coats, and appeared half an hour later as spick 
 and span as he could make himself. He had 
 taken extra pains with his white tie. 
 
 'Well, Dick! had a good walk?' said Mr. 
 Frere, when he had helped every one to soup.
 
 64 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 He had forgotten his wife's injunctions two 
 minutes after they were laid on him. The mas- 
 culine mind does sometimes show itself incapable 
 of very simple performances. 
 
 ' You have been walking ? ' said Herr Hansen. 
 ' And you ? ' he went on, turning to Hilary, 
 ' what have you done all day ? ' 
 
 1 1 have had a long walk/ began Hilary, deter- 
 mined not to make a secret of an expedition 
 that she meant to repeat as soon as possible. 
 
 ' That is curious,' said Herr Hansen. ' Can 
 you tell me, then, why the elephant may not walk 
 on Sunday ? Last time I went to the Zoo I rode 
 on him. To-day, when I asked, they told me, 
 " On Sundays he does not go out." Why does 
 your sister laugh ? Is it not comme il faut to 
 ride on the elephant ? ' 
 
 So that danger passed away, and Mrs. Frere 
 breathed comfortably again. Hilary explained 
 in euphemism that the elephant was not a usual 
 mount for stout elderly gentlemen. But Herr 
 Hansen said she was mistaken. There had been 
 people of all ages aloft when he had ventured 
 there one Easter Monday, two years ago. He 
 had gone because he wanted for once to mix in a 
 British crowd, and share its pleasures. On being 
 questioned, however, he admitted that half an hour 
 had given him as much of the pleasure as he could 
 bear. He thought that tradition exaggerated the 
 Englishman's attachment to soap and water ; nor 
 did he see any beauty in the fashionable Volkslied 
 ' Hi-tiddley-hi-ti-hi-ti-hi.' The words were non- 
 sense.
 
 HERR HANSEN'S COATS 65 
 
 ' That's news,' whispered Arthur Preston to 
 Nell, and his tone made her so much inclined 
 to laugh, that she had to start a fresh subject in 
 hot haste ; and when it was set going she scolded 
 him in undertones for trying to make her giggle. 
 Hilary, she knew, considered Arthur an ill-bred 
 young man. It would never do for him to justify 
 that opinion by visible rudeness to one of his 
 host's guests.
 
 VI 
 
 BEFORE THE DANCE 
 
 IT is, of course, extremely difficult to gauge the 
 wear and tear of work that we are not used to do. 
 Every man is apt to think his neighbour has an 
 easy time of it He who delves for his bread 
 talks as if all the work of the world was done by 
 hands. The man of business thinks in his heart, 
 .that poets and painters play. The man of letters 
 envies the artisan whose work grows hour by hour 
 in response to the effort spent on it. A planter's 
 life sounds like an everlasting holiday on horse- 
 back. And most of us have heard of Mr. Darwin's 
 housekeeper, who thought her master would be 
 all the better for ' something to do.' 
 
 Mr. Frere and Dick Lorimer spent the day in 
 comfortably furnished offices, where they read and 
 wrote letters, received visitors, and discussed 
 questions of sale and purchase with manufacturers, 
 customers, and subordinates. Described thus, the 
 life does not sound a hard one. It is easy to 
 describe any one's doings in just such an incom- 
 plete way. Men constantly do women the wrong 
 of supposing that a large household can run 
 smoothly without any strain on the guiding hand.
 
 BEFORE THE DANCE 67 
 
 And Mrs. Frere often told her husband, that if he 
 would manage the servants and tradespeople, 
 she would gladly sit in front of a pedestal desk 
 and write half a dozen letters a day. This did 
 not prevent her from saying an hour later that 
 the poor man was terribly overworked. 
 
 Dick Lorimer had just returned to his office 
 one afternoon when one of his clerks ushered in 
 Mr. Frere. He had come on business, he said ; 
 but when the business was ended he still lingered. 
 The office was newly built, and very spick and 
 span. Mr. Frere looked about him, approved of 
 the furniture, sat down in a leather-covered easy- 
 chair, and began talking of Dick's concerns. 
 These were promising enough, and as long as 
 they were the subject of conversation, even Mr. 
 Frere looked almost cheerful. He took a generous 
 pleasure in the young man's progress. He was 
 eager to help where he could. He placed his 
 own great experience and his excellent brains at 
 Dick's service, for there was no question of rivalry 
 between the firms. He wanted Dick to get on, 
 and saw every prospect of his doing so. The 
 two men discussed new undertakings, made plans, 
 were fruitful in expedients. It seemed a pity 
 they were not at work together. Dick had more 
 audacity than his friend, and that became his 
 years. He did not hang back from a risk. Mr. 
 Frere liked to tread carefully, to make a venture 
 small in its beginnings. He did not say any- 
 thing about his own affairs, but presently he 
 mentioned that he must go home early. It was 
 the night of the dance.
 
 68 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' Have you had lunch ? ' asked Dick, who 
 noticed that Mr. Frere looked ill. 
 
 ' Yes,' Mr. Frere replied with hesitation. It 
 was very slight, but the young man's suspicions 
 were aroused. 
 
 ' Where do you usually go ? ' . 
 
 ' I have tried an A. B. C. shop lately.' 
 
 ' My stars ! ' said Dick. ' What can you get 
 there ? ' 
 
 ' I have cocoa and bread and butter. I dine 
 when I get home, you know.' 
 
 ' Doctor's orders ? ' 
 
 'No.' 
 
 Dick, who was walking up and down the office, 
 wheeled round and faced Mr. Frere. After a 
 moment he said, ' I am coming to a dance at 
 your house to-night.' 
 
 Mr. Frere bit his lips nervously, and his 
 anxious face clouded more deeply than before. 
 
 ' I can't help it,' he muttered. ' They sent the 
 invitations without consulting me. They don't 
 understand, Dick. All they see is that Theodore 
 has plenty of money and that I am his partner. 
 They think I worry about trifles.' 
 
 ' You do make a good income, I suppose ? ' 
 
 ' Last year I made less than I spent. This 
 year business is bad. I tell you I'm ashamed 
 to face Theodore. It can't go on, you know. 
 After Christmas he can turn me out if he likes. 
 What is to become of them then ? Who would 
 take me on ? Or suppose I die ? ' 
 
 ' Do you talk to Mrs. Frere ? ' 
 
 ' She won't listen. She can't bear to think
 
 BEFORE THE DANCE 69 
 
 of such things, she says. She trusts to my 
 going on with Theodore, and to the girls getting 
 married.' 
 
 ' Well, that's a point of view,' said Dick cheer- 
 fully. ' It's no use meeting misfortune half-way.' 
 
 ( If you don't it probably garrottes you before 
 you have time to cry out,' said Mr. Frere. 
 
 1 1 suppose the girls are very likely to marry ? ' 
 
 Dick asked this question in an indifferent tone, 
 as if it was quite remote from his personal 
 interests, and Mr. Frere did not notice that he 
 waited rather anxiously for the answer. He 
 ceased his promenade up and down the room and 
 stood quite still, his face turned away from his 
 friend. 
 
 ' I don't know,' said Mr. Frere wearily. ' Their 
 mother thinks so, of course. But nowadays young 
 men want to marry money.' 
 
 ' Not all,' said Dick. 
 
 Mr. Frere looked reflective, but he made no 
 further remark just then, and presently he got up 
 to go. Dick accompanied him to the door, but 
 instead of opening it, he leaned against it, and 
 faced Mr. Frere, with a smile that was perhaps 
 slightly embarrassed, and yet very pleasant to see. 
 
 ' Whom is Hilary going to marry ? ' he asked. 
 
 ' No one ; so she says.' 
 
 ' I wish she would marry me.' 
 
 ' My dear boy,' stammered Mr. Frere, ' do you 
 wish it ? ' 
 
 ' Rather ! Ever since she was so high.' Dick's 
 hand went down very near the floor. 
 
 ' But can you afford to marry ? '
 
 70 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' Not just yet, perhaps ; but if things go well, 
 in a year or even next spring, if Hilary would 
 be content with a rabbit-hutch at first.' 
 
 Mr. Frere looked quite pale. He sank on the 
 nearest seat, and when he spoke his voice betrayed 
 his agitation. 
 
 'To have you really one of us to think 
 that you were my son I could die in peace.' 
 
 ' But you're not going to die,' said Dick cheer- 
 fully. ' We're all going to live and flourish.' 
 
 Even as he spoke, the elder man turned ashen 
 gray and tremulous. 
 
 ' I can't think what has come to me,' he 
 said in a voice as full of horror as his face. ' I 
 often feel like this now. I have lost all courage. 
 I can't sleep, and I can't fix my mind on any- 
 thing but the one idea, what will become of 
 them when I die ? There would be a thousand 
 pounds a year's living and then . . . For 
 God's sake make haste, Dick. I am always doing 
 the sum in my head, what is the least they could 
 live on ? What must they have for fire, and food, 
 and shelter, and how am I to get it together ? ' 
 
 ' Have you never insured your life ? ' 
 
 ' For a thousand pounds, two years ago.' 
 
 Dick looked grave and distressed, and before 
 he could say anything Mr. Frere spoke again. 
 
 ' I tried to increase it some time back,' he 
 said. ' They refused me.' 
 
 Dick did not lift his eyes. It was as if he had 
 seen his old friend's death-warrant. But after a 
 silence of some moments he pulled himself together 
 and spoke more cheerfully than he really felt.
 
 BEFORE THE DANCE ^\ 
 
 ( You've worried yourself ill,' he said. ' You 
 must take things easy for a bit.' 
 
 ' I can't. I do all the travelling, you know. 
 I'm off to Genoa to-morrow.' 
 
 ' Let Theodore go instead. 1 
 
 ' How can I refuse ? I'm tied hand and 
 foot. He has the money, and at the end of the 
 year our partnership ceases unless he consents to 
 renew it. If I strike work he'll tell me to go, 
 he'd be a fool if he didn't.' 
 
 ' I'm afraid he's not a fool not that kind, at 
 least,' said Dick. 
 
 Some interruption from outside reminded Mr. 
 Frere that he was talking to a busy man. He 
 got up. 
 
 ' Wish me good luck,' said Dick as he shook 
 hands. ' I shall dance with Hilary to-night.' 
 
 ' My dear boy, I don't know that I ought,' said 
 Mr. Frere. ' We are a falling house.' 
 
 1 I'm not afraid of that,' said Dick. ' I don't 
 want to be in too great a hurry, though. There 
 is such a thing as speaking at the wrong moment, 
 I suppose, and Hilary is full of ideas just now.' 
 
 ' Her mother complains a good deal of that.' 
 
 ' Mrs. Frere has ideas too.' 
 
 ' Any amount,' admitted her husband. In his 
 heart he added that they were all foolish, but he 
 was too loyal to say so aloud. 
 
 ' You know what her great idea is at the 
 present moment ? ' 
 
 ' I daresay she has mentioned it,' said Mr. 
 Frere in an unfinished way. 
 
 ' Herr Hansen.'
 
 72 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' Oh ! yes, of course. She often speaks of him ; 
 but she will forget him directly he has gone back 
 to Hamburg.' 
 
 Dick had plenty to do all the afternoon, 
 but his business transactions did not entirely 
 fill his thoughts. He understood that it was 
 touch and go with his old friends, and he 
 wondered what he had better do to help them. 
 He could soon afford to marry and maintain 
 a modest household one of those little 
 homes that to many minds seem pleasant and 
 comfortable, though the income spent in them 
 counts itself by hundreds. The picture of such 
 a home painted itself in pleasing flashes on his 
 imagination. He felt impatient to make it ready. 
 But would Hilary consent to share it ? He did 
 not want her to come to him solely for her father's 
 sake ; and yet he believed that if the sisters 
 married well Mr. Frere would recover both his 
 health and his courage. His expenditure might 
 so easily be reduced when he and his wife were 
 living by themselves, for Mrs. Frere's extravagance 
 mainly spent itself on her children. Then Mr. 
 Theodore would perhaps consent to renew the 
 partnership, and so all would yet go well. It 
 really seemed as if Mrs. Frere's point of view was 
 not quite unreasonable. The family welfare 
 hung on the marriages made by the girls ; but 
 what a pity that it should be so. How foolish to 
 live in such a manner that their prosperity hung 
 on the delicate thread of a young man's choice, of 
 a maiden's fancy ! Suppose Arthur Preston was 
 playing fast and loose ? Suppose Hilary said
 
 BEFORE THE DANCE 73 
 
 Nay ? She railed against men and marriage. It 
 is true that such railings are in the air to-day, and 
 that yet most misses blossom into madams. The 
 refusal by the Insurance Office was a bad piece 
 of news. Mr. Frere had certainly looked broken 
 down of late. Many a definite disease is less 
 alarming than the gradual deterioration that even 
 medical men can sometimes only describe as 
 failure. A year's rest might set him right, or at 
 any rate patch him up. How could he get it ? 
 Dick had not answered the question when he left 
 the City ; and while he dined and dressed for the 
 dance his old friend's affairs still worried him. 
 
 Mrs. Frere had promised to give a small and 
 simple entertainment. She would not ask any 
 elderly people, or provide an elaborate supper ; 
 she would buy no flowers, and hardly any ice, and 
 the young folks might drink cheap champagne. 
 Mr. Frere sighed, and avoided the discussion of 
 details ; but he knew very well that he had no cheap 
 champagne. It was not, however, until a few 
 hours before his guests arrived that Mr. Frere 
 discovered what his wife's promises of economy 
 were worth. He went home rather earlier than 
 usual in order to get out wine and superintend the 
 brewing of the claret cup, and even before he 
 entered the house he saw signs of expenditure 
 that he had never authorised. There was an 
 awning up from the front door to the gate, and 
 red cloth put down beneath it. A local florist 
 seemed to have brought most of his stock in a 
 large cart, and two men were carrying in flowering 
 plants, palms, and ferns as quickly as they could ;
 
 74 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 while inside the house Mrs. Frere and both the 
 girls were hard at work arranging them. They 
 hardly heard their father's suggestion that half 
 the plants should be sent back. 
 
 ' You can't have too many flowers, papa,' said 
 Nell cheerfully. She carried a great pot of lilies 
 in her hand, and as she put up her face to kiss 
 her father, some one brushed against the head of 
 the plant and knocked the blooms clean off. 
 
 ' Five shillings gone there,' said Nell with 
 regret. ' Give me another pot, please.' 
 
 Mr. Frere sighed and went into the dining- 
 room. At his wife's request he had carried 
 home a heavy bag of fruit, which he set down near 
 the sideboard. The table was laid for supper. 
 Hilary found him gazing at it as if it was 
 furnished for a funeral instead of for a feast. 
 
 ' Hot-house flowers,' he muttered, ' and peaches 
 by the dozen. I did not buy any, they were so 
 dear. I have brought two pines. I wish I had 
 been content with gooseberries. I might have 
 known that if I spent a guinea your mother 
 would spend two. And now I must get out 
 champagne for eighty people. Oh ! ' he cried, 
 in one of those sudden gusts of anger that of late 
 had sometimes shaken him, 'go on as you like 
 spend more than I make, and all I can borrow, 
 sell house and home, and then beg for bread in 
 the streets.' 
 
 Hilary glanced at the bag of fruit she had 
 just picked up from the floor. Nothing in the 
 room, her father's purchases least of all, suggested 
 straitened means. His words hardly carried
 
 BEFORE THE DANCE 75 
 
 meaning ; they inspired no dread. Ever since 
 she could remember he had talked in the same 
 way, and nothing had ever come of it. He had 
 constantly complained of his expenses, looked 
 forward to death and misfortune, and in his 
 gloomy moods cast a shadow on the very 
 pleasures he supplied with a liberal hand. Hilary 
 supposed this habit of his must be a common 
 one amongst men, and her acquaintance with it 
 helped to strengthen her objection to marry. It 
 would be very unpleasant to depend for money 
 on the good or bad humours of some common- 
 place young man a creature who would probably 
 be her inferior mentally, and without any doubt 
 morally. For her father she felt very sorry, 
 because she saw that he was really vexed and 
 anxious. She knew how generous he was, how 
 unexacting, how ready to spend every penny he 
 made on his wife and children. At the same time 
 she could not refrain from the reflection that men 
 often show themselves incapable of exercising the 
 authority placed by custom in their hands. The 
 reflection, as it flashed through her mind, con- 
 soled her. Perhaps for want of use they would 
 gradually lose it, as other bad habits can be lost. 
 
 ' Why did you consent to give the dance ? ' 
 she said. 
 
 'Oh!' said Mr. Frere irritably, 'you all do as 
 you like.' 
 
 That was very true, and Hilary knew it. It 
 was not in her own home that her belief in the 
 wrongs of women and the tyranny of men had been 
 awakened. Indeed, her only real and intimate
 
 76 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 experience of domestic life might have suggested 
 to her that the theoretical subjection of women is 
 not always borne out in practice ; but at this 
 period Hilary's judgments were gloriously in- 
 dependent of mere fact. She took her gods at 
 second-hand, and stared at them until her eyes 
 dazzled ; then you might stand in her path and 
 she would not see. 
 
 ' It is not for myself I care,' continued Mr. 
 Frere ; ' I shall be dead. But what is to become 
 of you ? ' 
 
 His wife came in just then and overheard his 
 melancholy speech. She asked Hilary to go and 
 help Nell with the flowers, and directly the girl 
 had left the room Mrs. Frere said to her husband : 
 ' How can you make the child miserable to-night, 
 when it is so important that she should look her 
 best. I tell you they will both be married by 
 Christmas.' 
 
 ' So you always say ; but suppose you are 
 wrong, and that I die first ? What then ? ' 
 
 ' Henry,' said Mrs. Frere, ' I have had a tiring 
 day, and I have a long evening before me, and 
 Mrs. Theodore is coming. Don't upset me. You 
 know how wicked I think such speeches are. I 
 would rather starve with my children than grudge 
 them everything while they are young. God 
 takes care of the sparrows, and He will take care 
 of us. He won't let you die while we want you 
 so badly ; besides, there is always the workhouse. 
 Now get out plenty of champagne, and drink a 
 glass yourself. I am sure that is all you want' 
 
 Mr. Frere did not look as if he thought his
 
 BEFORE THE DANCE 77 
 
 wife's arguments convincing, but he moved away 
 towards the cellar, and it was curious to hear her 
 call after him : ' Don't be extravagant, Henry. The 
 second-best champagne will do, and we need not 
 have hock as well,' and to hear him reply : ' I can't 
 give Theodore and Hansen bad wine, my dear. 
 Theodore drinks nothing but champagne, and 
 Hansen likes my Steinberger Cabinet' 
 
 ' Arthur says papa is so different from most 
 oldish men,' said Nell, overhearing this. ' They 
 generally think any rubbish good enough for 
 young people.' 
 
 ' Young men soon find that out,' remarked Mrs. 
 Frere sententiously. 
 
 ' Yes,' said Hilary, ' that is the kind of thing 
 they take a real interest in.' 
 
 'Arthur does not care about wine,' said Nell 
 quickly. 
 
 ' He will when he is old enough. I daresay 
 he prefers ginger beer now.' 
 
 ' You talk as if he was a boy, Hilary.' 
 
 ' So he is a mere boy.' 
 
 ( Well if it comes to that I am a mere girl,' 
 said Nell dreamily. Mrs. Frere had left the room 
 again. The sisters were still busy with the 
 flowers, Hilary on her knees in front of the fire- 
 place, and Nell just behind, a pot of yellow daisies 
 in her hand. 
 
 ' Dear me, Nell,' said Hilary, half turning round, 
 ' are you engaged to him ? ' 
 
 ' Of course not,' said Nell with a deep blush. 
 
 ' But you may be any day. How dreadful!' 
 
 ' Dreadful ! Delightful, you mean.'
 
 78 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' A boy and girl like you ! You would hate 
 each other in six months.' 
 
 ' Father and mother don't hate each other.' 
 
 ' No,' said Hilary with reflective eyes ; ' but 
 perhaps they are an exception to the rule.' 
 
 ' Suppose any one asks you to marry him. 
 
 ' No one would,' said Hilary, drawing herself 
 up behind the daisies that she had just taken 
 from Nell's hands. ' Men do not propose without 
 some encouragement, and I give none.' 
 
 ' I should have thought they might, if they 
 were very keen, you know.' 
 
 ' In these days,' said Hilary, ' young men are 
 never very keen, unless there is money in it.' 
 
 ' Arthur does not care for money.' 
 
 ' Has he told you so ? ' 
 
 ' No, but he knows I have none.' 
 
 Hilary, who had filled the fireplace to her 
 satisfaction, got up now and stared into the glass 
 over the mantelpiece. She saw her sister's face 
 there as well as her own. The younger girl's 
 expression was dreamy, smiling, and serene. 
 
 ' Some men are flirts,' said Hilary. 
 
 Directly the words had escaped her lips she 
 would gladly have recalled them. Their effect 
 on her sister was cruel. Nell turned quite pale, 
 and with a gesture of impatience and indignation 
 moved away. 
 
 ' Dear Nell,' cried her sister with compunction, 
 ' I hope Arthur is not one, since you care so 
 much.' 
 
 ' Do you believe that he is ? ' asked Nell 
 steadily.
 
 BEFORE THE DANCE 79 
 
 Much against her will, Hilary hesitated before 
 she spoke, and when she did speak stammered. 
 
 ' I don't know Sophia and he mother 
 thinks why doesn't he either keep away or 
 speak ? If he does not men who dangle after 
 girls are most dishonourable.' 
 
 ' Well,' said Nell, ' what is a man to do ? How 
 can he get to know a girl if he doesn't dangle, 
 as you call it. Would you have him propose to 
 her at the end of an hour's acquaintance ? ' 
 
 ' My dears,' said Mrs. Frere, suddenly appear- 
 ing in a great bustle, ' three bouquets have 
 come from Herr Hansen such beauties ! but 
 they are all three the same size.' 
 
 ' Did you want yours to be bigger than ours,' 
 said Nell, hanging behind a little, while Hilary 
 hurried into the hall to look at these unexpected 
 tributes from their foreign friend. 
 
 ' No, no, dear, of course not,' whispered Mrs. 
 Frere. ' But I did think the one he sent Hilary 
 might have been larger than ours, you know 
 just to show what he meant. Flowers are rather 
 serious, and of course he will have on evening 
 clothes to-night. I really don't see what is to 
 prevent him '
 
 VII 
 
 A FOOLISH VIRGIN 
 
 HILARY had taken an unexpected fancy to Herr 
 Hansen. She forgave him for eating with his 
 knife because, she said, he played the Feuerzauber 
 as if he was a whole orchestra, and Beethoven's 
 Op. 109 almost as well as Hans von Billow. 
 She knew which of the three nosegays he meant 
 for her. He had asked her which colour her gown 
 would be, and she had told him yellow. Two 
 of the nosegays were of roses, and one of yellow 
 Iceland poppies, so she took that one for herself. 
 He saw it in her hands directly he entered the 
 room, although she was dancing, and some way 
 from the door. He did not dance, but he liked 
 to watch Hilary. She looked charming in her 
 transparent lemon-coloured draperies. She wore 
 no ornaments on her neck and arms, and no 
 fringe on her forehead ; she knew that bangs 
 and bangles did not become her. Her hair grew 
 naturally as it best suited her face, -and luckily 
 the fashion of the day permitted her to leave 
 bracelets and necklaces upstairs. When she 
 caught sight of Herr Hansen she nodded and
 
 A FOOLISH VIRGIN 81 
 
 smiled at him, and he understood that she was 
 saying, Thank you. 
 
 The Freres were very popular people. Every 
 one liked going to their house, whether to dance 
 or to dine. They did not gather great crowds 
 together, nor did they trot after little lions ; they 
 might have done both, but, of course, they were 
 not very worldly wise. They asked the friends 
 they really liked, and Mrs. Frere was the only 
 person in the house whose tastes were governed 
 by sordid ambition. She was a shocking worldly 
 woman, Mrs. Theodore said ; and she certainly did 
 wish Hilary and Nell to marry well. However, 
 even as a mammon worshipper, her kindliness did 
 not depart from her. She preferred the monied 
 men, but she behaved hospitably to the poor ones, 
 perhaps as a set off to her inward hopes that 
 they would not aspire to her daughters. Since 
 Herr Hansen had come forward so much she 
 reckoned Dick as poor. 
 
 It is curious how some houses are overrun 
 by young men, while others seem under a ban 
 that drives them away. Hilary and Nell were 
 not more beautiful than many other girls, nor 
 were their abilities at all remarkable. Gold had 
 they none ; yet every season seemed to bring 
 them lovers. Like others gifts of fortune, suitors 
 are certainly distributed in an unfair, mysterious 
 way. Some women have a choice amongst 
 numbers, while others, apparently as fair to see, 
 are wooed by never a one. No man living can 
 tell you the reason why. They will give you 
 vague generalities about grace and charm ; if they 
 
 6
 
 82 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 know German, they will probably mention the 
 ewig - weibliche ; if they like slang, they will 
 answer you in the current phrases. You go 
 home still wondering why Chloe has had twenty 
 offers, and her cousin Doris none. 
 
 It was a great satisfaction to Mrs. Frere to 
 perceive that none of the pretty girls who came 
 to her dance eclipsed her own two darlings. Mrs. 
 Theodore, it is true, wore a conquering air, but 
 then she, being married, did not count. Besides, 
 her victory might have been won without her 
 personal assistance. If she had sent her clothes 
 and jewels on a wax figure she would have 
 created the same sensation. She always entered 
 a room with a little smile, that was as much as 
 to say, ' Yes, I know I am too well dressed, too 
 gorgeous, too expensive, for my company. It 
 isn't my fault, though. It is yours for being poor 
 and shabby. I really haven't got anything 
 cheaper.' And in a sense her smile expressed 
 the truth. Her garments were irreproachable in 
 colour, cut, and texture, but always rather over- 
 fine. To-night she wore a white brocade, stiff 
 with silver embroidery. It was cut perilously 
 low, but her neck was almost covered by 
 diamonds. Sophia looked as plain as usual in 
 pale pink. 
 
 ' Shall I find you a partner, Mrs. Theodore ? ' 
 said Mrs. Frere. ' Do you mean to dance ? ' 
 
 ' There doesn't seem to be much room,' she 
 replied, and her objection was not unreasonable. 
 From where she stood at the door the crowd 
 looked uncomfortably dense already.
 
 A FOOLISH VIRGIN 83 
 
 ' Of course, with your train you almost need 
 an empty space,' said Mrs. Frere. 
 
 ' Or a clever partner. How badly young men 
 dance nowadays ! ' 
 
 ' Did they dance better when you were a girl ? ' 
 
 ' I did not know any of these young men 
 when I was a girl,' said Mrs. Theodore. ' I don't 
 suppose I ever shook hands with a business man 
 until I met my husband.' 
 
 ' You lived in a village, didn't you ? ' said 
 Mrs. Frere, and she drifted further into the room 
 amongst the dancers. The waltz they were 
 watching had come to an end, and the hostess 
 wished to provide partners for two or three girls 
 who were usually wall-flowers, in particular for 
 Sophia Theodore. It was not an easy task, and 
 she looked about for a daughter to assist her, 
 but they had both disappeared. 
 
 ' Where can they be ? ' she asked of Dick. 
 
 ' Nell is just coming back from the refreshment 
 room now. There she is. I saw Hilary on Herr 
 Hansen's arm a moment ago. Shall I find her 
 for you, Mrs. Frere ? ' 
 
 ' No, thank you, Nell will do ; and what 
 dances have you left, Dick ? I want partners for 
 Sophia Theodore.' 
 
 ' I haven't one, I'm afraid. How about 
 Hansen ? He came late.' 
 
 ' Herr Hansen does not dance.' 
 
 ' Well, he's wise, with his figure,' said Dick. 
 
 The musicians tuned up for the Barn Dance, 
 and Dick had to claim his partner. He looked 
 out anxiously for Hilary, but she did not appear.
 
 84 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 Herr Hansen, too, was absent. The stupid dance 
 seemed to go on for ever, and, meanwhile, the 
 poppy-giver took his innings. Dick wished he 
 had sent Hilary some flowers. Whose would she 
 have carried ? his, or those offered by that stout, 
 middle-aged German ? Hilary's name stood on 
 his card for the supper dance and for two later 
 ones. They were his own choice. The early 
 hours of the evening are not those in which a 
 man finds it easy to have his say. Wine, dance, 
 and song set the pulses astir, fire the blood, give 
 eloquence and courage. These good things Dick 
 felt that he would need. He was by no means 
 sure of Hilary. He was not even sure that she 
 would dismiss the poppy-giver. 
 
 Meanwhile, Herr Hansen had led his lady to 
 the verandah outside the drawing - room, and 
 there they sat together undisturbed and unseen. 
 The moon shone over the great elms at the 
 bottom of the garden ; the dance music came 
 through the open windows, so did a confused 
 buzz of voices and of prancing footsteps. 
 
 ' It is a pity that you should miss this dance,' 
 said Herr Hansen. 'To me you can talk any 
 day, but all young girls love to dance.' 
 
 ' I like sitting out here,' said Hilary. ' It is 
 not like London, is it? to see nothing but the 
 moon and those great trees.' 
 
 ' Ah ! you should see Hamburg,' said Herr 
 Hansen. ' That is a town.' 
 
 Hilary smiled vaguely, and held up her nosegay 
 to look at it. The flowers nodded at her and the 
 long trails quivered in the moonlight.
 
 A FOOLISH VIRGIN 85 
 
 ' They do not understand bouquets here,' said 
 Herr Hansen. ' When I saw how carelessly they 
 had made yours I felt very angry. In Hamburg 
 they are as even as if they were moulded out of 
 vegetables or wax, in rings of different colours and 
 quite flat ; or they make a harp of flowers, or a 
 ship. Last year my friend Frau Werner sent me, 
 on my birthday, a little piano made of Parmese 
 violets. Imagine that ! ' 
 
 ' Was it pretty ? ' said Hilary. 
 
 ' It was most artistic,' said Herr Hansen. 
 
 Hilary shut her eyes and listened to the swing 
 of the dance music. It was very pleasant out 
 here with her comfortable middle-aged friend. 
 
 ' How old are you, Miss Hilary ? ' he said. He 
 never called her Miss Frere, and she supposed, 
 quite rightly, that he was not acquainted with the 
 English custom. 
 
 ' I am not quite twenty,' she said. 
 
 ' It is very young. I am forty-five.' 
 
 ' Really.' She nearly betrayed her surprise 
 that he was not older, but she remembered just 
 in time that he might not like it. 
 
 ' Yes,' he said, sighing. ' I have never married.' 
 
 'Well,' said Hilary, 'you haven't missed much, 
 have you ? ' 
 
 4 That is a strange thing for a young girl to 
 say. It is not what I expected.' 
 
 ' What ought I to have said ? ' 
 
 ' Well, perhaps that it is not too late.' 
 
 ' I should not think it is,' said Hilary consider- 
 ately. 'You might be more comfortable. You 
 say your housekeeper has neglected you lately.'
 
 86 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' In Germany we think English women are 
 very bad housekeepers. They are not at all 
 domestic, we believe.' 
 
 ' Perhaps you are right,' said Hilary cheerfully. 
 ' I'm sure I'm not.' 
 
 ' Ah ! do not say so, Miss Hilary. If you 
 married it would come.' 
 
 ' Would it ? ' said Hilary, in the voice ot one 
 listening to an evil prophet. ' I am afraid you 
 think nothing good can come out of England,' 
 she added gaily. 
 
 ' I cannot say so,' answered Herr Hansen im- 
 partially. ' Your pickles are excellent.' 
 
 ' Well, that's something, you know,' said Hilary, 
 getting up ; but Herr Hansen detained her. 
 
 ' Please do not go yet,' he said. ' I have a 
 question to ask you.' 
 
 ' About Bayreuth ? ' inquired Hilary, sitting 
 down again. 
 
 ' No ! no ! About myself. You do not really 
 think I am too old to marry ? ' 
 
 For the first time the girl's heart sank with an 
 uncomfortable presentiment of what was coming. 
 She half rose, and then after all sat still. She 
 would not be fatuous enough to flee from a 
 difficulty that might not be near. Herr Hansen's 
 voice and his hesitating manner were suspicious, 
 but his figure reassured her. 
 
 ' You must find some one near your own age,' 
 she said. 
 
 ' It is only our bodies that grow old. Our 
 hearts remain young.' 
 
 ' Do they ? ' said Hilary.
 
 A FOOLISH VIRGIN 87 
 
 ' You who are so learned so emancipated 
 you would not care for looks in your husband. 
 What are looks ? They vanish.' 
 
 ' I don't care for a husband at all,' said Miss 
 Frere. ' I do not wish to marry.' 
 
 ' That is young girl's talk. Every woman 
 should marry and have her own home, where she 
 is the queen. A lonely life is nothing. I have 
 tried it and can tell you. At first you think it is 
 fine ; you are free ; you can cut a dash ; you 
 spend your money as you like ; you knock about 
 the world. Then one day you wake up and are 
 old. Soon your life ends. There is no one to 
 care whether you live or die ; and you begin to 
 think of a home where there are two, one to 
 enjoy things with you, to be happy when you are 
 happy, and sad when you are sad. Her eyes near 
 yours to see what is beautiful, her ears to listen 
 with you ; and perhaps some little children to 
 make you young again. I have two houses, Miss 
 Hilary, and much money, and Hamburg is a fine 
 town much finer than London. It is like Venice, 
 only the houses are white and clean. Would you 
 like to live there ? ' 
 
 Hilary shook her head. She hated to hurt 
 her friend. He blinked at her through his spec- 
 tacles, and she met his mild, kindly smile. 
 
 ' Think over it,' he urged. ' You need not 
 make up your mind to-night. Morgen ist auch ein 
 Tag. I know that I am not exactly a Romeo, 
 but I can offer my wife a beautiful existence; 
 and I am a good fellow.' 
 
 ' I am sure you are,' said Hilary. She listened
 
 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 rather anxiously for the music to stop. She knew 
 that when it did some of the dancers would come 
 out here for air. ' I really do not mean to marry/ 
 she added. ' I should hate housekeeping and all 
 that' 
 
 ' We will take a good cook,' said Herr Hansen. 
 ' Do come, Miss Hilary.' 
 
 ' No,' said Hilary. ' I cannot.' 
 
 c I am very unhappy,' said Herr Hansen. ' I 
 wish I was not so old. It is true that I am too 
 old for a young girl.' 
 
 ' I don't know about that,' said Hilary ; ' but if 
 you were twenty years younger I should still say 
 No ; and if Romeo himself came I should bid him 
 begone from my balcony.' 
 
 ' My child,' said Herr Hansen, in a fatherly way, 
 ' when happiness comes do not throw it away. It 
 may only come once.' 
 
 He got up when he had spoken and walked a 
 few steps towards the open window, where he was 
 met by a lively group of young people, who had 
 finished their dance, and were streaming out of 
 the hot room. Hilary remained hidden and silent 
 for a little. When one of the moon-gazing couples 
 discovered her she got up hurriedly and returned 
 to her neglected duties. 
 
 ' I -wish you would find some partners for 
 Sophia Theodore,' said Mrs. Frere, directly she 
 came across her daughter. ' People say that 
 modern young men are mercenary, but no one 
 would think so to see the fuss they make about 
 dancing with thirty thousand pounds.' 
 
 Hilary did what she could ; but before she had
 
 A FOOLISH VIRGIN 
 
 canvassed many young men Dick claimed her for 
 the supper dance. It was a waltz, and in spite of 
 the heat they both enjoyed it. Then, while the 
 first batch went into the dining-room, those left 
 behind had an ' extra.' Hilary and Dick sat out 
 on the verandah while that proceeded. They went 
 into supper rather late, got a little table to them- 
 selves, and enjoyed their chicken and champagne ; 
 but Hilary's mood did not seem to Dick propitious. 
 Once she hardly heard what he said ; once he saw 
 her take up the poppies and glance at them with 
 wistful eyes. He felt inclined to throw them from 
 her. 
 
 ' What has become of Herr Hansen ? ' he asked. 
 
 ' I don't know.' 
 
 ( You were sitting in the verandah with him a 
 little while ago.' 
 
 'Yes, but I've not seen him since.' 
 
 Dick felt encouraged, and proposed that when 
 they had finished supper they should go and sit 
 in the verandah. 
 
 ' Because you want to smoke ? ' said Hilary. 
 
 ' Did Herr Hansen smoke ? ' inquired Dick. 
 
 ' No ; but you are not bound to imitate him 
 in every respect, are you ? ' 
 
 Hilary stumbled over the end of her query 
 and turned suspiciously red. Dick looked at her 
 keenly. 
 
 ' I may be glad to do so,' he said, getting up. 
 ' How did he entertain you ? ' 
 
 For the moment Hilary could walk on a little 
 ahead and make no reply. They had to pass 
 through the drawing-room, crowded now with
 
 90 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 dancers ; the wall-flowers as well as the beauties 
 were on their feet Even the lazy young men 
 had become more alert, and the doorways were 
 less thickly decorated than before. Two or 
 three couples were sitting in the verandah, 
 so Dick and Hilary descended to the garden. 
 Here they met Arthur and Nell discussing the 
 advantages of croquet by moonlight. The argu- 
 ment seemed to be one of many points and to 
 require concentration ; at any rate, the debaters 
 wandered away together and disappeared amongst 
 the elms. 
 
 ' I think I ought to go back to the house,' said 
 Hilary, standing still. ' Mother might want me.' 
 
 ' Come once round,' said Dick, in a wheedling 
 voice. ' It is our dance, you know.' 
 
 ' Light your cigar, then. I know what slaves 
 men are to their silly little habits.' 
 
 As Hilary spoke a large moth flew wildly 
 against her face, and with a sudden startled 
 movement she stumbled against Dick. If he 
 had not been stalwart they would both have 
 fallen, but he was quick, and helped her to regain 
 her footing. As he did so he drew her arm 
 through his. 
 
 ' Do you think I need support ? ' said Hilary, 
 half vexed, half amused. 
 
 ' There might be another moth about,' said Dick. 
 
 * If you think I am afraid of moths or mice, 
 or even beetles yes, even beetles, you are mis- 
 taken. I am not so silly. That moth did not 
 frighten me, it surprised me. Perhaps, as you are 
 a man, you do not see the difference.'
 
 A FOOLISH VIRGIN 91 
 
 ' Has not a man eyes ? ' 
 
 ' Don't gibe, Dick. I'm serious. Come and 
 sit down in the summer-house. I've twisted my 
 foot a little. No. You needn't tear off for 
 doctors and rouse the household. It's nothing. 
 I shall be able to dance in five minutes.' 
 
 But in five minutes neither of them had moved 
 from the little summer-house, which was moonlit 
 and sheltered. Carnations and lilies growing just 
 outside sent in their fragrance ; jessamine hung 
 unpruned about the entry ; the night wind 
 fanned through the elm branches, and the murmur 
 of it mingled with the dance music that came 
 faintly and brokenly across the garden. 
 
 ' It's getting too hot in London,' said Hilary. 
 c I shall be glad to go away. This morning in 
 Regent Street I could hardly breathe.' 
 
 ' Are you going away ? ' 
 
 ' Oh ! I suppose so. We always go away for 
 the autumn months.' 
 
 ' But have you made your plans ? Will your 
 father get three months' rest ? He needs it.' 
 
 ' He won't get it. He has often been tele- 
 graphed for after a few days. It vexes my 
 mother when it happens.' 
 
 ' Isn't it rather lonely for him when you are 
 away ? ' 
 
 ' I never thought of that,' said Hilary. ' Perhaps 
 it is ; but he never makes any objection on 
 that score. He only complains of the expense.' 
 
 ' Well, it is his business to think of that, ' 
 said Dick. 
 
 ' I wish I had plenty of money,' said Hilary.
 
 92 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' Oh ! do you ? You said the other day you 
 never thought about it.' 
 
 ' I'm very mercenary. All my life I've seen 
 the disadvantage of being short of money. I 
 want a lot' 
 
 ' You wouldn't marry a poor man, then ? ' 
 
 ' Oh ! well, I could share my money with 
 him, you know, if I had it.' 
 
 'Yes,' said Dick, 'but I mean if you hadn't 
 got it as things are, in fact.' 
 
 ' Oh ! as things are, in fact,' said Hilary 
 mockingly, 'I don't mean to marry at all.' 
 
 'Why not?' 
 
 ' How would you like to spend your life with 
 a creature you considered your inferior in every 
 mental and moral capacity?' 
 
 Dick looked puzzled. After a little hesitation 
 he said, ' A decent man never does think in that 
 way of the girl he wants for his wife.' 
 
 ' You are dense, Dick,' cried Hilary with wide- 
 open, smiling eyes. 'It is I who think that way 
 about men.' 
 
 ' I didn't know we were such a bad lot' 
 
 ' You have been ruined by centuries of despotic 
 power on your own side, and slavish submission 
 on ours.' 
 
 ' You speak like a book.' 
 
 ' It is none the less true.' 
 
 ' I don't see much to choose between men 
 and women, myself/ said Dick rather hotly. ' On 
 the whole, perhaps, men are better. They gossip 
 less ; they quarrel less ; they are less false and 
 vain.'
 
 A FOOLISH VIRGIN 93 
 
 ' They quarrel more ; they cheat more ; they 
 are more selfish.' 
 
 ' And yet we cannot do without each other, 
 can we ? ' 
 
 ' I am going to try,' said Hilary with decision. 
 She got up as she spoke, and seemed to expect 
 that Dick would follow her. But he leant back 
 in the darkness, and spoke with some trace of 
 agitation. On her face, as she stood near the 
 entry, the moonlight fell. He could see her 
 starry eyes ; he could make out the determined, 
 half angry set of her mouth. 
 
 ' Hilary,' he said, ' you were such a dear little 
 girl five or six years ago.' 
 
 ' I am not a little girl now.' 
 
 ' I know. All the while I was away I used 
 to picture you growing up. I thought I 
 hoped ' 
 
 His voice grew uncertain, and he stopped a 
 moment. Hilary took a step away from him, as 
 if she would elude what he had yet to say ; but 
 he sprang to his feet, and in a moment got ahead 
 of her. 
 
 ' I want you for my wife,' he said, with a 
 determination that was really passionate, but 
 which she resented as unauthorised. ' In a sense 
 what you say is true. No man worth his salt 
 thinks himself good enough for the girl he loves. 
 Don't you see how it is ? I will kiss your feet 
 if you will let me, and yet my arm is stronger 
 than yours, my back is broader ; I want to hedge 
 you in.' 
 
 ' You are very kind, Dick. You always were ;
 
 94 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 but that is just the conventional attitude, you 
 know.' 
 
 ' I don't care what names you call it. It's 
 the natural, sensible one. Will you marry me, 
 Hilary?' 
 
 ' No, I will not' 
 
 Whether he took this prompt denial to heart 
 much, Hilary could not tell. Just then he said 
 nothing more, and as they walked back to the 
 house together his head was turned away from 
 her. 
 
 ' Are you vexed, Dick ? ' she said after a time. 
 
 ' I have more to say, and I hardly know how 
 to say it. Come and sit down again and let us 
 talk things out. I've got to make you change 
 your mind before we part.' 
 
 They had come to an iron seat at one end of 
 the lawn, and Hilary sat down on it. 
 
 ' You won't do that,' she said. 
 
 ' Listen, then. I saw your father this after- 
 noon. I asked his consent/ 
 
 ' How proper of you.' 
 
 ' He gave it willingly.' 
 
 ' I daresay. Father was always fond of you ; 
 for that matter, so am I.' 
 
 ' Don't you care to please your father ? ' 
 
 ' Certainly. But I must please myself first 
 You see that, I suppose ? ' 
 
 ' No. I can't say I do.' 
 
 ' We don't agree about anything.' 
 
 ' It seems not.' 
 
 ' Perhaps you like the idea of a cat and dog 
 life.'
 
 A FOOLISH VIRGIN 95 
 
 ' I like the idea of life with you.' 
 
 ' Oh, Dick ! ' exclaimed Hilary in a mock woe- 
 ful voice, ' that I should live to hear you make 
 pretty speeches.' 
 
 ' I don't find it easy, I confess,' he said grimly. 
 
 'It is your own fault. You ought to under- 
 stand.' 
 
 ' What ? ' 
 
 ' That women have grown and changed. We 
 no longer find our only happiness in marriage. 
 I want my life to be a wide one.' 
 
 ' What do you mean ? Will you teach in a 
 school, or write for the magazines, or rant at hole 
 and corner meetings ? You talk nonsense.' 
 
 ' You are narrow.' 
 
 Dick wished he might swear chiefly at him- 
 self. He had been so determined to keep his 
 temper, to see that Hilary kept hers. And now, 
 instead of melting under the ardour of his argu- 
 ments, she was up in arms against him, all her 
 folly coming to her lips. 
 
 ' If you expect to marry a man without faults, 
 of course you will be disappointed,' he said rather 
 irrelevantly. ' But why should you ? You are not 
 faultless yourself, I suppose?' 
 
 ' I should expect my husband to think me 
 so,' said Hilary with a provoking smile. 
 
 ' Then you had better marry a fool,' said Dick, 
 out of patience. ' I daresay you will.' 
 
 ' Well, no, Dick,' said Hilary, her eyes dancing 
 with mischief. ' I have explained that I will not.' 
 
 So, for the moment, Hilary had the best of it. 
 Dick said nothing more, and as soon as he could,
 
 96 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 he went home. As he was putting on his coat 
 he saw Mr. Frere, and he could not resist the 
 appeal for news that spoke in his host's face. 
 
 ' It's no good,' he said under his breath. 
 
 ' What, my boy ? ' said Mr. Frere anxiously. 
 
 ' Hilary has refused me.' 
 
 ' You don't mean that she prefers Hansen ? ' 
 
 ' I don't know. She tells me she won't marry 
 at all.' 
 
 ' But don't girls always say that ? ' 
 
 The two men had gone just outside the front 
 door, where they could speak unheard. Dick 
 saw that Mr. Frere looked worried and haggard. 
 He was biting his lips nervously, and his fingers 
 trembled as they touched his whiskers. 
 
 ' Hilary meant what she said.' 
 
 ' I must talk to her,' said Mr. Frere. ' She is 
 a very good girl ; she will listen to reason.' 
 
 ' I would rather she listened to me,' said 
 Dick. 
 
 ' Did you tell her how much I wished it ? ' 
 
 ' I said something of the kind.' 
 
 The two men were silent, and after a moment's 
 pause Dick moved away. 
 
 ' Good-night,' he said. 
 
 Mr. Frere followed him. 
 
 ' Did you leave a stone unturned ? ' he asked 
 anxiously. 
 
 ' I don't know,' said Dick ; ' I'm not good at 
 talking.' 
 
 He stopped again, and evidently had some- 
 thing more to say, something he found it difficult 
 to express.
 
 A FOOLISH VIRGIN 97 
 
 ' I told Hilary she ought to think of you,' he 
 began. ' At the same time ' 
 
 Mr. Frere did not help him out. He listened, 
 but his eyes showed that he was brooding over 
 the news. 
 
 ' A man wants to be married for his own sake,' 
 finished Dick with an effort. 
 
 ' Of course, of course,' assented Mr. Frere. 
 
 'Perhaps it would be bestto say nothingto Hilary.' 
 
 ' Do you think so ? ' 
 
 ' Even if you persuaded her to say Yes, it 
 would not be much satisfaction to me, unless 
 she changed a good deal.' 
 
 ' I see,' said Mr. Frere. And the two men 
 parted after shaking hands. 
 
 Mr. Frere found when he got back into the house 
 that his guests were beginning to go. For the 
 next half-hour he was busy speeding them. It 
 struck two as the last carriage drove away, and 
 he shut the garden gate. He yawned with 
 weariness, and hurried into the dining-room, where 
 he had seen his wife and daughters a little while 
 ago ; but the girls had gone to bed. His wife 
 was waiting there by herself, and he saw in her 
 face and manner traces of extreme agitation. In 
 fact, her eyes were full of tears, and her voice 
 broke as she tried to speak to him. 
 
 ' Henry,' she said, ' the child has refused Herr 
 Hansen.' 
 
 Mr. Frere dropped into a chair, and looked 
 fixedly at the floor. His brow contracted in 
 anxious wrinkles ; his eyelids concealed his eyes ; 
 he bit his lips nervously. 
 
 7
 
 98 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' I have always told you not to build too much 
 on the girls marrying well,' he said. 
 
 ' Oh ! ' cried his wife, ' now you think you 
 are in the right when you croak like a raven. 
 I have always said our girls would have offers. 
 If Hilary dismisses a millionaire it does not affect 
 my argument.' 
 
 ' It affects mine, though. It makes it true.' 
 
 ' I know she will marry Dick Lorimer ; such 
 a poor match in comparison.' 
 
 ' You may make yourself easy on that score,' 
 said Mr. Frere ; ' she has refused Dick, too, to- 
 night' 
 
 His wife stared at him, first in bewilderment, 
 then in distress, and then with a broad, bland, 
 satisfied smile. 
 
 ' Two men in one evening ! Now, who is 
 right, Henry ? You or I ? ' 
 
 She pulled a dish of little cakes towards her, 
 and poured out two glasses of champagne. 
 
 ' We must plan our summer journey next,' she 
 said. ' I have a fancy for Norderney. We could 
 take Hamburg by the way.' 
 
 ' Norderney ! Hamburg ! the very night of this 
 dance ! ' cried Mr. Frere. ' I tell you I cannot 
 afford it. We must not travel this year.' 
 
 ' We all need a change,' said his wife placidly. 
 ' Nell looks very pale. You would not like her 
 to be ill. Her ticket will not come to more than 
 a doctor's bill, and we are obliged to live either 
 here or there.' 
 
 ' Then go to Worthing or Aldborough for a 
 fortnight."
 
 A FOOLISH VIRGIN 99 
 
 ' No,' said Mrs. Frere, with the obstinacy that 
 often teaches a weak nature to act with disastrous 
 effect. ' I like the idea of Norderney. I do not 
 feel well, either. I want a change from house- 
 keeping worries. I cannot stand the discomforts 
 of English sea-side lodgings. Besides, you need 
 a cheerful holiday.' 
 
 'What I need is peace of mind,' said Mr. 
 Frere. ' I want to sleep at night, and not lie 
 awake thinking that you are beggars, and that 
 I am a scoundrel yes, a scoundrel. There is 
 no other name for a man who has a wife and 
 children and yet spends every penny he earns 
 a coward, a scoundrel, a heartless fool and 
 yet, my God ! how can I help it ? What can I 
 do?' 
 
 He had half risen, and then, after all, had sunk 
 down again, his face ashen gray, his lips twitching 
 with excitement. 
 
 1 You do upset yourself so dreadfully, and me, 
 too,' said Mrs. Frere, looking very uncomfortable. 
 ' I am sure you give us all we want' 
 
 ' If I die to-night you may be in the streets.' 
 
 ' I wish you would not say such awful 
 things, Henry. It is so wicked to look forward 
 to the worst. There are troubles enough in the 
 world without creating imaginary ones. If you 
 had not let Hilary go to College she would never 
 have refused Herr Hansen. Now, that is a real 
 misfortune.'
 
 VIII 
 
 DICK'S FOLLY 
 
 A DAY or two after the dance Dick suddenly 
 made up his mind to go to Hamburg on business. 
 He carried introductions from Mr. Frere and from 
 Herr Hansen with him, and as he also had friends 
 of his own there, his visit promised to be sociable 
 as well as lucrative. He knew the city, and liked 
 it ; but on this occasion he did not find himself 
 amused. The business hours were satisfactory 
 enough. His work occupied his mind, tired his 
 body, and brought him pleasant signs of success. 
 It was play-time that hung rather heavily on his 
 hands. He felt out of spirits, and anxious about 
 his best friends. He wondered what they were 
 doing, and whether Hilary would marry Herr 
 Hansen. In Hamburg he heard Herr Hansen 
 spoken of with much respect. Dick got tired of 
 his name. He heard it too often, because he 
 saw a good deal of some people called Werner, 
 who were evidently very intimate with Hilary's 
 stout admirer, and quite unsuspicious that he 
 could cast eyes at an English girl. 
 
 Herr Werner was a flourishing man of business ; 
 his wife had been at school with Mrs. Frere, and
 
 DICK'S POLL Y 
 
 still corresponded with her in terms of adjectival 
 affection. They had a large family, most of whom 
 were already married and out in the world. Two 
 daughters remained at home. One was still a 
 school -girl ; the other, Olga, had passed her 
 eighteenth birthday and required establishment. 
 Frau Werner encouraged the girl to set her heart 
 on Herr Hansen ; and the girl had been quite 
 docile until Dick appeared, when it was plain to 
 her mother that she would readily have given her 
 heart to him. The quiet, keen-eyed Englishman 
 became Olga Werner's hero. She dreamt of him, 
 watched for him, wept for him when he sailed 
 away. 
 
 The Werners would probably have given him 
 their daughter if he had asked for her. Modest 
 as his present fortunes were, business men believed 
 in his future. He was known to be honest, able, 
 and hard working. Dick missed a considerable 
 step to worldly success when he stared so absently 
 at Olga Werner's blue eyes. She would have 
 come to her husband with a dowry ; and an 
 alliance with her would have meant an alliance 
 with some great mercantile houses, as useful to 
 a young trader as the protection of a great 
 political power may be to a little new one. Frau 
 Werner quite thought the match might still take 
 place. She did not feel desperately anxious for it ; 
 she had other strings to her bow, and, on the 
 whole, she preferred a son-in-law of her own nation 
 if possible, of her own town. But she liked Dick 
 very well, and she expected that he would eventu- 
 ally come forward. A woman who has married
 
 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 two daughters knows that young men do not 
 always conduct a courtship with the hot, unbroken 
 ardour of romance. 
 
 Meanwhile Dick returned to London without a 
 suspicion. The Werners were part of Hamburg. 
 Next time business took him there he would see 
 them again as he would see the Jungfernstieg 
 and sail on the Alster in the natural course 
 of things. In London he had other pleasures, 
 and older, closer friends. The first person he 
 wished to see was Mr. Frere. He asked himself 
 whether he could go to the house as usual, though 
 Hilary had rejected him, and he decided that he 
 would. He called there one evening, two or 
 three days after his return, and found Mr. Frere 
 sitting by himself in the verandah. Dick got a 
 fright when he saw him, he looked so ill. 
 
 ' All alone ? ' said Dick, looking round. 
 
 c Yes,' said Mr. Frere. ' My wife and the girls 
 are at the theatre. Arthur Preston is with them.' 
 
 Dick sat down and began to smoke. Mr. 
 Frere was smoking too. An evening paper lay 
 on the table. 
 
 ' All well ? ' said Dick. 
 
 4 My wife wants to go to Norderney,' replied 
 Mr. Frere. ' She says Nell looks pale.' 
 
 ' What are you going to do ? ' 
 
 ' God knows.' 
 
 Mr. Frere spoke as if Dick's question referred 
 to their general prospects, and not merely to a 
 summer holiday. 
 
 ' Why don't you have a talk with Theodore 
 and get something settled ? ' said Dick.
 
 DICK^S FOLLY 103 
 
 ' Because I haven't a leg to stand on.' 
 
 ' I can't believe it. Your knowledge, your 
 experience, your personal acquaintance with both 
 buyers and sellers, must be of value. Theodore 
 doesn't care about work nowadays. He wants 
 to go into Parliament and toady the smart people. 
 I should think he needs you as much as you need 
 him.' 
 
 Mr. Frere shook his head, but he said nothing. 
 He seemed to be too much out of spirits to 
 discuss his prospects, and too listless to talk of 
 anything else. Dick took up the evening paper ; 
 his eye had been caught by a big headline about 
 the panic on the Stock Exchange. 
 
 ' Terrible business, this,' he said, alluding to 
 the crash of the great firm that had chiefly caused 
 the panic. It was unnecessary to mention the 
 firm more definitely ; the whole city had 
 roared its name for a week. He looked up, 
 expecting Mr. Frere to make some remark, to 
 join him in righteous denunciation, but the older 
 man only sighed. 
 
 ' I know a man who has lost every penny he 
 had. Regularly cleared out. I am very sorry 
 for him,' said Dick. 
 
 ' Is he married ? ' 
 
 'No.' 
 
 ' Then what does it matter ? If I was alone 
 in the world to-night, I could hold my head up. 
 But how I am to tell my wife and children, 
 heaven knows.' 
 
 ' Tell them what ? ' asked Dick, with an un- 
 comfortable sensation of fear.
 
 104 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' I'm done for,' said Mr. Frere in a shaky, 
 feeble voice. 'Arthur Preston put me on to the 
 Ararat Trust Shares a month ago. And now 
 there's a call.' 
 
 ' How many shares have you got ? ' 
 
 ' Four hundred ; and the call is five pounds.' 
 
 ' Two thousand pounds ! ' said Dick blankly. 
 
 ' I've just been all over the house, estimating 
 the furniture ; but it is old-fashioned. I suppose 
 we must sell it and turn out. I don't know what 
 else we can do. I haven't told my wife yet. 
 But whatever we do, if we sell our beds and our 
 spoons, I can't raise two thousand pounds before 
 the call is due, unless Theodore helps me, and he 
 is the last man in the world I want to ask.' 
 
 ' I suppose if you drew two thousand pounds 
 out of the business, you would have nothing much 
 left for your private expenses till Christmas.' 
 
 ' Not a farthing. I have been making about 
 three thousand a year, and spending more.' 
 
 Dick was silent for a long time, turning over 
 ways and means. 
 
 ' If you could begin to spend less ' 
 
 ' That's what I mean to do, if only Theodore 
 consents to renew the partnership,' interrupted 
 Mr. Frere. ' Sometimes I hope he will I go up 
 and down the suspense is awful. Of course, I 
 have the whole business at my fingers' ends. I 
 should let this house, and go into a much smaller 
 one.' 
 
 ' Yes. But how are you going to get this two 
 thousand pounds ? ' asked Dick. Ever since he had 
 heard of the new liability, he had been trying to
 
 DICK'S POLL V 105 
 
 harden his heart against his old friend ; but he 
 did not succeed. When Mr. Frere spoke eagerly, 
 Hilary's likeness to him became apparent. Just 
 now, Dick had seen his face brighten suddenly as 
 hers did sometimes. The father had looked at 
 him as the daughter did, with guileless consulting 
 eyes. His question brought the shadows back 
 again, and he felt as if he had spoken with brutal 
 bluntness ; nevertheless, he stuck to his point. 
 
 ' You must get it, you know,' he said. 
 
 ' I suppose I can raise it somehow by a bill of 
 sale on the furniture. And then there are my 
 profits for the second half of this year.' 
 
 ' But what will you all live on here ? ' 
 
 ' We shall not be here if the house is let and 
 the furniture sold,' said Mr. Frere. ' We must go 
 into lodgings. The girls had better look for 
 situations. Then we shall be ready for next 
 year, when Theodore kicks me out. I suppose 
 I can get a clerkship. You will be going ahead 
 soon, Dick ; you must find a corner for me.' 
 
 Dick felt too much perplexed and troubled to 
 smile. He stared at the elms in the garden, and 
 wondered what he could do to help his old friend. 
 He could not afford to lose two thousand pounds, 
 and yet he was slowly making up his mind to run 
 the risk. 
 
 ' You must not sell your furniture and go into 
 lodgings,' he said finally. ' That would be wretched.' 
 
 ' I must do something of the kind,' said Mr. 
 Frere. 
 
 ' You can get the money if Suppose I 
 
 back a bill ? '
 
 106 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 Mr. Frere looked at Dick with a swift, vanish- 
 ing expression of relief. It lit up his face for a 
 moment, and then faded again, leaving it as hunted 
 and weary as before. 
 
 ' My dear boy,' he said, ' it isn't as if I could 
 meet the bill. How should I pay you back ? ' 
 
 ' If you live at a lower rate, you can pay it 
 back gradually.' 
 
 ' But how soon ? ' 
 
 ' You will go on with Theodore next year,' 
 said Dick, nodding his head confidently. ' He is 
 too sharp a chap to let you go. He may offer 
 you a fixed share, I suppose Oh ! I'm not 
 afraid.' 
 
 ' My dear Dick,' said Mr. Frere huskily. The 
 young man's belief in him, his cheerful expecta- 
 tions, were as helpful as the actual offer of money. 
 
 1 But it's unfair to you,' he resumed. He knew 
 that Dick's resources were slender, and the busi- 
 ness demands on them great. 
 
 ' I shan't be spending much myself,' said Dick 
 evasively. 
 
 ' I wonder whether I can make my wife under- 
 stand.' 
 
 ' Is it necessary ? ' 
 
 ' Perhaps not.' 
 
 Dick had no desire that Hilary should hear 
 of the transaction ; and Mr. Frere knew exactly 
 what his wife would say if he told her about it. 
 She would listen inattentively, assure him that 
 business matters were not her province, and 
 observe that her husband never mentioned them 
 at home unless they happened to be disagreeable.
 
 DICK'S POLL Y 107 
 
 The tradesmen had to be paid whether the City 
 was in a good humour or a bad one, and no man 
 could expect his wife to feed the household on 
 nothing, just because some stupid shares went 
 down. If they went down, they would also go 
 up, she supposed. She could not understand why 
 her husband should worry over such an everyday 
 affair. She could not easily reduce their expenses, 
 because at all times she practised thrift, for the 
 pleasure of it, and because it was her nature. 
 They might give up the Times and take the 
 Standard instead if Mr. Frere pleased ; and give 
 sixpence instead of a shilling to the German band. 
 
 Mr. Frere had turned dreamily silent while he 
 carried on this imaginary conversation. It was 
 not altogether imaginary. The two suggestions 
 for retrenchment had actually been made by Mrs. 
 Frere last time they talked of money. She could 
 not understand why her husband had not accepted 
 them with greater gratitude ; and she had said that 
 her own economical bent must be a very strong 
 one ; otherwise, it would long ago have been 
 discouraged by Mr. Frere's indifference. Eighteen 
 pence a week saved was three pounds eighteen a 
 year. It would buy Nell gloves. 
 
 Dick stayed until the ladies returned from the 
 theatre. They came out on the verandah and 
 talked about the play. Hilary wore her green 
 gown, and a long pale green cloak with silver clasps. 
 The play had amused her, and she laughed a good 
 deal as she told her father the story. Now and 
 then she turned to Dick with an explanation, an 
 invitation to laugh with her at the joke. He had
 
 108 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 never seen her in better spirits, and his own rose 
 at the thought of what he had done. His wish 
 had been to make a new home for her, and that 
 had failed. Instead, he was going to prevent her 
 old home from falling to pieces. As he loved her, 
 he was glad to do it, although until she came he 
 had not felt very light-hearted. The risk of loss 
 appeared greater to him than he could admit to 
 Mr. Frere. He thought worse of his old friend's 
 health, and worse of his prospects, than he liked 
 to say. Dick's business conscience pricked him ; 
 his private conscience applauded and encouraged. 
 The two were at war till Hilary came. After all, 
 Dick told himself as he looked at her, if he chose 
 to give up a sum of money for her sake, even though 
 she would not marry him, it was no man's busi- 
 ness to call him a fool. All the money he made 
 might have been hers had she only nodded her 
 pretty head.
 
 IX 
 
 BAD NEWS 
 
 ONE hot evening towards the end of August 
 Hilary had taken her books into the garden and 
 was trying to read there. The Freres had not 
 gone to Norderney. Indeed, they had not been 
 away at all. For the first time in their lives the 
 girls were spending August in London instead of 
 on a Swiss mountain top, in a German watering- 
 place, or at the English sea-side. Every day 
 their mother proposed a journey, and every day 
 their father managed to stave it off. The dis- 
 cussions were interminable, but so far nothing 
 had come of them but the acquisition of several 
 new guide-books and a lively European corre- 
 spondence as to terms and suitable accommoda- 
 tion. The girls could not understand why their 
 mother consented to this long delay. Every 
 one they knew had left town long since. Mrs. 
 Theodore and Sophia were at Pontresina. Arthur 
 Preston was on his way to the Dolomites. Dick 
 Lorimer had gone sea-fishing off the Cornish 
 coast. 
 
 Even the daily papers wrote of mountain, 
 moor, and sea. Hilary had stumbled on a
 
 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 leader this very morning that set her longing 
 for salt breezes, for pine forests, for moorland 
 hills, for anything countrified, instead of the stale 
 dusty streets outside their garden gate. Even 
 her own home seemed in need of a cleansing air ; 
 at any rate, every one in it looked jaded and 
 irritable. The Greek play was making little 
 progress. Hilary had taken it into the garden 
 to-night, but she felt languid and disinclined for 
 work, and before she had considered three lines 
 her mother appeared. 
 
