mw rm Qtt 
 
 By 
 
 A. CoNAN Doyle 
 
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University of California • Berkeley 
 
 Gift of 
 THE HEARST CORPORATION 
 
Hearst IV\emariai ^'-^'^ 
 
 Case No. ^^ — ^^ r7(P^^ 
 
 Drawer No »"'^' ^' uMtZS^^ i 
 
 -NOT TP BE REMOVED FROM Wl«A»f ^ i 
 •^WIlSoUT PROPER AUIHORITY/' ^l 
 
All Rie^hts Reserved 
 
 THE GREAT SHADOW 
 
 AND 
 
 BEYOND THE CITY 
 
 BY 
 
 A. CONAN DOYLE 
 
 author of 
 
 "the white company" 
 
 micah clarke," "adventures oi shkrlock holmes ' 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY JAMES GREIG AND PAUL HARDY 
 
 BRISTOL 
 
 J. W. Arrowsmith, II Quay Street 
 
 LONDON 
 JSiMi'KiN, Makshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. Limited 
 
The Great Sbadom. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Chap. 
 
 I. THE NIGHT OF THE BEACONS 
 
 II. COUSIN EDIE OF EYEMOUTH 
 
 III. THE SHADOW ON THE WATERS 
 
 IV. THE CHOOSING OF JIM 
 
 V. THE MAN FROM THE SEA 
 
 VI. A WANDERING EAGLE . 
 
 VII. THE CORRIEMUIR PEEL TOWER 
 VIII. THE COMING OF THE CUTTER 
 
 IX. THE DOINGS AT WEST INCH 
 
 X. THE RETURN OF THE SHADOW 
 
 XI. THE GATHERING OF THE NATIONS 
 
 XII. THE SHADOW ON THE LAND 
 
 XIII. THE END OF THE STORM 
 
 XIV. THE TALLY OF DEATH . 
 
 XV. THE END OF IT . 
 
 Page 
 
 5 
 
 19 
 29 
 40 
 52 
 63 
 
 71 
 
 86 
 
 91 
 96 
 104 
 116 
 134 
 H3 
 148 
 
THE GREAT SHADOW. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ^be fligbt ot tbc JScacons. 
 
 T is strange to me, Jock Calder of West 
 Inch, to feel that though now, in the 
 very centre of the nineteenth century, 
 I am but five-and-fifty years of age, 
 and though it is only once in a week 
 perhaps that my wife can pluck out 
 a little grey bristle from over my ear, 
 yet I have lived in a time when the 
 thoughts and the ways of men were 
 as different as though it were another 
 planet from this. For when I walk 
 in my fields I can see, down Berwick way, the 
 little fluffs of white smoke which tell me of this 
 strange new hundred-legged beast, with coals for 
 food and a thousand men in its belly, for ever 
 crawling over the border. On a shiny day I can 
 see the glint of the brass work as it takes the curve 
 near Corriemuir; and then, as I look out to sea, 
 there is the same beast again, or a dozen of them 
 maybe, leaving a trail of black in the air and of 
 white in the water, and swimming in the face of the 
 
 ^>^ 
 
The Great Shadow. 
 
 wind as easily as a salmon up the Tweed. Such a 
 sight as that would have struck my good old father 
 speechless with wrath as well as surprise ; for he 
 was so stricken with the fear of offending the 
 Creator that he was chary of contradicting Nature, 
 and always held the new thing to be nearly akin to 
 the blasphemous. As .long as God made the horse, 
 and a man down Birmingham way the engine, my 
 good old dad would have stuck by the saddle and 
 the spurs. 
 
 But he would have been still more surprised had 
 he seen the peace and kindliness which reigns now 
 in the hearts of men, and the talk in the papers and 
 at the meetings that there is to be no more war — 
 save, of course, with blacks and such like. For 
 when he died we had been fighting with scarce a 
 break, save only during two short years, for very 
 nearly a quarter of a century. Think of it, you who 
 live so quietly and peacefully now ! Babies who 
 were born in the war grew to be bearded men with 
 babies of their own, ad still the war continued. 
 Those who had served and fought in their stalwart 
 prime grew stiff and bent, and yet the ships and 
 the armies were struggling. It was no wonder that 
 folk came at last to look upon it as the natural state, 
 and thought how queer it must seem to be at peace. 
 During that long time we fought the Dutch, we 
 fought the Danes, we fought the Spanish, we fought 
 the Turks, we fought the Americans, we fought 
 the Monte-Videans, until it seemed that in this 
 universal struggle no race was too near of kin, or 
 too far away, to be drawn into the quarrel. But 
 fnost of all it was the French whom we fought, and 
 
The Great Shadow. 
 
 the man whom of all others we loathed and feared 
 and admired was the great Captain who ruled 
 them. 
 
 It was very well to draw pictures of him, and 
 sing songs about, him, and make as though he were 
 an impostor ; but I can tell you that the fear of that 
 man hung like a black shadow over all Europe, and 
 that there was a time when the glint of a fire at 
 night upon the coast would set every woman upon 
 her knees and every man gripping for his musket. 
 He had always won : that was the terror of it. The 
 Fates seemed to be behind him. And now we knew 
 that he lay upon the northern coast with a hundred 
 and fifty thousand veterans, and the boats for their 
 passage. But it is an old story, how a third of the 
 grown folk of our country took up arms, and how 
 our little one-eyed, one-armed man crushed their 
 fleet. There was still to be a land of free thinking 
 and free speaking in Europe. 
 
 There was a great beacon ready on the hill by 
 Tweedmouth, built up of logs and tar-barrels; and 
 I can well remember how, night after night, I 
 strained my eyes to see if it were ablaze. I was 
 only eight at the time, but it is an age when one 
 takes a grief to heart, and I felt as though the fate 
 of the country hung in some fashion upon me and 
 my vigilance. And then one night as I looked I 
 suddenly saw a little flicker on the beacon hill — a 
 single red tongue of flame in the darkness. I re- 
 member how I rubbed my eyes, and pinched myself, 
 and rapped" my knuckles against the stone window- 
 sill, to make sure that I was indeed awake. And 
 then the flame shot higher, and I saw the red 
 
8^ 
 
 The Great Shadow. 
 
 quivering line upon the water 
 between ; and I dashed into 
 the kitchen, screeching to 
 my father that the 
 French had crossed 
 and the Tweed- 
 mouth hght 
 aflame . 
 He had 
 been talk- 
 ing to Mr. 
 Mitchell, 
 
 v.^Ni '-ira Q 
 
 the law 
 
 student from 
 
 Edinburgh ; and I can 
 
 see him now as he knocked 
 
 ^"" ' his pipe out at the side of the 
 
 fire, and looked at me from over the top of his horn 
 
 spectacles. 
 
 "Are you sure, Jock ?" says he. 
 
The Great Shadow. 
 
 " Sure as death ! " I gasped. 
 
 He reached out his hand for the Bible upon the 
 table, and opened it upon his knee as though he 
 meant to read to us ; but he shut it again in silence, 
 and hurried out. We went too, the law student and 
 I, and followed him down to the gate which opens 
 out upon the highway. From there we could see 
 the red light of the big beacon, and the glimmer of 
 a smaller one to the north of us at Ayton. My 
 mother came down with two plaids to keep the chill 
 from us, and we all stood there until morning, 
 speaking little to each other, and that little in a 
 whisper. The road had more folk on it than ever 
 passed along it at night before; for many of the 
 yeomen up our way had enrolled themselves in the 
 Berwick volunteer regiments, and were riding now 
 as fast as hoof could carry them for the muster. 
 Some had a stirrup cup or two before parting, and I 
 cannot forget one who tore past on a huge white 
 horse, brandishing a great rusty sword in the moon- 
 light. They shouted to us as they passed that the 
 North Berwick Law fire was blazing, and that it 
 was thought that the alarm had come from Edin- 
 burgh Castle. There were a few who galloped the 
 other way, couriers for Edinburgh, and the laird's 
 son, and Master Clayton, the deputy sheriff, and 
 such like. And among others there was one a fine 
 built, heavy man on a roan horse, who pulled up at 
 our gate and asked some question about the road. 
 He took off his hat to ease himself, and I saw that 
 he had a kindly long-drawn face, and a great high 
 brow that shot away up into tufts of sandy hair. 
 
 ** I doubt, it *s a false alarm," said he. " Maybe 
 
10 The Great Shadow. 
 
 I 'd ha' done well to bide where I was ; but now 
 I 've come so far, I '11 break my fast with the 
 regiment." 
 
 He clapped spurs to his horse, and away he went 
 down the brae. 
 
 *' I ken him weel," said our student, nodding 
 after him. "He's a lawyer in Edinburgh, and a 
 braw hand at the stringin' of verses. Wattie Scott 
 is his name." 
 
 None of us had heard of it then ; but it was not 
 long before it was the best known name in Scotland, 
 and many a time we thought of how he speered his 
 way of us on the night of the terror. 
 
 But early in the morning we had our minds set 
 at ease. It was grey and cold, and my mother had 
 gone up to the house to mask a pot of tea for us, 
 when there came a gig down the road with Dr. 
 Horscroft of Ayton in it and his son Jim. The 
 collar of the doctor's brown coat came over his 
 ears, and he looked in a deadly black humour; for 
 Jim, who was but fifteen years of age, had trooped 
 off to Berwick at the first alarm with his father's 
 new fowling piece. All night his dad had chased 
 him, and now there he was, a prisoner, with the 
 barrel of the stolen gun sticking out from behind 
 the seat. He looked as sulky as his father, with his 
 hands thrust into his sidepockets, his brows drawn 
 down, and his lower lip thrusting out. 
 
 " It's all a lie ! " shouted the doctor as he passed. 
 " There has been no landing, and all the fools in 
 Scotland have been gadding about the roads for 
 nothing," 
 
 His son Jim snarled something up at him on 
 
The Great Shadow, ii 
 
 this, and his father struck him a blow with his 
 clenched fist on the side of his head, which sent the 
 boy's chin forward upon his breast as though he had 
 been stunned. My father shook his head, for he had 
 a liking for Jim ; but we all walked up to the house 
 again, nodding and blinking, and hardly able to 
 keep our eyes open now that we knew that all was 
 safe, but with a thrill of joy at our hearts such as I 
 have only matched once or twice in my Hfetime. 
 
 Now all this has little enough to do with what I 
 took my pen up to tell about ; but when a man has 
 a good memory and little skill, he cannot draw one 
 thought from his mind without a dozen others trail- 
 ing out behind it. And yet, now that I come to 
 think of it, this had something to do with it after 
 all; for Jim Horscroft had so deadly a quarrel with 
 his father, that he was packed off to the Berwick 
 Academy, and as my father had long wished me to 
 go there, he took advantage of this chance to send 
 me also. 
 
 But before I say a word about this school, I shall 
 go back to where I should have begun, and give you 
 a hint as to who I am ; for it may be that these 
 words of mine may be read by some folk beyond the 
 border country who never heard of the Calders of 
 West Inch. 
 
 It has a brave sound. West Inch, but it is not a 
 fine estate with a braw house upon it, but only a 
 great hard-bitten, wind-swept sheep run, fringing off 
 into links along the sea-shore, where a frugal man 
 might with hard work just pay his rent and have 
 butter instead of treacle on Sundays. In the centre 
 there is a grey-stoned slate-roofed house with a byre 
 
12 The Great Shadow, 
 
 behind it, and *' 1703 " scrawled in stonework over 
 the hntel of the door. There for more than a 
 hundred years our folk have lived, until, for all 
 their poverty, they came to take a good place 
 among the people ; for in the country parts the 
 old yeoman is often better thought of than the new 
 laird. 
 
 There was one queer thing about the house of 
 West Inch. It has been reckoned by engineers and 
 other knowing folk that the boundary line between 
 the two countries ran right through the middle of 
 it, splitting our second-best bedroom into an English 
 half and a Scotch half. Now the cot in which I 
 always slept was so placed that my head was to the 
 north of the line and my feet to the south of it. My 
 friends say that if I had chanced to lie the other 
 way my hair might not have been so sandy, nor my 
 mind of so solemn a cast. This I know, that more 
 than once in my life, when my Scotch head could 
 see no way out of a danger, my good thick English 
 legs have come to my help, and carried me clear 
 away. But at school I never heard the end of this, 
 for they would call me '' Half-an-half " and ''The 
 Great Britain," and sometimes '' Union Jack." 
 When there was a battle between the Scotch and 
 English boys, one side would kick my shins and the 
 other cuff my ears, and then they would both stop 
 and laugh as though it were something funny. 
 
 At first I was very miserable at the Berwick 
 Academy. Birtwhistle was the first master, and 
 Adams the second, and- I had no love for either of 
 them. I was shy and backward by nature, and slow 
 at making a friend either among masters or boys. 
 
The Great Shadow. 13 
 
 It was nine miles as the crow flies, and eleven-and- 
 a-half by road, from Berwick to West^Inch, and my 
 heart grew heavy at the weary distance that sepa- 
 rated me from my mother ; for, mark you, a lad of 
 that age pretends that he has no need of his mother's 
 caresses, but ah, how sad he is when he is taken at 
 his word ! At last I could stand it no longer, and I 
 determined to run away from the school and make 
 my way home as fast as I might. At the very last 
 moment, however, I had the good fortune to win 
 the praise and admiration of every one, from the 
 headmaster downwards, and to find my school life 
 made very pleasant and easy to me. And all this 
 came of my falling by accident out of a second- 
 floor window. 
 
 This was how it happened. One evening I had 
 been kicked by Ned Barton, who was the bully of 
 the school; and this injury coming on the top of all 
 my other grievances, caused my little cup to over- 
 flow. I vowed that night, as 1 buried my tear- 
 stained face beneath the blankets, that the next 
 morning would either find me at West Inch or well 
 on the way to it. Our dormitory was on the second 
 floor, but I was a famous climber, and had a fine 
 head for heights. I used to think little, young as I 
 was, of swinging myself with a rope round my thigh 
 off the West Inch gable, and that stood three-and- 
 fifty feet above the ground. There was not much 
 fear then but that I could make my way out of Birt- 
 whistle's dormitory. I waited a weary while until 
 the coughing and tossing had died away, and there 
 was no sound of wakefulness from the long line of 
 wooden cots ; then I very softly rose, slipped on my 
 
14 The Great Shadow. 
 
 clothes, took my shoes in my hand, and walked tip- 
 toe to the window. I opened the casement and 
 looked out. Underneath me lay the garden, and 
 close by my hand was the stout branch of a pear 
 tree. An active lad could ask no better ladder. 
 Once in the garden I had but a five foot wall to get 
 over, and there was nothing but distance between 
 me and home. I took a firm grip of a branch with 
 one hand, placed my knee upon another one, and 
 was about to swing myself out of the window, when 
 in a moment I was as silent and as still as though I 
 had been turned to stone. 
 
 There was a face looking at me from over the 
 coping of the wall. A chill of fear struck to my 
 heart at its whiteness and its stillness. The moon 
 shimmered upon it, and the eyeballs moved slowly 
 from side to side, though I was hid from them 
 behind the screen of the pear tree. Then in a 
 jerky fashion this white face ascended, until the 
 neck, shoulders, waist, and knees of a man became 
 visible. He sat himself down on the top of the 
 wall, and with a great heave he pulled up after him 
 a boy about my own size, who caught his breath 
 from time to time as though to choke down a sob. 
 The man gave him a shake, with a few rough 
 whispered words, and then the two dropped to- 
 gether down into the garden. I was still standing 
 balanced with one foot upon the bough and one upon 
 the casement, not daring to budge for fear of attracting 
 their attention, for I could hear them moving stealthily 
 about in the long shadow of the house. Suddenly, 
 from immediately beneath my feet, I heard a low 
 grating noise and the sharp tinkle of falling glass. 
 
The Great Shadow. 15 
 
 " That 's done it," said the man's eager whisper. 
 ** There is room for you." 
 
 " But the edge is all jagged ! " cried the other in 
 a weak quaver. 
 
 The fellow burst out into an oath that made my 
 skin pringle. 
 
 " In with you, you cub," he snarled, " or " 
 
 I could not see what he did, but there was a 
 short, quick gasp of pain. 
 
 " I 'U go ! I '11 go ! " cried the little lad. 
 
 But I heard no more, for my head suddenly 
 swam, my heel shot off the branch, I gave a dreadful 
 yell, and came down, with my ninety-five pounds of 
 weight, right upon the bent back of the burglar. If 
 you ask me, I can only say that to this day I am 
 not quite certain whether it was an accident or 
 whether I designed it. It may be that while I was 
 thinking of doing it Chance settled the matter for 
 me. The fellow was stooping with his head forward 
 thrusting the boy .through a tiny window, when I 
 came down upon him just where the neck joins the 
 spine. He gave a kind of whistling cry, dropped 
 upon his face, and rolled three times over, drum- 
 ming on the grass with his heels. His little com- 
 panion flashed off in the moonlight, and was over 
 the wall in a trice. As for me, I sat yelling at the 
 pitch of my lungs and nursing one of my legs, which 
 felt as if a red-hot ring were welded round it. 
 
 It was not long, as may be imagined, before the 
 whole household, from the headmaster to the stable 
 boy, were out in the garden with lamps and lanterns. 
 The matter was soon cleared : the man carried off 
 upon a shutter, and I borne in much state and 
 
i6 The Great Shadow. 
 
 solemnity to a special bedroom, where the small 
 bone of my leg was set by Surgeon Purdie, the 
 younger of the two brothers of that name. As to 
 the robber, it was found that his legs were palsied, 
 and the doctors were of two minds as to whether he 
 would recover the use of them or no ; but the Law 
 never gave them a chance of settling the matter, for 
 he was hanged after Carlyle assizes, some six weeks 
 later. It was proved that he was the most desperate 
 rogue in the North of England, for he had done 
 three murders at the least, and there were charges 
 enough against him upon the sheet to have hanged 
 him ten times over. 
 
 Well now, I could not pass over my boyhood 
 without telling you about this, which was the most 
 important thing that happened to me. But I will go 
 off upon no more side tracks : for when I think of 
 all that is coming, I can see very well that I shall 
 have more than enough to do before I have finished. 
 For when a man has only his own little private tale 
 to tell, it often takes him all his time ; but when he 
 gets mixed up in such great matters as I shall have 
 to speak about, then it is hard on him, if he has not 
 been brought up to it, to get it all set down to his 
 liking. But my memory is as good as ever, thank 
 God, and I shall try to get it all straight before I 
 finish. 
 
 It was this business of the burglar that first made 
 a friendship between Jim Horscroft, the doctor's 
 son, and me. He was cock boy of the school from 
 the day he came ; for within the hour he had thrown 
 Barton, who had been cock before him, right through 
 the big blackboard in the class-room. Jim always 
 
The Great Shadow. 17 
 
 ran to muscle and bone, and even then he was 
 square and tall, short of speech and long in the arm, 
 much given to lounging with his broad back against 
 walls, and his hands deep in his breeches pockets. 
 I can even recall that he had a trick of keeping a 
 straw in the corner of his mouth, just where he 
 used afterwards to hold his pipe. Jim was always 
 the same for good and for bad since first I knew 
 him. 
 
 Heavens, how we all looked up to him ! We 
 were but young savages, and had a savage's respect 
 for power. There was Tom Carndale of Appleby, 
 who could write alcaics as well as mere pentameters 
 and hexameters, yet nobody would give a snap for 
 Tom ; and there was Willie Earnshavv, who had 
 every date, from the killing of Abel, on the tip of 
 his tongue, so that the masters themselves would 
 turn to him if they were in doubt, yet he was but a 
 narrow-chested lad, over long for his breadth ; and 
 what did his dates help him when Jack Simons of 
 the lower third chivied him down the passage with 
 the buckle end of a strap? But you didn't do 
 things like that with Jim Horscroft. What tales 
 we used to whisper about his strength ! How he 
 put his fist through the oak-panel of the game-room 
 door ; how, when Long Merridew was carrying the 
 ball, he caught up Merridew, ball and all, and ran 
 swiftly past every opponent to the goal. It did not 
 seem fit to us that such a one as he should trouble 
 his head about spondees and dactyls, or care to 
 know who signed the Magna Charta. When he 
 said in open class that King Alfred was the man, we 
 little boys all felt that very likely it was so, and that 
 
 2 
 
i8 The Great Shadow. 
 
 perhaps Jim knew more about it than the man who 
 wrote the book. 
 
 Well, it was this business of the burglar that 
 drew his attention to me ; for he patted me on my 
 head, and said that I was a spunky little devil, which 
 blew me out with pride for a week on end. For two 
 years we were close friends, for all the gap that the 
 years had made between us, and though in passion 
 or in want of thought he did many a thing that 
 galled me, yet I loved him like a brother, and wept 
 as much as would have filled an ink bottle when 
 at last he went off to Edinburgh to study his father's 
 profession. Five years after that did I bide 
 at Birtwhistle's, and when I left I had become cock 
 myself, for I was as wiry and as tough as whalebone, 
 though I never ran to weight and sinew like my 
 great predecessor. It was in Jubilee Year that I 
 left Birtwhistle's, and then for three years I stayed 
 at home learning the ways of the cattle ; but still 
 the ships and the armies were wrestling, and still the 
 great shadow of Bonaparte lay across the country. 
 How could I guess that I too should have a hand in 
 lifting that shadow for ever from our people ? 
 
The Great Shadow. 
 
 19 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Cousin BDie of Bi^emoutb. 
 
 OME years before, when I was 
 still but a lad, there had come 
 over to us upon a five weeks' 
 visit the only daughter of my 
 father's brother. Willie Calder 
 had settled at Eyemouth as a 
 maker of fishing nets, and he had made more out 
 of twine than ever we were like to do out of the whin- 
 bushes and sand-links of West Inch. So his daughter, 
 Edie Calder, came over with a braw red frock and 
 a five shilling bonnet, and a kist full of things that 
 brought my dear mother's eyes out like a parten's. 
 It was wonderful to see her so free with money, and 
 she but a slip of a girl, paying the carrier man all 
 that he asked and a whole twopence over, to which 
 he had no claim. She made no more of drinking 
 ginger-beer than we did of water, and she would 
 have her sugar in her tea and butter with her bread 
 just as if she had been English. 
 
 I took no great stock of girls at that time, for it 
 was hard for me to see what they had been made for. 
 There were none of us at Birtwhistle's that thought 
 very much of them ; but the smallest laddies seemed 
 to have the most sense, for after they began to grow 
 bigger they were not so sure about it. We little 
 ones were all of one mind: that a creature that 
 couldn't fight and was aye carrying tales, and 
 
 2 * 
 
20 The Great Shadow. 
 
 couldn't so much as shy a stone without flapping its 
 arm Hke a rag in the wind, was no use for anything. 
 And then the airs that they would put on, as if they 
 were mother and father rolled into one ; for ever 
 breaking into a game with "Jimmy, your toe's 
 come through your boot," or " Go home, you dirty 
 boy, and clean yourself," until the very sight of 
 them was weariness. 
 
 So when this one came to the steading at West- 
 Inch I was not best pleased to see her. I was 
 twelve at the time (it was in the holidays) and she 
 eleven, a thin, tallish girl with black eyes and the 
 queerest ways. She was for ever staring out in front 
 of her with her lips parted, as if she saw something 
 wonderful ; but when I came behind her and looked 
 the same wa}^, I could see nothing but the sheeps' 
 trough or the midden, or father's breeches hanging 
 on a clothes-line. And then if she saw a lump of 
 heather or bracken, or any common stuff of that 
 sort, she would mope over it, as if it had struck her 
 sick, and cry, " How sweet ! how perfect ! " just as 
 though it had been a painted picture. She didn't 
 like games, but I used to make her play *'tig" and 
 such like ; but it was no fun, for I could always 
 catch her in three jumps, and she could never catch 
 me, though she would come with as much rustle and 
 flutter as ten boys would make. When I used to 
 tell her that she was good for nothing, and that her 
 father was a fool to bring her up like that, she would 
 begin to cry, and say that I was a rude boy, and 
 that she would go home that very night, and never 
 forgive me as long as she lived. But in five minutes 
 she had forgot all about it. What was strange was that 
 
The Great Shadow. 21 
 
 she liked me a deal better than I did her, and she 
 would never leave me alone ; but she was always 
 watching me and runnin,"^ after me, and then saying, 
 " Oh, here you are ! " as if it were a surprise. 
 
 But soon I found that there was good in her too. 
 She used sometimes to give me pennies, so that 
 once I had four in my pocket all at the same time ; 
 but the best part of her was the stories that she 
 could tell. She was sore frightened of frogs, so I 
 would bring one to her, and tell her that I would 
 put it down her neck unless she told a story. That 
 always helped her to begin ; but when once she was 
 starte i it was wonderful how she would carry on. 
 And the things that had happened to her, they were 
 enough to take your breath away. There was a 
 Barbary rover that had been at Eyemouth, and he 
 was coming back in five years in a ship full of gold 
 to make her his wife ; and then there was a wandering 
 knight who had been there also, and he had given 
 her a ring which he said he would redeem when the 
 time came. She showed me the ring, which was 
 very like the ones upon my bed curtain ; but she said 
 that this one was virgin gold. I asked her what the 
 knight would do if he met the Barbary rover, and 
 she told me that he would sweep his head from his 
 shoulders. What they could all see in her was more 
 than I could think. And then she told me that she 
 had been followed on her way to West Inch by a 
 disguised prince. I asked her how she knew it was 
 a prince, and she said by his disguise. Another day 
 she said that her father was preparing a riddle, and 
 that when it was ready it would be put in the papers, 
 and anyone who guessed it would have half his 
 
22 The Great Shadow. 
 
 fortune and his daughter. I said that I was good at 
 riddles, and that she must send it to me when it was 
 ready. She said it would be in the Berwick Gazette, 
 and wanted to know what I would do with her when 
 I won her. I said I would sell her by public roup 
 for what she would fetch; but she would tell no 
 more stories that evening, for she was very techy 
 about some things. 
 
 Jim Horscroft was away when Cousin Edie was 
 with us, but he came back the very week she went ; 
 and I mind how surprised I was that he should ask 
 any questions or take any interest in a mere lassie. 
 He asked me if she were pretty ; and when I said I 
 hadn't noticed, he laughed and called me a mole, 
 and said my eyes would be opened some day. But 
 very soon he came to be interested in something 
 else, and I never gave Edie another thought until 
 one day she just took my life in her hands and 
 twisted it as I could twist this quill. 
 
 That was in 1813, after I had left school, when I 
 was already eighteen years of age, with a good forty 
 hairs on my upper lip and every hope of more. I 
 had changed since I left school, and was not so 
 keen on games as I had been, but found myself 
 instead lying about on the sunny side of the braes, 
 with my own lips parted, and my eyes staring just 
 the same as Cousin Edie's used to do. It had 
 satisfied me and filled my whole life that I could run 
 faster and jump higher than my neighbour ; but now 
 all that seemed such a little thing, and I yearned, 
 and yearned, and looked up at the big arching sky, 
 and down at the flat blue sea, and felt that there was 
 something wanting, but could never lay my tongue 
 
The Great Shadow, 23 
 
 to what that something was. And I became quick 
 of temper too, for my nerves seemed all of a fret, 
 and when my mother would ask me what ailed me, 
 or my father would speak of my turning my hand to 
 work, I would break into such sharp bitter answers 
 as I have often grieved over since. Ah ! a man may 
 have more than one wife, and more than one child, 
 and more than one friend ; but he can never have but 
 the one mother, so let him cherish her while he may. 
 
 One day when I came in from the sheep, there 
 was my father sitting with a letter in his hands, 
 which was a very rare thing with us, except when 
 the factor wrote for the rent. Then as I came 
 nearer to him I saw that he was crying, and I stood 
 staring, for I had always thought that it was not a 
 thing that a man could do. I can see him now, for 
 he had so deep a crease across his brown cheek that 
 no tear could pass it, but must trickle away sideways 
 and so down to his ear, hopping off on to the sheet 
 of paper. My mother sat beside him and stroked 
 his hands like she did the cat's back when she 
 would soothe it. 
 
 ''Aye, Jeannie," said he, '' poor Willie's gone. 
 It's from the lawyer, and it was sudden or they'd 
 ha' sent word of it. Carbuncle, he says, and a flush 
 o' blood to the head." 
 
 "Ah ! well, his trouble's over," said my mother. 
 
 My father rubbed his ears with the tablecloth. 
 
 " He's left a' his savings to his lassie," said he, 
 "and by gom if she's not changed from what she 
 promised to be she'll soon gar them flee. You mind 
 what she said of weak tea under this very roof, and 
 it at seven shillings the pound !" 
 
24 The Great Shadow. 
 
 My mother shook her head, and looked up at the 
 flitches of bacon that hung from the ceiHng. 
 
 ''He doesn't say how much, but she'll have 
 enough and to spare, he says. And she's to come 
 and bide with us, for that was his last wish." 
 ■ *' To pay for her keep ! " cried my mother sharply. 
 I was sorry that she should have spoken of money at 
 that moment, but then if she had not been sharp we 
 would all have been on the roadside in a twelvemonth. 
 
 "Aye, she'll pay, and she's coming this very day. 
 Jock lad, I '11 want you to drive to Ayton and meet 
 the evening coach. Your cousin Edie will be in it, 
 and you can fetch her over to West Inch." 
 
 And so off I started at quarter past five with 
 Souter Johnnie, the long-haired fifteen-year-old, and 
 our cart, with the new-painted tail-board that we only 
 used on great days. The coach was in just as I came, 
 and I, like a fooKsh country lad, taking no heed to 
 the years that had passed, was looking about among 
 the folk in the Inn front for a slip of a girl with her 
 petticoats just under her knees. And as I slouched past 
 and craned my neck there came a touch to my elbow, 
 and there was a lady dressed all in black standing by 
 the steps, and I knew that it was my cousin Edie. 
 
 I knew it, I say, and yet had she not touched me 
 I might have passed her a score of times and never 
 known it. My word, if Jim Horscroft had asked me 
 then if she were pretty or no, I should have known 
 how to answer him. She was dark, much darker 
 than is common among our border lasses, and yet 
 with such a faint blush of pink breaking through her 
 dainty colour, like the deeper flush at the heart of a 
 sulphur rose. Her lips were red, and kindly, and 
 
26 The Great Shadow, 
 
 firm ; and even then, at the first glance, I saw that 
 Hght of mischief and mockery that danced away at 
 the back of her great dark eyes. She took me then 
 and there as though I had been her heritage, put out 
 her hand and plucked me. She was, as I have said, in 
 black, dressed in what seemed to me to be a wondrous 
 fashion, with a black veil pushed up from her brow. 
 
 *'Ah! Jack," said she, in a mincing Enghsh 
 fashion, that she had learned at the boarding school. 
 " No, no, we are rather old for that " — this because 
 I in my awkward fashion was pushing my foolish 
 brown face forward to kiss her, as I had done when 
 I saw her last. ''Just hurry up like a good fellow 
 and give a shilling to the conductor, who has been 
 exceedingly civil to me during the journey." 
 
 I flushed up red to the ears, for I had only a 
 silver fourpenny piece in my pocket. Never had my 
 lack of pence weighed so heavily upon me as just at 
 that moment. But she read me at a glance, and 
 there in an instant was a little moleskin purse with 
 a silver clasp thrust into my hand. I paid the man, 
 and would have given it back, but she still would 
 have me keep it. 
 
 " You shall be my factor. Jack," said she, 
 laughing. " Is this our carriage ? How funny it 
 looks ! And where am I to sit ? " 
 
 ''On the sacking," said I. 
 
 "And how am I to get there?" 
 
 " Put your foot on the hub," said I. "I'll help 
 you." 
 
 I sprang up and took her two little gloved hands 
 in my own. As she came over the side her breath 
 blew in my face, sweet and warm, and all that 
 
The Great Shadow, 27 
 
 vagueness and unrest seemed in a moment to have 
 been shredded away from my soul. I felt as if that 
 instant had taken me out from myself, and made me 
 one of the race. It took but the time of the flicking 
 of the horse's tail, and yet something had happened, 
 a barrier had gone down somewhere, and I was lead- 
 ing a wider and a wiser life. I felt it all in a flush, 
 but shy and backward as I was, I could do nothing 
 but flatten out the sacking for her. Her eyes were 
 after the coach which was rattling away to Berwick, 
 and suddenly she shook her handkerchief in the air. 
 
 *' He took off his hat," said she. '* I think he 
 must have been an officer. He was very distinguished 
 looking. Perhaps you noticed him — a gentleman on 
 the outside, very handsome, with a brown overcoat." 
 
 I shook my head, with all my flush of joy changed 
 to foolish resentment. 
 
 *'Ah! well, I shall never see him again. Here 
 are all the green braes and the brown winding road 
 just the same as ever. And you. Jack, I don't see 
 any great change in you either. I hope your 
 manners are better than they used to be. You won't 
 try to put any frogs down my back, will you ? " 
 
 I crept all over when I thought of such a thing. 
 
 " We'll do all we can to make you happy at West 
 Inch," said I, playing with the whip. 
 
 *' I'm sure it's very kind of you to take a poor 
 lonely girl in," said she. 
 
 " It's very kind of you to come. Cousin Edie/* I 
 stammered. " You'll find it very dull, I fear.** 
 
 *' I suppose it is a little quiet. Jack, eh ? Not 
 many men about as I remember it." 
 
 " There is Major Elliott, up at Corriemuir. He 
 
28 The Great Shadow, 
 
 comes down of an evening, a real brave old soldier, 
 who had a ball in his knee under Wellington." 
 
 ''Ah, when I speak of men, Jack, I don't mean old 
 folk with balls in their knees. I meant people of our 
 own age that we could make friends of. By the way, 
 that crabbed old doctor had a son, had he not ? " 
 
 ''Oh yes, that's Jim Horscroft, my best friend." 
 
 " Is he at home ?" 
 
 " No. He'il be home soon. He's still at Edin- 
 burgh studying." 
 
 "Ah ! then we'll keep each other company until 
 he comes. Jack. And I'm very tired, and I wish I 
 was at West Inch." 
 
 I made old Souter Johnnie cover the ground 
 as he has never done before or since, and in an 
 hour she was seated at the supper table, where my 
 mother had laid out not only butter, but a glass dish 
 of gooseberry jam, which sparkled and looked fine 
 in the candle-light. I could see that my parents 
 were as overcome as I was at the diiference in her, 
 though not in the same way. My mother was so set 
 back by the feather thing that she had round her 
 neck that she called her Miss Calder, instead of 
 Edie, until my cousin in her pretty flighty way would 
 lift her forefinger to her whenever she did it. After 
 supper, when she had gone to bed, they could talk 
 of nothing but her looks and her breeding. 
 
 " By the way, though," says my father, "it does 
 not look as if she were heart-broke about my brother's 
 death." 
 
 And then for the first time I remembered that 
 she had never said a word about the matter since I 
 had met her. 
 
The Great Shadow. 
 
 29 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 XLbc SbaOow on tbe lldaters. 
 
 (T was not very long before Cousin Edie 
 was queen of West Inch, and we all 
 her devoted subjects from my father 
 down. She had money and to spare, 
 though none of us knew how much. 
 When my mother said that four shil- 
 lings the week would cover all that 
 she would cost, she fixed on seven 
 shillings and sixpence of her own free 
 will. The south room, which was the 
 sunniest and had the honeysuckle 
 round the window, was for her ; and it was a marvel 
 to see the things that she brought from Berwick to 
 put into it. Twice a week she would drive over, and 
 the cart would not do for her, for she hired a gig 
 from Angus Whitehead, whose farm lay over the 
 hill. And it was seldom that she went without 
 bringing something back for one or other of us. It 
 was a wooden pipe for my father, or a Shetland 
 plaid for my nwther, or a book for me, or a brass 
 collar for Rob the collie. There was never a woman 
 more free-handed. 
 
 But the best thing that she gave us was just 
 her own presence. To me it changed the whole 
 country-side, and the sun was brighter and the braes 
 greener and the air sweeter from the day she came. 
 Our lives were common no longer now that we spent 
 
30 The Great Shadow. 
 
 them with such a one as she, and the old dull grey 
 house was another place in my eyes since she had 
 set her foot across the door-mat. It was not her 
 face, though that was winsome enough, nor her 
 form, though I never saw the lass that could match 
 her ; but it was her spirit, her queer mocking ways, 
 her fresh new fashion of talk, her proud whisk of 
 the dress and toss of the head, which made one feel 
 like the ground beneath her feet, and then the quick 
 challenge in her eye, and the kindly word that 
 brought one up to her level again. 
 
 But never quite to her level either. To me she 
 was always something above and beyond. I might 
 brace myself and blame myself, and do what I would, 
 but still I could not feel that the same blood ran in 
 our veins, and that she was but a country lassie, as 
 I was a country lad. The more I loved her the 
 more frightened I was at her, and she could see the 
 fright long before she knew the love. I was uneasy 
 to be away from her, and yet when I was with her I 
 was in a shiver all the time for fear my stumbling 
 talk might weary her or give her offence. Had 
 I known more of the ways of women I might have 
 taken less pains. 
 
 "You're a deal changed from what you used to 
 be. Jack," said she, looking at me sideways from 
 under her dark lashes. 
 
 " You said not when first we met," says I. 
 
 '* Ah ! I was speaking of your looks then, and of 
 your ways now. You used to be so rough to me, 
 and so masterful, and would have your own way, 
 like the little man that you were. I can see you now 
 with your touzled brown hair and your mischievous 
 
The Great Shadow. 31 
 
 eyes. And now you are so gentle and quiet and 
 soft-spoken." 
 
 ** One learns to behave," says I. 
 
 ** Ah, but. Jack, I liked you so much better as 
 you were ! " 
 
 Well, when she said that I fairly stared at her, 
 for I had thought that she could never have quite 
 forgiven me for the way I used to carry on. That 
 anyone out of a daft house could have liked it, was 
 clean beyond my understanding. I thought of how 
 when she was reading by the door I would go up on 
 the moor with a hazel switch and fix little clay balls 
 at the end of it, and sling them at her until I made 
 her cry. And then I thought of how I caught an 
 eel in the Corriemuir burn and chivied her about 
 with it, until she ran screaming under my mother's 
 apron half mad with fright, and my father gave me 
 one on the ear-hole with the porridge stick which 
 knocked me and my eel under the kitchen dresser. 
 And these were the things that she missed ! Well, 
 she must miss them, for my hand would wither 
 before I could do them now. But for the first time 
 I began to understand the queerness that lies in a 
 woman, and that a man must not reason about one, 
 but just watch and try to learn. 
 
 We found our level after a time, when she saw 
 that she had just to do what she liked and how she 
 liked, and that I was as much at her beck and call 
 as old Rob was at mine. You'll think I was a fool 
 to have had my head so turned, and maybe I was ; 
 but then you must think how little I was used to 
 women, and how much we were thrown together. 
 Besides she was a woman in a million, and I can tell 
 
32 The Great Shadow. 
 
 you that it was a strong head that would not be turned 
 by her. 
 
 Why, there was Major ElHott, a n hat had 
 buried three wives, and had twelve pitchc jattles to 
 his name, Edie could have turned him round her 
 finger like a damp rag — she, only new from the 
 boarding school. I met him hobbling from West 
 Inch the first time after she came, with pink in his 
 cheeks and a shine in his eye that took ten years 
 from him. He was cocking up his grey moustaches 
 at either end and curling them into his eyes, and 
 strutting out with his sound leg as proud as a piper. 
 What she had said to him the Lord knows, but it 
 was like old wine in his veins. 
 
 " I've been up to see you, laddie," said he, "but 
 I must home again now. My visit has not been 
 wasted, however, as I had an opportunity of seeing 
 la belle coiisine. A most charming and engaging 
 young lady, laddie." 
 
 He had a formal stiff way of talking, and was 
 fond of jerking in a bit of the French, for he had 
 picked some up in the Peninsula. He would have 
 gone on talking of Cousin Edie, but I saw the 
 corner of a newspaper thrusting out of his pocket, 
 and I knew that he had come over, as was his way, 
 to give me some news, for we heard little enough at 
 West Inch. 
 
 '* What is fresh, major?" I asked. 
 
 He pulled the paper out with a flourish. 
 
 *' The allies have won a great battle, my lad," 
 says he. *' I don't think Nap can stand up long 
 against this. The Saxons have thrown him over, 
 and he's been badly beat at Leipzig. Wellington is 
 
The Great Shadow. ^^ 
 
 past the Pyrenees, and Graham's folk will be at 
 Bayonne before long." 
 
 I chucked up my hat. 
 
 " Then the war will come to an end at last," 
 I cried. 
 
 *' Aye, and time too," said he, shaking his head 
 gravely. *'It's been a bloody business. But it is 
 hardly worth while for me to say now what was in 
 my mind about you." 
 
 *'\Vhat was that?" 
 
 " Well, laddie, you are doing no good here, and 
 now that my knee is getting more limber I was 
 hoping that I might get on active service again. I 
 wondered whether maybe you might like to do a 
 little soldiering under me." 
 
 My heart jumped at the thought. 
 
 " Aye, would I !" I cried. 
 
 " But it'll be clear six months before I'll be fit to 
 pass a board, and it's long odds that Boney will be 
 under lock and key before that." 
 
 ** And there 's my mother," said I, *' I doubt she 'd 
 never let me go." 
 
 *' Ah! well, she'll never be asked to now," he 
 answered, and hobbled on upon his way. 
 
 I sat down among the heather with my chin on 
 my hand, turning the thing over in my mind, and 
 watching him in his old brown clothes, with the end 
 of a grey plaid flapping over his shoulder, as he 
 picked his way up the swell of the hill. It was a 
 poor life this, at West Inch, waiting to fill my 
 father's shoes, with the same heath, and the same 
 burn, and the same sheep, and the same grey house 
 for ever before me. But over there, over the blue 
 
 3 
 
34 The Great Shadow, 
 
 sea, ah ! there was a hfe fit for a man. There was 
 the Major, a man past his prime, wounded and spent, 
 and yet planning to get to work again, whilst I, with 
 all the strength of my youth, was wasting it upon 
 these hillsides. A hot wave of shame flushed over 
 me, and I sprang up all in a tingle to be off and 
 playing a man's part in the world. 
 
 For two days I turned it over in my mind, and 
 on the third there came something which first 
 brought all my resolutions to a head, and then blew 
 them all to nothing like a puff of smoke in the 
 wind. 
 
 I had strolled out in the afternoon with Cousin 
 Edie and Rob, until we found ourselves upon the 
 brow of the slope which dips away down to the 
 beach. It was late in the fall, and the Hnks were all 
 bronzed and faded ; but the sun still shone warmly, 
 and a south breeze came in little hot pants, rippling 
 the broad blue sea with white curling lines. I pulled 
 an armful of bracken to make a couch for Edie, and 
 there she lay in her listless fashion, happy and con- 
 tented ; for, of all folk that I ever met, she had the 
 most joy from warmth and light. I leaned on a 
 tussock of grass, with Rob's head upon my knee, 
 and there as we sat alone in peace in the wilderness, 
 even there we saw suddenly thrown upon the waters 
 in front of us the shadow of that great man over 
 yonder, who had scrawled his name in red letters 
 across the map of Europe. 
 
 There was a ship coming up with the wind, a 
 black sedate old merchantman, bound for Leith as 
 likely as not. Her yards were square and she was 
 running with all sail set. On the other tack, coming 
 
The Great Shadow. 35 
 
 from the north-east, were two great ugly lugger-like 
 craft, with one high mast each, and a big square 
 brown sail. A prettier sight one would not wish 
 than to see the three craft dipping along upon so fair 
 a day. But of a sudden there came a spurt of flame 
 and a whirl of blue smoke from one lugger, then the 
 same from the second, and a rap, rap, rap, from the 
 ship. In a twinkling hell had elbowed out heaven, 
 and there on the waters was hatred and savagery 
 and the lust for blood. 
 
 We had sprung to our feet at the outburst, and 
 Edie put her hand all in a tremble upon my arm. 
 
 " They are fighting. Jack !" she cried. *' What 
 are they ? Who are they ? " 
 
 My heart was thudding with the guns, and it was 
 all that I could do to answer her for the catch of my 
 breath. 
 
 "It's two French privateers, Edie," said I, 
 " Chasse-marries, they call them, and yon 's one of 
 our merchant ships, and they '11 take her as sure as 
 death ; for the major says they 've always got heavy 
 guns, and are as full of men as an egg is full of 
 meat. Why doesn't the fool make back for Tweed- 
 mouth bar ?" 
 
 But not an inch of canvas did she lower, but 
 floundered on in her stolid fashion, while a little 
 black ball ran up to her peak, and the rare old flag 
 streamed suddenly out from the halliard. Then 
 again came the rap, rap, rap, of her little guns, and 
 the boom, boom of the big carronades in the bows 
 of the lugger. An instant later the three ships met, 
 and the merchantman staggered on like a stag with 
 two wolves hanging to its haunches. The three 
 
 3* 
 
36 The Great Shadow. 
 
 became but a dark blurr amid the smoke, with the 
 top spars thrusting out in a bristle, and from the 
 heart of that cloud came the quick red flashes of 
 flame, and such a devils' racket of big guns and 
 small, cheering and screaming, as was to din in my 
 head for many a week. For a stricken hour the 
 hell-cloud moved slowly across the face of the water, 
 and still with our hearts in our mouths we watched 
 the flap of the flag, straining to see if it were yet 
 there. And then suddenly, the ship, as proud and 
 black and high as ever, shot on upon her way ; and 
 as the smoke cleared we saw one of the luggers 
 squattering like a broken-winged duck upon the 
 water, and the other working hard to get the crew 
 from her before she sank. 
 
 For all that hour I had lived for nothing but the 
 fight. My cap had been whisked away by the wind, 
 but I had never given it a thought. Now with my 
 heart full I turned upon my Cousin Edie, and the 
 sight of her took me back six years. There was the 
 vacant staring eye and the parted lips, just as I 
 had seen them in her girlhood, and her little 
 hands were clenched until the knuckles gleamed 
 like ivory. 
 
 " Ah, that captain ! " said she, talking to the heath 
 and the whin-bushes. ''There is a man, so strong, 
 so resolute ! What woman would not be proud of a 
 man like that ? " 
 
 " Aye, he did well !" I cried with enthusiasm. 
 
 She looked at me as if she had forgotten my 
 existence. 
 
 " I would give a year of my life to meet such a 
 man," said she. "But that is what living in the 
 
The Great Shadow, 37 
 
 country means. One never sees anybody but just 
 those who are fit for nothing better." 
 
 I do not know that she meant to hurt me, though 
 she was never very backward at that ; but whatever 
 her intention, her words seemed to strike straight 
 upon a naked nerve. 
 
 " Very well, Cousin Edie," I said, trying to speak 
 calmly, ** that puts the cap on it. I '11 take the 
 bounty in Berwick to-night." 
 
 ** What, Jack ! you be a soldier ! " 
 
 " Yes, if you think that every man that bides in 
 the country must be a coward." 
 
 " Oh, you'd look so handsome in a red coat, Jack, 
 and it improves you vastly when you are in a temper. 
 I wish your eyes would always flash like that, for it 
 looks so nice and manly. But I am sure that you 
 are joking about the soldiering." 
 
 " I'll let you see if I am joking." 
 
 Then and there I set off running over the moor, 
 until I burst into the kitchen where my mother and 
 father were sitting on either side of the ingle. 
 
 " Mother," I cried, ''I'm off for a soldier !" 
 
 Had I said I was off for a burglar they could not 
 have looked worse over it, for in those days among 
 the decent canny country folks it was mostly the 
 black sheep that were herded by the sergeant. But, 
 my word, those same black sheep did their country 
 some rare service too. My mother put up her 
 mittens to her eyes, and my father looked as black 
 as a peat hole. 
 
 ** Hoots, Jock, you're daft," says he. 
 
 " Daft or no, I'm going." 
 
 " Then you'll have no blessing from me." 
 
38 The Great Shadow. 
 
 *'Then I'll go without." 
 
 At this my mother gives a screech and throws 
 her arms about my neck. I saw her hand, all 
 hard and worn and knuckly with the work she had 
 done for my up-bringing, and it pleaded with me 
 as words could not have done. My heart was soft 
 for her, but my will was as hard as a flint-edge. 
 I put her back in her chair with a kiss, and then 
 ran to my room to pack my bundle. It was already 
 growing dark, and I had a long walk before me, 
 so I thrust a few things together and hastened 
 out. As I came through the side door someone 
 touched my shoulder, and there was Edie in the 
 gloaming. 
 
 '* Silly boy," said she, " you are not really going." 
 
 **Am I not? You '11 see." 
 
 " But your father does not wish jt, nor your 
 mother." 
 
 '' I know that." 
 
 "Then why go?" 
 
 " You ought to know." 
 
 "Why, then?" 
 
 " Because you make me ! " 
 
 " I don't want you to go, Jack." 
 
 " You said it. You said that the folk in the 
 country were fit for nothing better. You always 
 speak like that. You think no more of me than 
 of those doos in the cot. You think I am nobody 
 at all. I'll show you different." 
 
 All my troubles came out in hot little spurts of 
 speech. She coloured up as I spoke, and looked at 
 me in her queer half-mocking, half-petting fashion. 
 
 " Oh, I think so little of you as that ?" said she. 
 
The Great Shadow, 39 
 
 " And that is the reason why you are going away ? 
 Well, then, Jack, will you stay if I am — if I am kind 
 to you ? " 
 
 We were face to face and close together, and in 
 an instant the thing was done. My arms were 
 round her, and I was kissing her, and kissing her, 
 and kissing her, on her mouth, her cheeks, her 
 eyes, and pressing her to my heart, and whispering 
 to her that she was all, all, to me, and that I could 
 not be without her. She said nothing, but it was 
 long before she turned her face aside, and when she 
 pushed me back it was not very hard. 
 
 " Why, you are quite your rude, old, impudent 
 self!" said she, patting her hair with her two hands. 
 " You have tossed me. Jack ; I had no idea that you 
 would be so forward ! " 
 
 But all my fear of her was gone, and a love ten- 
 fold hotter than ever was boiling in my veins. I took 
 her up again, and kissed her as if it were my right. 
 
 ** You are my very own now ! " I cried. ** I shall 
 not go to Berwick, but I '11 stay and marry you." 
 
 But she laughed when I spoke of marriage. 
 
 ** Silly boy ! Silly boy ! " said she, with her fore- 
 finger up ; and then when I tried to lay hands on 
 her again, she gave a little dainty curtsy, and was off 
 into the house. 
 
40 
 
 The Great Shadow. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ^be Cboo6ing ot 5im. 
 
 ND then there came those ten 
 weeks which were Hke a 
 dream, and are so now to 
 look back upon. I would 
 weary you were I to tell 
 you what passed between us ; 
 but oh, how earnest and fateful 
 and all-important it was at the 
 time ! Her waywardness ; her 
 ever-varying moods, now bright, 
 now dark, like a meadow under 
 drifting clouds ; her causeless angers ; her 
 sudden repentances, each in turn filHng me 
 with joy or sorrow: these were my life, and 
 all the rest was but emptiness. But ever 
 deep down behind all my other feelings was 
 a vague disquiet, a fear that I was like the man who 
 set forth to lay hands upon the rainbow, and that the 
 real Edie Calder, however near she might seem, was 
 in truth for ever beyond my reach. 
 
 For she was so hard to understand, or, at least, 
 she was so for a dull-witted country lad like me. 
 For if I would talk to her of my real prospects, 
 and how by taking in the whole of Corriemuir we 
 might earn a hundred good pounds over the extra 
 rent, and maybe be able to build out the parlour at 
 West Inch, so as to make it fine for her when we 
 
The Great Shadow. 41 
 
 married, she would pout her lips and droop her eyes, 
 as though she scarce had patience to listen to me. 
 But if I would let her build up dreams about what I 
 might become, how I might find a paper which 
 proved me to be the true heir of the laird, or how, 
 without joining the army, which she would by no 
 means hear of, I showed myself to be a great warrior 
 until my name was in all folks' mouths, then she 
 would be as blithe as the May. I would keep up the 
 play as well as I could, but soon some luckless word 
 would show that I was only plain Jock Calder of 
 West Inch, and out would come her lip again in 
 scorn of me. So we moved on, she in the air and I 
 on the ground ; and if the rift had not come in one 
 way, it must in another. 
 
 It was after Christmas, but the winter had been 
 mild, with just frost enough to make it safe walking 
 over the peat bogs. One fresh morning Edie had 
 been out early, and she came back to breakfast with 
 a fleck of colour on her cheeks. 
 
 *' Has your friend the doctor's son come home. 
 Jack ? " says she. 
 
 ** I heard that it was expected." 
 
 "Ah ! then it must have been him that I met on 
 the muir." 
 
 ** What ! you met Jim Horscroft ?" 
 
 " I am sure it must be he. A splendid-looking 
 man — a hero, with curly black hair, a short, straight 
 nose, and grey eyes. He had shoulders like a statue, 
 and as to height, why I suppose that your head, 
 Jack, would come up to his scarf-pin." 
 
 "Up to his ear, Edie!" said I, indignantly. 
 "That is, if it was Jim. But tell me. Had he a 
 
42 The Great Shadow. 
 
 brown wooden pipe stuck in the corner of his 
 mouth ? " 
 
 ** Yes, he was smoking. He was dressed in grey, 
 and he has a grand deep strong voice." 
 
 '* Ho, ho ! you spoke to him ! " said I. 
 
 She coloured a Httle, as if she had said more 
 than she meant. 
 
 " I was going where the ground was a Httle soft, 
 and he warned me of it," she said. 
 
 "Ah! it must have been dear old Jim," said I. 
 *' He should have been a doctor years back, if his 
 brains had been as strong as his arm. Why, heart 
 alive, here is the very man himself!" 
 
 I had seen him through the kitchen window, and 
 now I rushed out with my half-eaten bannock in my 
 hand to greet him. He ran forward too, with his 
 great hand out and his eyes shining. 
 
