T 2 ^ 
 v5~5
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE
 
 'Mil Y 1U-XKONKI) TO HIM WITH ALL THEIR \VHITK MAGIC, 
 
 AND UK SAID Ai.orn: "I come, I come!'"
 
 OUT OF THE 
 WRECK I RISE 
 
 BY 
 
 BEATRICE HARRADEN 
 
 AUTHOR OF "SHIPS THAT PASS IN THE NIGHT," ETC. 
 
 "Out of the Wreck I Rise past 
 Zeus, to the Potency o'er him " 
 "IxioN," ROBERT BROWNING 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS
 
 Copyright, 1912, by 
 FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 
 
 All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign 
 languages, including the Scandinavian 
 
 September, igi2
 
 PART I
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 PART I 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 A BRIAN STEELE sat in his office in Brick 
 * * Court thinking. He had during the past 
 two weeks received two letters which had caused 
 him much annoyance and anxiety. A third one, 
 which had just come to hand, added to his dis- 
 turbance. He took them all now from a drawer, 
 and read them through, consecutively. They ran 
 thus : 
 
 " DEAR STEELE, With reference to the tour 
 of The Invaders, how many performances did we 
 play in Birmingham? Yours faithfully, 
 
 " R. S. HAILSHAM." 
 
 " DEAR STEELE, You say six performances in 
 Birmingham. I have, however, been in com- 
 munication with the manager of the * Royalty,' 
 who says we played seven. Can you explain 
 this? Yours faithfully, R. S. HAILSHAM." 
 
 i
 
 2 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " DEAR STEELE, Your answer is not satisfac- 
 tory. You will hear further from me on the sub- 
 ject of the royalties on my plays. I am not 
 satisfied with my returns, and am investigating 
 the matter for myself. Yours faithfully, 
 
 " R. S. HAILSHAM." 
 
 Adrian Steele frowned as he restored the letters 
 to the drawer, and locked it. He leaned back 
 in his chair and faced the prospect opened out 
 by those few simple sentences in the third 
 letter. 
 
 "Yes," he said aloud; "this means my even- 
 tual humiliation, unless I am able to handle this 
 man adroitly, and thus stem the tide of further 
 investigations. If I remember rightly, I calcula- 
 ted that, all told, I've kept back about 15,000 
 from John Noble, 6,000 from Sanford, from 
 Cecil certainly 4,000, and from this new fellow 
 Hailsham about 1,700. Inappreciable amounts 
 from lesser fry, too. Total, about 28,000. 
 A fortune. And well earned, too, over and 
 above my commission." 
 
 He rose impatiently, and walked up and down 
 his luxurious room. 
 
 " Well earned, I repeat and maintain it," he 
 said, as though to an accuser. ' Without me, 
 those men would never have come into their own. 
 And if I chose to take my full payment for
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 3 
 
 services, partly in percentage and partly in in 
 this way, it was my own affair." 
 
 He added after a pause, by way of explana- 
 tion: " I mean that, mentally, I was more than 
 justified. Morally, I of course admit that I have 
 no case." 
 
 He stood before a picture of the snow peaks of 
 the Bernese Oberland, and seemed for the mo- 
 ment spellbound by the magic of the mountains 
 which he dearly loved. 
 
 " Well, whatever happens, I must see the 
 mountains once more," he said, half to himself. 
 
 His frail and small frame drooped; his arms 
 hung listlessly; his chest shrank away; his clever 
 and keen face became curiously passive. But 
 suddenly, with a determined gesture, he gathered 
 himself together, and an almost boyish smile 
 transformed his gloom of countenance into an 
 amazing radiance. It was obvious that this man 
 was a born fighter, delighting in the prospect of 
 a fray. 
 
 " And after all," he said aloud, " life was get- 
 ting just a little dull. Prosperity is dull if taken 
 in continuous overdoses. Dull and deadening. 
 One sees that all round. One needs crises. 
 Well, this is crisis." 
 
 At that moment his telephone bell rang. He 
 answered the summons. 
 
 "Is that you, Steele?" the voice said. "It's
 
 4 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 I, Noble. I want particularly to see you about 
 something. Coming round to your office to-mor- 
 row morning. Shall you be in at twelve ? " 
 
 " Yes," Adrian Steele answered. " But why 
 trouble to come here? I'll come to your house 
 as usual. Twelve o'clock sharp." 
 
 " No," the voice said. " Prefer to come to 
 you on this occasion. Twelve o'clock. Good- 
 by." 
 
 " Prefer to come to you on this occasion" 
 Adrian Steele repeated as he went to his desk. 
 " Now that's quite unusual. I've never known 
 Noble to say that before. Has some rumor 
 reached him? Has Hailsham been putting him 
 on the track?" 
 
 For a long time he sat pondering over the 
 whole matter, trying to find some solution to the 
 problem presented to him, and tracing out, for 
 his own guidance, the successive steps of subter- 
 fuge and deception which had led up to this crisis 
 in his affairs. How was he to meet it? What 
 means should he take of throwing dust in the 
 eyes of Noble, Sanford, and Cecil? How could 
 he satisfy this upstart Hailsham that the shortage 
 of payment to which he referred, was due merely 
 to this cause or that cause, and that the deficit 
 was only temporary? He racked his brain and 
 thoroughly enjoyed the mental gymnastics. Diffi- 
 culties had always stimulated him. He was
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 5 
 
 stimulated now. But it struck him that he 
 needed advice. It was not that he felt himself 
 bereft of ideas. Far from that. It was merely 
 that he believed an outside opinion, from some 
 one of a different mental outlook, might have a 
 useful modifying influence on his intellectual im- 
 pulses and methods. 
 
 To what friend should he turn? In other cir- 
 cumstances he would have submitted the matter 
 to Noble. Noble, in this instance, was of course 
 unavailable. To a lawyer friend? No, inad- 
 visable, and probably quite futile. To Grace, his 
 wife? No, certainly not to her. The last per- 
 son in the world whom he could profitably con- 
 sult. Her code of honor would recognize no 
 differentiations of wrong-doing, and her mind 
 would be incapable of offering any wise and useful 
 suggestions. 
 
 His thoughts traveled back to friends of former 
 days. He recalled Nell Linstead, now Mrs. Sil- 
 berthwaite. She would have understood: not be- 
 cause her code of honor was fundamentally less 
 strict than his wife's, but because she, as he well 
 knew, took a large view of life; and although she 
 would grieve over his conduct, yet she would 
 realize that the circumstances had offered great 
 opportunity to the temptations of his tempera- 
 ment, and she would judge him accordingly, and 
 not turn from him in horror and alarm. And
 
 6 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 Tamar Scott would have understood, for the sim- 
 ple reason that her mind ran on the same lines as 
 his own. 
 
 A sudden craving came over him to see them 
 both. It was years since he had spoken to either 
 of them. They belonged to that period of his life 
 when, in order to acquire a settled habit of mental 
 ascendancy, he was deliberately practicing mastery 
 over any one with whom he chanced to come in 
 contact. Nell Linstead and Tamar Scott had 
 been unfamiliar types to him, and he had taken 
 special interest in watching each of them, so dif- 
 ferent from the other, pass gradually under the 
 spell of his personality. He wearied, first of 
 Nell, and then of Tamar, and passed on callously 
 to another phase in his complex life. Physically 
 he had been blameless in his relations with them; 
 but he knew that psychically he had been guilty. 
 He had wrought havoc in their minds, emotions, 
 and passions. He remembered Nell's last words 
 to him: "But I shall recover my pride, my in- 
 dependence of spirit, my liberty of mind, my joy 
 in life all this shall come back to me and in full 
 measure in spite of you." 
 
 He heard her voice; he saw her noble presence; 
 he remembered her fine idealism; he renewed his 
 remorse of having tried to injure her in any way 
 whatsoever; he longed to ask her pardon, even 
 at the eleventh hour. Yes, he would go and see
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 7 
 
 her, now, this very moment, whilst the mood was 
 on him. 
 
 Would she refuse to receive him ? No, Tamar 
 might; but Nell, no. He decided to go to Nell. 
 He had more or less followed her career. She 
 had for some long time been devoting herself to 
 the problems of the poor, and had, with others, 
 helped to found the Society for the Abolition of 
 Sweated Labor. He knew that she was honorary 
 secretary of this Society, and indeed the heart and 
 brain of the whole movement. He also knew 
 that she had married Rupert Silberthwaite, a dis- 
 tinguished engineer, and that she had been wid- 
 owed two or three years after her marriage; and 
 he had heard that she was using her independent 
 means entirely for this chosen work of her life, 
 and by her enthusiasm and determination had suc- 
 ceeded in making the Society into a powerful 
 body, which was gradually gaining support in all 
 directions. So that he did not feel that he was 
 going to a friend of former days whose inter- 
 vening life had been spent in separating scenes 
 and conditions. Nell had always been interested 
 in public service, and he himself had directed her 
 attention to some of the problems. A sense of 
 continuity rather than of renewal, therefore, stole 
 over him as he looked up the address of the of- 
 fices and started off without delay to Arundel 
 Street, Strand.
 
 8 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 When he entered the enquiry office, his mind 
 had gone back, without the least difficulty, to 
 twelve years ago. The actual surroundings were 
 strange to him, it is true ; but the atmosphere was 
 familiar, and a bright flash of memory lit up his 
 face. 
 
 A cheerful, brisk young woman, distinctly of 
 the Suffragette type, attended to him with a pleas- 
 ant manner of independence which had nothing 
 of aggressiveness in it. 
 
 "Can I see Mrs. Silberthwaite? " he asked, 
 smiling at her with one of his curiously charming 
 quiet smiles. 
 
 " I am so sorry," she answered. " She has just 
 sent in the message that she did not wish to be 
 disturbed for two or three hours. She has had 
 a very hard day. We are up to our eyes in work 
 here. Could I perhaps make an appointment for 
 you?" 
 
 He shook his head. 
 
 " No," he said quietly. " I will sit here and 
 wait for two or three hours." 
 
 His appearance and his persistence impressed 
 little Joan Neville. Instinct told her that this 
 was not the sort of man to be kept waiting, and 
 she resolved to take the risk of sending in his 
 card, so that Mrs. Silberthwaite might decide for 
 herself. She therefore asked for his card. He 
 took out a blank one, on which he wrote in a neat,
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 9 
 
 peculiar handwriting these few mysterious 
 words : 
 
 " Looking down on snow-white plains of moun- 
 tain mist caught with purple light. L. P." 
 
 The little clerk glanced at it when he handed 
 it to her, glanced at him and decided that he was 
 mad, and that she must not leave him alone. But 
 she showed no outer sign of her inner conviction. 
 She merely pressed the bell and gave the card 
 with her instructions to another girl who answered 
 her summons. She kept a sharp little Suffragette 
 eye on her lunatic, and was prepared to use " ju- 
 jitsu " if he made a sudden attack on her. Noth- 
 ing of the sort, however, happened. He was im- 
 mediately fetched to see Mrs. Silberthwaite, and 
 Joan Neville said to herself, smiling over her 
 work: 
 
 " A-ha ! A good thing I treated ' Looking 
 down on snow-white plains, etc.,' in a suitable 
 manner! " 
 
 Meanwhile the door closed on Adrian Steele, 
 and he found himself alone with Nell Silber- 
 thwaite. 
 
 " Nell," he said simply, and without any pre- 
 liminaries, " I had a great heart-hunger to see 
 you." 
 
 She stood looking at him, holding the card in 
 her hand. She was evidently very much moved.
 
 io OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " Sit down," she said kindly, and he sat down 
 in silence. 
 
 For several minutes they neither spoke nor 
 moved. It was twelve years since they had met, 
 and they were busy with thoughts, memories, and 
 all those conflicting emotions, harmonious strains 
 and discordant notes stirred up by the past. At 
 last she opened a drawer and handed him some 
 cigarettes, and she herself took the piece of em- 
 broidery which she had put down on his arrival, 
 and continued to work on a large pomegranate. 
 He watched her intently. It was she at last who 
 broke the silence. 
 
 " I had a curious dream about you last night," 
 she said. " I dreamed you had climbed a steep 
 mountain. And a fearful storm came and cut off 
 your retreat. I see you now with my mind's eye 
 ' a little stubborn, self-contained figure in- 
 accessible." 
 
 He made no comment on her words. 
 
 " Nell," he said, after another spell of quiet, 
 " I believe I have come to ask your forgive- 
 ness." 
 
 She glanced at him with a humorous little look. 
 
 " It isn't like your former self to ask for any 
 one's forgiveness," she observed. " Either 
 you've changed very much, Little Playmate, or 
 else you're feeling on the brink of the grave. I 
 wonder which it is ? "
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE n 
 
 A slight smile passed over his face at the sound 
 of his old name. But he vouchsafed no answer, 
 and said again in his persistent way which she 
 remembered so well: 
 
 " I believe I have come to ask for your 
 forgiveness." 
 
 ' You have had it for many years," Nell said 
 gravely. " It took me a long time to work my- 
 self free from hatred and bitterness, but at last, 
 thank goodness, I came out on the other side, 
 born anew and restored. And then I was able 
 to thank you for all the true benefits I had had 
 from you. They stood out clearly, Adrian, sep- 
 arated definitely from the injuries. They stand 
 out clearly now." 
 
 " I introduced you to Meredith's books," he 
 remarked. " I admit that was a great deal to do 
 for you." 
 
 " Yes," she said. " It was indeed." 
 
 " I believe I saved you from settling down into 
 an academic prig, out of touch with modern con- 
 ditions," he ventured teasingly. 
 
 " I deny that, entirely," Nell said with spirit. 
 
 He laughed softly. 
 
 u I knew that would stir you up," he said. 
 ' Well, let that pass. You are evidently not one 
 now." 
 
 She laughed too, in spite of herself. 
 
 ' You've not changed much, after all," she
 
 12 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 said. " So I can only conclude that you are feel- 
 ing on the brink of the grave." 
 
 " May I take the liberty of asking -why you 
 forgave me so long ago? " he said. " It was like 
 you, I admit. I always knew you had a generous 
 mind. But it would interest me to see where 
 your academic brain came in." 
 
 She paused for a moment. 
 
 " When I had reached the haven of imper- 
 sonality," she said, " my ' academic brain ' looked 
 into things clearly and realized that you probably 
 could not help yourself, Adrian, and that you had 
 been born with a consuming hunger for power 
 in some form, and with an extraordinary talent 
 for subterfuge. I understood better the tempta- 
 tions arising from your natural mental equipment. 
 And I saw that the weakness in my character had 
 called forth the wrong strength in yours. That's 
 the whole thing seen in its proper proportions 
 after the passage of years." 
 
 He remained silent, but an expression of sud- 
 den resolve and hopefulness lit up his face. 
 Yes, he could tell her his position. He could 
 lay the whole matter before her, and, as he had 
 anticipated, she would understand. Her breadth 
 of view alone would help her and him. 
 
 " I'm so thankful you haven't overreached 
 yourself, Adrian," she added impulsively. " I 
 knew, of course, that you were bound to make a
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 13 
 
 position for yourself. That was obvious. Your 
 cleverness and your persistence would have car- 
 ried you anywhere. But I was always afraid lest 
 you might get on to the quicksands. For some 
 mysterious reason which I could never fathom, 
 in spite of our estrangement, I should have been 
 woefully distressed if you had gone under." 
 
 He got up from his seat, leaned against the 
 mantelpiece, and stared at the fire. 
 
 " I have gone under, Nell," he said at last. 
 " That's just what I have done. I've gone 
 under." 
 
 " Don't say that, don't say that," she said in 
 a voice which was charged with real pain. 
 
 " But it's the truth," he said turning to her; 
 and when he saw the expression of concern and 
 kindness on her face, he longed to tell her 
 everything. Could he tell her? If he could tell 
 any fine, honorable person, he could tell her, be- 
 cause she was great-souled and great-hearted. 
 He had felt that years ago, and he felt it even 
 more strongly now. Life and experience had 
 widened and not narrowed her vision. This was 
 the legend written clearly on Nell's countenance 
 for any one to read. He read it now. Could 
 he tell her? Why not? It would be such a 
 tremendous relief to him if he could speak out. 
 Why not? He wanted from her neither money, 
 nor sympathy, nor blame, nor condonation, nor
 
 14 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 exoneration. He wanted chiefly to give way to 
 the crying necessity of his mind, and put it in 
 touch with hers. Could he tell her? Could he 
 overcome his shame? Could he conquer his nat- 
 ural reticence? He had never given his confi- 
 dence to any one. His reserve was part and 
 parcel of his temperamental deceitfulness. All 
 through his life, if he could have spoken to peo- 
 ple, he could have broken through an ever-thick- 
 ening network of perfectly unnecessary deceit. 
 He struggled now, in this hour of his great mental 
 need. Standing there in the presence of one in 
 whom he wished to confide, he fought a pitched 
 battle with his reticence and was defeated. 
 No, he could not tell her. It was impossible. 
 Nell, who guessed at the conflict within him, knew 
 also that it was impossible. 
 
 He turned away from her, and began staring 
 at the picture of the snow peaks of the Bernese 
 Oberland hanging over the mantelpiece. He had 
 given it to her years ago. It was the duplicate 
 of the one in his own office. 
 
 " The same picture," he said. " My picture. 
 So you kept it, Nell. Yes, we always loved the 
 mountains, didn't we? Do you remember when 
 I was in a particularly irritating mood, how I 
 used to annoy you by quoting those words from 
 'Childe Harold'?
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 15 
 
 He who ascends to mountain tops shall find 
 Their loftiest peaks most wrapped in clouds and snow, 
 He who surpasses or subdues mankind, 
 Must look down on the hate of those below. 
 Though high above the sun of glory glow, 
 And far beneath the earth and ocean spread, 
 Round him are icy rocks, and loudly blow 
 Contending tempests on his naked head.' " 
 
 " Yes," she answered. " You used to spoil the 
 mountain peaks for me at such times." 
 
 " That was only because of your weakness of 
 character, Nell," he remarked. " A good, a very 
 good instance of your weakness of character call- 
 ing out the wrong strength in mine. Your own 
 words, you observe." 
 
 She smiled a little. It was exactly like him to 
 use her own words against herself. No, he had 
 not changed. 
 
 He read her thought and smiled too. 
 
 " All the same, I have changed," he said chal- 
 lengingly. " Otherwise I could never have 
 humbled myself to ask for forgiveness. And I 
 am to understand that I have it absolutely and 
 imperishably? " 
 
 4 Yes," she repeated, " absolutely and im- 
 perishably. But I think you owe it to me to ex- 
 plain why you suddenly come after twelve years 
 and ask for it." 
 
 1 You always used to scorn explanations," 
 he said. " ' Explanation spells complication.'
 
 i6 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 That was one of your learned phrases. I recall 
 it well." 
 
 She did not appear to hear him, but said 
 gravely: 
 
 " Has your coming anything to do with your 
 going under? I merely borrow your own expres- 
 sion. Of course, I don't know in the least what 
 you mean. But I beg of you to explain to me." 
 
 Again he had the impulse to tell her, but again 
 his innate secretiveness overcame that impulse. 
 
 " I can only make to you the same sort of 
 answers which the poor drunken derelicts make 
 to the questions of the magistrate," he said. 
 " ' Have you any explanation to offer? ' asks the 
 magistrate. ' No.' * Have you any friends in 
 court to speak for you ? ' ' No.' ' Have you 
 anything at all to say?' * No, nothing except 
 that I'm sorry.' Nothing except that I'm sorry, 
 Nell" 
 
 The next moment he had gone.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 / TpHE past, which we vainly believe we throw 
 * off, held Nell in bondage. This man, 
 Adrian Steele, had come into her life years ago, 
 wrecked her outlook, checked her enthusiasms, 
 tampered with her ideals, and taken the joy out 
 of the heart of things and the very delight out 
 of nature. But, as she had told him, she could 
 look back now and realize with a fair-mindedness 
 born only of lapse of time, how in other ways he 
 had distinctly ministered to her. He had kindled 
 her intellectuality to a livelier flame; he had eased 
 the tension of her culture; he had indicated 
 modern methods of expression and action to her. 
 Under his influence her powers of observation had 
 ripened, her judgment had widened, her interests 
 had expanded. His very persistence of character, 
 the driving force in him, the dogged stubborn- 
 ness of his nature had produced a healthy and 
 lasting effect on her own natural impatience. 
 Yes, she knew now that she owed a great deal 
 to him. If he were glad to have asked for her 
 forgiveness, she was equally glad to have had 
 the chance of paying him a tribute of gratitude. 
 But why had he come after all these years ? Why
 
 1 8 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 should he suddenly ask for forgiveness? What 
 did he mean by saying that he had ' gone under ' ? 
 Was it possible that he had overreached himself? 
 Was he in some difficulty and had he been led 
 by instinct to seek out an old friend? She was 
 uneasy about him. He had brought his curious 
 charm with him out of the past, and she felt 
 once more a vague concern and responsibility for 
 his welfare. She wrestled with it. 
 
 " This is quite absurd," he said, remonstrating 
 with herself. 
 
 She gathered herself together and began writ- 
 ing down the headings of a speech she was to 
 make the next day on Sweated Industries. But 
 she shook her head. She could not get on with 
 her subject. That little figure from the past 
 haunted her, and conjured up for her memories, 
 anxieties and apprehensions which were too in- 
 sistent to be carelessly disregarded. She was 
 seized with a longing to know more about his 
 present life and circumstances. She knew that 
 he had made a splendid career for himself as a 
 dramatic agent, and that he took charge of the 
 affairs of many of the leading dramatic authors 
 of the day. She knew where his offices were in 
 Brick Court. She had heard that he was mar- 
 ried, and that he had a little daughter. But these 
 were the only facts which had strayed to her, and 
 merely by chance. For when he had tired of his
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 19 
 
 influence over her, and had deliberately impelled 
 her to put an end to their comradeship, which to 
 him apparently had been a mere passing friend- 
 ship and to her a real and serious affair of the 
 heart, Nell, in her wounded pride, had separated 
 herself permanently from several people, known 
 to them both, in whom she was deeply interested. 
 Tamar Scott was one of them. Nell had always 
 been jealous of Adrian Steele's intimacy with 
 Tamar, and Tamar had always been jealous of 
 his admiration for Nell. Yet they had certainly 
 liked each other, and in other circumstances would 
 probably have become firm friends. 
 
 The memory of her suddenly took possession 
 of Nell. She longed to see her. She resolved 
 to go at once to Tamar and risk a rude reception. 
 She smiled as she recalled the first occasion on 
 which Adrian had taken her to the antique jewel- 
 ry shop in Dean Street. Tamar, sulky and 
 peculiar, and yet with a subtle, indefinable at- 
 tractiveness of her own, had received them and 
 given them tea in an inner room where she kept 
 all her choicest treasures, and where she mended 
 rare and delicate bits of china, and altered and 
 " faked " antique jewels of many sorts. Nell saw 
 now the half-reluctant amiability which she con- 
 ceded to Adrian Steele, and the almost rude for- 
 bearance which she vouchsafed to herself. She 
 heard Adrian's voice saying:
 
 20 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " Don't take any notice of her manners. Ta- 
 mar keeps all her manners for minerals. You 
 should see her, for instance, in the Jermyn Street 
 Museum, worshiping emeralds in their matrix 
 and rubies in the rough. You wouldn't know 
 her. Manners for minerals only. No one else 
 need apply." 
 
 Yes, she would go to Tamar. Even if Tamar 
 knew nothing about him now, it would at least 
 be some consolation to speak to some one who, 
 even as herself, had been intimate with him in 
 the past. She locked her desk, left instructions 
 in the outer office, and hurried off in an absent- 
 minded way. The little Suffragette clerk closed 
 one bright eye and said to herself: 
 
 " Never knew Mrs. Silberthwaite to go home 
 so early. Something to do with ' Looking down 
 on snow-white plains,' I expect!" 
 
 Meanwhile Nell found herself outside Tamar's 
 shop, in which she had not set foot for many 
 years. She had passed it scores of times, but had 
 never once encountered Tamar face to face, al- 
 though she had often seen her in the distance, and 
 knew that she was still carrying on her business 
 in the same place. And there was her name, 
 shabbily painted as ever, " T. Scott, dealer in 
 antique jewelry t etc." Nell looked at the win- 
 dow for a few moments, and then opened the 
 door and went in almost hesitatingly. A very
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 21 
 
 old woman, who was sitting in a corner behind 
 the counter, got up reluctantly, but did not leave 
 off knitting. 
 
 " Well? " she asked in an uncompromising tone 
 of voice. 
 
 " Can I see Miss Scott? " Nell asked. 
 
 " She said she didn't want to buy anything of 
 any one to-day," the old woman answered gruffly. 
 
 " But I'm not wanting to sell anything," Nell 
 replied good-naturedly. " I wish to see Miss 
 Scott on a private matter." 
 
 The old woman, having taken a keen look at 
 Nell, touched a bell and retreated to her corner. 
 After a rather long delay, Tamar Scott came 
 dreamily into the shop. When she saw Nell 
 Silberthwaite she scanned her without making any 
 sign of recognition or any attempt at courtesy. 
 
 " Tamar, you don't remember me," Nell said. 
 
 ' Yes, I do," Tamar answered sulkily, and she 
 bent over the counter, fiddled with a little Chelsea 
 figure which stood there, and remained silent. 
 She appeared to be thinking, and in the process 
 of thinking had evidently forgotten her visitor. 
 Suddenly she turned to the old woman and dis- 
 missed her with a quiet but not an unfriendly 
 gesture. 
 
 "What is it you want?" she asked of Nell 
 brusquely. " I am busy. I have no time for 
 visitors."
 
 22 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 Nell smiled. She again heard Adrian's voice 
 saying : 
 
 " Don't take any notice of Tamar. She keeps 
 all her manners for minerals. No one else need 
 apply." Certainly her manners now were even 
 more uncompromising than before. 
 
 "What is it you want?" Tamar repeated. 
 " Please be quick and state your business." 
 
 " I had the impulse to come to you," Nell said 
 simply. " That's all. I wanted to speak to 
 some one who knew Adrian Steele." 
 
 " I have not seen him for nine years," Tamar 
 said, her face assuming a hard, set expression 
 directly she heard Adrian Steele's name. 
 
 " And I have not seen him for twelve years 
 until to-day this afternoon," Nell replied. 
 
 " Until to-day," Tamar repeated. " And why 
 to-day?" 
 
 "Ah, that's just what I don't know," Nell 
 repeated. " That's why I have taken the liberty 
 of coming here. I thought you might be able to 
 tell me something about him. I have a sort of 
 idea, Tamar, that he is in trouble." 
 
 ' Well, why shouldn't he be ? " Tamar re- 
 marked. " Most people are." 
 
 ' You are right," Nell said, nodding her head. 
 " All the same, if I knew what his trouble was, 
 I should wish to stand by him." 
 
 There was a pause.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 23 
 
 " So should I," Tamar said, turning her back 
 on Nell. 
 
 There was another pause. Nell leaned against 
 the counter staring sightlessly at a collection of 
 Battersea enamel snuff-boxes on a table by them- 
 selves; and Tamar, with her arms folded tightly 
 together and her back to her visitor, closed her 
 eyes and saw a vision of the past. The thoughts 
 of each woman were centered on the man who at 
 one time had been all the world to each of them, 
 in a different way, and who had wrecked them 
 both, each in a different way also. 
 
 Tamar broke the long silence. 
 
 " Why should you think he was in trouble ? " 
 she asked. 
 
 " He told me he had * gone under,' " Nell said. 
 "He" 
 
 '' That's nothing. We've all gone under in 
 some form," Tamar interrupted. 
 
 " He asked me to forgive him," Nell continued. 
 " I am sure he would never have deigned to ask 
 any one's pardon unless he were in a state of 
 intense depression." 
 
 " No," Tamar admitted with a grim smile. 
 ' There must be something wrong. Perhaps he 
 wants money. Most men come to women for 
 money." 
 
 " He was never that kind of man," Nell said 
 indignantly. " You do him an injustice."
 
 24 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 Tamar shrugged her shoulders. 
 
 " Ah," she said, " I see you have not cured 
 yourself of what Adrian Steele used to call ' your 
 morbid and pathological craze for justice.' ' 
 
 Nell smiled at the recollection, and even Ta- 
 mar's set expression of countenance relaxed to an 
 easier adjustment. 
 
 " However," she said, " I don't mind owning 
 that you are probably " 
 
 The shop door opened, and a young clergyman 
 with a singularly interesting face came into the 
 shop, advanced to the counter, paused and glanced 
 nervously round. 
 
 " Probably in the right on this occasion," Ta- 
 mar continued, without taking any immediate no- 
 tice of the newcomer. " He wasn't that type. 
 No, you needn't go unless you want to. But per- 
 haps you'd better wait in the inner room." 
 
 As she spoke, she touched the key which was 
 attached to a black ribbon hanging round her neck, 
 as though to assure herself that she had locked 
 up the roller desk at which she repaired and 
 altered some of her antique jewelry. Then she 
 turned her attention to her client. She guessed 
 from long observation that he had something to 
 sell, and that he wanted the money badly. She 
 yawned, put on her patent look of indifference, 
 and watched him fumble at his coat pocket and 
 produce a small case, out of which he took a
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 25 
 
 lovely old silver crucifix set in rubies and pearls. 
 Her eyes sparkled at the sight of the jewels, for 
 quite apart from anything to do with business, 
 Tamar worshiped precious stones. 
 
 "I I want to sell this," he said with ex- 
 treme nervousness, " if if I can get a good 
 price for it." 
 
 Tamar stretched out her hand for it with a 
 steadiness which belied the agitation in her breast. 
 Her practiced eye saw that it was a beautiful thing 
 of its kind French, date probably about the 
 middle of the eighteenth century; the pearls of 
 no value, but the rubies, Burmese, and finely cut, 
 six in number. Here was beauty, and here was 
 business too very good business, the real name 
 for which was plunder. Tamar was always stim- 
 ulated by any prospect of plunder, not only for 
 the sake of accumulating money easily, but also 
 for the mental enjoyment of the scheming in- 
 volved in securing the plunder. Well, here was 
 the chance of plunder, and here was a clergyman. 
 She had always hated clergymen of all denomina- 
 tions. The situation, therefore, appeared to her 
 highly satisfactory. Up went her pulse, a light 
 came into her eyes, her heart beat with pleasant 
 excitation. She examined the crucifix silently for 
 several moments, which seemed as aeons to the 
 anxious young man waiting for the verdict. 
 
 At last she spoke.
 
 26 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " The rubies and pearls are very poor, espe- 
 cially the rubies," she said in that dreamy poetical 
 tone of voice which she unconsciously used when 
 she was cheating. Tamar plundering was ever 
 in her most esthetic mood, and she was therefore 
 pursuing her own form of art, her fine art, in 
 fact, brought to a high state of secret develop- 
 ment. 
 
 "The crucifix itself is good," she continued; 
 " the date, I should say, about middle of the 
 eighteenth century. French workmanship." 
 
 " How can you know, I wonder?" the clergy- 
 man asked, much impressed. " Yes, it is French, 
 and that is approximately the date." 
 
 " Of course it is," Tamar remarked severely. 
 "How do I know? It's my business to know. 
 How do the astronomers know stars? How do 
 you know lost souls? " 
 
 " Souls are never lost," the clergyman said 
 quietly, but with a slight flush on his face. 
 
 "Aren't they?" Tamar asked in indulgent 
 surprise. 
 
 " No," he answered quite definitely. 
 
 Tamar stared at him a moment, and resumed 
 her investigations. 
 
 ' Very interesting design," she continued. 
 " Rim characteristic. Workmanship delicate. 
 Yes, I will buy it for a small sum. As I re- 
 marked before, the stones are poor."
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 27 
 
 " I had always understood the rubies were 
 valuable," the clergyman said. 
 
 Tamar scrutinized them once more. She ap- 
 plied a magnifying-glass to them. 
 
 " Interesting from one point of view, because 
 specially well cut," she said slowly, " but unsatis- 
 factory from a market point of view. Too deep 
 in color, and not free from flaws. I will give 
 you let me see four pounds no four 
 guineas. Four guineas." 
 
 " Oh, I can't sell it at that price," he said. He 
 was evidently much disappointed. 
 
 "Very well," she said, nodding her head; and 
 without further comment she replaced the crucifix 
 in its case. 
 
 " I had always understood it was worth at least 
 25," he said with great sadness. 
 
 " Most people put an undue value on their own 
 possessions," she remarked dryly. " I don't 
 blame them. Mind, I don't say your crucifix 
 might not be worth 25 to any one who would 
 pay 25 for it. Only I don't care to chance that, 
 you see. Lots of these things in the shop have 
 been here for years. This little lovely Chelsea 
 figure, for instance, I have had by me for ten 
 years. I shall sell it, perhaps, some day; perhaps 
 never. Meanwhile I have to pay rates and taxes 
 and house rent. No one thinks of that. You 
 may get a pound or two elsewhere. I should
 
 28 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 advise you to try. Others who have not already 
 got so much stock as myself may care to risk 
 more. I have stated what I care to risk. I ad- 
 mit the figure is low, but I should not dream of 
 giving any more." 
 
 " Thank you," the young man said with a grave 
 smile. " Good afternoon. I am much obliged 
 to you for your explanation." 
 
 " Good afternoon," she said, and she watched 
 him go towards the door, obviously disheartened, 
 but not resentful. As a rule Tamar paid no at- 
 tention to people's dejection. She was accus- 
 tomed to it, and moreover she was, by nature, 
 proof against pathos. But the simple bearing of 
 this young fellow appealed in some curious way 
 to her kinder feelings. There was no trace in his 
 manner of clerical superciliousness, and no faint 
 echo in his voice of clerical arrogance. The 
 dignity of spirit with which he accepted his dis- 
 appointment, struck her as being something which 
 she had never observed in others who had come 
 to her. Instinct told her that he was something 
 set apart; though she could not have explained 
 to herself what she actually meant by this vague 
 description of him. Nevertheless this was how 
 he impressed her. She called him back. Per- 
 haps she allowed herself this impulse because the 
 affair had passed out of her hands; for it was her 
 rigid business rule, which had been laid down by
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 29 
 
 her mother before her, never to alter the sum 
 which she offered, either in buying or selling. 
 Her face was a remarkable study at the moment. 
 She was annoyed with herself for having lost the 
 chance of securing those six crucifix rubies, and 
 she was half pleased with herself, half astonished 
 with herself for her unwonted attitude towards a 
 disappointed seller a clergyman to boot. 
 
 " I am going to tell you something," she said, 
 leaning with her elbows over the counter. " I 
 am going to let you into a secret. Why, I don't 
 know. Now listen. This matter does not con- 
 cern me now. I've made my offer, and that's the 
 end of it, so far as I am concerned. But I'll give 
 you some good advice, more valuable than most 
 people's advice. If you want to get good money 
 for your crucifix, take the stones out and sell them 
 at one place, and the crucifix at another. They 
 are far more valuable separate, because they can't 
 be played of against each other. One dealer will 
 tell you that the silverwork is good and the stones 
 are bad." 
 
 ' You told me that the stones were bad," he 
 interposed. 
 
 ' Yes, I told you that the stones were bad," she 
 repeated slowly. " Another dealer will tell you 
 that the stones are good and the silverwork is bad. 
 Separate, each can claim a better value, especially 
 the rubies."
 
 30 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 He stood staring at her with a perplexed look 
 on his face; for all this was entirely out of his 
 scope. Still, he had a vague perception that this 
 woman was by nature hard and grasping, but that 
 she had been prompted spiritually to show him a 
 true service. As this thought became clearer to 
 him, the troubled expression of his countenance 
 faded away into that calm radiance which is often 
 seen on the face of those who have pierced into 
 the inner secret of spiritual life. 
 
 " You have indeed been kind to me," he said. 
 " And I thank you sincerely." 
 
 Without any further word he went towards the 
 door, but when there, paused, glanced across the 
 shop, seemed to include the whole surroundings 
 in one keen, comprehensive survey, and then 
 looked back at Tamar. He hesitated a moment, 
 colored, fought with his shyness, and finally took 
 out a card. He handed it to her, and she saw 
 that it bore the name of the Rev. Richard Forest, 
 Herne Vicarage, Warwickshire. 
 
 " If I can serve you at any time," he said, " that 
 is my name and address. My little church has 
 one of the finest Norman fonts in England. I 
 am proud of it. I should like to show it to you 
 if you ever come that way." 
 
 She nodded indulgently, as though to a child, 
 and after he had gone, appeared to be caught in 
 a network of thought, from which she at last
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 31 
 
 extricated herself with a sigh of relief and a 
 shrug. 
 
 " All the same," she said aloud, " I am sorry 
 I lost those rubies."
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 MEANWHILE Nell Silberthwaite sat in the 
 little inner room where, in the old days, 
 she and Tamar Scott and Adrian Steele had often 
 taken tea together; a curious party, and never a 
 genial one. For Tamar was not a gay companion, 
 but there had always been something attractive 
 about her very sulkiness, and when she was in 
 the mood she could be deeply interesting. If 
 they were lucky enough to get her on the subject 
 of precious stones, her face would light up and 
 her whole nature become kindled with interest and 
 excitement. Adrian knew how to awaken these 
 dormant possibilities in her. He would pretend 
 to criticize ruthlessly one of her finest gems, pos- 
 sibly one of her rubies, rubies being her passion, 
 and thus having aroused the tigress in her, would 
 wait patiently until the outburst of indignation 
 had passed into a flood of enthusiasm. Then she, 
 at first all unawares, would open to her listeners 
 a treasure house of rare and fascinating knowl- 
 edge, which she closed with abrupt rudeness 
 when she realized that she was allowing others to 
 share her secret rapture. 
 
 Nell remembered this, and recalled the details 
 32
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 33 
 
 and difficulties of their three-cornered intercourse, 
 and the silent, deep-rooted jealousy which, as 
 time went on, grew up between herself and 
 Tamar. Yes, this little inner room with its 
 enamels and china, its silver, its miniatures, its 
 jewelry, and its two iron safes had been the scene 
 of much fierce though suppressed combat, and 
 Nell, to her own surprise and shame, found her- 
 self, after twelve years, continuing that conflict 
 with an intensity which had not been diminished 
 by the lapse of time. She rose, and to get rid 
 of her thoughts, began looking at some of the 
 miniatures and bits of old brass hanging on the 
 walls. 
 
 Finally, her eye caught sight of some beau- 
 tiful pieces of old china in Tamar's favorite 
 corner cupboard, and she was trying to see 
 whether she could recognize any of the cups and 
 saucers familiar to her in the past, when she sud- 
 denly noticed on the table hard by, a book on 
 precious stones. She took it up, became en- 
 grossed in it, and was still intent on it when 
 Tamar joined her. 
 
 " A most interesting book," she said; " and the 
 illustrations are really splendid. This one, for 
 instance, a Burma ruby. I don't think I ever saw 
 a more beautiful picture of a precious stone." 
 
 " Don't talk to me about rubies," Tamar re- 
 marked curtly. " I don't wish to think of them
 
 34 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 at present. I've just lost some beauties through 
 well through an error of judgment." 
 
 She unlocked her roller desk, sat down and 
 began doctoring an antique ring of rose-topaz, 
 set with three rows of beautiful pearls, medallion 
 shape. Nell watched her, and at the same time 
 feasted her eyes on the really lovely ring. 
 
 " The clergyman was poor," Tamar said after 
 a period of silence. " Well, a man of God should 
 be poor." 
 
 " Do you remember how Adrian Steele always 
 spoke of the clergy as if they had ceased to 
 exist?" Nell said. "It always amused me how 
 he was able to banish from his world all the 
 things which he decided did not concern him 
 personally." 
 
 Tamar nodded. 
 
 1 Yes, that was one of his habits," she said, and 
 a slight smile stole over her face. 
 
 " But he was right about the clergy," she added. 
 " He merely anticipated their eventual doom. 
 They are dying out fast." 
 
 ' They are making a struggle," Nell said. 
 " New types, you know." 
 
 '* They are not clergy," Tamar said. 4 There 
 will have to be a new name. We don't call taxi- 
 cabs four-wheelers." 
 
 " No, but we put them all in the category of
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 35 
 
 conveyances designed to carry us from one place 
 to another," Nell said. 
 
 Tamar laughed softly. 
 
 " Do you mean that remark to include the 
 clergy also?" she asked. "I must say I never 
 heard them described in those words. They are 
 words worthy of Adrian Steele. Well, we were 
 both his pupils, weren't we?" 
 
 " Yes," Nell said. " And do you know I only 
 now begin to realize how much I owe to him." 
 
 Tamar looked up from her work. 
 
 " He treated you badly, too," she said trium- 
 phantly. 
 
 " Yes," Nell said. " I admit it with all hu- 
 mility, Tamar." 
 
 " I was glad at the time," Tamar said. " I 
 was always bitterly jealous of you. Here, in this 
 very room, I suffered martyrdoms of jealousy." 
 
 " And I also suffered martyrdoms of jealousy 
 in this very room," Nell said. 
 
 ; ' We were a couple of fools," Tamar said. 
 ' That's what we were." 
 
 Nell was silent. 
 
 " I suppose you know that when he tired of 
 you the modern product, as he called you, he 
 turned to me," Tamar said. " And I was weak 
 enough to be caught in the toils from which you 
 had been allowed to escape."
 
 36 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " Yes, I knew," Nell said. " And one night, 
 Tamar I recollect it was snowing hard I 
 stood outside your door here, and had the im- 
 pulse to come in and beg you to free yourself 
 before he had the chance of humiliating you by 
 wearying of your love too, as he had wearied of 
 mine. But I remembered that in my own case, 
 people's well-meant advice had only made me 
 more stubborn. So I went away." 
 
 " Well, you did wisely," Tamar replied. 
 " You would have had colder comfort inside than 
 outside. 
 
 " All the same," she went on, " I am rather 
 glad you wanted to help me. I have never dis- 
 liked you. But no one could have helped me. 
 Nothing could have helped me except this." 
 
 She pointed to the book on precious stones. 
 
 " I wrote that book," she said proudly. 
 
 "You?" Nell exclaimed in astonishment. 
 ' Yes," she answered. " He thought that no 
 one could do anything without him. He told me 
 one day that I could never put a book of that sort 
 together. He said I was not clever enough to 
 make my fragments of information into a coherent 
 whole. Fragments of information ! I never for- 
 got that insult. You know how he used to dis- 
 courage one sometimes, and force one to depre- 
 ciate oneself, because he wished to pose as an 
 indispensable element in one's life and work."
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 37 
 
 Nell nodded. She remembered that well 
 enough. She had had her full share of that 
 treatment. 
 
 " Well," Tamar continued, " I was determined 
 to show myself and him too that I could write 
 that book, and bring it out worthily. Oh yes, it 
 was a costly affair. But I assure you that, if 
 necessary, I would have spent my last shilling on 
 its production. It was my mental defiance to 
 him, and the confirmation to myself of my own 
 special abilities. It was the only thing in the 
 world which could have helped me to pass on." 
 
 Her voice was low, but charged with intense 
 feeling, and her hands trembled a little as she 
 tried to go on with her work. Nell made no 
 comment on her words, but took the book once 
 more and turned over the pages with a sort of 
 reverence, inspired by an intimate understanding 
 of the stress and strain of spirit which she and 
 Tamar had suffered in common. 
 
 " Has he ever seen it? " she asked gently. " I 
 hope so." 
 
 " I don't know," Tamar answered sullenly. 
 
 The shop bell rang and Tamar said: 
 
 " Perhaps you'll go. The old woman still falls 
 asleep over her tea. Nothing rouses her then. 
 I can't leave off fixing in this little pearl at this 
 moment." 
 
 Nell sauntered into the shop with Tamar's book
 
 38 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 under her arm, and in the dim light of one gas 
 jet, saw a little man standing with his back turned 
 towards the door through which she had passed. 
 Even before he moved his position, she knew it 
 was Adrian Steele. 
 
 " Ah, Nell," he said quietly, as though he had 
 encountered her every day of his life in recent 
 years and accepted her presence in Tamar's shop 
 as a matter of course. " Is Tamar in? " 
 
 " Yes," she answered, smiling a little at his 
 characteristic coolness which had always amused 
 her. " Will you wait whilst I tell her? Take a 
 look meantime at this beautiful book of Tamar's. 
 To use a favorite old word of yours, it is superb." 
 
 She placed it deliberately in his hands and lin- 
 gered a moment trying to make the gas burn 
 more brightly, for the shop looked depressingly 
 dreary. 
 
 " Oh, I shouldn't bother," he said, watching 
 her. '* Tamar was always famous for her dismal 
 gas, wasn't she? Nothing human was ever able 
 to remedy it. And so this is her book. * Pre- 
 cious Stones and Gems : their history, sources, and 
 characteristics,' by T. Scott. I had heard of it. 
 I always meant to read it. But one gets swept 
 off in fresh directions." 
 
 He had taken the book near the gas, and im- 
 mediately became immersed in it. Nell, as she 
 went to fetch Tamar, heard him say:
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 39! 
 
 " Ah, well, upon my word, that's rather good 
 for Tamar." 
 
 When Tamar heard the name of the newcomer, 
 she put down the rose-topaz ring, and pondered 
 awhile. 
 
 " No, I don't wish to see him," she said at last. 
 " I have always considered the past an intolerable 
 nuisance. It was bad enough that you should 
 have come. But that he should have come too, 
 passes all endurance. Perhaps you knew he was 
 coming. I suppose you did, really." 
 
 " No, no," Nell denied. " I hadn't the least 
 idea. I should have told you. But I do think, 
 Tamar, that this double visit to us shows he must 
 be in some kind of trouble. It is most curious 
 that he should suddenly come to see us after so 
 many years. I do beg of you to receive him. 
 My first impulse was to refuse. I, too, dreaded 
 the reawakening of old memories. But my sec- 
 ond impulse was different." 
 
 " Much better for your second impulse to have 
 been the same as your first," Tamar replied. 
 ; ' What good has it done you? Drawn you back 
 into the past. Weakened you. The past is no 
 good to anybody. I'm not going to be weakened. 
 No, I won't see him." 
 
 ' You said a little while ago that if he were 
 in trouble, you would wish to help him," Nell 
 persisted.
 
 40 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " Well, let him write then," Tamar said surlily. 
 " Go and tell him that at once, and don't plead 
 for him with me. It annoys me." 
 
 " I cannot deliver your message if you are too 
 rude," Nell said with spirit. " One accepts a cer- 
 tain amount of rudeness from you, Tamar, 
 but there are limits to one's forbearance, you 
 know." 
 
 " I don't mind saying I'm sorry," Tamar con- 
 ceded with a little reluctant apologetic smile which 
 won for her Nell's instant forgiveness; for every 
 one, however angry, had always capitulated to 
 Tamar's sullen smile. Nell went obediently back 
 to Adrian Steele to give him his dismissal. 
 
 ' Tamar won't see you, Adrian," she said. 
 " She says you can equally well write." 
 
 " So I can," he answered cheerfully. " Really 
 this is a most interesting book and exceedingly 
 well done considering Tamar's limitations. I 
 never thought she could make her fragments of 
 information into a coherent whole. But ap- 
 parently I was mistaken. One sometimes is. 
 Some of the sentences are almost literary. This 
 one, for instance, Nell, about the opal, through 
 no fault of its own, losing its ancient glory and 
 being falsely accused in latter days of bringing 
 bad luck. Tamar could never have written so 
 feelingly of anything or any one except a mineral. 
 And look here, I implore you. This sentence is
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 41 
 
 quite scholarly: rather in your old style. You 
 must have helped her, surely." 
 
 " No one helped her," Nell replied indig- 
 nantly. " It has been her pride and her triumph 
 that she did it unaided by any one especially 
 by you." 
 
 She flushed as she ranged herself on Tamar's 
 side. He glanced at her. 
 
 " Still suffering from your old illness, Nell, I 
 see, a pathological craze for justice," he said, 
 teasing her. 
 
 She smiled as she heard once more that well 
 remembered phrase. 
 
 " But you're right to call me to order,'" he said, 
 putting on a chastened expression. " And as for 
 Tamar, I can understand that she was helped not 
 by you or any one else, but by her own passionate 
 wish to assert her individuality and vindicate her- 
 self to herself. I retarded her mental growth. 
 Free from me, her mind expanded. Well, it is a 
 superb book. And she has shown great discre- 
 tion in the choice of the illustrations. Lavish ex- 
 penditure also. No wonder she can't afford a 
 more lively illumination in the shop. Ah, this 
 plate is the best of them all, isn't it, this Burma 
 ruby. And that reminds me, it is of rubies I 
 wanted to speak to her or write since she 
 will not see me." 
 
 He took an envelope out of his breast pocket,
 
 42 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 tore a piece of paper from a small notebook, and 
 wrote : 
 
 " DEAR TAMAR, No doubt you remember 
 those negotiations I carried out for you in con- 
 nection with Lady Whitcombe's rubies. They 
 gave me a great deal of trouble, and there were 
 complications at the time, the annoyance of which 
 I was anxious to spare you. I found later, that 
 I had made a wrong calculation of our respective 
 profits, and I have been wishing for a long period 
 to have the impulse to make reparation to you. 
 The impulse has come, Tamar. I have brought 
 you a check for 19, and as you would rather 
 not see me, I enclose it in this letter. Pray ac- 
 cept it from me, even at the eleventh hour, and 
 pardon me for having been well, shall we say, 
 since we understand each other inaccurate? I 
 have been reading your interesting book by the 
 light of your prehistoric one gas jet. 
 
 " ADRIAN STEELE." 
 
 He folded the letter into the envelope and 
 handed it with a smile to Nell. 
 
 " It's really too bad to give you this trouble, 
 Nell," he said. ' Tamar was always tiresome, 
 wasn't she? I wish I could myself take it to the 
 inner room. But that's impossible, since I'm 
 debarred from her imperial presence. And no
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 43 
 
 doubt the old woman is asleep over her tea, as 
 in the old days. Was it tea, I wonder? Does it 
 necessarily mean that a teapot should contain tea 
 only?" 
 
 " I can only tell you I've heard direct from 
 Tamar that the old woman is asleep over her 
 tea," Nell said, laughing, " and that's why I've 
 been promoted to the position of imperial mes- 
 senger boy." 
 
 " Does Tamar often concede this distinction to 
 you, may I ask? " he said. " You will recall that 
 I was ever inquisitive." 
 
 " I have not seen Tamar for many years until 
 to-day, Adrian," Nell said gravely. 
 
 He stood silent for a moment. 
 
 " Ah," he said at length, " then you and she 
 did not come together again after " 
 
 He broke off. 
 
 " After I had forsaken her too," he finished 
 bravely. But his face showed that it cost him 
 an effort to speak those words. 
 
 "No," Nell answered; "not until to-day." 
 
 " Not until to-day," he repeated as though to 
 himself; and he moved away from her, and un- 
 fastened from the wall a rosary of beautifully 
 chased silver and cut jet beads. 
 
 " It's strange she has never sold that," he said. 
 " I remember it well. Spanish, isn't it?" 
 
 Nell made no answer, but took the letter he
 
 44 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 had written to Tamar, who read it, glanced at the 
 check, and showed both to her. 
 
 " You are right," Tamar said. ' There must 
 be something wrong with him. He would never 
 make reparation to any one unless he were well 
 . at bay." 
 
 And with sudden anger she flung the check on 
 to the ground, and cried: 
 
 " He asked your spiritual forgiveness. But he 
 pays me back money. Even now, after all these 
 years, he gauges the difference between us. I 
 was always bitterly jealous of you, and I am 
 now." 
 
 " No, no, Tamar, not now," Nell answered. 
 " It isn't worth while now. You know it isn't. 
 Don't be angry. Don't be jealous. If any one 
 ought to be jealous, it is I, seeing him entranced 
 over your splendid book. Come, let's burn the 
 check, and then you'll feel better." 
 
 " Burn the check," Tamar said, snatching it 
 away as Nell picked it up. " Why, you must be 
 mad. Burn it, did you say? Certainly not. I 
 shall cash it, and as soon as possible. It's my 
 money. He cheated me out of it. I knew. I 
 let him cheat me, because I was in love with him 
 at the time. I've never allowed any one else to 
 cheat me, never in my life. But I knew well 
 enough, and I shall go now and tell him I knew." 
 
 She threw the check into a drawer, locked up
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 45 
 
 the desk, glanced at Nell, who stood dumbfounded 
 by her outburst of fierceness and her display of 
 avarice, and passed into the shop where Adrian 
 Steele had become once more absorbed in her 
 book. 
 
 " Ah, Tamar, so it's you," he said, looking up 
 for a moment. " I am so glad you changed your 
 mind and came out to see me. This is really a 
 superb book. Upon my soul, you haven't done 
 it at all badly. Do you know, I never knew you 
 had been to Amsterdam and learned the diamond 
 cutting at first hand. Most interesting." 
 
 She gave no greeting, showed no sign that his 
 words of praise reached her, but bending down, 
 took a large ledger from the bottom shelf of a 
 cupboard behind the counter. She placed it on 
 the counter, opened it at the letter W, and without 
 preliminaries read aloud: 
 
 "Lady Whitcombe's rubies, 19 short of real 
 deal, kept back secretly by A. S." 
 
 " So you see I knew, Adrian," she said slowly. 
 " I knew you had to cheat. I forgave you. It 
 would have been quite simple for you to claim 
 a higher commission. But you preferred to pay 
 yourself in this way. I understood probably be- 
 cause well because you and I always under- 
 stood certain characteristics in each other which we 
 ,had in common."
 
 46 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 She closed the ledger, and stood waiting for 
 him to speak. There was no faintest trace of 
 conciliation in her manner, no outward betrayal of 
 feeling, emotion, or opinion. She might have 
 been a statue to which even the semblance of 
 vitality had been denied. 
 
 Adrian Steele appeared entirely unaffected by 
 her attitude towards him. It was relatively un- 
 important to him that she was at the moment un- 
 compromising, unreachable, hostile. Probably 
 he did not believe that her hostility towards him 
 was deep-rooted. What mattered to him was 
 that she knew him through and through, and that 
 this one instance of her knowledge and discrim- 
 ination, placed on record in her ledger, ought 
 to suffice as an encouragement to him to seek 
 her counsel in his hour of need. No explanation, 
 no excuses, no expressions of shame were neces- 
 sary. All he had to do was to say : " Look here, 
 Tamar, I've been keeping back about 25,000 
 of my clients' money for precisely the same rea- 
 son that I kept back your 19. I've come to ask 
 you to talk things out with me and ease my mental 
 tension." She would not stand like a sphinx 
 then. Even although against her will, she would 
 be impelled, from sheer love of scheming, to put 
 her mind in contact with his. Could he tell her? 
 He had not been able to tell Nell, because, at 
 the last, his pride, as well as his natural reticence,
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 47 
 
 had got the better of him; but, in the case of. 
 Tamar, who was on a lower ethical plane, his 
 reticence was at least not reenforced by his pride. 
 He was that much to the good or the bad. 
 Could he tell her? He longed with an inten- 
 sity, the pain of which was scarcely bearable, to 
 share with some one the burden of his impend- 
 ing difficulties. Now that he saw Tamar again, 
 who knew and understood him, he felt that she, 
 and no one else in the world, was his true com- 
 rade, and his only possible counsellor. Yes, here 
 she was, the one and only Tamar, and here were 
 the old familiar surroundings, the old familiar 
 treasures, the old dim light, and the old aspect 
 of neglect and meanness which had always been 
 characteristic features of Tamar's shop. The 
 spirit of place laid its spell upon him and whis- 
 pered to him, in a thousand voices, that this was 
 his chance, this was his moment snatched defiantly 
 from Time and Circumstance, and that he must 
 use it for his own, in a desperate struggle against 
 the instinct of secrecy and reserve which had been 
 the curse of his temperament. 
 