 ' I can't think what makes your father so late,' 
 she said. 
 
 Hilary put down her book and stared absently 
 across the garden. Their usual dinner hour had 
 gone by, and there was no sign yet of Mr. Frere. 
 
 4 Perhaps he went to Cook's to get those return 
 tickets/ she suggested. 
 
 ' I'm afraid not, my dear. He said only this 
 morning that he hadn't the money for them. It 
 is really dreadful. We cannot do without a 
 change. He does not see that it is an absolute 
 necessity. I am sure it is not for pleasure that I 
 go away, and I am always glad to get home again.' 
 
 ' I don't understand the sudden difficulty,' said 
 Hilary. ' Father's circumstances have not altered, 
 have they ? ' 
 
 ' That is just what you never know with a 
 business man. You have to guess at their affairs 
 from their tempers. It is very trying. The wife 
 of a man who has a fixed income can cut her 
 coat according to her cloth ; but although I stint 
 and save, as a matter of duty, I always feel that
 
 BAD NEWS 
 
 it is trouble thrown away. What is the good 
 of choosing cheap fish for dinner when a single 
 telegram that very day may have lost you 
 thousands ? ' 
 
 ' Perhaps father has been losing money,' said 
 Hilary. 
 
 ' I daresay. Of course, we have both had our 
 disappointments.' 
 
 She sighed, and Hilary opened her book again. 
 It was in this roundabout way that Mrs. Frere 
 reproached her daughter over and over again in 
 the twenty -four hours. She could not help 
 feeling that things were going a little wrong. Her 
 prayers to fortune were so modest, and yet they 
 seemed unheard that Hilary should marry Herr 
 Hansen that Arthur should declare himself 
 that Mr. Frere should keep his health and spirits, 
 surely to ask for these events to happen was not 
 to ask for much. They wanted a lucky breeze, 
 and Mrs. Frere wished she could puff out her 
 cheeks like a cherub, and blow one the right way. 
 It vexed her to see Nell droop and fade. 
 
 ' Perhaps Arthur will not marry until next 
 year,' she said to Hilary. ' The Stock Exchange 
 is very flat just now.' 
 
 She often made a remark of this kind to 
 her elder daughter. In some mysterious way it 
 seemed to afford her relief to speak of Nell's 
 marriage to Arthur as a certainty even while she 
 fretted over its delay. 
 
 Hilary looked pensively across the lawn at Nell, 
 who was watering a bed of parched geraniums, 
 although the clouds were gathering for rain.
 
 112 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' I don't believe much in Arthur,' she said. 
 
 ' I can't think why.' 
 
 Hilary was saved for the moment from the 
 difficulties of an explanation. A servant came 
 across the lawn to ask whether dinner should be 
 served, and to say that the cook wanted some 
 vanilla for a sauce. Mrs. Frere ordered dinner 
 at once, and went back to the house to get the 
 vanilla out of her storeroom. 
 
 By the time dinner was over the three 
 women felt almost anxious about Mr. Frere. 
 He usually left the office about five o'clock, 
 and never stayed in the City to an unusual 
 hour without sending a telegram or a clerk with 
 a message. Why had he not done so to-day? 
 He could not have started on a business journey 
 without coming home for his clothes. He had 
 long since given up his club. 
 
 ' Suppose he has been run over ? How 
 should we know it?' inquired his wife. 
 
 The girls thought some one would be sent 
 from the hospital to tell them, but they persuaded 
 their mother not to sit at a front window and 
 watch for a hospital messenger. Their father 
 had probably gone to dine in town with a friend. 
 It was contrary to his habits, but not quite 
 impossible. Hilary could remember an occasion 
 when Dick's father had arrived from India, and 
 carried off Mr. Frere from the office to the Cafe 
 Royal. She remembered the telegram coming to 
 explain his absence. 
 
 ' That is what I mean,' said Mrs. Frere. ' He 
 has always sent a telegram,'
 
 BAD NEWS 113 
 
 The evening had grown more and more 
 oppressive. The girls sat out in the verandah, 
 and stared at the black sky. In the heavy 
 silence that heralded a storm every sound outside 
 reached them with unaccustomed clearness. Mrs. 
 Frere was too restless to sit down. She listened 
 for her husband's latch-key, and twice went to the 
 door on a false alarm. Very soon it began to 
 lighten, and that increased her uneasiness. The 
 girls were driven back to the drawing-room, and 
 found it difficult to breathe there. They opened 
 the piano, but a crash of thunder startled them 
 away. Nell had said she would sing, but she 
 could not chirp through a storm like this ; it 
 sounded right over their heads. The rain had 
 not come yet, and between the peals there was 
 breathless silence. They heard the postman's 
 knock, and then a fresh flash blinded them for 
 an instant, while the crash of the thunder seemed 
 within the room. 
 
 'That was a letter,' said Hilary, 'and no one 
 brings it. I daresay the servants are afraid.' 
 
 She ran into the front hall and took the 
 letter out of the box. It was only a package of 
 patterns for Nell. But as she stood there some 
 one came up the steps and rang, and with a 
 swift dread of bad news, with the wish to inter- 
 cept it, she opened the door. To her surprise she 
 saw Dick Lorimer standing outside. He came in. 
 
 ' I thought you were in Cornwall,' she said. 
 
 ' I got back three days ago.' 
 
 They shook hands, and then Hilary turned 
 towards the drawing-room. 
 
 8
 
 ii4 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' Isn't your father smoking ? ' said Dick. ' I 
 rather want to see him.' 
 
 He was close to the library door, and he 
 stopped there as if he wished to go in. He 
 looked at Hilary for permission to do so. 
 
 ' Father has not come home,' explained Hilary. 
 ' We can't think where he is.' 
 
 ' May I wait for him ? ' said Dick. 
 
 ' Of course. Do you know where he is ? ' 
 
 'No.' 
 
 ' Have you seen him to-day ? ' 
 
 1 Yes.' 
 
 Hilary noticed that Dick hesitated slightly 
 before he replied. She turned round swiftly and 
 faced him. 
 
 ' Is anything the matter ? ' she asked, trying as 
 she spoke to read the truth in his face. What 
 she read there did not reassure her. His eyes 
 were full of pity, his glance was grave. 
 
 ' Your father has business worries,' he said 
 evasively. 
 
 Hilary did not press her question further. It 
 was impossible to ask Dick for information about 
 her father's affairs ; but she felt uneasy. They 
 went into the drawing-room together, and Mrs. 
 Frere asked him what he meant by coming out 
 in the midst of such a storm. He had no 
 plausible answer ready, and as he tried to invent 
 one he saw Hilary staring at him in bewilder- 
 ment. Luckily the storm came to his aid. 
 When conversation is interrupted once a minute 
 by a clap of thunder it is apt to grow erratic. 
 One flash of lightning was terrible. Nell buried
 
 BAD NEWS 115 
 
 her head in the sofa cushions after it, and Mrs. 
 Frere suggested that they should all adjourn to 
 the library, where there were closed shutters and 
 thick curtains. As they filed into the hall they 
 heard the rain begin a sudden heavy downpour 
 driving against the window-panes. Mrs. Frere 
 said that the fire should be lighted, in case 
 her husband came home wet through. This was 
 done. Dick was allowed to smoke. Whisky 
 and mineral waters were placed on the table. 
 The room looked well lighted and cheerful ; the 
 blaze of the fire was pleasant to see. 
 
 ' It might be a winter evening,' said Nell. 
 ' This room gets very stuffy in winter, worse 
 than it is to-night ; but you look like summer, 
 Dick. Anyone can see you have lived in a boat 
 lately. What was the place like ? Would it do 
 for us ? ' 
 
 ' It was roughish,' said Dick. 
 
 'You are quite bronzed,' said Hilary, looking 
 at him contemplatively. ' You make me think 
 of the sea. I know what you have been do- 
 ing. You have taken your boat into caves, and 
 heard the waves plash against the sides, and then 
 you have come out into the sunshine again ; 
 you have watched the gulls, and you have 
 been drenched by spray ; you have lived on 
 fresh fish and salt air. I wish we could go 
 off to-morrow, anyhow anywhere. London in 
 August is terrible. Let us go off to-morrow, 
 mamma, and get brown and blistered like Dick. 
 I can't think why we are all sitting here to- 
 night.'
 
 u6 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' I am so unhappy about your father,' said 
 Mrs. Frere. ' Where can he be ? ' 
 
 She had unfastened one corner of the shutters, 
 and, half hidden by the heavy curtain, she stood 
 close to the window on the watch. 
 
 Hilary felt convinced that Dick was uneasy 
 too. She knew him too well to be misled by 
 his quiet manner. He smoked his pipe ; he filled 
 himself a glass of whisky and Apollinaris ; he 
 sat still in his chair ; but Hilary observed that 
 he listened to every sound outside, and that in 
 spite of the late hour he seemed determined to 
 stay on. 
 
 ' I'm afraid you won't get much of a talk with 
 father when he does come home,' she said. 
 
 ' I'm afraid not,' said Dick. 
 
 Their eyes met in conflict. He understood 
 that she wondered why he did not bid good-bye 
 and go, and she understood that he meant to stay 
 and give no reason. 
 
 ' It is nearly midnight,' said Nell, looking at 
 the clock. ' I'm so sleepy.' 
 
 Mrs. Frere heard what the girl said and came 
 away from the window. She begged her daughters 
 to go to bed. Nell consented to do so, but Hilary 
 said that she preferred to sit up. 
 
 ' Why do you stay ? ' she asked Dick a few 
 minutes later when they were left to themselves. 
 Nell had gone to bed, and Mrs. Frere was giving 
 some final orders to the servants. Dick looked 
 at her. 
 
 ' I'll go if you like/ he said. 
 
 ' Nonsense, Dick. You know what I mean.
 
 BAD NEWS 117 
 
 You stay because you think something has gone 
 wrong. What do you fear ? ' 
 
 ' I can't tell you,' said Dick, after some delibera- 
 tion. 'Nothing. I saw your father to-day, and 
 ... I expect he's all right. He'll be here in a 
 minute, and then I'll go.' 
 
 ' I have sent the servants to bed,' said Mrs. 
 Frere, coming back into the room. ' Your father 
 is sure to have dined.' 
 
 She stood still on the threshold, the door wide 
 open, her hand upraised and pointing behind her 
 towards the hall. 
 
 ' Listen ! What is that ? ' she cried. 
 
 They all three heard a slow dragging step 
 come as far as the front door, and then shuffle 
 heavily away again out of the garden gate and 
 down the road. 
 
 ' I'll go and see,' said Dick. 
 
 He hurried off, shutting the front door after 
 him ; but the two women opened it, and stood 
 on the top step listening anxiously. There was 
 no traffic in the road at this late hour, and the 
 rain fell quietly now. Hilary could hear Dick 
 overtake the man who had been within their 
 gates a moment since ; she could hear two voices, 
 and then two persons coming slowly back. She 
 ran down the steps, across the small front garden 
 to the road. Dick had just arrived at the nearest 
 gas lamp, and she saw that it was her father 
 clinging to his arm. She ran on, unmindful of 
 the rain, and then suddenly stopped short. What 
 ailed her father? He seemed hardly able to 
 walk. He was drenched with rain and shivering ;
 
 Ii8 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 his face looked white and wild ; his eyes met hers 
 without interest, almost without recognition. 
 
 ' What has happened ? ' she said under her 
 breath to Dick. 
 
 ' He has been out in the storm.' 
 
 Hilary caught her father's free hand. It was 
 as cold as ice. When they got to the house 
 and Mrs. Frere saw her husband's condition she 
 immediately showed great alarm. 
 
 ' What is the matter, Henry ? ' she cried. 
 ' Come in to the fire. Was it you who came to 
 the door just now and went away again ? ' 
 
 ' Yes,' said Mr. Frere with a groan. 
 
 He let Dick take off his dripping greatcoat, 
 and then he followed his wife into the library. 
 There he sank into a chair and stared silently at 
 the fire, rubbing his hands all the while, and 
 giving little shivering sighs that terrified his wife. 
 She stood close by and looked at him helplessly. 
 Dick mixed some strong whisky and water, and 
 steadied the glass while Mr. Frere drank it. 
 Hilary wished she had thought of doing that. 
 
 ' Where have you been ? ' said Mrs. Frere, when 
 she had waited some time in vain for her husband 
 to speak. 
 
 His haggard eyes turned miserably towards 
 his wife. He seemed about to answer her, and 
 then, as if the words choked him, he stopped short 
 and said to Dick : ' Tell them. I can't' 
 
 Dick, looking greatly troubled and perplexed, 
 sat down near his old friend. 
 
 ' You want rest and sleep now,' he said. ' No 
 need for any explanations to-night.'
 
 BAD NEWS 119 
 
 ' Yes, yes, there is ; only I don't know how 
 to do it. That's why I stayed away. I don't 
 know how to tell them.' 
 
 ' Don't keep us in suspense, Dick,' said Hilary 
 with a touch of indignation. 
 
 ' Your father is anxious about the future,' said 
 the young man after a pause that showed he found 
 it difficult to begin. He looked almost relieved 
 when Mrs. Frere interrupted him. 
 
 ' You'll worry yourself into your grave if you 
 don't take care, Henry,' she urged affectionately. 
 ' How could you go wandering about the streets 
 in the rain when you knew we were waiting dinner 
 for you ? I can see by your boots that you have 
 walked for miles through the mud. Tell us what 
 is the matter, and then go to bed. I shan't let 
 you go to the office to-morrow ; you look quite 
 ill. I suppose Mr. Theodore has been losing your 
 money again ; it seems all he can do for the 
 firm. But if he thinks you are going to work 
 yourself to death, and do without your holiday ' 
 
 ' You're wrong,' said Mr. Frere grimly. ' He 
 wants me to have the holiday and not the work. 
 He has told me so to-day.' 
 
 ' How nice of him ! ' exclaimed Mrs. Frere. ' I 
 should never have given him credit for it. Then 
 what are you worrying about ? ' 
 
 Mr. Frere did not reply. His wife looked 
 from him to her daughter, from her to Dick. She 
 caught the alarm in their faces ; she felt that their 
 silence meant no good. 
 
 ' What is it ? ' she said, beginning to tremble. 
 
 Dick felt driven to explain. ' Mr Theodore
 
 120 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 will not renew the partnership,' he said. ' He 
 means to carry on the business by himself.' 
 
 He looked at the ground as he spoke, but he 
 felt Mrs. Frere's eyes on him, and he knew that 
 what he said only reached her comprehension by 
 degrees. A heavy interminable silence followed 
 before she opened her lips. 
 
 ' I always knew he was a scoundrel,' she said 
 slowly. Then she leaned over her husband, and 
 the tears gathered in her loving, faded eyes. 
 
 ' Henry ! ' she whispered. ' Never mind, old 
 heart. We'll get on somehow.' 
 
 Dick had gone to the window, and turned his 
 back on his friends. Hilary had gone close to 
 her father. 
 
 ' I could not come home and tell you,' said 
 Mr. Frere. ' I cannot bear it. You will starve.' 
 
 ' What did he say to you ? ' asked Mrs. Frere. 
 ' Did you remind him that you made the business ? 
 I hope you told him what you thought of him.' 
 
 ' No,' said her husband, ' I asked him to keep 
 me on at a fixed salary.' 
 
 ' Oh ! ' cried Hilary, and then stopped herself. 
 She looked at her father, and understood in a dim 
 way that he had fallen on his knees before his 
 enemy to beg for his children's bread. He had 
 begged in vain, and his failure had broken him. 
 
 ' But you are so clever, Henry,' began his wife. 
 ' You can easily begin a new business, or else 
 some one will give you a thousand a year to 
 manage theirs. We could not live on in this 
 house, and we have the lease for another three 
 years, but '
 
 BAD NEWS 
 
 ' Is it possible that even now you don't under- 
 stand ? ' said Mr. Frere, pressing his hands to his 
 temples with an air of desperation. ' We are 
 ruined ruined. If I get a clerkship I shall be 
 lucky. My health has gone. I am old. Every- 
 thing is over . . . for me.' 
 
 He got up and looked tenderly at his wife. 
 'We have been married twenty -one years,' he 
 said, 'and every day has brought us nearer to this.' 
 
 ' We have been very happy for twenty-one 
 years,' said Mrs. Frere staunchly. 
 
 ' I wanted to see them again,' continued her 
 husband. He addressed Dick, and then glanced 
 at his wife and daughter. His tone was almost 
 apologetic, but his eyes were dazed, and he 
 turned silent and troubled, like a man in a fever, 
 who thinks he has spoken a secret thought aloud. 
 Dick felt sure that his old friend had wandered 
 hither and thither that night with the thought of 
 suicide in his mind. 
 
 ' You must rest now,' urged the young man. 
 ' Let me help you upstairs.' 
 
 Mrs. Frere followed them. Hilary sat down 
 by the fire. Presently Dick returned and sat 
 down beside her. 
 
 ' What will happen ? ' said the girl, looking at 
 him with desolate eyes. 
 
 ' Don't think about it to-night,' he answered 
 gently. ' You can do nothing, you know.' 
 
 ' I know,' said Hilary. ' I can do nothing. 
 I am only a girl.' 
 
 Dick looked at her rather wistfully, but her eyes 
 did not meet his. She was staring into the fire.
 
 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' I don't see what you could do if you were a 
 man,' he said after a time, 4 unless, of course, you 
 had money.' 
 
 ' A man can always make money. A thousand 
 ways are open to him, if he has strength and 
 sense.' 
 
 4 Not at an hour's notice. Not without a 
 struggle. I have worked hard for ten years, and 
 I am only just beginning to see my way.' 
 
 4 But you can never have felt quite helpless 
 ... as I do now. I feel like a rat in a trap. 
 There is no escape. You say yourself . . . there 
 is nothing to be done. We shall have to bear it. 
 . . . Suppose father gets no work next year? 
 He has often told us of men who lost a berth, 
 and could not get another. He used to help 
 them. They were glad to borrow a sovereign ; 
 they had wives and children who were starving 
 at home. Shall we starve ? Oh ! how can it be 
 possible ? Surely I have wits enough, and strength 
 enough to earn my bread ? ' 
 
 c You are looking too far forward,' said Dick. 
 4 Your father will probably find something to do. 
 He is a very clever man of business.' 
 
 4 But he looks so ill.' 
 
 4 It is no joke for a man to have to tell his 
 wife and children what he has told you to-night. 
 Can you imagine what it cost him ? ' 
 
 4 Do you think he has known for a long 
 time ? ' 
 
 4 He has feared it for a long time.' 
 
 4 Mamma always said things would come 
 right'
 
 BAD NEWS 123 
 
 1 They might have done/ said Dick. 
 
 Hilary thought she understood how. If 
 Arthur Preston had declared himself, if she had 
 accepted Herr Hansen or Dick, her father's affairs 
 would not have been desperate. With his two 
 children married to prosperous men, he could 
 have held his head up as he walked out of his 
 old business, and looked leisurely for some post 
 big enough to support himself and his wife. It 
 need not have been very big. 
 
 She looked at Dick, and tried to speak, but 
 her heart began to beat so wildly that she could 
 not say a word. She looked away from him and 
 waited, wondering in the silence that ensued 
 whether he saw any signs of the commotion that 
 shook her. He did not come to her aid. 
 
 1 Dick ! ' she said quite suddenly. ' Let us help 
 him. I would do anything to help him.' 
 
 She waited one breathless moment for his 
 reply, stared at him as if he had dealt her the 
 most cruel blow, and turned ashen white. He 
 thought she was going to faint, and put out his 
 hands towards her, but she shivered away from him 
 and lay back in her chair with, closed eyes. How 
 was this moment ever to be wiped out ? 
 
 Dick had dimly understood. He had even 
 looked at her with sudden hope, but by that 
 time her eyes were averted, her face had changed 
 from white to flaming red. She did not see .the 
 hope rise and die away again as he watched 
 her, she only felt that his silence thrust her from 
 him, and that while it lasted she was consumed 
 by shame. Every moment seemed to carry her
 
 124 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 further from her old familiar friend. It was, after 
 all, a strange young man sitting at her elbow. 
 She had offered herself to him and he had not 
 responded. The tension became unbearable. She 
 got up. As she did so Mrs. Frere threw the door 
 open and appeared for a moment on the threshold 
 of the room. She could hardly speak. She 
 beckoned Hilary to go with her, and she said to 
 Dick in a dry, choking voice : ' A doctor. He is 
 dying. He is dead.' 
 
 Dick flew. Hilary ran upstairs to the door 
 of her father's room, and then stood still outside 
 it, listening fearfully. She heard him breathe, 
 and went in. He lay on his bed insensible, with 
 glazed unseeing eyes. His wife came back and 
 began to cry bitterly as she hung over him. The 
 sound of her sobs seemed not to reach him ; at 
 any rate he gave no sign. Hilary stood beside 
 the bed and wondered whether this was death. 
 The rain pattered against the window, the room 
 looked just as it had done since she had known it, 
 but every breath her father drew sounded more 
 terrible than the last. Every moment deepened 
 her conviction that he was bidding good-bye to 
 life and to them. It was a hundred years since 
 yesterday, when the future had looked set fair. 
 So suddenly do the furies enter a household, and 
 where they enter they love to stay.
 
 X 
 
 REALITIES 
 
 No one of ordinary intelligence will refuse to 
 admit that he is mortal ; and yet a great many 
 people behave as if their life in this world would 
 probably be everlasting. A man cherishes the 
 most lively affection for his wife and children, and 
 dies with his affairs in unpardonable confusion ; 
 a woman urges her husband to spend an income 
 considerably larger than the capital that would be 
 at her disposal if he died to-morrow, and no 
 one offers to lock these lunatics in asylums, 
 although the harm they do to themselves and 
 others is deeper, more lasting, and more various 
 than the worst that could be wreaked by many a 
 poor creature living under his keeper's eye. But 
 it is not necessary to have a wide or a profound 
 knowledge of human nature to understand that 
 fools are as common as sinners ; and, indeed, the 
 admission of folly is best made, like the confession 
 of sin, on Sundays, in a chorus from which no 
 man's voice is absent. 
 
 Of course, there are people who think they in- 
 variably act with wisdom, but they are in an unami- 
 able minority, and need not be taken into account.
 
 126 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 Most of us have grace enough to blush at some 
 memories. However, there is no doubt that a 
 man's taste in follies, as in dress and furniture, 
 may differ importantly from his neighbour's. 
 You condemn what your friend condones, and 
 what you smile at he refuses to endure. The girl 
 you perceive to be a mere millinery peg he 
 endows with angel's wings, and marries ; but he 
 cannot understand your trick of fetching your 
 guest from the byways. And the most curious 
 part of the matter is, that the millinery peg suits 
 him, and the blatherskite you, for the term of your 
 natural lives. It was truly a merciful fate that 
 made men as various in their likes and dislikes as 
 they are in their fortunes. 
 
 To some minds it seems impossible that 
 grown-up people should live without any care for 
 the morrow that a man should love his wife and 
 children devotedly, and yet leave them without 
 daily bread. It seems impossible even while 
 one's eyes are fixed in wondering amazement on 
 people who lead irresponsible, spendthrift lives. 
 It is so difficult to believe that a human being can 
 play the butterfly with much satisfaction to him- 
 self. Of course, the difficulty is made by one's 
 own unsympathetic mind, and does not depend on 
 the rarity or the uncertainty of the facts. In the 
 human world butterflies are exceeding plentiful. 
 Very often they lead a gorgeous, untroubled life ; 
 whether they flourish to the last depends on the 
 weather encountered by the way. There is no 
 doubt that the poor, pretty creatures sometimes 
 find themselves in cruel circumstances. ' Winter ! '
 
 REALITIES 127 
 
 they have always cried. ' Don't talk of it don't 
 think of it. We do not believe it exists. The 
 days are warm and long, and, like sensible 
 creatures, we enjoy them. What do you say 
 about providing for bad weather ? We have no 
 time to listen or understand. All the flowers in 
 the garden are waiting for us. We love their 
 colours and their perfume. Look at our own 
 colours, how they embellish the summer day.' So 
 they flit gaily past you, and you watch and wait 
 uneasily. Then autumn comes, and they shiver ; 
 winter, and they die. And I have never found 
 that the spectacle of their sufferings is made less 
 painful by the reflection that they have brought it 
 all on themselves. To the victims it assuredly 
 brings no relief. Besides, they deny the im- 
 peachment with indignation. 
 
 Mrs. Frere had certainly helped to bring 
 misfortunes on her children and herself. The 
 argument that her husband need not have per- 
 mitted her to do so will occur to bachelors of 
 both sexes. To married folk its hollowness will 
 be plain. Men who love their wives are so much 
 in their hands for bad or good. ' As the husband 
 is, the wife is ' ? But a man wrote that. More- 
 over, the young man from whose lips the saying 
 issues was not married, nor were his thoughts 
 taken up with housekeeping expenses. He was 
 quite in a state of mind to deny their importance. 
 
 Perhaps you imagine that Mrs. Frere looked 
 back with repentance, and resigned herself to reap 
 the fruits of her folly. If so, you give her credit 
 for a reasonableness of which she has hitherto
 
 128 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 shown no sign. People who do not expect both 
 to eat and to have their cake are rare. Mrs. Frere 
 would not recognise that she had nibbled with 
 fatal destructiveness at hers. She said it was 
 iniquitous if the widow of a man who had worked 
 as hard and as well as Mr. Frere was not left 
 well provided for. I think she was right. Only 
 most of the iniquity happened to be hers. 
 
 At first she had only glanced with a fore- 
 boding shudder at the troubles ahead. As long as 
 her husband lay there, still with some breath of life 
 in him, she could not believe that he would die. 
 Her strength spent itself in watching by him, her 
 thoughts drifted back to a past that led through 
 such dear days to this intolerable end. She did 
 not know how to let him go, how to stay stricken 
 and desolate behind. When she saw the change 
 in his face she stooped and whispered in his 
 unconscious ears that she was with him ; and 
 then in a moment, as she kissed him, he was 
 gone. She had no time, and hardly the wish, to 
 call the children. He died at dawn when they 
 were both out of the room. She sat by him, his 
 hard growing cold in hers. Her thoughts travelled 
 to and fro. It seemed such a little while since 
 the first time she had seen him. It was the 
 future that looked long. 
 
 But, of course, the sun never sets on a day that 
 has not broken more hearts than one ; and in 
 the case of a woman who has been as silly as 
 Mrs. Frere most people are inclined to forget 
 her grief and consider her reverses. The girls 
 wept with her. Dick Lorimer took the manage-
 
 REALITIES 129 
 
 ment of the funeral off her hands. For a few days 
 the three stricken women were allowed to mourn 
 unmolested, as if the loss of husband and father 
 was the only trouble that had befallen them. 
 But Mrs. Frere's widowhood was hardly a week 
 old when the whole bitterness of her position was 
 made properly clear to her by Mr. Harrison, her 
 husband's solicitor. He called on the day after 
 the funeral, and, of course, he began with one or 
 two conventional expressions of condolence. It 
 soon became evident, however, that the grief that 
 had worn Mrs. Frere white and wan already 
 was, in his opinion, less important than the- 
 financial ruin in which she was deservedly in- 
 volved. The fact is, Mr. Theodore had prepared 
 him to encounter three silly unreasonable women, 
 and had urged him to hammer out the truth. 
 Mr. Harrison was also solicitor to the firm, and 
 had its interests truly at heart. Mr. Theodore 
 and the firm were now, to all intents and pur- 
 poses, one. 
 
 ' You have always spent every penny your late 
 husband made,' he was soon saying. ' Last year 
 you spent more. Mr. Frere was in debt to the 
 firm. The business has been crippled for want 
 of funds.' 
 
 ' It will be crippled now for want of brains,' 
 retorted Mrs. Frere. 
 
 Mr. Harrison paused as if to wait for an 
 unmeaning but troublesome noise to pass away ; 
 then he continued : 
 
 'On your husband's business you have no 
 claim. There would be absolutely no provision 
 
 9
 
 130 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 for you if, two years ago, I had not luckily per- 
 suaded Mr. Frere to insure his life for a thousand 
 pounds. By his will, made at the birth of his first 
 child, his property is in trust for his children, and 
 can only be touched in case of their marriage. 
 The furniture, plate, and linen are yours, and will, 
 of course, sell for something.' 
 
 Mr. Harrison cast an apprising glance round 
 the morning-room. 
 
 ' You must not expect much,' he said. ' People 
 will hardly buy old furniture nowadays.' 
 
 ' Do you mean to say that my husband had no 
 money in the business ? ' asked Mrs. Frere. She 
 drew closer to the fire as she spoke. The room 
 in that wet gloomy weather always felt chilly. 
 
 ' Nothing worth speaking of. A little over 
 two hundred, perhaps. Your debts will probably 
 amount to that.' 
 
 ' We have no debts,' said Hilary. ' Have we, 
 mamma ? ' 
 
 ' There are the tradesmen's bills. Every 
 family has tradesmen's bills. They do not like 
 ready money. But what are we to live on, Mr 
 Harrison ? ' 
 
 ' I have not gone into the accounts yet, but I 
 should think there will be nearly fifty pounds a 
 year for you/ said Mr. Harrison, getting up to 
 
 go- 
 Mrs. Frere burst into tears. The lawyer 
 
 pretended not to see, and walked to the door a 
 crying woman is even worse company than an 
 angry one but Hilary stopped him. 
 
 ' Who are my father's executors ? ' she asked.
 
 REALITIES 131 
 
 ' Mr. Theodore and myself.' 
 
 ' Mr. Theodore ! ' echoed Mrs. Frere in sur- 
 prise. 
 
 ' Bless me,' said Mr. Harrison, turning round 
 again, ' didn't you know ? Did your husband 
 tell you nothing ? ' 
 
 ' I daresay he did, but I never wished to hear 
 about such things. I never have worried about 
 the future. God alone knows what will happen.' 
 
 ' Well,' said Mr. Harrison, ' for my part I knew 
 pretty well what would happen two years ago, 
 when your husband told me the state of his affairs. 
 The poor man was breaking his heart over them 
 then.' 
 
 ' But what are we to do ? ' asked Mrs. Frere 
 again. She looked terrified. Mr. Harrison shrugged 
 his shoulders. 
 
 ' There are thousands of families in England 
 who live on a pound a week,' he said, and then 
 he got away. It is always irritating to observe 
 that people who have brought trouble on them- 
 selves still hope for help and sympathy. Every 
 one ought to lie uncomplainingly on the bed he 
 has made for himself. Mrs. Frere certainly could 
 not expect much sympathy from any one who 
 knew how foolish she had been. Of course, the 
 girls would tumble into the gutter with her, and 
 that seemed a pity ; but they probably took after 
 their mother in vanity and feebleness. At any 
 rate, children must suffer for the sins of their 
 parents. No one but a latter-day unbeliever would 
 object to that law as unjust, and even he would 
 admit that it is in complete and plentiful activity.
 
 132 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 Mr. Harrison found it unpleasant but not im- 
 possible to harden his heart. 
 
 For some time after he had gone the three 
 women sat together and scarcely spoke. The 
 girls had listened in dry-eyed silence. Every 
 word the man uttered wrung youth and hope 
 out of them. They felt scared at being alive. 
 What could they do with life ? how support 
 it ? how satisfy its imperious demands ? A 
 pound a week for the three ! A month ago 
 Arthur had asked Nell if a young couple could 
 begin with five hundred a year, and she had looked 
 very wise and said they might, perhaps, if they 
 lived in a cottage, and were very careful with coals 
 and bread. Hilary had spent a pound a week on 
 odds and ends. She had never managed to pay 
 her dressmaker's bills out of that allowance. 
 What were they to do? Should they hire a 
 labourer's cottage and live in it ? Thoreau did 
 not spend a pound a week at Walden ; and how 
 often in the midst of some dull pompous dinner- 
 party Hilary's thoughts had flown to that pleasant 
 hut, with the scent of bean flowers coming in at 
 the door, and the whip-poor-wills singing on the 
 stump outside. She saw the deep pond in the 
 forest ; she saw the spreading pine, the red 
 squirrel, the woodcock with her young, and the 
 turtle-doves at play. 
 
 ' We must find a cottage,' she said. ' The rent 
 must not exceed half a crown a week. There 
 will be seventeen and six left for other things.' 
 
 But Hilary got no further. Mrs. Frere and 
 Nell stared at her as if they feared she was
 
 REALITIES 133 
 
 demented, and she perceived the impossibility 
 of even attempting such a life with them. Indeed, 
 as she looked it in the face its charm vanished 
 and left a thousand hardships behind. How 
 could a few shillings supply three of them with 
 food, warmth, and clothing? Where would help 
 and medicine come from when they were ill, wine 
 for her mother, or such costly necessaries as boots, 
 clean linen, meat, and fires ? She stretched out 
 her hands and wondered whether they would ever 
 accomplish the family washing. Her heart sank 
 as she thought of it. She had less muscular 
 strength than most girls of her generation. In 
 a few minutes, after considering one or two of the 
 uppermost details, Hilary came back to the plan 
 that was, of course, the obvious commonplace one 
 Nell and she must teach. 
 
 ' Yes,' she said, ' we must teach. I don't know 
 what, and I don't know whom, but that is 
 evidently our career, unless I take to cooking ; 
 but that requires training and skill. I have 
 neither time nor money to spare, so I will 
 teach. In England there are many people who 
 suppose that teaching, like reading and writing, 
 comes by nature. I will persuade some nice Mrs. 
 Dogberry to engage me. You must find Mrs. 
 Verges, Nell. We will send mamma our money. 
 What am I worth ? Shall I only get a com- 
 fortable home in a Christian family at first, or will 
 some one give me twelve pounds ? Oh ! mamma, 
 what can you not do with twelve pounds a 
 year ? ' 
 
 The girl tried to laugh, but her mirth was
 
 134 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 not convincing, and she found that Mrs. Frere 
 would not listen to her plans. Part from her 
 girls as well as from her husband ? Hilary 
 might as well suggest that she should part from 
 her heart or her head. Her very life hung on 
 them. Let her children go out amongst strangers 
 and waste their strength in stuffy schoolrooms 
 expose themselves to slights and snubs grow 
 old before their time, and weary while they were 
 still young she had not educated them for such 
 an existence as that. Hilary could not help 
 reflecting that this was true in more senses than 
 one. Nell, in spite of her little accomplishments, 
 was an ignorant puss ; and she herself had 
 frittered away her time in the desultory fashion 
 that comes so easy to us all. 
 
 ' But what are we to do ? ' she said at last. 
 ' Here we sit, three live healthy women, hungry 
 three times a day, cold three parts of the year, 
 wanting clothes to cover us. We can't help being 
 alive, and life means needs. How are we to 
 supply them ? ' 
 
 ' Do thousands of families live on a pound a 
 week ? ' asked Nell, who knew as little about money 
 as most girls of her age and position. 
 
 ' Mrs. Theodore will be glad,' cried Mrs. Frere. 
 ' She will say it serves us right, even if we die of 
 starvation. And Henry will not know ah ! if 
 he knew my husband my husband.' 
 
 ' She will not be glad,' said Hilary, ' She will 
 simply not think of us at all. We shall belong 
 to the disagreeable subjects that she likes to keep 
 out of her mind. She will do what is pretty
 
 REALITIES 133 
 
 and proper in the way of a civil note and an 
 occasional invitation, and beyond that we may all 
 go to the devil for anything she cares.' 
 
 She reflected a moment, and then added less 
 bitterly : ' And you can't blame her either. Why 
 should she trouble about us ? ' 
 
 Nell had got up and was standing before a 
 silver-framed mirror examining her pretty image 
 in the glass. 
 
 ' Am I a disagreeable subject ? ' she said with 
 whimsical melancholy. ' I don't look it, do I, 
 Hilary?' 
 
 Hilary, who had risen some time ago, ap- 
 proached her sister and looked over her shoulder. 
 Their mother from where she sat could see both 
 the girls and their reflection. She could not 
 imagine anything prettier, but she could not 
 imagine them torn from the surroundings in which 
 their prettiness had grown. She began to cry 
 again. 
 
 The first person who brought hope and com- 
 fort to them that day was Dick. He came 
 straight from the City, and for once helped Mrs. 
 Frere through the hour that had now become the 
 loneliest in the day. All day she had been used 
 to miss her husband, but between five and six she 
 had listened for his key in the latch. She used 
 to listen now and start at a chance sound. Dick 
 brought his friends a basket of peaches, and the 
 trifling gift stirred them in a way he could hardly 
 understand. The City keeps up a pretty fashion 
 of sending little luxuries by the hands of its 
 workers to the women folk at home. Now that
 
 136 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 the father and husband was dead the Freres had 
 not supposed that any one would come in at even- 
 tide bringing fruit and flowers. There were early 
 chrysanthemums as well as peaches in Dick's 
 hands. He sat down as if he meant to stay 
 some time, and listened attentively to Mrs. Frere's 
 account of the lawyer's visit. 
 
 ' You have not seen Mr. Theodore ? ' he asked. 
 
 ' No,' said Mrs. Frere ; ' I hope I shall never 
 see him again. I consider that he murdered my 
 husband. The worst villains of all never get 
 within sight of the gallows.' 
 
 Dick had seen Mr. Theodore the day after 
 Mr. Frere's death. He had called at the office, 
 by appointment, late in the afternoon. A memo- 
 randum had been found relating to the two 
 thousand pounds paid for Ararat Trust Shares. 
 Mr. Theodore professed great indignation at 
 discovering that his penniless partner had specu- 
 lated on the Stock Exchange. Dick said he had 
 been greatly grieved to hear of it too ... as the 
 speculation had turned out a rotten one. Mr. 
 Theodore explained that even with the help of 
 the Life Insurance, and after the sale of his 
 household goods, the property left by the deceased 
 would not amount to anything like two thousand 
 pounds. There was a considerable business debt, 
 and probably a large number of private ones. 
 When these were met there might be rather more 
 than a thousand pounds left, which the issuer of 
 the bill could, of course, claim. For the rest of 
 the borrowed money Dick would unfortunately be 
 responsible.
 
 REALITIES 137 
 
 Dick asked what would become of Mrs. Frere 
 and her daughters in case every penny they 
 possessed was taken from them. Mr. Theodore 
 said he had no idea. He confessed that the 
 question did not greatly interest him. He had 
 a keen sense of justice, and in his opinion people 
 who could not help themselves were not worthy 
 of help. No man can do more than a little for 
 some of his neighbours, and Mr. Theodore preferred 
 to spend his surplus on deserving objects. Could 
 he sit still and see those ladies driven into a 
 workhouse ? Well, he had read only the other 
 day that workhouse life was most healthy. 
 Besides, in these days, when so many careers 
 are open to women, why should there be any 
 question of lazy subsistence on the public purse ? 
 Why should Mrs. Frere and her children not 
 earn their living as thousands of women, equally 
 spoiled, have had to do ? He would advise them 
 to take situations at once, and not spend an 
 unnecessary day in a household that was actually 
 being supported at Mr. Lorimer's cost. 
 
 Dick did not lose his temper at once. He 
 used every device he could think of to squeeze a 
 promise of help out of Mr. Theodore, to make 
 him do something for his late partner's widow 
 and children. It was of no avail. The two men 
 had never liked each other, and their old animosity 
 seemed to find fuel at every stage of the discussion. 
 They parted on worse terms than ever. Dick 
 declared that he would meet the bill he had 
 backed, and not wring a penny towards it out of 
 three women on the brink of destitution. Mr.
 
 138 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 Theodore commended his generosity with a sneer 
 that made Dick long to kick him. With a some- 
 what cavalier air he forbade Mr. Theodore to 
 mention the matter to any one concerned, and he 
 marched out of the office in a tearing rage, feeling 
 more like an ass than a hero. He had interfered 
 and failed. He wished he had never said a word, 
 never gone near the place. He had done more 
 harm than good ; set Theodore's back up, and 
 driven him to swear he would do nothing for 
 those poor women. It was an oath the man 
 would be glad to keep, too. Dick wondered what 
 on earth would become of them. He himself felt 
 powerless, paralysed by this coming loss of two 
 thousand pounds. He could not think of marriage 
 now. It would be all he could do to carry on 
 his business and live. 
 
 Dick asked Mrs. Frere whether she had seen Mr. 
 Theodore, because it was, of course, just possible 
 that the rich man had softened his heart and 
 made some sign. His wife might have prevailed 
 with him where Dick had been defeated ; or he 
 might still turn out to have more bark than bite. 
 This is a world of surprises ; but Dick would 
 have been surprised out of measure if such a 
 piece of news had greeted him. As it was, he 
 felt that he had known all along how foolish 
 it would be to cherish the faintest hope. 
 
 While they were sitting together a maid came 
 in with several letters, which she handed to her 
 mistress. One of them bore a German postmark, 
 and Mrs. Frere opened it first. She scanned it 
 hurriedly, uttered several mysterious exclamations
 
 REALITIES 139 
 
 of surprise and pleasure, and then turned to her 
 daughters, the thin finely-written sheet of paper 
 fluttering in her hands. 
 
 ' It is from your Aunt Bertha,' she explained. 
 ' She says she will take us all. You see my brother 
 left her pretty well off, though she says she is poor, 
 and in Germany room is not an object Besides, 
 the closer we three can keep together, the better 
 pleased I shall be ; and don't say you cannot live 
 in Germany before you have tried. You have 
 no idea how delightful Hamburg is. Instead of 
 taking an omnibus to get across the town, you 
 take a steamer, you know. Aunt Bertha says her 
 house is almost in a wood. You remember Aunt 
 Bertha, dears ? ' 
 
 ' Not very well,' said Hilary. ' Isn't she rather 
 queer ? ' 
 
 ' Who is she ? ' asked Dick. ' I have never even 
 heard of her.' 
 
 1 Oh yes, Dick, you have. She is the widow of 
 mamma's only brother. They lived in Java. 
 They stayed with us on their way back, five years 
 ago. I don't remember much about her excepting 
 that she was a curiously silent person. She would 
 sit right through dinner and never open her 
 mouth. Father said she gave him the blues.' 
 
 ' Here is her photograph,' said Nell, who had 
 fetched an album, and turned over its pages until 
 she found what she wanted. 
 
 They all bent over it with newly-awakened 
 interest. 
 
 ' I should stay in England,' said Dick, after a 
 prolonged and silent inspection.
 
 140 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' But we can keep together if we accept this 
 invitation,' said Mrs. Frere. ' It seems sent from 
 heaven.' 
 
 Dick glanced at Aunt Bertha's photograph 
 again. 
 
 ' What can we do ? ' cried Hilary. 'Mr. Harrison 
 says we had better leave this house to-day than 
 to-morrow.' 
 
 ' Oh, never mind him,' said Dick. 
 
 ' But he is right. Every day here costs pounds. 
 You do not understand yet. For each of us, in 
 future, there is not quite a shilling a day. Do you 
 know what a leg of mutton costs ? I don't ; but 
 I have heard that it is a good deal. We want a 
 roof to our heads, and fire, and light. If we go to 
 Aunt Bertha we shall have breathing time. I can 
 work at German, and get a good situation later 
 on. What can we do here ? We can't go about 
 with a barrel organ or sweep a crossing. If we 
 tried to stand in a shop twelve hours a day we 
 should be in a hospital in a month. We might 
 let lodgings, I suppose?' 
 
 ' Nonsense,' said Dick rudely. ' You would 
 not make a penny. You are not used to haggle 
 and pilfer.' 
 
 ' We are not used to live on a shilling a day,' 
 said Nell. ' I should think it wants practice.' 
 
 Dick fumed. It would have pleased him best 
 to take a little house and bring these three women 
 into it ; to work for them and order them as if 
 they were his kin. 
 
 'You can't go flying about the world by your- 
 selves, with no money and no man to look after
 
 REALITIES 141 
 
 you,' he said, regardless of Hilary's gathering 
 resentment 
 
 ' We have no man to look after us,' she said, 
 'so there is no choice.' 
 
 ' I don't like the plan at all. You hardly 
 know this woman.' 
 
 ' She is my brother's widow,' sighed Mrs. 
 Frere. ' Poor Hans ! she made him very un- 
 happy.' 
 
 ' Well,' said Dick, ' I shall expect you back 
 in a week or two. Have you many friends left 
 in Hamburg ? ' 
 
 ' Certainly,' said Mrs. Frere. ' There are the 
 Werners and Herr Hansen.' 
 
 Dick looked swiftly at Hilary. Perhaps she 
 would not be back in a week or two. Perhaps 
 Herr Hansen would persuade her to stay in 
 Hamburg altogether. Decidedly this plan of 
 emigration was not one to be encouraged. He 
 got up and went towards the open verandah 
 doors. The garden looked trim and fresh. He 
 stepped outside and considered how he could best 
 lure Hilary to join him there. The tactics he 
 finally adopted were not subtle. He put his 
 head into the room and said, ' Hilary, I wish 
 you'd give me some flowers,' and directly they 
 were in the garden together he said, ' Come and 
 sit in the summer house and talk. I'll help you 
 gather the flowers afterwards.' 
 
 They sat down together, and at first found 
 nothing to say. 
 
 ' I thought we were to talk,' observed Hilary 
 after a time.
 
 142 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 1 1 don't know where to begin,' said Dick. ' I 
 hate this Hamburg plan.' 
 
 ' I see you do. I don't know why.' 
 ' Suppose you come to grief there ? ' 
 'This is absurd,' said Hilary impatiently. 
 ' We are three grown-up women. Do you 
 suppose we can't take care of ourselves ? ' 
 
 ' I don't think you can . . . without money.' 
 Hilary was silent. Words could not alter 
 the situation, so it seemed foolish to waste 
 them. 
 
 ' You ought to stay here,' persisted Dick. 
 Hilary knew nothing of the check to Dick's 
 fortunes, and she had rather expected him to ask 
 her to marry him there and then. She would 
 have refused indignantly, and told him what she 
 thought of women who married because they 
 needed board and lodging. After the other night 
 it would have afforded her keen satisfaction to 
 refuse him again. Why did he not give her the 
 chance ? Had he changed his mind ? or seen 
 some other girl who pleased him better ? accord- 
 ing to the fickle habits of his sex. The idea 
 gave Hilary a pang. She thought she did not 
 want to marry Dick, though ever since the night 
 of the dance she was not as sure of this as she had 
 been ; but she was positive that she did not want 
 him to marry any one else. While he remained 
 single he belonged to her in some measure, and 
 the thought of losing him showed her with a flash 
 how much she depended on his affection. Surely 
 she did not love him ? Suppose he suddenly put 
 his arm round her shoulders, and drew her to
 
 REALITIES 143 
 
 him ? Suppose he ... kissed her ? Would she 
 hate it ? She did not know. 
 
 Meanwhile Dick fought manfully against his 
 ardent desire to do some such thing as this. He 
 could not marry until he had retrieved his fallen 
 fortunes, so he had determined not to speak of 
 his wishes again just yet. In a little while he 
 might see his way more clearly, and then if 
 Hilary would consent to engage herself . . . He 
 only half believed in her objections to marriage ; 
 he had a glimmer of hope that he could overcome 
 them. But if she went to Hamburg, Herr Hansen 
 would have a long innings, with all the advan- 
 tages of money, social prestige, and actual pre- 
 sence on his side. For Hilary the chance was 
 a magnificent one. Dick could not deny that. 
 But he grudged her to Herr Hansen with his 
 whole heart. 
 
 ' Don't go to Hamburg,' he entreated. ' Stay 
 here, and let me look after your affairs.' 
 
 Hilary shook her head. When she spoke 
 there was a note of disappointment in her tone. 
 
 ' We must go,' she said resolutely. ' There is 
 nothing else to do.'
 
 XI 
 
 RATS 
 
 ' IT is very strange that Arthur has not been to 
 see us,' said Mrs. Frere fretfully. ' I cannot under- 
 stand it. I know that he is back, because Dick 
 mentioned having met him more than a week 
 ago. I almost wish we had not accepted Aunt 
 Bertha's invitation. Hamburg is a long way from 
 Kensington, and if once a girl is out of a man's 
 sight ... I suppose we could not have stayed 
 on here even with economy.' 
 
 Mrs. Frere and Hilary were in the morning- 
 room on the first floor. They were turning out 
 a cupboard, full of the nondescript rubbish that 
 accumulates from year to year, and from which 
 some persons never like to part. 
 
 ' We are going in such a hurry,' continued 
 Mrs. Frere. 'We might very well have waited 
 a few weeks.' 
 
 ' Every day in this house costs more than we 
 can afford,' said Hilary, 'and there is nothing to 
 wait for.' 
 
 ' You remind me so much of your father, my 
 child. He always took a gloomy view of life. 
 Poor Henry ! '
 
 RATS 145 
 
 Hilary said nothing. 
 
 ' If Arthur calls before we go, and if he 
 proposes to Nell, I shall certainly not run away 
 to Hamburg,' continued Mrs. Frere, in the obstinate 
 voice that is so often heard on the lips of feeble 
 people. 
 
 ' You see my point, Hilary,' she persisted. 
 
 ' Oh yes ! ' said Hilary rather impatiently, 
 ' but I do not think it is a case we need consider.' 
 
 ' Why not, pray ? ' 
 
 ' Because Arthur evidently avoids the house 
 now.' 
 
 ' He has not been back long. He has probably 
 been very busy. Besides, a man naturally hesi- 
 tates about making love to a girl the very hour 
 her father dies. I wish you were more just to 
 Arthur.' 
 
 ' What is to be done with all these old guide- 
 books ? ' 
 
 'We had better take them with us. ! 
 
 ' We shall not want them. We shall have no 
 money for travelling.' 
 
 ' Well, we can always get new ones.' 
 
 Hilary was still young enough to think that 
 the event which had entirely changed their 
 circumstances would affect their dispositions with 
 equal force. On her own the last few weeks had 
 made an ineffaceable mark. Her whole point of 
 view had shifted, and she still told herself every 
 day that even yet she must look at life from a 
 more modest level. Such a little while ago she 
 had said to Dick that money did not trouble her 
 that it was never on her mind. Suddenly her 
 
 10
 
 I 4 6 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 mind dwelt on it all day, her sleep was broken 
 by dreams of it at night ; she went to bed worn 
 out with worry, and woke at all hours weary and 
 incapable of rest ; she would not look at the 
 morrow, since the morrow held no pleasant 
 promise ; she tried not to look at the future, for 
 it was wrapped in gloom. To-day she was not 
 suffering from actual want, and for to-day she 
 must henceforward live, thankful if it held no new 
 privations. 
 
 It was therefore a constant surprise to her to 
 find that their reverses had not affected her 
 mother and Nell in the same real way. They 
 were unhappy, of course, and they sometimes 
 seemed to remember that they were poor. But 
 it never struck them that any day the very 
 necessaries of life might be luxuries beyond their 
 reach. Meat, wine, fire, and comfortable clothes, 
 with these they still supplied themselves in a 
 matter-of-course spirit that filled Hilary with 
 amazement and foreboding. She felt ready to 
 walk straight to an attic in a slum and live on a 
 shilling a day, on bread and water if need be, to 
 die of slow starvation, rather than plunge into 
 disgraceful difficulties. She sometimes asked 
 herself whether she could live by herself, in this 
 manner, on a third of their income, about seventeen 
 pounds a year, until she got work. But she 
 never thought of it as really possible, because she 
 could not separate her interests from those of her 
 mother and sister. They must sink and swim 
 together. Of course, they must separate sooner 
 or later, when the two girls went out into the
 
 RATS 147 
 
 world as governesses. Hilary believed that this 
 time-honoured resource for the destitute would 
 only grieve her mother mildly. Mrs. Frere did 
 not wish her children to drudge in schoolrooms, 
 but it would trouble her far more deeply to think 
 of Hilary starving alone in a garret. 
 
 Meanwhile, all the pleasant details of their old 
 life began to look costly and precious. When 
 she went to bed at night in her pretty room, 
 when the maid came in each morning to bring 
 hot water and let in the light, when she went 
 down to breakfast and saw the table set with 
 flowers, and silver, and dainty food, when she 
 dressed for dinner, she realised with increasing 
 pain that this easy existence was nearly at an 
 end. She could not understand why her mother 
 and sister felt this so faintly. They behaved 
 as if their present troubles were a disagreeable 
 episode. Hilary believed that they were only at 
 the beginning of them. 
 
 Of the Theodores they had as yet seen 
 nothing. Mr. Harrison acted as go-between in 
 business matters, and Mrs. Theodore had only 
 lately returned from Paris. But one Sunday in 
 the afternoon of Mrs. Frere's last day in her old 
 home, when she was sitting with her daughters 
 and Dick, Mr. and Mrs. Theodore and Sophia 
 were shown in. Mrs. Theodore was, as usual, the 
 figure of fashion. She wore pale heliotrope ; she 
 carried a parasol of heliotrope chiffon, and as she 
 crossed her feet she showed an elaborate petticoat 
 of silk and lace. Sophia was equally smart, but 
 not equally effective. She sat bolt upright, and
 
 148 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 looked at people with a self-satisfied simper as 
 vacant as her conversation. Mrs. Frere observed 
 at once that she was sunburnt, and that it did 
 not suit her. Near her heavy, swarthy face 
 Hilary and Nell looked like lilies. 
 
 ' I am only just in time, I know,' said Mrs. 
 Theodore. ' Mrs. Preston told me you were off 
 to-day. I only came back last week. Dress- 
 makers are such ruffians. They seem to think 
 time is made for them and no one else. I 
 meant to stay two days in Paris, and I hung 
 about there for ten. So you are really going 
 to spend the winter in Hamburg ? How jolly ! 
 I suppose you'll find all your old friends and 
 relations there ? ' 
 
 ' Most of them are dead,' said Mrs. Frere. 
 
 ' Oh ! but they'll come to life again. I mean 
 they'll turn up. I am beset by aunts and cousins 
 when I go into Yorkshire. They want me to do 
 shopping for them in London. I don't think one 
 ought to feel related to cousins. Is Hamburg a 
 very German town ? ' 
 
 ' It isn't French or English,' said Mrs. Frere. 
 
 ' What a pity ! I wonder whether any one 
 would be born out of London or Paris if he 
 could possibly help it. I want to go there some 
 day, though, and hunt up the family pedigree.' 
 
 ' There would be no difficulty about that,' 
 replied Mrs. Frere. ' I remember your grand- 
 father's shop as well as possible. It was a very 
 fine one, built soon after the great fire. I dare- 
 say it is still there.' 
 
 ' How interesting,' said Mrs. Theodore. ' I
 
 RATS 149 
 
 should like to have a photograph of it. But my 
 grandfather was a bishop, dear Mrs. Frere.' 
 
 ' Was he ? ' said Mrs. Frere indifferently. 
 ' Did you enjoy Pontresina ? ' 
 
 ' Not much. We went to the wrong hotel. 
 It was crowded with Germans.' 
 
 ' Couldn't you move to the right one.' 
 
 ' No. Quite full. It was a great bore because 
 several of my friends were there Mrs. Finch- 
 Brassey, and that poor beautiful Mrs. Bremen, 
 who lost her husband in such a sad way, and 
 the dear Bishop of Buttermere. And we dined 
 opposite a creature who put half his knife down 
 his throat, for all the world like a conjuror. 
 Then, of course, Stanley disappointed us at the 
 last moment, and we had to travel to Paris by 
 ourselves. It was most uncomfortable.' 
 
 ' I am afraid my husband died at an in- 
 convenient time,' said Mrs. Frere. 
 
 She perceived that Mrs. Theodore wished 
 to avoid outspoken expressions of condolence, 
 and if her manner had been ever so slightly 
 sympathetic Mrs. Frere would have forgiven 
 her, though to a German the English reserve in 
 offering spoken condolence after a death is hard 
 to understand. Mrs. Theodore had written a 
 civil letter, and considered that she had done 
 what was proper, which was all she cared to do. 
 But her chatter grated on Mrs. Frere, her fine 
 clothes seemed to flaunt themselves. Even Mrs. 
 Frere's last remark did not penetrate her dense 
 self-complacency. 
 
 ' I wished we had gone away in June,' she
 
 i$o THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 answered. ' Mr. Theodore has had a very trying 
 summer, and even now he says he cannot get 
 a holiday. Don't you think he looks pale and 
 thin ? ' 
 
 ' I had not noticed it' 
 
 ' He does, I assure you. I get quite anxious 
 about him. Of course, he is comparatively a 
 young man. Still one never knows.' 
 
 Mr. Theodore and Dick had exchanged a 
 few remarks about the weather, and found it 
 uncommonly difficult to sustain a conversation. 
 They accordingly looked towards the ladies, and 
 listened to what went on in their corner of the 
 room. Mrs. Theodore had lowered her voice 
 while she spoke of her husband's health, but he 
 heard all she said and strolled nearer to her. 
 
 ' I don't intend to be killed, I assure you,' he 
 said with his washed-out smile. ' If you show 
 signs of wanting to ruin me I shall put one of 
 those advertisements in the papers and disclaim 
 your debts.' 
 
 ' I was talking of overwork and not of debts,' 
 said his wife. 
 
 ' Oh ! work doesn't kill people,' he said, 
 sinking into a chair, as if his muscles would not 
 support him, and crossing his legs ; ' anxiety 
 does it.' 
 
 ' My husband was killed by overwork and 
 by a shock,' said Mrs. Frere, her indignation 
 rising at Mr. Theodore's tone. He looked at her 
 briefly. 
 
 ' Poor man,' was all he said. 
 
 Dick felt furious. A silence followed, during
 
 RATS 151 
 
 which Mrs. Frere's agitation was painfully visible ; 
 and then Sophia Theodore, who had not spoken 
 before, said in her queer hoarse voice : 
 
 ' Has Arthur Preston been here ? I saw him 
 at the theatre last night. He said he was coming 
 to bid you good-bye this afternoon.' 
 
 ' He has not been here,' said Hilary. She 
 saw Nell turn white and then red. 
 
 ' He is going round the world, you know,' said 
 Mrs. Theodore. 
 
 ' Yes,' observed Sophia ; ' I wish he would take 
 me with him.' 
 
 ' Sophia ! ' said her sister-in-law sharply. 
 
 ' I like travelling,' explained Sophia. 
 
 ' I think it is so sensible of him to go now 
 while he has no ties,' continued Mrs. Theodore. 
 ' A young man ought to see the world.' 
 
 ' I don't know that a globe-trotter sees 
 much of it,' said Dick. He perceived that 
 the Freres were concerned to hear of this in- 
 tended journey. The words were hardly out of 
 his mouth when the young man in question 
 entered the room. 
 
 Mrs. Frere got up to greet him. She wished 
 that the Theodores would go now, but they did 
 not seem inclined to do so. On the contrary, 
 Mrs. Theodore invited Arthur to sit down near 
 her, and engaged him in conversation. She said 
 that she had a great deal of information to give 
 him, as she had spent a winter in India herself. 
 
 This went on for some time. Mrs. Theodore 
 chattered. Arthur listened. The three girls 
 made desultory remarks. The two men, Mr.
 
 152 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 Theodore and Dick, grew restless ; so did Mrs. 
 Frere. She saw with vexation that the afternoon 
 light shone unbecomingly on Nell, exposing more 
 than need be the havoc made by the last few 
 weeks in the girl's good looks. Seen thus, the 
 change was startling. She had grown thin and 
 hollow-eyed ; her colour had fled ; her black gown 
 did not suit her. She sat there silently, and 
 hardly glanced at Arthur ; but her mother could 
 see that the child felt his presence in every fibre 
 of her body, and that it cost her an immense 
 effort to make no sign. 
 
 ' Did you know that we were leaving London 
 to-night ? ' said Hilary, when at last there was a 
 lull. 
 
 ' Yes,' Arthur acknowledged ; ' I thought I'd 
 like to say good-bye. I'm going away myself 
 directly. When do you come back ? ' 
 
 1 Probably never,' said Nell, looking straight at 
 him for the first time. 
 
 ' You must come and see us in Hamburg,' said 
 Mrs. Frere. 
 
 ' When people leave London they vanish,' 
 observed Mrs. Theodore with a sweeping gesture 
 of her hands. ' You had better come back, Mrs. 
 Frere.' 
 
 She got up as she spoke and shook hands 
 with her hostess, said they had made quite a 
 visitation, hoped the journey would not be a cold 
 one, begged the girls to write sometimes and 
 assure their London friends that they were not 
 forgotten. Then she turned to Arthur, and 
 asked him to drive back with them and dine, an
 
 RATS 153 
 
 invitation which he accepted with promptness and 
 relief. She asked Mr. Lorimer why he never 
 came to see her, but did not wait for his reply. 
 She gave Hilary and Nell each a little peck on 
 one cheek, a familiarity that took them by 
 surprise, and then she rustled out of the room, 
 still chattering to Arthur as she went downstairs 
 of a certain tin-lined trunk that she proposed to 
 lend him for the voyage. 
 
 Directly they were gone Nell burst into tears. 
 She buried her head in the sofa cushions and 
 sobbed helplessly. Her mother tried to comfort 
 her. 
 
 ' Come away,' said Hilary to Dick. ' Come 
 round the garden. I want to bid it good-bye.' 
 
 She led the way to a corner she counted 
 especially her own, where she had grown her 
 favourite flowers. She began to gather some, 
 and arrange them in her hands, but Dick felt 
 that her thoughts were with her sister upstairs. 
 
 ' Why are you here, Dick ? ' she said suddenly. 
 * Go away. Come for a ten minutes' call and 
 then depart for ever. No one will blame you 
 on the contrary.' 
 
 ' I never thought much of young Preston,' 
 returned Dick. ' A selfish cub.' 
 
 Hilary was still stooping over the flower-bed, 
 moving slowly from one patch to the next. 
 Dick followed her until they arrived at a garden 
 seat ; then he sat down, thinking of to-morrow 
 afternoon when she would have sped miles 
 away. 
 
 ' I would give you a bunch,' she began, holding
 
 154 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 those she had gathered towards him, ' but I know 
 you would put them into a bedroom tumbler 
 half- full of water with all their heads squashed 
 level.' 
 
 ' What are you going to do with them ? ' 
 
 ' Take them with me.' 
 
 She picked some clove carnations, found her 
 bunch over large for one hand already, and sat 
 down next to Dick to rearrange them. 
 
 ' But what is the good ? ' she cried dejectedly. 
 ' It is like putting a purse into a coffin. I can't 
 really take them or anything else with me. 
 Dick ! you know more of men than I do. What 
 did Arthur's visit mean ? and his journey round 
 the world ? Has he deserted Nell ? ' 
 
 ' It looks like it,' admitted Dick unwillingly. 
 
 ' I suppose that is what we have to expect of 
 every one now that we are poor. No one will 
 be glad to see us or wish to have more to do with 
 us than they can help. I think we are wise to 
 leave London. We should have felt the change 
 at every turn seen it reflected on every face.' 
 She stopped, considered, and then said with some 
 compunction, ' Except on yours, Dick.' 
 
 ' You mustn't be blue,' said Dick. ' It's no 
 good.' 
 
 'Well,' she sighed, 'we had better go back 
 to the house. There are several things to do 
 still.' 
 
 ' Wait a bit,' urged Dick. ' You'll write some- 
 times, won't you ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, we will write certainly ; but so must 
 you. Of course, there is never anything in a
 
 RATS 155 
 
 man's letters. Still they will come from England. 
 There will be an English air about them. I 
 believe we shall die of home-sickness over there.' 
 
 ' I hope you will be driven back again,' said 
 Dick. 
 
 ' We should have to walk back, I think,' said 
 Hilary, ' unless I find some way of making money.' 
 
 ' I shall be over there before Christmas, for a 
 day or two. I shall come and see you.' 
 
 ' That will be something to look forward to,' 
 said Hilary. 
 
 Now that the moment of their separation was 
 so near, Dick felt sorely tempted to say a word of 
 his wishes for the future again. Two considera- 
 tions held him back now, as they had held him on 
 the evening before Mr. Frere died. He did not 
 believe that Hilary's affection for him was more than 
 friendly, and it seemed difficult to him to explain 
 that he could not marry yet awhile. To begin 
 by saying so would be fatuous. To say so if she 
 accepted him might lead to awkward explanations. 
 He might vaguely talk of business reverses . . . 
 but he felt sure she would not accept him. Had 
 she not refused him explicitly so many weeks 
 ago ? Perhaps if Dick had still been in a position 
 to marry this day, or the next, he would have 
 tried his luck again. But as this was impossible 
 he reasoned that he had better not run the risk of 
 a second rebuff. To-day he must let her wander 
 from him. Perhaps time would bring her back, 
 and in a different frame of mind. 
 