 "Ah! Jock," he cried, "it's good to see you 
 again. There are no friends like the old ones." 
 
 Then suddenly he stuck in his speech, and stared 
 with his mouth open over my shoulder. I turned, 
 and there was Edie, with such a merry, roguish 
 smile, standing in the door. How proud I felt of 
 her, and of myself too, as I looked at her ! 
 
 " This is my cousin. Miss Edie Calder, Jim," 
 said I. 
 
 " Do you often take walks before breakfast, Mr. 
 Horscroft ? " she asked, still with that roguish smile. 
 
 "Yes," said he, staring at her with all his eyes. 
 
 "So do I, and generally over yonder," said she. 
 " But you are not very hospitable to your friend. 
 Jack. If you do not do the honours, I shall have 
 to take your place for the credit of West Inch." 
 
The Great Shadow, 43 
 
 Well, in another minute we were in with the old 
 folk, and Jim had his plate of porridge ladled out 
 for him ; but hardly a word would he speak, but sat 
 with his spoon in his hand staring at Cousin Edie. 
 She shot little twinkling glances across at him all 
 the time, and it seemed to me that she was amused 
 at his backwardness, and that she tried by what she 
 said to give him heart. 
 
 "Jack was telling me that you were studying to 
 be a doctor," said she. " But oh, how hard it must 
 be, and how long it must take before one can gather 
 so much learning as that ! " 
 
 " It takes me long enough," Jim answered rue- 
 fully; "but I'll beat it yet." 
 
 "Ah ! but you are brave. You are resolute. You 
 fix your eyes on a point and you move on towards 
 it, and nothing can stop you." 
 
 " Indeed, I've little to boast of," said he. " Many 
 a one who began with me has put up his plate years 
 ago, and here am I but a student still." 
 
 " That is your modesty, Mr. Horscroft. They 
 say that the bravest are always humble. But then, 
 when you have gained your end, what a glorious 
 career — to carry healing in your hands, to raise up 
 the suffering, to have for one's sole end the good of 
 humanity ! " 
 
 Honest Jim wriggled in his chair at this. 
 
 " I 'm afraid I have no such very high motives. 
 Miss Calder," said he. " It 's to earn a living, and 
 to take over my father's business, that I do it. If I 
 carry healing in one hand, I have the other out for 
 a crown-piece." 
 
 " How candid and truthful you are I" she cried ; 
 
44 The Great Shadow. 
 
 and so they went on, she decking him with every 
 virtue, and twisting his words to make him play the 
 part, in the way that I knew so well. Before he was 
 done I could see that his head was buzzing with her 
 beauty and her kindly words. I thrilled with pride 
 to think that he should think so well of my kin. 
 
 ** Isn't she fine, Jim?" I could not help saying 
 when we stood outside the door, he lighting his pipe 
 before he set off home. 
 
 " Fine ! " he cried ; " I never saw her match !" 
 
 '*We're going to be married," said I. 
 
 The pipe fell out of his mouth, and he stood 
 staring at me. Then he picked it up and walked off 
 without a word. I thought that he would hkely 
 come back, but he never did ; and I saw him far off 
 up the brae, with his chin on his chest. 
 
 But I was not to forget him, for Cousin Edie 
 had a hundred questions to ask me about his boy- 
 hood, about his strength, about the women that he 
 was likely to know ; there was no satisfying her. 
 And then again, later in the day, I heard of him, 
 but in a less pleasant fashion. 
 
 It was my father who came home in the evening 
 with his mouth full of poor Jim. He had been 
 deadly drunk since midday, had been down to 
 Westhouse Links to fight the gipsy champion, and 
 it was not certain that the man would live through 
 the night. My father had met Jim on the highroad, 
 dour as a thundercloud, and with an insult in his 
 eye for every man that passed him. " Guid sakes ! " 
 said the old man. *' He '11 make a fine practice for 
 himsel', if breaking banes will do it." 
 
 Cousin Edie laughed at all this, and I laughed 
 
The Great Shadow, 45 
 
 because she did ; but I was not so sure that it was 
 funny. 
 
 On the third day afterwards, I was going up 
 Corriemuir by the sheep-track, when who should I 
 see striding down but Jim himself. But he was a 
 different man from the big, kindly fellow who had 
 supped his porridge with us the other morning. He 
 had no collar nor tie, his vest was open, his hair 
 matted, and his face mottled, like a man who has 
 drunk heavily overnight. He carried an ash stick, 
 and he slashed at the whin-bushes on either side of 
 the path. 
 
 "Why, Jim!" said I. 
 
 But he looked at me in the way that I had often 
 seen at school when the devil was strong in him, 
 and when he knew that he was in the wrong, and 
 yet set his will to brazen it out. Not a word did he 
 say, but he brushed past me on the narrow path and 
 swaggered on, still brandishing his ashplant and 
 cutting at the bushes. 
 
 Ah well, I was not angry with him. I was sorry, 
 very sorry, and that was all. Of course I was not 
 so blind but that I could see how the matter stood. 
 He was in love with Edie, and he could not bear to 
 think that I should have her. Poor devil, how could 
 he help it ? Maybe I should have been the same. 
 There was a time when I should have wondered 
 that a girl could have turned a strong man's head 
 like that, but I knew more about it now. 
 
 For a fortnight I saw nothing of Jim Horscroft, 
 and then came the Thursday which was to change 
 the whole current of my life. 
 
 I had woke early that day, and with a little thrill 
 
46 The Great Shadow. 
 
 of joy which is a rare thing to feel when a man first 
 opens his eyes. Edie had been kinder than usual 
 the night before, and I had fallen asleep with the 
 thought that maybe at last I had caught the rain- 
 bow, and that without any imaginings or make- 
 believes she was learning to love plain, rough Jock 
 Calder of West Inch. It was this thought, still at 
 my heart, which had given me that little morning 
 chirrup of joy. And then I remembered that if I 
 hastened I might be in time for her, for it was her 
 custom to go out with the sunrise. 
 
 But I was too late. When I came to her door it 
 was half-open and the room empty. Well, thought 
 I, at least I may meet her and have the homeward 
 walk with her. From the top of Corriemuir hill you 
 may see all the country round ; so, catching up my 
 stick, I swung off in that direction. It was bright, 
 but cold, and the surf, I remember, was booming 
 loudly, though there had been no wind in our parts 
 for days. I zigzagged up the steep pathway, breath- 
 ing in the thin, keen morning air, and humming a 
 lilt as I went, until I came out, a little short of 
 breath, among the whins upon the top. Looking 
 down the long slope of the further side, I saw 
 Cousin Edie, as I had expected ; and I saw Jim 
 Horscroft walking by her side. 
 
 They were not far away, but too taken up with 
 each other to see me. She was walking slowly, with 
 the Httle petulant cock of her dainty head which I 
 knew so well, casting her eyes away from him, and 
 shooting out a word from time to time. He paced 
 along beside her, looking down at her and bending 
 his head in the eagerness of his talk. Then as he 
 
The Great Shadow. 47 
 
 said something, she placed her hand with a caress 
 upon his arm, and he, carried off his feet, plucked 
 her up and kissed her again and again. At the sight 
 I could neither cry out nor move, but stood, with a 
 heart of lead and the face of a dead man, staring 
 down at them. I saw her hand passed over his 
 shoulder, and that his kisses were as welcome to her 
 as ever mine had been. 
 
 Then he set her down again, and I found that 
 this had been their parting; for, indeed, in another 
 hundred paces they would have come in view of the 
 upper windows of the house. She walked slowly 
 away, with a wave back once or twice, and he stood 
 looking after her. I waited until she was some way 
 off, and then down I came, but so taken up was he, 
 that I was within a hand's-touch of him before he 
 whisked round upon me. He tried to smile as his 
 eye met mine. 
 
 *' Ah, Jock," says he, ** early afoot ! " 
 
 " I saw you I " I gasped ; and my throat had 
 turned so dry that I spoke like a man with a quinsy. 
 
 ** Did you so ?" said he, and gave a little whistle. 
 **Well, on my life, Jock, I 'm not sorry. I was thinks 
 ing of coming up to West Inch this very day, and 
 having it out with you. Maybe it's better as it is." 
 
 '' You 've been a fine friend 1 " said I. 
 
 ** Well now, be reasonable, Jock," said he, stick- 
 ing his hands into his pockets and rocking to and 
 fro as he stood. ** Let me show you how it stands. 
 Look me in the eye, and you '11 see that I don't lie. 
 It 's this way. I had met Edi — Miss Calder that is 
 — before I came that morning, and there were things 
 which made me look upon her as free ; and, thinking 
 
48 The Great Shadow, 
 
 that, I let my mind dwell on her. Then you said 
 she wasn't free, but was promised to you, and that 
 was the worst knock I 've had for a time. It clean 
 put me off, and I made a fool of myself for some 
 days, and it 's a mercy I 'm not in Berwick gaol. 
 Then by chance I met her again — on my soul, Jock, 
 it was chance for me, — and when I spoke of you she 
 laughed at the thought. It was cousin and cousin, 
 she said ; but as for her not being free, or you being 
 more to her than a friend, it was fool's talk. So you 
 see, Jock, I was not so much to blame, after all : the 
 more so as she promised that she would let you see 
 by her conduct that you were mistaken in thinking 
 that you had any claim upon her. You must have 
 noticed that she has hardly had a word for you for 
 these last two weeks." 
 
 I laughed bitterly. 
 
 " It was only last night," said I, " that she told 
 me that I was the only man in all this earth that 
 she could ever bring herself to love." 
 
 Jim Horscroft put out a shaking hand and laid 
 it on my shoulder, while he pushed his face forward 
 to look into my eyes. 
 
 "Jock Calder," said he, " I never knew you tell a 
 lie. You are not trying to score trick against trick, 
 are you ? Honest now, between man and man." 
 
 "It's God's truth," said I. 
 
 He stood looking at me, and his face had set like 
 that of a man who is having a hard fight with him- 
 self. It was a long two minutes before he spoke. 
 
 "See here, Jock!" said he. "This woman is 
 fooling us both. D'you hear, man ? she 's fooling us 
 both ! She loves you at West Inch, and she loves 
 
The Great Shadow. 49 
 
 me on the braeside ; and in her devil's heart she cares 
 a whin-blossom for neither of us. Let's join hands, 
 man, and send the hellfire hussy to the right about ! " 
 
 But this was too much. I could not curse her in my 
 own heart, and still less could I stand by and hear 
 another man do it ; not though it was my oldest friend. 
 
 ** Don't you call names ! " I cried. 
 
 "Ach! you sicken me with your soft talk! I'll 
 call her what she should be called ! " 
 
 " Will you, though ? " said I, lugging off my coat. 
 " Look you here, Jim Horscroft, if you say another 
 word against her, I '11 lick it down your throat, if you 
 were as big as Berwick Castle ! Try me and see ! " 
 
 He peeled off his coat down to the elbows, and 
 then he slowly put it on again. 
 
 " Don't be such a fool, Jock ! " said he. " Four 
 stone and five inches is more than mortal man can 
 give. Two old friends mustn't fall out over such a — 
 well, there, I won't say it. Well, by the Lord, if 
 she hasn't nerve for ten ! " 
 
 I looked round, and there she was, not twenty 
 yards from us, looking as cool and easy and placid 
 as we were hot and fevered. 
 
 " I was nearly home," said she, " when I saw 
 you two boys very busy talking, so I came all the 
 way back to know what it was about." 
 
 Horscroft took a run forward and caught her by 
 the wrist. She gave a little squeal at the sight of his 
 face, but he pulled her towards where I was standing. 
 
 ** Now, Jock, we've had tomfoolery enough," 
 said he. *' Here she is. Shall we take her word as 
 to which she likes ? She can't trick us now that 
 we 're both together." 
 
 4 
 
5o The Great Shadow, 
 
 *' I am willing," said I. 
 
 "And so am I. If she goes for you, I swear I'll 
 never so much as turn an eye on her again. Will 
 you do as much for me ? " 
 
 ''Yes, I will." 
 
 " Well then, look here, you ! We 're both honest 
 men, and friends, and we tell each other no lies; 
 and so we know your double ways. I know what 
 you said last night. Jock knows what you said to- 
 day. D'you see ? Now then, fair and square ! Here 
 we are before you ; once and have done. Which is 
 it to be, Jock or me ? " 
 
 You would have thought that the woman would 
 have been overwhelmed with shame, but instead of 
 that her eyes were shining with delight ; and I dare 
 wager that it was the proudest moment of her life. 
 As she looked from one to the other of us, with the 
 cold morning sun glittering on her face, I had never 
 seen her look so lovely. Jim felt it also, I am sure ; 
 for he dropped her wrist, and the harsh lines were 
 softened upon his face. 
 
 *' Come, Edie ! which is it to be ?" he asked. 
 
 " Naughty boys, to fall out like this ! " she cried. 
 " Cousin Jack, you know how fond I am of you." 
 
 *' Oh, then go to him !" said Horscroft. 
 
 *' But I love nobody but Jim. There is nobody 
 that I love like Jim." 
 
 She snuggled up to him, and laid her cheek 
 against his breast. 
 
 "You see, Jock!" said he, looking over her 
 shoulder. 
 
 I did see ; and away I went for West Inch, 
 another man from the time that I left it. 
 
C ' 
 
 4nl^)(i^^r^i^ 
 
 She snuggled up to him, and laid her check against his breast.' 
 
52 
 
 The Great Shadow 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Zbc ^an from tbe Sea. 
 
 ELL, I was never one to sit groaning 
 over a cracked pot. If it could not 
 be mended, then it is the part of a 
 man to say no more of it. For weeks 
 I had an aching heart ; indeed, it is 
 a Httle sore now, after all these years 
 and a happy marriage, when I think 
 of it. But I kept a brave face on me ; 
 and, above all, I did as I had promised that day on 
 the hillside. I was as a brother to her, and no 
 more : though there were times when I had to put a 
 hard curb upon myself; for even now she would 
 come to me with her coaxing ways, and with tales 
 about how rough Jim was, and how happy she had 
 been when I was kind to her; for it was in her 
 blood to speak like that, and she could not help it. 
 
 But for the most part Jim and she were happy 
 enough. It was all over the country-side that they 
 were to be married when he had passed his degree, 
 and he would come up to West Inch four nights a 
 week to sit with us. My folk were pleased about it, 
 and I tried to be pleased too. 
 
 Maybe at first there was a little coolness between 
 him and me : there was not quite the old schoolboy 
 trust between us. But then, when the first smart 
 was passed, it seemed to me that he had acted 
 openly, and that I had no just cause for complaint 
 
The Great Shadow, 53 
 
 against him. So we were friendly, in a way; and 
 as for her, he had forgotten all his anger, and would 
 have kissed the print of her shoe in the mud. We 
 used to take long rambles together, he and I ; and it 
 is about one of these that I now want to tell you. 
 
 We had passed over Bramston Heath and round 
 the clump of firs which screens the house of Major 
 Elliott from the sea wind. It was spring now, and 
 the year was a forward one, so that the trees were 
 well leaved by the end of April. It was as warm as 
 a summer day, and we were the more surprised 
 when we saw a huge fire roaring upon the grassplot 
 before the major's door. There was half a fir-tree 
 in it, and the flames were spouting up as high as the 
 bedroom windows. Jim and I stood staring, but we 
 stared the more when out came the major, with a 
 great quart pot in his hand, and at his heels his old 
 sister who kept house for him, and two of the maids, 
 and all four began capering about round the fire. 
 He was a douce, quiet man, as all the country knew, 
 and here he was Uke old Nick at the carlin's dance, 
 hobbling around and waving his drink above his 
 head. We both set off running, and he waved the 
 more when he saw us coming. 
 
 "Peace!"' he roared. *' Huzza, boys! Peace!" 
 And at that we both fell to dancing and shouting 
 too ; for it had been such a weary war as far back 
 as we could remember, and the shadow had lain so 
 long over us, that it was wondrous to feel that it 
 was lifted. Indeed it was too much to believe, but 
 the major laughed our doubts to scorn. 
 
 "Aye, aye, it is true," he cried, stopping with his 
 hand to his side. " The Allies have got Paris, Boney 
 
54 The Great Shadow. 
 
 has thrown up the sponge, and his people are all 
 swearing allegiance to Louis XVIII." 
 
 "And the Emperor?" I asked. "Will they spare 
 him?" 
 
 "There's talk of sending him to Elba, where 
 he '11 be out of mischief's way. But his officers, 
 there are some of them who will not get off so 
 lightly. Deeds have been done during these last 
 twenty years that have not been forgotten. There 
 are a few old scores to be settled. But it 's Peace ! 
 Peace ! " 
 
 And away he went once more, with his great 
 tankard, hopping round his bonfire. 
 
 Well, we stayed some time with the major, and 
 then away we went down to the beach, Jim and I, 
 talking about this great news, and all that would 
 come of it. He knew a little, and I knew less, but 
 we pieced it all together and talked about how the 
 prices would coine down, how our brave fellows 
 would return home, how the ships could go where 
 they would in peace, and how we could pull all the 
 coast beacons down, for there was no enemy now to 
 fear. So we chatted as we walked along the clean, 
 hard sand, and looked out at the old North Sea. 
 How little did Jim know at that moment, as he 
 strode along by my side so full of health and of 
 spirits, that he had reached the extreme summit of 
 his life, and that from that hour all would, in truth, 
 be upon the downward slope ! 
 
 There was a little haze out to sea ; for it had 
 been very misty in the early morning, though the 
 sun had thinned it. As we looked seawards we 
 suddenly saw the sail of a small boat break out 
 
The Great Shadow. 55 
 
 through the fog, and come bobbing along towards 
 the land. A single man was seated in the sheets, 
 and she yawed about as she ran, as though he were 
 of two minds whether to beach her or no. At last, 
 determined it may be by our presence, he made 
 straight for us, and her keel grated upon the shingle 
 at our very feet. He dropped his sail, sprang out, 
 and pulled her bows up on the beach. 
 
 " Great Britain, I believe ? " said he, turning 
 briskly round and facing us. 
 
 He was a man somewhat above middle height, 
 but exceedingly thin. His eyes were piercing and 
 set close together, a long sharp nose jutted out from 
 between them, and beneath them was a bristle of 
 brown moustache as wiry and stiifas a cat's whiskers. 
 He was well dressed in a suit of brown with brass 
 buttons, and he wore high boots which were all 
 roughened and dulled by the sea water. His face 
 and hands were so dark that he might have been a 
 Spaniard, but as he raised his hat to us we saw that 
 the upper part of his brow was quite white and that 
 it was from without that he had his swarthiness. 
 He looked from one to the other of us, and his grey 
 eyes had something in them which I had never seen 
 before. You could read the question ; but there 
 seemed to be a menace at the back of it, as if the 
 answer were a right and not a favour. 
 
 ** Great Britain ? " he asked again, with a quick 
 tap of his foot on the shingle. 
 
 " Yes," said I, while Jim burst out laughing. 
 
 " England ? Scotland ? " 
 
 " Scotland. But it 's England past yonder trees.'* 
 
 " Bon ! I know where I am now. I 've been in 
 
56 The Great Shadow. 
 
 a fog without a compass for nearly three days, and 
 I didn't thought I was ever to see land again." 
 
 He spoke English glibly enough, but with some 
 strange turn of speech from time to time. 
 
 " Where did you come from then ?" asked Jim. 
 
 " I was in a ship that was wrecked," said he 
 shortly. " What is the town down yonder ? " 
 
 *' It is Berwick." 
 
 ** Ah ! well, I must get stronger before I can go 
 further." 
 
 He turned towards the boat, and as he did so he 
 gave a lurch, and would have fallen had he not 
 caught the prow. On this he seated himself and 
 looked round with a face that was flushed, and two 
 eyes that blazed like a wild beast's. 
 
 *' Voltigeurs de la Garde /" he roared in a voice like 
 a trumpet call, and then again ''Voltigeurs de la Garde ! " 
 
 He waved his hat above his head, and suddenly 
 pitching forwards upon his face on the sand, he lay 
 all huddled into a little brown heap. 
 
 Jim Horscroft and I stood and stared at each 
 other. The coming of the man had been so strange, 
 and his questions, and now this sudden turn. We 
 took him by a shoulder each and turned him upon 
 his back. There he lay with his jutting nose and 
 his cat's whiskers, but his lips were bloodless, and 
 his breath would scarce shake a feather. 
 
 " He's dying, Jim !" I cried. 
 
 *' Aye, for want of food and water. There's not 
 a drop or crumb in the boat. Maybe there's some- 
 thing in the bag." 
 
 He sprang and brought out a black leather bag, 
 which with a large blue coat was the only thing in 
 
The Great Shadow. 57 
 
 the boat. It was locked, but Jim had it open in an 
 instant. It was half full of gold pieces. 
 
 Neither of us had ever seen so much before — no, 
 nor a tenth part of it. There must have been 
 hundreds of them, all bright new British sovereigns. 
 Indeed, so taken up were we that we had forgotten 
 all about their owner until a groan took our thoughts 
 back to him. His lips were bluer than ever, and his 
 jaw had dropped. I can see his open mouth now, 
 with its row of white wolfish teeth. 
 
 "My God, he's off!" cried Jim. ** Here, run to 
 the burn, Jock, for a hatful of water. Quick, man, 
 or he's gone ! I'll loosen his things the while." 
 
 Away I tore, and was back in a minute with as 
 much water as would stay in my Glengarry. Jim 
 had pulled open the man's coat and shirt, and we 
 doused the water over him, and forced some between 
 his lips. It had a good effect ; for after a gasp or 
 two he sat up and rubbed his eyes slowly, like a man 
 who is waking from a deep sleep. But neither Jim 
 nor I were looking at his face now, for our eyes were 
 fixed upon his uncovered chest. 
 
 There were two deep red puckers in it, one just 
 below the collar bone, and the other about half-way 
 down on the right side. The skin of his body was 
 extremely white up to the brown line of his neck, 
 and the angry crinkled spots looked the more vivid 
 against it. From above I could see that there was a 
 corresponding pucker in the back at one place, but 
 not at the other. Inexperienced as I was, I could 
 tell what that meant. Two bullets had pierced his 
 chest : one had passed through it, and the other had 
 remained inside. 
 
58 The Great Shadow. 
 
 But suddenly he staggered up to his feet, and 
 pulled his shirt to, with a quick suspicious glance 
 at us. 
 
 "What have I been doing?" he asked. ''I've 
 been off my head. Take no notice of anything I 
 may have said. Have I been shouting ?" 
 
 " You shouted just before you fell." 
 
 "What did I shout?" 
 
 I told him, though it bore little meaning to my 
 mind. He looked sharply at us, and then he 
 shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 "It's the words of a song," said he. "Well, 
 the question is. What am I to do now ? I didn't 
 thought I was so weak. Where did you get the 
 water?" 
 
 I pointed towards the burn, and he staggered off 
 to the bank. There he lay down upon his face, and 
 he drank until I thought he would never have done. 
 His long skinny neck was outstretched like a horse's, 
 and he made a loud supping noise with his lips. At 
 last he got up with a long sigh, and wiped his 
 moustache with his sleeve. 
 
 " That 's better," said he. " Have you any food ? " 
 
 I had crammed two bits of oat-cake into my 
 pocket when I left home, and these he crushed into 
 his mouth and swallowed. Then he squared his 
 shoulders, puffed out his chest, and patted his ribs 
 with the flat of his hands. 
 
 " I am sure that I owe you exceedingly well," said 
 he. " You have been very kind to a stranger. But 
 I see that you have had occasion to open my bag." 
 
 "We hoped that we might find wine or brandy 
 there when you fainted." 
 
The Great Shadow, 59 
 
 " Ah ! I have nothing there but just a Httle — 
 how do you say it ? — my savings. They are not 
 much, but I must Hve quietly upon them until I find 
 something to do. Now one could Hve quietly here, I 
 should say. I could not have come upon a more 
 peaceful place, without perhaps so much as a 
 gend'arme nearer than that town ? " 
 
 " You haven't told us yet who you are, where you 
 come from, nor what you have been," said Jim 
 bluntly. 
 
 The stranger looked him up and down with a 
 critical eye : 
 
 *' My word, but you would make a grenadier for 
 a flank company," said he. " As to what you ask, I 
 might take offence at it from other lips ; but you 
 have a right to know, since you have received me 
 with so great courtesy. My name is Bonaventure de 
 Lapp. I am a soldier and a wanderer by trade, and 
 I have come from Dunkirk, as you may see printed 
 upon the boat." 
 
 " I thought that you had been shipwrecked," 
 said I. 
 
 But he looked at me with the straight gaze of an 
 honest man. 
 
 *' That is right," said he, ** but the ship went from 
 Dunkirk, and this is one of her boats. The crew 
 got away in the longboat, and she went down so 
 quickly that I had no time to put anything into her. 
 That was on Monday." 
 
 " And to-day 's Thursday. You have been three 
 days without bite or sup." 
 
 ** It is too long," said he. '* Twice before I have 
 been for two days, but never quite so long as this. 
 
6o The Great Shadow. 
 
 Well, I shall leave my boat here, and see whether I 
 
 can get lodgings in any of these little grey houses 
 
 upon the hillsides. Why is that great fire burning 
 
 over yonder ? " 
 
 " It is one of our neighbours who has served 
 
 against the French. He is rejoicing because peace 
 
 has been declared." 
 
 " Oh, you have a neighbour who has served 
 
 then ! I am glad ; for I, too, have seen a little 
 
 soldiering here and there." 
 
 He did not look glad, but he drew his brows down 
 
 over his keen eyes. 
 
 " You are French, are you not ?" I asked, as we 
 
 all walked up the hill together, he with his black bag 
 
 in his hand and his long blue cloak slung over his 
 
 shoulder. 
 
 " Well, I am of Alsace," said he ; "and, you know, 
 
 they are more German than French. For myself, I 
 have been in so many lands that I feel at home in 
 all. I have been a great traveller ; and where do 
 you think that I might find a lodging?" 
 
 I can scarcely tell now, on looking back with the 
 great gap of five-and-thirty years between, what 
 impression this singular man had made upon me. 
 I distrusted him, I think, and yet I was fasci- 
 nated by him also ; for there was something in his 
 bearing, in his look, and his whole fashion of speech 
 which was entirely unlike anything that I had ever 
 seen. Jim Horscroft was a fine man, and Major 
 Elhott was a brave one, but they both lacked 
 something that this wanderer had. It was the 
 quick alert look, the flash of the eye, the nameless 
 distinction which is so hard to fix. And then we 
 
The Great Shadow, 6i 
 
 had saved him when he lay gasping upon the 
 shingle, and one's heart always softens towards 
 what one has once helped. 
 
 " If you will come with me," said I, ** I have 
 little doubt that I can find you a bed for a night 
 or two, and by that time you will be better able 
 to make your own arrangements." 
 
 He pulled off his hat, and bowed with all the 
 grace imaginable. But Jim Horscroft pulled me by 
 the sleeve, and led me aside. 
 
 " You 're mad, Jock," he whispered. " The 
 fellow 's a common adventurer. What do you want 
 to get mixed up with him for ? " 
 
 But I was as obstinate a man as ever laced his 
 boots, and if you jerked me back it was the finest 
 way of sending me to the front. 
 
 " He 's a stranger, and it 's our part to look after 
 him," said I. 
 
 " You '11 be sorry for it," said he. 
 
 " Maybe so." 
 
 " If you don't think of yourself, you might think 
 of your cousin." 
 
 '' Edie can take very good care of herself." 
 
 " Well, then, the devil take you, and you may do 
 what you like!" he cried, in one of his sudden 
 flashes of anger. Without a word of farewell to 
 either of us, he turned off upon the track that led 
 up towards his father's house. 
 
 Bonaventure de Lapp smiled at me as we walked 
 on together. 
 
 *' I didn't thought he liked me very much," said 
 he. ** I can see very well that he has made a quarrel 
 with you because you are taking me to your home. 
 
62 The Great Shadow. 
 
 What does he think of me then? Does he think 
 perhaps that I have stole the gold in my bag, or 
 what is it that he fears ? " 
 
 " Tut, I neither know nor care," said I. '' No 
 stranger shall pass our door without a crust and 
 a bed." 
 
 With my head cocked and feeling as if I was 
 doing something very line, instead of being the most 
 egregious fool south of Edinburgh, I marched on 
 down the path with my new acquaintance at my 
 elbow. 
 
The Great Shadow, 
 
 63 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 a ManOerfng lEaale. 
 
 ^Y father seemed to be much of Jim 
 '4{^ Horscroft's opinion ; for he 
 was not over warm to this new 
 guest, and looked him up and down 
 with a very questioning eye. He 
 set a dish of vinegared herrings be- 
 fore him, however, and I noticed that 
 he looked more askance than ever when 
 my companion ate nine of them, for two 
 were always our portion. When at last he 
 had finished Bonaventure de Lapp's lids 
 were drooping over his eyes, for I doubt that he had 
 been sleepless as well as foodless for these three days. 
 It was but a poor room to which I had led him, but 
 he threw himself down upon the couch, wrapped his 
 big blue cloak around him, and was asleep in an in- 
 stant. He was a very high and strong snorer, and, 
 as my room was next to his, I had reason to remem- 
 ber that we had a stranger within our gates. 
 
 When I came down in the morning I found that 
 he had been beforehand with me ; for he was seated 
 opposite my father at the window-table in the kitchen, 
 their heads almost touching, and a little roll of gold 
 pieces between them. As I came in my father looked 
 up at me, and I saw a light of greed in his eyes such as 
 I had never seen before. He caught up the money 
 with an eager clutch and swept it into his pocket. 
 
64 The Great Shadow. 
 
 " Very good, mister," said he ; " the room's 
 yours, and you pay always on the third of the 
 month." 
 
 *' Ah ! and here is my first friend," cried de Lapp, 
 holding out his hand to me with a smile which 
 was kindly enough, and yet had that touch of 
 patronage which a man uses when he smiles to his 
 dog. *' I am myself again now, thanks to my ex- 
 cellent supper and good night's rest. Ah 1 it is 
 hunger that takes the courage from a man. That 
 most, and cold next." 
 
 - " Aye, that 's right," said my father ; *' I 've been 
 out on the moors in a snowdrift for six-and-thirty 
 hours, and ken what it's like." 
 
 " I once saw three thousand men starve to 
 death," remarked de Lapp, putting out his hands to 
 the fire. *' Day by day they got thinner and more 
 like apes, and they did come down to the edge of 
 the pontoons where we did keep them, and they 
 howled with rage and pain. The first few days their 
 howls went over the whole city, but after a week our 
 sentries on the bank could not hear them, so weak 
 they had fallen." 
 
 ** And they died ! " I exclaimed, 
 
 *' They held out a very' long time. Austrian 
 Grenadiers they were, of the corps of Starowitz, fine 
 stout men as big as your friend of yesterday ; but 
 when the town fell there were but four hundred 
 alive, and a man could lift them three at a time as if 
 they were httle monkeys. It was a pity. Ah ! my 
 friend, you will do me the honours with madame and 
 with mademoiselle." 
 
 It was my mother and Edie who had come into 
 
The Great Shadow, 65 
 
 the kitchen. He had not seen them the night before, 
 
 but now it was all I could do to keep my face as I 
 
 watched him ; for instead of our homely Scottish 
 
 nod, he bent up his back like a 
 
 louping trout, and slid his foot, 
 
 and clapped his hand over his V^ ^ 
 
 heart in the queerest way. My "^5^^: 
 
 mother stared, for she thought 
 
 he was making fun of her ; but 
 
 Cousin Edie fell into it in an in- |j 
 
 stant, as though it had been a 
 
 game, and away she went in a great 
 
 curtsy until I thought she would have 
 
 had to give it up, and sit down right 
 
 there in the middle of the kitchen floor. 
 
 But no, she up again as light as a piece 
 
 of fluff, and we all drew up our stools 
 
 and started on the scones and milk 
 
 and porridge. 
 
 He had a wonderful way with 
 women, that man. Now if I were 
 to do it, or Jim Horscroft, it ^^ • 
 
 would look as if we were /^^L^^^U^ 
 
 playing the fool, and the ^^^^ '^ ■ "^'^ 
 girls would have laughed "^^ *-" - 
 
 at us ; but with him it seemed to go with his 
 style of face and fashion of speech, so that one 
 came at last to look for it : for when he spoke 
 to my mother or Cousin Edie — and he was never 
 backward in speaking — it would always be with a 
 bow and a look as if it would hardly be worth their 
 while to listen to what he had to say, and when 
 they answered he would put on a face as though 
 
 5 
 
66 The Great Shadow. 
 
 every word they said was to be treasured up and 
 remembered for ever. And yet, even while he hum- 
 bled himself to a woman, there was always a 
 proud sort of look at the back of his eye as if he 
 meant to say that it was only to them that he was 
 so meek, and that he could be stiff enough upon 
 occasion. As to my mother, it was wonderful the 
 way she softened to him, and in half-an-hour she 
 had told him all about her uncle, who was a 
 surgeon in Carlisle, and the highest of any upon 
 her side of the house. She spoke to him about 
 my brother Rob's death, which I had never heard 
 her mention to a soul before, and he looked as if 
 the tears were in his eyes over it — he, who had just 
 told us how he had seen three thousand men starved 
 to death ! As to Edie, she did not say much, but 
 she kept shooting little glances at our visitor, and 
 once or twice he looked very hard at her. 
 
 When he had gone to his room after breakfast, 
 my father pulled out eight golden pounds and laid 
 them on the table. 
 
 " What think ye of that, Martha?" said he. 
 
 ** You've sold the twa black tups after all." 
 
 '* No, but it's a month's pay for board and 
 lodging from Jock's friend, and as much to come 
 every four weeks." 
 
 But my mother shook her head when she heard it. 
 
 " Two pounds a week is over much," said she ; 
 " and it is not when the poor gentleman is in distress 
 that we should put such a price on his bit food." 
 
 " Tut ! " cried my father, " he can very well 
 afford it, and he with a bag full of gold. Besides, 
 it's his own proposing." 
 
The Great Shadow, 67 
 
 " No blessing will come from that money," said 
 she. 
 
 "Why, woman, he's turned your head wi' his 
 foreign ways of speech ! " cried my father. 
 
 " Aye, and it would be a good thing if Scottish 
 men had a little more of that kindly way," she said, 
 and that was the first time in all my life that I had 
 heard her answer him back. 
 
 He came down soon and asked me whether I 
 w^ould come out with him. When we were in the 
 sunshine he held out a little cross made of red 
 stones, one of the bonniest things that ever I had set 
 eyes upon. 
 
 " These are rubies," said he, " and I got it at 
 Tudela, in Spain. There were two of them, but 
 I gave the other to a Lithuanian girl. I pray that 
 you will take this as a memory of your exceedingly 
 kindness to me yesterday. It will fashion into a pin 
 for your cravat." 
 
 I could but thank him for the present, which was 
 of more value than anything I had ever owned in my 
 Hfe. 
 
 " I am off to the upper muir to count the lambs," 
 said I ; ''maybe you would care to come up with me 
 and see something of the country ? " 
 
 He hesitated for a moment, and then he shook his 
 head. 
 
 " I have some letters," he said, "which I ought 
 to write as soon as possible. I think that I will stay 
 at quiet this morning and get them written." 
 
 All forenoon I was wandering over the links, and 
 you may imagine that my mind was turning all the 
 time upon this strange man whom chance had drifted 
 
 5* 
 
68 The Great Shadow. 
 
 to our doors. Where did he gain that style of his, 
 that manner of command, that haughty menacing 
 ghnt of the eye ? And his experiences to which he 
 referred so Hghtly, how wonderful the life must have 
 been which had put him in the way of them ! He 
 had been kind to us, and gracious of speech, but still 
 I could not quite shake myself clear of the distrust 
 with which I had regarded him. Perhaps, after all, 
 Jim Horscroft had been right and I had been wrong 
 about taking him to West Inch. 
 
 When I got back he looked as though he had 
 been born and bred in the steading. He sat in the 
 big wooden-armed ingle-chair, with the black cat on 
 his knee. His arms were out, and he held a skein 
 of worsted from hand to hand which my mother was 
 busily rolling into a ball. Cousin Edie was sitting 
 near, and I could see by her eyes that she had been 
 crying. 
 
 " Hullo, Edie ! " said I, " what 's the trouble ? " 
 ^'Ah! mademoiselle, like all good and true 
 women, has a soft heart," said he. '' I didn't 
 thought it would have moved her, or I should have 
 been silent. I have been talking of the suffering of 
 some troops of which I knew something when they 
 were crossing the Guadarama mountains in the 
 winter of 1808. Ah ! yes, it was very bad, for they 
 were fine men and fine horses. It is strange to see 
 men blown by the wind over the precipices, but the 
 ground was so slippery and there was nothing to 
 which they could hold. So companies all linked 
 arms, and they did better in that fashion ; but one 
 artilleryman's hand came off as I held it, for he had 
 had the frost-bite for three davs." 
 
The Great Shadow. 69 
 
 I stood staring with my mouth open. 
 
 "And the old Grenadiers, too, who were not so 
 active as they used to be, they could not keep up ; 
 and yet if they lingered the peasants would catch 
 them and crucify them to the barn doors with their 
 feet up and a fire under their heads, which was a 
 pity for these fine old soldiers. So when they could 
 go no further, it was interesting to see what they 
 would do ; for they would sit down and say their 
 prayers, sitting on an old saddle, or their knapsacks, 
 maybe, and then take off their boots and their 
 stockings, and lean their chin on the barrel of their 
 musket. Then they would put their toe on the 
 trigger, and pouf! it was all over, and there was no 
 more marching for those fine old Grenadiers. Oh, 
 it was very rough work up there on those Guadarama 
 mountains ! " 
 
 "And what army was this ?" I asked. 
 
 " Oh, I have served in so many armies that I 
 mix them up sometimes. Yes, I have seen much of 
 war. Apropos I have seen your Scotchmen fight, 
 and very stout fantassins they make, but I thought 
 from them that the folk over here all wore — how do 
 you say it ? — petticoats." 
 
 " Those are the kilts, and they wear them only 
 in the Highlands." 
 
 "Ah ! on the mountains. But there is a man 
 out yonder. Maybe he is the one who your father 
 said would carry my letters to the post." 
 
 "Yes, he is Farmer Whitehead's man. Shall I 
 give them to him ?" 
 
 " Well, he would be more careful of them if he 
 had them from your hand." 
 
70 The Great Shadow. 
 
 He took them from his pocket and gave them 
 over to me. I hurried out with them, and as I did 
 so my eyes fell upon the address of the topmost one. 
 It was written very large and clear : 
 
 a S. Majeste, 
 
 Le Roi du Suede, 
 
 Stockholm. 
 
 I did not know very much French, but I had 
 enough to make that out. What sort of eagle was 
 this which had flown into our humble little nest ? 
 
The Great Shadow. 
 
 n 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 ^be Corriemuir peel Grower. 
 
 ELL, it would weary me, and I am 
 very sure that it would weary you 
 also, if I were to attempt to tell you 
 how life went with us after this man 
 came under our roof, or the way in 
 which he gradually came to win the 
 affections of every one of us. With 
 the women it was quick work enough : 
 but soon he had thawed my father too, which was no 
 such easy matter, and had gained Jim Horscroft's 
 goodwill as well as my own. Indeed, we were but two 
 great boys beside him, for he had been everywhere 
 and seen everything ; and of an evening he would 
 chatter away in his limping English until he took us 
 clean from the plain kitchen and the little farm 
 steading, to plunge us into courts and camps and 
 battlefields and all the wonders of the world. 
 Horscroft had been sulky enough with him at first ; 
 but de Lapp, with his tact and his easy ways, soon 
 drew him round, until he had quite won his heart, 
 and Jim would sit with Cousin Edie's hand in his, 
 and the two be quite lost in listening to all that he had 
 to tell us. I will not tell you all this ; but even now, 
 after so long an interval, I can trace how, week by 
 week and month by month, by this word and that 
 deed, he moulded us all as he wished. 
 
 One of his first acts was to give my father the 
 
72 The Great Shadow. ' 
 
 boat in which he had come, reserving only the right 
 to have it back in case he should have need of it. 
 The herring were down on the coast that autumn, 
 and my uncle before he died had given us a fine 
 set of nets, so the gift was worth many a pound to 
 us. Sometimes de Lapp would go out in the boat 
 alone, and I have seen him for a whole summer day 
 rowing slowly along and stopping every half-dozen 
 strokes to throw over a stone at the end of a string. 
 I could not think what he was doing until he told 
 me of his own freewill. 
 
 " I am fond of studying all that has to do with 
 the military," said he, " and I never lose a chance. 
 I was wondering if it would be a difficult matter for 
 the commander of an army corps to throw his men 
 ashore here." 
 
 " If the wind were not from the east," said I. 
 
 ''Ah ! quite so, if the wind were not from the 
 east. Have you taken soundings here?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 ''Your line of battleships would have to lie out- 
 side ; but there is water enough for a forty-gun 
 frigate right up within musket range. Cram your 
 boats with tirailleurs, deploy them behind these sand- 
 hills, then back with the launches for more, and a 
 stream of grape over their heads from the frigates. 
 It could be done ! it could be done ! " 
 
 His moustaches bristled out more like a cat's 
 than ever, and I could see by the flash of his eyes 
 that he was carried away by his dream. 
 
 " You forget that our soldiers would be upon the 
 beach," said I indignantly. 
 
 " Ta, ta, ta ! " he cried. " Of course it takes 
 
The Great Shadow, 73 
 
 two sides to make a battle. Let us see now ; let us 
 work it out. What could you get together ? Shall 
 we say twenty, thirty thousand. A few regiments 
 of good troops : the rest, pouf! — conscripts, bourgeois 
 with arms. How do you call them — volunteers ?" 
 
 *' Brave men ! " I shouted. 
 
 " Oh yes, very brave men, but imbecile. Ah, 
 mon Dieu, it is incredible how imbecile they would 
 be! Not they alone, I mean, but all young troops. 
 They are so afraid of being afraid that they would 
 take no precaution. Ah, I have seen it ! In Spain 
 I have seen a battalion of conscripts attack a battery 
 of ten pieces. Up they went, ah, so gallantly ! and 
 presently the hillside looked, from where I stood, 
 like — how do you say it in English ? — a raspberry 
 tart. And where was our fine battalion of con- 
 scripts ? Then another battalion of young troops 
 tried it, all together in a rush, shouting and yelling ; 
 but what will shouting do against a mitraille of 
 grape ? And there was our second battalion laid 
 out on the hillside. And then the foot chasseurs of 
 the Guard, old soldiers, were told to take the 
 battery ; and there was nothing fine about their 
 advance — no column, no shouting, nobody killed 
 — ^just a few scattered lines of tirailleurs and pelotons 
 of support ; but in ten minutes the guns were 
 silenced, and the Spanish gunners cut to pieces. 
 War must be learned, my young friend, just the same 
 as the farming of sheep." 
 
 " Pooh ! " said I, not to be outcrowed by a foreigner. 
 " If we had thirty thousand men on the line of the 
 hill yonder, you would come to be very glad that you 
 had your boats behind you." 
 
74 The Great Shadow. 
 
 *' On the line of the hill ?" said he, with a flash 
 of his eyes along the ridge. " Yes, if your man 
 knew his business he would have his left about your 
 house, his centre on Corriemuir, and his right over 
 near the doctor's house, with his tirailleurs pushed 
 out thickly in front. His horse, of course, would 
 try to cut us up as we deployed on the beach. But 
 once let us form, and we should soon know what to 
 do. There's the weak point, there at the gap. I 
 would sweep it with my guns, then roll in my 
 cavalry, push the infantry on in grand columns, and 
 that wing would find itself up in the air. Eh, Jack, 
 where would your volunteers be ?" 
 
 "Close at the heels of your hindmost man," said 
 I ; and we both burst out into the hearty laugh with 
 which such discussions usually ended. 
 
 Sometimes when he talked I thought he was 
 joking, and at other times it was not quite so 
 easy to say. I well remember one evening that 
 summer, when he was sitting in the kitchen with 
 my father, Jim, and me, after the women had gone 
 to bed, he began about Scotland and its relation to 
 England. 
 
 " You used to have your own king and your own 
 laws made at Edinburgh," said he. " Does it not 
 fill you with rage and despair when you think that 
 it all comes to you from London now?" 
 
 Jim took his pipe out of his mouth. 
 
 " It was we who put our king over the EngHsh ; 
 so if there's any rage, it should have been over 
 yonder," said he. 
 
 This was clearly news to the stranger, and it 
 silenced him for the moment. 
 
The Great Shadow. 75 
 
 " Well, but your laws are made down there, and 
 surely that is not good," he said at last. 
 
 ** No, it would be well to have a Parliament back 
 in Edinburgh," said my father ; " but I am kept so 
 busy with the sheep that I have little enough time 
 to think of such things." 
 
 " It is for line young men like you two to think 
 of it," said de Lapp. " When a country is injured, 
 it is to its young men that it looks to avenge it." 
 
 "Aye! the English take too much upon them- 
 selves sometimes," said Jim. 
 
 "Well, if there are many of that way of thinking 
 about, why should we not form them into battalions 
 and march them upon London ? " cried de Lapp. 
 
 "That would be a rare little picnic," said I, 
 laughing. "And who would lead us?" 
 
 He jumped up, bowing, with his hand on his 
 heart, in his queer fashion. 
 
 " If you will allow me to have the honour! " he 
 cried ; and then seeing that we were all laughing, he 
 began to laugh also, but I am sure that there was 
 really no thought of a joke in his mind. 
 
 I could never make out what his age could be, 
 nor could Jim Horscroft either. Sometimes we 
 thought that he was an oldish man that looked young, 
 and at others that he was a youngish man who 
 looked old. His brown, stiff, close-cropped hair 
 needed no cropping at the top, where it thinned 
 away to a shining curve. His skin too was inter- 
 sected by a thousand fine wrinkles, lacing and inter- 
 lacing, and was all burned, as I have already said, by 
 the sun. Yet he was as lithe as a boy, and he was 
 as tough as whalebone, walking all day over the 
 
76 The Great Shadow. 
 
 hills or rowing on the sea without turning a hair. 
 On the whole we thought that he might be about 
 forty or forty-five, though it was hard to see how he 
 could have seen so much of life in the time. But 
 one day we got talking of ages, and then he surprised 
 us. 
 
 I had been saying that I was just twenty, and 
 Jim said that he was twenty-seven. 
 
 " Then I am the most old of the three," said de 
 Lapp. 
 
 We laughed at this, for by our reckoning he might 
 almost have been our father. 
 
 '' But not by so much," said he, arching his brows. 
 " I was nine-and-twenty in December." 
 
 And it was this even more than his talk which 
 made us understand what an extraordinary life it 
 must have been that he had led. He saw our 
 astonishment, and laughed at it. 
 
 " I have lived ! I have lived ! " he cried. '' I 
 have spent my days and my nights. I led a com- 
 pany in a battle where five nations were enga^^ed 
 when I was but fourteen. I made a king turn pale 
 at the words I whispered in his ear when I was 
 twenty. I had a hand in re-making a kingdom and 
 putting a fresh king upon a great throne the very 
 year that I came of age. Mon Dieu, I have lived 
 my life ! " 
 
 That was the most that I ever heard him con- 
 fess of his past life, and he only shook his head and 
 laughed when we tried to get something more out of 
 him. There were times when we thought that he 
 was but a clever impostor ; for what could a man of 
 such influence and talents be loitering here in Ber- 
 
The Great Shadow. yy 
 
 wickshire for ? But one day there came an incident 
 which showed us that he had indeed a history in the 
 past. 
 
 You will remember that there was an old officer 
 of the Peninsula who Hved no great way from us, 
 the same who danced round the bonfire with his 
 sister and the two maids. He had gone up to 
 London on some business about his pension and his 
 wound money, and the chance of having some work 
 given him, so that he did not come back until late 
 in the autumn. One of the first days after his 
 return he came down to see us, and there for the 
 first time he clapped eyes upon de Lapp. Never in 
 my life did I look upon so astonished a face, and he 
 stared at our friend for a long minute without so 
 much as a word. De Lapp looked back at him 
 equally hard, but there was no recognition in his 
 eyes. 
 
 " I do not know who you are, sir," he said at 
 last ; " but you look at me as if you had seen me 
 before." 
 
 '* So I have," answered the major. 
 
 " Never to my knowledge." 
 
 *'But ril swear it." 
 
 "Where then?" 
 
 "At the village of Astorga, in the year '8." 
 
 De Lapp started, and stared again at our neigh- 
 bour. 
 
 ** Mon Dieu, what a chance!" he cried. "And 
 you were the English parliamentaire ? I remember 
 you very well indeed, sir. Let me have a whisper 
 in your ear." 
 
 He took him aside and talked very earnestly with 
 
yS The Great Shadow. 
 
 him in French for a quarter of an hour, gesticulating 
 with his hands, and explaining something, while the 
 major nodded his old grizzled head from time to 
 time. At last they seemed to come to some agree- 
 ment, and I heard the major say *^ Parole d'honneur'' 
 several times, and afterwards " Fortune de la guerre," 
 which I could very well understand, for they gave 
 you a fine upbringing at Birtwhistle's. But after 
 that I always noticed that the major never used the 
 same free fashion of speech that we did towards our 
 lodger, but bowed when he addressed him, and 
 treated him with a wonderful deal of respect. I 
 asked the major more than once what he knew about 
 him, but he always put if off, and I could get no 
 answer out of him. 
 
 Jim Horscroft was at home all that summer, but 
 late in the autumn he went back to Edinburgh again 
 for the winter session, and as he intended to work 
 very hard and get his degree next spring if he could, 
 he said that he would bide up there for the Christmas. 
 So there was a great leave-taking between him and 
 Cousin Edie ; and he was to put up his plate and 
 to marry her as soon as he had the right to practice. 
 I never knew a man love a woman more fondly than 
 he did her, and she liked him well enough in a way 
 — for, indeed, in the whole of Scotland she would 
 not find a finer-looking man — but when it came to 
 marriage, I think she winced a little at the thought 
 that all her wonderful dreams should end in nothing 
 more than in being the wife of a country surgeon. 
 Still there was only me and Jim to choose out of, 
 and she took the best of us. 
 
 Of course there was de Lapp also ; but we always 
 
The Great Shadow, 79 
 
 felt that he was of an altogether different class to 
 us, and so he didn't count. I was never very sure 
 at that time whether Edie cared for him or not. 
 When Jim was at home they took little notice 
 of each other. After he was gone they were thrown 
 more together, which was natural enough, as he had 
 taken up so much of her time before. Once or twice 
 she spoke to me about de Lapp as though she did 
 not like him, and yet she was uneasy if he were not 
 in in the evening ; and there was no one so fond of 
 his talk, orwith so many questions to ask him, as she. 
 She made him describe what queens wore, and what 
 sort of carpets they walked on, and whether they had 
 hairpins in their hair, and how many feathers they 
 had in their hats, until it was a wonder to me how he 
 could find an answer to it all. And yet an answer he 
 always had ; and was so ready and quick with his 
 tongue, and so anxious to amuse her, that I wondered 
 how it was that she did not like him better. 
 
 Well, the summer and the autumn and the best 
 part of the winter passed away, and we were still all 
 very happy together. We got well into the year 1815, 
 and the great Emperor was still eating his heart out 
 at Elba ; and all the ambassadors were wrangling 
 together at Vienna as to what they should do with 
 the lion's skin, now that they had so fairly hunted 
 him down. And we in our little corner of Europe 
 went on with our petty peaceful business, looking 
 after the sheep, attending the Berwick cattle fairs, 
 and chatting at night round the blazing peat fire. 
 We never thought that what all ^ these high and 
 mighty people were doing could have any bearing 
 upon us ; and as to war, why everybody was agreed 
 
8o The Great Shadow. 
 
 that the great shadow was hfted from us for ever, 
 and that, unless the AUies quarrelled among them- 
 selves, there would not be a shot fired in Europe for 
 another fifty years. 
 
 There was one incident, however, that stands out 
 very clearly in my memory. I think that it must 
 have happened about the February of this year, and 
 I will tell it to you before I go any further. 
 
 You know what the border Peel castles are like, 
 I have no doubt. They were just square heaps 
 built every here and there along the line, so that the 
 folk might have some place of protection against 
 raiders and mosstroopers. When Percy and his 
 men were over the Marches, then the people would 
 drive some of their cattle into the yard of the 
 tower, shut up the big gate, and light a fire in the 
 brazier at the top, which would be answered by all 
 the other Peel towers, until the lights would go 
 twinkling up to the Lammermuir Hills, and so carry 
 the news on to the Pentlands and to Edinburgh. 
 But now, of course, all these old keeps were warped 
 and crumbling, and made fine nesting places for the 
 wild birds. Many a good e^g have I had for my 
 collection out of the Corriemuir Peel Tower. 
 
 One day I had been a very long walk, away over 
 to leave a message at the Laidlaw Armstrongs, who 
 live two miles on this sideof Ayton. About five o'clock, 
 just before the sun set, I found myself on the brae 
 path, with the gable end of West Inch peeping up 
 in front of me and the old Peel tower lying on my 
 left. I turned my eyes on the keep, for it looked so 
 fine with the flush of the level sun beating TuU upon 
 it and the blue sea stretching out behind ; and as I 
 
The Great Shadow, 8i 
 
 stared, T suddenly saw the face of a man twinkle for 
 a moment in one of the holes in the wall. 
 