 So he fought his fight fought it valiantly 
 alone, unhelped but was again disarmed and 
 overcome. Tamar watched, with pitiless stare, 
 the strained expression of his countenance and the 
 keen suffering in his eyes. She noted, too, the 
 sudden collapse of some secret force within him,
 
 48 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 and she saw the baffled look which testified to 
 some sure though silent defeat. Her old love for 
 him tugged at her heartstrings, but she refused to 
 respond. Some inner voice of her own spirit's 
 necessity called out to her, and she refused to 
 hear. 
 
 " Why don't you speak? " she said, rigidly. 
 
 He shook his head, and opened his hands with 
 a gesture which implied powerlessness to express 
 himself by speech. 
 
 Again something knocked at the door of 
 Tamar's citadel. Again she turned a deaf ear. 
 
 "Why don't you go?" she said roughly. 
 " The past annoys me. I have no use for the 
 past." 
 
 He took up his hat which was lying on the 
 counter near Tamar's book. He glanced at her 
 with a half-humorous, half-pathetic little smile 
 which seemed to say at one and the same time, 
 " It's only Tamar. She hasn't really failed me. 
 Yes, but Tamar has failed me. Tamar has failed 
 me in my hour of need." He glanced around the 
 dim shop as though bidding it farewell, and with- 
 out any attempt at speech or delay, passed quietly 
 into the street. 
 
 Tamar stood for a long time where he had left 
 her, rigid, immovable. Her eyes were directed 
 fixedly towards the door. Was she perhaps ex- 
 pecting to see that little loved figure from the
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 49 
 
 past return and press its claims in the present? 
 At last she sat down in the old woman's chair 
 and, leaning back, covered her face with her 
 hands. 
 
 Nearly half an hour afterwards, Nell Silber- 
 thwaite, tired of waiting in the inner-room, and 
 troubled at hearing no stir of life in the shop, 
 came and found her in this same position of entire 
 despondency. 
 
 " Tamar," she said with gentle concern, 
 "Tamar." 
 
 At the sound of her voice Tamar uncovered a 
 worn and tearless face. 
 
 ; ' Woe is me, woe is me," she murmured, and 
 beat her breast.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 TT was a cold and dreary morning in February. 
 * Even Richard Forest himself, usually uncon- 
 scious of bad weather, shivered a little as he stood 
 in the tower and rang 1 the bell for the early morn- 
 ing service, and then hastened to the vestry to 
 put on his surplice. Before he came into the 
 chancel, old Mrs. Eustace, his servant, who also 
 swept and garnished the church, crept in and took 
 her accustomed place near the Elizabethan pulpit, 
 a position which experience had taught her was 
 relatively draughtless. Rain or snow, storm or 
 calm, the young clergyman stood at his lonely 
 post, and the old woman crouched in her shel- 
 tered corner. He never realized the true self- 
 sacrifice and fine homage of her unfailing daily 
 attendance. 
 
 " Old though my bones be, some one must 
 hearten the poor young master," she said. " It's 
 some sort of company for him." 
 
 But for all her devotion, she longed secretly 
 for the blessed day when he would give up these 
 early services which no single person in the scat- 
 tered parish wanted. She even went to the length 
 
 50
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 51 
 
 of praying on several occasions that his heart 
 might be turned from its stubbornness. Her 
 prayers sent heavenwards, and her mild remon- 
 strances to him personally, were of no avail. 
 Richard Forest clung to these services with an 
 obstinacy characteristic of all clergy, but in him 
 developed to an unusual degree of imperfection. 
 
 " The blessing of God must rest on the village 
 for the day, whether the people care to hear it or 
 not," he said gently but firmly. 
 
 " Very good, sir," she answered with patient 
 resignation. " But would it make much differ- 
 ence if the village got it half an hour later? " 
 
 So coaxing was her tone that Richard gave in, 
 and this was the first morning that the two wor- 
 shipers received the benefit of the half-hour's 
 grace. Old Mrs. Eustace offered up a special 
 prayer of thanks for this concession, and even the 
 young clergyman, as he opened the church service 
 book and glanced around the church, had a dis- 
 tinct feeling that the place was not wearing its 
 usual air of dreary desolation. For the first time 
 for many months he felt encouraged, and his 
 voice rang out with a stronger note of hope and 
 cheerfulness. 
 
 Indeed, there had been little enough to encour- 
 age him since he came, a few months past, to this 
 poor and lonely parish of Herne. No one had 
 wanted him nor his ministrations. Three of his
 
 52 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 predecessors had left behind them records of in- 
 difference and neglect in their work and careless- 
 ness in their conduct. The advent of a new 
 clergyman meant nothing to the parishioners, ex- 
 cept the probable continuation of the same tra- 
 ditions. Thus their minds were rigidly adjusted 
 to receive an unfavorable impression of the 
 stranger. Richard Forest, without knowing it, 
 had begun immediately by stirring up hostility 
 against himself, for he had deliberately chosen to 
 inhabit the old haunted vicarage, which had been 
 abandoned for many years; and when he was 
 warned that footsteps would be heard, and strange 
 " presences " felt, his simple answer confirmed the 
 unfriendly verdict against him. 
 
 "Why should I fear the footsteps? Why 
 should I be afraid of the ' presences ' ? " he said. 
 " I do not shrink from intercourse with the other 
 worlds. The good, one can merge oneself into, 
 and the evil can be met face to face." 
 
 It was not a wise nor a diplomatic answer, but 
 Richard spoke out of the truthfulness of his spirit, 
 and it would not have been conceivable to him 
 that his words should be capable of any sinister in- 
 terpretation. So, accompanied by his sister, Mar- 
 garet, the friend of his spiritual as well as of his 
 corporeal life, as William Blake, his teacher and 
 master, would have said, he established himself 
 contentedly in the old vicarage down in the dip
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 53 
 
 of the hills. But three weeks after their arrival, 
 Margaret, who had come with a chill heavy on 
 her, and should not have ventured on the journey, 
 died from pneumonia following on influenza. 
 Then the people around shrugged their shoul- 
 ders, and said amongst themselves that the young 
 parson had been warned, and that of his own free 
 will he had exposed himself and his household to 
 dire calamity. Nevertheless his bereftness and 
 his patient bearing made some little headway 
 against their animosity, and they urged him, 
 kindly enough, to move away from his ill-omened 
 home. 
 
 " Why should I move? " he asked. " My sis- 
 ter has died here, it is true. All the more reason, 
 then, that I should wish to be in the surroundings 
 which belong to her last hours on earth. No, 
 certainly I shall not move." 
 
 ' You won't get a servant to stop with you 
 there," they warned him. 
 
 " Then I shall remain alone," he answered 
 stubbornly. 
 
 But that was not to be his fate. Old Mrs. 
 Eustace, who did not belong to the neighborhood, 
 and, in consequence, had not a native respect for 
 local traditions, settled down resignedly at the 
 vicarage, and at least showed no outward signs 
 of fear. She had become attached to this lonely 
 young man, and was determined to mother him.
 
 54 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 She by no means liked ghosts, but it would have 
 taken a great many ghosts to make her abandon 
 him. 
 
 So the people of the parish did not interfere 
 further, and left him severely alone. But al- 
 though they held him in vague distrust, they had 
 the sense to realize that some one had come 
 amongst them, who was of a different stamp from 
 his predecessors. Still, he was only there 
 amongst them on sufferance, even as the others; 
 and they showed no sign of wanting him or his 
 ministrations. Sometimes in the early stages of 
 his disappointment, he used to reflect that per- 
 haps these very men who had left black records 
 behind them, had come to Herne as eager as him- 
 self to effect human and spiritual intercourse be- 
 tween themselves and their flock. Repulsed, 
 they had been thrown back upon themselves, with 
 nothing to foster their ideality or to fire their 
 ambition, without companionship of their own 
 class and culture, and out of touch with the peo- 
 ple of the countryside, to whom they were as un- 
 welcome intruders. What then remained, or was 
 likely to remain? Nothing much, alas! unless, 
 even as Richard Forest, they kept enshrined in 
 their hearts the inner secret of an abiding truth, 
 which was independent of dogma and doctrine, of 
 chance and circumstance, of propitious or hostile 
 conditions of life and thought.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 55 
 
 In a way, therefore, Richard Forest was the 
 right man to have come to Herne, since he ran 
 the least possible risk of incurring harm from the 
 desolation of the place and the absence of even 
 ordinary comradeship. For he was by nature 
 dreamy and meditative, deeply occupied by and 
 immersed in that school of thought known as 
 mysticism, and indeed a direct spiritual descendant 
 of William Blake, whom he loved and understood. 
 He belonged by birthright to that company of 
 prophets and seers to whom alone the underlying 
 truths of life are known, and who are slowly, 
 slowly, silently, but with irresistible progress, for- 
 ging their way to a universal recognition, tardy 
 but complete, which, for all we know, may herald 
 the true redemption of the world. Richard For- 
 est was one of them, obscure, unhonored, unrecog- 
 nized, as so many of them have ever been through- 
 out the ages, yet bearers of the torch which has 
 shone more brightly as the space has grown into a 
 lengthening distance. In addition to his interest 
 in the writings of the mystics, he possessed a really 
 remarkable gift of painting, preferably in water- 
 colors, always succeeding best when he worked at 
 a subject from memory or from vision dream 
 vision or waking vision ; for he then gave an inter- 
 pretation of it which, in some indefinable fashion, 
 added a mystic meaning to its outer semblance. 
 He loved, too, to try his hand at illumination and
 
 56 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 decorative design, and when he was not deep in 
 his books, he was always busy with his brush and 
 pencil. So the hours at home, which might have 
 been irksome to others, were to him times of real 
 and unfailing delight; and he walked, cycled, and 
 visited those of his parishioners who had not made 
 a rigid rule of always shutting the door in the 
 parson's face. He conducted his simple services 
 without affection, and preached little jewels of 
 sermons set in a fine and delicate workmanship. 
 They were entirely free from dogma and doctrine, 
 and appealed, vainly of course, to the spiritual 
 lying dormant in every one, apart from recognized 
 religion. No one, naturally enough, understood 
 these sermons; but they were considered by the 
 few who heard them to be rather good, because 
 un-understandable. They were, in fact, the one 
 thing about him of which the community was be- 
 coming slowly, surlily, and silently proud. He 
 laughed when he first learnt this, and then was 
 angry. His sermons were to him the least impor- 
 tant part of the ministration which he had been 
 so eager to offer to them, and which they had 
 rejected. In spite of his struggles to the con- 
 trary, he resented their indifference to his per- 
 sonal influence, and was often furious over the 
 rebuffs he received. He was by nature hot-tem- 
 pered, and gave way to attacks of uncontrolled
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 57 
 
 anger, which at first terrified old Mrs. Eustace, 
 and finally amused her. 
 
 " If tempers send folk to paradise, then the 
 dear young master is bound to go," she said to 
 herself time after time, with a twinkle in her eye. 
 
 But she always concluded with: 
 
 " Well, well, it be only top dust, easily brushed 
 off without no trouble." 
 
 And it was true enough that he soon recovered 
 from his outbreaks, and passed through a quick 
 and chastened stage of penitence to the cheerful- 
 ness which had in it something of boyish charm. 
 
 The dilapidated condition of the church was 
 one of his trials which he did not always bear with 
 Christian fortitude. He was sometimes exceed- 
 ingly depressed and at other times shockingly 
 cross that there should be no one in the neigh- 
 borhood to come forward and help with the ex- 
 penses of the much needed repairs. The old 
 manor house had long since been deserted, and 
 the property was in that fixed and mysterious 
 state " in Chancery." The lay rector who owned 
 the chancel, invariably turned a deaf ear to Rich- 
 ard Forest's appeals. The people of the country- 
 side were poor. There was in fact no one who 
 either could or would trouble himself to spare a 
 thought for the vicar or a penny for the church. 
 Richard Forest, after many disappointments, saw
 
 58 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 that he could hope for no help, and that he must 
 give up all ambitious schemes of real restoration, 
 and content himself with only a few patchings up 
 of a humble nature, and moreover pay for these 
 out of his own slender means. Gladly enough, 
 but how? That had been the difficulty, and he 
 puzzled over it, and made his brain reel over 
 estimates of costs and possible and impossible 
 economies in his simple life. 
 
 The only solution of the problem was to sell 
 the pearl and ruby crucifix which had belonged 
 to his sister Margaret. But he was most reluctant 
 to part with it. It had been her most cherished 
 possession, left her by an old French countess in 
 Provence, and she had owned it for a number of 
 years. But when she came to Herne and saw 
 the neglected general condition of the church and 
 the especially bad state of the roof, she had begged 
 him to accept it from her, sell it, and begin a few 
 of the repairs. This thought burnt itself into 
 her brain during her short illness. 
 
 ' The roof disgraceful the pearl and ruby 
 crucifix sell it, sell it," she murmured repeat- 
 edly. 
 
 Richard could not bring himself to give it up. 
 It had always seemed to be part of Margaret, 
 and he struggled for a long time with his wish to 
 keep it in memory of her. She had been fifteen 
 years his senior, and he had known and noticed
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 59 
 
 that crucifix ever since he could remember. As 
 a little child he had even understood vaguely that 
 it was the cause of family religious discussion. 
 But Margaret had clung to it with a pertinacity 
 which finally overcame all opposition, and it out- 
 lived its stormy past. He also clung to it now, 
 and it was only after great suffering that he re- 
 solved to carry out her wishes and part with it. 
 So one day, suddenly, he took it up to London, 
 and went first to T. Scott, dealer in antique jewel- 
 ry. Tamar never knew how reluctantly he had 
 entered her shop that day. 
 
 But now the pang of sacrifice was over, he was 
 experiencing an anticipation of pride and pleasure 
 in being able soon to start the repairs. And this 
 morning, as he finished the service and rose from 
 his knees, he glanced towards the roofing over the 
 left transept and said in a whisper: 
 
 " Yes, Margaret. The crucifix has been sold, 
 and the roof will be mended." 
 
 He had not mentioned the subject to Mrs. 
 Eustace, probably because he wanted to be sure 
 that he dared undertake the expense. But he told 
 her this morning, when she followed him as usual 
 into the vestry, to hang up his surplice safely. 
 For it was his shocking custom to leave it in a 
 heap on the floor, if he happened to be in a 
 specially abstracted mood. 
 
 " Mrs. Eustace," he said, his face smiling with
 
 60 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 pleasure, " now I'm going to tell you something 
 which I've been keeping as a secret. Listen. At 
 last the roof is going to be mended." 
 
 " Time it was, I'm sure," she said. 
 
 " Yes," he answered sadly. " I know that." 
 
 " No fault of yours, sir," she remarked sooth- 
 ingly. " It was them others." 
 
 " Perhaps they could not help themselves," he 
 answered. " Perhaps there were too many diffi- 
 culties." And he whispered to himself : " Also 
 there was no pearl and ruby crucifix. 
 
 " Anyway," he said, " the hole and the disgrace 
 will soon be things of the past. So I feel ex- 
 ceedingly happy, in a very good temper, and fear- 
 fully hungry. And I must own that it is better 
 to have the service half an hour later. We'll al- 
 ways keep it at this hour." 
 
 " Good news all round," said Mrs. Eustace. 
 " We must have ginger pudding for dinner." 
 
 Richard laughed and passed through the vestry 
 door into the churchyard, where little black Skib, 
 Margaret's schipperke, was waiting for him, faith- 
 fully but reproachfully, at the foot of the old 
 preaching cross. Skib also loved not these early 
 morning services, but, imitating Mrs. Eustace, did 
 not allow his personal discomfort to interfere with 
 his loyalty. Every weary morning he turned out 
 of his comfortable basket and braced himself up 
 to meet the sacred daily calamity, strengthened,
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 61 
 
 it is true, by reconciling visions of the " after 
 bone." 
 
 He followed his master now into the house, 
 and in a few minutes was busily engaged in gnaw- 
 ing at the materialized expression of his fantasy, 
 a satisfactory and sweet piece of shin, whilst Rich- 
 ard, seated at breakfast in the paneled living- 
 room, sipped some piping hot coffee, and opened 
 a letter addressed to him in an unknown hand- 
 writing. This was the letter : 
 
 "SiR, You may perhaps recall the name of 
 T. Scott, dealer in antique jewelry. You offered 
 to show me your Norman font. I am stopping 
 at Kineton to-night, as I have to attend a sale at 
 Meyntoun Moat to-morrow at twelve o'clock. 
 Your church appears to be only four or five miles 
 off, so shall drive over before eleven in the morn- 
 ing. T. SCOTT." 
 
 A flush of excitement passed over his face. So 
 he was to meet her again and almost at once. 
 He was to have the opportunity of telling her 
 personally that through her kindness and her ad- 
 vice he had realized 36 on the rubies and 4 
 on the pearls and crucifix. He would actually be 
 able to show her how he was going to spend that 
 money, and she would see for herself that the 
 impulse to which she had yielded on his behalf,
 
 62 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 had brought into the regions of possibility the 
 fulfillment of a pious work. 
 
 She had been pervading his thoughts and even 
 his prayers. He saw her standing before him, 
 stern, mercenary, pitiless in her dealings, accus- 
 tomed to drive hard bargains. This impression 
 of her, vague at the time, had gained strength of 
 outline since the afternoon when he entered her 
 shop and offered her the crucifix. But his belief 
 in some secret spring of grace in her had also 
 gathered force and vigor. She had tried to mis- 
 lead him. That was quite evident, even to him. 
 Suddenly she had repented and tried to help him. 
 Some inner prompting had aroused her to a con- 
 sciousness, evanescent though it might be, of 
 " truths that wake, to perish never," and he had 
 a sure hope that the good in her would prevail, 
 in spite of the temptations to which her business 
 and her character might expose her. He knew, 
 of course, nothing about her character. The in- 
 tricacies and subtleties of a person like Tamar 
 would always have remained to him unsolved, per- 
 haps unperceived problems; but spiritual instinct 
 told him that she was of this world, worldly, 
 and that her treasures were being laid up on earth. 
 So he had prayed for her, in the little desolate 
 church and in the old haunted vicarage. Tamar 
 herself might have bestowed an indulgent smile 
 on him if she had heard the simple and unsec-
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 63 
 
 tarian words falling from his lips on her behalf: 
 " Let the shrine of the secret of life be opened 
 to her, so that she may recognize the true and 
 rarest jewels." 
 
 Her letter put him in excellent spirits, and he 
 gulped down his breakfast, romped with little 
 black Skib, and went off whistling happily to fetch 
 his cycle out of the shed. He believed he would 
 have time to call on a sick old shepherd about 
 five miles off, and yet be back to receive T. Scott 
 at eleven o'clock. But on reflection, he decided 
 that this was an unwise plan. Supposing he missed 
 T. Scott? That would never do. No, the shep- 
 herd could wait an hour or two. Certainly T. 
 Scott never would wait. He also could not wait. 
 Besides, she might come early. 
 
 He was too much excited to settle down to his 
 studying or painting. He therefore determined 
 to go along the Kineton Road and meet T. Scott. 
 Suppose that she took a wrong turning at the 
 cross roads and then found she had not enough 
 time left to come to Herne. This mischance must 
 certainly be prevented. He must start off at 
 once. He seized his straw hat, called out some 
 wholly unintelligible words to Mrs. Eustace, who 
 took no notice of them, and dashed up the long 
 and steep hill, pushing his machine gayly along. 
 When he reached the high road, he stood looking, 
 now at the lovely view spread generously before
 
 64 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 him, and now at the shut-in hollow in the hills 
 which contained the tiny hamlet and its old 
 church. 
 
 " What a contrast ! " he said to himself. " And 
 yet I should not have liked to live up here away 
 from the church. I am glad I went to the old 
 haunted vicarage." 
 
 He mounted his cycle, and had gone only a 
 few yards along the Kineton Road when he saw 
 a crazy little four-wheeled trap approaching 
 slowly, drawn by a decrepit white pony, and driven 
 by an old man of the time of Moses. Richard 
 hastened to meet it, for his eager eyes had caught 
 sight of T. Scott. 
 
 She nodded to him, and smiled in a sulky, re- 
 luctant sort of way, which, in Tamar, implied a 
 remarkable degree of friendliness. 
 
 " Well," she said, " I've come to see your Nor- 
 man font." 
 
 " It is good of you to come all the way from 
 Kineton," he said, his face coloring with excite- 
 ment. " And good of you to spare the time. 
 Perhaps you will care to get out and walk down 
 this steep hill. My little church lies in a hollow 
 of the hills." 
 
 " It's a pity you have to leave this splendid 
 view," Tamar said as she stepped out of the trap. 
 ' They ought to give you a vicarage, or whatever 
 you call it, on the top of the hill."
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 65 
 
 " They offered me a little house on the Kineton 
 Road," he said. " You passed it on your way. 
 But I preferred the time-honored old vicarage ad- 
 joining the church; not because I don't love the 
 expanse, but because I wished to live within the 
 precincts of the church." 
 
 They strolled together down the hill until they 
 reached the vicarage gate. 
 
 " This is your vicarage, I suppose ? " she asked, 
 staring at the desolate and dilapidated old house. 
 
 He assented with the quiet dignity which was 
 characteristic of him, and Tamar remained silent, 
 repressing, out of consideration for him, an un- 
 favorable comment which rose to her lips. 
 
 He read her thoughts, for he said: 
 
 " I like it. It is not desolate to me, even 
 though it is supposed to be haunted." 
 
 " Well, it looks like its reputation," Tamar 
 observed. "Aren't you afraid of living here? 
 I should be." 
 
 "Afraid?" he said simply. "Certainly not. 
 Why should any one be afraid of the so-called 
 dead?" 
 
 ' The so-called dead," she repeated slowly. 
 ' Then you don't believe that people die ? " 
 
 " Oh, no," he answered quietly. " Shall we 
 go now to the church? You might like to see 
 my old oak-paneled room afterwards, if you have 
 the time."
 
 66 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 She followed him through the gap in the hedge 
 which bounded the churchyard. She noticed that 
 there had once been a gate which had disappeared, 
 and she saw everywhere signs of poverty and long 
 neglect. Again he appeared to divine her 
 thoughts. 
 
 " Yes," he said, glancing round, " I admit it 
 will take a very long time before the graves and 
 stones are put in decent order and before the 
 churchyard becomes a smiling garden. But that 
 is what I intend it shall be." 
 
 "Is there any one to care?" she asked 
 brusquely. 
 
 11 No," he replied. " No. But 7 care." 
 
 He opened the vestry door and they passed 
 into the church. Tamar thought that never in 
 her life had she seen such a shabby and tumble- 
 down church. It looked all the more dilapidated 
 because, obviously, some recent attempt had been 
 made to modify its woeful appearance and con- 
 dition. But nothing could disguise its poverty. 
 Nothing could conceal the large gap in the roof. 
 Everything was in need of ordinary work-a-day 
 repair, quite apart from the luxury of restoration. 
 The old rood screen had gone to rack and ruin 
 for want of care. The Elizabethan pulpit was 
 cracked and split in every direction. The flag- 
 stones were broken and discolored from the damp. 
 The pews were awry because the boarding be-
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 67 
 
 neath them had sunk with the ground. It was a 
 scene calculated to fill the most indifferent heart 
 with concern and depression. Tamar turned to the 
 young clergyman standing silently by her side in 
 the chancel. 
 
 " I should love to get hold of one of your 
 bishops or archbishops and cage him here for a 
 few months," she said. " Yes, I assure you I 
 should like to make him * do time ' here. I never 
 saw such a place." 
 
 " Ah, but it won't always be like this," Richard 
 Forest said triumphantly. " Thanks to your kind- 
 ness, we begin to-morrow on the roof." 
 
 " My kindness? " Tamar repeated. 
 
 " Yes, yes," he said eagerly. " I followed your 
 advice about the pearl and ruby crucifix. I sold 
 the rubies separately and got 36 for them. And 
 4 for the pearls and crucifix." 
 
 "I offered you four guineas, didn't I?" she 
 said. 
 
 " Yes," he answered. 
 
 " Well, you couldn't have mended the gap in 
 the roof with four guineas, could you?" she said 
 carelessly. 
 
 " No," he said smiling. " And I had set my 
 heart on that. That, and the reconstructing of 
 the pews. I can't tell you how much I thank you 
 for your help. I wish my sister, to whom the 
 crucifix belonged, could be here to thank you too.
 
 68 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 Yet she must know and thank you from afar." 
 
 "Where is she? Why isn't she with you in 
 this lonely place?" Tamar asked with curious 
 fierceness. 
 
 " She is well, dead; though she is not dead to 
 me. Her true presence is here," Richard Forest 
 said quietly. " She died here, about two 
 months after we came." 
 
 He remained silent a moment, and went on : 
 
 " It seems only a few weeks since we stood 
 together on this very spot, and she offered to sell 
 that crucifix and have the roof mended. We had 
 learnt by that time that there was no one in the 
 neighborhood to come forward and help with the 
 work. We had to do it ourselves. We had no 
 money. But Margaret had that crucifix. It was 
 a legacy from an old French lady in Provence 
 to whom my sister had shown some kindness in 
 illness. She valued it greatly. But she wished it 
 to be used in this way. 
 
 " It cost me a great deal to part with it, and 
 I fought with myself a long time before I felt 
 able to carry out her wish." 
 
 Tamar made no comment, but stood staring at 
 the gap in the roof and frowning. 
 
 " Now I must show you my splendid old Nor- 
 man font," he said brightly, signing to her to 
 follow him down the nave. ' This at least is a 
 treasure, isn't it? An antiquarian told me that
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 69 
 
 there is no finer specimen in the whole country. 
 This is what I thought you might like to see, 
 you know. I have reason to be proud of it, 
 haven't I?" 
 
 " Yes," she answered; and as she glanced at his 
 face, she saw once more that amazing radiance, 
 the memory of which had been haunting her and 
 had led her footsteps in this direction. The 
 thought again passed through her mind that he 
 was " something set apart," some spirit dwelling 
 apart, to whom poverty, desolation, and death 
 presented visions veiled to meaner eyes. She 
 stared long at the font, but it was not of the font 
 that she was thinking. She was thinking that she 
 was ashamed to have tried to cheat him. For 
 the first time in her life T. Scott was ashamed 
 of her instinct for plunder. In the exaltation of 
 this passing mood it was not enough for her 
 that she had put him on the right way to realize 
 a proper value for his sister's crucifix. She was 
 seized with a sincere wish to make personal repara- 
 tion to him, and at once. She closed her eyes, 
 and saw a vivid mental picture of the desolate 
 church, the dreary vicarage, and the lonely young 
 clergyman accepting his circumstances and difficul- 
 ties without bittetaiess of heart. Some one must 
 help him to make that churchyard into a smiling 
 garden, and the church itself at least weather- 
 proof, if nothing more. If there were no one
 
 70 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 else, then she must be the person. Her right 
 hand sought her pocket; but the next moment she 
 had changed her mind, and with a sigh of relief, 
 as though she had escaped some grave danger, she 
 transferred that right hand to the outside of her 
 coat, where it clutched convulsively at one of the 
 buttons. 
 
 " No," she said to herself, her face tense with 
 the struggle through which she was silently pass- 
 ing. "No; certainly not. Why should I?" 
 
 But once more her hand stole to her pocket. 
 She made a last determined effort to restrain its 
 further activity by thinking of something of far 
 more importance to her than a perfectly unneces- 
 sary impulse of contrition. 
 
 "Where did he sell the rubies?" she asked 
 herself. " I must find out, and get Christopher 
 Bramfield to buy them back. I must have them. 
 I liked them." 
 
 The question rose to her lips, but died there. 
 The thought perished in her brain, to be reborn 
 later on. She drew out her pocketbook slowly, 
 reluctantly, opened it, and went through the con- 
 tents until she found what she sought. It was 
 Adrian Steele's check for 19. * 
 
 " I shan't miss it," she sajto herself. " It 
 came unexpectedly. He can nave it. I shan't 
 miss it."
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 71 
 
 She stared at it, and a grim smile stole over her 
 face. 
 
 " Rather amusing to think of Adrian and me 
 helping to restore a church," she said to herself. 
 
 She turned to Richard Forest. 
 
 "Where is your collection box? " she asked in 
 her brusque way. 
 
 " There is none," he answered, flushing a little. 
 " I found none when I came." 
 
 " Then take this from me," Tamar said, hand- 
 ing him the check. " Add it to the money for the 
 crucifix." 
 
 He took the check, glanced at it, glanced at 
 her, and stood motionless, with a perplexed look 
 on his face. He did not seem to grasp the situa- 
 tion. 
 
 " Add it to the money for the crucifix," Tamar 
 repeated slowly. " Call it call it well 
 my my conscience money." 
 
 Suddenly he understood that she had again 
 yielded to some inner spiritual prompting, and a 
 wave of gladness swept over him. He rejoiced 
 in the generous gift itself, and in the blossoming 
 of yet another flower of grace. 
 
 " Do you really mean this? " he said joyously. 
 " Do you know, I can scarcely believe my senses. 
 Do you really mean this? " 
 
 " I shan't mean it for long if you don't hasten
 
 72 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 to accept it," Tamar said. " I part with my money 
 not very easily, I assure you." 
 
 "But I do hasten to accept it!" the young 
 fellow laughed. " I accept it with gladness and 
 gratitude and understanding. And, you see, it is 
 all the more valuable since you don't part with 
 your money easily, isn't it? " 
 
 Tamar smiled at hearing her own comment on 
 herself repeated by Richard Forest in his eager 
 excitement. The church, as a church, mattered 
 not to her at all; but she was curiously happy to 
 have made him so happy. For the moment she 
 did not grudge the check, nor regret her gener- 
 osity. She forgot that she had intended to add 
 the money to the amount which she proposed to 
 spend at the Meyntoun Moat sale, and she forgot 
 that the time was passing, and that she ought to 
 be retracing her steps to Kineton. She lingered 
 on, listened to his plans for restoring the church, 
 and took note of the Early Perpendicular window, 
 the delicate intersecting pillars, and some faint 
 remaining traces of frescoes on the wall of. the 
 right aisle. 
 
 She .even asked how far his registers and 
 churchwardens' accounts went back, and expressed 
 a wish to see them. He told her that he was 
 copying them out, and that he would show them 
 to her in the vicarage. She was deeply interested 
 when he told her that the church had once pos-
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 73 
 
 sessed a valuable old Bible, which had been mys- 
 teriously stolen. 
 
 " I should like to have seen it," she said, " and 
 needless to observe, I should have liked to own 
 it." 
 
 Richard laughed happily. 
 
 " There is an entry in the churchwardens' ac- 
 counts which I believe refers to it," he said. ' The 
 date is 1578. I've looked it up, and find that 
 it's the date of the first edition of the Geneva 
 Bible for use in churches. I can't help thinking 
 that this is the Bible which local tradition says 
 disappeared about a hundred years ago. I heard 
 the tradition first from an old shepherd, the friend- 
 liest of all my flock, who had it direct from his 
 father. He says it was an old brown leather book 
 with much brass on it. And this very entry men- 
 tions brass clasps. I must show it to you. I can 
 put my finger on it at once. I am always looking 
 at it." 
 
 Tamar nodded, and they passed out of the 
 church. He was pointing out to her the witch's 
 grave, over which the grass was said never to 
 grow, when she suddenly remembered that she 
 had left the Meyntoun Moat catalogue behind in 
 a pew. At the same moment, the tower clock 
 began to strike the hour of eleven. Bibles, regis- 
 ters, roofs, intersecting pillars and Norman fonts 
 were at once instantly forgotten. Her mind leapt
 
 74 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 back to business. Her face hardened, by imme- 
 diate and magic transformation. 
 
 " I must go," she said brusquely. " I shall be 
 late for the sale." 
 
 Richard saw the subtle change which had come 
 over her manner and her countenance, and guessed 
 that she had returned to her commercial concerns, 
 from which there would be no recalling her. In- 
 deed, she had hurried into the church, seized her 
 catalogue, hastened through the churchyard and 
 taken her place in the broken-down little trap, be- 
 fore he had recovered from the surprise of her ex- 
 cessive abruptness. 
 
 " Good-by," she said, nodding at him. ' Thank 
 you for showing me your church." 
 
 " Good-by," he answered. " Thank you for 
 coming, and for " 
 
 She cut him short by telling the old man to 
 drive on. But the decrepit white pony had 
 scarcely gone a few yards up the hill when she 
 signed to the driver to stop, and, turning back, 
 beckoned imperiously to Richard Forest. He ran 
 up to the side of the trap. 
 
 " By the way, it would interest me to know 
 where you sold your rubies," she said dreamily, 
 as though the matter were of no importance to 
 her. 
 
 "At Messrs. Willoughby, 128 Holborn Via- 
 duct," he said. " Shall you remember it? "
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 75 
 
 She nodded, this time with a little less indiffer- 
 ence, and the prehistoric trap passed on. Richard 
 stood watching it until it reached the top of the 
 hill and turned off, out of sight. Then he went 
 straight to the paneled room, closed the door, 
 and took out the check, at which he looked for 
 a long time, but without any sign of his former 
 joyfulness. 
 
 " She will regret it," he said to himself with 
 great sadness. " I feel sure she will regret it." 
 
 He locked it uj> with his most precious papers.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 ' I V AMAR had been much torn by the memories 
 * and emotions stirred up by Adrian Steele's 
 visit to her shop. She fought valiantly and ob- 
 stinately with herself, but she could not banish 
 him from her brain, and with her mind's eye she 
 saw always that little, well-known figure making 
 silently for the door, dismissed by her with mer- 
 ciless cruelty, abandoned by her in an hour of dis- 
 tress. 
 
 She attempted to turn her thoughts from him 
 by giving added time and skill to her favorite 
 task of faking antique jewelry, an occupation 
 which was always a source of interest and amuse- 
 ment, especially in moments of depression. Even 
 that failed to hold her. She then determined to 
 tidy the shop, an entirely abnormal proceeding, 
 which nearly had disastrous results on her aged 
 servant's nervous system. After this she gave the 
 rein to her restlessness and went out more fre- 
 quently. She went several times to Christie's and 
 to one or two suburban auction sales, where she 
 picked up several bits of china and a few odd- 
 ments of jewelry which, so her practiced eye saw, 
 
 76
 
 could be altered into profitable disguises. As 
 she found that her mental tension was eased by 
 these outings, she resolved to take a whole day 
 and night off and go into Warwickshire to attend 
 an important sale taking place at an old house 
 called Meyntoun Moat. She had been studying 
 the catalogue for some time, but it was not until 
 she had definitely made up her mind for the jour- 
 ney, that she looked out the exact spot on the 
 map, and learnt that it was in the neighborhood 
 of the young clergyman's church, not far from 
 Kineton. This unexpected discovery stimulated 
 her in her decision, for her thoughts had been 
 turning repeatedly to Richard Forest. He had 
 appealed in a strange way to something secret 
 and hidden in that part of her nature which did 
 duty for spirit. Yes, she would go to Herne 
 Vicarage and see him in his own surroundings, 
 even if she had to incur the expense of hiring a 
 trap from Kineton. 
 
 She arranged her plans thus. She would go 
 one day before, and view the sale; she would stop 
 the night at the " Prince Rupert," and early in 
 the morning drive out to Herne, arriving there 
 about ten o'clock; she would leave at eleven, and 
 as the sale did not begin until half-past one, she 
 would thus have plenty of time to get to Meyn- 
 toun Moat. She put the map aside at once, took 
 out her pen and wrote to Richard Forest. Whilst
 
 78 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 she wrote, some of the craft and hardness cleared 
 from her face. 
 
 " Something set apart," she said aloud, and she 
 sat for a few moments lost in vague thought. 
 
 She shrugged her shoulders, opened the cata- 
 logue, and began studying it afresh with minute 
 attention. Amongst the silver, she noted a Dutch 
 ship. She read the description of it several times 
 and nodded her head approvingly. 
 
 " It must be a beauty," she said aloud. " And 
 not too large, only thirty-two inches long. Shall 
 I bid for it? No. On the whole, no. I should 
 have to give up the other things which will be 
 more useful." 
 
 But an idea leapt into her brain. 
 
 " Adrian Steele would like to have it," she said. 
 " He always hankered after a Dutch ship to add 
 to his silver collection. If he were to come in 
 now, I could tell him of it." 
 
 For in spite of the harsh manner in which she 
 had rebuffed him, she half believed he would 
 return. Scores of times she had looked up from 
 her work expecting to see him stroll casually into 
 the shop, as if nothing had happened to prevent 
 him from paying her a second visit. She had 
 planned to herself how differently she would re- 
 ceive him this time, and how she would unlock 
 her safe and show him some of her treasures 
 which he had loved to see in the past. But he
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 79 
 
 had not come, and he did not come now. Sud- 
 denly another thought struck her. She would 
 send him the Meyntoun Moat catalogue. She 
 would mark, not only the Dutch ship, but one 
 or two other Items which she knew would, espe- 
 cially attract his interest. This had been her 
 custom in the past; her one attention to him, 
 " her one and only courtesy in life," as he had 
 always laughingly said. So she marked the 
 Dutch ship, and, amongst the china, a peacock 
 of old Chelsea, and, amongst the Limoges enam- 
 els, a plate illustrating the month of July, a har- 
 vest scene. She turned down the pages, put 
 the catalogue into an envelope, addressed it, and 
 without waiting to consider the matter further, 
 went out and posted it together with the letter 
 to Richard Forest. 
 
 " My one and only courtesy in life" she re- 
 peated to herself grimly, as she stood before the 
 pillar-box. " More than seven years since I did 
 anything of the sort. And I'm a fool to do it 
 now. Shall I do it? Isn't it better business that 
 the past should be past? " 
 
 She paused. But the vision of the little figure 
 rose before her. A great yearning to see him 
 came over her. She dropped the catalogue into 
 the box. 
 
 Then she had come to Kineton, viewed the sale, 
 visited Richard Forest, abandoned him suddenly;
 
 80 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 and now, with her face set in the direction of 
 Meyntoun Moat, and her thoughts turned to- 
 wards the business which she hoped to transact 
 at the sale, she began to wonder whether Adrian 
 Steele would be present. It was quite likely that 
 he might come, for he had always been an en- 
 thusiastic collector, and Meyntoun Moat was 
 known to contain many interesting and valuable 
 treasures. It had been an open secret amongst 
 dealers and collectors for a long time that, on 
 the death of the owner, an old man of unerring 
 artistic judgment and instinct, the contents of the 
 house would be put up for sale. 
 
 Tamar therefore had only sent Adrian Steele 
 a reminder of what he probably knew; but she 
 believed it was possible that this definite sign of 
 a renewal of their old comradeship might increase 
 the chances of his appearance on the scenes. It 
 was at a sale in Hertfordshire that they had first 
 met, and their first conversation and dispute had 
 been over the catalogue. 
 
 But although she wished to see him, her mind 
 was for the moment far too much occupied with 
 business schemes and calculations of probable 
 profit to focus on anything so relatively unim- 
 portant as a human being. She had always had 
 the power of dismissing people instantly from 
 her brain when her commercial instincts exacted 
 from her an imperious and concentrated atten-
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 81 
 
 tion; and at this juncture neither Adrian Steele 
 nor Richard Forest had any chance against Li- 
 moges enamels, a Doge's ring which she greatly 
 coveted, Battersea enamel snuff and patch boxes, 
 and several small bits of George II. silver, to say 
 nothing of certain antique rings and brooches 
 which were always safe investments. Richard 
 Forest, indeed, had for the time passed entirely 
 out of her memory, and would never have been 
 recalled that morning, but that in again making 
 her calculations of how much money she would 
 spend at the sale, she was confronted with the 
 hampering fact that she had parted with that 
 check for 19. 
 
 " Nineteen pounds," she said, frowning. 
 " Nineteen pounds. I must have been mad. A 
 gap in the roof. Why shouldn't there be a gap 
 in the roof? I could have afforded that Cellini 
 ornament. I must have been mad." 
 
 So Richard Forest had been right when he 
 looked sorrowfully at the check and said: " She 
 will regret it." 
 
 But Tamar had not a great deal of time in 
 which to repent of her impulse of understanding 
 and generosity, for in a few minutes her shabby 
 little trap had passed into the fields which were 
 the remains of the old park, and before long she 
 arrived in front of the house itself. Motors and 
 conveyances of various kinds were drawn up near
 
 82 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 the stables, which were situated on the left-hand 
 side of the old fortified homestead, and separated 
 from it by the moat. On the bridge which had 
 formerly been the drawbridge, stood Adrian 
 Steele, leaning against the wall scanning the 
 coat-of-arms over the massive gate-house. He 
 glanced round as Tamar got down from her trap, 
 but he made no movement to meet her. But 
 when she was near him, he raised his hat slightly 
 and said: 
 
 " This is an interesting place, Tamar. Quite 
 one of the most interesting I have seen. These 
 old fortified homesteads are historic jewels. 
 Judging from the catalogue, the interior must be 
 a treasure house. I suppose you have already 
 been inside? " 
 
 4 Yes, I came to view the sale yesterday," she 
 said abruptly; but her brusqueness could not con- 
 ceal her sullen pleasure. 
 
 " Ah, you were always prudent," he remarked 
 cheerfully. "Well, shall we go in now?" 
 
 She nodded, and without further interchange 
 of words, they joined forces and passed through 
 the gate-house entrance into the beautiful little 
 courtyard, round which the house formed a 
 massive square. It was characteristic of them 
 both that they remained at first entirely silent on 
 the subject of the catalogue, even though Adrian 
 Steele carried it in his hand and held it open at
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 83 
 
 the page where Tamar had marked the Dutch 
 ship. Tamar glanced at it and smiled imper- 
 ceptibly. Perhaps there was a slight smile on 
 Adrian's face which he immediately repressed. 
 
 Tamar did not care to wait for him whilst he 
 lingered taking his first survey of the picturesque 
 old place. She hurried through the great hall 
 to the dining-room where the silver, the china, the 
 antique jewelry, the Limoges enamels and the 
 various kinds of patch and snuff boxes had been 
 collected together. She was anxious to be sure 
 that she had made wise choices, and she took this 
 opportunity of reconsidering some of the limits 
 of prices which she was prepared to pay; for she 
 was exceedingly cautious, and never let her en- 
 thusiasm, nor her irritation at being outbidden, 
 run away with her commercial common sense. 
 
 Suddenly she looked up and observed a tall, 
 rather robust man who was standing near her. 
 He was evidently much interested in the cata- 
 logue, which he was consulting with really boyish 
 pleasure. He went straight to the Dutch ship, 
 and compared the description of it with its real 
 appearance. He seemed satisfied, for he nodded 
 his head approvingly, made some calculations in 
 his catalogue and nodded again, smiling to him- 
 self in that quietly inane way which betrays the 
 ardent lover of antique treasures. At that mo- 
 ment Adrian Steele arrived. The tall man saw
 
 84 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 him. A curious and immediate change came over 
 his countenance. The boyish pleasure, the col- 
 lector's rapture gave way to some fierce and un- 
 controlled anger. Tamar, watching like a lynx, 
 noted the turbulence on the stranger's face and 
 the calm on Adrian Steele's. 
 
 " Well, Steele," the stranger said excitedly. 
 " I suppose you've had my last letter? " 
 
 " Yes, I received a communication from you 
 which I am intending to pass on to my solicitors," 
 Steele said quietly, with a touch of his Napoleonic 
 manner which had always been his effective 
 weapon in moments of difficulty. 
 
 " I intend," said the other, " I intend that this 
 affair shall be investigated " 
 
 " Pardon me," interrupted Steele with unruffled 
 serenity, " this is not my private office. I wish 
 it were. I can imagine no more agreeable spot 
 for that purpose. I came here on other matters 
 to which I must now attend." 
 
 Tamar, to all outward appearance concerned 
 only with her own affairs, listened with bated 
 breath, hoping to hear further details. But the 
 encounter terminated as abruptly as it had begun. 
 The stranger dashed out of the room, and Adrian 
 Steele advanced composedly to the table and pro- 
 ceeded to examine the Dutch ship. 
 'Yes, it is a fine specimen," he said. 
 
 " Yes," Tamar said.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 85 
 
 " An honest description of it too," he added, 
 consulting the place in the catalogue marked by 
 Tamar's own hand. " Model of old Dutch 
 fighting ship, late fifteenth century. In full sail. 
 Thirty-two inches long. In the shape of a dol- 
 phin, beautifully embossed with mermaids or sea- 
 horses. Cherubs flying about in the air. A 
 mermaid with a lyre making entrancing music. 
 Do you see her, Tamar? And there's Neptune. 
 He is evidently very pleased with her, isn't he? 
 And there are the look-outs at the mastheads, and 
 the fighting-tops, and the cannon, and the men 
 climbing up the rigging. And the lamp at the 
 stern. Ah, and here's the anchor hanging over 
 the side. Well, I think it is a splendid little fel- 
 low. Not too big. I have always wanted one 
 of these Dutch ships. I shall try and get it. 
 What have you got your eye on, Tamar? " 
 
 Then in a half-reluctant way she pointed out 
 to him the objects which she intended to buy, 
 provided the prices were not run up beyond her 
 carefully calculated limit. She did not mention 
 the Doge's ring because she feared he might pos- 
 sibly want that himself; but she showed him the 
 Cellini ornament, the snuff-boxes, one or two of 
 the Limoges enamels, and some of the antique 
 jewels. Later, they wandered upstairs into the 
 other rooms, glancing at the fine old furniture, 
 the sale of which was to take place on the fol-
 
 86 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 lowing day; and finally they found themselves in 
 the chapel, and, by means of the guidebook, dis- 
 covered in the adjoining little sacristy the opening 
 to the well staircase leading under the moat. 
 They scarcely spoke. They were both preoc- 
 cupied, and to the outside world they could easily 
 have passed for two strangers unacquainted with 
 each other, who had chanced to come together 
 on the same business, and had chosen tacitly for 
 the time to keep each other company. 
 
 Tamar was thinking chiefly of her own affairs, 
 but she was also scheming intermittently how to 
 find out the history of the tall blustering man 
 who had been worsted in his encounter with 
 Adrian Steele, but who evidently was holding 
 some threat over his head. She knew that Adrian 
 Steele was always calm in danger. Here, then, 
 was danger. There was no mistake about that. 
 But what was the danger? What had he been 
 doing to Adrian, and what had Adrian been doing 
 to him? A garish type of man, too, but most of 
 the people there were garish and worldly, includ- 
 ing herself. A curious contrast to Richard 
 Forest, she thought. It was only a hurried ex- 
 cursion that her mind took to that lonely vicarage 
 and desolate church, but it nevertheless repre- 
 sented a true tribute to the young fellow's per- 
 sonality, even though it terminated in another
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 87 
 
 acute attack of regret over the loss of that 19 
 check ! 
 
 As for Steele himself, his brain was engaged 
 in trying to decide on the wisest attitude to adopt 
 towards that blustering Robert Hailsham, the 
 dramatic author whom he had cheated out of 
 1,700, and who was bent on his disgrace and 
 destruction. Adrian flattered himself that so far 
 he had not done badly. It was a piece of down- 
 right bad luck to come across him here, but he 
 had kept his serenity over their unexpected meet- 
 ing, and had shown no sign of fear or anxiety. 
 That must be his note: entire fearlessness, the 
 unconcern of innocence. He smiled, laughed 
 softly to himself, and when the sale began, and 
 Hailsham reappeared, Steele had added to his 
 secret and impervious armor. 
 
 He gave an immediate indication of it. One 
 of the first things put up to auction was the beau- 
 tiful old Dutch fighting ship. Hailsham bid for 
 it. Steele, without a moment's hesitation, outbid 
 him. Hailsham bid more. Steele outbid him 
 again. A duel ensued. Hailsham became ex- 
 cited and irritated, whilst Steele remained per- 
 fectly calm and self-contained. Hailsham in his 
 anger flushed crimson. Steele turned a little pale 
 perhaps, but his thin lips tightened at the corners 
 of his mouth. Every one in the room was tense
 
 with the interest of this undoubtedly personal con- 
 flict. No one else bid. The field was left to 
 these two combatants. 
 
 At last, when the price had been run up by them 
 to a considerable figure, far beyond the commercial 
 value of the object, Hailsham outbid Steele by 
 ten pounds. There was a pause. All present 
 turned to Steele expectantly, and Tamar, who had 
 been watching him closely, though furtively, held 
 her breath. He shrugged his shoulders slightly, 
 and otherwise made no movement. The Dutch 
 ship was knocked down to Hailsham at 200. 
 Tamar drew her breath. She was thrilled with 
 pride and delight in her old friend. 
 
 " Splendid," she said to herself. " He has had 
 the courage to defy his enemy, and the sense to 
 keep his money." 
 
 A wave of admiration for him swept over her, 
 and brought back her old passionate love for him 
 with a rush. Then and there she determined to 
 ferret out his trouble by some means or other, and 
 to save him from it, or stand by him through it. 
 It did not enter her brain to ask him any questions. 
 She knew him well enough to be sure that questions 
 would only have the effect of silencing him, and 
 enclosing him more securely in his citadel of ret- 
 icence. No, she would have to find out details for 
 herself. So far, good chance had helped her, 
 and she bent forward eagerly now when the
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 89 
 
 auctioneer, a handsome man of clerical counte- 
 nance, asked for the name of the buyer, and 
 called out to his clerk: 
 
 "Mr. Robert Hailsham." 
 
 " I didn't quite catch the name," she said to 
 a dealer standing near her whom she knew. 
 "What was it Hayson?" 
 
 " Hailsham, Robert Hailsham, the well-known 
 playwright," the dealer told her. " Hailsham." 
 
 Tamar entered it in her notebook. 
 
 " The author of The Invaders, you know," the 
 dealer said. " Haven't you heard of it? " 
 
 " No," Tamar said. " Plays have never in- 
 terested me." 
 
 " A good piece of its kind, and a huge success," 
 the dealer said. " He must have made a mint 
 of money over it." 
 
 Tamar added to her notes, " author of success- 
 ful play ' The Invaders.' ' 
 
 As she made this entry, the relationship of 
 Adrian Steele to Hailsham suddenly dawned on- 
 her. 
 
 " Ah," she thought, " of course. Now I begin 
 to understand. A client of Adrian's. A client. 
 Of course. And a client turned into an enemy. 
 That is obvious. What has Adrian been doing? 
 I must find out, somehow or other, from the play- 
 wright man himself." 
 
 At this juncture Adrian Steele, who had been
 
 90 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 stationed at the opposite side of the room, quietly 
 withdrew into the great hall. Hailsham followed 
 him precipitately. Tamar saw them both go, 
 and, with half her mind, longed to be present at 
 their second encounter. But both prudence and 
 business forbade. 
 
 Hailsham, who was furious at having been led 
 on by Steele to bid extravagantly, advanced on his 
 little enemy and said angrily: 
 
 " If you didn't want the damned ship, Steele, 
 why did you run up the price? " 
 
 " I did want the damned ship," Adrian Steele 
 answered quietly. " I consider it is a most 
 beautiful specimen, but I did not choose to 
 advance beyond the price I quoted last. There 
 are limits to well to one's indiscretion, shall 
 we say? " 
 
 " Yes, you are right," Hailsham said excitedly. 
 " I rather think you will soon be learning that." 
 
 " Probably," Steele answered. " It is said to 
 be an experience which comes to most of us." 
 
 He turned away from Hailsham, consulted his 
 guidebook, and proceeded to study the special 
 points of interest in the great hall, the fine Eng- 
 lish Renaissance fireplace of carved stone, and the 
 complicated heraldic devices in the windows. So 
 far as he was concerned, Hailsham had ceased to 
 exist. Hailsham glanced fiercely at the little, 
 calm, stubborn figure, but realized the uselessness
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 91 
 
 of his own excited blustering methods. He con- 
 tented himself now with the reflection that al- 
 though he had never been any match for Steele, 
 either in speech or in manner, and had indeed 
 often writhed under his quiet but scathing intel- 
 lectual scorn, Steele was in his power. 
 
 He gave his head a shake, recovered his 
 equilibrium, and passed back into the dining-room 
 at the moment when the auctioneer was putting 
 up the Doge's ring. Tamar's mind was now en- 
 tirely focused on business, and she had forgotten 
 every one's concerns except her own. For all she 
 cared, Hailsham and Steele might have been mur- 
 dering each other in the moat when she once be- 
 gan to bid for the things on which she had set 
 her heart. She secured the Doge's ring, a beau- 
 tiful Spanish crucifix, the Cellini ornament, and 
 several snuff-boxes enameled on copper, and a 
 rather fine enameled gold watch-case. She bid 
 carefully, advancing moderately, stopping at once 
 well within her own prescribed limit, and showing 
 no sign of appreciation or eagerness. Her face 
 was a study of watchfulness and wariness. Hail- 
 sham, who had singled her out and had been ob- 
 serving her for some time, became greatly inter- 
 ested in her. 
 
 He saw that her choice was in each case dictated 
 by intimate knowledge, and not by ill-directed en- 
 thusiasm. So, guided by her, as it were, he out-
 
 92 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 bid her on a Battersea snuff-box, which was rather 
 rare because it contained two compartments. She 
 herself had not one of this kind, but she did not 
 increase her offer, and the snuff-box was knocked 
 down to Hailsham. She was disappointed, and 
 looked sullen and even fierce. But when she 
 realized that the purchaser was the author of The 
 Invaders, a brilliant idea leaped into her clever 
 brain. The sulky expression faded from her 
 countenance, and she glanced at Hailsham, nod- 
 ding at him pleasantly enough, considering she 
 was Tamar. Her glance and her half-reluctant 
 greeting seemed to say : " Never mind, it doesn't 
 matter much. It's all right." He began to re- 
 gret that he had deprived her of the Battersea, 
 all the more so as he attributed her friendly for- 
 bearance to his name and fame. His vanity 
 would not have been flattered if he had known 
 that Tamar had never even heard his name until 
 an hour or so ago, and that it meant nothing to 
 her, except a useful signpost indicating a road 
 which might possibly lead her to a desired 
 destination. 
 
 He resolved to find some opportunity of ex- 
 pressing his regret; and he was influenced in his 
 decision not only by his gratified vanity, but by 
 the real interest with which Tamar had uncon- 
 sciously inspired him. Perhaps, too, he was im- 
 pelled by an author's natural promptings to probe
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 93 
 
 and analyze unusual specimens. Tamar ap- 
 peared to him an unfamiliar type, and it was not 
 improbable that she might fit in somewhere in 
 one of his melodramas. He kept his eye on her, 
 and when she left the dining-room, he left it too, 
 and joined her in the great hall. She was alone. 
 Adrian Steele had disappeared with his guide- 
 book, and was at the moment overhead, examin- 
 ing the oak paneling in the ghost room. 
 
 Hailsham approached Tamar with an apolo- 
 getic little smile on his big and rather boyish face. 
 
 " Excuse me," he said pleasantly, " but I do 
 want to tell you that I am really sorry to have 
 deprived you of that Battersea snuff-box. I hope 
 I have not disappointed you unbearably." 
 
 " Oh, no," she answered. " I don't mind. It 
 doesn't matter. It was not worth more to me 
 than the price at which I stopped short. And 
 I have many others rather a fine collection. 
 I'm a dealer. Dealers cannot afford the luxury 
 of imprudence. They have to leave that to 
 outsiders." 
 
 " I suppose you think I've been imprudent," 
 Hailsham said, with a laugh. 
 
 " Well, yes," Tamar said. " Over that Dutch 
 ship undoubtedly. A beautiful thing, I admit. 
 But at the utmost worth about 120. And you 
 have let yourself in for 200." 
 
 " Owing to that confounded little rascal," Hail-
 
 94 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 sham said, his impetuous temper rising again at 
 the recollection of the episode. " But I'll yet pay 
 him out." 
 
 " Unfortunately it is not often possible to get 
 the chance of paying out the strangers who spoil 
 one's plans at sales," she said grimly. " I should 
 be obliged if you would give me a hint." 
 
 " But this man is not a stranger," Hailsham 
 retorted excitedly. " Anything but a stranger, I 
 assure you." 
 
 u Ah, that alters the case," Tamar said. 
 " Perhaps then an opportunity may present itself." 
 