 They returned to the house together, and found 
 plenty to do for the next two hours. It was
 
 156 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 depressing work to stroll through the stripped, dis- 
 ordered rooms, and imagine what they would look 
 like three days hence, in the hands of an auctioneer. 
 Hilary opened the piano, and played a Prelude of 
 Chopin's that her father had asked for some- 
 times. Then she knelt down in front of a long dwarf 
 bookcase full of old friends she must leave behind. 
 There were the pink-covered Waverleys that 
 had belonged to her grandfather. It was very 
 hard to let them go. The Master of Ravenswood 
 would look at her with unrecognising eyes from 
 newer pages. She could not make friends with a 
 paper-backed Cceur de Lion, or thrill for any 
 other Amy than the one she had always known. 
 And here was the old Shakespeare. Where else 
 would she find Hamlet and Beatrice and Romeo? 
 Between these dull gray boards she had found 
 them years ago, and now, with everything else in 
 her home, they were to be taken from her. 
 
 When it was nearly time to start she went 
 into her own room to put on her travelling 
 things. This last hour seemed interminable. It 
 would be a relief when the cab came and carried 
 them away. Everything she looked at here, 
 everything she did, gave her pain, and she knew 
 that for her mother the wrench must be more griev- 
 ous still. Mrs. Frere came in ready dressed while 
 Hilary was pinning on her hat and veil. She 
 had followed one of her children everywhere all 
 through the day. She sat down now and looked 
 about her. 
 
 ' I thought you would go away from this room 
 as a bride,' she said sadly.
 
 RATS 157 
 
 In her own mind she pictured the events of 
 the day she had so greatly wished to see. She 
 beheld Hilary in this very room on her marriage 
 morning, in her marriage robe. She saw the 
 shimmer of satin, and the misty veil, and the 
 wax-like orange flowers ; she saw her later in 
 her travelling gown, pelted with rice by the 
 wedding crowd, taken from her mother's arms by 
 one nearer and dearer still ; she saw her father 
 smile and Nell shed a few tears while she herself 
 did both. . . . She saw her there to-day, in deep 
 mourning, her father dead, her home in ruins, with 
 no bridegroom at her side, going forth this instant 
 on her mother's helpless arm to suffer privation, 
 to depend on charity, to flee from actual want 
 
 ' Well, mother,' said Hilary, ' it is time to go. 
 Is Nell ready ? ' 
 
 ' Poor Nell,' said Mrs. Frere. 
 
 The worst moment was not, as Hilary had 
 expected, the one of going away. On all sides 
 there were matters that required attention and 
 diverted their thoughts. The dreaded moment 
 had come and gone before they had time to 
 reflect that it was there. Dick hurried them into 
 the cab, rushed back for a forgotten trunk, took 
 charge of keys, gave final orders, and drove off 
 with them to Charing Cross. The London streets 
 looked hideously stale and dusty. Perhaps there 
 would be trees and rivers in the foreign land. 
 
 But as Dick stood on the platform and 
 watched the train steam out of the station he 
 wished he could fetch his friends back. To what 
 were the three women going ? How many dreary
 
 158 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 hours awaited them ? Into whose clutches might 
 they not stray ? How could creatures incapable 
 of earning money, and having none to spend, ever 
 shift for themselves ? They needed a man's 
 support as much as a child needs the care of a 
 grown-up person. Why had he let them go ?
 
 XII 
 
 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 
 
 WHEN you are young a journey through a foreign 
 country can hardly fail to entertain you. At any 
 rate, your eyes and ears are busy, and that, if you 
 are out of spirits, is in itself a tonic. Hilary did 
 not sleep much while she travelled, but she looked 
 out of the window. When the dawn broke they 
 were speeding through a Flemish country wrapped 
 in a golden haze, tranquil and strange. The 
 grass was dripping with dew, the cattle stood 
 knee-deep in reedy ponds, leaves fluttered singly 
 and silently from the autumn trees. No men 
 and women were astir yet in the comfortable-looking 
 homesteads. Hilary felt sorry when the train carried 
 them into a wide-awake world again where every 
 one was busy. The morning hours between Brussels 
 and Cologne were more tiring than the night had 
 been, and when at last the Freres reached the old 
 cathedral town they were glad to rest there for half a 
 day before going on. But at night, when they re- 
 sumed their journey, Hilary reflected that their halt 
 had cost them dear. Every book-stall, every shop- 
 window, every pedlar hawking local wares, held bait 
 for Mrs. Frere. What she saw she wanted, like a
 
 160 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 badly -brought -up child, and Nell abetted her. 
 They came back to the station refreshment-room 
 with their hands full of photographs and eau de 
 cologne; they had spent a considerable sum on 
 seeing the hidden treasures of the Dom ; and they 
 proceeded to order a meal that cost at least a 
 week's income. Hilary stared at the stars while 
 her mother and sister slept, and she wondered 
 what they would do when their money was all 
 gone. As she understood their affairs, they 
 owned nothing in the world but their house* 
 hold furniture and one thousand pounds, which 
 would be paid about three months hence by the 
 Insurance Office. The furniture was to be sold, 
 and the proceeds would belong to Mrs. Frere, to 
 squander in a week if she saw fit. She had 
 agreed to leave the money in Mr. Harrison's 
 hands provisionally, and to write for small sums 
 as she needed them. Hilary felt convinced that 
 her mother's applications would be frequent. The 
 insurance money was to be held in trust for Nell 
 and herself until they married or attained the age 
 of twenty-five, and from this source they could 
 reckon on an income of forty pounds a year. 
 Nothing had been forthcoming from the business. 
 Mr. Frere's claims on the year's profits ceased the 
 day he died. Mr. Theodore had paid his late 
 partner's private bills, and explained, through Mr. 
 Harrison, that even this was more than he need 
 have done. Hilary reckoned that the bills 
 amounted to about two hundred pounds. For 
 their travelling expenses they had been obliged to 
 sell the household silver.
 
 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 161 
 
 Mr. Theodore often said of himself that he 
 was not a philanthropist, and as far as his 
 partner's widow was concerned he made good his 
 words with all the pleasure in life. He did not 
 rob her, but he kept hold of every penny he 
 might by any legal stretch call his. He could 
 trust Mr. Harrison to bluster if Mrs. Frere asked 
 tiresome addle -headed questions. Mr. Harrison 
 had a most valuable manner ; he could suggest 
 gaol with a grunt, and penal servitude with a 
 frown, to a woman as timorous and ignorant 
 as Mrs. Frere. He did, in fact, tell the silly 
 lady that the bed she slept on might be taken 
 from her if she showed the least distrust of 
 Mr. Theodore, and after that she held her 
 tongue. 
 
 Hilary sometimes wondered why a thousand 
 pounds had been left to them. Suppose it had 
 been claimed for a business debt ? what could 
 they have said or done? They could not fight 
 two hard-headed business men. It was most 
 unfortunate that their father had not committed 
 their interests to other hands ; but his will had 
 been made many years ago, when Mr. Theodore 
 first came to the office ; he had narrowed and 
 hardened since then. The two partners had 
 drifted further and further apart Everything 
 had altered except the half-forgotten legal docu- 
 ment that, after lying so many years in a 
 cupboard, had suddenly become of paramount 
 importance. 
 
 It grew colder as the Freres travelled north- 
 wards, and towards morning a fine rain began to
 
 i62 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 fall. When, at an early hour, they arrived in Ham- 
 burg, they felt tired and chilly. At the station no 
 one came forward to meet them, and after claiming 
 their luggage they set out for the distant suburb 
 where Frau Lange lived. It was a dreary drive 
 along an interminable road. They passed between 
 lines of inferior shops and of tall, dull houses built 
 in flats. Further on there were spaces not yet 
 covered mere sandy deserts given up to fair 
 booths at stated intervals throughout the year, but 
 empty now, and as ugly as Wormwood Scrubs. 
 The working population was astir already, and 
 proved more interesting to the English ladies 
 than the landscape, the women and children 
 were so plainly dressed, so tidily shod. There 
 were servants on their way to market, bare- 
 headed, wearing clean cotton gowns, and carrying 
 large baskets in which to bring back the pro- 
 visions of the day ; there were soldiers on the 
 march to their barracks ; the cab -drivers and 
 the tramcar conductors wore smart uniforms, and 
 looked like government officials ; the postmen 
 walked as if they had been drilled. 
 
 After driving at a snail's pace for nearly an 
 hour the Freres found themselves in the main 
 street of a little suburban village. The cabman 
 soon turned off into a quieter road that led to a 
 whole colony of detached villas, varying in shape, 
 in size, and in the amount of garden belonging 
 to each. He stopped at one of these. The girls 
 looked eagerly out, and their first impression was 
 a pleasant one. They had expected something 
 worse. The house stood in the midst of a small
 
 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 163 
 
 garden, decorated with large coloured -glass balls, 
 cheap plaster casts, and a few flowers. It looked 
 clean, and new, and roomy, and as ornate as if a 
 confectioner had designed it. The varnish on the 
 little balconies glistened in the sunshine; the paint 
 on the outside shutters was as green as grass ; 
 the French windows were all closed. More than 
 this they had not time to observe, because, as the 
 cab stopped, the front door opened, and their aunt 
 appeared on the threshold. 
 
 Mrs. Frere hurried impulsively forward and 
 imprinted a warm kiss on her cheek. Hilary 
 and Nell held themselves ready to do likewise 
 in a somewhat cooler fashion. Frau Lange's 
 appearance gave her nieces a shock. It was far 
 less promising than her house. She looked out- 
 landish, unrefined, and bad-tempered. She had 
 come back from Java thin and sallow. Five 
 years of her native food and climate had changed 
 her into a stout, florid woman. She still wore 
 her back hair in grotesquely elaborate coils, while 
 on either side of her face it was frizzed over pads. 
 Her little black eyes were much smaller in her 
 filled-out face than they had been in her hollow- 
 cheeked one. The lines about her mouth those 
 lines we all make for ourselves from day to day 
 said little for her self-control or for her good- 
 humour. She wore an uncouth plaid dressing- 
 gown, shabby slippers, and several fine diamond 
 rings. She received her sister-in-law so im- 
 passively, she seemed so much less interested in 
 her nieces than in the cab-driver, that the girls 
 thought they might escape without exchanging
 
 164 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 kisses. They offered to shake hands, but their 
 offer was not observed, and they passed beyond 
 their aunt into the house. A moment later Frau 
 Lange had plunged into a lively altercation with 
 the cab-driver. Her impassive manner gave way 
 to one of active indignation. She would not 
 allow him to carry the trunks upstairs unless he 
 first took off his boots. 
 
 ' Why did you bring so many ? ' she said 
 suddenly to Mrs. Frere. ' It is absurd. When I 
 travel I take one portmanteau.' 
 
 ' But we have brought all we possess. We 
 have left nothing at home,' replied Mrs. Frere, 
 with an apologetic face. 
 
 Frau Lange shrugged her shoulders. 
 
 ' You will find it very expensive if you travel 
 much,' she said. ' Do you want any of them 
 taken into your bedroom ? ' 
 
 'We should like to have them all there,' said 
 Nell. 
 
 By this time a slovenly-looking maid-servant 
 had arrived on the scene, and prepared to help 
 in carrying the luggage upstairs. Frau Lange 
 watched the process so intently that she probably 
 made the poor creature nervous ; at any rate, the 
 corner of a large trunk was allowed to bump 
 against the wall at an awkward turn of the 
 staircase. In a moment the mistress of the 
 house had darted forward, her tongue unloosed, 
 her hands trembling with anger as she pointed 
 to the dent made in the wall-paper. 
 
 The girl, she informed her wondering relatives, 
 was the wickedest slut in Germany. None of
 
 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 165 
 
 the many bad servants who had helped to wear 
 out her nerves approached this particular Auguste 
 in thievishness and incompetence. That very 
 morning she had broken one of the best egg- 
 cups. Mrs. Frere had better lock up her 
 clothes. Twelve plums were missing from the 
 fruit provided for a tart at to - day's dinner ! 
 Frau Lange had counted them herself the night 
 before. There would not be enough to go round 
 now. But the girl was capable of anything. 
 She was treated like a princess, and yet she had 
 the impudence to grumble because she could not 
 have butter for breakfast. Her mistress never 
 dreamt of eating butter for breakfast, but that 
 made no difference. In these wicked times 
 servants expected luxuries their superiors could 
 not afford for themselves. Why had Nell sat 
 down on the staircase ? She was in the way 
 there. In Germany people sat on chairs. If the 
 cabman saw her he would think she was out 
 of her mind. 
 
 ' We have been travelling for two nights,' 
 explained Mrs. Frere. ' We are very tired.' 
 
 ' I have not slept well either,' said Frau 
 Lange. ' One may rest as little in bed as on 
 a journey. I am often kept awake by vexation 
 since Auguste has been in my house. However, 
 we had better come upstairs now. I must take 
 care that they do not scratch the paint on the 
 floors.' 
 
 The Freres followed their hostess to the second 
 story, where they were shown the bedroom 
 allotted to them, and a barely -furnished sitting-
 
 1 66 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 room opening out of it, in which they would all 
 take their meals. The first floor was occupied 
 by the 'best' sitting-room and by Frau Lange's 
 bedroom. On the ground floor there were only 
 household offices and kitchens. The arrange- 
 ment seemed curious and inconvenient to the 
 newcomers. 
 
 ' You get your one servant to carry all the 
 meals to the top of the house ! ' said Mrs. Frere 
 incautiously. 
 
 Her sister-in-law went on the war-path again 
 directly. The two girls strolled away from her 
 into the bedroom and looked more closely at 
 their new sleeping - quarters. They saw three 
 very short, narrow, wooden bedsteads, on each of 
 which lay a large square pillow in a linen pillow- 
 case, trimmed with lace, and marked in the middle 
 with an enormous embroidered monogram. Two 
 of the bedsteads had bright green eider-downs, 
 and the third, a more old-fashioned plumeau as 
 high as a well -shaken feather bed, and covered 
 with checked muslin. There was one linen sheet 
 on each mattress, but there were no top sheets, 
 and no blankets. For their clothes, they saw a 
 huge wooden cupboard ; for their ablutions, one 
 small washstand ; for their vanity, a miserable 
 little mirror hung facing the light. There were 
 two chairs, lace curtains, and no carpet. Presently 
 Mrs. Frere came in, and found her daughters 
 disconsolately sitting on the floor in front of open 
 trunks. They had only found rows of pegs in 
 the cupboard, and did not know where to put 
 their things away.
 
 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 167 
 
 ' I had forgotten some of the details of German 
 life,' said Mrs. Frere, going straight to the wash- 
 stand. ' There is not a quart of water here. 
 Your aunt seemed quite surprised that I wanted 
 any at all. She said that Auguste would not 
 like to put the washstand in order more than 
 once a day. I am afraid she is rather peculiar. 
 I wonder who she was. My brother picked her 
 up in Java, and I have never heard that she 
 has any one respectable belonging to her. She 
 says she does not know the Werners. I daresay 
 they will not wish to come and see us here. How- 
 ever, we can go to them.' 
 
 ' Really, mamma,' said Nell, ' why did you 
 come and live here ? ' 
 
 ' What else were we to do ? It was very 
 kind of her to ask us, you know. Besides, 
 German life is so easy and comfortable.' 
 
 That was Mrs. Frere's formula. Meanwhile, none 
 of the ladies had ever accomplished a toilet under 
 such difficulties. When they felt a little less dusty 
 and dishevelled they went into the adjoining room, 
 where they found the mid -day breakfast awaiting 
 them. It consisted of coffee, eggs, rolls and 
 butter, and it was served in thick white earthen- 
 ware, placed without any attempt at precision, on a 
 gray linen cloth. The girls liked it well enough. 
 
 ' What time do you have dinner ? ' inquired 
 Mrs. Frere. 
 
 ' When it is cooked,' said her sister-in-law. 
 
 ' But have you no fixed time ? ' 
 
 ' The fixed time is four, but, of course, if the 
 dishes are not ready we can't eat them raw.'
 
 1 68 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 Frau Lange's voice sounded slightly stormy 
 again as she answered her sister-in-law's second 
 question. The two girls looked at her in be- 
 wilderment. How would it be possible to live 
 with any one who took offence at everything and 
 nothing ? The prospect appalled them already. 
 By way of changing the subject Hilary got up 
 from table and looked out of the window at the 
 gardens behind the house. 
 
 'Yours ends with that wall, I suppose,' she 
 said to her aunt. ' Whose is the big one beyond ? ' 
 
 ' Herr Hansen's,' said Frau Lange, and turning 
 to her sister-in-law she added, ' Hansen, Bopp, 
 and Rossler.' 
 
 ' Our Herr Hansen ! ' cried Mrs. Frere. ' Oh, 
 Hilary ! ' 
 
 ' What ? ' said Frau Lange. 
 
 ' We know Herr Hansen very well,' explained 
 Mrs. Frere. ' He came to us a great deal when 
 he was in London. I did not know he had a 
 house out here.' 
 
 'A great many rich people live here. It is 
 considered very healthy.' 
 
 ' Do you know Herr Hansen ? ' asked Nell. 
 
 ' Of course I know him. He is my landlord. 
 Sometimes he comes in the evening, and we make 
 music together.' 
 
 ' Oh ! do you play ? ' said Hilary with interest. 
 
 'No. I listen.' 
 
 ' Does he know we are here ? ' inquired Mrs. 
 Frere. 
 
 ' I have not told him. I never thought that 
 you would really come. When I got your letter
 
 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 169 
 
 I could not believe it. Every day I expected 
 you to write and say you had changed your 
 mind. Until yesterday I did not get your room 
 ready.' 
 
 ' But you seemed so anxious to have us,' said 
 Mrs. Frere, rather taken aback. 
 
 'Yes, one writes like that. One has a sheet 
 of paper to fill, and it is so difficult to compose 
 a letter of consolation. After all, we must die, 
 too, some day. Why make such a fuss? How- 
 ever, we shall try, now that you are here, to live 
 together. You can always go back to England 
 if you do not like it.' 
 
 The girls were nearly asleep all this time, and 
 they scandalised their aunt a good deal by saying 
 that they would like to go to bed for a few hours. 
 She had never heard of such a thing. Bed in 
 the daytime ! Young girls ought not to know 
 what fatigue meant It showed the kind of life 
 they had led in London, if, at their age, they 
 were so feeble. What would they do when they 
 came to be fifty ? 
 
 ' This is very exhausting,' said Nell as she 
 lay down on one of the three little bedsteads. 
 ' Does she live in a red-hot rage ? ' 
 
 ' She has had a sunstroke, you know,' said 
 Mrs. Frere, who had followed her daughters. 
 
 ' I wonder what she was like before it,' said 
 Hilary. 
 
 The three weary women slept for several 
 hours, half roused once or twice by the slam of 
 a door, or by the sound of Frau Lange's voice 
 in altercation with Auguste. Their hostess was
 
 170 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 evidently having a lively afternoon, and at six 
 o'clock, without any ceremony, she dashed into 
 their room in a state of wild excitement. 
 
 ' I cannot help it,' she began. ' You see that 
 I am hot and tired, do you not ? I have stood 
 over the fire ever since breakfast, and yet it is 
 not ready. Can you believe that I cut all the 
 beans myself?' 
 
 ' What is the matter ? ' said Mrs. Frere, only 
 half awake, and quite alarmed. 
 
 ' The vegetables are not cooked. It is six 
 o'clock, and at seven Herr Hansen will come 
 and try my new piano. He has sent in a note 
 to say so.' 
 
 ' Can't we dine without the vegetables ? ' asked 
 Hilary. 
 
 ' Oh ! if you will. There is plenty of cold 
 veal ; but then you will write to all your 
 English friends and say you are starved in 
 Germany.' 
 
 But somehow, by the time dinner appeared, 
 the vegetables were cooked, and formed the 
 main part of the meal. They were stewed with 
 vinegar and sugar, and Nell did not like them. 
 This deeply offended her aunt, who said she 
 could not afford to send to London for a cook. 
 If her niece would not put up with burgherly 
 German fare, what was to be done ? Perhaps 
 Nell objected to raw herrings and raw ham two 
 everyday Hamburg dishes ? Nell was discreet 
 enough not to betray, just then, that she would 
 rather go hungry than touch either of them. 
 
 After dinner Frau Lange led her guests down-
 
 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 171 
 
 stairs to the ' best ' sitting-room. She got rather 
 excited when she opened the door and found that 
 Auguste had lighted the lamps without special 
 permission ; but in her anxiety to display the 
 glories of this apartment, which evidently contained 
 the treasures of her heart, Auguste's misconduct 
 for once went unreproved. 
 
 There was first a good-sized airy room, with 
 three large double doors, occupying a considerable 
 portion of the wall space. One of these was 
 always set open, and it led into a second smaller 
 room on the south side of the house. The walls 
 and ceilings were covered with paper imitating 
 panels of various costly woods ; the floors were 
 parqueted ; the furniture, all made to match, and of 
 a florid design in mahogany, was upholstered with 
 bright magenta reps. In each room there was a 
 sofa against a wall, and an oval table right in front 
 of it On both tables there were a few illustrated 
 books in ornamental bindings. In each room 
 there was a white porcelain stove, and four straight, 
 narrow windows in a row, blocked by imitation 
 india - rubber plants and palms. There was a 
 small piece of carpet at the foot of either sofa, 
 and half a dozen cheap engravings in shiny black 
 frames on the walls. The vases were in pairs, white, 
 pink, or blue, and painted with flowers that in 
 this world do not bloom together. Frau Lange's 
 guests thought everything collected there looked 
 tawdry, comfortless, and antiquated. They did 
 not know what to say when she pointed out each 
 separate attraction, like a guide in a museum, and 
 asked them whether they would ever have guessed
 
 172 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 that her panelling and her palms were both made 
 of paper. She invited Mrs. Frere to sit beside 
 her on the sofa in the larger of the two rooms. 
 The two girls were about to draw forward chairs 
 for themselves, but Frau Lange got into a fluster 
 at once, and explained that in her house each 
 chair had its place, and must not be moved an 
 inch. She would not like Herr Hansen to 
 arrive and find the room in disarray. So Hilary 
 and Nell sat down with their backs close to a 
 wall, and listened while their mother fell to talk- 
 ing to her sister-in-law of their troubles. This 
 seemed to have the effect of an opiate on their 
 aunt She began to nod. 
 
 Directly they thought it safe, the girls got 
 up and slipped out of the room. They did 
 not enjoy sitting still on straight-backed chairs, 
 with nothing to do and nothing to say, like 
 children in disgrace. They went back to the 
 dining-room on the top floor. The lamp had 
 been extinguished here, but the full moon shone 
 in at the window. 
 
 ' Shall we walk round the garden ? ' said Nell, 
 looking out. ' It is quite light and warm. I 
 long for some fresh air.' 
 
 Hilary saw no possible objection, so they 
 fetched their cloaks and went out. They soon 
 arrived at the end of the little garden, which even 
 by moonlight looked untidily kept. They 
 saw a few fruit trees on the patch of long coarse 
 grass, and in the borders, flowers, weeds, and 
 kitchen vegetables growing side by side. They 
 were puzzled at first by a sound that seemed to
 
 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 173 
 
 come from a distance, and made itself heard 
 above all other sounds of the still autumn night. 
 
 ' It must be frogs,' said Hilary, on reflection. 
 ' There is a marsh or a pond somewhere near, and 
 it is full of frogs.' 
 
 ' Let us look for it,' said Nell. ' Here is a 
 door that probably leads out into a road.' 
 
 They had come to a low door built in the wall 
 at the end of the garden. Nell tried to open it, 
 but it stuck, and did not move until she pushed 
 against it with her whole weight, then it 
 suddenly flew forward ; if she had not clung 
 to the handle she would have been thrown to the 
 ground. As it was, she escaped with a grazed 
 elbow and a precipitate lurch into Herr Hansen's 
 garden. He stood there staring at her and at 
 Hilary, as if he expected them to behave like 
 apparitions, and vanish without speaking. 
 
 ' I forgot your garden might be behind the 
 door,' said Nell breathlessly, as soon as she had 
 picked herself up. ' We wanted to find the frogs.' 
 
 ' Miss Hilary ! Miss Nell !' cried the astonished 
 man. ' It is really you ! In Hamburg ! In Frau 
 Lange's garden ! Do you know her, then ? ' 
 
 ' She is our aunt by marriage,' explained 
 Hilary, holding out her hand. ' We have come 
 to live with her. Didn't she tell you ? ' 
 
 ' She told me she expected friends from 
 England, but she did not mention their name,' 
 said Herr Hansen. He did not add that when 
 he last saw Frau Lange she had bemoaned the 
 arrival of three pauper relatives, and at the same 
 time asked him to reduce the rent, and give her
 
 174 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 a new kitchen boiler. He looked at the sisters 
 with interest and compassion. He knew that 
 they had lost their father, and were very poor. 
 
 ' But when you were in London did none of 
 us mention Frau Lange ? ' asked Hilary. 
 
 'No.' 
 
 It was not wonderful. The girls had almost 
 forgotten her existence until her invitation came, 
 and Mrs. Frere never imagined that her brother's 
 widow would be known to any one of Herr 
 Hansen's standing. 
 
 ' And she never spoke of us to you, although 
 she knew you came to London ? ' 
 
 ' I hardly see Frau Lange twice a year,' said 
 Herr Hansen. ' Last week I met her in the wood 
 near here, and she asked me to come and tell her 
 whether she has given too much money for her 
 new piano. Before that I had not seen her since 
 Christmas.' 
 
 ' She expects you this evening,' observed Nell, 
 looking at his costume. Herr Hansen wore a 
 gray alpaca coat, light trousers, a red silk tie, 
 and a Panama hat. 
 
 ' I am on my way there now,' he said placidly. 
 ' I little thought of meeting you. It is a great 
 pleasure. I hope that you like living in Germany.' 
 
 The girls explained that they had only arrived 
 that morning, and had been asleep all the after- 
 noon. They had not yet tasted German life in 
 its fulness. As he accompanied them up their 
 own path, they asked him whether, in Germany, 
 gardens always communicated with each other, 
 and he assured them that it was quite exceptional.
 
 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 175 
 
 The door they found was one made, many years 
 ago, for the convenience of his grandmother, who 
 used to live in Frau Lange's house. No one 
 troubled to lock it, and no one ever opened it. 
 Herr Hansen hoped that the young ladies would 
 sometimes walk in his garden now and gather 
 his flowers. He was hardly ever there himself. 
 He preferred Hamburg all through the autumn 
 and winter. Nell said that they would some day 
 pursue their search for the frogs. She held up 
 her hand as she spoke, and asked for silence. 
 They all stood still near the house and listened 
 to the chorus of a thousand voices croaking to 
 the night. 
 
 ' I wish storks came to Hamburg,' said Hilary 
 dreamily. ' My picture of Germany is made up of 
 storks and of old tumble-down roofs with windows 
 in them like eyes, and of narrow streets with 
 cobble stones and gutters. It is a shock to find 
 these gimcrack villas here.' 
 
 They went back into the house and upstairs, 
 where they found the two ladies still sitting 
 together in a dozy condition. But Frau Lange 
 roused at the sight of Herr Hansen coming into 
 the room behind her nieces. She did not look at 
 all pleased when she heard how they had already 
 met outside the house. She seemed to think it 
 rather improper of the girls to have gone into 
 the garden by themselves, and she reminded 
 them, with emphasis, that they were not in 
 England. 
 
 Herr Hansen behaved in the most cordial way 
 to Mrs. Frere. He expressed great pleasure at
 
 176 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 seeing her in Hamburg, and fell into a conversa- 
 tion about various Hamburg families formerly 
 known to her, people he counted amongst his 
 friends. He told her of their shifting fortunes 
 of those who had been taken, and of those who 
 were left. He said that she must be sure and call 
 on her old friend, Frau Werner, who had several 
 charming daughters and a hospitable house. He 
 inquired after several of the people he had met 
 at Mrs. Frere's dinner-table, and, in short, put ques- 
 tions and made suggestions indicative of genuine 
 regard. Frau Lange listened with ill -humour, 
 and made various attempts to divert her guest's 
 attention. At last she got up, threw back the 
 lid of her cottage piano, and invited him to 
 play. 
 
 Herr Hansen rose heavily from his chair, put 
 down his Panama hat, and went to the piano. 
 He struck a few preliminary chords, and then said 
 to Hilary, 'What shall it be? Beethoven? 
 Schumann ? ' 
 
 Frau Lange was standing at his elbow, and she 
 answered in her niece's stead. 
 
 ' Play what you please, Herr Hansen,' she said. 
 ' We know nothing of music ourselves. We shall 
 enjoy whatever you choose to give us.' 
 
 ' Your nieces know a good deal about music,' 
 he observed dryly, and he started with some 
 numbers from Schumann's Carneval. He chose 
 those Hilary used to ask for over and over again 
 at home. He ended with the Davidsbiindler 
 march. Then he turned to Nell : 
 
 ' Will you not sing ? ' he asked.
 
 FIKST IMPRESSIONS 177 
 
 ' But what do you think of my piano ? ' said 
 Frau Lange hastily. ' I consider that it has a 
 fine tone. Of course, it is not a concert grand, 
 but we are not all millionaires.' 
 
 Herr Hansen's fingers wandered lightly over 
 the keys, and he looked ruefully aside at a distant 
 wall. Even the march had sounded thin and 
 wooden on that trumpery instrument. 
 
 ' It is a handsome case,' he said at last. ' That 
 is a new way of fixing the candlesticks, I believe. 
 Very ingenious. I have not seen it before. Yes. 
 This man must be doing a good business. His 
 pianos are advertised everywhere. Will you not 
 sing something, Miss Nell ? ' 
 
 ' English music is trash,' said Frau Lange 
 abruptly. ' How can you ask for it, Herr Hansen. 
 Continue to play to us, I beg.' 
 
 Herr Hansen, instead of complying with his 
 hostess's entreaty, rose from the piano and went 
 back to his seat near Mrs. Frere. Nell had 
 naturally made no sign in response to an invitation 
 on which her aunt threw such exceedingly cold 
 water. Frau Lange began a promenade from one 
 end of the room to the other, and her nieces saw, 
 with alarm, that her face had turned crimson 
 again. 
 
 ' I hate the English,' she snapped out suddenly. 
 1 1 thank heaven I have no son ; he might want to 
 marry one, and break my heart' 
 
 The girls could not help smiling at this 
 unnecessary burst of gratitude. Herr Hansen 
 muttered something intended as a sedative. He 
 looked very uncomfortable, and not at all pleased.
 
 1 78 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 The arrival of Auguste with a supper-tray 
 made an agreeable break in a conversation that 
 was becoming somewhat strained. The supper 
 consisted of microscopic sandwiches and slender 
 bottles of Pilsener beer. Every one gathered 
 round the table to partake of it, but an apparently 
 insurmountable difficulty arose at once. Hilary 
 and Nell did not drink beer. They asked for 
 water instead. Herr Hansen said that Hamburg 
 water was not particularly good. Frau Lange 
 contradicted him. She had never heard a word 
 said against it before, and she drank it unfiltered 
 every day, and considered it incomparably better 
 than any water to be got in London. 
 
 ' Besides,' she went on, ' in my opinion beer is 
 more wholesome and proper for a young girl than 
 hot brandy and water.' The girls stared at her 
 uncomprehendingly. 
 
 ' No Englishwoman would dream of going to 
 bed without a glass of hot brandy and water.' 
 
 'Where have you studied our customs, Aunt 
 Bertha?' said Hilary laughing. 'You did not 
 see us drinking brandy and water when you were 
 in London.' 
 
 ' My sister was governess in England for 
 years. She knows English society thoroughly. 
 All the ladies there drink spirits at night. It is 
 the climate. My sister did it too.' 
 
 ' I daresay,' said Hilary politely, ' but I assure 
 you it is not a universal custom. I have never 
 seen it done. 1 
 
 ' My sister lived ten years in England. Every 
 night the spirits were brought up, and the whole
 
 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 179 
 
 family drank them with hot water and sugar and 
 lemons. I have never met any one who knew 
 England as well as my sister.' 
 
 Hilary and Nell looked at each other. Mrs. 
 Frere sighed. Herr Hansen said good-night
 
 XIII 
 
 AN AFTERNOON CALL 
 
 THE early breakfast, consisting of coffee and 
 small rolls, was served at eight o'clock. Hilary 
 and Nell liked it better than the other meals, 
 which came at hap-hazard times, and were often 
 uneatable that is, they liked it as long as they 
 were allowed fresh rolls. But they were hungry 
 every morning and ate a good many, so their 
 aunt soon hit on the expedient of providing stale 
 ones. It was a brilliant idea. Without butter 
 the girls hardly managed one apiece. 
 
 The second breakfast was eaten at mid-day. 
 At this meal Frau Lange and her guests shared 
 two hard-boiled eggs, minced small, and a good- 
 sized pot of weak tea. The girls used to get 
 uncomfortably hungry before dinner time. Frau 
 Lange said Englishwomen were even greedier 
 than her sister had described them. On Sundays 
 there was always a joint of roast beef for dinner. 
 Hilary and Nell quite looked forward to Sundays, 
 but their aunt carved, and she had to be 
 careful, or the joint would not have lasted long 
 enough. She never bought more than one joint 
 in seven days. Towards the end of the week
 
 AN AFTERNOON CALL 181 
 
 strange messes were dished up at dinner time. 
 Coarse soups made of beer, or milk, or common 
 fruit ; cheap vegetables smothered in sugar and 
 vinegar ; salads mixed with raw herrings ; great 
 slabs of tasteless curd ; stir-about not unlike 
 English porridge a plentiful supply, in short, of 
 what the girls and their mother could hardly eat, 
 while the plain roast meat for which they hungered 
 was always lacking. At first the sisters treated 
 the diet as a joke, ate what they could, went 
 empty now and then, foraged for themselves as 
 long as they had a penny in their purses ; but 
 even while they made merry they grew thin and 
 colourless. It wrung their mother's heart to see 
 the roses vanish and the hollows in their cheeks 
 become deeper. 
 
 ' I am home -sick for an English leg of 
 mutton,' said Nell one morning, when they were 
 waiting for their aunt to come in to the second 
 breakfast. 
 
 1 Don't talk of one,' said Hilary. ' You'll 
 make me cry.' 
 
 The table was spread, as usual, with a soiled 
 cloth, a black japanned bread-basket full of stale 
 rolls, a small pat of butter, and thick white cups 
 and plates. Presently Frau Lange appeared, still 
 in her dressing-gown and the morning-cap that 
 covered her unbrushed hair. She was followed 
 by Auguste, carrying the tea and the dish of 
 minced egg. 
 
 ' Eggs are getting very dear,' she said when 
 Auguste had departed. ' They are a halfpenny 
 each.'
 
 1 82 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' We should call that very cheap in England,' 
 said Mrs. Frere. 
 
 You would not expect that remark to be a 
 signal for a storm, but it was. Frau Lange 
 burst into a lengthy defence of her housekeeping, 
 accompanied by many allusions to the high 
 current prices and the expense of supporting 
 three hungry guests. 
 
 ' I wish you would let us pay for our board, 
 Bertha,' said Mrs. Frere. ' I did not like to 
 suggest it when you invited us ' 
 
 ' How you harp on that invitation ! ' interrupted 
 Frau Lange. ' 7 don't call it good manners to 
 tie persons down to their words in that way. 
 Of course, if you have an impulsive, generous 
 heart you have to pay for it. I have often 
 found that out. I cannot be cold, and hard, and 
 calculating as you are in England. I wish I could.' 
 
 ' You should take example by us, Aunt Bertha,' 
 said Nell. 
 
 Her mother sent her a warning glance, and 
 said again that she would be glad to pay their 
 own expenses. Her sister-in-law must fix on a 
 sum. 
 
 ' You don't suppose I want to make a profit 
 on you ? ' shrieked Frau Lange. ' You have no 
 idea how expensive everything is in Hamburg, 
 and how Auguste takes advantage of your 
 being here. She is so dreadfully extravagant. 
 Yesterday I had to buy pepper again, and she 
 says your piece of soap is used up directly; and 
 then there is the blacking for your boots. We 
 use the best blacking.'
 
 AN AFTERNOON CALL 183 
 
 ' There's nothing mean about me," said Nell, 
 sotto voce. 
 
 ' It is not only the food, you see,' continued 
 her aunt ; ' and if you think I am a rich woman 
 you are quite mistaken. I am very good -hearted, 
 and when you said you were without a home 1 
 offered you one directly ; but you cannot expect 
 me to ruin myself on your behalf.' 
 
 You may imagine that the Freres did not 
 enjoy this kind of discussion. Mrs. Frere 
 immediately arranged to pay her sister-in-law a 
 weekly sum that would sound small in English 
 ears, but which, judged by the German standard, 
 was not insufficient. They ought to have had 
 good plain food for it, but Frau Lange's 
 niggardly ways grew worse instead of better as 
 time went on. The spirit of the man who 
 reduced his horse to the last straw evidently 
 inspired her. She could never stint and save 
 quite enough, and when her guests thought they 
 had reached the limits of her parsimony she 
 would still spring some fresh surprise on them. 
 As the severe cold of a German winter overtook 
 them they began to suffer a good deal. Of 
 course, they often considered the possibility of 
 bidding their hostess good-bye ; but the lack 
 of ready money, the greater price of any other 
 establishment, chained them where they were. 
 If it was nasty, it was cheap ; and with their 
 pockets empty they were driven to make cheap- 
 ness paramount. 
 
 What Hilary felt most of all was the want of 
 some corner that she could call her own. The
 
 1 84 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 Greek play got on very slowly. With her aunt's 
 squabbles in her ears she could not weigh words 
 and turn phrases. The upstairs sitting-room was 
 always noisy and close, and when she fled to 
 the bedroom her mother would fidget in and out 
 with that disregard for a young person's wishes 
 so often shown by elderly people. She liked 
 Hilary's company, and she had no belief in her 
 ambitions. Besides, when winter really came, it 
 distressed Mrs. Frere to see the child poring 
 over books, with a fur cloak on her shoulders, 
 and the temperature two degrees below freezing 
 point 
 
 ' You have been in three times since breakfast, 
 and it is only one o'clock now,' said Hilary one 
 bitterly cold November day. 
 
 ' Really, Hilary, I must be allowed to come into 
 my own bedroom. I need not disturb you. 
 Just let me get to that table behind your chair. 
 I want the white darning cotton. Why do you 
 load up the table with books in this way? We 
 did not buy it for that purpose. You can't want 
 six books at once. I should think that a person 
 who read with any system would finish one book 
 before she began another. I know I was taught to 
 do so. I see you have two dictionaries open. How 
 can any one want to find a word in two diction- 
 aries ? Dear me, Hilary, look at the thermometer ! 
 You will kill yourself if you stay here. Why 
 don't you take one of your books into the sitting- 
 room and read there ? I am sure no one would 
 speak to you if you asked them not to.' 
 
 ' I cannot read there, mamma,' said Hilary.
 
 AN AFTERNOON CALL 185 
 
 ' You talk to me, and Aunt Bertha scolds, and 
 Nell plays scales.' 
 
 ' Well, my dear, I don't know why you should 
 shut yourself up with your books. It gives your 
 aunt such a bad opinion of you. She thinks you 
 are so idle, you know. Nell has embroidered a 
 table-cloth since she came, but what have you 
 done ? I believe Bertha would be glad if you 
 both helped more in the house ; she gives hints 
 to that effect. She says that when she was a girl 
 she did the ironing, and she has just brought in 
 an immense heap of house linen. Some of it is 
 only rags, and she declares that it must all be 
 mended. I have offered to help, but fine darning 
 tries my eyes, especially at night when that horrid 
 flickering lamp is lighted.' 
 
 ' I cannot darn,' said Hilary. ' If I tried, Aunt 
 Bertha would probably throw it at me, as she did 
 the burnt cake at Auguste the other day.' 
 
 ' I wonder if there is anything you can do/ 
 said Mrs. Frere reflectively, and without a suspicion 
 that her words might give pain. ' Your education 
 was very expensive, but it doesn't seem to have 
 been much use.' 
 
 ' Just what I say to myself every day,' 
 answered Hilary with some bitterness. ' I might 
 get a place as governess in England, but you 
 don't like to hear of that' 
 
 ' Let us go into Hamburg this afternoon and 
 pay some calls,' said Mrs. Frere. ' There are 
 several people I have not looked up yet.' 
 
 She always turned the subject as quickly as 
 possible when Hilary spoke of separating from her
 
 1 86 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 and going back to England. She knew how home- 
 sick the girls were, but she clung to their 
 company. She could not have faced the empty, 
 joyless days without them. 
 
 In spite of what Mrs. Frere had said to Mrs. 
 Theodore, she had expected to step straight back 
 into her old surroundings, but, of course, the 
 disappointments that a wiser woman would have 
 foreseen awaited her. The elders she remembered 
 with affection, had journeyed on ; she heard of her 
 contemporaries living with children and grand- 
 children in distant towns; to the young folks she 
 was hardly a name. According to the German 
 custom it fell on her, as the newcomer, to take the 
 initiative to seek out those who were likely to 
 receive her with a welcome. They were few and 
 far between, and in some cases the girls thought 
 the welcome hardly came off successfully. After 
 a decorous interval her visits were returned, and 
 there communication seemed to stop. Mrs. Frere 
 was hurt and astonished. How many sons and 
 daughters of Hamburg had she not hospitably 
 entertained beneath her husband's roof? It took 
 months to convince her that such benefits are 
 easily forgot. In reality, her experience was one 
 common to people without much knowledge of 
 character. Those of whom she deserved and 
 expected most held back, while the two or three 
 people who showed her kindness, she had hardly 
 reckoned in her list of persons likely to befriend 
 them. Herr Hansen she could not judge yet. 
 He had been obliged to leave Hamburg on a 
 business journey soon after their arrival, and he
 
 AN AFTERNOON CALL 187 
 
 was still away. Frau Lange seemed to know no 
 one, although she had been living in her present 
 home for five years. Her complete isolation on 
 the outskirts of that big crowded city was most 
 striking. No one ever called ; she had no visits to 
 pay ; not man, woman, or child ever broke bread 
 within her doors. This state of things was, of 
 course, partly her own fault. In the neighbourhood 
 she passed for a semi-lunatic of miserly habits and 
 violent temper. No one sought her acquaintance. 
 In Hamburg itself she had never crossed a private 
 threshold. Her lonely social position was a 
 source of much discontent, and yet she took no 
 sensible steps to better it. She railed at the wicked 
 world ; she resented imaginary slights ; she hated 
 several persons who were hardly conscious of 
 her existence, but these very common mani- 
 festations of an evil temper did nothing to mend 
 matters. She had expected Mrs. Frere's friends 
 to hold out their hands to her, but they did not 
 do so. Most of them only had a finger to spare 
 for Mrs. Frere. Hamburg society is provincially 
 exclusive. It does not welcome foreigners ; it 
 shakes its head at artists : on actors it turns its sub- 
 stantial back. What it likes is solid, well-to-do, 
 long-established business men. Its aristocracy is 
 mercantile, and you will find that your most distin- 
 guished friends there are on visiting terms with 
 the leading shopkeepers and their wives. It is 
 the centre of the world, and only condescends 
 to follow even Paris fashions at a distance, and with 
 modifications of its own. It considers Paris 
 frivolous, London dreary, and Berlin impertinent.
 
 1 88 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 Hamburg is never uneasy about itself. It is 
 never on the alert, like a French or an English 
 provincial town, lest any ill-bred person should 
 allude to its geographical position in the pro- 
 vinces. Its conceit of itself is immense, and 
 in some degree justifiable. It really is a pleasant 
 town ; and the most respected artists there are 
 the cooks. 
 
 The modern part of Hamburg is built round 
 the basin of the Alster, a large bright lake, one 
 of the chief high-roads for passenger traffic. 
 Little steamboats ply to and fro all day, and in 
 summer they are crowded. From their decks 
 you see the front of Hamburg, row upon row of 
 large new white houses, very handsome, very 
 expensive, very dull. The most flourishing shops 
 and the well-to-do private houses face the water ; 
 but here and there in the great city you may 
 still find tumble-down picturesque old shanties, 
 survivals from the great fire of 1842. Some still 
 surround the market-places, some topple towards 
 the canals, some shut in lanes so narrow that you 
 may lean out of an upper floor window and kiss 
 your opposite neighbour at hers. The poorer 
 folk herd under these gabled roofs and at the 
 docks to westward, while far down the Elbe, to- 
 wards the sea, Hamburg's merchant princes have 
 set their pleasure houses amidst splendid gardens 
 and English-looking parks. 
 
 Mrs. Frere and Hilary were going to call, for 
 the first time, on the Frau Werner of whom Herr 
 Hansen had spoken, and who had received Dick 
 Lorimer so hospitably. The Werners lived on
 
 AN AFTERNOON CALL 
 
 the Jungfernstieg, where shops, hotels, and private 
 houses stand side by side. It is the Piccadilly of 
 Hamburg, and only wealthy men can afford to 
 live there ; but the Werners were very wealthy. 
 They had just returned to Hamburg for the winter, 
 after an autumn spent in Switzerland and Italy. 
 Frau Werner and Mrs. Frere were old friends, but 
 they had neither met nor corresponded of late 
 years. 
 
 ' I have not seen Anna since she was married,' 
 said Mrs. Frere as she went upstairs to her friend's 
 flat, which was on the first floor. 
 
 In spite of this reminder, Hilary received a 
 slight shock when she followed her mother into 
 the room. The picture she had formed from 
 Mrs. Frere's reminiscences was of a young apple- 
 cheeked girl always in the highest spirits, and 
 ready for any fun. A short, stout, gray -haired 
 matron got up to meet them, with a stiff curtsey 
 and a look of surprise. It was not until Mrs. 
 Frere spoke that her manner began to thaw. 
 
 ' Helene Lange ! ' she cried, addressing her old 
 acquaintance by her maiden name. 'You have 
 altered so that I did not know you ; but I 
 suppose you can say that to me, too ? ' 
 
 Mrs. Frere thought in her own mind that her 
 friend was, if anything less well preserved than 
 she was herself; but then, she reflected, Anna 
 had always been plain and had never known it. 
 Anna used to be likeable but tiresome, because 
 all her geese were swans, and they formed her 
 only topic of conversation. Mrs. Frere soon had 
 an opportunity of discovering that, in this respect,
 
 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 her friend had not altered much. At first Frau 
 Werner surveyed her guests with inquiring, 
 friendly eyes, took their measure as well as she 
 could, and asked them a good many questions 
 about their recent history and their motives for 
 coming to Hamburg. She did not ask questions 
 that were difficult to answer. Her interest in 
 them was quite genuine, but it takes both time 
 and knowledge to bridge the gap made by thirty 
 years. 
 
 ' You have two daughters, Helene, only two. 
 I have four all beautiful. Heaven has blessed 
 me in my children. I must show you the 
 photograph they had taken secretly for my last 
 birthday. It is only my children who have such 
 delightful ideas. Here it is the four daughters, 
 the three sons, the two sons-in-law, and the grand- 
 children. That is one son-in-law. He is the 
 handsomest man in Hamburg, excepting my 
 husband. That is the other. He is the cleverest 
 doctor in the town. One of my daughters is 
 still at school, but Olga is only a little younger 
 than you, my dear Hilary. Do you sing ? Olga 
 has the most wonderful soprano voice. Perhaps 
 you can sing duets with her ? ' 
 
 ' I have no voice,' confessed Hilary. 
 
 ' What a pity ! Perhaps you are very domestic. 
 In that case you must know my Martha, who was 
 married this summer. I miss her terribly. She 
 knew every dinner -napkin in my possession, and 
 I have a hundred dozen ; and she did all the 
 mending. Some day I will show you the dusters 
 she darned last winter. Her work is like lace; so
 
 AN AFTERNOON CALL 191 
 
 fine ! She has had to wear spectacles ever since, 
 poor child. You must bring both your daughters 
 next time, Helene. Will you join our family 
 dinner next Sunday ? then you will see us all 
 except Kurt, who is at Tubingen. We sit down 
 twenty every week, because the grandchildren 
 come, and Fritz Hansen when he is in Hamburg. 
 You know him ? When he came back from 
 London, this spring, he told us he had been 
 often at your house.' 
 
 While Hilary listened she looked about her. 
 She was glad to correct her idea of German 
 family life by a peep at a home so unlike the 
 sordid one in which she lived. The windows in 
 this room faced the Alster, and the fine well-cared- 
 for palms that grew in front of them were not 
 made of paper. Close to some of the windows 
 were seats, and in the most comfortable corner, 
 near the light, stood Frau Werner's work-table 
 and her special chair. She could put down her 
 embroidery and look straight out across the 
 great lake at the sailing-boats in summer, at the 
 skaters in winter, at the twinkling distant lights 
 every evening after dark. The furniture and 
 decorations of the room were in no way artistic, 
 but everything was solid, comfortable, and well 
 kept. The inevitable sofa, with the table in 
 front of it, occupied the largest space of wall ; 
 a sober carpet of good quality covered the floor ; 
 none of the knick-knacks were tawdry ; the en- 
 gravings were valuable. In a little room, only 
 separated from this one by a half-drawn portiere, 
 Hilary got a glimpse of a superb landscape in
 
 192 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 oils. Of course, these people had money, but their 
 home did not proclaim that fact at all loudly. 
 This room, at any rate, was rather quaint and 
 old-fashioned. It reminded Hilary of German 
 pictures, in which all the furniture looks heavy 
 and out of date ; but she could fancy that an 
 orderly, flourishing family had spent year after 
 year there. 
 
 ' Your daughters must be very fond of fancy- 
 work,' said Mrs. Frere, looking at the endless 
 specimens of elaborate embroidery everywhere 
 on view. 
 
 ' They all excel in it,' said Frau Werner 
 proudly. ' See, on my last birthday, they gave 
 me these.' She pulled a handkerchief out 
 of her pocket, made of fine linen, which the 
 English girl, with her scrap of cambric, thought 
 big enough for a towel, and thick enough 
 for a sheet. In one corner there was an 
 elaborate monogram. 
 
 1 The three elder ones each did four,' continued 
 Frau Werner. ' Can you embroider ? But why 
 should I ask ? Undoubtedly you can.' 
 
 ' No,' said Hilary, ' I don't care much for 
 fancy-work.' 
 
 ' But, my dear child,' exclaimed Frau Werner, 
 evidently scandalised, ' what do you do all day ? ' 
 
 ' Hilary reads Greek,' said Mrs. Frere. 
 
 ' What good does that do her ? ' inquired 
 Frau Werner. Perhaps she saw that she had 
 asked a question not very easily answered ; at 
 any rate, she went on rather hurriedly to another 
 subject.
 
 AN AFTERNOON CALL 193 
 
 ' So you have really given up your house in 
 London ! That surprises me. Well, we both have 
 daughters, and you know what I mean one has 
 wishes for them. Hitherto my hopes have been 
 singularly blessed. Emma's husband we met at 
 Norderney. The first time I saw him I said to 
 myself, Such a one could I wish for a son-in-law, 
 and before we left they were engaged. A very 
 respectable old-established firm, you know. With 
 the boys I am in no hurry, but a girl should marry 
 before she is twenty. Martha's marriage was also 
 a sudden affair. None of my children have ever 
 given me a moment's uneasiness. This summer, 
 it is true, my little Olga lost her heart ; but it 
 may still come right, and I notice that she eats 
 her dinner as usual. If it is not that one, it 
 will be another. We are all in the hands of 
 Providence.' 
 
 Hilary looked out of the window. It was 
 snowing slightly, and getting rapidly dark. In 
 a minute or so they must leave this well-warmed 
 room, trudge through the half-frozen slush to a 
 tramcar, and drive back in the cold to Aunt 
 Bertha's miserable dinner-table. She wished 
 Frau Werner would give them a cup of tea ; 
 but Mrs. Frere got up now, and said that it 
 was impossible for them to wait until Olga came 
 back ; they must get home in good time, and 
 they would look forward to seeing all Frau 
 Werner's children on Sunday at five o'clock. 
 
 Directly they got downstairs Mrs. Frere com- 
 plained of being both cold and hungry. She 
 said that before going on they would have a cup 
 
 13
 
 194 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 of coffee at a confectioner's shop on the Neuer 
 Wall, already well known to them. Hilary was 
 nothing loth, although the cost of it weighed on 
 her mind; but she generally felt half starved 
 nowadays, and the idea of a dainty little meal 
 tempted her sorely. There would be nothing 
 appetising ready for them at home, and the 
 minced eggs served for the mid-day breakfast had 
 been as highly flavoured as a glass of H arrogate 
 water. The ladies had only eaten a little stale 
 bread and butter. 
 
 If you think a first-rate Hamburg confectioner 
 fills his windows with muffins and raspberry puffs 
 you stand in need of wider views. His idea 
 is to sell cakes that tempt people to eat them. 
 One cannot imagine anybody over the age of 
 twelve buying British buns and tartlets with 
 much expectation of enjoyment. In a Hamburg 
 shop, if you are not hungry you thank heaven you 
 are greedy and fall to. Mrs. Frere and Hilary 
 ordered coffee and Mandeltorte, an ambrosial cake, 
 filled up with cream that tastes of nuts and is 
 coloured like heliotrope ; but Mrs. Frere looked 
 preoccupied. 
 
 ' I wonder what Fritz Werner is like,' she said 
 reflectively. ' He must be thirty.' 
 
 ' He was in that photograph,' said Hilary. ' A 
 little fat man with mutton-chop whiskers and 
 a potato nose. Frau Werner pointed him out. 
 She said, " This is my Fritz. He is considered 
 very distingut" ' 
 
 ' I am rather sorry I said anything about your 
 knowing Greek. I have been in England so long
 
 AN AFTERNOON CALL 195 
 
 I have quite forgotten the German point of view. 
 I am afraid Anna may think it must affect your 
 housekeeping, and, of course, in a sense she would 
 be right You never darned my dusters so that 
 the holes looked like lace.' 
 
 ' I should think not.' 
 
 ' I daresay Martha Werner would have been 
 quite pleased to mend all that linen for Aunt 
 Bertha. I hope Nell has sat down to it this 
 afternoon. Do you think she can put in a patch 
 so that no one can see it ? ' 
 
 Hilary said she thought it more likely that a 
 garment in which Nell had put a patch would be 
 recognised a mile away. Neither her sister nor 
 she had ever been taught these fine devices. 
 They had never attempted to darn a stocking 
 until they came to Germany, and they had not 
 yet managed even that successfully. 
 
 ' It is very hard,' said Mrs. Frere. ' In England 
 people want girls to be pretty, and well-dressed, 
 and healthy.' 
 
 Hilary understood the implication underlying 
 her mother's plaint. It is very trying to bring 
 your daughters well up to the standard of one 
 marriage market, and then have them thrust into a 
 foreign one where quite a different set of qualities 
 is in demand. 
 
 ' You ought to have some lessons in cooking 
 and darning,' continued Mrs. Frere. ' I wonder 
 what they would cost ? ' 
 
 Hilary's attention was just then diverted by 
 the sound of a voice well known to her, and she 
 turned her head to see Herr Hansen buying
 
 196 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 bonbons at the counter. As she did so he looked 
 her way, recognised her, and came up to their little 
 table. He had only just come back from St. 
 Petersburg, he said. The Werners expected him 
 to dinner next Sunday, and he could not appear 
 there after a journey without bonbons for his god- 
 child, their youngest girl. He hoped Mrs. Frere 
 and her daughters were well. Had they come to 
 town altogether, or were they still staying with 
 Frau Lange ? Where was Miss Nell ? 
 
 ' She could not spare the time to come,' said Mrs. 
 Frere, ' she was so busy darning linen for her aunt.' 
 
 Herr Hansen looked rather surprised. 
 
 ' That does not sound like Miss Nell,' he said. 
 
 ' My daughters are very domestic,' replied Mrs. 
 Frere. ' We do not talk about it quite as much 
 as you do in Germany. In England we think it 
 rather absurd to make a fuss of what must be 
 done as a matter of course. We were just saying 
 how interesting it would be to have lessons here 
 in cooking and sewing. Then the girls could 
 judge for themselves which style was superior.' 
 
 ' You must not make us out more accomplished 
 than we are,' said Hilary. 
 
 ' That would be difficult,' said Herr Hansen. 
 
 Mrs. Frere looked delighted. 
 
 ' When are you coming to see us again, Herr 
 Hansen ? ' she said. 
 
 He hesitated. 
 
 ' You are still with Frau Lange ? ' he observed, 
 and then without answering Mrs. Frere's question 
 more definitely he put his bag of bonbons into 
 Hilary's lap.
 
 AN AFTERNOON CALL 197 
 
 ' I will send them to the young lady who is at 
 home darning/ he said, lifted his hat, shook hands 
 cordially, and edged away to the counter, where he 
 bought a second supply of bonbons before leaving 
 the shop. 
 
 When Mrs. Frere and her daughter reached 
 home they went straight to their own bedroom. 
 There they found Nell wrapped in eider-downs, and 
 reading a novel. 
 
 ' Well, my dear, what have you been doing 
 all the afternoon ? ' said Mrs. Frere. 
 
 ' Oh ! Aunt Bertha asked me to help her mend 
 that house linen.' 
 
 ' I told you so,' said Mrs. Frere triumphantly 
 to her elder daughter. ' Look at that great bag of 
 bonbons, Nell. Some one sent them to you because 
 you stayed at home to help your aunt.' 
 
 ' Who sent them ? ' asked Nell quickly. ' They 
 are very good ones,' she added, as she dipped 
 into the bag. 
 
 ' It was Herr Hansen,' said Hilary, who knew 
 her sister would look disappointed when she heard 
 this name instead of the one for ever uppermost 
 in her mind. ' How much darning did you do, 
 Nell ? ' 
 
 4 One pillow-slip.' 
 
 ' Really good darning takes a long time,' said 
 Mrs. Frere. ' Was Aunt Bertha pleased ? ' 
 
 'She threw it at my head, and yelled at 
 me. What would you darn a linen pillow-slip with, 
 mamma?' 
 
 ' Fine linen thread, of course.' 
 
 ' I did it with crochet cotton. She says it will
 
 198 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 take her all the evening to unpick. She wouldn't 
 trust me with it again.' 
 
 ' I felt sure we were taking those bonbons on 
 false pretences,' said Hilary, with her hand in the 
 bag.
 
 XIV 
 
 A FAMILY PARTY 
 
 THE girls did not know how to dress for the 
 dinner on Sunday, and their mother's advice only 
 bewildered them. She said that when she was a 
 girl no one wore a low-necked gown except at a 
 ball, but that even in Hamburg customs changed. 
 She would advise them to wear their best white 
 summer frocks, only she knew the Werners would 
 be shocked if they appeared in anything but 
 black. Germans were most particular about 
 mourning. They laughed at the English custom 
 of putting it on for second cousins twice removed, 
 and they did not wear as much crape as those 
 elderly females to be met in any London 
 omnibus, but they would think very little of a 
 girl who doffed her black merino before the 
 proper time. 
 
 ' Must it literally be merino ? ' asked Nell. ' If 
 it must, we cannot go at all. The only black 
 gowns we possess are these serges we wear every 
 day and the lace ones we had made in the spring.' 
 
 ' They are cut low, and have no sleeves,' 
 objected Hilary, for in those days sleeves in 
 evening gowns had been temporarily abolished.
 
 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' I am sure you need not be ashamed of your 
 neck and arms,' said her mother. 
 
 ' But we want to dress suitably,' said Hilary. 
 ' Don't you think Aunt Bertha would know ? ' 
 
 ' Certainly not. She is not in Hamburg society.' 
 
 ' Then she probably knows all about it,' said 
 Nell. ' Isn't there a penny society paper here ? 
 We might afford a penny to find out how 
 the senators' wives dress when they eat each 
 other's Kalbsbraten. Don't they tell you any- 
 where that Frau Bummelhausen looked very 
 handsome in an exclusive gown of carrot-coloured 
 brocade ? ' 
 
 ' No, they don't,' said Mrs. Frere with a sigh, 
 as if even in this she found Hamburg a little 
 behind the times. 
 
 Hilary reminded her mother that if they must 
 wear black they must choose between the serge 
 gowns and the lace ones. Nell said that settled it. 
 She was not going to face twenty people with a 
 patched sleeve. 
 
 Mrs. Frere felt divided between her desire to 
 see the girls in evening frocks again, and her 
 doubts of such raiment being correct on this 
 occasion. But when they were dressed they 
 looked so charming that she would not, for the 
 world, have altered a ribbon end. Only, as they 
 put on their hats and long warm cloaks, she said 
 nervously, ' I hope it is all right. What will 
 you do if every other woman in the room has on a 
 high stuff gown.' 
 
 ' Oh ! we shall bear it for once, and know 
 better next time,' said Nell.
 
 A FAMILY PARTY 
 
 Mrs. Frere felt that her children did not take 
 the present hour quite as seriously as it deserved. 
 She had told them a great deal about the Werners 
 and their important social position, but Hilary 
 had hardly listened, and Nell had wondered 
 whether all the men would tuck their napkins into 
 their waistcoats and eat with their knives like Herr 
 Hansen. In imitation of that well-bred prince 
 who poured his tea into the saucer when his 
 guest did, she had even gone so far as to practise 
 eating with her knife ; but she found that it was 
 not a habit to be adopted at a moment's notice. 
 It was more difficult to manage than a fork. 
 
 When they arrived at the Werners' flat they 
 were not taken to a dressing-room, but merely 
 assisted to hang their cloaks on a hat-stand 
 close to the outside door. They were then shown 
 into the sitting-room they had seen when they 
 called. The lamps were lighted now, and the 
 twenty family guests assembled. Even before 
 the door shut behind them, while they walked 
 towards their hostess, Mrs. Frere and her daughters 
 saw that the low-necked, sleeveless gowns were 
 wrong, hopelessly wrong. Frau Werner wore a 
 plain short winter walking dress of some woollen 
 material, a large gold brooch, a linen collar, cuffs, 
 and two gold bracelets broad enough for a waist- 
 band. All the other ladies present were dressed 
 in the same style, and the men wore tight black 
 frock coats, fancy trousers, and coloured ties. 
 Perhaps the English girls were unjust, but they 
 both protested afterwards that two foreigners who 
 came to an English dinner in morning dress
 
 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 would not have been stared at as they were all the 
 evening. If they had worn tar and feathers the 
 company could hardly have looked more surprised. 
 Directly the first buzz of greeting and introduction 
 was over Mrs. Frere, who had been led to a place 
 of honour beside her hostess on the sofa, said in 
 a tone of apology, ' In England, you know, we 
 dress like that every evening.' 
 
 ' Hamburg is not England,' said Frau Werner. 
 ' We have our own ways.' 
 
 Mrs. Frere was just going to explain that in 
 thirty years of exile her memory of Hamburg 
 ways had grown rusty, but before she could 
 speak Frau Werner had risen to greet another 
 guest. Herr Hansen came in, and was received 
 by every one with enthusiasm. Hilary could not 
 help reflecting, as she watched his progress through 
 the room, that fate had funnily turned the tables. 
 To-day she felt ridiculously dressed, unknown, 
 stumbling in speech, and of little consequence, 
 while Herr Hansen's clothes looked like other 
 peoples', his language was the common one, his 
 presence regarded as an honour, his manner easy 
 and natural. 
 
 When dinner was announced every one went in 
 anyhow, the elders first, the young ones in their 
 train. Mrs. Frere was invited to take a seat near 
 Herr Werner, a good-humoured little man, with a 
 figure that had not been improved by fifty-six 
 years of fat living. On his other side sat his wife. 
 The older and more important guests all found 
 places at this upper end of the table, while the 
 young daughters of the house, the grandchildren,
 
 A FAMILY PARTY 203 
 
 and their nursery governesses, sat at the bottom, 
 nearer to the door. Hilary found herself between 
 Olga Werner, the unmarried daughter of eighteen, 
 and a young man, who was introduced as Herr 
 Kapp, and described as the brother of Frau 
 Werner's eldest son-in-law. 
 