 Well, I stood and wondered over this, for what 
 could anybody be doing in such a place now that it 
 was too early for the nesting season ? It was so 
 queer that I was determined to come to the bottom 
 of it ; so, tired as I was, I turned my shoulder on 
 home, and walked swiftly towards the tower. The 
 grass stretches right up to the very base of the wall, 
 and my feet made little noise until I reached the 
 crumbling arch where the old gate used to be. I 
 peeped through, and there was Bonaventure de Lapp 
 standing inside the keep, and peeping out through 
 the very hole at which I had seen his face. He was 
 turned half away from me, and it was clear that he 
 had not seen me at all, for he was staring with all 
 his eyes over in the direction of West Inch. As I 
 advanced my foot rattled the rubble that lay in the 
 gateway, and he turned round with a start and faced 
 me. 
 
 He was not a man whom you could put out of 
 countenance, and his face changed no more than if 
 he had been expecting me there for a twelvemonth ; 
 but there was something in his eyes which let me 
 know that he would have paid a good price to have 
 me back on the brae path again. 
 
 " Hullo ! " said I, " what are you doing here ? " 
 
 *' I may ask you that," said he. 
 
 " I came up because I saw your face at the 
 window." 
 
 **And I because, as you may well have observed, 
 I have very much interest for all that has to do with 
 the military, and, of course, castles are among them, 
 
 5 
 
82 The Great Shadow. 
 
 You will excuse me for one moment, my dear 
 Jack." 
 
 And he stepped out suddenly through the hole in 
 the wall, so as to be out of my sight. 
 
 But I w^as very much too curious to excuse him 
 so easily. I shifted my ground swiftly to see what 
 it was that he was after. He was standing outside, 
 and waving his hand frantically, as in a signal. 
 
 "What are you doing?" I cried; and then, 
 running out to his side, I looked across the moors 
 to see whom he was beckoning to. 
 
 '' You go too far, sir," said he, angrily ; '' I didn't 
 thought you would have gone so far. A gentleman 
 has the freedom to act as he choose without your 
 being the spy upon him. If we are to be friends, 
 you must not interfere in my affairs." 
 
 *' I don't like these secret doings," said I, " and 
 my father would not like them either." 
 
 '' Your father can speak for himself, and there is 
 no secret," said he, curtly. "It is you with your 
 imaginings that make a secret. Ta, ta, ta ! I have 
 no patience with such foolishness." 
 
 And without as much as a nod, he turned his 
 back upon me, and started walking swiftly to West 
 Inch. 
 
 Well, I followed him, and in the worst of 
 tempers; for I had a feeling that there was some 
 mischief in the wind, and yet I could not for the 
 life of me think what it all meant. Again I found 
 myself puzzling over the whole mystery of this 
 man's coming, and of his long residence among us. 
 And whom could he have expected to meet at the 
 Peel Tower? Was the fellow a spy, and was it 
 
The Great Shadow, 83 
 
 some brother spy who came to speak with him 
 there ? But that was absurd. What could there 
 be to spy about in Berwickshire ? And besides, 
 Major ElUott knew all about him, and he would 
 not show him such respect if there were anything 
 amiss. 
 
 I had just got as far as this in my thoughts when 
 I heard a cheery hail, and there was the major him- 
 self coming down the hill from his house, with his 
 big bulldog Bounder held in leash. This dog was a 
 savage creature, and had caused more than one 
 accident on the country-side ; but the major was 
 very fond of it, and would never go out without it, 
 though he kept it tied with a good thick thong of 
 leather. Well, just as I was looking at the major, 
 waiting for him to come up, he stumbled with his 
 lame leg over a branch of gorse, and in recovering 
 himself he let go his hold of the leash, and in an 
 instant there was the beast of a dog flying down the 
 hillside in my direction. 
 
 I did not like it, I can tell you ; for there was 
 neither stick nor stone about, and I knew that the 
 brute was dangerous. The major was shrieking to 
 it from behind, and I think that the creature thought 
 that he was hallooing it on, so furiously did it rush. 
 But I knew its name, and I thought that maybe that 
 might give me the privileges of acquaintanceship ; 
 so as it came at me with bristling hair and its nose 
 screwed back between its two red eyes, I cried out 
 ** Bounder! Bounder!" at the pitch of my lungs. 
 It had its effect, for the beast passed me with a 
 snarl, and flew along the path on the traces of 
 Bonaventure de Lapp. 
 
 6 ♦ 
 
84 The Great Shadow. 
 
 He turned at, the shouting, and seemed to take 
 in the whole thing at a glance ; but he strolled along 
 as slowly as ever. My heart was in my mouth for 
 him, for the dog had never seen him before ; and I 
 ran as fast as my feet would carry me to drag it 
 away from him. But somehow, as it bounded up 
 and saw the twittering finger and thumb which de 
 Lapp held out behind him, its fury died suddenly 
 away, and we saw it wagging its thumb of a tail and 
 clawing at his knee. 
 
 '* Your dog then, major ?" said he, as its owner 
 came hobbling up. *'Ah, it is a fine beast — a fine, 
 pretty thing ! " 
 
 The major was blowing hard, for he had covered 
 the ground nearly as fast as I. 
 
 " I was afraid lest he might have hurt you," he 
 panted. 
 
 '' Ta, ta, ta ! " cried de Lapp. *' He is a pretty, 
 gentle thing; I always love the dogs. But I am 
 glad that I have met you, major ; for here is this 
 young gentleman, to whom I owe very much, who 
 has begun to think that I am a spy. Is it not so. 
 Jack?" 
 
 I was so taken aback by his words that I could 
 not lay my tongue to an answer, but coloured up 
 and looked askance, like the awkward country lad 
 that I was. 
 
 " You know me, major," said de Lapp, " and I 
 am sure that you will tell him that this could not 
 be." 
 
 " No, no, Jack ! Certainly not ! certainly not ! " 
 cried the major. 
 
 " Thank you," said de Lapp. '' You know me, 
 
The Great Shadow, 85 
 
 and you do me justice. And yourself, I hope that 
 your knee is better, and that you will soon have 
 your regiment given you." 
 
 ** I am well enough," answered the major; *' but 
 they will never give me a place unless there is war, 
 and there will be no more war in my time." 
 
 " Oh, you think that ! " said de Lapp with a 
 smile. " Well, nous verrons ! We shall see, my 
 friend ! " 
 
 He whisked off his hat, and turning briskly he 
 walked off in the direction of West Inch. The 
 major stood looking after him with thoughtful eyes, 
 and then asked me what it was that had made me 
 think that he was a spy. When I told him he said 
 nothing, but shook his head, and looked like a man 
 who was ill at ease in his mind. 
 
86 
 
 The Great Shadow. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Zhc Coming of tbe Cutter. 
 
 NEVER felt quite the same to our 
 lodger after that little business at 
 the Peel Castle. It was always'ln 
 my mind that he was holding a secret 
 from me — indeed, that he was all a 
 secret together, seeing that he always 
 hung a veil over his past. And when 
 by chance that veil was for an instant 
 whisked away, we always caught a 
 glimpse of something bloody and 
 violent and dreadful upon the other 
 side. The very look of his body was terrible. I 
 bathed with him once in the summer, and I saw 
 then that he was haggled with wounds all over. 
 Besides seven or eight scars and slashes, his ribs 
 on one side were all twisted out of shape, and a 
 part of one of his calves had been torn away. He 
 laughed in his merry way when he saw my face of 
 wonder. 
 
 "Cossacks! Cossacks!" said he, running his 
 hand over his scars. *'And the ribs were broke by 
 an artillery tumbril. It is very bad to have the guns 
 pass over one. Now with cavalry it is nothing. A 
 h(5rse will pick its steps however fast it may go. I 
 have been ridden over by fifteen hundred cuirassiers 
 and by the Russian hussars of Grodno, and I had 
 no harm from that. But guns are very bad." 
 
The Great Shadow. Sy 
 
 "And the calf?" I asked. 
 
 ^^ Pouf ! It is only a wolf bite," said he. "You 
 would not think how I came by it ! You will under- 
 stand that my horse and I had been struck, the 
 horse killed, and I with my ribs broken by the 
 tumbril. Well, it was cold — oh, bitter, bitter! — 
 the ground like iron, and no one to help the 
 wounded, so that they froze into such shapes as 
 would make you smile. I too felt that I was freez- 
 ing, so what did I do ? I took my sword, and I 
 opened my dead horse, so well as I could, and I 
 made space in him for me to lie, with one little hole 
 for my mouth. Sapristi ! It was warm enough there. 
 But there was not room for the entire of me, so my 
 feet and part of my legs stuck out. Then in the 
 night, when I slept, there came the wolves to eat 
 the horse, and they had a little pinch of me also, as 
 you can see ; but after that I was on guard with my 
 pistols, and they had no more of me. There I lived, 
 very warm and nice, for ten days." 
 
 " Ten days ! " I cried. " What did you eat ? " 
 
 "Why, I ate the horse. It was what you call 
 board and lodging to me. But of course I have 
 sense to eat the legs, and live in the body. There 
 were many dead about who had all their water 
 bottles, so I had all I could wish. And on the 
 eleventh day there came a patrol of light cavalry, 
 and all was well." 
 
 It was by such chance chats as these — hardly 
 worth repeating in themselves, — that there came 
 light upon himself and his past. But the day was 
 coming when we should know all ; and how it came 
 I shall try now to tell you. 
 
The Great Shadow. 
 
 The winter had been a dreary one, but with 
 March came the first signs of spring, and for a week 
 on end we had sunshine and winds from the south. 
 On the 7th Jim Horscroft was to come back from 
 Edinburgh ; for though the session ended with the 
 1st, his examination would take him a week. Edie 
 and I were out walking on the sea beach on the 6th, 
 and I could talk of nothing but my old friend — for, 
 indeed, he was the only friend of my own age that 
 I had at that time. Edie was very silent, which was 
 a rare thing with her ; but she listened smiling to all 
 that I had to say. 
 
 ''Poor old Jim!" said she once or twice under 
 her breath. " Poor old Jim ! " 
 
 "And if he has passed," said I, "why, then of 
 course he will put up his plate and have his own 
 house, and we shall be losing our Edie." 
 
 I tried to make a jest of it and to speak lightly, 
 but the words still stuck in my throat. 
 
 " Poor old Jim !" said she again, and there were 
 tears in her eyes as she said it. "And poor old 
 Jock ! " she added, slipping her hand into mine as 
 we walked. " You cared for me a httle bit once 
 also, didn't you, Jock ? Oh, is not that a sweet 
 little ship out yonder!" 
 
 It was a dainty cutter of about thirty tons, very 
 swift by the rake of her masts and the lines of her 
 bow. She was coming up from the south under jib, 
 foresail, and mainsail ; but even as we watched her 
 all her white canvas shut suddenly in, like a kittie- 
 wake closing her wings, and we saw the splash of 
 her anchor just under the bowsprit. She may have 
 been rather less than a quarter of a mile from the 
 
The Great Shadow. 89 
 
 shore — so near that I could see a tall man with a 
 peaked cap, who stood at the quarter with a tele- 
 scope to his eye, sweeping it backwards and forwards 
 along the coast. 
 
 " What can they want here ?" asked Edie. 
 
 "They are rich EngHsh from London," said I; 
 for that was how we explained everything that was 
 above our comprehension in the border counties. 
 We stood for the best part of an hour watching the 
 bonny craft, and then, as the sun was lying low on a 
 cloudbank and there was a nip in the evening air, we 
 turned back to West Inch. 
 
 As you come to the farmhouse from the front, 
 you pass up a garden, with little enough in it, which 
 leads out by a wicket-gate to the road; the same 
 gate at which we stood on the night when the 
 beacons were lit, the night that we saw Walter 
 Scott ride past on his way to Edinburgh. On the 
 right of this gate, on the garden side, was a bit of a 
 rockery which was said to have been made by my 
 father's mother many years before. She had 
 fashioned it out of water-worn stones and sea shells, 
 with mosses and ferns in the chinks. Well, as we 
 came in through the gates my eyes fell upon this 
 stone heap, and there was a letter stuck in a cleft 
 stick upon the top of it. I took a step forward to 
 see what it was, but Edie sprang in front of me, and 
 pluckin;; it off she thrust it into her pocket. 
 
 "That's for me," said she, laughing. 
 
 But I stood looking at her with a face which 
 drove the laugh from her lips. 
 
 "Who is it from, Edie?" I asked. 
 
 She pouted, but made no answer. 
 
90 
 
 The Great Shadow. 
 
 ^ 
 
 Who is it from, woman?" I cried. 
 " Is it possible that you have been 
 ^^^.» as false to Jim as you were 
 
 to me?" 
 
 " How rude you are, 
 Jock!" she cried. "I 
 do wish that you would 
 mind your own busi- 
 ness." 
 
 "There is only one 
 person that it could 
 be from," I cried. '' It 
 is from this man de 
 Lapp ! " 
 
 ''And suppose that 
 you are right, Jock ? " 
 
 The coolness of the 
 woman amazed and en- 
 raged me. 
 
 " You confess it ! " 
 I cried. " Have you, 
 then, no shame left?" 
 
 " Why should I not 
 receive letters from 
 this gentleman ? " 
 
 '' Because it is infamous." 
 
 "And why?" 
 
 " Because he is a stranger.' 
 
 "On the 
 husband ! " 
 
 contrary," said she, " he is my 
 
The Great Shadow. 
 
 91 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 c:be Doings at Tldest 3ncb. 
 
 CAN remember that moment so well. 
 I have heard from others that a 
 great, sudden blow has dulled their 
 senses. It was not so with me. On 
 the contrary, I saw and heard and 
 thought more clearly than I had 
 ever done before. I can remember 
 that my eyes caught a little knob of 
 marble as broad as my palm, which 
 was imbedded in one of the grey 
 stones of the rockery, and I found 
 time to admire its delicate mottling. And yet the 
 look upon my face must have been strange, for 
 Cousin Edie screamed, and leaving me she ran off 
 to the house. I followed her and tapped at the 
 window of her room, for I could see that she was 
 there. 
 
 ** Go away, Jock, go away ! " she cried. " You 
 are going to scold me ! I won't be scolded ! I 
 won't open the window! Go away!" 
 But I continued to tap. 
 " I must have a word with you ! " 
 "What is it, then?" she cried, raising the sash 
 about three inches. " The moment you begin to 
 scold I shall close it." 
 
 "Are you really married, Edie?" 
 " Yes, I am married." 
 
92 The Great Shadow. 
 
 " Who married you ? " 
 
 " Father Brennan, at the Roman Catholic Chapel 
 at Berwick." 
 
 "And you a Presbyterian ?" 
 
 '' He wished it to be in a CathoHc Church." 
 
 "When was it?" 
 
 " On Wednesday week." 
 
 I remembered then that on that day she had 
 driven over to Berwick, while de Lapp had been away 
 on a long walk, as he said, among the hills. 
 
 " What about Jim ? " I asked. 
 
 " Oh, Jim will forgive me ! " 
 
 " You will break his heart and ruin his life." 
 
 " No, no ; he will forgive me ! " 
 
 " He will murder de Lapp ! Oh, Edie, how could 
 you bring such disgrace and misery upon us ?" 
 
 "Ah, now you are scolding!" she cried, and 
 down came the window. 
 
 I waited some little time, and tapped, for I had 
 much still to ask her; but she would return no 
 answer, and I thought that I could hear her sob- 
 bing. At last I gave it up ; and I was about to go 
 into the house, for it was nearly dark now, when I 
 heard the click of the garden gate. It was de Lapp 
 himself. 
 
 But as he came up the path he seemed to me to 
 be either mad or drunk. He danced as he walked, 
 cracked his fingers in the air, and his eyes blazed 
 like two will-o'-the-wisps. " Voltigeurs I " he shouted ; 
 ^'Voltigeurs de la Garde!'' just as he had done when 
 he was off his head ; and then suddenly, ^' En avant ! 
 en avant!'' and up he came, waving his walking-cane 
 over his head. He stopped short when he saw me 
 
The Great Shadow. 93 
 
 looking at him, and I daresay he felt a bit ashamed 
 of himself. 
 
 *'Hola, Jock!" he cried. "I didn't thought 
 anybody was there. I am in what you call the high 
 spirits to-night." 
 
 *' So it seems!" said I, in my blunt fashion. 
 *' You may not feel .so merry when my friend Jim 
 Horscroft comes back to-morrow." 
 
 "Ah! he comes back to-morrow, does he? And 
 why should I not feel merry?" 
 
 ** Because, if I know the man, he will kill you." 
 
 " Ta, ta, ta!" cried de Lapp. "I see that you 
 know of our marriage. Edie has told you. Jim may 
 do what he likes." 
 
 *' You have given us a nice return for having 
 taken you in." 
 
 " My good fellow," said he, " I have, as you say, 
 given you a very nice return. I have taken Edie 
 from a life which is unworthy of her, and I have 
 connected you by marriage with a noble family. 
 However, I have some letters which I must write 
 to-night, and the rest we can talk over to-morrow, 
 when your friend Jim is here to help us." 
 
 He stepped towards the door. 
 
 "And this was whom you were awaiting at the 
 Peel Tower!" I cried, seeing light suddenly. 
 
 "Why, Jock, you are becoming quite sharp," 
 said he, in a mocking tone ; and an instant later I 
 heard the door of his room close and the key turn 
 in the lock. 
 
 I thought that I should see him no more that 
 night ; but a few minutes later he came into the 
 kitchen, where I was sitting with the old folk. 
 
94 The Great Shadow. 
 
 *' Madame," said he, bowing down with his hand 
 over his heart, in his own queer fashion, '' I have 
 met with much kindness in your hands, and it shall 
 always be in my heart. I didn't thought I could 
 have been so happy in the quiet country as you have 
 made me. You will accept this small souvenir; and 
 you also, sir, you will take this little gift, which I 
 have the honour to make to you." 
 
 He put two little paper packets down upon the 
 table at their elbows, and then, with three more 
 bows to my mother, he walked from the room. 
 
 Her present was a brooch, with a green stone set 
 in the middle and a dozen little shining white ones 
 all round it. We had never seen such things before, 
 and did not know how to set a name to them ; but 
 they told us afterwards at Berwick that the big one 
 was an emerald and the others were diamonds, and 
 that they were worth much more than all the lambs 
 we had that spring. My dear old mother has been 
 gone now this many a year, but that bonny brooch 
 sparkles at the neck of my eldest daughter when she 
 goes out into company ; and I never look at it that 
 I do not see the keen eyes and the long thin nose 
 and the cat's whiskers of our lodger at West Inch. 
 As to my father, he had a fine gold watch with a 
 double case ; and a proud man was he as he sat 
 with it in the palm of his hand, his ear stooping to 
 hearken to the tick. I do not know which was best 
 pleased, and they would talk of nothing but what de 
 Lapp had given them. 
 
 ''He's given you something more," said I at 
 last. 
 
 "What then, Jock?" asked father. 
 
The Great Shadow. 95 
 
 "A husband for Cousin Edie," said I. 
 
 They thought I was daffing when I said that ; 
 but when they came to understand that it was the 
 real truth, they were as proud and as pleased as if I 
 had told them that she had married the laird. 
 Indeed, poor Jim, with his hard drinking and his 
 fighting, had not a very bright name on the country- 
 side, and my mother had often said that no good 
 could come of such a match. Now, de Lapp was, 
 for all we knew, steady and quiet and well-to-do. 
 And as to the secrecy of it, secret marriages were 
 very common in Scotland at that time, when only a 
 few words were needed to make man and wife, so 
 nobody thought much of that. The old folk were as 
 pleased, then, as if their rent had been lowered ; but 
 I was still sore at heart, for it seemed to me that my 
 friend had been cruelly dealt with, and I knew well 
 that he was not a man who would easily put up 
 with it. 
 
96 
 
 The Great Shadow. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ^be IReturn ot tbe SbaDow. 
 
 WOKE with a heavy heart the next 
 morning, for I knew that Jim would 
 be home before long, and that it would 
 be a day of trouble. But how much 
 trouble that day was to bring, or how 
 far it would alter the lives of us, was 
 more than I had ever thought in my 
 darkest moments. But let me tell 
 you it all, just in the order that it 
 happened. 
 
 I had to get up early that morn- 
 ing ; for it was just the first flush of the lambing, 
 and my father and I were out on the moors as soon 
 as it was fairly light. As I came out into the passage 
 a wind struck upon my face, and there was the house 
 door wide open, and the grey light drawing another 
 door upon the inner wall. And when I looked again 
 there was Edie's room open also, and de Lapp's too; 
 and I saw in a flash what that giving of presents 
 meant upon the evening before. It was a leave- 
 taking, and they were gone. 
 
 My heart was bitter against Cousin Edie as I 
 stood looking into her room. To think that for the 
 sake of a new-comer she could leave us all without 
 one kindly word, or as much as a handshake. And 
 he, too ! I had been afraid of what would happen 
 when Jim met him ; but now there seemed to be 
 
The Great Shadow, 97 
 
 something cowardly in this avoidance of him. I 
 was angry and hurt and sore, and I went out into 
 the open without a word to my father, and climbed 
 up on to the moors to cool my flushed face. 
 
 When I got up to Corriemuir I caught my last 
 glimpse of Cousin Edie. The little cutter still lay 
 where she had anchored, but a rowboat was pulling 
 out to her from the shore. In the stern I saw a 
 flutter of red, and I knew that it came from her 
 shawl. I watched the boat reach the yacht and the 
 folk climb on to her deck. Then the anchor came 
 up, the white wings spread once more, and away she 
 dipped right out to sea. I still saw that little red 
 spot on the deck, and de Lapp standing beside 
 her. They could see me also, for I was outlined 
 against the sky, and they both waved their hands 
 for a long time, but gave it up at last when they 
 found that I would give them no answer. 
 
 I stood with my arms folded, feeling as glum as 
 ever I did in my life, until their cutter was only a 
 square bickering patch of white among the mists of 
 the morning. It was breakfast time and the por- 
 ridge upon the table before I got back, but I had no 
 heart for the food. The old folk had taken the 
 matter coolly enough, though my mother had no 
 word too hard for Edie ; for the two had never had 
 much love for each other, and less of late than 
 ever. 
 
 " There 's a letter here from him," said my 
 father, pointing to a note folded up on the table ; 
 " it was in his room. Maybe you would read it to 
 us." 
 
 They had not even opened it ; for, truth to tell, 
 7 
 
9 8 The Great Shadow. 
 
 neither of the good folk were very clever at reading 
 ink, though they could do well with a fine large 
 print. 
 
 It was addressed in big letters to " The Good 
 People of West Inch ; " and this was the note, which 
 lies before me all stained and faded as I write : 
 
 " My friends, — I didn't thought to have left you so 
 suddenly, but the matter was in other hands than mine. 
 Duty and honour have called me back to my old com- 
 rades. This you will doubtless understand before many 
 days are past. I take your Edie with me as my wife ; 
 and it may be that in some more peaceful time you will 
 see us again at West Inch. Meanwhile, accept the 
 assurance of my affection, and believe me that I shall 
 never forget the quiet months which I spent with you, 
 at the time when my life would have been worth a week 
 at the utmost had I been taken by the AUies. But the 
 reason of this you may also learn some day. 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 " BONAVENTURE DE LiSSAC 
 
 " (Colonel des Voltigeurs de la Garde, et aide-de-camp de 
 S.M.I. TEmpereur Napoleon)." 
 
 I whistled when I came to those words written 
 under his name ; for though I had long made up my 
 mind that our lodger could be none other than one 
 of those wonderful soldiers of whom we had heard 
 so much, who had forced their way into every capital 
 of Europe, save only our own, still I had little 
 thought that our roof covered Napoleon's own 
 aide-de-camp and a colonel of his Guard. 
 
 " So," said I, '' de Lissac is his name, and not 
 de Lapp. Well, colonel or no, it is as well for him 
 that he got away from here before Jim laid hands 
 
The Great Shadow. 99 
 
 upon him. And time enough, too," I added, peeping 
 out at the kitchen window, " for here is the man 
 himself coming through the garden." 
 
 I ran to the door to meet him, feehng that I 
 would have given a deal to have him back in Edin- 
 burgh again. He came running, waving a paper 
 over his head ; and I thought that maybe he had a 
 note from Edie, and that it was all known to him. 
 But as he came up I saw that it was a big, stiff, 
 yellow paper which crackled as he waved it, and that 
 his eyes were dancing with happiness. 
 
 *' Hurrah, Jock ! " he shouted. *' Where is Edie ? 
 Where is Edie?" 
 
 " What is it, man ?" I asked. 
 
 '* Where is Edie?" 
 
 "What have you there?" 
 
 '' It 's my diploma, Jock. I can practise when 
 I like. It 's all right. I want to show it to 
 Edie." 
 
 *' The best you can do is to forget all about 
 Edie," said I. 
 
 Never have I seen a man's face change as his 
 did when I said those words. 
 
 *'What! What d'ye mean, Jock Calder?" he 
 stammered. 
 
 He let go his hold of the precious diploma as he 
 spoke, and away it went over the hedge and across 
 the moor, where it stuck flapping on a whin-bush ; 
 but he never so much as glanced at it. His eyes 
 were bent upon me, and I saw the devil's spark 
 glimmer up in the depths of them. 
 
 *' She is not worthy of you," said I. 
 
 He gripped me by the shoulder. 
 
 7 * 
 
100 The Great Shadow. 
 
 '* What have you done ? " he whispered. '' This 
 is some of your hanky-panky ! Where is she ? " 
 
 " She 's off with that Frenchman who lodged here." 
 
 I had been casting about in my mind how I could 
 break it gently to him ; but I was always backward in 
 speech, and I could think of nothing better than this. 
 
 *' Oh !" said he, and stood nodding his head and 
 looking at me, though I knew very well that he could 
 neither see me, nor the steading, nor anything else. So 
 he stood for a minute or more, with his hands clenched 
 and his head still nodding. Then he gave a gulp in 
 his throat, and spoke in a queer dry, rasping voice. 
 
 '' When was this ?" said he. 
 
 ''This morning." 
 
 " Were they married ?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 He put his hand against the doorpost to steady 
 himself. 
 
 " Any message for me ? " 
 
 " She said that you would forgive her." 
 
 " May God blast my soul on the day I do ! 
 Where have they gone to?" 
 
 "To France, I should judge." 
 
 "His name was de Lapp, I think?" 
 
 " His real name is de Lissac ; and he is no less 
 than a colonel in Boney's guards." 
 
 " Ah ! he would be in Paris, likely. That is well ! 
 That is well ! " 
 
 "Hold up!" I shouted. "Father! Father! 
 Bring the brandy ! " 
 
 His knees had given way for an instant, but he 
 was himself again before the old man came running 
 with the bottle. 
 
The Great Shadow. loi 
 
 " Take it away ! " said he. 
 
 " Have a soop, Mister Horscroft," cried my father, 
 pressing it upon him. " It will give you fresh heart ! " 
 
 He caught hold of the bottle and sent it flying 
 over the garden hedge. 
 
 ** It 's very good for those who wish to forget," 
 said he ; "I am going to remember ! " 
 
 " May God forgive you for sinfu' waste ! " cried 
 my father aloud. 
 
 "And for well-nigh braining an officer of his 
 Majesty's infantry ! " said old Major Elliott, putting 
 his head over the hedge. *' I could have done with 
 a nip after a morning's walk, but it is something 
 new to have a whole bottle whizz past my ear. But 
 what is amiss, that you all stand round like mutes at 
 a burying ?" 
 
 In a few words I told him our trouble, while Jim, 
 with a grey face and his brows drawn down, stood 
 leaning against the doorpost. The major was as 
 glum as we by the time I had finished, for he was 
 fond both of Jim and of Edie. 
 
 ''Tut, tut!" said he. "I feared something of 
 the kind ever since that business of the Peel Tower. 
 It 's the way with the French. They can't leave the 
 women alone. But, at least, de Lissac has married 
 her, and that 's a comfort. But it 's no time now to 
 think of our own little troubles, with all Europe in 
 a roar again, and another twenty years' war before 
 us, as like as not." 
 
 " What d'ye mean ? " I asked. 
 
 ** Why, man. Napoleon's back from Elba, his 
 troops have flocked to him, and Louis has run for 
 his life. The news was in Berwick this morning." 
 
102 The Great Shadow, 
 
 ''Great Lord!" cried my father. ''Then the 
 weary business is all to do over again ! " 
 
 "Aye, we thought we were out from the shadow, 
 but it 's still there. Wellington is ordered from 
 Vienna to the Low Countries, and it is thought that 
 the Emperor will break out first on that side. Well, 
 it 's a bad wind that blows nobody any good. I 've 
 just had news that I am to join the 71st as senior 
 major." 
 
 I shook hands with our good neighbour on this, for 
 I knew how it had lain upon his mind that he should 
 be a cripple, with no part to play in the world. 
 
 " I am to join my regiment as soon as I can ; and 
 we shall be over yonder in a month, and in Paris, 
 maybe, before another one is over." 
 
 " By the Lord, then, I 'm with you, major !" cried 
 Jim Horscroft. " I 'm not too proud to carry a musket, 
 if you will put me in front of this Frenchman." 
 
 " My lad, I 'd be proud to have you serve under 
 me," said the major. "And as to de Lissac, where 
 the Emperor is he will be." 
 
 "You know the man," said L "What can you 
 tell us of him?" 
 
 "There is no better officer in the French army, 
 and that, is a big word to say. They say that he 
 would have been a marshal, but he preferred to stay 
 at the Emperor's elbow. I met him two days before 
 Corunna, when I was sent with a flag to speak about 
 our wounded. He was with Soult then. I knew 
 him again when I saw him." 
 
 "And I will know him again when I see him," 
 said Horscroft, with the old dour look on his face. 
 
 And then at that instant, as I stood there, it was 
 
The Great Shadow. 
 
 103 
 
 suddenly driven home to me how poor and purpose- 
 less a life I should lead while this crippled friend of 
 ours and the companion of my boyhood were away 
 in the forefront of the storm. Quick as a 
 flash, my resolution was taken. 
 
 *' I '11 come with you too, major," I cried. 
 
 "Jock ! Jock! " said my father, wringing 
 his hands. 
 
 Jim said nothing, but put his arm 
 half round me and hugged me. 
 The major's eyes shone and he 
 flourished his cane in the air. 
 
 " My word, but I shall have 
 two good recruits at my heels," 
 said he. " Well, there 's no time 
 to be lost, so you must both be 
 ready for the evening coach." 
 
 And this was what a single day 
 brought about ; and yet years pass 
 away so often without a change. 
 Just think of the alteration in 
 that four-and-twenty hours. De 
 Lissac was gone. Edie was gone. 
 Napoleon had escaped. War had 
 broken out. Jim Horscroft had lost 
 everything, and he and I were setting 
 out to fight against the French. It 
 was all like a dream, until I tramped off to the coach 
 that evening, and looked back at the grey farm stead- 
 ing and at the two little dark figures : my mother with 
 her face sunk in her Shetland shawl, and my father 
 waving his drover's stick to hearten me upon my way. 
 
104 
 
 The Great Shadow. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 ^be (5atberina of tbe IRations, 
 
 N D now I come to a bit of 
 my story that clean takes 
 my breath away as I think 
 of it, and makes me wish 
 that I had never taken the 
 job of telHng it in hand. For 
 when I write I Hke things to 
 come slow and orderly and in 
 their turn, like sheep coming 
 out of a paddock. So it was 
 at West Inch. But now that 
 we were drawn into a larger life, like wee 
 bits of straw that float slowly down some 
 lazy ditch, until they suddenly find them- 
 selves in the dash and swirl of a great river ; 
 then it is very hard for me with my simple 
 words to keep pace with it all. But you can find 
 the cause and reason of everything in the books 
 about history, and so I shall just leave that alone 
 and talk about what I saw with my own eyes and 
 heard with my own ears. 
 
 The regiment to which our friend had been 
 appointed was the 71st Highland Light Infantry, 
 which wore the red coat and the trews, and had its 
 depot in Glasgow town. There we went, all three, 
 by coach ; the major in great spirits and full of 
 stories about the Duke and the Peninsula, while Jim 
 
The Great Shadow. 105 
 
 sat in the corner with his lips set and his arms folded, 
 and I knew that he killed de Lissac three times an 
 hour in his heart. I could tell it by the sudden glint 
 of his eyes and grip of his hand. As to me, I did 
 not know whether to be glad or sorry ; for home is 
 home, and it is a weary thing, however you may 
 brazen it out, to feel that half Scotland is between 
 you and your mother. 
 
 We were in Glasgow next day, and the major 
 took us down to the depot, where a soldier with 
 three stripes on his arm and a fistful of ribbons from 
 his cap, showed every tooth he had in his head at the 
 sight of Jim, and walked three times round him to 
 have the view of him, as if he had been Carlisle 
 Castle. Then he came over to me and punched me 
 in the ribs and felt my muscle, and was nigh as 
 pleased as with Jim. 
 
 " These are the sort, major, these are the sort," 
 he kept saying. '' With a thousand of these we 
 could stand up to Boney's best." 
 
 *' How do they run ?" asked the major. 
 
 **Apoor show," said he, " but they may lick into 
 shape. The best men have been drafted to America, 
 and we are full of Militiamen and recruities." 
 
 "Tut, tut!" said the major. ''We'll have old 
 soldiers and good ones against us. Come to me if 
 you need any help, you two." 
 
 And so with a nod he left us, and we began to 
 understand that a major who is your officer is a very 
 different person from a major who happens to be your 
 neighbour in the country. 
 
 Well, well, why should I trouble you with these 
 things? I could wear out a good quill-pen just 
 
io6 . The Great Shadow. 
 
 writing about what we did, Jim and I, at the depot 
 in Glasgow ; and how we came to know our officers 
 and our comrades, and how they came to know us. 
 Soon came the news that the folk of Vienna, who 
 had been cutting up Europe as if it had been a 
 jigget of mutton, had flown back, each to his own 
 country, and that every man and horse in their 
 armies had their faces towards France. We heard 
 of great reviews and musterings in Paris too, and 
 then that Wellington was in the Low Countries, 
 and that on us and on the Prussians would fall the 
 first blow. The Government was shipping men over 
 to him as fast as they could, and every port along 
 the east coast was choked with guns and horses and 
 stores. On the third of June we had our marching 
 orders also, and on the same night we took ship from 
 Leith, reaching Ostend the night after. It was my 
 first sight of a foreign land, and indeed most of my 
 comrades were the same, for we were very young in 
 the ranks. I can see the blue waters now and the 
 curling surf line, and the long yellow beach, and 
 queer windmills twisting and turning — a thing that 
 a man would not see from one end of Scotland to 
 the other. It was a clean, well-kept town, but the 
 folk were under-sized, and there was neither ale nor 
 oatmeal cakes to be bought amongst them. 
 
 From there we went on to a place called Bruges ; 
 and from there to Ghent, where we picked up with 
 the 52nd and the 95th, which were the two regiments 
 that we were brigaded with. It 's a wonderful place 
 for churches and stonework is Ghent, and indeed of 
 all the towns we were in there was scarce one but 
 had a finer kirk than any in Glasgow. From there 
 
The Great Shadow. 107 
 
 we pushed on to Ath, which is a little village on a 
 river, or a burn rather, called the Dender. There 
 we were quartered — in tents mostly, for it was line 
 sunny weather — and the whole brigade set to work 
 at its drill from morning till evening. General 
 Adams was our chief, and Reynell was our colonel, and 
 they were both fine old soldiers ; but what put heart 
 into us most was to think that we were under the 
 Duke, for his name was like a bugle call. He was 
 at Brussels with the bulk of the army, but we knew 
 that we should see him quick enough" if he were 
 needed. 
 
 I had never seen so many English together, and 
 indeed I had a kind of contempt for them, as folk 
 always have if they live near a border. But the 
 two regiments that were with us now were as good 
 comrades as could be wished. The 52nd had a 
 thousand men in the ranks, and there were many, 
 old soldiers of the Peninsula among them. They 
 came from Oxfordshire for the most part. The 95th 
 were a rifle regiment, and had dark green coats 
 instead of red. It was strange to see them loading, 
 for they would put the ball into a greasy rag and 
 then hammer it down with a mallet, but they could 
 fire both further and straighter than we. All that 
 part of Belgium was covered with British troops at 
 that time ; for the Guards were over near Enghien, 
 and there were cavalry regiments on the further side 
 of us. You see, it was very necessary that Wellington 
 should spread out all his force, for Honey was behind 
 the screen of his fortresses, and of course we had no 
 means of saying on what side he might pop out, 
 except that he was pretty sure to come the way that 
 
io8 The Great Shadow. 
 
 we least expected him. On the one side he might 
 get between us and the sea, and so cut us off from 
 England ; and on the other he might shove in 
 between the Prussians and ourselves. But the Duke 
 was as clever as he, for he had his horse and his 
 light troops all round him, like a great spider's web, 
 so that the moment a French foot stepped across the 
 border he could close up all his men at the right 
 place. 
 
 For myself, I was very happy at Ath, and I found 
 the folk very kindly and homely. There was a 
 farmer of the name of Bois, in whose fields we were 
 quartered, and who was a real good friend to many 
 of us. We built him a wooden barn among us in 
 our spare time, and many a time I and Job Seaton, 
 my rear-rank man, have hung out his washing, for 
 the smell of the wet linen seemed to take us both 
 straight home as nothing else could do. I have 
 often wondered whether that good man and his wife 
 are still living, though I think it hardly likely, for 
 they were of a hale middle-age at the time. Jim 
 would come with us too, sometimes, and would sit 
 with us smoking in the big Flemish kitchen, but he 
 was a different Jim now to the old one. He had 
 always had a hard touch in him, but now his trouble 
 seemed to have turned him to flint, and I never saw 
 a smile upon his face, and seldom heard a word from 
 his lips. His whole mind was set on revenging him- 
 self upon de Lissac for having taken Edie from him, 
 and he would sit for hours with his chin upon his 
 hands glaring and frowning, all wrapped in the one 
 idea. This made him a bit of a butt among the 
 men at first, and they laughed at him for it ; but 
 
The Great Shadow, 109 
 
 when they came to know him better they found 
 that he was not a good man to laugh at, and then 
 they dropped it. 
 
 We were early risers at that time, and the whole 
 brigade was usually under arms at the flush of dawn. 
 One morning — it was the sixteenth of June — we had 
 just formed up, and General Adams had ridden up 
 to give some order to Colonel Reynell within a 
 musket-length of where I stood, when suddenly they 
 both stood staring along the Brussels road. None 
 of us dared move our heads, but every eye in the 
 regiment whisked round, and there we saw an 
 officer with the cockade of a general's aide-de-camp 
 thundering down the road as hard as a great dapple- 
 grey horse could carry him. He bent his face over 
 its mane and flogged at its neck with the slack of 
 the bridle, as though he rode for very life. 
 
 "Hullo, Reynell 1" says the general. "This 
 begins to look like business. What do you make 
 of it?" 
 
 They both cantered their horses forward, and 
 Adams tore open the dispatch which the messenger 
 handed to him. The wrapper had not touched the 
 ground before he turned waving the letter over his 
 head as if it had been a sabre. 
 
 " Dismiss ! " he cried. " General parade and 
 march in half-an-hour." 
 
 Then in an instant all was buzz and bustle, and 
 the news on every lip. Napoleon had crossed the 
 frontier the day before, had pushed the Prussians 
 before him, and was already deep in the country to 
 the east of us with a hundred and fifty thousand 
 men. Away we scuttled to gather our things 
 
no The Great Shadow. 
 
 together and have our breakfast, and in an hour we 
 had marched off and left Ath and the Dender 
 behind us for ever. There was good need for haste, 
 for the Prussians had sent no news to WelHngton of 
 what was doing, and though he had rushed from 
 Brussels at the first whisper of it, like a good old 
 mastiff from its kennel, it was hard to see hov/ he 
 could come up in time to help the Prussians. 
 
 It was a bright warm morning, and as the brigade 
 tramped down the broad Belgian road the dust 
 rolled up from it like the smoke of a battery. I tell 
 you that we blessed the man that planted the poplars 
 along the sides, for their shadow was better than 
 drink to us. Over across the fields, both to the right 
 and the left, were other roads, one quite close, and 
 the other a mile or more from us. A column of 
 infantry was marching down the near one, and it 
 was a fair race between us, for we were each walking 
 for all we were worth. There was such a wreath of 
 dust round them that we could only see the gun- 
 barrels and the bear-skins breaking out here and there, 
 with the head and shoulders of a mounted officer 
 coming out above the cloud, and the flutter of the 
 colours. It was a brigade of the Guards, but we 
 could not tell which, for we had two of them with 
 us in the campaign. On the far road there was also 
 dust and to spare, but through it there flashed every 
 now and then a long twinkle of brightness, like a 
 hundred silver beads threaded in a line ; and the 
 breeze brought down such a snarling, clanging, 
 clashing kind of music as I had never listened to. 
 If I had been left to myself it would have been long 
 before I knew what it was ; but our corporals and 
 
The Great Shadow. ill 
 
 sergeants were all old soldiers, and I had one trudg- 
 ing along with his halbert at my elbow, who was full 
 of precept and advice. 
 
 ''That's heavy horse," said he. ** You see that 
 double twinkle ? That means they have helmet as 
 well as cuirass. It's the Royals, or the Enniskillens, 
 or the Household. You can hear their cymbals and 
 kettles. The French heavies are too good for us. 
 They have ten to our one, and good men too. 
 You've got to shoot at their faces or else at their 
 horses. Mind you that when you see them coming, 
 or else you '11 find a four-foot sword stuck through 
 your liver to teach you better. Hark ! Hark ! 
 Hark ! There 's the old music again ? " 
 
 And as he spoke there came the low grumbling 
 of a cannonade away somewhere to the east of us, 
 deep and hoarse, like the roar of some blood-daubed 
 beast that thrives on the lives of men. At the same 
 instant there was a shouting of " Heh ! heh ! heh ! " 
 from behind, and somebody roared, '* Let the guns 
 get through ! " Looking back, I saw the rear com- 
 panies split suddenly in two and hurl themselves 
 down on either side into the ditch, while six cream- 
 coloured horses, galloping two and two with their 
 bellies to the ground, came thundering through the 
 gap with a fine twelve-pound gun whirling and 
 creaking behind them. Behind were another, and 
 another, four-and-twenty in all, flying past us with 
 such a din and clatter, the blue-coated men clinging 
 on to the gun and the tumbrils, the drivers cursing 
 and cracking their whips, the manes flying, the 
 mops and buckets clanking, and the whole air filled 
 with the heavy rumble and the jingling of chains. 
 
112 The Great Shadow. V ^ 
 
 There was a roar from the ditches, and a shout from 
 the gunners, and we saw a rolHng grey cloud before 
 us, with a score of busbies breaking through the 
 shadow. Then we closed up again, while the growling 
 ahead of us grew louder and deeper than ever. 
 
 '' There 's three batteries there," said the sergeant. 
 "There's Bull's and Webber Smith's, but the other 
 is new. There's some more on ahead of us, for 
 here is the track of a nine-pounder, and the others 
 were all twelves. Choose a twelve if 3^ou want to 
 get hit ; for a nine mashes you up, but a twelve 
 snaps you like a carrot." And then he went on to 
 tell about the dreadful wounds that he had seen, 
 until my blood ran like iced water in my veins, and 
 you might have rubbed all our faces in pipeclay and 
 we should have been no whiter. *' Aye, you'll look 
 sicklier yet, when you get a hatful of grape into your 
 tripes," said he. 
 
 And then, as I saw some of the old soldiers 
 laughing, I began to understand that this man was 
 trying to frighten us ; so I began to laugh also, 
 and the others as well, but it was not a very hearty 
 laugh either. 
 
 The sun was almost above us when we stopped 
 at a little place called Hal, where there is an old 
 pump from which I drew and drank a shako full of 
 water — and never did a mug of Scotch ale taste as 
 sweet. More guns passed us here, and Vivian's 
 Hussars, three regiments of them, smart men with 
 bonny brown horses, a treat to the eye. The noise 
 of the cannons was louder than ever now, and it 
 tingled through my nerves just as it had done years 
 before, when, with Edie by my side, I had seen 
 
The Great Shadow, 113 
 
 the merchant-ship fight with the privateers. It was 
 so loud now that it seemed to me that the battle 
 must be going on just beyond the nearest wood, but 
 my friend the sergeant knew better. 
 
 *' It 's twelve to fifteen mile off," said he. " You 
 may be sure the general knows we are not wanted, 
 or we should not be resting here at Hal." 
 
 What he said proved to be true, for a minute 
 later down came the colonel with orders that we 
 should pile arms and bivouac where we were ; and 
 there we stayed all day, while horse and foot and 
 guns, English, Dutch, and Hanoverians, were 
 streaming through. The devil's music went on 
 till evening, sometimes rising into a roar, sometimes 
 sinking into a grumble, until about eight o'clock in 
 the evening it stopped altogether. We were eating 
 our hearts out, as you may think, to know what it 
 all meant, but we knew that what the Duke did 
 would be for the best, so we just waited in 
 patience. 
 
 Next day the brigade remained at Hal in the 
 morning, but about mid-day came an orderly from 
 the Duke, and we pushed on once more until we 
 came to a little village called Braine something, and 
 there we stopped ; and time too, for a sudden 
 thunderstorm broke over us, and a plump of rain 
 that turned all the roads and the fields into bog and 
 mire. We got into the barns at this village for 
 shelter, and there we found two stragglers — one 
 from a kilted regiment, and the other a man of the 
 German Legion, who had a tale to tell that was as 
 dreary as the weather. 
 
 Boney had thrashed the Prussians the day before, 
 
114 ^^^^ Great Shadow. 
 
 and our fellows had been sore put to it to hold their 
 own against Ney, but had beaten him off at last. 
 It seems an old stale story to you now, but you can- 
 not think how we scrambled round those two men 
 in the barn, and pushed and fought, just to catch a 
 word of what they said, and how those who had 
 heard were in turn mobbed by those who had not. 
 We laughed and cheered and groaned all in turn as 
 we heard how the 44th had received cavalry in line, 
 how the Dutch-Belgians had fled, and how the 
 Black Watch had taken the Lancers into their 
 square, and then had killed them at their leisure. 
 But the Lancers had had the laugh on their side 
 when they crumpled up the 6gth and carried off 
 one of the colours. To wind it all up, the Duke 
 was in retreat in order to keep in touch with the 
 Prussians, and it was rumoured that he would take 
 up his ground and fight a big battle just at the 
 very place where we had been halted. 
 
 And soon we saw that this rumour was true ; for 
 the weather cleared towards evening, and we were 
 all out on the ridge to see what we could see. 
 It was such a bonny stretch of corn and grazing 
 land, with the crops just half green and half yellow, 
 and fine rye as high as a man's shoulder. A scene 
 more full of peace you could not think of, and 
 look where you would over the low curving corn- 
 covered hills, you could see the little village steeples 
 pricking up their spires among the poplars. But 
 slashed right across this pretty picture was a long 
 trail of marching men — some red, some green, 
 some blue, some black — zigzagging over the plain 
 and choking the roads, one end so close that we 
 
The Great Shadow. 115 
 
 could shout to them as they stacked their muskets 
 on the ridge at our left, and the other end lost 
 among the woods as far as we could see. And 
 then on other roads we saw the teams of horses 
 toiling and the dull gleam of the guns, and the 
 men straining and swaying as they helped, to turn 
 the spokes in the deep, deep mud. As we stood 
 there, regiment after regiment and brigade after 
 brigade took position on the ridge, and ere the sun 
 had set we lay in a line of over sixty thousand 
 men, blocking Napoleon's way to Brussels. But 
 the rain had come swishing down again, and we of 
 the 71st rushed off to our barn once more, where 
 we had better quarters than the greater part of our 
 comrades, who lay stretched in the mud with the 
 storm beating upon them until the first peep 
 of day. 
 
 8* 
 
Ii6 
 
 The Great Shadow. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Zbc SbaDow on tbe XanD. 
 
 T was still drizzling in the morning, with 
 brown drifting clouds and a damp 
 chilly wind. It was a queer thing 
 for me as I opened my eyes to think 
 that I should be in a battle that day, 
 though none of us ever thought it 
 would be such a one as it proved to 
 be. We were up and ready, how- 
 ever, with the first light, and as we 
 threw open the doors of our barn 
 we heard the most lovely music that 
 I had ever listened to playing somewhere in the 
 distance. We all stood in clusters hearkening to it, 
 it w^as so sweet and innocent and sad-like. But 
 our sergeant laughed when he saw how it pleased 
 us all. 
 
 " Them are the French bands," said he ; '' and 
 if you come out here you'll see what some of you 
 may not live to see again." 
 
 Out we went, the beautiful music still sounding 
 in our ears, and stood on a rise just outside the 
 barn. Down below at the bottom of the slope, 
 about half a musket-shot from us was a snug tiled 
 farm with a hedge and a bit of an apple orchard. 
 All round it a line of men in red coats and high fur 
 hats were working like bees, knocking holes in the 
 wall and barring up the doors. 
 
The Great Shadow. 117 
 
 "Them's the Hght companies of the Guards," 
 said the sergeant. " They '11 hold that farm 
 while one of them can wag a finger. But look 
 over yonder and you '11 see the camp fires of the 
 French." 
 
 We looked across the valley at the low ridge upon 
 the further side, and saw a thousand little yellow 
 points of flame with the dark smoke wreathing up 
 in the heavy air. There was another farm-house on 
 the further side of the valley, and as we looked we 
 suddenly saw a little group of horsemen appear 
 on a knoll beside it and stare across at us. There 
 were a dozen Hussars behind, and in front five 
 men, three with helmets, one with a long straight 
 red feather in his hat, and the last with a low 
 cap. 
 
 "By God!" cried the sergeant, "that's him! 
 That 's Boney, the one with the grey horse. Aye, 
 I '11 lay a month's pay on it." 
 
 I strained my eyes to see him, this man who had 
 cast that great shadow over Europe, which darkened 
 the nations for five-and-twenty years, and which had 
 even fallen across our out-of-the-world little sheep- 
 farm, and had dragged us all — myself, Edie, and 
 Jim — out of the lives that our folk had lived before 
 us. As far as I could see, he was a dumpy, 
 square-shouldered kind of man, and he held his 
 double glasses to his eyes with his elbows spread 
 very wide out on each side. I was still staring 
 when I heard the catch of a man's breath by 
 my side, and there was Jim with his eyes glow- 
 ing like two coals, and his face thrust over my 
 shoulder. 
 
ii8 
 
 The Great Shadow. 
 
 what- 
 It is 
 
 " That 's he, Jock," he whispered. 
 
 *'Yes, that's Boney," said I. 
 ' *' No, no, it's he.- This de 
 Lapp or de Lissac, or 
 ever his devil's name is. 
 he." 
 
 Then I saw him 
 It was the horse- 
 man with the high 
 red feather in his 
 hat. Even at that 
 distance I could have sworn to 
 the slope of his shoulders and 
 the way he carried his head. 
 I clapped my hands upon Jim's 
 sleeve, for I could see that his 
 blood was boiling at the sight of 
 the man, and that he was ready for 
 any madness. But at that moment 
 Buonaparte seemed to lean over 
 and say something to de Lissac, 
 and the party wheeled and dashed 
 away, while there came the bang of 
 a gun and a white spray of smoke 
 from a battery along the ridge. At 
 the same instant the assembly was blown in our 
 village, and we rushed for our arms and fell in. 
 There was a burst of firing all along the line, and 
 we thought that the battle had begun ; but it came 
 really from our fellows cleaning their pieces, for their 
 priming was in some danger. of being wet from the 
 damp night. 
 
 From where we stood 
 
 it was a sight now that 
 
The Great Shadow, iig 
 
 was worth coming over the seas to see. On our own 
 ridge was the checquer of red and blue stretching 
 right away to a village over two miles from us. It 
 was whispered from man to man in the ranks, how- 
 ever, that there was too much of the blue and too 
 little of the red ; for the Belgians had shown on the 
 day befere that their hearts were too soft for the 
 work, and we had twenty thousand of them for 
 comrades. Then, even our British troops were half 
 made up of militiamen and recruits ; for the pick of 
 the old Peninsular regiments were on the ocean in 
 transports, coming back from some fool's quarrel 
 with our kinsfolk of America. But for all that we 
 could see the bearskins of the Guards, two strong 
 brigades of them, and the bonnets of the High- 
 landers, and the blue of the old German Legion, 
 and the red lines of Pack's brigade, and Kempt's 
 brigade and the green dotted riflemen in front, and 
 we knew that come what might these were men who 
 would bide where they were placed, and that they 
 had a man to lead them who would place them 
 where they should bide. 
 
 Of the French we had seen little save the twinkle 
 of their fires, and a few horsemen here and there 
 upon the curves of the ridge ; but as we stood and 
 waited there came suddenly a grand blare from their 
 bands, and the whole army came flooding over the 
 low hill which had hid them, brigade after brigade 
 and division after division, until the broad slope in 
 its whole length and depth was blue with their 
 uniforms and bright with the glint of their weapons. 
 It seemed that they would never have done, still 
 pouring over and pouring over, while our men leaned 
 
120 The Great Shadow. 
 
 on their muskets and smoked their pipes looking down 
 at this grand gathering and hstening to what the 
 old soldiers who had fought the French before had 
 to say about them. Then when the infantry had 
 formed in long deep masses their guns came whirling 
 and bounding down the slope, and it was pretty to 
 see how smartly they unlimbered and were ready 
 for action. And then at a stately trot down came 
 the cavalry, thirty regiments at the least, with plume 
 and breastplate, twinkling sword and fluttering 
 lance, forming up at the flanks and rear, in long 
 shifting, glimmering lines. 
 
 "Them's the chaps!" cried our sergeant. 
 " They 're gluttons to fight, they are. And you see 
 them regiments with the great high hats in the 
 middle, a bit behind the farm ? That 's the Guard, 
 twenty thousand of them, my sons, and all picked 
 men — grey-headed devils that have done nothing but 
 fight since they were as high as my gaiters. They've 
 three men to our two, and two guns to our one, and, 
 by God ! they '11 make you recruities wish you were 
 back in Argyle Street before they have finished with 
 you." 
 