 " Yes, it will present itself," he answered 
 fiercely. " And after to-day's experience I will 
 make doubly sure that it shall not be allowed to 
 slip. As for the Dutch ship, I feel inclined to 
 throw the wretched thing into the moat any- 
 where. I never want to see it again." 
 
 ' There is no need for you to see it again," 
 Tamar answered, a plan instantly suggesting itself 
 to her which combined business of the shop with 
 furtherance of an acquaintanceship with Adrian 
 Steele's enemy. " I'm a dealer, you know. 
 Here is my card. ' T. Scott, dealer In antique 
 jewelry, etc.' If you want to get rid of that 
 Dutch ship, I don't mind trying to sell it for you 
 on commission." 
 
 " Upon my word, that's a good idea," Hail-
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 95 
 
 sham said, glancing now at her card and now at 
 Tamar. 
 
 " I might be able to sell it for 120," Tamar 
 continued dreamily. " Certainly not for more. 
 But even then, deducting my commission of fifteen 
 per cent, you would get back rather more than 
 100. You would thus stand to lose 100 in- 
 stead of 200 by your imprudence. This might 
 be better than throwing the Dutch ship into the 
 moat." 
 
 Hailsham smiled. 
 
 " Yes, it would be better," he said. " But I 
 must say I think your commission is rather high." 
 ' Yes, but I never work for a low remunera- 
 tion," Tamar replied indifferently. " It would 
 not be worth my while." 
 
 Something in her independent aloofness carried 
 weight with Hailsham, and he said: 
 
 " Very well, we will leave it at that. The 
 Dutch ship shall be sent direct to you. Or better 
 still, I will bring it myself. I should like to have 
 a look at your snuff-boxes. I am beginning a 
 collection of them myself. I will come and see 
 what you have." 
 
 " As you please," Tamar said, yawning. " I 
 have one or two rather good ones. One or two 
 ' Vernis Martin.' " 
 
 ' You don't mean it," he said with boyish
 
 96 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 eagerness. " Better for me if I'd come to your 
 shop instead of to this confounded sale." 
 
 " Better for me, perhaps," Tamar remarked. 
 " One never knows." 
 
 " Well, at any rate, I'll come now," he said, 
 laughing. " And meantime, here is my card." 
 
 " It is a good thing for you that you are a 
 writer of plays and not a dealer in antiques," 
 Tamar said quaintly, as she took his card. " It 
 is quite certain to me that you could not earn a 
 living as a dealer." 
 
 " Ah, but you must not base your judgment on 
 the episode of the Dutch ship," he said, smiling. 
 " There are wheels within wheels as regards the 
 Dutch ship. Perhaps I ought to say keels within 
 keels." 
 
 " Ah," said Tamar softly. 
 
 Then she made a bold venture, hoping to learn 
 some important detail to guide her. 
 
 " It would rather interest me to know the name 
 of that little actor man who fought you over the 
 Dutch ship," she said casually. " It seems some- 
 how to be a familiar face." 
 
 " His name is Adrian Steele," Hailsham 
 answered. " He is not an actor. But you have 
 not made a bad shot, for he is in the theatrical 
 profession. He is or rather, I should say 
 was a dramatic agent."
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 97 
 
 " Was? " Tamar repeated. " So he is not one 
 now?" 
 
 " His career is over," Hailsham replied em- 
 phatically. 
 
 " Over? " Tamar repeated. 
 
 " Yes, yes, over," Hailsham said, his temper 
 rising. "He" 
 
 At that moment Adrian Steele was seen de- 
 scending the staircase, and Hailsham, not wishing 
 to encounter him again, raised his hat to Tamar, 
 told her he would soon visit her shop, and strolled 
 out of the Great Hall. Adrian Steele watched 
 him disappear, and then joined Tamar, whose face 
 meantime had assumed a blank expression. His 
 own face was slightly flushed. He was obviously 
 annoyed at having found Tamar and Hailsham 
 together. But he recovered himself at once and 
 said: 
 
 " A most interesting ghost room upstairs. I 
 have always liked ghosts. They have always 
 struck me as being so reliable. They always do 
 exactly the same thing in exactly the same spot. 
 This one, I believe, invariably carries his cut-off 
 head in his hands. You should go and see the 
 room. Admirable oak paneling. Your favorite 
 linen pattern. Altogether a most engrossing 
 place this. I am grateful you sent me the cata- 
 logue. ' Your one and only courtesy.' Do you
 
 98 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 remember, Tamar? Of course you do. By the 
 way, have you got what you wanted from the 
 sale?" 
 
 " Yes, all except a Battersea enamel snuff-box," 
 she answered. " Your rival over the Dutch ship 
 got that. He came rather politely to apologize 
 for having deprived me of it." 
 
 " Very polite," said Adrian Steele, his face 
 clearing. 
 
 " I didn't really mind losing the snuff-box," 
 Tamar continued innocently. " I told him so. 
 But I should have been angry if he had marched 
 off with my Doge's ring." 
 
 " The Doge's ring," Adrian repeated quickly. 
 " You never pointed it out to me with the other 
 things, Tamar." 
 
 " I thought you would want it, and run the 
 price up," she said, half sulkily. 
 
 He laughed. His face lit up with affectionate 
 amusement. 
 
 'The same Tamar the same prudent, cau- 
 tious Tamar," he said. " Ah, how well you know 
 me even after all these years. Yes, you are 
 quite right. I should certainly have wanted that 
 Doge's ring." 
 
 He stood looking at her with a strange wistful- 
 ness. His old love and longing for her came 
 leaping back to him, and again he knew her for
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 99 
 
 his true comrade and only possible counselor. 
 Once more a tempest raged in his spirit. 
 
 " How well you know me," he murmured. 
 " How well we know each other. It ought to be 
 easy enough to " 
 
 He shook his head, turned slowly away from 
 her, and without speaking another word began to 
 examine the heraldic devices in the windows.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 / T A WO or three days after Nell Silberthwaite's 
 * visit to Tamar's shop, she had to deliver at 
 the Grey Friars' Hall the third of her London 
 series of lectures on " Sweated Industries." She 
 felt unequal to her task. The impersonality 
 which the subject demanded for its successful 
 exposition, had been beset and stormed by over- 
 whelming personal influences of the past. Ta- 
 mar's words echoed back to her: " The past is 
 a nuisance. What good has it done you? 
 Weakened you. Well, I'm not going to be 
 weakened." 
 
 Tamar was right in theory. Nevertheless, 
 Tamar herself had not been able to withstand 
 the mysterious magic of the past. Nell saw her 
 now, weeping with unshed tears in that dimly 
 lit shop. She heard her voice charged with a 
 grim despair, murmuring: "Woe is me woe 
 is me." She saw her beat her breast. Yes, 
 Tamar still loved Adrian Steele. And she, Nell, 
 still loved him. Once again, after the lapse of 
 many years, she felt herself caught and entangled 
 by the old sensations of rivalry with and triumph 
 
 100
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 101 
 
 over Tamar. For Adrian had shown that even 
 now, after all these years, he had placed her on 
 the higher plane. He had asked for her spiritual 
 forgiveness, and he had paid back money to Ta- 
 mar. Here indeed was cause for triumph. But 
 she was soon ashamed of giving way to mean- 
 ness, and did her best to check herself. But this 
 return to past history brought stress and strain of 
 spirit, and serious disturbance of brain serenity; 
 and Nell was alarmed at her emotional weakness, 
 angry over her mental instability, and indignant 
 with fate for thus forcing her back into a network 
 from which she believed she had for ever freed 
 herself. 
 
 When Adrian Steele had lost interest in her as 
 a modern product, and had deliberately ceased 
 to lay his spell on her, she had escaped with a true 
 thankfulness from this servitude of mind and 
 temperament; and had, with a fine and determined 
 courage, gathered her energies and gifts together, 
 and entered on a long and patient apprenticeship 
 for public service work. Adrian Steele himself 
 had first directed her attention to the terrible 
 sweating which went on in some of the trades; 
 and she had never forgotten the day when he took 
 her down to the East End, and showed her the 
 homes and the lives of some of the sweated 
 workers. The sights she saw, ate like acid into 
 her brain, and she had vowed to give the best of
 
 102 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 her strength and mind towards helping in the 
 great task of trying to solve some of these in- 
 dustrial problems. 
 
 Her marriage with Rupert Silberthwaite had 
 helped and not hindered her in her plan of life. 
 He had been an engineer of some repute; and, 
 modern to his finger-tips, had ever been in the 
 vanguard of those who wished to give women the 
 justice of equal opportunity and scope for their 
 abilities and ambitions in all walks of life. He 
 wished to share generously, and not withhold 
 grudgingly. When others, less fine than himself, 
 had scoffed, he met their sneers with a quiet smile 
 of wonder. So Nell had in her husband a true 
 friend and a staunch comrade, who took the 
 deepest interest and pride in her work, and had 
 helped her in every respect to carry out her 
 schemes.' He died suddenly, and she found that, 
 even in his will, he had not dissociated her from 
 her work. His will had contained this one 
 clause: "/ leave all my money and possessions 
 to my dear wife Nell, for her work and herself." 
 
 Thus, in his death also, he had, with a true 
 chivalry, paid her the tribute of recognizing that 
 her work was not a mere adjunct to her life, but 
 its very kernel. He had gone on his way, and 
 she had missed and mourned him increasingly. 
 He had known the history of her love for Adrian 
 Steele; and had, with added tenderness and pity-
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 103 
 
 ing kindness, set himself to heal her spirit and 
 help her to pass on. 
 
 She missed him now. She could have laid 
 before him her distress of mind, her unworthy 
 jealousy of Tamar, yes, even her reawakening 
 love for Adrian Steele, and could have reckoned 
 as ever on his generous understanding and wise 
 guidance. Even as she mounted the platform 
 that evening, and saw that big audience before 
 her, she tried to strengthen herself by believing 
 that she could refer the whole matter to him, and 
 free herself, once again by his help, from the yoke 
 of the past. 
 
 Perhaps this memory steadied her nerves; and 
 probably also, knowing herself to be at such an 
 impasse of depression, she made some special un- 
 conscious effort to gather together her disinte- 
 grated wits and concentrate them on her lecture. 
 The result was that she gave one of her most 
 brilliant addresses. But because of her heaviness 
 of heart, she did not realize that she had done 
 well; and the strain which she had put upon her- 
 self induced an after condition of increased 
 despondency. 
 
 But before she left the hall her gloom was 
 dispelled. John Noble, the famous playwright, 
 had been present, and he made his way into the 
 ante-room and came straight towards her, eagerly 
 holding out his hand.
 
 io 4 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " Mrs. Silberthwaite," he said, " you have 
 stirred me tremendously. I cannot tell you how 
 you have stirred me. I have been uneasy about 
 all these things for so long. But vaguely, you 
 know. Looking on. Doing nothing. Taking 
 no part. You have made me feel that I must take 
 some part, and at once." 
 
 His words brought a flush of pleasure into 
 Nell's face. 
 
 ' You cannot imagine how you encourage me," 
 she said. " I felt I had done so badly to-night. 
 No nerve in me. No go." 
 
 " No one else felt that, I'm positive," he said 
 earnestly. " It was a splendid address, and an 
 inspiring one. It is true that you deal with facts; 
 and facts can easily be turned into dry bones. 
 But you present a living picture to the mind. 
 You are bound to succeed in your work, because 
 the presenting of a picture is the secret of all 
 successful appeals. Yes, you have stirred me 
 tremendously. I want to help with both hands. 
 Here they are! " 
 
 All Nell's depression had died away. She 
 looked radiant with happiness and pride. 
 
 " I can't tell you what your kindness and praise 
 mean to me, Mr. Noble," she said. ' We've so 
 wanted the help of your name." 
 
 " Well, you have it now," he answered, " and 
 I'm ashamed that you have not had it before.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 105 
 
 But I assure you I should be still more ashamed 
 of myself if I held back after your lecture to- 
 night. I'll come to-morrow to the office, and if 
 you can spare the time, I should like to ask several 
 questions of you, and find out how I could best 
 begin to serve." 
 
 " Present a picture," she suggested daringly. 
 " Write a play, Mr. Noble. You would do it 
 magnificently. You would take all the sordid- 
 ness and all the misery, and kindle it into a great 
 beacon which would reach even the blindest 
 eyes." 
 
 " Ah," he said, smiling a little wistfully, " if I 
 only could. But I should soon find out that I 
 knew nothing. For it is one matter to feel 
 strongly about a thing suddenly, and quite an- 
 other matter to attain to the power of making 
 others share that sudden enthusiasm. To do that, 
 one must first be saturated with the idea. I 
 should have to saturate myself as you have done, 
 for instance. You have given years of your life 
 to these subjects, haven't you? " 
 
 ' Years," she answered. 
 
 ; ' Well, I envy you," he said. " My puppets 
 will die their natural death. They will fade out 
 of the picture of life; but the picture which you 
 present, will not perish. It will undergo the 
 transfiguration for which you are finely and pa- 
 tiently working."
 
 io6 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 He stood for a moment silent, and then added 
 with a smile : 
 
 " All the same, I shall have to think about that 
 play. I should want a fearful deal of help." 
 
 " You should have it down to the very last 
 shred," she said, laughing. 
 
 She went home delighted with the unexpected 
 success of the evening. It was a splendid piece 
 of good luck to have secured the attention and 
 interest of this popular dramatist. His name 
 alone would carry weight with the public; and 
 even if he did nothing else except join the Society 
 and pay in his subscription, he would be lending 
 powerful and far-reaching aid. 
 
 The next morning she hurried off to the office 
 with a light heart. Nothing but good news 
 awaited her: more money, more members, more 
 offers of active cooperation. She said to herself, 
 laughingly, that John Noble had already begun 
 to work his spell. 
 
 But suddenly she picked up a postcard which 
 lay by itself on her desk. She glanced at it heed- 
 lessly, for its meaning did not at once dawn on 
 her; but when she read it again, she understood. 
 It ran thus : 
 
 " Have learnt something. Expecting you 
 without fail this afternoon. T. SCOTT."
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 107 
 
 The postcard fell from Nell's hand. A change 
 came over her spirit. The past leaped back. 
 That little figure rose up before her unwilling 
 eyes. He stood, with his old persistence, claim- 
 ing her attention and her interest. The old 
 dreaded disintegration set in. The old unworthy 
 jealousy sprang up. Tamar had learned some- 
 thing. Tamar had been working for him. And 
 she, Nell, had learned nothing. She, Nell, had 
 been doing nothing for him. This was intol- 
 erable. She must do something. And at once. 
 What could she do? Dare she go to him direct 
 and implore him to tell her his difficulties ? No, 
 no, that would be of no use. That would only 
 have the effect of sealing his lips. Could she seek 
 out any one who knew him ? But who did know 
 him in her present world? Their worlds were 
 not the same. Still, if Tamar had succeeded in 
 learning something, she too could succeed. She 
 was not going to be overshadowed by Tamar. If 
 the past had to come back to her, she would keep 
 her place in the past. No question about that. 
 
 Then her finer feelings prevailed, and she again 
 became ashamed of herself for taking up that 
 attitude towards Tamar. No, they must not be 
 rivals at their time of life, and after this long 
 interval of many years. They must be collabo- 
 rators, not rivals. Tamar, too, had been the one
 
 io8 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 to sound the generous note. She had heard some- 
 thing, and at once sent for her. 
 
 Nell smiled, and not unkindly. She had always 
 liked Tamar, and it was so exactly like Tamar to 
 order her to come. Tamar had always taken it 
 for granted that no one except herself had any 
 affairs to transact. So far as she was concerned, 
 nothing of any importance was happening in the 
 great world outside her dimly-lit shop. Kings 
 might die or be crowned, revolutions might be 
 making headway, the Church might be perishing, 
 Ireland might be having Home Rule, women en- 
 joying their hardly-won citizenship, comets might 
 be losing their tails. Tamar, amidst all these 
 events, remained unchanged, dateless, belonging, 
 even as the jewels which she worshiped, to all 
 and any time. 
 
 Well, Tamar had sent for her, and Nell would 
 go. She would hurry off as soon as she could, 
 and meantime she would try to think how she 
 could best reach Adrian Steele. She longed to 
 reach him. She saw him again, as she had seen 
 him in her dream, on that mountain side, cut off 
 from help, inaccessible. She turned instinctively 
 to the mountain picture which he had given her, 
 and which was the only one of all his gifts she 
 had kept. Why had she kept it? Ah, she knew. 
 Because of the mountain gloom, and the mountain 
 glory which had been dear to them both. Be-
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 109 
 
 cause of the snow peaks of pure white loveliness 
 which they had both loved, and which towered 
 calmly and majestically above that low-lying val- 
 ley where love and comradeship lay wrecked. 
 
 She was still absorbed in these thoughts when a 
 knock came at her door, and the little Suffragette 
 secretary, whose merry eyes were dancing with 
 excitement, announced Mr. John Noble. 
 
 John Noble never knew from what a far-off 
 distance, and with what a painful effort, Nell's 
 mind traveled to meet him. But his very first 
 action helped her back to practical life. With a 
 pleased and a charmingly self-conscious little smile 
 he handed her a check for 250. 
 
 " Laggards should pay the heaviest toll, Mrs. 
 Silberthwaite," he said. " But I'm not going to 
 be only a name. I'm going to be a reality. And 
 I've been thinking about that play you've ordered. 
 Upon my word, I believe I shall be able to write 
 it if you will help me with your knowledge." 
 
 ' Yes, yes, indeed I will. Let's begin at once," 
 she said, all her enthusiasm returning to her with 
 a bound. 
 
 She threw herself heart and soul into her task, 
 answering his questions about the Trade Boards 
 Act, clearing away his difficulties, and showing 
 him the exact point to which the work of her 
 Society had progressed. She dwelt now on the 
 chainmakers, now on the lace trade, now the tai-
 
 no OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 loring trade, now on the box-making, and now on 
 the very worst feature of underpaid labor, the 
 wage-earning of very young children; and when 
 at times she stopped, fearing to tire him, he al- 
 ways said: 
 
 " Don't leave off, if you still have leisure. I 
 want to learn all I can. I want to make up for 
 lost time." 
 
 At last she ceased, and John Noble rose to go. 
 
 " This must be a mighty interest in your life, 
 Mrs. Silberthwaite," he said. " You care tre- 
 mendously, don't you ? " 
 
 " Yes, tremendously," she answered. 
 
 " Ah, the impersonality of it," he said half 
 dreamily. " The losing of the selfhood. That 
 alone is a thing to be envied." 
 
 " But one does not lose that, Mr. Noble," Nell 
 said, shaking her head sorrowfully. As she 
 spoke, her thoughts leaped back to Adrian Steele, 
 and she glanced again at the snow-mountain 
 picture. 
 
 His eyes followed hers, and he gave a sudden 
 exclamation. 
 
 ' Well, that's a curious thing," he said. 
 " This is the second time to-day I've seen this 
 identical picture. The Bernese Oberland range, 
 isn't it?" 
 
 " Yes," she answered. 
 
 " I saw it in my business manager's office," he
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE in 
 
 continued. " I had an appointment with him, 
 which he had forgotten, oddly enough. I 
 waited for him in vain half an hour or so, and 
 meantime studied the mountains. Then I came 
 straight on here. And here's the same picture. 
 Now isn't that queer?" 
 
 For a moment she did not answer, and then, 
 as a thought darted to her brain, she said 
 impulsively : 
 
 " Mr. Noble, is your business manager Adrian 
 Steele?" 
 
 " Yes," he replied. 
 
 " Adrian Steele gave me that picture," she said. 
 " It was a duplicate of his own." 
 
 "Then you know him?" Noble asked, rather 
 eagerly. 
 
 " I knew him very well many years ago," Nell 
 replied. " I had not seen him for nearly twelve 
 years until the other day, when he called on me." 
 
 Noble stood twirling his hat nervously in his 
 hands. He seemed to be keeping back something 
 that he wanted to say. At last he spoke. 
 
 " He has managed my affairs for a very long 
 time," he said. " I shall always own frankly that 
 I should have been nowhere without him, abso- 
 lutely nowhere." 
 
 " I am glad to hear you say that," Nell said 
 earnestly. " I always knew he was brilliantly 
 able."
 
 ii2 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " Yes, brilliantly able," Noble repeated. 
 " That's the word. If anything, too able." 
 
 He did not stir. He appeared to be caught in 
 a network of distressing thought. All the bright 
 eagerness with which he had been listening to 
 Nell's lesson, had now faded into a sorrowful 
 gloom. 
 
 Some secret prompting impelled her to speak 
 in praise of Adrian Stdele. 
 
 " I assure you," she said, " that, looking back 
 now, I know that I, too, should have been no- 
 where without Adrian Steele. It has taken me 
 years to recognize the debt I owe him. If I have 
 reached even one of the most distant outposts of 
 my goal, it is because he originally gave a clear 
 indication of the way. He taught me how to 
 work on modern lines. He was the first to plead 
 with my brain for the cause of the poor. I hear 
 him now telling me in his scornful way to use my 
 1 academic brain,' as he called it, for the problems 
 of the great world outside the scholar's study. I 
 admired his splendid doggedness. I have tried 
 hard to imitate it. I admired still more the 
 driving force in him, the memory of which has 
 many a time spurred me on to fresh effort and 
 action. And I admired, above all, the generous, 
 ungrudging way in which he gave himself out, 
 sparing neither his mental nor his physical strength 
 in the fulfillment of his task. The debt "
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 113 
 
 She broke off and turned to her desk abruptly, 
 wishing to remind herself that she was a business 
 woman. 
 
 " You must really forgive me," she said. 
 " There is no reason why I should trouble you 
 with all this." 
 
 ' There is every reason why you should," he 
 said in a low voice. " You are doing both me 
 and Adrian Steele a greater service than you know 
 by reminding me of the debt which I, too, owe to 
 him. I won't forget it. And you're right. It is 
 only when one looks back, that one knows the 
 true value of the whole debt." 
 
 He took his leave with a grave, preoccupied 
 manner. When he reached the door, he paused. 
 
 " Can you perhaps tell me one thing," he said. 
 "It is " 
 
 He broke off. 
 
 Whatever the question was, he suppressed it, 
 and passed out of the room. But his powerless- 
 ness to speak, and his sadness had told Nell more 
 than words. Something had gone wrong between 
 him and Adrian Steele, and that something had 
 struck this kind man hard. What was it? What 
 was it that had prompted her to record to this 
 stranger her debt of gratitude to Adrian Steele? 
 Why, as she spoke, had all remembrance of 
 former injury been swept away in a wave of ap- 
 preciation? She knew now. Instinct had told
 
 H4 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 her that here was danger, and she had sprung up 
 intuitively to ward it off. If she could do nothing 
 else for Adrian Steele, it was at least something 
 to have had the chance of ranging herself on his 
 side. And there might be other chances too. 
 This might be only the beginning. 
 
 She would be seeing John Noble again, and 
 perhaps he, of his own accord, would reopen the 
 subject of Adrian Steele. Meantime she was in 
 the proud position of being able to report to 
 Tamar that her day's work had, in its natural 
 course, brought her in direct contact with some 
 one who knew Adrian Steele, and had business 
 dealings with him. Tamar might have something 
 to tell her. But she also had something to tell 
 Tamar. 
 
 A few hours afterwards Nell stood in Tamar's 
 shop, examining a beautiful plaque of Limoges 
 enamel, while Tamar was transacting some busi- 
 ness with a fashionably dressed woman, rather 
 closely veiled. 
 
 " No," Tamar said, with a bored expression on 
 her face. " I have stated my offer. Eleven 
 pounds twelve and sixpence for the four rings." 
 ' Very well," the woman said, shrugging her 
 shoulders. " But I cannot help saying that you 
 drive a very hard bargain." 
 
 " Possibly," Tamar answered grimly, counting 
 out the money. " But why come?"
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 115 
 
 The veiled lady received the money with an 
 impatient gesture, and hastened away. 
 
 " These rich women lead one a dreadful life," 
 Tamar remarked as she turned over the rings and 
 held them up to the light. " They fight for their 
 last farthing with their backs to the wall. Most 
 annoying. That woman has been here for quite 
 half an hour. However, the rings are rather 
 good. This emerald isn't at all bad." 
 
 ; ' Tamar, have you ever seen the inside of a 
 large bell gentian a blue one ? " Nell asked, 
 still examining the Limoges enamel plaque. 
 
 " Flowers never interest me," Tamar replied 
 abruptly. 
 
 ' The blue and green of Limoges enamel always 
 remind me of blue gentians," Nell said. " What 
 a splendid little plaque this one is, Tamar. If I 
 were rich, I should want to buy it." 
 
 " I intend to sell that to-morrow," Tamar said 
 slowly. " I've quite made up my mind to that. 
 And moreover, to one of Adrian Steele's 
 acquaintances." 
 
 "To one of Adrian Steele's acquaintances?" 
 Nell asked in surprise. 
 
 Tamar nodded. 
 
 " Yes," she said. " I met him at a sale in the 
 country. He is coming here to-morrow on some 
 other business. We made friends over a Batter- 
 sea snuff-box, and we are going to become still
 
 n6 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 greater friends over a Limoges enamel. I shall 
 let him have it cheap." 
 
 Then in a few dry words Tamar narrated the 
 history of what she had herself seen and heard at 
 Meyntoun Moat, and the duel of the two men 
 over the Dutch ship. Nell listened with mingled 
 feelings of jealousy and concern. 
 
 " So you see," Tamar said, " there's no doubt 
 I've got an important clue to the situation. 
 Adrian, like a fool, has landed himself into some 
 sort of trouble with this playwright man, Hail- 
 sham. Probably been cheating him. Been 
 found out. Well, I always feared he would be 
 found out. He was curiously reckless at times. 
 However, I shall learn more to-morrow. This 
 Hailsham loses his temper, and talks. I shall 
 know how to lead him on. The Limoges enamel 
 and the Dutch ship will help." 
 
 " I too have a clue," Nell said. 
 
 "You?" asked Tamar crossly. "How could 
 you have it, pray? " 
 
 Nell told her of her first meeting with John 
 Noble at the Grey Friars' Hall, and of their sub- 
 sequent interview at the office, when the name of 
 Adrian Steele at once aroused in him feelings of 
 great distress. 
 
 " I am sure something has gone wrong between 
 them," Nell said. " There could be no doubt 
 about that. And I could see that when Mr.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 117 
 
 Noble learned that I knew Adrian Steele, he 
 wanted to ask me some questions. But he is not 
 a man who speaks easily." 
 
 ' Well, I don't see that your precious acquaint- 
 ance with him will be of the least use," Tamar 
 said. 
 
 "At least I was able to defend him," Nell 
 answered, with a proud little smile. 
 
 "What's the good of defending him? " Tamar 
 asked scornfully. " That's no good to anybody. 
 And probably he can't be defended." 
 
 " Well, I can only tell you that Mr. Noble 
 thanked me for reminding him of his debt to 
 Adrian Steele, and said I'd done both him and 
 Adrian Steele a greater service than I knew," Nell 
 said with spirit. 
 
 Tamar was silent. She too was suffering from 
 an acute attack of jealousy. She tossed the new 
 rings impatiently into a small box, and locked it 
 fiercely. Nell noticed her irritation, but pre- 
 tended to ignore it. 
 
 " Curiously enough," she continued, " it never 
 struck me at first to connect the two men in my 
 mind. I was so taken up with the delight of 
 having secured a new and powerful friend for the 
 work of our Society, that all other thoughts were 
 in abeyance." 
 
 Tamar grunted. 
 
 u I've no sympathy with public service," she
 
 n8 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 said. " None. Why do you want to mix your- 
 self up with these silly sweated labor questions? 
 It's a ridiculous waste of time and strength. No 
 one need expect it from me." 
 
 " No one would, in his wildest dreams," Nell 
 said good-naturedly. 
 
 A grim smile came over Tamar's face, and part 
 of her sulkiness passed from her. 
 
 " I don't mind owning," she said in a mumbling 
 voice, " that your meeting with this other play- 
 wright man may have something in it after all. I 
 suppose I was jealous." 
 
 " I was jealous of you, too," Nell said. 
 " When your postcard came saying that you had 
 learned something, I could have well, I won't 
 tell you what I could have done to you." 
 
 Tamar chuckled. She liked to hear Nell's con- 
 fession, and understood it. 
 
 " A couple of fools that's what we are," she 
 said. " Fools to concern ourselves about his wel- 
 fare, and fools to be jealous of each other." 
 
 " Fools to be jealous of each other," Nell re- 
 turned. " I admit that with all my heart." 
 
 'Yes; and, don't you mistake it, fools to con- 
 cern ourselves about him," Tamar said. " It's 
 obvious we haven't any sense. If we had, we 
 wouldn't let Adrian Steele come between ourselves 
 and our own affairs public service, precious 
 stones, or anything."
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 119 
 
 There was a moment's silence between the two 
 women. The little figure rose before them. 
 Some of the happiness of the past and some of the 
 old longing held them. It was Nell who spoke 
 first. 
 
 " Nevertheless, we must save him if we can, 
 Tamar," she said in a low voice. 
 
 Tamar gave an almost imperceptible nod. 
 
 " If we work together, we may be able to save 
 him," Nell said. " Jealousy will cause loss of 
 time and opportunity." 
 
 Tamar made no sign. 
 
 ' We must try and not be jealous of each other 
 again," Nell persisted. " I promise you I'll try, 
 Tamar." 
 
 There was a pause. 
 
 * Yes, I suppose we must try," Tamar said 
 dreamily. 
 
 She leaned over the counter, closed her eyes, 
 and very slowly, with a painful effort, stretched 
 out her hand towards Nell.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 A BRIAN STEELE traveled up from Meyn- 
 ^^ toun Moat to London with his mind di- 
 vided between the pleasure of having been with 
 Tamar, and the anxiety of his impending difficul- 
 ties. His meeting with Hailsham had shown 
 him that Hailsham meant war to the knife, and 
 that, even if his other clients could be conciliated 
 or hoodwinked, this one man's fixed determina- 
 tion to destroy him would be sufficient in itself 
 to hasten the inevitable crisis. Still, he by no 
 means intended to capitulate to disaster. 
 
 He said to himself repeatedly that he would 
 make a superhuman effort to control and guide this 
 adverse chance, and that he would not give up 
 the struggle until he was convinced that it was 
 impossible to deal with the situation. Mean- 
 while, he must gain time. It was for this reason 
 that he had shirked his appointment with Noble, 
 and accepted Tamar's tacit though definite invi- 
 tation to attend the sale at Meyntoun Moat. He 
 could not help smiling to think that he had evaded 
 in John Noble a less dangerous enemy only to 
 
 120
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 121 
 
 encounter a fercer foe at close quarters. Yet, 
 on the whole, it was John Noble he feared most 
 to meet, because, in addition to their business 
 relationship, there had been between them a close 
 bond of fellowship, which, as Adrian Steele knew, 
 should have made treachery impossible. This 
 thought haunted him during his journey. He 
 reproached himself bitterly for not having spared 
 his friend, and he passed through every phase of 
 shame and regret, ending up, however, with in- 
 creased concern for his own welfare and that of 
 his wife and child. 
 
 Thus, burdened with business care, he arrived 
 at his own home in Egerton Crescent and pressed 
 the bell. The hall clock was striking eleven when 
 the maid opened the door. To his surprise his 
 wife stood in the hall, waiting for him. 
 
 " You up, Grace? " he said kindly. " Late for 
 you, isn't it?" 
 
 Then he saw her face was pale, and asked: 
 
 "Why, what is it? You look scared. Has 
 anything gone wrong? " 
 
 A sudden fear flashed through his brain that 
 she had heard some rumor about his affairs. 
 She seemed scarcely able to speak. 
 
 " Alpenrose has been taken fearfully ill," she 
 gasped out. " Alpenrose been taken ill. The 
 doctor says meningitis. She cries for you." 
 
 He did not wait to hear another word, but
 
 122 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 pushing gently past her, ran up to Alpenrose's 
 room. 
 
 " Alpenrose my little Alpenrose," he cried, 
 with a tender yearning in his voice. 
 
 Did Alpenrose know that he had come? 
 There was a moment's cessation of the moaning. 
 He turned peremptorily to the London Hospital 
 nurse. 
 
 " I shall nurse her," he said. " This is my 
 work." 
 
 " You shall help me," she said, with some at- 
 tempt at maintaining her position of authority. 
 
 He glared at her a moment, and then pointed 
 in his Napoleonic manner to the dressing-room. 
 It was easy to see that he was master in his own 
 house. 
 
 " Be within reach," he said. " And look well 
 after Mrs. Steele. She is not strong." 
 
 He installed himself by the bedside of his little 
 darling daughter, whom he loved better than any- 
 thing on earth. His watchfulness did not relax, 
 his care never failed, fatigue did not touch him. 
 Each time that the nurse crept softly into the 
 room, she saw the little figure sitting by the bed, 
 like some lynx-eyed sentinel, motionless, yet ready 
 for instant action. Every thought except Alpen- 
 rose passed from his mind. Tamar vanished, 
 and all remembrance of his business complica- 
 tions were swept away by this one overwhelming
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 123 
 
 anxiety. He concentrated all his will power, all 
 his mental driving force, all his psychic insistence 
 on the recovery of his child. He diverted de- 
 liberately in her direction the strength of his own 
 brain and body. The sweat streamed down his 
 face. Tenser and tenser grew the expression of 
 his countenance. His frame quivered from the 
 physical and mental strain which he was putting 
 on himself. His wife, the nurse, the doctor all 
 sought to relieve him as the weary, anxious hours 
 went by. 
 
 " The child will not know," they urged; " and 
 you are worn out. You must take some rest." 
 
 But they spoke to some one for whom, at the 
 moment, outside life had ceased to exist. He 
 did not hear them, did not see them, did not 
 heed them. All through that long night, and to 
 the middle of the next day, Adrian Steele battled 
 in his own way for Alpenrose's young life. 
 
 Who can tell whether or not he helped to stem 
 the tide of the on-rushing river of disaster? In 
 any case, the child did not die. The little fair 
 head ceased to move aimlessly from side to side. 
 The moaning began to leave off. Alpenrose fell 
 into a peaceful sleep. Then, and then only, he 
 succumbed to his own fatigue, and slept for so 
 many hours that the doctor, as well as his wife 
 and the nurse, became anxious about his long- 
 continued prostration. The doctor finally re-
 
 i2 4 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 mained in the house, and stole in time after time 
 to see whether all were well with him. At last 
 he awoke, and found the doctor sitting by his 
 bedside. His first question was about Alpenrose. 
 
 The doctor reassured him. 
 
 " All the same, I believe she would have slipped 
 through our hands if you had not been here, 
 Steele," he said generously. " You saved her. 
 How, I don't know, and don't pretend to know. 
 But you have half-killed yourself, and I've been 
 anxious about you. We all have.", 
 
 Adrian Steele shook his head. 
 
 " I am all right," he answered a little proudly; 
 for he had always disliked any reference being 
 made to his health or tiredness. 
 
 But he knew that, for the present at least, he 
 had worn himself out; and he found, later, when 
 he took his business papers and letters into Alpen- 
 rose's room, that his brain refused to answer to 
 his demands, and that it was impossible for him 
 to concentrate his mind on his affairs. He began 
 to realize the acuteness of the agony through 
 which he had been passing. If he had lost Al- 
 penrose, he would have lost everything. She was 
 unutterably dear to him. He loved her with all 
 the best part of his nature. He intended her to 
 be all the things he had never been able to be 
 clear as a mountain-spring, truthful, open. Why 
 had he never been able to be these things? Was
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 125 
 
 it too late? If he could get his affairs in order, 
 perhaps he could yet make an attempt to run 
 straight. 
 
 He said the words aloud: 
 
 " If I can square my business matters, my little 
 Alpenrose, I will try and never be dishonorable 
 again, for your sake, and because you have been 
 spared to me." 
 
 But what if he could not square them? He 
 glanced at the child, shuddered a little, and cov- 
 ered his face with his hands. But of course he 
 could square them. Of course he could. His 
 brain had never failed in resourcefulness, and 
 would not fail now. 
 
 His mind wandered back to the first occasion on 
 which he had annexed the fees due to any of his 
 clients. It was at Colchester, and he had kept 
 back the returns of one matinee. He remem- 
 bered now how pleased he had been with the idea, 
 and the remembrance brought a smile circling 
 round his mouth. 
 
 " Yes, I own I liked doing it," he said. " Yes, 
 even though it was to Noble that I did it. I have 
 always liked doing it." 
 
 The smile vanished, and his face took on an ex- 
 pression of defiance. 
 
 " I still maintain that I more than earned every 
 single fee I annexed," he said. " I maintain 
 that."
 
 126 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 His eyes fell on his papers, and he was recalled 
 from his defense of the past to the urgency of the 
 present. How could he meet the situation? 
 Again only one point was clear to him. He must 
 gain time. Alpenrose's illness could help him in 
 this respect. Thus, for instance, he could write 
 to Noble and say that he had failed to keep 
 his appointment because of his little girl's illness. 
 This would make it clear that he had not shirked 
 the interview, but that circumstances had pre- 
 vented it. He would write the letter at once. 
 At least that would be something done. He 
 wrote : 
 
 " DEAR NOBLE, Very sorry not to have kept 
 my appointment. My little daughter was sud- 
 denly taken very ill, and all other thoughts passed 
 from my mind." 
 
 He read the words over, and shook his head. 
 He had no heart to tell a lie in connection with 
 Alpenrose. He tore up the sheet, and began 
 again: 
 
 " DEAR NOBLE, Very sorry not to have kept 
 my appointment. I was persuaded by an old 
 friend to go to an auction sale in an old country- 
 house, and quite forgot you were coming to my 
 office, probably because it has not been our custom
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 127 
 
 to do business there. When I got home, I found 
 that my little daughter had been taken very ill. 
 We have had hours of intense anxiety, but the 
 crisis has now passed, and I shall be at your dis- 
 posal in a day or two." 
 
 He thought this would do, on the whole. He 
 did not like to drag little Alpenrose in at all; but, 
 for her sake and her mother's, as well as his own, 
 it was absolutely necessary to postpone a meeting 
 with Noble until he had been able to settle on 
 some possible plan of campaign. Alpenrose's ill- 
 ness was a legitimate excuse for not attending 
 to business matters for a few days; and he knew 
 well that John Noble, kindest of all kind-hearted 
 men, would harass no one who was in trouble 
 and anxiety. So that, since no lie was being told, 
 there was no reason why he should not avail him- 
 self of this respite offered by fate. Moreover, 
 it was diplomatic to refer to his visit to the coun- 
 try. Hailsham, who was at the bottom of all this 
 mischief, would be sure to see Noble and tell 
 him about the episode of the Dutch ship. Yes, 
 the letter could stand as it was. He addressed 
 it, gummed it, and smiled as he thought of the 
 Dutch ship. 
 
 " A real bit of prancing, that," he said to him- 
 self. " Dangerous, but necessary as a protest, and 
 entirely enjoyable."
 
 128 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 He suddenly remembered Tamar, and his face 
 lit up. 
 
 " I wonder what she thought of it," he said. 
 " She would indeed be amused and impressed, if 
 she knew the circumstances of my defiance. Why 
 can't I tell her?" 
 
 He rose from his chair, and stood looking out 
 of the window. 
 
 " Why can't I make up my mind to tell Tamar 
 everything? " he said aloud. " She and I are one. 
 Nothing can alter that. Nothing." 
 
 Alpenrose stirred uneasily in her sleep, and he 
 was back in an instant by her side, ready to feed 
 her, nurse her, caress her, if she awoke. She 
 opened her blue eyes; and swiftly, deftly, and 
 with all the tenderness of a mother, he managed 
 to administer the bird-like dose of jelly enjoined by 
 the nurse. No one was so successful as he in 
 the difficult task of feeding the little frail child, 
 because it was to him that she always offered the 
 least resistance. The next moment she was asleep 
 again, clutching tightly the black doll which he 
 had not allowed the nurse to take from her. He 
 was secretly amused in remembering how he had 
 fought for that black doll. Its presence repre- 
 sented a victory over all the most sacred traditions 
 of hospital red tape. He returned to his papers 
 and letters. 
 
 He found that already two of his other clients
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 129 
 
 were on the scent, and had written asking for im- 
 mediate interviews. These were Sanford, whom, 
 so he computed, he had cheated out of nearly 
 6,000, and Cecil, whom he had defrauded of 
 about 4,000. And there was a curt and rather 
 pert little communication from a new young up- 
 start, whose work he had taken to oblige Hail- 
 sham. But, of course, they had all been drilled 
 by Hailsham. He knew that, apart from busi- 
 ness, Hailsham hated him. He knew that Hail- 
 sham had never been able to forgive him for his 
 intellectual contempt for those mindless but lucra- 
 tive melodramas which the public loved. 
 
 " What was it I said ? " he asked himself. " Ah 
 yes, I remember: something about the plays con- 
 taining much money and a negligible quantity of 
 mind. Well, it was true." 
 
 He recalled the actual occasion on which he 
 had spoken those words, and was still smiling 
 when he began to examine some of his recent ac- 
 counts. But the look of amusement soon faded 
 from his face as he found himself confronted with 
 the difficulties created by his systematic dishonor- 
 ableness. At the moment the point engaging his 
 attention was this: Could he doctor his accounts 
 in such a way as to convince his clients that cer- 
 tain shortages of payment, which they fancied 
 they had detected in their returns, were merely 
 temporary arrears which would all be eventually
 
 130 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 collected and paid in as usual? He had 15,000 
 safely invested. 
 
 What plan could be hit on for using it sur- 
 reptitiously, allaying suspicion, and thus choking 
 off further investigation? 
 
 He took one of Sanford's plays as a basis of 
 what he vaguely thought he might do; and he 
 tried to work out his plan, making copious notes 
 which he at once destroyed. But his brain would 
 not act. He became helplessly confused, and all 
 his efforts to arrange his ideas ended in failure. 
 Nevertheless, his usual perseverance did not for- 
 sake him. He wrestled relentlessly with calcu- 
 lations, with conflicting schemes of explanations, 
 and with all possible and impossible subterfuges. 
 But his mental agility was in abeyance, and his 
 power of continuous thought arrested. He made 
 no headway. 
 
 ' The fact is, I must have help," he thought, as 
 he finally leaned back in despairing fatigue. " I 
 must sacrifice my pride and my secretiveness for 
 Alpenrose's sake and Grace's sake, so as to give 
 their names a fair chance of not being dishonored. 
 I must go and lay everything before Tamar." 
 
 " If any one in the world can help me, it is 
 Tamar," he said. 
 
 "Will she?" he asked himself, in sudden 
 doubt. 
 
 " Well, she sent me the catalogue," he answered
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 131 
 
 himself. " That meant a renewal of our old com- 
 radeship." 
 
 " Can she? " he asked himself anxiously. 
 
 " She has the wisdom and the craft of the ser- 
 pent," he reassured himself. 
 
 'Will she betray me?" he asked himself in 
 sudden fear. 
 
 " Never," he answered himself steadily. 
 " Never. Tamar and I are one. She will never 
 betray me." 
 
 " Then I will go to her," he said; and he rose 
 from his chair, signed to the nurse to take his 
 place, and passed noiselessly out of the sickroom, 
 carrying his letters and papers in a locked leather 
 case. 
 
 Grace met him in the hall and put a detaining 
 hand on his arm. Time had shown that these 
 partners for life had nothing whatever in common 
 except their love for their child; but she probably 
 did not realize the distance between them, being, 
 mercifully for her in this instance, limited in per- 
 ception. And he, although he gave her no con- 
 fidence, and no free pass into his inner conscious- 
 ness, always maintained towards her an attitude 
 of gentle consideration, which had the semblance 
 of and did duty for affection. Perhaps it was 
 affection. Who can tell? 
 
 " My poor Adrian," she said kindly, " you look 
 worn out and so worried. I am thankful you
 
 132 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 have left the sickroom. I wish you had not all 
 those worrying business papers to study. I wish I 
 could help you. Can't I ? " 
 
 " No, dear," he answered, smiling gravely. 
 ' They are well rather intricate even for 
 a business head." 
 
 " I was coming up to insist on taking your 
 place, and to beg you to go for a stroll," she said. 
 " But also to tell you that Mr. Noble has called. 
 He is waiting in your study to see you." 
 
 Adrian became deathly white. 
 
 " Noble," he repeated with a shudder. " Noble 
 here. I can't see him. I simply can't." 
 
 " No, of course you can't," she said, looking at 
 him with anxiety. " I'll go instead, and tell him 
 that you are absolutely worn out with Alpenrose's 
 illness, and can see no one." 
 
 " Tell him I've written," he said in a far-off 
 voice. " Stay, Grace, here is the letter." 
 
 But his courage came back to him, for he was 
 not by nature a coward. He gathered himself 
 together, and, apparently without effort, banished 
 from his countenance every trace of worry and 
 apprehension. 
 
 " No, Grace, I'll go after all," he said. 
 
 Without a moment's delay he made for his 
 library, opened the door and advanced without 
 flinching to meet, as he thought, Noble. He 
 stopped short. He could scarcely believe his eyes.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 133 
 
 Surely there was no one in the room. No, there 
 was no one in the room. No one. He was 
 alone. Alone. He stood, arrested by the sur- 
 prise and the unspeakable relief. Then he stag- 
 gered to the armchair, sank into it, drew a long 
 breath, and closed his eyes. A few minutes after- 
 wards, when he had recovered himself a little, 
 he looked up and noticed an envelope propped 
 against the old clock on the mantelpiece. He 
 opened it, and found that it contained John No- 
 ble's card, on which he had penciled these lines: 
 
 " Won't trouble you to-day. Just heard from 
 your maid that your child was ill. Only wanted 
 to tell you that arrangements for new play in your 
 hands as usual." 
 
 The card fell from Adrian Steele's hand. His 
 head sank on his breast.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 '"T" S AMAR sat behind her counter studying her 
 * ledger, with a smile of quiet satisfaction. 
 She had made several excellent deals lately, and 
 she reckoned that the Dutch ship would bring her 
 in a profit of more than 40. She had already 
 arranged to sell it to another dealer for 142. 
 She intended to pay Hailsham 120, less her com- 
 mission of fifteen per cent., thus handing him 
 over exactly 102. She tapped her foot, and con- 
 gratulated herself that she was always able to 
 make a successful commercial venture out of any 
 circumstance whatsoever. 
 
 " That's being a genius, or being Jewish," she 
 said. " Well, the one often implies the other. 
 Now for the fourth check for Richard Forest's 
 church. Let me see. Can I spare three pounds? 
 No. Two pounds fifteen? No. Two pounds 
 ten? Well, yes. And then there was a pound 
 which I decided to send for those four rings the 
 other day. Total three pounds ten. Conscience 
 money. A large sum to send for conscience' 
 sake. Why should I send it?" 
 
 134
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 135 
 
 Her check-book was lying on the counter, and 
 she pushed it away from her impatiently. 
 
 " What's it to me if there is a hole in the roof, 
 or indeed if there's no roof at all? " she said 
 sulkily. " Why don't some of those rich bishops 
 or archbishops see to the matter?" 
 
 But very slowly and reluctantly she drew the 
 check-book towards her once more, and wrote out 
 a check to the Rev. Richard Forest for three 
 pounds ten shillings. Her face softened as she 
 read his name aloud, and her thoughts centered 
 for the moment on that desolate vicarage where 
 that young fellow, with his spirit dwelling apart, 
 unhelped and unencouraged save by the reality 
 of his own ideals, stood patiently at his outpost, 
 and not in vain. For the memory of him roused 
 always a tender strain of harmony in her, oddly 
 at variance with the discords of her complicated 
 nature. 
 
 " I don't grudge it," she said, as she crossed 
 the check. " At least, not now." 
 
 She wrote on a piece of paper : " From T. 
 Scott. For church repairs" She enclosed it 
 with the check in an envelope, which she addressed. 
 She immediately sent the old woman to the post 
 with the letter. 
 
 " Before I regret it," she explained to herself. 
 
 She dismissed the matter from her mind, and 
 
 turned her attention to business concerns. Hail- 
 
 \
 
 136 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 sham was coming that afternoon, and she had yet 
 to unlock two or three of her most tempting 
 snuff-boxes, and put them casually on the counter, 
 where his eye might at once light on them. She 
 chuckled a little as she produced two of her favor- 
 ites, an oblong, formed of plaques of Siberian 
 onyx, mounted in chased and enameled gold, and 
 an oval Dresden, painted on all sides with land- 
 scapes in colors, and considered by connoisseurs 
 to be a very fine specimen. The Limoges enamel, 
 which she intended Hailsham to buy, was a small 
 and exceedingly beautiful upright plaque of the 
 Adoration of the Magi, in colors of green, blue, 
 and bronze. Tamar left this also on the counter, 
 at a suitable distance from the snuff-boxes. 
 
 She disliked extremely parting with this treas- 
 ure, which she had hoarded for many years; but 
 she knew well that any enthusiastic collector would 
 be attracted by it, and would consider himself 
 to be extraordinarily lucky if he obtained it at 
 all. 
 
 For her own purposes she intended that Hail- 
 sham should have this chance; so that, if he availed 
 himself of it, he might feel, with justice, that 
 he had come off well in his dealings with her, and 
 consequently be in a frame of mind which would 
 help her in the task she had set herself, of ac- 
 quiring information concerning his relationship 
 with Adrian Steele. To obtain this advantage
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 13? 
 
 Tamar was willing to make the sacrifice of the 
 Limoges enamel, and in this instance the loss of 
 profit did not enter into her calculations. It was 
 the loss of the lovely possession itself which sent 
 a pang through her heart. 
 
 " For Adrian's sake. For no one else's, any- 
 where, or at any time," she said, staring at it 
 steadily, and feasting her eyes on it in a last fare- 
 well. 
 
 She turned away from it with a sigh, and went 
 into the inner room to console herself with putting 
 some finishing touches to a small faked antique 
 pendant. The shop-door bell rang three times 
 before she answered it. Robert Hailsham stood 
 waiting to be admitted. He greeted her, and 
 glanced around the old shop, taking in the sur- 
 roundings in a quick, interested survey. 
 
 " Well," he said, " and so this is your place. 
 Why on earth haven't I come before? I've often 
 stood and looked in." 
 
 " That's better than nothing," Tamar said 
 quaintly. " Though it would not pay my rent." 
 
 He laughed and sat down on a chair by the 
 counter. 
 
 " A real old-world place," he said with delight. 
 " None of your modern burnished boudoir shops. 
 Have you been here long, I wonder?" 
 
 " It all depends on what you call long," Tamar 
 answered indulgently, leaning with her elbows on
 
 138 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 the counter. " I was born here. It was my 
 mother's business, and her father's before her. I 
 never knew any other home, nor any other kind 
 of playmates except the things in the shop. I never 
 wanted any other." 
 
 " So you have literally had a whole life's ex- 
 perience with old-world treasures," he said, deeply 
 interested. 
 
 She nodded. 
 
 " Yes," she said. " Before I was ten I knew 
 more about precious stones than many a grown-up 
 dealer. More about enamels too. My mother 
 was an expert in enamels. Dealers as well as 
 collectors sought her advice." 
 
 " And no doubt they seek yours now," Hail- 
 sham said, becoming more and more interested in 
 her. 
 
 " Dealers occasionally do," Tamar replied. 
 " But most amateur collectors think they know 
 everything nowadays. Mercifully for dealers, 
 they don't." 
 
 Hailsham laughed, and a pleasant, rather mis- 
 chievous smile stole over Tamar's face. She was 
 beginning to enjoy herself. 
 
 ; ' Well," he said, " and now let us settle first 
 about that wretched Dutch ship." 
 
 " Do you still want to get rid of it? " Tamar 
 asked. 
 
 " Why, certainly," he answered. " I sent it to
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 139 
 
 you for that purpose. I still hate the very thought 
 of the thing." 
 
 "I have an offer for it for, 120," she said. 
 " Less my fifteen per cent, commission, you would 
 receive 102 in exchange." 
 
 "A loss of 98," Hailsham said pensively. 
 " A big loss." 
 
 " Yes, a big loss," Tamar agreed. " The price 
 of folly, of course." 
 
 " I admit that," Hailsham answered, shrugging 
 his shoulders. " But that little scoundrel angered 
 me. I lost my temper and my judgment." 
 
 There was a pause. 
 
 " I understand, of course, that I have to pay for 
 the luxury of losing my temper," Hailsham said 
 finally. " But is this the best offer you can get 
 me?" 
 
 " Yes," Tamar replied. 
 
 " Surely I ought to be able to get back twenty 
 or thirty pounds more," he persisted. 
 
 " Well, why not try? " she suggested, as if the 
 whole matter were of no concern to her. " You 
 need not settle either one way or the other about 
 my client's offer to-day." 
 
 " Upon my word, that's very nice of you," he 
 said impulsively. " I'll just think it over for a 
 day or two." 
 
 Suddenly he noticed the Limoges enamel plaque 
 reposing temptingly on the counter.
 
 140 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " I say," he cried, " what a beautiful little bit 
 of Limoges enamel you've got here." 
 
 " Yes, it's rather good," Tamar said care- 
 lessly. 
 
 " Rather good ! " Hailsham repeated scorn- 
 fully. " Why, it's simply splendid." 
 
 He took it to the light and examined it care- 
 fully, whilst Tamar went to the inner room to put 
 the kettle on. She had decided that Hailsham 
 should be invited to tea, and should be shown 
 some of her choice stones, china, and other pri- 
 vate treasures which were not for sale. When 
 she returned to the shop, he asked her the price 
 of the Limoges enamel. 
 
 " It has taken my fancy tremendously," he said 
 excitedly. " I should like to buy it, if the price is 
 at all within my reach." 
 
 Tamar held out her hand for it, and looked at 
 it for a long time. 
 
 " I wonder whether the coloring is like the in- 
 side of a bell gentian," she said, half to herself, 
 recalling Nell's comment. 
 
 " I don't know what a bell gentian is," he said. 
 " But if the coloring is anything like this, it must 
 be thunderingly beautiful." 
 
 She went on studying it without taking any no- 
 tice of Hailsham. She was in fact struggling 
 with her reluctance to part with this treasure. She
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 141 
 
 longed to hurry away with it and lock it up in her 
 safe. Hailsham, who was watching her, thought 
 she was debating its value with herself, and would 
 indeed have been surprised if he had known that 
 his little adversary, Adrian Steele, was guiding 
 the destinies of this coveted bit of Limoges 
 enamel. 
 
 " Well," he said with a smile. " Is it perhaps 
 priceless? " 
 
 " The truth is, I have never priced it," Tamar 
 said in a curiously strained voice. " I have al- 
 ways loved it, and kept it for myself." 
 
 He glanced at her with added interest, for there 
 was no mistaking the note of pain in her voice; 
 and the distressed expression on her face dispelled 
 from his mind any idea that she was feigning un- 
 willingness, in order to enhance the value of her 
 property. 
 
 " Ah, I must not deprive you of it, if that's the 
 case," he said. " But I own I'm disappointed." 
 
 " You can have it," she said sulkily. " I give 
 it up." 
 
 She added, still more sulkily: 
 
 " You can have it for 15." 
 
 "Fifteen pounds! Done!" he exclaimed in 
 joyful surprise; and it was borne in upon him that, 
 in spite of her claims to knowledge, she did not 
 understand the value of Limoges enamels.
 
 H2 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 She let him think this. That was part of her 
 plan, and a part of it which amused her im- 
 mensely. 
 
 " Now," she said, " if you'll come into the inner 
 room, I don't mind showing you some attractive 
 jewels and antiques. You are evidently a real 
 lover of these things, and not a mechanical collec- 
 tor. Ah, yes, and here are one or two snuff-boxes 
 which I put out for you to see. This one is rather 
 rare Siberian onyx French eighteenth cen- 
 tury. The South Kensington wanted that. They 
 won't get it. Perhaps you'll bring it. I gener- 
 ally keep it in the safe." 
 