 The room was long and narrow, like the 
 dining-room in a Swiss hotel. It contained no 
 furniture but a narrow table, chairs, and a side- 
 board, on which Hilary saw three brass coffee 
 machines, as bright as if they had been bought 
 yesterday. The table linen was very fine, and 
 embroidered with huge monograms ; the silver 
 was all real and massive. Everything looked 
 spick and span, and yet, considering that the 
 Werners were wealthy, curiously bare and rough. 
 On that endless length of table the only decora- 
 tion was one vase of artificial flowers, a large glass 
 dish of apple sauce, and several bottles of hock. 
 Before each guest there was a roll, a napkin 
 folded flat as it had come from the wash, two or 
 three wine glasses, and a knife and fork pitched 
 on the cloth crosswise, without precision. There 
 were two waiting maids present in spotless short- 
 sleeved cotton gowns and white caps. Hilary 
 thought them rather unnecessary at first, for she 
 found that Frau Werner's guests waited mainly 
 on themselves. Herr Werner dispensed the soup, 
 and plates of it were passed along from one to 
 the other. Then a fillet of beef arrived, and 
 when the host had cut the whole of it into slices 
 he put a choice one on Mrs. Frere's plate, a second 
 on his wife's, a third on his own ; after that the
 
 204 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 dish of meat, with accessory dishes of vegetables 
 and salad, wandered step by step right round the 
 table till it arrived, almost empty, at the top again. 
 The maids seemed to do nothing but change the 
 plates, and hand round pickles and preserves at 
 unexpected moments. For instance, when Hilary 
 had just helped herself to the wing of a roast 
 fowl, she saw a tray at her shoulder with 
 several small glass dishes on it, and the one 
 nearest to her contained a turned - out pot of 
 marmalade. 
 
 ' But that is English,' said Olga Werner in 
 surprise when her neighbour let it pass. 
 
 ' Yes,' said Hilary, ' we eat it for breakfast 
 with toast.' 
 
 ' What a horrible custom,' said the girl, and 
 she took a large spoonful and ate it directly she 
 had finished her fowl. 
 
 So Hilary learnt her lesson. Contempt for 
 any habit that is ' foreign ' is a game that two 
 can play at. Therefore, when the cheese came 
 round, and after it a sweet rich pudding, she 
 accepted both, and was thankful. Some of her 
 neighbours were rather shocked when they saw 
 her eat cheese, but they were not surprised. 
 Frau Werner had confided to her daughters that 
 she feared Helene's children were ' emancipated.' 
 
 Hilary and Nell both understood German, and 
 they listened with interest to the conversation, 
 which was almost entirely about the food and 
 wine. The women present took no conspicuous 
 share in it. Hilary had expected her neighbour, 
 Herr Kapp, to make some effort to entertain her,
 
 A FAMILY TARTY 205 
 
 but he did nothing of the kind. He ate a 
 Gargantuan dinner, and addressed himself between 
 the courses to Herr Hansen opposite. Once or 
 twice he threw a remark to the young English- 
 woman, as unwise people throw a scrap to a dog 
 who begs from them at table, but when Hilary 
 showed a disposition to enlarge upon what he 
 said he seemed to think her rather importunate, 
 as the unwise people think the dog when he begs 
 for more. He asked Hilary whether she had 
 seen much of Hamburg yet, said it was a pity 
 when she replied that she had not, and im- 
 mediately plunged into a strife raging just then 
 amongst the menfolk as to who purveyed the 
 best oysters in the city. A little later he asked 
 her whether she often went to the theatre, was 
 caught before she could speak, by the general 
 excitement about the arrival of some fine old 
 Madeira, and when this flagged, turned back to 
 her and inquired where she usually sat in the 
 theatre. By this time Hilary had averted her 
 head, and was trying to make friends with Olga 
 Werner. She heard Herr Kapp's question, but 
 she did not trouble to answer it. She felt sure 
 he would not listen because Herr Hansen was 
 describing the excellent mid-day breakfast he had 
 eaten one Sunday in August at Blankenese. No 
 ghost story would have held his audience so 
 enthralled. 
 
 Olga Werner was just such a fair-haired, apple- 
 cheeked girl as her mother must have been thirty- 
 five years ago, when Mrs. Frere and she were 
 confirmed on the same day. She had a friendly,
 
 206 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 healthy young face, but no one except her mother 
 could have called her a beauty. Beside Hilary 
 she looked clumsy in make and gesture, and 
 empty-eyed. She seemed to have no idea of 
 playing hostess by proxy to her foreign guest. 
 When Hilary addressed her she answered amiably, 
 but with as few words as possible. When Hilary 
 let her alone she chattered and giggled to a 
 school-girl cousin on her other side. Nell was 
 much better off than her sister. She sat next to 
 Herr Hansen, and stirred him up until he talked 
 to her. She assured him that she had learned to 
 eat with her knife ; she asked him when he was 
 coming to play on her aunt's piano again ; she 
 thanked him for the bonbons, and confessed, 
 without contrition, that she had not earned them. 
 After dinner she promised to sing, if he would 
 accompany her. Herr Hansen looked quite 
 pleased, and said he hoped that now Nell and 
 her sister were in Germany they would acquire 
 proficiency in those domestic arts that become 
 their sex better than profound learning. He 
 made the whole of this remark without taking 
 breath. 
 
 Hilary watched her sister with amusement. 
 Nell could never resist the temptation to charm, 
 and she usually succeeded. Herr Hansen evidently 
 thought her an agreeable young person. When 
 every one got up from table and went back to the 
 drawing-room he remained at her side. Coffee 
 was served almost immediately, and most of the 
 men present lit cigars. 
 
 ' The German fashion is more comfortable
 
 A FAMILY PARTY 207 
 
 than yours,' said Herr Hansen, helping himself 
 from a box offered by Herr Werner's youngest 
 son. ' Here we are all together, and we men may 
 smoke as much as we like.' 
 
 ' Delightful ! ' said Nell, who had a delicate 
 throat, and knew that ten minutes later she would 
 not be able to sing a note. 
 
 ' You smile. You do not agree with me.' 
 
 ' I should if I might smoke too,' said Nell. 
 ' Have you a cigarette ? ' 
 
 The redoubtable Martha, the lady who darned 
 the dusters, heard Nell's question, and felt driven 
 to interfere. She was a solid, phlegmatic-looking 
 creature, dressed in black silk. 
 
 ' If my mother heard you, Fraulein, she would 
 be shocked,' she said. 
 
 Nell's eyes gleamed with mischief. She had 
 never really even attempted to smoke, but she 
 would not admit as much to this solemn young 
 woman. 
 
 ' Don't you smoke ? ' she began innocently, 
 but Frau Martha made a gesture of denial that 
 was almost a bounce in her chair. ' But you do 
 in Vienna,' added Nell. 
 
 ' I know nothing about Vienna,' said Martha 
 stiffly. ' When we are not in Hamburg we are in 
 Holstein. We do not vagabond about the world 
 and pick up strange habits. In Hamburg a woman 
 who smokes is not considered respectable.' 
 
 ' It was so in England less than fifty years 
 ago,' said Nell. ' I never understand why. If 
 it is a pleasant habit, why do we let the men keep 
 it all to themselves ? '
 
 208 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 Frau Martha's eyes grew rounder and rounder, 
 and she moved slightly, as if, thought Nell, she 
 felt inclined to gather her skirts together and flee 
 from such a neighbourhood ; but Herr Hansen 
 had listened to this little skirmish with signs of 
 impatience and distress. As soon as he could 
 get in a word, he ingeniously persuaded Nell to 
 confess that neither her sister nor she smoked, 
 and that it was not usual yet for young girls to 
 do so, even in England. He fully agreed with 
 Frau Martha in her reprobation of the habit for 
 women ; and he looked pleased when Nell made 
 her peace by saying she supposed tobacco, like 
 many other good things, was meant by nature to 
 be monopolised by men. After this the conversa- 
 tion proceeded very smoothly. Herr Hansen was 
 called away by his host to a game of Skat, but 
 Hilary and Olga came near, and perhaps it was 
 Hilary's reputation as a classical scholar that 
 suggested reminiscences of learned and ' emanci- 
 pated ' women. Olga, who had been in Switzer- 
 land and Italy that autumn, told a traveller's tale 
 of a Russian lady doctor who was suspected of 
 wearing real trousers under her skirts, but neither 
 her married sister nor she grew animated until 
 they heard that Hilary had actually been at a 
 University like a man. Then they had a 
 great deal to say in condemnation of such a 
 practice. But as they derived their pictures of 
 University life from what they knew of German 
 ' corps ' students, Hilary naturally had a good 
 deal to say, too, in refutation. She assured 
 Frau Martha that the girls at St. Cyprian's did
 
 A FAMILY PARTY 209 
 
 not have beer orgies or duelling bouts, nor did 
 they rampage up and down the University streets 
 in noisy gangs with wolf-hounds at their heels. 
 Frau Martha only half believed her. She said 
 she had lately read an English novel, in which 
 these same College girls were shown up as an 
 uncommonly bad lot. Hilary said that no set of 
 people could wholly guard themselves from the 
 tongues of the ignorant and the slanderous, but 
 she thought the foundations of St. Cyprian's were 
 strong enough to resist the attacks made in one 
 or two silly novels; and she took some pains to 
 describe the studious, orderly life of the place, the 
 care taken for the health and comfort of the girls 
 there, and the pleasant comradeship that existed 
 amongst them. 
 
 ' I like English people,' said Olga Werner. 
 
 'Yes, I know you do,' said her sister. 
 
 Hilary and Nell both felt that a good deal 
 more was implied by these insignificant remarks 
 than met the ear, but they received no 
 further light on them until much later in the 
 evening. 
 
 Meanwhile, Mrs. Frere had been invited by her 
 hostess to the small inner room, where the two 
 matrons settled down together for a comfortable 
 chat. No one followed them, and Frau Werner, 
 before taking her seat on the sofa, shut the 
 portieres. Mrs. Frere felt rather sorry for this, 
 as it hid her children from view. She liked to 
 see what they were doing, to watch their faces, 
 to compare them, to their great advantage, with 
 every one else in the world. 
 
 14
 
 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' Well, Anna,' she said very soon, ' what do 
 you think of my girls ? ' 
 
 ' They seem very highly educated,' replied 
 Frau Werner with a slight air of evasion that did 
 not escape her friend. 
 
 ' In London they were considered pretty,' she 
 said with a sigh. 
 
 ' An artist in our hotel at Nice wished to paint 
 Olga's portrait, but I would not permit it. Would 
 you?' 
 
 ' It depends,' said Mrs. Frere vaguely. ' There 
 is an English picture called The Golden Stairs, 
 and Hilary might have sat for one of the girls in 
 it. Have you ever heard of Burne Jones ? ' 
 
 ' No. We patronise German artists. My 
 husband is very patriotic. He will not even 
 read an English book. He says we ought to 
 encourage home industries. I will show you 
 the picture behind us afterwards. It is by a 
 Diisseldorf man, and considered very fine. I 
 don't care for it myself, because the girl looks 
 melancholy. I like cheerful things about me. 
 Life is so full of real troubles. Besides, her cloak 
 is a red that no one with any taste would wear, 
 but the painting is very well done.' 
 
 ' Have you troubles ? ' asked Mrs. Frere. 
 'You seem so happy and prosperous so different 
 from me.' 
 
 ' Providence has done very well for me, on the 
 whole,' admitted Frau Werner, in a tone of self- 
 congratulation. ' Our children have all lived, and 
 are a constant source of pride and pleasure to us 
 My husband's work has been blessed from the
 
 A FA MIL Y PAR TV 211 
 
 beginning ; but no mother can lie down at night 
 with an easy mind until all her daughters are 
 married. You see there is Olga ready, and Greta 
 coming on.' 
 
 ' I think a great deal about my girls, too,' said 
 Mrs. Frere, who heard a note of reproach in 
 Anna's voice. 
 
 ' It is not enough to think about it. It is a 
 mother's duty to act for her children. I may say, 
 without vanity, that neither of my elder girls 
 would have married their present husbands if I 
 had not made the matches.' 
 
 ' But how do you set about it ? ' inquired Mrs. 
 Frere. 
 
 Frau Werner smiled, and set down her coffee- 
 cup. 
 
 ' From an old friend I need have no secrets,' 
 she replied. ' Besides, it has probably occurred to 
 you you will have observed that we receive 
 Fritz Hansen as one of ourselves.' 
 
 ' But he is a great deal older than Olga,' 
 said Mrs. Frere, as if there had been twenty 
 instead of two years' difference between Olga and 
 her own child. 
 
 ' I have no objection to that,' said Frau Werner. 
 
 ' But is anything settled ? Has he proposed 
 for Olga ? ' 
 
 ' No. Last winter Olga was still at school, 
 and since then we have been a great deal away 
 from home. I should not speak of my hopes to 
 anyone but you.' 
 
 Mrs. Frere could not refrain from saying, ' Of 
 course not, in case they fail.'
 
 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' I have never failed,' said Frau Werner. ' My 
 daughters are so beautiful, and their father is so 
 generous, the young men run after them. The 
 only difficulty in this case comes from Olga her- 
 self. When we were here in July that young Mr. 
 Lorimer you know him, of course. . . . Well, 
 he came in and out of the house a great deal. I 
 was very busy at the time. The strawberries 
 were ripe and had to be preserved, and our 
 yearly wash was just over. You can imagine 
 what I had to count, and mend, and put away. 
 You have seen twenty-three clean napkins on 
 the table to-day ; that mounts up at the end of a 
 year. And, in some respects, all men are born 
 blind. Her father never told me she had taken 
 a fancy to this young Englishman until two 
 days before he left. I said at once, If she likes 
 him, and you know that his business is good, 
 let her have him. Des Menschen Wille ist sein 
 Himmelreich. At the same time, I am not fond 
 of foreigners, and I hope no child of mine will 
 ever live in a country where the mistress of the 
 house is afraid to enter her own kitchen.' 
 
 * But did he propose to her ? ' asked Mrs. 
 Frere again. 
 
 ' No,' said Frau Werner. ' I don't know why he 
 hesitated.' 
 
 ' He may be attracted elsewhere,' suggested 
 Mrs. Frere, who wished that she might astonish 
 her friend by telling her that both men had pro- 
 posed to Hilary and been rejected ; but she felt 
 some delicacy about doing this, and also some 
 doubt as to whether she would be believed.
 
 A FAMILY PARTY 213 
 
 ' Have you looked at Olga ? ' was Frau 
 Werner's simple and final reply. 
 
 Mrs. Frere's thoughts wandered sadly to her 
 own dear children. 
 
 ' I sometimes wish we had stayed in London/ 
 she said. ' My girls are entirely cut off from their 
 old friends here.' 
 
 ' I am always so sorry for girls who lose their 
 position just when they are of an age to marry,' 
 said Frau Werner. 'You must be sorry you did 
 not establish them while you still had the chance.' 
 
 ' But they are very young still,' answered Mrs. 
 Frere. ' I have not exactly made up my mind 
 that they will be old maids.' 
 
 ' I'm sure I wish you good luck with them,' 
 said Frau Werner. 
 
 Mrs. Frere felt deeply depressed. Her friend 
 seemed to take it for granted that Hilary and 
 Nell were doomed to celibacy by their loss of 
 fortune. She talked as if they were no longer on 
 the lists, as if she did not think of them as 
 possible rivals to Olga ; and her tone was matter 
 of fact, devoid of uneasiness or malice. Mrs. 
 Frere could not flatter herself that Frau Werner 
 meant anything but just what she said. 
 
 ' Hilary would like to find work here,' she 
 began after a pause. ' Do you think there is any 
 chance of it ? ' 
 
 ' I thought she disliked work, and could not 
 do it.' 
 
 ' I was not thinking of embroidery,' said Mrs. 
 Frere. 
 
 Frau Werner shook her head.
 
 214 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' No one in Germany wants a girl who cannot 
 make herself useful. My eldest daughter, Anna, 
 tried an Englishwoman for her children, and it 
 was the greatest failure. She wanted a cold bath 
 every day, and objected to her bedroom because it 
 had no outside window ; and when every one in 
 the house was ironing or dressmaking she would 
 sit with her arms folded and never offer to help.' 
 
 ' I should not like Hilary to sleep in a room 
 without an outside window,' said Mrs. Frere. ' A 
 room like that is only fit for boxes or books.' 
 
 * It is not at all fit for books,' said Frau 
 Werner. ' My son-in-law tried it for his. They 
 got mouldy.' 
 
 At this point the ladies were interrupted by 
 sounds proceeding from the larger room that 
 were familiar to Mrs. Frere but not to her 
 hostess. 
 
 ' It is Nell tuning her banjo,' she said. ' She 
 thought you would like to hear her sing to it' 
 
 Frau Werner did not look much enlightened, 
 but she got up and pulled back the portieres, and 
 then Mrs. Frere received some compensation for 
 the bitter moments she had spent since dinner. 
 She saw Nell sitting in the centre of the room, 
 the cynosure of all eyes. Herr Hansen, with the 
 look of an anxious showman, stood just behind 
 the girl's chair, but when she began to sing his 
 expression of anxiety gradually gave way to a 
 well-satisfied smile. He nodded in time, and 
 seemed as proud as if he had pulled the pretty 
 performer out of his pocket. She sang one or 
 two nigger melodies, quaint, lively, tender, and
 
 A FAMILY PARTY 215 
 
 quite unknown to her present audience. Every 
 one applauded and asked for more. 
 
 ' It is amusing,' said Frau Martha stiffly, ' but 
 it is not Beethoven.' 
 
 ' Martha always makes such clever criticisms,' 
 whispered Frau Werner fondly to her friend. 
 ' She has a very clear head.' 
 
 The elder ladies had advanced, and now made 
 part of Nell's audience. Mrs. Frere looked about 
 for her other daughter, without success at first, 
 but presently she saw Hilary half- hidden by a 
 window-curtain, near no one, and with her back 
 to the room. When Nell had finished her second 
 song Olga Werner sat down to the piano, and 
 with praiseworthy patience played a sonata of 
 Mozart's from beginning to end. If Herr Hansen 
 had played it every one would have listened in 
 delight, but the child had no music in her. 
 Her touch was heavy ; her time dragged ; she 
 played with effort and without understanding. 
 Her mother and sisters listened in placid content- 
 ment. Other people were visibly bored. Mrs. 
 Frere in the middle of the third movement could 
 sit still no longer ; she got up and joined Hilary 
 in her window niche. Behind the heavy curtain 
 they could whisper a word or two unheard. 
 
 ' It is such a pity you don't play or sing,' 
 began Mrs. Frere. ' Don't you think you could 
 recite a poem or something ? ' 
 
 ' What for ? ' 
 
 'Well, to make a good impression. What 
 use is it to stand here and stare across the Alster? 
 That does not show people how intelligent you are.'
 
 216 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' I should like to sail about on the Alster all 
 through a summer day/ said the girl dreamily. 
 Her mother's reproaches never vexed or disturbed 
 her. They were made in such good faith, and 
 with such an affectionate air. 
 
 ' If you had settled in Hamburg you might 
 have had a sailing boat of your own,' said Mrs. 
 Frere. 
 
 Hilary's smile was rather a pitiful one in 
 answer to this remark. 
 
 ' I wish Frau Werner would help me to get 
 some teaching,' she said with a sigh. ' I want 
 money for new boots. Did you ask her about 
 it?' 
 
 'I mentioned it,' said Mrs. Frere; 'but don't 
 be in any hurry, Hilary. It will not hurt you to 
 teach a little when the spring comes. In this 
 weather you would only catch cold.' 
 
 All through the rest of the evening, and on 
 her way home, Mrs. Frere assured herself that she 
 would not say a word to her daughters of Frau 
 Werner's matchmaking plans. It would be a 
 breach of confidence, and, besides, it is not right 
 to speak expressly of such matters to young girls ; 
 but as they all three brushed their hair and talked 
 over the events of the day Mrs. Frere's remarks 
 were so full of sudden halts and palpable evasions 
 that her daughters at last felt invited to take some 
 notice of them. 
 
 ' Speak up,' said Nell ; ' you know you won't 
 sleep till you have told us. Why will Olga 
 Werner not be able to have English lessons from 
 Hilary after Christmas ? '
 
 A FAMILY PARTY 217 
 
 ' She will be too busy,' replied Mrs. Frere in 
 an oracular tone. 
 
 ' I suppose you mean she is going to be 
 married,' said Hilary. ' She is much too young.' 
 
 ' I quite agree with you,' said Mrs. Frere. 
 ' There must be at least twenty - five years 
 between them.' 
 
 ' Oh ! ' cried the sisters with irrepressible 
 laughter, ' mamma is mating Herr Hansen 
 again.' 
 
 ' It is not I this time, dears. However, . . .' 
 
 ' Go on, mamma.' 
 
 ' No, I can't. Let me brush your hair for you, 
 Hilary. I can't bear to see you tug at it. Olga's 
 hair is very colourless. Does she speak English 
 well ? ' 
 
 'She seems keen about improving in it,' said 
 Hilary, ' at least, as far as she can be keen about 
 anything.' 
 
 ' Ah ! ' said Mrs. Frere, ' then she will prob- 
 ably get her own way.' 
 
 ' In what ? ' 
 
 ' In marriage. It is very strange. If Frau 
 Werner only knew . . . but, of course, I said 
 nothing, nor shall I do so whatever happens. 
 We cannot blame either of them.' 
 
 The girls looked at each other and laughed 
 again. 
 
 ' Did you know that Dick Lorimer was com- 
 ing to Hamburg at Christmas ? ' inquired their 
 mother. 
 
 A flash of surprise and alarm passed over 
 Hilary's face.
 
 218 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' What has he to do with Olga Werner ? ' she 
 asked. 
 
 ' Oh ! Anna prefers a German,' said Mrs. 
 Frere. 'At the same time, she says that when 
 a girl's heart speaks, it behoves her parents to 
 listen.' 
 
 ' What extraordinary conversations you elderly 
 matrons seem to have,' observed Hilary, looking 
 decidedly provoked. ' I suppose Dick's heart 
 would have to speak in this case, and how does 
 Frau Werner know what it would say ? ' 
 
 ' She thinks her daughters are irresistible,' said 
 Mrs. Frere with a sigh. ' Some mothers are 
 quite infatuated about their children.' 
 
 ' I thought all mothers were,' said Nell, getting 
 into bed.
 
 XV 
 
 ON THE ALSTER 
 
 TOWARDS Christmas Mrs. Frere fell ill. Her 
 sister-in-law attributed it to the ridiculous English 
 habit of opening windows in all seasons and at all 
 hours. Even when the doctor looked grave she 
 talked as if Mrs. Frere had a cold in the head 
 that might be cured by violent exercise. It was 
 really influenza with complications. Frau Lange 
 seemed to think herself the chief sufferer, inas- 
 much as illness gives trouble however much you 
 neglect the patient. When Hilary had a bad 
 headache she used to hear her aunt scold at the 
 top of her voice over her niece's fussy and malinger- 
 ing ways. Frau Lange resented sickness as a per- 
 sonal affront, an invasion of her privileges. In 
 her own house she liked to monopolise attention. 
 
 The girls were soon in despair. The food 
 provided was so poor of its kind, and so badly 
 cooked, that Mrs. Frere could seldom eat it. The 
 cheap, sour wine, sent in because the doctor 
 ordered wine, was less strengthening and refresh- 
 ing than common beer. As long as they had any 
 money left they brought some small dainties to 
 their mother from outside, but they could not afford
 
 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 to buy what she really needed ; and one day, a 
 week before Christmas, the united funds of the 
 family did not amount to five shillings. A little 
 money was still due to them from the sale of their 
 furniture, but Mr. Harrison had that in his keeping, 
 and they could not expect to get it without a 
 troublesome correspondence. Besides, except for 
 their income of forty pounds, they had nothing 
 else to live on through the coming year. Hilary 
 reckoned that it would be just enough to satisfy 
 Aunt Bertha's demands, and how they were to 
 meet other necessary expenses she did not know. 
 The doctor and the chemist would soon be expect- 
 ing payment. 
 
 ' We were so extravagant on our journey and 
 when we first came here/ she sighed. ' We spent 
 money on cabs and on clothes.' 
 
 ' I wish we had money to spend on clothes 
 now,' said Nell. ' I can't go out in the snow 
 because all my boots are in holes.' 
 
 The mother and daughters were in their bed- 
 room, for since Mrs. Frere's illness they had lived 
 in a state of siege. They did everything in the 
 room for themselves, because Frau Lange said she 
 could not allow Auguste to run the risk of infec- 
 tion. At the same time she expected her nieces 
 to appear at meals, as it was, of course, quite out 
 of question to carry trays to and fro for them as 
 well as for their mother. The girls used to find 
 their aunt red in the face and very sulky, some- 
 times dressed in black silk and diamonds, some- 
 times in a flowery violet dressing-gown. They 
 never knew from one hour to the other whether
 
 ON THE ALSTER 
 
 she would turn up sweet as honey or furious, 
 bedecked or slovenly, nor was it easy to decide 
 which mood and toilet was least pleasing. 
 
 ' There is none of the wine left that we bought,' 
 said Hilary, going to the cupboard and taking out 
 the empty bottle. ' You ought to have some with 
 your dinner, and that sour stuff Aunt Bertha gets 
 is no good.' 
 
 ' Auguste told me she got it half price because 
 it is damaged,' said Nell. ' It tastes of mildew 
 and vinegar.' 
 
 ' There is lentil soup and sausage for dinner,' 
 said Hilary, with disconsolate eyes. ' Can you eat 
 that ? ' 
 
 Mrs. Frere's eyes were full of tears. She was 
 so weak and ill that she could hardly sit up in 
 the easy-chair lent to her, after much expostula- 
 tion, by Frau Lange. 
 
 ' If Henry knew that I was ill and had no 
 money to buy wine or food,' she thought. ' I 
 wish I was with him.' 
 
 Hilary guessed from her mother's face some- 
 thing of what was passing through her mind, and 
 she bent down to kiss her. They were disturbed 
 by a knock at the door and the immediate irrup- 
 tion into the room of Frau Lange, very red and 
 angry-looking. She wore the violet dressing-gown, 
 list slippers, and what her nieces called a night-cap. 
 The sight of Hilary and Nell, trim as daisies, at this 
 early hour was in itself enough to excite her wrath. 
 Their spick and span appearance was, she often 
 told them, a proof of the idle lives led by English 
 girls. They were not domesticated. They could
 
 222 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 not cook and sew, they would not scrub, sweep, wash 
 and iron, so their households went to rack and ruin. 
 The girls often wished they might say straight 
 out that they had never seen in England a house- 
 hold as slovenly and fussy as her own. This 
 morning, without inquiring after her sister-in-law, 
 Frau Lange burst at once into a whirl of words. 
 
 ' Auguste must clean your room, Helene. Of 
 course, in England rooms are never cleaned. I am 
 a German housewife, and I cannot dress up like a 
 doll when there is work to do.' 
 
 Hilary knew what her aunt's proposal meant. 
 Auguste would take up the mat near Mrs. Frere's 
 bed, the only bit of carpet in the room ; she would 
 then upset a pail of water on the floor, swish 
 about in it with a mop, and come away again 
 leaving the place as cold and damp as a sepulchre. 
 Mrs. Frere was too weak and ill to move into 
 another room. To chill the atmosphere of this 
 one might be enough to bring on the pneumonia 
 the doctor had with difficulty kept off. Hilary 
 was just going to remonstrate when her aunt, after 
 making a tour of the room began to speak again. 
 
 ' You are ruining everything. Look at my 
 beautiful table ! there is a round mark on it. 
 You have put an eau de cologne bottle down 
 here.' 
 
 1 1 am very sorry, Aunt Bertha,' said Hilary. 
 ' I put the bottle down in a hurry the night 
 mother fainted.' 
 
 ' Of course, you can make excuses. A German 
 girl would never do such a thing. She would 
 have been better brought up. How your clothes
 
 ON THE ALSTER 223 
 
 are lying about ! I could look like a fine lady 
 if I did nothing but stare in the glass all day. 
 And you have splashed the wall-paper, and there 
 is my magnificent plumeau on the floor, and 
 Ach ! du lieber allmdchtiger Go ft the water-jug 
 is cracked my real English water-jug ! No. 
 That is too much. You must pay for it. I shall 
 get out my common crockery for you, and my 
 second-best plumeau ; and I will not have the 
 stove filled again this winter, the dirt and smoke 
 are spoiling everything.' 
 
 ' If you forbid the fire to be lighted I shall 
 ask Dr. Riedel to get mother into a hospital,' said 
 Hilary. ' I suppose she would be treated with 
 common humanity there.' 
 
 ' Oh no, Hilary,' said Mrs. Frere in a weak 
 voice. ' I don't want to leave you and Nell.' 
 
 ' Let us all go away,' said Nell. ' We should 
 be better in the Elbe than here.' 
 
 ' You take everything so literally,' said Frau 
 Lange, who looked quite cowed. Hilary's threat 
 of appealing to the doctor had acted on her 
 rage like a dash of cold water on a flame. She 
 did not want any story to her discredit bruited 
 abroad amongst neighbours already unkindly 
 aloof. She went out of the room in sulky 
 silence, and a few minutes later Auguste appeared 
 with a basket of wood .and a message to say that 
 as the English ladies liked their room dirty they 
 were welcome to keep it so. 
 
 Later on in the day Hilary set out to skate 
 on the Alster, which had been frozen for more 
 than a week. Mrs. Frere made a good deal of
 
 224 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 objection to the expedition. She thought that 
 Frau Werner might be sitting at her window and 
 see Hilary on the ice without an escort. A few 
 years ago public opinion in Hamburg had 
 considered skating an improper amusement for 
 ladies. Frau Werner's elder daughters had 
 never been allowed to learn, but on her last 
 birthday Olga had received a pair of skates. 
 The tide of fashion is truly irresistible. When 
 will the young ladies of Hamburg take to golf? 
 
 Hilary promised not to put on her skates in 
 front of Frau Werner's window. In reality, she 
 had other objects in view than an afternoon's 
 exercise. When she arrived at the Jungfernstieg 
 she went straight to Frau Werner's house and 
 rang at her door. The maid said that her 
 mistress was about to drive out, and then Hilary 
 remembered having seen a handsome carriage 
 and pair waiting below, with a coachman in a 
 blue livery and a broad-brimmed, shiny hat. 
 However, she accepted the maid's invitation to 
 enter and wait in the sitting-room. 
 
 In a few minutes Frau Werner appeared 
 ready dressed for her drive. Her manner as she 
 welcomed Hilary showed slight surprise, but she 
 signed to the girl to sit down, and asked very 
 cordially after her mother. Hilary explained 
 that her mother had been ill, and was still in a 
 delicate condition. A pause ensued. Hilary 
 tried to summon up courage and broach her 
 real errand, but her heart beat uncomfortably. 
 She had not reckoned on having to speak in a 
 hurry. It was difficult, and would probably be
 
 ON THE ALSTER 225 
 
 ineffective. Should she wait for a more favour- 
 able opportunity? No. If she ran away now 
 she would feel like a coward when she got 
 home again. She must somehow say what was 
 in her mind. 
 
 ' Frau Werner,' she began haltingly, ' I am 
 very anxious to get work.' 
 
 Frau Werner looked at her doubtfully. 
 
 ' So your mother told me, my child ; but what 
 kind of work can you do ? ' 
 
 ' I could teach English. I know French 
 pretty well, and some Greek and Latin.' 
 
 ' Our girls have no use for Greek and Latin,' 
 said Frau Werner. 
 
 ' They learn French and English.' 
 
 'At school. Some take private lessons too, 
 but for that we have old-established teachers. 
 You might advertise, but I fear you would get 
 no answers.' 
 
 ' I am very anxious to earn some money,' said 
 Hilary, with her eyes on the ground. 
 
 Frau Werner smoothed her muff and looked 
 unhappy. 
 
 ' It is very difficult,' she said with a sigh. 
 ' You have had no training either to teach or do 
 anything useful. In Germany we expect people 
 to understand the work they undertake.' 
 
 ' But,' persisted Hilary, for she had told her- 
 self all the way here that she must be persistent, 
 ' but in Germany, as well as in other countries, it 
 must often happen that girls who have not been 
 taught to earn a living are suddenly obliged to 
 do so. What do they do ? ' 
 
 15
 
 226 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' They often go to England,' said Frau Werner. 
 ' Besides, German girls are not brought up as 
 you have been. They learn everything. My 
 daughters make perfect housekeepers directly they 
 marry, and, besides that, they can paint flowers, 
 and sing, and play, and embroider beautifully, 
 and speak several languages.' 
 
 Hilary sighed. 
 
 ' I must find something to do,' she said. ( 1 
 am sure I could teach little children. I would 
 take great pains with them.' 
 
 ' Why do you not take a situation in 
 England ? ' 
 
 Hilary explained that her mother did not like 
 the idea of separation from either of her children. 
 Frau Werner pointed out that the career of a 
 private governess would entail separation in any 
 case. She did not believe that Hilary would 
 find an engagement on terms that left her 
 partial freedom. No one she knew employed a 
 daily governess. The system was unknown in 
 Hamburg. 
 
 Again there was a pause, and Hilary felt that 
 she had probably outstayed her welcome. No 
 one likes their horses to wait long in a hard frost. 
 She got up, and she saw by the alacrity with 
 which Frau Werner rose too that she had done 
 so none too soon. 
 
 'Good-bye, my dear child. If I hear of any- 
 thing for you I will let you know. Meanwhile, 
 I hope you will all have a happy Christmas. On 
 New Year's Eve I expect you here, but don't 
 arrive in ball dresses again. These are not Court
 
 ON THE ALSTER 227 
 
 circles. We are plain burgherly folk, and like to 
 see young girls simple and joyous. I have so 
 much shopping to do for Christmas, I hardly 
 know where to begin. Are you also very busy ? 
 Do you embroider in secret for your mother and 
 aunt ? Yesterday I saw a light under Olga's 
 door at midnight. I got up to look. This 
 morning she is quite pale and has red eyelids, 
 but I say nothing ; when I was a girl I did 
 just the same. Greet your mother for me. I 
 am sorry she was out when I returned her visit. 
 I shall send her a proper invitation for New 
 Year's Eve.' 
 
 Hilary left the house with a heavy heart. 
 She felt that her mission had failed. This was 
 plainly a world in which butterflies are not 
 easily turned into working bees. At any rate, 
 the process proved in her case to be slow and 
 mortifying. Did no one want her ? Was there 
 really nothing that she could do ? She could not 
 afford a long unfruitful apprenticeship ? What 
 could she set her hand to to-day for which any 
 one on earth would pay her? In London she 
 had heard of girls going on the stage, though 
 they had nothing to recommend them but youth 
 and good looks. Even to her ignorant eyes such 
 a life bristled with difficulties, and she had seen 
 enough of Hamburg to know that it would be as 
 impossible for her to do it here as to dance at a 
 music hall on a tight rope. Quite as impossible, 
 because she could only expect to act as super or 
 chorus girl at first. In spite of her low spirits, 
 Hilary smiled as she thought of the expression
 
 228 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 with which Frau Werner and Herr Hansen would 
 hear of such an intention on her part. In her 
 opinion, their disapproval would be justifiable. 
 She shrank fastidiously from the surroundings 
 that would be forced on her behind the foot- 
 lights. It would be more agreeable, she thought 
 to stand behind a counter, and perhaps a little 
 less shocking to her friends. But she felt sure 
 that no one would consent to buy her services 
 for a long time to come. And she could as ill 
 afford time as money. Even a housemaid or a 
 sewing woman had learned a trade. Hilary 
 could not expect to be trusted with cleaning, 
 mending, or making. Besides, she did not look 
 the part. And a cook was an artist ; so was a 
 dressmaker ; so was a milliner. Alas ! she had 
 never followed the arts. 
 
 Thousands of people were on the ice. The 
 main stream of skaters passed between an 
 avenue of booths a mile long booths hurriedly 
 erected for the sale of liquor, rough food, and 
 skates ; but this long lane served for a promenade 
 as well as for a rink. Down the middle the 
 skaters glided swiftly a motley crowd. On 
 either side where the ice was not swept those 
 who did not skate could walk in comfort and 
 look on. The whole basin of the Alster was 
 frozen hard and sprinkled with people to-day, 
 some skating by themselves far away towards the 
 cold, pearly mist on the horizon, some right out 
 in the centre of the lake, some crossing to the 
 opposite bank. But the shoal streamed past the 
 booths, and Hilary joined it. She skated straight
 
 ON THE ALSTER 229 
 
 on away from the city, and looked about her. 
 The air and hard exercise roused her, the lively 
 scene entertained her. She wished that Nell had 
 come. Wherever her eyes fell she saw some- 
 thing new and strange. She met a pair of lovers 
 billing and cooing as if the Alster had been a 
 desert ; she saw a young man drop his glove, 
 and the young woman with him pick it up ; she 
 skated for nearly ten minutes within earshot 
 of two officers, who talked like the lieutenants 
 in Fliegende Blatter. It gave her great pleasure 
 to listen to them. No one molested her, 
 although she looked in vain for other solitary 
 girls of her own age. Many were there in twos 
 and threes, and presently a very unsteady trio 
 came towards her, and nearly tumbled at her 
 feet. She swerved quickly to avoid a collision, 
 halted at the sound of her name, and then 
 recognised Olga Werner for one of the clumsy 
 three. 
 
 ' You can skate ! ' she said to Hilary in surprise. 
 ' I thought there never was ice in England, but 
 only fog.' 
 
 ' Since I have been in Germany,' said Hilary, 
 ' I have heard many things about England that I 
 did not know before.' 
 
 Olga Werner's friends had gone on ahead, and 
 she now looked after them in dismay. She could 
 scarcely stand on her skates, and whenever any 
 one brushed by her she seized Hilary's arm, and 
 clung tight until the danger was past. 
 
 ' You have come a long way,' said Hilary, 
 wondering how it had been managed. They had
 
 230 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 met far out on the lake, beyond the booths, and 
 at least two miles from Olga's home ; but the 
 girl shook her head. 
 
 ' I have only just come,' she explained. ' I 
 have been spending the day with Martha. She 
 lives close by here. Lili and Toni Fischer were 
 there too, and we said we would skate home 
 together ; but now they have gone on so fast, I 
 cannot see them. I always tell Martha they are 
 very disagreeable girls ; but she will not believe 
 me, because they are her husband's nieces. Do 
 you see them ? ' 
 
 ' No,' said Hilary ; ' but I can take care of 
 you. It is time for me to turn back.' 
 
 ' I must not be late either. We dine earlier 
 than usual to-day, because we are going to the 
 theatre, and it is the G otter dammerung to- 
 night. That is so long, you know, that they 
 begin half- an -hour sooner. Mr. Lorimer from 
 England is here. He will sit with us in our 
 box.' 
 
 ' Dick Lorimer here ! ' exclaimed Hilary, taken 
 by surprise. 
 
 'Yes, but only for one day, on his way to 
 Lubeck, where he has business. I forgot that 
 you know him.' 
 
 ' He is not skating, then ? ' 
 
 ' No. This morning he was busy with my 
 father, and this afternoon he has gone to see 
 some friends. Perhaps it is you he has gone to 
 see.' 
 
 ' Oh ! I wonder if he has,' cried Hilary, 
 quickening her pace for a moment, and then
 
 ON THE ALSTER 231 
 
 recognising the futility of haste at this late hour. 
 Besides, she could not hurry home unless she 
 left Olga in the lurch, and it was impossible to 
 do that. The girl could not have steered her 
 way through a crowd that got more dense and 
 rather rougher as the working-day came to an 
 end. 
 
 ' He did not tell you he was coming to see 
 us ? ' she asked after a little reflection. 
 
 ' I have not seen him yet/ said Olga. ' He is 
 at a hotel. My mother sent him an invitation 
 to dinner, but he refused it, because he did not 
 know that he would be back in time. He said 
 in his letter that he might even arrive late in the 
 theatre.' 
 
 The two girls skated on for a time quite 
 silently. The lights of Hamburg began to gain 
 on the fading light of the winter afternoon. The 
 four steeples came into view again through the cold 
 twilight mist. The gas lamps twinkled in rows all 
 round the Alster, and at irregular points far back 
 behind the windows and the high roofs of the 
 town. The clocks of the four great churches 
 struck the hour, and their chimes rang out across 
 the lake above all the cling -clang made by a 
 brass band and ten thousand voices. As the 
 twilight deepened men and boys brought flaming 
 torches on the ice, and ran to and fro with them 
 amongst the skaters asking for pence ; but there 
 was no disorder and no horseplay at this hour. 
 The girls did not feel afraid, although Olga said 
 that she had never before been out so late by 
 herself.
 
 232 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' Well, you are with me now,' said Hilary 
 consolingly. ' I suppose I am as old as your sister 
 Martha.' 
 
 ' But Martha is married,' said Olga in a voice 
 of solemn remonstrance. She was skating hand 
 in hand with Hilary now, and getting on at a 
 reasonable speed, but her companion had to 
 keep a sharp look-out all the while lest a touch 
 should upset them both. Every now and then 
 Olga swayed dangerously, or came to a sudden 
 baffling halt. She said that her ankles ached. It 
 was after one of these delays that she astonished 
 Hilary by abruptly speaking of Dick Lorimer 
 again. 
 
 ' He is so good-looking,' she said sentimentally. 
 ' He has such beautiful eyes. Have you ever 
 noticed that?' 
 
 ' I don't see how any one could help it who 
 was not blind,' said Hilary, half annoyed, half 
 amused. 
 
 ' How long have you known him ? ' 
 
 ' Oh ! all my life.' 
 
 ' Really ! I shall tell him to-night that we 
 have been skating together. He will be interested. 
 Would you rather live in England or in Germany, 
 Miss Frere?' 
 
 ' In England,' said Hilary, with home- sick 
 emphasis. 
 
 ' I would rather live in Hamburg than any- 
 where. I should have to be excessively fond of 
 a person to follow him into a foreign country. 
 Do you not agree with me ? You would not go 
 off with any one anywhere ? '
 
 ON THE ALSTER 233 
 
 ' Certainly not,' replied Hilary, in whose ears 
 the question sounded superfluous. 
 
 ' Some girls would,' said Olga with a sage air, 
 ' to be married, you know.' 
 
 ' There are your friends,' said Hilary. ' If you 
 like we can easily overtake them.' 
 
 Olga did not look anxious to do so, but she 
 consented to quicken her pace until they joined 
 the two deserters again. Perhaps it occurred to 
 her that Hilary was still a long way from home ; 
 but, after all, the four girls went on hand in hand. 
 With support on either side, Olga managed to 
 spin forward merrily, so that Hilary would hardly 
 have gained two minutes by separating from 
 the rest. She found their chatter out of tune 
 with her own mood. They were full of the 
 coming Christmas, and of the fine presents they 
 were all about to give and receive especially 
 receive. One girl hoped for a pearl necklace ; 
 her sister expected furs, and a new silk gown, and 
 twenty smaller things. Olga Werner said she 
 wanted an opera glass, and a feather fan, and a 
 watch-bracelet, and a muff, and a gold thimble, 
 and several books and some new music. 
 
 ' You want a good deal,' said one of her 
 companions. 
 
 ' I shall get all those and many more,' said 
 Olga. ' We each make a list, and every one who 
 gives us presents looks at it. It has to be long 
 long long until in the end one does not know 
 what to write down. Some of my sisters ask for 
 things they do not want much, but I never do 
 that. First, I ask for what I really need, and then
 
 234 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 I put down books, music, gloves, because those 
 are always useful. What is your plan, Miss 
 Frere ? ' 
 
 Hilary made some evasive answer, and soon 
 after bid good-bye. These girls made her feel 
 old and heavy-hearted. As she listened to them 
 she could hardly believe that she had ever been 
 pretty, well dressed, and free from care. If she 
 had seen her hair turn gray she would have felt 
 that it matched her humour. All the way back, 
 while Olga stumbled at her side, and Olga's 
 friends talked nineteen to the dozen, and the roofs 
 and turrets of the great city came more and more 
 clearly into view, one idea pushed itself uppermost 
 in Hilary's mind. She saw no chance of making 
 money, and by hook or by crook, a little money she 
 must have. The doctor had ordered red wine for 
 Mrs. Frere ; he had hinted at champagne ; even 
 Rhenish red wine cost half a crown a bottle in 
 these northern regions ; and there were other 
 demands to meet before the end of the year. 
 There were new boots to get, for instance. Then 
 Auguste, a capitalist in comparison with the 
 ladies whose boots she blacked, would expect a 
 handsome tip at Christmas. The tyranny of the 
 festive season presses with greater weight in 
 Germany than in England. Its exigencies had 
 been on Hilary's mind for weeks. Finally, she 
 had resolved to make her appeal for work to Frau 
 Werner ; but her hope of success cannot have 
 been very strong, for at the moment of making it 
 she carried in her pocket certain trinkets, that in 
 case of failure she meant to try and sell. This
 
 ON THE ALSTER 235 
 
 ordeal still lay before her, and she shrank from it 
 unspeakably. 
 
 How silly ! braver and bolder women will say. 
 The trinkets were hers. Why should she hesitate 
 to dispose of them in any way she chose ? The 
 question is unanswerable. The truth is, Hilary 
 was rather old-fashioned in some of her opinions, 
 and as unbusiness-like as possible. She did not 
 think it disgraceful, under the circumstances, to 
 sell her rings and her watch, but she wondered 
 how she would ever find courage to enter a shop 
 and propose the bargain. Shops were places 
 where you spend money and meet with civility. 
 If she walked into one, and asked to bring money 
 away, she might find herself treated with rudeness ; 
 but even that she had better bear, to such a pass 
 had her fortunes come. 
 
 She felt strongly tempted to give up her 
 project for to-day, and hurry home on the chance 
 of seeing Dick. When she got to the Jungfern- 
 stieg she stood still and looked back at the skaters 
 for a moment, doubtful what she ought to do. 
 She had stayed on the ice until the dusk came, 
 because she thought her errand would be more 
 comfortably done by dark than by day ; but 
 now it was getting unduly late. Ought she to be 
 wandering about the back streets of a foreign 
 town by herself? She had determined that her 
 venture must be made in a back street. All the 
 lamps were lit. Evening had come. It would 
 be grievous to miss Dick. Who knew as well as 
 she that he had eyes ? 
 
 Hilary turned brusquely, and took a step or
 
 236 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 two towards the corner whence the tramcars 
 started for her suburb ; but the Jungfernstieg is 
 not very broad, and she could see across the road 
 quite plainly. Suddenly she saw Dick. She 
 made a rush, was balked an instant by a passing 
 carriage, and then saw him disappear into the 
 open doors of a hotel. Perhaps you will call her 
 old-fashioned again, but if he had disappeared 
 down a fiery pit she would have felt it less 
 impossible to follow him. The particular kind 
 of audacity that a girl would need for such 
 an enterprise is not the kind inculcated at St. 
 Cyprian's. She felt sick with vexation and dis- 
 appointment, but she could not go by herself to 
 a foreign hotel and call on a bachelor friend. 
 No one would be more indignant than Dick if she 
 did. He was old-fashioned, too, in some ways. 
 
 So there was nothing now to prevent her from 
 trying to sell her treasures, and with the sudden 
 desperate energy of a person bent on disagreeable 
 business, she plunged helter-skelter into an un- 
 known quarter of the town. It took some time 
 to find a jeweller's shop that looked promising, 
 and at last she stopped in front of one she did 
 not much like ; but she felt driven to bring the 
 business to a conclusion. She peeped in at the 
 door, and saw no one behind the counter except 
 a red - haired, unpleasant - looking youth. She 
 felt sure that he would cheat her, but then she 
 carried no lantern to light her to an honest man. 
 She lingered by the window staring at its contents, 
 screwing up her courage. She had her foot on 
 the door-step, when she heard her name spoken in
 
 ON THE ALSTER 237 
 
 a tone of extreme surprise, and turning hastily, 
 she beheld Herr Hansen looking at her as if he 
 could not believe his senses. How did she arrive 
 at the threshold of a jeweller's shop in a back 
 slum of the city, late on a winter afternoon ? 
 
 ' You have lost your way ? ' he said inquiringly. 
 ' Let me take you back. Is your mother with 
 Frau Werner ? ' 
 
 ' No,' said Hilary. ( I am by myself.' 
 
 ' This is not a nice part of the town,' he 
 objected, ' and it is getting late.' 
 
 Hilary wished he would go his ways. 
 
 ' I like being out after dark/ she said ; ' the 
 streets are prettier then.' 
 
 Herr Hansen looked up and down the one 
 they were in as if he felt puzzled to discover what 
 pleased her here. It was dingy, badly-lighted, 
 and almost empty, all qualities, if he had only 
 known it, that suited her present purpose. 
 
 ' I am going into this shop,' said Hilary. He 
 looked at it contemptuously. 
 
 ' It is not a shop for you,' he said. ' Let me 
 take you to a good one.' 
 
 ' No, thank you. This will do for what I 
 want,' she persisted. Herr Hansen saw her face 
 set more firmly. He feared that he had annoyed 
 her. 
 
 ' Do you know your way home from here ? ' he 
 asked as he held out his hand to bid her good- 
 bye. She nodded and pointed in the right direc- 
 tion, the one he now took by himself. Hilary 
 watched him turn the corner of the street before 
 she actually entered the shop. The encounter
 
 238 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 had ruffled her. She felt sure that if Herr 
 Hansen knew her errand he would think it quite 
 disgraceful. His social experiences could never 
 have shown him young ladies reduced to sell their 
 watches and rings. Such things did not happen 
 to the wealthy respectable folk who were his 
 friends. It had taken many heavy hours to con- 
 vince Hilary that it must happen to herself. 
 
 The unpleasant - looking youth stared more 
 closely at her than at the trinkets she offered for 
 sale ; but he took them to the light, made several 
 disparaging remarks about their condition and 
 value, and finally proposed a price. She put out 
 her hand to take the things back. The price he 
 mentioned fell below the meanest estimate she 
 had put on the watch without the rings. It 
 grieved her to part with any of them, for they 
 were all gifts from her father ; but as she took 
 them into her hands she hesitated, and put them 
 down again. She remembered her mother's pale 
 lips, her feeble voice, her want of appetite. At 
 any sacrifice she must take back some wine. 
 
 ' Give me the money,' she said, pushing back 
 the things. He did so, and she hurried out of the 
 shop ; but she had hardly got beyond its doors 
 when Herr Hansen appeared again. 
 
 ' There is a fight going on between two drunken 
 men in the next street,' he said. ' The police will 
 make short work of them directly, but just now 
 there is a nasty crowd. It is not fit for you to 
 pass through it. You would probably get your 
 pocket picked. I will take you back to a decent 
 part of the town by another way.'
 
 ON THE ALSTER 239 
 
 ' Thank you,' stammered Hilary. He wondered 
 why her manner was so dazed to-day. As they 
 stood there, the youth from the shop came up to 
 them, and without at first taking much notice of 
 Hilary's companion, began to complain, in an un- 
 pleasant manner, of the articles she had just sold 
 to him. He wanted half the money back he said. 
 She had swindled him. The diamonds in her 
 ring were paste, the watch was worn out. 
 
 Hilary looked at Herr Hansen, and in spite 
 of her embarrassment she felt glad that he was 
 there. 
 
 ' I have been selling these things', she said in 
 English. ' The diamonds are real, and the watch 
 is a good one. He has given me hardly any 
 money for them ? ' 
 
 ' What has he given you ? ' 
 
 Hilary opened her hand and showed him the 
 one piece of gold and the few silver coins she had 
 brought away and not put into her purse yet. 
 Herr Hansen's way of coming to her assistance 
 amused her vastly when she thought it over after- 
 wards. He did not ask her what her wishes were, 
 or treat her as if she had any interest in the matter 
 at all. He took possession of the money, marched 
 the young man back to the shop, made him dis- 
 gorge Hilary's property, and called him a thief in 
 such plain language that the girl wondered how 
 even a cur could stand it. Perhaps the youth 
 recognised a distinguished citizen in Herr Hansen ; 
 perhaps the epithets applied to him were not new 
 in his ears. At any rate, his bluster vanished. 
 He made an abject apology, and Herr Hansen
 
 240 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 came away with Hilary's trinkets in his hands. 
 Her first thought when she saw them was of the 
 wine she wanted. How could she get it without 
 money? But she thanked Herr Hansen with all 
 her heart. 
 
 ' Do you really wish to sell them ? ' he asked. 
 
 ' Yes, I do/ said Hilary. 
 
 Herr Hansen reflected. 
 
 ' You had better let me manage it for you, 
 then. It is not a nice thing for a young lady to 
 do for herself, in my opinion, but I suppose 
 you are in a hurry. It is some secret you are 
 preparing for Christmas, some surprise for your 
 mother or sister ? I understand.' 
 
 Hilary hesitated. Should she leave him under 
 a false impression that was creditable, or tell the 
 truth, of which she felt unreasonably ashamed ? 
 On the whole, it seemed best to say nothing. She 
 did not want to force their destitution on the 
 notice of a wealthy friend, or call his attention to 
 her own act of self-sacrifice. He could not assist 
 them, and she had no wish to raise herself high 
 in his opinion. If the wish had been there, she 
 would still have felt uncertain. She really did 
 not know what he would think of the truth if he 
 knew it whether his scorn or compassion would 
 be roused, his friendship or his disapproval. Let 
 him think of her then as able to buy Christmas 
 presents. The illusion could do no one any harm. 
 
 Herr Hansen watched her anxiously as she 
 walked beside him, silent and wrapt in thought. 
 Her manner told him more than she knew. He 
 had only a slender belief in the Christmas presents,
 
 ON THE ALSTER 241 
 
 but he felt pleased with himself for having 
 suggested them. 
 
 ' I know something about diamonds,' he said, 
 as he saw Hilary into the right tramcar. ' Those 
 in your ring are good ones. I shall get you a 
 fair price and send the money to-morrow.' 
 
 Hilary looked at him with a grateful smile. 
 Till to-morrow the wine merchant would certainly 
 wait for his money. 
 
 16
 
 XVI 
 
 NEWS FROM ENGLAND 
 
 WHEN Hilary got home she found that Dick 
 had called, and that no one but the servant had 
 seen him. Her mother had been in bed, and 
 Nell out. Hilary could have cried with dis- 
 appointment Why had he not written to 
 announce his visit? 
 
 ' We are his old friends, and he ought to know 
 that we should be glad to see him,' she said. 
 ' We are all home-sick. The sight of Dick would 
 have been as welcome as the sight of Dover 
 cliffs will be some day. I wonder whether the 
 porters at Dover station know how pleased their 
 countryfolk always are to see them. Do you 
 think they get more tips than other porters ? 
 But what I see when I shut my eyes is the 
 Strand on a winter evening. Every one is driv- 
 ing to the theatre it is raining a little the gas is 
 flaring the streets are blocked by the traffic the 
 little newspaper boys are screaming out the 
 specials oh ! what would I give to have a fresh 
 pink Globe in my hands just now, to know what 
 people are thinking about in London this very 
 hour. And why is there never a fog here, mother ?
 
 NEWS FROM ENGLAND 243 
 
 What is winter without one thick black fog ? How 
 I wish we were back, and could have muffins for 
 tea and roast beef for dinner ! Why can't we 
 go and live in a cottage in Devonshire? One of 
 our housemaids used to tell me about her home. 
 It had four rooms, and a great barn, and a dear 
 little garden full of fruit and flowers, and the rent 
 was two pounds a year. We could grow our 
 own eggs and bacon there. I would take a 
 situation as governess, and spend the holidays 
 with you. Consider what it would be to live by 
 ourselves again and have no rows ! ' 
 
 ' Consider how impossible it is/ said Mrs. 
 Frere. 'We have no money for travelling, and 
 none for furniture, and at my time of life I 
 cannot begin to live on eggs and bacon, or to 
 scrub my own floors.' 
 
 ' The truth is/ said Hilary, ' we ought not to 
 be alive at all. Ladies without money are the 
 most helpless, the most pitiable creatures in the 
 world. If I could be a cook or a housemaid I 
 could earn a comfortable living, and have the 
 market in my own hands. Every girl who is not 
 to inherit a fortune should either be strangled at 
 birth or taught a trade.' 
 
 ' Of course, I never looked forward to this/ 
 answered Mrs. Frere. ' I did not expect your 
 father to die, and I did expect Nell and you to 
 marry. It is your own fault that you have not.' 
 
 Mrs. Frere's tone suggested that she had 
 always done her duty. It was the girls who had 
 failed in theirs. She could never see that she 
 was chiefly responsible for their present position.
 
 244 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 She had brought up her children to be incapable 
 of any steady effort, unfit for the least privation ; 
 and having reared creatures so delicate and use- 
 less, she had refused to think of the future, 
 or to sacrifice anything in providing for it. 
 But she would, of course, have told you that she 
 had equipped her daughters admirably for the 
 only career in which women can find real happiness. 
 She had given them beauty, health, and charm 
 qualities as valuable to women as brains and 
 industry are to men. Girls who refuse to gather 
 rosebuds while they may have only themselves to 
 blame when they go empty-handed. If you train 
 a boy to a profession, and he throws away golden 
 opportunities of making his way in it, you con- 
 demn him and not yourself. Hilary had refused 
 Herr Hansen. Her mother dwelt on that piece 
 of folly, and not on her own extravagant house- 
 keeping, which she looked back at as a father 
 may look back at the money paid to launch his 
 sons. It is the part of the sons to prove that 
 the investment has been a wise one. 
 
 After considerable hesitation Hilary deter- 
 mined not to tell her mother and sister of her 
 meeting with Herr Hansen that afternoon. It 
 was not the family habit to have reservations 
 from each other, but she knew how it would vex 
 Mrs. Frere to hear that her daughter had been 
 seen on such an errand. Hilary could depend on 
 Herr Hansen's silence. She supposed that he 
 would send the money in a registered envelope, 
 so she meant to be on the look-out for the post- 
 man until it arrived. That night she wrote to
 
 NEWS FROM ENGLAND 245 
 
 Dick, told him how grieved they all had been to 
 miss him, begged him to come again next day if 
 he had time. When she woke in the morning 
 she wondered, as she opened her eyes, whether he 
 would come. She had addressed her letter to the 
 hotel she had seen him enter. He would get it 
 by the first post if he was staying there. 
 
 ' I am sure he will not come,' she said to her 
 mother and Nell. ' He is going to Ltibeck to-day 
 on business. Of course, he cannot put that off 
 and come out here again, just to see us for a few 
 minutes. 
 
 Nell watched her sister at the looking-glass. 
 Even if you only possess one old serge gown, you 
 may put it on in a manner that will be full of 
 meaning to another woman. Indeed, before 
 Hilary got to the gown, her sister knew she 
 hoped in her heart that Dick would come. She 
 took unusual pains with her hair. Then she 
 brushed the bodice very carefully, and tried it 
 first without a linen collar, and afterwards with 
 one. Finally she put on her best shoes. 
 
 But when the post came it brought her dis- 
 appointment. There was a letter to Mrs. Frere 
 from Dick, in which he expressed great regret at 
 having seen none of them yesterday. He added 
 that he must leave Hamburg at an early hour 
 this morning. Nell saw Hilary look doubtfully 
 at her shoes. Of course, she ought to have put 
 on her old ones now ; and if Nell had not been 
 afraid to vex her sister, she would have strongly 
 advised her to do so, on the same principle that 
 bids you take out an umbrella on a fine day
 
 246 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 to prevent the rain ; but Hilary was not super- 
 stitious. After the first breakfast, in spite of 
 Dick's letter, she wrapt herself in a fur cloak, and 
 went down to the first-floor sitting-room. From 
 one of its windows she could see any one entering 
 the front gate. She felt too restless to occupy 
 herself in any ordinary way. Suppose Dick got 
 her letter, put off his journey for a few hours and 
 came to see them again. She did not want to 
 miss a glimpse of him, and one of the questions 
 it took time to settle was, whether she should 
 watch him cross the front garden and disappear 
 through the hall door, or whether the moment 
 she saw him she should rush down and let him in 
 herself? When she had decided which she would 
 do, she strove hard to convince herself that he 
 could not come at all. He had started for 
 Liibeck long since, and why she was wasting her 
 time at this window she did not know. Of course, 
 she wanted to see him very badly. On this point 
 she did not deceive herself. Her eyes danced, her 
 heart beat, as she pictured him walking in. She 
 asked herself what she would do if he stayed 
 away and wrote to tell them that he was going 
 to marry Olga Werner ; and her involuntary 
 reply told her more than she had bargained for. 
 The idea of Dick married to any one else 
 made her miserable. She tried to drive it from 
 her mind. 
 
 Hilary waited at the window for half the 
 morning, her heart leaping at every little sound, 
 and sinking again when it proved not to be made 
 by Dick's arrival. The strain of expectation
 
 NEWS FROM ENGLAND 247 
 
 exhausted her, and the cold soon chilled her to 
 the bone. When she felt frozen and ready to cry 
 with disappointment she ran upstairs, put on her 
 hat and jacket, and started for a walk. It does 
 not become any girl to have blue cheeks and a 
 red tip to her nose. If she walked in the right 
 direction along the road to Hamburg she could 
 not miss Dick, and the outdoor air would paint 
 her in pleasanter colours than the stale, unheated 
 room had done.. 
 
 It was a bright cold day. Hilary walked 
 briskly forward, and became a different creature in 
 ten minutes, exhilarated by the exercise, cheered 
 by the sunshine, glowing, fresh, and in good 
 spirits. It did not in the least surprise her when 
 she met Dick in a cab about a mile away from 
 home. He jumped out in a great hurry, paid 
 the driver, and a moment later was walking by 
 her side. She had turned back towards home, 
 and he took it as a matter of course that she 
 should do so. 
 
 1 You said you would be in this morning,' he 
 began. 
 
 ' You said you would be on your way to 
 Liibeck.' 
 
 ' I am going by a later train.' 
 
 ' How unbusiness-like.' 
 
 They were walking quickly, and talking 
 hurriedly, and looking at each other with laugh- 
 ing, delighted eyes. The sunshine helped them. 
 It shone on Hilary's hair and made it glitter ; it 
 threw their shadows in a pair on the pavement ; 
 it turned the hour golden. They were both
 
 248 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 young, and just now they were together again. 
 Absence and sorrow had taught the girl to value 
 what she had hardly counted a treasure before. 
 She looked out anxiously for any signs that Dick 
 still loved her, and in his manner she saw many. 
 To these she replied. But manner is intangible, 
 and, to a girl who would fain make amends, 
 unsatisfactory. By the time they arrived at Frau 
 Lange's house Hilary wished Dick would speak 
 plainly, that she, too, might make plain her change 
 of mind. She could not take the initiative. At 
 such moments as these she was hardly in advance 
 of her grandmother. However, when she got to 
 the gate she hesitated slightly. If they went in 
 now she must take him to the upstairs sitting- 
 room to see her mother. If he proposed to 
 walk on with her instead she would go. She 
 felt loth to enter the house and end the present 
 hour. 
 
 ' What do you think of the place ? ' she said, 
 with her hand on the gate. Dick looked at the 
 garden and at the front windows. 
 
 1 Not bad.' 
 
 Hilary showed by her expression that she 
 could not agree with him. 
 
 4 Have you good walks near ? ' 
 
 1 Very good,' said Hilary. ' Woods I should 
 like to show them to you.' 
 
 ' When I come again in the spring,' said Dick 
 with an eager look, from which she averted her 
 own eyes in a flurry. For at least a minute they 
 stood at the gate, uncertain, acutely conscious 
 of each other, not thinking of what they should
 
 NEWS FROM ENGLAND 249 
 
 do next. Hilary felt almost sure that Dick still 
 loved her, still wished to make her his wife. He 
 was too honest a man to woo a girl dumbly, 
 and then ride away. But perhaps he felt 
 disinclined to speak a second time ; perhaps, 
 being a man, he did not understand that she had 
 changed, men were proverbially dense. She 
 did not know what more she could do to open 
 his eyes. Could he suppose that any other man 
 ever heard her speak with the voice he had heard 
 once or twice this morning ? 
 
 ' Well, shall we go in ? ' she said. Dick 
 followed her, wondering as he did so what had 
 suddenly depressed her voice and caused the 
 corners of her mouth to droop rather sadly. When 
 this happened, when the first fresh glow of the 
 outer air had faded from her cheeks he saw that 
 she had grown thin, and that the colour he had 
 seen with admiration did not stay. 
 
 ' You do not look so well as I thought at first,' 
 he said, stopping her anxiously at the foot of the 
 second flight of stairs. ' Does the life here suit 
 you ?' 
 