 He was not a cheering man, our sergeant ; but 
 then he had been in every fight since Corunna, and 
 had a medal with seven clasps upon his breast, so 
 that he had a right to talk in his own fashion. 
 
 When the Frenchmen had all arranged them- 
 selves just out of cannon-shot we saw a small group of 
 horsemen, all in a blaze with silver and scarlet and 
 gold, ride swiftly between the divisions, and as they 
 went a roar of cheering burst out from either side 
 of them, and we could see aims outstretched to them 
 
The Great Shadow, 121 
 
 and hands waving. An instant later the noise had 
 died away, and the two armies stood facing each 
 other in absolute deadly silence — a sight which often 
 comes back to me in my dreams. Then, of a sudden, 
 there was a lurch among the men just in front of 
 us ; a thin column wheeled off from the dense blue 
 clump, and came swinging up towards the farm- 
 house which lay below us. It had not taken fifty 
 paces before a gun banged out from an English 
 battery on our left, and the Battle of Waterloo had 
 begun. 
 
 It is not for me to try to tell you the story of 
 that battle, and, indeed, I should have kept far 
 enough away from such a thing had it not happened 
 that our own fates, those of the three simple folk 
 who came from the border country, were all just as 
 much mixed up in it as those of any king or emperor 
 of them all. To tell the honest truth, I have learned 
 more about that battle from what I have read than 
 from what I saw, for how much could I see with a 
 comrade on either side, and a great white cloudbank 
 at the very end of my firelock ? It was from books 
 and the talk of others that I learned how the heavy 
 cavalry charged, how they rode over the famous 
 cuirassiers, and how they were cut to pieces before 
 they could get back. From them, too, I learned 
 all about the successive assaults, and how the 
 Belgians fled, and how Pack and Kempt stood firm. 
 But of my own knowledge I can only speak of what 
 we saw during that long day in the rifts of the 
 smoke and the lulls of the firing, and it is just of 
 that that I will tell you. 
 
 We were on the right of the line and in reserve, 
 
122 The Great Shadow. 
 
 for the Duke was afraid that Boney might work 
 round on that side and get at him from behind ; so 
 our three regiments, with another British brigade 
 and the Hanoverians, were placed there to be ready 
 for anything. There were two brigades of hght 
 cavalr}^, too; but the French attack was all from 
 the front, so it was late in the day before we were 
 really wanted. 
 
 The Enghsh battery which fired the first gun was 
 still banging away on our left, and a German one 
 was hard at work upon our right, so that we were 
 wrapped round with the smoke ; but we were not so 
 hidden as to screen us from a line of French guns 
 opposite, for a score of round shot came piping 
 through the air and plumped right into the heart of 
 us. As I heard the scream of them past my ear 
 my head went down like a diver, but our sergeant 
 gave me a prod in the back with the handle of his 
 halbert. 
 
 "Don't be so blasted polite," said he; ''when 
 you 're hit, you can bow once and for all." 
 
 There was one of those balls that knocked five 
 men into a bloody mash, and I saw it lying on the 
 ground afterwards like a crimson football. Another 
 went through the adjutant's horse with a plop like a 
 stone in the mud, broke its back, and left it lying 
 like a burst gooseberry. Three more fell further to 
 the right, and by the stir and cries we could tell 
 that they had all told. 
 
 "Ah! James, you 've lost a good mount," says 
 Major Reed, just in front of me, looking down at 
 the adjutant, whose boots and breeches were all 
 running with blood. 
 
The Great Shadow. 123 
 
 " I gave a cool fifty for him in Glasgow," said 
 the other. '' Don't you think, major, that the men 
 had better lie down now that the guns have got our 
 range ?" 
 
 ** Tut ! " said the other ; '* they are young, James, 
 and it will do them good." 
 
 " They'll get enough of it before the day's done," 
 grumbled the other ; but at that moment Colonel 
 Reynell saw that the Rifles and the 52nd were down 
 on either side of us, so we had the order to stretch 
 ourselves out too. Precious glad we were when we 
 could hear the shot whining like hungry dogs within 
 a few feet of our backs. Kven now a thud and a 
 splash every minute or so, with a yelp of pain and a 
 drumming of boots upon the ground, told us that 
 we were still losing heavily. 
 
 A thin rain was falling and the damp air held the 
 smoke low, so that we could only catch glimpses of 
 what was doing just in front of us, though the roar 
 of the guns told us that the battle was general all 
 along the lines. Four hundred of them were all 
 crashing at once now, and the noise was enough to 
 split the drum of your ear. Indeed, there was not 
 one of us but had a singing in his head for many a 
 long day afterwards. Just opposite us on the slope 
 of the hill was a French gun, and we could see the 
 men serving her quite plainly. They were small 
 active men, with very tight breeches and high hats 
 with great straight plumes sticking up from them ; 
 but they worked like sheep-shearers, running and 
 sponging and training. There were fourteen when I 
 saw them first, and only four left standing at the last, 
 but they were working away just as hard as ever. 
 
124 The Great Shadow. 
 
 ■ The farm that they called Hougoumont was 
 down in front of us, and all the morning we could 
 see that a terrible fight was going on there, for the 
 walls and the windows and the orchard hedges were 
 all flame and smoke, and there rose such shrieking 
 and crying from it as I never heard before. It was 
 half burned down, and shattered with balls, and ten 
 thousand men were hammering at the gates ; but 
 four hundred guardsmen held it in the morning and 
 two hundred held it in the evening, and no French 
 foot was ever set within its threshold. But how they 
 fought, those Frenchmen ! Their lives were no more 
 to them than the mud under their feet. There was 
 one — I can see him now — a stoutish ruddy man on 
 a crutch. He hobbled up alone in a lull of the firing 
 to the side gate of Hougoumont and he beat upon 
 it, screaming to his men to come after him. For 
 five minutes he stood there, strolling about in front 
 of the gun-barrels which spared him, but at last a 
 Brunswick skirmisher in the orchard flicked out his 
 brains with a rifle shot. And he was only one of 
 many, for all day when they did not come in masses 
 they came in twos and threes with as brave a face 
 as if the whole army were at their heels. 
 
 So we lay all morning, looking down at the fight 
 at Hougoumont; but soon the Duke saw that there 
 was nothing to fear upon his right, and so he began 
 to use us in another way. 
 
 The French had pushed their skirmishers past 
 the farm, and they lay among the young corn in 
 front of us popping at the gunners, so that three 
 pieces out of six on our left were lying with their men 
 strewed in the mud all round them. But the Duke 
 
The Great Shadow. 125 
 
 ^ . 
 
 had his eyes everywhere, and up he galloped at that 
 moment — a thin, dark, wiry man with very bright 
 eyes, a hooked nose, and big cockade on his cap. 
 There were a dozen officers at his heels, all as merry 
 as if it were a foxhunt, but of the dozen there was 
 not one left in the evening. 
 
 "Warm work, Adams," said he as he rode up. 
 
 " Very warm, your grace," said our general. 
 
 '* But we can outstay them at it, I think. Tut, 
 tut, we cannot let skirmishers silence a battery ! 
 Just drive those fellows out of that, Adams." 
 
 Then first I knew what a devil's thrill runs 
 through a man when he is given a bit of fighting to 
 do. Up to now we had just lain and been killed, 
 which is the weariest kind of work. Now it was 
 our turn, and, my word, we were ready for it. Up 
 we jumped, the whole brigade, in a four-deep line, 
 and rushed at the cornfield as hard as we could tear. 
 The skirmishers snapped at us as we came, and then 
 away they bolted like corncrakes, their heads down, 
 their backs rounded, and their muskets at the trail. 
 Half of them got away; but we caught up the 
 others, the officer first, for he was a very fat man 
 who could not run fast. It gave me quite a turn 
 when I saw Rob Stewart, on my right, stick his 
 bayonet into the man's broad back and heard him 
 howl like a damned soul. There was no quarter in 
 that field, and it was butt or point for all of them. 
 The men's blood was aflame, and little wonder, for 
 these wasps had been stinging all morning without 
 our being able so much as to see them. 
 
 And now, as we broke through the further edge 
 of the cornfield, we got in front of the smoke, and 
 
126 The Great Shadow. 
 
 there was the whole French army in position before 
 us, with only two meadows and a narrow lane 
 between us. We set up a yell as we saw them, and 
 away we should have gone slap at them if we had 
 been left to ourselves ; for silly young soldiers never 
 think that harm can come to them until it is there 
 in their midst. But the Duke had cantered his 
 horse beside us as we advanced, and now he roared 
 something to the general, and the officers all rode in 
 front of our line holding out their arms for us to 
 stop. There was a blowing of bugles, a pushing 
 and a shoving, with the sergeants cursing and dig- 
 ging us with their halberts ; and in less time than it 
 takes me to write it, there was the brigade in three 
 neat little squares, all bristling with bayonets and in 
 echelon, as they call it, so that each could fire across 
 the face of the other. 
 
 It was the saving of us, as even so young a 
 soldier as I was could very easily see ; and we had 
 none too much time either. . There was a low 
 rolling hill on our right flank, and from behind this 
 there came a sound like nothing on this earth so 
 much as the beat of the waves on the Berwick coast 
 when the wind blows from the east. The earth was 
 all shaking with that dull roaring sound, and the air 
 was full of it. 
 
 " Steady, 71st ! for God's sake, steady 1 " shrieked 
 the voice of our colonel behind us ; but in front was 
 nothing but the green gentle slope of the grassland, 
 all mottled with daisies and dandelions. 
 
 And then suddenly over the curve we saw eight 
 hundred brass helmets rise up, all in a moment, each 
 with a long tag of horsehair flying from its crest ; 
 
The Great Shadow. 127 
 
 and then eight hundred fierce brown faces all pushed 
 forward, and glaring out from between the ears of 
 as many horses. There was an instant of gleaming 
 breastplates, waving swords, tossing manes, fierce 
 red nostrils opening and shutting, and hoofs pawing 
 the air before us ; and then down came the line of 
 muskets, and our bullets smacked up against their 
 armour like the clatter of a hailstorm upon a 
 window. I fired with the rest, and then rammed 
 down another charge as fast as I could, staring out 
 through the smoke in front of me, where I could see 
 some long, thin thing which flapped slowly back- 
 wards and forwards. A bugle sounded for us to 
 cease firing, and a whiff of wind came to clear the 
 curtain from in front of us, and then we could see 
 what had happened. 
 
 I had expected to see half that regiment of horse 
 lying on the ground ; but whether it was that their 
 breastplates had shielded them, or whether, being 
 young and a little shaken at their coming; we had 
 fired high, our volley had done no very great harm. 
 About thirty horses lay about, three of them together 
 within ten yards of me, the middle one right on its 
 back with its four legs in the air, and it was one of 
 these I had seen flapping through the smoke. Then 
 there were eight or ten dead men and about as many 
 wounded, sitting dazed on the grass for the most 
 part, though one was shouting ^*Vive V Empereur ! '^ 
 at the top of his voice. Another fellow who had 
 been shot in the thigh — a great black-moustached 
 chap he was too — leaned his back against his dead 
 horse and, picking up his carbine, fired as coolly as 
 if he had been shooting for a prize, and hit Angus 
 
128 The Great Shadow. 
 
 Myres, who was only two from me, right through 
 the forehead. Then he out with his hand to get 
 another carbine that lay near, but before he could 
 reach it big Hodgson, who was the pivot man of the 
 Grenadier company, ran out and passed his bayonet 
 through his throat, which was a pity, for he seemed 
 to be a very fine man. 
 
 At first I thought that the cuirassiers had run 
 away in the smoke ; but they were not men who did 
 that very easily. Their horses had swerved at our 
 volley, and they had raced past our square and 
 taken the fire of the two other ones beyond. Then 
 they broke through a hedge, and coming on a regi- 
 ment of Hanoverians who were in line, they treated 
 them as they would have treated us if we had not 
 been so quick, and cut them to pieces in an instant. 
 It was dreadful to see the big Germans running and 
 screaming while the cuirassiers stood up in their 
 stirrups to have a better sweep for their long, heavy 
 swords, and cut and stabbed without mercy. I do 
 not believe that a hundred men of that regiment 
 were left alive ; and the Frenchmen came back 
 across our front, shouting at us and waving their 
 weapons, which were crimson down to the hilts. 
 This they did to draw our fire, but the colonel was 
 too old a soldier ; for we could have done little harm 
 at the distance, and they would have been among 
 us before we could reload. 
 
 These horsemen got behind the ridge on our 
 right again, and we knew very well that if we opened 
 up from the squares they would be down upon us in 
 a twinkle. On the other hand, it was hard to bide 
 as we were; for they had passed the word to a 
 
The Great Shadow, 129 
 
 battery of twelve guns, which formed up a few 
 hundred yards away from us, but out of our sight, 
 sending their balls just over the brow and down into 
 the midst of us, which is called a plunging fire. And 
 one of their gunners ran up on to the top of the 
 slope and stuck a handspike into the wet earth to 
 give them a guide, under the very muzzles of the 
 whole brigade, none of whom fired a shot at him, 
 each leaving him to the other. Ensign Samson, who 
 was the youngest subaltern in the regiment, ran out 
 from the square and pulled down the handspike ; but 
 quick as a Jack after a minnow, a lancer came flying 
 over the ridge, and he made such a thrust from 
 behind that not only his point, but his pennon too 
 came out between the second and third buttons of 
 the lad's tunic. " Helen ! Helen !" he shouted, and 
 fell dead on his face, while the lancer, blown half to 
 pieces with musket balls, toppled over beside him, 
 still holding on to his weapon, so that they lay 
 together with that dreadful bond still connecting 
 them. 
 
 But when the battery opened there was no time 
 for us to think of anything else. A square is a very 
 good way of meeting a horseman, but there is no 
 worse one of taking a cannon ball, as we soon 
 learned when they began to cut red seams through 
 us, until our ears were weary of the slosh and 
 splash when hard iron met living flesh and blood. 
 After ten minutes of it we moved our square a 
 hundred paces to the right; but we left another 
 square behind us, for a hundred and twenty men 
 and seven officers showed where we had been stand- 
 ing. Then the guns found us out again, and we 
 
 9 
 
130 The Great Shadow. 
 
 tried to open out into line; but in an instant the 
 horsemen — lancers they were this time — were upon 
 us from over the brae. 
 
 I tell you we were glad to hear the thud of their 
 hoofs, for we knew that that must stop the cannon 
 for a minute and give us a chance of hitting back. 
 And we hit back pretty hard too that time, for we 
 were cold and vicious and savage, and I for one felt 
 that I cared no more for the horsemen than if they 
 had been so many sheep on Corriemuir. One gets 
 past being afraid or thinking of one's own skin after 
 a while, and you just feel that you want to make 
 some one pay for all you have gone through. We 
 took our change out of the lancers that time ; for they 
 had no breastplates to shield them, and we cleared 
 seventy of them out of their saddles at a volley. 
 Maybe, if we could have seen seventy mothers weep- 
 ing for their lads, we should not have felt so pleased 
 over it ; but then, men are just brutes when they are 
 fighting, and have as much thought as two bull pups 
 when they've got one another by the throttle. 
 
 Then the colonel did a wise stroke ; for he 
 reckoned that this would stave off the cavalry for 
 five minutes, so he wheeled us into line, and got us 
 back into a deeper hollow out of reach of the guns 
 before they could open again. This gave us time to 
 breathe, and we wanted it too, for the regiment had 
 been melting away like an icicle in the sun. But 
 bad as it was for us, it was a deal worse for some of 
 the others. The whole of the Dutch Belgians were 
 off by this time helter-skelter, fifteen thousand of 
 them, and there were great gaps left in our line 
 through which the French cavalry rode as pleased 
 
The Great Shadow. 131 
 
 them best. Then the French guns had been too 
 many and too good for ours, and our heavy horse 
 had been cut to bits, so that things were none too 
 merry with us. On the other hand, Hougoumont, a 
 blood-soaked ruin, was still ours, and every British 
 regiment was firm ; though, to tell the honest truth, 
 as a man is bound to do, there were a sprinkling of 
 red coats among the blue ones who made for the 
 rear. But these were lads and stragglers, the faint 
 hearts that are found everywhere, and I say again 
 that no regiment flinched. It was little we could see 
 of the battle ; but a man would be blind not to 
 know that all the fields behind us were covered with 
 flying men. But then, though we on the right wing 
 knew nothing of it, the Prussians had begun to 
 show, and Napoleon had set twenty thousand of his 
 men to face them, which made up for ours that had 
 bolted, and left us much as we began. That was all 
 dark to us, however ; and there was a time when the 
 French horsemen had flooded in between us and the 
 rest of the army that we thought we were the only 
 brigade left standing, and had set our teeth with the 
 intention of selling our lives as dearly as we could. 
 
 At that time it was between four and five in the 
 afternoon, and we had had nothing to eat, the most 
 of us, since the night before, and were soaked with 
 rain into the bargain. It had drizzled off and on all 
 day, but for the last few hours we had not had a 
 thought to spare either upon the weather or our 
 hunger. Now we began to look round and tighten 
 our waistbelts, and ask who was hit and who was 
 spared. I was glad to see Jim, with his face all 
 blackened with powder, standing on my right rear, 
 
 9 - 
 
132 The Great Shadow. 
 
 leaning on his firelock. He saw me looking at him, 
 and shouted out to know if I were hurt. 
 
 "All right, Jim," I answered. 
 
 " I fear I'm here on a wild-goose chase," said he 
 gloomily, " but it 's not over yet. By God, I '11 have 
 him, or he '11 have me ! " 
 
 He had brooded so much on his wrong, had poor 
 Jim, that I really believe that it had turned his head ; 
 for he had a glare in his eyes as he spoke that was 
 hardly human. He was always a man that took even 
 a little thing to heart, and since Edie had left him I 
 am sure that he was no longer his own master. 
 
 It was at this time of the fight that we saw two 
 single fights, which they tell me were common 
 enough in the battles of old, before men were 
 trained in masses. As we lay in the hollow two 
 horsemen came spurring along the ridge right in 
 front of us, riding as hard as hbof could rattle. The 
 first was an English dragoon, his face right down on 
 his horse's mane, with a French cuirassier, an old, 
 grey-headed fellow, thundering behind him, on a big 
 black mare. Our chaps set up a hooting as they 
 came flying on, for it seemed shame to see an 
 Englishman run like that ; but as they swept across 
 our front we saw where the trouble lay. The dragoon 
 had dropped his sword, and was unarmed, while the 
 other was pressing him so close that he could not 
 get a weapon. At last, stung maybe by our hooting, 
 he made up his mind to chance it. His eye fell on 
 a lance beside a dead Frenchman, so he swerved his 
 horse to let the other pass, and hopping off cleverly 
 enough, he gripped hold of it. But the other was 
 too tricky for him, and was on him like a shot. The 
 
The Great Shadow, 133 
 
 dragoon thrust up with the lance, but the other 
 turned it, and sHced him through the shoulder-blade. 
 It was all done in an instant, and the Frenchman 
 cantered his horse up the brae, showing his teeth at 
 us over his shoulder Hke a snarling dog. 
 
 That was one to them, but we scored one for us 
 presently. They had pushed forward a skirmish 
 line, whose fire was towards the batteries on our 
 right and left rather than on us ; but we sent out 
 two companies of the 95th to keep them in check. 
 It was strange to hear the crackling kind of noise 
 that they made, for both sides were using the rifle. 
 An officer stood among the French skirmishers — a 
 tall, lean man with a mantle over his shoulders — 
 and as our fellows came forward he ran out midway 
 between the two parties and stood as a fencer would, 
 with his sword up and his head back. I can see him 
 now, with his lowered eyelids and the kind of sneer 
 that he had upon his face. On this the subaltern of 
 the Rifles, who was a fine well-grown lad, ran for- 
 ward and drove full tilt at him with one of the queer 
 crooked swords that the Riflemen carry. They 
 came together Hke two rams— for each ran for the 
 other — and down they tumbled at the shock, but 
 the Frenchman was below. Our man broke his 
 sword short off, and took the other's blade through 
 his left arm ; but he was the stronger man, and he 
 managed to let the life out of his enemy with the 
 jagged stump of his blade. I thought that the 
 French skirmishers would have shot him down, but 
 not a trigger was drawn, and he got back to his 
 company with one sword through his arm and half 
 of another in his hand. 
 
134 
 
 The Great Shadow. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Zbc JEnD ot tbe Storm. 
 
 all the things that seem 
 strange in that battle, 
 now that I look back 
 upon it, there is nothing 
 that was queerer than the 
 way in which it acted on 
 my comrades ; for some 
 took it as though it had been their 
 daily meat without question or change, and others 
 pattered out prayers from the first gunfire to the 
 last, and others again cursed and swore in a way 
 that was creepy to listen to. There was one, my 
 own left-hand man, Mike Treadingham, who kept 
 telling about his maiden aunt, Sarah, and how she 
 had left the money which had been promised to him 
 to a home for the children of drowned sailors. 
 Again and a^ain he told me this story, and yet when 
 the battle was over he took his oath that he had 
 never opened his lips all day. As to me, I cannot 
 say whether I spoke or not, but I know that my mind 
 and my memory were clearer than I can ever remem- 
 ber them, and I was thinking all the time about the 
 old folk at home, and about Cousin Edie with her 
 saucy, dancing eyes, and de Lissac with his cat's whis- 
 kers, and all the doings at West Inch, which had ended 
 by bringing us here on the plains of Belgium as a cock- 
 shot for two hundred and fifty cannons. 
 
The Great Shadow, 135 
 
 During all this time the roaring of those guns 
 had been something dreadful to listen to, but now 
 they suddenly died away, though it was like the lull 
 in a thunderstorm when one feels that a worse crash 
 is coming hard at the fringe of it. There was still a 
 mighty noise on the distant wing, where the 
 Prussians were pushing their way onwards, but that 
 was two miles away. The other batteries, both 
 French and English, were silent, and the smoke 
 cleared so that the armies could see a little of each 
 other. It was a dreary sight along our ridge, for 
 there seemed to be just a few scattered knots of red 
 and the lines of green where the German Legion 
 stood, while the masses of the French appeared to 
 be as thick as ever, though of course we knew that 
 they must have lost many thousands in these attacks. 
 We heard a great cheering and shouting from among 
 them, and then suddenly all their batteries opened 
 together with a roar which made the din of the 
 earlier part seem nothing in comparison. It might 
 well be twice as loud, for every battery was twice as 
 near, being moved right up to point-blank range, with 
 huge masses of horse between and behind them to 
 guard them from attack. 
 
 When that devil's roar burst upon our ears there 
 was not a man, down to the drummer boys, who did 
 not understand what it meant. It was Napoleon's 
 last great effort to crush us. There were but two 
 more hours of light, and if we could hold our own 
 forthose all would be well. Starved and weary and 
 spent, we prayed that we might have strength to load 
 and stab and fire while one of us stood upon his feet. 
 
 His cannon could do us no great hurt now, for 
 
136 The Great Shadow, 
 
 we were on our faces, and in an instant we could turn 
 into a huddle of bayonets if his horse came down 
 again. But behind the thunder of the guns there rose 
 a sharper, shriller noise, whirring and rattling, the 
 wildest, jauntiest, most stirring kind of sound. 
 
 " It 's the pas-de-charge ! " cried an officer. " They 
 mean business this time ! " 
 
 And as he spoke we saw a strange thing. A French- 
 man, dressed as an officer of hussars, came galloping 
 towards us on a little bay horse. He was screeching 
 *' Vive le roi ! Vive le roi !'' at the pitch of his lungs, 
 which was as much as to say that he was a deserter, 
 since we were for the king and they for the emperor. 
 As he passed us he roared out in English, " The Guard 
 is coming ! The Guard is coming ! " and so vanished 
 away to the rear like a leaf blown before a storm. At 
 the same instant up there rode an aide-de-camp, with 
 the reddest face that ever I saw upon mortal man. 
 
 *' You must stop 'em, or we are done ! " he cried 
 to General Adams, so that all our company could 
 hear him. 
 
 '' How is it going?" asked the general. 
 
 " Two weak squadrons left out of six regiments 
 of heavies," said he, and began to laugh like a man 
 whose nerves are overstrung. 
 
 *' Perhaps you would care to join in our advance ? 
 Pray consider yourself quite one of us," said the 
 general, bowing and smiling as if he were asking him 
 to a dish of tea. 
 
 " I shall have much pleasure," said the other, 
 taking oif his hat ; and a moment afterwards our 
 three regiments closed up, and the brigade advanced 
 in four lines over the hollow where we had lain in 
 
The Great Shadow, 137 
 
 square, and out beyond to the point whence we had 
 seen the French army. 
 
 There was Httle of it to be seen now, only the 
 red belching of the guns flashing quickly out of the 
 cloudbank, and the black figures — stooping, straining, 
 mopping, sponging — working like devils, and at 
 devilish work. But through the cloud that rattle 
 and whirr rose ever louder and louder, with a deep- 
 mouthed shouting and the stamping of thousands of 
 feet. Then there came a broad black blurr through 
 the haze, which darkened and hardened until we 
 could see that it was a hundred men abreast, march- 
 ing swiftly towards us, with high fur hats upon their 
 heads and a gleam of brasswork over their brows. 
 And behind that hundred came another hundred, and 
 behind that another, and on and on, coiling and writh- 
 ing out of the cannon-smoke like a monstrous snake, 
 until there seemed to be no end to the mighty column. 
 In front ran a spray of skirmishers, and behind them 
 the drummers, and up they all came together at a kind 
 of tripping step, with the officers clustering thickly 
 at the sides and waving their swords and cheering. 
 There were a dozen mounted men too at their front, 
 all shouting together, and one with his hat held aloft 
 upon his swordpoint. I say again, that no men upon 
 this earth could have fought more manfully than the 
 French did upon that day. 
 
 It was wonderful to see them ; for as they came 
 onwards they got ahead of their own guns, so that 
 they had no longer any help from them, while they 
 got in front of the two batteries which had been on 
 either side of us all day. Every gun had their 
 range to a foot, and we saw long red lines scored 
 
138 The Great Shadow, 
 
 right down the dark column as it advanced. So near 
 were they, and so closely did they march, that every 
 shot ploughed through ten files of them, and yet 
 they closed up and came on with a swing and dash 
 that was fine to see. Their head was turned straight 
 for ourselves, while the g5th overlapped them on one 
 side and the 52nd on the other. 
 
 I shall always think that if we had waited so 
 the Guard would have broken us, for how could 
 a four-deep line stand against such a column ? 
 But at that moment Colburne, the colonel of the 
 52nd, swung his right flank round so as to bring it 
 on the side of the column, which brought the French- 
 men to a halt. Their front line was forty paces from 
 us at the moment, and we had a good look at them. 
 It was funny to me to remember that I had always 
 thought of Frenchmen as small men ; for there was 
 not one of that first company who could not have 
 picked me up as if I had been a child, and their 
 great hats made them look taller yet. They were 
 hard, wizened, wiry fellows too, with fierce, puckered 
 eyes and bristling moustaches, old soldiers who had 
 fought and fought, week in, week out, for many a 
 year. And then, as I stood with my finger upon the 
 trigger, waiting for the word to fire, my eye fell full 
 upon the mounted officer with his hat upon his 
 sword, and I saw that it was de Lissac. 
 
 I saw it, and Jim did too. I heard a shout, 
 and saw him rush forward madly at the French 
 column ; and as quick as thought, the whole brigade 
 took their cue from him, officers and all, and flung 
 themselves upon the Guard in front, while our 
 comrades charged them on the flanks. We had 
 
Tluy closed up and came on K'ith a swing and dash that 
 was fine to see.'' 
 
140 The Great Shadow. 
 
 been waiting for the order, and they all thought now 
 that it had been given ; but you may take my word 
 for it, that Jim Horscroft was the real leader of the 
 brigade when we charged the Old Guard. 
 
 God knows what happened during that mad five 
 minutes. I remember putting my musket against a 
 blue coat and pulling the trigger, and that the man 
 could not fall because he was so wedged in the 
 crowd ; but I saw a horrid blotch upon the cloth, and 
 a thin curl of smoke from it as if it had taken fire. 
 Then I found myself thrown up against two big 
 Frenchmen, and so squeezed together, the three of 
 us, that we could not raise a weapon. One of them, 
 a fellow with a very large nose, got his hand up to 
 my throat, and I felt that I was a chicken in his 
 grasp. " Rendez-vous, coquin ; rendez-vous /" said he, 
 and then suddenly doubled up with a scream, for 
 someone had stabbed him in the bowels with a 
 bayonet. There was very little firing after the first 
 sputter; but there was the crash of butt against 
 barrel, the short cries of stricken men, and the 
 roaring of the officers. And then, suddenly, they 
 began to give ground — slowly, sullenly, step by step, 
 but still to give ground. Ah ! it was worth all that 
 we had gone through, the thrill of that moment, 
 when we felt that they were going to break. There 
 was one Frenchman before me, a sharp-faced, dark- 
 eyed man, who was loading and firing as quietly as 
 if he were at practice, dwelling upon his aim, and 
 looking round first to try and pick off an officer. I 
 remember that it struck me that to kill so cool a man 
 as that would be a good service, and I rushed at him 
 and drove my bayonet into him. He turned as I 
 
The Great Shadow, 141 
 
 struck him and fired full into my face, and the bullet 
 left a weal across my cheek which will mark me to 
 my dying day. I tripped over him as he fell, and 
 two others tumbling over me I was half smothered in 
 the heap. When at last I struggled out, and cleared 
 my eyes, which were half full of powder, I saw that 
 the column had fairly broken, and was shredding into 
 groups of men, who were either running for their lives 
 or were fighting back to back in a vain attempt to 
 check the brigade, which was still sweeping onwards. 
 My face felt as if a red-hot iron had been laid across 
 it; but I had the use of my limbs, so jumping over the 
 litter of dead and mangled men, I scampered after 
 my regiment, and fell in upon the right flank. 
 
 Old Major Elliott was there, limping along, for his 
 horse had been shot, but none the worse in himself. 
 He saw me come up, and nodded, but it was too busy 
 a time for words. The brigade was still advancing, 
 but the general rode in front of me with his chin upon 
 his shoulder, looking back at the British position. 
 
 ** There is no general advance," said he ; " but 
 I'm not going back." 
 
 " The Duke of Wellington has won a great victory," 
 cried the aide-de-camp, in a solemn voice : and then, 
 his feelings getting the better of him, he added, ** if 
 the damned fool would only push on ! " — which set 
 us all laughing in the flank company. 
 
 But now anyone could see that the French army 
 was breaking up. The columns and squadrons 
 which had stood so squarely all day were now all 
 ragged at the edges : and where there had been 
 thick fringes of skirmishers in front, there were now 
 a spray of stragglers in the rear. The Guard 
 
142 The Great Shadow, 
 
 thinned out in front of us as we pushed on, and we 
 found twelve guns looking us in the face, but we 
 were over them in a moment ; and I saw our youngest 
 subaltern, next to him who had been killed by the 
 lancer, scribbling great 71's with a lump of chalk 
 upon them, like the schoolboy that he was. It was 
 at that moment that we heard a roar of cheering 
 behind us, and saw the whole British army flood 
 over the crest of the ridge, and come pouring down 
 upon the remains of their enemies. The guns, 
 too, came bounding and ratthng forward, and our 
 light cavalry — as much as was left of it — kept pace 
 with our brigade upon the right. There was no 
 battle after that. The advance went on without a 
 check, until our army stood lined upon the very 
 ground which the French had held in the morning. 
 Their guns were ours, their foot were a rabble 
 spread over the face of the country, and their gallant 
 cavalry alone was able to preserve some sort of 
 order and to draw off unbroken from the field. 
 Then at last, just as the night began to gather, our 
 weary and starving men were able to let the Prussians 
 take the job over, and to pile their arms upon the 
 ground that they had won. That was as much as I 
 saw or can tell you about the Battle of Waterloo, 
 except that I ate a two-pound rye loaf for my supper 
 that night, with as much salt meat as they would let 
 me have, and a good pitcher of red wine, until I had to 
 bore a new hole at the end of my belt, and then it 
 fitted me as tight as a hoop to a barrel. After that 
 I lay down in the straw where the rest of the com- 
 pany were sprawling, and in less than a minute I 
 was in a dead sleep. 
 
The Great Shadow, 
 
 143 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Zhc ZdiW^ of Deatb. 
 
 A Y was breaking, and the first 
 grey light had just begun to 
 steal through the long thin 
 slits in the walls of our barn, 
 when someone shook me hard 
 by the shoulder, and up I 
 jumped. I had the thought 
 in my stupid, sleepy brain that 
 the cuirassiers were upon us, 
 and I gripped hold of a halbert 
 that was leaning against the 
 wall ; but then, as I saw the 
 long lines of sleepers, I re- 
 membered where I was. But I can tell you that 
 I stared when I saw that it was none other than 
 Major Elliott that had roused me up. His face 
 was very grave, and behind him stood two sergeants, 
 with long slips of paper and pencils in their hands. 
 
 " Wake up, laddie," said the major, quite in his 
 old easy fashion, as if we were back on Corriemuir 
 again. 
 
 " Yes, major?" I stammered. 
 " I want you to come with me. I feel that I owe 
 something to you two lads, for it was I that took you 
 from your homes. Jim Horscroft is missing." 
 
 I gave a start at that, for what with the rush and 
 the hunger and the weariness, I had never given a 
 
144 The Great Shadow', 
 
 thought to my friend since the time that he had 
 rushed at the French Guards with the whole regiment 
 at his heels. 
 
 " I am going out now to take a tally of our 
 losses," said the major ; " and if you cared to come 
 with me, I should be very glad to have you." 
 
 So off we set, the major, the two sergeants, and 
 I ; and oh ! but it was a dreadful, dreadful sight ! — 
 so much so that even now, after so many years, I 
 had rather say as little of it as possible. It was bad 
 to see in the heat of fight ; but now in the cold 
 morning, with no cheer or drum-tap or bugle blare, 
 all the glory had gone out of it, and it was just one 
 huge butcher's shop, where poor devils had been 
 ripped and burst and smashed, as though we had 
 tried to make a mock of God's image. There on 
 the ground one could read every stage of yesterday's 
 fight — the dead footmen that lay in squares and the 
 fringe of dead horsemen that had charged them, and 
 above on the slope the dead gunners, who lay round 
 their broken piece. The Guards' column had left a 
 streak right up the field hke the trail of a snail, and 
 at the head of it the blue coats were lying heaped 
 upon the red ones where that fierce tug had been 
 before they took their backward step. 
 
 And the very first thing that I saw when I got 
 there was Jim himself. He was lying on the broad 
 of his back, his face turned up towards the sky, and 
 all the passion and the trouble seemed to have passed 
 clean away from him, so that he looked just like the 
 old Jim as I had seen him in his cot a hundred times 
 when we were schoolmates together. I had given a 
 cry of grief at the sight of him ; but when I came 
 
The Great Shadow, 145 
 
 to look upon his face, and to see how much happier 
 he looked in death than I could ever have hoped to 
 see him in life, it was hard to mourn for him. Two 
 French bayonets had passed through his chest, and 
 he had died in an instant, and without pain, if one 
 could believe the smile upon his lips. 
 
 The major and I were raising his head in the 
 hope that some flutter of life might remain, when I 
 heard a well-remembered voice at my side, and there 
 was de Lissac leaning upon his elbow among a litter 
 of dead guardsmen. He had a great blue coat 
 muffled round him, and the hat with the high red 
 plume was lying on the ground beside him. He was 
 very pale, and had dark blotches under his eyes, but 
 otherwise he was as he had ever been, with the keen, 
 hungry nose, the wiry moustache, and the close- 
 cropped head thinning away to baldness upon the 
 top. His eyelids had always drooped, but now one 
 could hardly see the glint of his eyes from beneath 
 them. 
 
 " Hola, Jock!" he cried. "I didn't thought to 
 have seen you here, and yet I might have known it, 
 too, when I saw friend Jim." 
 
 " It is you that has brought all this trouble," 
 said I. 
 
 " Ta, ta, ta ! " he cried, in his old impatient 
 fashion. " It is all arranged for us. When I was 
 in Spain I learned to believe in Fate. It is Fate 
 which has sent you here this morning." 
 
 " This man's blood lies at your door," said I, 
 with my hand on poor Jim's shoulder. 
 
 "And mind on his, so we have paid our debts." 
 
 He flung open his mantle as he spoke, and I saw 
 10 
 
146 The Great Shadow. 
 
 with horror that a great black lump of clotted blood 
 was hanging out of his side. 
 
 *' This is my thirteenth and last," said he, with a 
 smile. " They say that thirteen is an unlucky num- 
 ber. Could you spare me a drink from your flask ? " 
 
 The major had some brandy and water. De 
 Lissac supped it up eagerly. His eyes brightened, 
 and a little fleck of colour came back in each of his 
 haggard cheeks. 
 
 " It was Jim did this," said he. " I heard some- 
 one calling my name, and there he was with his gun 
 against my tunic. Two of my men cut him down 
 just as he fired. Well, well, Edie was worth it all ! 
 You will be in Paris in less than a month, Jock, and 
 you will see her. You will find her at No. 11 of the 
 Rue Miromesnil, which is near to the Madelaine. 
 Break it very gently to her, Jock, for you cannot 
 think how she loved me. Tell her that all I have 
 are in the two black trunks, and that Antoine has 
 the keys. You will not forget ? " 
 
 *' I will remember." 
 
 "And madame, your mother? I trust that you 
 have left her very well. And monsieur, too, your 
 father? Bear them my distinguished regards!" 
 
 Even now as death closed in upon him he gave 
 the old bow and wave as he sent his greetings to my 
 mother. 
 
 "Surely," said I, "your wound may not be so 
 serious as you think. I could bring the surgeon of 
 our regiment to you." 
 
 " My dear Jock, I have not been giving and taking 
 wounds this fifteen years without knowing when one 
 has come home. But it is as well, for I know that 
 
The Great Shadow, 147 
 
 all. is ended for my little man, and I had rather go 
 with my Voltigeurs than remain to be an exile and 
 a beggar. Besides, it is quite certain that the Allies 
 would have shot me, so I have saved myself from 
 that humiliation. 
 
 " The Allies, sir," said the major, v^ith some heat, 
 " would be guilty of no such barbarous action." 
 
 But de Lissac shook his head, with the same sad 
 smile. 
 
 ** You do not know, major," said he. "-Do you 
 suppose that I should have fled to Scotland and 
 changed my name if I had not more to fear than my 
 comrades who remained in Paris ? I was anxious to 
 live, for I was sure that my little man would come 
 back. Now I had rather die, for he will never lead 
 an army again. But I have done things that could 
 not be forgiven. It was I that led the party which 
 
 took and shot the Duke d'Enghien. It was I 
 
 Ah, mon Dieu ! Edie, Edie, ma cherie /" 
 
 He threw out both his hands, with all the fingers 
 feeling and quivering in the air. Then he let them 
 drop heavily in front of him, and his chin fell forward 
 upon his chest. One of our sergeants laid him 
 gently down, and the other stretched the big blue 
 mantle over him ; and so we left those two whom 
 Fate had so strangely brought together, the Scotch- 
 man and the Frenchman, lying silently and peace- 
 fully within hand's touch of each other, upon the 
 blood-soaked hillside near Hougoumont. 
 
 10 
 
148 
 
 The Great Shadow. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 ^bc BnD of 5t 
 
 ,N D now I have very nearly 
 come to the end of it all, 
 and precious glad I shall be 
 to find myself there ; for 
 I began this old memory 
 with a light heart, thinking that 
 it would give me some work for 
 the long summer evenings, but 
 as I went on I wakened a thou- 
 sand sleeping sorrows and half- 
 forgotten griefs, and now my soul 
 is all as raw as the hide of an ill-sheared sheep. 
 If I come safely out of it I will swear never 
 to set pen to paper again, for it is so easy at 
 first, like walking into a shelving stream, and 
 then before you can look round you are off your 
 feet and down in a hole, and can struggle out as best 
 you may. 
 
 We buried Jim and de Lissac with four hundred 
 and thirty-one others of the French Guards and our 
 own Light Infantry in a single trench. Ah ! if you 
 could sow a brave man as you sow a seed, there 
 should be a fine crop of heroes coming up there 
 some day ! Then we left that bloody battle-field 
 behind us for ever, and with our brigade we marched 
 on over the French border on our way to Paris. 
 I had always been brought up during all these 
 
The Great Shadow. 149 
 
 years to look upon the French as very evil folk, and 
 as we only heard of them in connection with 
 fightings and slaughterings, by land and by sea, it 
 was natural enough to think that they were vicious 
 by nature and ill to meet with. But then, after all, 
 they had only heard of us in the same fashion, and 
 so, no doubt, they had just the same idea of us. 
 But when we came to go through their country, and 
 to see their bonny little steadings, and the douce 
 quiet folk at work in the fields, and the women 
 knitting by the roadside, and the old granny with a 
 big white mutch smacking the baby to teach it 
 manners, it was all so home-like that I could not 
 think why it was that we had been hating and fearing 
 these good people for so long. But I suppose that 
 in truth it was really the man who was over them 
 that we hated, and now that he was gone and his 
 great shadow cleared from the land, all was bright- 
 ness once more. 
 
 We jogged along happily enough through the 
 loveliest country that ever I set my eyes on, until we 
 came to the great city, where we thought that 
 maybe there would be a battle, for there are so many 
 folk in it that if only one in twenty comes out it 
 would make a fine army. But by that time they had 
 seen that it was a pity to spoil the whole country 
 just for the sake of one man, and so they had told 
 him that he must shift for himself in the future. 
 The next we heard was that he had surrendered to 
 the British, and that the gates of Paris were open to 
 us, which was very good news to me, for I could get 
 along very well just on the one battle that I had 
 had. 
 
150 The Great Shadow. 
 
 But there were plenty of folk in Paris now who 
 loved Boney ; and that was natural when you think 
 of the glory that he had brought them, and how he 
 had never asked his army to go where he would not 
 go himself. They had stern enough faces for us, I 
 can tell you, when we marched in, and we 6f Adams* 
 brigade were the very first who set foot in the city. 
 We passed over a bridge which they call Neuilly, 
 which is easier to write than to say, and through a 
 fine park — the Bois de Boulogne, and so into the 
 Champs d'Elysees. There we bivouacked, and 
 pretty soon the streets were so full of Prussians and 
 English that it became more like a camp than a 
 city. 
 
 The very first time that I could get away I went 
 with Rob Stewart, of my company — for we were only 
 allowed to go about in couples — to the Rue Miro- 
 mesnil. Rob waited in the hall, and I was shown 
 upstairs ; and as I put my foot over the mat, there 
 was Cousin Edie, just the same as ever, staring at 
 me with those wild eyes of hers. For a moment she 
 did not recognise me, but when she did she just took 
 three steps forward and sprang at me, with her two 
 arms round my neck. 
 
 *' Oh, my dear old Jock," she cried, " how fine 
 you look in a red coat !" 
 
 *'Yes, I am a soldier now, Edie," said I, very 
 stiffly ; for as I looked at her pretty face, I seemed 
 to see behind it that other face which had looked up 
 to the morning sky on the Belgium battle-field. 
 
 " Fancy that ! " she cried. " What are you then, 
 Jock? A general ? A captain?" 
 
 *' No, I am a private." 
 
The Great Shadow. 151 
 
 ** What ! Not one of the common people who 
 carry guns ?" 
 
 " Yes, I carry a gun." 
 
 " Oh, that is not nearly so interesting," said she. 
 And she went back to the sofa from which she had 
 risen. It was a wonderful room, all silk and velvet 
 and shiny things, and I felt inclined to go back to 
 give my boots another rub. As Edie sat down again, 
 I saw that she was all in black, and so I knew that 
 she had heard of de Lissac's death. 
 
 " I am glad to see that you know all," said I, 
 ** for I am a clumsy hand at breaking things. He 
 said that you were to keep whatever was in the 
 boxes, and that Antoine had the keys." 
 
 " Thank you, Jock, thank you," said she. " It was 
 like your kindness to bring the message. I heard of it 
 nearly a week ago. I was mad for the time — quite mad. 
 I shall wear mourning all my days, although you can 
 see what a fright it makes me look. Ah ! I shall never 
 get over it. I shall take the veil and die in a convent." 
 
 " If you please, madame," said a maid, looking 
 in, "the Count de Beton wishes to see you." 
 
 ** My dear Jock," said Edie, jumping up, " this is 
 very important. I am sorry to cut our chat short, 
 but I am sure that you will come to see me again, 
 will you not, when I am less desolate ? And would 
 you mind going out by the side door instead of the 
 main one ? Thank you, you dear old Jock ; you 
 were always such a good boy, and did exactly what 
 you were told." 
 
 And that was the last that I was ever to see 
 of Cousin Edie. She stood in the sunlight with 
 
f-i 
 
 C '■ 
 
 -m 
 
The Great Shadow. 153 
 
 the old challenge in her eyes, and flash of her 
 teeth ; and so I shall always remember her, shining 
 and unstable, like a drop of quicksilver. As I 
 joined my comrade in the street below, I saw a 
 grand carriage and pair at the door, and I knew that 
 she had asked me to slip out so that her grand new 
 friends might never know what common people she 
 had been associated with in her childhood. She had 
 never asked for Jim, nor for my father and mother 
 who had been so kind to her. Well, it was just her 
 way, and she could no more help it than a rabbit can 
 help wagging its scut, and yet it made me heavy- 
 hearted to think of it. Two months later I heard 
 that she had married this same Count de Beton, and 
 she died in child-bed a year or two later. 
 
 And as for us, our work was done, for the great 
 shadow had been cleared away from Europe, and 
 should no longer be thrown across the breadth of the 
 lands, over peaceful farms and little villages, darkening 
 the lives which should have been so happy. I came 
 back to Corriemuir after I had bought my discharge, 
 and there, when my father died, I took over the 
 sheep-farm, and married Lucy Deane, of Berwick, 
 and have brought up seven children, who are ail 
 taller than their father, and take mighty good care 
 that he shall not forget it. But in the quiet, peaceful 
 days that pass now, each as like the other as so 
 many Scotch tups, I can hardly get the young folks 
 to believe that even here we have had our romance, 
 when Jim and I went a-wooing, and the man with 
 the cat's whiskers came up from the sea. 
 
 END OF "the great SHADOW.** 
 
Beyond the City, 
 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 
 Chap. 
 
 
 Page 
 
 I. 
 
 THE NEW-COMERS .... 
 
 . 157 
 
 II. 
 
 BREAKING THE ICE . • . 
 
 . 162 
 
 III. 
 
 DWELLERS IN ** THE WILDERNESS " 
 
 . 173 
 
 IV. 
 
 A sister's secret .... 
 
 . 186 
 
 V. 
 
 A NAVAL CONQUEST . , . . 
 
 . 195 
 
 VI. 
 
 AN OLD STORY . . " . 
 
 . 205 
 
 VII. 
 
 ** VENIT TANDEM FELICITAS " 
 
 . 215 
 
 VIII. 
 
 SHADOWS BEFORE .... 
 
 221 
 
 IX. 
 
 A FAMILY PLOT 
 
 . 231 
 
 X. 
 
 WOMEN OF THE FUTURE 
 
 . 241 
 
 XI. 
 
 A BOLT FROM THE BLUE 
 
 • 253 
 
 XII. 
 
 FRIENDS IN NEED .... 
 
 267 
 
 XIII. 
 
 IN STRANGE WATERS .... 
 
 . 274 
 
 XIV. 
 
 EASTWARD HO ! 
 
 . 288 
 
 XV. 
 
 STILL AMONG SHOALS .... 
 
 . 299 
 
 XVI. 
 
 A MIDNIGHT VISITOR .... 
 
 . 306 
 
 XVII. 
 
 IN PORT AT LAST .... 
 
 • 313 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Zbc 1Rcw*Comcr0. 
 
 F you please, mum," said the voice of a 
 domestic from somewhere round the angle 
 of the door, '' number three is moving in." 
 
 Two little old ladies, who were sitting at either 
 side of a table, sprang to their feet with ejaculations 
 of interest, and rushed to the window of the sitting- 
 room. 
 
 ** Take care, Monica dear," said one, shrouding 
 herself in the lace curtains ; " don't let them see 
 us." 
 
 " No, no, Bertha ; we must not give them reason 
 to say that their neighbours are inquisitive. But I 
 think that we are safe if we stand like this." 
 
 The open window looked out upon a sloping lawn, 
 
158 Beyond the City. 
 
 well trimmed and pleasant, with fuzzy rose bushes 
 and a star-shaped bed of Sweet-William. It was 
 bounded by a low wooden fence, which screened it 
 off from a broad modern new metalled road. At 
 the other side of this road were three large detached 
 deep-bodied villas with peaky eaves and small wooden 
 balconies, each standing in its own little square of 
 grass and of flowers. All three were equally new, 
 but numbers one and two were curtained and sedate 
 with a human sociable look to them ; while number 
 three, with yawning door and unkempt garden, had 
 apparently only just received its furniture and made 
 itself ready for its occupants. A four-wheeler had 
 driven up to the gate, and it was at this that 
 the old ladies, peeping out bird-like from behind 
 their curtains, directed an eager and questioning 
 gaze. 
 
 The cabman had descended, and the passengers 
 within were handing out the articles which they 
 desired him to carry up to the house. He stood 
 red-faced and blinking, with his crooked arms out- 
 stretched, while a male hand, protruding from the 
 window, kept piling up upon him a series of articles 
 the sight of which filled the curious old ladies with 
 bewilderment. 
 
 ''My goodness me!" cried Monica, the smaller, 
 the drier, and the more wizened of the pair. " What 
 do you call that. Bertha ? It looks to me like four 
 batter puddings." 
 
 "Those are what young men box each other 
 with," said Bertha, with a conscious air of superior 
 worldly knowledge. 
 
 "And those?" 
 
Beyond the City, 159 
 
 Two great bottle-shaped pieces of yellow shining 
 wood had been heaped upon the cabman. 
 
 "Oh! I don't know what those are," confessed 
 Bertha. 
 
 Indian clubs had never before obtruded them- 
 selves upon her peaceful and very feminine existence. 
 
 These mysterious articles were followed, however, 
 by others which were more within their range of 
 comprehension — by a pair of dumb-bells, a purple 
 cricket-bag, a set of golf clubs, and a tennis racket. 
 Finally, when the cabman, all top-heavy and brist- 
 ling, had staggered off up the garden path, there 
 emerged in a very leisurely way from the cab a big, 
 powerfully-built young man with a bull pup under 
 one arm and a pink sporting paper in his hand. The 
 paper he crammed into the pocket of his light yellow 
 dust-coat, and extended his hand as if to assist some 
 one else from the vehicle. To the surprise of the 
 two old ladies, however, the only thing which his 
 open palm received was a violent slap, and a tall 
 lady bounded unassisted out of the cab. With 
 a regal wave she motioned the young man towards 
 the door, and then, with one hand upon her hip, 
 she stood in a careless, lounging attitude by the 
 gate, kicking her toe against the wall and listlessly 
 awaiting the return of the driver. 
 
 As she turned slowly round, and the sunshine 
 struck upon her face, the two watchers were amazed 
 to see that this very active and energetic lady was 
 far from being in her first youth, so far that she 
 had certainly come of age again since she first 
 passed that landmark in life's journey. Her finely- 
 chiselled, clean-cut face, with something red Indian 
 
i6o Beyond the City. 
 
 about the firm mouth and strongly-marked cheek 
 bones, showed, even at that distance, traces of the 
 friction of the passing years. And yet she was very 
 handsome. Her features were as firm in repose as 
 those of a Greek bust, and her great dark eyes were 
 arched over by two brows so black, so thick, and so 
 delicately curved, that the eye turned away from the 
 harsher details of the face to marvel at their grace 
 and strength. Her figure, too, was straight as a- 
 dart, a little portly, perhaps, but curving into magni- 
 ficent outlines, which were half concealed and half 
 accentuated by the strange costume which she wore. 
 Her hair, black but plentifully shot with grey, was 
 brushed plainly back from her high forehead, and 
 was gathered under a small round felt hat, like that 
 of a man, with one sprig of feather in the band as a 
 concession to her sex. A double-breasted jacket of 
 some dark frieze-like material fitted closely to her 
 figure, while her straight blue skirt, untrimmed and 
 ungathered, was cut so short that the lower curve 
 of her finely-turned legs was plainly visible beneath 
 it, terminating in a pair of broad, flat, low-heeled 
 and square-toed shoes. Such was the lady who 
 lounged at the gate of number three under the 
 curious eyes of her two opposite neighbours. 
 
 But if her conduct and appearance had already 
 somewhat jarred upon their limited and precise 
 sense of the fitness of things, what were they to 
 think of the next little act in this tableau vivantl 
 The cabman, red and heavy-jowled, had come back 
 from his labours, and held out his hand for his fare. 
 The lady passed him a coin, there was a moment of 
 mumbling and gesticulating, and suddenly she had 
 
Beyond the City, i6i 
 
 him with both hands by the red cravat which girt 
 his neck, and was shaking him as a terrier would a 
 rat. Right across the pavement she thrust him, 
 and, pushing him up against the wheel, she banged 
 his head three several times against the side of his 
 own vehicle. 
 
 " Can I be of any use to you, aunt ?" asked the 
 large youth, framing himself in the open doorway. 
 
 " Not the slightest," panted the enraged lady. 
 " There, you low blackguard, that will teach you to 
 be impertinent to a lady.'* 
 
 The cabman looked helplessly about him with a 
 bewildered, questioning gaze, as one to whom alone 
 of all men this unheard-of and extraordinary thing 
 had happened. Then, rubbing his head, he mounted 
 slowly on to the box, and drove away with an up- 
 tossed hand appealing to the universe. The lady 
 smoothed down her dress, pushed back her hair 
 under her little felt hat, and strode in through the 
 hall-door, which was closed behind her. As with a 
 whisk her short skirts vanished into the darkness, 
 the two spectators — Miss Bertha and Miss Monica 
 Williams — sat looking at each other in speechless 
 amazement. For fifty years they had peeped through 
 that little window and across that trim garden, but 
 never yet had such a sight as this come to confound 
 them. 
 