 Hailsham, who was brimming over with delight 
 and pleasure, followed her eagerly, carrying the 
 lovely little snuff-box in the palm of his right hand. 
 As a collector, he was overjoyed at this unex- 
 pected opportunity of seeing her special treasures, 
 and as an author, he was elated at the chance 
 of learning more of her mind and character; for 
 she appeared to him to have descended direct from 
 the skies to furnish fodder for his next play. This 
 thought, which had knocked softly at his brain 
 on the day of the Meyntoun Moat sale, asserted 
 itself now with greater insistence. And here, in 
 her own shop, in her own setting, her countenance 
 seemed to have some subtle, indefinable beauty 
 which was more arresting than mere perfection of 
 outline or feature. She was a Jewess. There
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 143 
 
 could be no doubt about that. And she was a 
 Roman empress as well. A little short, perhaps, 
 but distinctly of that build. He knew that if he 
 were a writer of fiction, he would never be able 
 to describe her. He was right. Neither Hail- 
 sham nor any one else could ever have described 
 Tamar's appearance, or her curious sulky charm. 
 
 As soon as they had settled down in the inner 
 room, she unlocked the safe and produced various 
 unset stones of startling loveliness, amongst them 
 several opals which she dearly loved, a lumachella, 
 and a rose-red tourmaline. She also took out two 
 or three cases of jeweled rings of all sorts and 
 sizes. Then, without any preliminaries, she 
 opened to him her treasure-house of fascinating 
 knowledge, and he sat entranced. When Tamar 
 chose to let herself go on the subject of precious 
 stones, she could be, as Adrian Steele had always 
 said in the past, " superbly interesting almost 
 inspired." She had forgotten the existence of 
 Hailsham, forgotten her plotting and planning, 
 and was lost to everything save the ecstasy of wan- 
 dering in those regions which to her were a true 
 fairyland. 
 
 But all at once, as she was fingering one of her 
 favorite sapphires, an old teasing remark of 
 Adrian Steele's thrust itself upon her remem- 
 brance. 
 
 " Transparency or no transparency, nothing
 
 144 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 will make me believe in that stone, Tamar. It 
 is a bit of an old magnesia bottle. That's what it 
 is, Tamar." 
 
 She heard his voice saying these words, and 
 with her mind's eye she saw him pushing the beau- 
 tiful sapphire contemptuously away with the rim 
 of his eye-glasses. She broke off, recalled in- 
 stantly from her far-off world, and reminded im- 
 periously of the true object of her interview with 
 Hailsham. She realized with sudden alarm that 
 as yet she had learnt nothing from Hailsham about 
 Adrian Steele, and that if she were not careful, 
 the opportunity might slip from her, and that 
 Nell Silberthwaite would get in front of her with 
 that other playwright man. This would never do. 
 " Still, I have not really been wasting the time," 
 she thought. " I have been tuning the instrument. 
 But now I must strike the note which will make it 
 respond." 
 
 She rang for the old woman to bring the milk 
 for the tea, and poured out a cup for Hailsham, 
 an unheard-of hospitality in her annals. She had 
 the craft not to make any sudden change of bear- 
 ing and behavior. She showed him a specially 
 fine ruby, and then unearthed some of her antique 
 silver, amongst other things several Queen Anne 
 rat tail snuff-spoons, which greatly took his fancy. 
 Finally, she produced an exquisite sixteenth-cen- 
 tury crucifix of gold, decorated with cloisonne
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 145 
 
 enamel. She glanced at this, and nodded to her- 
 self. 
 
 " I got this some years ago at a sale in an old 
 Catholic mansion in Somersetshire," she said 
 dreamily. " I remember the sale well. And the 
 place too. A beautiful thing, isn't it?" 
 
 ' Yes, yes," he answered, turning it over de- 
 lightedly in his hands. 
 
 " A place rather like Meyntoun Moat," Tamar 
 continued, half to herself. " Not so perfect as 
 Meyntoun Moat, though. But that was an ex- 
 ceptional old house, and an exceptional sale too." 
 
 " Well, so far as I am concerned, I hope it was 
 an exceptional sale," Hailsham said, smiling good- 
 naturedly. " And that brings me back to the sub- 
 ject of my folly and imprudence. Do you know, 
 I think I'll decide to close with the offer of 120 
 for that Dutch ship, and have done with it." 
 
 " As you please," Tamar returned. " But why 
 not take another look at it, and then think the 
 matter over? You might feel inclined to keep it. 
 It's good of its kind, and not too large. It is in 
 this other safe. I'll get it out." 
 
 She half rose, but Hailsham prevented her. 
 
 " No, no," he said, with a short laugh. " I 
 never want to see it again. As for keeping it, 
 why, I should live in a perpetual state of irritation 
 over the remembrance of the episode with that 
 miserable little skunk, who isn't worth even a pass-
 
 146 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 ing thought. No, I've made up my mind once 
 and for all. I'll sell the Dutch ship, through you, 
 for 120, less your fifteen per cent, commission, 
 and wipe the loss off my slate." 
 
 " Very well," Tamar said. " I'll arrange the 
 matter in a few days." 
 
 Then she took her plunge. 
 
 " I inquired about that little man amongst the 
 dealers," she said. " People in my business have 
 ways and means of getting information. I was 
 warned not to have transactions with him." 
 
 " No, don't you risk any transactions with him," 
 Hailsham exclaimed, roused at once. " He's dan- 
 gerous, I can tell you." 
 
 " I was told," continued Tamar quietly, " that 
 there is a rumor that he has got himself into diffi- 
 culties with one or two of his clients. I forget the 
 names. Names never mean anything to me." 
 
 " You didn't hear my name? " Hailsham asked 
 excitedly. 
 
 " No," Tamar answered, shaking her head, and 
 opening a little packet of mixed stones. " Cer- 
 tainly not. I should have remembered your 
 name, because we were going to do business to- 
 gether. One doesn't, as a rule, forget business 
 
 names." 
 
 He laughed at her remark, and said : 
 ;< Well, I don't mind telling you that I am one 
 of those clients, and this will explain to you why
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 14? 
 
 I was so furious that he had the impudence to 
 stand up to me over that Dutch ship. He knew 
 perfectly well that I, at least, have found him out 
 and that he's in my power. And yet he had the 
 audacity to defy me the audacity of a doomed 
 man, I suppose." 
 
 " Doomed? What will happen to him then? " 
 Tamar said, absent-mindedly, taking up a brooch, 
 and beginning to remove one of the sapphires 
 which she intended to replace by a " doublet." 
 
 " Oh, he will be prosecuted, of course, and con- 
 victed," Hailsham answered, watching her. 
 " He's got himself into a perfect network. 
 There's no escape for him ; he can't get out. The 
 cleverest counsel in the world couldn't get him 
 out." 
 
 Tamar scarcely drew a breath. She was dread- 
 fully anxious not to check Hailsham. She longed 
 to ask a hundred questions. But she wisely re- 
 frained, and her self-control reaped a rich reward. 
 
 " May I ask what you are doing? " he said sud- 
 denly. 
 
 " Replacing a doublet with a real stone," Tamar 
 said, with an innocent smile. " If you look care- 
 fully, you'll see the difference." 
 
 " I say ! " he exclaimed. " How little outsiders 
 know, don't they? " 
 
 ' Yes," Tamar replied fervently, and with an 
 inward laugh.
 
 148 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " But, to continue about Adrian Steele," Hail- 
 sham went on. " Could you possibly recall one 
 or two of the names mentioned if you heard them 
 again? For instance, Noble, Sanford, Cecil." 
 
 " No, I'm sure those weren't the names," Tamar 
 said, shaking her head wisely. 
 
 " Well, there you see," Hailsham said excitedly. 
 " The fact is, there are a whole lot of us. But 
 I was the first to raise any doubts about him. He 
 has had a long innings, though. He has been 
 feathering his nest for years. But I found him 
 out, and quite by chance." 
 
 Tamar longed to ask how he had found Adrian 
 Steele out; but, having the wisdom of the serpent, 
 she again refrained, and again was rewarded. 
 
 " It was simple enough," Hailsham continued. 
 " It occurred in this way, I saw the fifth hundredth 
 performance of one of my plays announced in the 
 bills. 4 Five hundred,' I said to myself, ' I didn't 
 know it had reached that number.' So, out of 
 curiosity, I looked up my returns, and discovered 
 that I had only been paid for four hundred and 
 seventy-three. After that I went into things." 
 
 " Naturally," Tamar said, in a matter-of-fact 
 way. " Any one would." 
 
 " And now other people are following my ex- 
 ample," Hailsham said. " A ball once set rolling, 
 you know. Nothing can save him from ruin. 
 There's no escape for him, except "
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 149 
 
 He broke off and shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " Well, I know what I should do in his place," 
 he said half to himself. 
 
 Tamar did not look up, did not show a sign 
 of interest. Her heart beat uneasily, but she went 
 on steadily with her work; and Hailsham himself 
 seemed lost in thought, as he played listlessly with 
 a pair of saw-driven Georgian sugar-tongs which 
 Tamar had not replaced in the safe. 
 
 After a long spell of silence, during which noth- 
 ing seemed to be concerning her except the task 
 on which she was engaged, Tama'r took her second 
 plunge. 
 
 " I don't pretend to know much about charac- 
 ter," she said dreamily. " People have never in- 
 terested me as much as precious stones or any 
 minerals, for the matter of that; but I could im- 
 agine that a man of that type would do things on 
 a large scale. I suppose he has let himself in for 
 hundreds of pounds." 
 
 "Hundreds!" Hailsham said excitedly. 
 " Thousands are nearer the mark." 
 
 "Thousands?" Tamar repeated. "I didn't 
 know that persons who wrote plays made thou- 
 sands." 
 
 " Don't they, though ! " Hailsham answered, 
 laughing. 
 
 He plunged into histories of successful plays 
 which had had tremendously long runs in London,
 
 150 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 in the States, and in the Colonies. He explained 
 to her about the handsome returns which popular 
 dramatists received, and cited to her names which 
 she had never heard, and circumstances which had 
 never come within her ken. In ordinary life she 
 would have been bored to extinction, and would 
 probably have commanded him to leave off, or go. 
 But her quick brain realized that she would glean 
 some useful general information, if she listened 
 carefully and patiently; and she therefore encour- 
 aged her unconscious victim by occasional nods 
 of appreciative interest, or by some innocent ques- 
 tion which deftly led him on to further details 
 of the business side of the profession of play- 
 writing. It was true he gave her no further par- 
 ticulars of his own affairs in connection with Adrian 
 Steele. But she learnt quite enough on general 
 lines to understand in what directions, and under 
 what conditions, a dramatic agent might defraud 
 his clients and not necessarily be found out at first. 
 She saw the temptations to, and the opportunities 
 for, dishonesty afforded by the circumstances, and 
 the dangerous position in which Adrian Steele 
 stood, now that some of his secret dealings had 
 come, or were coming, to light. She bent over 
 her task, apparently intent on the ring only, but 
 congratulating herself with inward elation over 
 the success of her interview with Hailsham, over 
 the data with which he had involuntarily furnished
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 151 
 
 her, and over the detailed report which she would 
 be able triumphantly to make to Nell, who, in 
 comparison with herself, had learnt next to noth- 
 ing concerning Adrian Steele's affairs. At this 
 comforting thought, a smile of quiet content lit 
 up Tamar's countenance, and she felt that not in 
 vain had she sacrificed her favorite bit of Limoges 
 enamel. 
 
 " It was worth while," she said to herself. " It 
 tuned the instrument." 
 
 Soon there came a ring at the shop bell. 
 Tamar, who always disliked rising from her work, 
 and never answered the shop door if she could 
 press any one into the service, was just on the 
 point of commandeering Hailsham, when she 
 checked herself. Some impulse warned her not 
 to send a deputy. She got up in her leisurely 
 way, glanced round to make sure that she had 
 locked up most of her valuables, nodded to Hail- 
 sham and passed out of the room, leaving the door 
 ajar. When she opened the shop door, she under- 
 stood why she had been prompted to come her- 
 self, for there at the entrance stood Adrian Steele. 
 
 " Don't come in, don't come in," she said in 
 alarm. " I can't see you now. Come later." 
 
 " I can't come later," he answered. " If you 
 send me away now, you send me away for ever. 
 I want your help, Tamar; but it must be now 
 this moment. I'm in trouble, and I can't use my
 
 152 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 brain to think. Something has happened to my 
 brain. I can't think. You are the only person 
 who can think for me." 
 
 She saw at once the distress of mind and fatigue 
 of brain written large on his face, and knew that 
 she must admit him then and there, and do the best 
 she could with the situation. Her ready resource- 
 fulness, reenforced by her pity for him and by her 
 pride at being thus asked for help, leapt to her aid. 
 She stepped softly to the door of the inner room, 
 turned the key of the lock, and thus made a pris- 
 oner of Hailsham. She stole back to the coun- 
 ter. 
 
 " Pass straight into the kitchen, Adrian," she 
 said brusquely. " I have a client here who does 
 not wish to be seen. I shall lose my deal if you 
 spoil it for me." 
 
 "Of course I wouldn't for worlds spoil your 
 deal for you, Tamar. That would never do, 
 would it? But don't be long. You know I hate 
 waiting," he said, with a smile. 
 
 She nodded, watched him safely out of the shop, 
 and then, assuming a calmness which she by no 
 means felt, she rejoined Hailsham, whom she 
 found examining her favorite bits of Chelsea in 
 the corner cupboard. 
 
 " I am sorry to have to disturb you," she said. 
 " You shall see those another time, and the Bat- 
 tersea enamels too. But I have an eccentric client
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 153 
 
 here who does not wish to be seen. I shall lose 
 my deal if she comes across any one, and I have 
 to bring her in here. I have left her in the pas- 
 sage at present. These people are most amusing. 
 They come thickly veiled, and give false names. 
 But I know them. I know this one." 
 
 " I'll be off," Hailsham exclaimed, catching up 
 his hat. " It would never do to spoil your deal, 
 would it? Especially after the splendid afternoon 
 you've given me. I can't tell you how much I 
 have enjoyed myself." 
 
 " I also have enjoyed myself," Tamar said. 
 " Next time you come I shall show you some 
 other things." 
 
 " Meantime, off I go with my Limoges enamel," 
 Hailsham said cheerily. " There are the three 
 five-pound notes, by the way. Do you regret giv- 
 ing up your treasure? " 
 
 Tamar shook her head. 
 
 " No," she said with her curiously sullen smile, 
 which had so much fascination in it. " And with 
 regard to the Dutch ship, I'll send you the check 
 for 102 in a few days, when I've arranged the 
 matter." 
 
 " Or, better still, I'll come and fetch it," he said 
 eagerly. 
 
 ' Very good," she replied, with a friendly nod. 
 " I shall expect you." 
 
 " Well, good luck to your deal," Hailsham whis-
 
 154 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 pered, as she led him into the shop. " Is she a 
 duchess, I wonder? I say, what a good situation 
 for a curtain ! " 
 
 " Hush ! " said Tamar, putting her finger up to 
 her lips in indulgent warning. 
 
 The shop door closed after him. Tamar stood 
 for a moment, waiting to be sure that the danger 
 was over. At last the tension on her face relaxed, 
 and she drew a breath of relief. 
 
 " He has come to me for help to me, not to 
 Nell Silberthwaite," she said, crooning to herself. 
 
 She went to the kitchen.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 repairs to Richard Forest's church had 
 * begun in grave earnest, and the hole in the 
 roof was being attended to at last, after much 
 worry and delay. Richard Forest had written 
 endless letters, and made innumerable journeys to 
 the firm of contractors at Kineton, coming back 
 always in an excited state of rage and disappoint- 
 ment. But now the worst was over, and he saw 
 his efforts rewarded by the erection of a scaffolding 
 inside and outside the church. He went about 
 whistling happily, with a face so radiant with de- 
 light that one might have thought he had entered 
 into a Promised Land. Old Mrs. Eustace found 
 him gazing with ecstasy at the tarpaulin which now 
 covered the terrible gap. 
 
 " Isn't it perfectly splendid? " he exclaimed joy- 
 ously. 
 
 " Yes, sir," Mrs. Eustace answered, puzzled, 
 but always unfailingly sympathetic. " Yes, sir." 
 
 She did not know what was perfectly splendid, 
 but she did know that some one had to take an 
 interest in the work now on hand, as well as in 
 those trying early morning services which still con- 
 
 155
 
 156. OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 tinued to tax her loyalty to the utmost. Since 
 there was no one else to meet this fresh demand, 
 she rose grandly to the situation, and at frequent 
 intervals during the day, in obedience to her young 
 master's summons, abandoned the sacred precincts 
 of her kitchen for those of the church. Skib, 
 leaving his bone piously near the preaching-cross, 
 generally crept in too; so that Richard was sup- 
 ported by the whole of his faithful little house- 
 hold. 
 
 " The villagers will care when they see their 
 little church intact and beautiful, Mrs. Eustace," 
 he said one afternoon. 
 
 " A miracle will have to happen before they 
 care," she answered gruffly. 
 
 " Well, then, a miracle will happen," he said 
 cheerfully. " That's simple enough." 
 
 " Simple enough," she thought. " Now, what 
 does he mean by that? " 
 
 But she did not question him. She never ques- 
 tioned him, for she had found out that he was ex- 
 traordinarily surprised and pained when she had 
 not understood some of his remarks. 
 
 " Some one must pretend to understand the dear 
 young master," she said to herself continually. 
 And she had learnt to adopt towards him a mental 
 attitude of silent acquiescence which, without her 
 knowledge, was slowly ripening into a vague com- 
 prehension.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 157 
 
 That same afternoon, for instance, when she 
 was washing up the dishes, and thinking over his 
 words, she reflected that he called all the trees and 
 all the flowers miracles. She argued that if he 
 called everyday things of everyday life miracles, 
 he could not really think much of miracles, and 
 that this accounted for him saying that they were 
 simple enough. But, somehow, this explanation 
 did not satisfy her. 
 
 " No, it isn't that," she said. " It's something 
 else. I don't know what it is, but it isn't that." 
 
 The next day light came to her bewildered 
 brain. She remembered that he prized and 
 praised all the things which she called everyday 
 things of everyday life, flowers, trees, green 
 fields, clouds, waving grasses, sunsets, and silvery 
 stars. And she caught a distant glimpse of his 
 mind and meaning. Then she understood that it 
 was because he thought all these things so won- 
 derful and miraculous, that he thought every other 
 happening in life simple in comparison. 
 
 " That be it," she said triumphantly, wiping her 
 forehead with her apron. " That be it." 
 
 At this moment of intellectual victory, Mrs. 
 Eustace heard his voice calling her again into the 
 church to share his raptures over the progress of 
 the work. She hurried off excitedly, and took 
 with her a letter which had come by the afternoon 
 post.
 
 158 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " Yes, sir, the workmen be getting on, and no 
 mistake," she said, gazing up at the roof. " I 
 expect you've been frightening them, dear young 
 master, with one of them shocking tempers of 
 yours. I heard voices this morning. That I 
 did." 
 
 " They were going to sleep, Mrs. Eustace," 
 Richard said defiantly. " They deserved a good 
 rating." 
 
 " And they got it," she said, with a twinkle in 
 her eye. " Well, well, poor souls, they're making 
 a good job of it, aren't they? We shan't know 
 ourselves, sir. We shall be that grand. And I 
 think them villagers will care. I think that mir- 
 acle you spoke of will happen, dear young mas- 
 ter." 
 
 The radiant smile which at once lit up Richard 
 Forest's face more than rewarded her for the se- 
 vere intellectual strain she had put upon herself. 
 
 " Yes, yes, Mrs. Eustace," he cried happily. 
 " I am so delighted you agree with me." 
 
 He glanced at his letter, and saw that it was from 
 T. Scott. His smile had passed into a perplexed 
 expression of countenance, from which neverthe- 
 less a great tenderness was not absent. 
 
 " If there is a check inside," he said to himself, 
 " this will be the fourth she has sent me." 
 
 There was a check inside, and a piece of paper 
 with these few words written :
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 159 
 
 " For church repairs, from T. Scott" 
 
 When the workmen had departed, and Mrs. 
 Eustace had retreated to her kitchen, Richard For- 
 est, according to his wont, knelt at his desk, closed 
 his eyes, prayed, and meditated aloud. 
 
 " T. Scott has shown by her successive gifts that 
 she did not regret her first gift," he said. " Thank 
 Heaven for that. The spiritual impulse which 
 prompted her to help me at the beginning, has not 
 died down in her heart. She earns some money, 
 unexpectedly perhaps. She remembers this lonely, 
 dilapidated little church, and she is impelled to 
 send an offering towards its restoration. Have I 
 a right to question the source of her earnings? 
 Have I a right to discourage in her these impulses 
 of unworldliness which may lead her on to the 
 large spaces of life and thought? Ah, I need 
 counsel other than my own. It is not clear to 
 me whether in rejecting these checks I should not 
 be doing a greater wrong than in accepting them 
 and using them for a sacred purpose. Who 
 knows, perhaps I am even torturing myself need- 
 lessly with doubts about her honorableness which 
 have no real foundation in fact. It is true that 
 she tried to drive a hard bargain with me over 
 the pearl and ruby crucifix. But she repented, 
 and gave me the benefit of her knowledge and 
 experience. No one could do more. Is it fair
 
 160 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 on her that I should take it for granted that these 
 checks are necessarily the results of hard bargains, 
 driven mercilessly with other people, in perhaps 
 far greater distress than my own? No, it is not 
 fair on her. I shall refuse to believe it. Better a 
 thousandfold that I should be mistaken and mis- 
 led, than that any word or action of mine should 
 cause T. Scott to close the door of her heart against 
 the knockings of her conscience. God will for- 
 give me if my judgment has been wrong. But I 
 should scorn to accept forgiveness from God or 
 from any one, if I had sent her one step further 
 out into the wilderness." 
 
 When at last he rose from his knees his face 
 was calmer and his spirit serener. He went 
 straight to the paneled room, closed the door, and 
 took out from a locked drawer three of Tamar's 
 checks, to which he now added a fourth. He had 
 cashed the first one for 19, Adrian Steele's check, 
 which Tamar had given him in the church; but 
 these others he had placed with the letters and 
 papers which he prized. He had taken them out 
 each day, turned them over, thought about them, 
 and then, very tenderly, almost caressingly, re- 
 placed them in their niche, together with the half 
 sheets accompanying them. These slips always 
 bore the same legend : " For the church repairs. 
 From T. Scott" Nothing else. No word of 
 greeting, no line of explanation, and no date.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 161 
 
 They were all for different sums, such odd sums 
 too. One was for 4, 195. 2d. Another one was 
 for 7, us. id. Another one was for 6, os, $d. 
 And the last was 3, IDS. 
 
 Richard smiled now as he looked at them. He 
 had passed through great distress of mind over 
 them all; but his battle was over for the moment, 
 and he determined to endorse them and send them 
 to the bank that very night. He signed his name 
 to them all, and said: "God grant that your 
 gift may be blessed to you, T. Scott, and to the 
 people of this 'village. And for my own part, I 
 accept with a true joy the burden of any mistake 
 which I may now be making." 
 
 He sealed them up in an envelope, and sat for 
 some time thinking of Tamar, who since her visit 
 to his church had more than ever pervaded his 
 heart and brain. In some mysterious way T. 
 Scott, as he always called her to himself, had be- 
 come part of his life and of his gentlest concern; 
 and in spirit he constantly crossed the threshold of 
 the shop, and stood watching her anxiously with 
 his mind's eye as she bent over the counter and 
 conducted her business with her customers. Some- 
 times he pictured her in the chancel, gazing with 
 sullen disgust at the deplorable condition of the 
 church, and struggling in vain against her impulse 
 of generosity. 
 
 But it was chiefly in her own setting that the
 
 1 62 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 vision of her rose before him; and although in 
 so-called reality he had spent only a few minutes 
 in that shop troubled minutes too neverthe- 
 less the place where she lived and worked, for 
 good or for evil, had grown to be an endeared 
 and familiar scene, easily conjured up by his im- 
 agination and not easily dispelled by his brain. 
 
 It was here that he saw Tamar now. Yes, he 
 actually fancied that he saw her pushing that check- 
 book away, and refusing to allow herself to part 
 with any of her money. He heard her voice re- 
 peating the very words which she had spoken in 
 the church: "/ part with my money not very 
 easily, I assure you." He smiled happily as he 
 witnessed her capitulation, and knew it to signify 
 another step in the direction of unworldliness. 
 
 The picture faded, returned, remained, faded. 
 Richard restored those slips of paper to their place 
 amongst his treasures, and turned to the notes 
 which he had been preparing for next Sunday's 
 sermon. He did not for the moment feel inclined 
 to work on it, and he laid it aside and began to 
 examine a little water-color painting he had lately 
 finished of a blue vetch field which he had seen 
 several months ago and dreamed of a few days 
 ago. After he had dreamed of it, he did not rest 
 until he had painted the memory of it. 
 
 He held up the lovely little picture to the light, 
 and for a time seemed lost in the thoughts which
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 163 
 
 it appeared to suggest to him. At last he put it 
 back on the mantelpiece, but still stood looking at 
 it with intentness. Then he murmured : 
 
 "To see a world in a grain of sand, 
 And a heaven in a wild flower." 
 
 His mind wandered to Blake as he spoke these 
 words, and half absent-mindedly he opened a vol- 
 ume of the poems lying on his table, and turned 
 over the leaves until he came to that wonderful 
 outpouring, " Corn-posed while walking from 
 Felpham to Levant." 
 
 " Ah, here it is," he said. " The double vision. 
 I wonder what I should make of the double vision. 
 I wonder whether I could paint that thought, as a 
 thought." 
 
 He read some of it aloud. 
 
 " With angels planted in hawthorn bowers, 
 And God Himself in the passing hours. 
 
 . . . And before my way 
 
 A frowning thistle implores my stay. 
 
 What to others a trifle appears 
 
 Fills me full of smiles or tears; 
 
 For double the vision my eyes do see, 
 
 And a double vision is always with me. 
 
 With my inward eye, 'tis an old man gray, 
 
 With my outward, a thistle across my way." 
 
 " I wonder, I wonder what I should make of 
 it," he repeated, with a smile at the boldness of
 
 1 64 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 his intention. " Well, there's no reason why I 
 shouldn't try one day when I'm in the mood. And 
 William Blake, William Blake, you must just for- 
 give my boldness. I can't help myself. I'm im- 
 pelled that way. I'm " 
 
 Richard broke off. He thought he saw a dim 
 figure cross the room and fade away into vague- 
 ness. 
 
 " Ah," he said eagerly. " That strange pres- 
 ence once more. Am I never to be able to detain 
 it I who have no fears of this mysterious other 
 world circling round us? " 
 
 He stood silent and motionless. He scarcely 
 breathed. He waited in anxious expectation. 
 He waited in vain. He shook his head mourn- 
 fully, as if owning to his defeat. He tried to settle 
 to his painting, and to fix his thoughts on this task 
 which was always a joy to him. But for the mo- 
 ment he had lost all zest in it. He made an- 
 other attempt to get on with his sermon, and 
 with no better results. At last, hoping to allay 
 the acuteness of his disappointment, he opened 
 one of the old church books, and began to work 
 doggedly at the task he had undertaken of de- 
 ciphering the worn and precious old records. One 
 of his predecessors had evidently had the same 
 intention, but had wearied of the business and 
 had stopped short after a few pages. Richard had 
 determined to carry the matter through, and had
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 165 
 
 become deeply interested in the intimate picture 
 of the life in those bygone days presented clearly 
 both by the entries of the births, marriages and 
 deaths, and by the churchwardens' accounts. It 
 was the churchwardens' accounts which were en- 
 gaging his attention now. He deciphered the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 Largese to foure poore wretches. 4d. 
 
 gyven to thre wonded soljers. yd. 
 
 gyven to traveler comying bye cer- 
 tificate 3d. 
 
 yteme of a ladere to ye roofe to fix 
 with rodes Divers redes torne by 
 ye fearfulle raging of ye winde . 2s. 
 
 yteme for ye time in makynge ac- 
 counts 2s. 
 
 yteme for ye monyes off ye saide 
 accounts 35. 
 
 Richard smiled at these last two entries, and 
 leaned back in his chair. 
 
 " They took care of their own interests, those 
 old fellows," he said with a laugh. " I see them. 
 Yes, I assure you I see you, Abner Kindred, Rich- 
 ard Heberton, and Seth Woods. Well, now ' I 
 must find out what you recorded in the next year. 
 I hope plenty of largesses to other poor wretches, 
 and no more damage to that thatched roof."
 
 1 66 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 He turned over the pages and went on uninter- 
 ruptedly, smiling now and again at the quaint 
 words and spelling, until he came to the entry 
 which had already engaged so much of his interest 
 and attention, and which he had been intending 
 to show T. Scott when she left him so abruptly. 
 
 It was this : 
 
 Yteme off one faire and seemlie bible with 
 claspes of brasse had off one Robert Girdellere off 
 ye worshipfule Company off Stationers of ye City 
 off London. 245. 
 
 Richard stared and stared at It. It always fas- 
 cinated him. Then, as he was dipping his pen in 
 the ink, a curious thing happened. He felt a 
 slight, almost imperceptible, tremulousness in the 
 air, as when a delicate breeze rises suddenly on a 
 still evening, touches lightly the frail grasses on 
 the heath, and dies down once more into the en- 
 circling silence. He looked up instantly, but with- 
 out any outward sign of eagerness or excitement. 
 He saw that dim presence, undistinguishable as 
 ever to his veiled eye, cross the room and begin to 
 fade into the vagueness which always preceded its 
 final disappearance. But, to his surprise and joy, 
 this time there seemed to be an arrestment; and 
 after a long interval of anxious waiting, the dim 
 presence grew distincter and yet distincter, and 
 Richard saw before him an old miserable derelict
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 167 
 
 of a clergyman, in the dress of about the beginning 
 of the nineteenth century, dull of eye, sly of ex- 
 pression, and obviously withered up in heart and 
 spirit. He was carrying under his right arm, in 
 a curiously furtive manner, a very old Bible, 
 bound in brown leather, with brass corner pieces, 
 a central boss, and brass clasps. With his left 
 hand he tremblingly pointed to the church ac- 
 counts; and at the same time these words were 
 borne to Richard's brain strung to its highest ten- 
 sion: 
 
 " Because you have understood. Because you 
 have understood." 
 
 The vision passed away. Richard rose to his 
 feet. 
 
 "Because I have understood?" he cried. 
 " What have I understood? " 
 
 As he stood there waiting for an answer, sud- 
 denly the pitifulness of his own heart answered 
 him. 
 
 " Poor old man, poor old man, poor old com- 
 rade," he whispered. " I believe that when you 
 and the others first came here to this lonely little 
 outpost, you meant as well as I now mean; but 
 that the trial was too hard for you, as it may 
 prove for me." 
 
 This is what Richard Forest had been saying to 
 himself ever since he came to Herne. He had
 
 1 68 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 heard the bad records of the men who had pre- 
 ceded him, and knew that the position which he 
 now held, had sunk into disrepute by reason of 
 their continuous misdeeds. He had heard of neg- 
 lect, indifference, apathy, ungodliness, drink, yes, 
 and even of theft. But, although they had left 
 him this legacy of dishonor, his thoughts of them 
 had been tuned to pity and not to judgment. 
 
 He could see for himself how their natural 
 faults of character had been fostered by the loneli- 
 ness and grimness of the place; by the separa- 
 tion from all equal companionship of mind and 
 spirit; by the necessity, inherent in every one, of 
 finding an outlet of interests, good or bad, healthy 
 or unhealthy. There were signs, to him pathetic 
 signs, that one or two of them had at least tried 
 the better part. There was the transcribing of 
 the old registers, begun and abandoned: the carv- 
 ing of the communion table, begun and aban- 
 doned: notes for a historical treatise on the dis- 
 trict, fragmentary studies in the dialect of the 
 county, unused and cast aside with torn old hymn- 
 books and psalters. He had, with his fine ideal- 
 ism, reverenced their early strivings and under- 
 stood the underlying causes of their failure. He 
 had vowed to himself, not once, but many times, 
 that he would attempt to carry on their early 
 strivings to a better fulfilment of what they them- 
 selves would have wished to be.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 169 
 
 " And may some one be raised up to deal in the 
 same manner with my early strivings and my fail- 
 ures," he said. 
 
 This had been Richard's attitude towards his 
 predecessors. He was entirely unconscious of its 
 gentleness, for it was part and parcel of his nature 
 to dwell on the good rather than on the evil in 
 people, on the beauties of a scene and not on any 
 chance disfigurements. But now, as he heard 
 echoing in his ears those words of the old clergy- 
 man, who had thus mysteriously visited him, he 
 realized with a spiritual joyfulness the significance 
 of their meaning. Yes, he had understood. His 
 thoughts had therefore been granted a passport 
 into that unknown, separated land, and the old 
 man had appeared to him as a sign that his mes- 
 sage of understanding had been received. 
 
 This was quite clear to Richard now. But it 
 was not clear to him why the old man was carry- 
 ing that Bible in that painfully deceitful manner, 
 nor why he had pointed to the church accounts. 
 There was no doubt in Richard's mind that he 
 had pointed to the church accounts; and as to the 
 Bible, he would recognize it again anywhere. An 
 explanation flashed across his brain. He became 
 exceedingly excited. 
 
 "The stolen Bible," he cried; "the valuable 
 old Bible which disappeared years ago, and 
 which "
 
 1 70 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 He broke off, rushed to the churchwardens' ac- 
 counts, and put his finger on the last entry which 
 he had been transcribing. 
 
 " This very Bible, this ' faire and seemlie bible 
 with claspes of brasse,' " he exclaimed. " I see it 
 all now. He stole it then yes, he stole it 
 and he came he came to tell me because be- 
 cause I had understood because he knew 
 that I" 
 
 Richard sank back into his chair. 
 
 An hour afterwards Mrs. Eustace crept into 
 the room to see whether all was right with the 
 lamp, another of Richard's shocking habits being 
 to allow the chimney to become black with smoke 
 before he attempted to interfere with the disaster. 
 He did not stir when she called his name and re- 
 proved him gently, as was her wont. She glanced 
 at him, and noticed that his eyes were closed, and 
 that his face was lit up with that amazing radiance 
 which often filled her faithful heart with indefina- 
 ble, anxious fears on his behalf. She stood by his 
 side in silence. At last, to her immense relief, he 
 opened his eyes at last and saw her. 
 
 " Mrs. Eustace," he said, in a voice which 
 seemed to come from illimitable distance, " I have 
 this evening been privileged to hold brief con- 
 verse with one of the poor souls haunting this vicar- 
 age." 
 
 " Indeed, sir? " she said, with as much calmness
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 171 
 
 and courage as she could summon, for she had 
 secretly been dreading this inevitable moment 
 when she would be obliged to hear definite news 
 of the vicarage ghosts. 
 
 " Yes," he said, " and I feel so encouraged and 
 hopeful." 
 
 " Ah, no doubt, no doubt," she said soothingly. 
 
 " Some day I will tell you," he added. " I 
 should like to tell you. But not now." 
 
 " No, sir, not now," she repeated with fervor. 
 
 She hurried away, deeply thankful for this mer- 
 ciful postponement.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 'ITT'HEN Tamar had successfully maneuvered 
 Hailsham out of the way she made for the 
 kitchen, where she found Adrian Steele warming 
 his hands by the fire. 
 
 " History repeats itself, Tamar," he said. 
 " How many times in the past have I not come to 
 warm my hands here, when you would not have 
 a fire in the inner room; and how many times, 
 needless to add, found the old woman asleep over 
 her tea? There she is, you see. Here I am. 
 And here you are. Apparently nothing is 
 changed." 
 
 " Except that I do have a fire in the inner room 
 now," Tamar said, with a ghost of a smile on her 
 face. 
 
 " Ah, I'm glad to hear that," he said. " That 
 is good news of a startling nature. How I wish 
 that you could have prepared a second surprise 
 for me, and introduced me to a really cheerful 
 illumination. Never in my life have I seen such 
 depressing gas, Tamar. Do you remember how 
 I used to grumble at it in the old days? And 
 
 172
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 173 
 
 you used invariably and very wisely to say: 
 'Why come?'" 
 
 " Perhaps I could equally well put the same 
 question now," Tamar remarked grimly. 
 
 " Yes," he said, " that's quite true. You 
 might. And I might make the same old answer. 
 Do you remember it, I wonder?" 
 
 " Necessity of spirit compels," Tamar answered 
 slowly. " Those were your words." 
 
 " Yes," Adrian repeated, " necessity of spirit 
 compels. I needed you then, Tamar, and I need 
 you now." 
 
 She had signed to him to follow her into the 
 inner room ; and when he stood there with her and 
 glanced around at the well-remembered surround- 
 ings, of which he had at one time formed an 
 important and a component part, he was overcome 
 by memories and thoughts, and moved to the very 
 recesses of his heart. 
 
 " Tamar, Tamar," he cried, holding out his 
 hands, " why did I ever leave you ? This was 
 my home, my true place." 
 
 That was all he said, but his words were 
 charged with love and longing, regret, remorse, 
 tenderness and infinite trust. A light came into 
 Tamar's eyes, and something in her soul broke 
 through its confining barrier of ice. 
 
 ' Take your old seat," she said, pointing to a 
 little Jacobean couch which had always been in-
 
 i?4 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 disputably his. " I don't mind telling you that 
 I have often seen a vision of you resting there." 
 
 " Thank you, Tamar," he said gently. 
 
 " I haven't wanted to see it," she added. 
 
 " That I can perfectly understand," he said with 
 a smile. " But you couldn't help yourself. I 
 have so often been here in spirit." 
 
 He sank back in the couch, made no further 
 remark, but fidgeted restlessly with his eye-glass 
 cord. Tamar knew that he was struggling with 
 his reticence, and for some time did not attempt 
 to disturb him. 
 
 But when she saw that he made no headway, 
 and that every moment he looked increasingly 
 worn and ill, she determined to take the risk of 
 beginning. 
 
 " Is it so hard for you to tell me why you want 
 my help? " she said slowly. 
 
 " Yes, Tamar," he answered. 
 
 " It is difficult for me to understand why you, 
 with your own strength and pride of brain, should 
 want any one's help," she said. 
 
 " Ah, but that's just it," he said. " My 
 strength of brain has gone, and my pride of brain 
 is broken." 
 
 " Probably you are only tired," she said. 
 " You want a little rest, perhaps." 
 
 " No, it isn't that," he answered, shaking his 
 head. " It's more than that. You see, when I
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 175 
 
 got home from Meyntoun Moat the other day, 
 I found that my little girl, my little Alpenrose, 
 had been taken ill, from meningitis. I arrived 
 just in time to help nurse her through the crisis. 
 We nearly lost her." 
 
 He paused a moment, and shuddered at the 
 recollection of the agony through which he had 
 been passing. 
 
 ' The anxiety has told on me, Tamar," he said. 
 u I have lost the power of thought and concentra- 
 tion, at the very time when I need it to unravel 
 some difficult business complications. But for the 
 shock of little Alpenrose's illness, I might have 
 worked through these difficulties by myself. I 
 like to think I might have done so. This 
 sounds, and is ungracious, but I know you will 
 understand." 
 
 " Yes, I understand," Tamar said. " I don't 
 bear you any grudge for not coming to ask my 
 advice unless necessity compelled you. I should 
 have been just as unwilling myself." 
 
 " I believe you would have been," he said. 
 
 " I don't mind how reluctantly you have come, 
 as long as It is to me that you have come, and not 
 to any one else," Tamar said. 
 
 " I could have come to no one else, Tamar," 
 he said slowly. " I might have thought of one 
 or two others with a passing thought, which 
 would have ended always in you."
 
 176 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 His words were as rare jewels to her, but she 
 gave no outer sign of the value she placed on them. 
 
 " If my little darling Alpenrose had died," he 
 continued, " nothing would have mattered. I 
 should have let things take their own course 
 unchecked. I should not have troubled even to 
 attempt to straighten out my difficulties. But 
 there was Alpenrose." 
 
 " Do you love her so much ? " Tamar asked. 
 
 His face brightened up at once. 
 
 " I love her with all the best that is in me, 
 Tamar," he said gently. " My little rose my 
 little Alpenrose. Look, here's this little min- 
 iature of her. Do you see how fair she is? Her 
 eyes are gentian blue, aren't they? And she goes 
 dancing about like the little fairy that she is. No, 
 if she had died, nothing would have mattered. 
 But, since she has lived, I must try to save my 
 honor for her sake." 
 
 Tamar, who had been studying the lovely little 
 miniature which he had put into her hands, now 
 returned it to him. 
 
 " Children have never interested me," she said 
 abruptly. " But you always loved them, didn't 
 you?" 
 
 " Always," he answered wistfully. " And this 
 one my own little one beyond the power of 
 telling."
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 177 
 
 " Well, we must try and save your honor for 
 her sake," Tamar said. " You don't " 
 
 She hesitated, but continued: 
 
 " You don't speak of your wife. Doesn't she 
 count at all? " 
 
 " Oh, yes," he answered, a little stiffly. " She 
 counts. My wife counts." 
 
 There was a long period of silence, during 
 which Tamar showed no faintest sign of impa- 
 tience or weariness. She was busily engaged in 
 thinking over the points which she had learned 
 from Hailsham, and planning how to conceal her 
 knowledge from Adrian, and yet to use it for 
 eliciting facts from him. Her heart beat with 
 secret pride and excitement that he had come to 
 her and not to Nell Silberthwaite. If he had not 
 loved her, he would never have come to her. His 
 own words echoed back to her: " I could have 
 come to no one else, Tamar. I might have 
 thought of one or two others with a passing 
 thought which would have ended always in 
 you." 
 
 She repeated them to herself many times, and 
 basked in their meaning. 
 
 At last Adrian Steele drew some letters from 
 his pocket, glanced at them, and then reluctantly 
 handed them to her. 
 
 " Read them all, Tamar," he said, his face
 
 i?8 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 drawn and strained with the effort he was making 
 to conquer his secretiveness. " They present the 
 key of the whole situation." 
 
 They were Hailsham's letters, which had given 
 the first signal of alarm that danger and disaster 
 were at hand. 
 
 Tamar read them, studied them and sat staring 
 at them. 
 
 " I suppose it's true," she said at length. 
 
 He nodded his head. 
 
 " Is he the only one? " she asked. 
 
 " No," he answered. " There are many 
 others." 
 
 " Are they all on the scent? " Tamar inquired. 
 
 " Two or three," he replied gloomily. " And 
 the rest will follow." 
 
 " You must have enjoyed doing it," she said 
 thoughtfully. 
 
 " Yes, I have," Adrian Steele said, brightening 
 up a little. " How well you understand, Tamar. 
 It is a comfort to be with you." 
 
 ' You see, I should have enjoyed doing it 
 myself," she said, with her sullen smile. " Of 
 course, I don't know details. But, even as an 
 outsider, I can imagine possibilities and openings 
 of a tempting nature." 
 
 He laughed softly. 
 
 "The one and only Tamar," he said; and he 
 sank back on the couch with a sigh of relief that
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 179 
 
 he had broken the ice and could now put his mind 
 fearlessly in touch with Tamar's mind. 
 
 " This Hailsham," he said, " is the most 
 dangerous of the band. Perhaps you remember 
 that man at the Meyntoun Moat sale, with whom 
 I had that duel over the Dutch ship. Well, he 
 was Hailsham." 
 
 " Yes, I remember the man," Tamar said 
 innocently. 
 
 " I had received his third letter, and it had up- 
 set me," Steele continued. " So when you sent 
 me that catalogue, Tamar, that unmistakable sym- 
 bol of your forgiveness, I thought I would go and 
 forget my worries at Meyntoun Moat, and have 
 a bit of our old comradeship again. And there 
 I found Hailsham, to my surprise and disgust. 
 So I did a bit of prancing over that Dutch ship 
 probably the last bit of prancing I shall ever do. 
 And mightily I enjoyed it! It was stimulating 
 to me to see him become more and more angry, 
 as I became more and more cool." 
 
 " Yes, it was," Tamar said, with a laugh. " I 
 enjoyed it myself immensely." 
 
 " Of course, he knew I was defying him," 
 Adrian went on. " And when I walked off leav- 
 ing him in possession of the Dutch ship at 200, 
 I really felt I had had a good run for my money." 
 
 " Or rather you should say for his money," 
 Tamar remarked, with a soft chuckle.
 
 i8o OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " Yes," Adrian said, laughing too. " That's 
 more accurate." 
 
 " I was proud of you," Tamar said. " And 
 now that I know in what relationship he stands 
 to you, I'm still prouder of your coolness and 
 courage." 
 
 " Ah, I thought you would be," he said, his 
 face lighting up with pleasure. " I said to myself 
 at the time that, if you knew the circumstances, 
 you would well, rather admire me for the part 
 I was playing." 
 
 " You were right," Tamar said. 
 
 " Of course I was right," he said. " I know 
 you just as you know me. We know each 
 other and love each other." 
 
 " Yes," Tamar said. " I suppose we do." 
 
 He smiled. It was so like Tamar to put it in 
 that way. 
 
 " Hailsham has always hated me because I have 
 despised his particular form of so-called talent," 
 he said, after a pause. " That alone would make 
 him extra dangerous. But so far as money goes, 
 he is not the client whom I have " 
 
 He hesitated. 
 
 Tamar nodded encouragingly, and he went 
 on: 
 
 "Whom I have taxed yes I think that is 
 the suitable and just word taxed to the greatest 
 extent. ' Taxed,' you understand clearly, Tamar,
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 181 
 
 for valuable services which could not be paid for 
 'Well, in the ordinary way." 
 
 " I understand perfectly," Tamar said. " But 
 now you must be quite frank with me, Adrian, and 
 tell me whom you have ' taxed ' to the greatest 
 extent, for we had better go into the whole mat- 
 ter without further delay." 
 
 There was another long period of silence, but 
 at length he made up his mind to disclose the 
 details- of his affairs. 
 
 " John Noble is the client to whom I might be 
 said legally to owe the largest amount," he said. 
 " About 15,000. But though I have had reason 
 to believe that he too was on the track, perhaps 
 I am mistaken after all. For he called at my 
 house to see me this afternoon, and left a note 
 to say that the arrangements for his next play 
 were in my hands as usual. That doesn't point 
 to distrust, does it?" 
 
 " It points to knowledge and forgiveness, I 
 should say," Tamar remarked half to herself. 
 
 " To knowledge and forgiveness," Adrian re- 
 peated, staring straight in front of him. 
 
 Tamar did not heed him. Her thoughts had 
 flown suddenly to Nell Silberthwaite, for an un- 
 erring instinct of jealousy whispered to her that 
 this attitude of Noble's was due to Nell. 
 
 " She told me herself that Noble had thanked 
 her for reminding him of the debt which he owed
 
 1 82 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 to Adrian Steele, and said she had done him a 
 greater service than she knew," Tamar thought. 
 " I depreciated what she had done, because I was 
 jealous. But now it speaks for itself. Yes, she 
 has done a big thing. A triumph for her over 
 me when she learns it. Perhaps she need not 
 learn it, though. Certainly not through me." 
 
 Later, a more generous idea took possession of 
 her. 
 
 " Yes, she must learn it, and through me," she 
 said to herself. " I shall hate telling her. But, 
 if we are going to be fair to each other, she ought 
 to be told. Besides, there is no reason why I 
 should be jealous. It was to me, and not to her, 
 he came for advice. Yes, she ought to be told. 
 And Adrian ought to be told that he owes this 
 service to her. But not now. It would thrust 
 him back into himself at once if he knew that we 
 had learnt anything of his affairs, except through 
 him." 
 
 She was right. Very little would have been 
 wanted to check his confidences even now, in this 
 hour of his need. The effort of speaking about 
 John Noble had been almost too much for him; 
 and Tamar's remark, that perhaps Noble knew 
 and had forgiven, brought back to him in a flash 
 of painful intensity the memory of that friend- 
 ship and close intimacy which he had ruthlessly 
 betrayed.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 183 
 
 " Let us pass on from Noble," he said, in a low, 
 strained voice. " I cannot speak of Noble. I 
 have always loved Noble, and yet I could not spare 
 him. I have always loved him, Tamar. Why 
 could I not spare him?" 
 
 With something like a groan of pain he covered 
 his face with his hands; and Tamar, impelled by 
 a true chivalry, stole out of the inner room to the 
 shop where she sat motionless behind the counter: 
 a sure sign that she was suffering. When she 
 returned, she found that he had recovered his 
 composure, opened his portfolio and arranged his 
 papers methodically on the table, in the old neat 
 fashion which had always been characteristic of 
 him. 
 
 " Now about Noble," he said unflinchingly. 
 " He may know, or he may not know, Tamar. 
 But let us for the moment put him out of the 
 reckoning, and consider those others. Hailsham 
 I have 'taxed' up to about 1,700 perhaps 
 rather more. Sanford and Cecil I have * taxed ' 
 to the amount of 6,000 and 4,000 each. Here 
 are their accounts as presented by me to them, 
 and there are my own private versions of those 
 accounts. You see I have kept two sets of ac- 
 counts. A dangerous but an interesting habit. 
 Now, one of my ideas is that with the help of my 
 own money, I might be able to well, cover up 
 tracks. You see, I've saved a large sum of
 
 1 84 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 money. It isn't as if I were penniless. I have 
 saved 15,000 out of these taxes." 
 
 "Saved 15,000!" Tamar exclaimed, the 
 Jewess in her aroused to appreciation of the sum 
 and concern for its safety. " But what a pity that 
 you should have to sacrifice any of it. I should 
 dislike doing so extremely, even in these particular 
 circumstances. Very reluctantly have I parted 
 with my money at any time, as I dare say you 
 remember." 
 
 " Yes, I remember," Steele said, smiling in 
 spite of himself. " I remember well." 
 
 " I should certainly never dream of sacrificing 
 a farthing for any scheme, unless I could see 
 clearly that it was worth while," Tamar said 
 severely. 
 
 " No, I'm sure you wouldn't," he said, with a 
 laugh. " If you did sacrifice your money for any 
 scheme, one would at least be sure that you had 
 made up your mind that there was very little or 
 no risk involved. But with me it is altogether 
 different. I know you think that all people who 
 touch their capital are both insane and immoral. 
 Perhaps they are. But I have no choice, Tamar. 
 You will soon see that. A crafty and judicious 
 expenditure of that money may save me and 
 may not. But I must risk it in either case. A 
 year or two ago, if this thing had been sprung 
 upon me, I am confident I could have averted the
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 185 
 
 disaster. This last year I've been well I've 
 been reckless and careless especially with Hail- 
 sham. Yet I knew all the time that I was play- 
 ing with fire, in his case. I have a suspicion that 
 my brain got tired of continuous prosperity, and 
 demanded from me a crisis." 
 
 " Well, you've certainly supplied your brain 
 with one now, haven't you?" Tamar said, with 
 a smile which had grave anxiety in it. 
 
 Then without further delay, she gave herself 
 up to the task of studying his accounts, his notes, 
 his statements and other papers relating to his 
 dealings with his clients. She found that she was 
 tremendously helped by the practical knowledge 
 and general information she had gleaned from 
 Hailsham; for she was able to question Adrian 
 Steele in a way which drew from him definite 
 facts and explanations such as he would never 
 have vouchsafed on his own account. 
 
 She saw that he had been appallingly un- 
 scrupulous. He had eliminated matinees, cut off 
 ending weeks of provincial tours, left out the 
 whole returns from some of the obscure towns in 
 America, and annexed, in many instances, the 
 greater part of the fees for translation rights. 
 As she got a stronger grasp of the complications, 
 it began to dawn on her, with an ever-increasing 
 certainty, that Hailsham was right, and that 
 Adrian had become entangled in a mesh from
 
 1 86 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 which there was no escape. But she did not al- 
 low him to see the faintest sign of her amazement 
 and discouragement. She used the very best of 
 her clever resourcefulness to try and hit on some 
 way of substantiating his claim that the deficits, 
 especially in the more recent statements, were 
 merely arrears and outstandings which were now 
 in process of being collected. 
 
 She scribbled out schemes and rejected them, 
 one by one, as impossible. With great reluctance 
 she attempted to apportion that 15,000 in such 
 a manner as to cover up tracks. But the situation 
 appeared to her hopeless. And in any case 
 15,000 was not enough for that purpose. Yet 
 not a single comment of doubt passed her watch- 
 ful lips. On the contrary, she turned to him and 
 said: 
 
 " I see plainly that I shall have to join the com- 
 pany of the insane and immoral, and encourage 
 you to take out your capital." 
 
 " Ah, Tamar, I knew you would come round 
 when you had got the hang of the thing," he said; 
 and he rose and walked up and down the room, 
 looking now at a piece of Capo di Monte, and 
 now at an old benitier hanging on the wall. It 
 struck her how curiously detached he had sud- 
 denly become from his own affairs. He seemed 
 far more interested in the antiques. 
 
 He sat down after a time, and she noticed that
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 187 
 
 he ceased to make suggestions, or to exert his 
 brain to any great extent. Then it was that she 
 realized with a tender pitifulness, which increased 
 her reawakened deep love for him, that he was 
 worn out, and mentally unable to cope with the 
 disaster which confronted him. She remembered 
 of old that he hated any allusion to his mental or 
 physical fatigue; and she pretended to ignore his 
 passiveness, and continued to behave towards him 
 as if he were collaborating with her in this labor, 
 instead of leaving it to her alone. 
 
 But when, later on, she asked him a question 
 about one of Sanford's plays, which, to her joy, 
 apparently had a clean record, and could there- 
 fore safely be sent in as an example of Adrian's 
 " honorable dealings," she saw that he was fast 
 asleep. 
 
 For quite half an hour she scarcely moved. 
 She touched books, letters and papers with a 
 noiselessness of which no one except herself would 
 have been capable. At last, when the lapse of 
 time had made it clear that he was in a deep sleep 
 of exhaustion, she rose, crept like a mouse out of 
 the inner room, and returned with a soft warm 
 shawl which she spread over him. Then she fed 
 the fire. She lifted each piece of coal with studied 
 care, and glanced anxiously at Adrian to reassure 
 herself that she was not disturbing him. 
 
 So Tamar watched over him, guarding him
 
 1 88 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 from all ill, as she would fain have guarded him 
 from the disaster which she clearly saw was 
 threatening his outer circumstances. There he 
 rested, in his own place, in his own niche in the 
 inner room; and as she bent over the little master- 
 ful presence, and looked at the keen intellectual 
 face, she knew for certain that she had never 
 banished him from the niche in her heart of 
 hearts, and that the love with which she had 
 struggled and battled these seven long dreary 
 years had but been gathering added strength, 
 against which no further resistance was possible. 
 But she did not wish to resist. 
 
 She was thankful, thankful to give in at last. 
 Yes, he had spoken true words. He and she 
 were one. They were comrades by nature, meant 
 for each other. They knew each other through 
 and through, and no mere details of chance could 
 alter this root fact, either for him or for her. 
 Alpenrose, his little fairy daughter, might claim 
 the purest, tenderest part of his heart: his wife 
 might claim the inner shrine of the temple : Nell, 
 or any other woman, might claim a secret altar 
 within the sacred precincts; but she, Tamar, held 
 die key which unlocked the clasped book where 
 her name, and her name only, was written in im- 
 perishable characters. She knew that, as surely 
 as she knew that his name was engraven in her 
 heart, and set in precious stones found in rarest
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 189 
 
 rock, and that no tyranny of soul and spirit which 
 he had exercised on her in the past: no scorn and 
 cruelty which he had shown her when he had 
 wearied of the task of conquering her sullen 
 temperament: no estrangement, however long 
 drawn out: no memory of humiliated pride, and 
 no triumph of mental rebirth could, in essence, 
 separate her from him, or him from her. 
 