 ' Not very well,' admitted Hilary. ' We all 
 wish we were at home again.' 
 
 ' You have not told me anything about your 
 aunt yet. What is she like ? ' 
 
 ' She is rather . . . vivacious,' said Hilary, with 
 a smile that struck Dick as melancholy. She 
 spoke in an undertone, and proceeded hastily up- 
 stairs. She did not want an encounter with her 
 aunt on the landing, and she knew that at this 
 time of day Frau Lange was engaged in what
 
 250 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 she called ' housekeeping,' a process requiring, on 
 her part, strong lungs and a vocabulary, and on 
 the part of Auguste tears and patience. 
 
 Mrs. Frere and Nell were in the upstairs 
 sitting-room, and Dick thought he had never 
 seen a more comfortless apartment. It smelt 
 of petroleum, had no carpet and no easy-chairs, 
 and was very insufficiently warmed. When he 
 saw the mother and daughters together he did 
 not know which of the three looked most white and 
 ill. From Mrs. Frere his eyes wandered anxiously 
 to Hilary, and from Hilary to Nell. 
 
 ' I am very glad to see you, Dick,' said Mrs. 
 Frere. ' You are the first of our old friends who 
 has been over here. How is every one in London ? 
 Do you ever go past our old house ? and have they 
 cut down the white lilac near the gate ? I hope 
 not. We planted it ourselves, and some day, 
 when we live in London again, I want to get a 
 cutting. Do you think the new people would 
 give me one ? ' 
 
 ' I daresay,' said Dick ; ' but are you coming 
 back to London ? Have you had enough of 
 Germany ? ' 
 
 ' We have had enough of Germany, but we 
 are not coming back to London,' said Nell. She 
 shivered as she spoke, and Dick did not wonder 
 at it. With his greatcoat on he felt cold in this 
 room. 
 
 ' I wish you would come back,' he said. 
 
 ' I suppose you will soon be over here again ? ' 
 observed Mrs. Frere. ' You will be coming to see 
 the Werners ? '
 
 NEWS FROM ENGLAND 251 
 
 Dick looked rather surprised. 
 
 ' I don't expect to have business here again 
 until the spring,' he said, and then he turned to 
 Hilary and addressed her. 
 
 ' After Christmas I shall have to go to New 
 York for three months, and I may go to Australia 
 too.' 
 
 His manner of making this communication 
 raised Hilary's spirits. It pleased her that he 
 should inform her of his future movements, and 
 take her interest in them for granted ; but the 
 spring looked further off than ever, now that she 
 saw it beyond a journey across the Atlantic. The 
 present moment, in which she could really see 
 Dick, speak to him, even touch his hand, was 
 flying fast. Every tick of her aunt's noisy clock 
 made it shorter. Another five minutes, perhaps, 
 and he would get up and bid good-bye. She knew 
 of no spell with which she could detain him. 
 
 ' When you talk of spring, which month do you 
 mean ? ' she said, speaking out of her thoughts, 
 instead of taking part in the discussion of American 
 scenery started by Mrs. Frere and Nell. 
 
 Dick stopped in the midst of something he had 
 begun to say. Hilary's question betrayed, in some 
 degree, what was passing through her mind. She 
 wanted to fix a date for their next meeting. 
 Without conceit he might hope that. 
 
 ' I expect to be here again in May,' he said, 
 ' unless I go to Australia. Then I should not 
 get back to London till July.' 
 
 Hilary made no reply, and her irresponsiveness 
 disappointed him, because he did not understand
 
 252 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 its reasons. From December to July is a long 
 time to wait for what you would rather have to- 
 day than to-morrow. The clock ticked in her 
 ears and helped to make her dumb. Every 
 tick brought the moment nearer when Dick 
 would walk away. Who knew where they 
 would all be eight months hence ? To folks 
 whose fortunes are in shreds eight months sounds 
 like a lifetime. Any day a casual gust may 
 scatter them. 
 
 ' You will still be here in May/ said Dick 
 anxiously. 
 
 ' I don't know,' said Hilary ; but her mother 
 nodded and blinked at Dick. 
 
 ' Of course, we shall still be here. Young 
 people are always restless, and the girls would like 
 to go back to London, but we have to study 
 economy now.' 
 
 Mrs. Frere made the last remark with a 
 triumphant air, as if opportunities for the study of 
 economy had hitherto been desired but unattain- 
 able. Dick's face was rather sad. He had noticed 
 the patch on Nell's sleeve, and the sunshine had 
 shown him that Hilary's gown was shabby. He 
 thought Mrs. Frere looked as if she would hardly 
 outlive the winter, and the girls as if they were 
 poorly warmed and nourished, but he did not 
 know what he could do. 
 
 A few minutes later, when he got up to go, 
 Hilary, with a leaden heart, got up too, and said 
 that she would see him to the door ; and when 
 they reached the first floor he stopped her. 
 
 'Hilary,' he said in a matter-of-fact tone,
 
 NEWS FROM ENGLAND 253 
 
 ' your mother looks ill. Have you money enough 
 to get her what she wants ? ' 
 
 Hilary nodded affirmatively. 
 
 ' You must let me know,' continued Dick, still 
 striving to be composed and business-like. It 
 cost him a struggle, because, when he found himself 
 alone with Hilary, and on the verge of parting 
 from her, he was beset by a burning desire to take 
 her in his arms. If he had done so he would 
 have made her very happy, after the first shock, 
 but he did not know that. In his effort at self- 
 mastery his manner hardened ; he exaggerated 
 the business-like tone, and Hilary shrank from it, 
 repelled and half offended. 
 
 ' You are very kind, Dick,' she said, with her 
 head erect and her cheeks aflame ; ' but we can 
 get on, and, of course, we cannot take money from 
 you.' 
 
 Before he could remonstrate she ran lightly 
 downstairs before him, and he followed, vexed 
 with himself and her. As he descended, the sound 
 reached him of a coarse, shrill voice, speaking with 
 unrestrained fury to some one also out of sight. 
 He listened in amazement. If his friends were 
 doomed to live in the same house with a woman 
 who bellowed like a fish-wife, no wonder they 
 looked wretched. He saw that Hilary was 
 trembling, and had turned crimson. She opened 
 the door and held out her hand, as if she wished 
 to hurry him away ; but he lingered, and forgot 
 the ugly, ill-tempered voice. 
 
 ' You must come back to England,' he said, 
 with her hand in his. ' You belong there.'
 
 254 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 For a moment Hilary felt a glow of happiness. 
 The grip of Dick's hand seemed to communicate 
 his own strength and courage, and his voice to 
 make pleasant promises ; but before she could 
 speak they were interrupted. Her aunt, with 
 agitating suddenness, bounced out of the kitchen 
 into the front hall, and a pretty figure she was. 
 If Dick had not been there Hilary would have 
 received her with composure, because it cannot be 
 said that her appearance was exactly unusual. 
 All the morning she habitually wore list slippers, 
 ungartered rough gray stockings, the greasy violet 
 wrapper, and a frilled white cap, and while she 
 was ' housekeeping ' she always wore a scowl and 
 a crimson face. Hilary had become quite ac- 
 customed to her aunt's attire, though she still 
 found the scowl and the inflamed cheeks upsetting. 
 But to-day she felt ready to sink into the earth 
 with shame when Frau Lange dashed towards 
 them. She had a bowl full of potato parings in 
 her hands, and she was followed by Auguste, who 
 looked as sloppily dressed as her mistress. Dick 
 stared at the pair of them, and then swiftly 
 averted his eyes. Frau Lange, in evident em- 
 barrassment, shuffled back towards the kitchen, 
 jogged against Auguste as she did so, and let 
 the bowl in her hands slip to the ground. It fell 
 with a noisy crash, broken in pieces. 
 
 ' Good-bye,' murmured Hilary, almost inviting 
 him to go, and as the door closed behind him he 
 heard Frau Lange's voice begin again. From 
 the word or two he made out, he could not doubt 
 that this time she addressed herself to her niece.
 
 NEWS FROM ENGLAND 255 
 
 The vision of her, and the sound of her, haunted 
 Dick. He knew that there were queer people in 
 the world, but to think of Hilary in the clutches 
 of this slatternly old virago made him most miser- 
 able. He left Hamburg in the lowest spirits, for 
 his own difficulties were thick upon him just now. 
 The loss of the two thousand pounds crippled him 
 considerably, and, because troubles never come 
 singly, one of his largest debtors had become 
 involved in a recent bank failure and could only 
 pay a shilling in the pound. Dick laughed at 
 his own folly when he thought of Hilary, and 
 wished he could have carried her away. A man 
 in his present position has no right to think of 
 marriage. Nevertheless, as he travelled home, he 
 thought of nothing else. He determined to work 
 as hard as he could, and however poor he was, to 
 try his luck again next spring. 
 
 But Hilary did not know anything of his 
 difficulties, and now that he had gone away with- 
 out speaking she tried to persuade herself that 
 he no longer cared for her. After his visit the 
 days seemed drearier and longer than they had 
 been before. 
 
 Herr Hansen sent her a larger sum of money 
 than she had expected for her watch and rings, 
 and she set two-thirds of it aside for production 
 after Christmas, when the doctor and the chemist 
 would have to be paid. The rest she gladly put 
 in her purse for present use. She spent it on 
 comforts for her mother, and on some necessaries 
 for Nell and herself, without explaining where it 
 came from. Mrs. Frere never inquired. She
 
 256 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 vaguely knew that Hilary had a little pocket- 
 money when she left England, and it grieved her 
 to see it spent on food instead of on finery. That 
 it must have been exhausted long ago did not 
 occur to her. She could not apply her mind to 
 this kind of mental arithmetic. To please Hilary 
 she refrained from ordering expensive Christmas 
 presents for her sister-in-law and her children, but 
 she still spent shillings where pence should have 
 sufficed, and allowed a pound to melt with terrify- 
 ing rapidity. Some natures take pride in thrift, 
 and find the exercise of it bracing and full of 
 interest, but Mrs. Frere hated the need of it as 
 she hated a cold east wind. She would seek any 
 shelter rather than face either. 
 
 Hilary was the only one of the three who would 
 have spoken as Loti does of une pauvrett exquise ; 
 but then, if she had been allowed a free hand, she 
 would have tried to make their poverty exquisite. 
 In her opinion, the worst difficulties of the 
 situation were created by her mother's inability to 
 accept it. Even their income would have paid for 
 a two-pound cottage and enough porridge and 
 potatoes. Any hardships seemed more desirable 
 than debt, and more honourable than such a life as 
 they were leading now. But it happened to her, 
 as it has happened to so many of us, that with the 
 kinsfolk who loved her she felt compelled to sink 
 or swim. 
 
 Mrs. Frere still dreamt of marriage for her 
 daughters. With one of them comfortably estab- 
 lished their affairs might even yet go well. Of 
 Arthur Preston they had heard nothing since they
 
 NEWS FROM ENGLAND 257 
 
 left England, and Hilary felt sure that her sister 
 suffered more through his silence than through the 
 discomforts of their aunt's menage. How does 
 one girl know that another is eating her heart out 
 for a man whose name never passes her lips ? 
 Partly by this very taboo, partly by the failure of 
 her health and spirits, by her restlessness and by 
 her eyes. Nell's last bad cold had left behind it a 
 persistent cough that Aunt Bertha seemed to think 
 was artificially kept up for her annoyance. 
 
 Even on these winter days, Hilary often 
 walked round her aunt's little garden in brooding 
 inconclusive thought, making impossible plans, 
 cheered by flashes of hope, waking from pleasant 
 dreams to feel the actual day more empty than 
 before. She never took advantage of Herr 
 Hansen's permission to walk in his garden, 
 although at this time of the year he lived in town, 
 so that there was little chance of an encounter 
 with him. She did not go, because Aunt Bertha 
 went so often ' on the look-out,' as Nell said. 
 Any day Herr Hansen might turn up to see how 
 his plants were faring in the frost, and Hilary 
 could not endure the thought of his encountering 
 two of them there ' on the look-out.' 
 
 One afternoon just before Christmas, when they 
 assembled at the dinner-table, the girls saw that 
 their aunt was elated, and as they had seen her 
 come back a little while ago from Herr Hansen's 
 garden, they guessed at once that she had met 
 him there. After she had stood up to ladle 
 out the cabbage soup she sat down again, and said 
 to no one in particular : 
 
 17
 
 258 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ( I feel much better to-day.' 
 
 ' I didn't know you were ill,' said Nell. 
 
 ' I daresay not. You only think of yourselves. 
 That is a national characteristic, as I remarked to 
 Herr Hansen this morning.' 
 
 ' What is the matter with you, Aunt Bertha ? ' 
 asked Hilary. 
 
 ' Oh, nothing that would interest you. My 
 nerves are worn out ; that's all. Some people 
 never see you are ill unless you can show them 
 a cut or a bruise.' 
 
 ' True,' said Nell. 
 
 Her aunt stared at her suspiciously, and then 
 continued speaking. 
 
 ' It is such a relief to talk to a man of refine- 
 ment and education a man who gives himself no 
 airs, and yet is really learned and accomplished. I 
 have been telling Herr Hansen what a very poor 
 opinion I have of English schools.' 
 
 ' He must have been entertained,' observed Nell. 
 
 ' He was deeply interested. I told him you were 
 neither of you able to knit a stocking, or cook a 
 potato, or mend your own clothes, and that you 
 were not even possessed of any other knowledge as 
 a compensation. When I was a girl, I knew a great 
 deal about chemistry, and mythology, and literature. 
 Of course I have forgotten most of it, but that 
 does not matter in the least I should have been 
 ashamed, when I was your age, to sit glued to a 
 chair all the evening, and do nothing to entertain 
 my mother's guests. Herr Hansen has promised 
 to spend Christmas Eve with us. It is a great 
 honour. But what can you do to show that you
 
 NEWS FROM ENGLAND 259 
 
 appreciate it ? What can you do ? Sit still with 
 your hands folded, I suppose ? ' 
 
 The girls did not offer any more startling 
 contribution to the evening's entertainment just 
 then, and their aunt went on to say that their 
 arrogant silence reminded her of Herr Hansen's 
 message. He had met one of their country- 
 women in Hamburg, a Mrs. Theodore, and she was 
 coming to see them this afternoon. Who was 
 Mrs. Theodore ? and what did she want in Ham- 
 burg ? Was she related to the Jewish family of 
 that name ? 
 
 ' Her husband is,' said Hilary. 
 
 ' We don't think much of Jews here,' said Frau 
 Lange haughtily. 
 
 ' How mediaeval ! ' cried Nell. ' You had 
 better try and impress Mrs. Theodore with a sense 
 of her inferiority.' 
 
 .' Is she Jewish ? ' 
 
 ' English. Which is worse, Aunt Bertha ? ' 
 
 ' The Jews have some good qualities,' began 
 Frau Lange, but how she meant to go on her 
 nieces never knew, because they fled hurriedly 
 from the room to hide their inextinguishable 
 laughter. 
 
 The girls had hardly told their mother of Mrs. 
 Theodore's intended visit when Auguste came 
 into the bedroom, to announce her arrival, with 
 her husband. Mrs. Frere was worse than usual 
 that day, and had not got up yet, so the girls went 
 down to the ' best ' room by themselves. To their 
 amusement, they found their aunt there, installed 
 on the sofa next to Mrs. Theodore. Frau Lange
 
 260 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 looked quite flustered by these elegant, sedate, and 
 supercilious visitors. She was full of apologies 
 for her nieces because they had not appeared 
 directly ; and for the room because it was not 
 well warmed. She felt paralysed by Mrs. 
 Theodore's manner, and overwhelmed by her fine 
 clothes. When Hilary and Nell went in, they 
 found that her colour had risen, and that her 
 guests had somehow silenced her. No one was 
 speaking, and the husband and wife were looking 
 round the room with amused contempt. The 
 lamps had been lighted in their honour, and they 
 could see everything plainly the magenta reps, 
 the imitation bronzes, the oleographs in gaudy 
 frames, the wax flowers. The girls felt almost 
 sorry for their aunt, and inclined to defend her 
 tawdry treasures ; but you cannot easily over- 
 throw an enemy who only attacks with glances. 
 
 ' We thought we would look you up as we had 
 nothing much to do this afternoon/ said Mr. 
 Theodore. ' Sorry we shan't see Mrs. Frere. Your 
 aunt says she has a slight cold.' 
 
 ' My mother has been ill for some weeks,' 
 said Hilary. ' She is in a very delicate 
 state.' 
 
 ' Horrid climate this. Beast of a place al- 
 together. Don't know why any one lives here. I 
 never know how to put in my time when I come 
 for a week.' 
 
 ' Don't you care for the theatre ? ' 
 
 ' It isn't open in the afternoon,' said Mrs. 
 Theodore, who always seemed to enjoy a conversa- 
 tion chiefly for the chances it offered her of setting
 
 NEWS FROM ENGLAND 261 
 
 other people right. ' Besides, we have just come 
 from Paris, and seen good acting.' 
 
 ' But there is good acting here,' interposed 
 Frau Lange in a tone of heavy remonstrance. 
 
 Mrs. Theodore showed no sign of interest, and 
 was about to speak to Nell when Frau Lange 
 began again, rather more loudly : 
 
 ' The Hamburg actors are excellent.' 
 
 ' So my friends tell me,' said Mrs. Theodore. 
 
 ' How is Sophia? ' asked Hilary, as she saw her 
 aunt's colour rise alarmingly. 
 
 Mrs. Theodore put down her eye-glasses through 
 which she had glanced at Frau Lange. 
 
 ' Sophia is very well,' she said. 
 
 ' And very happy,' added her husband with a 
 faint smile. His wife looked at him and seemed 
 to hesitate. 
 
 ' Yes,' she said finally, ' she is very happy.' 
 
 ' Where is she now ? ' asked Hilary. 
 
 ' Probably in a Paris shop,' replied Mr. Theodore, 
 glancing at a gilt clock, under a glass shade, that 
 stood on the top shelf of a rickety what-not. 
 
 ' She is buying her trousseau in Paris,' explained 
 his wife. 
 
 ' Is she going to be married ? ' cried Nell, 
 refraining just in time from adding, ' at last.' ' We 
 had not heard of it' 
 
 'You are out of the world now,' said 
 Mr. Theodore. 'You cannot expect to hear 
 things.' 
 
 ' Our best congratulations to Sophia,' said 
 Hilary. 'Who is she going to marry? Anyone 
 we know ? '
 
 262 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 1 You know him very well,' began Mrs. Theodore, 
 but her husband interrupted her. 
 
 ' Let them have three guesses,' he proposed. 
 They are sure to hit the right nail on the head.' 
 
 ' My mind is a blank on the subject,' said Nell, 
 thinking to herself that she knew no one likely to 
 mate with that clumsy, plain Sophia. 
 
 Hilary was watching Mr. Theodore's face for a 
 clue, and the moment her sister spoke she got it. 
 She knew positively what would come next ; her 
 hands turned to ice ; her heart stood still ; she 
 wondered how she could drive Nell out of the 
 room. 
 
 ' Nell,' she began, ' do run upstairs. I think I 
 hear mamma's voice.' 
 
 Nell's brows were bent in cogitation. She 
 hardly noticed what her sister said. She did not 
 stir. 
 
 Mr. Theodore let a moment elapse, so that his 
 words should not seem an immediate comment 
 on Hilary's tactics. Then he said pleasantly to her : 
 
 ' Perhaps you guess ? ' 
 
 'Yes, I do,' she said curtly. 
 
 A woman cannot hit from the shoulder, as a 
 rule, but if she has honest eyes she can look straight 
 at a man she despises, and make him understand 
 her full opinion. In future, Mr. Theodore could 
 not flatter himself that Hilary took him for anything 
 but a sneak. 
 
 ' You guess ? ' faltered Nell, glancing from one 
 to the other. She understood from her sister's 
 manner that something was wrong, and her fears 
 fastened with a flash where her wishes centred ;
 
 NEWS FROM ENGLAND 263 
 
 but this did not blunt the edge of Mrs. Theodore's 
 next words for her they seemed to cut her heart 
 in two. She heard them at a great distance, and 
 she felt unable to speak or move while they 
 forced themselves on her understanding. 
 
 ' It is Arthur Preston.' 
 
 Nell heard Mrs. Theodore say that, and then go 
 on saying other things about his devotion to Sophia, 
 and his attentions to her all through the autumn, 
 and his proposal to her at Brighton one November 
 afternoon. But these remarks only entered Nell's 
 ears. They made no impression on her memory, 
 because, all the while, she was saying to herself 
 over and over again, ' It is Arthur Preston, it is 
 Arthur Preston,' as if she found it a difficult thing 
 to understand or to remember. Finally, she said it 
 aloud. 
 
 ' It is Arthur Preston.' Her voice sounded 
 harsh, as if she had not spoken for some time, and 
 she interrupted Mrs. Theodore, who stopped short 
 and looked at the girl with surprise. 
 
 ' You had better come over for the wedding,' 
 said Mr. Theodore. 
 
 His wife stared at him, as if she hardly knew 
 whether he was dense or vicious. She had just 
 enough good feeling to be sorry for Nell when she 
 observed how hardly she took Arthur's desertion. 
 No one could fail to see that the girl felt shattered 
 by the news. She had turned as white as death 
 and still seemed dazed. Hilary thought her sister 
 would faint, and, without consulting her aunt, she 
 threw open one of the double windows. A current 
 of icy air blew through the room, and a few snow-
 
 264 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 flakes settled on the floor. Nell shivered and 
 roused herself. Frau Lange rushed to the window, 
 shut it with a bang, and let loose her tongue on the 
 subject of English extravagance. No sooner had 
 a room been heated than her nieces wished to 
 make it cold again. She explained the mechanism 
 of her stove, which only needed filling and lighting 
 once a week, provided the windows, as well as the 
 doors of the room, were kept closely shut night and 
 day. That very day the weekly supply of fresh 
 air had been admitted before the stove was stocked 
 with fuel and set going again. Of course, in Eng- 
 land, no one knew what it was to sit in a warm 
 room. 
 
 Mrs. Theodore put up her lorgnon again, and 
 listened to this tirade without saying a word in 
 reply to it, just as she would have listened to the 
 chatter of an ape. Perhaps her silence struck 
 Frau Lange as contemptuous ; at any rate, she 
 seemed to feel discomfited by it. But presently, 
 when Auguste brought in a tray with liqueurs and 
 cakes, her mistress's tongue began to wag again. 
 Her hospitality in dispensing aniseed biscuits was 
 oppressive ; and her nieces knew that she felt 
 bitterly offended because Mr. and Mrs. Theodore 
 refused the treasures of her store-room. 
 
 ' We must get back,' said Mrs. Theodore at 
 last. 'We are going to dine with some people 
 you know to-night with the Werners. I say to- 
 night, but, of course, I mean at half-past five. 
 Isn't it droll? It takes one back to the last century. 
 I feel as if I ought to wear powder and patches. 
 Stanley says I must wear a high frock. Don't
 
 NEWS FROM ENGLAND 265 
 
 you find that a bore? I hate a high frock at 
 night and in these stuffy German rooms . . . 
 We are to meet Herr Hansen. Do you remember 
 him ? A stout old party who will play Bach's 
 fugues at you.' 
 
 ' Herr Hansen is an intimate friend of mine,' 
 said Frau Lange officiously. Mrs. Theodore looked 
 as if she could hardly believe it. 
 
 ' I hope we shall be spared the fugues to- 
 night,' she said, stifling a yawn. ' I am sure we shall 
 be stodgy enough without them. Tell Mrs. Frere 
 we are sorry not to have seen her, Hilary. When 
 are you all coming back to London ? You and 
 Nell don't look as if German life suited you.' 
 
 After the fashion of her kind, Mrs. Theodore 
 rustled out of the room without waiting for an 
 answer to her questions. Hilary followed her, 
 but returned as quickly as she could. She found 
 Frau Lange by herself, engaged in extinguishing 
 the lamps and packing away the cakes and the 
 liqueurs. Directly she saw her niece she began to 
 complain of Mrs. Theodore's insolent behaviour. 
 Hilary did not stop to listen. She flew upstairs 
 to her mother's room. 
 
 ' Where is Nell ? ' she said, seeing that Mrs. 
 Frere was alone. 
 
 ' She came in like a whirlwind, picked up her 
 hat and cloak, and went out again,' said Mrs. 
 Frere. ' What is the matter, Hilary ? Don't you 
 go off too. I have been alone for hours to-day. 
 What did the Theodores comes for? to bring bad 
 news ? ' 
 
 Hilary looked doubtfully at her mother,
 
 266 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 uncertain how she would endure the shock, 
 wondering whether she ought to be guarded from 
 it; but this was impossible. Mrs. Frere knew when 
 her children were in trouble. She saw grief and 
 dismay in Hilary's face the moment the girl came 
 into the room. That much insight her love of 
 them made easy. 
 
 'What is it, dear?' she said, and the young 
 unhappy creature could not resist the chance 
 of taking her sorrow to the mother who would 
 share it. 
 
 ' Arthur Preston is going to marry Sophia 
 Theodore,' she said. 
 
 The two women looked at each other forlornly. 
 Mrs. Frere had been mending one of Nell's shoes 
 for her ; she put it down now, and her blue, 
 tender eyes filled and flowed over with tears. 
 
 ' My poor child,' she said.
 
 XVII 
 
 CHRISTMAS WITH AUNT BERTHA 
 
 PRESENTLY Nell came back, her clothes powdered 
 with snow, her hair blown about, her face set in 
 pain. She appeared for a moment in the door- 
 way and beckoned to her sister. 
 
 1 Have you told her ? ' she whispered, when 
 Hilary came near. 
 
 ' Yes.' 
 
 ' What does she say ? I wish she would not 
 talk about it. I hate to talk about it.' 
 
 The sisters were standing together in the 
 unlighted passage, and Hilary could not see Nell's 
 face, but her tone was one of extreme nervous 
 exasperation. 
 
 'She did not see you come in,' said Hilary. ' She 
 is lying down. Shall we go into the dining-room ? ' 
 
 They moved away together, and went into the 
 pitch-dark, chilly room where, without much 
 stumbling, they found two chairs. 
 
 ' What does she say ? ' asked Nell again. 
 
 'She cries.' 
 
 ' I don't. I laugh. To think that Sophia 
 and I should run a race, and that Sophia should 
 beat me. I always pitied her.'
 
 268 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ( I pity her now,' said Hilary. ' She is going 
 to be married for her money.' 
 
 ' I wish I was,' said Nell. ' Apparently it is 
 the only thing in the world worth having.' 
 
 Hilary was silent. 
 
 ' The disgrace of it,' continued Nell, speaking 
 in the same tone of intense exasperation ; ' to 
 be jilted, deserted, thrown aside ; but why should 
 the disgrace be mine ? How unjust. Every one 
 will point at me, not at him. They will crowd to 
 his wedding.' 
 
 ' No disgrace falls on you, Nell,' said her sister. 
 ' No one you need consider will point at you. 
 Besides, we are here you will neither see nor 
 hear them.' 
 
 ' Oh ! Hilary, do you need to be there to see 
 and hear? Don't you know what every one will 
 say? What a foolish girl I was to get myself 
 talked about to have let a man who had no 
 intention of marrying me entangle my name with 
 his. How is a girl to guess a man has "no 
 intentions " when he pursues her ? Is she to take 
 every man for a liar ? He made me love him. 
 I did not think much about him until I saw that 
 he was in love with me.' 
 
 ' Of course he would make that his excuse. He 
 would say that he did care for you, and that 
 nothing but the want of money prevented your 
 marriage.' 
 
 ' A fine excuse. " God made him, and there- 
 fore let him pass for a man." But you are right ; 
 he did care. I know that. I cared too. Every 
 one knows that. How intolerable.'
 
 CHRISTMAS WITH AUNT BERTHA 269 
 
 ' Is that thought the most intolerable ? ' said 
 Hilary, half to herself. 
 
 ' Of course not,' rejoined Nell fiercely. ' I am 
 trying to tear the other out of my heart. Don't 
 hinder me ; help me to hate him, to forget that 
 I want him.' Her voice broke, halted, and then 
 turned hard again. ' At the present moment he 
 is probably buying carpets with Sophia. How 
 could she consent ! It would never have happened 
 if we had not left England. If I could only go 
 back now I might stop it ; I might get him back. 
 Why should women sit still and never say a word, 
 while all they care for is filched from them ? 
 Why should they not fight ? ' 
 
 ' I should not fight for Arthur Preston now 
 that he has behaved like this,' said Hilary proudly. 
 ' He is a deserter. Don't let him hear you call 
 him. Suppose he should not come ? ' 
 
 ' Suppose he should ? ' said Nell. ' Of course 
 it is impossible,' she added after a pause, 
 and without saying anything more she got up 
 wearily and went into the bedroom. Hilary 
 did not follow her for some time. When 
 she rejoined her mother and sister she saw that 
 they had both been crying. 
 
 During the next few days Hilary felt really 
 anxious about Nell. The girl seemed to dwindle 
 and pine. Her face did not lose its look 
 of dazed excitement. She watched all day long 
 for something that never came, and Hilary felt 
 sure she cherished a vague, unsettling hope of a 
 message or a letter from Arthur. It was pitiful 
 to see her, and to know that nothing could be done.
 
 270 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 Mrs. Frere, after the first shock of surprise 
 and concern, seemed to find consolation in 
 harking back to her old prophecies about Arthur 
 and Sophia. She had always expected Mrs. 
 Theodore to bring this marriage about, she said 
 to Hilary. 
 
 ' And, after all, he is not the only man in the 
 world. We are here now. Do you think Nell 
 would like to live in Germany ? ' 
 
 1 1 don't know ; but I imagine that no one 
 will invite her to do so ; besides, she is very 
 unhappy. You cannot expect her to think of 
 any one else for years.' 
 
 ' But surely neither of you would refuse a 
 good offer of marriage now that we are in such 
 terrible straits ? What would you say of a man 
 who threw up profitable work when his family 
 was starving ? It is just the same.' 
 
 ' Oh, no ! ' said Hilary, ' it cannot be.' 
 
 ' Where is the difference ? ' 
 
 1 1 would gladly work.' 
 
 ' My dear child, in my opinion a woman's 
 vocation is marriage. Those who miss it are 
 failures. No woman would work unless she was 
 driven to it, and when she does she is half 
 starved because she is a woman and cannot get 
 well paid. The only bearable life for a woman 
 in this world is to depend on a man. You may 
 talk, and write, and flounder as much as you 
 please, and in the end you will come back to 
 that ; because Nature made it so. It isn't her 
 only blunder. Why are we in such a plight? 
 Because we have no man belonging to us. And
 
 CHRISTMAS WITH AUNT BERTHA 271 
 
 whose business is it to bring men into the family 
 again ? I have done my part. I had the best 
 husband, and you the best father that ever lived. 
 We miss him at every turn.' 
 
 This kind of talk did not exactly convince 
 Hilary, nor did it encourage her. It chiefly 
 served to remind her of the many instances in 
 which women are hindered rather than helped 
 by men. She thought of able women linked with 
 fools ; thrifty women ruined by wastrels ; good 
 women broken-hearted for the sake of husbands 
 and sons. She knew that out in the world 
 thousands of women were shifting for themselves ; 
 some stumbling and weary, some trudging bravely 
 onward to success, buoyed through their difficulties 
 by the consciousness of work well done. In this 
 army of workers she would gladly have enlisted 
 had she only known how. 
 
 Meanwhile, Christmas was at their doors. In 
 Frau Lange's house the preparations for it were 
 elaborate and economical. The only approach 
 to a feast promised to be the supper on Christmas 
 Eve, when Herr Hansen would be with them. 
 For this meal Frau Lange screwed herself up 
 to an unusual outlay. She admitted to her 
 nieces that he had practically invited himself, 
 to her surprise. She explained to them that 
 Germans like to spend Christmas Eve in the 
 bosom of their families. In her opinion, his 
 action was tantamount to a declaration that he 
 regarded her house as his home. 
 
 ' But he has two homes of his own,' objected 
 Nell.
 
 272 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 'A bachelor may have twenty houses, but he 
 can't have a home,' retorted Aunt Bertha. ' Home 
 means affection, peace, comfort, order. How can 
 a man have those without a wife ? ' 
 
 ' I suppose they are not a matter of course 
 with a wife.' 
 
 ' With a German wife they are,' said Aunt 
 Bertha. 
 
 On Christmas Eve, after a long bustling day, 
 the Freres descended to the best room to 
 wait for the expected guest. Whether every- 
 thing stood in order yet they did not know. 
 There had been fuss enough to prepare for 
 an army. Even Mrs. Frere had been pressed 
 into her sister-in-law's service, and requested 
 to rub up some plate seldom brought out for 
 use. Hilary had found her feebly trying to do 
 it, and had taken it indignantly away. Her 
 own arm ached with whipping eggs for a cake, 
 but she managed to polish the plate, and with 
 Nell's help to make their own beds and put 
 their own room in order. Auguste could never 
 be spared nowadays to perform any service for 
 them. The girls lived in expectation of being 
 asked to clean out their own stove and black 
 their own boots. They would both have been glad 
 enough to help in a well -managed, well-behaved 
 household, but from Aunt Bertha's kitchen they 
 always came up tired and disgusted. To-day, 
 it had been worse than usual, they told Mrs. 
 Frere ; for the first time their aunt had stamped 
 her feet and shaken her fists at them as well as 
 at Auguste. Nell had spoilt an egg by failing
 
 CHRISTMAS WITH AUNT BERTHA 273 
 
 to separate the white from the yolk. Hilary 
 had not known how to core whole apples. Such 
 good-for-nothing girls had never cumbered the 
 earth. They were sent from the kitchen to dust 
 the best room ; chivied from there to the upper 
 floor ; asked to come down in a hurry and trim 
 the tree ; sent out in a snowstorm to buy six- 
 penny worth of wax candles ; abused in high 
 German and low German because they showed 
 some surprise when they heard that no meal 
 would be served that day at the usual dinner 
 time. Early in the afternoon Nell revolted and 
 went out for a walk by herself. Hilary stayed 
 behind and trimmed the tree. Nothing had been 
 bought for it but the cheapest of sweetmeats, 
 and gilded nuts and apples, but, in Hilary's 
 opinion, that heightened its charm. It looked, 
 when it was finished, like a tree in a picture to 
 a German fairy tale. If her aunt could have 
 left her alone she would have enjoyed getting 
 it ready. 
 
 Mrs. Frere dressed and went downstairs on 
 Christmas Eve, although she felt hardly well 
 enough to do so. It was the first time she had 
 left her bedroom since the day of Dick's visit. 
 Her daughters hovered about her with extra wraps, 
 in mortal fear of draughts. When they reached 
 the first - floor landing they encountered Frau 
 Lange in her war paint, a black silk skirt 
 trimmed with dabby lace, and a velvet bodice 
 that would hardly contain her. She preceded 
 them into the best room, and, as she threw 
 open the door, gave vent to a shout that pre- 
 
 18
 
 274 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 saged an uncomfortable quarter of an hour. 
 Auguste had lighted the lamps some time ago, 
 turned them up high, and never looked at them 
 since. Of course they had filled the air with 
 smoke, and poisoned it with the stench of burnt 
 petroleum, while a fine black soot had settled on 
 everything in the room. The windows had to 
 be thrown open before any one could see or 
 breathe there, and then Frau Lange found that 
 the floor, the furniture, the very walls were 
 coated with black dust. Her wrath rose to 
 the occasion. Mrs. Frere fled before it, confused 
 by the noise. The girls helped to set things 
 to rights again. Auguste sat on the floor and 
 howled. 
 
 Hilary proposed that they should give up the 
 use of this room for the evening, and sit in the 
 small one opening out of it ; but her aunt did 
 not accept the suggestion. The unlighted tree and 
 all the Christmas presents were there, and it was 
 quite impossible to open the doors until Herr 
 Hansen arrived. When Mrs. Frere came down- 
 stairs again she unfortunately made the same 
 proposal. 
 
 'What your daughters say matters nothing,' 
 explained Frau Lange ; ' but you are as much a 
 German as I am, and will never be anything else. 
 I agree with the Emperor people who do not 
 like Germany had better go out of it. What 
 would Herr Hansen think if we lighted our tree 
 before he came ? I am sure he would say, " My 
 dear old friend, Frau Lange, has lost her manners 
 since those barbarous English arrived." When
 
 CHRISTMAS WITH AUNT BERTHA 275 
 
 he comes we shall sit still, and have a little con- 
 versation and a cup of coffee, and when the clock 
 strikes eight we shall celebrate Christmas. In 
 my letter to him I put it in an amusing way 
 a woman should always write with esprit, I 
 said we should have coffee at seven, a Christmas 
 tree at eight, and a roast goose at nine ; afterwards 
 music. That is my programme, and in my own 
 house I suppose I may keep to it.' 
 
 While Frau Lange held forth, she paced up 
 and down the room with a duster in her hand, 
 and every now and then she stopped speaking 
 while she removed the soot from a vase, a picture, 
 or an imitation palm. The worst lines in her face 
 showed plainly this evening. She had been too 
 angry to smooth down in a hurry, nor did her 
 heightened colour fade away before Herr Hansen 
 came. When he arrived he had a large formal 
 bouquet in his hand, which he presented to his 
 hostess. Auguste followed him with an immense 
 round parcel ; this he presented to Mrs. Frere. 
 It contained a cake of Liibeck Marzipan, about 
 eighteen inches in diameter, and piled high with 
 fruit made of the famous almond paste and 
 coloured like life. Frau Lange did not look much 
 pleased. The Marzipan must have cost ten times 
 as much as the flowers. However, she told Herr 
 Hansen that she felt flattered at receiving flowers 
 instead of a costly present, because it showed that 
 he appreciated her delicacy of character. She 
 valued a gift for the giver's sake, and not on 
 account of the coins paid out for it. Herr 
 Hansen would not refuse a cup of coffee. She
 
 276 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 could assure him she bought her coffee at the 
 best shop in Hamburg. 
 
 Herr Hansen took the cup she offered him, and 
 with some difficulty carried it safely to his lips 
 in the excess of her hospitality she had filled it 
 to overflowing. She had served him first, and 
 then Mrs. Frere. When she had poured out 
 some for her nieces she signed to them to fetch 
 their own cups, but as they rose she pointed to 
 several plates with little cakes, and asked them 
 why they had not long ago handed these to Herr 
 Hansen. Young girls, she said, should always be 
 prompt and serviceable. The young girls in 
 question took up the cakes and offered them first 
 to their mother. Herr Hansen rose from his 
 chair with the intention of helping hinself, but 
 his hostess waved him away. 
 
 ' Sit down, my dear friend, sit down,' she cried. 
 ' Allow my guest to wait on himself when there are 
 two young girls in the room ! we have not come 
 to that yet, I am thankful to say. We women 
 still know our place. We are happy to serve men 
 we honour. Allow me to present you with a 
 home-made honey cake, Herr Hansen. I baked 
 them myself, so I know what is in them.' 
 
 Herr Hansen took a honey cake, but he turned 
 to Mrs Frere and engaged her in conversation. 
 The girls thought he did not treat Frau Lange as 
 if he considered her a 'dear old friend.' He 
 looked at her as if he rather wondered whether 
 she would bite, and his manner to her was one of 
 polite and dignified endurance. A little before 
 eight she disappeared from the room, but no one
 
 CHRISTMAS WITH AUNT BERTHA 277 
 
 could mistake her whereabouts, because she had 
 occasion to express her opinion of Auguste on 
 the other side of the folding-doors. When these 
 were thrown open, the Christmas tree, blazing with 
 the combined light of a shilling's worth of wax 
 candles, met the view of her guests. Frau Lange 
 stood near it and awaited their approach. 
 
 ' Did you ever see a Christmas tree before ? ' 
 said Herr Hansen to Nell. 
 
 ' I never saw one like this,' said Nell, enigmat- 
 ically. 
 
 The usual interchange of presents followed. 
 Mrs. Frere, in response to several unmistakable 
 hints, had bought her sister-in-law a handsome 
 tapestry table-cloth. Frau Lange accepted it 
 graciously, although she pointed out that the 
 colours did not quite match with her carpet and 
 curtains. But, she admitted in an aside to Herr 
 Hansen, she was exceptionally fastidious. She 
 was born with right feeling for colour. Herr 
 Hansen said he had proof of this in the cigar case 
 she had embroidered for him. The girls stared 
 ruefully at their aunt's gifts to them two clumsily- 
 shaped tippets of the cheapest, most ragged-look- 
 ing fur. Mrs. Frere had to thank Frau Lange for 
 a shawl, which was striped like a zebra and rather 
 thin. Hilary thought her aunt must be one of 
 those people who purchase what no one else will 
 such things as you see in shops, with wonder that 
 any one can be found to carry them away. 
 
 When the five grown-up people had stood 
 about near the tree for a quarter of an hour 
 four of them felt inclined to sit down again in
 
 278 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 the larger room. The two girls strolled back 
 there first of all, and by doing so gave offence to 
 Frau Lange. 
 
 ' In my opinion,' she said to Herr Hansen, 
 'young girls should be like lambs in spring, 
 always ready to frisk and caper. My sisters and 
 I used to dance round the Christmas tree and 
 sing songs ; and the poetry we wrote on an 
 occasion like the present ! My verses always 
 brought tears to the eyes. My youngest sister had 
 a different talent. She made puns and jokes, 
 most witty jokes, I assure you ; but my nieces can 
 do nothing. It is as if they had received no 
 education at all. You may exert yourself in the 
 highest degree to provide them a pleasure, and they 
 hardly trouble themselves to look at it. I am 
 grieved to see young people so blasirt. I think, 
 Helene, that one of your children might have 
 composed a poem to present with your table- 
 cloth, just as an expression of gratitude. It 
 would have cost them nothing but a little ink and 
 paper.' 
 
 ' We never thought of it,' said Mrs. Frere 
 regretfully. ' Hilary is very fond of reading 
 poetry, but I have never known her write it' 
 
 ' That is just what I say,' answered Frau 
 Lange ; ' they won't do anything that takes 
 trouble. I don't know what you spent on their 
 education, but the results are very poor, very 
 poor indeed.' 
 
 Mrs. Frere sighed and joined her daughters. She 
 did not know how she could put her sister-in-law 
 in the wrong, but she wished it was possible. Un-
 
 CHRISTMAS WITH AUNT BERTHA 279 
 
 fortunately, the girls did seem out of spirits this 
 evening. Their aunt had ruffled them all day, 
 and all day memories of many a happy Christmas 
 had floated across their minds in melancholy 
 contrast with the present one. Last year their 
 father had lived and loved them. 
 
 Herr Hansen must have guessed at this, 
 because, about half an hour later, when Frau 
 Lange left the room, presumably, as Nell said to 
 her mother, to baste the roast goose, he followed 
 Hilary into the smaller room and said to 
 her: 
 
 ' Last Christmas my dear mother was still alive. 
 It is the same with you. A year ago your father 
 lived still. I had many invitations for to-night. 
 I did not know where to go. Then I remembered 
 that you, too, would be sad and not merry, so I 
 came here.' 
 
 ' I have been wondering all the evening why 
 you came . . . here! said Hilary. 
 
 They were hidden by the tree from the eyes of 
 Mrs. Frere and Nell in the other room, and their 
 voices were covered by the twang of Nell's banjo. 
 She had begun to strum the accompaniment of 
 an old song for which her mother had asked, and 
 which she had half forgotten. The melody and 
 the words came back to her in snatches. 
 
 Hilary had not expected Herr Hansen to 
 follow her. She had left him on the sofa next to 
 her mother when she sauntered back towards the 
 tree without purpose. As she approached it she 
 thought she would look at her hideous fur tippet 
 again, and perhaps try it on. It still lay on a
 
 28o THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 table behind the tree. Herr Hansen must have 
 got up deliberately to join her here. 
 
 ' I can take care of myself/ he continued in a 
 musing tone. ' My trouble is of the soul only ; 
 but you, and your sister, and your mother you 
 look ill. You are not happy here, I am sure.' 
 
 Hilary hardly knew what to reply. Herr 
 Hansen looked at her out of his kind honest eyes, 
 and said in a persuasive voice : 
 
 ' Perhaps you have changed your mind.' 
 
 The girl began to understand what was 
 coming, and the sudden sight of it took her 
 breath away. This very moment, without warning, 
 without time to think, good fortune danced her 
 way again. 
 
 ' Have you ever considered what I said to you 
 in London ? ' resumed Herr Hansen. ' Do you 
 remember it ? ' 
 
 ' Oh ! yes, I remember,' said Hilary. She 
 heard Nell singing in the other room. She heard 
 her mother's voice when Nell halted. 
 
 ' Can you not give me another answer to- 
 day ? ' said Herr Hansen, with mild solemnity 
 ' Do you not see now that it is best to rnarry ? 
 I should take care of your mother and sister as 
 well as of you.' 
 
 ' I believe my mother is dying,' cried Hilary 
 from the depths of her misery ; ' and Nell looks 
 like a ghost.' 
 
 ' I know. I saw Mrs. Theodore, and she 
 told me about young Preston. A contemptible 
 fellow ! ' 
 
 ' He is going to marry for money.'
 
 CHRISTMAS WITH AUNT BERTHA 281 
 
 ' Yes ; after showing the whole world that he 
 loves your sister. It is contemptible.' 
 
 'Yes, it is,' agreed Hilary. 
 
 ' He should have waited and worked.' 
 
 'Yes.' 
 
 Herr Hansen looked at the girl anxiously. 
 Her eyes and voice were dreamy, and she seemed 
 to answer her own thoughts rather than his 
 spoken words. 
 
 ' It is different for women,' he continued ; 
 ' they cannot work.' 
 
 ' They can wait,' said Hilary with a blush. 
 She felt as if she had made a full confession. 
 
 ' Even that is not always convenient.' 
 
 ' I cannot agree with you, Herr Hansen. 
 What holds good for a man holds good for a 
 woman. To marry for money is, as you say . . . 
 contemptible. At least it would be for me. ' 
 
 ' But we are very good friends. We get on 
 well together.' 
 
 'Oh! yes. But ' 
 
 ' I am sure that if you were my wife- 
 
 ' No, no/ interrupted Hilary, ' it is impossible.' 
 
 He saw that she meant what she said. 
 
 ' I think you are wrong,' he urged. 
 
 She shook her head. 
 
 ' I am right. If I said Yes you would be 
 entitled to think of me as you do of Arthur 
 Preston.' 
 
 ' My dear child,' said Herr Hansen affection- 
 ately, 'the cases are different. A young girl 
 soon learns to love her husband. I want to take 
 care of you. It grieves me to see you here.
 
 282 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 For your mother's sake you should come to 
 me.' 
 
 ' Oh ! don't say that,' cried Hilary. 
 
 In the silence that followed he watched her 
 wrestle with this idea. Finally she lifted her eyes 
 and looked at him again. 
 
 ' I cannot,' she said. 
 
 He did not speak, but she saw his face fall. 
 Nell's song went gaily in the outer room. Hilary's 
 spirits were not raised by it. She began to think 
 of all she had thrust from her, to wonder whether 
 there was any one on earth who would not call 
 her an arrant fool. Possibly Dick would approve, 
 but even of him she could not feel quite sure. 
 On the brink of ruin she had refused prosperity, 
 had let good fortune pass her by. To-morrow 
 despair might come and find her unprotected. 
 How difficult sometimes to know the nearest 
 duty. Ought she to have acted for her mother's 
 comfort instead of for herself? Henceforward it 
 would be more terrible than ever to see her 
 mother want. What would become of them 
 now? 
 
 ' Where is Herr Hansen ? ' cried Frau Lange, 
 dashing noisily into the larger room. ' Supper is 
 quite ready ; but imagine, Helene, when I went 
 down twenty minutes ago I found the goose 
 dished up already and getting cold. With that 
 girl my eyes have to be everywhere at once. 
 Herr Hansen, allow me to show you the way 
 upstairs to the dining-room. You have seen the 
 lights in my house before, but you have never 
 been in the dining-room. You must not expect
 
 28 3 
 
 too much. My aim is to have everything plain 
 and good. I do not care for display. My nieces 
 wished to put flowers on the table, but I would 
 not allow it. I go in the garden when I want 
 flowers, and to the dining-room when I am hungry. 
 It appears to me that a roast goose and a white 
 camellia do not suit each other.'
 
 XVIII 
 NEW YEAR'S EVE 
 
 NOTHING annoyed Frau Lange more than to be 
 omitted from any invitation addressed to her 
 relatives and guests. The Werners always gave 
 offence in this way. They were evidently deter- 
 mined not to accept her. Frau Werner had 
 never yet been inside the house. She had 
 returned Mrs. Frere's visit, and refused to go in 
 when she heard that the English ladies were not 
 at home. She had left one of her own cards and 
 one of her husband's for Mrs. Frere. Frau Lange 
 considered this behaviour most impertinent. She 
 said so much about it that Nell threatened to 
 frame the two cards and present them to her. But 
 every civility shown to them sent up the domestic 
 storm-signals. Frau Lange was one of those 
 curious people who hanker after society while they 
 do nothing to gain a welcome in any section of it. 
 
 The invitation for New Year's Eve had arrived 
 in due course. Frau Werner asked Mrs. Frere 
 and her two daughters. 
 
 ' I cannot go out at night,' Mrs Frere said. 
 
 ' Shall we refuse ? ' suggested Hilary. ' Then 
 we need say nothing about it to Aunt Bertha.'
 
 NEW YEAR'S EVE 285 
 
 But Nell seemed inclined to accept, and when 
 Mrs. Frere noticed this she insisted that the two 
 girls should go by themselves. They would have 
 to drive back in a cab, and that would cost a good 
 deal, but a little cheerful society would do Nell 
 all the good in the world. So the invitation was 
 accepted, but Aunt Bertha did not hear of it 
 directly because, with one accord, her guests put 
 off the unpleasant task of telling her. At last, 
 when the day itself arrived, she led up to the 
 subject. She expressed a hope that the whole 
 household would follow her example and go to 
 bed, as usual, that night, at ten o'clock. 
 
 ' We cannot,' said Hilary. ' We have promised 
 to spend the evening at the Werners.' 
 
 'When? How? Why was I not told? It 
 is quite impossible unless you sleep there. You 
 must certainly sleep there.' 
 
 ' We have not been asked to do so/ said 
 Hilary. 
 
 ' Of course not. If there is any discomfort or 
 inconvenience it must fall on me. Who do you 
 suppose is going to sit up half the night and let 
 you in ? ' 
 
 ' No one need ; we can take a key.' 
 
 That remark hurried on the explosion bound to 
 come. It scandalised Aunt Bertha. Was she to 
 leave the front door unbolted, and be murdered 
 in her bed ? not while the house belonged to 
 her. Nor could she allow two young girls to 
 shelter under her decorous roof after running 
 about Hamburg, at midnight, on New Year's Eve. 
 She supposed they meant to walk home ? They
 
 286 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 did not contemplate spending, no one knew what, 
 on a cab, when it was very doubtful whether they 
 had enough in their pockets for the doctor's bill ? 
 They did contemplate that preposterous piece of 
 extravagance ? Then she had nothing more to 
 say. Auguste should certainly sit up for them ; 
 the key she refused altogether. It did not 
 matter much, as it was only for once. Next New 
 Year's Eve would see them all in the workhouse. 
 Charity and good nature had its limits. She 
 had given her sister-in-law the most generous of 
 welcomes, but she could not for ever harbour three 
 people incapable of thrift, of effort, or even of 
 gratitude. Besides, by next year her circumstances 
 might have greatly altered, and even if they were 
 far more affluent her power of hospitality would 
 be circumscribed. At present she felt free to give 
 her liberal impulses full scope, but if ever she 
 had another person's comfort to consider, she 
 might be obliged to stifle her natural bent, which 
 was all towards open-handedness and benevolence. 
 Hilary hardly listened, and made no reply. 
 In her aunt's reproaches there was a grain of 
 truth more painful than all the silly fault-finding 
 with which she wearied their ears. Mrs. Frere 
 and Nell were incapable of thrift, and the con- 
 sequences of their folly fell with equal force on 
 the three women so closely connected by habit 
 and affection. Hilary could not separate herself 
 from her mother and sister, and bid them hurry 
 to the workhouse if they would, while she toiled 
 arduously, honourably upward. She meant, in- 
 deed, to set to work somewhere, somehow, directly
 
 NEW YEARS EVE 287 
 
 she got the chance ; but how to get it still 
 perplexed her, was still an unsolved problem. 
 The working world pictured itself in her mind as 
 a crowd, from which she was relentlessly shut 
 out, and to force an entry grit and time and 
 knowledge would be required. She had neither 
 time nor knowledge, and there were dark hours 
 in which her present idleness looked like want of 
 grit. By now she should have found some one 
 in Hamburg to pay her for something she could 
 do. Where were the children she might have 
 taught ? the invalid lady she could have tended ? 
 the counter behind which she ought to serve ? 
 or was there, in England, any more inviting career 
 for which her training fitted her? And so her 
 thoughts travelled on the old round again, and 
 halted as usual at her own absurd incompetence. 
 
 The discomfort caused by Frau Lange's un- 
 bearable temper reached a climax on this, the last 
 day of the year. After the second breakfast Nell 
 rushed out in a storm of wind and rain to escape 
 from it, and wild as the weather was Hilary felt 
 relieved to see her go. She dreaded an outbreak 
 that would drive them from the only roof willing 
 to afford them a shelter. It was very unheroic, 
 she knew to be anxious for a longer sojourn in 
 conditions so sordid, so ignoble ; but their little 
 store of money would melt still more quickly in 
 lodgings than it did here. Besides, Mrs. Frere 
 was unfit both for a sudden removal into rougher 
 quarters or for the agitation of a real breach with 
 her sister-in-law. That it might come to this if 
 Nell lost her temper there could be no doubt.
 
 288 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 They lived on the thinnest ice, and to step with 
 unceasing self-restraint and care often seemed 
 too much for the girl's shaken nerves, for her 
 embittered spirit. Once or twice, of late, she had 
 started up from table in the midst of a meal and 
 fled from the room, leaving Hilary to make any 
 excuse she could. She turned white and angry 
 at the mere sound of her aunt's scolding voice ; 
 she told Hilary she understood the impulse to 
 hurl what is handy at an enemy. 
 
 When people live together in discord, the 
 merest trifle will hurry on the threatening crash. 
 When the foundations are rotten one gust will help 
 the house to fall. At a later date it suited Frau 
 Lange to say that she had lived with her relatives 
 in peace and friendship, and that it was a great 
 shock to her to discover how unhappy they pro- 
 fessed to have been under her roof. But, of course, 
 this was not true. For many weeks every hour 
 had tightened the strain, every meeting made 
 matters a little worse. Daily companions cannot 
 find each other insupportable and remain ignorant 
 of the fact. It must, at any rate, have been 
 plain to such a vain and touchy woman as Frau 
 Lange. When she said she had not perceived it 
 she lied. 
 
 Nell came in rather late in the afternoon, 
 and went to the bedroom to rest before dressing. 
 Outside the rain fell in torrents, melting ice and 
 snow into slush. The country roads were ankle- 
 deep in mud, the woods had been almost impass- 
 able. The girl's clothes were certainly in a shock- 
 ing state. Her skirt fell to the ground with a
 
 NEW YEAR'S EVE 289 
 
 swish when she unfastened it, her hands were black 
 before she got her boots off ; she wrung rain-water 
 from her hair. Mrs. Frere pressed her to take 
 quinine, and so stave off a cold. Hilary helped 
 her into a dressing-gown, and picked up the 
 muddy frock in dismay. Would it ever look clean 
 and tidy again ? 
 
 ' Poor people ought never to go out in bad 
 weather,' she said, half in fun. ' Mud, like every- 
 thing else, costs money. You have ruined this 
 gown.' 
 
 Nell hardly answered ; at the moment she was 
 struggling with her boots. Then, being dry-shod 
 again, she began to brush her hair. It soon 
 separated into little rings and curls, as becoming 
 to her as a mane to a lion. It seemed a pity that 
 she should ever twist and pin it into a smaller 
 space. Hilary offered to try and arrange it in 
 the fashionable Hamburg style, which was more 
 elaborate and artificial than the London one, but 
 which Hamburg people naturally thought more 
 becoming. The girls were still debating the 
 question, aided by advice from Mrs. Frere, who 
 said it was always wise to be a Roman in Rome, 
 when one of the doors was violently opened and 
 Frau Lange appeared in a rage. 
 
 It seemed that Nell had not wiped her boots 
 sufficiently, or not held her skirts high enough ; 
 at any rate, on her way from the front door she 
 had left marks of mud upon the uncarpeted stairs. 
 Frau Lange said that Auguste was busy, and that 
 her niece must at once remove them. She had 
 brought a wet grimy-looking rag for the purpose, 
 
 19
 
 290 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 and this she threw towards Nell. It would hardly 
 be an exaggeration to say that she threw it at 
 her. It fell on the floor close to the girl's feet ; 
 she kicked it a little way from her with a grimace 
 and an exclamation of disgust Her aunt told 
 her to pick it up quickly, but Nell did not stir. 
 Frau Lange then turned to her sister-in-law. 
 
 ' Why don't you speak to this insolent girl and 
 tell her to obey me. They would not behave as 
 they do if you did not encourage them. You 
 should see the mess she has made. Auguste 
 washed the stairs this very morning, and used a 
 whole piece of soap. Soap is expensive, I can 
 assure you ; if you had to buy it you would find 
 it out.' 
 
 'Nell, darling,' began Mrs. Frere feebly, but 
 her daughter's expression checked her. ' They 
 never did such things at home,' she said, in a tone 
 of apology, to Frau Lange. ' You must make 
 allowance for the customs of another country.' 
 
 ' It is not that,' said Hilary, forgetting her 
 prudent anxiety to keep the peace. ' Aunt Bertha 
 
 speaks in such a way ' She did not finish, but 
 
 her eyes flashed with anger. 
 
 A battle royal ensued. Frau Lange said that, 
 in her own house, she supposed she might speak 
 as she pleased ; but her nieces rejoined that, in 
 their opinion, some decency of behaviour was due 
 even to guests. They had stayed too long in the 
 house to be considered guests ? Then did Aunt 
 Bertha mean that she felt free to insult and ill- 
 treat them on that account ; because if these were 
 her views they had better depart to-morrow.
 
 NEW YEAR'S EVE 291 
 
 They quite believed that she counted the hours 
 until they rid her of their presence. In fact, 
 if they might say so, her behaviour had some- 
 times led them to suspect as much. What had 
 they to complain of? Oh ! but they did not 
 complain. She could see for herself that the 
 joint household did not succeed very well. Yes, 
 it would be difficult no doubt to find her match 
 for generosity and peaceableness ; but then they 
 must put up with something inferior. 
 
 Frau Lange said that she had opened her doors 
 to them when their own home broke in pieces ; for 
 several weeks she had sheltered and fed them out 
 of her own pocket ; the sum they paid her now 
 for board hardly covered half her weeks' bills. 
 She protested, she swore, she wished she might 
 die if she profited a penny a month by them. 
 But it would be easy to ruin herself for their sakes, 
 and yet not reap a word or a look of thanks. 
 That was what upset her. They could not deny 
 that nothing pleased them ; and she, on the other 
 hand, would confess to any one who asked her 
 that she had never seen girls so entirely spoiled 
 and useless. When she thought of their future 
 she wept. She could not forget that Helene and 
 her beloved husband had been brother and sister. 
 She wished her heart was less tender, but she was 
 as God had made her, and some people were born 
 to suffer. She would now go and wash down the 
 stairs with the cloth her niece refused to touch. 
 She was fifty years old, and rheumatic, but she 
 would rather her back ached all night than go to 
 bed in a dirty house. She took no particular
 
 292 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 credit to herself for acting in this way ; she only 
 felt grateful to her elders for having brought her 
 up so well. 
 
 The girls knew by experience that their aunt's 
 fits of fury were soon exhausted, and were always 
 followed by a lachrymose mood, in which she talked 
 of her own kind heart and wished to patch up the 
 breach she had made a few minutes earlier. 
 Twenty-four hours hardly passed without some 
 scene of the kind. They were both sick to death 
 of them. By this time they knew the truce never 
 lasted long. They watched Frau Lange stoop 
 stiffly for the rag, and with a face that was still 
 very red and angry leave the room. Hilary 
 hesitated a moment and then followed her. She 
 thought that if this disagreeable piece of work 
 must really be done she would not let the older 
 woman do it. She had made her protest. But 
 she found that while her aunt scolded, Auguste had 
 removed every speck of mud to be seen. Frau 
 Lange looked at the spotless, painted stairs in 
 disappointment. 
 
 ' The impertinent girl ! ' she cried ; ' I shall give 
 her notice at once.' 
 
 Hilary went back to the bedroom and shut the 
 door. She found her mother anxious and unhinged. 
 Mrs. Frere asked what would become of them now. 
 A serious quarrel with their aunt was a new 
 misfortune. She did not blame the girls ; she 
 admitted that they had cause for exasperation, but 
 she had evidently made up her mind that this breach, 
 like many earlier smaller ones, must be patched up. 
 She thought she would make peace overtures that
 
 NEW YEAR'S EVE 293 
 
 very evening, and she wished the girls would dress 
 themselves and go. She could not sleep without 
 some guarantee that they would not be turned out 
 of doors twenty-four hours hence. Of course they 
 might go into lodgings, but if they did Hilary must 
 promise not to worry over necessary expenses. 
 Mrs. Frere did not like the idea of a move though. 
 She did not know how one could be undertaken 
 immediately, as she had hardly any money in the 
 house. She must write to London for more next 
 day. Hilary sighed and turned silent when her 
 mother said this. Every inroad made on their 
 little fund cost her a pang. 
 
 The girls went into Hamburg by a crowded 
 tramcar, and did not talk much to each other on 
 the way. It cost them a considerable effort to 
 start at all. They were not in the humour for a 
 frolic ; but directly they entered Frau Werner's 
 large well-lighted room they felt better. Kindly 
 faces greeted them, kindly voices made them 
 welcome. The whole family had gathered there, 
 and some intimate friends. Two or three of the 
 older ladies expressed great disappointment at not 
 seeing Mrs. Frere. One had been her school- 
 fellow, another had been confirmed on the same 
 day, a third discovered that Nell's figure was just 
 what her mother's used to be thirty years ago. 
 For a little while the girls found themselves the 
 centre of attention, comment, and discussion. 
 They knew now how to dress for such an occa- 
 sion as this, and wore high black woollen 
 gowns, and gloves. Nell had pinned a little 
 sprig of holly berries at her throat, a touch of
 
 294 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 coquetry that was not allowed to pass without 
 remark. 
 
 A very good idea, eccentric but pleasing. 
 Why had her sister not done likewise? Their 
 mother had always shown great taste in dress. 
 Her daughters had not inherited her brilliant 
 complexion ; or were their pale faces the effect of 
 London air? Had they not been very glad to 
 exchange London for Hamburg ? Did they not 
 find German life very easy, very comfortable ? 
 But they spoke German with an English accent. 
 What a pity. Surely their mother never spoke 
 English to them ? Always ! What a sin. Why 
 did she ? German is a much finer language not 
 so mixed ; and so easy to pronounce and spell. 
 Could they understand everything that was said to 
 them ? Could they read a simple book ? 
 
 Hilary, who knew her Goethe better than any 
 German she had yet met, said, Yes, she could read 
 a simple book. 
 
 The arrival of Herr Hansen diverted public 
 attention from her for a time, and she sat down near 
 one of the windows, where Olga Werner soon joined 
 her. 
 
 ' I have never met you on the ice again,' said 
 the girl. 
 
 ' I have not skated once since that afternoon 
 before Christmas,' said Hilary. 
 
 ' It was you Mr. Lorimer had gone to see. I 
 did not know until he told me in the theatre.' 
 
 ' He came again next day. We saw him then.' 
 
 ' He is going to New York very soon.' 
 
 ' Not yet. He has altered his plans.'
 
 NEW YEAR'S EVE 295 
 
 ' How do you know ? ' 
 
 ' I had a letter from him the other day.' 
 
 Olga looked at her with more surprise than 
 pleasure. 
 
 ' My mother would not let me receive letters 
 from Mr. Lorimer unless I was engaged to him/ 
 she said. 
 
 ' I suppose not,' said Hilary. 
 
 ' Is it different in England, then ? Do you 
 correspond with all the young men you know, 
 though you are not betrothed to them ? ' 
 
 Hilary reflected a little before she replied. 
 