 ** I wish," said Monica at last, **that we had 
 kept the field." 
 
 " I am sure I wish we had," answered her sister. 
 
 II 
 
l62 
 
 Beyond the City. 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 ^Breaking tbe 3cc. 
 
 HE cottage from the window 
 of which the Misses Williams 
 had looked out stands, and has 
 stood for many a year, in that 
 pleasant suburban district which 
 lies between Norwood, Aner- 
 i^ ^ ley, and Forest Hill. Long 
 •^' before there had been a 
 thought of a township there, 
 when the Metropolis was still quite a distant 
 thing, old Mr. Williams had inhabited " The 
 Brambles," as the little house was called, and had 
 owned all the fields about it. Six or eight such 
 cottages scattered over a rolling country-side were all 
 the houses to be found there in the days when the 
 century was young. From afar, when the breeze 
 came from the north, the dull, low roar of the great 
 City might be heard like the breaking of the tide of 
 life, while along the horizon might be seen the dim 
 curtain of smoke, the grim spray which that tide 
 threw up. Gradually, however, as the years passed, 
 the City had thrown out a long brick-feeler here and 
 there, curving, extending, and coalescing, until at 
 Jast the little cottages had been gripped round by 
 these red tentacles, and had been absorbed to make 
 room for the modern villa. Field by field the estate 
 of old Mr. Williams had been sold to the speculative 
 
Beyond the City. 163 
 
 builder, and had borne rich crops of snug suburban 
 dwellings, arranged in curving crescents and tree- 
 lined avenues. The father Ijad passed away before 
 his cottage was entirely bricked round, but his two 
 daughters, to whom the property had descended, 
 lived to see the last vestige of country taken from 
 them. For years they had clung to the one field 
 which faced their windows, and it was only after 
 much argument and many heartburnings that they 
 had at last consented that it should share the fate 
 of the others. A broad road was driven through 
 their quiet domain, the quarter was re-named " The 
 Wilderness," and three square, staring, uncom- 
 promising villas began to sprout up on the other 
 side. With sore hearts, the two shy little old maids 
 watched their steady progress, and speculated as to 
 what fashion of neighbours chance would bring into 
 the little nook which had always been their own. 
 
 And at last they were all three finished. Wooden 
 balconies and overhanging eaves had been added to 
 them, so that, in the language of the advertisement, 
 there were vacant "three eligible Swiss-built villas, 
 with sixteen rooms, no basement, electric bells, hot 
 and cold water, and every modern convenience, in- 
 cluding a common tennis-lawn, to be let at ^fioo a 
 year, or ;f 1,500 purchase." So tempting an offer did 
 not long remain open. Within a few weeks the card 
 had vanished from number one, and it was known 
 that Admiral Hay Denver, V.C, C.B., with Mrs. 
 Hay Denver and their only son, were about to move 
 into it. The news brought peace to the hearts of 
 the Williams sisters. They had lived with a settled 
 conviction that some wild impossible colony, some 
 
 II ■'• 
 
164 Beyond the City. 
 
 shouting, singing family of madcaps, would break 
 in upon their peace. This establishment, at least, 
 was irreproachable. A«reference to Men of the Time 
 showed them that Admiral Hay Denver was a most 
 distinguished officer, who had begun his active career 
 at Bomarsund and had ended it at Alexandria, having 
 managed between these two episodes to see as much 
 service as any man of his years. From the Taku 
 Forts and the Shannon brigade to dhow-harrying off 
 Zanzibar there was no variety of naval work which 
 did not appear in his record ; while the Victoria 
 Cross and the Albert Medal for saving life vouched 
 for it that in peace as in war his courage wa-s still 
 of the same true temper. Clearly a very eligible 
 neighbour this, the more so as they had been con- 
 fidently assured by the estate agent that Mr. Harold 
 Denver, the son, was a most quiet young gentle- 
 man, and that he was busy from morning to night 
 on the Stock Exchange. 
 
 The Hay Denvers had hardly moved in before, 
 number two also struck its placard, and again the 
 ladies found that they had no reason to be dis- 
 contented with their neighbours. Doctor Balthazar 
 Walker was a very well-known name in the medical 
 world. Did not his qualifications, his memberships, 
 and the record of his writings fill a long half-column 
 in the Medical Directory, from his first little paper on 
 the ** Gouty Diathesis" in 1859 to his exhaustive 
 treatise upon "Affections of the Vaso-Motor System" 
 in 1884? A successful medical career, which pro- 
 mised to end in a presidentship of a college and a 
 baronetcy, had been cut short by his sudden inherit- 
 ance of a considerable sum from a grateful patient, 
 
Beyond the City. 165 
 
 which had rendered him independent for life, and 
 had enabled him to turn his attention to the more 
 scientific part of his profession, which had always 
 had a greater charm for him than its more practical 
 and commercial aspect. To this end he had given up 
 his house in Weymouth Street, and had taken this 
 opportunity of moving himself, his scientific instru- 
 ments, and his two charming daughters (he had 
 been a widower for some years) into the more 
 peaceful atmosphere of Norwood. 
 
 There was thus but one villa unoccupied, and it 
 was no wonder that the two maiden ladies watched 
 with a keen interest, which deepened into a dire 
 apprehension, the curious incidents which heralded 
 the coming of the new tenants. They had already 
 learned from the agent that the family consisted of 
 two only — Mrs. Westmacott, a widow, and her 
 nephev/, Charles Westmacott. How simple and 
 how select it had sounded ! Who could have fore- 
 seen from it these fearful portents which seemed to 
 threaten violence and discord among the dwellers in 
 "The Wilderness "? Again the two old maids cried 
 in heartfelt chorus that they wished they had not 
 sold their field. 
 
 *' Well, at least, Monica," remarked Bertha, as 
 they sat over their teacups that afternoon, " however 
 strange these people may be, it is our duty to be as 
 polite to them as to the others." 
 
 ** Most certainly," acquiesced her sister. 
 
 ** Since we have called upon Mrs. Hay Denver 
 and upon the Miss Walkers, we must call upon this 
 Mrs. Westmacott also." 
 
 ** Certainly, dear. As long as they are living 
 
i66 Beyond the City. 
 
 upon our land I feel as if they were, in a sense, our 
 guests, and that it is our duty to welcome them." 
 
 *' Then we shall call to-morrow," said Bertha, 
 with decision. 
 
 " Yes, dear, we shall. But, oh, I wish it was 
 over ! " 
 
 At four o'clock on the next day the two maiden 
 ladies set off upon their hospitable errand. In their 
 stiff crackling dresses of black silk, with jet- 
 bespangled jackets, and little rows of cylindrical 
 grey curls drooping down on either side of their 
 black bonnets, they looked like two old fashion 
 plates which had wandered off into the wrong 
 decade. Half curious and half fearful, they knocked 
 at the door of number three, which was instantly 
 opened by a red-headed page-boy. 
 
 Yes, Mrs. Westmacott was at home. He ushered 
 them into the front room, furnished as a drawing- 
 room, where, in spite of the fine spring weather, a 
 large fire was burning in the grate. The boy took 
 their cards, and then, as they sat down together 
 upon a settee, he set their nerves in a thrill by dart- 
 ing behind a curtain with a shrill cry, and prodding 
 at something with his foot. The bull pup which 
 they had seen upon the day before bolted from its 
 hiding-place, and scuttled snarling from the room. 
 
 *' It wants to get at Eliza," said the youth, in a 
 confidential whisper. " Master says she would give 
 him more'n he brought." 
 
 He smiled affably at the two little stiff black 
 figures, and departed in search of his mistress. 
 
 *' What — what did he say?" gasped Bertha. 
 
 "Something about a Oh, goodness gracious I 
 
Beyond the City. 167 
 
 Oh, Bertha ! Oh, merciful heavens ! Oh, help,help, 
 help, help, help ! " 
 
 The two sisters had bounded on to the settee, 
 and stood there with staring eyes and skirts gathered 
 in while they filled the whole house with their yells. 
 Out of a high wicker-work basket which stood by 
 the fire there had risen a flat diamond-shaped head 
 with wicked green eyes which came flickering up- 
 wards, waving gently from side to side, until a foot 
 or more of glossy scaly neck was visible. Slowly 
 the vicious head came floating up, while at every 
 oscillation a fresh burst of shrieks came from the 
 settee. 
 
 " What in the name of mischief! " cried a voice, 
 and there was the mistress of the house standing in. 
 the door. Her gaze at first had merely taken in the 
 fact that two strangers were standing screaming 
 upon her red plush sofa. A glance at the fireplacfe, ; 
 however, showed her the cause of the terror, and 
 she burst into a hearty fit of laughter. 
 
 "Charley!" she shouted, ''here's Eliza mis- 
 behaving again." 
 
 ** I '11 settle her," answered a masculine voice, 
 and the young man dashed into the room. He had 
 a brown horse-cloth in his hand, which he threw 
 over the basket, making it fast with a piece of twine 
 so as to effectually imprison its inmate, while his 
 aunt ran across to reassure her visitors. 
 
 " It is only a rock snake," she explained. 
 " " Oh, Bertha 1 " " Oh, Monica ! " gasped the poor 
 exhausted gentlewomen. 
 
 " She 's hatching out some eggs ; that is why we 
 have the fire. Eliza always does better when she is 
 
i68 Beyond the City. 
 
 warm. She is a sweet gentle creature, but no doubt 
 she thought that you had designs upon her eggs. 
 I suppose that you did not touch any of them ?" 
 
 "Oh, let us get away. Bertha!" cried Monica, 
 with her thin black-gloved hands thrown forwards in 
 abhorrence. 
 
 *' Not away, but into the next room," said Mrs. 
 Westmacott with the air of one whose word was 
 law. **This way, if you please! It is less warm 
 here." She led the way into a very handsomely- 
 appointed library, with three great cases of books, 
 and upon the fourth side a long yellow table littered 
 over with papers and scientific instruments. ** Sit 
 here, and you there," she continued. " That is right. 
 Now let me see, which of you is Miss WiUiams, and 
 which Miss Bertha Williams ? " 
 
 " I am Miss Williams," said Monica, still palpi- 
 tating, and glancing furtively about in dread of some 
 new horror. 
 
 ** And you live, as I understand, over at the pretty 
 little cottage. It is very nice of you to call so early. 
 I don't suppose that we shall get on, but still the 
 intention is equally good." 
 
 She crossed her legs and leaned her back against 
 the marble mantelpiece. 
 
 ** We thought that perhaps we might be of some 
 assistance," said Bertha, timidly. '* If there is any- 
 thing which we could do to make you feel more at 
 home " 
 
 " Oh ! thank you, I am too old a traveller to feel 
 anything but at home wherever I go. I've just come 
 back from a few months in the Marquesas Islands, 
 where I had a very pleasant visit. That was where 
 
Beyond the City. 169 
 
 I got Eliza. In many respects the Marquesas Islands 
 now lead the world." 
 
 "Dear me!" ejaculated Miss Williams. "In 
 what respect ? " 
 
 " In the relation of the sexes. They have worked 
 out the great problem upon their own lines, and 
 their isolated geographical position has helped them 
 to come to a conclusion of their own. The woman 
 there is, as she should be, in every way the absolute 
 equal of the male. Come in, Charles, and sit down. 
 Is Eliza all right?" 
 
 " All right, aunt." 
 
 " These are our neighbours, the Misses Williams. 
 Perhaps they will have some stout. You might bring 
 in a couple of bottles, Charles." 
 
 " No, no, thank you ! None for us ! " cried her 
 two visitors, earnestly. 
 
 " No ? I am sorry that I have no tea to offer 
 you. I look upon the subserviency of woman as 
 largely due to her abandoning nutritious drinks and 
 invigorating exercises to the male. I do neither." 
 She picked up a pair of fifteen-pound dumb-bells 
 from beside the fireplace and swung them lightly 
 about her head. " You see what may be done on 
 stout," said she. 
 
 " But don't you think," the elder Miss Williams 
 suggested timidly, ** don't you think, Mrs. Westma- 
 cott, that woman has a mission of her own ?" 
 
 The lady of the house dropped her dumb-bells 
 with a crash upon the floor. 
 
 " The old cant ! " she cried. " The old shibboleth ! 
 What is this mission which is reserved for woman ? 
 All that is humble, that is mean, that is soul-killing, 
 
170 Beyond the City, 
 
 that is so contemptible and so ill-paid that none 
 other will touch it. All that is woman's mission. 
 And who imposed these limitations upon her ? Who 
 cooped her up within this narrow sphere ? Was it 
 Providence ? Was it nature ? No, it was the arch 
 enemy. It was man." 
 
 " Oh, I say, auntie ! " drawled her nephew. 
 
 *' It was man, Charles. It was you and your 
 fellows. I say that woman is a colossal monument 
 to the selfishness of man. What is all this boasted 
 chivalry — these fine words and vague phrases? 
 Where is it when we wish to put it to the test ? 
 Man in the abstract will do anything to help a 
 woman. Of course. How does it work when his 
 pocket is touched ? Where is his chivalry then ? 
 Will the doctors help her to qualify ? will the lawyers 
 help her to be called to the bar ? will the clergy 
 tolerate her in the Church ? Oh, it is close your 
 ranks then and refer poor woman to her mission ! 
 Her mission ! To be thankful for coppers and not 
 to interfere with the men while they grabble for gold, 
 like swine round a trough, that is man's reading of 
 the mission of woman. You may sit there and sneer, 
 Charles, while you look upon your victim, but you 
 know that it is truth, every word of it." 
 
 Terrified as they were by this sudden torrent of 
 words, the two gentlewomen could not but smile at 
 the sight of the fiery domineering victim and the big 
 apologetic representative of mankind who sat meekly 
 bearing all the sins of his sex. The lady struck a 
 match, whipped a cigarettee from a case upon the 
 mantelpiece, and began to draw the smoke into her 
 lungs. 
 
Beyond the City, lyi 
 
 " I find it very soothing when my nerves are at 
 all ruffled," she explained. *' You don't smoke? 
 Ah, you miss one of the purest of pleasures — one of 
 the few pleasures which is without a reaction." 
 
 Miss Williams smoothed out her black silken lap. 
 
 *' It is a pleasure," she said, with some approach 
 to self-assertion, "which Bertha and I are rather 
 too old-fashioned to enjoy." 
 
 " No doubt. It would probably make you very 
 ill if you attempted it. By the way, I hope that 
 you will come to some of our Guild meetings. I 
 shall see that tickets are sent you." 
 
 "Your Guild?" 
 
 " It is not yet formed, but I shall lose no time m 
 forming a committee. It is my habit to establish a 
 branch of the Emancipation Guild wherever I go. 
 There is a Mrs. Sanderson in Anerley who is already 
 one of the emancipated, so that I have a nucleus. 
 It is only by organised resistance, Miss Williams, 
 that we can hope to hold our own against the selfish 
 sex. Must you go, then ?" 
 
 " Yes, we have one or two other visits to pay," 
 said the elder sister. " You will, I am sure, excuse 
 us. I hope that you will find Norwood a pleasant 
 residence." 
 
 "All places are to me simply a battle-field," she 
 answered, gripping first one and then the other with 
 a grip which crumpled up their little thin fingers. 
 " The days for work and healthful exercise, the 
 evenings to Browning and high discourse, eh, 
 Charles ? Good-bye I " 
 
 She came to the door with them, and as they 
 glanced back they saw her still standing there with 
 
172 Beyond the City. 
 
 the yellow bull pup cuddled up under one forearm, 
 and the thin blue reek of her cigarette ascending 
 from her lips. 
 
 " Oh, what a dreadful, dreadful woman ! " whis- 
 pered sister Bertha, as the}^ hurried down the street. 
 " Thank goodness that it is over." 
 
 "But she'll return the visit," answered the 
 other. ** I think that we had better tell Mary that 
 we are not at home." 
 
Beyond the City, 
 
 173 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 2)wcller6 in '*Zbc IKflilOerncss/' 
 
 iOW deeply are our destinies 
 influenced by the most 
 trifling causes ! Had the 
 unknown builder who 
 erected and owned these 
 new villas contented himself 
 by simply building each 
 within its own grounds, it 
 is probable that these three 
 small groups of people would 
 have remained hardly con- 
 scious of each other's existence, and that there would 
 have been no opportunity for that action and reaction 
 which is here set forth. But there was a common 
 link to bind them together. To single himself out 
 from all other Norwood builders the landlord had 
 devised and laid out a common lawn-tennis ground, 
 which stretched behind the houses with taut- 
 stretched net, green close-cropped sward, and wide- 
 spread whitewashed lines. Hither in search of that 
 hard exercise which is as necessary as air or food to 
 the English temperament, came young Hay Denver 
 when released from the toil of the City ; hither, too, 
 came Dr. Walker and his two fair daughters, Clara 
 and Ida ; and hither also, champions of the lawn, 
 came the short-skirted muscular widow and her 
 athletic nephew. Ere the summer was gone they 
 
174 Beyond the City. 
 
 knew each other in this quiet nook as they might 
 not have done after years of a stiffer and more 
 formal acquaintance. 
 
 And especially to the admiral and the doctor 
 were this closer intimacy and companionship of 
 value. Each had a void in his life, as every man 
 must have who with unexhausted strength steps 
 out of the great race, but each by his society might 
 help to fill up that of his neighbour. It is true that 
 they had not much in common, but that is some- 
 times an aid rather than a bar to friendship. Each 
 had been an enthusiast in his profession, and had 
 retained all his interest in it. The doctor still read 
 from cover to cover his Lancet and his Medical 
 Journal, attended all professional gatherings, worked 
 himself into an alternate state of exaltation and 
 depression over the results of the election of officers, 
 and reserved for himself a den of his own, in which, 
 before rows of little round bottles full of glycerine, 
 Canadian balsam, and staining agents, he still cut 
 sections with a microtome, and peeped through his 
 long brass old-fashioned microscope at the arcana 
 of nature. With his typical face, clean-shaven on 
 lip and chin, with a firm mouth, a strong jaw, a 
 steady eye, and two little white fluffs of whiskers, 
 he could never be taken for anything but what he 
 was, a high-class British medical consultant of the 
 age of fifty, or perhaps just a year or two older. 
 
 The doctor, in his hey-day, had been cool over 
 great things, but now, in his retirement, he was 
 fussy over trifles. The man who had operated with- 
 out the quiver of a finger, when not only his patient's 
 life but his own reputation and future were at stake, 
 
Beyond the City. 175 
 
 was now shaken to the soul by a mislaid book or a 
 careless maid. He remarked it himself, and knew 
 the reason. ** When Mary was alive," he would say, 
 ** she stood between me and the little troubles. I 
 could brace myself for the big ones. My girls are 
 as good as girls can be, but who can know a man 
 as his wife knows him ?" Then his memory would 
 conjure up a tuft of brown hair and a single white 
 thin hand over a coverlet, and he would feel, as we 
 have all felt, that if we do not live and know each 
 other after death, then indeed we are tricked and 
 betrayed by all the highest hopes and subtlest intui- 
 tions of our nature. 
 
 The doctor had his compensations to make up 
 for his loss. The great scales of Fate had been 
 held on a level for him ; for where in all great 
 London could one find two sweeter girls, more 
 loving, more intelligent, and more sympathetic than 
 Clara and Ida Walker ? So bright were they, so 
 quick, so interested in all which interested him, 
 that if it were possible for a man to be compen- 
 sated for the loss of a good wife, then Balthazar 
 Walker might claim to be so. 
 
 Clara was tall and thin and supple, with a grace- 
 ful womanly figure. There was something stately 
 and distinguished in her carriage ; " queenly " her 
 friends called her, while her critics described her as 
 reserved and distant. Such as it was, however, it 
 was part and parcel of herself; for she was, and had 
 always from her childhood been, different to anyone 
 around her. There was nothing gregarious in her 
 nature. She thought with her own mind, saw with 
 her own eyes, acted from her own impulse. Her 
 
176 Beyond the City. 
 
 face was pale, striking rather than pretty, but with 
 two great dark eyes, so earnestly questioning, so 
 quick in their transitions from joy to pathos, so 
 swift in their comment upon every word and deed 
 around her, that those eyes alone were to many more 
 attractive than all the beauty of her younger sister. 
 Hers was a strong, quiet soul, and it was her firm 
 hand which had taken over the duties of her 
 mother, had ordered the house, restrained the ser- 
 vants, comforted her father, and upheld her weaker 
 sister, from the day of that great misfortune. 
 
 Ida Walker was a hand's breadth smaller than 
 Clara, but was a little fuller in the face and plumper 
 in the figure. She had light yellow hair, mischievous 
 blue eyes, with the light of humour ever twinkling 
 in their depths, and a large, perfectly-formed mouth, 
 with that slight upward curve of the corners which 
 goes with a keen appreciation of fun, suggesting 
 even in repose that a latent smile is ever lurking at 
 the edges of the lips. She was modern to the soles 
 of her dainty little high-heeled shoes, frankly fond 
 of dress and of pleasure, devoted to tennis and to 
 comic opera, delighted with a dance, which came in 
 her way only too seldom, longing ever for some 
 new excitement, and yet behind all this lighter side 
 of her character a thoroughly good, healthy-minded 
 English girl, the life and soul of the house, and the 
 idol of her sister and her father. Such was the 
 family at number two. A peep into the remaining 
 villa and our introductions are complete. 
 
 Admiral Hay Denver did not belong to the florid, 
 white-haired, hearty school of sea-dogs which is 
 more common in works of fiction than in the Navy 
 
Beyond the City, 177 
 
 List. On the contrary, he was the representative of 
 a much more common type which is the antithesis 
 of the conventional sailor. He was a thin, hard- 
 featured man, with an ascetic aquiline cast of face, 
 grizzled and hollow-cheeked, clean shaven, with the 
 exception of the tiniest curved promontory of ash- 
 coloured whisker. An observer, accustomed to 
 classify men, might have put him down as a canon 
 of the church with a taste for lay costume and a 
 country life, or as the master of a large public 
 school, who joined his scholars in their outdoor 
 sports. His lips were firm, his chin prominent, 
 he had a hard, dry eye, and his manner was precise 
 and formal. Forty years of stern discipline had 
 made him reserved and silent. Yet, when at his 
 ease with an equal, he could readily assume a less 
 quarter-deck style, and he had a fund of little dry 
 stories of the world and its ways which were of 
 interest from one who had seen so many phases of 
 life. Dry and spare, as lean as a jockey, and as 
 tough as whipcord, he might be seen any day 
 swinging his silver-headed Malacca cane, and pacing 
 along the suburban roads with the same measured 
 gait with which he had been wont to tread the 
 poop of his flagship. He wore a good-service stripe 
 upon his cheek, for on one side it was pitted and 
 scarred where a spurt of gravel knocked up by a 
 round-shot had struck him thirty years before, when 
 he served in the Lancaster gun-battery. Yet he was 
 hale and sound ; and though he was fifteen years 
 senior to his friend the doctor, he might have passed 
 as the younger man. 
 
 Mrs. Hay Denver's life had been a very broken 
 12 
 
178' Beyond the City. 
 
 one, and her record upon land represented a greater 
 amount of endurance and self-sacrifice than his 
 upon the sea. They had been together for four 
 months after their marriage, and then had come a 
 hiatus of four years, during which he was flitting 
 about between St. Helena and the Oil Rivers in a 
 gunboat. Then came a blessed year of peace and 
 domesticity, to be followed by nine years, with only 
 a three months' break, five upon the Pacific station, 
 and four on the East Indian. After that was a 
 respite in the shape of five years in the Channel 
 squadron, with periodical runs home, and then again 
 he was off to the Mediterranean for three years and 
 to Halifax for four. Now, at last, however, this old 
 married couple, who were still almost strangers to 
 one another, had come together in Norwood, where, 
 if their short day had been chequered and broken, 
 the evening at least promised to be sweet and 
 mellow. In person Mrs. Hay Denver was tall and 
 stout, with a bright, round, ruddy-cheeked face still 
 pretty, with a gracious matronly comeliness. Her 
 whole life was a round of devotion and of love, which 
 was divided between her husband and her only son, 
 Harold. 
 
 This son it was who kept them in the neighbour- 
 hood of London, for the admiral was as fond of 
 ships and of salt water as ever, and was as happy in 
 the sheets of a two-ton yacht as on the bridge of his 
 sixteen-knot monitor. Had he been untied, the 
 Devonshire or Hampshire coast would certainly 
 have been his choice. There was Harold, however, 
 and Harold's interests were their chief care. Harold 
 was four-and-twenty now. Three years before he 
 
Beyond the City. 179 
 
 had been taken in hand by an acquaintance of his 
 father's, the head of a considerable firm of stock- 
 brokers, and fairly launched upon 'Change. His 
 three hundred guinea entrance fee paid, his three 
 sureties of five hundred pounds each, found his name 
 approved by the Committee, and all other formalities 
 complied with, he found himself whirling round, an 
 insignificant unit, in the vortex of the money market 
 of the world. There, under the guidance of his 
 father's friend, he was instructed in the mysteries of 
 bulling and of bearing, in the strange usages of 
 'Change, in the intricacies of carrying over and 
 of transferring. He learned to know where to place 
 his clients' money, which of the jobbers would make 
 a price in New Zealands, and which would touch 
 nothing but American rails, which might be trusted 
 and which shunned. All this, and much more, he 
 mastered, and to such purpose that he soon began to 
 prosper, to retain the clients who had been recom- 
 mended to him, and to attract fresh ones. But the 
 work was never congenial. He had inherited from 
 his father his love of the air of heaven, his affection 
 for a manly and natural existence. To act as middle- 
 man between the pursuer of wealth and the wealth 
 which he pursued, or to stand as a human barometer, 
 registering the rise and fall of the great mammon 
 pressure in the markets, was not the work for which 
 Providence had placed those broad shoulders and 
 strong limbs upon his well-knit frame. His dark 
 open face, too, with his straight Grecian nose, well- 
 opened brown eyes, and round black-curled head, 
 were all those of a man who was fashioned for active 
 physical work. Meanwhile he was popular with his 
 
 12 "■ 
 
i8o Beyond the City. 
 
 fellow-brokers, respected by his clients, and beloved 
 at home ; but his spirit was restless within him, and 
 his mind chafed unceasingly against his surround- 
 ings. 
 
 '' Do you know, Willy," said Mrs. Hay Denver, 
 one evening as she stood behind her husband's chair, 
 with her hand upon his shoulder, *' I think sometimes 
 that Harold is not quite happy." 
 
 *' He looks happy, the young rascal," answered 
 the admiral, pointing with his cigar. It was after 
 dinner, and through the open French window of the 
 dining-room a clear view was to be had of the 
 tennis-court and the players. A set had just been 
 finished, and young Charles Westmacott was hitting 
 up the balls as high as he could send them in the 
 middle of the ground. Doctor Walker and Mrs. 
 Westmacott were pacing up and down the lawn, the 
 lady waving her racket as she emphasised her 
 remarks, and the doctor listening with slanting head 
 and little nods of agreement. Against the rails at the 
 near end Harold was leaning in his flannels talking 
 to the two sisters, who stood listening to him with 
 their long dark shadov^s streaming down the lawn 
 behind them. The girls were dressed alike in dark 
 skirts, with light pink tennis blouses and pink bands 
 on their straw hats, so that as they stood with the 
 soft red of the setting sun tinging their faces, Clara 
 demure and quiet, Ida mischievous and daring, it 
 was a group which might have pleased the eye of a 
 more exacting critic than the old sailor. 
 
 " Yes, he looks happy, mother," he repeated with 
 a chuckle. *' It is not so long ago since it was you 
 and I who were standing like that, and I don't 
 
Beyond the City, 
 
 i8i 
 
 remember that we were very unhappy either. It 
 was croquet in our time, and the ladies had not 
 reefed in their skirts quite so taut. What year 
 would it be ? Just before the commission of the 
 Pe7telope,'^ 
 
 Mrs. Hay Denver ran her fingers through his 
 grizzled hair. 
 
 " Doctor Walker and Mrs. Westmacott were pacing 
 tip and down the lawn:' 
 
 " It was when you came back in the Antelope/]Mst 
 before you got your step." 
 
 "Ah, the old Antelope ! What a clipper she was ! 
 She could sail two points nearer the wind than any- 
 
i82 Beyond the City. 
 
 thing of her tonnage in the service. You remember 
 her, mother. You saw her come into Plymouth Bay. 
 Wasnt't she a beauty? " 
 
 " She was indeed, dear. But when I say that I 
 think that Harold is not happy, I mean in his daily 
 life. Has it never struck you how thoughtful he is 
 at times, and how absent-minded ?" 
 
 " In love, perhaps, the young dog. He seems to 
 have found snug moorings now, at any rate." 
 
 " I think that it is very likely that you are right, 
 Willy," answered the mother seriously. 
 
 *' But with which of them ? " 
 
 '' I cannot tell." 
 
 " Well, they are very charming girls, both of 
 them. But as long as he hangs in the wind between 
 the two it cannot be serious. After all, the boy is 
 four-and-twenty, and he made five hundred pounds 
 last year. He is better able to marry than I was 
 when I was lieutenant." 
 
 " I think that we can see which it is now," 
 remarked the observant mother. 
 
 Charles Westmacott had ceased to knock the 
 tennis balls about, and was chatting with Clara 
 Walker, while Ida and Harold Denver were still 
 talking by the railing with little outbursts of laughter. 
 Presently a fresh set was formed, and Dr. Walker, 
 the odd man out, came through the wicket gate and 
 strolled up the garden walk. 
 
 " Good -evening, Mrs. Hay Denver," said he, 
 raising his broad straw hat. " May I come in ?" 
 
 " Good-evening, doctor. Pray do." 
 
 *' Try one of these," said the admiral, holding out 
 his cigar-case. " They are not bad. I got them on 
 
Beyond the City. 183 
 
 the Mosquito coast. I was thinking of signalling to 
 you, but you seemed so very happy out there." 
 
 ** Mrs. Westmacott is a very clever woman," said 
 the doctor, lighting the cigar. *' By the way, you 
 spoke about the Mosquito coast just now. Did you 
 see much of th^ Hyla when you were out there ?" 
 
 ** No such name on the list," answered the 
 seaman, with decision. "There's the Hydra, a 
 harbour defence turret-ship, but she never leaves the 
 home waters." 
 
 The doctor laughed. 
 
 " We live in two separate worlds," said he. *' The 
 Hyla is the little green tree frog, and Beale has 
 founded some of his views on protoplasm upon the 
 appearance of its nerve cells. It is a subject in 
 which I take an interest." 
 
 ''There were vermin of all sorts in the woods.- 
 When I have been on river service I have heard it 
 at night like the engine-room when you are on the 
 measured mile. You can't sleep for the piping and 
 croaking and chirping. Great Scott ! what a woman 
 that is ! She was across the lawn in three jumps ! 
 She would have made a captain of theforetop in the 
 old days ! " 
 
 ** She is a very remarkable woman." 
 
 **A very cranky one." 
 
 '*A very sensible one in some things," remarked 
 Mrs. Hay Denver. 
 
 ** Look at that now ! " cried the admiral, with a 
 lunge of his forefinger at the doctor. ** You mark 
 my words. Walker, if we don't look out that worrian 
 will raise a mutiny with her preaching. Here's my 
 wife disaffected already, and your girls will be no 
 
184 Beyond the City. 
 
 better. We must combine, man, or there 's an end 
 of all discipline." 
 
 '' No doubt she is a little excessive in her 
 views," said the doctor; ''but in the main I think 
 as she does." 
 
 '' Bravo, doctor ! " cried the lady. 
 
 " What, turned traitor to your sex ! We '11 court- 
 martial you as a deserter." 
 
 " She is quite right. The professions are not 
 sufficiently open to women. They are still far too 
 much circumscribed in their employments. They 
 are a feeble folk, the women who have to work for 
 their bread — poor, unorganised, timid, taking as a 
 favour what they might demand as a right. That is 
 why their case is not more constantly before the 
 public, for if their cry for redress was as great as 
 their grievance it would fill the world to the exclusion 
 of all others. It is all very well for us to be courteous 
 to the rich, the refined, those to whom life is already 
 made easy. It is a mere form, a trick of manner. 
 If we are truly courteous, we shall stoop to lift up 
 struggling womanhood when she really needs our 
 help— when it is life and death to her whether she 
 has it or not. And then to cant about it being 
 unwomanly to work in the higher professions. It is 
 womanly enough to starve, but unwomanly to use 
 the brains which God has given them. Is it not a 
 monstrous contention ?" 
 
 The admiral chuckled. 
 
 '* You are like one of those phonographs. Walker," 
 said he, ''you have had all this talked into you, and 
 now you are reehng it off again. It 's rank mutiny, 
 every word of it, for man has his duties and woman 
 
Beyond the City. 185 
 
 has hers, but they are as separate as their natures 
 are. I suppose that we shall have a woman hoisting 
 her pennant on the flagship presently, and taking 
 command of the Channel Squadron." 
 
 " Well, you have a woman on the throne taking 
 command of the whole nation," remarked his wife ; 
 **and everybody is agreed that she does it better 
 than any of the men." 
 
 The admiral was somewhat staggered by this 
 homethrust. 
 
 " That 's quite another thing," said he. 
 
 " You should come to their next meeting. I am 
 to take the chair. I have just promised Mrs. 
 Westmacott that I will do so. But it has turned 
 chilly, and it is time that the girls were indoors. 
 Good-night ! I shall look out for you after breakfast 
 for our constitutional, admiral." 
 
 The old sailor looked after his friend with a 
 twinkle in his eyes. 
 
 " How old is he, mother?" 
 
 ^'About fifty, I think." 
 
 "And Mrs. Westmacott ? " 
 
 ** I heard that she was forty-three." 
 
 The admiral rubbed his hands, and shook with 
 amusement. 
 
 ** We '11 find one of these days that three and 
 two make one," said he. " I '11 bet you a new 
 bonnet on it, mother." 
 
i86 
 
 Beyond the City. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 B Sister'6 Secret, 
 
 ELL 
 
 me, Miss Walker ; 
 
 you know how things 
 
 should be. What would you say 
 
 was a good profession for a young 
 
 man of twenty-six who has had 
 
 no education worth speaking 
 
 about, and who is not very 
 
 ^^ quick by nature ? " 
 
 The speaker was Charles 
 Westmacott, and the time this same summer 
 evening in the tennis - ground, though the 
 shadows had fallen now and the game been aban- 
 doned. 
 
 The girl glanced up at him, amused and sur- 
 prised. 
 
 " Do you mean yourself ? " 
 " Precisely." 
 
 *' But how could I tell?" 
 ** I have no one to advise me. 
 could do it better than anyone. I 
 your opinion." 
 
 ** It is very flattering." She glanced up again at 
 his earnest, questioning face, with its Saxon eyes 
 and drooping flaxen moustache, in some doubt as to 
 whether he might be joking. On the contrary, all 
 his attention seemed to be concentrated upon her 
 answer. ** It depends so much upon what you can 
 
 I believe that you 
 feel confidence in 
 
Beyond the City. 187 
 
 do, you know. I do not know you sufficiently to 
 be able to say what natural gifts you have." 
 
 They were walking slowly across the lawn in the 
 direction of the house. 
 
 *' I have none. That is to say, none worth 
 mentioning. I have no memory, and I am very 
 slow." 
 
 ** But you are very strong." 
 
 " Oh, if that goes for anything, I can put up a 
 hundred-pound bar till further orders ; but what 
 sort of a calling is that ? " 
 
 Some little joke about being called to the bar 
 flickered up in Miss Walker's mind, but her com- 
 panion was in such obvious earnest that she stifled 
 down her inclination to laugh. 
 
 " I can do a mile on the cinder-track in 4.50, and 
 across-country in 5.20, but how is that to help me? 
 I might be a cricket professional, but it is not a very 
 dignified position. Not that I care a straw about 
 dignity, you know, but I should not like to hurt the 
 old lady's feelings." 
 
 ''Your aunt's?" 
 
 *' Yes, my aunt's. My parents were killed in the 
 Mutiny, you know, when I was a baby; and she 
 has looked after me ever since. She has been very 
 good to me. I 'm sorry to leave her." 
 
 " But why should you leave her ?" 
 
 They had reached the garden gate, and the girl 
 leaned her racket upon the top of it, looking up 
 with grave interest at her big white - flannelled 
 companion. 
 
 "It 's Browning," said he 
 
 " What ! " 
 
Beyond the City. 
 
 " Don't tell my aunt that I said it," he sank his 
 voice to a whisper ; " I hate Browning ! " 
 
 Clara Walker rippled off into such a merry peal 
 of laughter that he forgot the evil things which he 
 had suifered from the poet, and burst out laughing 
 too. 
 
 '* I can't make him out," said he. " I try, but he 
 is one too many. No doubt it is very stupid of me ; 
 I don't deny it. But as long as I cannot, there is no 
 use pretending that I can. And then of course she 
 feels hurt, for she is very fond of him, and likes to 
 read him aloud in the evenings. She is reading a 
 piece now, * Pippa Passes,' and I assure you, Miss 
 Walker, that I don't even know what the title means. 
 You must think me a dreadful fool." 
 
 " But surely he is not so incomprehensible as all 
 that?" she said, as an attempt at encouragement. 
 
 " He is very bad. There are some things, you 
 know, which are fine. That ride of the three 
 Dutchmen, and Herve Riel and others, they are all 
 right. But there was a piece we read last week. 
 The first line stumped my aunt, and it takes a good 
 deal to do that, for she rides very straight. ' Setebos 
 and Setebos and Setebos,' that was the line." 
 
 " It sounds like a charm." 
 
 " No, it is a gentleman's name. Three gentle- 
 men, I thought at first, but my aunt says one. Then 
 he goes on, ' Thinketh he dwelleth in the light of 
 the moon.' It was a very trying piece." 
 
 Clara Walker laughed again. 
 
 ** You must not think of leaving your aunt," she 
 said. " Think how lonely she would be without 
 you." 
 
Beyond the City, 189 
 
 '* Well, yes, I have thought of that. . But you 
 must remember that my aunt is to all intents hardly 
 middle-aged, and a very eligible person. I don't 
 think that her dislike to mankind extends to indi- 
 viduals. She might form new ties, and then I should 
 be a third wheel in the coach. It was all very well 
 as long as I was only a boy, when her first husband 
 was alive." 
 
 ** But, good gracious, you don't mean that Mrs. 
 Westmacott is going to marry again?" gasped 
 Clara. 
 
 The young man glanced down at her with a 
 question in his eyes. 
 
 " Oh, it is only a remote possibility, you know," 
 said he. " Still, of course, it might happen, and I 
 should like to know what I ought to turn my hand to." 
 
 " I wish I could help you," said Clara. '* But I 
 really know very little about such things. However, 
 I could talk to my father, who knows a very great 
 deal of the world." 
 
 " I wish you would. I should be so glad if you 
 would." 
 
 "Then I certainly will. And now I must say 
 good-night, Mr. Westmacott, for papa will be won- 
 dering where I am." 
 
 " Good-night, Miss Walker." 
 
 He pulled off his flannel cap, and stalked away 
 through the gathering darkness. 
 
 Clara had imagined that they had been the last 
 on the lawn,, but, looking back from the steps which 
 led up to the French windows, she saw two dark 
 figures moving across towards the house. As they 
 came nearer she could distinguish that they were 
 
igo Beyond the City. 
 
 Harold Denver and her sister Ida. The murmur of 
 their voices rose up to her ears, and then the musical 
 little childlike laugh which she knew so well. " I 
 am so delighted," she heard her sister say. " So 
 pleased and proud. I had no idea of it. Your words 
 were such a surprise and a joy to me. Oh, I am so 
 glad ! " 
 
 "Is that you, Ida?" 
 
 ** Oh ! there is Clara. I must go in, Mr. Denver. 
 Good-night!" 
 
 There were a few whispered words, a laugh from 
 Ida, and a ** Good-night, Miss Walker," out of the 
 darkness. Clara took her sister's hand, and they 
 passed together through the long folding window. 
 The doctor had gone into his study, and the dining- 
 room was empty. A single small red lamp upon the 
 sideboard was reflected tenfold by the plate about it 
 and the mahogany beneath it, though its single wick 
 cast but a feeble light into the large dimly shadowed 
 room. Ida danced off to the big central lamp, but 
 Clara put her hand upon her arm. 
 
 " I rather like this quiet light," said she. " Why 
 should we not have a chat ?" 
 
 She sat in the doctor's large red-plush chair, and 
 her sister cuddled down upon the footstool at her 
 feet, glancing up at her elder with a smile upon her 
 lips and a mischievous gleam in her eyes. There 
 was a shade of anxiety in Clara's face, which cleared 
 away as she gazed into her sister's frank blue eyes. 
 
 ''Have you anything to tell me, dear?" she 
 asked. 
 
 Ida gave a little pout and shrug to her shoulders. 
 
 " The Solicitor-General then opened the case for 
 
Beyond the City, 191 
 
 the prosecution," said she. "You are going to 
 cross-examine me, Clara, so don't deny it. I do 
 wish you would have that grey satin foulard of yours 
 done up. With a little trimming and a new white 
 vest it would look as good as new, and it really is 
 very dowdy." 
 
 ** You were quite late upon the lawn," said the 
 inexorable Clara. 
 
 " Yes, I was rather. So were you. Have you 
 anything to tell me?" 
 
 She broke away into her merry, musical laugh. 
 
 " I was chatting with Mr. Westmacott." 
 
 "And I was chatting with Mr. Denver. By the 
 way, Clara, now tell me truly, what do you think 
 of Mr. Denver ? Do you like him ? Honestly, 
 now !" 
 
 " I like him very much indeed. I think that he 
 is one of the most gentlemanly, modest, manly, 
 young men that I have ever known. So now, dear, 
 have you nothing to tell me ? " 
 
 Clara smoothed down her sister's golden hair 
 with a motherly gesture, and stooped her face to 
 catch the expected confidence. She could wish 
 nothing better than that Ida should be the wife of 
 Harold Denver, and from the words which she had 
 overheard as they left the lawn that evening, she 
 could not doubt that .there was some understanding 
 between them. 
 
 But there came no confession from Ida. Only 
 the same mischievous smile and amused gleam in 
 her deep blue eyes. 
 
 " That grey foulard dress " she began. 
 
 " Oh, you little tease ! Come now, I will ask 
 
192 
 
 Beyond the City. 
 
 you what you have just asked me. Do you like 
 Harold Denver?" 
 
 " Oh, he 's a darhng ! " 
 
 ''Ida!" 
 
 " Well, you asked me. That 's what I think of 
 him. And now, you dear old inquisitive, you will 
 
 "7'm going off to see what papa is doing." 
 
 get nothing more out of me, so you must just wait 
 and not be too curious. I 'm going off to see what 
 papa is doing." 
 
 She sprang to her feet, threw her arms round her 
 sister's neck, gave her a final squeeze, and was gone. 
 A chorus from Olivette, sung in her clear contralto, 
 
Beyond the City. 193 
 
 grew fainter and fainter, until it ended in the slam 
 of a distant door. 
 
 But Clara Walker still sat in the dim-lit room, 
 with her chin upon her hands, and her dreamy eyes 
 looking out into the gathering gloom. It was the 
 duty of her, a maiden, to play the part of a mother 
 — to guide another in paths which her own steps had 
 not yet trodden. Since her mother died, not a 
 thought had been given to herself, all was for her 
 father and her sister. In her own eyes she was 
 herself very plain, and she knew that her manner 
 was often ungracious when she would most wish to 
 be gracious. She saw her face as the glass reflected 
 it, but she did not see the changing play of expression 
 which gave it its charm— the infinitepity, the sympathy, 
 the sweet womanliness which drew towards her all 
 who were in doubt and in trouble, even as poor slow- 
 moving Charles Westmacott had been drawn to her 
 that night. She was herself, she thought, outside 
 the pale of love. But it was very different with Ida, 
 merry, little, quick-witted, bright-faced Ida. She 
 was born for love ; it was her inheritance. But she 
 was young and innocent. She must not be allowed 
 to venture too far without help in those dangerous 
 waters. Some understanding there was between 
 her and Harold Denver. In her heart of hearts 
 Clara, like every good woman, was a matchmaker, 
 and already she had chosen Denver of all men as 
 the one to whom she could most safely confide Ida. 
 He had talked to her more than once on the serious 
 topics of life, on his aspirations, on what a man 
 could do to leave the world the better for his 
 presence. She knew that he was a man of a noble 
 
 13 
 
194 Beyond the City. 
 
 nature, high-minded and earnest. And yet she did 
 not hke this secrecy, this disinchnation upon the 
 part of one so frank and honest as Ida to tell her 
 what was passing. She would wait, and if she got 
 the opportunity next day she would lead Harold 
 Denver himself on to this topic. It was possible that 
 she might learn from him what her sister had 
 refused to tell her. 
 
Beyond the City. 
 
 195 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 B IRaval Conquest, 
 
 T was the habit of the doctor and the 
 admiral to accompany each other 
 upon a morning ramble between 
 breakfast and lunch. The dwellers 
 in those quiet tree-lined roads were 
 accustomed to see the two figures 
 — the long, thin, austere seaman, 
 and the short, bustling tweed-clad 
 physician — pass and repass with 
 such regularity that a stopped clock 
 has been reset by them. The ad- 
 miral took two steps to his companion's three, but 
 the younger man was the quicker, and both were 
 equal to a good four and a half miles an hour. 
 
 It was a lovely summer day which followed the 
 events which have been described. The sky was of 
 the deepest blue, with a few white fleecy clouds 
 drifting lazily across it, and the air was filled with 
 the low drone of insects or with a sudden sharper 
 note as bee or bluefly shot past with its quivering 
 long-drawn hum, like an insect tuning-fork. As the 
 friends topped each rise which leads up to the 
 Crystal Palace, they could see the dun clouds of 
 London stretching along the northern skyline, with 
 spire or dome breaking through the low-lying haze. 
 The admiral was in high spirits, for the morning 
 post had brought good^news to his son. 
 
 13 * 
 
ig6 Beyond the City. 
 
 " It is wonderful, Walker," he was saying, ** posi- 
 tively wonderful, the way that boy of mine has gone 
 ahead during the last three years. We heard from 
 Pearson to-day. Pearson is the senior partner, you 
 know, and my boy the junior — Pearson and Denver 
 the firm. Cunning old dog is Pearson, as cute and 
 as greedy as a Rio shark. Yet he goes off for a 
 fortnight's leave, and puts my boy in full charge^ 
 with all that immense business in his hands, and a 
 free hand to do what he likes with it. How 's that 
 for confidence, and he only three years upon 
 'Change?" 
 
 "Anyone would confide in him: his face is a 
 surety," said the doctor. 
 
 *' Go on. Walker!" The admiral dug his elbow 
 at him. " You know my weak side. Still it 's truth 
 all the same. I 've been blessed with a good wife 
 and a good son, and maybe I relish them the more 
 for having been cut off from them so long. I have 
 much to be thankful for I " 
 
 "And so have I — the best two girls that ever 
 stepped. There's Clara who has learned up as 
 much medicine as would give her the L.S.A., simply 
 in order that she may sympathise with me in my 
 work. But, hullo ! what is this coming along ? " 
 
 "All drawing and the wind astern!" cried the 
 admiral. " Fourteen knots, if it 's one. Why, by 
 George, it is that woman ! " 
 
 A rolling cloud of yellow dust had streamed 
 round the curve of the road, and from the heart of 
 it had emerged a high tandem tricycle flying along 
 at a breakneck pace. In front sat Mrs. Westmacott, 
 clad in a heather tweed pea-jacket, a skirt which 
 
Beyond the City. 197 
 
 just passed her knees, and a pair of thick gaiters of 
 the same material. She had a great bundle of red 
 papers under her arm, while Charles, who sat 
 behind her clad in Norfolk jacket and knicker- 
 bockers, bore a similar roll protruding from either 
 pocket. Even as they watched, the pair eased up ; 
 the lady sprang off, impaled one of her bills upon 
 the garden railing of an empty house, and then, 
 jumping on to her seat again, was about to hurry 
 onwards when her nephew drew her attention to the 
 two gentlemen upon the footpath. 
 
 " Oh ! now, really I didn't notice you," said she, 
 taking a few turns of the treadle and steering the 
 machine across to them. " Is it not a beautiful 
 morning? " 
 
 ** Lovely," answered the doctor. " You seem to 
 be very busy." 
 
 " I am very busy." She pointed to the coloured 
 paper which still fluttered from the railing. ** We 
 have been pushing our propaganda, you see. Charles 
 and I have been at it since seven o'clock. It is 
 about our meeting. I wish it to be a great success. 
 See ! " She smoothed out one of the bills, and the 
 doctor read his own name in great black letters 
 across the bottom. " We don't forget our chairman, 
 you see. Everybody is coming. Those two dear 
 little old maids opposite, the Williamses, held out 
 for some time ; but I have their promise now. 
 Admiral, I am sure that you wish us well." 
 
 " Hum ! I wish you no harm, ma'am." ^. 
 
 " You will come on the platform ? " 
 
 '' I '11 be No, I don't think I can do that." 
 
 ** To our meeting, then ? " 
 
Beyond the City. 
 
 *' No, ma'am ; I don't go out after dinner." 
 
 " Oh yes ! you will come. I will call in, if I may, 
 and chat it over with you when you come home. 
 We have not breakfasted yet. Good-bye ! " 
 
 There was a whirl of wheels, and the yellow 
 cloud rolled away down the road again. By some 
 legerdemain the admiral found that he was clutching 
 in his right hand one of the obnoxious bills. He 
 crumpled it up, and threw it into the roadway. 
 
 '' I '11 be hanged if I go. Walker," said he, as he 
 resumed his walk. " I 've never been hustled into 
 doing a thing yet, whether by woman or man." 
 
 " I 'm not a betting man," answered the doctor, 
 ** but I rather think that the odds are in favour of 
 your going." 
 
 The admiral had hardly got home, and had just 
 seated himself in his dining-room, when the attack 
 upon him was renewed. He was slowly and lovingly 
 unfolding The Times, preparatory to the long read 
 which led up to luncheon, and had even got so far 
 as to fasten his golden pince-nez on to his thin high- 
 bridged nose, when he heard a scrunching of gravel, 
 and, looking over the top of his paper, saw Mrs. 
 Westmacott coming up the garden walk. She was 
 still dressed in the singular costume which offended 
 the sailor's old-fashioned notions of propriety, but 
 he could not deny, as he looked at her, that she was 
 a very fine woman. In many climes he had looked 
 upon women of all shades and ages, but never upon 
 a more clear-cut, handsome face, nor a more erect, 
 supple, and womanly figure. He ceased to glower 
 as he gazed upon her, and the frown was smoothed 
 away from his rugged brow. 
 
Beyond the City. 199 
 
 " May I come in?" said she, framing herself in 
 the open window, with a background of green sward 
 and blue sky. ** I feel hke an invader deep in an 
 enemy's country." 
 
 " It is a very welcome invasion, ma'am," said he, 
 clearing his throat and pulling at his high collar. 
 ** Try this garden chair. What is there that I can 
 do for you ? Shall I ring and let Mrs. Denver know 
 that you are here ? " 
 
 " Pray do not trouble, admiral. I only looked in 
 with reference to our little chat this morning. I 
 wish that you would give us your powerful support 
 at our coming meeting for the improvement of the 
 condition of woman." 
 
 " No, ma'am, I can't do that." 
 
 He pursed up his lips and shook his grizzled 
 head. 
 
 "And why not?" 
 
 "Against my principles, ma'am." 
 
 "But why?" 
 
 " Because woman has her duties and man has 
 his. I may be old-fashioned, but that is my view. 
 Why, what is the world coming to ? I was saying 
 to Dr. Walker only last night that we shall have a 
 woman wanting to command the Channel Fleet 
 next.'* 
 
 " That is one of the few professions which can- 
 not be improved," said Mrs. Westmacott with her 
 sweetest smile. " Poor woman must still look to 
 man for protection." 
 
 " I don't like these new-fangled ideas, ma'am ; I 
 tell you honestly that I don't. I like discipline, and 
 I think everyone is the better for it. Women have 
 
200 Beyond the City. 
 
 got a great deal which they had not in the days of 
 our fathers. They have universities all for them- 
 selves, I am told ; and there are women doctors, I 
 hear. Surely they should rest contented. What 
 more can they want ? " 
 
 " You are a sailor, and sailors are always chival- 
 rous. If you could see how things really are, you 
 would change your opinion. What are the poor 
 things to do? There are so many of them, and so' 
 few things to which they can turn their hands. 
 Governesses ? But there are hardly any situations. 
 Music and drawing ? There is not one in fifty who 
 has any special talent in that direction. Medicine ? 
 It is still surrounded with difficulties for women, and 
 it takes many years and a small fortune to qualify. 
 Nursing? It is hard work ill paid, and none but 
 the strongest can stand it. What would you have 
 them do then, admiral ? Sit down and starve ? " 
 
 " Tut, tut ! It is not so bad as that." 
 
 ''The pressure is terrible. Advertise for a lady 
 companion at ten shillings a week, which is less than 
 a cook's wage, and see how many answers you get. 
 There is no hope, no outlook, for these struggling 
 thousands. Life is a dull, sordid struggle, leading 
 down to a cheerless old age. Yet when we try to 
 bring some little ray of hope — some chance, however 
 distant, of something better — we are told by chival- 
 rous gentlemen that it is against their principles to 
 help." 
 
 The admiral winced, but shook his head in 
 dissent. 
 
 *' There is banking, the law, veterinary surgery. 
 Government offices, the Civil Service — all these at 
 
Beyond the City. 201 
 
 least should be thrown freely open to women, if 
 they have brains enough to compete successfully for 
 them. Then if woman were unsuccessful it would 
 be her own fault, and the majority of the population 
 of this country could no longer complain that they 
 live under a different law to the minority, and that 
 they are held down in poverty and serfdom, with 
 every road to independence sealed to them." 
 