 They belonged to each other by reason of their 
 natures, their outlook, their methods, their aims 
 and ambitions. This very predicament in which 
 he now found himself, might well have been hers, 
 given the same conditions and the same possi- 
 bilities : for their temptations, tacitly admitted by 
 them both, had always been identical. 
 
 She shook her head, sorrowfully for herself and 
 her own dishonorable tendencies, as well as for 
 those of Adrian Steele. She wondered whether 
 in union, since they loved each other, they could 
 have kept each other in check; or whether they 
 would only have accentuated each other's failings, 
 and prepared for themselves a double disaster. 
 Or would they have been able to pursue their 
 chosen course with added carefulness, and thus 
 save themselves from the disgrace of ever being 
 found out? Which would it have been? She 
 could not say. But at least they would have been 
 together, and if ruin were to have been their 
 portion, they could have faced it side by side.
 
 190 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 Whereas now, he stood alone, and she stood alone. 
 She had not even the right to share his mis- 
 fortunes. 
 
 "But why shouldn't I make the right?" she 
 said to herself almost fiercely. " Yes, I will make 
 the right. If it's true that money can help to 
 solve the problem, what is there to prevent me 
 from adding some of my own money to that 
 15,000, so as to raise a sufficient sum at once 
 to pay off all the arrears, and with accumulated 
 interest too ? There is nothing to prevent me 
 nothing, except my own reluctance to part with 
 my money. But I could overcome that for his 
 sake, if I could make sure that money would save 
 and reestablish his honor." 
 
 This was her thought one minute, and the next 
 minute her love had soared higher. She would 
 sacrifice her money on the barest chance of 
 rescuing him from his difficulties. And now her 
 love took an eagle's flight: she would sacrifice her 
 money on no chance at all that either he or she 
 could see. So in this way, at least, she could link 
 her life with his, if only for a passing crisis. 
 
 With an excitement which had something truly 
 pathetic in it, she began to count up her consider- 
 able investments, and to plan how she could best 
 realize on some of her valuable antiques. Yes, 
 she would part with this, she would part with that. 
 One or two of the dealers would only too gladly
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 191 
 
 secure some of her treasures; and Bramfield, her 
 jewel-merchant friend, would, of course, buy her 
 rubies and her finest pearls. In the midst of her 
 calculations, she had a sudden attack of misgiving, 
 and turned again to Adrian's accounts and state- 
 ments to satisfy herself that there was some faint 
 hope of warding off the danger by money. But 
 soon all personal concern was .again swept away 
 in sorrowful pity for his plight and in a passionate 
 determination to stand by him at all costs. 
 
 " No, he shall not be allowed to lose hope as 
 long as I can keep hope alive in him," she said. 
 " He must be encouraged to believe that we can 
 straighten things out. If I put my money into 
 the venture, he will believe it." 
 
 She glanced at him, and she shuddered a little. 
 
 " No, he shall not be allowed to lose hope," she 
 said. " If he loses hope, nothing remains for him 
 except " 
 
 She broke off. Hailsham's words came back to 
 her : " // / were Adrian Steele, I know what I 
 should do." 
 
 " No, no not that," she whispered; and she 
 covered her face with her hands, in an effort to 
 shut out the vision which rose before her. 
 
 The shop door rang. She heard it, and this 
 time hastened to answer it, so as to prevent a 
 repetition of the jarring sound which might arouse 
 Adrian Steele from his sleep. She stole out of
 
 192 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 the inner room and closed the door. She found 
 her jewel-merchant friend, Christopher Bramfield, 
 in the shop. 
 
 " T. Scott," he said eagerly, " I thought I must 
 just look in upon you for a few minutes. I want 
 you to see this opal, which will delight your heart 
 and eyes. I myself have never seen one that I 
 like better. Isn't he a handsome fellow? " 
 
 " Yes," she said, taking it mechanically in her 
 hands and holding it up to the light. 
 
 " And this red tourmaline," he said. " What 
 do you think of it? Isn't it amazingly like a very 
 fine ruby ? " 
 
 " Yes," Tamar answered, without interest or 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 " And here I have a few choice little rubies of 
 finest water," he went on. " I know you love to 
 see them all together." 
 
 He opened a little packet, and displayed about 
 a hundred little rubies of extraordinary brilliancy. 
 He poured them like a magic cascade on to a 
 piece of tissue paper, and with a tiny pair of 
 forceps separated them out from each other. At 
 another time Tamar would have been thrilled 
 with delight, for she dearly loved to feast her eyes 
 on a glittering mass of precious stones. But 
 to-day she just glanced at them, and nodded her 
 head with listless approval. 
 
 "Aren't you well, T. Scott?" Bramfield said,
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 193 
 
 staring at her in disappointment, for this was not 
 the T. Scott to whom he was accustomed: the T. 
 Scott who worshiped precious stones and whose 
 greatest delight was to drop in at Ludgate Circus, 
 where he had his offices, and sit enraptured, whilst 
 he showed her diamonds, rubies, sapphires, 
 emeralds, and every kind of precious or semi- 
 precious stone. 
 
 " Aren't you well? " he repeated. 
 
 She did not seem to hear or heed his ques- 
 tion. 
 
 "Mr. Bramfield," she said dreamily, " if I want 
 to sell some of my stones, I suppose you will take 
 them from me, or arrange about them?" 
 
 "Sell some of your stones?" he asked in 
 astonishment. " Well, of course, if you want to 
 sell them, I'll do anything you wish. That you 
 know well, don't you ? But it's scarcely credible." 
 
 " I want to sell them," she said doggedly. 
 
 "Well, I'd better see them now," Bramfield 
 said, making for the inner room. 
 
 " No, no," Tamar said hastily. " Not now. 
 Don't go in there now. Some one is asleep 
 there." 
 
 " Who is it? " he demanded. 
 
 " That's my affair, Mr. Bramfield," Tamar said 
 proudly. 
 
 " I beg your pardon, T. Scott," he said humbly. 
 
 He replaced his jewels in his pocket, and was
 
 194 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 preparing to be off, when he began to fumble in 
 his coat pocket, and brought out a little box. 
 
 " By the way," he said, " Willoughby wrote, in 
 response to my letter, that he had bought those 
 rubies from a young clergyman by name of Forest. 
 Here they are. They're not bad; but the color 
 is unequal, isn't it? And there are pretty bad 
 feathers in them. Still I agree with you that they 
 are attractive in their way. Well, I'll go now. 
 And about the stones, you know I would do any- 
 thing for you, don't you? But don't sell them. 
 Take my advice. Keep them. If you are in 
 difficulties, just remember that you have a friend 
 who'd never fail you." 
 
 Tamar nodded sulkily, and Bramfield hurried 
 off, but not without a puzzled and anxious glance 
 towards that inner room. She watched him dis- 
 appear, and stood for a moment contrasting his 
 tall and handsome presence with that tired and 
 broken little figure in the inner room. She had 
 made her choice between Bramfield and Steele 
 years ago, and had held to it unflinchingly, 
 throughout every phase of her desolation. Nell 
 had passed on and found consolation and strength 
 in the love of another man; but she, Tamar, had 
 never passed on. If any one could have helped 
 her to forget, it was Christopher Bramfield, who 
 had loved her, wanted her for his wife, and when 
 she had refused him, remained her true and
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 195 
 
 honorable friend. But she could not pass on. 
 She had waited, unconsciously, perhaps; yet she 
 had waited. 
 
 ' Yes," she said aloud, " I have waited." 
 
 As she spoke, she suddenly became aware of the 
 crucifix rubies which she had wished to possess, 
 and which she was now holding unnoticed in the 
 palm of her right hand. She looked at them, and 
 her thoughts sped instantly to Richard Forest. 
 
 " Something set apart," she said. 
 
 She put the stones into her pocket-book. 
 
 " What would he say about all this cheating of 
 Adrian's, I wonder?" she asked herself. 
 
 " Well, well, that's neither here nor there," she 
 answered herself brusquely. " It's not his affair." 
 
 But she could not immediately banish Richard 
 Forest from her mind, and her thoughts lingered 
 awhile with him in that lonely vicarage, in that 
 desolate little hamlet, cut off from the activities 
 of the world. He had written to say that he had 
 begun the repairs of the church, and that he hoped 
 she would come and see what was being done with 
 her gifts, which had made him exceedingly happy. 
 She remembered this now, and she smiled. 
 
 " Adrian would be amused if he learnt that his 
 check for 19 was helping to repair a church," 
 she said. " But he would not grudge it to 
 Richard Forest if he knew him." 
 
 For an instant an idea presented itself. That
 
 196 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 desolate little place would be a safe retreat for any 
 one in trouble. How would it be to persuade 
 Adrian to go there out of reach and in seclusion, 
 whilst she tried to arrange his affairs? So far, 
 one thing only was clear to her in the intricate 
 problem confronting her. It was this: he must 
 be prevented from seeing any of these people who 
 were pursuing him. He was, in his present con- 
 dition, too broken to hold his own against them. 
 He must be urged to rest and recover himself in 
 circumstances which would ensure him freedom 
 from harassing interviews and hostile encounters. 
 Yes, it was a good idea to send him to Richard 
 Forest. 
 
 With a smile of tender protectiveness, Tamar 
 stole back to her post. She fed the fire, and 
 kneeling down, added another warm covering to 
 the shawl which she had spread over Adrian 
 Steele. The late evening wore into the night, 
 and the night into the dawn. He still slept, and 
 Tamar still watched with untiring and anxious 
 care.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 VT7"HEN Adrian Steele awoke from his long 
 * * sleep of exhaustion, he was at first amazed 
 to find himself in the inner room of Tamar's shop. 
 But gradually his ideas arranged themselves, and 
 he remembered how utter weariness of brain had 
 crept over him whilst he was trying to explain to 
 her his complicated affairs, how he had heard her 
 later questionings as in a dream, vaguely, and 
 how, finally, he had heard some kind of murmur 
 which did not reach him in any intelligible form. 
 Then followed oblivion, from which he now 
 emerged as the clock was striking the hour of five. 
 Yes, here he was in Tamar's home again, 
 amongst all the antiques which had always in- 
 terested him in the past. How natural it was to 
 see them. How natural, too, to be resting on the 
 little Jacobean couch. And there was un- 
 doubtedly Tamar bending over her roller desk. 
 A comfortable fire in the room too: an extraor- 
 dinary phenomenon, that. This, oddly enough, 
 impressed him more than anything else in the 
 situation. It amused him fearfully, but touched 
 him too. 
 
 197
 
 198 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " She has been ruining herself in coals for my 
 sake," he thought. 
 
 " Tamar," he said aloud. 
 
 Tamar rose from her chair and came to him. 
 
 " I'm glad you've awakened," she said. " I've 
 been anxious about you." 
 
 "Did you think I was dead?" he said. 
 " Well, you see I'm not. A tired, worn-out brain ; 
 not a dead body. But perhaps there is not much 
 difference. Look here, Tamar, I want to say 
 something to you. You have been ruining your- 
 self in coals all the night, to keep me warm. I 
 tremble to think what you've spent in coals for 
 my sake. Thank you. Very handsomely have 
 you behaved. I shouldn't have thought it of you, 
 but I've been mistaken. One of my many mis- 
 takes, Tamar. And how about some coffee? I 
 think I'd better make that. You were never good 
 at making coffee. Other virtues you had, but not 
 that!" 
 
 She smiled to hear his old teasing tone again, 
 and pointed to the coffee-pot which she had put 
 ready for his use. 
 
 " I knew you'd want coffee, and I knew you'd 
 make that remark," she said, with a soft laugh. 
 
 ' There is very little about me that you have 
 not known," he said. " When I look back 
 well, it's no use looking back or forward. I 
 tell you I'm fearfully, frightfully happy to be here
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 199 
 
 again. Let us enjoy this present moment. But 
 we can't enjoy it without milk, Tamar. Now 
 don't tell me that because you've been extravagant 
 in coal, you must be stingy in milk! Shall I 
 fetch it from the well-known empty larder? " 
 
 She laughed and nodded. She was frightfully 
 happy herself. 
 
 He sprang up from the couch, and was passing 
 through the kitchen, when he turned round and 
 surveyed his surroundings. 
 
 " Tamar, you've got a number of new things 
 which you must explain to me," he said. " And 
 I must also demand that the iron safe be unlocked, 
 and that you show me your own private precious 
 stones, including that superb piece of magnesia 
 bottle which you fondly believed to be a fine 
 sapphire. By the way, did you put it in your 
 book?" 
 
 " Go and fetch the milk," she said, with her 
 sullen smile. " We'll unlock the safe when we've 
 had some coffee." 
 
 He went off, and returned with a milk jug and 
 some scones on a plate. 
 
 " Aha, I have found some old friends which 
 will toast nicely," he said boyishly. " Many a 
 time I've thought of these scones, Tamar, and 
 regretted them exceedingly. They used to tempt 
 me to eat when nothing else would. Do you 
 remember? "
 
 200 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " Yes," she said, watching him closely as he 
 began the preparations for breakfast, of which he 
 appeared to have taken entire charge. She was 
 thinking how amazing it was that he was able in 
 this way to detach his mind from his anxieties and 
 take his part in the set of circumstances provided 
 for him at the moment, by fate. 
 
 She knew it, of course, to be only a merciful 
 suspension, and realized that, at any minute, a 
 peremptory knock of summons would come to the 
 door of his brain. But meantime he was un- 
 disturbed and unharassed, and she was beyond all 
 telling grateful and proud that she, and no one 
 else, had been chosen to accord him this reprieve. 
 
 " Let's open the safe now, Tamar, before you 
 turn sulky," he said gaily, in the midst of toasting 
 a scone. " You used to have trays and trays of 
 rings, and boxes full of enameled watches, and an 
 unfailing supply of cameo brooches for the Amer- 
 icans. I should like to see everything you have 
 rings and watches and vinaigrettes and neck- 
 laces and purses of beadwork and pomanders 
 everything and above all, your stones, espe- 
 cially your rubies. Out with them, Tamar. Put 
 them all on the table where we can see them 
 properly. You always hated doing that, didn't 
 you? And I always hated having to poke my 
 head into the safe. That's right. Why, you 
 have improved! You're quite obliging! Ah,
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 201 
 
 there's my old friend, the piece of magnesia bot- 
 tle ! What a fine specimen ! I should know it 
 anywhere even on the marble floor of heaven." 
 
 She did not speak a word as she brought out 
 all her treasures and laid them on the table, but 
 she was secretly enraptured to hear once more his 
 playful teasing of her, which had been his own 
 peculiar and characteristic form of making love to 
 her. She had longed to hear it all these dreary 
 years, and now that the music of it broke upon 
 the paralyzing silence, she realized all it had 
 meant to her in the past. Here was his gentle 
 fun again, his boyishness, his lovableness, his 
 charm, and added to this, his trust in her and his 
 love for her and his happiness in being with her. 
 There was no mistaking that. Adrian, as he 
 divided himself between his " domestic duties " 
 and his delight over her possessions, was the 
 picture of happiness. 
 
 " Here's your coffee, my Tamar," he said. 
 " Made in my best fashion. Good gracious, what 
 a beautiful pendant! I wonder where you got 
 that from. And here's your scone. Now you 
 can't find any fault with the toasting of it, so don't 
 try. I say, that's a fine ring, and no mistake. 
 One of your best rubies, I suppose. Why, I've 
 forgotten the sugar. No, don't interfere, Tamar. 
 You don't really think I need to be told where the 
 sugar is kept in this establishment? Of course I
 
 202 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 remember that it's in yon black cupboard, in the 
 ugly old ginger jar which I never allowed you to 
 sell. Woe unto you if you've sold it now." 
 
 He opened the black cupboard, and there stood 
 the old ginger jar in its accustomed corner. He 
 took it in his hands, put it on the table, and 
 turned round slowly to her. 
 
 " How was it I missed my way, I wonder? " he 
 said, half to himself. " Can you tell?" 
 
 She made no answer. She pretended to test 
 the hinges of an old porcelain snuff-box. 
 
 " I was a fool," he said, with intense sadness. 
 " Yes, I was a fool, and did not realize that I had 
 found my true home, my true mate. If I had 
 realized it, all the tyranny of my nature would 
 have broken down, and you would not have learnt 
 to hate me." 
 
 " I did not learn to hate you, Adrian," she said 
 in a low voice. " I have tried and failed." 
 
 " Tamar, Tamar," he cried, " I have never 
 really loved any one but you none of the others 
 really neither Nell nor nor my wife 
 yes, I say it I say it because it is true true. 
 You've been the one I've loved, and I have been 
 mad to lose you I " 
 
 He broke off, for at that moment his leather 
 paper-case fell down from Tamar's desk, with a 
 thud, to the floor. He glanced at it, and his spell 
 of forgetfulness came to a sudden end. He
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 203 
 
 stooped and picked it up, and Tamar collected the 
 scattered documents. A look of great pain and 
 fear came over his countenance as he watched her. 
 He seemed to shrink into even frailer form and 
 tinier stature. 
 
 " I suppose you have made nothing of my 
 my impossible complications," he said slowly. 
 
 " Oh, yes, I have," Tamar answered firmly. 
 " I made a careful study last night of your po- 
 sition. I'm not sure yet, but I think I do see a 
 way out. Mercifully there's your capital. I'm 
 quite reconciled now to your parting with it. And 
 I go farther. As you have not enough money 
 saved to reimburse these ' taxes ' of yours, I am 
 ready to put some of my money into the ven- 
 ture." 
 
 "Your money, Tamar?" he exclaimed in joy- 
 ful surprise. 
 
 She nodded. 
 
 "Your money?" he repeated excitedly. "If 
 you are willing to do that, then you must indeed 
 believe that there is a fair chance of dealing with 
 the situation." 
 
 " Yes, I do believe it," she said. " You know 
 perfectly well that I don't part with my money 
 lightly. No one would get me to." 
 
 " You put fresh courage into me, Tamar," he 
 said, holding out both his hands. " You make a 
 new man of me. Last night I believed that I had
 
 204 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 had my innings, and that the game was up. But 
 if you think that there may possibly be some 
 solution to the problem, why, there must be. For 
 after my own brain, which has failed me yes, I 
 know it has failed me yours is the only other 
 brain which I could and would trust. You 
 wouldn't mislead me, would you? " 
 
 " No, I wouldn't mislead you," she said slowly. 
 " I am prepared to raise three or four thousand 
 pounds. I shall see it all back, with interest at 5 
 per cent., I am confident. No, rather say 6 per 
 cent." 
 
 " Any per cent, you like I " he exclaimed. 
 " The great point is that you believe there is a 
 chance of squaring matters. If I can only get out 
 of this network, I can soon pay off the loan. I 
 can still make large sums of money, even if I have 
 to run straight. And I intend to run straight. 
 I made that vow to myself when I was battling 
 for my little girl's life. Of course, any per cent, 
 you wish! How like you to think of that! But 
 you are quite right. Business is business. Al- 
 ways the old Tamar, I see." 
 
 " Yes," Tamar said. 
 
 She had turned her back to him for the mo- 
 ment, and he did not see the expression of true 
 sacrifice on her face as she accepted from him the 
 usual imputation of avariciousness, which she had, 
 on this occasion at least, deliberately assumed in
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 205 
 
 order to mislead him. But she was rewarded by 
 the success of her secret plan. He was reborn. 
 
 " Yes," she said again, as she took up one of 
 his sets of accounts and glanced at it. u Business 
 is business. But I tell you frankly that I should 
 not consent to mix myself up with the monetary 
 side of this affair, if you had not been able to show 
 two or three clean records amongst the plays. 
 This play of Sanford's, for instance The Guest, 
 and Cecil's One Nail Drives out Another, and 
 Hailsham's Winning Number. It is a good thing 
 you took that precaution." 
 
 He smiled. 
 
 " I thought and planned it all out carefully at 
 the time," he said. 
 
 The smile faded at once. 
 
 " I only wish I could plan now," he said. " I 
 can't, Tamar. It's a most curious thing, but I 
 positively can't. I feel well, I can only tell 
 you I feel outside of my own skin. I could not 
 make a plan to save my life." 
 
 " Don't try to do it," she said. " I'll plan for 
 you. Now listen, Adrian. First of all you must 
 go home and tell your wife that you were taken 
 ill and were brought to my shop, where you 
 remained the whole night. If she wishes to come 
 and assure herself of facts, she can do so. The 
 only thing you need not tell her, unless you wish 
 it, is that we are known to each other. I don't
 
 206 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 suppose she has heard of my existence from you, 
 so that this item would seem to be unnecessary. 
 But that is for you to decide. Needless to say, if 
 she comes to see me, she will never learn from me 
 that you are anything to me, except a stranger 
 brought to my gates. Unless, of course, you wish 
 otherwise." 
 
 " No, no, I don't wish it otherwise," he said 
 gravely. " It is better so. * A stranger brought 
 to your gates.' ' 
 
 Tamar nodded in a businesslike fashion, and 
 dismissed the matter from her mind. Grace evi- 
 dently did not count in her estimate of the im- 
 portances of life. 
 
 " And now we come to something far more 
 vital," she continued. " If your little child con- 
 tinues to recover, I want you, in a few days, to go 
 away out of every one's reach. For a few days 
 you'll be able to refuse to see people, for the 
 simple reason that you have serious illness in the 
 house. And afterwards, I am convinced, it would 
 be safer for you not to risk running across any of 
 the band. I lay great stress on this. You are 
 not at your best, in fact, you are at your very 
 worst, and you might be taken at a disadvantage, 
 and might injure your own cause." 
 
 " Yes," he said, " I know that. And I suppose 
 that's why I dread seeing any of them. If I felt 
 more fit, there is nothing I should enjoy so much.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 207 
 
 Nothing, Tamar. But at present there is no 
 prancing in me. All the same, I can't go away. 
 I could not leave my little child. I could not 
 dream of leaving Alpenrose. That would be 
 quite impossible. Entirely impossible." 
 
 " Very well," Tamar said, making up her mind 
 secretly not to press him. " But promise me that 
 you'll see no one and do nothing until you've 
 heard from me. Don't answer any of these let- 
 ters until you've heard from me. Promise me 
 that. It would relieve my anxiety." 
 
 " I promise, gladly enough too," he answered. 
 " I'll see no one, and I'll do nothing., But it is 
 certain that I have definitely joined the great 
 company of irresponsibles, isn't it, Tamar?" 
 
 " Don't be absurd," Tamar said, turning 
 away. 
 
 He covered his eyes with his hand for a 
 moment. 
 
 " It isn't absurd," he said at length, " and you 
 know it. I've joined that company, laid down 
 my burden, and you've taken it up for me. But 
 there is this amount of difference between me and 
 most of them. I know what you are doing for 
 me with that clever brain of yours. I know, my 
 Tamar. In no way have I deserved it. That 
 must be obvious to you as well as to me." 
 
 " Those who need each other, have to seek each 
 other out," Tamar answered.
 
 io8 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " Then in time you would have sought me 
 out?" he asked anxiously. 
 
 " Yes, I suppose so," she said, " especially if 
 like yourself I had got myself into difficulties." 
 
 " Ah, that's the test," he said, " the test of one's 
 love, one's fundamental love and imperishable 
 trust. And you're sure you would have come to 
 me?" 
 
 " Yes not willingly, but I should have 
 come," she answered. " You you may make 
 your mind easy about that. I should have come 
 because because I could not have helped my- 
 self." 
 
 " Thank you for telling me," he said gently, 
 and he stood watching her wistfully as she sorted 
 out from his papers the special documents she 
 wanted and put them in the top drawer of her 
 desk. 
 
 He came near to her. 
 
 " Tamar," he said, " I know you love me, but 
 you have not said so once." 
 
 She looked up at him. 
 
 " I love you," she said. 
 
 He came nearer to her. 
 
 " Tamar," he said in a voice that trembled, 
 " never once have I held you in my arms. Might 
 it be now?" 
 
 "Why not?" she answered, as though to her- 
 self. "Why not?"
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 209 
 
 So for the first and last time in their lives they 
 stood folded in each other's arms, in a silence 
 which had something of sacredness in it. 
 
 The next moment he had gone. 
 
 The clock was striking eight when Adrian Steele 
 pressed the bell at his own front door and passed 
 into his home. He found his wife and the whole 
 household in a state of great agitation over his 
 mysterious absence. His wife had been sitting up 
 all night, and as soon as the early morning had 
 come, she had telephoned to the doctor to con- 
 sult with him what should be done to find Adrian. 
 They both agreed that he must have been taken 
 ill, and had probably been received into one of 
 the hospitals. They were telephoning to several 
 of the hospitals when he arrived amongst them, 
 looking haggard and ashen, and apparently at his 
 last gasp of strength. 
 
 " Yes, you are right, I have been taken ill," he 
 explained. " I suppose I must have collapsed in 
 the street. No, I haven't been to an hospital. I 
 appear to have been conveyed to a second-hand 
 antique jewelry shop, and the owner, a Jewess, 
 watched over me. I understand I passed from a 
 long unconsciousness into a long sleep. When I 
 awoke, she gave me coffee, and here I am, restored 
 and in my right mind." 
 
 " Not restored," the doctor said, shaking his
 
 210 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 head. " You ought to go away for a change, 
 Steele. You're worn out." 
 
 " Yes," Grace said, half crying as she spoke. 
 " He has half killed himself over little Alpenrose." 
 
 " Nonsense, nonsense," Steele said gently. " I 
 admit I am not myself. Brain fatigue. That's 
 all. It will pass. Apparently I have to sleep 
 after one of these attacks. I assure you I could 
 sleep for hours now, doctor. Most curious. My 
 brain won't work. Nothing could make it work. 
 It shuts up like an oyster. I try to think, and I 
 can't." 
 
 They got him to bed, but not until after he 
 had satisfied himself that Alpenrose was going on 
 well. He sat by the child's bedside for a little 
 while, guarded her with all his wonted tenderness, 
 caressed the black doll, kissed the little darling 
 hands he loved so well, and when he was alone 
 with her, whispered some confidences to her, the 
 import of which was known only to himself. 
 
 " Yes, little one dear," he murmured, " it will 
 be all right this time. Tamar will see me through. 
 She won't desert me. She'll see me through. 
 And there won't be another time, Alpenrose, my 
 sweet. I've promised you that. I'll have a clean, 
 snow-white record after this. Like an untouched 
 Alpine snowfield. It will be all right this time." 
 
 As he bent over the child, the expression on his 
 face was one of ineffable nobleness and purity,
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 211 
 
 free from all touch of craft, contrivance, treachery, 
 deceit. His love for Alpenrose had ever brought 
 out the best in his nature, and the best in him was 
 triumphant now, transfiguring his countenance, 
 lifting him up on wings, wafting him to the temple 
 of ideals, opening the inner door of the secret 
 shrine for him to enter and seek renewal. If his 
 picture could have been painted at this moment, it 
 would have been the presentment of some fine 
 and lofty spirit, attuned to the music of distant 
 vision. And who can say that it would have been 
 a false portrait of him, since it was true of him 
 when that side of his complex character was in as- 
 cendancy? 
 
 His wife led him away, and he tried to allay 
 her fears about him, and to make light of what he 
 called his " temporary surrender to inexplicable 
 fatigue." She spoke with gratitude of the kind- 
 ness and care shown him by the dealer in antique 
 jewelry, and told Adrian that she should make 
 a point of writing and calling at once to thank the 
 Jewess. She asked for the name and address of 
 his friend in need, and Adrian Steele smiled im- 
 perceptibly as he breathed the words, " T. Scott, 
 Dean Street." He thought that he would give a 
 good deal to be invisibly present at that interview. 
 
 He knew that Tamar would be impersonal and 
 impervious, and that Grace would never guess from 
 her manner that he had been anything else but a
 
 212 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " stranger brought to her gates." He knew that 
 Tamar would be at her worst, sullen and disagree- 
 able, and that Grace, whilst remaining grateful, 
 would nevertheless be relieved to find this curious 
 person devoid of all attractive charm. He knew 
 all this, and the imperceptible smile strengthened 
 itself into a perceptible expression of amusement 
 which lit up his tired face. But it passed away 
 as he gave his wife instructions that if any one 
 called to see him on urgent business, the hospital 
 nurse was to receive the visitor and explain to 
 him that there was very serious illness in the house, 
 and that Mr. Steele requested him to write rather 
 than seek a personal interview. 
 
 " Why the nurse, Adrian dear? " Grace asked. 
 "Why not I myself?" 
 
 " Because a hospital nurse is the outward and 
 visible sign of illness in the house," he answered 
 firmly. " And I wish it to be known that there is 
 illness here; not mine, but the child's. You un- 
 derstand, dear, not mine, but the child's. This is 
 my wish. Will you have it carried out? " 
 
 " Yes, of course," she answered, a little un- 
 easily. 
 
 As she was nearing the door, she turned round 
 and went back to his bed, and knelt down by his 
 side. 
 
 " Adrian," she said nervously, " are you then 
 expecting any one to call on urgent business? Are
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 213 
 
 you by any chance in trouble? I thought you 
 seemed so upset the other day when you heard that 
 Mr. Noble was here. I beg of you to tell me. You 
 must know that there is nothing I would not do 
 for you. You've always been good and kind to 
 me. But sometimes sometimes I I 
 wish you would confide in me more." 
 
 He stroked her head soothingly, and was silent 
 for a moment. He was thinking of what he 
 should say to her. He at last decided that it would 
 be better to tell her a minute portion of the truth, 
 in order to allay her suspicions and gratify her 
 love. 
 
 " Grace dear," he said, " it has never been my 
 habit to confide in people. Reticence has ever 
 been part of my nature. It does not imply dis- 
 trust in you, of all people. It does not imply 
 anything. It stands merely for a temperamental 
 necessity. But since you ask me, I will tell you 
 frankly that I have had a really annoying contre- 
 temps with one of my clients not John Noble. 
 This troublesome client of mine is one of these up- 
 start bounders, you know, who get a swollen head 
 from a sudden and undeserved success. He is dis- 
 appointed because his returns do not reach his ex- 
 aggerated expectations. Until I have decided 
 whether or not to sue him for libel, of which I 
 have ample proofs, I want to avoid being ques- 
 tioned on the subject by any of my other clients.
 
 214 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 I might myself say libelous things which would 
 destroy my own case. Do you see? So that it is 
 better for me not to see any one for a day or two. 
 That is all. Meanwhile, I'll rest and recover, and 
 little Alpenrose's illness offers a legitimate expla- 
 nation of my invisibility. Don't be worried about 
 me. I shall be quite myself in a few days, and 
 more than able to deal with any business annoy- 
 ance." 
 
 " My poor Adrian, and you have been bearing 
 this trouble as well as Alpenrose's illness," she 
 said, with pity. " No wonder you're worn out." 
 
 " I assure you, I never thought of it once dur- 
 ing the time when the child was in danger," he said 
 truthfully. " But now that the crisis is over, one 
 has to look round." 
 
 " Thank you for telling me," she said, as she 
 rose to leave him. " You have made me very 
 happy by taking me into your confidence. And 
 be sure, dear, that all your instructions shall be 
 carried out in the way you wish. I quite under- 
 stand. Try and not worry about that man. When 
 you're stronger, you will think of the wisest thing 
 to do, and do it wisely." 
 
 After she had gone, Adrian Steele lay thinking 
 of her and of the gulf which, unknown to her, 
 stretched between them, little Alpenrose being the 
 fairy bridge over which they passed, he consciously, 
 his wife unconsciously, to reach each other. Well,
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 215 
 
 life brought that. It could not be helped. He 
 dismissed Grace without effort from his mind, and 
 his thoughts sped to Tamar, and lingered lov- 
 ingly in the inner room, where he and she had 
 spent so many hours of comradeship, and where, 
 for the first time to-day, this very morning, they 
 had stood folded in each other's arms in a passion- 
 ate love which sought expression too late too 
 late. Why had he discarded her when, after much 
 battling, he had won her love in the past? What 
 devil in him had ever prompted him, out of sheer 
 masterfulness, to compel a reluctant heart to love 
 him, and then to turn aside as one having no con- 
 cern with the havoc which he had deliberately con- 
 trived ? 
 
 He thought of Nell, whom in the past he had 
 wished to dominate because she was a modern 
 product, on which he had not until then had the 
 chance of trying his devastating influence. He 
 had called Nell " his best psychological experi- 
 ment " until he met Tamar, whose sullenness had 
 interested and attracted him from the first. Where 
 had he first seen Tamar? Ah, yes. At a sale 
 near Westleton, in Suffolk. He remembered tell- 
 ing Nell that he had made the acquaintance of the 
 very rudest person that ever walked this earth. 
 He smiled now as he recalled his old remark about 
 her: " Manners for minerals only. No one else 
 need apply." He laughed gently, tenderly over
 
 216 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 all his old memories of her, and he knew it to be 
 true that he had always loved her and understood 
 her, and that his only home was her obstinate and 
 sullen heart. He had cared for Nell in a way; 
 but not in this way. No, his feelings for Nell, in 
 spite of his unkindness to her, had been those of 
 sincere regard and reverence. Though he had 
 tried to wreck her, he was fully conscious that 
 there was something in her which he could not 
 reach, some idealism kept intact from all hurtful 
 influence. To this idealism he looked up wonder- 
 ingly, as to a star: distant, unreachable, but clear 
 shining in the firmament of his life. And when he 
 went to see her once more, after the lapse of many 
 years, he had again caught a glimpse of the light 
 which lit up her spirit, and a feeble glimmer in his 
 own spirit had signaled to that far-off beacon in 
 reverent recognition, made more reverent by a 
 better knowledge of life and character. 
 
 He knew that he had to thank Nell for that 
 faint remaining glimmer; and he thanked her now, 
 and mingled her memory with other beautiful and 
 purifying thoughts, the snow mountains which they 
 had both loved passionately, the Alpine glow, the 
 glacier rivers, the ice cathedrals, the snow-laden 
 pines, the spring flowers. How often in the past 
 they had talked of, and read together of the moun- 
 tains !
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 217 
 
 The mountains, the mountains. He was seized 
 with an intense longing for them. And why 
 shouldn't he go to them? If it should prove that 
 he needed a change, and Alpenrose continued to 
 recover, why shouldn't he go to his own little fa- 
 vorite mountain village, lovely little Wassen, with 
 its church perched on a hill, and its wild and lonely 
 walks leading over the mountains and far away? 
 Tamar had said that he ought to go away. Well, 
 and why not there ? No, no, of course he must not 
 go out of England. He must be within reach of 
 Tamar. She would want to consult him, to refer 
 things to him. She would spare him all she could, 
 but it would be necessary for her to see him. No, 
 no, of course he must not leave England. 
 
 At last his tired brain gave out and he fell asleep 
 and dreamed, not of Tamar, nor Nell, nor busi- 
 ness, but of the Alpine glow which fired the trees 
 with a golden red radiance and covered the snow- 
 white mountains with a mantle of mystic purple 
 light. He must have dreamed too of the spring 
 flowers, for more than once he murmured some- 
 thing about " the first little soldanella" 
 
 Meanwhile, below, in the drawing-room, Nurse 
 Elinor was receiving James Knebworth Cecil, who 
 had called to see Adrian Steele on urgent busi- 
 ness. 
 
 " Mr. Steele would be very much obliged if
 
 2i 8 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 you'd write," she said. " We have very grave ill- 
 ness in the house the little daughter we have 
 nearly lost her from meningitis." 
 
 " Of course I would not think of asking to see 
 Mr. Steele personally in these circumstances," Cecil 
 said. " I'll be off at once. Thank you, nurse. 
 Be sure and express my regrets. And tell Mr. 
 Steele that I will write." 
 
 He hastened off, disappointed at the failure of 
 his visit, but genuinely vexed with himself for hav- 
 ing intruded on a household of sorrow.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 JOHN NOBLE arrived at Mrs. Silberthwaite's 
 office one morning about eleven o'clock, and 
 was received by the little Suffragette clerk, who 
 was greatly concerned to have to tell him that Mrs. 
 Silberthwaite was out. 
 
 " Great powers! " she thought to herself, " sup- 
 posing now that he has come to pay in another 
 handsome subscription another two or three 
 hundred pounds perhaps even a thousand? 
 When these generous people once begin, one may 
 expect anything. If he departs, his enthusiasm 
 may depart also. He must not be allowed to go 
 away. I must detain him and his check-book. 
 Right sure am I that his check-book is in his left 
 pocket. I see it with my mind's eye." 
 
 Aloud she said, in her bright little independent 
 way: 
 
 " I can't be quite sure, but I don't think Mrs. 
 Silberthwaite will be long. Would it be asking 
 too much that you should wait a little? " 
 
 " No, it wouldn't," he answered, smiling at her. 
 " It is a most moderate request. Would that 
 every one's requests could be of that temperate 
 nature." 
 
 219
 
 220 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 Joan Neville's eyes danced with inner glee. 
 
 " Aha ! " she said to herself. " He little knows 
 that with my mind's eye I am staring at his check- 
 book in his left pocket." 
 
 Aloud she said demurely: 
 
 " I will get some of our literature for you to_ 
 glance at. We have just printed five new pamph- 
 lets. If you will excuse me, I will fetch them." 
 
 " Heaven forbid," he said. u I can't read any 
 more pamphlets for the present. If I do, I assure 
 you, something serious will happen to my brain." 
 
 She laughed an indulgent little laugh. 
 
 " Oh, we all feel like that at first," she said. 
 " It soon wears off. The mind gets easily accus- 
 tomed to pamphlets, as to other misfortunes." 
 
 " I am quite willing to take your word," he an- 
 swered, much amused by her. " Meantime I pre- 
 fer to talk with you, if you can spare a few mo- 
 ments from all that severe-looking correspondence. 
 What are you doing just at the present, for in- 
 stance ? I like to know about people's work." 
 
 " I am acknowledging subscriptions and contri- 
 butions," she said cheerily. " A stimulating task." 
 
 " Upon my word, I really think I must stimu- 
 late you still further," Noble said, laughing. 
 " Suppose I hand in my check at once, instead of 
 waiting for Mrs. Silberthwaite to receive it. I 
 have something else for her." 
 
 " We have already had one handsome check
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 221 
 
 from you," Joan Neville remarked innocently. 
 " You don't mean to say that we're going to have 
 another handsome check? " 
 
 " Yes, I do," he replied, and he drew his check- 
 book from his right-hand pocket. 
 
 " Aha ! " she thought, " my geography was 
 wrong, but my instinct was unerring! Well, 
 geography doesn't matter in this case ! " 
 
 " You see," Noble said, as he took the pen 
 which she offered him, " the pamphlets which have 
 half broken my brain, have also half broken my 
 heart." 
 
 He wrote a check for 250, and handed it to 
 her. Her face flushed with pleasure and pride. 
 She could not have been more delighted if some 
 tremendous personal benefit had been conferred on 
 her. 
 
 ' You also care for the work you are all en- 
 gaged on? " he said. 
 
 " Of course," she answered proudly. " Any 
 one would care who worked with Mrs. Silber- 
 thwaite. She brings out all the best of one's abil- 
 ity and enthusiasm." 
 
 He showed her by a nod that he understood. 
 
 " And I have always been interested in these 
 subjects," she said a little shyly. " My father 
 trained us in them." 
 
 " Why haven't I been interested in them? " he 
 asked regretfully.
 
 222 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " Ah, that's more than I can tell you," she an- 
 swered, and she was proceeding to write him a re- 
 ceipt, when a woman of the so-called working class 
 came into the office. 
 
 " Mrs. Silberthwaite is not here yet," Joan Ne- 
 ville said, nodding at her in a friendly way. " Per- 
 haps you will wait in the other room, will you, Mrs. 
 Carton? You'll find a book of Paris fashions 
 there. That will keep you quiet, I know ! " 
 
 Mrs. Carton, who had a bright, good-tempered 
 face, laughed and said : 
 
 " Yes, it will, Miss Neville. Dearly do I love 
 them fashions. Fairyland ain't in it." 
 
 " Well, you'll find the very latest," said Joan 
 Neville, with a twinkle in her eye. ' The very 
 latest." 
 
 When Mrs. Carton had left the room, she 
 turned to John Noble and said : 
 
 " That woman is a sweated worker in the box 
 trade. If she works about fourteen hours a day, 
 she can earn about seven shillings a week. What 
 do you think of that? " 
 
 "Why did you send her away?" he asked. 
 ' Why can't I speak to her? I should like to 
 speak to her. If I'm to help, I ought to begin to 
 learn at once. In fact, I have already learnt a les- 
 son of cheerfulness from her." 
 
 " It seems to me the poor nearly always are 
 cheerful," Joan Neville answered. " Anyway she
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 223 
 
 always is. When I am feeling particularly de- 
 pressed, I always hope Mrs. Carton will come into 
 the office. Up, up, go my spirits at once then, 
 and I'm ready for anything. I'll fetch her back." 
 
 She rose from her desk in a leisurely fashion 
 and passed into the next room. 
 
 " Mrs. Carton," she said, " if you can spare a 
 few minutes from the Paris fashions, perhaps you 
 will kindly return. The gentleman here would 
 like to be introduced to you." 
 
 " Fancy you a-tearing me away from my one 
 and only pleasure, Miss Neville," Mrs. Carton re- 
 marked cheerily. " Yours is a cruel heart, and no 
 mistake. This is a good number, miss. But don't 
 the women look sillies, poor afflicted things. This 
 poor imbecile, for instance. Well, well." 
 
 " Come along," urged Joan Neville. " This 
 gentleman is a writer of plays. He wants to talk 
 with you. And if you're not careful, he'll put 
 you in a play, Mrs. Carton. A three-act play, per- 
 haps." 
 
 " Well, he might do worse, poor creature," she 
 replied, following Joan Neville into the outer of- 
 fice. 
 
 John Noble, who heard her, laughed, got up, 
 held out his hand, and said: 
 
 ' Yes, I certainly might do far, far worse ! And 
 how do you do, madam ? " 
 
 " Nicely, sir, nicely, considering the state of
 
 224 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 trade, which isn't no state at all," she answered. 
 " And how do you do, sir? " 
 
 " Well, I think I might also say nicely, consider- 
 ing the state of trade," he replied, and they both 
 smiled, and entered into an acquaintanceship which 
 was full of interest to the playwright and of grati- 
 fication to the sweated worker. For Noble drew 
 her out in a surprising fashion, and treated her 
 with exactly the same deference which he would 
 have shown to one of the fine ladies in his own 
 plays. And as he learned from her the details of 
 her day's work, and recognized for himself the un- 
 conscious courage of the woman and her entire 
 freedom from bitterness of spirit, his wonder grew 
 apace, and with it his respectful admiration and his 
 fixed determination to work for the Society. 
 
 "Why aren't you bitter?" he asked. "It 
 would positively relieve my own feelings of shame 
 if you were angry and soured." 
 
 " Ah, I'm sorrv I can't oblige you, sir," she an- 
 swered. " You. see, all we've got as our stock in 
 trade is our good spirits. No use being God's 
 grizzlers. We leave the grizzling to the high and 
 mighty. They can have it all to themselves and 
 welcome, poor imbeciles." 
 
 ' Yes, yes, you are right," he said earnestly. 
 " That's the right word imbeciles ! " 
 
 So earnest and interested was he, that he did 
 not know that he had repeated her pronunciation
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 225 
 
 of the word. But Joan Neville thought it sounded 
 very quaint coming from the lips of a distinguished 
 playwright, and looked up from her stimulating 
 task of acknowledging subscriptions and smiled. 
 
 " A bad thing he paid his handsome subscription 
 in before Mrs. Carton came on the scene," she re- 
 flected. " He might have given twice the amount 
 now he has seen a live specimen of the sweated 
 class. I must again fix my mind's eye on his check- 
 book and wrest a few more hundreds out of it. 
 What a beast I am! Beastly, but businesslike! 
 But that's what I'm here for: to promote the in- 
 terests of the Society, and leap upon my prey like 
 a fearsome tigress." 
 
 Whilst she was taken up with these fierce and 
 secret designs, John Noble continued questioning 
 Mrs. Carton, who was trying to explain to him 
 how isolated a class the sweated workers had been 
 for years and for years, and how, in fact, they had 
 been imprisoned in their own conditions. 
 
 " We could not reach out to nobody," she said, 
 " for there wasn't nobody." 
 
 " I suppose no friends from the outside world 
 ever came into your life until you met Mrs. Sil- 
 berthwaite?" John Noble asked. 
 
 " One friend only," she answered. " That was 
 years ago. It was him who brought Mrs. Silber- 
 thwaite. I remember him well, and should know 
 him anywhere."
 
 226 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 Then she told him of a little thin man who had 
 come down to Bethnal Green and Homerton and 
 sought out the sweated workers the box-makers, 
 match-makers, trouser-makers, boot-makers, and 
 many others and had brought comfort and kind- 
 ness to many a despondent heart, in the days, too, 
 when it was not usual for people of his class to be 
 interesting themselves actively in the affairs of the 
 poor. They never knew where he came from, and 
 he was always mysterious and formal, but wonder- 
 fully faithful in carrying out all he said he would 
 do on their behalf. And for years he had paid 
 the rent for three old women over seventy-five 
 years of age, until one by one they had died; and 
 he himself had had them buried at his own ex- 
 pense, and had been present at each of the funer- 
 als. 
 
 " Faithful to the end that's what he was," she 
 said. " The old box-maker had a name for him, 
 and that's what we all called him by, ' Mr. Trust- 
 worthy.' I often see his little figure before me. 
 Tiny he was, and thin. And he wore an eye- 
 glass with a piece of black ribbon about half an 
 inch thick." 
 
 " Did you say he brought Mrs. Silberthwaite? " 
 John Noble asked pensively. 
 
 " Yes," answered Mrs. Carton. " He took her 
 round to see our work and where we lived. I re-
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 227 
 
 member what he said when they came to the old 
 box-maker's room. She'd been ill, and I was there 
 helping the old soul." 
 
 " What did he say ? " Noble asked. " I should 
 like to hear." 
 
 Mrs. Carton colored a little from sudden shy- 
 ness, and said: 
 
 " Perhaps I can't give it quite right, but I think 
 he said, ' Well, and what do you think of our 
 superb England now ? Have we any right to set 
 our hearts on mountains and snowfields until we 
 see all this changed ? ' I never forgot it because it 
 sounded so queer. It was queer, wasn't it? " 
 
 Joan Neville tapped her forehead. 
 
 " Sounds uncommonly like ' Looking down on 
 snow-white plains of mountain mist caught in pur- 
 ple light,' " she thought to herself. 
 
 " Well, after that, we never saw him no more," 
 Mrs. Carton said. " Dead himself, I expect." 
 
 " I scarcely think so," Joan Neville remarked. 
 " A little gentleman answering to that description, 
 and undoubtedly addicted to mountains and mists, 
 called in here the other day. He did not appear 
 to be dead. He appeared to be alive and mas- 
 terful." 
 
 " All the better for the world if he isn't dead," 
 Mrs. Carton said earnestly. " Wouldn't I just 
 love to see him again and thank him, too ! And
 
 228 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 all this time I've been thinking him dead and 
 gone." 
 
 11 No, he isn't dead," John Noble said. " You'll 
 be able to see Mr. Trustworthy again and thank 
 him." 
 
 He got up, and stared into the fire. 
 
 " Faithful to the end," he said to himself. 
 " Then why could he not have been faithful to 
 me?" 
 
 For a moment or two he seemed to have lost 
 his bearings and to be wandering about in some 
 distant region far away from the brave sweated 
 worker and the cheery little secretary. But at last 
 he found his path back again, and turned to Mrs. 
 Carton with a challenging sort of mischievous- 
 ness : 
 
 " I write plays about the high and mighty," he 
 said, " about the people you call God's grizzlers, 
 you know. I wonder whether you would care to 
 come and see one, The Abingdons. I could at 
 least promise you the very latest thing in Paris 
 fashions." 
 
 Her eyes beamed with delight at his kindness, 
 and at the prospect of the pleasure he offered her. 
 
 " I'll come, grizzlers or no grizzlers ! " she said. 
 " And I don't suppose the poor imbeciles are near 
 so bad in a play, are they? " 
 
 " Perhaps not," he laughed. " They have to be 
 rounded off to fit the picture. Now you must give
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 229 
 
 me your address and I shall send you the tickets, 
 without fail." 
 
 To the surprise both of himself and Joan Ne- 
 ville, Mrs. Carton turned away from him, covered 
 her face with her hands, and left the room, weep- 
 ing silently. 
 
 John Noble looked at Joan Neville question- 
 ingly. 
 
 " It's the kindness and the courtesy," the little 
 secretary explained gravely. " Misfortune they 
 can bear." 
 
 She paused a moment and then she said 
 cheerfully : 
 
 " There is Mrs. Carton's address. And I am 
 afraid you ought to have these leaflets and pamph- 
 lets. This one, for instance, actually deals with 
 her trade. ' Box-workers and Trade Boards.' I 
 think you would like to read that, wouldn't you 
 now? And this one, ' Report of a Conference on 
 a Minimum Wage.' And this one, ' Home Work 
 and Sweating.' ' 
 
 " You seem bent on my destruction by pamph- 
 lets," Noble said. 
 
 But he held out his hand for them, and repeated 
 her words unconsciously: 
 
 " Misfortune they can bear. Yes, that tells its 
 own tale." 
 
 Then Nell Silberthwaite came into the office.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 T THINK there is some one else waiting to see 
 * you," John Noble said as he followed Nell 
 into her private room. " A sweated worker. Her 
 time is more valuable than mine, poor woman. I 
 can wait." 
 
 " Oh, you mean Mrs. Carton," Nell said. " She 
 was coming to-day to help me with several points 
 in one of my lectures. But it is all right about her 
 time to-day. We arranged matters with her so 
 that she could afford to take a day off. It's a holi- 
 day for her too, and she will be quite happy wait- 
 ing. My secretary will look after her." 
 
 " Well, no doubt she will amuse herself with 
 the Paris fashions," Noble said. " Your bright- 
 eyed little secretary seems to have provided her 
 with truly acceptable entertainment." 
 
 Nell laughed. 
 
 " My little secretary generally has brilliant 
 ideas about making every one happy and con- 
 tented," she said. " I don't know what I should 
 do without her in the office. She's so capable and 
 cheerful." 
 
 230
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 231 
 
 " Yes, she strikes me as that," John Noble said, 
 smiling. 
 
 " I literally kidnaped her from the Suffrage," 
 Nell said. " She had been one of the Suffragette 
 organizers, and I knew her temperament and train- 
 ing would be splendid for our work. And she 
 herself had always been connected with the Labor 
 Movement. Her father had worked for it. 
 Otherwise I could not have persuaded her to come 
 to me." 
 
 " I seem to have entered unawares into a new 
 world, Mrs. Silberthwaite," Noble said, leaning 
 back in his chair, " and at a moment, too, when I 
 have needed to be rescued from my rut." 
 
 His eyes wandered to the mountain picture, and 
 immediately the thought of Adrian Steele drove 
 out all other thoughts from his brain. 
 
 " I understand that it was Adrian Steele who 
 first took you to the sweated workers," he said. 
 " Mrs. Carton was telling me that he had been 
 their first friend from the outside world, and that 
 he brought you. At least, I concluded it was he. 
 It could have been no one else, from the descrip- 
 tion and the circumstances." 
 
 " Yes," Nell answered. " It was he. If you 
 remember, I told you that he first showed me the 
 path which I should tread. I owe a very great 
 deal to him, Mr. Noble. I wish with all my heart
 
 232 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 I could help him in his trouble. I know he is in 
 great trouble." 
 
 " You have helped him," John Noble said, look- 
 ing fixedly on the ground. 
 
 "I? How? " Nell asked impulsively. 
 
 " By reminding me of what I also owed to him," 
 Noble answered. " You see " 
 
 He shook his head and broke off; but seeing 
 Nell's anxious, inquiring expression of countenance, 
 he put his own feelings aside and tried to minister 
 to her distress. 
 
 " You see, he has been well, there is no other 
 word dishonorable in in some of his business 
 dealings," Noble said gently. " I am one of those 
 whom he has disappointed. But, since seeing 
 you the other day, I have made up my mind irrev- 
 ocably that no harm shall come to him through 
 any word or act of mine. One less to pursue him 
 that's all. Still, it is something. And such as 
 it is, he owes it to you." 
 
 " No, no, rather to your mercifulness," Nell 
 said, deeply touched. 
 
 " A wounded spirit often forgets to be merciful, 
 much less just," Noble said, with a sad smile. 
 " That's where you've come in. No, it's your bit 
 of service, and you cannot disown it." 
 
 " I don't want to disown it," Nell said. " You 
 cannot think what it means to me to know that I 
 too, in my way, may have helped Adrian Steele."
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 233 
 
 " Why should we care, I wonder? " Noble said. 
 " You care evidently, and I care. Why should we 
 care?" 
 
 " I don't know," Nell answered, with bowed 
 head. " I never have known." 
 
 " That sweated worker, Mrs. Carton, told me 
 that he had been a true friend to some of the 
 poorest, and faithful to the end," Noble said. 
 " And I asked myself why could he not have been 
 faithful to me to the end, since I loved and trusted 
 him. Mr. Trustworthy they called him. Trust- 
 worthy. Why could he not have been trustworthy 
 to me ? I can't answer my own question, but per- 
 haps you can, Mrs. Silberthwaite." 
 
 " I can only tell you that he never could run 
 straight," Nell said in a low voice. " Even in 
 those past years it was so in everything, with- 
 out rhyme or reason." 
 
 John Noble nodded his head silently, and 
 seemed buried in saddest thought. Nell saw that 
 he was suffering, and that his spirit was wounded. 
 She longed to be able to say something which 
 might lessen some of the bitter pain through which 
 she, too, had passed in her own time. And at last 
 she took courage. 
 
 " Mr. Noble," she said very gently, " I should 
 like, both for his sake and yours, to say just this 
 one thing to you. It may sound foolish enough, 
 but from all I know of Adrian Steele's nature, it
 
 234 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 is true. It does not follow that because he has 
 deceived you, he has not loved you. You dare 
 not say to yourself : ' This man has deceived me, 
 and therefore he has not loved me.' No; you 
 have to say instead: ' This man has loved me, 
 and yet has deceived me.' There is a difference. 
 There might be balm to you in that difference, 
 or there might not. But I want you to learn direct 
 from me, who knew him intimately for several 
 years, that the secret scheming of his brain was 
 not in harmony with, but always at war with, the 
 disposition of his heart." 
 
 John Noble looked up. 
 
 " Yes," he said, " there might be balm in that 
 thought. Thank you, Mrs. Silberthwaite." 
 
 He stretched out his hand to her, in gratitude for 
 her words, and she took it in silence. 
 
 " Believe me," he said, " I will do all I can to 
 shield him." 
 
 " I know you will," she answered. 
 
 " And now I must show you what I have been 
 trying to do for your sweated workers," he said, 
 with a smile of distinct pride. " I've sketched out 
 a play, and I want to ask you if you think there 
 is anything in it. It is based on what I learnt 
 from you the other day and from your lecture. 
 Of course I am only making a dash at the subject, 
 as I know so little of it, and I'm sure I have heaps 
 to learn. You asked me to present a picture.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 235 
 
 Now you shall tell me whether this is a picture 
 an impressionist picture, as it were. If it isn't, 
 then I'll work at it until I have made it one. You 
 must listen for all you're worth, and pull it to 
 pieces as much as you like ! " 
 
 Then he read her the outlines of a story of the 
 tragedy of poverty. It was called simply Pov- 
 erty. He had touched in lights, brought out 
 effects, accentuated values, gauged possibilities in, 
 a way possible only to a great imaginative artist, 
 at the same time a profound student of human 
 nature. There were, of course, many defects, 
 the result of his inexperience in this field, but he 
 was conscious of them, and desired only to be put 
 right in his mistakes and strengthened on his weak 
 points. For, as he laughingly said, up to this 
 moment his attention had been more or less 
 directed on those members of society whom Mrs. 
 Carton called God's grizzlers, and he therefore 
 had to learn a new code, a new outlook. 
 