 ' I do not correspond with any young man but 
 Mr. Lorimer,' she said after a pause. ' We are 
 very old friends. I am not betrothed to any one.' 
 
 ' Do you hope that you will marry an English- 
 man ? ' 
 
 Again Hilary did not answer at once. The 
 child's downright questions perplexed her. 
 
 ' I hope I shall,' continued Olga. 
 
 ' It is not likely, I suppose,' said Hilary, glad to 
 evade the inquiry that concerned herself. 
 
 ' Why ? My cousin Pauline married one. She 
 is very happy.' 
 
 ' Oh ! no doubt,' said Hilary. 
 
 ' My mother does not approve of foreigners. 
 I prefer them,' said Olga with a little sigh. 
 
 Just then an invitation reached Hilary to join 
 in a new round game at the other end of the 
 room, and she had to comply. While she talked 
 she had watched the company separate into two 
 groups and settle down to their amusements. 
 The men took possession of the card-tables, and
 
 296 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 with great contentment began to play Skat. The 
 women and a couple of schoolboys gathered 
 together and listened to Frau Werner while she 
 explained the new and diverting game of Nose- 
 rings. The preparation for it seemed to be 
 simple in the extreme, consisting only of a box 
 full of ordinary elastic rings and the printed 
 directions. 
 
 ' Each player,' said Frau Werner, ' must fix 
 one of the elastic rings firmly on his nose. 
 When this has been successfully accomplished the 
 leader gives the word, and all the players im- 
 mediately try to get the rings off again without 
 the aid of their hands. Roars of laughter will be 
 excited by the grimaces and contortions of the 
 players.' 
 
 Every one said it promised to be a most 
 entertaining game, and, to the astonishment of 
 Hilary and Nell, every one with cheerful good- 
 temper put a ring on her nose and proceeded to 
 make ridiculous efforts to get it off again. There 
 was no doubt about the laughter raised. It 
 disturbed the Skat- players, who stopped for a 
 moment between two rounds and looked on at 
 the grotesque spectacle. Nice faces and pretty 
 faces were twisted into unrecognisable shapes, like 
 carnival masks. Mouths gaped widely, eyes were 
 starting, noses and cheeks were strained and 
 wrinkled, yet no one seemed to think the diversion 
 undignified, and no one but the two English 
 girls objected to share in it. They did not like 
 to state their objections openly, so they cheated. 
 They put good-sized rings on the very tips of
 
 NEW YEAR'S EVE 297 
 
 their noses, and got them off again with the 
 minimum loss of self respect. 
 
 ' You never saw this played before ? ' said 
 Herr Hansen, who had given up his hand at 
 Skat to a newcomer, and seated himself at Nell's 
 elbow. 
 
 ' No,' said Nell. 
 
 ' It is quite a new game here,' said Olga 
 Werner. 
 
 ' Yes. You must not think it is one of our 
 national games,' said Herr Hansen, addressing 
 Nell again. He seemed rather shy of Hilary 
 to-night. 
 
 Nell answered with vivacity, and drew him 
 into a brisk conversation. When a new game 
 was proposed, and the players rearranged them- 
 selves, she got up and went to a window at some 
 little distance from every one else. Herr Hansen 
 followed her there. The rain had ceased, and a 
 watery moon shone down on the Alster. The 
 gaslights twinkled on either bank in city and 
 suburb. Everything near was dripping wet, and 
 at a little distance all outlines melted into the 
 mist. Hilary could see her sister's face when she 
 turned now and then towards Herr Hansen. Its 
 expression was not reassuring. The girl looked 
 excited and ill at ease. Many glances were 
 directed towards the window by Frau Werner and 
 her friends glances of surprise, and, after a time, 
 of displeasure. Hilary noticed with growing 
 uneasiness that her sister's behaviour evidently 
 gave offence, and, when the game allowed it, she 
 got up with the intention of somehow warning
 
 298 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 Nell ; but she was too late to do any good, as 
 supper was announced before she reached her 
 sister. Every one rose and went into the dining- 
 room. Hilary found a seat next to Olga Werner, 
 and when she looked at her opposite neighbours 
 she found that Herr Hansen and Nell were side 
 by side. She felt sure from Frau Werner's 
 manner that the arrangement did not com- 
 mend itself to her, but, of course, a hostess who 
 does not appoint her guests to seats cannot 
 expect them all to comply with her unspoken 
 wishes. 
 
 In Hamburg a gala supper is served in a 
 succession of courses, all hot, except the ice 
 that arrives towards the end. At Frau Werner's 
 house every dish was exquisitely cooked and 
 chosen to satisfy epicures. Herr Hansen said he 
 had not tasted such venison that winter, and yet 
 he knew that the same provision merchant served 
 his hostess and him. Herr Werner said that a 
 bachelor could not expect his food to be cooked 
 as if there was a lady in the house to superintend 
 details. Hansen must marry before the year was 
 out. A chorus of laughter greeted that impossible 
 recommendation, and the good-humoured host 
 amended it by saying that Hansen might betroth 
 himself in the old year and marry in the new. 
 He drank to Hansen's future bride. Herr 
 Hansen merely nodded and helped himself to 
 venison a second time. He seemed troubled by 
 his neighbour's small appetite, and when the dish 
 first came round Hilary saw him look for the 
 best slice and put it on Nell's plate. He also
 
 NEW YEAR'S EVE 299 
 
 filled her champagne glass the moment it was 
 empty, and entreated her not to let turkey with 
 truffles go by untried. They talked English to 
 each other, and did not join much in the general 
 conversation. 
 
 ' Your sister is rather pretty,' said Olga Werner, 
 as if this most obvious fact struck her to-night for 
 the first time. Hilary did not betray that she 
 thought the compliment clumsily put. She made 
 allowances for the young lady's imperfect English, 
 and also for a different standard of beauty from 
 her own. In Hamburg, most of Herr Hansen's 
 friends considered him an exceedingly fine-looking 
 man, elderly, of course, when compared with a 
 girl in her teens, but well preserved and plenty of 
 him. 
 
 Supper had been announced at eleven, and it 
 was now nearly midnight. The men began to 
 look at their watches. An immense bowl of hot 
 punch, aflame, like an English Christmas pudding, 
 was set before the host and ladled into little 
 glasses. The young people left their seats and 
 crowded in front of the four windows, which were 
 all on the same side of the room, and narrow. In 
 the expectant hush of the next few minutes no 
 one spoke above a whisper, and from the Jung- 
 fernstieg below came the sounds made by a great 
 expectant crowd. Some one near Hilary threw a 
 window open and she looked out. It seemed as 
 if the city had assembled there in tens of thousands. 
 As far as she could see, head to head, shoulder to 
 shoulder, men, women, and children stood packed 
 in a dense mob waiting for the church clocks and
 
 300 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 bells to ring in the new-born year. Even 
 amongst that vast multitude all noise subsided as 
 the moment they waited for drew near. Hilary 
 watched them, and it seemed as if, with one accord, 
 they held their breath. The first stroke from the 
 old Michaelisthurm sounded alone, with the 
 second it had company, all the clocks of Ham- 
 burg chimed in, and from thousands of her children 
 on the Jungfernstieg a shout went up of welcome 
 and good wishes. 
 
 In Frau Werner's dining-room thirty-five people 
 were doing just what thousands of their fellow- 
 citizens strove to do below. They shook hands 
 all round, and said, Prosit Neujahr to every one 
 in turn. The men and boys leaned out of the 
 windows now and again and exchanged congratula- 
 tions with the mob. Hilary felt loth to turn her 
 head indoors, but she, too, had to shake hands with 
 each individual present, and both offer and receive 
 congratulations twenty or thirty times. It was 
 quite bewildering. Half an hour later most of 
 Frau Werner's guests had followed her back into 
 the drawing-room, and when Hilary arrived there 
 she looked round at once for Nell. It was time 
 for them to bid good-bye. 
 
 ' Where can my sister be ? ' she said to Olga 
 Werner. 
 
 Her question seemed to cause a general silence, 
 and she felt at once that something had gone 
 wrong. She looked round for Herr Hansen and 
 missed him too. She looked at Frau Werner's 
 face and saw it stiff with displeasure. Every one 
 stared at her and no one spoke. Hilary did not
 
 NEW YEAR'S EVE 301 
 
 know what to do. She took a step back towards 
 the dining-room, but she had left it a moment 
 since, and she had seen that Nell was not 
 there. 
 
 ' Have you seen my sister ? ' she said again to 
 Olga Werner. 
 
 The girl looked distressed and still kept silence, 
 but Frau Werner said, in a voice that bristled 
 with annoyance : 
 
 ' Your sister has left the house with Herr 
 Hansen. We have no idea where they have 
 gone.' 
 
 Hilary's amazement and vexation did not know 
 how to find expression. She turned very white, 
 because she wondered whether her sister's escapade 
 would be considered disreputable or merely silly 
 and ill-behaved. Her impulse was to defend Nell 
 as well as she could by pretending to treat it as 
 unimportant. 
 
 ' My sister had a bad headache,' she said. ' I 
 daresay she asked Herr Hansen to take her home.' 
 
 4 A very extraordinary thing for a young lady 
 to do,' said a sour-looking old spinster. 
 
 ' I am surprised at Herr Hansen,' said Frau 
 Martha, the least amiable of Frau Werner's 
 married daughters. ' He ought to have known 
 better.' 
 
 Hilary silently echoed this opinion. What had 
 Herr Hansen been about ? and ought she to go 
 home herself now, if only to show that she felt 
 certain of finding her sister there ? After all, any 
 explanation but the very simple one must be 
 impossible, and it was ridiculous to behave as if
 
 302 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 the heavens would fall because Nell had done 
 something unusual. If she had eloped with Herr 
 Hansen the Werners could hardly look more 
 scandalised. Hilary made up her mind to go 
 home. Every one else in the room had fallen a 
 little away from her by this time. The hostess 
 was surrounded by her departing guests. The 
 sour-visaged woman went off without bidding 
 Hilary good-bye. The two married daughters 
 shook hands stiffly, and did not repeat a general 
 invitation given earlier in the evening ; but they 
 were hardly two steps from her when they stopped 
 stone still with exclamations of surprise. There, 
 in the open doorway, stood the missing couple, 
 both looking solemn and elated as if they 
 had news to tell. Hilary rushed forward, and 
 then, just as she reached them, hung back. 
 Herr Hansen was saying something in a loud, 
 deliberate voice, and his words took her breath 
 away. 
 
 ' My friends,' he said rather gravely, ' you see 
 a Brautpaar before you. Congratulate us.' 
 
 It did not matter much during the next ten 
 minutes what Hilary thought or felt. She had 
 plenty of time to collect herself before the buzz of 
 surprise, inquiry, and congratulation subsided. Had 
 they gone out of doors on purpose to settle it ? 
 Why did Herr Hansen not confide in his host ? 
 There was a little breakfast-room at hand where 
 more than one young couple had made things up. 
 How far was Herr Werner's advice at supper 
 responsible for this ? When would the wedding 
 take place and where ? The young lady would have
 
 NEW YEAR'S EVE 303 
 
 a great deal to learn before undertaking to keep 
 house for a German husband. Of course she 
 would buy her outfit in Hamburg. She must get 
 her linen from that shop at the corner. Did she 
 like the notion of settling in Germany? Where 
 did they think of going for their wedding-journey ? 
 They must come back to the dining-room at once 
 and allow every one to drink to them in cham- 
 pagne. 
 
 ' Well, Hilary,' said Nell, catching her sister's 
 hand in her own icy cold one, ' have you noth- 
 ing to say to me ? ' 
 
 ' I don't know what to say,' stammered Hilary. 
 ' I am so surprised.' 
 
 For she saw no signs of happiness in Nell's 
 feverish manner, and when she looked at Herr 
 Hansen he avoided her eyes. Hilary felt puzzled 
 and astounded, and she heard an echo of her feel- 
 ings through the chorus of polite congratulation. 
 Frau Werner wished to behave kindly, but she 
 could not hide her sense of shock and doubt. It 
 is one thing to welcome the stranger within your 
 gates, and quite another to see her capture the 
 wealthiest bachelor you know. To the mother of 
 unmarried daughters such an event must needs be 
 trying. Besides, she was genuinely fond of Herr 
 Hansen, and she could not think his choice a 
 prudent one. This slip of a girl, this alien, would 
 not devote herself to him with German steadiness 
 and loyalty. Besides, she was incompetent. What 
 did she know of cooking, of linen-cupboards, of 
 sitting down for the day to accomplish invisible 
 darns. Tears rose in Frau Werner's eyes as she
 
 304 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 clinked glasses with the bridegroom ; but she 
 wished him well from her heart, and, as she kissed 
 Nell, she softened at the sight of the girl's white 
 face, and whispered a generous message of con- 
 gratulation to Mrs. Frere.
 
 XIX 
 
 POLTERABEND 
 
 ' I SPOKE to your aunt last night,' said Mrs. Frere 
 as soon as the girls were awake next morning. 
 ' She seems willing to let bygones be bygones, 
 which is all you could expect of a more amiable 
 woman. And you must remember that she did 
 not make herself ; besides, I find there is no doubt 
 about the sunstroke. I always suspected her of 
 wearing a wig, and last night I caught her without 
 it when I went into the sitting-room. I asked her 
 how it was, and she told me her hair had never 
 grown again since. She was quite ready to make 
 friends to a certain extent. I daresay she 
 finds us trying, just as we find her. She began 
 again about your skirt, Nell, but I pointed out that 
 a frost had been foretold, and that in dry weather 
 it could not happen.' 
 
 ' To manage Aunt Bertha sucessfully you want 
 great experience in managing children,' said Hilary, 
 who was wide-awake, and had listened rather 
 absently to what her mother said. 
 
 Nell sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. She 
 had not slept through the first part of the short
 
 306 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 night left to them, but towards morning she had 
 fallen into a heavy, dreamless doze. Her first 
 thought was that she had important news to tell. 
 
 ' I am not going to stay here much longer,' 
 she said. 
 
 ' Don't say that, my dear,' began her mother 
 anxiously. 
 
 ' I am going to be married, mother. I am 
 engaged to Herr Hansen.' 
 
 The announcement hardly reached Mrs. Frere's 
 understanding at first She looked at Nell and 
 saw that she was quite in earnest. She looked at 
 Hilary and saw that she did not smile. 
 
 ' But I always thought he came after Hilary,' 
 she stammered. 
 
 ' He is going to marry me,' said Nell. 
 
 ' You need not look so hard at me, mother,' 
 said Hilary. ' I am not distressed, at least not 
 on my own account.' 
 
 ' But it is the most extraordinary thing,' persisted 
 Mrs. Frere. ' He never took the least notice of 
 Nell hardly seemed to see her ; are you sure he 
 did not mistake you for Hilary, dear? Where 
 did he propose ? Was it in the dark ? But how 
 could it be at Frau Werner's house. What did 
 he say ? ' 
 
 ' He said he would come and see you this 
 afternoon, and ask your consent.' 
 
 ' I never was so much surprised in my life,' said 
 Mrs. Frere. 
 
 For the moment her pleasure seemed almost 
 lost in surprise. How had it come about ? Was 
 Nell herself not taken unawares ? What did the
 
 POLTERABEND 307 
 
 Werners say ? Surely they were amazed and con- 
 founded. Anna always talked as if no man could 
 look at any other girl when her daughters were 
 visible. Herr Hansen must have been very clever 
 to get his chance on such an occasion. He ought 
 really to have seen Nell's mother before he spoke, 
 but Mrs. Frere did not feel hurt. Of course he 
 knew that any mother would welcome him, and 
 that, in England, young folks manage such matters 
 for themselves. The girls would find out now how 
 delightful it was to be engaged to a German. He 
 would send his bride flowers every day, and she 
 must embroider his monogram on various articles 
 and present them to him. She might do one 
 with her own hair on a cigar case. It was difficult, 
 of course ; perhaps silk would be better at first. 
 They might go into Hamburg that afternoon and 
 buy things. Had they talked of their marriage 
 yet? Of course it could not take place until 
 Nell was out of mourning. 
 
 ' Why not ? ' said Nell. ' If Herr Hansen likes 
 it shall take place at once.' 
 
 ' But, my dear -' began her mother. 
 
 ' I want to get away from this house,' said the 
 girl. ' I mean to get away. If I don't marry Herr 
 Hansen I shall do something else. I will not 
 hang about here engaged to him for nearly a year. 
 I could not stand it.' 
 
 'I thought you were marrying him to escape 
 from Aunt Bertha,' said Hilary. ' It is not right. 
 You ought not to do it, Nell. It is not good 
 enough for him.' 
 
 ' He knows it,' said Nell.
 
 308 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 'I am very glad you are going to marry Herr 
 Hansen,' said Mrs. Frere, ' but I can't understand 
 why it is you and not Hilary, or what Hilary means 
 by saying you are not good enough for him. He 
 is rich, of course, but then you are young, and you 
 will get your looks back when you are happy and 
 well dressed again. I am sure Herr Hansen will 
 think he ought to wait though, however impatient 
 he may feel.' 
 
 ' You had better not urge it, mother, if you want 
 the marriage to come off,' said Nell. 
 
 The girl's tone, like her face, was almost grim. 
 She did not look any happier to-day than she had 
 done since her father's death ; and when she 
 dressed she only put on her tidiest black gown 
 because Mrs. Frere begged her to do so. 
 
 As the morning wore away the magnitude of 
 Nell's news seemed to Mrs. Frere more and more 
 real and delightful. Their position would be, in 
 all respects, altered by such a marriage, she main- 
 tained. Hilary could not quite see this. Her 
 mother and she would still be on the brink of 
 want. They could not live on Herr Hansen's 
 money. Mrs. Frere rather unwillingly admitted 
 this, but said at the same time that one fortunate 
 member in a family can always help the others, and 
 that Herr Hansen, being a German, would have a 
 deep regard for the claims of kin, especially as he 
 seemed to be a very lonely man himself. What 
 time did Nell expect him to arrive ? She must see 
 that the best sitting-room was warm and tidy. 
 What would Aunt Bertha say ? ' 
 
 ' What, indeed ? ' said Hilary with emphasis.
 
 POL TER ABEND 309 
 
 'You mean she wished to marry Herr Hansen 
 herself, but it is absurd. She must be ever so 
 much older. If she is disagreeable I shall tell 
 her that she is not the only person disappointed, 
 because I happen to know that Anna Werner 
 thought of him for her Olga. She was only 
 hesitating between him and Dick Lorimer.' 
 
 ' I am afraid Aunt Bertha may be disagree- 
 able,' said Hilary. 
 
 ' But it is quite ridiculous, my dear. Herr 
 Hansen only called at the house once a year 
 until we arrived, and, of course, at Christmas he 
 came after you after Nell, I mean.' 
 
 ' I wish to tell her myself/ said Nell, with a 
 vindictive note in her voice. 
 
 About three o'clock, when Frau Lange and 
 her guests were just sitting down to dinner, 
 Auguste announced Herr Hansen, and said that 
 she had shown him into the best room. The 
 mistress of the house looked fluttered at once. 
 
 ' Why has he come now ? How unlucky I 
 am. I meant to dress myself after the second 
 breakfast, and then I had to spend all the 
 morning in the kitchen makmg this Nudelsuppe. 
 He must really wait while I pop on my black 
 silk.' 
 
 ' Who did Herr Hansen ask for Auguste ? ' 
 said Nell. 
 
 ' For you, Fraiilein,' said the girl, looking at 
 her mistress with a scared face. 
 
 ' Go and tell him I will be down directly. 
 You need not put yourself out, Aunt Bertha. 
 Herr Hansen has come to see me.'
 
 310 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 Frau Lange looked angrily at her niece. 
 
 ' Nonsense,' she said. 
 
 ' He is very fond of me.' 
 
 ' You flatter yourself.' 
 
 Nell got up and went towards the door. 
 
 ' Come back, you impertinent girl,' shrieked 
 her aunt. ' I do not ask you to entertain my 
 visitors. I would not inflict any one so ill- 
 mannered on them.' 
 
 ' I suppose that when my Braiitigam calls on 
 me I may go and see him,' said Nell in a stiff, 
 dignified way. She just waited for an instant to 
 watch Frau Lange's amazement, and then with an 
 unkind little laugh she left the room. Hilary 
 felt almost sorry for the staring, speechless woman 
 at the head of the table. Her chagrin was so 
 visible, her surprise so immense. 
 
 ' Is it true ? ' she gasped. ' Does he mean to 
 marry that little minx ? ' 
 
 ' Nell has accepted him,' said Mrs. Frere, much 
 offended. ' He is a good deal older, and not an 
 Englishman, but I shall not refuse my consent. 
 I hope they will be happy.' 
 
 ' Not much chance of that for him,' said Frau 
 Lange. ' What a fool a middle-aged man can 
 be.' 
 
 She did not say more just then, and Hilary 
 thought they had escaped easily. If their aunt 
 had turned them neck and crop out of doors on 
 hearing the news, her nieces would not have been 
 surprised. 
 
 That was an exciting afternoon for Mrs. 
 Frere. Her interview with Herr Hansen went
 
 POLTERABEND 311 
 
 off most satisfactorily. He showed no annoyance 
 at hearing that his bride was penniless, and, 
 indeed, assured Mrs. Frere that he had guessed 
 as much. Luckily, he had money enough and to 
 spare. The suburban house should be at once 
 redecorated, the flat in Hamburg must be given 
 up, and a larger one taken in a good situation. 
 It rejoiced him to find that Nell did not desire 
 a long delay. Mrs. Frere would easily under- 
 stand that, at his age, marriage presented more 
 attractions than courtship. The necessary legal 
 formalities would occupy some time, but he 
 thought that everything might be in order six 
 weeks hence. Meanwhile, cards announcing their 
 engagement must be printed and sent to all 
 Herr Hansen's friends. He and Nell would then 
 have to pay a formal call on the married ones, 
 
 there would be some dinners given in their 
 
 
 
 honour in short, Mrs. Frere knew as well as he 
 did what duties devolved on a betrothed couple 
 in Germany. He feared Nell would find them 
 manifold and tedious. Wherever it was possible 
 they should be lightened for her. On account of 
 her mourning the wedding itself would necessarily 
 be a very quiet one. Herr Hansen spoke of Mr. 
 Frere with great respect and regret. 
 
 Mrs. Frere came upstairs again charmed with 
 her future son-in-law. 
 
 ' He has brought Nell a double heart of roses 
 and maiden-hair. Such a pretty idea. And he 
 has given her two rings the wedding-ring and a 
 splendid diamond one.' 
 
 ' The wedding-ring already ! ' exclaimed Hilary.
 
 312 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 1 My dear, don't you know in Germany the 
 wedding-ring is always used first as the engage- 
 ment-ring.' 
 
 ' Out of economy ? ' 
 
 ' I don't know. It is the custom ; but Herr 
 Hansen said that he knew it was not so in 
 England, so he got this other one for Nell as 
 well.' 
 
 ' Is he very much in love, do you think ? ' 
 asked Hilary, whose bewilderment grew as she 
 listened. 
 
 ' I suppose so,' said Mrs. Frere. ' For a 
 German he is not demonstrative though. He 
 looks rather solemn and anxious ; but I am 
 sure he means to be very good to Nell. I hope 
 they will get on comfortably. He asked me if 
 she knew anything of housekeeping, and I had 
 to confess that she did not. I told him, though, 
 that it is very easily learned, and that German 
 women make too much fuss about theirs. Why, 
 here is Nell already. I thought Herr Hansen 
 would have stayed rather longer.' 
 
 ' I told him I always went for a walk in the 
 afternoon,' said Nell, sitting down at the foot of the 
 bed. She seemed listless and tired, more fit for a 
 sleep than a walk. Hilary looked straight at her 
 sister's left hand, and saw the flash of diamonds 
 on one finger, and the plain gold band. 
 
 ' Where are your roses ? ' she said. 
 
 ' I left them downstairs. Do you want them ? 
 They will not live in water. They are stupid 
 wired things.' 
 
 ' You must have a respectable outfit,' broke in
 
 POL TERABEND 3 1 3 
 
 Mrs. Frere, who, ever since she came up, had been 
 busy with pencil and paper. ' It is all the more 
 necessary because you have no dowry. For the 
 first year or two you cannot ask your husband 
 for clothes, and you need not think he will offer 
 you any. There never was a man yet who 
 thought his wife wanted money for dress, even 
 when his own tailor's bill stares him in the face. 
 I don't say he won't give you money, but he will 
 be surprised to hear that you really need it. I 
 can't do much for you, of course. Anna Werner 
 told me only the other day that each of her 
 daughters had six dozen of everything, and she 
 means Olga to have the same. She says a girl's 
 character shows most strikingly in the choice of 
 underlinen. One wants finery, and another 
 thinks of what will last Next time I see her I 
 must ask her advice as to shops, and I shall say 
 that as you are going to be so well off, we care 
 more for style than for durability.' 
 
 ' How much did Frau Werner spend on one 
 girl's trousseau,' asked Hilary. 
 
 ' Five hundred pounds,' said Mrs. Frere. 
 
 ' Mother ! We have not one hundred pounds 
 left, all told, unless you are allowed to use the 
 trust money.' 
 
 ' But, my dear child, in Germany the bride has 
 to buy all the house linen. You must conform 
 to the customs of the country.' 
 
 Hilary held her peace in despair. Next day 
 she took Nell aside, and begged her to be con- 
 tent with a small, simple outfit ; but the girl 
 seemed as blind as her mother to the need of
 
 314 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 economy. She said she liked things nice. Did 
 Hilary want her to buy common clothes that 
 would be unwearable when they were bought ? 
 You only married once, as a rule, and a bride was 
 expected to do her husband credit. Their mother 
 knew better than Hilary what German customs 
 demand in this respect. Hilary's panic about 
 money grew rather ridiculous. What good did it 
 do to worry about the future ? You never knew 
 what shape it would take. They might all be 
 dead six months hence. Meanwhile, Nell agreed 
 with Mrs. Frere nothing they bought should be 
 trimmed with imitation lace. 
 
 When Aunt Bertha was told that the marriage 
 would come off as soon as possible, she said that, 
 in that case, she could not have any festivities in 
 celebration of it at her house. 
 
 ' I am not surprised at your heartlessness,' she 
 said, ' but I will not countenance it. What would 
 you have said if I had asked you to my wedding 
 six months after poor Hans' death ? I might 
 have done, I can assure you. A widow with a 
 little money is simply besieged. That is why I 
 see so few people. When I found that every man 
 who entered my doors wanted to hang his hat in 
 my hall, I said to myself, I must put a stop to it. 
 I don't know what you are laughing at, Nell, 
 unless it is that you wish, as usual, to behave with 
 impertinence. Poor Herr Hansen ! How I pity 
 him ! I lay awake all night wondering what I 
 could say to congratulate him. I suppose I must 
 dwell on your good luck. I can do that with a 
 clear conscience. But I shall explain to him that
 
 POLTERABEND 315 
 
 my respect for your blessed father's memory pre- 
 vents me ' 
 
 'You need not trouble, Aunt Bertha/ inter- 
 rupted Nell. ' I told Herr Hansen at once that I 
 wished to be married in Hamburg, and dine at a 
 hotel afterwards. Nothing would persuade me to 
 spend my wedding-day in this house. Suppose 
 we came back from church with muddy boots? 
 I don't know why we stay here another six weeks. 
 Mamma seems to wish it, but 
 
 ' Your mamma, being born a German, has some 
 regard for decorum,' said Aunt Bertha. ' She 
 would not insult me by leaving my house the 
 moment fortune smiles on you again.' 
 
 ' I thought you wished us to leave,' said Nell. 
 ' You said almost as much the other night.' 
 
 ' You probably misunderstood me. Your know- 
 ledge of German is very imperfect. I cannot say 
 your presence adds to my happiness, but I should 
 not wish my old friend, Herr Hansen, to fetch his 
 bride from furnished lodgings. It would reflect 
 on me. All Hamburg will know that he is 
 marrying my niece.' 
 
 Nell doubted whether all Hamburg would be 
 much impressed by the fact. That it was im- 
 pressed by the news of her betrothal she soon 
 discovered. Perhaps the exact degree of surprise 
 shown was not flattering. People talked as if the 
 announcement took their breath away, and con- 
 gratulated the Freres rather too effusively on 
 their luck. It was known, of course, that Nell 
 had no money, and her good looks were not 
 above question. She was not plump, she was not
 
 316 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 rosy, and, like the lilies of the field, she could 
 neither toil nor spin. On the whole, it was 
 widely whispered that Herr Hansen had done 
 a foolish thing. No one but Hilary thought that 
 Nell was, perhaps, more foolish still. Every one 
 behaved with new and astonishing politeness 
 when the engagement became known. Nell, in 
 spite of her mourning, lived in a whirl of calls, 
 dinners, nosegays, and poetical speeches. Many 
 of Herr Hansen's friends gave banquets in honour 
 of the future happy pair banquets at which long 
 speeches were made in praise of Herr Hansen. 
 
 Hilary grew a little tired of it all. She began 
 to wish that some one would stand up and speak 
 in praise of them, or, at any rate, of their father. 
 Amongst their own friends this engagement would 
 have been celebrated to a different tune. Perhaps 
 Herr Hansen deserved all that his fellow-citizens 
 said of him. Perhaps he was a compendium of 
 all the virtues, ornamental and otherwise ; but his 
 trumpeters brayed over loudly and over long. 
 The six weeks dragged. 
 
 Aunt Bertha's temper grew no sweeter as 
 time went on. Whatever arrangements were 
 made for Nell's marriage seemed to give offence. 
 She refused to celebrate it in her house, and 
 refused to be present at it anywhere else. She 
 objected to take charge of the wedding-presents, 
 and grew furious when Frau Werner arranged 
 to exhibit them. When Nell's wedding- clothes 
 arrived her aunt said that if Herr Hansen saw 
 them he would break off the marriage, they were 
 so useless and so extravagant. Mrs. Theodore
 
 POL TER ABEND 3 1 7 
 
 sent the bride a travelling-bag fitted with silver- 
 mounted brushes and bottles. Frau Lange said 
 that such things were not respectable. The 
 hotel servants would think Nell was no better 
 than she should be if she used them. What did 
 the wife of an honest German merchant want 
 with silver brushes and powder pots ? Nell had 
 better put a plain wooden brush in her trunk, and 
 set these things aside till she ran away with an 
 actor. 
 
 The letter that accompanied Mrs. Theodore's 
 bag contained a few lines of congratulation. It 
 also mentioned that Sophia's marriage to Arthur 
 Preston had taken place about a week ago. The 
 happy pair were now in Naples, where, perhaps, 
 Nell and her bridegroom would come across them. 
 
 ' We ought to send Sophia a present,' said 
 Mrs. Frere. ' It is not too late. You have several 
 duplicates, Nell. You might spare her a gong or 
 a cucumber cutter.' 
 
 Nell's face was dreamy. She did not attend 
 to what her mother said, but went on sorting 
 some of the clothes with which the room was 
 littered. Her mother and she had spent the 
 greater part of the last six weeks in shops and 
 closeted with milliners. As box after box arrived 
 full of elegant and costly garments, Hilary some- 
 times wondered whether her mother and sister 
 were fit to be at large. Their recklessness seemed 
 to her insane. Nell was on the eve of marrying a 
 man with money, but the bills for her wedding- 
 outfit would come to her mother, and to meet 
 them it would be necessary to sell nearly half the
 
 3i8 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 trust money. Mrs. Frere considered herself very 
 wise because, before giving any orders for clothes, 
 she had ascertained that part of the trust money 
 might be applied to such a purpose. She said 
 that the consequent loss of income would not 
 matter to Hilary and her because, in any case, 
 their present income did not suffice for their needs. 
 Half the money would belong to Nell and might 
 as well be spent on her. The fortunate child 
 would never again need it as badly as she did now. 
 Mr. Theodore admitted that Mrs. Frere had a right 
 to the sum of five hundred pounds on the occasion 
 of a daughter's marriage, but he objected to pay 
 it in until the marriage was an accomplished fact. 
 So Mrs. Frere sent for every penny at her present 
 disposal. She said that she positively must have 
 ready money. Hilary asked her what they were 
 to do when it had melted away. They had no 
 more furniture to sell. She gave great annoyance 
 to her mother and sister by putting this kind of 
 unanswerable question. They called her the 
 family raven. This afternoon, as she helped Nell 
 pack her trunks, she felt inclined to croak. Where - 
 ever her eyes fell they saw signs of an unnecessary 
 outlay. Why should her sister have ordered that 
 fur- lined travelling- cloak when her bridegroom 
 had given her one handsomer still ? When would 
 Nell wear a yellow silk tea-gown, smothered with 
 lace ... in Hamburg? or half a dozen dinner 
 dresses cut low and made with long trains ? Herr 
 Hansen had told her that he had all the house 
 linen collected by several generations of ambitious 
 housewives. He had shown Mrs. Frere two rooms
 
 POLTER 'ABEND 319 
 
 at the top of his house literally stacked with sheets 
 and table-cloths, some of it homespun and above 
 a hundred years old. Yet Nell, encouraged by 
 her mother, had bought more, chiefly, as it 
 seemed to Hilary, that it might be on view at the 
 shop when their acquaintances called there to see 
 the trousseau. She thought sometimes that grief 
 had hardened her sister's heart and softened her 
 mother's head, the one was so selfish, and the 
 other so silly. Yet she felt sorry for Nell. This 
 afternoon, for instance, she looked at her finery as 
 if she hated it. 
 
 ' Take care, my dear,' said her mother, when 
 she saw the splendid travelling - cloak Herr 
 Hansen's last gift to his bride thrown in a heap 
 on the floor. Nell listlessly picked it up and let 
 it trail over her arm. 
 
 'Did you marry for love, mamma?' she said 
 suddenly. 
 
 ' What funny questions you ask, child. Of 
 course I did. Your poor father was a very good- 
 looking young man. Hilary is the image of him. 
 We fell in love over croquet. We used to play 
 with old Mrs. Theodore's children, you know. Mrs. 
 Theodore never saw it. When we told her we 
 were engaged she went into hysterics at once.' 
 
 ' Why ? ' 
 
 ' There are women like that. I often say it is 
 a mercy the law allows only one husband apiece, 
 otherwise some of us would annex twenty. How- 
 ever, she came round in time, and I was married 
 from her house. It is curious that I had no 
 home of my own at the time, and now you have
 
 320 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 none. Things do turn out so contrary. If you 
 were to marry Herr Hansen, why couldn't you do 
 it eight months ago in your own home, with your 
 father to give you away ? ' 
 
 ' You were very poor when you were a girl, I 
 suppose,' said Hilary, ' otherwise you would not 
 have come to England by yourself?' 
 
 ' I have often told you that we never knew at 
 home whether we were poor or rich,' said Mrs. 
 Frere. ' My father was bankrupt one day and 
 making fortunes the next. He had a genius for 
 business. Unhappily he died at the wrong 
 moment.' 
 
 ' Should you have married my father if you 
 had not loved him ? ' asked Nell. 
 
 ' You remind me of old Mrs. Theodore. She 
 used to put that kind of useless question. When 
 Hilary was born she asked me which I would 
 rather have drowned, my husband or my child. 
 Her conversation was never cheerful.' 
 
 ' Have you ever known any one who married 
 for money ? ' persisted Nell. 
 
 ' Of course,' said Mrs. Frere placidly. She 
 was sitting up to-day in her easy-chair, and she 
 had the bodice of Nell's wedding-gown in her 
 hands. It had arrived from London that 
 morning, with no myrtle on it In Germany a 
 bride is bound to wear myrtle, so Mrs. Frere had 
 undertaken to fasten a few sprigs of it amongst 
 the orange flowers. She was too deeply engaged 
 in this agreeable occupation to pay much 
 attention to her child ; but she chatted on. 
 
 ' What do you suppose Mrs. Theodore married
 
 POLTERABEND 321 
 
 for? She wanted money, and she got it. Most 
 people would rather have money than anything ; 
 and a woman cannot make a fortune unless she is 
 a prima donna.' 
 
 ' Mrs. Theodore is a very cheerful, prosperous 
 person,' said Nell musingly. 
 
 ' Why shouldn't she be ? She has all she 
 wants.' 
 
 ' Yes,' broke in Hilary with a touch of in- 
 dignation, ' she has all she wants ; but some of 
 us want more.' 
 
 ' Then you must be very greedy,' said her 
 mother, patting the satin sleeve. ' I should be 
 content with a tenth part of what the Theodores 
 spend.' 
 
 ' 1 am not thinking only of money,' protested 
 Hilary. ' There are other things in the world 
 worth having.' 
 
 ' Certainly,' said Nell ; ' but if you can't get 
 them you may as well have money. I would 
 rather have married Arthur than Herr Hansen. 
 I was very fond of Arthur. I hate the sound of 
 his name now. And I would rather drown 
 myself than starve in an attic, or live another 
 month with this old harridan. I would have 
 waited for Arthur ; but now that he has jilted 
 me I'm not going to spend the rest of my days 
 in sackcloth weeping for him. I'd rather weep in 
 diamonds.' 
 
 ' You show great good sense,' said Hilary, 
 wondering in her own mind whether her sister's 
 cynical mood would last over her wedding day. 
 
 Mrs. Frere looked at her children with puzzled
 
 322 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 eyes. This marriage gave her unmixed pleasure. 
 Why did they speak of it in such a tone, and 
 drag in Arthur's name ? She thought Nell had 
 forgotten him. 
 
 ' This is ready to try on now/ she said, holding 
 up the bodice. ' I long to see you in it. We 
 must look at the veil too.' 
 
 The sight of her mother's contentment helped 
 in some measure to console Hilary for the many 
 unsatisfactory circumstances connected with her 
 sister's marriage. On the whole, she felt inclined 
 to hope well of it, at any rate for Nell. She 
 thought her sister's happiness really depended a 
 good deal on ease and plenty. She flourished 
 when she could have what she wanted, and pined 
 on a starvation diet. Hardship withered her ; ill 
 winds did her harm. Some creatures, like plants, 
 need sunshine. 
 
 It was Herr Hansen who puzzled Hilary. 
 Why did he not look more ashamed of himself? 
 He had proposed to the younger sister a week 
 after being rejected by the elder one, and yet he 
 trod the earth as if an applauding conscience 
 supported him. She had tried to sound her 
 sister on the subject. She even asked how the 
 proposal had come about, what had led up to it, 
 whether it had given Nell much surprise. But 
 Hilary soon saw that such questions seemed to 
 hurt her sister like a flick on a raw wound. 
 She shied from them with some word or look of 
 irritation that answered nothing. 
 
 The betrothed couple did not see much of 
 each other except in public. Aunt Bertha had
 
 POLTERABEND 323 
 
 threatened to tell Herr Hansen she did not care 
 to have constant billing and cooing going on in 
 her house, but he did not give her the chance. 
 He hardly entered it. For three weeks out of the 
 six that the engagement lasted he had to travel 
 in Austria on business, and when he came back 
 the days were not half long enough for the whirl 
 of work and gaiety into which his approaching 
 marriage forced him for the time. Nell and he 
 met every day in furniture shops, and at dinners 
 given in their honour by his friends. Whatever 
 further acquaintance they made with each other 
 they made in the presence of spectators. 
 
 In Germany Polterabend, the evening before 
 the wedding day, is usually celebrated with great 
 rejoicing. A polite generation has given up 
 smashing crockery against the doors of the bride, 
 a noisy old custom from which the evening gets 
 its name. But some elaborate form of entertain- 
 ment is still in vogue, and this is given either by 
 the bride's parents or by their intimate friends. 
 It had been arranged long ago that Herr Hansen 
 and Nell should spend their Polterabend with 
 the Werners. Frau Werner had preserved a 
 strict silence regarding the details of her pro- 
 gramme, but it was known that she had issued 
 a large number of invitations, and that her 
 children were, in some way, expected to surpass 
 themselves. 
 
 Even Frau Lange received a card of invitation, 
 and, to the dismay of her relatives, determined to 
 go. They wondered how she would behave and 
 what she would wear, whether the presence of
 
 324 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 strangers would abash her, or whether she would 
 consider the occasion a good one for a display of 
 her peculiar powers. Her costume was sure to 
 be outlandish. The girls thought their aunt must 
 have come away from Java with trunks full of 
 clothes made twenty years ago for some one else, 
 the stuffs were so creased, the fashions so anti- 
 quated, the colours so outrageous, and the sizes 
 so various. They wondered fearfully what she 
 would fish out and wear on Polterabend. It 
 never seemed to occur to her to have a new 
 garment made, or even an ancient one altered. 
 
 When the evening came Hilary and Nell 
 finished dressing before their mother, and went 
 into the dining-room to wait for her. Hilary 
 looked at her young sister, and tried to realise 
 that she was legally Frau Hansen already. The 
 civil marriage had taken place in Hamburg that 
 morning in the presence of Mrs. Frere, Herr 
 Werner, and one of Herr Hansen's friends. Hilary 
 did not go. The afternoon hours had not been 
 agreeable. The bride came back half-frozen, white, 
 and silent. Even her mother wondered vaguely 
 whether anything was wrong ; but Nell did not 
 seem inclined to bemoan herself. She said she 
 felt sleepy, and wished to lie down. It was 
 manifestly Mrs. Frere's duty to do likewise ; so 
 Hilary drew the blinds and sat as still as a mouse 
 in the darkened room. The darkness and the 
 silence did not help to make her thoughts lively. 
 Once she felt sure she heard her sister sob, and 
 she spoke to her ; but Nell did not reply. 
 Altogether it had not been a cheerful afternoon.
 
 POLTERABEND 325 
 
 The bride, however, took great pains with 
 her toilet. She wore a vaporous-looking gown 
 the colour of full blown lavender blossoms, and 
 when she was ready she looked very elegant and 
 fair, but her mother did not feel quite satisfied. 
 
 ' I don't like a young bride in lavender,' she 
 objected. ' You ought to have worn white, as you 
 are in mourning, and cannot wear pink or 
 blue.' 
 
 But at this time of day Nell could not make 
 any alteration, and when, to please her mother, 
 she had pinned on some white flowers and chosen 
 a white feather fan, she declared herself ready, and 
 joined Hilary in the dining-room. Presently their 
 aunt arrived in a gown they had never seen 
 before. Indeed, from its mode and its creases 
 they could hardly tell when it had last beheld 
 the light of day. It was made of bright crimson 
 plush, and plentifully trimmed with frills of 
 white cotton lace. About the clothes Frau Lange 
 from time to time unearthed there was always 
 a cheap and mouldy flavour that suggested as 
 rigid an economy in tailoring as she exercised in 
 food. She loved finery but not its price. In her 
 wig she had fastened a full blown white camellia, 
 and in her bosom she cherished no less than three 
 of these engaging flowers. She carried in her 
 hand a pair of short white gloves trimmed with 
 swansdown, and a small imitation-ivory fan. 
 Round her neck and arms she wore massive 
 chains of gold. 
 
 ' Oh ! Bertha,' exclaimed Mrs. Frere, who 
 entered the room at the same moment by
 
 326 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 another door, ' why didn't you put on your black 
 silk?' 
 
 ' I am not in mourning,' said Frau Lange, 
 highly displeased. ' I suppose you think I am too 
 well dressed. This gown was made in London, 
 so it ought to satisfy you.' 
 
 ' Made in London ! ' repeated Mrs. Frere. ' But 
 how did you get it ? ' 
 
 ' Through the Exchange and Mart, five years 
 ago, when I was staying with you. I only gave 
 a musical box for it, one that Hans bought, and 
 which was always getting out of order, so I 
 had the best of that bargain. Of course the 
 dress doesn't fit as if a tailor had made it for me, 
 but the lace hides a good deal. What a dull 
 colour Nell has on to-night ! Most unsuitable. 
 And Hilary is in white, as if she was the bride. 
 Absurd. And neither of them has a necklace 
 on, or even a bracelet. They might have taken 
 a little more pains with themselves. I have a 
 handsome set of jet ornaments that I don't 
 mind lending Hilary if she will take care of 
 them.' 
 
 The girls threw their cloaks on in a hurry 
 and fled downstairs. They did not look forward 
 to entering Frau Werner's room behind Aunt 
 Bertha. 
 
 Even in Hamburg, where the ' young person ' 
 is taught to know her place, the bride of to- 
 morrow was the guest of the evening. Every one 
 looked towards Nell with interest and welcome 
 when she arrived. The grotesque figure of her 
 aunt created a slight sensation at first, chiefly
 
 POLTERABEND 327 
 
 because Frau Lange's society manner was as 
 conspicuous as her costume. She wreathed her 
 face in smiles, made elaborate curtseys, and ex- 
 cused herself loudly to Frau Werner for the slow 
 development of their acquaintance. Now that 
 the ice was broken she hoped shortly to invite 
 her hostess to a meal. Frau Werner, who had 
 her own carriage, would not find the drive a long 
 one. Of course, her rooms were not as spacious 
 as these, but one could breathe in them. How 
 many people were here to-night ? A hundred ? 
 And yet she did not see a single familiar face. 
 Truly the world is a large one. Frau Lange 
 looked round the room benignly, with the air of 
 a duchess who finds herself in an assembly 
 where she is unknown. Most people were seated 
 already, and all the seats were arranged to face 
 a small impromptu stage put up in the room 
 leading out of this one. Right in front were 
 two chairs garlanded with flowers. 
 
 ' Look ! ' whispered Nell to her sister, ' those 
 are for Herr Hansen and me. What fools we 
 shall feel.' 
 
 She was not mistaken. Directly she had said 
 good evening to her hostess, Herr Hansen came 
 forward and led his bride to the place of honour. 
 Olga Werner presented her with a bouquet, Mrs. 
 Frere and Hilary were invited to occupy seats 
 in the front row, and then the performance began. 
 What became of Aunt Bertha her nieces did not 
 at once perceive. From where they sat she was 
 not visible. The entertainment lasted above an 
 hour, and consisted of several recitations and a
 
 328 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 one -act operetta. The recitations were home- 
 made, and full of allusions to the bride and 
 bridegroom. These gave great pleasure and won 
 loud applause. When the curtain fell, Herr 
 Hansen made a solemn little speech, in which 
 he thanked his friends for their sympathy. After 
 that, people got up and began to form into 
 groups, and to talk and laugh. Quite a crowd 
 surrounded the next day's bride and bridegroom. 
 The host and hostess stood near them, so did Mrs. 
 Frere and Hilary, and several of Frau Werner's 
 most honoured guests. Suddenly Hilary saw her 
 aunt making her way towards them from a remote 
 corner of the room. Frau Lange looked red and 
 angry. She planted herself at Herr Werner's 
 elbow, and listened with a derisive smile to some 
 complimentary remarks he made to Mrs. Frere 
 on Nell's good looks and good spirits. 
 
 ' My poor Martha spent her Polterabend in 
 tears,' he concluded. 
 
 ' In my opinion, a girl who is going to leave 
 her home next day ought to look as if she 
 regretted it,' said Frau Lange aggressively. 
 
 Herr Werner gazed at her through his spec- 
 tacles, and wondered who she was. He had been 
 told and had forgotten again. 
 
 ' But the child has no home,' he said ; ' and 
 she goes to such a good one. My dear friend 
 Hansen ' 
 
 ' I must protest against your insinuation,' in- 
 terrupted Frau Lange, bristling with indignation. 
 ' Since her father's death my niece's home has 
 been with me.'
 
 POLTERABEND 329 
 
 ' Of course, of course/ said Frau Werner hastily, 
 ' my husband never remembers anything.' 
 
 ' I do not need to be told that she is going 
 to a good home. I have known Herr Hansen 
 ever since I came back from Java five years ago. 
 I am sure I wish him every happiness.' 
 
 Frau Lange sighed. Herr Hansen put his 
 heels together, and, after bowing his thanks, 
 moved away with Nell beside him. 
 
 ' I am one of those who speak their minds if 
 they die for it,' burst out Frau Lange, as she 
 looked round for approval. ' I wish he was 
 going to marry a German maiden, one of your 
 beautiful daughters, for instance, Frau Werner. 
 I grudge him to a foreigner, good honest fellow 
 that he is.' 
 
 With the matter of Frau Lange's observations 
 many persons present were in secret sympathy, 
 but no one felt inclined to countenance the manner 
 in which they were made. Some turned away ; 
 some looked amazed ; Frau Werner felt affronted 
 at the implication that her children had been 
 passed by. Hilary wished the earth would gape 
 and swallow her aunt. Mrs. Frere felt driven to 
 expostulate. 
 
 ' I married a foreigner,' she said ' It turned 
 out very well, I am sure.' 
 
 Frau Lange shrugged her shoulders, and smiled 
 in a compassionate manner. 
 
 ' Are you coming to the wedding to-morrow ? ' 
 asked Frau Werner, brusquely changing the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 Frau Lange hesitated. She had all along
 
 330 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 refused to have a place ordered for her at the 
 wedding dinner, or even to be present at the 
 ceremony ; but Frau Werner's question sounded 
 like a challenge of her importance. 
 
 ' Who should come if I did not ? ' she in- 
 quired pompously. ' Who else has as great a 
 right as I ? ' 
 
 ' But, my dear Bertha,' began Mrs. Frere, and 
 then stopped to find out the meaning of a nudge 
 from Hilary. At the same moment the announce- 
 ment of supper gave rise to a hasty dispersal of 
 the crowd at this end of the room ; and just as 
 Hilary had managed to persuade her mother to 
 say nothing more to Frau Lange on the subject 
 of the wedding, the host came up to Mrs. Frere 
 and offered her his arm. He led her to the 
 place of honour on the bridegroom's right hand.
 
 XX 
 
 THE WEDDING DAY 
 
 IN Hamburg marriages are celebrated in the 
 afternoon. When the bride and bridegroom are 
 at all fashionably disposed, the bride drives to 
 church in a sort of state coach decked with 
 flowers. The young men who have admired 
 her send flowers to the church, and all the 
 wedding guests wear full evening dress. After 
 the ceremony there is a gala dinner, followed by 
 toasts and speeches, but no crowd assembles in 
 the hall or on the doorsteps to throw rice and 
 slippers after the bride and bridegroom. They 
 make off quietly by themselves. 
 
 Herr Hansen and Nell were not going to 
 have their carriage trimmed with flowers. Their 
 wedding was to be a very quiet one. The 
 wedding dinner, to which only a few intimate 
 friends had been invited, was to be served at 
 a good hotel. 
 
 The plan of fixing a ceremony for a late hour 
 in the day has its disadvantages. The hours are 
 apt to drag heavily beforehand. Nell's trunks 
 had all been sent away the day before, one to 
 the railway station, the others to her future home.
 
 332 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 None of her possessions but her white satin gown 
 and her veil remained in her aunt's house. When 
 she woke on her wedding day there was nothing 
 for her to do. All night it had been snowing 
 small flakes out of a leaden sky, and there seemed 
 no hope of a change in the weather. The clouds 
 still looked leaden, and before Auguste lighted 
 the stove the thermometer in the bedroom stood 
 at freezing-point 
 
 The three ladies spent a melancholy morning. 
 Hilary felt sure that her mother was downright ill 
 and unfit to go out of doors, but she could not 
 persuade her to give up seeing Nell married. Mrs. 
 Frere owned that she had not slept, that she 
 breathed with difficulty, and that though her hands 
 were hot she felt very chilly ; but she refused to 
 send for the doctor or to alter her plans for the 
 day. She talked a great deal about her husband, 
 and of how forlorn they would feel without him at 
 the marriage feast. The girls, who missed their 
 father every hour, felt harrowed by these reminis- 
 cences and lamentations. They would rather 
 have thought of him and kept silent 
 
 After the second breakfast Hilary had to go 
 to one of the local shops, and while she was out 
 she determined to make another effort to keep her 
 mother at home that day. It was so cruelly cold ; 
 the wind took her breath away ; the fine hard snow 
 beat against her face ; her breath came with pain 
 and effort as she fought her way back through the 
 storm. Even in a close carriage it would be mad- 
 ness for her mother to leave the house. 
 
 But when Hilary went into the bedroom her
 
 THE WEDDING DAY 333 
 
 thoughts were diverted, for the time, by the sight 
 of Mrs. Frere and Nell both dissolved in tears. 
 Nell had thrown herself on her bed, and was sob- 
 bing loudly, while her mother sat close to the 
 stove. 
 
 ' Bless me,' said Hilary, more vexed than sorry, 
 ' what's the matter now ? What is it, Nell ? 
 What has happened ? ' 
 
 ' Nothing,' moaned Nell, ' only I'm so miserable, 
 and so is mother.' 
 
 ' You ought to be ashamed of yourself,' said 
 Hilary. ' It is very bad for mother to be miserable.' 
 
 ' It is very easy for you to talk,' objected her 
 sister. ' You're not going to marry a fat man you 
 don't care for.' 
 
 ' Nell ! ' thundered Hilary, ' then why are you, 
 you wicked girl ? ' 
 
 ' I don't know,' sobbed the bride. ' Go and tell 
 him I won't.' 
 
 ' How can I when the civil marriage took place 
 yesterday. I feel like Aunt Bertha. I'm sorry 
 for him.' 
 
 'It is all through Aunt Bertha. If it had not 
 been for her I should never have asked him to 
 marry me.' 
 
 ' What ? ' 
 
 ' I asked him to marry me when we went out 
 to see the crowd on New Year's Eve. Didn't you 
 guess ? It's no use staring at me like that, 
 mother. Just remember that night and the way 
 Aunt Bertha carried on. I had to do it or drown 
 myself. I thought of it when I looked over the 
 railings at the water. It was raining. I spoke
 
 334 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 then and there, the moment the idea entered my 
 head.' 
 
 ' What did he say ? ' asked Hilary. 
 
 ' He seemed rather pleased after the first shock. 
 He could hardly believe his own ears, he said, and 
 then he thanked me for putting such trust in him. 
 I trust him now.' 
 
 ' I should think so,' said Hilary. 
 
 ' I shall be ashamed to look him in the face,' 
 said Mrs. Frere, ' after the careful way in which I 
 have brought you up, and so proud as I have been 
 of you. I always did say other girls might flirt, 
 but mine were above it ; but what is flirting 
 compared with asking a man to marry you ? I 
 can't think how you got the words out of your 
 mouth.' 
 
 ' I told him that English girls often did it 
 nowadays.' 
 
 ' Then you told him what is not true,' said her 
 sister. 
 
 ' Would you have been any better pleased if I 
 had thrown myself into the Alster?' asked Nell 
 fiercely. ' I believe you would go on for ever bear- 
 ing anything.' She had left off crying. 
 
 Hilary did not carry on the discussion. She 
 remembered now what she had meant to say when 
 she first came in. 
 
 ' It is a terrible day, mamma,' she began. ' The 
 cold throttles you, and the sky is almost black. 
 There will be more snow before night.' 
 
 ' You will be back before night without me,' 
 said Nell gloomily. 
 
 Mrs. Frere could not answer at once because
 
 THE WEDDING DAY 335 
 
 she was coughing ; but as soon as she could speak 
 she said she would wrap up warm and shut the 
 carriage windows. She must go. 
 
 By four o'clock they were all ready. At last 
 Mrs. Frere saw one of her children dressed as a 
 bride. She looked at Nell with ecstasy. How 
 many times had she pictured her girls standing 
 like this, in a white shimmering robe, crowned with 
 orange-flowers, wrapt round by the veil. Nell 
 might have stept in at the window out of the snow, 
 she looked so radiantly white. Herr Hansen's 
 diamonds flashed at her throat. The heavy scent 
 of lilies and gardenias clung about her ; she carried 
 them in her bouquet. 
 
 'You must say good-bye to Aunt Bertha,' 
 said Mrs. Frere. 
 
 Nell's mouth and eyes set harder at the 
 sound of her aunt's name ; but before she made 
 any reply Frau Lange herself opened the door 
 and appeared on the threshold in a gala costume 
 still spicier than the one she had worn yesterday. 
 
 ' The carriage is waiting,' she said, looking 
 rather uneasily at her resplendent niece. 
 
 Nell swept forward in front of her mother 
 and sister. 
 
 ' We are quite ready. Good-bye, Aunt Bertha. 
 I suppose we may never see each other again. 
 A long life to you, and a merry one.' 
 
 ' My dear Nell,' murmured Mrs. Frere, ' you 
 forget you will be near neighbours in summer.' 
 
 But Nell had passed on, and arrived at the 
 top of the stairs, where she stopped to pick up 
 her train.
 
 336 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' I have changed my mind,' said Aunt Bertha, 
 her voice trembling with anger. ' I am coming 
 to the wedding.' 
 
 ' That is impossible now,' said Nell. ' You 
 are not expected.' 
 
 ' Do you mean that I should not be welcome ? ' 
 
 ' I mean exactly what I say.' 
 
 ' But, my dear,' expostulated Mrs. Frere, ' if 
 Aunt Bertha wishes to come 
 
 ' Aunt Bertha should have spoken a month 
 ago, or a week ago, or even yesterday,' said Nell 
 inflexibly. 
 
 ' This is too much,' screamed Frau Lange, 
 ' you wicked, ungrateful girl ! What will the 
 world say if I am not at your wedding, I should 
 like to know? I meant to punish you for all 
 your insolence by staying away, and this morning, 
 at the last moment, I relented and dressed my- 
 self. And you say I am not expected. Who 
 are you ? It is my old friend Herr Hansen I 
 wish to honour ; but I shall not go. I have 
 had enough of you all. I wash my hands of you. 
 I shall shut my doors, and not one of you shall 
 ever enter them again.' 
 
 Frau Lange's voice had risen higher and 
 higher as she worked herself into a fury. She 
 gesticulated wildly, shook her hands at her 
 nieces, and at last began tearing the ornaments 
 from her neck and hair. 
 
 ' She will have a fit,' whispered Mrs. Frere ; 
 and very unwisely she went up to the raging 
 woman and tried to take her hand. Her touch 
 seemed to madden Frau Lange. At any rate
 
 THE WEDDING DA V 337 
 
 she jerked out her elbow so violently that the 
 blow would have sent her sister-in-law reeling 
 back if Hilary had not intervened and received 
 the first shock of it herself. For a moment the 
 girl felt stunned. 
 
 ' Haven't you had enough ? ' cried Nell from 
 half-way down the stairs. 'We are twenty 
 minutes -late already through waiting to receive 
 Aunt Bertha's blessing.' 
 
 Hilary felt as if they had borne enough. 
 Her aunt's repulse had been equivalent to a 
 blow, and as soon as the girl recovered from it 
 she began to consider how she could show her 
 resentment. Her eyes flashed with anger. 
 
 ' You ought to be ashamed of yourself,' she 
 began, but Frau Lange brandished both arms and 
 screamed her down. 
 
 ' Go out of my house, all of you. One is as 
 bad and shameless as the other. I never wish to 
 see one of you again.' 
 
 ' Come ! ' cried Nell imperiously from the 
 bottom of the stairs, and, pursued by Frau 
 Lange's shrill abuse, the mother and daughter 
 joined the bride and got into the carriage. 
 
 The church was well warmed and well lighted. 
 Friends were gathered there and the bridegroom 
 waited when the bride with her mother and 
 sister arrived. In twenty minutes the simple 
 ceremony was over, and Nell drove off with her 
 husband to the hotel where dinner had been 
 ordered. 
 
 You may guess that, after her sister's confession, 
 Hilary watched the bridegroom with increased
 
 338 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 curiosity. She thought his manner to his young 
 bride admirably kind. After dinner the speeches 
 in his honour were long and various, but when 
 he got up he spoke of Nell's father, and of the 
 forlornness his wife and children must feel on 
 such a day as this without him. The bride's face 
 softened as she listened to her husband, and her 
 eyes filled with tears. As Frau Werner watched 
 her she thought, with a throb of surprise, that 
 she might learn to love the girl. When every 
 one rose, from table, their tongues loosened a 
 little by wine and food, Herr Hansen approached 
 Hilary, and under cover of other voices said, in 
 a low tone, ' I hope that your sister will be 
 happy.' 
 
 ' I hope so,' said Hilary. ' I think she ought 
 to be.' 
 
 ' Thank you,' said Herr Hansen, looking 
 pleased. He reflected a little, and then con- 
 tinued : ' When a man arrives at middle age it is 
 easier for him to transfer his affections. I was 
 touched by your sister's appeal. I too was 
 unhappy that night. I said to her, " My child, 
 out of two wounded hearts we will make one 
 sound one. It has often been done." ' 
 
 He paused as if he expected Hilary to speak, 
 but she felt too much flurried and taken aback to 
 do so before he went on. 
 
 ' Therefore, when we return to Hamburg, I 
 hope your mother and you will pay us a long 
 visit. I hope you will stay with us until you 
 marry and return to England.' 
 
 Hilary thanked him gratefully, and did not
 
 THE WEDDING DAY 339 
 
 say that she thought the objections to such 
 a household were various and insurmountable. 
 She talked to Herr Hansen a minute or two 
 longer, chiefly about her mother's health, and 
 then went out of the room with Nell to help her 
 put on her travelling gown. The sisters were 
 accompanied by Frau Werner and Olga, and, of 
 course, by Mrs. Frere. 
 
 ' I suppose I shall see every one again,' said 
 Nell, sitting down wearily and letting Hilary 
 take off her wreath and veil. 
 
 Frau Werner looked puzzled. 
 
 ' You will see no one again but your husband/ 
 she said solemnly. 
 
 ' How droll ! In England we all crowd round 
 them, and throw rice and slippers, and shout, and 
 talk, and kiss the bride. I don't like running 
 downstairs by myself.' 
 
 ' It is the custom,' said Frau Werner. ' Besides, 
 you will not be by yourself. You will find Herr 
 Hansen waiting for you.' 
 
 Nell first unclasped the diamond riviere, and 
 then began to take off her satin gown. Hilary 
 had already removed the long court train, at 
 which Olga looked with envy, and her mother 
 with mild disapproval. 
 
 ' It is Olga's turn next,' said Mrs. Frere, who 
 seemed hardly able to sit up in her chair. 
 
 ' No,' returned Frau Werner. ' I think Hilary 
 comes first. She is older than Olga.' 
 
 ' Hilary refuses every one,' said Mrs. Frere 
 She spoke in a drowsy voice, and looked heavy- 
 eyed.
 
 340 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' Her heart is probably in her own country,' 
 said Frau Werner. 
 
 ' I used to think so,' began Mrs. Frere in a 
 matter-of-fact voice, ' but if Olga marries 
 
 ' Mother,' interrupted Hilary, ' I am afraid 
 you are nearly asleep. Look at Nell's hat. Do 
 you think she should wear a veil ? ' 
 
 ' Oh ! my darling,' said Mrs. Frere, stumbling 
 to her feet, and taking Nell into her arms, ' are 
 you really going? I shall never see you again. 
 God bless you.' 
 
 Frau Werner beckoned to her daughter to 
 follow her out of the room. They joined the 
 wedding guests, and ten minutes later Mrs. Frere 
 reappeared with Hilary. The bride and bride- 
 groom had gone. 
 
 By this time every one had noticed that Mrs. 
 Frere was very ill. One of the wedding guests 
 happened to be a well-known Hamburg doctor, and 
 he took Hilary aside when she returned to the room 
 and urged her to take her mother home at once 
 and summon their own doctor. He went down 
 himself with Mrs. Frere, and helped to pack 
 her as warmly as possible into a cab. Then 
 he spoke to the driver, who said that though 
 the roads were deep in snow he could get the 
 ladies home. He promised the doctor to 
 carry them safely. He lived out in that 
 direction himself. So they started, Mrs. Frere 
 drowsy, weak, and in pain ; Hilary wide-awake 
 and anxious. At the last moment Frau Werner 
 had run down with her own fur cloak, which 
 she threw over their knees as an extra wrap ;
 
 THE WEDDING DA Y 341 
 
 but nothing seemed of any use against this 
 degree of cold. 
 
 The snow still showered down on the city, 
 blown aslant by a gusty wind, and drifting to 
 westward in immense heaps. Everywhere it lay 
 so thickly that traffic was seriously impeded. 
 Two hours ago the tramcars had ceased to run. 
 The long, dull road leading out of Hamburg was 
 almost deserted, though the clocks had only just 
 struck ten. A few foot - passengers plunged 
 through the snow, their steps unheard, and their 
 voices reaching further than usual between the 
 gusts of wind. Hilary began to understand that 
 her mother was very ill, much worse than she 
 had ever been before. Mrs. Frere's hands felt 
 hot, and yet she shivered incessantly. She 
 had probably taken a violent chill the evening 
 before as they drove back from the Werners, 
 and her bedroom all through the night had 
 been bitterly cold. 
 