 " What would you propose to do, ma'am ?" 
 
 *'To set the more obvious injustices right, and 
 so to pave the way for a reform. Now look at that 
 man digging in the field. I know him. He can 
 neither read nor write, he is steeped in whisky, and 
 he has as much intelligence as the potatoes that he 
 is digging. Yet the man has a vote, can possibly 
 turn the scale of an election, and may help to decide 
 the policy of this empire. Now, to take the nearest 
 example, here am I, a woman who have had some 
 education, who have travelled, and who have seen 
 and studied the institutions of many countries. I 
 hold considerable property, and I pay more in 
 Imperial taxes than that man spends in whisky, 
 which is saying a great deal, and yet I have no 
 more direct influence upon the disposal of the money 
 which I pay than that fly which creeps along the 
 wall. Is that right ? Is it fair ? " 
 
 The admiral moved uneasily in his chair. 
 
 " Yours is an exceptional case," said he. 
 
 ** But no woman has a voice. Consider that the 
 women are a majority in the nation. Yet if there 
 was a question of legislation upon which all the 
 women were agreed upon one side and all the men 
 upon the other, it would appear that the matter 
 
202 Beyond the City. 
 
 was settled unanimously when more than half the 
 population were opposed to it. Is that right?" 
 
 Again the admiral wriggled. It was very awkward 
 for the gallant seaman to have a handsome woman 
 opposite to him, bombarding him with questions to 
 none of which he could find an answer. *' Couldn't 
 even get the tompions out of his guns," as he ex- 
 plained the matter to the doctor that evening. 
 
 *' Now those are really the points that we shall 
 lay stress upon at the meeting : the free and com- 
 plete opening of the professions, the final abolition 
 of the zenana I call it, and the franchise to all 
 women who pay Queen's taxes above a certain sum. 
 Surely there is nothing unreasonable in that — no- 
 thing which could offend your principles. We shall 
 have medicine, law, and the church all rallying that 
 night for the protection of woman. Is the navy to 
 be the one profession absent ?" 
 
 The admiral jumped out of his chair with an evil 
 word in his throat. 
 
 '* There, there, ma'am ! " he cried ; " drop it for 
 a time. I have heard enough. You 've turned me a 
 point or two, I won't deny it ; but let it stand at 
 that. I will think it over." 
 
 " Certainly, admiral ! We would not hurry you 
 in your decision ; but we still hope to see you on our 
 platform." 
 
 She rose and moved about in her lounging 
 masculine fashion from one picture to another, for 
 the walls were thickly covered with reminiscences of 
 the admiral's voyages. 
 
 " Hullo ! " said she. " Surely this ship would 
 have furled all her lower canvas and reefed her top- 
 
Beyond the City. 203 
 
 sails if she found herself on a lee shore with the 
 wind on her quarter." 
 
 " Of course she would. The artist was never 
 past Gravesend, I swear. It's the Penelope as she 
 was on the 14th of June, 1857, in the throat of the 
 Straits of Banca, with the Island of Banca on the 
 starboard bow and Sumatra on the port. He painted 
 it from description ; but of course, as you very 
 sensibly say, all was snug below, and she carried 
 storm sails and double-reefed topsails, for it was 
 blowing a cyclone from the sou'-east. I compliment 
 you, ma'am ; I do, indeed !" 
 
 " Oh, I have done a little sailoring myself — as 
 much as a woman can aspire to, you know. This is 
 the Bay of Funchal. What a lovely frigate ! " 
 
 ** Lovely, you say ! Ah ! she was lovely. That 
 is the Andromeda. I was a mate aboard of her — 
 sub-lieutenant they call it now, though I like the old 
 name best." 
 
 " What a lovely rake her masts have, and what 
 a curve to her bows ! She must have been a 
 clipper." 
 
 The old sailor rubbed his hands and his eyes 
 glistened. His old ships bordered close upon his 
 wife and his son in his affections. 
 
 " I know Funchal," said the lady, carelessly. "A 
 couple of years ago I had a 7-ton cutter-rigged 
 yacht, the Banshee^ and we ran over to Madeira from 
 Falmouth." 
 
 "You, ma'am, in a 7-tonner?" 
 
 " With a couple of Cornish lads for a crew. Oh, 
 it was glorious ! A fortnight right out in the open, 
 with no worries, no letters, no callers, no petty 
 
204 Beyond the City. 
 
 thoughts; nothing but the grand works of God — 
 the tossing sea and the great silent sky. They talk 
 of riding — indeed, I am fond of horses, too — but 
 what is there to compare with the swoop of a little 
 craft as she pitches down the long steep side of a 
 wave, and then the quiver and spring as she is 
 tossed upwards again ? Oh, if our souls could 
 transmigrate, I'd be a seamew above all birds that 
 fly ! But I keep you, admiral. Adieu!" 
 
 The old sailor was too transported with sympathy 
 to say a word. He could only shake her broad 
 muscular hand. She was half-way down the garden 
 path before she heard him calling her, and saw his 
 grizzled head and weather-stained face looking out 
 from behind the curtains. 
 
 '' You may put me down for the platform," he 
 cried, and vanished abashed behind the curtain of 
 his Times, where his wife found him at lunch time. 
 
 *' I hear that you have had quite a long chat with 
 Mrs. Westmacott," said she. 
 
 " Yes, and I think that she is one of the most 
 sensible women that I ever knew." 
 
 *' Except on the woman's rights question, of 
 course." 
 
 *' Oh ! I don't know. She has a good deal to 
 say for herself on that also. In fact, mother, I 
 have taken a platform ticket for her meeting." 
 
Beyond the City. 
 
 205 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Bn ©ID Stors. 
 
 UT this was not to be the only eventful 
 conversation which Mrs. Westmacott held 
 that day, nor was the admiral the only 
 person in " The Wilderness " who was 
 destined to find his opinions considerably 
 changed. Two neighbouring families, the 
 Winslows from Anerley and the Cumber- 
 "• batches from Gipsy Hill, had been in- 
 
 vited to tennis by Mrs. Wesmacott, and the lawn 
 was gay in the evening with the blazers of the 
 young men and the bright dresses of the girls. 
 To the older people, sitting round in their wicker- 
 work garden chairs, the darting, stooping, springing 
 white figures, the sweep of skirts and twinkle of 
 canvas shoes, the click of the rackets and sharp 
 whizz of the balls, with the continual "fifteen — love, 
 fifteen — all ! " of the marker, made up a merry and 
 exhilarating scene. To see their sons and daughters 
 so flushed and healthy and happy gave them also a 
 reflected glow, and it was hard to say who had most 
 pleasure from the game — those who played or those 
 who watched. 
 
 Mrs. Westmacott had just finished a set when 
 she caught a glimpse of Clara Walker sitting alone 
 at the farther end of the ground. She ran down the 
 court, cleared the net, to the amazement of the 
 visitors, and seated herself beside her. Clara's re- 
 
2o6 Beyond the City, 
 
 served and refined nature shrank somewhat from 
 the boisterous frankness and strange manners of the 
 widow, and yet her feminine instinct told her that 
 beneath all her peculiarities there lay much that was 
 good and noble. She smiled up at her therefore, and 
 nodded a greeting. 
 
 ** Why aren't you playing then ? Don't, for good- 
 ness' sake, begin to be languid and young ladyish ! 
 When you give up active sports, you give up 
 youth." 
 
 " I have played a set, Mrs. Westmacott." 
 
 '^ That 's right, my dear." She sat down beside 
 her, and tapped her upon the arm with her tennis 
 racket. " I like you, my dear, and I am going to 
 call you Clara. You are not as aggressive as I 
 should wish, Clara ; but still I like you very much. 
 Self-sacrifice is all very well, you know ; but we have 
 had rather too much of it on our side, and should 
 like to see a little on the other. What do you think 
 of my nephew Charles ? " 
 
 The question was so sudden and unexpected that 
 Clara gave quite a jump in her chair. 
 
 *' I — I — I hardly ever have thought of your 
 nephew Charles." 
 
 ** No ? Oh ! you must think him well over, for I 
 want to speak to you about him." 
 
 '*Tome? But why?" 
 
 *' It seemed to me most delicate. You see, Clara, 
 the matter stands in this way. It is quite possible 
 that I may soon find myself in a completely new 
 sphere of life, which will involve fresh duties and 
 make it impossible for me to keep up a household 
 which Charles can share." 
 
Beyond the City. 207 
 
 Clara stared. Did this mean that she was about 
 to marry again ? What else could it point to ? 
 
 " Therefore Charles must have a household of 
 his own. That is obvious. Now, I don't approve 
 of bachelor establishments. Do you?" 
 
 '' Really, Mrs. Westmacott, I have never thought 
 of the matter." 
 
 *' Oh, you little sly puss ! Was there ever a girl 
 who never thought of the matter ? I think that 
 a young man of six - and - twenty ought to be 
 married." 
 
 Clara felt very uncomfortable. The awful thought 
 had come upon her that this ambassadress had come 
 to her as a proxy with a proposal of marriage. But 
 how could that be ? She had not spoken more than 
 three or four times with her nephew, and knew 
 nothing more of him than he had told her on the 
 evening before. It was impossible then. And yet, 
 what could his aunt mean by this discussion of his 
 private affairs ? 
 
 " Do you not think yourself," she persisted, 
 "that a young man of six -and -twenty is better 
 married ?" 
 
 " I should think that he is old enough to decide 
 for himself." 
 
 " Yes, yes. He has done so. But Charles is 
 just a little shy, just a little slow in expressing him- 
 self. I thought that I would pave the way for him. 
 Two women can arrange these things so much better. 
 Men sometimes have a difficulty in making them- 
 selves clear. 
 
 " I really hardly follow you, Mrs. Westmacott," 
 cried Clara in despair. 
 
2o8 Beyond the City. 
 
 "He has no profession ; but he has nice tastes. 
 He reads Browning every night. And he is most 
 amazingly strong. When he was younger we used 
 to put on the gloves together, but I cannot persuade 
 him to now ; for he says he cannot play light enough. 
 I should allow him five hundred, which should be 
 enough at first." 
 
 "My dear Mrs. Westmacott," cried Clara, " I 
 assure you that I have not the least idea what it is 
 that you are talking of." 
 
 " Do you think your sister Ida would have my 
 nephew Charles ? " 
 
 Her sister Ida ? Quite a little thrill of relief and 
 of pleasure ran through her at the thought. Ida and 
 Charles Westmacott. She had never thought of it. 
 And yet they had been a good deal together. They r- 
 had played tennis ; they had shared the tandem 
 tricycle. Again came the thrill of joy, and close at 
 its h'eels the cold questionings of conscience. Why 
 this joy ? What was the real source of it ? Was it 
 that deep down, somewhere pushed back in the 
 black recesses of the soul, there was the thought 
 lurking that if Charles prospered in his wooing then 
 Harold Denver would still be free ? How mean, 
 how unmaidenly, how unsisterly the thought ! She 
 crushed it down and thrust it aside, but still it would 
 push up its wicked little head. She crimsoned with 
 shame at her own baseness as she turned once more 
 to her companion. 
 
 " I really do not know," she said. 
 
 " She is not engaged ?" 
 
 " Not that I know of." 
 
 " You speak hesitatingly." 
 
Beyond the City, 209 
 
 " Because I am not sure. But he may ask. She 
 cannot but be flattered." 
 
 *' Quite so. I tell him that it is the most practi- 
 cal compliment which a man can pay to a woman. 
 He is a little shy, but when he sets himself to do it 
 he will do it. He is very much in love with her, I 
 assure you. These little lively people always do 
 attract the slow and heavy ones, which is nature's 
 device for the neutrahsing of bores. But they are 
 all going in. I think if you will allow me that I will 
 just take the opportunity to tell him that, as far as 
 you know, there is no positive obstacle in the 
 way." 
 
 *' As far as I know," Clara repeated, as the widow 
 moved away to where the players were grouped round 
 the net, or sauntering slowly towards the house. 
 She rose to follow her, but her head was in a whirl 
 with new thoughts, and she sat down again. Which 
 would be the best for Ida, Harold or Charles ? She 
 thought it over with as much solicitude as a mother 
 who plans for her only child. Harold had seemed to 
 her to be in many ways the noblest and best young 
 man whom she had known. If ever she was to love 
 a man it would be such a man as that. But she must 
 not think of herself. She had reason to believe that 
 both these men loved her sister. Which would be 
 the best for her ? But perhaps the matter was 
 already decided. She could not forget the scrap of 
 conversation which she had heard the night before, 
 nor the secret which her sister had refused to con- 
 fide to her. If Ida would not tell her, there was 
 but one person who could. She raised her eyes, and 
 there was Harold Denver standing before her. 
 
210 Beyond the City, 
 
 " You were lost in your thoughts," said he, 
 smiling. '* I hope that they were pleasant ones." 
 
 "Oh, I was planning," said she, rising. ''It 
 seems rather a waste of time, as a rule, for things 
 have a way of working themselves out just as you 
 least expect." 
 
 " What were you planning, then ? " 
 
 "The future." 
 
 "Whose?" 
 
 " Oh, my own and Ida's." 
 
 " And was I included in your joint futures ?" 
 
 " I hope all our friends were included." 
 
 " Don't go in," said he, as she began to move 
 slowly towards the house. " I wanted to have a 
 word. Let us stroll up and down the lawn. Perhaps 
 you are cold. If you are, I could bring you out a 
 shawl." 
 
 " Oh, no, I am not cold." 
 
 " I was speaking to your sister Ida last night." 
 
 She noticed that there was a slight quiver in his 
 voice, and, glancing up at his dark, clear-cut face, 
 she saw that he was very grave. She felt that it was 
 settled, that he had come to ask her for her sister's 
 hand. 
 
 " She is a charming girl," said he, after a pause. 
 
 " Indeed she is," cried Clara, warmly. "And no 
 one who has not lived with her and known her 
 intimately can tell how charming and good she is. 
 She is like a sunbeam in the house." 
 
 " No one who was not good could be so absolutely 
 happy as she seems to be. Heaven's last gift, I 
 think, is a mind so pure and a spirit so high that it is 
 unable even to see what is impure and evil in the 
 
Beyond the City. 211 
 
 world around us. For as long as we can see it, how 
 can we be truly happy ?" 
 
 " She has a deeper side also. She does not turn 
 it to the world, and it is not natural that she should, 
 for she is very young. But she thinks, and has 
 aspirations of her own." 
 
 ** You cannot admire her more than I do. Indeed, 
 Miss Walker, I only ask to be brought into nearer 
 relationship with her, and to feel that there is a per- 
 manent bond between us." 
 
 It had come at last. For a moment her heart was 
 numbed within her, and then a flood of sisterly love 
 carried all before it. Down with that dark thought 
 which would still try to raise its unhallowed head ! 
 She turned to Harold with sparkling eyes and words 
 of pleasure upon her lips. 
 
 " I should wish to be near and dear to both of 
 you," said he, as he took her hand. " I should wish 
 Ida to be my sister, and you my wife." 
 
 She said nothing. She only stood looking at 
 him with parted lips and great dark, questioning 
 eyes. The lawn had vanished away, the sloping 
 gardens, the brick villas, the darkening sky with 
 half a pale moon beginning to show over the 
 chimney-pots. All was gone, and she was only 
 conscious of a dark, earnest, pleading face, and of 
 a voice, far away, disconnected from herself, the 
 voice of a man telling a woman how he loved her. 
 He was unhappy, said the voice, his life was a void ; 
 there was but one thing that could save him ; he 
 had come to the parting of the ways — here lay 
 happiness and honour, and all that was high and 
 noble ; there lay the soul-killing round, the lonely 
 
 14 - 
 
212 Beyond the City. 
 
 life, the base pursuit of money, the sordid, selfish 
 aims. He needed but the hand of the woman 
 that he loved to lead him into the better path. 
 And how he loved her his life would show. He 
 loved her for her sweetness, for her womanliness, 
 for her strength. He had need of her. Would she 
 not come to him ? And then of a sudden, as she 
 listened, it came home to her that the man was 
 Harold Denver, and that she was the woman, and 
 that all God's work was very beautiful — the green 
 sward beneath her feet, the rustling leaves, the long 
 orange slashes in the western sky. She spoke ; she 
 scarce knew what the broken words were, but she 
 saw the light of joy shine out on his face, and her 
 hand was still in his as they wandered amid the 
 twilight. They said no more now, but only wandered 
 and felt each other's presence. All was fresh around 
 them, familiar and yet new, tinged with the beauty 
 of their own new-found happiness. 
 
 " Did you not know it before ?" he asked. 
 
 " I did not dare to think it." 
 
 " What a mask of ice I must wear ! How could 
 a man feel as I have done without showing it ? 
 Your sister at least knew." 
 
 "Ida!" 
 
 '* It was last night. She began to praise you, I 
 said what I felt, and then in an instant it was all out." 
 
 " But what could you — what could you see in me? 
 Oh, I do pray that you may not repent it ! " 
 
 The gentle heart was ruffled amid its joy by the 
 thought of its own unworthiness. 
 
 " Repent it ! I feel that I am a saved man. 
 You do not know how degrading this City life is, 
 
Beyond the City, 213 
 
 how debasing, and yet how absorbing. Money for 
 ever clinks in your ear. You can think of nothing 
 else. From the bottom of my heart I hate it, and 
 yet how can I draw back without bringing grief to 
 my dear old father ? There was but one way in 
 which I could defy the taint, and that was by having 
 a home influence so pure and so high that it may 
 brace me up against all that draws me down. I 
 have felt that influence already. I know that when 
 I am talking to you I am a better man. It is you 
 who must go with me through life, or I must walk 
 for ever alone." 
 
 '' Oh, Harold, I am so happy!" 
 
 Still they wandered amid the darkening shadows, 
 while one by one the stars peeped out in the blue- 
 black sky above them. At last a chill night-wind 
 blew up from the east, and brought them back to the 
 realities of life. 
 
 ** You must go in. You will be cold." 
 
 " My father will wonder where I am. Shall I 
 say anything to him ? " 
 
 ** If you like, my darling. Or I will in the 
 morning. I must tell my mother to-night. I know 
 how delighted she will be." 
 
 ** I do hope so." 
 
 *' Let me take you up the garden path. It is so 
 dark. Your lamp is not lit yet. There is the window. 
 Till to-morrow, then, dearest." 
 
 ** Till to-morrow, Harold." 
 
 " My own darling!" He stooped, and their lips 
 met for the first time. Then, as she pushed open the 
 folding windows she heard his quick firm step as it 
 passed down the gravelled path. A lamp was lit as 
 
214 
 
 Beyond the City. 
 
 she entered the room, and there was Ida, dancing 
 
 about like a mischievous Httle fairy in front of her. ^ 
 
 " And have you anything to tell me ? " she asked, 
 
 "H^ stooped, and their lips met for the first time.'' 
 
 with a solemn face. Then, suddenly throwing her 
 arms around her sister's neck ! '* Oh, you dear, dear 
 old Clara ! I am so pleased ! I am so pleased ! " 
 
Beyond the City. 
 
 215 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 **X)cnit ^anDcm jfclicitae/' 
 
 was just three days after the doctor 
 and the admiral had congratulated 
 each other upon the closer tie which 
 was to unite their two families, and 
 to turn their friendship into some- 
 thing even dearer and more in- 
 timate, that Miss Ida Walker re- 
 ceived a letter which caused her 
 some surprise and considerable 
 amusement. It was dated from 
 next door, and was handed in by 
 the red-headed page after breakfast. 
 
 " Dear Miss Ida," began this curious document, 
 and then relapsed suddenly into the third person — 
 *' Mr. Charles Westmacott hopes that he may have 
 the extreme pleasure of a ride with Miss Ida Walker 
 upon his tandem-tricycle. Mr. Charles Westmacott 
 will bring it round in half-an-hour. You in front. 
 Yours very truly, Charles Westmacott." 
 
 The whole was written in a large, loose-jointed, 
 and school-boyish hand, very thin on the up strokes 
 and thick on the down, as though care and pains 
 had gone to the fashioning of it. 
 
 Strange as was the form, the meaning was clear 
 enough, so Ida hastened to her room, and had 
 hardly slipped on her light-grey cycling dress when 
 she saw the tandem with its large occupant at the 
 
2i6 Beyond the City. 
 
 door. He handed her up to her saddle with a more 
 solemn and thoughtful face than was usual with him, 
 and a few moments later they were flying along the- 
 beautiful smooth suburban roads in the direction of 
 Forest Hill. The great limbs of the athlete made 
 the heavy machine spring and quiver with every 
 stroke ; while the mignon grey figure with the 
 laughing face, and the golden curls blowing from 
 under the little pink - banded straw hat, simply 
 held firmly to her perch, and let the treadles 
 whirl round beneath her feet. Mile after mile 
 they flew, the wind beating in her face, the 
 trees dancing past in two long ranks on either 
 side, until they had passed round Croydon, and 
 were approaching Norwood once more from the 
 further side. 
 
 " Aren't you tired ? " she asked, glancing over her 
 shoulder, and turning towards him a little pink ear, 
 a fluffy golden curl, and one blue eye twinkling from 
 the very corner of its lid. 
 
 " Not a bit. I am just getting my swing." 
 
 ** Isn't it wonderful to be so strong ? You always 
 remind me of a steam-engine." 
 
 "Why a steam-engine ?" 
 
 ** Well, because it is so powerful, and reliable, and 
 unreasoning. Well, I didn't mean that last, you 
 know, but — but — you know what I mean. What is 
 the matter with you ? " 
 
 " Why ? " 
 
 *' Because you have something on your mind. 
 You have not laughed once." 
 
 He broke into a gruesome laugh. 
 
 ** I am quite jolly," said he. 
 
Beyjond the City. 217 
 
 " Oh, no, you are not. And why did you write 
 me such a dreadfully stiff letter?" 
 
 '* There now," he cried, " I was sure it was stiff. 
 I said it was absurdly stiff." 
 
 " Then why write it ? '.' 
 
 " It wasn't my own composition." 
 
 " Whose, then ? Your aunt's?" 
 
 " Oh, no ! It was a person of the name of 
 Slattery." 
 
 " Goodness ! Who is he ? " 
 
 ** I knew it would come out, I felt that it would. 
 You've heard of Slattery, the author ?" 
 
 " Never." 
 
 '* He is wonderful at expressing himself. He 
 wrote a book called The Secret Solved; or, Letter- 
 writing Made Easy. It gives you models of all sorts 
 of letters." 
 
 Ida burst out laughing. 
 
 " So you actually copied one." 
 
 " It was to invite a young lady to a picnic, but 
 I set to work and soon got it changed so that it 
 would do very well. Slattery seems never to have 
 asked anyone to ride a tandem. But when I had 
 written it, it seemed so dreadfully stiff that I had to 
 put a little beginning and end of my own, which 
 seemed to brighten it up a good deal." 
 
 " I thought there was something funny about the 
 beginning and end." 
 
 ** Did you ? Fancy your noticing the difference 
 in style. How quick you are 1 I am very slow at 
 things like that. I ought to have been a woodman, 
 or gamekeeper, or something. I was made on those 
 lines. But I have found something now." 
 
2i8 Beyond the City. 
 
 *'What is that, then?" 
 
 " Ranching. I have a chum in Texas, and he 
 says it is a rare hfe. I am to buy a share in his 
 business. It is all in the open air — shooting, and 
 riding, and sport. Would it — would it inconvenience 
 you much, Ida, to come out there with me ? " 
 
 Ida nearly fell off her perch in her amazement. 
 The only words of which she could think were *' My 
 goodness me !" so she said them. 
 
 *' If it would not upset your plans, or change 
 your arrangements in any way." He had slowed 
 down and let go of the steering handle, so that the 
 great machine crawled aimlessly about from one side 
 of the road to the other, " I know very well that I 
 am not clever, or anything of that sort, butstill I 
 would do all I can to make you very happy. Don't 
 you think that in time you might come to like me a 
 little bit?" 
 
 Ida gave a cry of fright. 
 
 " I won't like you if you run me against a brick 
 wall," said she, as the machine rasped up against 
 the curb. " Do attend to the steering." 
 
 " Yes, I will. But tell me, Ida, whether you will 
 come with me." 
 
 " Oh, I don't know. It 's too absurd ! How can 
 we talk about such things when I cannot see you ? 
 You speak to the nape of my neck, and then I have 
 to twist my head round to answer." 
 
 " I know. That was why I put ' You in front ' 
 upon my letter. I thought that it would make it 
 easier. But if you would prefer it I will stop the 
 machine, and then you can sit round and talk about 
 it." 
 
Beyond the City. 2ig 
 
 " Good gracious ! " cried Ida. ** Fancy our sitting 
 face to face on a motionless tricycle in the middle of 
 the road, and all the people looking out of their 
 windows at us !" 
 
 " It would look rather funny, wouldn't it ? Well, 
 then, suppose that we both get off, and push the 
 tandem along in front of us ?" 
 
 " Oh, no ; this is better than that." 
 
 " Or I could carry the thing." 
 
 Ida burst out laughing. 
 
 " That would be more absurd still." 
 
 " Then we will go quietly, and I will look out for 
 the steering. I won't talk about it at all if you 
 would rather not. But I really do love you very 
 much, and you would make me happy if you came 
 to Texas with me ; and I think that perhaps after a 
 time I could make you happy too." 
 
 *' But your aunt?" 
 
 '' Oh, she would like it very much. I can under- 
 stand that your father might not like to lose you. 
 I 'm sure I wouldn't either, if I were he. But, after 
 all, America is not very far off now-a-days, and it is 
 not so very wild. We would take a grand piano, 
 and — and — a copy of Browning. And Denver and 
 his wife would come over to see us. We should be 
 quite a family party. It would be jolly." 
 
 Ida sat listening to the stumbling words and 
 awkward phrases which were whispered from the 
 back of her, but there was something in Charles 
 Westmacott's clumsiness of speech which was more 
 moving than the words of the most eloquent of 
 pleaders. He paused, he stammered, he caught his 
 breath between the words, and he blurted out in 
 
220 Beyond the City. 
 
 little blunt phrases all the hopes of his heart. If 
 love had not come to her yet, there was at least 
 pity and sympathy, which are nearly akin to it. 
 Wonder there was also that one so weak and frail as 
 she should shake this strong man so, should have the 
 whole course of his life waiting for her decision. 
 Her left hand was on the cushion at her side. He 
 leaned forward and took it gently in his own. She 
 did not try to draw it back from him. 
 
 " May I have it," said he, " for life ?" 
 
 *' Oh, do attend to your steering," said she, 
 smiling round at him ; " and don't say any more 
 about this to-day. Please don't ! " 
 
 " When shall I know, then ? " 
 
 " Oh, to-night, to-morrow, I don't know. I must 
 ask Clara. Talk about something else." 
 
 And they did talk about something else ; but her 
 left hand was still enclosed in his, and he knew, 
 without asking again, that all was well. 
 
Beyond the City. 
 
 221 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 SbaOovv6 JBefore. 
 
 WESTMACOTT'S great 
 meeting for the enfran- 
 chisement of woman had 
 passed over, and it had been 
 a triumphant success. All 
 the maids and matrons of the 
 southern suburbs had rallied at 
 her summons. There was an 
 influential platform, with Dr. 
 Balthazar Walker in the chair, and 
 Admiral Hay Denver among his more 
 prominent supporters. One benighted male had 
 come in from the outside darkness and had jeered 
 from the further end of the hall ; but he had been 
 called to order by the chair, petrified by indignant 
 glances from the unenfranchised around him, and 
 finally escorted to the door by Charles Westmacott. 
 Fiery resolutions were passed, to be forwarded to a 
 large number of leading statesmen, and the meeting 
 broke up with the conviction that a shrewd blow 
 had been struck for the cause of woman. 
 
 But there was one woman at least to whom the 
 meeting and all that was connected with it had 
 brought anything but pleasure. Clara Walker 
 watched with a heavy heart the friendship and 
 close intimacy which had sprung up between her 
 father and the widow. From week to week it had 
 
222 Beyond the City. 
 
 increased until no day ever passed without their 
 being together. The coming meeting had been the 
 excuse for these continual interviews ; but now the 
 meeting was over, and still the doctor would refer 
 every point which rose to the judgment of his 
 neighbour. He would talk, too, to .his two 
 daughters of her strength of character, her decisive 
 mind, and of the necessity of their cultivating her 
 acquaintance and following her example, until at 
 last it had become his most common topic of 
 conversation. 
 
 All this might have passed as merely the natural 
 pleasure which an elderly man might take in the 
 society of an intelligent and handsome woman ; but 
 there were other points which seemed to Clara to 
 give it a deeper meaning. She could not forget 
 that when Charles Westmacott had spoken to her 
 one night, he had alluded to the possibility of his 
 aunt marrying again. He must have known or 
 noticed something before he would speak upon such 
 a subject. And then again Mrs. Westmacott had 
 herself said that she hoped to change her style of 
 living shortly, and take over completely new duties. 
 What could that mean except that she expected to 
 marry ? And whom ? She seemed to see few 
 friends outside their own little circle. She must 
 have alluded to her father. It was a hateful thought, 
 and yet it must be faced. 
 
 One evening the doctor had been rather late at 
 his neighbour's. He used to go into the admiral's 
 after dinner, but now he turned more frequently in 
 the other direction. When he returned, Clara was 
 sitting alone in the drawing-room reading a maga- 
 
Beyond the City. 223 
 
 zine. She spranf]^ up as he entered, pushed forward 
 his chair, and ran to fetch his shppers. 
 
 " You are looking a Httle pale, dear," he remarked. 
 
 ** Oh, no, papa ! I am very well." 
 
 *'A11 well with Harold?" 
 
 ** Yes. His partner, Mr. Pearson, is still away, 
 and he is doing all the work." 
 
 " Well done ! He is sure to succeed. Where is 
 Ida?" 
 
 " In her room, I think." 
 
 '* She was with Charles Westmacott on the lawn 
 not very long ago. He seems very fond of her. 
 He is not very bright, but I think he will make her 
 a good husband." 
 
 " I am sure of it, papa. He is very manly and 
 reliable." 
 
 ** Yes, I should think that he is not the sort of 
 man who goes wrong. There is nothing hidden 
 about him. As to his brightness, it really does not 
 matter ; for his aunt, Mrs. Westmacott, is very rich — 
 much richer than you would think from her style 
 of living, — and she has made him a handsome 
 provision." 
 
 " I am glad of that." 
 
 ** It is between ourselves. I am her trustee, and 
 so I know something of her arrangements. And 
 when are you going to marry, Clara ?" 
 
 ** Oh, papa, not for some time yet ! We have 
 not thought of a date." 
 
 **Well, really, I don't know that there is any 
 reason for delay. He has a competence, and it 
 increases yearly. As long as you are quite certain 
 that your mind is made up " 
 
224 Beyond the City. 
 
 ''Oh, papa!" 
 
 " Well, then, I really do not know why there 
 should be any delay. And Ida, too, must be married 
 within the next few months. Now, what I want to 
 know is, what I am to do when my two little com- 
 panions run away from me ? " 
 
 He spoke lightly, but his eyes were grave as he 
 looked questioningly at his daughter. 
 
 " Dear papa, you shall not be alone. It will be 
 years before Harold and I think of marrying ; and 
 when we do, you must come and live with us." 
 
 " No, no, dear ! I know that you mean what 
 you say; but I have seen something of the world, 
 and I know that such arrangements never answer. 
 There cannot be two masters in a house, and yet at 
 my age my freedom is very necessary to me." 
 
 *' But you would be completely free." 
 
 " No, dear, you cannot be that if you are a guest 
 in another man's house. Can you suggest no other 
 alternative ? " 
 
 *' That we remain with you." 
 
 " No, no ! That is out of the question. Mrs. 
 Westmacott herself says that a woman's first duty 
 is to marry. Marriage, however, should be an equal 
 partnership, as she points out. I should wish you 
 both to marry ; but still I should Hke a suggestion 
 from you, Clara, as to what / should do." 
 
 "But there is no hurry, papa. Let us wait; I 
 do not intend to marry yet." 
 
 Doctor Walker looked disappointed. 
 
 " Well, Clara, if you can suggest nothing, I 
 suppose that I must take the initiative myself," 
 said he. 
 
Beyond the City. 225 
 
 "Then what do you propose, papa?" 
 
 She braced herself as one who sees the blow 
 which is about to fall. 
 
 He looked at her and hesitated. 
 
 " How like your poor dear mother you are, 
 Clara!" he cried. **As I looked at you then, it was 
 as if she had come back from the grave." He 
 stooped towards her and kissed her. '* There, run 
 away to your sister, my dear, and do not trouble 
 yourself about me. Nothing is settled yet, but you 
 will find that all will come right." 
 
 Clara went upstairs sad at heart, for she was 
 sure now that what she had feared was indeed about 
 to come to pass, and that her father was going to 
 ask Mrs. Westmacott to be his wife. In her pure 
 and earnest mind her mother's memory was en- 
 shrined as that of a saint, and the thought that 
 anyone should take her place seemed a terrible 
 desecration. Even worse, however, did this marri- 
 age appear when looked at from the point of view 
 of her father's future. The widow might fascinate 
 him by her knowledge of the world, her dash, her 
 strength, her unconventionality — all these qualities 
 Clara was willing to allow her; but she was con- 
 vinced that she would be unendurable as a life com- 
 panion. She had come to an age when habits are not 
 lightly to be changed, nor was she a woman who was 
 at all likely to attempt to change them. How would 
 a sensitive man like her father stand the constant 
 strain of such a wife, a woman who was all decision, 
 with no softness and nothing soothing in her nature ? 
 It passed as a mere eccentricity when they heard of 
 her stout-drinking, her cigarette-smoking, her occa- 
 
 15 
 
226 Beyond the City. 
 
 sional whiffs at a long clay-pipe, her horsewhipping 
 of a drunken servant, and her companionship with 
 the snake Eliza, whom she was in the habit of 
 bearing about in her pocket. All this would become 
 unendurable to her father when his first infatuation 
 was past. For his own sake, then, as well as for 
 her mother's memory, this match must be prevented. 
 And yet how powerless she was to prevent it ! What 
 could she do ? Could Harold aid her ? Perhaps. 
 Or Ida ? At least, she would tell her sister, and see 
 what she could suggest. 
 
 Ida was in her boudoir, a tiny little tapestried 
 room, as neat and dainty as herself, with low walls 
 hung with Imari plaques, and with pretty little 
 Swiss brackets, bearing blue Kaga ware or the pure 
 white Coalport china. In a low chair, beneath a red- 
 -^haded standing-lamp, sat Ida, in a diaphanous 
 evening-dress of mousseline de soie, the ruddy light 
 tinging her sweet childlike face, and glowing on 
 her golden curls. She sprang up as her sister 
 entered, and threw her arms around her. 
 
 " Dear old Clara ! Come and sit down here 
 beside me ; I have not had a chat for days. But, 
 oh, what a troubled face ! What is it, then ? " 
 
 She put up her forefinger and smoothed her 
 sister's brow with it. 
 
 Clara pulled up a stool, and, sitting down beside 
 her sister, passed her arm round her waist. 
 
 *' I am so sorry to trouble you, dear Ida," she 
 said ; " but I do not know what to do." 
 
 " There's nothing the matter with Harold ?" 
 
 ^' Oh, no, Ida!" 
 
 ' Nor with my Charles ? " 
 
Beyond the City. 227 
 
 "No, no!" 
 
 Ida gave a sigh of relief. 
 
 " You quite frightened me, dear," said she. 
 " You can't think how solemn you look. What is 
 it, then ? " 
 
 " I believe that papa intends to ask Mrs. 
 Westmacott to marry him." "^ 
 
 Ida burst out laughing. 
 
 " What can have put such a notion into your 
 head, Clara?" 
 
 " It is only too true, Ida. I suspected it before, 
 and he himself almost told me as much with his 
 own lips to-night. I don't think that it is a laugh- 
 ing matter." 
 
 " Really, I could not help it. If you had told me 
 that those two dear old ladies opposite, the Misses 
 Williams, were both engaged, you would not have 
 surprised me more. It is really too funny." 
 
 " Funny, Ida ! Think of anyone taking the 
 place of dear mother." 
 
 But her sister was of a more practical and less 
 sentimental nature. 
 
 " I am sure," said she, ''that dear mother would 
 like papa to do whatever would make him most 
 happy. We shall both be away, and why should 
 papa not please himself?" 
 
 " But think how unhappy he will be. You know 
 how quiet he is in his ways, and how even a little 
 thing will upset him. How could he live with a 
 wife who would make his whole life a series of sur- 
 prises ? Fancy what a whirlwind she must be in a 
 house ! A man at his age cannot change his ways. 
 I am sure he would be miserable." 
 
 15 * 
 
228 Beyond the City. 
 
 Ida's face grew graver, and she pondered over 
 the matter for a few minutes. 
 
 '* I really think that you are right, as usual," said 
 she at last. " I admire Charlie's aunt very much, 
 you know, and I think that she is a very useful and 
 good person ; but I don't think she would do as a 
 wife for poor quiet papa." 
 
 "But he will certainly ask her, and I really think 
 that she intends to accept him. Then it would be 
 too late to interfere. We have only a few days at 
 the most ; and what can we do ? How can we hope 
 to make him change his mind ?" 
 
 Again Ida pondered. 
 
 *• He has never tried what it is to live with a 
 strong-minded woman," said she. "If we could 
 only get him to realise it in time. Oh, Clara, I have 
 it ; I have it ! Such a lovely plan ! " 
 
 She leaned back in her chair, and burst into a 
 fit of laughter so natural and so hearty that Clara 
 had to forget her troubles and to join in it. 
 
 " Oh, it is beautiful ! " she gasped at last. " Poor 
 papa ! What a time he will have ! But it's all for 
 his own good, as he used to say when we had to be 
 punished when we were little. Oh, Clara, I do hope 
 your heart won't fail you ! " 
 
 " I would do anything to save him, dear." 
 "That's it; you must steel yourself by that 
 thought." 
 
 " But what is your plan ? " 
 
 " Oh, I am so proud of it! We will tire him for 
 ever of the widow, and of all emancipated women. 
 Let me see, what are Mrs. Westmacott's main ideas? 
 You have listened to her more than I. Women 
 
Beyond the City. 229 
 
 should attend less to household duties; that is one, 
 is it not ?" 
 
 '' Yes, if they feel they have capabilities for 
 higher things. Then she thinks that every woman 
 who has leisure should take up the study of some 
 branch of science, and that, as far as possible, every 
 woman should qualify herself for some trade or 
 profession, choosing for preference those which have 
 been hitherto monopolised by men. To enter the 
 others would only be to intensify the present compe- 
 tition." 
 
 " Quite so. That is glorious!" Her blue eyes 
 were dancing with mischief, and she clapped her 
 hands in her delight. " What else ? She thinks 
 that whatever a man can do, a woman should be 
 allowed to do also, does she not ?" 
 
 *' She says so." 
 
 ** And about dress ? The short skirt and the 
 divided skirt are what she believes in." 
 
 ** Yes." 
 
 " We must get in some cloth." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " We must make ourselves a dress each. A 
 brand-new, enfranchised, emancipated dress, dear. 
 Don't you see my plan ? We shall act up to all 
 Mrs. Westmacott's views in every respect, and 
 improve them when we can. Then papa will know 
 what it is to live with a woman who claims all her 
 rights. Oh, Clara, it will be splendid ! " 
 
 Her milder sister sat speechless before so daring 
 a scheme. 
 
 " But it would be wrong, Ida !" she cried at last. 
 
 *' Not a bit. It is to save him." 
 
230 Beyond the City. 
 
 " I should not dare." 
 
 ** Oh! yes, you would. Harold will help. Besides, 
 what other plan have you ? " 
 
 *' I have none." 
 
 *'Then you must, take mine." 
 
 " Yes ; perhaps you are right. Well, we do it 
 for a good motive." 
 
 ^' You will do it?" 
 
 " I do not see any other way." 
 
 " You dear, good Clara ! Now I will show you 
 what you are to do. We must not begin too sud- 
 denly ; it might excite suspicion." 
 
 " What would you do, then ? " 
 
 '* To-morrow we must go to Mrs. Westmacott, 
 and sit at her feet and learn all her views." 
 
 " What hypocrites we shall feel ! " 
 
 " We shall be her newest and most enthusiastic 
 converts. Oh, it will be such fun, Clara ! Then 
 we shall make our plans and send for what we want, 
 and begin our new life." 
 
 " I do hope that we shall not have to keep it up 
 long. It seems so cruel to dear papa." 
 
 " Cruel ! To save him ! " 
 
 " I wish I was sure that we were doing right. 
 And yet, what else can we do ? Well then, Ida, 
 the die is cast, and we will call upon Mrs. Westma- 
 cott to-morrow." 
 
Beyond the City. 
 
 231 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 21 ifamil^ plot 
 
 ITTLE did poor Doctor Walker 
 imagine, as he sat at his 
 /^ breakfast-table next morning, 
 ~ that the two sweet girls who 
 .j^sat on either side of him 
 were deep in a conspiracy, 
 and that he, munching in- 
 nocently at his muffins, was 
 ^3 the victim against whom 
 their wiles were planned. 
 Patiently they waited, until 
 [ at last their opening came. 
 '*' " It is a beautiful day," 
 he remarked. '' It will do 
 for Mrs. Westmacott ; she was thinking of having 
 a spin upon her tricycle." 
 
 '' Then we must call early. We both intended 
 to see her after breakfast." 
 ''Oh, indeed!" 
 The doctor looked pleased. 
 
 ** You know, pa," said Ida, " it seems to us that 
 we really have a very great advantage in having 
 Mrs. Westmacott living so near." 
 ''Why so, dear?" 
 
 " Well, because she is so advanced, you know. 
 If we only study her ways, we may advance our- 
 selves also." 
 
232 Beyond the City. 
 
 " I think I have heard you say, papa," remarked 
 Clara, ''that she is the type of the woman of the 
 future." 
 
 *' I am very pleased to hear you speak so sensibly, 
 my dears. I certainly think that she is a woman 
 whom you may very well take as your model. The 
 more intimate you are with her, the better pleased 
 I shall be." 
 
 " Then that is settled," said Clara, demurely ; 
 and the talk drifted to other matters. 
 
 All the morning the two girls sat extracting from 
 Mrs. Westmacott her most extreme views as to the 
 duty of the one sex and the tyranny of the other. 
 Absolute equality, even in details, was her ideal. 
 Enough of the parrot cry of unwomanly and un- 
 maidenly ; it had been invented by man to scare 
 woman away when she poached too nearly upon his 
 precious preserves. Every woman should be inde- 
 pendent ; every woman should learn a trade. It 
 was their duty to push in where they were least 
 welcome. Then they were martyrs to the cause, 
 and pioneers to their weaker sisters. Why should 
 the wash-tub, the needle, and the housekeeper's 
 book be eternally theirs ? Might they not reach 
 higher — to the consulting-room, to the bench, and 
 even to the pulpit ? Mrs. Westmacott sacrificed 
 her tricycle-ride in her eagerness over her pet 
 subject, and her two fair disciples drank in every 
 word, and noted every suggestion for future use. 
 That afternoon they went shopping in London, and 
 before evening strange packages began to be handed 
 in at the doctor's door. The plot was ripe for 
 execution, and one of the conspirators was merry 
 
'^ Beyond the City. 233 
 
 and jubilant, while the other was very nervous and 
 troubled. 
 
 When the doctor came down to the dining-room 
 next morning, he was surprised to find that his 
 daughters had already been up some time. Ida was 
 installed at one end of the table, with a spirit-lamp, 
 a curved glass flask, and several bottles in front of 
 her. The contents of the flask were boiling furiously, 
 while a villainous smell filled the room. Clara 
 lounged in an arm-chair, with her feet upon a 
 second one, a blue-covered book in her hand, and a 
 huge map of the British Islands spread across her 
 lap. 
 
 " Hullo ! " cried the doctor, blinking and sniffing, 
 " Where's the breakfast?" 
 
 " Oh, didn't you order it ?" asked Ida. 
 
 " I ! No ; why should I ?" He rang the bell. 
 " Why have you not laid the breakfast, Jane ?" 
 
 " If you please, sir. Miss Ida was aworkin' at 
 the table." 
 
 '' Oh, of course, Jane," said the young lady, 
 calmly. " I am so sorry. I shall be ready to move 
 in a few minutes." 
 
 *' But what on earth are you doing, Ida?" asked 
 the doctor. '' The smell is most offensive ; and, 
 good gracious, look at the mess which you have 
 made upon the cloth ! Why, you have burned a 
 hole right through." 
 
 *' Oh, that is the acid," Ida answered, contentedly. 
 " Mrs. Westmacott said that it would burn holes." 
 
 ** You might have taken her word for it without 
 trying," said her father, drily. 
 
 ''But, look here, pa. See what the book says; 
 
234 Beyond the City. 
 
 ' The scientific mind takes nothing upon trust. 
 Prove all things ! ' I have proved that." 
 
 " You certainly have. Well, until breakfast is 
 ready I'll glance over The Times. Have you seen 
 it?" 
 
 *' The Times ? Oh, dear me ! this is it which I 
 have under my spirit-lamp. I am afraid there is 
 some acid upon that too, and it is rather damp and 
 torn. Here it is." 
 
 The doctor took the bedraggled paper with a 
 rueful face. 
 
 " Everything seems to be wrong to-day," he re- 
 marked. "What is this sudden enthusiasm about 
 chemistry, Ida ?" 
 
 " Oh, I am trying to live up to Mrs. Westmacott's 
 teaching." 
 
 "Quite right! quite right!" said he, though 
 perhaps with less heartiness than he had shown the 
 day before. " Ah, here is breakfast at last !" 
 
 But nothing was comfortable that morning ; 
 there were eggs without egg-spoons, toast which 
 was leathery from being kept, dried-up rashers, and 
 grounds in the coffee. Above all, there was that 
 dreadful smell, which pervaded everything and gave 
 a horrible twang to every mouthful. 
 
 " I don't wish to put a damper upon your studies, 
 Ida," said the doctor, as he pushed back his chair; 
 "but I do think it would be better if you did your 
 chemical experiments a little later in the day." 
 
 " But Mrs. Westmacott says that women should 
 rise early, and do their work before breakfast." 
 
 "Then they should choose some other room 
 besides the breakfast-room." 
 
Beyond the City. 235 
 
 The doctor was becoming just a little ruffled. A 
 turn in the open air would soothe him, he thought. 
 
 " Where are my boots ?" he asked. 
 
 But they were not in their accustomed corner by 
 his chair. Up and down he searched, while the 
 three servants took up the quest, stooping and peep- 
 ing under bookcases and drawers. Ida had returned 
 to her studies, and Clara to her blue-covered volume, 
 sitting absorbed and disinterested amid the bustle 
 and the racket. At last a general buzz of congratula- 
 tion announced that the cook had discovered the 
 boots hung up among the hats in the hall. The 
 doctor, very red and flustered, drew them on, and 
 stamped off to join the admiral in his morning 
 walk. 
 
 As the door slammed Ida burst into a shout of 
 laughter. 
 
 " You see, Clara," she cried, " the charm works 
 already ! He has gone to number one instead of to 
 number three. Oh, we shall win a great victory ! 
 You Ve been very good, dear ; I could see that you 
 were on thorns to help him when he was looking for 
 his boots." 
 
 " Poor papa ! It is so cruel. And yet what are 
 we to do?" 
 
 " Oh, he will enjoy being comfortable all the more 
 if we give him a little discomfort now. What horri- 
 ble work this chemistry is ! Look at my frock ! It 
 is ruined. And this dreadful smell ! " 
 
 She threw open the window, and thrust her little 
 golden-curled head out of it. Charles Westmacott 
 was hoeing at the other side of the garden fence. 
 
 " Good-morning, sir," said Ida. 
 
236 Beyond the City. 
 
 " Good-morning ! " 
 
 The big man leaned upon his hoe, and looked up 
 at her. 
 
 *' Have you any cigarettes, Charles ?" 
 
 " Yes, certainly." 
 
 " Throw me up two." 
 
 *' Here is my case. Can you catch ? " 
 
 A sealskin case came with a soft thud on to the 
 floor. Ida opened it. It was full. 
 
 " What are these ? " she asked. 
 
 " Egyptians." 
 
 *' What are some other brands ? " 
 
 " Oh, Richmond Gems, and Turkish, and Cam- 
 bridge. But why?" 
 
 " Never mind !" 
 
 She nodded to him and closed the window. 
 
 " We must remember all those, Clara," said she. 
 " We must learn to talk about such things. Mrs. 
 Westrriacott knows all about the brands of cigar- 
 ettes. Has your rum come ?" 
 
 " Yes, dear. It is here." 
 
 "And I have my stout. Come along up to my room 
 now. This smell is too abominable. But we must 
 be ready for him when he comes back. If we sit at 
 the window we shall see him coming down the road." 
 
 The fresh morning air, and the genial company of 
 the admiral, had caused the doctor to forget his 
 troubles, and he came back about mid-day in an 
 excellent humour. As he opened the hall door the 
 vile smell of chemicals which had spoilt his break- 
 fast met him with a redoubled virulence. He threw 
 open the hall window, entered the dining-room, and 
 stood aghast at the sight which met his eyes. 
 
Beyond the City. 237 
 
 Ida was still sitting among her bottles with a lit 
 cigarette in her left hand, and a glass of stout on the 
 table beside her. Clara with another cigarette was 
 lounging in the easy-chair with several maps spread 
 out upon the floor around. Her feet were stuck up 
 on the coalscuttle, and she had a tumblerful of some 
 reddish-brown composition on the smoking-table 
 close at her elbow. The doctor gazed from one to 
 the other of them through the thin grey haze of 
 smoke, but his eyes rested finally in a settled stare 
 of astonishment upon his elder and more serious 
 daughter. 
 
 ** Clara ! " he gasped, " I could not have believed 
 it ! " 
 
 "What is it, papa?" 
 
 " You are smoking ! " 
 
 *' Trying to, papa. I find it a little difficult, for I 
 have not been used to it." 
 
 *' But' why, in the name of goodness " 
 
 " Mrs. Westmacott recommends it." 
 
 " Oh, a lady of mature years may do many things 
 which a young girl must avoid." 
 
 ** Oh, no ! " cried Ida. " Mrs. Westmacott says 
 that there should be one law for all. Have a cigar- 
 ette, pa ? " 
 
 " No, thank you. I never smoke in the morning." 
 
 " No ? Perhaps you don't care for the brand. 
 What are these, Clara ? " 
 
 " Egyptians." 
 
 " Ah ! we must have some Richmond Gems or 
 Turkish. I wish, pa, when you go into town, you 
 would get me some Turkish." 
 
 "I will do nothing of the kind. I do not at all 
 
238 
 
 Beyond the City. 
 
 think that it is a fitting habit for young ladies. I do 
 not agree with Mrs. Westmacott upon the point." 
 
 *' Really, pa! It was you who advised us to 
 imitate her." 
 
 " But with discrimination. What is it that you 
 are drinking, Clara ? " 
 
 " Rum, papa." 
 
 ''Rum? In the morning?" He sat down and 
 
 " Clara,'' he gasped, " I could not have believed it.'" 
 
 rubbed his eyes as one who tries to skake off some 
 evil dream. " Did you say rum ? " 
 
 " Yes, 'pa. They all drink it in the profession 
 which I am going to take up." 
 
 " Profession, Clara?" 
 
 *' Mrs. Westmacott says that every woman should 
 
Beyond the City, 239 
 
 follow a calling, and that we ought to choose those 
 which women have always avoided." 
 
 " Quite so." 
 
 " Well, I am going to act upon her advice. I am 
 going to be a pilot." 
 
 *' My dear Clara ! A pilot ! This is too much." 
 
 *' This is a beautiful book, papa. The Lights, 
 Beacons, Buoys, Channels, and Landmarks of Great 
 Britain. Here is another, The Master Mariner s 
 Hand-hook. You can't imagine how interesting it is." 
 
 " You are joking, Clara. You must be joking." 
 
 ** Not at all, pa. You can't think what a lot I 
 have learned already. I 'm to carry a green light to 
 starboard, and a red to port, with a white light at 
 the masthead, and a flare-up every fifteen minutes." 
 
 *' Oh, won't it look pretty at night!" cried her 
 sister. 
 
 " And I know the fog-signals. One blast means 
 that a ship steers to starboard, two to port, three 
 astern, four that it is unmanageable. But this man 
 asks such dreadful questions at the end of each 
 chapter. Listen to this : * You see a red light. The 
 ship is on the port tack, and the wind at north ; 
 what course is that ship steering to a point ? ' " 
 
 The doctor rose with a gesture of despair. 
 
 '' I can't imagine what has come over you both," 
 said he. 
 
 ** My dear papa, we are trying hard to live up to 
 Mrs. Westmacott's standard." 
 
 " Well, I must say that I do not admire the result. 
 Your chemistry, Ida, may perhaps do no harm ; but 
 your scheme, Clara, is out of the question. How a 
 girl of your sense could ever entertain such a notion 
 
240 Beyond the City. 
 
 is more than I can imagine. But I must absolutely 
 forbid you to go further with it." 
 
 " But, pa," asked Ida, with an air of innocent 
 inquiry in her big blue eyes, '•' what are we to do 
 when your commands and Mrs. Westmacott's advice 
 are opposed ? You told us to obey her. She says 
 that when women try to throw off their shackles, 
 their fathers, brothers, and husbands are the very 
 first to try to rivet them on again, and that in such 
 a matter no man has any authority." 
 
 *' Does Mrs.Westmacott teach you that I am not 
 the head of my own house ? " 
 
 The doctor flushed, and his grizzled hair bristled 
 in his anger. 
 