 He was boyishly happy over this, his new ven- 
 ture, and received Nell's remarks with an eager- 
 ness which had in it the simplicity of a true great- 
 ness. In fact, he rushed at her criticisms with an 
 embracing sort of welcome which spoke volumes 
 for the sincerity of his service. 
 
 He had been there nearly two hours before he 
 rose to go. He arranged another interview with 
 Nell, and he told her he intended meantime to
 
 236 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 redraft the play and bring it to her for stern re- 
 vision and correction. 
 
 " You remember you promised to help me 
 down to the very last shred," he said. ' Those 
 were the conditions." 
 
 "Yes," she laughed; "we'll all help you. 
 And I'll take you down to see some of the workers 
 in their own homes. Or, better still, Mrs. Car- 
 ton will go with you to visit some of her own 
 friends. Also, we are getting up a Sweated In- 
 dustries Exhibition at Edinburgh next month. 
 That would help you, if you could spare the time. 
 You would learn more in this way than from any- 
 thing we could tell you here in the office, or from 
 any pamphlets." 
 
 " Ah, I'm relieved to hear you say that," he 
 said. " And I hope you will protect me from 
 your little secretary, who has attempted to com- 
 pass my life with pamphlets." 
 
 They laughed and passed out into the outer 
 office, where they found Joan Neville smiling at 
 his words, which she had heard as the door 
 opened. Merrier than ever looked her dancing 
 eyes, and more engaging than ever her bright 
 personality. John Noble made a secret resolution 
 that he would not allow this unexpected bit of 
 sunshine to fade out of his life. 
 
 " I've put myself under special protection," he 
 said. " No more pamphlets for me unless I
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 237 
 
 take this one about the Edinburgh Exhibition. 
 Yes, perhaps I'd better have it." 
 
 " I'm afraid I can't spare that one," Joan Ne- 
 ville remarked severely. " That's just the one 
 I can't spare. I'm sorry." 
 
 But he defied her and put it in his pocket. 
 
 " Good-by," he said. " And what has hap- 
 pened to my other friend? Is she still studying 
 the Paris fashions?" 
 
 " No," Joan Neville answered. " She got 
 tired of them, and went out to distribute some 
 pamphlets. She does not dislike pamphlets. 
 She says they are perfectly harmless things, and 
 that no one need read them." 
 
 " Ah, that's true enough," he said, with mock 
 gravity. " I had not thought of that. She's a 
 wise woman, that. You see, being a writer my- 
 self, I have cherished the absurd tradition that 
 people do read what is written. But perhaps they 
 don't, after all." 
 
 He left them with that, and Nell learnt of the 
 second check for 250, and Joan Neville was told 
 the exciting news of the play Poverty which he 
 had begun to write for them. They were full of 
 his kindness, his generosity, his enthusiasm, and 
 of the immense influence of his name and active 
 cooperation, and they agreed that this had been 
 a red-letter day in the annals of the Society. 
 
 " Next time he conies, I hope he will write a
 
 238 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 check for 500," thought Joan. " I shall be 
 seriously annoyed with him if he doesn't. If he 
 doesn't, I shall look out all the dullest pamphlets 
 for him, and they will frighten him so much that 
 he'll be thankful to come to terms immediately. 
 Alas! how grasping I am becoming. And at my 
 age, too ! It's positively shocking. Well, at 
 least it's impersonal. That's all you can say." 
 
 But Nell, alone in her room, could not say that 
 she was feeling impersonal. She stood in front 
 of the mountain picture, and, even in the midst of 
 her delight over John Noble's splendid helpful- 
 ness to her work, remembered chiefly that he had 
 promised that no harm should come to Adrian 
 Steele through any word or deed of his. This 
 at least would be something definite and satisfac- 
 tory to tell Tamar, and Nell at once became 
 buoyed up with triumph to think that she it was, 
 and not Tamar, who had been able to avert some 
 of the danger threatening Adrian Steele. Yes, it 
 was she, and not Tamar. But, instantly ashamed 
 of her mean-spiritedness, she reminded herself 
 sternly that Tamar and she had agreed to be 
 collaborators and not rivals, and that what they 
 both had to do, was to place their separate oppor- 
 tunities of service side by side, without distinction 
 or claim. 
 
 " All the same," she said, suddenly rebelling 
 against this virtuous code, " I am glad it was
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 239 
 
 myself and not Tamar. One can't help being 
 mean-spirited. And I don't care if I am. I've 
 never been able to drive Adrian out of my heart. 
 And never shall. Nothing has banished him. 
 Neither my marriage, nor my work, nor anything. 
 And it's all a pretense to say that we leave the 
 past behind us. We carry it with us, burden or 
 no burden. We don't leave it behind us. No, 
 I've never been able to get him out of my heart. 
 And I never shall." 
 
 She paced up and down the room, leaving her 
 box-makers and her chain-makers, and the whole 
 procession of sweated workers, to fend for them- 
 selves. She was unable to keep her thoughts 
 from Adrian Steele. She thought of his little 
 masterful presence, his stubborn personality, his 
 charm, his deceitfulness, his passion for power, 
 his ruthless abandonment of all who ceased to 
 serve his purpose, his mental tyranny, his curious 
 code of self-justification, his wonderful gift of up- 
 lifting, stimulating, his reckless expenditure of 
 energy and strength over his work, his large grasp 
 of affairs, his patient attention to details, all that 
 was great in him, all that was small in him, and 
 all that was unforgetably lovable in him that 
 mysterious something in him which tugged at the 
 heart-strings of herself and Tamar, even after all 
 these long years yes, and at the heart-strings of 
 John Noble too, and of Mrs. Carton and of every
 
 240 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 one to whom he had meant something of love, 
 of friendship, of comradeship, of kindness. 
 
 She had told him, when he came to ask for her 
 forgiveness, that she had forgiven him years ago ; 
 but the moment of her true forgiveness had not 
 been when she had passed on and recovered her- 
 self, but now when she passed back, lived over 
 again those days of love, disappointment, and 
 humiliation, realized that she had never recovered 
 herself, and yet could hold out her hands in 
 yearning and tender protectiveness. If Adrian 
 Steele could only have known it, this was the mo- 
 ment when the white snows of forgiveness fell 
 upon the mountains and transfigured, as though 
 by magic, the sharpened, forbidding peaks. 
 
 Whilst she was still held by these thoughts, the 
 door was opened gently, and Joan Neville ap- 
 peared, her face rather flushed, and a gleam of 
 danger in her bright eye. 
 
 " I did knock several times, Mrs. Silber- 
 thwaite," she said. " Please forgive me for dis- 
 turbing you, but a woman well a a sort 
 of rude tigress that's all I can call her in- 
 sists on seeing you. I asked her to state her busi- 
 ness, and she answered most insolently that it was 
 her affair, not mine. She refused to give her 
 name, and she had not a card. She isn't human 
 in her manner. The rudest person I've ever seen 
 in my life. When I asked her if she wished to
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 241 
 
 pay in a subscription to the Society, she abused 
 our work in the most insulting terms." 
 
 " Show her in," Nell said. " I think I know 
 who she is." 
 
 Tamar was immediately shown in by Joan 
 Neville, who was still dancing from suppressed 
 rage, and murmured to herself as she closed the 
 door: 
 
 " Another moment, my own treasure, and I 
 should have strangled you. Beware." 
 
 Nell had placed a chair for Tamar near the fire. 
 
 " You look cold, Tamar," she said. " Do sit 
 down and warm yourself." 
 
 " So these are your premises," Tamar re- 
 marked, glancing around in a detached soft of 
 way. 
 
 Nell put some coals on, and stirred the fire. 
 
 " And here you conduct this absurd public 
 service work of yours," Tamar said. " Anti- 
 sweating indeed. Why shouldn't people sweat if 
 they want to? " 
 
 " But they don't want to," Nell said indul- 
 gently. " That's the point, Tamar." 
 
 ; ' Well, you know what I think of it," Tamar 
 said grimly. " It's ridiculous waste of time. If 
 you try to do anything for anybody, you only get 
 kicks. Senseless waste of time. I've no patience 
 with it." 
 
 " We all waste our time in some form or
 
 242 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 other," Nell said good-temperedly. " It's just a 
 matter of personal choice, you know, Tamar. 
 Make an effort not to be hard on me." 
 
 " And that absurd little clerk of yours imagined 
 that I had called in to pay a subscription," Tamar 
 said. " I should like to see myself paying in a 
 subscription here." 
 
 " So should I," Nell remarked with fervor. 
 " Uncommonly I should like to see it." 
 
 Tamar laughed, with a soft little laugh which 
 betokened amusement, for she never resented a 
 shaft directed against herself. 
 
 " Your absurd little clerk offered me a pamphlet 
 on * The Minimum Wage,' " she said. " I told 
 her that no wages I ever paid could be minimum 
 enough for me ; and I gave her a bit of my mind 
 about the work of societies like this." 
 
 '' Well, we shan't actually die of despair be- 
 cause you don't approve of us, Tamar," Nell said 
 cheerfully. " And as for the work itself, quite 
 apart from the aim and object of it, it has been 
 the greatest help to me in my life. It has been 
 to me what your book on precious stones has 
 been to you." 
 
 " If it has been to you what my book has been 
 to me, then all I can say is that it has been a 
 failure," Tamar remarked. ' Yes, a failure. I 
 thought I had passed on with that book. I 
 haven't."
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 243 
 
 " I too thought I had passed on," Nell said. 
 " I threw myself more and more into this work 
 you despise and " 
 
 " And you married," Tamar reminded her 
 roughly. 
 
 " Yes, I married," Nell said, " a noble-hearted 
 man with a fine sympathy to match his fine in- 
 tellect." 
 
 " I could have married," Tamar said. " But 
 I waited. I waited alone in that inner room." 
 
 A secret joy lit up her face as she spoke, and 
 Nell gazed at her in astonishment. 
 
 " You waited," Nell repeated slowly. " What 
 do you mean? " 
 
 " I mean what I say," Tamar answered. " I 
 waited for Adrian Steele. And he came." 
 
 " But you repulsed him," Nell said. " I was 
 there when you repulsed him." 
 
 " That may be," Tamar replied. " But he 
 came again. He knew he could come." 
 
 Then in a few words she gave Nell a bare but 
 honest account of Adrian's visit to her. She de- 
 scribed how he brought all his papers and ac- 
 counts, and how, after a great struggle with 
 himself, he had explained to her his business 
 complications and asked her help and advice. 
 She said quite frankly that she did not think he 
 would have confided in her or any one except for 
 his broken-down mental condition, which was the
 
 244 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 result of his terrible anxiety over his little daugh- 
 ter's sudden and nearly fatal illness. She did not 
 dwell on her reawakened love for him. She did 
 not speak of the long night watch in the inner 
 room. She was silent about his words of regret, 
 of longing, of trust, of love. She kept back all 
 the details of those happy hours, the memory of 
 which had become precious and sacred to her for 
 evermore. But it was clear enough from her 
 manner, the tone of her voice, and the strangely 
 softened expression on her countenance, that the 
 Tamar who had stubbornly refused a few days 
 ago to take up the threads of the past, was now 
 caught and held by the iron bonds of an old, deep, 
 and passionate love. 
 
 Nell listened, and a tempest of despairing 
 jealousy broke loose in her. 
 
 " Tamar, Tamar," she cried in her bitter 
 anguish, " I can't help myself I'm deadly, 
 deadly jealous of you." 
 
 Tamar said roughly: 
 
 " You've had other things. What do you 
 want with this thing? " 
 
 " Yes, yes, I know I've had other things," Nell 
 returned. " You needn't remind me of that now. 
 But other things aren't this thing. Ah, why 
 didn't he come to me with his difficulties you 
 took him from me before and now you've 
 taken him from me again."
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 245 
 
 " It was his doing, and not mine," Tamar said 
 in a low voice; " his free will, his own choice." 
 
 "Don't you see that makes it worse?" Nell 
 cried, " and that I can't even hate you for it I 
 haven't even that comfort I who would have 
 done anything for him anything in his hour 
 of need in " 
 
 She leaned forward over her desk, and her head 
 sank lower and lower until it rested on her out- 
 spread arms. She sobbed in an abandonment of 
 grief. 
 
 Tamar watched Nell for a long time in silence. 
 She was trying to persuade herself that the matter 
 did not concern her. But apparently she was not 
 successful, for she rose at length and touched her 
 on the shoulder. There was no response. She 
 touched Nell again. 
 
 " Look here, Nell Silberthwaite," she said, 
 " I'm going to tell you something I rather hate 
 telling you. You have done something big for 
 him, and something definite. Something far big- 
 ger than I've done, and I envy you for it. That 
 playwright man, Noble, is evidently going to stand 
 by Adrian Steele; and considering that he has been 
 cheated out of at least 15,000, his forbearance 
 is remarkable. He has written to Adrian to say 
 that he is placing his new play as usual in Adrian's 
 hands. Now this is through you, I'm sure 
 your bit of valuable help. You've choked off one
 
 246 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 of the worst dangers, by honest and straight- 
 forward means, and I tell you I envy you the 
 opportunity you've had, and your use of it. 
 When I think of my underhand methods with that 
 blusterer Hailsham, I well, I don't stand well 
 with myself in comparison. You've a right to 
 take comfort. Don't go on grieving in that inane 
 fashion. You'll make yourself ill. If we are 
 going to save him at all, we shall need all our 
 wits, for I assure you his own brain has lost its 
 old resourcefulness. He's ill, worn out. Come 
 now that's right gather yourself together 
 like a sensible woman doing so-called useful public 
 service work. I don't mind owning that perhaps 
 I've been rather disagreeable about your work. 
 Perhaps it does do some good. And certainly 
 it has been of use on this occasion, since it 
 brought you in contact with Noble. I think you 
 must have pleaded for Adrian with what he'd call 
 ' superb ability.' Yes, I repeat it, superb ability.. 
 A man does not readily give up his chance of 
 recovering 15,000, if I know anything of busi- 
 ness. You ought to be proud of yourself, I tell 
 you." 
 
 The rough comfort brusquely administered, 
 together with Tamar's frank acknowledgment of 
 Nell's help, had the effect of restoring Nell to 
 something approximating to self-control. She 
 raised her head, passed her hand over her eyes,
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 247 
 
 and with obvious effort kept back the sobs which 
 had been tearing her. 
 
 " Thank you, Tamar," she said, when she had 
 regained sufficient command over herself for 
 speech. " You are at least generous in your 
 triumph. Please excuse my my weakness." 
 
 Tamar waved her hand, in indulgent dismissal 
 of Nell's outbreak, and said kindly enough : 
 
 " It was only fair to tell you. If Adrian had 
 been more easy to handle, I should have let him 
 know to whom he owed Noble's mercifulness. 
 As it is, he believes, or pretends to believe, that 
 Noble is not on the scent." 
 
 " Let him believe it," Nell said. " It will ap- 
 pear so. John Noble has been here to-day, and 
 he promised of his own accord that no word or 
 deed of his should embarrass Adrian in his dif- 
 ficulties. ' One less to pursue him ' he said. 
 Those were his words." 
 
 " So you knew already that John Noble was 
 going to spare him," Tamar said sullenly. " I 
 need not have troubled to tell you." 
 
 " I think it was most generous of you to tell 
 me, Tamar," Nell said warmly. " It makes all 
 the difference to me to hear it from you." 
 
 Tamar's face softened. She was pleased with 
 Nell's appreciation. 
 
 " One less to pursue him," she said after a 
 pause. " Yes, that's the whole trouble. There
 
 248 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 are so many of them. He has been cheating 
 people right and left for years. I don't feel at 
 all sure that his honor can be patched up even by 
 Noble's mercifulness, or even by a wise expendi- 
 ture of money. I think in some cases we can 
 cover up tracks altogether, and in others we may 
 be able to make it worth while for the authors to 
 refrain from proceedings. But that man Hail- 
 sham, for instance. He has only about two 
 thousand pounds at stake, but he is bent on per- 
 sonal vengeance. I don't believe any sum would 
 buy him off. And he's the leader of the band." 
 
 " Have you tried to buy his silence? " Nell said 
 slowly, as she spoke pondering the matter. 
 
 " No," Tamar answered. " I intend to. But 
 so far I've only attempted to form a general vague 
 plan of how to cover up the more recent frauds." 
 
 " Well, I will gladly find the money to start off 
 with Hailsham," Nell said. 
 
 She was amazed and almost frightened at the 
 effect which her words produced, for Tamar's face 
 flushed with anger, and her eyes shone with a 
 sudden dangerous gleam. 
 
 " The money is my affair," she said fiercely. 
 " If money has to be given, no one shall give it 
 except me. I shall sell out some of my invest- 
 ments. If necessary, I shall sell my jewels, my 
 choicest pearls, and my rubies." 
 
 Nell held her breath with astonishment.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 249 
 
 " How you must love him ! " she said in- 
 voluntarily. 
 
 ' You think that proves it," Tamar said, 
 glancing at Nell half defiantly, half proudly. 
 
 ' Yes, Tamar," Nell answered. " You have 
 never been famous for wanting to part with your 
 money, have you?" 
 
 "No," Tamar said. "You're right. My 
 fame has not been in that direction." 
 
 The thought evidently amused her, for she 
 continued: 
 
 " I daresay you remember the remarks Adrian 
 Steele used to make on that subject." 
 
 " Yes, I remember well," Nell said, smiling in 
 spite of herself at Tamar's naivete. " He would 
 be astonished if he knew. But he would also be 
 stimulated, because " 
 
 She paused. 
 
 " Well? " Tamar put in. " You can say what 
 you like. I don't care." 
 
 " Because well, for the simple reason that 
 
 knowing you to be well cautious with 
 your money, he would be encouraged to think you 
 
 believed in the venture," Nell said, a little 
 hesitatingly. 
 
 " Yes, and that is exactly why I shall risk the 
 money," Tamar retorted. " In fact, I've told 
 him I'll risk three or four thousand pounds at a 
 charge on him of six per cent. I made a point of
 
 250 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 the percentage. That made him believe at once 
 that I saw good business in it." 
 
 She got up suddenly and turned her back on 
 Nell. 
 
 " Tamar," Nell said gently, " I think you are 
 splendid." 
 
 " Nonsense," Tamar said gruffly, without turn- 
 ing round. " I'm what you are a fool. 
 Fools, both of us. I've said it all along, and I 
 say it even now, although I wouldn't change my 
 folly for any one else's wisdom. Where do we 
 come in, really? Nowhere in the scheme of 
 things. There's his wife. And this child of his 
 with the absurd name, Alpenrose. Why do we 
 care? He isn't yours, he isn't really mine, he's 
 theirs. That's the simple truth, if we had any 
 sense. But we haven't. All the same, we've got 
 to save him, if we can. And his courage must 
 be kept up somehow. Otherwise he'll " 
 
 She broke off and shuddered. Nell, sitting at 
 her desk, shuddered too. The same fear dom- 
 inated them both. 
 
 " Listen, Tamar," Nell said, after a painful 
 silence: " if you will not let any of my money be 
 used, you will at least tell me what I can do in 
 other ways. Since it was to you that Adrian came 
 for advice and help, I have no right to force my- 
 self into your councils, but you must not leave
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 251 
 
 me out in the cold. It hurts my pride fearfully 
 to have to ask this favor of you. But it would 
 break me up to know nothing and do nothing." 
 
 Tamar at last turned round. Her face was 
 pale. There was no anger in her eyes now. 
 
 " You don't suppose I'm such a duffer as to 
 want to dispense with your help," she said. 
 " You've done the biggest thing yet, as I told you, 
 and you've put your finger on the right nail about 
 that Hailsham man. I'll try and explain the 
 whole matter to you, but I warn you that you've 
 got to be ready to swallow an enormous dose of 
 dishonorableness. Adrian probably believed that 
 I could swallow it without well without 
 much difficulty. He would not have thought that 
 of you. He always put you on a higher plane. 
 Perhaps that will be some comfort to you." 
 
 Nell shook her head. 
 
 " No, it isn't any comfort, Tamar," she said 
 simply. " Codes count for nothing when one's 
 heart is torn." 
 
 Some remark rose to Tamar's lips, but she 
 checked it, and at once began giving Nell the out- 
 lines of the situation in which Adrian Steele stood. 
 She impressed on Nell that in his present mental 
 condition he was of no use to himself or them, 
 that they must think and plan for him, and that 
 the safest thing was to get him away out of every
 
 252 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 one's reach until the crisis was tided over, or the 
 crash came. She advised Nell to see John Noble 
 again as soon as possible and urge him to use his 
 influence with some of the others, Sanford or 
 Cecil, for instance, and so prevent them from tak- 
 ing action at any rate for the present. She 
 herself would make an immediate attempt to 
 silence Hailsham. She said she believed there 
 might be some bare chance of dealing with the 
 difficulties; but what she most feared, was fresh 
 revelations from unexpected quarters, which would 
 nullify all their efforts, and precipitate the crisis. 
 
 Nell was deeply shocked and stirred by the his- 
 tory of Adrian Steele's dishonorableness. 
 
 " How could he do it how could he do it! " 
 she kept on saying, shaking her head sorrow- 
 fully. 
 
 It was curious to note the difference between 
 these two women who both loved Adrian Steele 
 and were trying to save him. Tamar was frankly 
 fascinated and even stimulated by the temptations 
 to which he had succumbed, whilst Nell was horri- 
 fied by them and endured untold miseries in hear- 
 ing of them. Her very suffering was a proof of 
 Adrian's wisdom in having made a choice of 
 Tamar for his counselor and director. Yet even 
 Tamar herself shied once, and gave utterance to 
 a curious remark which completely mystified Nell. 
 She said:
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 253 
 
 " I must pay out conscience money for him. 
 Something towards the boarding of the pews." 
 
 "What did you say?" Nell asked in amaze- 
 ment. " Something about pews? " 
 
 " Nothing, nothing," Tamar replied crossly, 
 and passed on quickly to further important details 
 which at once engaged Nell's attention and de- 
 manded from her the utmost limit of her moral 
 forbearance. She fought most bravely with her 
 outraged feelings, and tried hard to take a purely 
 business view of the whole set of circumstances. 
 Tamar, who knew that she was suffering, could 
 not help admiring Nell's dogged attempt to blot 
 out everything from her mind except Adrian's wel- 
 fare. 
 
 " She too loves him," she thought jealously. 
 " She is doing battle with all her moral codes for 
 his sake. That's the biggest sacrifice a person of 
 her nature could make for any one." 
 
 In the midst of her attack of jealousy the door 
 opened, and Joan Nevitle came into the room, 
 bringing a letter which she put into Nell's hands, 
 at the same time casting an indignant glance at 
 her enemy. 
 
 " I am sorry to disturb you, Mrs. Silberthwaite," 
 she said. " But I've knocked several times, and 
 the letter is marked ' Urgent.' ' 
 
 The letter was from John Noble. It ran 
 thus :
 
 254 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " I have just seen enclosed paragraph. I want 
 you to know that I am at once denying it and hav- 
 ing a paragraph put in all the papers stating that 
 my new play is in his hands. But this is the sort 
 of thing that may frustrate the efforts of all those 
 who would wish to screen him." 
 
 This was the paragraph: 
 
 " It is rumored in dramatic circles that Mr. 
 John Noble, whose affairs have always been man- 
 aged by Mr. Adrian Steele, has now made a 
 change in his business agent." 
 
 Nell handed the letter and paragraph to Tamar, 
 and they looked at each other with strained faces, 
 and in silence.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 T TAILSHAM had for some time been actively 
 
 * engaged in investigating his affairs and mas- 
 tering the details of the frauds which had been 
 perpetrated on him by Adrian Steele. Much to 
 his astonishment, John Noble, although obliged to 
 admit that he too had been defrauded of large 
 sums, rigidly refused to take any steps to recover 
 his money. 
 
 He had all along been most reluctant to be- 
 lieve any of Hailsham's allegations against Steele's 
 honorableness, and he consented finally to examine 
 his returns, rather for the sake of vindicating 
 Steele's name, than of satisfying any uneasy doubts 
 of his own. His discoveries had shocked and 
 wounded him beyond all telling, and in the first 
 moments of his bitter disillusionment, he might 
 possibly have been persuaded to prosecute the 
 friend who had betrayed him, but for his inter- 
 view with Nell Silberthwaite. After that morn- 
 ing, Noble remained immovable in his determina- 
 tion to shield Steele as far as he could. 
 
 But there were several others who were willing 
 to follow Hailsham's lead, and who were quietly 
 
 255
 
 256 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 furnishing themselves with the necessary substan- 
 tiation of their suspicions. It took some time, 
 of course, to collect facts and the corroboration 
 of those facts, and Hailsham himself was waiting 
 for further advices from America and Australia, 
 when he would have his case complete, and then 
 could bring an action against Steele which would 
 mean a full disclosure of Steele's methods and 
 practices. Hailsham was fiercely determined that 
 his former business manager should be shown up. 
 
 He was vindictive by nature, and it was nothing 
 to him that his position had been made for him by 
 Steele's unerring judgment and untiring vigilance 
 on his behalf. He only saw that he had been 
 disgracefully cheated. At the back of his brain he 
 knew, too, that, intellectually, Steele had always 
 despised him, and had laughed secretly at his gal- 
 lery gifts. Hailsham hated him for that quiet 
 but supercilious contempt, and was in consequence 
 doubly bent on vengeance and the recovery of his 
 money. This very morning as he was studying 
 the returns of one of his earlier plays, The Win- 
 ning Number, he recalled the comment which 
 Adrian Steele had made on it, and saw the thin 
 lips curling into an almost imperceptible sneer. 
 
 " Yes," Steele said, " there is money in this 
 play much money. Not too much matter. 
 And a negligible quantity of mind. It ought to be 
 a superb success."
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 257 
 
 Hailsham had never forgiven nor forgotten 
 those words : " a negligible quantity of mind." 
 He was convinced that Steele had always included 
 all his plays in that one category; and the sting 
 of the implied scorn was as acute now as on the 
 day when it had touched and wounded his self- 
 esteem. A series of " superb successes " had 
 never removed this secret stigma from his pride, 
 and he was brooding over the reawakened insult 
 and consoling himself with the legitimate if relent- 
 less thought that Adrian Steele would soon be 
 having his deserts, when he caught sight of a letter 
 which had escaped his attention. He opened it 
 eagerly, and the angry clouds cleared from his face. 
 It was from T. Scott, who asked him, if possible, 
 to come at once, as she had a specially good offer 
 to make to him. 
 
 " Some unexpected good offer for the Dutch 
 ship, I suppose," he said to himself, smiling with 
 pleasure at the prospect of seeing Tamar. " Well, 
 I'll go off now, and only too gladly. Thankful to 
 change my thoughts to another subject and get 
 away from this wretched little scoundrel for a 
 while, and delighted to have a talk with T. Scott 
 again. A most haunting personality. Can't get 
 her out of my mind, and don't want to." 
 
 He turned to the Limoges enamel plaque which 
 hung over his writing-table. He had separated it 
 from the many other pieces of china and enamel
 
 258 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 which filled his room, and it stood out by itself as 
 a distinctive and dominating object of peculiar in- 
 terest, even as Tamar herself. 
 
 " A most beautiful piece," he said aloud 
 proudly. " Nothing has pleased me so much for 
 a long time. And the circumstances, too. She 
 didn't know its value, though ! She would never 
 have let me have it for 15. Why, it's worth at 
 least 60. A curious slip for her to make. Well, 
 I suppose the cleverest dealers sometimes cheat 
 themselves. And she's undoubtedly sharp and 
 clever, and has a keen eye to business. A most 
 mysteriously attractive woman. Yes, I'll go to 
 her now." 
 
 He gathered up his papers and locked them in 
 his deskj but gave a final glance at the returns of 
 The Winning Number. 
 
 " Rather curious," he said thoughtfully. 
 " There is no flaw that I can detect in these ac- 
 counts. Two matinees, extra flying matinees, 
 entire length of tours, translation rights, and 
 everything else faithfully stated and paid. If I 
 had looked at this play only, I should be inclined 
 to think I had maligned him. A good thing for 
 me, and a bad thing for him, that I studied them 
 all." 
 
 He dismissed the matter from his mind, and 
 started out to see Tamar. He determined to se- 
 cure for himself, if possible, that Siberian onyx
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 259 
 
 snuff-box, which had greatly taken his fancy and 
 which had been haunting him almost as much as 
 Tamar herself. He knew that he would have no 
 rest until it was transferred to his own beautiful 
 little collection of snuff-boxes, and he was prepared 
 to pay a large sum of money for it. Sooner or 
 later he knew that he would, in self-defense, be 
 obliged to commit this extravagance, and he rea- 
 soned with himself that he might just as well in- 
 dulge his fancy now. Besides, it might be 
 snatched up by some one else. Or T. Scott might 
 relent, and allow the South Kensington Museum 
 to have it, and then it would be lost to him for 
 ever ! And what a chance lost, what a permanent 
 regret gnawing at his heart ! 
 
 For no enthusiastic collector, having once set 
 eyes on its beauty, could ever forget that Siberian 
 onyx snuff-box. He saw it now, dancing before 
 him, oblong, formed of plaques of Siberian onyx, 
 and mounted in chased and enameled gold. An 
 entrancing little treasure ! Yes, he must have it. 
 T. Scott must give it up to him. He must coax 
 her somehow. He must tempt her with an ab- 
 surdly large sum of money. But have it he must ! 
 He rehearsed what he should say to her, and 
 laughed delightedly as he thought of the inter- 
 esting interview in store for him. Would she 
 drive a hard bargain with him? Well, he must 
 have it at any price.
 
 260 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 But, by the time he approached the shop, the 
 snuff-box had retreated into the background of his 
 thoughts, and his heart beat with excitement at 
 the prospect of seeing her personally. Tamar 
 had a fascination over men which was all the more 
 powerful because it was unconscious. She might 
 plot, scheme and devise in a hundred ways; but 
 she did not plan to be fascinating. Her attitude 
 to Hailsham had been exceptional, undertaken en- 
 tirely on behalf of Adrian Steele. There she had 
 deliberately arranged to please and propitiate; yet 
 that which reached him, was not the charm she 
 put forth consciously, but the underlying and ele- 
 mental part of her nature, charged with a mys- 
 terious magic which defied analysis. He felt it 
 now at once, as he entered the shop and found her 
 bending over the counter, fingering some rings 
 and bracelets. 
 
 These had been brought in by a tall, military- 
 looking man. 
 
 " No," she said, even more curtly than was her 
 custom. " I don't want any of these things. You 
 can take them away." 
 
 The man made no remonstrance, but just nodded 
 and went off rather quickly. 
 
 " Stolen goods, I feel sure," she said, nodding 
 to Hailsham as to an intimate. 
 
 " How do you know? " Hailsham asked, inter- 
 ested at once.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 261 
 
 " From the man's manner," she answered. 
 " He was a receiver." 
 
 "And what tells you that, I wonder?" Hail- 
 sham questioned. " What on earth tells you 
 that?" 
 
 " Instinct, or genius perhaps," she answered 
 with a slight smile, which faded away into an ex- 
 pression of uneasiness as she remembered the task 
 she had taken on herself of trying to buy off 
 this man's purpose directed against Adrian Steele. 
 For the first time in her life Tamar was nervous, 
 and her heart began to beat so violently, that for 
 a moment or two she could not find the strength 
 to move or speak, but stared at Hailsham with an 
 unasked question on her lips. 
 
 " You look tired," he said. " Do you feel 
 ill?" 
 
 " I am never ill," she said, controlling her nerves 
 with a great effort and gathering her courage to- 
 gether. " A little neuralgic, that's all. Shall we 
 go into the inner room? " 
 
 " Ah," he said as he followed her, " we shall be 
 nearer that Siberian onyx snuff-box after which I 
 am hankering. I remember you put it back in the 
 safe. Can I see it again? " 
 
 Without a word she unlocked the safe, opened 
 it half way, and handed him out the beautiful little 
 snuff-box, which he took eagerly and began to ex- 
 amine with enthusiastic delight. The collector's
 
 262 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 rapture lit up his face; and oblivion to all outer 
 circumstances possessed his whole being. Tamar, 
 watching him like a lynx, saw the signs she knew 
 so well from long experience, and said to herself 
 that the snuff-box was as good as sold. But she 
 was too anxious and troubled to feel any elation, 
 and the one thought in her mind was how she 
 could best lay her proposition before him. Sud- 
 denly it struck her that the snuff-box itself would 
 help her out with her scheme, and she determined 
 to include it in the offer which she was going to 
 make him. 
 
 " If you like it so much," she said, " it will be 
 easy enough for you to gratify your wish when 
 you have heard the offer I have to make to 
 you." 
 
 " Ah," he said, looking up, " that offer of 
 course ! About the Dutch ship, no doubt. How 
 clever of you I You've done a better deal with it 
 than you expected, I suppose ? " 
 
 " It isn't about the Dutch ship," Tamar said 
 bluntly. 
 
 "Well, what is it?" Hailsham asked pleas- 
 antly. 
 
 There was a pause. 
 
 " It is about Adrian Steele," Tamar said. 
 
 " Adrian Steele," Hailsham repeated, putting 
 down the snuff-box on Tamar's desk, and turning 
 to her in amazement.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 263 
 
 " Yes," she said. " I may as well tell you at 
 once that, in the past, I used to know Adrian 
 Steele." 
 
 " You used to know Adrian Steele? " Hailsham 
 repeated, as in a dream. 
 
 " Yes," Tamar said quietly. 
 
 " And you have been allowing me to believe all 
 this time that he was a stranger to you? " Hail- 
 sham asked impulsively. 
 
 " Yes," Tamar answered with great calmness. 
 
 "Perhaps you will tell me why?" Hailsham 
 asked with increased excitement. 
 
 " Because I wished to learn from you certain 
 facts which it was imperative for me to know," 
 Tamar replied. 
 
 " And did you learn them? " he said. 
 
 " Yes, thank you," Tamar answered regally. 
 
 " Upon my word, you are cool, and no mis- 
 take," Hailsham said with a short laugh. But 
 even in the midst of his surprise and disconcerted- 
 ness, he could not help being influenced by her 
 quiet imperiousness, which seemed to claim a right- 
 ful place for her amongst those people privileged 
 by nature and birth to do as they please, without 
 let or hindrance. 
 
 " To proceed," Tamar said, without taking any 
 notice of his remark, " I desire to offer you the 
 sum of 3,000 in settlement of your claim on 
 Adrian Steele. .Will you accept it? "
 
 264 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " Do you know," Hailsham exclaimed, " I 
 don't think you realize at all how you take me by 
 surprise." 
 
 " Oh yes, I do," Tamar said, with one of her 
 sullen smiles. " Don't imagine for a moment that 
 you are the only astonished person in this matter. 
 I assure you, I take myself much by surprise also. 
 I should never have believed it, if I had been told 
 a fortnight ago that I should offer any one 3,000 
 in settlement of Adrian Steele's affairs." 
 
 " But why should you offer it now? " he asked 
 excitedly. 
 
 " Three thousand pounds," Tamar continued, 
 " and the Siberian onyx snuff-box. I throw that 
 in and gladly, since you like it so well." 
 
 " I must really ask you to explain yourself," 
 Hailsham said, a little impatiently. " I don't un- 
 derstand the situation. You tell me that you know 
 Adrian Steele. Well, am I to understand that 
 he has empowered you to make this offer on his 
 behalf?" 
 
 " No," Tamar said emphatically. " The offer 
 comes direct from me. Adrian Steele has no 
 means of knowing that I am acquainted with 
 you." 
 
 'Why don't you explain yourself at once?" 
 Hailsham said, still more impatiently. '' Why do 
 you keep up this absurd mystery? " 
 
 " There would not appear to be much mystery
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 265 
 
 about the money," Tamar said with provoking 
 quietness, pointing to a batch of papers on her 
 desk. " Here are certificates and securities for 
 3,000. Central Argentine Railway, Johannes- 
 burg Municipal, Canadian Pacific, and some oth- 
 ers. You can examine them now. Take them 
 and look at them now." 
 
 He shook his head angrily. He almost refused 
 to see them. 
 
 " You know perfectly well that I am not refer- 
 ring to the money," he said, with blustering 
 brusqueness. " I'm referring to your relationship 
 to Adrian Steele. What are you to him ? What is 
 he to you? What impels you to stand up and 
 offer me 3,000 in settlement of my claim on 
 him? That's the first thing I want to learn, and 
 you'll just have to tell me." 
 
 " I stand rudeness from no one," Tamar said 
 slowly. " Rudeness has always been considered 
 my own speciality. If you can't put your ques- 
 tions in a civil tone and without losing control of 
 your temper, you'd better go and at once. The 
 negotiations are all off." 
 
 She stood immovable, with her eyes fixed on him. 
 He capitulated to her. 
 
 " I am really sorry," he said humbly. " Really 
 very sorry, believe me." 
 
 She accepted his apology with a slight, almost 
 imperceptible inclination of the head, the formality
 
 266 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 of which seemed to warn him that he would have 
 to be on his guard, if he wished to remain in her 
 shop. 
 
 " Perhaps you would allow me to put the ques- 
 tion in this way," he said. ' What concern have 
 you practically with Adrian Steele's affairs? " 
 
 Tamar remained silent for a moment, making 
 a final search for the right idea to guide her words. 
 She had been purposely beating about the bush in 
 this vague fashion so as to gain time for reflection. 
 And now a sudden conviction took possession of 
 her, and a brilliant thought leapt into her clever 
 brain. It was no use telling Hailsham that her 
 concern was that of some one who loved Adrian 
 Steele. She would have more chance of gaining 
 her ends if she represented herself in another light. 
 Why had not she thought of that before? But 
 it was not too late. She took the plunge delib- 
 erately. 
 
 ' The concern of an old enemy," she said in a 
 low voice. 
 
 Hailsham's face brightened immediately. It 
 was obvious that he was enormously relieved. 
 
 " Of an old enemy," he repeated eagerly. 
 ' Then you too have a grudge against him ? " 
 
 ' Yes," she said grimly. " I want to get him 
 in my power. I want to pay off old scores. I 
 intend to pay off old scores." 
 
 " Ah, but that's what I want to do," Hailsham
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 267 
 
 exclaimed, " pay off old scores, mental as well as 
 monetary." 
 
 As he spoke, a vision of his little scornful enemy 
 rose before him, and those contemptuous words 
 echoed in his ears : " a negligible quantity of 
 mind." They revived in his mind the stinging 
 remembrance of Steele's habitual disparagement of 
 his plays, from an intellectual point of view. Once 
 again he saw those thin lips forming into an in- 
 dulgent sneer, and the keen face assuming an ex- 
 pression of subdued amusement. " A negligible 
 quantity of mind." No, by Heaven, no. No 
 one except himself should deal with this mocking 
 little scoundrel. Not for 30,000 not for 
 300,000 not for all the art treasures in the 
 world. He would handle Adrian Steele himself, 
 and without mercy. 
 
 The vision faded. Hailsham looked up and 
 saw Tamar watching him with an interest which 
 seemed to have great kindness in it. 
 
 " I realize that I ask a great deal of you," she 
 said. " You probably feel that you would rather 
 do anything than part with your revenge ? " 
 
 "How do you know that?" he asked impul- 
 sively. 
 
 " Because I should feel the same," she answered 
 with a smile. " I, too, should hate to part with 
 my revenge." 
 
 " By Jove," he said, " you do understand."
 
 268 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 She nodded. 
 
 " I have had bitter experience," she said dream- 
 ily. " You spoke of paying off mental scores. 
 So you, too, must have experienced his intellectual 
 contempt. I don't remember whether I showed 
 you my book on precious stones. Well, I wrote 
 it as a vindication to myself of my own powers, 
 which he had always depreciated. I never rested 
 until I had finished it." 
 
 Hailsham drew a deep breath of satisfaction 
 and relief. 
 
 " Ah," he said, " don't I just understand, too I " 
 
 He stretched out his hand in sign of comrade- 
 ship, and Tamar pressed it. 
 
 " I should like to see your book on precious 
 stones," he said. 
 
 She took it from the bookshelf and put it into 
 his hands, and whilst he was glancing at it, she 
 quietly produced from the safe one or two of her 
 finest stones and her most valuable pearls. When 
 he looked up from the book and saw them, he gave 
 an exclamation of delighted surprise. 
 
 " You prepare for me one surprise after an- 
 other," he said. " You make me a most astound- 
 ing business offer. You appear in the unexpected 
 role of a fellow author. And without any warn- 
 ing you disclose the most beautiful stones. I won- 
 der what you're going to do next." 
 
 She did not speak. She examined her pearls.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 269 
 
 " And you are willing to pay the sum of 3,000 
 to get him into your own personal power," Hail- 
 sham remarked thoughtfully, after a pause. " A 
 heavy price for revenge." 
 
 " Oh, don't imagine that I shan't get it all 
 back," she said quietly, "every farthing of it 
 and with a commission of at least 12^ per cent. I 
 see good business in it as well as revenge." 
 
 '' What an extraordinary woman you are, upon 
 my soul! " Hailsham said, with a puzzled smile 
 on his face. 
 
 " I am a Jewess," Tamar said with dignity. 
 " A Jewess never forgets an injury and, at the 
 same time, never neglects to take the opportunity 
 of doing good business." 
 
 The puzzled expression on Hailsham's face 
 changed into one of added interest and admiration, 
 for Tamar looked magnificent in her pride, as she 
 claimed, without flinching, the special characteris- 
 tics of her race. She waited a moment, and then 
 went on: 
 
 " Seven years ago Adrian Steele played havoc 
 with my life. For seven years I have waited. 
 Seven years. That's a long time. And now 
 comes my opportunity. I naturally grasp at it. 
 What have you to say to my offer? I admit I 
 have used you. Well, what of that? You've 
 been using me probably studying me for one of 
 your plays, perhaps. And rightly so. I don't
 
 270 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 grudge it to you. If people don't use their op- 
 portunities in life, they're fools. At any rate, in 
 this instance, neither you've been a fool nor I've 
 been a fool. I wanted to get information out of 
 you, and I got it. You wanted to learn some- 
 thing about me as a dealer in antiques and as a 
 woman. Well, you've seen my choicest treasures 
 and you've learnt something at least of my nature. 
 It seems to me that so far we have not done 
 badly." 
 
 " I am afraid I can't deny that I have been 
 studying you," Hailsham said frankly. " You've 
 interested me fearfully. I've never met any one 
 like you before. But, in justice to myself, I want 
 to say that what began in mere curiosity, has al- 
 ready passed on to real and genuine personal re- 
 gard. Will you forgive me for taking the liberty 
 in saying this? I can't help myself." 
 
 " You needn't try to help yourself," Tamar 
 said, half sullenly, half encouragingly. " I don't 
 mind owning that I, too, have changed in my 
 attitude towards you. I began by making use 
 of you, and I shouldn't be surprised if I ended 
 by-" 
 
 " By loving me, T. Scott ! " he exclaimed with 
 sudden passion. " Say that say that! " 
 
 She never flinched. 
 
 " It's too early to say that," she answered with 
 an indulgent smile, which nevertheless had some-
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 271 
 
 thing authoritative in it. " You'll spoil things be- 
 tween us if you go on in that ridiculous fashion." 
 
 " Forgive me," he said, controlling himself. " I 
 beg of you to forgive me." 
 
 " I forgive you willingly enough," she replied, 
 with a soft little laugh. " But meanwhile we're 
 wasting time, and I have to go out and attend 
 a sale of Old English silver plate at Christie's. 
 Perhaps you'd Hke to come with me, by the way. 
 Now will you or will you not accept my offer 
 3,000 and the Siberian onyx snuff-box? " 
 
 " It is a most unheard-of proposition," Hail- 
 sham said, getting up from his chair and leaning 
 against the mantelshelf. " I really don't know 
 what to make of it." 
 
 " It is a good business proposition," Tamar an- 
 swered. " You told me yourself that you have 
 been defrauded of nearly 2,000. You will get 
 your money back and make 1,000." 
 
 " But you have only my word for it that I have 
 been defrauded," he said, turning to her. * You 
 must trust me enormously." 
 
 A curious smile came over her face. 
 
 " I have no doubt that you are trustworthy," 
 she said. " But to begin with, no one would 
 think of entering on a prosecution unless he had 
 definite facts to go on. And it goes without say- 
 ing that I should want those definite facts all of 
 them."
 
 272 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " And when you've got them, what are you go- 
 ing to do with them? " Hailsham asked. 
 
 " Keep them hanging over him," she answered 
 slowly. " Allow each one to descend on him, one 
 by one, one by one. You needn't fear he won't 
 be punished." 
 
 Hailsham stood lost in thought. After all, why 
 should he not accept this offer? He was fond of 
 money, and lived the sort of life which needed 
 a lot of money. Here was 1,000 thrown at his 
 head for nothing except silence. A bribe to 
 pass on his carefully prepared revenge to some 
 one who was as hostile as himself towards Adrian 
 Steele, indeed more so, since, according to T. 
 Scott's own words, she had certainly been nursing 
 her anger for seven years. Why shouldn't he let 
 her deal with Adrian Steele in her own way, and 
 drop the matter himself, with 1,000 no 
 3,000 to the good, no further trouble about the 
 matter, and the Siberian onyx snuff-box and her 
 regard, her friendship, her gratitude perhaps 
 her love into the bargain ? It was years since a 
 woman had exercised such fascination over him. 
 Why shouldn't he accept her offer? Why 
 shouldn't he do this to please her, to gain favor 
 in her eyes? After all, John Noble was not go- 
 ing to prosecute. What should prevent him, given 
 these favorable conditions, from following John 
 Noble's example ?
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 273 
 
 All these arguments passed through Hailsham's 
 mind, and he felt desperately tempted to accept 
 Tamar's offer. He was so entirely dominated by 
 her personality that, for the moment, he was con- 
 scious of no resentment at the way in which she 
 had used him, probed him and turned him inside 
 out. Indeed, her calm frankness in owning up 
 to her conduct, had even impressed him as some- 
 thing fine and great. He admired, too, her dis- 
 cerning cleverness which recognized and under- 
 stood the author's instinct in him to study and 
 analyze an unfamiliar type. And in addition, the 
 fierce hostility which they had in common against 
 Adrian Steele, linked her to him in a close tie of 
 fellowship. Finally and firstly, T. Scott, the 
 woman, held him: the Jewess, the Roman Em- 
 press whom his pen would never be able to de- 
 scribe. He was, in short, under the subtle magic 
 of her spell, in surroundings which, to an enthu- 
 siastic collector, were in themselves enchanted 
 ground. Her presence there, in her own setting, 
 completed the enchantment of the atmosphere. 
 She was that atmosphere, and that atmosphere was 
 herself. In his coarse-grained and rather com- 
 monplace nature ran a fine thread of unalloyed ar- 
 tistic appreciation which Tamar had at once de- 
 tected. She held him by that thread, as well as 
 by her own mysterious and compelling charm. 
 
 He was at the point of yielding to her extraor-
 
 274 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 dinary proposal, and allowing her to carry out the 
 punishment and destruction of Adrian Steele in 
 her own way, when suddenly there came a ring 
 at the shop door. Tamar, contrary to her cus- 
 tom, and probably because she was excited and 
 triumphant at having brought Hailsham thus far, 
 hurried off to answer the bell. Perhaps, too, she 
 was anxious to keep the coast clear of any in- 
 opportune visitor, and deemed it wise to run no 
 risks of a chance call, for instance, from Adrian 
 Steele himself. In her haste she forgot to roll 
 back the top of her roller desk, and lock it. 
 
 She also forgot to restore her jewels to the safe, 
 and lock that. It was the first time that she had 
 ever omitted the precautions enjoined on her by 
 her mother, and hitherto carried out by her with a 
 sort of sacramental faithfulness. She was des- 
 tined to pay dearly for her negligence. 
 
 Hailsham had no intention of prying, for he 
 was as honest and open as the day. But it sud- 
 denly struck him that he might just as well have 
 a look at those certificates which T. Scott had 
 pressed on him for inspection, and on which he 
 had at the moment rudely refused to bestow so 
 much as a passing glance. What had she said 
 they were? Ah yes, Central Argentine Railways 
 and Johannesburg Municipals and Canadian Pa- 
 cifies. Good investments all. There they were. 
 There could be no harm in looking at them.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 275 
 
 He advanced to the desk, took them from the 
 top of a pile of other papers, and was just going 
 to examine them, when his eye was attracted to 
 a letter which had been covered up by the certifi- 
 cates, but now lay before him, staring him full in 
 the face. He gazed at it, at first half stupidly, 
 and then with sudden recognition. 
 
 " My own handwriting," he exclaimed. " My 
 own handwriting. Well, that's odd." 
 
 " Why, it's one of my own letters to 
 Adrian Steele," he cried. " What on earth is it 
 doing here? " 
 
 It was his letter to Steele announcing, in a few 
 words, his intention to investigate his affairs. He 
 snatched it up and found, to his utter astonish- 
 ment, that it was attached to a detailed statement 
 of the returns of his play The Winning Number. 
 On the top was written in Steele's handwriting 
 these words: 
 
 " You will find this flawless. A. S." 
 
 " Great powers," he gasped out. " So that's 
 it. She has been duping me." 
 
 A realization of the truth swept over him like 
 an avalanche. The color mounted to his face, 
 and an almost uncontrolled anger to his brain. In 
 a flash he saw that T. Scott had been trying to 
 trap and trick him, and that she was Adrian Steele's
 
 276 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 confederate and not his enemy. Fool that he had 
 been not to take it in from the beginning. Every- 
 "thing pointed to this explanation of her attitude 
 towards him. She had encouraged him to come 
 to her shop, shown him her treasures, fostered 
 his enthusiasm, got rid of the Dutch ship for him, 
 let him have that valuable Limoges enamel for a 
 mere trifle, cajoled him, humored, enticed him 
 and all for this to get him in her power yes, to 
 get him in her power and then wrest from him, 
 with another bribe, the right of dealing with 
 Adrian Steele's business frauds. Confederates 
 that's what they were not enemies. Confeder- 
 ates allies. Why, she had told him herself 
 that she had wanted to get information out of him. 
 Fool that he had been why didn't that alone 
 warn him? Yes, yes, and he remembered now 
 that he had never once mentioned to her the exact 
 amount of the unpaid returns due to him from 
 Steele. Never once, because his statistics were nojt 
 complete. He had spoken vaguely of hundreds 
 of pounds. He remembered that well. Noth- 
 ing more definite than that. So that it was from 
 Steele himself that she must have learnt the ap- 
 proximate figure of 2,000. Fool that he had 
 been to allow himself to come even for a moment 
 under the spell of her influence. Well, he was 
 free from it now, and she should hear what he 
 thought of her.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 277 
 
 He threw the papers back on to her desk. He 
 dashed into the shop, where he found Tamar alone, 
 making some entry in a book. 
 
 " A treacherous, designing woman, that's what 
 you are," he shouted, almost beside himself with 
 rage. " A confederate of Adrian Steele's. A 
 well-matched pair, the two of you." 
 
 She leaned with her elbows on the counter. 
 Her face showed no sign of perturbation. 
 
 " How do you know that? " she asked calmly, 
 as if the matter were of no concern to her. 
 
 " You should not leave your desk open," he re- 
 torted excitedly. 
 
 " No, you're right," she said still calmly, though 
 a great and terrible fear^eized her. " It's never 
 safe." 
 
 " Oh, don't imagine I've been prying amongst 
 your damned papers," he shouted. " I lifted up 
 your certificates which you yourself asked me to 
 examine, as I made up my mind to accept your 
 offer yes to accept it fool that I was, and 
 there I saw a letter in my own handwriting to 
 Adrian Steele, staring me in the face. Perhaps 
 you remember what it is." 
 
 A slight tremor passed over her face. She re- 
 membered that she had forgotten to lock up in 
 an inner drawer one or two of Adrian's papers 
 which she had been studying just before Hailsham 
 came. But she maintained an outward composure,
 
 278 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 and ignoring Hailsham, strolled casually into the 
 inner room, where she stood before her desk. He 
 followed her and snatched up his letter and the 
 accounts of The Winning Number. 
 
 " There ! " he exclaimed. " You can't deny 
 that my letter and the statement of The Winning 
 Number testify against you." 
 
 " No, I can't," she said. 
 
 " You can't deny that you've tried to entrap and 
 deceive me," he went on. 
 
 11 No," she answered, " I can't." 
 
 " And that you are his friend and not his en- 
 emy," he continued. 
 
 " No," she replied, " I can't." 
 
 " Then, pray, what have you to say for your- 
 self ? " he demanded fiercely. 
 
 " Nothing," she said slowly. " Nothing, ex- 
 cept I have played and lost." 
 
 The intenseness with which her few words were 
 charged, checked his power of speech. He 
 glanced towards her and watched her raise her 
 right arm and hand, which were trembling with 
 suppressed but obvious rage and fury against him 
 and herself. She pointed to the shop door. 
 
 " Go," she said in a low, hoarse voice. " I hate 
 you. Do you hear me? Go, before I kill you." 
 
 He saw the dangerous glare in her eyes, and 
 the malevolent expression on her countenance. 
 
 He fled, as from the spring of a tigress.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 ARLY that same evening Tamar received this 
 letter from Adrian Steele : 
 
 " TAMAR, The doctors report favorably on 
 my little Alpenrose. They appear now to regard 
 me, and not her, in a critical state of health. They 
 insist that I should go away for a change; and 
 as their views chance to correspond with your 
 wish that I should remove myself for a time out 
 of the reach of embarrassing encounters, I have 
 made up my mind to go. Needless to say, the 
 doctors suggest Brighton. How like them, 
 Tamar ! Have you ever met a doctor who didn't 
 say Brighton or Cairo? Has it ever struck you 
 that they make their suggestions in alphabetical 
 order? Brighton, Cowes, Davos, Eastbourne, 
 Folkestone, Grindelwald, Hastings, and so on? 
 It is an excellent plan, and saves unnecessary use 
 of the intelligence. Brighton would be full of 
 embarrassing encounters for me, wouldn't it? I 
 smile when I think of all the theatrical people 
 I should run across there. No, I must choose 
 279
 
 280 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 some unfrequented spot unknown to the profes- 
 sion. I liked that place Kineton where you 
 stopped for the Meyntoun Moat sale. That's 
 where I feel inclined to go. I think you stayed 
 at the ' Prince Rupert,' but no doubt you will send 
 me a line. An interesting country that, Tamar. 
 I see from the guidebook an excellent one, 
 by the way that the old manor house of Long- 
 ford is not far off. I must visit it. This would 
 appear to be a better program than Brighton, 
 and a safer one. I hope to return restored to 
 my usual standard of superb intellectual perfec- 
 tion. Meantime, it is not altogether an unprofi- 
 table experience to have one's brain power feeble 
 and slow. It should make one better able to un- 
 derstand and tolerate the ordinary brainless per- 
 son with the dull, fish-like eye. How I have ever 
 abominated that type! And now, to be honest 
 with myself and you, I believe that in a strict 
 census, I ought to be included in that fearsome 
 category. But only temporarily, surely 1 And 
 meantime your clever brain works and thinks for 
 me, I know. I shall struggle through somehow, 
 with your help. I suppose, being a person not 
 addicted to poetry, you don't know those words 
 of Browning: 'Out of the wreck I rise, past 
 Zeus, to the Potency o'er him.' Well, they rather 
 haunt me. ' Out of the wreck I rise.' Good-by, 
 Tamar of mine."
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 281 
 
 The letter fell from Tamar's hand, and she sat 
 motionless for a few minutes. Her eyes were 
 rather dim. Then she took her pen and wrote as 
 follows : 
 
 " Am thankful you are going away. Feel sure 
 we shall save the situation if you get back your 
 thinking powers. Don't go to the ' Prince Ru- 
 pert.' When you get to Kineton, take a trap to 
 Herne Vicarage. Am writing to tell the young 
 clergyman, Richard Forest, a friend of mine, to 
 receive you instead. You can pay him for your 
 board and lodging. He will use the money for 
 church repairs. It is very lonely there and very 
 safe. None of the playwright people will be strut- 
 ting about there. You can rest and recover your- 
 self in Richard Forest's company. You know 
 that I, as well as you, have always hated clergy- 
 men. But he is something set apart. Being a 
 clergyman could not injure him. It will be good 
 for you to be with him. I don't mind owning it 
 was good for me, and that I haven't lost the good 
 from it. Have only seen him twice, but each time 
 have felt sure he is something set apart. What, 
 I don't know. He will expect you to be interested 
 in the repairs of the church. Possibly also, in the 
 vicarage ghosts. Ghosts have never attacked me, 
 but I remember you've always pretended to like 
 them. Shall come down in a few days and con-
 
 282 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 suit further with you. Meantime, get rested. 
 Your brain was always resourceful, and will be 
 again. Even at your worst you could never qual- 
 ify for the company of the dull people with the 
 fish-like eyes. Must tell you I believe you owe it 
 to Nell Silberthwaite that John Noble has stayed 
 his hand. Perhaps you could write a line to her 
 or or see her before you go. Yes, see her. 
 Should like you to, on the whole. Noble came 
 to her office about some absurd sweated business. 
 He noticed the snow picture and they spoke of 
 you. He'd just come from your office. She told 
 him she'd known you years ago, and that she owed 
 a great deal to you. Noble said that reminded 
 him of all he owed to you. A good thing he did 
 remember it, isn't it? Anyway, he is out of the 
 field, of his own accord. With contrivance, the 
 others will be also, for I have a fine scheme ma- 
 turing in. my mind over which I laugh softly in 
 this inner room. No, am thankful to say I don't 
 know anything about Crowning or any other poet, 
 but those words will be true of you, I'm certain. 
 Am as sure of that as I am of the difference be- 
 tween a genuine and a faked antique. That re- 
 minds me your wife came to-day to thank me for 
 my kindness to ' a stranger brought to my gates.' 
 She insisted on buying a faked antique pendant, 
 though I tried to guide her taste and offered her 
 something genuine, at a lower price, too. Could
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 283 
 
 see she was anxious to reward me for my hospital- 
 ity to you. Made an unfavorable impression on 
 her. Was at my worst. You know what that is. 
 