 Half-way home the cab stopped at the doctor's 
 house, and Hilary had to flounder across the 
 pavement, through two feet of untouched snow, 
 only to hear that he was not at home. She left 
 an urgent message, wondered by what means he 
 got here and there in such weather, and returned 
 to the cab, telling the driver to stop again at a 
 chemist's shop close by. She had not a penny 
 piece in her own pocket, so she tried to rouse her 
 mother, and explain that she needed some money. 
 
 ' Money, money,' muttered Mrs. Frere in a 
 lethargic way. ' I have none. I gave the last 
 sixpence to the hotel servants.'
 
 342 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' Are you quite sure ? ' asked Hilary. ' Let me 
 look in your purse.' 
 
 ' I haven't a shilling either here or at home, 
 my dear. Nell wanted so many things at the 
 last moment. Don't you remember? What do 
 you want money for now ? Let us get home and 
 go to bed.' 
 
 Hilary did not like the notion of asking a 
 strange chemist to supply her with goods she 
 could not pay for, so she determined to wait and 
 stop at a shop further on where they were known. 
 She put her head out of the window to tell the 
 driver this, and was somewhat disturbed by the 
 surly manner in which he answered her. 
 
 She wished more anxiously than ever that 
 they were safe at home. She would have to 
 rouse her aunt and borrow money from her to 
 pay the cabman ; but she could not imagine that 
 even Frau Lange would raise trifling difficulties 
 when she saw her sister-in-law's condition. It is 
 so hard for a young tender-hearted creature to 
 believe that suffering can fail to make its appeal. 
 How slowly they were getting on now. The 
 horse plodded at a snail's pace through the deep 
 snow. Suddenly, when they were still half a mile 
 from home, the driver pulled up in the middle of 
 the road, clambered down from the box, and told 
 the ladies he would not go a step further unless 
 they paid him double fare. He had been an ass 
 and a sheep's head to come as far as this without 
 a clear understanding that it would be made 
 worth his while. Hilary gave him the promise 
 he required, and urged him to hurry on ; but it
 
 THE WEDDING DA Y 343 
 
 took them nearly twenty minutes longer to reach 
 their own gate, and by that time Mrs. Frere was 
 terribly exhausted and in great pain. Her breath, 
 she said, hurt her like knives. 
 
 With some difficulty Hilary helped her mother 
 out of the cab and across the front garden. She 
 had told the cabman she would return in a minute 
 to fetch their wraps and to bring him his fare. 
 
 ' There is not a light to be seen,' she said to 
 Mrs. Frere as they approached the house. ' I 
 believe they have gone to bed,' she cried, after 
 listening for some time. She rang again, but no 
 one came. With the third peal she broke the 
 rickety bell. The handle came off in her hand, and 
 there was an end of that means of communication. 
 She hammered on the door until any one in the 
 house must have waked and heard her ; she 
 threw gravel at her aunt's window, and heard a 
 pane of glass smash. She tried to get round to 
 the back and make Auguste answer her, but 
 the high gate leading there had been locked, and 
 she could neither break nor climb it. The only 
 window in reach was protected by bars and 
 shutters. No one could have forced an entry 
 without skill and strong tools. 
 
 ' What shall we do ? ' she cried, coming back to 
 her mother. 
 
 ' She said she would never let us enter the 
 house again,' said Mrs. Frere hoarsely. 
 
 ' She didn't mean it,' said Hilary awe-stricken ; 
 and as she spoke she heard her aunt make the 
 threat, saw her frenzied face, saw Nell's derisive 
 smile.
 
 344 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 1 She has locked us out,' she said slowly. 
 ' Where had we better go ? ' 
 
 She did not wait for any reply from her 
 mother, but hurried back to the cabman, ex- 
 plained that she could make no one hear, and 
 asked him to drive them to the village inn. He 
 refused to budge without his fare. Hilary did 
 not know what to do. She reminded him of his 
 promise to the doctor, and pointed out that her 
 mother was very ill, even a short delay might 
 lessen her chance of life. The man replied that 
 he wanted his fare. He scowled as he spoke, and 
 looked suspiciously at the dark, silent house. 
 Hilary asked him to come and help her rouse the 
 inmates, but he refused to leave his horse. He 
 added that she had made noise enough to rouse 
 the dead. Perhaps the house was empty. How 
 long did the lady mean to keep him waiting in 
 the snow for his fare ? 
 
 At last Hilary told him the truth. She had 
 no money with her, and could get none until they 
 were let inside the house. She thought he would 
 have knocked her down when he heard this. 
 He cursed her in the foulest language at his 
 command, and to escape from him she ran back 
 across the garden, and with the determination of 
 despair began to rain blows on the front door 
 again. Every now and then she ceased and 
 listened, and during one of these intervals she 
 thought she heard the sound of the cabman 
 whipping up his horse. She remembered then 
 that some of their wraps were still inside the cab, 
 and, much as she dreaded facing the cabman
 
 THE WEDDING DAY 345 
 
 again, she felt bound to fetch them ; but when 
 she opened the gate and looked out no cab was 
 there. The man had driven off and confiscated 
 the wraps in lieu of his fare. How silly she had 
 been to leave them with him ! Yet if she had 
 not done so he would not have gone. She could 
 only feel relieved at his departure. But what 
 were they to do next ? The wind whistled in her 
 ears, and the snow filled her eyes as she turned 
 back for the last time to bring her mother away. 
 They could not spend the night on the doorstep. 
 Though every yard would cost Mrs. Frere a grievous 
 effort, she must somehow reach such shelter as 
 could be given in the miserable little village inn.
 
 XXI 
 
 FORTUNE'S FREAKS UNKIND 
 
 MRS. FRERE had sunk in a heap on the doorstep 
 while Hilary tried to get into the house. There 
 she began to dream. When her daughter helped 
 her to her feet again she could hardly stand. 
 In her speech she did not wander yet, but 
 she was unfit for any effort, dazed, and very 
 wretched. Hilary, ignorant as she was of every- 
 thing to do with illness, saw that it would be use- 
 less to consult her mother. She must act for both 
 as best she could. She decided that they had no 
 alternative but to seek the shelter of the little village 
 inn. She had not forgotten Herr Hansen's house, 
 but to get round to the front door would take some 
 time, and she knew that the only person there just 
 now was a deaf old caretaker, who at this hour 
 would probably be in bed and difficult to rouse. 
 The delays had been serious enough already to 
 kill her mother ; to encounter more would be the 
 last degree of folly. 
 
 ' Come, mother,' she coaxed tenderly, ' come, 
 we must go on.' 
 
 Mrs. Frere said she could not walk on, could 
 not drag herself a step further through the heavy
 
 FORTUNE'S FREAK'S UNKIND 347 
 
 snow. How could Hilary be so cruel as to propose 
 it ! Her limbs were like lead ; her head ached ; she 
 shivered, and yet felt hot. 
 
 ' I know, I know, but come/ said Hilary. She 
 put her arm round her mother and tried to keep her 
 from falling, to help her on. The nearest way to the 
 village lay through a suburban lane, with detached 
 houses on either side surrounded by gardens. Here 
 the snow lay in a sheet, and nothing heavier than a 
 bird had touched it yet. Every branch was loaded, 
 every shrub weighed down. The wind had some- 
 what subsided, but it still blew the snow aslant their 
 faces, and found its way beneath the loose folds of 
 Hilary's evening cloak. Her hands, her bare arms, 
 and her thinly-shod feet were soon numb with cold. 
 Her eyes ached and wept with it. It hurt her to 
 breathe. But her own discomfort only helped her 
 to understand, with increasing distress and com- 
 passion, what her mother must feel. She soon 
 thought that every yard would be the last they 
 could accomplish, and that they would have to 
 sink into the snow and die there. She did not 
 dare to leave her mother and seek help. She felt 
 uncertain where to find it. No cab plied for hire 
 at this distance from the city, and most respectable 
 people were in bed. When at last the scarce and 
 meagre village lights were visible, Hilary felt as a 
 storm-tossed crew may in sight of a haven. There 
 was shelter, warmth, and human aid. She whispered 
 encouraging words to her mother ; she tightened 
 her arm about her ; she dragged her forward ; she 
 wondered whether the stress of the moment could 
 give her the strength to carry the sick woman a
 
 348 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 few yards in her arms ; but that was impossible, 
 she found, and the effort she made towards it shook 
 and troubled Mrs. Frere. It roused her too for 
 the moment, and, with a final, desperate effort, she 
 began to walk quickly, only to arrive, however, in 
 a state of great exhaustion at the door of the inn, 
 which stood a little apart from the rest of the 
 village. 
 
 There were no lights in any window, and Hilary 
 could find no bell. She hammered at the door 
 with her fists, and, after a time, a light appeared at 
 a first-floor window and the landlord leaned out 
 to see who was there. By this time Mrs. Frere 
 and Hilary where white with snow, their hair 
 powdered by it, their clothes covered. They had 
 no escort, and no luggage. In that wild weather 
 they came on foot. Perhaps the man thought they 
 were adventuresses, or even tramps ; or he may 
 have recognised that they were ladies, and unsuit- 
 able guests in his rough drinking shed, for the 
 wretched house was little more. At any rate, he 
 shouted that he had no room to give them, shut 
 down the window, and disappeared. Hilary was 
 at her wits' end. If an inn refused them shelter 
 surely other people would ; and yet the next thing 
 to do was to try and rouse some of the trades- 
 people whose customers they had been. There was 
 the provision shop where they had occasionally 
 bought dainties for Mrs. Frere. Perhaps she 
 could make them hear, perhaps they would tell 
 her where to go when they saw her mother literally 
 dying of exposure. Another delay, another pain- 
 ful explanation before they were adrift again. It
 
 FORTUNE'S FREAKS UNKIND 349 
 
 was more than five minutes' walk from the inn to 
 the provision shop, and when they had traversed 
 twenty yards Hilary began to think that they 
 would never get there together. 
 
 ' Will you wait here for me ? ' she said to 
 her mother. ' I will run on and ask about a 
 room.' 
 
 But Mrs. Frere clung tightly to her daughter's 
 arm. ' Do not leave me,' she moaned. ' I am very 
 ill. I do not want to be alone.' 
 
 ' Will you try and come with me, then ? ' said 
 Hilary. 
 
 Instead of answering, Mrs. Frere's grip suddenly 
 slackened, and, with a terrifying groan, she slipped 
 from her daughter's side to the ground. Hilary's 
 heart stood still. She tried in great haste to 
 raise her mother, but the slim girl had no 
 strength to lift so heavy and helpless a woman. 
 
 ' Let me be, dear,' whispered Mrs. Frere in a 
 sleepy voice. ' I shall be all right if you let me 
 be.' 
 
 ' You must not lie here in the snow/ said 
 Hilary. ' You must let me help you up.' 
 
 But neither her entreaties nor her attempts to 
 rouse Mrs. Frere were of any avail. She did not 
 know what to do. She took off her own cloak, 
 rolled it into a pillow, and put it under her mother's 
 head and neck, which were, of course, drenched 
 in snow. She was afraid that Mrs. Frere was dying 
 then and there, so she dared not leave her. She 
 tried shouting for help, but no one came. Prob- 
 ably her voice did not carry far enough in that 
 high wind. When she had watched for a few
 
 350 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 minutes, kneeling in the snow, she began to think 
 the danger of death was perhaps not immediate, 
 and that she had better risk the brief separation 
 and run into the village for help ; but the 
 moment she moved, her mother half roused and 
 implored the girl not to leave her there alone. 
 Hilary yielded once in the hope that Mrs. Frere's 
 sleepy state might deepen ; the second time she 
 hardened her heart and said that she must go. 
 Her mother's groans stabbed her as she fled. 
 
 Hilary almost ran into the arms of a gendarme. 
 The man looked quite startled ; and it is not to be 
 supposed that he had ever before met a young 
 lady running blindly ahead in such weather as 
 this a young lady dressed for a ball, moreover, 
 and with no covering but snow-flakes for her head, 
 neck, and arms. He questioned her closely, with 
 the authority assumed in Germany by a dog in 
 office, and, thinking that he might aid her, she 
 led him back to where her mother lay. This she 
 soon regretted. He was a good-natured creature, 
 but dense, garrulous, and ignorant He inflicted 
 on the impatient girl a long-winded description of 
 the frost-bites he had seen in Russia and the 
 popular cure for them. He seemed to think 
 that Mrs. Frere was frost-bitten, and that Hilary 
 soon would be if she did not take his advice. He 
 offered to rub Mrs. Frere's hands and feet with 
 snow. Hilary begged him instead to find them a 
 lodging for the night, and to find it without 
 delay. She imagined that she was talking to an 
 English policeman, who thinks it his duty to be 
 civil and of use. But this Dogberry resented the
 
 FORTUNE'S FREAKS UNKIND 351 
 
 request, and turned sulky when she tried to insist 
 on it. He suggested that the young lady's 
 mother was probably suffering from a complaint 
 still more common than frost-bite, and as he said 
 this he waved his hand in the direction of the 
 beer-shop close by. He also said that he would 
 be round this way again in less than an hour, and 
 that if by that time the ladies had not vanished 
 he would take them both to the police bureau. 
 Hilary need not attempt to bribe him. He had 
 never yet dishonoured his uniform by accepting a 
 bribe. 
 
 There was an uncomfortable pause. From 
 Hilary's empty pockets she could not extract the 
 coin the man evidently expected. She remained 
 silent, and so did he. Then she said with 
 decision, ' Take us to the police bureau. Help 
 me to carry my mother there. It is the best thing 
 you can do for us, if you will not find us a 
 lodging.' 
 
 The man laughed, turned on his heel, and 
 strode away. He was a stupid creature, who did 
 not see that Mrs. Frere was ill, or understand that 
 Hilary meant what she said. She ran after him 
 for a few yards, but he easily outstript her and 
 was soon out of sight. The girl returned to her 
 mother, and tried to make her understand that 
 they must move again. Her own limbs were 
 aching acutely with cold, and since she had taken 
 off her cloak the snow melted and dripped on her 
 bare neck and arms. She thought of the warm 
 wrap she had relinquished as a starving man 
 thinks of food. Her body hungered for the
 
 352 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 comfort of it, but she could not take it from 
 under her mother's head. It was too dark just 
 here to see Mrs. Frere's face very plainly. Her 
 breath had grown more laboured, her groans more 
 distressing. She no longer talked coherently. 
 Hilary tried to lift her again, but she could not 
 manage it. She did not know what to do. She 
 blamed herself for letting the gendarme go. She 
 ought to have compelled him to help her. 
 
 In trying to lift her mother she had slipped 
 on the snow herself, and for a short time she sat 
 still where she had stumbled, with Mrs. Frere's 
 head on her lap. The fall had shaken and 
 wrenched her. She felt inclined to cry, but 
 she drove back an impulse of which she felt 
 ashamed, and the struggle braced her. She laid 
 Mrs. Frere's head gently on the rolled-up cloak 
 again and stood up, determined to leave her 
 mother and ask at the first house she came to for 
 help. She would ask in terms that admitted of 
 no refusal. Her mother should not die, like an 
 outcast in the snow. 
 
 Before acting on this resolution she stood and 
 watched the sick woman with lingering concern. 
 She saw that Mrs. Frere was very ill. The great 
 doctor, Herr Hansen's friend, had warned her of 
 it, but she did not know exactly what ailed her, 
 or what course the malady would take. Suppose 
 this restlessness and delirium increased ? Mrs. 
 Frere might get up and wander away while 
 Hilary sought help. Or the stupor might grow 
 suddenly worse, and end there and then in death. 
 Hilary did not know whether it was safe to leave
 
 FORTUNE'S FREAKS UNKIND 353 
 
 her mother for a moment, and yet she felt 
 driven to go. It was terrible to be in the 
 presence of such suffering without help. Her 
 ignorance felt like cruelty, like sin. 
 
 She had not started yet, when she heard a 
 man's footstep trudging through the snow towards 
 them. She made up her mind to another and a 
 bolder tussle with the wooden-headed gendarme, 
 but as he approached she saw that it was a 
 bigger man, and when he came quite close she 
 recognised their own doctor. With unspeak- 
 able relief she hailed him, and he stopped in 
 surprise. 
 
 The storm of snow and wind was gradually 
 subsiding, and though the moon did not show, it 
 lit the sky. The doctor could see Mrs. Frere 
 lying on the ground, and Hilary with no wrap 
 over her thin gown, shivering, cramped, and white 
 with snow. Her teeth chattered so that she 
 could scarcely speak, but she managed to tell him 
 what had happened to them. He, it seemed, had 
 tried in vain to get into Frau Lange's house, and 
 was now on his way to see a patient in the village. 
 Neither he nor Hilary wasted many words. He 
 stooped over Mrs. Frere and shook his head. 
 
 ' Will she die ? ' said Hilary. 
 
 He got up, but made no reply. He looked 
 at the nearest houses of the village, and then at 
 Mrs. Frere. Then he stooped again, and Hilary 
 saw that he meant to lift her mother in his arms. 
 She felt astonished at his strength, and envious 
 of it. During the last few hours her weakness 
 had cost her mother dear. 
 
 23
 
 354 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 1 Put that wrap round your own shoulders,' he 
 said, as Hilary prepared to follow him. In his 
 own mind he expected the girl to be as ill as her 
 mother twenty-four hours hence, but being a wise 
 man he did not say so. He walked slowly and 
 hardly spoke. Hilary wondered whether he had 
 any plan, where he meant to take them, and what 
 he thought of her mother's condition. His silence 
 tortured her. 
 
 ' Could you have compelled them to take us 
 in at that tavern ? ' she asked at last. 
 
 ' I would not send a sick dog there,' he said 
 curtly. 
 
 ' There is no other inn near.' 
 
 ' I know of some rooms where they will look 
 after you.' 
 
 They walked on for a few yards, and then he 
 stopped with his back against a tree to rest. He 
 looked steadily at Mrs. Frere. 
 
 ' You ought to have sent for me two days ago,' 
 he said. ' I should have forbidden your mother to 
 leave the house to-day. Why didn't you let me 
 know she was worse again ? ' 
 
 Hilary hesitated. She could not tell him the 
 truth, which was that they hardly knew how to 
 pay what they already owed him. 
 
 ' Is she very ill now ? ' she asked evasively 
 
 What he said in reply was inarticulate but 
 expressive, and with the conviction that he not 
 unnaturally thought her a fool, Hilary pulled 
 herself together and dragged after him again. 
 She wished he could have carried her as well as 
 Mrs. Frere.
 
 FORTUNE'S FREAKS UNKIND 355 
 
 At last they stopped at a clean-looking house 
 half-way down the main street of the village. 
 Hilary rang the bell, and then propped herself 
 against the wall. It occurred to her that she 
 must look uncommonly like one of those most 
 miserable creatures to be seen waiting outside a 
 London workhouse on any winter afternoon, and 
 that without the doctor's introduction they would 
 probably have been turned away from this door 
 too. If they had not met him, she supposed they 
 would still be tramping here and there in the 
 snow. Did the people who went to a workhouse 
 often spend such a night as this? They looked 
 like it. Perhaps she was dreaming, and would 
 wake directly to find herself beside her mother 
 in the snow again, with no doctor near. How he 
 stared. 
 
 He thought she was going to behave in the 
 traditional feminine manner and collapse now 
 that the strain had passed from her shoulders to 
 his. A street light fell on her face, which was 
 pinched and wan with cold. Her beautiful eyes 
 were full of pain, and her young mouth set firm 
 with resolve to bear it silently. Her fluffy hair 
 clung about her brow and the nape of her neck 
 in wet, half-frozen strings, and her gown, so trim 
 that afternoon, now hung from her shoulders a 
 mere discoloured rag. He saw that she only 
 kept her eyes open with great difficulty, and just 
 before they were let in to the house she did fall 
 asleep for a moment and had time to dream. 
 She woke with a start and a radiant smile, with 
 her hands stretched out to welcome some one who
 
 356 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 was not there. Even as her eyes opened her 
 hands fell lifelessly, the shadows deepened on her 
 face again, the smile died away. 
 
 The doctor had always been puzzled by these 
 patients. They seemed so unhappily out of place 
 in Frau Lange's house, so short of money, and so 
 softly bred. He knew that Frau Lange's temper 
 was almost insanely violent. Some years ago she 
 had been prosecuted and fined for ill-treatment of 
 a young maidservant. He had rightly supposed 
 all along that nothing but dire necessity would 
 keep Mrs. Frere and her daughters in that house- 
 hold for a day. But he knew now that Nell had 
 married Herr Hansen, and he felt that he might 
 warrantably provide her mother and sister with 
 comfortable quarters and with a capable nurse. 
 If he found that in Herr Hansen's absence they 
 were friendless, he determined to see Frau Lange 
 himself next day and frighten her into sending 
 Mrs. Frere clothes, wine, and money. Mrs. Frere 
 might die. In any case Frau Lange had behaved 
 inhumanly, and he did not mean to spare either 
 her pocket or her feelings. 
 
 Meanwhile, for the rest of the night they must 
 make the most of a warm, dry room, and such 
 clothes as the woman of the house could provide. 
 Some necessary medicines he would fetch from 
 the village chemist himself. He told Hilary that 
 she as well as her mother must go straight to 
 bed ; but when he came back he found the girl 
 sitting up, and bent invincibly on staying with 
 Mrs. Frere. She was deaf to his reproaches, to 
 his commands. He half doubted whether she
 
 FORTUNE'S FREAKS UNKIND 357 
 
 understood what he said. She looked at him 
 with her dazed beautiful eyes, frowned a little as 
 if the sound of his exhortations weaned her, and 
 turned from him to hang with mute, inactive grief 
 over her mother's bed. He did what he could 
 for Mrs. Frere, and then looked at the girl again ; 
 but at that moment her persistence was greater 
 than his. He went away.
 
 XXII 
 
 LEBEWOHL 
 
 MRS. FRERE died three days after the doctor 
 found her lying in the snow. She never recovered 
 consciousness, and passed away without much pain. 
 Hilary did not collapse at once. She watched by 
 her mother to the last, sent to the Werners for 
 help, and wrote to Nell. Then she was very ill. 
 April had come when she got up again and began 
 to wonder through the long weak days of conval- 
 escence what she had better do next. She used 
 to sit at her bedroom window and watch the buds 
 of a horse-chesnut grow fatter and greener every 
 day. For some weeks the tree and the afternoon 
 sunshine were all she saw of spring. She heard 
 that the woods were full of anemones already, 
 that the nightingales were singing, that it was 
 warm enough to sail on the Alster by moonlight. 
 Once Olga Werner brought her a great basket 
 of spring flowers ; but they were precisely and 
 expensively arranged. Hilary longed to gather 
 primroses in a Sussex copse. 
 
 Except the Werners, there had been no one 
 to look after her even while she lay in strange 
 lodgings dangerously ill. Frau Lange did not
 
 LEBEWOHL 359 
 
 once come near her. She told the doctor when 
 he called at her house that the locking-out had been 
 owing to a deplorable mistake. She had clearly 
 understood that her sister-in-law and niece meant 
 to spend the night in a Hamburg hotel. Neither 
 she nor her maid had heard the bell, or Hilary's 
 shouts, or even the gravel that broke a window- 
 pane. They had been amazed next morning to 
 find footsteps in the snow. The doctor did not 
 believe a word she said. Her manner impressed 
 him most unfavourably, but he could not cross- 
 question the maid, who would probably tell a 
 different story. He could only listen with a 
 sceptical expression, assure her she was lucky to 
 sleep so soundly, and ask her to send on her niece's 
 trunks at once. When he called again at the 
 house he found it in the hands of a caretaker. 
 She told him that Frau Lange, after dismissing 
 her maid, had gone away for change of air. 
 
 Through some alteration in their travelling 
 plans Nell never received her sister's letter. It 
 lay unclaimed at an Italian inn. Meanwhile 
 Nell's letters went to Frau Lange's house, were 
 not sent on, and, of course, remained unanswered. 
 Herr Hansen telegraphed to the Werners for 
 news, and the reply informing him of Mrs. Frere's 
 death came first by an unlucky chance into Nell's 
 hands. The shock unnerved her completely. She 
 broke down, and was forbidden to attempt the 
 homeward journey. At the end of April Herr 
 Hansen and she were still in Italy. 
 
 The Werners looked after Hilary to some 
 extent. They did not pay her many visits, but
 
 3 6o THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 they made themselves responsible to the landlady 
 for necessary expenses, and so proved that the 
 young lady had respectable connections, and might 
 be taken care of without uneasiness on the part 
 of a poor woman who had her living to earn. As 
 soon as she could get out of doors Hilary went 
 to thank them, and to tell them that, about a 
 week later, she meant to start for England. She 
 found Frau Werner sitting by herself in her 
 favourite seat near a window, and in front of her 
 work-table. 
 
 ' But, my child,' said Frau Werner, ' how 
 can you make any plans until you have consulted 
 Herr Hansen ? He is now the head of the 
 family.' 
 
 ' He has no authority over me,' said Hilary in 
 surprise. 
 
 ' But who else is there until you have a husband 
 of your own ? ' 
 
 ' Need there be any one ? I am twenty.' 
 
 ' My dear child, every woman must take the 
 advice of some man in all important matters. 
 My cousin Pinchen is fifty-six, and she would not 
 go to Switzerland this summer until she got my 
 husband's permission. She has never been married, 
 you know, so she comes to him. At first he would 
 not allow her to go ; he said she could not afford 
 it ; but I helped a little, and in the end he gave 
 way. Of course you must take Herr Hansen's 
 opinion about everything until you put on a 
 matron's cap yourself 
 
 ' But, Frau Werner, I have hardly any money,' 
 said Hilary. ' I must go back to London and earn
 
 LEBEWOHL 361 
 
 my living. I have been here half a year and 
 found no opening. I cannot be dependent on 
 my brother-in-law. I should not consider it 
 right' 
 
 ' But it is what he thinks right that you ought 
 to do. How can you, a girl of twenty, know any- 
 thing ? What is it you propose ? Will you 
 travel under protection, go straight to the bosom 
 of a friendly family, and wait there until you hear 
 of a situation ? ' 
 
 ' No,' said Hilary, ' I shall have to travel by 
 myself, go into cheap lodgings, and hunt up and 
 down London for work.' 
 
 ' Impossible ! ' cried Frau Werner, evidently 
 scandalised. ' It would not be respectable. A 
 girl of twenty in lodgings by herself in Babylon ! 
 Do you know that several German and French 
 writers agree in calling London the wickedest city 
 in the world ? ' 
 
 ' Really,' said Hilary, looking unconcerned ; 
 ' but it won't affect me, and I never read the police 
 reports. I shall live in a respectable neighbour- 
 hood on as little as I can, and find dozens of other 
 lonely women doing the same.' 
 
 ' I never heard of such a thing,' said Frau 
 Werner. 
 
 ' In London,' said Hilary, ' there are whole 
 large buildings separated into little flats, and let to 
 single working women. When I get on I shall 
 take one myself.' 
 
 ' The single working women would be much 
 better married,' observed Frau Werner. 
 
 ' To bring that about,' said Hilary, ' you must
 
 362 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 let a good many men have two wives apiece. At 
 present there are not enough husbands to go round.' 
 
 Frau Werner looked scandalised but not con- 
 vinced. However, she bid good-bye to Hilary very 
 cordially, and said that she expected to see her back 
 again very shortly. Herr Hansen would summon 
 her, and she would, of course, come at his call. 
 
 Hilary wished that she could start that very 
 afternoon. Having once made up her mind to see 
 London again she longed to be off. A Swiss 
 peasant boy in exile is said to be homesick for the 
 tinkle of the cow-bells and for the sight of snow- 
 clad mountains. Hilary longed to cross Oxford 
 Circus again, and to hear a bus conductor invite 
 her to 'Igh 'Olborn and the Benk ; but she was 
 far from strong yet, and she had a good deal to 
 do. She must look through her mother's trunks, 
 for instance, and decide what she would keep and 
 what she would send to Nell a task she had 
 put off from day to day. It is such a harrowing 
 business to rummage amongst the dead friend's 
 treasures, to apportion them, appropriate them, 
 throw them aside ; but this afternoon when 
 Hilary got home she unlocked the biggest trunk 
 and began to unpack it. She was soon surrounded 
 by the odds and ends Mrs. Frere had carried to 
 Germany because she loved them. Old letters 
 and nondescript treasures took up more room than 
 clothes. Mrs. Frere had never cared to adorn 
 herself, but only her two girls. 
 
 Hilary missed her mother every hour of the 
 day missed her companionship and her tender 
 interest in all that concerned her children. It was
 
 LEBEWOHL 363 
 
 wretched to come back to this empty room where 
 no one waited to welcome her, or cared to hear 
 what had happened. This evening, as the shadows 
 fell and the dusk grew deeper, the girl wished that 
 she was not alone. She had not grown used to 
 solitude yet, and, especially at twilight, ghosts came 
 to keep her company. To-night they came closer 
 than ever as if her mother's things, strewn every- 
 where, had summoned them. The air felt heavy, 
 and she set a window open and sat down near it 
 From her lap there trailed the brocade gown her 
 mother had worn on the night of the dance at 
 their home less than a year ago. The Brussels 
 point that trimmed the bodice had long ago been 
 promised to Nell. When the lamp came Hilary 
 meant to untack it and put it carefully away. She 
 could not begin until she had more light, and 
 meanwhile, being very tired, she leaned back and 
 shut her eyes. Perhaps she dozed a little, 
 because, without having heard any one ascend the 
 stairs, she was suddenly startled by a tap at her 
 door, and by a voice she knew demanding admit- 
 tance. She got up hastily and went half across 
 the room, then stopped stock-still. Frau Lange 
 stood before her. 
 
 ' You ! ' said the girl. ' You come to see me ? ' 
 
 ' I have brought you these/ replied her aunt, 
 handing her half a dozen letters addressed in 
 Nell's writing. Hilary took them. 
 
 ' Thank you,' she said, and then waited, expect- 
 ing her visitor to go. 
 
 1 What do you mean to do ? ' asked Frau Lange. 
 
 ' I am going back to England.'
 
 364 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 'By yourself?' 
 
 ' How else should I go ? My sister is married. 
 My mother is dead.' 
 
 ' Your mother was very ill when she left 
 to go to the wedding,' said Frau Lange un- 
 easily. 
 
 ' She was. Otherwise what you did might not 
 have killed her. I survived it, you see.' 
 
 ' Of course I thought you meant to sleep in 
 Hamburg.' 
 
 Hilary's icy silence and her inexpressive face 
 were eloquent. Even Frau Lange understood 
 that she was not believed. 
 
 ' You refuse to take my word ? ' she said. 
 
 ' Of course I do. If you thought we should 
 not come back why did you lock Auguste in her 
 room so that she could not let us in ? ' 
 
 ' What do you know about that ? Have you 
 been getting at Auguste ? Has she written to 
 you ?' 
 
 ' I have neither seen her nor heard from her, 
 but I know that the noise I made must have 
 waked you both.' 
 
 ' I did not expect you back,' said Frau 
 Lange. ' I told you you should not come inside 
 my house again. Why did you not believe 
 me?' 
 
 ' At that time,' said Hilary, ' we merely thought 
 you a disagreeable woman. We did not know 
 you were a downright wicked one. You say your- 
 self you knew my mother was ill. We never 
 supposed you would let her die in the streets. Do 
 you understand what happened ? She was dying
 
 LEBEWOHL 365 
 
 at your door and you did not let her in. She had 
 to drag through the snow when she was gasping 
 for breath. Do you remember that night how 
 the wind howled ? We could hardly stand against 
 it. At last my mother fell from sheer exhaustion, 
 and lay on the ground freezing until I hope 
 you see it. I hope you will see it when you are 
 dying yourself. I see it night and day. She was 
 
 in great pain and most miserable Why are 
 
 you here? Go.' 
 
 Frau Lange started back as if she thought her 
 niece might have struck her, the girl looked so 
 angry. 
 
 After speaking of her mother in a voice of 
 mournful indignation she had stopped, half-choked 
 with grief, and then suddenly seemed to repent 
 having parleyed with her enemy at all. 
 
 ' What is the use of talking ? ' she cried. 
 ' What can you and I possibly have to say 
 to each other now ? You know what you have 
 done.' 
 
 ' I am sure your mother would have died,' said 
 Frau Lange. ' She was very ill.' 
 
 ' We shall all die, and until I do I shall 
 remember that night.' 
 
 Hilary spoke in a low voice, and with her eyes 
 fixed on the floor. She was trembling with anger 
 and weakness. She felt as if the last few minutes 
 had blotted out the long quiet days of con- 
 valescence, and taken her straight back to the 
 dreadful hours when she watched her mother sink 
 out of life. 
 
 Before either of them spoke again the land-
 
 366 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 lady arrived with a lamp, and then Hilary saw 
 that her aunt wore deep mourning, and that she 
 looked sallow and ill. 
 
 'It is not proper for you to go back to 
 England by yourself/ she began when they 
 were by themselves. ' I never heard of such a 
 thing. Why don't you come and live with me ? ' 
 
 ' What ? ' exclaimed Hilary. 
 
 ' Come and live with me.' 
 
 ' I would rather beg in the streets.' 
 
 ' Your mother would not have been so un- 
 forgiving.' 
 
 ' I am not sure. If you had turned me out of 
 doors when I was dying ' 
 
 ' You are a wicked, ungrateful girl. Luckily, I 
 have a clear conscience. How will you earn your 
 bread ? I offer it you for nothing.' 
 
 ' Your bread would choke me. Is it possible 
 that you don't see that ? ' 
 
 Hilary had sat down because she felt unable to 
 stand any longer, but she did not invite her aunt 
 to take a seat, and she was quite resolved that 
 she would not shake hands with her at parting. 
 
 ' I shall not repeat my offer,' said Frau Lange, 
 her voice rising as it used to do when she was on 
 the brink of a rage. ' If you change your mind you 
 must make advances to me before the week is out. 
 Unless I hear from you, I shall adopt an orphan, 
 and leave her all my money. 1 
 
 Hilary remained steadily silent. 
 
 ' Do you want me to go down on my knees 
 to you ? ' shrieked her aunt, edging nearer to the 
 door every moment, and yet saying something
 
 LEBEWOHL 367 
 
 more at each fresh step, as if she found her 
 niece's adamant manner most difficult to accept. 
 ' If you come, you come as my daughter. That 
 is understood. I must leave my money to some 
 one. I hope to live another thirty years certainly 
 I am not joking about the orphan. I have 
 made inquiries. I can have one any age I like 
 from the asylum. It's very fine to be proud, 
 but when one is hungry three times a day Well, 
 I have done my duty and can sleep in peace 
 to-night. When I get to heaven I shall say 
 to my blessed husband, " I offered your starving 
 niece my home and my fortune, and she did not 
 even open her mouth to say, Thank you." He 
 will not be surprised. He always said my 
 generous heart would bring me to grief, and so it 
 has. If I had not taken pity an you, and opened 
 my house to you all, I should not be standing 
 here to-day.' 
 
 Perhaps it occurred to Frau Lange at last 
 that at any moment she might quit the position 
 she professed to find so disagreeable. At any 
 rate, with a last lingering look of bewilder- 
 ment at Hilary's profile, she turned really round, 
 and went out of the room with a bang. 
 As she tramped down the stairs, her niece's 
 hardly - kept composure gave way. Hilary 
 began to cry, and to wonder whether she 
 had been too hard on a creature only halt 
 sane. But behind all her thoughts in these days 
 she heard her mother moaning in the snow. She 
 felt sometimes as if the memory turned her heart 
 to stone.
 
 XXIII 
 
 LIFE IN A GARRET 
 
 ALTHOUGH it was stormy weather Hilary stayed on 
 deck. The ship might pitch and toss as it pleased, 
 but it cut its way through the water homeward. 
 Every wave that broke against the bulwarks was 
 in an English sea. The wild air blew across her 
 face and left a delicious taste of salt on her lips, 
 the spray dashed over her, the wind whistled in 
 her ears. She watched the chopping, dull, green 
 water. She listened to the sailors talking to each 
 other. How pleasant to be back again where 
 English was the common tongue ! Even her 
 memories, even her apprehensions for the future, 
 could not alter the exhilarating fact that every 
 moment brought her nearer to the British Isles. 
 
 What she would do when she got there she 
 hardly knew. She had twenty pounds in her 
 possession, all told, and even this belonged by 
 rights to Nell. In accordance with Mrs. Frere's 
 request, the five hundred pounds her daughter 
 could claim on her marriage had been paid in at 
 a Hamburg bank directly the marriage was an 
 accomplished fact. Nell had arranged to leave 
 the sum in her mother's hands, and as after Mrs.
 
 LIFE IN A GARRET 369 
 
 Frere's death all the trousseau bills came to 
 Hilary for settlement, Herr Werner helped her 
 to get possession of the money intended for 
 them. It soon melted away. Every post seemed 
 to bring in unpaid bills either from London or 
 Hamburg ; and Hilary had been obliged to use a 
 certain amount for the expenses of her mother's 
 funeral, and of her own illness. When she had 
 taken her ticket to London, and satisfied all her 
 creditors, she had twenty pounds left. In October 
 she would receive another ten pounds the half- 
 yearly interest on her little capital. So she had 
 two problems to solve. How could she keep 
 body and soul together for eight months on 
 thirty pounds ? And what could she do to secure 
 an equally splendid income for the following year ? 
 Her old vision of a two-pound country cottage 
 had come up, and been rejected as unworthy of 
 her youth and energy. She must try to earn 
 her bread ; besides, no arithmetic had convinced 
 her that, even in a cottage, she could exist for 
 fifty-two long weeks on twenty pounds. No 
 doubt, many people did, but she had not been born 
 amongst them. She supposed that such an 
 income would bring real comfort to an Indian 
 ryot, or even to an Irish peasant But when 
 she tried to live on rice or potatoes she got 
 ill. Her experiments of this kind not only 
 ended in failure, but were excessively uncom- 
 fortable. 
 
 Hilary had not written to any of her old 
 friends. The life before her was so untried and 
 strange that she felt inclined to see how it worked 
 
 24
 
 370 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 before inviting any one to a private view. She 
 could not ask girls of her own age, who lived 
 with their parents in pleasant homes, to come 
 and eat bread and dripping with her in an attic. 
 She expected to live a good deal on bread and 
 dripping. It is possible that you will not have 
 much sympathy with Hilary's plans and fears. 
 You may have come across people with less than 
 twenty pounds in their pockets, and with no 
 firmer hold on the future than hers ; people 
 who, nevertheless, made solid meals when they 
 were hungry, and changed a sovereign without 
 a pang. And if you have always lived safe and 
 sheltered in a comfortable home, you will not 
 understand how forlorn and anxious the girl felt. 
 You have never been obliged to consider how 
 costly are the bare necessaries of life, how im- 
 perious our bodily demands from hour to hour. 
 Hilary meant to live in London on fifteen 
 shillings a week. If she succeeded, twenty -five 
 pounds would last her nearly eight months, and 
 she would still have a five -pound note for an 
 emergency. With her ideas of London prices, 
 the prospect was not exhilarating. Unless she 
 found work at once she would soon be half- 
 starved ; and food is not the only pressing need 
 to a person of nice habits. In London it costs 
 money to keep warm and clean. 
 
 The only person in London who expected 
 Hilary was a former maid married to a flourishing 
 greengrocer in Bloomsbury. As the expense of 
 an hotel, even for a night or two, was out of 
 question, she had written to this woman and
 
 LIFE IN A GARRET 371 
 
 asked her to recommend a respectable room. 
 By return of post she had received a cordial 
 invitation to stay with Mrs. Wilkins and look out 
 for a room at leisure. Hilary gladly accepted 
 the offer for a single night. But when she got 
 there she found it very difficult to make the 
 greengrocer's wife understand the real state of 
 affairs. Mrs. Wilkins had never heard of a young 
 lady wishing to live like a work girl in a cheap 
 room with no one to ' do ' for her. Since Miss 
 Nell had married a rich gentleman, surely she 
 would not let her sister want for anything. It 
 was finally the greengrocer himself who came to 
 the rescue. He said he had a widowed aunt 
 in reduced circumstances who lived just out of 
 the Tottenham Court Road and took in lodgers. 
 A very respectable young woman, a dressmaker 
 by trade, occupied her first floor, but a young 
 lady in the drapery line had lately left, having 
 bettered herself by going to a house where all the 
 hands slept on the premises. 
 
 Hilary jumped at this opportunity, and went 
 off at once to look at the room. She was taken 
 to an attic on the top of a small house in one of 
 those streets where all the children play out-of-doors. 
 On wet days, when the organ-grinders and the 
 children stay at home, the street was a quiet one. 
 Hilary thought that if she could have spent five 
 pounds on the room, she might have made it 
 quite engaging. With a clean yellow paper and 
 white paint, a bit of blue felt and a dozen yards 
 of the right cretonne, no one need mind coming 
 home there. But the idea of living in it as it
 
 372 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 was appalled her. The boards cried out for a 
 scrub ; the strip of carpet had lost all colour ; 
 the counterpane had evidently weathered the 
 winter fogs ; the wall-paper had perhaps been 
 lavender many years ago. Patches of it here 
 and there were altogether missing. The painted 
 chest of drawers blocked the only window, and 
 served as a dressing-table. The solitary chair 
 was a cane one with an imperfect seat. The 
 landlady explained that Hilary's predecessor had 
 come back late at night from her work, and had 
 gone straight to bed. Sundays she used to spend 
 out with friends. For the room, without attend- 
 ance, she had paid four shillings a week. Hilary 
 agreed to these terms, and engaged the room from 
 the morrow. She could not expect to find any- 
 thing better unless she paid more for it, and she 
 considered it worth something to feel sure that 
 the house was a quiet, respectable one. Mrs. 
 Wilkins had said a great deal to her about the 
 necessity of being careful where she pitched her 
 tent 
 
 When she got there on the following after- 
 noon the place looked rather tidier. A clean 
 though ragged short blind had been stretched 
 across the window on a tape. Everything had 
 been dusted, and a small Pembroke table added 
 to the furniture. Mrs. Wilkins had insisted on 
 lending Hilary an easy - chair, and she had 
 advised the young lady to buy a kettle, a small 
 petroleum stove, a frying-pan, and about a dozen 
 other odds and ends that, even in an attic, are 
 necessary to housekeeping because Hilary had
 
 LIFE IN A GARRET 373 
 
 undertaken to wait entirely on herself. Mrs. 
 Wilkins supposed she would have most of her 
 meals at Shoolbreds, and reminded her that she 
 could not go there on Sundays. Hilary said she 
 had thought of that. Altogether, her inaugura- 
 tion cost her over a pound, and the first thing 
 she did when she was left to herself was to 
 reckon how much less than fifteen shillings a 
 week she must spend in order that thirteen 
 pounds ten should last her till October. She 
 felt sure that a good deal of it would be needed 
 for fees to registry offices, fares, and clothes. She 
 might find something in her trunks to sell if the 
 worst came to the worst ; and, of course, rather 
 than starve she would apply for help to Herr 
 Hansen. But she hoped she would not be driven 
 to that. It exasperated her to find every one take 
 for granted that she would sit down supinely and 
 exist on his bounty. The most arduous life would 
 be more respectable. 
 
 That first evening Hilary was too much 
 occupied to feel dejected. She had her purchases 
 to unpack and stow away, and her two huge trunks 
 to overhaul. In one of them she found the 
 delicate table and bed linen saved by her mother 
 from the wreck of their home. Part of this she 
 took out for daily use. Then she unpacked her 
 books and the few clothes fit for her present sur- 
 roundings. One of the two trunks was nearly 
 full of useless clothes, and she wondered whether 
 she would be able to sell them for sums that 
 would supply her with necessaries. She had a 
 white satin ball-gown, and not one pair of strong
 
 374 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 boots ; she had white ostrich feathers, and no tidy 
 dark gloves ; the yellow gauze she had worn at 
 their own dance was as good as new, while her 
 everyday serge had looked shabby months ago. 
 Of course, if she soon found well-paid work she 
 might still be glad of her pretty things. She 
 would not barter them for pence yet awhile. If 
 she began to earn enough to live on, she could 
 do like the young lady in the drapery line, and 
 visit her friends on Sundays. Could she ever go 
 for a walk with Dick again ? From her own 
 home it is so easy for a girl to brave Mrs. Grundy, 
 but when once she is really shelterless it behoves 
 her to be careful. Nevertheless, Hilary thought 
 that if Dick considered it all right When 
 would he be back from New York she wondered. 
 He had never answered her letter announcing 
 Mrs. Frere's death, so she took for granted he was 
 still away. The wild hyacinths would soon be 
 out in the Surrey woods. If he wanted her to 
 go and see them, how could she say him nay? 
 But suppose he did not write until after his visit 
 to Hamburg in May, and then proclaimed his 
 engagement to Olga Werner. Such things 
 happened, and people had to grind at life just 
 the same, having breakfast, tea, and dinner every 
 day earning them painfully if they were poor. 
 Would it be worth while to live year after year 
 in such a room as this, spending the light hours 
 in drudgery, and the dark ones stupidly asleep? 
 Luckily, when you are very poor and very un- 
 happy your instinct is to live from hour to 
 hour, not to dwell much on a future that only
 
 LIFE IN A GARRET 375 
 
 threatens. Hilary threw open her window, and 
 listened to the evening bells. The greengrocer 
 had given her a bunch of wallflowers that filled the 
 air with spring. Even here the sparrows chirped 
 and twittered sociably. The girl envied them. She 
 hankered after the sound of a friendly voice, the 
 sight of a familiar face. It made her melancholy 
 to be quite alone. Well, then, she must be 
 melancholy until the wiser mood arrived in its 
 turn. Meanwhile she would brew herself a cup 
 of tea. 
 
 Next morning it was very odd to wake and 
 remember gradually that no one would bring her 
 hot water, or even get her breakfast ready. She 
 made her own bed, and tidied the room while 
 the water boiled for her tea. With the help of 
 Mrs. Wilkins she had moved the chest of drawers 
 and put the table in front of the window. She 
 had nothing for breakfast but tea and bread 
 and butter. She meant to spend five shillings 
 a week on food, and not a penny more. She 
 reckoned that she could afford half a crown out of 
 this sum for meat, vegetables, and puddings. She 
 had often read descriptions of the purchases made 
 by people who lived on still less ; and, of course, 
 she knew that at this very moment there must 
 be thousands solving the problem she found so 
 difficult. She wished she could remember more 
 details. She had an impression that she ought 
 to be eating dripping instead of butter ; she must 
 find her landlady and ask where she could buy 
 dripping. Perhaps, when she had more experience, 
 she would look on butter as an unattainable
 
 376 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 luxury, like peaches or champagne. She wished 
 she knew a little more about those nutritious and 
 toothsome dishes that can be prepared at the 
 cost of a halfpenny per head, and which philan- 
 thropists are always recommending to our im- 
 provident lower classes. What was pease pudding ? 
 Could she swallow tripe if she bought it at a 
 cook shop ? Dickens makes people eat pettitoes. 
 What were pettitoes ? Her only idea had been to 
 buy one mutton-chop every day ; but when she 
 went out after breakfast and found that a fat 
 bony one cost eightpence, she began to cast about 
 for cheaper and more satisfying meals. However, 
 she had other important matters to think of first. 
 She had bought the day's Times as well as the 
 chop, and when she got home she sat down to 
 look at the scholastic advertisements. Several 
 promising ones met her eye. One offered eighty 
 pounds to a young lady who could teach French 
 and music to a child of twelve ; another offered 
 rather less for German and elementary Latin. 
 Hilary copied down several addresses all in the 
 neighbourhood of Regent Street and Oxford 
 Street, and when she had eaten her chop she 
 sallied forth and hunted out the first one. To 
 her surprise she found herself at the doors of an 
 inquiry office. She went in. 
 
 Her experience is hardly worth mentioning, it 
 was so common. The post she inquired after had 
 just been given away to a young lady of great 
 attainments ; but, if Hilary would pay five shillings, 
 and put her name down in the office books, she 
 would shortly hear of something equally to her ad-
 
 LIFE IN A GARRET 377 
 
 vantage. In fact, the sharp - looking female in 
 authority hinted that she knew of several excellent 
 openings from which the young lady could choose 
 when she had paid her five shillings. Hilary 
 spent fifteen shillings in fees that afternoon. Every 
 advertisement that had attracted her had been put 
 in by an inquiry office, and by an odd series of 
 accidents every vacancy described had just been 
 filled. Some of the offices took five shillings, others 
 only half a crown, but they all promised to send 
 Hilary just what she wanted in the course of a 
 few days. She walked home tired, sober, and 
 hopeful. She had taken the first steps that day 
 towards an honourable independence. On the 
 strength of it she bought two halfpenny oranges 
 to eat for supper. The dust of the streets had 
 made her very thirsty. 
 
 At the end of a fortnight Hilary knew more 
 than she had done before about certain inquiry 
 offices, and she had largely increased her ac- 
 quaintance with remote London suburbs. But 
 the honourable independence was still to win. 
 From three out of the four offices to which she had 
 paid fees she never even got the chance of work. 
 She called over and over again, and was received 
 at first with affable indifference that soured a 
 little as time went on, and in one instance turned 
 to unpleasant bluster. Her persistence, they hinted, 
 had long ago worn out her half crown. They 
 did not care to recommend young persons who 
 had neither experience nor certificates. Hilary 
 did not look like a governess. There was a some- 
 thing about her Would she consent to
 
 378 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 train for the ballet? They knew a gentleman 
 who taught skirt - dancing in twelve lessons. 
 Hilary did not pester that office again, and when 
 she got home she looked in the glass to find out 
 what the 'something about her' was that stood 
 in her way. Her plain sailor hat suited her. 
 Perhaps she had better buy a cheap dowdy 
 bonnet. Her hair would glitter and blow into 
 feathery little curls however well she brushed it. 
 Though her jacket had been bought last year, it 
 still looked modish and well cut. But her frock 
 and boots and gloves were painfully shabby. 
 Surely they matched her quest. When it grew 
 hotter still she would be obliged to go about 
 without her jacket. But then she would look 
 more girlish than ever. 
 
 At another office they seemed to bear her a 
 grudge because she wished to teach and not to cook. 
 They said that all day long they were besieged by 
 prayers for cooks plains, generals, soups and 
 jellies, any kind and price of cook. If Hilary would 
 spend a year at one of the cookery schools and 
 come back at the end of it they could promise 
 her twenty pounds a year and all found. If she 
 had not been a lady they could have promised 
 more. Hilary reminded them that they had 
 promised her the work she wanted before they 
 took her fee. 
 
 The first office she had entered was not a 
 mere robber's den. The superintendent sent 
 Hilary hither and thither, and it was not her fault 
 that the girl came away unhired. In each case 
 her inexperience made her impossible. Not that
 
 LIFE IN A GARRET 379 
 
 the good ladies she saw in various suburban 
 drawing-rooms attached any value to real training. 
 They would have stared if you had told them that 
 a teacher ought, by rights, to be trained as carefully 
 as a nurse or a cook. It was a mere superstition 
 that stood in Hilary's way. If only she had been 
 ' out ' for a month she would easily have secured 
 one of the posts now denied to her. She got quite 
 hardened in time ; learned to insist on her own 
 merits, to lay stress on her accomplishments, even 
 to offer her services on trial gratis, like an advertised 
 sewing-machine. But the weeks went on, the 
 summer came and her sense of failure grew more 
 sickening every day. She did not know what to 
 do. Of course a girl with more enterprise, with 
 more knowledge of the world, would probably have 
 forced her way in somewhere. Hilary took a rebuff. 
 When people said they did not want her she turned 
 dejectedly away instead of convincing them that 
 they were mistaken. And sundry small adventures 
 had made her more timid than she had been before. 
 A girl fresh from home and from the conventual 
 shelter of a college knows so little of the ugly side 
 of life. The least brush of it gives alarm. In the 
 course of her wanderings Hilary had come across 
 a burlesque actress who offered her a brandy and 
 soda, and told her she was a fool to teach brats 
 when she had just the figure for tights. She should 
 interview the manager of the Cytherean, and show 
 him how high she could kick. On another 
 occasion she had answered an advertisement for a 
 lady-housekeeper and found that the sole inmate 
 of a shabby-genteel house was an elderly man
 
 380 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 who wished to engage her on the spot. She 
 fled. 
 
 When the only active office tired of trying to 
 help her, she went to call on some of her old friends. 
 Nothing came of it. The good-natured ones asked 
 her to dinner, and insisted on calling a cab to take 
 her home. At least this happened once, and it 
 cost her two shillings. She could not afford the 
 risk again. When she told the hostess and her 
 daughters that she wished to go out as a governess 
 they smiled and promised to remember it. Every 
 one promised to let her know directly anything 
 nice and suitable offered. And the weeks went by, 
 burning hot, dusty, difficult to fill. The little attic 
 felt baked and airless by night as well as by day. 
 No food within her means could tempt her appetite. 
 She grew white and hollow-eyed. Very soon she 
 would have to change her last five-pound note but 
 one. She often dreamt of the sea. 
 
 Lately she sometimes spent the hottest days in 
 Regent's Park, hating the long inactive hours, and 
 yet not knowing how to make them busy. She 
 wondered whether Dick had come back from New 
 York yet. He had never written. Suppose he had 
 died out there? The mere notion cost Hilary a 
 pang, and taught her how far the hope of seeing 
 Dick sustained her. The picture of him either 
 dead or married gave her intolerable pain. 
 
 One evening towards the end of July she took 
 a book into the Park, and found a quiet bench near 
 the south end of the Broad Walk. For a long 
 time she did not attempt to read. She felt dis- 
 consolate and dull. The life she had led of late
 
 LIFE IN A GARRET 381 
 
 affected her spirits. She longed for companion- 
 ship, and for the habits that turned out to be as 
 necessary to her well-being as the air she breathed. 
 She was choked with heat, lonely, and half-starved. 
 Sometimes her miseries seemed self-created, be- 
 cause at any moment a begging letter to her rich 
 brother-in-law would have ended them. No 
 doubt, with the hospital or the workhouse staring 
 her in the face, she would have asked him to save 
 her from either. And, inasmuch as she could 
 depend on him if the worst came to the worst, she 
 knew herself to be more fortunate than many 
 women just as softly bred. But she could not 
 bring herself to say to Herr Hansen that, because 
 he had married her sister out of compassion, he 
 must support her in ease and idleness. She might 
 still be driven to make the appeal, but even now, 
 when everything ahead looked gloomy, she vowed 
 she would put off the humiliating day as long as she 
 could. When she came to her last penny she might 
 find it easier to beg. 
 
 Nell evidently no more understood her sister's 
 difficulties than the princess understood what 
 famine meant when she asked why the starving 
 peasants did not eat cake. Nell's letters were 
 airy, full of herself, and quite uncomprehending. 
 She wondered why Hilary had kept some of the 
 trousseau money for her own needs, and even 
 hinted that, being in Paris, she might have found 
 a use for it herself. Her last letter bore a Paris 
 postmark. Hilary took it out of her pocket and 
 looked down the pages again. 
 
 1 I suppose you're enjoying yourself,' it began.
 
 382 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' You always did hanker after a bachelor life and 
 you own latch-key. Fritz is rather shocked. I 
 tell him you're in a real, lively set by this time, 
 all living in the same way, and frisking about the 
 town from morning till night. I suppose you give 
 each other little dinners and suppers. Where do 
 you grub ? I told Fritz you probably had lunch 
 at the Autolycus,and supper at the Metropolitan. It 
 does him good to think so, even if it isn't true. I 
 daresay Shoolbred is good enough for you, as a rule. 
 You'll find Fritz improved. I don't let him tuck 
 his napkin in his waistcoat, and he's had his hair 
 cut. But the other day he asked me to fetch 
 him his pipe. I did laugh. I have just sent you 
 a box of early peaches. How can you keep cool 
 in London now ? I am wearing nothing but white, 
 with a touch of black about it. I am buying 
 any amount of new clothes here. I don't like 
 the things I got in Hamburg. Besides, they are 
 coloured. I should like to have a week's lark 
 with you. Could you put me up ? Do you ever 
 see the Theodores or Dick Lorimer ? ' 
 
 Hilary had only received the letter that 
 morning, and she meant to write in a day or two 
 and explain that she could not put Nell up. She 
 had pulled it out just now to look at Dick 
 Lorimer's name again. He seemed to have 
 vanished out of her life lately. She did not even 
 know whether he was in England or America, or 
 whether he had ever received her letter announcing 
 her mother's death. Many a time, since she had 
 been back, some stranger with a chance resemblance 
 to him had startled and then disappointed her.
 
 LIFE IN A GARRET 383 
 
 When she left Hamburg she had looked forward to 
 seeing him soon after she arrived, and she knew 
 that, had she found him in London, she would never 
 have reached her present pitch of forlornness. Her 
 hunger for a glimpse of him did not die out as 
 time went on. It seemed to grow worse as her 
 difficulties thickened. What he would do to help 
 her she did not know, but only that the mere 
 sound of his voice would give her pleasure. His 
 image often filled her mind now, and her thoughts 
 wandered back to the days when he was with 
 her. The city seemed empty without him. She 
 watched for him continually, and missed him more 
 despondently every hour.
 
 XXIV 
 
 A VISITOR 
 
 HILARY walked back very slowly. She had to 
 make her way through noisy streets, more 
 hideous perhaps in midsummer than at any 
 other season. The pavement was strewn with 
 bits of paper and stale vegetable refuse. Dust lay 
 thick on the flags and choked the stale hot air. 
 The only tempting things in sight were the straw- 
 berries heaped on barrows, but even these at the 
 end of the day looked flabby, so many hours 
 had passed since they had been gathered from 
 the shade of their own leaves. Hilary, however, 
 could not resist them. She had eaten nothing 
 that day but some brown bread and marmalade. 
 She bought a pound, and resolved to do without 
 meat on the morrow to make up for it. She 
 wondered where Dick would dine that night. When 
 she got to the street in which she lived it seemed 
 even less inviting than usual. A barrel-organ 
 was grinding out the last music-hall melody, and 
 two or three slatternly juvenile couples were 
 jigging up and down to it. The cat's-meat man 
 was plying his trade, and a rag-and-bone mer- 
 chant went from house to house, and bargained
 
 A VISITOR 385 
 
 long and loudly with the housewives, most of whom 
 on this hot evening set open the front door, and 
 sought air on the door-step. 
 
 Hilary let herself in with a latch-key and 
 walked heavily upstairs, pursued by the vile 
 jingle of the barrel-organ and the yell of the 
 cat's-meat man. To her surprise, as she got near 
 her own room, she heard some one moving inside, 
 and when she opened the door she stood still on 
 the threshold in amazement, unable for a moment 
 to believe her eyes. There, on the edge of a 
 chair, with a face of injured disgust, sat Nell, a 
 dressing-bag as big as a trunk at her feet, and a 
 trunk as big as a furniture van filling up the 
 floor. 
 
 ' Nell ! ' cried her sister, and said nothing else 
 for some time. The two girls had not met 
 since Nell's wedding, since Mrs. Frere's death. 
 Nell's flippant letters were not an exhaustive 
 index to her mind. What she had left unwritten 
 her tears and smiles said now. 
 
 ' How do you come here ? ' asked Hilary at 
 last. ' Where is Herr Hansen ? ' 
 
 ' I have been here for an hour,' replied Nell. 
 ' If you had kept me waiting another five minutes, 
 I should have gone to the Mtropole. What a 
 hole this is ! You don't mean to say you sleep in 
 that bed ? ' 
 
 ' I do.' 
 
 ' But where do you have your meals ? Where 
 is your sitting-room ? ' 
 
 ' This is the only room I have.' 
 
 ' Good heavens ! ' said Nell. ' What do you 
 25
 
 386 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 think you gain by living in a pig-sty like this. 
 You look as if you had just walked out of a 
 hospital.' 
 
 ' I can't afford anything better.' 
 
 ' But you had about a hundred pounds of 
 mine, and you have five hundred of your own.' 
 
 'When I came to London I had twenty 
 pounds. I cannot touch my capital till I'm twenty- 
 five you know that, Nell. I have lived in this 
 room for twelve weeks, and only spent eleven 
 pounds, and two of those went for fees and 
 pots and pans.' 
 
 The real difficulty of accomplishing such a feat 
 did not reach Nell's comprehension. She said, 
 ' I call that a good deal to spend in such a 
 hole as this. They ought to pay you to inhabit 
 it. Can they cook ? ' 
 
 ' 1 do my own cooking and cleaning,' said 
 Hilary. 
 
 ' It looks like it,' said Nell. 
 
 'Where is Herr Hansen?' inquired Hilary for 
 the second time. 
 
 ' I have no idea.' 
 
 'You don't mean to say you have come by 
 yourself?' 
 
 1 That's it.' 
 
 Hilary looked at her sister in search of further 
 lights, and she discovered that Nell felt more 
 uneasy than her words would admit. 
 
 ' Did he like you to travel alone?' asked Hilary. 
 
 ' We've had a row,' explained Nell. ' He had to 
 go to Lyons on business, and he didn't want to 
 leave me alone in Paris.'
 
 A VISITOR 387 
 
 ' Quite right.' 
 
 4 Well ! you needn't talk. I didn't want to 
 go and live by myself in a hovel. I merely 
 wished to wait at our hotel, instead of travelling 
 back to Hamburg with some of his frumpish friends.' 
 
 ' Why couldn't you go to Lyons with him ? ' 
 
 ' He doesn't stay there. He has to fly round 
 in country districts, and he meant to travel by 
 night a good deal. He said it would be too 
 rough and too tiring for me. He thinks I'm 
 in Hamburg by this time. He'll be surprised 
 when I write from London,' 
 
 ' Won't he be angry ? ' 
 
 'Probably. I must write to-night What 
 address shall I give ? I can't stay here. I have 
 a good mind to go to an hotel.' 
 
 ' No, don't do that/ persuaded her sister. ' I 
 am sure your husband would not like it. He 
 can't so very much mind your coming to see me.' 
 
 ' I should think not indeed,' said Nell. 
 
 Hilary, while she talked, had taken off her hat 
 and gloves, and put a cloth and some tea-things 
 on the little table. Nell observed her closely. 
 
 ' What have you done to yourself? ' she said 
 with growing discontent. ' You look old and 
 starved. What were you going to have for 
 supper ? ' 
 
 Hilary exhibited her bag of strawberries. On 
 the table there was half a twopenny loaf. 
 
 ' Well ! what else ? Where's the butter ? 
 Where's the meat ? Where's the wine ? ' 
 
 ' If you want all those you must go and buy 
 them,' said her sister.
 
 388 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' My stars ! ' said Nell. ' This is worse than at 
 Aunt Bertha's.' 
 
 ' London is dearer than Hamburg, and I only 
 spend five shillings a week on food. It is quite 
 enough, Nell. I assure you, I don't starve. The 
 women who make shirts at so much a gross 
 or button-holes they can only afford ' 
 
 ' What time does Shoolbred close ? ' interrupted 
 Nell. ' I want my dinner. If they are shut up, we 
 must go somewhere else. I'll pay for us both. 
 Be quick ! We had a rough crossing, and I feel 
 as if I had lived on button-holes for a week.' 
 
 ' Have you much money with you ? ' 
 
 ' None about ten pounds. To tell you the 
 truth, when I came away I thought I was coming 
 for good, and I left some of my money behind. 
 It seemed more dignified, and I was in such a rage. 
 Of course, I expected to find you living in decent 
 lodgings. I can't stand this sort of thing. Fritz 
 must fetch me back at once.' 
 
 ' I never heard of such behaviour,' said Hilary 
 severely. ' You can't run away from your husband 
 one day and run back again the next. No man 
 will stand being treated like that.' 
 
 ' What do you know about it ? ' asked Nell, 
 going to the glass to arrange her veil. ' Fritz will 
 stand anything from me.' 
 
 ' You certainly wrote as if you were happy, and 
 you look well.' 
 
 ' I feel ill in this room. Where am I to sleep ? 
 Where can I put my clothes ? Shall we go into 
 decent lodgings to-night ? There are plenty near 
 here.'
 
 A VISITOR 389 
 
 Hilary hesitated. 
 
 ' No,' she said; ' Herr Hansen may wish you to 
 leave at once, or he may refuse to send you more 
 money as you have come off in this headlong 
 way. Put up with a room here until he writes.' 
 