 ** Certainly. She says that all heads of houses 
 are relics of the dark ages." 
 
 The doctor muttered something, and stamped his 
 foot upon the carpet. Then, without a word, he 
 passed out into the garden, and his daughters could 
 see him striding furiously up and down, cutting off 
 the heads of the flowers with a switch. 
 
 ^' Oh, you darling! You played your part so 
 splendidly ! " cried Ida. 
 
 " But how cruel it is ! When I saw the sorrow 
 and surprise in his eyes, I very nearly put my arms 
 about him and told him all. Don't you think we 
 have done enough ? " 
 
 " No, no, no ! Not nearly enough. You must 
 not turn weak now, Clara. It is so funny that I 
 should be leading you. It is quite a new experience. 
 But I know that I am right. If we go on as we are 
 doing, we shall be able to say all our lives that we 
 have saved him. And if we don't, oh ! Clara, we 
 should never forgive ourselves." 
 
Beyond the City. 
 
 241 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 llClomcn of tbe future. 
 
 ROM that day the doctor's peace 
 was gone. Never was a quiet and 
 orderly household transformed so 
 suddenly into a bear-garden, or a 
 happy man turned into such a 
 completely miserable one. He had 
 never realised before how entirely 
 his daughters had shielded him 
 from all the friction of life. Now 
 that they had not only ceased to 
 protect him, but had themselves 
 \^ '^'5' become a source of trouble to 
 
 him, he began to understand how great the blessing 
 was which he had enjoyed, and to sigh for the happy 
 days before his girls had come under the influence 
 of his neighbour. 
 
 ** You don't look happy," Mrs. Westmacott had 
 remarked to him one morning. *' You are pale and 
 a little off colour. You should come with me for a 
 ten-mile spin upon the tandem." 
 " I am troubled about my girls." 
 They were walking up and down in the garden. 
 From time to time there sounded from the house 
 behind them the long sad wail of a French horn. 
 
 " That is Ida," said he. ** She has taken to 
 practising on that dreadful instrument in the inter- 
 
 16 
 
242 Beyond the City, 
 
 vals of her chemistry. And Clara is quite as bad. 
 I declare it is getting quite unendurable." 
 
 "Ah, doctor, doctor!" she cried, shaking her 
 forefinger with a gleam of her white teeth. " You 
 must live up to your principles — you must give your 
 daughters the same liberty as you advocate for other 
 women." 
 
 " Liberty, madam, certainly ! But this approaches 
 to license." 
 
 " The same law for all, my friend." She tapped 
 him reprovingly on the arm with her sunshade. 
 " When you were twenty, your father did not, I pre- 
 sume, object to your learning chemistry or playing a 
 musical instrument. You would have thought it 
 tyranny if he had." 
 
 " But there is such a sudden change in them 
 both." 
 
 " Yes, I have noticed that they have been very 
 enthusiastic lately in the cause of liberty. Of all 
 my disciples I think that they promise to be the 
 most devoted and consistent, which is the more 
 natural since their father is one of our most trusted 
 champions." 
 
 The doctor gave a twitch of impatience. 
 
 *' I seem to have lost all authority ! " he cried. 
 
 ** No, no, my dear friend. They are a little 
 exuberant at having broken the trammels of custom. 
 That is all." 
 
 " You cannot think what I have had to put up 
 with, madam. It has been a dreadful experience. 
 Last night, after I had extinguished the candle in my 
 bedroom, I placed my foot upon something smooth 
 and hard^ which scuttled from under me. Imagine 
 
Beyond the City, 243 
 
 my horror ! I lit the gas, and came upon a well- 
 grown tortoise, which Clara had thought fit to 
 introduce into the house. I call it a filthy custom to 
 have such pets." 
 
 Mrs. Westmacott dropped him a little courtsey. 
 
 ** Thank you, sir," said she. " That is a nice little 
 side hit at my poor Eliza." 
 
 *' I give you my word that I had forgotten about 
 her," cried the doctor, flushing. " One such pet may no 
 doubt be endured, but two are more than I can bear. 
 Ida has a monkey, which lives on the curtain-rod. 
 It is a most dreadful creature. It will remain abso- 
 lutely motionless until it sees that you have forgotten 
 its presence, and then it will suddenly bound from 
 picture to picture all round the walls, and end by 
 swinging down on the bell-rope and jumping on to 
 the top of your head. At breakfast it stole a 
 poached eggy and daubed it all over the door-handle. 
 Ida calls these outrages amusing tricks ! " 
 
 " Oh, all will come right," said the widow, reas- 
 suringly. 
 
 *' And Clara is as bad, — Clara, who used to be so 
 good and sweet, the very image of her poor mother ! 
 She insists upon this preposterous scheme of being 
 a pilot, and will talk of nothing but revolving lights 
 and hidden rocks, and codes of signals, and nonsense 
 of the kind." 
 
 *' But why preposterous ?" asked his companion. 
 ** What nobler occupation can there be than that of 
 stimulating commerce and aiding the mariner to 
 steer safely into port ? I should think your daughter 
 admirably adapted for such duties." 
 
 '* Then I must beg to differ from you, madam." 
 16 - 
 
244 Beyond the City. 
 
 " Still, you are inconsistent." 
 
 " Excuse me, madam, I do not see the matter in 
 the same light. And I should be obliged to you if 
 you would use your influence with my daughter to 
 dissuade her." 
 
 '' You wish to make me inconsistent too." 
 
 " Then you refuse ? " 
 
 " I am afraid that I cannot interfere." 
 
 The doctor was very angry. 
 - " Very well, madam," said he. " In that case I 
 can only say that I have the honour to wish you a 
 very good-morning." 
 
 He raised his broad straw hat and strode away 
 up the gravel path, while t-he widow looked after him 
 with twinkling eyes. She was surprised herself to 
 find that she liked the doctor better the more 
 masculine and aggressive he became. It w^as un- 
 reasonable, and against all principle ; and yet so it 
 was, and no argument could mend the matter. 
 
 Very hot and angry the doctor retired into his 
 room, and sat down to read his paper. Ida had 
 retired, and the distant wails of her bugle showed 
 that she was upstairs in her boudoir. Clara sat 
 opposite to him with her exasperating charts and her 
 blue book. The doctor glanced at her, and his eyes 
 remained fixed in astonishment upon the front of 
 her skirt. 
 
 " My dear Clara," he cried, "you have torn your 
 skirt!" 
 
 His daughter laughed, and smoothed out her 
 frock. To his horror, he saw the red plush of the 
 chair where the dress ought to have been. 
 
 *' It is all torn !" he cried. '' What have you done ?" 
 
Beyond the City. 245 
 
 " My dear papa ! " said she, " what do you know 
 about the mysteries of ladies' dress ? This is a 
 divided skirt." 
 
 Then he saw that it was indeed so arranged, and 
 that his daughter was clad in a sort of loose 
 extremely long knickerbockers. 
 
 " It will be so convenient for my sea-boots," she 
 explained. 
 
 Her father shook his head sadly. 
 
 " Your dear mother would not have liked it, 
 Clara," said he. 
 
 For a moment the conspiracy was upon the point 
 of collapsing. There was something in the gentle- 
 ness of his rebuke, and in his appeal to her mother, 
 which brought the tears to her eyes, and in another 
 instant she would have been kneeling beside him 
 with everything confessed, when the door flew open, 
 and her sister Ida came bounding into the room. 
 She wore a short grey skirt, like that of Mrs. 
 Westmacott, and she held it up in each hand and 
 danced about among the furniture. 
 
 " I feel quite the Gaiety girl!" she cried. "How 
 delicious it must be to be upon the stage ! You 
 can't think how nice this dress is, papa. One feels 
 so free in it. And isn't Clara charming?" 
 
 " Go to your room this instant, and take it off! " 
 thundered the doctor. " I call it highly improper, 
 and no daughter of mine shall wear it." 
 
 ** Papa ! Improper ! Why it is the exact model 
 of Hrs. Westmacott's." 
 
 " I say it is improper. And yours also, Clara ! 
 Your conduct is really outrageous. You drive me 
 out of the house. I am going to my club in town. 
 
246 Beyond the City. 
 
 I have no comfort or peace of mind in my own 
 house. I will stand it no longer. I may be late 
 to-night — I shall go to the British Medical meeting. 
 But when I return I shall hope to find that you have 
 reconsidered your conduct, and that you have 
 skaken yourself clear of the pernicious influences 
 which have recently made such an alteration in your 
 conduct." 
 
 He seized his hat, slammed the dining-room 
 door, and a few minutes later they heard the crash 
 of the big front gate. 
 
 " Victory, Clara, Victory!" cried Ida, still pirou- 
 etting around the furniture. ''Did you hear what he 
 said ? Pernicious influences ! Don't you under- 
 stand, Clara ? Why do you sit there so pale and 
 glum ? Why don't you get up and dance ? " 
 
 " Oh ! I shall be so glad when it is over, Ida. I 
 do hate to give him pain. Surely he has learned 
 now that it is very unpleasant to spend one's life 
 with reformers ! " 
 
 " He has almost learned it, Clara. Just one 
 more little lesson. We must not risk all at this last 
 moment." 
 
 '* What would you do, Ida ? Oh, don't do any- 
 thing too dreadful ! I feel that we have gone too 
 far already." 
 
 " Oh, we can do it very nicely. You see, we are 
 both engaged, and that makes it very easy. Harold 
 will do what you ask him, especially as you have told 
 him the reason why ; and my Charles will do it 
 without even wanting to know the reason. Now 
 you know what Mrs. Westmacott thinks about the 
 reserve of young ladies. Mere prudery, affectation, 
 
Beyond the City, 247 
 
 and a relic of the dark ages of the Zenana. Those 
 were her words, were they not ?" 
 
 "What then?" 
 
 '* Well, now we must put it in practice. We are 
 reducing all her other views to practice, and we 
 must not shirk this one." 
 
 " But what would you do ? Oh, don't look so 
 wicked, Ida ! You look like some evil little fairy, 
 with your golden hair and dancing mischievous eyes. 
 I know that you are going to propose something 
 dreadful!" 
 
 " We must give a little supper to-night." 
 
 " We ? A supper ! " 
 
 " Why not ? Young gentlemen give suppers. 
 Why not young ladies?" 
 
 "But whom shall we invite?" 
 
 " Why, Harold and Charles, of course." 
 
 "And the admiral and Mrs. Hay Denver?" 
 
 " Oh, no ! That would be very old-fashioned. 
 We must keep up with the times, Clara." 
 
 " But what can we give them for supper ?" 
 
 " Oh, something with a nice, fast, rollicking, 
 late-at-night kind of flavour to it ! Let me see ! 
 Champagne, of course — and oysters. Oysters will 
 do. In the novels, all the naughty people take 
 champagne and oysters. Besides, they won't need 
 any cooking. How is your pocket-money, Clara?" 
 
 " I have three pounds." 
 
 "And I have one. Four pounds. I have no idea 
 how much champagne costs. Have you ?" 
 
 " Not the slightest." 
 
 " How many oysters does a man eat ?" 
 
 " I can't imagine." 
 
248 Beyond the City. 
 
 *' I'll write and ask Charles. No, I won't; I'll 
 ask Jane. Ring for her, Clara. She has been a 
 cook, and is sure to know." 
 
 Jane, on being cross-questioned, refused to com- 
 mit herself beyond the statement that it depended 
 upon the gentleman, and also upon the oysters. The 
 united experience of the kitchen, however, testified 
 that three dozen was a fair provision. 
 
 *' Then we shall have eight dozen altogether," 
 said Ida, jotting down all her requirements upon a 
 sheet of paper. "And two pints of champagne.. 
 And some brown bread, and vinegar, and pepper. 
 That's all, I think. It is not so very difficult to give 
 a supper after all, is it, Clara?" 
 
 " I don't like it, Ida. It seems to me to be so 
 very indelicate." 
 
 *' But it is needed to clinch the matter. No, no, 
 there is no drawing back now, Clara, or we shall 
 ruin everything. Papa is sure to come back by the 
 g.45. He will reach the door at ten. We must have 
 everything ready for him. Now, just sit down at 
 once and ask Harold to come at nine o'clock, and I 
 shall do the same to Charles." 
 
 The two invitations were despatched, received 
 and accepted. Harold was already a confidant, and 
 he understood that this was some further develop- 
 ment of the plot. As to Charles, he was so 
 accustomed to feminine eccentricity in the person 
 of his aunt, that the only thing which could surprise 
 him would be a rigid observance of etiquette. At 
 nine o'clock they entered the dining-room of No. 2, 
 to find the master of the house absent, a red-shaded 
 lamp, a snowy cloth, a pleasant little feast, and the 
 
Beyond the City. 249 
 
 two whom they would have chosen as their com- 
 panions. A merrier party never met, and the house 
 rang with their laughter and their chatter. 
 
 "It is three minutes to ten!" cried Clara, sud- 
 denly, glancing at the clock. 
 
 ** Good g-racious ! so it is. Now for our little 
 tableau ! " 
 
 Ida pushed the champagne bottles obtrusively 
 forward in the direction of the door, and scattered 
 oyster-shells over the cloth. 
 
 " Have you your pipe, Charles ? " 
 
 " My pipe ! Yes." 
 
 *' Then please smoke it. Now, don't argue about 
 it, but do it; for you will ruin the effect otherwise." 
 
 The large man drew out a red case and extracted 
 a great yellow meerschaum, out of which, a moment 
 la,ter, he was puffing thick wreaths of smoke. 
 Harold had lit a cigar, and both the girls had 
 cigarettes. 
 
 "That looks very nice and emancipated!" said 
 Ida, glancing round. " Now I shall lie on this sofa. 
 So ! Now, Charles, just sit here, and throw your 
 arm carelessly over the back of the sofa. No, don't 
 stop smoking; I like it. Clara, dear, put your feet 
 upon the coal-scuttle, and do try to look a little 
 dissipated. I wish we could crown ourselves with 
 flowers. There are some lettuces on the sideboard. 
 Oh dear, here he is ! I hear his key ! " 
 
 She began to sing, in her high fresh voice, a little 
 snatch from a French song, with a swinging tra-la-la 
 chorus. 
 
 The doctor had walked home from the station in 
 a peaceable and relenting frame of mind, feeling 
 
250 Beyond the City. 
 
 that perhaps he had said too much in the morning, 
 that his daughters had for years been models in 
 every way, and that, if there had been any change 
 of late, it was, as they said themselves, on account 
 of their anxiety to follow his advice and to imitate 
 Mrs. Westmacott. He could see clearly enough 
 now that that advice was unwise, and that a world 
 peopled with Mrs. Westmacotts would not be a 
 happy or a soothing one. It was he who was him- 
 self to blame, and he was grieved by the thought that 
 perhaps his hot words had troubled and saddened his 
 two girls. 
 
 This fear, however, was soon dissipated. As he 
 entered his hall he heard the voice of Ida upHfted in 
 a rollicking ditty, and a very strong smell of tobacco 
 was borne to his nostrils. He threw open the 
 dining-room door and stood aghast at the scene 
 which met his eyes. 
 
 The room was full of the blue wreaths of smoke, 
 and the lamplight shone through the thin haze upon 
 gold-topped bottles, plates, napkins, and a litter of 
 oyster-shells and cigarettes. Ida, flushed and ex- 
 cited, was reclining upon the settee, a wine-glass at 
 her elbow and a cigarette between her fingers ; 
 while Charles Westmacott sat beside her, with his 
 arm thrown over the head of the sofa with the sug- 
 gestion of a caress. On the other side of the room, 
 Clara was lounging in an arm-chair, with Harold 
 beside her, both smoking, and both with wine- 
 glasses beside them. The doctor stood speechless 
 in the doorway, staring at the Bacchanalian scene. 
 
 "Come in, papa! Do!" cried Ida. ''Won't 
 you have a glass of champagne?" 
 
Beyond the City. 251 
 
 "Pray excuse me," said her father, coldly; "I 
 feel that I am intruding. I did not know that you 
 were entertaining. Perhaps you will kindly let me 
 know when you have finished. You will find me in 
 my study." 
 
 He ignored the two young men completely, and, 
 closing the door, retired, deeply hurt and mortified, 
 to his room. A quarter of an hour afterwards he 
 heard the door slam, and his two daughters came to 
 announce that the guests were gone. 
 
 " Guests ! Whose guests ? " he cried angrily. 
 "What is the meaning of this exhibition?" 
 
 " We have been giving a little supper, papa. 
 They were our guests." 
 
 " Oh, indeed ! " The doctor laughed sarcastically. 
 " You think it right, then, to entertain young 
 bachelors late at night, to smoke and drink with 
 
 them, to Oh, that I should ever have lived 
 
 to blush for my own daughters ! I thank God that 
 your dear mother never saw the day ! " 
 
 "Dearest papa," cried Clara, throwing her arms 
 about him, "do not be angry with us. If you 
 understood all, you would see that there is no harm 
 in it." 
 
 " No harm, miss ! Who is the best judge of 
 that?" 
 
 " Mrs. Westmacott," suggested Ida, slyly. 
 
 The doctor sprang from his chair. 
 
 "Confound Mrs. Westmacott !" he cried, striking 
 frenziedly into the air with his hands. "Am I to 
 hear of nothing but this woman ? Is she to confront 
 me at every turn ? I will endure it no longer !" 
 
 " But it was your wish, papa." 
 
252 Beyond the City. 
 
 " Then I will tell you now what my second and 
 wiser wish is, and then we shall see if you will obey 
 it as you have the first." 
 
 " Of course we will, papa." 
 
 " Then my wish is, that you should forget these 
 odious notions which you have imbibed, that you 
 should dress and act as you used to do before ever 
 you saw this woman, and that, in future, you confine 
 your intercourse with her to such civilities as are 
 necessary between neighbours." 
 
 /* We are to give up Mrs. Westmacott ?" 
 
 " Or give up me." 
 
 " Oh ! dear dad, how can you say anything so 
 cruel ? " cried Ida, burrowing her towsy, golden hair 
 into her father's shirt-front, while Clara pressed her 
 cheek against his whisker. " Of course we shall give 
 her up, if you prefer it." 
 
 " Of course we shall, papa." 
 
 The doctor patted the two caressing heads. 
 
 " These are my own two girls again ! " he cried. 
 ** It has been my fault as much as yours. I have 
 been astray, and you have followed me in my error. 
 It was only by seeing your mistake that I have 
 become conscious of my own. Let us set it aside, 
 and neither say nor think anything more about it." 
 
Beyond the City. 
 
 253 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 B :©olt from tbe Muc. 
 
 |0, by the cleverness cf two girls, 
 a dark cloud was thinned away 
 and turned into sunshine. Over 
 one of them, alas ! another cloud 
 was gathering, which could not 
 be so easily dispersed. Of these 
 three households which Fate had 
 thrown together, two had already been united by 
 ties of love. It was destined, however, that a 
 bond of another sort should connect the Wesf- 
 macotts with the Hay Denvers. 
 
 Between the admiral and the widow a very 
 cordial feeling had existed since the day when the 
 old seaman had hauled down his flag and changed 
 his opinions ; granting to the yachtswoman all that 
 he had refused to the reformer. His own frank and 
 downright nature respected the same quaHties in his 
 neighbour, and a friendship sprang up between 
 them which was more like that which exists between 
 two men, founded upon esteem and a community of 
 tastes. 
 
 ** By the way, admiral," said Mrs. Westmacott 
 one morning, as they walked together down to the 
 station, " I understand that this boy of yours, in the 
 intervals of paying his devotions to Miss Walker, is 
 doing something upon 'Change." 
 
 " Yes, ma'am ; and there is no man of his age 
 
254 Beyond the City, 
 
 who is doing so well. He's drawing ahead, I can 
 tell you, ma'am. Some of those that started with 
 him are hull down astarn now. He touched his five 
 hundred last year, and before he's thirty he'll be 
 making the four figures." 
 
 ** The reason I asked is, that I have small invest- 
 ments to make myself from time to time, and my 
 present broker is a rascal. I should be very glad 
 to do it through your son." 
 
 " It is very kind of you, ma'am. His partner is 
 away on a holiday, and Harold would like to push on 
 a bit and show what he can do. You know the 
 poop isn't big enough to hold the lieutenant when 
 the skipper 's on shore." 
 
 " I suppose he charges the usual half percent. ?" 
 . " Don't know, I'm sure, ma'am. I'll swear that 
 he does what is right and proper." 
 
 " That is what I usually pay — ten shillings in the 
 hundred pounds. If you see him before I do, just 
 ask him to get me five thousand in New Zealands. 
 It is at four just now, and I fancy it may rise." 
 
 " Five thousand ! " exclaimed the admiral, reckon- 
 ing it in his own mind. " Lemme see! That's 
 twenty-five pounds commission. A nice day's work, 
 upon my word. It is a very handsome order, 
 ma'am!" 
 
 "Well, I must pay someone, and why not 
 him?" 
 
 "I'll tell him, and I'm sure he'll lose no time." 
 
 "Oh, there's no great hurry. By the way, I 
 understand from what you said just now that he has 
 a partner?" 
 
 " Yes, my boy is the junior partner. Pearson is 
 
Beyond the City. 255 
 
 the senior. I was introduced to him years ago, and 
 he offered Harold the opening. Of course we had a 
 pretty stiff premium to pay." 
 
 Mrs. Westmacott had stopped, and was standing 
 very stiffly, with her Red Indian face even grimmer 
 than usual. 
 
 " Pearson ? '* said she. " Jeremiah Pearson ? " 
 
 *' The same." 
 
 "Then it's all off!" she cried. "You need not 
 carry out that investment." 
 
 " Very well, ma'am." 
 
 They walked on together side by side, she brooding 
 over some thought of her own, and he a little crossed 
 and disappointed at her caprice and the lost com- 
 mission for Harold. 
 
 "I'll tell you what, admiral," she exclaimed 
 suddenly, " if I were you, I should get your boy out 
 of this partnership." 
 
 " But why, madam ? " 
 
 " Because he is tied to one of the deepest, slyest 
 foxes in the whole city of London." 
 
 "Jeremiah Pearson, ma'am! What can you 
 know of him ? He bears a good name." 
 
 " No one in this world knows Jeremiah Pearson 
 as I know him, admiral. I warn you, because I 
 have a friendly feeling both for you and for your 
 son. The man is a rogue, and you had best avoid 
 him." 
 
 " But these are only words, ma'am. Do you tell 
 me that you know him better than the brokers and 
 jobbers in the City?" 
 
 " Man," cried Mrs. Westmacott, " will you allow 
 that I know him, when I tell you that my maiden 
 
256 Beyond the City. 
 
 name was Ada Pearson, and that Jeremiah is my 
 only brother ?" 
 
 The admiral whistled. 
 
 *'Whew!" cried he. " Now that I think of it, 
 there is a likeness." 
 
 " He is a man of iron, admiral — a man without 
 a heart. I should shock you if I were to tell you 
 what I have endured from my brother. My father's 
 wealth was divided equally between us. His own 
 share he ran through in five years, and he has tried 
 since then by every trick of a cunning, low-minded 
 man, by base cajolery, by legal quibbles, by brutal 
 intimidation, to juggle me out of my share as well. 
 There is no villainy of which the man is not capable. 
 Oh, I know my brother Jeremiah ! I know him, 
 and I am prepared for him!" 
 
 " This is all new to me, ma'am. 'Pon my word, 
 I hardly know what to say to it. I thank you for 
 having spoken so plainly. From what you say, this 
 is a poor sort of consort for a man to sail with. 
 Perhaps Harold would do well to cut himself adrift." 
 
 "Without losing a day." 
 
 " Well, we shall talk it over. You may be sure 
 of that. But here we are at the station, so I will 
 just see you into your carriage, and then home to 
 see what my wife says to the matter." 
 
 As he trudged homewards, thoughtful and per- 
 plexed, he was surprised to hear a shout behind him, 
 and to see Harold running down the road after him. 
 
 "Why, dad," he cried, "I have just come from 
 town, and the first thing I saw was your back as you 
 marched away. But you are such a quick walker 
 that I had to run to catch you." 
 
Beyond the City, 257 
 
 The admiral's smile of pleasure had broken his 
 stern face into a thousand wrinkles. 
 
 " You are early to-day," said he. 
 
 ** Yes, I wanted to consult you." 
 
 " Nothing wrong?" 
 
 ** Oh no, only an inconvenience." 
 
 " What is it then ? " 
 
 " How much have we in our private account ?" 
 
 " Pretty fair. Some eight hundred, I think." 
 
 " Oh, half that will be ample. It was rather 
 thoughtless of Pearson." 
 
 ''What, then?" 
 
 " Well, you see, dad, when he went away upon 
 this little holiday to Havre he left me to pay 
 accounts and so on. He told me that there was 
 enough at the bank for all claims. I had occasion 
 on Tuesday to pay away two cheque, one for £^0 
 and the other for ;fi20, and here they are returned, 
 with a bank notice that we have already overdrawn 
 to the extent of some hundreds." 
 
 The admiral looked very grave. 
 
 ** What's the meaning of that, then ?" he asked. 
 
 *' Oh, it can easily be set right. You see, Pearson 
 invests all the spare capital, and keeps as small a 
 margin as possible in the bank. Still, it was too bad 
 of him to allow me even to run a risk of having a 
 cheque returned. I have written to him and 
 demanded his authority to sell out some stock, and 
 I have written an explanation to these people. In 
 the meantime, however, I have had to issue several 
 other cheques, so I had better transfer part of our 
 private account to meet them." 
 
 ** Quite so, my boy. All that's mine is yours. 
 17 
 
258 Beyond the City. 
 
 But who do you think this Pearson is ? He is Mrs. 
 Westmacott's brother." 
 
 *VReally ? What a singular thing ! Well, I can 
 see a likeness, now that you mention it. They have 
 both the same hard type of face." 
 
 " She has been warning me against him — says he 
 is the rankest pirate in London. I hope that it is 
 all right, boy, and that we may not find ourselves in 
 broken water." 
 
 Harold had turned a little pale as he heard Mrs. 
 Westmacott's opinion of his senior partner. It gave 
 shape and substance to certain vague fears and sus- 
 picions of his own, which had been pushed back as 
 often as they obtruded themselves, as being too 
 monstrous and fantastic for belief. 
 
 '' He is a well-known man in the City, dad," said 
 he. 
 
 " Of course he is — of course he is. That is what 
 I told her. They would have found him out there, 
 if anything had been amiss with him. Bless you, 
 there's nothing so bitter as a family quarrel. Still, 
 it is just as weir that you have written about this 
 affair, for we may as well have all fair and above 
 board." 
 
 But Harold's letter to his partner was crossed by 
 a letter from his partner to Harold. It lay awaiting 
 him upon the breakfast-table next morning, and it 
 sent the heart into his mouth as he read it, and 
 caused him to spring up from his chair with a white 
 face and staring eyes. 
 
 ''My boy! My boy!" 
 
 " I am ruined, mother ! — ruined ! " 
 
 He stood gazing wildly in front of him, while the 
 
Beyond the City, 259 
 
 sheet of paper fluttered down on to the carpet. 
 Then he dropped back into the chair and sank his 
 face in his hands. His mother had her arms round 
 him in an instant, while the admiral, with shaking 
 fingers, picked up the letter from the floor and 
 adjusted his glasses to read it. 
 
 " My dear Denver," it ran, — '' By the time that this 
 reaches you I shall be out of the reach of yourself or of 
 anyone else who may desire an interview. You need 
 not search for me, for I assure you that this letter is 
 posted by a friend, and that you will have your trouble 
 in vain if your try to find me. I am sorry to leave you 
 in such a tight place, but one or other of us must 
 be squeezed, and, on the whole, I prefer that it should 
 be you. You'll find nothing in the bank, and about 
 ;^i 3,000 unaccounted for. I'm not sure that the best 
 thing you can do is not to realise what you can, and 
 imitate your senior's example. If you act at once, you 
 may get clean away. If not, it's not only that you 
 must put up your shutters, but I am afraid that this 
 missing money could hardly be included as an ordinary 
 debt ; and of course you are legally responsible for it, 
 just as much as I am. Take a friend's advice, and get 
 to America. A young man with brains can always do 
 something out there, and you can live down this little 
 mischance. It will be a cheap lesson if it teaches you 
 to take nothing upon trust in business, and to insist 
 upon knowing exactly what your partner is doing, 
 however senior he may be to you. 
 " Yours faithfully, 
 
 "Jeremiah Pearson." 
 
 ** Great heavens ! " groaned the admiral, " he 
 has absconded ! " 
 
 17 
 
 *: 
 
26o 
 
 Beyond the City. 
 
 **And left me both a bankrupt and a thief!" 
 " No, no, Harold ! " sobbed his mother. "All will 
 be right. What matter about money?" 
 
 / am rttined. mother — mined! 
 
 " Money, mother ! It is my honour ! " 
 "The boy is right. It is his honour, and my 
 honour; for his is mine. This is a sore trouble, 
 
Beyond the City. 261 
 
 mother, when we thought our Hfe's troubles were 
 all behind us, but we will bear it as we have borne 
 others." 
 
 He held out his stringy hand, and the two old 
 folk sat with bowed grey heads, their fingers inter- 
 twined, strong in each other's love and sympathy. 
 
 " We were too happy ! " she sighed. 
 
 " But it is God's will, mother." 
 
 '* Yes, John ; it is God's will." 
 
 *' And yet it is bitter to bear. I could have lost 
 all — the house, money, rank — I could have borne it. 
 But at my age — my honour — the honour of an 
 admiral of the fleet!" 
 
 " No honour can be lost, John, where no dis- 
 honour has been done. What have you done ? 
 What has Harold done ? There is no question of 
 honour." 
 
 The old man shook his head ; but Harold had 
 already called together his clear practical sense, 
 which for an instant in the presence of this frightful 
 blow had deserted him. 
 
 " The mater is right, dad," said he. ** It is bad 
 enough, Heaven knows ; but we must not take too 
 dark a view of it. After all, this insolent letter is in 
 itself evidence that I had nothing to do with the 
 schemes of the base villain who wrote it." 
 
 *' They may think it pre-arranged." 
 
 " They could not. My whole life cries out against 
 the thought. They could not look me in the face 
 and entertain it." 
 
 " No, boy, not if they have eyes in their heads," 
 cried the admiral, plucking up courage at the sight 
 of the flashing eyes and brave defiant face. " We 
 
262 Beyond the City. 
 
 have the letter, and we have your character. We '11 
 weather it yet between them. It's my fault from 
 the beginning for choosing such a land-shark for 
 your consort. God help me ! I thought I was 
 finding such an opening for you." 
 
 "Dear dad! how could you possibly know? 
 As he says in his letter, it has given me a lesson. 
 But he was so much older and so much more experi- 
 enced, that it was hard for me to ask to examine his 
 books. But we must waste no time. I must go to 
 the City." 
 
 " What will you do?" 
 
 *' What an honest man should do. I will write to 
 all our clients and creditors, assemble them, lay the 
 whole matter before them, read them the letter, and 
 put myself absolutely in their hands." 
 
 " That's it, boy — yard-arm to yard-arm, and have 
 it over." 
 
 " I must go at once." He put on his top-coat 
 and his hat. " But I have ten minutes yet before I 
 can catch a train. There is one little thing which 
 I must do before I start." 
 
 He had caught sight through the long glass 
 folding-doors of the gleam of a white blouse and a 
 straw hat in the tennis-ground. Clara used often to 
 meet him there of a morning to say a few words 
 before he hurried away into the City. He walked 
 out now with the quick firm step of a man who 
 has taken a momentous resolution, but his face was 
 haggard and his lips pale. 
 
 " Clara," said he, as she came towards him with 
 words of greeting, " I am sorry to bring ill-news to 
 vou ; but things have gone wrong in the City, and— 
 
Beyond the City. 263 
 
 and I think that I ought to release you from your 
 engagement." 
 
 Clara stared at him with her great questioning 
 dark eyes, and her face became as pale as his. 
 
 '' How can the City affect you and me, Harold ?" 
 
 " It is dishonour. I cannot ask you to share 
 it." 
 
 " Dishonour ! The loss of some miserable gold 
 and silver coins !" 
 
 " Oh, Clara, if it were only that ! We could be 
 far happier together in a little cottage in the country 
 than with all the riches of the City. Poverty could 
 not cut me to the heart as I have been cut this 
 morning. Why, it is but twenty minutes since I had 
 the letter, Clara, and it seems to me to be some old, 
 old thing which happened far away in my past life, 
 some horrid black cloud which shut out all the fresh- 
 ness and the peace from it." 
 
 " But what is it, then ? What do you fear 
 worse than poverty?" 
 
 " To have debts that I cannot meet. To be 
 hammered upon 'Change, and declared a bankrupt. 
 To know that others have a just claim upon me, and 
 to feel that I dare not meet their eyes. Is not that 
 worse than poverty ?" 
 
 " Yes, Harold, a thousandfold worse. But all 
 this may be got over. Is there nothing more ?" 
 
 " My partner has fled, and left me responsible 
 for heavy debts, and in such a position that I may 
 be required by the law to produce some, at least, of 
 this missing money. It has been confided to him to 
 invest, and he has embezzled it. I, as his partner, 
 am liable for it. I have brought misery on all whom 
 
264 Beyond the City. 
 
 I love — my father, my mother. But you, at least, 
 shall not be under the shadow. You are free, Clara. 
 There is no tie between us." 
 
 " It takes two to make such a tie, Harold," said 
 she, smiling, and putting her hand inside his arm. 
 *' It takes two to make it, dear, and also two to 
 break it. Is that the way they do business in the 
 City, sir, that a man can always, at his own sweet 
 will, tear up his engagements ?" 
 
 ''You hold me to it, Clara?" 
 
 " No creditor so remorseless as I, Harold. 
 Never, never shall you get from that bond." 
 
 '' But I am ruined ! My whole life is blasted ! " 
 
 " And so you wish to ruin me, and blast my life 
 also ! No indeed, sir, you shall not get away so 
 lightly. But seriously now, Harold, you would hurt 
 me if it were not so absurd. Do you think that a 
 w^oman's love is like this sunshade which I carry in 
 my hand, a thing only fitted for the sunshine, and 
 of no use when the winds blow and the clouds 
 gather?" 
 
 " I would not drag you down, Clara." 
 
 " Should I not be dragged down, indeed, if I left 
 your side at such a time ? It is only now that I can 
 be of use to you, help you, sustain you. You have 
 always been so strong, so above me. You are strong 
 still, but then two will be stronger. Besides, sir, 
 you have no idea what a woman of business I am. 
 Papa says so, and he knows." 
 
 Harold tried to speak, but his heart was too full. 
 He could only press the white hand which curled 
 around his sleeve. She walked up and down by his 
 side, prattling merrily, and sending little gleams of 
 
Beyond the City. 265 
 
 cheeriness through the gloom which girt him in. 
 To listen to her, he might have thought that it 
 was Ida, and not her staid and demure sister, who 
 was chatting to him. 
 
 " It will soon be cleared up," said she, **and then 
 we shall feel quite dull. Of course all business men 
 have these little ups and downs. Why, I suppose, 
 of all the men you meet upon 'Change, there is not 
 one who has not some such story to tell. If every- 
 thing was always smooth, you know, then of course 
 everyone would turn stockbroker, and you would 
 have to hold your meetings in Hyde Park. How 
 much is it that you need ?" 
 
 " More than I can ever get. Not less than 
 thirteen thousand pounds !" 
 
 Clara's face fell as she heard the amount. 
 
 ** What do you purpose doing ? " 
 
 " I shall go to the City now, and I shall ask all 
 our creditors to meet me to-morrow. I shall read 
 them Pearson's letter, and put myself into their 
 hands." 
 
 " And they— what will they do ? " 
 
 ** What can they do ? They will serve writs for 
 their money, and the firm will be declared bank- 
 rupt." 
 
 " And the meeting will be to-morrow, you say ? 
 Will you take my advice ? " 
 
 "What is it, Clara?" 
 
 " To ask them for a few days of delay. Who 
 knows what new turn matters may take ?" 
 
 ** What turn can they take ? I have no means 
 of raising the money." 
 
 ** Let us have a few days." 
 
266 Beyond the City. 
 
 " Oh, we should have that in the ordinary course 
 of business. The legal formalities would take them 
 some little time. But I must go, Clara ; I must not 
 seem to shirk. My place now must be at my 
 offices." 
 
 " Yes, dear, you are right. God bless you and 
 guard you ! I shall be here in ' The Wilderness,' but 
 all day I shall be by your office-table at Throgmorton 
 Street in spirit ; and if ever you should be sad, you 
 will hear my little whisper in your ear, and know that 
 there is one client whom you will never be able to get 
 rid of — never as long as we both live, dear!" 
 
Beymtd the City. 
 
 267 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 ifrienDa in iRecD. 
 
 OW, papa," said Clara that 
 morning, wrinkling her brows 
 and putting her finger-tips 
 together with the air of an ex- 
 perienced person of business, 
 I want to have a talk to 
 " you about money matters." 
 " Yes, my dear." 
 
 He laid down his paper, and looked a question. 
 " Kindly tell me again, papa, how much money I 
 have in my very own right. You have often told me 
 before, but I always forget figures." 
 
 *' You have two hundred and fifty pounds a year 
 of your own under your aunt's will." 
 *'And Ida?" 
 
 " Ida has one hundred and fifty." 
 " Now, I think I can live very well on fifty pounds 
 a year, papa. I am not very extravagant, and I could 
 make my own dresses if I had a sewing-machine." 
 '' Very likely, dear." 
 
 *' In that case I have two hundred a year which 
 I could do without." 
 
 ** If it were necessary." 
 
 " But it is necessary. Oh, do help me, like a 
 good, dear, kind papa, in this matter, for my whole 
 heart is set upon it. Harold is in sore need of 
 money, and through no fault of his own." 
 
268 Beyond the City. 
 
 With a woman's tact and eloquence she told the 
 whole story. 
 
 " Put yourself in my place, papa. What is the 
 money to me ? I never think of it from year's end 
 to year's end. But now I know how precious it is. 
 I could not have thought that money could be so 
 valuable. See what I can do with it 1 It may help 
 to save him. I must have it by to-morrow. Oh ! 
 do, do advise me as to what I should do, and how I 
 should get the money." 
 
 The doctor smiled at her eagerness. 
 
 *' You are as anxious to get rid of money as 
 others are to gain it," said he. '' In another case I 
 might think it rash ; but I believe in your Harold, 
 and I can see that he has had villainous treatment. 
 You will let me deal with the matter." 
 
 *' You, papa?" 
 
 " It can be done best between men. Your capital, 
 Clara, is some five thousand pounds, but it is out on 
 a mortgage, and you could not call it in." 
 
 *'0h, dear! oh, dear!" 
 
 " But we can still manage. I have as much at 
 my bank. I will advance it to the Denvers as 
 coming from you, and you can repay it to me, or 
 the interest of it, when your money becomes due." 
 
 *' Oh, that is beautiful ! How sweet and kind 
 of you ! " 
 
 " But there is one obstacle : I do not think that 
 you would ever induce Harold to take this money." 
 
 Clara's face fell. " Don't you think so, really ?" 
 
 " I am sure that he would not." 
 
 " Then what are you to do ? What horrid things 
 money matters are to arrange ! " 
 
Beyond the City 
 
 269 
 
 "I shall see his father. We can manage it all 
 between us." 
 
 " Oh, do, do, papa ! And you will do it soon ?" 
 
 '' There is no time like the present. I will go in 
 at once." 
 
 He scribbled a cheque, put it in an envelope, 
 put on his broad straw hat, and strolled in through 
 the garden to pay his morning call. 
 
 It was a singular sight which met his eyes as he 
 entered the sitting-room of the admiral. A great 
 
 o 
 
 A singular sight which met his eyes.' 
 
 sea-chest stood open in the centre, and all round 
 upon the carpet were little piles of jerseys, oilskins, 
 books, sextant boxes, instruments, and sea-boots. 
 The old seaman sat gravely amidst this lumber, 
 
270 Beyond the City. 
 
 turning it over, and examining it intently ; while his 
 wife, with the tears running silently down her ruddy 
 cheeks, sat upon the sofa, her elbows upon her knees 
 and her chin upon her hands, rocking herself slowly 
 backwards and forwards. 
 
 '' Hullo, doctor !" said the admiral, holding out 
 his hand. "There's foul weather set in upon us, as 
 you may have heard ; but I have ridden out many a 
 worse squall, and, please God, we shall all three of 
 us weather this one also, though two of us are a 
 little more cranky than we were." 
 
 " My dear friends, I came in to tell you how 
 deeply v/e sympathise with you all. My girl has 
 only just told me about it." 
 
 " It has come so suddenly upon us, doctor," 
 sobbed Mrs. Hay Denver. " I thought that I had 
 John to myself for the rest of our lives — Heaven 
 knows that we have not seen very much of each 
 other — but now he talks of going to sea again." 
 
 " Aye, aye, Walker, that 's the only way out of 
 it. When I first heard of it I was thrown up in 
 the wind with all aback. I give you my word that 
 I lost my bearings more completely than ever since 
 I strapped a middy's dirk to my belt. You see, 
 friend, I know something of shipwreck or battle 
 or whatever may come upon the waters, but the 
 shoals in the City of London on which my poor 
 boy has struck are clean beyond me. Pearson 
 had been my pilot there, and now I know him to 
 be a rogue. But I 've taken by bearings now, 
 and I see my course right before me." 
 
 ** What then, admiral?" 
 
 *' Oh ! I have one or two little plans. I '11 have 
 
Beyond the City. 271 
 
 some news for the boy. Why, hang it, Walker man, 
 I may be a bit stiff in the joints, but you'll be my 
 witness that I can do my twelve miles under the 
 three hours. What then ? My eyes are as good as 
 ever, except just for the newspaper. My head is 
 clear. I'm three-and-sixty, but I'm as good a man 
 as ever I was — too good a man to lie up for another 
 ten years. I'd be the better for a smack of the salt 
 water again, and a whiff of the breeze. Tut, mother, 
 it's not a four years' cruise this time. I'll be back 
 every month or two. It's no more than if I went 
 for a visit in the country." 
 
 He was talking boisterously, and heaping his sea- 
 boots and sextants back into his chest. 
 
 " And you really think, my dear friend, of hoisting 
 your pennant again ?" 
 
 " My pennant. Walker ? No, no ! Her Majesty, 
 God bless her ! has too many young men to need an 
 old hulk like me. I shall be plain Mr. Hay Denver, 
 of the merchant service. I daresay that I might find 
 some owner who would give me a chance as second 
 or third officer. It will be strange to me to feel the 
 rails of the bridge under my fingers once more." 
 
 ** Tut ! tut ! this will never do, this will never do, 
 admiral!" 
 
 The doctor sat down by Mrs. Hay Denver, and 
 patted her hand in token of friendly sympathy. 
 
 ** We must wait until your son has had it out with 
 all these people, and then we shall know what 
 damage is done, and how best to set it right. It 
 will be time enough then to begin to muster our 
 resources to meet it." 
 
 " Our resources ! " The admiral laughed. 
 
272 Beyond the City. 
 
 -*' There's the pension. I'm afraid, Walker, that 
 our resources won't need much mustering." 
 
 " Oh, come ! there are some which you may not 
 have thought of. For example, admiral, I had 
 always intended that my girl should have five 
 thousand from me when she married. Of course 
 your boy's trouble is her trouble, and the money 
 cannot be spent better than in helping to set it 
 right. She has a little of her own, which she 
 wished to contribute, but I thought it best to work 
 it this way. Will you take the cheque, Mrs. Den- 
 ver ? and I think it would be best if you said 
 nothing to Harold about it, and just used it as 
 the occasion served." 
 
 *' God bless you. Walker ! You are a true 
 friend. I won't forget this. Walker ! " 
 
 The admiral sat down on his sea-chest, and 
 mopped his brow with his red handkerchief. 
 
 '' What is it to me whether you have it now or 
 then? It maybe more useful now. There's only 
 one stipulation. If things should come to the worst, 
 and if the business should prove so bad that nothing 
 can set it right, then hold back this cheque ; for 
 there is no use in pouring water into a broken basin, 
 and if the lad should fall, he will want something to 
 pick himself up again with." 
 
 ''He shall not fall. Walker; and you shall not 
 have occasion to be ashamed of the family into 
 which your daughter is about to marry. I have my 
 own plan. But we shall hold your money, my 
 friend, and it will strengthen us to feel that it is 
 there." 
 
 "Well, that is all right," said Doctor Walker, 
 
Beyond the City. 273 
 
 rising. ''And if a little more should be needed, -we 
 must not let him go wrong for the want of a 
 thousand or two. And now, admiral, I'm off for 
 my morning walk ; won't you come too ? " 
 
 ** No, I am going into town." 
 
 '* Well, good-bye ! I hope to have better news, 
 and that all wiU come right. Good-bye, Mrs. 
 Denver; I feel as if the boy were my own, and I 
 shall not be easy until all is right with him." 
 
 18 
 
274 
 
 Beyond the City. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 5n Strange TKHaters, 
 
 HEN Doctor Walker had departed, the 
 admiral packed all his possessions 
 back into his sea-chest, with the 
 exception of one little brass - bound 
 desk. This he unlocked, and took 
 from it a dozen or so blue sheets of 
 paper, all mottled over with stamps 
 and seals, with very large V.R.'s 
 printed upon the heads of them. He tied these 
 carefully into a small bundle, and placing them in 
 the inner pocket of his coat, he seized his stick and 
 hat. 
 
 " Oh, John, don't do this rash thing ! " cried Mrs. 
 Denver, laying her hands upon his sleeve. *' I have 
 seen so little of you, John ; only three years since 
 you left the service. Don't leave me again ! I know 
 it is weak of me, but I cannot bear it." 
 
 " There's my own brave lass," said he, smoothing 
 down the grey-shot hair. ''We've lived in honour 
 together, mother, and, please God, in honour we'll 
 die. No matter how debts are made, they have got 
 to be met ; and what the boy owes, we owe. He 
 has not the money, and how is he to find it ? He 
 can't find it. What then ? It becomes my business, 
 and there's only one way for it.' 
 
 '* But it may not be so very bad, John. Had 
 
Beyond the City. 275 
 
 we not best wait until after he sees these people 
 to-morrow ?" 
 
 " They may give him little time, lass ; but I '11 have 
 a care that I don't go so far that I can't put back 
 again. Now, mother, there's no use holding me; 
 it's got to be done, and there's no sense in shirking 
 it." 
 
 He detached her fingers from his sleeve, pushed 
 her gently back into an arm-chair, and hurried from 
 the house. 
 
 In less than half-an-hour the admiral was whirled 
 into Victoria Station, and found himself amid a 
 dense, bustling throng, who jostled and pushed in 
 the crowded terminus. His errand, which had 
 seemed feasible enough in his own room, began now 
 to present difficulties in the carrying out, and he 
 puzzled over how he should take the first steps. 
 Amid the stream of business men, each hurrying on 
 his definite way, the old seaman, in his grey tweed 
 suit and black soft hat, strode slowly along, his head 
 sunk and his brow wrinkled in perplexity. Suddenly 
 an idea occurred to him. He walked back to the 
 railway stall and bought a daily paper. This he 
 turned and turned until a certain column met his 
 eye, when he smoothed it out, and, carrying it over 
 to a seat, proceeded to read it at his leisure. 
 
 And, indeed, as a man read that column, it 
 seemed strange to him that there should still remain 
 anyone in this world of ours who should be in 
 straits for want of money. Here were whole lines 
 of gentlemen who were burdened with a surplus in 
 their incomes, and who were loudly calling to the 
 poor and needy to come and take it off their hands. 
 
 18 ♦ 
 
276 Beyond the City. 
 
 Here was the guileless person who was not a pro- 
 fessional money-lender, but who would be glad to 
 correspond, &c. Here, too, was the accommodating 
 individual who advanced sums from ten to ten 
 thousand pounds without expense, security, or 
 delay. "The money actually paid over within a 
 few hours," ran this fascinating advertisement, 
 conjuring up a vision of swift messengers rushing 
 witUibags of gold to the aid of the poor struggler. 
 A third gentleman did all business by personal 
 application, advanced money on anything or nothing ; 
 the lightest and airiest promise was enough to con- 
 tent him, according to his circular, and finally he 
 never asked for more than five per cent. This struck 
 the admiral as far the most promising, and his 
 wrinkles relaxed and his frown softened away as he 
 gazed at it. He folded up the paper, rose from the 
 seat, and found himself face to face with Charles 
 Westmacott. 
 
 "Hullo, admiral!" 
 
 "Hullo, Westmacott!" (Charles had always 
 been a favourite of the seaman's.) " What are 
 you doing here ?" 
 
 " Oh, I have been doing a little business for my 
 aunt. But I have never seen you in London 
 before." 
 
 " I hate the place! It smothers me ; there 'snot 
 a breath of clean air on this side of Greenwich. 
 But maybe you know your way about pretty well in 
 the City?" 
 
 "Well, I know something about it. You see, 
 I've never lived very far from it, and I do a good 
 deal of my aunt's business." 
 
Beyond the City. ±yf 
 
 ** Maybe you know Bread Street ? " 
 
 ** It is out of Cheapside." 
 
 " Well, then, how do you steer for it from here ? 
 You make me out a course and I '11 keep to it." 
 
 ''Why, admiral, I have nothing to do; I'll take 
 you there with pleasure." 
 
 " Will you, though ? Well, I 'd take it very kindly 
 if you would. I have business there — Smith and 
 Hanbury, financial agents, Bread Street." 
 
 The pair made their way to the river-side, and 
 so down the Thames to St. Paul's landing — a mode 
 of travel which was much more to the admiral's 
 taste than 'bus or cab. On the way, he told his 
 companion his mission and the causes which had 
 led to it. Charles Westmacott knew little enough 
 of City life and the ways of business, but at least 
 he had more experience in both than the admiral, 
 and he made up his mind not to leave him until the 
 matter was settled. 
 
 " These are the people," said the admiral, twist- 
 ing round his paper and pointing to the advertise- 
 ment which had seemed to him the most promising. 
 " It sounds honest and above-board, does it not ? 
 The personal interview looks as if there were no 
 trickery ; and then, no one could object to five per 
 cent." 
 
 '* No, it seems fair enough." 
 
 " It is not pleasant to have to go hat in hand 
 borrowing money ; but there are times, as you may 
 find before you are my age, Westmacott, when a 
 man must stow away his pride. But here's their 
 number, and their plate is on the corner of the 
 door." 
 
278 Beyond the City. 
 
 A narrow entrance was flanked on either side by 
 a row of brasses, ranging upwards from the ship- 
 brokers and the soKcitors who occupied the ground- 
 floors, through a long succession of West Indian 
 agents, architects, surveyors, and brokers, to the 
 firm of which they were in quest. A winding stone 
 stair, well-carpeted and railed at first, but growing 
 shabbier with every landing, brought them past 
 innumerable doors, until at last, just under the 
 ground -glass roofing, the names of Smith and 
 Hanbury were to be seen painted in large white 
 letters across a panel, with a laconic invitation to 
 push beneath it. Following out the suggestion, the 
 admiral and his companion found themselves in a 
 dingy apartment, ill lit from a couple of glazed 
 windows. An ink-stained table, littered with pens, 
 papers, and almanacs ; an American-cloth sofa, three 
 chairs of varying patterns, and a much-worn carpet, 
 constituted all the furniture, save only a very large 
 and obtrusive porcelain spittoon, and a gaudily- 
 framed and very sombre picture which hung above 
 the fireplace. Sitting in front of this picture, and 
 staring gloomily at it, as being the only thing which 
 he could stare at, was a small, sallow-faced boy with 
 a large head, who in the intervals of his art studies 
 munched sedately at an apple. 
 
 " Is Mr. Smith or Mr. Hanbury in ?" asked the 
 admiral. 
 
 ** There ain't no such people," said the small boy. 
 
 '* But you have the names on the door." 
 
 "Ah, that is the name of the firm, you see. It's 
 only a name; it's Mr. Reuben Metaxa that you 
 wants." 
 
Beyond the City. 279 
 
 "Well, then, is he in?" 
 
 ''No, he's not." 
 
 "When will he be back?" 
 
 "Can't tell, I'm sure. He's gone to lunch; 
 sometimes he takes one hour, and sometimes two. 
 It'll be two to-day, I 'spect, for he said he was 
 hungry afore he went." 
 
 "Then I suppose that we had better call again," 
 said the admiral. 
 
 "Not a bit!" cried Charles. "I know how to 
 manage these little imps. See here, you young 
 varmint, here's a shilling for you ; run off and fetch 
 your master. If you don't bring him here in five 
 minutes, I'll clump' you on the side of the head 
 when you get back. Shoo ! Scat 1" 
 
 He charged at the youth, who bolted from the 
 room and clattered madly downstairs. 
 
 " He'll fetch him," said Charles. " Let us make 
 ourselves at home. This sofa does not feel over and 
 above safe ; it was not meant for fifteen-stone men. 
 But this doesn't look quite the sort of place where 
 one would expect to pick up money." 
 
 "Just what I was thinking," said the admiral, 
 looking ruefully about him. 
 
 " Ah, well ! I have heard that the best-furnished 
 offices g^erally belong to the poorest firms. Let 
 us hope it's the opposite here. They can't spend 
 much on the management, anyhow ; that pumpkin- 
 headed boy was the staff, I suppose. Ha, by Jove 1 
 that's his voice; and he's got our man, I think." 
 
 As he spoke, the youth appeared in the doorway 
 with a small, brown, dried-up little chip of a man at 
 his heels. He was clean-shaven and blue-chinned, 
 
28o Beyond the City. 
 
 with bristling black hair, and keen brown eyes, 
 which shone out very brightly from between pouched 
 under-lids and drooping upper ones. He advanced, 
 glancing keenly from one to the other of his visitors, 
 and slowl}' rubbing together his thin, blue-veined 
 hands. The small boy closed the door behind him 
 and discreetly vanished. 
 