 " T.SCOTT." 
 
 To Nell Silberthwaite she wrote : 
 
 " Have failed with that playwright man, Hail- 
 sham, and through my own fault. Cannot speak 
 of it until I have recovered from my fury with 
 him and myself. T. SCOTT." 
 
 To Richard Forest she wrote : 
 
 " A friend of mine, Adrian Steele, is coming 
 into your neighborhood. He was going to the 
 ' Prince Rupert ' at Kineton. Am asking you to 
 take him in instead. The money could be used 
 for the church repairs. He wants quiet and 
 peace. He has had a great deal of trouble lately. 
 He knows a fine Norman font when he sees it. 
 Is rather a good all-around antiquarian. Show 
 him your fresco. He does not dislike ghosts. 
 
 "T. SCOTT." 
 
 Her expression of countenance softened as she 
 read what she had written to Richard Forest. 
 
 " Something set apart," she said aloud. 
 " That's what you are, Richard Forest." 
 
 She addressed the envelope, and then stared 
 at it.
 
 284 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " What would you do if you knew the lies I've 
 been telling this afternoon, Richard Forest, and 
 all in vain?" she said aloud. " I think I know 
 what you would do. You would kneel down in 
 that lonely little church and pray for me. An 
 absurd thing to do, of course, but I wouldn't 
 resent it from you." 
 
 She gummed down the envelope. 
 
 " Adrian will rest in your company," she said 
 aloud. " I send him to you, Richard Forest, as 
 to a healer." 
 
 She shut up the shop, went out, posted her let- 
 ters, and wandered aimlessly about in the dark- 
 ness of the night.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 JOAN NEVILLE looked up from her desk in 
 the office and saw Adrian Steele standing be- 
 fore her. 
 
 " Ah," she said to herself. " Looking down 
 on snow-white plains again. But how changed 
 he looks. Is he going to faint? A good thing 
 I can count ' first aid ' amongst my many wonder- 
 ful attributes." 
 
 Aloud she said: 
 
 " Good-morning. Mrs. Silberthwaite is here, 
 and disengaged. If you will kindly take a seat, 
 I will tell her." 
 
 " I prefer to announce myself," he said, with 
 just a touch of hauteur which at first awed and 
 then irritated little Joan Neville. 
 
 But the next moment he had appeased her, for 
 he turned to her with a penitence which was irre- 
 sistible, and said: 
 
 " The traditional privilege of an old friend 
 and comrade, you know. Mysteriously but very 
 definitely precious, like all threatened privi- 
 leges." 
 
 285
 
 286 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " I understand," she said, smiling, too ; and she 
 rose and held the door open for him to pass into 
 the passage leading to Nell's room. 
 
 After he had gone, she stood thinking about 
 him. 
 
 " One could never forget him," she said. 
 " Never. One might want to. But one never 
 could. And why, I wonder?" 
 
 She shook her head solemnly, gave up the prob- 
 lem, and returned to her work; but she glanced 
 once or twice towards the door, and her mind 
 traveled through it to meet that little masterful 
 figure which continued to haunt her with an un- 
 reasonable persistence. 
 
 Meantime Adrian Steele knocked at Nell's 
 door, with an old familiar rap which he had al- 
 ways said was his only musical composition. 
 
 " A symphony," he had always said, " short, 
 but, of its kind, superb." 
 
 " Nell's voice bade him enter, and he saw for 
 himself the glad welcome on her face. 
 
 " It's delightful to hear once more your only 
 musical composition, Adrian," she said, the color 
 mounting to her cheeks. 
 
 * You see I have not forgotten it. It's still 
 superb, isn't it?" he said, smiling. 
 
 " I'll be off, Mrs. Silberthwaite," Mrs. Carton 
 said, turning round from a cupboard from which 
 she was taking a large number of pamphlets and
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 287 
 
 leaflets. " They won't want more than this lot 
 at the meeting." 
 
 She came forward with her burden, and met 
 Adrian Steele face to face. The pamphlets 
 dropped to the ground. 
 
 " It's Mr. Trustworthy," she cried excitedly. 
 " I should know him anywhere. You're him, 
 aren't you? Oh, yes, you're hisself, and no mis- 
 take. We've never forgotten you down there. 
 Our first friend. The first one that cared. Mr. 
 Trustworthy. That's what we always called you 
 behind your back, because the old box-maker 
 you remember old Mrs. Perkins ? one of them 
 three you buried, well, she was always saying: 
 ' He's trustworthy, he is. Trustworthy.' I can 
 hear her poor old cracked voice now." 
 
 " I can hear it," Adrian Steele said in a low 
 voice, which was almost a whisper. 
 
 He stood with bowed head and closed eyes, his 
 hands folded over each other and pressing into 
 his breast. In that one moment he passed through 
 a purgatory of remorse. Then, with an effort of 
 will, he controlled his emotions and opened his 
 eyes. He gave Mrs. Carton a friendly smile of 
 recognition, and stooped down to help her to pick 
 up the pamphlets. She was puzzled and awed 
 by his silence and his manner, and glanced at Nell 
 half questioningly as she left the room. 
 
 When the door closed, he strolled towards the
 
 288 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 mantelpiece, and contemplated in silence the snow 
 mountain picture which he had given to Nell more 
 than fifteen years ago. 
 
 " And so John Noble recognized the picture, 
 Nell?" he said without turning round. 
 * Yes, Adrian," she answered. 
 
 " Tamar told me," he continued. " She told 
 me that I owed it to you that John Noble has - 
 
 He paused. 
 
 " Has entrusted me with his work as usual," 
 he added. 
 
 " Tamar is a generous soul," Nell said warmly. 
 
 " Tamar is Tamar," he said gently. And 
 Nell heard, with a pang of jealousy, even at that 
 moment, the love accents in his voice. 
 
 " I want to thank you, Nell," he went on. " It 
 was good of you to well, what shall I say 
 testify for me." 
 
 " No, no, it wasn't," she said. " There was 
 not anything good in it. Your name came up in 
 connection with the mountain picture, and some- 
 thing impelled me to tell him of what I myself 
 owed you. You know what I owe to you; my 
 career, my life's work, the biggest debt that any 
 one could owe to any one. My husband seconded 
 me most unselfishly, most splendidly. But you 
 showed me the way. He knew I thought that. 
 He was content that I should think it, because he 
 was above all paltriness and pettiness."
 
 " Every one has been generous except myself," 
 Adrian said. " Well, it is at least something to 
 know that you think I carried the lantern, and 
 showed you the toilsome way which you are tread- 
 ing so bravely. Perhaps I did, and perhaps I did 
 not." 
 
 A glimmer of playful mischief came into his 
 eyes as he said after a pause : 
 
 " At any rate, I rescued you from the academic 
 abyss. Of that I have no doubt whatsoever. 
 Think of it, Nell, but for me, you might at this 
 moment be editing Plato or Aristotle." 
 
 " You speak of such work as if it were a 
 calamity," Nell said, with a laugh. 
 
 " Not a calamity for those possessed of a mind 
 academic and academic only," he answered. " A 
 fulfilment for them, and a right fulfilment. But 
 there were other voices whispering to you as well 
 the call of suffering, hopeless poverty in the 
 world outside the seclusion of the study, making 
 itself heard softly but persistently. It would have 
 been a crime for you to turn to it a deaf ear 
 wouldn't it? Events have proved that I was 
 right in my diagnosis. About this matter I am 
 proud of myself, and with justice. You've done 
 splendidly." 
 
 She shook her head and remained silent. She 
 longed to beg him to talk, not of her but of him- 
 self. But she dared not. She remembered him
 
 290 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 of old. With tragedy and disaster confronting 
 him, it was entirely characteristic of him that his 
 mind should perversely choose to dwell on any 
 subject rather than on his own personal affairs. 
 So she was not specially surprised when he began 
 to speak of the mountains. 
 
 " Yes, Nell," he said, as though he were con- 
 tinuing some conversation about them; "I have 
 always loved the mountains, even before I learnt 
 to know and share your deep delight in them. 
 Do you remember when we first read together 
 Ruskin's chapters on the * Mountain Gloom ' and 
 the ' Mountain Glory ' ? Do you remember that 
 passage in which he speaks of them as ' these 
 great cathedrals of the earth, with their gates of 
 rock, pavements of cloud, choirs of stream and 
 stone, altars of snow, and vaults of purple tra- 
 versed by the continual stars ' ? " 
 
 " Yes," Nell said; " and I have so often thought 
 of the ending words of the ' Mountain Glory.' 
 You were fond of them, in spite of yourself, you 
 used to say. Do you remember them now? 
 ' These pure and white hills, near to the heaven 
 and sources of all good to the earth, are the ap- 
 pointed memorials of that light of His mercy that 
 fell, snow-like, on the Mount of Transfigura- 
 tion.' " 
 
 " That fell snow-like," he repeated half to him- 
 self. " That fell snow-like."
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 291 
 
 " You used to tell me, didn't you, Nell," he said 
 turning to her, " that you were often able to 
 dream of the mountains when you had the heart- 
 hunger for them?" 
 
 ' Yes," she said, her face lighting up. " I 
 have seen the snow peaks and the distant ranges 
 as in a vision. And the Alpine glow covering 
 their ideal whiteness with that mysteriously beau- 
 tiful purple garment." 
 
 " Ah," he said eagerly, " I saw that the other 
 night in my dreams. I wandered about in my 
 favorite haunts, through the wild and lonely Mei- 
 enthal, with my face set towards the Sustenhorner. 
 My eyes delighted in that vision of splendor. It 
 faded, of course. But in so-called real life I have 
 never seen it more superb. And my joy did not 
 end with it, Nell. You'll understand me, be- 
 cause you would have felt the same. The winter 
 changed, with a wave of the magic wand, to early 
 spring, and I stooped down and picked my first 
 star gentian, and my first little soldanella. Then 
 I woke, alas ! " 
 
 " Before you had gathered a spring anemone, 
 with its soft glittering tufts of hair," Nell said. 
 " What a shame ! Well, I'll show it to you here 
 in this Alpine flora book, which has just been 
 sent me from Zurich. Here it is. Isn't it a 
 lovely picture? Doesn't it make you see the snow 
 melting away a-nd disclosing whole velvety fields
 
 292 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 of them? And here's the wee soldanella. And 
 here's the little star gentian." 
 
 She had taken the book from a shelf, opened it, 
 and placed it in his hands. He turned over the 
 leaves in silence, nodding when he came upon 
 his favorite flowers. At last he arrived at the 
 plate which, amongst other Alpine shrubs, in- 
 cluded the Alpenrose. 
 
 " Alpenrose," he said, and a tremor passed over 
 his face. He put the book down on Nell's desk. 
 
 " You know," he said dreamily, " I called my 
 little daughter Alpenrose, because I wanted to 
 believe that she belonged in name, in being, in 
 spirit, to the white snow-land where the mountain 
 peaks stand for the far-off altars of our far-off 
 ideals. Alpenrose has been ill. We nearly lost 
 her. We wrestled with death for her young life, 
 and we won it. But with half my heart, I think, 
 it would almost have been better if she had died. 
 You see I have " 
 
 He broke off. Nell waited breathlessly. She 
 would have given anything on earth if he had at 
 that moment opened his heart to her, confided to 
 her his difficulties and anxieties and confessed his 
 secret sadness. But he gave no further sign of 
 wishing to unburden his mind to her. He stood, 
 as she had, once not so long ago, seen him in her 
 dream, remote, inaccessible on the mountain side, 
 cut off from all retreat. Tamar could reach him.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 293 
 
 She could not. She had to solace herself then 
 and ever afterwards with the cold but snow-white 
 memory that he had cared to show her a glimpse 
 of the soul within him, and to speak with her of 
 the wonderful things in Nature dear to them both, 
 and symbolic to them both of spiritual life. No 
 one could rob her of this. Not even Tamar. 
 
 Suddenly he took the Alpine flora book again 
 from the desk, half absent-mindedly, half mechan- 
 ically; but his face became eager and interested as 
 he opened it and looked once more at the many 
 beautiful colored plates. 
 
 " What a splendid page of gentians," he said. 
 "And this thistle a noble fellow, isn't he? 
 Yes, that's his name, I remember: Eryngium 
 alpinum. Ah, and here are the primulas. What 
 a lot of them ! And here is the sweet little sol- 
 danella again. Wait a moment. I must just see 
 what they have to say about the flora of the 
 Meienthal. Here it is : " Meienthal bis zum Sus- 
 ten " beginning of course with the Ranunculus 
 glacialis. I remember that was particularly beau- 
 tiful in the Meienthal, up towards the Susten 
 Pass. Let's look up his plate. Here it is a 
 very fine one too ! Now I wonder whether they 
 mention my little favorite village, Wassen. 
 Bravo, here it is, with a fat list attached to it too, 
 Nell. I'm proud, but not surprised; for I tell 
 you I've never seen the Alpine pasture flowers
 
 294 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 grow so richly anywhere as there. Never in my 
 life did I see such forget-me-nots as on the slopes 
 round Wassen. It's at the entrance of the Meien- 
 thal, you know. And it has its church perched on 
 a steep little hill which dominates the valley. 
 And it owns a raging torrent river, and a most 
 entrancing group of mountains, mercifully de- 
 spised by climbers and neglected by tourists. I 
 have always loved it. That's where my Alpine 
 heart is. Yes, this is a gem of a book, Nell, and 
 no mistake. You were always clever at unearth- 
 ing the right book for the right subject." 
 
 " Take it, Adrian," she said impulsively. " I 
 shall be so happy if you will accept it from me." 
 
 " It's just as well you've made the offer," he 
 said, with a twinkle in his eye. " For, upon my 
 word, I don't think that I could part with it, once 
 having seen it. I will take it away gladly and 
 most thankfully, as authorized plunder." 
 
 She smiled at his words, and at the faint re- 
 minder of his old playful manner. But when she 
 glanced at his face, and saw the stress and strain 
 of spirit written large there in spite of all his 
 efforts of concealment and his conscious or un- 
 conscious evasion of impending trouble, a cry of 
 real distress and concern broke from her involun- 
 tarily, and would not be repressed. 
 
 " Adrian," she cried, in a tone of voice charged 
 with every kind of tenderness and pitifulness, " all
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 295 
 
 will be well with you yet, I'm sure. You'll rise 
 out of this trouble I know you will." 
 
 He shrank into himself a little as if he feared 
 the close approach of some unseen danger threat- 
 ening him, but he nodded his head in quiet assent 
 and said vaguely: 
 
 * Yes, Nell. Why not ? Stranger things than 
 that have been known to happen in a man's life 
 or death." 
 
 As he spoke, his eyes sought the mountain 
 picture and rested there. Nell stood silently by 
 his side, and her eyes, too, traveled to the snow 
 peaks, and remained there in steadfast but dim 
 vision. 
 
 So they parted.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 XTT'HEN Richard Forest received T. Scott's 
 letter, heralding the arrival of her friend, 
 his face flushed with pleasure and he said aloud, 
 as though addressing Tamar herself: 
 
 " Of course I shall make your friend welcome. 
 And, T. Scott, I am so pleased that you have 
 thought of sending him to me. I will do my best 
 for him, and try to cheer him if he is in trouble." 
 
 The unexpected situation presented no difficul- 
 ties to his mind. Richard was always ready for 
 the unknown in every direction, and doubts about 
 details were negligible pettiness which did not af- 
 fect his large outlook. But it did occur to him 
 that perhaps Mrs. Eustace might be harassed at 
 the prospect of entertaining a stranger in their 
 simple household, and he spent some time in con- 
 sidering how he should break the news to her. 
 
 But when he went into the kitchen and found 
 her making a ginger pudding an unfailing sign 
 that she was in a specially kindly frame of mind 
 he knew that all was well, and that he might 
 exact from her anything he liked. Ginger pud- 
 ding had been added to his category of symbols. 
 
 296
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 297 
 
 " Mrs. Eustace," he said, " I am expecting a 
 gentleman to come and stop for a few days. He 
 comes to-day. I suppose we can manage all 
 right?" 
 
 Mrs. Eustace left off kneading the dough, gave 
 a sigh of great relief, and smiled. To herself 
 she said: 
 
 " Now there'll be somebody for him to intro- 
 duce them ghosts to instead of poor me. My 
 prayers is answered." 
 
 To Richard she said: 
 
 " Of course we can manage all right, dear 
 young master. You leave it to me." 
 
 " He is a stranger to me," Richard said. " In 
 fact, I know nothing else about him except that 
 well, that he doesn't dislike ghosts." 
 
 He smiled as he spoke, and added a little 
 wistfully: 
 
 " Perhaps that poor forlorn old clergyman I 
 told you of, will appear to us whilst he is here." 
 ' Yes, sir, let us hope so," Mrs. Eustace re- 
 plied fervently. 
 
 " It has been a great disappointment to me, 
 Mrs. Eustace, that he has not so far revealed him- 
 self again," Richard said sadly. " I have watched 
 and waited for him day after day, and in vain." 
 
 " Ah," murmured Mrs. Eustace sympathet- 
 ically. " That you have, I'm sure." 
 
 " Well," said Richard, " I suppose I must be
 
 298 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 patient. I ought to feel, and indeed I do feel, 
 that already a great privilege has been bestowed 
 on me." 
 
 " Ah, yes," murmured Mrs. Eustace again, 
 nodding her head solemnly. 
 
 " Not every one is so blessed," Richard said. 
 " These manifestations don't come to every one, 
 you know." 
 
 " No, sir, indeed not," replied Mrs. Eustace 
 cheerfully. 
 
 " Well, I must be off on my rounds," Richard 
 said. " I shall be in as soon as I can, Mrs. 
 Eustace, and if Mr. Steele arrives during my 
 absence, you'll look after him, won't you? I 
 wonder whether he will be interested in the 
 church. I think he will be sure to, don't you? 
 I understand that he knows a good Norman font 
 when he sees it. That surely implies a definite 
 interest in churches; for, you see, he must have 
 studied and compared fonts." 
 
 " Ah, no doubt," Mrs. Eustace said, trying to 
 put on an antiquarian expression, which was really 
 rather successful. 
 
 Richard hurried away, but returned in a few 
 minutes accompanied by Skib, who was barking 
 joyously whilst his master whistled a tune to 
 him. 
 
 " It is rather jolly having a visitor, isn't it, Mrs.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 299 
 
 Eustace? " he said boyishly. " I know it's absurd 
 of me, but I'm quite excited. I do hope he won't 
 find it too lonely. You'll give him my roam, of 
 course, and I'll go into Miss Margaret's." 
 
 Mrs. Eustace shook her head. 
 
 " No, sir," she said firmly. " That you shan't. 
 You must keep your own room. You'd be sit- 
 ting up all night waiting to see Miss Margaret's 
 ghost. And what with the old clergyman in the 
 daytime, and Miss Margaret at night, there'd be 
 nothing of you left." 
 
 " As you please," he said, laughing. " But you 
 know, Mrs. Eustace, I don't have to sit up at night 
 to feel her presence. I feel her everywhere. All 
 day long in the paneled room. I should be lost 
 and lonely if I didn't know for certain that she 
 was near me all the time. Otherwise what would 
 become of me? " 
 
 " Dear, dear," thought Mrs. Eustace, wiping 
 the perspiration from her forehead after he had 
 gone. " What will become of the dear young 
 gentleman, anyway? That's what I say to my- 
 self. A good thing a visitor's coming. Some 
 live person. Some one not dead. And yet he 
 keeps on saying people don't die. I should like 
 to know what they do do then." 
 
 She sighed and gave the problem up as hope- 
 less, but said aloud:
 
 300 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " Anyway, some live person is coming. And 
 perhaps he'll feel inclined to go to the early morn- 
 ing service instead of poor me." 
 
 Cheered considerably by this comforting reflec- 
 tion, she went blithely about her preparations for 
 the arrival of Adrian Steele, who little knew the 
 mental, physical and spiritual welcome awaiting 
 him in the lonely hamlet shut away from the outer 
 world, and could not guess of the exhilaration 
 which the mere thought of his visit was bringing 
 to the old woman and the young clergyman at 
 this desolate outpost. If he had known, he would 
 probably not have understood. Only those who 
 have been forced by circumstance to live in soli- 
 tudes, cut off entirely, or even partially, from their 
 fellow beings, can realize the vitalizing effect of 
 unexpected companionship. Up goes the pulse 
 by magic, and a magician's bridge is built, too, 
 over all separating differentiations of mind and 
 temperament. The bridge, frail in its construc- 
 tion, may break after a time; but the heart-beat 
 has gained renewed strength, which will last out 
 for many a long day, and which, even in its de- 
 cline, can be reinvigorated by memory. 
 
 Richard, riding on his bicycle to visit one of his 
 sick parishioners, was already uplifted and stim- 
 ulated by the prospect of a fresh experience in 
 acquaintanceship. His interest in the repairs of 
 the church, his painting, his studying of the mystic
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 301 
 
 philosophers, his patient vigils for the reappear- 
 ance of the old reprobate clergyman, his quiet hap- 
 piness in knowing himself to be linked with the 
 invisible and only real world all these joys of 
 the spirit were forgotten for the moment in the 
 human pleasure which awaited him: a pleasure 
 all the greater, too, because he owed it to T. 
 Scott. 
 
 She had continued, as before, to enclose checks 
 to him, on and off, accompanied always with the 
 brief sentence, " For the repairs of the church " ; 
 and after that one great struggle with himself, he 
 had accepted them as her offerings of self-disci- 
 pline, her efforts of self-denial, her corrections of 
 avarice. 
 
 He had no means of knowing that owing to his 
 influence, T. Scott's very code of dishonorableness 
 was at least undergoing some modification. But 
 he would not have been surprised, for he had 
 thought of her so much, and prayed for her so 
 constantly in his lonely little church, that it would 
 have seemed only natural to him that a message 
 should reach her in some form or other: not from 
 him, indeed, but perhaps through him. 
 
 And now it was a source of real delight to him 
 that she had entrusted her friend to his care, and 
 had thus added a personal and intimate touch to 
 their impersonal intercourse. Buoyantly happy, 
 therefore, was Richard Forest. Very beautiful
 
 302 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 seemed the world to him on this spring morning. 
 The birds sang symphonies to him, such as he had 
 never heard before, and the trees and hedges had 
 put on a most delicate fairy-like garment, which 
 Nature had chosen specially for him out of her 
 secret wardrobe. She had coaxed the sun to give 
 out added light and warmth, and had rallied the 
 sky to deck itself in cloudless azure blue, deepen- 
 ing here and there to a sapphire tint. All this 
 Nature had done for her child whom she loved, 
 and who loved her with a passionate devotion and 
 who interpreted her wonders and secrets with 
 unfailing clearness of vision. Richard glanced 
 around with delighted eyes, and Blake's words on 
 the Spring rushed to his remembrance: 
 
 "The hills tell each other, and the listening 
 Valleys hear; all our longing eyes are turned 
 Up to thy bright pavilions; issue forth, 
 And let thy holy feet visit our clime." 
 
 When he reached home, Mrs. Eustace met him 
 at the vicarage gate with the news that the visitor 
 had arrived and was waiting for him in the 
 paneled room. Richard hurried in, and found 
 Adrian Steele standing staring at one of his Blake 
 illustrations: " The lost traveler's dream under 
 the hill" 
 
 ' What a remarkable painting," Adrian Steele 
 said to him. " The artist who did this, must
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 303 
 
 know and love Blake through and through. Who 
 is he, can you tell me? " 
 
 " I am he," Richard said shyly, flushing crimson 
 as he spoke. 
 
 Adrian Steele looked at him, and Tamar's words 
 echoed back to him : " He is something set apart." 
 
 " I am indeed fortunate in having been sent to 
 you," Adrian said gently. " I too love Blake." 
 
 " Do you? " Richard said, his face radiant with 
 pleasure. " Well, that is splendid for us both." 
 
 So there were no preliminaries to be gone 
 through, and no barriers to be broken down. 
 When Mrs. Eustace came an hour or two later 
 to tell them that dinner was ready, she found them 
 knee-deep in books and sketches, and with hap- 
 piness written large on their eager countenances. 
 
 " Ah," she thought, " all is well with the dear 
 young master now he has got some live person to 
 play with. Perhaps he'll forget about the old 
 clergyman's ghost. Perhaps it will go right out 
 of his head, and we shan't hear no more about it, 
 thank goodness ! " 
 
 But her hopes were not destined to be realized, 
 for when, later on, she served up and brought in 
 the ginger pudding, she heard Richard say: 
 
 " No, I'm not as lonely as you might think. 
 You know, I always feel presences around me; 
 and last week, to my joy, I saw one of them an 
 old clergyman. I must tell you about him later,
 
 304 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 for I learn from T. Scott that you do not dislike 
 so-called ghosts." 
 
 " I should have no fear of them if I saw them," 
 Adrian Steele answered. " On the contrary, I 
 should be deeply interested." 
 
 " Ah well, let's hope he's the one who will see 
 them," thought Mrs. Eustace, hurrying away. 
 
 " And T. Scott has also told me that you know 
 a good Norman font when you see it," Richard 
 said. " There's a very fine one in my little 
 church. I thought we might go and have a look 
 at it after dinner." 
 
 Adrian Steele nodded his willing consent, and 
 when Richard took him into the little church he 
 showed due appreciation of the Norman font, and 
 was greatly pleased with the Elizabethan pulpit 
 and the rood screen, both of which he saw had 
 suffered cruelly from long neglect. He delighted 
 Richard's heart by noticing the very graceful 
 effects caused by an intersection of arches, and his 
 quick eye detected an old window of which the 
 clergyman was deeply proud. He found out of 
 his own accord everything of antiquarian interest 
 in the little tumble-down church, and with a kind- 
 ness which did not betray its underlying purpose, 
 he laid stress on the redeeming features of the 
 place, and appeared entirely unconscious of the all- 
 pervading signs of ruin and decay. He wandered 
 about, putting his finger now on this, now on that.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 305 
 
 He was delighted to see in the chancel a small 
 brass of a tonsured priest with a chalice, and took 
 a note of it in order to look it up in a book on 
 monumental brasses. As for the remains of the 
 old fresco on the wall of the right aisle, he could 
 scarcely drag himself away from the spot, and in- 
 sisted that with patience and great care more of 
 the fragments of painting could be made to reveal 
 themselves. 
 
 " I may be wrong," he said, " but I can't help 
 thinking we shall find something concealed here, 
 on this bit of surface. I suspect it hugely. But 
 don't let me be excommunicated if I'm wrong." 
 
 But he was not wrong, and Richard and he 
 laughed with boyish glee and triumph when, after 
 patient and delicate labor with hammer and 
 chisel, they removed a fine layer of plaster and 
 discovered a faint-colored fragment of an angel's 
 wing. 
 
 " I must go and bring Mrs. Eustace to see it," 
 Richard said excitedly; and off he dashed in 
 search of that much-enduring lady, who returned 
 with him immediately to the scene of action. 
 
 " Well, well, that is a nice surprise for you," she 
 remarked soothingly. " And harmless, too," she 
 thought to herself. " I don't mind how much the 
 poor gentlemen scratches up of that sort of thing, 
 bless their hearts." 
 
 For some little time Adrian Steele and Richard
 
 306 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 devoted themselves whole-heartedly to this task, 
 and their comradeship grew apace over the in- 
 terest of the work. There was something pa- 
 thetic in Richard's frank pleasure in having a com- 
 panion of Steele's culture and caliber; and Adrian 
 Steele himself made no attempt to hide his 
 thorough appreciation of his new friend and new 
 circumstances. He let himself go, and revealed 
 all his charm and the best part of his nature. 
 
 " And now, what about the registers and 
 the churchwardens' accounts?" he asked gaily. 
 " You surely mean to show me them, don't you? 
 And I expect you've got an old Bible tucked away 
 somewhere, haven't you? Do you know that 
 twice in my life I've fished out an old Bible from 
 the depths of oblivion and restored it to dignity 
 and honor? My last find was an Authorized 
 Version, 1611; but my first was a Coverdale first 
 edition. What do you think of that? " 
 
 Richard's eyes sparkled. 
 
 " I say, what a find! " he cried. " Well, I wish 
 you could fish one out here. We had an old 
 Bible : I believe it was a Geneva first edition, for 
 there's a curious entry dated 1578 in the church- 
 wardens' accounts, which I will show you in the 
 paneled room. I keep the registers and accounts 
 there for safety. I dug them out of the depths; 
 but, alas! I found no Bible. The tradition is that 
 about a hundred years ago it disappeared mys-
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 30? 
 
 terlously was stolen, in fact. No one knows 
 by whom, except " He hesitated, and then 
 added, with a flush on his face : " Well, except 
 perhaps myself." 
 
 "And how do you know?" Adrian asked, his 
 eager attention at once arrested. 
 
 Then Richard told him with simple directness of 
 the visit he had had from the " presence " of the 
 old forlorn clergyman. He described him in de- 
 tail, and described the Bible with its blind-tooled 
 leather, its brass clasps, corners, and central boss. 
 Adrian listened with intense interest. He saw 
 that the vision had been a real experience to 
 Richard Forest, who evidently did not regard it 
 in any way as extraordinary or amazing. 
 
 " You see I had been writing out the church- 
 wardens' accounts writing out that very item," 
 he said. " My mind was therefore unconsciously 
 prepared for him. He knew that, and came." 
 
 ' You must show me the entry," Adrian Steele 
 said. ' The date of the first Geneva Bible cer- 
 tainly is 1578. I happen to remember, because 
 I've been studying that wonderful Bible collection 
 in the British Museum. You ought to see it." 
 
 " I have seen it," Richard said, " and that's 
 how I have been able to confirm my belief that 
 the stolen Bible was a first edition Geneva. It is 
 a most curious entry. I leapt on it at once when 
 I first began to copy out the old records."
 
 308 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " Ah, so you're copying out the old records," 
 Adrian said. " I can help you at that job. I've 
 got famous eyes for the mysterious handwriting of 
 former days. Nothing baffles me in that line." 
 
 " I'll give the task over to you most willingly," 
 Richard said, smiling. " I'm not at all good at it. 
 But it had to be done, because these records are 
 too precious to be lost; and, like the little church 
 itself, they are in a sorry state of decay." 
 
 " Yes, the church is pretty bad," Adrian said, 
 commenting on it for the first time. " The clergy- 
 men who came before you have not cared much, 
 I should think." 
 
 " No, they did not care," Richard said sorrow- 
 fully. " That's obvious. But," he added eag- 
 erly, at once pleading for them, " they had no one 
 to help and encourage them. Conditions were 
 against them. I'm not surprised that they lost 
 heart." 
 
 Adrian noted how loyally he ranged himself on 
 their side. Whatever they had been, and what- 
 ever they had done, they at least had no hard judge 
 in their young successor. 
 
 " However," Richard said cheerfully, " things 
 will soon be better now. Restoration, of course, 
 is out of the question; but the repairs, as T. Scott 
 insists on calling them, as if the church were an 
 old boot, are well in hand. You notice we have
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 309 
 
 nearly finished mending the roof; and we are 
 going to have all those green-grown flags taken 
 up, and concrete put down first, to shut out the 
 damp. Then, when the floor is level, we can build 
 up the pews afresh. You see, the boarding has 
 given way in lots of places. That has worried me 
 a good deal, even more than the hole in the roof. 
 Well, we are going to have all this done, and 
 many other little improvements, too, owing to T. 
 Scott's kindness." 
 
 ' T. Scott's kindness?" Adrian repeated in 
 astonishment. " Why, where does she come in? " 
 
 " She comes in everywhere," Richard said, his 
 face lighting up. " The repairs are entirely her 
 affair." 
 
 And he told Adrian the story of the jewels, of 
 Tamar's visit to the church, and of the checks she 
 had been sending. He left out, of course, all 
 mention of T. Scott's original attempt to deprive 
 him of the right value of the ruby and pearl 
 crucifix. But of his own accord Adrian guessed 
 that Tamar had been paying out " conscience " 
 money, and when he heard that his own check for 
 19 had been handed over intact for the same pur- 
 pose, he laughed secretly and said to himself: 
 
 " So my Tamar has been having an ecclesiastical 
 rise out of me. It must have amused her mightily 
 to think that I was helping to restore a church.
 
 310 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 Well, after such a crisis as that, anything could 
 happen to me. I could even become an arch- 
 bishop I" 
 
 At the thought he nearly laughed aloud, but he 
 suppressed his merriment and said: 
 
 " That 19 was an old debt of mine to T. Scott 
 which, I am ashamed to say, I neglected to pay 
 for years. I am glad that she used it for such a 
 good purpose. I never thought that I should live 
 to take part, even indirectly, in the restoration or 
 even * repairs ' of a church I of all people. 
 But well, in this instance, I'm honestly glad." 
 
 " Thank you," Richard said. " That is a pleas- 
 ure to me. That adds to my gratitude over T. 
 Scott's kindness. But tell me why you say ' you 
 of all people.' ' 
 
 Adrian was silent for a moment, and finally 
 said: 
 
 " I stand outside the religious world, by tem- 
 perament and by choice." 
 
 " So do I," Richard said cheerfully. 
 
 Adrian stared at the young fellow. 
 
 " But you are a clergyman of the Church of 
 England," he said slowly. 
 
 " Dogmas and doctrines have always appeared 
 to me of inappreciable importance," Richard said. 
 " In some instances they are convenient channels 
 for dispatching the larger message, that's all." 
 
 " The larger message," Adrian Steele repeated
 
 dreamily, and again his eyes rested on Richard 
 Forest. 
 
 " Ah," he said with a half smile, " no wonder 
 they've caged you up here in this lonely little ham- 
 let. That's the only safe place for a person like 
 yourself from their point of view, I mean. 
 But wouldn't I just like to get hold of one of your 
 bishops or archbishops and nail him down here in 
 this isolated life for a few months. He would 
 soon, in self-defense, want to effect a radical 
 change in the church system, in order to prevent 
 himself from becoming bored to death. Yes, I'd 
 like to make him ' do time ' here." 
 
 " Why, that's exactly what T. Scott said, stand- 
 ing on the same spot too, in the chancel," Richard 
 laughed. "Now isn't that curious?" 
 
 " No," Adrian answered, " it is what any sane, 
 unfettered outsider would think. No other 
 thought would be possible. It has been haunting 
 me ever since I came; and no doubt it haunted 
 T. Scott too, and made her feel " 
 
 He broke off. With his mind's eye he saw 
 Tamar standing there, moved to kindness and 
 generosity by the larger message. The expression 
 on his face softened to a great tenderness. 
 
 " Yes, yes," asked Richard eagerly, " what do 
 you think it made her feel? " 
 
 " And made her feel that she, in spite of her- 
 self, must do something to lighten the load of
 
 312 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 loneliness, and to show that at least some one had 
 a decent sense of concern and responsibility," 
 Adrian said. 
 
 Richard's face shone. For a moment he was 
 silent. 
 
 " Yes, but we have to remember that there 
 always has been and always will be lonely sentry 
 duty to perform," he said at last. " And it isn't 
 nearly so trying for me as for others. You see, 
 I have always been a dreamy sort of fellow. I 
 have never been without companions of the spirit. 
 And my painting alone means a great deal to me. 
 By means of it I am able to express to myself, at 
 least, what I think I see underlying everything 
 that meets the eye. Any one who has that re- 
 source in him, is more independent of outward 
 circumstances than those not so graciously blessed 
 in that respect. My predecessors here were in 
 that plight, poor fellows. I believe the desolation 
 and lifelessness were too hard for them. They 
 were wrongly chosen for the place to which they 
 were sent." 
 
 "Exactly," Steele said; "and that is just one 
 instance of the utter carelessness, indifference, and 
 futility of the Church organization. I'd like to 
 see the present Church system shaken to its very 
 foundation. I'd like to see all the lonely little 
 parishes connected up, not only in name but in 
 reality, with a strong thread of interwork and
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 313 
 
 intercommunication, and a constant intercourse 
 with headquarters. No opportunities then for the 
 inhuman dying down of energy and interest. All 
 human beings want stimulus to keep up the best 
 in them; and why the unfortunate clergy should 
 be supposed to have to do without it, is more than 
 I can understand. Yes, I'd like to shake the 
 whole fabric to pieces, beginning with the arch- 
 bishops." 
 
 ' Yes, I'm sure there ought to be great and 
 radical changes," Richard said earnestly. 
 
 Soon he laughed with boyish glee. Something 
 had tickled his fancy. 
 
 "The poor archbishops!" he exclaimed. 
 " Don't I see them ! They must evidently expect 
 no quarter from you." 
 
 ' They would get none," Adrian laughed, 
 greatly amused by the young fellow's merriment. 
 " I have no sympathy with the rich ecclesiastics, 
 from Wolsey onwards. Nor with the popular 
 preachers either, petted and flattered by the 
 public." 
 
 " Oh, but come, you ought to pity them'' 
 Richard said simply, " for theirs is a dreadful fate, 
 fraught with severe temptations. I could imagine 
 no worse fate. I have always prayed to be de- 
 livered from it." 
 
 Adrian glanced at him, and saw the look of 
 intense earnestness on his face.
 
 3H OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " I sincerely hope you will be," he said gravely. 
 
 " But victims though they are, they are never- 
 theless spiritual sacrifices," Richard added, " and 
 in a sacred cause." 
 
 " Ah, I must confess I have never thought of 
 them in that light," Adrian said, smiling in a 
 slightly puzzled way. " I have always thought 
 of them as people who have ' gone under,' as I 
 have. I wish I could look upon myself as a 
 spiritual sacrifice." 
 
 " You would not be conscious of being one," 
 Richard said. " They are not conscious either." 
 
 " Well, at least I am conscious that I'm not 
 one," Adrian said with a short laugh, which had a 
 sardonic ring in it. And the next moment he re- 
 gretted he had not repressed it, for he felt it had 
 jarred on Richard. He immediately experienced 
 the same emotions of penitence which invariably 
 assailed Mrs. Eustace when she had pained her 
 young gentleman. It was a far cry from Adrian 
 Steele to Mrs. Eustace; yet he proceeded to make 
 amends in exactly the same fashion as herself, cor- 
 recting the discord with added tenderness and 
 mellowed understanding. 
 
 " You see," he said gently, " you present to me 
 a somewhat unusual train of thought. Perhaps 
 these people are spiritual sacrifices. Perhaps we 
 all are. Perhaps because of our downfall, some 
 others are rising higher towards some distant ideal.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 315 
 
 If that is so, then there is sense in our ' going 
 under.' " 
 
 " But people don't go under," Richard said 
 eagerly, his face brightening up at Adrian's words. 
 
 " Don't they? " Adrian asked indulgently, as 
 though to a child. 
 
 " Of course not," Richard said cheerfully. 
 
 " Then what do they do, I wonder ? " Adrian 
 asked with still more indulgence, rather curious to 
 know what form the young fellow's answer would 
 take. 
 
 " Oh, they rise out of the wreck somehow or 
 other," Richard said. " No one could doubt such 
 a simple thing as that." 
 
 Adrian started. That line from Browning: 
 " Out of the wreck I rise, past Zeus, to the Potency 
 o'er him I " leapt to his mind and his lips. But 
 he gave the words no utterance. They aroused in 
 him a vague remembrance of the difficulties which 
 he knew, in his heart of hearts, were going to 
 overwhelm him. He shuddered a little, and 
 seemed suddenly to shrink away into nothing, and 
 Richard saw that his clever, intellectual face had 
 become drawn as if with some acute pain. 
 
 " You're tired," Richard said kindly. " I'm 
 afraid I have been dragging you about mercilessly. 
 Come along. Let's go back to the house and ask 
 Mrs. Eustace to give us tea at once. That will 
 revive you. You look worn out."
 
 316 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 He put his arm through Adrian's and led him 
 back to the paneled room where he installed him 
 in the armchair. 
 
 " You must rest, you know," he admonished. 
 " T. Scott said you needed rest." 
 
 Then off he dashed to the kitchen to hasten on 
 the preparations for tea. 
 
 " I'm afraid I've been tiring him, Mrs. 
 Eustace," he said penitently. " I really thought 
 he was going to faint. I wish you'd take a look 
 at him and tell me whether you think he is all 
 right." 
 
 They found him leaning back in the armchair, 
 fast asleep and breathing gently. 
 
 " Poor soul," whispered Mrs. Eustace, " he's 
 tired out. Now when he wakes up, don't you, 
 directly he opens his poor eyes, go and introduce 
 him to the old clergyman's ghost. Mind what I 
 say, dear young master. He don't want no shock, 
 and ghosts is a shock, and no mistake. Not to 
 you, perhaps, dear young master, but to others, 
 not forgetting my poor self." 
 
 " I'll remember," Richard said humbly. " I do 
 wish I was not so inconsiderate. What with that 
 and my tempers, I wonder you put up with me." 
 
 " If you was perfect, there wouldn't be no 
 putting up with you," Mrs. Eustace said gravely. 
 " But you ain't, by no means." 
 
 Richard laughed gaily, nodded at her as she
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 disappeared from the room, settled down in his 
 chair, and began to work out the first of a set of 
 ideas which had seized him for the illustration of 
 Wordsworth's " Ode on Immortality." From 
 time to time he glanced at the sleeper, and having 
 satisfied himself that all was well with his guest, 
 forgot about him, and became immersed in his en- 
 grossing task. For he dearly loved these exer- 
 cises of the spiritual imagination, which both 
 fostered and gave expression to his innate 
 idealism. 
 
 Once he thought he felt Margaret's " pres- 
 ence " hovering near him and looking over his 
 shoulder at his impressionist sketch of " The im- 
 perial -palaces whence he came." 
 
 " It's not bad, Margaret, is it? " he murmured. 
 " I think it does give some idea of far-off, dimly- 
 remembered splendor. What do you think?" 
 
 Another time he looked up and saw some dim 
 form pass through the room and fade into 
 nothingness. 
 
 " The old clergyman," he said to himself. 
 " Ah, well, some day he will reveal himself to 
 me again." 
 
 The time sped on, and at last, after nearly three 
 hours' sound sleep, Adrian Steele awoke, refreshed 
 and restored. He looked around him, and 
 realized his surroundings with a quiet pleasure 
 which had something healing in it.
 
 3i8 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " Now," thought Richard, who saw that his 
 guest had come back to life, " I'll remember what 
 Mrs. Eustace enjoined on me, and not breathe a 
 word about ' presences.' Not a word." 
 
 But he did not get a ghost of a chance to carry 
 out his resolution, for Adrian, without any pre- 
 liminaries, said: 
 
 " Most extraordinary, but I have dreamed about 
 your old Bible stealer. I saw him with my mind's 
 eye just as you described him : old, demoralized, 
 furtive. I saw the Geneva Bible too, with its 
 brass clasps and corners. The old fellow seemed 
 to be standing near me, here." 
 
 Richard held out bravely. He went on with 
 his sketching, and did not allow a word to escape 
 him, although he was greatly excited. 
 
 " I liked him," Adrian continued. " I thought 
 there was great charm about him something 
 rather pathetic too. I wonder what he did with 
 the Bible. It would be interesting to know. I 
 say, wouldn't it be thrilling to be able to trace it, 
 and restore it to the church? " 
 
 This was too much for Richard. He had to 
 break his penitential silence. 
 
 " Yes," he said excitedly. " That's what I 
 hope to do with his help. Some day he will 
 help me. I'm convinced of that. And I should 
 tell you, no wonder you've dreamed of him. He 
 has been here. I felt his presence."
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 319 
 
 He was going to add: "And my sister 
 Margaret's too." 
 
 But he restrained himself, remembering his 
 promise to Mrs. Eustace. 
 
 " Well, the old man certainly pervaded my 
 dreams," Adrian went on. " I saw him every- 
 where: in the chancel, in the pulpit, by the font, 
 near the witch's grave, here, standing by this arm- 
 chair, and where else do you think in T. Scott's 
 inner room. I said: * Tamar, don't you see the 
 old man has a valuable Bible to sell? It's a first 
 Geneva Bible, 1578. Why don't you buy it? 
 There he is standing against your desk. Don't 
 you see him? Why don't you secure it before the 
 British Museum or an American millionaire gets 
 hold of it, and why not make an effort of gener- 
 osity and give it back to Richard Forest's 
 church'?" 
 
 " And what did T. Scott say? " Richard asked 
 eagerly. " I should like to know what she said." 
 
 " Oh," Adrian answered with a smile, " she 
 said : ' Don't be a duffer. There is no old man 
 and no Geneva Bible. And you'd better go and 
 have a cup of coffee and a scone, and then perhaps 
 you'll talk sense.' I laughed and woke. It was 
 so like Tamar." 
 
 Richard laughed too. 
 
 " Well," he said gaily, " since we are on the 
 subject of the Bible and the old man, I must show
 
 320 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 you that entry. Look, here it is. I feel con- 
 vinced that this was the Bible the old man was 
 carrying. Nothing would persuade me to the 
 contrary." 
 
 Adrian read it and would have become im- 
 mersed in the old records then and there, but that 
 Mrs. Eustace insisted on an adjournment for what 
 she called " suppery tea." When she had satisfied 
 herself that the visitor had eaten well and, in spite 
 of his frail appearance, had a good set of nerves 
 of his own which would not be scared by things, 
 the mere thought of which made her hair stand on 
 end, she left them to their devices, but not before 
 she had ascertained, in Richard's absence, sur- 
 reptitiously from Adrian, that he intended to be 
 present at the early morning service. 
 
 " I suppose you wouldn't be thinking of going 
 to the early morning service at' seven-thirty to- 
 morrow, sir? " she said tentatively. 
 
 " I hadn't thought of such a tragedy," Adrian 
 answered, smiling at her. 
 
 " Ah, that's the right word, sir," Mrs. Eustace 
 said, hugely delighted. " It's a tragedy. It's one 
 of the dear young master's many obstinacies, 
 begging his pardon. No live person comes, except 
 poor me, with my old bones." 
 
 " And why do you go ? " Adrian asked, much 
 amused. 
 
 " Some live person must go and encourage the
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 321 
 
 poor young gentleman," Mrs. Eustace said re- 
 proachfully. " But it's a trial, at my time of life 
 too, sir. That it is. He's that obstinate, is the 
 young master." 
 
 " Supposing you stop at home to-morrow with 
 your old bones, and I go," Adrian said confi- 
 dentially. " You can take an extra little morning 
 doze. I always wake early, and it won't be any 
 trouble to me to get up and take part in the 
 tragedy. Now mind, that's a compact. You 
 stay, and I go. There is no sense in two doing 
 the work of one. Now, that's settled, isn't it?" 
 
 They had no chance for further furtive conver- 
 sation, for at that moment Richard, who had been 
 giving Skib his supper, returned to the room, and 
 Mrs. Eustace, with a new hope in her heart and 
 a decided twinkle in her eye, vanished from the 
 scenes, and was not visible again that night. 
 
 But the men lingered on late into the night, 
 talking on all manner of subjects: on life: on 
 so-called death and the wrong fear of death, and 
 the misleading accentuation placed on its impor- 
 tance : on immortality : and on the new knowledge 
 which might in time break down the barriers be- 
 tween the living and the dead. The more they 
 talked and discussed, the more attracted Adrian 
 Steele became towards the personality and mind 
 of this young fellow who appeared to be endowed 
 with truly spiritual instincts, a large outlook, a
 
 322 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 simplicity of heart, and a remarkable, though en- 
 tirely unconscious unworldliness. Of course he 
 had faults. His face was the face of a man who 
 could never be cured of illusion, and at times it 
 was eloquent of an unyielding obstinacy. Mrs. 
 Eustace had alluded to this obstinacy. Adrian 
 himself had detected it in Richard's own accounts 
 of his unsuccessful dealings with his parishioners; 
 and he also perceived in him a strange want of 
 imaginative consideration for other people's mental 
 serenity: a want, born probably of his curiously 
 detached mind. Richard, too, alluded frankly to 
 his own angry outbursts of temper, of which 
 lately the workmen repairing the church had had 
 the benefit, instead of the long-suffering Mrs. 
 Eustace. But his very failings gave a healing 
 power to his spirituality which would have been 
 lacking if he had been less human. His value lay 
 in the secret that he was " something set apart," 
 as Tamar said, and yet within easy human reach. 
 He waited " presences " eagerly at one moment, 
 and at another, with no less eagerness, he fed his 
 dog. At one moment he was working at symbolic 
 illustrations, and at the next he was laughing joy- 
 ously at some bit of Adrian Steele's quaint fun: 
 some sly hit at the Church, some subtle poke at 
 the poor archbishops. 
 
 Adrian wondered what would become of him 
 in the future. Would the Church turn him out
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 323 
 
 when he was discovered to be a man to whom a 
 definite religious belief was a matter of " inap- 
 preciable importance " ? Or would the Church, 
 in its dying condition, reach out thankfully to such 
 as hf was, recognizing at the eleventh hour that it 
 could only renew its life by the large help of large 
 minds, to which boundaries of thought were un- 
 known barriers? Whatever the fate in store for 
 him, it was not likely that he would found a sect 
 and become a Pope on his own lines. That was 
 something far removed from his natural bent. 
 And his own wholesome fears on the subject would 
 probably preserve him from becoming a popular 
 preacher, always supposing, of course, that he had 
 the gift of preaching. Adrian rather supposed he 
 had, and sketched out to himself the sort of 
 sermon Richard would preach: imaginative and 
 mystic, yet resonant with a pervading human 
 chord. Well, he would be able to judge when 
 
 he heard him. But meantime he believed that 
 / 
 
 Richard would not have been entrusted by fate 
 with the larger message, if he had not at the same 
 time been given the power of imparting it. 
 
 He certainly imparted a healing peace to Adrian 
 Steele that night, not so much by what he had 
 said, but by what he was, and by what he uncon- 
 sciously stood for. Calm thoughts, old ideals, 
 lost hopes, frustrated renewals, regrets, " shad- 
 owy recollections," " truths that wake to perish
 
 324 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 never," crept one by one into Adrian Steele's 
 mind, and guarded well the entrance, so that no 
 hostile forces of outside circumstances might enter 
 and play havoc with the truce of God. 
 
 Thus Tamar's belief was justified. She said: 
 " Adrian will rest in your company. I send him 
 to you, Richard Forest, as to a healer." 
 
 The next morning Adrian Steele was waiting 
 outside the vestry door at a quarter past seven. 
 To his surprise Mrs. Eustace came hurrying up 
 with the key. 
 
 " I couldn't stay away," she explained. " The 
 young master might have been hurt." 
 
 " In other words," Adrian said with a smile, 
 " the faithfulness of your heart got the better of 
 the oldness of your bones." 
 
 " That's it," she answered, nodding her head 
 approvingly. " And a good thing it did, too, for 
 the young master's a bit late. He always rings 
 the bell hisself. Perhaps you could, could you? " 
 
 " Perhaps I could," said Adrian, delighted by 
 the suggestion, and he followed Mrs. Eustace into 
 the church and began to pull vigorously the rope 
 which she pointed out to him. 
 
 'Wouldn't Tamar be amused!" he thought. 
 
 " Now go sensible about it," Mrs. Eustace 
 remonstrated, " else you won't have no strength 
 left. That's better. Why, would you believe it,
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 325 
 
 here's two live women coming to the Early. The 
 first time since we've been here. And the young 
 master late I Well, well I never ! That'll do for 
 the ringing. Now you go and sit yourself down, 
 near the lectern, where he can see you." 
 
 Adrian obeyed humbly. He sat in the first row 
 of the pews, and Mrs. Eustace took up her usual 
 position under the shelter of the pulpit. The two 
 women, who seemed rather nervous, as if in at- 
 tending the service they were doing something of 
 which they were ashamed, hid themselves in one 
 of the end pews, near the font. The minutes 
 sped on, and still no parson appeared. At last 
 it dawned on Mrs. Eustace's mind that the young 
 master had overslept himself. The idea tickled 
 her immensely, and some tears, born of silent 
 laughter, coursed down her cheeks. 
 
 " Won't he just be in one of his tempers with 
 me because he's angry with hisself ? " she reflected. 
 
 But when a few more seconds went by, and he 
 still did not appear, she began to be anxious lest 
 he were ill, and made up her mind to go to the 
 house and see what was the matter with him. At 
 this moment, however, she heard his quick steps 
 on the path and little black Skib's barks of greeting 
 outside, and knew that all was well. She subsided 
 into herself, more amused than ever by this 
 unexpected gap in the young master's hitherto un- 
 broken record of painful punctuality.
 
 326 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " Perhaps now he'll learn hisself that the Early 
 is a little trying," she thought triumphantly. 
 " Four in the congregation, and no clergyman 1 
 Well, if that isn't funny, nothing is ! " 
 
 Richard meantime dashed into the vestry, threw 
 on his surplice, and had great difficulty in restrain- 
 ing himself from dashing into the church. As it 
 was, he hurried in, in a most undivine fashion, 
 looked flushed and exceedingly cross, and not at 
 all in a suitable religious condition to pronounce 
 a blessing on any one, let alone a whole village. 
 
 But after a time his face cleared, and he 
 gathered himself together and succeeded in read- 
 ing the service with a fair amount of serenity. 
 When it was over, however, he showed that he 
 had by no means recovered his equilibrium, for he 
 rushed into the kitchen, and proceeded to vent his 
 wrath with himself on Mrs. Eustace, who was 
 composedly stirring the buttered eggs. 
 
 " What on earth were you thinking of not to 
 wake me when you saw I was going to be late? " 
 he demanded. " I'm more angry than I can say. 
 Just on the morning, too, when there were 
 worshipers from the outside the first time, too, 
 since we've been here. I'm exceedingly dis- 
 pleased. All along, you've been most trying 
 about these early morning services, Mrs. Eustace. 
 It was the least you could have done to take the 
 trouble to come and wake me for once. But just
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 327 
 
 because I've never required you to do that for 
 me, you didn't bother yourself about the matter at 
 all. I believe you let me sleep on, on purpose. 
 It was too bad of you, and I'm surprised at you." 
 