 ' What do you think of my gown?' said Nell in- 
 consequently. ' Poor mother ! I never buy a new 
 one without thinking of her. I like spending 
 money, you know, just as she did. You never 
 cared about clothes.' 
 
 ' That's nonsense,' said Hilary. ' I am as fond 
 as you are of nice frocks. You always think 
 that if one does without anything it is a sign of 
 indifference to it. Do you suppose I enjoy living 
 up here on five shillings a week ? ' 
 
 Somehow Nell's return made it look a 
 miserable and rather ridiculous life. The sordid 
 details of it crowded across Hilary's mind as she 
 watched her sister's elegant figure, and listened to 
 the rustle of silk as she moved. Even for three or 
 four days could she keep this dainty young woman 
 content here ? Who would wait on her, tidy after 
 her, bring her tea in the morning when she woke ? 
 But it did Hilary good to see her sister again, and 
 to be carried back into the old way of life, even 
 for a little while and incompletely. She enjoyed 
 her dinner at Shoolbred's all the more because 
 Nell ordered champagne with it. 
 
 ' Your ten pounds won't last long,' said Hilary, 
 when her sister had paid the bill, and given the 
 waiter twice as much as he expected for a tip. 
 She tried to persuade Nell to go home in an 
 omnibus. They were both too tired to walk.
 
 390 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 But Nell hailed a hansom, and said it was 
 extravagant to take an omnibus, because when- 
 ever you did you got measles or scarlet fever and 
 had to pay for doctors and new wall-papers. Hilary 
 had always been penny wise and pound foolish. 
 
 It was midnight before they went to bed. Nell 
 would sit in Hilary's room, candle in hand, and 
 make little rushes into her own in search of 
 cockroaches and worse. But at last she allowed 
 herself to be persuaded that she had seen the 
 worst by daylight Next morning Hilary got 
 up early and went out shopping. By nine 
 o'clock she carried quite a comfortable little 
 breakfast tray into her sister's room. 
 
 ' I can't think what you do all day,' said Nell, 
 sitting up and pouring out her tea. ' How do 
 you amuse yourself? ' 
 
 ' By looking for work that I can't get.' 
 
 ' Then what's the use of looking for it ? Have 
 you seen the Theodores ? ' 
 
 ' No. I don't want to.' 
 
 ' I do. I've brought clothes on purpose. 
 Open that trunk, Hilary. The big black hat is 
 for you. They wear the feathers sticking up like 
 that in Paris. You must have one of my gowns, 
 too, and some boots and gloves. I never saw 
 such a scarecrow as you are in that ragged old 
 serge. It is not ladylike. And your hair is 
 wrong. You can't wear it that way now.' 
 
 ' But, my dear girl,' said Hilary a few hours 
 later, when she had put on some of her sister's 
 things, ' I can't go after a situation as daily 
 governess dressed like this.'
 
 A VISITOR 391 
 
 Nevertheless she found the sensation of being 
 well dressed again an exceedingly pleasant one. 
 She felt for the moment as if she had cast away 
 many of her troubles with her rags. In the 
 afternoon they went to call on Mrs. Theodore. 
 Nell had taken the utmost pains with her toilet, 
 and as she was shown into the drawing-room her 
 hostess saw at a glance that Paris had turned her 
 out from the shape of her bonnet to the fit of 
 her boots and gloves. Both sisters were in black. 
 Mrs. Theodore described their visit to her husband 
 that evening while they were waiting for dinner. 
 
 ' Somehow/ she said, ' I never thought of those 
 girls as still in existence. I supposed them gone 
 under submerged. I knew Nell had married a 
 fat German, but a marriage like that hardly 
 counts, does it ? At any rate, when she sailed in 
 to-day dressed like a French duchess I didn't 
 know her for a moment. I recognised Hilary 
 first. She is in a consumption, otherwise she 
 has not altered much. But Nell has blossomed 
 into a beauty. She has the manner, the air 
 it is an indescribable change. You must 
 see her. She sat down next to poor dear Sophia 
 and inquired kindly after Arthur. You should 
 have heard her. Really, with her complexion, 
 Sophia might know better than to wear that 
 brutal blue. I was quite ashamed of her. But 
 I can't make those girls out altogether. Why 
 does Hilary look so queer ? and they gave me no 
 address. They are to dine here next Tuesday. 
 Herr Hansen, too, if he has arrived. Nell expects 
 him, she says. Is he really well off?'
 
 392 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' Rather,' said Mr. Theodore. ' Wish we had 
 half his income.' 
 
 ' Dear me ! ' said Mrs. Theodore meditatively. 
 ' Then Nell will not be ruined in a year.' 
 
 Nell felt pleased with the impression she had 
 made, which shows that she had a little mind. 
 But she said that going back to the attic was like 
 sitting on a cinder-heap after supping in a palace. 
 She proposed that they should dine out again. 
 
 ' Your money will soon be gone at this rate,' 
 objected her sister ; for Nell had bought twenty 
 things she did not need already to-day. 
 
 ' But you have some left,' said Nell. 
 
 ' Yes, but I cannot squander it as you do.' 
 
 ' You can lend it to me, and I'll pay you back.' 
 
 ' I've been inclined to think my life a hard 
 one,' observed Hilary. ' But I see it might have 
 been a good deal harder. If you had been with 
 me, we should both have gone to the workhouse 
 long since.' 
 
 ' You're such a croaker. Look at me. I take 
 things as they come and enjoy myself, and I get 
 all I want' 
 
 ' As it happens, you do. But I suppose other 
 folks have to provide it for you. I can't imagine 
 a world peopled by women with nothing to do 
 but dress and amuse themselves.' 
 
 ' I don't want to imagine it The world as it 
 is suits me very well.' 
 
 ' Then you don't regret having asked Herr 
 Hansen to marry you ? ' 
 
 ' Not since I have paid this visit to you,' said 
 Nell, with an expressive glance round the room.
 
 A VISITOR 393 
 
 ' Shall you wear your wedding gown next 
 Tuesday ? ' 
 
 Hilary really felt less curious about the gown 
 than about Nell's views with regard to Arthur 
 Preston. The chances were that they would meet 
 him on Tuesday at the Theodores. Nell guessed 
 at the thought in her sister's mind. 
 
 ' I shall wear a new black moireY she said. 
 ' It suits me better than my wedding gown.' 
 
 ' Poor dear Sophia,' thought Hilary ; but, on 
 the whole, she felt reassured. Nell looked for the 
 postman with anxiety, and her eyes twinkled 
 mischievously when she spoke of the dinner on 
 Tuesday. Evidently time, absence, and mar- 
 riage had mended her heart. The old breakage 
 had not even left a tender place. 
 
 They dined quite early that day, because, after 
 a makeshift lunch in their own rooms, Nell vowed 
 that she was starving. When they had finished 
 and came out again into broad daylight, she 
 proposed that they should walk across Regent's 
 Park and look at their old home. Hilary hardly 
 felt up to it, and said so ; but that only induced 
 Nell to hail a hansom and get driven there. 
 She reminded her sister that it was the anni- 
 versary of their dance a year ago. Hilary had 
 remembered it all day. She would not be able 
 to sit in the summer-house to-night and talk to 
 Dick, while the moon rose above the elms. 
 Strangers sat within the gates where her father 
 and mother used to make a sheltered place for 
 their children. She had never felt inclined to 
 attempt the pilgrimage by herself and stand out-
 
 394 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 side her home. To-night Nell came with her, 
 and that made a difference. Nevertheless, the 
 sisters turned away rather sadly when they had 
 lingered for a minute or two at the front gate. 
 The white lilac had been cut down. The garden 
 beds were filled with formal rows of geraniums 
 and lobelias. All the blinds were new and ugly. 
 A gaudy flower-pot stood on a round table in the 
 library window. On the gate-post a new name 
 was painted instead of the number that had con- 
 tented the Freres. The little villa with its bit of 
 garden behind was now called ' Sandringham.' 
 
 ' Come away,' said Nell, ' we have seen enough.' 
 They had dismissed their cab and now began to walk 
 slowly towards the end of the road. But they 
 had not left their old home twenty yards behind 
 them when Nell cried suddenly, ' There is Dick 
 Lorimer on the other side. I saw his face as he 
 came out of the house. I should like to speak to 
 him.' 
 
 ' So should I,' said Hilary. 
 
 Something unusual in her voice caught Nell's 
 quick ear a note of excitement that she struggled 
 to suppress. She did not quicken her own pace, 
 but it was with a thrill of pleasure that she 
 watched Nell cross the road at a run. Dick 
 turned as she overtook him, and from where she 
 stood Hilary could see his face light up with 
 pleasure and surprise. The moment after he had 
 shaken hands with Nell he came eagerly towards 
 her, and for some minutes the three old friends 
 stood in the middle of the road and tried there 
 and then to bridge the gaps made by months of
 
 A VISITOR 395 
 
 silence and separation. Where had Dick been ? 
 Why had he never written ? How was it that 
 the sisters were in London by themselves ? Their 
 address at once. Unfortunately Dick had to go 
 off to Manchester to-morrow, but he would be back 
 in a week. A business man without a partner 
 was, as they knew, a slave. 
 
 ' Do you still live near here ? ' asked Nell at 
 last. ' Can't we come in and see you for half an 
 hour ? ' 
 
 ' Certainly,' said Dick, glancing at Hilary in 
 doubt of her approval. He saw her hesitate. 
 
 ' Or I will walk back with you,' he suggested. 
 
 ' I can't talk out of doors,' said Nell. ' I want a 
 chair and a cup of tea to set my tongue going. 
 I'll chaperon you, Hilary. I'm a German matron, 
 I am. You know I'm a German matron, don't 
 you, Dick ? That happened before you went to 
 the Antipodes.' 
 
 For Dick had explained that he had, after all, 
 gone to New York in February, and from there 
 to Australia. New business combinations had 
 made the further journey desirable. In Australia 
 he had been obliged to travel quickly, and it 
 was not wonderful that many of his letters had 
 wandered round the world after him. He had 
 only received the one announcing Mrs. Frere's 
 death three days ago, and he had written at once 
 to Frau Werner to ask for news of Hilary and 
 Nell. 
 
 ' Hilary looks very ill,' whispered Dick, when 
 some turn in their walk gave him the opportunity 
 of speaking unheard to Nell.
 
 396 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ( She has been starving in a garret for three 
 months,' said Nell. 
 
 ' Great Scott ! Why did you let her ? ' 
 
 ' I didn't know.' 
 
 There was no chance of saying more just then, 
 because they had arrived at Dick's lodgings. He 
 led the way to one of those empty-looking, heavily- 
 furnished dining-rooms in which bachelors of his 
 condition are content to spend some of their leisure 
 hours ; and, at Nell's request, he rang and ordered 
 tea. 
 
 ' Your sister says you have been back three 
 months,' he said, addressing Hilary, and looking at 
 her with anxious, dissatisfied eyes. ' Where are 
 you staying ? ' 
 
 Hilary hesitated. 
 
 ' Come and see, Dick,' said Nell. ' I invite you 
 to tea. When do you get back from Manchester ? ' 
 
 ' Wednesday. I could come rather late on 
 Wednesday afternoon.' 
 
 ' How can we have people to tea, Nell ? ' said 
 Hilary in a voice of vexed remonstrance. ' What 
 are you thinking of?' 
 
 ' You don't call me " people," said Dick. ' Is 
 Herr Hansen with you ? ' 
 
 Nell laughed. 
 
 ' Not exactly.' 
 
 ' When do you expect him ? ' 
 
 ' Soon ; or I shall go to the Me"tropole and 
 send him the bill.' 
 
 ' It is not really so bad,' said Hilary. ' It is Nell 
 who is spoiled. Plain living does not content her 
 nowadays. But we cannot have you to tea, Dick.'
 
 A VISITOR 397 
 
 ' Where can we meet, then ? ' 
 
 Hilary considered, and could not answer. 
 Meanwhile Nell wrote their address on a scrap of 
 paper, and handed it to Dick with a flourish. 
 
 ' I expect you on Wednesday afternoon/ she 
 said. ' If Fritz comes and we move to the 
 Metropole I will let you know.' 
 
 When the tea arrived Dick asked Hilary to 
 pour it out. He got up to take his cup from her, 
 and stood at her side as he drank it. 
 
 ' What have you been doing all these months ? ' 
 he asked. ' You don't look fit.' 
 
 ' I've been looking for work,' said Hilary 
 wearily. ' How do men manage to make a living, 
 Dick? 
 
 ' Some don't' 
 
 ' Poor things ! And it lasts so long. Twenty- 
 four hours in the day for every one of us, whether 
 the time is full of pleasure or of pain.' 
 
 Dick looked pityingly at the girl's thin shadowy 
 face, and Hilary felt as if she had spoken too 
 directly out of her innermost heart, which was 
 sorrowful. His silence only strengthened this 
 impression, and, as if she desired to remove it, she 
 got up now and began to look about the room. 
 Her attention was caught by a little shelf of books 
 in one corner, and she went up to them with a cry 
 of recognition. There was her own old set of the 
 Waverley Novels, her own old Shakespeare. Dick, 
 then, had bought them at the sale. She turned to 
 ask him, saw that he was speaking under his voice 
 to Nell, and, with one volume in her hand, went 
 still nearer to the window to get more light. Nell
 
 398 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 and she were going to the Lyceum on Saturday 
 afternoon. 
 
 ' Are you making your fortune, Dick ? ' Nell had 
 said in a low tone, directly her sister wandered off. 
 
 ' Not in your sense of the word,' said Dick. ' I 
 could not afford such rings as you are wearing, but 
 I can afford to marry.' 
 
 ' Happiness does not depend on money,' re- 
 marked Nell sedately. 'Are you going to be 
 married, Dick ? It is quite time.' 
 
 ' Quite time,' he echoed. 
 
 ' Then what are you waiting for ? ' 
 
 ' You embarrass me, Nell. Have some more 
 tea.' 
 
 ' Don't snub me, Dick. Confide in me.' 
 
 ' I don't mind telling you that the Australian 
 journey has done it. Six months ago I could not 
 have set up housekeeping.' 
 
 4 Housekeeping need not cost much,' said Nell, 
 ' if you marry some one economical like me.' 
 
 ' I want to marry some one like you/ said 
 Dick. Nell's eyes met his in delighted inquiry and 
 then with understanding. For he smiled and 
 nodded, and in his eyes there was a question 
 too. 
 
 'You both look pleased,' said Hilary, coming 
 towards them. With Dick in the room she had 
 found it impossible to fix her attention closely on 
 any printed page. She wanted to hear what he 
 said, to look at him, to engage his interest. 
 
 ' Have you heard some good news ? ' she asked 
 in wonder, for she knew her sister's face, and she 
 had never seen it better pleased.
 
 A VISITOR 399 
 
 ' If I am not mistaken,' said Dick. 
 
 ' You're not mistaken,' said Nell ; ' and I don't 
 think I am.' 
 
 Hilary said it was time to go home. She 
 evidently thought them badly behaved to speak in 
 enigmas that they refused to explain. So Nell 
 said that she had been encouraging Dick to make 
 a venture. 
 
 ' A business venture ? ' asked Hilary, with up- 
 lifted eyebrows. ' Don't trust her, Dick. She 
 understands nothing but Paris fashions.' 
 
 ' I think you are unjust to her,' said Dick. 
 And as their cab drove off he lifted his hat and 
 said, ' Good-bye till Wednesday.' 
 
 ' I shall write and tell him not to come,' declared 
 Hilary. 
 
 ' You goose,' said Nell. 
 
 Taken by themselves these words sound neither 
 flattering nor explanatory, but they seemed to 
 please Hilary, and she said nothing more about 
 writing to put off Dick.
 
 XXV 
 
 IN WHICH OLD FRIENDS MEET 
 
 'YOU only half believe it,' said Nell next day, 
 ' and I hope Fritz will never find it out, but I 
 really ran away from him. Luckily I didn't leave 
 a letter to say so. What an idiot a woman who 
 does that must be ! She must often want to go 
 back, just as I did the moment I saw this room 
 and remembered I had no money.' 
 
 ' I hate to hear you talk as if you only valued 
 Herr Hansen for his money,' said Hilary. ' Do 
 you mean to say that, if some one left you a 
 fortune, you would run away in good earnest ? ' 
 
 The sisters were sitting close to the open 
 window in Hilary's room. They had spent three 
 hot tiring hours at the Academy, and when Nell 
 got back she put herself into a white silk wrapper 
 as quickly as possible and asked for tea. The 
 water had been set to boil above a lamp that 
 Nell said made the air smell of methylated 
 spirit. So she had brought in a bottle of scent 
 and a scent diffuser, from which she was lazily 
 sending out a fine spray. The room soon began 
 to smell of heliotrope. 
 
 1 Why don't you call him Fritz ? ' she said, with-
 
 IN WHICH OLD FRIENDS MEET 401 
 
 out looking at all annoyed by her sister's rebuke. 
 ' He is your brother now. No, I should not run 
 away again, even if I had any money. I find I 
 miss him.' 
 
 ' He is worth a dozen of you,' said Hilary. 
 
 ' Why doesn't he write ? Why doesn't he 
 come ? ' 
 
 ' He is probably very angry. 
 
 ' He may be, but I am his wife. He can't cast 
 me off like an old coat' 
 
 ' I wonder that argument didn't occur to you 
 when you left Paris ran away, as you call it.' 
 
 ' What shall I do if he goes back to Hamburg 
 without me ? ' 
 
 ' Go after him and ask his pardon.' 
 
 ' Hilary ! You do change your mind. Not so 
 long ago you would have said " Stay here and lead 
 a wide, free life full of thrills." I suppose this is 
 what you call a wide, free life ? ' inquired Nell, 
 glancing round the garret 
 
 Hilary was obliged just then to get up and 
 attend to the spirit-lamp. 
 
 ' It is very inconvenient when a member of 
 your own family runs away from her husband,' 
 she said as she made the tea. ' What is one to 
 say to every one if Herr Hansen doesn't soon turn 
 up?' 
 
 ' I hope he won't go back to Hamburg without 
 me. He says that his housekeeper will fill all our 
 rooms with flowers, and put devices over the doors 
 " Welcome to the young wife," and " Joy to the 
 happy pair." If she does, and he arrives by him- 
 self, he will feel so silly.' 
 
 26
 
 402 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' I wonder if you make him happy ? ' said her 
 sister. 
 
 ' I have never asked myself the question. 
 When we were first married I was wretched. 
 Then I got that telegram about mamma and was 
 so ill, and he was so good to me. I began to be 
 fond of him about that time. We quarrel a great 
 deal, though. I had such a business to get him 
 to cut his hair, and wear English clothes, and not 
 call me pet names in public.' 
 
 ' And what does he want you to do ? ' 
 
 ' Take an interest in housekeeping. One of 
 our worst rows was in the market at Milan. He 
 was so shocked I didn't know the price of turnips, 
 and I was so shocked that he did.' 
 
 And so Nell would go on for a long time talk- 
 ing of her husband with a curious mixture of 
 admiration, ridicule, and affection. That she felt 
 uneasy at his silence no one could doubt who saw 
 her watch for the postman, and look deeply dis- 
 appointed when he brought her nothing. When 
 several days had gone by, Hilary began to wonder 
 anxiously whether the breach could be a more 
 serious one than she had at first supposed. But 
 it rejoiced her to see signs of Nell's attachment to 
 her husband signs that her old sentiment for 
 Arthur had worn itself out. Did this mean that 
 her sister's nature was a shallow one, capable of 
 fancy, but not of love ? Surely not. If Arthur 
 had proved brave and loyal, he might have counted 
 on Nell to his dying day. But he had dealt her 
 a cruel blow ; for a time it had stunned her, and 
 now she was holding up her head again. Why
 
 IN WHICH OLD FRIENDS MEET 403 
 
 should she let it droop long for one proved 
 unworthy ? Some girls would have been shattered 
 for life by such treatment, but natures so sensitive 
 and difficult to heal are luckily rare. Nell belonged 
 to the sane majority who suffer and get well again. 
 
 Nell had not known until she left him how 
 completely her husband had won her heart. She 
 had learned to recognise his generosity, to expect 
 his devotion, even to find his company agreeable. 
 Who else thought her chatter brilliant, and her 
 caprices reprehensible but still endearing? He 
 had the admirable habit of seeming constantly 
 aware of her youth, her grace, her beauty. She 
 missed his approving eyes. These long days and 
 nights spent in a London garret oppressed her 
 like a nightmare. She kicked against the ugliness 
 of life in such an environment. She could not 
 put up with the everlasting pinch and scrape. She 
 would have moved, but she had sent Herr Hansen 
 this address, and any day or hour might bring him 
 to it. Besides, Hilary did not wish to move with 
 her. 
 
 Hilary was getting very anxious about the low- 
 ness of their united funds. A week had passed 
 now without a letter or a message from Herr 
 Hansen. Suppose he never wrote again, or only 
 entered upon long and tedious negotiations? They 
 would soon be in actual want ; and yet the degree of 
 economy desirable in such circumstances seemed 
 out of Nell's reach like a counsel of perfection. 
 If she made a cup of tea she put half a week's 
 allowance into the pot, she used butter as if it 
 was not a luxury, she bought expensive fruit and
 
 404 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 delicate provisions for every meal they ate at 
 home. While her money lasted, she paid willingly 
 enough nine times out of ten ; but she seemed to 
 think on the tenth occasion that Hilary might like 
 to take her turn. And, in spirit, Hilary gladly did 
 so. She hated profiting by comforts she refused 
 to provide. But though she croaked from morn- 
 ing till night, and often felt vexed by her sister's 
 scorn of her niggardly management, yet the money 
 seemed to fly. At first she had not troubled 
 greatly, had let Nell go her ways, had been dragged 
 here and there in search of amusement and decent 
 food. She had even enjoyed the first few days 
 of vagabondage about London shops and picture 
 galleries. After her grim months of penury and 
 disappointment the easy hours had been a pleasant 
 change. She only began to be frightened when 
 she saw Nell's purse almost empty and her own 
 threatened. She began to look for the postman 
 as eagerly as her sister did ; and when Nell had 
 been with her a week she began to hunt for work 
 again. She did not forget that Dick was coming 
 to tea on Wednesday, but she could not reckon on 
 what he would say ; and, in any case, unless Herr 
 Hansen came to their immediate assistance, her 
 sister and she would soon be in a tight place. 
 Hilary constantly looked forward to the morning 
 when their last shilling would have gone and 
 Nell would still demand her dinner. She supposed 
 that Nell would pawn her dressing-case and then 
 her jewels ; but she shrank from letting her sister 
 take such a step as she would have shrunk from 
 the threshold of a workhouse or a prison.
 
 IN WHICH OLD FRIENDS MEET 405 
 
 The day on which they were to dine at the 
 Theodores she got a letter from a registry office 
 with the offer of a situation as mother's help. 
 
 ' It is a clergyman's wife with seven children,' 
 she explained to Nell. ' A comfortable home and 
 ten pounds. No servant kept. I did not want 
 to give up this room, but I think I must. No one 
 has offered me a home and ten pounds. With 
 my own twenty I shall be quite well off.' 
 
 ' How can it be a comfortable home with seven 
 children and no servant ? ' said Nell. ' What rot ! 
 The woman wants a general servant for less wages 
 than a real servant would take. Let her get a 
 smudge from a reformatory. You can't make a 
 sow's ear out of a silk purse, Hilary. How silly 
 you must be to think you can.' 
 
 ' I shall go and see her,' said Hilary. ' If she 
 is very nice, I should not mind helping her.' 
 
 She had to make her way to the uttermost 
 ends of a remote suburb under a burning July 
 sun. As she dragged back again in the early 
 afternoon she felt dead-beat, and when she got 
 upstairs her white face frightened Nell. 
 
 ' Lie down directly,' she cried. ' I will make you 
 some tea. You will look like a ghost to-night. 
 Has it been worth while ? I guess not from your 
 face.' 
 
 ' I don't know/ said Hilary doubtfully. ' I have 
 not refused to go there. I have said I wanted a 
 day to think it over.' 
 
 ' What were the people like ? ' 
 
 ' Pigs/ said Hilary concisely. ' A slovenly 
 little hole of a house that smelt of Irish stew, and
 
 406 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 had ragged oilcloth on the stairs. The man was 
 in his dressing-gown smoking a pipe, the woman 
 was sewing dirty artificial roses into a dirty blonde 
 bonnet. He spoke with a strong Irish accent, 
 she dropped her h's. A farmer's son who has got 
 ordained and married the tallow-chandler's daughter 
 in his first provincial parish. But they have their 
 caste prejudices like the rest of us. If I go there 
 I am to have my meals by myself in the kitchen.' 
 
 ' Why did you say you would think it over ? ' 
 asked Nell with indignation. 
 
 'Because no one else offers me even Irish stew 
 in the kitchen.' 
 
 Nell looked reflective, observed that it was 
 nearly time to dress for dinner, and went back to 
 her own room, where she wrote a note to Dick 
 Lorimer : 
 
 ' Dear Dick, be sure and come to tea to- 
 morrow. You used to have some influence with 
 Hilary. She wants to go as general servant 
 to a woman who drops her h's and has seven 
 children. Persuade her to come and live with us 
 in Hamburg.' 
 
 As a matter of fact Nell had never asked her 
 sister to live with her in Hamburg. She knew 
 that Hilary would refuse, and she believed that 
 in most cases it is better for newly-married people 
 to live by themselves. If she led Fritz a deuce 
 of a life she did not wish other folks to know it 
 As long as there were no lookers-on to pity him 
 he considered himself the happiest man in the 
 world. But, in writing to Dick, she felt bound to 
 speak as if her home was open to her sister. And
 
 IN WHICH OLD FRIENDS MEET 407 
 
 Dick would not like the idea of another long 
 separation. 
 
 Nell posted her letter, and then dressed her- 
 self with exceeding care. The sisters were the 
 last to arrive at Mrs. Theodore's, and as Nell 
 entered the room, with the stately air she had 
 grown into since her marriage, the first person she 
 saw was Arthur Preston. For a moment he 
 hardly recognised Nell Frere in this elegant young 
 woman. It was not only the Paris gown that 
 made the difference. She looked taller than 
 usual, she walked with a prouder carriage, she 
 spoke with greater self-possession. But when, 
 after speaking to her host and hostess, she glanced 
 at Arthur and smiled, he came hastily forward. 
 The sight of her turned his head. 
 
 ' But where is Sophia ? ' she asked. ' Surely 
 you have brought Sophia.' 
 
 ' There she is,' answered Arthur unwillingly, as 
 Sophia appeared from another part of the drawing- 
 room. Where did she buy her gowns, he 
 wondered, now that Mrs. Theodore had no hand 
 in them ? But he remembered. The one she 
 wore to-night she had picked up ready-made at a 
 sale. She had owned that it was not her colour, 
 and not exactly her size, but it had been an un- 
 doubted bargain, and was described by the sales- 
 woman as a Paris model. The worst atrocities 
 in English shops are usually described in this 
 way ; so that if any one believed what saleswomen 
 say, Paris would often be in danger of losing her 
 reputation. 
 
 Both Hilary and Nell rather liked Sophia.
 
 408 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 They thought her clumsy, but good-natured. 
 Assuredly Nell did not sit down beside her with 
 any thought of giving people an opportunity of 
 contrasting them to Sophia's grievous disadvan- 
 tage. But their juxtaposition did, in fact, stamp 
 the contrast on the attention of every one present, 
 and no one saw it so strongly as Sophia's husband. 
 Because his sensitive marital vision saw with the 
 combined eyes of the company. He had mated 
 with Sophia, and he might have mated with Nell. 
 At that moment even Sophia's thirty thousand 
 pounds hardly consoled him. 
 
 'Well, Sophia,' Nell was saying cheerfully, 
 ' we have not seen each other for a long time. I 
 hope you are very happy as I am.' 
 
 ' I'm all right,' said Sophia, with a funny, harsh 
 chuckle, she meant for a smile. ' How pretty 
 you've grown Nell, much prettier than you used 
 to be. You do your hair so well now. When 
 you came in I hardly knew you.' 
 
 Nell laughed, and got up at Mr. Theodore's 
 invitation to go into dinner on his arm. He 
 behaved in quite a new way to Nell to-night, and 
 amused her vastly. It was impossible to be too 
 civil to a girl who had managed to marry " Hansen 
 Bopp and Rossler," even if six months ago the 
 same girl had been the daughter of a penniless 
 man, and therefore of no consequence at all. 
 Pretty young women do sometimes spring 
 these embarrassing surprises on persons who 
 have justifiably overlooked them. But it is the 
 part of the man of the world to veer with 
 skill. To the young woman the change of
 
 IN WHICH OLD FRIENDS MEET 409 
 
 tactics must afford much harmless amusement 
 Nell at any rate looked as if she enjoyed her 
 dinner. Arthur Preston sat on her other side, and 
 tried hard to fall back into their old tone of 
 intimate, and rather sentimental understanding. 
 He might as well have tried to warm his hands 
 at an icicle. As the dinner progressed he began 
 to look sullen. 
 
 When the ladies were by themselves in the 
 drawing-room Mrs. Theodore asked Nell where 
 she had spent her honeymoon, and when it 
 appeared that she had been in Italy and Switzer- 
 land for five months, some one remarked that her 
 husband and she must have been very much in 
 love with each other to want so long a time to 
 themselves. 
 
 ' I was ill most of the Spring,' said Nell. ' We 
 were to have been at home again by the end of 
 March.' 
 
 ' Shall you ever feel at home in Hamburg ? ' 
 said Mrs. Theodore. ' You used to say you did 
 not like Germans.' 
 
 ' One's tastes change. I mean to like my 
 husband's people.' 
 
 'You used to like Arthur/ croaked Sophia. 
 She sometimes said things so clumsy and ill-timed 
 that her sister-in-law set her down as half-witted. 
 
 ' Did I ? ' said Nell sweetly. ' But you would 
 naturally think that of people.' 
 
 ' Oh ! he told me. He wanted to marry you 
 before he saw so much of me, you know.' 
 
 ' Really,' said Nell. 
 
 ' Are you going back to Germany with your
 
 410 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 sister ? ' said Mrs. Theodore abruptly to Hilary. 
 ' You look as if you wanted a change.' 
 
 ' I am going to stay in England,' said Hilary. 
 
 ' When do you expect Herr Hansen ? ' 
 
 ' We do not know for certain.' 
 
 ' Does he write every day, as a devoted husband 
 should ? ' 
 
 ' No. Not every day.' 
 
 Mrs. Theodore looked at Hilary curiously. 
 She thought her manner a little odd, a little un- 
 willing. She wondered whether anything could 
 have gone wrong already between Nell and her 
 husband. It struck her as strange that Nell should 
 be over here without him. 
 
 Presently the men came back to the drawing- 
 room, and Arthur went straight to a vacant chair near 
 Nell, just as he would certainly have done a year ago. 
 
 ' Last time I saw you, you wore white roses,' 
 he began sentimentally ; ' I thought of it directly 
 I noticed those in your gown to-night. Did you 
 remember it when you chose them ? ' 
 
 ' No,' said Nell lightly ; ' I nearly took white 
 carnations instead.' 
 
 ' Women have such short memories.' 
 
 ' It is yours that fails you in this instance,' said 
 Nell, with a note of contemptuous indignation in 
 her voice. It was the first time she had been 
 roused to speak seriously that night. ' The last 
 time we met was when you came to say good-bye 
 after my father's death.' 
 
 ' I was not thinking of that occasion,' said 
 Arthur, ' but of Mrs. Filer's dance. We danced all 
 through the programme together.'
 
 IN WHICH OLD FRIENDS MEET 411 
 
 ' Did we ? What bad manners ! But your 
 step used to suit mine. How is Mrs. Eller ? ' 
 
 ' We suited each other in many ways,' said 
 Arthur, with a sigh. ' I used to think so. I think 
 so still. I have been very unhappy.' 
 
 ' It has not agreed badly with you. You look 
 very well.' 
 
 ' I know what you mean. I'm getting beastly 
 stout. I always feel sorry for people when I 
 notice that about them. I say to myself, " There 
 goes another man whose life is a failure. He 
 has lost all he cares most for, and the only thing 
 left is to make the best of the lower material plea- 
 sures poor chap." So he gets stout, and 
 people think he's all right ; but I pity him. Don't 
 you ? Cakes and ale are not quite everything, are 
 they ? ' 
 
 ' They are a great consolation,' said Nell laughing. 
 
 A silence ensued, and then Arthur began to 
 speak again in his usual tone, which was jaunty 
 and knowing. 
 
 ' I suppose you're tremendously rich and happy 
 and all that.' 
 
 ' I suppose I am,' said Nell contentedly. 
 
 ' Your husband is a great deal older than you, 
 isn't he ? ' 
 
 ' Yes.' 
 
 ' I remember him, I think. He used to play 
 the piano to your sister, and he was very particular 
 about his dinner.' 
 
 ' He plays the piano to me now. I listen to 
 him for hours. He is still very particular about 
 his dinner. So am I.'
 
 412 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' You have changed very much, then.' 
 
 ' Oh yes. I have.' 
 
 ' I feel that more every moment,' said Arthur 
 gloomily. ' You have changed and I have not' 
 
 ' I don't think you have altered very much,' 
 said Nell, and her eyes seemed to take his measure 
 as they met his with a satirical glance. She got 
 up as she spoke and went towards Sophia, who 
 looked lonely. 
 
 ' What have you been saying to Arthur ? ' 
 inquired Mrs. Preston. ' He looks so cross. I 
 had no idea when I married him that he 
 had such a bad temper. Did you ever find it 
 out?' 
 
 ' No,' said Nell ; ' but then I never married him.' 
 
 ' I don't wonder you put him out of temper,' 
 said Mrs. Theodore to her sister-in-law. ' You 
 say such silly things.' 
 
 Sophia stared placidly across the room, not at 
 all uneasy or offended. She was quite satisfied 
 with her ill-humoured mate, and quite blind to his 
 cavalier treatment of her. 
 
 ' My wife tells me that you are going to live in 
 town by yourself,' said Mr. Theodore, strolling up 
 to Hilary and sitting down near her. She thought 
 as she looked at him that he was less agreeable 
 than ever, and she determined that in future she 
 would not often find herself the guest of a man 
 who roused her strong antipathy. His smile 
 struck her as derisive, and, in words that were 
 ostensibly harmless, he managed to convey a sneer. 
 His tone to-night suggested that her intention of 
 living by herself in Babylon outraged his notions
 
 413 
 
 of propriety. Probably it did. The propriety of 
 men like Mr. Theodore is a sensitive plant. 
 
 ' You will be quite the woman of the world,' 
 he continued. ' I suppose you have your latch- 
 key and your club.' 
 
 ' Mr. Theodore,' said Hilary, acting on a sudden 
 resolution, ' I want to speak to you on a matter of 
 business. Can I see you any time to-morrow ? ' 
 
 He stiffened at once. 
 
 ' Certainly,' he replied after a moment's pause. 
 ' I can see you in my office at four, or here at half- 
 past five, whichever you prefer.' 
 
 ' I will come to the office at four.' 
 
 ' I cannot imagine what business a young lady 
 like you can have in her head, or what you can 
 have to say in a merchant's office. I am very old- 
 fashioned, you know. I consider that a woman's 
 proper place is in the drawing-room.' 
 
 ' But many women have no drawing-rooms,' 
 objected Hilary ; ' what are they to do ? ' 
 
 ' They are failures, and in all departments the 
 failures don't count. You throw them away. 
 They disappear.' 
 
 ' I think you are rather old-fashioned,' said 
 Hilary, getting up with the intention of bidding 
 good-night to Mrs. Theodore. ' You talk as if 
 our fate depended on you and not on ourselves.' 
 
 She crossed the room and approached her 
 hostess, who got up to meet her. Nell rose too, of 
 course, and so did one or two other people. 
 Arthur Preston found himself for a moment at 
 Nell's side again. 
 
 ' May I come and see you ? ' he whispered.
 
 414 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' Oh, do ! ' she replied in a clear, cheerful voice. 
 ' I'm in a garret just now with Hilary. One of 
 her freaks. But when my husband comes I'll ask 
 you and Sophia to tea.' 
 
 ' Thank you. That is just what I should like,' 
 he muttered savagely. 
 
 Nell was still standing in the centre of the 
 room bidding good-bye, and making appointments 
 with several people who wished to see her again, 
 when a footman came in with a telegram, which 
 he handed to her. She changed colour, glanced 
 quickly at Mrs. Theodore for permission to open 
 it, and flushed with pleasure as she read the 
 message. 
 
 ' My husband arrives to-morrow,' she explained, 
 her eyes dancing and her voice happy. ' But 
 he says we must return to Hamburg at once. 
 So all my engagements will come to nothing. I 
 am sorry for that.' 
 
 ' But how does the telegram come here ? ' asked 
 Mr. Theodore. 
 
 ' I left word at our rooms where I was. I 
 rather expected it,' explained Nell. She bid 
 good-bye in earnest now, and as she shook hands 
 with Arthur she said, ' I'm sorry that tea-party 
 won't come off.' 
 
 ' How very well that girl has done for herself,' 
 said Mrs. Theodore, speaking of Nell to her 
 husband after their guests had gone ; ' much better 
 than if she had married Arthur with his nasty 
 temper and his extravagant, unbusinesslike ways. 
 I began to think, though, that she had quarrelled 
 with her bread and butter, coming away by herself
 
 IN WHICH OLD FRIENDS MEET 415 
 
 like that, and living in a hole and corner with 
 Hilary. I suppose the telegram was from Herr 
 Hansen ? ' 
 
 ' Oh yes, she's all right,' growled Mr. Theodore. 
 ' Some people have luck they don't deserve. Talk 
 of acquiring wealth without doing a stroke of 
 work for it ! What about poor women who marry 
 monied men ? And the airs they give themselves, 
 and the coin they squander ' 
 
 He looked meditatively at his wife, and left his 
 remarks unfinished. She took the diamond pins 
 out of the lace on her bodice, and rang for her 
 maid. 
 
 ' Don't be unjust to us,' she said blandly. ' We 
 have to put up with the men 1
 
 XXVI 
 
 AN ARRIVAL, A DEPARTURE, A SURPRISE 
 
 ' HE says I am to be at Charing Cross at half-past 
 eleven to-morrow morning to meet him,' began 
 Nell, directly they were in the cab. ' I shall take 
 all my luggage with me, because he wants to start 
 back at once by the Club train. Won't he be 
 tired, racing over to London, and from London to 
 Hamburg right on end? I wonder why he is 
 in such a hurry ? ' 
 
 ' What does he say exactly ? ' asked Hilary. 
 
 ' He says " Charing Cross, Wednesday 
 morning, 11.30. Be there without fail. Must 
 leave Wednesday, Club train."' 
 
 ' I wonder why he has not written ? ' 
 
 ' I believe Mrs. Theodore thought there was 
 something up. She inquired so much after him.' 
 
 ' Well,' said Hilary, ' it is not your fault if there 
 is not something up, as you call it. I expect you 
 will find that he is very angry.' 
 
 ' He can't be angry long with me,' said 
 Nell. 
 
 ' You're a minx,' said her sister. 
 
 The girls were both in very good spirits that 
 evening. Until her husband's telegram arrived
 
 AN ARRIVAL, A DEPARTURE, A SURPRISE 417 
 
 Nell did not know how uneasy his ten days' 
 silence had made her. The sense of relief was 
 great when she read his message, and understood 
 that she would be with him again twenty-four 
 hours later. 
 
 ' As long as you are not married at all, you 
 are all right,' she explained to Hilary. ' But when 
 once you are, you feel like a bird with one wing 
 when your husband is away.' 
 
 ' I don't suppose the feeling is universal 
 amongst married folk/ objected Hilary. She felt 
 as greatly relieved as her sister ; for to make 
 fight against poverty with Nell by your side was 
 like facing an armed foe with your hands bound. 
 Ten days of it had almost exhausted her resources. 
 She had the single five-pound note left that she 
 had put by for an 'emergency,' and besides that 
 about thirty shillings. Unless she went as 
 mother's help to the seven children, she could not 
 live on thirty shillings until October for ten 
 weeks, as she counted in her little pocket 
 almanack. She might, of course, spend the five 
 pounds, but she shrank from doing so. Suppose 
 she fell suddenly ill and wanted medicines, doctors, 
 luxuries in a hurry, before she could get help 
 from her sister. She clung to her five pounds. 
 To-morrow she meant to put her case strongly 
 before Mr. Theodore, and urge him to advance 
 her twenty pounds out of her own little fortune. 
 Nell seemed to think there could be no difficulty 
 about it, but on a matter of business she could not 
 trust Nell. If she failed, if Mr. Theodore con- 
 vinced her that the thing was impossible, she had 
 
 27
 
 418 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 made up her mind to eat Irish stew in the 
 curate's kitchen ; at any rate, to cook it there for 
 the seven children. It would give her a roof to 
 her head, a certain amount of food, probably more 
 than she had given herself of late, and, most 
 important of all, something in the shape of a 
 testimonial with which to better herself shortly. 
 By Christmas she might aspire to be a nursery 
 governess, and perhaps a year later some one 
 might trust her to teach children to write and 
 read. Meanwhile, if she sat up at night she could 
 work at Russian. For her translation of the 
 Hecuba she had not found a publisher, but she had 
 seen in one of the women's journals that several 
 women were being paid for translating stories 
 from the Russian. 
 
 Nell seemed quite blind to her sister's 
 difficulties. She evidently thought that her visit 
 must have saved Hilary money, since she had 
 paid for so many ices, strawberries, and cabs. 
 How could any one who liked living in this 
 grubby, miserable way want money at all ? You 
 cannot believe that Diogenes in his tub had 
 weekly expenses. Besides, Dick Lorimer was 
 coming to tea on Wednesday. 
 
 ' Got any money ? ' she said next day when her 
 trunks were packed, and they were just about to 
 start. 
 
 ' Not much,' owned Hilary, thinking to herself 
 that if Nell offered to give her a little she would 
 not refuse it 
 
 ' Lend me what you have,' said Nell, opening 
 her purse and turning it upside down to show that
 
 IN WHICH OLD FRIENDS MEET 419 
 
 it no longer held a sixpence. ' I want to tip the 
 old woman, and I suppose I may as well pay for 
 my room, and I want to stop in Regent Street 
 and get a dear little travelling hat that just 
 matches my gown. I noticed it ' 
 
 ' Nell/ interrupted her sister, ' if I lend it you, 
 you must give it me back before you go.' 
 
 ' How much have you got ? ' 
 
 ' Six pounds ten, to last me till October.' 
 
 ' I should think it would last you till Christmas 
 here.' 
 
 ' If I get behindhand I must borrow from you, 
 Nell.' 
 
 Nell laughed, and held up her empty purse 
 again. 
 
 ' I'm always in that condition/ she said. c We 
 should have to ask Fritz.' 
 
 ' I don't want to do that/ said Hilary. 
 
 ' No/ said Nell lightly. ' Men hate being asked 
 for money, don't they? You must get some of 
 your own, of course. That will last you long 
 enough.' 
 
 Nell's words, irresponsible and thoughtless as 
 they were, strengthened Hilary in her resolve to 
 struggle on alone. She would rather cook and 
 sew for seven children than ask for help that 
 would be unwillingly given. 
 
 The sisters drove together to Charing Cross, 
 left Nell's luggage in the cloakroom, and then 
 returned to Regent Street to buy the hat and 
 various other necessaries, such as a large box of 
 American sweets, a new mechanical toy, and a 
 complete photographic collection of stage and
 
 420 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 society beauties, with which Nell said she meant 
 to discomfit the enemies of England in Hamburg. 
 They had arranged that Nell only should meet her 
 husband's train, while Hilary ordered lunch for all 
 three in a private room at the Me'tropole. 
 
 ' Now look here, Nell/ she said, as her sister 
 parted from her, ' you are not to run off with your 
 husband and all my money. Remember I have 
 none to pay the hotel bill. I should be put in 
 prison. Swear you will turn up.' 
 
 Nell laughed, pulled off her glove, and presented 
 Hilary with one of her diamond rings. 
 
 ' I meant to give you this anyhow,' she said. 
 ' If I don't come back you can sell it.' 
 
 But half an hour later she did come back, 
 followed by Herr Hansen ; and Hilary thought 
 she saw signs of victory in his manner. His face 
 lightened as he greeted her. 
 
 ' I am glad you were here to look after my 
 runaway wife,' he said. 
 
 ' Well, she ran away to me,' returned Hilary. 
 
 He shook his head. 
 
 ' I never heard of a young lady doing such a 
 thing never. I make arrangements for her 
 to travel with my good, respectable friends ; we 
 write to Hamburg to have everything ready, I 
 give her money for the journey, I bid her good- 
 bye with great sorrow, I say to myself business is 
 business, and ten days goes quickly, I arrive at 
 Lyons and get no telegram from her and no letter 
 next day. I telegraph to my friends and they 
 reply, " Your wife not in Hamburg. Gone to 
 Londoa" I tell you, I was mad with anxiety. I
 
 AN ARRIVAL, A DEPARTURE, A SURF-RISE 421 
 
 did not know what to think for twenty-four hours. 
 After all, I am not a handsome young fellow. 
 Only after two days did I get her letter to say she 
 was with you. For two days and two nights I 
 did not know what had become of her. It was 
 wicked.' 
 
 1 We have been very anxious all this time for 
 a letter from you,' said Hilary, who quite agreed 
 with Herr Hansen in his denunciation of Nell's 
 conduct, but did not like to say so. 
 
 ' I am glad to hear it,' he answered dryly. ' I 
 thought it well that Nell, in her turn, should under- 
 stand what it means to be anxious. So I did not 
 write. Besides, I was too angry. I should have 
 said what neither of us could forget. It is not 
 well to write when one is angry. When I tell it 
 in Hamburg they will say that is what comes of 
 marrying an Englishwoman.' 
 
 ' Why should we tell it in Hamburg ? ' asked 
 Nell, who had listened to her husband very 
 demurely, but with a dancing light in her eyes. 
 
 ' It is true,' said Herr Hansen ; ' we shall be 
 saved the trouble. My friends will have told the 
 whole story.' 
 
 ' Look here,' said Nell, deftly strewing the table 
 with her great parcel of photographs. ' These are 
 Englishwomen. I am going to put rows of them 
 on my drawing-room walls.' 
 
 Herr Hansen glanced at the collection as it 
 had been shot out there in higgledy-piggledy 
 confusion peeresses, actresses, dancers, women of 
 royal blood, society beauties, and beauties in no 
 society at all. He took one between his ringers,
 
 422 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 the portrait of a corpulent, burlesque actress 
 dressed in tights, examined it with tolerant con- 
 tempt, tore it in two, and threw it into the 
 grate. 
 
 ' You had better sort them,' he said, ' some are 
 not fit for your eyes;' and, in spite of Nell's remon- 
 strances, he picked out the most objectionable and 
 tore them into little pieces. 
 
 It amused Hilary to watch him. He treated 
 Nell as if she was the most precious and provoking 
 creature in the world. Nothing he could give her 
 was too good, and nothing he could say was too 
 severe. In some ways he seemed ready to slave for 
 her, in others to lay down the law. She could not 
 persuade him to stay on in London. 
 
 ' It is time for us to get home, and for you to 
 have the charge of the house,' he said. ' You will 
 find that there is something else to do in the world 
 than to look in the glass and spend money, 
 though what sort of housekeeping it will be 
 Imagine,' he continued, turning to Hilary, ' when 
 we were at Montreux we took a villa and your 
 sister had to order the meals. Then I discovered 
 that she knew nothing a woman should know 
 nothing at all. One day she ordered enough for 
 a dozen, and the next day I had to go hungry. 
 She cannot even make coffee, or knit a stocking, 
 or iron a shirt. Every day I received a fresh 
 shock when I asked her about such things.' 
 
 ' I'm not going to iron your shirts and knit 
 your socks,' sniffed Nell. ' I would if you were a 
 railway porter on a pound a week perhaps. But 
 I mean to have the prettiest dinner -table in
 
 AN ARRIVAL, A DEPARTURE, A SURPRISE 423 
 
 Hamburg, and an English drawing-room. I won't 
 have artificial flowers.' 
 
 ' That is all very well,' said Herr Hansen, 
 looking at his young wife with admiration that 
 belied his words ; ' we cannot eat the flowers. In 
 Hamburg when we sit down to dinner we are 
 hungry.' 
 
 ' I owe Hilary six pounds ten,' said Nell, 
 suddenly changing the subject. ' Have you any 
 English money, Fritz.' 
 
 ' I can get some,' he said, and when lunch 
 arrived he gave the waiter a French banknote to 
 exchange for him. 
 
 ' You do not look very well,' he resumed, 
 observing his sister-in-law. 'When are you 
 coming to stay with us ? ' 
 
 ' I don't know,' said Hilary. 
 
 The husband and wife exchanged glances. 
 
 ' You are sure that you have enough money to 
 go on with ? ' 
 
 ' I have not much,' admitted Hilary ; ' but I am 
 going to see Mr. Theodore this afternoon about 
 getting more.' 
 
 ' Well, if there is any difficulty you must let 
 me know. You are not a spendthrift like Nell, 
 but without money one cannot get on in London.' 
 
 ' Listen to him !' cried Nell. ' I have not spent as 
 much since we were married as he did on that row 
 of pearls I wore last night I buy a pound of sweets 
 and some shilling photographs. He buys pearls.' 
 
 ' Nevertheless,' maintained Herr Hansen, ' you 
 are the spendthrift, and not I. But I shall not 
 let you ruin me.'
 
 424 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 And Hilary thought with great inward 
 comfort that he would prove a man of his word. 
 She saw them off by the Club train, and, as she 
 stood on the platform, Nell chatted to her in the 
 disconnected fashion usual on such occasions. 
 Further back in the carriage Herr Hansen tried 
 to stow away the books and illustrated papers 
 which his wife had bought from the newsboys. 
 
 'Mind you tell the woman with seven children 
 to go to the devil,' she recommended. 
 
 ' Nell,' warned her husband, ' that gentleman at 
 the door of the next carriage is a German, but he 
 probably understands English.' 
 
 In case he did not, Nell translated her remark 
 word for word. Her husband shook his head. 
 
 ' Any message to Aunt Bertha ? ' Nell asked. 
 
 ' Shall you go and see her ? ' said Hilary in 
 surprise. 
 
 ' Certainly not,' decided Herr Hansen. ' Be- 
 sides, she has given me notice of removal. The 
 house will soon be let to some one else.' 
 
 ' Give my love to Dick,' shouted Nell, as the 
 train steamed slowly out of the station. 
 
 Hilary walked to the City by way of the 
 Strand, Fleet Street, and Ludgate Hill. She had 
 not been in her father's office since his death, and 
 when she was shown there by one of the clerks, 
 the first thing she observed was that Mr. Frere's 
 old writing - table had been sent away. Mr. 
 Theodore sat at a new one. He rose for a 
 moment to receive her, and then finished a letter 
 before he gave her further attention. When he 
 had signed his name he turned in his chair and said :
 
 AN ARRIVAL, A DEPARTURE, A SURPRISE 425 
 
 ' Has Herr Hansen come ? ' 
 
 ' Yes ; and gone again,' replied Hilary. 
 
 ' I suppose your sister has gone with him ? ' 
 
 ' Naturally. He came to fetch her.' 
 
 4 1 wonder you stayed behind. You cannot 
 live here on twenty pounds a year, or will Herr 
 Hansen make you an allowance ? ' 
 
 ' I should not accept one unless I was ill or 
 disabled,' said Hilary. 
 
 ' I suppose you have found some means of 
 making money, then ? ' 
 
 ' Not yet I hope to, soon.' 
 
 ' It isn't easy, as many women find out when 
 they try. However, your sister's marriage is a 
 great thing for you. Herr Hansen can afford 
 anything.' 
 
 ' He hasn't married us both,' said Hilary im- 
 patiently. 
 
 ' I daresay he will find that he has as far as 
 money goes. What are you to do ? ' 
 
 ' I want some of my own money until I can 
 make enough to live on. I live on very little.' 
 
 ' Where is your own money ? ' 
 
 Hilary looked at him in amazement. 
 
 ' You know best,' she said ; ' I am talking of the 
 five hundred pounds you have invested for me.' 
 
 ' That is trust money. We cannot touch it.' 
 
 ' I thought it might be managed somehow. I 
 only want a little, and I would so much rather get 
 at my own than take any from Herr Hansen. I 
 cannot live on what I have till October.' 
 
 ' How much have you ? ' 
 
 ' Six pounds ten.'
 
 426 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' That gives you more than ten shillings a week. 
 What does a woman want with money ? ' 
 
 ' I cannot live on it,' repeated Hilary, her anger 
 rising at his tone. 
 
 ' I don't see what else you are to do unless you 
 go to Hansen for more. It is not my place to 
 give you money when you have a rich brother-in-law.' 
 
 1 1 have not come here to beg, Mr. Theodore. 
 What I want belongs to me.' 
 
 ' Oh ! as to that,' said Mr. Theodore nonchal- 
 antly, 'you haven't a penny piece of your own. 
 The six pounds ten in your pocket belongs to 
 Dick Lorimer by rights. So does the five 
 hundred I have in trust. He paid for your 
 sister's wedding clothes, really.' 
 
 In this country we permit ourselves very little 
 outward sign of having received a considerable 
 mental shock. When a companion knocks down 
 the fire-irons some of us start and scowl, but none 
 of us who are decently behaved make any visible 
 ado when a word or two spoken before spectators 
 shatters our lives. Hilary changed colour, and 
 said, after a short quivering pause : 
 
 ' What do you mean ? ' 
 
 ' Don't you know ? He backed a bill for your 
 father just before his death, a bill for two thou- 
 sand pounds. Of course he had to meet it, as your 
 father died bankrupt. How he has kept on his 
 legs, I don't know,' 
 
 ' We owe Mr. Lorimer two thousand pounds ? ' 
 
 ' Not legally, perhaps ; but still ' 
 
 ' But but did my mother know of this ? ' 
 
 ' No. Lorimer would not have you told
 
 AN ARRIVAL, A DEPARTURE, A SURPRISE 427 
 
 didn't want to put you in the street, he said. 
 But, now that your sister has done so well for 
 herself, I consider you ought to be told, and make 
 what restitution you can. It's been precious hard 
 on poor Lorimer.' 
 
 ' Has it made much difference to him ? ' asked 
 Hilary, who had certainly turned rather white. 
 
 ' Crippled him for years. Makes it quite im- 
 possible for him to marry, unless he gets put on 
 to some one with money. Don't understand him 
 doing it myself. He must have known your father's 
 affairs were in a bad way.' 
 
 ' Yes, I daresay you find it difficult to under- 
 stand,' said Hilary dreamily. 
 
 1 1 certainly shouldn't have done it myself, if 
 that's what you mean,' admitted Mr. Theodore. 
 ' In business matters sentiment won't pay, as my 
 fine fellow has found out by this time.' 
 
 ' Will there be any difficulty about paying the 
 five hundred pounds in your possession to Mr. 
 Lorimer ? ' 
 
 ' Certainly. I hold it in trust for your benefit 
 until you are twenty-five.' 
 
 ' But it belongs to Mr. Lorimer.' 
 
 ' Not at all. He signed a release. Do you 
 suppose I didn't know enough to make myself safe?' 
 
 ' I beg your pardon,' said Hilary, smiling a 
 little at his tone of indignation. 
 
 ' Who does the money belong to now ? ' she 
 asked, after a moment's further consideration. 
 
 'To the trustees until you are twenty-five. 
 It's simple enough.' 
 
 ' And then I can pay it back to Mr. Lorimer.'
 
 428 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 1 You can make ducks and drakes of it in any 
 way you please when it's out of our hands and in 
 yours.' 
 
 Hilary got up, and Mr. Theodore accompanied 
 her to the door. 
 
 ' Lorimer will be down upon me for telling you,' 
 he remarked. 
 
 Hilary hurried downstairs without making any 
 reply. 
 
 ' I should keep the six pounds ten, if I were 
 you,' Mr. Theodore called after her.
 
 XXVII 
 
 WHAT EVERY WISE MAN'S SON DOTH KNOW 
 
 WHEN Dick saw the wretched little street in 
 which Hilary had spent the last three months, he 
 did not wonder that she looked pale and ill. He 
 was earlier than his appointment, but he knocked 
 at the door and asked if the sisters were at home. 
 The untidy little girl who opened it stared hard at 
 him, and said she did not know. She believed 
 they had gone away. He could walk upstairs and 
 see if he liked. There was a young person lived 
 in the top attic, she believed ; but she was not sure, 
 because she had only come in for an hour while 
 her aunt helped the lady opposite to do her 
 washing. 
 
 Dick did as he was told, and ascended the steep 
 little stairs without an escort. When he got to 
 the top, he found Hilary waiting for him on the 
 threshold of her room. She had heard his voice 
 in the hall. 
 
 ' Nell has gone,' she said at once. 
 
 ' So I hear.' 
 
 They both hesitated slightly and then he went 
 forward, determined that Nell's absence should not 
 baulk him of his cup of tea. Hilary made no
 
 430 . THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 difficulty about it. She was as anxious as he was 
 for an interview. When she had shut the door 
 and he saw her face with more light on it he 
 discovered that she had been crying. On the 
 table lay a letter addressed and stamped. There 
 were no tea things visible. Dick thought the 
 room looked as unfit for Hilary as a prison 
 cell. 
 
 ' What is the matter ? ' he said anxiously. 
 ' There is nothing wrong with Nell ? ' 
 
 ' No. Nell has gone off with her husband 
 quite happy.' 
 
 ' Then why are you so unhappy ? Are you 
 tired of living here alone ? I hope you are.' 
 
 The girl flushed at the appeal in Dick's voice 
 and eyes. She took her purse out of her pocket 
 and emptied its contents on the table the five- 
 pound note, the sovereign, and the little heap 
 of silver. 
 
 * I have been wondering what I can do,' she 
 began. ' This is all the money I have, and even this 
 is yours.' 
 
 It made Dick miserable to see her ; she looked 
 unnerved, like a person who has not recovered 
 from a shock. 
 
 ' What are you talking about ? ' he said. 
 ' What do you mean ? ' 
 
 ' I have been to see Mr. Theodore this after- 
 noon,' she began. Then, finding it a little difficult 
 to go on, she looked at Dick and found that she 
 need not say another word. He understood, and 
 his wrath blazed in his eyes. 
 
 ' The mischief-making hound ! ' he cried.
 
 WHAT EVERY WISE MAN'S SON DOTH KNOW 431 
 
 ' I think he was right to tell me.' 
 
 ' I don't agree with you.' 
 
 ' I wish we could make it up to you, Dick. 
 Of course we never can your goodness but 
 I will pay the five hundred pounds when I am 
 twenty-five, and I must see what Nell thinks about 
 the rest.' 
 
 ' So it has come to that,' said Dick, looking 
 deeply annoyed. ' You would rather take money 
 from Herr Hansen than from me.' 
 
 ' It is rather a question of Nell helping me to 
 pay our father's debts,' amended Hilary. ' I hope 
 I shall never have to take money from any one. I 
 mean to earn my own living.' 
 
 'Why did you go and see Theodore this after- 
 noon ? ' 
 
 Hilary was uncomfortably silent. 
 
 ' If you won't tell me, I shall get it out 
 of him. I mean to say a few words to him 
 shortly.' 
 
 ' You can't ask Mr. Theodore questions about 
 my business.' 
 
 1 Can't I ? ' 
 
 ' It seems to me,' said Hilary, ' that every one 
 thinks it more his affair than mine to manage my 
 life.' 
 
 Dick looked expressively at the opposite wall. 
 
 ' I have not had a chance yet,' she continued, 
 understanding that in his opinion she had so far 
 not managed very well. 
 
 ' Are you going to stay here ? ' 
 
 'No.' 
 
 ' What are you going to do ? '
 
 432 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 ' I have found an engagement. That letter is 
 to accept it.' 
 
 ' An engagement as what ? Where is it ? 
 What are the terms ? ' 
 
 ' Dick ! You're not my keeper. No one has 
 a right to interfere : not Herr Hansen, and not 
 you.' 
 
 ' I have this much right,' said Dick : ' I have 
 loved you ever since I knew you, and I still hope 
 that you will be my wife.' 
 
 How suddenly he made the great avowal again, 
 and in how quiet a voice. Hilary's heart gave a 
 leap as she listened, and out of all she wanted to 
 say she could choose nothing. She stared at him 
 as if she could hardly believe her ears. 
 
 ' We have taken so much from you/ she said 
 finally. ' We have injured you.' 
 
 ' Make it up to me then,' said Dick. 
 
 Hilary smiled, though her eyes were threatening 
 tears. 
 
 ' Will it make up ? ' she asked. ' I feel as if it 
 would be taking more and more. I have been so 
 miserable without you, Dick.' 
 
 A little later he took up the letter lying on the 
 table and tore it into little pieces. 
 
 ' Oh ! ' cried Hilary, ' I never gave you leave 
 to do that.' 
 
 ' It is for you to ask my leave,' he said, with a 
 twinkle ; ' you are going to be my wife.' 
 
 ' But how can you afford to marry ? Mr. 
 Theodore says we have ruined you.' 
 
 ' That's my business, not yours. You shall 
 never trouble your head about money again.'
 
 WHAT EVERY WISE MAN'S SON DOTH KNOW 433 
 
 ' Dick ! ' she said solemnly, ' if you had been 
 wise and gone away and taken this money, I 
 should have had to sell this ring Nell gave me 
 before I could pay my rent. Oh ! how tired I am 
 of it already, and I have only been here three 
 months. What do girls do who have no one to 
 fetch them away? I was going to be mother's 
 help, you know, and have my meals in the 
 kitchen.' 
 
 ' They would have turned you off in a week,' 
 said Dick, his grasp tightening on her hand. 
 
 ' I daresay. I am one of the most useless 
 creatures in existence, and not very strong, and not 
 used to rough it. What becomes of such like, as 
 a rule?' 
 
 ' God knows.' 
 
 ' Do you remember the line in Cymbeline, 
 Dick 
 
 " Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered." ' 
 
 Dick did not remember it, but he considered a 
 little, and then said in a persuasive voice : 
 
 ' I don't see why we shouldn't be married next 
 week.' 
 
 Hilary stared. She had already imagined a 
 wedding in Hamburg, possibly six months hence. 
 
 ' I won't have you stay on here,' he continued. 
 ' Nell was quite right. It is not fit for you. You 
 look wretchedly ill. I could get away better now 
 than later. We will go straight to the sea and 
 live in a boat. We are both good sailors. Do 
 be persuaded, Hilary. Why should we wait any 
 longer? Why should you go away from me 
 
 28
 
 434 THE GRASSHOPPERS 
 
 again ? And if you stay anywhere here by your- 
 self you know the endless difficulties.' 
 
 ' But Nell/ objected Hilary. 
 
 ' Nell will understand. I will send her a wire 
 this very moment. Oh ! it won't reach her as she 
 is on her journey. Then we will wire to-morrow.' 
 
 ' You take for granted I don't want any smart 
 clothes.' 
 
 ' Oh, there's time enough for that. Where 
 shall we go ? North or south ? ' 
 
 'But it is impossible. We have not been 
 engaged half an hour ? ' 
 
 'We have known each other for years. We 
 have loved each other how long.' 
 
 4 Oh ! a long^ time,' sighed Hilary. ' Why 
 didn't you speak before, Dick ? ' 
 
 ' WHAT ! ' 
 
 ' In Hamburg, for instance, when you came to 
 see us.' 
 
 ' I was full of business worries. I had not 
 been to Australia. Besides, how was I to know 
 you had changed your mind. Even to-day I feel 
 very uncertain. But now, Hilary ? Say yes. I 
 don't want to let you go again.' 
 
 ' We will go north,' said Hilary, with shining 
 happy eyes, ' far, far north, away from the Totten- 
 ham Court Road. I shall dream of the drip of 
 the sea to-night, and of seaweed, and of cliffs 
 dashed over with foam.' 
 
 ' And I shall dream of you,' said Dick. 
 
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 POSTE RESTANTE . 
 A JAPANESE MARRIAGE 
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 PAUL ROMER . 
 MY INDIAN SUMMER . 
 MARGARET DRUMMOND 
 THE CURB OF HONOUR 
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 and even brilliant, sayings. . . . There are some luminous and original suggestions 
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 elemental love between man and woman is treated with healthy robustness. ' The 
 A thenccum. 
 
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 THE GRASSHOPPERS. 
 
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