 ^' I am Mr. Reuben Metaxa," said the money- 
 lender. '' Was it about an advance you wished to 
 see me ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 ''For you, I presume?" turning to Charles 
 Westmacott. 
 
 " No, for this gentleman." 
 
 The money-lender looked surprised. 
 
 *' How much did you desire ? " 
 
 " I thought of five thousand pounds," said the 
 admiral. 
 
 ** And on what security ? " 
 
 " I am a retired admiral of the British navy. 
 You will find my name in the Navy List ; there is 
 my card. I have here my pension papers ; I get 
 ^850 a year. I thought that perhaps if you were to 
 hold these papers, it would be security enough that 
 I should pay you. You could draw my pension, and 
 repay yourselves at the rate, say, of £500 a year, 
 taking your five per cent, interest as well." 
 
 "What interest ?" 
 
 " Five per cent, per annum." 
 
 Mr. Metaxa laughed. 
 
 "Per annum!" he said; "five per cent, a 
 month!" 
 
 " A month ! That would be sixty per cent, a year !" 
 
Beyond the City. 281 
 
 " Precisely." 
 
 ** But that is monstrous." 
 
 ** I don't ask gentlemen to come to me ; they 
 come of their own free will. Those are my terms, 
 and they can take it or leave it." 
 
 *'Then I shall leave it." 
 
 The admiral rose angrily from his chair. 
 
 " But one moment, sir. Just sit down, and we 
 shall chat the matter over. Yours is a rather 
 unusual case, and we may find some other way of 
 doing what you wish. Of course the security which 
 you offer is no security at all, and no sane man would 
 advance five thousand pennies on it." 
 
 ** No security ? Why not, sir ? " 
 
 ** You might die to-morrow ; you are not a young 
 man. What age are you ? " 
 
 " Sixty-three." 
 
 Mr. Metaxa turned over a long column of figures. 
 
 " Here is an actuary's table," said he. "At your 
 time of life the average expectancy of life is only a 
 few years even in a well-preserved man." 
 
 '' Do you mean to insinuate that I am not a 
 well-preserved man ? " 
 
 " Well, admiral, it is a trying life at sea. Sailors 
 in their younger days are gay dogs, and take it out 
 of themselves. Then, when they grow older, they 
 are still hard at it, and have no chance of rest or 
 peace. I do not think a sailor's life a good one." 
 
 ** I'll tell you what, sir," said the admiral, hotly, 
 "if you have two pairs of gloves, I'll undertake to 
 knock you out under three rounds; or I'll race you 
 from here to St. Paul's, and my friend here will see 
 fair. I '11 let you see whether I am an old man or not !" 
 
282 Beyond the City. 
 
 ''This is beside the question," said the money- 
 lender, with a deprecatory shrug. ''The point is, 
 that if you died to-morrow, where would be the 
 security then ?" 
 
 " I could insure my life, and make the policy 
 over to you." 
 
 " Your premiums for such a sum, if any office 
 would have you, which I very much doubt, would 
 come to close on five hundred a year. That would 
 hardly suit your book." 
 
 "Well, sir, what do you intend to propose?" 
 asked the admiral. 
 
 " I might, to accommodate you, work it in 
 another way. I should send for a medical man, 
 and have an opinion upon your life. Then I might 
 see what could be done." 
 
 " That is quite fair ; I have no objection to 
 that." 
 
 "There is a very clever doctor in the street here. 
 Proudie is his name. John, go and fetch Doctor 
 Proudie." 
 
 The youth was dispatched upon his errand, while 
 Mr. Metaxa sat at his desk trimming his nails, and 
 shooting out little comments upon the weather. 
 Presently, feet were heard upon the stairs ; the 
 money-lender hurried out, there was a sound of 
 whispering, and he returned with a large, fat, greasy- 
 looking man, clad in a much-worn frock-coat, and a 
 very dilapidated top-hat. 
 
 " Doctor Proudie, gentlemen," said Mr. Metaxa. 
 
 The doctor bowed, smiled, whipped off his hat, 
 and produced his stethoscope from its interior, with 
 the air of a conjurer upon the stage. 
 
Beyond the City, 283 
 
 ** Which of these gentlemen am I to examine?" 
 he asked, blinking from one to the other of them. 
 ** Ah, it is you ! Only your waistcoat ! You need 
 not undo your collar. Thank you ! A full breath ! 
 Thank you ! Ninety-nine ! Thank you ! Now hold 
 your breath for a moment. Oh, dear, dear! what is 
 this I hear?" 
 
 "What is it then ?" asked the admiral, coolly. 
 
 ''Tut! tut! This is a great pity. Have you 
 had rheumatic fever ? " 
 
 "Never." 
 
 ** You have had some serious illness ?" 
 
 " Never." 
 
 " Ah, you are an admiral ! You have been 
 abroad, tropics, malaria, ague — I know." 
 
 " I have never had a day's illness." 
 
 " Not to your knowledge ; but you have inhaled 
 unhealthy air, and it has left its effect. You have 
 an organic murmur — slight, but distinct." 
 
 " Is it dangerous?" 
 
 " It might at any time become so. You should 
 not take violent exercise." 
 
 " Oh, indeed ! It would hurt me to run a half- 
 mile?" 
 
 " It would be very dangerous." 
 
 " And a mile?" 
 
 " Would be almost certainly fatal." 
 
 "Then there is nothing else the matter?" 
 
 " No ; but if the heart is weak, then everything 
 is weak, and the life is not a sound one." 
 
 " You see, admiral," remarked Mr. Metaxa, as 
 the doctor secreted his stethoscope once more in his 
 hat, " my remarks were not entirely uncalled-for. I 
 
284 Beyond the City. 
 
 am sorry that the doctor's opinion is not more 
 favourable ; but this is a matter of business, and 
 certain obvious precautions must be taken." 
 
 ''Of course. Then the matter is at an end?" 
 
 " Well, we might even now do business. I am 
 most anxious to be of use to you. How long do 
 you think, doctor, that this gentleman will in all 
 probability live ?" 
 
 "Well, well, it's rather a delicate question to 
 answer," said Mr. Proudie; with a show of embar- 
 rassment. 
 
 '' Not a bit, sir. Out with it ! I have faced 
 death too often to flinch from it now, though I saw 
 it as near me as you are." 
 
 " Well, well, we must go by averages, of course. 
 Shall we say two years ? I should think that you 
 have a full two years before you." 
 
 " In two years your pension would bring you in 
 ;fi,6oo. Now, I will do my ver}^ best for you, 
 admiral ! I will advance you ^f 2,000, and you can 
 make over to me your pension for your life. It is 
 pure speculation on my part. If you die to-morrow, 
 I lose my money ; if the doctor's prophecy is correct, 
 I shall still be out of pocket. If you live a little 
 longer, then I may see my money again. It is the 
 very best I can do for you." 
 
 " Then you wish to buy my pension ? " 
 
 " Yes, for two thousand down." 
 
 " And if I live for twenty years ? " 
 
 " Oh 1 in that case, of course my speculation 
 would be more successful. But you have heard the 
 doctor's opinion." 
 
 " Would you advance the money instantly ? " 
 
Beyond the City. 285 
 
 " You should have a thousand at once. The other 
 thousand I should expect you to take in furniture." 
 
 '* In furniture ?" 
 
 " Yes, admiral ; we shall do you a beautiful house- 
 ful at that sum. It is the custom of my clients to 
 take half in furniture." 
 
 The admiral sat in dire perplexity. He had 
 come out to get money ; and to go back without 
 any, to be powerless to help when his boy needed 
 every shilling to save him from disaster — that would 
 be very bitter to him. On the other hand, it was so 
 much that he surrendered, and so little that he 
 received. Little, and yet something. Would it not 
 be better than going back empty-handed ? He saw 
 the yellow -backed cheque-book upon the table. 
 The money-lender opened it, and dipped his pen 
 into the ink. 
 
 ''Shall I fill it up?" said he. 
 
 " I think, admiral," remarked Westmacott, " that 
 we had better have a little walk and some luncheon 
 before we settle this matter." 
 
 " Oh, we may as well do it at once ! It would be 
 absurd to postpone it now." 
 
 Metaxa spoke with some heat, and his eyes 
 glinted angrily from between his narrow lids at the 
 imperturbable Charles. The admiral was simple in 
 money matters, but he had seen much of men, and 
 had learned to read them. He saw that venomous 
 glance, and saw, too, that intense eagerness was 
 peeping out from beneath the careless air which the 
 agent had assumed. 
 
 *' You're quite right, Westmacott," said he; 
 " we'll have a little walk before we settle it." 
 
286 Beyond the City. 
 
 '^ But I may not be here this afternoon." 
 
 " Then we must choose another day." 
 
 '' But why not settle it now ? " 
 
 " Because I prefer not," said the admiral, shortly. 
 
 *' Very well. But remember that my offer is only 
 for to-day. It is off unless you take it at once." 
 
 " Let it be off, then." 
 
 "There's my fee!" cried the doctor. 
 
 ''How much?" 
 
 "A guinea." 
 
 The admiral threw a pound and a shilling upon 
 the table. 
 
 '' Come, Westmacott," said he, and they walked 
 together from the room. 
 
 " I don't like it," said Charles, when they found 
 themselves in the street once more; '* I don't pro- 
 fess to be a very sharp chap, but this is a trifle too 
 thin. What did he want to go out and speak to the 
 doctor for ? And how very convenient this tale of 
 a weak heart was ! I believe they are a couple of 
 rogues, and in league with each other." 
 
 "A shark and a pilot fish," said the admiral. 
 
 "I'll tell you what I propose, sir. There's a 
 lawyer named McAdam, who does my aunt's business. 
 He is a very honest fellow, and lives at the other 
 side of Poultry. We'll go over to him together, and 
 have his opinion about the whole matter." 
 
 " How far is it to his place ? " 
 
 " Oh, a mile at least ! We can have a cab." 
 
 "A mile? Then we shall see if there is any 
 truth in what that swab of a doctor said. Come, 
 my boy, and clap on all sail, and see who can stay 
 the longest." 
 
Beyond the City, 287 
 
 Then the sober denizens of the heart of business 
 London saw a singular sight as they returned from 
 their luncheons. Down the roadway, dodging among 
 cabs and carts, ran a weather-stained elderly man, 
 with wide flapping black hat and homely suit of 
 tweeds. With elbows braced back, hands clenched 
 near his armpits, and chest protruded, he scudded 
 along, while close at his heels lumbered a large- 
 limbed, heavy, yellow-moustached young man, who 
 seemed to feel the exercise a good deal more than 
 his senior. On they dashed, helter-skelter, until they 
 pulled up panting at the office where the lawyer of 
 the Westmacotts was to be found. 
 
 "There now!" cried the admiral, in triumph. 
 " What d'ye think of that ? Nothing wrong in the 
 engine-room, eh ?" 
 
 "You seem fit enough, sir." 
 
 " Blessed if I believe the swab was a certificated 
 doctor at all. He was flying false colours, or I am 
 mistaken." 
 
 "They keep the directories and registers in this 
 eating-house," said Westmacott. "We'll go and 
 look him out." 
 
 They did so, but the medical rolls contained no 
 such name as that of Dr. Proudie of Bread Street. 
 
 " Pretty villainy this ! " cried the admiral, thump- 
 ing his chest. "A dummy doctor and a vamped-up 
 disease. Well, we've tried the rogues, Westmacott. 
 Let us see what we can do with your honest man." 
 
288 
 
 Beyond the City. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 BastwarD 1bo ! 
 
 McADAM, of the firm of 
 McAdam and Squire, was a 
 highly - poHshed man, who 
 dwelt behind a highly-polished 
 table in the neatest and snuggest 
 of offices. He was white-haired 
 and amiable, with a*^deep-lined 
 aquiline face ; was addicted to low 
 bows, and, indeed, always seemed to 
 carry himself at half-cock, as though just 
 descending into one, or just recovering 
 himself. He wore a high-buckled stock, took snuff, 
 and adorned his conversation with little scraps from 
 the classics. 
 
 " My dear sir," said he, when he had listened to 
 their story, " any friend of Mrs. Westmacott's is a 
 friend of mine. Try a pinch ? I wonder that you 
 should have gone to this man Metaxa. His adver- 
 tisement is enough to condemn him. Habet fceniim 
 in cornu. They are all rogues." 
 
 ** The doctor was a rogue too. I didn't like the 
 look of him at the time." 
 
 "Arcades ambo. But now we must see what we 
 can do for you. Of course what Metaxa said was 
 perfectly right. The pension is in itself no security 
 at all, unless it were accompanied by a life assurance, 
 
Beyond the City. 289 
 
 which would be an income in itself. It is no good 
 whatever." 
 
 His clients' faces fell. 
 
 *' But there is the second alternative. You might 
 sell the pension right out. Speculative investors 
 occasionally deal in such things. I have one client, 
 a sporting man, who would be very likely to take it 
 up if we could agree upon terms. Of course I must 
 follow Metaxa's example by sending for a doctor." 
 
 For the second time was the admiral punched and 
 tapped and listened to. This time, however, there 
 could be no question of the qualifications of the 
 doctor, a well-known Fellow of the College of 
 Surgeons, and his report was as favourable as the 
 other's had been adverse. 
 
 ** He has the heart and chest of a man of forty," 
 said he. " I can recommend his life as one of the 
 best of his age that I have ever examined." 
 
 ** That's well," said Mr. McAdam, making a note 
 of the doctor's remarks, while the admiral disbursed 
 a second guinea. " Your price, I understand, is five 
 thousand pounds. I can communicate with Mr. 
 Elberry, my client, and let you know whether he 
 cares to touch the matter. Meanwhile you can 
 leave your pension papers here, and I will give you 
 a receipt for them." 
 
 ** Very well. I should like the money soon." 
 
 "That is why I am retaining the papers. If I 
 can see Mr. Elberry to-day, we may let you have a 
 cheque to-morrow. Try another pinch. No? Well, 
 good-bye. I am very happy to have been of service." 
 
 Mr. McAdam bowed them out, for he was a very 
 busy man, and they found themselves in the street 
 
 19 
 
2go Beyond the City. 
 
 once more, but with lighter hearts than when they 
 had left it. 
 
 '* Well, Westmacott, I am sure I am very much 
 obliged to you," said the admiral. *' You have stood 
 by me when I was the better for a little help, for 
 I'm clean out of my soundings among these City 
 sharks. But I've something to do now which is 
 more in my own line, and I need not trouble you 
 any more." 
 
 '' Oh, it is no trouble ! I have nothing to do — I 
 never have anything to do. I don't suppose I could 
 do it if I had. I should be delighted to come with 
 you, sir, if I can be of any use." 
 
 ** No, no, my lad. You go home again. It 
 would be kind of you, though, if you would look in 
 at No. I when you get back, and tell my wife that 
 all's well with me, and that I'll be back in an hour 
 or so." 
 
 *' All right, sir, I'll tell her." 
 
 Westmacott raised his hat and strode away to 
 the westward, while the admiral, after a hurried 
 lunch, bent his steps towards the east. 
 
 It was a long walk, but the old seaman swung 
 along at a rousing pace, leaving street after street 
 behind him. The great business palaces dwindled 
 down into commonplace shops and dwellings, which 
 decreased and became more stunted, even as the folk 
 who filled them did, until he was deep in the evil 
 places of the eastern end. It was a land of huge 
 dark houses and of garish gin-shops; a land, too, 
 where life moves irregularly and where adventures 
 are to be gained — as the admiral was to learn to his 
 cost. 
 
Beyond the City. 291 
 
 He was hurrying down one of the long, narrow, 
 stone-flagged lanes between the double lines of 
 crouching, dishevelled women and of dirty children 
 who sat on the hollowed steps of the houses, and 
 basked in the autumn sun. At one side was a 
 barrowman with a load of walnuts, and beside the 
 barrow a bedraggled woman with a black fringe 
 and a chequered shawl thrown over her head. She 
 was cracking walnuts and picking them out of the 
 shells, throwing out a remark occasionally to a 
 rough man in a rabbitskin cap, with straps under 
 the knees of his corduroy trousers, who stood 
 puffing a black clay pipe with his back against the 
 wall. What the cause of the quarrel was, or what 
 sharp sarcasm from the woman's lips pricked sucT- 
 denly through that thick skin, may never be known, 
 but suddenly the man took his pipe in his left hand, 
 leaned forward, and deliberately struck her across 
 the face with his right. It was a slap rather than 
 a blow, but the woman gave a sharp cry and 
 cowered up against the barrow with her hand to her 
 cheek. 
 
 *' You infernal villain ! " cried the admiral, raising 
 his stick. " You brute and blackguard ! " 
 
 " Garn ! " growled the rough, with the deep 
 rasping intonation of a savage. " Garn out o' this, 
 or I'll " 
 
 He took a step forward with uplifted hand, but 
 in an instant down came cut number three upon his 
 wrist, and cut number five across his thigh, and cut 
 number one full in the centre of his rabbitskin cap. 
 It was not a heavy stick, but it was strong enough 
 to leave a good red weal wherever it fell. The rough 
 
 19 * 
 
292 Beyond the City. 
 
 yelled with pain, and rushed in, hitting with both 
 hands, and kicking with his iron-shod boots; but the 
 admiral had still a quick foot and a true eye, so that 
 he bounded backwards and sideways, still raining a 
 shower of blows upon his savage antagonist. Sud- 
 denly, however, a pair of arms closed round his 
 neck, and glancing backwards he caught a glimpse 
 of the black coarse fringe of the woman whom he 
 had befriended. 
 
 "I've got 'im!" she shrieked. 'Til 'old 'im ! 
 Now, Bill, knock the tripe out of him ! " 
 
 Her grip was as strong as a man's, and her wrist 
 pressed like an iron bar upon the admiral's throat. 
 He made a desperate effort to disengage himself, 
 but the most that he could do was to swing her 
 round, so as to place her between his adversary and 
 himself. As it proved, it was the very best thing 
 that he could have done. The rough, half-blinded 
 and maddened by the blows which he had received, 
 struck out with all his ungainly strength just as his 
 partner's head swung round in front of him. There 
 was a noise like that of a stone hitting a wall, a deep 
 groan, her grasp relaxed, and she dropped a dead 
 weight upon the pavement, while the admiral sprang 
 back and raised his stick once more, ready either 
 for attack or defence. Neither were needed, how- 
 ever, for at that moment there was a scattering of 
 the crowd, and two police-constables, burly and 
 helmeted, pushed their way through the rabble. At 
 the sight of them the rough took to his heels, and 
 was instantly screened from view by a veil of his 
 friends and neighbours. 
 
 "I have been assaulted," panted the admiral. 
 
•Beyond the City. 
 
 293 
 
 " This woman was attacked, and I had to defend 
 her." 
 
 " This is Bermondsey Sal," said one poHce-officer, 
 bending over the bedraggled heap of tattered shawl 
 and dirty skirt. "She's got it hot this time ! " 
 
 ^* I *ve got 'im / " she shrieked. 
 
 ** He was a shortish man, thick, with a beard." 
 "Ah! that's Black Davie. He's been up four 
 
294 Beyond the City. 
 
 times for beating her. He's about done the job 
 now. If I were you, I would let that sort settle 
 their own little affairs, sir." 
 
 " Do you think that a man who holds the Queen's 
 commission will stand by and see a woman struck ? " 
 cried the admiral indignantly. 
 
 *'Well, just as you like, sir. But you've lost 
 your watch, I see." 
 
 ''My watch!" 
 
 He clapped his hand to his waistcoat. The chain 
 was hanging down in front, and the watch gone. 
 
 He passed his hand over his forehead. 
 
 *' I would not have lost that watch for anything," 
 said he. " No money could replace it. It was 
 given me by the ship's company after our African 
 cruise. It has an inscription." 
 
 The policeman shrugged his shoulders. 
 -, '* It comes from meddling," said he. 
 
 "What '11 you give me if I tell yer where it is?" 
 said a sharp-faced boy among the crowd. " Will 
 you gimme a quid ? " 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 *'Well^ where 's the quid ?" 
 
 The admiral took a sovereign from his pocket. 
 
 *' Here it is." 
 
 "Then 'ere's the ticker!" 
 
 The boy pointed to the clenched hand of the 
 senseless woman. A glimmer of gold shone out from 
 between the fingers, and on opening them up there 
 was the admiral's chronometer. This interesting 
 victim had throttled her protector with one hand, 
 while she had robbed with the other. 
 
 The admiral left his address with the policeman, 
 
Beyond the City, 295 
 
 satisfied himself that the woman was only stunned, 
 not dead, and then set off upon his way once more, 
 the poorer perhaps in his faith in human nature, but 
 in very good spirits none the less. He walked with 
 dilated nostrils and clenched hands, all glowing and 
 tingling with the excitement of the combat, and 
 warmed with the thought that he could still, when 
 there was need, take his own part in a street brawl, 
 in spite of his threescore and odd years. 
 
 His way now led towards the river-side regions, 
 and a cleansing whiff of tar was to be detected in the 
 stagnant autumn air. Men with the blue jersey and 
 peaked cap of the boatman, or the white ducks of 
 the dockers, began to replace the corduroys and 
 fustian of the labourers. Shops with nautical instru- 
 ments in the windows, rope and paint sellers, and 
 slop-shops with long rows of oilskins dangling from 
 hooks, all proclaimed the neighbourhood of the 
 docks. The admiral quickened his pace and 
 straightened his figure as his surroundings became 
 more nautical, until at last, peeping between two 
 high dingy wharfs, he caught a glimpse of the mud- 
 coloured waters of the Thames, and of the bristle 
 of masts and funnels which rose from its broad 
 bosom. To the right lay a quiet street, with many 
 brass-plates upon either side, and wire blinds in all 
 of the windows. The admiral walked slowly down it 
 until " The St. Lawrence Shipping Company" caught 
 his eye. He crossed the road, pushed open the 
 door, and found himself in a low-ceilinged office, 
 with a long counter at one end, and a great number 
 of wooden sections of ships stuck upon boards and 
 plastered all over the walls. 
 
2g6 Beyond the City. 
 
 " Is Mr. Henry in ?" asked the admiral. 
 
 " No, sir," answered an elderly man from a high 
 seat in the corner. '* He has not come into town 
 to-day. I can manage any business you may wish 
 seen to." 
 
 " You don't happen to have a first or second 
 officer's place vacant, do you ? " 
 
 The manager looked with a dubious eye at this 
 singular applicant. 
 
 " Do you hold certificates ? " he asked. 
 ; ** I hold every nautical certificate there is." 
 
 " Then you won't do for us." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 *' Your age, sir." 
 
 " I give you my word that I can see as well as 
 ever, and am as good a man in everyway." 
 : ^'I don't doubt it." 
 j.^;. "Why should my age be a bar, then?" 
 ■ • "Well, I must put it plainly. If a man of your 
 age, holding certificates, has not got past a second 
 ofiicer's berth, there must be a black mark against 
 him somewhere. I don't know what it is, drink or 
 temper, or want of judgment, but something there 
 must be." 
 
 " I assure you there is nothing, but I find myself 
 stranded, and so have to turn to the old business 
 again." 
 
 " Oh, that 's it ! " said the manager, with suspicion 
 in his eye. " How long were you in your last 
 billet?" 
 
 " Fifty-one years." 
 
 "What!" 
 
 " Yes, sir, one-and-fifty years." 
 
Beyond the City, 297 
 
 ** In the same employ ?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 t ** Why, you must have begun as a child." 
 
 ** I was twelve when I joined." 
 
 " It must be a strangely managed business," said 
 the manager, " which allows men to leave it who 
 have served for fifty years, and who are still as good 
 as ever. Who did you serve ? " 
 
 *' The Queen. Heaven bless her ! " 
 
 " Oh, you were in the Royal Navy ! What rating 
 did you hold?" 
 
 ** I am Admiral of the Fleet." 
 
 The manager started, and sprang down from his 
 high stool. 
 
 " My name is Admiral Hay Denver. There is 
 my card, and here are the records of my service. I 
 don't, you understand, want to push any other 
 man from his billet ; but if you should chance 
 to have a berth open, I should be very glad of it. I 
 know the navigation from the Cod Banks right up to 
 Montreal a great deal better than I know the streets 
 of London." 
 
 The astonished manager glanced over the blue 
 papers which his visitor had handed him. 
 
 ** Won't you take a chair, admiral ?" said he. 
 
 " Thank you. But I should be obliged if you 
 would drop my title now. I told you because you 
 asked me, but I've left the quarter-deck, and I am 
 plain Mr. Hay Denver now." 
 
 **May I ask," said the manager, "are you the 
 same Denver who commanded at one time on the 
 North American station?" 
 
 "I did." 
 
298 Beyond the City, 
 
 " Then it was you who got one of our boats — the 
 Cornus — off the rocks in the Bay of Fundy ? The 
 directors voted you three hundred guineas as salvage, 
 and you refused them." 
 
 " It was an offer which should not have been 
 made," said the admiral sternly. 
 
 " Well, it reflects credit upon you that you should 
 think so. If Mr. Henry were here, I am sure that 
 he would arrange this matter for you at once. As 
 it is, I shall lay it before the directors to-day, and I 
 am sure that they will be proud to have you in our 
 employment, and, I hope, in some more suitable 
 position than that which you suggest." 
 
 " I am very much obliged to you, sir," said the 
 admiral, and started off again, well pleased, upon his 
 homeward journey. 
 
Beyond the City. 
 
 299 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Still Bmona Sboals. 
 
 EXT day brought the admiral 
 a cheque for ^^5,000 from 
 Mr. McAdam, and a stamped 
 agreement by which he made 
 over his pension papers to 
 the speculative investor. It 
 was not until he had signed 
 and sent it off that the full significance of all that he 
 had done broke upon him. He had sacrificed every- 
 thing. His pension was gone. He had nothing 
 save only what he could earn. But the stout old 
 heart never quailed. He waited eagerly for a letter 
 from the St. Lawrence Shipping Company, and in 
 the meanwhile he gave his landlord a quarter's 
 notice. Hundred pound a year houses would in 
 future be a luxury which he could not aspire to. A 
 small lodging in some inexpensive part of London 
 must be the substitute for his breezy Norwood villa. 
 So be it, then. Better that a thousandfold than that 
 his name should be associated with failure and 
 disgrace ! 
 
 On that morning Harold Denver was to meet the 
 creditors of the firm, and to explain the situation to 
 them. It was a hateful task, a degrading task, 
 but he set himself to do it with quiet resolution. 
 At home they waited in intense anxiety to learn the 
 result of the meeting. It was late before he 
 
300 Beyond the City. 
 
 returned, haggard and pale, like a man who has done 
 and suffered much. 
 
 "What's this board in front of the house ?" he 
 asked. 
 
 " We are going to try a little change of scene," 
 said the admiral. "This place is neither town nor 
 country. But never mind that, boy. Tell us what 
 happened in the City." 
 
 " God help me ! My wretched business is driving 
 you out of house and home!" cried Harold, broken 
 down by this fresh evidence of the effects of his 
 misfortunes. " It is easier for me to meet my 
 creditors than to see you two suffering so patiently 
 for my sake." 
 
 "Tut! tut!" cried the admiral. "There's no 
 suffering in the matter. Mother would rather be 
 near the theatres. That's at the bottom of it, isn't 
 it, mother ? You come and sit down here between 
 us, and tell us all about it." 
 
 Harold sat down with a loving hand in each of his. 
 
 " It is not so bad as we thought," said he, " and 
 yet it is bad enough. I have about ten days to 
 find the money, but I don't know which way to turn 
 'for it. Pearson, however, lied, as usual, when he 
 spoke of ;f 13, 000. The amount is not quite -^7,000." 
 
 The admiral clapped his hands. 
 
 " I knew we should weather it after all ! Hurrah, 
 my boy ! Hip, hip, hip, hurrah ! " 
 
 Harold gazed at him in surprise, while the old 
 seaman waved his arm above his head and bellowed 
 out three stentorian cheers. 
 
 " Where am I to get seven thousand pounds 
 from, dad ?" he asked. 
 
Beycnd the City. 301 
 
 " Never mind. You spin your yarn." 
 
 " Well, they were very good and very kind, but 
 of course they must have either their money or their 
 money's worth. They passed a vote of sympathy 
 with me, and agreed to wait ten days before they 
 took any proceedings. Three of them, whose claim 
 came to ;£'3,5oo, told me that if I would give them 
 my personal I.O.U., and pay interest at the rate of 
 five per cent., their amounts might stand over as 
 long as I wished. That will be a charge of ;f 175 
 upon my income, but with economy I could meet it, 
 and it diminishes the debt by one-half." 
 
 Again the admiral burst out cheering. 
 
 ** There remains, therefore, about 3^3,200, which 
 has to be found within ten days. No man shall lose 
 by me. I gave them my word in the room that if I 
 worked my soul out of my body, every one of them 
 should be paid. I shall not spend a penny upon 
 myself until it is done. But some of them can't 
 wait. They are poor men themselves, and must 
 have their money. They have issued a warrant for 
 Pearson's arrest. But they think that he has got 
 away to the States." 
 
 " These men shall have their money," said the 
 admiral. 
 
 "Dad!" 
 
 *' Yes, my boy, you don't know the resources of 
 the family. One never does know until one tries. 
 What have you yourself now ? " 
 
 ** I have about a thousand pounds invested." 
 
 ** All right. And I have about as much more. 
 There 's a good start. Now, mother, it is your turn. 
 What is that little bit of paper of yours ?" 
 
302 Beyond the City. 
 
 Mrs. Denver unfolded it, and placed it upon 
 Harold's knee. 
 
 " Five thousand pounds ! " he gasped. 
 " Ah ! but mother is not the only rich one. Look 
 at this!" 
 
 And the admiral unfolded his cheque, and placed 
 it upon the other knee. 
 
 Harold gazed from one to the other in bewilder- 
 ment. 
 
 "Ten thousand pounds!" he cried. "Good 
 heavens ! where did these come from ?" 
 
 " You will not worry any longer, dear ? " mur- 
 mured his mother, slipping her arm round him. 
 
 But his quick eye had caught the signature upon 
 one of the cheques. 
 
 " Dr. Walker ! " he cried, flushing. " This is 
 Clara's doing. Oh, dad ! we cannot take this money. 
 It would not be right nor honourable." 
 
 " No, boy. I am glad you think so. It is some- 
 thing, however, to have proved one's friend, for a 
 real good friend he is. It was he who brought it in, 
 though Clara sent him. But this other money will be 
 enough to cover everything, and it is all my own." 
 " Your own ? Where did you get it, dad ? " 
 " Tut ! tut ! See what it is to have a City man 
 to deal with. It is my own, and fairly earned, and 
 that is enough." 
 
 " Dear old dad! " Harold squeezed his gnarled 
 hand. " And you, mother ! You have lifted the 
 trouble from my heart. I feel another man. You 
 have saved my honour, my good name, everything ! 
 I cannot owe you more, for I owe you everything 
 already." 
 
Beyond the City. 303 
 
 So while the autumn sunset shone ruddily through 
 the broad window these three sat together hand in 
 hand, with hearts which were too full to speak. 
 Suddenly the soft thudding of tennis-balls was heard, 
 and Mrs. Westmacott bounded into view upon the 
 lawn, with brandished racket and short skirts flutter- 
 ing in the breeze. The sight came as a relief to their 
 strained nerves, and they all three burst into a hearty 
 fit of laughter. 
 
 " She is playing with her nephew," said Harold 
 at last. *' The Walkers have not come out yet. I 
 think that it would be well if you were to give me 
 that cheque, mother, and I were to return it in 
 person." 
 
 *' Certainly, Harold. I think it would be very 
 nice." 
 
 He went in through the garden. Clara and the 
 doctor were sitting together in the dining-room. 
 She sprang to her feet at the sight of him. 
 
 " Oh, Harold, I have been waiting for you so 
 impatiently !" she cried. '* I saw you pass the front 
 windows half-an-hour ago. I would have come in if 
 I dared. Do tell us what has happened." 
 
 " I have come in to thank you both. How can 
 I repay you for your kindness ? Here is your cheque, 
 doctor. I have not needed it. I find that I can lay 
 my hands on enough to pay my creditors." 
 
 '* Thank God !" cried Clara, fervently. 
 
 " The sum is less than I thought, and our 
 resources considerably more. We have been able to 
 do it with ease." 
 
 ** With ease!" The doctor's brow clouded, and 
 his manner grew cold. " I think, Harold, that you 
 
304 *■ Beyond the City. 
 
 would do better to take this money of mine than to 
 use that which seems to you to be gained with ease." 
 
 " Thank you, sir. If I borrowed from anyone, it 
 would be from you. But my father has this very 
 sum — five thousand pounds ; and, as I tell him, I 
 owe him so much that I have no compunction 
 about owing him more." 
 
 " No compunction ! Surely there are some sacri- 
 fices which a son should not allow his parents to 
 make ?" 
 
 " Sacrifices ! What do you mean ? " 
 
 " Is it possible that you do not know how this 
 money has been obtained ?" 
 
 *' I give you my word, Doctor Walker, that I 
 have no idea. I asked my father, but he refused 
 to tell me." 
 
 " I thought not," said the doctor, the gloom 
 clearing from his brow. " I was sure that you were 
 not a man who, to clear yourself from a little money 
 difficulty, would sacrifice the happiness of your 
 mother and the health of your father." 
 
 " Good gracious ! what do you mean ?" 
 
 *' It is only right that you should know. That 
 money represents the commutation of your father's 
 pension. He has reduced himself to poverty, and 
 intends to go to sea again to earn a living." 
 
 " To sea again ! Impossible ! " 
 
 " It is the truth. Charles Westmacott has told 
 Ida. He was with him in the City when he took 
 his poor pension about from dealer to dealer trying 
 to sell it. He succeeded at last, and hence the 
 money." 
 
 " He has sold his pension ! " cried Harold, with 
 
Beyond the City. 305 
 
 his hands to his face. " My dear old dad has sold 
 his pension !" 
 
 He rushed from the room, and burst wildly into 
 the presence of his parents once more. 
 
 "I cannot take it, father!" he cried. "Better 
 bankruptcy than that. Oh, if I had only known 
 your plan ! We must have back the pension. Oh, 
 mother, mother! how could you think me capable 
 of such selfishness ? Give me the cheque, dad, and 
 I will see this man to-night, for I would sooner die 
 like a dog in the ditch than touch a penny of this 
 
 money ! 
 
 20 
 
3o6 
 
 Beyond the City. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 B /IftiOnigbt IDisitor. 
 
 OW all this time, while the 
 tragi - comedy of Life was 
 being played in these three 
 suburban villas, while on a 
 commonplace stage love and 
 humour and fears and lights 
 and shadows were so swiftly 
 succeeding each other, and while these three families, 
 drifted together by fate, were shaping each other's 
 destinies, and working out in their own fashion the 
 strange, intricate ends of human life, there were 
 human eyes which watched over every stage of the 
 performance, and which were keenly critical of every 
 actor on it. Across the road, beyond the green 
 palings and the close-cropped lawn, behind the 
 curtains of their creeper-framed windows, sat the 
 two old ladies. Miss Bertha and Miss Monica 
 Williams, looking out as from a private box at all 
 that was being enacted before them. The growing 
 friendship of the three families, the engagement of 
 Harold Denver with Clara Walker,' the engagement 
 of Charles Westmacott with her sister, the danger- 
 ous fascination which the widow exercised over the 
 doctor, the preposterous behaviour of the Walker 
 girls, and the unhappiness which they had caused 
 their father — not one of these incidents escaped the 
 
Beyond the City. 307 
 
 notice of the two maiden ladies. Bertha, the 
 younger, had a smile or a sigh for the lovers; 
 Monica, the elder, a frown or a shrug for the elders. 
 Every night they talked over what they had seen, 
 and their own dull, uneventful life took a .warmth 
 and a colouring from their neighbours as a blank 
 wall reflects a beacon lire. 
 
 And now it was destined that they should expe- 
 rience the one keen sensation of their later years, 
 the one memorable incident from which all future 
 incidents should be dated. 
 
 It was on the very night which succeeded the 
 events which have just been narrated, when sud- 
 denly into Monica Williams's head, as she tossed 
 upon her sleepless bed, there shot a thought which 
 made her sit up with a thrill and a gasp. 
 
 " Bertha," said she, plucking at the shoulder of 
 her sister, *' I have left the front window open." 
 
 '* No, Monica, surely not ! " 
 
 Bertha sat up also, and thrilled in sympathy. 
 
 ** I am sure of it. You remember I had forgotten 
 to water the pots, and then I opened the window ; 
 and Jane called me about the jam, and I have never 
 been in the room since." 
 
 '* Good gracious, Monica ! it is a mercy that we 
 have not been murdered in our beds ! There was a 
 house broken into at Forest Hill last week. Shall 
 we go down and shut it ? " 
 
 ** I dare not go down alone, dear, but if you will 
 come with me. Put on your slippers and dressing- 
 gown. We do not need a candle. Now, Bertha, 
 we will go down together." 
 
 Two little white patches moved vaguely through 
 20 * 
 
3b8 Beyond the City. 
 
 the darkness, the stairs creaked, the door whined, 
 and they were at the front-room window. Monica 
 closed it gently down, and fasted the snib. 
 
 "What a beautiful moon!" said she, looking out. 
 ** We can see as clearly as if it were day. How 
 peaceful and quiet the three houses are over yonder ! 
 It seems quite sad to see that ' To Let ' card upon 
 number one. I wonder how number two will like 
 their going ? For my part I could better spare that 
 dreadful woman at number three, with her short 
 skirts and her snake. But, oh, Bertha, look ! look ! 
 look!!" 
 
 Her voice had fallen suddenly to a quivering 
 whisper, and she was pointing to the Westmacotts' 
 house. Her sister gave a gasp of horror, and stood 
 with a clutch at Monica's arm, staring in the same 
 direction. 
 
 There was a light in the front room, a slight 
 wavering light such as would be given by a small 
 candle or taper. The blind was down, but the light 
 shone dimly through. Outside, in the garden, with 
 his figure outlined against the luminous square, 
 there stood a man, his back to the road, his two 
 hands upon the window-ledge, and his body rather 
 bent, as though he were trying to peep in past the 
 blind. So absolutely still and motionless was he 
 that, in spite of the moon, they might well have 
 overlooked him were it not for that tell-tale light 
 -behind. 
 
 ."Good heaven!" gasped Bertha, "it is a 
 •.burglar!" 
 
 But her sister set her mouth grimly, and shook 
 her head. 
 
Beyond the City. 309 
 
 *' We shall see," she whispered. " It may be 
 something worse." 
 
 Swiftly and furtively the man stood suddenly 
 erect, and began to push the window slowly up. 
 Then he put one knee upon the sash, glanced round 
 to see that all was safe, and climbed over into the 
 room. As he did so, he had to push the blind aside. 
 Then the two spectators saw where the light came 
 from. Mrs. Westmacott was standing, as rigid as 
 a statue, in the centre of the room, with a lighted 
 taper in her right hand. For an instant they caught 
 a glimpse of her stern face and her white collar. 
 Then the blind fell back into position, and the two 
 figures disappeared from their view. 
 
 ** Oh, that dreadful woman !" cried Monica. " That 
 dreadful, dreadful woman ! She was waiting for him : 
 you saw it with your own eyes, sister Bertha ! " 
 
 *'Hush, dear; hush and listen!" said her more 
 charitable companion. 
 
 They pushed their own window up once more, 
 and watched from behind the curtains. 
 
 For a long time all was silent within the house. 
 The light still stood motionless, as though Mrs. 
 Westmacott remained rigidly in the one position, 
 while from time to time a shadow passed in front of 
 it to show that her midnight visitor was pacing up 
 and down in front of her. Once they saw his out- 
 line clearly, with his hands outstretched as if in 
 appeal or entreaty. Then suddenly there was a dull 
 sound, a cry, the noise of a fall ; the taper was 
 extinguished, and a dark figure fled in the moonlight, 
 rushed across the garden, and vanished amid the 
 shrubs at the farther side. 
 
310 Beyond the City. 
 
 Then only did the two old ladies understand 
 that they had looked on whilst a tragedy had been 
 enacted. 
 
 " Help ! " they cried, and " Help ! " in their high, 
 thin voices, timidly at first, but gathering volume 
 as they went on, until " The Wilderness " rang with 
 their shrieks. 
 
 Lights shone in all the windows opposite, chains 
 rattled, bars were unshot, doors opened, and out 
 rushed friends to the rescue. Harold, with a stick ; 
 the admiral, with his sword, his grey head and bare 
 feet protruding from either end of a long brown 
 ulster; finally, Doctor Walker, with a poker — all 
 ran to the help of the Westmacotts. Their door 
 had been already opened, and they crowded tumul- 
 tuously into the front room. 
 
 Charles Westmacott, white to his lips, was 
 kneeling on the floor, supporting his aunt's head 
 upon his knee. She lay outstretched, dressed in 
 her ordinary clothes, the extinguished taper still 
 grasped in her hand, no mark or wound upon her — 
 pale, placid, and senseless. 
 
 ** Thank God you are come, doctor," said Charles, 
 looking up. " Do tell me how she is, and what -I 
 should do." 
 
 Doctor Walker kneeled beside her, and passed 
 his left hand over her head, while he grasped her 
 pulse with the right. 
 
 *' She has had a terrible blow," said he. *' It 
 must have been with some blunt weapon. Here is 
 the place, behind the ear. But she is a woman of 
 extraordinary physical powers. Her pulse is full 
 and slow. There is no stertor. It is my belief that 
 
Beyond the City. 
 
 3it 
 
 she is merely stunned, and that she is in no danger 
 at all." 
 
 "Thank God for that!" 
 
 " We must get her to bed. We shall carry her 
 upstairs, and then I shall send my girls in to her. 
 But who has done this?" 
 
 " Some robber," said Charles. ** You see that 
 
 " Supporting his aunt's head upon his knee." 
 
 the window is open. She must have heard him 
 and come down, for she was always perfectly fear- 
 less. I wish to goodness she had called me." 
 
 " But she was dressed." 
 
 " Sometimes she sits up very late." 
 
 '* I did sit up very late," said a voice. She had 
 opened her eyes, and was blinking at them in the 
 lamp-light. ** A villain came in through the window 
 
31^ Beyond the City, 
 
 and struck me with a life-preserver. You can tell 
 the poHce so when they come ; also, that it was a 
 little fat man. Now, Charles, give me your arm, 
 and I shall go upstairs." 
 
 But her spirit was greater than her strength, for, 
 as she staggered to her feet, her head swam round, 
 and she would have fallen again had her nephew 
 not thrown his arms round her. They carried her 
 upstairs among them, and laid her upon the bed, 
 where the doctor watched beside her, while Charles 
 went off to the police-station, and the Denvers 
 mounted guard over the frightened maids. 
 
Beyond the City, 
 
 313 
 
 CHAPTER XVI I. 
 5n port at Xast. 
 
 AY had broken before the several 
 denizens of "The Wilderness'* 
 had all returned to their homes, 
 the police finished their inquiries, 
 and all come back to its normal 
 quiet. Mrs. Westmacott had been 
 left sleeping peacefully, with a 
 small chloral draught to steady her 
 nerves, and a handkerchief soaked 
 in arnica bound round her head. 
 It was with some surprise, there- 
 fore, that the admiral received a 
 note from her about ten o'clock, 
 asking him to be good enough to step in to her. 
 He hurried in, fearing that she might have taken 
 some turn for the worse; but he was reassured to 
 find her sitting up in her bed, with Clara and Ida 
 Walker in attendance upon her. She had removed 
 the handkerchief, and had put on a little cap with 
 pink ribbons, and a maroon dressing-jacket, daintily 
 fulled at the neck and sleeves. 
 
 *' My dear friend," said she as he entered, ** I 
 wish to make a last few remarks to you. No, no,'* 
 she continued laughing as she saw a look of dismay 
 upon his face, " I shall not dream of dying for at 
 least another thirty years. A woman should be 
 
314 Beyond the City. 
 
 ashamed to die before she is seventy. I wish, Clara,, 
 that you would ask your father to step up. And you, 
 Ida, just pass me my cigarettes, and open me a 
 bottle of stout. Now then," she continued, as the 
 doctor joined their party, " I don't quite know 
 what I ought to say to you, admiral. You want 
 some very plain speaking to." , 
 
 *' Ton, my word, ma'am, I don't know what you 
 are talking about." 
 
 " The idea of you, at your age, talking of going- 
 to sea, and leaving that dear patient little wife of 
 yours at home who has seen nothing of you all her 
 life ! It's all very well for you. You have the life, 
 and the change, and the excitement, but you don't 
 think of her eating her heart out in a dreary London 
 lodging. You men are all the same." 
 
 ** Well, ma'am, since you know so much, you 
 probably know also that I have sold my pension. 
 How am I to live if I do not turn my hand to work? " 
 
 Mrs. Westmacott produced a large registered 
 envelope from beneath the sheets and tossed it over 
 to the old seaman. 
 
 " That excuse won't do. There are your pension 
 papers. Just see if they are right." 
 
 He broke the seal, and out tumbled the very 
 papers which he had made over to McAdam two 
 days before. 
 
 *' But what am I to do with these now ? " he cried 
 in bewilderment. 
 
 *' You will put them in a safe place, or get a 
 friend to do so, and, if you do your duty, you will go 
 to your wife and beg her pardon for having even for 
 an instant thought of leaving her." 
 
Beyond the City. 315 
 
 The admiral passed his hand over his rugged 
 I forehead. 
 
 " This is very good of you, ma'am," said he,. 
 **very good and kind, and I know that you are 
 a staunch friend; but for all that these papers mean 
 money, and though we may have been in broken 
 water of late, we are not quite in such straits as to 
 have to signal to our friends. When we do, ma'am, 
 there's no one we would look to sooner than to you." 
 
 " Don't be ridiculous," said the widow. ** You 
 know nothing whatever about it, and yet you stand 
 there laying down the law. I '11 have my way in the 
 matter, and you shall take the papers ; for it is no 
 favour that I am doing you, but simply a restoration 
 of stolen property." 
 
 "How's that, ma'am?" 
 
 " I am just going to explain, though you might 
 take a lady's word for it without asking any questions. 
 Now, what I am going to say is just between you 
 four, and must go no farther. I have my own reasons 
 for wishing to keep it from the police. Who do you 
 think it was who struck me last night, admiral ?" 
 
 ** Some villain, ma'am. I don't know his name." 
 
 ** But I do. It was the same man who ruined, 
 or tried to ruin, your son. It was my only brother,. 
 Jeremiah." 
 
 "Ah!" 
 
 " I will tell you about him, or a little about him, 
 for he has done much which I would not care to talk 
 of nor you to listen to. He was always a villain, 
 smooth-spoken and plausible, but a dangerous, 
 subtle villain all the same. If I have some hard 
 thoughts about mankind, I can trace them back to- 
 
3i6 Beyond the City. 
 
 the childhood which I spent with my brother. He is 
 my only living relative, for my other brother, Charles's 
 father, was killed in the Indian mutiny. 
 
 '' Our father was rich, and when he died he made 
 a good provision both for Jeremiah and for me. He 
 knew Jeremiah and he distrusted him, however so 
 instead of giving him all that he meant him to have 
 he handed me over a part of it, telling me, with 
 what was almost his dying breath, to hold it in trust 
 for my brother, and to use it in his behalf when he 
 should have squandered or lost all that he had. This 
 arrangement was meant to be a secret between my 
 father and myself, but unfortunately his words were 
 overheard by the nurse, and she repeated them after- 
 wards to my brother, so that he came to know that 
 I held some money in trust for him. I suppose 
 tobacco will not harm my head, doctor ? Thank 
 you, then I shall trouble you for the matches, Ida." 
 
 She lit a cigarette, and leaned back upon the 
 pillow, with the blue wreaths curling from her lips. 
 
 " I cannot tell you how often he has attempted to 
 get that money from me. He has buUied, cajoled, 
 threatened, coaxed, done all that a man could do. I 
 •still held it, with the presentiment that a need for it 
 would come. When I heard of this villainous busi- 
 ness, his flight and his leaving his partner to face the 
 storm — above all, that my old friend had been driven 
 to surrender his income in order to make up for my 
 brother's defalcations, I felt that now indeed I had a 
 need for it. I sent in Charles yesterday to Mr. McAdam, 
 and his client, upon hearing the facts of the case, 
 very graciously consented to give back the papers and 
 to take the money which he had advanced. Not a 
 
Beyond the City, 317 
 
 word of thanks to me, admiral. I tell you that it 
 was very cheap benevolence, for it was all done with 
 his own money ; and how could I use it better ? 
 
 " I thought that I should probably hear from him 
 soon, and I did. Last evening there was handed in 
 a note of the usual whining, cringing tone. He had 
 come back from abroad, at the risk of his life and 
 liberty, just in order that he might say good-bye to the 
 only sister he ever had, and to entreat my forgiveness 
 for any pain which he had caused me. He would 
 never trouble me again, and he begged only that I 
 would hand over to him the sum which I held in trust 
 for him. That, with what he had already, would be 
 enough to start him as an honest man in the New 
 World, when he would ever remember and pray for 
 the dear sister who had been his saviour. That was 
 the style of the letter, and it ended by imploring me 
 to leave the window-latch open, and to be in the 
 front room at three in the morning, when he would 
 come to receive my last kiss and to bid me farewell. 
 
 ** Bad as he was, I could not, when he trusted 
 me, betray him. I said nothing, but I was there at 
 the hour. He entered through the window, and 
 implored me to give him the money. He was 
 terribly changed : gaunt, wolfish, and spoke like a 
 madman. I told him him that I had spent the money. 
 He gnashed his teeth at me and swore it was his. 
 money. I told him that I had spent it on him. He 
 asked me how. I said in trying to make him an honest 
 man, and in repairing the results of his villainy. He 
 shrieked out a curse, and pulling something out of 
 the breast of his coat — a loaded stick, I think, — he 
 struck me with it, and I remember nothing more." 
 
3i8 Beyond the City. 
 
 ''The blackguard !" cried the doctor; "but the 
 police must be hot upon his track." 
 
 " I fancy not," Mrs. Westmacott answered calmly. 
 "As my brother is a particularly tall thin man, and 
 as the police are looking for a short fat one, I do not 
 think that it is very probable that they will catch 
 him. It is best, I think, that these little family 
 matters should be adjusted in private." 
 
 " My dear ma'am," said the admiral, " if it is 
 indeed this man's money that has bought back my 
 pension, then I can have no scruples about taking it. 
 You have brought sunshine upon us, ma'am, when 
 the clouds were at their darkest, for here is my boy 
 who insists upon returning the money which I got. 
 He can keep it now to pay his debts. For what you 
 have done I can only ask God to bless you, ma'am ; 
 and as to thanking you, I can't even " 
 
 " Then pray don't try," said the widow. " Now 
 run away, admiral, and make your peace with Mrs. 
 Denver. I am sure, if I were she, it would be a 
 long time before I should forgive you. As for me, I 
 am going to America when Charles goes. You '11 
 take me so far, won't you, Ida ? There is a college 
 being built in Denver which is to equip the woman 
 of the future for the struggle of life, and especially 
 for her battle against man. Some months ago the 
 committee offered me a responsible situation upon 
 the staff, and I have decided now to accept it, for 
 Charles's marriage removes the last tie which binds 
 me to England. You will write to me sometimes, 
 my friends, and you will address your letters to 
 Professor Westmacott, Emancipation College, 
 Denver. From there I shall watch how the glorious 
 
Beyond the City, 
 
 319 
 
 struggle goes in conservative old England, and if 
 I am needed you will find me here again fighting in 
 the forefront of the fray. Good-bye ! — but not you, 
 girls ; I have still a word I wish to say to you. 
 
 ** Give me your hand, Ida, and yours, Clara," said 
 she, when they were alone. ''Oh, you naughty little 
 pusses ! aren't you ashamed to look me in the face ? 
 Did you think — did you really think that I was so very 
 blind, and could not see your little plot ? You did it 
 
 ''Aren't you ashamed to look me in the face?'* 
 
 very well, I must say that; and really I think that I like 
 you better as you are. But you had all your pains for 
 nothing, you little conspirators, for I give you my word 
 that I had quite made up my mind not to have him." 
 And so within a few weeks our little ladies, from 
 their observatory, saw a mighty bustle in "The Wilder- 
 ness " when two-horse carriages came, and coachmen 
 with favours, to bear away the twos who were destined 
 
320 Beyond the City. 
 
 to come back one. And they themselves, in their 
 crackKng silk dresses, went across, as invited, to the 
 big double wedding breakfast, which was held in 
 the house of Doctor Walker. Then there was health- 
 drinking, and tears and laughter, and changing of 
 dresses, and rice-throwing, when the carriages drove 
 up again, and two more couples started on that 
 journey which ends only with life itself. 
 
 Charles Westmacott is now a flourishing ranch- 
 man in the western part of Texas, where he and 
 his sweet little wife are the two most popular per- 
 sons in all that county. Of their aunt they see 
 little, but from time to time they see notices in the 
 papers that there is a focus of light in Denver, 
 where mighty thunderbolts are being forged which 
 will one day bring the dominant sex upon their 
 knees. The admiral and his wife still live at number 
 one, while Harold and Clara have taken number two, 
 where Doctor Walker continues to reside. As to the 
 business, it had been re-constructed, and the energy 
 and ability of the junior partner had soon made up 
 for all the ill that had been done by his senior. 
 Yet with his sweet and refined home atmosphere he 
 is able to realise his wish, and to keep himself free 
 from the sordid aims and base ambitions which 
 drag down the man whose business lies too exclusively 
 in the money market of the vast Babylon. As he 
 goes back every evening from the crowds of Throg- 
 morton Street to the tree-lined peaceful avenues of 
 Norwood, so he has found it possible in spirit also to 
 do one's duties amidst the babel of the City, and yet 
 to live beyond it. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 PRINTING OFFICE OF THE PUBLISHER. 
 
p 
 
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