 " You mustn't be angry with Mrs. Eustace," 
 Adrian Steele said, suddenly appearing in the 
 kitchen. " I'm the fellow that you must be angry 
 with. I kept you up so late last night." 
 
 " Did I put salt or sugar on the buttered eggs, 
 dear young master?" asked Mrs. Eustace with a 
 detached innocence. " I get that confused when 
 you lose your temper. As I have said many 
 times to myself, if tempers send any one to 
 Paradise, my dear young master will be sure to 
 
 go." 
 
 Richard looked at Adrian, and they both 
 laughed and ran off to their belated breakfast, 
 Richard suddenly ashamed of himself, and Adrian 
 most amused by this truly little human episode, 
 delighted with this exhibition of the young 
 clergyman's outburst of anger, and rather proud 
 of the important part he himself had played as 
 bell-ringer in the morning's tragedy. 
 
 " My religious career has indeed begun in 
 earnest," he said. " I help to restore a church. 
 I discover an angel's wing. I help to weed the 
 churchyard. I ring the bell unaided. From bell- 
 ringing I become bishop by easy and obvious 
 stages."
 
 328 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 And he thought to himself: 
 
 " Well, certainly Tamar has prescribed a 
 thorough change for me, and decidedly less dull 
 than the Harley Street alphabetical list." 
 
 Time after time his mind returned to her, re- 
 maining with her longer than it was able to remain 
 with any one or anything belonging to his per- 
 sonal and business life. Grace, Alpenrose, Noble, 
 Nell, Sanford, Cecil, Hailsham existed for him as 
 in a dream only. He had received a short letter 
 from Grace, forwarded from the " Prince Ru- 
 pert " at Kineton, where he had given his address. 
 She had written that Alpenrose was going on 
 splendidly, and that there was no need for him to 
 be anxious. 
 
 But he was not anxious, not because his love 
 for his child had lessened, but for the simple 
 reason that his mind, half numbed and paralyzed 
 for the time, refused to make the effort to concern 
 itself with any circumstances or interests except 
 those immediately encompassing him. Tamar 
 was, in a way, part of the present atmosphere, and 
 as such, she entered into everything that took place 
 in the surroundings to which she had sent him. 
 When he went doggedly on with the task of 
 examining the frescoed wall, he thought of Tamar. 
 
 " She would be interested," he said to himself. 
 " She would be rude, of course, and pretend at 
 first to think nothing of my angel's wing. But
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 329 
 
 she would eventually give in. I see her sulky 
 smile of capitulation." 
 
 When he was working in the churchyard, 
 helping Richard to weed the paths, he paused in 
 his labor, rested at the base of the moss-grown 
 preaching cross, and thought of her. 
 
 " Tamar would say that weeds were just as 
 good as flowers, and that we were fools to break 
 our backs," he said to himself, smiling. " Per- 
 haps we are, Tamar." 
 
 From his position there he glanced around, his 
 eye resting now on the witch's grave which Richard 
 was trying to " reclaim," now on the rather fine 
 old tower, now on some ruined cottages abutting 
 on the churchyard, two of which showed the ribs 
 of their roofing in distressful fashion, and now on 
 the hills in the distance. 
 
 " A most desolate set of surroundings," he said 
 to himself. " But not as bad as Brighton, and, 
 as Tamar would say, safer." 
 
 It was astonishing with what easy adaptability 
 he was able to throw himself into that solitary life. 
 Not only did he weed the paths, mow the grass 
 in the churchyard, and pay unremitting attention 
 to the frescoed wall, but he even followed 
 Richard's example by dashing into the kitchen on 
 all occasions to drag Mrs. Eustace, whom he had 
 canonized with the title of Saint Penelope, to his 
 varied scenes of triumph and activity. At in-
 
 330 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 tervals he copied out the churchwardens' accounts 
 in his minute but clear handwriting. He studied 
 the fragments of local history, and the desultory 
 notes collected by one of Richard's predecessors, 
 and pieced them together with a painstaking care 
 and skill which excited Richard's envy and Mrs. 
 Eustace's admiration. He took the deepest in- 
 terest in Richard's paintings, sketches, and designs, 
 examining them over and over again, trying to 
 discover for himself the veiled meaning which he 
 knew pervaded the simplest subject. 
 
 He read and re-read Wordsworth's " Ode on 
 Immortality," and made out a list of the lines 
 which he believed that Richard would choose for 
 illustration. These were one or two of them : 
 
 "The earth and every common sight 
 
 To me did seem 
 Appareled in celestial light." 
 
 " Our souls have sight of that immortal sea 
 Which brought us hither." 
 
 " Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower." 
 
 He was delighted when he learnt that some of 
 his guesses were right; and disgusted at some of 
 his wrong shots. He asked whether Richard 
 could make a symbolic illustration of that line 
 which haunted him: " Out of the wreck I rise,
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 331 
 
 past Zeus, to the Potency o'er him 1 " He was 
 thrilled with interest when Richard dashed to his 
 table and made a few wild strokes which he 
 called guiding thoughts. 
 
 He unearthed from a drawer some exceedingly 
 beautiful illuminated letters, also Richard's work, 
 intended for an illustrated text of the Book of 
 Ruth, and would not rest until he had persuaded 
 the young fellow to show him everything that he 
 had done in that direction also. 
 
 He asked many searching questions, and learnt 
 much concerning the presences by which Richard 
 believed himself to be surrounded, and with 
 which he felt himself to be in communion. He 
 ended by waiting patiently for, and expecting to 
 see, both Margaret and the old Bible stealer. 
 
 Much to Richard's delight, he invented a 
 realistic and wonderful story of how Tamar's 
 grandfather had bought the stolen Bible and 
 sold it to a rich recluse, in whose library it had 
 lain for years in company with a Coverdale, 
 unseen by any eyes but his. Then at his death 
 it had passed into the possession of the family, 
 one of whose members would, in due time, 
 guided by the repentant spirit of the old clergy- 
 man, bring it to Tamar's shop. Tamar, also 
 guided by the spirit of the old clergyman, would 
 bring it direct to the church where it had be-
 
 332 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 longed. Adrian called this story a psychological 
 family sequence, and elaborated all the details in 
 a convincing way which would have persuaded 
 any hearer of its eventual fulfilment. 
 
 It was curious how he harped on that old Bible 
 stealer. Time after time he returned to the sub- 
 ject, and Richard, always willing to speak of pres- 
 ences, repeated faithfully the story of the old 
 man's visit, described his appearance, and the de- 
 tails of the binding of the Bible. Adrian made 
 a remark, the significance of which Richard only 
 appreciated afterwards. He said that for years 
 nothing had appealed to his imagination so much 
 as the thought of that forlorn old reprobate cross- 
 ing the barrier to reveal himself in the act of his 
 sin to Richard because he had understood. He 
 did not attempt to explain why the story affected 
 him thus profoundly. He told, in fact, none of 
 his own feelings, and confided no circumstances of 
 his own life. About Tamar, of whom Richard 
 spoke constantly, he was equally uncommunica- 
 tive. 
 
 If Richard had wished to learn from him any 
 intimate information about her a purpose far 
 from his mind he would have been woefully 
 disappointed. Once only, when Richard was talk- 
 ing of her and his face was lit up with a love and 
 tenderness which attempted no concealment, 
 Adrian let himself go. He held his hand out to
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 333 
 
 Richard, closed his eyes, and said in a low voice 
 which betrayed deep emotion : 
 
 " I, too, have always loved her." 
 
 So six days passed away, and during this time 
 all the imperative claims of Adrian Steele's pri- 
 vate and professional life were kept miraculously 
 at bay. But the end of this amazing spell of 
 apathy was bound to come. The wonder was that 
 it should have lasted so long. 
 
 It came, of course, swiftly. He had brought 
 with him Nell's Alpine flora book, but had for- 
 gotten about it until the fifth morning, when he 
 showed it to Richard, who became as enthusiastic 
 as himself over the flowers, and said that if he 
 had to make a choice for a subject, he would cer- 
 tainly choose to paint a field of gentians and soft 
 velvety anemones emerging from the snow. 
 
 " I don't suppose I could do it," he said. " But 
 it must be a heavenly sight." 
 
 " It is," Adrian answered dreamily. 
 
 After that he gazed long and earnestly at the 
 beautiful plates, and a great craving took posses- 
 sion of him to see the country which he loved so 
 passionately. Heart-hunger for the mountains 
 and the snow peaks seized him. Stronger and 
 stronger grew the need of his spirit. But not a 
 single word of what he felt escaped his lips. He 
 kept the secret of his pain and longing locked in 
 his breast. In the afternoon of the next day,
 
 334 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 Richard was called away to the deathbed of an 
 aged woman, and Adrian went out for a long walk 
 by himself. 
 
 He wandered about with no set purpose, taking 
 any road upon which he chanced, and found him- 
 self at the entrance of the first field leading to 
 Meyntoun Moat, where he had, at Tamar's invita- 
 tion, attended the sale and renewed his comrade- 
 ship with her. He strolled on until he came to 
 the house itself, with its moat, its bridge, and its 
 fine old fortified walls. 
 
 His natural interest in old buildings prompted 
 him to ring at the gate-house and try to seek ad- 
 mission. He waited for some little time, but at 
 length was admitted by the man in charge, who 
 left him in peace to saunter where he pleased. 
 He was proceeding to examine some of the many 
 curious features which had delighted him on the 
 occasion of his first visit, when suddenly, without 
 any warning whatsoever, in the great dining-room, 
 a vision of Robert Hailsham rose before his 
 mind's eye. The scene of the Dutch ship en- 
 acted there between them thrust itself on his re- 
 membrance. He saw the rage on Hailsham's 
 face, and the vindictiveness in his eyes. Then 
 other forms passed before him in a quick proces- 
 sion : John Noble, with sorrow on his countenance, 
 Cecil, Sanford, Faversham, Bruce, Chalfont, and 
 the rest.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 335 
 
 u I accuse you," each one said as he passed. 
 " I accuse you." 
 
 With a start Adrian Steele awoke from his long 
 spell of apathy and irresponsibility. The truth 
 flashed upon him. There was no hope for him. 
 Nothing could save him and his from dishonor. 
 He might pretend to think that it could. Tamar 
 might pretend. But it was only pretense pre- 
 tense pretense. He knew. Tamar knew. 
 Every one knew. All the world knew. He 
 rushed out into the great empty hall with its mu- 
 sicians' gallery, and flung his arms over his head. 
 
 " Ruined, dishonored, ruined ! " he cried, as 
 though to an audience " Alpenrose dishonored 
 Grace dishonored do you hear me even 
 my little Alpenrose dishonored. Dishonored, I 
 tell you what do you think of that for a man's 
 record? " 
 
 He fled from the scene, driven by fear and 
 horror. 
 
 He found his way to Kineton, to the " Prince 
 Rupert," where he learnt that he would have to 
 wait about an hour for a train. He asked for pen 
 and ink, and he wrote the following lines to Rich- 
 ard Forest : 
 
 " Richard Forest, I go to meet, in my own way, 
 a disaster confronting me. I thank you for the 
 larger message. And I thank you for what you
 
 336 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 have unconsciously been to me these four or five 
 days. I shall never see you again in this phase 
 of life, but my ' presence ' will be able to visit 
 you, beyond all doubt, because, to quote the words 
 of the old Bible stealer, because you have under- 
 stood. ADRIAN STEELE." 
 
 He left the hotel, and walked restlessly up and 
 down the platform of the station, until the train 
 came and bore him away.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 / "T"\AMAR sat in the inner room listening 
 - silently whilst Christopher Bramfield was 
 urging her not to sell any of the jewels she cared 
 for so much. 
 
 ' T. Scott, I beg of you not to part with any 
 of them," he said. " You will always regret hav- 
 ing done so. This fine emerald, for instance, vel- 
 vety and without flaws. You can't mean to let 
 that go. The thing's impossible. You're out of 
 your senses. And this lovely pearl, what a shape 
 it has, hasn't it you surely can't want to give 
 that up? And this string of pearls. Why, I 
 can't believe you're going to sell that. I don't 
 understand you upon my word, I don't. I as- 
 sure you I feel like saying that I'll have nothing 
 to do with the business. Do let me persuade you 
 to put them back in the safe. If it's money you 
 want, T. Scott, you know you have only to ask 
 me to lend you some, and I'll do so gladly. But 
 don't part with your treasures in this irresponsi- 
 ble fashion. Do take my advice. Come, now, 
 I'm going to put them back in the safe myself." 
 
 337
 
 338 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 He rose as he spoke, and Tamar rose too and 
 put a detaining hand roughly on his arm. 
 
 " I intend to sell them," she said fiercely. " Let 
 them alone. If you won't see after the matter, 
 then I'll see after it myself." 
 
 He laughed a little uneasily, and shrugged his 
 shoulders. 
 
 " You know I'll do anything for you," he said. 
 " But don't say a few months hence that I did not 
 remonstrate with you." 
 
 He added hesitatingly: 
 
 " I fear you are in some difficulty, T. Scott. 
 How I wish you'd tell me. What has happened 
 to you? What has come over you? You look 
 fearfully bothered and almost ill. I've been wor- 
 rying about you ever since I saw how little you 
 cared for those stones I brought the other day. 
 I never saw you so indifferent in my life. You've 
 got something on your mind. What is it, I won- 
 der?" 
 
 " That's my affair," Tamar said brusquely, but 
 not fiercely this time. 
 
 " Yes, I suppose it is," Christopher Bramfield 
 said, with a half sigh ; " though I never cease to 
 wish that your affairs were mine and mine yours. 
 Well, well, I'll take the emerald and the string of 
 pearls and sell them for you. I'll give you a re- 
 ceipt for them now." 
 
 She watched him write out a receipt, and place
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 339 
 
 the stones and the string of pearls in his case. 
 He took a long time over the process, for he had 
 caught a look of hesitancy on her face, and he 
 hoped she might still relent and restore her treas- 
 ures to their accustomed place. But except for 
 this one faint sign, she gave no indication of the 
 sacrifice she was making, nor did she vouchsafe 
 a single word on the subject. She stood, as Bram- 
 field had so often seen her stand on other occa- 
 sions when he had tried to persuade or guide her, 
 dully determined and doggedly silent. But after 
 he had gone, she sighed heavily and beat her 
 breast. 
 
 " My beautiful stones," she murmured, " my 
 beautiful stones." 
 
 It was a lament which came from the depths of 
 her heart, for she was passionately attached to all 
 the stones of her beautiful little private collection, 
 and she had sacrificed two of the finest, as well as 
 the string of pearls which had been her pride and 
 joy, for Adrian Steele's sake. But she had made 
 up her mind that no money except hers should be 
 offered to any one of his clients, and on examining 
 some of her investments and inquiring into their 
 current market value, she had found that she 
 would have to supplement their total, if she 
 wished to raise a sufficiently large sum of money 
 to buy off, say, Sanford, Cecil, and some of the 
 others. For this was the only scheme which ap-
 
 340 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 peared to her to contain any possibility whatso- 
 ever of success. She felt no certainty that even 
 then Adrian's honor could be saved, but she was 
 grimly resolved to be prepared for the eventuality. 
 
 She tried to cling to the hope that although she 
 had failed with Hailsham, Nell might be able, 
 through John Noble, to succeed with the others, 
 perhaps even with Hailsham. Anyway the money 
 should be ready, her money, no one else's. 
 
 Everything must be tried. No handle must be 
 left unturned. Project after project must be 
 contrived, even up to the brink of the precipice. 
 If Adrian had to go under, it would not be because 
 there had been no one to think, to plan, to scheme 
 for him. In her great love and anxious concern 
 for him, she had risen above the humiliation of 
 her defeat and disappointment, and when the 
 freshness of her fury with herself and Hailsham 
 was over, she had gone to Nell. 
 
 " So you see I have failed," she said, after she 
 had told the pitiful story. " But perhaps if you 
 make an attempt, with your more honorable meth- 
 ods, you may succeed, Nell Silberthwaite. I 
 rather envy you for them, as I told you before. 
 However, we have to do things in our own way, 
 and with our own materials. Suppose now you 
 try your luck with Hailsham. If you can't do 
 anything else with him, at least get him to delay 
 prosecuting until we're dead certain that the rest
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 341 
 
 of the band can't be bought off. Try to get a 
 personal interview with him. He's a blustering 
 commonplace creature with the mind of an oyster, 
 but he has enough intelligence to know the differ- 
 ence between you and me. That alone may help 
 matters. Yes, go and see whether you can suc- 
 ceed where I've failed. I don't mind now 
 whether it's you or myself." 
 
 " Tamar," Nell said, deeply touched by her 
 unselfish impersonality, " whether you've failed or 
 not failed, remember, for your comfort, that you 
 are the one to whom Adrian came for help. 
 You're the one to whom his heart turns. Noth- 
 ing can alter that fact for you or for him." 
 
 " That's what I've been saying to myself all 
 along," Tamar answered. " But I didn't expect 
 you were going to remind me of it. Yet I might 
 have known you would. I don't mind telling you 
 that I think you've been generous to me." 
 
 " And you've been generous to me," Nell said. 
 " You sent him to me the other day. I shall al- 
 ways remember that, Tamar. You could very 
 easily have been silent about my part if you had 
 chosen." 
 
 " I wanted to at first," Tamar admitted. " And 
 then I didn't. You see, I've never disliked you." 
 
 Nell smiled. 
 
 " One of Adrian's old speeches about you comes 
 floating back to my memory," she said. " This
 
 342 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 is it: ' If Tamar likes a person exceedingly much, 
 she will probably tell you that she does not alto- 
 gether dislike that person. Only about precious 
 stones will she speak in more flattering terms. 
 Alas, would that I were a precious stone.' Do 
 you remember, Tamar ? " 
 
 Tamar nodded. A faint smile flitted across her 
 face, too, but faded at once. 
 
 " Well, I'll try to arrange through Mr. Noble 
 about seeing Hailsham," Nell said after a pause, 
 " and I'll come and report to you." 
 
 " And I'll get all the money ready, and I'll take 
 another look at his accounts and see whether I 
 can make anything of them," said Tamar. " At 
 present, as you're aware, he's numbed and par- 
 alyzed, and isn't facing things. But when he 
 awakes, we must be able to convince him that he 
 has a good chance of righting himself. If his 
 brain has recovered its power, he will do the 
 rest." 
 
 Nell remained silent. She knew, as well as 
 Tamar, that they were leading a forlorn hope, 
 and that when Adrian awoke, he too would know. 
 But they did not confess this to each other, and 
 they parted after a long detailed consultation, in 
 which eventual failure was never even mentioned 
 as a possibility. Every source of influence was to 
 be tapped. No effort was to be spared. 
 
 That was two or three days ago, and this morn-
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 343 
 
 ing Nell had written to say that Hailsham was out 
 of town, but that she hoped to secure an early 
 interview with him directly he returned, and that 
 she would call in during the afternoon, as she had 
 several things to report. Mr. Noble wished to 
 see Tamar and learn from her some of the details 
 about Sanford's affairs. Meantime he sent the 
 message that he rather believed that Sanford 
 could be persuaded to remain quiescent; but he 
 was not sure. 
 
 So after Christopher Bramfield had gone, 
 Tamar, dismissing from her mind the memory of 
 her sacrifice, looked out the double set of San- 
 ford's accounts, and began to calculate roughly to 
 what extent Adrian had taxed this particular client. 
 She was deep in the tiresome and intricate task, 
 and had lost herself in renewed amazement over 
 the elaborately worked out scheme of continuous 
 fraud, when a ring came at the shop door, and she 
 had to rouse herself to answer it. To her amaze- 
 ment she found Richard Forest standing in the 
 shop. He looked the picture of distracted be- 
 wilderment. 
 
 " You here ! " she exclaimed, with kindness and 
 astonishment in her voice. " Why, what's the 
 matter with you? You look half out of your 
 
 senses." 
 
 ' T. Scott, I am out of my senses," he said ex- 
 citedly. " He's gone disappeared in my ab-
 
 344 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 sence wrote this letter at the * Prince Rupert ' 
 took the train disappeared look at it 
 read it what does he mean gone to meet a 
 disaster confronting him in his own way 
 what disaster can't you explain it we were 
 having such a happy time together I liked him 
 so tremendously, T. Scott and then for him to 
 go off like this suddenly without any warn- 
 ing if only I could have seen him and spoken 
 one word to him tell me what it all means 
 I must know." 
 
 Tamar, who had turned deadly pale, took the 
 letter and read it. 
 
 " It means that he has awakened," she said 
 slowly. " It means that he has fled from " 
 
 " From what, from what ? " Richard inter- 
 rupted. "What has he fled from?" 
 
 " From prosecution for frauds committed by 
 him," Tamar said, almost inaudibly. 
 
 " It isn't possible," Richard cried. " I'll never 
 believe it of him. Never." 
 
 " You'll have to believe it," Tamar said in the 
 same low voice. " It's it's the truth." 
 
 ' T. Scott, T. Scott, what are you telling me? " 
 he cried in an agony of spirit. 
 
 He flung himself on a chair, and covered his 
 face with his hands. Vivid reminders of hitherto 
 hidden import flashed now like lightning across 
 his mind. He recalled the intense, almost mor-
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 345 
 
 bid, interest Adrian Steele had taken in the der- 
 elict old Bible stealer. He remembered how 
 constantly Adrian Steele had inquired about and 
 dwelt on the histories of the other clergymen who 
 had " gone under " in that desolate life, and with 
 what a painful strained manner he had quoted 
 those words from Browning : " Out of the wreck 
 I rise, past Zeus, to the Potency o'er him! " and 
 asked whether they were not suitable for symbolic 
 illustration. These and many other thoughts held 
 Richard Forest in bondage, whilst Tamar leaned 
 with her elbows on the counter, turned to stone, 
 and staring vacantly at Adrian Steele's letter with 
 its message of impending and inevitable doom. 
 
 It was thus that Nell found them. She stood 
 in the center of the shop, and glanced in deep 
 anxiety and alarm from Tamar to Richard and 
 from Richard to Tamar. 
 
 "Tamar," she cried, "what is It? Has any- 
 thing fearful happened? What is it? For 
 Heaven's sake speak say something." 
 
 Tamar showed no sign that she saw Nell or 
 realized her presence, but answered in a voice 
 which had no resonance in it: 
 
 " Adrian has gone disappeared." 
 
 "But where where?" Nell asked impetu- 
 ously. 
 
 "How should I know?" Tamar answered 
 without stirring.
 
 346 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " Can't you tell me anything? I know he has 
 been staying with you," Nell cried, turning im- 
 ploringly to Richard Forest who had now uncov- 
 ered his face. " I beg of you to tell me. He is 
 an old friend of mine, too, and very, very dear to 
 me, unspeakably dear to me." 
 
 " I know nothing except what his letter tells 
 us," he said with great gentleness. " Here it is. 
 Please read it." 
 
 Nell read it. It fell from her hands; and she, 
 too, became like Tamar, stunned, paralyzed. 
 
 It was Richard Forest who roused them both 
 to life and action. He sprang up suddenly, his 
 natural dreaminess converted by magic to some 
 inspired purpose, and his face aglow with a strange 
 smile of rapture, as though he were urged and 
 prompted by some distant vision veiled to other 
 eyes. 
 
 " Well, we must search for him," he cried. 
 " We must search everywhere, and never, never 
 rest until we've found him. You, his old friends, 
 will be able to give the lead. But I shall come 
 with you I must come with you in your search." 
 
 " You will come with us? " they both repeated, 
 half in wonder at him and half in joyful surprise. 
 
 " Why, of course," he answered. " I arranged 
 for all that and wired to an old friend to take my 
 place. Do you imagine that I could stay behind 
 eating my heart away in inaction I who have
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 347 
 
 had him with me these few days and entered into 
 a comradeship with him which nothing in any 
 phase of existence can break? What do I care 
 about his frauds and his failings? I only know 
 him as I found him. Of course I shall go with 
 you. And we'll never give up the search until we 
 find him." 
 
 He had sounded the chord which set their 
 brains and hearts in vibration again. He had 
 broken in upon their dull despair, and won their 
 instant gratitude and confidence by ranging him- 
 self instinctively on the side of the man whom 
 they i)oth loved. Nell, who had only seen him 
 for a moment before when he came to sell the 
 crucifix, and had only heard vaguely from Tamar 
 that Adrian was stopping with him, felt at once 
 the noble attraction in him which had drawn 
 Tamar to him from the beginning, and had stirred 
 in Adrian an impulse of imperishable trust. They 
 began immediately to consult about what was to 
 be done, and of course the first plan which sug- 
 gested itself, was to make inquiries at his own 
 home; and since Adrian had been last in Richard 
 Forest's company, it seemed only natural that he 
 should be the one to bring the news that his guest 
 had disappeared and had left behind him a dis- 
 quieting letter. 
 
 ' Yes, you'd better go there," Tamar said. 
 " But he's not likely to be there. I suppose he
 
 348 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 spoke to you of his wife and his child, Alpen- 
 rose?" 
 
 " He gave me no confidences, and I didn't want 
 them, T. Scott," Richard said simply. " He 
 spoke of no one except you and then only once. 
 Some day I will tell you what he said." 
 
 A tremor passed over Tamar's face. She 
 turned away. 
 
 Nell came to her help. 
 
 " Yes, you'd better go to his home," she said 
 to Richard Forest. " But it's true he is not likely 
 to be there, because you see well, you see he 
 couldn't be there if if he couldn't face 
 things. If I didn't know the circumstances, I 
 should have come first of all to Tamar and ex- 
 pected to find him here in the inner room. And 
 failing that, I should have gone to the moun- 
 
 tains." 
 
 " The mountains," Tamar repeated crossly. 
 " And why the mountains? " 
 
 " Because he loved them, Tamar," Nell said. 
 " He loved them passionately." 
 
 " Yes, yes, he loved them," Richard said. " He 
 talked a great deal about them, and always with 
 an intense yearning, especially the last evening he 
 was with me. He had with him an Alpine flora 
 book which we studied together." 
 
 " It was my book," Nell said involuntarily. 
 
 " Yours ? " Tamar said fiercely. " Yours ? "
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 349 
 
 " When you sent him to me," Nell said, " he 
 took it away with him as what he called ' author- 
 ized plunder.' We spoke about the mountains, 
 and the mountains only. He said he hungered 
 for them, and had been dreaming of the snow 
 peaks and the Alpine glow. And " 
 
 " Well, well," Tamar said impatiently. 
 
 " And I remember he said that his Alpine heart 
 was in a little village called Wassen, in or near 
 the Meienthal," Nell went on. 
 
 " He never told me that," Tamar said sul- 
 lenly. But she recovered herself at once and 
 added: 
 
 " Well, the great point is he told one of us. 
 For I don't mind owning that this is a sort of 
 clue." 
 
 " Instinct tells me that he has gone to the moun- 
 tains for refuge and shelter," Nell said; and as 
 she spoke a vision rose before her of Adrian and 
 herself standing in silence looking at that moun- 
 tain picture and parting in silence. 
 
 " Yes," she repeated, " it's to the mountains he 
 has gone, Tamar. I feel increasingly sure of it. 
 And to that little village he loved, with its church 
 perched on the hill : ' forsaken by the tourist and 
 scorned by the climbers.' Those were his very 
 words about it. It's to little Wassen he has gone." 
 
 ' That's the place he described to me," Richard 
 said. " I remember well about the church. It's
 
 350 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 there that we must go. I'll run round to his home 
 first to make inquiries and give the alarm, and 
 then we'll be off at once. There's no time to be 
 lost. We must follow him at once before " 
 
 " Before it is too late," Nell said, with bowed 
 head. 
 
 " It is too late," Tamar said in a low voice. 
 " Don't you know that? " 
 
 " No," Richard said firmly. " I refuse to know 
 it. We shall find him and reach out our hands to 
 him and not in vain." 
 
 They did not gainsay him, for they glanced at 
 him, saw the amazing radiance on his face, and 
 were kindled by the idealism of his spirit, of which 
 it was the outward and visible sign. 
 
 That same evening they started for the moun- 
 tains. 
 
 END OF PART I
 
 PART II
 
 PART II 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 A CH, Herrgott, it's Herr Steele I " cried old 
 ^^ Frau Anderegg, as a carriage drove up to 
 the little green-shuttered hotel in Wassen. 
 " Frida, Christian, Johann, quick, quick! " 
 
 She shook Adrian Steele's hands times without 
 number, interspersing all her remarks of welcome 
 with frantic cries of " Frida, Christian, Johann ! 
 Quick, quick! " 
 
 In less than a minute the whole family had 
 rallied round him and borne him triumphantly into 
 the house. It was easy to see that they all loved 
 him. 
 
 " Our first visitor," they cried, " and our most 
 welcome one ! " 
 
 " Thank you, thank you," he said, his face 
 wreathed in smiles. " Why, Frau Anderegg, you 
 don't look a single month older not a month. 
 But Frida, on the contrary, has grown up, in very 
 truth. Never did I think she'd grow up ! And 
 pray, what has she done with her pigtail? Ah, 
 Johann, you'll need to have another photograph 
 
 353
 
 354 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 taken of you at your carving, I plainly see. And 
 Christian, dear old Christian, he looks broader 
 and stronger than ever. I might even say hand- 
 somer ! But I won't ! Upon my soul, Frau An- 
 deregg, the grandchildren do us credit don't 
 they? Quite unexpectedly too! Well, well, it's 
 good to be amongst you all again. It's good to be 
 here!" 
 
 He stepped back impulsively to the door and 
 glanced round him, at the dwarf chestnut trees 
 guarding the hotel, at the green tables and green 
 seats and green boxes with plants. To the left 
 the snow mountains, the Windgelle graciously un- 
 veiling its glittering snow peak to bid him wel- 
 come. In front of him the sweet pasture mead- 
 ows stretching down to the edge of the headlong 
 river. Fragrance from the flowers wafted from 
 all sides. Music from the cowbells mingling in 
 discordant harmony. Sunlight catching the win- 
 dows of the old brown chalets on the mountain 
 slopes opposite. 
 
 " Ah," he said, " I have always loved it! " 
 ' Yes, yes, you have always loved it," the old 
 Frau said, putting her arm through his. " But 
 you can look at the mountains later. You must 
 come and rest and eat. I can see you're tired. 
 But the good air will soon restore you." 
 
 Then he gave himself up to all their affectionate 
 care, and was soon enjoying a splendid meal of
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 355 
 
 trout, schnitzel, and potatoes, glorified by a bottle 
 of best Sassella. 
 
 Meantime the news spread in the village that 
 Herr Steele had come. It penetrated to the re- 
 cesses of the schoolhouse, exciting and delighting 
 the hearts of the teachers, the holy sisters, Ger- 
 trude and Alusina, who forthwith dispatched two 
 of the children to the Meienthal to gather alpen- 
 rose. 
 
 " You remember," they said to each other, " he 
 always liked the alpenrose better than any- 
 thing." 
 
 " We must invite him again to beer and black 
 sausage," comely Schwester Gertrude laughed. 
 " Na, that was a merry afternoon when Christian 
 Anderegg brought him to visit us." 
 
 " Yes," laughed little Schwester Alusina. 
 " And do you remember how he tried to teach us 
 English, and we learnt to say, ' We beg your very 
 much pardon ! Very much pardon ! ' 
 
 The news was not very long in reaching the 
 grocery store, where the _good Frau immediately 
 began to interview her stock of chocolate and 
 kropfli cakes. 
 
 " He will want a lot for the children," she said 
 with a smile, which was a curious mixture of ten- 
 derness and business. " I must telephone at once 
 to Goeschenen for some more supplies." 
 
 She was not indiscreet in the precautions she
 
 356 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 took, for Adrian Steele soon arrived at the shop, 
 and bought her out of house and home. 
 
 " You know, Frau Bergen," he said, " I have 
 always maintained that this is a dangerous region, 
 unless one is well armed with sure weapons of 
 defense ! " 
 
 Thus he settled down in the little village, and 
 was welcomed by the villagers as an old friend 
 whom they knew and trusted. 
 
 When he fled to Switzerland, he was guided 
 by no definite plan, except that of reaching the 
 region which he loved. But even on his journey, 
 dimly outlined ideas began to take form ; and that 
 first night, as he lingered on the balcony of his 
 bedroom, and drew in long, deep breaths of the 
 invigorating air, and watched the stars, and lis- 
 tened to the rushing of the impatient river, an 
 overwhelming sense of the finality of things swept 
 over him, and he stood, even then, as a man might 
 stand to hear and receive his sentence of dismissal. 
 But sheer bodily fatigue intervened, and he slept 
 and rested dreamlessly. 
 
 In the morning he was up early. He took his 
 breakfast in front of the hotel, at a little green 
 table near the chestnut tree which had always been 
 considered his special property, and was always 
 fiercely guarded for him by the whole household. 
 He drank his coffee, greeted the villagers as they 
 passed, was introduced to Lilie, Vergissmeinnicht
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 357 
 
 and Nora, the leading ladies of various companies 
 of cows changing their pasturage, and heard all 
 the news of the family from Frida, Johann, and 
 Christian. Christian produced the stick which 
 Adrian had given him some years ago, and on 
 which Adrian had himself cut and burnt the words : 
 " Immer will ich Christian unterstutzen." 
 
 " I suppose you are going off to the Meienthal," 
 he said. " Here's my stick for you. But don't 
 dare to let anything happen to it. I value it, I 
 can tell you." 
 
 ' To no other human being on earth would 
 Christian lend it," Frida said, " not even to his 
 Schatzlein, Herr Steele." 
 
 " I feel the honor deeply," Steele said, as he 
 took the stick and examined it. " Yes, Christian, 
 I was always proud of this performance of mine, 
 my one and only achievement in carving. And 
 of course I'm off to the Meienthal. But I must 
 have a look first at the meadows, and see close 
 at hand what the flowers are doing. They looked 
 lovely as I came along yesterday." 
 
 ' You'll find the flowers rather behindhand," 
 Frida said. " Why, fancy, we had snow three 
 days ago. It's the longest winter I ever remember 
 in my whole, whole life." 
 
 ;< What a valuable record of length ! " Adrian 
 remarked, with a smile. " Why, Frida, you 
 might have lived centuries instead of minutes! "
 
 35 8 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " All the same, it is the longest, severest winter 
 we've had in these parts for many long years," 
 Christian said, laughing. " And now there's a 
 touch of Fohnwind. But it'll pass off. We had 
 a threatening yesterday and it came to nothing." 
 
 At that moment the old Frau appeared on the 
 scenes. 
 
 " Ah, you're off for your favorite walk, I sup- 
 pose," she said. " Now don't go too far, and 
 don't be out too long. Such fearful long walks 
 you always take. Now mind, Herr Steele, come 
 back in good time." 
 
 They watched him as he passed up the village, 
 and waved to him. Then they went back to their 
 work; and he, climbing one of the lower slopes, 
 feasted his eyes on the jeweled loveliness of the 
 flowered meadows, and saw that the forget-me- 
 nots and ragged robins were richer than ever in 
 color, that the cowslips, pansies and daisies were 
 mingling in rich profusion with the grass of the 
 pastures, and that all the varying shades of yellow 
 and purple contributed to a vision of beauty which 
 did not fall short of the ideal picture which haunted 
 his memory. 
 
 He lingered there for half an hour or so. He 
 found it a little difficult to leave the village and 
 its immediate surroundings. He loved all its fea- 
 tures, its church, its sentinel mountain, the little
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 359 
 
 Windgelle, its river, its valleys, yes, and its rail- 
 way. He did not think the railway had spoilt 
 it. It interested and delighted him to watch the 
 trains toiling up the steep ascents, now disappear- 
 ing into the seclusion of tunnels when things were 
 too much for them, and now emerging triumph- 
 antly for a while and calling out with shrill shrieks : 
 "Hurrah! another stage of the journey done! 
 Aren't we just clever? " 
 
 " Supposing I don't go to the Meienthal to- 
 day," he said to himself. " Supposing I stay here 
 to-day." 
 
 But some inner voice answered: 
 
 ' You must not stay here. You must go to the 
 Meienthal." 
 
 He sighed and rose from the bank where he 
 had been resting, and started for the Meienthal 
 up the steep side road, a bridle road only, to the 
 left of the old stone fountain in the center of the 
 village. Fidio, the baker's dog, seldom allowed 
 any one to go to the Meienthal without his com- 
 pany, and having stretched himself and yawned, 
 he accepted a mouthful of kropfli, and decided to 
 bestow the favor of his presence on this stranger. 
 Was he a stranger, though? Well, well, Fidio 
 was getting old, and his memory was beginning to 
 fail him; but, as he went along over the rough 
 stones, forgotten thoughts returned to him, and
 
 360 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 he waited for Adrian Steele by the first crucifix 
 a quite unusual attention for him to show to any 
 one and licked the hand of his old friend. 
 
 " Ah, Fidio," Adrian said, as he stooped down 
 and patted the old dog, " many and many a time 
 we've gone this walk together, when you were 
 younger and I was lighter-hearted." 
 
 He paused awhile and looked down at the sweet 
 scenes which he had left, and then he turned his 
 back on little Wassen and set his face towards 
 the Sustenhorner, glimpses of which he already 
 saw in the distance. They beckoned to him with 
 all their white magic, and he said aloud: "/ 
 come, I come." 
 
 On he went, now over an open and grassy ex- 
 panse where some cows were grazing, and where 
 he found, in the person of a small fair-haired boy, 
 the first of his chocolate and kropfli clients; now 
 over rocks and stones, caressed by lovely little 
 rills ; and now through the thickening forest which 
 shut off the view of the mountains. This was 
 the region of the alpenrose, and he climbed up 
 the rocks to the left of him, and gathered for him- 
 self some of this well-loved treasure. It was al- 
 ready coming into bloom, and the sight of it filled 
 his heart with tenderest longings. 
 
 " My little Alpenrose," he cried in sudden 
 agony. "Am I never to see you again? oh, 
 it isn't possible it isn't possible it's an evil
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 361 
 
 dream it can't be the truth it shall not be the 
 truth." 
 
 He threw himself down and wept, long and 
 silently. What were the thoughts which over- 
 whelmed him? Remorse for what he had done, 
 or regrets at having at last to pay the penalty of 
 what he had done? Who could say? But when 
 he raised his head after his spell of bitter suffering, 
 he saw an old woman with her basket on her bent 
 back, standing beside him and shaking her head 
 gravely. 
 
 "Hast thou also lost some loved one?" she 
 said. " See, that little cross on that rock marks 
 the spot where my grandson met his death this 
 winter. I look at it as I pass, and I weep always. 
 Hast thou also lost some loved one ? " 
 
 " Alas, my good mother," Steele said, " I have 
 lost all my loved ones all." 
 
 " My poor son," she said pityingly. " And 
 thou hast dropped all the alpenrose too." 
 
 " Let it lie," he said. " I don't need it. I 
 have no heart for it. And so your grandson met 
 his death here? " 
 
 1 Yes," she said. " It was late at night and he 
 had been drinking. But he was a good boy : faith- 
 ful and true." 
 
 It flashed through Adrian Steele's mind that the 
 young man's life and end were to be envied. And 
 he knew well that it was the representative story
 
 362 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 of many of the crosses and crucifixes which dotted 
 the wild Meienthal. Well, far better that than 
 his own record of sustained treachery and deceit. 
 
 " Good mother," he said gently, " be thankful 
 always that he was faithful and true. That's what 
 matters most." 
 
 He slipped a franc piece into her thin old hand, 
 and she bade him stand to receive an old woman's 
 blessing. 
 
 He stooped to pick up one single sprig of the 
 alpenrose, and passed on his way. He glanced at 
 the carpet of anemones, moss, ferns, and pink- 
 flowered whortleberry beneath the pines and 
 larches, and lingered once to look at some golden 
 saxifrage fringing a fairy pool; but he longed to 
 come out into the open and see the mountains, 
 and he hastened his steps and did not rest until 
 the forest stood behind him, and the mountains 
 were spread 'before him in all their entrancing 
 loveliness. 
 
 Some of the gloom lifted from his soul. The 
 play of light and color, the clouds, the sunshine, 
 the glittering snow peaks, the bracing air, the 
 beauty of the surrounding scenery filled him with 
 rapture. 
 
 " Ah," he said, " it's good to be alive, and in 
 this heavenly air. The cold crispness of the win- 
 ter not gone. The fierce heat of the summer not 
 come. The light still soft and recalling mem-
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 363 
 
 ories of snow-laden skies. And not so much as a 
 thought of that uncompromising glare." 
 
 He crossed a huge, dirty-brown avalanche, pre- 
 ceded by Fidio, who had darted on in front, in or- 
 der to reassure him that there was no danger. A 
 few yards higher up, he crossed the slender bridge 
 which seemed but a frail pathway over the raging, 
 tumbling Meienreuss beneath. 
 
 " A man might end his life here, easily enough," 
 he thought. 
 
 The sunshine was jeweling the snow-white surf 
 of the great waves with diamonds of finest water 
 not yielding in beauty even to the diamonds 
 which the sun shows us in the glittering snow 
 plains. 
 
 ' Jewels for Tamar," he said, with a half smile. 
 " Priceless ones, too." 
 
 As he spoke her name, the thought of her swept 
 over him with sudden overwhelming force. 
 
 " Tamar, Tamar," he cried in an agony of 
 spirit, " is it true, must it be true, that I have to 
 leave you when I have only just found you ? Yes, 
 I know it's true, and you know it too." 
 
 For he realized with increasing clearness that 
 he had to disappear, for little Alpenrose's sake, 
 for his wife's sake, for his own sake. Tamar 
 would understand that there was nothing else for 
 him to do. She would not think that he had 
 again forsaken her. She would know. And it
 
 364 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 dawned on him that she had known all along, and 
 that she had been willing to sacrifice her money 
 the thing she valued most on earth in order to 
 hearten him and thus delay the inevitable end. 
 
 " Oh, my own Tamar," he cried again, " am I 
 never to see you again to thank you for this great 
 love which I have never deserved, but which is 
 mine all the same, and which makes me feel not 
 alone in this hour of desolation? " 
 
 On the other side of the river he found two 
 little goat boys taking care of a flock of goats, 
 some of which were disporting themselves by the 
 waterside, and others were strolling on their way 
 up the valley in one long thin line: a picturesque 
 sight Adrian had always liked to see. One of the 
 boys darted forward to greet him. 
 
 " I remember you," he cried delightedly. " Do 
 you remember me ? Wilhelm, the naughtiest boy 
 in the school? " 
 
 Adrian smiled at the little eager face. 
 
 " I remember that the holy sisters always said 
 Wilhelm was the naughtiest boy in the school," he 
 said with mock gravity. " Far, far too naughty 
 for chocolate and kropfli I " 
 
 " And you said perhaps the chocolate and 
 kropfli would make me better ! " the boy laughed. 
 
 ' Well, perhaps it did, and perhaps it might 
 now," Adrian said, fumbling in his pocket. 
 "Who knows?"
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 365 
 
 The boys danced gleefully round him as he pro- 
 duced the traditional dainties, and were soon busy 
 munching them, and yodelling in between. 
 
 " If you look hard," Wilhelm said, wishing to 
 entertain him, " you'll see sheep on that big lawine 
 yonder. That fell two years ago. Two men 
 were killed. Don't you see the cross lower down? 
 I see it distinctly. It's near the first sheep. Do 
 you see it? I don't want to be killed by a lawine, 
 do you? A lot of them this year higher up on 
 the left. You'll notice them as you go. Shall I 
 come and show them to you? " 
 
 Adrian shook his head. 
 
 " I shall know them," he said. " Stay and mind 
 your goats, Wilhelm. Don't let them fall into 
 the water. That one with the white tuft is a dar- 
 ing chap, isn't he ? Why, the dog has gone ! Call 
 him back for me, Wilhelm." 
 
 " Fidio never goes further than the bridge," 
 the boy answered. " No use calling him. We'll 
 call if you like, but you'll see you will have to go 
 alone." 
 
 They laughed as they watched the old dog 
 quietly retracing his steps, ignoring entirely the 
 shouts which were hurled unsparingly at his 
 head. 
 
 " You'll have to go alone," Wilhelm said. " I 
 told you so." 
 
 ' Yes," Adrian answered, and he took up his
 
 366 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 stick, nodded good-by to his companions, and 
 passed on. 
 
 Wilder and wilder grew the country. The 
 trees on the lower slopes had disappeared. Stone 
 and grass everywhere. A barren region decorated 
 only by brooks innumerable. But always the Sus- 
 tenhorner beckoning with ever-changing loveli- 
 ness: always the magic of the mountains casting 
 its spell on those to whom the mountains stand for 
 something more than meets the outer eye. 
 
 Breezes straight from the glaciers to which he 
 was now coming nearer, were borne to him. He 
 felt strong and invigorated, ready for any effort 
 of body or brain. 
 
 " Surely I have been exaggerating the danger 
 of my position," he said. " I begin to believe that 
 even now I could go back and put everything 
 straight. If I can do this, there is no reason why 
 I should disappear. If I can save my honor and 
 theirs, I have the right to live. And I want to 
 live. I will live." 
 
 Thus torn between new-born hope and former 
 acceptance of impending doom, he arrived at 
 Meien. The children were just out from school, 
 and when he saw them, his heart leapt out to them 
 in tender kindness, for he thought at once of his 
 own little Alpenrose. He singled out the little 
 girls nearest to her in age, patted their heads, and
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 367 
 
 began with them his distribution of all his remain- 
 ing chocolate and kropfli. Out came the school- 
 mistress to welcome him, and he stood with her 
 amidst the group of happy, excited little ones, 
 talking to them, laughing with them as only one 
 who loved children could possibly do. 
 
 " And your own little girl whom you called 
 Alpenrose?" the schoolmistress asked. "You 
 know you promised to bring her one day." 
 
 " Ah," he said, turning away, " I shall never 
 bring her now. I have lost her." 
 
 The words escaped him before he knew, and 
 the sound of them echoed back to him as a final 
 answer to the new-born hope. It died forthwith. 
 "Come and rest in my house," the schoolmis- 
 tress said gently. She saw the change of expres- 
 sion on his face, and knew that the memory of his 
 great sorrow had struck at his heart. 
 
 But he pointed to the little church, and she 
 nodded her head, dispersed the children with a 
 wave of her hand, and held the church door open 
 for him to enter. Then she left him, as she 
 thought, to mourn his little dead child. He sat 
 there and mourned, not Alpenrose, but his own 
 dead self that dead self which had once had a 
 fair name, a clear record, and fine ideals and 
 ambitions. 
 
 Alas for one's dead self alas for the flaws in
 
 368 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 one's nature which were the cause of the wreck. 
 
 " The wreck," he said aloud. 
 
 The word brought back the remembrance of 
 that line of Browning's which he had urged 
 Richard Forest to illustrate. He spoke it in a 
 whisper. 
 
 " Out of the wreck I rise, past Zeus, to the 
 Potency o'er him." 
 
 And what had Richard Forest said? Adrian 
 spoke that in a whisper too. 
 
 " People don't go under. They rise out of the 
 wreck, somehow." 
 
 He saw Richard's face before him. 
 
 He heard his voice. He felt his healing pres- 
 ence. 
 
 When he rose, he stood for a moment with 
 bowed head, and said: 
 
 " John Noble, I ask your forgiveness." 
 
 He had reached the door of the church when 
 he heard the children's cries and the sound of 
 their laughter. He waited until the school bell 
 rang, and they were safely in school again. He 
 had not the courage to encounter them a second 
 time. 
 
 He called at the Alpenrosli Inn, where he had 
 always been wont to have his cup of coffee and 
 his chat with old Sebastian Ogi and his wife, who 
 had lived there many years. In former years, 
 long since past, Sebastian had been a guide, until
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 369 
 
 an accident had crippled him for life. But he 
 was not too old nor too frail to know the signs 
 of the weather, and he told Adrian Steele that 
 they were in for a sudden change, and that he be- 
 lieved there would yet be a whole crop of ava- 
 lanches in the district. 
 
 ' You see," he explained, " we've had very late 
 snow this year. It's the latest and heaviest 
 winter that I remember for years. Think of it, 
 the Furka Pass not open yet. And now, with the 
 Fohnwind coming, things will happen, I tell you." 
 
 " Ach, Herr Steele then you will not go far," 
 the old woman said as she poured him out another 
 cup of coffee. 
 
 " No, I'll not go far; not too far," Adrian 
 answered, smiling at her. 
 
 " Oh, you'll be able to go a good step yet," 
 Sebastian said. " No danger for a long way yet. 
 But if you get as far, don't branch off to the 
 Kalchthal, for instance. I wouldn't answer for 
 you there. The Stiicklistock and the Hintere 
 Sustenhorn are very generous with their lawinen 
 there." 
 
 " I'll remember," Adrian said, and he asked a 
 few questions about the winter months, and learnt 
 a great deal he had never known about the dif- 
 ferent kinds of avalanches. It struck him as he 
 listened, how strange it was that he should care 
 to add to his knowledge now, at this juncture.
 
 370 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 " Habit, I suppose," he thought. " I have 
 always craved to know. Well, I could write a 
 very creditable paragraph or two now on the dif- 
 ference between Staub, Schlag, and Grund Law- 
 inen. I see I have never properly distinguished 
 them before. It's a good thing to have them 
 clear in one's mind, even at the eleventh hour. 
 I wonder whether Nell has them clear. Prob- 
 ably. There is nothing about the mountains that 
 she does not know." 
 
 As he thought of Nell, it passed through his 
 mind that she would be the only one who would 
 guess that he had gone to the mountains. Many 
 and many a time he had told her, half in jest and 
 half in earnest, that it would be his wish to die 
 in the snow mountains, to the sound of Chopin's 
 Nocturne in C minor. Yes, Nell would know. 
 And she would know that he had come to Was- 
 sen, for he remembered now that he had spoken 
 of it to her as the home of his Alpine heart. He 
 rose instantly, impelled by a new fear. 
 
 " I must hasten on," he said to himself. 
 1 There is no time to lose." 
 
 " Not the Kalchthal, remember! " the old Frau 
 called after him. 
 
 ' Turn back at Farnigen, or stay there, if they 
 tell you to," Sebastian Ogi said. 
 
 He nodded, smiled at them cheerfully, waved 
 his hand, and went on his way.
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 371 
 
 Now he was getting nearer and nearer to the 
 mountains. They were becoming more en- 
 trancing too, because more elusive. Thick gray 
 clouds, the color of a dove's breast, tore across 
 them, now obscuring them altogether, and now 
 leaving them free to reveal themselves in mo- 
 mentary visions of splendor. These lovely 
 glimpses of them filled Adrian's heart with added 
 love and longing, and again he said: "/ come, 
 I come! " 
 
 He passed through Farnigen without stopping 
 or making any inquiries about the changes and 
 chances of the weather. He knew for himself 
 now that the Fohnwind was doing its appointed 
 work on the mass of accumulated snow suspended 
 in high stations. 
 
 " My poor Grace," he said, " when you hear 
 my history, you will thank the Fohnwind as I 
 thank it. A mantle, Grace, that's what it will 
 prove to be for you for me for Alpen- 
 rose." 
 
 Ah, there were gentians at last, the little ones, 
 with the white star eyes. What a glad sight! 
 What a pity that the spring was so late! Such 
 a handful of flowers, and yet how sweet to see 
 them singly, each of them harbingers of the wait- 
 ing myriads. And now, higher up, patches of 
 snow on the green pastures, encircled by tiaras 
 of white and purple crocuses. Well, well, that
 
 372 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 alone was worth coming to see ! Which was the 
 whiter, the snow or the crocus? Ah, and here 
 was snow surrounded by yellow flowers. What 
 were those yellow flowers? He ought to know. 
 Aha, a soldanella ! He stooped down and 
 picked it. 
 
 Then he looked back for the first time, and saw 
 that he had come a long way. How far off 
 everything seemed. How like a dream every- 
 thing seemed to him in the life he had left. How 
 detached he had become from time and space 
 and circumstance. How the relativities had 
 changed. How far away he had journeyed from 
 every one except Tamar. A smile of infinite 
 tenderness came over his face. 
 
 " Tamar, Tamar," he called aloud. !t I'm 
 calling to you." 
 
 He stood and waited until the last echo of the 
 words had died into silence, and with it the last 
 yearning of his heart. 
 
 He pressed on. 
 
 Death. Well, why not death? Fear of 
 death ? Certainly and absolutely not. The fear 
 of death had been manufactured and fostered by 
 the priests for their own purposes of power, as 
 scares were manufactured and fostered by the 
 press. No, not fear, but wonderment, intense 
 curiosity, the thrill of new experience, the joy and 
 pride of fresh knowledge. The personal dis-
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 373 
 
 covery by oneself, alone, unaided, of a country 
 about which there had been no authentic informa- 
 tion. Imagine that. Surmises of every dif- 
 ferentiation: theological, philosophical, ethical, 
 scientific, spiritual but only surmises. 
 
 And now he was going to know. 
 
 So with his face set towards the mountains, now 
 revealing themselves, now concealing themselves, 
 Adrian Steele went forward.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE hours went by, and Adrian Steele did 
 not return to Wassen. All the family 
 Anderegg were a little worried, for the Fohn- 
 wind had been blowing hard and strong, and the 
 inhabitants knew well that, as Sebastian Ogi had 
 said at Meien, things would happen. But they 
 did not become definitely anxious until the post- 
 man arrived from Meien and brought the news 
 that the avalanches were falling, and that the Sus- 
 ten Pass was said to be blocked. He himself had 
 heard from the schoolmistress that Herr Steele 
 had been at Meien, but more than that he did 
 not know. They telephoned at once to Meien, 
 and learnt that he had not come back there. 
 They communicated with Farnigen, and were told 
 that Johann Aimer, the woodcutter, had noticed 
 a stranger gathering flowers about half a kilo- 
 meter from the hamlet. The people of the Stein 
 Alp Hotel, at the foot of the huge Stein Glacier, 
 in answer to inquiries, said that he was not there. 
 Night came, and he had not returned. Old 
 Frau Anderegg wept silently. Frida sobbed 
 without ceasing. Johann could not settle to his 
 
 374
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 375 
 
 carving. Christian went about with strained face. 
 A search party was arranged, and as soon as it 
 was light in the morning they started off on their 
 journey. 
 
 They searched for the whole day, and found 
 no trace of him. He seemed to have disappeared 
 off the face of the earth. 
 
 Then Sebastian Ogi said: 
 
 " Try the Kalchthal. We warned him not to 
 go there, but he was always a daring one, and he 
 liked that wild part. He came down that way 
 once from the Sustenjoch." 
 
 They went there, and high up in the valley they 
 found a huge avalanche, freshly fallen. The 
 white monster lay across the track, with its head 
 resting on the rising ground on the other side of 
 the track. In its passage, it had mown off groups 
 of firs and larches, and their trunks could be seen 
 scattered pell-mell amongst the rocks and ice. It 
 was extraordinarily thick, and its size alone 
 baffled all their attempts to make a successful 
 search. 
 
 " Even if he is here, we shan't find him now," 
 Peter Miiller said. " We must leave him." 
 
 So they gave up the impossible task, reluctantly, 
 but wisely, for they had discovered no clue to 
 help and guide them. 
 
 But Christian Anderegg was not satisfied, and 
 the next morning, without saying a word to any
 
 376 OUT OF THE WRECK I RISE 
 
 one, he returned alone to the avalanche; and con- 
 siderably higher up, on a boulder, hurled there no 
 doubt in fury by the blast, he saw his stick 
 " Immer will ich Christian unterstiitzen." He 
 seized it and brought it home. He could not 
 speak when he showed it to them. 
 
 They knew then for certain that Adrian Steele 
 lay there, somewhere, entombed beneath that 
 white impenetrable mass. 
 
 " We shall find him in September," the old 
 guide said. 
 
 THE END